#this guy who was once a vulnerable teen idol?? is concerned for these vulnerable teen idols?? ?? no way dude

[jkpng]

my man

[nevtelenwriting]

You Can Be a Hero

Gen: Shinsou Hitoshi & Dadzawa Aizawa

Rating: Teen?

Just a one-shot that’s part headcanon, part of a longer character-study fic I’m fiddling with for my favorite goth son Shinsou (one sided pining after Aizawa if you squint, Shinsou you poor disaster gay)

How Shinsou started training with Aizawa

--

“You were good at the festival.”

Shinsou nearly trips over himself in surprise. He’d been on his way home for the day, head down and ignoring yet another long series of meaningful looks from his schoolmates down the hallway. Being in a school of people with the best of the best of quirks meant less looked at him with fear; though not all. At this point it was just aggravating, a tired rhetoric he’d spent his school years shrugging off.

However, those days following the festival he’d noticed an uptick of people seeing his power as less…villainous. No one called it good yet, though. That was fine. He knew he had an uphill battle to fight, he’d known ever since this quirk manifested.

Shinsou never expected a hero to scout after him, not while he was still in General and a first year, so hearing the low timbre of Eraserhead behind him just about made him swallow his tongue in shock.

Shinsou whips around on his heel to look dead at the greatest role model he’s ever known, leaning casually against the outside wall of Shinsou's homeroom. He’s never been this close to Eraserhead despite being in the same school. He's larger than life itself, both as casual looking as a man could be yet swallowed by an air of competency and intimidation. Thankfully those awful bandages were gone from the infamous attack at USJ. He appeared fully recovered from an attack that would have killed any hero lesser than Eraserhead.

Shinsou knows what Eraserhead was capable of. Everyone else idolizes All Might--not that Shinsou didn't also see his goodness--but Shinsou’s idol has always been Eraserhead.

Another reason he resents the kids in class 1-A; they had the incomparable gift of having the greatest underground hero of all time teaching them, and no one seemed to notice or care. He doubts any of them even knew without being told who Aizawa was.

Aizawa stares at him levelly, not betraying any reaction as he mused, “Didn’t expect you to be someone easily snuck up on.”

“What can I say,” Shinsou retorts quickly, more reflex than anything, “I guess I’m not as good as the best stealth hero in the world.”

“Japan, sure,” Aizawa replies just as effortless, and if he could see his mouth beyond his capture scarf Shinsou thought he might be smirking, “Not sure about the whole world.”

Shinsou’s convinced now he’s dreaming, because there is no way in any universe he’s quipping with his idol. Shinsou isn’t that lucky, he’s not blessed.

He shoves his hands into his pockets, regards Eraserhead quietly. He goes back to that first jarring statement as he mutters, “You don’t have to say that. I wasn’t good enough to advance.”

“No, you weren’t.” Aizawa agrees, neither condescending nor placating. “Your grasp on your quirk is rudimentary, but decent. I doubt you’ve had any formal training?”

“Not a lot of people signing up to help the guy that can make you stand on your head,” Shinsou drawls, a level of bitterness in his words.

“So you use your quirk whenever you please then.” Aizawa says softly, also matter-of-fact, no hint of condemnation but also no question about it. “You know that’s against school rules.”

Shinsou grimaces but doesn’t reply. He wouldn’t apologize for using his quirk. He had to practice, and he never made anyone do anything bad. It was easier to be left alone when he could get people to do it himself, and he also needed to learn how to strength his abilities if he ever hoped to succeed.

“I don’t need a lecture,” Shinsou finally decides on. “If I plan on joining your course I need to take what I can get.”

“I’m not here to lecture.”

“Then you’re here to feel sorry for me.” Shinsou says flatly, albeit a little too quickly.

Aizawa stares at him, too quiet, and Shinsou hates how he’s talked to him. Aizawa probably thinks he’s petulant, ungrateful for the sparse moments he’s been granted here just being acknowledged by his hero.

