Chapter Six

"I think I can speak for us both when I say that we're very grateful to be out here, speaking to everyone this morning."

Aizawa fights to not roll his eyes at that. Neither one of them are grateful. Hizashi squeezes his hand as he speaks, Aizawa staying silent, his dark eyes on the crowd. The moment the attention had turned to the two of them, the media had fallen silent, cameras trained on them, microphones being held out, every person in the crowd leaning in to listen. For once in their lives, the media is completely silent.

Hizashi carries on. Aizawa stays quiet. This had all been planned out and prepared for.

"Due to the nature of Todoroki Shouto's injury, we haven't really had much time to deal with things such as the press." Hizashi isn't happy with the press. It's not like he's ever liked persistent, unwanted media attention, either. It's almost amusing how Hizashi's basically subtly saying that they've been annoying and a huge nuisance to them and have done nothing but hinder their care and treatment for Shouto. Hizashi just smiles, always a crowd pleaser. He's good at what he does, and he looks good on camera, especially now with his hair down and dressed in a formal suit, rather than his hero costume.

"...We're sure you all understand how important it is to be by his side right now and how that doesn't leave a lot of time for things such as speaking to the press. However, we're out here today, of course, to talk about what has been going on with the student we've been taking care of, since the details of the incident seem to be on everyone's minds recently. Hopefully we can… put some of those discussions and questions to rest."

Hizashi falls silent for a moment, still smiling at the cameras. A crowd of people stare up at them. Nemuri's to the side of the steps, along with some of Hizashi's associates. Aizawa even notices Yagi and Kan have come out and are standing with Nemuri, braving the cold to be here for them.

He can't quite meet the eyes of the press, his eyes instead wandering further. His gaze rests on a small monitor that some production worker is working with, and he sees his own reflection staring back at him. Beside him, Hizashi looks bright, calm and charming. Aizawa looks dull, the bags under his eyes especially evident on camera. It takes him by surprise for a moment, but Hizashi squeezes his hand again, giving him a nudge, and Aizawa snaps back to their planned out speech.

It's his turn. He clears his throat. Eyes are on him and even in the frigid, freezing air, with snowflakes occasionally drifting down to settle in his dark nest of hair, Aizawa feels burning hot, heart beating hard, and he tries to think about anything other than the fact that he's on camera for the entire nation to see again.

"Todoroki Shouto is in our care," Aizawa says simply. His voice is quieter than he means it to be. He clears his throat once more and tries to stare over the heads of the reporters, tries to look anywhere else but directly at the crowd, "He suffered a severe injury due to his father's actions. He's awake and recovering and doing well. He won't be making any media appearances whatsoever."

He takes a breath, hating how hard it was to even say just his small part. He feels Hizashi run his thumb over his fingers in what feels like a comforting gesture, and Hizashi takes over once more.

"Yes, Todoroki Shouto is still a minor and we expect him to not be bothered by the media," It's said with Hizashi's bright, welcoming grin, but Aizawa knows that there's a threat of legal action underneath. They'd decided to make that as clear as possible—the media will not be allowed any access to Shouto in order to prevent Shouto from having to deal with them. Aizawa just hopes that they have the decency—or at least the common sense—to listen to what they're told. "Any questions about him will have to go through us. For now, we can tell you all what Eraser just said—Shouto-kun is in good hands and is being treated at a hospital by a team of professionals very familiar with his condition. He's doing very well and will recover. Aside from that, as I'm sure most of you have heard, former pro hero Endeavor is awaiting trial for abuse of his son—and that is a trial we will be participating in."

Aizawa takes another deep breath and leans forward, adding onto that, "We will also be filing for custody."

A murmur ripples through the crowd. Aizawa knows why—everything else has been public knowledge, except for the update that Shouto will recover, but it seems as though the media expected that. Given the medical care in the nation, aided by quirks, it's not a huge surprise that Shouto is reacting well to treatment. There's no telling right now if he'll make a full recovery or not due to the damage, but he'll at least be able to do most things he had before.

The fact that they're filing for full custody of Shouto, though, is not public knowledge. Shouto knows it, as does his sister and Shouto's entire medical team, but the media hadn't known in. And… given that most of Aizawa's class is probably watching, they now know that their homeroom teacher and their loud English teacher are married and that they're going to be adopting a student. That's something else Aizawa knows he'll have to deal with, but for now, he pushes it to the back of his mind. The crowd murmurs for a moment, clearly surprised by the development, and Aizawa glances at Hizashi, only getting a nod in return.

