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Chapter Text

Cause I’m lazy I’m not writing the beginning, basically Aizawa noticed Bakugou being more aggressive when people touched him lately and shying away from touches so he decides to have a conversation with our favorite angry blonde

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“Bakugou, when was the last time you touched someone. And I mean you initiated the touch or you enjoyed the touch.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, when was the last time you had any kind of touch with your parents?”

“What do you mean, like, hug kind of touch or to beat me up kind of touch?”

Okay, this set off some red flags in Shouta’s head. 

“...The hug kind of touch, though I would like to talk about the second option you gave me soon.” Bakugou didn’t seem to like that, Shouta could tell from the quick flash of panic and annoyance before his face went back to its usual poker look.

“Idk, when I was, like, 3.” Not good.

“Okay...when was the last time you hugged someone? It doesn’t have to be your parents.”

“....After the fight with Deku and All Might hugged me….”

“Have you had any touch with anyone since then that you haven’t shoved off?”

He watched as Bakugou seemed to try to remember for a bit before answering with no. Shouta sighed, he was starting to realize that his suspicions may be confirmed. “Is there a reason you have been pushing your classmates and teachers touches away?” Bakugou didn’t respond, looking at his hands like they were the most interesting thing in the world. It was amazing to Shouta to see one of his most loud students in class suddenly act so quiet. Though he supposed that the reason Bakugou was so loud was because of his classmates kept riling him up. “Bakugou….”

“Fine! It hurts, okay!?”

“What do you mean? It hurts for people to touch you?”

“Yes!”

Shouta guesses this is more serious than he originally thought. He now knew Bakugou was touch-starved, but for it to be so bad that it hurt , well that wasn’t good. He decided to experiment something just to make sure of things before he sprung into action. Not that he didn’t trust Bakugou to not lie, Bakugou was the most rudely honest kid in his class. He just wanted to see it for himself when he was paying attention. 

Slowly and quietly, he reached his hand palm up towards Bakugou, holding his arm in front of him. Bakugou stared at his hand, then at him, then at his hand again, confused.

“Uhhh sensei, whaaat are you doing?”

“Hold it.”

Bakugou’s face took on an impressive range of emotions in just a couple of seconds. Shouta realized he probably should have explained himself better. “Just touch it, I want to see how long you can manage.”

Slowly, Bakugou nods, as of to say “Okay, I trust you.” Shouta feels honored at the amount of trust the young hero had in him. He felt he didn’t deserve it, especially after the kidnapping and fight with Midoriya. 

He was pulled out of his thoughts as he felt Bakugou gently place a soft hand on top of his, just slightly resting it on his teachers. The blonde’s hand was far gentler and softer than one would expect, but Aizawa knew better. He saw how much work Bakugou put into taking care of himself, and seeing as Bakugou’s career relied on steady and healthy hands, he wasn’t surprised.

It only took about thirty seconds before Bakugou couldn’t hold his poker face anymore and he took on a pained expression. Aizawa didn’t take his hand away though, he wanted to see how long Bakugou was willing to go. 

Another minute and Bakugou was whipping his hand away, the pain too much for him. Aizawa took his hand back as well and prepared to speak. “I want you to go to therapy, I know you’ve rejected the idea before but you need it. And therapy doesn’t make you weak either Bakugou-”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay, I’ll go to fuckin therapy, but my parents can’t know. I know that it doesn’t make you weak or any shit like that, but they don’t like it.”

“They don’t like therapy?”

“They don’t like me in therapy.” 

Aizawa was beginning to see a lot of red flags here. What the hell were his parents putting in his head?

“Okay, I can do that for you. I can schedule an appointment for you with hound dog tomorrow and then we can talk about ways to get you comfortable with touch again. But there is one thing we haven’t talked about yet Bakugou. Do you know why you are having this aversion to touch?”

Bakugou stayed silent at that, choosing to now stare at his hands again. Ever so uncharacteristically quiet Katsuki answered with a soft, “I don’t know.” It was as if the boy, boy , had given up on himself. Shouta wanted nothing more than to leap lacrosse his desk and scoop the kid up in a hug. He restrained himself though, quietly responding, “That’s okay, we’ll figure it out together kid.”

The teen gave a nod, then asked if he could leave to which Aizawa said yes. Sighing, Shouta kneaded his forehead. This little meeting was definitely going to be added to the slowly building file Shouta had started not too long after his visit to the Bakugou household.

Aizawa was definitely going to try to be more involved with Bakugou, especially now. Katsuki still had a long way to go to being okay, and Aizawa planned on being there for him the whole time.

Chapter Text

“Alright well look Erasurehead, that kid has a lot more trauma than he’s let on and I’m not just talking about his aversion to touch. It’s obvious, even from just one session, that Bakugou has a lot more going on mentally than he lets on.”

Aizawa sighed, a nice little headache beginning to set in. Why does his problem child have to be oh so good at hiding things going on with him? Why can’t he just realize that people care about him and want to help him? “Okay, well what can you tell me from your session with him this morning?”

Hound dog sounded tired, wary, as he explained what he could about Bakugou’s meeting with him. Of course, the school therapist could only say so much with patient confidentiality and all. Most of what the man had to say consisted of how Bakugou seemed to be under a lot of stress to do well and how he could do with some mandatory breaks. Hound dog also explained how Bakugou seemed to try his best to divert any questions of his home-life away from that topic. 

Aizawa then decided to tell Hound dog about the file he was building on Bakugou and his home-life. Telling about what had happened when he and All Might had visited the Bakugou household. Once Aizawa explained all of this Hound dog had asked if he could help build the case as well, just in case. Seeing as UA didn’t have enough information right now to actually have a full-scale investigation, it was still good to start building for one. ‘ Maybe I could get the detective to help me out with it…’ Aizawa thought.

After their conversation, the two teachers hung up. Aizawa decided that he would listen to Hound dog’s advice and set up some mandatory “yay let’s not work ourselves till we pass out” breaks. Meanwhile also deciding to talk with Bakugou a little more and find out what he could. The ash-blond had always been a private person, but now Aizawa was beginning to see that there may be a reason for that other than it just being his personality. 

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Aizawa walked into the 1-A dorms to an unusual, though not unwelcome, scene. He stood at the doorway for a moment as he watched not only the Bakusquad, but also a good many other classmates getting tutored by Bakugou himself . Now, it was not unusual for Bakugou to do this for his ‘squad,’ but what was unusual was how he was doing it for others such as Shoji, Tokoyami, Todoroki , Hagakure, and Ojiro too. Aizawa couldn’t help the swell of pride that overtook him and he looked at how far his problem child had come. Wait, his? No, Shouta had 100% meant to say the, he was not starting to think of these kids as his , no way. 

Soon enough, the “human cat,” as Hizashi liked to call him as if totally disregarding how he himself was a literal parrot, was soon pulled out of his thoughts by some loud banter.

“Shitty hair, if I sold your brain I’d get three nickels, all of which would be more useful than you.”

“Aww you think I’m worth three nickels instead of one? That makes me so happy Bakugou!”

“Aw Blasty’s getting soft!” The girls started giggling, it was the same way they giggled when they were talking about a ‘ship.’ Not that Aizawa would know what that meant.

“Shut up! I’ll kill you!”

It was at this time that Aizawa decided to step in before things got out of hand. “Bakugou, here please. There’s something I’d like to speak with you about.” Confused, Bakugou began to walk over to Aizawa as a chorus of “ooooh Blasty’s it trooooubllllle.”

Bakugou and Aizawa responded at the same time. Aizawa saying, “No, Bakugoiu isn’t in trouble but you all will be if you keep that up.” with Bakugou just threatening them.

The two left the room, walking in complete silence all the way to the teacher’s office. 

“So, why did you wanna talk to me? I was in the middle of teaching those fuckheads basic math.” He rolled his eyes, though Aizawa could the fond tone in them.

“Well, I wanted to talk to you about your parents.”

“What about em?” Bakugou answered stiffly, tensing up.

“What are they like?”

“Why does it matter what they’re like?”

“Alright, easier question, what do they do for a living?”

“You already know what they do for a living.”

“Bakugou…”

“Alright! Fine! No need to get you pansies in a twist. Dad’s a fashion designer, Mom’s a model, happy?”

“Yes, thank you. Now what can you tell me about their work?” Bakugou seemed to be growing suspicious and hesitated for a moment, considering. He seemed to deem this information fine for him to tell his teacher. Nothing Aizawa-sensei couldn’t find on the web anyways.

“They have their own company...M&M, stands for Mitsuki and Masaru.” The boy chuckled under his breath, muttering something that sounded like, “God help us if Masaru’s name came first.” Aizawa elected to ignore it but still file it in his memory for safe-keeping.

“Does the company normally keep them busy? How did that affect you growing up?”

