Work Text:
Shouta goes through his usual stretches. The studio is empty, his group having already left but he stayed behind to go through the motions again. There is a performance coming up and the extra training is good for him, especially with his second, technically third, job. Dancing is easy, to only focus on his own body and get lost in the music, every step perfectly times and every movement controlled.
He was a dancer before he was a hero and the training has helped him a great deal. It’s important to be quick and strong and controlled, so he implements some of the movements and especially the stretches not only in his hero work, but also as a teacher. Shouta doesn’t stay as long as he normally would. It would be counter productive to tire himself out too much or risk hurting himself, not with their once a year performance coming up.
So he packs up and returns home, where his husband and two children are waiting for him and where he knows Eri will be to gush over him being a lead roll, even when his face is hidden by a mask while he dances. A shadow dancer is what he is, his face not public and his movements accented by light and darkness. Even if he does have the lead role, he never wished to be famous. To be surrounded by fans would be bad for his other jobs. It’s better this way, where nobody recognizes him, and his family agrees. They have enough problems with Hizashi being known as Present Mic, even if he can hide when he lets his hair down and changes his glasses. It’s nice.
~~~
It is the day after the performance and Shouta has never been more glad for the fact that his face stays hidden. Naturally, his husband and children went to the show, but Hitoshi mentioned it to some of his friends which lead to the entire class going as a kind of bonding experience. And now they’re talking about it. Shouta regrets giving them time to themselves so that he can rest.
“And did you see the lead? Oh, he was hot.”
“Mina, you didn’t even see his face. How is he hot?”
“Well, as someone who dances occasionally, I know how hard those moves are. Even if my field isn’t ballet, break dance is close enough and that stuff was extreme.”
Shouta wants to die. And expel the whole class, but he can’t do that without them figuring out something is wrong. Damn it. Oh how thankful he is for his baggy hero clothes, setting him even further apart from the dancer that he is. His son gives him a shit-eating grin from where he knows he is watching and Shouta will ground that boy.
“God, I wish I could meet the dancers, I would ask them so many questions!”
“Maybe one day you will, Mina. Who knows, maybe they’re even someone’s parents or siblings.”
“OH MY GOD HITOSHI, YOU’RE A GENIUS.”
Yeah, he will definitely ground this problem child.
~~~
The class is gathered in the main room of the dorms, having shoved any furniture to the side and watching basic dance videos on the TV. Hitoshi is sitting it out together with a few others, mostly to hide the fact that he already knows most of these moves. Unsurprisingly, it’s Midoriya who speaks up first.
“Hey guys, these are the stretches we do with Aizawa-Sensei, aren’t they? I recognize the movements.”
Hitoshi smirks to himself as he hears other classmates agree. His dad might complain a lot and he knows that he doesn’t want his face to be known by the pulic, but he also knows that Shouta cares for this class. It won’t be too bad, especially since most of them have already shown willingness to ignore rules in order to protect the ones they care about, which means his secret will be safe. Probably. He tunes back in to the conversation when he hears his classmates talk about confronting their teacher.
“We can absolutely not do that! It would be invading his privacy to ask questions like that. He would have told us if he wanted us to know!”
Iida is waving his arm around, but Uraraka pushes it down and smiles at him in excitement, her voice just as bubbly as usual.
“But what if it could help us with training! There are so many things we can ask, and if we know where he takes his strategies from we might also form our own!”
“I just wanna see Aizawa dance.”
Mina’s comment derails the argument, but in the end, they more or less agree to confront their teacher about the dancing. Momo is chosen as their representative, but he knows at least Denki and Mina will join in, too. Hitoshi smiles to himself, choosing not to warn his dad. It will be more fun this way. He’s looking forward to their next homeroom.
~~~
“Aizawa-sensei, do you dance ballet?”
Shouta glares at his son, who is once again standing back to see him suffer. In front of his desk multiple students have gathered, looking at him with big eyes. Instead of grounding his son, he only sighs and looks at his students with a bored expression.
“Why do you ask?”
