If someone were to describe a young Hizashi, most people would mention how he always seemed to be smiling or laughing. And it was true; Hizashi loved the sounds he would make when he laughed, the way his quirk allowed him to amplify his happiness. But even though he loved the happy echoes or vibrating sounds that would come from him, at a very young age he was very self-conscious about the damaging effects of his quirk. When his parents had sat him down one day and told him about how he needed to be careful with his power, three-year-old Hizashi realized that it was his fault that his beloved parents needed hearing aids.

Unfortunately, even with this revelation and new found motivation to learn how to control his voice, managing his quirk didn't come easy. Whenever his emotions got the better of him, which was far more often than he would have liked, Hizashi would find his control slipping. It almost became impossible to control his quirk when he cried.

On one occasion, when Hizashi accidentally dropped his favorite cup while helping his mother wash the dishes, he cried so loudly that he shattered the kitchen window along with a few glass cabinets. After he had managed to calm his crying to sobbing hiccups, Hizashi noticed that his mother's ears were bleeding. Somehow the thing that haunted him the most was that she never berated him, choosing to embrace him in a light hug while telling him she would buy him an even cuter mug when they went shopping tomorrow.

After that incident, Hizashi made a silent promise to himself to always smile. If he didn't cry, he would have a better chance of controlling his quirk, he reasoned. But even little Hizashi knew he couldn't fake it all the time so whenever he needed to cry, he would try to run to the most secluded outside area he could find. With his knees pulled close to his chest and hands covering his mouth, he would muffle his sobs until he could manage a small smile before emerging from his hiding place.

His plan seemed to work, but one night Hizashi overheard his parents talking in hushed voices with one another. He couldn't really make out anything that they were saying, but Hizashi swore that he heard his name mentioned once or twice. He noticed that both parents seemed to be in a state of dishevelment; his father's white dress shirt seemed more wrinkled than usual and his mother's usually brilliant blonde hair appeared less shiny.

Hizashi spent that night rolling around in bed pondering about their secret conversation and somehow concluded that it was because of him that they looked so unhappy. He had thought that he had been managing his volume at an acceptable level, but maybe it wasn't enough and now his parents didn't want to take care of him anymore. He had already hurt them to the point where their hearing was beyond repair. Why in the world did they keep him around anyway? When Hizashi couldn't find an answer to that question, he pulled his blanket over his head and tried his very best to fall asleep to quiet his thoughts.

The next day afterschool, as if to confirm his suspicions, Hizashi's parents weren't waiting for him by the school gates. The teacher had told him that they were running late because of traffic, but Hizashi couldn't find it in himself to believe that. He scrubbed at his tearing eyes with the palm of his hand as he slipped past his teacher to go to the back of the school.

Believing that he was alone, Hizashi was ready to let his voice loose. But as he took a turn to get fully behind the building, he immediately held his breath when he spotted another young boy crouching near the bushes, stroking the fur of a cat that visited the school grounds every afternoon.

The two boys stared at each other, blinking like a deer caught in headlights. After five seconds of tense silence, the dark-haired boy clumsily scooped up the cat in his arms. His eyes tentatively shifted, as if looking for an escape route until they slowly turned back to Hizashi.

Hizashi involuntarily let out a sob when the dark-haired boy seemed to stare at his face intently. He hurriedly swiped at his eyes with his sleeve, biting his lip to hold back any sounds that could potentially slip out.

Please leave, you can't be around me right now, he wanted to whisper. But Hizashi didn't trust his voice enough to say anything at the moment. Instead he just shook his head and turned on his heel to find another hiding spot.

Before he could take two steps, he heard a hesitant "w-wait!" coming from the dark-haired boy. Reluctantly turning around, Hizashi found the other boy cautiously walking up to him, carrying the surprisingly docile cat in his small arms. Placing the cat beside them, the dark-haired boy awkwardly stared at Hizashi's tear stricken face, as if debating the best course of action.

After letting out a huff, the boy patted Hizashi on the head.

"Pain, pain, go away."

Hizashi stared at the dark-haired boy in confusion, tears streaming down his face as he gaped at the innocent gesture. Did he… did he think he had fallen and hurt himself? When he didn't respond, the dark-haired boy fidgeted before picking up the cat and placing it in Hizashi's arms.