“You’re very careful about closed-ended statements. Usually you use open-ended ones.”

Shinsou nearly flinches. No one had ever caught that before. The thing was his quirk wasn’t activated by questions, specifically, but responses to his statements. He couldn’t explain what it was, but he could feel the difference in the way he phrased his words, how some statements opened his mind and left room for the invisible tendrils reaching out, ready to latch onto the first to bite down and pull them in. Questions were the easiest way to create that space, and that’s how he wrote out the trigger for his quirk on paper. It meant that people only hesitated when they heard the lilt of a question his voice. Had Aizawa figured out it wasn’t so literal?

Shinsou would usually feign ignorance here. He’d remark how strange that was, but this is Aizawa. He deserved the respect of his honesty.

“I didn’t want you to worry about talking to me.”

Aizawa absorbs this, brows twitching a little together as he considers the weight of that awfully vulnerable admission. Shinsou wishes he could take it back the moment it left his mouth.

“That doesn’t concern me. I doubt you’d abuse your quirk that way.”

Shinsou stares at him, loss for words and at a loss for why Eraserhead was wasting his time with him here. If he doesn’t care, then…

“So why are you here?” Shinsou asks, testing the waters in more than one way.

Aizawa doesn’t hesitate, “I wanted to talk to you about your courses. Come with me for a moment.”

Shinsou almost balks, but Aizawa has already pushed away from the wall, hands in his pockets as he meanders down the hall. Shinsou follows after him.

“Your quirk could have many applications in pro work, but the best is obviously apprehension and de-escalation. How complex of an action can you make someone do?” Aizawa fills the silence as they walk to the Hero classes wing, and Shinsou is again, jarringly, lost for words. He’s always been articulate, and he supposes that it was necessary for his quirk to work. He was still in shock Aizawa was talking to him, though, asking him about his abilities, that his head still reeled on why instead of answering his logical questions.

“Um,” Shinsou starts eloquently, “Not really anything complex. Simple actions, one at a time. Like making someone start or stop something.”

“Time limit?”

“Not sure.”

“Longest control then.”

Shinsou scratches his cheek, “Longest so far has been the cavalry battle. But I was able to actively keep renewing the hold whenever I gave new directions.”

“I see. What about distance?”

“Distance effects it, but I don’t know exactly. I can feel the hold strain when someone gets further away from me.”

“So you really haven’t tested limits yet.”

Shinsou frowns at the back of Aizawa’s mussy black hair. He’s hunched over a little, but still taller than Shinsou, with broader shoulders. He clears his throat.

“Again, don’t have volunteers lining up to dance like a monkey, you know?” Shinsou offers, another open-ended statement, and maybe a bit of a test. Aizawa couldn’t erase his quirk with his back turned.  

He did sometimes have volunteers, but less dance like a monkey and more, well…fetishistic. Which was great, because he was fucking fifteen and barely thinking about anything like that yet, let alone something so…controlling. Shinsou grimaces to himself.

Aizawa chuckles, “Actually, I do.”

Shinsou doesn’t have a reply to that as they reach his classroom. He gestures to one of the seats but Shinsou doesn’t take it. Aizawa leans against his podium instead, head in his hand regarding him with those tired eyes.

Shinsou takes in the classroom and tastes the little bit of that resentment again. It’s nothing remarkable, looks exactly the same as his own homeroom, but the fact he’s here, so near yet so far, makes his chest clench with anger. He wants to be here so desperately but everything was working again him. It’s not the first time he’s been tempted to try his luck at another school, but distance, cost, and no guarantee he’d succeed there either, kept him here. 

As if reading his mind, though it wasn’t hard to read his face Shinsou was sure, Aizawa asks, “Do you still want to be in a hero course?”

Shinsou answers immediately, “More than anything.”

“Hm.” Aizawa looks him up and down, then says, “Even if we did make concessions about your quirk, you’d never pass a physical. Heroes need to have more than one trick, and you’re useless against robots, a natural disaster, and multiple villains at once.”

