Controlee

79. Provision

Rule 22: Good intentions are worth too little.

The provisional license exam was seen as a big thing. Mostly because it was.

Sitting on a coach full of nervous and excited (read: rowdy) hero course students, Aizawa had never longed more for some peace and quiet. At least this trip wasn't as long as the one to the summer camp, that had truly been hell.

Aizawa was sat at the front of the bus. He wished he could be leaning against the window seat, but— unfortunately— he'd been convinced by his husband this morning that it would be better to give that seat to the passenger who didn't belong. The idea was that the class might feel better with Aizawa between them and the unexpected addition.

As part of his villain rehabilitation, it had been decided that TT should see what it took to be a hero, hence the man was required to be here so he could write an essay on what he learned later. At least Nezu was in charge of marking it.

The class had been wary at the sight of TT as Aizawa brought him along when they all met by the coach. The ex-villain had stayed close to Aizawa's side as he explained the situation to his students, nodding when he introduced TT by his nickname.

Aizawa had expected TT and Otsuka to immediately glue themselves to each other, it always seemed to be what happened when the two were in proximity. That didn't happen. Otsuka waved, TT waved back, and then she joined her classmates at the back of the bus, and TT settled into his window seat.

There was a strange and suspicious lull in the noise level as they got to about fifteen minutes from the testing site. He would've thought they'd get louder as they got closer, not quieter.

When there was a round of laughter without warning, even TT glanced back. But they were just a simple group of laughing kids, completely innocent— Aizawa knew better, the demons were smaller than him, but they were still demons. He closed his eyes, hoping the quiet would make it easy to doze for a while.

"Um, Eraserhead?" TT asked two minutes and no dozing later, voice quiet enough that the kids being mysteriously less rowdy than they should've been wouldn't hear.

"Just call me Aizawa." All the students called him Aizawa, Mr Aizawa more accurately, but still.

"You know some sign language, yeah?"

Aizawa cracked open his eyelids, frowning at the seat partner who had no idea how lucky he was to have the window seat. "Why?"

"Could you teach me how to say 'good luck'?"

"Why not just tell her?" It wasn't that Aizawa was unwilling to teach (though he'd definitely take twelve minutes of dozing over teaching sign language) it just seemed an odd thing to ask. It wasn't that difficult for TT to go up to Otsuka and say it.

TT glanced back again, and Aizawa followed his gaze to where Otsuka was sitting. She was in the back row, Oboro and a few other classmates beside her. It seemed like the class had gone quiet because the back few rows were all listening to her talk about something. "I don't want to scare her friends off," TT said. "Please."

Aizawa sighed and moved his hands in familiar patterns. TT's mimicry was a pitiful first attempt at sign language, but he got better with every attempt until it was passable. Two minutes of dozing was all Aizawa got in the end.

It wasn't until they were all heading inside that TT managed to catch Otsuka's eye, signing at her exactly what Aizawa had taught him. Otsuka snorted, glancing up at Aizawa who couldn't stop himself from smirking, hiding it in his capture weapon. Turning her focus back to TT, she signed back.

TT looked to Aizawa, finding that he'd been watching the exchange. "What did she say?"

"She said 'Thanks'." Admittedly, it wasn't all she said, but TT had said a little more than just, 'good luck' too.