"Dad hasn't called. It's a few days and he said he'd call. I just don't know what I did wrong. Christmas is soon and I-" he sighs, needing all of the horrible feelings to leave his chest.

"I watched your favorite movie again. I know you're probably annoyed I didn't like it that much when-" he needs to stop getting choked up when it's time to admit it.

He laughs it off and swats his hand in the air, "Anyway I just know you're mad."

Visiting her on Wednesday made it the best Wednesday he's had in a while and it was almost like when she was alive. All that was missing was his favorite food, hot chocolate, and being cuddled up next to her and his dad while watching a movie.

Okay, maybe it wasn't almost like before, but the main point was that his Wednesday ended up better.

"I have to turn in that stupid list to Hound Dog on Tuesday and I still haven't added anything from when I last told you. It's just-" he looks around and the dark sky and takes a deep breath of cold air, "another reason I don't want to let anyone else in is because they're not you. I don't want to add that to the list cause I'm already pathetic as it is. If I add that, it'll make it worse."

Looking back down to his mom's grave, he shakes his head, looking off to the side when he's met with a gravestone rather than his mom's face.

"I can't believe you died."

It's silent after that. Bakugo can't get himself to speak when he realizes he's said it out loud. He feels frozen. He broke his own unspoken rule and now he feels like he's broken.

As he's stuck there, unmoving, he tries to get himself together again. To pick up the pieces and somehow glue them all together with a fucking glue stick.

His eyes have focused on the leafless tree just outside the cemetery gates. It's sad and gray, kind of how Bakugo's life has felt since that phone call. That damned phone call that took his mom away.

The tree is hardly visible since there are only a few lights in the gates of the cemetery, but he stares at it.

A dense weight forms in Bakugo's gut.

It's slimy and thick and full of hatred.

It claws at Bakugo in a horrible manner and leaves him there sitting in the dimly lit area.

Guilt, he recognizes. That feeling is guilt.

Guilt from everything.

It causes his eyes to finally close, softly as he's thrown into memories. Memories of his mom congratulating him with hugs and kisses for his honor roll at school when he was in seventh grade.

Memories of the soft smack in the head he got for saying something rude, but seeing the hidden smile on his mom's face because she thought his remark was clever.

One of her hugging him so tight after he got home from the sports festival last year. She comforted and held him as he spewed all the horrible things he felt about being chained up on live television.

"Bakugo!"

He's snapped out of his mind and into fear as he realizes someone he knows is close.

As soon as he's snapped out of it, he's checking his phone and seeing all the missed calls and texts from Todoroki. He also sees the time and flinches in shock at the realization that it's past curfew.

Then his head whips around as another shout of, "Bakugo," he hears. That voice. It's Todoroki's and he's close by.

Fuck shit stupid fuck.

Bakugo clocks where the shout is coming from and shoots up, getting ready to head out the back of the cemetery, but whispers a bye to his mom before kissing her headstone and running with the bag of old flowers in his hand.

He sprints around the cemetery and runs a couple blocks out of the way, throwing the flowers away in a trash nearby, and gets ahead of Todoroki to make it seem like he was coming from another direction than the cemetery.

Another call of his name is followed by a call from Todoroki on his phone.

It's only buzzing, so Todoroki won't be able to hear it as he slows down to slow down his breathing because Todoroki needs to think he was just walking.

It takes around thirty seconds before he hears Todoroki's feet hitting the ground get closer so he stands up straight, getting his breathing in check, and answering the call as he walks forward, just in front of the block that Todoroki is walking towards.

"Halfie?"

He's met with a look of relief before it shifts into a stern look.

Todoroki hangs up the phone as he walks towards him, and shakes his head, already picking up his hand of point his finger angrily at Bakugo.

"Where were you? Do you know how late it is? How worried I've been? Where were you? Why didn't you answer me?"

Todoroki is panting and shaking his hand with his phone in the air, mad as hell.

"I do this for you, trying not to pry, lying to our teacher and betraying his instructions, and you don't even have the audacity to pick up your phone? Bakugo, Aizawa has been calling for fifteen minutes already."

He hadn't thought of a lie at all yet and now he's left to come up with something believable.

"A family member lives close by so I walk around here, but they had a family emergency today. I didn't have time to look at my damn phone. It was important," he bites back.

