Need You (ShinDeku)

Ch. 126 - Shield

A/N: Surprise! It was actually a double update! I had a bit of free time this morning so I did my best to squeeze in a second chapter to make up for last month.
Have fun reading!

Aizawa POV

     "Be careful out there, baby. It's not just me and Nyoko waiting at home for you now," Hizashi reminds me quietly when I'm at the door ready to leave for patrol. He's fidgeting with his clothes as he says, "You've got a kid that needs you."

     The fact that losing another parental figure- another anyone close to him right now might really destroy the kid hangs silently in the air. It seems mean to tell him not to worry so much. "I know."

     As far as I'm concerned I have a duty to my husband to do everything in my power to come home every morning not only alive but safe. It was a hard lesson to learn over the years, even seeing the heartbreak on Hizashi's face at every new scar and feeling it myself any time he was in harms way, but now it's all the more important. For our family, as small and new as it may be. Leave it to me to create bigger responsibilities for myself.

     I hold back a sigh looking at the two pitiful boys huddled together with mugs of after-dinner tea in our living room, the shorter of the two looking like nothing more than a small child carrying the horrors of the world and more on his shoulders, with haunted eyes and holding himself like a prey animal that knows it's being watched.

     Of course Shinso isn't all that much better, walls built up higher than the ozone layer and untrusting- never trusting, tired eyes. He draws in on himself all the time like he's preparing for backlash and never seems to think he's deserving of anything. Except for when he's following my son around, of course. Then he just looks like a lovesick puppy who's just been told 'don't touch', and of course Izuku, the recipient of these looks, is completely oblivious but seems to finally settle a little at just the sight of purple.

     I turn back to the man in front of me. "I'll see you in the morning." His lips start to turn down at the corners, so I swoop in to kiss the frown away before he gets any ideas trying to convince me to take another night off of work.

     He only sighs when I pull away, turning to the other two.

     "Boys, say bye."

     "Bye," they say at the same time, then "Stay safe. I know your old joints are a little stiff after a week off but don't be too slow out there," Shinso taunts, briefly tightening his arm around my son's shoulder.

     Says the brat who was too slow to get a proper hit in on me today. I narrow my eyes at him, but my husband lets out a little laugh so I decide it's alright to let it go. Only today, though.

     When I look back at them Izuku is waving at me innocently and Shinso is snickering like a little gremlin. With a dismissive wave of my own I'm pulling on a face mask and grabbing my capture weapon from where it sits by the shoes.

     Zashi ducks down to leave another quick kiss on my temple with a "bye, Sho," and I'm stepping out the door. I manage to hold my sigh until I'm at the elevator, allowing my head to hang for a moment.

     Then, I'll head over to the police precinct to grab my radio and start my patrol.

     Half an hour later sees me doing exactly that, running down a maze of trash-littered back alleys towards a point where a distress signal was sent out to police.

     It's both slightly too warm out and slightly too smelly with the various trash bags littered about to be able to say that this is a calming or even remotely enjoyable moment, but later when I catch some fresh air on a rooftop with a good vantage point and a decent breeze I'll certainly be feeling more at peace.