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Class had ended and Shouta was getting ready to leave when the Yamada kid came over to talk to him. He had recently transferred from Gen Ed. and wasn’t looking to make friends. Especially not with the boy who doesn’t shut up.
“Hey, Aizawa!” Yamada shouts, bounding over, like his usual excited self. God, why is he so loud?
“What do you want?" He replied with a scowl on his face, wanting to look as unapproachable as possible.
Yamada wasn’t deterred, “Oboro and I were wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with us! Do you?” He sounded hopeful and Shouta sighed. He thought no one would ask him to eat lunch with him again after he had turned Iida down. On his first day in the Hero Course, Iida had invited him to sit with him. Shouta had said no and no one else has asked him. Until now.
“No.”
Yamada looked disappointed for a second before he started grinning again, “Okay! Make sure you eat a big meal, sensei is having us do quirkless sparring today.” And with that, he said a quick “Bye!” and left, presumably to eat lunch with Shirakumo.
Shouta rolls his eyes. Of course, Yamada still gives tips for his health and well-being after he turned him down. It was unnecessary though, Shouta already has to fight quirkless often due to the nature of his quirk. This lesson was going to be a lot harder for his classmates than it was for him.
He was right, evident by Shouta winning the tournament their sensei set up. Kan was panting and glaring at him after losing the final match.
“Well done Aizawa, as promised to the winner of the tournament, you're dismissed early. Make sure you work on guarding your left more.”
“Yes, sensei,” he said and started walking towards the locker rooms.
His sensei began to lecture the other students, “Alright! Kayama make sure you...”
He shut the locker room door and began to change. He didn’t have to worry about the other boys coming in and seeing his binder. Because of this, he chose not to change in the bathroom stall this time. He grabbed his stuff and began to walk back to his apartment. When he got there he walked in to see his dad.
“Dad? I thought you were in America?” His dad’s a photographer and travels a lot for work. So, most of the time Shouta stays in this apartment alone. His mother was long gone.
“Trip ended early. I figured I’d stop home and say ‘hi’ to my favorite son.”
Shouta rolled his eyes, “I’m your only son.”
His dad waved that off then glanced at his backpack, “Doesn’t school end later?”
“I won a tournament, so my sensei let me out early,” he explained in his usual bored, dry tone as he threw his bag on the couch.
“Well then! Why don’t we use this as a chance to spend some time together.”
“Sure,” his dad was like this. While he was home he was happy and wanted to spend time with Shouta. But the moment he left he wouldn't answer any of Shouta's texts or calls. Shouta used to love this time with his dad, cherish it, bend over backward to make sure it was perfect. Now, he finds it annoying.
“Aw, come on! It’ll be fun. We can see the new All Might movie!”
“I’ll go change,” once he was in his room he sighed. He didn’t want to waste his time seeing some stupid movie with his father, who'll go back to ignoring him in two days. Especially not when he could be training, studying, or doing homework. He got ready anyway because it wasn't logical to piss off the man paying your bills.
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“Aizawa!” A shout woke him up from where he was sleeping on his desk. Shit. He fell asleep and slept through English. Being tired and falling asleep during the day was nothing new to Shouta. The only difference is he can usually keep himself from falling asleep during class. Instead, he fell asleep before and during breaks. His dad had kept him up late last night. It wouldn’t have been a problem if he didn’t have to do homework and had slept more than three hours in the past four days. He would be less concerned if this was a different class. But this was English, a class he was already failing and it wasn’t like he could ask any of his class for notes.
He was distracted from his thoughts when a concerned voice asked, “Aizawa?”
Shit. He forgot about Yamada despite his shout being the one that woke him.
“What do you want?”
“I was wondering if you wanted my notes?”
“Why,” he asked in a monotone voice. He was curious, though. Why would Yamada want to help him when he has been nothing but an ass to him and his classmates?
“Because you fell asleep, silly! Also, I like English a lot. You can come over to my house if you need help studying!”
He wasn’t sure if he was genuine or if this was some sort of joke, payback for rejecting him. Either way, it gave him an excuse to be away from his father. And if it was genuine Yamada did have the highest English grade in the class, whereas he was failing.
He sighed, “Yeah, thanks,” he muttered.
“What was that I didn’t quite hear you?” Yamada asked, still grinning.
Instead of repeating what he'd said he asked, “Where do you live?”
Yamada looked surprised that he said yes, which was fair. Then he was back to grinning. Shouta sighed, maybe, if he backs out now, Yamada won’t mention it again-
Nope. Away from Dad. Free English tutor. He has to do this.
“123 Kinjo Lane, I can walk you there after school today if you’re not busy.”