Too shocked to react, Hizashi stood there cradling the cat in his arms as the dark-haired boy once again patted him on the head, repeating his mantra in a quieter whisper this time, face slightly red.

Hizashi gaped at him for a few seconds before he remembered why he had come behind the building in the first place. His voice came out in a rush, dropping the cat as he covered his mouth in a weak attempt to mask his sobs. He faintly remembered the cat dashing off into a bush and a hand clumsily stroking his hair.

He wasn't sure how long he had cried, but by the time his voice had lowered, Hizashi found himself sitting on the floor with the dark-haired boy still soothingly running his fingers through his hair.

Rubbing at his nose with his sleeve, Hizashi glanced at the boy next to him who was slowly retracting his hand now that he was done crying (for the most part). Hizashi's stomach flipped in guilt, hoping that his voice hadn't damaged this boy's hearing.

"Sorry," Hizashi mumbled.

The dark-haired boy tilted his head to the side and shrugged apathetically.

"Don't be," he simply replied.

He found the dark-haired boy eyeing him curiously. Hizashi hesitated, biting his lower lip as he rubbed his swollen red eyes. He may as well give him an explanation he supposed.

"I can't really control my quirk so I accidentally hurt people. I don't mean to! I really don't! I just… it's hard, but I still hurt them anyway and my parents…!"

Hizashi took a sharp intake of breath. "I think I hurt them the most. I'm so much trouble that they... they probably don't want me anymore," he whispered as he pulled his legs up to his chest, burying his head in his knees. He could feel tears pricking at the corner of his eyes again, his own words stinging more than he thought it would.

"Did they say that to you?" the dark-haired boy asked.

"No, but I think- "

"Then you didn't actually hear them say that," the dark-haired boy huffed. Hizashi peeked at the boy beside him. He appeared agitated, maybe a bit angry.

"I guess not," Hizashi mumbled. "But even if they didn't, what if they really hated me?"

"Just ask them," the dark-haired boy's voice was quiet, if not slightly irritated. "Don't assume things on your own."

As Hizashi was about to reply, he heard his name being called. He hurriedly stood back onto his feet, not wanting an adult to find him hiding behind the school building.

"Sorry, I have to go!" Hizashi said, as he dashed off in the direction of the voice calling his name. He faintly remembered that he never asked for the boy's name, never even thanking him for simply being by his side while he cried.

When he appeared in front of his parents, his swollen red eyes did not go unnoticed. Hizashi's mother dabbed at his face with a handkerchief, worriedly asking why he had been crying. Hizashi remained silent, refusing to answer until they returned home. His parents eyed him expectantly, his mother rubbing his back while his father's calm voice asked if this was a result of bullying.

Eventually, Hizashi quietly admitted finding his parents secretly talking amongst themselves last night, probably discussing how he was a burden because of his quirk and how they didn't want him anymore. His hands clenched his light blue school uniform, twisting it as he awaited them to confirm his fears.

There was a pause before he heard both his parents' baffled voices. His mother quickly explained how they had been discussing about a recent death in the family and whether they should break the news to Hizashi. Even though he hadn't been particularly close to this person, they weren't sure if Hizashi would be old enough to handle the idea of a family member passing away. When they assured him that it had nothing to do with his voice, Hizashi sheepishly muttered a "sorry" as both his parents kissed his forehead, promising that they loved him, quirks and all.

That night, Hizashi stared at his ceiling, replaying the day's scenes in his head. The mysterious dark-haired boy was right after all. He really needed to thank him.

It turned out that the dark-haired boy didn't go to the same pre-school as Hizashi. So he didn't know his name and he didn't know where to find him. This was just perfect.

Hizashi still took it upon himself to check the back of the school building every day, hoping that the kid would show up again. Unfortunately, the most he ever found was the cat that had been ceremoniously shoved into his arms during their first meeting.

The next time Hizashi saw him was when he entered grade school. After the entrance ceremony, Hizashi ran over to him with his brightest smile, waving his arm enthusiastically. He was met with a pair of tired, apathetic eyes.

