Chapter Text
“Alright, we’re off! See you this evening.”
“Bye dad, bye Izuku.”
Aizawa shrugged and returned to his coffee as Izuku waved bye to his boyfriend. The door closed, finalizing the duo’s departure. Yamada had some work to do at his radio station, and enlisted Hitoshi to come help him since Aizawa had worked a graveyard patrol the night before and Izuku was a guest. Unfortunately, this meant that Izuku would be alone with his homeroom teacher for a few hours. He glanced across at the man now. Aizawa was glaring down at a police report, coffee mug now apparently empty. Izuku squirmed in his seat, much to the displeasure of the hefty cat in his lap, but was unable to find anything worth talking about. Heck, would Aizawa even want to talk? He looks tired, I’m sure he doesn’t want to listen to me rambling on this early in the morning. Maybe I should just say I have more homework and hi- Aizawa interrupted him from his thoughts.
“You do quirk analysis, right?” Midoriya blinked, words computing in his head for a moment.
“Oh- u-um, yes?” Aizawa sighed.
“It’s not a trick question, problem child. Could you look at this for me?” He slid the file across the coffee table to Izuku.
“W-wait, isn’t that confidential?” Aizawa shrugged.
“Not really, it’s a pretty public case at this point. Besides, this is less me sharing confidential information than it is me using my resources. What do you suppose her quirk is?” Hesitatingly, Midoriya pilles open the file and began to read. After a moment the typical rambling started up, but instead of tuning it out like he usually would Shouta listened to what he was saying.
“-seemingly a mutation quirk, mammal-like in nature. Perhaps a bat? Her nose looks like one’s. If that were the case, that would explain why she’s able to avoid their movements so well. Likely a secondhand ability, echolocation? Seemingly no wings but even if she had them I doubt it would be very crucial information, maybe something to keep in mind during a capture but the report doesn’t mention anything about flight. So if stealth won’t work because she has sonar, then the best solution would be to take her down with brute force. Likely relies very heavily on her quirk’s abilities, if Aizawa-sensei could manage to erase her quirk early on it would give them a large upper hand…” he did all of this lightning fast, words tumbling out just under his breath as he mimed writing into his hand. He must have realized what he was doing, though, because after a minute he cut himself off and instead stammered out a string of apologies. Shouta shook his head.
“You’re fine. Thanks.” He took the file back from Midoriya, who was still stammering, if only to himself. He rose suddenly.
“I- uh, have some work I need to finish for Midnight-sensei’s class tomorrow.” He vanished in a teenager-shaped cloud of dust, the door to Hitoshi’s room clicking shut behind him. Shouta sighed, running a hand through his hair and marking down what he had managed to gather from Midoriya’s rambling - the information was helpful, the kid could be a fantastic strategist if only he had a bit more confidence in himself. Just something I need to work on, then.
Shouta almost went and knocked on the door to Hitoshi’s bedroom around lunchtime, but stopped himself when he heard a muffled voice choked with tears from the other side. He furrowed his brow, listening in. Midoriya was seemingly on the phone with somebody, and Shouta had a pretty good guess who judging by his student’s tears. His suspicion was only confirmed when he heard the words Midoriya was saying.
“M-mom, no! We- what? I’m not going to-“ A pause. “You think we- that we’re- no! That’s not what this is about, you just- no. No, I’m not trying to- mom. You think he’s- he would never.” Another pause, longer than the first. “No! I know him, believe it or not. I don’t know what you think I’m in a relationship for, but it certainly isn’t anything like that.” A shorter silence this time, Midoriya speaking more quietly and in a wavering voice. Shouta had to strain to hear what he was saying. “Mom, no. T-they’re my teachers, I’m not- Goodbye.” He must have cut the call, judging by the sound of a face hitting a pillow and the strangled sobs. Shouta hovered with his hand over the doorknob, unsure of whether to enter or not.
I don’t want him to think I was listening in- I mean, I was, but… And if I don’t intervene, it sounds like he might work himself up into a panic attack. Having made up his mind, Shouta slowly turned the doorknob and cracked the door to peer in.
Midoriya jolted up from his position on the air mattress, staring at Shouta with wide, tear-filled eyes. Shouta frowned, not at his student, but for him. “You alright, kid?” Midoriya scooted away from the door.
