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Shota Aizawa, wasn’t exactly a lax teacher. He absolutely hated it when kids slept in his class.
Katsuki Bakugo, wasn’t one to normally fall asleep in class.
He was a very ill-tempered, yet serious student. He didn’t get into U.A for nothing after all.
So when he did fall asleep during a class, Aizawa caught on straight away, that something was up.
”Mister Aizawa! Bakugo’s asleep!” Iida’s voice called out.
He sighed. “I can see that, Iida. It’s fine.”
His class looked at him as if he had grown two heads. But it made sense. Aizawa was a stern, strong-headed man. They all knew the story of how he expelled a bunch of first years, after all.
So for him to just let a student sleep in his class, made them wonder who the heck this person was, and what he had done with Shota Aizawa.
“So, anyway..” Aizawa’s dull voice continued reading off some boring history lecture, the sound of rain outside being the background track.
Aizawa couldn’t help but stare at Bakugo. Earlier that day in homeroom, he had came in before anyone else, his eyes glazed and baggy, like he had been crying.
Despite his strict demeanour, he did care for his students’s wellbeing. And he could tell something was wrong with him.
That was why, just this once, he let someone sleep in his class. (Even though if this had just been another everyday case of a student refusing to learn, they would have been kicked and sent home immediately.)
When he was halfway through the lecture. Bakugo woke up.
”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
”HOLY SHI-!”
The scream was so loud and frightened sounding, it took everyone off guard. Pens and pencils were dropped onto desks or floors, a few people jumped out of their seats.
”Right, right! Everyone calm down!” Aizawa commanded.
That was when he looked at Bakugo. His face looked horrified. His red eyes were watery and shot open, and his lips were trembling as if he were standing in a freezer.
He couldn’t even form words properly as he screamed at Midoriya to get away from him. Aizawa watched with fear of his own as he backed himself off from his classmates and curled up into a ball as he hyperventilated.
”Everyone stay away from him!” Aizawa snapped as he joined the group that had backed off from the scared teenager.
Aizawa held up his hands to show there was nothing in them as he slowly walked a little bit closer to Bakugo.
”Hey, hey.. I’m not gonna hurt you.. can I sit next to you..?” He quietly asked.
Through his panic, Bakugo found it in him to nod.
”Great. Can you come back to my office with me?” Aizawa needed to get him out the room. He also needed to somehow stay with him, no matter what. A thought in his mind urged this, but he didn’t know why. All he knew was that he could easily get Mic to cover the class and that he had to stay with Bakugo.
Another nod. “Here, want help getting up?” He reached out his hand, and the blonde shakily took it.
”Everyone else, I’ll get Mic to cover the rest of this class. Behave.”
He wasted no time in getting Bakugo out of the classroom.
———
Bakugo’s breathing was still fast-paced and quavery as he was sat on a chair in his teacher’s office.
”A-am I... Am I in.. troub-le..?” He managed to choke out.
Aizawa shook his head. “Course not, kid.. It wasn’t your fault..”
He knew what had happened. It was obvious. Bakugo had had a nightmare. God knew he had his fair share after all.
”... B-but.. I... I fell asleep... in... class... I-I scared-!?”
”Kid, listen to me. You can’t help that. And I let you sleep. I saw how you looked when you came into homeroom earlier, it’s fine.”
The tears were now streaming down Bakugo’s face even faster.
’There go the waterworks..’ Aizawa thought solemnly. A empathetic feeling clawed at his heart as he handed him a tissue.
He then placed his hand on Bakugo’s shoulder, hoping to stabilise him, even a little.
Bakugo cried for a few more minutes with his face in his knees, he had curled himself up into a ball again.
A nervous habit, Aizawa had guessed.
He listened to Bakugo’s breathing, waiting for it to calm before he properly talked to him.
When he figured it was relaxed again, that was when he started. “So, I’m guessing you had a nightmare, it would make sense after all.”
”... Yeah..”
”You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. But can I ask what it was about?”
Bakugo looked hesitant as he gazed around the room. “Like I said, you don’t have to answer.” Aizawa repeated.
”...Kidnapped by the fuckin’ league again..” Bakugo eventually muttered.
Aizawa nodded. “Just to be clear, it’s okay to have nightmares, you know. A lot of heroes have them, in fact. I know me and Mic do..” He sighed.
”... My mom always used to say that if I cried over a nightmare I was fuckin’ weak.. I don’t like believing the bitch but..”
”She’s wrong. It’s okay to have nightmares, and it’s okay to cry about them as well. Your mom, with all due respect, Bakugo, is an absolute idiot.”
Bakugo snorted and faintly smiled. “... Yeah..”
Aizawa sat down on the couch next to him. “Do you struggle with nightmares a lot?”
”...Well..”
That was a yes. Aizawa knew that was a yes. “From now on, I want you to come to me about them when you have them. Alright?” He said sternly.
”.... But-!”
”Bakugo.”
”Kay, fine..”
That was when the boy did something unexpected. He lurched up and threw his arms around Aizawa’s neck, burying his face into his chest.
A hug. Katsuki Bakugo, has just willingly hugged someone.
Aizawa closed his eyes as he wrapped an arm around his back. “.. There there..” He softly murmured.
“... This feels kinda damn pathetic..” Bakugo degraded himself.
“It shouldn’t, Katsuki.” He hadn’t even realised that he called him by his first name. “It’s okay to seek comfort from people.”
Aizawa felt his head cuddle into him a little more. This caused him to wrap his other arm around him as well. “Promise that you won’t bottle stuff up like this again..?”
”... Okay.. I guess I’ll promise...”
”Good.”
They stayed entangled in a hug for what felt like hours before Katsuki started to feel drowsy again. Without even realising, he fell asleep on Aizawa.
Feeling his student go limp in his arms, Aizawa saw what had happened immediately.
He wanted to move and actually lay him down properly, but that would risk waking Katsuki up.
He exhaled sorrowfully as he knew he was going to be stuck with Katsuki sleeping on him for a while.
He tried to get comfortable at least. Then he took a look at Katsuki, who was sleeping soundly in his arms, looking at bliss as he rested for once.
... It must have been a nice change for him.
Aizawa breathed out again. Maybe being stuck like this wasn’t such a bad thing after all.