Chapter Text
From the shadow of a towering pile of garbage, Shouta stared at a scrawny, scrappy little kid, struggling to carry a broken microwave in his arms. Hell, it was technically half-a microwave at this point with how much had rusted away. The kid had spirit, he had that much going for him but there was a deep worry about that spirit dying out as the kid saw how steep and treacherous the road ahead was.
He was broken out of his thoughts when the kid made it to Toshinori’s truck (Why does All Might have a truck?), and hoisted the microwave into place before slumping against the tailgate. Before Shouta could get too concerned, Toshi was right there, talking the kid through breathing exercises before making an exaggerated demonstration of how to safely pick up heavy objects.
It would be kinda cute if only dragging around tons of garbage without any kind of cardio or proper weight training wasn’t Toshinori’s idea of introductory training. The kid was going to tear his tendons to shreds before he even got to take the entrance exams.
The only reason Toshinori was alive at this point and not wrapped in all 30 feet of Aizawa’s capture weapon was because the kid was wearing thick work gloves and long sleeves despite the heat. Heatstroke was relatively preventable with water and moderation. Tetanus was not when you’re surrounded by and constantly picking up rusted garbage.
Despite his intended casual camouflage, Aizawa’s sigh was deep and even loud enough to hear.
If Toshinori wanted a “mini-me” to train, this kid was close enough to the kind of book intelligence but life stupidity that Toshinori was made of. He even had the same level of self-preservation. That much was obvious the night Toshinori chose him.
Shouta had been elbow-deep in grading essays in the teachers’ office when his phone went off with the vibration pattern set for Toshinori. It wasn’t all too important at the moment until more texts came in, one after another, practically shaking it off his desk. With a bit of annoyance, Shouta picked up his phone, worried about an emergency but also expecting to be spammed with pictures of kittens again.
He wished it was the kittens.
As quickly as he could process the words, Shouta had a new window up on his computer, searching the keywords Toshinori told him. The shaky news footage that came up made him nauseous, even years into hero work.
A child, probably in middle school, trapped within the quirk of a villain, flames consuming the buildings around them as Backdraft struggled to prevent it from getting worse. The poor kid looked so stressed, struggling and thrashing, unable to free his mouth and nose from the suffocating hold the villain had on them.
The camera zoomed out and before Shouta could cuss out the filmer, he genuinely did blurt out several swears when he saw several heroes just standing around, looking tense but doing nothing to save the suffocating child.
Even though this had happened hours ago, Shouta’s hindbrain was screaming for him to go, run there and at least try to save the kid. It was only his trust and respect for Toshinori that he continued watching.
After a few moments of nothing significant happening, there was a disturbance at the front of the crowd, and the camera person rapidly zoomed in just in time to focus on someone breaking free of the crowd.
It was another fucking kid .
What happened next wasn’t clear enough to make out, but kid number 2 threw something at the villain, making the villain flinch enough to let go of kid number 1’s face. But that small stitch of hope was short-lived as the villain raised his grotesque hand with the obvious intention of crushing the meddling kid.
And then All Might showed up and everything was wrapped up with a big ol’
All Might smile stamped right on top.
Shouta almost rolled his eyes at that ending, happy that the children survived sure, but not happy that it took All Might showing up for this low-tier villain to be taken out.
Between combing the internet for more videos of the incident, from closer up, better angles, etc. Shouta stopped to read Yagi’s explanations of the direction situation along with the clusterfuck that happened before that. And as much as he wanted to choke Yagi for crushing a kid’s dreams and letting the villain escape, he knew the pain of being so absolutely physically exhausted that you can’t even fathom moving, let alone being able to fight.
It was all just so fucked.
And it was not made better when Toshinori declared he was going to train this kid with no self-preservation skills.
Which led Shouta to where he ended up standing beside mountains of garbage, watching Toshinori’s teaching be garbage.
He managed to catch Toshinori’s eye without alerting the kid and while the man wasn’t startled per se (too many years in the hero business for that), he did seem surprised to see Shouta.
Whatever he said to the kid got him to walk away and allowed Toshinori to walk over to Aizawa unbothered.
“On a scale of one to ten, how much trouble am I in?”
This just set Shouta’s frown much deeper on his face.
