#Also he showed me how to peel a lychee so if it’s weird he started being weird first …

[idontmindifuforgetme]

No bc I mean it when I say I’m mentally ill in the least quirky way possible bc today at work I was stressed out to the point of tears about something and so I absentmindedly took the patient’s form to my doctor boss . And so he takes it and is like come w me and then he takes to his office and gives me a lychee. And I’m like omg I never peeled a lychee before. And he’s like really?? And he pauses what he’s doing to take me to the kitchen and show me how to peel a lychee. The lychee he gave me is still in my backpack . As you can surmise my fatherless heart wasn’t normal about this

[neubauje]

BEGT ch. 9

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 AO3 mirror

The commute back home is a little more awkward than usual, with All Might's bare legs and trench coat combination earning quite a few more stares this time, the whole train seeming on edge about whether he's about to try to flash them all... Even Eraserhead leans against the wall this time, rather than Toshinori's side. He earns himself a bit of a tender shoulder from the rocking and bumping of the ride, but at least can pretend to not be associated with 'the tall creep in the trench coat' for a little while. Toshinori glances around with a grimace, recognizes it as a lost cause, and crosses his arms across his chest and hangs his head, catching a few Zs of his own. This time Aizawa is the one to wake him up with a nudge to the elbow, a few stops early to make sure he'd remembered the right one.

Once Toshinori is able to get changed back into some comfortable clothes, the two of them follow much the same routine as the previous night, albeit this time with a more proper meal cooked over the stove. Yagi perks up after dinner as he peels the gauze from Shouta's face, slowly breaking into a grin. "Well hey, your face looks a lot better than yesterday!" He leans in to get a closer look as he wraps the casts in plastic bags again, noting how the bruising is less purple and more yellow, and the gash under Aizawa's right eye has scabbed over and shrunken a little. "Yeah, that's probably gonna leave a good scar, but at least it's not infected." He also notes silently that the usually-scruffy teacher is getting especially scruffy today, with less 'stubble' or 'five o'clock shadow' and more 'nearly-full beard.' It might be time to try a few more grooming exercises. "Think you'd be up for a shave and a tooth brush, or is your jaw still too sore for that?" (more under the cut)

Aizawa, freed of his scarf and shirt once more, tilts and stretches his head and jaw, testing it out a little. "I could try. If not tonight, then tomorrow." He shuffles into the bathroom and cranes in closer to the mirror, getting a better look at what's been hiding under the bandages. Toshinori grabs the toothbrush and paste from the duffel in the bedroom, then follows behind and flips on the second set of lights, above the mirror, and sets the water running. Thankfully, the last round of healing has gotten rid of enough damage to be able to withstand the tooth brush, so they proceed with caution to the shaving cream. Hopped up on a new round of painkillers but unable to talk with a five-bladed razor against his throat, Aizawa instead lets his eyes sink closed as he holds still, slipping into a shallow, slightly-loopy meditation. The fingers against his bruised face and neck are sure but tender, their callouses catching on the stubble before it's scraped away.

"So, before all this happened... I'd been thinking about what you told me," Toshinori mumbles softly, still focused on the task at hand to make sure not to cut his guest, or poke too harshly at the bruising.

"Hmm?" Aizawa cracks open one eye, still trying to hold still. A quick glance toward the mirror shows Toshinori's lanky form looming over him, arms at awkward positions to get the right angle against the grain. They're about halfway done.

"About teaching the students to pick their battles. So they don't have to fight too far out of their elements." He grimaces, dropping his voice a little lower. "Like you did. I'm... sorry about that, by the way. I really should have been there to help."

"No." Caught off-guard at the firm negation, Yagi looks up to catch Shota's eyes in the mirror, "If you had been there from the beginning, their plan would have actually worked. You would have died. We probably all would have. This was likely the best possible outcome." Aizawa lets his eyes sink shut again, "But what were you going to say, about the teaching."

"Oh, right." Toshinori clears his throat softly, and spits a little glob of blood into the sink, rinsing it down the drain before continuing at Aizawa's opposite temple. "Well, I don't have the kind of stamina required to tutor all the students personally, but... I was thinking of a few ways to guide them through tutoring each other, in a way." He sticks the razor under the water and taps it against the sink, ducking in under Aizawa's chin to make sure he hasn't missed any spots. "What if we made an obstacle course? Like stringing along the different parts of the USJ, and challenging the students to get a best score as a team? It would be like they were working as Pros under the same agency." He scrapes off the last of the shaving cream and applies some aftershave, admiring the smooth texture along Aizawa's jaw.

Safe from the razor, Aizawa relaxes into Toshinori's palm with a soft sigh, savoring the brief pause. "Using the classroom to simulate an agency... that's a good idea. I'm not sure an obstacle course would be the best way to implement it, but it's a start." Lifting his head, the battle-worn teacher glances toward the shower, then applies a sudden burst of erasure-based telekinesis, lifting his hair, a nearby towel, and the waistline of his pants a few inches in the air, only to let them fall to the floor upon release. A little bolder this time, he leads the way and continues plotting out ideas with All Might for how to set up mock-agency simulations over the course of the next ten days.

