Chapter Text
Shinso had no idea how to plan a second date. And the person he’d usually go to for advice, or at least to calm his nerves, was also the person that he was supposed to be planning the date for.
He still wasn’t sure what dating Aizawa meant. Was he allowed to just barge in on him at the dorm like he always had? He didn’t think so, the idea felt intrusive now. And potentially misleading.
The evening after their first date, Shinso was going through his nightly routine, when the buzz of his phone vibrating cut through the silence of his apartment. It was Aizawa. Being a Monday, he would have taught classes during the day, and was probably tired. But he was still taking time out of his day for Shinso.
Shinso’s day had involved routine surveillance, nothing too strenuous but it did require a reasonable amount of focus, which meant he hadn’t had a lot of time to process the development in their relationship.
“H- Hello…” he answered.
“Hey,” Aizawa greeted. Shinso could hear the warmth in his voice. “I’ve been thinking about our next date…”
“Me too.”
“I don’t want to wait until the weekend to see you, so do you want to come over for dinner tomorrow? I only have a small kitchen here, so it won’t be much, but at least it’ll be me and you. What do you say?”
It was strange how something that was so familiar, felt so exciting now.
“Yes. That sounds good.”
“Great. I’ll see you whenever you get off work. Goodnight, Hitoshi.”
“Goodnight… Shota…” Shinso returned, cheeks slightly warm as he ended the call. Using the older man’s first name was taking a little getting used to, but he liked it. It made him feel special, made this feel special. He was finally taking the first steps in the kind of relationship he’d been waiting for.
- - -
The following day, Shinso got through his work in record time. He had to interrogate three low-level villains with suspected ties to an underground criminal organisation. It wasn’t a difficult task for him, with his quirk he could simply command them to tell the truth. Following that he quickly finished up his reports, and submitted them in time to leave by 4pm.
The more difficult part of the day came when he had to prepare for his date with Aizawa. It was tough trying to strike a balance between putting in some effort, but not acting too differently from how he usually did. Aizawa already liked him for who he was, but he wanted to signal that this opportunity meant something to him.
He chose a dark jacket and made sure his shirt was wrinkle-free. It wasn’t much, but enough to show that he cared. He picked up the cookies he’d grabbed on the way home, not wanting to show up empty-handed. This relationship needed to be a partnership, with them on equal terms.
Outside Aizawa’s door, Shinso hesitated, straightening his jacket before knocking. It wasn’t what he’d usually do, but this wasn’t one of his usual visits. This place had always been his refuge, somewhere he didn’t have to check himself, but that was gone now.
Aizawa answered the door, calm and casual, his hair pulled back in a ponytail. For a second Shinso froze, heart skipping a beat at the sight.
“Those for me?” Aizawa asked, nodding at the box in Shinso’s hand.
Shinso broke his gaze, and glanced down at the cat-themed cookies.
“Us. They’re for us.”
“Right,” Aizawa nodded, turning back towards the kitchen. “Come on in.”
Shinso followed him inside, slipping his shoes off as he entered the room he’d been in a hundred times already.
“I hope katsudon is okay, it’s simple after a day at work.”
“It’s fine,” Shinso confirmed, watching Aizawa crack some eggs. “You changed your hair…”
“Huh?” Aizawa said, looking up, eyepatch standing out more obviously on his face with his hair pulled back. “Oh this, it’s just easier when I’m cooking.”
So it wasn’t an intentional change, but it still made Shinso’s chest tighten, like something between them was quietly shifting.
“I like it…”
Aizawa paused at the shy compliment, the hint of a smile pulling at his lips.
“Are you flirting with me, Hitoshi?”
He had no idea how to answer that, so instead he rolled up his sleeves and rounded the counter.
“What can I do to help?”
Aizawa smiled and gently nudged his arm.
“You can start serving up the rice.”
“Okay.”
They worked quietly and efficiently together for the next few minutes until the dinner was ready.
They sat opposite each other at the small table to eat. Aizawa moved as usual, calm and confident, taking the shift in their dynamic in stride, while Shinso felt exposed and unsure. It was weird, he thought as he poked at the pork in his bowl. He felt like there was an imbalance here, one that hadn’t been there before, even when Aizawa was his teacher.
“I invited you tonight because I thought you might be worried about where the lines are now,” Aizawa said, interrupting Shinso’s thought. “So I wanted to break this ice. You are still welcome here any time.”
That was actually a big weight off him.
“Thank you. I did feel a little lost without the absolute surety of this place.”
“Understandable, this is new for both of us. But remember you can still talk to me. If something is bothering you or makes you nervous, tell me. These are things for us to figure out together.”
Maybe it wasn’t that Aizawa was older or used to be his sensei, maybe it was that he had more experience dating.
“I feel like you’re better at this than me,” Shinso admitted quietly.
Aizawa didn’t automatically dismiss it with an empty reassurance, instead he fixed a steady look on Shinso, ready to listen.
“How so?”
“You have this confidence that I don’t. Maybe it’s because you have more relationship experience than I do…”
A small smile curled Aizawa’s lips.
“I actually don’t. Not really.”
“Huh? But you’re thirty-seven…”
“What does that matter? I’ve basically spent my whole adult life living here, whipping kids into shape to be heroes. When would I have had time to date?”
“Sorry. I just assumed.”
“I mean Mic and I did have a bit of a thing for a while, but that was just circumstantial. It wasn’t romantic.”
