First Week Iida

[wrecking_yard]

After the test on the first day, it was hard to miss the dodgy looks Iida was occasionally giving me. He was still engaged in class and doing damn well, but there was a definite resentful edge to it. I was keeping an eye on it; I'd need to corner him on it sooner or later, before it turned into actual trouble, but if I did it carelessly it'd just blow up.



On the third day of classes, he decided I wouldn't need to corner him. He was very obviously hovering in the back of the room, waiting for everyone else to clear out before he approached the front of the room. "Aizawa-sensei?"



Figuring out how to get him to breathe now and then was another thing I'd need to address. I know Ingenium wasn't that stiff. He's just holding still at attention until I acknowledge him.



"Yes?"



"There was something I wanted to ask you about." Still holding a very careful attention.



"Go for it." I motion to him, leaning on the podium.



He shifts uncertainly; still stiff. "On our first day, you said you were lying about expelling anyone."



I nod, and he's trying to school his face formal but doing a lousy job hiding his discomfort. "I looked into past years, and you have expelled students on the first day before. One year you expelled an entire class in their second week. What were your actual intentions with those tests?"



I doubt he's mentioned any of this to Midoriya; the nervous overthinking would be obvious. He knows he's challenging me and he's definitely unhappy with that entire test, but he's still trying to restrain that. I fold my hands on the podium, hunching forward. "To see what everyone was capable of and how they handled their Quirks in a non-combat situation. The entrance exam has major limitations in gauging where a student is starting from and what their potential is."



His eyes narrow. "So you would have expelled someone on the first day if you decided they fell short of your standards."



Another year, another round of teenagers fumbling around and being... well, stressed teenagers. He's trying very hard to be a straight arrow, but if I don't get him trusting my reasoning fast, he's going to be trouble. They're all in that awkward age where they're getting better at forming their own ideas of things and deciding who they're going to be while still usually getting treated like children and dismissed; knowing how a lot of other schools and adults handle things, he's probably got plenty of reason to be wary of teachers abusing their power. It's a pain in the ass, but it's a reasonable reaction, and I doubt he's been taken seriously on that sort of thing before by himself. "You have concerns about me handling my students fairly."



He frowns; he's uncomfortable about the confrontation and unsure what to make of my reaction, even if he's not backing down at all. "Yes."



This is going to take a while. His position in the class was obviously never in question, so he's challenging me purely on behalf of the others, particularly the ones that didn't do so stellar on that test. It looks like he was expecting me to just shut him down out of hand, too; he's confronted teachers for how they treated other students before, and is still trying despite it apparently having not gone well most of the time. Good moral compass, willing to stand up for others even to authority figures where he's risking his own neck by doing so - not bad instincts to have. "Let's discuss this in my office - it might take a while." I wave for him to follow me out of the classroom and around the corner.



He's glaring into my back the whole way, although he does take a seat when I motion to the chair and sit down at my desk. He's watching me, waiting for me to say something.



"Alright. I'm not a mind reader, so let's hear your concerns in detail." It's too early in the year for jokes about rumors to the contrary.



He's giving me a suspicious look, thinking carefully before he speaks. "Well, for one, everyone in the class - besides those who enrolled on recommendations - have gone through one of the most rigorous and dangerous testing processes possible. It seems..." He wrinkles his nose, giving me a more calculating look and watching me closely. "Presumptuous to put us through another test to 'prove' our capability and our right to be here immediately after that."



He's waiting for me to shut him down and get after him. I nod, acknowledging, and motion for him to continue, because that was testing the waters; it definitely wasn't all of it. He shifts and straightens a little in his seat; he's getting more confident in challenging me, but he's trying to act as 'official' as he can about it, although it only lasts for a couple words before his posture's shifted, visibly bristling. "I also question the harshness of your methods. You're supposed to be supporting and guiding your students, not terrorizing them. Furthermore, particularly at this early stage, if someone has shortcomings in their control or abilities that would hinder them in the future, I would think it would be your responsibility to train them to overcome that, not turn them away on a whim."



