#keykeke

Patience

While Aizawa can be impatient with people he views as not taking things seriously, that doesn't mean he's impatient in general. In fact, his ability to tolerate and support Eri's aimless rambling about her favorite TV shows or video games is astounding. This is true for all of his relationships.

Aizawa and Shinsou have a bit of a true crime bond, and something of the sort is often playing in the background in their home. Granted, they both approach it differently, with Aizawa maintaining more of a professional interest, whereas Shinsou is sometimes maybe possibly too into it. In his defense, he is also into fictional crime. However, nothing holds a flame to his fascination with people who go missing in the wilderness, whether they turn up later under mysterious circumstances (dead or alive) or not.

There will be weeks straight where he barely sleeps and spends almost every waking moment thinking about what could've happened, why, by who---or what, and where the victim(s) could've wound up. Every so often, this culminates in newspaper printouts, testimonials, and even maps of the area of interest accumulating all over their home.

Aizawa waking up alone, after having fallen asleep beside his partner, and groggily dragging himself into the living room to find an exhausted but manic and disheveled Shinsou, jittery on nicotine and caffeine, almost hysterically offloading his theory on the events that took place? Wouldn't be the first time.

He does his best to keep up with the onslaught of information while pouring himself some morning coffee, secretly happy with the noise and energy. If he's awake enough, he may just set Shinsou off on an affronted tangent by suggesting "aliens."

It never ceases to amuse him how worked up Shinsou gets while on a research bender.

Now, random internet culture mysteries? That's an entirely different ballpark of insomnia and crazed mutterings Aizawa frequently doesn't understand a lick of but does his best to be supportive of anyway, if only because Shinsou's passion is so magnetic (and amusing).

It's not like this type of fond humoring is new to their relationship, either. When they were still professional, particularly while Shinsou was in school, it was rare for Aizawa to talk about the niche things he was interested in, but sometimes it was too hard to resist telling his mentee the history of a certain martial style while teaching it to him. Shinsou would always delight in getting more from his beloved sensei than the cold rigidity of a student-teacher interaction.

Further Thoughts on the matter...

Shinsou is absolutely in a "TrueCrimeGirlies" groupchat with Jirou and Tokoyami

He will kill a fresh vape in a single night when he locks in

Aizawa will occasionally see the light from Shinsou's insane ravings and covertly contact the correct authorities about it; this has resulted in at least one case being officially reopened

Affection

Shinsou never considered himself a touchy-feely kind of person nor would he have expected Aizawa to be. Perhaps regular physical contact from sparring and training helped stave off any touch-starvation, but it was something he'd been conditioned throughout childhood to shy away from until it was something he barely thought of as necessary. All of that changed when they moved in together.

For a while, Aizawa was as he'd always been, as Shinsou had expected. Even when they could touch without being seen, chances were that they simply sat close. Maybe they'd bump each other's shoulder when bantering or teasing, but it was clear (to Shinsou, at least) when looking back that there was a palpable yet unrecognized fear of physical contact.

The really surprising part is that it was Aizawa who broke it.

Shinsou couldn't pinpoint exactly when this change happened, but it was as if Aizawa suddenly realized he could just touch Shinsou. Just because. Whenever. Resting a hand on his shoulder when leaning over him turned into hanging off him in the kitchen if Shinsou was cooking or making drinks. Coy brushes of knees or ankles under the table opened the door to latching onto the hem or belt loops of Shinsou's pants when standing around on the phone or "emotionally supporting" while the younger man checked on the succulents dotted around the house on windowsills they didn't want the cats trying to get up to. Every now and then, he'd find Shinsou sitting on the floor or melting over the armchair and would be completely unable to stop himself from taking his partner by the face, just feeling his skin and admiring how attractive he was.

Aizawa wasn't the only instigator, either, whether Shinsou realized it or not. He would start to lay on Aizawa's lap when lazing about on the couch just to have his hair played with or shove his feet under the other man's thighs. At some point, it became an involuntary urge to lean on Aizawa even if they were in public, and driving was the best because he got to hold his partner's hand the whole time.

And sometimes it was genuinely hard to resist messing with Aizawa's hair, especially after extended periods of time staring at his handsome face.

There were clear preferences for simply being near each other, whether that be sharing space or touching. However, Shinsou is definitely weak to a "good boy," especially from Aizawa. Affirmations came unnaturally to Aizawa, receiving or giving, but students needed to be encouraged sometimes. He'd had enough practice by the time he and Shinsou got together to be able to praise his partner without thinking too much about it. Shinsou turns to mush every time.

