Chapter Text
Katsuki woke with a light headache and not much else. He was vaguely aware that Recovery Girl was speaking to him as he sat up and pulled his shoes on, but would be lying if he said he listened to a single word she spoke. He was healed. Goal achieved.
He was out of there before she could force a pamphlet into his hand.
The air outside was cool, which he would normally hate...except today his skin felt numb and the cool helped him stay alert to his surroundings.
What a mess this week had been.
He glared at the ground as he dragged his feet. The unpleasant scratch of his shoes on the pavement helped ease his nerves.
He liked a lot of things like that. Things that others might think are unpleasant made him feel calm.
Maybe if less people expected pleasantries all of the time, he wouldn't struggle so much with understanding his classmates. Stupid idealistic logic of no-brained wanna-be-heroes with more complexes than he could count (and considering he new over 100 digits of pi, that was saying something).
He didn’t look up until he heard a metallic crashing sound as he was opening the door to the dorms..
The picture in front of him was wrong. In so many ways.
Eijirou didn’t curse at his classmates. Usually he left that to Katsuki. Discouraged it, actually.
Katsuki took stock of the situation.
Iida was waving his hands and shouji was holding all arms up defensively against the fridge. Uraraka was standing next to the wall. Stupid Bastard Deku was moving like he was stuck in slow motion and several other classmates seemed to be scattered around the commons just watching.
He watched, frozen from the doorway, as the light of his life broke down and sobbed.
The anger growing inside of him was hotter than any explosion he’d felt yet. It burned in his veins and 2 things struck him at the same time.
- No one should be seeing Ei like this. This vulnerable side of Eijirou was his to protect and he’d be damned if he failed.
- Uraraka had just pressed the red button mounted on the wall, hidden under a thermostat.
Fuck.
He took a deep breath and forced himself forward, pushing past Ears and Raccoon Eyes. The entire room went quiet when they saw him. All he could hear was Eijirou’s hiccuping sobs and his own footsteps.
His squatted down in front of his boyfriend and sighed, “Ejirou.” Oh his sweet sweet boyfriend, “This is not what I meant by making it go away.”
If anyone thought he was going to open up more than that in front of the class, they could suck his left nut.
He hauled up the sack of emotions that was his to defend and pulled him out of the room as fast as he could. He knew a teacher, or multiple, would be there any second.
He had to get them out of there before this escalated more.
Katsuki held his breath until they were in the staircase, “Why did you do that?” He was gruff, but only Ei would notice the circles he rubbed on the other’s lower back as they began matching pace. Upstairs to hide like cowards but together, nonetheless.
“How can you just accept this!? How can you want to just move on when they don’t….When they…”
Katsuki couldn’t quite contain the roll of his eyes, “I knew this would happen, remember?...I just….thought we could control what they knew. I was wrong.” He spoke it casually. Like it’s not something that before this week probably would have shredded his innards before even the slightest possibility of leaving his mouth. It was still bitter in taste. He was done sulking. No more pity party.
“You don’t deserve the way they ruined this.” Eijirou’s voice was sad and his eyes were trained on the stairs as they moved, until Kat pulled them to a stop on the landing of the second floor.
“Shut the fuck up.” He could feel the tension through his entire body. Absolutely unacceptable. “Nothing is ruined.”
“It is!” Great. Ei was crying again; Clinging to the railing and squeezing his eyes shut.
“I said shut. The fuck. Up.” Katsuki was growling and he straightened himself and took several large breaths like they had practiced for when he had something important to say but had ‘big emotions’ as Eijirou liked to call them, “I love you, Eijirou. Nothing is ruined.”
“But it was supposed to be special! For both of us! And now it’s this sick joke for people to rag on you about!? And then suddenly they care that feelings are hurt, but NO, not YOU, just me? I don’t….”
“It was special. It IS special.” He took another deep breath to keep the shakiness from reflecting in his voice. “ Ei, I want to move on because what those extras think doesn’t MATTER.” Katsuki pulled the red head into his chest, “Was it a sick joke to you?”
“NO!” Eijirou was pulling away to look him in the eye, face screaming panic.
“Then it doesn’t matter.”
“You don’t deserve…!”
