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Once, just once, Shouta would like one of these trips to go the way trips had before he'd gotten the Nightmare Class. Even if said trips had had significantly fewer students and he hadn't been nearly so attached.
But nooo. They'd get in a few decent trips, just enough to start thinking their luck was turning, and now this. It was supposed to be a brief simulated patrol, just walk around a few blocks during the movie night snack run while the student trio discussed how their Quirks and abilities could be used together, which was why he had the random trio of Sero, Uraraka, and Kirishima with him.
Whoever had gotten them was good, Shouta had to admit that. He hadn't seen it coming, and he'd been his usual extra vigilant these-kids-will-be-the-death-of-me self that he'd become on outings with the Nightmare Class.
His hands were tied behind his back. It was the first thing he noticed when he woke up, given he'd been lying on them and they were numb. The resulting pins and needles woke him up more than a jolt of coffee would have, which was the only good thing about the situation.
He wasn't blindfolded, which either meant that whoever took them didn't care if he saw them or they didn't know about him and his Quirk. His scarf was missing, and so was the knife he kept at his back, so they had to know something, to know that his scarf was a weapon and not a fashion choice. Which said the second option was unlikely at best.
Shouta squirmed and inched himself into a seated position, wincing at the pain in his arms and taking stock of his surroundings, looking frantically for his kids students.
He was trapped in a metal crate, one with a door on the front, a barred door like a mobile cell. His students were in similar cages across a surprisingly wide aisle from him, each in their own cage-crate. There were more of the crates on either side of them, varying in size.
They were still asleep, but starting to stir.
Each of them had their hands tied like his were and was wearing a collar, one Shouta recognized as a Quirk suppressor. There were tags hanging from the front, but they hung twisted about from the collars, so he couldn't read them from where he sat. He raised a shoulder and lowered his head, feeling the weight and bulk of a similar collar around his own neck.
Well. That explained the lack of a blindfold. No need to wonder what someone's Quirk was if they couldn't use it.
Shouta craned his neck, up on his knees. The crate was too small for him to stand upright, more than likely on purpose.
There were a lot more crates around, most of them empty.
But he could make out movement in a crate two down from his kids.
“Eraser? You awake?” called an obnoxiously familiar voice, much quieter than usual.
Still, no matter how annoying she might get, Shouta had to admit that there were far worse people to have your back in a fight – or, in this case, some sort of hostage situation – than Ms Joke.
“Joke, what's going on?” he called back, keeping his volume level with hers.
“Remember that trafficking case I got assigned a few weeks ago?” Joke asked, a little sheepishly. “They found us first.”
Shouta cursed under his breath. Though most pros didn't share their missions with each other unless necessary, those who stayed in the shadows had a network set up to keep each other up to date just in case one of them should disappear while on the job. A smaller, more secure version of HeroNet. And since Ms Joke tread the line between the two, she was on both.
Which was how he knew Joke had been on the trail of kidnapped pro heroes, most of whom were low enough in the rankings that their disappearance hadn't been noted. All signs had pointed to it being not random attacks, as could easily happen to heroes, but coordinated attacks and probable human trafficking, though what was happening to the pros they hadn't any clues for yet.
Joke huffed, though it was far less amused than her usual sunny self. “Yeah, that about sums it up. I've seen some other heroes pass through here already, but it sounds like they've got a bidding war going for me. Winners get to bid in person. That's why the different colors on the collars and tags. They're pretty organized for newbies, Eraser. But I'm not sure they're used to dealing with pros like us, though.”
Shouta waited, testing the ropes around his wrists.
“Everyone they've taken before us was a newbie, just debuted recently,” a new voice said, and Shouta jerked.
“Fatgum? You too?”
There was a heavy sigh. “Yeah. They're getting good at this, but I guess you figured that out already. I was poking around and got caught. Right now they've got the three of us and Mount Lady. She's out of it right now. Who'd they bring in with you?”
“Three of my students,” Shouta answered in a growl. “We were doing a practice patrol slash movie night snack run and got ambushed. Never saw a thing.”
