Chapter Text
Bakugo rushes to his room, away from everyone in the common room. Much to his surprise and relief, no one follows him. As soon as he’s in his room, he slams the door shut. Sliding down the wall, he puts his head in his arms then places them on top of his knees. It takes him a minute to calm his breathing, but he still can’t seem to stop shaking. He picks his head up, looking around the room. Everything is still out of place, but it’s not thrown around.
“I guess they decided to clean up my room before I came home,” he mutters, pulling himself to his feet.
He starts rearranging everything in his room back to where it was before he left. He doesn’t stop until everything is in its place, and he’s close to passing out from exhaustion. He drops onto his bed, then pulls his knees up to his chest. Then he tucks himself into the corner of his bed, placing his back flat against the wall. When he opens his eyes again, light is flooding into the room through the window.
‘Why didn’t my mother wake me up? She should be here by now, but maybe she couldn’t come get me right away.’
He sits up, rubbing his eyes. Then he gets down on the floor and starts doing his morning yoga to get the knots out of his back and shoulders from sleeping in such an odd position. As soon as he’s done, he steps out of his room. No one is in the hallway, so he walks back into his room.
He rummages through his closet, picking out a pair of faded jeans, a t-shirt, and another pull over hoodie. Then he hurries down the stairs towards the showers. No one notices him as he creeps past quietly. Once he gets into the shower, he turns it on as cold as he can, because it helps with his excessive sweating. The shower helps clear the fog from his head, causing him to stay in longer than he originally meant to. As soon as he’s dressed, he walks quietly into the common room. Deku is the first one to notice him, and it takes him a minute, because of how quiet Bakugo is being.
“Kacchan! Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, Deku. What’re you extras up to?”
He sits down on the edge of the couch away from everyone else. Deku scoots a little bit closer to Bakugo, but stops when Bakugo glares at him.
“Well, we were going to watch a movie, but then someone suggested that you’d want to watch it with us, so I thought that we should wait. You never sleep late anyway.”
“Huh, alright, what’re we watching?”
“You can pick,” Deku suggests, which causes multiple people around the room to groan.
Bakugo ignores them in favor of standing up to look at the DVDs on top of the entertainment center. He grabs one and puts the disk into the DVD player. Then he sits back down, still on the edge of his seat, but a little closer to Deku now. Deku looks like he wants to close the small distance in between him and Bakugo, but forces himself to stay completely still. Bakugo doesn’t even look at him as he presses play on the movie.
Much to everyone else’s surprise, it’s not a horror movie that starts, but a mystery movie with no death in it. Bakugo continues to ignore them, opting to watch the movie instead. Aizawa watches them from the doorway, content to let them spend their unplanned day off from school together. None of them notice him until he walks past, striding towards his room. No one says anything, but Deku waves at Aizawa. Bakugo’s eyes are starting to close even though he’s trying his hardest not to let them.
“You can get some more rest, Kacchan,” Deku whispers, leaning closer.
Bakugo flinches back, not noticing how close Deku had gotten. Deku pulls back immediately, scooting further away. Bakugo stands up, shaking his head.
“I’m heading back up to my room for a while, somebody let me know when my mother gets here.”
Deku’s eyebrows pinch together, his face contorting into a frown.
“Alright.”
After he leaves, Kirishima turns to Deku,” Didn’t Mr. Aizawa say that he wasn’t calling Mrs. Bakugo right now?”
“Yeah, but I guess he didn’t tell Kacchan that.”
“Why would he wait anyway? He hasn’t been home in a long time, and I’m sure they’re both excited to see each other.”
Shinso walks in the front door, dragging a hand through his hair.
“Hey, what’s up?” Deku asks, attempting to change the subject.
“Jeanist just stopped by, but Nezu wouldn’t let him in the dorms.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Bakugo hasn’t given him permission yet, and Nezu wants to make sure that Bakugo actually wants to see Jeanist before he lets him through. That didn’t stop him from throwing a fit when he learned that.”
“Well, maybe we should just go talk to Kacchan, and he can clear the whole thing up. Maybe he can even text Jeanist to come back,” Deku suggests.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Bakugo is upset with Jeanist, and if he left the common room, he probably wants to be alone. We shouldn’t push him too far, or he’ll shut us out too. He’s trying really hard not to do that.”
