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“Here you are,” Aizawa announced in his signature monotone voice, “The dorms for Class 2-A.”
Here he was indeed. It was strange standing in front of the dorm building for the hero class. The shiny state-of-the-art building (though it was the same design no matter what department) seemed to loom over him in intimidation. He had worked his ass off for so long to be at this point, training every spare moment just to get to the starting line. He had crushed it at this year’s Sports Festival earning him a spot in the hero course. He was finally at the starting line and, instead of feeling accomplished or proud, the only thing he could feel was weird.
Not that it was anything new. He had a brainwashing quirk after all.
“Shinsou,” Aizawa said, interrupting his thoughts, “You earned this, don’t forget that.”
Shinsou nodded and took a deep breath. He was also nervous. That part was new. He never had to worry about making a good impression, he was never one to care, but now he was at the one place where his full potential could be found. He figured getting along with the people he would be working with in the future might be important. Shinsou groaned internanly wishing that he had put some kind of effort in making friends in the Gen Ed course so he’d at least have practice in social interactions.
Aizawa led him through the front doors of the building and into the common room. Only about half the class was there. Some were studying, huddled around the circular table in the center of the room. Others were playing board games, sprawled across the floor. Music was playing in the background, which, to his surprise, was one of his favorite rock bands. So maybe he would be okay here. He could also hear some clanging in what he assumed was the kitchen, though he couldn’t see it from this angle.
“Problem children,” Aizawa deadpanned and to Shinsou’s amusement they all turned towards them, none seemed bothered by the name, “As you’re already aware, Shinsou will be joining your class from now on. Please, don’t be weird, and help him feel at home.”
A series of “of course” and “yes Mr. Aizawa” rang throughout the common room. Shinsou even saw a few playful eyerolls.
Aizawa grunted and handed him a set of keys. “Iida will show you where your room is.”
Shinsou nodded and took the keys from Aizawa. There were only two, one for the building and one for his room, but they felt heavy in his hands. Aizawa clasped a hand on his shoulder and gave an encouraging squeeze and then left. He was grateful for Aizawa. The pro-hero had given up any free time he might’ve had in order to help Shinsou get to where he was now. Hours upon hours of training and lectures had paid off and Shinsou didn’t know how to thank him well enough.
Iida walked up to him in an awkward march. “Hello, Shinsou.”
Shinsou gave the class rep a small smile. “Hello, Iida.”
Shinsou had already met Iida. The tall boy was as rigid as the first time they spoke. Midoriya had introduced him to some of the students in the hero course. All of them seemed nice and easy-going, which was confusing sometimes since the other students always talked badly about the hero course. But Shinsou guessed that was to be expected. Jealous thoughts always bring out the bad in people. Though it wasn’t entirely unwarranted, the hero course got away with a lot of trouble that the other courses wouldn’t dare try.
“As you already know, your belongings are in your room. You only need to unpack and organize as you wish. All the dorms at UA are laid out the same way so you’ll find the kitchen, laundry room and other essential rooms in the same spots,” Iida informed him as he led Shinsou to the elevators.
Shinsou hummed in acknowledgement but said nothing in response. Small talk was weird.
Iida pressed the button to the fifth floor and continued explaining the rules and expectations of the dorms. Shinsou vaguely wondered if anyone truly listened to these rules or if Iida was trying to convince him that everyone did. They reached his floor and Iida showed him to his room which was next to Satou’s. He remembered Midoriya mentioning him in conversation once.
Iida informed him of where his own room was located in case he ever needed anything and, again, welcomed him to the dorms then left Shinsou to organize his living space.
---
It took approximately two hours to set up everything in his room. There wasn’t much to it, Shinsou considered himself to be more of a minimalist. The once plain white walls now had a couple posters that exhibited his various interests: Music, heroes, cats, et cetera. His desk had his laptop and a few figurines from video games and movies he liked. There was a green lava lamp on the nightstand next to his bed. His bed only had two blankets and three pillows. Really, the most interesting thing in his room were probably the lights he had hidden under his bed to create a lavender glowing effect.
In all honesty he had only put any effort in organizing in his room in order to avoid any interaction with the other students. He’d had previous interactions with them of course. They knew what his quirk was and most knew it wasn’t dangerous. They just didn’t know him. They didn’t know how it worked. And he didn’t know what they’d do. He didn’t know them and their opinions on these things.
