Chapter Text
Shouta prides himself on being patient. He was never someone whose body moved before his mind. He’s the type to hide in the shadows, creating a plan of action and waiting for the perfect time to strike.
So when one of his best students - and largest problem - starts smelling of heat, he notices. He watches. He makes sure the guest rooms in Heights Alliance are ready for those on his floor. He fills out Bakugou’s heat leave form and starts working on a makeup test for the one he will miss while he’s away. He gives him a heat care package filled with vitamins, energy bars, water, and electrolytes.
Shouta doesn’t think anything of it until the bentos he leaves in front of Bakugou’s door never get eaten. He tries to knock on Bakugou’s door to tell him about the food he’s leaving in case he simply didn’t know. All he got in return were groans of pain and scared growls.
That's Shouta’s first sign that something is wrong.
The second is when he has to pry a feral Bakugou off of Kirishima. Everyone knew he was in heat. He had warned his students to stay away and let Bakugou get through it by himself. The last thing he probably wanted was his nosy friends in his business. The guest dorms on the other side of Heights Alliance were there for this very reason.
Shouta was on his way to place a fresh bento in front of Bakugou’s door in the hopes that he would finally eat this one when he heard the crash. He was on immediate alert, his capture weapon in hand as he ran up the rest of the stairs, only to see Bakugou growling and scratching at Kirishima’s hardened arms.
“Fuck! Bakugou, it’s me!”
Bakugou growls, and when Shouta finally reaches them, he sees that his pupils are so wide that he can barely tell his eyes are red at all. That’s not a good sign. Bakugou must be completely feral.
Shouta grabs Bakugou’s shoulder and the scent of spiced cinnamon floods the space as his student starts emitting his ‘get the fuck away from me’ scent. Shouta’s eyes water, and Kirishima starts to sneeze. The scent is almost on par with pepper spray.
“Bakugou-” The teens head turns so fast that Shouta doesn’t have a second to prepare for the teeth coming his way.
Bakugou bites his arm, growling loudly as he latches on. His teeth hurt like hell, but his attention is finally off Kirishima, so Shouta takes it as a win. He quickly focuses on releasing a calming scent, watching Bakugou’s pupils start to contract as the scent of vanilla fills the hallway.
“It’s alright, Bakugou. It’s okay, you’re safe.” Shouta keeps his voice low and soothing, maintaining eye contact even as Bakugou’s teeth threateningly dig into his arm. When the Omega sees that Shouta is unfazed, he backs away, his eyes quickly darting between him and his friend on the floor before he hisses in warning and scampers back into his room.
The door slams shut, and Shouta sighs, squatting down to check on Kirishima. “You alright?” He asks, eying the bleeding bite mark around his students wrist. He grabs the end of his capture weapon and starts wrapping it around his wrist to hopefully stop the bleeding.
“I’m fine,” Kirishima says. He stares at Bakugou’s door, frowning. “I know you said not to bother him, but he sounded so… sad. So scared. I could hear it from inside the stairwell.”
“I know.” Shouta holds Kirishima’s arm carefully, examining the small scratches. They aren’t bad, thankfully. He grabs the specially made scissors out of his pocket to cut the capture weapon so he can wrap his own arm. Damn, Bakugou has some killer teeth on him, that’s for sure.
Pride swells in his chest as he examines the bite. Bakugou defended himself well, even in his feral state.
Kirishima sits up, and Shouta guides him until he’s standing. “Come on, let's go to Recovery Girl. I’d also like to know what happened.” Once he sees that Kirishima is okay enough to walk on his own, he starts to wrap his arm.
“Well, when I knocked on his door and he didn’t answer, I checked to see if it was unlocked. It was, but I didn’t really get the chance to do anything because as soon as the door opened, Bakugou bit me. Then, when I tried to get away, he fucking threw me onto the ground and started to attack me. It was like he didn’t recognize me at all.”
“He was feral,” Shouta says, resting a hand on Kirishima’s shoulder so he will look at him. “He didn’t recognize you. He probably didn’t even recognize me, either.”
“Feral,” Kirishima says, his voice faint as he thinks. “I’ve heard about it, but I’ve never seen it outside of bad villain fights.”
“It happens, unfortunately. The best thing for us to do now is leave him alone until his heat is over. It will prevent Bakugou from going further under.” Something must have made Bakugou scared. So scared that he had to revert to his base instincts to protect himself, whether that's from something physical or mental… Shouta doesn’t know.
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The bite on his arm is so bad that it leaves a scar after Recovery Girl heals him. Shouta doesn’t care, it’s only one of many he’s acquired over the years.
