Eraserhead and Joke

Friends and Fury

Shota knew something wasn't right.

He'd stumbled down the stairs to the kitchen for his morning coffee as usual. Todoroki was sitting at the table with a bowl of cold soba, but thankfully the teen wasn't talkative.

After grumbling a sleepy good morning greeting, Shota pulled out his mug, stuck it under the coffee maker, and silently waited for it to fill. 

One sip later, he could open his eyes enough to see the room. 

Two and he could see Todoroki staring at him with mismatched eyes, his expression somewhere between curious and accusing.

By sip four, Todoroki was still staring at him.

"Want something?" Shota asked.

No reply. The teen continued to stare at his teacher.

With a sigh, Shota downed the rest of his coffee and reached for an energy bar to with him up to his room. If Todoroki wanted something, he would ask. No amount of threatening, cajoling or torturing would make him cough up information he didn't want to give.

(Shota had learned that first hand after an incident involving Midoriya, Bakogu, Todoroki and a training field full of melted plastic flamingos. It pops up in his nightmares occasionally.)

The event with Todoroki, however, was not the only strange part of Shota's day.

On his way to class, he passed Ashido who giggled when she saw him. Yaoyoruzo blushed as when she saw him in the hall then delicately hid her face behind a hand.

Then there was Kirishima, who yelled something about him being "so manly" and Bakogu, who scowled and grumbled about him being a scruffy poser.

By the time he was getting smirks from Jiro and high-fives from Mineta, who congradulated him on "getting some," Shota was confused and more than a little irritated.

All the students he confronted, however, seemed to evade his questions or become too frightened to speak, or (in Bakogu and Todoroki's case) flat refuse to answer.

So Shota waited until the end of lunch break and cornered the one student in class A who couldn't tell a lie to save his life: Midoriya.

The green-haired teen was on his way back from the bathroom, when the door to the teacher's lounge opened and he found himself yanked inside. His eyes widened as he found himself looking into a pair of dark, lined eyes.

"Tell me, what you guys are up to," Shota demanded.

"U-up to, S-Sir," Midoriya stammered.

"Yes. Class 1A has been acting weird around me all day. You will tell me why or so help me, I am going to make that training exercise in the swamp look like Universal Studios Japan in comparison."
Midoriya swallowed and then did just what Shota knew he would do: he began to mumble to himself.

"WhatdoIdoIfhefindsoutwewentbehindhisbackhemightbeevenmoreangryandanythinghewoulddoknowwouldbesoeasybuthekindofhastherighttoknowconsideringitinvolveshimand_"

Comprehension dawned as Shota shifted through the soup of letters that was Izuku Midoriya's mutterings.

"You listened to it, didn't you. The radio program last night."

Midoriya hung his head and then nodded.

"I think you should listen to it, Sir. It might help you figure out what is going on."

Shota sighed, but allowed Midoriya to pull it up on his phone.

What he heard made his vision turn red as his blood boiled with pure rage. It might have been the first time his eyes turned red without his quirk being activated.

"Um, Mr. Aizawa_" Midoriya began then the staff room door opened.

All might entered, thermos in hand and smiled brightly when he spotted Izuku.

"Young Midoriya, what are you doing in here with..." he trailed off as he took in Shota and then the look on his face.

"Whatever he's done, Aizawa, I am sure he didn't mean. Please, leave the punishment up to me," All Might said, stepping between his colleague and Midoriya.

Shota, however, didn't seem to see the skinny, retired hero. He stormed through the open door and out into the hallway, moving faster than Midoriya had ever seen him before, even during hero class.

"What was that about?" All might asked.

"You need to call, Recovery Girl," Midoriya said. "You have her number right?"

"Of course, young man. But why?"

"Because I am pretty sure we are going to need her to save Present Mic."

"And so the subjunctive voice is more of suggestion like "I would" or "could," you dig? Yamada lectured.

The class of third year students looked back at him blankly. A few like Amajiki were scribbling down notes, but most had a glazed look on their faces. Some looked like they were falling asleep.

Before Yamada could do anything about it, though, the door slammed open and Shota walked in, his eyes full of dark fury.

"S-shota. What a pleasant surprise," Yamada squeaked.

The death glare that came from those red eyes told Yamada everything he needed to know. His friend knew and now he was pissed.

In a blur, Shota shot across the room, grabbed Yamada in a headlock and started to squeeze.

"You will take the recording of last night's show off the internet immediately and destroy every copy someone has," Shota growled.

Yamada gasped and scrabbled at his best friend's arm.

"Can't.....too many places...don't have access...nothing can be entirely deleted from the internet."

"Then you will get Ms. Joke back on your show and have her retract every word she spoke," Shota hissed.

Yamada's face began to turn purple.

"Can't breathe...." he gasped.

Shota watched pitilessly for a moment and then eased up slightly.

"That won't work," Yamada croaked. "It is already too late."

"What do you mean too late?" Shota growled.

Yamada pointed to his desk where his phone sat and Shota dragged his friend over so he could pick it up. 

A few seconds later, he was staring at an article for Daily Heroism. At the top in huge bold letters "Love amongst heroes: the engaging story of two heroes in love." Skimming through it, Shota could see quotes from Yamada's tv show. 

Worst of all, the ticker at the top had five million views and a tag next to it said the article was third place in trending.

Shota slammed the phone down and shook his hapless victim.

"You are going to come with me, right now and help me clean up this mess."

"What do you want me to do?" Yamada asked nervously.

Shota grabbed the back of his collar and hauled him away like a naughty child.

"You are going to get me an interview on the most popular television show you can."

"An interview?" Yamada squeaked.

"An interview. Don't think that will let you off the hook, though. You are going to have nightmares about what comes next for years to come," Shota stated flatly.

The last thing Class 3A saw was the look of absolute terror on their English teachers face.

For a moment, they all sat in stunned silence, staring at the still swinging door.

"On the bright side, we might not have to take that English test next week," Mirio said.

He grinned and gave a thumbs up.

Nobody laughed.