The Emerald Prince

Chapter 32: The Big Three

Art above is mine... but technically a redraw of a frame from the anime... so also not technically mine. Fun though.

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Aizawa carefully took Izuku from the shaking blond and followed Recovery Girl in silence. He didn't trust himself to speak in front of his students but he was furious with Bakugou. He'd been taken in over the last month since Izuku had confided in the guy. He knew their history and had disagreed but until today the blond had been pretty much excellent. He'd even come to rely on Bakugou to support his son when he couldn't.

But it seemed his faith had been unjustified, this was clearly not an issue the blond could fix for himself. He resolved to talk to him about sessions with hound dog. Bakugou needed more control of his competitive spirit and his emotions, and the limp form in his arms was physical proof.

They strode hurriedly through the corridors, and past the stares of teachers, students and civilians alike, eventually making it to the privacy of the nurses' office.

"Explain." Stated Shūzenji, as she placed a gentle kiss on the greenette's forehead.
Aizawa swallowed. There were few people in this world that could truly scare him. But this woman was one of them. "Izuku vowed to fight all his matches quirkless."
"And why was Bakugou Katsuki so riled up?"
"They have a delicate history. He... he bullied Izuku for being quirkless for many years, and suddenly Izuku is much stronger than him. I think this match brought out his frustration."
She nodded, "he's waking up."

The nurse reached out to touch him, but Aizawa caught her arm, "he doesn't react well to unexpected contact."
The older woman gave him a searching look, but didn't ask.

Izuku yawned and stretched, wincing slightly and then clearly remembering and sitting bolt upright. "Shit!"
Aizawa raised his hands, pleading innocent to the accusation in the quick glare Shūzenji sent him. He didn't get that language from me.

"Alright there Izuku, lay flat. I healed your injuries but you shouldn't move too quickly."
"Oh," Izuku flushed and obediently lay back, "sorry Ma'am."
She chuckled, "not at all. What had you so... panicked?"
The greenette grimaced. "I fainted and that would have made Kaccha- Bakugou feel really bad. And made him look pretty terrible too."
She sighed, "he used unnecessary force, how is that your fault that you fainted in consequence? You are lucky your injuries aren't worse."

Izuku shifted from bashful to angry so quickly, it caused the poor woman to lose her breath.

"His actions were unnecessary?" Izuku's eyes were blazing but cooled when Aizawa put a hand on his shoulder. "You think he could have beaten me in a short range fight? Did you see how I took down everyone else without my quirk? We've been training together for months. He knew exactly what he was up against, and still used smaller explosions at first to try and beat me gently. We both knew exactly what the fight would come down to, I just pay more attention in physics."

She sighed, and Aizawa tried to imprint on his mind this moment. The first time he'd seen Shūzenji lose an argument.
"Just make sure I never see you in a state like that again."

He nodded, sharing a slightly knowing smile with Aizawa. He probably didn't need to fight a dangerous fight quirkless ever again. He'd made his point and it had been broadcast across Japan live.
Besides, he had her healing quirk and had already started making some fun fusions with it.

"How long have you been clean?"

The question made him start, but a glance down made him remember that his vest had been destroyed in the blast, and since the blood was cleaned away the litany of white scars from wrists to shoulders were obvious to both adults.
Reassured by her relaxed atmosphere, he smiled at her, and gave Aizawa an affectionate look which the older man returned. Izuku gently stroked his right wrist as he replied. "Nine months."