“And that's saying a lot coming from you,” Joke commented.
Fatgum had gone quiet, and Shouta assumed it was so he didn't yell something in anger.
Joke had moved closer to the bars, and Shouta could see the collar suppressing her Quirk now.
Where his student had plain silver Quirk suppressant collars, hers was red, and the tags gold colored to their plain cream.
“...Fatgum, the collars...?” Shouta began.
“They used cuffs on me, couldn't get the collar on,” Fatgum said bluntly. “Apparently it's like Joke said, they're doing some kind of bidding war on us since we're established pros with more people looking for us.”
“Which means there's a lot of people interested in the three of you, even more than in our little debutante over there,” came a new voice, and one of the traffickers stepped into sight. “Of course, the kids could very well fetch an even better price, seeing as how they're young enough to be malleable...you know, training age. Younger ones are better, but, well, even I have to have limits – and these ones were just too perfect to ignore.”
Shouta snarled at him, and the trafficker took an involuntary step back away from his crate before a deeply satisfied expression took over his face.
Then, surprisingly, he laughed. “Oh, they weren't kidding about you. That's gonna put off some buyers, but the rest are gonna be thrilled you match the rumors, Papa Wolf. You're gonna make us a lot of money, Eraserhead. Try to be good, now – those collars will keep you from using your Quirks, so don't bother trying. Not that it'll do you much good right now, anyway. Erasure won't get you out of a cage, but damn are there a lot of people who want to get their hands on it – and you. Be good and maybe we'll make sure to sell you off to someone who wants you alive – and who knows? Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll want you healthy after they get you, too. You're pretty enough under all the scruff.”
He walked off with a smirk and casual wave after dropping that subtle threat. The teenagers had woken up during the confrontation, watching Shouta with wide, frightened eyes, reminding him yet again that even if they were heroes-in-training who had fought off real villains more times than they should have had to so early in their prospective careers, they were still children.
“Sensei?” Uraraka said quietly. “What's going on?”
“It's a trafficking ring,” Shouta said softly. He wasn't going to sugar coat it for the kids, this was bad, and they needed to know what was going on. “They're focusing on pro heroes. Remember to use your hero names so long as we're here, it's why we have them. Fatgum, Joke, and Mt. Lady are here too.”
“What? Fatgum? No way!” Kirishima exclaimed.
“Red Riot?” Fatgum called back, and Shouta could see the conflicted emotions painting Kirishima's face. Grateful that his mentor was here, terrified that his mentor was here, and he imagined that Fatgum was having a similar emotional storm. “Shit, kid. Who else is here? Eraser said there were three of you.”
“Cellophane and Uravity,” Kirishima answered for his classmates.
“Hey, can any of you see the tags on your collars?” Joke called over suddenly. All three students craned their heads but couldn't manage it, as they were trying to read the tags that were far too close and upside down, but had shifted to hang properly when they sat up.
“Uravity, come closer to the bars, I might be able to make it out,” Shouta said. Uraraka did, shuffling as close as she could get, pressing her face to the bars as Shouta did the same.
“The tags have everything they know about us on them,” Joke explained as Shouta squinted. “Did they recognize them?”
Shouta breathed a sigh of relief. “No, it just says 'UA Student, Hero Course, Quirk TBA',” he said. “You can lean back, Uravity.”
Sero and Kirishima did the same one by one, and their tags read the same as Uraraka's.
“First stroke of luck,” Joke said softly. “Surprised they don't recognize any of you from the Sports Festival. Fatgum, how's Mt. Lady looking?”
“Probably gonna wake up soon, looks like she's trying,” he said. “I think they got her while she was big and overestimated whatever they gave her.”
A collective wince met that statement.
“The Sports Festival, like the entrance exam, is an area no one listens to me about,” Shouta grumbled. “It puts our students in danger.”
“But...” Uraraka began to protest, pausing as Shouta rolled his eyes.
