Chapter Text
Shouta was tired. No, it was an understatement, considering the level of stress he’d been in recently. His sleeping schedule hadn’t been good for years, but right now it was at its absolute worst. On top of it, he completely immersed himself in schoolwork and in physical therapy after losing his leg. As a result, he’d been overworked and spent the last week in a completely terrible mood.
That was why he hated being summoned into the principal office, especially on Saturday and after he’d already gathered his things up, ready to go home to spend time with Eri, the only person who he actually wanted to see now.
He almost froze in shock as he entered the office, seeing All Might seared at the table there. Then his blood boiled in anger, and he almost spun on his heel and left, the consequences be damned.
Things had been different between them for a while now, yet prior to Shouta finding out the truth about One For All and his connection to Midoriya, he honestly thought they were only improving. He thought that they figured how to work together, found a common ground, and now... Shouta didn’t even know what to think about it all.
He couldn’t say he hated All Might. He’d never had. He was disapproving of many of his character traits, had seen the dangers of everyone relying on one person alone from the start, but he’d never actually hated him. Truth be told, after getting to know him, he even began liking the guy in his own, grumpy way — although no way was he ever going to admit it to anyone.
Now there was a large chasm between them once again, all because of All Might’s lies and his decision to leave U.A.
Strangely, Shouta honestly understood All Might’s reasoning, and knew that he didn’t intend to place such a burden on Midoriya. And still, he felt betrayed. It was an irrational feeling, which he couldn't understand, so instead he chose to push it away and be glad he didn’t have to interact with All Might anymore.
Up until now, of course, when Nezu waved at him and gestured to him to sit right next to him at the table.
It wasn’t a big table, and the other five remaining spots were occupied by that point. Hizashi was here, sitting on the other side from All Might. A little further from them, surrounding Nezu himself, sat Thirteen and Snipe.
Shouta didn’t say a word as he dropped into his chair. All Might attempted to greet him, but he pointedly refused to meet his eyes. He was certain his cold shoulder was hurting All Might, and he hated how petty his own behaviour was.
He knew that at one point he was going to try mending their relationship. Or, that All Might was going to try doing it. And he was going to continue trying until Shouta gave in. Secretly, he didn’t mind it, because in his entire pathetic life he’d met so few people he could call friends, and he’d already lost two people too many.
He needed to give himself a mental kick to stop being an idiot and talk to All Might. Really talk to him. He just needed some sort of a push, some kind of incentive. This push came from somewhere Shouta had never expected.
“We have a bit of a problem on our paws,” Nezu started to speak as everyone was finally seated. With that, he proceeded to pull out a sheet of paper about half the size of a newspaper page and turned it towards the people present.
It looked like a magazine article of some sort, with a photo of a painfully familiar retired hero in the center of it. ‘All Might’s Real Reason For Becoming a U.A. Teacher,’ the header of the article announced.
It didn’t look particularly strange on it’s own. In fact, Shouta had seen at least three different iterations of this particular topic. Yet, none of them had prompted Nezu to gather an emergency staff meeting either, which told Shouta that this one had been very different.
“Did the truth really make it to the outside world so fast?” All Might inquired quietly. He leaned his elbows on the table, hiding his face in the palms of his hands.
He looked so defeated that moment that despite all of the anger Shouta had felt about the entire situation he wanted to reach out, to place a reassuring hand on All Might’s shoulder. He didn’t do it, of course, just ignored the pull.
“Not entirely,” Nezu replied with a sigh. “A friend of a friend of a friend who works as a news editor had forwarded me this piece which is about to go to print tomorrow morning. It’s only a vague speculation, based on how Quirks of several individuals had been stolen, starting with the very first occurrence when the High Speed Hero O’clock lost his powers* all these years ago, and ending with the most recent ones.
“There’s absolutely no proof provided in this article,” Nezu continued, “But it goes as far as mentioning Midoriya by name and making a connection of a student with a very powerful Quirk appearing the same year as All Might had lost his own Quirk.”
All Might looked up and stared at Nezu terrified, yet he didn’t say a thing.
“This is incredibly troublesome,” Thirteen agreed. “Do you think it’s connected to the traitor who we suspect is still at the school?”
“It is a possibility,” Nezu nodded. “And even if there’s absolutely no proof in the article, it’s a respected outlet and it will make people talk. They will start speculating, and it will grow an enormous target on Midoriya’s back. Not only from villains, but from the public.”
