AN: There has been a problem lately with fanfic cutting out my line breaks no matter how I try to add them. If this makes it difficult for you to read, I also post updates on AO3 at the same time. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but there is nothing that I can do about it at this time. Thanks!
"I need you to not freak out."
"I promise you I will not freak out."
"You say that now, but I need you to really mean it. Okay? No yelling, no accidently using your quirk. Nothing. Calm and rational. For at least as long as it takes you to get over the shock."
"Was that supposed to be a pun?"
"Kaminari Denki, I'm serious."
Laughing, Kaminari shook his head. "Full naming me? You must be. But I really do promise, Izuku. I won't freak out. You would tell Mei, and I know Mei would never let me live it down. She does know who your sponsor is, right?"
"See? If Mei can handle it, I can handle it."
Izuku tried not to grin, turning his back to Kaminari to hide his expression. Whatever his new friend said, his reaction to seeing Aizawa calmly sitting at Izuku's kitchen table drinking tea was sure to be priceless. He was also right though, that Mei would never let him live it down. Izuku almost wished he had put a camera in the kitchen to capture the moment forever.
"Well, then. Right this way," Izuku said, gesturing for Kaminari to follow him into the kitchen. As soon as he passed the threshold, he stepped aside giving his friend a clear view and allowing him to catch the moment of understanding dawn on Kaminari's face. It took a moment after Kaminari rounded the corner for the truth of the situation to sink in.
Gaping, Kaminari looked back and forth between Aizawa and Izuku, his eyes going wider with every turn of his head. Izuku gave up trying to fight his smile, smirking at his friend's reaction as Aizawa lifted his mug of tea in Kaminari's direction. Inko giggled again, and Aizawa hid his smile behind his mug as he took another sip of his tea.
Kaminari squeaked as Izuku leaned into his space. Shaking his head, Kaminari took a deep breath.
"Don't freak out!"
Kaminari's mouth snapped shut again as his eyes closed, exhaling long and slow. "I'm not freaking out," he said through gritted teeth. "You're freaking out. No freaking out taking place with me at the moment. Noooo. Just a confirmation though? You're mentor? Is Aizawa-sensei?" He looked at Aizawa as he spoke, as if thinking that someone would jump out and yell "Gotcha!" Aizawa did nothing of the sort. He simply sat at the table, drinking his tea and smirking, his wide grin showing just a hint of teeth. Almost like…
Oh.
Wow.
Well, that expression just got even more intimidating.
"So, Aizawa-sensei is your mentor!" Kaminari said again, blustering through his nerves. "That's so great! I totally see it now!"
Izuku was still grinning from Kaminari's expression, but his comment gave him pause. "You do?"
"Sure!" Kaminari waved his hand between them. "I mean, I wouldn't have guessed it before you told me, but it makes total sense. You guess both have this atmosphere around you? It's a little intense, but not in a bad way! How did you two even meet?"
It was clear that Kaminari was still thrown by the situation, his voice shaking enough to be noticeable to everyone in the room, but no one commented on it. Instead Inko stood up to drag him to the table where she had been sitting across from Aizawa.
"Sit, sit," she said, bustling past him to the kitchen counter once he had taken her seat. "I made these this morning. This will probably be a long conversation, so feel free to eat as many as you want!" A plate of various cookies was placed in the center of the table. "Shouta, dear, would you like a refill on that tea? Kaminari-kun, do you like tea?"
"I love tea!"
"Thank you, Inko."
Kaminari was not subtle in his attempt to block his mouth as he turned to Izuku and mouthed "Shouta, dear?"
"My mother and Aizawa-sensei are not dating," Izuku said firmly. Aizawa snorted.
Kaminari's face flushed bright red as he stammered, "That's not what I meant!"
"Aizawa-sensei and Yamada-sensei on the other hand…"
"What?!" Kaminari felt like he couldn't breathe. He frowned as Izuku started laughing at his expression again. "I'm never going to believe anything you say, Midoriya Izuku, if you keep lying to me like that."
"Izuku," Aizawa said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Right, right! You asked how we met right?"
Kaminari took a cookie from the plate as he nodded. Inko placed three steaming mugs on the table before dropping a kiss to Izuku's forehead and placing a gentle hand to Aizawa's shoulder. She winked at Kaminari quickly, and excused herself from the room.
"So, it all started because my jerk middle school teacher said you couldn't be a hero if you didn't have a good quirk. I wanted to prove him wrong. Obviously, the best way to do that was to track down an underground pro hero to their very secret, very private apartment. In hindsight, there was probably a better way to do that, but it least it had the desired effect."
For some reason, Izuku had expected things to change once Kaminari knew about his relationship with Aizawa, but it didn't. The only thing that really changed was that he now knew exactly when he and his mentor mirrored each other because Kaminari would shoot him a look from across the room. As far as they could tell though, no one else had noticed anything. Kaminari paid attention to the rumors that weren't whispered in front of Izuku about his sponsor, and Aizawa's name never came up once. For the moment, they were still in the clear regarding that secret at the very least.
