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He’s been up here for hours, but he can’t say he’s complaining about it.
One of the things Shinsou learned about himself that he never thought much about while he was at U.A. is that he would rather be on the roof than tossing and turning in bed all night.
It’s frustrating not being able to sleep, and up here he can clear his head, get away from judgemental stares from people waiting for him to do something to them, and assess the state of the world when it’s at its most quiet.
He’s become well acquainted with this roof in particular recently.
The building itself is about two blocks from a known villain bar, but the height gives him the perfect view of everyone coming in and out of it. He’s been casing the place for months, mentally documenting all of its activity, and so far he’s learned more than he ever thought possible.
He went in a few times, ordered a beer and kept his head down, but that was only in the beginning.
For now he observes. He knows The Villain Corps leader Sandsnake comes in once a week, and the local crime syndicate whose dominating family changes every few weeks has been kissing his ass for some kind of merger.
He knows that Siren, the woman with a mind control quirk more musical than his own, never leaves alone, and he knows the people she leaves with never come back.
And he observes because he told him too.
Shinsou hasn’t been Aizawa’s student for several years now, but it feels like he’s always learning something. It’s frustrating knowing that no matter how much he catches up, Aizawa will always see him as someone three steps behind the rest.
Things are different now.
He’s perfected his combat technique so that now his former teacher can’t even beat him, he’s evolved his quirk enough that its limitations and conditions are minimal, and he’s killed people with his bare hands because he didn’t have any other choice.
Shinsou is older now, smarter and faster, and he followed in Aizawa’s footsteps to become an underground hero minus the teaching gig, but even now, Aizawa won’t give him the acknowledgment he needs to go off on his own.
He’s the reason why he’s here tonight instead of in there finding leads and whatever proof he might need to take down a pocket of the villain world.
Because Aizawa told him to stay out. He told him to watch the place from a distance and learn how its heart beats without showing his face.
And like always, Shinsou listened.
Maybe the reason they’re stuck in this place is because Shinsou always quietly does what he says, trusts that Aizawa knows more than he does. Maybe Aizawa still treats Shinsou like he’s his student because that’s the only way Shinsou knows how to act with him.
Flat Crocodile comes out, and Shinsou guesses that means it’s close to 2 a.m.. One of the benefits of never being able to sleep is that that realization doesn’t mean anything to him. He doesn’t care about going home or getting into bed, it’s just information.
Footsteps approach him from behind at any easy pace. Shinsou doesn’t have to turn around to know who it is, but his heart still jumps the way it did when he was fifteen and he found him on the roof at school winding and unwinding his capture weapon.
He had no idea that the reason Shinsou was up there was because of him, that the thought of failing and disappointing the only person who ever believed in him kept him up at night.
He passed. He entered the hero course like he was supposed to, but then it was the memory of Aizawa sitting down with him and not saying anything that kept him up every night after.
Shinsou knows about his own feelings. He has since the first time they trained together, but he also knows that even now, Aizawa has only ever seen him as his student.
And Shinsou respects that, values it even, but there’s something about the way that Aizawa’s steps soften when he approaches him that makes him wish that his former teacher would let go of his resolve.
He could be more now. He’s old enough. He’s proved himself.
Aizawa sits on the roof next to him, and Shinsou keeps his eyes on the bar rather than risk looking like the excited puppy he’s been ever since the great Eraserhead first showed a little interest in him.
“Flat Crocodile is gone,” he says, voice flat and soft so it doesn’t carry, and Aizawa hums in acknowledgement. “Grapple brought a friend.”
“Yes, Third Face,” he says. “He’s our real target.”
Shinsou turns towards him and raises his eyebrows. This is news to him.
“He’s a villain who specializes in copying the appearances of others. Allegedly he’s been using his quirk to impersonate high ranking officials so he can steal information to sell to the highest bidder,” he continues. “I imagine he doesn’t suspect anyone knows what his real face looks like, which gives us the advantage. We’re going to follow them after they leave to find out where he’s staying and go from there.”
“Is this why you didn’t want anyone seeing me?”
“Mhm.”
Shinsou looks back at the bar and scowls. It’s childish, he knows, but he hates when Aizawa’s right, that his teaching moments are still necessary.
That even after all this time, Shinsou is still the first year who can’t do anything on his own.
“What’s wrong,” he says, voice low enough it’s barely a question, and it sends an unseen shiver down his spine.
“Nothing,” he says. “What’s the next step.”
“That depends. If his primary location is like this, we’ll stick to the rooftops and track him like we normally do. If it’s residential, you’ll go undercover as a new neighbor.”
