"Hey, Kacchan," Deku calls. "What's wrong?"

The explosive blonde doesn't hear him. His full attention is on a dark alley in Ground Beta. This is the first time the class had trained there since they'd moved into the dorms. It's the first time they'd been on this end of the city-like training grounds since their internship. They usually stuck to the outskirts of the city or in the mock shopping district. It's been a while since they'd run any scenarios among the empty office buildings of the mini financial district.

Everything was fine at first. He had been paired with Deku and Kirishima for a simple battle scenario. Iida, Momo, and Todoroki started in the middle of the city-like training grounds, playing the role of the villains. The hero trio made it about two thirds of the way to their target before they started to pass a particularly dark alley.

Something had caught his eye, dragging his gaze to the shadows. He stops dead in his tracks. Wide eyes lock on a particularly dark patch of shadows. His skin is cold to the touch, though the sheen of sweat would make you assume he was too hot. He can feel his heart pounding so hard it feels like it was trying to escape the confines of his rib cage. He feels rough phantom hands roaming his body as the flashback takes over his mind.

Bakugo does his best to keep up with Best Jeanist as they chase after a petty thief. Without his mentor noticing, the teen had fallen behind. Focused on trying to catch up to the pro hero, he doesn't notice the hands coming out of the dark alley. When one of the hands closes around his wrist, numbness rapidly spreads up his arm and throughout the rest of his body. Unable to force his mouth to form the cry for help on the tip of his tongue, he watches as his mentor gets further and further away.

"Katsuki," Kirishima calls as he approaches the frozen blonde. "Babe, you're freakin' us out." He cautiously reaches for his boyfriend's hand. Instead of the angry remark about PDA he was expecting, he got a fistful of explosion as the panicking boy darted into one of the buildings.

"KACCHAN!" Deku calls before pressing the button on his com. "Aizawa-sensei, I think we need help. Something's wrong with Kacchan."

"I can't intervene just because you can't get along with your teammates, Midoriya," their unenthusiastic teacher responds.

"It-it's not so much the getting along that's the problem, although he did try to blow up Kirishima. It's more that he froze, looked really scared, and ran into a building."

The conversation over the coms sounds so far away to Bakugo, despite the small device being in his ear. He managed to reach the third floor of the building before collapsing on the landing in front of the next staircase. He manages to crawl to the nearest corner and press himself as close to the wall as physically possible before he activates a small device on his utility belt. He finally allows himself to release the choked sobs he was restraining as the soft rhythmic beep reaches his ears.

A limp body in terrifyingly strong arms, the man unceremoniously drags Bakugo towards a dark colored van parked in the shadows. Surprisingly, the boy feels a dull pain when he's thrown in the back. He mentally steels himself to be kidnapped, preparing to memorize every turn and bump along the way to wherever this villain plans to take him. Instead, the man climbs in the back of the van with him and shuts the door.

The confusion must be clear in his red eyes. "We're not going anywhere, kid," the man explains, his voice like sandpaper. "I'm going to have my fun right here, now be a good boy," he leans in close enough for Bakugo to feel his hot breath against his ear, "and open wide for daddy."

The sound of footsteps reaches the trainee's ears, prompting him to pick himself up and keep going. He runs up a few more flights before exiting the staircase into an office floor. Some of his training kicks in while his muscles scream for him to stop running. He quickly blows a giant hole in the floor in front of the door and runs to hide in one of the empty cubicles. Aizawa's voice reaches his ears, but his adrenaline clouded mind doesn't process the words. Escape is the only thing on his mind. Escape from the building. Escape from having to explain his actions. Escape from the flashbacks and memories.

It hurts so bad. The pain is all Bakugo can think about. It feels like he's being ripped in half, and it burns like someone lit his insides on fire. He can't move, but he can feel every thrust. He feels every time the disgusting man on top of him accidentally pulls out only to reposition and slam back into his bleeding hole. He feels every time the perv's hips slap against the backs of this thighs as the man holds his legs up for a better angle. He can even feel the tears racing down his cheeks as all he can do is stare at the roof of the van and pray to whatever deity can hear him that his mentor realized he's not right behind him. He prays that Best Jeanist is looking for him. He can hear the man's rough voice talking to him like one would a cheap whore. Everything from "Oh my god, you're so tight," to "Yeah, that's right. Take it like a good cum-slut," has tumbled from this man's disgusting lips.

What disturbs Bakugo the most is his own bodies betraying response. His muscles are loose enough that the man's size isn't ripping new wounds into his sensitive flesh anymore. He already came at least twice, eliciting a twisted sort of praise from the man each time. His nerves are sending so many signals of pain and pleasure that the young hero-to-be doesn't even know what to feel anymore. He wishes he could go numb. Or to just pass out and wake up once he's been saved from this nightmare. It all just fucking HURTS!

