Uraraka was dead. She was so, so dead.
As panic slowly began to rise through her, she rummaged through her backpack again, as if the first three times were just flukes and she would find the missing assignment hiding in a side pocket simply because she needed to.
Alas, she had definitely forgotten it. She let her backpack drop to the floor and slumped back in her seat, staring forward with a depressed, resigned expression.
She was so fucking dead.
Usually, forgetting an assignment that needed to be handed in wouldn't be that big of a deal. She could just slip out of classroom and go grab it; the dorms weren't that far away, and they still had a few minutes till Aizawa would start the class anyway. But this assignment was different.
Apparently, Aizawa was sick and tired of having to allow students to run and fetch forgotten assignments after class had started, because apparently, some students, (cough cough, Kaminari and Ashido) seemed to have the habit of forgetting their homework a lot, to the point where one of them would be running off to retrieve it at least twice a week.
So now Aizawa had implemented a new rule; once you cross the threshold of the classroom, you can't turn back for forgotten items, and if you DID miss turning in an assignment? A weekends detention.
It was harsh, but even they had to admit that Aizawa had to put up with a lot of their shit, so he was bound to crack down on them eventually.
It wasn't even just Uraraka that would face the consequences for this little slip up, as Aizawa had made the announcement when he assigned these projects that if the entire class handed in their work on time, and nobody got detention for the whole week, that they would be given an extra day
off.
A whole extra day without any work.
After the stress inducing year class 1-A had already endured, it was fair to say they were very motivated to get that holiday.
So how the fuck did she forget her assignment? Thinking back, Uraraka remembers passing Bakugou literally threaten to shave Kaminari's head if he didn't double check that he had his assignment that morning! Why didn't that make her think to check?
She bit her lip in trepidation as the last of her classmates filed through the doors, all of them placing their own non-forgotten work in the tray on Aizawa's desk, before settling into their chairs and waiting the final few minutes until class started. Aizawa took no notice of them, reading a book and refusing to interact with anybody until he contractually had to during class time. Despite this apparent lack of interest, Uraraka knew that if she attempted to leave the classroom, he would have her tied up with his capture weapon before she could even make it three steps down the hall.
How could she be this forgetful? If she was the reason they missed out on an extra vacation day, the class would never forgive her. Not to mention if Bakugou was threatening Kaminari with head- shaving, one of their classmates that he was actually almost friendly with, then she did not want to know what he would do to her. Uraraka closed her eyes.
She was so, so fucked.
"A-are you ok? You look worried, is something wrong?"
She jumped to attention, sitting up straight and snapping her eyes open in surprise to see Izuku had wandered over to her seat, and was looking at her with his head tilted slightly in concern. She held her breath, and her gaze unwillingly flicked over to the tray on Aizawa's desk, containing every student's homework but her own. Izuku's eyes followed hers warily.
"Uraraka-?" His gaze flicked back towards her, and she broke.
"You have to help me; I don't know what to do!" She whispered furiously, lunging forward to grab a hold of his sleeve. Izuku's eyes widened as he connected the dots, and they started gaining attention from the rest of their classmates surrounding them.
"What happened?" Kirishima turned round to inquire quietly, and Uraraka buried her face in her arms shamefully.
"She hasn't handed in her assignment!" "WHAT!?"
Kirishima and Izuku both hurried to shush Iida, who had whirled around so fast Uraraka was surprised he hadn't gotten whiplash, and was staring at her with incredulous betrayal. Luckily, Aizawa somehow hadn't taken notice of his outburst, and he continued, this time much quieter, "But you never forget your work, how could you do this now?"
"It's not like I did it on purpose, Iida!" She lifted her head to glare at him defensively, before turning to Izuku. "You gotta help me, if I'm the reason we lose this vacation day I will die!"
"We have to find a way to sneak somebody out to get it; there's no fucking way I endured all of Blasty's threats about forgetting my homework for nothing," Ashido said, determination in her eyes
as Uraraka nodded along hurriedly.
"Maybe we can pull a fire alarm, or you could jump out the window and run to get it?" Koda suggested, to which Izuku shook his head gravely, staring at the ground with such intensity that Uraraka swore he wouldn't look out of place on a battlefield, surrounded by dead soldiers.
