Shinso awoke to someone shaking him awake.
"What the...?!" Shinso blindly swatted out with his hand, hitting a slim forearm. "Go away!"
"Nuh-uh-uh," A much too cheerful voice chimed. A feminine voice. "Time to wake up, you lazy little insomniac!"
Shinso bolted up. Even before his vision focused he could tell who it was. "Mina? Why on earth are you in my room?" His hand held the blanket up protectively over his chest. "You're not allowed in here!"
"Oh please," Mina said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. "It's not like we're going to do anything." She raised her eyebrow at him. "One, you're gay, and two-"
"Hey!" Shinso objected. "You don't know that!"
Mina gave him a pitying glance. "Uh, yeah, I do. I'm pretty sure almost everyone knows."
Shinso stopped just short of a pout. "Ugh. Why are you in here?"
"Just because we have today off doesn't meant that you can sleep all day," she said, cuffing the side of his head gently. "Come on, you've already slept half the day away! Up and at 'em!"
"What even is the time?" Shinso asked, rubbing his hand over his face.
"Too late! You know," She started, a devilish glint in her eyes. "Kaminari would've come and got you but-"
"He had more respect for my personal space?" Shinso said dryly.
Mina cackled. "Sure, if that's what you want to think." She wiggled her eyebrows. "Though I personally thought there was another reason! Wanna guess?"
Shinso groaned, grabbing the pillow he had previously been lying on and throwing it directly at her smug, smirking face. "Leave me alone. I'll be down in a second."
"Okay!" Mina flounced off of the comforter and into the hallway, taking her obnoxious energy and pep with her. He took a longing look at his pillow before halling himself to his feet and shuffling over to his phone. When he opened the homescreen, he wanted to cry.
It was only seven thirty.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Shinso had managed to wake up at least moderately, he slipped downstairs as quietly as he could. If Mina going out of her way to practically pull him out of his bed was any indication, this morning was going to require coffee before he could physically deal with it.
He made it through the common room with no trouble, but he got spotted by Iida while crossing the threshold of the kitchen. The blue-haired boy hurried over, and Shinso prepared himself to dodge the Hands of Propriety- a nickname that Kaminari and Mina had come up with while giggling a week ago.
"Shinso!" His classmate exclaimed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. His jacket was perfectly pressed even though it was one of their days off, and he looked completely awake. Why is this class filled with so many morning people...?
"I didn't expect for you to get up this early!" Shinso resentfully glared at Mina, but decided not to say anything. As much as he would love to throw the girl under the bus, the following lecture about the importance of dorm rooms divided by sex was too daunting of a prospect.
"Yeah. Speaking of, I really do need some coffee, so I'm just gonna..." Shinso moved to enter the kitchen completely.
Iida blocked his way. "Of course! But I do need to give you some information before anything... unpleasant happens."
Shinso wants to cry. He could deal with the craziness when he was caffeinated, but ambushing him before he'd gotten his fix? That was just cruel.
"Okay, okay, just let me get my coffee-"
Iida drags him into the kitchen, away from the others. "There was an... incident last night."
When is there not, Shinso thought glumly.
"I don't know all of the details, but from what I can understand Izuku-sensei had pulled Bakugo away to talk- I'm not sure about what- and their conversation somehow ended with Bakugo attacking Izuku-sensei."
Now that got Shinso's attention. "Whoa. Does he have a death wish or something? How is he still here?"
He glanced back, just to make sure that he wasn't imagining Bakugo on his way down there. The blonde was sitting there, but he was a whole lot more... reserved than normal. A lot of the class was giving him a wide berth, and Bakugo appeared to be deep in thought. There weren't any open bruises or stab wounds in him, so Shinso was guessing that Izuku-sensei didn't take the fight seriously. If he did, then there probably wouldn't be much left of Bakugo.