“All I'm asking is giving students the option to opt out,” he said. “And to try not to give everything away. That's an argument for later. Gum, Joke, what do you know about this place? Are we being watched?”
“They're confident about the ropes and cages and Quirk suppressants being enough,” Joke supplied. At a moment like this, she sobered up, hardly a trace of her overly cheerful persona coming through as she dealt with the situation. “There's a few cameras around, but they can't hear us so long as we keep our voices down. They took pictures of everyone when they first came in, as proof that they've got us to sell off. We don't know for sure how many people they've sold off or are still keeping somewhere waiting for it, but we're pretty sure they were going to sell them off in smaller batches.”
“So it's bigger than whoever's here,” Shouta summed up. “Have they held this auction before? How prepared are they?”
“Less than they think they are,” Joke said, pausing as they heard Mt. Lady stir. “They haven't had any auctions yet, just kidnappings. That we know about. They're still starting out.”
Mt. Lady chose that moment to wake up and freak out, and they were derailed into calming her down.
---XXX---
Shouta wasn't sure how long they'd been trapped in the crates. Everyone else was asleep, instincts saying to get rest while they could, but he couldn't. He was used to dozing off at a moment's notice, but right now anxiety and protectiveness kept him awake.
Things were going to be moving quickly. They had to – there was only so long you could keep someone's hands tied behind their backs like this without risking damage, and, as much as he hated to think of it this way, they would fetch a lower price if they were damaged, and the operation wouldn't last if they had a reputation for damaged merchandise.
“Sen...Eraser?” Kirishima said, far too quiet and meek for one of his sunshine students, and Shouta looked up immediately. “This is really bad, isn't it? I...” he paused and swallowed, looking as though the words were having difficulty emerging. “Is it unmanly to say I'm scared?”
“It's better to be honest with yourself. We can't show it around civilians or we'll make them more afraid, but under it all, the good heroes are almost always scared. We just do it anyway.”
“...you're scared, too?” Kirishima asked, even smaller. Shouta nodded, meeting his student's eyes.
“Mostly for the three of you, but yes,” he admitted softly. “But I'm still going to fight, and I know you will too. To protect each other.”
Kirishima nodded slowly.
“There's trackers in my boots,” Shouta told him, lowering his voice until Kirishima had to press himself to the bars to hear him. “Nezu got us to add them to our costumes with the year we've been having. I activated them awhile ago. More than one person's supposed to get the signal. Backup is coming.”
Kirishima's eyes went wide and he smiled, hope kindling in those bright eyes. Shouta sighed. “Get some sleep, Red. You'll need it.”
“You too, Eraser,” was the immediate response.
Shouta sighed and nodded, knowing it was the only way to get his student to agree, and made himself as comfortable as possible.
It wouldn't be good sleep, but it would be better than nothing.
---XXX---
He'd been right – he'd had to wake up and shift over and over as the hours passed and pain flared from staying in one uncomfortable position for too long, but he was still better off than getting no rest as they waited.
Shouta glared at a tiny window at the top of the building, judging the time. It had to be early morning, judging by the light, maybe an hour before true dawn.
Backup was taking its sweet time getting here.
The man from before came swaggering back into the room, and Shouta can feel the heroes waking, going onto high alert.
“Hey, it's the big day,” he crowed, leaning on Sero's crate. “Try and look excited, it's a brand new start! Anything could happen! Here, you, get these crates lined up so everyone can see we weren't lying.”
He smirked down at Shouta in particular. “No one seems to think we've got the real Fatgum, Joke, or Mt. Lady, let alone the elusive Eraserhead, ” he drawled, obviously enjoying the moment. “You're gonna make us a lot of money, hero. And secure our reputation, all in one sale. Enough people think you're some kind of cryptid, you're worse than most of the other underground heroes, people'll pay for that. And that's before the young'uns get sold off.”
Shouta made a note to make sure to get in at least one good hit as soon as possible, not only for the smarmy look he was getting now but for the way the bastard was looking at his kids. From the grumble coming from Fatgum's crate, he wasn't the only one making that note.