Hizashi took to having Kaminari in the know extremely well too. Izuku had a feeling that Hizashi had always been a tiny bit jealous of the relationship that Aizawa had formed with Izuku. He would never admit it, of course, but Izuku couldn't help but wonder if he would be taking Kaminari under his wing now that it was safe to do so. Izuku cared about Hizashi a lot. Even though he spent most of his time training with Aizawa, he and Hizashi had gotten close over the years as well, but it wasn't the same kind of mentorship. Aizawa took the lead on all his training, and Hizashi had always been okay with that. Izuku had been Aizawa's first, and he seemed happy to fall into the doting uncle role where Izuku was concerned.
Izuku would have to monitor the situation, and if Hizashi didn't do anything about it soon, he would have to do something about it himself. Bright and happy Hizashi would be the perfect person to help Kaminari. He had been forced to address harmful effects from his quirk himself, and their personalities would mesh so well. Izuku felt sure this would fall under the category of Aizawa approved meddling. He just needed to wait until the right moment.
Aside from his quiet planning though, nothing had really changed. Izuku felt glad for it. There had been so much change happening, so many things going on once, it was nice to have one thing that he felt confident in. He had his friends and his family, and they weren't going to be going anywhere. His class may know that he got in on recommendations, but Kaminari had shut their harassing questions down before they had even gotten started. Mei was working on new gear for him. He had proven again that he deserved to be at Yuuei. Almost everything was working out.
The only real situation that still needed handling was All Might.
To be fair, it wasn't even a situation. Izuku had been through enough awkwardness in his life to know how to handle uncomfortable situations, but there were some things that couldn't be laughed away with a joke or avoided with sarcasm. All Might was one of them.
They hadn't had another practical since the first, all the focus seeming to be placed on the field trip exercise coming up at the end of the week, but that didn't mean that Izuku didn't see All Might. Toshinori still dropped in occasionally by the apartment to discuss the Nedzu problem with Aizawa and Hizashi, and Izuku still frequently passed the number one teacher in the hallway despite the fact that he hadn't worked directly with their class again.
Izuku wouldn't be where he was, if he wasn't intuitive. It was obvious to him that Toshinori wanted to talk to him, but wasn't sure how to go about it. Just like with his classmates, Izuku was content to let the situation stay as it was until All Might could work himself up to the conversation on his own.
It didn't take long for that to happen though. Toshinori may struggle with how to communicate, but it wasn't for a lack of courage. Not for the first time, Izuku wondered what had happened to shape him into the person he was. How long had Toshinori been on his own? While Izuku would never regret choosing Aizawa over Toshinori, it made him sad that the older man didn't seem to have anyone close to him.
When Toshinori eventually caught Izuku at lunch, he thought he knew what the conversation would be about. Even though they had already discussed it, the hero wore his regret for his role in revealing Izuku's recommendation to the class on his face every time he looked at him. And he was partially right. The first thing that Toshinori did once they were in the teacher's lounge after making sure that it was clear was apologize again. Izuku tried to convince him it wasn't necessary. Toshinori hadn't done it on purpose after all, but his words did nothing to dissuade him.
"Whether it was intentional or not, Midoriya my boy, I was still the one who revealed that information. As someone with secrets of my own, I know the importance of them. My lack of knowledge does not negate the harm that was done to you, and for that I am truly sorry."
It was moments like these that Izuku remembered why All Might had been his favorite hero. He ducked his head to hide the expression on his face. "Thank you."
"No thanks are necessary, Midoriya. Now please, come sit." Toshinori sat at one end of the sofa pressed up against the far wall of the teacher's lounge, his hero form leaving just enough room for Izuku to sit comfortably. "Before we start, I want you to know that I did speak to Aizawa-sensei and your mother to let them know that I would be talking to you. In hindsight, I do see how my approach back then was…lacking, for a better word."
"All Might-"
Toshinori placed a careful hand on Izuku's head, hesitating as though he wasn't quite sure whether he was allowed the comforting action himself. "I am not offering you One for All again. Do not worry. In my haste to find a successor, I put my needs above yours. It is a lapse that I cannot excuse. While I still truly believe that you would do great things with this quirk, I should not have discounted the great things that you have already done. I told you soon after we first met that I was quirkless before One for All, yes?"
Izuku nodded. He still remembered how surreal that conversation had felt with All Might, the number one hero, sitting at his kitchen table as Izuku made him a cup of tea. It had felt like a dream and a nightmare all at once. All Might telling him about being quirkless, about being bullied.
"They say that as you get older you forget what it's like to be a child. That is clearly true with me. Midoriya, when I was your age I wish there had been a hero like you. A hero like the child I was before my fears got the better of me. How different the world might have become." Toshinori looked away, rubbing at his eyes, clearing his throat. "It might not mean much coming from me now, but I still wanted you to know how proud I am of you. Of the hero that you are going to be. Quirkless and strong. Stubborn and bright. I need to begin my search for my successor in earnest now, but wanted you to know this first. You will always have my support."