“Well, yeah. They’re constantly traveling so I was left on my own most of the time since I reached 7.”

“For how long?”

“At most a month at a time.” Okay, well that explains the fierce independence somewhat. Also, Aizawa was 100% sure that that was neglect, I mean who leaves a seven-year-old at home for a month, alone. Wait, no, they could’ve left someone with him. “That’s how I learned to cook, spending all that time on my own I couldn’t just survive off of instant ramen. Yep, they left him alone.

“Alright....what were they like when they were around?”

“Still kind of absent other than to get mad at me I guess. I mean, the hag got mad at everything I did, and the doormat kind of just hid in the office the whole time. Then of course whenever I did see him he was apologizing saying how “she only does this cause she loves you.””

Well that’s not concerning at all. Does what? And why would his dad hide? “Why would your dad be hiding? And what does your mother do?”

At this Bakugou looked a little panicked, as if he hadn’t meant to let that out, but quickly hid it. Steeling himself, the blond bit back, “What does it matter? Not like anyone’s gonna do anything. Also, why the hell are you interrogating me anyways?”

Aizawa sighed, looks like that’s as far as he was gonna get right about now. He reached out a hand to pat the pomeranian’s head, but before he could the boy flinched, closing his eyes as if Aizawa was about to hit him. Okay, that’s something to be concerned about.  

“Ahaha, touch-starved, remember?” Bakugou’s poor cover-up did nothing to quell Shouta’s worry, only making it worse.

“Is it alright if I pat your head?”

“....Why?”

Honestly, Shouta didn’t know why. Whenever a kid was distressed though whenever he patted their head it seemed to make them happier. What was it with this kid’s distrust and asking Shouta hard questions? “Can I or can I not?”

“...You can I guess….” Bakugou was looking at him weirdly as if he expected him to something more than just pat his head, like hit him. Despite that Shouta patted his head anyways in a reassuring way, surprised at how soft the seemingly spiky hair was.

Bakugou looked highly uncomfortable at the contact, but he wasn’t saying anything so Shouta took it as a good sign. Kneeling down in front of the boy, Shouta moved his hand from his head to his shoulder, resting it there. 

“You know you can come to me if you ever need to rely on someone, right? You have my phone number if you ever need it, don’t ever hesitate to call or text me. Even if it’s something you don’t think I would care about, trust me when I say I care about you.”

“Yeah, okay, whatever. Can I go now?”

Sighing, Shouta slowly stood up. I swear this class is making me old, I never had any gray hairs before these little brats showed up, he thought fondly. “Yes, fine you can go now.”

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“Kacchan? Where did you go earlier? Why did Aizawa-sensei want to talk to you?”

Ugh, he’d literally just stepped back into the dorms and he was already being bombarded with questions by the Shitty Nerd. Seriously, why couldn’t he just leave him alone for once? They may be on better terms since their fight, but that didn’t mean they were back to friends yet. “Nothing fuckwad, back off.”

The rest of the class looked up from the common room couches, hearing a commotion. “Hey! That’s not nice Bakugou, he was just being concerned.”

“Save it Kirby, like I give a fuck.” Bakugou stomped past cheeks and the nerd heading for the stairs.

“Ooooh Bakugou, that’s two new insults! Something really interesting must have happened for that!”

“Not in the mood, raccoon eyes.”

“Okay, I’ll leave you alone.” Mina backed off, hands up in a fake surrender. Bakugou didn’t feel like yelling right now so he just ran upstairs. Slamming his door and locking it out of habit. What the hell was that? He thought to himself how Aizawa had looked so genuine, so full of care. He’d never seen his parents look like that. Can I actually trust him? Aizawa himself had never done anything against Katsuki, so what reason was there not to? Beause he's an adult, some part of him screamed, And you can't trust adults, after all, to them a no means the same as a yes.

Bakugou didn't sleep that night. His brain working on overdrive. At 4am he got out of his bed to work out though, like he always has. Aizawa must have been just saying that, he can't actually care, Katsuki told himself as he jogged around UA, right? Nothing has changed.

Chapter Text

“Okay Bakugou, since we didn’t go over this last time, would you prefer I call you Bakugou or Katsuki?” Hound dog questioned the quiet boy sitting on the couch in his office. It was their second meeting and he wanted to make sure the young man was comfortable.

“Uh, you can call me Katsuki I guess…”

“Okay, Katsuki, have you had anything on your mind recently that you would like to share?”
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Did he have anything on his mind? Did he have anything on his mind??? YES, of COURSE, he had shit on his mind!! Was he going to tell anybody that though? “No.”

Hound dog gave him a look that said ‘I know you’re lying you little shit, but I’ll wait until you’re comfortable to share to call you out on it.’

“You have nothing that’s bothering you?”

“Nope.”

“Alright, then how about we talk about your aversion to touch. I’ve seen and heard that you have been shying away less from your classmates' touch, so I assume that means that you are taking me up on the offer of exposure therapy?” Bakugou didn’t answer, “I’m guessing that means yes?” He gave a slight nod. Hound dog wrote something down.

Bakugou was eerily aware of how quiet the room was. The simple scratch of pencil against paper. The sound of his fidgeting on the couch. The tap tap tap of footsteps outside in the hallway. He wasn’t exactly sure about this whole ‘therapy’ thing, all it was doing was making him feel too vulnerable and open. He didn’t like it, he was used to hiding himself behind his anger. In here, he had to actually “open up,” whatever that means.

“So how has exposure therapy been working for you? I know it hasn’t been long but have you found any improvements?”

“I don’t know, how am I supposed to know?!” He answered sharply, getting annoyed.

Hound dog didn’t seem phased, “well, are you feeling as annoyed when they touch you, does it still feel weird?”

“I mean, I guess my skin feels all tingly and weird whenever they stop touching me or when they, like, hang on me or something. And it's really annoying when they don’t stop touching me when I tell them to.”

“So they aren’t respecting your boundaries?”

“I mean I guess...but they’re all just idiots who don’t know when to stop anyways.”

“Still, they should be respecting your boundaries and listening to you, I’ll talk to Aizawa about that.” Bakugou just nodded, deciding that he wouldn’t argue with that. “Now, you’re sure you have nothing you would like to talk about with me? Anything on your mind?”

For a moment, just a little moment of weakness Bakugou considered it. He considered telling Hound dog about his mother and what life was like at home. Really it was more like a house than a home, it’s not like he had any special attachments to it other than ‘oh hey! That’s the closet my mom used to lock me in as a kid! Man, I’m gonna miss that!’

But suddenly all Katsuki could hear was his mother’s voice, calling him a ‘weak piece of shit’ and saying how he was a villain who needed to be restrained as she hit him over the head with a glass bottle. He flinched just at the memory of it before freezing, wondering if Hound dog might have seen him do that. He chanced looking away from the floor, where he saw Hound dog writing something down seeming none the wiser. Of course he didn’t notice, a bitter part of him provided, who would actually care about a villain like you. He’s only doing this because he has to. He pushed that part of him down, telling himself hopefully that maybe he does care.

Sadly he couldn’t ignore it completely, not with the memories now resurfacing. He quietly remembered when he went to the police about it as an 8-year-old. The policeman had only called his parents and scolded him for lying. Of course, that had ended up earning him a couple of bruised ribs and a broken arm from ‘messing around and falling down the stairs,’ or at least that's what his mother told the hospital.

And the policeman wasn’t the only one to not believe him, there were others too, adults who decided that he was just looking for attention. He remembered the greatest betrayal was when he had hit Izuku upside the head, barely at the strength that his mother hit him with, and Auntie Inko had immediately scolded him and told him not to do it. “Why?” he remembered asking, “Why not? My mommy does it all the time to me, and calls me a brat.”

He had only been 6 years old at the time, but that was old enough to remember, even now, the look Inko had given him. “Katsuki, you’re mother would never do such a thing and you know that, now apologize to Izuku. I know you didn’t mean to do that and you didn’t know better, but now you will, okay?” He’d only nodded in response, and once he got home that evening his mother had cornered him and told him to never say that ever again. She was well and truly pissed, he wasn’t allowed to come out of the closet until a good 24 hours later with his skin and hands all messed up from the sweat piling up. Did he forget to mention that she loved to put quirk restraints on him too? He was also told never to talk to Izuku again, and that they were no longer allowed to be friends as all Katsuki would do is hurt him. That was the day Izuku became Deku, and that was the day Auntie Inko just became Inko Midoriya.

A cough brought him out of his thoughts as he looked up towards Hound dog, who was looking at him expectantly. What was the question again? Oh yeah. “No, I haven't got anything on my mind.”

“And you’re sure?”

“Yes of course I’m fucking sure! What, would you like me to write it on a piece of paper just in case you can’t hear?!”

“No no, that won't be necessary. I’m sorry for pushing you.”

“S’fine.”

“No, it’s not, I should have listened.”