That seems to egg Todoroki on just a smidge more. He seems more worried than angry anyway.

"Oh, okay, we don't need to know you're alive. Of course not, we don't care about you. We don't care if the League has taken you again," he says, sarcasm thick in his words.

Bakugo backs off just a little and sighs. "What did Aizawa say?"

"He's searching around the store. Come on, he's already upset as it is," the taller says, pulling Bakugo's sleeve for him to follow.

With his other hand, he pulls out his phone and dials Aizawa's number. Angrily, Bakugo pulls his arm from Todoroki's grip.

"Aizawa," Todoroki says into the phone before a pause. "Yeah," another pause. "Yeah, right here," pause. "Okay we're going."

They hang up and next to him, Todoroki scoffs shakes his head.

"Here's the lie I told Aizawa. Remember it and tell him so that you can still get your free time," Halfie says, not so mad at Bakugo as to tell Aizawa how they separate every time they're supposed to only be shopping, "This is the first time you've done this. We were at the store, but you ran off and then tell him you came here to a family member's house because that's what you told me and what I'm going to tell him."

They're walking pretty fast.

"I'm going to tell him I didn't call him because I thought you'd answer me or be waiting for me at the store when you were ready. Stress that this was a one time thing. He cannot know this is a regular thing."

"Fuck off," the blond replies, trying to keep up a front while he internally freaks out.

"We're talking about this later," Todoroki demands as they finally get to their homeroom teacher.

Aizawa looks relieved. He doesn't even look mad at all. Something is different. Ever since Wednesday, he's laid off Bakugo and the teen doesn't know why.

The man looks at both of them and sighs, shaking his head.

"Bakugo, what happened?"

With a glare at his teacher, Bakugo refused to answer, "None of your damn business."

Getting more stern, Aizawa doesn't let that slide, "It is, actually. You're supposed to only get groceries and head back to campus. That was the deal and you've broken it."

This shit is really none of their business. Why are they so hell bent on sticking their noses where they don't belong? Aizawa is his teacher, not his fucking dad, and Todoroki is just someone he goes to school with. He has no obligation to tell them every single thing he ever does and why.

But if he doesn't answer, they won't leave him alone, so Bakugo tells him what Todoroki had said to.

"My family had an emergency so I had to leave right away. I wouldn't have left otherwise," he lies, "I'm trying to get back the privilege of going alone. Just ask Halfie, I've never done this shit before."

With a suspicious look on his face, Aizawa scans Bakugo.

"So what was the emergency?"

He scoffs, "It's a private family matter. I don't have to tell you."

The homeroom teacher sighs and turns around, not wanting to deal with his attitude. Bakugo can't really blame him, he knows he's been harder and harder to deal with recently. It's all he can think of doing.

"I will have to speak to you when we get on campus," the man says, still leading the way to UA.

He walks beside Todoroki and runs a hand over his face in frustration.

Well, now that his dad has taken over for his therapy thing, he can be honest in therapy and Aizawa won't know a thing. He can tell Hound Dog about this. It's getting tiring always worrying about these blackouts.

Aizawa probably told Hound Dog about them, but he hasn't brought them up. He's probably just waiting for Bakugo to bring it up himself.

Bakugo kind of likes that about Hound Dog. He doesn't really push, just lets Bakugo realize in his own time with his own terms. It feels less invasive.

He doesn't even notice how cold he actually is until they're in the dorms and the warmth from inside finally starts thawing him out.

He shivers as he takes off his sweater and follows Aizawa up to his dorm room, already hating what's to come. Aizawa always goes on and on, and Bakugo is just reminded of stern talks from his mom and how she'd be disappointed by all of his behavior recently.

After giving Todoroki a look, letting him know he'd talk to him after Aizawa, he quietly trails behind their teacher.

In his room, Aizawa motions for him to sit down on his bed as he stands against the door.

Once he's sat, Aizawa starts on his lecture. "Tell me the truth, Bakugo, have you run off from Todoroki before? It's not safe, especially knowing that the League is after you. Not only that, but I cannot trust you right now."

Bakugo looks at the man and sighs before reaching down to take off his shoes.

"I already said I wouldn't have done that if it wasn't an emergency."

Lying is so easy sometimes.

