Work Text:
"So…" says Izuku, a twinkle in his eye.
"So…" echoes Shouto, almost dreading what's to come.
"Do you remember how you dressed up for Halloween last year?" Izuku asks with a sly smile.
"Yes…" Shouto answers, trying (in vain) to delay the inevitable.
"Well…" Izuku leans closer until they're face to face. "What's it like, being an actual vampire?"
He looks so earnest that for a second Shouto can't tell if he's being serious or if he's messing with him. Seeing Shouto's small frown, Izuku starts laughing, his grin completely unrepentant, and Shouto knows — he's totally messing with him.
"Izuku, I expected better of you," Shouto reprimands in complete seriousness (even if his small smile indicates otherwise, of course).
Izuku snorts in the most unflattering way (which Shouto still finds cute, sue him) and sends him a look that clearly says, seriously? And Shouto has to agree: he had not expected any better from his boyfriend.
Shouto groans and lets himself flop on Izuku's bed. Izuku, in a much more gentle manner, settles down next to Shouto, sitting on the bed in such a way that he has the perfect view of Shouto's suffering.
"Talk to me Shouto," he says, gently, prompting Shouto to speak his mind.
"I just don't know what I'm supposed to do with these," he prods his recently acquired, extremely sharp canines (which could only be referred to as fangs) with his thumb. "To spend a whole week with someone else's quirk — a villain's quirk, at that — seems like such a waste of time. That's a whole week of training gone down the drain. Also, my body seems to be telling me that something is missing, and I know that that something is blood, Izuku, actual blood."
He grabs Izuku's arm and shakes it a bit in order to convey his distress.
Izuku looks pensive. "So you're telling me that you're getting urges to drink blood?" Shouto nods. "See? You're a real life vampire now!"
"Izuku," Shouto growls.
"Okay, okay, I'll quit joking! But seriously, this is so interesting… I have a feeling that we're going to find out a lot about Toga's quirk in the next few days."
"Well then, I guess it'll be useful to help us get an advantage over the League," muses Shouto. "I just don't know if I'm going to be able to use this quirk. It seems unethical."
"Why?" asks Izuku. "Because it belongs to a villain?"
"Well, yes."
"Shouto, a quirk isn't villainous just cause it belongs to a villain. It's simply a tool. And this quirk is, well…" he smiles slightly, "it's your quirk, not hers."
Shouto gapes. "I can't believe you right now."
"At least for now," Izuku continues, ignoring Shouto, "it's yours. Therefore, you chose what to do with it. It doesn't have to be anything villainous. We'll find a way for you to consume blood in a way that won't traumatise our classmates and then you can do whatever you want."
Shouto hums. "Whatever I want, huh."
"Exactly," Izuku, once again, smiles, though not entirely innocently this time. "Whatever you want."
Sitting on the bar's counter (a new bar, far away from Kamino), Shigaraki stares down at Himiko, who grins at him shamelessly.
"What do you mean you have Todoroki Shouto's quirk?" Shigaraki looks so done, it's absolutely hilarious.
"I mean exactly what I said — I have Todoroki Shouto's quirk! It's not very cute but it's super fun!" She looks at the other members of the League who were watching the scene with interest. "Want to see?"
Without waiting for an answer, she stomps her right foot, creating a small glacier that traps a very disgruntled Dabi within its icy prison, and lights up her left arm, burning off the sleeve of her shirt and singing the ends of Spinner's scarf.
"Stop it! Stop it! Or you'll burn the whole place to the ground!" exclaims Twice, who takes a glass of water and throws it, glass and all, onto a not-too-grateful Spinner. "Don't stop! Don't stop! That way you'll burn the whole place to the ground!"
Himiko stops her new powers, albeit reluctantly. She loves it when people bleed so she wants to see whether she'll love it too when people burn. Though perhaps a League member wasn't the best choice for a victim…
"Say, Dabi…" she says, starting to get excited. "Will you help me find someone to burn? Or ice up I guess but burning seems more fun."
Dabi, who had freed himself from the ice and was now dripping wet because of it, answers with the most deadpan expression.
"No."