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine. Just- um…”
“You don’t have to be fine. Was that your mother on the phone?” Shit, wrong thing to say. Midoriya finally burst into tears, but nothing like Shouta had ever seen from him before. Typically when Midoriya cried, it was free and mostly shameless. This was different, the sobs muffled and choked as the teenager curled into himself in a futile attempt to hide his tears. His breath hitched and broke with every bit of air that he took, and after a minute of Shouta standing there helplessly as his son’s boyfriend broke down, his breath rate picked up and he started to panic. Shit! Shouta was in front of him in an instant, mentally reviewing every instance of a panic attack he had ever seen in an effort to best figure out how to help Midoriya. After a moment of uncertainty, he hesitantly placed a hand gently on the teen’s shoulder. The kid flinched heavily and he instantly retracted it. “Alright, Midoriya, can you hear me?” No response came from the hyperventilating teen in front of him. He tried again- “Midoriya?” Wide green eyes shot upwards and looked into his own. Midoriya moved away from him, once again trying to hide. “No, hey kid, it’s alright. Can you hear me? You don’t need to talk. Can you nod?” Midoriya kept staring at him, making no move to respond. “Alright, no nodding then. Can you move your fingers? Tap once for yes, two for no.” Shaky hands moved to the mattress and tapped it once. Shouta sighed in relief. “Alright, do you know where you are?” Three taps. “Does that mean unsure?” One tap this time. “Okay, do you know who I am?” Three taps, then a pause and one. “Was that a yes?” One tap again. “Okay, good. Is it okay if I touch you?” Two taps came, so quickly that he nearly missed them. “Okay, I won’t. Can you see me, then?” Three taps. Shouta cursed under his breath. “Alright, problem chi-“ Two taps interrupted him. “No?” One tap. “Okay, so you don’t want me to call you that?” One tap. “Okay them, Midoriya. I’m sorry but if you can’t really see me I might have to touch you. I don’t want you to pass out. Would me doing that make this absolutely worse?” Midoriya gave three taps, but before Shouta could speak, Two more came. “Okay. Do you want me to warn you?” One. Shouta nodded. “Alright. Midoriya, I’m going to put a hand on your left shoulder. Is that okay?” Hesitation, but one tap nonetheless. Shouta raised his right hand and gently settled it on his student’s shoulder, sighing in relief when the kid didn’t have any negative reaction. “Okay, good job. I’m going to take your right hand and put it on my chest so you can feel me breathing. Can I do that?” Two taps, a pause, and then one. Shouta looked into glassy green eyes, frowning. “I’m not going to do anything you’re uncomfortable with. Yes or no?” One tap. Shouta wished he had gotten a more certain answer, but nevertheless he took Midoriya’s hand and placed it on his chest, deliberately away from his heart. The last thing he needed was for the kid to feel his own nerves and try to go full martyr-mode while he was the one in the middle of a panic attack. “Okay, Midoriya, can you feel me breathing?” He felt one tap against his chest. Thank fuck. “Okay, can you try to breathe with me, then? Just do your best, you don’t have to be perfect.” Another tap. “Okay. Rising is exhaling, falling is inhaling. Got that?” One tap again. “Okay, good. With me, then.”
In total, it took Shouta about half an hour to calm Midoriya down. The kid sprang backwards in a flutter of apologies the second he realized what had happened, but Shouta quickly silenced him.
“Pr- Midoriya, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I just left you to fend for yourself through that. You could have hurt yourself. It’s not your fault, so don’t apologize for it.”
“S-sorry.” Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Don’t a- I’ll be right back.” Izuku stared after him as he left the room, mentally blue-screening. Oh god he’s gonna kick my ass for this why can’t I just calm down for once in my miserable li- His thoughts fizzled out as 15 pounds of purring orange tabby was dumped into his lap. He looked up at Aizawa, confusion clear in his expression. His teacher simply arched an eyebrow and sat on Hitoshi’s bed across from him. Izuku squirmed as much as he could with Pumpkin in his lap, preparing himself to be expelled, when Aizawa surprised him.
“Do you… want to talk about what happened?” Shouta didn’t know what answer he was expecting, but whatever it was certainly wasn’t-
“W-what happens if I don’t?” Shouta frowned.
“Then I leave and get ahead on some paperwork.” His frown deepened when Midoriya looked surprised. Does he think I’m going to force him to talk? Midoriya looked down and the cat in his lap, seemingly considering his options.
“I-I mean, I feel like somebody needs to know, b-but if you have paperwork I don’t want to keep you from that, a-and-“ Shouta raised a hand, cutting him off.
“I wouldn’t have offered if I had better things to do. Do you want to talk about it or not?”
“I-if it’s really okay…?”