It's Aizawa's turn to sigh. When Bakugo looks back up after taking off his shoes, he sees the man pinching the bridge of his nose.

It's almost funny.

"Your dad called on Wednesday to say he's becoming the appointed guardian for your therapy sessions. In that call he told me what he said to you in case you spiral or do something bad."

How many times is his dad going to embarrass him? Why is it always Aizawa who knows these embarrassing things about him? Things he has no business knowing.

So Bakugo gets mad, glaring up at the man and scoffing.

"What is your end goal here? To humiliate me until I crack? What do you want? Why are you always hovering?" He yells, fed up with this shit.

Shaking his head, Aizawa motions for him to lower his voice.

"Your neighbors might overhear, Bakugo. My goal isn't to humiliate you, kid. I'm worried, rightfully so because tonight you disappeared for hours. Running off on Todoroki like that and then not answering him? What if you got hurt?"

It's different now. He's more prepared and stronger than he was last year.

"It's not the same anymore. I'm not as weak as I was then. I'm ready now," he says, lowering his voice like Aizawa had said to.

"Ready? Bakugo this isn't about your skills. You're talented, it's a given, but with that many people in the League, there's not much you can do," he says, "but I'm not just talking about the League. How would I know if you did something to hurt yourself? I know you said you have a reason, but after last weekend and then what your dad told me, there's a lot to be worried about for you."

Bakugo can only sit there and listen to the man talk about how he can't be trusted alone. He's weak, not only physically, but mentally.

He's already exhausted and he still has to talk to Todoroki.

Fucking great.

"What your father said to you was not right. I know he thinks he's noble for telling me, but that's not the truth. He's letting someone else know so that they can be the ones to fix his mess."

Whatever.

No matter what Aizawa says, it's not going to make the words any less true. His dad still hates him. His dad still blames him sometimes.

And the relief he felt when his dad answered that night in the gym was all for nothing because his dad's words weren't true then. His dad lied to him and it was all because Bakugo is too weak to handle a couple of true words.

"Okay, I need to talk to Todoroki now," Bakugo says, wanting this night to be over already.

Shit.

He didn't even make dinner and Todoroki's mochi.

Knowing he's not getting any sleep tonight, he can at least still make his mochi and Soba for lunch tomorrow.

Just something to try and make it up to that idiot.

At the thought of food, his stomach growls and he suddenly feels really faint.

Bakugo is not one to feel faint.

The room spins slightly, and he feels himself learning heavily on one side, almost tipping over when he feels an arm on his shoulder, keeping him from falling off the bed.

"Bakugo, what's wrong? You look sick."

Despite the lack of food in his stomach, he feels the urge to throw up, nausea causing his mouth to fill up with saliva.

He swallows thickly and breathes slowly but deeply, trying his hardest to avoid throwing up.

"Hold on, I'll be right back. Stay here," the man instructs, handing Bakugo a trash can before heading out to who knows where.

While he waits for his teacher to come back, he's left to get himself put together, trying to stop the dizzy and nauseating feeling that's taken over. He thinks maybe it's because he hasn't eaten in days.

It's not long before the man is back, having taken five minutes max.

With a sleeve of crackers and a water bottle, Aizawa enters the room and looks over Bakugo, looking relieved to see that he's not throwing up or passed out on the floor. How funny would it be if he was lying on the floor when the man came back?

"Hey, Bakugo, drink some of the water, just a few sips, and eat no more than five crackers," he instructs, opening the water bottle for him and handing it to him before opening the sleeve of crackers.

When Bakugo has drank some of the water, he hands the teen a cracker, hoping it's not too hard on his stomach.

"When was the last time you ate?"

The blond wracks his mind trying to remember.

On Monday, he'd gotten two granola bars in him before training. Oh, and yesterday, he'd gotten down some toast before classes started.

"Yesterday. Breakfast," he says, voice low.

The man hums, suspicious. "Okay, and before that, when did you eat?"

With a sigh, Bakugo's shoulders fall.

"Monday. Lunch."

Guilt and humiliation gnaw at him and he doesn't look up when Aizawa hands him another cracker. He just takes it and throws the whole thing in his mouth before taking a sip of water.

"I'm sure you know that's wrong, but you're doing your best. You're going through a lot right now, and it's hard. I see you trying."

His words make Bakugo feel guiltier.

