Work Text:
The first time Aizawa noticed, he had to squint. It was nearly six o’clock, his head was throbbing and more than anything he wanted to be at home, so he almost missed it as he scratched his pen across whoever's work it was that he was grading. Yet as his tired eyes followed the scrawl (his brain soon clicked on to the fact that this was Bakugou's paper from the jagged letter formations and aggressive, dotted flicks of the ‘i’s and ‘j’s), he noted an indention in the paper that was only visible when it caught the light. With anyone else, Aizawa wouldn't have cared nor given any thought to it. But this was Bakugou Katsuki who, despite his outwardly brazen nature, got his head down, did his dues and moved on to whatever next task it was that progressed his education. Aizawa had never had any qualms with Bakugou's attitude to his learning. In fact, the kid had taught the others a thing or two about diligence and productivity over the two and a half years he'd been in the class. Truth be told, Bakugou was on par with Yaoyarozu and Iida when it came to having a studious nature.
So when Aizawa carefully tilted the boy's paper in the light to discover what had clearly been erased with earnest, he blinked when he realised it was a dick. A firmly-drawn but desperately-erased dick. Unable to help the huff of laughter from escaping him, Aizawa sat back and ran a hand through his hair, eyes scouring the work in his hand. Well, he had not been expecting to find that on his Monday evening. The occasional spelling error, sure. But not that. He soon returned back to commenting throughout Bakugou's work, electing to ignore the crudely sketched appendage because it hadn't been done with the intention of him finding it. He'd pretend he hadn't seen it. Yes, that was the best choice here. If he made any kind of deal of it he would be making a dick move himself. He chuckled and shook his head at his own inside joke before he scribbled his final feedback at the bottom of Bakugou's work.
'A very interesting take on the subject - I'm surprised by your approach here. I was pleased to note how positively your opinions surrounding villain arrests have progressed since our first conversation on the matter last year. You've argued your case well, Bakugou, however, your use of jargon and informal language in places is inappropriate and has affected your overall grade. Think on that and have it as a focus to improve what you hand in next. A-'.
Bakugou would give him an earful for this, he knows it. A minus symbol wasn't something the explosive boy would take lightly. Sighing in defeat, Aizawa slid the paper into his 'finished' pile which was, thankfully, higher than his unfinished pile. He yawned, stretched and pushed his chair back before removing his phone from his pocket and scrolling through the day's news. Nothing major had taken place, only articles about politics and world events filling the timeline. He moved on to his messenger app, which had a notification, and found that Nemuri's 'UA Babes' group had twelve unread messages.
Nemuri Kayama
What was it that Nez wanted us to bring to the meeting tomorrow? 17:13
Snipe
Uh…... 17:15
'Also, could you please bring three examples of students' work on Tuesday. One higher ability, one middle ability and one lower ability. We will be conducting a simple moderation of one another's use of feedback to ensure we are all providing our students with the correct avenues for success through all the means we are able to.'
That's what the email said. 17:17
Nemuri Kayama
Oh joy
I can't wait for this 17:17
Snipe
You know you love it really... 17:18
Ken Ishiyama
R u 4 real I totally 4got about this shit 17:26
Hizashi Yamada 🎤
mine are already set aside, ready for tomorrow xXx 😇✌️ 17:27
Snipe
Stfu 17:29
Ken Ishiyama
Hizashi. Pls. 17:30
Hizashi Yamada 🎤
jokes guys as if I've done anything that proactive in all my years LOL 17:32
Nemuri Kayama
I might just...say I have a headache when class gets out so I...don’t have to go 17:32
Hizashi Yamada 🎤
ok
I dare you
do it.
I'll buy you a beer after the meeting if you do it.
nezu ain’t stupid
he’ll know you’re bullshitting
so actually i double dare you
I'll buy you two beers 17:33
Nemuri Kayama
Don't tempt me. 17:33
Aizawa stared up at the pile of papers on his desk. He'd have to sift through them and choose the ones that he'd actually made decent comments on, one of them most definitely being Bakugou's. He wondered if any of them would spot the scrubbed dick too if he took it.