Shinsou bristled, hands shoving into his pockets and mutters, “Why did you bring me here? This feels an awful lot like you’re rubbing what I can’t have into my nose.”

“I don’t do that. I’m telling you why you’re not here, and what you need to fix if you want a chance of getting in.”

“This school doesn’t care,” Shinsou snaps, “Doesn’t matter how good my quirk is.”

“Which is why you’ll need to work harder,” Aizawa explains, no room for further argument. “It’s not fair, but you need to make yourself irreplaceable. So here’s what we’re going to do. Work with me the next few days. Let me assess where you’re at and how to make you hero-course worthy.”

Shinsou process that slowly. Pieces together that blatant implication. Realizes that Eraserhead isn’t kidding.

“Wait, you…are you joking?” He has to ask, because it’s impossible he means it.

“I don’t joke.”

Shinsou nearly sputters out, “You want to train me?”

Aizawa arches a brow, “Assess, I said. See if you’ve got enough potential. Then yes, if all goes well, I want to train you. I feel our styles would match well, so it’s only logical to pass on what I know to someone who is like me. We need more heroes that don’t rely on self-focused quirks.”

Aizawa explains it practically, matter-of-fact as if there weren’t a million obstacles in the way, a million ways Shinsou could fail--or worse, fail him.

Shinsou swallows hard, “And you think that can be me?”

“Of course,” Aizawa says flatly, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

Shinsou thinks he might have died. There’s no way his idol, his role-model, the one person who made him believe he could be a hero, was looking at him like this, seeing his potential, his worth, his ability to do good, and decided he was worth the time and energy.

Logistics win out in favor of the shock, or worse, the vain hope that Eraserhead was serious.

“How? You have a class.”

“They’re on internships starting tomorrow.” Aizawa straightens up, fishes out set of paperwork. He hands it over to Shinsou to read. At the top states “Internship Application”. Aizawa keeps talking while he gawks at the form.

“If you’re fine with it, I’ll talk with your teachers and give you a pass on your classes for the next three days. You’ll be entering the hero course late, so you’ll have a lot of catching up to do. First-year internships are among them. So I’ll take you on under my agency, and you intern with me for the next three days. It’s one less thing to worry about, and I get to assess your limitations and potential.”

Shinsou’s jaw has definitely droped, and Aizawa has a lilt of humor in his voice this time when he says, “You’ll catch flies that way.”

Shinsou snaps his jaw shut. He swallows, and asks, finally, the question that’s been burning since Eraserhead first told him he did good at the festival.

“Why?”

Aizawa blinks, “Why?”

“Yeah, why.” Shinsou gains a little more strength, “Why me? Why bother? You have twenty potential heroes in your class. I’m in General, you said yourself I’m weak. I have little hope of getting in without a lot of time and a lot of effort. So why the hell are you bothering?”

Aizawa scoffs, studying him with narrowed eyes that promptly shuts Shinsou up. He should have bitten his tongue. He should have been grateful.

But nothing has ever come easy for Shinsou. There was always another shoe waiting to drop, the bad to every moment of good. No one saw Shinsou’s potential, not to being a hero. People saw him as villainous, terrifying, avoided at all costs. Even those heroes at the sports festival could do nothing against UA’s requirements. So why was Aizawa bothering? What did Aizawa want from him? Nothing came without a cost, Shinsou knew this, and he had to understand before diving too deep into a too-good-to-be-true fantasy.

“You think you’re the first person that had to fight to get here? The first one people called villain?” Aizawa arches a brow, the weight of those words sitting heavy in the room.

Shinsou stares at him with slowly widening eyes, and realizes. Understands.

“You?”

Aizawa sighs and rubs at his eye, the one with the scar and Shinsou wonders about the damage there. “Yeah, me. I was in General first, too. Got a hell of a quirk for a villain too, don’t I? Could screw with All Might himself. The tests were different back then though, I was able to sign away a lot more of the limitations so I could get in. Tests are harder now, which means they’ve become more unfair to those that deserve to be here. So that means we need to bend the rules.”

