Mistakes ~TodoBaku~

Chapter 1: a daunting prospect

Woah...feels weird to be starting an actual fic!

Btw I don't know how I'm gonna release them, but I'm writing this alongside another fic 👀

With that in mind, sorry if there's some continuity issues! Please let me know if I make any mistakes with spelling etc. and I'll change them immediately!

Thank you, and I hope you enjoy!!
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Shoto Todoroki

"Ok guys, it's time. You'll see in front of you that there is a sheet with multiple options for your mandatory placements as part of your third year of this course. Please fill out your names, student ID and today's date, which is written behind me, in the designated slots at the top of the page"

I sigh, waiting for the next part of the instruction having already completed the tasks he was whittling off within two minutes of walking in the door thirty minutes ago. Prof was doing his usual thing of over explaining things that we understood and failing to elaborate on the actually complicated parts. Unfortunately for me, it seemed like this sheet was particularly easy to understand...which meant that he went on and on, leaving my already pounding head feeling like it might pop off my shoulders at any minute.

"-once you've signed on the hyphened line at the top of the columns, please analyse your options for your probationary term. If you need any specific advice from me after checking your options, please raise your hands and wait. For those of you that know what to pick, make sure not to exceed the edge of the box when you enter a large X into the-"

Finally! The one thing I was waiting to hear!

To think I had to sit through a fifteen minute explanation to answer the simple question of whether to tick the box or cross it...typical of the prof. I should be used to it by now after two and a bit years of his shenanigans, but...I can't bring myself to be sympathetic to an old man's ramblings when my head feels like it's going to fall off.

I zoned out while he continued his explanation, glancing down at the sheet and properly admired it for the first time. One of the great perks of psychology - discounting how ridiculous easy the degree was to achieve - was that you could work in practically any sector of business. Just glancing at the sheet, the options were certainly appealing;

Social services, paediatric mental health, you name it, it's on this list. I didn't pay much attention to some of the options, since I was already certain on what I wanted. I skipped down to the counselling subdivisions, scanning over the different locations where they accepted probations.

There was schools, but I didn't really want to work with kids. I wanted to give people serious advice, not help people get over their first crushes. I briefly considering working as a specialist police officer counsellor, but police officers are so stoic that I think I'd find myself being useless most of the time, and I want to have a job where I can actually keep myself busy.

This led me to the last box under the subdivision. A box that I wouldn't think many would consider. Perhaps some would avoid it because it's taboo, or simply for a fear of some of the things that they would hear in this job.

Perhaps my curiosity for those things was morbid. Perhaps I would be mocked and called a freak if people found out this was what I wanted to do. Or perhaps that's completely unrealistic. Perhaps some people will think I'm courageously taking a job no one else wants. I couldn't care less either way what other people thought of my choice - heck, I might not even tell any of them, unless they ask -, but there's no point lying about the fact that seeing it written down on the paper in front of me was the first time I ever doubted myself on a decision I'd made years ago.

Prison counsellor.

Nothing makes someone more socially outcast than wanting to sympathise with criminals, huh? Well, except maybe being a criminal myself, though I definitely don't have the self-confidence to make that stick. And perhaps I should clarify that I don't sympathise with criminals. People who commit crimes deserve punishment proportionate to their crime, and the consequences it carries, regardless of race, gender, social status, sexuality etc.

Maybe that's controversial, who knows in today's world? All I'm trying to do is pursue my dream of getting inside the mind of a criminal the easy way - getting them to open up to me, and only me. Since I have a provisional licence, even though psychologists don't follow the Hippocratic oath, I am still tied to patient/doctor anonymity, even with criminals. The only circumstances in which I can disclose any information is if I believe my patient is a threat to another person's life, or if they reveal a crime that I know to be unsolved or unheard of. Those are the only secrets they cannot spill to me - and quite frankly, I can't wait to start.

I'm almost skipping as I walk towards the Professor and leave my slip on the front of the large desk, piled on top of the previous handed-in ones. He nods in acknowledgment when he briefly checks over it, though doesn't look in the least bit surprised. I've always been open about prison work being my preferred field, and he's never questioned why, which I do appreciate about him. He knows that his job is to answer questions, not ask them.

Possibly the only negative to being a prison counsellor is that I'm needed around the clock in order to cater to 50% of the inmates at the prison I'd been accepted to work at (obviously their was a counsellor under full employment working alongside me), so Prof said I could take the rest of the week off since it'd be my last relaxing time in a few weeks. It was a daunting prospect, but I was eager to get going

I managed to negotiate with the prison during my three days off so that I would be paid for hours that I worked outside of regular class time, just so that it was worth my while to quit my regular part time job. And that was that; I travelled on the Sunday night, arriving at the (thankfully) on-site accommodation for staff and introducing myself as you might expect. Most of them didn't seem bothered at all by my arrival, but the supervisor was nice, though made it clear to me that I was to be working...night shift.

Ah great.

Just what I want for my first full-time job!
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AAAAH LONG TERM STORYTELLING IS HARDDDDDD

I'm happy that I'm finally writing this, I've had it in my head for a couple of months now but I wanted it to be a full-fledged fic rather than a oneshot

Hope you enjoyed chapter 1!

Each chapter title will be taken from a line within the chapter! I don't usually do this, I'm just running out of unique chapter names 😅

Fact of the Day: this is my first fact of the day since 9th January, almost 7 months (at time of writing)!