Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Katsuki didn't know what was worse. His parents staring at him as if he had completely gone bonkers, or the fact that he was in a new class with new faces because of his own behavior.

He would stand on his hill claiming he had no problems. He was in fact a good student. And he absolutely did not threaten to kill that green haired bastard who had lied and had probably been lying for ages. Hiding a damn quirk from him, the nerve of that useless Deku.

But that was neither here nor there. In all honesty Katsuki just blew up in general.

The first week in high school was triggering for him. All the kids acted like they were better than anyone else. But they all had shitty minor quirks and it was a wonder to him that any of them actually got in.

Katsuki had been trying to maintain a steady respectable image, but when he met the teacher of his original class, he knew this was going to be a shitty ass year.

A fucking grumpy old man who looked like he had pink eye and smelled like tuna and cat food mixed with black coffee and something slightly manly.

The man had made them miss orientation by doing a quirk test, threatening to expel them if they were at the bottom of the list.

He came in third under some weird fucking nepo baby and some girl who'd, Katsuki would kindly put it, be able to “earn” his respect come time.

But mostly the rest of the people in the class were trash and Katsuki had fun imagining ways to crush their egos beyond repair.

But then he saw Izuku Midoriya step up and use a damn quirk. A quirk in which he was definitely not supposed to have. A quirk that was so much more powerful than Katsuki's that it genuinely broke Deku's bones when he used it.

Katsuki was aware that his own quirk hurt him too. But not as severely as Deku’s quirk hurt Deku. And plus Deku's quirk was very, very energy based. Very strong, and very annoying too.

And when he saw it; he snapped. He tried to blast the green bastard's face off and the asshole of a teacher had stopped him before he got a good clean shot at the coward. Deku had just whined and backed up, trembling and trying to calm Katuski down.

He didn't even have the nerve to try to use his quirk on Katsuki.

Katsuki hated him with a deep burning passion, and he would show the damn nerd that he did . He'd kill him if he had too.

And he had to, because he wanted to. Needed too. He was so angry with Deku.

Why would the boy lie or hide that type of powerful quirk? Was it because Deku didn't see fit to even bother Katsuki since Katsuki was deemed lower than him?

Katsuki had been sent to the office, but the adrenaline made him hazy and the anger made it harder to pay attention.

***

Principal Nedzu had been talking for an hour straight.

Katsuki had heard nothing for an hour straight.

His heart was still pumping in his chest like he had run a marathon. He stopped being angry and started panicking.

Panicking because he knew now that Deku had been lying to him, or either he was a stupid late bloomer who got his quirk in the summer before the entrance exam.

But either way he still hid the quirk from Katsuki. Deku was going to be an actual hero. He could tell from the quirk. And what irritated Katsuki more than anything is that the quirk reminded him of All Might's.

All Might.

He had forgotten that the pro hero was going to be teaching and being around the students this year. The Pro might even see Deku and pass him just because.

The thought made a sharp pain surge through Katsuki's chest.

Fuck. No. No. No.

He felt his skin tingle, his breathing felt tighter. More restricted than usual. He didn't like it, he wanted it to stop.

It seemed to go on for hours, he clawed at his neck. He felt his finger nails grip and tear at his flesh, scratching harder. He was trying to get the thing that was strangling off of his neck.

He needed to breathe.

He couldn't breathe.

He couldn't beat Izuku.

He wasn't worth it.

He'd never beat Izuku by becoming number one.

He'd never breathe again.

His vision went blurry, his head felt like it was splitting open.

He was dying. He was having a heart attack because he now realized he wasn't worthy.

He shouldn't have come to Yuuei.

***

The thing in front of him was neither a man nor a dog. It was both. Terrifyingly both combined together. A man-dog.

And this fucking man dog was supposed to teach Katsuki about feelings.

Feelings.

This was a joke.

Katsuki didn't need therapy or counseling as the teachers said. It had been around two days since he had the panic attack and passed out. But he was better now. He had time to breathe and think.

