Work Text:
“Kid,” Shouta said calmly to the greenette standing on the ledge of UA’s roof. Midoriya stiffened and slowly turned around to see how close the man was, tears staining his freckled cheeks. Shouta forced himself to keep the disinterested look from falling as he leaned against the roof-access door. Don’t let him know how scared you are. “It’s not gonna work.”
The space between Midoriya’s brows scrunched up a bit. “Wh-” he swallowed “-what does that mean?”
“It means,” Shouta said, casually pushing himself away from the door and taking two measured steps toward the boy, “that the reason you’re standing over there, with your shoes off, is pointless. Falling from up here won’t kill you. All you’ll get is a few very minor injuries – if you get injured at all.”
“Why not?” Midoriya asked, narrowing his eyes skeptically. Shouta sighed as if this was the twentieth time he’d had to explain this that week.
“Come on, Midoriya. You’re smart. Do you really think a school that employs so many heroes who face this exact situation at least once a month wouldn’t have safety procedures in place to make sure no one who tries will succeed?”
Midoriya turned back to the edge and looked down. “How-? What hap-” he took a sudden breath. “What would happen if I . . . jumped?”
Shouta blinked slowly as he tried to think of an answer. “A quirk-canceling net would shoot out to catch you. Then, with you secure, it would lower itself to the ground where you’d have to wait for me or another hero who knows the code to release you. After that, you’d be escorted to Hound Dog for an evaluation.” Shouta watched his student closely as he spoke, hoping the boy believed him. Luckily, he had a lot of experience lying, so he was pretty good at it. “Alternatively,” he continued, “you could come with me. No embarrassing net trap. No one asking intrusive questions or giving you weird looks. You’ll still have to talk to Hound Dog, of course, but . . .” he trailed off and lowered his head slightly before muttering in a quieter voice, “I know which one I’d choose.”
Midoriya looked up at the man and down over the ledge. Shouta mentally prepared himself to act in case Midoriya decided to call his teacher’s bluff, but after an agonizing three seconds, the boy sighed and stepped away from the edge, grabbing his shoes and approaching Shouta. The man waited for Midoriya to put them back on before opening the door and following his student down the stairs. On their way to Hound Dog’s office, Shouta received a text.
Nedzu: Great idea! I’ll have Maijima-kun implement it by the end of the day!