Chapter Text
Nezu’s beady eyes seemed to hold a strange twinkle in them as he stood from the conference table in U.A High’s faculty staffroom. The staff force of over fifty men and women stood slowly in turn after seeing the principal do so. You followed suit, clutching the packet full of paperwork that you had been given only moments ago. Your eyes barely took in your own name on the front of the packet before the principal continued speaking. Tearing your eyes from the packet of information, your gaze attentively flicked back to U.A’s principal.
“The safety of our students is of utmost priority, as are the wishes of their parents pertaining to their care under our faculty’s close watch.” Nezu’s perpetually smiling mammalian face looked to be more on the creepy side than cute in that moment. You forced your expression to remain neutral as his eyes made brief contact with yours before he levelled every other present faculty member with the same indecipherable look. “As such, each class enrolled in every level, program and stream housed on campus will be assigned both a male and female member of faculty as their dormitory advisors.”
A familiar snort of amusement carried from somewhere to your right, though you didn’t have to turn your head at all to know that it was Present Mic.
“Ha! Homeroom teachers are definitely stuck here at the dorms. Suck it, Eraser!”
“Hm.” Eraserhead grunted, though you almost didn’t hear him. You blinked rapidly and shook your head, the motion barely noticeable, as you focused once again on what Principal Nezu was saying to all the staff.
“Mr Yamada is correct in his assumption, as expected.” Nezu nodded pleasantly. “Each homeroom teacher will reside with their classes in the assigned dormitories, along with an additional staff member of opposite gender. I trust that all faculty members will conduct themselves appropriately, and will take on the caretaker role with a full sense of parental responsibility. These students will no longer just be minds to bestow knowledge upon; they will be yours to nurture and to discipline. They will be yours to comfort and guide.”
The faculty members around you broke out into murmurs, though you focused on Nezu with the diligence and drive that had always gotten you through major phases of change in your life. Parental responsibility sounded like a heavy gig, but it was one you were fully willing to take on to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the kids at U.A High.
“Class and faculty member assignments are located on the front of your packet. I expect you to arrange a meeting with your fellow dormitory advisor and get yourselves acquainted. Afterall,” Nezu laughed suddenly, “you will be spending a lot of time in each others’ presence. Go on now, and thank you for your time!”
You bowed as the principal moved out of the room, along with everyone else. As you straightened, you eyed the packet in your hands again and brought it up to your line of sight. You blinked at the bold letters on the front, spelling out your name next to your ID picture.
Right underneath it, you found the droopy, blood-shot eyes of none other than Class 1-A’s homeroom teacher, Mr Aizawa— Eraserhead— staring up at you rather soullessly. You squinted at the picture of your fellow faculty member, not having had much interaction with the man outside of disciplinary meetings for a few of his students.
You suddenly winced as you remembered that the super angry kid was in his class— Katsuki Bakugou. He was a literal fire-cracker, and you were a little ashamed to admit that his constant rage was a little intimidating to you.
Before you could slump in defeat, you heard him clear his throat in an attempt to garner your attention with the least amount of effort possible. Aizawa sounded like he needed a nap. Or three.
Then again, he always sounded like he was going to spontaneously fall into REM sleep anytime you were graced with his bored, apathetic presence.
Now, it might sound like you disliked Aizawa, but that wasn’t the case at all. You couldn’t dislike someone you barely knew. This new living arrangement was going to be interesting, especially since you were a bit of a recluse yourself; a self-proclaimed homebody.
Turning, you flashed your fellow dorm advisor an amiable smile.
“Some arrangement, huh? You’d think they’d clear it with us first.”
He hummed in agreement as he shut his eyes, arms folded in front of him.
“It’s a time of panic. The world’s trust in heroes is at an all-time low and the villains are getting bolder and bolder with their attempts to mess with the status quo. As U.A faculty, we’ve got an unerring duty to the futures of these fletching heroes.”
You nodded, taking in the sight of Shouta Aizawa up close. Hair hung loose, dark and messy around his shoulders, his capturing weapon deceptively sitting in a loose winding drape over his neck and shoulders. He wore his usual ensemble of black, baggy and practical along with his ever-present combat boots.
You were positive that he wasn’t going to be a distraction to you— he wasn’t really your type. (Of course, in that moment you didn’t realise that you were going to eat those very words in due time).
“Fair point.” You paused awkwardly, fidgeting with your packet, lacking anything of substance to say. You weren’t big on small talk right off the bat unless you were comfortable with the person you were talking to. You could talk literal shit for days if you were situated with the right crowd, but something told you that Aizawa wasn’t one to indulge in meaningless conversation. You shrugged and gestured at the packet where a simple map of the dorm building layout was illustrated. You laid a finger on the highlighted building labelled ‘1-A’. “I’m going to check out the dorm. I want to get a grasp of the dorm’s layout before the kids arrive.”
Aizawa huffed and nodded, opening his eyes to reveal his dead tired gaze once more.
“Sounds reasonable.”
You didn’t know if that meant he wanted to come with you.
You decided to just leave the conversation to hang awkwardly, turning towards the staffroom’s exit. When Aizawa followed behind you, albeit a few paces away, you stood a little straighter and begged your internal GPS system not to fuck things up like usual.
