#drawing this quickly while listening hero turning villain playlists

[antarees-8]

Who said BOLAS!MC going apeshit AU?! My Raine wanna join! Not seeing Aerin for like a month can do that to a guy.

I wanna see him being feral and high on Shadow and Aering trying to get him back. Or a role reversal where Raine was the one who betrayed everyone? Or better yet both of them falling into the Darkness?

[alolowrites]

A Cry for Help

Summary: A hero finds a little girl crying and helps find her parents.

Author’s Note: I was hoping to post these drabbles on Father’s Day, but the idea slipped in my mind around 5pm and well...yeah. Guess I’m early for next year? (hahaha, but no seriously, maybe I am). 

Following heroes are Shouta (Eraserhead), Toshinori (All Might), and Taishiro (Fatgum) because they are just such wholesome dads. 

Please enjoy!

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

Shouta Aizawa/Eraserhead

The bubblegum music plays on an endless loop in the children’s clothing store. All the songs from the playlist mesh together as one. Not even the singers’ voices are distinct thanks to the heavy use of autotune; it drowns out the entire shop. Fortunately, Shouta has years of experience dealing with this kind of nuisance—he thanks Present Mic for that.

Shouta ignores the constant, not-so-subtle, stares from the other customers. Even some employees glance at him, their perky smiles fumbling when Shouta catches their eye. The hero knows he sticks out like a sore thumb; he dressed all drab and dreary like the weather outside.

Yet, Shouta does not care if they gawk, just as long as they don’t interfere in his personal space.

One hand glides the pastel-colored blouses along the rail. Shouta is shopping for new clothes for Eri, much to Present Mic's displeasure; he finds Shouta's fashion sense questionable ever since the cat sweater fiasco.

'A little overdramatic, much?' Shouta scoffs as he inspects a purple shirt with massive ruffles running along the sleeves. An adorable image of a kitten graces the front side and he adds the shirt in his basket.

The clothes rack on his right starts whimpering. Shouta raises an eyebrow and slides the sweaters away to see a little girl hiding inside; she seems to be around Eri’s age based on her small frame. Shouta frowns as he hears her cries.

“Hey,” the girl jumps at the gentle voice. An unfamiliar face hovers above her with a concerned expression. He kneels, but keeps a respectable distance, “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. Why are you crying, little one?”

“I-I…don't…my…mommy,” she wails as fresh tears rush down her puffy cheeks, “I-I want-t mommy-y.”

“You lost your mom. I see why that makes you sad,” Shouta digs out a handkerchief and hands it over to the trembling girl. She grabs it and Shouta nods, “First, take some deep breaths…that’s it, good job. Now, my name is Shouta. What is your name?”

She wipes away her tears, “Asumi.”

“Well then, Asumi, I will help find your mother, okay?”

“Really?” A sense of hope shines through her eyes.

“I promise,” Shouta shifts his balance and extends a hand toward Asumi. Not a second later, she takes it and crawls out the dark clothes rack. Her legs wobble, and she asks if Shouta could carry her; he doesn’t hesitate and scoops Asumi in his arms, disregarding the shopping bag filled with clothes; he’ll come back for it later.

Shouta informs an employee about the situation and asks for directions to the mall security office. The entire walk is quiet with an occasional sniffle here and there. Asumi’s fingers toy with his signature wrap scarf to help ease her sad thoughts. However, one slips through and she whimpers, “Will my mommy find me?”

“I’ll make sure she will.”

They arrive at the office in ten minutes. Shouta speaks with an officer and offers to remain with Asumi until they locate her mother. An idea runs through his head once the hero spots a colorful bulletin with other children's drawings. Asumi observes the artwork and slowly opens up as she points out what she likes about them; Shouta adds his thoughts, but keeps his focus on Asumi’s answers—it works.

Shouta turns around when a frantic voice booms from the entrance. The little girl’s face lights up like a Christmas tree. He quickly puts her down, not doubting that the woman standing in front was her mother. Asumi screams, “Mommy!”