'They'll find out and report on it eventually,' Hizashi had told him while they were in the process of deciding what to say and do during the conference. 'If we want to kill the interest in Shouto's case, we'll have to spoil the surprise for them.'

After all, if they told them now, then when they go to court and formally file for custody, there won't be a whole lot of interest in it. It'll already be old news. They'll have already known about it. Aizawa agreed when Hizashi explained that to him, but even now, he doesn't like them knowing. He doesn't like his life being out in the open so much, especially after hiding in the shadows of the underground hero world until this year, and now he was making his second media appearance, this time with his personal life out on display.

He swallows his pride and discomfort, though, and leans a bit more into Hizashi. He doesn't attempt to smile, not like Hizashi does, instead keeping his eyes on that monitor to make sure he doesn't pull some sort of angered face.

"Now that all that's over with and you all know how we're going forward from here," Hizashi begins, a small part of Aizawa relieved that the first half is over. He just needs to get through this next part, and it'll all be fine. "I'm sure you all have questions for us prepared. We'll take a few."

Another murmur. A young-looking reporter near the front immediately jumps up, a huge grin on her face, and shouts a sudden, loud question at them, "Can you tell us more about Endeavor's injuries?"

Aizawa's silent. So is Hizashi. This was a question they'd gone over, but not really one they'd expected, least of all the first one they'd expected to be asked.

In their momentary silence, the reporter continues on, "I—I mean, we have all read the reports. We're aware that…" She glances down at her notes. Aizawa wants to roll his eyes. His hero name really isn't that hard to remember. "...Eraserhead was the one to mainly cause the flame hero's injuries. Can you tell us a bit about why you… went so… far?"

Everything that's happened after the incident has truly just made Aizawa hate the media even more than he had before. He's hot all over, burning under the too tight collar of his shirt. He hates this question, the way the reporter seems to stumble over her words, like she's unsure how to phrase it in a non-offensive manner. He knows what she's asking. She's asking why Aizawa lost all control the moment he walked into the house, and why Endeavor was sent to the hospital in nearly as bad of a condition as Shouto had been.

The answer should be obvious. It should be logical. He's never thought of the media as monsters, per say, just inappropriate vultures who didn't know when to leave pro heroes and their families alone, but he's never thought that they could possibly lack empathy this much.

"Why I went so far…?" He repeats. Hizashi gives him a nudge, reminding him again to stay calm and respond in a way that won't spark even more debate than it already has. Aizawa shuts up for a moment and thinks, looking the reporter in her eyes as he answers, "You must have not read through the reports entirely. I walked in on an abusive father hurting his unconscious son. I did what any pro hero would do. I wasn't excessive. The police reports can tell you that much."

He swears he hears Hizashi let out a sigh of relief, but he isn't sure. The first reporter doesn't respond, doesn't have time to, because someone towards the back immediately takes the chance to shout another question.

"Do either of you blame Endeavor's son for what happened?"

That's a little more what they were expecting going into this. Obviously, the media is still looking for blame and obviously, they'd be curious about where Aizawa and Hizashi, the two adults closest to Shouto, would feel about who to blame.

"Absolutely not," Aizawa says, voice low, and Hizashi jumps in to finish for him.

"No, not at all," Hizashi's far more charismatic, and he clearly knows what the media wants to hear. He knows how to talk to them. "It's wrong to blame him for anything. There's nothing he could've ever done to deserve this. Please put any thoughts of him training to be a hero aside and remember that this is a child we're talking about. He's not to blame for his father's actions."

Again, there's no time for the questioner to react, because someone else immediately jumps in, the press conference quickly becoming a round of questioning, everyone wanting to know their thoughts on various things and more information about Shouto.

"What kind of injury does the boy have?" Hizashi glances at him again, giving him a small smile, and Aizawa nods, letting Hizashi take over for the most part.

"We can't disclose that information; we hope you understand."

------

"He's really good at this, isn't he?"