Deku nods, looking disappointed anyway.
“It’s alright, Midoriya,” Kirishima reassures him.
“Bakubro will be alright. We just have to give him time to adjust back to living here.”
“I guess, I just don’t know how to help him, and it’s tearing me apart. Kacchan is fragile, and sometimes his emotions are so hard to navigate.”
“Bakugo is anything but fragile,” Kirishima says with a laugh.
“It’s not funny. He is, and I’m really worried about him. He uses anger as a front for everything else he’s feeling, so the fact that he’s not even doing that is concerning. Also, I can’t imagine being this quiet and subdued is good for his body with how his quirk affects him.”
Shinso looks thoughtful. “Someone should take him out to the gym with them later, that’ll help one problem, but not the other. Only time and support will fix the other one.”
Deku nods. “I’ll go check on him and take him to the gym with me after lunch if he hasn’t come back.”
“Ok, I’ll make sure that there’s something good for you guys to eat, because he’s lost quite a bit of weight,” Mina says.
“Thanks, I’m sure he’ll appreciate that. Just make sure that it’s something that he likes, or he may be difficult.”
“Of course, I wouldn’t do anything else.”
Deku nods before turning back towards the TV.
Bakugo locks his door before settling down on the floor. He pulls out his box of art supplies from one of his cubbies. He shuffles through his drawings, trying to decide which one to color in.
“Hmmm, I think I’ll go with the field of flowers. It has enough detail to be distracting. Now that I think about it, they probably know all of my secret hobbies now that they’ve gone through my room and all of my stuff. I can’t be angry about it, they were just trying to help. Even though I wish they hadn’t.”
He shakes his head, and starts coloring his picture, enjoying the peaceful quiet. It’s not long enough though before someone knocks on the door.
“What?” he calls, beginning to put his colored pencils away.
The doorknob turns, but the door doesn’t open, because he locked it earlier. “Kacchan?” Deku calls from the other side of the door. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I’m coming.”
Bakugo opens the door. He frowns, leaning against the doorframe.
“You can’t just come into other people’s rooms, Deku.”
“Oh, well, I see that you moved your stuff back around. I tried to put your room back together, but I also didn’t let anyone else see your stuff in case you didn’t want them to.”
Bakugo stops, biting his lip. “Well, thanks.”
Deku nods. “I was wondering if you wanted to come train with me at the gym. Today is no quirk sparring day, so I need a partner.”
“Why don’t you just ask Kirishima? I don’t want to go out.”
“Because Kirishima is no good at quirkless fighting. Actually, everyone here isn’t very good at it. They always accidentally use their quirks, or they just suck at fighting, except for you and me. We both have experience fighting quirkless, and we’re the only two who have enough control to not accidentally use our quirks in the middle of a fight. Please, Kacchan,” Deku whines, shifting his weight from foot to foot while talking.
“Fine, nerd, let’s go.”
“Don’t you want to change first?”
“Yeah, I didn’t mean right this moment. Now scram, so I can get ready. I’ll meet you downstairs in ten minutes.”
Deku nods, then opens his mouth.
“Not another word out of you,” Bakugo says before Deku has a chance to say whatever he was originally going to.
Deku’s mouth snaps shut as he nods again. Then he races down the stairs, taking them two at a time. Bakugo shuts his door, and begins getting ready to train with Deku. He trades his hoodie and t-shirt for a sleeveless tank top, and his jeans for sweatpants. He runs a hand through his hair, and heads back out towards the common room. Deku is already waiting for him in basketball shorts and a t-shirt.
“Kacchan,” he says quietly, his eyes lingering on Bakugo’s exposed arms.
Bakugo glances down, taking in all of the scars. Almost every inch has some kind of scar or still healing scab from rubble, knives, and all other kinds of dangerous encounters.
“I’m sorry, I forgot.”
“No, that’s alright. I’m sorry for being so insensitive… I just didn’t think about it still looking like that after Recovery Girl healed you.”
“Yeah, these aren’t going away. Do you think I should put sleeves on my normal hero costume so that I don’t bother people?” Bakugo asks in the flattest tone.