The crates were moved by two thugs, and Shouta took note of each person who entered.
There was the smarmy asshole, who seemed to be at least nominally in charge around here. There were two thugs (a man almost as muscled as Vlad and another whose Quirk involved looking like a bull) who were moving the crates (they were having more than a bit of trouble with Fatgum's and Shouta tried not to be amused by that even as he could almost hear Fatgum trying to make himself heavier in a petty move he couldn't help but approve of).
A new person had come to join Smarmy, a woman with snakes for hair, who was watching the proceedings with sadistic glee, while a smaller person in ill-fitting, too-big clothing, barely more than a teenager if that, stood behind them, wringing their hands.
“Quit sniveling,” the new one snapped at the teen, barely turning her head, still watching the heroes and heroes-in-training. “Just stay ready for if they try anything. You're in just as deep as the rest of us, too far to be forgiven, so don't think you can back out now. Hell, you'll probably get it worse than the rest, since your Quirk's what we used to take 'em down. So shut it before I make you.”
The smaller person winced and hurried over to stand near the crates. Next to Kirishima, Shouta noticed, and noticed how his student started a quiet conversation with the apparently unwilling villain.
He'd leave that in Kirishima's hands. He trusted the sunshine child with that. If anyone could talk a villain around, he'd put his highest bets on Kirishima and Midoriya.
There were more people entering now – Shouta watched sharply, taking careful note of each, and knew Fatgum and Joke were doing the same. He'd assume Mt. Lady was as well, but she was still very new as a pro hero, and panicking quietly, so he was going to rely on Fatgum and Joke first.
Six...slavers, and eight grunts, if Shouta was placing them correctly. Given the way Smarmy was greeting them, then the eight were there to help cart off the pros afterward.
“Gentlemen!” Smarmy said, arms wide. “So good to see you here! I take it you had trouble finding us?”
“A great deal,” one of them said, tilting his head to look past Smarmy. “I admit, I had trouble believing you. But given that is indisputably pro-hero Fatgum and Mt. Lady, I suppose the other two are the ones you claim as Ms. Joke and Eraserhead? And who are the other three?”
“UA students, from the hero course,” Smarmy answered, leading them over and letting the eight thugs trail behind them. “They were with Eraserhead when we got the opportunity, and we couldn't pass them by.”
“And their quirks?” another asked, leaning over to look closer at Uraraka, who bared her teeth at him.
“I was looking up footage from the Sports Festival, didn't get a chance to update their tags yet,” Smarmy said, and Shouta took another moment to curse the damn festival and all the pomp and ceremony and media circus surrounding it. “Tape, Anti Gravity, and Hardening,” he said, gesturing to each. “Names aren't important right now.”
“And we should believe these are the real ones why?” a third asked.
Smarmy shrugged. “Because let's face it, we all know each other here. If I sell you something other than what I promised, you'll make sure I pay for it. But if I deliver, than you'll be back. Lying doesn't help anyone here, so why not just trust me? It wasn't easy getting these here, you know.”
“And what of the others? I heard you were supposed to have more than just these seven,” he continued to question, rocking back on his heels as he looked them over.
“Spread out at other warehouses. Figured it was safer that way, if one gets raided we won't lose all our stock. But with the established pros and the kids, well, gotta get those done soon. There's gonna be more of a search for 'em, ya dig? But I'm sure you're prepared for that.”
The fourth was eying them all with a hungry look that made Shouta want to kick his face in repeatedly. The only saving grace was that he was saving it for the four adults, uninterested in his kids. “Pro Heros look good on their knees, don't they?” the fourth slaver said, mostly to himself.
Shouta deliberately shifted off his knees, knowing his expression conveyed how it was a 'fuck you' move rather than discomfort, and from the look on the man's face, it came across clearly. Not that it was dissuading the 'buyer', but still.
From the sounds of it, Joke and Fatgum had done the same thing.
