Affinity

Chapter 39 - Crumble

a/n: good morning good morning, friends.

sorry for no chapter last weekend - but I'm back now with a few small updates.

first off: you're all gonna be getting a lot more D author's notes. Enjoy that ;) Hemza has stepped back a little to work on some of his own projects (including a podcast with some friends!) so I'm taking care of the bulk of this story.

secondly: because I'm taking care of Affinity now, I'm going to be spacing out our updates a little. I'll have chapters out every 2 weeks, instead of once a weekend. I know that sucks and isn't ideal - but I need to give myself some time to work on each chapter and make sure they're as good as possible.

ty all for sticking around and understanding. love y'all.
as always - check out the socials @nrdgrl_ for updates on the story & my life, and I'll see y'all in 2 weeks.

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 Shota knew something wasn't right the instant he saw Emiko walk out of the building 30 minutes before he'd been expecting to see her. He knew she hadn't been actively participating in therapy, but she'd at least sit through the entire appointment before making her way down to the ground floor and out to the waiting vehicle.

It was even more obvious when he noticed the tears still lingering in her lashes as she moved towards him. Her hands were trembling and her nose was red, and she looked like she'd been crying only seconds before leaving.

As she moved closer, her copper hair glinted in the setting sun. The light caught her face and the scar over her left eye seemed to glow, Aizawa felt his chest tighten at the sight. He knew she'd been injured, had seen her in the hospital with her eye patch on almost daily for weeks on end. He'd seen her on her release day, had watched as she fidgeted with her hair to hide the fresh scar and milky appearance of her once bright blue eyes. He'd watched her look in the windows lining the outside of the UA dorm buildings, wincing each time she caught her own gaze.

But somehow, despite all of that, seeing the scar glowing painfully white in the setting sun made him more emotional than he'd expected. He knew all of his students would leave with some sort of scar or injury - that was, unfortunately, the nature of being a hero.

So when Emiko opened the car door and slumped into the seat beside him, fighting back tears, he knew he couldn't just... leave it alone.

"Are you okay, Emiko?"

She crumbled in front of him, tears suddenly pouring from her eyes. She was trembling, burying her face in her knees. Shota spluttered for a moment, unsure of what to do now that she was sobbing in front of him. That moment faded quickly, though, as she started to rock back and forth.

He quickly bundled her in his arms, pulling her tight to his chest. It was uncomfortable for him, the way his body was contorted - but he didn't care. All he could focus on now was giving the young girl in front of him as much comfort as he could.

She buried her face in his chest, sobbing into the clean fabric of his dress shirt. He'd taken to wearing dress clothes to and from her therapy appointments, just in case any media outlets saw him. He wanted to present well, to try and take the heat off of UA as much as possible.

"It's okay, Emiko. You're okay." He whispered, moving his hand slowly up her back. She was sobbing so heavily he could feel it each time she took a breath. He could hear it in her lungs and it made his chest ache.

She whimpered, tightening her fingers in the back of his shirt. He stayed silent after that, running his hand up and down her spine, careful to avoid brushing across her hair. He'd noticed in the past few weeks that she'd avoided touching it as much as possible. She kept her fingers away from the still jagged ends, focusing only on the bangs that lay crooked across her injured eye.