Work Text:
“I want him out of UA.” Shota slammed his hands on his boss’s desk. Nedzu merely poured another cup of tea.
“I understand your reasoning, but that won’t be possible. However, he will be moved to Gen Ed until he improves his mindset and attitude.”
He slumped into the armchair and accepted the tea Nedzu offered.
“ Why are we not expelling him?”
“Three reasons.” Nedzu took a long sip of tea before continuing. “First and foremost, it is a matter of safety. The League is still out there, and if Bakugo is put outside UA’s protection, they may try to take him again. Also, they might actually succeed in turning him. Think for a moment, Aizawa-kun—a boy with a powerful Quirk, who has been told his whole life that he will become a hero, pushed out of the best hero school in the country. That kind of anger is dangerous, and Bakugo would make a terrifying villain.”
That. . .was a fair point.
“What are the other two reasons?”
“The second reason is that it is not entirely his fault.” Nedzu held up a paw before he could protest. “I am in no way excusing or making light of his actions, but he has never been told that what he is doing is wrong. His previous schools catered to his ego and never punished him when he stepped out of line; he has never truly learned right behavior from wrong. We would be failing him as well if we did not at least give him the opportunity to learn. And as for the third reason. . .” Nedzu winced. “I dislike that this is a reason as much as you do, but the HSPC would kick up a mighty fuss if we were to expel him. He has a powerful Quirk and a drive to be the best—in their eyes, he is a perfect future hero.”
He took a closer look at Nedzu. The mammal looked. . .absolutely exhausted, to be frank.
Oh. . .he’s feeling the pressure as much as any of us, isn’t he? It’s easy to forget sometimes. . .
“Alright,” he said, bowing his head in acquiescence. “When are the Bakugos coming in?”
“Tomorrow morning. I’ll send Nemuri to cover your class; I’d like you here as his homeroom teacher. I’ll be calling Yamada up as well.”
“Understood. And. . .what about Shinso?”
Nedzu grinned sharply.
“Have him join your next Heroics class. Evaluate his performance and send the video to me. After school ends for the day, we’ll go over it and see if he is truly ready to transfer.”
“Fine. Am I allowed to tell him that?”
“Not quite.” Nedzu’s grin grew even more manic. “Just tell him that you’re pulling him out of class that afternoon and let him figure out the rest.”
He felt his ‘logical ruse’ smile start growing on his face.
“Fair enough. Is that all?”
“I do believe it is.” Nedzu drained his teacup and set it aside. “Until tomorrow, Aizawa-kun.”
Until tomorrow, indeed.
****
“What the fuck is going on?!”
“Be quiet, Bakugo.” He glared at his troublesome student as he ushered the blond to Nedzu’s office.
The door swung open as soon as they reached the right hallway.
“Ah, Aizawa-kun, Bakugo-kun! Do come in!”
He nudged Bakugo inside and shut the door behind them. Hizashi and the two older Bakugos were already there, and as soon as the woman—Bakugo Mitsuki, probably—caught sight of her son, she slapped him upside the head.
“What did you do this time, brat?!”
He narrowed his eyes speculatively.
Should we be looking into Bakugo’s family life too?
“Nothing, old hag!”
“Katsuki, please. . .” the brunette man—Bakugo Masaru—said timidly. Shota’s eyes narrowed further. This was proving very informative.
Then Nedzu clapped his paws.
“Welcome, Bakugos! I apologize for the last-minute summons, but we have something very important to go over, and it will likely take most of the morning, if not all day.” The mammal pulled out the stack of Aldera incident reports. “This may be a difficult pill to swallow, but it has recently come to our attention that Bakugo has been bullying and abusing one Midoriya Izuku for the better part of a decade.”
There was utter silence for about two minutes, then Bakugo Mitsuki exploded— not literally, thankfully.
“W-what do you mean, Katsuki has been bullying Izu-kun?!”
‘Izu-kun’?
Nedzu clearly noticed it as well, as he tilted his head.
“Bakugo-san, can you explain your relationship with the Midoriyas?”
“Yeah—Inko and I were best friends in high school; Katsuki and Izu have known each other since they were in diapers. When Izu was diagnosed as Quirkless, he stopped coming over as frequently, but we still saw him pretty often. He’s such a sweetheart. . .”
