Chapter 12

Warnings: None, swf. Lots of fluff though.

I was rushing through my duffle bag to find any non-work-related clothes to go out with Vlad. I already had my tablet and purse set aside and waiting. I decided to go with a tank top and cardigan with skinny jeans and white tennis shoes. I left my hair in a bun and smoothed down my flyaways. Once I was done getting ready, I grabbed my tablet and purse and rushed my way out of Aizawa’s office. Speaking of Aizawa, I walked into the living room to see him napping in his sleeping bag rather than on the couch with the numerous blankets I brought over from my place. I shook my head, not really in shock or anything, more just towards his silliness. I went around the apartment and cleaned up a little while waiting for Vlad. I was in the kitchen doing dishes when I heard the doorbell chime. I immediately went to grab the door when Aizawa beat me to it.

“Hey, Vlad.” Aizawa flatly said. He looked annoyed; maybe it was because his nap was interrupted.

“Hello, Aizawa, is Mai ready yet?” Vlad tried to look over him while I grabbed my stuff and got ready to leave.

I pushed past Aizawa, “Yes, I am. Hi, Vlad.” I smiled at him and gave him a once over, “You look nice.” He was wearing jeans, and a blue button-up with the sleeves rolled up.

“Thank you. You do too.” He returned my smile while reaching for my arm to start leaving.

“Ahem.” Aizawa halted us. “What time are you coming home?” There’s the word again. Home.Did he have to use that word? He could’ve just said, ‘When are you coming back?’ but no, he said, home. And of course, it gave me a tinge in my heart.

“Um, it depends on how much work we have to do. I’ll make sure to text you if I’m out late.” I gave him a light pat on his shoulder, “But in case you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me, and I’ll come to your rescue.” I gave him a small wink and then made my way out. I just heard a grumble in response.

I gave all my attention to Vlad once we started to walk to the cafe Vlad had in mine for us to go and work.

“Aizawa was okay with you going out with him recovering?” Vlad asked while motioning to grab my bag for me.

I pushed his hand away and shook my head, “I think he was happy to not have me nagging him for the day.”

“How has it been for you guys living together?”

“It’s alright. Sometimes we’re at each other’s head and other times we’re pretty chill. Sometimes he takes naps while I’m doing work stuff. Or sometimes we’re both grading the students’ assignments together. So it really just depends on the day.” I shrugged.

Vlad stayed silent and gave me a slow nod as he listened, “How did the session with Bakugo today go?”

“Oh, I say it went pretty well.” I stared at my feet while walking before looking up at Vlad giving him a proud smile. “He asked for another session.”

Vlad wrapped an arm around me, “I’m glad to hear that the great Counselor Montoya broke through Katsuki Bakugo.”

“Yeah, well, I feel like I needed that little pep talk you gave me so thank you for that.”

“Anytime, shortie.” He gave me a small squeeze while holding me. It felt a little awkward to have his large frame lean over my smaller one, but it still felt nice. I couldn’t help but lean back into his side while holding his hand over my shoulder. It was peaceful. Something I kind of needed for the past few months. Heck, just these past weeks I needed some peace.

We stayed walking like this for the rest of the way to the coffee shop. Once we got there, I went straight to finding a booth while Vlad ordered our drinks and food. For the rest of the night, it was filled with work, but also some casual conversations about random topics. It was a breath of fresh air, but it still felt all familiar.

“Remember the time you and Oboro had to go chase down Mic and Tensei after he told them to grab a shopping cart and roll down a hill at Tensei’s full speed.” Vlad belted out a hearty laugh.

“Stop! I remembered a tripped over and started rolling down the hill while Oboro just laughed the whole way down on his stupid cloud.” I palmed my face, “It was so embarrassing. Ugh, if I didn’t love those idiots so much I wouldn’t have let it slide. I would’ve made sure they got reprimanded.”

“It’s hard to believe that those dumb kids turned into us.”

“Yeah, all of us but Hizashi seemed to grow to have a stick up our ass. But I’m pretty sure if you gave the old group the opportunity to be idiotic we would take it.” I smiled. My mind couldn’t help but wander over to my students. “Honestly, seeing the kids I counsel. They all remind me of us. Which makes me more self-aware of how reckless and clueless we were. But it definitely gives me a lot of hope that they’re going to grow up to be wonderful heroes.” I fingered the rim of my mug, “Especially if they learn from our mistakes instead of blindly following our heroic mantras.”

Vlad looked deeply at me silently agreeing. “Yeah, that’s kind of our responsibility now. Such a shame that you won’t be staying with the class and Aizawa after this year.” I stared blankly at him. Did I really forget this was all temporary? “You forgot that this was temporary until you got your suspension lifted, huh?”

I slumped back into the booth, “Well, its not my fault that I forgot. I’ve been busy and haven’t been updated on my status. None of my friends from the U.S. haven’t told me anything either. So, it kind of feels like I’ve already been here for a long time.” Vlad just nodded amusingly. “It feels like I should be prepared to stay. It doesn’t feel like I will be getting it lifted if it’s not even up for discussion.”

“Maybe it’s the time zones.” Vlad shrugged.

I couldn’t help but chuckle, “Yeah, definitely the time zones.” More like the American hero community was more than happy to get rid of me when they saw the chance.

Once the little work date came to an end, Vlad walked me home with his arm draped over me and my bag in his hand. The walk was filled with light laughter. Onlookers and bystanders would’ve assumed we were a happy couple with the way we were, and honestly, I didn’t really mind it. Once we got to the door of the apartment, Vlad held my hand to stop me from opening the door. Giving himself a little more time to talk. The low lighting darkened his blood-red eyes. His voice was low to match his eyes, “I had a fun time tonight. Even if it mostly worked. Would you mind going out another time when it’s not work-related?” His eyes and smile were warm and welcoming, it was impossible for me to say no and mean it,

I returned the smile and moved my hand to linger a little on his before retrieving my bag, “No, I don’t think I would mind. I would really like to go out again.”

