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Shouto was making his way back to the dorms in the evening from his weekly grocery shopping when he heard it. A truly unholy screeching coming from the alleyway up ahead. For a second he tensed up, years of battle training and countless near death experiences had him readying for a fight, fire sparking in his left and frost creeping up his hand from the right.
Another bout of ferocious yowling. It took another second to register the sound but by then he was already straightening up. He shook his head a little self deprecatingly, the past few years had made him a tad trigger happy. He wandered up to the mouth of the alley, curious in spite of himself. Shouto had few weaknesses and cats were one of them.
He peeked into the alley, squinting to see past the darkness of the setting sun. What he saw was a rather large tawny cat hissing and spitting at a smaller tabby cowering against a trash can in the far corner, it's already large size was made even larger by it's thick fur coat standing up in all directions and near trembling in fury. The sight felt strangely familiar.
Shouto hummed and wondered if he should get involved in what was clearly a very important feline territorial dispute, cats had their own code of honour, it wouldn't do to upset the natural order of things. And no it has nothing to do with how he nearly got his eyes scratched out the last time he tried.
But even as he watched, contemplating, the tawny cat swiped a deadly paw at the tabby now lying flush to the ground, ears pulled back and hissing feebly, clearly outmatched and terrified. Mind made up, he smiled wryly and ambled forward to the rescue. He was a hero after all.
The larger cat heard his approach and stopped in its mortal assault to assess the bigger threat. The tabby immediately took the opportunity to flee, jumping up onto the trash can and over the wall in record speed. The tawny cat turned its head to watch its fleeing prey and then glanced back at him with such seething rage in its narrowed, enraged kitty eyes that Shouto felt a sudden and inexplicable rush of affection for the deranged fur ball.
Ah that was It, he thought with amusement. If one Bakugou Katsuki could be restrained in a small feline form, this would be what he would look like. Even it's fur and eyes were reminiscent of its human counter part, the former a wild tawny gold and the latter a reddish brown that only served to exacerbate the obvious killing intent now directed at him.
Shouto stopped a couple paces away and crouched down in an attempt to make himself smaller and less threatening. He probably should have left, confronting an angry cat fresh from a fight was not a good idea. Clearly this cat was in no danger. In fact he probably was the danger, king of these city streets as he undoubtedly was.
But the same streak of mischief that led him to subtly needle Bakugou into explosive rage had him reaching into his pocket for some of the cat treats he kept on hand for exactly these situations. He liked to think of himself as something of a cat whisperer.
"Pst pst, here kitty kitty, come here, I've got some treats for you," he kept his voice low and soothing as he extended the hand filled with cat treats.
The cat swished his tail and looked at him with such incredulous disdain on its fluffy kitty face that Shouto had to bite back a chuckle. Really the resemblance was uncanny. He sighed, that was expected, but it was worth a shot anyways. He left the treats lying on the ground and moved further up the alley, firmly turning away and pulling out his phone to fiddle with. He kept his gaze trained on it as he leaned against the wall, the cat wouldn't do anything with him watching him.
A few minutes later, he glanced out of the corner of his eye to find the treats vanished and Catsuki sitting back on his haunches and resolutely ignoring him, but he was much closer than before. Shouto fought not to smile too giddily as he reached for more treats. This time he crouched down and placed the treats closer to him before going back to his phone.
It took longer this time, but he eventually saw a flash of gold out of the corner of his eye and felt fur brushing against the hand he had placed innocuously close. He stifled any sounds of excitement and held completely still. This was going much better than expected. He turned his head slightly to watch the cat as he inspected the treats. Catsuki saw the movement and glanced sharply at him, ready to bolt. But Shouto froze immediately, thankfully not literally.
"Shhh I'm not going to hurt you," he tried softly. He would swear the cat sneered as he twitched his nose and dismissively went back to his inspection, almost as if to say 'As if you could'.
Shouto marvelled as he wondered if some errant quirk user out there actually had turned Bakugou into a cat. But no, he had only seen him an hour prior at Endeavour's agency and he wasn't nearly as cute then as this cat was now. Because it really was a handsome cat, fur rich and luxurious in a way alley cats seldom were, spikey though it was. Body lithe and slender despite the large size. A cute pink nose.
'I want to boop it,' he thought wistfully.
Hmm it wouldn't hurt to try.
He waited until Catsuki was nearly done before he tentatively reached out a hand to pet the fluffy spikes at the ruff of its neck, it was surprisingly soft and very warm.
Immediately, Catsuki stilled and issued a low growl of warning, eyes once again flashing that murderous rage, he could feel the vibrations through his fingertips. Shouto held his breath. But he didn't run away. So Shouto threw caution to the wind and decided to go for broke.
He scritched his ear.
Apparently that was the final straw because Catsuki's unleashed a yowl loud enough to wake the dead and lashed out with needle sharp claws at the offending hand, it was so fast that even Shouto's pro hero reflexes couldn't fully avoid it. Catsuki jumped back with another screech and a baleful glare, sticking both his nose and tail up into the air before trotting off into the darkness of the alley.
Shouto stared dejectedly at his now smarting hand, three neat scratches welling small drops of blood on the back of his hand.
Correction. Apparently it did hurt to try. He closed his fist and let out a small breath of laughter.
Heh. Worth it.
***
The next day Shouto shuffled zombie like into the kitchen early in the morning, in search of tea and sustenance. Normally on weekends he would have slept in. But they were third years now. In between work study and the increased work load of the hero course, there was precious little time to catch up on academics. Shouto may be a genius, but even he couldn't pass without studying at all. And he'd be damned if he fell behind Midoriya and Bakugou even in this.
Speaking of the two, they were already awake and present. Midoriya leaning against the counter with his bowl of cereal, staring blankly in the haze of the just awoken. And Bakugou already cursing in peak form at what has fondly come to be known as the Bakusquad, to Bakugou's despair and everyone else's amusement. Shouto thought it was quite cute, being part of the Dekusquad himself.
"Goddammit shitty hair! Make your own damn food!" Bakugou growls.
"But you've already made so much!" Kirishima wailed despondently as he threw himself into a chair and looked longingly at the heaping stack of pancakes on the kitchen table.
"Yeah Bakugou! It's the least you could do after making us get up so early!" Kaminari blustered right behind him.
Sero was already face down at the table radiating misery. "Why'd you have to hold our tutoring session at the ass crack of dawn?" he slurred.
"Oh stop being dramatic!" Laughed Ashido, playfully swatting Sero in the head. "Its 8 in the morning!" She was the only one who remained chipper, he wondered how she did It, honestly it was exhausting just watching her.
"Hahh?!!" Bakugou, quite predictably exploded, hands crackling and popping threateningly. "I'm the one doing you a favour here you shitheads! It's not my fault you all have the collective IQ of a worm!"
Shouto made his way over to Midoriya, as Kirishima made a mad dash for the pancakes while Bakugou was distracted. He nudged him gently to break him out of his sleep deprived haze and reached up to the cabinet to search for his box of tea. Other hand already searching for the kettle. "Morning" he mumbled.
Midoriya jolts and breaks out of his reverie, shaking himself and turning to smile sweetly at him, "Good morning Todoroki kun!" He says brightly.
"Hm, late night?" He asks, pouring hot water very carefully into a mug. He and kettles have history. He drops in a tea bag before looking over at Midoriya and slightly startles at the pink creeping over his friend's cheeks. He didn't think the question he asked was particularly embarrassing.
"Um Yeah!" Midoriya says, voice squeaky. He cleared his throat, "Studying you know?" He says rushed, eyes flickering shiftily.
Oh? Midoriya was a terrible liar and Shouto was unflinchingly, painfully honest, this meant that they didn't have many secrets between them. So this new behaviour was certainly interesting. Colour him intrigued.
"Is that so?" He mumured, leaning his hip against the counter to face Midoriya, all the better to stare intensely at him over his mug of tea. He pointedly blew on it.
Midoriya gulped and white knuckled his bowl of cereal, absolutely refusing to meet his eyes. Almost sadistically Shouto watched him go even more red, the blush suffusing his entire face.
"Uhh..Yeah?" Midoriya said tremulously, sweat starting to bead near his hairline.
"Studying?"
"Uh huh"
"Anything particularly interesting you were Studying?"
Midoriya looked at him despairingly with the expression of a hunted prey animal.
Shouto laughed and relented, turning to lean properly against the counter, "I won't pry," he promised, If it was something truly important, he trusted that Midoriya would tell him. He tilted his head to smile slightly at Midoriya blowing out a breath of relief. "You might want to get better at hiding whatever it is though"
Midoriya smiled wryly at him "Yeah, I figured," He chuckled at himself, fanning his shirt in an effort to get his blush to recede.
Shouto raised his right hand, "Do you want me to cool you down?" He asked perfectly innocently.
Midoriya snorted, "No thanks" he says smiling despite himself. "You know I can never tell if you legitimately don't get social cues or if you pretend you don't just to mess with us," he groused good naturedly.
Shouto just smiled enigmatically, he figured it was a 50:50 ratio there, it was always good to keep his friends and classmates on their toes. He wrapped his hand back around his mug of tea. They settled back into silence. Another explosion dragged his attention back to the boisterous study group in front of him.
Bakugou was brandishing a rolled up piece of newspaper which he was using to liberally bonk his academically challenged friends on the head while he explained what looked like math. Eyes squinted and turned up in that comically incensed way that Shouto privately found endearing. He probably shouldn't say that to his face though.
