Work Text:
You would think with 20 kids being contained in a dorm things would never be boring.
With classes, internships, work studies, training, and general school things there should be very few chances to be bored.
But even the unlikely can happen. A day where no one got permission to leave campus and breaks in training coincide with other students healing injuries.
Which is how the students of class 1A find themselves sitting in the common room of the dorms arguing about what movie to watch when each of them has been watched a embarrassing amount of times.
Fear of disturbing Aizawa the only thing keeping them from breaking into a full on fight.
Kaminari is the only one not there. But that's normal. He often takes longer to return to the dorms after classes.
His locker is a mess and it takes him forever to find things and then shove everything in enough to close the door.
No one is expecting him to nearly break down the door rushing in.
"Guys look what I found!" He says waving a…video tape? In the air.
"Shut up Duracell," Bakugou snaps from where he and Kirishima are debating over movies.
"Kaminari, Mr. Aizawa is asleep upstairs. He has patrol in a few hours. We should not disturb him with unnecessary noise," Iida says.
"What did you find Kami?" Mina asks.
"It was stuck behind my locker. It fell when I kicked my door closed."
"What's it say?"
"Life at UA… and a name but I can't make it out."
"We should hand it to Principal Nedzu. We don't know what it contains."
"Relax Iida. It's probably a home video some kid made."
"Oooooh we should watch it!"
"Yes!"
"This is highly inappropriate…"
"Iida relax. If it's something bad we'll turn it off."
"Why should we watch some shitty video about some shitty extra?"
"Ohhh it might be a dirty video!" Mineta says.
The girls all roll their eyes.
It takes them all a minute to find then hook up a vhs player. Having to search the internet for instructions.
But finally the tape is slipped in.
Static fills the screen then blackness.
"Huh? What's wrong with this thing? Why's the screen all black? I turned it on." A voice says, but still no visual.
There's rustling and then air.
"Oh! I forgot the lense cap!" The voice says, and then suddenly color.
On screen is a boy. Their age in a UA uniform.
"There we go. Thought I was going to have to get a new one. I saved up for months for this one. I had to use all my gift money for it too!" He laughs to himself.
"But that's not important. Hi future me! I thought it would be fun to film my life at UA. So kids can see what it's like. And so I can look back on the good old days when I'm old and grouchy."
"Honey you're gonna be late if you don't leave now!" A woman's voice says and the boy's eyes wide.
"Shoot! Thanks mom!" He says and the image spins as the camera is dropped into his back pack.
"Who is this kid?" Mina asks.
"Don't know. Probably an former student. I've never seen anyone looks like him so it must be from well before us."
"Midoriya, you're a hero nerd. Know any who resemble him?"
"Hmmm no. I don't think so…but we don't even know his quirk or if he's a hero student."
"I must say I find his fumbling very unprofessional!"
"He seems fun!"
"Right? Like any other kid."
"Shitty extra." Bakugou mutters.
"Hey Oboro!" Hey hear a voice say and then the camera is pulled out of his bag.
"Hey Zashi say hi to the camera."
"What's up!" A blonde boy, also in a UA uniform, says. Giving a peace sign to the camera.
"In case this is being watched by kids who wanted to see what UA is like, this is Hizashi Yamada. My best friend."
"This is gonna be worth a lot of money when we're pros," Hizashi says.
"Nah…I'm gonna use this to embarrass you in front of dates. Let the world know that the great Hizashi Yamada had rainbow braces and a retainer. In case you ever try to tell people you were cool.
"How dare you!"
Oboro chuckles and the camera shakes and then spins as the boy…Oboro? Is tackled. But they can hear both boys laughing.
It's so normal. And yet logic says that these two boys are adults by now.
It's so easy to forget adults used to be kids.
"What's with the camera anyway?"
The camera turns back towards the boys.
"Well…when I'm a super cool pro hero I want to be able to look back to when it started and you never know what kids might like to see this too."
Yamada nods.
"Good idea! Instead of telling in interviews you can show!"
Yamada checks his watch.
"Shit we're gonna be late come on," he says and grabs Oboro by the arm and drags him towards class.
The footage follows their own experience as students.
Lessons in literature, Math, even English, but it's weird not seeing Present Mic at the front of the class.
Does this predate him teaching here? And don't see Midnight, much to Mineta's disappointment, nor Mr. Aizawa. Does this predate all of them?
Wow.
"Do you guys recognize any of the teachers?" Tsu eventually asks after the ninth round of classes.
"I recognize a few as heroes. But not much else."
"I'm pretty sure that one is retired."
"So this is pretty old. It predates all our teachers."
