Chapter Text
Shouta rested his head against the wall of the hospital hallway, closing his eyes as he listened to the principal’s explanation. “So that’s it?” he asked, when the rodent was finished.
“It’s not what we expected, but it’s not the worst outcome. How is young Kaminari today?”
The door to Kaminari’s room was open a crack, and from where he stood Shouta could just see his student. “He was a little down this morning, so I brought my secret weapon.”
“Ah, of course. Do pass along my regards, and assure him that I will do everything in my power to support him in this difficult time.”
“I’ll do that.” Shouta hung up and tucked the phone back in his pocket. He paused for a moment outside the hospital room, not wanting to disturb the peace within it, before pushing the door open to enter.
Todoroki was sitting in one of the chairs, staring at something on his phone. Shinsou was leaning against the windowsill, his arms folded. Kaminari was sitting up in the bed with Eri squished up against him, one of her storybooks open on their laps as she read to him.
It was so different from when Todoroki had been hospitalized a few months ago. Then they’d had the constant underlying threat that Endeavor would find a way around the law and take his son back, and who knew what he would have done if he’d gotten his hands on Todoroki then.
Todoroki noticed Shouta first, picking up on some sign of tension in his body language. He tucked his phone into his pocket as he stood up and held a hand out to Eri. “Want to find something to drink?”
Eri was smart for her age. Her eyes went big as she looked up at Shouta. “What’s wrong?”
He squatted down, so that she was on eye level with him when she climbed down from the bed. “Nothing’s wrong,” he assured her, resting a hand on top of her head. “I just need to talk to Kaminari about something, and it would be better if we were alone.”
She was fiddling with the lace at the edge of her sleeve. Twisting and rolling it between her fingers. “Is he in trouble?” she whispered.
“Nobody’s in trouble,” he replied. Well. Nobody in here. There were a few people he wanted to have stronger words with, but none of them were in this room. “Just some private stuff, okay?”
“Okay.” Eri let Todoroki take her hand. “What kind of juice do they have here?” she asked, as they walked toward the door.
Todoroki didn’t seem to know how to answer it. Shouta tried to hide his grin as he watched them go, listening to Todoroki’s deadpan explanations and Eri’s curious replies.
He then stood up and looked at Shinsou. “Give us a minute?”
Shinsou pushed away from the window with a nod. He paused with a hand on Kaminari’s foot and shot him a quick grin. “The gift shop has coffee, want anything?”
Kaminari shook his head. He’d pulled his knees up to his chest, and he looked absolutely terrified…was Shouta really that scary?
After Shinsou left, Shouta pulled a chair closer to the bed, resting his forearms on his knees as he focused on Kaminari. “After what you told me yesterday, we had enough information to open an investigation against your parents. The principal analyzed the evidence we gathered and determined that it was enough to challenge them for parental rights. Do you know what that means?”
“It’s like adoption?” Kaminari guessed. “Like Todoroki and Eri?”
“Something like that. In a situation like this, usually the parents would agree to grant UA guardianship of the child. That doesn’t sever the family relationship completely, but it gives UA the right to act in place of a parent.”
Kaminari hugged his knees a little closer. “That’s not what they did.”
It was a statement, not a question.
Shouta took a deep breath. “When Nedzu challenged your parents for parental rights…they relinquished.”
Kaminari shook his head. “What does that mean?”
“They let you go,” Shouta said quietly. “They voluntarily transferred full custody to UA.”
He was still shaking his head. “That’s not…no….”
Shouta leaned in closer, resting a hand on Kaminari’s arm. “I’m sorry, Kaminari.”
Kaminari’s face was pinched. He jerked a hand up and rubbed his eyes, trying to hold back tears. “Just…just like that?”
“It’s not fair, I know.” Shouta shook his head. “We’ll get through this, kid. It’s gonna be okay.”
Kaminari had curled in on himself, resting his forehead against his knees. Shouta just waited, giving his student time to process. “What do I do now?” he finally asked. Shouta could hear the tears in his voice.
“Well, the doctor said you’ll probably be discharged this afternoon.”
