The Hero Sense can sense emotional distress
He didn't know what he'd been expecting when he walked into class today, but this definitely wasn't it.
He was already in a foul mood as it was. As luck would have it, he was one of the last of his classmates to get to the classroom that particular day, all because he'd been kept up by Ashido panicking all night about a giant spider somewhere in her dorm room and refusing to leave his room and let him sleep. Thus, he was kept up way passed his usual bedtime, which led to him sleeping in and having to rush through his morning routine while trying not to trip over her body, sprawled haphazardly over his floor with her obnoxious hand-stitched leopard-print quilt as if she owned the place. Her getting to class on time was just as likely as him vouching for her when she got there, said chances being exactly none.
Because fuck her. Her nighttime shenanigans cut into his morning exercise time and he didn't appreciate it. At least he wasn't late, or he'd really tear into her.
Speed walking to his classroom and pretending as if he didn't look like death warmed over, any passing conversations from the blurred forms of the extras filing through the hallways were nothing but background noise in his somewhat foggy mind, his eyelids heavier than usual from being kept up by the stupid pinkette's incessant chattering and sporadic sleep-talking. Not that he particularly minded the lack of focus on their pointless banter, considering that he never really paid them any mind in the first place. He wasn't missing anything here. He just hoped that paying attention in class later on wouldn't end up being too much of a hassle.
With a heavy sigh and and quick glance at the nearest clock, Bakugou stomped through the opening doorway, his fiery glare scanning over the sea of faces that were becoming more and more tolerable with each passing day. He didn't miss the fact that Kaminari and Pink Cheeks weren't present yet, though that didn't surprise him, while Kirishima and Sero were happily chatting away with Earlobes and a few others listened in to whatever they were talking about.
He would take it to his grave that he paused when he noticed that Deku's seat was also empty, left bear with no evidence that the nerd had even been there at all. Nothing felt particularly wrong about it, so that was good, but it was still an odd sight to say the least. Thinking back, he was pretty sure he'd heard his and Pink Cheeks's annoyingly cheery voices in her room last night around the same time that the heathen Black Eyes invaded his sanctuary, so that might be an explanation.
He immediately wondered why he even cared.
He rolled his eyes at nothing in particular, shaking his head as he dove deeper into the chaos that was his class towards his seat, ignoring Uniform's squeaky voice and the bird's shadow's ranting as Bird Brain attempted to calm him down. Aizawa wasn't there yet, so the front was empty. Eyes scanning over the back of the room as he reached his desk, he could see Icyhot and the Animal Whisperer attempting to make normal human conversation, though he wasn't all that interested in finding out just how that might be working out.
He didn't know what he'd been expecting when he walked into class today, but it definitely wasn't freezing when his eyes landed on Ponytail.
The first thing that screamed at him was the fact that her hair was down, silky smooth and gently cascading over her shoulders with an unnatural shine that genuinely left him impressed. If she did her own hair, he might actually be curious as to what hair products she uses. The thought was immediately pushed aside by the unfamiliar feeling of wrongness that hit him a moment later. A person's hairstyle would usually not warrant such a reaction, but he'd dealt with Kirishima leaving his hair down enough times for a red flag to already be popping up in his head.
She sat at her desk with a straight, painfully 'lady-like' posture, going through her things with inhuman grace as she set out her pencils and notepads for the day, all of them labeled, color-coded, and neatly in order. It wasn't just at a glance that she seemed fine, but even watching her for a moment, absolutely nothing seemed to be wrong with her or around her whatsoever. By all means, nothing stood out.
And yet, he couldn't help but stare.
There was a faint, almost unnoticeable roiling in the pit of his stomach, almost as if he hadn't eaten breakfast that morning, and for a moment, all he could focus on was his own confusion.
He'd never felt quite like this before.
Except...he had.
"Yo, Bakugou!" It took everything in his power to not jump at the sound of Kirishima's voice. "You okay, man? You were spacing out there for a second."