“Why do you care what other people think?” Kirishima pipes up from his spot on the couch.
Bakugo shrugs. “I guess I don’t, but it really isn’t worth picking a fight over.”
“You’re Kasuki Bakugo, everything is worth picking a fight over,” Deku says, his voice trembling, and eyes prickling with tears.
“Sorry.”
“Come on, Kacchan. We’ll go to the gym, and then we can eat lunch together.”
Bakugo nods and follows closely behind as Deku walks out and towards the campus gyms. Mr. Aizawa already told him that they could use the gym for as long as they would like, but they would have to come find him once they got back just to let him know that they were done. When they get there, Deku turns to face Bakugo.
“Alright, what kind of fight do you want to do?”
“Let’s set boundaries, and we have it be the first person to tap or get knocked out of bounds.”
“That sounds good, let’s get started.”
“Ok,” Bakugo says, walking towards the weight rack to grab four ten pound weights.
No one actually uses them to lift, so they’re dusty. He places them near the four different sides of the room.
“Those will be our boundaries. They cut the room nearly in half, so the matches shouldn’t take too long.”
Deku nods, and settles into a fighting stance. Bakugo rolls his eyes, and lunges at Deku. Deku ducks out of the way, sliding under Bakugo’s arm. He swings his arm at Bakugo’s back, but Bakugo grabs his arm, and flips him, throwing him right out of bounds.
“Ow.”
“You alright?”
He walks over and pulls Deku to his feet.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Do you want to go again?”
“Yeah.”
They go round after round, completely losing track of time. Finally, almost three and a half hours later, they’re both out of breath and unable to keep going as hard as they had been.
“Think we should take a break?”
“Yeah, I think we missed lunch though. It was almost noon by the time we left, and-” He glances at his watch,” It’s a little after three thirty now.”
“Oops,” Deku mutters, brushing the sweat off of his hands onto his shorts.
“We should go get showers, and then eat something.”
“Yeah, let’s go do that,” Deku replies, brightening up immediately.
He grabs Bakugo’s hand, but Bakugo immediately jerks away, startling Deku. Bakugo doesn’t look at Deku, just starts walking back towards the dorms. Deku follows him, the smile never leaving his face. When they get back, everyone is scattered around doing various activities. Mina jumps up from the floor where she has her homework spread out.
“Where have you boys been? I was worried about you.”
“Sorry, we got distracted. Anyway, I’ll help you reheat lunch,” Deku says, at least having the dignity to sound sheepish. “Kacchan, can you go tell Mr. Aizawa that we’re back?”
Bakugo nods, and heads off towards his teacher’s room. When he gets there, he can hear Aizawa talking to someone over the phone.
“I know, but I don’t want to call her, Nezu. After what Midoriya told me, I’m completely against it. I just need more time to get Bakugo to talk to me. If I can pry something out of him, then we can get him out of this. Just give me time.” A pause, then he keeps going,” What do you mean? Yes, the school could just take custody of him until he’s eighteen. I’ll take full responsibility. Yes, and I’ll make sure that he has everything he needs after school too.”
Bakugo knocks hard on the door, mind racing.
“Hang on.” The door swings open, and Aizawa stares at Bakugo.
“Deku wanted me to come tell you that we were done with the gym.”
“Alright, have you eaten?”
Bakugo shakes his head. “No, but Deku and Mina are reheating some food right now.”
“Alright, go eat then.”
Bakugo nods, and numbly walks towards the common room. Everyone watches him as he enters the room, but his mind is far away.
‘What did Deku tell him? What does he know? I’m going to kill Deku.’
A spark of his usual anger lights up his face as he storms into the kitchen. He grabs Deku by the arm, dragging him out of the room. Deku squeaks, but doesn’t try to stop Bakugo as Bakugo pulls Deku up the stairs and into his room. He tosses Deku inside and slams the door. Then he spins around to face Deku.
“What’s up, Kacchan?” he asks, brushing himself off.
“What did you tell Aizawa? You’re going to be honest with me, or I’m going to deform you so bad that no one will ever want to look at you again,” Bakugo growls.
“Woah, what are you talking about?”
“What did you tell Aizawa about my home life?” he demands again.
“Kacchan, I want you to calm down.”