As inclusive as the hero community claimed to be, there were always people thought in an old, binary way. Good and bad. Villain and hero. To them, Shinsou would always be someone with a villain quirk.
---
Eventually, Shinsou’s hunger got the best of him and he trudged downstairs to the kitchen for food. When he reached the main floor, he spotted a blonde boy and a pink-haired girl in the common area, he recognized them and tried to place names and quirks.
Kaminari, he believed, was the blonde, and Ashido. Ashido made it to the one-on-one battles their first year, he distinctly remembered that now. He was surprised by her mobility due to her acid quirk. And if the black zig-zag in Kaminari’s hair was anything to go by, he guessed the boy’s quirk was electricity based. He guessed he should’ve put more effort into remembering his future classmates' names while at the Sports Festival, he’d only tracked quirks up until he was eliminated. But in his defense, his future career was at risk and he needed more than just a good impression. He needed all his effort and concentration and then some.
He walked into the kitchen and saw Bakugou cooking. This was one student he didn’t need an introduction to. The explosive blonde had his own reputation around the school. Shinsou could at least keep his name in memory.
Bakugou took no notice of Shinsou, which he didn’t mind. He didn’t necessarily want an interaction with the ticking time bomb. Instead he grabbed a quick snack from the pantry and exited the kitchen, munching on the snack and made his way back to the elevator when--
“Hey! Shinsou!”
Shinsou turned to the voice calling his name. It was Ashido, she waved him over and patted a hand to the space on the floor next to her. “Come sit, Denki and I wanna ask you some questions.”
Shinsou smiled nervously and sat to the right of Ashido, Kaminari was on the couch. The blonde had shifted himself so that his back was on the seat and his feet were on the back of the couch leaving his head to hang upside down.
Shinsou set aside his snack, not wanting to be rude and eat in front of them. “So, uh, what did you want to ask?”
“Just a couple questions,” Ashido replied, “We’re in a curious mood. We want to get to know our new classmate.”
“Yeah,” Kaminari added, “We wanted to know how you got into the hero course. Aizawa-sensei told us you’d be joining us but he didn’t say much of anything else.”
“Just that we needed to bring the energy to a negative four when you got here because he didn’t want us scaring you off,” Ashido remarked, rolling her eyes but didn’t seem annoyed but instead mischievous and playful.
Shinsou didn’t know how to take that. It seemed pretty normal around Class 2-A’s dorm, but if this was a negative four energy level Shinsou wasn’t sure he’d want to see it at a level zero, much less a positive five. So instead of making a comment, he answered their question.
“Well, I got in through the Sport Festival. Y’know how they look at how we perform in the school’s events and sometimes if we perform well enough-- or bad enough-- they’ll have us switch classes. So that’s basically what happened.”
“Oh, that’s so cool. I’m so glad they do that. Though, it kinda scares me that they can kick us out of the hero course if we suck,” Kaminari said as he sat up from his upside-down position on the couch and opted to sit on the floor on the left of Ashido so that they all now sat in a triangle facing each other.
“Okay, next question. How does your quirk work? Like, I know brainwashing, but how?” Ashido asked.
Shinsou rubbed his neck, he really didn’t want to fuck this up. “Uh, you gotta- well you just- or I-” Fuck. Was all his brain could produce.
Ashido giggled, clearly catching onto his nervousness. “It’s okay. You don’t gotta worry about us being scared-- if that’s what you’re nervous about. I seriously doubt your quirk would be a problem if they let Bakugou enroll in UA. He has quite the sparkling personality.”
Shinsou chuckled. He had definitely heard Bakugou around the hallways enough to know what he was like. Not to mention the other countless opportunities the angry boy has had to share that personality with the public.
“What the fuck did you say?” Bakugou shouted from the kitchen, Shinsou had half-forgotten him there, “Say that to my face, bitch!”
Ashido just rolled her eyes, “No one’s talking about you, Bakugou.” She winked at Shinsou. “Get back in the kitchen. I can practically hear Kirishima’s stomach grumbling from here.”
“He’s upstairs in his room, Horns.”
“Yeah, and? Be a good housewife and bring Kiri some food.”