"Shut up, Weird Hair. I'm not in the mood." he growled on reflex, lightly shaking his head and aggressively pulling his chair back. In one swift motion, he sat down, leaned back, and kicked his legs up on his desk, reveling in the feeling of Four Eyes glaring daggers into the side of his head.
He heard a tongue clicking as Sero's voice piped up. "One of those days, huh?"
"I blame Horns." Bakugou spat bluntly, a hint of exasperation in his tone. "Two hundred yen says she's late to class today."
Sero snerked. "Probably in my bank account's best interest to not take you up on that. I'm broke as hell."
"Good choice."
He vaguely noticed the continuous twitching in his eyebrow and right index finger, the fidgeting hardly entering his awareness. He subconsciously glanced back at Ponytail, the girl staring at her hands with a far-off expression, and something twisted.
All at once, everything felt fine, yet so wholeheartedly wrong to him. He turned to face the wall to hide his grimace.
Was this even the hero sense? It felt vaguely familiar, but...different. It was weak. Like, really weak, easily ignorable. If he was feeling anxious for any other reason, he'd miss it entirely. If someone was in danger, they might be some stranger across town that was loosely connected to the vice rep, or she was under the threat of getting hit with a water balloon in some prank war casualty. Could he even pick up on that?
Lost in his own thoughts, he almost missed when Deku and Pink Cheeks stumbled into class, looks of receding panic in their eyes and just a few steps ahead of Aizawa. Uraraka sighed in relief, nervous laughter escaping both of their lips as the zero gravity quirk user made her way to her seat and grinned as Four Eyes immediately began to reprimand her. To Pink Cheeks's credit, she, in turn, chose to talk to Frogger rather than get berated. Good for her.
Deku's eyes immediately snapped to Ponytail.
Bakugou subconsciously straightened, brows furrowing as he watched Deku's face. The nerd's eyes were narrowed, concern and light confusion swimming in them as his gaze bore into the creation quirk user. As subtly as possible, Bakugou glanced back, watching as Ponytail seemed to feel the looks being aimed towards her. She shivered, her face morphing from neutral to confusion as her head snapped up and swiveled around the room like a bobble head.
He raised his shoulders and leaned down towards his desk, trying to be as discreet as possible as he watched her gaze fall on Deku as he tilted his head at her. With a friendly smile and a sheepish wave, she bowed her head and began scribbling in her notepad. It took Deku a few embarrassing seconds to understand that she didn't intend to interact with him anymore.
It seemed like Ponytail never noticed Bakugou's staring, but he just about bit his tongue off when Deku whipped around just in time to catch him turning away.
"Alright, that's enough! Quiet down!" Four Eyes's voice suddenly cut through the chatter. "Class is starting, so everyone take your seats!"
Earlobes snorted to herself. "He bothered to wait until the literal last second. I'm impressed."
"Baby steps." Sero nodded in agreement, the two of them and Kirishima watching in amusement as Kaminari finally decided to show up, literally tripping through the door and landing flat on his face.
He bolted up instantly, completely unaffected by his now bleeding nose as he threw his arms out. "SAFE!"
Aizawa glared at him. "Sit down, Kaminari."
"Yes, sir."
Everything started blurring together after that, classes rolling by and teachers' words slurring together. He could feel exhaustion beginning to creep into his limbs and focusing was getting harder and harder to do. Considering last night's shenanigans, watching Ashido abruptly stumble into class during third period, only to get scolded by both Aizawa and Four Eyes, was blissfully cathartic, leaving him with the biggest shit-eating grin he could muster, only fueled by the absolutely scathing glare that she'd shot at him.
And she deserved it, too, because listening to anything or anyone in class today really was unreasonably difficult. The more he thought about it, though, the more he realized that it wasn't all entirely due to his sleep deprivation.
It was stupidly difficult to not glance back at Ponytail. He was constantly drumming his fingers against his desk and restlessly tapping his foot against the floor in order to release the building energy in his body and fight the urge to turn and look. This feeling that was bubbling up in his stomach was one of the weirdest things he'd ever experienced, clearly being that stupid hero sense, yet it was somehow fundamentally different, so weak that it was barely above the feeling of an itch that he just couldn't quite reach.
