Work Text:
Sitting at the coffee table in front of the TV alone wasn’t Shouto’s ideal way to finish the day. He’s slurping on his soba, watching reruns of an anime Sero introduced him to while waiting for Midoriya and Bakugou to come back to their shared guest home.
Finishing up his soba, Shouto hears voices, and then the front door sliding open. Turning towards the door he sees Bakugou and Midoriya walk in, both out of breath and slouching, obviously exhausted. They walk into the room Shouto is in, sitting down next to him.
Shouto turns to them, looking at the bruises littered on both of their bodies. “Welcome home. Where were you two?”
Midoriya groaned, “We were training, Todoroki-kun. It never gets easier with Kacchan.” he replied as he lowered himself to the cold floor, laying down.
Bakugou, who was sitting next to Midoriya, ran his hands through his blonde hair, pushing it back. “You’ve got a long way to go before you even catch up to me, nerd.”
Today was their day off. Endeavor gave them days off to catch up on sleep, rest, homework, or anything unrelated to training. The point was for them not to strain their bodies, which is what those two ended up doing anyway.
It wasn’t just today. Shouto recalls Midoriya and Bakugou going out to train without Shouto a couple of times since the internship started. Normally, Shouto wouldn’t be so bothered about this. They’re training, there’s nothing wrong with that. Except, it’s not just that Midoriya and Bakugou are training without Shouto.
They’re also whispering.
The duo are sitting a few feet away from Shouto, Midoriya whispering to Bakugou while Bakugou listens attentively. Bakugou is whispering back to him. They look like they’re deep in a discussion. It’s just the three of them in the room, so the only person they could be whispering for is Shouto.
This also isn’t new. It happens often, where the two of them will whisper in front of Shouto or stop talking when he enters the room. Shouto was beginning to realize how often it actually happened. It was strange, and he was curious.
“What are you whispering about?” Shouto asks, taking another slurp at his soba.
Midoriya jumps, and Bakugou glares. “Sorry, Todoroki-kun!” Midoriya exclaims, “We were just… discussing who should shower first. It’s me, I’m showering first.” he got up and quickly ran towards the bathroom.
“Hey! I wanted to go first you damn nerd!” Bakugou groaned, standing up and stomping off towards the kitchen.
Shouto still wasn’t satisfied. It felt like they were hiding something from him. There’s something they don’t want him to know, something they don’t want him involved with. Shouto wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
The next day, Midoriya, Shouto, and Bakugou were finishing up training with Endeavor. It was evening, the sky beginning to turn orange, indicating the sun starting to set. When training ended, Endeavor left on his own as usual, leaving the trio behind. Shouto began walking back to their home when he heard his name being called.
“Hey, Todoroki?”
Shouto turned around, meeting Midoriya’s eyes. Midoriya looked slightly nervous, which worried Shouto. Whatever he was going to say can’t be good.
“K-Kacchan and I are staying behind to train a bit more. You should head on home and rest up. Uh… good work today, Todoroki-kun!” Midoriya was fidgeting with his thumbs, which Shouto recently learned is a sign of discomfort.
When Shouto kept staring and didn’t say anything, Midoriya squeaked. Before he could say anything more, Bakugou cut in between the two, sighing loudly. “The nerd just wants to practice deflecting my explosions. It’s not a big deal, go home.”
Shouto blinked. Obviously, he wasn’t wanted here. He’s not invited to their training session and instead was being asked to leave. It’s just like when…
Shouto understood. “Whatever.” He said. No hint of emotions laced in his tone. Shouto turned back around and started to walk away. He could feel both pairs of eyes staring at his back as he walked away, but he decided to ignore it. He would see them at home.
Shouto peered over the balcony, looking down at his siblings. Touya was kicking his brand new yellow ball up and down, Natsuo and Fuyumi watching. Touya kicked his leg up a bit too high, and Shouto watched him slip and fall onto the ground.
Natsuo burst out laughing, pointing at a pouting Touya while Fuyumi reached out an arm in concern. As soon as Fuyumi helped up a grumbling Touya, she started to giggle behind her hand. Touya shouted something about betrayal to her, which caused Natsuo and Fuyumi to laugh harder. Shouto watched his siblings with yearning eyes, desperately wanting to join them down there to play and laugh along.
