Paperwork. So much paperwork. Hina wasn't naive, she'd known there would be paperwork to file and grade and look over in her profession as a teacher, but sometimes she forgot just how much of it there was. Tests and evaluations and internship requests and a whole slew of other assignments...A prolific mountain of the stuff sat at her communal desk in the staff room.
Each teacher had a desk and a computer to access, though Hina preferred doing her duties in her own classroom as opposed to the public area of the staff room. Grading was almost meditative for her when she was by herself, that is, when there wasn't mountains of it to complete. But for some aspects of her job, she was required to update the system from the computer within it as it was the only one with access to the school database, and for all of the many internship forms, they had to be put into the file.
She was sat in front of Aizawa and two seats away from Toshinori. The soft tap of keys and the shuffling of paper marked the room, with very little conversation. No one was in a particularly talkative mood, especially considering they'd been at it for hours now. It was late afternoon and with still so much to do, wasting your time or someone else's by talking was seen as an annoyance. Better to just focus on your work.
Except, Hina was having a hard time with that. She kept sneaking glances at Aizawa from over her computer screen, who was unaware of her peeking. After having seen him in nothing but bandages for awhile, it was almost strange to see how without them now. And the jagged scar just under his left eye was a new addition. As rude as it may be, she couldn't help but stare.
He was just as scruffy as usual, hair unkempt and long like it had always been, perhaps a bit longer since he hadn't been able to get it cut with all of the injuries present. His eyes trailed the paper he was reading before flicking back up to the screen to input whatever information it contained into the computer.
Hina looked away again, knowing she should be staring at her coworker, but she just couldn't help herself sometimes. He was a handsome guy. She smiled a little, before looking back up at Aizawa.
"Too bad we can't call you Mummy Man anymore. I almost miss the bandages." She projected, smiling a little wider when he glanced up at her. "Maybe you should consider adding them to your costume design."
His head shook minutely, but he returned his eyes back to his work. "That would be extremely impractical. And annoying."
"Yeah...I guess you're right. They'd get in the way, and no one would be able to tell what you were thinking." She surmised with a tilt of her head.
"Other than you, with your quirk."
"Now that would be annoying, having to use my quirk every time I wanted to talk to you. I'd have a migraine every single day."
"Side effect of overuse?" He guessed, grabbing another paper from the stack.
"Yeah...it gives me a killer headache if I use it too long. Push it any further and it'll last for hours."
"Hmm." He seemed to hum to himself in thought, then glanced over at Mic instinctively. "Mic said something similar earlier. Apparently I'm nowhere near as intimidating when I'm recovering from injuries, which makes it all the easier to drag me to do things he wants to do. He told me to get hurt more often. Jokingly, of course."
"That definitely sounds like Mic. But I for one hope you don't get injured again, if that accounts for anything." The redhead regarded him again. "Plus, it'd be such a shame to keep your face covered all the time, now that I think about it. The scar looks good. Suits you, in a way."
She pulled out of his mind and directed her attention back to her work before he could respond, suddenly realizing that what she'd said could have been construed in a way she hadn't outright intended. Now that she thought about it, most of their conversations ended up making her sound much flirtier than Hina had wanted to come across.
Well, she supposed that wasn't such a bad thing. Aizawa was good friends with Midnight and she was practically the queen of flirtatious behavior. Maybe she was just emulating her in an attempt to get closer to the man. He never seemed to be pushed away by their talks, unless she was teasing him, of course.
Feeling his stare on her, she risked glancing up one more time, and noticed his strange expression. She smiled, and he finally looked away, focusing once more on his work. Hina did the same, deciding that she'd meddled in his head for long enough. The one drawback of using her quirk was that she had to maintain a line of sight on her intended target, as in Aizawa's quirk's case. Which meant she couldn't get any work down while talking to him, unfortunately.
Sighing quietly to herself, she threw herself back into the many, many papers still left to complete, hoping that the day would pass quickly so she could go home.
