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Aizawa Shouta was not stupid. He was fully aware that his student had been sneaking out past curfew and using one of the facilities to train occasionally. Problem Child would be the death of him he swore.
The kid had been doing it for the past week and a half. The only reason Shouta had yet to confront him was solely because of the fact that the kid was stealthy. He avoided most of the cameras, the annoying and rude patrol bots, and none of the other teachers reported seeing him when it was their time to watch.
Shouta had to give Midoriya points for that.
He was sure Nedzu knew as well, but the principal didn’t comment, so Shouta decided to leave the kid be. The only reason that Shouta got up and walked over to gym gamma was because Midoriya had gotten sloppy tonight and set off one of the sensors. Shouta had sighed and turned off the alarm and reset the bots before he had headed out.
Oh, well. Kid was bound to mess up at some point.
It took a few minutes but Shouta made it to the gym. Instead of confronting the kid immediately, Shouta decided to watch. He waited to see how long it would take Problem Child to notice that he was there.
With Shouta being an underground hero, it became a habit to always mask his presence unless he wanted it known. Most of the other teachers wouldn't even be able to pick up on his presence if he didn’t want them to. He had used it to scare Hizashi and Nemuri on a few occasions, not that he’d ever admit to doing it on purpose.
Midoriya was currently using the jungle gym. He was crawling, jumping, and swinging around the bars. A look of determination was on his face. Shouta watched as he ran the full course, checked his watch, and did it again. Shouta was impressed by the speed at which the kid was going around it.
The average person, well average on the heroes standards, would take about ten minutes to cycle the full thing, but Midoriya had managed to finish in five and now, by the looks of it, this time it would be three. Shouta’s own personal time was seven. Shouta looked for the telltale signs of his quirk, but didn’t see any red lines or green sparks.
So that’s his own speed, huh?
Midoriya finished up and took a small break to catch his breath and take a sip of water. Shouta watched the kid grab a towel and wipe his forehead.
Kid’s been training for almost forty minutes with minimal breaks.
Shouta wanted to hope that the kid was done and was going to head back to the dorms to get some sleep, but it was the weekend. From what Shouta had seen, the kid always stayed out much longer if there was no school the next day.
At least he’s somewhat responsible.
Midoriya took another sip of water, before walking over to one of the glass cubbies. Shouta raised an eyebrow as he took out a boxing ball. Midoriya placed the headband around his head and walked to an open area of the gym. Shouta decided to move closer. Midoriya was still a first year after all, Shouta should give him a chance to actually sense him.
Shouta expected the kid’s form to be wrong and it was. His positioning was off for the type of equipment he was using. Shouta watched mildly amused as Midoriya punched the ball away from him only for it to smack him in the face seconds later. Midoriya looked surprised before setting his face and punching again. Same results.
After the tenth time of watching Midoriya get beaten up by a ball, Shouta decided to make his presence known and stepped in the kids line of sight.
“Your form is wrong, kid.” Shouta had to give Midoriya more points for not startling at his voice.
“Hi, Sensei.” Midoriya paused his movement, which caused the ball to hit him again. Midoriya grabbed the ball and glared at it. Shouta suppressed a laugh. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” Shouta stepped forward. He motioned his hands forward asking for permission to touch Midoriya. The kid nodded his head. Shouta steadied Midoriya with his hands and used his feet to kick Midoriya's legs into the proper position. Midoriya yelped and wobbled, not expecting it.
Once his feet placement was correct, Shouta, rougher than necessary and taking full amusement from this situation, turned Midoriya’s hips to face the correct way. To finish it off, Shouta stepped back, put his hands on the kid’s shoulders, and pushed down enough so Midoriya would bend his knees.
“You should stand like this.” Midoriya looked at him with narrowed eyes and a wry smile.
“Couldn't you’ve just shown me that…” Shouta did his manic grin, which became wider at Midoriya's shudder.
“I did.” Midoriya sighed exasperatedly. “Now, try again.” Shouta backed up and watched. Midoriya made sure his positioning was still correct and eyed the ball with determination. After a few second staring contest with the ball, Midoriya finally punched it. Shouta watched the kid’s eyes follow the ball. Shouta could see the calculations playing in his head. When the ball finally got back to Midoriya in the position he needed to hit it again, the kid’s fist flew.
Shouta tucked his chin in his capture weapon and smiled. He huffed a laugh when the kid got too excited and missed when the ball came back that time.
“Alright, Problem Child. Shouldn’t you be in bed?” Shouta was satisfied with the progress made and had no doubts that Midoriya would continue to improve on his own.
“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?” The kid rubbed his cheek sheepishly. Shouta rolled his eyes.
“No, kid. You aren't in trouble.” Midoriya looked genuinely surprised. He opened his mouth to say something, but Shouta raised a hand to shush him.
