Chapter Text
Shota sighed as the last person entered the meeting room. His normally controlled emotions were warring in his chest at seeing all of his dead co-workers (friends) alive and happier than the last few times he’d seen them, right before the End of everything (the way Izuku referred to the future was catchy, okay?).
He wasn’t dreading the emotionally charged conversation as much as he would have two years ago though. Shota reckoned he went soft after prolonged time with the problem child. Izuku called him “more in touch with his emotions” or something equally sappy like that. But it was fine. If being emotionally vulnerable would stop the future that left only two people in the whole of Japan alive, it was a worthy sacrifice.
Damn, his eyes have never felt more refreshed from all the crying he’d been doing lately (with both eyes) so really, it’s a win-win.
The idle chatter around the long table silenced as Nezu raised a paw, and stood to address the room.
“Thank you all for coming with such short notice. I am aware that you all need to start heading towards your classes in around forty minutes, but I trust you know that if this meeting could have been had later, it would be.”
Shota watched as the teachers nodded in slight confusion. As his eyes caught one (1) Toshinori Yagi, his brain took a second to reboot. Oops. Maybe he should have asked the kid to come, his dignity aside. Well, really, he just thought the kid needed some time to come to terms with seeing his class again. Shota was still coming to terms with seeing his co-workers, let alone his class. But he had clearly forgotten a, very tiny, major detail to do with a certain number one hero. Like, oh, Shota didn’t know, the fact that his successor travelled in time maybe? And that his archnemesis’ successor was the reason for the End of the world as he knew it?
Welp. Shota was on his own for this. Joy.
As he slumped in his seat, Nemuri and Hizashi caught his gaze questioningly from their seats across the table. He nodded tiredly at them, and their faces shifted to looks of grim understanding. This meeting would not be easy.
As that exchange occurred, Vlad King mumbled “if there’s another attack being planned on the first years, I’m gonna flip my shit.”
Aizawa snorted. Some of the more expressive teachers (that was most of them) eerily turned their heads in sync with wide eyes to look at Shota. He raised an eyebrow in confusion. Their jaws dropped. Colour Shota officially lost.
He grumbled, “What is with you lot?”
Vlad pointed a finger between himself and Shota in complete befuddlement “I- you- I- You! What… huh?” Oh, great he’s broken.
Powerloader, the ever reliable vlad interpreter, translated the sentiment. “Eraser… you found something Vlad said funny. Your face changed shape.”
Shota’s eyes narrowed in profound confusion.
Powerloader screeched. “There! It happened again!”
Shota couldn’t even. “What the absolute fuck,” he vehemently breathed.
When he looked over to Nemuri and Hizashi for help, he found them cackling in their seats. He leaned his elbows on the table and held his head like he would if he had a migraine. He stared blankly at the table. It was too early for this. He wanted coffee, his kid, and to go home. In that order. Who cares about time travel and stopping the end of the world? His co-workers had lost their minds. Was this the new normal? He refused to deal with this on a daily basis.
While wallowing in self-pity, Shota failed to notice something vital to him at that moment. Prolonged exposure to Izuku, and only Izuku, had induced a change in Shota. Of all things, Shota was mumbling. The fatal flaw? It was slower than Izuku’s, on account of his forever low energy levels, making it coherent to his co-workers.
Nemuri and Hizashi had promptly ceased their cackling and were now waving their arms around in a frantic attempt to grab Shota’s attention. They were on their own. He was too far gone.
Nezu watched on from his position at the head of the conference table with a pleasant smile. What an interesting turn of events. Enough time had passed though, and they needed to get to the heart of the matter, inadvertently revealed by Aizawa, who seemed to be struggling a bit there.
Nezu tinked a tea cup that wasn’t there before. The room silenced once again, save for Aizawa’s desperate mumbles.
“I do believe instead of continuing as we have been, we should get to the heart of the issue. Aizawa-kun, if you will.”
Shota raised his head tiredly. He didn’t manage to get a word in before All Might coughed.
“Sorry Aizawa-kun, it only just hit me what you said.” Aizawa raised a brow confusedly while Yagi hesitated. “...Time travel?”
Aizawa blinked. “I haven’t said anything yet have I? How-?”
Half the room returned to chaos at the confirmation. Two specific staff members elected to laugh at the tired man again.
“Eraser! You were mumbling!” Mic laughed.
Shota frowned. “I don’t mumble.”
Midnight smirked coyly. “Not before you didn’t… it seems you’ve spent too much time around your kid.”
Aizawa’s eyes widened. Oh. The kid’s infected him… in more ways than one. That also means Shota has no idea what information his colleagues now have and which they don’t. Are his days of underground heroism over? He can’t afford to be so careless with important information. Well, hopefully he’s just comfortable here and won’t mumble on missions. Right now he really needs to get this meeting on track. It’s been completely derailed and now he only has around twenty minutes left to get the basics out, field questions, and ask that they all stay after school for a longer meeting with the kid. Speaking of…
“Senpai, you have a kid?!”
Thank you Thirteen, he very much appreciates you normally but you’re really not helping right now. He could feel the energy in the room rising again, so he stood up and let a quirk-fuelled glare sweep the space. Seriously, they’re pro heroes, not highschoolers.