“I don’t even know how to respond to that at this point. I’m glad the kid is alive after all of that but what I don’t understand is this rash decision to make him your successor-”
“Student,” Toshinori blurted out, immediately looking apologetic. “Just, student. I haven’t even told him about OfA yet. If you think he’s absolutely not the right kid, if his parents refuse, he doesn’t want it, or whatever, that doesn’t mean he can’t still train to take the entrance exam.”
Even as a part of him respected Toshinori’s optimism, Aizawa knew the truth of the entrance exams. Even if the kid could get past them, he’d get crushed under 19 hero course students enraged that he even dared take the exam.
“Yagi…”
“I know but think about it,” Toshinori pushed. “Even if not UA, there are a million schools that’d be willing to take on a nontraditional hero student. Sir Nighteye came out top of his class and has spent his active years absolutely crushing the competition. Plus you’re not doing all that bad for yourself.”
It was a bit of a dig at Shouta’s opinions on “heroic quirks” and Shouta’s career in general but that was ignored in favor of him rubbing at his temples, trying to push back the oncoming headache.
“The kid is going to be crushed when you have to drop his training to concentrate on your successor.”
There was just a flash of emotion on Toshinori’s face but he wiped it away too fast for Shouta to catch what it was. Instead, Toshi just continued smiling that signature smile.
“That’s why I warned him that I might not be able to be there all the way up to the entrance exam but he would absolutely have a teacher up until then. Either you or I can call in a favor or two.”
Shouta’s headache was coming in full force at this point. He ended up with his thumbs rubbing at his temples while he laced his fingers together above his brow to create some shade for his eyes. This was all so illogical.
“I’m not completely pissed but there are a few key factors you’re missing here, Yagi. Including but not limited to I assume you didn’t look into his background or family to see if maybe he is trying to lull you into a false sense of security so he can get your quirk.”
He wasn’t looking up at this point otherwise he would have seen Toshinori sweating when Shouta called him by his family name aloud. They had seemed like they were getting along better.
Aizawa moved his hands away from his face, barely catching a glimpse of Toshinori’s expression before it was concealed by his usual facade.
“Actually, scratch that. Mostly. You didn’t tell him about your quirk or offer it to him. That’s the most important thing here, not my paranoid tendencies. Yes, I’d like to look into his record but that can wait for now.”
Deep down, Shouta wanted to add that his extra aggression was coming from the sensory overload of being at this unfamiliar beach combined with his building headache, aka it wasn’t his fault. But at this point, he was honest enough with himself that he didn’t say anything and just made a mental note that he might need to go talk to Dr. Shun again.
Anything else that could have been said was shut down when light and rapid footsteps through the sand alerted them both to Midoriya’s presence. Even sweating through his shirt and looking like he was ready for a ten-hour nap, the kid still perked up and smiled when he saw Toshinori.
“Hi All Mi-”
He fell silent when he noticed Shouta standing casually off to the side.
“Uh,” was the elaborate statement he managed to squeak out, still pinned by Shouta’s unnerving gaze.
When he didn’t manage to say anything after that, Shouta turned his attention back to Toshinori.
“You didn’t give him a name to call you? What’s he supposed to say when you’re in front of people?”
“It didn’t seem important at the time.”
“Giving your real name so he has something different to shout in public besides your secret identity didn’t seem important at the time?”
A small crude grin broke out on Shouta’s face, unable to stamp down his slight enjoyment of the situation. At least it was enough to alert Toshinori that he wasn’t being serious.
“Well, he’s right. Sorry, my boy, I wasn’t even thinking of that. My name’s Yagi Toshinori. You don’t have to call me sensei or anything. I’d actually be a pretty crap teacher hence why I have my friend Aizawa here.”
Aizawa just nodded slightly at the kid because the full power of his smile generally scared most people.
Not that he wasn’t going to try and scare the shit out of him as motivation later.
“I’m going to need a baseline for your abilities to see how you’re progressing. I don’t have any equipment besides my phone’s stopwatch so it’ll be vague but good enough for now.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Shouta noticed the kid starting to look uncomfortable pretty fast once he started talking. He was going to say something but the kid beat him to it.
“Um, sir?”
“Aizawa.”