"Where is he?" the number four hero breathlessly inquires as he arrives outside the building his trainee is hiding in.

"Inside," Aizawa responds before actually looking at the hero to his right. "Who called you?"

The denim-clad hero holds up his phone, a tracking app open to display two pins. "Katsuki activated his distress beacon. He was instructed to only use it in case of an emergency. Is this an emergency or am I wasting my time?"

Turning his attention back to the building harboring his student, Aizawa responds, "We're about to find out." Wasting not a second more, the two pros race into the building in search of their student. It doesn't take long for them to find him on the third floor.

At first, they followed the trail of discarded equipment to the entrance to the stairwell. Then, they followed the heart shattering sound of broken sobs and soft pleas for a savior echoing off the concrete walls. When they get closer and call to him, the boy took off running again. A slamming door and loud explosion lead them to the seventh floor, where Bakugo had chosen to hide on.

Jumping over the hole in the floor is nothing for either hero, but the sight before them makes them falter. A spiky blonde head peeks out from one of the cubicles. Wide fearful eyes make the usually angry teen look much younger than he actually is. Not realizing the gravity of the situation, Aizawa takes a step forward, again calling to his student, "Bakugo, it's time to come out now."

The boy shakes his head before rushing into a nearby office and locking the door behind himself. The adults hear him slide down the door as more muffled sobs escape him. This time, Best Jeanist cautiously approaches the door. He crouches in front of it and places his hand on the polished wood.

"Katsuki," he calls, deceptive calmness lacing his gentle voice. "I know you're scared, but I promise you you're safe. It's just me and Eraser out here."

That's all the man has to say. The door flings open and the explosive boy launches himself into his mentor's arms, crying into his chest. "I-it felt so-so real. Li-like I was back i-in that van," he stutters between sobs.

"You're safe," Jeanist again assures the terrified boy in his arms as he gently rubs his back trying to coax his tense muscles into relaxing. "I swear, he will never hurt you again."

Bakugo flinches and tries to get closer to his mentor when Aizawa clears his throat. "Anyone care to fill me in on what exactly happened?"

Distressed red eyes glance up to meet his teacher's worried charcoal gaze for only a moment before more tears blur his vision and he looks away. "I-I'm sorry," he quietly apologizes. "It's all my fault. I should've paid more attention to my surroundings, but I was too focused on keeping up."

"Don't take that blame, kid," Jeanist says. "I should have noticed that you were falling behind. One petty thief isn't worth more than your safety. I should have known that. I'm sorry."

"I take it something happened during his internship." Jeanist nods. "Are you going to tell me what happened or am I going to have to guess?"

"He was attacked by someone with a paralyzing quirk."

"Details, Jeanist. How bad was he hurt? Did you catch the guy? He's been attacked before. Why was-"

Hot tears sting Bakugo's eyes as his grip on the front of Jeanist's uniform tightens. "That bastard raped me," he quietly snaps at his teacher. His voice sounds strained, like it's painful to admit. "I couldn't move, but I felt everything." His voice breaks with another sob. "It hurt so fucking bad."

The color drains from the underground hero's face at his student's confession, shock adorning his features. Aizawa's seen students get hurt in the past. Bakugo himself has been attacked by a villain before. But this? He's never been more aware of just how young his student is than in that moment. His blood boils with rage at the thought of someone doing something so heinous to a child.

"Did you catch the guy?"

Nodding, Jeanist informs, "He won't be hurting anyone ever again."

"Good." Turning to his student, Aizawa asks, "Do you know what triggered you?"

Slowly coming down from the adrenaline of his panic attack, Bakugo nods. "The alley reminded me of the alley he hid his van in. I knew I was still at school, and that I was relatively safe. I just couldn't stop thinking about-" he trails off as his breathing quickens again with another wave of panic.

Between his panicking student's confession and the lost expression adorning Jeanist's face, Aizawa starts feeling a bit overwhelmed. He looks around for a moment, searching for any answer to fix this situation. Alas, there are no answers on the drab beige walls.

"Jeanist, can you escort Bakugo back to his dorm?" the stressed teacher asks. Receiving a nodded response, he turns his attention to his student. "Get some rest, Bakugo. I'll have Midoriya collect your gear and return it to you after class."

Standing with the help of his mentor, he quietly replies, "Yes, sensei."

Unfortunately, there's only one exit from the building, the front door. All of class 1-A try to get past one another to check on their classmate before their teacher catches their attention. They seem disappointed to be ordered to get back to the exercise. Bakugo silently walks back to his dorm, slightly leaning on his mentor. He feels like crying and screaming all at the same time once they reach his dorm.

