Work Text:
There was one thing and one thing only that Aizawa Shouta would tell you about becoming a teacher: If you thought the teenagers wouldn’t be able to screw something up, they’d find a way to do it. Not even intentionally, Shouta had found that more often than not, they didn’t even mean to do it. That, however, did not stop several UA classrooms from needing to be remodelled due to fires during what should have been reading of a textbook. (No one was 100% sure how that had happened, not even the students who’d caused the fires.)
So when he’d assigned the presentations on the effects of Quirks on the pre-Quirk world, Shouta had expected the average mix of well thought out presentations and last minute slideshows that still had the links in the text from where they’d been copy pasted from the internet. He’d given this assignment out to all of his students, and rarely had anything ever gone wrong.
He should have known that this year was different. This year had been a disaster from the beginning, and that wasn’t even considering the villain attacks. The students were more than enough. Because Shouta’s fatal mistake was forgetting that this year’s class 1A was more chaotic than every other class combined.
When Midoriya Izuku had heard the announcement for the new assignment, he was actually fairly excited. Pre-Quirk history had been a favourite of his to study for years, despite the fact that Aldera used him like a walking scientific display (wasn’t that just mildly traumatising, being treated as less than human.)
This of course meant that his presentation was well-crafted, backed up with statistics and designed to be as engaging as possible for discussing how Quirks changed the way minority groups were perceived and affected the discrimination against certain minorities and created new common social prejudices. It also meant that he’d finished nearly a week before the deadline, despite the project only designed to be a week and a half long (in Izuku’s defence, he’d hyper focused, and then it was done anyway. It’s not his fault that Aizawa let them choose their own topics of interest.)
So while his entire class was working on their presentations - or thinking of an idea for it; or pretending to do work; or blatantly not doing work and gossiping – Izuku was listening in to the conversations around him, trying to gauge what he could expect from his classmates. At least, that was what he was trying to do, but he kept overhearing Mina talking to Kaminari and Kirishima about some drama that had gone down amongst the second years (which was actually rather interesting, and Izuku would definitely go over there to listen in if not for Aizawa still being in the room).
The retelling of the altercation in the corridor behind the second year Business Course classrooms was unfortunately interrupted by Todoroki, who’d slammed his hands down onto his table and let out a sharp intake of breath that most of the class had come to recognize as his Conspiracy Mode Activation Noise (he had a lot of Mode Activation Noises, but Izuku was pretty sure that only he’d picked up on most of them, for… reasons).
Half the class was staring at Todoroki with trepidation, past Theories and their consequences flying to the forefront of their minds, while the other half (it was just Mina, Kaminari and Izuku, but Izuku didn’t particularly feel like acknowledging that) watched on with poorly concealed glee. And then there was Aizawa, who looked up from his grading for the first time in the lesson with a facial expression akin to that of someone suffering from severe depression who had just been told for the fourth time that day that they just needed to get some fresh air and exercise, and everything would be fine. That is to say, long suffering yet still full of rage at the world.
Silence reigned supreme for roughly three seconds; everyone’s facial expressions frozen in position. (Izuku was fairly certain that Vlad King had opened the door, taken one look at the scene in front of him, and closed it again.) Aizawa was the first to speak.
“Can I help you, Todoroki?” How he sounded even more tired than usual, Izuku was not sure, and yet.
Todoroki’s face lit up (read: there was a tiny twitch upwards in the corner of his mouth and Izuku may have spent a lot of time analysing his facial expressions.)
“What are the limitations on how specific we can go with our presentations? Does it have to be on the broader impacts of Quirks, or can I focus on one very specific aspect of Pre-Quirk culture?”
The look on Aizawa’s face made it abundantly clear what he thought of that question, but he answered it nonetheless.
“You can pick whatever topic you like, so long as you are able to fulfil the requirements of the presentation. It has to cover a brief history of the topic, the changes made when Quirks became more widespread, and how it is reflected in our current society. If they can be answered, you may pick whichever topic you like, as long as it is appropriate.”
Aizawa had given Izuku the same speech when he’d initially proposed his topic, but then Aizawa had looked supportive, if still as tired as always. Now? He looked like he’d rather be doing anything than giving Todoroki free reign on an assignment, but there was nothing he could do about as everyone else in the class was free to pick their topics. (Although the fact that they weren’t required to run things by Aizawa gave Izuku the feeling that Aizawa was expecting some members of the class to stretch the appropriate definition, and that he was looking forward to dealing with that. That, and Izuku suspected it was more a test on their insightfulness and conclusions they could draw on a subject rather than history or ethical knowledge. Aizawa was just Like That sometimes, but at least it kept them guessing.)
