POV AIZAWA
I still can't get used to having a normal alarm clock. I miss Hizashi bursting through the door, jumping on the bed like an overly exuberant child to wake me. As annoying as it was, it was effective. And it made me feel less alone. Now I just have this damn digital clock, buzzing and beeping on my side table. I groan and shut it off, swinging my legs over the side of the bed.
Last night, Eri and Hitoshi invaded my space and forced me to watch My Little Pony until I collapsed from exhaustion. Out of habit, I reach up to pull my hair back, but instead of my usual scraggly bedhead, I find two frizzy twin braids tied at the ends with pink ribbons.
Eri peaks her head into my room, a smile painted on her face. "Good morning, Dadzawa!" she exclaims, trotting over to me. She catches me in a hug, and I have no choice but to hug her back. "Do you like your hair?" she asks, pulling back to beam at me. "Toshi and I did them!"
Hitoshi leans on the doorframe. His hair is parted into two sloppy sections, also twisted into braids, tied with curly ribbons. I can't help but snicker at him.
"Don't laugh at me," Hitoshi scoffs, though his tone was light and his shoulders bounced with a gentle laugh. "She's persuasive."
"Speaking of persuasion," I say between a groggy sigh. "Nezu is going to crucify me if I don't show up to work today."
Hitoshi frowns. "It's been less than a month," he says. "We should take time off."
"Yay! Vacation!" Eri cheers.
I shake my head, forcing my fingers to stop trembling as I undo the braids. Eri scowls at me, and I chuckle a bit at her intensity. "The world doesn't stop spinning, kid," I say. "Plus, you have to get back to school, too. You can't afford to fall behind."
"I can study while staying home," Hitoshi protests. "You need to take care of yourself, dad."
His persistence makes my stomach churn. I hate being pitied. I hate people worrying about me. I'll deny this sick feeling in my throat and the trembling in my hands until the day I die if it means appearing stronger to my kids. They need a hero, a sturdy father figure, not a violently depressed man who can't even take care of himself. I just have to hold on a little longer.
When Eri gets a better hold of her quirk, she can start school. And Hitoshi is just a few weeks from being ready to transfer to the hero course. As soon as they're on track... I can let go. Kill myself, probably. It's a stupid thought, but I couldn't say it's not welcoming. Without Hizashi and Oboro, there isn't really much else for me to do besides raise my kids. But they're getting older. Stronger. They'll be able to take care of themselves soon enough.
Just hold on a little bit longer. You're almost there.
After pouring Eri a bowl of sugary cereal and forcing Hitoshi to consume something other than an entire pot of coffee, we set out to UA campus. I had the option to stay in the teacher's quarters, but it felt too cramped to keep Eri, Hitoshi, Hizashi, and me all in that little dorm space.
I suppose, without Hizashi around, it would be more spacious.
God, I think I'm going to vomit.
My hands tighten on the steering wheel. Hitoshi notices and taps my arm. I don't look at him and instead just force my body to calm down. This damn kid has too much responsibility on his hands.
"Aizawa-sensei!" exclaims Kaminari as I enter the room. "You're a few minutes late, bro!"
I roll my eyes. "I'm not your bro, Kaminari."
"Pfft, whatever, dude. Oh, and hey Shinsou! Eri, too? Wow, you brought the whole fam."
"No, Papa Mikey is still on vacation," Eri says, matter-of-factly. "When he gets back, then we'll have everyone."
The room stills. They've been dodging the topic of Present Mic's death for three weeks. Without him, the school was duller. His loud, eccentric energy wasn't around to hold up the fort, and everyone was feeling the effects. Nobody wanted to talk about it; nobody wanted to break the news to the poor little girl who had already felt so much pain.
I clear my throat and change the topic. "You were going to have a pop quiz today," I say, eyeing the students with furrowed brows, "but I don't feel like passing out the papers."
"No problem, sensei!" Iida exclaims. "I can pass them out for you!"
Asui smacks his arm, glaring. "Hush, Iida. Nobody wants a pop quiz."
Sero shrugs. "I could use a pop quiz. I need to raise my grades."
"You'd fail it, Tape-Arms," Bakugou scoffs. "It wouldn't help you at all."
Eri beams, leaving my side to sit beside Bakugou. She drags Uraraka's empty chair over beside his desk, looking at the student as if he were a god. Eri's admiration for Bakugou had always caught me off-guard, but I suppose he's not the worst role model. He's gotten... nicer, I think. And if not, Midoriya makes sure to keep him in check.
But I'm a bit shocked by Uraraka's empty seat. She isn't the type to be late to class. I glance at Midoriya, and he answers my silent question with a shrug.
"During class today, you'll have a silent work period," I say, making things up off the top of my head. "You'll have midterm exams coming up, so I expect each of you to be studying diligently."
"Can we listen to music?" Sero asks, already popping his airpods into his ears.
I sigh and nod, and the entire class is pulling out their phones. I know more than half of them are using Bakugou's hardcore playlist, though Bakugou himself is using Mina's. I can hear Destiny's Child coming from his desk specifically. Eri takes to drawing a picture in Bakugou's notebook, and Hitoshi sits beside Kaminari, helping him focus on his work.
With the chaotic group relatively placated, I reluctantly text the teacher's group chat. Technically there's two of them: one with Nezu, and one without Nezu. Begrudgingly, I text the one without Nezu, the one that Nemuri set up at the beginning of last year, because I don't want my boss to know I lost a student.
But of course, that air-headed woman, Nemuri, is yet to change anyone's names back to something normal in both the normal and Nezu-less group chat, so everytime I open either one, I'm smacked in the face by embarrassing high school-like usernames. I grit my teeth and send a message.
