Friday
"Before we begin today's training," Aizawa began, scrutinising Shinso and Midoriya. "I'd like to know why I received reports of both of you racing through the school grounds at seven AM yesterday morning." The two boys exchanged a glance.
Izuku chuckled nervously, "W-well, you see—"
"We got lost," Hitoshi stated with full confidence despite the obvious lie.
Aizawa blinked tiredly at them, not bothering to keep up with the interrogation. "Just stick to the school schedule and don't do it again." Cutting through their mumbled apologies, he continued, "Today, we are going to test whether Shinso is able to alter emotions."
Hitoshi queried, "So do I just go through a list of emotions, then?"
Eraser nodded, "Try the most common ones you can think of, then I'll give you harder emotions to try out."
"Alright." Meeting Izuku's gaze, he asked, "Are you up for it?"
Nodding in response, Izuku beamed, "Hit me!"
Activating his Quirk, Shinso ordered him to feel angry. He waited a moment before releasing the brainwashing and asking, "Did it work?"
Izuku furrowed his brows, "Not really. I just felt numb, like how I usually feel when under your Quirk's influence."
"Perhaps I should do what I did on Wednesday and give you more control over your body again?" Hitoshi suggested.
"That might work—!"
"You did what on Wednesday?" Aizawa demanded.
The students froze, realising their slip-up. Hitoshi itched the back of his neck, "I'll...tell you at home. Nothing bad happened."
"Hm," Aizawa uttered.
Reverting his attention back to Izuku, Hitoshi used his Quirk and adjusted the settings. He saw the boy's posture relax then repeated his previous command.
Izuku felt his fists clench and his eyebrows shot up, "Oh! It's kinda working." His tone held an odd combination of slight anger, surprise and excitement. "I do feel a little mad but it's strange because I don't know what I'm mad at."
"Perhaps if you told him to direct his anger towards something..." Shota suggested.
Shinso nodded, "Alright. Feel angry towards me then, I guess." He immediately regretted the idea when he shuddered at Midoriya's sudden glare. Midoriya's skin reddened slightly and his fists clenched at his sides. The two Aizawas were taken aback when Midoriya began to storm towards Shinso, who tried to order him to stop but the command didn't seem to be working as Izuku slammed his palms against his chest and pushed him backwards. "Midoriya, stop!"
The boy continued to approach him as if to push him again but he stumbled when the brainwashing was released and his eyes widened in alarm. "What—What just happened?" Izuku covered his mouth, "I'm so sorry, Shinso! I don't know why I pushed you. I just felt so angry and couldn't help myself!" He tried to bow apologetically but Hitoshi stopped him.
"It's fine, it was my Quirk's influence." He put a hand over his heart, "That did scare the shit out of me, though. I didn't know you could be that scary." He laughed a little. "I just don't understand how my commands didn't work on you. I told you to stop but you kept going."
Midoriya frowned, "You told me to stop? I guess I was so mad, I didn't even hear you..."
"It's also odd that Midoriya attacked you despite you not commanding him to," Aizawa noted. "Interesting. Let's try another emotion."
"Okay, uh..." Shinso mulled then glanced around for a moment before pulling out a pack of gum from his pocket. Using his Quirk, he ordered, "Feel afraid of this gum."
Izuku let out a yelp and stepped away, eying the gum with fear. Hitoshi held it out towards him and he rushed to Aizawa with a slight squeal, hiding behind him. "P-please don't!"
Shinso wheezed in amusement and released the brainwashing, "I didn't think that dumb idea would actually work."
Stepping out from behind his teacher with a blush, Izuku chuckled sheepishly, "Let's pretend that never happened."
Gasping, Shinso spoke in a worried tone, "What if you come across a gum villain?!"
"Hush," Izuku shot back with a grin. "Next emotion."
Shinso hummed before using his Quirk again and saying, "I have that limited edition glass All Might figurine from two years ago that sold out in minutes. Feel jealous about it."
