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Katsuki Bakugo wasn’t weak. He didn’t let things get to his head. He didn’t care what a random third-year support-course extra thought of him. Not at all. At least, that’s what he told himself.
It started on a regular day. A day so regular it made Bakugo angry. It didn’t help his mood as he passed a group of support course students, who were talking about someone. It didn’t take long for him to realize they were talking about him.
“How do they even keep him in the hero course? No hero should have anger issues like that,” One guy said.
“Yeah, it’s no wonder the villains wanted him. He already acts like one of them,” A girl replied with a laugh.
“And it was his kidnapping that led to All Might’s retirement. So it’s basically his fault,” Another girl added.
“And then he even failed the licensing exam, no surprise there,” A different boy replied.
“I don’t know why they gave him a second chance on that. I mean, Todoroki, I can understand, but Bakugo? They should have just kicked him out,” The first boy replied.
They didn’t see Bakugo behind the other wall, listening to their conversation. Part of him wanted to storm over there and tell them why they were wrong about him, but getting angry about it would probably just prove their point.
The bell rang.
“Oh crap, we'd better get to class!” one of the girls said. Three sets of footsteps headed away, but there was one getting closer to where Bakugo stood.
“You know, it’s rude to eavesdrop. Add that to the list of things to hate about you,” It was the first boy who’d spoken.
Bakugo just glared at him. This guy was quite a bit taller than him and had cold eyes that had no hint of empathy within them.
“What, not gonna yell at me? Shocker,” The boy prodded.
“I’m going to class,” Bakugo mumbled. He tripped almost immediately after walking off. He saw he’d tripped over the support course extra's leg, which was stretched out like a rubber band. Must have been his quirk.
“Oops.” The extra didn’t show a hint of remorse. He just walked off, laughing.
Bakugo grumbled to himself as he picked himself up and headed to class. Unfortunately, due to the extra, he was late.
“Whoa, Bakubro, late?” Kirishima asked as he walked in.
“Even I got here before him?” Kaminari added.
“Shut up!” Bakugo told them, heading to his seat.
The school day went as normal after that, except that Bakugo seemed to be in an even worse mood than usual. He wouldn’t admit that some extras had completely ruined his day, but it seemed like their words kept playing on loop.
No hero should have anger issues like that.
It’s no wonder the villains wanted him. He already acts like them.
It’s basically his fault.
He even failed the licensing exam, no surprise there.
They should have just kicked him out.
What, not gonna yell at me? Shocker.
Over and over, the words on loop, ruining his mood further. He went through hero training that day with a terrible attitude, but he still did well on the exercises. He was going to prove those extras wrong.
He didn’t commonly see the other three extras that’d been talking about him, but the first boy had taken a liking to teasing him before school. This had been going on for a week now.
“People are afraid of you, ya know,” The boy said today.
“So? I don’t care what people think!” Bakugo snapped back.
“Oh, really? Then why do your shoulders sag every time I insult you?” The boy asked with a smirk. “Who knew, you actually do have some human in ya after all.”
“Shut up!”
“Make me, why don’t ya?” The boy laughed, making Bakugo’s anger boil over.
He set off an explosion right in the boy's face, then pinned him to the wall.
“You’re only proving my point, first year. You have a powerful quirk, sure, but with your personality, how do you ever expect people to like you?”
Bakugo growled and punched him. Unfortunately for him, a teacher walked over at that moment.
“Bakugo, what are you doing to this poor guy?” It was Cementoss.
“He started it!” Bakugo tried.
“All I did was compliment your quirk,” The extra lied.
Cementoss, of course, didn’t believe Bakugo. He instead dragged the explosive boy to the principal’s office, the support course extra close behind.
“I bet by the end of the year, you’ll be expelled.” The guy whispered to him, quiet enough that Cementoss couldn’t hear. Bakugo punched him again, but the boy only smiled.
“Bakugo!” Cementoss scowled.
“But- he-” Bakugo started.
“I was just trying to compliment you. Why do you keep punching me?” The extra cried, faking tears. ****it, he was good at acting.
“But-”
“Save it for the principal,” Cementoss told him.