“Can I go now?”

“Yes, you may.”

“Tch.” With that, Bakugou pulled himself off the comfy couch and headed back into the hall. He wasn’t really feeling like heading back to the classroom, so instead, he went in the direction of the gyms. Figuring he could blow off some steam and clear his head, he wasn’t ready to be surrounded by the idiots who were his classmates yet.

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“Eraserhead here, what’s the problem?”

“Eraserhead, it’s Hound dog.”

“Ah, Inui, I was hoping to get a call from you. How’s Bakugou doing?”

“Well, he isn’t opening up very easily, though the exposure therapy seems to be working. I think it’s only now a matter of building trust. It’s pretty obvious his dislike of adults, I just can’t seem to coax out a why from him.”

“Hm, I was thinking of talking a little more with him. I’m thinking a lot of his issues come from his parents. It’s already pretty obvious how neglectful they were, but I want to build more on the case before we start attacking them. I want to make sure we can get them for everything.”

Alright, well if you need any more help or information just let me know. He’s a good kid Shouta, he just needs the right guidance.” With that Hound dog hung up, leaving Shouta to ponder what he would do now.

A notification pinged on his phone, he opened it up to see a message saying Bakugou’s school ID was used to enter the gym. Sighing, he opened up a video from the security cameras to see the boy blasting his fists into a punching bag. Rolling his eyes, all he could think was, this kid is going to be the death of me.

Chapter Text

“Yo Bakubro!”

“Fuck off.”

“Sorry man, no can do! Also, would you mind tutoring me and the squad for the math test tomorrow?” Kirishima let out a sheepish smile, putting his arm around Bakugou’s neck to hang off him a little. 

Tensing, Bakugou grit his teeth together and tried to push away all of his negative thoughts. This was Shitty Hair they were talking about, he would knock a villain out and apologize for it. “You idiots I’m gonna have to reteach you the whole f*cking unit!”

“Ehehe….sorry?”

“You’ll be sorry when I’m beating that shit into your f*cking brains.”

Shitty hair just smiled brightly, “thanks man! You’re the best!” Bakugou grumbled under his breath, shoving the idiot’s arm off him. He could feel the weird burning sensation where Kirishima’s arm just was, pushing the touch away, but at the same time yearning for more. It made him feel weird, too vulnerable, but Hound dog said that he needed to get used to it. And as much as Katsuki would deny it, he felt a growing sense of respect for the rough (pun intended) man every time he saw him.

So, with that in mind, he was trying, he really was, to get back into a thing that people supposedly needed called “physical touch” or whatever. He, on the other hand, liked to call it, “weakness,” he just couldn’t understand why he needed it so much. He’d lived pretty much his whole life without it, why were people so concerned all of a sudden?

Sure, his parents were all kinds of abusive (though he’d never call it that, not yet at least), manipulative, and neglectful, that didn’t mean that people had the right to just care all of a sudden. Where was all of this “care” when he was telling his other teachers? Where was it when he used to tell Deku and Inko? Or the police? Bakugou was no idiot, they wanted something out of him for this. He just wasn’t going to give in and tell them anything, that way he wouldn’t owe them anything. 

Was he being a bit too untrusting? Maybe, but Bakugou had learned over the years that the only person you really have control over is yourself, and he knew he was fully capable of taking care of himself. After all, he had been doing it since he was seven.

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Aizawa was worried. Although Hound dog had said that Bakugou was improving with his tolerance to touch outside of fighting, that said nothing for the things Bakugou had yet to open up about. He had just finished another phone call with Nagasaki, who had told him that no matter how much evidence they gather the most important thing they need is the kid’s verbal confirmation.

If Bakugou decided to deny everything, then they still might win the court case but that would make it a whole lot harder to help the kid. Getting him to confess to the abuse would be the hard part, but it would definitely make the case a whole lot easier to pass and it would show that he wanted for them to help him.

At the moment it was plainly obvious that Bakugou was not willing to divulge any more information about his home life or about himself than necessary. And poor Aizawa had no idea where to even begin in getting this kid to trust him enough to come to him for help. And even if the kid did come to him, that trust would still be very fragile. One wrong move and Bakugou would be pushing his teacher and classmates away again. Just like the beginning of the year.

Go he needs some Tylenol. 

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“So, who’s excited for the long weekend?!”

“Oh, I am! I haven’t seen my family in ages because of school!”

“I thought it was because you couldn’t afford the train tickets?”

“Todoroki! I told you guys that in confidence!”

“I offered to pay for your tickets last time, you declined.”

“You only offered to pay Icyhot cause you wanted to spend your old man’s money.”

“Well, yes, but Uraraka also missed her family, so it would have been a win-win situation.”

“Hey guys! What are you all talking about?”

“Hi Deku! We were just talking about how we get to go home for the long weekend, are you excited?”

“Oh yeah, I’m really excited to see my mom! What about you Kacchan? How’s your relationship with your parents going?”

Uraraka gave him a confused look, “relationship? Does Bakugou have a bad relationship with his family?”

“The old hag’s still a bitch and the old man’s still a fucking doormat, nothing more to know than that. And I don’t see why I should be telling you in the first place. Don;t go spreading my fucking business without my permission.”

“Oh, sorry Kacchan. I totally wasn’t thinking right then.”

“You’re never fucking thinking.” Deku pouted at that, the fucking nerd. He had absolutely no right to say that. What goes on in Katsuki’s life is Katsuki’s business. No one else’s.

“That’s not very manly.”

“Hah.”

“Calling your mom a hag, I’m sure she can’t be that bad.”

He snorted, “You don’t know the half of it Shitty hair. And trust me, I get my fair share of nicknames back. Who the fuck do you think I get it from?”

“Like what?” Well, turns out it’s ‘let’s talk about Bakugou’s family day’ cause now the rest of the squad plus a couple more classmates were all listening in.”

“None of your fucking business dunce face.”

“Aw come on, are you scared to?” F you tapeface, he’s not scared. 

“I’m not falling for your fucking games soy sauce, and no I’m not scared. I just don’t see why you need to know.”

“I’ve heard her call him some unfavorable things before. In fact, him calling her a hag is actually a lot nicer a nickname than the one’s she’s called him.”

“Fuck off Deku, didn’t I tell you to shut up.” The asshole just shrugged, one day, Katsuki was actually going to smother him in his sleep.

“Dang, that coming from Midoriya. Sorry Bakugou, I shouldn’t doubt you.” He snarled, fucking Shitty hair always apologizing with that stupid fucking smile.

“Tch.” Leaving the common area, Bakugou decided to head up to his room, debating whether or not he should do his homework now or later. On one hand, doing it now would mean he wouldn’t have to do it later, and his mom wouldn’t be yelling at him for not getting it done earlier. Although he’s sure she’ll find something else to yell at him about, it seems to be her favorite pastime. But of course, doing it now would mean he’d have more time to spare at home, and he wants to stay as busy as possible at home so his parents wouldn’t bother him as much.

On the other hand, doing it later at home would give his mom a reason to get mad at him, even though it’s not a very good one. And getting her mad is the absolute last thing he wants to happen. Guess he’s doing it now then.

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It was nearing 7:30, and Bakugou had just finished all of his assignments. He was getting ready for his nighttime routine when he heard a knock at his door. Expecting it to be someone like Shitty hair or the rest of the idiot squad, Bakugou opened the door ready to yell out some insults.

What he didn’t expect, however, was Kermit stood right at his doorway, fist raised ready to knock again.

“Ah, Bakgou, good to see you haven’t fallen asleep yet. I was wondering if I could ask you a question, kero.”

Still a little bit confused, and a bit suspicious now, Bakugou just told her to get on with it.

“Ah, I think it might be best if we talking in your room.” Now really suspicious, Bakugou opens the door for her to let her in.

Closing the door, he turns back around to look at her. She seems surprised by the lack of personality in his room, like hell he’d decorate. He can’t decorate his room back home because his mom seemed to hate their house having anything that showed there were people living there. Especially if it showed him living there.

“Ah, if you weren’t lying about your home situation, there is always the option of staying in the dorms.”

“...what.”

“Yes, kero, I will be staying in the dorms for the 4 day weekend because my family is away right now. You could ask Aizawa, I’m sure he’d let you stay.”

Bakugou was silent for a moment, contemplating whether he should tell her to fuck off (like people would assume he do because of his reputation) or he could just say whatevr because, hey, it’s not actually a bad idea.

“....Whatever.”

She looked at him oddly for a moment, as if not expecting him to actually take her advice before saying, “okay, kero, I will leave you to sleep now. Have a good night, Bakugou.”

“You too or whatever.” And with that, Bakugou was left staring at his closed door, wondering whether or not he should listen to the little voice in his head screaming to get help. Or the louder one telling him that they didn’t actually care and he should just stop being a pussy.

