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Aizawa Shouta prided himself on being a calm, composed and rational man.
Sometimes, though, he really found it difficult to keep himself together. Like this week for instance: his class really wanted to test his patience, it seemed. It started out innocent enough; Midoriya was being his usual fanboy self, and the others were curious about his inclination towards All Might-themed merchandise.
“Hey, Midobro, what are you wearing?” Kirishima asked, one Monday morning while everyone was still milling about in the dorm common room, eating breakfast and readying themselves for they day. This one single question had started a chain of events Aizawa would come to regret.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Midoriya asked in return. Aizawa was still drinking his coffee, actually deigning to join the students in their morning routine, but even he could see what Kirishima was talking about. If even pre-coffee Aizawa could see it, he wondered just how well-ingratiated this piece of merch was into Midoriya’s life.
Midoriya was wearing a blanket as a cape, clasped in the front with a big red button. The blanket was themed after All Might’s golden age costume, and even had a hood on it made to resemble the hero’s ridiculous hair. (Seriously, Aizawa thought, how did the man even make his hair stay up like that?) The blanket was a garish mix of clashing colors, eye-poppingly bright and near impossible to miss. If Midoriya didn’t understand what Kirishima was talking about, he must’ve had it for a while. He wasn’t going to say anything, though. Students were allowed to wear their pajamas to breakfast if they wanted, so long as they weren’t breaking dress code.
“Your blanket, bro!” Kirishima gave him a toothy grin. “You look super comfy!”
“O-Oh!” Midoriya squeaked out, turning a tiny bit red. He hugged the blanket around his shoulders and gave a sheepish smile back. “Yeah, it’s really soft! I’ve had this for a while now, so I don’t always think about it when I wear it…”
“Can I feel it?” Kaminari piped up, and Midoriya nodded. Kirishima and Kaminari came up to him, and gave his head little pats, feeling the hood of the blanket. “Whoa, it is soft! Man, I wish I had a blanket as cool as this one! I don’t think I’d ever take it off!”
“You like it?!” Midoriya’s eyes went wide with curiosity and excitement. Aizawa supposed he didn’t have many people who shared his enthusiasm for hero merchandise before U.A. He knew the boy didn’t really have any friends before U.A, either - it was painfully obvious in the way he interacted with others - but having to hide his own interests was probably more than a little disheartening. To have others interested in the same things always made his eyes light up like that, though. (Aizawa was determined, one day, to help the poor kid break out of his shell. He had potential, he just had to act on it.)
“Yeah we like it!” Kirishima agreed. “A blanket you can wear like a cape? Who wouldn’t like that? And besides, it looks like All Might! That’s super manly, dude!”
“W-Well, actually, I have a couple of extras if you guys want to borrow them for a while! It’s my favorite blanket so I have spares when I need to wash them, but I don’t mind sharing!” Midoriya offered, and Aizawa’s eyebrow rose at that. A comfort blanket, huh? No wonder he was so used to wearing it without thinking about it. (That was another thing, Aizawa thought - Midoriya’s unceasing anxiety would have to be addressed one day, too.)
“Really?! You’d let us borrow them?” Kaminari grinned, bright and wide. Midoriya nodded quickly, his own sheepishness fading away.
“Yeah! If you want! Just remind me after school to give them to you!”
That was how it started, Aizawa realized. A normal interaction between classmates would eventually turn into something the other teachers would tease him about for months afterwards. Tuesday morning came sooner than Aizawa would have liked, and this time there were three vaguely All Might-like heads in the commons. Kirishima, Kaminari and Midoriya were all sitting on the couches eating breakfast, the imitation hair pieces bouncing animatedly on the blanket hoods as they spoke. They each had their own blankets around their shoulders and they were clearly enjoying themselves.
Aizawa was a bit annoyed at the obnoxious amounts of All Might this early in the morning, especially before his coffee, but he didn’t say anything. Oh, how he wished he had.
“What’re you guys wearing?” This time it was Jirou who asked, accompanied by Hagakure, Sero and Yaoyorozu. Kirishima gave a grin and threw his arms around Midoriya’s shoulders.