But when he came back, he was immediately dumped into counseling while the principal was creating a new schedule for him.

He was expected to go to counseling until the adults saw improvement in his behavior, and he was switching classes. It was stupid. Very fucking stupid. And Katsuki wanted to blast the man's face off.

“Hello Bakugou.” The man's voice was just a deep throaty kind of growl. It unsettled Katsuki, and he sat up straighter in his chair. Not realizing that he did until after he did it.

“Why am I here? I'm fine.” he stated irritably. He leaned back in his chair, taking on the harsh posture he had a few seconds ago and stared at the man.

“I'm sure your teacher, and Principal Nedzu have already talked about this, but if we need to, then I will. You're here because you tried to harm a classmate, and you harmed yourself by accident and passed out the day before yesterday. That's a big deal, Bakugou.” Even if his voice was almost a growl he still sounded calming. Not patronizing or mocking.

It felt like they were having a simple conversation.

And Katsuki wasn't falling for the bullshit.

Nobody ever had simple conversations with him. Adults never tried to understand, and they never will. This was a trap obviously. He didn't do these types of things.

“I said I'm fine.” he grumbled through a set jaw.

This dumbass Dog guy could eat grass for all Katsuki cared. He just wanted to get back to classes and start his high school year off.

But he ruined it. Katsuki Bakugou of course ruined the fucking first week of school. And it was independently his fault that he was in this office, with this Man Dog, trying to get help.

The old man that smelled like coffee beans and cat food has told him he should have been grateful that Principal Nedzu let him stay in the first place.

Katsuki wasn't feeling too grateful right now though.

“It takes time for us to accept our feelings. But sometimes we also have to accept that we aren't fine. And it's okay to not be fine. It's okay to get help.” The man's muzzle fabric rustled as he talked. The nylon straps readjust their grip around the man's snout.

Katsuki didn't say much for a while, and the man seemed content in letting the boy sit there in the silence.

Katsuki didn't care for the shit flying out Man Dog's mouth. He didn't care for any type of lecture or advice the man could give. He just wanted to get this over with.

So he decided to talk.

After all it was his fault he was in this mess in the first place. So if he deflected where it counted and ran off with some bullshit story about how he ‘feels’ then maybe he could start ‘healing’ and he wouldn't have to deal with this bullshit anymore.

***

Katsuki took the bait. And he bit hard. Too hard in fact. Because now they decided to put him in Anger Management and Quirk Therapy too.

Chapter Text

The sweat made him feel dirty.

Fuck. He was dirty.

He wanted to blow her face off. To make her suffer like he was. He hated that stupid smile on her face. 

His jaw clenched tightly as he made a feral noise too similar to a growl. 

She laughed. 

She fucking laughed. 

She was dead meat.

He launched at her, his explosion not far behind as he tried to land a good blast to her face. She had avoided pretty easily and grinned. “Too sloppy, kiddums.”

She grabbed his wrist, twisting it just enough to make it feel uncomfortable in its new found position. She slammed him to the floor. Though it hurt, he felt that it wasn't even half her strength.

She was strong. She was a pro hero. And she was going to be fucking dead whenever Katsuki began to improve

Emi Fukukado. Ms. Joke. His anger management mentor.

“M'not fucking sloppy.” Katsuki glared and sat up. His ass hurt. 

“Lighten up, It's expected of you in your first years to be sloppy and not very good in general.” She ruffled his hair before turning to look at the clock.

“Time to go, yes?” She teased gently, putting her hand out. “Come on, bud. Let me get you back to the campus.”

He smacked her hand away, standing up and wincing at the sharp pain in his hands. His palms and bones and everything hurt.

Even at her lowest level of strength, she was definitely a fucking nuisance who could destroy him.

During only three days he began to see that he wasn't going to be the strongest. And he wasn't accepting it, he was just acknowledging it.

***

He stared at the bucket of water and chemicals then he looked up at the doors that read: ‘Class 1-A’. 