"He hasn't been expelled," Iida continues, misinterpreting Shinso's words. "Though he has been placed under house arrest for a week. As he should," Iida sniffed. "Attacking a teacher is deplorable and not model student behavior at all. I only told you this so you would know to not ask him any questions on the subject."
Iida pulls himself up tall. "It is my duty as class president to-"
"Right, right, that's great," Shinso dismisses, finally making a beeline for the sweet nectar sitting in a pot on the counter. "I agree completely. Please leave me alone."
Iida shook his head silently before walking away, and Shinso finds himself content with the relative silence of the kitchen. Sure, he could still hear sounds from the commons, but it was all muted and he considered that a plus. Now that there was no one with him, he could safely observe the rest of his classmates.
Some of them were lounging around on their phones, still tired from the previous day, while others were already running at full speed. Ahem, Mina, ahem.
In particular, he found himself staring at Bakugo. He didn't know what had possessed the blonde and made him attack Izuku-sensei, but he did know that Bakugo didn't seem as... unstable as he had before. There was a lot less superiority and annoyance resting in his gaze. It almost made Shinso want to tolerate him.
The only classmate that risked setting him off was Kirishima, who clung to his side like he was a sloth and Bakugo was the tree. And the strange part was that Bakugo was letting him hang all over him, without complaint.
Shinso felt better as soon as 25% of his blood was pure caffeine. He could already tell he'd be able to cope better with his class's shenanigans, whatever they may be today.
He turned to sit down at the table and came head-to-head with Todoroki.
"Gah! Todoroki! What the hell... where did you come from?"
Todoroki opened his mouth to answer, and Shinso remembered how literally he took everything and quickly retracted that.
"No, no, nevermind. Why did you just... are you a ghost?"
"Not that I know of," Todoroki replied, completely serious.
"That's... that's just great. Why did you have to ambush me?"
"Because I thought we should have a conversation." Todoroki explained, fiddling gently with the edge of the table. It was the only way Shinso was able to tell that he wasn't completely comfortable with the exchange. "Uraraka said that open and honest communication was important in a friendship." He frowned. "Then she told me to pass on that she thought it was important in a relationship too."
Shinso was wrong. He was oh so very wrong. There wasn't enough coffee in the world to deal with his classmates.
"Fine," he sighed. "Let's talk. What did you need?"
Todoroki took a deep breath. "I wanted to... apologize for how I acted yesterday. I thought at the time that my behavior was just, and in hindsight I can see that I was wrong. I... Should not have treated you that way just because I was upset."
Shinso eyed him warily. It was clear that Todoroki hadn't had to apologize often during his life. He did look genuinely repentant, so that was a point in his favor.
"What did Inasa even say to you?"
Todoroki got a dark glare on his face. "He said I was exactly like my father and... other things. At the end of the exam, when it was clear taht we both failed, he said that he was sorry he didn't work with me, but he still didn't like me."
Shinso was quiet. From what he could understand about Todoroki's relationship with his dad, it was very strained. He hadn't really been brought up much after the Sports Festival, so Shinso wasn't sure what was going on there.
"But," Todoroki continued, "That's no reason to do what I did. I'm incredibly sorry."
There was a long moment of silence.
"It's fine," Shinso finally said. "It's not like you were screaming obscenities at me or anything like that, though you were being an asshole."
Todoroki hung his head. "I understand. I assume this means our friendship has been terminated."
Shinso wrinkled his nose. "One, that's ridiculous and there's no need for that, and two, you think Uraraka would let us terminate our friendship?"
Todoroki gave a small but real smile in return. "I don't suppose she would."
"Iida would throw a fit if he thought that our 'petty squabbles' were getting in the way of our hero work and friendship."
"There would be no survivors from his wrath," Todoroki gravely said.
"So... uh, how did Endeavor take the news about you not passing the exam?" Shinso awkwardly asked.
Todoroki brightened, just a little bit. Enough that the corners of his mouth weren't weighed down like they usually were when the topic of Endeavor was brought up. "He was... surprisingly accepting. I think..." Todoroki trailed off. "I think that he's trying."
