Chapter Text
"Hey Aizawa-Sensei, why don't you wink so your quirk stays active for longer?" Midoriya asked one day after a lesson, enticing a groan from the man.
"Ugh. Listen, Problem Child, it's a long story."
Midoriya pointedly looked at the clock; he knew they both had more than enough time before they had to leave.
"Really? Are you really going to do this?" Aizawa asked, raising an eyebrow in his fruitless attempt to dissuade the teenager.
"Yes." He confirmed, pulling out a chair, "It's a good strategy and it doesn't make sense for you to just," He paused, searching for the right words, "dismiss a possible upper hand."
Aizawa sighed, a deep, weary sound.
"Alright."
The first time Aizawa had attempted to wink at his opponent, it did not go to plan. At all.
The sports festival was something that Aizawa had been looking forward to as soon as he'd been admitted into UA. It was his chance to prove himself, to finally get into the heroics course.
The first few rounds had gone pretty well, but his issue occurred in his final one-on-one fight.
He'd been pitted against one Yamada Hizashi, a loud man with an even louder quirk.
Gritting his teeth, he'd immediately activated his quirk, fully aware that his opposition's quirk could literally blow him away. In response, Yamada had charged, tackling him to the ground.
Aizawa remembered the way he had rolled over, so he was above the other, the way Yamada had kicked him off and, unfortunately, the way he'd allowed one of his eyes to close, just for a second, a single second in something that, in Aizawa's opinion, didn't even come close to an actual blink.
Yamada had turned so red the entire crowd could see and, not soon after, fainted.
Aizawa had stared at his hands for a full five minutes, wondering if he had a second quirk that allowed him to knock people out before Recovery Girl had found him.
Midoriya cackled, "You're kidding me! I thought you'd managed to get a hit in that the cameras hadn't caught. That," He wiped a tear from the corner of his eye, "is comedy gold."
Even after all those years, Aizawa still blushed lightly.
"Was that what kick-started your relationship?"
"Yeah." Aizawa probably should be surprised that his student knew about that, but considering the little shit he was in disguise, he didn't bother.
"What was the next one?"
Aizawa rubbed his brow at the memory.
"Shit.. I think it was ten or so years back. I was working on this case about the yakuza.."
Aizawa grunted as he was thrown back against the alleyway's dead end
"Pathetic, your quirk isn't even worth looking at." The man spat, brushing off the spot on his shirt the hero had managed to graze.
"You say that about all quirks, Overhaul." He responded, dragging himself back to a standing position and grabbing part of his capture weapon.
Activating his aforementioned quirk, he felt the familiar burn of overuse in his eyes, barely managing to hold back a wince.
"I've got backup on the way, so if you want to make it out alive, I'd suggest running." He bluffed, painfully aware that he was well out of his depth.
Chisaki laughed, an ugly that reminded Aizawa of an angry goose chasing little children.
"Please, don't insult my intelligence." He began, throwing a sharp shard of concrete at the hero.
It just skimmed over his head, but in surprise at the attack, he mistakenly allowed one eye to slip shut.
The effect was near instantaneous; Chisaki pausing in the middle of his evil cackle.
"Wha-" He spoke, voice choked and cheeks red.
Aizawa, who wasn't one to half-ass shenanigans, took full advantage of the situation and lunged forwards, slapping quirk cancelling cuffs on the villain's wrists the second he was able to.
Chisaki was still blue screening by the time the police arrived to take him away and it took him a full week to break out.
Aizawa tried to ignore how the man's new mask was a lovely shade of red that was the exact colour his eyes were when his quirk was activated.
"Thankfully, I've done a good job of avoiding him ever since." Aizawa finished, tugging his scarf higher to cover the growing warmth on his cheeks.
"That sounds very awkward." Midoriya said, offering his teacher a consoling pat on the back (The most effective way to comfort someone, of course.)
"Hizashi didn't let me live it down for months." He bemoaned at the memory.
"I had to beg to be left out of that case."
"Would it help if I said 'There, there'?" Midoriya asked honestly.
"I've got a flask of coffee if you'd prefer that, though."
Aizawa held his hand out and took a large swig of the drink the second he was physically able to.
"Thanks. I guess we should get onto the next one. God, if I could change one day in history, it would be this one."
Aizawa hadn't actually been looking for trouble when he stumbled across the number one villain, honestly.
It just sort of.. happened, in the way that all bad things do.
"Well, well, well." The man drawled, holding Aizawa up by his capture weapon.
"Such a pretty little quirk.. It would be such a shame if something were to happen to it." Aizawa barely resisted the urge to spit in his face and call his mother a whore.
He had a strange feeling it could make the situation a little bit worse.
Staring deep into the other’s ruby eyes with his quirk activated, he'd never felt more provoked to hit someone in the dick before. (And that was saying something; he'd met Endeavour)
"Just try, see where it gets you." He hissed through his bloody teeth.
The man dropped him, placing a foot on his face and adding pressure as Aizawa somehow managed to keep his quirk on.
"Really? You want to test me?" The villain crouched down next to him, lifting up his face in a mock of sympathy.
Aizawa growled, trying to bite his fingers with his remaining energy.
It didn't take much longer before he couldn't bear to keep both his eyes open. His left fluttered once, twice, before shutting completely.
The villain froze, shocked.
"Oh, oh my."
Aizawa took his moment of hesitation and ran, and you couldn't have paid him to look back.
When he'd told Tsukauchi of the incident, the man had paled concerningly.
"And ever since then, I've had a tracker installed inside me. I tried to convince him otherwise, but-"
Midoriya cut him off, "I don't blame him. It's obvious he cares for you like a brother, so it makes sense he'd want to keep you safe."
"I guess."
"Seriously though, that's some shit luck you've got there."
Aizawa raised an eyebrow.
"Fucking hypocrite."
"Shut up and listen, Problem Child."