“It is.” Izuku nodded, considering where he should start. After a moment, he looked to Aizawa and, after a nod of what he hoped was approval, started.
“S-so, um, my mom called me? Um, she has been for the past few days, I’ve been listening to the voicemails she’s left, b-but uh, I picked up this time. Obviously, since I was on the phone with her- but uh, we were talking and at first she was just apologizing and telling me that she missed me and reminding me of things she usually would when I’m at home, but at one point she asked me when I would be coming back and I g-guess I hesitated, bec-cause she got upset. She, uh, started- I don’t think yelling is quite the right word, but I don’t know what the right one is so I’m going to go with yelling. She started y-yelling at me over the phone and I tried to talk her down but she started insinuating t-that I was, um, doing it to spite her? We- uh, there are a lot of familial issues, especially with my dad and she saw Mic-sensei at the store with Hitoshi and I and thought that I was coming here to f-fill some void? I don’t know, the specifics on that bit are unclear to me, b-but… I, uh- when I said that’s not what’s going on she started asking questions about Hitoshi and after I answered them she t-thought that, that…” Tears finally pricked in his eyes and he shrunk into himself, shoulders tensing. Aizawa spoke up from across him, no discernible emotion present in his tone.
“You don’t have to keep going if you don’t want.” Midoriya looked up slightly at him, head still lowered.
“B-but doesn’t somebody need to know?” Shouta frowned slightly.
“I mean, yes, eventually, but you don’t have to talk about anything right now if you’re uncomfortable. That would be counterintuitive.” Akiko entered the room, slipping through the cracked door and hopping up beside him. Shouta pet her head as his student hesitated across from him.
“I- no, I can keep going. I’ll uh, warn you, though- it gets inappropriate after here.” Shouta’s brow furrowed in concern for the teen, but Midoriys must have mistaken it as anger, because he immediately backtracks. “Or- uh, i-it’s fine, I can say it another time or t-tell someone else or-“ Shouta shook his head.
“It’s alright, go on if you want.” Izuku nodded, blinking away tears before he continued.
“S-so, she thought that he’s uh- trying to use me for, um… for- I think you know what and I’d rather not say it unless you don’t know…” Shouta sighed heavily.
“No, I’m fairly certain I know what you’re talking about. Go on.”
“R-right. So she said all of that and then implied that I was only in this relationship for t-that, and when I said I wasn’t she thought that I was- uh- w-with y-you and M-Mic-sensei a-and that Hit-toshi led me here t-to, uh… to b-be…” The green-haired boy grew more quiet with every word he stammered out, and Shouta could feel his blood boil. He stood without a word to go make some calls and update Hizashi on the situation, but instantly regretted it when Midoriya flew to his feet after him and sent Pumpkin flying to the ground.
“W-wait, I’m s-sorry! I didn’t, I-I mean, that’s n-not… That’s not what t-this is, I swear, but me saying that probably isn’t going to do me any favors in convincing you andyouprobablythinkI’mcrazyand-“
“No, Midoriya. I know, I know that’s not what’s going on. I don’t know what level of faith you think I have in you, but the actual amount is probably far higher. You’re not in trouble for this, okay? I should have said something before I left, I just have to write this down because it’s technically a testimony and Hizashi will want to know what’s going on too. You don’t have anything to apologize for because none of this is your fault. You don’t control other people’s actions or how they affect you, and I don’t expect you to be able to.” His student stared at him with tear-filled green eyes, fidgeting with his hands as he struggled to come up with a response. Shouta saw no need for the teenager to give him one, so with a nod, he turned and left the room. He suddenly found himself with more paperwork to do.
Izuku finally registered his teacher’s departure fully and sank back down onto the air mattress. He ran a hand through his green curls as Pumpkin hopped up beside him and bumped his arm with his head. Izuku smiled softly and scritched the cat’s head, relaxing as the comforting weight of the tabby settled back into his lap.
“Sorry for dumping you on the floor earlier, buddy.” He whispered, running his hands over soft fur. He hummed to himself, the only sounds in the space coming from him, the deep rumble of the purring cat, and the occasional shuffle of papers or hushed phone call from the living area. He sighed, swinging his feel slightly and hearing the rubbery thud of the air mattress. The moment was interrupted, though, by an unfortunately familiar chiming ringtone. Izuku sighed and leaned back on the mattress, and Pumpkin settled down on his chest.
