A/N: I Live! Granted, most of you probably didn't know I went anywhere considering I wrote all of two chapters of a story like two years ago, but I have returned to write here on ! Anyway, this will be the start of a new story I have been kicking around for a while, that will ponder the question, 'What if Aizawa was too injured to teach class 1-A after the USJ incident?'. I chose this mostly so I could avoid having to write the USJ into an AU because, to be honest, it is not a particularly interesting arc unless you have made big changes to canon. I also inserted my OC that might be OP, but only time will tell. Anyway, thanks and I hope to entertain you. Feel free to leave me a review.
Notes:
"Normal Speech"
'Internal Monologue'
"All Might"
Prologue:
"I'm sorry, Shouta, but Recovery Girl has given her decision and I stand by it" Principal Nezu sighed, "your injuries following that villain attack at the USJ are simply too severe."
"I'm fine, Principal Nezu. I just need a little more healing and I can return to work" Aizawa protested.
"No, Shouta-kun, you can't." the diminutive Healing Hero said irritably, "The amount of surgery and skin grafts I had to perform means you are in no state to even move around. It is my professional opinion that you shouldn't plan to return to teaching or Hero work for at least a year."
Aizawa balked before attempting to speak in his defense, only to be cut off again by Recovery Girl.
"And that's not even accounting for how much longer your recovery time will be considering how little you sleep. You know how my quirk works. How do you expect to recuperate if you are always so sleep-deprived that accelerating your healing process might put you in a coma?" she seethed.
Shouta was quiet, trying to gather a justification. "It can't be that bad…" he murmured defiantly.
"Shouta-kun." Nezu said, his usually cheerful tone replaced with a grim one. "It is, in fact, that bad. The fracturing of the bones of your right eye socket, the damage that villain did to your elbow, a confirmed concussion, several broken bones, and severe bruising to your spinal cord. Any of those alone would take a great portion of stamina to recover. Together, they guarantee that Recovery Girl using her quirk on you to rapidly recover is dangerous. I cannot, as an employer, as a fellow Pro Hero, or as a friend and mentor, allow you to take that risk."
"But -"
"No buts, mister! Until I say otherwise you are on mandatory medical leave." The Youthful Hero growled. "Honestly, you are almost as bad as Toshinori and that Midoriya boy. All three of you, pushing yourself way beyond your limits with no regard for your own wellbeing. As you yourself often say, 'There's a difference between sacrificing yourself for others and being suicidal'!" she grumbled. Hearing his own words thrown back at him gave Aizawa pause. Was he being irrational? Clearly so, if they were grouping him with that blonde idiot and the problem child.
"Fine." Aizawa gritted, "I can see I'm not going to win this. But then what are you planning to do? We can't leave Class 1-A in the lurch, especially with the -" Aizawa's eyes widened, before he snapped his head to look at Nezu.
"You aren't planning to still hold the sports festival, are you?! I know the students need the internship opportunities that come from participating, Principal, but you can't-"
The furry chimera principal put up his paw, shaking his head with a smile.
"Your kids will be fine, Shouta. I pushed the school festival back a few weeks under the claim that we would need to arrange for increased security, and I have already arranged for your substitute. I made sure to pick who you would have chosen. Just get some rest and get better."
Aizawa fell back to rest on the bed and was silent. That is, until he noticed the precise wording the mouse/bear/dog had used.
"Wait, you said who I would say is the perfect choice, Nezu. Who did you call?" he asked, his eyes narrowing to slivers.
"Don't worry, Shouta it's going to be fine" the intelligent animal principal said cheerfully.
"WHO. DID. YOU. CALL?" Eraserhead demanded.
Nezu's face lit up with a sadistic smile Aizawa knew he only saved for when he was taking particular glee in someone's discomfort. "I called on your favorite kouhais, Tensei Iida and Yaoyorozu Ameya, of course." Shouta's eyes widened, at least until the stretching of the sutures under his right eye hurt him enough for the Erasing hero to wince.
"Them? How did you even think to call them, let alone know I would approve?" Aizawa exclaimed. "And Yaoyorozu doesn't even live in Japan anymore!"
Recovery girl rolled her eyes.
"UA keeps track of all its' alumni, especially those who live and work as heroes. We need to make sure they aren't out there dragging our school's good name through the mud." She scoffed.
"But how did you know to pick those two?" Aizawa probed.
"Simple; we knew whoever we chose would have to be part of the short list of people you trust enough to leave your students with. However, it also had to be someone who you couldn't strong arm or guilt into letting you teach by proxy, which meant Kayama-chan and Yamada-kun were not options."
Aizawa groaned. 'Leave it to the rat to know how to counter my plans; Hizashi and Nemuri would have definitely let me backseat teach.' He grumbled.