Yep. He doesn't like me, and he's daring me to argue with him. It's not like it's news that there's a lot of teachers that shouldn't be in that job, but it's a script I'm pretty familiar with by now, and I've got no reason to take the bait. He really does have a good moral compass, and stepping up to defend people who can't defend themselves is exactly what he's supposed to be doing, even if his threat radar is going off on a habitual pattern right now. I give him a slow nod. "Before I start, I appreciate your honesty; I know it's usually frowned upon to confront your teachers so bluntly." He sets his jaw and glares at me harder; he's definitely gotten in trouble for this kind of thing before. "First off, about the exam. It has flaws. The combat exam is a controlled scenario with no bystanders and opponents that are nothing like another human. It's rigged against quirks that might be less effective against a machine, and favors blunt force use of destructive quirks for earning victory points. I want to see if my students are willing to use their Quirks in less straightforward ways, and get an idea for myself of what they're capable of. My test obviously isn't perfect, but I can usually get a good read on someone's ingenuity and priorities between that and the other tests."



He's still not impressed; if anything it seems like that annoyed him more - he probably thinks I'm talking a circle around the problem or talking down to him. I raise an eyebrow; may as well go straight for one of the complaints. "There are two reasons I'd expel a student. First, I don't teach corpses. A dead hero's useless. In Midoriya's case, if he hadn't gotten the message from my warning and continued the way he'd been going, then he would die within a month in the field, and he wouldn't be the only casualty.... but he did listen, so he's fine. Has a long way to go, but he's listening, so we can work on that."



He blinks and blanches a little when I cite Midoriya, but between who was the bottom of the scores there and watching them in class it's obvious who he'd be hissing at me being 'unfair' to. I'm willing to bet he was avoiding pointing out Midoriya specifically because the usual petty bullshit would've meant Midoriya getting punished because he spoke up. "It's very rare that someone's enough of a mess one way or another to get expelled in a pretest, but it has happened, so I try to keep that possibility visible. Better that people prepare for the worst and it not happen, then let them assume the best and get cut off at the knees."



That taken-aback flicker's passed and he's glowering at me again.



"Second, when someone gets licensed, they have a huge amount of responsibility - and a great deal of authority and power to get away with shit as long as they mind witnesses and their reports. If I don't trust someone to not abuse that, I am going to cut them off and blacklist them before they get the chance."



He nods faintly, although he's still definitely suspicious of me. "But you had an attempt at one student attacking another during the pretest."



Bakugou is another entire pile of mess; I prop an elbow on the desk. "I expect students to be young, stupid, and have garbage they need to unlearn, to a point. I'm not going to punt someone for having an attitude and baggage until I'm sure they're not going to listen and shape up." I pause, raising a hand. "There's a hidden score on the entrance exams for acts of selflessness and cooperation; Midoriya's entire score was there. You can lose points if you try things like attacking the competition or sabotaging others, and if you're enough of an asshole about it, you can end the test with a negative total score. Bakugou didn't score any rescue points, but he also didn't earn any negative points; so my current theory is that the outburst in the test was personal history that I'll keep an eye on in case I need to intervene again, not a normal habit."



He frowns, shifting his jaw and nodding slowly and more noticeably; he's still glaring but he's back to trying to figure me out more seriously. "And your methods?"



I inhale and prop my chin on my hands while I debate how best to explain this. He's from a hero family, so he can't be completely naive about it - he's actually been around the current Ingenium, his entire agency, and some of the previous holders of the name - but that doesn't mean he gets the entire implications. They're a decent family, and I doubt he's been exposed much to the worst case scenarios or the times things don't work out; I almost never get students that actually Get what they're going to be getting into out there, one way or another. He's committed to trying for that life, he's old enough to start understanding what he's up against, and the best I can do is be honest. "I am responsible for preparing all of you for what you will face in the field, with only three years to do it in. Earthquakes and tsunamis don't care about your test scores. Villains will care if you're having a bad time or can't control your power - so they can exploit it; they'll be cruel, and say and do anything to break your will. If I don't prepare you for that by the time you graduate, you will die, and so will anyone you were trying to protect." I drop my hands to the desk, and lean back in my chair. "That's what I am responsible for. I don't plan on attending any funerals."