A sudden yank of his arm pulled him out of his trance and he looked up at his father, who was crushing his arm as he pulled him away.
“Wait, please. I want to-”
“Ignore them, Shouto.” Endeavor sharp voice cut him off. Shouto’s eyes filled with tears as he looked back at his siblings who went back to playing with the ball.
“They live in a different world than what I’m training you for.”
Shouto swallowed back his tears as he complied with his father. The hand crushing his wrist already hurt enough. One day he’ll play with his siblings and be included in their relationship. Shouto only dreamed of it.
Shouto opened his eyes. He’s laying on the floor, looking up at the wooden ceiling. He recognizes that he’s back home, where he was waiting for Bakugou and Midoriya. Shouto sits up and looks around. The first thing he sees is his hero textbook and notebook lying open in the coffee table behind him. Behind him? Shouto swore the coffee table was in front of him when he was studying before he fell asleep.
He can’t even remember when he fell asleep.
Or how he ended up being covered with a blanket. It was his own blanket, but he doesn’t remember pulling it out earlier. Shouto looks at the time on his phone. It’s 3 in the morning. Did Bakugou and Midoriya make it back home? Were they alright?
Shouto looked around to his left and found them both lying in their futons, fast asleep. He also spotted his own futon opened up next to him. Those two must have found Shouto asleep on the wooden floor and decided to give him a blanket and open his futon in case he woke up at night.
Shouto crawled into his futon and pulled the blanket over his body. Memories of the night before came flooding in, and Shouto frowned. He hoped tomorrow would be better.
The next morning, Shouto woke up to a bright light seeping through the blinds of the windows. The sun was rising, and Shouto heard voices.
He heard whispering.
Shouto turned his head to his left and found Bakugou and Midoriya, still on their futons, leaning into each other closely as they whispered. Shouto tried his best to listen in on their conversation.
“ .... power, only…. 45%, but i need to….”
“... you should try… all might would know…”
“But my quirk is… I’m working on… one for all...”
Once again, Midoriya and Bakugou are whispering. Shouto wishes he could say they are whispering because they didn’t want to wake him up, but he knows better. They’re cautious of him hearing even in his sleep. Did they really want to keep him out of their little secret that bad?
Shouto was slowly becoming more irritated by the minute. This entire situation with the secret training and whispering was starting to annoy him. Before he could even think about what he was doing, Shouto sat up on his futon and faced the direction of his friends.
“Whatever you’re whispering about sounds really important.”
Midoriya actually jumped and screeched, turning around to meet Shouto’s deadpan expression. Even Bakugou looked slightly startled, but his expression quickly changed to his usual non-threatening glare.
“T-Todoroki! We just… we didn’t want to wake you up.” Midoriya said, his eyes downcast as he avoided looking into Shouto’s eyes.
“Why not? So the two of you can sneak off and go training alone again?” Shouto said, struggling to hold back the venom wanting to slip out through his words.
Midoriya’s head whipped up and looked at Shouto with shock. “We’re not training today!”
“Then what were you two whispering about?”
“Hey!” Bakugou interrupted this time. “It’s none of your business, so just drop it! This doesn’t involve you so just stay out of it.”
Shouto tried his best to hide the way those words stung. He kept the deadpan look on his face and hoped Midoriya and Bakugou didn’t notice when it fell for half a second. When neither of the two said anything else, Shouto got up and walked towards the bathroom.
From what he’s observed so far, it seems like this secret has more to do with Midoriya than it does with Bakugou. Which makes this situation hurt even more. Shouto considers Midoriya his best friend, and he knows Midoriya thinks of him the same way. He’s hurt and confused, wondering why Midoriya is talking to Bakugou about an important secret that he can’t know about.
Shouto locks himself in the bathroom and starts running a bath. He begins to doubt the sincerity of his friendship with Midoriya. He feels irritated and upset, but most of all, he’s hurt.
The tension in the room was so thick, not even Iida could cut it with the chop of his hand.
Shouto was sitting against the wall on one side of the room, while Bakugou and Midoriya sat on the opposite side. No one was speaking.
Occasionally, Midoriya would ask Bakugou a question about the homework they were working on, but it didn’t seem like they were talking about anything other than that. Shouto sat on his side, pretending to read his hero textbook, but really he was deep in thought.
