Chapter Text
Aizawa Shouta was, very much so, not a dog person.
That being said, his husband, Yamada Hizashi, very much was.
It had started out as a teasing argument. Hizashi would mention wanting to get a puppy, and Shouta would remind him that puppies were a lot of work. Hizashi would show Shouta images of adoptable dogs at their nearby animal shelter, and Shouta would remind him that they already had two cats. Hizashi would beg and whine and plead, and Shouta would roll his eyes and put his foot down.
It wasn’t until later that Shouta realized that, no, Hizashi wasn’t just teasing.
It was on a late patrol one night that Shouta decided, after much debate with himself, that his husband deserved the happiness a dog would bring him. Shouta himself, after all, was very content with both of their stray alley cats he’d dragged home from work. Besides, a puppy couldn’t be that much to handle. Not like an actual child or something…
And so, on their mutual day off, a rare occasion that happened only once or twice per month, Shouta told Hizashi to get in the car.
“Where are we going?” his husband asked, jumping around in his seat like an excited child.
It took everything Shouta had to keep the smirk off his face. “It’s a surprise, Zashi.”
“But you hate surprises.”
“Yeah, but you like them.”
Hizashi was already beaming, and they weren’t even at the shelter yet.
When Shouta pulled the car up into the shelter’s parking lot, Hizashi very nearly burst into tears. He had thrown his arms around Shouta’s neck, hugging his husband tightly and peppering his face with kisses, before throwing himself out of the car and into the front doors of the shelter, dragging poor Shouta behind him.
“We’re here to see the puppies!” Hizashi cawed to the teenager at the desk, and it was only Shouta’s quirk that kept his voice at a manageable level.
In the end, they hadn’t gotten a puppy.
Mr. Teddy Bear, or Teddy, as Hizashi had dubbed him, weighed in at sixty pounds. He was a mutt with shaggy fur that stuck up in all different directions, giving him a fluffed-up appearance. The worker told the couple that Teddy had been abandoned by his owners when he grew too large for their daughter to play with. After hearing that the dog was only a year old and would possibly grow even larger, Shouta decided that Teddy was not the dog for them. Or their two-bedroom apartment.
It was obvious that Hizashi had fallen head-over-heels, though, and Shouta bit back a sigh as he paid the adoption fee.
At least his husband was happy.
And besides, Teddy couldn’t be that bad, right?
…
Teddy was that bad.
“Are you kidding me, you mutt?” Shouta huffed out as he pulled his destroyed shoe off of Teddy’s bed. “This is the third one, you hear me? Spork and Bastard never destroy shoes…”
Hizashi frowned, looking put-out. “Yeah, they only destroy your body.”
“They’ve gotten better about mauling, Zashi.”
Ignoring the comment, Hizashi looked up from his laptop and said, “All of the websites are saying that he’s just energetic! We need to take him on walks more, or maybe to the dog park… He could at least use some fresh air to play fetch for a while.”
Shouta should have expected that a dog would be more work than they could handle. Hell, Hizashi had three jobs. And Shouta was about to take on a second. Why had Shouta thought adopting a dog was a good idea?
But then Shouta saw how Hizashi looked at Teddy. He saw how the dog cuddled up next to Hizashi when his husband was anxious, or how Teddy licked Hizashi’s tears away during their traditional ‘sad movie night’s. And, in turn, Shouta saw how Teddy looked at Hizashi- the human who had saved him- like he hung the moon and stars.
But none of that took away the fact that they were busy as all hell. They’d have to divide up who walked Teddy, and Shouta would have to wake up early. Damn.
Shouta let loose a heavy sigh, but before he could start speaking, there came a knock at their apartment door. He frowned. They weren’t expecting any company… But then again, Nemuri had a bit of a habit of ‘forgetting’ to tell them when she was coming over…
When Shouta opened the door, he hadn’t expected to see a four-foot-nothing child standing there.
The child had a mess of dark curls on their head that shined green in the sunlight peering onto the third-level porch. Their eyes, bright emerald, looked unsure as they fidgeted with an envelope- perhaps mislabeled mail? Maybe about six or seven years old, the kid was tiny. It looked like a slight breeze could bowl them over.