Izuku crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, "Well, good for you." He pouted and muttered under his breath, "I stayed up all night to get one but found out it was too expensive, even though I saved up my pocket money for months..."
Shinso couldn't help but find his reaction mildly amusing. "I mean, it's just stashed away in a cupboard somewhere now but I thought I'd let you know."
"Whatever," Izuku replied snarkily, narrowing his eyes.
Releasing the brainwashing, Shinso smiled as Izuku flushed with embarrassment, "You can have it."
Izuku's eyes widened and he shook his head, "Oh, no, it's alright!"
"Let me rephrase that," Shinso said. "I am giving it to you. No protesting allowed. Let's move on." Izuku gave him a displeased look but he smiled gratefully. "Let's try a positive emotion now. Feel happy...about tomorrow," he smirked a little.
A light laugh escaped Izuku's lips as he beamed, "I was already feeling happy about it but now I feel like my happiness has been enhanced!" His eyes dazzled, "I like this one a lot!" Hitoshi couldn't help but gaze at the rosy smile Izuku was giving him, feeling his heart flutter.
Aizawa's cough interrupted the moment and Hitoshi sighed, releasing the Quirk. Izuku still had a small smile on his face as he mulled over how heroic Shinso's Quirk was, then asked, "So what's next?" They continued to practice with different emotions for an hour until Shinso couldn't think of any more and turned to his dad for ideas.
"How about loving," Aizawa suggested.
Hitoshi gave him a puzzled look, "Huh? Why loving? I'm not gonna be some villain matchmaker."
Aizawa replied flatly, "We should try a variety of different emotions to see what you can do. It may come in handy, or it may not."
Narrowing his eyes, Hitoshi questioned, "What situation could that be useful for, though?"
"Say, if one is undercover, one can gain the trust of criminals via building relationships with them so they let their guards down."
"That would never work"
"You'd be surprised. If you play it off convincingly, they'll believe you. When I was working underground I managed as such without a mind control Quirk."
"You what?"
"Just try it, already."
Hitoshi sighed, "Midoriya?"
"Yes!"
"Feel loving..." he tried to think of what he should feel loving towards but was surprised to see him already acting on the command. Izuku looked at Hitoshi with an obvious blush against his cheeks and moved to wrap his arms around his waist. He nuzzled his head into his chest, smiling softly. Hitoshi froze, his heart racing. He released the Quirk but the other male didn't move. "Midoriya. I've, uh, lifted my Quirk."
Izuku's eyes widened and he let go, stepping back with a red face, "O-oh! S-sorry!"
Hitoshi itched the back of his neck, feeling his own cheeks heat up, "It's fine. Though how did it even work if I didn't even specify what to feel loving towards."
Aizawa observed, "Perhaps if one already feels an emotion towards something when you activate the brainwashing, it isn't necessary to specify." His son shot him a glare but Izuku admitted in a small voice.
"Most of that wasn't exactly your Quirk...It just gave me a push to do...what I wanted to do." A soft smile edged onto Hitoshi's lips and Izuku returned a shy one.
"I think we learned a lot this lesson," Shota said. "Well done. We'll end it there." He turned to leave but Hitoshi caught his arm and muttered lowly so Midoriya wouldn't hear.
"I know what you were doing."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Aizawa looked down at him with a blank expression before turning his back and walking away with a slight smirk on his lips.
Dragging a hand down his face, Shinso picked up his school bag and stepped out of the gym with his classmate. He paused by the door, "Midoriya."
Izuku stopped and turned to face him. Hitoshi bent a little to plant a light kiss on Izuku's cheek. He smirked at the flustered boy then continued to walk, calling back to the frozen boy, "You coming to class?"
Blinking, a grin spread across Midoriya's face as he jogged to catch up to him, "Yeah!"
——
Author's note
Prepare yourselves for 100% fluff next chapter (*'꒳'*)
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