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~ 1 ~
Tsuyu supposed that she was the one who started the whole fiasco. She hadn’t meant to. Honestly. But it had happened over the weekend when only a handful of students were in the dorm.
Most of the girls were in the common room watching a marathon of some sort of wedding dress show. Jirou had decided to pass on watching the show, but she still wanted to hang out with them. So she was sitting over on a different couch strumming a guitar quietly.
Midoriya had been napping on the couch, his head nestled onto Kirishima’s lap, while the red haired boy ran his fingers through his hair. It was really sweet, actually. Kiri also didn’t seem to mind that they had the dress show on. In fact, he seemed almost as into it as the rest of them were.
Bakugou was in the kitchen. He had agreed (or been coerced by Midoriya, depending on your point of view) to make dinner tonight. Every now and then she could hear him grumble about how ‘that dress does nothing for your figure, bitch’ or ‘for christsake you can’t just wear a mermaid, dumbass.’
It was a little entertaining if she was honest.
Everything had been fun and good and a very well needed break from crazy class 2-A antics.
And then she looked up and saw it.
Tsuyu was not squeamish when it came to bugs. She had a younger brother and a younger sister, and both of them looked to her when it came to killing bugs. She’d killed her fair share of creepy crawlies, and when Satsuki had gone through her phase of wanting to rescue the bugs, she’d had Tsuyu capture and release them.
At this point she liked to think that she was immune to the fear of bugs.
But the spider on the wall was big. And ugly. And possibly looked like it could kill her if she even attempted to get close to it.
Somehow she was the only one who saw it so far. Which was good. Mina and Momo were both terrified of spiders. There were many nights they had both woken her up to help with whatever spider had found it’s way into their room.
She supposed she could ask Jirou-chan, but the girl was actually scared of a lot of things. And while she’d probably put on a brave face, if that thing started moving she might lose her cool. Tooru would probably just run out of the room. Ochako was currently squished between both Mina and Momo, so odds were she wasn’t leaving anytime soon.
Tsuyu was hesitant to ask Kirishima for two reasons. The first being that as much as he liked to tell everyone that he wasn’t scared of things, Mina had told her that when she’d asked him to kill a bug for her, he’d freaked out almost as badly as she did. The second reason was that it would wake Midoriya, and the poor boy was in desperate need of sleep.
Which only left one option.
She’d stood and excused herself quietly as she hesitantly made her way to the kitchen. Bakugou was muttering to himself about dinner and stupid dress shows. He didn’t look up from whatever was on the stove until she’d cleared her throat.
“Bakugou-chan?”
Narrowed red eyes looked up at her, but they seemed more curious than angry. Which was something, at least.
“What?”
Tsuyu shifted on her feet. She suddenly felt very foolish and kind of wanted to turn around and pretend nothing was wrong. But then she thought about the stupidly big spider hanging out in the common room and she couldn’t ignore it.
So instead of turning away, she twisted her fingers together in front of her and looked up at the usually explosive blonde with her best pleading look. “I need a favor, kero.”
“Must be a big favor if you’re coming to me in the middle of me cooking.”
“There’s a spider,” she whispered quietly. Like it was something to be ashamed of. She was expecting to hear Bakugou’s derisive laugh. Or even a growl directed at her for wasting his time or something.
What she hadn’t expected was for him to sigh and lower the temperature on the stove. His red eyes met hers with a quiet sort of understanding.
His voice was no less gruff than usual, but at least it didn’t hold anything other than wary acceptance. “Where is the fucker?”
Tsuyu didn’t really have a way of explaining how thankful she was at that moment. Bakugou didn’t ask questions about why she couldn’t do it. He didn’t make fun of her for being creeped out. He didn’t even ridicule her for going to him. Instead he just accepted it as if he did it all the time.
She led him back out into the common room and tried to subtly point out the monster spider. Fortunately Bakugou didn’t react other than a slightly impressed whistle at the thing’s size. Unfortunately, Kirishima had taken note of when Bakugou had entered the room, and consequently noticed the spider at the same time.
“Holy shit!” He yelped, half jerking back in surprise. It caused the bowl of chips on the couch next to him to spill, and also jostled the leg that Midoriya was napping on. The green haired teen frowned in his sleep, but otherwise didn’t seem to wake.
Of course that would also be around the time the other girls noticed the thing as well. Shrieking and crying and clinging to one another ensued. In any other situation it might have been slightly funny.
But in this situation, it only served to startle the spider apparently, because the thing started moving. At a surprisingly quick pace.
It was running toward them and Tsuyu wasn’t sure what to do. Part of her wanted to jump away. Another part of her was frozen in the spot as the spider kept moving towards her. She almost reached out to grab Bakugou out of pure instinct.
But the blonde was already moving. He grabbed a magazine off one of the tables, rolled it up, and rolled his eyes at everyone.
Thwack.
Nobody in the room said anything as Bakugou stepped away from the wall and ripped the spider-gut filled page off the magazine. He made sure nothing was left on the wall before he crumpled up the paper and looked back at Tsuyu.
He raised an eyebrow in her direction, but before she could answer, a sleepy voice spoke up from the couch.
“Kacchan? Is everything okay? Why is everyone screaming?”
Midoriya was half propped up on the couch. Kirishima was trying to talk him into going back to sleep, but the green haired boy was staring at his childhood friend in confusion. His eyebrows were drawn together in a way that spoke more of concern than it did of tiredness.
“It’s fine, Deku-kun!” Ochako started to say. “There was just a sp-”
“There was a spectacularly ugly dress on the fucking show their watching. Bitch looked like a cupcake in it. And she wanted to keep it. Everyone is just a bunch of shitty drama queens.”
It was probably due to Midoriya being as tired as he was, but he didn’t notice the way everyone looked at Bakugou in surprise. Tsuyu was fairly sure she was the only one who saw the way Bakugou hid the paper with the spider’s remains behind his back.
Midoriya let out a sleepy laugh. “That’s silly.”
“That’s one word for it.” Bakugou grinned at the boy. A soft grin. One that was a flash of white teeth and in no way menacing. He kept that same grin as he continued speaking. “Go back to sleep, Deku. I’ll wake you up for dinner.”