Or, it seemed, Shouta’s sixty-some-odd-pound mutt of a dog.
“Teddy!” Shouta exclaimed furiously as he watched the dog hover over the child, attacking their freckled face with kisses.
The child shrieked happily, mirthful giggles falling from their mouth as they wriggled under the dog, seemingly ticklish.
It took a fair bit of Shouta’s strength to wrench Teddy away from the child, and by then, Hizashi had crossed over to the door and was grinning sheepishly. “Sorry, kiddo,” the blond said, rubbing the back of his neck. “We’re still training him. He’s got a lot of energy.”
The child’s green eyes lit up like the sun- seriously, Shouta could feel the heat bouncing off them. “I could walk him for you!” the child chirped.
Which… was a terrible idea.
Teddy was sixty-something pounds and still growing. This kid looked like they could hardly weigh even that much, all gangly limbs and tiny stature. The only bit of baby fat Shouta could see on them was on their rounded cheeks.
Shouta opened his mouth to deny the child, right as his husband exclaimed, “That sounds wonderful, kiddo!”
…
The kid turned out to be their next-door neighbor, a one Midoriya Izuku. Izuku was eight years old and in the third grade, one of the youngest in his class. He lived with his father, Midoriya Hisashi, who Shouta had yet to find present at home and be able to introduce himself to. Izuku walked Teddy everyday before he went to school and everyday after he got home.
Shouta had been worried it was too much work for the child, getting dragged around by a dog that was quickly growing to be nearly twice his size, but Izuku had convinced the man otherwise.
“I like walking Mr. Teddy!” Izuku cheered. “He’s fluffy and he doesn’t mind me talking about my hero theories with him!”
Hizashi had asked if Izuku had friends that he was missing out on spending time with, and the boy had flushed darkly and murmured to the floor that he didn’t have any friends. Hizashi and Shouta had exchanged a look but didn’t press the issue. Izuku’s school life wasn’t much of a mystery, what with how much time the boy spent walking Teddy for them. Not to forget the fact that Izuku often came by with scraped knees and hands, dirt on his uniform, and would off-handedly mention missing homework to the two pro heroes. Shouta had tried to go next door to express their concerns to Mr. Midoriya, but- once again- the man wasn’t home. Which was almost even more concerning than the whole school thing…
Just how often was Izuku left alone?
Hizashi worried time and time again to his husband, which did nothing to help in Shouta’s own nerves. Finally, one night, about a month in to Izuku’s new job, Shouta snapped at his husband, “Zashi, we can only do so much, okay? We can let Izuku know he’s welcome here anytime, but we can’t baby or parent him.”
Hizashi had pouted but relented. The next morning, when Izuku came by to pick up Teddy, Hizashi had reiterated Shouta’s first statement to the boy- albeit much more gently.
“You know, Izuku, if anything’s going on at school or at home, you can come talk to us, right? Our door is always open.”
Izuku had beamed, looking without a care in the world. “Thank you, Mr. Yamada! But I’m okay, really!”
Hizashi had glanced over at his husband, completely unconvinced, while Shouta continued about feeding Spork and Bastard their morning wet food. “Okay…” Hizashi replied hesitantly. “Okay…”
…
“Mr. Yamada!” Izuku chirped happily as he handed over an empty platter, “thank you for the cookies! They were really good!”
“Oh, wow! You and your dad already finished them?” Hizashi laughed back, taking the platter and walking towards the kitchen. Izuku was hovering in the entryway, having never really gone past the line between the main hallway adjacent to the door and their living room before. “You guys must have really enjoyed them, then! I’m glad!”
Izuku seemed a bit hung-up on the first statement, though, looking at the floor and pushing at the edge of the living room rug with his bright red shoes. “I- uh- I didn’t really- uh- share them…”
“Izuku,” Hizashi teasingly chided. “Did you keep those cookies all to yourself? How do you not have a stomachache?”
