The class had come to realise many things over the course of their time at UA, but something they had picked up on particularly quickly was Bakugou's penchant for not giving a single shit about traumatic situations that he should probably give a shit about.
That boy was a goddamn menace to society.
Mina was fairly sure he should be using his current origami arrangement with Hound Dog to get some actual therapy, but the one time she'd brought that up around the rest of the class (sans Bakugou, she didn't want to die) Izuku had just burst out laughing.
"Therapy for what?" He'd giggled.
Kirishima shared a somewhat concerned look with the rest of the room. "Uh, for a lot of stuff? Hasn't he been held hostage, like, multiple times? And I've seen news stations blaming him for the Kamino incident; seeing that has to affect him."
Mina nodded in agreement, glad she wasn't the only one with that particular opinion.
"Kacchan's fine," Izuku maintained, rolling his eyes. "Ok, well- he's probably a little bit dead inside-," He amended, ignoring Uraraka's snort, "But that stuff doesn't upset him. If he was upset,
you would know."
"Ok, but what about the Bakugou Breakdowns? What if he really is upset by that stuff, and he's just covering it up by pretending it's fake?" Mina pointed out.
Izuku laughed again, just as Bakugou waltzed into the room, looking up from his phone as the rest of the room quickly acted as if they hadn't been openly discussing his mental state while he wasn't around.
"Fuck you laughin' at, Deku?" He snapped, glancing around while everybody else refused to make eye-contact with him.
"They think you're upset and need help."
Betrayal. Of the highest order. What the fuck Izuku, you were going to get the entire class killed.
Bakugou turned to the group, who looked back at him tentatively, waiting for him to either yell or explode at them.
Instead, he did something entirely worse.
"You guys talk about me behind my back?" His face crumpled, voice gaining a pathetically sad tint
as he whimpered slightly. Whimpered. "But that's so mean."
Uraraka smashed her face into the cushion in front of her, groaning loudly. The rest of them had
similar adverse reactions, while Izuku let out another cackle.
"Don't do this, Bakubro," Kirishima begged. Bakugou took a step towards him, roughly wiping his nose as a tear or two started to roll down his cheeks.
"I thought we were friends, you asshole." Their psychopathic classmate spat, a scarily realistic sense of misery and betrayal peaking through his face. "I have enough people talking about me behind my back after Kamino, and now you guys-?"
"Oh my god, make him stop." Todoroki whispered.
"We're not the teachers, you can't do this to us- Mido stop laughing!" Mina snapped, horrified at both the weird guilt that was seeping through her heart and the person who she knew was manipulating her into feeling it.
Bakugou sniffed pathetically, and Kirishima broke.
"Jesus Christ what do you what? Whatever you want you can fucking have it just please stop
crying!" He begged, actually bothering to clasp his hands together like in a soap opera.
Another tear rolled down Bakugou's cheek. He opened his mouth, his voice coming out broken.
"That sandwich, are you going to eat it?"
Kirishima glanced down at his plate on the coffee table, on which his almost untouched sandwich lay. His eyes became half lidded.
"Just give him the fucking sandwich," Uraraka's muffled groan came from where she was still attempting to bury herself in cushions.
"Take it," Kirishima practically shoved the plate into Bakugou's hands, and the boy took it as his
face suddenly transformed into one of pure smug satisfaction. Mina fucking hated him.
"Y'oo guys'r shupid." Bakugou said to them, speaking through an obnoxiously large bite of sandwich.
"That's such a dick move," Kaminari whined from where his face was pressed firmly into his palms. "Why can't you just get traumatised from bad experiences like the rest of us? Why must you be like this?"
Bakugou swallowed the bite of the sandwich, face merciless. "You only call it trauma because you're pussies. In reality, they're just get out of jail tickets I can use on empathetic fucks like yourselves."
He spun away, leaving the room silent in his wake, having managed to mildly traumatise almost an entire class of teenagers and gain a free meal all in three minutes.
Mina hated him, but she had to admit it was impressive. Izuku didn't stop giggling for half an hour.
Here's the thing. Most of the staff at UA? A bit terrified of Bakugou. This did not lower their reputation with any of the students, mind you, who were pretty much in the exact same boat.
All Might tended to hover around nervous and guilty, which Bakugou took extreme advantage of but otherwise didn't even seem to notice. All Might was the one person Mina did not judge Bakugou for manipulating, actually, because if any of them had an in to get anything close to the special treatment that the former Number One Hero gave Izuku? Then that was a fucking win for the entire class.
Aizawa seemed mostly to regard Bakugou with a wary, resigned tiredness. Sero had once made the observation that every interaction the two had gave the vibes of an overworked social worker arriving to pick up his 'troubled orphan child' from the 12th foster house that he'd managed to get kicked out of within the span of a month.
It was a very specific observation to make. Nobody disagreed with him.
Present Mic, as well as the rest of 1-A's personal teachers, were, of course, well within the group of staff members that were fucking terrified of the kid. One time, Bakugou had turned up to their lunch table with a bowl of ramen that he claimed to have stolen from the guy. He had just walked into the teachers lounge and plucked it right off the table in front of him while maintaining eye contact. Present Mic had said nothing. Mina just couldn't believe she'd gotten to a point in her life where her classmate was pulling off cliché 'lunch-stealings' like a bully in an American high school movie, except with her adult, Pro Hero, teacher.
The other teachers, the ones that weren't seen by 1-A that much unless their training involved other classes in UA, were a little different. They obviously saw Bakugou as some sort of cryptid, trying to catch glimpses of him as if he were a rare animal and they were tourists trying to get a good story out of their vacation. The Bakugou Breakdown, as well as Present Mic's own horror stories,
had clearly been spread around the entire school, and now every time another member of staff had to interrupt 1-A's classes to talk to Aizawa about something, they got to watch whoever it was warily stare down Bakugou's chair like he was a wolf about to attack them. Bakugou would never break eye contact.