What he does care about, however, is how exhausted Bakugou looks when he comes back to class after his heat. He knows the boy didn’t eat any of the bentos Shouta left at his door, but did he even sleep at all?
Fuck, he probably didn’t. He must have been feral the whole time. That’s not good at all. So when the bell rings, he asks Bakugou to stay after class, frowning at the way he avoids looking at him directly.
When it’s just them, Bakugou sighs, flopping into his seat. His scent has an unpleasant twinge of spiced cinnamon and burning rot. Shouta wants nothing more than to figure out what it is that’s made him so scared during his heat that he still reeks of scared Omega days after.
“Are you okay?” He asks as soon as they are alone.
Bakugou shrugs, crossing his arms defensively. His jaw clenches before he sighs again. “...sorry.”
Shouta blinks, surprised. “There’s no need to apologize, Bakugou.”
“I bit you, though.”
“You were protecting yourself,” Shouta says firmly. “Never apologize for that.”
Bakugou looks at him for a moment before he smirks. “Alright. If that’s not what you wanted, then what did you fucking want?”
“I wanted to know if you were okay. Was there something about the dorms that made you feel unsafe? Or someone? There are secure rooms on campus that you can stay in during your heats if you would feel safer.”
Bakugou squirms uncomfortably in his seat, looking away again. “Nah, everything's fine. That shit was… it doesn’t matter. It won’t happen again. I have it handled.” He stands and clears his throat. “Was that all you wanted?”
Shouta watches his normally confident student shrink into himself. It hurts to see, but he needs to figure out what is wrong before he can start to fix it. Forcing Bakugou to tell him now won’t help anything, so with a heavy heart, he says. “Yes, that’s all.”
Bakugou nods and quickly walks out of the room.
Shouta sighs, watching him go. Just what is it that’s got Bakugou like this?
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Shouta keeps close attention on Bakugou during the days following. Nothing seems out of the ordinary. After a few days it’s like it didn’t happen at all.
As the days turn to weeks, Bakugou shows no signs of dropping. He seems healthy and there’s no outward signs of Bakugou feeling unsafe around anyone. So why did he go feral during his last heat? Was this a one-time thing, or is it an ongoing problem?
Shouta leans his head on his hand, filling out the paperwork needed for Bakugou’s heat leave this month. Most Omegas only have a heat every four to six months. The fact that Bakugou’s heat is already here only a month later is definitely unusual, but it happens sometimes.
When Omegas are stressed, their heat can arrive early, and the hero course is certainly stressful. Would the stress be enough for Bakugou to go feral during a heat? Shouta finishes the heat leave paperwork for Bakugou, and when he sets it to the side, he pauses at the sight of a heat share leave form for Midoriya.
Midoriya… and Bakugou? That’s an unusual combination.
He continues to fill out the forms despite his hesitance. When he’s finished, he grabs both papers and heads to the dorms to hand them off to the two students. When he reaches the dorms, he stops on Bakugou’s floor first. As he goes to knock, he hears someone talking.
“I don’t know about this…” He hears Midoriya say. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“God, it doesn’t matter. I don’t care if it’s a good idea or not. I need to get over this before it becomes a real problem. So just fucking do it, you stupid nerd… if you want to.”
Shouta decides to knock before he hears something he isn’t supposed to. There’s a brief pause before the door opens. Midoriya blinks at him. “Sensei?”
Shouta holds up the forms, nodding at Midoriya before shifting his eyes to Bakugou. “Both of your forms are filled out. Everything is in place for you two to spend Bakugou’s heat together.” He hands Midoriya the papers.
Midoriya’s face reddens as he grabs the papers. “Uh, right. Thanks.”
Shouta sees Bakugou roll his eyes. “Fucking nerd.”
Shouta smirks. “There’s no need to be so embarrassed, Midoriya. This is a natural-”
“RIGHT.” Midoriya squeaks. “Thank you for telling us butwehavehomework.” He says quickly before slamming the door in his face.
Shouta chuckles as he hears Midoriya freak out behind the door. He shakes his head and slides his hands into his pockets as he heads back to his office. He can’t help the way his mind wanders, replaying the conversation he overheard earlier.
He wishes he could say he trusts his students not to do something stupid, but putting both of his problem students together is a recipe for disaster. The relationship between Midoriya and Bakugou is hard to understand. They were friends when they were younger, but something happened that messed with their dynamic so much that even now, they are struggling to find their footing.
