Work Text:
Izuku stops short as he comes back from his jog to discover that there was a mass of reporters standing outside the gates of UA.
This in and of itself wasn’t a new experience. It happened all the time. But it had been a long time since he’d had to deal with it on the outside. He’d gotten special permission to leave campus today to do some training on surface streets and sidewalks. UA of course had their variety of training grounds designed to mimic the experience of doing hero work in the city but they were usually empty or filled with robots. It wasn’t quite the same experience as actually having to take bystanders into account. He’d honestly been surprised when Aizawa had given him permission to go off on his own to do it.
He kept himself to a non-quirk workout even though his license allowed him to use his quirk in public now because UA Rules stated that students, even licensed ones, should not use their quirks off-campus without a teacher, parent, or guardian present. He’d spent the time getting used to dodging pedestrians and maneuvering through traffic at his normal speed to get a feel for it. He’d mostly just wanted to stretch his legs and get a bit of time to himself.
He loved his classmates and friends fiercely but sometimes it all got to be a bit much being surrounded by them all day every day. They knew his routine so well that more often than not he found himself being joined during his training exercises. Which was great on most days. But sometimes it was just not what he needed.
He’d also used this time to visit Dagobah Beach just to check up on how things were going there. He’d been happy to see that it was still trash-free and so instead of moving trash like he’d been prepared to do he’d taken the opportunity to run on the beach for a while before finally heading back towards campus.
Only to be confronted by the site of the reporters laying in wait for someone to walk by.
He sighed and rolled his shoulders. He reminded himself that they would more than likely be present at any villain battles as well so he might as well use this opportunity to get used to them now. He took a step forward ready to bypass them quickly with a hopefully strong and confident “No Comment” like Midnight had taught them during a Press Relations class.
He was three feet from the cluster when a voice rang out stopping him in his tracks. “Hey aren’t you that guy?”
His heart began to pound desperately in his chest as he heard his name. He wasn’t expecting any of them to recognize him. It had been months since the Sports Festival and he no longer heard the “bone-breaking kid” whispers behind his back when they left campus to his relief. The group however turned in his direction in unison and a whisper shot through them like a wave. It was creepy and weird and the desire to get inside where it was safe intensified. He swallowed nervously and squared his shoulder and took a few hurried steps forward trying to circle around the edges of the group.
“Who?”
“He’s from that big raid that went down last month, the one on that security camera footage that was released online!”
“The flying, glowing kid?”
Izuku’s step faltered. There’d been leaked footage of him from the raid? Why hadn’t anyone told him? How had they gotten his name from mere footage? Oh no...had his MOTHER seen it? She was going to freak out if she saw it. Then she’d probably kill him AND All Might and ask a million questions about his quirk that he definitely didn’t want to have to come up with excuses not to answer. This was not good. This was so not good and…
A microphone thrust itself in front of his face and he jerked back in surprise his quirk flaring up as it sensed danger. He swallowed and pushed it down glancing up at the reporter attached to it. It was a man with dark hair he didn’t look dangerous but there was a glint in his eye that set Izuku on edge.
“What year are you in, Kid?”
“First Year…”
As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them. They had slipped out on instinct he was so used to people seeing his uniform and asking him. He hadn’t meant to give them anything. Now that he had the cluster moved forward and more microphones were shoved in his face. The man who had gotten the answer from him was grinning like a shark that had scented weakness.
“They let First Year’s go on those kinds of missions now?”
“Yeah, I heard they’re even allowing them to get provisional licenses now after what happened in Kamino and that one kid getting kidnapped!”
“Didn’t that kidnapped kid win the Sports Festival this year? Hey, kid are you in his class?”
"Uh...no...no...comment..."
He cringed at the softness of his voice and how plaintive he sounded. He could bench press a car, or so Kirishima insisted after doing some spotting for him in the gym earlier in the week, had already taken down several villains and held a quirk that had existed since almost the Dawn of Quirks. Yet he couldn't face down a gaggle of reporters without shaking like a leaf and sounding like a shy four-year-old meeting a stranger for the first time.
"Just answer the question, Kid, it's not that hard..." sneered the reporter who had his microphone still shoved in Izuku's face.
"No...I don't think...I just need to get back to campus...but thank you for...for...your interest..."