Himiko pouts. "Whaaaat! Why?"
"Cause I don't want to. You're not my problem to deal with. End of discussion."
He looks smug about it too. Party pooper.
"Actually," Shigaraki speaks up, addressing Dabi, "she's your problem now."
Dabi sends him a withering glare.
"And why is that?"
"Because she's got fire and you've got fire so it makes sense."
"No it doesn't," grumbles the scarred man.
"And," continues Shigaraki, "because I say so. So get her out of here before she gives away our current hideout by burning half of it away."
Himiko grins with pure glee. She skips her way to Dabi's side and, uncaring of his half-hearted protests, drags him away and into the unknown.
They're going to have so much fun.
"Alright class, settle down," says Aizawa-sensei in his usual monotone voice. "Today we're going to put your investigation skills to work."
Iida raises his hand. "Sensei, it's still early. There are ten minutes left till the bell rings and a couple of students still haven't arrived to class. Shouldn't we wait?"
Aizawa-sensei stares at Iida for an uncomfortable amount of time.
"No," Aizawa-sensei says and Iida slumps in his seat. "Today we're going to put your investigation skills to work and find the answer to one of the most burning questions in the heroics industry…"
He pauses as if for dramatic effect. To the side of the room, someone whispers "what the fuck" loud enough that everyone hears, but Aizawa-sensei does not comment on this.
"...we're going to figure out once and for all whether Midoriya Izuku is All Might's secret love child or not."
Silence. Then—
"Okay what the actual fuck is happening—"
"Aizawa-sensei this is completely irresponsible and disrespectful—"
"Now I'm actually curious like, is Midoriya actually All Might's secret son or something—"
"Kaminari don't be stupid we all know about One For All—"
"Shouto, this is not what I meant when I said whatever you want— "
The door to the class slams open and in comes Aizawa-sensei, whose gaze locks onto the other Aizawa-sensei in the room.
"Oh no, I've been found," Aizawa-sensei says, completely deadpan, then proceeds to turn into Iida and run the fuck away.
"I am not paid enough for this," the real Aizawa-sensei says into the silence of the shocked room.
And so, with a bang, the school week begins.
With no small amount of trepidation, Dabi eyes the destroyed warehouse. It's the tenth one so far.
"I don't know whether the amount of fire you let loose is on purpose or whether you've lost control by now."
Himiko giggles maniacally.
"Right," says Dabi, as if that had answered his question.
Himiko skips ahead looking around for her next victim.
"Hey," she says, "do you think I can make explosions with this quirk?" She sounds way too gleeful.
"No," Dabi says, secretly afraid for his life — Himiko knows.
"But Shouto-kun does," she whines and turns to send a pleading face in Dabi's direction. Dabi does not look amused.
"…"
"Pretty please!"
"...fine," he concedes, "you can try. Just let me get far away from here."
"Oki doki!"
Dabi has barely started to walk (read: run) away when — BANG! — he's thrown to the floor.
"Dammit Toga! I told you to fucking wait!"
“Uh… oops?"
Needless to say, Himiko's going to need a new change of clothes — preferably fire resistant ones.
Lying on the ground, Dabi resigns to his unfortunate fate as the collateral damage from Toga's experiments.
"Hey Todobroki!" Sero calls out.
"Sero-bro," Shouto nods in greeting.
"So I heard about what happened and I wanted to ask… can you turn into me?" Sero asks.
Out of nowhere, Shouto gets a juice box and starts slurping.
"Sure," he says. His body seems to melt into goo, shifting till and a clone of Sero has appeared in Shouto's place. It was honestly kinda horrifying. Still…
"That was so cool!" There are stars in Sero's eyes. Todo-Sero fistbumps Sero and they share a smile.
That's when Ashido and Kaminari walk into the common room.
"Whoa! Am I seeing double?" asks Ashido.
"That has to be Todoroki!" Kaminari says, and Todo-Sero nods. "Hey Todoroki, can you turn into me?"
A slurp from a different juice box later and Kaminari is making silly faces at Todo-Kami, who is doing silly faces right back.
"So cool," whispers Sero.
