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"You Are Not a Human Being"

Summary:

Todoroki wanted to be a hero, but he couldn’t save himself. He had a reputation to uphold… just, not his own. Now it's up to Aizawa.

Update, April 5, 2022: This fic WILL be updated, its just happening extremely slowly.

Notes:

Please heed the tags

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“Todoroki?” 

He was the last student he expected to see.

The teen boy was several yards away from him, standing too close - much too close - to the edge of the building. His back was turned to Aizawa, and he visibly stiffened when he heard his name. 

“What are you doing up here?” 

 

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Shota Aizawa didn’t make it a habit of his to get involved in his student’s personal lives. He cared about them, but not in a way that made him care that Uraraka has a crush on Midoriya, or that Jirou was trying to convince her fellow 1-A classmates to join a band. He cared when something was wrong, or when a student was in need of quirk or hero-based advice, and he’d more than willingly put his life on the line to protect them (as evidenced by the scar under his right eye). 

 

Having said that, that didn’t mean that he didn’t closely monitor them, or would push them away if they wanted him involved in something. He encouraged independence and trial-through-error forms of learning, but he wouldn’t hesitate to assist if a student asked for his help or was clearly struggling. 

 

That was the case with Todoroki. 

 

It had started with him noticing a few bruises - Todoroki seemed to have a few new ones every week, and always in a more hidden area. Occasionally, he’d come to class with small burns - again, always in a hidden area. Once or twice he had come to class heavily favouring one side of his chest or abdomen, almost convincingly hiding his wincing when he moved the wrong way or took too deep of a breath. And then there was the scar encompassing his left eye… It was possible that he had given it to himself - it was relatively common for children, especially those with strong quirks, to injure themselves when they first start to manifest and use their power. There was a pestering voice in the back of his mind though, telling him that his burn was no accident. 

 

Aizawa knew that the boy’s father, Endeavor - the newly number one hero, also trained him at home, so he figured that that’s where his injuries were coming from. It seemed that Endeavor was being too rough with the kid. Students rarely got injured during training at UA (Midoriya being the exception); most of the injuries that happened occurred during competitions, such as the sports festival. Training was to work on things like stamina, technique, and preparedness; it wasn’t meant to be a full fledged battle, like it appeared to be between Todoroki and his father. The kid was certainly skilled, disciplined, and focused - in fact, most of his students were, but he was also just that: a kid. While Aizawa expected his students to be this way while in class, and train outside of school, he also felt that they needed to relax and let off some steam. If they didn’t, they would burnout quickly and never go on to become pro-heroes. Aizawa was mildly concerned, but the bi-haired boy appeared fine, so he merely monitored things rather than press the issue. 

 

It was nearly two in the morning when Aizawa was alerted that a student from his class had broken curfew. He grumbled to himself as he shuffled out of bed, grabbing his capture weapon, and putting on shoes and a jacket. The alert had only stated that a student had left the dorms, not where they were heading, so Aizawa was now tasked with finding said student and marching them back to their room. Seriously, how stupid were these damn kids?! You would think that the punishment Midoriya and Bakugou received after they snuck out would have been enough of a deterrent. 

 

He slowly wandered outside of the teacher’s dorms and walked the short distance to the 1-A dorm, but didn’t notice anyone outside. The night was quiet, and the air felt cool on his skin; it was peaceful, but his irritation with this student was growing. Next he made his way towards the school. His phone buzzed in his pocket as he walked; at first he was slightly relieved to see that it was a notification alerting him as to where his student was (that, or a second student had snuck out…), but the feeling of relief was quickly replaced with a sense of dread and worry, and he took off running towards the school building. 

 

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Shoto Todoroki quietly closed the door to his dorm room, pausing for a moment to listen intently to see if anyone was awake to catch him sneaking out. When he decided that the coast was clear he walked away quickly, but quietly, down the hall and down the stairs to the main room. He was dressed in tight athletic sweats and a warm hoodie, with the hood pulled over his two-toned hair. In his hoodie pocket was a slip of paper. His note. He made his way outside and walked towards the school. 