They are working on it, though, and Shouta is proud of how far they have come. He just isn’t sure if this heat share arrangement will help, especially if they are planning to do something stupid- because of course they would be.
Shouta will just have to stay alert and ready in case something happens.
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Shouta takes the few days that his problem children are away to do some digging. He gets Bakugou’s medical file from Recovery Girl and finds that Bakugou’s unusual monthly heat schedule only started last month. Before that, he had been having a heat every six months consistently.
It could just be a small hiccup. Even so, Shouta wants to make sure everything is fine. One of his students going feral during their heat is enough to set his protective instincts off. He needs to make sure it isn’t something bad.
Shouta flips through the pages, finding a hospital visit that occurred towards the beginning of summer break. He skims through it.
‘Patient was picked up from home in an ambulance… passed out from lack of air due to unknown viscous material clouding lungs… patient later admitted he’s been having trouble breathing for a few days. Due to the severity, surgery was required and he will be given a few weeks worth of antibiotics… self-inflicted lacerations around the mouth plus lacerations to the hips, thighs, and stomach. The patient went feral when the nurse tried to bandage said lacerations… Wounds occurred during the patient's heat. The patient's parents were not informed of his wounds. Most likely a hidden assault.’
Rage wells inside him. Bakugou was attacked during his heat? And he hid it? He takes deep breaths, trying to rein in the angry black pepper scent he is unintentionally letting out.
This happened a while ago. There's nothing he can do about it now.
Once he’s calm, he starts focusing on the facts. A bad experience during a previous heat is a likely cause for more frequent heats. Bakugou could be going feral as a coping mechanism.
Shouta flips further back, finding another hospital visit from his last year of Middle School.
‘Patient arrived at the hospital with self-defense wounds to the arms, self-inflicted lacerations around the mouth, and an unknown viscous material clouding the lungs. The lungs were drained, and the patient was given antibiotics. A check-up is scheduled for a week to make sure the patient's lungs are fine.’
More material in his lungs? Could the assault have been by the same person?
Shouta’s brows furrow as he looks at the date. Why does it seem so familiar? Shouta looks up as Yagi lets out a boisterous laugh, and it clicks. That was the day All Might saved a kid from a villain. The kid he saved had an explosion quirk… and the villain was made of sludge. Fuck, that’s it.
But that wouldn’t explain Bakugou’s state on the second visit. How did more sludge get into his lungs? The villain couldn’t have gotten out of jail that quickly. Maybe it was a type of sludge that grows after some time? A quirk that can be activated from afar?
Shouta shakes his head to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Problem Child.” He groans.
Even if Bakugou was going feral due to a past assault, it wouldn’t explain why it took so long for him to show symptoms. Was it simply the stress of going to UA that activated it? The villain attacks were certainly stressful for everyone involved.
Shouta’s heart clenches as he realizes something. The recent villain attacks could have brought up trauma from his previous attacks. He sighs, rubbing his tired eyes. God, he wishes he could just hide his students away.
He hates the fact that they had to face villains so early. But he can’t change the past.
All he can do is make sure they are prepared for the future.
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When Bakugou comes back from heat leave, he somehow looks worse than he did the last time. Midoriya doesn’t look any better, either.
Teenagers and their ability to worsen their own problems…
Shouta waits a few days and simply watches.
Bakugou refuses to be close to Midoriya. He doesn’t yell or go out of his way to pick on him anymore. If anything, he seems… afraid. As the days go on, the bags under his eyes get worse. He spaces out during class and heroics training. He isn’t as angry, and even Kaminari can’t get him to lash out like usual. Shouta needs to keep a close eye on him.
And Midoriya… Midoriya looks haunted. Every time he looks at Bakugou, Shouta can see guilt and regret. The boy is constantly self-soothing, picking at his nails, biting his lip, or fidgeting. For the first time since Shouta’s known him, he’s quiet.
It’s safe to say that the heat share was a wrong move. Shouta needs to figure out what happened and work to fix the situation. Both for his sanity and for their relationship.
He decides to handle them one-on-one first. Putting them together so soon will only worsen the situation. “Bakugou, can you stay after class, please?” He asks when the lunch bell rings.
It goes to show how severe the situation is when Bakugou only nods. The rest of his students look at each other worriedly, and they are unusually quiet as they walk out of the classroom. Shouta is quick to close and lock the door before he turns the lights on to a less harsh setting.
Bakugou watches him carefully, a confused tilt to his head.
Shouta doesn’t bother saying anything, simply grabbing his drop kit and the meal Recovery Girl gave him that’s full of the nutrients a dropping Omega would need. He sets the bento in front of Bakugou.