Vlad leaned down a little closer to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek, “Have a good night, Mai.”

I couldn’t help but blush at his action but I did my best to keep my composure, “You too, Vlad.”

He went to start walking away as I opened the door, “Send Eraser a ‘goodnight’ from me, just leave out the kiss. Don’t want to give him the wrong idea.”

I chuckled walking into the apartment, “No we wouldn’t that now, would we? Goodnight, be safe!” I closed the door and set my purse down while kicking off my shoes. The apartment was dark with the only light coming from the kitchen window. That can only mean that Aizawa was locked in his room. I made my way over to the couch and plotted myself there, resting my eyes. I’ll go check on Aizawa a little later.

“Are you home?” I heard the man belt out from the hallway.

“No, just some little Mexican girl with a copy of your apartment key decided to come in and relax on your couch.” I opened my eyes to see him leaning on the wall watching me.

“You got a call while you were gone, but I told them that I would pass the message along.”

“From who?”

“Gemini.” Do you ever just have one of those days that are really good only to have something come into ruin it? I had to force myself to not groan.

“What was the message? I thought part of the court appeal was that neither of us was supposed to be in contact with each other?” I sat up looking annoyed and Aizawa could tell that I was not in the mood for anything involving Gemini.

“He used the agency phone number. He wanted you to know that your suspension hasn’t been looked at since the court case ended in case you were curious why you haven’t been updated.” Aizawa moved from his spot of the wall over to the couch.

“And why couldn’t it be someone else telling me this?”

“He said it was his good deed for the day to tell you.” Aizawa gave out a huff and was laced with a smirk.

“Oh, how nice of him. Wish that his good deed for the day involved more minding his business and less harassing female colleagues but that’s too much to ask.” I leaned back on the cushions feeling hot with annoyance and anger. “Vlad wanted me to tell you to have a good night.”

“Is that all?” Aizawa’s voice was laced with slight irritation.

“Yeah. Pretty much. Why? Did you expect him to send you a goodnight kiss too?” I teased.

He rolled his eyes at me, “I’m guessing you had a good time ‘working’.”

I took note of the emphasis on ‘working’ but decided not to act on it and not cause an argument. “Yeah, I had fun. Vlad really helped make taking on Class 1-B less stressful.”

“Hmm.” Was all I got as a response, “You’re friend Marga emailed me about you not responding to her wedding invitation.”

“Why are people contacting you instead of me?” I scrunched up my face in confusion.

“I don’t know, it’s probably because they know you avoid responding.” He said matter of factly.

“The wedding isn’t until November, I have time to respond to the invitation. She just has to be patient.”

“Just say you don’t want to go to her wedding.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to go. I just want to heavily think about it. It’s going to be one of the largest events of the year for the U.S. because two big pro heroes are getting married. That means ALL of my old colleagues are going to be there and I just don’t want to be outcasted or judged while I’m there.” I shouldn’t have really cared, but I couldn’t really help it. I was already a joke, I just didn’t want to give people more reason to talk.

“You never used to care about what people thought about you.”

“I wasn’t ranked number 2 hero before. And that’s not completely true. I always tried my best to not cause attention to myself and offend people because I never wanted to hurt anyone.” I turned over to him to look him in the eyes.

He couldn’t help the smirk tugging his lips. “Now, that’s a lie. Yes, you were conscientious, but you never shied away from speaking your mind.”

“Well, look where that got me, Sho… Aizawa.” I bit my cheek after avoiding my slip up. “I don’t really have the option to be so vocal or confident in myself right now. It will only give me more problems.”

Aizawa just stayed quiet for a little while. I couldn’t really look him in the eye. He was right that I used to be confident in myself and my words, and I hated that I let this stupid situation tear me away from that. It felt like I reverted back to my fifteen-year-old self. Insecure and fearful of myself. “You know, you could always just bring a date with you so you have someone on your side beside the bride and groom.”

I laughed at his suggestion, “I can’t just ask someone to do that.”

“And why not? You have tons of friends that would come to help you have at the drop of a hat.” Aizawa’s baritone voice had a hint of offense in it.

“Yeah, I know. I just don’t want to…” I met Aizawa’s dead stare, “Don’t want too… Can you not look at me like that? You look so judgmental right now.” I crossed my arms.

“Good, because I am judging you for thinking that you’re an inconvenience.”

“I was not going to say… you know what, fine. Who do you think I should bring as my date then, oh wise one?” The man just shrugged at me… “Unbelievable.”

“Ask Vlad since you guys seem really close.” He grumbled.

“No, I feel like it’s too serious and we…” My eyes widened. Shut up, shut up, shut up!

Aizawa raised an eyebrow at me, “We?”

“Nothing, we’re just friends and I don’t want him to get the wrong idea. Taking a friend to a wedding as a date can be messy.” In all honesty, I just didn’t want to move too quickly with Vlad. We weren’t a real thing yet and I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea by inviting him to a wedding. “I’ll just take Hizashi or something. Maybe Lily actually.”

And then out of nowhere, Aizawa made the most peculiar suggestion, “I could go.” I guess I gave a shocked look because the next thing he did was roll his eyes at me and went over to grab the unanswered invitation, “Don’t give me that look, I’m only offering as a way to pay you back for helping me out with my injuries.”

“But… it’s a wedding… A TELEVISED WEDDING!” I tried to analyze the man to see if he had some type of bleeding on his head from a reopened wound but he swatted me away.

“Yeah, so what? No one will know who I am.”

“But, I’m well known, they’re going to ask questions.” He just shrugged and handed me the invitation with a pen.

“Sign it and mark that you’re going with a guest.”

“You’re not going, I won’t allow it.”

“All you have to say is that I’m a friend from Japan. That’s it. Nothing about me being a pro.”

