Chapter Text
Aizawa is just leaving campus, hands shoved in his pockets and his face buried in his scarf, when Shinsou approaches him.
The teen is very clearly approaching him for a reason, though he's acting so overly casual it's almost comical.
“What do you want, kid?” Aizawa asks, startling the boy. He's in a bit of a rush though, Hizashi had to go straight to his patrols after his classes and then to the radio station, which means the cats hadn't been fed since morning.
He sighs as he refocuses on the student fidgeting in front of him. When he still isn't met with an answer, Aizawa makes to leave again before Shinsou finally erupts with a, “Wait!”
Aizawa raises an eyebrow and motions his hand in a way he hopes will encourage the kid to spit it out already.
“I want to be a hero.” Seems to be what Shinsou settles on.
Right. Shinsou is in the gen ed course. He actually did pretty decently in the sports festival aside from completely relying on his quirk.
“Okay.” Aizawa prompts because he isn't sure what the teen wants from sharing this information.
“I was hoping you could train me. To fight like you.”
The teacher considers the request. He's got a lot of potential. He certainly has motivation. However, it was still highly unlikely he would make it without some serious dedication. And even then he still might not make it. Plus this would be a huge commitment on Aizawa’s part.
“It's gonna be hard to get into the heroics department right now.” Aizawa warns.
This kid still hasn't even introduced himself yet. The only reason Aizawa can think of his name is because of the nature of his quirk, how much he saw of himself in his situation. But he's also pretty sure that Shinsou doesn't even know his name.
“I know! I'm ready for whatever! I just don't have the combat experience. I know you've probably got a busy schedule and all but-” Shinsou’s eyes shine and his hands are balled up into fists at his sides, like he thinks Aizawa’s already said no. “It's just I think you're a great hero and to be trained by Eraserhead would be-”
Aizawa holds up a hand, effectively cutting him off. Eraserhead huh? “I think I've heard enough.” The teacher starts.
“O-oh. Sorry for taking up your time.” Shinsou apologizes as tears start to spill onto his cheeks. “I at least had to ask right?” He gives a choked laugh and Aizawa feels his chest ache at the disappointment in his expression. The teen stares straight at the ground as he continues before the hero can get a word in to correct him. “I didn't even think it was possible to transfer until I heard that you did it and I thought who better to ask? Anyways. Have a good night.”
Aizawa watched Shinsou finally wipe at his face listlessly to clear away the wetness, only to bury his face in his elbow to hide the fresh tears that wouldn't stop, no matter how stoic the kid tried to play it. Aizawa hadn't even said no.
The teacher releases a deep sigh and steps forward to rest a steady hand on the students shoulder. Shinsou froze at the contact. Then he finally brought wide eyes up to meet heavy ones.
“You're first lesson,” Aizawa begins, “is that you shouldn't jump to conclusions.”
For a long moment, Shinsou stared in shock. Unblinking and speechless. Tears still falling. The erasure hero was growing impatient with the lack of reaction.
He was already not the greatest at interacting with people and now he has a student, that technically isn't even his, crying and frozen like a deer in the headlights in front of him. Great. He was already rethinking his decision as he removed the hand from his shoulder and snapped in front of the boy's face, causing the kid to snap into focus.
“Lesson number two is to not freeze like a rabbit with a predator. In fact, you'll have to work a lot on your reactions and timing in general.” Aizawa chided already in teacher mode. Shinsou broke into a small smile, finally catching up to the implication that Eraserhead(!) was talking like he planned to help him. “You’re fight against Midoriya during the sports festival was sloppy at best.” he continued, analyzing what he could remember.
Shinsou nodded quickly, taking mental note of every word the pro had to offer. Then, just to be sure, he asked, “So, you’ll train me?”
“Yes.” Aizawa confirmed. “But you’re right that I’m busy. You’ll have to work just as hard on the days I'm not available to help you. You know where my classroom is?”
Shinsou cringed at the memory of the last time he visited the 1-A class, but nodded.
“Come see me there tomorrow morning before class and we'll discuss a schedule.” Aizawa finished and began walking away. He has cats to feed.
“Yes sir! Thank you.” The teen called almost as an afterthought.
Aizawa just waved it off as he turned a corner, out of sight.
He can’t say he wasn’t looking forward to teaching the kid. He’s all too familiar with his situation. Maybe another transfer will encourage Nezu to change the entrance exam.