"All of the other senior staff are already going to be busy as homeroom teachers to their own classes, so that only left us a few options. The first was that female Hero you keep insisting you aren't in a relationship with, Ms. Joke. Unfortunately, it turns out she is currently not available anyway, as she is teaching her own students at Ketsubutsu Academy." The principal's furry mouth twisted into a grin, then he whispered conspiratorially, "Although, considering the number of times you've been spotted moonlighting over the weekend in Yokohama, I'm certain you know that. Unless your repeated appearances near Ketsubutsu Academy, and more importantly Ms. Joke's agency, is merely coincidental?"
Aizawa narrowed his eyes. Clearly, he needed to be even more careful about keeping his and Emi's relationship secret. It was one thing for the principal, with his super intelligence quirk High Spec, to figure it out. But, if news spread to Present Mic, or God forbid that incorrigible gossip Midnight, he would never hear the end of it.
"Oh, don't give me that look, Shouta-kun. I didn't spy on you with ill intent, I just need to know these sorts of things in case you are needed for Hero work at the eleventh hour." Nezu said lightly.
"You still haven't explained how you were able to convince those two to even go along with this." Shouta muttered.
"That was also simple; I said you needed their help and they jumped at the chance. Apparently, this was 'a once in a lifetime opportunity to get Eraser-senpai to admit he needs us.' Yaoyorozu-kun is an independent hero and Ingenium's father said he was more than happy to return to a more active role heading the Idaten Agency. I've put a lot of energy behind preparing all of this." Nezu looked his watch, smiled, and said, "Speaking of which, I still have to go prepare for the students to return from their days off. I'm thinking a redo of orientation, with Class 1-A actually attending, to be in order!"
"I'll walk you out, Principal.' Recovery Girl added. With that, the mouse/bear/dog and elderly healing hero left, leaving Shouta to brood. After more than 10 years, two of the few underclassmen Shouta ever had mentored, let alone considered friends, would be returning to UA.
More frustrating, Tensei and Ameya were perhaps one of the best, if not the best, duo to teach Aizawa's students; They would easily figure out how to best prepare the students for the Sports Festival. Plus they would at minimum be able to serve as a half-way decent teacher to pick up the slack Aizawa's absence left. Smooth sailing on all fronts. Well, except for her, but she would end up playing nice if Tensei had any say in it.
"Damn it Nezu." Aizawa mumbled, struggling to keep a smile off his face. The principal had truly boxed him into a corner on this.
In an apartment on the outskirts of Hosu, Rumi Usagiyama awoke to the soft light pouring in through the curtained window next to her bed. Getting up to stretch, she checked the calendar on the wall and grimaced. 'Fuck. Looks like it's my day off.' She sighed.
Rumi hated taking days off. Whether it was kicking the ever-loving shit out of bad guys, or even just taking pictures with little kids while patrolling, Rumi loved every second of her job. Unfortunately, being a Hero meant lots of paperwork. She had to write incident reports, fill out forms about property damage she caused for insurance, and so on. There was no way to find time to get it all done but to take a day off every week. All it took was one too many late reports, and the Hero Public Safety Commission would be on her ass. Sure, she could have hired support staff at her office to handle it, but that was a slippery slope. 'If you start thinking you're too busy or too good to do paperwork, you'll start thinking you're too busy or too good to do the job the right way.' She often reminded herself.
Looking at the clock, she noticed it was early. There was plenty of time to power through her paperwork, and then…
'Well, maybe I can take a half-day on taking a day off…' she thought slyly. Before she could leave the bed, however, a brawny arm with distinctive steel pipes coming out of the elbow snaked out from under the covers to wrap around her waist. Looking down, Rumi smiled at the bleary-eyed face of her boyfriend (well fiancé, considering he had proposed a few weeks ago), Tensei Iida.
It was kind of funny how they had ended up together: When she had first started out as a hero, Rumi had been on a mission to prove herself; the combination of 'developing' early due to her quirk, having a black American dad, and being a military brat growing up on Iwakuni Marine base meant Rumi had essentially been born with a chip the size of Tokyo Tower on her shoulder. She went around trying to one-up every hero she encountered. It had worked for about two years, too; she was well-liked by the public, put up great numbers in terms of completed cases, and had even scored a few solid deals as a spokesperson. Then, it all came to a screeching halt.
