Chapter Text
Kouta stares at the door to the teachers’ office with a frown. He’s late for his appointment with his homeroom teacher but can’t bring himself to feel much remorse. It’s not like he’s been looking forward to this meeting, after all. He fails one test and suddenly the sky is falling.
A few more seconds pass before he sighs and slides the door open, glancing over the room. This isn’t his first time being here, and the only thing that’s changed is the magazines on the counter by the coffee machine. Kouta doesn’t even understand why they’re there; coffee definitely doesn’t take so long to brew that you’d need to read to pass the time.
He looks away from the counter and glances at the row of cubicles before finding his teacher. It doesn’t seem like he’s noticed Kouta yet, which gives him a few more seconds to brace himself. No matter what ends up happening, he knows his teacher is going to tell his husband, who will tell Eraserhead, who will tell Present Mic, who will tell Mandalay. The thought of having a separate conversation with her later is exhausting.
Still, there’s no getting out of this, so he takes a deep breath and walks over to his teacher, plopping down into the chair next to his cubicle. “Let’s get this over with,” he says, pulling his teacher’s attention away from his phone.
Blue and gray eyes meet his own, and a reassuring smile is flashed at him. “You make it sound like you’re in trouble,” Shouto says, putting his phone down and turning his chair to face Kouta. “You’re not, by the way.”
“Isn’t this about the test I failed?”
“Yes, but you still aren’t in trouble.”
Kouta frowns, his eyes narrowing at Shouto as he leans back. “Bullshit.”
If anything, Shouto’s smile widens, betraying his amusement. “Since it’s just us, I won’t comment on the language,” he says. “Now, why do you think you failed the test yesterday?”
His mind immediately provides him with the memory of sneaking out of the house and meeting Eri in a park the night before the test. The only reason he’d done so was that she was freaking out over failing her own test in math, and Kouta had said she just needed to take her mind off things. Somehow, that became him asking if she wanted to go to a 24-hour cafe, her agreeing, and them spending the next few hours drinking coffee and eating pastries.
Not that he can say any of that, of course. Kouta is well aware of Eraserhead and Present Mic’s overprotectiveness. So, he avoids Shouto’s gaze and mumbles, “I just didn’t study.”
He doesn’t see the smirk that passes over his teacher’s face. If he did, he’d know he was shit at lying. “It’s your strongest class. You haven’t needed to study before,” he points out.
“Well, it was a difficult unit.”
“You were very skillfully helping your classmates study for the exam the day before.”
Kouta scowls and finally looks up only to realize when he sees Shouto’s expression that his teacher is fucking with him. “Fine, whatever, I was too tired to pay attention, and I fell asleep during the exam. What’s the big fucking deal?” he asks.
“The big deal is that you didn’t even start the test before falling asleep. You have a very concerning zero in the grade book right now.”
“And I suppose you’re gonna tell Mandalay about it?”
Shouto hums softly, idly drumming his fingers on his desk as he thinks. “You know, I snuck out a few times in my third year, too,” he finally says, “I never fell asleep during an exam, though.”
“Congrats. Do you want a trophy?”
“If you have one,” he replies, his expression unchanging in the face of Kouta’s rolling eyes. “My point, however, is that I understand. You had a reason for sneaking out, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then let’s do this,” Shouto says, pulling open a drawer on his desk and taking out a stapled packet of paper. He sets it down in front of Kouta, letting him see the front page that’s identical to the test he fell asleep on. “Retake the test right now. If you pass, I’ll put whatever grade you get and make sure Mandalay doesn’t find out you fell asleep.”
Kouta blinks, staring at the paper for a long moment before looking up at Shouto. “Seriously? You’ll just let it go? You won’t be a hardass about it?”
“When have I ever been a hardass?” Shouto asks in return as he pulls out a pencil and places it on top of the test.
Well, he has a point. Of all the teachers Kouta has had, Shouto has been the most lenient and understanding towards his students. It’s practically impossible to fail his classes. He always meets with a student if they’re having trouble and never calls parents without telling the student he is first. He’s become the most desired teacher in the UA hero course, something Kouta knows he’s proud of.
“Okay,” Kouta says, nodding as he picks up the pencil. “If I get a perfect score, can you tell Izuku so he’ll get me a cake?”
Izuku believes in the power of positive reinforcement; it’s probably the only reason Kouta actually put so much effort into middle school. Every time he came home with good grades, Izuku would take him out for ice cream or spend the day in an arcade. He promised it wouldn’t stop even when he became busy as the number one hero, and Kouta has made sure to hold him to that.
Shouto laughs softly, covering his mouth with his hand as he nods. “Yes, I’ll tell him if you get a perfect score.”
Kouta grins brightly and scoots closer to the table. “Thanks, Mr. Midoriya,” he says, waiting long enough to see Shouto wave his hand dismissively before focusing on the test in front of him.