“Right, Aizawa. I…” The kid trailed off for a moment and had to physically swallow a couple of times as he tried to continue. “I don’t know what you’re expecting but don’t get your hopes up. I -um- I’ve never done physical training before.”
Shouta had to resist deeply sighing.
“You aren’t the first and you won’t be the last, kid. At least you’re starting in middle school. I’ve seen some hero wannabes who look like they’ve never picked up a barbell in their life.”
It wasn’t much, but the kid no longer looked like he was going to piss himself, so Shouta guessed that was a win.
“Go find a spot clear of debris and stretch. I’ll be over in a bit to make sure you aren’t doing more damage than good.”
At least the kid listened to instruction well enough, quickly rushing away from the two adults to find a safe spot.
With them alone again, Shouta allowed himself a weary sigh and more rubbing at his temples.
“Is something wrong?” Toshinori asked cautiously.
“Teaching kids from scratch is a pain. He’s got some discipline but just from his physique and running pattern, we’re going to have to teach him proper exercising forms first. Before we can even get to the actual training.”
“But he’s not bad, right?”
Shouta shrugged, casually walking to the side to get the kid in his line of eyesight again.
“Could be worse.”
Shouta hated being right.
It wasn’t the kid’s fault. He was giving it his all the whole time, without the threat of expulsion, motivated only by Toshi’s positive reinforcement and Shouta’s silent nods. But his all was on the low end of the spectrum, even for a kid his age.
Even that alone wouldn’t be all that bad but Shouta was a master of noticing small details and going unnoticed so he could see even more.
The kid flinched whenever someone raised their hand near him. He looked like he was going to pass out when some rusted piece of metal fell onto another, creating a loud sound. Worst of all, he had scars. Based on how many were on just his hands when he took his gloves off for the toe touch, he was being hurt badly enough to require a hospital.
Either Toshinori hadn’t noticed or he was staying silent about it until further notice for some important reason. Because God forbid even the notion that Toshinori was purposefully hiding this little bit of information.
Unless it was unsafe for the kid to go home, that whole discussion would have to wait until Shouta had gained more trust if he didn’t want the kid to completely shut him out and possibly become wary of Toshinori too.
It would probably be worse if the kid found out Shouta planned on using his hero credentials to dig into his and his parents’ past to check for signs of abuse or criminal activity.
He could probably get away with a small phycological evaluation within some “reasonable” questions but anything more than “Are you safe to go home?” would need to be something he’d have to plan if he wanted it subtle.
“Alright kid. You’re done with all the physical tests.”
Years of teaching gave Shouta the insight to know for a fact that the kid’s tense shoulders dropped and he at least internally smiled at the idea of training being over.
“This isn’t quite useful for the entrance exam but I want to see how you’d do with some of these paper test questions.”
Shouta moved to get off his perch, a toppled fridge, and move to a busted dryer next to it, at least to give the kid some comfort that he wasn’t going to fall through a secretly rusted exterior. Surprisingly, the kid came over with more enthusiasm than Shouta thought he would have for a test, especially right after heavy physical training.
“I’m guessing you want something besides my school subjects considering you could just ask for those copies,” Midoriya said casually as he pulled himself up onto the fridge.
“ And that’s already a point for him ,” Aizawa thought while pretending to be distracted with his notes.
“I’m going to propose random heroics scenarios with you as the pro hero but with different quirks. I’ll give you the rundown of the scenario, then you can ask a few questions, then you have to explain to me how you would save the citizens, defeat the villains, or whatever, all with minimal property damage and risk to your own safety.”
You’d think that he’d just gifted the kid that ultra-rare recalled All Might Plush that swears. Either that light in the kid’s eyes was a sign that this was going to be a no-brainer or Shouta was probably going to have to spend the next five years cleaning him of his self-destructive tendencies.
“I’ll do my best, sir!”
“It’s not the most important thing as a very young potential hero student but please do remember that the faster you come up with a plan, the better chance you have of winning.”
Something in the kid’s sudden change in body language suggested this would be a difficult task for him.
Shouta didn’t have the patience to wait for the kid to admit that so he just started.
“You’re a hero with a general strength enhancement quirk. You come across a villain who can superheat the concrete and has been making lava/boiling tar. How do you take him out with the least amount of property and personal damage.”
Midoriya stared at him for all of one second before he curled in on himself a bit, pulling at his lip as he started to mumble.
