Glass Heart

Glass Heart - Chapter Four

Shouta had yet another heart attack. Here he was, sitting cocooned really comfortably in his sleeping bag, he glances at the kid's face, and his eyes just pop open.

He'd would be lying if he said he didn't scream in fear.

"Gahh! Midoriya! I - I'm assuming you're awake?" He asked, quietly sitting back down next to the boy. The problem child opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead a rough gargle echoed in the room. Izuku's eyes watered with frustration at himself, and even though Shouta could see his gargles were hurting his throat with the small winces the boy was making, Izuku kept trying harder to speak.

"No, kid, don't!" Shouta said, taking hold of Izuku's hands, in efforts to calm him down. The boy stopped attempting to speak, and instead looked at him, confused.

"Umm, do you know sign language?" Shouta asked. Izuku shook his head.

"Hmm... well I'm sure you'll be a quick learner. Here, look at this." Shouta said, pulling out his phone, and bringing up the YouTube app. For about an hour, they sat quietly together, watching JSL guide videos. After they watched a few, Shouta helped guide Izuku through a few exercises, so Izuku learnt how to properly greet someone, and make incredibly small talk. Izuku only knew a few words, but Shouta was still incredibly proud of his progress.

What progress they made, until Chiyo entered the room.

"Hello Aizawa, just wanted to check on - oh heavens!" She cried, noticing Izuku was awake. "Midoriya! You gave me quite the fright there - how long have you been awake?"

Shouta, realising Izuku may make his throat worse by speaking, answered for him. "Izuku has been up for about an hour. Talking hurts his throat so I've been teaching him sign language."

The room seemed to get abysmally darker.

"He's been up for an hour... and you didn't notify me?"

"I - well uhh..." Shouta seemed more tense and afraid the more words she spoke.

"His throat hurts, you said?"

"Y - yeah!" He agreed, hoping that would distract her.

"... did you even offer him a glass of water?"

"..."

He paused, frozen, then turned to Izuku.

"So I'm going to have to take a rain check on those JSL lessons Midoriya. I'll be back tomorrow!" He said, the word 'tomorrow' echoing as he unfurled his capture weapon and used it to break his fall as he jumped out of the window to escape Chiyo.

Well he tried anyway.

"Hey Shouta, why are you outside?"

"Hizashi, not now!"

"Come on, let's get back to Midoriya's room."

"Tsukauchi not you too..."

Hizashi grabbed Shouta's left arm and Tsukauchi grabbed his right, and together they dragged him back into the school.

"Is the little listener up already?" Hizashi asked the corpse. The corpse grumbled but answered with an affirmative growl. "That's good. It's only been a few hours since he went to see Chiyo, she really knows her stuff!"

The corpse - Shouta - did nothing but sigh in response, and deliberately relax his entire body, so Hizashi and Tsukauchi had to put more effort into dragging him back. Why did they have to show up at the very second Shouta was trying to leave? Moreover - why did they have to turn up together?? Shouta could be home drinking coffee and snugged up warm with his cats by now...

It's official - Hizashi and Tsukauchi were evil.

"Here you go Chiyo! One lumpy, escaped caterpillar!" Hizashi exclaimed, chucking Shouta to the floor.

"I hate you all." Shouta grumbled.

"Nah, you love us really." Hizashi said, winking at his husband.

"Well - do you want to continue our conversation now then, Shouta?" Chiyo menacingly asked him, before he could rebuttal Hizashi. Her eyes flashed and immediately Shouta knew he wouldn't get out of this one very easily. It'd be best if he just got it over with.

Shouta braced himself and prayed for a quick death.

"Umm... excuse me, but... who are you guys?" A small, scared voice whispered from the bed. Chiyo hurriedly rushed over, shooting a death glare Shouta's way, but prioritising Izuku's health and security.

I'm sorry coffee but I have a new god to worship - he's the only one I know whose able ti withstand and direct Chiyo's temper... Shouta thought to himself, as he stared at Izuku for a few moments. Tsukauchi quickly took the opportunity to slap Shouta on the back of the head, Shouta glaring at him but not doing anything else, going back to Chiyo and Izuku's conversation.

"Don't worry dear - see, this is Eraserhead from earlier, this is Hizashi-" no one missed how Izuku violently flinched when Chiyo said that name, "- uhh, are you okay dearie?"

"If you want to, you can just call me Present Mic! Or Mic! Or Yamada? Or-"

"The kid gets it, you don't need to go crazy. Although I don't know why I'm concerned, since you've already revealed your full identity." Shouta grumbled, as he made his way over to the chair he abandoned about 10 minutes ago - still slightly warm.

Izuku's eyes softened, and he began to relax again. "Is - is it okay if I called you Yamada for now? It'd feel weird to call you anything related to your hero name, since you're in civilian clothes..."

"Of course!" Hizashi - Yamada - shouted, making Izuku flinch again. Shouta reached over and bopped him on the head, making him realise what was going on. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll try to be quieter." This time he spoke more softly, Shouta retreated his hand with an approving nod, and Izuku smiled.

"Thanks Yamada. And thanks Eraserhead." And the kid smiled.

He smiled for the first time since Shouta saw him.

He couldn't help but smile back.

"No problem, kid."

Fourth chapter done! Just one more until I start releasing these. Of course if you're reading this then I have released it haha, but right now I still have one more chapter to write. I was debating Izuku calling Hizashi 'Yamada-san' as I believe it sounds better, but Izuku hasn't used honorifics for any other characters, and no other characters have used honorifics either, so it'd mean changing the other chapters.

I don't remember what the characters call each other name wise, since I know they call someone by their last name until they're really close, so I decided the adults (Chiyo, Shouta and Hizashi) would call each other by their first names. Normally they'd call Tsukauchi by his first name too, but I'm dumb author and I'm more comfortable with them calling him Tsukauchi because that's what I'm used to XD

PEACHY FROM FUTURE: Hey guys! Sorry for being a bit late (although for me it's still Sunday lol, just evening Sunday instead of usual morning). I've been a bit busy today because it was my bday yesterday. Thanks for supporting the fanfic!!!

Now all that explaining is out of the way - I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you all again next time!

But for now...

Peachy out! 😊