Offering Help

Shoto listened as Kirishima began to explain. "Bakugou said he was Midoriya's bully and has been for a long time. Even with how much we've seen him do here, he said he was even worse before UA. He told me that last night's fight is the best thing to happen between them in a decade."

Shoto clutched his hands into fists as he verified, "So, he outright admitted he bullied Midoriya?"

"He was at least manly enough to admit what he did. Most people won't call their actions out for what they are. He also pointed out how he never tried to hide it from any of us." Kirishima looked like he felt somewhat guilty for even voicing the justification.

Shoto glared down at his hands, disgusted at himself as he thought about that simple truth: Bakugou never did try to disguise the nature of his relationship with Midoriya at all. They'd just chosen to ignore it. Like how everyone ignored that the Number Two Hero completely isolated and mistreated his family.

It wasn't even like Midoriya was the only one, even here in class 1-A. He was just the one that took the brunt of the other boy's anger.

Kirishima caught Shoto's glance and said, "Bakugou does feel bad about how he treats Midoriya."

"Just not bad enough to stop," Shoto retorted, furious that the other boy had the gall to defend what Bakugou had done because he 'felt bad' about it.

"I think he wants to, but doesn't know how," Kirishima admitted.

Shoto's father had had times where he regretted things, too. Times where, although he'd never admit it aloud, he'd realize he'd taken things too far. At those times, the training would get less physical. But eventually, he would sink right back into old patterns.

So, in Shoto's mind, 'he wants to, but doesn't know how,' hardly seemed like a fitting defense. He could see from the way Uraraka glared and clenched her fists that he wasn't alone in thinking that.

"Look, I can understand being angry. I'm not happy about it, either. I know that admitting what he did doesn't make it right," Kirishima added. "I know that. But I'm not going to ignore the fact that he wants to do better and that he's man enough to ask for help. That has to count for something, especially for someone like Bakugou who hates admitting anything that seems like a weakness. It's not going to make anything better if we just lash out. Revenge isn't manly and retribution isn't heroic."

Shoto had to fight the urge to grind his teeth. It was easy enough to hear the words and agree when there were no faces to put to it but right now, he couldn't help but think of what Midoriya had put up with for who knows how long while everyone else just ignored it. "And what about Midoriya? Are you going to ignore what Bakugou put him through just because he 'feels bad' about it? Midoriya will never completely recover from whatever Bakugou did to make him flinch and tremble every time he raises his voice or his hand and trail several paces behind him, they're together."

"You don't think I know that?" Kirishima argued. "I was bullied a lot for my quirk when I was younger, too. I know what it's like. But hurting Bakugou won't make things better for them. It'll just make us bullies, too. I don't want that and we both know Midoriya wouldn't either."

While Kirishima was right about what Midoriya would probably want, Shoto knew it was some sort of victim view. It had come up a few times he'd talked to his mother recently. How she forgave them. And…to be honest, he remembered doing something similar when he was little, until his anger had reached such a crescendo that it overrode the feeling. Even that took a while. Should they respect requests of mercy and forgiveness from victims that came from emotional scars left by their abusers?

Because the pain didn't go away. He knew that he would always remember the hell he went through during his childhood and that Midoriya would do the same.

When a villain did something wrong, they were expected to be punished. Why is it that when someone 'heroic' or 'upstanding' got caught doing something horrific, the worst they'd get was a slap on the wrist, if there were any consequences at all? Why should Bakugou get comfort for making a fuss when who knows how many silent victims would go on suffering? How about the people he'd continue to hurt because he didn't 'know how to' stop hurting them?

Mina interrupted his thoughts, "Sorry but, Todoroki, could you open the window to the balcony?" She asked. "It's getting cold in here."

Shoto was surprised and then realized that he had become so worked up that he had been using his ice side of his Quirk to the point where he had started making crystals over his left side, simply out of habit from where he used to cover it up. He glanced behind himself to see that almost all of the glass on the sliding door was covered with icy swirls, which radiated out from him. "Sorry about that," he said, melting the ice off of it even as he pulled it open.

Shoto returned to his seat, melting the frost off of it, too. He was still frustrated with Kirishima but he knew he wasn't in the right frame of mind to deal with the other right now. He knew how much damage his quirk could do if he lost control of it and he had no intention of using it against someone in anger.

That was something his father would do.

"To be fair," Iida said, getting the conversation back on track, "all the signs were there. Midoriya even told us that Deku was originally a derogatory name Bakugou gave him." Both he and Uraraka looked guilty.

That was news to Shoto.

"He distracted us then, too. Said it was okay," Uraraka admitted.

"So, what are we going to do about it?" Kaminari asked.

Tenya had originally been hesitant about having this meeting. He'd been concerned about interfering with Midoriya and Bakugou's personal business when they hadn't breached the subject with them. Even if the conflict between them caused a lot of trouble, he wanted to give them space to work it out among themselves.