Midoriya hummed in agreement and laid back down. Nobody said anything until his breathing evened out. By that time, Bakugou had slipped out of the room and was back in the kitchen. Tsuyu could hear the sink running.
She meant to follow after him to thank him. She really had. But when she crossed into the room, Bakugou only spared her a quick look and said quietly, “Deku is afraid of spiders. He’ll freak if you bring them up. Even if it’s already dead.”
“Ah. So that’s why you’re not afraid of spiders. Midoriya-chan probably asked you to kill them a lot, huh?”
Bakugou only snorted. “I wouldn’t be afraid of spiders even if he hadn’t asked me to kill them all the fucking time. Like hell I’d be afraid of something as pathetic as that. I’m not afraid of anything, frog girl.”
Tsuyu just hummed and quietly said ‘thank you.’ Unsurprisingly the blonde didn’t respond to her. She tucked away the whole experience in the back of her mind as a very strange event. She’d have to ask Midoriya some other time about what Bakugou was scared of.
If anyone was to know, it was certain to be the green haired boy.
~ 2 ~
Sero is the one who brings it up at lunch a few days later. He had listened to Mina and Kirishima explain the weird situation with a giant spider. A part of him was really bummed to have missed out on whatever had happened. It sounded like it would have almost been something out of the Twilight Zone.
Because the way Mina spoke about it, Bakugou - self-proclaimed number one, who always looked down on poor Midoriya - had actually softened when he had spoken to his childhood friend.
Not to mention how he hadn’t brought up the fact that there had been a monster spider at all. Which would have been a prime time to torment the younger boy.
Everyone minus Bakugou himself was eating at their usual table. The blonde had slipped away from the group, claiming something about forgetting his lunch in the dorm or something, before he was heading out.
Sero thought now would be as good of a time as any to bring the subject up.
“Hey. Does anyone actually know what Blasty is afraid of?”
Mina stopped talking in the middle of whatever she was saying. It had been something about their latest English test. Sero already knew he failed it, so what was the point in talking about it anymore?
Kirishima tilted his head in contemplation. Even Kaminari stopped eating to contemplate the question.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything about Bakubro being scared?” Kirishima reached up to rub the back of his neck. “That’s weird, right? Like, as his best bro, I should know that. Shouldn’t I?”
Mina nodded, having absolutely no tact as per usual. “You really should. Best friends are supposed to know things like that. That’s why I know Sero is afraid of dogs and Kami is afraid of lightning. And that Kiri is afraid of just about every bug known to man.”
Kirishima and Kaminari let out twin splutters, trying to give their best defenses. Sero chose to roll his eyes. It didn’t matter, really. Especially because dogs were fucking terrifying, okay? They growled and tried to bite your fucking hands off. And the smaller the dog, the more evil it seemed to be.
“Yeah, yeah. And we all know you’re terrified of spiders and ghost movies. So yack it up, Mina.”
The girl only stuck her tongue out at him. He was half tempted to return the gesture - after all he was a second year and had a provisional license. He was allowed to be childish with his friends if he wanted to.
He didn’t really get a chance to do it, because Kirishima - ever the squad peacekeeper - was speaking over them. “Honestly, I can’t even imagine what he’d be afraid of. Maybe ghosts? Something illogical, ya know?”
Kaminari hummed. He propped his chin on top of his hand, his lunch completely forgotten. Sero has had a year now to get to know his best friends. A year now of living with all of them, and getting to know all of their little habits and idiosyncrasies.
That particular gleam in his eyes had a slow grin spreading across Sero’s face. It was a look that said ‘fun’ and ‘trouble’ and quite possibly ‘danger’ all rolled into one. Whatever he was thinking, it was something that Sero wanted in on.
“We should find out.”
Kirishima choked on his water. His eyes were wide, possibly with worry. “What? How? By asking him? He’ll burn our faces off before we can even suggest he has a fear. He’ll take it as us thinking he’s weak.”
The redhead made a very solid argument. But then Mina was pushing away her food and leaning heavily against Kaminari’s shoulder with an award-winning smile. “Of course not silly. We should just try and scare him.”
“This is an awful idea,” Sero said. But he was already grinning and nodding along with the plan. “And while we’re at it. Let’s see who can figure it out first. Losers have to do the winner’s chores for a week.”
Even Kirishima looked excited at the prospect of being able to give up chores for a whole week.
Which is how, two days later, Sero found himself teamed up with the red haired boy as they sat in the common room with the majority of their class for their weekly movie night. This week it was Kirishima, Sero, and Yaomomo’s turn to pick the movie.
It wasn’t a secret that Yaomomo liked the old cheesy horror movies. The ones where the CGI was awful and you could clearly tell that the fake blood was either red paint or ketchup splattered everywhere.
Usually she tried to pick something that wasn’t ‘scary’ because she knew others weren’t into it. But Kirishima had managed to talk her into a horror themed movie night, so here everyone was, bowls upon bowls of popcorn spread out between them, and three ridiculously scary movies lined up.
They had decided to play it safe and choose two different genres of scary. Kirishima had chosen some killer clown movie while Sero had gone for a more traditional supernatural type premise. Yaomomo went with a classic slasher type movie.
Halfway through the second movie it was clear that their plan had backfired horribly.
On the couch to his left, Bakugou was casually eating popcorn. He hadn’t flinched once during the movies. Not even at the jumpscares. In fact, he had the nerve to laugh at various points during the movie. As if it was all just truly entertaining.
Of course Sero was also sitting close enough that he could hear the way he spoke quietly throughout the movie to say things along the lines of ‘these fucking idiots.’
Midoriya was sitting on the floor in front of Bakugou, safely tucked between where Bakugou’s legs were bracketing him. The green haired teen was hiding his face into the space by Bakugou’s knee, and every now and then he’d flinch or jump.
Sero was sure he was the only one who noticed it, but every time the younger teen would do it, Bakugou would spare him a quick glance, and then start laughing about ‘how obvious that jump scare was’ or ‘why are these actors so shitty? Do you see that bitches makeup?’
