Chapter Text
"Now just remember what I showed you today for our next session."
It was a Sunday afternoon on a cold autumn day when Rumina and Aizawa finished their training. He was leading the way off of school grounds to take care of some errands and to grab a bite to eat with Rumina. It was a routine she had come to cherish.
"How are things at home?" he asked. This wasn't the first time he questioned about her home life. Living in a foster home almost all her life brought it's own problems, some of which Aizawa did his best to help her through. She was placed in foster care when she'd accidentally used her quirk on someone and didn't know how to deactivate it, causing that person to walk around with no hearing for quite some time. It was the final straw for her birth parents when it happened almost constantly whenever she barely touched someone. Of course now she had better control of her quirk, but as she grew up she ended up being tossed in and out of foster homes because the same thing kept happening and she was soon labeled as a 'dangerous' and 'troublesome' child even though it was completely out of her control.The current home she was in was supposed to be a final chance for those types of children.
"They're good" Rumina bites her tongue to keep from saying something that might give her true thoughts away. "What are we going here for?" She asks as they walk into a small convenience store on their way to getting something to eat.
"Got to buy some throat spray for mic." Aizawa answers in his usual tired gruff voice. He'd recently started to experience a slight scratchiness in his throat, that was likely from the cold weather rather than his quirk, and asked Aizawa to buy him something for it.
Rumina tilted her head thoughtfully, "Mic? Present Mic.. do you live with Yamada sensei?" She didn't think that it was too unlikely given how much time they spend with each other.
He simply hummed in affirmation, picking up the throat spray he came for as well as some cough drops.
"Hm it must be nice to live with your bestfriend." She thought out loud.
"Something like that." Aizawa grumbled, walking out of the store after paying at the register. "He can be a real pain sometimes though."
After walking for a bit they arrive at their destination. A small, cozy cat cafe that they've gone to only one other time. After the first time Rumina desperately wanted to come again, but didn't think it would be ok to request a certain place to eat considering he was paying. Not to mention she was used to not being able to ask for things; that's just how she was taught growing up constantly causing problems.
Once inside, they take the window seat in the corner at the back of the shop and give their orders to the waitress when she made her way to them. Aizawa takes out what must be paperwork from school, flips the first manilla folder open and hunches forward to get to work. A nearby cat pads up to Rumina and plops itself into her lap,she scratches under it's chin, already starting to relax.
Some time later, when Aizawa seems to be halfway through his papers, their orders are brought out to them. Rumina sipped at her milk tea after all but scarfing down her sandwich she also ordered and since her throat had been feeling a little sore lately she asked for honey to be added rather than sugar. Placing her tea down she took her phone out of her bag to take a photo of the now dozing off cat lying on her.
"That looks a little more beat up than last time." Aizawa's deep voice startled her and she looked up to see him looking right at her.
"Ah yeah. One the foster kids at the house kind of threw it because they were mad at me.." she embarrassingly looked away from him.
Aizawa narrowed his eyes but said nothing more as he went back to work.
Sighing, Rumina leans her head on her palm, still stroking the snoozing cat and casts a glance at Aizawa who seems surprisingly almost through his stack of papers. She often liked to just observe him as he worked and she could tell that he was fighting the urge to doze off, his eyes drooping tiredly.
Looking back she still found it unbelievable that she was able to convince UA's most strict and feared teacher to train a general ed student like her.
"U-um Aizawa sensei?" Fidgeting, Rumina stood in the hall outside class 1-a waiting for the heroics teacher to step out. The man in question paused when hearing his name and turned with an acknowledging grunt toward the voice. With a hard swallow, she steeled herself, determined to at least try. "I'm sorry to bother you, but there's something I wanted to ask you."
Aizawa fully turns towards her and gives her a calculated look."I'm guessing you're from gen ed since I've never seen you before?" He sighs, rubbing his neck "look kid, if this is about you getting into the hero course I can't help you."
"I know. That's not what I wanted - well not exactly." Rumina looks down for a moment before determinedly meeting his eyes "I just wanted to know if you could consider t-teaching me physical combat? I know that if I want to be a hero I'll have to learn how to fight first. And you're one of the few heroes that can do their job without having to rely on a super powerful quirk..so I thought..that maybe there's a chance you could help since your quirk is simple like mine." Voice trailing off, Rumina began to realize that this probably was a useless idea.
