Fanart by swamp
"In this moment, for this moment, he’s never been more grateful. That he has this, even if it won’t last. Whether he dies or loses, he’ll have this moment, and it will be real. He will always be able to feel it, in a way that he can’t when he tries to imagine escaping with 50. He never gets to feel how warm their escape would be, even when he tries. But he wants it to be as warm as this one.
He wants Eri to be there too. He wants Yamada, he wants his owner, he wants 50 to be here so bad that it hurts. But he forgets that ache for a moment when Yamada smiles at him. The real one, the one that he didn’t figure out the first time. It’s smaller, it’s so kind that it’s too warm to look at sometimes, but he likes it. He wants to keep it. “Thank you, Shinsou. I’m glad you like it.”
27 wants to stay here so bad that for a moment, he forgets that’s not his name."
The Wards of UA is a My Hero Academia fanfic written by FeckedSpectrum, inspired by The Last Resort written by coldandhotsoba. It is currently complete.
Following the canon of The Last Resort with minor alterations, Shinsou Hitoshi is sold to a criminal organization at the age of 4 years old after developing his quirk, and is held in captivity. During this time, Shinsou is renamed as '27,' forced to commit crimes in exchange for money, until he turns 12 years old and is sold again to The 8 Precepts of Death to control and care for Eri. After the raid on the 8 Precepts of Death, Shinsou's former captors, The Miasma, attempt to kill him in order to hide their existence, but The Miasma's ties to the creation of Nomus leads to Shinsou being designated as a ward to Yamada Hizashi, who is married to Aizawa Shouta, the designated guardian for Eri. After 12 years of brutal survival, Shinsou finds himself lost in his new circumstances, fighting the mounting pressure from the investigation into his worst experiences, and desperate to cling to the normalcy and happiness he finds in his temporary placement at UA.
With a great deal of hurt clear in the summary, there's also comfort, fluff, and funny moments to be had in a 500k word count monolith and counting.
This fanfic can be read on Archive of Our Own here.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Not only is Shinsou Ui, Shinsou's mother, not winning any parenting awards here, but Todoroki Shoto's backstory is a minor plotline, as well as Eri's mother abandoning her, and Aizawa Shouta's less-than-stellar upbringing.
- Adapted Out: Mineta Minoru does not exist, and never has. This version of 1-A has always had 19 students instead of 20.
- Bad Powers, Good People: Shinsou Hitoshi was sold to The Miasma due to the quirk he was born with, Brainwashing, which would have been the perfect power for a criminal. And despite his traumatic history and pressurized circumstances, Shinsou doesn't use his quirk for evil.
- Be All My Sins Remembered: Shinsou has been forced to do terrible things, but the things he feels the most guilty about are not being able to rescue Eri himself, and being forced to use his quirk on her repeatedly leading to him worrying about his quirk causing Mental Quirk Abuse Syndrome to her and his mother.
- Big Brother Instinct: Togata Mirio slams the Big Brother button on Eri and Shinsou Hitoshi, instantaneously, and never regrets his choice.
- Bilingual Bonus: Aoyama uses French in the 1-A groupchat, which often leads to side-dialogue that may or may not be relevant to the topic of the chapter. For example, in Chapter 31, the first full explanation of Eri clapping when she misspoke being due to Chisaki clapping next to her ear when she did so and forcing her to do it as well came about when Aoyama slips into French and mentions it to Shinsou. Shinsou Ui, Shinsou's mother, also uses French.
- Childish Tooth Gap: Eri loses her first tooth in Chapter 38 the morning after Shinsou confronts Chisaki and it is theorized that Chisaki using his quirk on her delayed that milestone in her development.
- Convenientlyan Orphan: Eri, being abandoned by her mother and her grandfather being dead and literally not having a family name on her legal papers makes her pretty prime adoption real estate.
- Darkand Troubled Past: Shinsou's life completely changed when he was sold for the first time, and not for the better.
- Disappeared Dad: Shinsou's father died when he was 3 years old.
- Dumbass Teenage Son: Many teenagers, many sons at varying states of adoption with the Erasermic fathers, and many dumbasses to be found.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Shinsou could have been safe and happy as soon as he got to UA and into the arms of the heroes, but he's not. Only through the investigation and Hurt Comfortfic
- Enhanced Interrogation Techniques: The Commission handling the investigation has very few holds barred. Forcing Shinsou to confront Chisaki, then using a Confession quirk to force him to talk.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Shinsou makes a great many assumptions off of bad math, including thinking that Aizawa has bought him instead of being designated as a ward for his own well-being and thinking that his mother will be able to rename him if she calls him 'Shinsou.'
- Feel No Pain: Shinsou has been tortured and hurt a lot, it takes quite a bit more than cat scratches to impress him.