And he just.
Kept.
Going.
Even with his years of spying on criminal conversations and trying to decipher whispered student gossip, Shouta was lost by the time the kid even got to talking about the villain.
He waited until the kid seemed to have at least the outline of a plan before he gestured for the kid to stop.
“Coming up and following plans like that on the fly are skills for much older students but I still wanted to stop you. I don’t need too detailed of an answer, just sum up what you have now.”
While he shied away from the criticism, the kid obeyed and laid out his decent capture plan.
The short version involved using rubble as a shield when needed, then using more rubble/fellow heroes to distract the villain while “he” used his strength to get enough speed to surprise the villain with the quirk dampening cuffs. It was a pretty decent plan even by high school standards. Plus, the time he spent mumbling at the beginning was less time than most people required to come up with something like that.
The kid started to look more and more nervous as Shouta mulled the plan over. It wasn’t until the older man simply said, “I’d follow that plan,” that the poor kid not only relaxed but looked at Shouta like he had hung the moon.
“Next scenario.”
By the time they made it to the last question, they were way off-topic and the kid had Shouta at a loss, struggling to refute Midoriya’s arguments for public heroics rather than everyone being underground heroes. It got to the point where the kid was still talking but it was obvious he was on the verge of crying, the topic so deeply ingrained into his past.
Eventually, Shouta had to concede. All Might may be a showoff but if his image truly inspired this kid to keep moving even after having his dreams crushed underfoot, maybe there was a need for some public heroes.
“Just don’t let this win go to your head, kid,” Shouta grumbled as the kid beamed at him despite his damp eyes. “There’s a lot of kids that even All Might can’t reach. Don’t you think there ought to be more public heroes with ‘villainous’ or ‘weak’ quirks like mental and mutation quirks?”
He immediately regretted the question as Midoriya blasted him with another tangent about existing heroes, their careers and where he thinks they would be now if they were “traditional” heroes based on their captures, saves, etc. By the time he got to the idea of non-traditional heroes specifically doing charities and PSAs about discrimination geared towards the minority they belong to, Shouta had caught up but was torn between listening and mentally scribbling down these ideas.
Already neck-deep in the conversation, Shouta asked about specific heroes. He was hit with a few dozen names, the most familiar being Cementoss, Ectoplasm, Best Jeanist, and surprisingly Eraserhead.
“I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed to know about underground heroes,” Shouta drawled, trying for a casual tone.
Midoriya looked at him like he had two heads.
“Have you not seen the forums!? We don’t circulate information about big cases, quirks, and fighting styles because it could be used against them, but it’s amazing to read someone’s story about how they are alive today because Blackclaw pulled them out of the way and fought off their attacker. I don’t have any stories myself but Eraserhead is my favorite, even if it’s just because he uses a tool and his fighting skills rather than a quirk to take down villains.”
Shouta thanked whatever god was out there that he had chosen workout clothes rather than his hero costume that day. As cute as the kid was, he didn’t need to know Shouta’s identity yet.
“I’m not saying they can’t be cool. It’s just important to remember that they are underground for a reason. Do you mind sharing the forum site you are talking about? I doubt it will be shut down but there might need to be stronger censors just in case.”
The kid seemed wary, probably fearing the loss of this interaction but he still rattled off three different sites for Shouta to look into.
With the information written down, Shouta stood up off of the dryer and gestured for Midoriya to do the same, only to have to catch him by the arm when the kid’s knees buckled under him.
“Muscles still burning?”
The kid nodded miserably, able to stand on his own after a moment.
“Go find a spot to stretch again. It’ll help you shake it off mostly by tomorrow.”
While he was watching the kid jog off to the clean spot he had made earlier, Shouta noted how exhausted the kid looked just from his body language. Maybe he had been pushing himself too hard during the physical tests trying to prove himself worthy of Toshinori’s attention.
It wasn’t bad at this point but Shouta would have to keep an eye on it to make sure the kid wasn’t constantly pushing himself too hard.
But that train of thought would have to be tucked away for a while as there were more pertinent things to work on.
“Toshinori, when I said to go drop off the truckload at the junkyard, I think I was pretty clear I didn’t want you around for a while. And yet you’ve been standing there for several minutes.”