“Undercover?” Shinsou asks, surprised, his traitorous heart pounding at the prospect of actually getting his feet wet, and then his traitorous everything highlights and bolds the part where Aizawa said he’d have to be his neighbor. “Neighbor?”
Intelligent, he knows.
“We’ll either find a house or an apartment nearby, depending on what’s available.”
That pesky heart pounding only gets worse.
“You want us to play house,” Shinsou says, amused. Hopeful. Stupid.
“You’ll be on your own this time,” he says. “I’ll act as your handler, so you won’t be completely in the dark.”
Shinsou’s heart only drops a little. “Oh.”
“I expect this to take up to a year, but you’ll need to get close enough that he lets you in willingly. We’ll talk about this more at the agency tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
Maybe he does want to go home.
Aizawa pauses and exhales a deep breath. “Why do you seem unhappy about this? You’ve been bothering me about getting your own case since you graduated.”
“Yeah, because–. I’m fine. Thank you, Sensei.”
“Shinsou.”
Shinsou turns to him and frowns. “Is this a test?”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean is this another one of your teaching moments where I’m supposed to roll around for a good grade, try to make you happy, fail because I’m not as good as everyone else, feel like an idiot, and then suck it up because you’re always gonna know more than me no matter what I do?”
Aizawa makes a face at that. “I do know more than you. I’m your senior hero.”
“Yeah, but,–.”
“You think you’re not a qualified hero?”
“Do you?”
“Yes, actually,” he scowls. “I wouldn’t have asked you to team up with me if I didn’t think you could handle it.”
“Team up.”
“Yes, when I asked you to work with me, it wasn’t because I didn’t think you were capable on your own. It was because–. Do you want me to stop helping you?”
“No,” Shinsou almost shouts before flushing at himself and lowering his voice. “No. I just want to know if this is another test.”
“It’s your first undercover mission without me, and it’s a matter of international security. I’d hope you’d take it more seriously than rolling around for a grade to make me happy.”
That flush creeps up his neck so fast it almost chokes him.
He really is a fucking idiot.
And a child.
A big stupid purple baby asshole who’s going to get scolded for being a crybaby because he wants Aizawa to acknowledge him.
Christ.
But there is one part of it that still tugs at him in a bad way, even if the prospect should be exciting.
Because after all these years, he’s become comfortable with standing one foot behind Aizawa. It meant he always had his mentor’s back.
“Why does it have to be without you?”
“Because the villains we’re tracking are already familiar with my face.”
That logic unfortunately checks out. It’s still… he’s not sure. Something about this frustrates him.
“Is that why you’ve been teaching me all this stuff? To be a sub in when you can’t do it?”
Aizawa sighs, and Shinsou looks to see him pulling his hair back, something he only does when he’s ready to fight or when he’s stressed. He hopes it’s just the first.
“When I was nineteen, I went into a villain’s den on my own because I thought with my quirk I could handle it, and a member with a detection quirk I didn’t know was there felt me coming. They kept me for six days before someone who knew I was interested in that group found me,” he says before lifting his shirt and revealing a strange pattern of scars Shinsou didn’t know were there before. “I don’t think it’s unfair that I don’t want to have to pull you out of the same scenario. You’ll have to get over it.”
“Yeah,” he bristles and looks away before he thinks about it too much. “I know. You’re a great teacher. You keep your students alive. Everyone knows that.”
“Do you still see yourself as my student?”
Shinsou’s heart learns a new trick.
He turns to him and raises his eyebrows. “Don’t you?”
Aizawa doesn’t have to say no for Shinsou to realize he’s his own worst nightmare. “Do you think I asked you to work with me so I could continue to train you?”
“I don’t know.”
It’s Aizawa who looks away this time, moving to tuck his chin into a capture scarf that isn’t there. “You don’t call me Sensei anymore.”
“You told me not to.”
“I know.”
“You said it’s because you’re not my teacher anymore, but then you– oh.”
Oh.
Aizawa moves to stand to his feet, and he casually brushes himself off. Shinsou gawks up at him like an idiot.
“We’ll meet again at the agency in a few hours to discuss your target,” he says. “Unless you’d rather figure it all out on your own.”
“Very funny,” Shinsou grumbles as he stands up too, hoping Aizawa can’t clock the deer caught in headlights expression permanently branded on his face.
He doesn’t see him as–.
This whole time he–.
Shit.
It looks like the reason he won’t be able to sleep tonight is about to leave without him.
This might be the best news he’s gotten all night, even more so than the undercover work. He jogs after him, and Aizawa slows his pace just enough for Shinsou to catch up.
This time it doesn’t bother him.
“So am I supposed to seduce this Third Face or what?”
Aizawa actually looks like he might kill him.