BaggedCat: Uraraka's absent. Any ideas on where she is?
KingCement: that's unlike her
BaggedCat: Obviously. Why else would I announce it?
WitchMommy: cuz u love us and want an excuse to talk <3
WitchMommy: Duh🤪
TwinkMight: how have you been, Eraser? With Present Mic's death, I mean. I bet it was a pretty traumatic experience.
HowdyGunner: damn u just gon drop the ball like that?
HowdyGunner: pick it up man
TwinkMight: ???
TwinkMight: I just want to ensure that this incident doesn't cause our colleague to turn to villainy. It's better for him to communicate with us rather than search for alternate coping mechanisms that could possibly be dangerous.
LoadingPower: keep talkin ur bullshit and I'll kill you myself
LoadingPower: leave the man alone
BaggedCat: not sure what any of this has to do with my missing student?
KingCement: apologies
KingCement: I haven't seen her
LoadingPower: I haven't either, sorry man
HowdyGunner: me neither
WitchMommy: no little floating girlies on my end :/
MassiveCloner: which one is Uraraka, again?
AngyVamp: we don't waste time learning the names of the inferior class A students
MassiveCloner: never said all that, g. I just have memory problems.
BaggedCat: now when my class kicks your class's ass again, vlad-
WitchMommy: 👀☕️
HowdyGunner: yall should fight
HowdyGunner: no pressure tho
TwinkMight: Eraser, violence is never the answer. Always stray toward diplomacy and dialogue. The way of a true hero, not a villain.
LoadingPower: tf is up with you and this righteous bs?
MassiveCloner: eraser isn't gonna turn into a villain
TwinkMight: I'm just being cautious. He did release Shigaraki Tomura rather than keeping him held captive or executing him.
WitchMommy: violence is never the answer, you said?
WitchMommy: stray toward diplomacy and dialogue, you said?
WitchMommy: 🤨
WitchMommy: im smelling hypocrisy
TwinkMight: hero work is situational
BaggedCat: you are all utterly useless to me
RecoveryGranny: if you morons don't return to your jobs and watch your damn children, i'm going to lose it
RecoveryGranny: I will not heal them every time they run into walls because you don't feel like babysitting
AngyVamp: hence why class B is better than class A
BaggedCat: I might actually kill you
TwinkMight: SEE? HE'S A THREAT!
TwinkMight: Perhaps we should arrest him. Temporarily, of course. Just for questioning. He might be a threat to the students.
(WitchMommy removed TwinkMight from the chat.)
I sigh and rub my face with my palm. Everywhere I go, there's idiots of all shapes and sizes.
"Excuse me, Aizawa-sensei?" says Koda, his voice barely above a whisper. He catches me off guard, especially since he's one of my non-talkers in the class. I make sure to listen attentively. "Um... I think I might know where Uraraka went..."
My eyes widen, and I look around the room to make sure no one is eavesdropping. I catch Aoyama glancing at us and decide to take Koda to the hallway to talk. He fidgets with his fingers, shuffling his feet as he follows me. When we're out in the empty hallway, I cross my arms over my chest, nodding for my student to continue.
"Go on," I tell him when he doesn't get the hint.
"R-right, sorry. Uh, well, yesterday night, I went downstairs to get a glass of water, and I saw Uraraka sneaking out with a large duffel bag."
I swallow the nervous lump in my throat. "A duffel bag?"
Koda nods. "I don't know where she went specifically, but she was holding a train ticket and a lot of money, though I don't know where she got all that money since she's... um, sorry, I don't mean to be rude. Maybe she was saving up, planning this? I-I don't know for sure."
I nod, letting out a stressed sigh. "Thank you for telling me, Koda. Go on back into the classroom and get some work done."
"Y-yes, sensei," Koda says. "And, um, thank you. For showing up today, I mean. Everyone in class is really shaken up by the recent events, so it's nice to know we still have you."
I smile softly. "No amount of grief is going to make me let you guys run wild. I'll be here until you guys can stand on your own, until you don't need my guidance anymore."
Koda nods. "I think... I think we'll always need your guidance, sensei."
I feel a pang of guilt ripple through me. I brush it off and nodd to the door. "Go do your work, kid. I'll figure everything out, I promise."
Koda leaves me out in the hallway, and I squeeze my eyes shut. Could this day get any more exhausting? It's only been forty-five fucking minutes.
My phone pings in my pocket. Reluctantly, I take a look at it. It's a message from Nezu, in the group chat with him included. I groan and rub my eyes, reading it slowly to prevent a goddamn heart attack.
IAmRatMan: lol guess what, loyal employees?
IAmRatMan: All For One has been detained!
IAmRatMan: isn't that fantastic? Now we can triple our student's physical training :)
HowdyGunner: ?????
WitchMommy: excuse me??
KingCement: I don't see the correlation between those two pieces of information
IAmRatMan: lol there is no correlation
IAmRatMan: I just want to torture some children. Is that cool with you guys?
IAmRatMan: 😇
LoadingPower: what??? no???
IAmRatMan: lol idk why i asked you guys
IAmRatMan: im the boss so I can do wtv I want
IAmRatMan: fuck humans fr tehe
IAmRatMan: #EndHumanityAsWeKnowIt #ImGoingToKillEveryoneYouLove #HideYourKids #WorldDomination #JusticeForGotham
WitchMommy: WTF???
MassiveCloner: EXCUSE ME??? BOSS???
LoadingPower: I don't get paid enough for this bs fr
IAmRatMan: lol jk love you guys <3
A/N: this is so much more chaotic than I thought it was going to be sorry lol.