“Asumi, sweetheart!” She kneels and embraces the little girl with a bone-crushing hug. Mother and daughter reunite at last, much to Shouta’s relief. Once the mother stops attacking Asumi’s face with her kiss, she stares at the quiet hero and smiles, “Thank you for finding and keeping her safe, sir! Thank you, thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” Shouta shoves his hands in his pockets and crouches to meet Asumi’s eye level, patting her head, “You’re a brave girl, Asumi. It was nice meeting you.”

Asumi rushes to give Shouta a bear hug, catching the hero off-guard for a second. He returns the gesture, a faint grin creeping above his scarf. Asumi grabs her mother’s hand again and happily skips away, but not before chirping, “Bye, Mr. Shouta!”

Those three words keep his heart warm for the entire day.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

Toshinori Yagi/All Might

Toshinori overlooks the quiet sea at Takoba Municipal Beach Park. He enjoys coming here on his days off to get lost in his thoughts. The retired hero once again admires Midoriya’s remarkable efforts to clean the area—he’s come so far.  

The waves barely touch the grainy sand, and a seagull soars above in search of food. Other people from around the neighborhood stroll through the beach as well. Even so, the locals do not pester him, and Toshinori is grateful for this, inhaling the natural scent only Mother Earth could produce.

A little cry catches his attention. Toshinori whips around to see a little girl wandering down the beach and rubbing her eyes. He may not be All Might, but the heart of a hero still burns inside him. Toshinori cautiously approaches the girl and calls out, “What’s wrong, young one?”

She stops in her tracks and peeks at the tall man. Toshinori finally gets a good look at the child and notices how red her face is. The girl’s body shakes like a volcano as she bawls, “I-I can’t find my daddy-y!”

“Oh dear,” Toshinori frowns and crouches to the child’s eye level. He gives a comforting squeeze on her shoulder, which somewhat stops the crying. Her head bobbles as she breathes rapidly and snot oozes down her nostril. Toshinori fishes for some tissues in his pocket, “Here, my child. You must feel very scared, but everything is all right, because I am here.”

“C-can you help find my d d-daddy?”

“Of course,” Toshinori nods and asks, “What’s your name, little one?”

“Asumi.”

“And how old are you, Asumi?”

“Five,” she sniffs while showing Toshinori five fingers, “But I’m turning six soon.”

“You are? That sounds exciting!”

Asumi cocks her head once her sadness subsides, “What’s your name?”

“My name is Toshinori, but you can call me Toshi,” he answers, and Asumi relaxes at the sound of his gentle voice. As the former Symbol of Peace stands up, he extends his hand to Asumi, who instantly grabs it. Toshinori feels how dainty and fragile her hand is. His, on the other hand, is rough. Sometimes he forgets it's like that after years fighting off villains, including All For One. Asumi’s innocent eyes gaze up, and he smiles, “Let’s go find your father.”

Toshinori walks in the direction she came from; hopes to find her father if he retraces her steps. The blonde man makes small talk to keep Asumi occupied. Her mouth is like a running waterfall as she shares everything she likes to do: playing on the swings, making songs on her toy instruments, baking cookies at home—It’s a wide range. Toshinori listens to every word, including the time she found a worm and named it Wormy; Asumi wrinkles her nose, “Worms are so squishy.”

“Yes, they are,” he chuckles before feeling a slight tug, “What’s the matter?”

“I see my daddy!” Asumi hops like a bunny and points to a frantic man wearing a red scarf. Toshinori suggests to get closer since he wants to make sure this person is her father. Asumi nods, and the two head forward. Once a few feet away, Asumi squeals, “Daddy!”

“Pumpkin!” He collapses on the sandy beach and nearly stumbles backward when Asumi crashes into his chest. Toshinori feels his heart stir at the beautiful reunion. The father finally glances over Asumi’s shoulder and gasps, “All Might! It’s an honor to meet you, sir!”

