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Shouta was having a bad day. Thankfully, it wasn't one of the bad ones - no natural disasters occured, and no villains attacked the school in general or his students specifically. No, today was just… not a good day. He had slept past his alarm clock, and so had no time to acquire his mandatory morning dose of caffeine on his way to school, which in turn affected his already nasty temper. Even grumpy as he was, though, he could see immediately that he wasn't the only one who was having an off day.
Izuku Midoriya had those, sometimes. Days when he woke up bleary and unfocused, and wandered down to the common room with his gaze stuck firmly to the floor, surrounded by an impenetrable blanket of silence. He would still try, of course. He would smile for his friends, and laugh at their jokes. He would do his best to pay attention in class, and dutifully scribble in those notebooks of his. He would train with drive and determination, and grin sheepishly when his teachers warned him away from attempting a maneuver that would hurt him. Like usual.
Only on those days, his smiles would be just a bit less sunny, and his laughter a little forced. And during class his eyes would sometimes wander to the window, acquiring a kind of sad, far-away look. And when he wrote in his precious notebooks he would hunch over them just a bit, almost as if he expected something to happen to them. And when he was forced to accept his teachers' concerns there would be something a little off in his expression, just a smidge too detached and uncaring.
It used to happen more when the kid just arrived at UA, all starry-eyed and skittish, back when Shouta still hadn't known what to look for. Certainly, since they moved into the dorms the frequency of those days has diminished significantly, but they still happened, and when they did the tired teacher noticed. He knew he wasn't the only one, either. All of 1-A had become oddly attuned to Midoriya's moods, and when their little ray of sunshine was feeling down, despite his best efforts, it had an unpleasant effect on the class.
And so it happened that when, after an especially tense heroics class the tired teacher saw Midoriya wave off his friends' concerns and trudge off into the woods, the unpleasant prickling feeling under his skin told him to follow. He didn't want a repeat of… any of Midoriya's incidents, really, so he discreetly signed for a deflated All Might to join him, and started walking unhurriedly in the direction the boy had disappeared. All Might seemed to get the message, and tried to assume an innocent air, with mixed results. The two of them stopped briefly and exchanged a worried glance when they saw Bakugo rushing into the woods as well, and then doubled their speed. In Shouta's experience, Midoriya and Bakugo alone together never ended in anything good.
They followed the two students for what felt like hours, Midoriya so far ahead he was mostly hidden from sight by the lush greenery, and Bakugo at a respectable distance behind him, closer to the two teachers. Shouta was pleasantly surprised to discover that both the loud blonde ahead of him, and the one at his side could be quite stealthy if they really wanted to.
Eventually there was a break in the trees that opened into a small, sunlit clearing. Midoriya sat cross legged on the soft-looking grass, his back to them, head resting lightly in his hands. Bakugo opted to step right into the clearing after his classmate, and while Yagi was clearly set on doing the same, Shouta held him back with one hand, making sure both of them stayed hidden from the students' sight. He would intervene if they devolved to violence again, of course, but until then he was content to observe. After all, even after teaching them for this long, the relationship between the two was still a mystery to him, and gleaning some information from a conversation the two thought private couldn't hurt.
Bakugo stalked into the clearing with intent, making sure his steps were loud enough for the other boy to hear. Midoriya didn't get up or raise his head, but his shoulders tensed visibly before he forced them to relax.
"Oi, what are you doing there, shitty nerd?" Bakugo started with his usual level of tact.
"I… I just needed some time alone, Kacchan." The boy answered meekly, still not turning around.
"What the fuck would you need that for?" Was this kid serious? "Aren't you always happy to hang out with your shitty extra friends? Or are you not feeling good or something? Then go fucking see recovery girl, for fucks sake."
The green haired boy didn't answer, which seemed to drain the last of the blonde's nigh-nonexistent patience reserves. "Oi, don't you dare ignore me when I'm talking to you!" Shouted Bakugo, small explosions popping in his open palms.
With slow, almost painful looking movements and a resigned air to him, Midoriya got up and turned around to face his classmate. His face was uncharacteristically expressionless, which made the bags under his eyes stand out in stark contrast against his fair complexion.
"I am fine, Kacchan." He said quietly, still not quite looking at the explosive blonde. "Just... a little tired, is all. And I need some time to think. Some things have been getting to me more than usual, lately." His attempt at a chuckle was mirthless and hollow sounding, but he forged on as if the sound didn't make worry snake its way into his teachers' hearts. "So, I would really appreciate it if you left me alone now. I am not really in the mood to talk."
Silence enveloped the clearing for all of one second before Bakugou exploded. "Don't you fucking dare to tell me what to do, you shitty deku! I'll go wherever the fuck I want, whenever I want! Don't think that now just because we are rivals you get to tell me what to do! I bet you just want time to write in those creepy ass notebooks where no one can see you. Or maybe it's your shitty quirk acting up 'cause you can't even fucking control it-"
"Enough!" It was probably the loudest Shouta had ever heard his student shout outside of battle, loud enough to shut Bakugo up in the middle of a tirade, and he could see why. Sometime during the parade of insults something seemed to have snapped inside Midoriya. He stood in the same spot, shaking fists clenched at his sides, expression so suddenly, overwhelmingly angry that the loud blonde took a subconscious step back. But the greenette, it seemed, was far from finished.
"Why do you always do this?!" The usually gentle boy shouted, as if asking the universe for an answer, rather than his rival. "Why do you always have to insult and belittle me like this, no matter what I do?! You were my friend!"
The anger seemed to leave the greenette as suddenly as it had come, his shoulders slumping as if under a great weight, expression, slackening and turning tired, resigned. He still didn't break eye contact though, with the blonde who seemed too shocked to react.
