The Ashes

The end to a long meeting

Izuku was hunched in on himself in his chair, face slowly turning red and eyes firmly on his lap. A quick glance at Hitoshi showed the teen trying not to laugh while staring at him, and Katsuki wouldn't make eye contact with her. Her confusion slowly faded as she figured out what was going on, quickly being replaced with exasperation and a hint of annoyance. She slowly turned back to Nemuri and cleared her throat.

"What. What do you mean by that?"

The woman shrugged and pointed at Kenzo, Izuku, and Nymeria.

"Well, from what I know of Kenzo, he's a flirt. Outgoing, loud, energetic, sassy, and..well.. A shithead. You are quiet but definitely confident in yourself, smart, and take no shit. Not to mention your own shithead side."

Nemuri mumbled the last part loud enough for everyone to hear and Nymeria ignored the chuckles that sounded around the room and Nemuri continued, waving a hand towards Izuku again.

"So how the hell is your child so....not? Like, he's quiet, shy, blushes any time anyone talks to him. He stutters in class and just seems- well, the complete opposite of both of you. No offense Kid."

Izuku ducked his head down further at that and Nymeria closed her eyes and rubbed at her face, looking up when Kenzo tapped on the table with his knuckles with a shit eating grin on his face. She took another deep breath before turning to look at Nedzu.

"Rat. What did I say about your stupid little social experiments?"

Nedzu chuckled and held his paws up, eyes sparkling in a way that immediately gave Nymeria a headache.

"I did not start this, Nymeria. You have banned me from taking him on as a personal student until his second semester, remember?"

Nymeria narrowed her eyes and glanced at the still-hiding Izuku before glaring back at Nedzu.

"I swear- ugh. Izuku."

The boy looked up at her, eyes wide and face set to an innocent and nervous expression. Kenzo began laughing as Cabe released a long sigh, shaking his head as he watched the situation.

"Knock it off with the fake shit brat. Stop messing with your teachers and peers. No social experiments of any kind until your second year. I told you that. Unless you want me to push back your lessons with Nedzu until your second year?"

Izuku's face quickly dropped at that, returning to his usual expression of bored curiosity before he smiled slightly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"No! Sorry mom, just thought it would be interesting to see how everyone acts around the whole 'small and innocent' act, ya know?"

Nymeria groaned as she heard the staff all make small noises of disbelief at the change in Izuku. She poked the teen in the forehead and turned her glare to Kenzo.

"I blame you. You never should've been left alone with the kids, ever. This is 100% your fault."

Kenzo just laughed louder as Hitoshi turned to face Nymeria with a grin on his face.

"To be fair, we learned a lot of this from you too. Besides, Izu's been doing this whole act all through middle school too."

Nymeria groaned and let her head fall to the table with a thunk. Izuku chuckled and poked at her side.

"If I have to stop, does that mean Hito and Kacchan have to stop now too?"

Nymeria turned her head to shoot him a glare, raising an eyebrow at him in question.

"Do I even want to know?"

"Ah, Hito doesn't act much different, just more..well.. Rude I guess. Kacchan just acts like an even bigger ass than he already is."