Chapter Text
Hizashi Yamada had a problem.
Well, he technically had several, but this one was weighing heavily on his mind.
It was not a problem that was his fault, however. At least, he didn’t think it was his fault. It was about English class… which he did teach, but still. This wasn’t his fault. It was the program! And the first rule of teaching was “when in doubt, always blame the program.”
Yamada had always prided himself on being the “fun” teacher. His first impression was usually as loud and chaotic, so much so that he had been accused multiple times of causing students immense discomfort. No one ever expected him to come out as the English teacher-- the stereotype of “glasses and collared shirts” was usually what people expected. Technically speaking, Yamada did have the glasses, just not the glasses everyone expected.
He liked to think that kids were genuinely excited for his class. English, when taught right, was usually interesting. And it was also a good idea for most aspiring heroes to know the language-- after all, it was the native language of America, the proclaimed “hero capital of the world.” Top Pro Heroes frequently had to travel there for business or other events. And he sure as hell knew these kids were aiming for the top.
English class was hard to teach. Sticking to the curriculum and keeping the students interested rarely went hand in hand. He honestly was running out of ideas to make it fun. He could try playing videos, but videos… not original at all, and also lazy As a radio host, he naturally had to keep things fresh and stay on top of keeping it fun.
Hizashi absentmindedly stared at the paper he was supposed to be grading. He honestly didn’t even remember what the assignment was—probably something with grammar. Maybe adjectives. He had parked himself in the main room of his house, which he shared with Shouta Aizawa.
“Shoutaaaa!” Hizashi wailed as he saw his husband try (and fail) to sneak past him. Aizawa groaned and looked over at him.
“What is it this time? Did Kirishima use the wrong ‘there/their/they’re’ again? Or did Mina misidentify the adverb this time?” Shouta was usually present for Yamada’s grading spells. And every single teacher in the entire school of UA high knew to avoid Present Mic when he was attempting to grade English work.
Fortunately for Aizawa, he had the wrong idea entirely. Yamada was not lamenting over improper grammar use. He had, in fact, decided to wage war on the curriculum as a whole.
“Everyone’s been complaining about how boring English class is! And that is NOT OKAY!” Yamada shouted at the end, causing Aizawa to wince slightly.
“I mean… It is English.”
Yamada glared at Aizawa, pouting slightly. He flopped over on the couch with a dramatic sigh. One of their many cats gave an indignant hiss as it was disrupted by his amazing belly flop.
“Sorry Flyme,” he muttered to the cream cat, who wisely leapt off the couch and exited the room. Aizawa stared after the cat, undoubtedly wishing that he was the lucky one leaving the scene.
“Just because it’s English doesn’t mean it has to be BORING! As the loud and fun teacher, it is my job to make it INTERESTING!”
“I agree with the loud part.” Shouta muttered.
“Shoutaaaaaa!” Yamada wailed again. Shouta sighed and walked over.
“Remember the talk about using your indoor voice?”
“That was my indoor voice!” he protested, “THIS IS MY OUTDOOR VOICE!”
“I am this close to erasing your quirk.”
Hizashi sighed, loudly , and Shouta sat down next to him.
“Okay, I can see this is really getting to you, so, what’s the problem?” Aizawa’s demeanor changed instantly. That was one of the things Yamada loved the most about him-- underneath the hard exterior, there was a loving and gentle person. If you could pry him out.
“I don’t know why everyone hates my class all the sudden! It’s like a switch was flipped! I heard some of your students talking about how ANNOYING and NOT INTERESTING it was!” Yamanda complained, flinging his arms over his head in exasperation. Shouta shrugged.
“I mean, I guess it is a foregin language. It’s pretty hard for most people to properly speak their native language, I’ve begun to notice.”
“Was that an insult that I’m not understanding?”
“What-- no, I--” Aizawa sighed, “I don’t think so.”
“Riiiight. That sounded like an insult.”
“Sure,” Shouta said, “But I’ll only ever use it on my students. Specifically Kaminari.”
“Can we focus on the current issue at hand?” Yamada snapped.
“Right. I thought that was what we were doing. Sorry.”