He tried to take a few sliding steps to the side only to suddenly find himself blocked when another reporter a woman with blood-red nails so sharp they might as well have been one of Toga's knives wrapped around a tape recorder. They all began to jostle him to get closer throwing questions in his direction like "What's your quirk?" "How'd you learn how to do THAT" Then someone finally made the connection, probably using the internet on their phone, between him and the "bone-breaking kid" at the sports festival and they swooped in closer like lions circling a wounded gazelle.
He was just about ready to activate his quirk and shoot out of there. It was against UA's rules but he figured Mr. Aizawa would understand. His homeroom teacher really seemed to hate the press for some reason. As he moved back the dark-haired reported moved forward his hand shooting outwards to block Izuku's retreat with his microphone only he seemed to misjudge which way Izuku was going to move and smashed the microphone directly into the side of Izuku's head instead. Izuku stumbled back as pain radiated through his skull. He heard flashbulbs going off and silently apologized to his mother for all the pictures she was going to see of him falling on his but in front of the press.
Then suddenly there were hands on his shoulders and stopping his movement. He flinched away from it thinking for a brief moment that it was another reporter that had snuck up around him from behind and was now physically touching him. The hands squeezed him gently and released a moment later when it was clear that he was back on a solid footing. He panted quietly as fear threatened to overwhelm him as the person behind him stepped up closer a solid mass behind him, growling lowly. It took him a moment to really register that fact, he blinked in confusion and finally forced himself to glance behind him.
The person was not a strange reporter like he'd been fearing but was instead the familiar figure of Present Mic. He looked like he'd rushed out here in a hurry, he was wearing sneakers, his leather jacket wasn't buttoned correctly, and even more telling was that his hair was loose around his shoulders. He looked hard and angry in a way that Izuku had never seen him look before. At least not close up. If the expression on his face wasn’t enough to give away how angry he was the fact that he was legitimately growling at the group of reporters definitely would. He pinned them with a glare as he stepped up even closer behind Izuku now a comforting presence at his back. Izuku could feel the vibrating air current of the growling ruffling his hair. He made a desperate mental note to ask his teacher how he was doing it later. Much later when he was hopefully back in the dorms eating a ton of comfort food to recover from this whole ordeal.
"He said, "No Comment," Mic finally said after a long moment. "So drop it."
"Come on, Mic," the dark-haired reporter drawled, shoving the. "We just want a few answers about his impressive performance during the raid. After what happened this past summer I would think you'd want a little...good...publicity and all..."
"He's a child who said he doesn't want to talk to you so Back Off."
Present Mic's pitch changed and did something that caused Izuku to wince slightly as it cut against his ears. It had a similar effect on the rest of the group and most of the reporters backed off a few paces. Except for the dark-haired reporter who held his ground and sneered at them in a way that made Izuku feel even more like he was being stalked by a dangerous predator.
"If he's old enough to be sent off battle then surely he's old enough to answer a few little questions, isn't he? Aren't you?"
The microphone was shoved in Izuku's direction again and he flinched back from it. "That's not...I wasn't..."
"Enough," Mic bit out, reaching out and grabbing the microphone and shoving it out of Izuku's face. Izuku could hear the plastic casing protecting the more vulnerable electronic bits crack underneath the grip and bits of plastic began to flake to the ground.
"Hey now," the reporter said trying to tug it out of the hero's grip. "Careful what you're going around breaking...that's private property..."
"Is it? Seems to me that the fact that you used it as a weapon a few minutes ago makes it fair game for me, a licensed pro hero, to confiscate it from you." The plastic shattered away completely allowing him to get a full grip on the metal handle, he twisted his hand pulling it dangerously close to being out of the reporter's grip.
"That...was an accident..." the reporter said sounding a touch desperate as he tried to get his piece of company-issued equipment back. "He's fine, aren't you kid? Didn't even leave a mark!"
"It's...fine..." Izuku answered softly. It wasn't a lie the pain was fading and he really just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. "Can we...I should really be getting back to my homework, Present Mic Sir..."
"See...like I said he's fine! "
There was a long pause as Mic looked down at him like he was accessing the injury that might have been done to him and the situation as a whole. Izuku let his eyes plead for escape because he really didn’t want this to become an even bigger deal than it already was. Mic frowned but nodded his head before turning back to the reporter.