"You were my friend." Repeated Midoriya quietly. "I never stopped thinking that, you know, not really. Not even after that stupid doctor's appointment, when you suddenly decided I wasn't worth the time of day anymore. For years, I hoped that you would see it that way again one day, too. That if I stopped doing all the things that annoyed you, that if I stayed quiet and out of your way, that if I worked hard enough on my analysis and showed you my dedication you would see I was worth it still." Again that laugh, humorless and exhausted. "But you never did."
Silence again, just for a moment, as the greenette seemed to gather his thoughts, the shell-shocked blond scrambled for something, anything to say, and the duo of teachers stood hidden in the shade of the trees, frozen and disbelieving. Then Midoriya raised his head once more, forest green eyes seeming to pin the other student to the spot.
"You bullied me." There was no venom in the accusation, no heat, just slight surprise, as if it was a truth the boy had just uncovered for the first time. "You hurt me, over and over and over again. You used your quirk on me. You hit me and pushed me around. You burned my notebooks, and stole my shoes, and destroyed my things. You insulted and belittled me. There wasn't a day in the last ten years where you didn't tell me how useless I was. And you made sure that no one helped me, because then they would suffer your wrath. If there was ever someone who even wanted to help a quirkless deku like me, that is." The boy's smile was so wrong, all lopsided and bitter, with no trace of the usual sunshine.
"And you know what? I was okay with all of that. I knew you were right, knew I was useless and weak just like you said. I knew that you were amazing, and powerful, and one day you will be a great hero. So I submitted myself to your punishment, because if I let you practice your quirk on me, at least I was being useful for something. I even hid my wounds from mom and everyone outside the school, on the off-chance someone would care enough to get you in trouble. It was… it was bad, and it hurt so much, more than I could bear some days, but I had my dream and my determination and I was fine with that. But it wasn't enough for you, was it?"
The kid's eyes seemed to be changing color, turning from dark emerald to glowing, acidic green. "What made you do it, Kacchan? Why did you feel the need to say such a thing to me?" He was speaking faster now, rushing, as if desperate to understand. "What kind of hero did you think to be, after telling someone to jump off the roof?"
Silence, absolute silence in the whole forest. It seemed that even the birds and the trees were holding their breath, not daring to interrupt the tension that hung like heavy fog in the small clearing, surrounding the two teens. Midoriya's eyes bored into Bakugo, desperate and almost pleading, clawing for an answer that wasn't there. Slowly, after what seemed like an eternity, he looked down, breaking eye contact, finally allowing the blonde to take a shallow, ragged breath.
"Do you even remember it?" Quiet, barely more than a whisper, yet ringing loud as thunder in the suffocating silence. "You never mentioned it again, just continued with your life as if you forgot. But I do, I remember every word you said, every detail of the classroom. I still dream of it, sometimes. I remember your friends' faces, too. I think even they realized at the time that you went overboard."
A smile graced Midoriya's lips, then. It wasn't happy, or forced, or bitter. It was small, and sad, and so extremely tired, like no child his age should be. "I almost did it, you know." Said calmly, matter-of-factly, as if he was remarking on the weather. "I ended up alone on a roof that day, and I was so, so tired. And I thought that maybe you were right, that if I would always be useless I might as well…" he stopped for a moment, staring into the distance. Beside him, Shouta heard Yagi cough out blood, and when he glanced at his colleague, the man was pale as death, shadowed blue eyes brimming with horror and tears. There was no time to ask questions though, as Midoriya quickly shook his head as if to clear it and looked at Bakugo again.
"The only reason I stopped was because I heard the explosions in the distance. I knew they were your explosions, I could recognize them anywhere. And even after I saved you, you never apologized. Just shouted at me, like everyone else." Tears finally started pouring down his cheeks, plentyful and completely silent as the boy stared at his once-friend.
"What do I have to do, Kacchan, to be good enough? Trying my hardest wasn't enough, and neither was getting a quirk, or saving you, or beating you in training. What do I have to do so you don't hate me anymore?" The greenette seemed to finally have run out of words, now standing slumped and completely silent in the sunny clearing, tears still pouring down his cheeks, shoulders shaking slightly with suppressed sobs.
At long last, Bakugo came out of his stupor, mouth opening and closing in an attempt to say words he couldn't find. Shouta watched emotions fleet across his face at lightning speed - confusion, regret, helplessness, sadness, and finally, rage. It seemed that, at a loss for what to do as he was, the explosive teen automatically settled for the emotion he was most familiar with. Shouta decided that this was the prime moment to intervene.
His eyes blazed red right as his scarf shot out, catching the raging teen and preventing him from moving. Shouta caught a glimpse of Midoriya's horror struck expression as he realized how much his teachers probably heard, but Yagi wasn't losing any time, either, and in the next moment the smaller teen was safely enveloped in the bony man's arms as he murmured teary apologies and reassurances into fluffy green hair.
The spark of rage seemed to have gone out completely in Bakugo as he turned to look at his homeroom teacher with a gulp, pale as a sheet, with the dawning realization of just how much trouble he was in reflected in his eyes. Good. Let the boy feel fear. As far as Shouta was concerned, if even half of what Midoriya said was true (and he had no reason to doubt it was, seeing as Bakugo hadn't even tried to deny anything) any punishment the blond thought he would receive would be an underestimation.
"Now, we are going to go to the principal's office," he tried to say calmly (though it came out more a growl than anything) "and you will explain to him exactly what you did to Midoriya in middle school. If you try to lie or withhold information, you will be expelled on the spot. Am I clear?"
Bakugo could only nod and scowl at the floor as Shouta dragged him away, leaving All Might to comfort his protege.