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As Shouta Aizawa walks to his homeroom class on a relatively peaceful Tuesday morning, he expects it to go much the same as yesterday. He'll take attendance, announce a test for the end of the week and crawl into his sleeping bag for a few minutes of rest.
He should have noticed that whenever he finds himself too comfortable in any routine, the universe finds a way to keep him on his toes. Whether it be getting stabbed during what he was starting to assume was a quiet patrol. Or something happening with his hell class after a few peaceful days.
Just a few days ago, UA held the cultural festival, which was a pleasant break of normal school activities after the absolute chaos that had been internships. It was honestly nice.
Although he complained that he hadn't signed up to be roommates with 20 teenagers and a small child that depended on him to be her primary guardian, it was nice. To be able to keep such a close eye on all of his kids. It was nice for them to all be kids for a while. It was nice to know everyone was safe and within reach.
(Excluding his Problem Child's run in with the tender offender, or whatever his name was. At this point aizawa concluded that the kid had so much bad luck that it was only a matter of time for the kid to get hit by a small meteor )
So yes, while maybe this school year brought more than he'd signed up for, he doesn't regret it. 1a are good kids. And they are the future, do he might as well help raise the next generation.
But of course, nothing could be that simple for that long and so, when he starts hearing shouting from within his classroom he lets out a world weary sigh.
When he gets closer however his exhaustion quickly turns to concern. Before he can hear what's being said, he recognizes one of the voices that stand out above the others. His Problem Child, despite his reputation, is usually not one to cause a scene unless something is actually wrong.
When he hears Iida's voice add itself into the fray he can't help but almost break into a sprint. This can't be good.
Although iida is usually always there to try and calm his class, he doesn't often disagree with Midoriya, much less yell at him.
(Although he has noticed the two drift apart in recent weeks. Which he didn't think much of until a few days ago he's caught iida throwing a few disapproving looks at Midoriya and midoriya being much less enthusiastic about joining his friends for lunch, but still spending as much time with todoroki, uraraka and asui when iida isn't around. Although he tends not to want to meddle in teenagers drama he told himself to keep an eye on it.)
Right as he steps in earshot, the last bell rings.
"That's enough! Sensei will be here soon, get in your seat!" Iida's voice rings out over the newfound quiet. It doesn’t sound caring, the way iida usually is. It sounds angry and dismissive, as if he's speaking to a child having a tantrum and not a peer that he respects.
"No!" Midoriya's voice is desperate and anguished when shouta pushes through the door. Out of the corner of his eye he sees a majority of his students notice him, while he and the remaining students are more focused on their usually anxious classmate, who still has his back to the door. "this can't keep happening! Why does sensei refuse to do anything about it iida! This is a God damn hero school for fucks sake ! I don't understand how this kind of treatment is allowed! I thought ua would be better!"
There are a few short seconds of silence after midoriya's outbreak. Most students utterly shocked by hearing the problem child swear for what might be the first time since they've known each other. Shouta himself can only bring himself to scan the room in his shock and worry , looking for an explanation. What the hell happened? He sees bakugou glaring at the front of the classroom, looking much less shocked and much more angry.
Iida, being one of the students who didn't notice him walk in, is glaring at midoriya with so much anger and disdain, that the homeroom teacher almost does a double take.
"Midoriya, your complaints have gone on long enough, your behavior is extremely unheroic and-"
OK this has gone on long enough. He closes the door loudly, without slamming it, to cut off the taller student. Problem child? Not heroic? What in the world is going on? "What's this about?"
At this, mydoria whirls around setting his angry, toxic green gaze that seems to glow slightly, on his teacher. "Me and the girls want to know why all the complaints we've put in, practically everyday since day one, about being sexually harassed by our classmate have been completely ignored." He says it coldly and surprisingly evenly for having tears gathering in his eyes.
Shouta takes a second to process what he's been told as he feels rage start to ooze and move like lava in his gut. Controlled. But no less scorching. Who the hell hurt his students ? Why doesn't he know? He takes a breath to calm himself so he can deal with this rationally rather than immediately resort to violence.
Unfortunately, Iida took his teacher's silence as his cue to speak. "Midoriya, you mustn't speak to sensei in such a manner it is highly dis-"
"Iida. Be quiet." Shouta orders with a flare of his quirk. The student Snaps his mouth shut. The teacher turns back to the students still glaring at him. "Midoriya, who did you make these complaints to?"