"You're lucky that he’s so forgiving and that I know for a fact that he has an English test to study for," Mic's voice was a dangerous growl. He let go of the microphone for a moment and then just as the reporter started to relax and take it back he snapped his hand back out, grabbed it, and pulled him back in, leaning over Izuku's head to growl into the man's ear. "But you touch, harass, or so much as LOOK in one of my kid's directions again and you'll discover for a fact that that luck well...it doesn't really run very deep."
Izuku shivered. The anger wasn't directed at him but the tone slid down his spine and brought up all the times in his past that teachers had turned their anger on him when he hadn't done anything more wrong than trying to defend himself. The reporter took a hurried step backward once Mic released him. He seemed to take the unspoken threat quite seriously. A hush fell over the group, no one seemed willing to move when that piercing glare swept over them.
"That goes for ALL of you."
"You may be able to throw your weight around to keep him from talking, Mic," the reporter said seeming to have gotten a little bit of his nerve back now that he wasn't in the direct line of fire. "But you can't get rid of us that easily. This sidewalk is public property and no amount of threats is going to change that. So...why don't you be the one to leave us alone..."
The reporter was cut off by the loud "Yeah!" that suddenly emanated from Mic though not from the man himself. Mic reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. He ignored the group as he opened it up and read whatever message was waiting for him. A toothy grin snaking across his face as he glanced back up at the others.
"Principal Nedzu would like me to inform all of you that you are indeed trespassing on private property. He purchased additional land outside the front of the school after what happened earlier this year. You remember that don’t you? When a large group of you crossed onto school property without permission causing a distraction that allowed a villain to break in. An incident that eventually led to a violent attack on staff and students, injuring many of them and hastening All Might's eventual retirement..."
"You’re lying there’s no way the city would have allowed him to buy public land like that..." the reporter said his eyes swinging around towards the front gate, and the copious amounts of cameras currently pointed in their direction (and Izuku knew those were just the normal ones that you could actually see not the hidden ones that were most likely also there).
"You and I both know that he can do pretty much anything he wants. UA supports a wide swath of the local community through outreach programs and funding and the city likes to repay us in kind. So I suggest you turn around and leave. Unless you'd like a demonstration of what my "Outside Voice" sounds like..."
They all shuffled back muttering amongst themselves over wondering how far UA property went now and how to find that information out. The dark-haired reporter was glowering openly at Present Mic but was smart enough to back off as well. The notification on Mic's phone went off again.
"Principal Nedzu says that all of the sidewalks on both sides of this street are property of UA. Also, you have ten minutes to leave or he will send out the first wave of security to escort you. Might want to move quickly. The first wave is Snipe and he really hates it when his free day is interrupted..."
He didn't wait for them to answer. Instead, he slipped his phone back into his pocket and took a step around Izuku to stand between him and the reporters. As he moved his hand dropped down onto Izuku's shoulder and slid down along his back in a reassuring way. It kept moving until he reached Izuku's arm and then reached down and grabbed Izuku's hand. He was momentarily startled but isn't given enough time to really comprehend what was happening as Mic tightened his grip and moved them both back in the direction of the front gate.
"Keep your head down, Kid," Mic murmured at him as they moved.
Izuku didn't understand the command but did as he was told and lowered his head. A moment later he heard the telltale clicks of cameras and realized what his teacher was warning him of. They only had ten minutes before they were going to be removed and they were going to use every second of it to get what they can for. Thankfully his teacher was matching his pace to Izuku's and his larger body was blocking him from their prying lenses. The last thing he needed was to explain to his mother why his face was plastered all over magazines and the internet. Present Mic's hand squeezed his every so often reminding him that he wasn't dealing with this alone that everything was okay.
It seemed to take forever but it probably only takes a couple of minutes to cross back to the entrance gate and then through it. It slides shut with a soft thud as soon as they pass through. Izuku glances up in time to see a series of red lights blink through some sort of sequence along the top of it. He felt better only after the lights stopped flashing and settled into solid green. Present Mic stopped moving the second they crossed through the gate. He just stood there panting heavily seeming to be trying to calm himself down. He kept up his death grip on Izuku's hand when Izuku tried to move away to give him some more space it seemed to finally jar him into movement. He blinked owlishly at Izuku for a long moment and then his face did a weird partial crumpling thing and he let go of Izuku's hand stepping away from him. He crossed over to the concrete wall and leaned against it rubbing his hand against his face.