Momo had given a powerful counterargument, though. She'd pointed out that their issues had reached a point where they were having physical altercations and impacting the wellbeing of other members of the class.

So, despite Tenya's misgivings, he had relented.

Now, the conversation seemed absolutely essential. Tenya had learned not only enough about Midoriya and Bakugou to know there was reason to be concerned, but also the fact that other classmates were silently suffering through issues of their own which they didn't feel comfortable expressing.

Tenya couldn't help but think back to barely an hour ago, when he was offering Midoriya his support and his friend had just smiled and thanked him. And how he had behaved similarly many times before. What had seemed then like an assurance that Midoriya would come to them if he needed assistance now felt like the other boy drawing himself away.

At first, Tenya hadn't understood why he would do such a thing. Then, as Todoroki had talked and Kirishima had made a few comments of his own, he couldn't help but recall how he had reacted to Midoriya and Uraraka's own offers of help after Stain had crippled Tesnei. Why hadn't he noticed?

Because he never thought of anyone else refusing to reach out, certainly not for any other reason other than hurt and anger. Tenya felt like he was still being self-centered for not realized it before.

It hurt that, despite all that they'd been through, everything that they had done together, none of them felt close enough to reach out to him if they needed that help. Maybe it was selfish. After all, they hadn't, either.

And despite how blatant Bakugou was about his bullying, and that Iida had even recognized some instances as such, he had acted as if both Midoriya and the explosive blonde had equal responsibility in their confrontations. Even though he knew that Midoriya never instigated fights while Bakugou was constantly seeking them out.

Was it really a wonder why Midoriya wouldn't talk to him?

He wondered how many more of their classmates were silently hurting.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do for those he didn't know about. So, Tenya was already thinking about what he could do, starting with Midoriya, Todoroki and possibly even Kirishima. He'd also have to be more watchful of Bakugou from now on. He wanted to curb the other boy's antagonistic behavior.

So, when Kaminari asked what they should do now, Tenya had already been silently contemplating the question.

Mina frowned thoughtfully and said, "We can't do much for the next couple days, since Midoriya and Bakugou are here and we're in class, but I think the biggest thing that we can do is make sure that Midoriya and Bakugou are together as little as possible. And when they are, they can't be alone."

"I couldn't agree with you more," Tenya responded. "I can discuss such arrangements with the rest of our classmates." It was the least he could do right now, both as the president making a safe environment for his classmates, and as a friend.

"I also think we should bring this up with Mr. Aizawa," Momo added. "We can only do so much as classmates."

"Yes," Iida agreed, more than a little embarrassed that he hadn't immediately thought of this himself. "Our teachers would probably be able to better handle the conflict."

"We can discuss how to approach him later, Iida. I think this is something that's more our responsibility as class reps." She paused before adding, "or, if you need some time to process this, we can talk about it tomorrow before school."

Iida nodded. "That's probably for the best." Because that was the problem, he realized. He was so caught off guard about discovering that Midoriya had been silently hiding his personal problems, even when he talked that he couldn't properly process anything else. Not even the 'revelation' that Bakugou was his bully.

He needed to clear his head if he was going to deal with this situation as best befitted either his position as class president or his role as a close friend.

Was he close, though? Midoriya hid so much from him. He forced the thought away, scolding himself. Of course, Midoriya considered him a good friend. Todoroki had explained that his perceived need to hide his problems had nothing to do with that.

Mina distracted Tenya from his own thoughts as she said, "We also need to make sure that both Midoriya and Bakugou know we're here for them, too."

"Bakugou knows he can talk to me," Kirishima said, "But what about Midoriya? Someone's got to check on him. Someone here has to be able to reach him, right?"

Seeing his opportunity to express his support for his friend even further, Tenya volunteered, declaring, "I could talk to him."

A moment of silence followed the offer.

What was wrong?

Momo finally spoke up. "Iida, I know that you've been through even more with Midoriya than most of us and no one doubts that you really want to show him how much care, but you can be a bit… Overwhelming… sometimes. And we all know how skittish Midoriya can be."

"Oh," Tenya responded, caught off guard. It wasn't the easiest thing to hear. "I-… I suppose… I just-…"

Uraraka put a hand on his shoulder and said, "It's okay, we understand. Plus, you volunteered to help several other ways, too. So, it's not like you 're not doing anything."

Tenya looked over at Uraraka. She had spent about as much time with Izuku as he did, and had been locked out just as much. "Maybe you should, then?"

Todoroki took that moment to say, "I don't know, she and Midoriya get really flustered around each other."

"What do you mean we get flustered?!" Uraraka turned toward him and asked angrily.

"You two turn red and you get all quiet, while he starts stuttering really badly when you try talking about something serious."

Uraraka's face started turning red.

"Yeah, just like that."

Kaminari started snickering, which seemed to cause Kirishima to giggle.

Tenya frowned and said, "That's completely inappropriate for the situation."