No, probably not. It was well-erased.
*
"Shouta? There's a penis on this kid's work."
A long sigh.
"Yeah. I know."
*
“Bakugou, I’m sure we’d love to hear your opinion on the matter. You’re usually so vocal about these things.”
So Aizawa was an asshole. He knew it. He’d noticed Bakugou wasn’t listening around halfway through the class and he wasn’t going to let him get away with it. This was not the point where Bakugou Katsuki gave up on his education. He had come too far. He was too close to being Pro Hero, Top Ten material. So when he’d seen him scribbling in his notebook not notes but a doodle, he first passed it off as a moment of being lost in thought about the place for police in heroic action. Time had passed. He had continued drawing, not once lifting his eyes to the front. Aizawa had grown more and more irritated until he remembered the dick. Oh god, was he drawing more dicks?
So Aizawa had called him on it.
The reaction shouldn’t have been as comical as it was, but it was indeed comical, so Aizawa had had to bite the inside of his cheek to prevent the smirk that threatened to pull at his lips. Bakugou had jumped suddenly, almost falling out of his chair as he refocused on who he should have been focused on: his teacher. The boy’s eyes were as round as dinner plates as he stared at him and for the first time Aizawa saw that he actually looked...afraid? With sniggers erupting around the room and Bakugou’s cheeks turning a deep shade of red, the boy corrected himself before slumping down in his seat.
“Sorry, was there something more important that you needed to be thinking about? Did I remind you that you should be listening in class? I do apologise.” Aizawa wasn’t going to go easy on him. This would not be happening again. Bakugou grunted and slumped further down, eyes glued to the wall beside him. “Oh, are you going to be a brat about this? See me after class.”
He’d gotten such a death stare in response that he almost sent Bakguou’s stroppy ass straight to detention.
But this behaviour was abnormal for the kid. He’d wait and see exactly what the hell was going on here before he made any moves that might not help anyone.
*
“Wow.”
“Tch.”
“Bakugou. This is...phenomenal.”
Class had been over for five minutes, within which time Bakugou had been forced to present his notebook for Aizawa to examine. He located the page and immediately gawped because...holy shit. Across the lined page had been sketched a huge dragon in red biro. It wasn’t perfect, with lots of rough outlines to define the resulting shape, but the skill was undeniably there. Bakugou was a very talented artist, apparently.
“Did you do this without any references?”
A moment passed before, “Did you see any dragon pictures on my desk?” It was blunt. It was a Bakugou answer. So Aizawa moved on.
“I’ve never seen you doodle in class before. Not that I’d even call this a doodle, it’s far more than that, but this is unlike you.” Aizawa pursed his lips, admiring the picture. “Why a dragon?”
A flash of panic crossed Bakugou’s features and Aizawa wondered if he knew he’d shown such emotion on his face. He proceeded to sit back against the desk behind him and glare at the ceiling.
“DnD…” Aizawa’s ears pricked up. “We started a campaign last night in the dorms. It’s shit but...the characters people chose were pretty...cool...I guess.”
“I like DnD,” Aizawa replied, looking back down at the dragon. He loved DnD. “I’m glad you’ve all found a common interest. It’s a fantastic bonding experience and a lot of fun.”
“I’m not in it to have fun or get gross and buddy-buddy, sir . I’m in it to win.”
“You can’t really win , per se-”
“I don’t care. My character will be the goddamn strongest and I'll destroy everyone! All of them!”
“I don’t think you...understand how the game works.”
Bakugou rolled his eyes and groaned. “Whatever. Can I go now? I won’t do it again, alright?” He gestured to the book that lay open on the dragon page.
Aizawa thought for a moment. He flicked his eyes between Bakugou and the page. Then he did it again.
“This isn’t your character.”
Bakugou froze.
Ah ha.
“What.”
“This,” Aizawa continued, his inflated ego making him smile a little because damn he was good. “This isn’t your character, is it?”
“...Who the fuck else is it gonna be?”
The word cut through Aizawa and his smile dropped. “Watch your mouth. And I know it’s not your character because that is your character.”