These past few days haven’t been great, and Shouto is worried about his relationship with Midoriya and Bakugou, but mostly with Midoriya. Disagreeing and being at odds with Bakugou isn’t new, but with Midoriya it is. And Shouto doesn’t like it. He’s confused and hurt, and he’s not sure how to express that.
Especially right now that neither of them are talking. It’s Saturday, so training with Endeavor was only 2 hours. Meaning the rest of the day was spent with the 3 of them stuck in their very small house. This house was so small, it only had a kitchen, a bathroom, and one large room that they use as the bedroom and living room. There was no way to avoid each other. Bakugou was right. For being the number one hero, Endeavor was definitely cheap.
Which is how Shouto ended up in this situation where the other two are aware that Shouto is bothered by their secrets but the other two continue to whisper anyway.
Ah, yes. The whispering. It started again.
Bakugou and Midoriya are sitting a few feet away from each other, but they’re looking at each other and Shouto can tell they’re not talking about the homework. They’re too far away for Shouto to hear what they’re talking about, but this time, he knows it’s about him.
The wonder duo are talking and glancing at Shouto every few seconds. They make it so obvious that the topic of their conversation is himself. Shouto feels his hands start to shake with an unfamiliar anger. Midoriya keeps glancing at Shouto nervously, while Bakugou just looks exasperated. Bakugou also glances at Shouto, but more with amusement rather than anxiety, like Midoriya. Shouto does not like those looks at all.
After a few minutes, Midoriya stands up and Bakugou chuckles. Midoriya’s wringing his hands together as he starts walking towards Shouto’s spot. Shouto sees this and buries his face deeper into his textbook. This won’t end well.
Midoriya stands in front of Shouto and looks away. Shouto hears him take a deep breath before he begins to speak. “Hey, Todoroki-kun, can I tell you som-”
Shouto doesn’t even think before he speaks, “Now you decide to talk to me.”
Midoriya’s eyes grow wide and even Bakugou looks over to them in surprise. Shouto is still looking down at his book, not looking up at anyone. Midoriya’s mouth opens and closes, unsure of what to say. All he settles for is a confused, “What?”
Shouto huffs. He closes his book and stands, getting at eye level with Midoriya. Midoriya stares back at Shouto, a puzzled look in his eyes.
Bakugou starts chuckling and walking close to where the other two are having their staring contest, “Oi nerds, if you’re gonna fight let me get my snacks first.” Bakugou starts laughing, amused by what was happening.
Neither Shouto or Midoriya paid him any attention. Instead, Shouto starts speaking, “I find it a bit strange how only now you decide to actually talk to me after not speaking to me for an entire day. Or for a few days, if we really think about it.”
Midoriya shakes his head, “Todoroki, no. It’s not like that! I like talking to you! Just because I might talk to Kacchan about some things that I don’t talk about with you doesn’t mean anything!”
Shouto clenched his fists. “Might not mean anything to you, but it does to me.” He tried his best to control his emotions. This could get out of hand if he wasn’t careful with his words, and he didn’t want to have his first fight with Midoriya. But it was getting harder by the minute.
“What are you talking about, Todoroki?”
“What’s different between Bakugou and I? Why are you so insistent on keeping me out of this?”
Bakugou laughed through a mouth full of chips (no one knows where they came from). “Half and half is fucking jealous. Not a big surprise if you ask me.” Once again, Midoriya and Shouto didn’t acknowledge his presence or comments.
Instead, Midoriya ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “I’m not trying to keep you out, and there’s no difference between you and Kacchan! Both of you are my friends!”
Shouto shook his head and looked away. “You don’t get it.”
“Then explain it to me! Talk to me, Todoroki.” The hand in Midoriya’s hair dragged right down his face in irritation. “Honestly, you’re just being ridiculous at this point.” Midoriya said softly, as if to himself only, but just loud enough for Bakugou and Shouto to hear. Bakugou stopped chewing and tried not to laugh.
Shouto decided that peace was never an option. “You think I’m being ridiculous? How am I being ridiculous, Midoriya?” At this point, Shouto was no longer looking at Midoriya with his emotionless deadpan expression. He was glaring.
