Aizawa trudged into the classroom, glanced up to see every single one of his students with a black muzzle covering the lower half of their faces, and let out a long sigh, dragging a hand down his face.
"I appreciate what you're trying to do, but this isn't productive to learning," he attempted, putting his bag down and taking his place at the front of the room.
Aizawa's dark, steely gaze wandered over his class; no one made a move to remove the muzzles.
"If you don't remove the muzzles in the next five seconds, you're suspended," Aizawa threatened, narrowing his gaze and waiting for the compliance from his students, any student at all to start the domino effect of compliance.
Kaminari had shifted backwards in his seat, getting more comfortable, and meeting Aizawa's gaze with a hardened and determined one of his own.
"I get it," Aizawa leered at the class. "You have something to prove. But how are you going to amount to anything if you can't listen when I tell you to do something? Every student who doesn't remove their masks in the next thirty seconds is expelled and will not be allowed to attend UA again."
At that, some students shifted uneasily in their seats, eyes darting around at each other to determine if they were going to stick together on this or if it was every student on their own at that point.
Yaoyorozu was 100% in from the second she agreed to make a ridiculous number of muzzles. If she couldn't commit to what she believed in, what good was she as a hero?
Uraraka was wondering if she'd ever get another opportunity like UA. Would another high school accept her after she was expelled from UA? Would her scholarship transfer or be rescinded with an expulsion on her record? Then she thought of Bakugou and how hard he had worked and what a great show they had all put on for the potential sponsors for UA, only to be repaid by being strapped, restrained, and muzzled.
Midoriya was thinking about how it was so important to go to UA because that is where All Might was teaching, and how would he ever get a handle on his quirk without All Might's guidance? Then he thought of Kacchan, and how terrified he had looked as he ran toward him to try to get him away from the sludge villain. He thought about how he was put into the same situation again by heroes, or at least staff hired directly by heroes, and how Kacchan had suffered enough without another incident coming from the heroes as well as the villains.
Iida squirmed in his seat, struggling against different values that were at war at that very moment. Did he follow commands and show that he would be a good hero who could easily respond to the Commission's demands, even when not completely ethical, or did he stick to his values? He thought about what his older brother, Ingenium, would have done in his place, and that solidified his answer for him. He forced himself to relax back into his seat and focused on his breathing, deciding that he wasn't going to remove that mask for anything.
Bakugou was just pissed. He wanted to see Aizawa try to expel not only the number one winner of the sports festival, but also second and third place, and somehow try to justify that.
Kirishima thought it was super unmanly of his teacher to be taking that stance. Kirishima would proudly stand in defiance to be on the right side of history on this issue.
Bakugou's other close friends, Ashido, Sero, and Jirou, had wanted to remove their muzzles so badly, but only to yell and scream about how the whole thing was messed up. They all steamed in their seats, knowing that their silent refusal spoke volumes for them, even though it wasn't quite as satisfying as they wish it was.
Mineta thought that his brave act of defiance might help him win over the favor of the ladies of the class.
Hagakure, Sato, Ojirou, Tokoyami, Koda, Asui, Shogi, and Aoyama all figured that there was strength in numbers, and if everyone decided the same thing, they were safer from consequences. When no one made a move to comply with Aizawa's demands, they felt more cemented in their decision with every second that passed. Everyone was strong enough to withstand the pressure, so they would all make it out on top, together.
Todoroki just daydreamed about the look on his father's face when he broke the news that not only had he failed to win the sports festival, but he also got expelled from UA.
Kaminari's glare didn't stray from Aizawa's face, and his hands didn't move from where they relaxed on top of his desk. His notebook and pens were out, ready to learn, but he was not going to budge on the protest that he had organized. Not after he had worn Yaoyorozu and Neito down by asking the almost impossible from them, yet they completed their task with tired smiles on their faces. Yaoyorozu was nodding off in her seat, trying hard to stay awake and focused. Kaminari assumed that Neito was probably just as exhausted. He wasn't going to give in after Bakugou was treated like that in front of the live audience and on national television by organizers and staff who should have known better. He wasn't going to let this slide, even if that meant that he would be expelled and banned from UA, because that wasn't right, and sometimes someone has to make corrections, and sometimes that someone is going to have to be Kaminari and anyone else he can get to stand with him.