“I’ve been watching on the cameras that did manage to pick you up. I’m not sure if it was the first time you started sneaking over here or not, but with the fact that neither the sensors, nor the bots picked up your presence in here, I figured you should get a pass. Plus your grades didn’t suffer for it and you Recovery Girl hasn’t mentioned you showing up too often, so I ignored it.”
“Oh… What made you come watch in person this time, Sensei?” Shouta was about to answer, but the way the kid phrased the question confused him.
“What do you mean?”
“I saw when you came in. Well, I didn’t actually see you, but I knew you were there. I expected to be scolded a lot sooner, but when you didn’t approach I just kept going.” Shouta didn’t say anything for the longest time. He just stared at Midoriya.
“...How long was I watching you for?” The kid looked up in thought, mumbling something under his breath.
“About 15 minutes. I think…” Shouta once again didn’t speak for the longest time. The kid was only off by a couple minutes. Shouta knew for a fact that Midoriya had gone around the bars five times. He had watched the first two on the cams, had managed to watch the last two minutes of the third, and had watched the last two in person.
The kid had taken a break for two minutes, Shouta had been timing to make sure he had rested a decent amount of time. Midoriya took three minutes to walk over to the cubbies and set up the punching ball and the last five were when he was watching the kid fail.
Midoriya started to shift uncomfortably. Shouta shook himself out of his thoughts.
“Kid, I- I’m impressed. Seriously. I thought you wouldn’t have known I was there until about the last five minutes. I underestimated you.” Midoriya brightened at the praise.
“Thank you, Sensei!”
“Alright, kid. For real, you should-”
“Actually!” Midoriya seemed to panic that he cut Shouta off, but he didn’t really mind. He gestured for Midoriya to continue. “Um, I would really like to work on my stealth and hand to hand skills without my quirk. Since your fighting style relies a lot on those and since you said I wasn’t in trouble I'm going to assume that as long as I continue to not alert anybody that I'm here I can keep going? Anyway, I was hoping, I couldn't really get the courage to ask after class and, well I didn’t want to disturb you after hours and-”
“Kid.”
“Right! Sorry! I was wondering ifyou’dbewillingtotrainme?Iknowyouarebusyandyouprobably don’thavetime,nottomentionyoutrainShinsou-kunonyourfreetime.Ishould’vethoughtaboutthat.PlusyouhavetowatchEriandI’msorryforgetitnevermind-
“Midoriya.” Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose. He sighed and took a minute to decipher what the kid said. “Ok, from what I understood, kid, I don’t mind training any of my students extra if they want. You could’ve asked me at any point. It wouldn’t have been a bother. I do train Shinsou, but that’s not my only free time. We can set up another time that works for you and you can join us occasionally. It would be great for him to have a sparring partner that’s not just me. And I'm absolutely certain one of the other teachers or Togata wouldn’t mind watching Eri if the need arises.”
The more Shouta spoke, the more excited and confident Midoriya got. Shouta took a second to regret agreeing to train the kid. Honestly, Shouta would prefer the kid to have proper supervision anyway. Not to mention, Shouta was now curious about Midoriya’s skill level when it came to stealth. Shouta had his suspicions before, but now Shouta really had to know.
“Thank you so much, Sensei! I won't let you down!” And he knew that. Midoriya was one of, if not the most hardworking in his class. Shouta smiled into his capture weapon, as he watched the kid start packing up his stuff. The kid beamed and ran to his side when he was ready. They both started to head to the dorms.
Shouta was content with not talking and occasionally listening in on the kid’s mumbles, but then something caught his attention. They were both walking, but Shouta did not pick up on any footsteps. Shouta subtly slowed his steps and stopped to listen to Midoriya walk.
Near silent.
How did I not notice this before? If I wasn’t listening for it, I wouldn't have known the kid was making any sound at all!
“I had some experience with keeping quiet prior to U.A., but when I became your student I noticed early on that sometimes when you walked it wouldn't make a sound. I wanted to see if I could do that, so over the semesters I practiced whenever I could.” Ignoring the fact that Midoriya seemed to read exactly what he was doing, Shouta matched pace with the kid again and gave him a few tips on how to fully quiet his steps.
Shouta also decided to put the concerning mention of Midoriya’s life prior to U.A. on the back burner. He thought about the kid's analysis and skill with guiding his classmates when they do certain training exercises. Shouta had managed to get a glance at Midoriya's notebook a few times and he had to admit, the kid does a fantastic job. That level of analysis from what Shouta could see was near professional. It needed a few tweeks, but it was an easy fix.
“Kid? You want to be above ground?” The kid turned to him with a bright smile.
“Yes, sir! Why?” Shouta just shook his head.
Such a shame. He’d be great at underground heroics… maybe I can still convince him. Plus it’d be funny to watch Yagi’s face when he realizes I stole his kid.