He didn’t know how he was supposed to feel about that, only that something tightened in his chest for a moment. Unsure, he stayed silent.
“I think,” Aizawa continued. “It’s just that I’ve felt this way about you longer than you’ve seen me as a potential romantic partner. I’ve had more time to get used to the idea. I like you, Hitoshi. Of course none of this means you have to like me back.”
That was a lot to take in and Shinso didn’t want to rush things and say anything wrong, so instead he said the thing he felt most keenly right now.
“Thank you for understanding. Your honesty helps.”
Aizawa let him have space to think while they finished their meal.
After they’d finished dinner and cleared the table, Aizawa brewed some sencha. He picked up the cookie box and turned to Shinso.
“Should we open these?”
The cute kittens on the box appealed to him. Shinso nodded.
Aizawa settled on the couch, tea and cookies on the coffee table.
Usually they would keep a bit of space between them, but by declaring a romantic interest, Aizawa had removed that strict boundary. It was okay to want to be closer to him. Shinso sat down, so that their arms and thighs pressed together. He liked the way Aizawa felt solid beside him, the way they were sharing warmth.
“Just so you know,” Aizawa said, munching on a cookie. “This isn’t a real second date, I just wanted you to still be able to come here comfortably. We said we’d plan our second date together. Assuming you’re still interested, what kind of thing do you want to do, Hitoshi?”
“Oh, um…” He’d done a search on date ideas. “We could go to the aquarium or something..?”
“Are you particularly fond of fish?”
“Not really,” he had to admit, looking down at the cat cookie he’d nibbled the ear off. “I like cats.”
“Cats, huh… So how about a cat café? I think I might enjoy watching you fawn over them.”
The comment had Shinso’s cheeks warming up, but he also really wanted to go. As well as hanging out with the cats, he suddenly had heartwarming visions of seeing Aizawa play with them. The location had to be appealing to both of them though.
“That’s somewhere you’d really want to go?”
“With you. Yeah.”
Maybe without thinking, Aizawa punctuated his statement with a hand on Shinso’s thigh, resting just above his knee. Shinso froze, muscles tensing instinctively. It wasn’t that he didn’t want it, it was just that he wasn’t sure what to do next. How much was expected of him? Plus he was always worried about messing up the friendship they already had if he did something wrong.
Aizawa sensed his hesitation and quickly pulled his hand away, shifting over a little. But that was the last thing Shinso wanted.
“Sorry,” Aizawa immediately apologised. “I didn’t mean to rush you.”
“That’s not-“ Shinso said quickly, heart thudding. “I don’t mind. I just don’t have any experience with this part of dating. I don’t know what is and isn’t acceptable. Or what you expect.”
Aizawa studied him for a moment, shoulders relaxing.
“That’s an easy one. Anything you want to do and feel comfortable with is okay. I can match your pace.”
“But what if I’m too slow? What if you get tired of waiting?”
“It hasn’t happened yet…”
That was something Shinso was still trying to wrap his head around, that these feelings weren’t new on Aizawa’s side. Maybe he just needed to trust Aizawa like he always had. Believe him when he said this was enough for now.
“Don’t get lost in that brooding brain of yours,” Aizawa said. “Keep talking to me.”
Maybe if he had all the answers, it would be easier to move forward.
“You don’t have to answer this,” Shinso said. “But when did this start for you? How long have you felt this way..?”
Aizawa took the question on board, and took his time to answer.
“I’m not sure exactly,” Aizawa said after a moment. “Sometime after you graduated, I really started to miss you. And found myself hoping you’d drop by.”
He looked down at his tea.
“When you started dating, I knew it was for the best, that I needed to let you do that even if watching you get rejected time and again was hard.”
Aizawa lifted his gaze again, steady and unguarded.
“Eventually I came to realise that I wanted to be the one to care for you. But I had to let you try to find your own way.”
Shinso understood. As his former teacher, Aizawa had needed to be careful. But it had been four years since Shinso finished high school.
“So what changed? Why tell me now?”
“That day you came to me, you were so down, and then you started talking like the problem was you. I knew it was finally time to show you how worthy of being loved you are.”
A lump swelled in Shinso’s throat, so tight that he couldn’t say anything. Instead, he leaned against Aizawa, silently accepting the care that was offered.
They sat like that for a while, calm, comfortable, the certainty of previous visits rebuilding around a new reality.
Eventually he felt Aizawa draw in a breath to speak.
“So,” he said, as though the world hadn’t just shifted on its axis. “The cat café…”
Shinso huffed a quiet laugh.
“You’re serious about that?”
“Sure. How does Saturday sound? I’m free in the afternoon.”
“That works.”
“You want to pick the place?” Aizawa asked.
Rather than answer with words, Shinso pulled his phone from his pocket, and they spent the next few minutes huddled together over the screen, looking for a good place.
When they finally settled on one, Shinso sent the address to Aizawa.
“I should probably go,” he said, even though he had settled into the moment at last. “We both have work tomorrow.”
“Right,” Aizawa agreed.
At the door, they both lingered a little longer than necessary. Neither of them ready to move just yet. Then Aizawa reached out, brushing his knuckles lightly against Shinso’s hand.
“I’ll see you Saturday…”
“Saturday,” Shinso returned, a steady warmth filling his chest. It felt different now, less like coming and going, and more like sharing.
Once again the walk home felt lighter and he was leaving a date satisfied rather than disappointed. Aizawa had a way of making him feel safe and valued, and he was looking forward to seeing where their relationship would take them next.