 

Shoto had put a lot of thought into how he wanted to die. He had dealt with enough pain in his life that he knew he wanted it to be painless, and he wanted it to be quick. He had considered using his quirk and allowing himself to freeze to death, but he couldn’t think of a way to do it that wouldn’t draw the attention of others (freezing his dorm room, for example, would lower the temperature of the entire floor, drawing suspicion). Jumping off the roof of the main UA building wasn’t on the top of his list… he shuddered at the thought of someone finding his bloodied and broken body on the pavement below, but he couldn’t think of a better way out. 

 

The air felt cool on his skin as he walked across the quiet and dark campus, and it helped to calm his nerves. He made it to the main doors and used his quirk to freeze the lock, which he then kicked several times until it broke off into two pieces. He wasted no time (especially since he was concerned that someone may have heard him) and made his way to one of the side staircases. His heart pounded harder with each flight of stairs he climbed, but he didn’t stop to take any breaks. He was surprised to find the door to the roof was unlocked ( “That’s kind of dangerous, isn’t it? Anyone could come up here…” he thought ironically).

 

He walked over close to the edge and leaned over so he could look down at the pavement below. This would suffice… there was no way he could survive a jump from this high up. Then, it’d all be over, and he’d be free. With that last thought a small and content smile appeared on his face, and a flood of relief washed over him. He was so focused on his thoughts and looking at the pavement below him that he didn’t hear the door to the roof open behind him.

 

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“Todoroki?”
He was the last student Aizawa had expected to see.
The teen boy was several yards away from him, standing too close - much too close - to the edge of the building. His back was turned to Aizawa, and he visibly stiffened when he heard his name.
“What are you doing up here?” 

Slowly the boy turned around to face him. His face held a neutral expression, but the sadness in his eyes was painfully evident. How had he not noticed that things had gotten so bad with the kid? So bad that he was willing to jump off of the damn roof in the middle of the night! 

Aizawa was beginning to feel panic start to seep into him; he may be a pro-hero, but he had never had to talk someone off of the roof of a building, much less a student that he was responsible for. He would give his life to protect these kids, but how do you protect someone when they are the threat to themselves? 

He held up his hands, of which he hadn’t noticed were shaking slightly, as he slowly made his way over to him. 

“Todoroki, please, why don’t you step away from that ledge and we can talk about this…” 

The teen, who had been staring down at the ground, looked back up at his teacher and slowly shook his head. 

“I’m… I’m sorry.”

And with that he took a step back, and Aizawa watched as he disappeared over the ledge in mere seconds. 

 

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Are you insane like me? 

Been in pain like me? 

Bought a hundred dollar bottle of champagne like me?

Just to pour that motherfucker down the drain like me?

 

And all the people say...

“You can’t wake ‘cause this is not a dream,

You’re part of a machine,

You are not a human being”

 

I think there's a flaw in my code

These voices won't leave me alone...

Well my heart is gold and my hands are cold

Chapter 2

Notes:

I did not intend for this to be a song fic, but here we are...

Also I'm sorry it took me so long to update when I said I should get this done pretty quickly, I wanted to get the dialogue right and I'm still not 100% happy with everything.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

I wish you would step back

From that ledge my friend

You could cut ties with all the lies

That you've been living in

 

I never thought it would come to this

And I, I want you to know

Everyone's got to face down the demons

Maybe today

You could put the past away

……………………………………………..

I'm not dying

All you did was save my life

Pulled me out of that flat line

Put the heartbeat back inside

I'm not dying

All you did was get me through

I owe every breath to you

Heart and soul unparalyzed

 

I'm not for sale but I've been sold

The more I hear the less I know

And the lies are swallowed whole

In their insignificance

The story's been told a million times

But it's different when it's your life

I won the lottery tonight

 

——————————————————

 

Aizawa had gotten lucky; he had gotten to the roof just in time, and had been close enough to the teen that once he stepped off the edge of the roof he was able to use his capture weapon to grab him mid-air. He had gotten lucky, not that his student, who was fighting against him, literally kicking and screaming, felt the same way.