That backup could get here at any time now. Really. He'd take the embarrassment of needing saved in exchange for getting his kids out of here. And the other pros. And he wouldn't mind getting saved, too, while they were at it.
But he was going to take the first opportunity he could make.
Smarmy was urging the buyers back a bit, gesturing widely. “Now, now, there's plenty for everyone, and I assume you all came here because you had interest in one or more of these heroes in particular. Shall we start the bidding?”
Shouta could hear Mt. Lady panicking, and he wanted to be annoyed with her – maybe was, some (you're a pro hero, control yourself, he thought waspishly) – but he couldn't be more annoyed that that. She was only a bit older than his kids, when he got right down to it.
“What about transport? I'm assuming the cages don't come with the price,” one of the slavers said as they moved back from the cages as directed, making their way towards the chairs set up for the bidders while their thugs took up positions behind them.
“Quirk suppressant collars. Oh, and cuffs instead, for Fatgum, there – the collar wouldn't fit. Heroes don't know how to fight without a Quirk, so there shouldn't be trouble. We can come to an agreement about cages and all. But we'll save that for the end, rather than starting and stopping the auction. Now then, what'll you all bid me for the lovely little debutante at the end of the row? Boys, pull the lady out so they buyers can get a good look.”
---XXX---
One by one they were pulled from the crates for the buyers to get a good look at, held tightly by the thugs as the bidding commenced, and forced back into the crates once they'd been sold, to wait to be shipped off. Smarmy had some sort of commentary for each, reducing them down to merchandise as they fought against the thugs, and the bidders ate it up, eying each of them in turn and bidding, arguing now and again among themselves.
Joke, Fatgum, and Uraraka put up the best fights so far, twisting and kicking or going limp, using their weight and legs to fight, leaving the thugs with more than a few nasty bruises. The two pros were used to close combat, but they were also used to using their Quirks (and hands) to help, and while Uraraka had had some training with Gunhead that she'd been honing since classes had resumed, she was still a student – and a small one at that, especially when compared to the thugs holding onto her who had stoically ignored her kicking and struggling.
Mt. Lady had gone from panicked crying to fuming over her price, which was apparently low enough to have injured her pride, while Uraraka was silently crying and Kirishima near to it, while Sero watched everyone with eyes gone wide and face pale.
“Okay, for the real prize of the evening! Let's get a good look at Eraserhead, boys!”
The door to the crate unlatched, and Shouta could hear his students yelling for them to leave him alone, to get their hands off him, just as they had for each other, as the thugs reached in and grabbed his arm to haul him out.
“So, we all know so little about Eraserhead, save for his Quirk, and it's rare enough that...” Smarmy was saying, his back to the cages.
Unlike the others, Shouta didn't fight as they pulled him out.
Instead, as the thugs pulled Shouta out, he let them, going limp – and using the force of their retaliatory yank to launch himself up, his knee driving deep into thug number one's gut, making him fold nearly in half around the punishing blow.
That same leg landed to give him a stable base as the opposite lashed out behind him, sending thug number two flying as his foot impacted squarely with thug two's gut.
The buyers panicked, leaping from their chairs in a scramble to get away from the furious hero as the the extra thugs stumbled over each other in their haste to get at Eraserhead.
Shouta pivoted, dipping low as his leg flew up and back, a spinning kick across the closest thug's face that sent him sprawling back and into two others, sending the three falling back into the chairs. He could hear the boss yelling at the reluctant villain in the background, knew he only had so long to get the thugs down until that one and the woman, who'd disappeared earlier, came for him.
His kids were cheering for him, their joyful cries mixed with Fatgum and Joke's encouragement and warnings only adding to the chaos.
He backflipped over the charging thug, his foot landing in the face of the thug behind him. He pushed off that thug, sending the thug to the ground and Shouta airborne once again. He landed on the first thug's shoulders, locking his ankles and squeezing around the thug's head with his thighs.