"No, we would get caught." He said, shaking his head quietly. Uraraka exchanged confused and wary glances with the others when he sighed and turned back to the direction his own seat was in. "Kacchan!" He whisper-shouted.
Bakugou looked over from where he was scrolling on his phone at his desk, a pissed off expression on his face. "Fuck off, nerd."
Izuku shook his head. "This is really important! Uraraka forgot her assignment," He pleaded, to which Bakugou's head snapped over to glare at her, and Uraraka shrunk back in her seat.
"You fucking idiot! Now we're all gonna be punished just because of your shitty memory!"
"That's why I need your help, we have to get that assignment without Aizawa-sensei noticing," Izuku said quietly, gesturing towards their reading teacher frantically. Bakugou glared at him, and he whined, rushing forwards to sit back in his own chair so as to plead from close up. Uraraka watched wide-eyed, her and the rest of her classmates clearly sharing the same dread-mixed confusion as to what it was that Izuku thought Bakugou would be able to help with, considering he wasn't exactly subtle in any way.
"C'mon Kacchan, nobody wants to lose an extra day off!"
Bakugou grumbled, muttering something unsavoury under his breath before turning to poke a threatening finger in Uraraka's direction. "I'm not doing this for you, got it?"
"What are you gonna do?" Kirishima questioned him warily, to which Izuku grinned.
"It's time for another classic Deku and Kacchan team-up! Just like middle school!" He said, pumping his fists. Bakugou looked at him, unimpressed, and Izuku quickly dropped his arms, clearing his throat and sending the blond an apologetic smile. He rolled his eyes and huffed, as if regretting his decision to help immensely, before sighing and turning to engage Izuku fully.
"The only way we're gonna get that assignment is if somebody sneaks out and grabs it without Sensei noticing it," Bakugou muttered, which Izuku nodded to, while the others around watched them scheme with various levels of uncertainty.
"The fuck is a 'classic Deku and Kacchan team-up'?" Tokoyami muttered, looking lost, while Sero shook his head repeatedly.
"There's no way that's a real thing, it's gotta just be one of Deku's delusions to do with whether or not Bakugou likes him."
"How are we putting the fate of our extra vacation day in their hands?" Todoroki whispered, to which multiple people shrugged. It's not like anybody else had a better idea, and they couldn't exactly stop the two.
Still, Uraraka was starting to believe she wasn't going to get out of this situation unscathed.
"Do you think I could distract Aizawa-sensei long enough for you to sneak out the window?" Izuku was whispering to Bakugou, while the other shook his head.
"Not a fucking chance; Aizawa-sensei doesn't take shit, and he's known you long enough that your bullshit wouldn't phase him," Bakugou objected. "I want this fucking vacation day Deku, I already told Kariage and Dehisa I'd go overnight hiking with them because we had an extra-long weekend, so if we do this, I'm going all in."
Izuku perked up. "You guys are going hiking? Can I go wi-"
"Fuck no."
Izuku deflated. He stared at Bakugou with his puppy-dog eyes, a phenomenon that the class had witnessed multiple times, almost always directed towards the angry blond, and always completely unsuccessful, because Bakugou was fucking ruthless.
"The fuck are you, constipated? You need a fucking enema? Don't look at me like that, shitty nerd."
Fucking. Ruthless.
Izuku pouted, before sighing and brushing past his abrasive words. "Fine, so we switch, you distract, and I get the assignment?"
Bakugou nodded, smirking. "He won't expect it from me, it'll have more chance of catching him off guard, and it gives you more time to sneak back in if he's freaked out." As he spoke, he reached into his backpack and brought out one of his workbooks, flicking open to a random page and scribbling something onto the paper.
"Can you still cry on demand?"
"What am I, a goldfish? You don't forget that sort of skill, Deku."
"Wait, cry on demand- what?" Uraraka couldn't help but mutter, leaning forward to question the two further, when she was cut off by Bakugou holding his hand out, palm flat, Izuku slapping it with a grin before the blond stood up and turned to the front of the classroom.
