Insomnia [Shota Aizawa x Reader] (Rewritten Version)

Chapter 22

Your old friend got up and headed for the door after that revelation.

"You know, my quirk doesn't work against you. You figured that out yourself."

Oh God. How could you forget about that? That's even more embarrassing that you just had to think about it and you realized. Well, maybe listing out his positive attributes didn't mean anything. You just think he's a great guy. Nothing else. You could do that with any person.

Damn, you hated how she made you doubt these thoughts. When did this conversation turn out like this?

"You want to hang out sometime and talk more about our love life?" She laughed. "I'll help you out."

"I don't think anything will help this situation," you muttered. You gave her a sideways smile regardless. "But sure, I'm free for the week since students are on internships." Your smile dropped as quickly as it appeared. "But... are you sure this is a good idea? I basically sent people after you."

"To keep your brother safe." Aiko hit the target bullseye and you didn't even know. "It's alright. We can forget about all this hero-villain ordeal at least for a little while."

"Yeah. That'd be nice." Pretend and forget, you supposed. For some time.

"We can go shopping," Aiko suggested. "Get lunch or dinner, whatever."

The two of you arranged to meet at Hosu, where she lived, before she left with a teasing smile.

You watched her leave, a feeling of content washing over you. It has been a long time since you've talked to someone like that, with little worry about villainy or work or stress. Just a chat about life and how things were going. And Aiko was a great person to talk to like you remembered.

You suddenly heard a meow and you looked down towards the source. The white cat was still there, with an empty bowl. "You finished that quickly, huh?" You crouched down to pet him. "Aren't you a hungry boy?"

Max's tail shot up and rubbed his head against your hand once, then quickly walked away and crossed the street. Maybe he'll be back another time. You'll have to check if there's any missing cat posters around for a "Max".

<•>

"Make sure you mind your manners with the heroes at your internships," Eraserhead reminded. He stood with his arms crossed at the parting location with you and the students, seeing them off.

The students all said their farewells, excited to start. You snickered next to him when the last of the students had left. "Manners? Since when do you know anything about manners?"

"Shut it," he scoffed. "They know better than to do as I do and not as I say."

"Hm. Fair. You are threatening enough." He flashed a glare at you, proving your statement.

The two of you stepped out of the station, you having a little pep in your step and humming a random tune.

"You're in a good mood." He was obviously annoyed by your humming.

"Yeah," you said nonchalantly. "And you're not. Something the matter?"

He remained silent, shoulders hunching forward even more as he walked. You thought about asking again in case he didn't hear before he finally answered. "I'm hoping the students have chosen their internships correctly. Some of the third years today still regret their choice."

He really does care for them despite his outward attitude toward them, you noted once more. "They'll learn from their mistakes."

"I saw that Iida chose his internship at Hosu City." He had a scowl on his face, as if the thought was a physical annoyance.

"What's wrong with that?" you asked, then immediately answered your own question when you remembered. "Oh, that's bad. That's where his brother was attacked by Stain, right?"

Eraser nodded. "Not that Manual's a bad choice to go for an internship, but he had so many other, better choices. It's worrying."

You frowned, beginning to worry as well. "I'm going to Hosu this week, I guess I'll keep an eye out."

He let out what sounded like an appreciative huff before the walk resumed to silence. It didn't last long, as he asked a moment later, "What are you doing at Hosu?"

You hesitated. "Meeting with someone. We haven't talked in a while so we're catching up on things."

He hummed to show he heard, but didn't reply. You took this chance to add on something that had been bugging you for a while.

"Why haven't you turned me in yet?"

"The excuses you gave me," he replied almost immediately. "Do you want me to arrest you?"

You shook your head but didn't back down. "It's just worrying to me."

He scowled in annoyance. "Your record's clean and talking about your job to family isn't exactly against the law. Being an accomplice requires you to be able to stop the occurrence or report it. These type of things require a lot of legalities and evidence for that and I, frankly, do not want to look into and deal with paperwork and files for, and I doubt you were able to do either of those things either."

This just sounded like him being lazy, you duly noted. But perhaps something other than that. At least it was in your favor.

"Plus, I've let vigilantes go before and they've been pretty helpful to me. Your information can be useful."

"I guess so." You were in one of the worst situations to be in. Hanging out with people who you technically had a bounty hunter after. Maybe you should tell him that you were meeting with the same exact villain you had told him you wanted the heroes to catch.

Now, after hearing Aiko out, you regret telling him about it. That gnawing guilt in your stomach kept building up. You had to accept the fact that your friends were villains in this society, regardless if their points were valid.