Living A Lie

Chapter 5

"I heard two of your class didn't get their provisional licenses!" Monoma laughs at the class as they try to head into their classroom for the day. "All of class B passed! Just another way that we're..." the blonde trails off as soon as he notices the look on Kaminari's face. He immediately ducks his head. "Sorry, Denki. Old habits."

Shouto watches the exchange. He doesn't fully understand the situation with the two blondes, but he at least knows that Kaminari is the only one who can control Monoma's manic episodes. It honestly amazes him how fast Kaminari's expressions alone can stop the other boy in his tracks, almost like there's some sort of bond that lets Monom know Kaminari is there before he even sees the electric blonde.

Kaminari sighs. "Neito, we've talked about this."

Monoma nods and heads into his own classroom, subdued.

As the class enters the home room of class A, Shouto hears multiple murmurs wondering how Kaminari, out of all people, can control the manic boy. Although he is curious himself, he doesn't ask. If Kaminari wanted the class to know, then he would tell them.

The school day goes without incident. During hero training, Raven appears, and while she initially watches as the students enter the training grounds, she immediately turns her head the moment Hagakure gets there. At first, Shouto is confused as to why the cat seemed to dislike his invisible classmate, but then it dawns on him that the only parts of his classmate that can be seen are her hands and feet. Can Raven see more of the girl than he can? Is her hero suit literally only comprised of the gloves and boots? It would explain why his cat immediately looked away since the cat has, on more than one occasion, proven to him that she doesn't like nudity. He'll have to talk with his teacher about the girl's lack of a proper hero costume when he gets a chance. The girl could literally freeze during the winter months, and what if he doesn't know she's there when he uses his ice? Not to mention, even though she's invisible, he's pretty sure that a lack of clothing to that extent is illegal by hero costume standards.

For the training, everyone is split into pairs for hero versus villain practice, and each set of four students, two heroes and two villains, are sent in one group at a time with the rest of the class watching alongside Aizawa Sensei to analyze their classmates' performances as part of their grade. The first group being Midoriya and Hagakure as villains and Iida and Kaminari as heroes. While the rest of the class heads to the monitors to watch their classmates, Shouto heads over to Aizawa to ask about his invisible classmate's attire.

"Is Hagakure's hero costume really safe for her?" Shouto asks the older man. "It's only gloves and boots. She'll freeze."

"The same could be asked about the safety of your attire," Aizawa points out. "You aren't wearing a binder under your hero suit, are you?"

Shouto freezes in his tracks. "How do you..? Bakugou didn't..?"

"No, Bakugou didn't reveal your secret. I've had my suspicions for a while, and you just confirmed them."

Shouto's eyes widen. Another person knows. Endeavor could find out that his teacher knows. No one was supposed to know. Bakugou convinced him that Recovery Girl knowing was necessary for his safety, but Aizawa didn't need to know.

Shouta notices his student's distress, bordering on panic. He knows what it's like, having someone figure out your closest guarded secret. Back when Hizashi had figured it out, before they started dating, he had freaked out then himself, but there shouldn't be a reason for the boy in front of him to panic to the level he is now. Does it have anything to do with Endeavor? Does the man treat his son the way Shouta's own father treated him?

As Shouto's panic increases, he backs away from his teacher, towards the wall behind him. He can't keep panicking like that. It's a sign of weakness. He can't be weak. Endeavor will punish him for being weak. His breaths have become more shallow in his panic, and he collapses to the ground as soon as his back is to the wall. Vaguely, he hears a hissing sound, but he doesn't pay too much attention to that. He just wants to be left alone. He just wants to go back to before anyone else knew. If only Bakugou hadn't found out, hadn't forced him to tell Recovery Girl. If only the dorms had never happened.

As Shouta goes to step closer to his student in order to try and calm him down, the boy's cat, who Nedzu had explained was to have full access to all school grounds, gets in between them and hisses at him. He continues anyway, but she won't have it, hissing yet again, and smacking at him with her claws, and when that doesn't stop him, she changes into a white lion with brown eyes and a brown mane. At that point he finally gets the picture. The cat is going to know Todoroki far better than he does. If she is keeping him away from the boy, it's probably for a good reason. Nedzu did say that the cat is extremely smart and knows what she's doing. What the principal hadn't mentioned was that the cat has a quirk.

As soon as Aizawa backs off, Raven returns to cat form and gets closer to Todoroki. She climbs onto the boy's lap, and starts purring. After a couple minutes of her just sitting there, purring louder and louder as time passes, Todoroki's breathing evens back out, and he begins to gently stroke the cat's fur as he gradually comes to. As soon as he's fully out of panic mode, Raven climbs off his lap and watches as the boy stands and dusts himself off.

"I'm not going to tell anyone." Aizawa tells Shouto once he sees that the boy is okay. "And, I will look into Hagakure's costume. I had assumed it was made similarly to the one that Togeta has, but I will check to assuage your concerns."

Shouto nods. "I um... I don't wear a binder with my hero suit. Bakugou makes sure of that ever since he found out." The boy takes a deep breath. "Don't let my father find out that you know. No one is supposed to know."

Aizawa agrees, easily, remembering what his own father was like when he was growing up, then the pair join the rest of the class, Raven nowhere in sight.

Once class lets out for the day, all twenty students of class 1A decide to hang around the common room, well, all except Bakugou who's turn it is to cook dinner for everyone. Others would offer to help him, but they have all learned since moving into the dorm that interrupting Bakugou while he's cooking will only lead to disaster. If it were anyone else, they could offer to help, but Bakugou would rather do the cooking all by himself. At most, he might order Midoriya or Kaminari to help him, but those times are rare, and it's only those two.

"Hey, guys, have you seen the news article about the laws on marriage?" Kaminari randomly asks while everyone is quiet. "They lowered the minimum age."

Most of the class ignores him, not really caring about marriage laws, but Todoroki, Midoriya, and Yaoyorozu flock to him, followed by the only furry resident of the dorms who gets to roam. Reading over the blonde's shoulder causes a pit to form in Shouto's stomach. He has a really bad feeling that his father has something to do with the new law.

Just as Shouto finishes reading, his phone goes off.