The blonde threw a spatula at Ashido but she seemed to be expecting it and successfully dodged it. Instead of chasing her down Bakugou opted to mutter something underneath his breath. Kaminari gave Ashido a high five as he was trying to stifle his laughter. Shinsou sat there eyes wide. This was going to take some getting used to. He’d only ever seen them interact from afar after all. Their class dynamic was much more intense up close.
“So?” Ashido prompted again.
Kaminari nodded in encouragement. “Yeah, man. You got nothing to worry about. Seriously, nothing could scare me more than 4th graders.”
Shinsou nodded slowly then backtracked. Did he hear that right?
“What?!” Ashido screeched, then burst into laughter when she saw Kaminari’s serious face.
Yeah, he heard that right. Shinsou tried holding in his own laughter in order to not make the other boy feel any more awkward than he probably was but it didn’t last long.
Kaminari turned bright red and buried his hands in his face. “No, stop. Don’t laugh. I was trying to make him feel less nervous.”
The pink girl rolled over in a fit of laughter, tears building up but not yet spilling, and managed to gasp out, “But is it true? Do you really have a fear of 4th graders?”
Kaminari’s head shot up from his hands and opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again.
“Don’t be scared,” Shinsou mocked. He was in his own fit of laughter.
“Oh, you’re cruel,” Kaminari accused but he had a playful smile on his lips, “Ugh, yeah. I might have a slight fear of 4th graders.” Ashido only laughed harder. “But in my defense they’re just really tiny, okay. And they’re so mean too, like, so brutally honest and hostile. They may seem innocent but trust me they are not.”
Shinso considered that, as bizarre the fear was, and, once he calmed down enough, couldn’t help but ask, “So only 4th graders?”
Kaminari threw him a look like he had asked the stupidest question ever, “Yes, only 4th graders. What am I supposed to fear, 3rd graders?” Shinsou only held his hand up in surrender, though his smile was teasing.
Ashido lifted herself up from the ground into a sitting position and wiped away the tears that had spilled from her eyes. She was a little calmer but after-shocks of laughter still escaped from her breath. “Oh my god, Denki. That was fucking amazing. You just made my day.”
“Glad to know my embarrassment brings you joy,” Kaminari replied, a small pout on his face, but Shinsou could tell there was lightness in the way he said it.
Ashido took a deep breath. “Whew, okay. Back on track.” She looked at Shinsou. “How does your voodoo, hypnotic thing work?”
Shinsou sighed but he felt lighter than he did before. As dumb as Kaminari might act, he did know things. His unusual fear did make Shinsou less focused on his own.
“Okay,” Shinsou said, taking a deep breath, “Just to let you guys know, I don’t brainwash people without asking first.”
Kaminari waved him off and rolled his eyes. “Seriously, man, we trust you. No need to worry.”
Shinsou shrugged and continued on with his explanation. “Well, for starters, it won’t work unless I talk to you. And really I have to ask you a question. Then you have to respond to me, which locks you under my control.”
“And there’s no way to stop it after we answer?” Ashido asked.
Shinsou let out a small laugh and replied sheepishly, “Well, technically, no. Midoriya somehow found a way out of it in our first Sports Festival but really, other than that crazy son of a bitch, I have complete control until I release you.”
Shincou noticed that Kaminari had been looking at him with wide eyes. Shinsou panicked. Was he scared?
Without warning, the blonde boy quickly leaned into Shinsou’s personal space and blurted, “So you can tell me to do anything if I answer a simple question?”
Shinsou was uncomfortable, startled, and confused. His personal space was violated and he was being interrogated by a human Pikachu-- who smelled oddly like citrus. The whole situation was weird. And now that Kaminari was up close he didn’t appear scared, he seemed… excited? “Well... yeah, but I have to like actually be thinking about brainwash-”
“Use it on me,” Kaminari interrupted, leaning even closer to Shinsou’s face. He leaned back on his arms in an attempt to broaden the distance but the blonde only pushed further forward.
“Huh?”
He heard Ashido stifle a laugh and he turned desperately to her. He mouthed a silent plea for help. She only continued to giggle, offering no help. How nice of her.
“Use it on me,” Kaminari repeated, “Tell me to do my school work.”
He wants to do what?
“You... want me to tell you to do your school work?”