It was lucky that the damn assholes were out for lunch. But the sight of the class made him get itchy. He had intentionally stayed away from the class. Just wanted to get this dumb therapeutic cleaning punishment out of the way. And then he'd be fully transferred to a new class and get back on track to becoming the best pro hero there ever was.

“Greater than fucking All Might.” He huffed and snatched the bucket up, the water sloshing around and some spilling out.

He kicked the door open roughly with his foot, and made his way to the closest desk.

The half dead looking man at the front desk shifted his weight in the creaky black swivel chair. He didn't look up, but Katsuki saw the slight twitch of the man's eyebrows.

Katsuki got to work, wiping down the chairs and desk tops. One desk top had dumb doodles of an extra he saw once before. Another had notes jotted down in a disgustingly sloppy handwriting.

He had to skip a desk, the desk had this weird sound coming from inside it. And Aizawa had cleared his throat without looking up, “just don't mess with that desk.”

The next desk made him realize how he was actually glad he wasn't in this class anymore. 

Multicolored glitter. Everywhere on the desktop, and even inside the desk. And what made it worse is that there was a smiley face drawn through the glitter in a shaky outline.

He snarled and tipped the desk forward, shaking the glitter off.

The rest of the cleaning was okay. Aizawa said nothing, but Katsuki felt the old man's eyes watching his every move.

“I'm not a fucking problem.” He finally broke the silence after he drained the last of the dirty sponge water into the bucket,

Aizawa gave a noncommittal hum. Almost tauntingly nodding slowly, then he raised his head just a bit to look at Katsuki.

Though Katsuki didn't feel seen. He felt like the tired slightly pink eyes were trying to look deeper in him or not look at him at all. He couldn't tell. Maybe he didn't need to tell. All he needed to know is that the cat smelling old fuck made him angry. Real fucking angry.

Though he was always angry. And he'd stay angry.

“I never said you were a problem, Bakugou.” The man said simply. Katsuki's left eye twitched. “yes you fucking did. That's the reason I'm in this mess in the first place.”

Aizawa’s brow furrowed and he gestured toward the seat in front of his desk.

Katsuki looked over at the seat and scoffed. “Don't need a shitty ass seat, old man.”

Aizawa gestured more firmly to the seat and said. “Sit, Katsuki.”

His tone was firm. Firmer than anyone had ever talked to Katsuki before, (even his mother didn't talk firmly, she mostly yelled). 

He found himself sitting down on the chair without even thinking. 

“what?” he asked, staring at the man, who was standing up now.

Aizawa was silent. Even his footsteps were dead quiet. He walked around the desk and stood right in front of Katsuki, leaning back against the desk.

“Did I make you try to kill your classmate? Or did I make you attempt to attack or hurt your classmate in any way?” Aizawa asked after three beats of silence. 

Katsuki blinked at the man.

Aizawa kept speaking. “Please do tell me if my one day of teaching you convinced you into doing anything to get yourself in trouble. I would be very grateful to understand how you being in trouble is my fault. I think I did a very responsible thing. I even had some hand in convincing the principal to not expel you from this school because I see potential in you.”

Katsuki's face felt weird. Tingly. Numb.

“Katsuki Bakugou, why do you want to become a hero?”

Katsuki’s thought patterns felt affected in some way. He stared at the man in front of him. The man who smelled like black coffee death and cats food galore. The man who looked deathly tired. The man who claimed to be the reason his high school career didn't end too soon.

“Why do I want to be a hero?” Katsuki asked blankly. He was usually always quick to answer these types of questions. With a sarcastic ‘Because I want to be the best!’ Or something selfishly similar.

Aizawa shifted his weight to his other side and stared down at the dumbfounded boy. "Yes, why? I want you to answer me.” 

“I want to become a hero because…” he noticed how his own voice was slightly softer now. Katsuki was always loud and defensive, but right now he sounded like a timid child.

“I want be a fucking hero because–” He stared down at the small spark formed scars on his hands, “b-because…”

He didn't know.

He didn't fucking know the answer to this.