"Sorry about that, I...guess I got a little carried away. Probably not the best example of how you should handle the press..."
"No...thank you, Sir," Izuku hurried to reassure him. "I definitely...definitely needed to..."
"Unfortunately in some cases it's the only thing that will work to get the vultures to back down and it's almost always a whole lot of fun."
Mic grinned viciously and Izuku couldn't help but chuckle at how gleeful he looked at the prospect.
"Still it's my duty as your teacher to show you the right way to deal with things and as much fun as it is threatening violence against them is it's not the first choice."
"I'm sorry, Sir," Izuku said with a frown. "I should have called someone when I saw them but I thought that I could...that I could get by them without incident but they blindsided me and I just...blanked...I guess I need to work on that more. All Might deals with this all the time..."
"This is your first year, Midoriya, you're literally just taking baby steps into how to deal with any of this and we haven't gotten into the press-related courses yet. That's our fault. This has been an extremely abnormal year. Most of the time you first-year ducklings never get anywhere near the press. It's no surprise you didn't know how to handle it and they took one look at you and used it to their advantage like the vultures they are. It takes a lot of practice to get comfortable with it. All Might has had DECADES of experience, I can't think of anyone else remotely on his level. You'll get there and if you don't it's fine. I can point out a certain current Number One Hero and certain Homeroom teacher we all know and love, who have both never gotten the hang of it."
Izuku tried to take what his teacher was saying to heart but there was some part of him that couldn't shake the feeling that he had let everyone down by not being able to handle this properly by himself. He'd made Present Mic have to come outside and deal with the press himself when it was clearly not something he enjoyed. It was strange since technically Mic WAS press. He did interviews and news on his show mixed in between music and trivia and calls from the public.
"How's your head?"
"What?"
"He hit you with his microphone, definitely not an accident by the way no matter what he says, does it still hurt?"
"Oh..." Izuku frowned and lifted his hand to press at his temple. It was maybe a bit tender to the touch but didn't really hurt as badly as he was expecting." He lowered his hand and shook his head. "I think I avoided most of it, I was more startled than anything. I wasn't expecting it."
"He's just lucky you've gotten so much better with your control," his teacher said as he crossed back over to take a closer look at the side of Izuku's head. "Though I would have loved to see his expression if you'd suddenly activated your quirk and punched him in the face. Ah...don't tell anyone I said that of course, because I definitely shouldn't be condoning violence against the press..."
The notification on his phone went off at just the right moment as if in agreement with his statement. They both turned to look over at a nearby camera in time to watch it shift as if it was a head nodding in their direction. Mic muttered under his breath, something about rat-shaped creatures needing better hobbies, before turning his attention back to Izuku.
"It doesn't look like it'll even leave a bruise. I should probably make you go see Recovery Girl regardless, but I don’t think I’m really up to being a responsible adult at the moment... So if you start to feel dizzy or get a headache you go see her immediately, alright?"
"Yes, Sir," he said easily.
He knows that he should take that as a dismissal because it definitely seemed like one, but something about the way his teacher was looking off into the distance with a frown on his face was making the thought of leaving him alone right now seem like a bad idea. He swallowed nervously, he still had a lot to learn about comforting people during a rescue mission (that was where most of his negative marks had come from during his licensing exam after all) and it was made even stranger by the fact that this was not a rescue mission and Present Mic was his teacher.
"So ah...why do you hate the press so much?"
He slapped his hand against his mouth and groaned as it registered what he had just let come out of his mouth. Of all of the things, he could have said his brain had to produce the worst possible thing he could have come up with. His teacher jerked back a little at the unexpected question. His eyes were wide and owlish and Izuku realized for the first time since this had all started that he didn't have his sunglasses on but a pair of square red frames instead. He'd seen him in regular glasses before, during the jewelry store robbery exercise but he'd been a little distracted trying to solve the crime and pass the class that he hadn't really paid it much attention to it. While he was distracted by that fact Present Mic seemed to recover enough to open his mouth to answer the question.
"No!" Izuku cried out flailing his hands and rushing to stop his teacher. "Please...don't...I shouldn't have asked that...I'm so sorry..."
