Chapter 5: Teachers Can Give A Shit?

It was a week after their first sparring session and, as far as he knew, no one had refused to spar with Izuku again. If they did, they were more discreet about it than Iida had been. Of course, they'd only had two more sparring sessions so it could still happen, but Izuku wasn't thinking about it too hard. Instead, he was focusing on how amazing things were going for him. Kirishima and Kaminari had started joining them at lunch and didn't try to ignore his presence at the table like people who'd tried to befriend Kacchan in middle school did. They even seemed to appreciate his suggestions about their quirks! It was weird, but he wasn't going to complain.

Izuku had noticed that Kaminari and Kirishima had avoided Sero since he made a fuss about his support equipment. Sero had been sending him glares every time his friends abandoned him to eat with them instead like Izuku had asked them to do it. The brunette had started eating with Uraraka and her friends and Izuku would have to be blind to miss the looks the group sent his way. Uraraka, Sero, Ojiro, Jirou, and Asui were idiots if they thought mean looks made any difference to him.

Thankfully, Iida hadn't tried to interact with him again after a quiet congratulations on the match in the changing room that day. The class representative spent their free time with Momo, far away from the small group that clearly had issues with Izuku's existence. The rest of the class had their own small groups that mostly left Izuku alone and honestly that was much better than he'd expected based on middle school.

Today they were enjoying their food, minding their business when Izuku noticed Todoroki staring at him from where he sat, alone, three tables over. Again. Every time he'd glanced in the boy's direction since the sparring incident Todoroki had been staring back. He'd been trying to figure out what was going on behind those dead eyes, but it was like trying to read the mind of a rock. Pointless and frustrating. One minute Izuku was sure the boy wanted to speak with him about something and the next he expected to be challenged to a fight to the death.

Unfortunately, Kacchan saw Izuku's furrowed brow and tracked his eyes right back to their source. In typical Kacchan fashion, he growled, "That asshole been bothering you, nerd?"

That stopped all conversation at the table and everyone turned to see who Bakugo was about to murder now. Todoroki didn't seem phased by the small group now openly watching him stare at Midoriya. Izuku was quick to answer, to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. "Not at all! He's just been staring at me a lot? I don't think he has a problem with me but I can't really figure out what he wants."

Everyone else at their table hadn't known Katsuki long enough because they relaxed when Izuku said that, but the smaller boy knew that wouldn't appease his friend. So when the blonde stood up to stomp toward their classmate, Izuku was right on his heels. Hissed protests from him did nothing to stop Kacchan from slamming his hands on the table in front of Todoroki and snarling, "What the fuck is your problem Icyhot?"

Izuku was pale and tugging at Katsuki's sleeve now but Todoroki answered calmly, "I don't have a problem, Bakugo."

That statement followed by the boy slurping his noodles while holding eye contact with Katsuki may as well have been a declaration of war. Izuku was sure they were both about to get expelled when Kacchan leaned right into Todoroki's face and grabbed his tie. "Then why the fuck," he pulled him by his tie so their faces were almost touching, "are you staring at Deku like you want to get your ass beat?"

A pause while he finished eating his mouthful of noodles and he shifted his eyes to Izuku, "I simply wanted to know if you meant what you said about Endeavor disregarding casualties and damages."

Kacchan released him, clearly not expecting that. "And what? You thought the nerd could read that question right out of your dumbass head if you stared hard enough?" He was waving his hands in the boy's expressionless face now, "If you have a question you just fucking ask, idiot. Why do you even care anyway? You wanna fight Deku cause he trash talked your daddy?"

The sneered question from the angry blonde affected Todoroki as much as all the eyes in the cafeteria that had turned to watch the show. Not at all. "I was just surprised, most people don't tend to acknowledge my father's failings. But I didn't know I could just come up to Midoriya and ask."

Izuku was familiar enough with having poor social skills to recognize the lost look in Todoroki's eyes. So he slapped his hand over Katsuki's mouth before he could go off on the boy further. "Todoroki, would you like to come sit with us and we can talk about it?" Their classmate nodded, setting down his chopsticks and standing with his tray to follow them. Before they could move Izuku ripped his hand from Katsuki's face, "Kacchan OW! Why would you bite me? Now I need a rabies shot."

