Operation Izuocha (Izuku x Ochaco Fic)

Chapter 13: Geniuses Have No Time for Fun

The last bell of the day sounded and just as soon the members of class 1-A were all packing up, getting ready to head home. As Kirishima was sloppily stuffing loose leaves into his bag, Mr.Aizawa called him over to his desk. 

"Kirishima, could you please stay behind for a minute," he asked.

Kirishima quickly glanced over at Bakugou who was waiting by the door and gave him a quick 'go on without me' signal. The blond gave an aloof nod of acknowledgment and passed through the doorway. 

"Sure thing, Mr.Aizawa." 

As he made his way over, Kirishima was glad Bakugou hadn't insisted on waiting. Whatever Mr.Aizawa was planning on talking to him about, the expression on his face was an indicator that it wasn't a good thing. 

"Do you have any idea why I asked to speak with you?" Mr. Aizawa asked.

During the three-second lull between the question and Kirishima's answer, a million possibilities ran through the boy's mind as he frantically tried to remember if he'd done anything 'bad' in the last little while. 

"Um...no?"

"I see," Mr.Aizawa sighed, "It's because I've noticed you've been falling behind on your workload this past week, not to mention you seem awfully distracted in class." 

It's true that he hasn't been turning in the most 'polished homework' over the past few days but until this point, it hadn't caused him any alarm.

"Oh well... you see... that's because," he stumbled as he failed to attach reasoning behind the matter. 

"I'm not looking for an excuse," Mr. Aizawa interrupted, "if this were a normal school I probably wouldn't have seen any cause for concern until this sort of behavior ended up impacting your grades. But as you know, in this program, falling behind a week can be disastrous."

"I know..." Kirishima said, looking at his feet.

"You've got to make sure you're staying on top of things. How do you normally approach handling the workload?"

Kirishima thought on it for a moment. How did he manage the work? 

"Well normally, Bakugou tutors me on anything I don't understand in class and helps me with homework problems I can't solve," he said.

"And he doesn't anymore?"

"Well no...I just...haven't really asked," he finished. 

Having not noticed that fact up until now, Kirishima surprised himself. 

"Did you two get in a fight?" Aizawa asked, "It doesn't seem that way considering he was just waiting on you just a moment ago."

Kirishima shifted awkwardly in place.

"No... we aren't fighting."

"Well then?" he paused, waiting for an explanation.

"It's just that ...well I don't... you see I," Kirishima sighed, "I just don't want Bakugou to think that I'm falling back on him for everything. He's working so hard to be the best. More than anyone in my opinion but he... well, he still sees greatness in the people around him. I want to make sure I live up to that. I get that it's looking rough right now but I promise that I'm trying to figure it out."

Aizawa, not expecting to hear something so profound, thought for a moment before giving his response.

"Very well. Then you will attend a tutoring session with me once a week, or however many times I see fit, going forward. You're the type of learner who excels from individual attention, but I understand how you feel so I won't make you ask Bakugou." He finished.