It almost reminded him of that old Chinese water torture technique, where they'd tie you to a table and let water rhythmically drip on your forehead like a leaky faucet until you lost your mind. On paper, it seemed so trivial and pointless, but in practice, records proved it to be wildly effective. Perhaps in that light, his growing agitation made just a little bit more sense, with this sickening feeling that made him want to chuck himself out a window coiling around his stone cold heart that made his toes curl and teeth grind together.
He flinched violently when the sudden screeching of chairs startled him.
Wait, when had class ended? Was it lunch time already?
Fuck, he really spaced out.
Stupid Black Eyes. Stupid hero sense.
Almost as if on cue, there was a blur of movement in his peripheral vision, his sharp gaze barely catching Ponytail hurriedly slipping out of the room, a cellphone already at her ear and notebooks pressed against her chest almost like a shield. Any other day, he wouldn't care less about whatever his shitty classmates were up to, but the way his brain was forcing those small details to the front of his mind and the feeling of his limbs twitching with a light buzz just refused to allow him to ignore it today.
There was nothing really wrong. He would know if there was.
But something wasn't quite right, either.
Against his better judgment, he spared a glance at the desk behind him, just as Deku turned away from Ponytail's retreating form and met his glare head-on. There was a firm determination and clear understanding in his emerald eyes, an easy sign that the nerd already had answers that he might be interested in, and Bakugou was quick to cock an eyebrow questioningly. What the hell was this?
Now, Bakugou hadn't been sure what kind of response he'd been expecting. Maybe a firm nod or a worried glance, a shrug, maybe even a sigh. Who knows.
What he was not expecting was a look of genuine astonishment, overly large eyes blown wide and mouth slightly agape in seemingly misplaced awestruck wonder. Deku looked down at his desk, brows furrowing in a strange mesh of confusion and amazement before the firmness returned, shaking his head violently before whipping back towards the doorway that their classmate had disappeared through.
"Maybe...we should follow her?" Deku suggested, unsure.
Bakugou glared at him questioningly, as if to wordlessly ask why the hell he should play along if it clearly wasn't an emergency. Deku bit his lip, but held eye contact nonetheless, an almost pleading glint in his eyes, as he finally stood from his seat. He only looked away the moment he practically bolted back, just barely grabbing Todoroki's shoulder and whispering something in the confused dual quirk user's ear.
"You guys and your weird telepathic conversations." The ash blonde's fiery glare turned to the girl sitting next to him, twirling her ear jack and raising a brow high above her hairline as she lounged back in her desk chair. Clearly, Earlobes was in no hurry, and once again proved her nerves of steel by using all the time she had in the world to metaphorically poke the bear for shits and giggles. "And you call him creepy for 'stalking'."
His eyes narrowed at her, but he ignored her comment otherwise, refusing to acknowledge it and instead focusing on the two fuckmunches briskly stepping out of the classroom. That annoying nervous tick returned, drumming his fingers against whatever surface they were hovering over and tapping his heel against the floor. For a moment, he forgot about his notebooks and papers still openly stacked on his desk for the world to see, and almost completely missed the curious and mildly concerned expressions forming on the four stooges' faces as they quietly watched him.
The weak fidgety feeling sending a shiver up his spine was his last straw for the day, earning a light wince as he finally slammed his fist against his desk and shot to his feet. He turned to Kirishima, who sat up at attention.
"Kiri, you guys go ahead to the cafeteria. I'll meet you there." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "I won't be long."
"Is something wrong?" Kirishima asked, far more confused than worried.
"None of your business." Bakugou shot back on instinct before turning his gaze to Jirou. The purple-haired girl's face contorted in skeptic confusion as Bakugou motioned with his head for her to follow, adding a "It's about Ponytail" just under his breath, practically a whisper, as some form of an explanation.