Midoriya gladly returned that glare as he replied, “You’re getting upset over something that you shouldn’t be upset about! It’s not a big deal, and you’re making it into a big deal.”
“If you didn’t talk about secrets right in front of my face maybe we wouldn’t be having this discussion right now. Or maybe if you would have also included me in your trainings--”
“Todoroki, you don’t have to know everything! Some things are personal and you should respect that! I thought you of all people would understand!”
“I tell you a lot of personal things. I don’t understand why you feel like you can’t do the same with me!” At this point, both Shouto and Midoriya were yelling. Bakugou stood a few feet away, clearly entertained by this unexpected conflict between the two.
“I respect you and your decision to talk to me about your personal situations, but you’re not doing the same with me!” Midoriya shouted, frustration crawling through him. Shouto was starting to become more and more emotional. He hates fighting with anyone, and knows Midoriya is the same way. They’re friends, and they shouldn’t be fighting. But Shouto felt like he was in a position where he needed to defend himself, he had to get his point across. But it was becoming increasingly more difficult, especially when this argument reminded him of…
“You aren’t even trying to understand or listen to me, I’m trying to tell you why this is bothering me but you’re just being difficult!” Shouto shouted back, his hands starting to tremble. Midoriya’s glare grew harder, and Shouto knew what was coming. ‘ Please, don’t say it…’
“Well, you’re not being a good friend.”
Shouto’s face fell. His entire body relaxed, all anger gone. It was all replaced by hurt. He really tried his best not to show his emotions, but his eyes grew watery anyway. Midoriya must have noticed because he immediately stopped and stared, nothing but concern etched on his face.
“Todoroki…?” he asked softly. Midoriya’s own eyes filled with tears seeing Shouto look so defeated.
Shouto looked away. He needed to get out of there. “Just forget it,” he muttered, turning around and walking towards the door to leave the house. Bakugou watched mid-chew, surprised at the sudden turn this fight took.
When Shouto opened the door and walked out, Midoriya stood there, watching him leave. He walked to the wall where Shouto had been previously sitting at, and sat there, letting the tears roll down his cheeks in regret.
Bakugou was still standing in the middle of the room, looking bored. He looked at his bag of chips in disgust and dropped them on the floor. “Only losers are entertained by stupid fights,” he grumbled.
Shouto hears laughter coming from Touya’s room. Curiously, he peeks around the corner of the hall. He knows Touya’s room is at the end of the hall, and that Natsuo and Touya are both in there. With slight hesitancy but fierce determination, Shouto makes his way down the hall to Touya’s room. Standing outside of the hall, Shouto can hear the voices much more clear now.
“Oi, Natsuo you’re falling behind!”
“It’s not fair, you’ve had more practice with this game than I’ve had!”
By the sounds and tunes coming from the room, Natsuo and Touya are playing a video game. Shouto’s excitement grew, thinking about playing video games with his brothers on the day his father was out.
Just as he was about to reach out to open the door, Natsuo’s voice reached his ears from the other side of the door. “I’ll be back quick I promise,” he called out as he opened the door. Shouto was startled, now face to face with Natsuo, who looked down at him with a questioning look. “Oh, hi Shouto,” he said before walking past Shouto and down the hall to the bathroom.
Shouto watched him leave, then proceeded to walk into Touya’s room, where Touya was playing the game on his own, eyes focused on the screen. Shouto hesitantly walked next to Touya, eyeing the racing game he was playing. “Um… Touya?”
Touya finally noticed Shouto’s presence, and his face slightly fell at the sight of his youngest brother. “Oh, Shouto. What do you need?” he said, turning to look back at his game.
Shouto played with the ends of his shirt as he looked away. “Can I play with you and Natsu too?” he asked timidly.
Touya took a deep breath and paused his game, finally giving Shouto his attention. “Shouldn’t you be playing with dad? Where is he anyway?”
“Mama said he had to go do hero stuff all day. So I want to play with Natsu and Touya.” Shouto replied with more confidence in his tone.
Touya huffed and looked back at his game, still paused. “Go do something else then. You can’t just decide to come play with us whenever you want. Go train like you always do.”
Shouto looked taken aback. “But I’m tired of trai-”
“I don’t care, just go away, Shouto. We don’t want you here.” Touya muttered, glaring at the screen. His game controller was shaking with how hard Touya was gripping it.