It was great.
Midnight... was a different story. She was an odd one.
Mina had sort of gotten the vibe that she wasn't overly fond of Bakugou. She was a responsible teacher in the fact that she never let her distaste affect her grading or teaching methods, but it was clear that she had learnt of Bakugou's reputation amongst the teachers and was less than impressed with him because of it. That, however, wasn't even the weirdest thing.
The weird part was how polite and respectful Bakugou was when he spoke to her. It was very unsettling.
Ok, Mina wanted to specify; when she said Bakugou was being polite and respectful, she mostly meant that he wasn't actively attempting to terrorise the woman, which for him...
It was just a tad out of character.
There was no screaming, no attempts at manipulation, no crying;
He just acted like... a regular old student. A good student. And for some reason, Midnight didn't seem to like that.
Aizawa had taken to watching her teach him with a tired sort of longing in his eyes. It was slightly sad.
Nobody in the class had any idea why Midnight was like this, or why Bakugou was like that in return. It was almost as if she was looking for an opportunity to take Bakugou down a peg, and just kept getting increasingly more annoyed when Bakugou refused to give her grounds to punish him.
"Do you think she's trying to get you expelled?" Kirishima asked him once, after Midnight had been called in to help class 1-A during a class training exercise and had spent almost the entire session almost daring Bakugou to act out of turn towards her; which he for some unknown reason never did.
"Probably." Bakugou did not seem concerned by this. "I think she just doesn't like you." Mina commented.
"What does she have against him, though? I mean, I get it, but why?" Sero asked, whining when Bakugou smacked him on the arm, hard.
"Maybe it's all the stories the teachers tell of him crying?" Kirishima suggested, which Bakugou rolled his eyes at.
Kaminari snorted. "So what, she wants to get him expelled because he's cried in public before? Toxic masculinity at its finest."
"Or," Mina dragged out, because she thought Kaminari was an idiot. "Maybe she's not fond of him
using toxic masculinity as a way to manipulate people and get whatever the fuck he wants?" Bakugou shrugged, unbothered. "Wild, considering she uses her tits to do the exact same shit to the
general public of Japan."
Kirishima choked on his own spit, and Sero coughed into the water bottle he was drinking out of. "Bakugou!" Mina gasped. "What if she hears you saying stuff like that?"
Bakugou shrugged again. "She calls me misogynistic, I call her a child predator, she yells at me, I cry, people feel bad for me, I win; I've thought about it, and I don't think there's much of a chance I'll get any real consequences."
Mina stared at him with an open mouth, and the others gave him incredulous looks. "Fucking child predator?" Kaminari whispered, confused.
Bakugou didn't not grant them the mercy of an actual explanation for that particular comment, instead spotting Izuku and speeding up to join him, for some reason. He ducked his head slightly to mutter something into the other boy's ear, and they started a quiet conversation, leaving the others to stew in the wake of his words.
"Either he's gonna get Midnight fired," Kirishima abruptly decided, "Or he'll get himself expelled."
"So what is this, Midnight vs Bakugou? Are we placing bets?" Sero asked, raising an eyebrow. They exchanged glances, silently communicating.
Five minutes later, the group went their separate ways, bets having been placed. Bakugou vs Midnight. Not one of them had bet on Midnight.
"Alright everybody, good job today! I think that's enough, you can all head off to the showers now!"
"Oh, thank fuck."
Mina agreed wholeheartedly with Kaminari's comment, nodding as she collapsed into a sitting position on the ground. Around her, the rest of the class reacted in various similar ways, most dripping with sweat and gasping for breath as they were finally allowed to relax.
It was another one of those days where All Might had been called away on some kind of 'urgent business', and so had called Midnight to take over his training so he could tend to whatever it was. Most of the class was of the opinion that he shouldn't be able to do that so often, considering he was supposed to be their teacher, but what could they do?
At least Izuku didn't seem to mind, although to be fair he probably wouldn't be missing anything, what with his personal sessions with the previous number 1.
(The favouritism in this school was bullshit.)
The annoying thing was that Midnight liked to work her students hard. Kirishima claimed her as a
sadist, what with her apparent love for relishing in her students' exhaustion and pain during their training sessions. She was a brutal teacher.
The only ones that (annoyingly, to the rest of the normal teenagers) weren't looking like they were about to keel over after Midnight's class, were Bakugou, because of course, as well as Izuku and Todoroki.
"What is wrong with you three? We've been fighting for fucking hours," Kaminari gasped, sending spiteful glares towards where Todoroki was casually sipping from a water bottle while Bakugou scrolled on his phone and Izuku rocked back on his heels. None of them had even broken a sweat. "Be decent human beings and fucking perspirate like the rest of us," He spat.
"This was only routine training; I don't understand why you all struggle with it. It's the same training I used to undergo as a child," Todoroki commented innocently, which honestly just made Mina feel bad.
"Well, in all fairness Icyhot, you were abused," Bakugou raised an eyebrow, tilting his head away from his phone slightly. Most of the class tensed up slightly, the way they all did when uncomfortable topics were introduced into the conversation, but Todoroki only looked over, unbothered as he considered his words.
"Huh," He said. "So what's your and Midoriya's explanation?"
Bakugou jabbed a thumb at Izuku without hesitation. "Over-trains as self harm," Izuku squawked indignantly as Bakugou turned the thumb onto himself, "And all of the above."
"Jesus Christ, get therapy," Sero muttered, bracing his hands on his knees and gesturing desperately for Todoroki's water bottle.
"I d-"
"Your origami lessons don't count, dude."
Bakugou shrugged. "You're all still weak as fuck. If you want a chance at being Heroes, learn to keep the fuck up."
In response, Kirishima let himself ragdoll to the ground pathetically. Mina nodded over at him in solidarity.