Shouta could crush a watermelon with those thighs. He knew – Nemuri and Hizashi had annoyed him into doing it before. A human skull was about the same as a watermelon, so he had to be careful, but it was worth it as the thug stumbled around, keeping the remaining four away from the two of them with his flailing and clawing at Shouta's unforgiving legs until he collapsed on the floor, passed out.
The doors at the back of the building burst open with a smash and heroes poured into the building, alongside the police.
With Present Mic in the lead.
His Quirk was fairly useless in this confined space and with other heroes in the direct line of fire – or at least, that was what he wanted people to think.
Being the Voice Hero meant more than just being loud, though Shouta didn't blame people for buying all the hype that Hizashi put out. He wanted them to think loud was all he was good for, after all.
The sound he actually let out was low, low enough to send stomachs swooping and people staggering.
Shouta had heard it before and gotten Hizashi to make the sound enough times during sparring that he was able to keep going, another dipped low roundhouse taking out a seventh thug.
With the closest threats taken care of, he stumbled back to the crates, putting his back to them and waiting, knees bent and tense, as the other heroes took down the rest of the bidders and the traffickers.
The one whose Quirk had been used to take them down had crouched next to Kirishima's cage, clinging to it, and raised his hands in quiet surrender when one of the police approached.
As the remainder of the villains were rounded up, Shouta finally relaxed. It took some wiggling, but eventually he was able to wiggle a boot off, standing on one foot and twisting blindly.
“Um, Sensei? What are you...doing...?” Uraraka asked cautiously, ignored for the moment as Shouta concentrated.
“Sh...Eraserhead, are you untying yourself with your toes again?” Present Mic called, arms outstretched as he jogged over. “Come on, let me help.”
“I can...fine,” Shouta relented, rolling his eyes and giving Hizashi his back.
“Yeah, you nearly had it,” Hizashi said, some of his normal self leaking out around Present Mic, enough that it was Hizashi speaking and not Mic. “They have you in the crate, too? I'll be there in just a sec to get you out, listeners, just...there, got it.”
“I can get everyone out if you can find the keys for these collars,” Shouta said shortly as he shook out his cramping arms and shoved sock and boot back on. “Quirk suppressants.”
Hizashi winced. “I'll get right on that. Everyone else has the rest under control, be right back with those keys.”
He jogged off again and Shouta turned his attention to the crates, going for his students first.
Sure, the others could fight better and it would be more logical to let them out first, but...he couldn't see his
kids
students locked up any more.
“Whoa, Eraser, what was all that?” Kirishima asked as Shouta helped him out of the crate and untied his hands. “So manly!”
“It's illogical to rely solely on Quirks, and mine isn't much use in battle,” he said bluntly as he helped Uraraka out of her crate, untying her hands and giving her arms a brisk rub to get the circulation going the way he had Kirishima. “Underground heroes have to deal with being tied up more often than limelight heroes, it was only logical to learn how to fight that way.”
“It was so cool!” Sero added from inside his crate, bouncing on the spot.
“Sensei, will you teach us how to do that?” Uraraka demanded, fists clenched and eyes burning as he crouched to unlock Sero. “Please? You're already teaching us to fight Quirkless, so please will you add that?”
“Hm. Make it to second year and I'll add it to your regular sparring,” he said, amused despite himself. “You need to get regular Quirkless sparring down before you can start adding to it.”
“Yeah!” Uraraka cheered, fists pumping the air. “I'm so pumped!”
And the smile, contrasting with the dried tears on her face, was more of a relief than Shouta had expected, and told him that at least one student was gung ho about upping the Quirkless sparring drills for his class.
He'd gotten Sero out while they spoke and was already moving down the row to Joke, rolling his eyes at the smug look on her face.
“Don't,” he said shortly, but his hands were still careful as he helped her out and turned her to start on her bindings.
“I'm just thinking maybe we should focus a bit more on Quirkless sparring at Ketsubutsu,” she said far too innocently. “I really hope the cameras caught all that. It'll probably go pretty far in convincing people that we need to know how to fight without our Quirks.” She tilted her head back to give Shouta a flirtatious wink, grinning widely. “That and watching my future husband fight with his hands literally tied behind his back is ridiculously hot.”