He was going to regret this, “I’m not, today’s fine.”
“Great! Do you want to eat lunch-”
“No,” he replied and fell back asleep.
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The day had ended and Shouta needed a nap. But no. He’d agreed to study with Yamada. Away from Dad. Free English tutor. That’s become his mantra throughout the day in preparation for the hell that’s to come.
“Hey! You ready to go?” That got a few weird looks from their classmates, not that he can blame them.
“Yeah.”
“Great! I texted my mom you were coming over and she wanted to know if you were staying for dinner. She also wanted to know if you liked cold soba if you were going to stay for dinner.”
“I wouldn’t want to intrude-”
“You wouldn’t be intruding. My moms have been dying to meet the person who kicked my ass in the sports festival!”
He was trying to turn Yamada down nicely. He had no clue why. He supposes dinner would get him away from his dad a little longer, “Yes, to both.”
Yamada looked like Shouta had given him a puppy for Christmas. “Okay! Hold on, I have to text Mom real quick so she can tell Mama what to get from the store. We forgot to go grocery shopping this week so they’ve been doing quick stops because they have work. I keep telling them we can eat later but they keep saying it’s only for a week. I used to tell them ‘It’s only one day’ but I don’t anymore because I know they’ll say there isn’t much time left in the week.”
Shouta sighed, this is going to be a long night. Away from Dad. Free English tutor, he reminded himself.
He kept repeating Away from Dad. Free English tutor , on the way to Yamada’s house as he rambled on about nothing. Whenever Shouta thought he had nothing less to say, he found something new to ramble on about. It was like he was a never-ending pit of words. He wouldn’t be surprised if Yamada got cut and words started spilling out instead of blood. It would certainly give Kan a run for his money.
He snorted at the thought.
“What?” Yamada asked, having noticed.
“Nothing, just thinking”
“Oh, okay,” he then proceeded to ramble on about rat armies. What? How did he get to rat armies? Shouta decided he didn’t want to know and tuned Yamada out again.
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When they got to Yamada’s house Yamada walked in and took his shoes off, Shouta followed to do the same. Shouta expected Yamada to shout, instead, he started walking further into the house.
“Are your moms not home?” he asked.
“Hm? Oh, no, Mom’s home. Most of the time, when we're in the house, I’m the only one who keeps in their hearing aids. It became a habit for them when they adopted me. It wasn’t that bad in the beginning, but once I got comfortable with them things got kind of… loud.”
“Ah,” was his only reply. It made sense that Yamada was deaf, considering what his quirk is.
They made it to what looked like an office. In the office, a woman was working at the desk on a computer. Yamada tapped her shoulder to get her attention. When she turned around she smiled.
‘Hey. How was school?’
‘Good. This is A-I-Z-A-W-A, we are going to study in my room.’
‘OK. Have fun. I love you.’
‘I love you too’
She looked over at him, smiled, and waved. He waved back and signed ‘Thank you for having me over and for dinner.’
‘Of course, you’re welcome anytime.’ He blinked, had she just signed to someone she just met, who isn’t even her sons' friend that he could come over anytime?
‘Thank you,’ he signed back.
Yamada intruded signing one more ‘I love you’ to his mom before waving and leaving the office. Shouta following right behind him.
“I didn’t know you knew sign,” Yamada said, almost accusingly.
Shouta shrugged, “You didn’t ask”
“Fair.”
When they got to Yamada’s room it was cleaner than he thought it would be. There were still clothes on the floor and his desk was littered with CDs, but he had been expecting worse.
Yamada blushed, looking sheepish as he said, “We can work on my bed. Sorry, the room’s kind of a mess. I didn't know anyone was coming over until I invited you, so I didn’t get the chance to clean.”
“It’s fine,” he sat on the bed. Before putting his bag on the floor he pulled out his English dictionary, notebook, and homework. Yamada followed to do the same.
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As it turns out, Yamada wasn’t that bad of a teacher. He went over what Shouta missed in class today and what he didn’t understand from other classes. After finishing English, they moved on to other subjects. They each helped the other when one of them got confused. It was much easier than him doing it all on his own. The benefits outweigh how annoying Yamada is, so if Yamada asks to do this again it would be illogical of him to say no.
They had finished their homework when he got a text from his dad.
The Sperm Donor of a Nonexistent Mother: Are you still studying at your friend's house?
Me: We just finished. I’m staying for dinner.