The Bakusquad each had a plate of pancakes in front of them, digging in with notebooks open at their side. He knew Bakugou would fold eventually. He had clearly made enough for all of them, he just had to bluster and steam a little bit at first because Bakugou was a tsundere who didn't want to admit to doing nice things for his friends. The Bakusquad of course knew this and happily let him act the tough guy.
Of all the people in their class who had changed and grown over the years, Bakugou had to be one of the more drastic ones. First year Bakugou would barely have given them the time of day, much less have made them breakfast and spent the time to hold weekly study sessions, intensely focused on his own success as he was. But Bakugou cared deeply about his friends in his own way. Even Midoriya, or perhaps especially Midoriya. He shook his head in bewilderment, theirs was a relationship that half way made his own family situation look tame.
But both Bakugou and Midoriya had come a long way since then, Bakugou might even call him a friend now. In his own head. If he was concussed.
Shouto sleepily watched that explosive head of hair bob around and was suddenly reminded of the cat from yesterday. Shouto amused himself by comparing the two. Bakugou was like a very angry cat he decided. He was rude and standoffish and caustic. Guarding his heart and emotions with the fury of a tom cat defending it's territory. Hissing and spitting much like Catsuki when anyone attempts to get close. Scratching and biting at anyone that attempts to touch. But unlike himself and Catsuki, the Bakusquad and the rest of class 1A had somehow managed to squirm their way into Bakugou's good graces. He might even allow an ear scritch now, he thought with mischievous delight.
Shouto's hand itched, hmm, speaking of. Bakugou's hair really did bear striking resemblance to Catsuki's fur. He wondered if it was as soft and warm too. He suddenly wanted to know.
Only one way to find out.
Wisely leaving his mug on the counter, Shouto walked up behind where Bakugou was leaning over Ashido's homework and laid his hand on his nape, conveniently exposed by his bent head. He wasted no time in sliding long fingers up into the fluff and oh it was even better than expected, his fingers were completely enveloped from view by the voluminous, spiky strands that were atleast as soft as Catsuki's. Bakugou always ran hot, courtesy of his quirk, so it was pleasantly warm where his palm curved over his skull. Shouto massaged lightly, ruffling his hair and dislodging a sweet caramel scent. He even smelled nice.
10/10 experience, would try again.
Bakugou seemed to undergo a full body shudder, then he went dangerously, deathly still. He had so far been surprisingly compliant, which he attributed to shock factor alone. It wasn't like people came up and pet him on the head on a daily basis. He was probably the first other than his parents, and All Might that one time. Shouto felt like an adventurer, exploring new lands, discovering new things.
Bakugou was starting to tremble faintly now, much like a volcano set to erupt. Shouto only selectively listened to his self preservation instincts, so he stayed right where he was and dug his fingers deeper in.
Bakugou clenched his hands on the back of Ashido's chair, who had by now turned around to witness the drama with customary glee.
"Who the fuck-" Bakugou started, quietly, menacingly, "-is TOUCHING MY HAIR!!!??" He yelled at a truly astonishing volume, still too shocked to turn around. Shouto winced slightly and moved his hand to scratch gently at the soft hair right behind his ear. His other hand came up to his own ear to check if he was bleeding.
"I am." Shouto said blandly. Obviously. "Did you change your shampoo?" He offered mildly in explanation. "Your hair's extra fluffy today." He fluffed it a bit for emphasis.
It wasn't, Bakugou's hair operated at max floof at all times, there was no conceivable way it could get fluffier than it already is. Something to do with the constant explosions he supposed. Or perhaps it was trying to embody the unbreakable, indomitable willpower of it's owner. Something like that.
Bakugou wheezed out a choked breath. Presumably at the sheer audacity. Wood creaked ominously as Ashido's chair fought to withstand Bakugou's mounting anger.
"You're going to die, you fucking candy cane bastard." he growled out in a facsimile of calm.
"Yes?" Shouto said, lilting his voice to sound confused. "Everyone does, eventually"
Bakugou's hands flexed the tiniest bit and Shouto immediately let go and threw himself to the side, and not a second later because Bakugou rounded on him with the most ferocious expression he had seen all month, face contorted and twisted up in an ugly mess, hand clawed with a condensed, concentrated explosion that would have taken his head off if he had still been standing there. It probably said something about him that the sight only brought him joy and happiness.
Shouto stepped politely out of his personal space as Bakugou threw his head back and roared dramatically at the ceiling. Like that main character in that anime about titans. He half expected the steam to expel out of his mouth. His fingers clawed open and closed convulsively, probably aching to wrap them around his throat. Shouto silently applauded his restraint, Bakugou had gotten a lot better about his anger management.
Still in that ridiculous pose, Bakugou addressed the ceiling, "I need-" he said in a voice like rocks in a blender, he paused to take a deep breath, "-a moment." he growled out. It must have been painful for him. Finally able to now look at Shouto without instantly trying to murder him, Bakugou fixed him with a nasty glare and shoulder checked him roughly on the way out the door.
Shouto blinked and then did a double take, his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open slightly as he turned hastily to watch Bakugou stomp his way out.
Shouto gazed after him intently, shocked. Did he really see that? He couldn’t have seen what he thought he did.
"Todoroki, dude" Kaminari, starts in the ensuing silence, admiringly, "You're either the most bravest or the most stupidest person I've ever met."
That seemed to break the dam as the students in the room devolved into delighted peals of laughter.
Kirishima chortled, holding on to a wheezing Sero."And that's saying something considering you know Midoriya!"
"Hey!" Protested Midoriya playfully, but he was giggling too. "Atleast I have the common sense not to do that!"
Sero grins through his laughter, “Bro, if you don’t stop fucking with him like that we’ll find you in a shallow grave somewhere on the school grounds.”
Ashido was still squealing, slapping the table and giggling. “Did you see his face?! I haven’t that one in years!”
"I did see his face." Shouto says under his breath, still staring after Bakugou. But unlike Ashido he wasn’t referring to his explodo kill murder face. What they hadn't seen was that right before he had knocked into him, Bakugou had looked less angry and more...petulant? A pink blush spreading over his cheeks and nose, standing out against his fair skin.
He had seen Bakugou red many times before, almost always in anger, sometimes he even turned purple. A mottled and splotchy colour that only served to make him appear more demonic. But this was the first time he had seen that pretty pink flush. He didn’t know Bakugou could look like that. Less like an enraged alley cat and more a disgruntled kitten.
Then his brain caught up to him and stalled at associating the word 'pretty' to Bakugou. Bakugou, who was all harsh lines and hard muscle and spiky everything, spiky hair, pointed, upturned eyes and prickly personality. He was handsome sure, but usually his face was so twisted in a sneer or a borderline psychotic smile that that fact hardly ever registered. 'Pretty' wasn't a word that came to mind when one thought of Bakugou Katsuki. More like 'Manly' like how Kirishima would say. Words like 'abrasive' and 'insensitive' and 'proud'. Bakugou symbolised Victory for Midoriya. And Shouto himself found him admirable. Strong.
But Shouto had never been one to lie to himself, in that split second moment, with Bakugou blushing and childishly avoiding his eyes, hunched shoulders, with his hands in his pockets, looking at the ground, he had looked pretty to him. Cute even.
He didn’t know what to do about that.
***
Shouto found his eyes straying to Bakugou more and more lately. He didn’t know why he bothered, or even what he was looking for. It’s not like this was his first time seeing an attractive person. UA was filled with attractive people. His own class had plenty of other attractive people. It had never mattered to him before. So why was he suddenly so fixated on Bakugou?
Was it the novelty of it? He wondered, what was it that Uraraka was talking about during their weekly discussion of shoujo manga again? Gap Moe? That might explain it, but wasn’t novelty supposed to wear off? This wasn’t wearing off. Shouto kept seeking out his face again and again in class, in the cafeteria, during patrol in the crowds, in the dorms in their shared living space.
It had the unfortunate side effect of making him notice things that he hadn’t before. Bakugou had long grown out of the slight baby fat he had at 15, his face now streamlined and angular. At 18 years of age he looked more like his mother than ever, yet still distinctly masculine. His nose was small and upturned. His lips a light pink. His eyes thickly lashed and sometimes framed with liner, it emphasized his carmine eyes. Had he always done that? He couldn’t remember.
Bakugou's sudden prettiness was baffling, as was his preoccupation with it. He couldn’t understand why he wasn’t able to just shelve this information and move on like with anyone else.
His staring hadn’t gone unnoticed, it wasn’t long before Bakugou caught him at it, his eyes had widened slightly before narrowing in a scowl. He’d immediately stomped right up to his face in the hallway, fisting a hand in his uniform collar. Ah Bakugou, never one to shy away from a confrontation.
“The fuck you looking at bastard?!” he’d growled.
“You.” Shouto said dutifully. Bakugou rolled his eyes.
“Well, fucking stop it, it’s giving me the creeps!”
“I can't.” he said woeful.
“What the fuck do you mean you can't?!” Bakugou scowled harder in aggravation.
“I can't, You’re too pretty” He said, feeling utterly wronged.
Bakugou's jaw dropped open and his grip slackened, his eyes widened in surprise, he was wearing eyeliner today too, it really made his eyes quite lovely. It was only a moment before he recovered. Sneer firmly back in place as he shoved him back. Then he snorted.
“You have a shit sense of humour halfie” he said, turning away and shoving his hands in his pockets.
