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Hizashi was more observant than most people realized, and there was more to Midoriya Izuku than his student was letting on — most likely, the kid was training behind his back, or knew someone questionable who was also training him who he couldn’t admit to knowing, because he was too good some things (like parkour, Midoriya was too damn good at it to not have actual experience) to claim to be a natural, because he sometimes pulled moves Hizashi had not taught him that were too advanced to have just learned without practice, because he sometimes displayed a fighting style that was not in line with the one he was learning.
He was leaning toward the second option. That fighting style was one that had popped up in the underground here and there — several vigilantes tended to favor fighting with more leg focused attacks, preferred kicks to punches, and if they were mentoring a teen, would certainly teach him parkour early on, because it was a great skill for any future hero or vigilante.
Without evidence, there was nothing to be done. He couldn’t accuse Midoriya; it would destroy all trust they had if he was wrong and even if he was right, it was a risky move with no proof. He could only try to steer his young protégé away from that dangerous area and hope that by giving him more support he would start to step away from these questionable sources and rely more on him. As his mentor, Hizashi was prepared to give anything he could to his students — but Midoriya was the one that scared him.
Shinsou had a stable home life, and wasn’t risking himself by training with vigilantes or training by himself (which, while not as dangerous as training with vigilantes, was still dangerous; training alone meant there was no one to help you if you were injured, meant there was no one to stop you when you were going too far.). Shinsou, unlike Midoriya, generally didn’t have a tendency to try to overwork himself.
Hizashi would give anything to Shinsou that the boy needed, without hesitation — of course he would; there was no doubt in his mind of that, but at the same time, Shinsou did not worry him, nor did Shinsou need him in the same way. Shinsou needed the training, needed the guidance, but he did not need someone to serve as a parental substitute when things got to be too much. He did not need someone to tell him he did not need to push this far. He did not need someone to watch him in the hopes that he could be turned away from whatever danger he’d gotten himself into.
He watched as Midoriya tossed Shinsou into the mat again. He tended to win more of their matches, but Shinsou was starting to catch up, especially now that he was starting to get a hang of those tonfa. Midoriya was on Shinsou instantly, straddling him and pressing him into the mat aggressively.
“You’re out, Shinsou; the match goes to Midoriya this time,” Hizashi says, pointedly not commenting on either boys’ lightly pink cheeks. At least they hadn’t brought Todoroki along today, or they’d be absolutely flaming red. “I think that’s enough for the day. Let’s start with a cooldown jog; just two laps — no running, Midoriya.”
Both boys take off at a light jog, Midoriya surprisingly not trying to run today. Hizashi changes the playlist he had playing from his ‘PUMP IT UP’ playlist to his ‘cooldown’ playlist. He likes to keep music going while he’s training the boys; he thinks it helps keep the mood right. And he does have a few of both boys’ favorite songs as well on the appropriate playlists; he made sure to ask for a list of at least five favorite songs when he first started training them — all of Midoriya’s picks save for one had been great for the ‘PUMP IT UP’ list, whereas most of Shinsou’s were more suited to the ‘cooldown’ list.
They had good taste in music, actually. Hizashi didn’t skip most of the songs when they came on during his own exercise.
The boys finished the jog after a few songs, and came to a stop in front of them.
“Good job, Listeners! Let’s go through our stretches together, yeah?” Hizashi said with a smile as he took a seat on the ground. This was why he went ahead and dressed down before training his kids instead of waiting until after. He liked to be hands on.
Midoriya and Shinsou followed suit, sitting down. Hizashi put his legs straight forward in front of him and bent forward to touch his toes. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw both boys do the same. He remembers in the beginning when Shinsou wasn’t flexible enough to quite do this. After about a minute, he pulled back out of the stretch, and the boys followed without him having to say anything.
“Nice, let’s go ahead and do our arm circles. Forward, first, eight times, then backwards, eight times. Take it nice and easy; no need to rush.”
They all stick their arms out and go through the exercise without any issues, then Hizashi guides them to do a few exercises lying down, knee to chest pose and reclining butterfly pose. Finally, they do some light, relaxing yoga, the beginner’s type, for a ten-minute session, and then they’re done.