Nezu then paced the article on the table in front of himself, and looked down, his tiny black eyes closing, his voice becoming almost pained, which Shouta had never heard from the tiny principle prior to this moment. “I know Modoriya wished to no longer be associated with our school, but with everything going on... It’s quite possible our future depends on this boy and the public’s trust in him.”
“Can we just recall the article before it’s printed?” Snipe asked. “Pull some strings to stop them?”
Hizashi clicked his tongue at that. “Nah, think about it, my man!” he said. “We’ve never attempted to stop any speculation as to why All Might here decided to join us. Not even when that stupid article about his secret love child being one of our students came out. If we do it now, that’s gonna be a dead giveaway they hit a jackpot with their story.”
Hizashi seemed cheerful again, all his mannerism returning to his usual self, yet Shouta could still see dark circles under his friend’s eyes that matched his own. He wondered if Hizashi was haunted by the same nightmares.
“You’re right,” Snipe nodded. “That indeed will be the proof they lack.”
“But what can we do?” Thirteen asked.
Nezu remained silent for a moment, then looked over at the gathered people, until his eyes settled on All Might. “I have a plan, one that might not even work, but will definitely ruin any remains of your reputation, not to mention your dignity.”
All Might looked Nezu in the eyes from across the round table, his jaw set. “As if I have any reputation left to speak of,” he shook his head finally.
Nezu nodded. “In this case we can provide the public with a diversion. Feed them a story that is going to look scandalous enough to explain why it was kept a secret, but believable enough that it would look more real than the truth.”
Everybody looked at him questionably, obviously trying to prompt him to continue with their silence. Yet, Nezu still looked unsure, to the point Shouta could swear he would've been sweating right now if not for the fact he was completely covered in fur.
“We can make a romantic relationship to be the reason you began teaching at U.A.,” he finished finally.
All Might made a strange, strained noise that definitely didn’t sound like an agreement. “Romantic relationship?” he repeated blankly.
“Yes, the reason you began teaching at the school was because you fell deeply in love with one of the staff members. You were not ready to admit it to anyone, but you wanted to be closer to her and spend more time together. It will sound very convincing, and it’s my understanding that humans very much like love stories,” he ended with a rather cheerful smile.
Shouta gaped at him, unable to believe the stupidity of this idea. Surely Nezu wasn’t serious, because that story would only be considered endearing by teenagers. Not to mention it was definitely going to bring serious negative attention to the school and to All Might. Then again, that was exactly the point of it, wasn’t it? There was no reason for Shouta to get so defensive.
“As I said, this has the potential to completely ruin your image,” Nezu sighed again.
“But it will help young Midoriya a great deal and will stop all rumors about the nature of his quirk from spreading,” All Might replied.
“And then it might start again! Did you guys think about that?” Hizashi pointed out, taping his finger at the table as if to accent the importance of his words.
“It’s true,” All Might agreed, locking his hands in front of himself, looking at nobody in particular. “I didn’t want this kind of destiny for him, I couldn't predict it, but it is as Nezu said. Our future might depend on this boy now. Even if it only will give him a head start...” he trailed off then looked directly at Nezu. “I will do it.”
“Alright, everything is peachy, I guess,” Thirteen raised their hand. “But where do we get this ‘her’ and wouldn't ‘her’ reputation be ruined even more than All Might’s?”
“This will be a much more terrible proposition from me, and I know it might not be received well, but... With Miss Kayama’s unfortunate demise—”
“No!”
Shouta was sure it was going to be Hizashi interrupting him. Even before Nezu mentioned Nemuri’s name, he could hear the leather of his friend’s gloves cracking from how hard he clenched his fists. He couldn’t blame him, because even to Shouta’s own rational brain, the idea of using Nemuri in such a way seemed completely outrageous.
Yet, it was neither Hizashi nor him who protested Nezu’s idea. All Might rose from his chair so fast, he would’ve overthrown it if it wasn’t on wheels. Instead, it ended up rolling a good meter away from under him.
“No, I will not accept it,” he said, and there was so much anger in his voice it took Shouta by complete surprise. “Miss Kayama was an outstanding hero, and a good friend, I will not allow it. You can smear my reputation as much as you want, I’ve sacrificed a lot, and I'm ready to do it again, but I will not allow anyone to spoil her memory.”
It dawned on Shouta that moment that he and Hizashi were not the only ones so personally affected by Nemuri’s death. She’d been there for All Might from the start, helping him figure out teaching when nobody else had. And Shouta had never taken it into consideration, never even acknowledged that she was one more reason for All Might to hurt.
He felt like shit because of it, but there was this strange, warm sensation that settled at the pit of Shouta's stomach, which wasn’t either pleasant or painful. At least for this moment, it completely overrode his anger, his annoyance and any other negative emotion he felt about All Might’s secrets.
