Chapter Text
Aizawa Shouta never considered himself an advocate for therapy. That would make him a hypocrite. It took years of convincing from his husband for that to happen in the first place. Only after expelling his entire class that year, did he finally have enough free time to attend sessions weekly. But he attends his sessions now, and that’s all that matters.
He’s healing, yes, but he won’t go around shouting from the rooftops that he loves every session. He is unused to showing his feelings so openly, especially to someone who wasn’t Hizashi, so he cannot say he enjoys every time he goes. But he acknowledges the benefits.
His sleep schedule has gotten better, his depressive episodes have gotten less frequent and last much less time, and he has finally come to terms with Oboro’s death. His therapist, Mrs. Hanato, says the improvement has been even quicker now that his emotions are less repressed. Overall, though, Aizawa can say he is pretty proud of his progress, and even more in love with Hizashi for sticking through it with him.
…
Well, Aizawa Shouta sometimes considers himself an advocate for therapy. His new class of students (problem children) are incredibly tiresome teenagers, even more so than his previous class. It seems that somehow, almost every single student winds up in trouble in some way or form. Though he has reached a point where his therapy sessions are only after certain hero cases, he doubts he will have the time to attend weekly sessions with his current class at all.
Even before the USJ attack, he had noticed a few things about his problem children that he had a feeling he would need to address at some point, or at least Hound Dog would. Most glaringly, Bakugou’s anger issues were clear as day. It could have been learned, temperamental parents maybe? He wasn’t sure, but he would find out. Tied into Bakugou, was his…rocky (at best) relationship with Midoriya. For some reason Bakugou seems to hold a "special" hatred for Midoriya, and as Midoriya calls him “Kacchan” it's safe to assume they knew each other before attending UA. But “Kacchan” is a cutesy, almost endearing nickname, and Bakugou certainly doesn’t seem to be the fitting recipient of a name like that. It seems that he would have to observe their relationship a bit longer before taking action.
Midoriya himself was a whole other can of worms. His control over his quirk is sloppy at best, and dangerous at worst, almost as if he had never thought of using it before coming here. Truthfully, he couldn’t exactly blame the boy. Practicing a quirk that breaks bones at every use without Recovery Girl around is not only incredibly dangerous but also expensive. It’s plausible that he couldn’t use it before due to damage caused to himself.
This theory would check out perfectly…if it were any other kid. See, this problem child specifically has more determination and stubborn will than any other student to grace UA’s halls. Above that will be the biggest flaw with his theory: Midoriya’s self-sacrificing complex. Aizawa is not sure where it came from, and it could be linked to his unstable relationship with Bakugou, but as the most obvious flaw with his theory, it tore the entire idea down.
This complex coupled with his clear anxiety, flinching at any movements aimed at him outside of training, and constant self-belittlement left little doubt in Aizawa’s mind that he hadn’t at least been bullied growing up. He had experience with bullies for his so called “villainous” quirk, so while he was certain something similar must have happened to Midoriya he couldn’t understand why.
Sure, his quirk was very dangerous to himself, but it could also be dangerous to many villains. The name “superpower” alongside extreme strength augmentation leaves very little to the imagination. Take away the bone breaking, and the kid might as well be a mini All Might. So why would anyone harass or bully him (as long as his theory was correct)?
Those were the biggest two issues (children) that needed to be addressed at some point, but there was a new issue now that took precedence since it absolutely could be traumatizing and no theories needed to be confirmed to say it.
The USJ incident happened only a few weeks ago, and not a single one of his problem children has sought out Hound Dog for counseling. Frankly, Aizawa was worried about their mental states. Yes, they are planning to be heroes, but right now they were first-years who watched many of their teachers and classmates nearly die. Of course, the mental health unit of the hero course wasn’t until later this year, and even that section of the course was pitifully short so he would just have to wait for now to go in depth. He did tell all of them to seek out Hound Dog if they felt they needed it, but he definitely wanted to discuss the situation more than that.
Unfortunately, the hero course does not adjust the placement of units even after events he would consider deserving of it and there was nothing he could do to change that. In the meantime, he would observe Bakugou and Midoriya’s relationship and investigate after learning a bit more. He hated the idea of invading his students’ privacy when unnecessary, but if all of his theories rang true…he would be recommending some therapy sessions for Midoriya (if he was bullied) and definitely some for Bakugou to address his anger.
…
Aizawa never thought he would say this about himself, not one bit, but does he consider himself an advocate for therapy now? Absolutely.