#GO SHINSON YOU’RE DOING US SO PROUD ���

[maythebaebewithyou]

[ibelieveinahappilyeverafter]

To Land On Your Feet - Chapter 01

Bonjour, mes chers! So, near the end of March I wrote and posted the majority of this first chapter on my tumblr in response to a Popular Fic Meme post I took part in. I also, however, said that this would be continued on April 2nd, so here we are; the official To Land Land Your Feet Erasermic and Shinson story!

I meant to post this yesterday, but my body gave out on me as soon as I got home from my 11-hour school day. Hopefully you don't mind it's a touch late, but I added some more detail for those who have already read this - specifically around the fight in the second-to-last scene.

The uploading schedule for this will be a new chapter (maybe more) every Tuesday and Friday. There might be chapters outside of that, but those are the set days where you can expect new content. If this changes then you can expect me to give you a warning on my tumblr, and then with the latest chapter.

With all that out of the way...

Enjoy!

                Click here to read the work on Archive Of Our Own.

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Summary: Aizawa Shouta had a good life. He was a happily married pro-hero teacher, had two cats that loved to make his life difficult, and soon, if things went well, he would have Shinsou Hitoshi as a son. Thanks to an unexpected attack by a man with the League of Villains, though, Shouta is turned into a cat. While he had a fondness for cats, that never meant he wanted to be one, especially when no one seems to recognize him and his friends and family are trying to find him when he's right there.

He had been planning to find a way to change back, but instead he ends up following Shinsou Hitoshi to the foster home he lives in after hearing some worrying information from the teen himself. Shouta himself was guilty of venting his frustrations to cats, but hearing that Hitoshi would be locked outside in the cold if he was late getting home was just another clue among countless that something was wrong. He has to get back to normal, but he'd be a poor hero and a shit father-to-be if he didn't follow the kid and make sure he was okay. 

Besides, quirks like this usually had a time limit. Right? 

                                             <<Next Chapter>>

                                                Chapter One

“Shouta… I think it’s time that we had a serious talk.” Fingers twitching from where he was checking over his utility belt, Shouta looked to his husband, studying his expression for a moment before taking a deep, steadying breath. “It’s about your current batch of students.”

There wasn’t an ounce of seriousness in that man’s gaze and Shouta could see the laughter that Hizashi was fighting to hold back. “What about them, ‘Zashi?” It was an effort not to smile, himself, but Shouta knew from experience that smiling would only encourage him. “I told you not to do the lesson on English swearing.”

“Hey! Students love that lesson!” Hizashi’s complaint was more of a squawk than anything else, Shouta only humming to show that he was listening as he went back to checking over his belt. He was running low on caltrops. He would need to remember to place an order in for some more later. “A lot of them are improving, you know. Kaminari managed to get a 70 on his last test, even! A 70!”

“Bakugou has been forcing the annoyances to study,” Shouta snorted, checking the next few pouches quickly and efficiently. His patrol would start soon - hence why he was near the door and Hizashi kept trying to devise ways to get him to go back to the couch where Shouta had been happily napping before his alarm went off. “He insists that if they have enough energy to be annoying, then they have enough energy to apply themselves to their schoolwork.”

“For being a delinquent, he has pretty good grades.” It almost sounded like a complaint and, considering it was Hizashi saying those words, Shouta couldn’t stop his laugh. “I can tell when you’re laughing at me, you know.”

“I just find it rich that you’re calling someone a delinquent with good grades considering your own record.” Shouta grinned at Hizashi as the man sunk down on the couch, giving him a dramatic pout. It was even funnier considering this was the man who still held the school record for the most detentions in a single school year. He had also graduated top of the school with test records that remained unbroken. Nedzu had given him a little plaque for being an Official Pain at graduation and it was still hanging on their wall. “Stop pouting. I’ll be back soon.”

“You’re a full-time teacher,” Hizashi grumbled and whined, Shouta feeling his heart clench at the genuine worry that was hidden under those words. “Even I cut back on my patrols after a while. And with everything that’s been going on…”

Shouta couldn’t blame Hizashi for his worry. There had been an increase in villainy even before the school year started, but now with USJ, Kamino Ward, and the dorms being implemented, well, Hizashi was right to worry. That didn’t mean that there wasn’t still work to do.

