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Kirishima slammed a hand lightly on his desk, eyebrows drawn and face serious in a way they don't think they'd ever seen before, the Bakusquad standing behind him with a similar, out-of-place seriousness. "You just need to give him a chance!"
"He's a jerk, Kirishima! I don't even know how you guys deal with him!" Uraraka shot back.
This argument had started just moments after Bakugou-the subject himself-had walked out of the classroom, the rest of the class staying until he did at Kirishima's request at lunch that day.
As soon as he left, the Bakusquad caught their attention.
And straight up told them they needed to give Bakugou a chance.
That he was worrying, and had a lot of good and human qualities underneath a lot of his anger.
Protest immediately broke out, with Midoriya immediately moving to the Bakusquad's side.
"They're right, Uraraka!" He said, face drawn with worry. "If you all would just pay attention to him you'd realize you're all wrong!"
"Why are you so insistent on defending him?!" Uraraka accused, slamming a hand on her desk. "He's been the worst to you out of all of us!"
Midoriya's eyes softened and watered, just a bit. "...there's a reason for that Uraraka. I promise. ...I myself didn't understand him well when we were young, putting myself on the list of people not to trust." He stepped closer to her, taking her by the wrists gently, and looking at the rest of the class. "I know you don't trust him, and I know he's mean, and angry, and anti social. But please...I know you all like me, at the least. So give him a chance. For my sake."
They all paused at his words, settling down. ...if his main victim, for the most part, was telling them to give him a chance...then maybe they should listen.
They all slowly started relenting, agreement spreading around the room.
The Bakusquad and Midoriya smiled, looking to each other with hope in their eyes as Midoriya freed Uraraka's wrists.
Finally, they'd be giving him a chance.
So the class started paying a bit more attention to Bakugou; paying closer attention to how he acted, reacted. What small little things he did.
They found a lot of...strange little habits.
Like how he'd knock on things in a rhythm with a vacant stare, tap his foot in a similar rhythm, seemingly unaware, take the same paths in the school every day, leave the dorms and come back at the same times on the minute. How he'd run a hand through his hair, but only when leaving or entering a room. How he seemed to chew on anything he could find, always had something hanging from his mouth, whether it was a nail, a pencil, a paperclip, or whatever the hell else he could find.
But they found a lot of worrying things, too; things that made them realize...they really may have been treating him wrong.
He always gave adults these mistrusting, analyzing stares. Like he was watching their every step, like he always had to be on defense, lest he be harmed.
It was the same look he gave them.
He acted...strangely around any kind of restraint. Even a simple choker seemed to make him nervous, even if it showed as anger. They've done restraint training in class before; they swore to God they saw panic in those usually sharp, red eyes.
And in general, the way he acted was just...concerning. They hadn't noticed before, but...no one should ever be that angry that often. And he was entirely averse to contact; even a simple tap, he'd probably flinch away. And a lot of times, he'd be staring off into the distance, and if you tried to get his attention, he'd flinch-no matter how well hidden it seemed to be-and a few little pops would leave him palms. He curled up when they were loud, too. Got this look on his face like he was stuck in his own head and couldn't get out. There were teeth mark scars all along his wrist and arm, and sometimes, if you watched closely enough, you could see him raise his wrist to an open mouth before he realized what he was doing.
And all of this traveled around the classroom, every day. Every day they'd tell each other something new.
One day, Asui stumbled in with this...fear in her eyes. "The sports festival," she said. "T-the sports festival. What were we thinking, what were the teachers thinking, how was that ok-"
And all their eyes widened as it hit them. Some of them end up crying in other's arms.
Because Asui was right; Asui was so right.
There's no reason to chain and muzzle a teenager on live tv. No reason to assume that he'd be so dangerous that you'd have to do that. No reason to sedate a child who just followed someone out of the ring.
And it hits them that if Midoriya, or Asui, or Hell, even Todoroki, the boy in the crossfire, did that, they would've been let off with a slap on the wrist.
They would've been able to walk away without that medal, if they so chose.
It haunted them for weeks.
And he's so diligent in his studies; so diligent in trying to be a hero. He has two workout times every day. He focuses more than probably any of them in training. He has the best grades, with a dedicated study time, and according to the Bakusquad, he even studies ahead. He learns the whole curriculum for the year during the summer, and even prints out his own practice sheets.
And here they were, calling this boy a villain behind his back.
They all know they did wrong. They talked and talked and talked, figuring out all these little things about him, what they did wrong, what they could do to fix it.
They decided to ask the Bakusquad.
So they catch them, just as class ends, before they grab Bakugou, and tell them to stay, but let Bakugou leave.
They stood them down, just as they did a few weeks ago, when this whole fiasco started, with guilt in their eyes this time instead of bewilderment and hate.
And Uraraka took the front again, and she asked, "How do we fix this?"
Kirishima laughed, soft smiles on all of their faces, along with Midoriya's. "Show him that you care. That you know you've done wrong."
"Kacchan is a firm believer in actions being more powerful than words," Midoriya finished, making his way out with the other four. "So all you need to do is show him."
They blinked for a moment as the door closed on the five retreating backs, before a conversation began to spread.
It wasn't long before they got to work.
They just...took steps to help him. The best they could.
They started to get a feel for his schedule and reminded him if he was late for anything, making sure he could get to doing what he usually did, even if that meant fending off angry teachers with whatever they could to get him to the dorms at his usual time to study, usually taking turns on helping when they could.