Uraraka desperately tried to make eye-contact with Izuku as Bakugou grabbed the workbook, cracking his neck and making his way up to Aizawa's desk. Izuku finally looked over at her, but interrupted her attempt to question him.
"Where did you leave the assignment?" He whispered to her, while she stuttered wildly, gaze flicking between him and Bakugou.
"Wha- um? It should be on my desk? In my room? What are you gonna do, though?"
Izuku didn't answer, turning to face the front of the room and brushing his hair out of his face, cracking his knuckles with a determined look.
Iida turned to give Uraraka a baffled look, so at least she wasn't the only one who was really fucking concerned about what those two had planned.
"Bet you a thousand yen whatever they do gets the entire class detention," Kaminari leant over to whisper in Ashido's ear. She subtly reached an arm over to shake his hand in agreement.
Bakugou walked up and stood in front of Aizawa's desk, shifting his feet every now again as if he was nervous, which in of itself didn't fit his usual character; Bakugou was always confident
in everything he did. Finally, after a few moments of awkward waiting, Aizawa looked up from his
book and sent him a flat look. "What do you want, problem child?"
Bakugou seemed to steel himself, before slapping his English workbook on the desk. "I need you to check my work before English class."
Raising an eyebrow, Aizawa put his book down. "That's why you have an English teacher, Bakugou."
Bakugou took in a frustrated breath, gritting his teeth, and Uraraka had the thought that if this was all just pretend, then he was actually kind of good at acting. Who knew?
Izuku apparently, as he didn't seem surprised in the slightest.
"No, I need you to check it." Bakugou tried to make his voice quieter, as if he wanted the conversation to be private, but being as this was currently the most interesting thing happening in the classroom, it was fair to say that everybody was hellbent on listening in anyway. "I just- I don't think I got these questions right. I need you to double check them before English class. I don't want his help, I want yours."
What?
Kirishima looked around, as if double checking that everybody else was hearing this, too. Bakugou did not, ever, ask for help. Aizawa, too, seemed to realise this, as he suddenly started paying way more attention to the situation, looking at Bakugou with poorly hidden shock. He also seemed a little touched that Bakugou was coming to him instead of anybody else, and clearly not wanting to drive him away, he schooled himself quickly, nodding and gesturing to the book.
"Right, ok." He said, almost in a daze, while Uraraka watched with wide eyes. "Which, uh, which questions did you need me to look at?"
Bakugou stiffly pointed to a part of the workbook, and Aizawa spun the page around so he could check the answer. As impressive as this whole display was, Uraraka still wasn't sure how this would help get her assignment. Izuku still had no way to sneak out the classroom unnoticed, and if anything, they had just made Aizawa more aware of everybody in the classroom, so he could definitely catch them if somebody tried to leave.
Surely this wasn't their whole plan, right?
"You misspelled a few words on this question," Aizawa finally answered, pointing to a part in the book. "There's no 'e' here, and you forgot to use 'an' instead of 'a'. "
Uraraka narrowed her eyes. Bakugou was usually really good with English; most of the time he was the one everybody else went to for help with their English work. He must have purposely written down an incorrect answer specifically for this plan. That was... admittedly unexpected, being as usually Bakugou would rather die than hold back on his work or allow people to underestimate him.
What was even more unexpected, was the way Bakugou's shoulders seemed to slump, and he leaned forward to look at the workbook miserably. "Fuck," He muttered dejectedly.
"It's fine, Bakugou," Aizawa's eyes widened slightly, clearly not wanting to ruin the one time Bakugou had gone to anybody for help ever. "It's not bad, you did well on all these other questions, and I'm sure you can just fix these mistakes for next time."
"Fixing it doesn't mean shit, I still made the fucking mistake!"
"You can't be perfect at everything, Bakugou, it's fine to make mistakes sometimes." Aizawa seemed a little taken a-back, which was perfectly understandable as nobody had ever heard Bakugou talk about himself in any way that wasn't positive before, it was slightly unnerving.
"Perfect at everything?" Bakugou let out a small disbelieving laugh, one hard reaching up to run through his hair stressfully. Members of the class started to give each other wary glances, wondering what was going on. "This was the only thing left that I was good at, and now I'm fucking this up too?!"