“INSULTING PEOPLE IS NOT ENGLISH!”
“But it is American , and they speak English .”
“IT IS A PEOPLE THING TO DO!”
It took the two of them at least ten minutes to return to the topic of “Fixing English Class so It Isn’t Boring.” Yamada was still at a loss for what to do about it.
“I’m declaring war on the curriculum!” He shouted, slightly less loud then normal.
“You can’t do that.”
“WATCH ME!” Hizashi jumped up off the couch and paced the room. “New textbooks, new assignments, new everything! I am BURNING the old stuff! It’s boring!” Aizawa rolled his eyes. Yamada paused and looked at him with confusion. “What?”
“Or you could give them, I don’t know, real experience? That’s a slightly better idea then letting them commit arson.”
Yamada’s brow furled, “I am intrigued now. Go on.”
“You could take them to America or something. Let them hear how it’s really spoken. Yes, that sounds like a great plan. Letting the most accident prone kids run around America, what could go wrong.”
Hizashi looked at Aizawa with a newfound glint in his gaze. He smiled, “NOW THAT IS A GREAT IDEA!” He shouted, “The class would LOVE that!”
Shouta shrugged, “I bet they would.” Yamada ran over to him and hugged him and kissed him quickly on the cheek.
“Thanks for the talk! You’re a genius!” With that, he sprinted out of the room, leaving Aizawa to stare after him, mildly concerned.
“I really, really, really hope he didn’t take that seriously,” he mused out loud.
--
Hizashi strode onto UA’s sprawling campus, rather pleased with himself. Shouta’s idea had been BRILLIANT! Bringing 1-A to America would be a GREAT learning experience! He just had to get the principal’s approval, which would most likely be the hardest part. Nezu was extremely worried for UA’s reputation-- based on the latest activities from the villains, it came as no surprise. But taking 1-A to America would be an effective way to prove the UA was responsible. The villains wouldn’t be in America! A perfect way to avoid further problems.
Yamada stopped in front of the principal’s door, and took a deep breath. He rapped on the door lightly. “Principal Nezu!” he called, “Do you have a moment?”
“Of course! Come on in!” A voice sounded from the inside. Yamada pushed the door open and stepped inside.
“Good afternoon Present Mic!” Nezu waved cheerfully, looking up from his mounds of paperwork, “Please sit!” He quickly pulled up a chair and settled down. “What can I do for you?”
“I need to get your approval on something,” Yamada responded. Nezu looked at him, interest in his eyes.
“What for? Does it have to do with your class?”
“Yes. I… well, I was wondering if I could take 1-A to America.”
If Nezu had been drinking his usual cup of tea, he probably would’ve spit it out in shock. He set down the paper he was reading and stared at him. Hizashi was rather proud he managed to surprise him. It was a pretty rare occurrence.
“I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”
“I want to take Class 1-A to America.”
“Why?”
“Well, lately they’ve been complaining that English has been ‘boring.’ So, I figured I had to find a way to spice it up, and what better way then to take them travelling to get some hands on experience! Or, I guess, ears on experience,” he rambled slightly.
“You realize that if UA were to be involved in one more villainous incident, it would destroy the school’s reputation, right? This is risky.”
“Yes, but the League of Villains isn’t even in America! Plus, no one needs to know that we even went there! It can be completely covered for. Hell, this could even help avoid another problem. Press can’t exactly follow us there. ”
Nezu considered this for a minute before returning his attention to Hizashi, “I do agree with some of your points. However, 1-A’s capability to attract problems is unmatched. They have the ability to cause an international crisis.”
“I’m sure Aizawa and I could keep them in line! Aizawa does it every day on his own,” Yamada felt like a teenager pleading his case to an overprotective parent. Nezu cared very deeply about UA and its reputation-- he practically breathed UA, after all. 1-A was commonly referred to as the “resident problem children.” Letting them go anywhere was usually considered a hazard.
Nezu still looked hesitant, but was definitely considering it. He sighed, “All right. This could prove to be a good experience… and possibly a good idea. However, I do have one request.” When Nezu meant request, it usually meant an order.
“What is it?” Yamada asked tentatively.