So it was with that in mind that Izuku watched as Todoroki’s face lit up with so much glee that it was visible to even the least knowledgeable on Todoroki’s facial expressions, and he knew that when presentation day finally arrived, they’d be in for a wild ride.
Hell Class
#school stuff
The Actual Secret Love Child: does anyone know who Kim Kardashian is?
sparky: ye
boom boom boi: why the fuck are you asking
gravity is for cowards: yeah I do!
cronchy bones: i think i remember her from class or something
nyoom: This channel is for class work only!
The Actual Secret Love Child: this is for class work
sparky: sbvhkdfn asdv
sparky: how
Frog: I am also curious
The Actual Secret Love Child: :)
The Actual Secret Love Child: Midoriya can you help me then?
cronchy bones: sure!
DMs
Green Bean and Fried Ice
Green Bean: is this for that presentation aizawa gave us?
Green Bean: the one where you couldn’t think of anything and then got really excited and won’t tell any of us what topic you chose?
Fried Ice : maybe
Fried Ice: are you going to help?
Green Bean: am i allowed to know what the topic is or are you just gonna ask for vague information and give no explanation when asked
Fried Ice: :)
Green Bean: …
Fried Ice: :(
Green Bean: sigh
Green Bean: fine
Fried Ice: :D
Green Bean: this was a mistake
Search history of: Shouto Todoroki
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all might
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jojo siwa death date
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The day of the presentations had finally arrived, and Class 1A was buzzing. No one had been able to pry what Todoroki’s presentation was out of him, but they’d eventually had to focus their attention on their own projects. Izuku knew that he was ready, and that his presentation was good, but he couldn’t quite say the same for some of his classmates. All of them had done the work to the best of their ability, but some people were not as prepared. (Kaminari was one, but to be fair, he did have to change topics last minute because he’d realised he had accidentally stumbled into something that he would not be able to cover properly.)
Still, there was a sense of anticipation thrumming through the class this morning, leading to many of the other classes and staff members avoiding them on their way to class. The first few presentations went as expected; Yaoyorozu’s being insightful and met with approving nods from Aizawa, Mina’s was incredibly well put together but it was chaotic enough that the class took 20 minutes to calm down (seriously, how was a presentation on clothing changes over the centuries so unpredictable?) and Mineta’s was, well it was Mineta. Aizawa seemed to take a lot of glee in tearing his presentation apart (Izuku certainly took glee in watching terror grow in Mineta’s eyes).
Izuku’s turn to present finally arrived, and he stood, excitement buzzing in his veins.
“Quirk discrimination is a major issue in today’s hero-based society, as many of you have either witnessed or been a victim of. Mutant type quirks are heavily prejudiced against, as a vestigial remnant of our desire that people who appear as ‘other’ be outcast, despite the fact that we live in a society based on Quirks – which are unique from person to person. Emitter type quirks also face discrimination, as people class their quirks into ‘villainous’, and their future is decided for them before they even grow up. And for the Quirkless, the discrimination they face for being ‘less evolved’ is nearly unmatched.”
“Modern-day Quirk discrimination has its roots in the pre-Quirk world, in the discrimination of marginalised people and minorities. This discrimination was most strong in the forms of racism, sexism and homophobia, and the rhetoric used against them then – and still today – is the same justifications for discrimination today.”
For once, Izuku had actually managed to get through a presentation with minimal stuttering. (It probably had something to do with the fact that this was the first time he was able to talk about something as important as this without a teacher telling him off.) And by some miracle, he’d kept the class engaged – which honestly, was not as surprising as one might think, given how strong the moral compass of the class was.
Aizawa had given him an approving nod, although there were some narrowed eyes and considering glances that made him think Aizawa had picked up on something else during his presentation, and there would be a Talk sometime in the near future. Still, for now, he’d done well on a presentation, and he was content with that.
Iida had gone up next, and while his presentation on the changes in laws and the way people trying to do the right thing were viewed, it was still a fairly ironic topic given the events of the internships.
