Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

6-year-old Shouto hates going to Hero gala events with his father. They’re boring and endless and he has to wear an uncomfortable suit all evening while listening to people gush about how adorable he is. Usually his mother joins them to add to the illusion that they’re a normal happy family, but now that she’s gone it’s just him and Endeavor. His siblings are fortunate enough not to have to make appearances like Enji’s “perfect” creation has to.

All Shouto wants right now is to be home in his bed after a long day of training, but instead he’s here surrounded by a bunch of adults in fancy outfits talking about stuff he has no interest in. It’s unfair that he always has to come to these type of conferences but never gets to see the cool stuff that he knows his father does as a hero. Even if the guy is an asshole, he still fights villains and saves people. That’s the stuff Shouto actually wants to see.

He silently follows his father around giving people fake smiles like he’s told to but he eventually sneaks off to get away for a bit. Endeavor is drunk enough by now not to notice or care about his disappearance. It’s a rare opportunity that usually only happens at social events like this so Shouto wants to take advantage of the freedom while he can. It’ll probably be months before he even gets another chance to leave his house again.

He finds a spot on the floor away from everyone and sits down. He doesn’t remember falling asleep, but he’s suddenly startled awake by someone kicking his side.

“Hey! Are you dead?” a loud voice shouts at him.

Shouto opens his eyes and blinks. He sees another boy hovering over him with spiky blonde hair and red eyes glaring into his own. “What?”

“Darn, it would have been cool to see a dead body.” The other boy shrugs.

“I’m not dead.” Shouto blinks again.

“Yeah you’re just sleeping in the middle of the floor like a dumb candy cane.”

“A candy cane...?”

“Are you blind? Your hair! It looks like a candy cane.”

“Oh.” Shouto yawns and rubs his eyes. “I’ve never had a candy cane.” He’s not sure why he says that but it’s the first thing that comes to mind.

“Whaaaat? Never?!”

“My dad.” Shouto replies with another yawn. “He says I can’t have that stuff. It’s bad for you.”

“Well your dad is stupid. I can blow him up and make him let you have candy. Is he here?” The blonde smirks, letting small sparks crackle from his hands.

“Yeah he’s here...” Shouto answers, finally sitting up and looking around for his old man. He spots him across the large room laughing with a few of the other top heroes. It’s always such a weird sight to witness, his dad normally never smiles let alone laughs. Sometimes Shouto thinks that whatever his father drinks at these events is made of magic because he’s pretty sure he’s never seen Enji smile or look happy when they’re at home.

“Endeavor’s your dad!?” The other kid shouts again and Shouto groans with a nod. Why is this boy so loud? “It’s his fault I’m here at this stupid place tonight! My dad designed his suit and other suits and dresses too and he was invited for some dumb reason and he dragged me and Mom with him. It’s the most boring thing EVER. Is that why you fell asleep?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Shouto wishes this boy would just leave him alone so he can go back to sleep.

“Can you use fire like he can?”

“A little, yeah.”

“My Quirk is still better.” The blonde sits down next to Shouto. “But I guess fire is still kind of cool.”

Shouto doesn’t know what to say, he’s never had any friends and his interaction with other kids is nonexistent. He’s not even allowed to play with his own siblings. That thought makes him wonder if he’s going to get in trouble just for talking to this other kid.

“What’s it like having a hero as your dad?” The red-eyed boy breaks the awkward silence.

Shouto shrugs in response, he doubts this kid wants to hear the true answer to that question.

“You’re weird.” The blonde sighs. “But you’re the only other kid here so whatever. Want to show me your fire? I’ll show you how my hands explode.”

“I’m not allowed to do that.” Shouto says hesitantly.

“So what? Neither am I. But I still show off all the time anyway because I’m awesome and grown-ups can’t tell me what to do.”

“I’ll get in trouble.”

“It’ll be worth it, come on.” The boy grabs Shouto’s right hand and pulls him up but then suddenly lets go in shock. “What the- Your hand is freezing! I thought you said your Quirk is fire!”

Shouto frowns, was having a cold hand a bad thing? “That’s my ice side.”

“Wait, you have two Quirks!?”

“I guess? I don’t know. Ice is better but my dad makes me use fire when we train.”

“You’re like Elsa!” The blonde laughs covering his mouth as if it’s the funniest thing he’s ever said. Shouto has no idea what that means.

“Who’s that?”

“She’s an ice princess, duh. From the movie.”

“I can’t watch movies.”

“Are you even allowed to do anything?!” the boy groans. “Endeavor is a pro hero! Are you sure he doesn’t let you do anything or eat fun things like candy canes? I bet you’re also rich and you can just do whatever you want. Do you live in mansion? He looks fun... and also kind of like he’s going to fall over.” the boy rambles as he watches the adults talk across the room.

Endeavor laughs at something and Shouto swears he sees him stumble just a bit. “Well... he’s only like this when we go to stuff like this. But it’s pretend, he’s not actually fun.”

“You’re lucky your dad is a hero. My dad is so boring and just designs clothes and costumes. And my mom is just a hag who nags me all the time. And our house is definitely not a mansion.”

Lucky wouldn’t be the word Shouto would describe his home life as.

“So can you make snow?” The blonde asks, grabbing Shouto’s hand again to drag him down a hallway. “There’s a door over here and we can go outside. Show me.”

Can Shouto make snow? He’s never tried, he’s only ever made ice. He suddenly wants to show this boy that he can make snow though, because maybe then he’ll finally have a real friend if he can prove that he’s worth it.

The red-eyed boy leads Shouto outside and closes the door behind them. They’re in the middle of a small courtyard in the center of the convention center, the chatter and laughter from inside still echoing around them. When the spikey-haired boy lets go of Shouto’s hand he can’t help but pout a little, he hadn’t realized how nice it felt until it was gone. The last time he held hands with someone was with his mom and that was at least a year ago.

The other boy crosses his arms impatiently. “Come on already! Make it snow, Candy Cane Princess!”

“I’m not a candy cane princess.” Shouto frowns and pouts at the name. “I’m Shouto. And I’d be a prince not a princess.”

The other boy rolls his eyes at that. “Candy Cane Prince could be your hero name. I’m going to be King Explosion Murder someday but right now I’m just Bakugou Katsuki.”

Shouto laughs at that, he doesn’t remember laughing at something someone has said in a long time but it’s hard not to right now.

“WHAT’S SO FUNNY!?” 6-year-old Bakugou screams while stomping his foot. “I’m going to blow you up if you don’t stop laughing at me!”

“That’s not a very good hero name.” Shouto tells him bravely. “Both names actually. I’m not going to be called Candy Cane Prince, my dad would be mad at that name.”

“Well what do you know, you’re probably not even good enough to be a hero because you won’t show me your ice or fire! You’re probably just lying to me and you don’t even have two Quirks!”

“Fine! Stop yelling and I’ll show you.”

Bakugou scowls and crosses his arms again.

“Ok.” Shouto breathes. He closes his eyes and concentrates while he activates his right side. He can sense that the other boy is getting impatient but he stays focused. Suddenly, he feels something on his face. He opens his eyes and sees a few snow flurries fluttering around them.

“I did it!” Shouto shouts happily. He can’t remember the last time he felt like this.

“Make more! We can have a snowball fight!” Bakugou shouts, already scooping up as much snow as he can.

Before they know it, the whole courtyard is filled with a small layer of snow. Bakugou finally grabs enough to form into a ball. He throws it at Shouto who flinches in surprise when it hits him.

“Your face is so dumb!” Bakugou laughs and points at him. “Fight me!”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?! Because it’s fun and I’m going to win!”

Shouto is suddenly hit with another snowball. Bakugou laughs again and even though Shouto doesn’t exactly understand what’s so funny, he smiles at the other boy.

Within minutes the two boys are in a full-fledged snowball fight. Shouto thinks that it’s kind of funny seeing the look on Bakugou’s face when a snowball finally makes direct contact with his head. He laughs harder than he’s laughed in a long time.

After a few more minutes, he figures out how to use his fire to melt Bakugou’s snowballs before they make impact. The other boy is equally impressed and pissed off.

“Hey cheater, you can’t do that!” Bakugou snaps and pushes Shouto in a sudden fit of rage.

“Hey!” Shouto shouts pushing him back. “I’m not a cheater!”

“If that’s not cheating then I’m going to explode the snowballs!”

“Then I’ll just use more fire!” Shouto yells back at him, not sure where the sudden confidence is coming from. He desperately wants to show Bakugou that he is worthy of becoming a hero someday so that they can be friends. He’s not quite sure how throwing snowballs proves that, but it seems to be what his new friend cares about at the moment.

The boys continue forming snowballs and chucking them at each other, each using their own quirk to disintegrate them before they can land a hit. If they were older they might have realized that playing with nitroglycerin and fire in an enclosed space isn’t exactly a great idea, but all that’s on both young boys’ minds is winning.

“You have to make more snow, we’re running out!” Bakugou shouts when he realizes there’s hardly any left.

“I’m too tired.” Shouto admits out of breath. “We should just be done now. I think I won, I threw more snowballs at you. Like at least a hundred or maybe even a thousand.”

“No stupid you didn’t win, I won!” Bakugou screams as he lunges forward toward Shouto. “No one ever wins against me, ever! I threw a million more snowballs than you!”

“No you didn’t!”

Before Shouto can react, Bakugou has already knocked both of them down to the ground. He feels a punch to his face as he goes still. He doesn’t understand why a friend would want to hurt him like this, especially over a snowball fight. When he feels another punch, something ignites inside of him.

“Get off of me! You’re not my friend, you’re just like my dad!” Shouto shouts at the other boy, his eyes full of rage now as he summons as much fire as he can. It only take a split second before he feels pain like he’s never felt before and all he can hear is a loud ringing in his ears. His vision starts to give out a second later and before he can understand what happened, everything fades to black.

Chapter Text

Shouto wakes up alone in a hospital bed, his body covered in bandages. The curtains around the bed block his view from the rest of the room but he can sense other people nearby. His immediate reaction is to panic because he has no idea what happened or how he got here.

He remembers what he’s been taught in his training though, if he’s going to be a hero he needs to stay calm and alert at all times. He does his best to breathe normally because a hero wouldn’t get scared waking up in a hospital. He needs to think rationally. Except... he’s alone, his body hurts, and he vaguely remembers playing with another boy and then... something happened with his fire. His ears were ringing... he’s pretty sure someone screamed... It’s suddenly all too much for his 6-year-old brain to handle and he can’t stop the tears from flowing. He killed his new friend! And now he’s going to go to jail if his father doesn’t kill him first. He sobs harder at the thought, he’s terrified of how angry his old man is going to be at him.

He brings his knees up to his chest and curls up into a ball. He just wanted to have fun and now his whole life is ruined. He figures this is what he deserves for using his Quirk when he knew it wasn’t allowed.

The curtain around his bed suddenly moves to the side and a woman who looks a lot like Bakugou appears. He gasps as he sees another bed behind her. On that bed is the other boy who is also covered in bandages, but he’s not moving and the sight makes Shouto sick to his stomach.

“Oh honey, are you okay?” the woman sits down at the edge of his bed. “We were so worried, you’ve been sleeping for awhile. Do you need anything?”

“M-my mom, I want my mom.” Shouto sniffles even though he knows it’s an impossible request. He’s never going to see her again and no matter how much he wants to he knows his dad will never let him.

The woman frowns and reaches out to grab Shouto’s hand. He instantly recoils at the touch.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” the woman says softly as she looks over at her husband who has been watching them from the other side of the room. “My name is Mitsuki, I’m Katsuki’s mom. And that’s Katsuki’s dad, Masaru.”

Shouto looks past her and continues to stare at Bakugou who is lying lifeless on the other bed. “I-I killed him! I didn’t mean to! I didn’t want to hurt him I swear!” He panics, trying to catch his breath.

“You didn’t kill anyone, sweetheart.” Mitsuki carefully reaches out to hold Shouto’s hand again. “He’s just sleeping. Serves the brat right for what he’s done, I’m sorry my son pressured you into fighting. Maybe he’ll learn that there are consequences for his actions now.”

“He’s... he’s okay?” Shouto hiccups.

“He has some bad burns but otherwise he’s going to be just fine. You’re both very lucky that your father jumped in and got the two of you out of there when he did.

Did Shouto hear that correctly? “...Endeavor saved me?”

Mitsuki’s face turns to confusion at his question. Shouto knows that what he said is probably a confusing thought to most people because unlike him, most people have a dad who cares about them.

“Of course honey, why wouldn’t he? We all heard something happening and he was the first one out there. We owe him for our son’s life.”

Shouto frowns at that. He can only imagine how angry his father is at him for being so reckless, especially in front of so many important people. “He’s not here, right?”

This time Mitsuki frowns back at him. “No, we haven’t seen him come by. I can get a nurse to contact him, I’m sure he would be happy to hear that you’ve woken up.”

“No!” Shouto screams catching Mitsuki off guard. “No, please don’t call him!”

He starts crying again and this time begins to shake. Endeavor probably saved him only to kill him himself.

Mitsuki looks over at her husband again and they exchange concerned looks. She turns back to Shouto and slowly scoops him up into a hug. He doesn’t resist this time and cries into her chest. He tries to imagine it’s his own mom who’s the one holding him as he squeezes back harder.

“I want my mom.” he sobs again because it’s the only thing he can think about. He doesn’t want to see his father and he certainly doesn’t want to go home.

“Where is your mom, sweetie? Do you know how we can reach her?”

“N-no. She’s gone now. I won’t see her again.”

“I’m sure that’s not true, honey. You’ll see her again.”

“I-it is true. She did something bad but she didn’t really mean it and my dad made her go away!”

Mitsuki is silent for a few moments thinking carefully about what to say, and then speaks gently. “Why don’t you take some deep breaths and I’ll have a nurse come look at you. Maybe bring you some water? Are you hungry?”

“No.”

“Alright, just try to rest. We want you to get better.”

Shouto takes her advice and focuses on breathing steadily as he lies back down. He soon falls back asleep with his thoughts on his father and what his reaction is going to be the next time he sees him.

~~~~~

Shouto wakes up this time with a nurse checking in on him. He stays quiet and refuses to answer any of her questions about how he’s feeling. He watches as Mitsuki and Masaru sit with their son who is also awake now.

“We called your father and he’s going to be here soon.” the nurse informs him as if that’s going to cheer him up.

Shouto still doesn’t answer her. She leaves him some dinner and water but he doesn’t touch either. He continues watching the Bakugou family across the room and wonders why his family can’t be like that too.

Even if Mitsuki seems to be yelling at Bakugou more than talking, she still seems to be doing it in a loving way. He briefly wonders what it would be like if his dad disowned him and Bakugou’s mom adopted him instead. He’s pretty sure she would because other than his mom, she’s the nicest person Shouto has ever met. She even gave him a hug which he only remembers his dad doing once in his lifetime, which was when his Quirk first appeared.

He eventually falls asleep again, thinking about his mom and wondering if she’s just as scared as he is wherever she’s at.

~~~~~

The third time Shouto wakes up isn’t like the first two. He’s yanked up into a sitting position, a big hand wrapped tightly around his tiny arm. He opens his eyes and his heart sinks when he sees who it is.

“Shouto, wake up, we’re leaving.” Enji tells him, his grip still firm on Shouto’s arm.

Shouto doesn’t know what to say, he tries to speak but nothing comes out. He sees Bakugou suddenly stir awake from the other bed and rub his eyes. The red-eyed boy stares at them, jaw hanging down when he sees Endeavor.

“Dad?” Shouto finally whispers unable to say anything else.

Bakugou stares at them as he sits up on his knees, fully alert now. “Hey! What are you doing to him?!”

Enji stares back at the blonde, but doesn’t let go of Shouto. “Mind your business, kid. You’ve done enough to my son as it is.”

“But you’re hurting him!” Bakugou glares at the hero, his tiny fists as tight as he can make them while shaking with anger.

“And what did you do? You did the same thing. You hurt him, that’s why he’s here.”

“What…?” Bakugou answers quietly, slumping back on his knees. “No, I- I-”

Enji ignores him and turns his attention back to his son. “We’re going home.”

“My body still hurts everywhere, please can I stay a little longer? I promise I’ll train even harder when I go home. I’ll do as much as you want and I won’t do anything you say not to do-”

“Enough! We’re leaving now!” Endeavor roars as he pulls Shouto out of the bed.

“Stop!” Bakugou suddenly shouts at the man.

Enji lets go of Shouto and walks over to Bakugou, towering over him even though the blonde is standing up on the bed now. “Stay away from my son. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you in 15 years when you no doubt turn to a life of crime.”

“I would never do that, I am NOT a villain!” Bakugou bravely glares up at Endeavor, not backing down.

Enji huffs at him but doesn’t respond again as he goes back over to his son.

“Dad please, I don’t want to go home yet.” Shouto sniffles as Enji grabs his clothes.

Mitsuki enters the room with a cup of coffee in her hand, pausing when she sees everyone. “Is everything okay in here?”

“We were just leaving.” Enji calmly informs her. “Get your clothes on, Shouto.”

“Are you sure he should be going home already? He’s been in a lot of pain and upset. I’d be happy to grab a nurse to come talk to you and-”

“I don’t need any explanations. I suggest you worry about your own son.”

Mitsuki watches as Shouto takes off his hospital gown and struggles to get his shirt on, silent tears falling down his cheeks.

“I’m getting a nurse.” She says while exiting the room in a hurry.

Enji impatiently kneels down to help finish getting his son’s pants and shoes on. He’s a bit too rough which makes Shouto stumble.

“Let’s go.” he grabs Shouto’s arm again just as Mitsuki returns with a nurse this time.

“Oh, Mr. Todoroki. I’m sure you’re glad to see that Shouto’s awake and doing well, but he shouldn’t be out of bed just yet. He needs at least a few more days of rest for his wounds to heal.”

“He can rest at home.”

“He needs be monitored to make sure that he’s healing properly, a few more days here would benefit him.”

“I appreciate the information, but he’s still coming with me.”

“He can’t go home with him!” Bakugou suddenly shouts, red eyes glaring at Endeavor again. “He’s hurting Shouto! He’s not a real hero, he’s just faking it!”

“What a wild imagination you have.” Enji gives a forceful smile. He turns to Mitsuki and glances at Bakugou’s iPad next to the bed. “You might want to consider limiting his access to all that mindless entertainment. It seems he’s having a hard time distinguishing fiction from reality.”

“I’m not making it up, I just saw you grab his arm really hard and push him and make him cry!”

“Katsuki!” Mitsuki loudly yells at her son.

“But it’s true, Mom! He said I’m going to be a villain! And Shouto doesn’t even want to go home!”

“That’s enough, Katsuki.”

“But Mom-”

Mitsuki gives Katsuki a stern look. He huffs and crosses his arms, looking away from everyone.

“Please, Dad? Please can I stay?” Shouto tries his luck at begging again, figuring he has nothing left to lose at this point.

Endeavor scowls as he looks at the other two adults in the room. The man is stubborn but not dumb, this isn’t a good time to make more of a scene. “Fine. I’ll be back in a few days for you.”

Shouto watches as his dad leaves the room without even a glance back at him. The tears start to well up in his eyes again when he feels a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“Come on honey, let’s get you back in bed.” Mitsuki carefully helps Shouto remove his clothes and put his hospital gown back on. He climbs back into bed and wipes at his teary eyes.

“I think your dad is secretly a villain, Shouto.” Bakugou growls, still upset from everything that just happened.

“Katsuki!” Mitsuki scolds him once again.

“What Mom, it’s true! He’s not a hero at all!” Bakugou gives an angry pout.

“That man saved your life, brat, you need to stop running your mouth like this.”

“But-”

“Katsuki, I’m asking you to stop. I will take care of it. You worry about resting and getting better. Unless you want to be grounded and bedridden even longer once you get home, you need to stop.” Mitsuki turns back to Shouto. “Do you need anything, Shouto? Is there anything I can get you? I’m going home for a few hours but I’ll be back soon.”

Shouto shakes his head and then tucks his head down as he desperately tries not to cry again.

“If you need anything at all or if my son is being an annoying nuisance, you can press this button here to call a nurse.” Mitsuki tells him as she points to the help button next to his bed.

Shouto nods but doesn’t respond otherwise. Mitsuki walks back over to her son, her demeanor suddenly changing.

“And you! I better not hear about any more back talk or fighting while I’m gone. You go to sleep. You hear me?”

“Fine, hag!” Bakugou spits out, his arms still crossed from earlier.

“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?”

“Um nothing, nothing! Best mom in the world!”

“Thought so.” Mitsuki smirks and leans down to give Bakugou a kiss on the head. “It’s late now, get some rest and either Dad or I will be back in a couple hours.”

“Whatever.” Katsuki scrunches his nose up and turns his head away in embarrassment.

~~~~~

Shouto tries to process what just happened after Mitsuki and the nurse leave. He then hears Bakugou call out to him.

“Come over here, Candy Cane.” Bakugou demands as he glares over at him.

“W-what?” Shouto almost chokes on the word.

“Do you even hear anything anyone says?! I said come here!” Bakugou snaps.

“B-But why?” Shouto says nervously, not sure if he should be afraid or not.

Bakugou sighs and rolls his eyes. He picks up his iPad and turns it on. “I’m showing you Frozen.”

“What’s that?” Shouto asks curiously while sitting up in his bed.

Bakugou’s eye twitches in frustration. “I have to explain everything to you! It’s the movie with Elsa! Just get over here and stop being stupid!”

“My dad won’t let me watch that.”

“Your dad isn’t here right now because I told him to go away! And he’s a horrible dad, you don’t even need to listen to him!”

Shouto begins to feel even more overwhelmed than he already was. “Stop shouting everything you say!”

“I’m not shouting everything! You’re being dumb and not listening to me!”

“I don’t think I’m supposed to leave my bed.” Shouto says quietly while staring at the red mark still on his arm.

“You can leave it to use the bathroom, can’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess if I had to.”

“Then go use the bathroom and when you come back get in my bed instead of yours.”

Shouto thinks about that for a few moments. It does make sense, sort of. And he’s curious about this Frozen movie and the girl who also has ice powers. He doesn’t remember the last time he saw a movie and after everything that’s happened this evening, it would be a good distraction to help keep him calm.

He makes his way to the bathroom and quickly uses it. When he comes back out he sees that Bakugou has already shifted in his bed and made space for him. He walks over and stares at the other boy, feeling nervous about this.

“Are you trying to make me mad?!” Bakugou screams at him. “GET IN THE BED!”

“Sorry.” Shouto frowns as he climbs in. Once he’s sitting next to Bakugou, the red-eyed boy fixes his blanket over them and holds up the iPad so that they both can see it. Shouto notices for the first time that the case is All Might themed. “Hey, it’s All Might!”

“Yeah! I’m going to be just like All Might when I’m a hero. You like him too?” Bakugou smirks.

Shouto nods, smiling. He doesn’t get to watch All Might videos too often but when he does he’s always awe-struck by the Number One Hero.

“Have you ever met him? Cause your dad is a hero too?”

“No. My dad doesn’t like All Might. He says I have to be better than him, that’s why I have to train everyday.”

“You get to train everyday?! So lucky. My parents don’t like when I use my Quirk.”

“It’s not that lucky. I don’t like it.”

“Cause your dad is mean?”

Shouto nods.

“At least you’re going to be really strong when you get older, right?” Bakugou says in an attempt to cheer Shouto up about it. “I’m going to go to UA, are you going there too?”

“Probably.” Shouto shrugs. He’s never actually thought about it, it’s hard for him to imagine his life other than training with his father.

“We’re going to be the best when we go there.” Bakugou smirks confidently. “And we’ll fight villains together. We’ll be partners!”

“Me? You’d want to be my partner? I almost killed you.”

“Yeah but it was fun.” Bakugou smiles and it instantly makes Shouto smile as well. “Just... don’t use your fire when we’re close together or we’re going to blow up again.”

“I won’t, I’m not ever using my fire ever again.” Shouto informs him. He’s never been so sure of anything in his life.

“NEVER!?” Bakugou’s eyes widen in surprise.

“I’m going to be like my mom.” Shouto smiles thinking about her. “I’ll just use my ice. That’s good enough.”

“You won’t get to be the best if you don’t use your fire too. You can’t have two Quirks and not use both of them!”

“Yeah I can and I’m only using ice.”

“Whatever, that just means I’m gonna be a better hero than you. I’ll be number one and you’ll be number two. Now be quiet and watch the movie!” Bakugou says as he finally starts Frozen.

Shouto doesn’t say anything after that and tries to focus on the movie. He can’t help but wonder if Bakugou is right, can he be a good hero only using his ice? Before he can dwell on it too much, he’s captivated by the animation in front of him.

~~~~~

“Look! Look! She’s making stairs! Wow! She’s so amazing!” Shouto absolutely beams as he watches Elsa during the Let It Go scene. He inches closer to the iPad, his eyes as wide as they can go and his nose almost touching the screen. “Look! She’s making a WHOLE castle now! And she’s singing at the SAME time!”

Bakugou lifts an eyebrow. “Can you do that?”

“If I could do that I would run away too and be living there right now.”

“So... you admit you are kind of like a princess?”

“I’m not!” Shouto pouts and crosses his arms.

Bakugou laughs and falls over at how hilarious he thinks he is. “Can you sing too?”

“No. Can you?”

Bakugou doesn’t even hesitate. “LET IT GO! LET IT GOOOOOO! THE COLD NEVER BOTHERED ME ANYWAY!”

Shouto stares at Bakugou as he instinctively covers his ears. He’s pretty sure that’s not singing... more like screaming, which seems to be the other boy’s only form of speaking.

“Shut up!” Bakugou pouts when he sees his friend’s reaction.

“I didn’t say anything!” Shouto giggles putting his hands up in defense.

“I’m gonna blow you up again!”

Shouto only laughs harder. He can’t help but enjoy how Bakugou reacts so intensely to everything, he’s come to expect it now.

Their fun is cut short when a nurse suddenly walks in. Bakugou knows the look on her face, his mom gives it to him often. Busted.

“Boys, it’s 2am.” She says sternly. “You both need to be resting.”

“We are resting!” Bakugou tries coming up with an excuse. “See! He’s already sleeping.” he quickly whispers to Shouto and tells him to close his eyes. Shouto instantly does as he’s told, he’s not convinced that the nurse is going to fall for it but he trusts his new friend. “He was real tired and then when I woke up he was just in my bed! He wanted to sleep in my bed ‘cause he was scared. So you can’t be mad at that.”

“I see...” the nurse replies calmly, really not wanting to deal with this. “You both need to be in your own beds and you need to be sleeping without your iPad on.”

“Whaaaat?? An iPad? Where?” Bakugou answers as he shoves the device behind him under a pillow.

The nurse ignores that and walks over. “Shouto, let’s get you back into your bed.” She extends her hand out and Bakugou suddenly grabs onto his friend.

“No, he doesn’t want to.” The blonde says with arms wrapped tightly around Shouto. Shouto opens his eyes and looks at the nurse and then at Bakugou.

“It’s unfortunately not a choice, patients aren’t allowed to share beds. Do I need to call your mom, Katsuki? She told us to call her if there were any problems.” The nurse explains.

Bakugou sighs, exasperated. “That hag!” He lets go of Shouto but not before giving him one final squeeze. Shouto lets out a breath, not realizing he was holding it in this entire time.

He lets the nurse help him over to his bed. She explains again that they need to sleep and she doesn’t want to hear them unless there’s an emergency. When she finally leaves, Bakugou is already out of his bed.

“What are you doing?” Shouto whispers as he watches the blonde walk over to him. “She said not to get out of bed and to go to sleep.”

“I’m sleeping in your bed.” The older boy answers as he climbs in.

“You are??”

“You’re warm, I liked it. Move over, if that dumb nurse comes back I’ll tell her it was my fault so you don’t get in trouble, okay?”

“Okay.” Shouto manages to whisper back as Bakugou makes himself comfy against Shouto’s left side.

“Shouto?” Bakugou whispers again after a few moments, both of them staring at each other in the dark.

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to run away like Elsa?”

“Run away?”

“Yeah, away from your dad.”

“I don’t know how to run away.”

“It’s easy, we could just leave.”

“How?”

“We could climb out the window and you could use your ice to help us slide down.”

“Are you joking?”

“No! We really could. You don’t want to go home, right? Your dad is going to come back in a couple days.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“You saw how happy Elsa was when she ran away.”

“I would be too scared.” Shouto admits. It’s not like he’s never thought about it before, but he doesn’t know how he would actually do it.

“You can’t be scared! All Might isn’t scared of anything and we’re going to be better than him someday. So we should try. Your dad makes me so mad, I don’t want him to hurt you no more. And no dumb grown-ups will ever believe it so you have to run away.”

Shouto doesn’t know what to think or what to say. He’s still just trying to process that he’s sharing his bed with the other boy which means he actually has a real friend now.

“Tomorrow night, that’s when we’ll do it.” Bakugou yawns and gives him another hug.

“Okay.” Shouto answers, anything sounds better than going home even if the thought of running away makes him nervous. He waits until his red-eyed friend is asleep before he finally closes his eyes too.

Chapter Text

“BAKUGOU KATSUKI!”

Bakugou wakes up with a jolt and accidentally falls out of Shouto’s bed.

“What are you doing?!” Mitsuki scolds as she makes her way over to the boys. “Get back in your own bed, this isn’t a sleepover!”

“I was protecting Shouto!” Bakugou glares at her as she helps him up off of the floor.

Shouto stares at them, his heart racing from the sudden awakening. Better than being woken up by his father at least.

“He doesn’t need your protection! You need to leave that poor boy alone!” Mitsuki tells Bakugou as she all but throws her son back into his bed.

He scowls at her with his hands in fists. “Mom, you’re so annoying!”

“Back at ya, kid! How are you feeling today?”

“I’m fine.” Bakugou huffs in annoyance.

“And how are you doing, Shouto? Was Katsuki bothering you?” Mitsuki asks, ignoring her son and turning to the other boy.

“N-no. He was being nice.” Shouto manages to quietly say with his head down to avoid any eye contact.

“See!” The blonde shouts from the other side of the room.

Mitsuki turns her attention back to her son and sighs. “Did you not learn your lesson the first time? Your Quirk can be very dangerous, Katsuki, you need to keep your distance from Shouto. You want to get hurt again?”

“He’s not even gonna use fire anymore so it’s ok!” Bakugou tells her. “It’s stupid but he said that.”

“Even if he said that, you still need to be careful. I think I’m going to see if we can get you transferred to a different room.”

“No! I promise! No more sharing a bed! Shouto will be all alone without me!”

“This isn’t a joke, Katsuki. You really do need to keep your distance from him.”

“Ok ok, I get it. You can go now.”

“Oh? Why do you want me gone so badly?”

Bakugou sighs the most exaggerated sigh Shouto has ever heard. He can’t help but shudder at the thought of what would happen if he ever did that with his father.

“I have stuff to do today, Mom!”

“What the hell do you have to do today, brat?! You’re in a hospital recovering from almost getting yourself killed! A normal loving boy would want their mother around after that to comfort them!”

“Well you’re not very comforting!”

“Oh, is that so?!”

“Yeah!”

“Fine, I have errands to run but I’ll be back later. This isn’t supposed to be a fun time for you, you need to rest so we can get you home.”

“Resting is for boring losers!”

“Then I guess you’re a boring loser!”

“No you are!”

“Sometimes I don’t know how I love you so much.” Mitsuki sighs as she kisses the top of Katsuki’s head.

“Yuck.” Katsuki pretends to gag.

“Shouto, are you ok?” Mitsuki asks before leaving. Shouto gives a small nod back to her even though he’s technically not sure of his answer. “If you want to talk about anything, you can talk to me, I want you to know that. I know it must be frightening not having your mom around.”

“It’s ok, Katsuki makes me happy.”

“Ha!” Bakugou sticks his tongue out at his mom. “I told you I’m nice.”

Mitsuki sighs again, rubbing her head. “Please stay out of trouble.” She tells her son as she leaves the room.

Bakugou falls face first into his bed and screams into his pillow. “She annoys me SO MUCH!”

“She seems nice to me.” Shouto tells his friend. If this is what Bakugou thinks is annoying, he wouldn’t last a day inside of the Todoroki house.

“Yeah cause she’s nice to you! She’s just always yelling at me!”

“You yell at her too.”

“Yeah so what!?”

Shouto shrugs, he knows his friend isn’t going to understand that he’s mean to his mom. Shouto would never act that way to either of his parents, or any adult, for that matter.

“Whatever, she’s gone now so we need to start preparing for tonight.”

“We’re really going to run away?”

“I think we should do it really late when the nurses aren’t checking in as much.”

“It’s quiet at night though. They might hear us.”

“Yeah. Good point. Maybe right after dinner?”

Shouto’s stomach growls at the mention of food. “I haven’t eaten since I woke up yesterday.”

“That’s dumb! You have to eat so you’re not hungry and have energy, we’re gonna have to walk a lot later.”

“What are we gonna eat when we leave?”

“I’m learning to cook and I’m pretty awesome at it so I’ll just make us food.”

“Wow really?” Shouto is surprised to learn that the other boy knows how to cook. He’s never cooked or made anything in his short life so far, he’s never even had to get himself a cup of water because there’s always someone else there to do it for him.

“I like food.” Bakugou smiles proudly.

“I like soba. But it has to be cold.”

“I can make that.”

Shouto instantly smiles. How lucky is he that his first friend knows how to make soba??

“So look out that window by your bed. How far down is it?” The older boy changes the subject to get back to more important matters.

Shouto gets out of his bed and looks out the window. “It’s a little high up.”

“Like how high?”

“Like two houses high.”

“Can you make a slide with your ice?”

“I don’t know. Wouldn’t that be loud?”

“Probably. Whatever we do it’ll have to be fast cause someone will hear it.”

Shouto continues staring out the window looking at everything around them. “There’s a tree next to here. I could maybe aim for the tree and it could help make a slide.”

“Ok good. Then when we get down there we just have to run. I have a secret hideout in the woods, we can go there and sleep tonight.”

“Wow that’s so cool you have a secret hideout!”

“Hopefully dumb Deku won’t be there. He goes there too much but he probably won’t be there that late. If he sees us he’ll rat us out.”

“Who’s Deku?”

“He’s nobody. He doesn’t even have a Quirk!”

“He’s kind of lucky.”

“Lucky!?” Bakugou laughs. “It’s not lucky, it’s sad.”

“I’d give him mine if I could.”

“No, it’s yours! You can’t just give it away! How are you going to be a hero if you don’t even want your Quirk?!”

“I don’t know.” Shouto looks down at his feet with a frown.

“You’re awesome and you need to stop being so sad!” Bakugou demands.

“I’m awesome?” Shouto asks confused.

“Duh! You can make snow and ice and blow things up with fire!”

“And that’s awesome?”

“Yes! People are always telling me how great I am, they don’t tell you?!”

“No one has ever told me that. Maybe my mom did before she-” Shouto starts to say as he touches his left eye. “But no one else.”

“What!? I’m gonna tell you you’re awesome everyday to remind you and you better not forget!”

Shouto smiles at the other boy’s encouraging words and lets go of his eye. He doesn’t know what to say in response but it feels nice having a friend. He definitely doesn’t want to go back to the way it was before. He doesn’t understand why his father always said friends and relationships were distractions from what’s really important, Shouto is pretty sure that Bakugou is important to him and always will be.

~~~~~

The rest of the day goes by slowly. Bakguou yells at Shouto to eat all his breakfast and lunch even though he’s reluctant and still doesn’t feel like eating. They both have their injuries checked and re-bandaged. It’s confirmed that they are already doing much better but could still use another day or two of rest.

Mitsuki and Masaru come back later on in the day and attempt to have a civil conversation with Katsuki but it ends up in a screaming match. Shouto figures that’s just how the Bakugou’s are, it’s kind of funny to watch them interact. Shouto can’t image his family acting like that, someone would for sure get hurt.

Mitsuki asks Shouto again if he wants to talk and he doesn’t understand why she keeps asking that. What does she want him to say? He’s usually told to be quiet.

“I don’t want to talk about anything.” Shouto tells her honestly when she keeps prying.

“Are you sure? If not me, maybe a nurse? We’re here to help you, if you need it.” she says, careful with her choice of words.

“No, Katsuki’s gonna help me.” Shouto answers at the same time Bakugou shoots him a glaring look.

Mitsuki turns to her son. “What is he talking about?”

“Beats me! Maybe he got hit too hard in the head.” Bakugou replies, eyes shooting daggers at Shouto.

Shouto’s body freezes, literally. Oops.

“Katsuki-”

“We’re not hiding anything Mom, I swear!”

“Oh, you’re hiding something.”

“No!”

“Shouto, what is my son talking about?”

“Uh...” Shouto never thought someone could glare a death threat, but the way his blonde friend is glaring at him proves otherwise. “Um. We used his iPad last night and we watched a movie and we weren’t supposed to.” He’s never lied before and technically this isn’t a lie…

Mitsuki accepts the answer and takes the iPad away from Bakugou, restraining herself from smacking the boy upside the head with it. She stays with them while they eat their dinner and then they’re told to relax. Bakugou scoffs at this but lies and says he promises to be good and not leave his bed the rest of the night. Shouto doesn’t say anything because he knows he’s a horrible liar and now Bakugou knows this too.