"Hey! Hey! Now me! Now me!"
A slurp and a change. Now there are two Ashidos gawking at each other.
"So where are you getting all our blood from?" asks Kaminari.
"It's a trade secret," responds Todo-Mina, winking. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."
"Oh, okay. That makes sense."
"Revelry in the dark."
"Oh, hi Tokoyami," greets Sero.
"Shinsou's here too!" exclaims Kaminari, throwing an arm around a tired looking Shinsou.
"Ugh you're too loud," comes Shinsou's tired voice, except, it doesn't come from the Shinsou held hostage in Kaminari's arms.
"Seriously Todoroki?" asks real-Shinsou.
"Waaa that was such a good impression!" praises Kaminari.
"Revelry in the dark," Tokoyami agrees.
"Say, Shinsou," says Todo-Shinsou, "would you like to get a good night's sleep?"
Shinsou's eyes light up in understanding.
"Yes please," he says. "Make it eight — no, ten hours!"
Instantly, Shinsou's eyes go blank and in his mind he thinks, so this is what it feels like.
"Lie down on the couch ," Todo-Shinsou commands. Shinsou does. " Now fall asleep and stay like that for ten hours."
All present watch with wide eyes as Shinsou closes his eyes and begins to snore.
Sero speaks up first, "So it's true that you can use other people's quirks?"
"Yup," answers Shouto, now back to being Shouto again.
"There is so much potential for chaos," says Tokoyami.
Shouto shoots him a (literally) sharp grin in agreement.
"If Izuku-kun likes Shouto-kun and I have Shouto-kun's powers, does that mean that Izuku-kun will like me?" Himiko asks Dabi.
Dabi stares at her, trying to figure out her logic and giving up.
"That's really not how it works," he says eventually.
Himiko looks down, disappointed. It doesn't last long.
"What if I attack Izuku-kun with a lot of fire like Shouto-kun did in the Sports Festival? Will he like me then?" she asks hopefully.
"It still doesn't work that way," Dabi says, like the heartless man he is.
"Awww you're no fun."
"And you're crazy."
"Yeah, I know!" And she sounds happy about it too.
"I can't win with you, can I?"
"Nope!"
It's not often that Izuku tries to cook but when he does… well, it doesn't usually end well.
"Ouch! I've cut myself again!" Izuku pouts.
"Izuku, it's the fifth time this month," says Shouto as he carefully holds Izuku's right thumb to inspect the cut. Thankfully, it's not too deep, but it does bleed.
"I know!" he exclaims, and Shouto has to focus on holding his hand so that he doesn't move it around too much. "I don't understand how I can still be so clumsy with things like cutting vegetables but also complete the hardest obstacle course flawlessly and in record time. How does that make sense?"
"I'm not sure," Shouto answers truthfully, "but you'll be able to cook without injuring yourself eventually, if you just keep trying. Now let's get this cleaned up."
"Thanks Shouto," Izuku says as he's led to the sink. Shouto never gets to open the tap though, because he suddenly finds himself entranced with the drops of blood falling in the sink.
"Shouto?"
"Izuku… if I'm a vampire, is it okay that I…" Shouto raises Izuku's hand and licks the blood off, all while looking Izuku straight in the eyes. Izuku trembles, his face turning a lovely shade of red. Shouto places a kiss on his cheek. He then cards his hand through Izuku's hair and holds his head as he leans down and whispers in his ear, "Maybe being a vampire has its perks because all I want to do right now is bite — "
"OH MY FUCKING — NOT IN MY FUCKING KITCHEN YOU DON'T — GET A FUCKING ROOM!"
"Oh hey Bakugou," says Shouto, completely nonplussed.
"Do not 'hey Bakugou' me, Half-and-half!"
"Okay, then how about," Shouto uses his new quirk, "Hi Kacchan!"
Bakugou's eye twitches. "Get. The fuck. Out."
"Geez, no need to be so mean, Ba-ku-gou," Todo-Izu grabs Izuku's hand (his poor boyfriend was still red-faced and unresponsive) and leads them out of the kitchen. As he walks away he can hear Bakugou swearing colourfully and he knows that the explosive boy will be having nightmares of Izuku saying 'Bakugou' for a while.
