Chapter Text
X-23 is first up on Monday morning. He stays in bed reading for a while before he hears Yamada milling around the kitchen, making breakfast. He isn’t sure why he does it, but he gets up and goes out, sitting at the kitchen island to read his book. This time X-23 knows to make his movements known and heard as he approaches. Yamada looks up and smiles. “Hey, morning, little listener, pancakes alright with you?”
X-23 nods. Yamada cooks pancakes and right as they are being plated, Aizawa comes out of their bedroom. The differences between his look today and his weekend look are minuscule, but X-23 notes the clean jump suit, freshly washed and brushed hair, and his actually awake look. He still looks like a zombie, but less so.
Yamada serves breakfast. X-23 tries to keep the shock out of his face as he takes the first bite of his pancake. It’s heavenly. X-23 has had cake before, but never for breakfast, and never as good as this. Besides, it’s been so long he almost forgot what they taste like. “This is good.” He says politely to Yamada. He finishes his food, puts his dishes in the sink and heads to his room to get changed.
The three of them leave at 8:00am. School starts at 9, so they give themselves plenty of time to get there and get set up. X-23 follows them through the halls once more, this time to the teachers lounge. There are very few teachers already there, so Yamada tells X-23, “You can sit wherever you want, okay?”
X-23 nods and chooses an armchair tucked into a corner. Midnight is already there, who X-23 had already met. She waves at X-23 as he passes her, so he nods at her politely. There are other teachers that he hasn’t met. He sits down and opens his book once again. The other heroes in the room look to Yamada and Aizawa in confusion.
“Uh, who is this child you brought with you?” The hero Powerloader asks.
“Are you okay with us sharing your information with them?” Yamada asks gently.
X-23 glances up, “I am fine with whatever you would like to share.”
Yamada looks a little perturbed, but pushes forward, “Okay, if you’re sure.” He focuses back on the rest of the teachers. “This is X-23. When we raided the commission on Friday we discovered that the commission had been experimenting in cloning technology. X-23 is, uh, is, mmm,”
“He’s my clone.” Aizawa cuts in as Yamada begins to fumble with his words.
“Holy shit.”
“What the fuck?”
“No way!”
“Yeah, so he’s staying with us.” Yamada continues, “He’ll hang out with Sho in the staff room during the day.”
“Nice to meet you, youngin’.” Snipe says.
“It is nice to meet you as well.” X-23 says politely. The teachers introduce themselves to him, and he decides not to tell them he already knows who they are and doesn’t need any introduction. It seems impolite.
A vent opens and Nezu comes out. “Good morning everyone!” Everyone greets him and X-23 politely nods to him. “I see you have all met X-23! Good, good.”
Nezu comes over to where he is sitting. He climbs up onto the arm of the chair. “X-23, I reviewed your test results from Saturday, and I must say, I am quite impressed with your results. The average score of someone your age is about 65%, given the test is so encompassing. You scored perfectly. Meaning your well beyond any of your peers. I wrote up some school work for you to complete that should hopefully be a challenge, so you don’t get bored being here all day with nothing to do.” He hands X-23 a packet, which he flips through quickly. There are sections on history, English, literature and math.
“Hold on, he got 100% on one of your tests?” Midnight interrupts. “I thought that wasn’t possible.”
“I assure it is quite possible, as young X-23 has proven.” Nezu says, almost sounding proud. Why he would be proud of X-23, a stranger, X-23 cannot say.
X-23 stands and bows towards Nezu, “Thank you for taking the time to put this together, Nezu-sama.”
Nezu waves him off, “No need for any of that, I’m simply trying to help a young brilliant mind like yours grow. You have so much potential.” Nezu then addresses the teachers, “I’m going to send an email out today, going over the information you all need to know about X-23, so everyone is informed and on the same page. I do expect everyone to treat him with respect.”
The teachers all nod and Nezu scampers off into the vents. X-23 watches him leave, wondering if the vents would fit his own slim build. X-23 focuses back on his book. Over the next hour more teachers come into the staff lounge and Yamada introduces X-23 to them. Soon enough they stop looking confused, so X-23 assumes Nezu’s email went out. He does wonder what it says.
He hears students passing in the halls and soon the bell rings and most of the staff leave to go to their classes. “I’ll see you in a few hours.” Yamada says as he slips out the door. Leaving just X-23 and Aizawa. Ugh.