~~~~~

Once the coast is clear, Bakugou gets off of his bed and starts packing his All Might backpack. He puts a few snacks, an extra outfit, his All Might pajamas, and a small All Might plushie in it. He also stuffs in some money he took out from his mom’s purse when she wasn’t looking earlier.

“You have a lot of All Might stuff.” Shouto points out while watching him. “I thought you want to be better than him?”

Bakugou stops and looks back at him, never having thought about it that way before. “Whatever! He’s still cool and I’m only 6 so I can’t be better yet. I can still like him right now.”

“I wish my dad liked All Might.”

“Your dad doesn’t like anyone.”

“I don’t know why he doesn’t like me though.”

“Cause he’s stupid. Who cares if he likes you. I like you, that’s what matters.”

“Yeah, you like me a lot.” Shouto states before thinking.

“What!? Not a lot! Just a little! Shut up! Come on, get dressed so we can go already!” Bakugou’s cheeks turn red as he throws Shouto’s clothes at him.

Shouto does as he’s told and changes out of his hospital gown. Once they’re both dressed, Bakugou walks over to the window by Shouto’s bed.

“We gotta hurry up. If we’re caught now we won’t be able to leave.” The blonde says as he opens the window and looks down. “What are you waiting for? Come on!”

“I’m scared of my dad, he’ll find us.” Shouto admits with his eyes gazing down at the ground.

“I’m not scared of stupid Endeavor. He won’t find my secret hideout, I promise.”

Shouto takes a deep breath and stares out the window. It’s not difficult to make some ice to wrap around the tree that they can then slide down but he’s still hesitant. It suddenly looks so much further down than it did that morning.

“You can do it!” Bakugou suddenly calls out, his fist raised in the air and a determined smile on his face.

After hearing his friend’s words of encouragement, Shouto takes another deep breath and concentrates.

Of course that’s the same moment that a nurse walks in. “Boys, what are you-”

“Ahhhh! Do it now, Candy Cane!” Bakugou screams while shaking Shouto.

The sudden intrusion startles Shouto and he looses concentration. Instead of a small slide around the tree, a giant ice block is formed, breaking the window and the side of the building as it extends to the ground.

“WOW!” Bakugou’s face lights up forgetting about the nurse for a moment. It’s quite possibly the greatest thing he’s ever seen. More people suddenly rush over to their room which snaps him out of it. “Shouto, we have to go now! Jump!”

Before Shouto can even blink, Bakugou pushes him out the window. The red-eyed boy jumps after him and they both slide down the ice and crash to the ground.

Loud alarms start going off as Shouto groans from the impact. The blonde is quick to his feet and pulls his friend up with him.

“Come on, we have to run! Follow me!” he says as he starts running away from the hospital.

Shouto quickly follows him as they run in between the cars that have stopped on the road nearby, the drivers all gaping at the giant wall of ice sticking out of the side of the hospital.

A few minutes later they finally make it to the woods. Shouto pauses to catch his breath.

“We have to keep going, you can’t stop now!” Bakugou grabs his hand to pull him along faster.

The older boy leads him through the woods, blasting any trees or obstacles in their way. Shouto’s eyes go wide seeing how effortless his friend is able to make explosions as they run.

After a few more minutes of running as fast as they can, Bakugou finally slows down.

“You alright?” Bakguou pants.

Shouto nods.

“We’re almost there, we can probably walk now. And it’s getting really dark anyway, don’t think anyone will find us.”

They continue walking as the sun sets. Bakugou lets out some small sparks every once in awhile so that they can see where they’re going in the dark. “Have you ever been in the woods to play?”

“No, I haven’t really been anywhere to play.”

“I play in here all the time. My friends follow me and do whatever I tell them.”

“What if they don’t want to?”

“They always want to.”

“What about your friend Deku?”

“What about him?”

“Does he play too?”

“Yeah, but he’s useless. I hate Deku.”

“You hate your friend?!”

“Who cares, I don’t hate you.”

“Why not? I don’t know anything and it makes you mad a lot.”

“That’s your stupid dad’s fault. And you’re not like Deku, you could fight me and win. But you better not tell anyone that ever or I’ll blow you up!”

“I won’t.”

“Do you want to play Bakugou Agency with me?”

“...What?”

“I pretend to have my own hero agency and you work there and you have to do what I say.”

“Why would I want to pretend to be at an agency?”

“Because it’s fun!”

“What’s your agency like?”

“Huh?”

“Endeavor’s agency has a lot of flame heroes. Sometimes they’re nice to me when I get to go there.”

“Oh, I forgot! That almost means you worked at an agency already!”

“No, when I go there I just have to follow my dad around and pretend I’m happy. He calls me his ‘creation’ and people give me weird looks and I don’t like it.”

“Sounds awful.”

“It is. And I don’t get to see any bad guys or fights.”

“Never?”

“Only on TV. My dad’s really good at fighting villains. Maybe he thinks I’m gonna be a villain so that’s why he’s so mean to me.” Shouto frowns at the thought.

“Probably, cause he thinks I’m gonna be one too.”

“We did hurt each other, that was kind of like being villains.”

“Yeah. I’m... sorry. I don’t want to hurt you and I’m not going to do it again.” Bakugou gives a soft smile

“I’m sorry too.” Shouto smiles back at his friend. “I don’t want to hurt you either.”

“So... you’re gonna join my agency right?”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“What!? Why not?!”

“Cause I can have my own agency.”

“No you can’t!”

“Yeah I can!”

“Mine will still be better!”

“You don’t know that!”

“I do know that!”

“No you don’t!”

“YES I DO! I’M THE BEST!”

“You have to be a hero first to have an agency.”

“I’m working on it! I’m being your hero aren’t I?” Bakugou says as he poses with his hands to his hips, doing his best All Might impression.

“Oh... yeah I guess you are.”

“So, you’re joining the Bakugou Agency.”

“Ok fine I will.”

“Good.” The older boy gleams as they continue walking through the woods.

Soon they stop and Bakugou moves some branches and leaves to reveal the opening to a small cave.

“TADA! Katsuki’s secret hideout! Only the best can come inside!”

“It’s... a cave?”

“Yes it’s a cave!” Bakugou snaps, how dare his new friend imply that that’s anything but amazing. “A super awesome secret cave and no stupid grown-ups or villains allowed!”

“What if there’s a bear in there?”

“There’s no bear in there!”

“How do you know?”

“Cause I just know! Agh Candy Cane, you annoy me sometimes but I’m trying to be nice to you and you don’t make it easy!”

“Sorry.”

“I’ll show you there’s no bear.” The blonde confidently leads the way inside the cave.

Shouto shakes his head and follows. It’s almost too dark to see anything at all but then Bakugou turns on a flashlight.

“BOO!” He shouts trying to make a scary face. “Did I scare you?”

“No.” Shouto answers with no reaction.

“Darn, that always scares Deku.” Bakugou throws the flashlight to Shouto. “You can have this one, there’s a lot of them here.”

Bakugou turns on another flashlight and now Shouto can see inside the cave better. There’s not much in there other than the flashlights, some hero and villain action figures (including 7 different versions of All Might), snack wrappers, and a giant oversized All Might plushie.

“So this is basically my own house.” Bakugou takes off his backpack and plops down on the giant plushie, making himself comfy.

“It’s a cave.” Shouto deadpans.

“Shut it Candy Cane! It’s more than just a cave!”

“It’s dirty in here.”

“What, you’re scared to get dirty!? You want to go back to your big fancy mansion!?”

“No.” Shouto sits down next to Bakugou on the plushie. He stares up at it, it’s at least 5 times as big as they are. It reminds him of an obnoxiously large teddy bear but instead it’s All Might. “How’d you get this here?”

“My friends and I had to carry it. I’m so strong so it wasn’t that hard.”

“I wish the real All Might was here and would come save me.”

“HEY! I’m saving you!”

“I know. But All Might’s... All Might.”

“I’m gonna be the next All Might so you can stop thinking about him and just think about me!”

“It’s hard not to think about him when everything in here is All Might.”

“Not everything! See, look, I have other heroes too.” Bakugou rummages through his action figure collection. He suddenly stops and holds up a mini Endeavor.

Shouto frowns as Bakugou stares at it, the blonde’s expression turning a bit too frightening for a 6-year-old.

“Katsuki?” Shouto asks, waiting for his friend to say something.

“Die!” Bakugou shouts and explodes the Endeavor action figure in his palm. There’s nothing but dust left after.

Shouto has no idea how he’s supposed to react to that.

“Ahahahahaha!” Bakugou laughs maniacally. “I’ll do that to the real Endeavor someday!”

“You’re gonna kill my dad?” Shouto asks in a whisper.

“Duh! Don’t you hate him?”

“Yeah but... I don’t want him to die.”

“Why not?!”

“I don’t know, I just don’t want anyone to die.” Shouto says with a sad face.

Bakugou couldn’t look more confused if he tried. “You’re so stupid, Shouto! Of course he should die, all villains should!”

“That’s not true! They go to jail, you’re not supposed to kill them! My dad doesn’t kill people!”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Katsuki, you’re not like my dad right?”

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?!”

“You get really angry a lot and you think you’re better than everyone else and want to be better than All Might. That’s like... my dad.”

“I’M NOT LIKE YOUR MEAN DAD!”

“Sorry, I know.” Shouto says softly as he stares at the ground.

“If you’re gonna think that then you can get out of my secret hideout and go back to stupid Endeavor!”

“No, I want to stay with you.” Shouto looks up, his eyes full of worry now.

“Then be quiet! You don’t know anything.”

“Ok.” Shouto sniffles, not sure why he suddenly feels like crying. He doesn’t like his dad but it’s upsetting to think about someone killing him. It’s been a long day, maybe he’s just tired from all the running they did.

“Don’t cry, that’s what Deku does.” Bakugou sighs.

“I’m just really scared.” Shouto can’t stop the sobs now.

“Of what!?”

“I don’t know.” Shouto wipes at his eyes. “You keep yelling me.”

“Ok I’ll stop yelling! Just stop crying!”

“I want my mom.” Shouto burries his face into the All Might plushie.

For once in Bakugou’s young life he’s not sure what to do. When Deku cries it’s usually over stupid stuff and they all just laugh at him until he stops. But this feels different and even Bakguou knows that. He gets up to grab his backpack and pulls out a piece of candy.

“Here. It’ll make you feel better.” He hands it to Shouto who stares at it.

“W-what is it?”

“It’s candy! Just eat it.” Bakugou takes his own piece and pops it into his mouth.

Shouto carefully unwraps his candy and stares at it some more.

“It won’t hurt you.” Bakguou assures him.

Shouto finally takes a bite and instantly smiles.

“See!? Good right!? You’re happy now?”

Shouto gives a small nod.

“Heroes don’t cry and they don’t miss their moms. You have to stop being so sad.”

“I’ll try.” Shouto sniffles again.

~~~~~

Once Shouto calms down, Bakugou tries teaching him how to play with the action figures. It doesn’t go well and the blonde has to use every ounce of self control he has not to blow something up or yell at the top of his lungs.

“Shouto! You have to give them different voices! They can’t all talk the same way!”

“But this is my voice.”

“You give them new voices. Even Deku can do this!”

“Sorry, I don’t get it. It’s not fun.”

“Then what do you think is fun?”

Shouto has to think about that. He’s never allowed to do anything that he would consider fun and he hasn’t given it much thought since he figured it was never going to happen anyway.

“I like cats.” Shouto finally answers because it’s true.

“You... like cats?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok...” Bakugou has to pause at that for a moment. “But that’s just an animal, not something fun.”

“Playing with cats, that’s fun.”

“We’re lacking cats right now, Candy Cane.”

“That’s all I could think of.”

“I hate to say this but you might be less fun than Deku.”

“No, I want to be fun!”

“I wish we could fight, that would be fun.” Bakugou huffs. “Not to hurt each other but just to see who would win. But I know we can’t.”

“Is making ice stuff fun?”

“Ice stuff?”

“Yeah I do this when I’m bored.” Shouto says putting out his right hand. He forms a tiny ice cat in his palm and then places it in Bakugou’s hand with a smile. “It’s for you.”

The older boy smiles back at him as he admires the little sculpture. “Ok, I take it back, you’re fun. What else can you make?”

“I could make anything I think. If it’s small.”

“Can you make me a crown?”

Shouto nods as he stands up and places his hand on Bakugou’s head. He concentrates and a moment later a tiny ice crown appears on the spiky blonde hair.

“Ahahaha! Make me a sword now!”

“You should say please.”

Bakugou’s expression drops. “Shut up, Candy Cane. You’re not my mom.”

“And thank you. You could say that too.” Shouto says as he makes a small ice sword and hands it to the other boy.

“AAAAAHH FINE THANK YOU STUPID CANDY CANE!”

Shouto laughs as he makes himself his own ice crown. “That’s how you be nice. Remember that, it’s important to know.”

“Whatever!” Bakugou scoffs as he swings his ice sword around until he notices Shouto making his own sword. “Hey! Yours is bigger! How is that fair??”

“Why does it matter?”

“Because we’re gonna have a sword battle!”

“We are?”

“Yeah you’re from the stupid Endeavor Kingdom and I’m from the All Might Kingdom and you ran away and now we have to fight to take over each other’s kingdoms.”

“I don’t get it.”

Bakugou takes the biggest breath he can take so he doesn’t end up yelling. “This is how you play idiot, are you even a kid??”

“But I don’t want to be from the Endeavor Kingdom.” Shouto pouts.

“Then fight me for the All Might Kingdom!” Bakugou whips his ice sword forward and lets his hands crackle for extra effect. “Crap.”

“You lose.” Shouto laughs as the other boy’s sword melts in his hand.

“MAKE ME ANOTHER ONE!”

“Couldn’t we just get married and then we’d each have both kingdoms? It could just be one new kingdom then and we’d be together forever.”

“....”

“Katsuki?”

“But that’s no fun! Getting married is gross. I want to fight!”

“Fine.” Shouto replies with another pout as he hands Bakugou a new ice sword.

After an intense sword battle and Bakugou finally determines he’s the winner, they decide they should probably go to sleep for the night.

~~~~~

“It’s morning already?” Bakugou says to himself when he wakes up, the sun now rising with light entering the small cave. He sits up and rubs his eyes. Shouto is still asleep but he knows they have a long day ahead of them as they figure out where to go next. Probably best to wake him up and get going, especially because he’s hungry and wants to get more snacks somewhere.

He reaches his hand out out to shake his friend awake but hesitates. Instead, he touches his hair because he’s been wanting to do that since he first saw it. Bakugou isn’t really sure what he expected but it feels like normal hair. The way the red and white strands mix together and stick up everywhere makes Bakugou laugh though. He decides that he wants to buy Shouto a strawberry/vanilla swirl ice cream cone at the beach. He figures the money he took from his mom will be enough to pay for it. Maybe they can even go on some rides at the boardwalk. His burns still kind of hurt but whatever, they’re running away now and he wants to have fun.

He suddenly notices and then stares at the scar on Shouto’s left eye which is exposed more than usual now with Shouto’s messy bed head hair. It makes him angry looking at it, he knows it had to have been Endeavor’s fault. He wonders how his friend could have even gotten a scar like that in the first place. It couldn’t have been from his fire because that wouldn’t make sense.

“You’re touching my hair.” Shouto suddenly blinks up at him sleepily.

“I like it.” Bakugou knows he’s caught and he’s not even going to lie about it.

“But you call me Candy Cane.”

“Well I like candy canes.” The older boy shrugs.

“Oh.” Shouto answers giving him a puzzling look. “Katsuki, what’s a candy cane taste like?”

“I don’t know, peppermint I guess.”

“Like peppermint toothpaste?!” Shouto’s eyes go wide at the thought.

“No not like toothpaste!”

“But you said-”

“It’s not like that!” Bakugou sighs. “We really need to find some candy canes for you, I bet you could even get them for free cause you look like one! You might have to wait until Christmas though.”

“You’ll still be with me by Christmas?”

“Duh. I’m always going to be with you. I’m not letting you ever be with Endeavor again. Maybe we can find All Might and show him our Quirks and he’ll let us live with him because we’re so amazing!”

“I don’t think All Might would do that. He’ll just tell my dad.”

“Hmmm yeah you’re right.”

“But where are we going to go?”

“I want to go to the boardwalk cause my mom never lets me go there. Do you like rides?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never been on one.”

“Then that’s where we’ll go! We’ll ride the tilt-a-whirl until we throw up!”

“But my dad’s going to find us eventually...”

“No, I won’t let him. And if he does I’ll blow him up, I’m not scared of his fire. He can’t even use his fire on me anyway unless he wants a big explosion.”

“That’s true.”

“See, we’re totally going to be fine. Maybe we should try going to America after the boardwalk, I think it looks cool there.”

“That’s too far, it’s across the ocean!”

“Can’t you just freeze the water? We’ll walk there!”

“I can’t freeze the whole ocean!”

“Have you ever tried?”

“Well.... no.”

“You think too much, Candy Cane. It all makes sense. We’re gonna go to the boardwalk to get snacks and ride rides and then you’ll freeze the ocean water and we’ll walk to America where we’ll find a cool mansion to live in and never see your dad again. Maybe we can even have a backyard full of cats because you like cats. But I’m getting a giant dog, like one that’s basically a wolf. Or maybe we should just get a real wolf. We could train him to eat any villains who want to take us away and he’ll keep us extra safe from Endeavor.” The more Bakugou thinks about it, the more he realizes he needs to stop spending so much time with Deku because his rambling has been getting bad lately and he’s sure it’s the green-haired boy’s fault.

“...I do like cats.” Shouto smiles.

“So that’s our plan then.”

“What if we get lost in the ocean?”

“We’re not going to get lost, we just have to keep going straight until we get to America!”

“Yeah. Ok I guess.”

“I’m so brilliant! I’ll be your hero Shouto, I’ll make sure you get to America away from your stupid villain dad no matter what. Even if I don’t get to see my dumb old parents again either.”

“Won’t you miss them?”

“Not really. They’re just annoying telling me to do things all the time.”

“But they love you and they’re really nice.”

“Whatever. I’d rather be with you.”

“Really?”

“Duh, stupid Candy Cane. You’re my best friend. Way cooler than dumb Deku.”

“You’re my best friend too.”

“See? It’s all going to be ok. We can train together at our mansion and get stronger and be Pro Heroes before we’re even grown up!”

“That’s possible?”

“Why not? We’re amazing enough.”

“You sound really sure about all this but you don’t know my dad that much. He’s probably really mad already and is going to try very hard to find me.”

“I told you Shouto, I’m not going to let him! You trust me, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you don’t have to be scared. He won’t ever find you, I promise.”

Chapter Text

As the two boys make their way out of the woods, Shouto is once again bewildered by his friend’s strange behavior.

“Why are you doing that?” He asks as Bakugou climbs up onto a large rock and jumps to another boulder nearby. At this rate they’re never going to get to the beach with the blonde leaping from rock to rock and tree to tree and up and over logs instead of just walking like a normal person like Shouto is.

“CAUSE THE GROUND IS LAVA!” Bakugou calls out from a branch high up in a tree. Shouto looks down at his feet and then back up at his friend.

“It’s not.” He deadpans, his expression completely neutral.

“IT IS! Why are you so un-fun?!” Bakugou shouts at the younger boy, then attempts to jump to another tree but misses and begins to fall.

Before he can think about how much pain he’s going to be in once he hits the ground, he feels cold all of a sudden and realizes he’s sliding down a large ramp of ice.

“WOOOOOW!” Bakugou laughs as his safety slides to the ground and then stands up to stare in awe at the ice. He turns back to Shouto with his mouth dramatically dropped all the way open, not believing someone his age can do something like this. “You did that so fast! You’re like a real hero already! None of my friends can do anything like that!”

“You were going to get hurt.” Shouto explains, not sure why he’s suddenly feeling embarrassed at the rare praise. It’s not that amazing in his mind, he trains to have fast reactions. Normally if he’s not fast enough to use his ice or fire, he gets hit, kicked, or burned by Enji.

“I don’t ever get hurt.” Bakugou scoffs. “But it was still fun. How big of a slide can you make? Can you make another one!?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never tried to see how big it can get, there’s no reason to.”

“Because slides are fun, that’s a good reason!”

“I’ve never been on a slide.” Shouto admits quietly, knowing that makes him seem even weirder than he already is.

“How?! What about at the park?!”

“I’ve never been to a park.”

“NEVER?!”

“I’ve only been to the hospital, Endeavor’s agency, and places like where I met you.”

“Whaaaat?! Not school?!”

“No.”

“Not even the grocery store?”

“No…”

“So you don’t have to go on dumb errands with your mom!?”

“No I… I don’t have a mom anymore.”

“Why not?”

“It’s… well, it’s scary to talk about. You won’t want to know.”

“I do want to know! I don’t get scared of anything ever.”

“It’s because she threw really hot water on my face…” Shouto explains as he touches his left eye with a small frown.

“WHAT?! Your mom is a stupid jerk too!?”

“No! She didn’t mean it. I think... I think she thought I was my dad. He made her do it.”

“How could she think that?! That’s so dumb! You’re not stupid Endeavor, you’re a candy cane!”

“She said I look like him and it made her sad.”

“But that’s normal to look like your mom or dad!”

“It doesn’t matter, she’s already gone now.”

“You have really mean parents. My mom is mean a lot but not that mean.”

“I don’t know why people are mean to me.” Shouto says as he tilts his head down, trying to hide the fact that his eyes are starting to tear up.

“Who else is mean to you?!” Bakugou growls, getting angrier by the second at this.

“My brother.”

“What did he do?”

“He tried to hurt me.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because… no one likes me. My other brother and sister don’t ever play with me either.”

“Your family is stupid, it doesn’t matter if they like you cause I do! I’m gonna put them all in jail when I’m older for making you so sad!” Bakugou says, his palms crackling in anger.

Shouto keeps his gaze down, trying his best not to cry. This entire situation is overwhelming and talking about his mom and family isn’t helping.

“Hey! No more crying!” Bakugou snaps at him. Shouto braces himself for the other boy to make fun of him for how weak he’s acting, but instead is surprised when his friend grabs his hand instead.

“What are you doing?” Shouto sniffles as he looks at his hand in Bakugou’s.

“…My mom holds my hand when I’m sad. If you tell ANYONE that I will kill you.” Bakugou replies, not able to look at the younger boy directly.

“I won’t.” Shouto answers as they stand there like that for another moment.

“Come on, there’s a park nearby. I’m gonna take you there before we go to the beach so you can go on a slide.” Bakugou tugs on his hand and drags him forward.

Shouto follows along, confused by how he can feel sad and happy at the same time, something that’s never happened before because he’s almost never happy.

~~~~~

“Are you sure you’re not a robot?” Bakugou crosses his arms and huffs at Shouto after the younger boy has no reaction when sliding down the slide at the park. “Your face is always blank looking!”

“I’m not a robot.” Shouto pouts at the accusation. First a princess, then a candy cane, now a robot?

“But how do you know that? You don’t know anything and you said your dad calls you a creation. Maybe he created you because you’re a robot and he forgot to make you fun!”

“I’m not.”

“Prove it then.”

“How do I do that?”

“Say something a robot wouldn’t say.”

“I don’t know what a robot would say.”

“That’s exactly what a robot *would* say.”

“It’s not!”

“Hmm. Do you bleed? Robot’s probably don’t bleed.”

“My dad makes me bleed.”

“He does?”

“If he hits me enough and I don’t block all his attacks.”

“That doesn’t sound right. Dads don’t try to make you bleed.”

“Mine does...”

“OH MAYBE HE’S THE ROBOT! ENDEAVOR’S NOT A VILLAIN, HE’S A ROBOT!”

“…I don’t think my family is robots.”

“If you say so.” Bakugou shrugs it off and goes over by the swings next. Shouto follows him, not knowing what else to do.

“What is that?” He asks staring at it.

“You seriously don’t know what a swing is!?”

“What’s it for?”

“To swing on!” Why does Bakugou have to explain everything?!

“Why?”

“WHY!? Because it’s a swing!”

“But…”

“Sit on it and I’ll show you.”

“Shouldn’t we be going to the beach now and going to America?”

“Whatever, we’ll go after this.”

Shouto sighs and does as he’s told, frustrated by clearly not understanding why a park is considered fun. He sits down on the swing while Bakugou goes behind him.

“Ready set GO!” Bakugou gives Shouto no time to prepare for the sudden push he gives him. All it does is cause Shouto to fall forward off of the swing.

“Hey! You pushed me!” Shouto glares back at the older boy.

“YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO HOLD ON, IDIOT!”

“Don’t call me that!” Shouto shouts back at him, still frustrated by all of this.

“I’ll call you whatever I want! And it’s true anyway! Who doesn’t know what a swing is and that you’re supposed to hold onto it to SWING!”

“You’re being mean!”

“It’s not mean! I’m telling you the truth! If you think this is mean you should see what I do to stupid Deku!” Bakugou screams back at him but his expression changes when he sees flames appear from Shouto’s left side. “Hey! I thought you said you weren’t going to use fire anymore! You’re trying to blow me up again!”

“I’m not! I’m not doing this on purpose!” Shouto shouts at him, spinning around in an attempt to put the flames out. “I don’t want to go with you anymore! I’m going by myself.” Shouto finally gets his fire to stop and then stands up to walk away. Bakugou made him so angry that it made him spontaneously burst into flames so he’s thinking the other boy isn’t actually his friend after all.

“No! Don’t! I didn’t mean it!” Bakugou runs after him and grabs his hand again. “I just- I don’t know how to be nice sometimes, it’s hard. People call me a brat. My mom calls me that too.”

“Why do you like making people angry?” Shouto asks him, wanting to understand how someone could want to do that.

“I don’t know...” Bakugou answers truthfully. “I promise I’ll try harder to be nice. Can I still come with you?”

Shouto nods just as his stomach suddenly growls. “Katsuki, I’m hungry. I don’t know if I can freeze the whole ocean if I’m hungry.”

“I’m hungry too.” Bakugou replies, pulling Shouto along with him again. “We can eat at the beach, there’s food there.”

~~~~~

Bakugou doesn’t let go of Shouto’s hand the entire way to the beach, and Shouto thinks that’s quite possibly the nicest thing anyone has ever done to him. Now he’s even more confused, why is Bakugou nice sometimes but also so mean? He briefly wonders if that means his dad is capable of being nice too but just chooses not to be.

They walk over to the area with shops and food and that’s when Bakugou finally lets go of Shouto’s hand. “I know exactly what to get.”

Shouto follows the other boy into a shop that he could only imagine in his dreams because he’s never been anywhere like it. It’s colorful and smells so sweet. He gasps when he realizes what kind of store they’re standing inside of. “We’re having ice cream for breakfast?”

“YES! AHAHA! We can do whatever we want now!” Bakugou grins back at him. “Ice cream for breakfast everyday if we want! No one can stop us!”

Bakugou instructs Shouto to sit at a table outside while he buys the ice cream for them. Shouto watches as other kids and families stroll by. The beach already seems to be getting crowded even though it’s still early in the morning. He figures it must be a weekend and wonders how they’re going to get away with freezing the ocean with so many people there to witness their escape and potentially try to stop them.

Shouto tenses up when he suddenly hears someone mention his father’s name.

“Did you hear? Endeavor’s kid is missing. Whoever took him better watch out, there’s no way they’re going to get away with it.” A woman says to her friend as they walk by the ice cream shop.

“They have all the heroes in the city looking for him.” The woman’s friend answers. “Even All Might is helping out. I hope they find him before anything bad happens.”

Shouto stops breathing momentarily as he takes in what he just heard. All the heroes are looking for him? Not just Endeavor? This is going to be more difficult than he thought.

“SURPRISE! Just for you!” Bakugou happily announces, suddenly appearing and shoving an ice cream cone in front of Shouto’s face. It’s half pink and half white and Shouto knows that had to be intentional. Is his identity always going to be defined by his hair?

“Thanks.” He reaches for it with his left hand.

“Your right hand.” The older boy reminds him.

“Oh.” Shouto grabs it with his cold hand instead and stares at it.

“Do you always stare at your food before eating it?” The blonde asks as he takes a huge bite of his own chocolate ice cream cone covered in chocolate sprinkles, chocolate syrup, and chocolate candy.

“I guess I do.” Shouto answers as he watches his friend devour the chocolate ice cream monstrosity. He takes the smallest lick of his own ice cream and smiles.

“Do you like it?!”

Shouto nods, he does like it but it’s much sweeter than he’s used to. He thought the candy last night was intense but this was on another level, how could something that tastes so good be bad for you?

“I knew you would cause I know everything.” Bakugou takes an obnoxiously huge bite of his ice cream.

“When you were inside, I heard two girls talking and they said heroes are looking for us.” Shouto sighs.

“Crap, really? Hurry up then and finish your ice cream. We should skip the rides and just start crossing the ocean.”

“Won’t someone see? There are so many people here today.”

“Let’s keep walking and find a spot on the beach away from everyone. This is too close to the food and stuff.”

“Yeah, ok.”

“Are you scared?”

“A little...”

“But you can do this. You made that huge ice wall and it was the size of the hospital! And you made that slide so I wouldn’t fall! You’re almost as amazing as I am.” Bakugou finishes his ice cream with one last bite, half of it all over his face and shirt now. “Come on, finish it, it’s melting.”

“Oh.” Shouto looks down at the melting treat in his hand. He gently refreezes it as Bakugou’s jaw drops.

“Your Quirk is so cool, you can freeze ice cream! I want to be able to do that! And you can make ice cats, I want to be able to make ice stuff too!”

“I never thought about that before.” Shouto tilts his head a bit but then smiles. “Not everyone can do stuff like this but I can.”

“Yeah, you’re lucky.” Bakugou pouts. “I want your Quirk and mine too.”

“If we had a kid when we’re grown up they could have both.” Shouto says nonchalantly as he slowly eats his ice cream, refreezing it again as it melts.

“We can’t have a kid, stupid! My mom explained that to me once... it was not fun hearing about where babies come from.” Bakugou shivers at the memory. “You don’t want to know.”

“I heard my dad talking one time to someone and he said there’s new science stuff that can make two dads or two moms be able to have a kid. It’s for people who want kids with better Quirks, there’s more options now. He said that.”

“People don’t have kids just so they can have their Quirks.” Bakugou scoffs at that.

“My dad did.”

“But... wasn’t he married to your mom? Didn’t your mom want you?”

“I don’t know... I just know my dad said I was created to have both fire and ice and I do so now he doesn’t need to make more kids.”

“Well sucks for him because you’re my friend now and he won’t ever see you again so he’s just gonna have to make more kids but I hope he never gets another one as awesome as you! NOW FINISH YOUR ICE CREAM ALREADY AND STOP REFREEZING IT!”

~~~~~

The boys quickly walk down the beach away from as many people as possible. Every time someone looks their way it makes Shouto nervous, did they know who he was? Bakugou bought him a hat and sunglasses to wear so he doesn’t think anyone will notice him without seeing his hair or eyes, but he can’t help being paranoid. They’re so close to getting away but they still have a long journey ahead of them.

Watching the waves come and go only makes Shouto more nervous. The ocean is bigger than he can even see, what if he gets tired and can’t make more ice? What if the waves are even bigger in the middle of the ocean? Will they actually get to America before it’s dark out?

He follows behind his friend who looks so confident and wishes he could feel the same way. It must be nice thinking you’re better than everyone else, maybe someday he’ll be able to think like that too.

After they walk along the beach for awhile, they finally reach an area that’s secluded from everyone else. No lifeguards near here either so they shouldn’t be caught. They sit next to each other in the sand, watching the waves as they take a break from all the walking around they’ve been doing. Bakugou doesn’t talk much and Shouto appreciates the silence.

“Maybe... Maybe I am going to miss my mom and dad.” The older boy suddenly admits as he hugs his knees to his chest.

“Oh.” Shouto hugs his knees as well as his eyes start to fill with tears. He knew his friend wouldn’t really want to run away with him. It was a dumb plan from the beginning.

Shouto watches as Bakugou wipes tears away from his own red eyes and stands up.

“We should start going now.” The blonde says extending his hand down to help pull Shouto up.

“You still want to go?”

Bakugou nods and wipes his eyes again. “I have to for you. If I’m going to be a hero I have to help people and you need my help. You need that more than I need my mom.”

Shouto doesn’t know what to say to that. It’s still unbelievable to him that anyone would care this much, so much that they’d give up seeing their own mom and dad just to be with him. He lets Bakugou lead him closer to the waves until their feet are in the water.

Bakugou nods at him in reassurance. Shouto closes his eyes, squeezing his friend’s hand harder before finally letting go.

He uses as much strength as he can and when he opens his eyes he sees another huge ice block like the one at the hospital extending into the ocean.

“You did it!” Bakugou gleams as he steps onto the ice, pulling Shouto along with him.

It’s a bit of a struggle walking on the ice with how slippery it is and with the waves crashing around them. A horrible bad feeling suddenly develops deep down in Shouto’s gut as they make their way further into the sea. They haven’t gotten that far yet before he needs to make more ice, and that’s when he knows this is never going to work. He’s already exhausted.

“We have to go back!” Shouto yells over the sound of the ocean crashing around them.

“What, why?!” Bakugou shouts back at him as the ice begins to crack.

“Because I can’t do this!” Shouto cries out as the ice in front of them starts to crumble away.

In an instant, the ice beneath them cracks into pieces and Bakugou falls into the ocean.

“Katsuki!”

“I can’t use my Quirk in the water!” The older boy tries grabbing onto the small block of ice that Shouto is still desperately holding onto. Shouto kneels down and reaches out for him but the water is too powerful and pushes his friend under.

Shouto suddenly falls into the water as well, unable to keep his grip on the ice which keeps breaking apart with the waves. He continues making more ice to grab onto but it’s no use, he doesn’t have the energy to form any more and his body is getting dangerously cold. The water keeps going over his head as he tries looking for the other boy.

“Katsuki!” Shouto screams again as he watches his friend get further away from him. He starts to get dizzy and gasps for air as he’s knocked underwater yet again, tumbling and falling further and further down.

He feels himself losing consciousness just as he sees something blue and red come toward him and pull him up. In the blink of an eye he’s suddenly out of the water. It’s all still a blur as he fights to keep his eyes open.

What feels like an eternity later, Shouto realizes he’s back on the beach being held by someone.

“Can you hear me?” He hears a voice call out to him. He blinks a few times as he coughs up water. When his vision starts to come to he wonders if he already died.

“All Might?” Shouto whispers so quietly he’s not sure he actually said it out loud. He coughs up more water as he tries to catch his breath.

He’s suddenly placed down onto the sand. When he finally stops coughing he sits up and gasps at the sight before him. He’s pretty sure he’s not imagining it this time and All Might really is right there in front of him doing chest compressions on his friend.

“Katsuki!” Shouto cries stumbling over to them.

“Sit down and stay back!” All Might tells him.

“But he’s my friend!” Shouto sobs as he falls to his knees. “I don’t want him to die!”

Just then Bakugou coughs and opens his eyes. All Might lets out a sigh and gently hugs the red-eyed boy. He reaches out and grabs Shouto too, holding both boys close in a tight hug.

“We were all so worried.” All Might breathes out.

“All Might?!” Bakugou tries shouting but his voice is weak. He coughs up more water and All Might places him onto the sand.

“It’s fine now, I am here.” The Number One Hero gives them a soft smile and Bakugou begins crying, out of happiness or what he’s not sure, but the tears won’t stop. “Are you ok? Can you breathe alright?”

“Are you really here?!” Bakugou sobs hysterically. “AM I DEAD?!”

“All of the top heroes have been looking for you two. What were you boys thinking going out into the ocean like that?”

Shouto holds onto All Might harder and keeps his face buried and hidden in the hero’s shoulder. He’s so overwhelmed that he doesn’t quite understand what’s happening but he does know that’s he’s never letting go of All Might.

“Shouto he- his dad- I was saving him like you All Might! But the ice and the waves! I-” Bakugou mumbles in panic. The Number One Hero reaches out to place a reassuring hand on the blonde’s shoulder.

“It’s alright kid, save your breath. Lay down if you need to, that was quite the scare you just experienced. I’m going to call for help.” All Might tells him as he gets out his phone.

All Might tries to put Shouto down but this only causes him only to cling on harder.