 

He held the boy tightly against him; the boy’s back was against his chest, and the older man pinned the younger’s arms down against his sides in a type of restraining-hug. Todoroki thrashed his body wildly, screaming angrily.

“LET GO OF ME!”

Aizawa, of course, ignored his request to be freed; he felt a bit like he was on the back of a bucking bull, but he managed to keep his hold on the teen boy despite his thrashing. 

“I’m not going to do that, now calm down kid.” Aizawa struggled out, managing to keep his voice calm and even. 

“LET GO OF ME NOW, OR I’LL-”

His teacher cut him off before he could finish, though there was no trace of annoyance, or his signature sternness. 

“You’ll what? You can’t use your quirk, I’m making sure of that.”

Through Todoroki’s struggling he had failed to notice that Mr. Aizawa was using his quirk to erase his own. 

“Please, you don’t understand, just let me go! I want to die!” He screamed as tears began to stream down his face. He was shaking, but the fight in him was slowly ebbing away.

“Just let me die…” Was all he managed to choke out as he began to sob heavily. 

Aizawa loosened his grip, prompting Todoroki to angle his body so that his face was now against his teacher’s shoulder. Aizawa wrapped his arm around him again, placing one hand on the back of Todoroki’s head and the other on the boy’s shoulder. 

 

They sat there for some time, with Aizawa murmuring reassuring words and calming shushes as he waited out the kid’s emotional release (after all, given his stoicism, Aizawa doubted that this was something he did often), until Todoroki’s breathing began to even out and he had stopped shaking.

 

……………………………………………………………………….

 

Todoroki felt surprisingly calm now, with something akin to warmth and weightlessness spreading throughout his mind and body; he began to feel the familiar tug of sleep pulling at him. 

“I’m tired… and my head hurts.” He whispered hoarsely.

The older man hummed in acknowledgement, before sighing softly as he unwound his arms from around him and made a move to start standing up.

Todoroki pulled away and looked at him with tired eyes.

“Well we can’t sleep here.” Aizawa responded, before getting to his feet and helping Todoroki up (he was so tired now he felt like dead weight). 

“Come on, we should get going.” 

Todoroki gave him a small nod in response. 

 

They descended the stairs in reflective silence for several minutes, before Aizawa’s tired voice finally broke the kind-of trance Todoroki had felt like he’d been in.

“I’m sure you’ve been wondering, so here’s what’s going to happen: I’m going to be taking you to the hospital, where they’re going to check you out and probably hold you for observation, at least for the night. They will also likely set you up with a therapist, unless you’d rather meet with Hound Dog here on campus. Finally, you and I are going to have a long talk about what I suspect has been going on and what led up to tonight-” 

“No!”

Aizawa turned around, only to realize that Todoroki had stopped walking behind him, frozen in place with a look of panic across his face. 

“No, no, I-I can’t, I can’t go to a hospital! He’ll find out, an-and they’ll lock me up there and never let me go… j-just like my Mother-”

Todoroki was starting to breath heavier now, and Aizawa could tell that his student was working himself into a panic attack. He approached him slowly, placing a hand on his student’s shoulder to encourage him to sit down on the steps, and sat down next to him. 

“Breath Todoroki, just breath. Deep breaths, copy me.”

Aizawa walked him through a deep breathing exercise, and the boy slowly started to relax again. 

 

“Kid, listen to me. You’re not in any trouble; going to the hospital is not optional, but it’s not a consequence. I don’t have the type of training needed to assess whether or not you’re still a danger to yourself, or others. But I can promise you that they’re not simply going to lock you up in some padded room and throw away the key. They’re going to help you.” 

Todoroki, while calmer and breathing evenly now, was trying not to cry again. 

“Besides that… If I feel that it is in your best interest to instruct the hospital not to contact your parents, then as a pro-hero, and as your teacher, I can do that.”

Todoroki blinked rapidly at that. Huh…  

“Is there a reason that your Father shouldn’t know that you’re in the hospital? A simple yes or no will suffice for now.”