A look of disbelief and anger crosses the problem Child's face as he scoffs and looks to the ceiling like he's trying not to cry "Are you kidding me! What? Just because we didn’t make them to you in person means our complaints are not your problem?! Wha-"
"Midoriya" he'd tried to say it gently but apparently it hadn't worked with how the boys eyes snapped so his teacher’s face and a wave of very concerning fear flashed across his features, but it was quickly pushed away after, Shouta assumes, seeing the confusion and concerns on the the teacher's face. Concern that shouta isn't trying to mask. "Who did you make your complaints to?" He says gentler this time
The kid looks confused before his eyes quickly glance left and right, showing his uncertainty, only to rest at his fingers that he starts fidgeting with . "U-um well iida said to make all complaints through him so we don't all bother you at once."
Then, like a chain reaction, things delve into more chaos. Shouta's face scrunched briefly in confusion before turning to iida in horror. What had his student done? Iida started looking sheepish, not yet realizing the weight of his actions. The rest of the students, noticing this interaction, have a variety of different reactions.
Most of the students look at iida in horror, some looking like they can hardly believe their straight-laced classmate would do such a thing. Bakugou looks disgusted. Kaminari looks desperate. Mineta, who Shouta catches sight of for the first time since he entered, looks almost smug. Todoroki is glaring at iida and goes to stand by mydoria, never taking his eyes off iida. The girls look hurt, ashido and jirou look like they wants to strangle iida, Yaoyorozu looks so disappointed and her eyes are glossy, Hagakure's uniform is trembling with what shouta can only assume is rage, uraraka’s expression is flickering between rage and betrayal as she cries, and lastly Asui’s face is entirely blank as her fists Clench and unclench.
When shouta notices movement in front of him, his eyes focus back on his Problem child, who has a heartbreakingly betrayed look on his face, as he slowly turns around to iida. "H-how could you?" He says as tears spill past his cheeks.
At this iida looks offended. "It is unheroic to constantly place the blame on your classmates Midoriya, you haven't even considered that you might be part of the reason that you two don't get along. I did not want to bother our sensei with frivolous matters-" Shouta thinks one of his blood vessels may burst if his student keeps talking, he's about to shut him up himself when his Problem child cuts the other student off.
"Frivolous matters?!" His student shrieks "we've been harassed! Every! Day! Since we got here! He's always making inappropriate comments about our bodies, constantly going on about how he's going to fuck us, insinuating we deserve to be raped for the way we look? Always touching us inappropriately whenever he gets the chance! Going through our underwear! Stealing our laundry! He's constantly being transphobic, throwing slurs at me and talking about how I need to be fucked back into a girl !" Shouta's problem child was full on screaming by the end of his tirade.
Shouta was wrong, this was much worse than what was being said before. The rage within him, now paired with overprotective furry, was burning brighter and hotter. "Who? " he said as calmly as he could.
"Mineta". It was, unexpectedly, bakugou and todoroki who responded at the same time. Bakugou had gone back to glaring at the front of the classroom and Todoroki was pulling a shaking Midoriya towards him, and away from a shocked iida.
"Get out of my classroom, go to the principal's office" he said immediately, glaring at the small purple student, hopefully soon to be ex-student. After said teenager scrambles out of the classroom, the teacher turns to iida. "You too." He wasn't yet sure if the student would be expelled. He needed more information. But he was no doubt getting punished for this.
"B-but sensei!" The student sputtered, taken aback.
" Now!" He activates his quirk for effect and soon the student is following his classmate.
Shouta knows he doesn't have to warn the principal, the rat has probably caught on to the interaction by now, and is probably compiling evidence and waiting to deal out punishments. Shouta might be tempted to do it himself if he didn’t have much more pressing matters to attend to.
"Come with me, problem child." This garners a few squeaks and noises of protest coming from Todoroki, Uraraka, Asui and a few other classmates, as well as another flash of fear in the kid's eyes. "You aren't in trouble, I just need to ask you some questions. I'll be doing this with everyone, and regardless of whether or not you wish to press charges we're going to have a detective over to investigate."
After a deep breath, his Problem child seems to steel himself and extract himself from his friends protective embrace. And goes to the door without a word, looking resigned.
