Shouta grumbles awake from his nap, groggy and slightly disoriented. A glance at the clock has him sighing. Almost time for dinner. He shuffles over to his side and blinks at the living room.
Izuku is standing there, looking nervous. He’s holding Tuna close to his chest, probably for comfort.
“Um, Aizawa-san? C-can I ask you s-something?”
“Yeah, kid?” Shouta shifts further to give him his full attention. Even now Izuku struggles to ask for things and Shouta isn’t about to discourage him.
“Um, it’s-” he visibly pauses and clutches Tuna a little closer, careful not to hurt her. “Ts-Tsu-chan” Tsu-chan? That one’s new. “has t-tickets to a h-hero museum, she i-invited us but, her p-parents are busy and Hitoshi’s are too a-and-”
“You need someone to chaperone?” Shouta interrupts before he can spiral further. Izuku nods vigorously and hides his head in Tuna’s fur much to her obvious pleasure. She nuzzles him with her face and purrs.
“On S-Saturday… There’s a sp-special All Might ex-exhibit.”
Ugh, a special All Might exhibit on a Saturday, it'll be busy. Shouta squints at the ceiling, trying to remember if he has anything going on. Knowing Izuku, he probably doesn’t, he knows Hizashi has some radio recording scheduled that day. Izuku wouldn’t have asked if he knew Shouta was busy.
“Alright, I’ve been wanting to meet your friends anyway.”
“P-please don’t scare th-them.” Shouta gives him his creepiest smile and says nothing, enjoying Izuku’s obvious exasperation. He’s made so much progress, from the terrified kid of before. “Th-they’re nice, I p-promise.”
“Hmmm, we’ll see.” Shouta will definitely be using this opportunity to be the judge of that. He won’t interfere with Izuku’s friendships but there’s nothing stopping him from side-eyeing a few brats.
Wait a second… This definitely means he’s going to have to talk to some parents. The things he’ll do for this kid.
He sits up, cracking his back and stretching. Once he’s feeling slightly more like a person he pats the kid’s head lightly.
“You got their parents contact information?”
“Y-yeah, um, I have it written down.” He reluctantly lets Tuna down and searches his pockets, she barely acknowledges the change and simply switches to winding between his legs and meowing for attention. Shouta can’t even be annoyed that she loves him so much, not when he does too.
He accepts the paper with only mild trepidation, pleased when it reveals several methods of contact. He hates phone conversations with parents, too easy to derail.
“Alright, I’ll get it figured out.”
“Th-thanks, and, um, for what it’s w-worth, I-I think you’ll like Hitoshi.”
Shouta narrows his eyes suspiciously at the comment. There’s just something about the twinkle in Izuku’s eyes when he says it. Little brat definitely knows something Shouta doesn’t and he isn’t sure he likes it.
At least he’s comfortable enough to tease.
Shouta starts regretting his decisions at about 9am.
He grumbles and groans his way out of bed. Hizashi and Izuku are already up and dressed and, god forbid, chipper. He hasn’t even had coffee yet and these morning people have probably been up for an hour.
He goes through the motions of getting ready, waiting for his glorious caffeine to finally kick in.
He feels mostly like a person by the time they make it out the door, Izuku is buzzing with excitement. Shouta just hopes he doesn’t wear himself out before they get there.
They make it to the museum a few minutes early and Shouta leans against a pillar to wait. Izuku spends his time standing on his toes and trying to see his friends, it’s absolutely adorable and Shouta is forced to perform his important spousal duties of capturing cute Izuku moments.
Asui comes first, making her way up the steps. Izuku darts over to meet her halfway and tugs her over by the hand.
She bows politely and hands over the tickets.
“Hello Aizawa-san, it’s nice to meet you. Thanks for bringing Izu-chan today.”
Now that is unfairly adorable, they have nicknames for each other already.
They’re still holding hands, Izuku is nearly vibrating in place with excitement.
“It’s no problem.” Shouta gestures dismissively, he may not personally be all that excited but he isn’t about to ruin their fun. They’re kids and he’s happy to support their kid activities.