Todoroki remained silent for several moments. What should he do? Tell the truth, and risk his Father’s wrath, assuming anyone believed him in the first place? Or should he lie, like he’s always done, and hope that his teacher buys it enough to not ask more questions? In the end, the voice in the back of his mind won out (it always did), and he decided to lie; lying was easier… lying was safe.

But when Todoroki looked up, his two-toned eyes meeting those of his teacher, he was met with a deep level of concern, something that had never been thrown his way by anyone other than Fuyumi on those really bad nights, paired with… sadness? He’d never seen Aizawa, or any teacher for that matter, look sad before… the look shook him. 

 

He hesitated briefly, before looking away again and replying with a single tight nod.

 

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Aizawa sighed as he walked down the barely-lit hospital corridor. It was about 5:30 in the morning now, not yet time to turn on the disgustingly bright fluorescent lights to signal a transition to daytime on the ward. One of his hands was buried in his pocket, which also contained the note that had been in Todoroki’s hoodie pocket, while the other carried a bag with his student’s clothing in it that had been given to him by the doctor when they updated him on things just a few minutes earlier. 

 

“I’m sorry Mom. You were right; it’s just as unbearable as you said.”

 

That’s what the note had said, written in Todoroki’s neat handwriting. Aizawa wasn’t sure what to think of it… there was so much he didn’t yet know about his student’s situation. He had made it to the end of the corridor now, and knocked lightly on the door before entering the stark white room. His gaze was immediately drawn to his student, who looked impossibly small sitting up in the hospital bed. Todoroki was wearing a hospital gown and his legs were draped with a hospital-issued blanket; he didn’t bother looking up when his teacher entered, opting instead to continue staring down at his hands in his lap. Aizawa moved a chair from the corner closer to the teen’s bed and sat down with a soft, tired sigh. 

 

“How are you feeling?” He asked gently. 

Todoroki didn’t answer, and instead looked up from his hands in the opposite direction of the pro-hero next to him. 

“You know, don’t you.” He stated in a quiet, matter-of-fact voice. He sounded defeated. 

Aizawa thought back to the conversation he had had with the doctor...

 

“The boy has several concerning injuries, both healed and current, that I believe you should be made aware of immediately…”

Aizawa tilted his head with inquiry, but remained silent so that the man could continue.  

“He refused to let us conduct a physical exam on him, so we utilized a medical technician’s quirk; this allowed us to do a full body scan to look for any and all physical injuries, both internal and external. This scan revealed a long history of broken bones and burns. When asked he stated that these injuries were from training.”

Aizawa nodded, understanding the unsaid implications; the injuries could easily be from years of training (God forbid they used the technician’s quirk on a student like Midoriya…) but they could just as easily be the result of abuse or mistreatment.

“Those injuries are healed, however we also found bruising on his forearms and thighs, as well as tearing-”

Aizawa held up a hand, and cleared his throat, which had very suddenly gone dry.

“I believe I understand what you’re trying to say.” 

The doctor nodded.

“If I had to guess, I’d say that those injuries are about a week old, perhaps two. He is a teenager though... he is at an age where this could have been from a consensual encounter, however I had concerns given his previous injuries, so I asked him about it. He was very quick to state that it was nothing, and refused to answer any more questions.”

Aizawa’s mind drifted away; he thought about the emptiness held in his student’s eyes the moment before he stepped off the building. A lot of things were beginning to make sense. 

“As I’m sure you’re aware, the first suspects in any sort of child abuse cases is the parents… I assume this is why you instructed us not to contact his family.”

Aizawa nodded.

“Since you’re the one who brought him in, and given your pro-hero status, we’re going to leave this to you to investigate, though we will of course cooperate fully, and assist in any way that we can.”

Aizawa nodded again, a grim look appearing on his face. 

“Thank you. May I see him now?”

 

Aizawa nodded in reply to Todoroki’s statement. 

“Yes, the doctor informed me.”

Todoroki closed his eyes and a pained expression spread across his face. 

They fell into a long silence, and Aizawa wondered what could be going through his student’s mind right now. This is obviously something he had been hiding for years, and for it all to come out like this must be incredibly overwhelming. 