Uraraka's jaw dropped. Was that- was Bakugou's voice shaking? Starting to get a little freaked out, she turned to look at Izuku, only to see him watching the show with a wolfish grin.
What the fuck was happening?
Aizawa was now at full attention, staring at Bakugou with apprehension and looking like he was very out of his depth. He held up his hands as if to calm the blond down. "Bakugou, you're almost top of the class, you haven't failed anything, it's ok-,"
"Right, yeah, almost top of the class," Bakugou barked out harshly, hand now gripping his hair tightly while Aizawa stared at him with immense concern. "Just like I almost got away from the League, but I fucked that up too, and now All Mights fucking gone, and I can't even get an English question right, and-"
Aizawa, who had been watching his student unravel with his mouth agape, blinked in shock, before reaching up and pulling Bakugou's hand away from his head, which he surprisingly let happen. The teacher quickly stood up from his seat at the desk, brain seemingly uncomprehending of what he was currently witnessing, and he ushered Bakugou round the desk to sit on his chair. Bakugou acquiesced, cutting himself off and allowing himself to be led while breathing heavily.
Izuku sent him a thumbs up from his seat, looking like he was holding back laughter.
"Ok, I think you need to take a breather, and try to calm down." This was the most lost Uraraka
had ever seen Aizawa look, and she completely understood because she felt the exact same way. "Bakugou, obviously you've been a bit stressed out lately, and that's probably what's contributing to these feelings. You know that what happened with All Might wasn't your fault, right?" Aizawa asked, wincing at his terrible attempt at comfort. Clearly, he had no fucking clue how to deal with panicking students, especially when that student was Bakugou.
It was at this point that Bakugou, to Aizawa's horror, and the rest of the class's utter disbelief, promptly burst into tears.
If there was anybody watching whose jaw wasn't on the floor before, it sure as fuck was now.
Izuku, who was still grinning like he was a child at Christmas, quickly took advantage of Aizawa's complete ignorance of everything that wasn't the crying Bakugou, and slowly slipped off his chair, silently and slowly taking steps towards the classroom door.
Aizawa, who looked like he'd just been dropped into his worst nightmare, was stuttering wildly as he tried to figure out how to help his distraught student. He reached a hand out to pat Bakugou's shoulder, only to think better of it last second and snatch it back, staring with panic when Bakugou let out another sob and buried his face in his hands.
"Clearly we've overlooked your mental health in the recent months, and I apologise for that," He
muttered frantically. "I want you to know it's completely fine for you to be feeling like this, and I think it would be best if we went and took a visit to Hound Dog's office, so you can get somebody to talk to about this." Aizawa started to turn away from Bakugou and towards the door, and Izuku immediately dropped to the floor, attempting to press himself into the ground as if it would make him invisible. Bakugou quickly stood up, making a messy attempt at wiping the tears out of his face.
"No, no I'm fine, sorry, I know you have to teach, I shouldn't be bothering you with this, this is my issue, not yours." He said pathetically, making as if to walk away.
Aizawa's head whipped back to Bakugou immediately, somehow looking even more horrified than before at his student's current state. Something on his face seemed to melt at the apprehension in Bakugou's tone, and privately Uraraka thought it was bullshit that not only did most of their teachers have favourites, but that they also made it so obvious as to who they were.
Aizawa had always had a soft spot for Bakugou, that had been clear from their first week, but come on, he looked like he wanted to wrap the teen in a blanket and spoon feed him. This was ridiculous!
She turned to share an incredulous look with Koda, and he shrugged, seeming just as baffled as she was.
"What the fuck," She heard Sero whisper to himself, to which Kirishima smacked him in the arm, gesturing for him to be quiet. Clearly, Uraraka wasn't the only other classmate who was both absolutely perplexed, and completely invested with what was going on.
"No, no! That's not what I meant; you don't need to deal with this alone!" Aizawa quickly backtracked, stopping Bakugou in place and ushering him back into the seat, effectively giving Izuku another chance to make a break for it.
Said student was still hiding on the floor, and rather than get up to resume his jailbreak, he simply opted to army crawl out the door, shuffling slowly so as to not make noise.
