Shouta Aizawa: 24 hours
angst/comfort
Your shared apartment was quiet, it usually is. But this silence is different. Itâs heavy and stiff, the kind of quiet that blankets over your entire body and leaves you still. Your eyes were glued to the floor. Unmoving. It had been exactly 24 hours since the war against AFO had settled, 24 hours since you last heard from him.
Shouta hadnât called, and you knew why, you watched it all unfold from your TV after all. You witnessed the kids he spoke so fondly about to you, fight for their lives and for the lives of others. Your heart ached for them, but the best thing you could do was rush to the hospital you worked at and get to work.
The hospital was hecticâcivilians, sidekicks and heroâs alike were being rushed in to be treated. You were overwhelmed and exhausted. Constantly running around from patient to patient, stretching yourself thin, all while in the back of your mind you were worrying for your husband.
âż âż âż âż
Shouta laid in the hospital bed, breathing in the sterile hospital air, in slowâ painful breaths. Every single part of him ached. His mind raced, trying to piece together everything that had happened.
His unpatched eye darted around the white and blue room. Then finally it landed on the silhouette that was sat next to his bed. Head hanging as they slept in an uncomfortable position, scrubs rumbled and name tag visible. His wifeâ his sweet wife was slumped over his battered body and was fast asleep in an uncomfortable way and he couldnât move. He couldnât help her. That frustrated him to his core.
There were faint shadows under your eyes, darker than he'd ever seen them. You obviously hadnât gone home.
He knew you hadnât. Not with the state heâd been brought in. You would have hovered. Argued with fellow nurses. Checked charts that werenât yours to check. His wifeâThe one who stitched up strangers without trembling but probably broke down in supply closets where no one could see.
His chest tightened.
Slowly, the monitor ticked up a beat and in response, your brows twitched. His eye widened slightly. He focused on slowing his breathing, willing the machine not to betray him. It finally steadiedâ
You didnât wake.
He let himself just look at you. He remembered flashesâthe battlefield, the collapsing structures, the scream of metal and dust. The moment heâd thought, distantly,
âI might not make it home this time.â
And then the memories came flooding back,
you standing in the kitchen in his oversized sweats and shirt, scolding him for skipping meals. The way you absentmindedly adjusted his capture scarf when it sat wrong before he left for work every morning. The softness in your voice when you said his name when you came home after late night shifts and found him fast asleep on your shared bed, your soft lips pressing against his before you slipped under the sheets and pulled yourself close to him.
He had clung to that, now here you were.
Close enough to touchâ and he couldnât.
His fingers twitched again, more insistently this time. A tremor ran through his hand before it settled. Pain followed, sharp and bright, but he welcomed it. It meant he wasn't gone.
His hand shifted barely an inch. Enough for his knuckles to brush the fabric of your sleeve. It was clumsy, weak, but it was contact.
You stirredâa soft sound left you , confused and disoriented. Your head lifted slowly, hair a mess, eyes blinking against the fluorescent light. For a second, you didn't seem to understand where you were.
Then your eyes adjusted and found his, staring at you. Your lower lip trembled, shoulders shook as you immediately stood up.
âShouta?â Your voice cracked around his name like it had been waiting behind your teeth for days. His eye softened immediately, you were on your feet in an instant, hovering over him but carefulâ you were always careful. Your hands fluttered uselessly, afraid to touch somewhere that might hurt.
âYou're awake,â you breathedâIt wasn't a simple statement. It was disbelief, relief and fear. All tangled into one queasy knot in your chest, and plastered onto your pretty face.
He tried to speak.
It came out rough, barely audible. âYou're... supposed to be sleeping.â Your breath hitched, and a watery laugh escaped you. âI was.â You whispered, âUncomfortably,âhe murmured faintly, eyes shifting to the chair. You swallowed, palming at your neck, feeling a sore knot. âYou noticedââ âI always notice,â he replied, voice thin but certain.
Tears welled before you could stop them. You leaned down carefully, one hand cradling the side of his face that wasn't bandaged. You were so gentle it almost hurt more than the injuries.
âYou scared me,â you whispered. His eye drifted closed for a moment, leaning faintly into your palm. âMâ sorry.â He whispered raggedlyâ
âNoâ donât you dare apologize for doing what you had to,â you said immediately. Your thumb ran over the blooming bruise underneath his exposed eye, feeling him as gently you could. Sniffling, you said âI can see the worry in your eyes, donâtâ your kids are alright.â
âTheyâre strong, learned a lot from you. You should be proud of them.âyou whispered as you leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
His gaze shifted at your words. It was subtleâmost people wouldnât have caught itâbut you did. You saw the tension behind his eye, the way his jaw tightened despite the medication dulling everything else. You were right. He hadnât just been worried about you.
