Izuku Midoriya was the darling sunshine of Class A, and plenty of them were willing to fight anyone who thought differently. Until.

"Ochako," Tenya's voice snaps her out of her daydream. They've known each other long enough for her to pick the odd tilt of genuine worry creeping in on her name. She's been spacing out the last few days, Ochako knows, and today, as she'd come into class, Bakugou's seat was empty. It makes her stomach do somersaults inside her, equal parts concerned and curious. It's been eating her up inside, what's happening with Izuku. On top of his surgery, it's bringing back a lot of things that Ochako has been careful to never consider. "Is everything alright?"

Tenya is definitely the worst person for her to talk to. All of Izuku's closest friends - Tenya, Todoroki, and Ochako herself - had taken his betrayal the hardest, but besides Bakugou, Tenya might have been the most affected. Not that Ochako's trying to make feelings a competition, it isn't; the situation sucks for everyone but… It had been heavily implied that Izuku had been closely linked to the League of Villains, and the League relied heavily on pro-Stain propaganda, born out of a man who had crippled Tenya's brother for life. Izuku believing - or at least working for - an organization which propagated such ideals had been a personal blow.

Ochako knows it will be a conflictive conversation, but she has no one else to talk to. She tried to keep it to herself, but she must not have been as subtle as she'd hoped if Tenya had followed her out to her impromptu picnic. It's not usual for her to grab lunch alone, but it's also not unheard of. She likes some space to think when she's upset. Izuku never used to respect that. She's not sure if she liked him because of his senseless meddling or despite it.

Despite how Tenya is her closest friend, they have barely ever spoken about Izuku.

"Do you think bad people deserve to die?"

"...Ochako?"

"It's just, I mean… like Karma? The good and the bad you do are returned to you, right? Does that mean that if someone is evil enough, they eventually, I don't know, get what they deserve?" Is Death even punishment when it comes to us all?

"As heroes, we are merely enforcers of the law, not judges or legislators. As tough as it may sound, we are not expected to define fairness or punishment, only make it so that it may take place."

This had not been precisely what Ochako had been pondering, but it was real and unsettling nonetheless.

"What would happen if what was lawful wasn't fair?"

"I believe the law is in place to protect us. Sometimes, even from our own decisions and mistakes." Tenya has always been a rule-follower, law-abiding to obsessive degrees. He is so stiff about protocol and etiquette it actually makes him kinda cute with his copious and passionate hand gestures. There's something different in his tone now, something darker, or perhaps, rooted in something beyond learned common sense.

"But some rules are meant to be broken," Ochako argues. It's not that she disagrees as much as she's trying to figure out what she thinks about this whole mess. Izuku had been part of a lot of pain for a lot of people. There are loved ones who never returned home because of him. "For example, back on the field trip when Bakugou got kidnapped," she pauses, dumbstruck for a moment because she has to clarify: "the first time. Anyway, students were allowed to fight against villains."

"Yet the law does cover the principle of self-defense." Tenya still looms above her, his tall figure stark against the cloudless sky. The lunch bell will ring any minute, but Ochako feels suspended in time. As they crawl their way to graduation, school seems infinite, and months away from becoming heroes, she feels like everything's been gone in a blink. "As pro heroes, we must set the example. Following all laws and regulations to the letter." The hard lines around his mouth soften, almost pleading his case. "Otherwise, what heart do we have to ask the same of others?

"What about when Bakugou was rescued?" It almost brings a smile to her face, the way Tenya stutters.

"I'm simultaneously embarrassed and proud to have been a part of it," he answers after gathering back his calm. He looks upon the grass but is much too concerned about his uniform to sit next to Ochako. His visible conflict does make her smile. He crosses his arm over his chest with a soft huff, uniform straining under a powerful physique. Tenya's quirk may be about his legs, but UA is about beating out your weaknesses. "In the end, we'll never truly know if the pros would've garnered similar results." The silence that follows is even longer than before, and Ochako thinks about changing the subject. Recognizing the uncomfortable air settling between them, but just as she racks her brain for something else to say: "...We also do not know if there was anything else at stake that allowed for our success."

Huh?

It dawns on Ochako a little slowly that Tenya is talking about Izuku's involvement. Oh.

"You think Bakugou was rescued because you guys were with Izuku," she regrets having blurted it out immediately, but Tenya doesn't give any outward burst of emotion. Ochako scolds herself. Of course, he wouldn't; her friend and Bakugou are complete opposites. Tenya's type of pain has always been lonely and well-guarded. Focusing on his words, she acknowledges that it's a valid concern.

"Something along that vein of thought, yes."

"Maybe," she acquiesces. "Why rescue Bakugou, though? Why kidnap him in the first place?"

"I don't know, Ochako, though I've certainly thought about it many times."

"Deku always seemed so genuine…"

I'm sorry, Uraraka.

"That he did."

"I just don't understand. I saw him fighting so many times, I once thought no one wanted to be a hero just for the sake of being a hero more than Deku. I wanted to be more of a hero after I met him… How is it all false? How could he do this?"