X-23’s guardian is hunched over a table, grading essays for Yamada’s English class. It seems not having a homeroom class means he gets stuck helping grade other teachers' classes. X-23 tries to focus on the book he’s reading, but the scratching of Aizawa's pen against paper keeps distracting him. He gets up and walks over to Aizawa, clearing his throat to get his attention. “I need to go to the washroom.”
“It’s just down the hall, to the left. It’s a single, so you should get some privacy.” Aizawa says. “If any student gives you trouble just come back here and I’ll straighten them out.” He doesn’t even look up from his papers.
X-23 nods and slips out of the room. He reaches the bathroom and walks past it, until he reaches a vent. The opening is just big enough for X-23 to fit through. A small, dull blade extends out of his forearm, short enough to just go past his knuckles. He uses the edge to unscrew the bolts and pull the vent cover off. Once the vent cover is off, X-23 doesn’t waste any time crawling into the vent and pulling the cover back on after him. He army crawls through the vent for some time. At multiple points, he’s able to look down into classrooms through the slates of the air vents overhead. He passes Midnight, Yamada, Snipe, and Thirteen’s classes. Already he’s beginning to map the vent system out on his head, when he comes across an 8 foot cube.
The vent breaks off from its standard shape, turning into a tiny room. It’s got a number of pillows tuckered into one corner, along with a number of colourful blankets, a stack of books and a basket of chips. There’s even an outlet with a minifridge, though it’s not plugged in, and there’s nothing in it. “What is this place?” X-23 whispers to himself.
“Just a rest stop.”
X-23 doesn’t startle. He doesn't. He turns around in the small box to see Nezu standing at the entrance from another vent.
“I specifically made the vents of the school big enough for myself and students to make their way through.” Nezu says, “Most people don’t take advantage of this superior way of travel, but for the few that do, I decided to have these spaces installed, areas for relaxation and rest. You are free to use the vents any time you want, and encouraged to use these little rest stops. It’s what they are here for.”
“Oh, thank you, Nezu-sama.” X-23 says, still a little stunned at Nezu’s invitation.
“Come on now.” Nezu says, “There is no doubt Aizawa has noticed you are missing, we should head back before he panics.”
X-23 scoffs at that, but does follow Nezu through the vents back to the staff room. As they move, Nezu speaks, “I am impressed with your mind, and I would love to pick your brain more. I’m going to talk to your guardian’s about letting you have free range of UA. It will eventually get boring in the staff lounge. You should be allowed to explore at your leisure.”
They take a few turns and Nezu opens the vent, leading them directly back into the staff room where Nezu had appeared that morning. Aizawa is standing there with his arms crossed. Obviously he had noticed X-23 missing. “You are in trouble.” Aizawa says.
X-23 tilts his head and nearly laughs. Aizawa is so used to his students being terrified of him right from the start it seems his intimidation has begun to slip. Or maybe X-23 is just incapable of finding Aizawa scary. Either way, his menacing stare does nothing. X-23 heads back to his chair and picks up his book once again, flipping to the page he left off at.
Aizawa and Nezu slip into the hall, and X-23 can’t help but overhear.
“ - he’s simply restless.” He hears Nezu say.
“So you want to reward him with more privileges?” Aizawa snaps. “He escaped through the vents.”
“He didn’t escape, he was merely exploring, which is his right to do.”
“You don’t know that, he’s a flight risk. What if you hadn’t found him and he left the property?”
Nezu hums, “I had my eye on him the whole time. Besides, UA is the most secure building on the planet.”
“Yeah, it’s hard to get into, not out of.” Aizawa sighs, “You understand why I’m worried right? We have no idea what this kid's deal is, he’s highly dangerous and if a student reacts negatively, someone could get seriously hurt.”
“You need to have more faith in him.”
“You’ve met him twice,” Aizawa snaps again, “why do you have so much faith in him?”
Nezu’s voice quiets and X-23 has to strain to hear, “You have no idea what he is going through. You don’t seem to grasp the fact that he is an animal trying to explore his new cage. He wants to understand the new environment he’s in so he can better protect and serve himself. The basic aim of all animals is survival.”
“This isn’t a cage and he isn't an animal.”
“To him it might as well be.” Nezu explains, “We are keeping him here against his will, he is only permitted to go places when one of you is with him, he’s well aware of the fact we are dictating his life, as every one before us has.” Aizawa doesn’t say anything and Nezu continues. “You see him and think only of the terrible circumstances that brought this child to you, but you seem to forget that these are circumstances he is living through.”
“So what do I do?”
“Let him be a person, for the first time in his life.”