Hizashi would never forget the three words that were spoken to him that day.

"Who are you?" the dark-haired boy asked, eventually dismissing a shell-shocked, gaping Hizashi when he didn't respond.

"Y-you helped me when I was crying once! You patted my head and there was a cat and everything!" Hizashi blurted out after recovering from his initial shock. "I wanted to thank you, but you never showed up at my school again!"

"I don't remember anything like that ever happening. You have the wrong person," the dark-haired boy replied, lethargically walking away from a heartbroken Hizashi.

In the end Hizashi never even found out his name until the second grade. (He spent a good year watching the kid from afar, peeking into his classroom whenever he passed by or staring out the window when he saw the kid walking home. He also consistently whined to his parents about his "depressing" situation, complaining about how his "savior" didn't even remember him.)

When his debut as a second grader rolled around, Hizashi found himself sitting in the front of the classroom, nervously tapping his pencil on his desk. As the teacher went through roll call, he found himself fidgeting in his seat, tentatively glancing at the dark-haired boy who was assigned a corner seat in the back.

"Aizawa Shouta?"

"Here," a low voice mumbled.

Aizawa Shouta. His name was Aizawa Shouta. After three years, the mystery boy finally had a name! Hizashi was bouncing up and down in his seat, unable to stop the grin that was spreading like wildfire on his face.

Unfortunately learning his name was all Hizashi ever managed to do for a month. It turned out that Aizawa really enjoyed sleeping, knocking out almost immediately at his desk whenever he had the opportunity. Whenever classes were dismissed, Hizashi would be held up by a few friends, missing his chance to talk to Aizawa during the only time he ever found him awake.

When the fifth week came around, Hizashi slumped into his seat as the class was dismissed for lunch, pouting when he glanced at Aizawa whose head was planted down on his desk.

"My quirk is super strong! Check it out!"

Hizashi caught a glimpse of a group of boys playing with their powers, hearing something about removing air molecules in a certain area.

"You're amazing, Yuta! Your quirk will definitely make you a pro-hero!" one of the kids yelled.

"I can suffocate any villain who tries to attack me so no one can even come close to touching me!" Yuta boasted, smirking as his two other friends cheered him on.

Hizashi sighed, fully ready to tune out his classmates until he heard a derisive snort that was followed by a low whispered "stupid". Whipping his head around, sure enough he found Yuta and his groupies glaring at Aizawa.

"You have a problem with my quirk, Aizawa?" Yuta growled, stomping over to his desk.

Aizawa gave a shrug, closed his eyes and laid his head back down onto his desk.

"Don't you fucking dare ignore me!" Yuta yelled, lifting his arm as he activated his quirk. Hizashi's blood ran cold as he launched himself up from his seat, feeling his stomach flip from anger. What kind of aspiring "hero" would activate his quirk on a civilian, on Aizawa nonetheless?

His heated emotions completely dissipated when he saw Aizawa lift his head from his desk, eyes flaring red at his classmate.

"Wha-," Yuta stuttered as he took a step back. Hizashi didn't miss the smug smirk Aizawa had on his face. He couldn't hold back an impressed whistle as he watched Aizawa deactivate his quirk, his hair gently cascading back down onto his shoulders.

"I'm trying to sleep. Don't bother me," he mumbled as he laid his head back onto his desk.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it. When he spotted Yuta gesturing to his two friends to activate their quirks on Aizawa, Hizashi found his voice booming through the entire classroom.

"HEY, THAT'S ENOUGH. LEAVE HIM ALONE." The volume of his own voice not only surprised the group of boys, but it also made Hizashi cringe, stiffening from the fear of hurting someone. He hadn't intended to use his quirk, quickly glancing at the school windows to make sure that they were still intact. The guilt that was slowly surfacing threatened to burst until he saw Aizawa raise his head, his eyes carefully studying him. Aizawa eventually gave a huff of gratitude and a short nod in his direction before dropping his head back down onto his desk.

Hizashi was practically glowing for the rest of the day. During dinner time, he spent the entire night talking about how "cool" Aizawa was to his family.

Aizawa had finally acknowledged him. He had willingly initiated a nonverbal gesture in his direction. Hizashi never felt more accomplished.