The Sperm Donor of a Nonexistent Mother: OK. I love you! (✿ ♥‿♥)
Shouta glared at his phone. He hates it when his dad says, 'I love you'. He only loves him when he’s here because it makes him feel like a good father. When he goes away, he excuses his neglect by paying the bills. That’s why he calls him by the right pronouns and pays for his testosterone. It makes him feel like a good father. It takes away the guilt. Shouta hates only being there to make him feel good about himself. Hates that he has to go along with it or he’ll be on the streets. His dad would justify it by saying, ‘he didn’t respect me,’ ‘I can’t take care of someone who doesn’t respect me'. Probably even throw in a ‘he’s old enough to take care of himself.’
Me: I love you too.
“You can throw it across the room if you want, just aim for something that won’t break or fall off the wall,” Yamada said. Shouta looked up, surprised. He’d forgotten Yamada was there. Too pissed at his father. He decided he didn’t care and chucked his phone into a pile of clothes. It felt good. Better than he thought it would.
“Thanks”
“Course. I’m here if you need to talk.”
Shouta snorted. Right. Like he would talk to Yamada about his dad.
“Hey, let’s make a bet,” Yamada said as if he had thought of the best thing in the world.
“A bet?”
“Yeah!”
“Why?”
“It’ll be fun!”
“No.”
“Your stake can be that I leave you alone unless you come up to me,” Yamada suggested.
“Fine. What’s the bet and what do you want?”
“Next week if I can make you laugh by Friday you have to sit with Oboro and me for a week. If I don’t, I will leave you alone unless you come up to me.”
“Fine but you get one attempt a day.”
“What!” Yamada shouted. In his indignation, he’d accidentally activated his quirk and Shouta winced. So did Yamada as he let out a sheepish, “Sorry,” before going straight back to the bet, “C’mon two at the very least.”
“No.”
“Ugh, fine.”
That’s when another woman came in-presumably Mama-and signed, ‘Dinner’s ready’
They all went downstairs to see Yamada’s other mom setting the table. Yamada’s mom (Mama) signed, ‘You two sit down while we set the table.’
During dinner, Yamada was signing to his moms about his day. In a lot of detail. Shouta was focused on eating his food when someone tapped his shoulder. It was Yamada’s mom (Mom).
‘Has Hizashi introduced us?’
‘I know he calls you Mom and your wife Mama.’
She shot an exasperated look at her son. Yamada look guilty and signed, ‘Sorry’
‘Well, I suppose you can call us the same so you don’t have to switch it up.’
Shouta didn’t know how to respond to that. He was saved from having to when Mama asked, ‘How was your day?’
‘Fine.’ Mom and Mama both frowned, looking concerned. Considering the monologue their son gave them, he supposes it makes sense for that to be a cause for concern.
‘A-I-Z-A-W-A is just tired and grumpy. He’s always tired and grumpy. He's just extra tired today, causing him to be extra grumpy.’
Before he could even glare at Yamada, Mom signed, ‘Make sure you go to bed right when you get home.’
Jesus, these people are so nice, ‘OK’
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He was laying his head on his desk in Homeroom on Monday. His dad had woken him up and made him breakfast. He always made breakfast the day he was leaving. He’d told Shouta he would be gone before he got home from school. He eventually fell asleep.
“Aizawa!”
Shouta was startled awake at the sound of Yamada’s voice. Why couldn’t he just leave him alone? Right. The bet. If he won, he would. Then Shouta could nap in peace.
“What do you call an ant who fights crime?” Yamada asked and when he received only a blank stare in return he finished the joke, “A vigilANTe!”
Shouta blinked, “That was the worst joke I’ve ever heard.”
“What! That was a great joke, you simply have no taste.”
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As Shouta walked home from school Yamada moved to walk next to him. They didn’t live very far away from each other. They just never crossed paths on their ways home from school because Yamada always stayed back to socialize.
“If I were an animal what type of animal do you think I would be?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“Well, I have to make you enjoy my presence in case I lose so that you’ll want to hang out with me. So I looked up how to make someone like you and Google said ‘spend time together and bond’. So I looked up how to bond with someone and Google said ‘Ask them questions’. And then I looked up ‘questions to get to know someone’ and the first question was `What type of animal do you think I would be.”
That was a lot to process, but Shouta decided to play along, “Cockatoo”
“What?!” Yamada accidentally activated his quirk and Shouta activated his to ensure the damage wasn’t too bad.
Yamada cringed when Shouta glared at him, “Sorry.”
He sighed, “It’s fine.” He didn’t like the way Yamada cringed when Shouta glared, like he was expecting to get yelled at. He recalled what Yamada said about his moms when they adopted him. About how he was only loud after he was comfortable with them. Had his past parents abused him and punished him if he was too loud or lost control of his quirk? Yamada still looked embarrassed, so he decided to switch the conversation back to Cockatoos. “You can’t deny you have many of the same characteristics,” Shouta said, a hint of teasing in his usual dry tone.