Just as he'd hoped, the short stack's quirk picked up on his words, if the squealing of a moving chair was anything to go by. Quick footsteps were hot on his heels as he swiftly passed through the entryway and out into the crowded hallway, Earlobes hissing a stream of questions as she followed. Almost like an internal GPS, he turned passed the door frame and marched down the hall like a man on a mission, the sea of blank faces parting to the best of their ability to get out of his apparent warpath. Whatever he was literally walking into, once it was taken care of, this stupid feeling would go away and he could go about his day. He could focus on heroics classes without any further issue.
He decided that he liked that idea enough to step in, after all.
Catcalling.
That's what he'd picked up on. Fucking catcalling.
Not that it was okay, he just... In all honesty, he was just really, really confused, if nothing else.
If anything, he'd expected a struggle of some kind. Some form of physical danger that was causing that irritating itch, just weak enough to feign manageable, yet just barely strong enough to constantly pull at his awareness. It was the most annoying thing he'd ever experienced in his life and he'd be lying if he said he hadn't at least been a little bit curious as to why he felt this way in the first place.
Turning that last corner, when he and Earlobes had found a small crowd forming around some kind of confrontation by the windows, he'd really expected some kind of altercation, even if it was small. Threatening, a rough hold, the world's most intense stare down, anything.
What he'd gotten was a group of what looked like foreign exchange students getting told off by Halfie of all people while Deku rubbed Ponytail's back reassuringly, said girl turned away from the scene with her bright red face hidden behind her tense hands and raised shoulders, notebooks and papers scattered across the floor. Taking in the scene, Jirou was quick to step in for the nerd, soothing the creation quirk user with much more ease while Deku went to stand next to Icyhot and glare at the three strangers with his arms crossed and feet squarely apart, almost like a shabby little wall of hastily cobbled-together ferocity.
The crowd of extras seemed to be creeping in on the scene, a few of them shying away from Earlobes's death glares and practiced snarls, but it still felt too tight for something so ins-...
Actually, insignificant might not be an appropriate word for this scenario.
"The fuck are you all staring at!?" he'd bellowed, causing half of the student population to jump. "Get lost and mind your own damn business, you useless extras!"
He couldn't have possibly cared less about the dozens of nasty looks he received, the crowd scurrying away like the rats they were while Half n' half and Deku chased off the foreign exchange losers with wordless fury and Earlobes spoke softly with Ponytail, who'd then had her arms wrapped around her chest with a look of frustration marring her tense features, just on the verge of tears.
And Bakugou just stood there like an asshole, because what else was he suppose to do here?
"Yaomomo?" Earlobes asked carefully, her hand gently resting on the taller girl's shoulder. "Are you okay? What did they even say to you?"
Ponytail was quiet for a moment, staring off at nothing with misty eyes, yet not a single tear fell. "I-... It's fine. I'm sorry." She spoke with artificial dignity, her posture straightening as if it was habitual. "It's nothing that I haven't heard before. Rather minor things, actually."
"Momo..."
"I can handle it. As a dignified member of society, I shouldn't let it get to me."
"Wha- Momo."
"They will be gone within the next few days. It really is fine."
"Are you okay, Yaoyorozu?" Icyhot's voice carried through the now empty hall, he and Deku speed-walking to where the two girls were now loitering by the highrise windows.
Finding himself at a bizarre crossroads between wanting to bail and avoid looking even more awkwardly out of place or seeing this whole mess through for himself, Bakugou eventually chose to just casually lean against the wall, hands stuffed deep into his pockets and expression neutral, and just watch the scene unfold.
"Yes." Ponytail insisted, though she avoided looking any of them in the eye. Bakugou didn't miss the way Deku's brows furrowed with skepticism.
He and the nerd were feeling the exact same thing: Bullshit.
"Are you sure?" Deku asked softly, inching his way passed Half n' half to stand closer to the vice rep. "You seem upset."
Jirou fixed him a steely glare. "Wouldn't you be upset in this situation?"