“BUT YOU HATE THE MEDIA AND THE ATTENTION!”

“I DON’T CARE! NOW SIGN THE DAMN INVITATION!”

“FINE!”

“GOOD!”

“I’M STILL ASKING HIZASHI!”

“I’LL JUST TELL HIM TO SAY NO!”

“NO!”

“STOP BEING A BABY, I’M GOING!”

“UGH!”

I can’t even muster a reason why Aizawa was so dead set on going. But if he insisted it was to pay me back for taking care of him, I guess I could deal with it. Plus the wedding wasn’t until November. He could change his mind by then, or maybe I will end up going with someone else. We couldn’t know. I just hoped that once I was at the wedding it won’t be so dreadful like I’m expecting it to be.

“I could ask All Might,” I said while signing the rsvp.

“Could you just shut up and let me do you this favor? It’s not like I’m cutting off a leg for you, I’m just going to a wedding.”

“Please we both know you would rather do that over going to a wedding,” I said under my breath.

“Let it go!”

“Make me!”

Aizawa and I just stared at each other with wide eyes after realizing what I just said. I can only assume that my cheeks were matching his rosy color right now. I quickly just let out a cough and set the invitation down on the coffee table as I got up, scratching the back of my neck. “I think I’m gonna go to bed. Hehe… I’ll see you in the morning, Aizawa.” I scurried quickly to Aizawa’s office, not wanting to meet his eyes. He seemed to still be processing the situation. Dammit, Mai! How do you just say ‘Make me!’ like that, you know it makes things awkward. UGH!I was so stupid!

Masterlist

Taglist: 

@inumorph​@multifandoms916​@thatgirlwithcamera​@mel-sanch​

Sweet Nothing (MHA Staff AU Fanfiction)

Chapter 20 

Warnings: Mostly sfw, slight nsfw (Mentions sexual assault and mental health), Slight Angst. 

Pairing: Shouta Aizawa x OC (Mai Montoya, Pro Hero Zion)

If you want to read of the events before this chapter here is the Master List

As I looked through the exam replays while making notes about how Aizawa should tackle their training during the camp, a small cup of coffee was placed to my left, with red painted nails over the lid. I look over my shoulder to meet with a ruby red grin.

“I figured since it’s a little chilly in here, I would get you something different from your usual. Mic and Aizawa mentioned you liked hot white chocolate mochas with vanilla sweet foam and cocoa powder. Said it tasted like tiramisu cake to you.” She gave a small shrug while I reached over for the drink.

“Why the treat giving all of a sudden?” I took a sip, and my lips were immediately met with the toasted coffee-flavored sweetness. I hummed a little in delight.

“You haven’t gotten up from your desk nor stopped looking at your screen for a good two hours. I figured you needed a small something to break you away.”

“Oh… thanks. I just wanted to review everything from the exams and make sure I got all of this to Aizawa before he takes the kids to the camp.”

“You’re not going?”

“Vlad and Aizawa mentioned it was best that the least amount of people knew the location of the training camp to make sure students were safe. To be fair, I would like a little break. Sometime in the week, I am expecting a video conference about my license status this upcoming Monday. I got an email about it earlier.”

“Well, that’s good to hear. It’s been months. They should’ve been giving you an update sooner.” Kayama sneered in disapproval.

“Yeah… so I kind of need a break from the students for at least a day.” I looked over to Kayama, who looked a little worried. “I promise I won’t be worrying too much about it. Or overwork myself trying to get this stuff done.”

“That’s not what I am worried about. Isn’t Gemini supposed to be in the meeting since he’s in charge of the agency you were working with?” She bit her cheek nervously, bringing up Gemini.

I sighed, “I’m trying not to think about it right now. I just want to think about the fact that I am one meeting closer to having my suspension lifted.”

“I just don’t want him to humiliate you or do something that will prevent your suspension from ending, that’s all. He was already harassing you despite it being against the court’s ruling.” She rubbed my back comfortingly.

“And I changed my number to get it to stop, so it’s fine. I can handle it.” I gave her a smile.

“Oh, okay, but just know if anything happens, I’m always here for you. You can always just stay here and continue working in Japan.” She rubbed my shoulder and made her way out of the office. “I’ll be with Snipe. If you need anything, text me.” She winked and sauntered off.

I continued typing out my worksheet for a little longer until my eyes grew tired and strained. I switched from my earbuds to Mic’s headphones so I wouldn’t get any interruptions. Clearly, someone didn’t get the memo when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I swiveled around in my chair to see Aizawa and Vlad hovering over me. I took Mic’s headphones off slowly as I looked at them in confusion, “Yes?”

“We decided that it would be a good idea to have you help us train the students in the training camp,” Aizawa spoke up with his files in hand and a bored expression.

“That is if you want to come,” Vlad added with an apologetic smile.

I blinked and looked between the two. “You decided without talking to me?”

“We’re talking right now.” Aizawa pointed.

I pushed my glasses up my nose and sighed, “I meant that you should’ve given me a heads up. First, I was sitting for hours making a whole report about tackling the students’ training. If it was in question for me to come, I wouldn’t have been wasting my time. Plus, you both need to know whether I am free enough to even go in the first place.”

Vlad rubbed the back of his neck, “That’s what I was telling Eraser when he brought it up.”

“Your schedule is free all throughout the summer break. What could you be possibly-”

“I have a meeting about my suspension Monday morning.” I interrupted Aizawa. Annoyance laced in my voice. “Don’t assume I have nothing to do.”

Aizawa closed his mouth and tensed up his jaw. He always did that when he knew he messed up and looked like an ass.

I shut my eyes, “Where is the location? And does it have wifi?” I can always just work around my meeting.

Aizawa gave me a folder with the name of the location and the owners of the location. I looked at him, “The Wild Wild Pussycats?”

“They’re friends of mine.” Aizawa defended.