Shinsou is barely on time, huffing his way up the stairs and clutching at his bag.
Shouta raises an eyebrow.
Shinsou raises one right back. He's clearly judging him, eyes assessing and sharp. Honestly, it might actually be a little intimidating in ten years, right now it’s just cute, almost like a kitten puffing up in an alleyway.
“Hey, you must be Aizawa.”
“I am.”
“Huh, I’m Shinsou Hitoshi.”
“So I’ve gathered.”
“‘Toshi, come on!” Shinsou’s attention shifts over to Izuku and he visibly softens.
Ah, a protective one.
He can certainly respect that, especially given what little he’s heard of their history together.
He watches Asui and Shinsou indulge Izuku’s latest stumbling excited rant, nodding in all the right places and adding their own thoughts when he pauses to breathe.
He’s picked good ones.
Shouta’s about to start guiding them in the direction of the entrance when he spots it.
Shinsou shifts and Shouta gets a good look at his bag, there’s a charm hanging off the strap. He glances at it casually, vaguely curious.
Wait a minute.
Shouta knows that charm.
Alright, he doesn’t know that charm specifically because it’s obviously been handmade by a child but he does know what it’s supposed to be.
It’s him.
Eraserhead.
He has a fan.
There is a little child who not only knows about him but apparently likes him enough to make a charm.
Horrifying.
Shouta could have gone his whole life without that revelation.
Children are supposed to look up to people like Present Mic and Ingenium and All Might, not Eraserhead.
Where on earth did this kid even hear about him?
Are there more children with little handmade charms?
Begrudging respect he can handle, he’s had it before. No teacher worth their salt doesn’t have at least some begrudging respect from their students.
Hero worship? That’s a whole different thing.
He catches Izuku’s eye and very suddenly remembers their conversation from a few days before.
Oh.
Oh that little brat.
That’s why he said he’d like Shinsou.
He knew this would happen.
There is a little child who apparently thinks Eraserhead is a cool hero and he’s just supposed to accept that?
God, is he this kid’s favorite hero?
Izuku meets his gaze and grins, happy and carefree in a way he so rarely is.
Shouta narrows his eyes and darts his eyes over to the charm and back again.
Izuku beams.
“C’mon ‘Toshi, maybe the underground hero exhibit has some Eraserhead stuff in it.”
Shouta can’t believe this is happening, set up by his own child.
“It doesn’t,” the child in question grumbles. “I checked ahead of time.”
He checked ahead of time? The only thing Shouta checked ahead of time was the museum hours!
Shouta has a fan. An actual, tiny little fanboy.
He has no idea what he’s supposed to do about that.
Nothing? Probably nothing.
Scratch that, definitely nothing.
Hizashi can’t tease him if he doesn’t know, he’s sure there’s something Izuku can be bribed with.
He is going to pretend he never had this revelation. This never happened.
“Alright brats, let’s get a move on.”
Children are… a lot.
This isn’t news.
Shouta teaches highschoolers after all.
He knows that kids are a lot.
It’s just… they’re a lot.
Adorable of course.
He would never deny that the sight of Izuku hesitantly taking Asui’s hand and gently pulling her over to some exhibit he thinks she might like isn’t adorable.
He is strong enough to admit that Shinsou pointing out a hero with a particularly unhelpful quirk to Izuku with a careful glance at Shouta’s expression is a little heartwarming.
They have so much energy though.
He's getting tired just watching them.
Shouta mostly follows along at a sedate pace, making sure to keep them all within sight as much as possible. They’re old enough to behave for the most part and definitely don’t need him beyond the vague supervision he’s doing.
He spends most of his time watching idly and glaring at the occasional visitor that looks ready to say something particularly snippy. They’re not loud or running around or causing trouble. He swears some people just hate seeing children happy.
And they are happy.
He can see it as clear as day.
Shinsou grins a lot like Shouta, all teeth, which is a little freaky. He’s sure he’s never met this kid before.
Izuku smiles like sunshine, filled with pure joy. Shouta is certain most of it is his friends, not the exhibit or the museum.