“I’m going to need you to eat this, okay?” Bakugou looks at it before slowly opening it up, finding a simple meal of rice, vegetables, and salmon. There’s also a small container filled with vitamins that Bakugou inspects.
“I’m afraid I couldn’t get you something spicy.” Shouta says offhandedly, picking through his drop kit. Spice isn’t good for Omega’s in risk of dropping. It could worsen their stomach aches and nausea. When he finds the small pack of melatonin he was searching for, he hands it to Bakugou, who looks at him like he’s grown two heads.
“The fuck is all this?” He snaps, but it’s lacking bite due to how exhausted he is.
Shouta sighs. “You are showing worrying signs of a drop.”
“A drop…?” Bakugou pauses. He stares down at the bento. Shouta can see him warring with himself, complicated emotions passing over his face before he seems to just… shut down. He shakes his head. “No, no. Everything is fucking fine, there’s no way I’m dropping.”
He stands, continuing to shake his head. “I’m fucking fine.” He tries to walk away, but Shouta holds out his hand and lets out a calming croon. Bakugou pauses, his head snapping toward him.
Shouta’s croon transitions to a low rumble. He maintains eye contact, watching as Bekugou’s shoulders slump from the calming noise. “I’m worried. And don’t tell me there’s no reason to be worried, we both know you’re smarter than that.” He releases a soft vanilla scent. Instead of using his usual monotone voice, he opts for something softer. Because he’s talking to his biggest problem. His student. His pup to look after while he’s in his class, and every pup deserves a little softness when they’re not feeling well. “Something is obviously wrong, but I’m not going to press you on it. For now, I just want you to eat this, take those vitamins, and try to get some sleep.”
Bakugou sighs, relenting. He sits back at his desk and starts to eat. “Now, usually we have to give you a check-up -” he chuckles at Bakugou’s glare. “- but I know you won’t allow me. So instead, I’ll need you to promise me something, alright?”
“What?” Bakugou grumbles.
“Take care of yourself, okay? Take a few days to rest. And please for the love of god find a better way to manage your heats because I know whatever you're doing now is not working and I know that the reason you're showing symptoms of dropping is because of them.”
Bakugou stuffs a piece of fish into his mouth and chews before huffing. “Whatever.” He mumbles.
Shouta sighs. “Thank you.” He zips up his drop kit and heads over to his desk to put it back in its designated drawer. He lets Bakugou eat in silence, knowing neither of them likes small talk. When Bakugou is finished, Shouta takes the bento and leaves the room for a moment to return it to Recovery Girl.
When he returns, Bakugou is out like a light. A nap after a warm meal and a soothing scent in the room is something even the most stubborn person can’t fight against. Shouta smiles at the sight and dims the lights a little more.
He lets Bakugou rest for the remainder of the lunch period, only waking him when there is five minutes left. He kneels in front of Bakugou’s desk and taps it. It’s loud enough for the teen to stir, his head tilting so his eyes peek out from his arms.
“Lunch period is over,” Shouta says quietly, and Bakugou groans before sitting up and stretching his arms. He looks better, thankfully. A small nap isn’t a fix-all, but he does seem to have some life back in him.
Shouta walks over to the door to unlock it and turn the lights back to their usual setting before going back to his desk to wait for his students. It only takes a few minutes before they start filtering in. He watches as they seem to light up when they see that Bakugou is somewhat back to himself.
It’s amazing how one angry kid can shine so brightly.
Shouta’s eyes catch Midoriya, who, when he sees Bakugou, seems to lose some of the burden on his shoulders. He looks like he wants to cry, and he does let out a few tears when Bakugou actually looks at him for the first time in days.
It’s a quick glance, but it’s progress nonetheless.
Shouta manages to quietly get Midoriya’s attention, urging him to stop at his desk before he sits. When Midoriya stands in front of him, anxious and fidgeting, he releases more calming vanilla. Shouta’s scent isn’t mainly vanilla, but you would think it is with how often he relies on it to calm his students.
Midoriya’s shoulders slowly lose their tension. “Breathe, Midoriya.” Shouta reminds him. “He’s fine for now. I don’t know what happened between you two, but I want you to know I’m making sure he’s safe and healthy.”
Midoriya nods, clenching his eyes shut. His shoulders tremble, and Shouta can tell he’s about to cry. “I want to talk to you after class, too, okay?”
“Yes,” Midoriya whispers, holding a hand over his mouth.
