Forgotten Nostalgia (Dadzawa)

Times Are Changing But The Important Things Stay

Aizawa POV

There was a salient change in the air. It had been there from the moment Shouta's arms had wrapped around Izuku and he'd realized everything was going to be okay. He hadn't even known how much pressure he'd put into that moment until an intense relief had filled him, overwhelming every other sense. It had left him exhausted.

It's funny how it took a full-blown kidnapping for Shouta to realize just how much he cared about the kid. Watching Izuku reorganize Shouta's books for the tenth time. Watching him laugh with his friends. Watching him analyze Cat Number One suspiciously. All of it. Shouta hadn't realized he could get so attached to another person.

He'd never been especially close with his family. Those unbreakable bonds that blood supposedly created had always seemed surprisingly fragile to him and in that realization, he'd never learned how to put in the effort it required to truly care about another person. Once he turned old enough to live alone it had all seemed like a lost cause.

Shouta had thought he'd be happier living by himself. He wouldn't have to feel guilt at not feeling attached to the people around him. He wouldn't have to feel like this abnormal being that didn't have feelings.

It had taken a destructive, judgmental, smart-ass problem child for him to realize attachments came in many forms. Blood didn't mean shit when it came to family.

Shouta leaned back in the desk chair, head ducked down as he searched for a nonexistent file to hide the small smile that refused to get off his face. His fingers grazed through the papers, a surprising shock going through him upon realizing suddenly all his files were color-coded. He leaned in, inhaling the lemony scent of cleaner. The kid was definitely responsible for this...no longer mess. 

Said child was currently sitting cross-legged on his desk, seeming more than content to talk to the other child perched there. Eri giggled and whispered, probably thinking Shouta couldn't hear as she told Izuku how she felt about each student as they walked through the door. So far Mina had been described as the one that looked like a stuffed animal, Uraraka's hair was too bouncy, and Tokoyami should talk to someone other than his quirk. 

Izuku had more patience than Shouta ever would, nodding along as she talked and listening attentively whenever she inevitably trailed off into another story about her stuffed animals that rarely if ever related to the actual conversation they were having. Of course, Shouta was used to the girl's short attention span. He had been the first to watch over her after the rescue. But he'd never seen her this open and carefree, even during the adoption process. It seemed like for the first time in all the time he'd known the girl, she was truly free. 

And why shouldn't she be? The League of Villians had finally been taken into custody once and for all. Her parents were allowing her to hang out with Izuku, who even if he didn't remember her still treated her like the little sister he'd never had. She was finally healing.

Shouta looked up just as he saw Iida trying to pick up Izuku and remove him from the desk, mumbling something about professionalism. He narrowed his eyes and gave out a very clear warning to, "not pick up my child."

All that to say the class did in fact find out about the adoption that day.

After what he would have called a way too dramatic cheer coming from the third-year students (but secretly loved), they'd settled down. Izuku had pulled up a chair next to his desk so Eri could sit next to him. Shouta wanted to point out how distracting that would be for Izuku but it seemed not even Eri could keep the kid from his frankly rather creepy way of taking notes. His head was bent low, dark green curls falling over his forehead as his pen flew across the page. Shouta's smiles were kept for when his back was to the students.