Scenes off the Cutting Room Floor: Chapters 1-3

This one takes place when Aizawa is approaching Izuku and Bakugou at the end of the fight. It got cut when I decided to look at Bakugou's POV at the end of the fight. It ends at the start of an earlier version of Aizawa's talk with Midoriya and Bakugou.

"Sorry, Aizawa Sensei." Izuku said, as he stood up and brushed his pants off.

He should be scared; their teacher had caught them fighting. They'd even ignored his orders to stop once he'd used his Quirk on them.

But, really, he felt absolutely calm.

Izuku glanced back down at Kacchan. He'd just pulled his knees up and was resting his forehead against them. He heard a small sniffle and realized that the boy had finally reached the stage of having a regular breakdown.

After having to go beyond the 'anger' stage for the first time in who knew how many years.

Izuku walked up to Aizawa, who had his arms crossed as he quietly stared them down. "I'm sorry, but not for breaking curfew or this fight with Kacchan. He needed to talk to someone since Kamino Ward and no one else could…" He trailed off, worried about how any ending would sound; No one else could understand…? Could take his punches? Neither sounded like good things to say. So instead, he continued by stating, "We both knew what we were doing and that we would get in trouble for it, but we needed to do this. What I am sorry about, is that that it meant we had to interrupt your evening."

Shota sighed, as he tried to figure out where to start. A breakdown, the exposure of a toxic relationship, and the comments about Midoriya's 'new power.' He studied the two figures before him.

Midoriya had positioned himself protectively in front of Bakugou to play distraction. For someone who cried so much, Bakugou was right about how hard the other teen could be to read. Shota doubted that all was well with the kid. He wanted to talk to Midoriya and he would. But looking between the two boys, it was clear that he could wait for a few more minutes.

Bakugou, on the other hand, was a crying wreck. Making up for Midoriya's own dry eyes, doing a poor job at hiding it, as he tucked his face from view where he was on the ground. That role reversal spoke of how serious the situation was like nothing else. The blonde boy was breaking down from not just recent events, but years of bottled up emotion. Depending on how this issue was addressed, the next few minutes could make or break him.

Shota looked back at Midoriya and said, "I'll talk to you in a moment."

He made to step around the boy.

"Aizawa Sensei," the kid said as he sidestepped to block his path again, trembling as he stood there.

Shota looked at him, Quirk active.

Midoriya flinched but stood his ground, "I know a lot of what you heard, but he's gotten better and he can't handle any more right now."

And at that moment, Shota wondered just how he could've mistaken this for a rivalry, rather than an abuser and his victim. And said victim was still willing to go to the lion's den to rescue the boy behind him. Had done so. If he'd known, he would never had given the two an assignment together; certainly not an exam. He was lucky that forcing them to work together had ended with them working together, because it would've been just as likely to increase the animosity between them and made the mess between them much worse.

I had multiple ideas in mind for how I wanted the confrontation with All Might to go down. Originally, I hadn't even thought about Aizawa talking to Midoriya alone first. In this version, he doesn't press on when Midoriya said he couldn't talk about his quirk because it wasn't just his secret, except to find out that All Might was the other person he was keeping it for. He sent Midoriya back to his room, just like he had Bakugou. All Might would've arrived shortly after the talk between Aizawa, Midoriya and Bakugou. No message was sent to All Might, so he had no idea what was coming.

"Sorry, I must have dozed off."

"That's fine." Tsukauchi I would've let you sleep longer, but we're here."

Toshinori looked out the window to see they had parked in front of 1-A's Dorm. "Oh."

Then he saw the doors swing open and out stepped Aizawa, in casual clothes, hair in a bun from which a few strands hung loose his arms crossed, and a scowl on his face.

He immediately started down the walkway toward the vehicle.

"That looks problematic," Tsukauchi stated, "you want me to come with you?"

Toshinori shook his head. "No, I've got this. It's probably just a school matter anyway."

"Take care."

"Thanks. Goodnight." He took a deep breath, before opening the car door and stepping out to face the younger hero.

As he walked up the path, the car left.

"Good evening Aizawa. What brings you out here?"

"I had to break up a fight between Midoriya and Bakugou, tonight."

Toshinori had a bad feeling. "Oh, nothing too serious, I hope."

"They'll be under house arrest for a few days, but that's not why I've been waiting for you. They brought up Midoriya's Quirk." Aizawa's back was ramrod straight as he glared at Toshinori.

Toshinori had to bite back a curse.

"After Midoriya admitted that it started immediately before the entrance exam, it brought up some questions. Especially, considering that, without ever using it, he knew how to apply it in order to take down the Zero Pointer. I cut him off before he could come up with some half-baked lie, to cover how he'd known it would work. Instead, he told me it wasn't just his secret but yours, too."

Toshinori felt his shoulders slump. He looked at Aizawa and thought about everything he'd been through defending Class 1-A and decided that, if there was anyone he could trust with the secret of One for All, it was probably him.

He took a deep breath, "This might take a little while."

"Is it something we should talk about here, or do we need the soundproofing of the Teacher's Lounge?"