"Alright, stop hanging around here like little kids. Go get changed," Midnight sauntered over, flicking her whip as she made her way over to the exhausted class. "You all did very well today, you should be proud of yourselves." She paused, glancing over at Bakugou quickly. "Although, Bakugou, you need to work on your form during your landings. They're sloppy."
Mina bit the inside of her mouth, and she watched some of her classmates wince. It wasn't the first time Midnight had singled out Bakugou publicly. It was as if she were trying to goad a reaction out of him; like she wanted him to scream at her so she could punish him. Mina hated to admit it, but she was starting to think there was some actual truth to the theory that Midnight was indeed trying to get Bakugou expelled.
Just like every other time this had happened, Mina held her breath and waited for the ensuing explosion. If any other teacher had dared to attempt such a public beatdown, there was sure to be intense consequences from Bakugou's end.
And just like every other time Midnight tried it, somehow, Bakugou did the complete opposite of
what was expected of him.
He subtly elbowed Izuku, before morphing his face into an apologetic one, stepping forward slightly with big eyes, clasping his hands together.
Mina thought she saw Izuku fumble to get his phone out of his pocket before the manipulative blond responded.
"Oh, sorry I didn't realise. Thanks for the heads up, I'll try to work on that next time."
Out of sight of Midnight, Uraraka raised her arms incredulously, as if to ask Bakugou 'why the fuck
are you like this?'
Bakugou did not respond, too busy innocently staring down their teacher, who's lips thinned in dissatisfaction. Midnight hummed, "It needs a lot of work. It's no use you running around claiming yourself to be the next number 1 if you can't even stick a landing. Maybe you should stick around and train for a bit longer."
"You would give me some more pointers?" Bakugou's mouth twitched slightly, as if he were struggling to keep his 'innocent' face in check. "Maybe I should ask somebody else; I didn't think landings were your expertise either."
Kaminari sent Mina a wary glance, which she returned with a shrug. She had no idea what game Bakugou was trying to play. She just hoped the rest of the class wouldn't be affected by the close proximity.
Midnight seemed to attempt to loom over Bakugou, her whip flicking seductively as she jutted out her hip. "Not my expertise?"
"Well," Bakugou rolled his shoulders, and both Todoroki and Sero simultaneously took a step backwards, as if sensing a change in the air and wanting to exit the splash zone. "You tend to just knock your opponents out; you don't really jump around like I do. Aizawa-sensei would most likely be of more valuable insight to my training."
In Bakugou's defence; what he was saying wasn't even technically wrong. Midnight still seemed to take it as an insult. She bristled immediately, thrusting her whip forward to where it flicked against Bakugou's cheek, no doubt stinging slightly.
"I wouldn't have been chosen to teach you if I didn't have the skill set needed to help you improve; I'd watch your tongue if I were you," She purred.
"Right," Bakugou shrugged, an innocent smile playing on his face as he allowed himself to flinch away from where Midnight was obviously attempting to intimidate him. "My apologies; it's just that- well, you weren't chosen to be our teacher; you're just a stand in-,"
Iida choked on his own spit, and Kirishima's eyebrows rose in anticipation.
Midnight's fury only rose, and quick as a flash Bakugou found himself restrained by her whip, the tendrils of leather tightly wound around his wrists and fulling him forward slightly. "I took you down at the sports festival and I could do it now; disrespecting my abilities won't get you anywhere, Bakugou, and I won't stand for your insolence like your other teachers might." She said, a satisfied smirk appearing on her face at how easily Bakugou had been tied up. The class watched, almost frozen as they awaited Bakugou's reaction.
Bakugou had the fastest reflexes in their class; there was no way he didn't have the opportunity to
move out of the way of that whip. What the fuck was he doing?
Mina got her answer when the blond's face crumpled into one of nervousness, tugging at his wrists and making painfully obvious winces. "O-ow, shit," He hitched. "Can you let me go? This hurts, I didn't mean to offend you," He said weakly.
Didn't mean to offend her. Mina almost laughed. In the background, Todoroki threw his hands up in the air incredulously while Uraraka turned away in tired frustration.
Midnight seemed to find Bakugou's flawless act as tiring as her audience, as she only tightened Bakugou's restraints, flicking her eyes upwards in annoyance. "Bakugou, don't do this with me. I'm not falling for this act like the others. Don't show yourself to be a coward."
"I didn't-" Mina could now see tears starting to well up, beading at the edges of Bakugou's eyelashes. "I'm sorry!" He tugged harder at his wrists, despite the fact that he could have gotten out of them easily if he put in any real effort.
Midnight glared at him, opening her mouth to snap something at him, when there was a buzzing sound coming from a pocket on the hip of her costume, and she paused, digging her phone out of a tight fold of fabric.
After looking at whatever notification she had received, the whip's hold on Bakugou went lax, and he slumped in on himself, not saying anything.
"Right, I have other matters to attend to. Go and get changed and enjoy the rest of your day!" Midnight suddenly addressed the rest of the class, back to bright eyes and elegant smiles. "I'll see you all soon! And fix your form by the next time we train!" And with that quick reminder and a wink, she sashayed off of the training grounds, leaving the group of teenagers silent in her wake.
After a moment, where Bakugou was still standing in the middle of the group, curled in on himself and looking overall very defeated, Kirishima hesitated.
"Hey, uh, Bakubro-? You ok?"
Bakugou let out a large, long sigh.
Then he jumped up with a bright grin on his face, spinning around to look at Izuku.
"You get it all?" He asked enthusiastically. Kirishima groaned loudly from behind him. It went mostly ignored.
"Got it, don't worry." Izuku responded, a matching grin on his own face as he waved his phone in front of him, which Mina now realised had been held upwards subtly throughout the entire Midnight-Bakugou interaction.