He held up the book and tapped a finger beside the small figure he’d spied upon closer inspection. They had a tuft of familiar spiky hair and they were sitting astride the dragon.
Flushing a similar shade of crimson to what he had earlier, Bakugou reached out and snatched up the notebook from Aizawa’s hand. Aizawa let it go and watched as Bakugou stomped towards the door.
“Enjoy the campaign, Bakugou,” he said as the boy reached the handle. He paused there, not turning but listening nonetheless. “I hope you and whoever your dragon friend is do well together. But please, don’t let your outside activities affect your schoolwork. I’ll be keeping my eye on you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Bakugou replied before exiting the room. Aizawa sat back and grinned to himself, imagining his class having a blast playing DnD together. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he was a little jealous. Swiftly pulling out his phone, he wrote a message to a group where the last message had been sent over three months ago.
Hey. You guys wanna come over for DnD on Saturday? 15:36
*
The class worked silently as they raced to complete their work before the bell rang for lunch. Aizawa was bored. He wanted to eat or sleep or do something that wasn’t patrolling the desks whilst their pencils scribbled away. He passed Kaminari and shuddered, dreading what bullshit vocabulary he was going to have to wade through to get to the blond’s point. Then there was Hagakure who also made him uncomfortable with her flowery descriptions. God and Ashido with her damn tangents. He really couldn’t wait to grade all this. He stopped as he spied Bakugou across the classroom who looked like he was colouring in. Colouring in was not part of the UA Class A Hero Programme syllabus. He would know. And so would Bakugou. Quietly, Aizawa moved around the classroom and peered over the boy’s shoulder to see that he had drawn a person - no, Kirishima - clad in a bizarre, intricate, fantasy-version of the Red Riot costume. It was scaled on the arms and spiked on the shoulders. There was a dragon-style helmet-come-mask covering his face, reminiscent of Tokayami’s head shape. A dragon. Hadn’t that been what Bakugou had been drawing last week? Someone’s character from DnD?
Oh.
Kirishima’s character.
Now, Aizawa’s cogs began to turn in his head. Dicks. Kirishima. Oh, he wanted the cogs to stop turning but...Daydreaming. Losing focus. Turning red.
Bakugou Katsuki was in love with Kirishima Eijirou.
Before he could fall any deeper into that rabbit hole, Aizawa walked past Bakugou, yanked the notebook from his desk and stalked off, not bothering to look back to see whether or not the blond was frustrated or embarrassed. He slammed the notebook on his desk, drawing-side down, and continued his walk around the classroom where his students had paused in their work to watch him. As he rounded the desks at the back, he observed as Bakugou scratched the back of his head, glancing over his shoulder to find his teacher. When they met eyes, Bakugou quickly looked away and glowered at anyone who was watching him, which was most of the rest of his class. Aizawa hadn’t exactly made the whole book-snatch subtle. Perhaps he should have done, but he was pissed. Bakugou was letting himself go. He needed a reality check. He needed to sort his shit out with Kirishima if he had any hope of getting back on track.
*
“Give it.”
“I think we need to have a chat, don’t you?”
“Give it back .”
“Katsuki. Sit down .”
“What?” But he sat. Aizawa cleared his throat and stood, needing height in this conversation to keep him level and professional.
“Your grades are slipping. You’re daydreaming and doodling in class when you should be focused on your work. I’m concerned. So we’re here.”
“It won’t happen again,” Bakugou replied through gritted teeth, looking anywhere but Aizawa. At this, Aizawa sighed.
“You said that the last time.”
“Okay. Sorry . Whatever. It won’t. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Mm. Yes, you will.” Aizawa sat on the edge of the desk next to Bakugou’s and interlaced his fingers in his lap. “Because whatever is going on in your life that’s causing you to lose track? Figure it out. Either decide it’s not important, or decide that it’s important enough to take the risk for. Otherwise, you’ll never be a Top Ten hero. Top heroes take leaps of faith in everything they do because every day could be their last and because life and death situations can’t hang on a ‘but what if?’. These are the choices that are made that define what it means to be a hero. Sometimes they’re good choices, sometimes they’re bad. But they are choices that have to be made. Sure, whatever’s going on with you might not be life or death, but you’ve got to make a decision in order to move forward and face the next challenge ahead. Can you do that, Ground Zero? Can you make a difficult decision that may change the course of your life? Because I know All Might would. And Best Jeanist.”