All of the staff, not just Aizawa, were extremely tight lipped about the nature and location of their next practical. No matter how many students asked or how often they asked, no one would give any other details about it. The only thing the class had been told was that while it was on Yuuei's campus, they would need to take a bus to the facility, and that it was not a building any of them had been given access to before. That last detail had been directed at Izuku, although the class didn't know it. That eliminated the fields that he had used during Nedzu's test.
Whatever the practical was though, it must be more serious than their previous one. The teachers seemed too excited for it to be anything simple. Izuku had thought that he might be able to get a little more information out of his mentor during one of their after school training sessions, but Aizawa held firm.
Dodging out of the way of the scarf as Aizawa looked down from above, Izuku thought through his next move. Their training hadn't relaxed now that Izuku was officially in Yuuei. If anything it had gotten more intense now that Izuku was allowed the use of new gear he needed to quickly become acclimated to. The scarf pooled onto the floor where Izuku had been standing, and before Aizawa could retract it he lobbed a small blue ball at the fabric. It exploded on contact, a sticky slime spreading out in a wide fan across the cement. Aizawa pulled, but the scarf wouldn't come loose.
"I thought we agreed to disclose all new gear, Izuku," Aizawa said, jumping down from his perch in the equipment.
"We did," Izuku agreed, "but I can only get one over on you so often. I have to take what chances I can get."
Aizawa crouched in front of the puddle, poking a finger carefully into the substance. It clung to his hand as he tried to remove it, leaving a trace of the residue on his fingers. "I take it this is Hatsume's work?"
"Her mom helped out this time. Mei had a little trouble getting the consistency right, but it should all come off your scarf after a couple of hours and some water. I got the idea after the practical with Iida. His quirk makes him fast, but dropping one of these in his path at the right moment would cancel that out pretty well."
Aizawa tilted his head, watching Izuku carefully. "I'm assuming I don't have to have a talk with you about using your gear outside of class?"
Izuku rolled his eyes. "Give me a little credit, Aizawa-sensei. As funny as it would be, I wouldn't do that to you." Izuku sat down on the floor, crossing his legs in front of him. Aizawa could have asked him to continue the exercise, and he would have, but his mentor knew him well enough to know what was on his mind. Abandoning the scarf and the practice, Aizawa took a seat beside him.
The moment Aizawa sat down beside him, Izuku wasted no time in leaning over and resting his head against Aizawa's shoulder. It had taken some time for them to get to that level of comfort. Aizawa may have been used to Hizashi always being in his space, but he wasn't naturally the kind of person to seek that type of reassurance out himself. He and Izuku were more similar that he would have thought that day the kid had shown up at his apartment, but that wasn't one of them. Izuku needed comfort in that solid, physical way, and Aizawa had adjusted accordingly.
They sat like that in silence for a long moment, Aizawa's arm going around Izuku's shoulder as the boy breathed in slowly. If Izuku wanted to share what was on his mind, he would. If not, Aizawa wasn't going to push him. He trusted Izuku to speak up if he needed to. After another minute, Izuku pulled away.
"Thanks," Izuku said finally, voice quiet.
Aizawa could only guess at what had prompted this moment, but Izuku had so much going on in his life that it was no surprise that it might become overwhelming. That was one way they were alike, a similarity to go with the difference. Sometimes words were both too much, and not enough.
"Any time, Izuku."
"Aizawa-sensei?"
"Yes, Izuku?"
"Can we go see your cats?"
"I'm sure Marlo would appreciate that."
Kurogiri wanted his bar back.
He wanted Shigaraki with his creepy hands and his band of low class villain wannabes out of his life. He wanted his space, and his freedom, but most importantly, he wanted the information that Shigaraki had promised him.
As of the moment, Kurogiri had none of those things, and his patience was being tested to the very limits. More than once he had considered giving the whole thing up, but every time he reminded himself that it would be worth it in the end. Shigaraki was a means to an end. Nothing more, nothing less. This latest bout of idiocy might end Kurogiri's pain on its own. Whether that was because Shigaraki got caught or Kurogiri himself got arrested was yet to be seen, but either way he didn't have a lot of faith in the plan.
Bloodshed and violence, that was all this sorely thought out attempt on All Might would end in. Shigaraki didn't care that it would be children suffering in order to make his play. In fact, he seemed to relish in the fact, knowing that All Might would see his students helpless and hurting and be unable to do anything to stop it.
As much as Kurogiri personally found the prospect distasteful, he had a part to play in the attack, and he would follow through with it. A little more blood on his hands, a little more red in his ledger. It made no difference in the end.
Yuuei would burn, and Kurogiri would be one step closer to bringing Yamamoto Kaito down.