Bakugou's relationship with the teachers of UA was one of the many entertainments of Class-1A. Kaminari especially thought it was incredible how a singular student could be so frequently spoken about between the adults of the establishment.
Half of the staff seemed to be a little terrified of the blond, while the other half mostly seemed to be sick of his attitude and reputation. All Might always seemed to regard Bakugou with a cautious sort of guilt, but that was probably still because he was convinced Bakugou blamed himself for All Might's retirement, thanks to what the class still referred to as the 'Bakugou Breakdown'.
Honestly, Kaminari was starting to feel bad for the guy, because it seemed to everyone else that Bakugou could give less of a fuck. He didn't blame himself, but he refused to assure All Might of this simply because -and this was Ashido's main theory- it had led to All Might being very lenient on Bakugou with the school rules.
Kaminari had never before felt the mix of pure bafflement, shock, and bitterness that he had felt that one time Bakugou waltzed into class twenty minutes late only for All Might to wave him off just because he told him he was late due to 'not sleeping the night before'.
Ok, no, it wasn't a lie, but it definitely wasn't due to nightmares or anything like All Might very obviously believed. It was just because they'd been up till three AM watching movies. None
of them had been late, so it was a shitty excuse anyway.
However, All Might's relationship with Bakugou was nothing compared to the weirdness of the way Present Mic treated him.
For some reason, ever since they started at UA, Present Mic seemed to pick up the habit
of... making fun of Bakugou.
It wasn't bad, hell it was nothing compared to the shit Bakugou himself would say, and Bakugou barely took any notice of it. But for some reason Present Mic kept on making comments, whether it was a sly jab at him while commentating on a class training exercise, or a joke shot towards the boy when they passed each other in the hall. He didn't do it with any other students, in fact Kaminari would say Present Mic was probably one of the most enthusiastically encouraging teachers that UA had. So why was Bakugou different?
Asui's theory was that he was trying to goad Bakugou into attacking him, in an attempt to get him suspended, but Izuku claimed that Present Mic was actually trying to befriend Bakugou, and just didn't know how.
Izuku said that Present Mic was used to happy, bright students that were honoured to accept help and advice from such well established Heroes. So when Bakugou, who had publically told the guy to fuck off on multiple occasions, appeared, Present Mic didn't know what to do with himself.
So, in an attempt to manoeuvre Bakugou into a more amicable teacher/student relationship, Present Mic seemed to be attempting to communicate with the blond in what he thought Bakugou's home language was.
Insults and attempts at banter.
Kaminari had to admit, it wasn't the worst plan.
Anyway, Izuku had also said that he attempted to ask Bakugou to be nicer to Present Mic, but Bakugou had just given him a black eye for having the audacity to ask him to do anything. Which sounded about right.
"How do you know so much about Present Mic?" Kaminari couldn't help but ask. Izuku glanced over at him, tiredly.
"He complains to All Might about it during break, and All Might complains to me during our training. It's exhausting."
Ah, yes. How exhausting it must be, Izuku, to be the only fucking student that the former number one Hero bothers to train one-on-one with. How hard your life must be.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"The favouritism in this school sucks." Kaminari muttered. Izuku gave him a confused look, and Kaminari waved him off.
So Present Mic kept on taking little digs at Bakugou, and Bakugou continued to ruthlessly ignore the poor guy. Everything was the same as usual, apart from the occasional occurrence of Aizawa pulling him aside to check up on how his therapy was doing. He clearly still hadn't completely recovered from the Bakugou Breakdown.
Bakugou always maintained that he was doing fine.
He wasn't lying about that, either, although the truthful parameter for 'doing fine' when it came to his therapy was more accurately portrayed by the increasing amount of origami creatures he kept leaving around the common areas of the dorms.
Kaminari had to wonder what Hound Dog thought of that whole arrangement.
Then again, Hound Dog seemed kind of chill, from what he had seen. The guy probably thought it was fun.
.
.
"OH, AND THERE GOES URARAKA, DEFENDING HER SPOT FROM TODOROKI LIKE A TRUE HERO!"
"I get what he's trying to do, but it's a little bit distracting," Uraraka panted, dodging another blast of ice from Todoroki and sending a volley of debris towards him in turn. Present Mic let out
a woop from where he was commentating from the edge of the battle zone.
Kaminari, who was a part of Uraraka's team for this group exercise, let out a hum from where he was fighting against Sero, nearby. "He does it for all the classes, I think. It's like his hobby, whenever he has free time he comes to cheer on whoever's training."