"You... were filming?" Mina asked, her curiosity and perhaps slight fear motivating her to finally get up off the ground.
Izuku faltered, and what could almost be seen as shame flashed over his face. "I- uh, yeah. Kacchan- Kacchan wanted me to."
"Add it to the file!" Bakugou hollered, slapping Izuku on the back in triumph.
"Bakugou, why are you having Midoriya record your conversations with our teachers?" Iida inquired, eyes narrowed.
Bakugou turned his shark-like grin onto the group, staring them down like a predator watching its prey.
"There's no way," Mina said to the rest of the class, once Bakugou and Midoriya had left. "He's going to die," Kirishima decided.
"He's going to die? Midnight's going to die," Kaminari corrected.
"Fuck those two," Sero butted in. "We're going to be the ones dying."
"I can't believe Midoriya was so weak willed that he'd actually go along with this," Uraraka muttered quietly. Kirishima snorted.
"Are you joking? As long as Bakugou dangles the promise of another 'classic Deku and Kacchan team-up', he can get Midoriya to do whatever the fuck he wants."
"Why is this fucking happening," Mina whined, letting her head hand forward. She felt Uraraka pat her on the shoulder consolingly.
"I blame society." Uraraka declared.
"Really? I blame you," Kirishima muttered. Uraraka did a double take.
"The fuck did I do-?" She snapped, offended.
Kirishima shrugged. "Have to blame somebody," Was his explanation.
Kaminari and Mina shared twin forlorn looks as Uraraka and Kirishima glared at each other. "I hate this class," They chorused.
Nedzu was playing chess against himself on his office computer when the door swung inwards, slamming against the bookshelf next to it with an audible crash. The UA principle blinked at his intruder as multiple books fell to the floor, thumps and flutters raining down onto the previously silent space.
"Evenin'," Bakugou nodded, as if he hadn't just broken two rules as well as Nedzu's peace of mind. He was holding an armful of papers and folders, peeking over the mound at Nedzu with a blank face.
"I believe," The animal replied, watching his most-gossiped-about student calmly, "That it is lunch. I also believe that the lunch hour is the one hour I ask that I am not interrupted. I also believe students are supposed to schedule appointments unless it is an emergency."
Bakugou cocked an eyebrow. "I can make an emergency if you really want me to?"
Nedzu looked at him. Bakugou stared back. The clock on the wall next to them ticked noisily.
"Come in and shut the door, then," Nedzu sighed, mournfully exiting out of his chess tab and folding his paws onto his desk as Bakugou sat down. He was relaxed, confident, and a tad smug. Nedzu did not like that coming from Bakugou. It could only mean trouble.
Bakugou plopped his mound of folders onto Nedzu's desk, paying no mind when a few slipped off the pile and spread across the glossy wood. "Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice," He said diplomatically. Nedzu levelled him with a stare, not buying it.
"Mhm."
Bakugou flashed him a professional smile. "I've gathered with you today to talk about a legal issue in UA's teaching department."
"Which is...?" "I'm suing you."
Nedzu stared at him. After a few moments of silence, he calmly picked up his teacup, and took a sip of tea, returning it to its place on the desk.
The second he did so Bakugou reached forward, took the cup, and downed the rest of it. Nedzu thought it was an intimidation tactic. Then again, he might just be thirsty.
"You're suing me?" Nedzu checked, as Bakugou placed the empty cup down on the table, upside down, directly onto the wooden desk. There was sure to be a ring-stain left behind when it was moved. Somebody would have to clean that up.
"Well," Bakugou amended. "Not you specifically. I'm suing the school."
"What a relief," Nedzu stated drily. Bakugou grinned. "Alright, I understand you're having your fun
with this. On what grounds are you suing UA high school?"
Bakugou's grin turned shark-like, and inwardly, Nedzu wondered just how long his student had been planning this sort of thing. He'd certainly put a decent amount of effort into his preparations.
At this point, Nedzu wasn't sure of his stance on the Bakugou kid. He'd heard his fair share of rumours and was well aware of the kid's intelligence; as well as his ability to use his reputation to his advantage by blindsiding most of his peers. But Bakugou was also smart enough to recognise when his 'opponent' wasn't going to fall for his emotional manipulations, like Nedzu. In these cases, it seemed that the boy had found other ways to have his share of fun.
(A part of Nedzu was a little bit relieved that it was just fun that Bakugou used his intellect to get. Who knew what would happen if the child ever decided to turn super-villain on them all. He'd probably have the government wrapped around his finger within the week.)
Bakugou shifted a few of his folders to reach a legal form buried within the mound. He slid it over towards Nedzu and recited the contents as the principle gave it a once-over.
"Gross mismanagement including abuse of authority, negligent supervision, and multiple counts of child abuse and improper conduct of a sexual nature."
Nedzu's head snapped up at the last part. "Sexual?"
Bakugou nodded. "Those counts were specifically from one teacher; which is actually what spurred me to come forward and take legal action."
"And which teacher has been harassing you?"
Bakugou smiled at him innocently, and when it clicked, Nedzu's face dropped into an unimpressed look.
"Bakugou, Nemuri has not been sexually harassing you."
"Improper conduct of a sexual nature. That encapsulates exhibitionism, obscene language, exposure to sexual behaviour; I could go on." His students face morphed into one that allowed Nedzu to see just how amused he was by this whole conversation. "Are you going to fire her?" He asked, an undercurrent of laughter dancing on his tone.
"Of course not. Not only is Nemuri a valuable asset to our teaching department, but she is a responsible mentor for our students and I will not fire her just because of this grudge you have against her, Bakugou." He placed the form onto the table. "I'm aware of your hostility towards Midnight, and I've been lenient enough to allow you to continue with your other little incidents," Bakugou snorted, "But I'm afraid I have to draw the line at getting one of your teachers fired simply out of spite. This is still a place of education."