Kaminari felt eyes on him, and he knew that others were going to follow his lead because he was doing the right thing. These were hero course students, and they should want to do the right thing, too. To remind everyone what they were fighting for, Kaminari turned his head to look directly at Bakugou, who had been silently staring at his desk and breathing evenly, not making a move to remove his muzzle, but Kaminari could imagine his grimace under the mask at the threats coming from their teacher.
"Bakugou," Aizawa started, making the explosive blonde look up at him. "Aren't you feeling a little claustrophobic? Go ahead and take that off. Be a leader and show everyone that it's okay to look out for yourself."
Bakugou sat up straighter in his chair. Everyone in the room held their breaths as Bakugou had reached up to the muzzle over his face. Even through the muzzles, a relieved sigh could be heard from all of his classmates when he just adjusted it against his face before placing his hands firmly back down onto his desk, meeting Aizawa's steely gaze in challenge.
"Fine. Have it your way," Aizawa deadpanned before reaching down into his bag and pulling out a muzzle of his own, to everyone's surprise.
"Sometimes, when you're a hero, you have to make choices that go against the norm in order to make positive changes. Sometimes, when you're a hero, you have to go against the status quo to make a positive impact where it matters. I'm proud of all of you for standing up against authority when you know that authority has overstepped. You're all going to be great heroes, and now I'm going to join the movement if that's okay with you," Aizawa indicated, looking directly at Bakugou, then Kaminari, for confirmation.
After a nod from Bakugou and Kaminari, welcoming their teacher to the ranks, Aizawa strapped his own muzzle to his face. Aizawa then turned to the chalk board and wrote, 'Today's Lesson in Stealth: The Basics of Sign Language."
Between passing notes and learning what little sign language they had picked up in the first few days of the demonstration, Denki found out that all of the classes were participating.
All of them. At every level. And every student, too.
Not only just the hero courses and hero support courses, but also general studies and the business courses as well.
Of course, only the hero courses got the terrifying lesson of how to laugh in the face of authority and keep defying when faced with major threats of consequences of doing the right thing. And still, not a single student had removed their muzzle.
Denki made a mental note to find a way to thank Neito and Yaoyorozu for making a muzzle for literally every student.
After the weekend, with the hero course students going above and beyond what homework was given, conversations could generally be had without resorting to note writing at all. If there was any confusion over a certain sign that one student had learned on their own that the other hadn't gotten to yet, a simple fingerspelling of the term would pass the knowledge along and get everyone back on the same page so that the conversation could continue.
They had started a revolution and had greatly benefited from it. Being able to communicate silently in the field could come to be a huge advantage. Step aside, current heroes! The next generation is here to take over!
'Are you doing okay with the muzzle?' Denki had signed to Bakugou.
'It's a secret, but you already know, don't you? It's your boyfriend's, so I'm fine,' Bakugou signed back, his slender fingers expertly moving from word to word, not fumbling even with the speed that he had naturally picked up after being good at literally everything.
'Neito isn't my boyfriend,' Denki signed back with an eyeroll.
'No. Not that boyfriend. Purple hair,' Bakugou signed.
'Shinsou? He gave you his muzzle?' Denki asked, already knowing the answer, and falling even more for Shinsou and his kind heart.
'You don't deny he's your boyfriend,' Bakugou signed, and Denki knew that he was smirking under that faux muzzle and not even feeling the sharp edges to warn him to not speak at the movement of his face.
'Only in my dreams,' Denki signed, smiling, even against the edges of his own, very real muzzle.
The demonstration last two weeks before the public apology and decree to never use restraints and muzzles on their students who weren't harming anyone ever again.