Aizawa listened intently to her explanation and couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity. He did have a rather plain quirk, he'd accepted that long ago and yes the entrance exam has turned away many potentially excellent heroes; it was an injustice he was hoping to change.
He slowly exhaled through his nose and met her eyes, "What's your name? You're a first year correct?"
"Ito Rumina and yes I'm a first year." The fact that she wasn't immediately refused gave her some hope. She grew up constantly being told how troublesome and worthless her quirk was and how she'd never be a hero. But she was determined to try.
Shoving his hands into his pockets Aizawa levels her with a hard look, "Alright listen. If I do this I want you to understand that this is not going to be fun or a fast pass into the hero course. I will push you even harder than I do my students and if I see that you're slacking off or aren't taking this seriously, we're done. Do you understand"?
She'd been so shocked that all she was able to do was nod.
With a blink she's back in the warm cat cafe. Back then, she'd already thought that Aizawa was, no matter how abrasive, a great hero but now that she knows him a little more personally, she sees what an all around good person he is.
Looking back at Aizawa she nearly jumps when their eyes meet. She didn't think he realized how intimidating his stare was. "Urm, is something wrong sensei?" she asked startled from suddenly having his attention on her. Aizawa eyed her another moment before turning to file away the rest of his papers, "No. I've just been thinking of doing a home visit."
Wait.What?
He could not be serious. In no way could this end well. For one, her foster father and Aizawa didn't exactly get along. Though they never outwardly fought, it was obvious the two men disliked each other. And it would be quite embarrassing for him to see the poor living conditions she and her foster siblings had to live in.
Aizawa braced himself on the table before standing and looking down at Rumina as she looked up at him still too shocked to say anything. "I'll walk you to the train station."
Taking the hint, she gently coaxed the cat out of her lap and stood, following him out of the cafe. Outside it was dark, her breathe visible in the cold Autumn air. She followed closely behind Aizawa as she struggled to find her voice, "U-um I really don't think that's a good idea. I mean this isn't really something you do right?"
He replies without turning, "It is when it's necessary."
"But sensei-"
"Rumina" Aizawa's voice took a tone she'd never heard from him before. She flinched and came to an abrupt stop when he turned to look at her. No one ever called her by her first name, not even her foster family. She stood expecting to be yelled at, for him to tell her to just be quiet and do as she's told. But that never comes.
"I'll decide what is or isn't necessary in this situation. Your parents should have their licenses taken away. Don't you think I notice when you come to school with marks that aren't from training or how you talk about your family? You focus on your school work and I'll do what needs to be done." His voice seemed to echo down the street with the finality of his last statement.
Rumina stayed quiet as her shoulders sagged in defeat. It would always be a fruitless effort to try and persuade Aizawa when his mind was set on something. Coughing softly into her gloved hands, she simply nods, lowering her gaze and follows Aizawa when he turns to start towards the train station again.
When they arrive the platform is mostly empty, just a few people scattered or in small groups waiting for the last trains of the night. Rumina can see that her train is set to arrive within the next few minutes. That familiar feeling of dread was creeping up on her again when she knew she had to return to that awful house.
She started to rummage through her bag for the train pass she had to buy herself and found that she didn't even have it with her. Technically, her foster parents were supposed to pay for her transportation to and from school, but they either forgot or just straight up didn't care. She'd have to get another one. She had the money for it, but it was annoying to have to spend it on something that should already be payed for.
"I'm gonna go get a new ticket" she huffed, slinging her bag back onto her shoulder. She was upset that she hadn't noticed sooner then at the very least she could've asked her foster parents, but she'd been quite distracted lately.
"No, you need to save your money. Wait here." Aizawa was always so casual when it came to stuff like this. Rumina pouted in displeasure, realizing it was pointless to argue, but stayed put. Within a couple minutes she had a train pass placed into her hands, "I could've bought it myself y'know. You didn't have to." She couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes. She was far too embarrassed from having him constantly help her. It was something she was trying to get used to.
"I know that. There's nothing wrong with accepting help though." he said tucking the bottom half of his face in his scarf.
"...Thank you" she hesitantly met his eyes. Rumina was not at all used to people showing her kindness, least of all good things happening in her life, but she learned to be grateful when something good did happen. And she promised herself she would never take the things Aizawa did for her for granted.
