Maybe violence is the answer.

Bakugo stands over Monoma with bloody fists and an ache in his chest so deep that he feels like he might break apart.

He's panting heavily as he's pulled away from the annoying fucker on the floor.

So apparently this idiot found out about his mom and thought it would be funny to taunt him about it.

It wasn't Bakugo's fault really. Monoma was literally asking for it with his high pitched, annoying ass laugh.

What else was he supposed to do when Monoma cane up behind them with a proud scoff of, "So. Mrs. Bakugo, huh?"

Since it was so funny to him, Bakugo decided to add onto that amusement and give him something to really laugh about.

"Bakugo," someone yells, snapping him out of his rage. 

That's when he realizes two people are holding him back.

What the fuck was so funny about his dead mom? He's genuinely curious about that shit because what part about a dead person was so funny?

Was it because it was him that was suffering that made it so funny? Is that it? Because who gives a fuck about him? Do they not think about the dead person? Did Monoma not think about his mom?

Mitsuki.

That's her name.

Not Mrs. Bakugo.

She was her own fucking person. Not just a mom or a wife or a daughter.

Mitsuki was an incredible person through and through and no one could fuck with her when she was alive, so like hell Bakugo was going to let anyone mess with her when she was gone.

He doesn't care what comes of this. He just had to let Monoma know that he won't let that shit slide.

That copy cat bitch can mock him all he wants, but there's no tolerance about him trying to pull that bullshit.

Bakugo feels good after beating the crap out of him.

That idiot didn't even see it coming. Just stood there, actually, which made it so much more gratifying when he gasped in pain and shock when Bakugo hit him the first time.

God, the way he fell to the floor was so damn satisfying.

"Holy shit, Bakugo, you're in so much trouble," Kaminari says frantically, obviously shocked at what just went down.

"Like I give a fuck," he finds himself blurting out, "He deserved it."

"Yeah he did," Jiro agrees somewhere behind them.

His whole friend group is there among some other classmates.

"Bakugo, that was completely- don't tell Mr. Aizawa I said this, but that was one hundred percent called for," Iida whispers, which causes Shoto to smile right next to him.

This wasn't like the time he accidentally punched Sero. No, he knew what he was doing as soon as he heard those words fall from his mouth. Bakugo is not going to lie about any of it. He didn't 'blank out' this time.

When they burst into the classroom, Aizawa sits up in his sleeping bag, obviously caught off guard.

"What?"

He already looks so done with all of them.

"I beat the shit out of Monoma," he immediately answers before anyone could try and say anything.

Shinso laughs. He laughs so hard, he has to leave the room, door closing behind him, only leaving the muffled sound of him laughing in the hallway.

The man in front of him only sighs, getting out of his sleeping bag and walking over to them.

Kirishima and Shoto finally let him go, letting their teacher look over him.

When he sees nothing but the bloody knuckles, he raises an eyebrow. Silently questioning him.

"Got him before he even had a chance to react. Slow ass bitch."

He's met with another heavy sigh before the man pinches the bridge of his nose.

"What happened? Before I decide who to punish."

Not really sure what to say, Bakugo stays quiet for a second, thinking about how not to come off as a pathetic loser.

"Monoma provoked him by bringing up his mom," Kaminari blurts out just as Shinso is walking back into the classroom, face red from what Bakugo can tell from the corner of his eye.

Well, that works, too.

The man nods at the electric blond before looking over to Bakugo, wondering if it's true and wanting him to confirm whether it is or not.

"Yeah. I didn't blank this time. I wanted to beat the shit out of him," he says, owning up to it.

"This time?" Shinso asks.

Sero winces somewhere behind him, which causes everyone there to turn their attention to him.

"I kinda poked fun at him crying to his mom one time before I found out," he admits guiltily.

Kirishima just shakes his head, looking disappointed in him.

"Whatever, the point is I beat the crap out of him. What's my damn punishment?" The blond asks, just wanted to get it over with because believe it or not, beating someone up hurts and his knuckles are throbbing.

He can only imagine how Monoma is doing. He has to suppress a laugh.

"Iida, is that what happened?" The man asks.

"Yes, Monoma walked up behind us and started talking to Bakugo by immediately bringing up his mother. I believe that it was not undeserved," he nods, pushing up his glasses.

"Alright, since you all saw what happened, I don't think Bakugo should be penalized that bad. Cleaning duty at the dorms for the weekend and that's fine. I'll talk to Vlad about a punishment for Monoma."

Bakugo almost explodes on the spot in anger, but a hand on his shoulder stops him.

"You did nothing wrong, Katsuki," Shoto whispers, quiet enough for no one around them to hear since they're all cheering and chatting excitedly about Bakugo not getting that bad of a punishment.

It calms Bakugo down slightly.

When his eyes move back to Aizawa, he finds that he saw the interaction and has this unreadable look on his face. Ugh, stupid fucker. It's not like he's embarrassed about being affectionate with Halfie, but it's not like he needs his teachers seeing it.

