Gray is Our Colour

Chapter 8: They're Always Listening

Midoriya hesitantly opened the door, “All Might, you wanted to see me?”
“Ah! Young Midoriya, yes, please come sit down.” The scrawny man said.
Midoriya sat down across from All Might, asking the man, “Why’d you want to see me?”
All Might smiled warmly, “I was just wondering what the tension was between all of the guys in class today?”
“Um,” Midoriya started, trying to find the words to explain exactly what happened. “Nakajima and Akutagawa weren’t changing with the rest of us and a few people noticed and started asking questions, which Nakajima reflected before Kacchan told them that whatever it was couldn’t be that bad, so then Nakajima took his shirt off and, well.” His voice trailed off, unsure of how to describe what he had seen.
All Might was frowning now, worry racking his small frame.
“Did young Nakajima have scars of some sort on his torso?” All Might asked, hesitantly, unsure he wanted to know, but knew that it was his job.
Midoriya nodded, then said, “There were a lot of scars, of all different kinds.”
All Might nodded solemnly, he was worried that Nakajima and Akutagawa’s reliance on one another had been formed through some sort of trauma.
“You go home, now Midoriya. I’ll take care of it and make sure they get the help they need.” All Might said, smiling reassuringly at Midoriya.
Midoriya nodded and left the room, leaving All Might sitting there. All Might sat there for a moment, thinking of how to go about this before making his way to the principal's office.
oOo
Trying to get into the UA campus was terrible, the press was crowded around the gate, not letting teachers or students through without trying to question them. The mafiosos were glad that Kunikida and Tanizaki left earlier than they did as with this much press, the news of them knowing each other would spread.
“These people have no respect.” Akutagawa muttered, using Rashomon to block the press's view of the two.
“Yeah, you don’t really see press that much in our ‘town’.” Atsushi replied, clinging to Akutagawa’s arm like yesterday.
The two could see their teacher also struggling to get into the building ahead of them, some of the press even trying to follow him through, setting off the defense barrier. They had made it to class, albeit a couple minutes late. Aizawa walked into the classroom, looking slightly more exhausted than normal.
“We need a class representative, I don’t care how you do it, just get it done.” Aizawa said before promptly falling asleep in his portable sleeping bag.
The classroom was suddenly alight with excitement and many people yelling that they want to be class president. Atsushi quickly covered his ears, his sensitive hearing not liking the sudden influx of noise, and he could see Jirou doing the same out of the corner of his eye. A tendril from Rashomon grabbed his earplugs out of his pocket and brought them up to his hands, he took them and quickly put them in, whispering a small ‘thank you’ to Akutagawa. A few seconds passed by before Ida was able to get everyone’s attention.
“We should vote on who the class president will be!” Ida shouted, making sure everyone heard him before turning to their teacher. “Is that alright?”
“I don’t care how you do it, just elect representatives.” Aizawa said, one of his hands coming out of the opening on his sleeping bag to wave Ida away.
Ida nodded and proceeded to pass out paper, “Write who you want to vote for on that piece of paper, then fold it over and put it in this box.”
The class was silent as they voted, people going to and from the box. Atsushi voted for Momo, having taken a liking to her after yesterday's battle trials, Akutagawa just copied him and also voted for Momo. There were whispered conversations until everyone had voted. The results were Midoriya as class representative and Momo as deputy representative. Ida was visibly distressed by the outcome, but gave his classmates a congratulations anyway. They all continued their day as normal until Atsushi and Akutagawa got called to the office. The two shared a look, knowing what this was about and not looking forward to it.

“I’m so glad that Dazai-san works fast.” Atsushi said as they walked to the principal's office, “If we didn’t have these documents saying we went to therapy we’d probably be screwed.”
Akutagawa nodded and they continued their walk in silence.
Once they got to the principal’s office, they got a ‘Come in!’ before they could even knock. They opened the door to Aizawa, the hero Hound Dog(who is UA’s guidance counselor), All Might, and Nezu.
Atsushi glanced worriedly around the room, “So, uh. What’s this about?”
“Please take a seat, then we will get started.” Nezu said, motioning to the chairs in front of his desk.
Both took a seat, Atsushi looking more nervous by the second.
“I’ve been told that you have scars all over your body, Nakajima, and it is assumed that Akutagawa does as well. Is that correct?” Nezu asked.
Atsushi and Akutagawa nodded. Atsushi was almost surprised that he didn’t try to beat around the bush, but considering that he knows of their real identities, it was no surprise he treated them like that.
Nezu nodded back, “Then I will have to require that you go to counseling with Hound Dog for a while.”
Atsushi shook his head, “That’s not necessary! We’ve both gone to therapy already.”
“Is that so?” Nezu said, a curious look on his face, the rat was almost sure that the mafia would rather their employees not go to therapy as mental instability is a good thing to take advantage of.
“Yes sir, I actually have documents to prove it.” Atsushi said.
“Why would you just have those on you?” Aizawa asked.
“I knew it would get out eventually that me and Akutagawa didn’t have the best childhood and that you would try to force us to get help so I kept them on me for when it happened.” Atsushi explained.
“So you have documents proving that you and Akutagawa went to therapy and are doing okay now?” Nezu asked, still curious.
Atsushi nodded, “And you can ask Kunikida-san, him and Tanizaki know that we went.”
“Alright, I’ll have to ask them about this later. You two are free to go back to class now.” Nezu said.
They both got up and bowed before leaving Nezu’s office.
“Why’d you let them go, they should've still gone to the counseling sessions for good measure.” Aizawa said.
Nezu sighed, a solemn look in his eyes “You can’t help those that don’t want help, Aizawa.”