______________________________________________________________________________

“Do you guys think that Blasty is acting a bit different?” The pink ‘alien queen’ was lounging on Sero’s bed. The rest of the Bakusquad, aside from it’s namesake, were having an after-curfew meeting in the tape-user’s room.

“Yeah, well, maybe it’s just nerves from having to see his parents? He and Midoriya kind of let on that they seem to be pretty mean.” Jirou had a thoughtful look on her face, with maybe a tad bit of sympathy in there.

“Maybe...but could they be that bad?”

“Well, if Midoriya is saying that his moom deserves the name of hag, then they probably can be.”

Kirishima stayed quiet, thinking to himself. ‘What if Bakubro is in trouble?’

“I mean, don’t you think he would have said something if he was though?” 

Kirishima looked at Denki, who looked right back. Oh, he’d said that aloud. 

“Yeah but what if he can’t? Or he’s scared to?”

“Blasty? Scared? I doubt it. I bet they’re just really strict.” Even Mina sounds unsure of herself when saying that. Kirishima didn’t really know what to think. Was Bakugou really in trouble? If so, how had he not noticed before?

Sighing, he let himself flop back onto Sero’s hard floor in a state of depression. He really had no idea what to do, did he?

Chapter Text

Bakugou was a pussy.

Don’t get him wrong, he could still beat the living shit out of his classmates, but he was a pussy.

Here he was, trying his best to listen to that tiny little voice in the corner of his mind over the loud yelling of the big one. God, he really did *not* need this headache today.

Well, guess he’ll have to just leave Aizawa’s office door and head back to his room to get some headache medicine. And oh darn, by the time he gets back, lunch break’ll be over and he’ll have lost his chance to talk to Aizawa seeing as they’re supposed to be going home tonight after school.

He turns away from the door, starting on his walk back to the dorms when “Bakugou? Did you need something problem child?” Well fuck.

“Uh, no, I was just passing by.”

“You were just passing by?”

“Yes.”

“Bakugou this is the teacher’s office.”

“It is.”

“Bakugou you can’t pass by here, it's a dead-end hallway, and I know you know that. So unless Denki has somehow fried your brain as well, I suggest you tell me what you came here for.” He gave him an expectant look, with one eyebrow raised.

Bakugou decidedly stayed silent, hoping the sleep-deprived yellow caterpillar would let him go. He did not.

“Would you like to come into my office to talk?”

Now, normally Bakugou would listen to the loud voice in his head, but recently he’s been trying to listen to the quiet one, just to see what happens. So he gave a small nod of his head and walked into the room, Aizawa closing the door behind them.  “Would you like to tell me what’s wrong?”

He stayed silent, staring at his hands. He honestly had no idea where to even begin.

______________________________________________________________________________

God, Aizawa thought, I’m gonna have to start this conversation myself, aren’t I? I don’t even know what it’s about! “Well, is something wrong?”

Still silent, the kid isn’t even looking at him for Pete's sake! Alright, that’s it, he’s jumping the gun. “Something to do with going home this afternoon….?”

Well, that got his attention all right. The boy’s head snapped up so fast he might have given himself whiplash. His poker face remained almost unchanged, except for the slight panicked look in his eye. It was quickly washed away with another emotion though that Shouta was all too familiar with. 

“What’s it to you?!”

“Look kid, I’m just trying to find out what the problem is. I can’t help you unless you help me understand first.” Bakugou bowed his head again, seemingly thinking.

Without lifting his head, he started to speak, “Uh, the frogger bitch-” “Asui” “whatever, Asui told me that you were letting kids spend their long weekends in school. And, uh, I was wondering if that were true?”

Okay, so maybe there was trouble at home. Shouta had to think quickly now, if the kid were to admit to something then this would be exactly what Aizawa needed to move forward with his case. He just needed to be careful with how he reacted. 

“Yes, that’s true. Were you wondering if you could stay on campus?”

“...yeah.”

“Okay, is there a specific reason you can tell me why? I’ll also be needing to contact your parents to tell them. So if there is a serious reason for me not to I need you to tell me.” This was going to be the hard part, getting Bakugou to talk about the why.

“... I just don’t really want to go home.”

“Bakugou I get the feeling that that is not the real reason, please be honest with me. You can trust me.”

“I’d just rather stay at school.”

“Okay, well I can’t let you stay unless you give me a reason that would stop you from going home. Or if going home was dangerous for you-” He tried to convey to the kid what he wanted him to say “-then I can let you stay here as well.”

“Uh, my parents are working.” Okay, well that was a lie. 

Alright, that’s it. “Bakugou, are your parents hurting you? Physically, emotionally, or neglectfully?” He didn’t add in the sexually question, even though it might have been good to he just didn’t think he wanted to hear the answer if it were true.

“No.” Well, the kid answered that way too fast for him to not be lying. Plus the major look of panic that he’s not even trying to hide isn’t helping his case.

He gives him a look that he hopes conveys his feeling of a tired father whose son keeps getting into trouble. Even though he 100% does not think of the kid as his, not at all. “Kid, I’m being serious here. Are you in danger?”

“This was a bad idea I’ll just go home this weekend.” The kid was full-on panicking now, and had jumped up from his seat on the couch he was sat on. Fuck.

“Bakugou hold on.” He went to grab the kid’s arm, but the second his hand made contact with the boy’s wrist Bakugou had jumped away as if he had been burned. They stopped to stare at each other for a moment, then Bakugou turned and rushed out the door.

Well, fuck. You had your chance and now you blew it Shouta, good going! 

______________________________________________________________________________

Okay, Bakugou, you can do this, he tried to hype himself up. He was staring at the house from hell, standing on the other side of the street. It’s funny, isn’t it? How I have to hype myself up more to walk into my fucking house than to fight villains after being kidnapped.

Alright, let’s go. And he walks across the street and opens the door.

“Katsuki you piece of shit where the fuck were you?! You were fucking five minutes late!” Well, there goes all the hair on his scalp. “I was fucking worried about you!” Yeah right, If you were really worried you wouldn’t be fucking throwing me into the wall by my hair.

He oomfed as he had the breath knocked out of him, and was only given a second to recover as his mother grabbed his hair again and was pulling him up to face her. The second she let go he found himself stepping back, putting as much space between him and her as possible.

She looked him up and down, though he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. He was still 99.999% sure though that it had something to do with hatred. Good, he hated her too.

“So, where were you.” Said like a command, not a question. He didn’t have a choice but to answer.

“The walk just took a little longer than usual.”

“That’s no excuse!!” Aaaaand here the slap comes. He doesn’t dodge it, doesn’t even try to. He knows from experience what happens if he tries that.

                                                                                ~

“I’m sorry Mommy!”

“That’s no fucking excuse you brat!” He was only five, but already had fast enough reflexes to dodge her blow.

“Ehhh?! Did you just try to run away?! How dare you disrespect me so blatantly you shit! I’ll make sure you regret that!”

And she did, he hadn’t been allowed to leave his room at all for the following days, only bringing him just enough food to keep him alive. And his parents made sure that he had the room with no windows too so he couldn’t escape through them. He was only let out a week later and he had never dodged her hand since.

                                                                            ~

He lets her have her way with him all night, beating him up until there wasn’t an inch of him that wasn’t bruised, bleeding, or at least sprained. He knew she had probably had a stressful day, and she was just taking it out on him as usual. She always had a surplus of reasons as to why she was angry, always given to his father. 

Oh his father , more like the resident doormat. The old man would never even think to interfere with Mitsuki, and always came to Katsuki after she had done her damage with all of his excuses for her. 

“She does this because she loves you.”

“You know she’s just had a stressful day today, you need to stop getting on her nerves.”

“Perhaps if you just did as you were asked, this never would have happened.”

Fuck. Him.

He hated his father even more than his mother perhaps. Because it was his father who saw the torture Katskuki went through. His father who had the power to stop it. His father who just chose to sit in his fucking office all day and ignore what went on in his house.

In fact, it was just about time for his father to appear. Katsuki had just finished painstakingly pulling on a pair of sweats and a tank top, doing his best not to irritate any of the injuries he had received.

“You know she only does this because she loves you,” now that was hilarious. The old man was stood at the doorway to Katsuki’s room, looking at him with eyes full of disappointment and fake concern.

“I’m serious Katsuki, maybe if you would just do as you’re told she wouldn’t be like this.”

“Like what? A bitch?”

“Now Katsuki, you know you should never call your mother that. And no, I was saying that maybe if you actually showed up on time, she wouldn’t be so worried as to do this.”

“So you’re saying that just because I was five minutes late means she has a right to leave me looking like this?!”

“No, that’s not-”

“Than what the fuck are you saying old man! Huh?! You’re just a piece of fucking shit father and I can’t wait until the devil greats you in hell!” Okay, maybe that might have been too far. He shouldn’t have wished death on his dad, but now he had bigger things to worry about.