Shinso felt uncomfortable whenever topics that involved too many feelings came up, but he was glad that Todoroki was doing at least a little better with his dad. From the few comments he would sprinkle in here and there, he was... concerned at first.
"That's... that's good."
Todoroki and him basked in the relative silence for a while longer, before the dual-haired boy excused himself because some of their classmates were calling him. Shinso was just starting to think that today might be quieter, giving everyone a chance to recuperate before classes started again tomorrow. Then he remembered who he was dealing with.
"Shinso!"
Someone wrapped their arms around him from behind, nearly bowling him over. His elbow comes up and almost makes contact with that person's nose, but they yelp and jump back before he breaks their nose.
"Eep! Sorry, sorry! I didn't realize you would be so mad, I won't do it again!"
"Oh, it's just you Kaminari." Shinso relaxed his defensive position, refraining from the punch to the diaphragm he was about to throw. "Have you ever thought of maybe not sneaking up on someone who's been trained in martial arts?"
Kaminari tugged at his hair sheepishly. "Yeah... maybe not my best idea."
Shinso just raised an eyebrow at him, but he couldn't hold it before breaking into one of his admittedly creepy grins. Who cares if they were 'scary'? Being an underground hero meant that he didn't exactly need the same bedside manner that other heroes had to have.
"Is there a particular reason you were looking for me, or...?"
Kaminari grinned, nice and bright and so unlike Shinso's chilling half-smile. He really couldn't take his eyes off of the blonde, and with a sinking feeling in his chest he realized that Mina and Uraraka might not be so far off from the truth. He... enjoyed Kaminari's company.
Shinso refused to think more on the implications of that sentence. Nope. Denial was the name of the game, and he was a pro.
"Yeah! Some of the others and I were playing around with the hero database now that we have access to things with our provisional licenses, and I wanted to see if you would join us." Kaminari wagged his eyebrows at him. "It'll be fu-unnnn."
Shinso rolled his eyes, but inside his heart skipped a beat. "Ugh. Fine, whatever. That wouldn't be completely terrible."
Kaminari stared at him like he could see right through him, and Shinso felt picked bare to the bone. He gave Shinso a toothy grin and proceeded to drag him into the common room, where everyone was gathered around a small laptop. The forceful yanking on his arm didn't go unnoticed by Uraraka and Mina, both of which gave him knowing smiles.
Shinso resisted the urge to hiss at the two of them.
"Hey, Shinso!" Kirishima rushed towards him, and Shinso's eyes widened. He felt the urge to shove Kaminari in front of him and use him like a human shield. "You're here! I think it's so manly that we have access to this now! Hero licenses are-" Kirishima has a small milisecond of hesitation, just enough for Shinso to notice his eyes flicking towards Bakugo and Todoroki. "Pretty cool. But not like, really cool or anything like that. Just moderately cool. Let's just look!"
"I will abstain," Todoroki stated. "I have not yet earned the right to look at something that is restricted to licensed heroes only."
"That's stupid as hell," Bakugo grumbled. "If you've got an advantage, take it."
Todoroki shrugged but didn't say anything else, turning his face away so he couldn't see the screen but remaining close to them. Privately, Shinso agreed with Bakugo. If you have any advantage anywhere, and it was relatively morally right for you to do so, then take the opportunity.
That's what his dad had always taught him.
"I'm glad that you are such a devout follower of the rules!" Iida exclaimed. "Though, Bakugo-"
"Let us stop talking and descend into the darkness," Tokoyami interrupted. And it was a good thing, too. As sedate as Bakugo seemed to be today, one of the things that was guaranteed to set him off was a long Iida lecture about rules.
And nobody could blame him for that.
Tsu nodded and tapped away at the keyboard, pulling up the hero commissions main page. There were a number of the most recent arrests right at the top and center, and All For One's battle with All Might was still heavily featured. His eyes caught on a few sentences near the middle of the article, and he almost burst out laughing when he saw it. An unbidden snicker sneaked out.
