Chapter Text
There are two boys standing behind one desk. One of them is Todoroki Shouto, going by his attendance list, and the other is his twin, going by their near-identical faces. One has red hair and a scar, the other white hair and very, very pale freckles. He doesn't know how the office messed up his class roster on day one, but he doesn't have time to deal with that now.
Aizawa goes to get another desk but one of them says, "It's okay. We share."
Aizawa pauses and he says, "Which one is Shouto?"
"We both are."
"You cannot possibly be serious."
"We are."
Aizawa groans, slaps a hand to his face.
"On day fucking one?"
The twins just blink at him. "We can take turns if that would be easier."
"We're going to deal with this later, but you two. You're in trouble."
They just keep on blinking as the class heads outside.
Later, the purple shitstain makes his dejected way to the principal's office. Now there's an open spot. Problem solved.
Here's another problem for them, though- Aizawa isn't going to let them complete the tests together.
The twins stare at Aizawa. His first instinct calls it defiance, but the softer part, the part that works rescues instead of recon, whispers shock. Their hands only tighten.
The white one speaks first. "You said we could use our quirks."
"Yes, but-"
Now the red one: "We're part of each other." And together, "We do everything together."
Aizawa pulls his hand down his face again, thinks. He hadn't even known Endeavor had twins. It was altogether possible that they did indeed do everything together- that they'd never been apart. And that look, like they were scared... Well. He could deal with this later.
"Fine. Test together, I don't care."
They step up to the line, hands still clasped together. At the mark, they tense, then-
The world slows down. Aizawa doesn't dare blink, because in the millisecond that's passed, ice has covered the track, and there's flame shooting out from one boy's extended hand as they sail towards the finish line with preternatural grace.
Their time reads .83 seconds.
The red-haired one (there's gotta be some other way to distinguish them, this is getting so annoying) gently lets the other go, and they both look carefully at their time, then each other. He wants so badly to ask what it is the Todorokis are looking for, but keeps his mouth shut. They're already turning away anyway.
The rest of the tests are much the same. For the grip strength and step test, they agree to average their scores, but Aizawa needn't have bothered. All their scores are the exact fucking same. Apparently the only differences between them at all are their coloring and scar placement.
The scars bother him. More than the fact that there's two, that Endeavor apparently enrolled them as one, that they look no one but each other in the eye- the scars. They're burns. If it were only the one with ice that had scars he could understand; his brother likely had a few accidents with his fire in childhood. But it's both of them. The one with the fire has been burned too, and quirks don't hurt their users. It wasn't his fire that made those scars.
He's distracted when Midoriya tries to blow up his fucking arm, what the fuck, but after that incident he definitely notices the twins sitting on the side, apparently having some kind of staring contest. He looks away before they can notice him watching, just in time to catch Kaminari attempting to tape Sero to Kirishima’s hair. When he finishes dealing with that they've already stood up to watch their classmates. They're sizing them up. Aizawa really, really hopes the Todorokis are measuring competitors and not threats.
He sends all his students, minus one piece of shit, home for the day, with a headache growing and a foreboding feeling settling in his stomach.
Day 2 goes slightly better on the Todoroki front, since he doesn't try to separate them. Every other student is trying their damndest to just completely fucking ruin his life. He's so, so relieved when they all file out, chattering and yammering, to head to the cafeteria.
The twins stay in the classroom during lunch. Aizawa does too, although he's pretending to be asleep, and he suspects that's the only reason they don't find some other abandoned spot.
The twins eat out of one bento. After that's done, the ice one pulls out a phone, and the red digs around in their (single, shared) bag for headphones. They both put in an ear bud and focus on the screen.
It's part curiosity, part hunch, that makes him do it. Aizawa turns his head just enough to slit both eyes at the twins, and he activates his quirk.
It's instantaneous: they both jump with a strangled gasp. The red one looks like he might vomit as he reaches for his brother, who is already grasping desperately at his shirt.
"Shouto, Shouto-"
"Are you still- I can't feel-"
Just as suddenly as they move, they freeze. Aizawa feels almost sick watching. They're clearly suffering, from something he caused, and he knows down to his core that they wouldn't want anyone to see this. He closes his eyes and tries to hold still.
As the silence creeps back, he realizes that's the first time he's heard them speak to each other.
Theory confirmed, then.
They're talking now, speech so soft he has to strain to hear it. Probably because they don't actually need to talk out loud to each other, he figures. One or maybe both of them is weeping quietly. Everything about them is so quiet. Aizawa doesn't want to think about why.
"I felt you go, I felt you-"
"I was conscious, Shouto, I'm okay, but I felt you..."
There's a brief pause, the rustling of fabric. He only catches snippets of phrases about interruptions and flickers, but then there's... it's something. His skin is crawling. Someone is watching him. They're watching him, and for a moment all he can think about is how bad he fucked up, and-
"Eraserhead," twin voices whisper, tight and quiet, angry and afraid. Just as soon as he registers that the door's slamming closed and they're gone.
Oh, he really fucked up.