Hizashi claps his hands together, smiling brightly. He resists the urge to frown with Midoriya jumps and curls in on himself at the loud noise. “Alright! All done for the day! Let’s get changed out of these sweaty gym clothes and then we can go get a snack and a drink somewhere to replenish ourselves after all this hard work! My treat, of course!”
In the beginnings, Midoriya in particular was reluctant to accept this — it seemed to be mostly out of politeness more than anything else. Shinsou only ever tried to argue the one time then when Hizashi insisted, he informed him that was great because it meant he could save his pocket money for cat cafes. Hizashi couldn’t wait for Shinsou to meet his Shouta. They’d get along so well.
But by now, even Midoriya accepted this without an issue, only nodding his head and heading for the locker rooms in the gym to take a quick shower and change. Hizashi himself would follow in a moment; he would not waste time walking all the way back to the private ones when there were perfectly good stalls in Gym Zeta; it’s part of the reason why they chose it. Midoriya did not like to change in front of other people at all — it was a bit concerning.
Hizashi didn’t think he was being bullied here at UA, nor could he find any evidence of physical abuse at home, but it made him wonder if he’d been bullied in the past badly enough to get scars, or if his father had abused him that badly before he’d left or if his suspicions of Midoriya getting into trouble with vigilantes was true and he was hiding bruising and wounds from that — or any combination of the three.
It was all equally concerning, but it wasn’t like Hizashi could demand anything without proof, once more.
So he could only wait, and hope he could get Midoriya to trust him enough to come to him.
He goes to his stall in the gym once he knows they are nearly finished in there (Midoriya is using the mirror to put in leave in conditioner in his curls; Hizashi’s proud the kid takes such nice care of them. Shinsou’s putting too much gel in his hair again; Hizashi longs for the day the boy will just let it be natural. It has waves!) and changes and showers quickly, and meets the boys at the door to the gym.
“Alright, what’s for snacks today? I’m thinking tamagoyaki sandwiches at a stall and a stop for boba, and a park to eat it all at. What do you guys think?”
Midoriya’s eyes light up. “Mom never lets me go to stalls; can we go to a stall, Toshi? Please?” He clings on to his friend’s arm, eyes wide with delight. “Please, please, please?”
Hizashi thinks it’s kinda sad that the kid’s never been to a stall to get street food, and that it's only now in high school he's starting to hit his rebellious stage, and in such a mild way, too. Maybe next time he’ll suggest they go get some yakitori from a stall; he thinks the kid would be excited to have it from a stall instead of from a restaurant or his mom making it.
“Okay, fine, Izu, you didn’t have to beg like that,” Shinsou laughs. Midoriya keeps his hold on Shinsou’s arm, only changing his grip to lay his head on Shinsou’s shoulder. “I would’ve said yes after the first please. I can’t say no to you. Especially when it comes to introducing you to all the goodies you’ve been denied.”
Hizashi laughs. “Alright, come on, you two, let’s fill up your water bottles — make sure you’re sipping on water while we’re on the way to get boba, then I’ll let you put it up in your bag at last. After all your hard work, we need to rehydrate you!”
They fill up at the water fountains outside the Gym and let Hizashi take the lead walking through the halls of UA. Chatter fills the air between them, mostly Midoriya talking about how he’s always wanted to get some of those really big crepes with lots of fillings at stalls before but his mother thought stalls were unsafe for him because they might not be as sanitary. Though it's not said, Hizashi gets the implication that Midoriya's mother is implying that it's unsafe specifically because Midoriya is Quirkless, not because the stalls are unclean, despite Midoriya's words.
“We can go get one to share with Shou this weekend if you want,” Shinsou offers. “Maybe two so you can try two flavors?”
“Really? That would be nice...” Izuku murmurs. “I always have fun when I’m with the two of you though.”
