Chapter Text
I don’t get paid enough for this shit, Shouta Aizawa decided as he crept near the fallen mass.
He had just witnessed the black cloak tumble off an eave on the side of a nearby building, it’s pretty high up- maybe even 50 feet; the figure most likely wasn’t in great condition.
Shouta was on patrol when he saw the incident occur. He had just taken down some idiots trying to rob an old family-owned jewelry store without a plan, and then proceed to get their asses kicked by the taekwondo-mastered store owner. Sensei Yang, as I recall, I think I’ve met him before.
Most of the worst villains were off the street, either taken down by Toshinori - The Symbol of Peace and number one hero, All Might, or they had gone into hiding, which Aizawa thought was strange, usually when he patrols in the later hours of the night he saw nothing but villains; either muggers or hit and runs, store robbers, the list goes on... unfortunately. But tonight was strangely serene... until he saw the strange mass plummeting off the side of a building, that is.
Shouta warily approached the bundle of cloth on the floor, unsure if it was someone in need of help or something potentially dangerous. As he crept closer, however, he was quite shocked. The mass happened to be a bloody body, identity hidden by a sleek, aerodynamic black mask.
“Are you alright?” Aizawa called.
The person? Shouta wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking at, didn’t seem keen on replying and grunted in pain instead. Well, at least now I know it’s a person. Then, right as he was about to take another step closer, the body didn’t seem to be so bloody anymore. He realized the body was absorbing the blood it seemed to have lost to the porous concrete beforehand. A regeneration quirk? He pondered. As soon as he had begun thinking more about what the person’s intentions were, his thoughts were abruptly cut off by the sound of cloth against air; the masked figure had escaped.
What the hell was that? Should I call it in? It? He? She? Shouta was conflicted. He decided not to call in, because what would he say? He didn't know what he saw, he would sound insane.
After snapping out of his stupor, he decided to drop the matter and calmly walk over to the bodega across the street to pick up some take out for himself and his husband at home. Though strange, the situation wasn't enough to throw him off.
*
The next time Shouta encountered something strange was a good six and a half months later. He was on patrol in the Kanagawa district when he saw a shadow flicker in the dark, it seemed to be jumping across the flat rooftops at superhuman speed.
He took off in a second, worried it was someone that was going to cause trouble, but, as it turns out, that the person is a lot faster than he thought. However, that wasn’t going to stop him and he pushed himself harder.
Shouta widened his eyes and he felt his hair rise. His eyes glowed red under his hero goggles as he called upon his quirk. Concentrating, he looked at the perpetrator and watched as they visibly slowed down. Aizawa’s quirk allowed him to erase others' quirks, as long as they weren’t mutation-type, like wings or a tail. So, he knew that the runner in front of him most likely had a speed quirk. Easy enough. It had taken years and a lot of eye drops to be able to keep his quirk active for so long, but now as an adult and pro-hero, he has slowly been able to increase the amount of time he can hold his eyes open for. He was also ridiculously good at staring contests.
He watched as his quirk took effect. The runner visibly stumbled, but started off again almost immediately, although at a slower pace without their quirk to aid their speed. They didn’t even turn around? Shouta must have spooked them because even from further away he could see they were pushing themselves hard. Although he thought that they would seem frantic, the figure continued moving across the rooftops at a calculated pace, barely even skimming the floor as they jumped from each ledge. Aizawa wasn’t getting any further ahead so he utilized his capture weapon, a lengthy grey scarf wrapped around his neck. He shot the scarf away from his body and aimed to bind the runner's ankles. The strange figure seemed to dance out of the hold of his fabric, unlike the others that fall prey to his weapon time and time again.
Playing hard to get, huh? Shouta grinned, he always loved a challenge.
As he finished his thought the figure abruptly stopped, turned around, and walked toward him calmly. He tried using his scarf again but the shadow-like figure slipped through its hold like running water through slender fingers. Shouta was about ready to engage in serious combat when the figure spoke with open hands around their mouth comically.
“Eraserhead! What a surprise, I’m a big fan!”
He knows me? It wasn’t uncommon for pro-heros to get recognized on the streets, but Aizawa was more of an underground hero, hardly ever seen in public. I have a fan? A villain fan at that?
“What do you want, villain?” Shouta replied smartly.
The offender giggled and shook their head.
“I promise I’m not a villain! Pinky swear on it!” He, as it turns out, said as he held out his left pinky childishly.
He sounds so… young…
Shouta blatantly ignored his offending appendage and the boy put his finger down, seemingly widening his Cheshire grin. Now that he was closer, Shouta recognized the figure as the one he had seen fall off the edge of that building some time ago. The costume and body type matching up to a T, short in stature and lean in figure.
Now, the sleek mask he had seen before looked more high tech, complete with features that could no doubt deal some serious damage. The face of the mask was complete with LED lights in green. Both of the "eyes" of the mask were x'ed out, and the mouth of the mask, green, again, to match the color scheme, was responsive to the owner's facial cues.
“My name’s Elemental, but you can call me Ellie! We’re gonna be best friends!”
“How old are you?” Shouta inquired, ignoring the statement, he didn’t have friends, nor did he care to, “are you a hero?”
“No, I’m not a hero,” the boy frowned or he must've because the mask showed a small scowl, “I don’t enjoy heroes very much”
“Thought you were a fan?” he asked.
The boy grinned wryly, “Of course! I’m your biggest fan! Just because I don’t like heroes doesn’t mean that I’m not allowed to have favorites.”
Shouta frowned, he wasn’t used to kids liking him over other, greater heroes farther up in the ranks.