"It's okay, Kid, it's not..."
"Why did they send you out there to help me?"
Izuku cringed, honestly the way he'd blurted that didn't make that question any better than the other one. It was at least a less personal one to be asking a teacher.
"I wasn't sent. I was having lunch with All Might when Principal Nedzu contacted him to let him know what you'd run into outside."
"Oh..."
"He wanted to come but he's a bit...stiff...today..." Izuku frowned. He knew stiff was the code that the teachers used to notify each other that All Might was having a bad health day. "I knew I could get down here faster and honestly having All Might show up would probably have just made things even crazier anyway. The last thing we need is for the press to make the connection between the two of you...and that you were the one he was talking to at the end of the Kamino battle..."
"What...how..." Izuku sputtered in surprise at his teacher's words. "That wasn't..."
Present Mic just raised a brow and cut off any lame arguments that Izuku might have been able to come up with. There was a light in his eyes like he wanted to ask more and Izuku instantly began to try to come up with excuses to get out of there quickly. He did actually have that English test to study for. Anything he might have said is interrupted by Snipe stomping up to the gate with Ecotplasam and Hound Dog in tow. Izuku guessed that meant that the reporters outside had decided to test to see if Principal Nedzu was bluffing or not.
"Really?" Present Mic said with a scoff.
Snipe’s only answer was to adjust his mask and cock his gun. Hound Dog was growling low in the back of his throat it's a noise that only gets louder as the gates slide open again. Izuku watches the three teachers swarm outside. He doesn't envy the crowd of reporters for having to see that coming at them.
"Did Principal Nedzu really buy out all the land around the school?"
"Guarantee it! The question you should really be asking is if he did it earlier this year or five seconds before he sent me the text about it."
"Could he actually do that?"
"I learned long ago to never question the Principal's ability to accomplish anything he sets his mind to, especially when it comes to this school."
Izuku nodded his head. There was the sound of some sort of scuffle going on on the other side of the wall and Izuku had to resist the urge to go and try to sneak a peek at what was going on. As fun as it sounded, he knew it was probably a better idea for him to go check in with All Might both to reassure his mentor that he was okay after what had happened but also to make sure that his mentor was doing okay himself. For the bad health day to be bad enough for Present Mic to mention to him it meant that it must be pretty bad. Also, it had been far too long since he'd had a chance to sit down and have some quiet time with his mentor.
"There was an incident when I was in school."
His teacher's voice is soft and Izuku almost doesn't hear him over the commotion going on on the other side of the wall. He stills his movement and turns to look at Present Mic with wide eyes. A chill slides down his spine just a light one. He knows he's about the hear something about his teacher's past that he probably shouldn't be privy to and that he would have to be careful both in his reaction and in keeping this privileged information safe going forward. Thankfully he had practice now hold his own information close to his chest.
"You asked why I hate the press and I guess I do owe you an explanation as to why I, an adult and Pro Hero, acted so unprofessionally out there."
"You really don't have to, Sir, I shouldn't have asked..."
"I mean it's not like it's any big secret," his teacher said shrugging his shoulders. "Everything is in the public records so if you wanted you could easily go and search up the information. I'm guessing that you don't already know about it because it happened long enough ago that it's not brought up that often but isn't really a place in UA history that you'd need to research when looking into the school."
Izuku frowned at that. He had done a lot of research into UA before applying but most of that had been focused more on current requirements and the history of how the school had been founded because people on the hero forums had suggested it might be on the written portion of the entrance exam. It hadn't been but he had enjoyed learning about the school's history all the same.
"Shouta and I were in our second year," Izuku blinked it took him a moment to register that Present Mic was speaking about Mr. Aizawa. He shifted a bit uncomfortably at that. It was one thing for Mic to tell him something of his own volition but learning something about his incredibly private homeroom teacher was another thing entirely. "We had a friend, a good friend, and during our internships he...he ran into a building to try to save people and the building collapsed. He saved them...those people but he wasn't so lucky himself..."
Izuku closed his eyes briefly at the sheer despair in his teacher’s voice. He’d had a suspicion the moment Present Mic had started speaking that it would end with something like this. He’d been hoping that he was wrong. "Oh...Sir...I'm..."