Uraraka grunted, floating herself safely over another of Todoroki's attacks. "It's kinda sweet, but he almost got me hit out of the battlefield when he started screaming next to my ear out of nowhere."
There was an explosion in the distance, and then Bakugou was seen flinging himself over a building rooftop, flying towards them at an incredible speed.
"AND HERE COMES THE RESIDENT BEAST OF 1-A, READY TO TEAR DOWN THE COMPETITION!"
"Aw man," Kaminari whined. "Izuku said he could handle him!"
Just then, a beaten up but determined looking Izuku shot up, quickly chasing after the explosive blond. He leapt at Bakugou in the air and crashed into him with his full weight, sending them out of the sky and down behind another building, the hard impact being heard even from where they were fighting streets away.
"Well," Uraraka declared, "At least he's buying us some time." She let out a sharp yelp as she was cut off abruptly. Kaminari let out an empathetic 'ooh' when her distraction towards the sight led to her getting bulldozed into the side of the wall by a shot of ice.
.
.
"AND TEAM BAKUGOU TAKES IT FOR THE WIN! THE ONLY QUESTION LEFT IS THIS: DID THE OTHER TEAM ADMIT DEFEAT DUE TO HIS STRENGTH, OR WAS IT JUST SEEING HIS FACE?"
"Definitely strength," A muffled Mineta commented bitterly, buried head first in a pile of half destroyed building. Nobody bothered helping him.
"You're all weak as shit." Bakugou commented plainly, looking at them unimpressed, arms crossed as they all attempted to catch their breath. Izuku, bleeding from multiple places and covered in bruises, started jogging towards them from where Bakugou had left him when he came to join the main fight. Kaminari stuttered as Todoroki started stretching his arms out, Sero grinning nearby.
"Well yeah- against you!" He exclaimed, waving his arms about. "We were holding our own until
Izuku over there failed his one job!"
Izuku whined, clutching his ribs and bending at the waist as he tried to figure out how to breathe again. "C'mon man, I beat him two weeks ago! That was my best effort, I'm still learning to control my quirk!"
"-IT SEEMS HE'S COME A LONG WAY FROM GETTING THE STUFFING BEATEN OUT OF HIM ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!"
Bakugou turned to where Present Mic was still raving about, squinting in his direction and bringing his hand up to shield his eyes. The rest of the group watched, wondering if this was finally the time Bakugou decided to attempt to kill a teacher. It had been coming for a while, and they all knew it.
Instead, what they got was;
"Who actually is that guy?"
They all stared at Bakugou incredulously.
"That's-" Uraraka's mouth flapped open and shut. "That's Present Mic, he's literally our English teacher Bakugou."
Bakugou turned to look at her. "Who?"
"Kacchan," Izuku gasped out, still struggling to breathe. "Come on, don't be mean, you know who he is."
Bakugou, not even turning to look at him, lifted a single arm and shot out an explosion, sending Izuku careening into a lamppost, where he collapsed to the ground with a groan.
"Problem child. The battle is over, do not assault your classmates." Aizawa's tired voice came through the speakers of the training grounds. Bakugou grunted, shoving his hands into his pockets and making his way towards the exit, kicking a stray piece of rubble at Izuku's crumpled form as he went.
.
.
Aizawa told Izuku to go to Recovery Girl following the borderline pummelling he received during that day's class exercise. He then commended Bakugou for his skills during the fight, but reminded him that next time he needed to work on formulating an actual plan with his teammates, rather than just shooting off to beat the shit out of Izuku and then returning to finish everyone else off like
a masochist.
Bakugou did not seem to take this council to heart. He brushed past it to ask if Aizawa could
approve his slip to leave the school grounds after class that day.
Aizawa looked down at him with an immeasurable amount of exhaustion. Bakugou glared back, unforgiving.
"No, I cannot. Not only are you supposed to give at least a day's warning, but in five minutes I am off duty and will continue to be so for the next week."
"Wait, why a week? Where are you going?" Uraraka asked, suddenly curious. Aizawa sighed. "Sadly, although my main job is teaching you problem children, I am also a part time
Underground Hero. I've been called in to do a mission, it shouldn't take longer than a week." "So who do I go to for permission slips?" Bakugou demanded, asking the important questions.
Kaminari snorted quietly.
"Present Mic will be covering for me until I get back, he'll be taking over homeroom, as well as continuing your English classes. Ask him if there's any other questions."
And with that, Aizawa abandoned them, dismissing the class and telling them not to kill each other in the week he was away.