“Well, we went to this performance Hitoshi was talking about and the moves were really impressive so we watched some tutorial and we recognizes some things from training with you, mainly the stretches and Mina said those are most common in ballet and so we thought-”
He cuts Midoriya off by raising a hand. He doesn’t know if he should be annoyed or pleased that his students are observant enough to pick up on the fact that he is teaching them stretches and warm-ups commonly found in ballet. He decides on the later. After all, it’s not like they have figured out his third job.
“Yes, I have been dancing ballet since I was a child. Dancing is both good to your sense of balance, as well as control of your body and core strength. Flexibility can also be improved through dancing. Different styles of dancing will give you different advantages, though I have been using parts of ballet since that is my speciality. Do you have any other questions?”
Mina immediately raises her hand and while she is excitedly bouncing on the balls of her feet, she waits until he calls on her before speaking.
“Will you dance for us?”
Shouta takes everything back. He hates his class. These kids are terrible. Still, he lets himself be convinced to show them a bit in a few days, when they’re outside at the training ground again. When nobody but Nedzu, watching through the cameras, will see. It would absolutely ruin his reputation.
~~~
Shouta waits for his students, having already changed into his dance training suit. It’s different from his hero costume, even if he could dance in that, too. This outfit is made for mobility, something to show off exactly how he moves so his students can take note of his subtle movements, too. He is binding up his hair into a tight bun when the students trickle in one by one, staring at his outfit and the area on the floor he has cleared and marked the outside of. There is no music box. Nedzu will know when to play from the big speakers.
“Watch. Take note of my movement and how it affects what I do. This is not training, you will not be copying me. Your task is to watch and see if you can implement moves into your own move-set. You need to be precise and quick if you want to survive as a hero.”
All of them nod and Shouta taps his foot, giving a sign to Nedzu to start the music. It’s easy to fall into the rhythm, let his moves flow into one another with controlled power. It’s a short song, specifically chosen to give a short performance, but he is still slightly sweaty when he falls back into his normal posture. The music cuts off on the right moment, which means Nedzu has watched him practice again.
His class is giving him polite applause, but they also whisper to each other. They have gotten better at talking without him hearing, but he can still make out most of what they say. It’s mostly compliments. Mina mentions that me moves like a professional. Midoriya is analysing his movements. Hitoshi is smiling at him. Todoroki is silent, but there is a frown on his face, as if he just came up with a new theory. Shouta gives them a moment to gather their thoughts before he speaks.
“Okay, what did you notice?”
“Are you the lead role from the performance we went to?”
Everyone falls quiet and lets their hands drop. To his surprise, it’s Todoroki who spoke. Quiet Todoroki, who only recently started talking more. Todoroki, who has told his friends he has never been to a dance performance before. Todoroki, who takes too much note of expression and body language. Todoroki, who looks at anyone like they’re a threat, something a lot of his students do, but he is especially adapt at it. Especially good at silently searching the room. Shouta should have known.
“What gives you that thought?”
“Your movement. It has the same sort of flow, something distinct. It’s less prominent with your usual hero gear, but with your hair up and not as baggy clothes, but especially without your capture scarf, your movements are clearer. It’s the way you hold your head.”
Shouta gives him a smile, because his student is right. He pushes down the voice in his head telling him that no child as young as them should know how to read people this well and be so socially stunted all the same. That is an issue for later. Instead, he nods.
“That’s right. That was me.”
There is screaming and yelling and questions. Midoriya is muttering under his breath and Shouta is pretty sure he can hear mentions of training and his own patrol times. He really should teach the kid not to state his every thought, for the good of every party involved. It’s Mina who interrupts the chaos before Shouta can.
“Does that mean we get free tickets from now on?”
Shouta’s smile turns into a menacing grin, but Hitoshi gives him a knowing look from where he’s standing at the back of the class.
“If you’re still here next year, everyone who does well enough will get a free ticket.”
The class cheers and Shouta watches for just a moment as they chat excitedly, Iida yelling how they should focus, how they need to do well. These are his students. His kids. Somehow, he doesn’t regret them finding out about his third job.