“We never thought anything less of him for being Quirkless, of course.” Masaru added.
So they don’t share their son’s views on the Quirkless. That means it was mostly the school’s fault.
“Well, you might not have, but your son definitely did,” he drawled, bringing the family’s attention to himself. He tapped the stack of incident reports. “We have proof, too.”
Nedzu spun his computer around and pushed a few buttons.
“Please make yourselves comfortable and hold your questions until the end. We’ve got a lot to go through.”
As the first clip started to play, Shota carefully watched Bakugo’s face. The blond’s eyes went wide and his skin turned pale. For the first time since the aftermath of Kamino, Bakugo looked nervous. It was understandable, since this was likely the first time Bakugo had ever faced consequences for his actions. Of course he was nervous.
He was delighted by it.
****
By the time the Aldera clips were finished, Bakugo Mitsuki was pale-faced with anger and Bakugo Masaru looked like he was about to be sick. But Nedzu—like the sadistic Rat that he was—wasn’t finished with them yet.
“If you’ll wait for a few more minutes, there are three more clips you need to see; all from this past year at UA.”
First up was the Battle Trial on the second day of school.
(And yes, he was still bitter about that. There weren’t supposed to be any combat situations for another week.)
He watched silently as the Bakugo on-screen shouted at Midoriya, and aimed those massive gauntlets right at him.
“He’ll be fine if he dodges!”
He was still amazed that Midoriya survived that exercise.
Then it was the final exam, where Bakugo punched Midoriya in the face for daring to suggest a plan that didn’t involve fighting—which would have been the logical course of action considering they were up against All Might of all people. And then the screen flipped to the newest Battle Trial.
“YOU DAMNED DEKU! STAY DOWN ALREADY!”
“Bakugo, do not fire those grenades. You’ll kill everyone in the building.”
“He can dodge, can’t he?!”
“Bakugo—!”
CRACK. CRACK.
“. . .Still trying to beat me down, Bakugo?You know, I hoped that you would change your mind about the Quirkless. . .you’ve seen what I’m capable of. . .but you still don’t believe that I’m anything but a pebble in your path, do you? You’re even willing to aim those grenades at me, at point-blank range. I’m tired of trying to prove myself to you.”
Nedzu turned the computer off and placed his paws together.
“I apologize for how long that took, but it needed to be seen.”
The Bakugos were silent for a long moment, then Masaru spoke up, his voice breaking.
“Katsuki. . .was all of that. . .true?”
Bakugo—the youngest one—glared sullenly at the desk, though Shota could see just how pale his skin was. Slowly, the blond boy nodded.
“Katsuki, what the hell?!” his mother screamed, her eyes wide with horror. “Why would you treat Izu-kun like that—you burned him, you almost killed him!”
“Because he’s a worthless Quirkless Deku!” Bakugo exploded, his hands starting to spark. He hurried to activate his Quirk, and the sparks stopped. “Everyone said so!”
And there it is.
“Please, calm down all of you. There are still things we must discuss,” Nedzu said placidly, refilling the Bakugos’ teacups. “Namely, the consequences of Bakugo-kun’s actions. For obvious reasons, he and Midoriya-kun can no longer be in the same class.”
“Then toss the nerd into 1-B!” Katsuki snapped aggressively. “I’m top of the class, ask anyone—”
“Actually,” he said, speaking up for the first time in ages, “if we’re talking academics, Yaoyorozu has you beat and Ida and Midoriya are at your level. If we’re talking Quirks, then Yaoyorozu and Todoroki are more powerful, and in pure combat, Ojiro and Midoriya could take you down. You’re not the biggest fish in a small pond anymore, Bakugo.”
“And besides, we are not in the habit of punishing people when they have done nothing wrong, Bakugo-kun,” Nedzu said silkily, though his eyes were starting to sharpen dangerously. “And you will not be going to 1-B.”
“Hah?!”
“Instead, you will be going to 1-C, and you will stay there until you have proven that your mindset towards others has changed. You also must attend anger management therapy, and some special projects set by myself. Normally, community service would be added to that, but with the League still at large, it isn’t safe to do that.”