“I swear to God, Aizawa if they’re furries…”

“They’re not furries!”

——————————

They were low-key furries…

As the students were forced to get to the Wild Wild Pussycats headquarters on their own, much to my dismay, I was attempting to use Aizawa’s hotspot to connect to my meeting. Aizawa and his friend Mandalay and her teammates were silently and awkwardly watching me stress out refreshing my laptop.

“Please work, please work, please work,” I mumbled mainly to myself.

“Is she usually like this?” I heard Mandalay said to Aizawa.

“Eh… depends on the situation. With hero work, she’s pretty calm and collective.” Aizawa responded.

“I would be nervous too if I was about to miss a meeting about my license.” Ragdoll chimed in.

Ding “You are now in the chat!”

“Yes! Oh, thank God!” I squealed in relief.

“Ms. Montoya? Is everything alright?” An old masculine voice came out of my laptop.

“Oh, yes, sorry. I was having connection problems… How are you today, Mr. Malcolm?” I smiled brightly even though I was ready to implode.

“Yes, I am doing well, thank you. Um, where are you currently?” The man’s bushy grey eyebrows furrowed together.

“Hehehe, I am on a bus on my way to a training camp for my hero course students. I couldn’t get out of coming since I was their counselor. I hope you don’t mind this.” I scratched the back of my neck.

“No, it’s alright, just happy to see you were able to work this meeting in with your schedule. I hope you are enjoying your time in Japan. The rest will be joining us in a moment. If you don’t mind, can you wear any earbuds or headphones? That way, the meeting stays confidential.”

I nodded, “Of course, sir. Just give me a second while I find…” I shuffled around to my purse to look for my Bluetooth earbuds but struggled to find them. The next thing I knew, they were in my face. I looked up to see Aizawa holding them out for me. “Thank you. Alright, I have them now.”

Shortly the rest of the people showed up at the meeting. The last person being Gemini. He looked extremely pleased to be in the meeting, which made me nervous. Which was probably the point. I stayed silent as they read over my file and my case. It had everything from when I enrolled in U.A. to my internships all the way to my job right now as a counselor. “So, from the updates, we have gotten from your boss Nezu and your coworker and pro hero Eraserhead, it seems that you have been following the guidelines of your suspension, which is good to hear. However, there seems to be this information about these phone calls that Gemini wanted to address.” Oh no… it was hard to hear what was said. My heart was thumping in my ears. “It seemed to be located through the Gemini Agency and U.A., meaning there was possible communication between you and someone at the agency. Which does violate the terms of the suspension.”

That’s why he kept calling…

“So, I am sorry, Ms. Montoya, as much as I would love to lift your suspension early. We would have to wait until the beginning of next year to review everything again and see if you can work in the U.S. again. However, we will allow you to continue your counseling job at Cal A if you decide that you don’t want to stay your whole suspension in Japan. I hope you have a good day.”

“Thank you. Have a good day.” I attempted to not look upset, but who knows if I was able to mask it or not. I clicked the leave button once everyone started to leave and closed my laptop. I saw Aizawa and the Wild Wild Pussycats waiting patiently from the corner of my eye to see what happened. I chewed my bottom lip to prevent myself from crying in front of people I barely knew. I felt like that was a sign for Aizawa to come up and sit next to me, gently grabbing my laptop out of my hands. He then wrapped an arm around my shoulders and softly moved my head to rest on his right shoulder. He then looked at the team of heroes and gave them a sad smile, and shook his head to motion them not to talk about the meeting or ask anything.

I felt him stroke my hair and rest his mouth just an inch away from my head to whisper, “You’ll be okay, Mai.”

The rest of the bus ride was short but quiet, so it felt agonizingly long. I felt bad that I let the mood shift so low. But we did end up there before the students were even halfway through the forest. Aizawa helped me with my suitcase while we walked off the bus into the building. “Huh. I expected an actual camp. But that’s because Eraser didn’t give me much description about your headquarters.”

“Oh yeah, that’s mainly because it’s his first time here. He’s only been to our old location a couple years back.” Mandalay explained. “I hope you don’t mind, but you’ll be rooming with me. The building might look big, but most of the rooms are meeting rooms, tech rooms, or just empty.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I just appreciate that you made room for me to come.” I quickly waved my hands in front of me as she giggled at my reaction.

“She’s a cutie, Eraser. No wonder you used to like her!” Mandalay teased.

I just looked behind me at the man standing with my suitcase. “What is she talking about?”

Aizawa’s face was mixed with embarrassment and discontent, “Nothing, I’m putting our stuff inside, and then I’m taking a nap. The students won’t be here for another hour.”

“Awe, the poor grump is embarrassed.” Mandalay leaned against me, smirking, “We met around the time you were last in Japan a few years back. So he mentioned you and was annoyed by the fact that he wasn’t over you. I thought it was cute but stupid that he didn’t do anything about it.” Someone doesn’t mind keeping things to herself. “That’s actually the reason why we didn’t work out when we tried dating. I kind of felt that his heart wasn’t in it because he was still caught up in what could’ve been with you.” She gave me a genuine smile, “Don’t worry, my heart wasn’t in it either, so there aren’t any hard feelings. I’m just happy to finally meet the one that got away.”

My mouth was left hanging as my cheeks heated. I didn’t know how to respond to that. How would anyone respond to that?

She laughed again, “You are so cute. C’mon, let me show you around the place. Maybe this camp will be like a week-long slumber party with us girls?” This was going to be an interesting week for sure. Why did I agree to this?

—————

The poor students were exhausted and took about an extra hour longer than expected. I felt terrible, but Aizawa dropped this on me like he did them, so I couldn’t do anything but nag him about it. Luckily, their actual training wasn’t starting until tomorrow. I just continued to act as if everything was normal and try to push past the news I got early.