The blonde nodded fast enough to make anyone dizzy. “Yeah! I can’t focus for the life of me. Too many things I’d rather be doing. And y’know ADHD and all that, but like, you can make me do my homework.”
Shinsou was in some sort of shock. He knew that most people in the hero course wouldn’t be afraid of his quirk. Brainwashing wasn’t common, but it was “manageable” as his doctor had once stated. He hadn’t really expected them to be scared of it. He just thought they’d be scared of how it worked. Their own fear causing him to live his high school life in isolation.
He definitely didn’t expect this reaction. “You’re not scared to talk to me?”
Kaminari tilted his head in question. “Why would I be scared?”
Shinsou had no response to that question. Kaminari had asked it so obviously, like the answer should already be known. And maybe he should already know. It was weird. Everything here was weird. But it was weirdly comforting. Maybe Kaminari was onto something. Maybe he had a place here.
“So, you want me to brainwash you into doing your schoolwork?”
“Yes! Thank you!” Kaminari shouted, wrapping his arms around him.
Shinsou tried to weasel his way out of the embrace. “I haven’t even said yes.”
Kaminari rolled his eyes. “That’s basically a yes- stop squirming. I’m trying to show my appreciation.”
Shinsou let out a laugh. “Yeah, yeah. Well, appreciation shown, now get off.” And he pushed the other boy off.
---
Shinsou’s first day of classes went relatively smoothly. In comparison to what he dealt with in private training with Aizawa, this was almost nothing, if only for the fact that Aizawa’s wrath wasn’t only focused on him but rather spread between all of his new classmates.
As for the social aspect of the day, he’d rank it a solid 7/10. Nothing too exciting, no one came up to him and claimed they wanted to be best friends with him (not that he’d been expecting it) and no one avoided him. Kaminari and Ashido invited him to sit with them during lunch and he accepted. There was no talk of Kaminari’s request but it was an entertaining lunch nonetheless. The self-proclaimed “Bakusquad” never seemed to have a dull moment.
After classes, in almost a silent agreement, Kaminari walked back to the dorms with him. But it wasn’t until they stood in front of the elevators that the previous day’s request was brought up.
“So…” Kaminari started, swaying back a little on his feet, “How is this gonna work?”
Shinsou shrugged, pressing the “up” button on the elevators. “Just come up to my room and we’ll work there.”
Kaminari smiled and nodded. Shinsou searched his face for any signs of hesitance or fake consent. He didn’t want to do this unless the blonde was totally on board, but the blonde showed no signs of fear or worry so he stepped into the elevator and Kaminari followed.
--
Kaminari came out of his brainwashed-daze as soon as he finished the last problem of his math homework. He blinked twice and shook his head. Shinsou let out a breath of relief, on some level he always hated seeing people enter the mindless state, so to see Kaminari come out of it brought an ease to his conscience.
“Oh my god, look, Shinsou I did my schoolwork!”
Shinsou smirked. “Yeah, that’s because I told you to.”
The blonde laughed and leaned back on the chair he was sitting on. Kaminari had taken the desk and Shinsou was reading on his own bed.
“I, honest to god, have no idea when was the last time I was able to focus on school like that. I barely remember doing the work, too.”
Shinsou winced. “Oh yeah, I sort of forgot about that part…”
Kaminari waved him off. “Not really a big deal, man. I trust you.”
I trust you.
Shinsou tried not to let those words get to him too much.
“You know,” Shinsou said in an attempt to side step whatever spiral those words were about to lead him to, “I could make it so you do retain the information. That way you’re not cheating your way through the class.”
Kaminari let out a small laugh, “That would probably be smart, huh. Wouldn’t want Aizawa-sensei to think I’m cheating.”
“So, dinner?” Kaminari suggested after a lapse of silence.
Shinsou looked over at the clock. 7pm. Yeah, they should probably eat.
“Yeah,” Shinsou said, putting a bookmark in his book. Kaminari followed him out of the dorm and waited for him to lock the door behind them.
“Hey, Shinsou.”
Shinsou hummed in acknowledgement. “Thanks for helping me. You’re a great friend.”
Friend.
Shinsou’s mind went blank but thankfully the ever so reliable “Of course” came easily enough… if you ignored the small voice crack.