“I did a little,” Izuku murmured, “but it wasn’t as bad as when I was hungry. I rationed the cookies, too! I promise I didn’t eat them all in one day! But I needed a lunch to take to school, and we don’t have anything at home that I could cook, and I-” Izuku looked up and saw the shocked expression on Hizashi’s face, his voice suddenly faltering. “I mean- I- I don’t-”
Shouta exited the bathroom, having heard the entire exchange, and glanced between his husband and small neighbor. Seeing that Hizashi was still silently panicking, Shouta sighed and went to crouch on one knee in front of Izuku, bringing the boy to his eye-level. “Izuku,” Shouta spoke evenly, softly, less gruff than he usually did. “Does your father buy groceries?”
“Y-Yeah, he does! He does, I promise, I just don’t know how to cook with- um- with the stuff he brings home… I can make rice! And I can- um- I can cook grilled cheese? But- but Dad doesn’t bring that kind of stuff home a lot…”
“Let me reiterate,” Shouta said. “Does your father feed you?”
“Yes!” Izuku huffed emphatically. “Dad brings home chips and stuff with his- er- his drinks and stuff, so I eat those most of the time. But he got upset last time I ate the whole bag, so I just ate the cookies Mr. Yamada made this time… why’s Mr. Yamada’s face look like that, Mr. Aizawa?”
Honestly, Shouta was having a hard time keeping his own face level, but a quick look to his husband showed that Hizashi was hardly making an effort. The voice hero’s face was bright red, his expression a mix of angry and distraught. While Izuku was looking at the floor, Shouta shot his husband a glare and signed for him to calm down. Hizashi did so, although only minutely.
“Izuku…” Shouta began again, even softer than before. “Please let us know if you’re hungry, okay? I think Hizashi was going to make some katsudon for dinner-” a bold-faced lie, but Shouta knew from previous conversation that katsudon was Izuku’s favorite, so he’d make a trip to the market for dinner, “-so we’ll send some home with you after school, okay?”
“And for lunch!” Hizashi suddenly blustered. Quickly ransacking their kitchen, Hizashi made quick work of some leftovers and more than a few snacks, shoving them into his own lunch sack before racing into the hallway and handing said sack over to the little boy standing in their doorway. “Please take this. I’ll make sure to cook up some extra tonight so that you have lunch for tomorrow, too! And you’ll have to tell me what foods you like so I can make more!”
Shouta’s eyes fell on Izuku once more, and he winced when he saw that the child’s radiant green eyes were filling with tears. Izuku sniffled, and- just when Shouta thought the boy was going to reject Hizashi’s lunch box- the child took the sack with a damp, dismal smile. “T-Thank y-y-you, Mr. Yamada…” Izuku murmured. “But I- I can’t t-t-take all of your f-food…”
Hizashi’s face melted into a fond, sad smile. “It’s really nothing, kiddo. Please. I’d feel much better if you’d help us not let all our extra food go to waste, yeah?”
Izuku still looked hesitant but seemed a bit more open to the idea when Hizashi laid it out as being helpful. “O-Okay, Mr. Yamada… Thank you very much.”
Hizashi reached forward to ruffle Izuku’s hair, and the boy’s flinch didn’t go unnoticed to either pro hero. “Please, Izuku, call me Hizashi. Or Zashi. Either way works.”
“Okay, Mr. Zashi.”
Hizashi rolled his eyes, subtly kicking at his husband’s crouched form. “And call this one Shouta, yeah?”
“Mr. Shouta,” Izuku nodded in agreement.
Shouta snorted a bit, and Hizashi groaned. “You’re too polite, kiddo,” Hizashi bemoaned to the ceiling. “You’re so adorable.”
Izuku blushed deeply, and Shouta quickly went about gathering Teddy’s harness and leash, handing them over to Izuku. “We can hold onto your lunch until you two get back. Just don’t forget it, okay, Izuku?”
“Yessir, Mr. Shouta!”
When Izuku and Teddy left, Hizashi clung to his husband like a leech, fighting back tears and whispering, “Is he safe, Shouta?”
Shouta couldn’t answer.