As the Pussycats were giving them a tour around the place, I was just unpacking my suitcase to get my training outfit ready for tomorrow. It wasn’t anything special, just some running pants and a sports bra. I was also getting my nightshirt and shorts ready for when I needed to change later for bed. The Pussycats also provided the students a meal since they felt bad for leaving them to work so hard to get to camp. I sat with Mandalay and her nephew, who was looking for an opportunity to sneak away from the room.

“Mai, can I ask you a huge favor?” Mandalay spoke up. I simply nodded in response, “Do you think you can maybe talk with Kota? I feel like he needs to see someone about what happened to him and his parents. But I don’t want to take him to a therapist yet since he’s so young.”

“Well, there are children psychologists, but I don’t mind helping you out. It’s better than doing nothing.” I gave her a reassuring smile when all of a sudden, my phone vibrated. I looked down and saw it was an unknown number with a video message. “Excuse me for a second, I have to check this. We could talk about a time to set up a meeting with Kota when I come back.”

I got up from the table and into the hallway as I opened the message.

Unknown Number

It was nice seeing you again, my lovely flower. I just wanted to give you a little momentum for our time together. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Maybe now you’ll remember to never test me. I own your career. With one simple video, you can kiss your hero career goodbye. You can always just apologize for defying me and stay being my little flower.

I regretted opening the video file. How can someone be so vile? I felt like I was going to throw up.

The video was of the night that would haunt me in my nightmares. The only view the camera had was of my face and body being violated. No one watching the video would never know who was the one filming or the one violating me. I was seventeen, drugged up, and influenced by Gemini’s mind control quirk. And it was all filmed. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the horrifying sight. I was trying to not be upset all day, and he knew it. He somehow always knew what I was doing. It was like once he got in my head, he knew my every thought and move. My privacy, my autonomy, were not really mine after him. I quickly got out of the conversation and put my phone away. I’ll just pretend it didn’t happen and sleep it off.

To say I was jittering the rest of the night would be an understatement. I felt uncomfortable like bugs were crawling all over me. I would jump whenever the students or Aizawa would try and talk to me. I even shrunk away from Aizawa when he tried to grab my shoulder to get my attention. He looked a little offended but didn’t press me. It wasn’t until Mandalay mentioned something that I had to explain why I was so jumpy.

“I’m just thinking about my meeting, I was trying to ignore what happened, but it sneaked up on me.” I shrugged.

“I understand. Do you maybe want to use the hot spring after the students to relax and wash the bad news and stress away?” I gave her a nod and a tight lip smile. “Cool, I’ll get the robes and towels then so we can get started.” Mandalay was really nice. And really pretty, I could see why Aizawa liked her. Such a shame they didn’t last. They would’ve been perfect.

When she came back to the living room, Midoriya came running in with an unconscious Kota. “What happened?” We both went up to look at Kota. I moved out of my spot on the couch to have Midoriya set Kota down.

“Mineta was climbing up the wall to try and peep at the girls on the other side, and Kota stopped him but fell. I don’t know how he passed out, though. I caught him before he fell into the water.” Midoriya explained awkwardly, standing in a towel. I went to grab another towel to wet it so it could be placed on Kota’s forehead.

“Eraserhead mentioned that one of you boys was a little girl crazy. So I posted Kota up there to make sure the boy didn’t do anything. I could assume that it was the fall that made him pass out. Thank you.” Mandalay spoke while I handed her the wet towel, and she placed it on Kota. Midoriya shifted around a little, worried about the kid. He then asked about why Kota was so inanimate about pro heroes. Since Mandalay already told me about it, I suggested that I leave them alone to talk while I check on the rest of the students and lecture Mineta.

I waited until all the students were in their rooms to go talk to them. All went well on the girls and with the rest of the boys. However, with Mineta, let’s just say my lecture went in through one ear and out the other. So, I opted to go disrupt Aizawa to talk to Mineta. Unfortunately, he was not in his room. I ran into Tiger in the hallway as I was walking out of Aizawa’s room, “Hey, Tiger, have you seen Eraserhead? I need to talk to him about one of the students.”

“Last time I saw him, he was heading to the hot spring after the students went to their rooms.” The large man was in his normal civilian wear now, a t-shirt with a cat face on it and some Capri running pants. He was wearing some kitten slippers to walk inside the building with. It was different from his uniform but not far away from the cat theme. And Aizawa used to wonder why I didn’t hang around cat people back when we were kids.

“Thank you, Tiger. Have a goodnight, bub.” I grinned up at him as I rushed to the hot spring. He chided a goodnight as I passed by and went into his room.

Sure enough, the grumpy slug was relaxing in the hot spring like he had nothing to do. I removed my slippers to slip into some sandals laid out at the entrance to the hot spring and quietly made my way behind the man hovering over his peaceful frame in the water. He was laying back on the rocks displayed at the edge of the spring with his eyes closed and arms stretched out. His hair was damped and was pushed back out of his face. His breathing was steady, with his chest slowly rising and falling. I couldn’t help but stare a little as I crossed my arms and waited for him to notice me.

“Take a picture. It will last longer, pervert.” The man leaned his head back and opened his charcoal grey eyes that reflected the night sky above us.

I raised an eyebrow at him and started tapping my foot, not amused by his comment.

“What do you want, Mai?”

“Mineta tried to peek at the girls while they were using the hot spring, and he didn’t want to listen to me, so I need you to scare him.”

“Right now?” The man started to close his eyes and moved his head back to its original position.

“Yes.”

“I never get to relax. Can I do it in the morning? Maybe I can make him do extra training as punishment along with the lecturing?” He suggested. I stayed quiet because I didn’t feel like that was enough of a punishment. Maybe it was my own personal feelings kicking in, but I really wanted this kid to learn to not be such a perverted creep. I didn’t want him to be doing the same shit Gemini was to his future women colleagues. Aizawa leaned back again to look at me, “Is that not a good punishment?”

“Nope.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

“Castration.”