“Not that. I mean…” he shrugged. “I’m just…it’s just over like that? They’re just done with me? There’s nothing else we can do?”
Shouta sighed. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’d know what options we have if they were fighting us on this, but…I think it’s just over.”
Kaminari sniffed and wiped his eyes again. “Do you think they…my parents…. If I wasn’t like this…if I could just….”
“Oh, kid.” Shouta shifted over to sit on the bed and wrap an arm around Kaminari’s shoulders. The boy fell against him, burying his face against Shouta’s shoulder as he cried. Shouta gently rubbed a hand up and down his back, tucking him in close enough that he could rest his chin on Kaminari’s head.
“I don’t think there’s anything you could have done,” he said after a few minutes. “Nothing is ever enough for people like that. You could force yourself into every box they label for you, and they’d still find something wrong. Your identity is just a convenient excuse; they’d be the same no matter who you are.”
Kaminari pulled away from him, and Shouta leaned back a little to let his student have some room. “Why did they even have me, then?” he asked, his voice breaking.
Shouta rested a hand on the back of his head, leaning down a little to look him straight in the eyes. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s the only good thing they’ve done in this world. And if they can’t see that, then I sure as hell can.”
His student’s eyes filled with tears, and Shouta pulled him close again. He let Kaminari cry it out, rubbing a hand up and down his spine. Eventually his tears quieted, and Shouta leaned back to let him shift around to sit next to him.
“You know, when I was little,” Kaminari said after a moment, “my mom used to threaten to leave me on somebody’s doorstep if I kept screwing up. Guess she finally did it.”
He didn’t know what to say to that, so he just let his student lean against him. He could tell Kaminari was fighting to hold it together, and his heart ached for the kid. His parents might not have been the best, but he couldn’t imagine how much it hurt to have them cut ties like this.
“So, you guys gonna draw straws or something?”
Shouta raised his eyebrows. “For what?”
“Come on, Mr. Aizawa. To see who gets stuck with me.”
“No straws, kid.” Shouta shook his head. He was starting to wish Mr. Kaminari had taken a swing at him in the lobby yesterday, he would have enjoyed putting that man on the ground. “You’re coming with me.”
“Oh.” There was a hint of relief in Kaminari’s voice for a moment, before he spoke up again. “But what about Shinsou?”
Shinsou was in a foster home. It wasn’t the worst home Shouta had ever seen (even if Shinsou called it Diet Tartarus), but he still didn’t want his protégé staying there. It just seemed like every time he had everything lined up to take custody of the kid, someone else needed his place. First Todoroki, then Eri, and now Kaminari.
“We’ll work it out,” he said. “He and I had a talk about it last night. I’m still trying, but it might take a little longer.”
Kaminari sighed. “I could go somewhere else?” he offered quietly.
“I want you with me,” Shouta replied. “You’re my student, I’ll sleep better knowing you’re under my roof.” Plus, he didn’t know how many of the other teachers knew Kaminari was trans. He thought Nemuri and Hizashi did, but he wasn’t sure who Kaminari had told. He was sure none of the teachers at UA would have a problem with it, but he wasn’t going to risk it. Not after Kaminari had already been through so much.
His phone beeped, and he pulled it out of his pocket to read the text message. “Todoroki wants to know if it’s okay to come back.”
Kaminari shrugged. “I guess.”
“I can send them home. It’s up to you.”
“It’s okay.”
He didn’t quite believe Kaminari but texted the all-clear to Todoroki anyway. A few seconds later, Todoroki slowly pushed the door open. Several bottles of brightly colored juice were tucked under one arm, Eri clinging to the other.
“We couldn’t decide,” he explained flatly, setting the bottles on the table. There were six. Shouta covered his mouth to hide his grin. Todoroki was so awkward with younger kids. He was probably lucky Eri hadn’t seen the snack vending machine, or she would have talked him into one of everything from there, too.
His phone beeped with an incoming call, and he excused himself. He bit back a sigh of frustration when he saw the principal’s name and made sure he was away from the door to Kaminari’s room before he answered. “Aizawa.”
“Have you finished your talk with young Kaminari?”
He sighed heavily, leaning against the wall. “He’s not taking it very well. I don’t blame him.”
