#i dont think erasermight shippers wank to aizawa treating toshinori like crap but maybe being the only one ballsy enough to Talk Real to him

[demyrie]

What appeals to you about EraserMight? I used to ship them, but was turned off. Too many fics gave me the feeling of watching a beautiful, talented kind friend with low self-esteem get in a relationship with an asshole that takes out his own issues by using friend as an emotional punching bag. Friend insists the asshole is a sexy, perfect guy because he's a great lay and can occasionally not treat him like crap. I can't find such a dynamic sexy, even with the narrative pushing that view.

hmm! This makes me wonder what fics you’re reading! I’m sure the first chapter of Bandages and Bravado encapsulates “yagi as a punching bag” to a t, but that’s not what attracted me to it. I couldn’t get behind that dynamic either, and as you’re describing it, Aizawa is clinically unshippable if healthy relationships are your thing haha. They’re def my main kink. (i’m guessing mic stands up to his abuse better in this scenario? unsure)

Short Answer: The lure of Erasermight to me is that of hidden natures, healing and authenticity, and mawkish, horrendously vulnerable old heroes learning really important lessons very late in life and trusting each other with their wounds, both mental and physical. 

Long Answer!

The whole intrigue of the ship is that Aizawa seems like a crusty ass hat, but is secretly the softest man alive, and any harshness he turns toward Yagi (either planned, or out of split-second frustration) is in service of getting him to Stop Hiding from himself and others. He has anger in him, very true, but I think the main thing that hit me about writing him (my version anyway) is that pointless cruelty isn’t part of his nature. He doesn’t give the kids homework or extra classes just to fuck with them, after all, but because he wants them to be prepared to be heroes and survive and thrive (though he may flash that evil smile? Maybe? Because can’t he have his little indecencies when he’s dying from the stress of planning that extra training camp you damn kids?). 

Everything he does and says has a point, one as sharp as Occam’s razor, and the man really is So Tired. Maybe he shouldn’t care about the fact that All Might is really a fretting, wistful shell of a man underneath all that boisterousness that he so hates, but once he sees it, he can’t forget it. He starts trying to parse where All Might and Yagi intersect and how much is an act. After that, he starts seeing things: noticeably, how miserable Yagi is for a man who is always smiling and being the person he thinks others need. And he Does Not Care for That Shit At All.

On the other side, you have Yagi, who is indeed a “kind/talented/beautiful friend” but whose struggle goes far beyond low self-esteem and reaches self-immolation. At UA, he’s learning that he exists beyond All Might, and deserves to actually, physically live beyond his hero role. He is trapped in his and others expectations of what the Symbol of Peace should be and constantly finds himself wanting, knowing his time is drawing to a close and incapable of imagining what could exist beyond it except a useless shell. 

In teaching, he sees that Aizawa does not give a flying fuck what others think and is aggressively, shamelessly himself (fuck maybe he’ll bedazzle his sleeping bag this week you don’t know) and that captivates him once he begins to see what Recovery Girl sees – his heart, stern but simple. While others on staff may pull back and continue to treat him like a golden hero or like he’s untouchable, Aizawa, astutely realizing the Number One Hero has a Fucking Problem with Daily Life, slouches through the lifelong haze of alienating prestige without even blinking and yells HEY WHY AREN’T YOU EATING YOU DUMBASS GO EAT HEY and … it works?????

That’s why I love them, they’re so unexpectedly good for each other! That said, I don’t know if I’ve ever read a short/one-shot fic of Aizawa just … verbally or otherwise abusing Yagi to take out his anger? Yikes? He’s surly and slow to warm to people (and hey I am not saying that Yagi wouldn’t just sit there and take the abuse, that’s a definite problem he has and i weep for him, he’s working on it ok) but the whole charm of Aizawa is that yes, he talks crap to his friends who have known him for years in classic tsundere style … but later down the road, maybe post-Kamino, when Yagi flinches back and expects harshness from an instructor who seems to have no other attribute, Aizawa is kind to him. Weirdly, freakily, unexpectedly kind, or just understanding, when their whole premise as co-dads of Midoriya/1-A is that they couldn’t possibly understand each other or their lives because of all the things separating them. They “just don’t get along”, and yet somehow, they both value the same things (the children, the future, peace) with their whole hearts. That’s where they find each other.

Erasermight to me is about misunderstandings and the world-views we build from them – both about ourselves and other people, both as light as irresponsible gossip and as deep as trauma. It’s about identity and personal veracity borne from fire and loss and how internal truth can free you up to be so much more than you ever thought. It’s about worthiness and healing and deserving happiness, and not just because you’ve saved the world a dozen times, but because you love so hard, with your whole self, that its the only natural conclusion to things if you just let yourself be seen.

I!!! really!!! dig!!! healthy and transformative!!!!! relationships because the people!!!! you love should challenge you!!! to love yourself!!! even the parts!! you think are ugly!!!! aaaaaAHHHHHH GOD IM SO IN MY FEELINGS RIGHT NOW I GOTTA GO ROLL AROUND ON SOME CLEAN SHEETS OR SOMETHING IDK 

anyway thanks for coming to my tedtalk, tired weirdly shy supportive old dads forever, peace