"Alright, settle down," the man calls, "lunch just started. Better go get back in line for your food."

Everyone shuffles out, but as Bakugo and Shoto turn to leave, the man calls Bakugo back.

Motioning at his boyfriend that he'll meet him outside, the blond turns back to their teacher, wondering what the man wants to say to him.

Is he getting a lecture?

A talk about speaking on this at therapy?

Whatever it is, Bakugo is already over it. He just wants to go sit down and calm down before training today. Even though today is supposedly a chill training day, he still wants to relax and go over moves with Shoto before they go.

When the door shuts, the man starts, "You want to go to Recovery Girl?"

The blond looks down at his bloody and bruised knuckles, surveying the damage he caused himself.

When he looks back up, he shakes his head.

It honestly looks way worse than it feels.

The man just nods and motions him to his desk as he walks in that direction. Bakugo's follows, wondering what the man wants.

Aizawa just sits at his desk, turning the chair to face the blond before opening the drawers and pulling out gauze, towels, and hand wipes.

Oh.

Silently, the man reaches out and Bakugo lets him take his left hand first. Carefully, the man cleans up the blood, dabbing softly around the ripped skin.

"I'll take you to your appointment tomorrow at 10. Are you nervous?"

The blond just shrugs, unsure how to act or respond when the man is being so- dare he say- soft. It's new and a little weird to Bakugo, but he always has been a little more thoughtful and gentle with his class when it comes to sensitive topics.

He likes to pretend to be nonchalant and absolutely blank-faced, but god forbid someone gets a little too hurt during training or starts crying about something in class. That's when the man's true colors show and he's immediately in action.

Like now and many times before. When Bakugo was really struggling with his head, Aizawa was there.

That time he was actually worried he'd hurt himself, Aizawa stayed in his room all night, sitting in that uncomfortable chair just to bring Bakugo some comfort.

"It's alright to be. The first time I went to a grief counselor, I was about your age, too."

That shocks Bakugo. What?

"It was my best friend. Second year we had work studies and we encountered a villain. He went inside the building to make sure everyone was out and the building fell just seconds later, knocking me out, but killing him."

Bakugo feels his blood run cold.

"A building?" He asks, voice quiet.

Like his mom.

The man nods, understanding, "Yeah. Apparently he went fast, so he felt nothing, but I was right there. I couldn't function for months after. I fell behind, but then I was forced to go to counseling and I learned how to live with it. I was scared for everyone for the longest time. It felt impossible to accomplish my dreams of becoming a hero because I was always on edge about death."

The man speaks so openly.

Nothing like Bakugo has heard before. At least, not for this long.

It's like he wants Bakugo to know that he went through the same thing, but he made it through. He's telling the blond that he can do it, too.

It means a lot.

He feels it deep in his gut.

The ache of losing someone so close.

"I'm just trying to connect with you. It's something my own therapist said should help me get through to you."

He feels like the man is looking right through him as he stares back at him with wide eyes. Aizawa had stopped to look up at him with a knowing look in his eye.

"I find it hard to understand my students, but you're exactly like me when I was going through that. I just want you to have a reliable adult here for you. One that you trust."

"I do trust you."

The need to be honest pushes out the words, making him feel vulnerable. It's not all bad, but he's not sure he likes it.

The overwhelming feeling of understanding between the two makes him slightly nervous.

"I just want you to know that you're not alone, Bakugo. You have a whole team behind you," he says, motioning to the door.

His classmates.

He really isn't alone.

"It's inevitable to lose people, but having them is what's going to help you get through. Trust that. Trust them."