Fuyumi's comment brings Shouto back, though honestly, once the questions get repetitive, he almost entirely tunes out what's playing on the screen in front of him. There's a lot of information and Shouto has known most of it—or more, he's been told most of it. When he hears it like this, knowing in the back of his mind that the nation is watching this, that this is what they all know about him now, it sets it in stone and forces it to become a reality for him. This is happening. His life and the incident is all over the news. Everyone knows.

They don't know everything, which is a huge relief. Aizawa and Yamada aren't giving out a lot of information. But the simple fact that there's reports out there that the media has a hold on that detail what happened that night, how Shouto hadn't been able to go up against his father—he has no idea what to think or do. Everyone knows now and most importantly, his classmates all know. They all know that he lost, that he couldn't hold his own, and he isn't entirely sure if he can face them anymore.

His entire life has been about being strong, about getting stronger. His father's dream had been for him to someday be strong enough to surpass him. And then on the one day that that had truly mattered, Shouto hadn't been strong enough. He'd tried, and he'd failed, and now everyone knew.

He remembers Aizawa-sensei apologizing to him for releasing the reports. He understands now, but getting an apology from an adult is still an odd, foreign thing. He doesn't blame him, would never blame him. He only blames himself. It's his fault that those reports are so damning in the first place. It's his fault that he hadn't been enough on that night.

Something sticks out, though.

"They're both good at it," Shouto comments, only halfway there with Fuyumi, only half paying attention to her. "They're good at what they do."

That phone call.

Why had he made it? How had he made it? "You seem to like them a lot!" She smiles. "That's… really good to see. I'm glad you ended up with them. You must be looking forward to going home, right?"

Shouto looks away from the screen and tries to think. It's the same problem as always. It feels so… unattainable, so far away. He can't picture it or imagine what it'll possibly be like. He'd been able to look forward to Fuyumi coming here, but that was easier to picture; he knows what it's like in the hospital and knows what Fuyumi's like. Putting the two of them together had easily netted four, but trying to put getting out of the hospital together with living with his teachers gives him a number he can't even begin to understand. It's impossible.

"I guess so," He tries to sound flat and non committal, tries to not let his frustration seep into his tone. "They're… I trust them."

Was that why he'd made that phone call?

Shouto's never liked doing things that he's not absolutely sure of. He's never liked guessing games or unknowns. He's always liked having a clear, concrete idea of an outcome in his head. Never has he pictured not being with his father at least until he becomes a pro himself. Only then had he ever thought he'd get out from underneath his hold.

He hadn't been enough that night. He hadn't been able to save or protect himself. But at the same time he had.

He hadn't been able to physically defend himself, but he'd done something else. That something else looked like it'd ultimately saved his life.

One of the clearest things about that night that he can recall is when Aizawa had handed him that slip of paper with his phone number written on it. His personal phone number, scrawled in his handwriting, handed to him with the promise that Shouto could contact him whenever. He can also remember all the times Aizawa had brought that paper back up, had told him over and over that he needed to call him if anything happened, had asked him if he understood again and again. That's one of the clearest things in his memory.

But he can also remember hesitating, putting that number in his phone and even hesitating in saving it as a contact number. He'd told himself he wouldn't call, that it'd never get bad enough to be anything he couldn't handle. After all, Shouto has always thought of his father as someone who wouldn't permanently damage him or maim him beyond use, simply because Shouto's purpose wasn't spent yet. He'd never thought he'd ever be able to make that phone call.

He had. And now he's here. He can't understand complicated things, but he understand simple things, and the simple fact of the matter is that he wouldn't be here if he hadn't made that phone call. In some way, he'd protected himself. It just hadn't been using either of his quirks or any of the techniques his father had taught him. He'd done what Aizawa-sensei and Yamada had told and taught him to do, and that was the reason he was even here, sitting in a hospital bed with his sister at his side, his father being put on trial for everything he'd done to Shouto.

Maybe… maybe this situation isn't as shameful as he'd thought.

There's no doubt that the rest of his class, all his friends and acquaintances, are watching. At least some of them will be concerned, he thinks. He wonders what they'll think, if they'll find a way to find out every little thing that's happened. Maybe they'll see that Shouto had protected himself.

"Shouto…?"

Shouto tilts his head back, resting it against the bed. He's not paying attention to the broadcast anymore and by now, it's just background noise. From the sounds of it, Aizawa and Yamada are done talking and there's a reporter speaking again in a fast high-pitched voice. Shouto only cares if it's Aizawa or Yamada talking. Otherwise, the media is just annoying.