“Eijirou. This isn’t about what I deserve right now. Shitty things happen to everyone.” Was Katsuki lying through his teeth to calm his boyfriend, absolutely. His classmates sucked eggs and he did not deserve this and neither did Eijirou. Fuck them and the parents that raised them to be this way.
“But they only care about MY feelings!”
“Uh, duh. They like you. You’re likable. You’re friendly...usually...and loyal, and brave, and not even dumbasses like the shits in our class are blind enough to miss it.”
“It’s like they don’t know you, though! Like they haven’t spent years seeing you grow and laugh and help tutor and and…” Eijirou was suddenly squeezing the goddamned life out of him and he pretended he could still breathe.
“I’m fine.”
“You weren’t!”
“But I am, now. Just because our six month is over doesn’t mean we can’t keep those special memories anymore. They didn’t take it away from us.” Did he just say ‘special memories’? Gag. He hated that this was necessary.
Eijirou froze in his arms and relaxed enough that Katsuki could feel his lungs filling to the brim with oxygen, “You’re right.”
“Obviously.” Katsuki scoffed, and suddenly grinned. Maybe they had been going about this the wrong way, “If it makes them uncomfortable that I can score a 10 like you, let’s make them fucking uncomfortable.” He launched himself forward, taking the breath from Ei in no seconds flat as they collided in his favorite personal activity.
God, he loved doing that.
Ei tasted like cinnamon gum, salt, and pure rage. The guy was too damned perfect.
When he pulled back, Eijirou was smiling, and Kat wiped the last tears away, “But for now….you might be in some deep shit for that counter…”
They’d barely made it to the 3rd floor when the landing door opened and a mop of black hair surrounding glowing eyes greeted them. Damn.
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Jirou tried not to hear it. She really did. The weird thing with her quirk was that even when she wasn’t actively trying, sometimes the sound just...came, anyways.
This is what she blamed for being the root of all of her most recent problems.
It was most certainly what she blamed for hearing the entirety of Bakugou and Kirishima’s stairwell conversation on when leaning against the door that led out of the kitchen- as Aizawa scowled angrily at the students around him.
Their echoey words whispered to her quirk as she tried to actively listen to their sensei to the best of her ability. Thank goodness she could multitask.
“Do we really need to discuss boundaries? I thought this had been covered when we first brought you to a building of OTHER STUDENTS in your first year. What is this? Amateur hour?” He hadn’t raised his voice. His eyes weren’t glowing. He just looked disappointed. Oh, that was so much worse.
“I knew this was going to happen…”
“It should go without saying that this is clearly a private matter, so I would like to point out that this is no longer private. It has come to my attention that members of 3-B are being disciplined for acts of harassment towards your classmates.” Well, that certainly quieted the class from any excuses they may have been brave enough to mutter.
“You don't deserve the way they ruined this…”
“I love you…”
“The complete and utter lack of respect for privacy or individuals’ rights shown here is a travesty to our expectations of you as heroes and as people with morals.” Ouch.
“I’m fine.” “You weren’t!”
The room was quiet for a moment as Aizawa seemed to gather his thoughts. Deciding their fate, likely. That meant she heard the stairwell clear as day.
“But I am, now. Just because our six month is over doesn’t mean we can’t keep those special memories anymore. They didn’t take it away from us.”
Six months? They’d been together for 6 months and no one had noticed!? Images flashed through her mind of shared glances in class, hands held under the lunch table, and the warm smiles no one but Kirishima seemed to be able to get from Bakugou. Oh.
Aizawa’s voice was icy when he said his next words, “I honestly don’t want to look at you right now. To your rooms. You will receive your punishment during homeroom on Monday.”
“If it makes them uncomfortable that I can score a 10 like you, let’s make them fucking uncomfortable.”
Well, at least it sounded like Bakugou was beginning to feel like himself again.
By the time she and several others made their way into the stairwell (because the elevator was full), they were gone.
She felt no need to tell anyone what she heard. The emotion...and the softness from both of them- such rough and sometimes difficult men being truly vulnerable and of course like a creep she could hear it.
If they wanted anyone to know, they could tell the class themselves.