~~~~~

All Might carries the boys away from the beach to the closest parking lot area. The Bakugou’s are already waiting there along with tons of press and some medics.

“Mom!” Bakugou cries out when he sees Mitsuki. Mitsuki takes him from All Might and squeezes her son as hard as she can.

“You brat!” Mitsuki cries back at him. “Don’t you ever do that to me again!”

“I won’t.” Bakugou sniffles holding onto her. Mitsuki thanks All Might who tells her he was glad he found them in time and that they seem to be ok. Mitsuki glances at Shouto with a sympathetic frown as she brings Katsuki over to the medics to be looked at.

“Your father should be here soon.” All Might tells Shouto who still hasn’t let up his grip. Shouto tenses and squeezes him harder. “We should get you looked at by the medics, that was a lot of water you swallowed.”

“Don’t leave me, All Might.” Shouto croaks out as he cries into All Might’s chest and wraps his arms around the hero’s neck.

“The medics are very nice, they’ll make sure that you’re ok and stay with you until your father arrives.”

“Please.” Shouto sobs, small flames now bursting out from his left side. All he wants do is stay with All Might, the thought of leaving him is too terrifying to think about. If All Might is there when his dad arrives maybe the Number One Hero will see how mean Endeavor is and not let him take him away. It’s all he can think about.

“Can I ask you a question?” All Might suddenly asks which makes Shouto look at him through teary eyes as he gives the tiniest nod. “Why were you trying to run away? That’s what you were doing, isn’t it?”

Shouto nods again and looks away this time. “I’m not strong and my dad will be mad at me.” He says quietly after awhile. “That’s why I ran away.”

“I think you’re very strong.” All Might smiles at him. “I’m actually starting to wonder what your intentions are with this grip you got going on around my neck, I can hardly breathe.”

“No I’m not strong, I’m not anything.” Shouto repeats with another sob.

“What you did was reckless and extremely dangerous, but it was a strong display of how much power you have. You can learn from this experience and if you work hard, you can control your Quirk and get even stronger. However, I have to sadly inform you that you will never be able to cross the ocean no matter how hard you try, assuming that was your intention.”

“But Katsuki said I could.”

All Might glances over at the other boy who’s sitting with his parents in an ambulance and screaming at the medics to get their hands off of him.

“It’s great to have such an encouraging friend, but there are things you’ll never be able to do. Everyone is good at something but not at everything. Work on the things you can do.”

“I can use ice but I can’t use my fire anymore.” Shouto tells the hero. “It’s bad like my dad.”

All Might loses his smile, but only for a moment and then it’s back. “Your fire isn’t bad and neither is your ice. Quirks aren’t bad, it’s how you use them. You’re pretty special to have two.”

Shouto doesn’t have much time to think about All Might’s words of wisdom because he suddenly hears the sound he’s been dreading.

“Shooooouto!” Endeavor’s booming voice shouts across the parking lot.

Shouto can’t help the chill that shoots down his body as the mans walks over to them. Shouto squeezes his eyes shut and holds onto All Might with all of his strength again, wrapping his tiny arms around the hero’s neck and not letting go for anything.

“Give him to me.” Endeavor demands once he’s standing in front of the Number One Hero. “All Might.”

“Endeavor.” All Might greets him back, still with a smile on his face.

“Give me the boy.”

All Might doesn’t move and Shouto keeps his face hidden.

“You should know, I think your son is frightened of you.” All Might tells the flame hero while unintentionally holding onto the boy just a little bit harder.

“I suggest you hand him over before causing a scene.” Endeavor glares at the reporters who are standing nearby. “I will be taking care of the press to make sure the details of this don’t get out, and if I need to take care of you as well, I will.”

All Might sighs and looks down at the boy in his arms.

“NO! Please All Might! I don’t want to go back! Please!” Shouto begs as All Might tries handing him over.

“Shouto! Stop this nonsense right now!” Endeavor barks out, grabbing Shouto and finally getting him to let go of the Number One Hero. “Thank you, All Might, but I’ll be taking over.” Endeavor scowls as Shouto tries reaching out for the other hero again. “The boy’s behavior is unacceptable, rest assured he’ll be punished appropriately for his actions and for causing this much trouble.”

“I know this isn’t my place-” All Might begins to say as he’s immediately interrupted.

“You’re right, it’s not.”

“-But punishing him may only make him want to try this again. He’s only a child and he’s clearly frightened right now, it’ll only make things worse.”

Endeavor glares at All Might but no other words are exchanged. Shouto tries reaching out for his favorite hero one last time but fails because the Number One Hero isn’t reaching back for him.

“Out of my way.” Enji huffs as he walks past All Might toward the medics. Shouto kicks and moves around as much as he can to try and escape his father’s hold.

He soon runs out of energy and gives up the struggle. He sits with Enji as the medics take a look at him. He stops crying but can’t help the erratic hiccups that still escape from his chest. He hates how the heat from his father warms him up and makes him feel extra sleepy. He wants to run back to All Might, he’s right there, but Shouto knows it’ll be impossible to get away from Endeavor now.

The last thing he sees before he drifts off to sleep is the look on Katsuki’s face, teary red eyes staring at him from nearby. He doubts he’s ever going to see his friend again.

Chapter Text

Shouto yawns as he walks onto UA’s campus for his first day of high school. He watches as the other students make their way to class with more enthusiasm and excitement than he’s felt in his entire life. In comparison, he probably looks like a walking corpse with how tired and unenthused he is. He’s never been a morning person and now his commute is further than his middle school used to be.

Enji insisted on keeping him up late with extra training the night beforehand as he desperately tried to trigger Shouto into finally using his fire before classes started. It was never going to happen though and it had been a waste of time for the both of them. Shouto hasn’t used his fire since he was a kid and accidentally hurt himself and his red-eyed friend.

Thinking of the other boy from his past suddenly makes him nervous, the thought has crossed his mind more than once that his old friend could very well be in his class. It’s almost been a decade but Shouto still remembers how Bakugou said that he was going to go to UA. Would the blonde remember him now if they crossed paths again? What do you even say to someone you haven’t seen in so long?

Shouto’s nerves increase as he heads inside the building. Does he actually want Bakugou to be in his class? Wouldn’t it just be a distraction? He’s not here to make friends, he’s here to prove himself as an upcoming hero. He’s confident that he can do that but the thought of seeing Bakugou again and having to say something to him makes him what to throw up. What is wrong with him? He wonders if it’s because he feels guilty, almost drowning had been extremely traumatizing for Shouto and he never got the chance to talk to Bakugou about it or apologize for the entire catastrophic experience they had together.

Finally, Shouto stands in front of the huge 1-A door. He knows he’s being ridiculous, even if the other boy is on the other side it doesn’t have to mean anything. Maybe, Shouto thinks, he’s nervous that Bakugou is going to remember how horribly awkward he was as a kid. He’s still just as awkward as a teenager even if he doesn’t always know why, it’s just how it is when you spend most of your life training without any friends.

When Shouto enters the classroom he immediately stops in place when he sees Bakugou sitting at a desk with his feet on top of it. He instantly knows it’s him, the spiky blonde hair, red eyes, and angry scowl are hard to forget. He seems to be in an argument with one of their new classmates.

“Take your feet off of that desk now! It’s the first day and you’re already disrespecting this academy by scuffing school property, you cretin!”

“You’re kidding me right? Did your old school put a stick up your ass or were you born with it?” Bakugou smirks at the taller student.

Yikes.

Bakugou suddenly turns his head and looks at Shouto when he notices him standing there. Shouto has to double check that he hasn’t accidentally frozen in place with actual ice.

“Tch.” Bakugou glares at him for another second and then goes back to insulting Iida.

Shouto doesn’t quite understand what just happened. He tries to shake it off and sits down at his own desk. Bakugou did recognize him, didn’t he? There’s no way he couldn’t have, Shouto looks exactly the same as he did as a kid, just taller.

It’s then that another boy walks in with green hair and looking nervous as hell. Shouto notices Bakugou glare at this kid too, so maybe it’s personal after all. Is this just how Bakguou looks now? Angry all the time? Shouto is the opposite, preferring to keep his expressions as neutral as possible. It’s not hard to do when you don’t feel much to begin with.

Not long after that their new teacher makes his first appearance and announces that they’re going outside to do a Quirk assessment test. Shouto can get on board with that, it’ll be a good distraction from how confused he is at the moment. He decides that he’ll try to say something to Bakugou by the end of the day, the sooner he gets it over with the better.

Shouto passes the tests with flying colors. It’s effortless for him and quite frankly, it’s boring. He’s impressed by some of his classmates’ Quirks but most of them don’t even come close to his level of skill. Bakugou, however, seems to be in the same league as him, no surprise there. Unfortunately, that might mean that the other boy sees him as a rival rather than someone to be friends with again. With each test they do that becomes more apparent as the blonde continues to ignore him.

“Deku, you bastard! Tell me how you did that or you’re dead!”

Shouto’s thoughts are interrupted when he hears Bakugou suddenly scream out in rage and lash out at their green-haired classmate. Oh, so that’s Deku. He remembers that Bakugou never had anything nice to say about this Deku guy when they were kids. But wasn’t he supposed to be Quirkless? Clearly Bakugou still has an issue with him.

Shouto doesn’t know why he does what he does next, they say heroes act before thinking sometimes and this must be one of those times. He shoots out ice to block Bakugou from attacking their classmate and the blonde’s feet are instantly trapped. The intense look in those red eyes sends chills down Shouto’s spine. Ok, so he wanted Bakugou’s attention, he certainly has it now.

“Do you have a death wish?!” Bakugou screams at him, easily blasting the ice away and lunging forward.

Shit.

Shouto doesn’t know how to react so he doesn’t. Bakugou pushes him to the ground and throws a punch which he easily blocks with an instinctive reflex. That only pisses off the older boy even more. When he goes for another punch, Shouto looks straight up at him. “Why are you avoiding me?”

Shouto’s question catches Bakugou off guard long enough for Aizawa to erase their quirks and separate them. Well, at least Shouto is going to learn one on his fist day of school, which is that apparently scarves can be strong as hell. Who knew?

“It’d be wise to avoid making me use my Quirk so much. It gives me serious dry eye.” Their teacher sighs. “You’re wasting my time now. Whoever’s next can step up.”

Once Aizawa releases them, Bakugou and Shouto go back to stand with the rest of their class as the test continues. Bakugou’s not even trying to be subtle now, he’s glaring right into Shouto’s soul.

“I’m not avoiding you, I just have nothing to say.” Bakugou tells him as they move on to the next test.

Shouto can’t pretend those words don’t hurt. Nothing to say? They have plenty they could talk about, Shouto was curious how the other boy dealt with the aftermath of when they ran away and what he’s been doing all these years since then. Apparently, the same can’t be said for Bakugou.

When Aizawa shows them the results from the test, Shouto is surprised to see that someone else came in first. Second is still pretty good though, and even better than third place which is what Bakugou got. He assumes that the blonde is going to be angry that Shouto did better, but to his surprise the older boy seems more focused on Deku. He’s not taking the news well that Deku isn’t in fact going to be expelled despite coming in last place.

Aizawa tells them to pick up a syllabus from the classroom and he’ll see them the next day. As they start heading inside, Midoryia walks up next to Shouto.

“Hey, thanks for earlier.” The green-haired boy smiles at him. “Your Quirk is amazing! Most people are too afraid to stand up to Kacchan.”

“Kacchan?”

“Oh, we’re childhood friends, it’s what I’ve always called him. My name is Midoriya, by the way.”

“Are you sure that you’re friends with him?”

“It’s... complicated.“ Midoriya sighs as they walk to their classroom. “So you’re Todoroki, right?”

“Yeah.” Shouto answers reluctantly, unfortunately so.

“That must be fun, Endeavor’s a great hero!”

Sure. If training everyday until you throw up is considered fun.

“Yeah.” Shouto repeats because what else can he say? He notices Bakugou glancing at them and the older boy doesn’t seem too happy about it. Whether it’s because of what Shouto said or because he’s talking with Midoriya in general he’s not sure, but it’s definitely caught the blonde’s attention again.

“Well, thanks again for earlier. I need to go get my fingers healed, see you tomorrow in class!” Midoriya walks away with a smile.

Bakugou suddenly appears next to Shouto while shooting eye daggers at Deku as he leaves. “What the hell do you think is up with him? That fucking bastard, he’s been hiding his Quirk all this time!”

“So now you want to talk to me?”

“Shut up.”

“He seems nice.”

“He’s an annoying pest who suddenly thinks he’s better than me now that he has a Quirk.”

“I didn’t get that impression.”

“Well, what the fuck do you know?”

Shouto doesn’t answer that, he’s honestly not sure what to say or what Bakugou even wants him to say.

“Tch.” Bakugou grumbles as he grabs a syllabus and exits the classroom. “You come at me with your ice again like that Half n’ Half and you won’t live to see another day.”

Shouto should probably be more concerned about the threat that he just received, but instead is hung up on the new nickname. Does that mean in some weird way Bakugou does still think about him? Why does Shouto even care? They were only friends for what, a few days as children? He tries not to think about the other boy the rest of day but fails miserably at doing so.

~~~~~

When Shouto gets home, his sister is eagerly waiting for him. Too eager.

“Shouto!” Fuyumi smiles giving him a hug without any warning. She’s the only person who does that. “How was your first day of high school?!”

“Fine.”

“Oh come on, you can tell me more than that. I want to hear all about it!”

“Not much to say.” Shouto shrugs as he steps inside.

“You’re impossible sometimes.” Fuyumi sighs as Shouto puts down his things and walks into the kitchen.

“You made me cold soba?” He gleams when he notices that dinner is already made.

“Of course! You only get to experience your first day of high school once, I wanted to make the day even better for you.”

“Thanks.” He smiles again as they sit down to eat. He only smiles for a few things, cold soba being first on the list, with cats coming in at a close second.

“So...” Fuyumi smiles back at him and Shouto knows what’s coming next. “Was that boy in your class? Tell me all about him!”

Shouto slurps his noodles but doesn’t answer. He really doesn’t want to talk about it but his sister did make him his favorite food... She probably only did that to bribe him to talk more about his day though. He wonders if his mom would have been like this too or if this is just a big sister thing.

He decides to play dumb, which no offense to himself, but that’s an easy thing for him to do. “What boy?”

“You know what boy!” Fuyumi snaps and Shouto knows he needs to give her a real answer or she’s never going to leave him alone about it.

“Yeah. He was.”

“Oh, I’m so happy you got to see him again, Sho! I know it was hard for you after what happened. He seemed like he really wanted to be your friend.”

“Not so much anymore.”

“Oh, Shouto, what did you do?”

“Why do you assume it’s my fault??”

“Did you even say hi to him?”

“I love you Fuyumi, and your cooking, but I don’t want to talk about Bakugou right now.”

“Did he not remember you?”

“We’re not suddenly friends again so just drop it.”

“Well, it’s only the first day. You have three years to become friends again.”

“I doubt it.”

“With that attitude you aren’t going to make any friends at all!”

“Fine by me, that’s not what I’m going there for.”

“It’s high school, Sho! It would do you some good to be more social.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“No you won’t.”

“Yeah, probably not.” Shouto shrugs again and finishes slurping his noodles.

“Ugh, what am I going to do with you little brother?”

~~~~~

The next day, All Might enters the classroom and announces that he’s there to teach them their first basic hero training exercise. It’s weird seeing the Number One Hero again, Shouto never quite worked out his feelings toward him after what happened when he was a child. If he’s being honest with himself, he’s still bitter about the whole ordeal, some hero All Might was to just let Shouto go back to his shitty life with an abusive father.

After they put on their new hero costumes, All Might leads them to the training location and explains their objective. Easy enough, Shouto already knows he can freeze the building and trap the “villains” inside. So far, school is turning out to be a lot easier than his training at home. He isn’t sure if he should be grateful for that or not, what was here to learn about exactly?

When they pick teams, Shouto would be lying if he said he wasn’t relieved that he didn’t have to deal with Bakugou. He’s not ready for another confrontation with the other boy just yet. He’s a little concerned for Midoriya though seeing how angry Bakugou is at him. When the training exercise begins, Bakugou quickly proves Shouto’s concerns right. They all watch from the surveillance room as the blonde goes after Deku, almost psychotic in the way he moves.

Things quickly start getting intense. Bakugou shows off his new gauntlets and his blast is stronger than usual. He ends up blowing up a good portion of the building which shows just how reckless he’s being. However, Shouto can still see the skill involved in some of the older boy’s attacks so he feels that he should say something.

“He doesn’t come off as a guy without a strategy, but he’s actually quite intelligent.” Shouto announces after Bakugou pulls off a close combat move against Midoriya. “He changed his trajectory in midair using a blast that doubled as a smoke screen.” He finishes his thought. It’s true, Bakugou looks like he’s acting completely on impulse and in some ways he is, but there’s more to it.

He isn’t too surprised when Bakugou loses despite his obviously powerful Quirk. It didn’t seem like the blonde worked with his teammate at all and that cost him the match. Shouto notices how confused and defeated Bakugou looks when they’re discussing the results, the older boy most likely isn’t used to losing very often.

Shouto is up next, and just as he predicted, he’s able to freeze the building and claim victory within minutes of the challenge starting. He wishes he could have seen the look on Bakugou’s face as he witnessed how effortlessly Shouto won.

Bakugou doesn’t say anything the rest of the class and keeps to himself in the background as the other teams complete the exercise. Shouto gives his commentary every so often, he’s good at evaluating his classmate’s strategies and might as well show off his observation skills.

When everyone is done, Shouto isn’t sure if Bakugou is going to say something to him. Instead, someone else wants a word.

“Young Todoroki.” Shouto hears his name as everyone else makes their way out of the observation room except for him and All Might. “I wanted to take a moment to say that I’m glad to see you’re doing well. Your confidence is through the roof! I never got the chance to apologize to you for all those years ago.”

“You remember me?” Shouto isn’t sure why he’s surprised.

“Of course I remember you.”

“What do you want, for me to forgive you?” Shouto doesn’t mean for that to sound so cold. Or maybe he does. Does he?

“Well... no, I suppose not. That’s up to you. I want you to know that I never stopped thinking about that day, and how truly sorry I am that I wasn’t able to help you in the way that you needed. I know it must have felt like a let down.”

Shouto sighs, he’s heard that before. “I get it. My father has power and money and it wasn’t worth getting involved just to help me.”

All Might’s smile disappears, a rare sight to see.

“I’m here for you now.” The Number One Hero places a hand on Shouto’s shoulder. “And young Bakugou as well. After seeing today’s events I’d say he still has a long way to go. However, I was impressed by your skill and quick thinking. I’m excited to see what else you can do!”

“I don’t need you.” Shouto calmly brushes All Might’s hand off of him. It’s true, everyone that Shouto knows has let him down in some way and he’s had to fight his way through his childhood. He’s used to being on his own. The only person he knows who had truly wanted to help him was Bakugou, but now the blonde seems to hate his guts for whatever reason. “I don’t need anyone.”

He walks away from All Might before letting him speak again. He doesn’t want to hear anything he has to say about the past and hopefully the hero gets the hint. Shouto isn’t going to forgive him. He can appreciate the hero that All Might is but he did let him down when he needed someone the most. Endeavor isn’t the only hero he holds a grudge against.

The first night Shouto returned home after he ran away, he cried and cried until he ran out of tears. If All Might couldn’t save him then no one could. It had been an odd few months after that incident, Shouto had expected severe punishment but instead was allowed to rest and play with his siblings. Endeavor had even kept his distance and there was no training for awhile. When a random lady kept coming over and asking Shouto if he was happy, of course he had naively said yes each time. He was happy that he didn’t have to train and he got to play everyday with Natsuo and Fuyumi. It wasn’t until years later that he realized he had been manipulated. He had messed up his only chance at getting help from a social worker by telling her that he was happy, and unfortunately she had believed him. Shouto’s training resumed after she stopped coming by and that’s when reality hit him, it was all a lie. His father was never going to care about him and it had been dumb to think things were going to get better.

~~~~~

When they return to their classroom after the training exercise Shouto notices that a certain someone hasn’t returned with them. He overhears some of his classmates talking about how Bakugou decided to leave and they aren’t sure if he’s coming back. Shouto doesn’t believe that the older boy would just give up so easily but he doesn’t know him that well anymore.

Midoriya enters the classroom after having his arm healed and wonders the same thing that Shouto has been thinking. When he leaves to go after Bakugou, Shouto decides to follow him.

He listens in on their conversation and is shocked at what Deku admits to. So his Quirk isn’t his? He feels bad at how upset Bakugou seems to be, to the point that he looks to be holding back tears. All Might tries talking to him but it only upsets the blonde further.

When Midoriya and All Might finally head off, Shouto runs to catch up to Bakugou. The other boy is less than thrilled to see him.

“What the hell do you want?” Bakugou barks at him as they walk off campus. “You stalking me?”

“I heard what Midoriya said.” Shouto answers, figuring that Bakugou might actually talk to him if they’re discussing Deku. “You don’t believe it?”

“I fucking hate that lying bastard. He didn’t just suddenly get a Quirk from someone, he’s been deceiving me for all of these years!”

“I think it could be true.”

“I don’t care what you think.”

“Why not?”

“Have I mistakenly given any impression that I want to be around you? Leave me the fuck alone.”

“Are you going to come back? Our classmates were worried about you.”

“Fuck all of them.”

“But are you?”

“I have to come back to prove to all you idiots how much better I am than everyone! Especially you, I saw your smug ass thinking you’re above everyone else when you froze that building.”

“I’ve been training for 10 years.” Shouto deadpans like it’s obvious. “Of course I’m going to be at a higher skill than everyone else.”

“You want a fucking medal or something?”

“No.”

They continue walking in silence after that because Shouto doesn’t know what else to say. He also doesn’t know why he’s following Bakugou. The fact that the blonde hasn’t actually tried to get him to go away must mean that somewhere deep down inside maybe he appreciates the company even if he won’t admit it.

Before he knows it, they’re at what he assumes is Bakugou’s house. He hadn’t intended to walk the blonde home... but here they are. The other boy starts walking toward his front door and Shouto figures he should say something before heading off to his own house.

“Just because you lost today doesn’t mean you aren’t good enough. You’re obviously strong and you know it.”

Bakugou pauses for a moment before saying anything back. “If you ever show up at my house again I’m going to get a restraining order against you.”

“That wouldn’t be very wise, that would make school difficult because we’re in the same class.”

Bakugou doesn’t turn around or reply to him.

“Can I walk with you again tomorrow?” Shouto says before his brain has the chance to question whether this is a wise thing to ask.

“No.” Bakugou responds and goes inside his house, slamming the door shut.

Shouto isn’t sure how successful this actually was, but Bakugou didn’t blow anything or anyone up and technically he did let him walk with him. So Shouto considers that a win for now.

Chapter Text

Shouto sits by himself as class 1-A waits for the bus to arrive to take them to an off campus facility to do some rescue training. Rescue work isn’t something that Shouto has had much experience with other than hearing about it from Endeavor. And truthfully, he’s only half listening when his father is giving him some sort of lesson that doesn’t physically involve using his Quirk. It’s surprisingly something the man is good at, explaining things to Shouto that he should know about the hero world. If he actually believed that his old man was trying to help him for his own good and not some selfish agenda, perhaps Shouto would have paid more attention to those types of lessons and Enji could have been a useful teacher.

He watches as his classmates all chat and mingle while they wait, everyone except Bakugou that is. It doesn’t look like he has any friends either and it doesn’t surprise Shouto based on his behavior so far. He doesn’t understand how everyone makes it look so easy to talk and laugh with each other, he wouldn’t have much to say nor does he have the desire to talk to any of them. He would talk to Bakugou but he already knows that would be a lost cause. Instead, he just awkwardly stares at him, wondering why the older boy has so much hatred toward him now. Boredom gets the best of him though so he figures he should try talking to him anyway. What’s the worst that could happen?

“What’s your opinion on rescue work?” Shouto asks walking up to Bakugou.

“Why the fuck do you keep talking to me?” The other boy immediately snaps at him.

“Because I’m not interested in talking to anyone else.” Shouto answers.

“Tch, well neither am I. That includes you.”

“It doesn’t seem like anyone else has any interest in talking to you either besides me.”

“Are you trying to imply something?”

“Just curious what you think. I think Quirks like ours are better for fighting and not necessarily for rescuing. It’ll be good to practice it though, I’ve never gotten the chance.”

“Do I look like I care?”

“You look angry.”

“Great observation, Icyhot.”

...Another new nickname??

Bakugou walks away and Shouto should take that as a hint to back off but… he doesn’t.

“Can I sit next to you on the bus?” He asks even though he already knows what the answer is going to be.

“NO! Leave me the fuck alone!” Bakugou barks at him and walks away again, this time Shouto lets it be.

When they finally get on the bus he ends up sitting behind Bakugou. Perhaps fate will intervene at another time and give them the chance to talk when the other boy has nowhere to run off to. He remembers what Fuyumi told him, they’re going to be in class together for three years so eventually they’ll have no choice but to work together.

As soon as the bus takes off he’s already asleep. Lately it seems like he’s always tired. He knows he doesn’t sleep well, he never has and he’ll take every opportunity to sleep when he can.

He wakes up to the sound of Bakugou yelling at everyone, they’re ganging up on him and the blonde isn’t taking it well. Shouto can’t blame them for not liking their explosive classmate, he’s done nothing but scream and shout at all of them since school started. He doesn’t think they’d believe him if he told them that Bakugou does have a heart somewhere deep down, or at least he used to.

Their time at USJ certainly doesn’t go as planned. Coming face to face with real villains was interesting to say the least. Most of them were weak and Shouto could have easily killed them if he wanted to, but of course that’s not what being a hero is about. Seeing Aizawa and All Might fight was an experience he won’t soon forget, any hard feelings he still had against the Number One Hero were gone the moment he saw the hero do the impossible and fight off the Nomu. It’s hard to hold a grudge against someone after witnessing them do something so incredible. When everything is said and done Shouto doesn’t know how to feel about any of this, but at least school isn’t boring anymore.

~~~~~

Shouto doesn’t attempt to talk to Bakugou again, he knows it’s pointless and will only piss off the older boy. Like everyone else in his class, he mainly focuses on preparing for the upcoming sports festival.

The morning of, Fuyumi is as cheerful as always. Shouto often wonders where she finds the strength to stay positive about everything. She probably does it for his sake.

“Are you nervous?” She asks as Shouto gathers his things to head out.

“No.” He answers and it’s the truth.

“Dad’s going to be there.” Fuyumi says while nervously fidgeting with her hands as if she isn’t sure she should tell him.

Shouto pauses at that. “How do you know?”

“He told me.”

“Well he didn’t tell me.”

“You don’t talk to him, that’s why.”

“I have nothing to say.”

“I just thought you should know.”

“Whether he’s there or not, I’ll still win. I’m sure he expects me to use my fire but I won’t.”

“Just do your best.” Fuyumi smiles at him. “Don’t let him upset you. And use your fire if you need to, it has nothing to do with Dad.”

Shouto sighs as he opens the door to step outside. They’ve had this talk so many times during the last decade. His mom used to tell him the same thing and Bakugou in his own way had told him as well when they were children. Even All Might said it all those years ago. Still, he can’t bring himself to use it. He has an ice Quirk and that’s who he is, he won’t give his father the satisfaction of seeing him use fire too.

“Thanks.” Is all Shouto says as he leaves. It’s going to be an interesting day.

~~~~~

When Shouto walks onto campus things are already getting set up. The Endeavor merchandise is a bit much, he’s sure his father hates it just as much as he does. Of course he has to be reminded of the man as soon as he gets there, he just can’t escape him.

In the class 1-A waiting room, his scattered thoughts begin to consume him. He has to win and prove to Enji that he can do this without his help, without his fire. The stakes are high for him, higher than anyone else in there. He doesn’t know about the other classes, but in his class he knows that Midoriya and Bakugou are going to be his biggest obstacles. Midoriya because of his unusual All Might-like Quirk and Bakugou because the blonde has apparently insisted that they be rivals instead of friends.

He doesn’t know what compels him to confront them but he feels like he has to. He’s confused and angry thinking about his father being there and he has no choice but to prove he’s the best.

“Midoriya.” Shouto says walking up to the green-haired boy.

“Hey, Todoroki. What’s up?”

“From an objective standpoint, I think it’s fairly clear that I’m stronger than you.”

“Uh-um yeah.”

“However, you got All Might in your corner, helping you out. I’m not here to pry about what’s going on between you two, but know that I will beat you.”

“What’s going on? Why are you picking a fight all of a sudden?” Kirishima asks as the entire class has eyes on them now. Good, Shouto thinks, he wants them all to know that he’s going to win.

“We’re not here to be each other’s friends. Don’t forget, this isn’t a team effort.” Shouto states.

When Midoriya does admit that Shouto is the best there he feels a weird sense of guilt. He shakes it off and notices that Bakugou is intently watching them from the other side of the room, a piercing scowl on his face. Midoryia seems to think he’s going to win despite admitting to being weaker. Bakugou doesn’t take that very well.

“Tch. You both can shut up. The person you need to watch out for is me, Half n’ Half.” Bakugou stands up and stomps his over to get in Shouto’s face.

Shouto wants to say something back but his mind goes blank while staring at those intense crimson eyes.

“Afraid?” Bakugou smirks which makes Shouto’s brain go offline even more.

“No.” He breathes out as he backs up from the other boy. Afraid? No. Confused? Yes.

Before Bakugou or anyone else can continue the conversation, they’re finally called to enter the field.

~~~~~

Shouto isn’t surprised when Bakugou declares that he’s going to win during his opening speech. It’s a very Katsuki thing to do. What does surprise him though is how the blonde says it looking straight at him. It’s very unsettling even if he can’t pinpoint why.

The obstacle course is exhilarating and yeah, it’s kind of fun (though Shouto would never admit that to anyone out loud). It’s definitely better than training and it’s an amazing feeling beating everyone else especially when it’s so effortless.

Of course true to his word, Bakugou is on his tail the entire time throwing meaningless insults at him.

When they finally get to the minefield is when things start to get serious. He’s at a disadvantage here being ahead of everyone else and it gives Bakugou the chance to catch up. The older boy doesn’t hesitate to throw some explosions in his face and Shouto retaliates by trying to freeze Bakugou’s arm. One of them stumbles, Shouto isn’t sure who, and they end up falling on the ground together in an awkward tangle of limbs.

“You Half n’ Half bastard, get out of my way!” Bakugou screams at him as he throws a blast right in his face. He blocks it with some ice and tries to get the blonde off of him. Why is the other boy insisting on fighting like this right now when they’re so close to winning??

What finally snaps Bakugou out of his rage toward Shouto is when Midoriya suddenly flies above and then ahead of them. This immediately causes the blonde to get up. He helps Shouto up along with him and Shouto isn’t going to question that right now... But talk about mixed signals.

“Deku! What the hell do you think you’re doing, huh?!” Bakugou shouts, blasting away to try and catch up to Midoriya. He turns back at Shouto. “Hurry the fuck up, don’t let him beat us!”

Shouto was so sure he was going to win this and now his chance is quickly slipping away. He uses his ice to run after them as fast as he can.

Second place... again, just like the first day of school.

It’s obviously good enough to move on but it’s frustrating to say the least. Shouto doesn’t have the same level of hatred toward Deku as Bakugou does but he can understand the annoyance. It was a clever move, he’ll gives him that.

~~~~~

So much for no team effort in this sports festival. Shouto manages to get by in the jousting round without using his fire but only barely. It catches him off guard when his left arm flames up on its own when Midoriya attacks him near the end. It surprises him enough that Deku is able to grab a headband from him, thankfully not one that matters but it was too close for comfort. If time hadn’t run out Bakugou would have probably grabbed another one from him as well.

The older boy doesn’t take the loss well and sits on the ground pouting in anger like a child. Shouto internally feels the same way despite coming in first this time. Not much he can do about it when his left side decides to activate on its own, instinct kicked in and it happened too quickly.

Shouto sees his father out of the corner of his eye staring down at him from the stands, fire blazing all around him. Such a stupid gimmick, he has always thought that normal firebeard-less Enji is more intimidating than “Endeavor”.

For whatever reason, Shouto suddenly feels the need to sit on the ground next to Bakugou. How he finds the other boy comforting is beyond him, he figures it has to be because Bakugou is the only other person that understands his situation with Enji regardless if he seems to care anymore or not.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” Bakugou yells at him when he sits down. “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!”

Not wanting to cause more screaming, Shouto doesn’t answer him. He can’t help but glance over at his father still looking down at him from the stands. Bakugou definitely notices this and calms down a bit. They only sit there for a minute in silence but Shouto still appreciates it. There’s no way the blonde forgot how awful Endeavor actually is. It’s nice knowing that someone understands his past even if that person is Bakugou.

“Fuck that asshole. If he tries getting in your head, just call him a bastard and move on.” Bakugou breaks the silence and stands up. “Keep your stupid eyes on me, I’m the one you need to be worried about.”

If only it were that easy for Shouto to brush his father off just like that.

As Bakugou walks away Midoriya suddenly makes his way over to him. “Todoroki? Do you have a moment to talk?”

It’s the last thing Shouto wants to do but if Midoriya insists on talking, he’s curious enough to see what he has to say.

“What’s going on between you and Kacchan?” Midoriya asks nervously once they’re off to the side away from everyone else.

Shouto leans against the wall, what is Midoriya trying to say? When Shouto doesn’t respond, the other boy continues.

“It’s just that... I know Kacchan. And he’s... there’s something I’m missing here. He looks at you differently than everyone else.” Midoriya fumbles with his words.

He does?

“And you, you look at him the same way.”

Oh. Sure, Shouto thinks about Bakugou a lot but is it that obvious?

“What are you trying to say?” Shouto glares at him.

“It’s just something I’ve observed. I was curious.”

“If I tell you, will you tell me something?” Shouto answers without thinking about what he’s doing. He’s also curious about something.

“What’s up?”

“If you want to know how I’m connected to Bakugou, I want to know how you’re connected to All Might. The power coming from you felt the same as him. Are you his secret kid?”

This makes Midoriya’s eyes go wide with worry. “No, no way- that’s not it at all. But I guess even if I was, I’d totally say I wasn’t so you probably won’t believe me no matter what. Anyway, I promise, you’ve got the wrong idea.”

“‘That’s not it at all’ is interesting wording. It suggests there is something between you two that you’re not supposed to talk about.”

“Uhh...”

Fine, Shouto will leave it at that for now. There is something going on though. Shouto figures that Bakugou has probably noticed something similar.

Since Midoriya answered his question Shouto knows it’s only fair to answer his. He explains as concisely as he can how he’s the product of a Quirk marriage and how he got his scar. Midoriya is shocked when Shouto explains how he met Bakugou as a kid and how they ended up in the hospital together, and his vow to never use his fire again because he’s not going to be like his father. He leaves the part out about running away but he figures that’s enough to stop Midoriya from asking more for now.

“So... you and Kacchan are friends?! He’s never mentioned you before.”

Ouch. Shouto never talks about Bakugou either so he probably shouldn’t take it too personally.

“No, we’re not. We only met that one time, I hardly know him and he has no interest in talking to me now.”

“Kacchan can be hard to talk to. If you really want to get through to him, you just need to keep trying and be prepared for insults.”

Shouto hums in response and doesn’t say anything else about Bakugou. He’ll leave it at that. When the silence gets too awkward, he decides it’s time to end this conversation. “You’re obviously connected to All Might even if you won’t tell me about it. But no matter how fiercely you come at me in the future, I will defeat you using only my right side.”

Shouto walks off before giving Midoriya the chance to respond.

~~~~~

Shouto keeps to himself as the next round begins. It’s no surprise when Midoriya wins his match and he knows that means he’s going to be facing him soon, likely Bakugou as well after that.

This first match isn’t going to be anything special, Shouto doesn’t even know who he’s up against. As he makes his way through the hallway to enter the field of course the one person he doesn’t want to encounter is standing there.

When Endeavor calls Shouto a masterpiece —his masterpiece as if the guy owns him— for the millionth time, it takes all of his self control to not completely lose it. It’s been awhile since Enji has referred to him as his son, he’s always a masterpiece or a creation, an experiment. He treats him like a piece of property and Shouto hates it.

His father is just as pissed as he is and while it isn’t much, it gives him some satisfaction seeing the man so angry over him refusing to use his left side.