Hizashi's parents encouraged him to just talk to Aizawa, start small and build up from there. He certainly had an excuse now that they were in the same class. But despite being someone who could talk for hours on any topic no matter how obscure, Hizashi couldn't figure out how to keep Aizawa interested enough to give him more than five seconds of his time.

Even a simple "hi" would go ignored. Hizashi would count himself lucky if Aizawa even scowled at him, but he couldn't blame him. Yuta and his friends had made it their objective to bully Aizawa and since he refused to pay them any attention, it only fueled their obnoxious behavior. Aizawa appeared apathetic, but Hizashi could see his agitation from the way his eyebrows furrowed more than usual or how his shoulders were more hunched and tensed.

Hizashi wanted to step in, punch the lights out of the boys for taking advantage of Aizawa's quiet nature. In fact, Hizashi had tried to pick a fight with those three, but after coming home with a swollen eye and a bloody nose along with being grounded for two weeks, he deducted that duking it out wasn't his best option.

If he wasn't strong enough to help in the frontlines, Hizashi reasoned that he could at least help from the background. He figured that Aizawa wouldn't appreciate a stranger waltzing in on his problems (despite Hizashi counting their first fond meeting as something that "solidified" their friendship). So instead, he made an extra effort to keep a watchful eye out for Yuta and his gang, going as far as to even come to school earlier to allow him enough time to prepare counter measures.

From digging Aizawa's shoes out of the trash to packing extra cookies to share, Hizashi tried his best to make his classmate's days just a little bit easier. In fact, Hizashi even followed Aizawa to the playground afterschool from time to time whenever he saw the group of bullies trailing behind him. And that's how he discovered Aizawa's secret friendship with a stray black kitten.

Ever since he saw him reading cat books instead of napping, he figured Aizawa had made a friend and it wasn't like Hizashi was jealous or anything. He just wanted to protect what Aizawa wanted to protect. It definitely had nothing to do with him envying the attention and friendship Aizawa chose to give to a black cat. He was just keeping an eye out for Oreo (a name that he did not find cute in anyway)he would tell himself with a pout.

Hizashi noticed that Aizawa didn't make his daily visits to the park during rainy days. During one rainy weekend, Hizashi decided to check up on the cat, dawning on his favorite yellow raincoat and rainboots as well as pocketing some leftover fish from dinner in a bag just in case it was hungry. After searching around the park, he found Oreo taking cover in a makeshift cardboard box, shivering and sneezing excessively. When the cat refused to eat the leftover fish, Hizashi began to panic. Against his better judgement, he awkwardly picked up the cat, and ran home to his sister hoping that she could help Aizawa's friend.

By the time he had made it through the front door, Hizashi was soaking wet and had various scratch and bite marks littered all over his arms. He even accidentally dropped Oreo, giving the cat a chance to dash under the couch. It took about an hour before Hizashi managed to coax it out (not without more scratching and biting). When Hizashi's sister returned home, she found her little brother cradling a worn-out cat, while trying to hide a vomit stain on the living room carpet.

Hizashi was glad that it rained throughout the entire time it took the cat to recover. He released Oreo back into the park the moment the sun came back out.

When he noticed Aizawa curiously eyeing the scratch marks on his arms the next day during P.E., Hizashi wore baggy sweatshirts for two weeks straight despite the humid weather.

It had been two months, two weeks and four days since the start of the school year and in that span of two months, two weeks and four days Hizashi hadn't gotten more than a few noncommittal grunts from Aizawa. He was starting to wonder if working in the background was really such a good idea.

He mulled over his dilemma as he walked towards the park, wondering if he should just ask Aizawa to play with him. Maybe he'd want to play Heroes vs. Villains with him. All the kids at school seemed to love it so maybe Aizawa wouldn't ignore him if he suggested a fun game to play.

"It's worth a shot," Hizashi muttered to himself as he neared the playground.

"You're a freak, Aizawa! A freak who can only make friends with cats!"