"She's a responsible mentor for the kids?" Bakugou checked. "Great. Hey, Principal Nedzu?" He crossed his arms. "What's her Hero name?"
Nedzu didn't answer him. Bakugou grinned.
Eventually, he had to bite the bullet and respond. "Nemuri being known as the 18 Hero has no relevance towards her teachi-"
"She wears a dominatrix suit to the goddamn classroom, Nedzu!"
Nedzu sighed. "Bakugou, you and I both know that Midnight being a teacher at UA is not a real issue; and as s lightly impressed as I am at the amount of effort you've put into this attempt at blackmail, it is not enough to warrant whatever it is that you think you'll get out of this."
Bakugou nodded at him, as if he was truly taking what Nedzu was saying to heart. Then, he reached into his backpack, brought out another stack of papers, and slammed them down on top of the others.
"Oh Neds, we've barely even gotten started. Did I mention you're also in breach of your international legal obligations? I can get you done for torture."
Nedzu rubbed his forehead, looking at the determination and smugness pouring out of his student.
After a moment, he grabbed the telephone on the right hand side of his desk and pressed the button for his secretary. "Could you please reschedule my 2 o'clock meeting and alert Aizawa that Bakugou will possibly be late for his next class? I'm in a meeting with him that will probably take up a lot of time."
He got confirmation and placed the phone back on the stand as Bakugou started leafing through folders.
"Under International law, according to article 7 of the ICCPR, quote, 'no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.' Now, During the sports
festival-"
Aizawa walked into the classroom looking slightly confused.
"Alright, I've been informed by Nedzu that Bakugou will not be able to join us for a while, so we'll be starting without him and he can join in later."
He was even more confused when the rest of the class' reaction to this included loud groans, faces planting into desks, and overall general incredulous annoyance and resigned tiredness. Apart from Izuku, who looked like he was holding back laughter.
"I actually cannot believe he's going through with it," Mina muttered into her hands. "What's going on?" Aizawa asked, narrowing his eyes as he looked upon his students. "Ask Bakugou." Iida said, stiffly.
"I dare you," Kirishima added.
A few muffled peals of laughter came from behind the hand Izuku was pressing to his mouth.
"Midoriya?" Aizawa directed his attention onto the boy, sensing a weak link. He was right. The hand came down, Izuku's laughter becoming more audible.
"He's gonna- oh my god-," He took a large breath, "He's trying to sue the school," He cackled as Aizawa's face morphed into one of complete and utter bafflement.
"He's trying to what?"
"Are you trying to claim that what occurred during the final round of the sports festival; the things that occurred because of your own actions, gives you a legal right to sue us for torture?"
Bakugou slammed a finger down to highlight some scrawled text written in one of his books. "The UN convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; part 1, article 1, the term "torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as; intimidating or coercing them or a third party for any reason. During the sports festival that is both controlled and held by this school, I was drugged, restrained, publicly shown off and forced to accept an award I made clear I did not want. I don't know about you, but I think the UN Committee Against Torture would agree that is definite coercion by your part." He fell back into his chair as Nedzu examined the papers in front of him, a photo of Bakugou's state during the end ceremony of the festival lovingly pasted next to the law he was claiming it had broken.
There were red glitter hearts glued around the edges, and Twenty One Pilots lyrics had been written below the photo in fancy, golden lettering. 'You're the judge, oh, no, set me free' mocked the principle as he read.
"If you want proof of the 'severe mental suffering' then I have a psych eval report here," Another piece of paper floated down on top of the many others covering the table. "I've been diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety directly due to the actions forced upon me during that event." When Nedzu looked up at Bakugou, he was pouting dramatically, a malicious glint in his eyes. "I'm afraid of muzzles now," He fake-whined.
Nedzu was beginning to see a problem. The problem was that these legal issues looked like they actually applied.
He knew that Bakugou would have done his research for this sort of thing, and would probably have tripled his effort just because he knew he'd be going up against Nedzu. That PTSD document would be completely real and viable, whether or not Bakugou had faked the emotions needed to get the damn thing.
"Also, if you'd like to have a look through these files," More folders were shoved towards him, "As well as these magazines and screenshots of media articles, I think you'll see a lot of proof that ever since the sports festival, and even more recently the Kamino incident, I have been the subject of various acts of defamation, as well as online bullying and unlawful attacks towards my honour and reputation; which while they're not the fault of the school or its employees, it did happen as a direct result of the schools actions as well as the lack of protection the school provided for its students, despite knowingly putting us in situations that could easily result in this sort of abuse. So you also violated article 16 of the CRC and could be seen as complicit to child abuse."
Nedzu opened his mouth, but Bakugou perked up again, not finished.
"Oh! Also, by forcing me to accept an award I didn't want against my will, you kinda violated my right to my own views and the right to express them, so that's article 12 fucked, too. Here," He nudged a particularly thick stack of paper forward. "That's the entire CRC document; you've violated it a few times, you might want to flick through it."
There were a few minutes where Bakugou just watched him look through the evidence, working towards the slow realisation that this could pose as a genuine problem. Eventually, Nedzu put the papers aside and dared to look up at the kid (the kid, and Nedzu knew that Bakugou had been through more than most kids his age could handle, but Jesus Christ when you laid everything out like that it really highlighted how much the authority figures in his life had failed him), breathing out slowly as he tried to come up with the best way out of this.
"Well," He started, "I can't say that your concerns don't have a viable claim. Looking back, I can confirm that the situation at the sports festival was... unfair,"
"Abusive and cruel and illegal-"
"Unfair," Bakugou rolled his eyes, pulling his chair forward so he could place both his elbows on Nedzu's desk, resting his head in-between his palms. "And after recognising the wrongs that were committed against you, I can offer you both my own and UA as a whole's sincerest apologies; and I can promise that now that these issues have been brought to my attention, we can focus on finding ways to absolve and work towards righting the mental and physical issues these problems have caused you."