There are so many things Shouto could say back to him, but he goes with Bakugou’s advice and simply calls the man a bastard as he walks past him onto the field.

He does his best to ignore his father’s words but fails miserably at doing so. A masterpiece. A disgrace. He can’t stop the intrusive thoughts and it only makes him angrier, he needs to prove that he means it when he says he’ll win with only his right side.

Shouto likes to think he’s decent at keeping his emotions under control, that he’s calm most of the time while keeping his feelings to himself for no one else to see. But the truth is, he’s probably just as angry as Bakugou is most of the time but instead of letting it out all of the time like the blonde does, he can’t help but let it build up until he finally snaps. It doesn’t happen often but unfortunately for him and his opponent, it’s happening right now.

He can feel the stares from everyone as they gaze at his stadium-sized ice wall. If he wasn’t so upset he’d be impressed with himself too but he knows it was uncalled for. It upsets him even more knowing that this side of him is from his father. He truly doesn’t understand how his sister doesn’t have the same anger issues that he, Natsuo, and their father all seem to have. He hopes she isn’t watching.

“Sorry, I was angry.” Shouto walks over to his imprisoned classmate and uses his left hand to free him. He finds himself unable to make eye contact with the guy because he knows he was in the wrong. He won this match but definitely doesn’t feel too good about it. He wonders what Bakugou thinks.

~~~~~

As the matches continue, Shouto does his best to calm down before he has to fight again. He’s confused and angry but doesn’t know how to deal with it, he never has. He even has a hard time concentrating on Bakugou’s battle. It doesn’t help when everyone keeps booing at the blonde for not going easy on Uraraka just because she’s a girl. He wants to tell them that Bakugou isn’t that heartless and he’s being smart by not underestimating her.

Shouto thought that he was ready for his match against Midoriya but he was wrong, so very wrong. It was already bad enough that because he used so much of his ice he could hardly feel his right side from how cold he got, but to have the other boy berate and tell him that he needs to use his fire with his full strength if he wants to become a hero… well, Shouto thinks he should just fucking use it to shut everyone up about it.

As soon as he has that thought, it happens and the power feels insane. He’s using both sides and he has no idea what he’s doing for a moment, he can’t recall this ever happening before. His thoughts continue to overwhelm him as he thinks about his mom, Bakugou, and now Deku telling him that his fire is his. He feels himself start to tear up but quickly stops it before unleashing more power to end the fight.

~~~~~

He feels different after his match with Midoriya, he doesn’t understand why but he’s even more confused now. His next match goes fine, he’s able to defeat Iida with little effort and without his fire. He’s mentally exhausted and wants to be done with all of this already.

As he waits for his last match to begin, of course he can’t help but think about Bakugou and what they did when they were kids. Bakugou has probably been waiting his entire life for this fight, meanwhile Shouto doesn’t have any desire for it, at least not right now. He’s still so unsure what he’s done to make his former friend act so harshly toward him. He remembers how the blonde used to be so sure that Shouto was just as amazing as he was, now he doesn’t know what Bakugou thinks of him.

~~~~~

As Bakugou walks through the hall to his waiting room for the final match, he crosses paths with Endeavor. He has no clue why the guy is standing there but the bastard is blocking his way. He scowls at the flame hero who glares right back at him.

“You. Get Shouto to use his flames during your match.” Endeavor crosses his arms and looks down at him.

“I want him to use his flames just as much as you do, asshole. Did you ever stop to think about why he doesn’t want to?”

“Have you? He stopped using them after you brainwashed him all those years ago.”

“You’re delusional if you think it’s my fault he’s the way he is.” Bakugou really wants to punch this guy.

“His childish rebellion needs to stop.”

“Maybe you need to stop being a piece of shit father then.” Bakugou snaps as he pushes past him. He doesn’t say anything else but now he’s even angrier than he was before. He’s going to get Shouto to use his fire but it’s not going to be because fucking Endeavor wants him to.

~~~~~

Shouto stares at his left hand as if he’s mentally willing that side of him to just go away so he doesn’t have to deal with it anymore. Suddenly the door kicks open and Bakugou is standing there glaring at him. When Shouto looks over at him, the red eyes soften but only for a moment before shifting back to a look of annoyance.

“Huh, what? This isn’t- Even if I got the rooms wrong don’t think that means anything.” Bakugou scowls and huffs his way over to Shouto.

“You didn’t mean to come in here?” Shouto’s not sure he believes that.

“Of course not! I don’t want to talk to you about whatever issues you seem to be having today. You better bring all you got to this, Icyhot!”

“Midoriya... He-”

“Fuck that freak! It’s all between you and me now. Focus on the match, that’s the only thing I give a damn about. Don’t think about your shitty dad or Deku. Don’t hold back and you better use your flames on me!” Bakugou kicks the table that Shouto is sitting at and it makes the younger boy flinch back. Shouto’s clearly not the only one dealing with emotional issues today. “You owe it to me!”

Shouto frowns at that. Bakugou isn’t wrong, everything he’s saying makes sense but it’s just not that simple.

“Fucking prove it to your asshole dad and me that your fire is yours!”

“I don’t know that I can.” Shouto quietly answers and looks away with a sigh. Even if he’s somehow able to get over the confusion surrounding his feelings toward his left side, there’s still the other issue of trying to ignore what happened when they first met. Maybe Bakugou doesn’t remember it the same way he does, Shouto wouldn’t know because he hasn’t had the opportunity to ask, but he certainly remembers the moment their Quirks decided to blow them up.

It wouldn’t be like that now because they’re older and much less fragile, but the scream he heard all those years ago still haunts him from time to time. Bakugou’s scream when Shouto’s flames literally ignited the other boy. That’s not something you casually push to the side and forget about. He would have likely killed him if his father hadn’t stepped in to rescue them and that only complicates Shouto’s feelings about the whole situation.

“I would kick your ass right here right now if I wasn’t about to do that out there.” Bakugou heads back toward the door. “I want everyone to know I beat you at your best.”

Shouto doesn’t know what he’s going to do… this is going to be an interesting match.

Chapter Text

As soon the match begins, Shouto relentlessly shoots his ice at Bakugou hoping that by some miracle it’ll end things quickly. This strategy would have been more than enough to overtake most people, but Bakugou isn’t just some ordinary opponent so he’s easily able to blast his way out of the ice as he makes his way toward Shouto.

As much as Shouto wishes that he didn’t have mixed feelings about this fight, he does, and it’s already causing him to lose the upper hand. He doesn’t want to hurt Bakugou and no matter how much he tries to convince himself to go all out, he can’t shake the urge to not harm him. He wouldn’t hurt him in any permanent way, nothing more than a trip to Recovery Girl at best, but there are definitely some mental roadblocks up that are preventing Shouto from unleashing enough power to defeat the other boy.

Bakugou, on the other hand, seems to be doing everything in his power to get Shouto to use his fire. It doesn’t take long for Shouto to notice that all of Bakugou’s attacks are being focused on his left side, the blonde is also holding back and is more than capable of doing more harm than he is actually doing.

This goes on for a few minutes, a back and forth of ice and explosions that do little to progress the battle. The only thing it does succeed in doing is exhausting Shouto to the point that his entire right side is covered in frost, even his hair has ice in it now.

When Shouto is clearly reaching the end of having any strength left to fight, Bakugou is ready to snap and that’s how Shouto finds himself suddenly pinned underneath the older boy after getting his ass kicked during close combat. Hand-to-hand combat is not something Shouto is particularly great at even in the best circumstances, let alone in his weakened physical state.

The stadium is unusually quiet as everyone waits for something to happen. Even Present Mic is silent which somehow makes the situation feel even more intense.

Shouto stares up at Bakugou, unable to do anything about the current situation he’s in. He has absolutely no strength left and Bakugou is holding him down so hard that he can hardly breathe let alone move or attack. He’s not sure he’s ever been in a position quite like this, he’s used to being the one with the upper hand in most scenarios so this is somewhat eye-opening. Perhaps he’s not as strong as he usually thinks he is.

“Quit messing around, you’re fucking pissing me off!” Bakugou shouts as he pushes the younger boy down into the ground with even more force.

Shouto doesn’t answer, he’s not sure what he can even say that would be meaningful in any way.

“Just fucking do it already!” Bakugou screams. “What the hell are you waiting for?! I could kill you right now and you’re still refusing to use it?!”

“You wouldn’t kill me.” Shouto replies in an icy breath.

“Just because I won’t do it doesn’t mean someone else wouldn’t take advantage of you. What kind of hero are you going to be like this?”

“I just... I can’t.” Shouto breathes out and turns his head, unable to look Bakugou in the eye. He isn’t wrong but there’s no way Shouto is going to activate his fire right now. It was bad enough that Midoriya got him to use it earlier, he’s not going to make the same mistake again. If he can’t win this fight with just his ice side then he hasn’t earned the right to win.

“Todoroki, are you able to move right now?” Midnight finally breaks the stadium’s silence.

“Don’t you dare fucking answer her!” Bakugou is shaking with rage now. “I’m not winning like this!”

When Shouto still shows no signs of moving or of using his fire, Bakugou gets off of him and stands up. His hands crackle in anger as he glares down at Shouto, determined to find a way to get him to fight back.

“Stop being so pathetic, get up!” He commands.

Pathetic? That’s how Bakugou sees him? Shouto sighs and closes his eyes, shaking now from how cold he feels. He hasn’t pushed himself this far in a long time and he doesn’t have the mental or physical strength to continue torturing himself like this. Bakugou wanted to win so he can win, Shouto doesn’t care anymore.

“You fucking Icyhot bastard!” Bakugou screams in frustration as he sees that Midnight is about to call the match.

He lunges down and grabs Shouto by the shirt to pull him up to his feet. Their faces are centimeters apart now and Bakugou looks like he’s going to bite Shouto’s head off with how fierce the scowl on his face is.

“If you won’t use it on your own, I WILL make you.” Bakugou growls and it sends a weird chill down Shouto’s body. Maybe the older boy is going to kill him after all. But… he doesn’t think he’d actually mind that.

“You can’t.” Shouto manages to say as he tries to remain conscious. His body is ready to give out now, he’s too cold and he’s just done with all of this.

If Shouto learns anything during this tournament, it’s that you don’t say “you can’t” to Bakugou Katsuki and think you’re going to get away it.

Two things happen almost simultaneously after Shouto utters those forbidden words to the other boy.

Bakugou, who is still holding Shouto up by his shirt, raises his free hand to create a blast at the same time he does something so unimaginable and unexpected that yes, it does get Shouto to involuntarily burst into flames. It’s something that Shouto never considered a possibility and was wildly unprepared for.

Shouto doesn’t have a chance to think before he feels Bakugou press his lips to his at the same time the blonde creates a explosion. It instantly causes Shouto’s body to go into shock and his flames reveal that they have a mind of their own.

It’s all over before it even started, in the split second that Bakugou figured out how to get Shouto to activate his fire, the large explosion it results in propels both of them back toward opposite sides of the arena.

~~~~~

Shouto wakes up in the infirmary with a killer headache. His shirt is mostly burnt off revealing all of the bruises that Bakugou gave him while holding him down. When he tries sitting up a pang of nausea hits him and he has to lie back down. He hasn’t pushed himself this hard in so long and he’s feeling the consequences of that now.

Bakugou is lying unconscious on a nearby bed. He’s also missing quite a bit of clothing having almost been cooked alive by Shouto’s uncontrolled flames.

When Recovery Girl notices that Shouto is awake, she helps heal him faster and within minutes he’s feeling a lot better already, just tired. He would really love to just go home now and sleep the rest of forever and forget about everything that happened today.

Recovery Girl informs Shouto that he had been blown out of bounds at the end of the match but Bakugou had managed to stay inside the arena which means that he lost. He honestly doesn’t care anymore and is thankful that he’s able to leave the infirmary before the other boy wakes up.

~~~~~

When they’re finally standing at the podiums for the awards ceremony, Shouto feels incredibly guilty over Bakugou’s current state. The blonde is literally being treated like a feral animal, a muzzle over his mouth and his hands and body are chained. Leave it to Katsuki to be this insane over winning the tournament.

Shouto knows why the older boy is upset, he had clearly meant to activate Shouto’s fire so that they could continue to fight in the way that Bakugou wanted, not have Shouto be blasted out of bounds. Bakugou had clearly underestimated how much his actions would ignite Shouto, the flames had been way more intense than anyone was probably expecting, including Shouto himself.

He does his best to look neutral but knowing that he’s the reason Bakugou is so upset has him frowning while he waits for All Might to give him his medal.

When the Number One Hero comes over to finally talk to him, Shouto doesn’t actually hear anything that the man says to him. He’s too lost in his own thoughts and entirely too confused to think about anything other than Bakugou and what happened.

When All Might finally puts the medal around Shouto’s neck and leans in for a hug, Shouto instantly hugs back and just... holds on. It seems that his body really does have a mind of its own today. He feels himself at the brink of breaking down when All Might lets go and looks him in the eyes.

“There’s no way for me to even begin to understand what you have been through and what is going through your head right now, but please don’t be too hard on yourself.” The hero tells him, a genuine look of concern on his face. “Whether you use your fire or not, that choice has and will always be yours. Even though I’ve already told you this in the past, I will say it as many times as I need to until you understand.”

“I... have a lot to think about.” Shouto replies with his head titled down.

“You did good today, trust yourself more.” All Might ends with a small smile and moves onto Bakugou.

Shouto watches as the hero tries to give Bakugou his medal, but the blonde is absolutely feral and refuses to cooperate. All Might tries to talk to him but his effort is futile.

Shouto really needs to talk to Bakugou but has no idea how that’s going to go. He’s unsure if the older boy is even going to let him talk. By now Shouto has realized that no one actually saw what Bakugou did to trigger his flames, but he certainly knows and he can’t just ignore it. They’re going to have to talk about it eventually.

~~~~~

Shouto is lucky enough not to run into his father at all after the ceremony is over. He’s positive that he pissed the man off by losing the match so mission accomplished there, but he’s not ready for a confrontation yet.

Back in the classroom Bakugou is still fuming over the day’s events. Shouto desperately wants to say something to him, anything, to try and make things better.

Normally he wouldn’t care about upsetting someone this much, or at all really, but this is different. This is Katsuki, the boy who was ready to give up his entire life for Shouto. Sure, they had just been dumb kids, but no one else had ever shown him the same level of (admittedly unconventional) kindness that Bakugou had shown when they tried to run away from Endeavor.

Aizawa announces that they have the next two days off to rest and then dismisses the class. Bakugou is the first to leave so if Shouto wants to talk to him he’s going to have to do it now. He follows after him but the older boy is determined to leave as quickly as possible.

“Quit following me.” Bakugou snarles, not even turning around to acknowledge Shouto as they walk off campus.

“I know that you’re angry...”

“Angry? That’s an understatement.”

“I’m sorry...” If Bakugou won’t let him say anything else, he can at least get out an apology.

“Too fucking late for that, don’t you think?”

“What you did at the end of our match... was that... did you...” Shouto begins to say but doesn’t know where he’s going with the thought as the words fumble out of his mouth. Does he really want to know why Bakugou kissed him? It had to have been a strategic move but he needs to hear that from the blonde himself that that’s all it was and not something more. It couldn’t have meant anything, right?

“I didn’t do anything.” Bakugou snaps, finally turning around to face the younger boy with a scowl. “Get the hell away from me, you humiliated me enough for one day.”

“I think you did that yourself.” Shouto answers before thinking.

He takes a step back as Bakugou suddenly blows up his medal in response. Shouto is failing miserably at not pissing the other boy off more than he already has.

“Shouldn’t we… talk about this?” Shouto asks, trying his best to move forward from this.

“Fuck no, I’m not talking to you after what you did!” Bakugou growls and walks away.

With a sigh, Shouto finally gives up. Following Bakugou is only going to make things worse and the blonde is clearly not going to talk about anything right now. He heads to his own home instead, desperately hoping that Endeavor isn’t there.

~~~~~

Of course Fuyumi tries talking to Shouto as soon as he steps inside but he’s definitely not in the mood. She congratulates him for placing second and he thanks her before retreating to his room. Enji doesn’t appear to be home yet and Shouto appreciates the silence as he crashes onto his bed and stares at the ceiling.

So many thoughts consume his mind that he’s unable to rest. The first issue is the kiss, he knows that it did happen despite Bakugou’s denial because his fire wouldn’t have been triggered otherwise. What’s more confusing is why. Contrary to what others might think of Shouto, he did have some experience with kissing because girls were always throwing themselves at him even in middle school. But none of them had ever made him burst into flames, or made him feel anything at all, so this was strictly a Katsuki-related thing.

He also thinks about what Bakugou had said when he was pinned underneath him while vulnerable and exhausted. Would Shouto refuse to use his flames in a situation like that against a real villain? The older boy has a point as much as Shouto hates to admit it. Even if he vows only to use his left side in life-threatening situations, his lack of training with controlling his fire could make things worse in an already dangerous scenario.

He might need to start using his flames after all and use Endeavor for some guidance as much as it pains him to think about.

He eventually drifts off to sleep finally ending this long and confusing day.

~~~~~

“You need code names. Time to pick your hero identities.” Aizawa announces to the class when school starts back up again.

Most of class 1-A cheers in response but Shouto is uninterested. Despite being raised to become a hero, picking out a hero name is not something that he’s given much thought to. He decides to keep it simple for now and use his given name. He’ll try being creative at a later time.

Some of his classmates’ picks are interesting but most are less than impressive. Most of them are obvious like Invisible Girl or Tailman. Shouto thinks his name is better than those at the very least.

When it’s Bakugou’s turn to present his hero name, Shouto is actually interested in hearing what the blonde has come up with.

...King Explosion Murder.

Bakugou does such unexplainable things to him and now the entire class is awkwardly staring at Shouto because he accidentally laughed out loud at Bakugou’s choice. He truly couldn’t help it. Most of the girls look way too happy about this. Shouto realizes that he probably hasn’t even smiled in front of them before let alone laughed.

“You got a problem with my name, huh Shouto?!” Bakugou screams at him, an eye twitching in anger.

“At least Shouto is better than something that sounds like a child came up with.” He answers, feeling brave. The older boy already hates him anyway, right?

“Dude.” Kaminari says in awe as the class continues to stare at him.

“He’s right.” Midnight suddenly interjects. “I’m going to say that name is a little too violent. Try again.”

“What do you mean too violent?!” Bakugou replies, shooting eye daggers at his sensei.

“How about Explosion Boy?” Kirishima suggests eagerly.

“You shut up, Shitty Hair!”

“Bakugou, language.” Aizawa reminds him which causes the blonde to scream out in frustration.

“FINE!” Bakugou shouts as he goes back to his seat to scribble down a new name.

Shouto finds himself staring at Bakugou the rest of the class, which is thankfully unnoticed by the blonde himself. He shouldn’t be so obsessed with him but the other boy fascinates him, he always has and as time goes on he only gets more interesting, if not confusing.

Bakugou ultimately ends up not picking out a usable name by the end of class, much to no one’s surprise.

They’re handed lists of their internship offers before being dismissed. Shouto receives the most and it looks like almost every agency in the country is on there. When he sees Endeavor Hero Agency casually listed among the others, he knows what he needs to do. He’s going to have to face this sooner rather than later if he ever wants to control his fire.

Enji is a shitty father but Endeavor is at least a decent hero. In a real-life setting, Shouto wonders if he might be a better mentor then he is when they’re training at home. Shouto hasn’t been back to the agency in years and certainly has never been welcomed under these circumstances. He’s always wanted to see his father in action, real action, and this is his chance. He just hopes that he’s making the right decision.

Chapter Text

Summer vacation... It’s not something that Shouto can say he’s ever been particularly excited for, but after the semester he’s been having it could be a welcomed break even if that means going to a training camp with the rest of his class. Anything to stay away from home. He’s never been to a summer camp so he doesn’t know what to expect, he’s never been camping in general. The Todoroki’s weren’t exactly known for that, they’re probably considered too much of a fire hazard.

It shouldn’t be too awful now that he’s been trying harder at being friendly with his classmates. He would even consider some of them his friends at this point, especially Midoriya and Iida because of their shared experience fighting against Stain together.

He’s been getting closer to Momo as well after being teamed up with her during their final exam match against Aizawa. It hasn’t been too long since then but Shouto finds her oddly easy to talk to and enjoys being around her. In fact, he finds all the girls easier to talk to and that’s why he’s on the girls’ side playing volleyball with them during class 1-A’s spontaneous school pool session instead of training with the boys.

While Shouto has been getting closer to some of his classmates, he’s also been keeping his distance from a certain blonde at the same time. No matter what he does, Bakugou refuses to talk to him in any meaningful way. He can only do so much before he has to accept that Bakugou clearly isn’t interested in him as a friend.

Even though he’s keeping his distance, that doesn’t stop Shouto from admiring the older boy from afar, like right now as the blonde joins the pool “party” along with Kirishima by his side.

“Todoroki!” Mina shouts as the volleyball suddenly smacks Shouto in the face. “Pay attention or we’re going to lose!”

“Ow.” He touches his face, feeling the sting set in. He grabs the ball and notices Momo giving him some sort of strange look.

“Who were you staring at?” She asks with a smile.

“Uh, no one.” Shouto answers and hopes his expression doesn’t give anything away. He’s known for having a blank look most of the time but he’s heard that girls can be very perceptive.

“You definitely were!” Hagakure shouts excitedly. “Oh, was it Midoriya?!”

“No.” Shouto replies as he quickly tries to figure out what’s happening. Maybe he should have stayed on the boys’ side.

“Ohhhh was it Kirishima!?” Uraraka joins in.

Shouto doesn’t answer this time, he definitely should have stayed with the boys.

“Sorry, we’re making you uncomfortable.” Asui says tilting her head to the side.

“We’re only kidding, Shouto.” Momo assures him when she notices how confused he is.

“No we’re not.” Jirou smirks. “We know you’re gay.”

“I am?” Shouto looks at her, unable to process his thoughts fast enough to comprehend all of this. He could be for all he knows since he’s truly never given much thought to it.

“You don’t know?! Have you seen yourself?!” Hagakure giggles.

“Why do you think you’re with us over here instead of over there?” Jirou asks him.

“Because Momo invited me?” Shouto replies with little confidence.

“Because you’re her new bestie!” Mina tells him with too much enthusiasm. “You even called her by her first name!”

“I think we broke Todoroki.” Uraraka points out as she playfully splashes him. “Are you ok?”

“Uh.” Shouto stares at them. He feels oddly ganged up on and vulnerable, he seriously has no idea how he got into this situation. Here he thought he was just going to be playing volleyball today.

“It’s Bakugou, isn’t it?” Jirou suddenly smirks again while crossing her arms.

“Bakugou!?” Hagakure laughs. “How could anyone find him attractive with all the screaming he does?”

“He is the only one staring back though.” Momo points out as they all turn their heads to glance over at the boys’ side. Sure enough, one angry blasty boy is looking right at them.

“More like glaring. What’d you do to piss him off?” Mina asks, turning to a very very confused Shouto.

“I...” He doesn’t know how to respond to that, he’s not even going to pretend he does.

“Oh he’s coming over here!” Uraraka shouts with a giggle.

“He’s what??” Shouto panics as he suddenly hears the voice of the one person he least expected to interact with today.

“Icyhot! Stop being a fucking princess over here with the girls and get over there so I can kick your ass in a race!”

Shouto turns around to see Bakugou scowling down at him from the side of the pool. He then shifts his gaze to the girls who are all trying to hold back their laughter.

“What’s so fucking funny, huh!?” Bakugou screams at them, not appreciating all the weird giggles. “You can’t keep him here for yourselves like he’s some sort of prisoner!”

“Yeah, it’s definitely Bakugou.” Jirou nods knowingly.

Bakugou narrows his eyes at her. “What the fuck does that mean?!”

“Nothing.” Momo interrupts on Shouto’s behalf, thankfully. “It looks like they’re all waiting for you, go win that race!”

“Ok.” Shouto gets out of the water and follows Bakugou to the other side of the pool. He glances back at the girls again who are all cheering him on. For what exactly, he’s not entirely sure.

“What the fuck are you doing over there anyway?” Bakugou snaps angrily.

“Attempting to play volleyball. Momo invited me to the pool before Midoriya did so I joined them instead.”

“Tch, whatever.”

If Shouto didn’t know any better it almost sounded like Bakugou was somehow bothered by this. He’s not going to guess anything when it comes to the blonde though because it never makes sense anyway.

~~~~~

Shouto tries sleeping on the way to the training camp, but unfortunately makes the mistake of sitting next to Midoriya who is happily rambling away about how fun it’s going to be and speculating what kinds of things they might do once they get there.

Shouto is almost asleep when he hears his name.

“Hey, Todoroki, have you ever been to a summer camp?” Midoriya asks clearly oblivious to the fact that Shouto is tired as fuck (buses just have that effect on him).

“No.” He answers, opening his eyes.

“Never? What about camping?”

“I slept in a cave once, does that count?”

“Oh, Kacchan and I used to have a secret cave when we were kids!” Midoriya’s eyes light up at the memory.

“With a life-sized All Might plushie.” Shouto adds with a yawn. Wait, did he just say that out loud?

“Wow! How’d you know that?”

“...”

Shouto sighs. Guess he accidentally set himself up for this, might as well get it over with so he can go back to trying to sleep. “Bakugou and I slept in there one night.”

“But I thought you only met him that one time you already told me about.”

Shouto figures he better just come clean about the experience he had with Bakugou. With Enji’s insistence on erasing any evidence that it actually happened and Bakugou’s refusal to talk about it either, it could be nice to finally have someone listen and acknowledge that it had in fact been real.

“I told you about how we ended up in the hospital.” Shouto begins with.

“Right, and I thought you never saw each other after that until now.”

“Bakugou suggested that we run away from the hospital and we ended up drowning in the ocean the next day.” He casually continues.

Midoriya’s eyes go wide and Shouto can see the gears starting to turn in his overworked brain.

“You’ve seen how my father is. He was much worse back then and Bakugou witnessed that firsthand at the hospital. He... I guess he was trying to help me, I don’t know. We watched Frozen and he got this idea that we could run away together like in the movie. We got caught and Endeavor made sure it was never made public.”

“Wow Todoroki, that’s... that’s really unlike Kacchan. I mean, I know he must care about others somewhere deep down, but I can’t think of a time when he actively showed it like that. I wonder if that experience caused him to become how he is now.” Midoriya rambles on, getting lost in his thoughts. He mumbles some more and Shouto tunes him out. He’s almost asleep when Midoriya once again interrupts that. “What does he have to say about it now?”

“He hasn’t said anything. He’s made it clear that he wants nothing to do with me.”

Midoriya is the one who sighs this time. “It makes sense.”

“It does?” It sure as hell doesn’t to Shouto.

“Kacchan doesn’t like to lose. I’m sure he viewed getting caught as a failure even if it happened so long ago.”

“It was a failed plan from the start, two kids were never going to successfully run away from the Number Two Hero, much less cross the ocean to another country.”

“That’s probably not how Kacchan sees it.”

“I wouldn’t know since he refuses to talk about it.”

“Give him time. Everything makes more sense now knowing this, he still cares about you.” Midoriya smiles at him and Shouto can’t understand how the green-haired boy is so confident about this.

“How do you know?”

“He looks at you in a certain way that I wasn’t sure how to describe before but now I think I understand it better.”

“That makes one of us.”

“I think he’ll talk to you when he’s ready, just don’t give up on it.”

“Yeah.” Shouto sighs, unsure if his friend understands just how confusing Bakugou really is.

~~~~~

By the time class 1-A finally gets to the actual camp location, Shouto is seriously regretting sitting next to Midoriya and not being able to take a nap on the bus. If he had known they’d be fighting giant mud monsters most of the day he would have made more of an effort to rest beforehand. At least he’s not going to have any trouble sleeping that night even if it’s not in his own bed.

When they arrive, Aizawa and the Pussycats explain how things are going to go while they’re staying there. Of course Midoriya has to ask about the boy who’s with them and in return gets a swift kick to the balls from said boy. Clearly this kid has some anger issues much like someone else Shouto knows.

“That brat’s got spunk.” Bakugou says after watching Deku get kicked.

“He’s like a mini version of you.” Shouto stares at Bakugou. Is he actually... smiling?

“What are you talking about?! You need to shut your mouth before I blast you all the way to hell!” Bakugou screams at him as he walks over.

“Go ahead.” Shouto replies, maybe a bit too cocky. If Midoriya is right and Bakugou does still care for him, then the blonde would never actually hurt him or even try to for that matter.

Shouto notes the sudden surprise and hesitation in Bakugou’s step before Aizawa tells them all to knock it off and get their things from the bus. Bakugou scowls and backs off, leaving Shouto feeling confused once again.

~~~~~

The next couple days of Quirk training is brutal. Shouto has to focus on activating both sides simultaneously and it takes a lot of effort and concentration. He obviously had his reasons but he’s starting to regret not using his left side during the past decade of training. It’s going to take a lot of work to get to where he needs to be but this is a start.

When they finish up for the day he helps a few of the girls start fires so they can get their dinner ready. He’s getting the hang of this camping thing after all!

While he’s trying to be useful, Shouto watches as Bakugou effortlessly chops vegetables like a pro chef. He suddenly remembers that the older boy had told him he was learning how to cook when they were children and apparently he had stayed true to his word. He also remembers the blonde telling him he would make him soba which unfortunately never happened.

“Whoa, your man is really good at using a knife.” Uraraka states standing next Shouto.

“He’s not my man.” Shouto deadpans as he tries not to give away how much that statement affects him internally.

“It’s nice to have a guy who knows how to cook.” Momo chimes in as they watch Bakugou ferociously chop away.

“He’s not my-” Shouto tries to say again but the girls ignore him.

“It’s kind of weird.” Uraraka cuts him off, practically hypnotized by how good Bakugou is at it.

“What are you losers staring at, huh?!” Bakugou shouts when he notices the three of them staring. “Never seen a guy chop vegetables before?! How can you people be so damn bad at everything?”

“Look at that, he’s not blowing stuff up.” Kaminari casually laughs as he walks by.

Shouto knows it’s a pointless thought but he hopes that he gets to try Bakugou’s soba one day.

~~~~~

After dinner it’s announced that they’re going to be pairing up and trying to scare each other in the woods. That’s... kind of weird but Shouto will play along, it’s probably just a camp thing that he doesn’t understand. He’s not sure how he can come across as scary but fortunately class 1-B is going to be doing the scaring first.

When Bakugou picks out Shouto’s name to be his partner, that’s when Shouto suddenly feels nervous. He’s been wanting a chance like this alone with the other boy for awhile now but this is certainly a strange scenario for that.

Clearly Bakugou has the same thought as he desperately tries to get someone to switch with him. Nobody does and Shouto prepares himself for how awkward this is inevitably going to be.

~~~~~

Shouto and Bakugou walk down the path in the woods next to each other, both of them avoiding eye contact with the other.

Bakugou has his hands in his pockets with his head down. This would be a good time for them to finally talk but Shouto doesn’t really know what to say. It’s so unbelievably tense that he can hardly take it anymore.

He absentmindedly kicks a small rock in front of him further down the path. When they get closer to it Shouto goes to kick it again but Bakugou kicks it first, even farther down the path this time. Shouto looks at him but the blonde keeps his head down.

Is Bakugou seriously trying to compete with him right now on who can kick this tiny rock the farthest?? Shouto kicks it again, harder this time. They continue this game for awhile, Bakugou content with keeping quiet.

Shouto just can’t help it, being in this forest is bringing up memories and he can’t stay silent any longer. Who knows if he’ll ever get the chance to be alone with the older boy again.

“Remember your secret hideout in the woods?” Shouto finally says something to break the silence.

“Tch.” Bakugou kicks the rock again. “What about it, Candy Cane?”

Shit. That’s a good question, why exactly did Shouto ask that?

“I don’t know... This place reminded me of it. I don’t usually go into the woods.”

“It’s just a cave now. I never went back there.”

“Oh.”

“You gonna ask any more stupid questions or can we keep walking and get this over with?”

Shouto sighs, he knew this would happen. After a few minutes he asks the question that’s been on his mind since they first reunited. He’s just going to say it and get it over with since Bakugou can’t run off anywhere. “Why do you hate me so much?”

Bakugou scowls and kicks the tiny rock so hard they can no longer see it on the path anymore. He doesn’t say anything for awhile and Shouto is sure he’s not going to get an answer when the blonde finally talks. “I don’t hate you.”

Shouto’s eyes widen at the admission. He never expected to hear those words come out of the other boy’s mouth, he should probably get it in writing because he knows Bakugou is likely never going to admit it again.

Suddenly feeling brave, Shouto decides to press his luck and ask another question. “Even before the sports festival, you’ve been avoiding me. Why?”

Bakugou doesn’t respond as he keeps his head pointed down while they continue to walk. Shouto can’t make out the expression on the blonde’s face but he’s not angry, that much he knows.

When Shouto is sure that the remainder of their walk is going to be spent in silence, Bakugou finally speaks.

“Endeavor... does he...” He says without looking up. “Does he still hurt you?”

Shouto is caught off guard by the question, it’s the last thing he expected Bakugou to bring up.

“Uh, no, I guess not?” Shouto replies truthfully. Enji technically hasn’t laid a hand on him since they had been rescued by All Might all those years ago. “But he’s still an asshole.”

Bakugou hums in response but doesn’t say anything else after that. Shouto’s probably not going to get anything else out of the blonde tonight but it’s a start. Midoriya had been right, it does seem like Bakugou cares in his own confusing way.

They walk only for another minute or two before they encounter an unconscious student from class 1-B and a weird purple gas spreading around them.

“What the hell?” Bakugou scowls as they go over to the student.

~~~~~

“We should head back to the camp.” Shouto says as he tries to avoid breathing in the purple gas, carrying the unconscious student on his back.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Bakugou snaps at him. They had been telepathically told to engage in fighting the villains if needed but Shouto doesn’t want to stick around to have that happen.

He stops walking when he sees someone in the path ahead of them.

“Shit, who’s that? ...What group was ahead of us?” Bakugou asks covering his mouth, still trying to avoid breathing in the purple gas.

“Tokoyami... and Shoji I think.”

The guy turns around and reveals himself to be a villain sputtering nonsense about loving flesh.

They suddenly hear another telepathic announcement from Mandalay warning that “Kacchan” is the villain’s target and not to engage with the villains. Before Shouto can react, Bakugou is already running toward the creep in front of them.

“Stop making so much noise in my head!” Bakugou shouts sparking his palms as the villain extends sharp teeth-like spears from his mouth.

“Don’t rush into this fight carelessly!” Shouto screams at Bakugou while blocking the villain’s sudden attack with his ice. “Weren’t you listening to Mandalay? They’re here because they’re after you!”

“That damn Deku said something, I just know it! Saying ‘fight’ then ‘don’t fight’. I don’t give a shit what anyone says!” Bakugou replies clearly ready for battle despite what Shouto tells him.

“We can’t start fires around here because the flames will spread!”

“I get it, I’m not stupid!

This is definitely not how Shouto thought the evening was going to go. Things only escalate from there to the point that Bakugou is captured without anyone noticing.

~~~~~

Guilt. It’s all Shouto can feel when he fails to grab the orb that Bakugou is trapped in before a villain does first. A villain who also conveniently knows Shouto’s name.

“Isn’t that a tragedy, poor little Todoroki Shouto.” The guy smirks which disturbs Shouto down to his core even though he has no idea who he is or how he knows him.

It’s enough to distract him from pursuing the villains any further as he watches Bakugou get taken away, disappearing into the shadows along with them.

Shouto doesn’t know how long he sits there staring at the spot that Bakugou was last seen in but it takes a few of his classmates to finally get him to stand up and leave.