Six o'clock came around without fanfare. There was no miraculous shout of joy once their workday was done, because the following morning would only be more of the same tedious paper filing and system updating. None of them-except for Midnight who'd simply flopped down on her desk and taken a nap, and Toshinori who hadn't had much to accomplish to begin with and left early-had actually completed their full workload that day. Hina glared at her unfinished stack of papers, wishing they'd just burst into flames so she wouldn't have to do them. Where was Endeavor when you needed him?
Present Mic stood from his seat and stretched, then smiled widely. Now that work was done for the day, his radio host personality began seeping back into his very being. And with it came his high volume. "Alright, today's been a drag, so...who's up for some drinks? On me tonight!"
"Me." Midnight raised her hand from her desk immediately, still resting her head on the wood.
"Yes please..." Hina sighed with a wince at his loud voice, propping her head on her hand, tired eyes blinking slowly. Without some form of stimulus she was likely to just fall asleep in her chair. Cementoss, Ectoplasm, Snipe, and even Power Loader were all in the staff room working, and they all agreed in various states of fatigue. The paperwork had taken a lot out of everyone.
Mic turned to Aizawa with a wide grin, nudging him with an elbow. "What about you, Eraser? Fancy a drink with the rest of us?"
His eyes closed, no doubt weighing the pros and cons of spending more time with his loud friend, but he eventually shrugged. "Why not?"
"Yeah!" Present Mic exclaimed, striking a pose, then gestured for the others to follow him. "Come on, I know a good place down the road. Ladies, up and at 'em!" He added when it became apparent Midnight and Hina hadn't moved from their spots.
The redhead sluggishly stood from her seat and picked her friend up by the elbow, basically dragging her from her chair and along with the other teachers. Midnight followed with a groan, liking the idea of a drink but unwilling to put in the work to get herself there.
Luckily, it was a short walk to the bar Mic had talked about, and it was not that popular or well-known, so the heroes weren't bombarded by fans the moment they walked inside. It was dimly lit and cozy, just the sort of atmosphere the exhausted UA staff needed after a long day of grinding through papers. Occupants inside simply gave them a passing glance before going back to their own drinks, unconcerned with the heroes.
As promised, Mic bought the first round of alcohol and the staff were sat along the U-shaped bar. Somehow, Hina ended up at the end of the right side, sitting beside Aizawa. Though she had a distinct impression that she'd been shoved that direction by Midnight. Her friend hadn't given anything away though, so she couldn't tell if it had been intentional. Knowing her, it definitely had been.
Soft music played overhead, and the staff began striking up conversation now that the alcohol was hitting their systems. Midnight was whispering furiously to Present Mic, about what she'd never guess. Probably sharing the latest gossip. At the other end of the bar, Ectoplasm and Power Loader were enthusiastically retelling a gross miscalculation with one of the students' equipment, which ended up backfiring and catching the support equipment lab on fire. Cementoss and Snipe listened intently.
Hina tried to keep up with the story, but being so far away made it difficult to catch everything, so she simply sat and enjoyed the atmosphere of spending some time with her coworkers. It had been awhile since they'd last gotten together as a group like this, too busy with work related duties and hero responsibilities alike. It was nice to just be here among them in a non-work environment.
Aizawa kept quiet, either listening to the story that the other two teachers recounted or simply ignoring them altogether. He sipped slowly at his sake, in no hurry to feel anything from the alcohol. Hina thought not for the first time that he was such a private individual. Other than his teaching style, and his hero work, she didn't know practically anything about him. He was a complete mystery to her.
"Do you make it a habit of staring at people?" He asked of her suddenly, and she shook her head, realizing that her eyes had been trained on him for quite awhile. He gave her a tired side glance.
"Sorry...I was just thinking to myself, I don't know all that much about you. We've been coworkers for three years but you don't talk about yourself." She shrugged. "Out of all the staff I know you the least. You can't fault me for being curious."
"I thought you would have read all of our minds and discovered all of our deepest, darkest secrets by now." He remarked offhandedly, but she blinked in surprise.
"Read your minds-? No, no! Why would I violate the trust of my coworkers like that when I could simply talk to them to find out what I was curious about? I'd lose more friends in the long run if I simply dug into everyone's mind to satisfy my curiosity. And I don't want to know everything about you, just what makes you you. Do I really seem like the type of person to stoop to that sort of level?"
