"Midoriya," Aizawa said slowly as if the sound of his name alone took ten years off his life. "I'm going to need you to run that by me again."
Izuku glanced around at his classmates as he rubbed at the back of his neck with his free hand. Anywhere but at Todoroki. He needed to look anywhere but at Todoroki. Not that it would make his situation any better. They had all heard what he said the first time. He could tell by Todoroki's choked laugh, Iida-kun's sharp gasp, Uraraka's quiet, "Oh, shit." He had tuned out everyone else's response, only focusing on those closest to him, but they had to have heard.
And Aizawa was making him say it again. Izuku's face burned, but he forced himself to speak around the growing lump in his throat, lifting his chin to meet Aizawa's steady red gaze. If he was going to die he might as well go down with his dignity was intact as possible under the horrible, horrible circumstances he had found himself in.
"I said I need to punch Endeavor in the face."
Aizawa let out a pained sigh that said he regretted every decision that had led them to that moment. His tone said he didn't get paid enough for the trouble they put him through. "That's what I thought you said."
None of them would be dealing with their current problems if Nedzu hadn't decided that Yuuei needed a dose of good publicity. Multiple villain attacks on Yuuei students had been the school's integrity in question, and Nedzu had been adamant in them showing that they would not be intimidated by the very people they were training their students to one day fight. They needed to show the public that Yuuei was not bothered by the attacks, that classes and events were going to continue business as usual. That the threats they had been reading about were not as dark or as frightening as they had been led to believe.
Their teacher had thought the whole business was a ridiculous waste of time, but because 1-A had made such a showing at the Sports Festival and had been the epicenter of more than one of the attacks, Nedzu had chosen them to be the first years representation for his plan. Nothing Aizawa had said or done had managed to get them out of it, and so they had found themselves meeting outside a local elementary school one Monday morning instead of in their homeroom.
They would meet with a few classes, answer student questions, show off their quirks a little to wow the kids. It seemed pretty routine, if time consuming, and most of 1-A had been excited for the chance to break up the usual monotony of the school day. With a few notable exceptions, of course.
For once everything seemed to be going as planned. The classes had been excited to see them. The questions had been simple things like their favorite flavor of ice cream or their favorite pro hero. One shy student had even asked Izuku about his favorite book series which had caused a tangent Aoyama had been forced to draw him out of with a sharp elbow to his side. They made it all the way to their final pictures with the students for Nedzu to post on Yuuei's website before something went sideways in the worst possible way.
"Bunch up a little bit closer now," the teacher said, waving a hand at the edge of the group. "I need to get you all into the frame." A boy at the edge of the group had moved closer as the instructed, but his foot must have bumped into someone else's. He tripped, hard, slamming into the person closest to him.
Unfortunately, that person happened to be Bakugou. The first grader took one look at Bakugou's perpetually angry expression and promptly burst into teary wails, struggling to right himself as he cried.
"I didn't do anything!" Bakugou was quick to say, backing away from the kid, his eyes wide. "It's not my fu-"
"Bakugou-kun!" Iida interrupted.
"It's okay, Hajime-kun. He's not mad at you!" The teacher had tried to console him, but he hadn't seemed to be listening. The sound of his crying grew, tears leaving long streaks down his face. Izuku had barely managed to take a step forward, wondering if he could distract the student from his tears, when a blue light filled the room.
Hajime's crying teacher sat back. "Oh, no. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this. He's been so easy to startle though, lately. I am so, so sorry, but it seems we've all been affected by his quirk."
The first grader's quirk, as it so happened, worked a little like Aizawa's in that it nullified the target's quirk. Unlike Aizawa's quirk though, there was no vision limitation. No time limit. No. To get their quirks back the targets must meet a condition.
They had to do something they really wanted to do but would never admit to. Something silly or embarrassing, never harmful. Something they had spent a lot of time thinking about. The targets always somehow knew the condition they needed to fill.
"He's just come into his quirk," the teacher explained. "They think he'll be able to undo the effects one day, but right now… He has no control over it at all."
What started as a fun trip ended in a silent ride back to, each student thinking about the task they had to complete in order to get their quirk back. Izuku had spent the entire drive sitting next to Todoroki, wondering if there was a way he could get around having to admit that apparently he was going to have to punch the number two hero in the face in order to get access to One for All back.
There was no good way for that inevitable conversation to go.
When they finally reached campus again, they were ushered back to their homeroom, their normal classes for the rest of the day suspended as they tried to work out how to fix their quirks with the minimal amount of damage. For some of the students their condition had been easy enough to meet. A blushing Kaminari had asked Jirou to go out with him after school. Yaoyorozu gave Aizawa a very hesitant hug. Todoroki had ran a quick hand through Izuku's hair without looking at him. (Izuku had been kind enough not to say a word, his own face burning just as much as Todoroki's).
From there Aizawa had picked students at random, keeping a list of who's conditions still needed to be met. Bakugou had argued for a full fifteen minutes before Aizawa had threaten to sit him out of training if he couldn't use his quirk. He had glared at Aizawa for another minute before reaching over to place a gentle hand on Uraraka's head before bolting for the door. Satisfied that he had fulfilled his condition, Aizawa didn't stop him.
His attention had turned to Izuku instead.
"Do I want to know the reason you apparently want hit a pro hero," Aizawa asked.
Izuku fought to keep his eyes trained on Aizawa. "No."
Aizawa watched him for a moment longer before nodding. "I'm sure that can be arranged. Enji won't like it, but he'll like the negative publicity it will get him if he refuses even less. Congratulations, Midoriya. You're about to ruin Endeavor's day."
AN: This is going to be a three shot. Chapter two is already completed and will be posted next week.