“He helped me find you, daddy!” Asumi bounces on her tippy-toes.

Toshinori coughs into his fist, “I found her crying nearby and realized she was lost. There was no way I could leave such a poor girl all alone.”

Asumi’s father scoops the child in his arms and gives a slight bow, “Thank you, All Might, for bringing her back. She’s very adventurous and tends to wander away a lot.”

“Daddy, his name is Toshi!”

“All Might is my other name, young one.”

“I like Toshi more,” she says with no room for arguing. Her word is final.

The retired hero grins, “I like it, too.”

“Yay! Okay!” Asumi claps and waves, “Bye, Toshi!”

“Goodbye, Asumi!” Toshinori watches as the father and daughter pair walk away, the little girl rambling everything that happened to her. Once they disappear from his view, Toshinori realizes how quiet the beach is. Surprisingly, he misses his conversation with Asumi—they are wild and full of imagination.

He hopes they’ll cross paths once again.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

Taishiro Toyomitsu/Fatgum

If there is one thing Fatgum loves the most, it’s doing hero patrol during a food festival. His nose catches a whiff of yakitori grilled over a charcoal fire. Each skewer is seasoned to perfection and soaked with a healthy amount of tare sauce. Fatgum buys five sticks, but regrets not grabbing more after he inhales all of them in one go.

Luckily a fresh batch of takoyaki calls his name. He arrives at the booth and chitchats with two older men who cook up a storm. Each crispy ball flips faster than Fatgum could blink—a technique that never fails to impress him. The hero bids farewell once he receives his order, promising to visit again before the festival is over.

As Fatgum swims through the crowd with his delicious street snack, he overhears a faint cry on his left. The hero hastily swallows his takoyaki and steps toward the wooden boxes. Peering over, Fatgum raises his eyebrows when he spots a little girl cowering behind them. She notices a large shadow looming over and snaps her head up.  

Fatgum pouts at the sight of her tears, “Whoa there, what’s a lil gal like you hidin’ out here all alone? Ya’ hurt, buttercup?”

“I…lost…my…mommy-y…and dad-dy,” she hiccups in between each word, her loud sobs piercing Fatgum’s weak heart. A determined look briefly crosses his face before he hurries past the boxes to be near her. Out of nowhere, the girl feels a gentle pat on her head. She pulls away from her damp knees.

“It’s okay, buttercup,” Fatgum soothes the broken child, “I’m a hero, and I’ll help ya’ find your parents. Does that sound good to ya?”  

She meekly nods.

“Okay then,” he hums with a soft smile, “My name is Fatgum. What’s your name?”

“Asumi…”

“What a precious name!” Fatgum beckons for Asumi to come forward. She wipes the tears away on her forearm before crawling over and holds his warm hand. Stepping away from her hiding place, Asumi shrinks behind his leg when she realizes how crowded the street is. Fatgum glances down and asks, “Do ya’ want me to carry ya,’ buttercup? I promise to ya’ safe, ‘k?”

She nods before being scooped up in Fatgum’s arm. Asumi is like a frightened kitten who clings to the jolly hero for dear life. He doesn’t mind and gives her a comforting squeeze. An idea soon pops into his head as he shows Asumi the last takoyaki, “I want ya’ to have it. Food always makes me feel better when I’m sad.”

Asumi takes a tiny bite and beams—it’s delicious. As time passes by, she slowly comes out of her shell, which makes Fatgum happy; he keeps her entertained with fun games like “I Spy” all while trying to locate an officer. Asumi eagerly points to a food stall selling taiyaki, and Fatgum wastes no time buying her the sweet treat.  

After the quick pitstop, they continue their leisurely stroll through the festival until a guard post emerges from the tumultuous sea. Fatgum notices a police officer jotting down notes from a man consoling his wife. Maybe they’re Asumi’s parents, he thinks and is proven correct when Asumi yells, “Mommy! Daddy!”