Before walking out the door Shouta turns around to call out to his class "I'll be back soon, be quiet. Yaoyorozu is in charge"
And with that he's in the corridor with Midoriya.
"Come on let's go to the teacher's Lounge" he says and they begin to walk in silence. When they arrived the lounge was empty as most of the teachers were teaching their first class of the day. Shouta went to his desk, sat down and motioned for his student to follow. When Midoriya sat down in the seat across from Shouta's desk he looked nervous. scared even. "I told you you weren't in trouble" he says trying to calm his student down.
"Teachers lie." he says quietly. And shouta tries not to get frustrated but he just doesn't know how to approach this. How to fix his fuck up and gain the trust of his student back. How could he have missed this?
"Listen Midoriya, as your teacher this is my failure and you don't have to-"
"It's not just you." The student retorts quietly "it's all teachers. I thought- I thought ua was different. You were so much better than the other teachers so-so I just couldn't understand why- why-" Shouta stands and comes to crouch in front of his now crying student.
"Midoriya listen to me. Whatever your teacher's have done in the past to lose your trust was wrong. I failed you and the other girls in your class, for that I'm sorry. You don't have to forgive me. But I want to help you, and for that I need you to let me." For a moment Midoriya only looks at him, assessing. Looking for something. Whatever he sees, it must be good enough.
"I-i thought you were ignoring us on- on purpose" he says with a hiccup.
"I'm sorry" and he is.
"But iida di-didn't tell you."
"He didn't."
"A-and you didn't know."
"I didn't"
"Okay"
"Okay?" The teacher asks confused
"Okay." His student repeats with more confidence "I forgive you"
"Thank you, problem child i-" the student shrinks in on himself at the nickname which makes shouta pause. "Pro- midoriya, does the nickname bother you?" At this the kid looks at him confused.
"I- I mean it f- fits. I- I'm a just a problem child and…" he trails of looking to the side
"No, Midoriya. It's a nickname, I'm sometimes exasperated by how much bad luck seems to follow you around but I know it's not your fault. You aren't a problem. I'm glad to have you in my class." More confused and calculating staring and shouta sighs "listen I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable I'll stop"
"No, if you don't mean it in a bad way you can keep calling me that." He says, looking away. "I just didn't know you meant it like that"
"OK kid" he says much more gently than he usually does "can I ask you some questions about mineta?" And just like that, the dam breaks. Months of silence took their toll and nothing is left unsaid.
After maybe a half hour, Shouta is sitting on the edge of his desk, much more tired than he was this morning. His heart heavy with what he couldn't protect his student from.
"Iida has these rigid views on what it means to be a hero, most revolve around being proper and appearances. Many around not relying on others. On being perfect. He kept saying it was unheroic to throw my classmate under the bus. He kept saying I should act civil with him because that was the proper, heroic thing to do. I-i didn't think he- he would lie about telling you about mineta" this is followed by another sob. Shouta doesn't think he's ever had the urge to hug a student this bad.
"He kept telling me I should put up with it or resolve it with mineta in a civil way, whatever that entails. I- I don't know if I can forgive him sensei" he sobs
"It's okay if you can't kid. People aren't entitled to your forgiveness or your trust." After that there is a pause as the problem child seems to take in his senses words. "What about Kaminari? He's close to mineta isn't he?"
Midoriya frowns "Kaminari has never made me uncomfortable. I think he and mineta got along at the beginning because Kaminari used cheesy pick up lines to make people laugh. But it's plain to see that he doesn't condone Mineta's actions and that they make him uncomfortable. I just don't think he knows what to do with that. I think you should speak to him though?" He says, unsure if the request is pushing some sort of boundarie.
"Okay thank you, I will look into it. In the meantime I'd like to recommend you see hounddog." Midoriya looks to him confused "Midoriya this was traumatic for you, and while I'll always be here if you need to talk I think you should get professional help."
His Problem child looks stunned "b-but why?"
"Because you deserve to heal." He says simply like it's the most obvious thing in the world. When he sees a fresh wave of tears spring to his kids eyes he gives in, he's only human after all. "Kid can I hug you?" He asks, unsure of how the kid will react.
What he doesn't expect is for his kid to launch himself at him, but he's quick to Reciprocate. "You're safe now, problem child."