"Oooh! Think maybe we'll see our teachers as kids?" Mina asks.
"I don't know but I'm having trouble imagining Aizawa as a teen."
"Shinsou but in black?"
"I hate you. I didn't need that image dammit!
They watch the two boys prepare for the sports festival.
They train together in hand to hand, neither is very good, and you can hear Midoriya's pen as he writes in one of his notebooks.
They finally find out Oboro's quirk at least. The boy is very fond of floating around on his clouds.
At least it matches his hair.
There is normal kid stuff too. Days out at the park or a lake. Sleepover and days when Oboro and Hizashi do bad karaoke to Disney songs and musicals.
They are very fond of Mulan.
No idea why.
But it is obvious that the two are very close.
The day of the Sports Festival the camera films the two excitedly heading to school and then turns off.
"Is that all?"
"I don't think so but I also don't think there was any way to film the first two rounds." Midoriya says.
Sure enough a moment after he says it they see Yamada in the lense.
"Hey everyone! Oboro and I made it to finals! It's so exciting! So I'll be filming his matches and he'll film mine. It's gonna be awesome!"
"This guy feels really familiar…"
"Shut up Duracell. I wanna see how strong these extras are."
"Look there goes Oboro!" Hizashi says and they watch the boy zipping around the arena on a cloud, making it nearly impossible for his opponent to catch him or knock him out of bounds.
Eventual the one cloud becomes many and the entire arena is covered and when the boy Oboro is facing lunges they disappear and he goes tumbling out of the ring.
"Yes! Oboro won!" Hizashi says excitedly, fist bumping the air.
The camera goes dark and then this time it's Oboro holding it.
"Zashis turn! Anyone watching this might want to cover their ears. Trust me," he says and directs the camera at the field.
Hizashi is facing off against someone with…an armadillo quirk? Maybe? They think it might be.
They announce the start and the kid makes a single step towards Hizashi before the blonde is opening his mouth.
"BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Hizashi shouts.
Wait a minute.
"Holy shit that's Present Mic!" Kaminari says.
That's why he seemed so familiar.
"Wow, for once you're actually right." Jirou says.
That's how most of the sports festival goes. One filming the other's matches. They seem to keep the same strategy.
Oboro uses his mobility and Mic the incredible strength of his quirk to win.
When they aren't fighting they are teasing each other and sometimes mentioning other fights.
There's one contestant they are fond of talking about. A boy that's apparently from the general education department.
The two theorize about his quirk one and off.
And keep mentioning how cute he is. But they don't show him.
Until the final four.
Where Oboro is facing Mic.
They don't get to see the match.
But when the camera comes back on after, Oboro is sporting a few new bandages.
"Hizashi beat me," he says slinging an arm around him, grinning proudly.
Mic gives a peace symbol to camera.
"Yeah but he didn't make it easy."
"Charmer. Oooooh cutie won his match. Looks like you're facing him. Try not to get a nosebleed." Oboro chuckles as he faces the loser of that match.
It's far too quick.
Another brawler versus someone with insane mobility and a quirk that easily saves him from being out of bounds.
Before they know it Oboro is back behind the camera and they watch Mic enter the ring for the final round.
His opponent is oddly familiar too. With short black hair and a tired expression.
Mic does a few stretches and nods that he's ready.
They expect it to be like all other matches. With Mic blowing them out of the ring in the first 30 seconds.
But when he opens his mouth to scream
…
Nothing comes out.
What?
"What happened?" Midoriya echoes Oboro on film.
Then the boy rushes forward. Hair floating and eyes red.
Oh shit.
"THAT'S MR. AIZAWA!"
"No shit Mina."
They watch their two teachers fight and while Mic isn't horrible at hand to hand, he's not as skilled as their homeroom teacher and soon he's being tossed on his ass outside the ring.
"Holy shit that was hot," it's super weird to hear someone call their teacher hot.
Someone holds the camera as Oboro and Mic stand at 3rd place and 2nd place. And they get to watch Mr. Aizawa be awarded gold.
After the festival the camera bounces up and down as Oboro rushes to catch up to Mr. Aizawa.
"Hey! That was so cool! Man your quirk is amazing!" Oboro says.
"Yeah man. It's bullshit that you are in Gen Ed. You're gonna be transferring after internships right? No way would they not let you."
Class 1-A watches as their teacher blinks surprised for a moment before seeming to figure something out.
"Nothing has been said but it was my intention to try and transfer."
"Great! Well you've already got two friends in class 1A! I'm Oboro Shirakumo and this is Hizashi Yamada."