“Asumi!” Both adults rush toward Fatgum, cutting their conversation short with the police officer. They weep tears of joy when their daughter squeals in her mother’s arms. Asumi’s father enthusiastically shakes the hero’s hand, “Oh, thank you, Fatgum! My wife and I will forever be grateful that you brought our little Asumi back, safe and sound.”

“Oh, no need to thank me! A hero has to keep everybody safe and happy,” Fatgum flashes a smile that is as bright as the sun, “Even the little ones!”

Both parents thank Fatgum once more before they take their leave. Asumi squirms in her mom’s grasp to stare over the woman’s shoulder. The little girl waves her half-eaten taiyaki in the air and shouts, “Bye, Mr. Fatgum!”

“Bye, Asumi!”

Such a precious cinnamon roll. 

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

Thanks for reading!

[quirkless-and-embarrassed]

are you doing the character ask meme thing? it would be awesome if you talk about shinso!!

!!!

Hell yes!! It’s been too long since I did my last character meme, and Shinsou is majorly underrated. I love him. (Sorry this took a few days!)

Favorite things about him:

I love how he puts his hand on the back of his neck when he’s flustered, and I love how he’s got a toothy, kinda evil smile. It’s also cute how he plays it aloof and tries to hide his feelings, but Horikoshi draws him with little distress sweats to show he’s actually really nervous. Stoic, this kid is not. And his eye bags are cute. Why do I love characters with eye bags.

I love how, at the end of his Sports Festival match against Midoriya, he’s deeply moved by his classmates’ support (and the whole stadium’s support). It really blows a hole in his “I’m not here to make friends” image when he gets all choked up over being cheered on. Like…he wants acceptance so badly…just let him be accepted as a hero. None of this backhanded compliment “oh wow, with your quirk, you could do anything!” schtick.

His match is especially satisfying because even though he technically loses, it’s basically a victory. Midoriya beats Shinsou because he has people who believe in and support him, and by the time the battle ends, Shinsou discovers he, too, has people who believe in him. Not just friends—total strangers, too, and he can choose to listen to their voices as they cheer him on instead of hearing just his detractors. Plus, one of those supporters is Aizawa, and Shinsou accomplishes his goal for the Sports Festival: to transfer into the heroics course. SO…it winds up being a “failure” that is actually a win in disguise, and I love those.

I love how he has a complicated relationship with his quirk and society. It’s been impressed on him that he’s made for a villain role—and like…it illustrates how bizarre hero culture is in bnha, where some people are just so infatuated with the spectacle of it all to the point they’re like “oh cool! you’d make an awesome villain! don’t make me do bad things, though, okay? okay!”—but despite it, Shinsou has a defiant kind of pride in his quirk. He snarks Midoriya during their fight, being like ~oh you wouldn’t understand, but this quirk of mine is like a dream come true! (Though in the anime, it’s translated more like “even with a quirk like this, I dream of being a hero”?) Shinsou understands he could do whatever he wants with his quirk, and what he wants is to do good things. He’s bitter because like, is it that hard to believe someone might just want to do good? How/why do people have to be so pessimistic that they think someone with his power must abuse it? But at the same time, he gets it, he knows he’s not any better because he would also be dubious of someone with power like his. But also! It’s not fair! Because “heroic” quirks are also potentially destructive, but a kid like Bakugo or Todoroki is told he’ll be a great hero someday, not that he’d make a great villain—and the heroes industry guarantees them a fast-track to pro status at the expense of people like Shinsou or Midoriya.

