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Meeting with Nezu first thing in the morning is not Shota’s idea of a good time. The rat had called early the night before, asking Shota to come and talk to him before class. Not fun. He also hadn’t bothered to inform him about what they would be speaking about. He’s going in blind, no idea which problem child they’d be discussing. Hagakure running around the school naked again, Todoroki freezing someone that pissed him off, the so-called Bakusqud doing something stupid and inadvisable.
Maybe if he walks as slow as humanly possible, he’ll never get to the office?
He opens the door, not waiting to be let in, knowing Nezu always has it unlocked. He sits in one of the ridiculously plush armchairs on the other side of Nezu’s desk. The principal himself is already there, sipping tea and going through various files.
He gestured to the full mug of coffee set out for Shota. He happily takes a sip, letting the warmth of the drink fill him.
“What’s this about, Nezu?” Shota asks.
Nezu takes an uncharacteristically deep breath, like something is weighing on him. “All Might has said that Bakugo has been extremely combative with him since the beginning of the year.”
Shota raises an eyebrow. “Bakugo is combative with everyone.”
Nezu sighed. “It’s become a serious issue. He ignored All Might’s orders in a training session, and Yaoyarozu broke her leg because of it. Thankfully Recovery Girl got to her and healed her right up.”
Shota sat up a little straighter, taking in the new information. It’s true what he said, Bakugo is combative with everyone. He is constantly yelling and arguing with people. Shota thinks he might just hit someone if he didn’t think it would get him expelled. But he never ignores a direct order. Even during the USJ, Bakugo wanted to go straight for the villains, blow them sky high. But when Shota ordered him to get his injured peers to safety, he did it without question. If he thinks his teachers are wrong he tells them, but doesn’t outright ignore them.
“Why?”
“Unclear,” Nezu said, “I reviewed the footage, the instructions All Might gave were pretty straight forward, I don’t know why he would just ignore him, but this isn’t a one time issue. And it seems All Might is the only one he has any direct issue with. I want you to talk to him, find out what we can do to fix this issue.”
Shota nods and leaves the office, taking the coffee with him.
He thinks he’s gonna need it.
The day goes by quickly. Though not without tension. Yaoyorozu seems fine, only a little tired. But Uraraka, Jirou, Shinso, Iida and Todoroki all seem to be quite upset with Bakugo getting her injured.
Bakugo doesn’t seem to mind their eyes drilling holes into his head, looking forward resolutely. The rest of the class is less angry and more on edge.
As the end of the day rolls around and the students begin packing up, Shota says, “Bakugo, stay after class for a minute?”
Bakugo finishes packing his bag, but stays in his seat. The Bakusquad glances back at him in concern, but he waves them away.
Once the classroom is empty of students, Shota gets up from his desk and walks over leaning against the desk in front of Bakugou. They hold eye contact for a moment before Shota asks, “What happened in training yesterday?”
“I made a bad call, Ponytail got hurt, I get it, I fucked up.” Bakugo bites out.
“You did make a bad call, and we’ll talk about where you went wrong another time.” Shota says, “What I want to know is why you would ignore a direct order from your teacher?”
Bakugo’s shoulders stiffen, and he looks away. “That instruction was crap.”
A deep sigh breaks from Shota’s throat. “Okay. Look, it is well within your right to dislike one of your teachers, Kami knows I did when I was in school, but if your issue with him goes so far that you get one of your classmates injured, then we need to work this out.”
The blond kept his eyes stubbornly focused on the view of the court yard outside. “Bakugo, what happened? What is your issue with him.”
His red eyes flash with fury and he finally looks at Shota. “He’s a shitty hero. He needs to get off his high horse and admit he’s not as perfect as he makes himself out to be.”
Shota is taken aback by not only his words, but the venom they are soaked in. “All Might has saved a lot of people, he has one of the highest rescue rates of any hero in the last ten years.”
“Yeah, well, he doesn’t save everybody.” Bakugo mumbles.
Shota’s keen ears pick it up. “Is that what this is about?” His eyes soften. Shota understands that anger. “Who was it that he couldn’t save?”
Bakugo jumps up from his chair with such force that his chair flies back into Shinso’s desk. “Not ‘couldn’t’, didn’t! There is a big fucking difference!”
Shota keeps the surprise at his outburst off his face. One would assume that after nearly two months of teaching Bakugou, he wouldn’t be surprised when he lashes out, but the difference is, when he lashes out, it’s about stupid stuff. Nothing too serious. When real things are being discussed, when the reality is actually concerning, Bakugo keeps a surprisingly cool head.
“He made a choice!” Bakugo shouted, “A god damn choice! That son of a bitch killed him! I’m the one that had to tell his mom! Had to call the cops, and the ambulance when he passed out!”
“What happened?”
Something in Bakugou deflates. He looks like no one ever asked him about it, what happened.
“Some asshole.” He sighs, “Body made of slime, attacked him. All Might saved him. But the asshole got free, attacked me next, and used me as a hostage. Heroes saved me, only because he ran in, trying to help me. They had been standing there like morons cause none of them had a quirk right for dealing with the villain. I got away from the EMTs after finding him. I was yelling, pissed he had run in there like an idiot. I wasn’t really paying attention until he started coughing. He was trying to breathe but something was caught in his lungs. He died before we even got to the hospital. Suffocated on the fluid in his lungs.”
As Bakugo explains, horror washes over Shota. All Might didn’t get a victim medical treatment. One of the first things you learn as a hero student is that no matter whether or not the civilian looks fine, no matter how many times they tell you they feel fine or that they didn’t get hit, you always take them to the hospital. The image of Bakugo, holding his friend as they choke to death flashes behind his eyes.
“Bakugo, I’m so sorry.” There isn’t much else he can say.
“Save it.” He snaps, “No one even knows it happened. The autopsy came back and they had no idea how that shit even got in his lungs. I went looking. Found security footage. I tried to tell people, show people, that he didn’t even try to get him to the hospital, or at the very least find another hero to look after him. No one believes the symbol of peace would let a kid die.”
“I do.” At Bakugo’s questioning glance, Shota says, “You’re a lot of things, but not a liar. I believe you.”
“Oh.”
“And I’m going to talk to Nezu.”
“Why?”
Shota chuckles at Bakugo’s confusion, mainly because if he doesn’t laugh, he’ll cry. “Nezu may be all about fucking with humanity as much as possible, but he does have soft spot for kids, especially ones that haven’t been ruined by our society.”
“The Hero Commission won’t let Nezu fire All Might.” Bakugo says.
It’s true. Nezu didn’t want to hire All Might in the first place, given his utter lack of teaching credentials, but the Commision strong armed him into it. They won’t let him fire All Might. “But, Nezu is gonna rip him a new one. Who knows, maybe he’ll quit.”
“Yeah, right, Bastard is too proud to do that.” Bakugo scoffs.
“Don’t be too sure, Nezu is an expert at psychological warfare.”
He sees Bakugou crack a smile. But he just has to ask, even if Bakugo doesn’t want to hear it. “What was his name?”
“What?”
“Your friend's name? What was his name?”
“Izuku Midoriya.”