“You have your knife, right?” The single question had Shouta sighing as he tugged his boots on and began lacing them up, trying to avoid Hizashi’s puppy eyes. “What about your caltrops? Juice pouches? Energy bars? Shouta, you made sure to get more of those smoke bombs, right? You said you were out last time. Oh! Did you-”

Having crossed the short distance to the couch while Hizashi was talking, Shouta quickly cut off the rapid questioning with a soft, familiar kiss, slowly working Hizashi down from his worry and lingering in the kiss until the man was relaxed and pliant against him. It was a shame when he had to pull away. “I’ll be fine, Sunshine.”

As always, the pet name Shouta had been using since high school had Hizashi flushing, a pretty pink blush spreading across his cheeks. “That’s cheating, Shou-chan.” Hizashi’s fingers curled into his costume, tugging him down and giving him another soft kiss. “You still have at least fifteen minutes before you have to leave, you know.”

“You’re so exhausting,” Shouta sighed, not meaning a word of it as he slumped down onto the couch, Hizashi sliding and bumping into him from the force and bursting out into bright laughter. It was a much better sound than his whining and complaining. “So. Students?”

“Your class is getting better,” Hizashi groaned, collapsing against Shouta’s shoulder and tugging at the thin silver chain around his neck, finger hooked in the wedding ring that Shouta hardly ever allowed himself to take off. “Suspiciously so. It looks like they’re getting advice from someone who actually knows decent English - or is married to an English teacher.”

“Strange.” Shouta kept his tone even and steady, trying his hardest not to smile as Hizashi pouted up at him. “How’s Kan’s class?”

“A little below yours,” Hizashi snorted, shoulders shaking with the force of it as he curled more into his shoulder, cheek rubbing against him. “You two are so competitive, I swear.”

“It’s not a competition when I’m winning.” Shouta tugged at the loose bun Hizashi had his hair in until it came apart, immediately running a hand through the strands and picking out whatever tangles Hizashi had missed. Hizashi was humming in delight after a few seconds. “How are the other departments?”

It took a few moments for Hizashi to answer, the man much more relaxed than he had been when Shouta had been ready to leave. “Not bad from what my minions tell me, but not the best, either,” Hizashi mumbled, tilting his head into the hand Shouta had on his scalp, Shouta smiling and rubbing gently.

“You know, most teachers call their ‘minions’ teacher assistants and adjuncts.” It was hilarious, though, the first time Yagi had heard Hizashi complain about his minions. The man had looked torn between amusement and deep concern.

“Mm, different names, same work. Although, there is one star student in the General Studies department that one of my little minions can’t stop gushing about.” Hizashi had dropped Shouta’s ring and was rifling through the papers still in his lap. Shouta knew what was coming a moment before it happened. “Apparently they keep suggesting that I allow Shinsou Hitoshi to be given second year English work.” The test being held up was filled with Shinsou Hitoshi’s loopy scrawl. There was a 103% scribbled across the top. Hizashi must have noticed his look because he gave a stifled laugh. “I give the longer tests extra credit. He didn’t miss one answer on the entire test.”

It was harder than it should have been to hold back a proud smile. Hizashi knew him far too well, however, and he was already laughing even as Shouta attacked him where he knew he was ticklish, mumbling ‘threats’ against him, “Keep laughing like that, ‘Zashi, and I’ll give you something to actually laugh at.”

“Sho- Shouta!” Hizashi’s shrieks of laughter were bouncing around the apartment and causing squeaks and yowls from their cats, Hizashi squirming and writhing against Shouta as papers fell and scattered across the floor, one of their cats pouncing on Hitoshi’s paper and then flopping down on it.

Letting Hizashi suffer for another minute or so, and taking a moment to marvel at his husband’s absolute control over his quirk, Shouta finally let up. The result was a flushed Hizashi that was heavily panting in his lap with glazed eyes and crooked glasses and was edging into a tired and satisfied smile. Shouta was really starting to think about calling in sick for his patrol.

Brushing Hizashi’s hair out of his face and fixing his glasses, Shouta bit back a smile as the other curled towards him, rubbing his cheek against his chest. He then pouted at Shouta, “Don’t think you’re getting out of this. Hey! You should invite Hitoshi over for dinner, again. He was so much fun to talk to!”