“You stupid brat how dare you speak to your father like that! I’ll fucking teach you!” He was surprised his neighbors couldn’t hear her with all her screaming like a banshee. He wasn’t sure if she was hiding a second quirk that made her able to break people’s ears with her screeches.

He didn’t even have time to think as he saw his mother barge into his room. And he saw the flash of silver much too late to save himself.

Fuck, there was blood already pooling on the floor. He was barely aware of when he hit the ground. His mother was there, leaning over him with a sharp kitchen knife in hand, covered in his blood. And she was smiling . Smiling as if nothing brought her more joy than seeing her kid on the ground, with blood seeping out of a stab wound right in his abdomen.

He only had a couple more seconds of consciousness before he felt his head being slammed against the ground by some outside force. After that, everything went black.

Chapter Text

                                            Beep….Beep….Beep….Beep…. 

He heard mumbling, but couldn’t see anyone. Wait, why couldn’t he see anything? What was-oh, right, his eyes were closed. And if that wasn’t testament enough to how out of it Bakugou was, he didn’t know what was. He tried opening his eyes, but everything was just so bright and he couldn’t see properly. He thought he could make out a window, and was that a shape in front of it? It looked like it could be a person, but why? Wait, where even was he?

The person started to notice that Bakugou was awake, and leaned in closer. Wait, no, back up. Bakugou tried to threaten the shape, but the only sounds that came out were mumbled nonsense. 

“Hey there problem child.”

Wait…” Aizawa Sensei?”

“That’s right, how are you feeling?”

“....Shitty.” He received a sigh from that response.

“Where the fuck am I? What happened?” He tried putting a little anger behind it, so as to sound more threatening. Sadly though, none came out as there was none left. He just felt empty, and it sure showed. All that came out instead was tired, mumbled questioning.

Aizawa just gave a tired sigh. In fact, he looked way more tired than usual, which was definitely saying something. He sat down on the bed I was in, the hospital bed I was in. “What’s the last thing you remember, kid?”

And wasn’t that a loaded question.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Turns out, a neighbor did hear his mom screeching, and had called the cops. They had arrived at the scene almost immediately but didn’t think anything was wrong until the dog-faced dude had arrived. He had almost immediately smelled blood and knew something was wrong so the police were somehow able to search the house.

Then of course the police found him hidden in his closet which he guessed is where his parents had tried to hide him with blood all over the floor of his room. They had arrested his parents on the scene and Bakugou had been transported to the nearest hospital. That was when Aizawa was called.

“You’ve been in and out of it for 3 days, kid. Along with the stab wounds-” Wait... wound s ? “-you had multiple broken bones, fractures, bruises, and deep or shallow scrapes and cuts. The exhaustion of Recovery Girl's quirk sure did a number on you too. We tried to use it as little as possible so we only had her heal the smaller wounds, but the bigger wounds are going to take a while. Once you’ve gained a bit of strength back, we’ll heal them.

Bakugou just sat there for a second, staring at his teacher’s face, but not really at the same time. It was kind of like he was staring through Aizawa’s face, and it was definitely creeping a certain underground hero out.

“Wait...you said wounds with an ‘s’, like as in there were multiple stab wounds.”

“Well yes, there are three.”

“She stabbed me three times?! ”

“...Yes...how many times did you think she stabbed you?” Aizawa wasn’t even sure if this was a conversation he needed to have, but he was gonna sit through it anyways.

“I thought she stabbed me once...I mean I guess I was pretty out of it even before then but…” The kid moved his arm, probably to scratch his head, but winced and put it back down.

“Do you want more pain meds?”

“No, I’m fine.” And if Aizawa rolled his eyes then he swears he is not responsible for what his face does when he hears bullshit spewing from someone’s mouth.

“No, you are not fine. You have three stab wounds, multiple fractures, scrapes, and bruises-internally and externally- and your mother and father have both been arrested. You are. Not. Fine. So stop pretending you are and just ask for help.” That last part came out with him half pleading, and half exaggeratedly sighing.

Bakugou was silent for a few moments, making Aizawa wonder if he fucked up. “What’s gonna happen to my parents?” And if that didn’t split Shouta’s stone-cold heart in two- the kid was just so quiet when he said it. He was avoiding eye contact and all it did was lead Shouta to wonder how the hell someone could be so cruel to such an innocent child. Though Bakugou may not be exactly innocent now, at least now they had a reason-not excuse to put behind all of the boy’s cruel actions.

Honestly, Shouta didn’t think Bakugou’s parents deserved to be cared about. At least he didn’t think Bakugou should care this much about them. But he guessed it all just showed how vulnerable Bakugou’s emotions really were, and how the boy’s heart seemed to rest on his sleeve just as Midoriya’s did. Bakugou was just better at hiding it.

“Well kid...your parents have been taken to jail-”

“I know they’ve been taken to jail. I wanna know what’s gonna happen to them after that.”

Aizawa sighed, this was yet another hard part of hard parts. “Well, there are a couple of different roads we could take. Your parents won’t be getting out of custody anytime soon, but pressing charges is up to you and you’ll have the whole of UA to back you up with whatever you choose to do.” Though Aizawa seriously hoped charges would be pressed.

“You also get to choose what you want to do with your living situation. You could emancipate yourself-again UA would back you up with whatever you need-UA could take custody of you, or you could agree to an adoption.”

“....What would happen if I pressed charges?”

“Your parents would go to jail for a multitude of things, other than stabbing someone as well. Things like neglect, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and many others. Everything that they’ve done would be brought to the table.”

“What would you do?”

“Bakugou, I can’t influence or make this decision for you in any way. All I can say here is that if you choose to press charges your parents will receive justice for every injustice they’ve done to you. No one will be mad at you though if you don’t.”

Bakugou sat there for a moment, and Aizawa could literally see the gears turning in his head. Then, very slowly, Bakugou said he wanted to press charges.

“Okay, I’ll let the police know what’s happening.” With that Aizawa sent a quick text to Naomasa.

“Now what?” Bakugou asked after Shouta put his phone down. The kid looked tired, and not just physically. Aizawa knew all too well how emotionally draining things like these could be, he was starting to feel the drain too actually.

“Do you want to continue with making the legal decisions or would you rather get some rest first? You seem tired.”

“I’m fine, I want to get this done now.” Bakugou sat up a little straighter, though winced from the pain, making Shouta realize he never got the kid any more pain meds.

“Okay, then I’ll be right back.” Shouta quickly went and let a nurse know about Bakugou, then made his way back to the room to sit down.

“Okay, so like I said before you’ve got a couple of options for living arrangements. Have you thought about any of them?”

“Not really.”

And maybe it was Shouta’s inner impulsive Hizashi, but he knows he won’t regret his decision when he asks Bakugou his next question.

“How would you feel about adoption?”

“Adoption?” Bakugou seemed confused as if he was wondering why anyone would adopt him. Fuck it.

“How would you feel if I adopted you?”

“Are you even mentally stable enough to be allowed to do that?” Bakugou asked incredulously. Oh Aizawa would get him for that, but later. 

“Yes Bakugou, believe it or not, I am actually a mentally stable adult.”

“...I don’t see it.” Bakugou was lucky he was in a hospital bed right now and that’s all Aizawa will say.

“Bakugou, please answer me.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why would you want to adopt me?”

“You’re a good kid, Bakugou. I don’t see why anyone wouldn’t want to. Your parents were cruel and undeserving of having you as a child. So I am hoping that maybe I can show you what a real parent is supposed to act like.”

“Are you sure?” Aizawa smiled, of course he was sure.

“Of course I am, I don’t do things without thinking them through first.” That might have been a bit of a lie but Aizawa will never regret this decision, he already knows it.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay, I’ll, I’ll let you adopt me.” Shouta smiled. 

“Thank you, for letting me take care of you.”

Bakugou just nodded, but he could tell the boy had a bit of an upwards quirk to his mouth. “Get some rest,” Shouta patted the kid’s knee. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

Chapter Text

Hey man, what’s up? You weren’t in
 class this morning and we were 
getting worried about you….

Bakubro:
I’m fine, but I can’t really explain 
everything on text...I’ll call you guys 
soon to explain.

Okay...are you sure you’re okay?
Just remember what I’ve said to
you about asking for help

Bakubro:
God Shitty hair I’m fucking fine. Quit worrying

Right, sorry talk to you later then! Bye!

Bakugou didn’t respond, though he never really does unless he deems it important. Kirishima couldn’t help but sigh. The weekend was over and when everyone came back to the dorms Bakugou hadn’t shown up. And to make matters worse Aizawa-sensei hadn’t been in class either, leaving it to Present Mic to teach. It didn’t take a genius to figure out the two must be connected.

“Did Blasty respond to you guys?” Mina kept checking her phone, hoping a notification would show up.

