Chapter Text
One month, one week, three days, sixteen hours, thirty-seven minutes and nine seconds.
That’s how long Bakugou Katsuki has been at home since being kidnapped. That’s how long he’s been alone with his parents who have never been more disappointed in him. That’s how long he’s contemplated not going back to UA.
But they’re building dorms. Just for him. To “keep him and everyone else at school safe.”
So he at least has to finish out the year.
That’s what his mom has told him, at least.
“Finish the year and then, if you still want to be an ungrateful dropout brat, we’ll talk,” she’d said.
Finish the year. As if it was easy.
He dreaded move-in day. It was the absolute last thing he wanted to do in that moment.
Moving in was just… awful. He did his best to stay out of everyone’s way, ignoring the stares and whispers he heard behind his back, assuming the worst.
There he is. The nerve to show his face.
The traitor of 1-A.
Should have been expelled months ago.
He did his best to shake the thoughts from his head, relaxing when he could finally be alone in his dorm room for the rest of the night.
He wanted to go home. But he was also grateful that he didn’t have to.
He’s never felt more out of place and alone than right now.
Except maybe when he was kidnapped. Or the police station.
The next day in class isn’t much easier.
It’s their first day back since the incident. The principal decided the school needed a long break after everything that had happened.
Bakugou wasn’t sure why. He was the one that had been kidnapped, not the rest of them.
He can’t look any of his teachers in the eye. A few of them try to talk to him- Present Mic, Eraserhead, Midnight- even All Might tries to get a few words in. But he can’t bring himself to lift his head when they try. He just stares at his desk and nods until they give up.
How had he fucked up so badly that even his teachers had thought he was a villain?
That night was the worst of his life.
Not just the kidnapping, but the way the heroes looked at him.
The way Present Mic looked at him.
The way Midnight looked at him.
The way All Might looked at him.
He can’t help but feel a little betrayed. Maybe he doesn’t deserve to feel that way, but he does. Maybe this was his karma, maybe he deserved it. But that doesn’t mean he likes it. Doesn’t mean it’s something he ever wanted.
Suddenly it’s lunch time and he’s sitting in the classroom by himself.
He knows he should leave to get lunch. But he can’t sit in that fucking cafeteria.
Can’t go in there and see everyone staring at him. Can’t go in there and hear the whispers. Can’t go in there and feel more alone than if he just sat right here.
So, that’s what he does.
He spaces out a lot more these days. He’s actually somewhat grateful for it. It makes time move faster. Makes it so that he doesn’t feel as bad when he fucks something up.
Spacing out during lunch is supposed to be a good thing. It’s supposed to be some kind of comfort.
But it’s not when someone fucking sneaks up on him and scares the living shit out of him.
“Hey,” a voice comes from behind him, and a hand appears on his shoulder.
He jumps higher than he’d like to admit.
He turns around, eyes wide and flinching, raising a hand to protect himself from any incoming blows. But nothing comes.
Instead, he looks up at that general course prick that had made it so far into the Sports Tournament.
“Woah, sorry,” he says, holding his own hands up in surrender. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Just… no one’s supposed to be in here, I was told I could come in,” he said.
Katsuki is confused, he can’t lie.
“Why? You’re not in this class,” he said, and fuck, it comes off so blunt. He hadn’t meant to be a dick about it, he was just confused, dammit, but now he probably thinks Bakugou’s a shithead, maybe even assumes he’s a villain, too, just like-
“I am now, actually,” the other boy says, cutting off the stream of thoughts running through Katsuki’s head. “Your teacher, uh… Mr. Aizawa? Feels weird calling him that, fuck… uh, anyway, he’s been training me for a while, and the principal finally agreed to let me into 1-A,” he explained. “I’m supposed to come in and put all my shit down. I don’t like the cafeteria, it’s too noisy for me,” he said. “You mind if I sit behind you? Dad said this seat was empty.”
Katsuki blinked up at the other boy. He nodded. “That’s... Yeah. That’s fine,” he said softly.
Shinsou nodded, taking a seat behind the blond.
They don’t talk for the rest of the day.
Aizawa introduces Shinsou Hitoshi to the class and tells everyone that he’s going to be joining them for the rest of high school. He switched to the hero track right before everything went down at the summer camp.
The rest of the class is so excited to have Hitoshi in the class now. They talk his ear off, and they’re sure to keep him away from Bakugou whenever they get the chance.
But Hitoshi glances at Katsuki every so often. They make eye contact three more times.
Katsuki can’t remember the last time someone ever looked at him the way Hitoshi does.
He tries not to blush. It’s pathetic, getting all flustered over someone looking at you like you’re a person. But he can’t help it.
They haven’t even had a real conversation. But Katsuki does his best to imagine what it could be like having this guy in class with him.
When he goes to bed that night, after he’s made an extra effort to head straight to his room without dinner, he’s actually decently excited about tomorrow.