Uraraka couldn't believe this wasn't a hallucination.
One he was successfully in the hallway, Izuku stood up and turned to give Uraraka a grin and a
thumbs-up, before abruptly turning and sprinting out of sight.
Uraraka blinked at the empty space where her friend used to be, before turning back to the absolute mess that was occurring at the front of the classroom.
. . .
For about five minutes, Uraraka and the rest of the class watched with various levels of disbelief, confusion, and just downright dread, as Aizawa awkwardly attempted to comfort Bakugou, who was very much having what appeared to be a major breakdown in his teacher's chair.
Nobody dared to even breath, too scared to disrupt what honestly seemed like a very private moment between the two. It seemed so wrong, to see so much emotion come out of Bakugou, but they had to admit, it was definitely a good distraction. Uraraka understood why they went for the parts they played in this; as much as she cared about Izuku, she had to admit, he was definitely more... emotional than Bakugou, and if it was him who had broken down in the middle of class,
Aizawa most likely would have simply sent him off to gather himself, or just called All Might to help.
But Bakugou never showed weakness, and he never cried. If he had gotten to the point where he was willingly having a breakdown, in a public area? There was no way Aizawa, or anybody for that matter, would know what to do, or how to fix it. Which left the tired looking teacher to awkwardly shuffle around the blond, trying his best to offer words of comfort while becoming increasingly distressed and seeming like he was very much questioning his decision to become a teacher.
Honestly, Bakugou looked so distraught, Uraraka had genuinely started to wonder if he was even acting anymore.
Finally, after it had gotten to the point where Bakugou was just rambling incoherently about how much he'd failed at life, weeping uncontrollably, while Aizawa was kneeling in front of him and nodding along, occasionally trying to give him a comforting pat on the shoulder, Izuku once again appeared in the doorway.
He held Uraraka's assignment in his hand, much to her relief, although a part of her even wondered if it was worth everything that had happened.
Silently, Izuku slipped into the room, waggling his eyebrows at Bakugou and holding up the assignment behind Aizawa. He pointed to the tray on the desk, where the homework was supposed to be turned in, and Bakugou covertly held a thumb up from where his hands were curled in his lap. Aizawa didn't even notice, to preoccupied with the latest round of sobs Bakugou had let out.
The class watched, baffled, as Izuku simply allowed Uraraka's assignment to drop onto the floor in front of the desk, being unable to get closer to the tray without risking Aizawa noticing his presence. Then, he calmly returned to his seat, flashing anyone who stared at him with an innocent smile. Once he was back in his seat, looking for all the world as if he had never left, he gave Bakugou a single sharp nod, which he returned, albeit in the guise of letting his head bob up and down so he could wipe his eyes.
Somehow, Bakugou proceeded to make the entire situation even more dramatic than before, by suddenly stopping still and lifting his head to stare at Aizawa earnestly.
"Do you think I can even be a Hero? Will I fail at that, too?"
Izuku looked like he was struggling not to burst into laughter, desperately covering his mouth with the back of his hand.
Aizawa's jaw dropped again, shaking his head sincerely. "Of course not, Bakugou I have no doubt that you'll make a great Hero one day. I wouldn't have allowed you to be a part of this class if I believed otherwise. You just need to learn to accept help sometimes."
Bakugou stared at him for a few moments, before abruptly standing up, Aizawa following suit in confusion. All of a sudden, to Izuku's clear delight, and everybody else's total bewilderment, Bakugou's face completely changed. The only evidence to his previous state was the tear tracks and puffy eyes, still evident on his face as everything else about his demeanour suddenly went back to normal. Aizawa stared at him, baffled.
"Thanks, Sensei. Really helped me work some shit out there, but I reckon I'm good now." Aizawa bluescreened.
Bakugou casually slung his hands into his pockets and sauntered around the desk. Aizawa's eyes narrowed, and his face almost seemed to freeze at the sudden change in demeanour. He watched, looking a little disorientated, as Bakugou casually bent down to pick up Uraraka's assignment, turning round to plop it in the tray. "I think you dropped this." He added, patting Aizawa on the arm and giving him a single nod, before turning around and finally heading back to his seat, nothing about him seeming even remotely unnatural.