Tenya's brows furrow, joining in the middle to communicate a deeply felt confusion and unhappiness.

"What brought this on?" Ochako bites her lip and relays to Tenay everything she'd heard. It's a wright off her chest, even as her gut churns at possibly getting Shinsou into trouble. Through it all, Tenya is firm standing in front of her, brian whirring a mile a minute. She wonders if the knowledge of Deku's fate is as upsetting to him as it is to her. Deku deserves prison, he does, but being killed? Does anyone deserve that? Idly she hears her phone ping, but pays the notification little mind, caught up in overseeing Tenya's expression. She's never been prolific in reading other people, but she has familiarity on her side.

"Bakugou didn't come to school today," Tenya notes. He and Bakugou have also been on shaky terms since Deku was arrested.

"He didn't," Ochako agrees. Misery really does love company because the only thing it's brought her is that both are as melancholic as she started out.

"Are you okay?" Shouta catches Bakugou outside the hospital, sitting on the bench next to the farthest vending machine. He's almost as tall as the Underground Hero, but in the hunched shoulders, Shouta still catches the underlining boy in him. Sometimes, as a teacher, it's a little hard to tell. You spend so much time immersed in their tiny society, especially in a high-performance school like UA, it's easy to forget. They may train like adults, talk like adults, and act like adults, but their students are not adults. Which is the point Shouta wished to make with the police before allowing Bakugou and Midoriya to meet.

"I don't want to talk about it," the teen grumbles out, but there's no real bite to his voice. Knowing him, the reaction is more reflex than anything. More than angry or even hurt, Bakugou looks tired as he puts away his phone. Shouta withholds from asking who he was texting.

"Understandable," he offers, taking a seat on the other side of the bench. He's still taller than his student but not by much, looking down on Bakugou only because of the way the younger man slouches against the iron bench. Bakugou has also filled out significantly since his arrival to UA, a necessary goal with the amount of strain his quirk puts him through. "I also find Midoriya being hospitalized unpleasant."

"I figured you'd hate him," he mumbles, eyes somewhere over the small green park in the middle of the medical center, "plenty of people do." He fists his hands as he says this. Unnoticed by the blonde, Shouta raises a single brow in question. He's not a man of overwhelming feeling; Shouta's not sure he hates anyone, too desensitized to the ugly of the world since decades ago. Katsuki motions vaguely to his face, acknowledging his teacher's confusion. "His pals almost did you in, and now… now we know Deku has been with them all along." Rage swirls in Bakugou's eyes as he says this, but his temper has long been but a cover for his heart. Shouta briefly entertains what the hero-in-training might actually feel. His situation is basically unprecedented.

Midoriya did give Bakugou intel.

Something tightens in Aizawa's throat even as he forces the unease down. It's good to get any information from such an enigmatic player like Midoriya, but positive results of using Bakugou against him are not what Aizawa wished for. This small success will serve as positive reinforcement for circumventing the ethics of involving children and emotional relations in legal and criminal proceedings. One thing at a time, though.

"What do you think makes a criminal, Bakugou?"

"What stupid-ass question is that?"

"Humour me." Bakugou takes a moment to think about it, glaring at nothing to channel the emotions brimming inside him.

"Someone who breaks the law."

"And is the law infallible? Forever fair? Ideal?"

"Obviously not," Bakugou snorts.

"Then that means that sometimes, people break the law, even when they're doing the right thing. Do you consider these people criminals?"

"That's not Deku's case," he argues immediately, finally turning to look at his teachers with his hackles raised. His red eyes are incensed, daring Shouta to contradict him.

"It isn't," he agrees firmly, thankful that out of all the students that he needed to talk through the truth of Midoriya's guilt, Bakugou was not among them. The kid is as stubborn as they come. "I have a lot of negative feelings for Midoriya, but not because I'm personally affronted by his actions." Shouta is. There are dozens of moments where Midoriya's path to heroism displayed itself in Shouta's mind, so much pride and affection, so many mindless prayers for safety and success. Midoriya has always been a problem child, but Shouta thought he at least had his heart in the right place. It's a painful, maddening thing being played like this. Bakugou - existing and overcoming his own irate storm regarding his former flame - does not need to know that. "It's just hard to see so much potential go to waste."

"I should've seen it." It takes all of Shouta to not stiffen at the quiet confession, the self-recrimination and pain threaded into his voice call out to Shouto's own demons. The pro-hero closes his eyes for a moment, letting the weight of guilt pull at him. His kids really had grown up too fast. He knows Bakugou's feelings intimately and tells him a half-truth that he hasn't quite been able to believe himself.

"I don't know how much there was to see." He expects Bakugou to huff out, indignant and dismissive, but he only looks away and sinks back into his chair. The hero student looks tired, but the lines of his face look softer. It could be Shouta's reassurance or, more likely, Midoriya's slow but steady return to health. Shouta stays in silence for a couple of minutes, giving the other a chance to gather his thoughts, but in the end, he's here in an official capacity, and debriefing needs to occur as soon as possible. "Anything useful?"