A chorus of ‘no’s’ came from the rest of the Bakusquad members. They were all sat at their usual spot at one of the large picnic tables outside for lunch. It was unusually quiet though without a Bakugou to piss off and tease.

“He texted me back, said he would call us all to explain. I asked if he was okay and he said he was fine, but I’m having a hard time believing it.”

“I mean, I bet he is and maybe something small just happened, you know? We’re all only worried because of what he and Midoriya said last week.” Surprisingly, it was Denki trying to be the voice of reason. Though it didn’t do much for the squad’s morale.

“Denki, Jirou, Kirishima, Sero, Mina, I need to speak with you.”

Mina screeched and nearly fell off the bench if not for Sero and Jirou grabbing her before she could. “When the hell did you get here--oh, sorry. Hi Mr. Aizawa!” 

Aizawa-sensei narrowed his eyes at the beaming girl before him. It was amazing how sometimes she could just switch facial expressions in the blink of an eye. You’d never believe she had just been sitting there looking like the human incarnation of depression. “As I said, I need to speak with you all, come with me. You’re being excused from all your classes this afternoon. After this, you do not tell anyone what happened.”

“Wait, what? What’s going on, Aizawa-sensei? Does this have to do with Bakugou?”

“Yes, Sero, it does.”

“Wait, but then you said not to tell anyone anything, what’s our cover-up?”

“You’re a creative bunch Jirou, figure it out.” And with that, the sleep-deprived man led them away.

#

Nobody asked any questions after that. Aizawa seemed to not be in the mood for answering them anyways so they figured it was best to stay quiet. 

Considering who they were, that lasted a total of 20 minutes. Which in of itself was a great feat.

“Hey Aizawa-sensei, isn’t this the way to the hospital?” Aizawa barely glanced at them in the rear-view mirror of the van he was driving them in. He didn’t respond. Jirou whispered to Denki under her breath to shut up, the tension in the air feeling like it could be cut with a knife.

Soon, they arrived at what was indeed the hospital. The kids getting more and more anxious by the second. Without stopping, Aizawa led them in through the doors and through the maze of hallways until they arrived at a hospital room. Room 436 in the ICU.

“Uh, Aizawa-sensei? Why have we stopped? Please tell me Bakugou isn’t in there.” Aizawa didn’t answer, which gave the jack-eared girl her answer.

Suddenly Aizawa sighed and looked at them with a tired expression. “He’s in there, please do not let your emotions control your actions. He is still resting in order for the doctors to be able to use their quirks to heal his bigger injuries. He just wanted to let you know that he is okay.” Jirou swore that she heard him mutter something along the lines of “although he’s not okay…” but she decided to ignore it.

They all looked at each other as if deciding who would open the door. After a silent conversation though, it seemed Kirishima was their chosen one, (or human sacrifice if you want to call it that).

Everyone slowly shuffled into the room. It was quiet. Too quiet in Sero’s opinion. 

“Uhhh, Blasty?” Mina asked in a hopeful voice. There was no response.

“He’s knocked out on pain meds right now, but they should wear off in the next few minutes.” A kind-looking (with a hint of ‘I take no shit’) plump nurse with bright neon green shoulder-length hair bustled in. “I just wanted to give you kids some ground rules before he wakes up. You’re lucky you’re even allowed in here actually. Anyways, please try not to grab or hold him too hard, and absolutely no roughhousing. I understand you were all probably worried, but if you want him to get better that is the rule. Your friend here is under my care and I would like it if he makes it out of here as fast as possible seeing how little he likes it. Understood?”

A chorus of ‘yes ma’am’s’ rang from the squad. Aizawa mused under his scarf how easily the Nurse was able to get them to listen. He’d have to ask for a couple of tips later. 

As he watched the nurse leave, he heard a groan from behind him on the hospital bed.

“The hell are you fucks doing here?” Bakugou frowned as his voice didn’t come out as growly as he wanted it to. He just sounded tired, damnit. That’s the exact opposite of what he wanted them to think.

“Blasty!”
“Oh thank god you’re still alive!” Mina and Denki each grabbed an arm of his, holding on for dear life. Even if they couldn’t hug his torso, they would still find a way to be the leeches they are.

“Hah!? Why wouldn’t I be! I’ve survived worse than this!”

“What even happened? Aizawa wouldn’t tell us anything and everyone in class was worried.” Jirou looked at him with a mixture of confusion, sympathy, and worry. As if he needed any more of that shit.

“Quit worrying, it was nothing.” 

Aizawa coughed and mumbled next to him, “I’m quite sure getting stabbed 3 times isn’t ‘nothing’.”
 
It seemed that the bastard wasn’t quite loud enough though as all of his *eh hem* acquaintances, who he refused to call his friends, heard his teacher (and now apparently adopted father).

Kirishima whipped his head to face Katsuki, how he didn’t end up snapping his own neck was beyond the red-eyed teen. “You got stabbed?!”

Sero added in, “Three times?!”

“Okay yes! I got stabbed! Who cares!?”

And if Bakugou wasn’t sure they were ganging up on him before he was now as a loud “WE CARE!!” slammed through the air.

Katsuki winced as the noise level hit his ears, though he guessed he didn’t hide his discomfort well enough as everyone immediately looked sheepish.

Mina spoke up, “What happened?”

“Yeah man, was it the LOV? Were they trying to kidnap you again?” Although an innocent question, Katsuki couldn’t help but chuckle as it reminded him of the villains. Who knew his own mother would hurt him more than some of the most dangerous villains around?

“No, Pikachu, it wasn’t the LOV-”

“Were you jumped?”

“Of course I wasn’t fucking jumped ya tapeface! I’m not that weak to get taken down by a couple of wannabe robbers!” His voice was hoarse, damnit. He needed water, all this yelling was gonna make him lose his voice.

Luckily Aizawa seemed to notice and handed him a glass of water with a straw. Katsuki took it happily and gave him a grateful glance.

This time it was Kirishima who jumped in, “Wait, so what happened then?” They all looked at him expectantly, and it just occurred to Bakugou how he really didn’t want to let them down. He really didn’t want them to see how weak he was that he couldn’t even fight back against his own mother. He just hadn’t wanted to hurt her, even if she had hurt him. He couldn’t bring himself to hurt her back. Oh god, how was he so fucking pathetic? How could he have let her-

“Hey, kid, you okay?” And suddenly he was back, Aizawa’s hand firmly placed on his shoulder. 

“Sorry.” He said quietly. 

“It’s alright. If you want I can tell them for you, or you don’t have to tell them at all.” Shouta spoke quietly, not wanting to spook the boy.

“I can tell them.” Shouta expected that answer.

The Bakusquad all looked at each other, wondering what might have happened. Then, Kirishima spoke up, “Was it your mom?”

It was the question nobody wanted to ask, but judging by the way Bakugou tensed up, they all started to expect the answer. “Yeah,” he said quietly, quieter than they had ever heard him, “it was my mom.”

Probably for the better seeing as nobody knew what to say at the moment, Bakugou continued on. “I was a little late coming home, and my mom got pissed, so she did what she usually does-”

“Which is what?! Stab you?!”

“Do you want me to tell you or not Tweedledee,” again he’s cut off.

“Wait if he’s Tweedledee then who’s Tweedledum?”

“You are, jackass.” Mina gave a jokingly offended gasp. It was nice how easily they could distract him. He needed the distraction. But he couldn’t take it now, now he needed to explain.

“And no, she does not usually stab me. That came later because I yelled at my dad for being a piece of shit and a doormat like he usually is when he tried to come say to me ‘oh you know she only does this ‘cause she loves you.’” Bakugou did his best to mock the quiet tone he hated to fucking much, trying to let his friends see how annoying that could be.

“He seriously says that? Dude, that’s so fucked up.” Bakugou gave Kirishima a look that the rest of them couldn’t really make out. Though it seemed their resident sun could read it just fine.

“You don’t seriously believe that that is true, right?”

“Of course not! If you love someone you don’t just beat them up every chance you get!” Bakugou sounded indignant, but to everyone else, they could hear the small sad air the phrase had to it.

“Quit looking like that! You’ll make me vomit.”

“How does being sad about what happened to you make you wanna vomit?” Sero asked half-jokingly, half-seriously.

“It’s annoying. I could have prevented what happened by arriving on time and keeping my damn mouth shut but I didn’t. It’s my own fault.”

At that point, Aizawa had to step in. He could tell his students were rearing to yell some sense into his new adoptee, but he didn’t want them to get visiting rights provoked. It took him long enough to get them allowed in here once. 

“Visiting time is up.” He cut off Kirishima who seemed just about to yell something to his best friend. “You do not discuss anything that happened to anyone else in class. Bakugou will probably be back in class by next week. 

“But sensei, he’s not going back to his house, right? You arrested his parents?” 