"It was a long time ago," his teacher said clearly trying to convince himself more than Izuku that it wasn't something that was obviously still a raw and open wound for him. "I'm honestly surprised that it didn't get dragged back up again after what happened over the summer. I guess it's too far back for any of them to remember it or they were simply too lazy to do any digging for it. It didn't happen on campus, like I said it was during our work studies. Shouta was..." he trailed off and shook his head.
For a moment Izuku thought he was going to end it there. Then his teacher frowned and rubbed his face looking exhausted and far older than Izuku had ever seen him.
"After...the press found out...they were brutal. It was huge shocking news at the time because I mean he was so young, only seventeen and he was amazing and had his whole life ahead of him....they were relentless in trying to dig up information about him...and the people in his life. They somehow figured out that Shouta was on the mission too, that he was there with him when he died…. They wouldn't leave him alone after they found out about him. They chased him everywhere. To and from school, followed him on his off days shoving microphones in his face and asking questions every waking moment they could get close enough to lob them at him. They did the same to...to my friend’s parents like they weren't grieving and mourning the loss of their son. At some point, they found out I was involved too and came after me. I was not doing well at all and I kind of lost it and yelled and people got hurt and there were threats of lawsuits but Nedzu, he was just a teacher back then but still really scary, he finally figured out how to squash it. I've never asked him how he did it, I figure I'm probably better off not knowing..."
Silence stretched between them as Present Mic trailed off and stared into the distance. It wasn't completely uncomfortable but it was heavy and Izuku quickly felt the need to break through it. "I am so sorry, Sir, that you had to go through that. That all of you had to go through that..."
His teacher's head swung around and he blinked blearily at him like he was coming out of a heavy fog then his eyes widened and he smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand as the realization of what he had just done caught up to him. "Oh wow...I'm sorry, Kid, that wasn't...I shouldn't have put any of that history on your shoulders. Especially since Shou...Eraser is your homeroom teacher..."
"It's alright, Sir," Izuku said with a shrug of his shoulders. "You're human just like the rest of us, just because you're a teacher and a pro-hero doesn't mean you're not allowed to...to need help too sometimes."
His teacher let out a dry sounding chuckle and shook his head. "You really do have a lot of All Might in you, don't you?"
Izuku flushed and ducked his head afraid that he might give something away on his face. Something about the wording of that statement felt a bit off to him like there was meaning there that his teacher couldn't, or shouldn't, say out loud.
"Yeah well...he's not very good at taking his own advice."
"Kid I don't know a single hero who is good at taking sane and logical advice."
Izuku snorted in laughter and nodded his head. He'd only met a handful of them at this point and he definitely had to agree. It felt good to laugh after everything that had happened that afternoon. And everything he'd learned. He already knew that being a hero was dangerous work. He'd seen All Might's injury, Sir Nighteye's death still kept him awake at night, and he'd barely walked away from battles himself. Present Mic's story about a student who lost their life while working towards their dream was just one more reminder of how real and permanent this path he'd chosen to take his life down was. This wasn't a game. One wrong move, one wrong step. and it was over.
It would be his mother and his friends who were left behind.
He glanced up and found Present Mic regarding him with large eyes and a pale expression like he'd seen a ghost or wasn't noticing something for the first time. He pushed his hair out of his face and shivered slightly as his teacher looked away again. He was glad that whatever he was thinking was being kept to himself this time.
"You...you should probably go check in with, All Might," his teacher said softly. "He was freaking out, I'm honestly surprised he hasn't appeared yet...or Shouta...oh...never mind...we've got incoming!"
Izuku was momentarily confused but then he felt One for All crawling underneath his skin for a split second before Mr. Aizawa landed in a cloud of capture weapon between the two of them. Izuku yelped in surprise and jumped back like a startled cat his quirk activating which allowed him to land on his feet instead of in a tangle of limbs on the ground. Mr. Aizawa pinned him with an unimpressed expression his eyes sweeping over him from head to toe.
"You okay, Problem Child?"
"Ye...yeah..." Izuku clutched his chest and panted far more freaked out by his homeroom teacher's entrance than the run-in with the press outside.
"And you..." Mr. Aizawa whirled and stormed over to where Present Mic was standing with a bemused look on his face. "Why didn't you contact me immediately when you learned one of my kids was in trouble! I had to learn about it from a frantic All Might calling to see if Midoriya had returned to the dorms..."