On a trip to Hosu, Rumi had encountered Ingenium. She had made it no secret in her numerous interviews that she had no respect for legacy heroes, and even less for Hero teams. She even said as much when they met face to face. He had only laughed. Then, Tensei had absolutely smoked her in a race to deal with an apartment fire that came over the wire while they were bantering. In the time it took Rumi to even get to the burning building, Tensei had already arrived and rescued nine people, and had coordinated with the fire department to get the trucks correctly placed to efficiently put out the fire. Even after she started clearing floors, he was beating her in rescued people two to one. After beating her soundly, without direct help from his team no less, Tensei offered to grab dinner so they could do the paperwork together. While Tensei claimed he meant it as a dinner to smooth things over with his fellow young Hero, Rumi thought he was trying to flirt. When she had arrived in the only dress she owned and declared it a date, Tensei had simply smiled, shrugged, and zipped off to his office to return in nicer clothes.
Despite the misconception, that first date had been magical. Tensei was charming, but not cloying. He was snarky, but not a smart-ass. He was confident, but not arrogant. He was super corny, but in an endearing way. At the end of the night, he had kissed her on her cheek, said he had a great time, and told her to give him a call if she ever wanted to hang out again. Rumi called him to set a second date before he was even out of sight. That second date led to a third, and three dates turned into five, and soon she had spent the last four years dating the hottest man in Japan. Granted, they both wanted to keep things secret since media attention was a pain in the ass, but it worked for them.
'And soon, I'll be married to him. Although I'm strongly reconsidering if keeps doing this.' she huffed to herself.
"Rumi, it's five in the morning on the first day in weeks we both have off. I'm not letting you leave this bed to patrol." Tensei Iida murmured, still half-asleep.
"Oh c'mon, Ten! Just a short hop around the block, I promise!" she insisted.
"Like how you promised you wouldn't watch the next episode of Inspector Space-Time without me, or like how you promised you wouldn't eat my last coffee jelly in the fridge?"
Rumi rolled her eyes "You keep bringing up old shit like a woman." She muttered.
Rolling over to look at her, the speedster hero smirked. "I'm surprised you even want to go out considering what you said last night. I thought for sure you'd want to, how did you put it? 'Stay in bed all day, fucking until we put a goddamn baby in you?'".
"That's –" Rumi started.
"I mean, don't get me wrong, I would love to get started on a family immediately, but I thought you were pretty firmly in the 'waiting-until-we're-married-for-kids' camp, Rums."
Rumi's attempt at a growl was undercut by her furious blush. While she had always struggled with her rabbit quirk keeping her in heat, it had usually just been a mild simmer of horniness. Recently, however, she seemed especially hot and bothered all the time. In fact, everything had really changed ever since Tensei had proposed. Now, it seemed like every conversation they had ended with them having sex, and most of her evening plans when she was away from him involved red wine and masturbating furiously.
'It's not even sex anymore,' Rumi thought ruefully, 'we end up making love. God fucking damn it, when did I become the type of girl who makes love?'
Shaking her head, Rumi glared down at her fiancé.
"Ten, we agreed that Horny Rumi is an evil, thirsty bitch who is trying to sabotage my plans to be the first female top 5 hero. She is not to be trusted, and she does not speak for the Office of Mirko." The Rabbit hero hissed.
Tensei laughed, before stretching and getting up. It took all of Rumi's willpower to not ogle him as he walked, clad in only a tight pair of navy-blue boxer briefs, to the dresser. After all, Tensei Iida was the textbook definition of Rumi's type: tall, with broad shoulders and a lithe physique. There wasn't zero extra fat on the man, his every movement showing off muscles honed by years of Hero work for explosive speed and strength. After a quick turn to the nightstand, Tensei pulled out his contacts case and put it his lenses. Finally, he turned to look at her, smiling warmly.
'Fuck me, that smile.' Rumi moaned, feeling her willpower begin to crumble. 'Not to mention that ass, those abs, his arms…maybe just a little fooling around before…No! Bad Rumi! Focus.'
"Ah, there she is: my lovely fianceé, and future mother of my children, Rumi Iida." Tensei cooed.
Rumi wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Usagiyama, asshole. I worked way too hard making people respect that name to let anyone, even you, make me sacrifice that."
Tensei barked out a laugh and kneeled. "Fine, how about this: There she is, bad bitch and future #1 hero, Mirko."
"Better." Rumi grinned, then walked over to climb onto Tensei's back. She wrapped her arms around his broad chest as he put his hands under her thighs and rose, piggybacking her into the kitchen. Rumi knew that it was just Tensei looking for an excuse to touch her, but she wasn't complaining. "Well, what do you want for breakfast?" Tensei asked, "I'm thinking something fancy, like an Italian frittata, or manju, or maybe…"
"I want hot link sausage and white gravy." Rumi interjected, before immediately cursing her accidental double entendre.
"And you say Horny Rumi doesn't speak for you." Tensei snorted.
The sound of his work phone ringing on the kitchen table interrupted Tensei's teasing. Setting her down, he cleared his throat and answered the call, switching it to speakerphone.