 

“I know what you’re thinking...” Todoroki finally voiced. He was still avoiding looking at his teacher.

“Hm?” Aizawa hummed in response.

“You’re wondering... why I never said anything. Why I just... let him keep doing it.”

Aizawa frowned deeply; the sorrow he felt for this child... 

He sighed softly, and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“No, I’m not actually. In fact, it never even crossed my mind. I’m wondering why no one noticed. Why no one figured this out earlier and stopped him.”

Todoroki frowned deeply, but remained silent, and continued to stare down at his hands.

Aizawa got up from his chair, switching instead to sit next to Todoroki on the bed, who continued to look down at his hands. 

“Shoto look at me, please.” He said in a gentle voice. 

Todoroki briefly closed his eyes, then blinked a few times before looking up at the older man. 

“This is not your fault. You didn’t let him do anything. You are a child; he never should have laid a hand on you, that’s not what a parent does. And I’m going to make sure that he never touches you again. Do you understand?” 

Though Aizawa was feeling angry, not at his student, but at the numerous people in this kid’s life that had failed to protect him, for years, he tried his hardest to sound calm and collected, yet earnest as well. 

And for the second time that night (morning), Todoroki began to cry. 

 

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From the scrapes and bruises

To the familiar abuses

I'll kick and scream but it never changes anything

 

I could spill my guts out

Wearing my best little girl pout

And I almost missed it

But nobody said that this was gonna be easy

 

This is not the man I hoped to be

And I'm just trying to stop the bleeding

I don't know how to word it

I just started to deserve it

And all my, all my faces are alibis

And me, I'm half the man I wanted to be

Notes:

In order the songs are:
Jumper by Third Eye Blind
All You Did Was Save My Life by Our Lady Peace
Alibis by Marianas Trench

I actually have a playlist I put together for this fic which you can find here:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/07ahFNfUW9UUoCBOTurgJX?si=dB46LjKgSCGO9zUnDnos-g

PLEASE let me know if you have any suggestions for the dialogue in this particular chapter, like if you think "hey, this would've been better if it were written this way, or if they had said this" and I will take that into consideration if I decide to edit it. Thanks for reading <3

Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Notes:

I'm sorry it's been so long since I last updated. I have been actively working on this story the entire time, but I'm a perfectionist and I'm very specific about how I want dialogue to go, and so I literally write stories basically one line at a time. But, leave it to me to put off school work and finish a chapter of a story I've been sitting on for months. I make no promises about when I'll get the next chapter posted, but I have hopes that it'll be up by the end of January. Thank you everyone for all the kudos and comments, I really do appreciate them <3

Edit: I realize there is a sort of...... inconsistency between the end of the last chapter and the conversation with Aizawa this chapter. We’ll chock that up to Todoroki admitting that his Dad has been physically abusive, but still guarded about what he says exactly (like trying to minimize the abuse).

I've been seeing TW's on a lot of stories now, even with the tags, so just FYI, heed the tags, this story does talk about and deal with abuse, specifically sexual abuse.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Hurts the same when nobody knows
Guess that's just how it goes
And I, I won't say anything at all

----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Shoto had cried himself into exhaustion shortly after 6am, with Aizawa uncharacteristically sitting silently by his side through the whole thing. If Shoto had really thought about it, he probably would have been embarrassed, but in the state that he was in, having someone there to sit with him and just be there was everything that he needed in the moment.  After Shoto passed out Aizawa considered taking a short nap (by now he’d been awake for over 24 hours), but the gravity of the situation motivated him through his exhaustion to get some work done before his student woke up - which hopefully wouldn’t be anytime soon. He got up and left the room as silently as possible, double checking on the kid once more before shutting the door to the hallway. 

 

The first thing on his to-do list was to email Principal Nezu about the developing situation, and to let him know that he’d text Mic to cover his class while he was away (making the second thing on the list to text Mic). Next he needed to contact the police, after all, official investigations themselves were above his purview as a hero. As he scrolled through his phone for the contact information he walked through the still darkened corridors to a private family meeting room; he shut and locked the door before he hit the call button as he sat down on the small, stiff hospital couch. The phone only rang a few times before someone answered.