"I'm kinda worried man," Kirishima muttered quietly. "I feel like Aizawa-sensei was the only one who was truly ok as our teacher."
"Right?" Asui agreed quietly, "He's already gone through a lot of trauma with Bakugou and Mido, he's built up a tolerance. I don't think Present Mic has what it takes."
"Aren't you guys exaggerating just a tad?" Momo said, sceptically.
"Do you not remember the Bakugou Breakdown?" Kaminari asked incredulously. "Aizawa-sensei still goes to therapy because of that!"
"I'm fairly sure somebody as wise as Aizawa-sensei was already going to therapy," Sero refuted. Todoroki shook his head.
"He upped it to twice a week after the Bakugou Breakdown."
Kaminari opened his mouth to back Todoroki up, only to notice the way Bakugou was standing a few feet in front of them, slowly turning to look where Present Mic was walking over to them, a massive grin on his face.
"I'm getting that fucking slip signed." He muttered. Kaminari elbowed everybody within reach, silencing the class as Present Mic got close.
"Heyo, little listeners! You hear I'm going to be taking over for Aizawa over there for the next week?" He said eagerly, "I think we're gonna get a lot of work done!"
Kaminari gave him a nervous smile. Bakugou gave him the unsigned permission slip.
"Sorry, son, I can't sign this if it's for today, you gotta give me at least twenty-four hours notice!" Present Mic handed the slip back with a sympathetic grin. "Sounds like somebody wasn't paying attention to the rules when they were being read out to ya!"
The moment the class realised how potentially fucked this week could be, was the moment Bakugou looked down at the slip, looked back up at Present Mic, rolled back his shoulders, and promptly slumped in on himself.
"Oh my god, no, not again," Kaminari swore he heard Uraraka whisper to herself, horrified.
"Oh, shit, right- I'm uh, I'm sorry." Bakugou muttered in a depressed tone, lowering his voice to mumble under his breath, "You stupid fucking idiot, course you didn't get this right, just give him more reason to hate you why don't you?"
Present Mic looked like he'd been struck by fucking lightning.
He looked down at Bakugou with the face of a man who was suddenly realising that the horror stories Aizawa had been telling the rest of the staff might not be as exaggerated as he had first believed.
His jaw wobbled as his mouth flapped open and shut, struggling for words.
"Uh, what? I don't-,"
Kaminari mentally applauded him for his eloquence.
"It's nothing," Bakugou dismissed, carefully keeping his head angled towards the ground as he turned away from Present Mic. "Sorry for bothering you, I know I get on your nerves."
Present Mic stared at his student, horrified. He rushed forward, waving his arms about in a desperate attempt to stop Bakugou from leaving. "WAIT! You don't! I promise! Where did you- why-" He stumbled over his words, and Kaminari felt Kirishima turn and press his face into his shoulder out of pure despair. Bakugou continued to slowly walk away from them all, dragging his feet depressingly. In a last-ditch attempt at stopping him, Present Mic yelled out, "I guess- I guess if you don't tell anybody I broke protocol, I could probably sign the slip just this once!"
Bakugou stopped suddenly, turning to face Present Mic. His eyes were red. "Just this once?" He sniffed, pathetically.
"For sure, little listener!" Eager to stop the madness, the teacher nodded. Quick as lightning, Bakugou was by his side, pen and paper in hand. Somewhat startled, Present Mic hurriedly signed it.
The second that permission slip was in his hands, Bakugou reverted back to his normal nature.
"Thanks, man." He said, voice not showing any of the previous emotion he was previously portraying. Present Mic's jaw dropped. As if to rub it in, Bakugou turned to the class, giving them a wink before actually skipping away.
Present Mic stared after him.
"He thinks I hate him," The poor guy mumbled to himself, dismayed.
"Oh, god." Uraraka moaned.
A whole week.
.
.
The class did a mass tournament of rock paper scissors to see what poor soul would be forced to talk to Bakugou about his plans for the week.
Kaminari's always has been really shit at rock paper scissors. .
.
"Can you please not try to manipulate our teachers, Bakugou?" "But it's so easy."
"It's psychological warfare, and it's cruel."
"Suck my dick, Pikachu."
He knew when to cut his losses. Honestly, Kaminari left that conversation thankful that he didn't get punched in the face.
.
.
Two days into the week, Bakugou and Izuku were both late for homeroom. Well, later than usual, considering they both made it a habit to be at least ten minutes early for every class they have ever attended.
Approximately one minute before class was supposed to start, Izuku took a step into the classroom.
He took one look around the room, and promptly burst into laughter, retreating back into the corridor.