“No! I’m not going to calm down until you tell me what you said! You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone. You know that we can’t fix it, she can cover everything up.”
“Not if you testify against her.”
“It’s her word against mine, and mine isn’t worth much. Also, all the scars can be played off as training accidents or from me getting into fights. Especially now, look at me. You can’t really think that we’ll be able to get her out of my life. The most we can do is mitigate damages, and that does not include telling Aizawa. So, what did you tell him? I need to know so I can figure out how to fix this situation.”
“No, I’m not telling you. I don’t want this ‘situation’ fixed. It won’t be fixed until you’re not living with your deadbeat dad and that abusive brute anymore!” Deku yells, shaking his head. His curls bounce around his face, which is covered with a deep frown.
“Deku, stop it. You can’t seriously think that we can do anything about her. Even if we could, what would I do then?”
“You could live at the school full time, or you could come stay with me and my mom. My mom would love that. I just want for you to be safe, Kacchan. Especially now. You need help. What happened to you was terrible, and you need to heal. You can’t do that around people who hurt you constantly. You need to be around people who love you and want to help take care of you. You need to go to therapy, which the school should definitely mandate.”
Bakugo takes a deep breath through his nose, and lets it out through his mouth. “Alright, you know what? I don’t have the strength or energy for this conversation, so I’ll deal with Aizawa on my own. Now, get out of my room.”
Deku brushes past Bakugo, pausing at the door. “You deserve to be loved, Kacchan. You don’t deserve the way that she treats you, and he should do something about her.”
“Get out,” Bakugo says, tears blurring his eyes.
Deku walks out, calmly shutting the door behind himself. Bakugo sits down on his bed, fighting the urge to cry.
“You’re a hero, stop it. You need to get it together.”
He pulls his knees up, wrapping his arms around them. He stays like that for a while until there’s a sharp knock on his door.
“Bakugo, I’m coming in,” Mina calls before the door opens.
Bakugo drops his legs, standing up. Mina walks in holding two bowls.
“One is for me and one is for you. I thought we could eat together, and maybe we could talk.”
“Fine, what do you wanna talk about?”
“Anything that you want to talk about,” she says, offering him a steaming bowl of soup.
He sits down at his writing desk. “You can sit wherever.”
Mina nods, immediately plopping down on his bed, barely managing to keep all of the soup in her bowl.
“I’ll start the conversation,” she says after a minute of silence.
Bakugo nods his consent, taking another sip of the broth.
“I think that Midoriya was mad when he came down, but he left with you. So, what was that about?”
“We got in a fight about him putting his nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“Well, he just wants what’s best for you. We all do.”
“I know, but that doesn’t justify everything. There are some things that just aren’t meant to be spoken about. There are some secrets that are meant to be kept.”
“I guess that’s true, although I can’t speak to whether this is one of those situations. Why do you want this secret kept?”
“Because it can have really bad repercussions for me if it gets out. I just want to leave the sleeping beast to lie.”
Mina nods thoughtfully. “I guess I can understand that to some extent, but Midoriya doesn’t seem to agree with you.”
“True.”
“He’s a pretty good judge of this, so maybe you should just hear each other out.”
“It’s not that simple, Pinky. We’re not going to come to an agreement. Deku’s too stubborn, and I’m not doing what he wants me to.”
Mina nods again. “Well, that sucks. I’m sorry that you guys can’t figure this out. Just don’t let it keep you apart for too long. You need each other.”
Bakugo nods, humming noncommittally.
“Alright, well, on a lighter topic, you’ve missed a lot of gossip while you were gone. Deku’s mom came over while you were gone, and she momed everyone here.”
“Did you just use mom as a verb?”
Mina nods before continuing,” Yeah, but anyway, Sero also got a girlfriend.”
Mina keeps going, spitting out every bit of information and gossip that she can think of, but Bakugo starts tuning her out. It’s almost half of an hour later when she stands up.
“Alright, I’m going back downstairs, but this was nice. I’m glad that we got to talk.”
Bakugo nods.
“I’ll leave you to your soup, but um… make sure that you bring the bowl down at some point.”
“Alright, I will.”
