Chapter Text
The next morning, thanks to the hairspray Izuku had used, Bakugo still had the fake scars on. But the greenette had assured him that the make-up wouldn't stay on for more than a day or two, which meant that Katsuki had to go to class with it on. He didn't really mind; all his classmates had seen his scars and he'd even explained most of them so them seeing more wasn't a problem. And the teachers had already seen much worse of him, since they'd been present when Katsuki had received many of the injuries that had led to those scars.
Since it was quite warm at the moment, students were allowed to not wear their uniform jacket, so the blond did just that, slipping his shirt over his tank top. This way, the only scars visible were those on his arms, hands, neck and face, which meant that most of his fake scars were visible.
When Aizawa entered the classroom, barely a minute before classes began, his eyes quickly darted to each of his students, trying to see if he noticed anything unusual. And Bakugo's scars were definitely abnormal.
Aizawa knew perfectly well that Katsuki's quirk meant that his skin didn't leave scars after injuries, no matter how significant. And then, on closer inspection, the teacher noticed that it was actually make-up.
And what also unsettled him was the fact that the principal concerned didn't seem to give a damn, like the whole class in fact. Whereas this vision of the blond, covered in scars of varying degrees, was clearly strange, even for Aizawa who had seen most of these wounds with his own eyes.
Wanting to know what was going on, Aizawa was about to open his mouth to ask his Problem Child No. 2 what was going on when he caught the incendiary look his Problem Child No. 1 was sending him. And it made the older man freeze for a moment. That look in Midoriya's eyes wasn't entirely foreign to the teacher, but so far he'd only seen it directed at villains, or people the green man particularly disliked, like his sperm donor. Or Endeavor, but that's another story.
Finding himself on the receiving end of that look was clearly not something Aizawa appreciated. So rather than remark on it, he simply walked over to his desk and began his lesson as if nothing had happened as soon as the bell rang.
The morning's lessons went off without a hitch - surprising, given the class, but miracles did exist, apparently. And when lunchtime rolled around and the students began to put their things away, Aizawa remembered that he wanted to talk to one of his kids.
“Midoriya.” He called simply.
The little green boy looked up from his belongings and questioned his teacher with his eyes. The latter told him to stay a while and Midoriya nodded, simply telling his friends to go and eat without him and that he'd join them later. Of course, a few students said that Midoriya was going to get into trouble, as always, which made the green man fidget a little.
“Nobody's in trouble, no more than usual anyway.” Sighed Aizawa.
This didn't reassure Midoriya very much, but he nodded all the same.
If he'd been looking away at that precise moment, Aizawa would have missed it, but he did catch the quick exchange of glances between Midoriya and Bakugo, the latter seemingly sending a question of some kind to his childhood friend. The younger teen simply answered with a discreet nod and the blond one let it go, leaving the room with his friends.
Aizawa definitely didn't understand the relationship between these two.
Once it was just the two of them, Aizawa concentrated fully on Midoriya. “What does that mean, Problem Child?”
“What are you talking about, Aizawa-sensei?” Midoriya asked with convincing false innocence.
“Bakugo's fake scars, and the way you stopped me from asking him what they were.” Said the teacher directly, wasting no time beating around the bush.
Izuku felt himself blush a little as he realized that he had really disrespected his teacher this morning. But the reason he'd done it was more important. So he tried to keep his face fairly neutral, even if determined, and held his teacher's gaze, not lowering his eyes.
A moment's silence passed like that, neither teacher nor student determined to lower their eyes or speak further. Realizing that he had no chance of winning a stare-down battle with Aizawa-sensei, Izuku resolved to explain more. But that's not why he collapsed, and he continued to face his teacher during his explanation.
“Contrary to what some may believe, Kacchan's explosions don't come out of nowhere, they're actually the nitroglycerine he sweats out and detonates to make his explosions. Because of this, his nitroglycerin level, or more simply, his glycerin level, is quite high. And because of this, his skin regenerates too well after trauma, so he doesn't keep scars from his wounds.”
So far, Midoriya wasn't teaching Aizawa anything, but the latter still said nothing, letting the green man continue.
“However, even if his are not visible because of his quirk, Kacchan, like all of us, has scars. And they each have a story to tell. While some are silly, others really mean a lot and carry a lot of pain or other feelings for him. But because his skin doesn't bear the marks of these wounds, he tends to forget that they're real. And even more importantly, other people don't see these scars, so they don't see his traumas. And Kacchan has the impression - even if it's wrong, of course - that since he has no evidence of these wounds on him, feeling anything, negative or positive, about them is unfounded. And he manages to persuade himself that the pain he remembers because of his injuries is unjustified, so he doesn't deal with it and ignores it. What's more, since other people don't see his scars, they don't realize how much he's had to put up with to get where he is today. Everyone, myself included, has scars from our first quirk accidents, when we hadn't yet mastered them properly. Kacchan has them too, but because his don't stay on his skin, people don't realize what he's been through to get where he is, so they tell him he's gifted or some shit and nobody realizes the effort he's put in to get where he is today. Last night we were talking about scars with everyone and Kacchan wasn't feeling well because he doesn't have any to show, so I offered to paint his scars so he could see them and so could everyone else. And then he got better and was able to talk to the others about all his scars. And as I didn't want it to go away straight away, I put hairspray on it, so that's why the scars are still there this morning.”
Aizawa was honestly impressed by the fact that Midoriya had come up with all these explanations without catching his breath once, which explained why the green teen was now short of breath.
The homeroom teacher didn't respond immediately, taking time to reflect on what his student had just told him. It all made sense. He wasn't aware of it, but Midoriya had identified a discomfort in Bakugo and had found an effective, if temporary, way of solving the problem. Aizawa noted in the back of his mind that he'd have to talk to Problem Child n°2 about all this, but for now, he was simply content to know what was going on. And most of all, he was relieved to know that nothing bad was happening, for once.
And just as he was about to open his mouth to tell Midoriya that he could go, the little green man took him by surprise.
“Please, Sensei, don't punish Kacchan, he didn't ask for anything. I'm the one who insisted on drawing his scars, so it's all my fault. I'm sorry and I'm ready to accept my punishment without saying anything, but don't involve Kacchan in this, he didn't do anything and isn't responsible for it.” Midoriya almost begged as he bowed.
And now Aizawa thought that perhaps he should have spoken up earlier, or at least let his student know that he wasn't angry. The fact that Midoriya thought he was going to be punished for something so basic was also a little worrying, but this wasn't the time to think about that.
“Nobody's in trouble, and nobody's going to be punished.” He said simply.
“Really?” Midoriya asked as he straightened up, not seeming to believe it.
“Really” Aizawa confirmed. “I'm not going to punish you because you identified a problem with one of your classmates and found a simple, relatively quick and completely healthy solution for everyone. No, if I were to do anything it would be to thank you for dealing with the situation.”
“Oh thank you, thank you Aizawa-sensei!” Midoriya exclaimed, with a smile bigger than his face.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s okay. Go and eat.” Aizawa mumbled, hiding a little smirk in his capture weapon .
“Aye!” Exclaimed the young green man energetically, before quickly heading for the exit.
Aizawa watched him exit and realized a few seconds later that a slightly amused smile had formed on his lips. He quickly recovered and sighed, his face once again impassive. Damn, these kids were making him soft, he had to pull himself together.
Just as he was thinking this, he heard voices in the corridor. He was about to get up and have a look when he realized it was just his two main Problem Children. He didn't understand everything, but he seemed to sense that Bakugo was chasing Midoriya for doing... something. When the green man had clearly just come to his defense?
Aizawa sighed as he dropped his head on his desk; he'd never understand these two.