NOTES:::

Set before the main part of the story, but after Chizue break's Shinso's nose & steals his heart. Answering the question of: How did Shinso get our favorite grumpy underground hero to teach him?

Relevant Relationship Tags:

Aizawa & Shinso

Eraserhead/Present Mic

Aizawa

I started noticing him several weeks back. He was just a lanky kid with purple hair who kept showing up at different parts of my patrol route. I never noticed him notice me though. He was just there. Looking at his phone in the corner booth of a cheap diner I was overlooking. Chatting with the bouncer of a seedy club that was known to produce more than its fair share of drunk and disorderly unauthorized quirk use. He never did anything stupid though. He never walked down the darkest alleys alone, always staying in a well lit areas. He never got in my way, or gave any real indication of anything suspicious. He just seemed like a kid who happened to walk around the same area as I did...except for the fact that I never saw him until a few weeks ago. And that I did some research on his school uniform and noticed his high school was nowhere near here. I could have looked past all that and kept on ignoring the kid; writing him off as one of the few fans I had as an underground hero who was just looking for a peek at me.

Except, yesterday I noticed him at the grocery store near my apartment. A place even further from his school than my patrol route. I was also out of costume. Off duty, in average civilian attire. He wasn't just following the hero Eraserhead. He was following me. He was far closer to my home than I was comfortable with. I watched him grab a few energy drinks from a display and walk to checkout. As far as I could see, he never even glanced at me in the pet supplies section. But I knew it wasn't a coincidence. This kid was tailing me.

So, the next day when I was walking home from UA, and noticed him kneeling down, playing with a stray cat in an alley just a few blocks from UA and in the direction of my apartment, I knew it was time. As I walked up behind him in the alleyway, he didn't even turn around to face me, even though I was intentionally making my footsteps heavy as an intimidation tactic. "Who are you and what do you hope to accomplish with this?"

He slowly stood and turned to face me, a nervous smile on his face as he rubbed the back of his neck with his left hand, "Well, I like cats, and I am not really allowed to have pets, so I try to play with strays whenever I can and-"

"Cut the shit, kid. You aren't fooling me. You think I haven't noticed you?"

He tilts his head to the side and smirks, and between that and the dark bags under his eyes, he reminded me a lot of myself in that moment, "Well, I was starting to wonder if I was just going to have to walk up and introduce myself. I get not bothering to be suspicious of a kid when you are on patrol, but when I upped my game and started following you as a civilian I thought you'd act the second you noticed me, but it's been like, six days." He laughs and I am temporarily stunned. Six days? I only noticed him yesterday, he was following my civilian identity for four days and I didn't notice? I'm getting sloppy. The fact that I hadn't responded must have given me away because his grin widened, "Wait, you didn't realize until more recently than that? Was it yesterday in the store? Cause I know you saw me then...but then again, I was also sure you saw me at the train station on Tuesday..." The kid trails off and I am losing patience rapidly.

"What do you hope to accomplish by stalking a pro hero? You could be arrested." I growled, and the kid's smile falters a bit, settling into an uneasy smile, but determination in his lilac eyes.

"My name is Shinso Hitoshi, and I want you to mentor me to become a hero." He never breaks eye contact. He is tall for his age, but skinny. He doesn't flinch at my closeness. I haven't given the kid- Shinso- any reason to be comfortable around me, yet he shows no fear.

Still, I quirk a brow incredulously, "You've got to be kidding me."

"My whole life, my dream has been to become a hero. To use my quirk to help people. But that entire time, people have told me that it will never happen. That I can't be a hero with my quirk. That I should be a villain. I was ready to listen. Ready to give up on my dream and settle for whatever a kid like me could manage, but I met someone who broke my nose and knocked some sense into me. She told me that the only thing keeping me from being a hero was myself. If I wanted something, I had to chase it with everything I had. So that is what I am doing. I know I can't do this alone. I need a mentor, and you have been my hero since you debuted when I was ten. You gave me hope for myself. Please."

I stare at him for a moment. His fists clenched and shaking at his sides. His breathe uneven. His voice breaking there at the end. Somewhere during that speech he switched from determination to desperation, and I wasn't sure what to think about that. I sigh, "You want to be a hero to impress some girl? No thanks. I'm out."