“Yes his parents have been arrested, he will not be returning to his house. Once this all settles down I’m sure you’ll be able to find out more. For now, just focus on your schoolwork, God knows you need to.” Aizawa handed them off to a random nurse to lead them outside. It was about time that Present Mic should be arriving to take them back anyway. Right now he needed to discuss what Bakugou just said with the boy.

Too late, when Aizawa turned around the kid was already out cold. Hm, looks like that little session took more energy out of him than Katsuki let on. He’ll have to talk to the kid later. For now, he had to talk to the nurse about when Bakugou would be ready to go into surgery and have the doctors use their quirks on him.

#

It was Thursday already. The past few days had been an endeavor for Bakugou, and up until now, he was staying overnight in the hospital. The surgery went well, and all of the treatments afterward. Now he waited anxiously as Aizawa drove him to where he supposed he would be staying from now on. That is if Aizawa didn’t decide to kick him out once he realized how much work Katsuki was.

The car came to a halt in front of a very nice-looking modern house in a very normal-looking neighborhood. You would never guess a pro lived here. Huh, there was another car in the driveway, maybe someone was meeting them at the house? Katsuki didn’t spend too much time thinking about it as he unbuckled himself and prepared himself to enter his teacher's house.

Aizawa led the obviously anxious boy inside, immediately he was hit with the smell of spicy Japanese curry. He looked down to see Katsuki’s confused face. Quickly he explained, “We heard that you liked spicy food.”

“We?”

It suddenly dawned on him that Katsuki had never been told that he and Present Mic were married. Wow, how, of all things, could that be the thing he forgot. “Ah, sorry for surprising you, but Katsuki I’d like you to meet my husband, Yamada Hizashi. Though to you, he is known as Present Mic.”

They rounded the corner to the kitchen just in time for Yamada to hear Aizawa’s last statement. “Seriously, you didn’t tell him?”

“I forgot!”

“You forgot you were married ?”

“No! I just forgot to tell him I was!”

“Husband?” Bakugou seemed to still be trying to wrap his head around it. Poor kid, the least Aizawa could have done on the way here was prepare him for this but he had been too caught up in his own thoughts. In fact, now that he thought about it, he couldn’t even remember stopping at any stop lights. Did he run one maybe? He can barely remember himself driving.

Present Mic seemed to notice his husband’s absent mind and stepped in. “Yep! Husbands! That doesn’t bother you, right?” There was a slight undertone to Mic’s voice, as if he was worried Katsuki would be homophobic.

“Why the fuck would I have a problem with that? That’d be stupid.” It would be, especially considering Katsuki was gay himself. Although he never told his parents that, he would have been stabbed way sooner for that.

“Well, why don’t both of you sit down! Dinner will be ready in just a couple of minutes!” 

Aizawa quietly led Bakugou to the table and pulled a seat out for him, motioning the boy to sit down. Then he turned and went to his own. Katsuki felt uneasy, this was weird. Usually, he’d be in his room by now, avoiding any and all human interaction. He had no idea what to expect from these two. What would they do if he arrived home a little late? Or if he got a 98 on a test instead of a 100? How would they hurt him? Would they beat him up a little or just lock him in his room? Or worse?

“Hey kid, you okay?” Aizawa placed a hand on Bakugou’s shoulder, causing the ash-blond to flinch. Quickly he apologized and pulled his hand away, but didn’t remove his concerned gaze. Though Bakugou seemed not to be in a helpful mood as he didn’t offer any explanation as to why he had zoned out. Fortunately, Hizashi came over with dinner just in time.

Sensing the mood, Hizashi tried to turn to light conversation. “Have you seen Mochi or Kage? They’re probably hiding, they take a little bit to come around to new people.”

Katsuki sent him a confused look, so he continued. “They’re our cats, Mochi is brown and white while Kage is all black.” Bakugou just gave a nod back, then shook his head and said that he hadn’t seen them yet while going back to staring and poking at his food.

Hizashi and Shouta shared a look, tough crowd. Though Hizashi was used to this kind of antisocial behavior, he married Aizawa after all. “So, what kind of things do you enjoy? And what do you think of dinner? Please be as honest as possible, I hear from your classmates through the grapevine that you are quite the cook. Maybe I could learn a thing or two, eh?” Hizashi smiled while giving him a kind and friendly look.

“I used to have to cook a lot at home because my parents either weren’t home or they didn’t want to cook so they made me. That happened a lot, I actually don’t think my mom has ever cooked, and my dad only cooked until I was old enough for my mom to think I could use the stove. Which I think was when I was 6 or 7? Dinner’s good, thank you.” 

Well, that was quite the info drop, though Hizashi wasn’t mad about it. And it also seems Bakugou has more manners than his classmates let on. Though it was concerning how quiet the kid was, it was very different from his usually loud yells. 

Anyhow, Hizashi knew he had to keep the conversation going. “That seems like it would be hard work. Your parents should never have done that to you, you didn’t deserve it.” Bakugou seemed like he wanted to argue, Hizashi wouldn’t let him though. “Seriously, 6 or 7 years old is not old enough to operate a stove. You could have seriously hurt yourself and your parents were stupidly irresponsible. Now, I believe we have yet to figure out things you enjoy?”

Bakugou stayed quiet, well, seems like Hizashi will have to compromise then. “Here, why don’t me and Shouta tell you some stuff about ourselves, and then you can decide if you want to share as well, hm?”

“...Okay.”

“Cool! I’ll go first! I love music and DJing, and my favorite animals are cats! Your turn Shouta!”

“Hm? Oh, uh, I like coffee, sleeping, and cats as well.”

“Now you can go! Only if you feel comfortable, though.”

Bakugou stayed quiet for a bit, and Kizashi started to think he wouldn’t say anything until he spoke quietly. “Uh, I guess I like hiking, reading, and both cats and dogs, I’m not really sure which one.”

“That’s alright! And those are great things to like! What kind of books do you like?”

“I read pretty much anything.”

“Awesome! We’ve probably got some books lying around for you to read if you wanted to!”

That’s how it went for the rest of dinner, Present Mic doing most of the talking while Katsuki offered back quiet responses when he needed to. Eventually, Hizashi started clearing the table while Aziawa led Bakugou up the stairs to a door on the left.

“This will be your room. We can go out this weekend to look for anything you might want to add to it. You have been excused from all assignments this week and Present Mic will be staying here with you tomorrow. Then on Monday, we resituate you in the dorms, and you’ll come back home here anytime you want.”

‘Home.’ It’s odd hearing this place referred to as his home. It certainly didn’t feel like it yet. He was waiting for one of them to snap and hit him. He was surprised they hadn’t already seeing how quiet he was at dinner. His mom would have beat the shit out of him.

“The bathroom is the door right here,” Aizawa pointed to a door on the right side of the room. “And If you need anything, don't be afraid to ask, our room is right across the hall.” Aizawa gave him a warm pat on the shoulder, “I’ll let you get situated now. All of your things are in the boxes, we picked them up earlier this week.” And with that Aizawa left the room, making sure to shut the door.

Quickly, Bakugou got dressed in an old shirt and some sweatpants. Then he climbed into the queen bed. This room was so different from his old one, not only in size but in smell, looks, feel, everything. Anxious, he ended up staying awake for much longer than he wanted to. But soon sleep overtook him and he succumbed to his restless dreams.

Chapter Text

“Toga, you know what Shigaraki said, no knives.”

“Aww but Dabiiii, he’s so pretty! Oh what I wouldn’t give to see his pretty blood running down his pretty face!”

“Fuck you bitch! What are you, a fucking psychopath!?!”

“Aw that wasn’t very nice, but don’t worry Bakubabe, I’m very forgiving!” The smile she gave him then is one he’ll never forget. He didn’t have any time to dwell on this memory though as his world shifted somewhere different.

-

“You’ve gained weight, Katsuki, 3 pounds of it. Really, how hard is it for you to just not pig out, huh??”

“Mom, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to I didn’t even reali-”

“Oh! You didn’t realise! That’s fine then! Go ahead and carry on! You’ll never continue being this pretty if you keep going by that ‘3 meals a day’ bullshit.” Bakugou didn’t mention how she likes to eat 3 meals a day, he wasn’t looking to get kicked out.

“I’ll lose the pounds by the end of the week, I’m sorry.”

“Oh you’ll lose the pounds alright..” His mother looked at him then, with eyes flashing she grabbed a knife from the counter. “You’ll lose them in blood.”

“Wait, no, please-”

Too late, she was already dragging him to and shoving him in a closet, the knife shining dangerously in the dim hallway lighting. He didn’t even have time to react when she stabbed him, saying “I’ll come back when I think you’ve lost enough.”

Then he was enveloped in darkness.