See, your sense of direction was horrible, even with an easy to read map. You could have easily hung back and let your fellow dorm advisor lead the way if he pleased, but you were a bit of a stubborn mule. You huffed through your nose and squared your shoulders, squinting in concentration as you followed the map as carefully as you could.
Thankfully you ended up at the right building, though your forehead was damp with sweat from the nervous exertion.
“Home, sweet home!” You couldn’t help but gesture at the new, modern looking living quarters with excitement in your movements. The place was ten times better than your shabby down-town apartment, that was for sure. “Pretty neat, huh?” The question slipped out as an out-loud musing more than anything else, and you didn’t expect the stoic, apathetic man to actually answer as he stepped up beside you.
“It’ll make keeping those reckless brats safe a little easier,” though his words sounded harsh, you couldn’t help but notice the fond undertones that came with his reference to his class. He turned to you, his eyebrows rising slowly as he cocked his head toward the entrance. “I heard our rooms are bigger than the kids’.”
You nodded and followed after him, feeling strangely at ease despite barely knowing the guy. He was chill; straightforward and surprisingly easy to talk to— though it did help that he kept his answers relatively short and straight to the point. Sure, he looked a little like a zombified late-night television addict because of his sunken eyes, but you figured that might have been from the use of his quirk during his nighttime rounds around the city as a pro-hero.
After you both quietly assessed the inside of your new home, the two of you quickly picked your rooms without much fanfare. It turned out that the advisors shared a common living space away from the students, as well as a spacious balcony. Your rooms were on opposite sides of the living space, giving the both of you plenty of privacy, and each of your rooms had its own shower, toilet and basin.
The laundry room was a communal one with three machines, to be shared between the students and the faculty members residing in the dorm. You didn’t mind this so much, but Aizawa groaned a little and shot you a slightly exasperated look.
“Just be careful about leaving your things in the laundry— I’ve got some perverts in my class.”
You frowned as you tried to recall the students in Class 1-A; you were familiar with a lot of them from recently since they’d been the class that was subject to the move villain encounters. It was compulsory for them all to see you for debriefing. Some were more interesting than others.
Unable to recall any specific details about the kids you were about to be sharing a living space with, you resolved within yourself to read up on their general personalities and observed dispositions— as well as at least learn their names at the bare minimum.
“Right,” you nodded, a smile tugging up at your lips, “I mean, they’re teenagers. Of course they’re gonna be curious.” Aizawa levelled you with a deadpan stare, and you weren’t sure if it was different to any other look he had given you during your time within him perusing the dorms. Still, you decided to laugh in good humour. “Alright, fine! Duly noted, Eraserhead.”
You caught the smirk that tugged up at one corner of his lips, and for half a second, your brain malfunctioned.
Oh, he’s kinda cute…
Before you could process what you saw, the expression on his face was back to its usual deadpan. You blinked and shook your head, coming to the conclusion that you were just overloaded by all the excitement of the day.
“Right,” you nodded resolutely, “looks like we’re all sorted with our room assignments. I’m heading back home to read this,” you raised your information packet and shook it slightly.
Aizawa nodded, raising his own packet up.
“Same. I’ve got a removalist booked for eight in the morning tomorrow—.”
You couldn’t help yourself as your jaw dropped.
“How did you arrange that so quick? We literally just found out about this today?!”
His expression didn’t change as he nodded at you.
“Yeah. Yamada texted me earlier. He sorted it— if you don’t have a lot of stuff, we could probably move all our things using the same truck. It’s the logical way to go.”
Your brows furrowed together in thought before you nodded, not seeing any issue with saving some money on a removalist truck for yourself. You didn’t have much to bring anyway— just your bed, your desk, your computer and your books. Everything else seemed to already be in place.
“Right. Sounds good.”
Suddenly, Aizawa moved his hand forward, phone in his grasp. He nodded to you, and you hesitantly took it off him, caught off-guard.
“Huh?”
“Your number.”
Your jaw dropped again.
“Uh, right. Communication and that stuff…” You surmised out loud, though internally you couldn’t help but get giddy.
No man had ever asked you for your number. You knew this was different; completely practical, if Aizawa’s bored expression was anything to go by. You typed in your number and called yourself so that his number was in your phone to be saved later.
He reached back for his phone and slipped it back into his pocket. Without another word, he turned to leave, though he stopped again just before exiting the dorm’s main doors.
“What was your name again?”
You straightened, though you weren’t sure why— he was a colleague after all. You were equals as dorm advisors.
“Y/N L/N. I’m, uh, the guidance counsellor. We’ve met before. I did the debriefs for your students after…”
He turned to you, his tired eyes flickering with faint recognition. He nodded at you, cutting you off, though it was seemingly unintentional.
“Shouta Aizawa. Eraserhead when I’m out on the field. Call me what you want— Aizawa’s fine though.” And with that, he turned his back to you and left.
You blinked after his retreating back, not really sure what to make of him.
He wasn’t rude by your standards, just a little abrupt. It wasn’t like the two of you were friends, but your interactions had been amicable enough.
You resolved to stay in your space while remaining in the dorms, to keep out of his way you told yourself. You didn’t want to be a nuisance after all.
Content with your simple plan to keep the peace between your new ‘room-mate’, you ambled out of the dorm and made your way back to your apartment to read the information packet and get yourself packed for the move.
Your year at U.A High was going to be an interesting one, that was for sure.