“While vigilantism is not morally wrong, laws are there to uphold the structure of our society and ensure that things run as smoothly as possible for everyone. While our society is not perfect, the evolution of laws across the years has demonstrated that in most situations, following the laws is often the most effective way to keep society in order, and if they must be broken, it must be for a good cause.”
Izuku had spent nearly the entire speech snickering quietly to himself, hearing Todoroki doing something similar in the back of the class. Aizawa was eyeing them suspiciously, as if making sure they weren’t about to reveal the encounter with Stain. Iida, however, did nothing but smirk at them briefly and move on with his presentation.
The rest of the presentations went smoothly, until, finally, it was time for Todoroki’s turn.
Shouta had been dreading this day since the moment he’d given the assignment to his class. He had no doubt that someone would make something go wrong, and he was just waiting for it. The first presentations hadn’t been too out of the ordinary, although Midoriya’s incredibly energetic and passionate speech had created some… questions that Shouta would have to address at a later date, but that was all fine. The response to Iida’s presentation had made Shouta’s migraine grow larger as he prepared to have to deal with the leak of a national secret, but Midoriya and Todoroki seemed to have developed some form of tact, so he’d been able to relax slightly.
There were no issues with the next few presentations, and Shouta almost fooled himself into thinking that there’d be no further issues. But when Todoroki pulled up his slides, Shouta felt his soul drain from his body.
The Circus and its Evolution through Pre-Quirk Eras to the Modern Quirk Era
His class went truly silent for the first time since the presentations had begun. There was an air of what the fuck radiating from every single person in the classroom, Shouta included, as they tried to process what they’d just read. Todoroki just waited patiently for his classmates to recover themselves, as though he was used to this reaction. (Given just how unhinged some of his conspiracy theories could get, he probably was.)
After a long pause, during which Shouta could feel the very cells in his body age, Todoroki had deemed the class had quietened down enough to pay attention to his monstrosity of a presentation and clicked to the next slide. The simple title of ‘origins’ wasn’t enough to set the whole class off again, but that didn’t stop Shouta from tensing up like he was about to be ambushed by a villain.
The history Todoroki gave over the next two slides, although brief, managed to give enough background context for whatever Todoroki was planning next, and it was something of a relief to at least have something normal to be able to grade. And if nothing else, the acknowledgement of the nuance and often dark history of the circus reflected Todoroki’s ability to thoroughly research his conspiracy theories. (That did not reassure Shouta in the slightest, as everything Todoroki said and showed just hinted at worse things to come.)
“The transition into the Quirk Era was not smooth for the circus, and many previous performers found that they were no longer impressive compared to quirks, and so turned to street performing if they could.” Todoroki’s voice was his usual deadpan, but Shouta had been dealing with teenagers for nearly seven years now, and was not stupid. He knew that the underlying emotion in Todoroki’s voice was glee, as he worked up to something incredibly stupid.
Shouta could only hope that he still had some semblance of sanity after the presentation were over. (He should have never assigned this class a project of their choice. It could only have ended badly.)
Todoroki Shouto was fully aware of exactly how much his classmates were beginning to lose their minds at what he was saying. He could only see Aizawa out of the corner of his eye, but his teacher looked as though he would take being kidnapped by the League of Villains over being in this classroom during his presentation.
It’s not as though Shouto had chosen the topic purely to fuck with his classmates, he truly did have a genuine interest in it. The fact that everyone else would hate the relatively airtight logic behind it with a burning passion was just a positive side effect (although he did note that Midoriya seemed to be incredibly invested, if not a little confused at where he was going with this.)
He paused before the next slide (as he had a feeling was going to become a pattern), and allowed his classmates a moment to let their minds settle, before rocking the boat again immediately with his next slide. Technically, the title of ‘Public Quirk Usage Act’ was fairly innocuous, but that didn’t mean Class 1A trusted it, and they were right not to.
“As circuses were now mostly illegal due to the fact that very few of them could obtain licenses to use their quirks for performances, most organised circuses were dismantled and the performers arrested. Those that were left over still tried to find a way to make a living out of their skills, and turned to underground circus rings. These didn’t last long, as they were ineffective at allowing people to be properly paid, but they did evolve, and live on today in the form of underground quirk fighting rings.”
The class did not responded well to ‘underground circus rings’. Kaminari and Mina loudly debated how that would even function, as Aizawa looked on with growing concern on the amount of knowledge his hero students had on the criminal underground. (The muttered “how the fuck does he even know that” coming from Aizawa in the corner did nothing but reassure Shouto that he was heading in the right direction.)