Bakugou squinted as he internally weighed those words. "Mmmm, think I'd rather just sue you?"
Nedzu took in a breath. "We can talk about the parties physically responsible for the incident giving you a public, formal apology-"
"Midnight publicly apologising to me would be funny," Bakugou muttered, cutting him off. "But I want more."
Nedzu narrowed his eyes. "Bakugou, whatever it is that you want to do to Midnight; no. Don't be childish."
And maybe telling the kid who had definitely been forced to grow up too soon in order to take care of himself that he shouldn't be childish was a mistake, especially since Nedzu had gathered that although Bakugou had never once seemed to actually show any care for the trauma he had internalised throughout his years, he did very publicly have the belief that as penance for those traumas he should reserve the right to use them for as much fun as possible.
Bakugou stared at him intensely, and Nedzu inwardly sighed, wondering just how deep a hole he had managed to dig for himself.
Bakugou grabbed another folder. "Moving on to the negligent supervision-"
Nedzu let his head thump against the desk, papers and a weird amount of glitter cushioning his fall.
"This school was fully aware that my class specifically was receiving threats from the League of Villains, and knowing this, you made the decision to pack us all off into a bus and send us to some random part of the woods. A random part of the woods with very lax security, might I add. Also might I add, you sent us there with very few counter measures to use in case one of those threats actually came into fruition; which they did, and I was kidnapped as a result. Under the 'careful adult supervision of... let me see if I recall this correctly... oh yeah. I was with a handful of my underage classmates. Didn't even have a teacher with us when we were attacked."
Nedzu rubbed his eyes. "The location you were sent to was supposed to be a secret-"
"Oh fuck off," His professional demeanour now all but gone, Bakugou slumped back in his chair, hands waving around as he spoke. "Whether or not you refused to say the name of the fucking forest, you still had a responsibility towards your students. That responsibility included adequate safety measures, such as constant supervision by qualified parties, back-up on hand in case of an attack, and literally any measure whatsoever against letting groups of kids go off by themselves at night. You failed to do that. That's negligence. Nothing you say could make that situation better, especially considering the fact that the trip wasn't even fucking needed anyway; and don't you dare say it was 'essential for training' because you and I both know that with the amount of high-level training grounds you have on this campus, us leaving the perimeter was never necessary, and no judge would believe it was."
"I understand that the Kamino incident was a miscalculation on UA's part, but again, that does not mean you get a free pass to destroy one of my employees' lives." Nedzu gritted out tiredly.
"Oh, I don't want to destroy Midnight's life. I just want to be able to have her recognised for what she is," Bakugou shrugged.
Nedzu looked at him sceptically. "Which is?" "A threat to children."
Nedzu let his head fall against the desk once more as Bakugou stretched out to rest his legs on the desk. "And just a creep in general," He added off-handedly.
"Bakugou," Nedzu had to ask. "What do you have against Midnight specifically? It can't be because of the part she played at the festival. If that were the case, you would have multiple other
targets."
"Just don't really like her face." Nedzu looked at him. "Also, she likes her orange juice with pulp in
it, like what kind of a fuckin' monster-"
"Neither of those are good reasons to include her in a lawsuit."
"Nah, but I could definitely get her done for improper sexual conduct," Bakugou pointed out. "And you guys would go down by proxy just for employing her. She wears sexually suggestive clothes in front of and while handling minors, has made suggestive comments about her clothing habits and the impact it has on boys, young or old, and I have video evidence of her refusing to change those habits when politely asked by an uncomfortable student, as well as footage of her just being overall very threatening and disrespectful towards the needs of her students. Also, one time she said that a few of my classmate's naivety 'turned her on', which, just what the fuck in general."
"Listen, I get she isn't, like, an actual paedophile," Bakugou attempted to clear up, while Nedzu wondered, distantly, how he'd managed to get into this type of situation. "But that shit as a person is weird. As a teacher? Who has to be in close quarters with multiple underage boys on an almost daily basis which includes quite often physically handling them for training purposes? I don't know how you haven't already been sued."
Slowly, Nedzu sat up, straightening his tie and attempting to regain some sense of authority in the conversation. "Bakugou, I understand your issues with the way this school has handled events. I understand your issue with Midnight." He breathed in, Bakugou raising an eyebrow curiously. "You and I both know that as solid as your logic is, the chances of you managing to successfully tear down a multi-billion yen institute that is backed by multiple governmental funds and boards with a single court case that you only started because of a grudge against your Art History teacher, is practically nothing. You've had your fun, but there's no point in continuing this as a legal issue. I can help you with reparations for the festival and Kamino incidents, but apart from that, I need you to work with me."
Bakugou sucked air through the front of his teeth, looking up at the ceiling as he appeared to think about Nedzu's offer. After a few seconds he withdrew his legs from the desk, sitting up straight and steepling his arms and fingers in front of his face. Any dredges of the relaxed, unserious Bakugou that had made his appearance during this conversation instantly disappeared, and Nedzu was left with a diplomatic and mature associate who had not come to bargain. As his students' eyes hardened, Nedzu had the remote realisation that Bakugou's ability to switch out personas as if they were simply new shirts was a skill that was not accurately represented in the 'Bakugou Breakdown' stories he'd heard through the grapevine.