Bakugou woke up to yelling, from where he didn’t know. All he knew was that he couldn’t move and all he could focus on was the rising panic in his chest. Oh, maybe he was the one that was yelling. Suddenly he heard a door slam open, and somebody was grabbing him and holding him. What was happening? Where was he? Why couldn’t he move? He couldn’t focus, couldn’t see the person barely restraining his arms and legs. Couldn’t-

“Hey kid it’s okay, it’s okay alright,” the voice made a grunting noise, maybe the person talking was the same one holding him? The voice seemed to come from the same direction as the extra limbs. “It’s alright kid, I need you to focus on my voice okay? Focus on my voice.” Then the voice was speaking in a different direction, “Hizashi, go grab a cup of water, he may need it once he calms down.”

The person holding him down had their arms locked on Katsuki’s chest, pinning his arms from above the elbow. They also had one of their legs wrapped around Katsuki’s from behind, pinning the boy’s legs on the bed. By now the voice had changed from urgent to a soothing tone, and Bakugou was beginning to recognize it. It sounded like Aizawa-sensei.

“A-aizawa?”

“Yeah, that’s it kid, I’m right here.” Bakugou grabbed one of the man’s forearms across his chest, trying to ground himself.

“I-why are you here?”

“Do you remember what happened? You had a bad dream and woke up-”

“Screaming, yeah, I think I remember.”

“Are you alright kid?” Mic-sensei came walking into the room, a glass of water in his hand. “You want some water?”

“...yes please.” Mic handed him the water, which was gulped down in an instant. Then placed next to the digital clock on the bedside table, it read 1:30 am.

“Think I can let go of you now kid? You were panicking so much that I had to restrain you so you wouldn’t hurt anyone or yourself.”

“Thanks, and yeah, I’m fine now. Sorry for waking you up.”

“You don’t need to apologize for anything.” Aizawa unwrapped himself from around Bakugou, and sat next to his legs on the bed.

“Yeah little listener, anytime you need anything we’ll be right here for you.”

“Do you want to talk about your dream?”

“...no.”

Aizawa seemed to study him for a moment, before just sighing and saying alright. “If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask us, we’ll see you in the morning, okay?”

“Okay.” 

On his way out, Hizashi quickly turned around and asked, “Closed or open?”

It took Bakugou a moment to realise he was asking about the door, “closed, please.” He liked having some privacy.

“Alright.” The usually loud teacher quietly closed the door behind him, leaving Bakugou to his thoughts.

+

When the clock reached 6:00 Bakugou couldn’t stand to stay in his bedroom any longer. Usually at the dorms and at home, well he guesses it’s not really his home now, he would be up and out by 5:30 to go on a run. He had no idea how things worked here though so he didn’t think I’d be a good idea just yet. He hadn’t gone back to sleep after his teachers had left though, and he felt like he should be doing something instead of just lying in bed. What, he didn’t know.

Slowly he crept out of the room and down the hall. His classmates always thought that he was loud regardless of where he was, but that just wasn’t true. Bakugou could be very quiet when he wanted to, and he really wanted to right now. He wasn’t exactly sure what Mic and Aizawa were playing at, but usually if your child wakes you up at 1:30 in the morning, the child gets beat up.

When he reached the top of the stairs, Katsuki peared around the corner, and saw that one of the kitchen lights was on. Maybe they forgot to turn it off? It didn’t seem likely. Perhaps it was Aizawa, the dude did always seem to fancy the ‘hobo who never sleeps and survives off coffee and coffee alone’ look.

Deciding he was gonna chance it, Bakugou slowly stepped down the stairs. Once he reached the bottom, he heard voices. It sounded like both Mic and Aizawa were up. Well, since Bakugou can’t help but be a nosy little shit, he guesses he’ll listen. Really though it’s technically their fault for talking somewhere where anyone could hear them. If they actually didn’t want to be heard then they should be talking in their bedroom.

“I just don’t know what to do, Hizashi. The kid seems to immediately distrust any adult he sees and although I’d like to think he trusts me, that only goes to a certain extent.”

“He’s coming from a traumatic house with manipulative and abusive parents, Shouta. Of course he’s going to have trouble trusting people, we just have to show him that we’re not like the adults he has already encountered.”

“What do we do if he doesn’t though? What if he doesn’t come around?”

“He will, Sho, you’ve just got to give him time. Maybe we could find him a therapist, Hound Dog can only do so much.”

Bakugou had heard enough. Slowly and quietly, he crept back upstairs. He’ll come back down at 8.

+

“Good morning little listener, did you fall back asleep last night?” Mic spoke with an easy smile on his face. Bakugou was almost tricked into thinking the dude wasn’t planning on beating him up later.

“No.”

“Oh, well that's too bad. Maybe you can take a nap later.”

“...Maybe.” Katsuki was not gonna take a nap later. Naps get you beat up, and he’d rather not get beat up twice thank you.

“Shouta left at around 7:00 to go to school, so you get to stay here with me today!” Well, looks like he knows which one is gonna be dishing the punches today.

“Would you like some breakfast? We have toast, and there are some eggs in the fridge. I can make you some scrambled eggs on toast if you’d like.”

“I’m not hungry.” He was a little hungry, but he’d been eating all his meals the past few days and he really didn’t want to gain any weight. He also wasn’t sure if this was some sort of test like his mom used to do. Where if he said yes then he’d get weighed and end up with some new bruises regardless.

“Are you sure? When we talked to recovery girl while you were in the hospital, she said you were underweight. We don’t want you starving yourself.” 

Bakugou froze for a second, underweight? Whenever he was weighed at home he was always overweight . So who was lying? His first choice would be his mom, but she was a model and worked in the fashion industry, wouldn’t she be right in this situation? “What?”

Hizashi looked a little startled, like he wasn’t sure if he said the wrong thing or not. “Well, it’s not a big deal really, we just want to make sure that you’re okay. You gotta keep your energy up, right? Skipping out on meals isn’t gonna help that.” Bakugou didn’t say anything in response, just stared at him. As if studying the man.

“You know what? I’ll make you some food anyways, breakfast is an important meal after all!”

“Thanks.”

“Of course Listener! You want your eggs scrambled?”

“...sure.” Bakugou was still unsure of how to act around Mic, he could never seem to get an accurate read on the man.

“Come sit at the counter if you want, they should be done in a second.”

They stayed in not exactly awkward but not exactly comfortable silence until the eggs and toast were done. Mic placed the plate in front of Katsuki and then turned to pour himself some more coffee.

“Why haven’t you hit me yet?” Well wowzers that came out of nowhere.

“What do you mean, Katsuki?” The name felt foreign on his tongue, he still had to get used to it. Meanwhile the kid still hadn’t looked up from his plate, deciding to watch his eggs grow cold.

“I woke you guys up at 1:30 in the morning, I heard you talking about how hard it was to have me around earlier too, and I’m eating breakfast . What fucking game are you playing at? Just fucking hit me already and get it over with! This waiting game is just sick !”

“...Why don’t we talk about this in the living room, kid.” Present Mic led him to the couch, and motioned for Katsuki to sit. Then, he kneeled on the floor in front of him.

“Look, I don’t know exactly everything that your parents did to you. But I can tell you right here right now, that they greatly mistreated and abused you. No matter what, you do not hit your kid like they did to you. And I’m not sure what exactly happened with the breakfast thing, but you need to eat. Them getting mad, and hitting you for that and for anything else is absolutely wrong of them. Me and Sho aren’t playing any mind games with you, I promise. We will be there for you no matter what. And this morning when we were talking about you, we never said it was hard having you, we were talking about the best way for us to help you feel comfortable. Okay?”

Bakugou didn’t respond, instead opting to study the threads in his jeans.

“Bakugou, can you please answer me?”

“Okay,” it was barely a whisper, but Mic heard it nonetheless. He decided not to push his luck with Bakugou today though. He and Aizawa would talk to Bakugou about it later.

“Okay, do you wanna eat your breakfast now? I’ll reheat the eggs, come on.” Mic motioned for Bakugou to follow him and sit back down at the island. The two ate the rest of breakfast together in silence.

Chapter Text

Sorry for waiting so long to give you guys an update-I am currently at a wedding and am making a quick announcement to you all. I am putting this story in hiatus because I have literally no time to write it right now. I am thinking it will probably come off hiatus around spring break-hopefully I won’t be going anywhere-or next summer

Sorry for disappointing you guys, I really am trying to find time to write, but I’ve only gotten a little ways into chapter 9. So I think this is the best course of action and hopefully you guys won’t think I’m completely abandoning the story.

Chapter Text

Thank you guys so much for your patience. I seriously could not be more grateful to all of my readers and commenters, I promise I will be finishing this story (I’ve already gotten half-way through chapter 9, and have rewritten a bunch of the first 8 chapters as well). Please follow the link to my new account!

https://ao3-rd-3.onrender.com/works/57825220/chapters/147182059

Again, thank you guys so much!