See, before he had been indifferent to his mom calling. Actually, maybe indifferent wasn’t the right word here. It did make him feel a little more guilty each time she called, especially after he listened to some of the voicemails she left. The guilt building up is what finally led him to answering her call in the first place. But now, after he had? He wasn’t too keen on the idea of picking up again, especially after what he had done in front of Aiza-
Actually, maybe that wasn’t a horrible idea.
Shouta looked up from his phone at the sound of Hitoshi’s bedroom door opening. Midoriya stepped through, hovering near away from the living room with a ringing phone in his hand. Shouta was about to ask him what was going on, but before he could the teenager spoke up.
“Uh, my m-mom is calling? And I was, uh, wondering whether you would need to talk to her or…” Shouta nodded, holding out a hand.
“Yeah, I can do that. I’ll take the line.” Midoriya stepped forward and passed him the phone, hovering uncertainty for a moment before disappearing back into Hitoshi’s room with a quiet click of the door. Shouta sighed, mentally prepared himself, and answered the call.
I-Izuku? Baby, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean-
“This is Aizawa Shouta speaking. You are Midoriya Inko?” He chose his tone carefully, knowing that the younger Midoriya was likely listening in to his end of the conversation.
Oh, a-alright then. Could you direct the line to Izuku for me?
“I could.”
Oh, thank you so much! You don’t know ho-
“I could, obviously, but the real question you should be asking is will I? I’ll give you a hint, my answer’s no.”
Excuse me? It doesn’t matter what you think, it’s my son’s choice. Let me talk to him.
“Ma’am, I’m truly sorry, but Midoriya is the one who passed the phone to me.”
So you’re one of the teachers he’s been-
Shouta glared instinctively before realizing the woman couldn’t see him on the other end of the line. “If you will listen to me, I can answer your questions about what will happen from here on out.” No sound came from the other end. Shouta saw it fit to continue.
Izuku was at his nerve’s end. He had already bitten his nails down to thin, pale crescent moons and practically paced a hole into Hitoshi’s floor. Now he was laying face down on the air mattress, weighted blanket tucked comfortably over his shoulders, but the pressure that he usually found comforting now felt suffocating. He changed position for seemingly the hundredth time, still finding no comfortable arrangement. He sighed heavily, sitting up, and got to his feet again to pace. He was just finishing his third lap when the door opened. Aizawa leaned against the doorframe, one arm extended in offering of his phone. Izuku took it after a moment’s hesitation, thanking him quietly. The two stood there for a moment, Izuku running through everything that could have gone wrong rapid fire in his head, before Aizawa spoke.
“Do you want lunch?” The teenager seemed to come back into focus, his eyes eventually finding Shouta’s with a confused expression.
“I-I’m sorry, what was that?” Shouta bit back a sigh.
“I asked if you want lunch.” Midoriya stuttered for a moment, processing the sentence.
“Oh, n-no, it’s okay! I’m fine, there’s no need to-“
“I’m not asking whether or not you want it, not whether or not you think it’s an inconvenience to me.” The teenager swallowed.
“I- um, if you’re sure? Then yes.” Aizawa nodded, turning to go cook and shutting the door behind him. Izuku watched him leave and promptly fell back to sitting on the bed, running a hand through his curls. Why is he so confusing I can never tell whether he’s going to kill me or say something nice he’s so SCARY how does Hitoshi live with him…
Shouta went to fetch Midoriya for lunch, cradling a bowl of oyakodon in one hand and turning the doorknob with the other. The teen was sat on the air mattress with an extremely beat up notebook open on his lap. Shouta cleared his throat, snapping the kid out of his focus and sending wide green eyes up towards him. He leaned against the doorframe, trying his best to tone down what Hizashi called his resting murder face before speaking.
“Do you want to eat in here or would you rather come eat in the living room? You’ll have to fight off Antidisestablishmentarianism if you eat in here, by the way, she loves eggs and thinks you’re an unsuspecting victim.” Midoriya smiled slightly, shutting the notebook and setting it off to the side.
“I-I think I’ll come out, then- I mean, if that’s okay?” Shouta nodded, turning around.
“That’s fine by me.” Footsteps followed him into the living room, where Shouta shooed the white cat away from his own bowl and set Midoriya’s on the coffee table. “Stupid brat.” The teenager stammered behind him.
“Uh- I’m sorry?”
“Oh. Talking to the cat, not you. Don’t worry.” Midoriya nodded, sitting in the loveseat a fair distance away from Shouta and taking up his bowl. The two ate in relative silence for a few minutes. Shouta could tell his student was uncomfortable judging by the way he kept looking up at him and shuffling in his seat. Shouta took pity on him and started up the conversing. “Thanks for the help earlier, with the quirk analysis, by the way. You bolted before I could say anything but it was really helpful.” The kid glanced up, looking surprised.
