hero's shadow // mha

56) nursing wounds

Midoriya never makes messes he doesn't clean up. Hizashi realizes this when he begins to straighten up the living room after the movie is finished. Midoriya has already gone to his room, and just from the tired look Hizashi saw on his face, he reckons he's already asleep by now.

There isn't much for Hizashi to clean, so he takes to folding up the blankets and setting them over the backs of the couches. Missy is still out here, having decided to not follow her kid this time, so Hizashi scratches her head before moving onto the kitchen.

He wipes down the counters and makes to load the dishwasher, only to see that it's already been done and is starting a cycle.

Thoroughly pleased, Hizashi goes into his office to grab his plans for the next week of class and sits at the dining table back in the living space. The lighting in the office sometimes makes his head hurt, so he prefers to be out here most days. He reserves the office for his DJ work and other things, since the room is soundproof.

Which reminds him that he needs to go in early tomorrow night to record an interview with a top twenty pro hero. The whole prefecture has been buzzing with excitement about it, though Hizashi can't say the same. His management team warned him that this new hero is rumored to be kind of a dick, so he'll just have to see how it goes.

That's one of the only downsides to being a radio show host, in his own fine opinion.

Next week they're starting subjunctive clauses paired with if statements in English. It's an advanced topic for most of the students, he knows, but he's doing it just to give them some more background information for next year's topics.

Hizashi wants his students to be near fluent before even starting their third year. That's why he's so hard on them.

They'll appreciate it later.

(Besides, most of them have been working with English since they first started learning to talk, so things come much quicker to them than to others.)

When the key slides into the locks on the door, opening it, Hizashi makes sure to keep his expression cool, his face blank.

At this time of night, there's only one person this could be.

Shouta walks in with his sleeping bag over his shoulder and a bag full of his supplies in his hand. He has his glasses on, meaning he must've come from another meeting with Tsukauchi, not patrol.

Hizashi marks one of the questions he's reviewing with his red pen, not looking up. "I thought you were staying another night at the station."

"Naomasa kicked me out." Shouta sets his things down and takes his hair out of his bun.

Hizashi doesn't have to see Shouta again to know that he looks disheveled. He can smell the cheap cologne from where he's sitting. His husband probably hasn't showered in a hot minute.

He wrinkles his nose. Another mark is made. "Can't imagine why."

Shouta doesn't reply. He just stares at him for a second before moving past him to enter the kitchen. He's going for his stash of iced coffees, most definitely.

Truthfully, Hizashi hasn't seen or talked to him face to face since they split up at the hospital so Shouta could investigate the area. Meaning that Hizashi hasn't been able to talk to him yet about what happened. Or, more specifically, what Shouta did.

Hizashi prides himself on being someone who can reel in his emotions when the situation calls for it. He's pretty good at keeping his expressions under control so his students won't have to worry about whatever negative emotion he's feeling that day. That's not their job, and he knows his kids are already stressed about their own lives, so he never wants to give them a reason to doubt his ability to teach or keep his composure. He's an adult, and he makes sure that that is known to every single one of his students.