He feels numb. For as much training as he’s had he has never been prepared for something like this. During all his training sessions over the years, his father had failed to convey to him how horrible the guilt would feel over not saving someone in time. His old man probably doesn’t care or think about that too often, but Shouto certainly is and seeing the aftermath and destruction of the villains’ takeover leaves him feeling hopeless.

~~~~~

To say Shouto is having a hard time with Bakugou’s capture would be an understatement. He doesn’t sleep at all the first night and goes to the hospital to check in on Momo and Midoriya the next day. He hopes they’re doing better even if he has no idea how Bakugou is.

Midoriya is still healing while going in and out of consciousness so Shouto makes his way over to where Momo is staying instead. Before entering her room he sees that she’s talking to All Might and a random police officer. He doesn’t hear the entire conversation but makes out enough to know that Momo planted a tracking device on one of the villains.

All Might notices him when he finally leaves the room.

“Young Todoroki.” The Number One Hero greets him. “How are you doing?”

Shouto isn’t sure if the man actually cares enough for a real answer or if he’s just being polite. Either way Shouto doesn’t know what to say, just looks down at the ground unable to look All Might in the eye.

“We’re going to get him back.” All Might assures him with way more confidence than Shouto currently has.

“It was my fault.” He tells him, needing to get it out in the open. “He was there in front of me and I failed to grab him in time.”

“This isn’t your fault.” The hero responds, his expression more serious. “There’s no time for guilt in the hero world. Even when it seems like everything is falling apart, you need to carry on and believe that it’s all going to be ok. Even when it isn’t, you keep going until it is.”

“Right.” Shouto frowns, still staring down at his feet.

“You have my personal guarantee that your friend will be brought back home safely. And give him more credit, he’s not going to go down so easily.” All Might says with another confident smile. Shouto doesn’t understand how the hero can be so sure, but if anyone is able to rescue Bakugou it would be All Might. This still doesn’t stop Shouto from wanting to do something about this himself though. He’s going to convince Momo to help him one way or the other.

He finally looks up at his idol and nods before walking into Momo’s room. She immediately smiles when she sees him and he’s relieved to see that she seems to be doing well.

“Are you feeling better?” Shouto asks as he walks over to her bed.

“I have a headache but I’m going to be fine.” She smiles again. Of course she notices how much of a mess Shouto must look and then her smile disappears. “They’re going to rescue Bakugou, I was able to plant a tracker on one of the villains.”

“I heard.” Shouto answers. “That was smart thinking on your end.”

“I wasn’t able to do much but I thought it could help.”

“It was a good decision.”

“I hope it’s able to give them a lead.”

“The tracking receiver... Are you able to make another one?”

“No, Shouto, you aren’t thinking of going after Bakugou by yourself are you!?”

“I have to do something! I can’t just sit by and watch from the sidelines while they’re doing who knows what to him! I was there Momo, he was right there and I need to get him back.”

“You have no idea what you would be walking into! I gave the receiver to All Might and he’s going to do whatever it takes to rescue Bakugou, we need to be patient.”

“And what if it’s not enough!?”

“How are you planning on rescuing him by yourself?! Even if you did find him, the most likely outcome would be you getting yourself captured as well!”

“Then come with me.”

“Shouto...”

“I’m serious.”

“I know you are but this is against every rule there is! Even if we did go, what could we do? We can’t use our Quirks or fight. How could we make a difference?”

“It doesn’t matter, please, I need to help him.”

“You really do like him.”

“I do, alright? I’m not losing him a second time. Please, if I get caught you can say I forced you into giving it to me.”

“…You lost him a first time?”

“I promise I’ll tell you the whole story if you let me do this.”

“You’re lucky we’re friends. But I’m coming with you to make sure you don’t do anything dumb.”

Shouto nods. “I’ll see if anyone else wants to join us.”

Chapter Text

Shouto sits next to Kirishima on the train. His head is slumped against the window as he mindlessly stares outside while watching the buildings pass by on their way to Camino Ward. His eyes are heavy but he can’t sleep, not when they still have no idea where Bakugou is or what’s happening to him. Who knows how long the villains will put up with him or how long they’ll keep him alive.

It must be obvious how worried Shouto is with the concerned expression Kirishima is giving him. “Hey man, you alright?”

Shouto nods despite feeling anything other than ok.

“I heard what happened back at the camp. I doubt Bakugou blames you.” Kirishima states, trying to keep his tone positive. “I knew my friend was in danger but I wasn’t able to do anything to help. All I could do was sit back and wait. I feel awful about it too, but that’s why we’re doing this, right? We’re going to find him tonight!”

Doing nothing would have been difficult for Shouto as well. It’s becoming obvious that he’s not the type to sit back and follow the rules, that much he’s learned about himself in the short time he’s been at UA so far. If it weren’t for him pressuring Momo, they probably wouldn’t even be on this train right now heading into who knows what. Whether that’s a good thing or not, only time will tell. Between himself, Kirishima, and Midoriya, Shouto thinks they have a decent chance at rescuing Bakugou if Iida or Momo don’t interfere.

“Can I ask you something?” Shouto sits up and turns to the redhead.

“What’s up?”

“Why are you friends with Bakugou?”

Kirishima laughs at the question. “I guess it’s weird for someone to want to be friends with him, huh?”

“No, it’s not weird.”

“He’s a cool guy. He acts like he’s this tough dude who doesn’t care about anyone but he actually cares a lot, I think. He just shows it in a... Bakugou kind of way, ya know?”

“You think he’s ok right now?”

“Definitely!” Kirishima replies with a confident smile. “No way he’s going to let the villains harm him.”

“Hope you’re right.” Shouto sighs as he leans back against the window.

~~~~~

“Is this really necessary?” Shouto questions as Momo has them shop for disguises once they arrive in Camino Ward.

“Yes, Sho! Especially you, you stand out the most out of any of us! Now, put this on!” Momo throws a wig at him. Shouto briefly wonders if Bakugou would be upset seeing him without his candy cane hair.

“Are you sure you didn’t just want to shop?” Kirishima tries on his own disguise.

“We need to blend in. The villains already know what we look like, we can’t be too safe.” Momo replies, beaming at herself in the mirror.

“Couldn’t you have made these yourself?” Shouto puts his wig on and notices how it conveniently covers the side of his face with the scar. He stares in the mirror alongside Momo, he’s never seen himself look so different.

“Well, technically, but that’s against the rules! If I started making everything, think of the impact on the economy! We must ensure the flow of commerce!”

“...Sure.” Yeah, he’s pretty confident that his best friend just wanted to shop. Shouto is no stranger to spending money either but he doesn’t do it just for fun. He anticipates that’ll he be dragged along on another shopping trip sometime in the future when someone’s life isn’t currently at stake.

“Come on.” Momo ignores him and heads out of the store. She studies the tracking receiver as the boys follow her. “It’s pointing this way.”

~~~~~

When they investigate the building that the receiver leads them to, Shouto is disappointed when it’s obvious that Bakugou isn’t there. The Nomu they find inside are disturbing but now they’ve hit a dead end without any other leads to go on. Before they can decide what their next move is, they watch from behind a wall as a few pro heroes suddenly swoop in and contain the area.

“Everything’s fine! The heroes were on top of this way before we were.” Iida smiles, actually smiles, and Shouto is confused. Everything is not fine, they still have no idea where Bakugou is!

“This is great!” Kirishima smiles too.

“Now then, let’s get back home. At least we won’t have to explain ourselves.” Iida smiles again and Shouto, despite looking calm on the outside, is seriously going to lose it on the next person to smile. How could any of them be happy right now?

He should have known no one else cared enough to actually find Bakugou. He turns to Midoriya, hoping his freckled friend will be on his side with this.

“It sounded like All Might is somewhere else. Does that mean he’s rescued Kacchan?” Midoriya thinks aloud.

So no, he’s not on Shouto’s side, none of them are.

“If All Might’s on the scene, there’s no reason for us to worry. Let’s go.” Momo begins to leave and the others move to follow her but Shouto doesn’t budge. He stares at his friends as they just assume that everything has been taken care of and Bakugou has already been rescued.

“Dude... you’re on fire.” Kirishima turns to Shouto with a confused look.

“I am?” Shouto replies checking himself and realizing that the redhead is right. He really needs to get this spontaneous fire thing under control.

“Shouto...” Momo frowns. “I’m sure Bakugou is fine now, it’s not helpful for us to stick around. It’s safer if we go home.”

“You don’t know that! We can’t leave yet before-”

Shouto is cut off when a mysterious figure manifests in front of the pro heroes on the other side of the wall. The energy in the air instantly changes and they all freeze in place. Shouto has to remember to breathe when he realizes that Bakugou and the League of Villains have been teleported there too.

Until this moment, he thought he knew what real fear felt like. Growing up in the Todoroki household, there had been many times he couldn’t be 100% sure that Enji wasn’t going to finally snap and do something regrettable. After all, even his own mother had lost it and hurt him so it wasn’t unreasonable to think that his father could do the same. With a decade passing of not knowing what happened to Touya, it was always in the back of his mind what exactly his father’s involvement with his brother’s death was. He doubts that Enji would intentionally kill his own child, but that didn’t mean he didn’t do it unintentionally. So yes, Shouto already had a very unhealthy dose of fear in his life wondering if he was going to die at the hands of his father, but this, this was all of that combined and then some. They needed to get Bakugou out of there immediately.

Seeing the looks on his classmates’ faces standing there beside him, just a small wall separating them from Bakugou and the villains, he knows he’s not the only one trying to hold it together. Part of him wants to jump out there and help Bakugou but the other part of him wants to curl up into a ball and never go outside again. Just what have they gotten themselves into? This is obviously no ordinary villain.

It’s not too long after that when All Might shows up and confronts the man who he calls All for One. There’s obviously more to this situation than they can understand, but Shouto doesn’t have to understand what’s happening to know that Bakugou needs help if he has any hope of escaping. They continue to watch as the league members attempt to force the blonde to warp away with them again.

It’s getting increasingly difficult not to do anything to help Bakugou who is trying his best to avoid getting captured. As if Momo could read his mind (and sometimes Shouto isn’t sure that she can’t because she always seems to know what he’s thinking) she mouths ‘no’ to him. Iida notices this and puts his arm out to hold him against the wall.

Clearly the two class reps think he’s going to do something dumb like jump over the wall to assist Bakugou and fight against the villains that they have no hope of defeating or even the authority to either. Admittedly, yeah, they’re probably right, but if Iida thinks his arm is going to stop Shouto from doing what he wants to do, then the guy has clearly underestimated Shouto’s level of stupidity when it comes to Bakugou. The explosive blonde wouldn’t just stand there cowering behind a wall if they were the ones who needed help, right?

Consequences be damned, Shouto’s body is moving before he has any idea what he’s doing. He activates his flames enough to make Iida remove his arm and he quietly jumps to the other side of the wall. Unfortunately, he’s not as inconspicuous as he thinks he is because the moment he touches the ground all eyes are on him. He makes a mental note that if he somehow survives this he’s going to listen to anything Momo tells him from now on.

~~~~~

With no time to think, Shouto immediately runs in Bakugou’s direction while simultaneously shooting fire to keep the villains back. It doesn’t do much damage but it allows him to reach the other boy and summon a giant ice wall to create a shield for them to temporarily hide behind.

“WHAT THE FUCK SHOUTO!” Bakugou screams at him.

Shouto.

Bakugou just called him Shouto. Not a bastard, not Icyhot, not even Todoroki but Shouto.

No time to dwell on that though or how it momentarily shuts his brain off. He needs to snap back to reality or they’re as good as dead. They may already be dead at this rate because he has no idea what to do next.

“Do you have a plan?” Shouto whispers as the villains quickly chip away at the ice barrier.

“You’re the one who came here, you don’t have one?!” Bakugou stares at him in disbelief with wide red-glowing eyes.

He has a point. “...No, I don’t.”

“IDIOT! WHY DID YOU COME HERE THEN?!”

“I’m sure that Midoriya is coming up with a plan right now.” Shouto hopes. He did notice his green-haired friend furiously muttering to himself before Shouto jumped over the wall, and now he thinks that maybe he should have waited until a plan was actually formulated.

“Fucking Deku’s here too?!”

“Yes.”

“You couldn’t wait until he came up with a plan before making yourself a second hostage?!”

So Bakugou agrees that this wasn’t Shouto’s finest moment. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“Clearly not!”

“Somehow we need to create an opening so we can run and get out of All Might’s way. He’s holding back against that All for One guy.”

“You don’t think I know that?! How the hell are we supposed to run? There are six of them attacking, we can’t fight against all of them!”

“Then what should we do? I can’t keep making more ice.” Shouto replies with a frosty breath as he makes another smaller ice wall to shield them. If they’re lucky it’ll give them another 10 seconds to think.

“How much fire can you create?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never tried to find out.”

“Give it all you got and I’ll do the same, if the explosion is big enough it might give us a few seconds to run without being followed. It’ll be hard to see from the smoke, we’ll use that to our advantage.”

“Ok, yeah, makes sense.”

“You’re such a fucking moron for coming here like this.”

“You’d do the same... wouldn’t you?”

“Tch, no! Don’t compare my intelligence with your stupidity, I would never do something this idiotic!”

“I just wanted to help you.”

“If I die from this I’m blaming you and coming back to haunt your stupid ass from the afterlife. On three, got it?”

Shouto nods as Bakugou starts the count. Before he even gets to two though, the ice suddenly melts around them and fire covers the area.

“Endeavor?” Shouto’s eyes widen at the unexpected gust of flames. He doesn’t know if he’s relieved at the sudden arrival of the Number Two Hero or if he’s terrified at the thought of his father catching him here when he definitely shouldn’t be.

“Fuck it, three, do it now!” Bakugou shouts, breaking Shouto’s train of thought.

With Shouto’s fire added to Endeavor’s flames and Bakugou’s nitroglycerin blasts thrown into the mix for extra emphasis, the resulting explosion is exactly what the blonde had in mind. It’s nothing short of a miraculous giant fire tornado and Shouto can’t help but stare in awe at how much power they were able to produce together.

Bakugou grabs his hand and snaps him out of his daze as they run as fast as possible away from everyone. They hear All Might holding back All for One but they don’t stop to confirm that they’re not being followed.

Running through the smoke makes Shouto feel as if he’s choking on his own breath. There’s no turning back now as he coughs his way out of danger. After running for what feels like the longest two minutes of Shouto’s life, they find themselves mixed in a crowd of people.

It seems that the combination of All Might keeping All for One at bay, Endeavor suddenly showing up, and them using their Quirks together was enough to create a distraction for a safe escape, a mostly safe escape considering Shouto now thinks he’s about to die from smoke inhalation. Apparently, that’s not an immunity of his which he never knew because he never uses his fire. It seems to be a perk for Bakugou’s Quirk though because he isn’t coughing at all.

Shouto drops to his knees in a coughing fit. He feels Bakugou drag him over to the side of a building away from other people and kneel in front of him.

“Breathe.” Bakugou commands and Shouto does. He’s never heard the older boy use that tone before but it works. After a good minute of focusing on Bakugou, Shouto feels well enough to stand back up.

Bakugou grabs Shouto’s hand again to pull them further into the crowd and closer to the large screen that everyone is gasping up at. Thankfully, no one seems to notice them because they’re all too focused on the giant fire ball on the TV as well as All Might’s unusually weak form.

Shouto glances at Bakugou when he realizes what they’re witnessing. Why is All Might like that? The look the other boy gives back to him isn’t what he expects. It’s not anger or the usual annoyance, it’s something else entirely. He’s just as worried as Shouto is if his expression is anything to go by. It’s a stark contrast from how confident he was just a moment ago when he was helping Shouto calm down.

He realizes that Bakugou hasn’t let go of his hand yet so he squeezes it tighter. That’s supposed to be comforting, right? Bakugou squeezes it back so Shouto is going to go with yes.

When the battle is finally over, it takes awhile for them to finally move. They don’t talk and Shouto doesn’t know what he’d say anyway.

He calls Momo to give a quick update that they got away safely. She screams at him from the other end, Iida also chiming in from the background, and he’s never going to hear the end of it from them. But hey, they made it out alive and Bakugou is safe, that’s all that Shouto cares about. He offers to go with Bakugou to the police without them so that they don’t need to get involved. He’ll take the blame for breaking the rules if that means his friends won’t get in trouble for going with him.

Bakugou has a blank look on his face the entire way to the police station and it’s oddly unsettling. Shouto isn’t sure if the other boy is still holding his hand because he’s waiting for Shouto to let go first, but honestly he wouldn’t put it past him to be like that even at a time like this.

He still keeps coughing and that’s when he notices the blonde’s expression change.

“You should have a doctor look at you.” Bakugou tells him and then mumbles quietly. “And thank you... I guess.”

Did Bakugou just thank him?? He takes a moment to process that. “You’re welcome.” He coughs again. “And I’m fine.”

“Whatever, your funeral then.”

“Would you go?”

“What? To your funeral?”

“Yeah. If I died.”

“You’re so freaking weird.”

“You won’t have to because I won’t die.”

“Sure seems like you had a death wish back there. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“No one else cared.”

“You mean no one else is as dumb as you are.”

Shouto frowns at that because he knows it’s true. “It’s not dumb to care about someone, is it?”

If Shouto didn’t know any better he’d swear that Bakugou’s cheeks just got a shade redder. He doesn’t respond as they continue on their way.

There are already officers waiting for them when they arrive at the station. Shouto has to reluctantly let go of Bakugou’s hand when they’re brought inside and separated. He feels like he should say something but stays silent as the blonde is led into a different room.

He keeps his side of the story simple and since he technically didn’t harm anyone using his Quirk, he’s released to go home not too long after arriving.

He checks his phone when he gets outside and has missed calls from Momo and Midoriya but surprisingly none from his father. His old man is probably too busy to care and check in on him. Or too pissed off. He’ll find out soon enough.

~~~~~

Fuyumi is there to greet Shouto when he finally gets home and enters his house. He had completely forgotten about her during all of this, he never claimed to be the best brother but he does feel bad that he didn’t let her know he was safe. The way her eyes widen when she sees him reminds him that he probably looks like shit after being up all night and burning a good portion of his clothes off.

“Shouto! There you are, I was so worried! You weren’t answering me! Are you okay?!”

“Sorry, sis. I’m fine.”

The house suddenly shakes as he takes his shoes off.

“He’s been like this ever since he came home.” Fuyumi tells him nervously. “He said to see him when you got back.”

Shouto groans. He’d been doing so good avoiding his father as much as possible since school began. Except for a couple hiccups during the sports festival he’s hardly talked to the man. After the stunt he just pulled he knew Enji was going to want to talk to him but he was still hoping to skip that.

Shouto walks over to the training room to see what’s going on for himself. He hasn’t been in there in months and now it’s nearly destroyed. His father is sitting in the middle of the room, and there are holes in the floor and wall and everything is on fire. It’s the definition of anger issues.

“I don’t accept it, not like this!” Enji shouts, unaware that Shouto is watching him. “I should have earned it myself, not by him failing!”

Even for Endeavor this is a bad outburst. Shouto’s not sure if he’s ever seen his father so angry but also so defeated at the same time. As far as he knows, the man’s only goal in life was to one up All Might either by his own means or by Shouto doing it instead. Now that it’s not relevant anymore he wonders what that means for the both of them. Is Enji going to stop putting so much pressure on him or will it only get worse?

Shouto lets out a very unenthusiastic “Dad” to announce that he’s standing there. He sighs as Enji turns his attention to him. This isn’t going to end well. “Fuyumi said you wanted to see me.”

“Get over here, now!” Enji snaps. Shouto is hesitant to go near him given the man’s current emotional state, but not wanting to make things worse or have this go on any longer than it needs to, he steps into the burning room and sits down across from his father. Better to just get this over with.

Enji doesn’t say anything at first and it only adds to the awkwardness as the flames burn around them. Shouto has a feeling that he wasn’t summoned to talk about their fire tornado as much as he hopes that’s all his father wants to discuss. Thinking about that seems to trigger more coughing and he’s starting to wonder if Bakugou had a point about seeing a doctor.

“Have I ever taught you that it was okay to recklessly put yourself and others in a dangerous situation without a plan, without backup, without anything?” Enji finally says. Shouto might not have much experience with normal family talks, but even he can tell that his father is using a disappointed dad tone. So no, they’re not talking about their cool fire tornado.

“No, sir.” Shouto can’t look Enji in the eye. What he did was stupid and he can’t argue with that.

“You do something like this again and that’s it, you won’t work as an intern let alone a sidekick. You’re lucky your actions didn’t get anyone killed! You need to stop being so damn impulsive and stubborn, it’s going to cost you everything you’ve been working for! I can’t cover for you every time you do something idiotic!”

“I know.”

“What could have possibly gone through your head to jump into that scenario?”

How the hell is Shouto supposed to answer that? That he cares about Bakugou more than most people? He’s definitely not going to admit that to his father.

“It’s because of that boy, isn’t it?” Enji suddenly barks out and that’s Shouto’s cue to stand up and start making his way out of the room. Is it really so obvious that even Endeavor can tell that Shouto is obsessed with Bakugou?

“I had a chance to save him when he was first captured and I messed up. I felt guilty and wanted to make up for it. That’s it.” Shouto says, void of as little emotion as possible.

Enji stands up and makes his way over, towering above him even though Shouto is slowly getting closer to his height. His father isn’t as intimidating he used to be when Shouto was a kid.

It seems as if Enji wants to grab him but doesn’t, Shouto wouldn’t have let him anyway.

“That kid is bad news, you stay away from him. I won’t tolerate this. There’s no place for distractions as a hero, no room for relationships of any kind.”

Shouto almost laughs. “And how’s that working out for you?” He even surprises himself by replying with that. “You’re Number One now, right? But who’s going to care? No one.”

The flicker of emotions that run through Enji’s eyes doesn’t go unnoticed. Shouto struck a nerve. Good.

After a few intense moments of silence, Enji dismisses Shouto without saying anything else. He isn’t sure what to make of that but he’s glad to get out of there. He was definitely pushing his luck but it felt good to stand up for himself for once. He isn’t going to end up alone and miserable like his old man, he makes that promise to himself right then and there.

He finally sees himself in the mirror in the bathroom and yeah, he looks like shit. His hair is a sweaty tangled mess sticking to his forehead and his clothes are so burned and torn that he’s not sure how no one noticed how pathetic he looks. He stares at himself and sighs, he was stupid, he knows this and yet he still got carried away. He did the right thing though, he thinks. No one else was doing anything and Bakugou wouldn’t have been able to escape alone. He can’t feel too bad about it, not when his actions had helped. He didn’t even have to fight or harm anyone so it was a successful rescue all around.

After taking a long shower, Shouto goes to his room and lies down on his futon. He turns his phone off so he doesn’t have to deal with the overwhelming amount of news or the endless texts from Momo and Midoriya. He doesn’t have the energy or desire to talk to anyone.

Sleep doesn’t come easily that night, especially not with the house shaking every so often. Shouto is thankful that his father doesn’t ask for him again, he doesn’t want to be on the receiving end of all that rage. When he finally does fall sleep, he’s soon woken up by what feels like a nightmare but turns out to be a sleep paralysis attack, something he hasn’t had to deal with since he was a kid. Nothing like waking up unable to move while an internal hallucination demon is trying to kill you. It pisses him off and terrifies him at the same time. He doesn’t know if he’s ever going to get a good night’s sleep again after everything that’s happened.

~~~~~

School is temporarily put on hold. Shouto spends his time avoiding his father and trying to catch up on sleep. His mind is often preoccupied thinking about Bakugou and wondering how he’s holding up. Shouto hopes he talked to someone about his experience even if that someone obviously wasn’t him.

He doesn’t know what time it is when he’s woken up by the doorbell ringing. He ignores it at first but when it goes off again he checks the security cameras on his phone. He lets out a small gasp when he sees who’s there, what the hell is All Might doing at his house?! He doesn’t look particularly happy and Shouto can’t shake the feeling that he’s about to get scolded again.

Shouto hesitantly opens the door and braces himself for All Might to go off on him. If Enji had been disappointed in his actions then he knows that the former hero is going to have some strong words for him as well.

All Might’s angry expression drops though when he sees Shouto. He chuckles. “Nice pajamas. How am I supposed to be angry at you for what you did when you’re wearing that? You do know it’s almost noon, right?”

“Uh...” Shouto whispers under his breath, looking down at himself and realizing that of course he’s wearing his onesie All Might pajamas, the one with the hood no less. This is how he’s going to die, not from fighting the League of Villains, but from complete and utter embarrassment in front of his idol. He hasn’t even had a chance to brush his teeth or fix his mismatched hair yet and he doesn’t know if taking the hood off or keeping it on is going to help hide his shame.

He keeps it on, might as well own the entire look.

“Can I come in?” All Might continues. “We’re talking to all the students and their families about an important school matter. I convinced Aizawa to let me come here alone. I should warn you, he’s not thrilled with you at the moment.”

Shouto hasn’t even thought of Aizawa’s reaction and here he was worried about All Might chewing him out for what he did. If he doesn’t get expelled he’ll consider himself lucky.

“I’m guessing Endeavor isn’t here right now?” All Might steps inside and follows Shouto into a common room to sit down.

“No, he’s not.”

He does his best not to stare at All Might but he can’t help it, seeing the former hero in this weakened state is so unusual.

“No need to look so concerned, Young Todoroki.” All Might says softly. “I’m not as frail as I look.”

“It’s just... it’s hard seeing you like this.” Shouto admits.

“It’ll take some time getting used to, I understand that.”

“Are you still going to be our teacher?”

“Yes, and that’s why I’m here. We’re getting permission for all the students to begin living at the new dorms being built on campus. It’ll be safer for everyone.”

Shouto lights up at the idea. He’ll be able to avoid Endeavor so much easier if he lives on campus.

“You don’t like living here.” All Might says as a statement, not a question, when he sees Shouto’s reaction.

“I do.” He answers even though that’s a lie. “It’s my home.”

All Might glances around the mansion. It’s big and empty, perfectly decorated and tidy. You’d never know a family was supposed to live there. “Are you often alone?”

“My dad is always busy.” Shouto replies, not sure what All Might is trying to get at. “None of us are home much, my sister usually works late and my brother’s in college. We never see him anymore.”

“And your mom?”

“She left when I was 5.” Shouto tells him, still not sure why the former hero is asking. Is it that weird for him to have the house to himself most of the time?

All Might frowns at his answer, he wouldn’t have known about his mom. Not many people do.

“So you were raised by your father.” All Might’s frown deepens, probably realizing just how messed up Shouto’s childhood actually was in this house.

“My sister raised me.” He corrects him.

“Ah... I’m sorry to hear about your mom but I’m glad you have a sister looking out for you.”

“She’ll probably be home soon for lunch so can she give me permission to live at the new dorms instead of Enji? He’ll burn the house down if he finds out you were in here.”

All Might laughs, they both know that’s unfortunately true. “Well, we wouldn’t want that. I’m sure that would be fine.”

Shouto doesn’t know what else to talk about as they wait. It’s so surreal sitting across from All Might in his home like this.

“Did you see Bakugou? Did he get permission?” He finally asks to break the silence.

“I did see him, all three Bakugou’s actually. He got permission but it was quite the experience. I now understand where Young Bakugou gets his... enthusiasm from.”

He must be referring to Mitsuki. Shouto remembers her as being one of the only people to ever show him any type of affection, she had genuinely seemed to care for his well-being when he was in the hospital with Bakugou as children. While she had been sweet to him she had been less so with Bakugou. He figures it’s even worse now, all they probably do is scream at each other if he had to guess.

“Did he seem ok?”

“I think he’s doing the best he can given the circumstances. You haven’t talked to him?”

“I don’t have his number and he doesn’t willingly talk to me anyway.”

“No?” All Might raises an eyebrow, surprised.

Shouto shrugs in response, he doesn’t understand why either.

They hear the door suddenly open and Fuyumi calls out Shouto’s name to announce that she’s home. She walks inside and stops when she sees who’s in their living room.

“Hey... sis. All Might’s here.” Shouto casually points to the guest sitting next to him. “Don’t tell Dad.”

“All Might? Why is All Might here??” Fuyumi flusters at the sight, star-struck even with the hero in this new form.

“They’re building dorms at UA and I need permission to live there. You’ll let me, right?”

“Right... yeah.” Fuyumi can’t stop staring at All Might, she’s probably thinking the same thing as Shouto. Endeavor can absolutely never find out about the former hero being in here.

“It’s nice to meet you.” All Might smiles at her.

“It’s nice to meet you too...” Fuyumi answers him with a blush and Shouto rolls his eyes at her reaction, though he probably shouldn’t judge considering he’s the one still wearing All Might pajamas. “If Shouto needs permission to live on campus, I’m happy to give it on our father’s behalf.”

“But if I leave...” Shouto sighs thinking about what he’s going to say next. “You’ll be alone.”

“Don’t worry about me.” Fuyumi smiles that warm motherly-like smile of hers. “I know you’ll visit just like Natsuo does. Besides, it won’t be so bad. And Dad isn’t the same way with me as he is with you, you know I can handle myself.”

It’s true, his sister has a different relationship with Enji than he does. She seems to think they’ll be a real family someday and tries to keep everyone civil. Especially with Natsuo’s temper being like Enji’s, someone has to keep them in check every now and then.

Shouto still can’t help but feel bad about leaving her though. It’s such a big house, he’s sure it’ll feel even more empty without him there.

“Between you, Bakugou, and Midoriya, I really have my work cut out for me despite being retired now.” All Might sighs as they walk to the door. “I don’t think I need to say this but just to make sure, you know that what you did was dangerous and you won’t do it again, is that correct?”

Shouto nods. “I already had this talk with Endeavor.” He cringes at the thought of it.

“Ah, well, good. Next time leave it to the pros. Your class seems to think you’re all more experienced than you really are. Don’t forget, you’re still young.” All Might says gesturing to Shouto’s pajamas. “Enjoy this time before you’re an adult, you only have a couple years left of it.”

“I didn’t have any clean laundry.” Shouto defends himself. He’s really never going to live this down.

All Might laughs as he makes his way out of the house.

“Thank you for looking out for my brother.” Fuyumi calls out to All Might as he leaves.

“Are you really going to be ok here by yourself?” Shouto asks his sister.

“I’m going to be fine. And you get to live with your friends! How fun is that going to be?!”

“Um... yeah, fun.” He responds, not actually quite sure. Is it going to be fun living with 19 other high schoolers under one roof? He’ll be glad to get away from Endeavor at least.

“Yes, fun! You can sound more excited than that!”

“No I can’t.”

“You won’t have to wake up as early anymore.” Fuyumi smirks, waiting for Shouto to react.

“Fine, that part sounds nice.” Shouto mumbles with a hint of a smile.

~~~~~

“So you didn’t die.” Bakugou says as he walks over to Shouto in front of the new Heights Alliance dorms. They’re both early with only a couple of other students there already.

It shocks Shouto that Bakugou is initiating a conversation with him. “Nope.” He answers but of course coughs in that moment. He’s not dead but his lungs are sure still giving him hell.

“You didn’t see a doctor?”

“It’s just a cough.” Shouto waves it off.

Bakugou’s eyes narrow. “You know it’s more than that.”

“I’m not going to see a doctor about breathing in smoke when I have a fire quirk.”

“If it gets worse I’m telling your little girlfriend so she’ll make you go see Recovery Girl.” Bakugou glares at Momo who’s chatting with some of the other girls as they make their way over to join them.

“She’s not my girlfriend.” Shouto replies, confused that he would even think that. “I don’t like girls that way.” He adds as an afterthought.

Bakugou seems visibly uncomfortable all of a sudden. “Whatever, Icyhot.” He scowls walking away as Momo makes her way over.

“Shouto!” She shouts, looking like she’s going to slap Shouto but instead hugs him. “You can’t avoid me forever!”

“I... wasn’t avoiding you.” He was.

“We’re talking later, now that we’ll be living together you can’t escape.”

“Sorry Momo.” Shouto sighs, hugging her back. “About everything.”

“We were so worried! After what you did we had to hold back Midoriya and it was a mess. And then what happened with All Might... we didn’t know if you and Bakugou were ok until you called! Don’t ever do that to us again!”

“I know, I’m not going to.”

A few minutes later the entire class finally arrives and their sensei suddenly appears stepping out of the building.

“I’m glad we were able to get Class A back together after everything that has happened. But, first things first.” Aizawa says with a heavy stare in Shouto’s direction.

Shouto groans. Great, so apparently he’s already getting expelled right now in front of everyone.

“Todoroki. Care to explain yourself?”

Shouto instinctively looks at Bakugou who scowls back at him. Well, no support there, he’s on his own for this.

“No. I don’t have an excuse, my actions were less than desirable. I won’t do it again.”

“I should expel you.”

“Aizawa-sensei!” Iida suddenly steps forward, his arm raised in the air. “Todoroki isn’t the only one who broke the rules.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, sir. Midoriya, Yaoyorozu, Kirishima, and I all went with him.”

“Based on all of your reactions, I assume everyone knew about this but did nothing to stop them? I should expel all of you except for Bakugou, Jirou, and Hakagure.”

Shouto can’t live with the guilt if his stupidity ends up getting most of his class expelled from UA. He stares at Bakugou again but the blonde isn’t looking back at him.

“They did try to stop me. I wouldn’t listen, they aren’t to blame.” Shouto attempts to defend his friends.

“They didn’t try hard enough then. You’re powerful but nowhere near invincible.” Aizawa answers.

Shouto takes offense to that and his normally stoic expression turns into a small pout with a huff. Bakugou definitely notices it given the small laugh he lets out. Even if his friends had tried harder to stop him, Shouto considers himself much stronger than his classmates and they would have failed.

“Regardless, given All Might’s retirement from the Hero scene we need all of you here. We haven’t forgotten about your provisional licenses that you were supposed to get during the training camp, so we’ll focus on training for that this week.”

Shouto lets out a sigh of relief, no one is getting expelled because of him.

“You all betrayed our trust. In order to regain our confidence you’ll need to obey every rule to the letter and live as model students. Now look alive, enjoy your new home.” Aizawa announces and the class cheers. He turns his attention back to Shouto. “I’m keeping an eye on you, behave yourself.”

Shouto is really hating all this negative attention, what does Aizawa think he’s going to do? He’s going to train this week and take the provisional license exam like everyone else without any issues at all. He won’t do anything stupid and reckless again, at least he hopes not.

Chapter Text

In the days following the move into the dorms, things mostly go back to normal as classes resume. Bakugou didn’t have to make Momo convince Shouto see Recovery Girl because by only the second day she was already dragging him in to get checked out. The class had gotten concerned enough that he was about to give them the plague with how bad his cough was so he didn’t have much choice. Apparently smoke inhalation was more concerning than Shouto had thought it could be. His lungs thank Recovery Girl for healing them and he’s given an inhaler just in case.

“I can’t believe I have a weakness like this. I always assumed I could run into a building on fire and not have to think twice about it, but this proves otherwise.” Shouto sighs as he sprawls out face first into Momo’s obnoxiously huge bed when they enter her room. “My dad can never find out about this.”

“We all have weaknesses when it comes to our Quirks. But this doesn’t seem like much of a weakness, it’s normal. Most people can’t breathe in smoke.”

Shouto sighs. “Bakugou didn’t have any issues with it.”

“Bakugou has been blowing things up since he was a kid, his lungs are probably used to it. You, on the other hand, haven’t been using your fire until recently because you’re extremely stubborn.”

Shouto tries to focus on what Momo is saying, he really does, but her bed is way too soft to think about anything else.

“Are you listening to me?” Momo asks, sitting on the edge of her bed.

“Your bed is so comfy.” Shouto mumbles into the sheets.

“Speaking of Bakugou, you promised me you’d tell me what’s going on with you two. You said you lost him a first time, so does that mean you knew him before UA?”

“When did I say that?” Shouto lifts his head up.

“When you begged me to let you go save him.”

“...Right, I did do that.”

“Yes, you did. Now spill, what are you hiding?”

“I’m not hiding anything, it’s just... awkward.”

“You’re the definition of awkward, Shouto.”

“That’s not my fault.” He buries his head back into the blankets.

“So what happened?”

“We met as children and fought each other, got hurt, and then Bakugou helped me run away from the hospital so I wouldn’t have to go home with Endeavor. It was dumb, we thought we could cross the ocean to America. All Might had to save us from drowning.”

It takes Momo a good moment to process all that. “What the hell, Sho! How does no one know about this?!”

“Endeavor paid and bribed people to have it covered up. It happened a long time ago, no big deal.”

“No big deal?! No wonder you’re so obsessed with Bakugou! He’s like your knight in shining armor!”

“I’m not obsessed with him...”

“It makes sense that you would develop feelings for him and why you view him the way you do. How adorable!” Momo squeals with delight. “Maybe he’s not as horrible as he seems.”

When Shouto doesn’t respond, Momo nudges him but it only causes him to snuggle more into the comforter.

He doesn’t remember falling asleep in Momo’s bed, but when he’s woken up from his now nightly sleep paralysis attack he has to take a moment to remember where he is after he can move his body again. So even Momo’s million-dollar bed can’t help his sleep issues, he wonders if he’s ever going to get a full night’s rest again.

He’s quiet as he leaves her room, she’s sleeping so peacefully and Shouto hopes it wasn’t too weird for her that he passed out in her bed.

His heart is still racing from the nightmarish experience that he just had so he’s not falling back asleep anytime soon. He heads downstairs to grab some water and turns on the Nintendo Switch that someone in their class had gotten for all of them to enjoy. He’s never played video games before but it looks like a good distraction and his classmates seem to have fun with it.

He grabs it and lies down on the couch, holding it above him. As he’s trying to figure it out, he hears someone step off of the elevator and walk toward the front doors. He also hears the very distinct sound of hands crackling as the door opens and slams shut.

Suddenly startled by someone who suspiciously sounds like Bakugou randomly leaving the dorms, Shouto accidentally drops the Switch on his face. He sits up and then goes over to the window as he watches the blonde put in headphones, who then begins running.

Why would Bakugou be going for a run at 2am? That’s not normal for anyone let alone Bakugou who’s made it clear in the short time that they’ve been living there that he needs to go to bed early because he values his sleep.

Shouto quickly follows the other boy, making sure to stay as quiet as possible and keep his distance. The last thing he needs is getting blown up for sneaking up on him. It’s nice getting out and letting off some steam with a good run, the campus is different at night and everything feels so still, it’s refreshing in a way. It doesn’t explain why Bakugou is doing this so late though, there must be a reason but Shouto knows better than to confront him and ask.

He follows him to an area that’s decently far off any of the obvious paths. It makes Shouto realize that he’s never really explored the entire campus that much, he’s only seen what they’ve been brought to for training and what they ran through during the sports festival.

Clearly Bakugou has been here before otherwise Shouto isn’t sure how the other boy would have known this hidden spot was there. It’s tucked away in the forest that surrounds the main campus, a small stream runs through it and it’s quiet except for the sound of the water. Bakugou sits against a tree and mindlessly stares at the ground.

Shouto feels a bit creepy watching Bakugou like this but it would be worse to reveal himself at this point. He wants to sit next to him because it seems like a nice thing to do, but does something rational for once and restrains himself. Bakugou already doesn’t look too happy, Shouto doesn’t want to add to his obvious frustration about something.

Shouto heads back to the dorms before the blonde does and ends up finally falling back asleep thinking about him.