 

“Detective Tsukauchi, speaking?”

“Detective, it’s Eraserhead.” Aizawa drawled sleepily. 

“Oh, Eraser! How can I be of service?”

“I need you to make time for an interview as soon as possible... I had a student disclose.” He replied in a quiet tone. 

“Right, sometimes I forget that you also have a day job. Sure, I can make time tomorrow afternoon, if that works?”

“That should work; I think he’ll be out of the hospital by then.”

“Hospital? Is he okay?” He asked, worry creeping into his voice.

Aizawa sighs, and reluctantly answers.

“I stopped him from jumping off of the roof of U.A. last night. Physically he’s fine but… emotionally it’s a different story. And… please keep this under wraps. It’s a pro’s kid.”

“Of course; May I ask which hero?”

Aizawa sighed. 

“Endeavor.”

Tsukauchi sighed back in response.

“I wish I could say I’m even a little bit surprised, but I’m not.” 

 

He did a few more things, including checking in with the doctor and filling out some paperwork, and was back in Shoto’s room again by 8am. The boy was still asleep, heavily so, appearing more relaxed to the older man now than he had at any point that he had seen him before. Knowing that his student was safe, and having done everything he could to help the situation for now, Aizawa allowed himself to get comfortable in the chair by the bed and drift into a well-needed nap. 

 

————————————————

Aizawa awoke a few hours later to various muscles protesting at the position that he had slept in. His eyes drifted over to his student, who now lay in a different position than earlier but was still fast asleep. Aizawa stretched carefully and got up with another sigh. He pulled out his phone to check the time - it was now noon - and noted the barrage of missed texts from Mic (“ yo, everything okay?????,” “shou???,” “SHOUTA PLEASE ANSWER!!!,” “Todoroki was absent today…” ). Aizawa sighed again and decided to grab a cup of coffee (black, extra large) while he replied to all of Mic’s texts ( “I’ll explain later; Todoroki is with me, and he is fine” ) before his charge woke up. Twenty minutes later, coffee in hand, Aizawa peeked into the room through the door’s window and saw that his student was now showing signs of slowly waking up, blinking blearily and slowly sitting up. 

 

---------------------------------------------------------

 

Like a repeat of earlier, Aizawa knocked on the door before entering, taking a seat next to the bed.

“How are you feeling?” 

Shoto thought about it for a moment, before replying with a half-shrug.

“I… I don’t know.” 

Aizawa nodded. 

“That’s understandable. A lot has happened; I’m sure you’re still processing it.” 

Shoto just blinked in return. 

“They’re going to be releasing you tomorrow.” 

A troubled look crossed his student’s face.

“You’ll be returning to live on campus in the dorms, however we’re going to temporarily move you to the faculty dorm so I can keep an eye on your recovery.”

Shoto frowned slightly at that - I’m not injured he thought to himself. 

“Specifically your mental wellbeing.”

Oh. They think I’m broken now…

“This isn’t a punishment, and it isn’t to embarrass you; we’re doing this so that you have the resources that you need readily available to you, much like it would be if you were to stay here in the hospital, but-“

“Without being in a hospital.” Shoto finished. 

Aizawa’s lips twitched up.

“That’s the idea. We figured that things would be more comfortable this way, making your recovery easier.”

“I… I don’t understand… what you mean by recovery. I’m not hurt or anything, surely the doctor told you that when you spoke with him?” 

Todoroki voiced with confusion.

Aizawa frowned slightly, and he took a few moments to think about how he should explain things; after all, Todoroki was by no means stupid, or naive, though certainly a little sheltered, and also in a fragile mental state at the moment. 

“You’re correct, the doctor did inform me that you’re not physically injured… however, if I had to hazard a guess I’d say you’re experiencing a state of emotional shock right now. You’ve been living in the situation that you have for a while now, maybe your entire life, and to suddenly have everything change is something that will require some time to adjust to.”

Shoto nodded slowly, but Aizawa could tell he still didn’t quite understand, but he’d have to leave it for now. 