With the question, Toshinori was suddenly hyperaware of the fact that there was a mole somewhere on campus.

"The Lounge."

Aizawa nodded and pulled out a set of keys from his pocket. The two men spent ten minutes walking to their destination in silence.

As they entered, Aizawa laid himself out on the couch as All Might sat in the comforter closest to his feet.

"So, what's this big secret that has Midoriya so scared to talk about?"

Toshinori took a deep breath, and began.

He told Aizawa about One for All; how it had allowed him to become the Number One Hero and the Symbol of Peace. How the power was passed from one generation to the next to fight against the greatest evil. About the injuries he sustained, and the resulting limitations on that power. And, finally, how he chose his successor.

The whole time, Aizawa was silent, the only sign of his thoughts in the tightening of his jaw.

It was only, when he finished that the man looked him in the eye.

And he saw burning anger.

All Might felt a twinge of fear run up his spine as Aizawa's eyes turned red and his hair, the strands that weren't wrapped up stood on end. He might not have a Quirk to deactivate anymore, but it was still terrifying.

"So, let me get this right: You gave Midoriya, a heroically driven Quirkless boy, a debilitatingly powerful Quirk that you knew was only going to get worse and, as an added bonus, made the kid a target for the two centuries old monster that wrecked Kamino Ward. Then, you set him loose in the exam, knowing he'd shatter himself the first time he used it and then, just let him continue stumbling along, breaking his bones left and right in his attempts to live up to your expectations."

Toshinori looked down at his hands, rather than look Aizawa in the eye.

"It does sound pretty terrible when you say it that way," he admitted, "I really did mess this up, pretty badly."

Aizawa rubbed his eyes. "I'd say that's putting it mildly."

This gets into an earlier rendition of the conversation Aizawa and All Might have Chapters 8-10.

When I first decided to write Izuku and Aizawa having a conversation, I was playing around with the transition from the Training Ground to the Teachers' Lounge and one version involved a walk up to the teachers' lounge. I couldn't get the scene to sync with the others in a way that would flow right, so I cut it.

Izuku watched as Kacchan disappeared around the corner. He looked up at Aizawa Sensei who had his phone out. Probably sending a message to All Might, to tell him what happened or have another teacher to watch the Dorm, while they were away.

"Come on, we might as well go on up."

They walked out of Testing Ground Beta, and across the school courtyard in silence, before Izuku asked, "Were you actually asleep?"

He knew actual sleep was hard for his teacher to come by. If he'd interrupted it, he'd feel terrible.

"No, I'm still not used to sleeping at night. At this hour, I'm usually out patrolling."

Izuku was suddenly hit by the realization that the Dorm system didn't just uproot the students, but the staff as well. When before, their days would end with their teaching responsibilities, has now extended to all hours of the day.

They were required to stay on campus to keep an eye on their students. Not going home or doing their normal hero duties when the day ended, but instead, sticking around to guarantee their safety. How many people could they have saved, if they didn't have to spend the time watching them?

And here Kacchan and he were, getting into a fight and causing issues for his sensei.

And now, he'd dragged both Kacchan and Aizawa into his problems.

"You really need to do something about your mumbling habit, Midoriya. It's not going to do you any favors. It gives away your location and exposes your thoughts at the same time." The sound of Aizawa's voice caused Izuku to jump. He hadn't realized how quiet his teacher had been until he spoke.

Izuku felt his cheeks burn, embarrassed both that he had been thinking aloud and his reaction when Aizawa spoke.

He focused on his feet as they continued onward.

"I'm sorry…" Izuku said. Sorry for disturbing his evening. For being part of the reason he was stuck here. For dragging him into this mess.

"Of all the people who should be apologizing for tonight, you're one of the last. You did what you had to in order to deescalate the situation. The only real mistake you made was whenever you slipped up with keeping your secret from Bakugou."

"...Then why…?"

"Because breaking the rules has consequences, no matter how 'right' it is. You of all people need to know that. Here, I can be lenient based on how good the reason behind your actions were. Out there, you won't get that luxury. And as a government employee, your drive to do what you think is right over what the rules dictate is going to be one of the biggest threats to your hero career. Especially before you establish yourself in the hero community. I saw you in the removed footage of Stain's capture. It was me that you left Kota with and gave information about targeted students after your fight with Muscular. The information that led me to grant permission for the first years to engage the Villains. I've already made it clear that I know that you were part of the group that rescued Bakugou. It's only been half a year, Midoriya, and you've already broken the law at least three times to save others. With that drive, you have the potential to be a great hero. I don't want to find you stripped of your license, because it'll mean you're resorting to Vigilantism, seeing as we both know that you won't stop trying to save people. And I sure don't want to have to chase you down and subdue you."

Izuku bit back the defense. He hadn't actually broken the law when rescuing Bakugou, but even that was by the thinnest of margins. It was only through technicalities, and loop holes.

"Still, that's not my biggest concern for tonight. We should have another two and a half years to work with you on that issue."

Izuku looked up to find that they had reached the Teacher's Lounge.

Aizawa pulled out a key and unlocked the door, letting Izuku in before he followed.