Shinsou snaps his hanging mouth shut. He should have realized it, but…but the shock is warring with the realization that Aizawa, Eraserhead, understands him. He’d been here beside him, called a villain, fought to be a hero. He wasn’t alone. God, he wasn’t fucking alone.

Shinsou is still swallowing back the vibration in his chest that Eraserhead thinks he deserves to be here when he catches up on what he’s been saying.

God, he refuses to fucking cry.

“You think I can be a hero?” Shinsou asks, and it sounds so stupid, so small, so much like when he’d asked his parents back when things were happy.

Aizawa watches him intensely, and says, “Absolutely. So. See you here tomorrow?”

Shinsou nods vigorously, and Aizawa’s eyes crinkle in the corners with a hidden smile.

“Good. Get rest, you’re in for a long three days.”

Fuck, Shinsou couldn’t wait.

[geekgirles]

A sword and a yo-yo.

So, as I expected, I was disappointment with Oni-chan. And I decided to write a nice aftermath considering the lack of bonding time between Marinette and Kagami when they're the only sane characters who're into Adrien! So, I changed that ;) Sorry if it's too vague, I actually wrote it yesterday. Please enjoy! And shout-out to @apocalypse-of-the-fucked for helping me out! Girl, you rock!

The parisian sunset was a sight to behold, indeed. With the sky’s rosy and orange shades darkening as time went by, yet it only made the view even more breathtaking. She would say it could even rival the first sunrise of the year back in Japan. The only thing that made it not so perfect though, was that she was watching it from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Right after she had been akumatised that same day.

But, she was there per Ladybug’s request. And after having to deal with whatever she had turned into this time and the Hell that Lila Rossi had proven herself to be in the scarce few hours she had known her, something inside her told her she owed it to the superheroine.

As she waited for the masked hero to make her appearance, she allowed her mind to wander back to the moment she had regained her senses.

Kagami suddenly found herself in the middle of Paris, in some unknown location she had never been to in all her months living in the City of Lights. But one thing she could recognise for sure was the two heroes standing near her and, unfortunately, the Italian girl who was complaining to her phone. Annoyance apparent in her voice.

The young fencer narrowed her eyes. From what she could hear, Lila seemed to be playing the victim to her mother, whining about the lousy job Paris’ duo of superheroes had done to protect her from the crazy chick who had lost her marbles and attacked her.

“They can’t be that bad if you’re still alive and whining, if you ask me”. The Japanese teen thought.

Everything was just very suspicious, she remembered this girl was annoying and gave off the vibe of being more fake than a tan from a beauty parlor, but didn’t she always say she was best friends with Ladybug? Then why would she criticise her like that?

That’s when she appeared. In all her mysterious glory and deep blue eyes, Ladybug crouched down before Kagami. The young fencer had to keep her cool, something that didn’t happen often considering she was practically trained to remain focused at all times.

“Are you okay?” The heroine simply asked.

“Y-yeah. I...think so”.

“Don’t worry about losing your cool and getting akumatised. Happens to the best of us”.

Kagami couldn’t believe her ears. Despite losing all control and probably, most likely, trying to hurt innocent people out of spite, Ladybug was trying to comfort her. No wonder she was Paris’ idol… No, scratch that. More like its guardian angel.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Lila exclaiming something about Ladybug having to be beside her because Alya (?) had asked her about whatever and she demanded her presence because, apparently, she owed it to her.

Then it was Chat’s turn to speak.

“Sorry, Lila, but we’d better go. Don’t wanna de-transform, you know!”

As if on cue, Ladybug followed suit but not before leaning into Kagami’s ear to whisper “Come meet me at the top of the Eiffel Tower at sunset”. And then, she was gone.

And that’s why she had had to convince her driver to take her to the famous landmark instead of going home after such a stressful day. And the reason why she found herself waiting for the masked girl to appear.