Everyone around them held their breath, Bakugo's temper had become legendary by their second week in school. Everyone was expecting to see the green haired kid blown to bits. So shock was the common feeling when he just laughed and said, "Deku we both know if anyone here is rabid it's you."

Izuku's laughter rang through the room and people started turning back to their meals, realizing they weren't going to see a fight after all. Todoroki joined their table, sitting next to an uncomfortable looking Shinso. The purple haired boy had just barely gotten used to Kirishima and Kaminari joining them, he really didn't seem to want another person present. Izuku sent him a reassuring smile before looking at Todoroki, "So, do you want a list of all my issues with Endeavor alphabetically or in order of how terrible they are from least to most awful?"

By the end of lunch Izuku had a plan to look more into the Todoroki family (something clearly wasn't right there) and a promise from the dual quirk user to join them for lunch every day. The rest of the day went by quickly. They finally got to do battle trials in heroics, sadly the pairings were randomized by a computer so he was lucky to be paired with one of his (maybe) friends. Izuku and Kirishima soundly beat Sero and Ojiro and ignored their pissy attitude at their loss. Katsuki lost because he refused to work with "that dumbass quirksist" at all, leaving Uraraka's side as soon as their round started without strategizing at all. (Izuku was going to give his best friend an earful about learning to work with people he didn't like). Luckily, they were up against Shinso and Jirou who couldn't cooperate either since Jirou refused to speak to her partner because she "didn't want to be mind controlled" according to what she loudly told Asui before the match started. It wasn't lucky that Shinso was dealing with such a shitty classmate, it was lucky that Kacchan was distracted from losing by his rage at the blatant discrimination against his friend.

(Izuku had finally gotten the boy to admit "yeah the mindfucker isn't total shit" which was basically the same as Kacchan making friendship bracelets)

Aizawa had slapped Jirou with two detentions and an essay on how useful mental quirks could be in heroics. Her hate group friends spent the rest of class side eyeing Shinso like he was the one punishing the girl. Izuku was ready to give his friends a pep talk on the walk to the train station when Aizawa asked him to stay after class. The two boys who were very familiar with the trouble someone like him being held back by a teacher could be tried to stick around, but Izuku told them to wait for him outside.

Kacchan glared at their homeroom teacher until the door closed and Izuku was alone with the man. He kept his face blank and voice even when he asked, "Have I done something wrong, Sensei?"

Aizawa stayed seated behind his desk, body language open and non threatening, but Izuku was still on guard. "No, Midoriya, you aren't in any trouble. I just wanted to discuss something with you. I've noticed you've been getting answers purposely wrong on your work in all your classes." He held up a hand to cut off Izuku's protest. "You came in first overall in the written exam, not just in the hero course but of all the students you were number one. I know you're smarter than your homework and tests make you seem."

He leaned back in his chair and sighed, "I know it's likely that teachers in the past have either accused you of cheating or marked your grades down because you're quirkless. Maybe both, but here that won't fly. I want to encourage you to do your best work and know you'll be fairly graded. Now, I don't expect you to trust me enough yet to come to me if one of your other teachers isn't giving you fair grades. So I'll be going over all your work to ensure my colleagues are doing their jobs properly and any unfair practices will be reported to Nezu."

Izuku was eyeing him warily, "What makes you think I don't trust you, Sensei?"

"Kid I have a 'villain' quirk. My husband has a voice quirk and is deaf. I know how teachers treat kids who don't have flashy 'heroic' quirks so I'd have to be an idiot to think you'd ever trust a teacher without them earning it."

Izuku wasn't an idiot either, he knew Aizawa was basically admitting being married to Present Mic to show he trusted Izuku enough to reveal things about his private life. He knew that was a tactic to seem more trustworthy, but that added to all the punishments the man had dished out to his quirksist classmates had the boy thinking maybe it wasn't a trick. He nodded, "I'll do my best on my work."

Aizawa's lips tugged at the corners, not a smile but the closest Izuku had seen to it. "That's all I'm asking. Now go, your friends are probably climbing the walls thinking I'm in here beating you with a phone book or something."

Izuku snickered at that, the man wasn't wrong. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and went to join his friends. He'd have to update Aizawa's standing with the ZNetwork, he hadn't earned the title of trusted hero yet, but he wasn't to be avoided anymore.