“I understand,” Nezu said with a nod. “Humans value memories of their dead a great deal more than I anticipated. I apologize for even proposing it.”
All Might still stared at him for a moment, as if wondering if he needed to say something else, but finally decided to withdraw. He almost fell onto the floor, too, as his chair previously rolled away, but was saved by Hizashi who stopped him from sitting down by placing a hand on his back.
“That leaves us with the task of finding a willing candidate,” Snipe said after a while, making a gesture with his hand that looked like he was rubbing the bridge of his nose between the fingers.
“Yes,” Nezu nodded. “It will be difficult considering that at this point, I don’t think I want anyone else to know about this plan but the people present. Still, I can triple check the backgrounds of several staff members at the school, before trying to include them. We could also hire an actress, but that would present so many new challenges and ways for things to go wrong.”
“Yeah, it definitely needs to be somebody who was already on staff when you began working here,” Thirteen nodded. “Do you have somebody in mind, maybe a type preference?” they added a little more lighthearted.
Whatever warm sensation Shouta was having quickly began turning stone cold. A sick, unpleasant sensation in his gut almost overwhelmed him.
“No,” he muttered before he could think better about it and stop himself, and everyone’s attention was suddenly on him. What made it even worse, All Might’s attention was on him, making him suddenly so anxious, his back became sweaty.
“No?” All Might asked tentatively, sounding confused.
“It’s a horrible idea. You do a background check, you tell them the plan, and they refuse. We only end up with more leaks that way.”
“And what do you propose we do instead?” Nezu asked.
Shouta opened his mouth, then closed it again. “I’ll do it,” he said finally, having absolutely no idea why he did it. It was like he temporarily lost the ability to control his speech, as if somebody else took over and spoke the words instead of him.
There was a moment of stunned silence. Shouta couldn’t judge the expression on Snipe and Thirteen’s face, as they were covered by helmets. Neither could he really read Nezu’s animal face. He could, however, see the absolute shock and disbelief with which both Hizashi and All Might were looking at him.
“It’s a rational choice,” Shouta pushed. “First of all, as it was previously pointed out, the public reputation of your potential love interest is going to be destroyed. I don’t have a public reputation to begin with, so I don’t care about it. Plus, me being a man would explain why we needed to put so much effort to hide the relationship this entire time. It will get more media attention, too.”
There was even more silence that followed. All Might made another strange sound, then cleared his throat. “And... are you sure you are ok with it?” he asked tentatively.
Shouta only shrugged. He still had no idea why he decided to volunteer because he had absolutely no time for this idiocy, nor had he forgiven All Might.
Still, Midoriya was his student first and foremost. The most problematic, trouble seeking kid he’d ever worked with, but he was his. And now he needed his teacher’s support, so Shouta was going to provide it in any way he could.
“What, I’m not your type?” he asked, putting the biggest grin he could muster on his face.
All Might didn’t answer, only blushed visibly, looking at Shouta completely stunned.
***
From the opposite side of a large sitting table in the common area of the teachers’ dorm, Shouta watched All Might helping Eri. They just finished with a mathematics lesson, and were carefully packing all of the notebooks and pencils into a cat backpack that Shouta had gotten her, and that she loved very much.
That New Year night All Might had promised to help train Eri, but in truth he’d begun helping with all other day to day routines, like reading and playing with her. Or helping with homeschooling. Shouta hadn’t even realized at first how much he’d taken upon himself over the months, until he left, until Shouta’s responsibilities suddenly doubled.
And now he was back, almost as if he hadn’t left, almost as if he hadn’t spent the last week driving around dark alleyways, following his disciple. How long his current presence was going to last was unknown, so Shouta was determined not to feel relieved seeing him in a setting that somehow became familiar to him.
“Alright, it’s already past nine,” All Might smiled at her. “Time to get ready for bed.”
“I’ll go get her settled,” Thirteen volunteered. They were the only other person on the first floor of the otherwise silent common area, working beside Shouta on the next rescue project for the first years who’d been enrolled into the school for only two short weeks.
“Are you sure about it? I wouldn’t want to interrupt you,” All Might asked.
“Yes, I’m very sure. Besides, you two have your own homework for tonight,” they replied. “I’ll make sure to let everyone know to not disturb you.”
With that, they got up from their spot and quickly collected their own stack of papers, while Eri finished wishing her goodnights. And then they were gone, leaving All Might and Shouta completely alone for the first time in what felt like a very long time.
