Chapter 11 Preview (hope this makes up for the long wait, full chapter coming soon)

Aizawa was up late the night before—or rather, much earlier that morning—pouring over everything U.A. had on file about Peter Parker, which wasn't much, seeing as he was a foreign exchange student and all. That meant the next step was to get in touch with Peter's contacts and go from there.

When the kid blew up at him earlier, he had mentioned an 'Uncle Ben' before he stormed out. Aizawa suspected someone close to Parker had died and he obviously felt guilty about the affair. That would not be abnormal behavior or circumstances, especially for U.A. students: many of their more dedicated students had similarly tragic backstories, it was a common trope for a reason. Aizawa supposed investigating that was as good a place as any to start.

Aizawa sorted through the files till he found what he was looking for. There we go, Legal Guardians, May and Benjamin Parker. He frowned. Why would he still be listed as his guardian? Peter made it sound like he died, or had at least left the family behind. And I know this information can't be more than a few months old. Maybe there are two Ben's? Guess that's another thing to ask about.

Aizawa dialed up the phone number.

"Hello, is this May Parker?" Aizawa asked in English, with no trace of a Japanese accent.

"It is. And who might this be? I'm afraid I don't recognize your number."

"This is Shota Aizawa, a teacher at U.A. High School. Am I correct in assuming that you're the Legal Guardian of Peter Parker?"

"Oh, goodness, yes that's me. Is my Peter alright? He isn't hurt, is he? I just knew I shouldn't have sent him off to live in Japan alone. I mean he's only 15, and quirkless too."

Aizawa swore he could internally hear the sound of cracked glass as his tired, red eyes snapped open at that revelation. He took a moment to rub his eyes and let his hair fall back down, leaving a long pause at the other end of the line. "I'm sorry Mrs. Parker, could you please repeat that?"

"I was just saying that it was a mistake to send Peter away like this, oh I knew something was bound to happen."

"Right… Well Peter is perfectly fine, Ma'am, he's been working with me personally. I'm just checking in to see if there's anything I should know about Peter before school starts. As his teacher it's my responsibility to try to get to know my students as well as possible to attend to their needs."

"I see, thank heavens. I really shouldn't worry so much, Anna always tells me that it wouldn't do to get so worked up, but enough about me. You won't have any problems with Peter, he's the brightest, sweetest boy you'll meet."

"And what is your relation to the boy?"

"I'm his aunt."

"Forgive me if this is too personal, Mrs. Parker, but Peter's paperwork says he has another guardian named Benjamin Parker, am I correct in assuming this is your husband?"

The pause in her response and the lack of mirth in the voice that returned all but confirmed Aizawa's assessment. "Yes, Ben Parker was my husband, but I'm afraid you won't find him here. He passed away a few weeks ago. A few days before Peter left for Japan, in fact. I'm not surprised Peter didn't mention it to you, he didn't take the news well, felt so much responsibility for everything that he almost rejected your offer in order to stay with me."

What? A few weeks ago? Not months, not years, weeks? I suppose that's why he's still listed as a guardian, Peter's application was submitted before his uncle's death.

That had left him puzzled. Aizawa would have assumed the event had been far less recent, acting as a pivotal turning point in Parker's life that planted the seed of heroism and led him to aspire to U.A. in the first place. But apparently Parker had an entirely different motivation for applying to the support course. It also didn't explain why the kid felt so guilty about it. Sure, it would be fresh on his mind, but it sounded like Parker had held himself accountable for the event. Survivor's guilt, perhaps? Or maybe something more gradual. Judging from Mrs. Parker's voice, his aunt and uncle must be pretty old. I could see a case where it fell on Peter to provide for the family and subsequently struggle to pay for his uncle's medical bills, slowly seeing his uncle deteriorate in what he saw as direct correlation to his failure to provide proper care. Yes, that could be it. Could also explain why he became interested in hero support. Not only is it well paying, but Parker also could've been motivated to create the equipment and materials to help his uncle live healthily and comfortably, especially if he couldn't afford to buy those things from someone else. But that doesn't explain why he would choose to pursue that career by leaving his country, and therefore his family, nor does it explain that comment Mrs. Parker made about him being quirkless––the mere thought of that reveal gave Aizawa a headache. I suppose it all comes down to the circumstances of his death. No use speculating until I know that.