Luckily, Fuyumi seems to get the hint and takes her computer back. A moment later, she shuts off the broadcast and the room is comfortably quiet again, filled with the soft breathing of the people in it, the machines at Shouto's bedside, and the noise of the heater running in the hospital.

He opens an eye, looking at Fuyumi, "They're done, right?"

"I think so," She keeps her voice quiet, though upbeat, like she somehow gets that Shouto's had enough commotion for the day. Or for the year, he bitterly thinks. There's so much going on, and it tires him out and makes his head hurt. "Um… did you want me to give Aizawa-kun a call? I can see when they're due to come back."

"Thanks," He really is grateful, because in some way, Fuyumi seems to understand. He feels Fuyumi reach out and for once, he doesn't jump when she gently pats him on the arm, listening to her footsteps as she slowly makes her way out of the room to make the phone call.

------

Hizashi's in the middle of finishing up talking with a producer when his phone rings, startling both himself and the agency worker he's with. He jumps a little, immediately stopping in his conversation, and when he glances at his phone, he finds that it's coming up at Todoroki Fuyumi, Hizashi having got her number from Aizawa in case of an emergency the previous night. He excuses himself and steps away, picking up the call only to be met with an immediate barrage of panic.

"Present Mic-san, I'm so sorry! I couldn't reach Aizawa-kun, so I called you and I hope that was alright—is everything okay? I'm sorry, I didn't catch the end of the broadcast, and—"

"Everything's fine," Hizashi keeps his voice light. He takes the opportunity, climbing the last few steps of his hero agency and pushing through the doors. It's there that he finds Aizawa exactly where he left him ten minutes before.

True to his nature, Aizawa is sitting in one of the hard plastic chairs in the lobby, sound asleep with his entire face buried in Nemuri's shoulder. His hair hangs halfway out of his bun, the camera makeup on his face smeared like Nemuri had tried to wipe it off of him. His tie is undone, his shirt partially unbuttoned, jacket nowhere to be found. At least he'd tried to pull a sweater over himself, but it looked like he'd fallen dead asleep on Nemuri before finishing. Aizawa had left earlier, had gone back inside almost immediately after the conference, and was obviously exhausted to the point that he'd fallen asleep as soon as someone sat down with him.

It doesn't surprise him in the least. Aizawa works himself to exhaustion and with Shouto being in the hospital, Aizawa's hardly gotten any sleep. He'd slept a few hours the night before apologizing to Hizashi but besides that, he'd only nap in the chair at Shouto's bedside and usually only for a few minutes at a time. It's good to see him getting some rest, and Hizashi knows what he has to do.

"Shouta's just a little… worn out right now," Hizashi laughs quietly, catching Nemuri's gaze. She presses a finger to her lips, warning him to be quiet. Of course, the last thing Hizashi wants to do is wake sleeping beauty. "I'm gonna drop him off at home and then come back to the hospital. He needs to sleep. Is Shouto alright?"

"He's fine," Fuyumi sounds relieved, happy. Hizashi's pleased, too. The press conference went about as well as it could've, Shouta's finally sleeping, and Shouto's spending time with his sister. Things are looking up a little, finally.

"Tell him I'll be back in about an hour," Hizashi tells her, raising an eyebrow at Nemuri as he points at Aizawa. They're going to have to wake him up, but Hizashi's dragging him back to the house whether he likes it or not. He needs sleep and Aizawa sleeps best at home. The only trick is managing to get him there without waking him up too much.

------

With Nemuri and Hizashi both, they manage.They've known Aizawa for about fifteen years—it's not like they haven't done this before. Luckily, Aizawa doesn't wake up much, only enough to mumble about not wanting to go home and enough for Hizashi to pull him out of the car and sort of walk with him to the house.

Their house is exactly how they'd left it Nemuri's been taking care of the cats, but still, the youngest comes to greet them, rubbing herself against Aizawa's legs with her tail twitching in happiness. Hizashi has to shoo her away after a moment, because Aizawa's leaning his entire weight on him, and Hizashi's trying to get him as far as on the bed in their room.

"...I need to go back to the hospital…" Aizawa mumbles when Hizashi's dragged him to their bedroom, working the door open as he supports Aizawa. The cat follows them, purring loudly and taking any chance to brush up against Aizawa.