“Nezu, I caught Bakugo here pinning *extra’s name* to the wall and punching him,” Cementoss filled the principal in before heading to the class he was supposed to teach.
“He started it!” Bakugo tried, hoping the principal would believe him.
“I was only complimenting him.” The fake tears were back. “I was just telling him that he has a powerful quirk!”
“Yeah, you said that, but then you said with my personality, nobody likes me!” Bakugo retorted.
“No, I didn’t! Why would I ever say that?”
“You liar!” Bakugo was tempted to punch him again, but knew it wouldn’t look good for him.
“There is an easy way to solve this predicament,” Nezu spoke calmly. “I’ll simply check the security footage of the hallway you were in, just tell me where to look.”
*Extra’s name* gave the principal the hallway surprisingly fast. He didn’t show a hint of fear at being caught. He instead stood by Nezu, gesturing for Bakugo to go to the other side of the mammal. He wore a wicked smirk.
Bakugo watched in horror as the security footage showed exactly what the extra had said. But that wasn’t how it happened, he knew it wasn’t! So why was the footage only showing what the extra wanted everyone to see?
“I’ll let you off with a warning this time, Bakugo. But if this keeps happening, please know that UA doesn’t tolerate bullies,” Nezu sighed. “Now, I expect both of you to get to class.”
Once out of the room, Bakugo glared at the extra. “What the **** did you do to the security footage?”
“Being in the support course has its perks. I figured out a way to invent something that messes with security footage, to have it always show me in a good light, as the victim. The thing’s even working right now, erasing this entire conversation,” The extra smirked. “So you'd better think about what you’re doing. Because if you’re not careful, you’ll be getting expelled.”
The extra then walked off a little way down the hall. “Oh, one more thing.” He turned around and stretched his arms out. He punched Bakugo in the face, stomach, everywhere. “That’s for the punches you gave me. And if you tell anyone about this, just remember, they won’t believe you.”
It’d been going on for a month now. But now, the support course extra would take any opportunity to pick on him. Before school, after school, even during lunch.
The bully did many things, always managing to paint Bakugo as the bad guy. He’d lock him in closets and empty classrooms until it seemed like he was skipping class. He’d punch Bakugo until he was covered in bruises, causing Bakugo to actually skip class as he used makeup to cover it up. He kept telling him how horrible his personality was, how he’ll never be a true hero, how no one actually likes him, people just pretend they do so they don’t get hurt.
But Bakugo didn’t tell anyone. Because, as the extra liked to remind him, nobody would believe him. They’d think he was nothing but a liar.
Katsuki was now sitting in the bathroom during lunch. Of course, the extra came and found him.
“Aw, is the great Katsuki Bakugo actually afraid of someone?” The boy taunted. Bakugo didn’t answer, angering the boy. He grabbed Bakugo by the hair, pulling him up and pinning his head against the wall. “Hey! I’m talking to you! Don’t you know it’s rude not to reply?”
Katsuki couldn’t get himself to care anymore. No matter how angry he felt, he couldn’t fight back. He’d only get blamed for it.
The extra dragged him to an empty classroom and threw him into a small closet in the back of it. Bakugo was thrown in, then the door was shut and locked.
“If you manage to get out of there, why don’t you do everyone a favor and take a swan dive off the roof?” The extra said before leaving.
Just pray for a quirk in your next life, then take a swan dive off the roof of the building!
It didn’t feel good to have something like that said to him. Was this how Deku had felt? Completely hopeless, with nobody who would help?
Bakugo felt his eyes watering. No. No. You can’t cry, that’s what he wants. His eyes wouldn’t listen. Tears were streaming down his face. He cried because he felt hopeless. He cried because he felt hurt, both physically and emotionally. He had bruises all over, and his head hurt from being pushed against the wall. He couldn’t stop the sobs anymore.
Meanwhile…
“Has anyone seen Bakugo since lunch?” Aizawa asked.
“I haven’t seen him since last period. He didn’t come to lunch,” Kirishima told him.
“Yeah, he said he was heading to the bathroom, and never came back,” Kaminari added.