“I-it was?” Shouta nodded his head.
“Yes, we weren’t sure why she was able to avoid all of our ambushes we had set up for her. I suppose I should also thank you for being respectful when referring to me in the torrent.” Midoriya looked bewildered, so he continued. “I had one student a few years back that always called me ‘Eraserbitch’ when he thought I wasn’t listening. I just assumed everyone was saying something like that, but I suppose I thought wrong.” The teen burst into stifled laughter, and Shouta allowed himself a tiny smile in victory. “You have journals for your analyses, right?” Midoriya nodded.
“Yeah, I’m on the thirteenth one now.”
“Do you have entries for the staff?” The kid fidgeted with his chopsticks, but before Shouta could retract his question he was surprised with an answer.
“Y-yes, did you want to see them?” Shouta smiled in a way he hoped wasn’t intimidating. The kid didn’t shrink back, so he counted it as a small victory at the very least.
“If you want to show me, then yes.” Midoriya nodded, setting his mostly empty bowl on the coffee table and standing up. “I’ll go get them?”
“Sure thing. I’ll ward off the brat.” The teenager laughed lightly again, and Shouta smiled to himself. Progress!
Midoriya returned three minutes later with two notebooks tucked under an arm. One was the charred one he had been writing in before, and another was a less damaged but just as thoroughly used spiral-bound journal. He retook his seat, separating the notebooks and putting them in front of Shouta.
“The thirteenth is more recent and has all of the UA staff I’ve met so far in it, with more detailed analyses since I can see the quirks in action.” Shouta raised an eyebrow.
“What happened to it?” Midoriya paled slightly.
“Oh, um- run-in with a villain. Sorry if it’s hard to read.” Shouta shrugged and flipped open the journal, carefully paging through to find any staff members. He did something of a double take when he came face-to-face with a… frighteningly realistic drawing of Nemuri staring back at him. Not unsettling whatsoever. He began to flip back and find the first UA teacher in the journal, and was only a little surprised when he found it was himself. He was the first teacher Midoriya had met, after all. Shouta began to read.
Aizawa Shouta
Quirk - Erasure
Hero Name - Eraserhead
Other Affiliations - Teacher at UA Hero Academy
Quirk details - He can erase any non-physically manifesting quirk as long as the user is within his field of vision. Erasure does not work on mutation quirks, but it may remove some second-hand abilities that manifest along with the mutation. The effect is indiscriminate to those within his line of sight, and ends after he blinks. Side effects may include dry-eye - currently unsure whether that is a result of his quirk or just a separate aspect of his person. His eyes glow red and his hair floats when Erasure is in use.
Strengths - Eraserhead is strong in stealth and hand-to-band combat. His capture weapon designed to capture and restrain enemies without causing excessive physical harm, and allows him to minimize if not completely negate property damage. He is generally loved by all those who have been saved by him, judging by forum posts about underground hero encounters. Source - https://www.theundergroundhounds.net/forum , topic folder Eraserhead, subcategory encounters.
Shouta raised an eyebrow at that. There was a forum topic about him? Across the room, Midoriya fidgeted in his seat. Shouta kept reading.
Weaknesses - When up against a mutation quirk, Eraserhead essentially fights quirkless. His quirk does not last indefinitely, and it can be estimated when the quirk has been turned off because of the fact that his hair falls when the effect is off. (See - Secondary levitation quirk?) His eyes are a likely a weak point, and the goggles designed to obscure his line of vision don’t do much to protect them. General disposition can make him come off as unkind (from what I’ve experienced - could be different towards others.) This isn’t a weakness to villains, but for popularity polls it wouldn’t do many favors. Then again, he is an underground hero so that may be in his best interest.
Shouta had to fight off any expressions that would reveal his internal monologue. This kid is smart - he’s seen me in action, what, once? And he was able to glean all of this. He turned his attention to the theories section, going over the part that had been referenced earlier.
Secondary levitation quirk - Parent’s quirks are unknown at this time, but one very well could have had a form of telekinesis or levitation, resulting in the effect of his hair floating when his quirk is in use. That could also be how his capture weapon is controlled - it seems to have something of a separate will when not being used to complete a specific task.
He almost said something - yes, actually, his father had a form of weak telekinesis as his quirk - when he spotted a section titled Suggestions. He raised an eyebrow and began reading.