The edge of his mouth was twitched upwards in amusement, and he finished his first cup of sake in one last swallow. "Relax, Scarlet. I know you wouldn't do something like that." He held up a finger for the bartender to get him another cup of sake.
"Oh...right." She deflated a little, laughing to herself once it became obvious Aizawa had only been teasing. She scratched the back of her head, feeling ridiculous. "I knew that."
He stared at her another moment, then turned to the bartender who handed him another sake. "I try not to talk about myself to others. Mic and Midnight have just known me since high school, and they wouldn't leave me alone, I suppose."
"Private person?" She guessed, and he shrugged a reluctant agreement. She indicated to the bartender that she wanted another drink. "I get that. But I still want to get to know you."
"Why so interested?" He asked bluntly.
"Thank you." Hina said to the bartender when he brought her another drink. She leaned her elbow on the counter, propping her head up to look at him square on. "I just want us to be friends, Aizawa. You and I aren't as acquainted with each other as with the other staff, even after three years working together. I mean, I see you every day. It makes me a little sad, that we aren't as close as we otherwise could be."
He frowned slightly, taking a sip from his sake. "I've always considered you a friend."
Hina perked up. "You have?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know..." She muttered to herself, downing her second drink quickly, then tapped the counter for another. "We just never associated or talked that much all this time, I guess. I didn't think you liked my company."
He sighed, narrowing his eyes, as if chastising himself. "I can be distant if I don't watch myself. Mic's told me that a dozen times. I hadn't noticed you felt that way. Gomen'nasai."
Hina smiled, rushing to clarify. "Oh, don't worry about it. I realize now that you and I just have different ways of approaching friendship. Don't apologize for being who you are. I wouldn't ask you to change."
He shot her another strange look, but nodded after a moment, returning his focus back to his drink. He may have wanted the conversation to end there, but now that he'd dropped this revelation on her, she didn't want to let this opportunity slip away. Maybe the alcohol was encouraging him to talk more. She was determined to at least learn a few things about him.
"I've always been curious about how you ended up being called Eraserhead." She mused aloud.
This earned her a tired sigh and a shake of his head. "It's not anything special. I didn't care what I ended up being called, since I didn't want to be in the spotlight anyway. Mic chose it for me and I went with it."
"Ah...that explains it. It's a very 'Present Mic' sort of name." She chuckled to herself. Aizawa didn't look so amused.
"It's a terrible name."
Hina shook her head. "Oh, come on. Mine's not any better. 'Scarlet Seer' was the only thing I could think of and that's just based off of is my damn hair color. The Seer part isn't even accurate, since I can't predict or see the future." She gestured with her hand flippantly, still a little disappointed that she'd ended up being called that. It wasn't her finest moment in school, that was for sure.
"It's still better than Eraserhead." He said, and she smiled, head tilted to the side.
"It really isn't so bad."
He gave her an incredulous stare, not quite believing her.
"Oi! Eraser!" Mic called from further down the bar to catch his attention, and Aizawa turned to his loud friend, caught in conversation with him.
Hina looked down at her drink, twirling it this way and that. She was starting to feel warm inside from the alcohol. She wasn't quite drunk, but continuing at this pace would quickly get her there. They still had a lot of work to do the next morning, so getting wasted probably wasn't a good idea.
Her coworkers talked, and she was content to just sit and listen, though her eyes kept trailing to the Eraser hero beside her, who was listening to whatever Mic was saying. To a degree, she envied their close relationship. Aizawa never seemed uncomfortable around his friend-so long as they didn't do something outlandish, as Mic had the tendency to do occasionally. They spent a lot of time together. They knew each other on a personal level.
Hina wanted that with him, despite not knowing entirely why.
Midnight had assumed she'd been trying to start something more than just a friendly relationship, but that was ridiculous. She wasn't sure what the rule was on fraternization between teachers at UA Academy, but certainly there'd be some sort of rule against it. Her intentions were platonic, and Hina had never even considered something like that between her and the 1-A homeroom teacher. Not even once.