Shouta cleared his throat, looking away with the usual mix of confusion and fluster and irritation that Joke's compliments brought. She was always toeing that line so he couldn't tell if she meant it or if she was making fun of him and his lack of appeal.
“I'm gonna want a copy too,” Hizashi joined in, coming up behind them with keys in hand. “'Cause hot damn, I missed the best part! Sorry it took so long, they didn't want to give these up, but the one Red was talking to apparently has rethought everything. Should be able to get him help rather than a stint in jail.”
“Get Fatgum first, they cuffed him instead of using a collar,” Shouta said roughly, ducking his head and wishing he had his scarf to hide in from the compliments.
It fell over his head and settled around his shoulders a second later, and Hizashi gave him a soft look before switching back into Present Mic mode.
“I'm just saying,” he said in a sing song as helped Fatgum out of his crate, passing Shouta the keys before going to help Mt Lady. “Hands literally tied behind your back and taking down seven goons. Super hot.”
“Unfairly hot,” Mt Lady whined as Hizashi helped her, and Fatgum rubbed at his wrists, going immediately to check on Kirishima, Sero, and Uraraka while the faintly blushing Shouta unlocked their collars. “He's so scruffy and...and...and then he...augh!”
Shouta kept his face blank as the amused Fatgum unlocked his collar, moving the scarf aside to give him access to it.
“Not a word,” he hissed softly.
Fatgum patted his head, chuckling. Shouta rolled his eyes.
“I'm going to debrief and see if they found my knife,” he said. “You three, stay with Fatgum, Joke, and Mic.”
He stubbornly ignored the giggling coming from behind him as he stalked off, knowing it was more than just his students making the noise. Joke and Mic were teasing each other, getting into their usual who-would-make-a-better-spouse game. Though right now it sounded a bit more like they were gushing over him, which was downright embarrassing.
Someday his husband might get it into his head to try it for real, and Shouta wasn't sure how he felt about that.
Right now, though, it was a distraction and release of tension Joke, Mic, and Fatgum needed, and watching it and boggling were doing the same for the other four.
He was never going to hear the end of this. And if they were going to keep going on about it, then they could do it where he couldn't hear them.
---XXX---
The cameras did catch the whole thing, and Shouta caught his class and fellow teachers watching the video more than once.
He endured the teasing and the questions, and if he was prompted to move up the 'escaping bonds' part of the training, (something most of his classes refused to take seriously, and he'd despaired of getting through to them how much they needed to know how to do it without Quirks) well, they'd asked for it, hadn't they?
With the year they'd had, it was only rational to learn it now rather than wait until year three.
Watching them all squirm on the floor of the TDL or stumble about with their hands behind their backs wasn't entertaining at all. And the way they watched his demonstrations, with whispers and wide eyes, weren't flattering at all.
Neither were the comments from his coworkers or the requests to come train people at Fatgum or Ms. Joke's agencies.
They'd gotten the rest of the trafficking ring cleared up, so there was that out of all of this. And there were a few more people on his 'learn how to fight Quirkless' campaign, so a few good things came out of the whole ordeal.
Now if only Hizashi would stop looking so ridiculously smug each time that video got brought up in the staff lounge...
at least no one knew who the mystery hero in the video was, outside of those who recognized him.
A thought that was comforting right up until Joke brought her students to the joint training, (why did you approve of that Nezu, do you enjoy my suffering, Aizawa thought as he watched the buses approaching, knowing Nezu was likely watching from his office and enjoying the show already) and he heard the whispers passing through her class, the wide eyed looks following him as he and Joke stood to the side.
This was why he didn't do flashy moves when he knew people could see him.
Dammit, Nezu.
---XXX---
Up in his office, Nezu hid a chuckle in his tea.
Shouta and the children had given him quite the scare, getting kidnapped like that.
So if he could have payback while getting Shouta some of the admiration he deserved, but never got?
Worth it.