But why would she want to speak to her, though? Did she want to make sure she was alright after being akumatised? Which was sweet, but she had never heard any of the other students who had been turned into villains mention the same process. Just what was going on?!

“Hi”

Her thoughts were abruptly stopped by the arrival of said hero.

“Hello”. She replied as formally and professionally as she could.

Gesturing to the edge of the tower, Ladybug welcomed her to sit. Once she had done so, the polka-dotted lady did the same.

“So”-she started- “I guess you must be wondering why I asked you to come meet me here, right?”

“That must be the understatement of the century” The Japanese teen answered, a bit more harshly than she had intended. “Look, if this is about me getting akumatised for the fourth time-”

“It’s not!” Ladybug quickly corrected. “I mean, I decided I should talk to you after you were akumatised… But I actually wanted to have an honest chat with you because I believe you deserve the truth. Telling me why you became one of Hawk Moth’s victims would indeed be a good start, though”.

This was going to be humiliating… However, Kagami, always the proud one, put on a façade and sighed.

“I was akumatised because I was jealous.” She revealed.

“Jealous? Of who?”

“Of Lila.” Kagami revealed. “Listen, I know it’s petty, but I can’t help it. She was just so close to this one boy I like, who happens to be my closest friend back at school, that I just couldn’t control myself! I already have to deal with his not-so-secret crush on this other girl who’s… kind of difficult to read? She seems to be head over heels for him yet, she rejects him. It’s infuriating!”

Luckily for her, Kagami had ignored Ladybug’s utter astonishment. She was clearly talking about Adrien. But who could this mysterious girl of his be? Certainly, it wasn’t Lila. And Chloé… The fact that they were friends was appalling enough. She was convinced she was Kagami, but the Ice Queen’s outburst had left her questioning everything. Could she be talking about Marinette-erm- her? That couldn’t be possible. He had asked her for advice with the girl sitting next to her! But, at the same time, Marinette couldn’t think of anyone else Kagami could suspect of. So, what if?

“Not to mention, that Lila girl does not appear to be trustworthy at all. I have sometimes been described as a judgemental character, I won’t deny it, but this girl in particular just rubs me off the wrong way. Always so sweet, so charming around others. And yet, as soon as the vast majority turns around, she becomes cold, distant, proud… It appears as if all her charm was nothing but a trap to lure you in… And forgive me, I know she’s your best friend, Ladybug, but she’s just-!”

“Lila is a liar”.

At that her rumbling stopped. She turned to the polka-dotted girl next to her, eyes wide. So many questions popping up in her head, so many feelings battling against each other for dominance. But anger was soon getting the upper hand. So much anger.

“What?”. She hissed.

“Lila”, The hero began, "is a liar. She lies about absolutely everything. Believe me, this conversation would end a lot sooner if I just told you which truths she has actually said. But yes, Lila lies with every breath. I can’t tell you every single falsehood she’s talked about, but I can tell you this: I never saved Lila’s life, and therefore, we are not friends. Even better! Not only did I never saved her life, but I don’t even like her as a person and, on top of it, I’m pretty sure she absolutely hates me.

“Lila lies for several reasons, as far as I’m concerned. She lies to be the centre of attention and get everyone on her good side, willing to obey her every command, or , if she feels threatened enough, to turn everyone against you and get rid of you. To bring you down.”

“So everything she’s said about you was to make herself look good in front of others?”. Kagami asked, dumbfounded.

“Pretty much, yeah.” Was Ladybug’s simple answer.

The Asian teen was absolutely disgusted about that new piece of information. No wonder she seemed suspicious and fake. The Italian girl turned out to be the kind of people Kagami despised the most!

“And why haven’t you expose her to the Ladyblog? If I’m not mistaken, that Alya girl who runs it has some interviews about her and her “close friendship with Ladybug”, the world should know about this!” The fencer stated, fury apparent in her delicate features.

“I did expose her, though”-Marinette tried to excuse herself-”And that led to some damaging tendencies...”

“What do you mean?” Kagami asked, now more confused than angry.

