One by One

Spectrums

Aizawa walked out of his room, surprised on how much sleep he got. Normally, he could barely hold down an hour. That night he slept for four whole hours! Aizawa counted that as a win, and thanked whatever deity gave him some peace. Aizawa reflected that maybe his body knew that Winter Break would be hard on one hour a night, so it decided to store up while the peace lasted.

As Aizawa walked into the main room, he realized it wasn't peaceful. Midoriya was sitting at the table, his eyes staring blankly at an empty notebook before him. Aizawa titled his head, pouring a bowl of cereal. It was five AM, what was this kid doing up so early? Did he even sleep? Aizawa knew he slept for at least a few minutes, but did it continue on any longer?

"Eat up, kid," Aizawa said, pouring the milk at the table. Midoriya glanced at the bowl passively, taking the spoon from Aizawa and plopping it in the bowl. Midoriya pushed the notebook aside, lifting the spoon to his mouth. He swallowed it quickly, not even chewing or tasting the flavor.

"You'll choke that way," Aizawa said, making his energy drink for the day. By energy drink, Aizawa meant coffee. It was probably the only thing keeping Aizawa sane. With criminals at night and problem kids during the day, and a large cockatoo inbetween, Aizawa needed all the coffee he could get.

Midoriya hummed, dropping the spoon in the bowl, staring ahead. Aizawa stared at Midoriya, waiting for him to finish eating. Aizawa was done with his first cup of coffee before Midoriya picked up the spoon again. Aizawa looked around, wondering what captivated his attention for that long.

"Okay, Problem Child, what's wrong?" Aizawa said bluntly. Aizawa didn't want to beat around the bush. Aizawa needed answers. He needed to help his student. While some would call him a emotionless or cruel, Aizawa cared about his students more than anything. It hurt him when they were hurt. While Midoriya looked physically fine (which Aizawa was still questioning), Aizawa knew for sure that Midoriya wasn't mentally okay.

"I-" Midoriya stopped, his eyes furrowing as he stopped talking. Midoriya let out a shaky breath, wondering why his lungs weren't as strong as they were yesterday. How could nightmares, one in his life and one in his dreams, cause his organs to panic? "Am I... Am I... It's nothing. I'm fine."

"I don't believe that, Midoriya," Aizawa said, drowning his last drop of coffee. A part of him told him to stop, but Aizawa needed to be energized for this so he made some more. "What was the question you were going to ask?"

"Umm... Am I welcome here? I can go if you want to return home!" Midoriya changed the gears in his head, not wanting to ask what the question he had before. Midoriya knew the answer to that question. It was "yes".

"Fine, if you don't want to talk about it," Aizawa said, knowing the lie when he heard it. "Yes, kid, you're welcome here. Heights Alliance is for kids in UA, and you are a student there. I'm fine here. Leave when you feel ready."

Midoriya nodded to himself. Aizawa stared at him for a few more minutes. Why didn't Midoriya want to go home? His mother was there, and apparently, his father had arrived a few weeks ago to stay permanently. Aizawa knew that Midoriya was ecstatic about it in class then, so why wasn't he itching to go there now? Did something happen that Midoriya was running from?

Aizawa was startled out of his thoughts by the door opening. A lonesome figure walked in, her hair flowing down her frame instead of in the usual half ponytail. She wore a tan sweater and a pair of jeans, and she was rubbing her eyes. She looked around, her curious gaze finding Aizawa and Midoriya. Her eyebrows went up, but she gave them a soft smile and wave. "Good morning, Aizawa-sensei, Midoriya."

"Good morning, Yaoyorozu," Aizawa said with a tired smile. Midoriya turned away from the scene, uncharacteristically being silent. He barely gave a glance to the girl, but he wasn't giving a glance to anything. His eyes were closed, his head tilted upwards, a frown evident on his face. "Midoriya, Yaoyorozu is here. Midoriya... Midoriya!"

The coughed into his elbow before turning to Yaoyorozu with a smile. He waved at her, but refused to use his voice. Aizawa and Yaoyorozu gave him a curious glance, but they didn't say anything. Yaoyorozu didn't feel close enough to her classmate to feel comfortable asking, and Aizawa knew Midoriya wasn't in the mood to answer.

"What brings you here, Yaoyorozu?" Aizawa asked, focusing his attention to the girl. Aizawa knew that Yaoyorozu wasn't as bad as Midoriya, but her confident issues and her involvement in Bakagou's rescue proved that she wasn't a perfect angel. Aizawa didn't hate Yaoyorozu for her actions, but he still wished one of his kids didn't have baggage.

"My parents are off on a business meeting. I didn't want to be home alone, so I thought I would be alone here," Yaoyorozu smiled, but Aizawa could see the subtle hints that the smile wasn't as real as Yaoyorozu made it appear. "What brings you and Midoriya here?"

"I was grading papers today... Midoriya hasn't said anything yet," Aizawa shrugged, looking at the young boy was was holding his head. Aizawa frowned, walking over to see what was wrong. Midoriya gave him a side glance before getting up and walking out of the room.

"He must be feeling bad," Yaoyorozu stated, but even she could tell that Midoriya's pain led to his head, not his physical body. Yaoyorozu didn't want to admit that she felt the same way, though her pain was different than his. On a spectrum, it was almost the opposite of one another, yet the backlash was equally scarring. "I will go to my room now. I hope I do not cause you or Midoriya any trouble."

Aizawa watched as she walked away, wondering why this one came to Heights Alliance. It was clear that neither Midoriya or Yaoyorozu came because they simply felt like it, but Aizawa wasn't sure if he should meddle. These weren't his kids. He was just a teacher. He was supposed to guide them down a path of knowledge, not help them solve their personal problems.

Yet, Aizawa felt the need to do exactly that. These kids weren't alright, not in the least bit. Something had happened, and Aizawa didn't want anyone to quietly suffer. Aizawa made a promise that he would help any student that needed it, on every level, even if it killed him. On the spectrum of parent and teacher, Aizawa was leaning heavily towards parent, and he didn't mind it as much as he should have.