It's sweet, sweet revenge.
After long hours of burning and icing a variety of things and people, Himiko and Dabi sit down to enjoy the sunset and just relax.
One of their conversations goes as follows:
"Dabi?"
"Yes, Toga?"
"Aren't we, like, siblings now?"
"No we're not."
"Yes we are!"
"Why though?"
"I make fire, you make fire…"
"You also make ice."
"Irrelevant!"
"You know that's not how it works."
"Ugh you're no fun… Wait…"
"What."
"Isn't Shouto-kun your actual brother?"
"Technically yes… So what?"
"So… I've his powers, therefore, I'm your sister."
"..."
"..."
"I can't believe you know how to use the word 'therefore' right."
"Hey!"
"But I guess I can't argue with that logic."
"Thank you!"
Yup, they're siblings now.
The day Shouto turns into Bakugou, it's pure chaos.
"What the fuck are you doing in my kitchen?"
"It's MY kitchen, Icy-Hot. Quit playing games!"
"What the fuck are you even talking about Half-and-half! Stop messing with me!"
"Why are you calling me Half-and-half, you bastard?"
"QUIT PRETENDING TO BE ME!"
"NO, YOU QUIT PRETENDING TO BE ME!"
They devolve into a mess of yells and insults while the rest of the class, who had been drawn by the loud noise, watches on with morbid fascination. Most of them wonder what they did wrong to deserve not one, but two Bakugous. Well, everyone, save for Kirishima.
"Two Katsuki's! So manly!" he swoons. "I'm in heaven!"
Letting out synchronised explosions, both Bakugous turn around and yell, "SHUT UP SHITTY HAIR!" and proceed to carry on with their discussion.
"Yup," Kirishima says, dazed, "heaven."
"I'm boooored," says Himiko, legs swinging over the top of a building. "Hey big bro, let's go set something on fire!"
"Sure, little sis," answers Dabi.
Himiko giggles. Success! She'd been trying all day to get him to call her that.
Himiko feels warm. Is this what a real family feels like?
"You know, Izuku, I don't get your quirk when I turn into you," says Shouto — or rather, Todo-Izuku — as he looks at his scarred hands. He's lounging on Izuku's bed while Izuku does homework on his desk.
"Well, that's a relief," Izuku says, as he finishes off the last math equation of the day. "It means that One For All definitely doesn’t transfer without consent, and if Toga ever tries transforming into me, then she won't have access to my quirk."
Todo-Izuku hums in agreement. "Still," he says, "even without a quirk, I'm super strong!" And he decides to demonstrate this by lifting Izuku, along with the chair he's sitting on, and twirling him around in the air a couple of times before setting him down again. Izuku laughs, absolutely loving his boyfriend's antics.
"You're amazing, Izuku," Todo-Izuku says with conviction.
"It feels so weird when you say that cause it feels like I'm complimenting myself," Izuku laughs sheepishly.
Todo-Izuku frowns. "It shouldn't feel weird, you know?"
"Huh?" Izuku looks so lost. Shouto turns back into himself and sighs.
"Izuku, you know I love you."
"Yes…" Izuku says slowly.
"But I feel like you should love yourself more." Shouto's voice is soft and earnest.
"Oh." Izuku's eyes widen in understanding but Shouto can also see trepidation in them.
Shouto turns back into Todo-Izuku and leans in to wrap Izuku in a warm hug.
"See? Now you're hugging yourself," Todo-Izuku says. "Get used to some self-love."
Izuku laughs softly, on the verge of tears.
"Geez, Shouto," he says fondly, "You're ridiculous."
Shouto's quirk runs out and so he's left hugging Izuku as himself, which he's definitely not complaining about.
"I love you so much, Izuku."
"I love you too."
"So…" for once, although hesitantly, Dabi starts a conversation. "Would you be willing to help me give Endeavour a heart attack?"
"Of course!" Himiko says with utter glee. "Anything to make my brother's bastard of father's life miserable! What are we doing?"