Aizawa might not think much about buying trinkets, more interested in finding rocks or such on the ground that either of them might like, but Shinsou will blow no small amount of his paycheck on little things he knew his man would at least find endearing. Small cat figurines all over Aizawa's desk at school? Shinsou bought them, and will buy more if he sees them. Of course, he'll also draw little pictures with cute notes and leave them in Aizawa's pockets after laundry day to be discovered later. This, specifically, has become so frequent that Aizawa compulsive checks his pockets during breaks and has a mostly unused notepad in his desk now dedicated to tucking away all of the little pieces of paper he finds in his clothes.

Aizawa is more of an 'acts of service' person. He finds it most satisfying to be able to do things for Shinsou. Feeling useful and needed is important. Given that Shinsou goes off the deep end researching things sometimes, there is no short supply of instances that make Aizawa feel like an important part of Shinsou's life, even if it's just covering the chores that were forgotten in the hysteria.

It may not be that surprising given how Aizawa treats the cats. This man completely babies them, has the weakest spine when they beg for food, trims their claws while cooing gently to them; brushes them every day he can or whenever one walks up to the cabinet their brush is stored in and cries for brushies, and even moisturizes their little toe beans with a paw salve. It wasn't that they weren't babied by Shinsou, too, but he had a little more spine to resist their demands and would happily take them to the groomers to avoid having to clip their claws. Shinsou spoils them with toys instead and scolds Aizawa for giving them too many treats when the cats start gaining weight.

Cleanliness

It's worth prefacing that Shinsou is not untidy, but if he wasn't strict about putting something away every time he got up, he very well might be. However, he'd seen hoarder situations growing up, had seen absolutely filthy living situations, had smelled Kaminari's room after exams-- He was committed to not being a complete disaster. Besides, he convinced himself long ago that it was a state of immaturity or childishness to not keep things hygienic, and how could he be with an adult if he still dragged his feet to clean his room like a little kid?

His view of the world---and the ways life just happened---softened with time, but proving he was "worthy" of being with Aizawa guided the beginnings of several of his habits. At least with cleaning and hygiene, it was truly a boon to their relationship.

Aizawa is completely neurotic about things being clean. It's always been in the Top 3 hurdles of living with someone else for him.

Things could not be unclean or disorganized. A room in disarray was a life out of control. Aizawa did not like being out of control.

Before they moved in together, Aizawa's living spaces could've been mistaken for staged open houses.

Shinsou has to be careful to decide where things "belong" or it would be hard to get Aizawa to accept something being out or in the "wrong place" later. Messes have to be brief as Aizawa has a limited acceptance period before the stress kicks in.

While this can be inconvenient sometimes, Shinsou actually doesn't mind this. There's something satisfying about having a neat, tidy house to come home to and knowing how much work went into keeping it that way. It also helps him stay on track with his own cleanliness goals.

Personal hygiene was something they commiserated over in school, both having extremely limited tolerance for odors and filth. Showers after training or rolling around outside are not up for debate. It wasn't uncommon for Shinsou to be late for class after gym, unwilling to forgo getting the dirt from under his nails or preening his hair with product after a thorough wash just to avoid detention.

They both take good care of themselves in the hygiene department, even if many assume Aizawa doesn't because he's lazy about shaving.

Smell good too. They both definitely smell really good. Like coconut, cardamom, licorice, juniper, and nutmeg. Mhm. You know they use each other's products indiscriminately.

Unmoving Objects and Unstoppable Forces

From all the years under Aizawa's tutelage, Shinsou developed a pretty good grasp on how the older man's head worked. When he was a kid, the overbearing sense of justice and "control issues," specifically, was difficult to make sense of, but as he grew older and spent more time with Aizawa, he began to unravel the parameters of his partner's thinking. There was logic there, and while Shinsou found some of it stretching or even funny, he grew to appreciate the predictability of his former mentor. And he was---Aizawa was extremely predictable once one understood the way he was wired.

It was also easy to avoid arguments when you knew how your partner would react to something.

Eventually, Shinsou figured out Aizawa didn't have control issues; rather, the older man was surprisingly lenient and accepting when a personal sense of responsibility wasn't there. No, it was the cognitive rigidity that turned patterns and routines into safety nets and laws. On a watered-down scale, Shinsou always "knew" Aizawa's perception of reality was a little different than most others. It took years to actually understand what that meant and how it applied to Aizawa's mood and stability. The world was terrifying, mathematically improbable; humans were incoherent, society was backwards, and no one else seemed to even notice! Instead, others built social cages that Aizawa couldn't fit through and proceeded to blame him for not being the right shape. It was frustrating!

So he built his own cages. Ones that fit him. Ones he was in control of. Ones that weren't confusing or backwards. And those cages made him feel safe. He simultaneously liked and despaired that no one else could easily fit through his bars. On one hand, he was free to exist in his tiny bubble and search for shiny rocks at his leisure; but on the other, these stiff, unyielding lines made things incredibly isolating.