"Go for Ingenium." He said, fully morphed into serious hero in a moment.
"If you two are done playing 'Hide the Carrot', we should probably meet up to go over our lesson plan." the man on the other end of the line snarked.
"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to –" Rumi began to rage, before Tensei shook his head and mouthed that he had it handled.
"First off, good morning to you too, Ameya. Second, what are you talking about? It's barely five in the morning, we have time."
Rumi's eyes widened in understanding. Ameya was one of Tensei's best friends since childhood. They went to Somei together, they went to UA together, they even worked as sidekicks together for Tensei's dad when they were starting out. According to her fiancé, though, Ameya was working as a Hero overseas. What was he doing back in Japan?
There was a groan followed by a low string of curses in a language Rumi didn't recognize.
"Yeah, but we both know that Grumpy Pants will nag the crap out of us if we aren't on our A-game, and Hizashi and Nemuri will definitely snitch." Ameya responded.
Ingenium sighed. "Good point. Well, Rumi and I were up anyway, we'll meet you on campus in like an hour, okay?"
Rumi balked. "Wait, what are you talking about, Ten? What lesson plan?"
There was silence, until Ameya asked, "You didn't tell her?"
"No, I've been too busy playing 'Hide the Carrot', as you so eloquently put it." The High-Speed Hero snarked.
"And I assume Mirko-san doesn't even check her mail, does she?"
Rumi gave Tensei a quizzical look. "No, why would I? All my bills are set to auto-pay, and anyone who I want to stay in touch with has my personal phone number." Rumi retorted.
A second long string of curses came from the phone.
"Well, if you had read the official letter you were sent, Mirko-san," Ameya sighed, "You'd know Principal Nezu has specifically requested the HPSC to grant a transfer of duty so you could join Tensei and I as long-term substitute teachers at UA. You would also know that the HPSC has accepted his request on your behalf."
Rumi was floored. While she knew UA was the number one hero school in the country (after all, three of the current Top 5 heroes were alumni), she didn't know they had the kind of influence to just make things like this happen.
"The fuck?! I don't want to be stuck babysitting a bunch of brats all day!" she yelled.
"Well, tough shit. Principal Nezu asked Tensei who his first choice for training those kids would be and he said you." Ameya added.
"I thought you would be super excited about this, Rumi, especially since," Tensei paused, and put on the cheeky smile he used when he had Rumi right where he wanted her in an argument. "Well, there are a record number of female students in the Hero Course this year, and they need a cool, badass older sister type to set the right example and teach them how to be heroes."
Rumi caught on to what he was doing and glared at him. "Fuck you."
"C'mon Rums, those aspiring female heroes need you." Tensei laughed, "Otherwise, they will just end up learning to use their bodies to get ahead, like that Mt. Lady chick who debuted last year."
Rumi groaned loudly. She hated that Tensei could play her like a fiddle. However, that paled in comparison to her hatred for how most female heroes used their femininity to get ahead. It was literally her, the dragoon hero Ryukyu, and the Wild Wild Pussycats, and then a bunch of lazy thots who had used fan service to reach the top 200. While she knew being attractive helped her ranking, she had always put in hard work to justify her place, and the idea that future female heroes would shy away from doing the same annoyed her to no end.
Rumi closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying desperately to not punch her lover in his stupid face. After what felt like an eternity of collecting herself, she opened her eyes.
"Fine. But I reserve the right to kick you both into the sun if I end up hating this." She conceded.
Tensei smiled radiantly, thanked Ameya for the wake-up call, and hung up. He leaned over and captured her lips with his own, giving a long and lingering kiss that left Rumi breathless. Reflexively, she wrapped her arms around his trunk, pulling him in closer. His own arms wrapped around her, and at that moment, Rumi wanted nothing more than to stay like this forever. When he released her, he gazed into her eyes lovingly before lightly kissing her on the top of her head.
"I'm sorry I had to play dirty to get you to agree." He whispered, his chin resting on her crown. "But I really think this will be good for us. First we start teaching at UA, then we can finally go public with our relationship, and then we can become the first couple to be Top 10 heroes. That's the dream, right?"
"You forgot the 'goddamn baby' you are supposedly going to be putting in me when we play 'Hide the Carrot.'" Rumi teased.
Tensei laughed, and gave her a tight squeeze, before letting go.
"Now then, breakfast, then off to UA to learn how to be teachers." he grinned, proceeding to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder. Without a word, Tensei began walking with her away from the kitchen.
"I thought we were going to eat, Tensei."
The high-speed hero laughed before spanking his fiancée's generous behind. "We are. You said you wanted sausage and gravy, and I happen to be in the mood for rabbit right now." He remarked as he carried her to the bedroom.