Jeanist was never the best with emotions. A tiny part of him wishes one of his sidekicks were here to tell him how to comfort his intern. Or possibly a different hero. Hawks is closer to Bakugo in age and has always been good at calming victims of villain attacks or natural disasters, the few times the commission has let him aid in rescue missions. Any rescue hero would be better suited to care for the distressed teen.

He watches as Bakugo grabs an All Might plushie from his bookshelf by the door and curls up with it on his bed. Even with his back to his mentor, Jeanist can tell that he's crying again. Not knowing what else to do, the pro hero moves to sit on the edge of his student's bed. He gently runs his fingers through the boy's blonde hair in an attempt to comfort him.

After the attack, Jeanist insisted that Bakugo stay with him until the end of his internship instead of the hotel room the school provided for him. He didn't feel his intern was safe being almost five kilometers away from him. It took some convincing to get the stubborn teen to agree to the arrangement. Bakugo insisted that he was fine, denial so thick in his mind that his mentor could see it in his eyes. The threat of cutting his internship short and assurance that he wasn't the only one from his agency that was staying with him are the only two reasons Bakugo agreed. Two of Jeanist's sidekicks had lost their shared apartment in a fire a few days before his internship and had been staying with the hero while they search for a new home, also at Jeanist's insistence.

The first night, he had such horrible nightmares he accidentally activated his quirk in his sleep. He didn't even wake up when the fire alarm blared throughout the apartment. He instead woke up to his worried mentor shaking him as one of the sidekicks put out the small fire, the other on the phone trying to convince the fire department that everything was under control.

The second night, Bakugo refused to sleep until he passed out on the couch. He again had horrible nightmares. This time he woke up screaming, again waking the other occupants of the apartment. He felt bad for waking them again, especially after how busy they had been that day at the agency. The sidekicks assured him that it's fine and went back to bed. Jeanist found a movie marathon for them to watch until Bakugo fell back asleep a few hours later.

The third night, one of the sidekicks suggested that Bakugo sleep with Jeanist. He thought that the teen might feel safer with his mentor close by. With a mountain of pillows between the two, they tried that sleeping arrangement. It sort of worked. Bakugo still had nightmares, but Jeanist was able to wake him up when he started whimpering in his sleep, long before the dream got too bad. He had tossed the pillows off the bed and pulled his intern close. The hero held him while he cried.

When Bakugo finally cried himself back to sleep, Jeanist also cried. He has two more days with this boy and he has no idea what he's doing. The explosive blonde has made it clear that he can't inform his parents of what happened. Just mentioning calling his mother triggered a severe panic attack. Something in the back of Jeanist's mind told him that it wasn't just because he doesn't want his parents to know he was raped. Bakugo had flinched when Jeanist had asked about a hand shaped bruise on his arm the first day of his internship and made up an excuse that it happened during training at school. He didn't mention to the boy that he knew the bruise was less than a day old by the coloration and slight swelling. That alone would've been enough for the hero to conclude that his intern was being mistreated. Add in the panic attack and he was reluctant to let him go home after the internship.

He finally managed to get Bakugo to confess to the abuse on his fourth night. The fourth night was an almost carbon copy of the third. Jeanist and Bakugo shared a bed. Jeanist woke up Bakugo when he started whimpering in his sleep and did his best to calm the scared teen. The two nights differ when Jeanist finally got Bakugo to talk about his dream instead of letting him cry himself to sleep. The nightmares weren't about the attack; they were about how his mother would react. When he had been attacked by a villain before he started attending UA, his mother punished him severely for not being able to defend himself. She would hit him and use her quirk, the same as her son's, on him while she yelled at him that he was a failure and a disappointment. She would berate everything he did even more than usual. Apparently, she'd been doing this his entire life. This boy had been raised on violence and beratement, yet he still wanted to be a hero.

On the final night, Jeanist couldn't sleep. He watched Bakugo sleep peacefully for the first time since he was attacked earlier in the week. He had twelve hours to figure out how to keep him from returning to his abusive mother. Fear and frustration compete in his mind as he realizes that he has nothing more than the confession of a child to work with. Unfortunately, he didn't think to take a picture of the bruise at the time or to have Bakugo show him any other injuries his mother had given him. Now they're mixed in with scrapes and bruises from the attack and other incidents during his internship.

A soft knock pulls the denim-clad hero's attention away from the sleeping boy. "How's he doing?" All Might asks, moving to lean against the desk opposite the bed.

"Honestly, I have no idea. He's so good at hiding how he's feeling behind anger."

"He's a tough kid."

Looking back to the boy, Jeanist sighs. "He shouldn't have to be. That's our job." The room is silent for a moment before he asks, "You didn't just come to check on him, did you?"

"I came to let him know that his mother's on her way here, but he's asleep."