“I want you to bring Toshinori with you. He has been to America before, and could help make sure that the students don’t accidentally cause any cultural wars.”
“We don’t need a babysitter!” The words were out before he could stop them. His eyes widened slightly. Oops.
The principal, luckily, just laughed, “Call it what you want. I do have confidence in your ability, but I think having three chaperones would probably be for the best.” Yamada couldn;t deny that logic. With Bakugo trying to blow something up every half second, it would likely be wise to have a third pair of eyes.
“Alright, works for me!”
“Excellent! You must, however, get permission from their parents first. You are, after all, travelling to a foreign country. I trust that you and Aizawa can handle the planning on your own?”
“Yessir! Thank you!” Yamada smiled, standing up, “you won’t regret this!”
The principal nodded, returning to his paperwork. Yamada walked out with a skip in his step as his master plan began to take shape.
--
Tomura Shigaraki was coming to realize something that was not good. Like, as far as crises go, this was not good. If he to rate it on a scale of 1-10, it would be pretty high up there.
The League was almost out of money.
As in the League needed funding.
And Shigaraki is broke.
He honestly was pretty pissed off. Between All for One’s arrest and the idiots from UA getting stronger, things were not going his way. And it was getting frustrating.
He knew he would have to present this to the rest of the League soon, as Kurogiri kept nagging him. He would usually wave him off. Keeping secrets was part of being a villain, after all. But the mist man was being insistent.
“This is a little bit more serious than the normal issues the League faces. This is a financial crisis, Tomura Shigaraki. The others have the right to know. Besides, the rest of the League may have ideas to get us out of this situation,” Kurogiri said to him for about the fifth time today. Shigiraki glared at him, scratching his neck.
“They work for me. I decide what they get to know and don’t get to know,” he snapped. Kurogiri sighed. He probably would be rolling his eyes if they had any pupils.
“If they find out you were hiding this from them, they will not be happy.”
“What’re they gonna do? I can take them on,” Shigiraki muttered.
“Perhaps, but the goal is to get more members, not chase away the ones you already have,” Kurogiri reminded him.
“How am I supposed to do that without money?”
“You could ask the others for advice.”
They went back and forth, bickering like children, for a while. Shigiraki knew that Kurogiri was right, and that telling the other members would be the wise move. They may have ideas (probably involving murder or arson) that could help.
Just then, right as Shigiraki was about to agree, Himiko Toga burst through the door with Jin Bubaigawara right in her tail.
“What the hell are you doing in here?!” Shigiraki yelped, glaring at them.
“What he means to say is ‘hello, how are you?’ ” Kurogiri said.
“I know what I said, and I said it on purpose,” he said to the mist man before turning his attention back to the intruders.
“Hiiii Shiggi!” Toga said with a giggle, “we have something to tell youuu!”
“Then spit it out and leave me alone,” Shigiraki snapped, glaring at the girl.
“If you aren’t gonna ask nicely, I won’t tell you,” Toga said with a pouting expression crossing her face.
“How about you tell me and I don’t turn your knives to dust,” he countered impatiently.
“Would it kill you to say please?”
“Yes.”
Toga crossed her arms across her chest and tapped her foot against the floor. Shigiraki sighed. Toga was easily the youngest in the League and therefore the most immature (though sometimes Twice was a close second). She would withhold vital information if you didn’t do what she asked. But Shigiraki would likely do the same thing, so their stubbornness was matched. They probably would’ve glared at each other for the rest of the day if it hadn’t been for Kurogiri stepping in.
“Okay fine. Please will you tell us what you know?” The mist man put heavy emphasis on the word please. Toga sighed.
“Alright because you asked so nicely! Well,” she began, “we were just talking in the common room—“
“You mean fighting,” Twice interjected, “we were fighting in the common room.”
“We were not!”
“Toga,” Twice began slowly, “Dabi was this close to setting you and the entire room on fire.”
“How was that my fault?”
“Because you asked him about his family, which is a big no-no , and wouldn’t let it go!”
“Well maybe if he told us—“
“Can we please focus on what you came to tell me?” Shigaraki interjected before the two could continue squabbling. Kurogiri looked like he needed an aspirin or two.