Shouto had watched him go, was he seeing things or were Bakugou's ears turning pink? No, couldn’t be, must be a trick of the light.
Of course Shouto being who he was, he felt no embarrassment at getting caught, it just made him drop whatever paltry attempts at subtlety he had employed before, now that the object of his attention was aware of it. The only thing that changed was that now whenever Bakugou caught him looking, he no longer bothered with threats of bodily harm, only spared a particularly ugly scowl in his direction before turning away to completely ignore him. It really wasn’t helping, all this Catsuki like behaviour was only making him more invested.
Even his friends had started to take notice. While sitting in the cafeteria during lunch today, Uraraka had poked him with the butt end of her chopstick, effectively breaking his concentration from where he was staring blankly in the direction of the Bakusquad table.
“You’ve been distracted lately Todoroki kun," Uraraka observed thoughtfully.
“Did Kacchan do something?” Midoriya piped up worriedly, “You’ve been staring holes in him all through lunch.”
Iida fixed him with a stern glare, “You better not pick a fight within school grounds," he warned. He pushed his glasses up authoritatively, “All conflicts can be resolved using effective and open communication, without violence!”
Iida glared at Midoriya at that last bit, who cowered somewhat sheepishly at that reminder of Kacchan related fights he had engaged in during their first year.
“I wasn’t planning to start a fight” Shouto said truthfully.
Iida shot a sharp withering glance at him, “You can’t goad him into starting a fight either.”
“I wouldn't” Shouto replied, actually somewhat offended.
“Not on purpose!” Uraraka giggles, and Shouto nods, allowing that.
“Absolutely on purpose!” Midoriya retorts, laughingly reproachful. “You can’t fool me Todoroki kun, it’s a miracle how the class hasn’t figured out what a menace you are.”
Shouto tilts his head to the side, brows slightly furrowed, “What do you mean?”
“See! That’s exactly what I’m talking about!” Midoriya points with all the fervour of a conspiracy theorist.
Shouto smiles, dropping the act and Midoriya snorts.
“Honestly,” Iida sighs, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “It’s like watching children pull each other’s pigtails on the playground”
“I don’t think that’s how that expression is used Iida,” Uraraka says wryly, “Unless Todoroki has somehow managed to develop a repressed crush on Bakugou when we weren’t looking"
A crush? Well that’s an idea, “Crushing on someone makes you want to pull their hair?”
“No,” Uraraka says long suffering, “err..maybe, but that’s a different conversation, it’s just a way of saying you want to get their attention, even if it means annoying them.”
Hmm, “Then how do you know when you have a crush?” He might be onto something here.
Uraraka looked at him with mild pity, Midoriya with sympathetic amusement. Iida just closed his eyes, “How did you get to this age without knowing the answer to that.” He grumbled.
“I had a very repressed childhood.” Shouto reminds him helpfully.
Iida went back to his food, apparently unwilling to further take part in the conversation. Shouto turned to Midoriya for help.
Midoriya jolted and then started stuttering, glancing at and then looking away from Uraraka for some reason. He was slowly turning red again.
“Uh, well. Ummm, you just think about them a lot? And uh stare at them? You enjoy just spending time together...and Uhh you wanna h-hold their hand?” Midoriya glanced at Uraraka again, immediately turned puce and looked down at his hands.
Uraraka was smiling at Midoriya, though she was faintly flushed too, “And you wanna touch them and kiss them and cuddle with them..”
Midoriya makes a soft meep sound and buries his head in his hands.
Iida sighed.
Shouto felt like he was missing something. He spends a few seconds trying to figure it out but dismisses it as a lost cause. Whatever, he’ll find out eventually.
More importantly, did Shouto have a crush on Bakugou? That might explain his sudden fixation. He thought it was a bit ridiculous, but Shouto gives it due consideration.
He had been thinking about Bakugou a lot lately, staring too, but does he want to kiss Bakugou, or hug him or hold his hand? He tries to picture it and is hit with a mental road block every time. Bakugou doesn't seem like the kissing or cuddling type, he imagines it would be like trying to cuddle an explosive porcupine and has to stifle laughter. He can’t imagine him submitting to the indignity of it, let alone allowing Todoroki to subject him to it. The notion is so ridiculous, his brain can’t even comprehend it.
He makes a face, “I don’t think I have a crush on Bakugou” he informs them conclusively.
That jolts Uraraka and Midoriya out of whatever staring competition they had going on.
“Glad we could help you figure that out Todoroki.” Uraraka sighs, looking miffed for some reason.
Midoriya takes one look at his confused face and starts laughing.
Iida sighs again.
***
Shouto finally realised things were getting out of hand when he honest to god walked into a pole trying to keep Bakugou in sight. He didn’t think that actually happened to people. It was all very embarrassing. Thankfully neither Bakugou nor any of his friends saw. Though a group of devil children did spend a good five minutes laughing at him.
So Shouto decides to handle this problem just like any other. Face it head on and either freeze it to submission or burn it to ash. He needed to talk to Bakugou, figure out where his fascination was stemming from and hopefully do something about it, honestly, this was keeping him awake at night.
So the next day, after math class, right as the bell rang for lunch, he made his way over to Bakugou's desk and plops his notebook down on it. He drags the closest chair over and seats himself next to where Bakugou had stalled in packing up.
Bakugou turns a fantastically hideous sneer in his direction, hands already popping and crackling in threat of imminent destruction.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing halfie?” He snarls, bringing his hand dangerously close to Shouto's face.
Shouto ignores the theatrics and folds his hands primly on his desk. “I was hoping you could help me with problem 12,” he says mildly.
Bakugou looks at him incredulously, “Hah?! Why the hell can’t you ask ponytail?! Or fucking Deku?!”
Shouto had his answer prepared.”Momo is busy tutoring Jirou.” He tilts his head, here comes the killer.“And you’re better than Midoriya at math”
Shouto watches in fascination as Bakugou's jaw works in clear conflict, obviously knowing where this was going. He evidently would like nothing better than to tell him to fuck off, but at the same time can't help but puff out in pride at the clear acknowledgement of his superiority over Midoriya.
“Unless..” Shouto baited, “you think Midoriya would be able to do it better.” Bakugou's eye twitches and he glares at him witheringly.
“Fuck off! Anything that shitty nerd can do I can do a hundred times better!” Ah. Hook, line and sinker. It never fails.
Bakugou thumps violently back into his chair and yanks his notebook closer to explain, manspreading as much as possible to establish dominance.
Shouto stifles a chuckle and leans forward to listen. He actually did have trouble with that problem, ulterior motives aside, and Bakugou is a surprisingly good teacher. If one could ignore the constant disparagement of one's intelligence.
He tries to concentrate as Bakugou explains how he was ‘using the wrong formula you shithead’ and follow the steps to the unnecessarily long and arduous problem. But it’s difficult. That caramel scent is stronger in close proximity and Bakugou's leg keeps jittering under the table. It keeps jostling the desk minutely and breaking his focus every few minutes. Shouto already had a terrible attention span and the constant interruptions weren't helping. Finally at the end of his patience, he reaches out and stills the unruly leg by placing his hand on Bakugou's thigh, the only part he could reach, and squeezing down firmly.
“Stop that.” He murmurs, tapping against his thigh where his long fingers curve around it, attention still focused on the problem, “You’re distracting me.”
Bakugou gasps and loses his grip on the pen he was using to explain, in the next second, he jumps up, the chair screeching as it’s roughly pushed backwards. Shouto looks up bewildered, what now?
“If I’m so fucking distracting, do it yourself you damn perv!!” Bakugou rages incandescently, hands clenched and shoulders hunched up, he opens his mouth, undoubtedly to spew more insults and recrimination. But Shouto is no longer listening.
Because oh wow that pretty blush is back, Bakugou's skin is so pale and unblemished that his face positively lights up with it. His cheeks are delicately flushed, even the bridge of his nose dusted with pink, his eyes are scrunched up and if Shouto didn’t know better he’d say Bakugou’s lips were pouting. The whole effect was frankly adorable. The comparison to a disgruntled kitten was looking awfully accurate right about now. It was ridiculous. Shouto wanted to bite him.
He blinks dazedly, that’s a new thought. Where'd that come from?
He hadn’t realised he’d been staring until Bakugou eventually runs out of steam and growls in frustration, shouldering his bag and aggressively turning to leave.
Shouto’s brain finally reboots from where it had been encountering difficulty assimilating ‘want’ and ‘bite’ and ‘Bakugou’ in the same sentence. Bakugou is not food. He inexplicably panics at seeing Bakugou leave and momentarily sets aside his mini crisis at his latent vampiristic tendencies. His hand shoots out on reflex.
He closes his hand around Bakugou's wrist and halts Bakugou's forward momentum. Bakugou stills and then shudders, his wrist strains in Shouto’s grip, veins popping. He looks back over his shoulder and his eyes flash with violence.
“You better get your hand off me if you wanna keep it halfie," he grits out lowly.
A lesser man would've quailed, but Shouto had come this far, he wasn’t sure how he got here, or where this was, but he was here nonetheless and he wasn’t going to back down now.
“I’m sorry” he tried, beseeching, he widened his eyes in a way Uraraka once described as his ‘puppy dog eyes' and tugged, gently. He absently rubbed his thumb against the smooth skin of Bakugou's inner wrist in an attempt to soothe and was delighted when a faint pink flush crept up again on his cheeks.