--
And so the next few weeks go like this: Shinsou spends more and more time with the Bakusquad, but everyday after classes Shinsou would brainwash Kaminari into doing his school work. His grades didn’t magically improve, but Aizawa was impressed by his new-found work ethnic.
The sight of seeing Kaminari in a daze never sat well with Shinsou, but it helped that he always reassured him that it was all okay, that he didn’t have to worry about anything.
Except for right now. Kaminari had been out of his daze for about five minutes and there hadn’t been much said from the blonde. It was starting to get to Shinsou but he didn’t want to be the first to say anything in case he said the wrong thing.
So instead he waited, anxiously, while writing random nothings into his notebook until the other boy voiced any concerns. God, he wished he’d just say something already.
“Hey, Shinsou?”
Only a fraction of tension was released at the sound of Kaminari’s voice but it finally allowed him to breathe properly.
“Hm?”
“Why were you so nervous to tell me about your quirk?”
Shinsou looked up from his notebook. Kaminari didn’t meet his gaze and instead fidgeted with his hands. So that’s what was bothering him.
He shrugged, trying not to make a big deal about it. “People don’t usually like my quirk, much less how it works. I just didn’t know how you’d react.”
Kaminari looked up, a confused look on his face. “Yeah, but you’re in UA now. I don’t know why you’d be worried about how people act.”
Shinsou frowned. He obviously didn’t get it. Whether he was in UA or not, people still judged him. Kaminari might see his enrollment in the country’s number one hero school as justification for his quirk, but that wasn’t really the point.
He didn't know how he could explain to someone who never had to fight for a place in society because of simple genetics. He honestly didn’t want to, but the blonde seemed genuine.
“The kids from my middle school still hated me even after they heard about my admission to UA.”
“But I’m sure you proved to them you weren’t bad after the Sports Festival. Even if...”
Shinsou waited a second to let the other boy finish his sentence. He already knew the ending of the thought, he’d just hoped Kaminari wouldn’t have believed that.
“Even if, what?” Shinsou grit though his teeth once it was clear Kaminari wouldn’t own up to his own ignorance.
Kaminari was silent for almost a minute, squirming under Shinsou’s glare, before whispering, “Even if… it is kind of a ‘villain’ quirk-- kind of-- but, Shinsou, look it’s not-”
Shinsou groaned. Ignorance is bliss. “You can’t imagine how many things were wrong in that statement. For starters, I shouldn’t have to prove anything,” he explained, “Second, I’m not automatically bad because of my fucking quirk. Last but certainly not least, there’s no such fucking thing as ‘villain’ and ‘hero’ quirks. I mean, do you know how damaging that way of thinking truly is?”
“I-” Kaminari tried to interject, but Shinsou didn’t let him. He was frustrated now. He had hoped the hero course students wouldn’t have their head so buried in the sand but obviously no one had made an effort to understand.
“And what if I was at a local high school instead, working as a civilian instead of a pro-hero? Would you think I was a villain then? Since apparently there wouldn’t be a way to prove I wouldn’t use my quirk for bad. You don’t get to make assumptions over me because of something I can’t control and you also don’t get to try to make me feel better by claiming that a fucking admissions paper makes me good,” Kaminari didn’t make an effort to say anything this time, and Shinsou didn’t want him to. With a cool fury he finished his rant, “If you’re done using my villainous quirk for your school work, you can go now.”
The blonde flinched but made no comment. Instead he grabbed his stuff and walked slowly to the door. He paused and looked back at Shinsou, but he was already back to writing in his notebook.
A few minutes after Kaminari left, he looked up from his notebook and laid back on the bed. He pinched his nose and groaned internally.
He hadn’t meant to make Kaminari’s question into a big deal. But he was so relieved that he and Ashido didn’t react badly to his quirk at first, he didn’t really consider how they could still have their own prejudice. He thought that maybe for once he didn’t need to prove himself. That he could just enjoy being in the hero course. He guessed he couldn’t entirely blame Kaminari though, the ideals of hero society were ingrained in every aspect of life.
Why would I be scared?
Something about that question had bugged him. Kaminari had asked it so simply and it made Shinsou think his place was never questioned, and maybe it wasn’t, but not for the right reasons.
---
It kind of is a villain quirk.