“E-eh?!” Katsuki was nearly incoherent with shock and rage. Nedzu let his smile fall away.
“Make no mistake, Bakugo-kun—if you fail to comply with these conditions, you will be expelled. One of the only reasons you haven’t been expelled already is because you are not entirely at fault; your old schools did no favors in teaching you how to treat your peers. Be that as it may, however, your behavior will not be tolerated, and it is not befitting of a hero.”
Bakugo opened his mouth—probably to protest—but then Masaru stood up and bowed deeply, taking his wife and son by surprise.
“Thank you for giving Katsuki another chance to work for his dream, and for allowing him to stay at UA. I assure you, he will do anything that you require.” He gave his son a sad look. “I’m very disappointed in you, Katsuki.”
Bakugo looked stricken. Nedzu ignored it and beckoned Hizashi forward.
“This is Yamada Hizashi, homeroom teacher for 1-C; he’ll be going over some of the transfer information with you. Aizawa-kun, I believe you’re needed for your next class. Don’t forget what we discussed yesterday.”
“Like I could,” he huffed, already anticipating the coming Heroics class. “I’ll leave you in Yamada’s hands—he’s a bit of an idiot—” he hid a chuckle when his husband squawked in offense, but plowed on. “But he’s also a damn good teacher.” He gave Nedzu a perfunctory bow, then left the room and hightailed it for the 1-C classroom. As he walked, he pulled out his phone. If he remembered correctly, Nemuri would be teaching them right about now.
(GrumpyCat): Shinso’s excused from classes for the rest of the day, tell him to go to the 1-A classroom.
Moments later, a response popped up.
(Minx): oh? Whats going on?
(GrumpyCat): Don’t worry about it.
****
He knew that a modified Capture the Flag game would be a perfect training exercise.
Five teams of four, each group had three flags to protect. The goal was to get other flags. And they could team up with whoever they’d like.
His brats had been thrilled with that one.
The scene on the training field could only be described as chaos—twenty superpowered teenagers using their Quirks all at once tended to end up that—but it was controlled chaos. And without Bakugo, no one was seriously maiming each other.
The fact that Shinso took to the exercise like a fish to water was a bonus.
His personal student had immediately teamed up with Midoriya, Todoroki, and Tokoyami—which turned out to be bad news for everyone else. He barely managed to hold back a laugh as Shinso brainwashed Uraraka into floating her team’s flag into his territory. And as for Midoriya—the boy was in his element. He snuck behind groups, slipping through the cracks just as he did in the videos from Aldera. Then, when his opponents were distracted by Todoroki’s mini-glaciers and tiny fires, he darted in to take prisoners or snag a flag.
He was so goddamned proud.
Eventually, Midoriya, Shinso, Todoroki, and Tokoyami prevailed—not that he was particularly surprised by that fact. He hid his smile in his capture weapon and tapped the intercom twice.
“Alright, hellspawn, come on back so we can wrap up.”
Once they had all assembled, he fixed them with one of his best ‘long stares’ before letting up. He had to keep them on their toes, after all.
“Good work, hellions. You didn’t injure yourselves or others and you caused no major damage—which is a miracle. Go get changed, then you’re dismissed. Don’t burn down the dorms.”
“Sensei!” Kirishima raised his hand, looking a little hesitant. When he gestured for Kirishima to ask his question, the redhead ducked and shifted from foot to foot. “Where’s—where’s Bakubro?”
Ah. I forgot that I’m going to need to tell his friends that he’s going to be transferred.
Oh joy.
“He is still with Principal Nedzu, last I heard. I don’t want to hear about any of you interrogating him, alright?” He glared at them all. “It’s his business, to share if he wants. Understood?”
“Yes, Sensei!”
“Then get going.”
They all dispersed, and Shota took a sip of his long-cold coffee. As much as he wanted a nap— god did he want a nap—he still had to talk with the Rat about Shinso’s performance and get the paperwork rolling for his transfer.
At least that conversation would be pleasant.
His phone buzzed suddenly and he fished it out of his jumpsuit pocket.
(Sunshine): I kno u have another meeting w Nedzu, so good luck love! :)
(Sunshine): Ill have a pot of ur fav coffee waiting! <3
Sweet Kami, did he ever mention how much he loved his husband?