She walks out, and he stands back up. He places the mostly full soup bowl on the desk, and lays back down on his bed. He closes his eyes, feeling the exhaustion from training catch up with him. It’s not long before he’s asleep.
There’s a loud bang, and Bakugo sits up straight. He’s laying on a bed of crates at one of his hideouts. The police storm in with the LOV right behind them.
“You’re under arrest,” the cops yell.
“No, you get to come back with us,” Shigaraki says, inching closer. “We won’t make the mistake of leaving you alive this time.”
Bakugo glances between the two groups before laying back down with his back towards them.
“What are you doing?” the first cop asks.
“I’m ignoring you, all of you. This is obviously not real, because I was just at UA.”
“What are you talking about? UA burned down six months ago, and all of the students that were there died.”
Bakugo doesn’t turn around, or respond.
“You got them killed,” another voice says, but this time it sounds like Deku. “You wouldn’t listen to me, so they all died. You were so broken that you couldn’t save anyone after all.”
Bakugo covers his ears, burying his head in his backpack, which he uses as a makeshift pillow. Everything continues to get louder, but it also gets more and more muffled. A few minutes after the noise fades out, he picks his head up, but he’s not in his hideout anymore. He’s in a prison cell with the guard banging on the door.
“Get up, Bakugo!”
He pulls the door open, then comes over to pull Bakugo to his feet.
“Come on.”
He drags him out of the cell and towards a van outside. He’s taken to a courtroom. Aizawa is sitting down already, the only face that doesn’t look hostile in a sea of people. Bakugo locks eyes with him, and he nods. Then he notices something that he hasn’t seen yet. His mother is sitting in the first row that she can and glaring daggers right into his skull. He shivers, wondering what she’s going to do to him when this is all over. As soon as he’s tossed towards his chair, the scene before him changes again.
This time he’s in his bed at home, his alarm reading six thirty a.m. He sits up, immediately confused. This dream isn’t as clear as the previous ones, and he can barely think straight. The door slams open and his mother appears in the doorway.
“Katsuki Bakugo, get out of bed. We have work to do before you get to school.”
She whirls back out of the room as Bakugo climbs out of bed. He feels disconnected from his body, walking numbly down the stairs. His mom is yelling at his dad when he gets down there.
“I have to get the boy’s measurements so he can model in our next show, so you better keep your mouth shut!” she screams.
Bakugo knocks on the banister, effectively getting both of their attention.
“What took you so long? Take your shirt off, and grab that measuring tape off of the hallway table.”
He does as he’s told, still numb and a little shaky. When he gets back over, she slams her fist into his midsection with surprising strength for a woman her size.
“What took you so long? Ugh, you’re so useless.”
His dad wrings his hands in the corner, but doesn’t say anything to stand up for his son. She kicks his leg before snatching the tape measure from him.
“Stand up straight.”
He complies, gingerly removing his hand from his stomach.
“Stop that, you baby, or I’ll show you how to throw a real punch.”
She starts taking his measurements, but only gets a few seconds in before stopping.
“Stop moving.”
He tries, holding as still as he can. It’s still not good enough though, and she groans, sounding frustrated. She grabs his hair, pulling him across the room. She opens the door in the middle of the hallway, tossing him down the stairs into the basement.
“You’re staying down there until you learn how to obey orders. I’m calling you in sick again,” she says, letting him know that no one will come looking for him.
Bakugo sits up, sweat pouring down his face. He looks around, his chest heaving even though it feels like he can’t get enough air. It doesn’t take long for him to start calming down once he realizes where he is. Someone is knocking on his door.
“Bakugo?” Aizawa calls, sounding slightly panicked.
“Yeah, teach?”
“Can I come in?”
“Yeah.”
Aizawa steps inside. “Why didn’t you answer me the first time?” he asks, sitting down in Bakugo’s desk chair.
“I was taking a nap, you woke me up. What’s up?”
“I wanted to talk to you about your mother, and a conversation that I had with Midoriya.”
“Ok, what about her and Deku?”
Aizawa folds his arms. “I was concerned, because Midoriya did tell me some things that I feel need to be addressed. He told me that your mother is verbally and physically abusive. Is that true?”