The class exchanged glances as from the hall they heard sounds of muffled laughter, hushed, furious whispering, and then a definite smacking sound.
Izuku emerged a few seconds later, one of his cheeks slightly redder than before.
This time, he managed to make it to his desk without laughing, although he refused to look anyone in the eye or give an explanation for his initial entrance. They didn't need one, though, because a few seconds later Bakugou timidly entered the room.
Timidly.
One look at him and Izuku was pressing his face into the fabric of his backpack, shaking silently as he wheezed into the bag.
Bakugou shot a single glare towards the boy before immediately returning to his flawless act, hunched shoulders and downtrodden expression as he slowly shuffled up to the front desk.
Present Mic, who had been doing paperwork until it was time to start the class, was instantly on high alert.
"Hi," Bakugou borderline whispered, reaching up to wipe one of his eyes. "Can I- can I quickly talk to you? In uh- in private?"
Izuku desperately pressed his backpack and face into the wood of his desk. Sero looked over in immense concern from the chair next to him.
"Well of course, little listener!" Present Mic, exclaimed, clearly excited by the prospect of Bakugou trusting him enough to talk about a private matter. The poor guy.
The two left the classroom, and the second the door swung shut the sound of muffled sobbing greeted their ears.
"I don't- how the fuck does he do that?" Ashido basically wailed, turning round to stare at the rest of them incredulously.
"How? I just wanna know why," Sero muttered, horror in his eyes.
A choked wheeze was heard from behind Izuku's backpack.
The class sat for five minutes, uncomfortably listening to Bakugou cry and mutter unintelligible nonsense to their English teacher just on the other side of their classroom door. Eventually, after what felt like a fucking lifetime, Present Mic returned.
Bakugou was not with him. Kaminari didn't know whether this was a good thing or a terrible thing.
"Ok little listeners, you're cool classmate is having a bit of a hard day, so I've allowed him to take the day off so he can go see Hound Dog for a while." Present Mic clapped his hands, announcing, "Now, I want all of you to practise your Heroic empathy skills and make Bakugou feel welcome whenever he returns to class, alright? He's having a tough time, he needs your support."
Fucking. Bullshit.
"Unfortunately, this means he'll have to miss the pop quiz that was planned for today, so he can just make that up whenever he's feeling better."
And it all made sense.
Oh, that crafty, evil fucker.
Ashido gaped, turning to stare at Kaminari in spiteful, incredulous anger. He nodded back, because yes girl, don't you worry, he was also experiencing this.
A strained whimper came from the mound of fabric and tears of laughter that was assembled on top of Izuku's desk.
. .
They tried, once, to confront Bakugou about how unfair it was that he was using these skills against the teachers. Bakugou's response to this was literally to burst into tears in the fucking cafeteria. In front of everyone.
They were in so much shock and disbelief that Bakugou Katsuki, the guy that refused to show weakness ever, would do such a thing, that they ended up too scared to continue.
Then, fucking All Might showed up, worriedly ushering Bakugou out of the now almost completely silent cafeteria, asking if he'd be more comfortable eating his lunch in the teachers lounge.
His tears clearing up remarkably quickly, Bakugou asked if there was fresh coffee there. All Might assured him that yes, there was, and Bakugou could have as much as he liked.
By the time they left the room, Bakugou looked happier than the class had ever fucking seen him before. It was bullshit.
Kaminari had so much respect for him.
. .
After that, Bakugou returned to normal for the rest of the week. Kaminari didn't know if it was because Bakugou figured if he used his powers of manipulation too much too soon that it would lose its effect, or if he just needed a few days to recover after publicly crying in the middle of the packed UA cafeteria, but either way they were all happy for the peace.
Until the last day before Aizawa came back.
Present Mic had been walking on eggshells the entire time he had been substituting for Aizawa, something which was very clearly Bakugou and Bakugou alone's fault. Every time the blond walked into the room, Present Mic would pause, worriedly scanning his body language as if to check he was ok. He always seemed to stumble through talking whenever he had to talk to Bakugou, and hesitated a ridiculous amount before slowly dropping another of those jokes he had gotten into the habit of saying at Bakugou's expense.
And Bakugou, just as before, didn't seem to give a single shit about these jokes. If anything, he seemed satisfied whenever he heard one. This, in turn, gave Present Mic more confidence in them throughout the week.
Until one fateful afternoon, when Present Mic brought some snacks to munch on while he taught the class.
It was less than twenty-four hours until Aizawa was back. They were so close to peace. Why did this have to happen now of all times?