Aizawa’s eyes widened, and then he stood up from his spot and turned his whole body in my direction. Which he shouldn’t have done. The water cascading down his body was a little distracting. How did I not notice his muscles like this when I was bandaging him up? Since when did he have body hair? And why do I like it? God, Mai, this is not the time… “Should I be concerned that you want to castrate a student?” He had a happy trail… and toned wet abs…. Jesus Christ, I’m acting like Mineta. “Mai?”

I looked up to his eyes as he looked at me, waiting, “No, it was a joke. That’s all.” I turned my cheek to hide the blush creeping up my face.

He folded his arms, which made both his arms and chest bulge and not helping me pay attention to his face, “Is there something wrong?” He raised an eyebrow at me and had a subtle smirk plastered on his face. Great, he knows that I was unintentionally checking him out.

“Nope, nothing’s wrong, just a student harassing other students.”

“Right, nothing else?”

“Nope.”

“You know when you lie, your voice gets higher, and your eyes start widening while you get pouty and raise your eyebrows.” He gave me a knowing smirk. I hate this. I would prefer not to get teased right now.

“I do know that. That’s why I choose not to lie. Because I am a bad liar.” I honestly said. Not budging.

We stared at each other with folded arms in silence.

“Fine, you can talk to him in the morning. Only because it’s really late.” I gave in, letting out an exasperated sigh and unfolding my arms.

“Okay. I promise I’ll castrate him while I’m at it.” He chuckled, making me let out a breathy one of my own.

“Alright, well, I’m going to go to bed now and leave you alone. Goodnight.” I had an effortless and genuine smile on my face. Leave it for the grump to get me in a better mood without even trying.

“Mai, wait.” I turned back to see Aizawa lean forward on the edge of the hot spring, his head resting on his forearms. “Do you want to talk about what happened in the meeting? Or maybe what happened in the hospital? Whichever is easier to tackle first. I kind of want to get things between us situated.”

I sat down on the floor across from him, “What did you want to situate?”

“Well, you seemed to be getting serious with Vlad, and well, we can’t ignore how we keep having certain moments with each other. I don’t want to string myself along, and I don’t want to hurt Vlad. And I’m sure you feel that way too.”

“This is the first time I’m having you talk about your feelings.” I joked a little.

“I thought I was over my feelings for you from high school. But I don’t know what’s been happening. I don’t know if my feelings are genuine or just me indulging in old forgotten feelings because I never got closure. It’s irrational. And I don’t act irrationally.” He looked at me seriously, “I think we need some sort of boundaries.”

Part of me agreed with him. Part of me also wanted to tell him that Vlad and I weren’t that serious. We were just new. Part of me wanted to jump into the spring and kiss his wet plump lips. They were just begging me to kiss them. Part of me wanted to ask him what he wanted to tell me at the hospital. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Most of me wanted to crawl into a hole and be forgotten.

I am not someone that Vlad or Aizawa should be with. It wasn’t fair to either of them if they were with me. So I made it up in my mind that I shouldn’t be with either of them. Though, something in Aizawa’s midnight eyes was telling me to not agree with him. Like he was pleading for me to say something else. “Maybe we should. It’s just juvenile to let old feelings dictate what we do. You’re right. It’s irrational.” I avoided his eyes. They tempted me, to tell the truth, which was buried in the pit of my heart. As I played with my fingers, my lips slipped out a question, “What were you going to tell me at the hospital before Midoriya interrupted?”

Now it was his turn to avoid my eyes and bury his face in his arms. It took him a minute to speak up. “I was going to say that I really wanted you to… I really wanted you to know that I loved you when we were kids. That it was never just a childish crush. I was just stupid and thought it was foolish to do something about it.”

“Hmmm… well, I guess I should tell you that I loved you too, I was just too naive to know that I was. So I just assumed I was misplacing my feelings because I never knew what love felt like.” Sadly, it took me dealing with everything I did after leaving to realize it was the real thing. “But I guess we were too late,” I muttered mainly to myself, not really wanting him to hear it.

“I guess.”

“Vlad and I aren’t that serious. He doesn’t even feel comfortable enough for me to call him by his given name. And it’s been a little awkward since that. So, I don’t think we’re going to last. It’s probably better off that way. I shouldn’t really be with anyone.” I hugged myself while looking at my knees. “I like Mandalay. She told me about you guys. I think you guys would’ve been cute. You guys both like naps and cats.” I joked a little more to lighten the mood.

“She’s a furry.”

“I thought you said that the Wild Wild Pussycats weren’t furries?”

“Oh, so you’re defending them now?” A small teasing smirk broke out of his face.

“At most, she’s a catgirl. Which is right up your ally.” After a second of thinking, I started to burst into laughter. “Ally cat!”

Aizawa looked incredibly confused, “Huh?”

“Ally cat! You’re an alley cat because you’re an underground hero!” It made no sense why I thought it was funny. Honestly, I would be confused too if I was in Aizawa’s position. But for some reason, it was funny to me at the moment. Maybe it was the sleepiness kicking in?

He still looked at me confused, but his eyes were warm, and he was grinning like an idiot. “You have such a broken sense of humor. I blame Oboro for that. He corrupted you with his stupid jokes.”

I pouted, “I think I have a great sense of humor. It’s a little on the dark side, but at least you know I can make light out of any situation!”

“Yeah, sure.”

“You think threatening students with expulsion is funny. You can’t judge anyone else’s humor.” I yawned. “Alright, I think now, I should go. Anything else we need to discuss before I hibernate?”

He looked at me with a soft boyish closed-lip grin, “No, go to sleep. You need to rest before training tomorrow. Have a goodnight, Mai.”

I yawned again as I got up, “Goodnight, Sho. Get some sleep too, don’t stay up too late.”

“I won’t. Lov…” I couldn’t hear the last part once I returned to the entrance of the hot spring. All I was able to hear was that Aizawa stopped himself before he finished it.