For some reason it made Shouta want to fret, yet he made sure to remain calm. There was absolutely no reason to become nervous, at least not now, not before they actually had to pretend to be a couple in front of the entire world.
“Having second thoughts?” All Might asked him, and Shouta realized that perhaps he didn’t manage to look as indifferent as he hoped.
“No,” he replied simply. And he really didn’t. Granted he did consider the idea to be stupid, but he also knew if he wasn’t going to participate, they were still going to go with it, and somebody else could end up a potential security breach, and a danger to his students.
“Do... Do you want to go upstairs, to one of our rooms?”
Shouta glanced up and saw All Might standing over him, stepping from one foot to the other, looking at Shouta expectedly. Being alone with All Might now was nerve-wracking, but the idea of ending up in one of their rooms was even worse. Shouta had absolutely no explanation for it. His only consolation was the fact All Might himself looked more terrified than he felt, and it almost made him agree just out of spite.
“No,” Shouta replied in the end, pushing his own paperwork away and pulling out a blank sheet of paper they could use to write. “It’s fine, we’re alone in here, and if anyone comes out, we’ll just pause and pretend to be inconspicuous.”
In fact, as they were going to have to keep the fact their arrangement was just a pretense from everyone, including the students and other teachers, getting caught doing something suspicious was only going to play into their hands.
All Might continued to stand there, staring at him so intently, Shouta felt like he was about to drill a hole into his forehand. “I’m going to make us some tea,” he finally proposed and shuffled towards the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Shouta occupied the time by staring at the blank paper. He clicked the button of a mechanical pencil to get the graphite kernel out of its sheath, before finally scribing a single dash to indicate his first point.
To lie to everybody about their relationship, they needed to have a believable background story, and be able to share random details from it without ending up contradicting each other. That was exactly what Nezu asked them to do as homework, before their entire plan was set in motion.
Shouta heard glassware being pulled out of a cupboard and a very quiet hum of an electric kettle being powered on. It was going to take some time before the water inside boiled, and it seemed that All Might found it more awkward to just stand in the kitchen waiting for it to happen, so he moved back into the sitting area.
“So, how did we meet?” Shouta asked, as he approached and settled down onto the couch.
All Might hummed thoughtfully at the question. “The Sky Egg accident,” he proposed. “It’s the first time I actually got to speak to you,” he added with a sigh.
Shouta raised an eyebrow, surprised All Might even remembered him after such a short exchange. He didn’t mention it however, simply writing a short note about their first meeting.
“Good. The least we lie, the easier it’s gonna be to stick to it. You then kept asking me to have lunch with you or have a drink watching cherry blossoms.” All of which did happen, just already after All Might began teaching at the school.
That for some reason made All Might chuckle. It wasn’t a particularly cheerful sound, but it was warmer than anything Shouta had heard from him in the last two weeks. “Sounds good to me.”
“I kept refusing, but was slowly starting to warm up to you. I also had no idea it was you,” Shouta continued writing down the thought. “Didn’t know you were All Might at the time.”
“Yes, I was in my true form when we first spoke.”
“No, I mean, for our relationship background. I began liking you for who you were instead of for being All Might. It makes for a more dramatic story.”
“Ah,” All Might responded a little dumbfounded, then after a pause, a shy smile crossed his features. “You know, you got quite a talent. You could’ve been a romance novel writer.”
Shouta couldn’t help but to roll his eyes on that. “Yeah, the world of smutty literature has truly suffered a loss the day I decided to be a hero.”
That made All Might chuckle once again, but this time it sounded so much warmer and more sincere, Shota felt the same soft something swirling in his stomach.
“So, and why did you start liking me?” he asked, trying to get his head space back into the right gear.
“I....” All Might huffed, straightening his back, a tiny trace of blush appearing on his face. “You never had problems telling me what you thought and how you felt. You’ve never cut me any slack. Everybody else treated me like I was some sort of god, and it might sound flattering, but in truth, it only created a divide between me and everyone else, it pushed people away. You’re the one of very few who made me feel human again.”
“That’s pretty poetic, too,” Shouta agreed, writing it down. “But it’s not exactly match with me not knowing who you were as we began dating.”
“No,” All Might agreed. “But it’s the truth.”
The kernel of the pencil suddenly snapped, Shouta’s face turning completely red. He was sitting there feeling his heart pounding in his chest, sweat appearing on his temples.
He had no idea why this confession affected him so much, he saw no reason for it. Perhaps it was because hearing approval of his actions from somebody like All Might held a meaning.
