Chapter Text
The smell of hot city caked the inside of Aizawa's nose. And if the noise of the street traffic attacking his ears wasn't enough to make him scream, the crying of his husband just might be.
Hizashi's wailing attracted the attention of most of the pedestrians who passed by. Aizawa feared that someone would call the police to file a noise complaint soon.
While Shouta would miss his husband for the next 7 days, it was illogical to get this emotional about the goodbye. A week from now, Hizashi would finish his summer work in the city and head back to Musutafu for the school year.
Usually, Shouta would continue to patrol in the city until they returned to UA together. But this year, UA had requested he come back and help oversee this year’s entrance exam. Shouta could have declined, but he needed to be at the entrance exams if he ever hoped to change the quirk-bias that is deeply rooted in those tests. Besides, he has to stop at some support companies and hero agencies on the way back anyway. At least he would be able to suffer through the terrible trip in peace for once. Hizashi’s chatter and off-key singing always added stress to the drive.
Shouta chose to break out of the hug Hizashi had trapped him in when the blonde began to use his shoulder as a tissue.
"You do know we will see each other in a week, right?" Shouta raised an eyebrow at the blonde.
"But that is too long!" Hizashi whined like a toddler, sounding almost as loud as he does when he uses his quirk.
"We will call each other every day. I can even try to figure out that face-filming thing.”
"Facetiming," Hizashi corrected.
"And we have gone longer without seeing each other before. Pretend, it's one of those weeks our patrol schedules don't match up. You'll see me again before you know it," He promised as he snuck a kiss onto Hizashi's lips.
The two shared one last hug before Shouta climbed the steps to the RV. The air conditioning inside the vehicle made it feel like winter compared to the summer heat. The man placed down the last of his bags and fell into the driver's seat.
After buckling his seatbelt, Shouta waved his husband a final goodbye. Slowly he moved out of his parking spot and into the street.
****
An hour and a half later, Aizawa had left the traffic of the city and was cruising down the highway. Queen lyrics flew through the RV, mixing with the rap and pop notes floating in the early summer air.
He started to look for a diner to stop at due to his desperate need for coffee. The stress of the traffic and the heat was beginning to put Shota in a foul mood. So when he spotted a diner logo on one of the highway signs, he sighed in relief and changed lanes to exit the highway.
The first of the CDs Hizashi had burned for him finished as he drove down the streets of some small suburb. The only sound left was the hum of the engine.
Until he heard someone sneeze.
If Aizawa was anyone else, he probably would have shrugged the odd sound off as his imagination. But Aizawa is unfortunately not like many other people. He doesn’t have an imagination. He is a pro-hero with highly trained senses.
He is also extremely paranoid. He decided the best thing to do is investigate.
He pulled the RV over to the side of the road to put it in park and grabbed his capture weapon. He crept his way to the back of the RV where the noise came from. When he reached the origin of the sound, he found a pile of bedding that he threw on the floor when packed.
He focused on the pile, waiting for a villain or low-life thug to rush out and try to attack him. But nothing came. If Aizawa didn't hear something, he wouldn't have known anyone was there.
After a moment, Aizawa grew tired of the suspense he had been building in his head. He decided to move the blanket himself.
He was expecting to find a druggie trying to hitch a ride or his husband refusing to leave his side. What he wasn't expecting was two boys, no older than 15, huddled together. After throwing the blanket off the boys, Aizawa stood speechless.
Hundreds of questions filled his head. Why were these boys on the trailer? How had they gotten on without him seeing? And how was Aizawa going to get rid of them?
He refocused on the two teens. The one with green hair looked terrified, his eyes as wide as teacups, and the blonde looked annoyed. Aizawa's gaze hardened on the boys waiting for them to say something. In response, the blonde rolled his eyes and spoke.
"Finally, you turned off that crappy music."
****
Katsuki hated the summer. The concrete was too hot and the sky always cursed him with sunburn.
The alleyway he sat in did little to cool the heat, but at least it hid him from the sun. Katsuki sat as far into the shade as he could and tossed small pebbles across the alley, careful not to hit his brother.
Izuku muttered to himself as he took notes on some villain attack from earlier in the day, unaffected by the pebbles crashing into the wall mere inches from his head. Despite the heat his sweatshirt must bring, Izuku seemed indifferent to the temperature that bothered Katsuki so much.