Dabi smirks. "Oh, not much… just using his greatest creation — the quirk he 'worked so hard' to achieve, his ultimate masterpiece — against him!"
"That sounds like fun! But what does it actually mean?" Himiko tilts her head in conclusion.
"It means," Dabi explains, as carefully as he's able to, "that we're going to show up to his house and you're going to attack him with fire and ice and tell him that you're using Shouto's quirk. Understood?"
"Yeah!" Himiko exclaims, getting excited. "I can do that!"
"Obviously, our chances of actually winning the fight aren't very high since you aren't that well trained with that quirk and Endeavour has plenty of experience fighting it." Dabi sounds resigned and Himiko's mood dampens. "It also won't take long for other heroes to arrive so we'll have to leave quite soon — the last thing we need is to get caught. However," Dabi's tone changes and Himiko perks up, "we should still have enough time to give my old man a good fright and to cause some property damage."
"Woo hoo! Property damage!" Himiko exclaims. "Let's fucking goooo!"
"Hey!" Dabi says, annoyed. "Who taught you that fucking language? It's rude as hell!"
Himiko skips forward, laughing all the while as Dabi struggles to keep up with her.
She's looking forward to this mission.
Movie night amongst friends had ended and Shouto was asleep on Izuku's lap. Iida, Uraraka and Tsuyu were trying to clean up the mess they'd made without waking Shouto up (Izuku couldn't really move, trapped as he was). However, it was all for naught.
Shouto shot up, startling his friends, eyes unfocused and blurry with sleep. As if in a trance, he says, "If I turn into All Might, and then into Izuku, I could do a paternity test and confirm what we've all known all along."
Uraraka wheezes and devolves into uncontrollable laughter. There are tears in her eyes and Iida pats her on her back, worried about her health. Tsuyu simply looks amused.
"Shouto, no," Izuku says, as he leads his boyfriend back down to his previous position on Izuku's lap. "Go to sleep."
Shouto closes his eyes for a second before shooting right back up again, this time way more awake than before. When he turns to speak to Izuku, there's manic glee in his eyes.
"If I get All Might’s blood, I could turn into him at home and scare the shit out of my father."
Izuku and his friends are at a loss of words. The idea is crazy and stupid and very childish but at the same time, it's absolute genius.
"Do it, Shouto," Izuku speaks up, awe clear in his voice. "Do it."
"You really think it's a good idea?" There's a tinge of doubt in Shouto's voice and Izuku tries to dispel it by nodding enthusiastically.
"I normally wouldn't condone this," says Iida thoughtfully, "but this practical joke seems harmless enough. And I won't lie, Endeavour would probably make a pretty funny face."
"Go for it, Todoroki!" cheers Uraraka.
"We're counting on you, kero," adds Tsuyu.
Shouto smiles, feeling grateful for his enabling friends.
It's early in the morning and Himiko and Dabi are staking out the Todoroki residence.
"What the fuck is All Might doing going out of that house?" says Dabi, perplexed. He knows Endeavour would never invite the retired hero into his home willingly. "And why is All Might smiling so creepily?"
"Let me see! Let me see!" Himiko pushes Dabi to the side and grabs hold of his binoculars. "Huh, you're right, he's smiling weird. But I like it!"
"Of course you do."
From their hiding spot they watch All Might walks away around a corner and out of sight.
"That was… something," says Dabi.
"Yeah," says Himiko.
A moment of silence.
Then, Dabi says, "Let's go in." And Himiko grins.
"Finally."
Needless to say, Todoroki Enji had nightmares about that day for a long time.
Shouto enters the nurse's office.
Recovery Girl takes one look at him and sighs. She then hands him a box full of juice boxes, each labeled with a different name.
"I hope you're not misusing these, young man," she says.
"I'm just doing what needs to be done," he says with all seriousness.
"Hmph, Aizawa was right. You kids really are problem children."
Shouto has no idea what she's talking about.
Himiko feels unstoppable after the success of yesterday's mission. She wants to mess with another hero!
"Hey Dabi, let's go threaten your boyfriend!"
"He's not my boyfriend," Dabi is quick to counter — too quick.