Shouto couldn’t understand why Touya was so upset. “Why?” Shouto asked, eyes shining wide with genuine confusion.
Touya slammed down his controller on the bed he was sitting at and fully turned to Shouto. “You never play with us, ever! Why did you decide to come to us now? All you care about is being the old man’s quirk tool, so just go back to being dad’s favorite and ignoring us like you usually do,” he yelled, fists clenched at his sides.
Touya picked his controller back up and resumed playing his game, but not before uttering one last thing. “Shouto, you’re not being a good brother.”
Shouto was sitting on the steps outside of their home. He hugged his knees close to his chest, feeling nothing but guilt and self-deprecation. The tears continued to flow as he recalled the previous events that occurred inside of the house, from this past week, and from his childhood. Everytime he gets into any sort of trouble, it’s always somehow connected to past events, Shouto began to realize.
The front door of the house opened and Bakugou walked out, hands in his pocket as he walked towards Shouto. Bakugou rolled his eyes, sitting down next to Shouto on the steps. “I can’t believe the both of you are crying about this, fucking nerds.”
Shouto didn’t say anything. He ran his sleeve across his face but that did nothing to stop the tears. Bakugou sighed, “Why were you so worked up about this anyway?”
Shouto’s sadness was prevalent on his face, “I already told you guys, it’s not fun to see my two friends hiding secrets from me,” he said softly.
Bakugou scoffed, “I already told you, we’re not-” he cut himself off. Seeing the state Shouto was currently in, Bakugou decided to hold off on that comment, deciding it would just create an even bigger annoyance. He groaned, “Look. I’m not stupid. I can tell there’s a bigger reason for why you feel this way. What’s going on?”
Shouto frowned. He hates being so vulnerable, but Bakugou is giving him a chance to explain. He knows he owes it to his friends after everything that just happened. Shouto finally looks at Bakugou, expression somber.
“I’m sure you’re aware of my… complicated childhood.”
Bakugou snickered, “More than just aware, yeah.”
Shouto wasn’t surprised, considering how much contact Bakugou and Midoriya have had with his family at this point, especially during the internship. Shouto continued, “For most of my childhood, I’ve always had to spend it training with Endeavor. I rarely ever had time to myself, or to be with my mother and almost never got to interact with my siblings. Endeavor believed I was different from them, and wasn’t allowed to play with them as kids.”
Bakugou was surprisingly silent, taking in every word Shouto was saying with no interruption. Shouto slowly started to feel less tense, speaking more comfortably. “As a result of this arrangement, my siblings started to think that me not being allowed to interact with them was my own choice. Especially my oldest brother, Touya. He was always bothered by my relationship with Endeavor the most.”
Shouto then began to retell the memory of Touya yelling at him when they were kids, the way his siblings never wanted to include him in their activities. Bakugou listened and nodded, not making any snarky remarks during the exchange.
“This situation, with you, Midoriya and I,” Shouto began, fidgeting with his fingers, “It feels the same as what happened with Touya, Natsuo, and even Fuyumi. I was always excluded from any activities they did together. I suppose being excluded is not something that I enjoy and I’m realizing now how much it truly affected me.” Shouto looks up at Bakugou. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for the way I reacted to this. Now you know why.”
The silence that filled the air wasn’t awkward, but more contemplative. Both Bakugou and Shouto were having their own thoughts, but Bakugou decided to voice his first. “Listen,” he began, looking off into the distance ahead, “Deku and I weren't trying to exclude you on purpose. This secret that’s going on, it’s his secret. It’s really complicated, everything about that nerd is always complicated,” Bakugou sneered at that last part, “But you and Deku are friends or whatever, and I know that him not talking about his stupid secret to you doesn’t change the fact that you two are gross, sappy best friends. You got that?”
Shouto looked down at his lap, but his face broke into the smallest of smiles. “I never knew you were so good at comforting people, Bakugou.”
Bakugou groaned loudly. “Shut the fuck up I’m not comforting you!” he yelled, “You were both just being annoying crybabies about this whole thing. At first it was funny but now it’s an inconvenience, damnit!”
Shouto chuckled to himself silently. He was about to make another remark before a voice behind them announced their presence. “Todoroki-kun?”
