Chapter Text
Let it be known, for the record, that Aizawa Asahi was very much a boy and very much gay. It didn’t matter that his birth certificate back in China said Xiao Xiāngwhèi and proclaimed him a female, Asahi was an Aizawa and a boy and refused to be associated with Mǔqīn or what that woman had done to his family.
“I- I like you!” A girl with mediterranean teal hair and bright magenta eyes said, clenching said eyes shut and practically announcing it to the entire hall.
“Sounds like a ‘you’ problem.” Asahi stated before walking away and heading to where Kaminari’s group was sitting.
“Dude, that rejection was super harsh.” Sero frowned at him.
“Not my fault I’m gay.” Asahi shrugged before starting to eat his lunch.
Kaminari choked on his noodles. Mina snorted, and Kirishima immediately began talking about how ‘manly’ he was for coming out to them, and Bakugou just rolled his eyes.
“Tch, any extra with half a brain can tell you like guys.” Was all the explosive blond said as he went back to eating his spicy curry.
"Kaminari-kun, you good bro?" Sero asked, rubbing the blond's back and trying to help him get his breath back.
"Yeah, just went down the wrong pipe." Kaminari answered after he stopped choking.
"I feel like I should stop being around you so much, Den-kun. You always end up getting hurt in some way around me and it's a bit concerning. Am I a curse on blonds or electricity-Quirked people?" Asahi turned to his boyfriend in 'worry' and 'confusion', and Bakugou started cackling.
"Asahi-kun, that's-" Kirishima started to say, but Sero elbowed the redhead gently and he fell silent.
"What? No, I just get distracted a lot." Kaminari 'assured', and Asahi 'relaxed' minutely before shoving more food in his mouth.
Lunch continued without more event (also known as Asahi and his loud blond messing with their friends), and then it was time for Foundational Heroics. Asahi went to change in a stall like he always had before the "final" that had exposed half his darkest secrets. He shut and locked the door behind him, before undressing and taking his makeshift binder off (Aizawa didn't know he was using bandages and Asahi didn't know Aizawa was willing to buy him proper binders the moment he asked). Asahi avoided looking at the mirror, feeling disgusting at the way his chest fell out from his torso, the sides of it touching his arms and the bottom part resting against his torso and making him want to gag.
The teen placed his 'binder' underneath his uniform shirt and above his pants, grabbing new bandages to wrap his chest for the class. He then changed into his Hero costume, and left the stall, feeling the pressure and wondering when it was finally going to stop hurting so much when he made his chest flat like it should be.
"Asahi-kun, you don't have to keep changing in the stalls if you don't want to." Kirishima told him upon noticing the snow-haired boy leaving the stall to place his clothes in his locker.
"I know, Kirishima-kun. It's a force of habit, and it's a source of comfort." Asahi smiled gently to assure the redhead he wasn't upset.
‘Force of habit’ rang in some minds, while ‘source of comfort’ rang in the rest. Just what about hiding yourself away was a source of comfort? What kind of homelife would make hiding yourself away a source of comfort and force of habit for someone? Todoroki recognised the deflections for what they were, turning the suggestion away completely without acknowledging it for what it was.
Had Todoroki’s classmate gone throught the same things the heterochromic boy had? He would keep a closer eye on the boy, he wanted to know if he wasn’t as alone in the pain as he believed himself to be.
The boys walked out of the locker room, Asahi breathing shallowly as the bandaging around his chest kept it from expanding enough for him to breathe fully. It didn’t matter to him how much pain he was in, as long as he could look down and see a chest that didn’t look like a girl’s. His father brought the class together, and explained the exercise. In teams of two to three, they’d focus on teamwork and minimalising property damage and injuries done to each other while still taking each other down. It was something Asahi probably could’ve done comfortably with a bit of guidance if he wasn’t bandaging his chest and causing strain on his lungs and ribs.
As it stood, he nearly collapsed halfway in with his chest on fire, feeling like all the pain he’d been in over the years had compounded and redirected entirely to his lungs and ribs. His ‘teammates’, Tokoyami and Dark Shadow, immediately rushed to the boy who was struggling to breathe evenly or deep enough with the tight binding around his chest. He couldn't breathe, that hit from Ojiro’s tail had hit directly against his quite possibly weak bones and he couldn't get enough air to fix it.
“Aizawa-sensei! Asahi-kun appears to need Recovery Girl’s help!” Tokoyami quickly got their teacher’s attention, and Asahi stood up with Dark Shadow’s help, hating the feeling of some sort of liquid in his throat - maybe spit or something? He coughed, trying to get it out of his throat and get that clogged feeling out of him, and red liquid hit the ground in front of him. Blood, he’d just coughed up blood because of a stupid hit to his chest.
Ojiro looked queasy and extremely worried, and Aizawa was in front of Asahi as quickly as possible, putting a hand on his shoulder after making sure Asahi could see the movement.
“I’m bringing you to Recovery Girl, no arguing.” His father said, before picking him up and holding him in a way that wouldn't jostle him too much.
Asahi coughed again, blood coming up and staining his lips and around his mouth. Aizawa cursed under his breath and walked faster, trying very hard not to jostle his son who was coughing up blood and struggling to breathe properly. The boy in question was breathing wetly and raggedly, his chest not moving enough for him to get proper breaths.
Aizawa laid his son on one of the beds, and Recovery Girl immediately began trying to assess the damage and figure out how to heal the child. She shut the door to the infirmary and opened the front of Asahi's Hero costume, immediately revealing the bandages around his chest. The heroine carefully cut the bandages off, and Asahi stopped struggling to breathe so much.
"I- how did I not know about this?" Aizawa seemed horrified at what his son had been doing to himself.
"I'll heal him, and then we can have a talk with your son about what is and isn't safe for binding when he wakes up." Recovery Girl told him.
Asahi gave a soft groan as Recovery Girl used her Quirk to heal him, relaxing and beginning to breathe properly. Recovery Girl removed the cut bandages, and Aizawa was left sitting next to his shirtless son who had been binding unsafely for who knows how long.
“Why didn’t you just come to me, Asahi?” The father and teacher in one sighed as he looked sadly down at his unconscious son who had needed him but hadn’t gone to him.
It took a few hours before Asahi stirred even once. Even so, it was just a twitch in his hand, nothing that could for certain reveal if the boy had woken up. Twenty minutes after that, he began to stir a little. Then five minutes after that, he opened his eyes.
I̶̢̫͇͕̔͘t̸͇̯̱̐͊ ̵̝̜̲̏ḫ̴͂̉u̶͈͚̤̾r̸̠̈́̈t̸̖̜̐ś̴̯ Asahi thought, wanting to groan at how staticky his thoughts sounded inside his head and how hard it was to put them together.
His chest wasn't wrapped in bandages, and the freedom filled him with horror. They weren't going to see him as a boy, they were going to call him a girl and she and her and make him wear skirts and makeup and he would s u f f o c a t e.