Chapter Text
If Shouta wasn’t a pro hero that tried to obey the law as often as possible (there were a few exceptions, but none that the police force could prove) he would currently be breaking into the houses of the board members of UA to commit fucking murder. But instead here he is, drinking his feelings away by doing shots with Hizashi so that hopefully tomorrow his head will hurt too much to remember the stupid ass decisions the board had made.
“Shouta maybe you should stop and eat something.” Hizashi muttered, pulling the shot away.
“Shut up I’m not even drunk yet.” Shouta grumbled, snatching the shot back and downing it. “If I was a less decent person the UA’s board would be sleeping with one eye open tonight.”
“Shouta I know that you’re upset but-”
“I’m not upset!” Shouta snarled. “Why would I be upset? It’s not like UA is putting money above the safety of the children!” He slammed the shot glass down on the bar top. “They rejected the petition to create dorms Hizashi. Bakugou just got fucking kidnapped and they want him to stay at home with no hero supervision despite the League of Villains still being at large. For some reason, they seem to think that changing things to keep these kids safe is not necessary.” He glowered at his hands, silently willing them to stop shaking. “Fuck that.”
“Shouta there’s nothing you can do.” Hizashi sighed. “I know exactly how you feel. These kids need to be safe, I’m with you on that. But it’s not our choice to make. The board made their decision.”
“It’s a fucking stupid decision.”
“I know.” Hizashi rubbed at his face and Shouta realized how tired the other pro hero was. He had been up with Shouta night after night trying to find a way to keep those kids safe and the exhaustion was finally catching up with them. Shouta felt slightly bad for dragging his friend to the bar today so that he could get blackout drunk because he knew how stressed Hizashi had been lately. Put Your Hands Up Radio had been one of the largest voices in favor of UA recently, Shouta didn’t know how Mic did it all. He was barely keeping it together with his teaching and pro hero career, Shouta didn’t know how his friend was able to run a radio show helping UA’s reputation all at the same time and not be sitting here getting completely hammered.
That’s because Hizashi has always been a better man than him.
“Those kids need more than what they have.” Shouta grumbled. “I’m going to find a way to help them. I’m not going to just sit by while everything in the world seems to be trying to hurt them. Those board members are going to build the dorms. I’ll make sure of it.”
But that would take time. He knew it would. How was he going to protect them until then?
He’d find a way, that’s for sure. But until then it was time to do more shots.
***
Shouta regrets being alive. What made him think it was a good idea to drink so much? Oh, right. The board of UA is made up of a bunch of dumbasses. He never gets drunk like that. Then again it had been a long year. It seems he has a class full of problem children. Just problem children. It’s honestly a surprise he hasn’t gotten blackout drunk because of them before now.
He slowly forced his eyes to open despite the urge he had to just curl up in his sleeping bag and never come out. But he actually had things to do today. Like plan murder.
He downed some aspirin to hopefully help with his headache before looking at the room and seeing a giant note pinned to his wall. It just said ADOPT THE KIDS.
He was so drunk last night. Hopefully Hizashi took his phone away before he did something stupid like try to call Endeavor and try to tell him that he was stealing his son. He was tempted to do it fully sober so he would for sure do it when his sense of judgement is impaired.
Based on the fact that he currently couldn’t find his phone anywhere it seems Hizashi did something to help him. That man is a blessing. But Shouta would never tell him. He’d never hear the end of it.
He glanced at the note again, wondering how drunk him had possibly come up with the plan to adopt twenty children. He doesn’t have enough room in his flat for that.
But...it did spark an idea. His kids needed to know that there was someone looking out for them.
The least he could do is try to make them feel safe after failing them so many times.
***
Right before releasing the class Aizawa got all their attention. Mina had to elbow Kaminari to wake him up from his impromptu nap. The kids were supposed to be studying.
“Look.” He paused, not sure how to start. “Originally Nedzu planned to implement a dorm system at UA as a way to keep everyone safe. It would be a good way to keep you out of danger and to protect you while you’re still training. Unfortunately the board didn’t see it that way and vetoed the decision. I know that a lot of things have happened this year that have made people feel unsafe. I take personal responsibility for each of you as your teacher and I have failed to keep you safe. However, I want to do everything in my power to help you to feel safe.” He grabbed the slips of paper and started handing them out. “This is my contact information. The phone is a number specifically for this class. Do not give this number out to anyone, not even your parents. They have a separate number for me. This phone number is to help you feel safe, feel free to call whenever you need it. Please be smart about this, I am trusting all of you to be mature. Call this number if you ever feel like you are in danger, or if you ever need help. It does not have to be something big. I will leave this phone on at all times and I will always have it with me. My address and other ways to contact me are also on this slip of paper. I am not just your teacher but also a pro hero, which makes it my job two times over to keep you safe.” He finished passing out the papers and stood at the head of the room. “Please take this seriously. Memorize the number if you want, add it to your contacts. Please don’t just throw this away.”
Bakugo scoffed. “I don’t need help.”
Shouta gave him the best deadpan stare he could muster up. It was pretty effective considering he still hadn’t fully recovered from his hangover yesterday. “Take it anyways.”
Yaoyorozu shifted uncomfortably before raising her hand. “Sensei? Do you really think that we’ll need this? Are we in danger?”
“I hope you won’t need this.” He told them. “In fact, most of you will probably never need it. But it’s good to know that if there’s ever trouble you have someone you can reach out to. This is merely a precaution.”
The bell rang and for the first time ever, none of the students shot out of their seats. No one said anything either. Slowly, his kids started standing up and leaving the room. None of them tossing aside the paper.
What he said was true. It was just a precaution. He really didn’t think it was likely anyone would need it. None of his students had in the past. But the kids he had this year…
Well, he could certainly hope none of them would need it. But he would rest a little easier tonight knowing he could keep them safe.
***
None of his students called the phone for a while. He still kept it with him. He and Nedzu kept trying to work with the board to fund the dorms but something always seemed to get in the way. At this point Shouta was half tempted to just set up a GoFundMe for it to raise the money.
It was two weeks after giving out his number that he got his first call. He was in the middle of patrolling the less wealthy part of town, the phone rang while he was in the air. He got so distracted that he botched the landing, rolling and almost dropping the phone off the roof. “Shit!” Luckily he managed to catch it and hold it up to his ear.
“Hello?”
“Um Sensei? This is Yaoyorozu, sorry to bother you…”