You leaned closer, your forehead nearly touching his. Your tears finally spilled over, warm drops landing against his skin before you hurried to wipe them away.
âI checked on them,â you whispered, voice trembling but steady with purpose. âEvery single one that was brought in. I made sure.â His breathing stilled. You swallowed, trying to remember the kids with the most intense injuries âUm, Midoriyaâs stable. Stubborn as ever, even when halfâconscious. Bakugo is furious about being bedriddenâwhich means heâs going to be fine and uh Todorokiâs healing well. Iida hasnât left anyoneâs side.â You took a deep breath to steady yourself before finally saying âTheyâre hurt, Shouta. But theyâre alive.â
His eye closed slowlyânot from exhaustion, but relief. The tension drained from his features in a way that made your chest ache. His fingers tried to curl in your grasp again, and this time you felt the faint pressure. âI couldnâtââ His voice broke, scraped raw. âI couldnât reach them all.â
âYou did,â you insisted softly. âYou always do.â A tear slipped from the corner of his visible eye, disappearing into the bandages near his temple, and you brushed it away instinctively. âYou taught them well. They fought smart. They protected each other. They protected the people around them. They sounded a lot like you in those hospital rooms, ordering each other aroundâ A faint, breathless huff left himâthe ghost of a laugh.
You leaned down carefully, pressing the softest kiss to his uninjured cheek. âTheyâre alive because of you,â you murmured against his skin. âAnd theyâre going to walk back into your classroom again. Alive, loud, disrespectful and ready to give you a headache.â His eye opened, softer now. The worry hadnât vanishedâit never wouldâbut it no longer consumed him.
âAnd you,â you continued, your voice breaking again, âare allowed to rest.â He studied you thenâyour red eyes, the exhaustion you were pretending didnât exist, the quiet strength you carried. âYou stayed,â he said faintly. âOf course I did,â you replied, almost offended. His gaze warmed. âYou didnât have to.â You tightened your grip on his hand. âYes,â you whispered fiercely, âI did.â
âIâm your wife,â you whispered, your voice trembling but steady. âIâll always be here for you.â The words settled heavily between you, louder than the quiet hum of machines. Your fingers tightened even more around his hand as if anchoring yourself to the moment. His eye searched your face, taking in the exhaustion, the fear, and the pure love written so plainly.
âYou donât have to carry everything alone,â you continued softly, brushing your thumb over his knuckles. âNot your students, Not the guilt. Iâm here for all of itâthe ugly parts too.â His throat worked as he swallowed. âI donât want you carrying it,â he murmured hoarsely. âI already do,â you replied gently. âThatâs what we promised each other when we said our vows.â
âItâs not fair,â he said faintly. You leaned forward until your forehead rested against his. âIt was never about fair.â The monitor kept its steady rhythm as his fingers twitched, barely curling around yours. It was small, but it was him trying. âYou scare me,â you admitted, your voice breaking. âEvery time you walk out that door, you scare me, But I knew who you were when I married you. I knew what I was getting into, what you do.â
âAnd you still stayed,â he breathed. âI didnât stay,â you whispered, tears slipping free. âI chose you. I keep choosing you.â
The words seemed to ease something inside him. With visible effort, his trembling hand lifted from the mattress, reaching. You met him halfway, guiding his fingers to your cheek. His touch was weak but warm, real. âDonât cry,â he murmured. A soft, watery laugh left you. âThatâs not a reasonable request right now.â
The faintest hint of a smile touched his mouth, small and fragile but realâand it unraveled you. You leaned down carefully, cradling the unbandaged side of his face, and pressed your lips softly against his. The kiss was slow and trembling, full of everything the last twenty-four hours had stolen from you. Tears slipped between you as you rested your forehead against his. âI love you,â you whispered, the words breaking on a quiet sob.
His eye softened, and his weak, trembling fingers tightened faintly against your cheek. âI know,â he murmured, voice rough. You shook your head gently. âNo. Donât do that, Say it. Pleaseââ For a moment, vulnerability flickered across his features before his thumb brushed your skin with careful effort. âI love you too,â he said quietly. Relief poured out of you, your shoulders shaking as you finally let yourself fall apartâand though he couldnât hold you the way he wanted to, his hand stayed against your face, and that was enough.
A/N: can yall tell im in my feels with all the lowk angsty shi ive been writing? Yes? Just Kirk me actually omfg. Anyways hiiii I fricking love aizawa SO BAD I need to rub my face against his stubbly cheeks lord
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