“Just take deep breaths. You’ve got this.” Shouta says soothingly.
Midoriya nods again, taking deep breaths like he was told. They’ve been working on this, and it goes to show how far he’s come when it only takes him a few more deep breaths before he’s managed to get a hold on his crying. He wipes his eyes before squaring his shoulders and giving him a determined nod. “Okay.”
He heads back to his seat just in time for the late bell to ring, and Shouta stands to start class.
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Once class ends, Midoriya makes an excuse to his friends about asking Shouta a question. He waits until everyone has left before walking up to Shouta’s desk.
Shouta gets straight to the point. “What happened?”
Midoriya rubs his neck, avoiding his eyes. “I don’t… this is something that Kacchan should tell you. It’s not my place.”
Shouta nods. Of course, nothing can be easy when it comes to these two. “Alright, is there anything you can tell me?”
Midoriya thinks long and hard, clearly choosing his words. “Kacchan went through something. Something bad. Very bad.” He’s already getting worked up, tears rising to his eyes. “We created a plan to try to help him with what happened because anyone with eyes can see how it’s affecting him. Well… it didn’t work.”
That much is clear. Shouta had a feeling that whatever they were planning was going to go wrong. They don’t have the greatest track record when it comes to making good decisions.
Midoriya hiccups, but continues to talk through it. “It made everything worse- so much worse. I- I…” He heaves, falling to his knees and grabbing the trash bin next to his desk. He gags, and Shouta quickly jumps out of his chair, kneeling next to him and rubbing his back while he rumbles comfortingly.
“It was fine at first. It was working! But then- he- I didn’t want to-, but I did!” He sobs, gagging every so often. Nothing comes out. “I already failed him once, and then he got h-hurt. I thought I could help this time, but I- I failed. I just h-hurt him again. H-he trusted me!”
Shouta rubs up Midoriya’s back, feeling an impending sense of doom. Teenagers can be dramatic, sure, but this feels like so much more than regular teenage drama. “Since I don’t have the full story, I don’t want to say the wrong thing to you.” He starts. Midoriya looks up at him, and his heart breaks at the guilt he sees there.
“Mistakes happen, no matter how much you don’t want them to. There is a lot of history between the two of you. History that I know nothing about, but I know you two can work through this.” He runs his hand through Midoirya’s hair, watching him lean into it like he’s starved for affection. Shouta lets out deep rumbles, not stopping for a moment when Midoriya leans against him.
Knowing Midoriya, he hasn’t let himself stop. He is always focused on how he can help, not on his own feelings. So Shouta continues to let out soothing rumbles, petting his hair. “As I said earlier, I’ve got Bakugou. You know what that means?”
“What?” Midoriya sniffles.
“It means that it’s time for you to focus on yourself. This is obviously hard on you, too.”
“That doesn’t matter-”
“It does,” Shouta says firmly. “You have to live with yourself. You have to continue living with the past mistakes you’ve made. It sucks, but it’s true. And since you’ve been focusing on the result of your actions and how they hurt Bakugou, it’s time to focus on yourself. You need to think about how it made you feel, accept that it’s already happened, and in your case, cry about it.”
“Huh?”
“Cry about it, kid,” Shouta says fondly. “I’m right here, and I’ve got all day. Let it out.”
Midoriya stares at him, but he can see the tears falling faster. It only takes a moment before he finally lets it go and cries.
Shouta isn’t sure how long he cries for. It takes a while before his sobs turn into light sniffles. It’s to be expected, though. Midoriya is someone who feels deeply. Shouta holds him through it, letting out a steady stream of rumbles that are barely heard through the teens crying.
“How am I supposed to move on from what I’ve done?” Midoriya whispers after a while.
Shouta is suddenly hit with a memory. One from when he was a teenager, mourning the loss of his friend. He had asked a similar question then.
“Sometimes… you can’t. It can stick with you forever. Accepting that something doesn’t make moving on any easier. You can learn to live with it, or you can work to make sure what happened never happens again. Is what happened avoidable?”
Midoriya nods.
“Then learn from your mistakes. Don’t force yourself to think back on it if you can’t, but try to think about how you can avoid it happening in the future. Apologise, and work on your relationship with Bakugou.”
“Okay… thank you, Aizawa-Sensei.”
“Sure, kid.” Shouta pats his head. They sit there together until Midoriya gets enough energy to stand and head back to the dorms.
Shouta watches him go, hoping that the conversations he had helped the two in some way. He sighs and stands, wincing as his joints crack loudly. For now, it’s back to watching to make sure his students take care of themselves.