“I don’t know if talking involves quizzing him on his knowledge of languages,” Shouta snorted, pulling Hizashi to sit up a bit more while kissing at his cheek. “I don’t think he’d accept, anyways.”

“What? Why?” Hizashi was up at once, Shouta leaning into the hand that was placed on his cheek. Hizashi frowned, lowering his voice. “Hey, Shouta, what’s wrong?”

Thinking on how to phrase what he wanted to say, Shouta finally shook his head. “I don’t think anything’s wrong, but he seems withdrawn, lately. He’s always been quiet, but he’s hardly talked in our training sessions the last few days. Maybe you can talk to him, tomorrow?”

“What- Me?” Hizashi blinked, looking more startled than he had a right to considering this was Hitoshi they were talking about. “Shouldn’t you talk to him if something is wrong? You two are close, after all!”

“And you two aren’t?” Shouta raised an eyebrow, pleased at Hizashi’s silence. That always meant he was losing. “He’s less likely to tell me things that are bothering him - especially if he thinks it’ll make him seem weak. He trusts you, though, when it comes to talking about… emotions.”

Hizashi laughed, loud and bright and sudden, and Shouta smiled at the sound. “C’mon, Shou-chan, there’s no need to make the word emotions sound like a swear.”

“Present Mic is his second favorite hero, you know,” Shouta said quietly, smirking after a moment of letting Hizashi swell up in pride. “And Yamada Hizashi is his favorite teacher.” There was a pause, a beat of silence, and then Hizashi’s cheeks were flushing. “He doesn’t let many people call him by his first name, yet, if I’m remembering correctly, he’s gone out of his way to let both of us know that we’re welcome to call him Hitoshi.”

Pushing Hizashi off onto the couch in a quick, smooth motion, Shouta stood up before Hizashi could latch onto him and drag him back down. He did relent and pull the man into a kiss, though, parting with a quiet, “I need to get going.”

“Shouta,” Hizashi whined, arms wrapping around his shoulders and tugging him back down towards another kiss. Shouta didn’t even try to fight it, relaxing at the soft, almost tired kiss Hizashi pulled him in. When they parted, they were still close enough for Hizashi to simply tilt his head and kiss at the corner of his lips. “Stay home.”

“Don’t worry, Sunshine,” Shouta near whispered, grabbing Hizashi’s left hand and pulling it up to press a quick kiss to the single gold band that was wrapped around his third finger. “I’ll come home to you.”

“You better,” Hizashi muttered, flush back on his cheeks as he cupped both of Shouta’s cheeks. “Be safe. We’re having company over for dinner tomorrow and I need you alive for that.”

“We are, huh?” Shouta grinned, mirroring Hizashi’s own smile. They both knew who they were dragging home for dinner tomorrow. “He’s going to try and escape, you know.”

Hizashi grinned even wider, stealing one last kiss and then giving a wink. “Good thing I’m so good at getting surly heroes-in-training to take a break and eat, then.”

Finally letting Hizashi go, Shouta hid a sigh and walked over to their front door, making sure everything was in order. Maybe he should start cutting down on his patrol hours even more. There were enough heroes on the streets to deal with the type of villainy that was out there, after all.

“Shouta?” Pausing at the threshold, Shouta looked back to where Hizashi was giving him a warm, soft smile. There was no Present Mic in his demeanor. The only one there was a happily smiling Yamada-Aizawa Hizashi. “Your binding cloth is in the bedroom, still.”

Going still, Shouta slowly reached a hand up to where he felt nothing except the chain of his wedding ring and the collar of suit. Giving Hizashi a slow blink, Shouta shut the door quietly and kicked his boots off before walking towards their bedroom.

Hizashi’s bright, cheerful laughter followed him the whole way.

                                                             ::

“It would make sense. Hizashi and I both have our foster licenses. We’re pro heroes, we have a steady income, we have multiple jobs between us and yet one of us always has the chance to be home most nights, we’re closer to his school, and we have full reason to believe Hitoshi would be happier in a different home. It’s logical, don’t you think?”