By the end of movie night, all the girls were talking about having a slumber party in Yaomomo’s room, and a lot of the guys looked mildly traumatised. Midoriya was laughing off his friend’s concerns at how pale he looked. But his eyes darted towards the darkest parts of the room as if something was going to be there waiting for him.
“Oi. Nerd.”
Iida tensed next to where Midoriya stood. His shoulders were tense as he turned around to stare at Bakugou. “Yeah, Kacchan?”
“Loudmouth-sensei mixed up your shit with mine. I forgot to bring it down. Come get it before I throw it away.”
Sero thought he was the only one who noticed the way Midoriya seemed to sag in relief, rather than fear or worry. He gave his childhood friend a bright smile and stuttered out a quick ‘okay.’
“I need to talk to Shitty Hair and Tapeface real fast. Be there when I get there or I’m throwing your shit out the window.”
Kirishima tilted his head in confusion as the blonde walked towards them and pulled them to the side. Neither was ready for the glare he leveled at them.
“Bro?”
“What the fuck was that? You two shits hate scary movies.”
Sero rubbed the back of his head. “We wanted to try something new? Why? Did it scare you?”
Bakugou sneered at them, looking vaguely amused as he did so. “Like fuck it did. Those plotlines were so basic that you could see everything coming a mile away. Deku is afraid of that shit though. Has been since we’re kids. He’s gonna be screaming all night long if he falls asleep. Next time you try mixing something up, make sure you know the consequences.”
With that and one last glare he shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweats and stalking away in an angry huff.
Sero watched him until he disappeared behind the door for the stairs. Then he turned to Kirishima who was rubbing the back of his neck. “I suppose we lose then? That last part was weird though, right? How he was worried about Midoriya.”
The redhead just shrugged. “He’s always been weirdly protective of him. In his own way.”
Sero shrugged. Kiri made a good point.
~ 3 ~
Mina’s bright idea came to her almost a week after the failed movie night. A movie night that had caused her endless nightmares it seemed. She’d probably have to get revenge on Kiri and Sero after she won this stupid competition to find out what Blasty was scared of.
So far none of them had any luck in figuring it out. It had been a week of lots of random attempts. Things from animals, to movies, to even bribing Toru into playing ghost in the dorm.
The last one had turned around and bit her in the ass because now not only was Toru in on the secret competition, the invisible girl loved to gossip. Usually Mina loved that about her. But unfortunately in this case, the more people that knew, the higher a chance of Bakugou himself hearing about it.
Luckily it seemed not many people were interested in participating. It had earned the ‘Bakusquad’ more than a few entertained glances, but nobody else had really joined in.
Yet.
She hadn’t missed the way Mineta’s eyes had glazed over at the idea of the losers doing the winner’s chores for a week. The little creep was probably imagining looking up her skirt when she was trying to vacuum the common room or something.
Thank god that he seemed to have a very healthy fear of their Blasty though.
As it was currently though, she had no idea where to even start with her next step in the ‘scare Bakugou’ scheme. It was a stroke of pure luck that she hadn’t left the dorms for class yet when Midoriya and Bakugou were finishing up breakfast.
The pair was arguing about something. Which wasn’t unusual. All they ever seemed to do was argue. She had been debating about whether or not she should call Kiri or Ochako to come mediate between them, when in a moment of surprising bravery, Midoriya had actually taunted his childhood friend.
“What, Kacchan? Are you scared of some little germs?”
Bakugou’s eyes had flashed with something that Mina could only interpret as hatred. He looked like he was ready to rip into poor Midoriya. “Like hell I am. I’ll do it, shitty Deku.”
Whatever response Midoriya snapped back was too quiet for Mina to hear. Surprisingly enough the interaction didn’t end with them getting physical. At least Aizawa-sensei’s threat of house arrest seemed to feel like an actual threat to them.
It wasn’t until much later in the day that Mina thought back to what Midoriya had actually said. ‘Are you scared of some little germs?’
Everyone knew that Bakugou was more than a little obsessive about keeping his environment clean. Sometimes he would go into ‘cleaning sprees’ and set about cleaning everything in the dorms shared spaces. Mina knew that he always carried around a couple packs of sanitizing wipes as well as a small container of hand sanitizer.
She had never thought about it before. Mostly she had just thought the boy was OCD. It fit with his personality type. But what if Midoriya was actually onto something? The two of them had been best friends when they were children. And while they weren’t exactly what she would call ‘close,’ they were at least civil towards each other now.
If anyone was to know what Bakugou was actually scared of, it would totally be Midoriya. And while it was technically against the rules to involve Mido in this competition, nobody said she couldn’t draw inspiration from him.
And if that was ‘against the spirit of the competition,’ well, Kiri could rant at her later. For now she needed to figure out a way to show everyone that big bad Bakugou Katsuki was a germaphobe.
She thought about it the rest of the day and came up with what she was pretty sure was a foolproof plan. One that she was going to execute tonight after Blasty got back from his evening sparring session with whichever poor soul had caught his attention during heroics training.
A small part of her was worried about how this could turn against her real quick if Blasty was to find out she was the one behind hiding all of his favorite cleaning products, as well as pouring the spoiled milk that had been in the back of the fridge into his favorite mug.
Honestly if he found out it was her, she wasn’t even sure if their friendship would guarantee her survival.
Oh well. She could always blame it on Mineta.
The side door opened and Ochako stumbled in, looking slightly singed at the ends of her hair, but looking very cheerful. Mido and Iida followed behind her at a slightly slower pace. They were all chatting. Probably about the sparring session.
Bakugou came in next. His hands were in his sweatpants pockets as usual, but his posture seemed nicer. His shoulders straighter and more relaxed. There was even what looked like a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth.
Well. If she wasn’t worried about him finding out this was all her plan, she was now. Bakugou in a bad mood was one thing. Causing Bakugou’s mood to sour was an entirely different thing. Not only would he be mad, but Midoriya would give her that sad puppy look of his and tell her that she was being mean.
She might have tried to clean up the mess before Bakugou could realize what was happening, but it was too late.