(Iida specially understood the importance of schedules, explaining it to them one day; "When you don't follow it properly, things feel...off. Like something you can't shake. If we're trying to be kinder to him, we absolutely can not allow him to feel such a horrid feeling!" He yelled, chopping the air, and they all nodded back seriously, already planning for a chart on how his schedule worked.
Luckily enough, Midoriya already had one. Useful. Creepy...but, in this case, useful.)
They guided adults away, at least a little bit, when they seemed to be too close for comfort.
They made sure he didn't retain too much contact with basically anything too tight, lest he panic.
They avoided teasing him as much, and it actually made him calmer in general. (They absolutely called this one a success.)
They didn't touch him if they could avoid it. Not even simple pokes or taps; they used sound or sight to get his attention, instead.
If he was staring off into space, they either didn't bother him or got his attention as gently as they could. They usually just left it to the Bakusquad, though; they were the best at coaxing him back to the living world without making him startle.
They tried to be less loud in general, lowering the volume even more if they noticed him curled up like that; it usually took just a few minutes for him to calm down, after that. (So many teachers were baffled at their quietness, where they had been so rowdy before, and at the way they suddenly quieted at times. It was so strange.
Aizawa was the only one to link it to the way Bakugou acted.)
In general, they stopped all the shit-talking. They tried their best to understand, and be a lot kinder than they were.
Trying to be kind to him, and him trusting them just a little bit more, revealed how he helped them, too.
How he cleaned the dorms all the time, even tons of messes that weren't his own, ones that he may have told others to clean up. Laundry, dishes, general messes, you name it, he did it.
And he did it all without complaint, even with a calmness in his eyes. Maybe he liked cleaning, they thought. But even so, they started to pick up their own messes more frequently, making their living space a better place to live in in general.
They saw the satisfaction in Bakugou's eyes every time he came to the first floor, and they knew it was worth it.
But in general, they thought they were being sneaky. They thought they were working to gain his trust right under his nose.
But unfortunately, it seemed Bakugou was just too observant.
One day, about a month and a half into them trying to fix what they had done, they heard a slam at the door as class ended, turning to find Bakugou at the front, hand on the door frame and spread across it. (Yaoyorozu bumped into his chest, having been too busy talking with Jirou to notice, and they both gave their own quiet 'sorry'.)
Yaoyorozu and Jirou stepped back a bit, joining the group, and Bakugou glared them down. "Alright, fuckers, you've been actin' weirdly nice lately. There a fuckin' reason? Ya bastards want somethin' from me?"
They all shook their heads, disagreeing shouts traveling throughout the group.
He growled. "Then what the fuck is up? I ain't movin' til one 'a ya bastards say somethin'."
They all glanced toward each other for a moment, unsure of what to say, until Yaoyorozu stepped forward-one of the kindest to Bakugou even before this whole escapade. "You see, Bakugou...your squad urged us to try to see you in a different light, some time ago, and we finally realized we...really hadn't been treating you well."
"Everything we've been doing lately had been an attempt to make up for that," Jirou continued, hand on Yaoyorozu's shoulder. "We didn't mean to make you suspicious or anything. ...sorry."
Bakugou's glare quickly turned confused. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, looking down. "That...that doesn't make any fuckin' sense, though," he started. "You bastards...you were dicks to me for who knows how long. I mean...I've been one myself, so I can't say shit, but…" His eyebrows furrowed, and they simply watched as he put his words together. "And...yeah, I...kinda care about you bastards. You've all got your own personalities and shit, and you've kinda gained my respect, I guess; if someone tried to hurt you, I'd probably have a problem with them." He paused. "...I just really don't get you bastards caring about me."
They heard the Bakusquad sigh, turning back to them. "Yeah...yeah, that's what we thought," Sero sighed.
A whisper starts traveling around the room; 'what does he mean he doesn't understand??'.
They turned as Bakugou himself let out a little sigh, shrugging. "I dunno. It just never...computes. I guess. Doesn't make sense to me. ...doesn't feel like there's a reason for anyone to."
The class immediately felt this worry pooling in their gut as they looked around, whispering to each other, 'he doesn't understand?' 'but how can we fix that?'
And before they even knew it, Midoriya was walking up to Bakugou, the movement catching their eyes as they turned their gazes to the front.
He situated himself right in front of Bakugou, chest held high but a smile bright on his face. He knocked a fist lightly on Bakugou's chest twice, where his heart would be, and said, in the softest voice they'd ever heard, "Well, we're just going to have to teach you, then. Knock down your walls, show you that people care; whatever it takes."
And Bakugou just blinked back, pausing. He...wants to be able to know someone cares. But he's...he's scared. To let someone in.
But Bakugou Katsuki never paid mind to fear.
So he laughed quietly. "...Ok. Do your worst." They all nodded, smiles on their faces, turning back when he laughed again. "...You guys weren't doin' half bad, before, so just...keep it up.
And they nodded back harder this time, yelling words of affirmation as they stirred up plans.
The Bakusquad walked Bakugou back to the dorms, and as soon as they were out of the classroom, he said, "Should've known you dorks set this up," with a soft smile on.
And they laughed back, nodding. "Yeah. We...wanted them to realize you were more than you seemed," Kirishima said, carefully snaking an arm around Bakugou's shoulder, smiling at the lack of protest. "It worked, eventually. And...well, I guess we'll be getting another lesson out of this."
Bakugou laughed, letting himself lean on Kirishima's shoulder, smile going soft. "Yeah. Guess ya will."