‘I’m sorry, I won’t do it again” he repeats, unable to tear his gaze away, entranced. “Please don’t leave, I still need your help,” Shouto tried for a pleading smile that was as genuine as he could make it.
Bakugou's eyes narrow and he wrenches his hand away, but he doesn’t leave. He stares at Shouto for a moment disbelievingly, then he groans out loud and mutters under his breath, rubbing a hand through his hair. He shakes his head.
“Alright! Fine!” He fumes, “Just stop..talking! And stop looking at me like that!” He drags his chair back and slumps down in it again, reaching for his hastily discarded pen.
Shouto rests his cheek against his palm and smiles, watching Bakugou pick up where he left off in the problem. “Like what?” He asks.
Bakugou shoots a look up at him from under his lashes where he’s hunched over the problem. He glances away quickly, pressing his lips together.
“Yeah, like that” he says mysteriously.
Shouto blinks in confusion but does as asked, turning back to their books.
He hadn’t managed to figure out an answer to his problem. In fact he thinks he only made it worse, the memory of that blush still forefront in his mind. But really, it wasn’t too bad. Maybe he could just spend the rest of his life occasionally walking into poles when Bakugou was near. He could live with that.
***
He and Bakugou didn’t often have patrol together anymore. It was practice in most Hero Agencies to partner senior interns with the newer kids to help them gain experience and to make sure they didn't get in too much trouble. Usually this worked out well. Either one of them alone was more than enough to handle any problems that came their way. And Shouto always enjoyed interacting with the juniors. It gave him infinite joy to thoroughly and systematically destroy whatever ‘cool prince' image they had cooked up of him. He can usually achieve it with a single conversation, he doesn't even have to do anything particularly crazy. Just being himself was enough. He counted it as one of the few joys of life.
But today the kids were spared the dubious honour of Shouto's company. But unfortunately for Bakugou he was subjected to it instead. Shouto was partnered with him to patrol the route along the shopping district under Endeavor's supervision. Criminal activity had been picking up lately along there. Endeavour suspected it as the work of a fledgling gang. They’d hit small shops and create enough confusion and ruckus to mask their escape into the crowds. It was a smart move, Hero's would have their hands full trying to stop bystanders from getting hurt, giving them just enough time to flee. They must also have a member with some kind of mind manipulation quirk, because none of the targeted shop owners, eyewitnesses or heroes on the scene could remember what the robbers looked like once they lost sight of them. A quirk to make the user utterly forgettable, the user can most likely extend the effect to other people too.
They were proving to be more elusive than expected and Endeavor was starting to get annoyed. So both Shouto and Ground Zero were being sent in together to crush them before they made anymore trouble. Shouto thought it was a bit overkill, but he wasn’t complaining.
Say what you will about Endeavour, at the very least he was prompt in responding to crime.
Now, Shouto followed along behind Bakugou indulgently. Charmingly, Bakugou still hadn’t grown out of his habit of insisting Shouto walk behind him. Now he stomped forward a few feet ahead of him, the way he hunched forward with his gauntleted arms swinging making him resemble some kind of lumbering cave troll. Pedestrians from the evening rush hour streamed around him, hastily making way lest they further enrage the beast.
Shouto had no such qualms.
“Bakugou.” He called, “Bakugou”
Bakugou’s shoulders tensed so he knew he was listening.
“You know,” Shouto started, casually making conversation, “I just finished reading this Shoujo manga.” He paused. “The male lead reminded me a lot of you”
Bakugou valiantly ignored him.
Shouto smiles, “He was this really big scary delinquent type, always shouting and picking fights with everyone"
“Oh but wait, there’s a catch” says Shouto trying to inject the same enthusiasm into his deadpan voice that was present in the description on the back of the manga. He only half succeeded.
“Stop talking to me asshole” Bakugou growls.
Shouto continued undeterred in the same voice. “Delinquent-san actually had an unexpected cute side to him. You see he secretly really liked collecting cute girly stuff like animal plushies and hello kitty figurines.”
Bakugou's hands start twitching.
“So all that macho grandstanding was because he felt ashamed about his hobby and he was scared about people finding out, his fragile masculinity really couldn’t handle It” Shouto said thoughtfully.
A vein starts throbbing in Bakugou’s neck.
“It’s called ‘Delinquent-san can’t be this cute!?’ if you want to read it” Shouto says, he personally thought the Oreimo title ripoff was a bit tacky but the story was compelling enough.
Bakugou's shoulders were rising and falling steadily, was he taking deep breaths?
Shouto decided to nudge him over the edge.
He started carefully, “Bakugou, if there’s something you want to tell me I won’t judge-"
“I will murder you where you stand bastard!” Bakugou halfway turns, fully intent on Shouto's demise.
CRASH!!
He and Bakugou snapped their heads toward the sound. The storefront in front of them shattered outward in a spray of jagged glass, blown open from the inside by multiple small projectiles. They looked like..thorns? He and Bakugou both tensed immediately, settling into fighting stance.
Two men burst out of the opening running, one a taller hulking man with dark green hair, the one right behind him completely nondescript and dressed all in black. He had a backpack slung over his shoulder.
Someone screamed and suddenly all hell broke loose, people started running and pushing and pulling each other in an attempt to get away. The green haired man had taken point, holding out both his hands and shooting thorns out of the palms of his hand indiscriminately.
“Fuck!” yelled Bakugou before blasting off to intercept them, but they were already running into the thick of the crowd.
Shouto himself uttered a curse as he sent his ice in a wave to block the shower of thorns from harming the crowd. Bakugou rocketed forward and grabbed the big one by the back of the collar, halting his escape. He heaved him over his shoulder, slamming him into the ground. The man hit cement and rolled with It, shakily coming to his feet.
“Ground Zero.” He spits and immediately shoots a volley of thorns directly at him, Bakugou can't dodge it without endangering everyone behind him, so he stands his ground and lets loose an explosion that incinerates the thorns right out of the air.
“The one and only, motherfucker!” Bakugou shouts, and the smoke clears enough to reveal his manic smile.
He launches forward again in a burst of smoke and heat. Bakugou is at a disadvantage here, he has limited mobility and he’s restricted from using his quirk freely without risking collateral damage. While still having to fend off the villain trying to take out everyone around him.
But Shouto has no time to waste hesitating, Bakugou is more than capable, the one they really need is getting away. The black clad man is the one with the mind manipulation quirk and if they lose sight of him the game’s over. He’s the only reason this gang has gotten this far and taking him out will take away their advantage.
Shouto runs into the stampeding crowd, eyes locked on the man and the backpack he’s carrying, no doubt full of the store’s stolen cash. He lashes out with his ice, crystalline spikes heading right for his back. The man looks back with panic in his eyes and grabs the nearest person, shoving them down onto it’s path. Shouto barely manages to stop himself from skewering some poor woman. Right, attacking isn’t going to work, and fire is definitely a no go.
He needs to finish this fast, the moment he takes his eyes off him he’ll get away. The man is heading for where the crowd is thickest, probably in the hopes of losing his pursuer. Shouto arches up over the crowd on his ice, riding it like a wave and heading straight for his fleeing prey, he swoops in and snags the strap of the man’s bag, hooking him out of the crowd like a hawk snags fish out of the water, the man yells in terror and kicks his feet at suddenly finding himself airborne. Shouto pays him no mind and swerves to the sidewalk to toss him down on it. That was fairly easy, the man's quirk is meddlesome, but it’s hardly one with any sort of attack prowess.
Shouto lands neatly and pulls out the quirk nullifying handcuffs, “I’m going to cuff you now, this will be easier on both of us if you don’t struggle.” He says.
The man is lying hunched on the ground where he’s pulled himself up on his hands and knees, back curved. Shouto reaches for him, intending to pull him up to restrain him. He lays his hand on the bag still strapped to him.
Except the man suddenly lurches to the side and twists like a snake, his eyes are squeezed shut when he yells and throws a cylindrical object right at him. Too late Shouto realises what it is.
Stun grenade.
By the time Shouto’s eyes stop watering and his ears stop ringing, the crowds are teeming around him. Still yelling and crying, now even more panicked at the loud flash and bang. The man is nowhere to be seen.
Well. That’s that.
Shouto is still slightly disoriented when Bakugou finds him sometime later, no doubt attracted by the noise and light. He lands in front of him with a boom and a shower of sparks. The green haired man is thrown over his shoulder, passed out and bound, looking significantly more scorched than before.
“Shit icy hot, what happened here?” He asks, dropping the man relatively gently onto the ground.
“Flash grenades.” Shouto mumbles. His head. Ow. He should be immune to this by now, hanging around Bakugou as he does.
“And our perp?”
“He got away.”
“You let him get away?!” He asks incredulously.
Shouto hums and nods, looking Bakugou over for injuries. He had emerged out of his fight more or less unscathed. There's a small scratch on his cheek that’s welling up blood, but otherwise he looks fine.
“What the hell half and half?! Since when does some measly fucking firework show stop you?” Bakugou waves his hands around in frustration.
Heh.
“I’m glad you have such faith in my abilities.”
“Die, bastard!”
He lifts his hand and carefully cradles Bakugou’s cheek with his palm, thumb brushing gently against the cut and smudging the blood against the pad. This seems to shock Bakugou out of where he was working himself up to an implosion, he stares, looking dumbfounded.
“I let him get away” He emphasized. He reaches into his pocket with his other hand and pulls out the signal receiver. Great things, pockets. All heroes should have them. Spandex might be a great fashion statement but they’re terrible for when you want to stash cat treats.
