Work Text:
Denki’s spent a lot of time with his mom since the training camp.
It’s not like they’re able to do much together. She’s always just laying there, and Denki usually reads from one of her favourite books. They’re doing The Lord of the Rings right now.
He doesn’t have it in him to read right now though. So he’s just sitting here, staring at her prone form on the bed and trying not to panic.
He’s terrified.
Not just because of the training camp. It’s this too. Ever since her accident, he’s had this huge fear that the same will happen to him, that he’ll-
“Denki! I’ve called your name five times now! Come out to the living room, some people want to talk to you.” He peeks over his shoulder at his grandma in the doorway.
Aizawa-sensei is right behind her, along with a man he doesn’t recognize.
He’s quick to get up and follow them to the living room, ignoring the sting from the burns along his arms as he hurriedly shuts his mothers door behind him.
Everyone is seated when he gets there. They’ve thankfully left Denki’s favourite armchair alone, so he sinks into it. He doesn’t exactly relax though. He doesn’t know why his teacher and this stranger are here. Are they shutting down the school or something?
“Kaminari, this is Detective Tsukauchi. He’s here to take your statement from the training camp.” Oh, well that’s not as bad as shutting the school down.
It’s still bad though.
They aren’t pleasant memories, the ones from the training camp. Sure they start out well enough, but once that night hit everything went downhill. He doesn’t want to talk about it, but he thinks Aizawa-sensei wouldn’t ask him to if it wasn’t necessary.
So he tells them. He starts his story a little earlier in the day than he needs to in an attempt to prolong talking about what happened in the classroom. But eventually, he gets to the part where Aizawa-sensei left to figure out the noises from the forest. The part where Vlad-sensei left them all on their own to see what was taking his teacher so long.
The part where the villain came in.
Everything happened so fast after that. Denki can’t help the way his story speeds up in an attempt to get it all out.
Next comes the part where Satou tossed an oblivious Kirishima away from his desk seconds before it went up in flames. Then the part where they all had to watch their classmate die. Then another nearly meet the same fate.
He stops talking when he reaches the part that Aizawa-sensei came in to rescue them. The detective probably already knows that part. And it’s not like anything happened with Denki after that anyways. Just the ride to the hospital, getting his burns treated, and being picked up by his teary eyed grandma.
Those parts aren’t that important.
He answers the Detectives followup questions without putting much thought into them. When the man seems satisfied he leaves, saying something about waiting in the car. Aizawa-sensei stays put.
“Now. There are some changes happening at the school that you need to be informed of. I need your permission to put your grandson in the dorms. While I require that, it isn’t exactly an optional thing. Once all the kids are there the gates will be locked for their safety.” Aizawa-sensei has that serious look on his face.
“So it’s either give permission for the dorms or pull Denki from UA?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Of course he can go to the dorms! Sweetheart why don’t you go to the other room while I get the details from your teacher?” Denki nods, and leaves without a word.
He returns to his mothers side.
He can still hear the murmur of voices in the other room, even with the door shut. So Denki reads. They’re halfway through the Two Towers at this point, at a part where things are really picking up. So he lets himself get lost in the book, and only stops when there’s a knock on the door.
Aizawa-sensei pokes his head in.
“There’s on more thing I’d like to talk to you about Kaminari.” Denki nods and his teacher enters, sitting in the extra chair a few feet away.
“It’s about your training.” Denki slumps a little.
He didn’t think Aizawa-sensei would give up on him so soon. Sure they only had one session together back at camp before everything fell apart, but he thought they’d made some progress! His teacher had come up with a few ideas to help Denki out, so maybe that’s all the effort he’d be able to put in.
“I don’t think I’m the right person to train with you.” There it is.
Denki can’t get rid go the tears welling up, so he turns his gaze to mom instead.
“I’d like you to work with Present Mic instead.” Aizawa-sensei doesn’t give him much time to feel bad.
“W-what?”
“I never had output issues with my quirk, but he has. He’ll be able to help you a lot better.”
“I-I thought-” Denki can’t bring himself to finish the sentence.
“That I was giving up on you?” Looks like he didn’t have to. Denki nods, still refusing to meet his teachers eyes.
“Kaminari. I don’t give up on people who have the potential to become a great hero. I won’t abandon one of my k-students.” Denki looks up in surprise.
His teacher looks as serious as ever. Denki doesn’t think he would lie about this, but people lie all the time so it’s still shocking.
“But what if we can’t find a solution?” Aizawa-sensei looks contemplative for a moment before answering.
“Is that what happened?” He nods to Denki’s mother on the bed.
Denki hesitates. Nobody knows about his mothers condition. How she’ll probably never wake up again. There’s a reason he doesn’t talk about it, but he knows he can trust Aizawa-sensei with at least this. He turns back to mom again before speaking.
“She’s never had the best quirk control. She used too much too many times and now look at her. She might never wake up again but my grandma-but I can’t let her go.”
“You’re scared.” It’s not said cruelly, but he flinches all the same.
How does his teacher see through him so well?
“Terrified.”
“Kaminari.” Movement has him look over.
Aizawa-sensei has moved from his chair and now crouches in front of Denki’s. He puts a firm hand on his shoulder before saying what he needs to.
“I know it’s scary. You don’t want the same thing to happen to you right?” Denki nods, at a loss for words.
“That’s why we’re here. Present Mic and I will help you figure this out, so that the same thing doesn’t happen to you. We’re going to help you the way you wish someone had helped your mother.” Denki has to looks away again.
Aizawa-sensei just looks so sincere. It hurts to look at.
His teacher stands back up and moves a few feet away, giving Denki his space.
“We were thinking once a week on Tuesday afternoons for training. If you wanted more days we can always try twice a week, but I don’t want to overwhelm you. How does that sound?”
Denki takes a moment to clear his throat before responding.
“Good. Thank you sensei.” He can’t say anymore than that unless he wants to start majorly crying in front of his teacher.
Aizawa-sensei seems to understand. He nods once then leaves, quietly shutting the door behind him to give Denki some privacy.
He waits until the front door closes to go back to reading his comfort novel, wiping his eyes every few minutes to get rid of the blurriness.