Stupid.
He kicked a padded hand.
Villain quirk.
So stupid.
He blocked the arm swinging for his head.
Villain.
Shinsou attempted another weak block at a kick aimed at his stomach but his mind was too… everywhere to even focus. Instead the kick landed and in turn sent Shinsou to the floor. Getting back up took too much effort so he simply laid there. Not quite sure if he had it in him to finish his private training lesson with Aizawa. He’d been emotionally drained since his… fight with Kaminari yesterday and it was taking a toll on his physical well-being as well. He closed his eyes and wrestled with the temptation to call it quits for the day, claiming a sore muscle.
“Shinsou,” Aizawa’s gruff voice from above called. When he didn’t answer he heard the velcro straps of a pad being taken off.
A pad hitting his face had him scrambling to get up in case of another attack but nothing came his way. Aizawa made no other moves towards the boy and instead he simply lifted an eyebrow.
“So he does have reflexes,” Aizawa commented dryly, “Wanna tell me what that shit form was out there? It was an easy enough block to execute and you couldn’t even manage it.”
Shinsou wanted to tell him to fuck off, but he’d already treaded those once before when he had first started training with Aizawa and the mere thought of doing it again sent a shudder down his back.
“Just an off day,” Shinsou mumbled instead.
Aizawa picked up the pad from the ground and looked at it for a second before giving Shinsou the biggest I’m-not-taking-that-bullshit-excuse look. To which Shinsou sighed, he wouldn’t have accepted it either if it had been from anyone else.
“It’s just a difference of opinions, Aizawa-sensei. Not much to talk about.”
“There’s stuff to talk about if you’re going to be distracted all session. If you’re distracted, then this just becomes a waste of both our time. You’re well aware of that by now, Shinsou.”
He did. He just didn’t feel like bringing this up to Aizawa today. So instead they stood in silence for a few seconds before Aizawa sighed and set up for another spar.
“If you’re not going to talk, then give me one more round before I let you go. Doesn’t have to be perfect, just show me something.”
Shinsou nodded before getting into his own stance. Once he saw Aizawa-sensei activate his quirk, he threw a punch and just barely missed the other’s jaw. And so they continued, punching, kicking, blocking in an attempt to get the other to yield, or knock them out.
“I heard Kaminari talking about you before class today, before you walked in.”
Shinsou paused mid-kick and looked at Aizawa in shock and curiosity before being greeted with a punch to the chest.
“Fuck,” he wheezed as he landed back on the ground.
Aizawa walked over and loomed over him. His face showed no emotion but Shinsou knew he was disappointed.
“Next time, we’ll work on making sure you know how to not let low comments get to you. Unless you want to get stabbed during a fight. In the meantime though, you wanna tell me why you seemed so intrigued by the thought of Kaminari talking about you.”
Shinsou huffed but kept his mouth shut. He could feel his anger simmering just below his skin and if he talked now, he wasn’t sure what he would say.
Aizawa frowned. “You aren’t in a relationship with him, are you? Because if so I would only like to say that Present Mic tends to deal with these situations better.”
Relationship???
“N-no, no, no,” Shinsou sputtered as he scrambled up from the ground. Though his mind seemed to want to explore that idea a little more.
Not the time.
“No,” Shinsou said again more calmly than the first three times, effectively shutting down whatever split path his brain was leading him towards. “We just had a difference of opinions on,” Shinsou spread his hands out in a weak attempt to explain with his body, “quirks and… shit like that.”
Aizawa’s frown only deepened. “Hitoshi, I can not help you if you don’t speak like the young adult you are.”
“Right,” Shinsou mumbled, then spoke more clearly, “I’d been helping him focus on his homework by, uh, brainwashing him. Y’know just by telling him to do his homework,” Shinsou panicked slightly by the disapproving face Aizawa threw at him, “It was innocent, I swear, I was only trying to help him out.”
Shinsou sighed, “But… the other day he just- I don’t know asked the wrong question? It didn’t even seem like he knew really what he was saying but everything was just wrong. I mean, he was talking like the kids back in middle school, just so full of ignorance and-” He took a deep breath, trying to calm down from his spiking anger but the next words were shaky, “And he called by quirk a villain quirk.” He shook his head and laughed humorlessly, “But I’m not a villain, just my quirk.”