~~~~~

The next couple of weeks they work on their ultimate moves and Shouto continues to struggle with using both of his sides at the same time. Despite their previous encounter, Bakugou doesn’t talk to Shouto again and as usual he doesn’t understand why. It’s obvious that something is bothering Bakugou more than anyone realizes, but Shouto keeps his distance because he doesn’t want to upset the older boy more than he already seems to be lately.

The night before the provisional license exam, Shouto wakes up from what he considers one of the worst sleep paralysis experiences he’s had so far. It’s always the same demon, the same hallucinating presence that appears with the full intention of killing him. The frightening part isn’t the demon itself- it’s not being able to move, not being able to use his Quirk to defend himself. No matter how many times this happens he can’t get his brain to understand that it’s not real until after he snaps out of it. In the end he’s always left in a state of panic with an intense urge to fight for his life.

It’s illogical but Shouto can still feel the terror deep inside of him as he stares up at the ceiling. He tries to catch his breath and fall back asleep but it’s useless. He needs to get out, he needs to leave to clear his head.

He grabs the Switch to take with him before heading out, and soon finds himself at the same hidden spot that he knows that Bakugou has been going to. The older boy thankfully isn’t there tonight so Shouto lies down on the grass and starts playing a game to take his mind off of everything. Eventually he ends up staring into the sky, wishing that he was able to see the stars like they had been able to see back at the training camp. He closes his eyes and appreciates the fresh air and silence but it’s soon broken by a loud voice.

“What the fuck are you doing here?!”

Shouto opens his eyes and sits up. He turns to see Bakugou glaring at him but not with his typical angry scowl, there’s something else to his expression and it’s unsettling. Shouto’s not used to seeing the other boy look so defeated.

“I... don’t know.” Shouto answers, hoping that he isn’t about to be murdered for being caught there.

“Well can you fucking go?!” Bakugou snaps while covering his eyes with his arm, his voice rough. He’s holding back tears, Shouto is almost sure of that.

“What’s wrong?” Shouto looks up at him, concerned at what he’s witnessing.

“It’s nothing, just leave!” Bakugou barks at him, wiping one of his eyes.

Just when Shouto thinks they’re making a little bit of progress, it blows up in his face and the blonde continues pushing him away like this. This time something clearly seems wrong though and Shouto is extremely reluctant to leave him.

“Bakugou?”

“Seriously, get the fuck away from me!” Bakugou screams at him, his palms sparking and a few tears escaping from his glimmering red eyes.

“No, something’s wrong. I won’t talk to you if you don’t want me to but I’m not leaving.” Shouto firmly states, trying to keep it together himself and not panic about why Bakugou is acting like this.

“It was just a shitty nightmare, ok?! That’s what happens when you’re kidnapped because you’re weak! I don’t need your help dealing with this, I don’t need anyone so leave me the fuck alone!”

Bakugou might as well have ripped Shouto’s heart out and broke it up into a million pieces. Did Bakugou Katsuki just admit to being weak? Enough’s enough, he’s putting his foot down and not letting the blonde continue to act like this or force him to go away.

He stands up and steps closer to the older boy, taking a deep breath before speaking. “No, I’m not leaving you. And you’re not weak.”

“Why do you keep bothering with me?! Why did you risk your life trying to save me?!”

Shouto can’t believe Bakugou would even have to ask that. It seems so obvious to him but he clearly needs to get it through to the other boy.

“I already told you, it’s because I care about you.”

“But why?!”

Hearing Bakugou’s voice suddenly crack makes Shouto lose it.

“Because you care about me too, don’t you?!” He shouts louder than expected. He hates seeing Bakugou look like this and he can’t help the tears that are dangerously close to spilling from his own eyes. “When I was a kid, I had no one after my mom left but you made me feel like I mattered, even if it was just for a few days. That kind of selflessness doesn’t just go away! You kissed me at the sports festival! You act like you hate everyone, that you hate me, but I know it’s not true!”

“And what if if it is true, huh?! What if you’re wrong?! What if I only did that to get you to use your fire on me so that I could show off?! What if I really don’t give a shit about you?!”

“Then... I’ll stop.” Shouto whispers with his head down. The thought of that being true makes him want to crumble up into nothing. “If that’s what you really want, I’ll stop bothering you. But I don’t think it is.”

Shouto feels like he can hardly breathe. There’s just no way Bakugou means what he’s saying, you don’t react this strongly to someone you don’t give a shit about. It hurts so much and Shouto wants the other boy to understand that it’s not a weakness to admit that he cares about someone.

“What do you want from me?!” Bakugou growls, his body shaking now.

“I want you to stop acting like a fucking idiot!” Shouto yells back at him, the desperation clear in his voice.

Bakugou’s eyes widen in shock, likely not expecting Shouto to give that kind of response.

“You insult and scream at me every chance you get, but you never actually do anything about it!” Shouto continues. “If you really wanted me to go away you have made sure that happened by now! You always say no to talking to me, or being by me, but you still keep coming back!”

Bakugou doesn’t answer. Shouto is breathing so hard that he doesn’t know whether he’s angry, or upset, or sad or what the hell is happening to him right now. It’s only at this moment that he realizes he’s on fire, huge flames engulfing his left side.

“Say something!” Shouto feels himself start to completely break down. He hasn’t felt this way since he was a child and he’s been holding it in all this time. He wants this to end one way or the other. Bakugou has been stringing him along for months now and it needs to stop.

“You don’t fucking get it!” Bakugou sobs back at him. “That day, you were screaming and holding onto All Might and all I could do was watch! I watched as your dad took you back and you looked so scared because no one did anything, everyone just fucking pretended everything was fine when it wasn’t! So every time I look at you it’s a reminder of much of a failure I am! I almost killed you! I made your life so much worse by forcing you to run away, I couldn’t help you then and I can’t help you now! You don’t see it? I try so hard to be the best and it never seems to be good enough! Just look at what happened to All Might, that wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t kidnapped! I’m doing you a favor by making you stay the hell away from me! And what if something happens again, huh?! I’m not going through that twice, I was fucked up for years after losing you when we were kids! It’s better to just stay the hell away in the first place this time, then it can’t happen again!”

It feels like a punch to the gut hearing Bakugou finally reveal how guilty he feels.

“That’s not true!” Shouto yells at him as he takes a step closer. “You don’t have to lose me again and you did help me! You helped me more than anyone else ever has! Without you I wouldn’t have known what having a friend was like, without you Enji would have kept hurting me without giving any thought about it. But he never physically hurt me again after we ran away, not on purpose. You did that! He’ll never admit to it but we scared him that day. He didn’t want me to try it again.”

Shouto stops to breathe for a second and collect his thoughts better. He tries to control his flames but this is one of those times that they have a mind of their own.

“He’s still a piece of shit and I still had to go through more Quirk training than any kid should have to go through. Maybe what you did wasn’t enough to fix everything but it was still something. So you did help me, stop acting like you’re doing me a favor by pushing me away now! I don’t blame you for any of it. I still need you and all you keep doing is confusing me and acting like I don’t matter anymore!” Shouto sits on the ground and squeezes his eyes shut while covering his eyes with his arm to try and hide his own tears.

He isn’t sure if Bakugou is going to say anything even after all that. Maybe the blonde really doesn’t care about him as much as he thought. If this doesn’t get him to change then nothing is going to, Shouto laid out everything for the other boy right now to hear and that’s all he can do.

He eventually feels Bakugou grab his arm to lower it from his face. Shouto opens his eyes and stares at the other boy who’s bent down in front of him, looking completely broken.

“I’m sorry.” Bakugou whispers so quietly that Shouto barely hears it. He wraps his arms around Shouto, despite the flames, and Shouto feels like he’s going to break as well. He holds onto the older boy like his life depends on it, not realizing until now how much he needed this.

They eventually end up lying on the ground, too exhausted to keep sitting up. Shouto doesn’t let go, he rests his head on Bakugou’s chest and he’s surprised when he’s not pushed away.

He doesn’t know how long they lie there like that. His breathing finally steadies and the flames die down after awhile as he listens to Bakugou’s heartbeat. It grounds him and keeps him from thinking about how overwhelmed he feels. There’s clearly more they need to talk through but it’s too much to think about right now.

Bakugou suddenly moves and Shouto pokes his head up from his chest to see what he’s doing.

“Since when do you play video games, Icyhot?” Bakugou asks as he grabs the Switch lying on the ground next to them, his voice hoarse from the strain of all the yelling and crying.

“Since a couple weeks ago.” Shouto answers, watching him power on the device, his voice weak and rough as well.

“What the hell were you playing?” Bakugou asks, holding it above them as the game comes on. “I can’t imagine you being any good at video games.”

“I’m not but you can’t lose in Animal Crossing. Want to see my island?” Shouto gives the faintest smile at the thought of showing off his hard work.

“Can’t lose?” Bakugou scoffs. “This isn’t a real game then if it’s not difficult.”

“Oh it’s plenty difficult, I have to pay a tanuki a mortgage and deal with unstable stalk market prices.”

Bakugou stares at him, not expecting that response.

“But it’s mostly relaxing. Who knew fishing could be fun.” Shouto adds.

Bakugou blinks at him, likely trying not to judge him.

“You can also catch bugs and build furniture. And make waterfalls and plant flower gardens and chop trees. Lots of stuff.” Shouto continues.

“Wow, so this is what the ‘great’ and ‘mysterious’ Todoroki Shouto does with his spare time besides being a creepy stalker.” Bakugou says with his eyebrows raised. Shouto doesn’t react, his face uncaring.

He snatches the Switch away from him. If Bakugou doesn’t appreciate the art form that Animal Crossing is then he doesn’t get to play. “I wasn’t stalking you.”

“There’s no way you knew about this spot without following me at least once.”

“We both happened to stumble upon this area on our own... Just at the same time.” Shouto tries to defend himself.

“You’re lucky I’m too tired to give a fuck or I’d kick your ass right now because we both know that’s not true.”

Shouto doesn’t reply to that, he can’t argue his way out of this so instead he focuses on the game. Bakugou’s still giving him a very judging look as he watches, and whether it’s because of the obvious stalking Shouto did the other day or his Animal Crossing island, he’s not sure. Probably both if he had to guess.

“What the- did that cat freak just call you Soba?” Bakugou raises an eyebrow again while pointing to the screen.

“Mm-hm, that’s my name. And he isn’t a freak, he’s Kabuki, my neighbor.”

“Your name is... Soba.” Bakugou repeats.

“Yes... it is.”

“You’re so creative.” Bakugou remarks and even Shouto recognizes the amount of snark and sarcasm in his tone. “And why the hell is it snowing on your island? It’s not winter right now.”

Shouto may or may not change the clock so that his island is only set to winter months… but Bakugou doesn’t need to know that. He turns the game off as he sets the Switch down again before enduring any more judgement, and makes a mental note never to let Bakugou find out what he named his island… which may or may not be Arendelle.

Shouto hasn’t moved from the other boy’s side this entire time but he’s going to have to soon. When the sun starts to rise, that’s when he knows they need to get up.

“What now?” Shouto mumbles into Bakugou’s shoulder.

“I don’t know.” The blonde whispers back.

Shouto lets out a reluctant sigh. “Everyone is going to be awake soon. We have the provisional license test today.”

“Yeah.” Bakugou breathes and turns his head to place his forehead against Shouto’s.

This isn’t over and Bakugou is likely just as confused and overwhelmed as he is, but Shouto has to believe that things are finally going to be better between them going forward.

“Fuck. I feel like shit.” Bakugou groans, rubbing his eyes. “Why were you out here anyway?”

“I was... I also have trouble sleeping.” Shouto’s not quite ready to admit that a fake demon haunts him every night. “Maybe we can go back to bed before we have to leave?”

“No point, it’s too late now. Just gonna have to kick ass without any sleep.” Bakugou answers with a small smile on his face.

“I don’t do so well without sleep.” Shouto feels so emotionally and physically drained, more so than he’s felt in a long time. There’s no way he’s going to be at his best today.

“How difficult can this test be for the two best students in our class? We’re already better than most pros.”

Shouto isn’t sure how true that is but he’s not going to argue.

“Sit with me on the way there.” Bakugou suddenly says and that catches Shouto off guard. “We’ll sleep on the bus.”

“You... you want me to sit with you?” He has to take a moment to comprehend if what he just heard was real or just a sleep-deprived hallucination like his demon.

“Don’t make me say it again. And for the record, tonight didn’t happen and you saw nothing, got it, Candy Cane?”

“Yeah, ok.” Shouto takes a deep breath and runs his hand through his hair. He’s such a mess right now, his eyes are puffy and still sting from the last few hours. If this was the cost of getting Bakguou to talk to him though he doesn’t care how exhausted he is. He needs to pull it together and he needs to do it fast because this test to get his provisional license is the most important test of his life so far. Working further through things with the other boy is just going to have to wait until after.

~~~~~

Before Shouto falls asleep on the bus he can hear the whispers from his classmates surrounding them. Though they tried to be subtle about sitting next to each other, it can’t be helped how shocked everyone must be seeing Bakugou willingly sit next to him. Not to mention how he’s letting Shouto use his shoulder as a pillow with his own head on top of Shouto’s.

He can only imagine what this must look like to everyone else but he can’t care too much. Somehow he got through to Bakugou on some level and he’s beyond relieved. He never realized just how much he needed the older boy’s support and now that he seems to have gotten it, it feels nice. Plus sleep. Sleep is good.

“Fucking Half n’ Half, wake up.” Shouto hears as he realizes the bus has stopped.

“No.” He groans, pressing his face harder into Bakugou’s shoulder.

“If I need to throw you off this damn bus I will.” The blonde answers as everyone in their class stares at them.

“Sleep.” Shouto mumbles. It feels like he hasn’t slept at all in weeks but sleeping next to Bakugou made everything so much better.

“Get the fuck up.” Bakugou tries to shake him off again.

Shouto feels like he might actually die if he has to wake up right now and move from the other boy’s side. It can’t be over already. He suddenly hears the distinct sound of a hand crackling and it immediately gets him to sit up.

“Bastard.” Bakugou says but there’s no real bite to it. “Get up or I’m going to have to resort to violence.”

Shouto huffs as he rubs his eyes and finally stands up. They’re last to walk off of the bus and they’re greeted with more confused stares.

“Oi fuckers, take a picture, it’ll last longer!” Bakugou snaps at everyone.

“We did on the bus.” Jirou smirks back him.

“What?! Delete it!” Bakugou shouts, trying to grab her phone.

“Wasn’t just me, we all took pics.” She laughs.

“You guys were just so cute!” Mina beams. “Took you long enough!”

“I’m going to kill all of you bastards!” Bakugou chases the girls around going after their phones.

Shouto is still too tired to react and he honestly doesn’t care if they have pictures or not. Truthfully, he kind of wants to see them for himself.

Midoriya walks up next to him with a worried look on his face. “Are you okay Todoroki-kun? You don’t look so great.”

“I’m fine. Probably just nerves.” Shouto tries his best to give a small reassuring smile.

“Whoa, Todoroki’s nervous? What does that mean for the rest of us?” Sero says, looking at his classmates.

Shouto gets the feeling that today isn’t going to be as easy as he had hoped.

Chapter Text

Shouto’s life is just full of explosions lately. For a minute there he’s not sure if going off alone for the first part of the provisional license exam is a great idea, but thankfully even in his sleep-deprived and Katsuki-obsessed state of mind, he’s still able to take down the group of students who targeted him by blowing up a tank with his fire. The prop was real and had enough of an impact for him to immobilize and tag the wanna-be ninjas so he can move onto the next round.

When he enters the waiting building he sees that no one else from 1-A is there yet, but he does notice the “passionate” student from Shiketsu High across the room. He won’t pretend that he understands what normal social cues look like, but this guy has been staring at him since they first arrived and even Shouto knows something is up with that. He stares back for awhile wondering what could be the cause of this when he suddenly hears his name.

“Shouto!” Momo beams as she walks over to him. “You already passed! I knew you would, never expected anything less from you.”

“Oh.” He shifts his gaze to her. “Yeah, I did.”

“You alright?” Momo frowns, she knows him too well now.

“Do you remember him?” Shouto asks, turning his head toward the not-so-subtle-glarer. Usually that would be Bakugou’s title but this guy is quickly surpassing the explosive blonde with his passive aggressiveness.

“Yoarashi Inasa from the entrance exam? He was the top scorer, wasn’t he? Why?”

“It’s nothing, I just don’t remember him.”

“He seems to remember you.” Momo notices the glaring as well. “Bakugou better watch out, he might have some competition!”

Shouto really hates not understanding half of what his friends say. “What?”

Momo laughs when she sees the confused expression on his face. “Don’t worry about it, he probably just has a crush on you or something. I’m going to get something to eat, want anything?”

“No thanks, I’m going to lie down before the next phase begins.” He answers, eyeing a spot against the wall away from everyone else. A few minutes to turn his brain off and sleep, that’s all he wants right now.

Momo nods. “Hopefully everyone else finishes soon. I’m getting a little worried.”

“I’m sure they will.” Shouto replies as Momo joins all the others who passed over by the drinks and snacks.

Just as he’s getting comfortable, he feels a kick to his side and he swears that whoever this is is about to get incinerated unless they have a good excuse for disrupting him.

“Oi, Candy Cane! This is like how we first met, huh? You have a thing for sleeping on the floor in weird places or what?”

Shouto opens his eyes to find a smirking Bakugou hovering over him. He wants to be angry and envisions giving the other boy the most pissed off look he can manage to give, but his face betrays him and he stupidly smiles up at the blonde instead.

“You freak, who the hell smiles when they’re kicked?”

Good question.

“Who the hell kicks a sleeping person?” Shouto responds with because he can’t actually think of a good reason why he’s smiling.

“Just making sure you’re alive, Icyhot. Did you get here before all the other extras?”

“Mm-hm.” Shouto yawns as he sits up. “It was easy, I blew up some ninjas.”

“Tch, don’t let it go to your head that you finished first. I had those two idiots following me, that’s why I didn’t beat you here.” Bakugou gestures to Kaminari and Kirishima who appear to be acting out what happened during the exam to their other classmates.

Bakugou does not look amused at the confusing reenactment. What exactly did happen to them?

“But we’re not competing against each other today.” Shouto says, of course everything is a competition to Bakugou, he should have known.

“Says you.”

“Because it’s true...?” Shouto replies with a slight tilt of his head.

“Debatable.” Bakugou waves it off as he sits down next to Shouto who immediately leans into him and closes his eyes again. “Didn’t know you were such a clingy bastard, am I going to regret letting you think this is ok for you to do whenever you want?!” Bakugou is only freaking out just a little.

“You should look up the definition of bastard, my parents were married when I was born you know.” Shouto mumbles into Bakugou’s chest after making himself comfortable against the other boy’s side.

“Don’t be a little shit, I’ll call you a bastard whenever I damn well please!”

“And I’ll be a little shit whenever I damn well please.” Shouto retorts, feeling braver than he probably should. He’ll blame it on being deliriously tired.

He expects a retaliatory hit to the head, a blast to his side, something, but when nothing happens he opens his eyes and lifts his head up to see Bakugou staring across the room. “What’s wrong?”

“Who the fuck is that asshole?!”

Oh, so now Bakugou has noticed it too.

“Yoarashi Inasa.” Shouto tells him.

“Who the fuck cares what his name is!”

“...You just asked.”

“I meant what the hell is he doing glaring at you like that?!”

“You do that sometimes.” Shouto points out.

“I’m allowed to look at you or anyone else however I want, he’s not!”

“What do you think I did?”

“We’re going to find out.” Bakugou says as he tries standing up.

Shouto instinctively holds onto him tighter in a desperate attempt to stop him so he get a few more minutes of rest. “Can’t we just sit here until the next part starts?”

“No! You can’t let that fucker get away with this!”

“Lots of people probably look at me like that because they know I’m better skilled than them.”

Bakugou scoffs at that.

“You don’t agree?” Shouto asks looking up at him through sleepy eyes, his head still comfortably using Bakugou’s chest as a pillow.

“Better skilled than most people, yes, but not me.”

“Debatable.” Shouto replies. That’s when he feels a smack to his head, he was asking for it really.

“You really are a little shit, you know that?! I’m trying to be nice here and defend your honor or whatever!”

“Nice is trying to start an unnecessary fight with one of the strongest people here?”

“If you’re not going to stand up for yourself then I’m going to have to do it.” Bakugou pries Shouto off of him so he can get up.

Shouto groans as he watches Bakugou march over to Inasa. He reluctantly stands to his feet and follows him.

“Hey asshole! What the fuck is your problem, huh?! You got an issue with the Half n’ Half bastard say it to his face instead of being a coward over here!”

Shouto sighs and quickly walks over before Inasa is able to respond to Bakugou. “Did I offend you somehow?”

Inasa does indeed look very offended. “Oh no, I’m sorry. Did I hurt your feelings? Well the thing is, son of Endeavor, I just can’t help but hate both of you. You’ve changed a little bit since the first time our paths crossed but you definitely still have your father’s eyes.”

Shouto takes a step back, he was definitely not expecting to hear such a personal attack. He forgets that most people probably think he actually likes Endeavor. “My father’s eyes?”

Bakugou takes one glance at the candy cane’s reaction and it’s game over, he’s triggered and Shouto knows he has about two seconds to stop him from doing something stupid.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Bakugou screams with his palms sparking, ready to go in for a punch or a blast or something that for sure will get him disqualified before the next phase even begins.

“Bakugou, stop!” Shouto shouts, immediately holding him back.

Before any of them can react further than that, the walls suddenly start coming down around them and it’s announced that the rescue portion of the exam is starting.

“FUCK THIS.” Bakugou takes Shouto’s hand and pulls him away. “We’re doing this part together.”

Shouto isn’t sure how great of an idea that is, but it probably wouldn’t be a bad thing to keep an eye on the blonde given how agitated he is right now. He feels bad for the poor souls who he’s going to be “rescuing” during this test.

“Whoa Bakubro, what was that all about?” Kaminari suddenly appears, following them with Kirishima by his side.

“Go away!” Bakugou barks back at them.

“Aw come on.” Kaminari pouts.

“Dude, you’re suddenly like the Bakugou whisperer now, what’s your secret?” Kirishima asks Shouto as he ignores Bakugou’s wishes and continues to walk behind him.

Shouto’s drawing a blank on how to explain that.

“WHY ARE YOU EXTRAS ALWAYS FOLLOWING ME?!” Bakugou screams, his eye twitching with annoyance.

“We just wanna!” Kirishima and Kaminari both answer with a smile.

~~~~~

“Hey, why does Todoroki get to walk next to you but we have to stay behind you?” Kaminari asks as the four boys make their way to the mountain zone to find people to rescue.

“Because I said so!” Bakugou is clearly still angry from the Inasa encounter.

“Dude, I’m starting to wonder if Bakugou might like Todoroki in a non-bro kind of way.” Kaminari whispers to Kirishima. “If you know what I mean.”

“Yeah man, I agree.” The redhead whispers back. “Something weird is definitely happening between them.”

“What the hell are you two whispering about?!” Bakugou turns around with a huge scowl on his face.

“U-uh, nothing!” Kaminari squeaks out after seeing how full of rage Bakugou is currently in.

“He’s right Bakubro, it’s nothing, don’t worry about it!” Kirishima comes to his friend’s defense. “Hey, do you hear something?”

“Help, someone! My arm hurts pretty bad.” A man’s voice echoes from nearby.

“Mine, too. Save us!” A woman joins in.

They walk over to a cliff and see a couple standing below them in a crater.

“Shut up! Save yourselves you whiners!” Bakugou yells at them and Shouto has to hold back an awkward laugh. Bakugou’s not wrong, they don’t look that hurt, but that’s definitely not the correct way to go about it. Hell, even Endeavor would have probably been nicer.

The other two boys look horrified on behalf of their explosive friend. “Man, you’ve got to work on your rescue style.” Kaminari says with wide eyes.

“They might be really hurt, we can’t just leave ‘em here.” Kirishima adds.

“Wait, we are supposed to be low priority victims with only minor injuries.” The woman says causing Shouto to look at Bakugou. Is he actually going to get away with being so rude?

“So you think that he figured it out and that’s why he told us to go off on our own?” The man mumbles back to the woman.

“They took it in a way that made it sound ok?” Kaminari turns to the other boys. “Todoroki, what do you think?”

“I agree that they don’t look seriously injured, they can probably manage to get to the first aid station safely if we point them in the right direction.”

“Ha!” Bakugou laughs, finally someone is on his side.

“Nicely point them in the right direction.” Shouto emphasizes.

“Pff, whatever, I’m nice.” Bakugou crosses his arms.

Before any of them can object and give examples of how very untrue that statement is, there’s suddenly an explosion (again because that’s apparently just how Shouto’s life is now) and they hear an announcement that there’s been an attack. Fighting a villain, even if it’s fake, sounds more exciting so Shouto takes off toward where the action is without thinking it through.

He figures Bakugou will follow him but doesn’t turn around to find out. He blasts his ice on instinct once he arrives at the scene but it doesn’t do much to stop the pretend villain.

“Your power is nothing.” Gang Orca tells him as he suddenly feels the wind pick up.

“Of course you’re here, too.” Inasa says floating in the air above him.

Shouto tries his best not to get distracted. “Why don’t you go help with the first aid station instead? I’ll take care of him.” Inasa needs to leave before Bakugou gets there or Shouto worries how the blonde is going to react.

Gang Orca prepares another attack and Shouto uses his flames this time to try and stop him but Inasa gets in his way. Now he’s getting angry and where the hell is Bakugou?!

“Why’d you use your flames? The heat makes the air rise up!” Inasa shouts at him.

“Because he didn’t fall to my ice! You ruined my shot on purpose, didn’t you?! Using your wind to blow away my fire!” Shouto feels himself slipping into a toddler-like tantrum. He’s hungry (he fully regrets not utilizing the snacks that were provided to them during their break), he’s tired, and this guy is bullshit.

“You blocked me so you’d get all the glory!”

“What? Why would I do something like that?!” Such bullshit.

“Why wouldn’t you? Hatred’s in your blood, you are Endeavor’s son-”

KABOOM!

“What? He missed?” One of the pretend terrorists whisper what everyone else is thinking after a sudden and unexpected explosion goes off near Inasa which temporarily brings him to the ground.

“Oh, I didn’t miss.”

Finally, there’s Bakugou.

“What are you doing?!” Inasa screams at the blonde, too shocked to realize what happened yet.

Is Shouto smiling again? Did Bakugou really just blast this wind boy to shut him up? Does Shouto like that??

He is smiling, crap. The smile is quickly wiped off his face though when he’s suddenly hit with cement in his shoulder.

“Like my cement gun? This is outrageous, I can’t believe you’re arguing!” Gang Orca yells as his sidekicks start shooting all of their own cement guns, and end up hitting Bakugou and Inasa as well. Shouto puts up a small ice wall to shield them from getting hit even more.

“What’s your problem?! You attacked me!” Inasa takes a step toward Bakugou.

“My problem?!” Bakugou scoffs, not backing down. “You’re the one with a problem! You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about so just shut the fuck up! This has nothing to do with Endeavor!”

“This has everything to do with Endeavor!” Inasa turns his attention to Shouto. “It was a shock to meet your cold-blooded father because the only thing I could see in his eyes was an insatiable anger aimed at the entire world. And then, at the entrance exam, I saw him and I knew who you were immediately because when I said hello, your eyes were the same as his. You and your father are the only heroes I can’t accept. You don’t deserve the title!”

“Wow, what a lame fucking excuse not to like someone, idiot! Get over yourself!” Bakugou is fuming and Shouto is still trying to comprehend what exactly is happening. This has been such a long day and now he’s involuntarily on fire. He was doing so well trying to forget about his father lately, but now this Shiketsu High student is messing that all up and pissing him off. And pissing Bakugou off too which is just never a good thing.

“Shouto is nothing like Endeavor. Seems like you have more in common with that prick than he does.” Bakugou continues getting in Inasa’s face, his red eyes turning a shade darker.

“Are you sure you aren’t speaking about yourself?” The wind boy replies towering over the blonde.

“Don’t ever compare me to that abusive asshole.” Bakugou says with such an intensity that it sends chills down Shouto’s spine.

“Hmph, a villain in front of you and you’ve done nothing.” Gang Ocra interrupts them and shoots his sonic Quirk at Inasa which fully knocks him down, making him unable to get up again. “No more games.” The pretend villain suddenly appears next to them and grabs Shouto and Bakugou by their necks. He uses his quirk on them too and throws them to the ground.

“Fuck! I can’t move!” Bakugou yells as he tires to get up but it’s useless.

Shouto can’t move either and part of him just wants to lie there in his own shame and have this day finally end. They’re clearly not going to pass now, if this had been a real attack there’s no excuse for how he’s reacting to hearing someone go off about Endeavor.

“Get out of your head Halfie, you can still use your fire even if you can’t move!” Bakugou shouts at him and then glares at Inasa. “You too Baldy, be fucking useful you piece of shit and do something!”

Of course, even if they’re doomed to fail Bakugou still wants to continue the fight and win against the pretend villain. It’s something Shouto oddly admires about the other boy even if that sort of attitude is guaranteed to continue getting them into trouble like this.

He shifts his head toward Inasa who nods back at him, seems that they’re in agreement that they need to work together to stop the villain. With one last ditch effort Shouto ignites as much fire as his exhausted body can manage, and combined with the wind it creates a swirling flame cyclone around them.

Shouto keeps it up as long as he can as the others continue rescuing and evacuating people from all of the disaster zones. Unfortunately, it’s not happening quickly enough.

“Not bad, an ordinary villain would give up, but what would you do if your desperate trap was not enough? You must always be planning your next move.” Gang Orca releases another sonic blast that easily puts out the flames. “So... What now?”

Gang Orca begins walking over to them again and Shouto is out of ideas. He looks to Bakugou for what to do but even he seems unsure. In Shouto’s defense, he did warn the other boy that he doesn’t do well without any sleep, and after their emotional night mixed with Bakugou’s temper, it’s no surprise that this is happening to them.

A loud crack sound suddenly fills the air. “No, get away from them!” Midoriya shouts, kicking Gang Orca’s arm which visibly starts to shatter from the impact.

“Go to hell, Deku! We don’t need your shitty help!” Bakugou growls, crackling his palms even though nothing useful can come from doing that.

While Shouto wants to agree, they do need the help and it’s their own fault for getting into this mess. Bakugou glares at Midoriya, his face in a permanent scowl now, and Shouto has to wonder why the blonde despises their green-haired friend so much. Clearly there’s something he’s not understanding about them.

A buzzer goes off before Gang Orca or anyone else can make another move and just like that, the exam is over.

“Aw man, we always miss all the fun.” Kaminari frowns as he and Kirishima finally arrive and walk over to Bakugou.

Fun isn’t how Shouto would describe it.

“Don’t just stand there, fucking help me up Dunce Face!” Bakugou shouts as his friends bend down to help him get back to his feet.

“Dude, what happened? We knew you’d just cause trouble if you came over here, that’s why we tried to stop you at first!” Kirishima tells him as he takes a look around and sees the fallout from the fight.

“Yeah I know, Shitty Hair, thanks for nothing!” Bakugou jerks away from him, he does not need more help from anyone. “Someone help Icyhot up or he’s going to fall asleep there.” He huffs, wobbling as he tries to find his balance to fully stand upright again.

Shouto hadn’t realized he closed his eyes.

“What the fuck, I said Icyhot not that stupid wind asshole!” Bakugou growls when he realizes the two boys are already helping Inasa up.

“Todoroki-kun, are you okay?” Midoriya asks extending his hand down to Shouto.

“Back off Deku! He doesn’t your help!” Bakugou pushes him to the side and grabs Shouto by the shirt to pull him up. Because of how unstable he still is, all that does it cause them both to fall down again.

Shouto has lost count how many times he’s found himself pinned underneath Bakugou in unusual situations. Not that he’s complaining.

“I HATE EVERYTHING!” Bakugou screams out his frustration but makes no attempt to get up again, instead becoming dead weight on top of Shouto.

Shouto doesn’t have the strength to push Bakugou off of him nor does he really want to. Once they get up the reality is going to be that they failed and Aizawa is going to kill them both for acting so dumb and reckless.

“Definitely some non-bro vibes going on here.” Kirishima whispers to Kaminari as they stand next to the defeated boys on the ground. “How long until you think they realize it themselves?”

“STOP YOUR WHISPERING YOU EXTRAS!” Bakugou shouts while still keeping his head pressed down on Shouto’s chest.

Shouto has the strange urge to pet Bakugou’s hair but stops himself, he does have some self-control believe it or not. It’s been a very long and confusing 24 hours and he just hopes that nothing else bad happens to them for awhile.

Chapter Text

Surprise surprise, Bakugou and Shouto are the only two students from class 1-A who don’t receive their provisional licenses. As they board the bus to head back to the dorms, Shouto avoids meeting Aizawa’s disappointed (and slightly frightening) gaze and instead keeps his eyes on his co-failure who decides to sit alone and sulk.

There’s a good chance that Shouto has ruined any progress they had just made together during the past 24 hours and the idea of going back to being ignored by the blonde is difficult to think about. He just hopes that Bakugou doesn’t blame him too much for what happened. In Shouto’s defense, he didn’t force him to blow up Inasa, that was 100% Bakugou’s decision.

Momo sits next to him on the ride back to UA and looks as if she’s going to burst with questions at any moment. When he doesn’t give in, she does indeed figuratively burst.

“Shouto! Stop ignoring me!” She demands as she rips out the headphones he was wearing to drown out the realities of his failure of a life.

“I’m not ignoring you.” He definitely is.

“Tell me everything! What happened?! Why were you and Bakugou fighting that Shiketsu guy? Was it because he does have a crush on you after all?! Was Bakugou fighting him to win your love?! Was-”

“I lied, I am ignoring you.” Shouto grabs his headphones back from her.

“No, you must tell me! It’s a requirement of our friendship to confide your love life to me!”

Shouto can’t tell if this is a true requirement in a friendship (and he doesn’t have a love life so what is she even talking about anyway), but knowing how over-the-top Momo can get over certain things, it probably is true in her friendships.

“He said something about my father and we overreacted a little.” Shouto gives in.

“A little? You and Bakugou lost your minds out there! Imagine if that had been a real emergency!”

“I know, and that’s why we failed.”

“Promise me you’ll stop acting so impulsively from now on, you worry me sometimes.” Momo frowns and she truly does seem concerned for him. Yes he’s impulsive and no it probably won’t go away. He feels terrible for disappointing her like this but she doesn’t understand the full story of his upbringing or his relationship with Endeavor. All she knows if that he tried to run away once but nothing beyond that. Someday he’ll tell her just how bad things were growing up but today is definitely not that day.

“I’ll try my best.” Shouto sighs and turns away from her as he stares down at his phone, hoping she drops it for now.