"Now, Principal Nedzu, let's not act like you don't know the damage this could cause you and your 'institute'. Leaving out the fact that the matters we have discussed today are just the tip of the child abuse and exploitation iceberg, this school is largely based on a public reputation. Your funding comes from the governments that support you because it is good for their brand. Their brands are only helped by your school's existence as long as your school is seen as the beloved Hero school that it has become a staple for. I may not win a court case against you, but a student of UA high suing his own teachers? The media would have a fucking field day. Whether or not a judge deems you guilty for the crimes I have presented you; my lawsuit will be plastered across every news station, every paper, every headline, for years. Every detail of what I'm accusing you of will be broadcast, and trust me I wont be withholding any details for my own privacy. Me winning isn't a need, because as long as people are forced to think about what your 'beloved school' really does, then your days will already be numbered. People will see a poor, young, traumatised child, trying to get justice for the wrongs committed against him by you. I will be a victim, because of you.
People will turn. Support will dwindle. My classmates will publicly back me up, because I will bribe them with my cooking and I know that will work; they are sluts for some good ramen."
Bakugou leaned forward, voice confident and deadly with each word, not an ounce of hesitation as he laid out his threats. "The general public of Japan will leave you first. Then it will reach the states, and the US, who are composed of pussies, will follow. Then you can say goodbye to your treaties and deals in America, and as a result the government of Japan will be forced to rethink their backing of you. You'll have cost them the revenue they make in the US and the support of their own people, not to mention your school's actions will place them in direct violation of international law. They'll have no choice but to cut ties with you to save their own reputation. That will leave you alone, without funding, or support, to slowly collapse in on yourself like a shitty. Dying. Star."
There was silence in Nedzu's office.
Bakugou stared him down with a heartless face; one that displayed just how serious the boy was about what he was saying. And Nedzu knew he was. There was no doubt in his mind that if it came down to it, Bakugou would dedicate his entire life to this mission, simply out of spite.
Bakugou was powerful, and he knew it. Maybe he would be a nightmare if he ever turned villain on them, but goddammit he wasn't exactly an angel now either.
Nedzu swallowed.
"Firing Midnight wouldn't exactly not cause a scene either," He tried. "People pay attention to the staff here. If Midnight suddenly left, the media would want to know why, and I don't think she would keep anything to hers-"
"I don't want her fired."
Nedzu looked up at the ceiling for a moment, preparing himself. Then he slowly looked back down and made eye-contact with his student, and possible worst nightmare. "Then what do you want?"
Bakugou grinned.
"This is ridiculous!"
Midnight had been asked by Aizawa to assist during that day's physical training; which was why she was gathered with Mina and the rest of the class when Nedzu had come up to them, Bakugou walking next to him with a particularly smug spring in his step.
The second he had come into view, pretty much the entire class gave up on the idea of actually training. Even Aizawa seemed to somewhat share that sentiment; having been mostly concerned for the missing blond during his absence. The fact that Aizawa could hear 'Bakugou's going to sue the school' and turn it into 'Bakugou needs help and I need to be ready to protect him' just proved how effective his manipulations were on the guy.
Midnight was not nearly as sympathetic. Neither were the class, but that was mostly because they all wholeheartedly believed Bakugou very much could sue the school if he wanted, and none of them particularly wanted to deal with the effort of finding a new education.
"Nemuri, may I remind you that I am your superior, and-" Nedzu calmly attempted to deescalate Midnight's rage, only to be interrupted.
"That child is the most insolent, arrogant student I have ever had to deal with, and you're just going along with his bullshit?!"
Bakugou pouted, turning wobbly lips and an owlish gaze onto Aizawa. "Aizawa-sensei?" He whispered, as the class watched his show with reactions varying from terror, horrification, to begrudging amusement at the dramatics. "What did I do to make her so mean to me?"
Aizawa looked down at him before abruptly turning to Midnight. "Don't be rude to my students," He snapped. Midnight glared at him incredulously.
Her mouth flapped open and closed as she tried, and failed, to stifle her anger. Finally, she gritted out, "A restraining order?!"
Nedzu nodded slowly, regrettably, "Not a legally binding restraining order; per say. Just a UA binding restraining order. Bakugou has brought to my attention multiple," He hesitated, "Imperfect aspects, of-"
Nodding, Bakugou cut in, "Breached customary international law and my human rights, yes."
Nedzu breathed in swiftly, as if centering himself, and Izuku let out a single bark of laughter before stepping behind Todoroki to hide himself from view.
"Due to the specific circumstances, I have made the decision to allow Bakugou's request to be fulfilled. I have spoken to Bakugou and his therapist, and it has been decided that this is the best course of action for his mental health at the moment."
Bakugou grinned shamelessly at Midnight as she raged.
"How the fuck am I supposed to teach him when I can't be near him?! This is ridiculous; if it isn't legal then you can't hold me to it."
"Nemuri, I am ordering you to listen to me. You will still be Bakugou's teacher, but from today onwards you will simply have to remain at least 10 ft from him at all times. His chair in the classroom will be temporarily moved further to the back to help out during the classes you are in charge of. Apart from that, it is your obligation to ensure that you do not break these rules. If you fail to respect these boundaries, you will be suspended without pay."
Narrowing his eyes slightly, Kaminari leaned into Mina. "The teachers here get paid? Like, all of them?"
"Honestly," Asui leaned forward to butt in on their hushed conversation. "What would they be paying All Might for? I love the guy, but what has he ever taught us?"
"For like, the first six months we spent at UA," Mina quietly admitted, "I thought All Might was just a volunteer assistant that liked to hang about. I didn't realise he was supposed to be an authority figure until way after USJ."
"This is pathetic," Midnight was seething, "He's just fucking with you, and you're falling for it like all the other idiots have!"
Behind Nedzu and Aizawa, only in sight of Midnight and the rest of Class 1-A, Bakugou started doing the running man, a massive grin on his face. The second he started dancing Izuku turned
away and buried his head into Iida's shoulder, desperate not to break out into laughter. Midnight made an aborted screeching noise, and Aizawa turned to look at Bakugou, who
immediately went stationary and acted as if he'd never moved.