“Blankets! Midobro let us borrow them! They’re so soft!” He exclaimed, and Kaminari nodded.
“Yeah! They’re so soft and warm in the morning, I wish I had one to keep! We’re gonna give them back before class, though,” he said, almost pouting a little at having to give up the warm blanket.
“I could make you your own if you’d like, Kaminari!” Yaoyorozu said with a smile. “It seems like you really enjoy the blanket, after all.”
“Oh, would you?! That would be awesome, Yaomomo, thank you!” Kaminari cheered, throwing his arms in the air and putting his hands on his hips in an iconic All Might pose. “Now I can say ‘I am here!’ all the time!”
This got a handful of giggles from Midoriya, who looked happy that others were enjoying his blankets. At the time, Aizawa thought it was vaguely endearing, at least glad that Midoriya was getting along with the others in his class. He didn’t seem anxious in the least, which was a good step forward. Of course, because he had to jinx himself by thinking positive, it just went downhill.
Wednesday morning came next, and this time, there were five All Might blanket-clad students. It was spreading like some ungodly, garish disease, and Aizawa felt his eyelid twitch in annoyance at the amount of obnoxious colors in the commons. Now it was Midoriya, Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero and Hagakure, all wearing blankets as they ate their breakfast and conversed with one another.
“What the fuck are you extras wearing?” Bakugou grumbled, still bleary-eyed with sleep as he trudged into the commons. “Was this your idea, shitty nerd?”
“N-No, Kacchan!” Midoriya startled a bit. Aizawa sighed. Well, there went Midoriya’s calm happiness for the day. He always seemed to be a bit more jumpy when it came to Bakugou, though Aizawa supposed the blond’s angry disposition gave him plenty of reason. It always seemed a little personal, though. Another thing that would have to be addressed when they weren’t constantly under attack by villains every other week.
“Whatever,” Bakugou huffed, making his way towards the fridge and pulling out the milk. “You all look ridiculous, anyways.”
“Aww, you can just say you want one too, Bakubro! I’m sure we could ask Yaomomo to make you one!” Kirishima grinned and laughed a little bit. Bakugou’s fist clenched around the milk jug and he scowled at the group, although his face was a bit red like he was embarrassed.
“Why would I want one of those things, you idiot?!” He growled out, slamming the carton down on the counter.
“You have to admit, they do look comfortable!” Ashido chimed in as she joined them in the commons. “Maybe I’ll ask Yaomomo for one, too!”
“Heh, of course you’d want one, Mina,” Jirou rolled her eyes with a smile. “You guys do look like you’re having fun, though.”
“They’re comfy!” Midoriya smiled again, and Aizawa let it go. As much as the growing amount of blankets and All Might colors annoyed him, he wasn’t going to just shoot down the students enjoying themselves outside of class. He wasn’t that mean.
Thursday morning came, and the next thing he knew, half the class was wearing those ridiculous All Might blankets. Okay, Aizawa thought that perhaps, in retrospect, he probably should have been a little more mean. It was like having ten miniature All Mights running around, and that thought genuinely terrified him. He was sure he’d have grey hair if this kept up at the same pace.
The ones with blankets now included Ashido, Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, Sato, and surprisingly, Bakugou. Aizawa had nearly done a double take at that one, making sure he wasn’t seeing things when the explosive blond of 1-A indeed entered the commons wearing one of the All Might blankets. He at least didn’t have the hood up, just the blanket buttoned around his shoulders.
“What a mad banquet of darkness…” Tokoyami muttered to himself as he made himself some breakfast. For once, Aizawa was inclined to agree with him.
“The blankets were very soft, I couldn’t help but make myself one as well!” Yaoyorozu admitted, almost bashfully. “I can certainly see why you like yours so much, Midoriya.”
“Right?! I’m just surprised Kacchan wanted one too…!”