- Forcedto Watch: Shinsou used his Brainwashing quirk to make Eri walk to the medical torture experiments, and back to her room afterwards, and often had to watch Eri suffer during. Shinsou was also forced to watch a police officer being brutalized by a client because he couldn't use his quirk to make him talk, and Eri was forced to watch Shinsou's hand being unmade by Chisaki, as well as videos of Shinsou being beaten in order to make her quirk accumulate emotions. Yamada and Aizawa are also forced to watch Shinsou being interrogated repeatedly and forced into stressful situations, as the decisions that The Commission makes to get Shinsou to talk are out of their hands until some blackmail falls into Aizawa's.
- Important Haircut: Shinsou's bleach-damaged hair is one of the first things to change as soon as he's placed at UA.
- Innocent Swearing: Eri is sold on using the F-bomb after being told it's a 'mad word' that will help her tap into being angry. Fuck Chisaki!
- Interrogatedfor Nothing: Shinsou's interrogation scenes usually lead to nothing relevant to the investigation as when Shinsou met with Chisaki under the assumption that Chisaki would tell them everything he knows about The Miasma and died instead, or very little such as when Truth Serum was used on Shinsou in the Jun interview and all that was gained from that interrogation was The Miasma's name.
- Hates Baths: After Shinsou was tortured by being dunked repeatedly in a bath treated with bleach, he avoids taking baths and only showers.
- Kick the Dog: Brutally named, as Shinsou is named 'Dog' when he's being held captive by the 8 Precepts of Death, but Chronostasis torturing Shinsou with bleach baths and digging out his collections only to mock them serves no real purpose other than 'kicking the dog.'
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Several characters are fans of cats in this fic, notably Shinsou, Aizawa, and Eri. Though Todoroki Shoto also has a stray cat he's hiding in his room.
- Large Ham: Yamada Hizashi, AKA Present Mic, exists.
- Mental Health Recovery Arc: The Wards of UA as a whole is Shinsou Hitoshi's mental health recovery arc, with other characters also working through trauma.
- Mind-Control Eyes: When Shinsou uses his quirk on someone, the target's eyes turn white.
- Nightmare Sequence: Eri, Shinsou, and Aizawa all have PTSD, and all have nightmares. Plenty of nightmare sequences to go around.
- Nobody Touches the Hair: One of Shinsou's triggers is someone touching or grabbing the back of his head, as that was how he was held underwater during the bleach torture. Some meaningful exceptions come about.
- Out Sick: Yamada gets shuffled off-screen from Chapter 49 to 50 due to getting shot but it's fine, they've got Recovery Girl.
- Not in Front of the Kid: Shinsou tries to keep Eri from seeing him fighting others, and Bakugo also censors himself (or attempts to).
- Promotion to Parent: Shinsou Hitoshi being the primary caretaker for Eri since she was a young toddler means that he has a great deal more experience being a teen parent (or teen 'mother' as Eri would say) than the rest of his peers.
- Scars Are Forever: Shinsou's got a lot of scars, and even if his mafia tattoos get peeled off, the scars are there to stay.
- Sick Episode: Chapters 50 to 58 include Shinsou getting sick to the point of being bedridden.
- The Speechless: After the raid on the 8 Precepts of Death, Shinsou is selectively mute.
- Silent Snarker: Shinsou is selectively mute, only able to talk to Eri and anyone else that he's Brainwashed, but his snarky personality still comes out in his point of view sections, unknown to most of the cast.
- Hand Signals: Shinsou primarily communicates through Japanese Sign Language, which Aizawa and Yamada are fluent in, but prior to the rescue Eri and Shinsou learned a few signs and created pidgins for 'Chisaki' and 'Away', the latter meaning that Shinsou had fully dissociated.
- The Power of Love: Yamada's openness and support for Shinsou, and the bond he shares with Eri, provides Shinsou with the stability he needs to move forward through his challenging wardship and progress further in his story.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Bakugo. Even Bakugo's point of view sections have plenty of swears to go around.
- Torture Technician: Bug's quirk allows her to control maggots, which are great at getting under people's skin.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Shinsou's preoccupation with knives and defensive tactics is one thing, but Eri wanting to use her tooth fairy money to hire a hit on Chisaki is another.
- Unhappy Medium: Shinsou's Brainwashing quirk when used on Eri is unique, in that he can feel what Eri feels, and vice-versa. Given that these two kids are not having a great time, it's not a fun thing.
- Villain Takesan Interest: Nemoto and Rikiya, two members of the 8 Precepts of Death, act a little friendlier with Shinsou than others, and 127, a member of The Miasma, refers to Shinsou as his 'little brother.' None of these guys are great friend material, but they seem to try.
- Wham Line: Used a few times in the fic, notably in Chapter 30 when it's revealed that Aizawa was trying to prevent Shinsou from being forced to meet with Chisaki, as the identity of who was trying to make a plea deal hadn't been revealed, or Chapter 48 when Shinsou states that his name is '27,' surprising Aizawa who thought that Shinsou didn't believe his name was that, and revealed that Truth Serum was in effect, or in Chapter 63 when Yamada learns that Aizawa had been keeping the knowledge that Shinsou was sold by his mother a secret.