Both Shouto and Bakugou turned around to see Midoriya standing at the door, looking out at the two of them with tears in his eyes. Bakugou laughed, “So you finally reveal yourself, huh?”
Midoriya approached the two and sat behind Shouto. His eyes were glistening, “I’m sorry, Todoroki-kun. I heard everything you told Kacchan.” He reached out and took Shouto’s hands in his own. “I just wanted to say, I’m sorry for making you feel left out, I’m sorry for yelling at you, I’m sorry for not listening to you, I’m sorry for making you cry, I’m sorry for saying you’re not a good friend, I’m-”
“Midoriya.” Shouto cut him off. “It’s okay. I’m sorry too. I’m sorry for overreacting and starting this whole mess. I should have just respected your privacy and talked to you about how I felt from the start.”
Midoriya shook his head, “You have nothing to apologize for! It wasn’t fair for me to bring my personal things into a space where you were obviously going to feel left out. Kacchan already told you this, but I never intentionally wanted to exclude you from us. It’s… a complicated secret. But that doesn’t change the fact that I value our friendship and trust you with my life!” Midoriya looked into Shouto’s eyes. He looked sincere, and genuinely worried about Shouto’s feelings.
Shouto smiled. “Okay. I believe you, Midoriya.”
Midoriya’s face broke into a huge grin. He laughed before launching himself at Shouto, hugging him tightly. Shouto returned the hug with just as much force, letting out his own chuckle into Midoriya’s neck.
Bakugou made a loud gagging noise, drawing the attention to himself. “You nerds are so sappy,” he remarked, earning a playful kick to his side from Midoriya. Bakugou grabbed Midoriya’s leg and threw it back towards him. “Oi, Deku. Are you still going to do it?”
Midoriya smiled and nodded. He pulled away from the hug first so he could speak to Shouto. “Todoroki-kun. Before we had our, um… fight… I was going to tell you about what’s going on. With the secrets and stuff.”
Shouto’s eyes widened slightly. “Midoriya, you don’t have to. You said it’s a pretty big secret, right? You don’t need to tell me about it.”
“I want to! Don’t worry, Todoroki. This is my own choice. I trust you, remember?” Midoriya said, standing up and reaching out a hand to help Shouto up, which he gladly accepted. “But for this, we should probably talk inside.”
Shouto looked between Midoriya and Bakugou, who were both waiting for his answer. Shouto nodded, “Alright. Let’s go inside.”
Once the three of them made their way inside, they sat around the kitchen table. Bakugou made them all tea while Midoriya began telling Shouto everything. Starting from his quirkless diagnosis as a child, how he met All Might in middle school, training with All Might, brief information about One For All and how it works, and why he always trained with Bakugou alone.
“Since I’m going to eventually have multiple quirks, I’ve decided to start training extra hard on my new quirk. Right now I’ve only activated Float, which is the one I’m working on. It’s hard to control, and I can’t use Float and One For All at the same time yet, but that’s what I’ve been training for,” Midoriya explained.
Bakugou added on, “The damn nerd has been having the most trouble trying to use both quirks at the same time. If I were the one with multiple quirks I’d have everything down much quicker than this loser,” Bakugou said as he took a long sip of his tea.
Shouto hummed, “Midoriya, if you need help with that maybe I can offer some assistance. I know what it’s like to use two quirks at the same time. I may not be able to help you use more than 2 quirks but I can show you how to train your body to withstand at least 2 quirks.”
Midoriya gasped, “That would be amazing, Todoroki! I should have asked for your help a long time ago!”
“Hey now, wait a minute!” Bakugou cut in, “Just because Half n’ half is going to help you too doesn’t mean you’ll learn faster with him! I’ll teach you to use One For All and Float at the same time before that Halfie does!”
“Is that a challenge, Bakugou?” Shouto smirked.
“Oh you bet it’s a fucking challenge, a challenge for you. I’ll teach him with no effort at all.” Bakugou claimed.
“I think it’ll just be fun to have the 3 of us train a lot more often together! I look forward to it, Todoroki-kun, Kacchan.”
Shouto smiles as Bakugou proceeds to go on and on about how much better he is than Midoriya and Shouto, while Midoriya laughs along to his antics. Shouto doesn’t care much for the competition, he’s just happy to be included with his friends.