Serendipity

agitation

It's with a great sense of dread that he knocks at the door of the dorm building built for UA's staff. The rain is pouring down hard on Aizawa and Shouto, soaking them to the bone. Any hope to change into warmer clothes is ruined by the fact that their bags are just as soaked as they are. It's a distant thought that Shouto's homework could be ruined.

It's past student curfew, but Hound Dog should be awake, since he has night shift this month. There are always people keeping watch through security cams but UA is not by any means a small campus.

Shouto shivers next to him, though he tries to hide it by hugging himself tighter, keeping a strong hold on his things. Aizawa sighs, nodding his head toward the building-lined street. The walk there is far from pleasant, Aizawa's hair sticks to his forehead and neck with rain, his clothing is uncomfortable now that they've been exposed to it for a good 15 minutes. Thunder strikes, and then lightning. It makes him flinch, though he's never been scared of the weather before.

Enji Todoroki is a monster. That's the only description he can assign to the man.

Only monsters can instill so much fear, intense anxiety about simply existing. All he did was leave a note, burned up some of Shouto's things, and left. Watch your back, Eraserhead, it had said. Any other person, and it wouldn't mean much. But in his home, in Shouto's room, above a pile of ashes, and written by the number one hero who locked his son inside of a dark room for years and will call it training?

Being told to 'Watch his back' is one hell of a threat.

He bangs on the door of the closest dorm on the road. He checks behind them, Shouto will be alert, too, he knows. Shouto isn't stupid, he isn't oblivious to what that was, who it came from. Ever since they left, he's been unresponsive and mute, even more silent than he is usually. He won't even nod to Aizawa, which is not good.

When there is no response, he bangs again, groaning out loud. Shouto goes all tense, shuffling an inch away from Aizawa. He's not being a good example of safety right now, but damn it, it's cold and he's just had his life threatened by someone who is more than capable of killing him.

The lights in the foyer turn on, he can see them from the windows. The door creeks open a little, and then swings wide open. "Sensei?"

Aizawa makes sure Shouto is following him as he enters, dropping all of his shit onto the ground and prompting Shouto to do the same. Jirou is watching with wide eyes, still in her pajamas and hair wild from sleep.

"Sensei, what's going on?"

Aizawa sighs, trying not to panic and scare his students. "It's nothing, Jirou. Thank you for letting us in, that's all we needed."

"Uh... sure. I guess." She hesitates, she moves to leave but stops and turns back around. Whatever argument she's fighting in her head is settled when she says, "I'll go get towels."

Jirou runs off down the hall and Aizawa sighs. He's got about a million phone calls to be made, phone calls that are probably more productive if made now. Todoroki still looks shaken, hair dripping with rain. Neither of them have taken their shoes off yet, frozen in place in the genkan. He gets the feeling Shouto might be even more scared than he is.

"Shouto," he says, keeping his tone soft. "Did you know UA has the best security in all of Japan, only second to Tartarus? If Nedzu doesn't want someone in here, they aren't getting in."

The implications are there, Shouto glances at him before returning his blank stare to the green carpet in the common rooms.

"Here, Sensei," Jirou returns with two towels, she hands both to Aizawa and he passes one to Shouto. Iida follows after her, he looks oddly normal without his thick-framed glasses and uniform.