“I planted one of Momo's trackers in the bag he was carrying. He'll rendezvous with the rest of the gang later tonight probably. Then we can take them all out at once” He smiles.
He'd figured the man would try something like that. If he’s smart enough to evade the police for so long, he knew he'd have some sort of trick up his sleeve. The tracker was a failsafe, he’d planted it when he reached out to cuff him. Now they’d believe he had gotten away by the skin of his teeth, they wouldn’t be expecting an attack at their base.
Bakugou resumes powering up to implosion again from where he was momentarily stumped. He scowls and throws his hands up in exasperation.
“Then lead with that you fuckwit!!” He yells, and proceeds to call him a lot of other unflattering epithets, looking more like an angry catsuki than ever. Feisty kitten.
Shouto nods and rubs his thumb against the cut again, wiping off the blood. He stares at it, examining it for a moment.
Then he licks it off. Salty, metallic. Not particularly appetizing.
Bakugou stares at him again, looking one wrong move away from exploding himself and everyone else around him. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” He asks, sounding strained.
“I wanted to make sure I wasn’t turning into a vampire” He says. “I’m not” he adds. Thankfully.
Bakugou looks pained, “Why are you like this." He groans.
“I had a very repressed childhood?”
Bakugou punches him in the gut. It doesn't even hurt that much.
***
They update Endeavor on the situation while they track the man's movement, waiting for the go ahead on the next phase of the plan. He leads them towards the warehouses on the edge of town. This is good, warehouses mean large open empty spaces and little to no people. They could go all out if they wanted to. Not accounting for property damage of course.
“Do you need back up?” Endeavor rumbles over the speaker. He'd gotten cautious due to the events of the past few years, less concerned about success and fame and more about the people around him. It was almost amusing, watching him try so hard to turn over a new leaf. But Shouto was glad for it, for his mother's sake if nothing else.
“Fuck no!” Bakugou spits from where he’s crouched against the edge of the roof of one of the larger warehouses, sounding offended at the very idea. “We'll round ‘em up in two hours and be back in time for dinner!”
Shouto’s head shoots up from beside him where he’s systematically scanning the area looking for their target. “You're coming home with me for dinner?” He asks hopeful. He’d forgotten today was Todoroki family bonding night. He wondered how Bakugou knew.
Bakugou splutters, “It’s an expression jackass! stop making it weird!”
Oh. Now he's just disappointed.
Endeavor sighed over the phone, “Well, call for back-up over the hero network if it comes down to it. You know the emergency lines. Don't take unnecessary risks. And try to keep each other from getting killed. I’ll alert the police so they can clean up the aftermath"
Endeavor hangs up and Bakugou switches off the comm, making a face. “I hate when he tries to do that stupid fatherly concern thing.” He mutters.
Shouto nods solemnly. “It’s gross.”
He spots movement up near one of the warehouses in front of them. It’s too dark to see clearly, but a man furtively steps out of the shadows and slips in through a door on the side. Shouto doesn’t recognise the man’s face, but he has a familiar backpack thrown across his shoulders. And the signal points to him.
“I see him.” Shouto mutters, “Up ahead.”
Bakugou nods. Shouto uses his ice to soundlessly bring them down to ground level. They quietly run across and steal inside a few minutes after the man.
The warehouse is filled with old machinery and rows upon rows of huge rusted shelves that at one point might have been used to store warehouse goods. They hide behind some kind of large metal contraption and hunker down to observe.
The warehouse is cavernous and the man's footsteps echo in the silence as he scurries over to the far side, the only area of the warehouse that’s illuminated. Torch light. A voice carries easily over the distance.
“Takeda. You got the cash?” A short, stocky man asks from where he leans against the wall.
“I have it.” The man replies. “There ain’t much, I keep telling you man, we should start hitting banks, a couple ten thousand yen ain’t worth this much hassle!” He exclaims.
“They got Ueno today! Almost got me too! They called in that ice boy and the angry one with the explosions! I nearly didn’t make it!”
“Damn! They got him?!” A lanky teenager suddenly bolts up from his sprawl. “He was one of our heavy hitters! What’re we gonna do now boss?!”
“Shut up kid.” A woman drawls from the shadows. She’s heavily muscled and fiddling with a warped piece of metal. “You still got me don’t you?” She opens her palm and the metal floats on top of it, like a magnet repelled by the opposing pole.
“Guys like Ueno are a dime a dozen, we can just recruit more if we need to, plenty of schmucks out there looking for easy cash”
“But if they’re bringing in heroes like Shouto and Ground Zero-"
“Then I’ll crush them!” She closes her fist and the metal crumples into a ball.
Shouto shoots a look at Bakugou who frowns and nods, she’s one to watch out for. Plenty of metal in this warehouse.
The stocky one audibly sighs and pushes off the wall, motioning at Takeda who tosses him the bag. The man takes it and upends the contents onto a cleanish table and goes about counting the cash.
“Say,” The teenager says excitedly, “How'd ya manage to get away from them? Aren’t they supposed to be super strong? You can't fight for shit with your quirk”
“Watch it kid!” Takeda throws him a nasty glare and crosses his arms haughtily, “That ice kid ain’t all he’s cracked up to be, only took one grenade to blind the fucker and I was outta there!”
The stocky one pauses in counting and looks up frowning, “You got him with just that?”
The woman looks up, “What is it Ishida?”
“It just doesn’t sound right, big player like that, he shouldn’t go down that easy, hell, even blind and deaf, he could’ve just frozen everything around him to the ground. You shouldn’t have been able to get away” He says.
Takeda splutters in offence but Bakugou and Shouto tense and get ready to move quickly, it seems they’re about to lose their element of surprise. He'd hoped for more time to better gauge their quirks. But oh well.
Ishida moves his hand over the notes restlessly in thought, ignoring Takeda’s blustering, then he freezes. He rummages around in the mess and pulls out the small electronic transmitter.
“You idiot!” He hisses in horror. “You led them right to us!”
Showtime.
Shouto and Bakugou explode out from behind their cover. Bakugou quite literally, letting loose with a tremendous explosion right at the huddled group.
The woman yells, enraged, and throws up her hand. Immediately shelves and machinery fly toward her, crumpling and condensing down in front of the group in an effective barricade. The explosion dents the structure and Shouto’s ice attack slams into it thunderously. But it holds.
Bakugou screams right back and uses a concentrated explosion to vault over the barricade, directing an explosion at them from overhead.
“Come out and fight me you cowards!” He howls.
The group scatters from behind and Shouto wastes no time icing the nearest ones into the ground. Takeda and the teenager.
“Fuck you!” Screams the woman and draws both her hands back and then forwards forcefully, jagged pieces of metal break off and rise up, shooting towards them like shrapnel from an exploding shell.
Shouto manages to get up an ice shield in the nick of time. He hears Bakugou use an explosion to deflect the shards, cursing.
The woman is trouble, they need to incapacitate her as soon as possible. Shouto rides a wave of ice over to where she’s battling Bakugou, he's making little headway against her metal barricades. Shouto draws up behind her while she’s distracted and makes to blast her with a tunnel of fire. Right as he’s extending his hand he feels rope lash tightly around his wrist and he’s yanked off his perch, the rope whipping him into the warehouse wall.
He hits the wall and falls to the ground with a thump. Immediately more ropes wrap tightly around him, pinning his arms and legs, constricting a noose around his throat. Shouto struggles to breathe. He grits his eyes open and sees Ishida move into view, he’s got a gash over his eye and he’s limping, carrying rolls of rope on his back. More in his hands.
Fuck, he’d forgotten about him. Rookie mistake.
Ishida doesn’t waste time, He motions and the teenager darts out from behind a shelf. How had he gotten free?
“Aoki, knock him out. Make it quick”
“Yes sir!” Aoki scrambles to reply and he immediately brings his hands together in a clap, sound booming out with the impact. It’s so loud that Shouto feels the force of it like a physical blow. Ah, that’s how. He holds onto consciousness just barely.
The rope is made out of thick nylon fibre. Shouto concentrates and flares into inferno, his hero suit is going to be absolutely ruined but needs must. The fire melts the nylon instantly and he rips it apart, then he uses his ice to cool it down before it can drip and burn his skin.
He staggers to his feet, light headed from the rope choking him. He coughs and shakes his head, trying to clear it. Something slams into the wall beside him in a puff of smoke and dust. It’s Bakugou. Another explosion rocks a giant hunk of metal off his body. The woman must have thrown it at him with deadly accuracy.
“Fucking bitch” He snarls.
“Wanna trade?” Shouto asks gasping.
Bakugou narrows his eyes and looks over at Aoki and Ishida who are both gamely standing strong.
“Tch, fine! Melt that fucker for me”
“Anything for you” Shouto murmurs before launching himself forward on his fire, he sails over the heads of both Ishida and Aoki, gaining altitude before shooting down at the woman where she has completely encased herself in metal. He hits with all the force of a small meteor, the barricade craters significantly but it doesn’t crumble. And already more metal is being pulled to shore it up.
As long as she stays in there, there’s nothing he can do. He'll have to flush her out like a rat. He braces his feet and extends his left arm, he breathes out and a scorching wave of fire shoots out from him, as hot as he can get it, so hot it burns white.
The metal barrier heats up instantly, the impact area turning red hot, if she doesn’t want to get cooked, she’ll have to get out of there.