He notices that he has a text from his sister congratulating him on getting his provisional license and asking for a picture of it which only makes him feel worse. Clearly she had assumed he’d pass without having any issues. He’s not sure how he’s going to break it to her that he failed and he’s not sure how he’s going to tell Enji either. The logical solution would be to ignore the old man and not say anything at all, but he knows word will get around to his father eventually that his son acted foolishly yet again.

That’s a future Shouto problem though, present Shouto is going to watch funny cat videos and try to forget his existence right now.

~~~~~

When they finally get back to the dorms, 1-A starts to celebrate and prepare for classes to begin again the next day. Shouto listens in on everyone’s excitement while keeping to himself and sitting off to the side. He should have gone to bed already but he wants to see if Bakugou is going to say anything to him before the night ends. He still has no idea what the blonde is thinking or if he’s upset at him or not.

While lost in his thoughts, he notices said blonde shove his way past Midoriya across the room and say something that seems to stun and confuse the green-haired boy. Shouto knows something is up with the two of them but can’t think of what it could be about.

He’s getting increasingly tired and begins zoning out when Bakugou suddenly appears and plops himself down next to him.

That’s when instant relief and the instinct to lean into him kick in.

“YOU ICYHOT BASTARD! I never said it was ok to do this!” Bakugou yells at him but much like earlier in the day, he doesn’t actually make a move to stop Shouto from using him as a personal pillow.

“It’s involuntary.” Shouto mumbles, holding onto him just a little tighter.

“It’s involuntary for you to use me for your pathetic comforting needs!?” Bakugou looks at him incredulously.

Shouto yawns. “Yeah.” If Bakugou truly wanted him to get off of him, he would certainly make it happen instead of letting Shouto bury his head further into his shoulder.

“Idiot, you’re barely awake and we don’t exactly fit in with this dumb celebration.” Bakugou gestures to the rest of the class who have all been talking about the day’s events. “I’m gonna have to see enough of your stupid ass in those extra courses so get the fuck off of me and go to bed.”

“Bakugou, you’re thinking about Todoroki’s ass!?” Mina giggles from nearby with the rest of the girls.

So observant those girls are. In fact, now that Shouto looks around he realizes that the entire class is staring at them with mildly confused and concerned faces.

“AHH! More pictures!” Hagakure shouts excitedly as a phone appears out of nowhere and she snaps a pic of them together on the couch. Despite the sudden attention, Shouto hasn’t moved an inch from Bakugou’s side. “You guys are SO cute!”

“SHUT UP!” Bakugou growls, his cheeks suddenly sporting a mild blush as he pushes Shouto hard enough that if causes him to fall to the ground.

Under normal circumstances this would have meant that whoever decided they could just shove Shouto off of a couch like some sort of rag doll would instantly be frozen, but right now he settles for giving a (very unconvincing) glare because this is Bakugou and he doesn’t think he’ll ever have the desire to cause any real harm to him. He also doesn’t think the other boy would stay frozen for very long and he’s too exhausted to deal with an impromptu fight in the common room.

Their classmates nervously wait to see what kind of violence is about to erupt between the two of them as Bakugou grabs Shouto’s hand and pulls him up with way more force than necessary. Shouto braces himself for the worst but the older boy only hastily drags him toward the elevators.

Shouto stumbles for a moment but catches himself and then follows Bakugou as they awkwardly wait for the elevator to open with everyone still watching them, all even more confused than they already were to begin with.

“COME ON ALREADY!” Bakugou punches the up button repeatedly trying to ignore their nosy classmates’ stares.

“You only have to press it once, you know.” Shouto tells him very matter-of-fact... a fact that Bakugou doesn’t seem to appreciate being told if the sudden angry twitch in his eye is anything to go by.

Finally the doors open and Bakugou pulls Shouto inside with him, then pushes the 4th and 5th floor buttons respectively. Shouto frowns at the realization that they’re going to their own rooms, he’s not sure why he thought otherwise.

“Didn’t know you were such a wuss, I didn’t push you that hard.” Bakugou says noticing the sudden expression change.

“It’s not that...” Shouto tries to think of an excuse for his disappointment as he stares down at the floor. “I’m just thinking about today.” At least it’s not a complete lie.

Bakugou gets this weird look on his face that Shouto can’t quite interpret as he does something unexpected and places his hand under Shouto’s chin to lift his head back up. “You do know you don’t have his eyes, right?” He tells him and Shouto forgets how to breathe momentarily as red eyes meet his own.

“Yeah, only one of them.”

Bakugou drops his hand and throws his arms up in the air out of frustration. “Are you always this dumb?! That’s not what that wind idiot was talking about!”

“I know...” Shouto sighs in response, he knows exactly what Inasa meant. “He was saying that I act like Endeavor. Unfortunately, my father is the one person who I’ve spent the most time around so it’s inevitable that I may have unintentionally picked up some of his bad traits.”

“You ever get to see your mom again? Or were you actually spending most of your time with Endeavor?”

“Only Endeavor. Eventually I was able to spend more time with my sister but other than that I didn’t get to interact with anyone else until I came here.”

“Explains why I never saw you again. Thought I’d eventually see you around somewhere but I never did.”

“I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere. I think it was assumed I’d try to run away again.”

“Guess he’s pretty confident that you won’t do that now. You ever think about it?”

“Why? Offering a new escape plan?”

“You wish.” Bakugou scoffs, crossing his arms and giving a slight smirk.

Shouto crosses his own arms. “No thanks, I’m capable of running away on my own if I needed to. Your help is no longer required, I’d rather not die and need rescuing from a top hero again.”

“Your awkward self wouldn’t make it out of the country, let alone the continent!”

“I know how to travel.”

“Ok, sure. Where would you go, how would you get there, and how would you hide yourself from being recognized as the oblivious candy cane that you are?”

“...” Maybe Bakugou has a point.

“You should widen your horizons and at least go see your mom before deciding that you’re capable of randomly leaving the country.”

Shouto hums in agreement. He’s been wanting to visit her but hasn’t made the effort yet. With everything that’s been happening lately he should probably do that sooner rather than later. The thought of it makes him nervous though so he keeps his attention on Bakugou instead.

It’s strange having the blonde talk to him like a normal person instead of screaming every other word at the top of his lungs. It increases Shouto’s desire to sleepily lean into him again but he stops himself because he doesn’t want to press his luck for a fourth time that day.

But... you only live once.

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” Bakugou shoves Shouto off of him when the elevator doors finally open on the 4th floor. “GO TO BED YOU HALF N’ HALF IDIOT!”

Well, the no screaming thing was nice while it lasted.

~~~~~

All good things must come to an end and for Shouto that means his much-needed sleep is interrupted after only a couple of hours. Like clockwork he wakes up from a terrible sleep paralysis attack which makes him really wish he would suffer from regular nightmares instead. Once he finds his breath and can move, he immediately gets up and is heading toward the stairs before he knows where he’s going. He finds himself at Bakugou’s door, hesitant on whether he should knock or not. He can’t explain it but somehow he thinks seeing him will make him feel better, probably not a thought most people would have about the explosive blonde but yet here he is.

He ends up knocking twice, even calls out Bakugou’s name quietly, but there’s no answer. Either the older boy is ignoring him or he’s in such a deep sleep he doesn’t hear him. He could also be at his usual spot on campus that they were at the night before, but given how exhausting their day was Shouto doesn’t think he’d have the energy to go there.

Sighing, Shouto gives up and goes back to his room. He decides to step out onto his balcony for a bit, hoping the fresh air will help him feel sleepy enough to go back to bed for a few hours before he has to get up again. He leans on the side and stares at nothing in particular when he hears the front door open and close. He looks down to watch as Bakugou walks away from the building with Midoriya slowly following behind him.

~~~~~

Shouto follows Bakugou and Midoriya as quietly as he can, making sure to stay off of the path and hide in between the trees as much as possible. Bakugou had called him out for being a creepy stalker and well, he couldn’t deny that now, could he? But something weird was happening with these two and Shouto has to see for himself what’s going on. He has a sneaking suspicion that it isn’t anything good. Not that what he and Bakugou did the night before would be considered good either, but somehow he doubts that the blonde is dragging Deku out in the middle of the night to cry it out together and then play Animal Crossing until the sun comes up. Shouto still hasn’t had time to process that that actually happened to him only 24 hours ago.

Before he knows it, they’re at Ground Beta and Bakugou is telling Midoriya how much he hates him. Harsh, but nothing new. Shouto finds a spot behind one of the nearby buildings to hide behind, he really doesn’t think Bakugou would appreciate finding him there even if they do seem to be on better terms now. He peeks out from behind the building to hear them better and-

“You got your Quirk from All Might, didn’t you? He gave you his power.”

...Did Shouto hear that correctly? He continues to stay silent as he listens to Bakugou explain why he came to this conclusion and when Midoriya doesn’t answer him, it’s all but confirmation of it being true. Shouto knows this and so does Bakugou, yet Bakugou continues to egg Deku on.

When they break out into a fight, Shouto can’t say that he’s surprised. He internally struggles with whether to intervene, it’s not his place to do so but if he doesn’t do anything he’s nervous that Bakugou is going to destroy the entire area. And possibly Deku along with it.

“You got so much better and I destroyed All Might. It’s because of me he ended up losing his power. If I had been stronger... if I hadn’t been kidnapped by villains... then it never would have happened. All Might knows it was my fault, but hasn’t said anything. What the hell am I supposed to do?!”

Oh.

Shouto has to bite his lip to stop himself from speaking out after hearing Bakugou confess to having more guilt. So not only does he feel responsible for letting Shouto down when they were children, he also feels responsible for All Might losing his power? Why didn’t he tell him that when they had their own confrontation the night before? ...Or did he? Shouto can’t remember, but he wishes he had known so he could tell Bakugou how ridiculous that is. He’s sure Midoriya is going to tell him the same, he hopes, because he can’t stand the thought of Bakugou harboring so much guilt and someone needs to tell him everything is ok. Maybe it isn’t ok, but someone still needs to tell him it is anyway.

He has absolutely no idea what he should do as he watches the two rivals continue to fight. He feels the need to help Midoriya but also help Bakugou at the same time. Despite how fond he’s become of the other boy lately, he can’t justify what he’s doing and it’s getting dangerous now. It pains Shouto knowing that he’s likely the only one who’s ever seen the different non-psychotic side of Bakugou.

Finally after what feels like an eternity of Shouto internally battling with himself whether to intervene, the fight ends. Bakugou kneels over Deku, holding him to the ground and it doesn’t seem like Midoriya has any fight left in him. Shouto lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and quietly waits to see what happens now that it’s over.

“That’s it, we’re done here. Even after using his strength and making it your own, somehow you still managed to lose to me.” Bakugou pants. “Why? How could you lose?”

“Stop this right now, both of you.” All Might suddenly appears and Shouto goes still, he does not want to be caught here too because he’s gotten into enough trouble lately.

He’s starting to wonder if he has ninja ancestry because he’s getting really freaking good at stalking people undetected. He listens in as All Might attempts to comfort a very distraught Bakugou. Shouto rubs his eyes not realizing or knowing when he had started crying too. It’s difficult seeing the older boy like this for the second night in a row.

Bakugou sits on the ground, curls up into a ball and then sighs. “Ok, so talk. Who knows about you two?”

“Recovery Girl and Principal Nezu do.” All Might replies and Shouto is relieved to hear that his father isn’t somehow involved with this too. It shocks him that not even Aizawa knows though. “And apparently Young Todoroki seeing how he’s been hiding behind that building over there.”

A chill shoots down Shouto’s body as his heart sinks and his eyes go wide, some ninja he is. Bakugou and Midoriya are both equally surprised as he sheepishly walks out from his hiding spot.

“What the hell Icyhot!” Bakugou manages to say through his shock.

“Todoroki-kun, you were here this entire time?” Midoriya asks in disbelief.

Shouto can only nod as he stands before All Might, no use in trying to justify it.

“Perhaps the next time you’re concerned about your friends sneaking off in the middle of the night, you should inform a teacher instead of following them?” The former hero advises.

“I’m sorry... I wasn’t... I was just... I saw them leave and...” Shouto immediately begins apologizing but isn’t exactly sure how to explain himself.

“How much did you overhear?”

“...Enough.”

Bakugou suddenly speaks up. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with us. We won’t tell anyone what’s going on. Unlike Deku, we can keep our mouths shut.” He tells All Might.

Shouto nods in agreement, he’s not going to reveal anything either. Who’d believe him anyway? They’d just think he’s some crazy conspiracy theorist.

As they start walking back to the dorms, All Might explains his backstory and everything involved with All for One and One for All. Shouto does his best to listen. He’ll need to ask Midoriya to clarify some things for him when he’s in a better state of mind though, right now his thoughts are everywhere and it’s hard to comprehend what all of this means.

“When we get closer, if you can manage to get back inside while avoiding Aizawa, I won’t get you involved. You showed some restraint and didn’t fight, no use in all three of you being punished.” All Might tells Shouto.

Well that’s certainly new. While growing up, Shouto was used to getting severely punished after doing even the tiniest thing wrong, so this is definitely a strange feeling.

He nods but keeps his focus on Bakugou who has his head down toward the ground as they walk. He can’t bare to see him like this, he extends his hand out hoping the other boy will take it even if it only provides a tiny bit of comfort.

Bakugou doesn’t hesitate, he grabs Shouto’s hand without looking up. Midoriya squeaks next to them.

“Shut it, Deku!” Bakugou growls, finally looking up.

“Kacchan, how- what- why- you and-” Midoriya rambles not able to collect all his thoughts as he shifts his head back and forth between them.

“Keep it to yourself, Deku!”

“Ok ok but... what exactly am I keeping to myself??” Midoriya squeaks again not exactly sure what he’s been witnessing all day between his two classmates.

“This is my Candy Cane, got it!?”

“What!?! Kacchan and- Todoroki-kun?”

“Shut up! What did I just say!? Do you want me to kick your ass again-”

“No no, I’m just- I- wow. I mean I guess it makes sense, I have been noticing the way you look at him and-”

“DEKU SHUT UP!”

“Ok ok!” Midoriya puts his hands up, his cheeks getting red.

As per usual, Shouto isn’t entirely sure what’s happening but he goes along with it.

Once they’re almost back, Shouto reluctantly lets go of Bakugou’s hand and thinks about how he’s going to get inside. To avoid the wrath of Aizawa, he will find a way.

Could be a good time to practice his Elsa stairs which he’s secretly been working on ever since he watched Frozen with Bakugou all those years ago. He’ll never reach the level of castle making but stairs seem like an achievable goal and a useful one at that.

“Uh, should I wait for you at your room or...?”

Bakugou turns his head, not able to make eye contact with him. “Yeah, whatever.”

“Ok...” Shouto replies as he goes around the corner to where the balconies are.

Bakugou sighs as he walks toward the front door to confront his very annoyed and very tired sensei.

~~~~~

Making stairs is not quite as easy as Shouto had hoped it would be, but somehow he manages to climb up the balconies to reach Bakugou’s room anyway. Thankfully the door is open so he waits on the blonde’s bed and gets a good look around. It’s oddly normal, but it’s not like he had any expectations for what it might look like otherwise.

When Bakugou finally gets back he doesn’t say anything. Shouto sits up on the bed half expecting to be kicked out. When that doesn’t happen, he patiently waits for the other boy to change into clean clothes and finally acknowledge him.

Bakugou sits next to him on the bed, his head down again. Shouto doesn’t know what to say or if he should say anything at all. They already hashed out a lot the previous night but so much has already happened since then. Besides Bakugou breaking down again, they both learned the truth about All Might and Midoriya. It’s not something Shouto feels like talking about yet and he’s sure that Bakugou doesn’t either. He honestly doesn’t know what the other boy wants, but the way he claimed Shouto as his candy cane earlier that night means they probably do have something they need to talk about. Whether they do that tonight, that’s to be determined.

“Bakugou?” Shouto says in barely a whisper, trying to read the other boy’s expression the best that he can.

Bakugou looks up at him, red eyes glistening with more unshed tears.

“What do you want me to do?” Shouto asks because he honestly doesn’t know what Bakugou needs right now. He’s not going to do anything to set him off if he can help it.

“I don’t know.” Bakugou answers quietly.

“...Do you want to talk about what happened?”

“No.” Bakugou is definite with his answer. “I don’t.”

“Ok. Just... one question?”

Bakugou looks at him again, no hint of anger or annoyance in his face. It’s still not something that Shouto is used to seeing. He wonders if he looks the same way… tired and worthless. It’s a feeling he knows all too well.

“What... are we doing?” Shouto isn’t quite sure how to ask what he’s thinking about.

“What do you mean?”

Shouto thinks carefully about what he’s going to say next. It’s tricky talking to Bakugou even in normal circumstances but he especially doesn’t want to risk saying the wrong thing right now. Saying ‘I don’t know’ isn’t going to be useful and it’ll likely only make things worse so he needs to figure out what he’s really trying to ask. “Are we friends?”

“I don’t know what we are.” Bakugou sighs, still unable to make direct eye contact with Shouto. Shouto frowns, he can feel the pain radiating from the other boy right now and all he wants to do is make him feel better.

“Do you want me to leave?” Shouto suddenly feels the urge to cry again. It’s hard seeing someone else so vulnerable, it’s not like he didn’t know others had their own emotional pain to deal with but seeing it first hand like this is difficult. He just wants to fix it.

“No.” Bakugou answers as he falls back so that he’s lying down now.

Shouto still has no idea what he’s supposed to do, how he’s supposed to help Bakugou or what the other boy even wants from him. When he starts to get lost in his thoughts, he feels a tug at his arm.

“Lie down you idiot or are you going to sleep sitting up?”

“Uh.” Shouto manages to stutter as he lets Bakugou pull him down to lie next to him.

They stay like that for the next few minutes, lying next to and staring at each other in the dark. It should be awkward but somehow it’s not.

“What, suddenly scared to test boundaries?” Bakugou breaks the silence.

“This... is your bed.”

“Yeah and?”

Shouto goes quiet again and doesn’t move, it was one thing to sleepily grab onto Bakugou occasionally throughout the day but it’d be another to do that in the blonde’s own bed. Even Shouto knows that that’s... maybe not normal.

After a minute passes, Shouto doesn’t have to think about it any longer because Bakugou is the one suddenly moving in closer to him. It causes his body to temporarily freeze, thankfully only figuratively, but he still has to tell himself do not set yourself on fire when the older boy holds onto him.

Shouto begins breathing normally again when he feels Bakugou relax against his side.

“Uh, are we ever going to talk about this or...?” Shouto whispers.

“No.”

“...Ok.”

No use in questioning it anymore, Shouto hugs his arms around Bakugou to hold him closer and rests his head against the spiky blonde hair. And for the first time in his life he just feels... content. Still confused, but safe, and that’s good enough for now. Maybe he’ll finally get some sleep.

~~~~~

“Oi Candy Cane, starting to think you’re actually dead this time!”

Shouto is startled awake with a loud voice yelling at him while a book smacks him in the head. He doesn’t remember falling asleep and wait- he’s not in his own bed.

“You’re going to be late for class, been trying to wake you up for 10 minutes already!” Bakugou shouts. “Get out of my bed, asshole!”

“No.” Shouto simply says, going back under the covers. He’s too tired to be awake already.

“I’m going to throw another book at you!”

“Go ahead and try.” Shouto mumbles.

“You little shit!” Without hesitation, Bakugou chucks another book at Shouto.

Shouto calmly raises his left hand out from under the blanket and incinerates the book before it hits him. This time he was prepared.

“YOU BASTARD! That was my math book!”

“That wasn’t nice, you should consider learning how to wake people up in better ways.”

“Oh, I’m gonna show you how nice I’m not if you don’t get out of my bed.”

If Shouto had confidently learned anything the last two days (and he’s learned quite a lot, actually) it’s that Bakugou’s threats against him are more or less empty. While he knows that he does need to get up and go to class, he’s willing to sacrifice being on time just to see if the blonde will give in and come back into bed with him for a little longer.

When he doesn’t hear Bakugou for a moment, he gets suspicious and lifts his head out from the covers to see what’s happening.

Shouto definitely underestimated the other boy’s level of over exaggerated insanity, he certainly wasn’t expecting Bakugou to pick up his desk to throw this time. He can’t help but stare at Bakugou’s arms, that desk can’t be light and yet he’s holding it like it weighs nothing.

“You want a desk thrown at you too!?”

“Not particularly.”

Because of the way Bakugou is holding the desk, some of the drawers suddenly open and a ton of All Might merchandise falls out. They both stare at it all scattered on the floor and Bakugou awkwardly puts the desk down.

“IT’S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE! You saw nothing, got it?!”

Shouto shrugs, he doesn’t care that Bakugou has so much All Might memorabilia. Now if it had been Endeavor collectibles that would have been extremely disturbing. “I have All Might onesie pajamas and he saw me wearing them.” He decides to tell the older boy for no reason other than it was the first thing he was reminded of.

Bakugou doesn’t react at first and Shouto is sure that he’s being hardcore judged. Instead, the blonde starts laughing and it stuns Shouto hearing such a sound. It’s... unnatural, but he likes it.

“It wasn’t that funny.” It was humiliating, though it probably did save him from getting a worse scolding from All Might. Perhaps that’s why he got off easy last night as well, maybe All Might is incapable at getting too upset with him. He’ll have to save that sudden realization for future reference.

“You’re serious? You really have that?”

Shouto nods. “I wear it often at home, it pisses my dad off.”

“I bet it does.” Bakugou smirks, liking the sound of that.

Shouto takes this opportunity to attempt to go back under the blankets when Bakugou yells at him again.

“You only have 5 minutes now until class starts, I should have just let your lazy ass sleep in longer and let you deal with the consequences!”

“You’re not going to class too?”

“No, I’m suspended.”

“Oh.”

“Are you always this useless in the morning?” Bakugou throws a clean uniform at him. “Just borrow mine, you need to go now or you won’t make it on time.”

Shouto seriously contemplates just staying there with Bakugou and dealing with Aizawa later. It seems that the blonde isn’t going to let that happen though.

“You need me to fucking dress you too?” Bakugou snaps.

Shouto yawns and finally gets out of bed with a huff.

“And your hair.” Bakugou sighs.

“What about my hair?” Shouto pouts, self-consciously looking up.

Bakugou walks over to him and fixes the mixed red and white strands.

“Uh.” Shouto mumbles, brain still only half online.

“You’re so screwed. Aizawa is going to know you were involved last night just by looking at how much of a mess you are right now.”

“I wasn’t involved though. I wanted to stop you but...”

“You also wanted to see Deku get his ass kicked?” Bakugou smirks.

“No.” Maybe.

“It doesn’t matter, it’s good you didn’t intervene. I would have kicked your ass too.”

“You wouldn’t have.”

“You wanna bet?”

“Your problem isn’t with me.”

“You’re about to be my problem if you don’t get ready and leave.”

“Why do you care? You get to do whatever you want today.”

“I have to clean all day, asshole. With Deku.”

Shouto can’t help but chuckle at that.

“You fucking princess, you’ve probably never cleaned anything in your life.”

That shuts Shouto up real quick.

“Your dad is a dick to you but you’re still somehow a spoiled brat.”

“You’re extra mean in the morning.” Shouto pouts again.

“You’re officially late now.” Bakugou looks at the clock.

“Maybe I should just skip today...”

Bakugou snorts. “You? You’ve never even been late until now so quit stalling! I’m not spending the entire day with both you and Deku so get dressed already!”

“If only you could come with me. Then the attention would be on you being late instead of me.” Shouto sighs.

“If only.” Bakugou mocks with his arms crossed, no sympathy for Shouto oversleeping.

Shouto grabs Bakugou’s uniform to begin getting changed into. “No tie?”

“Fuck ties.”

“People are going to notice if I’m not wearing a tie.”

“Who cares, if you haven’t realized it by now, we have bigger issues to worry about than that.”

“Like what?”

“Like what!? Did you even hear what All Might was talking about last night!? We’re not doing this right now, go to class and we’ll talk later.”

“You promise?”

“I won’t ignore you if that’s what you’re concerned about.”

“Should I believe you? That’s all you’ve done for the last few months. That and confuse me.”

“Hey I said I was sorry about that, k?!”

“I know.”

“It’s not like I’m going anywhere because of this punishment, would be hard to ignore you when there’s nowhere to escape to.”

“That’s true.”

“Quit stalling already! Out! Now!” Bakugou pushes Shouto out the door and shuts it.

Shouto sighs, it’s going to be another long day and he won’t even have Bakugou to stare at as a distraction.

Chapter Text

It’s a strange kind of quiet without Bakugou in class for the day. While most of their classmates are probably enjoying a break from their blasty boy’s relentless insults, Shouto can’t help but miss him. It doesn’t help that all he wants to do is go back into Bakugou’s bed and sleep after how nice it had felt last night. It also doesn’t help that he’s wearing the other boy’s clothes, it’s just a constant reminder of him. No matter what Shouto tries to focus on instead, his thoughts keep going back to Bakugou. Honestly, it’s starting to become a real problem but he doesn’t know how to stop it from happening.

When school is finally done for the day, class 1-A talks about the work studies that were briefly mentioned to them. Having not been there to hear about it for themselves, Midoriya and Bakugou are left out of the loop.

“Um, Iida. What’s a work study?” Midoriya asks.

“Something I can’t tell you about. The teachers have forbidden us from giving you any details about our classes. Sorry, but you’ll just have to experience the same shock and surprise we went through.” Iida explains. “Did you catch that, Bakugou?”

“Shut your mouth! I heard you, four eyes!” Bakugou growls back at him.

“If you want to know, I’ll tell you.” Shouto walks over to stand next to the blonde.

“HA!” Bakugou smirks at Iida and and then turns to Shouto. “Whisper it to me so Deku can’t hear!”

“Todoroki! That would be breaking the promise we gave to our teachers!” Iida exclaims.

Shouto shrugs. He’s done far worse lately so he doubts that anything bad will come from sharing this information. “Work studies are similar to the internships we did, but they give us a closer experience to working for a real agency. It’s usually something for upperclassmen.”

“Tch, and let me guess, we need a provisional license for it?”

“...I assume so.”

“So while everyone else gets to go off pretending to be real heroes, we have to take extra shitty classes?”

“I don’t know, they might not approve it for our class. But yeah, you and I won’t be able to participate even if they do.”

“This is all your fault, Deku!!!” Bakugou glares at Midoriya, full of rage.

“Me?! Why’s it my fault?!” Midoriya squeaks, flustered. “I had nothing to do with that Kacchan-”

“It just is! Fuck, I hate this!” Bakugou scowls as he turns to leave the building.

“Todoroki! Do you see what your actions have done, now Bakugou is upset and-” Iida tries scolding him but Shouto could really not care less.

He shrugs again in response. What else is new, Bakugou is always upset. He runs after the other boy as they both step outside.

~~~~~

“Where are you going, what about the house arrest?” Shouto picks up his pace to catch up to Bakugou as he storms away from Heights Alliance.

“I needed to get out of there. I’m still on campus.”

“I don’t know if Aizawa-sensei will see it that way if he catches you away from the dorms.”

“I don’t care, let’s go.”

“Where are we going?”

“You know where, stalker.”

“Actually, I prefer the term Ninja since stalker has negative connotations.”

Bakugou scoffs and chooses not to comment on that. “It’s quiet there, I can actually hear myself think and not have to listen to all the extras whining about their pathetic lives and problems.”

“You’re letting me come with you?”

“Don’t make me regret it.”

“I won’t.” Shouto gives a small smile, appreciating that Bakugou actually wants his company.

They walk for a few minutes before Bakugou randomly shouts out in frustration. “What are you waiting for idiot, hold my hand already!”

“Oh.” Shouto stops walking for a second. Was he supposed to know to do that?

He grabs Bakugou’s hand with his right one, he doesn’t trust himself not to spontaneously burst into flames so it’s not worth the fire hazard to offer his left hand. Bakugou doesn’t seem to mind the coldness though as he interlocks their fingers together.

They walk in silence for awhile and Shouto’s heart is beating so hard that he’s sure Bakugou can hear it. He’s oddly nervous all of a sudden.

When they finally get to Bakugou’s secret spot on campus, Shouto’s right hand is actually starting to get sweaty. He never realized it could even do that. Bakugou suddenly lets go and sits down against one of the trees, closes his eyes and sighs.

Shouto has to admit, it is nice there. It feels like they’re somewhere else besides school, somewhere just for them. He walks over to the small stream that runs through the area and kneels down to gaze down at his reflection in the water.

“Do you think there are any fish in here?”

Bakugou opens his eyes to stare at him. “I think you’ve been playing that stupid animal game too much, Icyhot.”

“...Yeah, maybe.” Shouto replies, Animal Crossing does have him thinking about fishing more than he ever thought he would. “I have a koi pond at home.” He has no idea why he’s mentioning that, but why not? He doesn’t really feel like talking about anything too serious.

“Let me guess, are any of them named Soba?”

“...No.” Is he really that predictable?

“You’re lying.”

“Fine, maybe one of them is named Soba.” Shouto mumbles, looking away. More like all of them are, but he’s not going to admit to being so uncreative that he can’t even give all his fish separate names.

He stands back up and walks over to where Bakugou is, staring down at him.

“Is this what you do most nights? You come here and just sit?”

“Yeah, got a problem with it?”

“No, it’s nice to get away.” Shouto answers as he sits down next to him. “I bet there are lots of hidden areas on this campus that we don’t know about.”

“Probably.”

“I wonder what else we could find if we looked.”

“I highly doubt we’re allowed to explore like that.”

“I’m sure my father financially contributed to many of the facilities here, so...”

“Even if that’s true Candy Cane, you really think that means you’re entitled to do whatever the hell you want on campus?”

It should.

“No... but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be able to utilize all the resources that UA has to offer.”

“If you want to play treasure hunter fine by me, but I’m not getting involved.”

“Since when do you care about not breaking the rules?”

“I don’t normally break the rules, dumbass. Last night was a one time thing.”

“But... really?” How can that be true, isn’t Bakugou always getting into trouble?

“You do way worse shit than I do. I’ve heard about your little adventure with Deku against that Stain guy.”

“Oh.”

“And jumping out in front of all those villains back in Kamino? Without a plan I might add.”

“Yeah...”

“And you lost it yesterday during the exam.”

“So did you...”

“And you snuck out last night and then just let me fight Deku without trying to stop it.”

“Yeah... but...”

“And you just told me about the work studies when you weren’t supposed to.”

“Ok sure, but that’s not a big deal, right?”

“I’m just saying, Halfie, you’re not exactly a great influence on me.”

“Fine.” Shouto huffs in defeat. “I won’t wander around campus looking for other hidden areas to escape to.”

“Is my spot not good enough for you?”

“It is.” Shouto quickly nods, it wasn’t his intention to start pissing the other boy off tonight. “Thank you for allowing me to be here with you.”

Shouto swears that Bakugou’s face has just turned a shade redder. “Whatever, you’re welcome. It’s not like you wouldn’t haven’t followed me anyway.”

That’s... fair. Yeah, he probably would have done that. But this is his only chance to see the older boy, he still has a few more days of classes to get through without him and today was hard enough as it is.

“So what do you think about Midoriya and All for One?” Shouto changes the subject.

“I think we’re doomed if it’s that shitty nerd’s job to save us all from that creep. It’s going to be on us to step in and help him.”

“If you don’t believe he’s up for it yet, then we should help him train. He’s the one who All Might gave his power to, after all.”

“Tch. I don’t want to think about Deku right now, was bad enough having to spend the entire day vacuuming next to him.”

Shouto tilts his head to the side, clearly in unnecessary deep thought about something.

“What?” Bakugou furrows his eyebrows.

“Oh, just realized I’ve never used a vacuum before.” Shouto admits.

“Pff, you really are a princess.” Bakugou scoffs.

“...I know that’s supposed to be an insult, but from what I’ve seen, princesses are quite strong and capable of taking care of themselves.” Shouto explains, having expanded his Disney movie knowledge since they were children. “They usually have a difficult upbringing, lose a parent somehow, and have to battle their own internal struggles, all while overcoming their family issues-”

Bakugou raises his eyebrows at him and Shouto pauses. Oh shit.

“Oh. Maybe I am a princess.” He tilts his head to the side again as he thinks about it. Did he just describe himself?!

Bakugou bursts out laughing and while Shouto would prefer that this didn’t keep happening at his expense, it makes him feel a funny kind of warm inside knowing that he’s the one who gets to hear this sound when no one else does.

Shouto can’t help but smile at Bakugou as he laughs, he looks so different without his typical scrunched-up angry face.

“Don’t do that.” The older boy suddenly turns his head away, his cheeks as red as his eyes now.

“Do what?” Shouto is starting to become like an adorable puppy with how much he’s tilting his head in confusion at everything.

“…Nothing.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Smiling, ok? You’re smiling. You don’t normally do that.”

“I don’t usually have a reason to.”

“What’s your reason now?”

“Um, it’s... you? I guess?”

“Well- Just- Just- stop it!” Is Bakugou getting flustered? Is Shouto seeing this correctly?

“Why?”

“I don’t know, ok?!”

“Ok...”

Bakugou huffs and keeps his face turned away from Shouto. Shouto stares at him, feeling that urge again to lean into him. He might as well try, the worst that’ll happen is he’ll get blasted back, but he doesn’t think the other boy is going to do something like that right now and risk getting into further trouble.

He’s doing that thing where he’s thinking too much and before he can decide to rest against Bakugou, the blonde is already grabbing him and pulling him in closer all on his own. He instantly melts into the embrace and tries not to think too much about it. Clearly the other boy wants this too, so he’s just going to let it happen and not question it. It doesn’t seem like they’re ever going to talk about it, but that’s fine for now as long as Shouto still gets to do this.

He stares off into the darkness of the forest and feels himself getting sleepy when there’s suddenly a strange sensation in his hair. Is Bakugou... petting him? He shifts his eyes up at the older boy who is still looking away and not making eye contact. It only takes a few minutes before he does fall asleep with that same feeling of content that he felt the night before.

~~~~~

Shouto wakes up once again after dealing with his nighttime demon. He immediately sits up and looks around, confused where he is for a moment when he sees Bakugou next to him.

“Oi, what’s wrong?” The other boy asks with concern.

“I- It’s uh... nothing.” Shouto breathes out, trying to calm down.

“Sure seems like something, a nightmare?”

“Kind of.” Shouto breathes again. “It’s like... I’m awake but I don’t realize it. I can’t move at all or do anything, and there’s just.. a demon, or some sort of monster. It’s not real... but I don’t know that it’s not real until it’s over. It wants to kill me... it says things... It’s... ridiculous, isn’t it? For me to be afraid of something that isn’t really there?”

“Nah, I wouldn’t want to mess with a demon either, fake or otherwise. This happens to you a lot?”

“Lately it has. It’s called sleep paralysis, I can’t stop it.”

“I can’t stop my nightmares either.” Bakugou frowns, and Shouto notices that the other boy’s hand is still in his hair. Did he even stop petting him in the first place or has he been doing it this entire time?

“How long was I out for?”

“An hour or so. We should head back soon.”

Shouto frowns as he sits up. He doesn’t want this to end yet.

“But you can...” Bakugou suddenly begins to say. “You can come with me, to my room? You know, in case that demon decides to come back or whatever...”

“Will you be throwing books again at me in the morning?”

“Eh, no promises.” When Shouto doesn’t answer, Bakugou quickly adds. “Look, I’m not making you or anything, so if you don’t want to- it’s fine, I don’t care, I-”

“I want to.” Shouto interrupts. “Even if you throw your books at me.” He gives a soft smile.

~~~~~

Shouto sleeps next to Bakugou the next few nights and feels so much better already. He’s getting more sleep overall despite the other boy’s rude awakenings in the mornings (though that’s partly Shouto’s fault for always refusing to get out of bed).

Every night he spills what happened during class even though Bakugou is technically not allowed to know anything. Finally, Bakugou is able to return to class again and they have to begin their remedial courses that weekend.

“You enjoy pissing me off every fucking morning, Half n’ Half?! How the hell do you even function being so freaking lazy, huh?! You want to miss this shitty class we need to take and fall even further behind everyone else?! GET THE FUCK UP!”

“It’s the weekend.” Shouto pouts from under the blanket.

“I’M NOT MISSING BREAKFAST BECAUSE OF YOU!” Bakugou snatches the blanket off of Shouto and before he has a chance to react, the blonde blows it up in his hand, the ashes falling onto the floor.

Well damn.

“That was your blanket, you know.” Shouto finally sits up.

“Shut the hell up! Get out of my bed! You think I’m making you breakfast after this?!”