There was a long period of silence that passed between them. Bakugou was unusually still as he sat there, staring into space, contemplating whatever it was he needed to contemplate. After a while, he let out a withheld breath and tilted his head to look at the ceiling.
“How’d you know I’ve got shit to deal with.”
It wasn’t asked as a question. But the need for an answer rang clear.
“Because I’m your teacher. I’ve known you for two and a half years and my job is to watch you grow. You’ve got something on your mind and I can promise you that everything will get easier if you just face your fears and confront whatever it is you need to.”
“And what if...what if it makes things worse?”
“Then it makes things worse, for a while. But what if it makes it a thousand times better? What if it’s everything you’d been hoping it would be and you’ve been wasting time overthinking?”
Aizawa wouldn’t be saying this if he hadn’t seen the way Kirishima looked at Bakugou. Like he’d said, he was their teacher and he had to watch everything. So he knew them all better than they thought. He’d seen the way Kirishima became brighter when Bakugou entered the room. He’d noticed how the redhead would always be within inches of his best friend no matter how much he was scowling or ranting. He’d seen how, when Kirishima thought no one was looking, he’d watch Bakugou with such an intense gaze that it made Aizawa feel like he was intruding if he eyed them all for too long. But he’d left that up to Kirishima, because Kirishima didn’t let it get in the way of his studies. Kirishima knew how to deal with his feelings.
Bakugou swallowed audibly and coughed, making Aizawa focus in on him once again. His face seemed more serene now, which was saying something for the naturally angry individual. He gazed down, then across, and found Aizawa’s eyes. He bit his lip, stood and nodded, then pointed to the notebook in Aizawa’s hand.
“I’ll think about it,” he said simply, taking the book as it was offered to him.
“I should hope so. I want to see you on top form, Bakugou.” Bakugou nodded, cleared his throat and made for the door. “I want you on top form, no matter what. You got that?”
The blond boy with the explosion quirk paused, looked over his shoulder and nodded a final time before leaving the classroom. As the door swung shut behind him, Aizawa felt his shoulders drop. His job was so much more than just teaching. He’d most definitely punch the next person who suggested anything different.
*
It was a week later when he saw Bakugou drawing again.
It was safe to say that he almost blew his top off when he noticed.
He was ready to kill. He moved around the classroom, not wanting to show that he was on a mission to obliterate Bakugou and make an example of him. Oh, he was going to absolutely destroy him. When he approached, coming up behind the kid, he glowered over his shoulder and-
And he stopped short.
There was a little doodle of Kirishima, a very obvious doodle of Kirishima, holding hands with what was a very obvious Bakugou. The tiny, smiley chibi Bakugou had a speech bubble coming from him simply saying ‘thanks’. The real Bakugou was now continuing his work, having already smashed out a paragraph and a half since Aizawa had begun his rounds of the desks. When Bakugou caught his eye over his shoulder, neither said a word.
Aizawa never did say another word on the subject at all, actually. Bakugou never drew a picture in class again, but one day Aizawa did find a sketch of a tired, elven cleric on his desk dressed in an outfit similar to his own hero costume. He didn’t know how Bakugou knew - he’d have to talk to Yagi and Hazashi about that - but he had never had something so personal and thoughtful from any of his students in the past. And he’d gotten it from Bakugou Katsuki of all people.
He made a mental note to frame it. Maybe he'd even push his luck and ask Bakugou to sign it.
But whatever had happened after their heart-to-heart conversation, both Bakugou and Kirishima were doing exceptionally well in their studies, somewhat even more so than before. Beyond that, Kirishima and Bakugou now entered the classroom by each other’s side each and every day, hands loosely intertwined, and Kirishima shone far brighter than he had ever shone before.