Is he really trying? Doing his best?

So much for that, he can't even get himself to eat every day. He feels weak right now for fuck's sake.

"I'll tell Todoroki to meet me here instead. I feel better. Can you go?"

With a hesitant nod, the man makes his way to leave, putting the sleeve of crackers on the desk. "What you did tonight was dangerous. We'll talk more soon."

As soon as the door is closed, Bakugo exhales deeply, keeling over. The guilt he feels is beyond anything and it gets worse by the day. He was fucking stupid today. He probably ruined a great thing he had going on.

Stupid stupid stupid.

He can't believe he's been so careless and fucking idiotic.

Before he can fall apart, he stands up straight and takes a deep breath, pulling everything back in and reaching for his phone so that he could get Todoroki to come to his dorm.

Once he's texted the boy and gotten a reply saying he was on his way, Bakugo reaches for the crackers, still feeling shitty and weak.

After two more crackers go down, he hears a quiet knock on his door. As he takes a sip of his water bottle, he walks over to the door and opens it, looking at the stern expression on Todoroki's face.

Yeah, Bakugo really wasn't expecting anything different.

The taller teen doesn't say anything until Bakugo has closed the door and turned around to face him.

"Bakugo, whatever the hell happened tonight, can't happen again. You almost lost the privilege to go off on your own again. We were already lying to Aizawa by separating and then we had to go and lie some more. He's right about it being dangerous but I was being trusting by agreeing to your plan."

Guilt.

That's all he's been feeling recently and it's horrible.

So he apologizes.

It's humiliating to have to apologize, but Halfie deserves it. He deserves an apology for putting up with Bakugo's shit.

"I'm sorry. I lost track of time."

Maybe it's the defeated tone of voice or the exhausted look on his face, but Todoroki immediately backs off and reaches out to Bakugo, squeezing his shoulder with an empathetic frown.

It makes Bakugo insecure.

"Why the fuck are you looking at me like that?"

Without missing a beat, he answers, "I know you didn't do it on purpose."

With a scoff, Bakugo shoves his hand off and turns, unsure of what to do with himself. Or even how to shift the conversation.

Before Bakugo can even say anything, Todoroki is asking a question.

"Is that really what you do? Just walk around where your family lives? For hours and then you forget about the time? Because this isn't the first time you've forgotten the time, it's just the first time it's been so hard to get in touch with you."

My mom died.

My mom died.

My mom died.

That's all he wants to say. He wants people to know why he's in anguish. To know that his wonderful mom is fucking gone. Gone forever.

It's been months. Months of life without seeing his mom and there are still years to come. Decades left to live without ever hearing her shitty jokes or watching her try to bake again.

Still turned around, Bakugo fights back the emotions and bites his lower lip which had started to wobble.

After a deep breath, Bakugo turns and answers, "Not that it's any of your damn business, but yeah. My fucking bad for being so forgetful of the time. I'm tired now. Can you go?"

He is tired. Exhausted. But there's no way he's going to be able to sleep. Not with all the guilt in his stomach. He just wants Todoroki out because  he wants to tell him. For some reason there's a comfort in Todoroki's gaze.

A comfort that makes Bakugo want to reveal the horrible truth and have someone to cry to.

But he can't be weak. It'll break him even more in the long run.

Todoroki is obviously not buying it, but he relents, gives Bakugo his space which makes him want to confide in him even more.

"Okay. I-" Todoroki cuts himself off and takes three long strides to Bakugo so fast, the blond doesn't have time to react before Todoroki is wrapping him in a hug.

The air gets pushed out of Bakugo's lungs at the force of it and he's almost weak enough to return the embrace.

Just as the blond is about to push him away, Todoroki pulls back and sighs, letting his arms fall limp at his sides. His head is turned to the side as if he's embarrassed.

Bakugo can't even think.

Todoroki's face is flushed and it's a nice contrast to his skin tone and the light blue sweater he has on, sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

"I'm sorry you just really looked like you needed a hug. I'll-" he clears his throat, turning for the door, "I'll be going now."

Without another word between the two, the taller one is gone and Bakugo is left alone with no fucking clue about what just happened and why the idiot decided to hug him. As if Bakugo gives off 'I'm totally huggable' vibes.