Suggestions - The goggles he uses to obscure his line of sight are ineffective for protection. Could likely be updated to better protect his vision and perhaps even limit the ill effects of his dry-eye. (See entry - Hatsume Mei). His hair floating when using his quirk and the red glowing eyes are both obvious tells if one cared to look for long enough. Might possibly wear red contacts - although, with dry-eye that may not be entirely viable - and cut hair short or style it upwards (See entry - Present Mic) to nullify visual cues that his quirk is in action.
Shouta shut the book carefully and set it on the coffee table, turning to look at Midoriya. The green-haired teenager had Akiko at his side and Pumpkin in his lap, and was petting each cat with one hand as a nervous expression sat on his face. Shouta smiled for a split second before clearing his throat. Midoriya’s eyes instantly jumped to him, presumably searching for any tells in his expression.
“I am not styling my hair like Hizashi’s.” His student stared in surprise before exploding into muffled laughter.
“I-I didn’t mean exactly like his when I wrote that! It’s just an example.” Shouta smirked.
“Good. You were right about the telekinesis quirk, by the way, but that’s not how I use my capture weapon.” Midoriya’s eyes seemed to light up.
“Then how does it work?” Shouta gave him a look. “Oh, I- uh, yeah. Trade secret, right?” Shouta nodded.
“Right. There’s really a forum section about Eraserhead?” The kid eagerly replied, earlier nerves seemingly forgotten. Shouta made a note of it - Passion overrides anxieties.
“Yeah! I mean, the forum is entirely on underground heroes, but there are enough posts about hi- or, you, that there’s a specific section for them all. It’s how I found out about you originally, before UA- oh, which reminds me! I wasn’t sure if you were going to read your own entry or not but since you did, this journal has the entry I wrote on you before I came to UA. I figured it might be helpful to find out just how public your hero persona actually is, since, if I could find this then any villain could come to the same conclusion.” He passed Shouta the other journal, labelled Hero Analysis for the Future Vol. 4. Shouta cracked it open and found his own entry.
About ten minutes later, Shouta shut the journal a little more aggressively than he had intended to and passed it back to Midoriya. He ran a hand through his hair, mentally cursing. Either Midoriya is scarily smart or I need to start getting more cautious around villains. The analysis had been nowhere near as specific or personal as the previous one, of course, with more theories than hard fact, but most of the theories were mostly accurate. Hell, even the drawing of him was frighteningly accurate.
“When did you write that one?”
“Oh, I think I was six? Or maybe seven. Between five and eight - I started journal five on my eighth birthday and I wasn’t interested in more underground heroics until a bit after the fifth one.” Shouta stared at him incredulously.
“Why after five? Your quirk would have manifested by then, I would have thought all the entries you’d write at age six would be about All Might.” Midoriya shrugged, fidgeting with his hands.
“W-well, um, my quirk manifested really late, the doctors misdiagnosed me as quirkless. And I took a break from writing analyses for a while. When I came back I wanted to find heroes more like me, so I turned to the world of underground heroics. You were the closest thing to a quirkless hero I was ever able to find, so I did as much research as I could.” Shouta let a rare moment of surprise be displayed on his face as the kid spoke. Quirkless? That… explains a lot, actually.
“How late, exactly?”
“Um, e-eleven years.” Shouta coughed.
“You were fifteen?! So you didn’t have a quirk until…”
“Right be-before the entrance exams, actually.”
Izuku shifted uncomfortably as Aizawa stared at him with scrutinizing dark eyes. Feeling as if his teacher was judging him for being quirkless in the past, though, actually - everyone was, it was just that he had been for much longer than most - he continued.
“I- um, was planning to do what Hitoshi is doing and transfer into the heroics course, but- uh, with the zero pointer- I guess I j-just got really lucky.”
The man across from him took a deep breath.
“You’ve seen a quirk counselor since then, right?” Izuku tilted his head.
“A what now?” He immediately backtracked when Aizawa put his head in his hands. “W- sorry, I have no idea what that is. I-is that a bad thing?” The man shook his head, looking back up to him.
“Not really, anymore, you’ve gotten better control of your quirk since it manifested. I wish you had when you first discovered it, though, or- hell, why didn’t I know about this?”
“I-it should have been in my records? I didn’t change my registry from quirkless until a bit before I came to UA. It’s also in the information, if I remember correctly?”