Tsu stared at him with large and unblinking eyes. "What was that?"
"Huh.. ha-" Shinso couldn't stop the little laughs from escaping.
"You have an awesome laugh," Kaminari said.
That shut Shinso up quickly. All it took was a couple coughs to clear his throat and collect himself, and then he answered Tsu. "That article... the one at the top? Read the..." His eyes scanned down to find the specific sentence. "The sixth paragraph down."
Tsu frowned at him curiously, but did as he asked. Reading outloud, she said, "'But the notorious villain All For One was not successful. Our Symbol of Peace, All Might, fought the villain in a grueling battle that had its darker moments. In the end, he was able to succeed and triumph over the dark overlord that ran the underground, locking him away securely in Tartarus, where he shall remain for the rest of his life with no chance of reestablishment into the world. In the process, All Might protected all of us, but two children in particular'," Tsu frowned. "Two? Wait- 'A young boy taken by All For One's criminal organization, The League of Villains, named Bakugo. And another young teen, unnamed, with green- with green hair. Both children have been reported to have made a full recovery, though nothing more has been said on the identity of the second child.'"
Everyone stifles a giggle, though they quickly sober when they remember the state Izuku-sensei was in.
"...Do you think Izuku-sensei's seen this?" Mina whispered.
"I... maybe?" Iida looks torn. Shinso could imagine the internal war going on inside his head. Bonding all together as one? Great! But... disrespecting an authority figure... that's not good! What should I do? Scold or praise? Both? NEITHER?!
"Should we show him?" Everyone froze when Sero asked the question.
"I... I don't think there's any reason to do that..." Yaoyorozu trails off with an awkward laugh. "Really, it doesn't change anything and there's no reason to bring up something like this. Though... it is a little amusing."
Mina pointed dramatically at her. "Yes! Thank you! It's not every day you have a teacher that passes for a child."
"Can we quit it with the dumbass discussion and just look at what we can do?" Bakugo glared at the ground. He looked uncomfortable discussing Izuku-sensei, which made sense if what Iida said was true and he did attack him last night. Shinso would really like to know the details, but he knew that it was unlikely anything more would be said on the subject. As usual, anything including Izuku-sensei was shrouded in mystery.
Sometimes he wondered if they ever really knew anything about his teacher.
"Fine, kero." Tsu logs into the account, and a new screen pops up. "Looks like there's a searching database... and you can see how long prisoner sentences are and how much they've served..."
"What's that?" Kaminari asked, pointing to some small text on the screen.
Tsu clicks a few more times, making it actually readable. "It says... this is where heroes go to place warrants on a certain individual. It looks like you have to directly contact the police through here if you want it to be legitimate. And... here's the hero patrol schedules, kero."
Shinso winced. "Yeah, you really don't want that falling into enemy hands." If villains ever found out where and when heroes would be at specific places, then you could bet more organizations like the League of Villains would be popping up. It would be a widespread panic among heroes. If someone like Stain ever found that... heroes would've become hunted like animals...
"Yeah..." Uraraka laughed, uncomfortable. "Let's just... make sure we log out, okay?"
Everyone nodded solemnly.
"Wait-" Mina got one of her Grins again. "Go to the name-searching data-whatever."
Tsu silently exited out of the patrol schedule and paused when when she got back to where they started, awaiting more instructions.
"Alright," Mina said deviously, "Now type in...hmmm... Aizawa..." She blinked and glanced at Shinso. "Um. What's Aizawa-sensei's first name?"
Shinso's eyes widened. "If we do this, he will ki- well, maybe he won't kill us, but the next few weeks or months or... years... won't be very fun for us."
Especially for Shinso.
"All that means is that we won't let him find out," Mina dismissed, waving her hand airily. "So c'mon, spill!"
Shinso has a brief moment to consider all of his life decisions that led him to this point, this point of no return. Then he sighs and decides to throw caution out the window.