The shocked, and slightly angry, expression in Jeanist's eyes summons a pit of dread in All Might's gut. "What did you tell her?"

"Aizawa explained what happened in training. It's school protocol to call the parents when something happens to the students. Why? Is there a reason we shouldn't have called her?"

"She's abusive."

"And you didn't tell her that her son was attacked." He nods. "Well, what's done is done. She'll be here in a few minutes. All we can do now is try to keep the damage to a minimum. She won't be left with him unsupervised."

He only nods, turning his attention back to the explosive teen asleep beside him. Nothing in the world could force him to leave him alone with that woman. It doesn't take long for Bakugo to start showing signs of having a nightmare. Small whimpers escape the boy as he holds the plushie tighter. He calms almost instantly when Jeanist runs his fingers through his hair.

All Might's phone dings with an incoming text. "She's here." It doesn't take long before the angry voice of Mitsuki Bakugo can be heard from the elevator down the hall. "Mrs. Bakugo," All Might greets as the angry woman marches into the dorm.

She makes a beeline for her sleeping son. Faster than either hero can react, she shoves Jeanist out of the way and produces a small explosion by Bakugo's head. The panic in the boy's red eyes is clear when they snap open. Mitsuki immediately launches into a tirade of pure rage as her son tries to figure out what exactly is going on.

"Bakugo," Jeanist calls, capturing the attention of the scared boy. It only takes a moment for the blonde to find an escape route around his mother and into the arms of his mentor. "Are you okay?" he asks the shaking teen.

"He's fine," Mitsuki snaps before turning her attention back to her child. "Knock it off, Katsuki! What the hell is wrong with you? Making up stories for attention isn't very heroic. And you didn't go to that internship to get laid. You went to learn how to be a better hero."

"Nope. You're done. Get out," Aizawa orders from the doorway.

"You're right. We are done. Katsuki, pack your things, we're leaving." A look of devastation joins the panic on Bakugo's face as he looks between his mother and his teachers. He can barely hold back the tears trying to escape at the idea of being pulled out of UA. "Now, Katsuki!"

He flinches before moving to follow her order. As he searches the closet for a bag, Jeanist orders, "Bakugo, stop. You're not going anywhere."

"Good luck keeping that promise when I stop paying his tuition. The school will kick him out in an instant!"

"I'll pay his tuition," Jeanist declares. "If you don't want him, I'd adopt him in a heartbeat. That boy has what it takes to be a top hero. You don't get to dangle his education over his head like some prize to be won or lost. As for the incident during his internship, you will not blame Katsuki for any second of that. He didn't ask for that."

Mitsuki laughs, "That boy's been an attention seeker his entire life. I guarantee you, he was asking for it. Heroes don't get-"

"Am I a hero?" Aizawa asks the angry parent.

"Obviously."

"Are you sure? I was about Bakugo's age when I was raped."

Wide-eyed shock adorns the blonde woman's features. "I-I…that…that's not what I meant."

"Really?" the underground hero laughs. "By your logic, the last thirteen years of my life have been a lie. Maybe you should go tell my kid that. For some reason, Hitoshi wants to be an underground hero like me, but apparently I'm not a hero at all. He's usually running laps around the perimeter of the campus right about now." The room is so quiet you could hear a pin drop as the three heroes wait for Mitsuki's response. When she can't produce one, Aizawa asks, "Have you ever hit Bakugo?"

She hesitates before bowing her head in shame. "Yes," she answers.

"Have you ever used your quirk on him?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever left marks on him? Bruises? Scrapes? Burns?"

"Yes."

"Get out. Go home and pack Bakugo's things. You will no longer have custody of him."

"Now, hold on a second!" Mitsuki snaps, her earlier rage reignited. "Katsuki's my son! You can't just take him from me! You don't have the authority."

Aizawa shrugs before looking to his right. "Did you get all that, Zashi?"

"Loud and clear, Sho," Present Mic assures from his hiding spot just outside the door, passing a small recording device to his husband.

"We might not have the authority to revoke your custody, but as teachers we are mandatory reporters. Also, the school has the authority to assign custody of any student to a pro hero for any length of time. We usually only use this power for internships and in case parents can't be reached in an emergency. I'm sure Nezu would consider this an emergency. He has zero tolerance for abusive humans. Now if you don't mind, Present Mic will escort you off campus."

As the explosive woman follows the voice hero out, her shocked son watches. The faint ding of the elevator snaps him out of his trance like state. "H-how did you know? Not even Deku knew what she did to me, and I've only ever told Jeanist."

"Don't worry about it," Aizawa says. "Get some rest. The next few days are going to be hell." On his way out, the perpetually tired teacher addresses the number four hero, "Nezu has the custody papers waiting for your signature in his office. You can go sign at any time if you were serious about taking him in."