A warbling meow answered his words, Shouta’s lips quirking into a smile as he offered a few more cat treats to the bedraggled stray that was purring in delight at the food. Shouta scratched behind the cat’s ears, not minding when the stray clawed his way up onto Shouta’s shoulders, surveying the world happily as Shouta stood up and returned to his patrol route.

While he didn’t make a habit of seeking out the strays in his district, he didn’t complain when he stumbled across the occasional friendly one. Besides, Shouta had always found them great listeners.

“It’s not that hard an assumption to make. Bruises have to come from somewhere.” In the beginning, Shouta had noticed the bruises on Hitoshi’s arms and legs and chest and thought he was merely pushing the boy too hard in his training. Even when keeping a careful eye on things, however, the bruises persisted. While Shouta didn’t want to jump to conclusions, it was logical to assume something was happening outside of school to give him those bruises.

Shouta was only hoping that the bruises came from disagreements with foster siblings and neighborhood punks rather than anything else. It was a conversation he would need to have with Hitoshi and Hizashi both. Tomorrow over dinner would be a good time to at least hint about it; it was already obvious that Hizashi saw Hitoshi as his own, after all. If there was anyone that loved that kid more than Shouta, it was his husband who was already trying to find out Hitoshi’s birthday.

Deciding to think about it more later, Shouta paused at the familiar sounds of a tripped alarm. Slinking into the nearest alleyway, Shouta heard low, fierce hissing from the cat on his shoulders, a glance across the street showing the broken window of a jewelry store.

“How cliché,” Shouta muttered to himself before making a clicking noise with his tongue and getting the cat’s attention. As soon as he had it, he picked the cat up and set him on the ground gently. “Go on, then. I have work to do.”

One hand wrapping around his binding cloth, Shouta pulled his goggles over his face and waited until he saw a hunched over figure stumbling out of the broken window with a satchel full of what was no doubt stolen jewelry. A quick glance told Shouta that this man was new to what he was doing and was obviously not confident in his abilities. That was good. He could deal with this, finish his route, and then go home and get some decent sleep. Hizashi might still be up, even.

Shouta backed up and couldn’t stop a snort of amusement as he saw the man was running towards the alleyway he was currently in. That just made his job even easier, he supposed.

The thief managed ten steps into the alleyway before Shouta had his quirk activated and the binding cloth wrapped tightly around his chest and upper arms, stopping him in his tracks and earning a fierce storm of swearing ending with, “You don’t know who you’re messing with! Let me go!”

“I would, but I think that store over there might like their stolen property returned to them. Thanks for tripping the alarm, too. It saves me from having to call the police myself.” The average time between a burglar alarm in this area and the appearance of the police was roughly five to eight minutes. It wasn’t too long of a wait.

“Just who the fuck do you think you are?! Let me go!” The man was squirming and wiggling around and Shouta frowned before releasing his hold on his quirk, pleased when nothing happened. The man, most likely, didn’t have a quirk suited for any type of combat. Good. Shouta might be able to end this night without a headache. “This is brutality!”

“Not really.” Loosening the bands of the binding cloth so he could better restrain the man, Shouta jerked back when the man attacked quicker than expected. Was he so afraid that adrenaline was giving him an extra boost? It was possible he had a quirk that altered his physical status in some way.

Activating his own quirk again, Shouta dodged the man’s attempt at an attack, keeping him at a distance before biting back a swear at the ensuing struggle as he was rushed. For looking so new to crime, this one seemed to know an awful lot about putting up a fight. It was minor, but it was enough to give Shouta a little extra force to his punches.

It was a short fight, Shouta scowling at the fact his goggles and belt ended up on the ground, his pant leg torn open by sharp nails in the ensuing struggle to wrap the man in the binding cloth and pin him to the ground. The fight was only a few minutes, at most, Shouta working on calming his pulse down as he kept a boot on the criminal’s back, pinning him further. “If you’re going to rob a place, at least be prepared for the consequences.”

“Like you were when you let your students get attacked?” It wasn’t often that Shouta felt himself truly surprised or shocked. He wished he could have said that now was one of those times. “Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Half the world probably knows about that shit hero school and their ‘teachers.’ You were even on the news, weren’t you? What kind of pro lets their students get captured by villains, Eraserhead?”