"You can go back after you've slept," Hizashi assures him, wrapping his arm tighter around him. Aizawa's warm and limp in Hizashi's hold, not actually resisting or fighting him at all. Aizawa stops complaining, too, letting Hizashi pull him into the bedroom. He makes quick work of helping him change his clothes, stripping him of the remainder of his suit and shoving a sweater on him before putting him to bed.

Hizashi starts pulling the covers over Aizawa when Aizawa suddenly opens his tired, dark eyes, and Hizashi's immediately afraid that Aizawa's going to protest and tell Hizashi to take him back to the hospital. He doesn't, though, instead yawning and looking right at Hizashi as he speaks.

"Hey… there's a letter from Shouto's mother in my jacket… can you read it to me before you leave?"

Hizashi relaxes, breathing a sigh of relief. He smiles and quickly gets it from Aizawa's suit jacket. It's tucked into the inside pocket, addressed to both of them, still unopened. Aizawa's made himself comfortable in bed, having pulled the blankets up the rest of the way, laying on his side and waiting as Hizashi sits back on the bed, opening up the envelope to a page of neatly written handwriting.

"'To Aizawa-san and Yamada-san'," He starts, glancing at Aizawa. Aizawa closes his eyes, and Hizashi continues on, reading it off to him, "'I heard about the news a few days after it happened. In the hospital, I don't have a lot of access to the outside world, but my doctor told me about this. I was upset at first, but… I was told that you two are taking my Shouto in. I'm very happy. I've heard that you are both great heroes and teachers. Please take good care of my son. I asked my daughter to kindly give this to you. I understand if you don't want to meet me or if you don't want Shouto to see me, but I would really like to meet with you and still be able to communicate with Shouto. If you're willing to come to my hospital, here's my doctor's information. Again, thank you for taking care of my son. I trust he will be safe with you.'"

Hizashi stares at the letter for a moment more. He knows about Todoroki Rei and her whereabouts and that Shouto had been writing her letters and visiting. He looks back at Aizawa, who seems to just barely be holding onto consciousness.

"Looks like she left the phone number and address of her hospital," Hizashi says quietly, setting the letter on the bedside table. He brushes a hand through Aizawa's bushy hair, stroking his thumb over his cheek.

"I'd like to contact her," Aizawa murmurs, half into his pillow. He makes an attempt at lifting his head and Hizashi snorts in amusement at his feeble try at it. Still, Aizawa opens his eyes a little, "...You're going back?"

"Yeah, for now."

"I love you," Aizawa tells him, laying back down.

Hizashi stands, straightening his jacket. He fixes the blankets and pillows around Aizawa with a sigh, and then leans down and kisses him on the lips, though he's almost certain Aizawa is already asleep again. He says one last thing before he leaves, whispering it against him before he starts to make his way out of the house, "Love you, too."

------

Hizashi's quick to return to the hospital. It's a little hard leaving Aizawa alone, but he knows that Aizawa needs his rest and that Shouto needs him. Nemuri agrees to stay at the house with Aizawa and, with the reassurance that at least Aizawa won't be alone, Hizashi drives himself back to the hospital.

The second he walks through the door, eyes are on him. Nurses, doctors, visitors, receptionists—they're all looking at him, only at him. None of them say anything, though, not directly to him and at most, a few of the non-professionals sitting in the lobby murmur to each other. Hizashi shakes it off, doesn't stop, and brushes past their staring, peering eyes, taking the route that he's memorized by now back up to Shouto's room.

Shouto, Fuyumi, and a nurse are all waiting for him. The nurse warmly greets him and Fuyumi looks—well, nervous, and she can't quite gather her words immediately with him, but as far as he's concerned, that seems to be the norm for her.

"Present Mic-san…!" She says when he walks in, and Hizashi gives a small smile her way, but he focuses on Shouto.

Shouto sits on his bed, as usual, mismatched eyes staring at him, almost unblinking. For a moment, Hizashi's concerned that Shouto just shut down again, that he's not entirely here, but he knows that's not quite right. His face is blank and Hizashi's in the middle of trying to think of the right words, the best thing to say, when Shouto shakes his head a little, a little emotion blooming on his face, and seems to fully come back to them.

