There is a collective cringe in the viewing area and All Might cannot blame his students in the slightest, his own buttocks clenching without thought. Truly, Hatake Kakashi is a ruthless creature. There's silence among them now, all seventeen sets of eyes staring at the screen, waiting for something, anything to happen.
(Young Todoroki got launched away by that attack and Hatake holds his position, pointer and middle fingers still extended and good god, he shall have to speak with the boy about a hero's image in public and what not to do. Because that, that falls in the 'not to do' pile).
"All Might-sensei?" One of his charges questions him by name alone, no extra words need to be said after what they have just witnessed. Young Todoroki's teammate has stopped, as if sending that something substantial has taken place in the same way young Yaoyorozu has stilled and mouthed the name of Hatake's... attack back to herself.
"Is Hatake allowed to do that?" Another question and technically...
"I... I did say to use everything at your disposal... I shall be clearer on what is acceptable next time," All Might concludes, grimacing and already predicting that absolute rollicking Aizawa-kun will give him for this. Teaching is hard; he should have read up more before the term started. It's not like he hadn't had the time.
"Look, Todoroki's managed to get up!" There's a small, hesitant round of applause, most like out of respect for their... injured classmate.
If young Todoroki's expression had been closed off before, it's utterly locked up now. Oh dear.
Before the boy can make another sweeping hand gesture to bury Hatake in what will undoubtedly be an avalanche of righteous fury, his opponent moves. Almost quicker than All Might can see, the boy throws a handful of glimmering something. When everything stills again, young Todoroki is pinned by an ingenious combination of capture tape and- and are those shuriken? What on earth?
.
Young Yaoyorozu and Hatake win. It's no surprise after that stellar performance but All Might cannot help but feel a little... off step by it all. Still, it is heartwarming to watch the students corral around young Todoroki and offer their heartfelt condolences; the boy doesn't seem to know how to respond to it all.
All Might doesn't miss the fact he never once gives Hatake his back again for the rest of the lesson.
.
.
"Thanks to a certain brat," Shota pauses, flicking a glance to the person in question before he continues, "sexual harassment training is on the agenda today."
The little shit that's caused all this actually gasps, an expression that scream mock-offence with a hand to his chest and, if Shota could actually see his face, he's sure the brat'd be mouthing 'me?'. The innocence in that single eye is so fake Shota, who speaks three languages fluently, cannot even begin to find a way to express how much he wants to physically strangle the brat right now.
He acknowledges Todoroki's exemplary poker face, the awkward shuffling of the rest of the class, and then ploughs on through his quick twenty-minute lecture.
After all, the brats need to pick a class president today.
.
.
If the class didn't know how to respond to him before, they've got no clue whatsoever now. It hilarious and Kakashi is living for this.
After Aizawa had finished up, with one last glare in his direction, their sensei had clambered back into his sleeping bag, announcing the class president issue as if it were an afterthought.
(And that lecture, huh? Jiraiya would probably weep in this universe. That, or spend the vast majority of his time breaking out of prison. Would that have made him a criminal then? Or would he actually gain the label villain?)
"Maa, if you're all going to vote, you should at least explain what you're going to offer the class in your role as president," Kakashi interrupts, watching as Engine Legs and Yaoyo-chan twist your look at him. Ah, the judgemental eyes his former partner wears indicate she's had the 'Thousand Years' explained to her.
"Hatake-san is quite correct!" Engine-Legs declares, chopping the air with his palm and Kakashi leans back and away as the kid invades his space. "Please, Hatake-san, volunteer us an example of what you shall be offering the class should you acquire the role of president."
What would he offer the class?
Kakashi tilts his head to a side, wild fringe flopping nearly completely over his visible eye as he puts up a show of thinking. Then-
"Free porn."
A moment of absolute nothingness and then, from the blond boy-
"Well, he's got my vote."
.
Kakashi is not named president (how tragic) by the time lunch rolls around. Instead, he collects his lunch from the Lunch Hero (piled twice as high as the day previously; Kirishima's face shall be a picture when it all disappears in one go) and makes of a table. Only, the company that joins him is not the one he's expecting.
Kakashi blinks, glancing up at the figure beside him but no, it is indeed Todoroki sitting to his left. Cold soba on a lunch tray and chopsticks in hand, the other teens stares at him and Kakashi stares back, unable to help the twitch of his lips when the kid starts slurping up his meal. He looks as if he's trying to figure out a supremely difficult puzzle; Kakashi gets that look at lot, he's well used to it. A quick illusion on everyone else that's looking their way (no doubt waiting for some kind of brawl to break out between them) and Kakashi scarfs his food down the moment Todoroki blinks. Distantly, on the other side of the cafeteria, he can hear Kirishima roar a disbelieving 'what the fuck' but he's too busy in his Western showdown.