Aizawa hummed and crossed his arms. They stood like that in silence and it was oddly comforting. Shinsou knew Aizawa understood him. He didn’t have to go into detail about the conversation for the older man to put together the pieces.
“Do you want me to talk to him?”
He shrugged. “Not fuckin’ really.” It came off a little harsh, but he knew Aizawa would understand what he meant. He didn’t want to make a scene. To feel more ostracized.
“Okay. Well then, let’s clean up here and get you back to the dorms. I’ll figure something out that doesn’t include singling anyone out.”
---
Shinsou had almost convinced himself he was overreacting a week after his talk with Aizawa. It couldn’t have really been that big of a deal. Kaminari was just expressing an opinion. Society was at fault for that. And Shinsou knew Kaminari didn’t mean it in that way.
Right?
Well, in any way, if it was truly a problem then Aizawa would’ve done something by now.
He contemplated it more as he walked to class. He’d been doing lots of thinking lately. Especially since Kaminari and the others were ignoring him. Though he was mostly okay with that, he was ignoring them too.
His mind went through an endless loop of Maybe I got angry too quick. Maybe I should’ve let him talk. But what he said was fucked up. But he didn’t know any better. But it fucking hurt. Maybe I was too angry, too quick. Maybe I should’ve given him a chance to talk. Maybe. But. Maybe. But.
It hurt.
He was so inside of his head he didn’t realize the rearranged desks and bumped into one of them. He yelped and rubbed his pained thigh. That might bruise.
Shinsou blinked, confused by the set up in front of him. The desks were moved from their usually neat rows and instead placed in a circle facing the center of the classroom. Aizawa stood in the center of the desks, for once ready to start the class instead of hiding himself in his usual corner of the room while in his sleeping bag.
There were other students dispersed around the outside of the circle with equally confused and curious faces. Aizawa clearly hadn’t given anyone any instructions. But soon the entire class was in the room and Aizawa cleared his throat in order to gain the class's attention. Although it was a waste of effort, he already had them.
“Today,” Aizawa announced, “We are doing something a little different. Your usual classes have been cancelled for today. Instead, we’re doing a socratic seminar. If we happen to finish early then you’ll have the rest of the day free, though I would hope not.”
Shinsou winced at that, he didn’t have a good feeling about this.
“A socratic seminar, for those of you who don’t know, is a teaching strategy typically used to help students discuss and help each other understand ideas about books and movies and other forms of literature. You, the students, are in charge of facilitating the conversation, and I will only step in if I think we went too far off topic, or if I think we should spend more time on a certain idea. Essentially it’s an open discussion. You do not have to raise your hands, if you have something to say or add on, please do so. This is a very independent assignment and how much you get out of this will be up to you.”
In less than a second Aizawa’s demeanor became serious. “However, today we will not be discussing a piece of literature, but rather a social issue. And one I believe to be very important to your studies seeing as that all of you aspire to be heroes one day.”
“I want you all to take a seat at one of the desks circled around the room. The order does not matter,” he continued and Shinsou and the students complied, taking their seats. Shinsou sat in between Bakugou and Tsu. And though Kaminari was only a couple seats down, Shinsou could almost feel the nerves radiating off of him.
Once everyone was seated Aizawa continued with his explanation. “Some background: we as a quirk-dominated society understand that heroes are praised and glorified. And while this may not seem inherently bad it does bring up some outdated thinking. Some examples may include seeing people without quirks as weak and ignoring their very real needs and emotions.”
Shinsou felt Bakugou shift uncomfortably beside him.
“Others may include defining some quirks as villainous,” Aizawa seemed to add venom behind that word, “This way of thinking is dangerous and detrimental to hero society. I understand that to many of you this may be a subconscious way of thinking. You may not even realize it.”
Ah, so this was Aizawa’s way of confronting the problem.
“The best way to solve this problem is by opening up a conversation. And as your teacher, it is my job to provide you all with a safe opportunity to do so. Please be respectful of others, or I will mark you down. Your question to discuss is this: What are some examples of discrimination in our hero-dominated society? And what can you, as heroes-in-training, do to improve?”
Aizawa’s eyes landed on each and every of his students sitting in the circle. “So with that in mind, let us open the floor.”
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