"I just," The blond sighed, scrubbing at his face. "Sometimes she gets really intimidating... and it-" He shuddered, "Reminds me of when I was chained during the sports festival. I get all claustrophobic, and she never listens when I ask for space."
Aizawa turned accusatory eyes onto Midnight, who glared at him. "Nemuri, my decision is final. Ten feet." Nedzu maintained.
Midnight looked like she wanted to punch them all in the face. Repeatedly.
Because he was a sadist, Bakugou chose this moment to take a tape measure out of his pocket, pulling on the bright yellow tongue and s l o w l y extending it towards Midnight. When it bumped against her stomach, he looked up at her. "This is only four feet. You have to move back."
Midnight stared down at the tape measure, before slowly inching her head up to glare at Bakugou, then shifting the glare to Nedzu.
"An order, Nemuri."
Slowly. Painfully slowly. With malice basically dripping from her posture, Midnight started inching backwards, the tape measure going along with her. The class, as well as Aizawa, Nedzu, and Bakugou, watched silently, as if watching a funeral procession; except Izuku probably wouldn't be filming if that were the case.
Eventually, the tape measure reached his limit, and Bakugou nodded in satisfaction. "Ten feet. Finally, I can breathe."
Midnight looked like she was going to kill her first student.
"Well," Looking like he was regretting ever deciding to become a principal, Nedzu clapped his hands. "I'll leave you all to the rest of your class."
And he walked away. Leaving them, like this.
"What the fuck is happening," Mina muttered.
"I've peaked," Was Bakugou's answer, looking at the teacher he had at the end of his tape measure with a weird sort of disbelieving pride; as if he hadn't truly believed he would ever be able to make it happen. "I've made it to the top. There's nothing more for me to accomplish. I can die happy now."
"That can be fucking arranged, brat," Midnight snapped quietly. Bakugou was unbothered. "Yeah, keep it up and I'll make it 15ft."
"You know that feeling, where like," Bakugou was sitting at the very back of the class, feet up on
his desk, scrolling through his phone, not a care in the world. "You've finished playing through the main story of an open-world video game, and you're ridiculously overpowered because you've killed all the big bosses. But you don't want to delete the game because you fucking paid for that shit? So you just wander around like a god checking in on an ant colony, doing whatever you feel like?"
Momo turned around to squint at him, looking up from her worksheet. "What?"
"Like GTA?"
Bakugou nodded at Todoroki. "Yeah, like- how do you know about GTA?"
Todoroki's shoulders lifted self-consciously. "I was abused, not murdered. I know the popular video games."
"You didn't know what a kite was," Uraraka gave her input from the left side of the back row, which was quickly becoming a regular chatting group during Midnight's class, thanks to Bakugou's lack of care for the rules.
"Or Avatar: The Last Airbender," Sato whispered, not looking up from his work. "Well, I know GTA!"
"Whatever," Bakugou waved away. "The point is you understand that feeling, right?" Momo gave a non-committal, agreeing hum.
"That's what I feel like, attending UA now." He mused. "Like, I beat Nedzu. I beat that thing," He gestured dismissively towards Midnight, who was glaring daggers at them from the front of the classroom. She was well aware that they were chatting during her class, but there was no longer anything she could do. Bakugou's tape measure was fully extended, laying on the floor next to his chair. She couldn't get close to him. "I just float through the school now. There's nothing I haven't unlocked."
"Most people would delete the game and re-start." Momo muttered, distracted.
"Are you telling me to kill myself?" Bakugou grinned at her slyly, "Careful, I might sue you." Uraraka couldn't help it. She laughed.
"Stop talking during my class," Midnight snapped distantly.
"Sorry," Uraraka quickly schooled her face to be blank, while Bakugou rolled his eyes. "Don't be rude, Midnight, I'm having a conversation with my classmates."
The pencil Midnight was holding snapped in half. "Don't think just because you've gotten Nedzu to side with you over this bullshit restraining order thing, that you won't be punished for disrespecting your peers."
"I think you stopped being my peer, like, three months ago."
Midnight seethed silently, before storming out of the room. The class watched her go.
"Is she really gonna try and complain to Nedzu again?" Izuku asked. "That's the seventh time; doesn't she realise by now that it won't work?"
"I can't believe threatening to sue worked so well. Like, you're still just a kid. Nedzu's supposed to be one of the most intelligent creatures on the planet. What did you even say to him, Bakugou?" Mina asked.
Bakugou shrugged. "Torture, contacting the human rights committee, peace treaties between Japan and America; a lot of words were floated about, I don't know."
"You're diabolical," Iida said, shaking his head. "Thank you!"
"That's not a compliment."
"That's a matter of opinion."
Iida glared at him, and Bakugou huffed, getting up from his chair. "Fine, be that way. I'm gonna go watch a movie. Deku, you coming?"
Izuku furrowed his eyes. "Don't we have an English exam in a few hours?"
Bakugou didn't seem very bothered. "We're both almost top of the class in English; I'll just tell Nedzu we got good marks. What's he gonna do, say no?"
"Unbe-fucking-lievable," Mina muttered, sharing a look with Kirishima.
"Can you imagine how terrifying it's gonna be when he's a legal adult and Pro Hero?" Kaminari whispered, as Izuku evidentially decided that Bakugou's blackmail against Nedzu was indeed enough protection for him to get away with skipping an exam to go see a movie.
"Don't remind me," Mina muttered.
As they left the classroom, Izuku threw his hand up in the air, and they heard him yelling triumphantly in the corridor.
"Deku and Kacchan team-up!" "Yeah, yeah, whatever, nerd."
"Watch him cry during a fight with the L.O.V," Uraraka declared firmly, "And watch Shigaraki surrender."
"So we're betting on Bakugou vs Shigaraki now?" Sero said.
"Would any of us bet on Shigaraki?" Mina said dryly. The resounding silence was damning. Bakugou was fucking terrifying.