Lost, Aizawa watched him go, uncomprehending of what had just happened. Both Izuku and Bakugou looked back at him, the picture of innocence.
The class was silent.
The second Aizawa glanced away, seemingly attempting to collect himself, Bakugou held a hand out behind him, and Izuku didn't hesitate to give him a high five, both of them grinning.
"What the actual fuck just happened?" Kaminari whispered under his breath; a statement the entire class except Bakugou and Izuku collectively shared.
"You haven't done one that dramatic since we were eleven," Izuku commented quietly, to which Bakugou snorted.
"I told you I was going all in; I want that extra day off." He then turned to stare pointedly at Uraraka, who was still watching everything with a numb sort of shock. "You fucking owe me, big time."
She could do nothing but silently nod.
"You," Kirishima whispered to Bakugou, eyes narrowed and pointing a finger at him judgmentally.
"Are an evil, evil little boy. Scheming bastard."
Bakugou leant away from him slightly, squinting in a way that clearly showed he had absolutely no
fucking clue how to respond to that comment.
After another moment of silence, Ashido leaned over to Kaminari. "You owe me a thousand yen."
"...Fuck."
.
.
.
They got the Friday off, much to Uraraka's relief. She wasn't sure if it was completely worth it, though, considering the entire class had walked on eggshells around Bakugou for the remainder of the week, as if afraid that one wrong mood would leave them to deal with the 'Bakugou Breakdown 2.0'.
Aizawa kept sending Bakugou confused, worried glances, which was a little sad to watch. Izuku told her that Aizawa must have spread the story of his little crying session around with the other teachers, because All Might approached Bakugou in the halls the next day and tried to ask him about it, inquiring as to whether or not Bakugou really blamed himself for Kamino.
Apparently Bakugou has absolutely no chill, because Izuku said that he just laughed in All Mights face and walked away.
Again, Bakugou was fucking ruthless.
Aizawa was still trying to get him to go to counselling though, as he had clearly taken Bakugou's willingness to cry to him as a sign that he was one: the teacher Bakugou trusted most, and two: in need of a lot of therapy. He might not be completely wrong, but definitely not to the extent he currently believed.
Bakugou must have felt at least somewhat bad for the emotional turmoil he had caused his teacher, because when Aizawa brought this up, he had agreed to a few counselling sessions under the agreement that Aizawa himself started attending therapy as well. This was a fact that, when relayed to the rest of the class one evening, led to Kaminari laughing so hard he choked on the pasta he was eating.
When Ashido asked what Bakugou was going to do during his therapy sessions, being as the reasons he was attending weren't even real, Bakugou responded that he was going to get Hound Dog to teach him origami, as apparently, Hound Dog had a specialty for that particular skill.
So, at least he was having fun? Nobody dared to question him anymore since the breakdown incident, so nobody bothered asking for more details.
.
.
.
"Hey, where's Izuku?" Uraraka asked, wandering into the dorm's common areas that Friday, revelling in the lack of work she had to do that day.
"He went with Bakugou on that hiking trip, I think?" Yaoyorozu piped up from where she was reading on the couch, a few of their other classmates agreeing from where they were scattered around the room relaxing.
"I thought Bakubro said he couldn't go with him?" Kirishima asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"So did I," Ashido shrugged. "He's been begging all week and Blasty never backed down, but then when he was about to leave, Midoriya just showed up with a backpack and they stared each other down for a while. It was a little weird, but Bakugou didn't say anything when Mido followed him out the door, so I guess he changed his mind?"
"That, or he's planning to kill him once they get far enough from civilisation," Jiro muttered, which Kirishima nodded to while pointing at her.
"I believe that."
"Can we please make a class agreement that if any of us hear Midoriya say 'classic Deku and Kacchan team-up' ever again, we call the fucking police or something? Because that shit was terrifying." Kaminari piped up, holding a hand up as if he was still in class.
Everyone else in the room unanimously echoed out, "Agreed."
Uraraka just shook her head before turning and heading to the kitchen. "I really wish I hadn't
forgotten my assignment."