Chapter Text
Shouta had never had a student quite like Aoyama before. Sure, he’d had prideful students, vain students, and flamboyant students, but he had never had a student like Aoyama.
The boy sat alone at mealtimes and had no real friends at UA that Shouta could see. Not that it seemed to bother him. Key word being ‘seemed’.
Shouta didn’t notice the slump in Aoyama’s shoulders every time he slipped off to the roof at breaks or whenever the class split off to hang out after school. But as the time went by, it stopped being disappointment clouding the boy’s eyes. At this point, it was resignation.
As much as his co-workers teased him for it, Shouta kept close tabs on all of his students. How were they supposed to become good heroes if they were falling apart at the seams after all? These kids had been through so much already, he at least owed it to them to keep an eye out for them.
So he didn’t miss when Aoyama began to avoid the common room altogether. While he didn’t sprawl across the couches like Mina or Kirishima, the boy at least came out to join the class for meals and movie nights.
But eventually, this stopped too and Shouta rarely saw his student outside of class. He knew there was a difference between an awkward student and a student who was actively isolating themself. Something was up with Aoyama and Shouta decided he needed to know what.
“Aoyama, please stay after class.” Amidst the muted ‘ooooh’ that rose from his class, he added, “Nobody is in trouble. Get back to work.” His students sighed and bent over their desks again, copying the announcements from the board or getting a head start on their homework. Or, in the case of many of his students, chatting amongst themselves.
When the bell rang and the class had filtered out into the hall, Aoyama came up to his desk, playing with his fingers. “You wanted to speak to moi?” he asked tentatively.
“Relax Aoyama, you’re not in trouble.” The boy let out a faint breath of relief and Shouta continued. “I’ve noticed you’ve been avoiding your classmates lately. You haven’t been at meals or class activities. Is everything alright?”
“Oui.” Aoyama took a moment to respond, one hand nervously going up to tug at his tie. Shouta froze when he saw a purple streak across the boy’s wrist as his sleeve slipped down.
“Aoyama.” Shouta, paused, looking for the right words. “Can you please show me your arm?” The smile on his student’s face seemed to shatter, but he wordlessly put out his arm and let him roll up his sleeve.
Shouta bit the inside of his lip at the sight of the boy’s arm. There was a large bruise that undoubtedly was from someone grabbing his wrist and the rest of his arm was littered with small circular burns that Shouta recognised as cigarette burns.
“Can you tell me how these got here?” he asked gently, rolling up the other sleeve, relieved that there was less damage on his other side. Aoyama stared at the floor. “If someone is hurting you, we can help. We just need to know.”
“There are a few students.” He fell silent and Shouta waited for him to continue. “They said some, euh, words I would not like to repeat. Some… slurs as you say.” Shouta felt himself soften. Nobody deserved to be bullied like that.
“I see. Were they being homophobic? UA has a zero tolerance policy against that as well as bullying of any kind.” Shouta really hoped he hadn’t guessed wrong once the words left his lips. It would do no good to make assumptions like he just had.
“Non non, alors, perhaps?” He paused again, fiddling with the bottom of his shirt. “I don’t think I am gay, but they seem to.” Ah. Shouta took a breath.
“I see. Well, we’re not going to let them hurt you anymore, alright? We can make a report to the school today.” Aoyama nodded, but looked like he had more to say. Shouta said nothing, deciding to let him speak if he wanted.
“Monsieur Aizawa, do you think I am gay?” In all honesty, Shouta had. It was playing into stereotypes, he knew, and he was actively trying to keep himself from making assumptions.
“Well, that’s something only you know,” he said at last. Aoyama seemed to be thinking about that, his head tilted slightly.
“But monsieur, I don't know myself. I think I like girls, but I am not sure.” He looked conflicted. “People think I am gay a lot. But I’m unsure.”
“And that’s okay Aoyama. It takes a long time to figure that out sometimes.” Shouta remembered all the sleepless nights he’d had when he was his student’s age. “But it doesn’t matter if you end up realising you’re gay, straight, or anything in between. Just be yourself, even if you don’t know who that is yet. It’s okay to experiment.”
He hoped he had said the right thing. Shouta was never good at being gentle or personal with anybody, but he hoped he had done it right. And he must have, because Aoyama gave him a weak smile.
“Oui, you are right after all. Merci Monsieur Aizawa.” Aoyama smiled and Shouta was glad to see a bit of his ‘twinkle’ in his eyes again.
“Anytime kid. Now let’s get those bullies sorted, hm?”
As the two walked down the hall to speak to Principal Nedzu, Shouta braced himself for the teasing he would have to endure from Hizashi. He was not going soft.