So I love that Shinsou is this idealistic figure: he could do evil, but he won’t. His quirk enables peaceful deescalation of hazardous situations. It’s ideal. But it’s ideal because it is such a classically villainous quirk—a power that weaponizes communication, turns people’s trust against them, and exerts total domination to rob people of their autonomy. So very quickly, that inspiring interpretation of Shinsou being able to choose what he does with his quirk is easy to second-guess. The line between hero and villain doesn’t seem so distinct when both professions are distilled down with such brutal precision. Shinsou wants to use his quirk to help people, but the questions of which people he helps and how he helps them are the distinction between a hero and a villain, and it’s not as neat as the hero ranking would imply. His dialogue with Monoma about how they do unheroic things to accomplish heroic goals makes me hopeful that’s a seed Horikoshi planted for future exploration.

So…Shinsou sets up some interesting challenges, and that’s a major reason why I’m interested in him. I’m curious to see how his story unfolds.

One last thing I love about Shinsou. There’s a scene where Midoriya spots Shinsou in the hall and cheerfully calls out to him, and Shinsou’s only response is to rub the back of his neck and go “uh huh.” But! Later on, Shinsou has a flashback to this exchange, and he admits that he was actually really excited to face Midoriya again, and it’s like oh my gosh. You were secretly so pleased he recognized you, huh? You were so happy he remembered seeing you around and wanted to talk to you, and you wanted him to acknowledge how far you’ve come. But you’re a dumbass who couldn’t summon anything to say other than “uh huh.” D u m b a s s. But I like him for it. He tries so hard to be mature and collected that he really comes off as such a teenager.

Least favorite things about him:

Ok we both know he doesn’t get enough screen time, that can’t count as my least favorite thing. Hmm. Can I commit heresy and say that I think his hair looks pretty dumb?

Tbf though, Shinsou’s shortage of appearances is especially difficult because he’s fairly indirect and you can’t take what he says at face value, particularly because he aims to provoke. He’s also appeared almost exclusively in combat situations, so it’s hard to gauge how he behaves in more mundane circumstances (for example, in contrast to Mirio and Tamaki, who are fairly direct and who we see off the battlefield enough to get an overview of Mirio’s good-naturedness and Tamaki’s insecurity). I really dislike this uncertainty.

Other than that, it’s disappointing how, during the cavalry battle, he brainwashed all of his teammates. That leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Eliminating their brainpower definitely made them a weaker team, and I get the feeling he did it because he wanted to feel like he got to the final round from his own skill and not because he was relying on teammates with heroic quirks (which makes it ironic he taunted Midoriya about Ojiro’s “honor”). But I guess I get it, since he didn’t want to reveal his quirk to anyone and it would have been hard to persuade any of these strangers to team up with him.

Favorite line:

Ch212 – Brainwashing Midoriya to save him from blackwhip.

I just love how like…in the Sports Festival, Shinsou wasn’t trying to fight Midoriya as an equal, he was fighting Midoriya as a bitter underdog with something to prove. Then during this Class A vs B fight, even though Shinsou has inferred that his transfer to the heroics course depends on his performance, he’s happy to battle Midoriya again because he’s proud of how far he’s come. He’s discovered the shounen “let’s fight because we’re friends!” mindset, and I think it’s sweet.

And! There’s also this!

Monoma: “I like you, Shinsou. I really do. In order to survive, you too need to embrace your darker side. We’re much the same.”Shinsou: “No thanks.”

BROTPs:

Aizawa. Aizawa all the way. 90% of the Shinsou-centric fic I read is about a tired son and tired dad. 

I think Shinsou and Ojiro, once they get past the initial animosity, could be good friends. I know I mentioned that during the cavalry battle, I think Shinsou didn’t want to rely on teammates blessed with heroic quirks, he wanted to earn his own way. Similarly, Ojiro quit the Sports Festival precisely because he felt he didn’t earn his spot in the final round (something Shinsou provocatively dismissed as a sign of being a spoiled hero student who can afford to waste opportunities). I definitely have a weak spot for relationships that start off rocky and then, to the surprise of the idiots involved, they’re like wait we’re not that different…we might even be friends…? Anyways, Ojiro probably the number one Class A student I want to see Shinsou interact with more. I’d like to see him be Shinsou’s top critic at first, especially since Ojiro is generally such an easygoing nice guy.