Kaminari would be asking that question for so, so very long.
Present Mic had given them all worksheets to go through by themselves, while he sat and peacefully munched on the box of mini muffins he had brought with him.
Half way through the sheet, Bakugou looked up. Kaminari couldn't help but notice the movement out of the corner of his eyes, and he looked over, gaining Jiro's attention as well. They both watched Bakugou's eyes lock onto the muffins, before he glanced back at his sheet and smirked.
He put his hand up.
"Yes, Bakugou?" Present Mic asked, swallowing his piece of muffin. So sweet. So innocent.
Bakugou would eat him alive.
"I don't understand this question. I don't think I got it right."
Present Mic narrowed his eyes in slight concern, hurrying over to look at the sheet where Bakugou was pointing.
"Oh," He let out a short laugh. "You didn't use the equation right, little listener." He gave the blond a playful nudge. "Guess all that bragging was for nothing, huh? You ain't that smart after all!"
Bakugou stared down at the piece of paper for a moment, before abruptly clenching his fists and banging them on the desk in frustration.
"Fuck, ok I get it, you hate me, you don't have to fucking rub it in!" He spat, Present Mic rearing
back in shock as his voice wobbled slightly, cracking in the middle. "I'm sorry I got the fucking question wrong, I'm not fucking perfect!"
"Woah, I- uh," Present Mic clearly did not know how to deal with this, hands held up in defence as his eyes darted about the room nervously. "I didn't think you were, kiddo-,"
"Stop calling me kiddo, it's just insulting for you to call me that when I know you don't like me," Bakugou muttered harshly. Jiro shoved her head in her hands in despair, which he took no notice of.
"What- what makes you think I hate you, kid? I don't hate any of my students!" Present Mic said, face pale.
Bakugou's eyes welled up with tears, and he dramatically gestured towards himself. "Then why am I the only one you constantly make fun of? Why can't you just leave me alone?" He sobbed. "You know I've been struggling, but you still won't stop! You must hate me!"
"I'm gonna kill him," Uraraka mumbled from the back of the class.
"This is terrifying." Todorkoi whispered, white knuckling his pencil as he stared forward, transfixed at the tragedy in front of him.
Present Mic looked horrified, and it was clear he was frantically running back through his memories, trying to figure out if he'd missed some sort of signal that he'd genuinely been offending Bakugou throughout past classes.
He hadn't.
"Oh, buddy, man I am so sorry," Present Mic knelt down next to Bakugou's desk, hand on his heart faithfully. "I truly didn't mean to hurt you, little listener. I was just joking around with ya, I never meant to hurt you!"
Bakugou sniffed, wiping his tears away like a child. "You're just lying so you don't get in trouble." "Of course not!" Present Mic promised. "What can I do to prove it?"
Bakugou's eyes quickly flicked to the box of muffins, before returning to the paper. Present Mic followed his gaze, before innocently lighting up, grabbing the box and placing it on Bakugou's desk.
"How about we have a better talk about this later, and for now you can finish these off for me, ok?" He said, clearly hoping for some sort of nod towards forgiveness. Bakugou grabbed a muffin, taking a bite before looking up at his teacher.
His face was blank, face completely clear of any tears or sadness. Kaminari didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"K, sounds good man." Bakugou said, voice devoid of any emotion.
Present Mic stared at him for a few moments, trying to figure out if he'd missed anything. Slowly, carefully, he backed away, squinting before announcing that everybody needed to get back to completing their work. Bakugou continued to stare at him, and he continued to walk backwards while he made his way to the door, muttering something about getting some tissues before abruptly leaving the class to their own devices.
Bakugou snorted before turning around to Izuku's chair, handing him a muffin.
"I told you I could get them," He commented, as Izuku clapped his hands in respect.
"That was actually impressive, Kacchan. I didn't think you'd be able to do one like that so soon after the cafeteria!"
"It's a gift," Bakugou shrugged, smirking.
"You know, one of these days you're actually going to need help with something, and none of us will believe you," Kaminari warned, raising a single eyebrow. Bakugou turned to him, leaning back in his seat and raising his head high.
"Yes you will," He declared confidentially, nodding once. Kaminari stared back in silence. "He's right, we will," Sero muttered, resigned. Bakugou grinned.
"I hate this class," Uraraka muttered bitterly.
"I love this class," Izuku said through a mouthful of muffin. Bakugou turned to him.
"Oh, right, that's not for free, I'm selling it to you. It's twenty thousand yen per muffin." Izuku choked on the muffin.