"I saw the press conference." For the first time, Shouto's voice sounds normal. He sounds like the kid Hizashi had gotten used to having in his English class. He'd always thought of Shouto as a quiet kid, someone who, like Aizawa, never really said more than he needed to, but he had a strong voice, one that usually lacked in emotion but made up for it in a different brand of confidence. Shouto blinks at him, then looks away for a second before turning his eyes back at him, "It looked… really good. Those reporters were really annoying, though."

Hizashi doesn't react immediately.

And then Shouto's words sink in, the way Shouto frowns as he says the comment, sticking his bottom lip out just barely enough for Hizashi to notice and recognize as something resembling Aizawa's telltale pout, and he bursts out laughing. It's loud and fills every corner and cranny of the room and Fuyumi jumps a little at it, but Hizashi can't stop.

He'd recognize that damn pout anywhere. Of all things for Shouto to pick up from Aizawa, it had been that expression. Suddenly, it's the funniest thing in the world, and Hizashi can't stop laughing, and when he looks up and sees that somewhere in his bout of laughter, Shouto's lips have twitched up into something that almost looks like a smile, it just makes it that much harder to stop.

The stress rolls off him in waves, and for the first time since that snowy night, Hizashi is filled with the sense that things are going to be alright. And there's nothing in the world that can possibly feel better than that.

------

They wait.

Hizashi's idea is to wait a full twenty-four hours. After some discussion, Aizawa agrees, though it's admittedly hard to get himself to actually be so patient. He's usually a patient man, given that being an underground hero calls for such, but for some reason, waiting to know the media's reaction seems like the hardest thing he's ever done right now. But he does it, waits for the media's reaction, waits to even look at the news on his phone, and neither one of them hear a single bit of news until the full twenty-four hours have passed.

Aizawa did what Hizashi told him to. He slept for a few hours at home and had woken up, finally, after night had fallen outside, drenching the bedroom in darkness. He'd been confused, at first, waking up in a place that wasn't the hospital, despite the fact that it was his own bed in his own house that he was waking up in. Still, he'd remembered quickly and Nemuri had made him eat dinner and then had taken him, fully rested Aizawa could be, back to the hospital.

Since then, things have been... quiet.

Quiet is good, he thinks. Really good. They get glances from doctors, nurses and normal people in the hospital, but Hizashi's used to it and Aizawa just doesn't really care about what others think about him. It's easy enough to ignore, even if whenever they leave the ward those stares seem to follow them. They spend time with Shouto. Aizawa sleeps more, and then reads to Shouto or works with him while they wait things out. Neither Hizashi or Aizawa make any contact with the media and without them to worry about or the press conference to prepare for, things are quiet, calm, and nice.

Slowly, it gets easier. They even wait a few hours past the twenty-four hour mark, taking the chance to see how the world is reacting once they're kicked out of the room during one of the tests the doctors run on Shouto daily.

Without a word, Aizawa takes Hizashi's hand, and both of them make their way to the small waiting area in Shouto's ward. The walk feels long and they take it slow, neither of them in any rush. The air between them is silent, and the workers at the nurses' station give them both a knowing smile as they pass by. No words are said even when they arrive, because what they have to do is clear.

Hizashi turns on the small television screen mounted on the waiting room wall. It blinks to life, still on the channel they'd left it on the last time they were here.

A news program is on. Aizawa's almost surprised to see that it's not the talk show with annoying hosts that they've been catching almost every time they happen to be in here. There's a man and woman on the screen, and Aizawa swears he recognizes them from the conference, swears that they were part of that crowd with all the other reporters and cameramen and people who'd come to watch and ask questions. He can't be sure, though, given how many people had been there.

He focuses, looking up at the screen. Hizashi's thumb runs over his fingers, but he says nothing still and together, they listen to the reporters talking on the program.

"...Rest be assured, we'll continue to cover to Todoroki case, as will every other news station, I'm sure. However, with the recent press conference... I think we can speak for us all when we say that many of our questions and concerns have been addressed."

Aizawa glances down at the headlines scrolling across the screen. The time is near the end of the hour, and it seems as though they've caught the end of the program, which seems to be nothing more than a special about the press conference. He listens closely, hearing the finality in their words, and it sparks hope deep, deep within Aizawa's chest.