All she could do was watch from her perch on the arm of one of the sofas while Bakugou walked into the mess the kitchen had become. That almost-sorta smile on his face turned immediately into a scowl. Mina could have sworn the explosive boy had actually hissed.
“Who the fuck destroyed the kitchen? I cleaned it yesterday, you useless fucking shits!”
Mina tilted her head in a way that she hoped seemed more curious than trying to act her way out of a bad situation. “What’s going on, Blasty?”
His red eyes turned toward her - laser focused and out for blood. “One of you heathens wrecked the kitchen. And to think I was going to fucking make dinner for you motherfuckers.” Behind Bakugou, even Midoriya was frowning at the state of the kitchen.
“Is that the spoiled milk that’s been in the fridge for the past two months?”
Bakugou’s eyebrow twitched. His palms were crackling with mini-explosions. As if he truly couldn’t keep his temper in check. He didn’t say anything though as he stomped his way towards where he usually kept his cleaning supplies.
All Mina could do was cringe as she waited for the explosion.
She didn’t have to wait long. It couldn’t have been longer than ten seconds before it sounded like the cabinet door was exploded off it’s hinges and into the opposite wall. And if that wasn’t enough to tell everyone that Bakugou was on a new level of pissed off, the roar of anger that followed would have sent everyone into hiding.
Fuck. She really messed this one up, didn’t she? So much for foolproof.
Midoriya - god bless his endless levels of calm and patience when it came to his childhood friend - only sighed as he walked over to the blonde who was all but foaming at the mouth in rage. “What happened, Kacchan?”
“They moved my supplies! They fucking moved my supplies so I can’t clean this shit up!”
Midoriya frowned, truly upset at this. “Well that’s rude.”
“I’m going to wring someone’s fucking neck.”
“No. You’re not.” Midoriya responded. “Look. I’ll go grab the backup kit, then I’ll help you clean, and then we can go watch Toru and Kaito. Okay?”
“I told you I wasn’t going to watch the brats,” Bakugou growled half-heartedly, even as he moved to start filling the sink with hot water. He had a look of disgust on his face as he started gathering the dirty dishes Mina had scattered around the kitchen. He was grumbling under his breath about ‘shitty classmates’ and ‘someone being dead when he figured out what the hell happened.’
Mina decided it was best to talk to Mido about this, instead of angering the beast any further.
“Who are Toru and Kaito?”
Midoriya gave her a warm smile. “Our old babysitter, Risa-san, has twins. She contacted my mom to see if Kacchan and I would be able to babysit for her because we used to do it when we were in middle school. Kacchan is bitter because I told her we would both do it.”
“I told you I wasn’t doing it, Deku!”
“And I said we were! Risa-san is counting on us. You know she has that class tonight. Plus you agreed to it this morning. Remember? When you said you weren’t scared?”
“She’ll just bitch at me for cussing in front of her kids. And then she’ll tell the hag and I’ll never hear the end of it. Oi. Racoon Eyes. What the fuck is your problem?”
Mina felt the color drain from her face the longer she listened to them speak. She had been vaguely aware this morning that she probably should have listened in more. But then she’d seen the clock and needed to leave so she could try and copy Tsu’s English homework.
Now she wished she had. Because Midoriya clearly hadn’t been referring to a fear of germs when he was taunting Bakugou. He had been calling him to chicken to babysit. Which, from the sounds of it, was not the case at all.
Mina really wished she was better at thinking things through.
“Blasty if you aren’t scared of germs, why do you clean all the time?”
Midoriya burst out laughing, even as Bakugou gave her a very loud confused sound. “The fuck? Why would I be afraid of germs? Auntie taught me the best way to release energy outside of picking a fight is to clean. It’s fucking theraputic, dipshit.”
Theraputic. Out of all the things he could have said, that was not what she was expecting. Mina felt like she needed to lie down before she passed out. But before she did that, she needed to set something right.
“Huh. Okay. Hey, that reminds me. I think I saw Mineta moving your stuff earlier, Blasty. He looked like he was trying to hide something in the coat closet.” Mina didn’t feel an ounce of regret as Bakugou’s eyes narrowed into slits and he stalked past her to find the grape-boy.
~ 4 ~
Tokoyami can’t claim to be friends with Bakugou. They were more like acquaintances. Classmates who got along and would defend each other with everything they had, but they didn’t interact much outside of class, training, and during class bonding evenings.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like the blonde. He did. Bakugou had his own sort of code of conduct and held himself to standards that never seemed to change. It was an impressive level of dedication that Tokoyami could respect.
Even the blonde’s attitude didn’t really throw him off. While others might think of him as abrasive or callow, Tokoyami knew that wasn’t the truth. Perhaps it had been in the first few months of them starting Yuuei, but now it was the farthest thing from the truth.
Now it was easy for the class to see that Bakugou’s jabs and insults were mostly for the sake of pointing out things they needed to work on. Bakugou tended to single them out after heroics ended for a 'sparring session’ that everyone knew was mostly Bakugou teaching them new ways to use their abilities.
Oftentimes Midoriya was there as well. The younger boy always seemed to be able to tell when his friend was nearing his patience limit and was quick to wrap things up before it could turn into a bloodbath.
As an outsider who didn’t quite belong to either the ‘Bakusquad’ or the ‘Dekusquad,’ it gave him a lot of time to analyze how the groups worked. It also gave him a better perspective to view everyone’s behavior.
Which is how he noticed the uncharacteristic flinch that Bakugou gave as Aizawa-sensei spoke about needing everyone to report to Recovery Girl regarding keeping their vaccinations up to date.
Tokoyami knew that Bakugou ended up in Recovery Girl’s office at least once a week. Usually it was because he strained a muscle doing his quick change blasts. Or because Midoriya had managed to break something or other.
Bakugou didn’t care about going to the school nurse. He’d rather do it at the first sign of strain instead of waiting until it became a bigger problem. The blonde was oddly responsible like that. Always trying to take care of his body so that he could be number one.
So flinching at the mention of vaccines? That was strange. It was almost like he was - Scared?
Tokoyami had heard about the competition to find Bakugou’s fear from Hagakure. The invisible girl had practically told everyone but Midoriya and Bakugou. Whichever student found this hidden fear would get to pass their chores onto the losers for a week.