"My condolences, Mrs. Parker. If I may ask, what happened exactly?"

"I'm not too sure of the details, it's not something I like thinking about. Peter went to school that morning, Ben went to work. And then, sometime in the afternoon, a crook shot him in the street. I didn't find out until the police came to the house that evening to tell me, Peter came home to the news a short time after the police arrived, and well, he wasn't quite the same the next few days. But enough with that. I'm sure you don't want to hear the dour moods of an old widow and her anxieties. However can I help you, Mr. Aizawa?"

The answer certainly left Aizawa unsatisfied on all accounts, but he didn't think he'd get much more from harping on the issue. "No, no, it's my fault for bringing up the topic. Let's talk about Peter. What do you know about his life as a student? Does he do well in class, is he known to be a troublemaker? These things are always a bit of a concern when we have a foreign exchange student that's not accustomed to the Japanese way of doing things you see."

When she spoke again, Aizawa heard a sharp note of pride return to her voice. "I assure you my nephew is the cream of the crop, Mr. Aizawa. Perfect grades, never sluffs, and all of his teachers have nothing but praise. And he's been studying Japanese since he was nine years old, you'll find him as fluent as all your other students. You will have no issues with him, and if he ever does give you any trouble, tell me right away and I'll set him straight. On Peter's end though… I do fear he may have some trouble making friends. He suffered his fair share of bullying at his last school because of his quirklessness. Not to say the students at U.A. are anything less than model citizens, but with it being a hero academy, I'm worried he might have trouble fitting in when surrounded by such powerful quirks, especially when he's also a foreigner."

Aizawa had to admit that hearing this sweet old lady worry about her young nephew's school troubles was starting to affect him. "I understand your concerns, Mrs. Parker. Allow me to personally assure you that I won't allow anything of the sort to happen under my watch. As the people responsible for raising the heroes of tomorrow, we at U.A. enforce the highest standards of behavior, myself in particular. I maintain zero tolerance for villainous behavior like bullying."

"I'm glad to hear it, I'm sure my nephew will be safe in your hands, Peter's lucky to have such a diligent teacher."

"In light of Peter's quirk status, as well as his status as a foreigner, I would like to know a little more about his family's quirk history, I don't imagine I can ask his parents, so can you tell me what you know about what kind of quirks his relatives have."

"Yes, Peter's parents, Richard and Mary, they died in a plane crash when Peter was very young. I'm afraid I won't be much help when it comes to their quirk history: I married into the family, you see. But I do know that none of the Parker's have had very flashy quirks. Ben and Richard were quite athletic in their youths. From what I recall, Richard had always been quicker on his feet, though never quite as strong as Ben was. There was little else to their quirks besides that. Both of their quirks severely atrophied in their twenties, and we never learned why, though both of them did their best to stay in shape despite that, even against the doctors' orders. The process began before I had married Ben, in fact it was why his previous girlfriend had left him for his best friend. I knew it was a touchy subject for him, so I didn't ask about it much. For Richard it happened about 5 years before Peter was born. As for Mary, I'm sorry, I never got the chance to know her too well. She married Richard only a couple years before they died and their work often took them out of the country, she never talked much about her quirk anyway. I believe she had some kind of transformation quirk, though nothing impressive from her either. I do remember she mentioned once that she was a 1st generation quirk user, Ben and Richard were only 2nd generation. Peter was found to have the toe joint for quirklessness shortly before they died, we were all saddened by the news, but it wasn't much of a surprise considering his parents. I wish I could be of more help, Mr. Aizawa, but that's about all I know."

Aizawa's frown continued to sit stubbornly on his face. No answers, only more questions. "Thank you for your help, Mrs. Parker. Before I leave, have you been in contact with Peter recently?"