“HAH?! I didn’t ask for one, nerd! Shitty hair shoved one off on me without asking, and it’s cold in here in the mornings!” Bakugou patently denied association with the blankets, and the others just laughed a little at his excuse. Midoriya and Kirishima both knew he was an All Might fan, even if it wasn’t quite on the level of Midoriya himself. If Bakugou really didn’t like the thing, he wouldn’t have worn it even if it was cold.
“You guys are all wearing them now, huh?” Ojiro asked with an amused snort. “Next thing we know, Iida and Todoroki will be wearing those things.”
Iida and Todoroki were wearing those things. Come Friday morning, in fact, all of class 1-A was wearing them. Nobody was spared from the All Might blankets, least of all poor Aizawa’s eyes. He just wanted to not see those annoying colors for one day of his life, but no, there was no rest for him. What was that saying Yamada kept quoting at him? No rest for the wicked? Something like that. He must've done something wicked to deserve this.
“They are indeed comfortable and warm!” Iida smiled a bit, sitting next to Midoriya and Uraraka. “I don’t typically interest myself in hero merchandise, but I can make an exception when it seems like everybody’s enjoying themselves!”
“... Yes,” Todoroki added plainly. “I can’t bring it home with me, but I do enjoy it.”
“Don’t worry, Todoroki, I’ll keep it safe in my dorm room over the weekend for you!” Midoriya smiled, and the half-and-half teen gave a small smile of thanks back to him.
“These blankets do bring out the more sparkling traits of moi!” Aoyama added, smiling and sparkling all the while. God, this class was going to give Aizawa one hell of a headache one of these days.
Suddenly, Midoriya’s phone buzzed, and the whole class turned to look at him expectantly. Aizawa froze at that sight. That couldn’t mean anything good. Midoriya looked at whatever message he received and he smiled, almost devious on his normally innocent face.
“He’s almost here!” Midoriya said, and suddenly Aizawa felt like he didn’t want to be there any more. He should’ve just had his coffee in his own room this past week, but no, he just had to feel overprotective of his students. Curse what Yamada called his ‘dad instincts.’ He had a sinking feeling that the class was planning something ridiculous.
“I can’t wait to see his face!” Uraraka giggled. “I’m just surprised everybody agreed, especially Bakugou over there!”
“Tch. Shitty Hair owes me spicy ramen for this,” he grumbled, and that was that. Aizawa definitely knew they were planning something now. Before he could think about it, though, Yagi - All Might himself - was making his way into the 1-A commons.
“Good morning, students! Young Midoriya said you had something to show… me?” He trailed off, blinking in surprise as he was greeted with the sight of twenty students in their pajamas, all wearing All Might blankets with the ridiculous hair-imitating hoods up.
At the sight of the man, the entire class jumped up and posed like him, yelling “WE ARE HERE!”
Aizawa’s coworkers would never let him live this down.
Yagi burst out laughing, a bashful shade of red on his face as he really processed the sight. He found it endearing and thanked the class for an amusing start to his day. After talking with Yagi for a while, and just before Aizawa had finished his cup of coffee, Midoriya approached him with something in his hands. Aizawa eyed it suspiciously.
“Sorry for dragging you into this, sensei,” he began, “I know you don’t like it when we do stuff like this, but, uh, we just think it’s fun and mostly harmless, you know?”
“It’s fine, problem child, you didn’t do anything wrong. You’re allowed to have fun,” Aizawa sighed, finishing off his cup of coffee.
“Well, either way, we wanted to give you something to make up for it! Well, I did, anyways… we made you a blanket too! I-I figured you wouldn’t like the All Might one so I designed this one myself…” Midoriya held out the blanket. Aizawa took it, curious as to what he’d picked.
It was a hooded, buttonable blanket like theirs, but instead of being themed after All Might, it was themed after him. After Eraserhead. The blanket and hood were all black, with a vague belt-like stripe where his jumpsuit belt would be, and a winding grey scarf printed on the shoulders. The button was yellow, and on the hood was a matching design of yellow goggles.
If Aizawa was seen wearing it the next morning while he drank his coffee, well, then none of the students mentioned it.