------------------------------------------
Aizawa was positively fuming. He couldn’t even FATHOM how so many of his students lacked the call in judgement to see their errors before it got this bad.
He pinched the bridge of his nose as he looked at the cracked granite. He didn’t particularly want to punish the kid for getting upset that his business was spread, but that counter was expensive. He sighed.
When Midnight approached him about the rumors spreading through her General Studies class he had thought nothing of it. Stupid High Schoolers do stupid things and he wasn’t one to spare his energy on it. His brain reminded him of the conversation,
“Do you know what I heard?” She was leaning over his desk and pushing her chest out in a way that made him feel like slamming his head on the desk, so he merely grunted in response.”You might have to have THE TALK with some of your kiddos, old man. The kids have mentioned stories of….relations...between kids in your class.” She purred,
He felt his gaze harden and reminded himself that she was trying her best.
Her best sucked sometimes,
“You’re aware we’re talking about CHILDREN, right?” She froze and immediately chewed her lip looking a little guilty for encouraging the inappropriate gossip. “They’re smart kids. Let them handle their own lives and decisions. We are here to educate and prepare them, not get caught up in their gossip. What are you, twelve?”
He should have done something, then, but he hadn’t cared to hear what students were participating in what. The whole thing made him uncomfortable, and now there was an even more uncomfortable layer that was the veiled problem of someone being outed against their will.
He knew a little something about that, and it wasn’t a good time. His own High School experience lingered in the back of his brain.
At least according to Ashido, that was not the cause for the episode in the kitchen, however, which in fact had NOT been from Bakugou. Not particularly surprising, given he and Shinsou had seen the boy leave the infirmary looking particularly drained.
He stepped outside and used his scarf to fling himself up onto the 4th floor balconies, figuring to find them in one or both of their rooms. They were empty. He slid into a hall window before he checked the 3rd floor. Nothing.
Ah, there was a slight echo from the stairwell and he opened it to come face to face with his two students.
Kirishima’s face was red and blotchy. He’d clearly been crying. The other was stoic and blank. That tracks. “Fourth floor.” They nodded silently accepting their doom.
They went up the last flight quickly, hearing the echoes of feet down in the first set of stairs below them.
Both students were ushered into Bakugou’s room, chosen over the other because the pubescent stink of workout clung to the red head’s punching bag.
The conversation wasn’t what he expected, honestly. Bakugou did little but listen until the end, and Kirishima displayed more negative emotions than he had since he started at UA.
It became clear fairly quickly that the problem was less that people knew, and more about what they did with that information. Ashido had been startlingly aware of the issue for someone that had caused much of it by accident. He didn’t bag her as particularly pensive.
Aizawa cleared his throat, “Boys, what you do in your rooms is,” he coughed a little and the discomfort heated his face, “Is your business, but you had to know that what was happening with your classmates was not okay. Why didn’t you come to me?” He embraced his inner counselor training.
“I could fucking hande it. It’s not a big deal.” Bakugou’s arms were crossed. Defensive.
“Oh you could?” Aizawa raised an eyebrow and glanced at Kirishima who was staring at the ground again, cheeks a light pink. He could see how this was embarrassing for them, but the conversation had to be had, “Because I think our new lack of kitchen countertop disagrees. You should feel lucky that Yaoyorozu has offered to replace it for you, “ He looked Bakugou directly in the eyes, “because she feels bad about what happened.”
The blonde’s fists smoked and he knew his message got across, “While this is not your fault, it is your job to inform someone when a situation is no longer in control so that it can be controlled. Accepting help is a first year level lesson.”
If Bakugou’s bit lip was anything to go by, he had been understood.
He rested a hand on each of their heads, “This is being handled, but you will each receive 1 mandatory session with Hound Dog. If he determines you need more, you WILL receive more. I am not one to care about your romantic lives, but handling your feelings with unnecessary violence is something I thought we had fixed already.” While he was specifically referring to Bakugou, the other should have been as aware of those lessons as anyone else in their class.”You will go Monday during homeroom.”
They sighed, “Yes, Sensei.”
__________________________________________________________________
The weekend was...awkward, to say the least. A few students had gone home, in an attempt to stay as far away from Aizawa as possible.