The blue-eyed hero sighed. She really did have to fess up just about everything, didn’t she?

“Lila is prone to akumatisation. I wholeheartedly believe she’s already been akumatised four times, and whenever that happens she’s usually a tough opponent. Besides, knowing Lila as much as I’ve come to know her these past few months, she’s most likely to become emotionally vulnerable if someone exposes her lies. For a liar, that girl sure is proud!”

“And you know this because you exposed her?” The Asian girl was beginning to understand.

Once again, the hero sighed.

“Yeah… Look, I’m not really proud of that because, while she deserved it, I must admit I went overboard. I-I humiliated her in front of the guy she likes, who’s probably the same guy you like, when she was trying to win him over by saying we were friends and she was actually another superhero. So...you can imagine how that one went. Not even ten minutes afterwards I had to fight against a superhero copycat and master of illusions.”

“Wait!” -Kagami demanded- “So you’re telling me Adrien knows?!”

Now she was furious. Her closest friend knew all along and, not only did allow her to get akumatised by not telling her, but he also allowed Lila to manipulate all his friends! Something was clearly wrong with that guy.

“Yes, Adrien does know. And, in case you’re wondering, no, he hasn’t exposed her himself. He believes in taking the high road given proving Lila is nothing but a liar will only hurt her more and cause more trouble.” Ladybug tried to defend her crush.

“Yes, but at the same time he’s letting her get her way while everyone’s deceived and he has to endure her clingy tendencies!”

Now that she had given a lot of thought. By taking the high road even Adrien had to suffer Lila’s actions. And sure, it had sounded as a nice alternative when he had first suggested it, but it hadn’t stopped Lila from declaring war between them, with no Adrien directly involved, after the seats had been rearranged, and he was the one who turned Lila down to sit next to her in the first place! As much as she wanted to side with Adrien, Kagami was in the right here. Taking the high road wouldn’t stop Lila.

“You know what, Kagami? I think there’s someone who’ll share your point of view.”

Now the fencer was simply taken aback. Who on Earth would be willing to take her side if her fencing partner, closest friend and oblivious crush wouldn’t? Unable to repress her curiosity-she needed to do something with her emotions, they were running out of control that day!-she dared to ask.

“Who?”

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

Of all the people in the world the only person she would’ve expected less than Adrien’s friend Marinette was that brat of Chloé Bourgeois. But, still, that was too much! Marinette was Adrien’s oblivious crush! The girl who, although didn’t seem as bad as Lila or Chloé, she still didn’t trust! Why her?!

“I know you don’t necessarily have to get along with Marinette, but believe me when I say, out of her whole class, she’s the only other person who’s well aware of Lila’s deceitful nature. Actually, Miss Show Off already sees her as her enemy, so I doubt she’s got anything to lose.”

Kagami actually took the time to consider, even though they weren’t on the best of terms and although it certainly pained her to admit it, Marinette had to be something else to have Adrien so enamored with her. The way he spoke about her when they had their first real conversation after she had been turned into Riposte certainly showed a level of fondness she wish anyone would use to refer to her. Maybe...Just maybe, she could give her a chance.

While she kept on pondering her options, Ladybug stood up, catching her attention.

“Well, we should probably go, today has been quite an eventful day and I’m certain we could both use a rest. Just promise me you’ll think on the Marinette thing, okay?” She said as she gave her her hand to shake.

This girl was something else indeed. She was someone to admire. So mysterious yet caring and welcoming, but at the same time fierce and determined. She was exactly what Kagami had always hoped to become. But there was much more about her. She had this presence, a powerful presence, that made her both someone entirely new and different from what the young fencer had met before and, at the same time, she was oddly familiar. Something about that hair, her smile and, oh God, those eyes. The Japanese girl found herself blushing and incapable of turning her down.

“I will.” She promised, taking her hand to shake.

And just like that, the superheroine disappeared as fast as she had appeared and Kagami strangely found herself looking forward to interact with Marinette and getting to know her once more.