I start to turn away. A part of me hoped he would put up a fight and try to stop me, but I assumed he wouldn't. He said I was his hero. He put me up on some pedestal as proof that he could be a hero too. Most would be flattered, but not me. I worked hard to get to where I am, and I deal with enough half assed attempts at heroism at UA. I'm not about to waste my time on some kid who gives up after a discouraging word from his idol. I-

"Wait, Eraserhead, can I ask you a question?" The shaking of his voice is still there, but it's laced with that determination yet again, and it's enough to stop in my tracks and turn back to face him. His eyes are alight with fire as I meet them,

"Wha-" As soon as I speak, I feel a fog enter my mind. I am still looking through my eyes, but it's like I am looking through water, and as I try to move my arms, I realize I can't. I can't activate my quirk either, I'm just-

"Oh shit, I just did that." Shinso mutters, glancing at the ground before stepping closer to me. "No going back now, I guess." He sighs, meeting my eyes once again. "You can't move right now because I don't want you to. You can still hear me, and still think on your own because I allow it." He sighs, rubbing the back of his neck again, "My quirk is called Brainwashing. Anyone who answers my questions falls under my control." He sighs, "Yes, I know that I just used my quirk on a pro-hero and that is very illegal, but I didn't know what else to do. I worked so hard to find you. I couldn't just let you leave without hearing me out. I want to be a hero, but I know that I can't without help. I have always wanted to go to UA, but I also know that the entrance exam is fighting robots, and as you can see, that's not what I'm made for. My only hope is a recommendation, and I can't get that without training and connections..."

He pauses, just staring at me for a second before continuing with a stern look, "That's why I sought you out. I knew if anyone could understand what it's like to try to be a hero with a psychological quirk, it was you. So, please. Eraserhead... Aizawa Shota... Help me become a hero. If you can't mentor me, then at least tell me who I can try next."

Then, all at once, the fog clears, and I stumble on my feet as I regain control of my own body, staring down at the boy with the nervous expression on his face. "You know I am well within my rights to arrest you right now, right? Stalking. Unauthorized quirk use. Assault..."

"I know." He answers.

"But you did it anyway."

He shrugs, "I had to make you listen. I had to show you what I could do. I had to make you see me."

"Huh" It's somewhere between a scoff and a laugh, even I don't know which. "You said your name was Shinso and you want to go to UA's hero course, right?"

"Yes, sir." He answers, still nervous but I can see the flicker of hope in the kid's eyes.

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen. I'm in my first year of highscool."

"Hero prep?"

He scoffs, and then swallows hard as if he didn't mean to do so, "No. Public school."

"And what do your parents think of you stalking a pro hero so that you can beg them to train you?"

He gives a shrug and a mournful smile, "I've grown up in foster care. I have a villainous quirk. The system dropped me in a group home at fourteen and never looked back. They don't care what I do as long as I go to school, am back before curfew, and don't get arrested."

I clench my teeth, knowing exactly how kids with frightening quirks are treated once they are put in the system, and brainwashing was probably more feared than most. "I see." I start to walk out of the alley, "I usually pick up dinner on the way home. We-" I stop when I notice he isn't following me, "Are you coming?"

Shinso takes a quick inhale before sprinting to catch up with me and I stifle a laugh as he apologizes. "As I was saying...we can grab dinner and then go to the park near my apartment. I have no idea what I am working with here, so the sooner we get started the better." I look over at the purple haired teen walking beside me, "I assume you already know where I live, and what park I am talking about?"

He smirks, "Yeah. I sorta climbed the big tree next to the sidewalk to wait for you to walk by so I could get a feel for your schedule. You might want to reconsider being a creature of habit. Makes you predictable."

"How long were you stalking me?"

He hums a bit, "After about a week of internet stalking, I actually started following you as a hero about nine weeks ago. Figured out who you really were about two weeks ago, and since you hadn't confronted me, started following you personally about a week ago." He laughs a bit, "I...uh...also started following Present Mic three days ago, too. Hoping that would trigger you. But he noticed me on the first day, thinking I was a fan. He signed my music history notebook and I abandoned that course of action." He laughs.

I glare at him, "You started following Hizashi too? And he noticed you before I did?"

He nods, "Yeah, I thought it was hilarious too. It was like he had eyes hidden in his hair and realized I was looking at him. I think you are just so used to blending in that you don't even realize that people are looking at you, but he has some sort of uncanny fan radar."

"I trust that you have kept everything you have learned a secret?"

"Of course. I wanted you to mentor me. I wasn't going to go blabbing to the world about your name, or where you live, or your secret famous boyfriend."

In spite of myself, I chuckle, "Husband, actually...How did you know?"

"You live together." He states, and I start to open my mouth but he continues before I get the chance, "And I may have seen you kissing through a half opened window before promptly deciding never to climb that tree again." He turns to me with a smirk, "Blinds are your friends, Aizawa-sensei."

"I'll keep that in mind..."

"I'm also happy to tell you about all the resources I used and weaknesses I exploited so that you can fix them." He hums, "I am sure the press wouldn't bother going to the lengths that I went through, but a vindictive villain might." He shrugs, "Can't be too safe."

"Right..." I answer as we reach a cat cafe I am rather fond of. As we get seated and swarmed by cats, we give our orders to the waitress and I look at Shinso, finally coming to terms with the fact that I just took on a protege. This isn't just a student. He's more than that. I'll make sure he has what it takes to get into UA. I'll make sure he has what it takes to be a hero. "So...tell me about your quirk..."