At the ridiculousness of the moment, Bakugo scoffs and takes a step back, deciding to forget this shit and go make Todoroki mochi galore and soba for lunch tomorrow.

"Stupid idiot," he whispers just before grabbing his phone and earbuds and heading out the door.

It's almost one, and even though it's a weekend, Bakugo knows no one will be down there. Half of the class usually goes home and the other half are usually having sleepovers at each other's dorms.

In the elevator, on the way down to the kitchen, Bakugo puts in his earbuds and plays some music, rolling up his sleeves when he's done.

When the elevator doors open, he walks through them and heads straight for the kitchen, noting that the common area lights are off and no one is there. After he's sure he has all the ingredients, he gets to work, starting with the mochi.

~~~~~

He's put the eighth batch of strawberry ice cream mochi in the freezer when he sees someone out of the corner of his eye.

As soon as he realizes, he jumps, cursing at the person as he rips an earbud out of his ear, the music pausing as he places the right one back in its case, the music starting back up in the left one.

"Stupid fuck, what are you doing?" He spits out.

Iida stands there with a shocked expression that quickly turns into a stern look.

What is it with people and looking at him like that?

"Bakugo! That is no way to speak to a peer! However, I must apologize for frightening you, that was not my intention."

The blond rolls his eyes, opening the fridge and making sure that all of the regular mochi has been put away.

"What are you doing down here, glasses?"

Ignoring the nickname, Iida finally starts moving around the kitchen, doing what he came down to do. Bakugo watches as he takes out the tea and heads for the cabinet with the mugs.

"Initially, I came down for water, but now I think a cup of tea would be nice. Would you care for some?"

"No. There's some mochi if you want some for your tea. Why are you awake this late anyway?"

With a hum of acknowledgment, Iida only takes out one mug. He's filling the electric kettle with water when he answers the blond, "If I'm awake this late, it's usually because of nightmares. This time I was just parched."

Bakugo busies himself by cleaning up the stuff he used to make mochi. There's one more large container of ice cream mochi than there is of regular mochi. Todoroki gets three of the ice cream and one of the regular, and the rest will go to the class. One of strawberry and two of regular.

The containers are labeled so no one takes any of Todoroki's.

"Why are you up this late?"

As he continues to put dishes in the sink and wipe down counters, Bakugo shrugs, "Couldn't sleep."

After he's turned on the stove, Iida walks over to the fridge to get out some mochi. Whipping around to face Bakugo before opening the freezer to see the ice cream mochi containers.

"You haven't slept this whole time so you've been making mochi?" He sounds shocked.

Getting started on the dishes, Bakugo nods.

"Yeah. I ran out of strawberries and strawberry ice cream, so I can't make more."

He can't see Iida anymore, but he's probably making some stupid shocked face. So what if he made a lot of mochi? The class likes mochi, no one is going to complain.

The class president balks as he takes out a container labeled 'class'.

"Well thank you for this."

Bakugo has just finished scrubbing a dish before grabbing a spoon to wash. It has hard food on it, so Bakugo figures it was probably from breakfast.

"Yeah yeah," he waves off, focusing on the spoon.

Stupid fucking assholes just leaving this crusty ass spook in the sink. At least leave it in water.

"So," Iida starts, grabbing a plate for his mochi, "are you okay?"

The blond freezes his movements momentarily at the question. He resumes what he was doing as quickly as possible so Iida doesn't read too much into it.

Is he okay?

No. He's not.

But he has to be. He can't afford to be anything else but okay.

He hears the fridge open and close and he figures Iida has put away the mochi, already gotten as much as he wanted for his tea.

"Fuck off," Bakugo huffs, "I'm fine."

The other clears his throat and shuffles over to the stove, near Bakugo. Just then Bakugo realizes that the electric kettle had been beeping softly, letting them know it was ready.

"You didn't come back before curfew and Todoroki didn't say anything, so it was obviously about something with you. That and now I find out you've been here all night because you couldn't sleep."

Bakugo shrugs. It's not like he does this every night and gets no sleep.

He's also finished the sleeve of crackers Aizawa left him and has drank a couple bottles of water. He even told himself that if he was hungry by the time he made Todoroki's lunch for tomorrow, he'd eat some.

"Have you done this before?" Iida asks, worried.

"Not that it's your business, but no. Didn't I tell you to fuck off?" He asks, turning around to fix Iida with a scowl.

He just stares back, used to his shit, apparently.

"I think you should talk to someone. Todoroki and Midoriya are both worried."

The blond just rolls his eyes and scrubs angrily at the next dirty dish. "I don't give a shit about those two."

He hears an unconvinced hum behind him and he almost throws the heavy bowl at Iida's stupid face. How dare this guy try to guilt him like that. It won't work, but if it did, that would've been a shitty way to make him feel.

He already feels guilty about so much, he can't feel guilty about not telling people.

That's the last thing he needs right now.

"If you're just gonna try and guilt trip me, leave now before I blow your stupid face off, dick."

Probably too wrapped up in his own thoughts, he hadn't noticed Iida had already finished making his tea.

"That's not what I meant to do, but I will make my leave now. It seems my presence is just ruining your mood, so I'll leave you be. Goodnight, Bakugo."

He doesn't say anything back, just glad when the other teen finally leaves, feeling his shoulders relax and head drop, chin touching his chest.

Stupid asshole.

Bakugo takes a deep breath before going back to the dishes, only having a few left.

It's not long before he's making the soba, leaving his noodles warm and eating those as Todoroki's cool on their own.

He didn't think he'd be able to eat, but it was probably all the lack of eating catching up to him that was making him so hungry. His stomach felt empty even though he'd just eaten a sleeve of crackers.

No one bothers him for the rest of the night, and by the time he's in his room, the sun has started to rise. A safe feeling washes over him as light enters his room through a small space in between his curtains, allowing him to lay down and sleep.

It's very much needed rest.

