Chapter 16

Chapter Text

"You still working on the math assignment?" Bakugo asked, his voice uncharacteristically quiet.

"Yeah," Hitoshi said with a nod. "Can't focus."

"Doubt you're the only one."

"You finished it," Hitoshi said, trying not to make it sound like a jealous accusation and probably not succeeding.

"I have a long history of shoving down anything that bugs me and ignoring it till it goes away." Bakugo gave Hitoshi a wry smile. "I wouldn't recommend it."

"Is Hound Dog helping?"

"He is… Well, he was. Another life changing incident in the second week of high school is guaranteed to throw things off course for a while."

Hitoshi smiled softly, glad to hear the levelheaded comment from a boy who could literally cause explosions. "You fought well yesterday."

"You too," Bakugo said, not looking directly at Hitoshi. "I wouldn't have been able to say that two weeks ago."

"You didn't know me two weeks ago."

"Smartass, you know what I mean," Bakugo said with a low growl that was not the least bit frightening. "I have no idea why a few words from Hound Dog changed my thinking."

"What did he say?"

"Acknowledging the achievements of others doesn't diminish your own, Katsuki." His tone was pretty spot on for Hound Dog. Hitoshi grinned and Katsuki shrugged. "It seems so obvious in hindsight. I don't even know how I got to that point."

"Aldera was pretty toxic."

"You know what I was like in middle school," Katsuki asked, sounding shocked, "and you're still talking to me?"

"Of course," Hitoshi said. "Has Papa given you the cookie-dough speech yet?"

"He has." Bakugo laughed softly. "Any idea which pre-quirk show that came from?"

"I may have watched an episode or seven."

"Seven?" Bakugo asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Seven seasons," Hitoshi admitted with a mild blush coloring his cheeks.

"Any good?"

"I enjoyed it."

"Enough to watch again?" Bakugo asked.

"Absolutely," Hitoshi said, reaching for his laptop and quickly bringing up episode one.

~*~

"As you are aware the media are still making accusations against UA, its teachers, its curriculum, and even against several of our alumni. Most are unfounded, but the USJ incident is not going to help at all."

Everyone in the room nodded in agreement. The fallout from being attacked at the USJ was not going to be pretty. The fact that it was class 1A just made the whole thing worse. Shota winced as he remembered some of the more alarming headlines and imagined what the USJ ones would look like when the story broke. It was why they were having a all-staff meeting at 4.00AM on a Saturday morning.

There had been some extreme reactions to the death of such a young hero student, but Shota couldn't really blame the media for going after Endeavor. His track record of excessive property damage was well established and impossible even for the number two hero to hide. The skeletons in his family closet had started falling out all over the place and it wasn't painting a nice picture. He'd had his wife committed to a mental hospital for years and seemed to be the one keeping her there, not her doctors, and details of the brutal training he'd put two of his sons through from very young ages were coming to light. Shota had no idea how Endeavor had managed to keep quiet his eldest son's death, but he was finding he had little sympathy for the man. Todoroki Shoto, however, was another story.

Nedzu had already discretely sent UA alumni, who also happened to be experienced, successful lawyers, into the fray. Hopefully they'd find a way of getting Shoto, his mother, and his two remaining siblings into a better situation.

"We need to consider on-campus housing for students," Shota said, glancing at Mic in time to see his nod of agreement.

"I concur." Nedzu smiled that smile that said he was way more than a step ahead of the rest of them. "The plans have already been approved, and thanks to Cementoss's wonderful ability, should be ready for students and teachers by the beginning of second term." He took a sip of tea and glanced around the room. "We have also decided to remodel a couple of our training areas into living quarters for any other staff who wish to move onto school grounds with their families."

Shota glanced down the conference table and around the rest of the room. All of the teachers, administration and support staff of UA were crammed into the gymnasium and thankfully seemed to be of one mind. They were all nodding or smiling in relief at Nedzu's announcement.

The media had been a nightmare for all of them.

They'd also gone after All Might, despite his far better track record than Endeavor's, but the news articles had so far been dismissed by most as deliberate slander. It was, but if they threw enough mud some was going to stick regardless of whether it was warranted or not. Thankfully All Might's legions of fans had rallied to his defense, offering stories, statistics, and video proof of his history of helping anyone who needed a hero. Several charities had also disclosed All Might's generous, unwavering, financial support over the past several decades.

Yagi had seemed embarrassed to have his secrets exposed, but it had only confirmed to Shota that his belief in UA's newest teacher was well placed.

After another hour of discussing details and Nedzu answering questions the all-staff special meeting finally wrapped up. Shota would have been relieved—he disliked huge gatherings for any reason—except that was when the really hard work had begun.

Delaying the first years' sports festival.

It had been a direct order from the HPSC and while Nedzu usually found a way to work around their expectations, in this instance it had been best for all involved that he agree.

Thanks to the continuing media frenzy after Midoriya Izuku's death, questions were also being asked about the students' welfare, many people outright accusing UA of child exploitation for financial gain in the form of the sports festivals—especially the first years since it was so early in the school year. The USJ incident was just going to magnify those accusations.

Many news articles had suggested the first years' sports festival was just a display of raw talent and not the culmination of skills learned at UA. Privately, Shota agreed with that assessment. Since becoming a teacher he'd never been comfortable with the timing of the sports festival for the first years—even when it seemed his son's only way to make it into the hero course. The students were still new to combat and the final one-on-one matches had always worried him. Of course, having been one of the rare students to transfer from general education into the hero course thanks to his display at the sports festival he also saw a reason for the timing and would not have argued against it before Midoriya's death.

This year it would be moved to the last term for the first years, and the change may just give them some leverage to change the entrance exams for the better. Hitoshi should have always been in the hero course—his actions and quick thinking at the USJ incident had more than proven that—so getting approval for a fairer entrance exam for future students may just be possible now.

Which reminded him—he really needed to look into how an invisible girl got through the general exam when she had no combat skills whatsoever. Shota wouldn't deny her a chance to become a hero—her stealth skills were an incredible asset to underground hero work—but the points allocated to her in the exam didn't make any sense.

Maybe he'd simply ask Hagakure when he wasn't so damn busy, because of course, deciding to postpone the first year's sports festival at such a late date came with a shit-ton of decisions, extra work for all involved, and endless complications, but several hours later they'd finally made it out the other side.

They had another meeting set for next week to discuss internships—Shota had several ideas on how to proceed even without the students being able to showcase their talents on national television—and then a separate meeting for the summer camp. Shota was almost looking forward to it—the camp, not the meetings. Class 1A desperately needed something normal and the extra precautions they planned to take should ensure that the kids were safe.

Fuck, please keep them safe.

"Aw… Our boys are bonding," Mic said happily as he spotted Hitoshi and Bakugo sitting together watching something on a laptop.

"You know Katsuki's not actually ours, right?"

"Nope, ours, always."

"I'm sure his parents will be thrilled."

"Fine, I'll consider timeshare, but I'm not giving him back."

"You're ridiculous," Shota said, trying to hide his smile in his capture scarf.