He hadn’t thought about entering the competition before. After all, he wasn’t close enough to the explosive hero-in-training to know what he could be afraid of. But with something like this? He might have a chance to win here.
At the end of class Bakugou was quick to exit the class with Midoriya on his heels. The green haired boy gave a quick excuse about having promised the other boy a spar during their lunch period.
Tokoyami knew this was probably his only chance, so he took it. “Uraraka?”
The brown-haired girl blinked at him in surprise. Then a bright smile lit her face. “Tokoyami-kun! How are you today? How’s Dark Shadow?”
“We’re doing very well, thank you.” He shifted on his feet, feeling a little awkward. “I have a proposition for you.”
Her eyebrows rose in surprise. Clearly she was trying to discern how serious he was being. He could only hope that she would agree. There was no doubt in his mind that he wouldn’t be able to take on something like proving Bakugou had a fear by himself.
Luckily for him, Uraraka seemed more inclined to hear him out, as she waved off Iida. Their class rep only nodded and patted Tokoyami on the shoulder as he passed by.
“Okay, Tokoyami. Let’s hear it!”
“I believe I might have discovered Bakugou’s weakness.”
Tokoyami was mildly surprised to see how her eyes lit up. He had honestly hadn’t thought anyone could produce that much sparkles besides Aoyama. But here they were. It was mildly off putting when he considered that her smile had an almost manic edge to it. “You really think so?”
He nodded. “I noticed that Bakugou flinched when Aizawa-sensei mentioned vaccines. I realize it could have been just a random coincidence, but I found it odd that he would do that. At first I thought that it had something to do with getting sick. But then I thought about it and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Bakugou around needles.”
Uraraka’s grin was bordering on evil. That same grin she gets when she comes back from a good spar, or an internship with Gunhead. “What’s your plan?”
Part of him was grateful for how quick his friend agreed to listen to him. He knew she would most likely be interested, but her immediate acceptance was something he hadn’t considered. Another part of him was worried they’d be digging their own graves if this went south.
Tokoyami told her his plan. How it involved one or both of them to be close enough to Recovery Girl’s office during the check-up that they could see how Bakugou acted when the needles were brought out.
There was a chance that his uncharacteristic behavior was due to a form of PTSD. With all of the villain attacks they’d dealt with, it would make sense. And if that was the case, Tokoyami was adamant that they don’t bring it to light. Everyone had their own trauma. And if this fell under Bakugou’s trauma, they wouldn’t touch it.
Uraraka agreed easily. “Do you have a plan to split the reward?”
“I was thinking we could both take credit. If only one person can win, I’d like you to do it. And then maybe say that you promised to take over my chores as well. That way it’ll technically fall under your chores as well.”
“Excellent. Leave the information gathering to me. I’ll find out when his time slot is and we’ll go from there.”
And that was that. She left and Tokoyami was left standing in the classroom wondering if this plan would go smoothly, or if it’d spinning out of control like Mina’s attempt had. Though at least Mina had a scapegoat in the form of Mineta.
It was during heroics training that Uraraka slipped past him and whispered quietly that she figured out when Bakugou would be going up for his check up. About an hour after they got out for the day. Apparently Aizawa-sensei wanted his most problematic children to deal with everything first. That way they don’t tempt fate.
Tokoyami felt like he understood that perfectly.
That would be how he and Uraraka found themselves in the nurse’s office waiting room under the guise of Uraraka overusing her quirk. They had followed behind both Midoriya and Bakugou as they made their way up to Recovery Girl. The two boys hadn’t noticed them as they spoke quietly to each other.
Once they were in the office, they took the seats closest to the door. They were arriving in the middle of Recovery Girl speaking to the two boys. “- two vaccinations, and a blood draw unfortunately. I’ll give you a moment.”
“Thanks.” That was Bakugou’s gruff voice. It didn’t sound particularly distressed, but that didn’t mean anything. Uraraka tilted her head in the direction of the doorway and Tokoyami nodded. Both of them moved closer until they were able to discreetly peek into the room.
What they ended up seeing was - surprising.
Bakugou seemed entirely calm. His shoulders were relaxed, as was most of his posture. He looked almost bored with the entire situation. It was only the way that his hand was tightly holding onto Midoriya’s that gave away that he was worried about something.
Tokoyami’s eyes slid to where Midoriya was sitting next to Bakugou. He looked pale, though it could have been the lighting in the room. After all, Midoriya was in this room so frequently that he practically had a bed with his name on it. The green haired boy had no reason to look so uncomfortable.
But he did. And by the quiet noise of confusion from Uraraka, he knew that she agreed.
Midoriya was fidgeting in his seat. His eyes kept darting around like he was looking for a villain that was going to pop out at him any moment. Bakugou kept side-eyeing him until the other boy’s restless leg seemed to drive him crazy.
“Oi. Deku. Stop with the fucking bouncing.”
The leg froze, and green eyes blinked in confusion. Then in embarrassment. “Sorry, Kacchan. I’m just - well, you know.”
“Nervous? S’fine, nerd.”
Midoriya shook his head and looked down almost petulantly. “No it’s not. It’s stupid, Kacchan. I’m gonna be a hero. I break or sprain or injure something almost once a week. Shuzenji-sensei made the bed by the window mine. It has my name on a plaque at the end of it.”
Bakugou snorted. “Of course it does.”
“And yet I’m scared of a little needle. That’s not normal, Kacchan. That’s weird. And I shouldn’t be scared of it. And yet I am.”
Tokoyami shared another look with Uraraka. At least both of them seemed thrown off by this latest development. He looked back at the scene in the room when he heard Bakugou sigh and get off his chair so he could sit shoulder to shoulder with the green haired boy.
The two boys looked at each other and Bakugou sighed again, bringing a hand up to tug one of Midoriya’s green curls. “Look, nerd. It’s not stupid. You haven’t liked them since that time you were in the hospital as a kid. There’s no reason for you to like them now. It’s fine to be scared of them.”
“Can you stay, Kacchan? Until she’s done?”