Mina, seeming to agree with this, elbowed Kirishima and tossed her pillow over his head to nail Kaminari in the chest, silencing them.

"What's so funny?" Todoroki asked, completely clueless of the embarrassment he had caused for Uraraka.

"N-Nothing," Uraraka replied quickly, face still crimson.

While Kirishima and Kaminari continued to collect themselves, amused smiles still in place even as they attempted to suppress their laughter, Mina took the opportunity to ask, "Then, who do you think should?"

For a moment, Todoroki quietly stared at his feet before asking, "Did any of you know he keeps a med kit?"

"'Med kit?" Kaminari asked.

"He had one out, last night," Kirishima explained for the benefit of everyone who wasn't in Bakugou's room last night. "Big fishing box full of stuff."

"Why would any of us know about that?" Momo asked.

"No one?" Todoroki asked to confirm.

Nothing but head shakes in response.

There was another moment of silence, before Todoroki asked, "Is it still sharing secrets if you share something with another person, even if you don't say anything about why you have it?"

"I don't really understand…" Kirishima replied, confused.

"You knew he was self-treating, didn't you?" Uraraka asked.

Todoroki nodded once, thoughtful. "I think it might be me."

"What might be you?" Kirishima asked, looking even more lost.

"I think maybe I'm Midoriya's you."

"Huh?"

"There's only one Kirishima," Tenya declared, also befuddled by the statement. "And although you are both great people, you are very different."

"No," Todoroki began. "I meant like how Bakugou would only come for Kirishima at Kamino when he reached for him… I think, I might be Midoriya's him. We've… done a lot, together and talked about… some things. The only other person who's done about as much with us is you." He gestured to Tenya. "But—"Todorki paused, trying to find the proper words to finish his statement with.

"It's different for you." Tenya frowned and finished the other boy's statement, as much as it hurt.

"Sorry," Todoroki said awkwardly.

"Don't be, if we're going to help our friends, we must recognize the situation for what it is." Tenya sighed and hoped he would be able to hide how much the idea hurt as he continued, "We probably wouldn't even know how big the problem is right now if you hadn't said anything. You clearly recognized what he's going through beforehand and have a better understanding than the rest of us. You seem to better comprehend why he's behaving this way. It's possible that your assumption that you are the one who's most likely to reach him is a valid one."

There was another moment of awkward silence.

It was once again breached by Todoroki, who had said more in this meeting than he had probably said in the whole year. "How do I reach out to him? I don't think holding out a hand and calling out like Kirishima did for Bakugou at Kamino Ward would work."

Mina interrupted by asking, "How would someone have to approach you, to get you to talk about it?"

Todoroki once again fell into a contemplative silence and everyone waited for his response. Finally, seeming to miss the double nature of her question, he said, "I need to think about it, but I think that'll help a lot." He stood up, as if getting ready to leave

"Todoroki!" Uraraka called out, as she and Iida started rising to their feet.

"Do you have an idea, too?" Shoto asked.

She gave him a worried look, before saying, "No, just…"

Iida said, "You can talk to us, too, you know."

"...Oh." He finally seemed to realize what else what Mina had really been asking.

But, before he could react beyond that, they heard a distant but recognizable sound through the open window.

"That was an explosion!" Kirishima exclaimed and everyone immediately rose to their feet, looking toward the open balcony doors.

Iida's perspective just… erupted in my mind, and once I started writing, it kind of just poured onto the page.

I enjoyed getting to write a conversation with characters other than my usual focus set. As mentioned in previous chapters, I don't know how often it'll happen. Although I usually have certain plans in mind, my muse often takes me on detours in my attempts to get there. And I like where those detours usually take me.

I feel like the argument between Shoto and Kirishima is one of the most important parts of this conversation (in relation to not only canon events but real-world ones, too). It's a couple points of view for an argument on how to treat aggressors. I would say that logically, I agree with the view I expressed from Kirishima but on an emotional level, I probably would side more with Todoroki. I had to deal with a lot of bullying during my childhood, so it's a really serious topic for me that to this day I find myself thinking about a lot.

I was originally going to have Shoto verbalizing all of his anger but didn't for two reasons. First, it seemed like it would be out of character for him to be willing to do that much talking. The second, I kind of feel like the point of view he had is one of the ones that I feel gets silenced when such arguments come up in reality.

I would like to thank everyone who had been giving me references for things to read. The idea for Todoroki's effect on the window was inspired by reading one of them, 'A Study of Firsts,' by Oceanbreeze7. It's an awesome read and would recommend it if you like reading about realistic issues that arise in dorm life for a bunch of battle trained teens with powerful Quirks.

Next Chapter I'm finally getting to a scene I've had in mind for ages and has snowballed quite a bit from where it started. It was actually going to be almost ready, but then everyone here had to hear something and so I've got more work to do. But I feel this is a better spot for a longer cliff hanger than the last chapter.