“Right! Sorry boss!” Twice yelped, straightening up and stepping back.
“Anyway,” Toga continued, “we were talking aggressively in the common room when the phone rang! And naturally, we all panicked because who would call the League, right? Well, it turned out to be this guy from—you’ll never guess where—“ she broke off and looked expectantly at Shigaraki.
“I don’t want to guess, Toga, I want to know where you’re going with this,” he sighed.
“I won’t tell you, then! You’ll never know!” Toga stuck out her lower lip and turned away.
“Listen here you little—“
“It was America!” Twice yelled. “The guy was from an American crime syndicate or something.” Now this piqued Shigaraki’s interest. Other organizations rarely contacted them—the last time had been Overhaul’s gang, and that ended in disaster. But perhaps this would be different.
“What did they want?” Shigiraki asked, reclining back and scratching his neck again.
“He had a business offer for us! He wants us to come to America and meet with the gang!” Toga said excitedly. Kurogiri and Shigiraki exchanged a look. This could be a solution to the financial problem, if played correctly.
“I want to talk to him before I make any decisions...but this does sound interesting.”
“He gave us the number to call! Here!” Toga thrust a hastily scribbled note into his hand. Shigiraki barely avoided closing five fingers around it. He glared at Toga, who was oblivious to the crisis she almost caused.
“Did he say anything else?”
“He said that if you agree to the terms, they’ll arrange travel to and from America.”
“Did he say where in America we were going?”
“He said that you’d be told once you called him back!”
Shigaraki sighed. This was a gamble. It could easily be a trap. Toga and Twice looked at him, eager to see what he would decide.
“I need to think on it. Get out,” he said to them.
“—and thank you for letting us know about the call,” Kurogiri chimed in. The other two nodded and left the room, chattering excitedly to each other. Shigiraki sighed and turned back to Kurogiri.
“Well? What do you think we should do?” He said after a minute. He hated asking for advice, so that should show how serious this situation was to him.
“I think you should at least call him back. This could be a way to get the money we need.”
“It could be a trap.”
“Possibly, but I don’t think so. But you could be right. Risk a trap or go bankrupt—it’s your choice, Tomura Shigaraki.”
Shigiraki scratched his neck absentmindedly. The League desperately needed the money. However, America was far away. That was both a plus and a negative. The chances of Japanese heroes being there were slim, but never zero. Traveling was always a risk for a villain—their wanted posters were practically everywhere. And on top of that, he had no idea if this guyguys was legitimate or not. He could be working for the heroes, for all he knew. He considered the factors, weighing them heavily in his mind. One misstep could mean the end of everything they worked for too...but not taking this could men’s bankruptcy, which would also signal the end.
He sighed and turned back to Kurogiri.
“Alright, I’ve made up my mind. Where’s the phone?”
--
“You WHAT!?!” Shouta Aizawa nearly fell off his chair in shock when his husband came strolling through the door with his latest announcement.
“I got approval from Nezu to take 1-A to America! Your idea was GENIUS!” Hizashi was beaming, his eyes practically glowing. Aizawa stared at him incredulously.
“I’m still trying to process why you would listen to that idea.” Now Hizashi was the one looking confused.
“Why wouldn’t I? It was brilliant!”
“For ANY OTHER CLASS than 1-A, perhaps. But we were talking about the PROBLEM CHILDREN. The children are capable of dragging the school to hell. And you want to take them to AMERICA, of all places.”
“You were the one who said it!”
“I was being SARCASTIC!”
“Your sarcastic voice sounds like your normal voice. Maybe you should work on that.”
“ARGH!” Aizawa threw up his hands in frustration. “This will not end well! How are you supposed to wrangle them all?”
“Well, it won’t just be me going.” Aizawa whipped back around and fixed him with a death stare.
“Please don’t tell me…”
“You’re coming too! And so is Toshinori! Yay!” Yamada said with a nervous laugh.
“ALL MIGHT IS COMING?!?” Shouta looked like he was on the verge of either committing murder or crying. Quite possibly both. “Do you realize that bringing the former number one hero is a huge attention grab?”