“I wasn’t planning on leaving, Deku.”
Tokoyami tugged Uraraka away from the door as he saw Midoriya slump into the blonde’s side. His head rested on Bakugou’s shoulder, and the blonde was still running his fingers through green curls. The scene in front of them felt too private for them to intrude on any longer. Especially since it was clear that Bakugou was not the one who was scared of needles.
“I believe I was wrong in my assumption. We should leave.”
Thankfully she seemed to agree. “Yeah. It was a good try though. Let’s head out before they catch us.”
Both of them slipped out of the nurse’s office before they could be caught. On their way back to the dorms, Tokoyami couldn’t help but reflect on what he’d witnessed.
He’d known that Bakugou and Midoriya were closer than most people thought they were. Being an observer into their relationship had allowed him this view. He just hadn’t realized how deep that protective streak had run.
Well, he thought. It was something to consider for later.
~ 5 ~
If Todoroki was honest with himself, he hadn’t even been aware that the competition had been going on. Sure, he had noticed that some of his classmates were acting stranger than normal, but he figured everyone just had too much pent up energy.
It had been a while since the last villain attack on their class. And everyone should be aware that getting to take on the League or any other random villain was basically the only way to release class 2-A’s pent up energy without needing to completely redo the training grounds.
The past month had been oddly quiet though. So it only made sense that his classmates would turn to pranking each other or some other form of shenanigans.
And seeing as Todoroki didn’t really care, he had also missed the whispers about the secret-but-not-so-secret competition among the class 2-A students. In truth, he hadn’t even been aware of the competition until that fateful day when someone had brought up being quirkless.
It had happened in the evening, during one of the mandatory class bonding nights that had been turned into a group study session for the history test they had coming up. Aizawa-sensei had promised them he’d set up an off-campus obstacle course if they all passed the test. He’d even upped the ante by promising to buy them all ice cream if the class average was anywhere higher than seventy-five.
And with the promise of a field trip and ice cream, everyone was taking this study session to heart. Even Bakugou was there helping people with the calmest persona anyone had seen him in a while.
Which wasn’t to say he was calm. It was more like there was just minimal explosions. So far there had only been one pillow and a corner of a coffee table that had ended up as collateral damage.
For Bakugou that was truly exceptional behavior.
The main leaders of the study date were the top five. Bakugou, Midoriya, Iida, Yaoyorozu, and Todoroki himself. They were the designated tutors, while the rest of their classmates flocked to them.
He had been in the middle of explaining the development of quirks and the scientific theories behind it, when Kaminari had given a very loud sigh. The electricity user propped his chin in one hand as he spoke.
“Man. Can you even imagine not having a quirk? Like, that’s got to absolutely suck. How did people even live like that?”
Todoroki tilted his head in confusion. “Quirks weren’t the norm, Kaminari. They lived everyday normally.”
“But they didn’t have quirks! Imagine not having your powers. No fire or ice. Wouldn’t that just be so lame? Like everyone has quirks now!”
On the other side of the room, Midoriya choked on the water he was drinking. Yaoyorozu was the closest to him, and she patted his back in comfort. He gave her a warm smile, even as he turned back to whatever lesson he was going over.
Todoroki noted that he looked a little tense. But given that he was trying to explain something to Mineta and Sero, he figured the other boy was just a little exasperated.
He turned back to look at Kaminari. “Not everyone has a quirk, though. About twenty percent of the world population is quirkless.”
Kaminari’s disbelief was echoed by Mina and Hagakure. Both girls were equally surprised apparently. Mina had been half draped over the invisible girl’s shoulder as they both looked over the textbook they were sharing. Now though she was sitting up straight and looking at him with wide eyes.
Todoroki assumed Hagakure was too, but she was invisible. So he really wasn’t sure what sort of expression she was making.
“Like, they don’t have any quirk at all? Poor suckers. That must be completely awful.”
Hagakure hummed, as if to agree with Mina. “It would be like Aizawa-sensei erasing your quirk. But permanently. Think about how helpless you would feel.”
Todoroki saw Midoriya flinch slightly out of the corner of his eyes. He gave his friend a curious look, but the other boy just gave him a smile. It looked a little strained around the edges, but Todoroki could have been imagining it. He still wasn’t very good at reading into things like that.
But this was Midoriya. His best friend. Maybe he should try looking into it? But if it was a personal matter, then that would probably do more harm than good. The other hero-in-training didn’t enjoy making others worry about him.
Todoroki sighed. He’d just have to talk to Midoriya about it later when they were alone. That way no one else would try to cut their way into what was most likely going to be a private conversation.
“Todoroki, man, don’t you think it would be awful?”
He shrugged as he looked back at Kaminari. “I don’t know. I imagine it would be a nightmare for some people. Like Endeavor. Or Bakugou, for that matter.”
The crackling sound of pre-explosions was the only warning Todoroki needed to raise an arm covered in ice. He was grateful for the way Mina and Kaminari both went wide eyed and opened their mouths to shout a warning, but it was unnecessary in the end.
He turned his face to give Bakugou a very unimpressed look as the ice on his arm shattered into pieces around them.
“What the fuck did you just imply about me, Half and Half bastard?” Bakugou’s voice was low and rough and malicious. Kirishima was already at his friend’s side, trying to pull him away from Todoroki. Even Midoriya looked torn between stepping in and wondering if that would cause more trouble.
Todoroki had never been afraid of Bakugou though. There was no reason for him to be. And it wasn’t like he was saying this to cause drama. It was just speculation that so far, the evidence pointed to it being correct.
“I said, that in all likelihood, one of your biggest fears would probably be losing your quirk and being quirkless.”
Someone in the room - most likely Sero or Kaminari - was choking back laughter, which was quickly dissolving into a coughing fit. He thought he could hear Uraraka whispering a horrified ‘Todoroki, no.’
But that didn’t really make sense. He hadn’t done anything wrong, had he?
Bakugou’s red eyes were narrowed even further, and there were slightly bigger warning explosions crackling in his palms. He didn’t even look like he was aware of it. Todoroki just continued staring at him as he waited for the explosive teen to either confirm or deny his theory.
