Chapter Text
Knock, knock-knock!
Aizawa looked up from having his head in his hands, reading through more paper sprawled over the principal’s desk. The office was so large and so quiet, any small sound was enough to startle him. It was impossible to take a nap there.
When the cheerful sounding knock came over the mahogany doors, he jumped up in surprise, sending papers fluttering to the ground around him. He gasped softly, looked about, before clearing his throat. “Come in,” he said. When silence followed, he groaned, forgetting how large the room was again. “Come in,” he repeated, much louder.
The door clicked and opened. In ran Eri, her white hair tied in a braid behind her, a large red ribbon tied at its base. She smiled brightly, running in with her arms out wide. “Hello, Mister Aizawa!” she exclaimed with a laugh, skipping towards him.
Aizawa sat up straight upon seeing her and then looked up at her current sitter, who closed the door behind him as he followed the girl in at a much slower pace with a book tucked under his arm. The blond-haired man smiled over his reading spectacles, his bright blue eyes glistening amusement.
Aizawa narrowed his eyes and glared at his coworker.
“Having fun, Mister Principal?” All Might teased.
“Don’t test my patience,” Aizawa said behind clenched teeth.
The older man chuckled and shrugged.
“If I wouldn’t have known better, I would’ve thought you were enjoying this form of torture.”
All Might stopped in front of the desk, just as the erasure hero picked his charge up. “Nezu would never torture his faculty,” he said, though the tone of his voice said otherwise.
“ You haven’t worked for him long enough yet,” Aizawa said as he set Eri down on his lap. He looked at the papers spread out over his desk and sighed with a groan. “I knew he did a lot of work, since he is the principal, but I never realized how much. I thought he only had phone meetings and a handful of paperwork to do a day—turns out I hardly have a second to even close my eyes. And that’s not counting the crap he needs to deal with about the League of Villains and the Commissioner General.”
“Yeah; that’s how Nezu likes it. He drinks his tea in the morning and in the evening, and then he hops from meeting to meeting, to his third-year class and then back to meetings and paperwork. Once a week he’ll have a spare to go visit Recovery Girl, maybe more if he’s lucky, but usually he spends that time reading a book.”
Aizawa slammed his forehead against the desk.
All Might choked on a laugh. “I thought you knew that,” he said. “Mister You-Haven’t-Worked-For-Him-Long-Enough-Yet.”
Eri leaned over, placing a hand on her guardian’s back while asking him if he was okay. Aizawa raised his head without replying to her, and proceeded to glare at All Might in exhaustion. “The amount of energy that rodent has for someone of his age and stature perplexes me,” he said. “I was so stressed, I was this close to throwing a book at Present Mic when he came in earlier to ask if I was okay.”
“I thought you would have enjoyed doing that.”
“Oh shut up, Old Man.”
All Might shrugged while grinning from ear to ear.
“Are you sure he didn’t just put you in charge and you’re using this opportunity to get back at me for something?” Aizawa said, as Eri began braiding his thick ebony hair.
All Might spread out his arms “What do I have to get back at you for?” he said.
“I dunno. I must have done something to irritate you.”
“I always thought it was the other way around.”
“How so?”
All Might flexed and immediately transformed into his muscular self.
Eri cheered, throwing her arms into the air.
“Anytime Eraser-Head needs a new reason to hate his job, I AM HERE!” All Might said flamboyantly, flashing his trademark toothy smile.
Aizawa wrinkled his nose as Eri clapped and giggled in his lap. “Are you trying to vex me?” he said.
All Might transformed back to his regular form and smoothed off his sleeves. “Lighten up, Aizawa; it’s not like he left you in charge for the rest of the school year,” he said, setting down the book he had on the desk. And squatting down to pick up the papers that had fallen earlier. “To be honest, I thought you’d be honored that he chose you to fill in for him this week.”
“How would giving me work to do while my class is out be an honor?” Aizawa said, as Eri continued to braid his hair.
“Because he doesn’t trust anyone but you to do it. Why do you think he asked you and not Vlad King? His class is out for the week too, remember?”
Aizawa fell silent at these words. He watched All Might pick up the rest of the papers and set them down in a pile on the desk.
“So what is all of this?”
“Just the forms from the Pro Heroes who took in our students for internships. I was organizing them and just making sure I signed all of mine and Vlad signed all of his before filing them away.”
Aizawa held up one form and handed it to his coworker. All Might took it and adjusted his glasses in order to see it clearly.
“This is Midoriya’s form,” he said. “Asui’s is the same.”
All Might’s eyes scanned over the page until they had reached the bottom, where the signatures were. He furrowed his brow. “Nezu didn’t put a date on it,” he said, looking at Aizawa.
“He didn’t really sign them either,” Aizawa said. “He only put his initial: N. ”
“It’s incomplete. That’s not like him.”
“He was distracted. By something.”
All Might rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“I’m beginning to think he was not completely on par taking our students with him to this laboratory of his,” Aizawa continued, crossing his arms over his chest.
All Might passed a hand over his face and through his hair as he let out a sigh. Bringing his hand to rest on the back of his neck, he looked out the windows that overlooked the schoolyard.
“I know he trusts Midoriya and Asui to do their best, and I will never question his judgement. But if he was scared of that place, then I can’t seem to understand why he would take two students with him. It’s not like him.”
All Might shook his head, muttering his agreement.
“Should we send backup? You know him better than I do when it comes to Field Missions.”
The Retired Pro shook his head again while turning to face his coworker. “If we send backup, that’ll weaken his trust in us,” he said. “He hates it when people don’t believe in his strength. It’s a pride thing.” He sighed again. “And that’s if we even got help to him in time; I don’t even know where those Labs are located.”
“I don’t care about his pride right now; I care about my students coming back safe and sound,” Aizawa said with a frown and a clenched fist. “And about getting him back in one piece.”
“Even if he had told us to send help if we didn’t hear back from him, we don’t know enough about those Laboratories to be of any aid,” All Might argued, although his voice was gentle. “That was a part of his past that I never asked to hear more of than what he told me.”
After an awkward moment of silence, Eri set a hand down on her guardian’s chest, patting it. “Mister Aizawa?” she said. “Is Deku in trouble?”
Aizawa looked at her and put a hand on hers before letting out a sigh. “I trust him, All Might,” he said before looking at his coworker. “I trust Nezu more than most people I know. But this sends me shivers up my spine. There’s got to be more than just their Quirks or intelligence for Nezu to want Midoriya and Tsu to join him. I trust him to keep them safe, but he knows the risk he’s taking, bringing two kids on such a dangerous, little-known mission.”
“We don’t know if it’s as dangerous as we think it is,” All Might said, trying to remain positive.
“If Nezu asked for two interns, and packed an entire backpack to boot, then it’s not a walk in the woods to explore an abandoned lab.”
“I’m trying to ease my nerves as much as yours, Aizawa. Please consider that before you respond.”
Aizawa fell silent at these words.
“We just have to keep trusting Nezu is going to take care of them. It’s all we can do for now. Until he calls us.”
Aizawa pulled out his cellphone and looked at it. It was just past noon, and not a single email or text from the principal.
“Right,” Aizawa muttered, stroking Eri’s head. “Trust him.”
Never had those words been so hard for him to swallow.
*****