“Hey, it was Nezu’s request, not mine. I wasn’t on board with it either, but he does know a lot about American culture. Plus the students will probably listen to him, right?”
“1-A has selective hearing,” Aizawa said flatly, “So no, I don’t think they’ll listen to him.” Hizashi couldn’t exactly argue with that. If they had a nickel for everytime the class did exactly what they were told not to do…
“On the bright side, the League of Villains won’t be there, so they shouldn’t have a reason to defy orders, maybe?” He said cautiously. The biggest concern with 1-A was the fact that the League, for some reason, had an obsession with them. When the League did something to one of the members of the class (like, for example, kidnapping one), it was inevitable that at least three of the problem children would charge in after their classmate, even when they were explicitly told not to do it. Yamada found it heartwarming, but it usually just caused Aizawa multiple migraine headaches.
“Okay, let’s say that I agree to this—“
“Nezu already agreed!”
“I am not Nezu, in case you haven’t noticed,” Aizawa responded dryly, “can I continue, please?”
Yamada shrugged, “no one’s stopping you.”
“You just—never mind. Anyway , say I agree to take 1-A to America. Say their parents agree to letting them take a trip to America. Where exactly are you planning on going? And when? And for how long?” Aizawa hit him with a barrage of questions.
Hizashi paused for a minute before answering. Where was I planning on taking them? That’s an excellent question.
“West coast,” he blurted out.
“Be more specific. That’s 3,000 kilometers of land, Hizashi.”
“All of it!”
“What does that mean?”
“Well,” Yamada sank back into his chair, “we could take them to the major cities. Let them see the average American lifestyle. Also, the West Coast’s climate is more predictable than the East Coast, and since we’re traveling in fall, it’s probably better to go there. Also, less drama. Nowhere near the capitol.”
“You’re making more sense than normal. What’s your real motive for going to the west coast?”
“...Hollywood,” Yamada admitted, “and Disneyland too?” Aizawa sighed and shook his head. The image of the 1-A running around Los Angeles was terrifying. The city didn’t stand a chance. But Hizashi seemed hellbent on getting Aizawa’s class overseas, so he might as well help him before he smuggled them out without him.
“Alright fine. I can see there’s no talking you out of this, so I might as well help you. I’m just thankful you didn’t say Florida.”
“Florida’s boring compared to Hollywood.” That earned him a strange look from Aizawa. Yamada’s brow furled in confusion. “What?”
“If you don’t know, I’m going to let you preserve your innocence,” he said with a hefty sigh. “Moving on, the first thing you have to do is—“
“Plan out the trip?”
“No. Worse,” Aizawa shook his head, “you have to get permission from the parents. ”
--
Hizashi set the phone down and flipped back against the couch. 19 phone calls later, he was finally done. Aizawa looked at him and smirked. He had to talk to parents to get permission before, so he completely understood the struggle of talking to an overprotective parent. Inko Midoriya… oh boy. She was a handful. In the end, Hizashi reassured her that her son would probably be safer in America than he would be here. And adding on the fact that All Might was going didn’t hurt. She reluctantly agreed in the end.
“We got consent from everyone! Now it’s time to make the official permission slips,” Hizashi said.
“Have fun with that. Don’t forget to include the medical history thing,” Aizawa said, “but first you should build an itinerary.”
“A what— oh.”
“You said you wanted to get to every major city, right?” Aizawa asked.
“Yeah…I think that’s what I said?”
“And I have my own ideas, too.”
“For what?”
“The trip. If I’m chaperoning, I want to call at least one shot,” Shouta grabbed a piece of paper and snatched the phone out of Hizashi’s hand.
“Where are you going with that?”
“To arrange a school tour.”
“A what!!?”
“ A what?!” A new voice joined the fray, and Aizawa and Hizashi turned their heads toward the sound of the voice. Hitoshi Shinso stood in the doorway, glass of water in one hand and stroking one of the cats with another. Shinso was one of the kids Aizawa and Hizashi had ended up taking in a couple of years ago. Shinso had been hesitant to accept their offer at first, but he had settled into life with them after some time. He had recently been transferred into Class 1-A, after Aizawa expelled one of the students for misconduct. He clicked with the class, and was quite popular from the sports festival events. It was a transfer everyone had agreed on.