The woman screeches and she bursts out of the back. She eyes him with pure loathing.
“I’ll kill you!” she seethes.
Shouto throws a fireball at her. That’s really only cute when Bakugou says it.
She starts lobbing projectile after projectile at him, inundating him with sharp metal rain. It’s no use, she can’t hit him with his ice protecting him. She can’t erect any more barriers either, Shouto’s fire renders them unusable. She’s powerful, but he's a bad quirk match up for her. Slowly but surely Shouto beats her back.
He flares another wave of fire at her, backing her into a corner. Her eyes are wild, reckless, but she has nowhere else to run. Shouto slams his hand into the ground and ice forms in a relentless torrent, knocking her to the ground and freezing her limbs. Soon he has her immobilized. He walks up to her as she spits and snarls.
“Give up, you’ve lost.” He says
Alarmingly the woman smiles, “I’ve lost nothing!” She sneers.
“No, you’ll let me go.” She continues, “If you want to save your friend that is!” She gives him a crazed grin.
Shouto’s eyes widen and tries not to panic as he seeks out Bakugou over the carnage their battle has made of the warehouse, but Bakugou is fine, all the way over on the other side of the warehouse, leaning over the prone forms of both Ishida and Aoki, tying them up with Ishida’s own rope. A little bruised but none the worse for wear.
He crouches over her, “What do you mean?” He asks carefully.
She grins bloodily, “Look up” She says gleefully.
Shouto follows her gaze up and blinks, a veritable ocean of miscellaneous metal junk and machinery are roiling up there, looking like the world’s most rusted thundercloud. It’s a fearsome sight.
“If you don’t release me, I’ll drop all of that on top of him right here, right now, his little explosions won’t save him from this.” She gloats.
Shouto just hums and looks down at her in mild interest, “All this power and all you want to do is rob stores?”
The woman scowls and snarls, “Don’t you understand you fuck? I’ll kill your friend! I’m not bluffing!”
He tilts his head, “You underestimate him. You think his ‘little explosions’ are the best he can do?”
He smiles, it might have been a little smug, “He was just trying to keep property damage to a minimum, he’s been getting complaints you see.”
The woman gnashes her teeth and flails her head wildly, the only part of her body she can still move. She eventually stills, breathing rapidly, head turned to the side and gaze caught on something. Shouto tenses, he doesn’t like the glint in her eyes. Cornered animals are the most dangerous.
She starts laughing maniacally. Shouto bites back a sigh. Why do they always do that?
“Your friend can protect himself, but he can't” She says wildly.
Shouto follows her gaze this time to Takeda who’s still knocked out cold some thirty feet away from them, covered in half melted ice, he watches warily as the metal thunder cloud rearranges itself above the three of them.
“You wouldn't” He says, even knowing as he says it that he’s wrong.
“I would.” She laughs again. “Aren’t you a hero?”
She grins ferally. “Then go save him!”
She drops it.
Shouto curses and then lunges, thrusting his right hand out towards Takeda, ice carving out in a massive dome towards him, enveloping him fully, he makes it, just barely. The metal thunders down on it like a deadly hailstorm, the air fills with the sound of crunching ice. The dome cracks. Shouto holds on and closes his fist, reinforcing the structure.
Unfortunately, that’s the last thing he does because the rest of the metal rain batters down on his unprotected body.
Just before he passes out, he hears the comforting sound of Bakugou’s familiar rage.
.
.
.
He thinks he’s only unconscious for a few minutes before Bakugou drags him free of the rubble. Shouto feels him wrap his arms around him and tug and then he’s sprawled against his front, head resting against his shoulder. His eyes are closed but hearing slowly returns to him. Bakugou is, of course, yelling.
“-Fucking fuck! What the fuck were you thinking you absolute fucking moron?! Do you want to die?! I’ll kill you myself you stupid little shit-"
Ow. Ow, Ow, Ow. His body feels fair pulverized, everything hurts, especially his head. Its taken a beating today, what with the stun grenade, and then Aoki’s sonic attack and now this, he definitely has a concussion. Shouto feels very sorry for himself.
“Takeda?” He mumbles against his shoulder.
Bakugou pauses in his angry tirade and huffs. “Backpack guy? He’s fine. Not a scratch on him. I knocked out the metal bitch too, she's secured”
He shifts him more comfortably against his shoulder, “I’ve called the paramedics, so just hold on halfie”
“I’m okay.” Shouto mumbles again.
That sets Bakugou off again.
“You’re okay?! You’re fucking okay?! I had to watch you get buried under a fucking mountain of scrap metal you fucking asshole! I thought you were gonna die-"
Oww. His head, it hurts. Bakugou’s yelling isn’t helping, he thinks about telling him to keep it down, but that might have the opposite effect. His arms are still pinned to his side by Bakugou’s hold. He opens his eyes just a slit, and ow, that hurts too.
Bakugou's mouth is right there, still spilling insults and gruff concern.
The next action seems like the logical solution to his problem. Shouto leans up and covers Bakugou's mouth with his own. Ah, sweet blessed silence.
“Shh kitten,” He slurs against soft warm lips. “Too loud”
The moment stretches out, peaceful and calm. Shouto closes his eyes.
And then. “What the fuck did you just call me?!!” Bakugou screeches in a volume heretofore thought impossible to achieve by human vocal cords.
A piercing pain shoots through his brain like an ice pick through the head and Shouto promptly passes out again.
***
Shouto wakes up groggily to the all too familiar sight of Recovery Girl’s office ceiling. He’s propped up on one of the beds. It’s routine by now to close his eyes and do a quick appraisal of his own body. Fingers, toes, arms, legs all working right. No broken bones. He takes a deep breath, no pain, ribs are fine too. Nothing feels too bruised. His head feels clear, free of the cottony haze of a head injury.
Recovery Girl’s healing must have taken care of most of the damage. That’s good. He’s just glad she didn’t make him stay two weeks in the hospital bound in bandages and casts to teach him a lesson about being more careful. He can confidently say that that’s the worst form of torture. Who knew little old ladies could be so mean.
“You finally awake fuckface?”
Shouto turns his head to see Bakugou slumped grumpily in a chair beside his bed. Arms crossed over his chest. He's had enough time to change out of his hero suit, looking freshly showered and dressed in a tank top and sweats.
“Bakugou.” Shouto smiles happily. “Were you waiting for me to wake up?”
“No, fuck off! I had time, so I came by.”
Shouto hums disbelievingly just to watch Bakugou gnash his teeth. “How long was I out?” He asks. He looks out the window, it looks like late evening.
“Nearly the whole day, Deku and the rest came by in the afternoon after class but you were still knocked out cold. They left you some shit.”
He motions to the bedside table. It’s filled with sugary snacks and drinks, there’s even a box of that dark chocolate he likes, probably Uraraka's doing. He'll have to thank her. Recovery girl’s healing takes a toll on the body’s energy reserves, burning calories and dropping blood sugar levels, it’s a kind gesture. He suddenly realises he’s starving. He licks his lips and winces at the cracked, rough feel of it, his throat is bone dry. Right, water first. He’s absolutely parched.
He reaches out to the pitcher on the table, intending to pour himself a glass, but he’s still somewhat shaky and he nearly fumbles the cup.
“Damn it, stop that! I’ll do it!” Bakugou snarls and snatches it away from him.
Shouto obediently relinquishes the cup and watches bright eyed as Bakugou huffily pours him water and drops in a straw, bringing it to his lips. Oh, he’s going to hold it for him. Shouto certainly isn’t going to complain. He folds his hands in his lap.
Shouto keeps his eyes on Bakugou as he sips contentedly, slowly draining the water. Bakugou resolutely frowns at the cup, not meeting his gaze.
“You’re being surprisingly nice Bakugou.” Shouto offers after he’s done.
“Fuck you! I’m always nice!”
He smiles indulgently, “You are.” He agrees readily. Because Bakugou is nice, and he cares, even if he has a weird prickly way of showing it.
Bakugou side eyes him warily, as if expecting to be teased. He turns away, cheeks slightly pink when he finds only genuine appreciation.
He’s been blushing around Shouto a lot lately, it’s a very nice change.
He clears his throat and tosses the dark chocolate Shouto had been eyeing into his lap. “Eat something before you pass out again, halfie.” Bakugou mutters.
Shouto opens the fancy looking box and looks at the rows of chocolate nestled in their little compartments and is suddenly struck by inspiration. Maybe he can push his luck.
“Bakugou.” He says, “Feed me. I’m injured.” He flops his arms pathetically in demonstration.
Bakugou stares at him incredulously, “Did you get brain damage?”
Shouto frowns, “You would deny an invalid?”
“I’m not fucking hand feeding you chocolate, moron.” Bakugou looks a cross between amused and irritated.
Shouto sighs wistfully, “Worth a try.” He says and pops a chocolate into his mouth.
“Fucking unbelievable.” Bakugou huffs.
Shouto shrugs and keeps eating. It’s really good, dark and bitter with a hint of sweetness. Bakugou grumbles and settles back in his chair, going quiet and glaring at the wall over his head. He even thinks aggressively, how does he manage to do that?
Shouto serenely continues his Bakugou watching as he demolishes the box. Bakugou keeps fidgeting and looking at him every so often, scowling harder every time he glances back to see Shouto still looking at him. He keeps opening his mouth as if he wants to say something, and then clicking his mouth shut in frustration when the words don’t come.