He goes quiet, staring at the desk, and stays quiet for a few minutes; I give him the time to think. When he finally does say something, it's very slow and cautious. "...Have you attended a funeral for a student of yours before?"



There's a little spike of nausea and discomfort, but it's not hard to shove back. "Yes."



"I...see." He trails off, distracted. I don't have anything urgent after this to have a reason to rush him, and this is definitely something I want him to think over. "Is anyone currently in the class at risk of being expelled?"



I shift, tapping a few fingers on the desk. "There's a few I'm keeping an eye on, but it'll depend on how things go in the first few months. I doubt it."



"MIdoriya?" He's giving me a grim look, definitely nervous about asking.



"Probably not. I have concerns, but they're less than they were after the big exam." I take a moment; he's still giving me the grim, wary stare, but it's less hostile than it was earlier, at least. "I'm not worried about his potential ability or his morals. He needs to learn to not injure himself that badly, that casually, or he'll die for nothing. He's taking that to heart, so it's just a matter of him learning how to not do that to himself, which he's proven he should be able to do." Midoriya has his own file of headaches; it's hard not to see the Second Coming Of Young Toshinori, but he's more of a tactician than Toshinori.



IIda's still uncertain, but the hostility seems to be mostly disarmed. "And that's not a 'rational deception'?"



I have to give a snort at that. "Why would I?" I lean back in my chair with a shrug. "It's obvious you care about what happens to him, and it's easier on all of us to be honest with you there. I'm not about to discuss problems in detail, now, or anyone else - your classmates do get some privacy."



"But you were okay with me challenging you on that." There's the calculating confusion again, only he's feeling daring enough to actually voice it.



Also he's absolutely testing me. "You're training to be a hero. Why would I punish you for standing up for someone else?"



That didn't settle it. May as well let him do his prodding now and get most of it out of his system. "I looked up your record."



Doing research on his own initiative. Also testing my reactions and boundaries. He's got a few more obvious teeth on him than his big brother. "And?"



"You were known for maintaining criminal contacts, among other things."



I didn't attract much attention compared to other heroes. I was successful by all the non-popularity-based metrics, but I stuck to parts of town the cops and other heroes avoided. "Not something I'd usually go into with first years, but yeah. I did a lot of investigation work, it helps to know who might know something."



"And associating with criminals never bothered you?"



Oh you poor sweet sheltered summer child, you have a lot to learn and are going to get hit in the face with how little black and white there is. It's hard not to get a little sarcastic with him. "Well, generally, if you treat the people who're just desperate and struggling to make ends meet decently, they'll happily tell you whatever they know about the actual horrible people out there, and it gets a lot easier to catch the real villains." The word is very much being used in the morality and harm caused sense, not the legal definition, but that's a hairsplit for later years. If he's testing my boundaries than he's relaxing his guard a little and I've at least gotten somewhere; I lean on one hand and give him a grin. "Your brother's got sidekicks that started out as petty criminals doing civil service sentences, doesn't he?"



He stiffens and pulls back, caught off guard and suddenly back to awkward flailing teenager. "Well, that's - I mean - they - it's important to give second chances to those who are willing to reform, and to have compassion - it, I -"



I wave a hand to interrupt his stammering. "Don't worry about it. You've got a lot of basics to learn before you start making sense of the grey areas like that." He closes his mouth and adjusts his glasses, trying to play off his fluster and get his composure back. "He asked me about a few of them while he was arranging it - some of the candidates were from my territory and he wanted my opinion on them. Crossed paths with him in the field a few times, too; good guy, really committed to the people and being there for everyone, including the people other heroes brush off. Amazing backup when things go badly."



"Ah. I see." The wheels in his head are whirring off their spokes; he hadn't realized I was familiar with Ingenium, and I've definitely found his weakness.



"Do you have any other concerns?"



He's searching for something but whatever train of thought he had is gone. "No, that will be all for now. Thank you for your time."



He bows on his way out, definitely stiff again and further than he needed to.



A few hours later, while I'm going over notes, there's a text tone - other hero, not faculty. I look down to a text from Ingenium.