In all honesty, the administrators of UA were already planning to publicly apologize, even as Bakugou was chained to the podium, rushing from the highest balcony to get them out of the public eye as quickly as possible.
Extending it out for two weeks was just for the benefit of the students. They felt like they had fought hard and were unwavering in their sense of justice for their fellow classmate. Plus, they had really gotten the hang of sign language with that being the only form of communication.
They had thought about letting it go for another week, just to cement everything in, but Lunch Rush was becoming agitated when the students were forgoing lunch, refusing to remove the muzzles even to eat, signing to the frustrated hero that they weren't going to give in that easily, but nice try.
Neito also got cut some slack by his classmates, who had been awfully short with him since the showdown with Denki. It didn't help that Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki had been passing by on their way to class when Denki had come flying out one of the training gyms like a bat out of hell. When the pair peeked into the gym, only to see Neito surrounded by shattered glass from the lights, they had assumed the worst. And while only the facts were passed on, rumors and assumptions started to grow on their own until the general consensus was that Neito had tore into Denki once again, stealing his quirk and shattering the lights to prove that he was, in fact, better than Denki and the day before was just a fluke.
After Vlad King had threatened to expel anyone who refused to remove their muzzles, Neito had stood up, and walked straight out of the room. Others quickly followed suit, deciding to save Vlad King the trouble of kicking them all out and leaving of their own accord. Vlad King did not have the shining moment that Aizawa had, having to chase his angry class down the hall and only getting them to turn around when he reassured them that no one was being expelled and to just go back to the classroom so that he could explain.
Of course, some classmates thought that Neito had only done that for the brownie points, and that he must have known that it was a test, but others, the ones who noticed his stricken face during the announcement of the winners at the sports festival, knew that he was completely genuine.
So, finally, when he tried to start a conversation about Denki with Kendou, she listened instead of yelling that she didn't want to hear his fruitless complaints and storming away in a huff.
"Kaminari? Again?" Kendou asked, exasperated.
"Yeah, but—" Neito had started, only to be cut off.
"Why are you so obsessed with him?" Kendou asked, trying to get Neito off of the subject of tearing down another Class 1-A student when she just didn't have the energy to humor him.
"Because I'm in love with him," Neito had grit out through his teeth, needing Kendou to just listen.
"That's no reason—Wait. What?" Kendou had blanked, recalling the last thing that Neito had said because it did not match up with any of the options she was expecting to come from his mouth.
"I love him," Neito repeated with purpose, not allowing himself to shy away from the fact when there was nothing there for him to be ashamed about.
"But—Oh my god. Oh my god! Neito! You have Shinsou! You have a soulmate," Kendou stressed, ducking her head closer to Neito to reduce the chances of them being overheard.
"Oh, Hitoshi is in love with Denki, too," Neito explained easily with a laidback shrug.
"Back up!" Kendou demanded. "Details, now!"
"I've been trying to tell you!" Neito sneered, but immediately recentered himself, ready to get into the whole big drama and exactly what had happened between himself and Denki.
Kendou, like everyone else, had assumed that Denki was hurt by Neito's hurtful ramblings, but they didn't know Denki like Neito did, and thought that Neito was just trying to downplay the damage he had caused to a Class 1-A student. She, and everyone else, didn't realize that Denki is a strong character who would never be deterred by words from a friend in training, but no one else knew that they were friends to begin with either, thanks to Neito and Hitoshi avoiding Denki at all costs to try to dampen their feelings towards him.
Kendou, like everyone else, had assumed that Denki storming out of the gym was due to Neito digging in the knife a little deeper and really tearing him down. The last thing anyone expected was that they had almost kissed and Denki was upset because he was afraid of getting in the way of the soulmates.
"I…" Kendou started, hesitating, really looking Neito over and taking him in. "I completely got the wrong impression of you."
And finally, finally, Neito had made a friend that wasn't due to Hitoshi or Denki. He had made a friend all on his own.