Defense alarms rang in his head. 

“Why the fuck do you want to know? You aren't my teacher anymore. I don't answer to you.” He couldn't hold back the words. The words were harsh, desperate. They were a defense mechanism. He didn't want this man, this pro hero, to try breaking down his walls. To know that he was selfish. To see the real Katsuki Bakugou.

“Fuck off.” He grumbled. He got up and turned, snatching the bucket and dropping the sponge into it.

On his way out the classroom door he heard the man call out, “Tell me why you want to become a hero one day. It doesn't have to be this year, or the next. You'll find your reason, I'm sure, but tell me before you graduate.”

***

Katsuki sat staring at the mini chalk board in front of him on top of Hound Dog's desk.

It was written in a neat scrawl: “why do you want to be a hero?”

“Shit.” He grumbled. 

Chapter Text

The clock ticked longer each time Katsuki looked at it.

The hallway felt stuffy. And the waiting was making Katsuki very, very, very irritated.

He heard the shuffle and hushed voices from behind the closed door to Principal Nedzu's office. They were deciding if he could start classes now.

He'd done a week of cleaning and taking personal mental health classes. He'd have to continue taking the personal mental health punishment part, but he'd be free from cleaning if they decided he could go back to classes.

He felt like he was the best fucking punishment taker ever. He'd complete everything exactly how he was told. He cleaned hallways and classrooms on floors he'd never go to in regular scenarios.

He never once complained. Well at least not out loud.

And he hadn't threatened to kill or hurt anyone. He was getting better. So much better, because he barely yelled.

Ms.Joke took him out of his thoughts as she opened the door and walked out with Aizawa and Hound Dog. They all three looked at him.

Ms. Joke gave a very bright smile.

Aizawa barely even changed his expression.

Hound Dog huffed.

“You're good to go in, champ.” Ms. Joke ruffled Katsuki’s hair. He batted her hand away and glared, standing up.

“Yeah yeah. Whatever, damn .” He said, a bit softer than he attended. He then snarled at her and walked past them and into the office.

***

A man sitting in a chair in front of the white beady eyed rat looked over at Katsuki when he walked in.

Actually both adults looked at Katsuki, but Katsuki was too busy staring at the absolute ginormous beast of a man sitting on the couch.

The man was a man, so he couldn't have been like Hound Dog, which was why Katsuki was baffled and albeit a bit intimidated by the man.

His defenses flared.

“Who the hell is this? Another person to throw my feelings at?” he grumbled, plopping down on the couch a little bit away from the man.

The man gave a dry chuckle. “the kids got a mouth.”

“Ahh, yes. Young Bakugou here is quite eccentric with his vocabulary." The White miniature polar bear had the nerve to state. He even gave a tiny giggle.

To hell with them. He could curse if he wanted to. Right?

“I'm Sekijiro Kan, or Vlad King. And I'm going to be your–”

“New teacher!” Principal Nedzu interrupted with a jolly laugh. Vlad King looked over at the rodent like human and squinted before looking back at Katsuki.

“Yeah, what he said. Nice to meet you, Katsuki Bakugou.” The man smiled gruffly. Katsuki felt terrified at seeing such a thing from this huge being.

“Yeah. Whatever. When do I start class?” He asked, suddenly feeling fidgety.

“Monday.” Vlad King nodded. “Or maybe you need some more cleaning days to clear that head some more?”

“That's not fucking funny.”

The awkward silence filled the room. The only sound that cut through the silence was Principal Nedzu's spoon stirring the tea in the mug.

“So Monday you'll start regular classes. But understand, young Bakugou, you will still be going to your mental health classes too. So be prepared. You'll get your altered schedule in the mail tomorrow.” Principal nedzu sipped the tea loudly, looking up with a cheery smile that didn't deserve to be present in this very awkward situation.

“Yeah yeah, Monday it is.”

“Katsuki Bakugou, welcome to your first year of high-school, officially of course.” Vlad King tried, but Bakugou was already heading for the door.