"I thought Nedzu would let you know..."
"Like that Rat would actually keep me informed unless it served his purposes..."
"Eraser!" Present Mic made a choking noise that sounded half scandalized and half like he was holding back laughter. "Not in front of the Kid!"
"Please, if Midoriya doesn't know how I am after spending this much time in my class I'm going to have to look into putting him into a situational awareness class...actually I probably should have all of the hellspawn sit through one of those anyway."
"Shouta, we've talked about this. You can't call your kids that in public...especially in FRONT of them..."
Mr. Aizawa turned his head to look at Izuku and Izuku shrugged his shoulders. He was well acquainted with what a teacher who was being truly nasty towards their students sounded like. He'd spent his whole student life being on the receiving end of such scorn after all. Mr. Aizawa liked to put up a front but Izuku could hear the affection hidden beneath his usual bored tone. It's why being called Problem Child didn't bother him as much as he would have expected it to. There was no heat behind the nickname, just exasperation and he knew he had earned it. With stunts like he'd pulled today.
"I'm sorry, Sir," he said softly.
"Why?"
"You...gave me permission to go off campus and I...caused trouble again."
"Did you call the press and tell them to wait for you outside the gates of the school?"
"Uhm...no...but...I couldn't get past them and I didn't call..."
"Problem Child, no part of this was your fault, they're the adults and they cornered you, a child, with no experience of dealing with them and they knew it."
"But...if I had just..."
"If you finish that sentence I will put you back on trash duty so fast your head will spin."
Izuku snapped his mouth shut. He knew a real threat when he heard one and he definitely didn't want to be stuck on dorm trash duty again.
"You're never going to let me go off campus again are you?" he said sadly instead.
"Your reason for wanting to go off campus and do your work out amongst actual people was a very logical one, it's not your fault that the vultures showed up and recognized you. That is totally on me I underestimated how little time had passed since the raid."
"Why didn't you tell me about the leak?"
His homeroom teacher sighed and crossed back over to where Izuku was standing. He dropped a hand onto his shoulder and squeezed it. "You went through so much during the raid. I know you're still dealing with Nighteyes' death even though you put on a brave face and pretend that you're okay. I didn't want you to have to deal with this stress on top of everything else. I knew you'd freak out and I wanted to allow you time to just be a student and a kid again. I hoped it would blow over quickly when they couldn't find any information on you but I clearly miscalculated and I apologize for that."
"I...I appreciate you trying to not make me stress out about it but, if it's about me I'd much rather known about it. I have to tell my mother. I told her about...the raid what I was allowed to of course and...and Sir's death. But not about that battle...not about any of that..."
"I contacted your mother once I found out about the leak so that she wouldn't be surprised if she happened across it."
"You did?"
"Yes, Midoriya, I did. As your teacher, it's my job to keep your mother informed of what's going on in your scholastic life especially when you've gone through something traumatic like losing a teacher during a school exercise. Of course, Nighteye was not a UA teacher but he was still acting in that stead during your internship."
"Is she...mad?"
"About the leak? I mean she's not thrilled that someone violated the privacy of a sixteen-year-old like that, and you can guarantee that I and the rest of the staff here is trying to track down where the leak came from, that might put you in danger but she's not angry at you, Kid."
"Oh...okay..." Izuku let out a relieved breath. "Thank you for...talking with her."
"All Might went to see her after it came out as well."
"He...DID?"
"I'm not sure if that made things better or worse, but yes he did."
All Might knew about all of this and didn't tell him? His mother knew about all of this and hadn't told him? All Might had been in further contact with his mom and neither one had told him? He didn't know how he felt about getting left out of the loop over the fact that they were communicating with each other. True it was probably just like with Aizawa just checking in because of what had gone down during the summer and what he had promised her. But still, he felt that maybe he was closer to being able to tell her what was really going on.
He knows his mom is smart enough to sense that something is up. She knows exactly what sort of quirks were on all sides of his family tree because he'd researched and put together a family tree, as complete as he could make it, back when he was still desperately hoping that he might have a hidden quirk of some kind that needed to be triggered. Unless his father was hiding something about the information he'd provided it should have been completely impossible genetically for him to receive a quirk like One for All. Yes mutations still happened and outliers from deep within the family line still resurfaced from time to time but it was rare and even rarer when that person that developed the quirk was also well past the age that quirks were supposed to arrive in and it wasn't some sort of hidden trait.