“He’s probably just skipping,” M****a put in, though nobody really listened to him.
“Bakugo’s been acting weird all month, honestly,” Sero joined. “But he won’t answer us when we ask if he’s okay.”
Aizawa sighed. “I’ll go look for him, you all just *insert something here, idk what subject they’re supposed to be learning right now*.”
Aizawa set out into the hallway, deciding to check all the boys’ bathrooms first. Bakugo wasn’t in any of them. The one closest to the cafeteria only had a support course third year that Shota had never really spoken to.
“Oh, hello Eraserhead!” The guy greeted him as he washed his hands. “What brings you over here, shouldn’t you be with your class?”
“One of my students is missing, so I’m looking for him,” Aizawa told the boy. “You haven’t happened to see Bakugo, have you?”
“Not recently, no,” The boy answered after thinking for a moment.
Aizawa had a bad feeling about this student, even though there were no apparent reasons for it. The boy gave him a smile that almost looked real, but there was a slight strain in it.
“Well, thanks anyway,” Aizawa mumbled before heading out of the bathroom.
He continued to walk down that hall. Most of the classrooms were empty and silent, except…
Aizawa swore he heard crying from one of them. He immediately went to investigate. He couldn’t see anyone, but the sound led him to a locked closet at the back of the room.
He quickly unlocked the closet and opened the door. Curled up in a ball in the closet was none other than the student he’d been looking for, sobbing.
“Bakugo?” Aizawa got his attention.
The boy slightly raised his head, but didn’t look at him. “Mr. Aizawa?”
“What on earth are you doing locked in a closet?” Shota asked, crouching down to Bakugo’s eye level.
“I-” Bakugo faced away from his teacher.
“Is something going on? You can tell me,” Aizawa placed a hand on his shoulder. Bakugo slightly flinched at the touch.
“No, everything’s fine,” Bakugo mumbled.
“I just found you sobbing in a closet locked from the outside,” Shota stated. “Clearly, everything’s not fine.”
Bakugo still didn’t look at him.
“Bakugo, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”
Bakugo mumbled something to Aizawa that he couldn’t understand.
“You know, I can’t understand mumbling.”
“Sorry,” Bakugo said, finally looking at him. His face was red and puffy from all the crying. He wiped his eyes, the tears finally drying out.
Aizawa looked at him with nothing but concern. Bakugo wondered if maybe he would believe him. Could he trust his teacher to help him?
“I-” Bakugo choked. “I’m not sure where to start.”
“Start with how you got in this closet.”
“I was shoved in, then he locked it so I couldn’t get out,” Bakugo said quietly.
“Who’s ‘he’? And why did he lock you in a closet?”
“It’s not the first time. He does it pretty much every day.”
“Does he do anything else?”
“He-he beats me up and tells me that nobody likes me, that I’m a horrible person, that UA should just kick me out because I don’t deserve to be a hero, and… But no one will believe me-”
“Why do you think nobody will believe you?”
“Be-because he has this device that messes with the security footage, so it always looks like he’s the victim. He already got me in trouble the one time I fought back; he even convinced Nezu that I was in the wrong-” The tears came back with a vengeance.
Aizawa helped Bakugo out of the closet before bringing him into a hug. His student sobbed into his chest.
“Don’t worry, I believe you. And I will make sure everyone else does too.” Aizawa rubbed comforting circles on his back.
“He-he told me I should do everyone a favor and take a swan dive off the roof,” Bakugo added the last detail.
Aizawa was now even angrier at whoever was bullying his student than he already had been. He hugged Bakugo tighter.
“Do you know who he is? Because he should be expelled for this.”
“I think his name was *extra’s name*. He’s a third-year support course student,” Bakugo leaned out of the hug and wiped his eyes once again.
“Alright. Don’t worry, I’ll have him taken care of. How about we just get you back to the dorms?”
“But, what about class?”
“I think that’d just leave you overwhelmed. Your classmates mean well, but I don’t think you want a ton of questions on where you’ve been and why you were crying.”
Bakugo slightly chuckled. “Yeah, you may be right.”
“Come on, I’ll walk with you.”