On the other end of the spectrum, I love Monoma as Shinsou’s #1 fan. Their canon interactions cracked me up, and I like the balance Monoma strikes with Shinsou between his extravagant persona who’s all noise versus slipping him some thoughtful, barbed observations. Also like…Monoma emphatically embracing Shinsou as a member of the group is different from what Shinou’s learned to expect from people, so it’s funny to see him struggle with how to react. Shinsou has already said that he’s discarding any concept of good sportsmanship and so on, so I think having Monoma as someone to talk about how to fight dirty without being dirty would be a valuable friendship. …but mostly these two crack me up and I want more.

Okay, though Ojiro is the student in Class A I’m most curious to see Shinsou interact with, there’s also so much potential for humor with Kaminari or Aoyama. Kaminari’s little pep talk was really cute and I’d love to see him follow up on it by trying to befriend Shinsou while Shinsou is secretly pleased, embarrassed that he’s pleased, and unsure what Kaminari wants from him anyways. And Aoyama…LOL. Now, I dunno how these two would become friends, but imagine Aoyama trying to convince Shinsou to do something about his hair, about his eye bags, about his posture, about his dour inflections…meanwhile Shinsou suffers through it with his cool I don’t care attitude, gradually picking up on Aoyama’s hidden side. I can also imagine Aoyama and Shinsou being super passive aggressive to each other, ha.

I feel like Shinsou and Jirou could also get along pretty well, since they’re both pretty low-key. But I also feel like they might get along a little too well…I like pairs with a little more drama and tension. It’s easy to imagine them sitting in companionable silence, Shinsou listening to Jirou’s playlist while Jirou acts like this is no big deal. Or maybe Shinsou notices Jirou’s crush on Yaoyorozu and/or Kaminari, and Jirou is stuck seeking his opinion on matters he’s the opposite of an expert in…

I’d love to see Shinsou be subjected to Nejire’s relentless questioning. “Oh wow, hey! You look really tired! Are you really tired? Or are those shadows under your eyes just a side-effect of your quirk? Hey hey, wait, I recognize you. Aren’t you the brainwasher firstie? What do you say to people to brainwash them? Do you like, swing a pendulum in their face and tell them, ‘You are getting very sleepy’? You could do that to—oh! Can you brainwash yourself? Cuz then you could brainwash yourself to get more sleep! But…if you brainwash yourself, then who’s in control? How do you know you haven’t brainwashed yourself already—”

OTPs:

My favorite Shinsou ship is shiniida! This pic is what first put them on my radar, and the generally cute, funny fanart and fic got me the rest of the way invested. I like how on the surface, the two make an odd match, because you have Iida, who’s so by the book the bylaws are practically printed on his skin, and Shinsou gives a much more defiant, devious impression. But actually, Shinsou is surprisingly pure of heart, and Iida is someone who assumes the best of people, and it would be nice for Shinsou to find someone who implicitly believes he’s a good person. (…this is also something I like about Monoma.) Just the image of Iida fussing over Shinsou, and Shinsou being at a loss for how to deal with someone so well-meaning, respectful, and shameless about expressing his concern for Shinsou’s wellbeing. It’s intrusive but so sincere, I can imagine Shinsou getting pretty flustered.

It’s also interesting because Iida is from such a hero lineage with the sort of heroic quirk Shinsou begrudges for having it easy. I can see him being pretty caught off-guard by how seriously Iida dedicates himself to his dream to be a hero. Iida might have it easy compared to Shinsou, but that sort of determination isn’t something that can be scoffed off.

I also love todoshin, which I talked about here. One thing I didn’t talk about in that post, though, is that both of them in some way consider(ed) their quirks “evil.” Their complex relationships to their quirks are something else they might bond over, plus the fact that they’re both closely tied to the idea of self-determination, and I’m a weak-ass ho for free will as a theme so there you have shipping material galore in my book.

