Chapter Text
“I'm gonna kill that rat.”
The small, windowless office was dark, lit only by the light of the computer screen. A list of names, 90% of which were now highlighted green, covered half the screen and hundreds of files covered the other. He'd been at this all night and Aizawa was exhausted, again. As soon as the thought of a traitor had been brought up by his husband, he knew he'd be in for trouble. The glint in Nezu’s beady little eyes sent his way after dismissing the idea only confirmed it.
Who would have known that such a massive villain attack and its subsequent kidnapping of his student would have such tiring consequences for him? Shota thought being forced in front of hundreds of reporters and cameras for a press release instead of helping to save his student had been punishment enough. The universe, and Nezu, thought otherwise.
‘Still, that camp should have been hidden and secret enough that there had to be an information leak for it to be found by the League. It's not wrong for Zashi to assume there's a traitor.’
Background checks weren't exactly easy, but they weren't difficult either. They were just time consuming and time was something Shota barely had in the first place. Between his patrols and classes, he barely had time to sleep as was. Now he had over 1000 students to dig up dirt on too.
‘It’s lucky that Skycrawler is back in Japan’
Although he'd never admit to missing the kid, Shota had missed his help keeping parts of Japan safe at night. He was also happy to see an actual license this time. It didn't mean he was able to get any more sleep than usual due to his new assignment, but it did mean he had less to worry about when taking patrols off to work on it.
He'd been working on this for months now with no luck. He hadn't even been able to enjoy the school festival his students had worked so hard for and their complaints about that were another reason he'd kill the rat.
‘If I have to hear about missing that festival one more time, I'm gonna skewer Nezu and roast him on a fire.’
He didn't mean it, but it was hard to not be frustrated due to all of the stress he was under. Another source, though a more pleasant one, was currently sleeping in his lap, head tucked under his chin.
The Shie Hassaikai raid had been a shit show, successful or not, and the death of Sir Nighteye and Lemillion losing his quirk were highlights of their failures. Still, Eri was a far greater highlight of their success and hearing that she finally smiled at the Cultural Festival had warmed his cold dead heart back to life. If he ever admitted to liking someone more than his husband, as annoying as Zashi was, she was the only candidate. He had a soft spot for kids. Hard not to when working as a teacher.
The stress she offered came in the form of intensive quirk training that he always had to be present for and nightmares. They made it hard for her to sleep, especially if he wasn't around. That had made working on his project on his nights off from patrol extra challenging until he finally gave in and let her join him for his research. It's not like she'd share any private information, she was still learning to read. She also spent most of these nights passed out as she was now.
It wasn't the most comfortable position for Shota, but it did come with the benefit of fixing his computer chair posture. He'd be damned if Zashi called him Shrimpta after Eri’s nightmares eventually subsided.
Focusing back on the work in front of him, Shota opened Midoriya's middle school file for information. He'd begun with general studies and ended with heroics, his own class specifically, since he had so much more time and ability to keep an eye on them as opposed to even his husband and protege’s class. He adored Shinso, almost as much as a son (just as much according to his husband), but his school experiences made him a viable villain candidate. He'd never tell Shinso that to be fair; the kid had the makings of an underground hero, but to clear his own paranoia he'd checked Shinso’s background first.
It'd been a rough read, especially the stories of abuse and foster homes. Despite that, the background check came up clean. Not even a tardy mark on his record. It was needless to say that the adoption papers had been filled out without Zashi’s knowledge but with his already inferred approval. It'd be a quick process, Eri’s had been after all. That may have been the only thing keeping Aizawa from killing Nezu actually.
Getting back to Midoriya's file, it was so average that he almost moved on when he noticed something that didn't line up with the student he knew: a disciplinary notice. Not ordinary on its own, but hundreds of additional disciplinary notices lit up the file like a minefield in a hail storm the further down he scrolled. He'd never seen a student with this many notices and he'd had hundreds of problem students. Then again, it didn't make sense because THIS problem child was only such because of an annoyingly powerful quirk and a hero complex almost as large as their self-sacrificial instincts.
What surprised him more were the contents of the notices. “Bullying his peers,” “starting fights,” “creating distractions in class.” It didn't line up with the borderline abuse victim behavior he'd observed at the beginning of the school year and should have been grounds for expulsion. Then why was his graduation certificate staring Shota in the eye at the bottom of the file? It especially didn't line up with how Midoriya and Bakugou spoke and acted around each other. He'd have expected it to be swapped, but Bakugou’s file had been mysteriously clear of incidents. Maybe coming to UA had changed their dynamic? That felt like a stretch, but it was the only idea that could make their behaviors make sense in Aizawa’s head.
‘A big fish finding themselves without their usual crowd and becoming meek and a lone wolf lashing out after years of torment? I don't know, something just seems off about that.’
Midoriya's behavior had been too kind and welcoming to Bakugou and their peers.
‘I’ll have to look further into this.’
He had planned to do just that until the alarm on his phone startled him and caused Eri to stir from her peaceful sleep. He'd lost track of time.
“Papa…” Eri groaned as she wiped the sleep from her eyes, using the nickname Zashi had encouraged her to call him. Zashi wanted to be “Dad or Daddy” so he'd been adamant that she call Aizawa “Papa.” Sadly for Zashi, Eraserhead’s nickname for him had stuck in Eri’s head.
“Good morning, Eri. I didn't mean to wake you up so suddenly,” he apologized.
“It's okay, Papa,” she yawned, glancing at his screen with wide, curious eyes. “Why are you looking at a picture of Deku-nee?”
Aizawa sighed. This was gonna be hard to explain.
“Remember that project I mentioned I was working on every time you come in here to sleep by me?” Eri nodded. “This is that. I can't tell you anything about it really, though. I've just been looking at students’ past school files as a part of it.”
“Is that why Deku-nee looks younger?” it was Aizawa’s turn to nod.
“Yep. I've been reading through his middle school records, but I shouldn't really be talking to you about this, so let's just focus on waking up Zashi and getting breakfast.”
And with that, Aizawa stood, lifting Eri into his arms and looping them under her to sit on. She happily accepted, resting her head on his shoulder before looking pensive and glancing back at the screen.
“Something wrong, Eri?” he gently prodded. Eri was a worrier, it was better to figure out what was bothering her and help assuage her. Waiting until after breakfast would only make it harder to get through to her.
“....His…” she hesitated. Aizawa immediately knew which “He” she was speaking of. “ Why was…His…His favorite word on Deku-nee’s…fi-...file?” she looked to him for confirmation that she had used the right word before glancing back at the screen again.
“Favorite word? What's that?”
“Quirkless,” Eri stated matter of factly, unaware of the time bomb she had just unintentionally armed. Aizawa's head almost snapped off his body as it snapped back to look at the screen. Sure enough, in plain black text where a red hyperlink should have been was the word “Quirkless.” He was left speechless.
“I…don't know…” he answered hesitantly.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing for you to worry about. If it is an issue, I'll handle it,” he was in full damage control, Eri was on the verge of meltdown and he could sense it. Midoriya was a sensitive topic and if she deemed something was wrong with him she would panic, tears were already threatening to spill as she stared fearful of her next question.
“Does it mean He would have liked Deku-nee before they fought?” Now that was an interesting question. Shota had to think it over.
“Maybe, but what I think is more important is that Midoriya still would not have liked him, especially if he had known about you and what was happening.” This seemed to calm Eri and she quickly wiped at her eyes to try and remove any proof of her tears before they woke up Zashi.
As much as he tried to enjoy breakfast and keep up with the conversation, he couldn't focus. Mere minutes ago the puzzle had been in a pile in his head, too unmanageable to even attempt to solve. Then, Eri had pointed out the one piece that created the picture and the other pieces starting clicking into place. Taking advantage of his Sunday, he rushed back to the computer after Togata picked up Eri to check on one more document.
The first quirk form with a registered quirk for Izuku Midoriya was submitted 2 months before the entrance exam. It all made sense now.
A supervillain mastermind who has been hiding behind the scenes for years rebuilding power with his quirk that allowed him to steal and give quirks after All Might had nearly killed him who knows how long ago. A quirkless boy with an apparent mean streak who “awakened” a quirk 2 months before a hero school entrance exam and arrived with an entirely opposite personality. There was only one conclusion.
Izuku Midoriya was the UA traitor.
Shota returned to the coffee machine, emotions a burning wreck hidden behind his trained poker face. It was lucky that Zashi, the only person who could call out his emotionless mask, was always busy at the radio station on Sundays. He had so many questions, but 2 stood out above the rest:
'Is Izuku Midoriya intentionally acting as the traitor or is he being forced into it and how long do I have before the mask drops and he's an active danger to the class?’
Shota hit the espresso button a third time and texted Iida to gather the rest of 1A in the common room. Midoriya was out “visiting his mother” today, so Shota only had this one chance to prepare his students for what he believed could be a looming war.
He couldn't lose any of them like he had Oboro.