Once they've finished in the bathroom and gotten the plastic bags removed and replaced with dry pajamas, the two teachers still have a bit of energy and time left over. Toshinori grabs the couch cushions and a couple pillows from the bed and sets the couch back up for sitting, along with the ice packs for each arm. "Let's see... we got Godzilla Vs. Mothra, or Die Hard, or... the first Captain America movie?" He glances back at Aizawa, who seems to be fussing with the pillows, trying to use one knee to scoot them over. "Shouta? What are you-"

"I don't care what movie. Just pick one." The shorter teacher seems satisfied and plops down onto the couch, on the opposite side from where Toshinori had intended to set him up. With a shrug, the host pops in the monster fight and settles in on the other side after making sure the ice packs are steadily strewn along the length of both casts. He squirms and lifts his left arm to accommodate as Shota scoots in closer against his side, pushing the pillow up onto his lap with the ice-laden arm atop it.

Toshinori takes a moment to sort out the bag of frozen peas about to slip off the other arm, then sighs deeply and sinks into the cushions with his arm draped around Aizawa's shoulders, like a softer, more casual version of their rides on the subway. "Comfy?"

Aizawa glances up at Yagi with a little smile, nods, and nestles into the crook of his arm, careful not to jostle into the giant scar on the other hero's ribs, now that he knows it's there. They hardly get into the first battle of the movie before the warm weight against Yagi's side grows to be too heavy to indicate anything other than the other man having fallen asleep already. Toshinori indulges in gently teasing his long fingers through Aizawa's even-longer hair, slowly combing the locks apart to help them dry. The smaller housemate barely stirs, mumbling softly under his breath before nudging in against Toshinori again. Yagi sighs and watches through the movie again, plucking the ice packs away to set on the coffee table when he notices them starting to thaw and drip. The older hero eventually goes back to toying gently with those long black curls even after they've finished drying, almost falling asleep himself until the big finale of the boss fight wakes them both up enough to get properly into bed, this time with just the one alarm set.

With a few hours to spare in the morning before they would have to get ready for work, All Might checks to make sure Eraserhead is still asleep before popping off to the mall again. Half an hour later, he returns with a set of old-fashioned walkie talkies, and a pack of little single-serving microwaveable bowls. He uses them as egg rings to make breakfast sandwiches, with lychee-flavored applesauce on the side.

The next day, he returns with brightly-colored headbands, wet erase markers, and two spare pillows for the bedroom, to replace the couch cushions they'd been using for props.

The day after that, a fold-up chair makes its way into the kitchen, across from where the laptop is set up with the other chair already, and a pack of disposable drinking straws and four pairs of scissors find their way to the podium in the 1-A classroom.

Before the week is up, All Might's 'bachelor pad' is looking decidedly more like it houses two, not just the one. All Might spends an extra hour or two keeping up with dishes, laundry, and general spot-cleaning (especially the mess that the bathroom tends to get into). Aizawa helps where he can, and drafts together a curriculum to build off of All Might's initial ideas. But his real assistance comes in forcing Toshinori to actually stick to the prescribed schedule of vigilant snacking and high-nutrient intake, and... it's starting to show. The Number One Hero, in both of his drastically-different forms, appears less gaunt in the face, with a more vibrant shine to his golden skin and hair, and more spring in his step. Eraserhead and Recovery Girl conspire in secret and congratulate each other on this remarkable improvement. Even Present Mic catches Aizawa aside during lunch one day, pulling him into the Teacher's lounge to talk for a few minutes.

"Eraserhead, my MAN!" Mic loops an arm around the bulk of Aizawa's scarf, that electric grin mere inches from his face. "Word's gotten round that you're staying with All Might the past few days? Is that right? Man, what is that LIKE! Gotta be super weird, I thought you didn't even LIKE the flashy celebrity heroes like him!"

Aizawa, his arms perpetually folded, leans back against the wall by the door, good-naturedly letting his old childhood friend talk his way circuitously to a point. "I may have originally been too quick to judge. It's been an interesting week." With his face obscured once more in bandages, Aizawa at least can rest assured that his expression won't betray him.

Hizashi leans against the couch arm, subconsciously mirroring the guarded (cast-reinforced) pose of his old friend. "I guess I'm just confused why you chose All Might to stay with in the first place. You know you could have come to stay with me, right, buddy?" He reaches up to pull off his headphones, fidgeting with them a little. "I mean, you're okay, right? He's treating you right? I guess I was just a little hurt that you didn't even think to ask me."

"Yes, Yamada. I'm fine." Aizawa tilts his head a little, contemplating the secondary question. "I went to stay with him because he offered. You never have. Simple as that."

"Oh, is that all! Well dude! Consider this your offer!" Mic grins and sets his headphones back on, clapping Eraserhead firmly on one (still slightly tender) shoulder. Aizawa tries not to flinch.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll let you know if anything changes." He turns to the door and carefully wedges an elbow into the handle, dragging it open enough to stick a foot in and pull it the rest of the way. Taking the hint, Hizashi leaps up and grabs the door, holding it the rest of the way as Aizawa makes his leave.

"Alright, then, have fun with your sleepover!!" Mic calls after the retreating form of Eraserhead, loudly enough for the whole hallway to hear.

Chapter 10 (rated M) - Chapter 11 (rated M) [...] Chapter 14