Aizawa had to think about what his student had told him. And then go through his quirk file, especially on his drawbacks.
There it was on the file. Heart rate and blood pressure will slow down and could kill Bakugou Katsuki if he does not keep it up somehow. The only reason his student was always angry was because he could die if he wasn't.
This explained so much. Especially with recent development. Why he looked so exhausted lately. Why his anger has never seemed genuine. Why his eyes, under all that anger, was genuine guilt and sadness.
Not to mention the diagnosed severe anxiety. And the long list of panic attacks, anxiety attacks, and mental breakdowns! Why was Aizawa just now being told/reading about this!
He felt like a horrible teacher. He should have known these things. Now with him thinking back, all the signs were there!
If certain topics were brought up, Bakugou would turn off his hearing aids. Those were things Aizawa also just found out! Bakugou Katsuki was hard of hearing. He should have known with his explosion and the constant shouting.
He gave a tired sigh as he set down the file and stood up. He had a staff meeting to get to.
He got to the meeting room and walked in. He got to a random chair and immediately slumped down in it.
He held his head in his hands as he thought about Bakugou and his situation. The kid hid his problems so well, he didn't know who all knew about it.
Midoriya didn't even seem to know the whole truth, and those two have known each other for years!
"What's wrong Aizawa." The retired number 1 hero asks.
"I just found out one of my problem children will die if he doesn't keep his heart rate up."
"Oh, which one Sho." His husband, Present Mic, sat down next to him.
"Bakugou Katsuki." The bomb has been dropped.
"What?!" Every teacher shouted.
Aizawa sighed. "So none of you knew either?"
They all shook their heads. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. How did none of them know until now.
"Young Bakugou has to be angry just to stay alive?"
"Yes Yagi. I just found out from him today myself, after I looked at his file, and it clearly shows that if he doesn't keep his heart rate up, he will die."
"What had caused you to ask and for him to reveal." Midnight leaned against the table.
"He had been uncharacteristically quiet today. And Kirishima had told me he had left the cooking lesson looking panicked, he apparently hadn't come back in either. So I asked him what was wrong and why he was angry. He told me he didn't want to be angry, but he had to be. As it turns out, Nitroglycerin slows your heart rate and lowers your blood pressure, so if Bakugou doesn't keep either up, he could die."
"Is there anything else we don't know about him?" Hizashi leaned against him.
"His quirk is slowly rendering him deaf, he has hearing aids, which I also just found out."
"What else do we not know about young Bakugou?"
"He is diagnosed with severe anxiety, has panic attacks, and mental breakdowns, a lot according to his file."
All the teachers just had to sit there and think. Their angriest student actually doesn't want to be angry. And apparently suffers from anxiety and panic attacks while also having mental breakdowns. And he hides it so well.
"Do you know what brought up the change?" Midnight asked
"I think Gordon had said something yesterday about his 'anger issues'," Aizawa used finger quotations on anger issues," and since Bakugou obviously looks up to him as an amazing cook, it probably just shattered the small hold he had on his emotions."
"Do you think it's best to continue to have Gordon here if he's going to insult young Bakugou."
"To be honest All Might, I don't know. All the other students seem to love him, but insulting one of our brightest for something he can't control…I just, I want everyone happy."
All the teachers sighed. Present Mic soon sat up, a wide grin on his face.
"Why don't one of us come and get Bakugou during the lessons and have him help? That way he's away from Gordon and we can gage his mental state.
"Zashi, I want you to know that is the smartest thing you've said since we met."
Present Mic puffed out his cheeks at the jab his husband just made. But he could see the other teachers nodding, agreeing with his earlier statement.
"So tomorrow, I'll pull Bakugou and bring him to the lounge and help?" Aizawa leaned back in his chair.
"Well, I think we call this the whole meeting." Vlad King said.
The teachers looked at the clock, sure enough an hour and twenty minutes had already passed. They all nodded to each other and packed up to leave.
Aizawa simply got into his sleeping bag. He said goodnight to the other teachers, telling his husband he'd see him after taking a trip to his class dorm, and began to caterpillar away to Class 1-A's dorm. When he made it and went in, everyone was laughing and having a good time, all except one.
Bakugou was nowhere to be found in the common room. He wasn't in the kitchen either. So Aizawa decided to go check his room.
He made it to Bakugou's room and got out of his sleeping bag, yes he had caterpillared the whole way. He knocked on the door. He waited and didn't get an answer.
He put his hand on the door knob and was shocked to find it unlocked. "Bakugou? Are you in there? I'm going to come in, okay?"
He still didn't get an answer, so he slowly opened the door. And what he saw made his cold warm heart break a little.
Bakugou was curled up in a corner with his hands in his hair, pulling at it. Silent tears were rolling down his face. He was hyperventilating.
Aizawa immediately entered the room and went towards him. He kneeled down in front of him.
"Hey Bakugou, can you look at me?" It didn't look like he heard him.
"Bakugou, kid, you're okay. But I need you to look at me and breathe."
He grabbed one of his hands and gently removed it from his hair. He put Bakugou's hand on his chest and started to take slow, deep breaths.
Bakugou was finally able to move his unfocused eyes onto Aizawa. "There you are, it's okay, just follow my breathing."
Bakugou started to try and take in deep breathes, but it wasn't working. Aizawa didn't know if Bakugou could hear him, he checked his ears. That confirmed me couldn't, his hearing aids were out.
So he used his free hand and started to count. He took in a deep breath for 1….2….3….4 then he held it for 1....2…. then he let it out for 1….2….3….4. He respected the process until Bakugou was able to breathe.
Bakugou looked at him with exhausted eyes. Aizawa let go of the hand on his chest and gave a slight smile to Bakugou.
"Mr. Aizawa." It was a good thing he knew JSL.
"What's up kid, you feeling better?"
"No…no one wants me around anymore."
"I doubt that."
"They don't even notice when I'm gone."
"Kirishima does."
"He doesn't need to be held back by someone like me."
"Come on kid, Kirishima sees you as a close friend."
"What if I want more?"
He was not expecting that. Or a conversation like this at all.
"What's stopping you? I bet Kirishima would be happy to be with you."
"No he wouldn't, he doesn't need to be with the guy that has to be constantly angry."
"But you don't have to be."
"But I don't want to die."
"You can still be kind, kid."
"I don't understand."
"That's okay, why don't you go to bed?"
"I can try."
Aizawa helped Bakugou off of the floor and over to his bed. He got him laid down before he turned to leave the room.
"Thank you."
He smiled at his student and nodded. He left the room and shut the door. He let out a sigh.
Bakugou sure as hell hid stuff like that pretty well. It was worrisome.
He let out a fond laugh. 'So the kid likes his best friend.' He smiled fondly, kinda sounds like him and Hizashi. Although, neither of them had Bakugou's problems.
He picked up his sleeping bag and made his way out of the dorm. He stopped in the common room and looked at all of his problem children.
They all were laughing and having fun, but Kirishima looked around worried every couple of minutes. Aizawa gave a faint smile as he turned and left. Those two boys were made for each other.
-SIDENOTE: I have a discord server if you'd like to come rant and make friends!
https://discord.gg/kxdTy27 -