Work Text:
When Todoroki and Iida had interrupted his midday lunch nap in the teachers' lounge with concerns about his Problem Child, Aizawa expected a multitude of possible causes, mostly consisting of broken bones.
Said child had a penchant for bone breaking so the thought wasn’t too out of the ordinary.
So, Aizawa had set off, under the assumption that he’d be dragging Midoriya off to recovery girl’s office and giving him another lecture about not breaking his bones.
He hadn’t had to give him one in quite a while.
Instead, here he was with an arm around Midoriya’s shoulder walking the kid to Nezu’s office.
His mind was still reeling with what he had been told.
Midoriya has had his quirk for less than a year. Less than a year! Previous to that the kid was quirkless, only getting a quirk after it had been given to him by All Might.
Aizawa had lots of uncensored thoughts he wanted to share with the big blond buffoon.
The man had given a fourteen-year-old a centuries old quirk along with a century old supervillain archnemesis, and a legacy to be the next symbol of peace, with no support system whatsoever. Not even the kid’s own mother knew how her son had gotten his quirk.
Most of all though, he blamed himself. He had noticed that Midoriya’s personality didn’t match up with his powerful quirk at all. The way he flinched around his classmates, how he flustered when given the simplest of compliments, how he felt like he had to deal with everything himself even if he had to break himself to do it.
How many times had something not lined up and he’d never looked into it?
To make matters worse, it turns out, Sir. Nighteye, Midoriya’s internship mentor, knew of the boy’s connection to One for All. The man had taken the teen on to prove that Midoriya’s senpai Mirio Togata would be a better holder than him.
Needless to say, Midoriya wouldn’t be interning with him anymore.
Aizawa didn’t even need to knock on Nezu’s office door. It slid open as they approached, and the principal was standing in the doorway ready to greet them. “Good afternoon Aizawa, Midoriya.”
“H-Hello Principal N-Nezu.” Midoriya stuttered his greeting.
“Come in. Come in.” Nezu ushered them into his office sliding the door closed behind them. “I’ve already begun the paperwork.”
Of course he has. The rat (Mouse? Bear? Dog?) seems to know everything that goes on in this school. At this point, Aizawa just knew this as a fact of life.
“You knew.” Aizawa’s eyebrow twitched, his quirk activating as he glared at Nezu.
“I had my suspicions about Sir. Nighteye.” Nezu clarified clasping his paws together and turning around to climb up onto the couch. He gestured to the pot of tea on the table before him. “Have some tea?”
Midoriya sat on the opposite couch, reaching out to take a cup in his slightly shaking hands. Aizawa took the other side of the couch leveling his glare at Nezu.
“No thank you.” Aizawa shook his head putting his hands in his pockets.
Nezu took a long sip of his tea before placing it back onto the table. “I have all the necessary paperwork prepared right here.” The principal held out a folder and Aizawa reached out, taking it.
“Firstly though, I wish to apologize, Midoriya.”
Midoriya’s eyes blew wide, and he choked on his tea. Aizawa reached over patting Midoriya’s back as he sucked in air.
“Oh dear.” Nezu fretted as Midoriya caught his breath. Once the poor boy had caught his breath and was somewhat composed again, Nezu continued. “I should have stepped in sooner and for that, I apologize.”
“I-It’s…”
Nezu held up a paw to silence the stammering teen. “I made a few grievous oversights considering you and your situation.” Aizawa caught the sideways glance that Nezu shot him. And he realized. Nezu had known. He’d known about the entire One for All situation.
Aizawa’s gaze darkened as he slouched into the couch. It wouldn’t do any good to approach the rat about Midoriya’s situation with the kid in the room. He would blame himself for the problem, and that was the last thing Aizawa wanted him to do.
“No- It’s fine you- you don’t have to apologize for anything.” Midoriya waved his hands frantically in the air.
Nezu shook his head. “I should’ve realized the pressure that was being put on you and intervened.”
Midoriya looked seconds away from crying again, reaching up to wipe his eyes and rub his cheeks. “It’s fine…”
“We’re changing his work studies to be under me.” Aizawa announced opening the folder and scanning over the paperwork.
“Will he still be participating in the Shie Hassaikai raid?” The principal inquired.
Midoriya tensed glancing between Aizawa and Nezu.