“Wouldn't you rather be a fan of Endeavour or All Might?”
The boy frowned again, he seemed to do that a lot.
“No, I don’t like heroes like them, Endeavour is a child abuser and a terrible hero. But, most of all, I despise All Might.”
Shouta’s eyebrows raised a hair in surprise, of course, some people had their opinions on their favorite heroes but he has never, not once, heard a kid say they hated All Might. All Might was the symbol of peace, the light in everyone’s lives, the kind of hero that everyone looks up to, the best.
“You don’t like All Might? Really, why?” Shouta asked apathetically, although a tone of interest could be heard despite his façade.
The boy's eyes narrowed as he grimaced.
“I’m not sure if you want to hear it, it’s kind of a long story,” he smiled despite the sad look on his face, “but alright, only because you’re my favorite... Um, it was six years and four months ago, give or take a few days… I had just gone through something at home, I didn’t have a quirk at the time but I adored heroes and All Might was my absolute favorite. I would watch videos of his wins on repeat and I had collected all of his merchandise. I just met him after one of his fights and I was beyond excited. But, when I met him, I asked him if I could be a hero without a quirk and that was the start of my distaste for heroes. All Might said that I couldn’t be a hero to my face. I was seven, Eraserhead. That’s a hard thing to hear from your favorite hero.”
Shouta was surprised, but he was also angry. All Might had told someone they couldn’t be a hero? Are you fucking kidding me, Toshinori? You crushed a kid’s dreams. Did you even think about the consequences of your actions?
“I know that nothing I can say will make you feel any better, but that was really shitty of him.”
The boy smiled, “that’s why you’re my favorite hero, Eraserhead, you tell it like it is, I like that about you. You know... you would make a great father.”
“I don’t have any kids,” Shouta said in a monotone voice.
“Don’t worry about it, I can call you Dad instead! I’m running a bit behind schedule because of our impromptu therapy session but I’ll see you next time, Dad!”
Aizawa took a moment to collect himself. What kind of kid calls a guy they just met ‘Dad’? But, as soon as he picked his head up to yell at him, probably to remind him of stranger-danger, Elemental had vanished.
*
God, do villains ever realize how much work they create for heroes? I swear this is worse than grading papers, Eraserhead thought as he was filling in one of his reports for a criminal that had committed petty theft. What’s the point if all you’re going to steal is one ring, at least think bigger, there’s, like, a million rings out there. As a hero, he probably shouldn’t be thinking that but, what the hell? Life as a pro isn’t as exciting as you would think.
As well as being a pro-hero, Shouta Aizawa is also known as Sensei at the most prestigious hero school, Yuuei. UA was where every aspiring hero wants to be, it only trains the best of the best.
He teaches the Hero's Course, Class 1-A. People call him a strict teacher but that’s not really the case, as long as he sees potential in a student, he won’t expel them... he just doesn’t seem to see much potential in any of his students... Last year, he expelled the entire 1-A class.
After reading all of his passing student's files, he had begun to believe that this year’s class was going to be… difficult.
*
The chatter in the classroom was loud and the students were excited, as they should be, they had just gotten into the best Hero Course in UA! Class 1-A was ecstatic. Well, at least some of them were.
“Shut up, would you?! I’m trying to take a nap!,” Exclaimed a spiky-haired blonde with a vile attitude.
Conversations fizzled out as the classroom heard the loud statement from the boy.
“That kind of language is not tolerated in this classroom!” a boy with blue hair, glasses, and strangely robotic arms said, “We are all here for the same reason, to become heros!”
The blonde stood up. “Sorry Glasses, but I’m only here for one reason, and it’s not because I want to become a hero.”
The class erupted into shouts of protest, most upset because of the fact that they worked hard to pass the entrance test. This boy was accepted and he doesn’t even want to become a hero! Then, they saw the looming dark figure behind the wooden podium.
“It took you exactly eight seconds to quiet down,” the man with tired eyes said, ”that kind of behavior is not going to be tolerated when you’re a pro-hero... if you even make it…”
“My name is Tenya Iida, sir!” the boy that had scolded the blonde earlier said, “I sincerely apologize!” He finished as he tilted his body in an almost 120-degree angle. This guy really needs to take a chill pill, most of the class thought as they watched him bow.
Shouta was a bit disturbed although he didn’t show it, he could barely touch his toes without back pains and this boy was about folded in half.
“Alright then... I’ll be calling out seat arrangements so listen for your name.”
“First,” Aizawa continued, “on the left at the front, Bakugou Katsuki, next behind him, Mineta Minoru…”
“Aw, man!” The short, mousy, purple-haired boy exclaimed, “why couldn’t I have been sat behind a girl with a nice rack!”
Shouta either didn’t seem to hear him or didn’t care, but all of the female students noticeably took a step away from him, slightly disturbed.
Finally, Aizawa finished calling out all of the names of the students and had to ask for order again after they exploded into yet another episode of chatter. He sighed, this was going to be an infuriating year.
“Students! Before we start with any core classes, we’re going to take a little test,” collective groans from the peanut gallery, “not a paper test,” he sighed again as a little excitement showed on the student's faces, “we’re going outside for a little field competition.”
“Get dressed in your gym uniforms, you can find them in the locker rooms.”
“I wonder if we share a locker room with the girls…” Mineta unhelpfully added.
Kirishima, a boy with spiky red hair grimaced in disgust, “Dude, so not manly! Show a little respect!”
The boy and girls got ready for their first test in separate locker rooms, much to Mineta’s dismay, and when they finished they all congregated outside at the training grounds, ready for their first debut.