"Not much, no. It's been almost a week since he last called. From the few texts I've gotten it seems he's become very busy preparing for school, and more than a little stressed. Of course, I know you don't have anything to do with that."

Aizawa grimaced, suddenly feeling targeted and rather guilty for unknowingly straining the relationship between a poor old lady and her only surviving family. "I'll make sure to remind Peter to call home more often."

"Thank you, he works himself too hard sometimes. But why do you ask? Has something happened with Peter?"

"Right, all things considered you probably aren't aware yet. What do you know about Peter's studies here at U.A.?"

"He was accepted into your foreign exchange program for your school's courses in hero support, was he not? Is that not still the case?"

"Yes and no. In addition to being entered into Dr. Connor's support course, Peter has decided to take extra classes with me in the heroics department. That's why I'm calling. As a pro hero myself, I wanted to know more about Peter and his motivations for pursuing a career as a licensed hero."

"HE DID WHAT!?" Aizawa flinched and pulled the phone away from his ear. It was his own fault for being caught off-guard, such an eruption was to be expected. "I can't believe Peter hasn't mentioned anything of the sort to me, that young man is going to get an earful the next time I can get ahold of him! Oh, but where are my manners, I shan't shoot the messenger. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Mr. Aizawa. And thank you for your service as well, I had no idea I was speaking with a pro-hero all this time. Still, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this. My meek and quirkless nephew training to become a pro-hero, I never would have thought he had any interest in such a thing. Are you sure that's why he chose to take those classes? I can see how having experience with the way heroes are trained would be useful when developing support items, maybe that's why."

"I'm quite certain. Your nephew is anything but meek, Mrs. Parker. At U.A. we hold an entrance exam for the tens of thousands of students that aspire to take our heroics course. This exam involves fighting against an army of faux villains in the form of dangerous robots. Students who have no interest in the heroics course don't need to take that exam. Peter did it anyway. Not only that, but your nephew got the highest score in the history of our institution, disabling every single robot in the exam."

May was gobsmacked at the revelation. "Wha- B-but he's quirkless! How could you even allow him to take such a dangerous exam!? And do you honestly expect me to believe a fifteen year old child defeated an entire army of robots? It sounds like the set up to a bad joke, and I'm not very fond of being made to play the fool, Mr. Aizawa."

Aizawa supposed he did play up the situation a little much, but he needed to see how she would react.

"Normally we wouldn't allow it, but there are plenty of safeguards in place to ensure no harm comes to the students. And we were just as surprised as you to learn that one student managed to do something so unprecedented. He found a way to hack into the robots to make them fight each other before deactivating them all at once," Aizawa explained, assuaging her fears.

"I suppose that makes more sense, Peter has always been good with computers. Still, it is rather hard to believe that he would want to join a heroics course, I can hardly imagine how dangerous that career would be for someone with his disability, but I suppose there's nothing wrong with just taking the classes, especially at such a secure and prestigious school. Not that I could stop him anyhow, it must have been Ben's death that convinced him to change his mind, which means he's not going to give up on it now no matter what I say to him, Parker's just aren't like that, Ben was just the same way. I guess I'm just not yet ready to accept that he's already left the nest, but if this is the path he's chosen, then I couldn't be prouder of his decision, even if I am a little concerned. Oh, but why am I telling all of this to you anyway, excuse my rambling. Thank you for bringing all of this to my attention, Mr. Aizawa. I wish I could have been more helpful."

"It's no problem, Ma'am. As pro-heroes, being available to help is the least we can do, especially when it comes to showing gratitude for the parents of the next generation. Now if that's all, I have some more work I need to be getting back to."

"Just one last thing before you go."

"What is it?"

"Please look after Peter for me. Make sure he doesn't overwork himself or get into too much trouble. He needs to know he has good people like you supporting him, especially right now."

Aizawa paused. Even after years of hero work, these moments of heartfelt emotion still managed to overcome him. "...I'll do my best Mrs. Parker, you have my word," he finally replied before hanging up, unable to shake the feeling that he had just agreed to something that would end up leaving him way in over his head.

Well, I guess I didn't call him Headache #1 for nothing.

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