On top of that, she knew about the intense workout routine he did in the ten months leading up to the entrance exam. She'd seen the meal plan that was written in something that was far too sprawling and looping to be his own. She knew that someone was training him because she'd seen him bulk up in those months. She'd put two and two together after rumors started circulating about a teenager cleaning the beach in the early morning and late evening hours. She also knew his quirk magically appeared quite suddenly in the middle of the entrance exam just in time for him to break his entire body punching a giant robot to save a girl knowing full well that there would have been safety measures in place. She also knew his miracle quirk was wildly out of control and looked a LOT like All Might's did when it wasn't breaking him. Even changing up his fight style hadn't stopped her suspicions completely especially when All Might had come and bowed on the floor before her promising to protect Izuku's life with his own.
He really needed to speak with All Might. If they were in contact then it was only a matter of time before she ferreted out just what was going on. Especially since her “mom” bells were already ringing at full steam.
"On that note, you should probably go check in with your..." he trailed off as Present Mic let out a quiet but forceful "Shou" from under his breath in a vaguely warning way. Aizawa let out a frustrated huff and sighed heavily before starting up again. "With...All Might...before he decides to come shuffling all the way out here from his apartment in the teacher's wing when he's supposed to be in quiet mode today."
Izuku frowned. "Quiet Mode" was another code for All Might's Bad Health days. It was a level above "Stiff" though not the highest level they had for him which was "Having tea with Recovery Girl." Still, it was bad enough that Izuku took the hint and pulled himself together enough to go straight to visit All Might without hopefully worrying him too much about what had happened outside.
"Thank you again, Sir, for your help," he said bowing in Present Mic's direction. "But I should probably go let him know that I'm alright."
"Oh...no...none of that..." Present Mic waved his hand and flailed halfway through the bow. "I was just doing my job."
"I know but still...thank you."
"You're welcome and Kid...try to get All Might to drink the entire pot of tea that Recovery Girl sent over for him. I know he really hates the taste of it but he's going to end up having tea with her if he doesn't so unless that's how he wants to end his day get him to take care of himself."
"I will try my best," Izuku said with a determined nod. They often sent him in when All Might was being particularly stubborn about his treatment. He’s not exactly sure why they thought that he would have any luck with that when they themselves had not.
"Off with you then," Mr. Aizawa said gruffly. "Be sure you're back by curfew or call me if you're going to be late due to stubbornness, I'll come and walk you back."
The "and I'll force him to take care of himself even if it kills him" was left unsaid but Izuku heard it loud and clear. It made him even more determined to make sure All Might took care of himself. He knows his mentor felt like Mr. Aizawa hated him which was completely ridiculous. His homeroom teacher found All Might to be annoying and frustrating but he also clearly felt the same way about Present Mic at times and it was easy to see how close of friends they were. But convincing All Might that Mr. Aizawa respected him was a battle that Izuku hadn't managed to win yet. But he'd keep trying until he accomplished his goal.
He gave them both one final quick bow and then hurried off in the direction of the teacher apartments.
He paused as he rounded a corner and glanced back in the direction of the two teachers he'd left behind. Mr. Aizawa had his hands on both of Present Mic's shoulders listening as Present Mic presumably told him what had occurred outside with a lot of hand gestures that would make Iida jealous. Then a moment later Present Mic collapsed forward resting his head on Mr. Aizawa’s shoulder. His homeroom teacher wrapped his friend up in an actual hug and seemed to be comforting him.
Izuku felt a flash of guilt slither through him as he watched. It was his fault that Present Mic had to relive such a traumatic experience again. As he turned his head to give them the privacy they deserved and activated his quirk to make his trip across the school as quick as possible he had the brief flickering thought about looking up what had happened to their friend all those years earlier. He quickly squashed the thought almost immediately. It wasn't his place to go digging into his teacher's past even if everything was available in the public record. They were teachers and heroes and human beings and deserved to have some things belong only to them.
It wasn't like the death of a teacher's childhood friend would ever be something that would affect his life on any personal level anyway.
The End