"If you need help just ask" he repeated, resting back against the station building's wall and closing his eyes. Turning to look down the tracks, Rumina resisted the urge to tell him that she didn't exactly have the privilege of asking for help. Every foster home she'd been in she was left to take care of herself, since most foster parents she had had little patience for her and her hard to control quirk. There had been far too many time that she tapped someone to gain their attention or accidentally bumped into a person and made them go temporarily blind, which was why they made it a rule that she wasn't allowed to touch anyone.
She couldn't remember the last time she'd hugged a person. And she constantly had to push down her desire of wanting to hug Aizawa. Suddenly finding a genuine parental figure after so long had awoken something in her that she'd given up on long ago and looking at Aizawa so close to her now just made it much harder to ignore.
Her hands twitched at her side but she paid it no mind. I can't
The announcement overhead let her know that her train would be there in less than a minute. "My train's almost here.." she mumbled mostly to herself.
"Mhm" Aizawa acknowledged her with a hum.
"I really don't wanna go back." She quietly confessed, hoping Aizawa wasn't really listening.
"Then don't." he always made it sound so simple.
"I don't have anywhere to stay. And I don't want you to get in trouble because of me." And she hated getting people involved in her crappy home situation.
"It'd be fine for you to stay with me. And I'm more than capable of dealing with any consequences that come my way."
Down the station tunnels, she could see the light of the train, the voice over the intercom stating that her train has arrived.
I just can't
"No that's alright. I'll be fine." She'd just have to tough it out. Nothing in life is easy, she's learned that and if she wanted out for real she'd have to do it herself. She just felt that something bad would happen if she stayed.
Finally, the train screeched to a halt in front of them, it's doors sliding open for the passengers to board.
Adjusting the strap of her bag, Rumina started to join the the small crowd heading into the train but paused when Aizawa called out once more, "Are you sure, kid?"
She simply nodded, "I'll be fine." repeating what she said earlier she quickly made her way onto the train before what little resolve she had left crumpled and she decided to stay with him.
However, Rumina learned later that night that that was a very big mistake.
When she opens the door to her foster home, her regret only increases. It's loud, crowded and there is always a very unpleasant smell that lingers in the air, most likely from the amount of messy children that only like to bathe when it's absolutely necessary. Just like usual, Rumina tries to quickly make her way to her room so she can have some peace and quiet until tomorrow, but her plan is disrupted when she hears her foster father call her.
She tenses and turns to the mountain of a man stomping towards her, "Yes?" she asks meekly, she's learned that saying something in the wrong tone would make him snap at her about being disrespectful. She looked up at his face just to see him frowning down at her. sigh what'd I do now?
"Didn't I tell you to clean that back room? Why is it still filthy?!" he said thrusting his thumb over his shoulder at the room.
Crap. Though he had told her to clean the room yesterday afternoon, she'd been so busy worrying about school and training that she completely forgot to do it. "Oh um. I forgot - it's just this week has been kind of hectic." She tried to quickly explain herself when she noticed his frown only deepening. Rumina and her foster siblings all knew that punishment usually followed not doing as he says. Her 'father' never had an issue with physically disciplining them as he saw fit.
"That's not an excuse, do I need to remind you how you're lucky to have this place to live. When I tell you to do something I expect you to do it, I don't care how stressed you think you are! Got it?!" he was beginning to raise his voice the more he spoke and Rumina flinched. The room was silent and all eyes were on the two of them.
It was likely being able to speak freely with aizawa for all this time that possessed her to open her mouth and say what she did, "But why do I have to keep doing these things?! There's like six other kids in this house, they could've already had that room cleaned by now!"
- It all happened so fast
Rumina stumbled back, nearly falling to the floor when his fist connected with her face. She clutched the side of her face and looked up at him near red in anger. This was nowhere near the first time something like this happened, but she felt this time she took it too far with the sometimes uncontrollable tongue she had. "Who do you think you're talking to?! The reason you keep acting out is because of that teacher you're always with, isn't it?"
She tried to open her mouth and deny it but he was already starting up again. She fought the tears that threatened to come because she knew it would only make him angrier and embarrass her further.
"You know what it doesn't matter because you aren't going back to that school tomorrow. You'll sit in you room and think about what you've done," he turned and started to walk away from her but not without one last scowl, "starting right now, so get."
Rumina didn't hesitate to hobble into her room and shut the door. Her face throbbed painfully as she began to quickly pack a spare comfortable outfit in her bag she took with her to school and training sessions as well as a few toiletries like her toothbrush. She was going to have to sneak out of the house early the next morning for school. There was no way she was going to sit in this house another torcherous day.
This time she'd do it right.