Once Shinsou determined what Aizawa's cages were made of, he found a sad understanding of their lonely construction. They really weren't that difficult to slip through, when he thought about it (not that many other people would). Understand the pattern---understand the man. Sudden changes or leaving room in a conversation for Aizawa to interpret something incorrectly would just lead to everyone being distressed. Aizawa was predictable, and so was his view of the world.

Shinsou even grew to understand that he was the unpredictable one through Aizawa's mental lens. Aizawa is rigid; this or that needed to be done this way because, well, it had to, and this or that was wrong with little room for leeway. His view of the world is rigid.

Shinsou's isn't. Shinsou is flexible, open to change, quick to adapt, and willing to tolerate things he finds distasteful as a means to an end. In short, he is an excellent actor when he decides he needs to be, and is quick to hide things he thinks are better left tucked away so they don't burden others around him. It's to his benefit in the field, needing to be the exact type of person to get a criminal or villain to retort. That person isn't always him, so he has to be fluid, dynamic.

There are aspects of this adaptability that Aizawa genuinely admires, but he hates how easily Shinsou can disguise his feelings or simply lie if the younger man thought it would protect someone else's feelings (something Aizawa finds infantilizing when turned on him). With time, these become the only things they really argue about as a couple.

More on the 'tism

Given the part of the world he lives in (and the way Japanese works), Aizawa has some plasticity socially, but it's apparent that it isn't second- third- or even fourth-nature and requires quite of a bit of emotional battery power; ie, he might reevaluate something he said minutes after the fact and preemptively attempt to mend the bridge before his miscalculation can even be addressed (even if no damage was caused since he can't tell the difference sometimes).

Aizawa has some artistic ability, but he rarely uses it "creatively"; his approach to drawing is mechanical and borderline mathematical; as long as everything is neat and easily understood, nothing more is needed; battle plans, maps, blueprints; simple shapes and minimal detail (Shinsou thinks it's a cute style, especially the way Aizawa draws cats, which he only does if asked, but he used to doodle a cat in exchange for any Shinsou sketched on his homework in school)

Special interests: various fighting styles, martial arts, types of combat and warfare, and improvised weapons/weaponizing things that weren't designed to be weapons

Not afraid of a little dirt

Shinsou was always an active kid, but even when he was younger he fantasized about being in nature like in books or TV shows. It's a difficult balance, seeing as he's most effective at his job in the city where there are lots of people to protect.

Aizawa has given him the means (and excuses) to venture outside the concrete jungle and get a little dirt on his knees that isn't polluted by motor oil.

For Aizawa, he never cared much either way about nature, not like Shinsou does. However, he was the type of kid that loved climbing trees. He liked being up high and enjoyed the feat of scaling something so much greater than himself. Being with Shinsou, seeing how happy and lively he is outside the city, has reawakened the excitement and awe of fulfilling that tiny monkey itch in the back of his brain that couldn't wait to be off the ground.

Surely they could write off a little hike here or there as a business expense, right? Even the countryside and mountains needed protecting, of course.

Outside is for losers anyway

When the weather gets colder, it's the perfect time to curl up by the fire with warm drinks and do some parallel play. Aizawa will be grading, of course, and Shinsou will read his murder mystery novels. They'll interrupt each other intermittently with cat videos, shared inconspicuously over text so they don't really "interrupt" the other.

There's nothing wrong with cooking for each other, either! Who needs a noisy restaurant when your partner knows exactly what you like and how you like it? They can both cook just fine, although Aizawa generally treats it as a method of survival rather than joy, unlike Shinsou, who's an overachiever at heart. Aizawa tackles the staple meals while Shinsou performs experimental magic in the kitchen; and even if Shinsou's the better baker, Aizawa will still do his best when they babysit Eri.

More "social" ideas

They'll visit museums or places of historical significance, likely during off-hours, and Shinsou will spend the whole time hanging off Aizawa like a giddy child, only encouraged by Aizawa allowing it. More than admiring the history, they're there discussing how they'd steal this or that artifact without being caught, going into elaborate detail for heists and escape plans. It's a good exercise---getting into the heads of criminals.

They definitely make staff nervous.

These two are not immune to a coffee date sometimes, even if it means dealing with crowds. They'll probably scale the building to sit together on the roof instead of a table, though.

They go to cat cafes. I will not hear otherwise.

More thoughts!!

They don't usually talk much---don't have to---or Shinsou fills the silence talking about his day or stuff he'd read about recently. Aizawa is just happy to listen to the sound of his voice.