The two sat in peace, allowing the sounds of traffic and chatter to befriend their ears. But when one voice overpowered all the other noises, Izuku flinched and Katsuki jumped to his feet. He strutted to the end of the alleyway and peaked his head around the building. Quietly, Izuku copied and poked his head of curls over the corner of the apartment building as well.
“Shota, can’t you just stay here?” A blonde man cried, his voice hurting the boys’ eardrums.
“Hizashi, you know I can’t. They need me back in Musutafu by the end of the week. Besides, I already rented the RV. It’s impractical to wait another week,” A second man, who looked like he hadn’t slept in days, responded exhaustedly.
After that, Katsuki stopped listening. He pulled Izuku back into the safety of the alley.
“Deku, did you hear that?” Katsuki’s eye’s shone with excitement, a rare sight in Izuku’s opinion.
“Yeah, Kacchan. They’re probably going to miss each other a lot,” Izuku said with quiet empathy.
“Not that dumbass. He’s driving to Musutaafu. Where we need to go.”
“Too bad we don’t know him. Maybe he would have let us come along.”
Mischief flickered across Katsuki’s face, pulling his lips into a cocky grin. Izuku knew that look and he knew he was going to probably regret going along with whatever plan his brother was cooking in his mind.
“What if he drove us without even knowing.” Katsuki raised an eyebrow, watching his brother’s face change between expressions as he slowly understood what Katsuki meant.
“Kacchan, we ca-can’t just hide in someone's RV. That’s illegal. Or probably illegal. Criminal adjacent at the very least. We’d get in so much trouble.”
“How else do you suggest we get to UA in time for the entrance exams? A damn bus ticket costs too much and flights are not even an option. Unless you have a secret plan you’ve decided to keep to yourself, we don’t have a choice.”
Izuku tugged on the bottom of his sweatshirt, contemplating his options for a moment.
“Fine,” Izuku looked up at his brother, worry painting his face, “But if we get caught, I’m sacrificing you so I can run.”
Katsuki smirked and ruffled his brother’s curls. He knew Izuku enough to know he was bluffing.
Quickly he grabbed Izuku’s wrist and pulled him out of the alley, grabbing their small bag of things with his other hand. He hurried the two so they were hidden from the men’s views behind a shrub.
Passerbyers acted clueless to the two teenagers peaking over shrubbery, more worried about the man wailing a few feet away.
The boys watched and waited until the tired man was distracted by the blonde’s cries and hugs. Once they were sure he wasn’t paying attention, the boys scurried down the sidewalk and climbed into the RV without a sound.
The air conditioning that blasted from the vehicle’s vents was a blessing to their sweating bodies. They scoured the RV for a good place to hide.
After a moment of silent bickering, Izuku agreed to hide under a pile of comforters and sheets instead of the bathroom.
The two sat in silence long after the vehicle started driving. Katsuki drifted into a nap and Izuku tapped his fingers along to the Queen songs blasting from the cd player over by the driver’s seat.
After a particularly loud guitar solo, Katsuki woke, ready to fight. Izuku had to fight the fit of giggles away after that event.
The drive was like a peaceful dream that neither boy wanted to wake up from. But they never got what they wanted.
It was like a perfect storm of bad luck. The CD must have run out of songs and the driver hadn’t changed to a new song yet. Then a strong breeze flew through the windows, running across the floor and sweeping up dust bunnies, some dust made its way into Izuku’s nose. Unable to stop himself, Izuku let out a sneeze.
The sneeze itself was quiet, barely audible. If the music was still playing, Katsuki wasn’t sure he would have even heard it from where he sat a foot away. But in the new silence of the RV, the sound seemed loud enough to echo through the vehicle.
The RV stopped and panic rose in their throats like bile. Light footsteps tried to hide themselves as they made their way over to the boys’ hiding spot. A silent pause replaced the footsteps until sunlight started to seep under the rising blankets.
Both boys stared up at the man. He was quite tall with messy attire and he still looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Izuku was terrified, staring up at the man with wide, scared eyes. Katsuki was simply annoyed. All he wanted was a free peaceful trip to their dream school. Apparently, that was too much to ask of the universe.
When the man motioned for one of the boys to speak up, Katsuki knew he’d have to. With an eye roll, he spouted off the first comment he could think of.
"Finally, you turned off that crappy music."