“The fact that people were starting to turn elsewhere for entertainment correlates with the fall of organised circuses. This means that the end of the circus coincides with the rise in popularity and the rapid commercialisation of hero media. This is not merely correlation, and there is evidence of the causation between the two events.”
Midoriya perked up in his seat, catching on to the point Shouto was trying to make. Shouto smirked, something not missed by the class, who all reacted with varying levels of fear; Mineta cried (good), Bakugou nearly set off an explosion and only didn’t because of Aizawa’s glare, Sero looked morbidly fascinated and Midoriya… well, Midoriya smiled right back at Shouto, the manic energy behind his eyes matching exactly how Shouto felt. (He’d have said that it absolutely did not make his heart flutter, but by this point Shouto was so deeply in love that there was honestly no point in denying it to himself).
The next slide being titled ‘21st Century Celebrity Culture vs Hero Culture’ apparently was not something that his classmates were prepared to see, but Shouto could also see several more of them coming around to what he was saying, mainly Yaoyorozu, Tsuyu and Shoji, surprisingly. Shouto was certainly not complaining. After all, what good was a logical theory that disrupted the way that people usually perceived the world if no one actually believed it? Besides, he was just pointing out the obvious – the general public treats heroes the exact same way that people in the 21st century treated their celebrities and social media ‘influencers’, albeit with a bit more Governmental propaganda.
He briefly glanced over towards Aizawa, who hadn’t reacted much to anything for a few minutes. He had definitely figured out where this presentation was headed, and it seemed like he’d mostly just accepted his fate to have to sit through the rest of this if the look of sheer resignation on his face was anything to go by. Shouto kept an eye on his teacher as he spoke.
“It follows logically, that if the public replaced their in-person entertainment from the circus with Pro-Heroes and hero culture, that heroes are in fact the next step in the evolution of the circus. This brings me to my next point, that modern-day Pro-Heroes mimic the 21st century ‘influencers’, which mimic the circus performers throughout history. In fact, social media influencers were often referred to as ‘clowns.’”
He'd clicked over to the next slide mid-speech, not allowing anyone any time to catch their thoughts as he picked up wind and continued on through his speech. (The title ‘Hero Culture and the Circus’ had apparently clued most of his class into what he was planning, so not allowing them any time to derail him was crucial.)
“If the role of the circus was to provide entertainment, and hero culture has now replaced the circus in that aspect, then it stands to reason that the role of the circus performer has been fulfilled somehow. Pro-Heroes have taken on this role of the performers in present day media, exactly how the ‘influencers’ of the 21st century did.”
Shouto took a deep breath, and watched his class take in everything he had said. He wasn’t quite done yet, but the majority of them seemed too shocked to be able to stop him, and the rest were genuinely enjoying his presentation.
He could only hope that that enjoyment remained even after his final points.
It had taken a while for Izuku to catch on to what Todoroki was trying to say, but once he had, his enjoyment of the presentation increased exponentially. Despite it originally seeming strange, a bit out of place, Izuku now understood exactly what angle Todoroki was approaching this from, and honestly couldn’t see much wrong with it. The public does treat Pro-Heroes how people used to treat actors and singers (Izuku was blatantly ignoring his own fanboy phase – which was not actually a phase, as it had never passed, was just no longer so completely overwhelming that he was capable of at least slightly functioning around Pro-Heroes.)
Despite how invested he’d gotten in the presentation, there was something about the way Todoroki was looking at the room, as though he was preparing for something to go incredibly wrong. Aizawa seemed to have noticed the same thing, leaning forward as though fully preparing to stop anything that might occur, pushing this presentation from ‘weird but fascinating’ over the line into ‘something that might scar some children for life.’
Alas, Todoroki changed the slide before anything could be done to prevent it (not that Izuku would have done so anyway, conspiracy theories and gossip were among Izuku’s favourite pastimes at UA.)
It took a moment for Izuku to read it, fully process it, and then re-read it to make sure he had in fact gotten the words right the first time.