“Why the fuck would you think I’d be scared of being quirkless?”
Todoroki was genuinely confused by that question. “You’ve exhibited plenty of behaviors since we’ve known each other that would lead me to believe that. You often judge someone’s strength by how strong their quirk is. As your quirk is incredibly strong and you rely on it heavily, it only makes sense to believe that you would think people without a quirk would be weak. And if you were to lose your quirk and become quirkless yourself, then you would perceive yourself as weak. And you hate being weak.”
The only sounds in the room were of Bakugou’s explosions and multiple people trying to keep their coughing fits to a minimum. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Midoriya’s shoulders were hunched, as if he was drawing into himself.
Bakugo himself didn’t look quite so murderous anymore though. Instead he looked oddly contemplative. His scowl was still firmly set on his face, but his eyes at least seemed more thoughtful instead of angry.
It was quiet for a few more minutes before the blonde teen straightened up so he was standing at full posture. When he spoke, his voice was low, but strong. He kept eye contact with Todoroki, but his words were directed at everyone.
“Listen up, dipshits. ‘Cause I’m only saying this once. I’m not fucking scared of being quirkless. I could still kick all of your asses even if I didn’t have my quirk and you all know that.” There were a couple grudging whispers agreeing with him.
“Besides. Being quirkless ain’t something to be ashamed of. They ain’t made of fucking glass. They could kick your ass long before you’d even get the chance to save them.”
Todoroki felt his words were oddly pointed, but he didn’t get a chance to ask about it. Bakugou was heading out of the room towards the kitchen. He was grumbling something about shitty classmates and being done with helping losers.
Before he left the room he turned his head and made eye contact with Midoriya who was staring at him wide eyed. The green haired boy almost looked dazed. As if he couldn’t believe what he’d just witnessed.
Which was fair. Todoroki could hardly believe it himself.
He saw Midoriya excuse himself from his study group as he followed after his childhood friend. Todoroki made to follow, but then small hands were grabbing onto his wrist, pulling him back into a circle where many people were looking at him wide eyed.
He looked down at Uraraka who was holding onto him, looking fondly exasperated. “You had a really good idea, Todoroki, but the execution of that plan was rough even for you.”
Kirishima nodded along with her, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “She’s right, bro. You were really manly confronting him like that. But if you wanted to win the competition, I don’t think accusing him of being afraid was the best way to go.”
Everyone else was agreeing. They were busy pointing out the pros and cons to his supposed strategy. Todoroki was only feeling more confused. He looked at Uraraka for answers.
“What competition?”
+ 1 +
Contrary to his student’s beliefs, Shouta was all too aware of the shenanigans his class was trying to pull behind the scenes. For the most part they were doing well to keep their so called ‘competition’ under the radar.
Unfortunately for them though, Shouta has been a pro-hero for years. An underground hero, to be exact. One of his specialties was gathering information without being noticed, and to gather it quickly and fully. There was almost nothing his class was able to keep secret from him.
Of course, the only exception being whatever weird fucking relationship was happening between his two problem children. He knew there was enough history between them that he’d never be able to uncover it all. He also knew that no matter how hard they tried to hide it from their classmates, they were close.
Close enough for them to be mutually protective of each other, at the very least.
Shouta hadn’t really thought much of that protective streak in a long time. The entire class knew that Midoriya would sacrifice himself if it meant protecting his ‘Kacchan.’ Shouta still had nightmares about that disaster of a training camp sometimes.
What was often forgotten though, was that Bakugou was just as protective - if not more protective of his childhood friend. It was often overlooked or misinterpreted.
But that was just how Bakugou worked. The kid was loud and abrasive and so unapologetically himself that his true intentions were often missed at first glance.
So it shouldn’t have came as a surprise when his two problem children managed to almost give him a heart attack during the class reward for good fucking behavior.
Last week he had promised the class a field trip as a reward if they could all pass their history test. It was mostly because Midnight had made a comment about how she and Mic were making bets on which students would fail it completely. Shouta had been offended and told them that his class would all pass.
What he didn’t mention was that they just needed a little motivation sometimes.
So after he had graded all the tests and handed them back, he was pleased to say that they had in fact proved Midnight wrong. His victory was short lived though, because he suddenly had to put together some sort of training disguised as a fun field trip so his class wouldn’t riot.
Which is how they ended up at a local middle school that was currently undergoing renovations. It was a stroke of pure luck that Nezu had known about Aldera Junior High’s need to upgrade their building. So for the sake of the very last minute trip, Nezu had offered them an exchange.
Allow the Yuuei heroics students to ‘borrow’ their building for the day, and Nezu would personally see to it that they got the upgrades they needed. In the end, the offer was just too good to pass up.
Shouta looked up at the building. The obstacle course was really quite impressive, considering that Yuuei had put it together last night. Behind him, both second year heroics classes were lined up, whispering excitedly about their hard earned reward.
Aizawa noticed his two problem children weren’t quite as relaxed as the other students, but he mostly chalked it up to them not getting enough sleep.
Vlad stepped forward, drawing everyone’s attention as he spoke. “The way this works is easy. You will be randomly paired up into teams and you will all run the course. The slowest times for each round will be eliminated from the contest, and will instead participate as obstacles in the later rounds. The winner will be whichever team completes the final round first.”
Shouta made sure to keep his voice as bored as possible. He didn’t want to give his class any hints about what was to come. “The winner will receive a full week of no chores in the dorms as well as the opportunity to go on a week worth of patrols with whatever teacher they want.”
If he had drawn partial inspiration from his class’s stupid competition, well, that was just his business. As it was, none of them looked like they had realized he knew the truth. They all must have thought it just a random coincidence.
The students were paired up shortly after that. He already had a headache starting to form when Kirishima and Tetsutetsu were miraculously chosen to be a team. What he wasn’t expecting (but probably should have) was when Bakugou’s and Midoriya’s names were called right after each other.
He debated on breaking them up. But in the end he decided it would be fine. The promise of a week’s worth of patrols with a pro-hero would be enough to keep them on their best behavior.
Probably.