“Why do we need a school tour?” Shinso asked. Aizawa and Hizashi exchanged a glance. They had wanted to keep this a secret until everything was planned and finalized—even though they got preliminary approval from Nezu and the parents, it would still have to be signed off. And if there was something that came up in the documents that someone didn’t like, the whole trip could be called off. Hizashi didn’t want to spread false hope, so he asked the parents to keep it a secret for now.
“Uh...grade school for Eri!” Hizashi yelped, “that’s it! Yes!” He laughed nervously. Shinso looked at him flatly.
“How stupid do you think I am?”
“It could be the truth!”
“Pops, everyone knows you are a terrible liar,” Shinso pointed out.
“Fine. Can you keep a secret?”
“I don’t see why not,” Shinso shrugged and walked over the couch and sat down.
“We’re planning a trip for your English class,” Hizashi said. Shinso looked at him blankly. He tilted his head to one side, mildly confused. “Yay?”
“Are we going to the history museum or something?” Shinso asked, “‘cause no offense, that would be boring.”
Aizawa smirked, “Sure. Something like that.”
“How does America sound?”
—
Shigiraki picked up the phone cautiously with four fingers. Using the phone was a pain in the ass. One minute he was talking, the next it was accidentally disintegrating. This would be the call for that to happen.
He glanced at the paper to make sure he got the number right. His finger hovered over the “call” button. He glanced once more around the room to make sure he was alone. He had asked Kurogiri to clear the room, seeing as this call was HIGHLY confidential. Plus he didn’t want any interruptions.
He scratched his neck and hit the talk button.
—
Dabi’s legs wobbled slightly from holding up Toga, who had begged to look through the eyehole of the door. He was beginning to wonder why he agreed to this. Toga was crazy to think that Shigiraki would not notice the entire league crowded around the door. Then again, if he was focused on the call, perhaps he wouldn’t. Either way, he was about ready to throw Toga across the room to get her off his back. Literally.
“Hear anything?” Twice asked.
“She’s looking through the peephole ,” Dabi snapped, “not listening to the conversation.”
“Well, she could be doing both!”
“Shhhh!” Toga said suddenly, “he’s starting the call!”
“Great!” Dabi grunted, “now GET DOWN! You don’t have to stand on my back to eavesdrop!”
“Shhhh!” She said again, promptly ignoring his request. He sighed, hand on his head.
“He’s saying something...I can’t really hear what it is,” Toga said, looking at the gathered group.
“So get off my back!” Dabi said.
“Fiiiine.” Toga slid off of him and skipped over to Twice. Dabi straightened up, stretching his back.
“How many birds did you eat?” He grumbled.
“Just the one!”
“Seems like more.” Dabi grumbled. Toga ignored him.
“How are we gonna find out what’s going on now,” she whined.
“We could, I don’t know, wait?” Dabi suggested.
“That would be the wisest course of action,” Kurogiri said, materializing behind them, “I would not recommend going in until he’s finished with the call.”
“Is he in one of his moods again?” Dabi asked with a yawn. Kurogiri said nothing, so he took that as a yes.
“Whatever, I can wait,” Twice said.
“Well I can’t!” Toga said, walking over to the door. Dabi immediately moved to block her.
“As much as you get on my nerves, I don’t want to see you as a pile of dust.”
“He won’t do that!”
“Yes, Toga,” Dabi sighed, “yes he absolutely will. Just wait like ten minutes.”
Toga responded by pushing him out of the way and beelining it for the door.
“Toga!” Twice yelped. Dabi shook his head.
“She’s done for. No doubt about it.”
Toga pulled open the door just as Shigiraki clicked the phone off.
—
Shigiraki set the phone down and was not surprised to see the other members of the League. He had heard the crashing outside the door. For all their skills, they could not sneak around for the life of them. Toga met his gaze expectantly, excitement shining in her eyes.
“Well?” Dabi asked, crossing his arms.
“Pack your bags,” he said, a grin forming on his face, “we’re going to Seattle.”