“...You were gonna make me breakfast?”

“Yeah you fucking asshole, but now we hardly have any time before we have to leave.”

“Oh.”

“Oh.” Bakugou mocks.

“You should have told me that.”

“I shouldn’t have to bribe you to be a decent fucking person and get up when it’s time.”

“I’m awake now.”

“Hurry up and get changed and maybe if I’m feeling nice, I’ll still feed you. BUT only because we need to be at our best today and show all those failures that we don’t belong there with them.”

“Uh... ok, but we do belong there with them because we also failed. We failed quite harshly, actually. You tried hurting another student.”

“And you’re about to my next casualty if you don’t leave my room right now!”

Without a blanket and with the sudden anticipation of having breakfast made for him, Shouto does suppose he should get up now.

“Meet me downstairs in 5 minutes or you’re getting nothing.” Bakugou barks at him as he slams the door shut when Shouto finally leaves.

Bakugou is so moody in the mornings.

“Hey, Todoroki... what’s going on, man?” Kirishima asks emerging from his own room nextdoor.

“Uhhh...” Shouto stares back at the redhead, suddenly feeling like he’s been caught doing something he’s not supposed to. “We have our first remedial class today, I was making sure Bakugou didn’t forget and was getting ready.”

“You’re such a manly good friend, Todobro! Braver than the rest of us, I wouldn’t want to deal with Bakugou first thing in the morning.”

“He is in quite the mood right now, must not be a morning person.” Shouto shrugs and quickly heads to the stairs to go up to his own room before he accidentally lets out that he’s been sleeping in Bakugou’s bed. He’s not sure that’s even allowed, or if Bakugou would want anyone to know, but he’s going to guess not since they haven’t talked about it themselves yet.

~~~~~

The next few weeks are more of the same, Shouto and Bakugou are left out of whatever is going on with their friends in their work studies while they continue to go to their remedial classes. Most nights Shouto stays with Bakugou in his bed, it’s just routine now. They usually end up falling asleep together after watching more Disney movies together, just like they had watched Frozen all those years ago. Shouto is all caught up now and still firmly believes that being a princess isn’t a bad thing despite what Bakugou thinks.

Bakugou makes breakfast for Shouto on the mornings that he isn’t being a little shit and actually gets up on time. He even starts making him dinner too, but only when they’re alone in the evenings after they return from their extra courses. It seems that their friends have been disappearing more and more lately with whatever is going on in their work studies. Shouto doesn’t ever ask about it but something is definitely going on. Bakugou knows it too, but they focus on each other instead because even Deku won’t fill them in on what’s been happening. Shouto almost feels bad about it, he’s been pretty content lately, maybe even happy for once, while Midoriya and the others are dealing with something difficult without much support.

The extra courses are exhausting though, and even if going to these classes is not as dire as whatever it is that the others are experiencing, it’s still annoying. He gets to spend more time with Bakugou though, and he gets to watch him fight all the time now. He likes watching the other boy’s skills. He can’t explain it but it’s addicting. The next time they get the chance to spare again, Shouto is going to be ready. He hopes.

“I hate these extra courses so much!” Bakugou practically kicks down the door as they enter the dorms after one of their more intense sessions. “It’s exhausting and a waste of time!”

“It’s our own fault that we have to take them.” Shouto informs him.

“I fucking know that, Candy Cane.” Bakugou groans as he drops his things on the floor and plops face first down onto the couch in the common room. “Come over here and show me your stupid game.”

“Hm?” Shouto walks over and feels himself almost chuckling at the sight. He’s not sure he’s ever seen Bakugou look so over life before.

“Your stupid animal game. The one where you named yourself freaking Soba. It better be as relaxing as you say it is.”

“Oh. That. I haven’t played it in awhile, I wonder how my neighbors are.”

Shouto picks up a controller and turns the Switch on through the TV. He sits on the floor in front of the couch since Bakugou seems content on not making space for him.

“Shouldn’t we change or eat dinner first?” He looks over his shoulder at the blonde.

“No.” Bakugou mumbles into the couch cushion. “I don’t want to think about doing anything right now.”

“Oh no.” Shouto suddenly gasps as the game starts.

“What?” Bakugou lifts his head up to look at the screen.

“It’s been so long since I’ve played that there are cockroaches running around in my house.”

“You’re a freaking dork. Wait- that’s your house? You made your virtual house have tatami floors too?”

“...Yeah.” So he likes tatami, sue him.

“Give me that, I want to chop some fucking trees.” Bakugou reaches down to grab the controller from Shouto.

Shouto watches as the other boy begins playing the game with such determination that is entirely unnecessary for Animal Crossing. Bakugou rests his chin on Shouto’s shoulder as he plays and Shouto can’t help but stare at him.

“Quit staring at me, pervert. You’re always doing that.” Bakugou says while keeping his eyes on the TV. Shouto has probably been staring at him for at least a few minutes now.

Shouto feels his cheeks get warm in a blush, he really does need to stop doing this. He turns his attention back to the TV and immediately notices what Bakugou has been doing in his game. “What- No! Don’t chop all the trees! And the flowers! Don’t run through my flowers!”

Bakugou laughs as he chops down another tree.

“I worked hard on my island and you’re ruining it! Give me back the controller!”

“No, I’m enjoying myself. I didn’t know you could get so worked up over something like this, I don’t think anyone would believe me if I told them. I should be a fucking lumberjack I’m so good at this.”

Shouto tries snatching the controller out of Bakugou’s hand but the other boy quickly pulls back, smirking at him.

Challenge initiated…

And accepted.

Shouto springs up and leans over Bakugou as he reaches for the controller again. Bakugou falls back but still manages to keep it out of Shouto’s grasp. Shouto grabs his arm and tries forcing it down but Bakugou is too strong to let that happen, so Shouto resorts to freezing it instead. He’s not above using his Quirk right now, his island’s rating is on the line here!

His ice attack is met with a small explosion, he should have seen that coming. No one is ever safe from getting blasted by Bakugou, not even him. This causes Shouto to roll off of the couch but not before grabbing the other boy and taking him down with him.

“You really need to work on your close combat skills.” Bakugou smirks again as he hovers over Shouto.

“Yeah.” Shouto swallows as he tries to remember why this fight even started in the first place. He’s found himself pinned underneath Bakugou more times than he’s been able to keep track of and every time it happens his brain always seems to short-circuit.

Shouto makes one last ditch effort to reach up and grab the controller but of course Bakugou easily dodges. Instead of looking like his usual self though, Shouto thinks Bakugou actually looks... happy? Whatever it is, he’s not angry for once. It’s starting to become more and more normal to see him this way, at least when he’s with Shouto.

“You fucking Icyhot bastard.” Bakugou drops the controller before closing the space between them and pressing his lips to Shouto’s.

Shouto doesn’t move at first, too shocked to react and focuses entirely on not setting himself on fire like the last time the blonde decided to spontaneously kiss him. At least this time they’re alone and not in a stadium full of thousands of people.

He feels Bakugou bite his lower lip which finally snaps him back to reality. It stings but it’s not unpleasant, in fact Shouto isn’t sure he’s ever felt better than he does right now. Bakugou sucks on his lip and pushes on it with his tongue. This finally makes Shouto take the hint to open his mouth and kiss back.

When Bakugou pushes his tongue against his, Shouto can’t help but let out a small moan.

“Fuck.” Bakugou growls in response and kisses him harder, licking into every corner of Shouto’s mouth that he can reach.

They continue exploring each other’s mouths for awhile until Shouto gets the urge to try biting as well. He bites down on Bakugou’s lip as hard as he can which causes the older boy to make a sound that Shouto didn’t even know was possible for him to make. Shouto bites again and this time it causes Bakugou to moan and start bucking his hips down against Shouto’s. This makes them both stop momentarily, things are getting way too heated considering that they’re on the floor in the common room where anyone could walk in.

Bakugou groans again, trying to catch his breath. He sits up but Shouto goes up with him and dives back in by licking at the tiny drop of blood on Bakugou’s lip.

“Shit... we... we should stop.” Bakugou pants.

Shouto hears what Bakugou is saying but he doesn’t want to stop yet, not when he feels like this. He takes control and pushes Bakugou back down so that he’s the one underneath Shouto now.

Shouto expects to be pushed off of him, but instead the blonde does the opposite and grabs onto him tighter. Bakugou fists his hands into Shouto’s candy cane hair and crushes his mouth back against his.

Shouto doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing, almost feeling like he’s completely lost his mind. He knows they do need to stop soon before things escalate too much, but it just feels too good. It’s not something he’s used to and he can’t get enough of it. He grinds his hips down and feels the blonde’s hardness against his own and yeah, maybe they need to stop now before this turns into something neither of them are likely ready for.

“HOLY SHIT.” An unexpected voice suddenly interrupts their spontaneous make out session. “I didn’t know we had Animal Crossing!” Kaminari stares at the TV screen.

Bakugou and Shouto instantly separate themselves and back up from each other. Well, that’s one way to stop.

“Oh, hey Bakugou, Todoroki.” Kaminari casually says when he looks down and notices the two boys on the floor.

“I’M GOING TO FUCKING MURDER YOU! YOU BETTER RUN, PIKACHU!” Bakugou screams as he stumbles to his feet.

“Hey man I don’t care what you and Todoroki are doing! You do you bro!”

“YOU HAVE TWO SECONDS TO DISAPPEAR BEFORE I COME OVER THERE AND-”

“Ok ok don’t kill me! I’m sorry, really, I didn’t- I won’t say anything if you don’t want me to! It’s totally cool, Bakubro, I’m happy for you. I uh- I was just getting a snack- but I can just- I’m gonna go now.” Kaminari stutters as he immediately retreats back to the elevators.

“Jesus Christ.” Bakugou takes a deep breath as he tries to compose himself.

“I think I’m gay.” Shouto states in that deadpan way of his, panting heavily while staring at Bakugou.

Bakugou blinks back at him trying to think of how to even respond to that. “No shit, are you just realizing that right now?!”

“...I’ve never done that before.”

“Fuck.”

“Have you?”

“Fuck, just shut up, ok? Fuck. I don’t- I- Fuck.” Bakugou can’t find the right words to say, or any words really for that matter. Shouto has done the unachievable and rendered Bakugou Katsuki speechless.

“Um.” Shouto doesn’t know what to say either, nothing besides “Can we do that again?”

Wait... Did he say that out loud?

“I SAID SHUT UP!”

“I’m sorry.” Shouto frowns as he pushes his hair out of his face, still panting. He feels like a mess right now, probably looks like one too.

Bakugou instantly eases up. “No- fuck, it’s not- I don’t know what the hell this is, ok!? I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I wasn’t asking to talk.” Shouto replies as he wipes at his mouth, a bit of blood getting on his hand. Apparently, there’s something about biting that they both like. They’re probably never going to talk about that, either.

“Fuck.” Bakugou groans, doing his best to walk. “Dinner first.”

Well, that’s not a no.

Chapter Text

The next few weeks are interesting to say the least, and involve many, many spontaneous make-out sessions. Things aren’t actually that bad for once in Shouto’s life, and even though they still haven’t talked about what it is that they’re doing with each other, he doesn’t really care what it is as long as he gets to keep kissing Bakguou. Yes, kissing him is definitely much better than any girl, Shouto is sure of that now. Gay or not, he’s never going to want to do this with anyone other than Katsuki.

It’s a strange mood in the dorms the night that their friends finally come back from their work studies. It seems that Bakugou and Shouto missed out on something big, but based on everyone’s moods about the situation, Shouto doesn’t think that’s such a bad thing. He has enough to worry about, like how his father insists on calling him even though he doesn’t want to talk to the man. They haven’t spoken since the Kamino incident and he’d like to keep it that way, but his father has other ideas apparently. After hanging up on him, Shouto goes to his room. Most nights he’s been spending with Bakugou, but right now he just wants to be alone.

Once upon a time not that long ago, the other boy couldn’t even bother to acknowledge Shouto’s existence, but now the blonde is just as clingy as Shouto himself so it really shouldn’t surprise him when Bakugou barges into his room without even knocking first.

“What’s up with you?” Bakugou doesn’t waste time asking.

“What do you mean?” Shouto replies.

“You left for a few minutes down there and then came back in with a weird look. No one else noticed but I did. Your stupid poker face isn’t as good as you think.”

“Oh.” Shouto answers not really knowing what else to say. “It’s nothing.”

“I’m not buying it.” Bakugou makes himself comfy on Shouto’s futon, waiting for the candy cane to join him.

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Am I not good enough for you to tell your shit to?”

“No, it’s not you. I just- I shouldn’t be so affected by it.”

“By what?” Bakugou asks again, finally sitting up and pulling Shouto down to lie next to him because he’s clearly not going to do it on his own.

“My dad.” Shouto mumbles as he turns on his side and buries his face into Bakugou’s neck, obsessed with the other boy’s sweet caramel smell. Maybe he prefers this to being alone after all, he’s just not used to having someone in his life like this.

“What about that prick?” Bakugou furrows his eyebrows and instinctively puts his arm over Shouto to pull him in even closer.

“He called me… and he’s coming tomorrow.”

“...Coming where?” Shouto can feel Bakugou tense up.

“To our class.”

“WHAT?!”

“That’s what he said before I hung up on him.” Shouto lifts his head to get a better look at Bakugou’s reaction.

“Did you at least tell him to fuck off?!”

Shouto shakes his head, if only. “No, I didn’t say anything at all.”

“Why the hell does he want to watch our class? To spy on you?”

“I don’t know. Just promise me you’ll ignore him because that’s what I plan on doing.”

“I’m not going to promise that.” Bakugou immediately answers with a dramatic scoff. At least he’s honest.

Shouto sighs, of course not. “We got into enough trouble getting into an argument about Endeavor, getting into a fight with Endeavor himself won’t end well.”

“Yeah, not for him it won’t.” Bakugou growls and Shouto can’t be sure if that’s a legitimate threat or not.

“You wouldn’t actually go up against him, would you? You know you can’t win, right?” Shouto has to make sure the blonde knows this. Having confidence is one thing, but Endeavor would never be taken down by a high schooler no matter who it is. The man is too strong and that’s just a fact.

“I’m not that stupid.” Bakugou playfully flicks Shouto’s forehead. “You really think I would do that? Try to fight fucking Endeavor?”

Shouto instantly flicks Bakugou back right in between his eyes, he’s not taking that shit without giving it back. “Kind of, yeah.”

“Oi! What the hell!” Bakugou glares at him, his palms sparking in annoyance. Between Shouto’s emotionally triggered fire and Bakugou’s constantly crackling hands, the two of them are just another explosion waiting to happen. It’s a wonder it hasn’t happened yet, Shouto might as well be lying next to an angry stick of dynamite ready to blow up at any moment.

“Luckily for you, Enji would never participate in a petty fight no matter what you do, it would be terrible for his reputation. Still, don’t do anything dumb.” Shouto pleads with the blonde.

“Tch, fuck you, I’m not even going to think about the guy. It’s like he won’t even be there. That’s how unaffected I’ll be by his presence.”

“Are you sure? You won’t instigate anything at all?” Shouto doesn’t believe the other boy.

“Do you have any faith in me?” Bakugou almost pouts. It’s kind of funny seeing him react like this and Shouto wonders how far he can push it.

“None at all.”

“Asshole.” Bakugou angrily pins Shouto down onto the futon but Shouto can’t take any of the blonde’s threats or actions seriously anymore. He just laughs at how easily riled up he can make the older boy. “Are you laughing at me?! YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?!”

This only causes Shouto to laugh harder.

“SHUT UP!”

“Make me.” Shouto smirks at him.

“Do you get off on being a little shit?!”

“Seems like you do.” Shouto eyes the undeniable bulge in the other boy’s pants.

“SHUT UP!” Bakugou screams again, his face getting so red that Shouto is slightly concerned that they might accidentally blow up.

“And I said, make me.” Shouto answers and yeah, maybe he does get off on being an asshole.

Bakugou’s mouth is crushed against his before Shouto even has time to register it happening. He instantly moans into the other boy’s mouth and grabs onto the spiky hair to pull Bakugou down on top of him even more. Bakugou grinds against him in response and makes a sound that causes Shouto to groan underneath him as Bakugou continues assaulting his mouth until they finally fall asleep for the night.

~~~~~

They’re up early the next morning to head to their remedial class. Once they get there, All Might and Present Mic send the two boys off as they head for the stands to watch the class. Shouto is slightly worried about All Might bumping into Endeavor, but he’s hopeful that the two men can be civil with each other, unlike Bakugou who is almost certainly going to cause a scene somehow before the day ends.

As they walk down the hallway, Shouto hears the voice of the second person who he most doesn’t want to deal with today.

“Oh, hey! It’s UA!” Inasa shouts as he makes his way over to them excitedly. Too excited if you ask Shouto.

He can feel Bakugou twitch in anger next to him in response to seeing Inasa.

“You promised.” Shouto whispers to the blonde.

“I didn’t promise shit, besides, that was with Endeavor, not this idiot!” Bakugou scowls at the boy heading toward them. “If he starts something, I can’t be held responsible for any of my reactions.”

Shouto isn’t sure what to even say to that.

“What? I can’t.” Bakugou shrugs.

Just as Inasa stands in front of them, another Shiketsu student walks over, a girl they don’t recognize.

She immediately turns her attention to Shouto. “Ooh! Who’s this smoldery-looking two-toned boy? You’re like, super hot. I’m crazy psyched to train with a total babe like you.”

“Camie.” Inasa smiles at her.

“Hey, Yoarashi. Do you know him or something? Seriously, can I like, have your number?” She flat out asks Shouto as she holds her phone up.

“Uh, sure.” It’s just a phone number, right?

“Camie, your social skills are top-notch! I’m so impressed!” Inasa says, still oddly excited. Is this how he usually is? Because Shouto thinks this is just as annoying as angry-Inasa.

“What the- no she can’t have your number!” Bakugou suddenly yells as he slaps Shouto’s phone out of his hands. It falls to the floor and all four of them cringe as they hear it shatter.

Shouto picks it up and it falls apart. He can’t help the resulting glare that he gives the other boy.

“Fuck off with that look, Endeavor’s rich, buy a new one.” Bakugou waves it off. Perhaps it’s a little cliche that Shouto has a limitless credit card that he can use as he pleases, but it’s true nonetheless, and Bakugou knows this.

“Wait, you’re Endeavor’s son. You’re hero royalty on top of being a snack? That’s so totally amazing!” Camie beams and oh boy is a certain blasty-boy triggered.

“Back off! He’s not interested!” Bakugou screams again, getting increasingly more pissed off. Who the fuck does this girl think she is? Yes, Shouto is a snack, his fucking snack!

“Uh?” Camie clearly doesn’t know how to react to Bakugou’s craziness, not many people do. She tilts her head and looks between the two of them a few times as she suddenly seems to understand. “Oh. Ohh. What a bummer, I would have never had a chance, huh?”

“Stay away from him, got it!?” Bakugou yells as he grabs Shouto’s hand.

“She just wanted my phone number.” Shouto tells him as he lets the other boy drag him away down the hallway.

“Yeah right, she wanted you, Icyhot. How do you not understand that? How do you not see all the girls constantly looking at you? Are you that clueless??”

“I assumed they’re looking at me because of my scar.”

“What?! That’s what you think?!” Bakugou stops walking because he can’t handle how oblivious Shouto is sometimes.

“What? It’s true isn’t it?”

“Not at all true! What the fuck, you know you’re one of the best looking people to exist, right?”

“You must be biased. How can that be true when I have such weird colored hair and eyes? And my scar, it’s not like it’s pleasant to look at.”

“Just fucking great, you really don’t get it do you? I’m always going to have to fight for you, aren’t I?”

“But you already have me.” Shouto says with a head tilt, why is everything so confusing sometimes.

“For now.” Bakugou mumbles with his head down.

“I don’t know why you’re so upset, but you shouldn’t be.” Shouto wraps his arms around the blonde and pulls him in close.

“But you were going to give her your phone number.” Bakugou pouts into Shouto’s chest.

“Well, I don’t have a phone now, so it doesn’t matter.”

“You aren’t allowed to give your phone number to any girls who are hitting on you, got it?”

“Got it.” Shouto chuckles at how clingy Bakugou is becoming lately, such a stark contrast from the beginning of the year.

~~~~~

As they wait for further instructions to begin their training, Shouto notices All Might and Endeavor enter together. He keeps his back turned, he doesn’t even want to see the man. He wants to get this over with and leave before he has to deal with him and before Bakugou has the chance to cause trouble. Keeping a low profile doesn’t appear to be the same goal for Endeavor as Shouto though as he immediately walks down the stands and makes himself known.

“Shoouutooooo! You never should’ve failed the initial exam in the first place! Show these weaklings that you’re in a completely different league!” Endeavor shouts and Shouto instantly cringes, what the hell is he doing? Of all the things he expected to happen today, he didn’t expect his dad to be so embarrassing!

Bakugou opens and closes his fists in anger at hearing the flame hero’s voice, but does the same as Shouto and keeps his back turned. He won’t engage. Yet.

After the other students comment on the heroes coming to their class, Gang Orca finally appears and chews them out for their behavior during the provisional exam, and rightfully so. That’s why Shouto and Bakugou are there, after all. Unfortunately, it seems that the torture isn’t going to end as their opponents rush in. Kids... they’re facing children?!

“You’re dumb! Bombs are lame!” A kid yells while poking Bakugou over and over along with a few other children.

Shouto can’t help but smirk at Bakugou’s expression.

“You think this is funny, Icyhot!?” Bakugou barks back at him as more kids continue to poke and punch them.

“These kids are from Masegaki Elementary School. Don’t worry, we’re taking responsibility for your students now.” Gang Orca tells the children’s teacher.

“Thank you for your help, Mr. Orca.” She answers.

Wait... they’re responsible now for these kids?! Shouto has hardly interacted with other people let alone people younger than him.

“We’re what?!” Bakugou shouts and this causes a kid to run away crying, apparently not everyone can handle how loud he is.

“Hey, look! This mean guy made Takuto cry!” A boy announces on his classmate’s behalf.

“Who do you think you are, bomb man?” Another kid punches him in the stomach.

“Suck it up, brat!” It’s taking all of Bakugou’s self-restraint not to punch these kids back as hard as he can.

“Oh, so you’re one of those.” Another boy chimes in from the side.

“Huh?” Bakugou turns around to face the boy. Just who do these kids think they are?!

“A grown up who thinks they can get their way by yelling, by not letting anyone else get a word in. Well, we’re not impressed by that.”

Bakugou especially wants to punch this kid. “Who the hell’s this punk?!” He officially hates children now and he already wasn’t too fond of them to begin with.

While Bakugou is getting harassed, Shouto is too. The kids poke and push him, and one kid plays with the first-aid supplies on his belt. “Hey, what’s this stupid thing? Tell me! What is it, a wiener?”

“Um, excuse me, kid.” Shouto tries not to be offended, they’re just innocent kids, right?

“Wiener! It’s a wiener!”

“I assure you that it’s not. This is first-aid treatment for when help doesn’t arrive in time.” Shouto tries to show them but it doesn’t work.

“Boring.” All the kids answer as they attack him again.

“Don’t try to hide it. You’re the five-wiener hero. That your name? Huh? Five Wienies?”

“NOT SO FUNNY NOW, IS IT?! Huh, Five Wienies!?” Bakugou taunts as he runs by, chasing a few kids who took his gauntlets. “Give those back! They aren’t toys, ya damn brats!”

“Did they really swipe your gauntlets that easily? How?” Shouto has to ask.

“I took them off because it’s too dangerous to keep the things on!”

Shouto looks around and realizes that the kids are being just as difficult for Inasa and Camie as well. What exactly is happening here?

“The four of you will accomplish this together. You must win the hearts of these unruly youngsters.” Gang Orca finally speaks up. Shouto has no idea what that means and he’s pretty sure Bakugou doesn’t either.

“What do we look like, nannies?!” Bakugou is so done with this.

~~~~~

The children continue to harass them and they’re getting nowhere like this. They need to come up with a plan.

“We need to save them.” Shouto points out the obvious.

“In other words, all we have to do is make friends. No problem!” Inasa sounds so confident and excited, such a contrast to the person they fought with at the exam.

“That stupid teacher didn’t fulfill her role as a leader, so the brats ended up taking over the class. This isn’t something that just happens. If they’re not listening to her then somebody else must be in charge here. There’s definitely some kind of “boss” kid these little monsters are following. We just gotta figure out who it is.” Bakugou explains.

“And then?” Shouto’s on board so far.

“We beat ‘em up and hang ‘em from a post to make an example out of the punk! Then we make the kids throw rocks at ‘em! It’ll be the most effective way to make them realize what an insignificant pest their leader is!”

...That’s not exactly what Shouto was expecting to hear.

“I thought the idea was for us to be nice.” Inasa says, also unsure of this plan. He takes a different approach by trying to talk to the kids, but that just ends in tears… For Inasa.

“Is it just me or are these kids like super twisted?” Camie wonders out loud.

“Yeah, exactly! So a little violence is necessary!” Bakugou agrees.

“Katsuki, they’re just kids.” Shouto isn’t sure about this. Yes, they’re being annoying, but still, violence against children is probably not the greatest approach.

“Huh? Well, that’s how I was raised and look! I turned out awesome.” Bakugou replies as he notices Shouto glance up at the stands toward Endeavor. Ah. Shit. “Right... well, this is a different kind of violence. I didn’t mean-”

“I know.” Shouto sighs. “We should still come up with another way to do this though, we shouldn’t
hurt them.”

“Yeah, fine.” Bakugou sighs back as he glances at Endeavor as well. It appears that the man is talking with All Might and he can’t help but wonder what that’s about. He certainly has some things he’d like to say to Endeavor as well, but now isn’t the time to think about that. He turns his attention back to the other three students huddled around him. “All we gotta do is show these brats how impressive we are. Cause c’mon, lose to someone you look down on and you feel like crap. That’s not the way we’re gonna win their hearts or whatever.”

“We have to set them on the right path. Otherwise they’ll end up causing problems later on. The same way I did during the provisional exam. I don’t want them to go down that same path!” Inasa enthusiastically shouts.

“Yeah. If we can’t broaden their horizons, then what’s the point? We’d make bad heroes.” Shouto adds. He turns to Bakugou, suddenly remembering their childhood adventure. “Katsuki, when we were kids, you knew how to have fun. You knew exactly how to play and how to be a kid. Is there a game we could play with them to win them over?”

“Hard to play a fair game with a bunch of kids who all have different kinds of strong Quirks.” Bakugou answers but maybe Shouto has a point.

“Uh, what are you two talking about?” Camie interrupts.

“What about a game without Quirks?” Shouto wonders. “Remember, we did this?” He asks as he makes an ice sword with his right hand and gives it to Bakugou. “Momo has been helping me with using my ice power like this, I’ve been able to create all sorts of things lately.” He says while making two more swords to give to Inasa and Camie.

“Ooo. That’s like, such a cool way to use your Quirk.” Camie swings her sword around in circles and almost hits Inasa.

“You want to give these brats weapons and have them fight each other!?” Bakugou stares at Shouto. “What happened to no violence?!”

“I meant no violence from us against the children. But, when you put it like that...”

“Hell yeah, this is going to be FUN! Make more!”

“A great idea, Todoroki! A good ol’ fashioned brawl.” Inasa smiles at the idea as he admires the sword in his hand.

“To the death!” Bakugou adds on while smirking at his sword and randomly swinging it around with added sound effects, much like Camie is.

“...A friendly not-too-violent brawl.” Shouto corrects him. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all. And maybe he shouldn’t have made Bakugou’s sword so sharp...

“WEAK!”

“What if we like, gave them an objective? Some sort of way to win the game without everyone killing each other?” Camie suggests as she blocks a sword attack from Bakugou.

“Like what?” Shouto asks, still wondering if he should be regretting this or not. Bakugou seems to be a little too enthusiastic about this... Give him a sword and he seems to have suddenly regressed a few years in age, not that he was very mature to begin with.

“I have an idea. Make me a crown.” Bakugou says but Shouto is hesitant. “Just do it!”

Shouto places his hand on top of Bakugou’s spiky hair and does as he’s told, better to just go with it than to argue with the other boy.

Bakugou smirks as he touches the ice crown now on his head. “As King Explosion Murder, their objective will be to steal my crown and become the new king. BUT no one is strong enough to do that, so I already won. HA! Stupid brats.”

“Whoa, you’re also like, kind of twisted.” Camie judges Bakugou.

“YEAH, SO WHAT?! You got a better idea?” Bakugou accidentally melts his sword when his palms crackle. “NOOOO!”

“I’m not going to keep doing this.” Shouto deadpans, already handing the blonde a new sword.

“Let one of them have the crown and have them split up into teams.” Inasa suggests. “Let them lead the way and we’ll be their support with whatever they need.”

“Ugh, what fun is that?” Bakugou groans holding onto his crown tighter.

“They won’t respect us if we’re the ones giving them orders. He’s right.” Shouto has to agree.

“Whatever, fine, let’s get this over with.” Bakugou says as he faces the kids. “Alright listen up, brats! Pick teams, we’re playing a game, and no one is allowed to use their Quirks. Line up and get a weapon.” Bakugou explains as he walks over to the rude boy from earlier. “You. You’re their leader, aren’t you, kid? If you keep looking down on everyone else, you’ll never be able to see your own weaknesses. That’s just some advice from one of your elders, so don’t forget it.” He places the ice crown on the kid’s head.

“You think we’re going to be impressed by this silly game?”

“Seems like they are.” Bakugou gestures over to the other children who are all excited to receive their various weapons. Is that a nun-chuck? Shouto really has been expanding his ice-making skills. Bakugou walks back over to speak to everyone again. “Alright, the way to win is to be in possession of the crown after everyone’s weapons have melted.” He points to the kid he gave the crown to. “No Quirks, and no killing each other, but otherwise, have fun. If you pick me to be on your team we’re guaranteed to win, so choose wisely.”

After the children receive their various ice weapons, the game begins. Shouto ends up on a team mostly comprised of the girls in the children’s class. Bakugou has to compete with little girls too?! First Camie and now this?!

“Are you ok?” Shouto walks over to Bakugou as the children all start to strategize the best way to steal the crown from the boss kid.

“What are you doing?! We’re enemies in warring empires, you can’t ask if I’m ok!” Bakugou strikes down Shouto’s sword with his own. It shatters when it hits the ground. Shouto is getting really tired of Bakugou knocking things out of his hands.

Shouto just makes himself another sword, and if it happens to be bigger and better made this time, then so be it.

“You cheater! We said no Quirks!”

“What are you going to do about it?” Shouto shrugs and takes a step back, anticipating an attack from the blonde. And boy, is he not wrong.

Bakugou lunges forward with the vow to wipe the dumb smirk off of the candy cane’s face. Shouto backs up more and swings his sword in retaliation. They go at it for a few minutes, swords clinking and lots of dodging, and Bakugou has to wonder how this is happening when Shouto is supposed to suck at hand-to-hand combat. Just give him a a sword and suddenly he knows how to fight?!

They ignore their duty of helping the children and only focus on each other. Shouto isn’t even sure what the other boy’s goal is here when neither of them have a crown or anything to steal. Bakugou really does like to fight just for the sake of fighting.

“Aren’t we supposed to be helping the kids?” Shouto wonders as he blocks more of Bakugou’s relentless strikes against him.

“Why, scared of me, Icyhot?” Bakugou keeps lunging forward forcing Shouto to back up against the wall.

“No.” Shouto replies as he switches hands and sets the sword on fire.

“WE SAID NO QUIRKS!” Bakugou screams again and in his frustration accidentally melts his sword for the second time.

Shouto is actually kind of surprised that worked as he stares at the flaming weapon in his left hand.

“Give that to me!” Bakugou tries reaching for it but Shouto moves out of the way.

“It’s mine.”

“BUT I WANT ONE TOO!” Bakugou can’t contain himself, his inner child really coming out for this.

“You’re acting kind of childish.” Shouto says with a straight face but on the inside he’s taunting the other boy and they both know it.

“You better run, Candy Cane.” Bakugou tells him and Shouto immediately takes off, dodging kids and ice all around them with Bakugou right on his tail. The fire sword ends up melting before either boy can claim any sort of victory. Bakugou still says he’s the winner though and Shouto just goes with it. He has a feeling that someday Bakugou will demand a rematch with this, so he knows he’s going to have to improve his ice sword making skills even more for next time.

Their plan ends up being a success, more so than they realized it would be. When the leader boy finally has his crown stolen and has to work together with his classmates to retrieve it back, he seems to take Bakugou’s advice to heart. All the kids appear to be having fun and surprisingly no one ends up too injured. The children continue stealing the crown from each other and have a good time doing so. Inasa really gets into it too, becoming a human body shield for his team. Present Mic has the time of his life as well while narrating all the chaos. Eventually, it all dies down as the kids drop like flies when their energy finally runs out and the weapons inevitably melt.

It’s the most fun that Shouto has had in a long time, and it’s sad to think that he never got to experience any childhood games like this other than the few that Bakugou showed him when they were kids. How different it could have been if they had been allowed to see each other again as children and had been real friends growing up. Better late than never though, Shouto is just glad he has Bakugou now, whatever is it that they are.

~~~~~

“After what we put together in there, I think we’re meant to be friends, don’t you?” Inasa says as the four of them head out of the building after the class is over.

“You think so?” Shouto replies. It did go well, and being friends with Inasa would certainly be easier than being enemies. He’s not sure Bakugou is ever going to agree to that though.

“Yeah and Bakugou, you’re actually not bad if you don’t talk. Try shutting up!” Camie smiles at the blonde.

“You shut up!” Bakugou shouts back at her. “And stay the hell away from Shouto!”

“Wow, you’re like, very insecure. Have you two ever talked about this?”

“I AM NOT INSECURE!”

“Shouldn’t you be like, more worried about Yoarashi stealing your boy than me?”

“WHAT?!” Bakugou turns to Inasa.

“I’m only interested in friendship, I swear!” Inasa defends himself before Bakugou’s jealously has the chance to escalate.

They finally step outside and see that All Might and the other adults are talking. Shouto knows he’s going to have to acknowledge Endeavor one way or the other, so might as well get it over with. He walks over to stand in front of the man and the flames are still as stupid as ever. Bakugou follows him, standing as close to Shouto as he can get.

“Shouto, long time no see. You’ve changed quite a bit.” Endeavor reaches his hand out to place on his son’s shoulder.

Shouto instantly pushes his father’s hand away, he’s never going to let Enji put a hand on him again, friendly or otherwise. He doesn’t just get to pretend that everything is ok between them. “Not interested.”

“What the hell are you doing here?!” Bakugou can’t keep his mouth shut any longer, he needs to say something to Endeavor before getting on the bus. “Leave him alone, who do you even think you are showing up here like this?”

Enji stares down at Bakugou with his arms crossed, his eyes serious. “I’m his father.”

“I’m his boyfriend.” Bakugou gives the same serious look right back to the man.

That Bakugou, always needing to one-up everyone. Is Shouto frozen right now? Because he feels like it. Did Katsuki just say what he thinks he said?

Enji’s expression doesn’t change, and that’s it, they’re dead. Shouto looks at the two of them, neither of them backing down.

Enji finally uncrosses his arms. “I see.”

“We’re leaving.” Bakugou growls as he grabs Shouto’s hand, not wanting to stick around any longer for this.

“Wait.” Endeavor takes a deep breath as he shifts his attention from Bakugou back to Shouto. “Shouto... I want you to know I’m proud of you, son. Because of that, I swear I’ll become someone you can be proud of, too. Not just as the Number One Hero, but as the man that you call father.”

If Shouto wasn’t already frozen, he certainly is now. He instinctively squeezes Bakugou’s hand tighter, something they’ve gotten into the habit of doing when they’re upset, something they did even as children. Sometimes Shouto never wants to let go.

“Tch.” Bakugou mumbles under his breath, even he doesn’t know what to say to that.

Shouto turns away from his father, not able to look him in the eye. “I don’t care what you do.”

All three of them stand there awkwardly for a few moments longer until Shouto is the one who finally steps away, pulling Bakugou with him. He doesn’t turn around to see Enji’s reaction.

Once they’re far enough, he glances back and sees his father leaving in the other direction. Shouto sighs as he stops walking and turns to Bakugou.

“What you said to him… Did you mean that? Are you really my boyfr-”

“Yes, now shut up about it!” Bakugou interrupts as his face turns as red as his eyes, clearly embarrassed. Shouto always finds it strangely endearing every time this happens.

“Ok.” Shouto smiles a rare 100% genuine smile, something that only Bakugou is likely ever going to see from him, and that’s all they need to say about it.