"It wasn't a complete waste of time," Bakugou answers swiftly, seemingly snapping to attention at the reminder of his mission. He hesitates briefly, "he's incapable of not speaking absolute bullshit, though." Shouta grunts in what he hopes is encouragement. "He admitted that he is known in some circles as Freckles," he offers, and that already is a notable breakthrough. "As for the flight risk... he shook it off. Dismissed any theory that he's playing a long-con." Which is par for the course; confirming his identity is already more than Aizawa ever expected. "Trying to make it sound like a conspiracy theory, of course."

Something in the way Bakugou says it catches his attention. In interrogation, Midoriya is a wildcard, never settling on any one strategy to avoid it. Aizawa has sat in during several of them, each displaying a different 'persona.' It took him a couple before understanding that the problem child was channeling his classmates to avoid developing patterns.

He showed up with Kirishima's good-naturedness.

Aoyama's eccentricities - french accent excluded.

Asui's bluntness.

Todoroki's awkward understanding.

His sheer awareness of some of their personality quirks, the way they spoke, their pacing, overused phrases. It had sent alarm bells ringing in Shouto's minds. In prison, there were no notebooks and no further opportunity for recon. Whatever Midoriya brought to the table was in his brain, or he was figuring it out as he went, maybe both. Neither was a good prospect.

He unconsciously remembers the guard's confusion at Midoriya's muzzle when this can of worms broke open. Shouta had fought against it, heatedly. After being a member of Midoriya's handling panel… well, it curved his will to get rid of it. It's not that Shouta can clearly determine how Midoriya would talk his way out of his prison. He is just unwilling to give him the opportunity to figure it out.

He'd been displeased that in the hospital, there would be no way to survey Bakugou's conversation.

"What do you mean?" he asks, watching as Bakugou's mouth curves down into a sneer.

"He's all: Kacchan, do you really think I'd planned for you to be kidnapped without ransom so that I could get assassinated?" Bakugou doesn't try to initiate Midoriya's voice - thankfully - but it just makes the sentence odd in his deadpan, growling tone. When he continues, he seems to be a little more invested in the information. "I did get that he's been working at it since before UA, at least since way back in Middle School."

"I see… That's actually significant progress for this case." Which, again, makes the back of Aizawa's neck prickle. Bakugou - for reasons he's not willing to entertain - really does seem to make Midoriya more cooperative.

Other than when Tsukauchi has proposed deals that interest him and when he and All Might went to bribe him for help, Aizawa has seen very little of the Izuku Midoriya who attended UA and not whatever washed-out character he's interpreting for the day. Bakugou apparently has had no such problems.

"Was he… cooperative?"

"He knew you'd bring me." A smart child, Bakugou pierces right through the heart of the matter. His gaze seems to look for something up on the cream-colored ceiling, but answers to his misgivings seem to elude him. "He made me… when I asked… he just wanted…" Bakugou takes in a deep breath, cutting off his nonsensical stuttering. "He made it obvious that his answers depend on who's asking the questions. He was unambiguous as to who the right person to ask the questions was."

"How do you feel about that?"

"I just wish all these fucking villains would stop being obsessed with me for fuck's sake." Bakugou must be more rattled than Shouta thought if he's really running his mouth to him. For today, he thinks the kid can swear if it helps clear the anger from his system. "Like, the League kidnapping me just to get at Izuku? Is that even really what happened? How were they so sure he'd give them up? Not asking for ransom so that you'd have to rely on Deky too… that's some serious planning that they're doing, and way too much fucking knowledge of security protocols. Wasn't Deku their plan guy?! Is there someone new? I've been thinking about it for days and talking to Deku…. it just...! He's just so chilled about everything. Deku was always such an anxious wreck; he'd bite his nails off just because he didn't study enough for a test, and now, he's what? Resigned to living out the rest of his life behind bars?! I don't believe that shit! I don't know what he's..." but Shouta is no longer listening to Bakugou's angry tirade.

Do you really think I'd planned for you to be kidnapped without ransom so that I could get assassinated?

Wasn't Deku their plan guy?!

"Bakugou!"

"What?" the teen snaps out of his rant, looking alarmed at Shouta's harsh tone.

"Is that what he said?" his mind is running a mile a minute, adrenaline set in at the conclusion his brain is working towards.

"What?" Bakugou's taken aback at the sudden shift in conversation.

"He specifically said 'kidnapped without ransom'?!" Bakugou opens his mouth, annoyed and hurried before stopping himself. He frowns, most likely focusing on his conversation and then nodding sharply.

"Yes." Shouta's moving even before he speaks.

"That was classified information that wasn't released to him. This is a setup. I need to go." Shota brings his earpiece to life as he runs back inside the hospital. Before entering, he swivels brusquely to pin Bakugou down with his most severe glare. "Stay here."

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