Hizashi blinked as Yuta and his two friends ran past him, cursing with words that Hizashi had never even heard of. The three were disheveled, sporting impressive bloody noses and colorful bruises. He couldn't help but smirk, snickering at their unruliness. There was no doubt in his mind that Aizawa finally gave those three boys what they deserved. Not only was Hizashi proud of Aizawa for standing up for himself, but he was also swelling with pride for his classmate who had managed to singlehandedly kick the butts of three (obnoxious) kids.

Hizashi practically skipped over to Aizawa's little hiding spot in the bushes. His brilliant smile fell when he was greeted by a pair of red eyes. Even though his classmate seemed to be in better shape than the three bullies, Hizashi couldn't help but grit his teeth in agitation when he caught a glimpse of the many bruises and scrapes on the dark-haired boy.

I'm going to kick their asses!

How dare they do this to you!

"Hey, are you alright?" Hizashi settled on saying, willing his anger to subside as he laid his hand on Aizawa's trembling shoulder.

"Oreo's barely breathing," Aizawa mumbled while holding the cat in his arms a little tighter.

"I meant you, not your cat," Hizashi muttered while staring daggers at the black kitten before lighting up again. "Wait, my sister's a veterinarian. I bet she could help him!"

Lightly tugging on the sleeve of Aizawa's shirt, Hizashi began pulling him out of the bushes.

"Come on, let's go! She's probably at home right now. It's not too far from here," he said, trying his best to lower the volume of his voice. Hizashi could feel Aizawa dragging his feet, mouth drawn in a thin line and eyes shifting between him and the cat in his arms. Aizawa trailed behind Hizashi quietly throughout the entire walk. (Honestly, Hizashi had expected him to sneak away from him during the five minutes that it took them to get to his place. He was secretly ecstatic and maybe bouncing on his heels when Aizawa was still behind him when he opened the front gates.)

Kicking his shoes aside, Hizashi ran into the house calling for his sister. He was met with a very unimpressed look. It seemed like even his puppy dog eyes wouldn't work this time, especially since they were right next to the vomit stain the exact same cat had made two weeks ago. So Hizashi had no choice but to break out the "Aizawa" card. It was a risky play; his sister was intrigued with her little brother's obsession, but despite her taking his side, she also loved to tease him for it.

But the situation called for desperate measures and lucky for Hizashi, the only teasing hint she gave was when she winked while handing him the first aid box, shoving the two kids into the living room together.

The moment the two of them had settled on the couch, Hizashi suddenly felt nervous sitting beside Aizawa in silence. It was strange. Hizashi rarely felt nervous about anything. (Well, except maybe when he has to walk past a butterfly that's lounging on a flower near the doorway. Those mornings were always so stressful.)

As he rummaged through the first aid box, biting his lower lip in concentration, he peeked at Aizawa from the corner of his eye. Aizawa seemed to be fixated on the carpet. His hands were gripping the edge of the couch, fingers leaving imprints on the soft cushion. When Hizashi noticed how uncomfortable his classmate was, suddenly his own nervousness became a secondary problem. So Hizashi did what he did best. He talked.

"It's so cool how you beat up those kids all by yourself," Hizashi said with a smile as he smoothed out a bandage on Aizawa's face, screaming internally when the dark-haired boy flinched at his touch. "That'll teach them to stop messing with you."

No response.

"If you're worried about your cat, you shouldn't be," he continued. "My sister has a quirk that lets her speak to animals so she's the world's perfect veterinarian!"

When silence continued to fill the room, Hizashi laughed nervously, scratching his face in embarrassment. He turned his attention to organizing the first aid box, meticulously arranging the items in fake concentration. Aizawa's gaze was now on him and if Hizashi hadn't seen his quirk in action before he would have assumed his power involved shooting laser beams out of his eyes because dear god Hizashi could swear that there were holes forming in the back of his head.

"Yamada…"

Hizashi perked up from the sound of his name. He shouldn't feel as happy as he did. It was just his name, he told himself. Regardless, he couldn't stop the tooth grinning smile.

"Hizashi!" he blurted out. "You can call me Hizashi!"

"Hizashi," Aizawa mumbled. "Why did you help me?"

The smile suddenly disappeared from Hizashi's face. Oh shit, had he meddled too much? Hizashi thought that his work in the background had been subtle. But maybe it wasn't subtle enough, and now Aizawa wanted him to start minding his own business.