Aizawa walked Bakugo back to the dorms. Bakugo simply flopped onto the couch, too exhausted to head up to his room. He was asleep pretty quickly.
Shota decided to stay in the building because he wasn’t sure leaving Bakugo alone after being told to kill himself was a good idea. So he decided to call Nezu to inform him about the situation.
Nezu managed to track down the student and asked to see him in his office. He put Aizawa on video call so he could still be part of the conversation, while also keeping an eye on his sleeping student.
“You needed me for something, Principal?” The student asked as he sat across from Nezu.
Aizawa recognized him as the kid he’d met in the bathroom, the one who had claimed not to have seen Bakugo. The one he’d gotten a bad feeling about. Now he knew why.
“Yes, I have been told that you’ve been bullying Katsuki Bakugo. As I’ve said before, UA doesn’t tolerate bullies,” Nezu began.
“I didn’t do anything! You watch the security footage, don’t you? I haven’t even been near him since that day he punched me,” The boy lied.
“I have also been told you have a device that messes with security footage,” Nezu continued. “I will be having Hound Dog here conduct a search.”
Nearly right away, Hound Dog found the small device, disguised as an earring. Nezu quickly figured out how to turn the thing off.
There were no other devices on the kid. If anything was going to be the device Aizawa mentioned, it would be this.
“That’s not-” The boy tried to argue.
“So if we watch the security footage, we won’t see you bullying my student?” Aizawa asked through the phone.
“Eraserhead?!” The boy hadn’t noticed the man on video call next to Nezu.
“Let’s watch the footage, shall we?” Nezu interrupted. He brought up footage from the last month, checking multiple different locations. Each scene showed what the boy had been doing.
Seeing everything made Aizawa even angrier. Hearing every word the boy said, seeing the time when Bakugo had been blamed for it. Seeing just how many times Bakugo had been locked in the closet, only being let out after an hour or so.
Nezu turned off the footage. “I believe we’ve seen enough. *Extra’s name*, you are hereby expelled from this school. I suggest you go pack up your dorm. I will be informing your guardians about this.”
The boy was escorted back to his dorm building, where he was to pack up.
“I’m so glad you brought this to my attention, Aizawa. Now, how is Bakugo doing?” Nezu said.
“He’s currently napping on the couch. I think this took a lot out of him,” Shota answered. “Anyway, I should probably let my class know I found him; they’re probably worried since I never came back to the classroom.”
“Of course,” Nezu nodded. He then hung up.
Aizawa sat on the couch that wasn’t occupied by a sleeping Bakugo and called his classroom phone.
“Hellooooooooo!!!!” Mic’s voice rang on the other side. “Classroom 1A, Present Mic speaking! Whatcha need?”
Aizawa sighed. “Could you quiet down?”
“Shota! Your kids were just telling me that they wondered where you were now! So, did you find Bakugo?” Mic replied, ignoring the question about quieting down.
“Yes, I found him. He’s currently asleep, and I’d like to keep it that way, so please be quieter.”
“Oop, sorry,” Mic said, quieter now. “So where’d you find him?”
“Locked in a closet.”
“What?” Mic was rightfully confused.
“Let’s just say I had to get a third-year support course student expelled for bullying,” Aizawa explained. “I won’t go into the details, I know he wouldn’t want me to.”
“Oh… How’s he doing?”
“Well, he’s relaxed for now. But he was a mess when I found him.”
“So what should I tell your students?”
Aizawa gave Mic a suggestion of what to say before hanging up.
Mic turned to the class. They were all looking at him expectantly.
“Sho- Your teacher found Bakugo. He said to let Bakugo tell you what’s going on if he wants to. Aizawa said not to pester him with questions, but still let him know that you’re there for him.” The class all nodded.
Bakugo was awake by the time the rest of his class got out of school. He had talked with Aizawa and felt a lot better now that his bully had been expelled. He was making himself a snack in the kitchen when the Bakusquad came and wrapped him in a group hug.
Usually, he would have pushed them all away. Instead, he sank into the embrace. Maybe *extra’s name* was wrong after all.
People did care about him.