"I-I mean," Deku stammered, momentarily at a loss for words. "I just- It's just that I can't help but think that there's something else going on here."
Ponytail bristled at that, quickly stepping away and crouching down to pick up her scattered school supplies. "That shouldn't be any of your concern."
Deku recoiled at the tone, suddenly looking very small and very unsure. Ponytail, finally looked up at him, a sliver of regret immediately flashing across her face as she looked back down, choosing to stay on her knees with her papers. "I... I'm sorry. I just... I shouldn't let this get to me. I need to get my act together."
"Your act-!" Earlobes looked like she was about to have an aneurysm. "They're the ones harassing you! You have every right to be upset right now!"
"I- I know that, really, but I can't disappoint them, or-!"
"What in the ever loving fuck do you mean, them!?"
"What- No, not-!"
Ponytail hesitated for a moment, and for some inexplicable reason that he couldn't possibly fathom, that was all it took for something to click in Bakugou's mind, that familiar feeling of unending frustration and subsequent powerlessness. That rising aggravation at even the simple prospect of her disappointed look, no matter what good intentions may have been behind it. He may have not suffered the absolute worst-case scenario, but the lasting repercussions were still echoing along his road of life. Even in the process of mending the damage, there were still consequences.
Almost instinctively, he and Icyhot made eye contact.
Yeah, parents could really suck sometimes.
He still didn't know why he'd stayed there for so long, but for whatever reason, that was when he decided that enough was enough and approached them. Deku was watching him with an almost unreadable expression, the slightest bit of curiosity the only thing he could decipher, while Todoroki was a blank slate as always. Jirou looked up at him questioningly, but said nothing.
"Not..." Ponytail's voice wavered.
She visibly startled when his hand pressed down against the top of her head, almost to the point of shoving her forward. His voice sounded as sure as any other declaration of sure victory. "If your bitch ass parents are making such a stink about image that it's dragging your pride and safety through the dirt, then fuck 'em, because you have every right to fucking defend yourself. You're a damn hero in the top hero school in the country. Act like it."
He almost missed the look of stunned disbelief that Yaoyorozu shot up at his retreating form, too focused on the distant expression on Deku's face. The nerd shook it off before Bakugou could say anything about it, but he bumped into his shoulder as he left the scene all the same.
"You really did sense...it...?" Deku's voice faded away into transparency, Bakugou not sparing him a glance as he marched away from the scene, shuddering under the sudden suppressive atmosphere. He didn't understand why the nerd seemed so disbelieving, but he didn't have the tact or patience at the moment to bother asking.
He was just glad that the feeling was mostly gone by now.
"And...you're sure of this, my boy?"
Midoriya wrung his hands nervously as he stared down at his lunch, suddenly self-conscious of meeting the veteran hero's gaze. All Might's tone sounded like an odd mix of skepticism and wonder, almost foreign to the hero-in-training's ears.
"I..." he tried. "I-It's not like-... There's no other explanation. Last I checked, Kacchan isn't all that close to Yaoyorozu, so he wouldn't be familiar with her mannerisms like he would with Kirishima, for example." Midoriya chuckled to himself. "Actually, he seemed to be just as confused as I was. Heh..."
All Might was quiet for a moment, watching his protege quietly as they both mulled over this new information. "This is...definitely unusual. From my understanding, emotional distress is usually something that only natural born hero senses are strong enough to pick up on."
"Usually." Midoriya stressed. "Usually, meaning that there can be exceptions."
And Kacchan has always been exceptional.
All Might stared at him a moment longer, a fond glint in his eye before he shook his head with a chuckle. "Yes... yes, I suppose you're right. I will certainly need to speak with him about this!"
With a hearty laugh, All might raised his tea cup in the air as if making a toast, followed by a spurting cough as he chugged his drink and laughed it off. With a soft smile, Midoriya stared into his own cup at his reflection, images of distant, forgotten memories of two children running through the forest with dreams of being the world's greatest heroes dancing across his vision.
Kacchan really was amazing.