It’s fascinating, he’s never seen Bakugou at a loss for words before. He wonders what’s going on inside that spiky head.
He’s almost finished with the box when Bakugou finally speaks.
“Oi..do you remember, before you fell unconscious back in the warehouse..” He trails off uncharacteristically. Bakugou is being surprisingly subdued, gruff and almost..shy? He’s frowning mightily and looking at his shoes.
Shouto looks at him blankly when he doesn’t continue.
Bakugou peeks a glance at him again, strangely going red for no discernible reason. He sees his confused face and groans out loud, tossing his head back and running his fingers through his hair in frustration.
“Of course you don’t you damn empty headed bird brain. You’re so fucking annoying, you can’t make anything easy can you?” He growls almost to himself.
Shouto blinks, that came out of nowhere.
“Do you even fucking know what you’re doing?” He explodes suddenly, sitting up and rounding on him, looking slightly hysterical.
“I would like to think yes, but I think the common consensus would be no.” Shouto says after some thought.
Bakugou looks as if he wants to throw something. “You’re so fucking dumb halfie, I swear to god, I can’t take anymore of this.” Bakugou clenches his hair in his fist again.
“I think it’s in bad form to insult an injured person.” Shouto says primly.
“Shut up! You’re the reason I’m like this!”
“I don’t like taking credit for other people’s achievements.”
“DIE!!”
***
Shouto couldn’t be sure, but he was fairly certain that Bakugou was avoiding him. It wasn’t like they spent all that much time together in the first place, but they had always managed semi decent conversations when they had to. Whenever they were in the same room together Shouto had always found himself automatically migrating to his side eventually. A tease or an obnoxious deadpan comment on his lips sure to get a rise out of Bakugou.
But now it was like Bakugou was avoiding all contact with him altogether. They never bantered in the kitchen anymore when Bakugou was cooking and Todoroki wandered in for a snack. He avoided Shouto in the hallways and never lingered in class after it ended. He was pretty sure Bakugou was swapping patrol routes with other heroes to avoid running into Shouto too. Whenever, Shouto entered their communal living room, Bakugou found some excuse to leave it.
It was subtle enough and they had never exactly been close friends like he was with Midoriya, so no one else except him had noticed yet.
But Shouto had and he was miserable. He had never realised how much he enjoyed Bakugou's company until he was deprived of it. And he wanted it back.
The last time they had really talked was when he woke up in recovery girl’s office after their battle in the warehouse. Bakugou hadn’t acted all that different, although he had turned bright red sometimes and avoided his eyes until the next ridiculous thing out of Shouto's mouth flared his temper again. He thought they had left each other on fairly good terms, the odd explosion notwithstanding. For the life of him he didn’t know what he had done wrong.
Shouto was sure he was making a pathetically sad face as he looked despondently across the boys locker room at Bakugou. By which he meant he was frowning slightly.
They were getting changed into their hero costumes for a training session with Aizawa sensei. Usually Shouto would be excited, Aizawa san almost always pitched either Midoriya, himself or Bakugou against each other to account for the power differential between them and their other classmates. And Shouto always enjoyed going all out against them. But today it only slightly managed to lift his mood, because Bakugou was still studiously ignoring him. None of their pre beat down smack talk to be heard. It left him feeling woefully empty.
He was sitting on the bench dejectedly when Kirishima and Kaminari suddenly thumped down on either side of him.
“Sure is peaceful in here isn’t it?” Kaminari said thoughtfully.
“Yeah, man. Bakubro’s been real quiet today.” Said Kirishima.
“It’s kinda freaking me out to be honest.”
“I get ya’ man, it just doesn’t feel right when he isn’t threatening to explode someone.”
“You think he’s sick or something?”
“Nah, he never gets sick, it’s like germs know the environment’s too hostile”
“Hey Todoroki, what do you think? Did you finally break him?” Kaminari asks jokingly.
Shouto nods sadly, “I think we’re fighting.” He said.
Kirishima and Kaminari reared back in surprise.
“Dude, for real?!”
“But you guys never fight! Not like that!”
“Yeah! You were cool last week when you took out that magneto chick right?”
“That was pretty dope by the way.”
“Totally awesome! Super manly!”
“Thank you.” Shouto says, touched.
Kirishima smiles brightly and slaps him good naturedly on the back. Shouto smiles back, and then he sighs.
“I've been trying to talk to him, but he keeps avoiding me” It might have been a whine if his voice was capable of inflection.
“Whoa! That’s so not his style. Bakugou doesn’t avoid anything!” Kaminari exclaims, “What did you do? You must’ve really pissed him off!”
If possible, Shouto droops further. “I don’t know.”
“Hey, don’t be like that man!” Kaminari throws an arm over his shoulder. “I’m sure it’s nothing!”
“Yeah dude, I know it doesn’t look it but he actually likes you a lot, he'll come around.” Kirishima says encouragingly.
Shouto sighs pitifully, “I like him a lot too.”
“That’s a real manly thing to say Todoroki.” Kirishima says somewhat tearily.
Kaminari nods decisively, “I think we can help you out bro.” He says leaning in conspiratorially, “How about I distract him and then Kirishima can clear out the room.”
Kirishima nods emphatically, catching on, “You guys can talk out your feelings man to man.” He says, placing his hand over his heart. “I know how painful it can get when two bro's don’t understand each other’s hearts.” He says determinedly.
“You guys..” Shouto looks at them both. “Thank you.” He says again feelingly. They’re both good friends.
“Aw, don’t worry about it!” Kaminari grins and he gets up to flounce off in Bakugou's direction. Presumably to annoy him, if the loud explosion and Kaminari's cackling laughter is any indication.
“Alright! Let’s do this!” With one final blinding smile in his direction, Kirishima stands up and begins to subtly usher everyone out. It’s interesting watching him flit around the place, talking easily and slowly but surely herding everyone to the exit with them none the wiser. Imagine having that much social skill. Shouto is thoroughly impressed.
Midoriya is one of the last to leave and he looks up in surprise when Kirishima starts nudging him out of the room.
“Wait, I was waiting for Todoroki kun!”
“No can do! Todoroki and Bakugou have some very important business they need to talk about! Let’s go! Let’s go!”
“Huh? What?”
Kirishima starts cheerfully pushing him out, hands on his shoulders, Midoriya shoots him a questioning look but acquiesces when Shouto waves him ahead. He lets Kirishima drag him out with a bemused expression.
Shouto focuses his attention back on Bakugou.
“Fuck off sparky, you’re making me late.” He hears Bakugou grumble.
Shouto steps up to them just as Kaminari widens his eyes in mock innocence. “Oh dang, look at the time! I sure didn’t notice! Well then, I’ll be off!”
Kaminari trots past Bakugou and lightly punches Shouto in the shoulder. “Good luck!” He grins as he hastily makes his way to the door.
Bakugou turns around and immediately notices Shouto standing right in the middle of the empty room, blocking his exit.
“Oh fuck no.” He growls and makes to push past him.
Shouto doesn’t let him, holding onto his elbow to keep him from leaving.
Bakugou starts cursing immediately and predictably tries to dig that same elbow into his gut, “I swear to god icyhot if you don’t stop grabbing me like this I really will blow your empty fucking head off!”
“Sorry” Shouto says and sidesteps, but he doesn't let go. “But how else am I supposed to get your attention? You won't talk to me.” He might actually have whined a bit there.
“Why the fuck do we need to talk? We don’t need to talk!” Bakugou fumes but stops struggling.
“You’ve been avoiding me” Shouto says, sounding wounded.
“You’re imagining things shithead”
“No, I’m not”
“Yes, you are!”
“No, I’m not”
“Yes- oh for fucks sake! This is stupid, I’m leaving!”
Bakugou shakes off his hand and starts stomping his way to the door. But Shouto was feeling righteously annoyed by now and he wasn’t going to let him get away that easily. In a move that would’ve made any Shoujo manga MC blush, he grabs hold of Bakugou’s shoulder and whirls him around to slam him up against the lockers. He places his hand beside Bakugou’s spiky head, boxing him in. There, flawless kabedon execution. Any girl would’ve fainted from the coolness, he’s sure of it.
Unfortunately for him, Bakugou is neither a girl nor a shoujo manga protagonist. His face contorts in blinding rage and in the time it takes for him to blink Bakugou already has him pinned against the lockers on the opposite side of the room. Shouto feels a dull throbbing in his shoulders and the back of his skull. Oh he’s definitely going to feel that later.
“What the fuck was that you goddamn popsicle?! You wanna fight?!” Bakugou yells in his face, a vein throbbing visibly on his forehead.
“No no, I’ve just seen it in anime and always kinda wanted to try that out,” he mumbles, He thinks he might be concussed. Again.
Bakugou's anger fizzles out for a second in confusion.
“What?”
“You know, the Kabedon, all the cool guys do it"
Bakugou closes his eyes in what seems to be pain, he looks like he’s undergoing some kind of internal conflict. Then he opens his eyes and rolls them heavenward.
“You must have a fucking death wish you stupid weeb,” he growls out, and then he’s shaking. It takes a moment for Shouto to figure out he’s stifling laughter. Bakugou lays his forearms against the lockers, framing Shouto's head and drops his forehead on his shoulder while he chuckles, those two inches of height difference they had maintained over the years making the action easy. It’s a nice sound, Bakugou should laugh more often.
Shouto reaches out and wraps his arms around Bakugou’s waist, braced for another explosion. But it doesn’t come.
