Skyline (Aizawa X Oc)

Transitioning

"I'VE FOUND IT!" Chieko yelled out, startling Shota and dragging his attention from his book and tea.
Pointedly, she stomped over and slapped the newspaper down on top of his book, grinning in satisfaction.

"I'd like to see you say no to that one." Her smug grin stayed in place as she watched him blink slowly and read the ad--which she'd encircled several times with bright red ink.

"2 rooms... That's a lot of square footage... Gated community..that's a plus..." he muttered and scanned the rest of the ad. "That sounds lovely, you should call." His gaze returned to her face that had fallen and now looked.....sullen? Pouty? He smiled internally and thought, "Brat."

She'd wholeheartedly expected him to pick it apart and find 10 new reasons that the apartment in the ad wouldn't work for them, all of which were useless to argue.

Chieko crossed her arms in a huff, "Well I think if we just go loo- wait you agree?" The Entry exams had come and gone and classes were set to start that next week. They were nearly out of reasonable time to move and Shota spent the entire two weeks coming up with excuses as to why they couldn't pick this apartment or that.
Surprised, she squinted at him.

"Go ahead, read me, I think it's a great find. Let's go check it out after a nap." the final word of his sentence stretched into a yawn.

She nodded and quickly felt around for her phone, trying to hurry before he changed his mind.
Half an hour later they had an appointment with the realtor and a walk-through scheduled.
Chieko discovered that while Shota preferred to keep a low profile, letting it slip that he was a teacher at UA, the TOP hero school, got them priority treatment.
"I'll remember that next time"  she chuckled to herself.

"Chieko? Are you coming? I saw you yawning." His voice was low with sleep already. His propensity for naps was almost cat like. She wasn't sure how he was going to survive the early mornings and full days that school teachers endured.
The buzz of her cell phone, still in her hand, pulled her from her thoughts. She glanced down at the screen.
It was the agency.

"Hello, yes, Chief Kenji." Chieko quietly stepped onto the small balcony and slid the door partially closed.
A few minutes later, shoulders drooping,  she stepped back into the doorway to find Shota waiting on the sofa.

"Anything important?" His dark eyes scanned her face.

The idea of work made the hair on her arms stand on end. Her moral obligation to help was always at war with her personal feelings. Work was horrific. The agency relied heavily on her quirk for intel, which in turn left Chieko emotionally drained and physically ill. Her quirk itself never caused illness, it was the images she was forced the rummage through in peoples' minds. Crime scene after crime scene. She'd never tell Shouta that, but he wasn't stupid. He was well aware of the toll it took on her and her mental state. He noticed the nightmares and the dark circles that stayed under her eyes now.
He understood her resignment to help, though, so he did what he could to ease her mind and insisted she take time off at the slightest hint of burnout. So when the agency called just a day after Chieko closed a gruesome case, he knew that they were either desperate or stupid.

He respected Chief Kenji too much, and vice versa, for it to be the latter.

"We need to talk." she leaned against the door frame as she spoke.
"That was the agency...they requested my help specifically. It's a case I've been trying to sort out for months now and they finally have someone I can question...I think if I help minimally, everything will be fine. I think I can handle it." she trailed off, his face was so hard to read. Always blank.

"Shota, these men...they're doing something awful and I think I'm the only one that can get anything out of one of them." She slowly rubbed her hands together feeling uncomfortable under his gaze.
"I do not like this arrangement at all." his voice was level but dark,  "however, I am not your parent, and if you feel safe enough to work then...I have to trust you. I do trust you. And you know I'm here for you."