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Chapter 14

A/N: Sorry for going on a whole month hiatus with the story. I was swamped with college work and then I had slight writer’s block. But hopefully, that’s all over now. I’ll try to update more frequently. Thank you for being very understanding.  

Warnings: None, swf. Long chapter. 

Shouta Aizawa x OC  (Mai Montoya, Pro Hero Zion) 

If you want to read of the events before this chapter here is the Master List

I heard a thump in the next room and a groan in pain; I rushed over to my guest room to see Aizawa dropped a box on his foot. I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Mic, Vlad, and Midnight came rushing in to see the commotion and were confused to see me dying of laughter while Aizawa sat on the floor holding his foot.

“What happened?” Vlad asked.

Midnight took joy in seeing me laugh at Aizawa, “Clearly someone is a sadist. Mai is laughing at Aizawa’s pain.”

I wiped my eyes and held my stomach, “It’s not my fault. I told him not to handle heavy things because he barely recovered. He didn’t listen, and now he got hurt.” Once I composed myself, I grabbed the box he dropped and moved to unpack it, “Nemuri, I have ice packs in my freezer. Can you grab Aizawa one?”

Nemuri left to the kitchen while the two men were still standing dumbfounded. Aizawa glared at them, “You guys can go back to hanging stuff on the walls. We’re fine.” Mic threw his hands up while Vlad huffed. I couldn’t help but grin a little. Aizawa scooched over next to me to help me get the stuff out of the box while trying to figure out where to put everything. Nemuri came back in and gave him the ice pack not without kissing his cheek and leaving to go back to my room and organize my desk area. “This whole box is just books. Why did you bring all of this if you knew it was only going to be a year?”

“Because I didn’t trust my cousin with my books. I’ve collected them since before I started school. They’re my babies.” I hugged the books I had in my hands and slightly cradled them.

Aizawa just shook his head at me while taking more books out. “I’m almost positive you haven’t read all of them.”

“Yes, I have…. Okay, maybe at least more than half of them.” I pouted. “I’ve been busy.” Aizawa simply huffed and nodded in response. “I am going to go check in on Vlad and Mic. I’ll send you a picture of how I had my bookshelf back at home.” I heard a scoff come out from him as I walked out and texted him the photo. I simply ignored it.

Walking into my living room, I see Vlad adjusting a large frame with a picture of our graduating class, all while Mic was sitting on the couch. “Do you think I should move more to the left or the right?” Vlad called out.

“Honestly, I feel like the spot is okay. You just have it crooked.” Mic sat comfortably with his feet on the couch and a bottle in his hand.

I glided off the ground to go and help Vlad readjust the frame marking where the corners met the wall as Vlad went to grab the hammer and nails. He snuck a quick kiss on my forehead as he hammered away, “Thanks, Mai. I’m happy to have help.”

I giggled slightly and lightly slapped his shoulder, “You’re the one helping me out here. I should be thanking you.” I almost instinctively went in to kiss his cheek but was interrupted by a slight grumble coming from the blond laying on my couch. I turned over to Mic and pursed my lips, “Yes, Mr. Yamada?”

He took a swig of his beer, “Don’t call me that. But anyhoo, please refrain from being all cutesy in front of me. I didn’t even know you guys were a thing.”

“Who’s a thing?” Midnight walked in with an empty box.

“Mai and Vlad. I just saw them making out.” Mic cringed.

“I highly doubt they were doing that. They’re very reserved. But that’s cute that you guys are together. I’m happy for you.”

I slowly went back to the ground and was a blushing mess, “Well, uh… “

“We haven’t made it official; we just been on one date, really. It’s mainly just us flirty back and forth. We thought that with the extra time from work and the students this week. We could squeeze a few more dates.” He draped his arm around me and smiled excitedly.

“That is, if nothing happens with any of the students during their work-study, I’m responsible for them if things occur because I am their counselor.” I shrugged. I motioned Kayama to come outside with me to show her where to put the empty boxes. I felt Mic’s eyes on me. It felt like I was doing something wrong. The judgment seeped through my skin.

I set the box on top of a stack of other boxes in the storage unit behind the building, “Don’t worry about Yamada. You know he gets protective of you.” Nemuri reassured me.

“I know, but it feels like it’s a different kind of negative aura. Almost like he was annoyed by the idea of Vlad and me. It’s barely anything like Vlad said. He doesn’t need to get so crabby.” I shrugged and hung my head low.

“He’s probably madder about Aizawa than about you.” Nemuri let out a small grin. Her hand reached over to rub my back. Nemuri was always like a big sister figure for all of us in the group, so I guess it’s just natural to play things off like it’s nothing because she’s seen it all before.

“Why would he mad at Aizawa? This has nothing to do with him.” I looked up at her like a confused child looking at an older adult.

“Oh, just Aizawa pissed him off about something, so he’s just a little annoyed, is all.” She brushed off, but I could tell she was holding something in. “But honestly, it’s good to see you see someone romantically for once. Even if it isn’t much right now, things like relationships grow anyways.” I simply nodded.

“I feel a little weird about it, to be honest,” I admitted. I liked the attention Vlad was giving me but it kind of felt off because of my circumstances. I only ever dated two people briefly, and the rest were casual hookups because I never really felt like I could be committed to someone. Between my hero work and then my own personal issues, it’s hard to believe someone would even want something serious with me.

“Why?”

“With what happened to Lily, and, you know, me planning to leave at the end of the year. I just don’t feel like it’s appropriate to start dating someone. Even if it just happened and I’m actually pretty happy with it.” I switched my gaze to the view of campus, “I feel like it’s not a good idea to be dating.”

“Then maybe communicate that with Vlad. He’s a very logical and understanding person.”

“I guess you’re right…” Beep. Beep. Beep. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and saw a call coming from an unknown number. I decided it was best to ignore it. Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Maybe you should answer that.” Nemuri giggled.