“Yeah, it said manifested your quirk manifested late, but I thought that meant around seven! Not fifteen, good lord proble- kid.” Izuku blinked. When did I tell him I don’t like him calling me that? Aizawa must have sensed his confusion. “You don’t want me to call you that, right?” Izuku nodded. “Why couldn’t you have just told me?”
“I- um, it wasn’t the worst that a teacher’s ever called me, I was just going to live with it.” His teacher frowned- or, Izuku thinks he did - with Aizawa it’s hard to tell.
“Not the worst- from a teacher at UA?” Izuku’s eyes immediately widened and he raised his hands in a defensive position.
“No, no! The teachers at UA are great. Y- Uh, remember, I was quirkless. B-before high school.” Izuku shrunk into himself, not wanting to look at Aizawa’s expression.
“So, your middle school teachers?”
“Uh, every teacher after age five.”
“Fi- that’s quirk discrimination, Midoriya.”
“I-I know, but there wasn’t really anything I could do! If I brought it up, I couldn’t have gone anywhere else for school, all the others in the area were private schools with tuition too high for me to even think about. The teachers weren’t that bad, honestly. Just kind of ignorant. My classmates were way wor- this isn’t helping my case, is it?” Aizawa shook his head slowly.
“Not at all. And you may not have been able to do anything about it then, but you can now.”
“It’s petty, though! Honestly, it’s fine. Every quirkless person lives through this. We’re more prone to bullying, abandonment, abuse, and becoming victims of crime and villainy. 65 percent of quirkless youth commit suicide, 20 percent die as victim to hate crimes, and ten percent will die as a result of being unable to defend themselves during a villain attack. That leaves five percent of quirkless youth to grow older than eighteen, and even then life is hellish and any of those other things can still happen. It’s honestly a miracle I’m here right no-“ He snuck a glance up just in time to see Aizawa’s horror-stricken expression. “-okay, that’s really depressing. I’ll stop myself there, but you get the point. I’m lucky I’ve made it this far.”
Shouta could feel his head spinning as his son’s boyfriend rattled off suicide statistics as plainly as if he were talking about the weather. Does he seriously think- he’s lucky? He simply stared at Midoriya, who either failed to read the room or just wasn’t showing anything. Probably the latter.
“Kid… that’s still not good. What did they do to you?” Midoriya shrugged.
“I mean, they were just bullies. Basic things- the roughhousing, nicknaming, destruction of property, illegal quirk usage. There were a few instances of suicide baiting, mostly after Takaya Yuu’s suicide in Osaka. Actually, I don’t know if those ones would even count, they just left flowers on my desk…” he trailed off into a storm of mumbling, which Shouta felt too sick to tune into. How hadn’t he known about any of this? Surely there’d be something about it on the kid’s record book, recordings of injury or harassment, but Midoriya’s file was just… clean. Completely unspectacular, no history of fighting or bullying or anything. And he mentioned nicknames, Bakugou-
Shouta’s heart skidded to a stop.
How had he missed it?
Now he felt stupid to not have noticed it earlier - come on, the kid used to flinch at every explosion, he was never sure if people were talking to him, his pain tolerance was absolutely ridiculous. Since he had come to UA, a lot of those issues were gone, but just because something is fixed doesn’t mean it was never broken.
Christ, that battle trial from day two was a lot more scary to think about now.
Izuku snapped out of his one-way train of thought, almost apologizing instinctively, when he spotted the expression on Aizawa’s face. His teacher looked like he had seen a ghost. His face was paled, well- more paled, and his brow was furrowed in that way Izuku’s own did when he was deep in thought.
“Um- are you okay?” Aizawa’s gaze snapped back to him, and he barely suppressed a flinch.
“You went to the same middle school as Bakugou, right?”
Fuck.
Shouta knew he had hit the nail straight on the head when Midoriya paled considerably. He almost didn’t want to be, but at least he knew now. It was something he could have stranded to know about a few months earlier, but better late than never, right?
“You said illegal quirk usage- actually, it doesn’t matter if he didn’t do most of those things. UA has a zero-tolerance policy, Midoriya, he shouldn’t be in the hero course at all. Or any course, really.” Midoriya shook his head frantically.
“N-no, it’s fine! It happened a long time ago, I’ve checked and the statute of limitations has passed.” Shouta had a feeling that was a lie, but he didn’t call it out. Midoriya continued. “Besides, he’s honestly gotten a lot better since UA! Punishing him now would do more harm than good.” He shook his head in disbelief.
“Maybe so, kid, but still. I don’t know how I’m supposed to comfortably have you two in class together now that I know your history.” The teenager shrank back into his seat.