Everything had been going fine until the last round. Property damage was being kept to the minimum, and fights between teams or classes was surprisingly low. Even Bakugou seemed to be on his best behavior.
Shouta had been keeping an eye on his trouble duo. The longer the two were in the school, the more they seemed to relax. They had still been acting odd though. Midoriya was much more jumpier than usual. Not as bad as he had been his first year, but close.
He had avoided areas of the school like it was the plague, choosing to send Bakugou in for certain points. Bakugou never argued with him. Even if it would have been easier if Midoriya had gone for it.
That should have been his first sign.
The second sign he should have seen was how Bakugou seemed to gravitate to the younger teen. Of course Midoriya was doing the same, but the blonde seemed to always be close to the other’s side. Never more than a few feet away, even when his friends lost and tried to pry him away during breaks between rounds to show them around the school.
Shouta had also been content to ignore the quiet whispers his problem children were engaged in. He figured it was just them arguing quietly so they couldn’t be disqualified for unsportsmanlike behavior.
When the final round started, Shouta knew something was going to happen. Something big.
The course was set to end on the roof. Both teams would need to find their way to the roof and neutralize the ‘bomb’ that was being guarded there. Given that it was the final round, Vlad and him had decided the teams could do whatever they deemed best to neutralize the bomb.
The first team was just getting to the starting line when he heard Midoriya’s voice speak up quietly from around the corner.
“I don’t like this, Kacchan.”
“It’s gonna be fine, Deku. We’ll kick ass, win the whole competition, and then get the fuck out of this shithole. Just make sure you stay away from the fucking edge. We don’t need your clumsy ass to trip and cost us this whole thing.”
Midoriya let out a strangled sort of laugh. Shouta frowned, wondering if he should step in and check on his student. But then he was speaking as if there wasn’t anything wrong with how strained and tired he sounded.
“Of course not, Kacchan. Let’s get to the starting line. Someone’s going to come looking for us if we hide here too long.”
Bakugou grumbled. “Whatever, nerd. Let’s go.”
Shouta should have thought more about their quiet conversation. He’d beat himself up about it later, but at the time he just shrugged. The warning had made sense to him. Midoriya, for all that he was a talented powerhouse, was extremely clumsy.
And with the on-going renovations and the obstacle course, the fence around the roof had been removed. Knowing Midoriya’s luck, he would manage to fall off the roof by accident.
Which is exactly what happened, half an hour later in the last stretch of their round. Shouta was stationed on the room so he could make sure everyone’s use of their quirks didn’t cause someone to take a nasty fall off the side of the building. It was a glorified referee post.
Midoriya was distracting the final ‘villain’ while Bakugou was defusing the bomb. It was an excellent show of teamwork and intelligence. It was a testament to why they were two of his top students.
But then Monoma showed up, the surprise second villain that had been waiting in hiding. He surprised Midoriya, forcing the green haired boy into a defensive position and needing to retreat a few steps. It took him closer to the edge, but he seemed to have it handled.
The two had been engaged in hand to hand for the better part of two minutes when Midoriya found an opening. He activated his Full Cowling and allowed that orange lines of power to cover his arm. As he made the swing though, the orange lines disappeared.
Shouta made a noise of surprise, because when the hell did Monoma have time to copy his quirk? What was even more surprising was that Midoriya suddenly looked panicked. Like losing his quirk suddenly was throwing him completely off his game.
Bakugou made a triumphant yell as he held up the ‘bomb’ that had been neutralized. He turned to grin at his partner just in time to see Midoriya stumble back from a punch that Monoma landed on him. It was just strong enough to send the other boy reeling an extra step.
The look of panic that came over Midoriya’s face as he stepped off the edge of the roof would haunt Shouta. Probably haunt the rest of the teachers as well. Someone was yelling for the rescue sheet.
Before anyone could move though, Bakugou exploded.
“Izuku!”
His eyes were wide and filled with such terror that Shouta felt like he had been suckerpunched. The blonde blasted himself forward with such speed that it was almost hard to track him. Midoriya was already reaching up towards his childhood friend, who caught him and pulled him tightly against himself.
The landed harshly, but it didn’t stop Bakugou from immediately pulling back to look at the trembling boy pressed against his side.
Aizawa used his scarf to swing himself down safely to the ground so he could get to his kids faster. He waved off a few of the other teachers, knowing that neither boy would be happy to be surrounded.
“The fuck were you thinking, idiot? I told you to stay away from the fucking edge! Why didn’t you listen to me, Deku? Are you trying to fucking kill yourself?”
Shouta, being as close to the pair as he was, heard Bakugou’s rough and panicked voice. He thought it was odd, how fiercely the blonde was questioning the green haired boy for something he hadn’t intentionally done.
But then he saw the way Midoriya pulled away, eyes full of tears and understanding, and they both trembled as they were suddenly pulling each other into a tight hug. “Oh, Kacchan, no. No. You know I wouldn’t ever. No, Kacchan.”
“I told you to stay away from the edge. Just listen to me for once, Izuku. Please.”
Shouta knew he was missing a lot due to whatever complicated history to two shared. He was picking up enough context clues right now that he would be talking to his problem children about this incident later.
But that would be later. For now he let the boys cling to each other and fight away whatever lingering fear that was eating at them. It was something far deeper than just an accidental fall.
He could hear the commotion starting to come from the entrance of the school building. Teachers and students alike, all clamoring to make sure the pair were okay. Shouta supposed for now he could handle the damage control until his two students were composed enough to do it themselves.
As he was walking away though, he heard Bakugou’s voice. Soft spoken and so completely different than usual that Shouta almost thought he was dreaming it.
“Stop scaring me like that, you little shit.”
Well. He might not have been a part of his class’s silly competition. But he certainly was the winner of it. Nothing could scare Bakugou more than possibly losing Izuku.
Ten minutes later both boys were walking back towards him. Midoriya was tucked under Bakugou’s arm, but he at least had a shaky smile on his face. Bakugou had a neutral expression, which is more than what Shouta had been hoping for.
“Congrats on finishing the obstacle course with the fastest time. You two are the winners. Now go get the rest of your class. I think you all earned ice cream.”