Bakugo laughs, a lighthearted and almost carefree laugh. “No, she does have a temper, so we tend to get into yelling matches, but I certainly wouldn’t call it verbal abuse. The only time she ever laid her hands on me was when she accidentally hit me in the face when I came up behind her while she was trying to kill a bug.”
“Hmm, you know that you could tell me if something was going on, right? I can help you.”
“That would be great, if there was anything that I needed help with. I’m alright, and I won’t say that I have the best relationship with my mother, but it’s certainly not abusive from either side. Heck, I’d even say that we hated each other sometimes, but that’s just being extreme.”
“Ok, but I do have to call her now. So, you should pack a bag to get ready to go home.”
“Ok, thanks, teach.”
Aizawa nods, standing up. He walks out, shutting the door behind him. Bakugo stands up and starts packing up his stuff. It doesn’t take long, seeing as most of his stuff wasn’t unpacked in the first place. Once he’s done, he gets another shower to wash away all of the grime from training. Deku is in his room when he steps back inside. Bakugo jumps, setting the door on fire with a small explosion. He pats it out, glaring at Deku.
“What do you want?”
“I just spoke with Mr. Aizawa, and he said that you denied everything. He also said that he can’t do anything unless you cooperate, or I have some kind of physical proof that she’s being abusive,” Deku says, folding his arms.
“Ok, and?”
“I came to yell at you, but I honestly don’t think that will do anything. So, I’m going to help you get ready to go home. I don’t want you to go, but there’s nothing that I can do about it. So, I won’t be difficult anymore. I just want you to promise me one thing, you’ll call me if anything happens, or if you need me for any reason whatsoever.”
“Alright, I’ll call you if I need you, or if anything is wrong. Calm down, I’ve lived with her for sixteen years, I can handle a few days.”
“I know, but I wish you could just come home with me this weekend.”
Bakugo laughs. “I know you do.”
It’s not long before there’s a knock on his door. Deku looks up from his spot on the floor where he’s folding some of Bakugo’s clothes.
“Come on in,” he calls.
The door opens and Kirishima walks in.
“Hey, your mom is downstairs, waiting for you, Bakugo.”
“Whatever, I’ll be right down.”
Kirishima disappears.
“I can’t believe that you were just going to take your already packed duffle. You need more stuff than that.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure. Just hurry up, I need to get downstairs.”
“Are you sure you’re alright, Kacchan? You’ve been acting odd since you got back.”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’ve just got a lot going on. I’ll figure it out, and then you guys will have to put up with my awful, obnoxious personality again.”
Deku laughs, shaking his head. Then he puts the last piece of clothing into Bakugo’s duffle, and zips it up. Bakugo stands up, grabbing his backpack. They head down the stairs, and Deku hands Bakugo his duffle. Deku purposely doesn’t meet Mrs. Bakugo’s eyes, and instead stares at his suddenly interesting shoes. Mrs. Bakugo smiles pleasantly at Aizawa.
“It’s nice to see you again. I’m sorry it’s under such circumstances though. Come on, Katsuki, we need to go home. Your dad is waiting for us. He’s cooking your favorite food.”
She leads him out of the room towards her car. The car ride is quiet. Mrs. Bakugo doesn’t say anything until they get inside of the house.
“What were you thinking?” she says, deathly quiet.
Bakugo stays silent, knowing that anything he could say would just make the situation worse. She slaps him across his face.
“What is wrong with you?! How could you do all of this? Do you know how much money I’ve lost over this and how much bad publicity this has given me?”
She knees him in the gut, sending him to the floor. Then she starts kicking him repeatedly. This goes on for two minutes before his dad walks in.
“My love, dinner is ready. Are you and Katsuki ready to eat?”
He doesn’t flinch as she kicks Bakugo in the face again.
“Clear this mess up, boy, and then you are going to come to the kitchen.”
She storms away, growling under her breath. Bakugo takes a minute getting up. He wipes blood off of his face, then goes to grab the cleaning supplies so he can clean the blood off of the floor. Once he’s done, he stumbles back towards the kitchen. His mom stands up as soon as he enters.
“Stop, you’re going to drip blood on the counter or the floor.”
She drags him to the basement again, tossing him down the stairs again. He tumbles down the stairs before landing in the pitch dark room.