Bakugo nods, feeling a confidence about tomorrow that he realized he hadn't felt before. It's not like he felt completely hopeless, but he hadn't felt even the least bit confident about how tomorrow would go.

~~~~~

"How'd it go?"

He was exhausted. Regular therapy was already rough as it was. Greif counseling? Might as well dig himself a pit next to his mom and climb in there with her.

God, he didn't even feel like talking anymore. Not ever again.

Thank fuck it was a Saturday.

So he just shakes his head, feeling like passing out in the passenger seat next to his teacher.

Had he waited here?

"That bad?"

Bakugou just nods.

"You think it'll help?" The man asks.

A pause.

Then a nod.

Even though he feels like a dinosaur stepped on him and then got hit by the meteor that killed them all, he has the feeling that this will work. Maybe not this month. Maybe not even by the end of the school year, but eventually.

"Want to grab a snack on the way home?"

A childish part of Katsuki makes him perk up, allowing himself to drag his eyes over to the man, questioning.

"I know this place that sells these crushed ice things, I have no clue what they're called, but having one will heal your soul," the man exaggerates.

It's amusing.

Bakugo finds himself fighting back a smile to which the man frowns at.

"Hey, don't judge. Grown men can have a sweet treat every now and then without being criticized," he jabs, playful.

Bakugo feels slightly better at the tone in the man's voice and nods at the idea of those 'crushed ice things.'

It's a little bizarre seeing the man like this, but it's nice. Bakugo needed it.

In the drive to this hidden place, it stays quiet, the music on the radio playing quietly as Bakugo stares outside the window. He liked talking about his mom. He liked remembering her laugh and how she loved to pinch the sensitive part of his arm when he was being particularly mischievous.

"What are you smiling about?"

The sudden noise in the nice quiet air shocks him slightly, but he leans back into the seat and sighs.

"My mom."

The man hums, wondering what exactly about his mom has him smiling.

"She- she had these ornaments. For the Christmas tree," he clarifies, "She had me put red paint on my hand and put a handprint onto an ornament every year since I was born," he recalls, "but when I hit middle school, my growth spurt hit just a few weeks before Christmas, so when she went out and bought an ornament for me to do it that year, she went on and on about how I grew too much and now she couldn't buy the regular sized ones anymore. She started crying hysterically and squished me into a suffocating hug."

He feels a small burn of tears in his eyes as he continues. A small laugh making its way through, "She smelled like gingerbread that night and got powdered sugar all over herself, so then it was on me. She made us all have a sleep over in the living room watching Christmas movies. I pretended to be embarrassed about it, but that's one of my favorite Christmas memories."

He's not sure how he made it through that story, but tears fall silently as he looks out the window again to prevent the man from seeing them.

As Bakugou clears his throat, trying to get himself together again, the man chimes in.

"She sounds funny."

Bakugo hums.

"Yeah. She was."

Was.

It's always going to be was now.

It hurts.

"One time," the man starts, pulling Bakugo out of his head a bit, "in high school, my friend, Oboro," he finally reveals, "made a game to see who could do this stupid dance that was popular at the time behind the teachers back without getting caught. I never took part in it, but Mic did."

There's a tone of amusement in his tone already, which draws Bakugo in, "So they play this for months. They're both getting really brave about it until one time, Oboro decides to stand on his desk and do the dance. Our teacher had been drawing a diagram on the board, fully enthralled by what they were teaching, so it shocked everyone when they turned right as Oboro had turned to me, making a stupid face with his tongue out, too."

He's chuckling lightly now, "So he hadn't seen our teacher turn. Everyone just watched in horror as he continued. He finally stopped when he realized the teacher had stopped talking and froze, tongue still out and everything. Hazashi was dying laughing and Oboro just stood there frozen for the longest time. Almost as if he didn't move, the teacher wouldn't see him."

Bakugo finds himself laughing at the story, stomach hurting at the idea of it. He can picture Kaminari doing some stupid shit like that, too.

After a minute, he calms down, taking a deep breath.

"What happened with the teacher?"

The man scoffs, shaking his head at the memory, "That teacher gave him detention for a month. Oboro cried about it every day."

Bakugo scoffs, too.

The air is lighter now as they pull up to the snack place.

It's more of a drive through type thing, so they don't have to get down.

They get their crushed ice things fairly quickly and drive off to a parking lot in front of a shopping district.

When Bakugo looks at the snack, he's a little skeptical about it.

It's crushed ice, vanilla ice cream, and strawberries.

Crushed ice and ice cream?

He looks over at the man who's already dug in, nodding in approval at the snack.

"Uh," the blond hesitates.

The man just motions for him to try it.

Reluctantly, Bakugo does, getting a spoonful of all three ingredients and popping it in his mouth.

As soon as he's chewing, his eyes widen and he looks at the man in shock who just nods knowingly.

Smug bastard.

Holy crap this shit is good.

He's definitely bringing Halfie here tomorrow so he can try this. That idiot is going to love this.

Which reminds him.

"Hey, can me and Halfie leave campus tomorrow?"

The man raises an eyebrow.

"We want to leave at five but we'll be back by ten."

The man squints at him, chewing his food before nodding with a small shrug.

This guy is so weird, Bakugo realizes as he watches as the man speaks not a single word. He's too mesmerized with his icy snack. Honestly, Bakugo doesn't blame him, but it's kind of amusing.

Maybe tomorrow will be a million times better. He already knows where he's taking his boyfriend. He just needs Aizawa to take him to a flower shop before they go back to the dorms. He won't have time to go tomorrow before their date, so he wants to get them now.

Just let tomorrow be good.

Halfie deserves to have the best date ever. Not just because Bakugo hasn't been the best boyfriend recently. That definitely adds more reason, but putting that aside, too, he just needs a break.

***
Word count: 3004
Trust there will be more tdbk yall 🗣️‼️ I hope y'all liked this chapter. I made myself tear up a little with the story bakugo told about his mom. Loll anyway uhhh Wattpad is being so wack rn l. I coukdnt really write today cause it was being shitty. I had an exam today and it was so easy yall like wtf lmao 😭 uhhh on Friday I went to party that I totally forgot about so that's why I didn't post then and then I had work all weekend. I was supposed to have work today but I had my exam so I couldn't go. Errr anyway I got shit coming up so I'll be posting not this Friday but the next. I hope y'all liked this chapter x2 I love you all and tysm for reading <3