While his immediate reaction was to recoil and defend himself, Shouta took a moment to think on just why a petty thief would immediately know his hero name as well as what had happened at the training camp. It wasn’t secret knowledge to any extent, but to have it used against him when this man had barely, if at all, caught a glimpse of his face… Shouta didn’t like it.

“You really think those dorms at the school are gonna work forever? The kids have to go home, eventually, and that League of Villains group don’t seem like the type to leave kids alone just because they’re kids.”

A heartbeat passed and Shouta had the man on his back and tied up even tighter than before, staring into a smug face that no longer looked scared and overwhelmed by his first robbery. Something was wrong. “Is that so?” Shouta asked, ready to reach for his quirk at a moment’s notice after dropping it with a blink. “You seem to know a lot about all of this.”

“There’s two things that always manage to grab a pro’s attention,” the man said, voice sickly sweet and face completely relaxed and smug. “A cry for help and the sound of a tripped alarm.”

The realization that this was a trap hit Shouta with overwhelming clarity. Jerking his head up to quickly scan the alleyway for any possible ambush, Shouta realized that this man hadn’t been running towards the alleyway. He had been running towards him.

“Sorry, Eraserhead, but you and that quirk of yours are in high demand.” Shouta tightened the cloth and activated his quirk, but it was too late. He felt an overly hot palm pressed against the skin exposed by his torn costume and jerked as it felt like he was shocked. The feeling didn’t leave, however, even as the hand did. “I guess you should have been more careful. Hey, maybe your students will end up learning something from you, after all.”

The words just barely registered in his mind, Shouta only half aware as he went crashing to the ground, a burning, twisting, searing pain working its way through his body. It was like he had been lit on fire, Shouta biting down on the scream that wanted to tear its way out of his throat as he felt like his body was both too big and too small for all of him. There was burning, twisting, changing, pain pain pain so much pain it hurt so badly he couldn’t breathe please please please make it stop make it stop make it stop-

“...back to Shigaraki… Too soon... Fucking police-”

“Stop right there! ...hands up!”

“...Detective Tsukauchi. Seems he was in a fight…”

“...pro heroes on duty in this area…”

“Eraserhead…”

“Goggles and belt… Cat… Villain has been fully contained.”

“...Yamada-Aizawa Hizashi…”

Out of all things, it was the sound of his husband’s name that had Shouta forcing his eyes open, panting heavily as he pushed himself to his hands and knees on auto-pilot, looking around to try and gauge where he was. When he saw it was the same alleyway as before, Shouta felt himself on edge even more.

It was the same alleyway, but he was completely alone. Why go through the effort of incapacitating him just to leave him? Shouta hadn’t even bothered to take his phone out on patrol, that night, since it was going to be a short one, so there was nothing to steal from him. Had the police arrived?

He had heard sounds and words of movement, but if they were the police, then why did they leave him on the ground? One of them would have at least woken him up before trying to drag him into an ambulance.

Something was wrong. He needed to get home and check on Hizashi. If he really had heard Hizashi’s name, then it was possible something was… Paws.

Shouta had looked down to where he was on his hands and knees still, but instead of seeing hands, he saw black paws. Leaning so he could lift his right hand up and flex his fingers, Shouta watched as the paw went through the exact same motion.

Jerking his head up, Shouta looked around the alleyway - truly looked - and saw that everything was larger than it should have been. What he thought were his knees, as well, felt more like he was on his feet. It felt like he was standing on both his hands and feet. He was looking at paws and felt like he was standing on his hands and feet.

Carefully, very carefully, Shouta inched his way over to a puddle of leftover rain water that was lit by a flickering streetlight. There, reflected by a puddle of rain water, was the face of a cat Shouta had never seen before.

The cat had thick, curly black fur that looked heavy and dense, but what stuck out most was an off-white ruff that looked like bands wrapped around the neck. The only other disruption on the fur was a matted, scarred area under the right eye in a crescent shape that was remarkably similar to Shouta’s own scar.

Shouta stared at thick, curly black fur with bands of white around the neck, as well as a familiar and distinct scar; all features that reflected back up from the puddle. Slowly blinking, Shouta watched as the reflection of the cat blinked with him.

Shouta realized, with an overwhelming clarity, that Hizashi was never going to let him live down the fact that he had been turned into a cat.