Shinoma is another ship I’ve read. I like this ship since it opens up different avenues of closeness between Shinsou and Monoma than between Shinsou and someone with a “heroic” quirk, but I think they’re more of a brotp for me. Kamishin, too—I like kamishin fluff/comedy, but I wind up gravitating more towards the platonic dynamic.

I haven’t read much shindeku, but it looks cute. I love the scenes where Midoriya greets Shinsou in the hall and Shinsou is too awkward to respond.

NOTPs:

Hmm…not really. Big multishipper here, I’ll ship anything I see nice content for.

Random headcanons:

There’s a fanfic where adult!Shinsou has a cat named Nyazawa, and Aizawa hates being a namesake. I approve heartily.

Though I also get a kick out of imagining that Shinsou likes cats, but he’s allergic.

I love this fic’s idea that Shinsou was once mistaken for Aizawa’s son, and ever since Shinsou has had a running joke where he annoys Aizawa by insolently calling him “dad.”

Shinsou has barely trained his quirk because he needs people to practice on, and, prior to Aizawa’s tutelage, he didn’t have any volunteers and he couldn’t quite find the nerve to ask people to be brainwashed.

Shinsou’s always wondered what it feels like to be brainwashed. Sometime after the Class A vs B training battle, Shinsou asks Monoma to copy his quirk and show him.

Shinsou could have gotten in to a different hero school, in their heroics program instead of entering general studies. I imagine some hero schools, unlike UA, must specialize in less flashy quirks. But Shinsou had enough of a chip in his shoulder that he wouldn’t settle for less than UA, the very best hero school in the country, because he so badly wanted the affirmation and endorsement that he can be a great hero.

Unpopular opinions:

Don’t get me wrong, I love reading fic where Shinsou has a crappy home life, is in foster care, etc. Angsty dadzawa and shinson is always a win. But the vibe I get from canon is that his home life is okay. His flashback sequence showing how people always think the worst of his quirk was sad, but it could’ve been much worse, so I think his life isn’t as terrible as it could be. Whew. (Though…it’s also a shame because he might get more in-story focus if it were bad…)

I like fic where Aizawa is a little harsher on Shinsou than the standard dadzawa fare, usually because he sees himself/Shirakumo in Shinsou, and that’s a good thing, sure, but it’s also an ordeal because it’s painful and difficult to reopen old wounds. This sort of internal conflict is one of the interesting things that differentiates Aizawa’s dynamic with Shinsou from his dynamic with Midoriya or his other students.

…I don’t really like erasermic+shinsou? Idk, Yamada never really feels like he fits into the dadzawa/shinson dynamic. He can be helpful for moving the plot along, but I’m not sure I’ve ever found a fic where I was emotionally invested in his role. Maybe now that there’s more canon content for him, I’ll take more of a liking to this trio.

Songs I associate with him:

I agree with this post that Mad World has a very Shinsou feel to it. I Surrender by Colleen D’Agostino reminds me of him too, since Shinsou seems like someone who tries to be cynical and detached but underneath he can’t help what his heart truly wants.

Favorite pictures of him:

Ch183 – zombie!Shinsou and terrified Kaminari!! I’d love to see Kaminari trying to revenge scare Shinsou.

(And seeing Mineta terrified is a different sort of satisfaction.)

Ch198 – Shinsou’s shock when Monoma ambushes him. He looks so awkward with his hands held stiffly at his sides.

Ch214 – why is he so cute. how did this happen.

Ch216 – This is the moment he loses to Midoriya a second time. I love the mix of emotion on his face.

Ch216 – His face when Aizawa announces Shinsou will almost certainly be approved for transfer

I’ve also answered these questions for Todoroki, Bakugo, Uraraka, Endeavor, Sir Nighteye, and Amajiki!