“I- sorry.” Shouta sighed, and Midoriya seemingly got the message. “Or, nevermind. But, um-“
“I’ll figure out something.” His student looked up at him, confused. Shouta gave him no hints. “Do you have the first journal with you?”
“Oh- yes, but it’s not very good. I was four when I wrote it.” Shouta snorted.
“Even better. Could I see it?” The green-haired boy nodded, standing to go back to Hitoshi’s room, before reconsidering.
“Or- do you just want to see them all?”
“Sure thing, kid.” The teen nodded and left to go get the books. Shouta opened his phone to shoot his husband a text message.
Gucci eyebags - Today at 2:46
Hey ‘Zashi, how’s it going with Hito?
YELL - Today at 2:46
Good! How about Midoriya?
Gucci eyebags - Today at 2:47
Ughhhh don’t even get me started.
YELL - Today at 2:47
Aw geez, problem child mode? Do you need us to come back
Gucci eyebags - Today at 2:47
No absolutely not.
In fact, I need you to stall with Hitoshi as long as possible. Stop for ice cream or something, say his trainer approved it.
YELL - Today at 2:47
???
Everything alright there, Shou?
Gucci eyebags - Today at 2:47
I’m slowly chipping away at his barriers.
Turns out there’s a lot more issues than we originally thought. I know if Hitoshi gets back he’ll immediately close off again- I just need more time here. Which brings me to part one-
Do you know much about the discrimination quirkless people face?
YELL - Today at 2:48
Yeah :(
Quirkless youth are at extreme risk for suicide because of it, most quirkless people don’t live past 35
… why
Gucci eyebags - Today at 2:48
Did you know that Midoriya was quirkless until age 15?
YELL - Today at 2:48
Well fuck me gently with a chainsaw
Gucci eyebags - Today at 2:48
Ew.
Had a lovely chat with his mother on the phone earlier, too.
YELL - Today at 2:48
Jeez
I’ll talk to you later about it, work yknow?
Gucci eyebags - Today at 2:49
Sure thing.
Knock ‘em dead out there.
YELL - Today at 2:49
FJLHDKGDHK yeah sure thing
Shouta half-smiled and put his phone away just as Midoriya returned with a stack of notebooks in various states of wear and tear. The teen quickly sorted them in proper order before laying the stack in front of Shouta. He thanked the boy before gently opening to the first page of journal one- an entry on All Might. No surprises there. Shouta began to read.
Hitoshi had been terrified to leave Izuku home with his dad. Come on- the green-haired boy was terrified of the man. Dad seemed to have a minor source of frustration with his proclaimed ‘problem child,’ too. Honestly, he was expecting to come home to one or even both of them in a state of destruction. His suspicions only grew when pops took him out for ice cream of all things, saying that his dad had approved it. No, he wasn’t going to come home to anybody injured.
He was going to come back to find a corpse.
Hitoshi mentally prepared himself as his pops turned the doorknob and stepped inside, glancing around for any signs and stopping dead in his tracks. Interesting…
Izuku sat on the second closest chair to the one his teacher was on. Notebooks that Hitoshi vaguely recognized as the hero analysis journals that they had taken from his house a few days prior were scattered between them. His boyfriend spoke freely and without any hint of a stutter or nerves to his voice about the contents of the journals, to which Shouta gave feedback and suggestions.
Hitoshi smiled fondly and stepped quietly over behind his boyfriend, crossing his arms overtop of the smaller boy’s curls and resting his chin on his arms.
“Guess who’s back, back again.” He deadpanned. Izuku looked up at him beaming.
“Shinsou’s back, tell a fri- wait, so is that still your last name?” Hitoshi shrugged.
“Come on, there’ll be plenty of time for tragic backstory later. I have a literature project I need help on.”
“I thought you said you finished everything yesterday!”
“Everything that’s due this week. I’m getting a head start now.” Izuku sighed, closing the notebook in his lap and standing to gather the rest of the scattered ones. Aizawa dismissed him with the shake of a hand.
“Go on- I want to keep looking at these.” He turned to Hitoshi before continuing. “Please make smart decisions.” The purple-haired teen gasped in theatrical shock, pretending to clutch at his heart by balling up his shirt in his fist.
“You wound me.” Aizawa simply rolled his eyes and sent the two boys off. They retreated into Hitoshi’s room immediately, where Izuku promptly wrapped his arms around the taller boy’s midsection the moment to door had shut.