"Terrific, a Loud Cloud and a Loud Mouth. I'm not looking for friends."
"Too bad. You've got two now."
"Unless you're like quirkist or racist or something. Then we can't be friends."
"I'm not."
"Great!"
They watch their teacher rush off.
The two on camera still seem to be excited before Mic groans.
"We're fucking idiots. He never gave us his name!"
"I'll just read it off his paper in class if he transfers."
That doesn't seem enough for Mic before he heads off to try and follow Mr. Aizawa.
"Hmmm Loud Cloud…" Oboro says before the screen goes dark.
What follows is quick snippets of each of them talking to Mr. Aizawa. Talking to him, eating with him, teasing him.
One particular day when they go to drag him from his classroom and they watch Oboro read his name off his paper before pulling him off to rush to try and get seats in the cafeteria.
They keep waiting for Mr. Aizawa to snap at them. But he never does. He sasses them. Makes gently snide comments and is sarcastic, but he doesn't try to beat their asses for annoying him.
It's so weird.
This is their teacher but he's completely different.
It turns back on with a flash of light. It's shaking up and down like the person holding it is bouncing in his seat.
In the front of the class they can see Mr. Aizawa being welcomed by the teacher.
"Okay class we're gonna pick hero names. Aizawa you don't have to worry as much as the other students. While they are on internships you'll be training to catch up to where they are so you don't need one. But you can still brainstorm."
Mr. Aizawa ends up sitting between Mic and Oboro.
He sighs and slumps down in his seat staring at his whiteboard while Oboro and Mic quickly write their names down.
"You haven't decided on a code name yet?" Mic asks.
"It doesn't matter what I choose…"
"I GOT IT. How about Eraserhead."
They watch Mr. Aizawa agree apatheticly.
"THAT'S how he got his name? He just let someone else pick it? And yet I couldn't have Alien Queen?" Mina pouts.
"I like it Shouta!" Oboro says.
"And you fit in now!"
"Huh?"
"Well…Oboro helped me with my name when we were kids. And I helped you!"
Then they get to see some of the names the class came up with.
Most are normal, there are a few that need to be reworked, but nothing as crazy as lord explosion murder of whatever it was.
Mic heads to the front of the room.
"Present Mic!" He says.
Then Mr Aizawa with a calm, "Eraserhead."
Last is Oboro and he bounces up to the front.
"Loud Cloud!" He says.
Wait a second.
"How adorable they all named each other!" Hagakure squeaks.
"It is not as sparkling as mine. However it does have a bit of flair," Aoyama says.
"Tch. It's a shitty name."
"And Lord Explosion Murder isn't?"
"Shut your mouth Tapeface."
The camera just manages to catch a small smile on their teacher's face before going blank.
Then there are more scenes of just life. Eating bentos, fooling around with clouds on their faces.
They're all pretty sure they've never seen Mr. Aizawa look so happy before.
It's weird.
But not bad.
They watch them train for finals and then over the summer before, during, and after the summer training retreat.
Held at a city agency. Which makes sense. Were the Pussycats even alive when their teacher was their age?
A quick Google search tells them they're maybe a year ahead.
Then through another Sports Festival.
This time Mic wins.
More internships.
The watch as Oboro makes his way down the street in the rain. Stopping when he sees a small kitten under an umbrella.
"Well that won't do. Come on little guy. Let's get you somewhere warm and dry." Oboro says tucking the kitten into his jacket.
After some definitely not rated g scenes that Iida forces them to skip, they get to see their teacher fighting as a kid.
They watch him lose to a guy who reminds them a lot of Bakugou and the find themselves watching their teachers and their friend discuss work studies.
It's weird to see their teacher so doubtful of his own abilities.
Is the confidence he wears now real or a mask?
Then they head a distinctly female voice.
And a definitely not rated g hero costume.
"That has to be Miss Midnight right?" Mina says.
"Duh."
They watch the four talk and bond and watch her take the newly names Sushi. They watch her mention His Purple Highness and work studies.
Oh right typically work studies happen in second year. But their world is going to hell so they get the option to start early.
Most of them haven't even started looking yet.
They watch the four grow closer, especially the three boys.
"Come on Shouta! An agency together would be amazing. The four of us would work so well together and Sushi can be our mascot."
"And who says I want to work with two dummies?" Mr. Aizawa asks.
"Shou how could you! Do we mean nothing to you after we shared a kiss on the roof of the school?"
"What are you idiots talking about we've never kiss…"
He's cut off by both Oboro and Mic kissing him.
Class 1A has to pause the video.