"What do you mean?" Hizashi asked, hoping that his thoughts were completely off base.

"You don't know me, but you always try to help me," Aizawa muttered, eyebrows furrowing as if trying to decipher an impossible coded message. "I don't understand."

"Isn't it natural to want to help someone?" Hizashi retorted, scratching the back of his head. He fought back the urge to tell him that he actually knew him a little too well.

"I mean, I wish I could have done more, but I didn't want to think that I was fighting your battles or something like that!" Hizashi continued, feeling his stomach flip as he thought about the months of bullying his classmate had to endure.

"Those guys are real jerks," he muttered, staring angrily at the organized first aid box.

"But don't you think I'm weird?"

There was a pause.

"Huh?" Hizashi turned to face Aizawa, nose slightly wrinkled in confusion. Weird? Aizawa? That was one of the last words Hizashi would use to describe him. Endearing, quiet, honest, cool. Those were the right words to use.

"I hang out with a cat," Aizawa tacked on, frowning in frustration when he didn't receive a response.

Another pause.

Hizashi couldn't stop the bubbly laugh that escaped from his mouth. Usually he'd be worried about the volume of his voice, but right now the warmth that was building in his stomach made him too happy to care. Plus, Aizawa's face was slightly red. That was an added bonus.

"Aizawa, I think it's cool how you can make friends with cats!" the blond exclaimed. Hizashi began to ramble. He listed off all of the things he admired about him, flailing his arms in exaggerated excitement. Hizashi could talk about anything for hours, but right now with all the practice he's had talking to his family, he'd take at least a week to finish if the subject was Aizawa.

Hizashi's eyes never left his classmate's face, studying the subtle changes. Its hardened features suddenly softened. A confused frown followed and within a few minutes his face was entirely red. Aizawa tried to hide his face behind his bangs, but the embarrassed small smile that was in plain view was all Hizashi needed to keep talking.

"Shouta," Aizawa murmured.

Hizashi immediately stopped talking about how they should go down to the library sometime together so that he could show Aizawa a neat book he found about tigers.

"You can call me Shouta," he said.

He might have been gaping at Aizawa based on how much he was fidgeting under his gaze.

"I mean, if you want to," he said while picking at a small tear in his shirt.

Hizashi wanted to scream. He tried his best to contain his excitement, but the smile that was slowly growing felt like it was going to split his face in two.

And so Hizashi started talking about how Shouta should go to the pet store with him one day to pet cats and stare at birds. He told Shouta how they could play all kinds of games together, just the three of them; him, Shouta, and Oreo. Shouta could even come over to his place to listen to his CD collection.

Hizashi may as well have been a broken record. If anyone had counted, he probably had used Shouta's name 87 times in the hour he spent talking about his friend Shouta.

Unfortunately, Hizashi's magical moment with Shouta came to an end when his sister came out of her private studies room. Hizashi couldn't help but pout a little when Shouta asked if he could see Oreo. But when the three of them went to see the now sleeping cat, Hizashi's small bout of jealousy quickly dissipated when he saw the relief that washed over his new friend's face.

After knowing that the cat was going to recover, Shouta excused himself, telling them that his curfew was nearing. The two walked him to the front gate.

As Shouta thanked Hizashi's sister for her help and hospitality, Hizashi began twisting his shirt, a nervous tick that he hadn't grown out of.

"Hey, Shouta. If you want, you could come visit afterschool," Hizashi said, gripping his shirt a little tighter. "You know, so that you can make sure Oreo's okay."

Shouta stared at the blond, studying his classmate carefully.

"Okay," he said with a nod.

Hizashi grinned, nodding his head vigorously in confirmation.

"Thanks," Shouta hesitated for a second before adding "Hizashi."

Hizashi didn't care if his sister was laughing at him. He didn't care if his voice was too loud. He didn't care that he was setting off car alarms. He didn't care that Shouta was only ten feet away. Taking in a deep breath, Hizashi yelled.

"BYE, SHOUTA. SEE YOU TOMORROW!"

The small wave Shouta gave to him was worth it.