"Aw, what the hell. It's Shota."
Mina grins. "Tsu, hit it!"
"I think I'll just type, kero."
Everyone watched in rapt attention, with Todoroki promising to keep a lookout for any unsuspecting teachers that would report them. The loading didn't take much longer than a few seconds, and then the results popped up.
Shota Aizawa | Eraserhead
Tsu started reading outloud again. "Shota Aizawa, hero name Eraserhead, underground hero. No patrol hours are listed... and it doesn't mention the areas he patrols."
Shinso butted in. "No underground hero is going to have that information anywhere other than the hero commission actual building, in a securely locked vault." Everyone looked at him. "Oh, come on! I've lived with them for ages! How would I not know this?"
"Just who exactly is 'them'?" Uraraka grinned scarily similar to Mina. "Wait-wait-wait. Check to see if it says his marital status!"
Shinso feels a cold and foreboding shiver as Tsu obediently scrolls through the information. Not today... I knew that getting up when Mina called me would be a mistake...
"Marital status: Classified."
Shinso can't stop the corner of his mouth from quirking up as the more rambunctious members of his class groan over the information. Todoroki, however, was watching Shinso. He sees the dual-haired boy pull out that infernal notebook of his and quickly scrawl something inside.
"Gahhhh...." Mina pouts. "And I just got my hopes up, too!" She bangs her head dramatically on the nearly solid object, which just so happens to be a solid oak bookshelf standing innocently next to them. She yelps when her head makes contact with the wood, and Uraraka reaches over without a thought and rubs her head comfortingly.
Kaminari and Shinso make eye contact , then look back at the scene in front of them. Hypocrites, Shinso thinks bitterly.
"What else does it say?" Kirishima asked, curiously peering from around Bakugo at the screen.
"Hmm, kero, it says a lot about his arrest records and takedowns."
"Yes!" Mina perks up. "Show us those!"
Quite a few members of the class had wandered away and opened the site on their own devices by now, and there were just a few of them gathering around Tsu. Still, Kaminari was just as close to Shinso as he had been before, and Shinso both doesn't know how to step away without making it awkward and doesn't want to in the first place.
"Misdemeanor crimes stopped: 394 last year." Shinso hears a low whistle from somewhere in the room. "Felonies: 198 last year. Villain takedowns: 57 D-rank villains last year, 43 C-rank villains, 12 B-rank villains, 4 A-rank villains, and one S-rank villain assist. All last year alone"
They're all silent for a moment. Then, "Holy shit, Aizawa-sensei's a badass," Kaminari breathes from beside Shinso.
A beat. "So, we're, like, never going to tell him we did this, right?" Mina nervously asks.
Iida clears his throat and pushes his glasses up. "I... don't see why it would come up. Unless we're discussing role models!" Iida brightened at the thought.
Bakugo scoffs, but it's without heat or derision. "Whatever. I'm sure that that's..." He looks down. "Yeah... that's pretty great."
Shinso feels like this is a moment that they need to celebrate and not make it a big thing at the same time. Kirishima looks shellshocked and ecstatic at the same time, and Shinso can see the coiled tension in his arms as they shake, fighting what Shinso assumes is the urge to throw his arms around Bakugo.
"Yeah it is!" Uraraka jumps in, desperately trying to make it seem like this is normal. "I just looked it up, and the average for underground heroes is well under that. Like, by half!"
Shinso stifles a proud smile. He does not need Uraraka and Mina jumping in on the 'make fun of our introvert friend' train right now. It had already left the station, thank you.
"Okay..." Mina taps her chin thoughtfully. "What else should we do? Oohh..." Her eyes sparkled. "Should we look up Nezu? What would the profile of... whatever he is look like anyway?"
Uraraka shakes her head with a slow smile spreading on her lips. "I have a better idea... Search up..." She pauses. "Crap, I don't even know what his family name is. Umm... Search up... Fumetsu!"