Todoroki chews through his noodles, letting them slip back into his bowl.
"You fight well," he states, twirling the chopsticks around in his cold noodle soup. What an awful choice for lunch. "Who trained you?"
"Maa, I'm an orphan, Todoroki-kun. All I have to my name are my dashing good looks." Now, Kakashi would love to proclaim the boy gives him a deadpan stare, would love to say that he scoffs in disbelief. But he does neither.
Instead, Todoroki simply looks him over once, nods, and then asks, "is that why you wear the mask?" Completely serious. Wow. Just, wow. And he thought that Kakashi of old had been socially stunted.
"Ah, Todoroki-kun, I do believe this is the start of a beautiful friendship. And I do mean friendship, not rivalry. Friends who help when the other wasn't paying attention to the class assignment, friends who will not call the other out on his bullshit. Not rivals who'll wake the other up for a game of rock-paper-scissors at three in the morning, armed with a frying pan and pink apron." Now that had been a weird night. He tries not to recall pre-jōnin sensei Gai; he'd had far too much time on his hands and had been far too invested in Kakashi. Which, yes, it'd helped him in the long run, but in the short run? Man, it'd been a pain.
Todoroki, bless his socially inept ways, just nods. Clearly failing to make the question of who would be doing the bullshitting in their friendship. Oh, they'll be the perfect double act. Lovely. Perhaps that's the reason he decides to open up. Just a little.
"When I applied for UA, the Hero Commission all but kidnapped me. I've been growing up in their basement every since." And the wide-eyed look he gets for that is fucking brilliant. Oh man, this'll never get old!
It's 'round about that time the siren goes off.
.
.
"Hatake." Shota breathes. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Opens his eyes. But no, the brat is still there. Hands shoved deep into the pockets of his trousers (and why on earth does he bandage the lower half of the legs up? Clearly something to do with movement but, for the life of him, Shota cannot find the willpower to ask), Hatake hums as he continues to inspect the area. Nevermind the fact the kids were barred from the site of the gate. Nevermind he must have slipped by security, one of whom has a god damn quirk that alerts him whenever someone's trying to slip into a place they shouldn't be. Admitted, Toraona hadn't been on shift today, but he'd been pulled in by the emergency protocol.
"What happened?" Hatake asks, tilting his head to a side, approaching the very much missing gate and there's no bullshit right now. It's not Hatake-brat at the moment, it's the Wonderboy that the Hero Commission have been raving about. Shota makes a quick note to get the kid set up with a hero name as soon as possible. After all, as satisfying as it'd been for the brat to be hounded by 'Wonderboy' for the rest of his career, it probably wouldn't reassure the population. Not that Wonderman would be any better, but that's for a later train of thought.
"You tell me, Hatake."
The kid hums, squatting down beside the fence, one hand reaching out to brush at the edge where the gates used to reside. He pulls his fingers away, rubbing them against his thumb. Shota catches the slight flutter of dust rolling down from his grasp, a fine powder the likes of which Campus gates have never been exposed to during their time here.
"Maa, no member of the press would do this. If they had a quirk this powerful, they'd be making use of it. Even if they were wasting their time in the media, it's too recognisable to be applied here; they'd have been tagged for unauthorised quirk usage for sure." The kid sits back on his heels, legs folded and elbows resting on his thighs, sole dark eye continuing to assess his surroundings. His gaze lingers on the ground, on footprints in dirt and dust that wasn't there this morning. "It's not a planned security test, the atmosphere is far too tense for it and current staffing of this site indicates this is an element unknown to the school. Ergo, an infiltrator to gather information. Nobody was harmed, they slipped in with the crowd, probably in non-descript clothes given the crowd of reporters."
Hatake tilts his head back, eyeing Shota and easily coming to the exact same conclusion Shota himself has spent his after-work hours so far building up.
"Someone is plotting and they needed information the school held to do it. Given the announcement the previous day, the hype around it, and the lack of an incident such as this in previous years, I'd gather it's something relating to All Might."
And there he is, their shining hope for the future.
"Good job, Kid. Now get going, you've got rescue training tomorrow and it's best to be in good shape for it."
"Maa, I had no idea you were worried about little ol' me!" Hatake chimes, back on his feet before Shota had finished speaking but now mockingly swooning off to a side,
"And Hatake?"
He waits until the kid turns around to face him again, head cocked to the side and once again playing up his innocent act.
"As much as it pleases me to see growing friendships, don't break Todoroki."
A short gasp. "Why, I would never!"