It's not as if Hina thought he wasn't attractive. Of course not. He was a very dedicated person to his job, which she respected and admired, and he took all of his responsibilities without complaint. Not to mention, Aizawa's scruffy and 'I-just-got-out-of-bed' look had always appealed to her, and she recognized that he was a handsome man. Now that she thought about it...he did have quite a lovely face to look at. Underneath his five o'clock shadow was a defined face that couldn't be called unattractive. There was also something about his eyes she'd always liked.
Huh. Maybe Nemuri had been right...maybe Hina was unconsciously looking for something more with him. She'd never been the type to try pushing down her feelings. Her desire to be closer with him had been there for awhile, she'd just assumed friendship had been the extent of it. But the longer she reflected on how she felt, the less she was confident that her heart would be satisfied with something so platonic and surface level.
Recognizing that she liked him didn't turn out to be this huge, embarrassing revelation that made her internally squeal. When it all came down to it, well...she supposed it all made much more sense why getting close to him had always been something she'd wanted.
Hina went to take another drink, but found that her glass was empty, and set it back on the counter. Three shots was normally enough for her-her body was warm and she could feel the familiar pressure of a possible headache and she decided that she'd stop for the night.
Aizawa reached for his glass, and suddenly she was unable to look away from his hands on the table. They were thin and long, and he gently held the sake by the top of the cup, as if he meant to take a drink but was distracted halfway through his action by something Mic had said. Her brown eyes followed his arm up a ways, covered by his uniform sleeve. Black could certainly cover up a lot...
He's lean, but...maybe he's actually pretty muscular under that shirt. She watched him lift the cup to his mouth and drink, but the fabric of his shirt didn't bunch and gave nothing away as far as an answer to her internal question went. She was doomed not to know, it seemed.
Eyes tracked lower as Hina's blood alcohol slowly increased from her three shots. The redhead was lucky that everyone's attention was solely on Present Mic. No one noticed her prolonged staring at her coworker, and as her thoughts slowly got the better of her reasoning.
I wonder why he covers himself up so much. Come to think of it, I've never seen him in anything but his costume...
Hina tried picturing him in a tank top and sweatpants, or something equally appealing to her, but was unable to manage it without a reference. Damn, and she'd tried to hard too. Then, another thought popped into mind and she just couldn't help herself, her descending thoughts filling her head.
"Maybe Aizawa's secretly got tattoos under that costume of his...maybe a chest tattoo...he sort of seems the type."
The redhead's eyes snapped up to Aizawa, who was now staring at her in surprise. One second went, then two passed, before her own eyes widened as she realized what she'd accidentally done. So focused on him, she'd unintentionally projected her thoughts to his own mind. He'd heard what she'd been thinking so lewdly. Oh, fuck...
"Uhh...G-Gomen'nasai!"
Face growing just as red as her hair, she yanked her gaze and connection to his mind away and covered her eyes with her hands in embarrassment. She couldn't believe she'd let her quirk slip like that, so confident with her control most of the time. But get a little drunk and suddenly she was a middle schooler again, unable to choose who and what thoughts were projected to anyone, which had caused her a lot of grief back then at school.
Kill me now...
The bartender chose that moment to come back around to their side of the bar. "Any refills?" He asked, and Hina held up a few fingers.
"Two shots, please."
"Same as before?"
Her head shook, eyes downcast. "The strongest fucking stuff you've got."
He nodded and got to work, producing both shots a moment later. Hina downed them both without even so much as a damn grimace. She risked a glance in his direction, but he had turned back to Mic and the others. Great. She'd probably just shut down whatever attempt she'd wanted to make towards becoming his friend with that one embarrassing slip. Surely he thought she was some sort of closet pervert now...
It hadn't been the smartest idea to take another two shots, but all she'd been thinking at that moment was that she wanted to forget this had ever happened and maybe getting drunk enough would solve it. As her vision became blurrier and the world seemed to rock a little from side to side, she felt one moment of regret when she remembered that they were back to work bright and early the next morning. In the next moment, the thought slipped away into oblivion.
