Work Text:
With a tired sigh, Aizawa entered Nezu's office.
With his students away on internships, he was finally getting some much needed rest when he got a text from Nezu that simply read “My office. NOW.”
As he sat before the large, mahogany desk, warning bells went off in Shouta's head.
First, the normally genial principal wasn't smiling. Second, he smelled cigarette smoke in the air, meaning Nezu was especially stressed about something.
Third, and most importantly, there was only one cup of tea. No matter how many times he's refused over the years, Nezu always offered him a cup of tea out of courtesy.
This could only mean one thing…Nezu was not happy with him.
“At 8:05 this morning, I received a call from Hosu's Chief of Police,” Nezu stated, skipping all formalities. “He informed me that last night, while the Nomus were attacking the city, Iida Tenya had attempted to kill the Hero Killer in revenge for what happened to his brother. He would've been killed had it not been for Midoriya Izuku and Todoroki Shoto coming to his rescue. Together, they managed to subdue Stain.”
Shouta felt a mixture of shock, anger, exasperation, and, maybe, deep down, just a tiny bit of pride at this news.
“Now, given you approved the student's internships, would you please explain to me what Iida-Kun was doing in Hosu?” Nezu asked.
“I didn't think-”
“Clearly,” Nezu snidely interrupted, taking Shouta by surprise.
“L-look, I get I fucked up, but c'mon! How was I to know Iida would break the rules?”
“Well, perhaps if you spent a bit more time watching your class rather than the insides of your eyelids, you would have noticed a few red flags,” Nezu flatly stated.
…ok, now Aizawa was truly unnerved.
“What is this really about, Nezu?” Aizawa cautiously asked.
Nezu hopped up onto his desk and began pacing.
“After this morning's phone call, I began to look into how you have been running your class as of late,” he said, shooting a look at Aizawa. “And, I must say, I am fairly disappointed by the cctv footage I watched. Sleeping in class, abusing your students’ trust, ignoring clearly troubling behavior due to a student's “potential,” and, worst of all, rigging a student's score just so you had an excuse to expel them.”
Nezu then sat down on the edge of his desk and leaned forward, forcing Aizawa to lean back in his seat.
“Tell me, what do you think about Midoriya Izuku?” he calmly asked.
“...he's…complicated,” Aizawa said, shifting a bit in his seat. “He's obviously powerful and has a lot of potential, moreso, I admit, than I originally believed, but the fact it's taking him so long to get control over a quirk he's had over a decade is-”
He was interrupted by Nezu suddenly holding up a paw and looking at him like he just said something stupid.
“...you didn't read his file,” Nezu stated, disbelief in his voice. “Despite me telling you to do so, that it was gravely important you did so…you chose to ignore me!”
“Y-you know my policy,” Aizawa finally said, despite how dry his throat suddenly was. “I never read their files to avoid forming any biases. You never had a problem with it before, so-”
“Does this mean this isn't the first time you've done this?” Nezu interrupted, beady eyes narrowing. “Any other time I told you something in a student’s file was important, you simply ignored it, yes?”
Aizawa’s silence and the sweat running down his forehead was answer enough.
After a long pause, Nezu picked up his cup of tea with a shaky paw and took a long sip from it, emptying the cup completely before throwing it just past Aizawa’s head, the man spinning to see it smash against the wall.
Slowly turning back around with wide, fearful eyes, Aizawa froze upon seeing Nezu's snarling maw and actually fell backwards in his chair as the animal spun around and began tearing into his own large, expensive leather chair with his teeth and normally hidden claws.
“LAZY…INCOMPETENT…IGNORANT…FUCKUP!” Nezu snarled between animalistic growls and squeaks as torn leather and padding flew through the air.
Aizawa was too terrified to even move. All he did was stare as he was reminded of the animal his boss truly was.
When he finally did move slightly, Nezu spun around and glared down at him, teeth barred with a piece of leather hanging from his mouth and heavily panting and growling, making Aizawa freeze again in utter terror. Spitting the leather out, Nezu looked away until finally getting a hold of himself.
“...get up, Aizawa,” Nezu finally said in a tired and clearly disappointed tone.
Aizawa quickly got up and picked up the chair before sitting back down, back ramrod straight and shaking hands folded in his lap.
Instead of sitting back down in the destroyed seat, Nezu sat back down on the edge of his desk, glaring at the man.
“The first time Midoriya Izuku ever used his quirk was during the entrance exam, when he shattered both legs and an arm to save young Uraraka,” he slowly explained.
“...wh-what?” Aizawa dumbly asked.
“He was believed to be quirkless due to a quack labeling him as such due to the presence of a toe joint. It is actually a stockpiling quirk that had been dormant most of his life until he built up enough muscle for him to safely use it…well, relatively speaking. Thankfully, All Might's physical training up until the exam managed to limit the damage.”
“All Might?” Aizawa asked, finding his voice again. “I-I had a feeling they were connected, but why would he-”
“Not that I owe you an explanation, but he saw a lot of himself in the boy, including being thought to have been quirkless for most of his young life,” Nezu said, lying through his teeth. “After hearing his story, he actually had Recovery Girl test for a Quirk Factor, which he tested positive for, but they couldn't be sure about the exact nature of it until it activated.”
Nezu allowed all of this information to sink in before continuing.
“Also, it took him just two days with his internship mentor to gain enough control over his quirk to avoid breaking his bones. So, my question is why you never approached the boy or any of your other students about quirk counseling sessions in the two months they've been here.”
“...I believed he was just an arrogant brat who needed a wakeup call,” Aizawa admitted, sighing as he ran a hand through his hair. “As for the others, if they didn't take advantage of resources they've had access to since they were children or choose to come to me themselves, why should I waste my time?”