"I like how you know who I'm talking about," Himiko says with a giggle.
"Shut up." That only makes her laugh harder.
"Come oooon," she says in her most persuasive tone, "he'll look cute with some burnt feathers."
Dabi considers it. Then, "Alright, let's go see what that Birdie's up to."
"Two pyromaniacs against my flammable feathers? Now that's just not fair."
"You know, Yaoyorozu," Todo-Momo says, "I've gained even more respect for you than what I already had."
"Really?" Yaoyorozu blushes.
Todo-Momo nods.
"I'm pretty useless with your quirk because I'm not really sure what things are made out of. It's made me realise just how much you must have studied to make your quirk so versatile and effective. You're super cool, Yaoyorozu."
Yaoyorozu smiles. "Thank you, Todoroki."
"Oh, what's this?" an unwelcome voice says. "Two Yaoyorozus? This must be my lucky day!"
Said Yaoyorozus turn to look down at Mineta, who had just entered the classroom.
"Didn't they kick you out to Gen-Ed?" asks Todo-Momo with great disdain.
"Well, yes, but I couldn't pass up my chance to check you out, you know?"
Mineta's drooling by now. Disgusting. Shouto can only do one thing now: turning into Bakugou and exploding Mineta out of the window.
"DIE!!!" he screams as he does so. (He's Todo-Baku now, he must stay in character.)
Mineta's fading screams bring sweet relief to the room, and even real-Bakugou seems to approve of Todo-Baku's actions — he comes up to Todo-Baku and says, "I approve", before going back to his seat. Shouto simply thinks that it's what any hero would've done.
"You've gotten scarily proficient at making ice knives, you know?"
"Why, thank you! I try my best!"
Himiko may like setting things on fire, but sometimes, ice can come in handy too.
Overall, having Toga's quirk had resulted in a pretty good experience. Shouto thinks back to all the different ways in which he used the quirk to make other people (and himself) happy. Some highlights include:
Making Uraraka float and helping her feel, for once, what it's like to fly without feeling nauseous;
Cosplaying Spiderman with Sero and taking pictures of them both hanging upside-down from their tape;
Helping charge phones with Kaminari and going around messing with appliances until causing the whole dorm's lights to go out (oops);
Haunting the dorms with Hagakure — they moved things around when people least expected (and Shouto took extreme pleasure of doing this to Bakugou, whose faces of confusion were absolutely priceless);
And last, but certainly not least, petting cats with Koda.
Shouto got to walk in his classmates' shoes, and he feels like he understands them better now.
Honestly, Toga's is a great quirk and Shouto thinks that he'll miss it from time to time, but still, he understands why it could have led the girl to become a villain. If he hadn't had access to blood, he might’ve very well gone crazy (the craving was that bad), so he can see why a society that doesn't see blood drinking as 'normal' would have shun her out. Without a good support system, the only path in life that let her be herself was villainy.
These are some glum thoughts for the end of such an amazing week so Shouto will come back to them later and will take them into account when he thinks about the type of hero he wants to be and who he wants to help the most.
For now, he'll just keep thinking about all the good things that came out of his week as an actual shape-shifting vampire.
Once Himiko was no longer a threat to its structural integrity, she and Dabi returned to the League of Villains' base.
She's happy to have her quirk back because even if she liked icing and burning people, she preferred seeing them bloody. Still, there was one thing that concerned her…
"Now that I no longer have Shouto-kun's powers, can I still be your sister?"
Dabi looks at her, surprised as if thinking, why would you want me as your brother?
"Please!" she insists, sending Dabi her best puppy eyes.
Any trace of doubt leaves Dabi's eyes as he snorts in amusement and says, "Sure, why not."
"Yay!!!" Himiko twirls around in glee and gives Dabi a short but bone-crushing hug.
After regaining his senses from the sudden attack, Dabi ruffles her hair, accidentally undoing one of her buns, but she doesn't care. She doesn't care because this — this is what an actual, caring family really feels like. She loves it.
Dabi and Toga became an inseparable duo, and Shigaraki would always regret having ever placed them in the same room.