“Alright. It’s been around twenty minutes already, and we’ve only scraped the surface of the reason why I asked for you all to be here.” He felt Snipe ready to interject. “Please ask your questions after I’ve finished talking.”
Finally, the staff of the prestigious hero school put on their serious faces, and Shota felt like he could actually speak now.
“What you all heard was correct. Myself, and one of the students in my class both travelled back in time, from two years in the future, to yesterday.”
He gave a pause to let them wrap their heads around the specific information before continuing.
“As I told Nezu, the future is bad. The events that led to that bad future occur near the end of this year, but as we are now, the pieces leading to that future are already in motion. The kid and I intend to stop them.”
The room sobered, knowing they were on track to a future bad enough for Eraserhead to be shaken.
“In the six months between the end of this year and the next, every single person in Japan had died, barring me and my student.”
He made intense eye contact with all the heroes. The weight in his gaze alluded to just how truthful the man was being.
“It goes without saying that I cannot allow this to be our future from where we are now.”
Sounds of assent circled the room. Aizawa relaxed his stance.
“I’ve already spoken to Nezu about this, but I’d like to go over the events in-depth in another meeting after the school day finishes. Of course, the kid will be here too.”
He glanced at the clock.
“We’ve got just under ten minutes to answer any of your burning questions. Go.”
Cementoss hesitated before raising his hand to speak.
“I see how truthful you’re being, and I understand that the importance of this situation cannot be understated… but why are you telling us now instead of telling us everything at once after the day ends?”
Aizawa resisted bringing a palm his forehead. He had forgotten to mention the main reason why he and the kid agreed to let the staff know the situation as soon as possible. He sat on the conference chair heavily.
“Right. The heart of the reason is that the kid and I are not going to act like the people you knew yesterday, because we’re not.” Eraserhead struggled over what he was going to say next. He was not used to being this vulnerable.
He also realised his worries were illogical. After living a life without them, he knew it was better to let them in. Be vulnerable. For all his aloofness, he did care about all of his co-workers. They’d been working together for so long he would consider most friends.
Though, he supposed that at this point in time he and All Might hadn’t had their “bonding moments” (thanks, Izuku), but, well, they were all good heroes. Good people. They would do right by him.
“The events that led to the End were emotionally draining, and without a doubt, the hardest, most traumatic situations we’ve been through. Me and the kid.” He hesitated, and breathed. “We need help. We need understanding. And sometimes, we might get overwhelmed, and need space.”
For the first time ever, Shota bowed to his colleagues and said, “Please take care of us.”
There wasn’t a dry eye in the room after that.
With falling tears, Hizashi and Nemuri rounded the table to hold on to Shota. He looked up to see Recovery girl fronting the rest of the UA faculty. With both hands, she gently reached to take one of Shota’s own. Vehemently, she spoke for all of them.
“Of course we will. Leave it to us.”
~~~~~~
When the occupants of the room felt calm enough, they prepared to head to their classes to officially start the school day.
Snipe was the first to reach the door, but just as he was about to go through it, he paused, and turned.
“Eraser… which kid of yours is the one we need to look out for?”
He felt Hizashi and Nemuri’s demeanours change instantly from sombre, to that of little gremlins from their positions on either side of him.
Ah. His dignity.
“Yeah Eraser, which kid is yours?”
Hizashi, you traitor.
Not so luckily for Shota, his colleagues picked up on the nuance of her tone.
“Senpai, did you adopt your student?! Is that the child you were talking about seeing before?”
Thirteen noooo. Why must she be so earnest and put Shota in the position to admit he basically had adopted the kid.
He tried to escape by hiding his face in his capture weapon and leaving through the window, but Hizashi and Nemuri would. not. let. him. go.
Nemuri laughed. “Shota, you're only making it worse for yourself by reacting this way.”
He froze. She was right. For once, she was the one speaking sense. She was the voice of reason in their relationship right now. She was being the logical one.
Welp. He was screwed.
Face still in his capture weapon, he mumbled out a “Midoriya.”
He could sense the other’s confusion, as well as his best friend’s mischievous joy.
Shota gave a hidden pout. A bit louder this time. “Midoriya.”
Thirteen lit up.
“Aww is Midoriya your child now Senpai?”
He just knew the other teachers were about to coo at him. Just because he was being more open than he used to be does not mean he was about to lose the respect (fear) his colleagues had of him. He would not be treated like he was cute. He summoned his resting face.
“Yes. Midoriya is my kid.” Teasing incoming. “Touch him and you die.” A wave of respect (fear) throughout the room. Perfect.
And with that, Aizawa left the room, seemingly as unbothered as ever, passing a frozen Snipe, who felt the primal urge to run in the other direction as Eraserhead brushed right past him.
Unaffected, Nezu chirped a goodbye as he returned to his office, suggesting as he went past that the teachers go to their classes soon, lest they end up being late. A mad dash to leave the room ensued, and the topic was, for now, put to rest.
They just have to survive the school day, and hope that whatever they hear at the end of it does not make them lose their faith in humanity.