“I don’t know the number.” I sighed and answered the call, “Hello?”

“Mai?” An all too familiar voice rang through my ear. A voice that I shouldn’t hear from at all.

Gemini.“What do you want, Brandon?” Nemuri looked a little concerned, but I quickly shook my hand to let her know everything was fine.

“How’s Japan?” Is he serious right now?

“It’s fine, you do know you, and I aren’t allowed to be speaking during my suspension, right? Or did Captain Celebrity give you too many concussions that you forgot?” I rolled my eyes, trying to conceal the annoyance in my voice but failing miserably.

“Oh no, I am very well aware. I just had to know how my little poppy flower is doing? No suspension can prevent me from wondering.” I heard the evil smirk running across his voice. “Missing me? Or are you still pretending to act like a victim?”

“I’m hanging up. Go fuck yourself, Brandon. You’re better off by yourself and away from other people.”

“Now, that’s not very nice, Poppy. I just wanted to let you know that I can’t wait to have you back at work under me…” I hung up my phone and decided to text Nezu about getting a new phone number. Not even a stupid suspension and judge sentence can get that man off my back.

Nemuri gently grabbed my hand. “Mai, you’re shaking. What did he say to you?”

“It’s nothing. I’m just annoyed that I have to change my number again.” I gave her a reassuring smile. “Let’s just go back inside and finish up my apartment; please, I have a lot of emails to go through from teachers and parents.” Nemuri simply nodded but kept her hands in mine as we walked back into the apartment.

We walked in as Aizawa stormed out and shoving Nemuri and me into the door. We both turned over to look at Mic. He hesitantly spoke, trying to figure out how to explain what happened. I knew better to know that he was trying to find a way to cover for his best friend. “Um, apparently he needed to help with a case, and you know he’s not injured, so he’s a little excited to be working again.” He let out a nervous smile.

I let out a groan and ran out to catch up to Aizawa, “Recovery Girl told him that he still needed time before he did patrols; why is he like this?” Too bad, the man quickly vanished. “Idiot. I swear if he ends up injured again, I’m not taking care of him again.”

I made my way back inside with awaiting eyes watching me. I simply huffed and shrugged, indicating to them that I couldn’t find him. Mic approached me as I went into the kitchen to grab a water bottle. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “He was fine until I mentioned you and Vlad we sort of a thing.”

I met with the emerald eyes that were peering into me, “Yeah, I kind of figured it wasn’t actually patrolling. He even said during lunch today that he wasn’t going to be patrolling any time soon. That he was going to take the week off from teaching the class to build up his strength.”

Mic huffed, “So you and he weren’t having any weird hang-ups? I can’t think of any reason why you and Vlad would piss him off.”

I took a sip of my water and shrugged, “Beats me. I don’t know everything about him.”

“Don’t you two have some unspoken connection?” Mic pursed his lips in genuine confusion.

“No, we don’t. If anything, he’s just grumpy to see Vlad happy. Remember, they have a weird competitive colleague relationship going on.” I tried my best not to sound so irritated. But I wasn’t in the mood to be dealing with Aizawa’s shenanigans after my little call from Gemini. “I thought you guys knew everything about each other.”

“Well, we kind of do, meaning I know about your little panic attack after the festival. And you know the almost kiss…” He raised an eyebrow at me condescendingly. As if I was a child being ratted out for misbehaving. “So, why are you dating Vlad instead of Aizawa?”

“Because I like Vlad and that almost kiss? It was just a reaction due to emotional stress and old feelings. Nothing too serious to focus on. Nothing happened after that. Plus, Vlad is nice to me.”

“Bullshit, what about this morning?” This morning? “In the nurse’s office? Longing pause between you both, you in his arms, the slow leaning in with the undying urge to mold into one another? Doesn’t ring any bells?”

I scowled at him, “That was nothing. You weren’t even there. How did you even know about that?”

“If it’s nothing, why are you mad that I know anything. Face it. You guys still have feelings towards each other.” He grinned like a mad man, “And if you guys do, then that’s good. I always felt that you guys were the closest thing to soulmates.”

“Soulmates, my ass. The guy ditched me in third year and then never wanted to keep in contact with me for fourteen years.” I couldn’t help but laugh in annoyance at Mic. “Stop trying to paint Aizawa out to be a nice person. He still did all of that and never fully apologized for it. If you were my friend, you would be happy that I’m starting something with someone that has only treated me well.” I stared into his eyes with nothing but sternness. “I get that Shota is a good person, with a lot of baggage. But so does everyone else. I’m sorry that I can’t look past that he’s treated me wrongly because of the few times he’s treated me like a human being since I’ve been back.” My eyes were slightly stinging at this point, “If I forgave so easily and didn’t hold it against people for what they did wrong to me, then I would be like all the other female pros in the U.S. being used and abused. And I’m tired of all of that. I’m tired of having to be the bigger person. If he has a problem with me being with someone else, that’s his own problem, not mine.”

Hizashi’s face fell in concern as he moved to wipe the tear falling from my eyes, “Okay. I get it. But maybe you shouldn’t be falling for the first person that does treat you the way you want to be treated too. You are worth more than that.” It’s hard for me even to believe that I am even worth anything at this point. I can’t wait to have you back at work under me…

“Vlad isn’t the first. And it’s new, so don’t act like it’s so serious.” I took a breath and wiped my face.

“And maybe you shouldn’t be dating with that mindset either; that’s not fair to Vlad. But if you’re having fun and enjoying yourself with his company, I guess that’s all that matters. Just please stop leading on Sho.”

“I’m not the one leading anyone on,” I grumbled.

“Well, I don’t know about that. You are a natural flirt. You never know when you have someone falling for you.” Hizashi moved a few pieces of hair out of my face and kissed my forehead.

You are a natural flirt. You never know when you have someone falling for you. That’s not really something I needed to hear right now.

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