“No, of course not. It may be for the best in the long term, but that doesn’t mean it’s not painful in the moment.”
“Right. So, what’s this about?”
“You know the apartment next to yours is vacant?”
“Yeah, I know.” Most of his floor was vacant, which suited him just fine.
“I spoke with Cementoss, and he says there will be no problem adding a few rooms to your apartment.”
“I see.” Shouta nodded to himself. He’d been wondering if they’d have to move to a bigger place on campus, so it was a relief to know they could add on to his apartment from the empty one.
“So, do you want one room or two?”
“Huh?” The question threw him off for a moment, and he cleared his throat. “We need a bedroom for Kaminari, and I’d like an office. We already discussed this.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Aizawa. In all the excitement I forgot. Your application for custody of young Shinsou was approved this morning.”
He froze. There were footsteps further down the hall, and he turned to see Shinsou walking toward him. He had his head down, eyes on his phone, and a plastic bag from the gift shop looped over his wrist. “Are you serious?”
“I know it’s at an unexpected time. His foster family has not been informed, as I wanted to leave the decision to you. Taking in two students at once is a big change. It’s a lot of responsibility.”
“They’re not cats, Principal,” he growled.
“I should hope not! But please consider this possibility carefully. There would be no shame in delaying young Shinsou’s transfer while you adjust to having another youngster in your home. I know how much it upsets you when your routine is disturbed.”
He rolled his eyes at the teasing lilt in Nedzu’s voice. Shinsou had reached him at this point, staring between him and the door. He pointed at the door to Kaminari’s room and raised his eyebrows, and Shouta held up a hand to stop him.
“I don’t need your decision immediately, just—”
“Two,” Shouta said decisively. He grinned at Shinsou, who raised his eyebrows even further. “Tell him I want two.”
He hung up the phone and stuffed it in his pocket, reaching out to rest a hand on Shinsou’s shoulder. “Come on. We’ve got something to talk about.”
…
It was still dark when Shouta awoke the next morning. There was a half day of classes ahead, plus an afternoon course of rescue training, and after the last few days he was going to need a lot of coffee to get through it. He moved through the apartment silently, trying not to disturb the other occupants. Todoroki had gone back to the dorms last night, which he’d expected, but Kaminari had asked if he could stay with Shouta, which had surprised him. He’d thought his outgoing and social student would feel better surrounded by his friends, but Kaminari had been withdrawn and subdued.
Shouta stopped at Eri’s room first, peeking in through the cracked door to check on her. She was flat on her back, as always, her hair a messy halo on her pillow, and Mochi sprawled over her legs. Eri was the orange cat’s favorite person, after Todoroki, and Shouta usually found him sleeping in the girl’s bed.
Todoroki’s room would be empty, as Kaminari had felt awkward about using it even if Todoroki was in the dorms. It would still be a few days until Cementoss could modify the apartment, and even then they’d need to get Kaminari and Shinsou some furniture, so the blond kid was camped out on Shouta’s couch. He crept through the living room to the kitchen to start the coffee, and gradually became aware of a pair of amber eyes staring at him from the couch.
He smiled and held his finger up to his lips, and Pepper blinked at him. She was lying on Kaminari’s chest, her legs tucked under her body in a position Hizashi had dubbed “the Pepper loaf”. Shouta silently approached the couch, extending two fingers to rub Pepper’s head between her ears. “Were you keeping an eye on him, Pep?” he whispered. “That’s a good girl.” He looked down at Kaminari, a sad smile on his face. Kaminari’s face was relaxed in sleep, showing no signs of the grief he’d been through yesterday. Shouta himself had barely slept, listening for any sounds of nightmares or distress. But every time he’d come out to check on his newest charge, Kaminari had been sleeping peacefully.
Pepper was staring at him, with an expression that demanded an explanation. Shouta curled his fingers around the back of her head to scratch at the base of her ear. “He’s ours now, Pepper,” he murmured. “You can keep him.”
Hizashi would probably be disappointed that he’d been replaced as Pepper’s favorite person, but he’d learn to live with that.
Shouta’s kid was home now, and that was all that mattered.