“There will be a detective stopping by tomorrow afternoon to ask you some questions, but first I’d like to talk with you about some things. Do you feel up to, and comfortable, with that?” 

His student frowned and looked up at him before shrugging.

“O-okay.”

Aizawa nodded in return.

 

“Ok. You went home last Friday for the weekend, can you tell me why?”

“It was an agreement my Father made with me; I would be allowed to come live at the dorms if I went home a few times a month to train with him.”

Aizawa frowned slightly and nodded.

“Ok, and what does training with your Father look like? What do you practice?” 

Shoto paused for a moment to think about it before answering.

“Mostly quirk training. A lot of times he’ll have me work on using my quirk while sparring.” 

“Is that how you’ve gotten some many injuries over the years?”

He hesitated, before nodding his head.

“It’s fine though, I’m used to it; it’s normal to get hurt while training.”

Aizawa paused for a moment.

“How many students, excluding Midoriya, get hurt while training at U.A.?” He asked gently.

First his student looked confused, but Aizawa gave him a look that suggested he take a second to think about it. Then Shoto looked troubled.

“What your father has been doing, forcing a child to fight and defend themselves against not only a hero, but one with a powerful and deadly quirk, is at best negligence and child endangerment. Doing so repeatedly is considered to be abuse. Not only did he harm you, a child, but he used his quirk against a civilian, which is also a crime.” 

Shoto just remained silent.

Aizawa let him process this information for a few moments. 

 

“Can I ask what else you and your Father do? Maybe after or other than training?”

Shoto shrugged. 

“Usually it’s all related to training or making me stronger, so like a steam or soak, or a post-workout massage, something to wind down and relax.” 

Aizawa nods.

“Has he… ever touched you in a way that made you feel uncomfortable?”

Shoto shrugged again. 

“I-I don’t know. He’s always telling me to push myself, to work through any pain or strain or anything…”

Aizawa realized he’d have to be more direct and clear in what he was asking. 

He took a breath before asking: “Shoto… do you know what sexual abuse is?” 

Shoto frowned, and shook his head.

“Sexual abuse is where somebody, usually someone older or in a position of trust, forces or encourages someone else to engage in sexual activities.”

A look of confusion crossed Shoto’s face.

“That includes anything ranging from sexual touching - someone touching your genitals or having you touch their genitals - to oral sex, to the act of having or being made to have sex.” 

Aizawa knew that he was being very blunt, but he wanted to be as clear as possible.

“W-Why are you asking about that?” His student asked, now beginning to sound upset, and perhaps a little angry. 

“When the doctor conducted his examination of you… he found evidence that suggests to us that someone may be sexually abusing you. Does that sound like anything you’ve maybe experienced?” He stated carefully. 

His student was now breathing heavier, and was staring down at his hands once again. Aizawa gave him a few minutes to process what he’d been told; to his understanding, Shoto had been very isolated growing up. He’d been tutored at home for his schooling up until he attended U.A., and all year so far Aizawa had watched him go from being completely closed off and relatively socially inept to slowly becoming friends with Midoriya and a few of his other students. 

“If you don’t want to talk to me about it, that’s completely fine, you don’t have to and I won’t make you. But… it’s important that you talk to someone at least.”

After a few more minutes, with Shoto seemingly lost in thought and staring down at his hands, Aizawa nodded sadly. 

“Okay, that’s ok. We don’t have to talk-”

Then Shoto cut him off. 

“I never knew what to call it.”

 

-----------------------------------------

Father of mine
Tell me how do you sleep
With the children you abandoned
And the wife I saw you beat

Notes:

The songs are Say Anything by Marianas Trench and Father of Mine by Everclear

Notes:

I have a good chunk of the second chapter written, and the rest planned out, so it should be posted relatively soon. This will not be a long fic, so it'll probably end after the second chapter and left off similarly to What's Normal to Me, the other fic in this series. Also, while this is in the same series, it's up to you (the reader) to decide if they're set in the same "universe" (as in, what happens in the other fic happens at an earlier point in time in this fic).

Also the song at the end (and what the title is based on) is Gasoline by Halsey

Series this work belongs to: