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wanderer5ao3 · 6 years

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What We Learn Along The Way

Chapter One

The past few weeks had been awful. Izuku Midoriya sighed and scrubbed the heels of his hands over his tired eyes, barely suppressing the urge to yawn.

He glanced over at the clock and groaned. The bright red numbers taunting him with how little sleep he would get tonight. He hasn’t been able to go to bed at a decent time for the past few days, overwhelming stress feeding into his overcrowded brain and making it hard to function, let alone flourish.

He rolled his chair away from his disaster of a desk and rose to his feet, sluggishly making his way to the kitchen. He didn’t turn on any of the lights, his body moving through the small apartment on muscle memory.

There was nothing worth eating in the fridge, same as the last three times he’d checked. He half smiled, huffing out a small laugh. Not sure why I bothered, it’s not like something’s going to magically appear.

He stretched his arms high over his head, grunting as he felt several spots on his back pop. His body ached from the hours he spent hunched at his desk making lesson plans, replying to emails, and grading papers. This was Izuku’s third year teaching third grade at Mayfield Elementary School and he was so close to tenure he could taste it.

Normally he would have all this work done before he left the school, but there was an especially problematic student in his class that was making his life incredibly difficult. They were only two weeks into the school year and there were several meetings with the student and his legal guardian, not to mention the IEP meetings, Principal visits, and trips to the guidance counselors and school resource officer.

Midoriya was at his wits end- he had never dealt with such a destructive force of nature before. Kota Izumi was a very difficult child to reach out to, and not for lack of trying. Izuku was a kind, patient man and did his best to accommodate the needs of his students but it was becoming increasingly difficult to give the other nineteen students the attention they deserved when a single student consumed his time.

Not to mention the fact that Kota often lashed out, pushing classmates, throwing books, even going as far as to punch Izuku in the groin when he tried to pull Kota off another student.

The man grimaced at the memory and grabbed a half empty bag of Doritos from the cabinet. He made his way back to his bedroom, sliding down into the uncomfortable black rolling chair. Staring at the mess of papers covering his desk he sighed and started to sort them into separate piles, paperclipping them together. He was almost able to see the top of his beaten-up wooden desk again when his computer chirped at him.

Frowning, he reached for the mouse and pulled up his email. His large, green eyes widened when he saw it was from the Principal and he quickly opened it.

Kota Izumi IEP Update To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] From: Shouta Aizawa Subj: Kota Izumi IEP Update

Izuku,

I received confirmation this evening that the special aide Ms. Sosaki requested for Kota has been approved and selected. He will be at the school tomorrow to fill out paperwork and tour the school. He will begin working with Kota tomorrow afternoon under the supervision of the guidance counselor, so Kota will not be in class after lunch. Both Kota and his new aide will be present in class on Friday so be aware there may be an adjustment period. I expect frequent reports on the effectiveness of the aide in keeping Kota in check while allowing you to maintain control over your other students.

Principal Aizawa

Izuku smiled as he typed out a cheerful response. They had been talking about bringing in someone to deal specifically with Kota for the past week. Kota’s aunt had been very insistent that whoever they brought in was specialized in dealing with the extreme aggression brought on by the recent loss of both his parents.

Principal Aizawa never mentioned the aide’s name, but Izuku just assumed it was the email address that had been Cc’d. He glanced at it again and smiled when he saw his Alma Mater, UA University.

He had finished top of his class in May of 2016 with a Bachelors degree in education and got the job at Mayfield immediately after graduation, starting his first year as a teacher that fall.

He felt a wave of relief wash over him. If the aide graduated from UA as well, he must be good. It was the best university in America and had a very small acceptance rate. He felt better too, knowing that they would already have something in common.

The aide’s primary focus would be Kota, but Izuku couldn’t deny his excitement at having another adult around to give him a mental break from the litany of questions that his eight and nine-year-old students constantly threw his way. He loved his job dearly, but you can only hear the same jokes repeated so many times before you questioned your sanity.

Izuku hit send and closed his laptop, blinking at the sudden darkness. He slowly made his way over to his bed, shedding his clothes as he walked until he was only wearing a pair of dark grey boxer briefs. He flopped down on the bed, the mattress’s old springs squealing in protest, and surrounded himself in his dark blue comforter.

His eyes were only closed for a moment but when he opened them again the room was slowly filling with the soft light of dawn. He bolted upright and reached for his phone, panic gripping his chest.

Groaning, he flopped back down, watching as the numbers went from 6:59 to 7:00 and his alarm shattered the silence. With a roll of his eyes, he made his way to the bathroom and started to get ready for the day. He couldn’t do much about the dark shadows that were starting to form under his eyes, so he focused his attention on the unruly mass of greenish black curls that were tangled and puffy from tossing and turning during the night.

He let the hot water relax his muscles, closing his eyes and relishing the feeling. He ran a large comb through his hair after he conditioned it and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his hips. He wiped the fog from the mirror and sprayed the leave in conditioner his mom had always insisted he use in his damp curls, then left them to air dry.

Izuku mentally thanked his principal for having such a casual dress code for the teachers. He hated wearing collared shirts and working with third graders his nice clothes would just be destroyed anyway. Putting on a pair of dark denim skinny jeans and a white t-shirt that had the word t-shirt written in black across the chest, he then threw on a grey cardigan that was a few sizes too big and pushed the sleeves up to his elbows.

The final touch were his red high-top sneakers with black laces, his favorite shoes since his mom bought them for him in high school. It was such a small thing, but it helped him feel close to her since she passed away when he started college.

His father was never in his life, so he hadn’t felt the loss for him like he did when the cancer took his mom. It was the little things that would remind him of her, they made him smile softly at her memory and helped him feel a little less lonely.

He grabbed a chocolate pop-tart as he headed out the door and slung his laptop bag over his shoulder, patting his pockets to make sure his wallet, keys, and phone were all accounted for. He made his way to the elevator, not wanting to take the stairs down from the fifth floor of his apartment building.

His eyes saw without seeing, his morning uneventful and routine. He wasn’t much of a morning person to begin with, but his recent lack of adequate sleep had been throwing him for a loop.

He was hurled back into reality when he tried to pull into what he thought was an empty parking space only to find that a black and orange motorcycle was hidden by the surrounding cars. Slamming on the brakes a second too late, the front of his car ran into the back tire of the motorcycle, causing the bike to lurch forward.

A tall, leather jacket clad figure jumped back, throwing his arms up in an aggressive way and turned towards Izuku’s car. Green eyes widening in horror, Izuku covered his mouth with his hands and took several deep breaths as he realized what happened and tried not to panic.

The tall figure made his way to the driver’s side door, tearing off the black helmet and revealing spiky ash-blond hair and fierce red eyes. The man’s face was pulled into a furious scowl and the window muffled the sounds of his angry screams.

Izuku’s hand shook slightly as he unbuckled his seatbelt and went to open the door, requests for forgiveness flowing from his lips in rapid succession. The blonde man ripped open the door before Izuku got the chance and grabbed a fistful of his t-shirt, pulling him up and slamming his back against the car.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM YOU PIECE OF SHIT? WHY THE HELL WEREN’T YOU PAYING ATTENTION?”

The blond’s deep voice carried across the empty parking lot and rang in Izuku’s ears as he tried to apologize but the man was speaking over him.

“I’m sorry I’m so, so, SO sorry, I don’t know what happened, I thought the spot was empty and I just pulled in without thinking. Did I wreck your bike? Are you okay? I’m so incredibly sorry…” Izuku had trailed off, mumbling a steady stream of apologies as tears trickled down his freckled cheeks.

The blond paused, confusion passing over his face before being replaced by annoyance. He released his grip on Izuku’s shirt and quickly made his way back to the bike, checking it over for damage. Izuku stood nervously by his car, the back half of it still blocking the aisle.

He didn’t know what to do so he started to run his fingers through his hair only to inwardly curse himself for messing up his curls. When the blonde stomped back towards him, Izuku backed up into the side of his car, preparing himself for another round of angry cursing.

The man opened his mouth only to be cut off by the sound of a long, flat chime that signaled that school was about to start. His eyes hardened, scowling so deeply it almost looked like a snarl.

“You’re lucky nothing’s damaged and I have somewhere to be. You better hope I never see your fucking face again.”

The man stormed off and Izuku exhaled, deflating slightly. With shaking hands, he opened the car door and sat down, reversing from his poor parking job and found a new spot a few aisles over. He grabbed his laptop bag and ran inside, barely making it into his classroom before the late bell.

Despite the morning's rough start, class was normal. Kota was difficult but not as bad as usual. Eri had a meltdown when some of the children made fun of the birthmark on her forehead, a small triangular mark that was light brown in color. Izuku pulled her over to a corner and got down on her level, asking her what was wrong.

“They said it looked like a horn, and only monsters have horns!”

Izuku looked away for a moment before an idea popped into his head. “That’s not true, it doesn’t look like a horn Eri. But did you know that there are magical creatures that have horns?"

The girl raised her head to look at her teacher, her small hands fiddling with the long white hair that sat in twin braids over her shoulders. “No, what kind of magical creature?” She sniffled as she spoke.

Izuku smiled, and leaned closer, as if he was letting her in on an important secret. “Unicorns!”

The girl’s face lit up and she started to giggle. “So, if my mark makes me a unicorn, what do your marks make you?”

Izuku paused for a moment, thinking about what mythical creatures had large amounts of freckles on their face and body. “I’m not sure Eri, why don’t you think about it during lunch and tell me later!”

The girl cheerfully agreed and walked back to her desk. Once everyone was calm again he went back to the lesson. A little while later the bell rang. The students grabbed their money and lunch boxes from their cubbies and Izuku led them single file to the lunchroom. Once the lunch monitors counted all twenty students, Izuku made his way to the teacher’s lounge to have his own lunch.

“IZUKU! Man, you look like crap! You haven’t been sleeping well again, have you?”

A loud, friendly voice jerked Izuku back to reality. The green haired man laughed self-depreciatingly and rubbed the back of his neck. Turning to face the large, muscular redhead who was leaning against the employee fridge, Izuku noticed a few other teachers seated at the small circular table.

The redhead who had spoken to him was Eijirou Kirishima, the gym teacher. He was around 6’5” and pure muscle, towering over Izuku’s 5’9” frame. Izuku was by no means scrawny, he worked out when he could and ran quite often. He just didn’t build bulk muscle as easily as Eijirou did and was much leaner than the redhead.

Glancing back at the table he saw Ochaco Uraraka, a petite young woman with rosy cheeks and short brown hair. She has an incredibly bubbly attitude and her students love how silly she can be.

She taught third grade as well, along with Iida Tenya, a tall man with glasses and blue-black hair, neatly styled in a conservative cut. He was rather strict at times but his students all respected him, and they knew they could always come to him for help.

Then there was Mina Ashido, the art teacher. She had wild pink curls that were never frizzy which brought out Izuku’s petty jealous side and she had lots of dark eyeliner smudged around her bright yellow eyes. She was very interesting to look at, often wearing excessive amounts of glitter and blush, but she managed to make it work. Most of the kids thought she was strange but Mina had a small cult following of students who idolized her.

“It’s been a rough start to the year, most of my students are great but I have one in particular that is giving me a hard time.” Izuku sighed, leaning against the counter that faced the trio seated at the table.

“Unfortunately, dealing with the disciplinary issues is causing me to fall behind on my grading and lesson plans. Which is why I’ve been staying up late to try and catch up. Heh, I wish my lunch break was long enough to take a nap if I’m being honest!”

The green haired teacher had opened the fridge and was searching for his lunchbox when he realized that it was in his fridge at home. Groaning, he swung the door shut and made his way to the table, claiming the empty chair next to Ochaco.

Ochaco placed a hand on his shoulder. “Izuku, did you forget your lunch again?” The young man smiled sheepishly at his friend as she shook her head and softly sighed. She ignored his protests and placed half of her sandwich, her apple, and half of her cookie in front of him. Izuku smiled and thanked her. As he began to eat, Mina went back to the story she had been telling before he came into the lounge.

“So, after Kyoka sent the kids home with the recorders and workbooks she gets like, five calls from pissed off parents complaining about the noise and how dare she assign something so annoying bla bla bla. I don’t know why the parents complain, she sends out an email and sends a note home with each kid.”

Ochaco nodded her head emphatically. “Right! I hate it when they complain about stupid things that we go out of our way to inform them about! Like, no matter how many emails, notes in their planners, or reminder slips I send out I always have at least one or two parents who freak out and claim they had no idea our school had a science fair and that the students would have to participate for a grade.”

Izuku was listening, but his thoughts were on the owner of the motorcycle he had rear-ended this morning. He had been so focused on teaching that he was barely able to think about it but now that he was going over the event he was getting anxious.

Who was that man? Was his bike actually okay? He didn’t seem like the type of guy to lie to make me feel better, but I’m not sure. I can’t believe I was so out of it this morning, I really need to get it together. I even forgot my own lunch.... That guy was strong. I wasn’t expecting to get man-handled this morning…but I might have deserved it a little for running into his motorcycle.

He snapped out of his thoughts when Iida and Ochaco started to get up from the table and throw away their trash. Izuku glanced up at the clock and sucked in a breath, turning back to his half-eaten lunch and scarfing it down.

The trio chatted cheerfully as they made their way to the lunch room to pick up their students. Izuku was pulled aside by the lunch aide, who informed him that Kota had been taken to the Principal’s office to meet his in-class assistant. Relief washed over the teacher as he collected his remaining nineteen students and led them back to the classroom.

Read more at https://archiveofourown.org/works/15906747

#bakudeku #bakugou x midoriya #katsuki bakugou #midoriya izuku #bnha izuku #bnha katsuki #bnha bakugou #bnha #kacchan #deku #Teacher!Izuku

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