After a moment, Toshinori shuffled around the tower of large appliances, trying to act casual as if Shouta hadn’t just called him out for eavesdropping.
“So...does he get your approval?”
Shouta frowned at that question.
“For now, yes, but it all depends on his improvement. He’s a smart kid but his mind works too fast and instead he works on instinct which is going to get him killed if his instincts say to throw a backpack at a rampaging villain without a backup plan.”
“Close enough to approval for me!”
Shouta tried to glare away Toshi’s sunny disposition but failed as Toshi was too busy thinking of how to ask Midoriya’s parents if he could give their son a quirk.
“Yagi.”
The tone of Shouta’s voice startled Toshinori out of his daydreams, a mix of annoyance and bone-deep exhaustion making Shouta sound more like an undertaker than a hero and teacher.
“You don’t have to tell me. I know he needs lots of training, even if his parents or he refuse OfA. We don’t have a lot of time, so we need to get to work to make sure he can bulk up enough for OfA or switch to something different if he doesn’t end up with it.”
It was a little hard for Shouta to resist rolling his eyes at the mention of “bulking up” as a part of training.
“I’m not 90 percent muscle and I’ve been able to use OfA without injuries several times. Whatever strength training-based plan you have, we need to shake it up to add self-defense, cardio, flexibility, balance, and meditation.”
“Meditation?” Toshinori repeated mindlessly.
“The most important thing is to give the kid a chance to learn control and how to use a quirk as an extension of himself. He’s used to being quirkless so he doesn’t know how to use a quirk. Otherwise muscle or no muscle, he’d break himself.”
“That’s why you’re the teacher,” Toshinori said sheepishly, trying to smile through it.
“And that’s why you need a crash course in teaching too,” Shouta said simply, purposefully ignoring Toshinori’s surprise. “You don’t have a lot of time to prep before you’re supposed to be teaching heroics to 40 of these brats with 40 different quirks and 40 different personalities.”
“Ah,” Toshinori said simply, feeling like a lectured child.
Shouta said nothing, simply starting to walk away gesturing for Toshinori to follow with a tilt of his head. Halfway down the beach, they found a spot where they could watch Midoriya stretch but still talk privately.
“If I can get anything about teaching through your thick skull by next year, it better be that your priority is the safety and wellbeing of your students. Whatever comes with it is just a bonus.”
He semi-aggressively pointed at Midoriya.
“I don't want him pushed ‘Plus Ultra’ past his limits right into a hospital bed. We need to be better than our predecessors.”
This elicited a few sharp memories of being beaten down to the point of vomiting by Gran Torino’s hand and still forced to continue the fight. The very idea of doing the same to this bright and bubbly kid made him queasy.
“Right. Hell, I didn’t even think about going that far.”
“Good.”
With that simple word, Shouta did his best to express a positive end to the conversation without flashing his “Babadook” smile and making Toshinori even more unnerved. Whether it was a success or not is up for deliberation as Shouta turned away to go walk over and check on Midoriya once more.
Toshi must have gotten lost in his thoughts, trying to remember what Nana’s training was like, but instead being bombarded with memories of bruises and blood courtesy of a well-meaning but soul-crushing Gran Torino. He was sure that Nana was softer than that, teaching him the forms and techniques before throwing him on his ass and correcting his form. Would he have become so self-destructive if she had been around just a little longer?
He was pulled out of those thoughts when Midoriya and Shouta reappeared, Midoriya apparently stretched out enough.
“Um, Mr. Yagi, are you okay? You looked like you were spacing out for a minute.”
Toshi tried the best imitation of his genuine smile and nodded casually.
“Just reminiscing about my own teacher when I was just a bit older than you. This ol’ dinosaur just needs to get his head out of the clouds.”
This spurred a rapid-fire argument from Midoriya as they walked towards the sidewalk, happy to be done with the long day. Toshi tried to smile at the kid but there was only so much he could do while being told that he wasn’t the age he thought he was. Shouta was mysteriously quiet, likely hiding a smile behind his hair.
Once on the sidewalk, Midoriya pulled out his phone, probably to check what trains were still running.
“No need,” Shouta said simply. “We went a little too far past your limit today so you’ll be spared the walk home.”
