apathy

unfortunate pairs

Shouta rubs his eyes for the eighth time in the past minute, the dryness of them chipping away at his already diminished patience. The stack of completely graded quizzes he's set to the side usually means that he has a nap in his near future. A nap that he sorely needs. However, there is a folder that sits innocently in front of him. Inside is a list of suggested pairs for the upcoming final exams, created by Nezu. The principal gives them out to homeroom teachers before the week of final exams, so that they have a chance to make any changes. And, apparently, to rob Shouta of one of his afternoon naps.

Shouta sighs and flips the folder open finally, because the faster he reads the list and makes his changes, the quicker he gets to that nap. 

Nezu has Yaoyorozu with Todoroki against him, but Shouta knows that Todoroki will just bulldoze her plans to the ground, so he switches her out with Shinsou and puts her in the same team as Sero. They should work well together. He thinks that Shinsou and Todoroki get along well, and he knows that Shinsou won't let Todoroki hijack the exam. As a plus, he gets to see for himself just how effective Midoriya's lessons are.

The next few pairs are either easy fixes or perfectly fine. He doesn't find another problem group until the end, the last on the list. The opponent is All Might, with added quirk suppression cuffs to make sure he doesn't kill anyone. It's an opponent Shouta doesn't like to see included at all. He doesn't have much choice though, so he focuses on what he can change—the students going up against him.

Midoriya and Bakugo. Midoriya and Bakugo against All Might.

Midoriya and Bakugo do not get along. Even without the frequent one-sided yelling matches, this is obvious. Shinsou and Tsuyu have talked about the burns on Midoriya's arms before, something he is already looking into having Midoriya's junior high punished for. Shouta can't be the only one who remembers the confrontation at the end of the obstacle course in the sports festival, either. There's something seriously wrong with their relationship, and if Shouta can see it, then Nezu definitely can. 

So why put them together?

The implication here is that Nezu might want to push these two together just to see the world burn, so Shouta puts Kirishima in Midoriya's spot and vice versa. The problem child will probably have fun dealing with all of Cementoss' barriers, and Kirishima is the only person Shouta knows for sure is friends with Bakugo. It's a change he's not going to compromise on, so he puts away the old and revised lists in the folder and sets it aside. Now he can nap. If he's lucky, he can get the rest of this period before school lets out.

The moment he grabs his sleeping bag, Hizashi appears in the doorway, mouth already opening to scream Shouta's name. He activates his quirk on instinct, eyes flaring red in time to not get his eardrums destroyed.

"Shoutaaaaaaaaa!" Hizashi whisper yells, large grin unaffected by the loss of his quirk. Shouta gives him a stern, warning glare and releases his quirk, hair falling back down around his shoulders. Hizashi makes his way to Shouta's desk, practically bouncing in place, and Shouta lets himself mourn the loss of his nap for a moment before responding.

"What."

"Since the kids've got a study hour as the last period, Nezu agreed to let us leave early!" Hizashi announces, striking a pose. "We're going to go get changed, get something to eat, and then join Nemuri for drinks when she gets out!"

"At four in the afternoon." Shouta clarifies. His eyes burn as he stares the unrepentant Hizashi down, so unfortunately he has to break eye contact to get his eyedrops.

"Yeah!" Hizashi leans in further and puts a bit of pout in his voice. Shouta can feel a headache forming. "Pleaaaase, Shouta. We haven't been out in forever."

"...I have to get my finals list to Nezu first." Shouta sighs, relenting. Hizashi is right that they haven't been able to go out as often lately. With Shouta's problem class being at the center of those attacks, his two jobs, and Hizashi's monster of a schedule, there's not much time to hang out.

Plus, with the year he's had, he could do with one or two drinks. Not enough to get drunk, of course, because that would not be a logical thing to do in the least.

"Got it covered!" Hizashi brightens immediately and turns to the door, cupping his hands around his mouth. Shouta plugs his ears just in time. "HEY YAAAGI."

"Why." He has time to say, and then the skeletal form of All Might is poking his head into the classroom. 

"Yes, Yamada-kun?" He asks, a small smile on his face. Hizashi bounces over.

"Do you happen to be going near Nezu's office anytime soon?" He puts an arm around the taller man's shoulders, and Shouta twitches. 

"Hizashi. No."

"Oh. Yes, I'm going to see him soon." Yagi confirms curiously. "Why, do you need me to bring something to him?"

"Shouta and I are leaving early but he needs to get the finals list to Nezu today!" Hizashi explains. He's ignoring the glare that Shouta has trained on him, as usual. "Do you mind taking it up with you?"

"Oh!" Yagi says, a bigger smile blossoming on his face. "Of course I don't mind. I can take it, if that's okay with you, Aizawa."

Shouta sighs and gets out of his chair, taking the folder with the list as he does. There's really no reason to refuse All Might's help. Thus he shuffles over, holding out the folder.

"If you're really sure it won't inconvenience you." He says. Yagi just shakes his head reassuringly and takes the folder.

"It'll be my pleasure, Aizawa! Please enjoy your evening." 

"YES!" Hizashi shouts, taking his arm off of Yagi's shoulders to grab Shouta's hand. He drags Shouta out of the classroom and down the hall, calling out one last time over his shoulder "We'll see you later, Yagi!"

"Goodbye!" Yagi calls back, a laugh clear in his voice. Shouta glances back before they round a corner to see him looking down at the—opened—folder Shouta gave him, serious and thoughtful. Reading the changes Shouta made to the matchups.

A bit of unease rises in Shouta, but he doesn't have much time to address it as Hizashi drags him around the corner and towards his car.