Pro-Heroes are Past Celebrities
- Mount Lady = Kim Kardashian
- Endeavor = Ellen DeGeneres
- All Might = Ryan Reynolds
- Presentation Michael = Jojo Siwa
- Midnight = Brie Larson
- Fatgum = Jimmy Fallon
- Eraser Head = Tony Hawk
“The vast majority of heroes take on a persona while in hero costume, just as many of the celebrities in the 21st century did while on camera. A lot of the personality traits can be compared relatively easily, as they fulfil the same role in their societies, leading to similarities in the traits of modern pro-heroes and past celebrities. In some cases, these roles are only fulfilled by the public persona. In the case of Tony Hawk, who was an incredibly famous skateboarder who would not be recognised on the street if he did not have a skateboard, similar to how Eraser Head, as an underground hero, is not commonly recognised by regular civilians but would be relatively well-known to the criminal underground, even if they wouldn’t recognise him on sight.”
There was a shocked silence. Some people were staring at the board, still hoping desperately that the words they had read were wrong and did not exist, but Yaoyorozu and Iida were staring directly at Aizawa and nodding to themselves, as though they’d just come to a grand conclusion based off the examples that Todoroki had given them. Izuku found himself staring at Todoroki in unrestrained awe, completely and utterly fascinated by the topics that had just been brought to light.
The problem that Izuku had found with this presentation so far, was that, to put it bluntly, Todoroki was right. Izuku had spent years of his life following Pro-Heroes and analysing them, and part of that had included noting down how they acted in front of the camera versus off camera. Endeavour was one who didn’t change much regardless of whether people were looking at him, but he still seemed to fulfil the role of ‘problematic fave’; whereas Midnight was someone that people had a very distinct impression of, thinking she was a ditzy but powerful overly sexual woman, but when she was interacting with civilians or her students, she was clearly incredibly insightful and quick to make observations.
Izuku had known about the concept of hero personas for years, but he’d honestly never paid much thought to them beyond surface level ponderings, since despite his hero obsession, he’d mostly wanted to stay out of their private lives, and whatever show they’d chosen to put on while out in the public eye was more than enough for him. He’d always been aware of how those personas could help a Pro-Hero face villains who thought they already knew what they were up against, but it was only recently that he’d realised just how lifesaving it was that villains underestimated Pro-Heroes based on how they acted in public.
Alas, before Izuku could get lost in his own mind, Todoroki had decided that the class had had enough time to think it over and moved on to the next slide.
“Pro-Heroes today, especially the limelight Heroes, act more like the early public performers, rather than the organised and structured circuses that eventually became popular. The more famous circuses, such as the Cirque du Soleil, would follow performance sequences that maximised crowd enjoyment and engagement, and therefore profit for the circus, by showcasing expected and unique skills in predetermined orders. The modern-day equivalent of this would be the UA Sports Festival. It follows a simple and repetitive structure, yet it changes things up slightly every year in order to keep the crowds engaged, and also demonstrates the skills of its students, allowing for them to perform with freedom in order to showcase both their expected and unique skills.”
Todoroki paused for a moment, letting the class settle with what he said. Izuku narrowed his eyes in suspicion. The presentation was following a logical path, but Izuku had been the audience to enough of Todoroki’s conspiracy theories by now to know that this was preparing for a grand reveal that would likely shock the audience.
He was quickly proven right, although he wasn’t pleased by this. Todoroki changed the slides fast enough that the implications of his point hadn’t quite managed to settle in for anyone yet, but the point was being made, loud and clear.
The class started making noise, some still reading, others (Bakugou) yelling in outrage, and not even Aizawa could do anything to stop it – not that he was trying, he’d buried his face in the floor and seemed to be attempting to merge with it. Izuku, on the other hand, was still listening in to Todoroki, who had raised his voice slightly and was simply talking over his classmates, ignoring their obvious desperation.
“Those who participate in the circus are the performers, and if the Sports Festival is the new circus, the students are the new performers. The most well-known performer from the circus is arguably the clown, and if the participants of the UA Sports Festival are the performers, and the most well-known circus performers were clowns, then the participants are clowns.”
Todoroki paused, and the class, sensing something about to go wrong, froze in the midst of what they were doing, being held still by some dreadful, tangible terror. Izuku could barely breathe as he saw Todoroki click, and the presentation shifted to the next slide. Every member of Class 1A read the words several times over, but no one processed them fully until Todoroki had said them out loud.
“Ergo, UA students are clowns.”
Later testimonies stated that the screaming coming from Class 1A of UA High was reminiscent of someone being tortured. To be entirely clear, while the class was loud and yelling, it was actually Aizawa Shouta who had screamed, and no one felt it necessary to question why. After all, Class 1A seemed as though it were a circus, sometimes.