Asui is a little subtler, she doesn’t grin as intensely as Shinsou or gush as happily as Izuku, but Shouta can see it in her eyes. She’s having just as much fun as they are.
He takes a moment to sit on one of the benches placed around one of the larger rooms, content to watch the kids wander and occasionally drag one or both of the others to some item or sign.
He hopes they have enough energy for the actual reason they came.
Somehow they wind up joining one of the free tours in the rescue hero exhibit. Asui especially looks interested and Izuku keeps glancing happily at her.
That would explain the insistence in visiting the rescue hero section. Shouta smiles slightly at the thought. Rescue heroics, underground heroics and All Might. Those were the ones Izuku had insisted on when they’d met up. All Might for the tickets, and Izuku’s own interest of course. Rescue heroes for Asui and underground for Shinsou, not that Izuku won’t also absorb anything hero related.
He’s still so careful sometimes, expressing his passion for heroes. Some long established fear stilling his tongue before they can remind him he’s safe. Shouta understands, as much as he hates it. For a child like Izuku, expressing any joy must have come with the risk of it being used to hurt him.
Shouta is certain that if he had the time and ability Izuku would record his love for every quirk and hero on the planet. Nearly every hero has something exciting to write about, and it’s not always their quirk. Sometimes Shouta will mention something or someone offhand and Izuku will pipe up with something so random and insightful it throws him off for a second.
No, he hasn’t considered whether or not Snipe has good eyesight as part of his quirk or if that’s something completely unrelated. Shouta has never considered whether or not Snipe has good eyesight at all, much less why.
He did wind up asking of course. Yes, Snipe has good eyesight. No, he doesn’t know why.
Shouta fears the consequences of Nedzu and Izuku getting to know each other almost as much as he can’t wait to see what they unleash.
He follows the little trio and idly considers the future.
It’s as clear as anything they’ve got the same dream, pointed in different directions of course, but the same dream nonetheless.
He would scoff and say it’s the same dream that damn near every kid these days seems to have, forget whether they’re suited to it, but he can see it.
He can almost see the heroes they could become, as kind and careful and good as they are.
Perhaps it won’t work out, he’s definitely biased, has been since the moment he saw that little boy curled up on the couch for the first time, since hearing an adorable little nickname, since meeting a glare that was almost threatening.
Still, he can almost see it.
He’s going soft isn’t he?
He can’t even be all that upset about it, as Izuku takes his hand and drags him over to some small corner documenting Nemuri’s scandalous first costume. How is he supposed to be upset about any of this?
He can’t even find it in himself to scowl at all the All Might nonsense like he usually would when they finally get to it after lunch.
The only thing on his radar is the somehow still energetic kids. Shinsou hesitantly talking about remembering one of All Might’s bigger stunts and finding it cool when he was a little kid, which is ridiculous considering he’s still little. Asui mentioning one of the costumes on display is her favorite and Izuku gushing about all the interesting details the designers snuck in.
It’s a good day, for all that Shouta would very much like a nap.
They finally start flagging late afternoon, tired but still smiling around the ice cream cones Shouta definitely didn’t buy them.
He sees Asui and Shinsou off safely and starts his journey home.
Izuku naps on his shoulder the whole train ride there.
He looks so peaceful and content like this.
Shouta sighs when their stop comes up and nudges him gently with his shoulder.
“...‘Zawa-san?”
“It’s our stop kid.”
“Oh…” He blinks blankly a few times and Shouta guides him out the doors and towards the apartment.
They walk quietly, Shouta keeps a hand on his shoulder to keep him steady.
“Thank you for bringing me. It was..." he struggles to find a word for a moment, "wonderful.”
His eyes sparkle even as they droop with how tired he is.
“I’m glad you had fun.”
“Mhm.” Izuku hums, apparently done talking.
He smiles as the last of the tension drains out of his little body in the entryway and Izu stumbles face first onto the couch. Tuna glares up at Shouta like she just knows this is his fault somehow and goes to join him.
He sighs fondly and goes to find his husband.