"I didn't know Mr. Mic and Mr. Aizawa were gay," Momo says.
"I'm mean did you see the way Mic was thirsting over Mr. Aizawa at the festival?"
"True."
"I told you all this would be a horrible invasion of privacy and now we have invaded Mr. Aizawa's privacy." Iida chastises.
They feel a little bad that they basically outed their teacher, even if it was just to them.
"Should we stop?" Uraraka asks.
"I mean I kinda want to see what happens? Has anyone even heard of Loud Cloud? There has to be a reason for that." Kaminari says.
"Shitty extra probably couldn't cut it or something," Bakugou huffs while Midoriya mumbles to himself about his quirk as what could have happened.
In the end it's Sero who presses play again.
There's more scenes of them just being friends.
Riding the train to each other's houses. Going to the mall. Mic messing with all of their glasses.
It's like them.
It's hard to imagine Mr. Aizawa ever being like them. But here's the evidence.
And then a scene on the rooftop again.
"We can't all be a hero team," Mr. Aizawa says.
"I don't know Shou, there's a group in my class who are gonna do it. Have matching costumes and all chose cat themed costumes."
"Oh! I think I saw them last week on the way to the library. Shou you like cats you should join them too!"
Mr. Aizawa rolls his eyes.
"You guys ready to work with His Purple Highness next week? He's gonna have us helping with kids."
"Oooooh Shou you'll be great with kids."
"Have you met me?"
"I don't know…Oboro is pretty kid like and you do well with him."
"Hey!"
"Too bad I didn't join with you guys. The Rooftop squad could have had it's practice run."
"I still never agreed to that!"
The scene is so sweet. Just kids being kids. Is this what it's like when you don't constantly have to worry about villain attacks?
Then they're back in Oboro's room.
"Okay. It's our anniversary soon! Hizashi, Shou and I have been together for almost a year now! So I thought hiding this tape of our lives together so far would be great and that I could lead them on a scavenger hunt to places that are special to us and also to great dates with this at the end!"
He adjusts the camera and seems to be thinking.
"Hmm…if this is gonna be the last thing on the hunt then there should be a message to go with it. Then I can hide it at the school tomorrow when I grab my hero suit before our work study! His Purple Highness is gonna pick us up at UA and give us a ride to the elementary school." Oboro says and then seems to consider what he wants to say.
"Hizashi…you have been an amazing friend to me all these years. You have no idea. Ever since preschool. You walked up to me day one and stuck your hand in my face to shake and gave me the biggest grin I had ever seen." He chuckles at the memory.
"But I could tell you were nervous. Hell I was too. But who knew one hand in my face could lead me to my best friend and one half of the pair that makes me feel complete…gosh that's kinda mushy. I've been reading too many of Nemuri's romance books again. But seriously…you've been my partner in crime since we could barely walk. You've had my back and I've had yours and god…how did I think we were ever just friends? I think I was in love with you much longer than I think I ever realized," He chuckles with a huge smile.
"And Shou. God when we both first saw you I knew there was something special about you. You captured our attention immediately. So much so we missed your name despite literally being in the finals with you. And I know you don't always see it or believe it. And that you don't think you deserve it but you are. You are going to be an amazing hero. We know it. And it's okay that you don't always believe that. Because we love you so much and will always be there remind you." He says smiling and the screen goes dark.
And stays dark.
They even fast forward it.
Nothing.
They turn it off and pretend not to notice some of them wiping tears from his sweat the messages were.
"What now?" Mina asks pulling out the tape.
"We should give this to Mr. Aizawa. After all it seems he never found this," Kaminari says.
"Give me what?" Mr. Aizawa asks coming in with a mug of coffee.
"A tape made by your boyfriend," Mina song songs.
"Boyfriend?" Aizawa says.
"We mean Oboro!" Hagakure says.
As soon as the name leaves her mouth the room drops in temperature and Aizawa's face shutters down. Taking the tape and heading upstairs.
They all share a look.
"I feel something bad happened…we should ask Present Mic…"
They leave to head to his office but run into him on the way there.
"Hey kiddos…is everything okay? You're homeroom teacher called me and sounded off…" Mic says.
"We found a tape from Oboro Shirakumo wh…"
None of them have ever seen Present Mic upset. The man has always had a grin on his face.
But not now.
"Excuse me I have to go," Mic says heading into the 1A dorms.
They all share a look.
"Maybe Midnight can tell us…" Mina doesn't sound so confident anymore.
But they eventually find her.
She too looks sad, but doesn't run away from them.
She sits them down.
And that's the day they find out that sometimes heroes don't come back from a fight.