{What did you do to Tenya? (Laughing)}



Well, that was faster than I'd expected the kid to prod that potential avenue of information; he got over being knocked off balance fast - and probably wanted to verify that I actually DID get along with his older brother. {Nothing. I scared a friend of his with a pre-test and he got his hackles up at me. Caught me after class to question me about it. I don't think he knew we'd met.}



{Well, try not to break him too badly. We leave him in your capable hands.}



Whatever the conversation was, Ingenium's entertained. {Understood. I'll take care of him from here.}



For the rest of the week in class, I catch Iida giving me odd looks and watching me closely, like he's trying to figure me out. He doesn't approach me again until the end of the week, with another awkward, little-too-far bow. "Aizawa-sensei."



"Yes, Iida?" This sounds like it'll be something. He's glancing around the room and fidgeting, avoiding looking at me.



"I wanted to apologize for my earlier mistrust and interrogation of your methods. I was making snap judgments without clearly looking at all the information available to me." He's doing the hyper-formal stiff thing again, and now I'm wondering what Ingenium said to him. I doubt he got scolded, considering how funny Ingenium seemed to think it was.



"Look, you were upset and being protective of your friend. It's a good instinct, and you're here to learn what to do with it and how to do that properly." He really needs to learn to breathe and stop overcorrecting and overshooting himself.



There's a very tiny flinch, and he looks embarassed as all Hell, doing a crappy job of pretending he's not. "Yes. Well. I should have known an institution as esteemed as UA would choose its teachers with care."



He's not wrong, but that has more to do with Nedzu running the school with the communal sensibilities of a rat, and he hasn't met Nedzu to know that. "To be honest? It's good to not assume authority figures always have the best interests of others at heart, and it's not like you tried to pick a fight with me in the middle of class." It's also getting harder to keep a straight face with the poor kid. "You were fine, but I accept your apology anyway."



He really needs to relax.



"I asked Tensei about you." He's flustering and looking at the ground, mumbling like he's sure he crossed some boundary.



I just give him an approving nod. "You checked other sources of information. That's good."



He seems a little disconcerted that I'm pleased by that. "He spoke very highly of you." It's hard to get Ingenium to say something bad about anyone, but I'm sure Iida can tell the difference between genuine praise and grudgingly scraping for something nice to say. "He said you were very humble and dedicated to the good of others, particularly those most in need, even at the expense of your own comfort and reputation." He paused, straightening his posture and glancing at me sideways. "He also said that you acted harsh and antisocial, but you were very soft-hearted and incredibly caring....and I shouldn't tell you he said that because you were very attached to your heartless loner image."



Goddamnit Ingenium. I should've known not to trust him to not find some way to jab a thing like that in there. "So what do you think?"



He blanches. "Well. I. I trust his judgment?"



Definitely his weakness. "You can trust people's judgment and still form your own opinion. Nobody's infallible, and you might see something they missed."



He's got the most amazing flabbergasted look while he's processing and trying to decide what to do with that. "Well... You definitely do come across very harsh, and you're not easy to read."



That's a point Mic and Midnight would argue, but they've both known me since I started at UA.



"You're very intimidating, but you ... did encourage everyone to see what they could do and experiment. You haven't reprimanded anyone for fidgeting in class, drawing, or anything like that, but you've been quick to step in if someone is being mistreated. You've been very patient with quite a few things that most teachers would not tolerate, or would have responded harshly to." I can almost hear Mineta, Kaminari, and Bakugou's names in that. "You also seemed -" He stops, an uncomfortable look crossing his face. "You were uncomfortable with the question about funerals, and you seemed... unguarded, to me, when you spoke about what kind awful things we needed to be prepared to face. I know Tensei dislikes speaking ill of anyone, but he doesn't give compliments he doesn't mean, either, so you must have done things to earn the high praise he gave." That's a good step - actually thinking about how his brother works and why he's trusting the opinion rather than just following it on reflex. "And while you were hard on Midoriya, it... is upsetting to see him hurt himself like that."



Good. It was grudging, but he'll have a hard time covering for others he's working with if he's not willing to admit their shortcomings. "That's more the right direction. You need to pay attention to where your information comes from, how accurate it is, and why you trust it."



"Thank you, Aizawa-sensei." He bows, and I'm suddenly getting the feeling I'm going to need to work on a little more than just getting him to be less stiff.