Hizashi risks a glance back. Both boys are pink, and Izuku’s playing with the hem of his sweatshirt. Ah, young love, Hizashi thinks, though they are missing their third — he’s not blind; he knows full well his two protégés and Todoroki are well on their way to being partners. He leads them out one of the back doors that’s for teachers; by now, both boys are familiar with being taken through faculty areas, and don’t bat an eye, but he’s sure Midoriya’s got notes on every faculty area he’s been shown and probably a map drawn of UA to include them as well. He can’t wait for the day Nedzu takes him on — it’s inevitable, and Hizashi suspects his mentor is just waiting for the boy to get into the heroics course, maybe a few weeks after that, just to give him time to settle in...
Nedzu does like to pretend he experiences empathy and sympathy in the same way humans do — not that Hizashi is saying Nedzu does not experience either, because he certainly does, but he is not human, and his emotions are not the same as humans, no matter how much he may pretend they are.
“Alright! The stall’s not too far away — I picked this exit so we can get there even faster, yeah?” Hizashi winks at them, as they come forward to walk at his side now that they’re just walking on the grounds now and things are more familiar.
“Is there just one kind of sandwich?” Midoriya asks, pinching his bottom lip between his fingers in the way he tends to do when he’s thinking too hard.
“There’re plenty of options.” Hizashi decides to be exuberant to distract his kid, so he doesn’t pinch too hard and hurt himself again. “Of course you always can get a plain one, but I’m telling you the one with cheese and nori in the tamagoyaki and then lettuce, bacon, ketchup and mayo is the way to go in my humble opinion. It’s rockin’! You need all the toppings; what’s the point in getting stall food if you don’t go all out, right?”
Shinsou shrugs and nods. “It’s true. I usually get wanpaku style. I like my sandwiches colorful and fat.”
It works to distract Midoriya’s hands. The boy laughs, releasing the iron grip he’d had on his mouth to instead flap a single hand, the other hand tangling with Shinsou’s when the purple-haired boy holds out his hand.
Hizashi points at a stall not far at all down the street. It’s just one of many stalls to capitalize on being close to UA and the many office buildings nearby, and one of Hizashi’s favorites, mostly because Shouta will nearly always agree to eat here on even his worst food days when it’s hard to get him to eat at all and it’s got something pretty tasty for Hizashi to eat too.
“That’s our destination, boys,” Hizashi grins when Midoriya lights up, free hand clenching over empty air. He drops his voice to a mock whisper. “I’ll tell you a little secret, too. This is my husband’s favorite food stall, too.”
“You have a husband?” Midoriya asks, green eyes alight with curiosity.
“Sure do! He’s grumpy and likes coffee and cats. Shinsou would probably get along with him very well.” Hizashi doesn’t give them Shouta’s name, of course, because it’s much more fun to see how long it will take them to figure out just who his husband is. “Alright, have a look at the menu and pick something out!”
Watching the two boys pour over the menu did something to his heart — or well, Izuku poured over the menu, mumbling to himself and generally acting like this would be the most important choice of his life while Shinsou looked over the menu for about 30 seconds and announced he was ready to order — anyway, it did something to his poor heart. He always felt so paternal when he took his protégés out like this, but he never could help himself. The time he spent with them at the end of their sessions together, eating something and relaxing, they were some of his favorite parts of the week.
Shinsou and Midoriya... they were good kids, clever and kind, each a little jaded in their own way but still determined to do good, to save and help.
Midoriya taps a fist into an open palm. “I got it!”
He orders a tamagoyaki katsu sandwich, topped with cabbage, tonkatsu sauce and mayo. He looks very proud of himself for this pick, so Hizashi makes sure to tell him it’s a good choice and ruffle his hair — Midoriya beams at him, so Hizashi knows he made the right choice with that. Shinsou orders something as close as possible to his previously mentions wanpaku style, with a ridiculous amount of vegetables on it and a chicken cutlet. The sandwich is thicker than any human’s mouth unless they can unhinge their jaw, and Shinsou looks delighted.
“This was supposed to be a snack,” Hizashi laughs, taking his own (normal-sized) sandwich.
“I’m a growing boy,” Shinsou responds without hesitation.
Man, teenagers these days.
But... they’re Hizashi’s teenagers, and he wouldn’t trade them for the world.