“Gee, I don’t know,” Nezu inquired, sarcastically. “Maybe because you're a teacher and it's your damn job to inform these students of any and all resources at their disposal? Or, perhaps, simply ask them why they're having trouble or, in Todoroki's case, why he was willing to freeze himself to death rather than use the fire half of his quirk! Thank Kami Midoriya was able to get through to him at the Sports Festival at the potential cost of the use of his hands! Also, you didn't seem to have a problem “wasting your time” when you approached young Shinso about extra training.”
Nezu took pleasure in seeing the man flinch at his own hypocrisy.
He then scoffed as he typed something into his computer.
“Also, it's funny you should mention arrogant brats when you did nothing to curb Bakugou's or Mineta's behavior.”
“They're not that bad,” Aizawa tried to defend.
He may have royally fucked up with Midoriya, but he still maintained he knew potential when he saw it. Both boys were smart, had a fairly good grasp on their quirks and were creative with them.
Sure, Bakugou had a temper and fragile ego, and his behavior at the Sports Festival hadn't done him any favors, but he was sure he'd grow out of it. As for Mineta, he was good for preparing the girls for the kinds of creeps they'd experience in the real world. So long as neither crossed certain lines and grew out of those behaviors before reaching their third year, Aizawa saw the potential for them both to be great Heroes.
"Have you forgotten Bakugou nearly killed Midoriya during the battle trials, ignoring All Might's order not to use his gauntlet and simply saying “he won't die if he dodges,” Nezu said, turning his computer screen to show the boy laughing like a maniac after firing the support item. “What did you do in response to this, again? Ah, yes! You told him to “grow up” and moved on to scolding Midoriya for hurting himself again, despite only doing so out of desperation!”
Aizawa didn't have an answer as to why he wasn't more harsh on Bakugou in this instance…well, not a good answer, anyway. When he watched the exercise, he fast-forwarded through most of it and didn't pay much attention to All Might's report, thinking he was coddling Midoriya.
Now, though…
“Did you not notice Mineta publicly groping Yaoyorozu during the first event of the Sports Festival? Also, he groped Asui during the USJ incident.”
“He did what!?” Aizawa shouted in disbelief as the image on the screen changed to one of Mineta with a hand on a clearly mortified Asui's breast.
He hadn't punished Mineta for what he did during the race, since it could be argued whether or not he actually did anything wrong since he didn't break any rules. He had, however, punished Mineta and Kaminari for that cheerleader stunt and warned the girls against believing everything they're told.
However, he had been completely unaware of what he had done at the USJ. Why hadn't Asui told him?
“It seems that, seeing how you handled, or rather, ignored both Mineta's and Bakugou's previous behaviors, Asui didn't have much faith that you'd do anything to help her,” Nezu said, as if reading his mind.
Was that true? Did his class really not trust him?
Nezu let out a weary sigh and rubbed his eyes.
“I suppose you don't deserve all of the blame,” he said. “After all, I'm the one who allowed you to go unchecked these past five years.”
“...am I fired?” Aizawa asked.
“From teaching, yes,” Nezu sighed. “However, your quirk is still invaluable to the protection of our school from the League. You will stay on in a security role. Also, I want you to begin attending therapy and getting more sleep outside of school hours. Before you argue, know that I have enough evidence of your neglect and even instances of possible abuse towards your students from the past five years to get your Hero license suspended, if not outright revoked. I may go down as well, but I am willing to take that risk. Do you understand?”
With a defeated sigh, Aizawa nodded and took the number of the therapist Nezu assigned him before shuffling out of the office.
He had a lot of self reflecting to do.
After Aizawa left, Nezu began to clean up the mess he'd made. He could've called in one of UA's numerous janitor bots, but he'd prefer to be doing something while thinking about who might be a good replacement for Aizawa.
His first thought went to Gran Torino, but his teaching license was suspended for six months.
Ms. Joke would have been a fitting punishment for Aizawa, but he wasn’t cruel enough to poach her from Ketsubutsu…this year.
Maybe Sir Nighteye? No, he had listened in on the phone call when All Might told him about picking Midoriya and knew he'd be even more biased against the boy than Aizawa had been.
Then, he remembered one Hero who was known for their excellent teaching was currently mentoring a 1-A student and gave him a call.
When classes resumed, 1-A was surprised to see Aizawa waiting for them with a forlorn look on his face.
He had decided to read all of his now former students' files and was forced to truly accept his logic for not reading them was actually quite flawed.
“...I'm sorry,” he said, completely unprompted and shocking the class as he deeply bowed to them.
“S-sensei,” he heard someone nervously question.
“I…have not been a good teacher to you,” Aizawa continued. “As such, Principal Nezu has had me demoted to campus security.”
He was surprised by the sounds of shock and even indignation from his class.
“What!?”
“He can't do that!”
“After what you did in the USJ!?”
Normally, Aizawa would have flashed his quirk to quiet them down. However, he simply held up a hand.
“Believe me, it's more than I deserve,” he sighed. “I won't go into details, but I have made some serious mistakes in my teaching career that are not limited to your class. I just want you all to know that I'm sorry and I truly believe each and every one of you has the potential to be amazing Heroes.”
He then turned his head to Midoriya and felt a pang of guilt when the kid flinched.
“Especially you, Midoriya,” he said, making the boy's eyes widen in surprise.
With that, he left, and before Bakugou could “politely” ask what made him so damn special, the Battle Hero: Gunhead entered the classroom.
“Mornin, 1-A!” Gunhead cheerily greeted, shooting the class a V for Victory sign. “My name's Gunhead and I'll be your new Homeroom teacher! I'm looking forward to getting to know you all and helping you become the best gosh darned Heroes you all can be!”