~~~~~

The weekend passes in another blur, he's unsure of what he did other than studying. He remembers studying a lot, but nothing other than that.

Todoroki shot him a thank you text for the mochi and soba.

Bakugo only left his room to make dinner, not even getting himself anything to eat. His room is slightly messy and his bedsheets need washing. They smell sickeningly sweet.

He loves how they smell the first few days after washing them. Like laundry detergent and dry sheets.

After changing and all that shit, he notes that he needs to wash today after school. While he's washing, he'll get a workout in. That way he's done with his laundry and all showered before he makes dinner tonight.

Sighing, he makes his way to leave, making sure his phone and keys are with him, picking up his bag by the door.

He's out in the hallway, locking his door when Kirishima's door opens and out walks the red head, turning around to look at Bakugo when he hears noise.

"Bakugo!"

"Kirishima," the blond replies blankly.

He's about to leave like always when Kirishima stops him, holding out his hand in front of the other teen.

"Wait, we need to talk. Please." He looks desperate to talk to the blond, and Bakugo feels fear strike through him.

Does he know?

Bakugo looks at him, trying to figure out if he knows just from his body language and expressions. Fuck he hates having to worry about this shit.

"You haven't given us time to talk. What's wrong?"

He doesn't want to talk. That's the last thing he wants and he does it once a week with Hound Dog. He talks and talks and talks about shit he doesn't want to be talking about.

Not only that, Bakugo isn't even sure he wants his apology to mean anything.

He's not sure if he wants to be true to his apology and make it up to Kirishima and the others because he doesn't even know if he wants them back in his life.

He's scared.

"Can we talk tomorrow? After dinner?"

Tomorrow he has therapy, so after he goes to therapy, he will have decided whether or not he wants people in his life.

Embarrassment shoots through him as he remembers he's going to have to share his stupid list of why he shouldn't let people in. Stuoid because it seems pathetic. Measly fucking excuses that Hound Dog will probably discredit tomorrow.

With an overexcited nod, Kirishima smiles, practically jumping up and down with his happy he looks.

"Sounds great, I can't wait. I really hope you're doing okay. You look sick," he says, frowning a little towards the end as he looks over Bakugo's figure.

The exhaustion doubles as he tries to seem like his usual self. That's kind of hard to do when his usual self recently consists of all consuming guilt and hatred for himself. He hates himself and it only gets worse with each passing day.

Why does he get to be alive while his mom is stuck underground?

Fuck it hurts.

Bakugo, takes a forceful step forward, making himself go on. To stop himself from breaking.

Class, training, laundry, workout, dinner.