He gestured to the most strikingly un-Aizawa-like car visible from their spot on the sand. Midoriya hadn’t even considered the older man would be at all interested in America, let alone have an American sports car.
It made more sense when he noticed that there was someone already in the driver’s seat, excitedly waving at the trio.
Shouta sighed for what felt like the millionth time that day but at least this time, it was not a sign of frustration or exhaustion but rather symbolically releasing the deep breath he took in when walking up to the garbage-covered sand.
Strangely it was Toshi who spoke up first.
“Is that a Camero?”
“Is the reverse weeaboo feeling nostalgic for America?”
There was a moment where Toshi just frowned at Shouta who smirked, knowing he hit a sore spot. Years ago, it wasn’t until after he had already debuted the super-move that someone thought to remind him that Detroit was a city, not a state. With his own America-loving husband, Shouta knew exactly how to get under his skin.
“Um, Mr. Aizawa?”
The two adults turned back to look at a very confused Midoriya.
“I trust All Might saying you’re a good person but I’m not sure about…”
The poor kid looked like he was expecting to be yelled at for that comment.
“Don’t worry, my boy. Yamada is also a safe person, have I mentioned that these two are teachers for a hero program?”
That was enough to light up Midoriya’s face like the sun had decided to come back up.
“You don’t need to know where,” Shouta said sternly, the harshness of his tone more aimed at Toshi than Midoriya.
“And besides,” Toshi said with a smile. “Once I had dinner at their home and had their kitten trying to steal food right from my chopsticks, I can’t not trust them.”
Shouta at the moment was just silently hoping that the kid didn’t notice that Toshinori said ‘their home’ or the kid assumed they were just roommates.
“It’s your choice, kid,” Shouta finally decided to add. “I’d rather make sure you get home safe but obviously you have a choice.”
Midoriya took one more glance at Toshinori and then Hizashi in the Camero before shyly nodding.
“Great!” Toshi said just a little too loud next to Shouta’s ear.
Shouta let them run through their goodbyes, suggestions for next time, what to do between now and the next time, etc. but decided to wait over by the car. If Hizashi’s smirk wasn’t as endearing as it was, he probably would have turned right back around.
“So...how much did he impress you that you’re willing to give him a ride home?”
“I’ll tell you more about it later, the kid’s already coming this way.”
With a familiar maneuver, Shouta moved the passenger seat forward, giving the gangly middle schooler enough room to get in. Shouta had enough foresight to keep the seat like that for when the kid didn’t quite understand the seat belt.
“Hizashi prefers having a customized car rather than an accurately restored one. It’s preferable to most cars but when most of Japan rarely uses transportation that requires a seat belt, it can get tricky,” Shouta said as he reached in and positioned the latch so the kid could buckle himself in.
With Midoriya safe and as comfortable as possible in that tiny backseat, Hizashi pulled out, giving them enough time to wave at Toshinori before seamlessly joining traffic.
At first, it was a bit awkward as Hizashi tried to find how loud he could be without spooking the kid and as the kid was obviously well on his way to sleep now that he had a comfortable spot to rest.
When eventually he didn’t get an answer to a simple question, Shouta shifted around, managing to get a glance at the kid, completely knocked out, leaning against the door with his face smushed into the window.
Yeah, they’d definitely have to pull back on the intensity for a while. The kid still needed to do decent enough in school and couldn’t be knocked out every night before homework.
It was strange, already thinking of this kid like his student. It was nearing the end of the school year, and he had no greatly promising students. Only half of them were left, some gone due to repeated disciplinary issues, some to the stress and horrors of hero work scaring them off.
It wasn’t rational to hope but he genuinely hoped Midoriya was going to make it at least to UA, if not the hero program. Best case scenario, he’d land in Shouta’s class and would have to deal with knowing now that he’d been gushing to Eraserhead about Eraserhead for several months.
If Shouta could just keep his identity a secret for the next year, the kid would probably squeal louder than any of his classmates when a “homeless” man walked in and started threatening expulsion.
He let himself smile just a little as he closed his eyes to think about it. After the poor kid got over the fact that he’d been hiding this for so long, he’d be a decent student, driven but shy. Maybe enough to be Class Vice President? Even if not, he’d be a great motivator when the students were getting too weary of threats of expulsion or detention.
But that would come later. For now, the kid could just sleep.