The electric kettle meanwhile began boiling and turned itself off with a soft click that sounded incredibly loud in the silence that fell between them. Thankfully, it managed to pull Shouta out of his stupor as well, and he took a deep breath, trying to collect his thoughts.
All Might left the sitting area once again, and Shouta heard him pouring the tea into the cups. He was back much sooner this time, and his gait became significantly lighter, the shuffling decreasing to the point it almost disappeared.
“Are you sure about this? I really don’t want to drag you down with me like that.” He asked when he returned, placing a steaming mug on the table in front of Shouta.
Shouta only shrugged in response, wondering what other kind of information they needed to flesh out before it all went down. Then pushed the papers away deciding the small break was in order. “As I said, I don’t care about my reputation.”
All Might turned another shade redder, fidgeting uncomfortably on his chair. “Didn’t you have a... umm, girlfriend?” he asked tentatively, his eyes moving around the room, looking at everything but Shouta himself. “I think somebody from the class mentioned... Miss Joke.”
Shouta groaned after that, annoyed that one of his students decided to spread this rumor around. He could even guess who it was. Also annoyed at Emi for continuing to joke about it. “No, she isn’t my girlfriend,” he said, then thought about it and added. “You know, I am actually gay.”
All Might blinked, his eyes going wider. It took him a moment to process the new information, yet there wasn’t anything judgemental in his expression the entire time. “Ah, I see,” he said. “I had no idea. I mean, I guess, it’s not something you can tell just by looking.”
“Mmm,” Shouta agreed. “And you?” Because really, it was a legitimate question given their situation and they needed to know these kinds of details. Everyone of course always assumed he was not only the symbol of peace, but also masculinity and heterosexuality, but as All Might said, it was impossible to tell just by looking.
All Might almost jumped on his seat, his face going redder. “I... I am actually unsure.”
“Unsure?” Shouta repeated slowly, feeling a little astonished.
“Well, I never really have time to have a relationship or anything like that,” he tried to explain, fretting the entire time.
“Anything like that,” Shouta nodded, also trying to wrap his mind around All Might’s words. “Are you a virgin?” he asked before he could even think about it.
This time All Might almost fell off the couch, beginning to cough so violently, Shouta began worrying he did something terribly wrong.
“So blunt! N... nooo,” he finally managed. “Not... technically.”
Shouta took a deep breath trying to make sense of words that seemingly had none. Of course, usually he would’ve been of the opinion it wasn’t his business, and he really needed to draw a line somewhere between inquiring about All Might’s orientation, and actually fishing for details. “There are other ways to be a virgin?”
All Might's face was bright red by this point, he wasn’t even able to cover it by hiding it in his palms. Then he shook his head and looked at Shouta amused. “Well, it depends. Does one's virginity be lost when you.. ahem... started, or when you.. umm, finished?”
Shouta frowned, his mind working double time trying to understand what he meant. Did All Might have some sort of erectile dysfunction? Then it suddenly dawned on him and he himself was ready to fall off the couch. “Did some sort of emergency go off while you were in the middle of it?”
There was no answer this time, All Might simply looked at him rather bemused, which on his own was an answer enough. It was so ridiculous, and so very All Might, that Shouta began laughing. It wasn’t a full blown laughter per se but a quiet snickering, but it was the most honest laughter that he remembered having in years.
“Fine, I have to admit it wasn’t really my only sexual experience, but I thought it would make for a funny story. One that I never had an opportunity to tell anybody, for obvious reasons.”
“You know, you didn’t have to explain this one to me either. I mean, I don’t think anybody would ever ask us about our sex lives.”
“That’s so very innocent of you to think so,” All Might responded with a kind of blank amusement that told Shouta that he’d been utterly and incredibly wrong. And also made him suddenly doubt his decision to play along.
All Might chuckled again. “Don’t worry, those are mostly from fans and answering them is in fact not something we will need to worry about.” His voice turned more serious again, yet still soft, almost melancholic. “It’s still nice. I have too many stories I couldn’t tell anybody for a long time. Not of that kind, just in general. To be honest it was the most difficult part of being Number One.”
Shouta looked him up and down, noting that for the first time in a while he looked relaxed. There was still the kind of exhaustion to him that he carried for years, decades even, more so after the recent events, but for now, in this moment he looked... almost good.
“So, what about you?” he asked.
“What about me?”
“Well,” All Might began awkwardly, bringing his index fingers together. “You have... experience.”
Shouta blinked at the question, then a wide smile spread over his face. “Some, but I thought you said we don't need answering this kind of question,” he said, feeling suddenly puckish, and for some reason proud of himself.
The expression on All Might’s face was absolutely worth it, too.