A Mother's Touch

Chapter 8 Part 2

Everyone looked shocked at how quickly Shoto calmed down without his quirk being temporarily erased. They watched on amazed as their classmate genuinely apologized to Aizawa. And he actually meant it by witnessing his ashamed and embarrassed expression. 1A began to see the moody teenager Todoroki in a totally different light than what they originally perceived from his first impressions.

Aizawa looked down at his student turned child and barely managed to stop himself from succumbing to the child's large watery eyes. Using all of his training, the underground hero steeled himself against this new attack form. Aizawa straightened his back and hardened his face as much as he could before responding.

"Once you're back to normal, you get detention with me for a week."

Shoto's hopeful face slumped into a disappointed pout, but he accepted his teacher's punishment with a small subdued nod.

Now satisfied with how he dealt with Shoto's out of control actions, Aizawa turned his attention to the next topic of high priority. Eraserhead turned and bent down to pick up something that was placed behind his legs. He stood up with the same red fire extinguisher cradled in his arms like a newborn baby. Aizawa expectantly looked at Aylee as if she could immediately identify the issue. When only long silence followed, he sighed in exasperation while rolling his eyes heavenward like he was praying for the strength to deal with her. How the hell was she supposed to figure out what he was trying to say! She could probably figure out a 1-month-old babies needs before she could ever begin to pick up Aizawa's cues.

"We need to refill the fire extinguisher."

Aylee agreed to his point with a tired nod. "I can guess why. But, maybe next time you could erase his powers? Just a suggestion though."

"No. We have a fire extinguisher for this exact reason." Aizawa said matter of factly in a deadpan tone and leaving no room for debate. She didn't get to say another word before he turned away and began to take charge of the other students that lingered in the lounge.

A small hand tugged on the hem of her dirty blood-stained shirt. Aylee tilted her head down towards where the insistent pulling was coming from and met Shoto's reddened eyes. The 5-year-old saw he had her full attention and bounced up and down on the tips of his feet.

"Mom, I'm hungry," he whined.

Aylee nodded at his statement and tiredly walked across patches of burnt carpet to get to the small kitchenette area in the corner of the large lounge. Shoto dutifully followed after his caretaker like a lost puppy.

"Let's see what we have." She said as she stiffly bent down to peek in the fridge.

She quickly glanced at the shelves that held some meagre ingredients and ran through quick and easy recipes in her head that she could make with them.

"We have just enough to make some miso soup." She nodded with her own assessment and looked down to her charge-standing next to her. It was hard to miss the kid's unsatisfied pout with what she claimed would be on the menu for the night. Aylee thought maybe he was disappointed at not getting to eat his favorite food for dinner.

"You can't eat cold soba for every meal, peppermint."

She tried to lean down even further to reach a pot from the bottom cabinet but a sharp pinch for her neck halted her body's movements. Before she could struggle even more to achieve her goal, a hand gently pushed her out of the way. Surprised with the helpful action, she followed the hand up to see the smiling side profile of Hawks' face.

"I got this baby bird. Why don't you go sit down for a bit?" She could tell his suggestion was more a stern command, but he already had done so much for her to even be here.