Yamada looked surprised before he grinned, “Oh yeah? Name one.”
“Your hair is shorter but it still sticks up like their feathers.”
“I’ll give you that. Name one outside of physical appearance,” he challenged.
It wasn't much of a challenge, “Loud.”
Yamada put his hand on his chest in mock offense, “How could you? My bonding buddy betrayed me.”
“'Bonding buddy'? Really?”
“Yep! And don’t forget cockatoos are affectionate, funny, and easy to get along with! I’ll have you laughing and wanting to sit with me in no time.”
“Wasn’t the whole point of the question to make me like you because you thought you were going to fail?”
“Back up plan Aizawa. Back up plan,” Yamada chided, “I know I’ll get you to laugh. I simply have an insurance policy. Like life insurance, but less life and death-y.”
“That was a horrible analogy,” Shouta commented.
“Hey! That was a great analogy for being put on the spot,” Yamada defends.
“No, it’s not. I have something called standards that makes me refuse to believe that.”
“Rude.”
Shouta shrugged. When they got to where he and Yamada parted ways he felt weirdly…. disappointed?
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“Hey!”
Shouta sighed, “What?”
“This is an English joke so you can practice your English and laugh! Knock, knock.”
It took him a second to translate the words and realize that Yamada was making a Knock, knock joke. Really? A knock, knock joke was going to make him laugh? He responded in English, “Who’s there?”
“The interrupting cow!” Yamada was excited about this one for some reason.
“The interrupting cow wh-”
“MOOOOO!” Yamada interrupted him. Why did he interrup-
Oh, “That was awful.”
“What?!” Yamada exclaimed, bewildered as to why Shouta didn’t find it funny.
“It was worse than yesterday.”
“Was not. Those were both amazing jokes, you heathen.”
Shouta rolled his eyes, “Whatever, I’m getting a nap in before Maths.”
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Yamada walked home with him again and he even found himself enjoying it. Yamada talked almost the entire way, never running out of things to say. Shouta threw in a dry comment every once and a while. Surprisingly, Yamada seemed to enjoy Shouta’s sense of humor. This was unlike many others who called him a smartass, a downer or thought he was making fun of them. And that was only including the ones who even let him talk before deciding they hated him. No one likes someone who could take away the one thing that made you special. Except for Yamada, it seems. When they parted ways, he felt the weird feeling of disappointment again. Damnit, Yamada’s plan is working.
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“Are you from Tennessee?” Why is Yamada asking him if he’s from an American state? He tutored him in English last Friday. He knows how bad Shouta is at it.
“No, w-”
“Because you’re the only ten I see!”
Shouta blinked, “Did you just use an American pick-up line to make me laugh?”
“Yep! Did it work?”
“Yes, I’m rolling on the floor dying of laughter.”
“Ugh okay, smartass." Unlike others when they called him a smartass, Yamada's tone was teasing, not harsh.
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When they parted ways yesterday he didn't feel the disappointment he felt on Monday and Tuesday. Instead, he felt excited to see Yamada tomorrow, excited to hear his next joke.
That feeling left when Yamada said, “Knock, knock”
Shouta rolled his eyes. Another knock, knock joke? “Who’s there?”
“Me.”
“Me who?”
“Me wondering if you're from Tennessee-”
“Oh my Go-”
“Because you’re the only ten I see!”
“Why? Why would you put me through that?”
“I thought the combination would make you laugh, Mr.Grump,” Yamada replied, “It didn’t.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Yamada rolled his eyes and went to take his seat.
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“You were my bisexual awakening,” Yamada looked mortified as if he hadn’t meant to say that. He shouldn’t laugh. It was rude to laugh at someone who admitted they have a crush on you. “I don’t have a crush on you!” was the only confirmation Shouta needed before he started laughing. “Just objectively, you know,” Shouta was still laughing. “Like, I saw you and I was like, ‘Gay?’ And then I was like 'but girls'. Then I was like ‘Bisexual?’ And then I was like ‘bisexual.’” Shouta started laughing harder. “And then I was like ‘Pansexual?’ and finally I was like, ‘No, bitch, bisexual.’”
When Yamada finished his explanation, he seemed to have realized something. “I made you laugh! You have to sit with Oboro and me for a week!” Shouta couldn’t bring himself to feel disappointed. He was still laughing, but he found he didn’t hate the idea of sitting with Yamada and Shirakumo. If anything, he was looking forward to it. The laughter must have been contagious because Yamada started laughing too. This all happened while the rest of the class was looking at them like they’d just been told they were all expelled.