About a half an hour later, everyone slowly filters into the common room, eating their breakfasts, and several students rush to finish up unfinished assignments due that day, Kaminari amongst them, of course.

The elevator dings and Bakugou steps out, ready for school. He makes his way over to grab some food as everyone minds their own business, but the pitying eyes of people who think he doesn't notice them still catch his attention and get on his nerves. Midoriya, more than anyone, apparently, can't stop himself, and it's metaphorically killing Bakugou. Well, not more than anyone, really. The girls, aside from Momo, though the ponytailed girl still seems ridiculously sad and peeks over at him every once in a while, all send extremely conspicuous pitying glances at Bakugou. He bites the inside of his cheek, tasting iron, and opens his mouth to call them all out when Midoriya pops up in front of him, startling him slightly. Bakugou steps back a bit, arm popping up in front of him as a reflex, and sneers at the green haired boy who, despite looking apologetic for startling the blonde, immediately pipes up. "Kacchan, we need to talk," he says worriedly, his eyes filled with unreadable emotions.

"The fuck is it, then, damn nerd? Spit it out!" Bakugou snaps in Midoriya's face. Can't a guy get a single morning without the nerd being an absolute pain in the ass?

Midoriya looks at him in the eyes for a moment before averting his gaze downward nervously. After a moment longer of silence, Bakugou about to snap again, Midoriya's eyes snap back to Bakugou's and the blonde's words catch in his throat at the overpowering emotion in the green orbs.

"They know about your panic attack," Midoriya says carefully.

After a moment of blinking, Bakugou scowls. "I fucking know. Ponytail fuckin' apologized about listening in to my damn business already, dumbass," he spats. The girls around the room seem surprised, their eyes snapping to Yaoyorozu, though the boys keep their eyes trained on Bakugou and Midoriya, having already been informed by Iida and Tokoyami of that morning's events. However, to Bakugou's consternation, Midoriya begins to tear up. "WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU CRYING?" Bakugou shouts in confusion, fear beginning to seep into his mind unsettlingly, so he suppresses it by pulling forward his anger.

"Kacchan," Midoriya begins with a tremulous voice, "I know about the girls, but I'm not talking about them." Bakugou scowls in irritation at not knowing what is happening until the green haired boy pushes through his next words. "Th-they don't know about anything more than the fact you had a panic attack from PTSD, but the whole school knows."

Bakugou feels his heart drop for the second time that day. His eyes widen and his mouth drops open in shock. Midoriya reaches towards Bakugou, probably to comfort him, but he hesitates and draws his hand back, still worried about whether his touch would hurt Bakugou, even emotionally. He bites his lip and looks down.

"No," Bakugou whispers with a faraway look in his eyes.

Midoriya nods in response. Bakugou snaps his mouth closed and clenches his jaw. He wants to cry. He wants to cry more than the fucking nerd in front of him whose eyes drip steady streams of tears, but he won't. He'll be strong.

"Bakugou?" Kirishima calls from somewhere to his side. "Are you okay?"

"Of course he's not okay," someone else whispers, failing at remaining unheard.

Bakugou takes a deep breath through his nose. He won't let them see him break. Even if they all find out he's fucking weak, there's no way they will see him break. No matter how much he knows everyone wants to see him fail. He'll go to school, and he'll show everyone that he's strong. He'll refuse that it ever happened. Bakugou turns and stomps towards the door, ignoring the many voices that call after him and foregoing breakfast. He won't let his classmates pity him. He'll show them. He won't walk out like last time.

He won't be weak again.

The door slams open and he stalks towards the school, remembering the looks he had received when going to his meeting. It makes sense, now. It was pity. It was disgust. It was taunting, obnoxious superiority as all of the extras gossiped about his weakness. Bakugou scowls at the air and everything in his path as he walks. The students walking towards school all stare at him as he passes, and he feels their eyes boring into his back.

They all fucking know.

How the fuck do they know?

Was it one of his classmates?

Was it one of his "friends?"