Mina had fretted when neither Bakugou or Kirishima had left Bakugou’s room that first night.
The apology food Satou had made remained on the floor outside the locked door. At least Kaminari had said he was pretty sure he could hear some action film being played inside when he’d gone to check.
They weren’t moping….they were distancing themselves. That could be so much worse.
Saturday morning, she was surprised to see Bakugou stroll into the kitchen and start pulling ingredients out of the fridge. He spared her only one glance and a raised eyebrow.
It was probably a little early for her to be up, but she hadn’t exactly slept. She knew the dark bags under her eyes were pretty telling. She didn’t dare talk to him, though.
Mina watched curiously from the couch as he diced peppers and threw them into a hot pan to saute before cracking and scrambling several eggs to pour over the mixture with some kale.
He slid the large omelette onto a plate, poured 2 glasses of orange juice, set them all on a tray, and left the room with the fragrance of morning food, and a hot pan sitting in the sink ready to be washed.
Her brow twitched for a second. He wanted her to wash that, huh? Always was a man of action rather than words.
With a huff she stood and got to it. She was going to be in the dog house for a little while, she was sure.
An hour and a half later, both boys were strolling through the common room in tank tops and sweats, looking relaxed. Bakugou set the tray of dishes in front of Mina on the coffee table and his eyes dared her to say ‘no’.
They left holding hands and she resisted the urge to smile a little.
The tell-tale sounds of them grappling quirkless from outside could be heard through the open windows as more students came down for breakfast.
When they came in, sweaty and covered in grime, most people looked down to avoid eye contact. Bakugou glared at their cowardice.
“Morning guys!” The slightly nasal voice caught Kirishima a little off guard, but after a moment of thought it really shouldn’t have.
Sero was wrapped in a too large t-shirt and flannel pants, yawning as he walked to the coffee pot.
Mina eyed him up and with a startle realized….he probably knew all along. He hadn’t commented on any of the rumors. Not even when she’d first told him. He’d been angry on their behalf.
Bakugou grunted at the latin tape dispenser and Kiri...beamed. It was the first time she saw him smile all week. The two disappeared to the showers and she couldn’t help but notice their hands once more. Were things going back to normal?
That night, Bakugou once again left dishes for her...but both of them stayed down in the commons for a movie night she had assumed would get cancelled. They’d picked the movie and started it before anyone else had come down (probably out of spite) and were already half a bag of popcorn into Monsters Inc. (chosen for Kirishima, no doubt).
Nobody dared to complain. They wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Instead, slowly more and more students joined as it went on.
It seemed like hive mentality had decided everyone but the couple would sit on the floor. Bakugou and Kirishima spread their legs out over the largest of the couches with no invitation for their classmates to join.
Everyone was sure to notice the way the beast of 3-A was held tightly against the chest of Kirishima, who had rested his head into the crook of the other’s neck to watch the movie around the blonde spikes. Their legs were intertwined, and it made Mina’s heart sore.
This was so much better than normal!
__________________________
By the time Monday rolled around Jirou was well aware that Bakugou and Kirishima were DONE catering to the minds of others. Whatever hurt they had felt had festered into pure spite after Kirishima’s melt-down.
Sunday had been spent avoiding the raging amounts of PDA the two put out. It felt like by the end of the day everyone was scared to round corners because they had been seen necking in every hallway at least once. The commons were a trap because you couldn’t see past the back of the couch when exiting the elevators.
Twice had that trap worked- catching Midoriya and Todoroki once, and Denki the other time. Luckily, her quirk let her know where it was safe, much like shouji (who had opted to stay in his room, anyways).
She had to remind herself that they had not shown anyone this for six months. This was her fault.
Of all the consequences, honestly, she could deal with this.
Back in homeroom, everyone tried their best not to look at the blossoming bruises covering the necks of their 2 classmates.
What Bakugou had worked to hide just days before was now worn like a badge of honor.
She wasn’t mad when the 2 were sent out of the classroom and everyone was made to write a 2 page essay on Human Rights and Sociology in Gossip.
As she skimmed the provided readings, Mina leaned over boredly, “Where do you think they were going?”
Jirou felt a strength in her next words, “It’s none of our business.”