Back when this had all started, the day Shouto had arrived at the hospital, the media felt like an impossible opponent to tackle, like there was no way at all to gain control over the situation with them, like they would just continue to make things worse and harder for everyone involved. Now, hearing their words... Aizawa finally lets himself think that the press conference may have worked, that for now, they may have given the world just enough attention to back off. With the gag order going into place soon and the rest of the world continuing on outside, soon enough, people would begin focusing on other things.

"Next up," The woman continues, taking over for the other reporter. "Over the next hour, we'll be covering big stories such as the collapse of a parking structure near the..."

Aizawa looks away, turns his head towards Hizashi. Hizashi meet his gaze and lets go of his hand, only to wrap his arm around Aizawa's waist, arm resting against the small of his back. Aizawa sighs, relieved and finally content, rested and no longer overworking himself to keep up with what's going on. He tilts his head to lean it against Hizashi's shoulder, wrapping his arms around him and settling against his body.

"It worked," Aizawa murmurs against him, voice muffled due to Hizashi's sweater partially covering his mouth. He hears Hizashi snort in amusement in reaction.

"Yeah," Hizashi agrees, Aizawa not having to look at him to know he's smiling down at him. "It did. The press conference was a good idea. Finally... it's nice to relax."

"It is," Aizawa breathes in deeply, pressing his face deeper against Hizashi's shoulder. "Now we just have to get Shouto home."

After everything, that's all Aizawa wants now, to go home with his husband and their new son. He knows it's not going to be easy, knows that it's going to be a long road to recovery for Shouto. It'd been the same for him, after the simulation incident. But he wants to move forward, to keep going, and with the problem with the media settled at last, they can finally focus on looking forward to Shouto coming home with them.

------

Things stay quiet, and by the next day, not even Aizawa has to be by Shouto's side anymore while he goes into therapy. Shouto's sparked a couple of times, but has managed to control himself every time and today, Aizawa stands back in the waiting room, overlooking the open therapy room with Hizashi, the two of them watching Shouto interact with his therapists.

Today, Shouto managed to write his name. Currently, he and the therapist he's working with are running through a set of flashcards, and Shouto almost has them down, reading each character off the card with only a few seconds of staring at it. It fills Hizashi with pride, and beside him, Aizawa watches fondly, as well.

"He's getting good at this," Aizawa comments, leaning into Hizashi's side, keeping his voice quiet so as to not disturb Shouto and his therapist. The room is bright, the sun finally having come out outside, filling the room with bright yellow light. The cloudy skies have finally broken and, though it's still freezing cold out, Hizashi loves the sunlight bathing the room.

"I kind of want to celebrate," Hizashi jokes, though part of him is serious. "But I don't think Shouto would like it too much."

"Maybe we can celebrate when we bring him home."

Both of them return to silence. Shouto finishes up the round of flashcards and the therapist gives him a break before shuffling and starting again. They watch, Shouto's gaze occasionally drifting and falling on them. It feels almost normal, even though they're still in the hospital with Shouto. It's quiet, quiet and some sort of normal, and Hizashi feels calm standing with Aizawa and watching Shouto.

Minutes tick by. Shouto's due to be moved into physical therapy soon. Hizashi starts to nudge Aizawa, telling him that they should start moving to the next room, and that's when the therapist in the room calls out to them, just as a nurse is helping move Shouto.

She approaches them, though, with a file in her hand and a kind smile on her face.

"Congratulations on the press conference," She starts, addressing both of them. Aizawa makes a groan at the mention of it and Hizashi stops himself from laughing at him, elbowing him gently. The therapist doesn't miss a beat, handing the thin folder out to them, "I wanted to let you know that Shouto is making good progress. If he continues to improve so much, well… there's a good chance he'll be able to go home in a week or so."

It's like her words echo in the room, as if they drain everything else from Hizashi's head.

He wants to cry. It's the same as it was when Aizawa had told him that Shouto wanted to live with him—Hizashi wants to cry out of relief, out of happiness, out of how much he loves this kid and wants to take care of him. Last night, he'd felt like everything would be okay, and this is just confirmation of that.

He looks at Aizawa and Aizawa raises an eyebrow at him. Hizashi realizes that he is crying, already, wet tears rolling down his face and leaving hot streaks on his cheeks. Aizawa shakes his head, but turns, pulling Hizashi into a tight, warm hug, and Hizashi buries his face against him, letting out a small, happy sob.

After so many obstacles, Shouto's finally coming home with them.