Aizawa let out a sigh. Part of him wanted to wrap the kid up in bubble wrap. “I believe it would be in our best interests to allow it.” Midoriya visibly relaxed. He was aware of the guilt the teen felt about allowing the little girl, Eri, to return to Chisaki. He couldn't have the kid doing anything reckless if he wasn't allowed to join them. “I’ll bring him as my work study student.”
Nezu nodded in agreement. “After the raid, I’ll be revoking Sir. Nighteye’s work studies rights here at UA and I’ll be advising for other schools to do so as well.”
“Wait… You- you don’t need to do that.” Midoriya
“On contrary, I do. As a school, we cannot allow our students to be mistreated under our supervision. Especially now that the dorm system has been implemented and we are your main caretakers.”
“But he’s a good mentor to Togata. He helped him a lot!” Midoriya protested.
Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose letting out a sigh. “Look. Midoriya.” The kid turned his big green eyes on him. “Say if… Todoroki took a work study, and his mentor told him that he wasn’t worthy of his quirk. Would you be okay with them saying it to Todoroki?”
Midoriya furrowed his brow. “No of course not.”
“Which means it's not okay for it to be said to you.”
The kid looked at him doubtfully. “I wasn’t born with this quirk though…”
Aizawa decided to change his approach, asking, “Did Sir. Nighteye ever hold One for All?”
“…no… I don’t think so… I never heard anything about Nighteye getting an increase in speed or power at all over his career…” The kid broke out into one of his mutter storms, and Aizawa nudged him to get his attention again.
“Then it’s not up to him to decide if you’re a worthy holder or not.”
Silent tears that had been building in the corners of the kid’s eyes began pouring down his cheeks.
“Here.” Nezu passed the boy a tissue. “After you two sign a few forms, I can complete the rest of the paperwork to transfer your work studies.”
“T-thank you.” Midoriya sniffed.
Nezu set out the papers that required the teacher and student to sign.
A few minutes later, they handed back the papers. Nezu tapped them on the table before sliding them into the folder. “I’ll handle the rest! I am the principal after all!” The principal chirped cheerily.
As if on cue, the door to Nezu’s office slid open. (Knowing Nezu, he had it timed perfectly)
Present Mic, or Hizashi Yamada stepped into the office. “What’s diggin’ Nezu?” He blinked in confusion at Aizawa and a teary eyed Midoriya.
“Hizashi!” Nezu chirped in greeting.
“Hizashi. Would you take Midoriya over to the teachers' lounge while I talk to Nezu?” Aizawa gruffly asked his cheery friend.
“Yeah! Hey there little listener.” Hizashi greeted. “Why don’t you come with me to the teacher’s lounge?” Midoriya glanced at Aizawa, who gave him an assuring nod.
“O-okay…” Midoriya agreed, standing up from the couch and joining Mic.
“You knew?” Aizawa glared daggers at Nezu as the door slid shut behind Hizashi and Midoriya.
Nezu looked a little guilty as he nodded. “I was indeed aware of Midoriya’s role as Yagi’s successor.”
“You didn’t think this was information I needed to know?” Aizawa hissed.
“No, I did believe it was best to tell you.” Nezu responded, hopping off the couch and clasping his hands behind his back as he began pacing the floor. “However, it was Yagi’s wish to keep Midoriya’s position as his successor a secret to protect the boy. In hindsight, I should have pressed harder to get him to agree to bring you into the loop.”
“That would’ve been the logical thing to do. How am I supposed to teach students and give them their best chances out there, if I don’t have all of the information?!” He slammed his fist against the table in frustration before running his hands through his hair.
“All Might didn’t just give him a quirk. He gave him a centuries-old stockpiling quirk with enough power to blow up his damn bones! That's not to mention the supervillain nemesis that took out all eight previous holders!
Put all that on top of the obvious trust issues, anxiety, self-esteem and self-worth issues, most likely stemming from bullying he received when he didn’t have a quirk…” So much he had missed. So many signs. He knew the statistics for the quirkless having seen them at work during his patrols.
“He was bullied?” Nezu’s eyes held a dangerous glint in them.
“He shows all the signs…” A distant memory flashed through Aizawa’s mind, and he sank into the couch. “Bakugo.” The quirk assessment test. The very first time he’d met his hell spawn of a class. Bakugo had charged Midoriya with the intent to attack him, and the two had gone to the same school, meaning they were familiar with each other.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions before we have substantial evidence.” Nezu decided, but Aizawa could see the glint in his eye.
Something told him that the Aldera school district would soon burn.