Hina spent the rest of the time stewing in her own cluttered thoughts, chastising herself for ever having thought those things in the first place, then defending herself to herself with the idea that such things were natural and he was, after all, fucking hot. Countering that was the reality that he was her coworker and it was extremely discourteous to be secretly thinking those things or seeing him that way.
By the time the others were ready to bounce, Hina was fully drunk and not doing so well.
"Jeez, Hina, how many shots did you have?" Midnight asked once she noticed the way the redhead wobbled and nearly fell over once she stood from her seat.
"Umm..." She had to think about the answer for a moment. "...five."
"Five!?" The seductress hero laughed. "Oh, hun, you're definitely gonna be feeling those tomorrow."
"Yeah, yeah..." She muttered, pushing away from the bar and heading towards the door on unsteady feet. It felt like a longer distance than it probably was, but she took every step carefully so as not to fall flat on her ass.
"Please get her home safely!" Midnight called to someone else, who only replied with an affirmative grunt. Hina felt someone behind her as she pushed out the door, and spun to find Aizawa walking behind her patiently.
"Why're you following me?" She asked in confusion, remembering what had happened earlier and feeling embarrassed again, she looked away in shame.
"I live near you." He reminded, before shrugging. "And you shouldn't walk home alone in that state, whether your brother is on the loose or not."
Her first instinct was to defend herself, saying she didn't need anyone holding her hand or supervising her all the time. Unfortunately, her foot caught on an uneven crack in the sidewalk below and she teetered precariously. Aizawa's grip on her elbow was the only thing keeping her upright.
"Careful." He said, his tone giving nothing away.
"Ok..." Was all she muttered, deciding to keep her mind trained exclusively on the task of walking upright and in a relatively straight line. It was so difficult when the world was swaying around you, though. But a the very least she could retain what dignity she had left.
They walked in silence most of the way there, with Aizawa keeping her from falling over on occasion using a soft grip on her elbow. He was gentle with her, but she knew that he had the strength to hold her with an unrelenting grip if he chose to. Unbidden, her mind conjured up images of him shoving her against the wall and looking down at her from his superior height-
No, no no no no! She shook her head aggressively, trying to stop any further images from plaguing her mind.
"What is it?" Aizawa asked, clueless as to her internal struggle. She shut her eyes and scrunched her face.
"Nothing, just...alcohol." She finished lamely, hoping he wouldn't ask further while keeping a figurative white-knuckled grip on her quirk. Thankfully, he didn't, and just kept them in the direction of their apartments. His half-lidded gaze seemed more tired than usual, and Hina felt terrible for dragging down his night of relaxation the way she'd done. A sigh escaped her. "I'm sorry..."
"For what?" He asked, glancing at her again.
"...Earlier." She reluctantly admitted. "I didn't mean to do that..."
Aizawa hummed with an inclined tilt of his head, no indication of his current mood showing through. They came upon her lit-up apartment building and he guided her towards the entrance when it became clear that she was veering off another direction unintentionally.
"Don't worry about it." He finally said, once they were stopped in front of her building's entrance.
Hina peered up at him, trying to figure out what he was actually feeling and if he really meant that it wasn't a problem, but the movement made her stumble backwards. Aizawa caught her and gently leaned her against the wall of the building by her shoulders so she wouldn't lose her balance again, a small grin on his face.
"I don't have any tattoos, by the way." He said in amusement, and her eyes widened again. He was pretty close, holding her by her shoulders to make sure she didn't fall again. "If you really wanted to know, you could have just asked."
His eyes glinted with humor. After an amount of time than wasn't particularly necessary, he released her shoulders and stepped back. His hand reached for the door beside them and pulled it open, gesturing for her to enter.
Hina did, staring up at him in wonder before he released the door and turned on his heel to head home. She stood there in the hallway, very drunk and very confused as to what the meaning was behind the moment that just transpired. The fog of alcohol made it a slow process, but eventually she came to a conclusion.
Had he been...teasing her?
A little smile lifted her mouth up and she laughed to herself, liking the revelation that he didn't hate her or think less of her for the embarrassing mistake, and found hope in the fact that he'd smiled while saying his parting words. Hina felt sort of goofy as she wobbled her way up the stairs to her suite, laughing to herself all the while.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