One step at a time.

~~~~~

When the day is over, he's being held back by Aizawa, the man looking over him with a worried glint in his eye.

He hates that people look at him like that now. Everyone who knows, looks at him like that and it's getting harder to ignore. This is why he didn't want people knowing. They start hovering and they stare with those pity eyes.

"Are you okay?"

Everyone has gone, it's only them two left at the training grounds.

Anger flares in him at the question.

"You don't have guardianship over me anymore. You don't get to ask these questions. I'm fine. Leave me alone."

He turns, hoping to stop the man from talking. It doesn't work. Of course it doesn't.

"You're out from classes for the rest of the week."

Bakugo is left there, frozen, back still turned to his teacher.

Something breaks inside him, and he turns around angrily, face hot and chest tight with so many emotions that threaten to have tears streaming down his face.

Again. Always with keeping him from class, punishing him like if it's his fault and he should be in trouble for having a dead mom.

"Why do you do that? Why are you so hell bent on punishing me like this? I-" his voice breaks with all of the anger in his chest, "I'm trying."

Can't they tell?

He's been trying to grow as a hero. He's been getting stronger.

Aizawa makes a face, making Bakugo even more mad. Why is he acting like that's something he'd never do? He's literally doing it to Bakugo right now. He's using his education against him and he has no say in it because he's just a kid.

"I've said this before, it's not a way to punish you. Today, I didn't say anything about keeping you from training because I wanted to see if you were okay enough. You made a lot of mistakes and your moves were sloppy," he tries to explain, "Bakugo, you're tired."

That's for sure, but pro heroes are tired all the time.

"You're tired in a way that affects your skills on the field. Bakugo, you're grieving."

Grieving. Again with the grief.

Guilt rises in his chest at the word. He's not grieving. He hates that word because that's not what he's doing.

Everyone uses that word and they throw it at Bakugo, giving him a way out, but it's not fair.

It's not the right word.

"STOP," he yells, hands popping off.

His palms are so sweaty and the anger just set off his quirk, causing little explosions to go off.

"THAT'S NOT-" he takes a deep breath, showing the man that he can be calm, "no. I'm not grieving."

It's such a heavy word. Grief.

He sighs, shaking his head at the man, "That's not what I'm doing," he insists.

Aizawa puts his hands together in front of him. "I was giving you a chance to show me whether or not you're okay to be in school, and today you proved to me that you need a break. Kid, you're exhausted. Please take the week."

He had gone back to the tired thing, letting Bakugo have his way about the grief thing.

In the back of his mind, he was grateful the man didn't push it, but this other shit was no better. No class because he's tired?

"Sensei, that's bullshit. Everyone is tired. You're tired. The class is tired," he stresses, "We're training to be heroes, it comes with the territory."

Shaking his head, the man seems like a steel wall. Nothing will get through. No explanation or excuse. No reason, apparently because Bakugo feels like he's being reasonable about the hero in training thing.

Tokoyami fell asleep on the island the other day while he was making dinner because his internship ran longer.

Mina almost collapsed in training because she was so sore from extra training she had with Uraraka.

"Your exhausted is not the same as their exhausted. Bakugo, when I look at you, I can tell something is wrong. Be honest with me right now," Aizawa says, voice way softer than he's heard, "are you okay?"

Suddenly, he's choked up and he's forced to blink away the tears that start to form. It's barely anything, but he's worried Aizawa still picked up on it.

He looks down, letting his shoulder droop.

"I'm fine."

"Will you be okay alone?" The question is loaded.

Bakugo just nods, beyond embarrassed. He never should have told him that one weekend. That he was unsure about hurting himself. Having the man stay there for hours.

It was stupid and Bakugo regrets it.

"Call me if that changes."

Again, he just nods, clenching his fists tightly, letting it ground him and keep him from blowing up.

"Bakugo."

The tone forces him to look up. It's full of concern. It's full of care.

"Call me if that changes."

"Okay."

He leaves, preparing himself for the rest of the day he has in front of him.

***
Word Count: 6250
I was able to add some more to this chapter to make it longer than before yippee. It also adds to the story so that's a plus. Anyway I thought I started class on the 21st but thankfully I start on the 26th instead LMAO. I move in to my apartment on the 21st. Anyway I hope y'all liked this chapter. The next one will go up on Sunday 11:30 pm central time. I love you all and tysm for reading <3