Bakugou sends an explosion at the door of the school, blowing it open and scaring the students nearby, relishing slightly in their shrieks. That's right, he thinks. I'll show them I'm strong. They won't be able to call me weak.

He takes a deep breath and shoves his hands into his pockets before continues his angry path towards his classroom, snarling and swearing at everyone who dares to send a glance his way.

As if he is the luckiest person in the world (note the sarcasm) he turns a corner to see Monoma Neito walking his way with an obnoxious smile.

"Bakugou! The Demon of Class 1-A! Just the person I wanted to see!" Monoma says with arrogant cheer.

"The fuck is it, you Copy Cat Bitch?" Bakugou snaps back. People begin to crowd around the two, forming a circle of curious onlookers that seems to grow rapidly because of the recent rumors.

Monoma sneers and his eyes sparkle happily. "Oh, I just wanted to ask you something. I heard that you, the great Bakugou Katsuki," he says tauntingly, "had a panic attack in the locker room!"

Bakugou rolls his eyes and puts on a face of confidence. "It's a fucking bullshit rumor. I thought you idiots were at least slightly more creative than this! Only dumbasses would think I'd have a panic attack," he says as if it is obvious, though he feels some panic bubbling inside of him.

"Really? Because I heard from ****** that you freaked out really bad, and that's why he got expelled! Well, what scared you so much, Bakugou? What triggered you? What's big bad Bakugou scared of, huh? To the point he's a blubbering, crying mess—"

Bakugou launches forward and punches Monoma in the nose, rocketing the boy backwards. Monoma, eyes wide, grabs at his nose as blood spews from it, and looks back up towards Bakugou but is slightly surprised as he sees the other boy trembling with tightly clenched fists and a straining jaw.

"You don't know fucking shit. It's none of your damn business, so fuck off," Bakugou growls with his head bent so nobody could see his eyes.

"Oh?" Monoma says as his shit eating grin spreads across his face like he hit a gold mine. "I thought you said nothing happened?"

Bakugou's breath catches in his chest. He fucked up. He fucked up so badly. How the hell is he supposed to get out now? He's stuck. He looks around and the people there look like a massive blob of malicious bodies bearing down on him, no longer individual, harmless students. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck. He can't panic here. His heart races. He has to get out of here.

"Bakugou!" Someone pushes through the mass of people surrounding him, and he can at least differentiate this one from the rest. It feels like his chest is released from a chain constraining his lungs as he recognizes Kirishima coming towards him with worried eyes. "Bro, are you alright?" he asks.

Bakugou mentally admonishes himself for the near-panic and snarls, "Fine." The redhead doesn't need to know he almost freaked out again so fucking soon and in public.

"Let's go to class, okay, Bakubro?" Kirishima asks before noticing Monoma smirking from the floor. His eyes narrow and his teeth bare at the boy, quickly piecing together what must have happened before he arrived. It's fairly obvious from how the purple eyed blonde always loves to taunt Bakugou, though Kirishima would have hoped the boy would have seen where the line should be drawn and things go too far. Kirishima almost yells at the boy, but Bakugou speaks up, interrupting him.

"I'm done with his bullshit. Let's go," he says, stuffing his hands in his pockets and holding his head up high, walking in the direction of their class right past Monoma. Kirishima is surprised, having expected some more "King Explosion Murder" attitude, but he nods and follows quickly, sending another glare at Monoma as he steps by the boy.

"I'll figure out what it was! I swear!"

Bakugou grits his teeth as Monoma's voice rings out behind him and the students in front of him part like the Red Sea. He won't let them find out what happened. He can't.

Kirishima step up by his side. "You alright, bro?" he asks carefully, ready to be hit by an explosion.

Bakugou smirks. "I'm fucking dandy, Shitty Hair, so shut the fuck up," he replies like usual, keeping the fear and nerves that he feels out of his voice. He told himself he'd be strong today. He won't let the dumbass extras get to him. Or, at least, he won't let them see that they did.

————————————————————

Typo I unfortunately caught in my edit read:

"How the duck do they know?"

-Angry
Word Count: 1565