Bakugou just huffs against his neck, “What are you doing now?” He asks, sounding only vaguely annoyed.
“Making sure you can’t run away again.” Shouto says, squeezing in emphasis. Bakugou’s waist is really tiny, he noted. “Now, why do you keep avoiding me?”
“Oh I dunno, why do you keep flirting with me?” Bakugou asks mockingly, face still buried in his shoulder. He slumps his shoulders as if defeated.
What?
“I haven’t been flirting with you,” he says confused.
“You called me pretty! You keep staring at me with this look in your eyes! You keep fucking touching me!” Bakugou hisses into his shoulder.
Well, he shouldn’t be so pretty then, if he didn’t want anyone to stare. The other thing though-
“I haven't been touching you.” Shouto says, even more confused.
Bakugou leans back to look at him incredulously. And Shouto is suddenly aware of their position, chests pressed close, legs tangled and faces inches from each other.
“This doesn’t count.” Shouto says carefully. He makes no move to let go.
“Oh this doesn’t count huh?!” Sneers Bakugou.
“Then what about last night in the kitchen when you pressed yourself against my back to reach the shelf?!”
“You were in the way”
Bakugou shakes him a little and his head bangs against the locker. Ow.
“You kept trying to hold my hand during Friday movie night!”
“It was a scary movie, I was scared”
“Your self preservation instinct is fucking non functional! You’re incapable of getting scared!”
“That’s mean”
Bakugou growls and wrenches a fist in his collar.
“You caressed my fucking face when you thought I was asleep on the couch!”
“You had an eyelash on your cheek.”
Bakugou snarls in frustration. Then suddenly, he narrows his eyes and goes eerily still. He won’t lie, it makes him a little nervous.
“What about when you kissed me last week, huh? What about then?”
Eh?
Something about that jogs a faint memory. Oh, in the warehouse. He vaguely remembers the feel of warm lips against his right before he blacked out. Oh, he had done that hadn’t he? Was that what Bakugou was trying to ask him about in Recovery Girl's office? He hides a wince, even his socially inept self can recognise that as a breach of social conduct and personal space. In his defence, he was heavily injured and concussed and not exactly thinking straight. He’d thought it was a good idea at the time.
Bakugou smiles arrogantly, his face radiating a truly unbearable amount of smug victory. That really won’t do.
“You were being too loud. I needed a way to shut you up"
Bakugou wheezes out a breath and looks about ready to go supernova. That vein on his forehead is positively pulsing now.
“Wait,” Shouto says, hugging him closer. If Bakugou was going to explode him, he’s taking him down with him.
Bakugou waits. Clearly with hair trigger control over his temper.
Shouto thinks fast. He really hadn’t realised that he was touching Bakugou so much. Or that Bakugou would construe it as flirting. He wasn’t exactly a touchy feely sort of person. He wondered if it was some kind of child hood trauma related touch starvation that was making an appearance. But no, if it was, he’d have thought Midoriya or Uraraka or even Momo or Iida would’ve been the recipient of it. Not Bakugou. He’s never even tried touching Bakugou outside of life and death situations before. Bakugou wasn’t exactly a person who conducted himself as open to casual affection.
He wondered when it even started, thinking back, that first time was probably after meeting Catsuki, the next morning in the kitchen, when he touched his hair. Shouto was suddenly struck by inspiration. Catsuki. Of course. He'd never had the desire to touch Bakugou before meeting Catsuki. He'd always liked cats, touched them freely all the time, even when they certainly didn’t appreciate it. Maybe in his head he’d associated Catsuki with Bakugou and his brain categorized all this as socially acceptable? It didn’t sound like a good explanation, but it was the only one he had. This wasn’t something he wanted to lose Bakugou's friendship over.
“There’s a cat” Shouto started slowly.
“A cat.” Bakugou says, supremely unimpressed.
“Yeah, it was a really big one, looked like you. Fur just like your hair, red eyes. Pissy like you too"
“Did you just call me pissy you fuckturd-" Bakugou breaks off, “Wait, is that why you called me kitten?!” He exclaimed.
Oh was he doing that too? He shrugs.
Bakugou takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “Are you saying you think you were substituting me for a damn cat you imbecile?”
That’s a lot of menace for a single sentence.
“I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable" He really was genuinely sorry, that was the last thing he wanted.
“As if you could make me uncomfortable” Bakugou sneers disgustedly, then his face smooths out as he fixes him with a piercing gaze.
“So you weren’t flirting with me.” Bakugou says evenly.
“I wasn’t flirting with you.” Shouto confirms.
Bakugou stares at him some more, searching his face, “You really believe that don’t you?” He says disbelievingly, snorting and shaking his head.
Shouto frowns.
Bewilderingly, Bakugou laughs, the edges of his grin sharp and bright. He looks vastly entertained.
“You’re so fucking dumb icy hot.” He says, still chuckling.
He’d said that before too. Shouto feels like this is completely unwarranted.
He opens his mouth to say so, but isn’t given the chance, Bakugou wraps both arms around his neck and drags him down. Shouto closes his eyes, bracing for a head butt but it doesn’t come.
He feels familiar warm lips against his instead, they’re very soft, not chapped like his. He remembers that Bakugou uses chapstick, the result of skin care being beaten into his head by his mother. Shouto is glad, it makes it all that much more pleasant when those lips move against his like this. His lips tingle and he opens his mouth slightly, their lips slot together. It’s a little wet now, somehow that makes it better, Bakugou's breath smells like the strawberry candy he likes to eat. His arms around Bakugou's waist curl tighter. He finds he doesn’t want to stop.
Bakugou pulls back, Shouto tries to chase him and gets pushed back slightly. “Gotta fucking do everything myself around here.” He mutters. He’s blushing again, it’s even lovelier this close.
Bakugou raises his eyebrows and looks at him. “Well?” He asks expectantly.
Oh, he knows what this is about now, all that shoujo manga finally came in handy.
“You like me,” He says wonderingly.
Bakugou rolls his eyes so hard he probably hurts himself. He sighs as if giving up.
“Yeah you stupid popsicle, I like you. What’re you gonna do about it?” He says long sufferingly.
“It’s fine.” Shouto says quickly. “I don’t mind, I'll be your boyfriend.” He ignores Bakugou rolling his eyes again.
A pause, they look at each other. “You can kiss me again.” He informs.
“Oh I can, can I?” Bakugou smiles positively wickedly. “You want a kiss? Come and get it icy hot, I’m right here.” He says challengingly, smirking.
That sounds like a great idea.
Shouto unwinds his arms from around Bakugou's waist, he brings them up to frame that angular face and wicked smile with his hands. He brushes his thumbs across his pink cheeks, soft, he's so soft. Who would’ve thought? He was going to kiss those smirking lips but now he’s distracted, the allure of a blushing Bakugou is too great. He thinks this might be turning into an obsession.
Shouto kisses one blushing cheek like how he'd just realised he’d wanted to do for some time now. Then he does it again, and again, pressing softly and lingering. He kisses his away across the bridge of Bakugou’s nose, following that blush to the other cheek. Bakugou’s skin heats up even further under his ministrations, he can feel the warmth more acutely against the thin skin of his lips. Bakugou's face is starting to go red, like cherries. He can’t help it, he bites down gently, careful not to leave a mark. He releases and presses a kiss there again. He kisses his forehead, the tip of his nose, the softer skin under his eyes. His eyelids.
Bakugou squirms slightly, breaking him from the haze he’d fallen into, “Not what I meant, asshole” He mutters. But he's bright red now. His eyes are closed despite his slight scowl. His arms locked tight around his neck. His eyes slit open and he glares at him. So pretty. His pretty kitten.
Shouto blinks dazedly and nods, brushes the back of his knuckles against that red. He curls his hand under his jaw, cradling his face, his thumb catches on Bakugou's chin, brushes his lips.
He kisses the corner first, pecks his away across to the other corner. He opens his mouth and slots their lips together again like before, bringing that plush lower lip between his own, suckling gently. Bakugou gasps and presses more insistently, hand curling in his hair and mouth moving faster, harder against his. Shouto breaks off slightly and exhales through his mouth, it comes out cold. Bakugou shivers and Shouto licks across his lips in apology.
“Fuck!” Bakugou whispers and buries his head in the hollow of his throat, soft spiky locks tickle his chin as he stares blankly at the lockers in front of him. He’s breathing rapidly, his lips are tingling and his mind is buzzing static. He thinks he might be drunk on the caramel scent that’s coming off Bakugou. He wraps his arms around him again.
Fuck indeed.
Bakugou pulls back and away from him completely after a minute, shaking his head and running both hands through his hair. Shouto’s arms feel strangely bereft. He stares at Bakugou, at his bright eyes, his flushed face, his shiny pink lips. Shouto did that to him. He doesn’t think he could look away if he tried.
“We can’t do this here.” He says under his breath. Bakugou fixes him with a significant look, “Come to my room tonight.” He orders.
“Okay,” He says. “Whatever you want.” He thinks he'll do anything Bakugou asks of him right now.
Bakugou chuckles again, low and hoarse. His blush is starting to fade and his customary cocky smirk is sliding right back into place. He wants to kiss it off.
“You’re so whipped icy hot.” He crows gleefully. He starts walking back to the exit with a noticeable spring in his step. Or a little less stomp in his boots if you will. “C’mon Halfie! I don’t wanna be late, I’m looking forward to grinding your face into the dust!”
Shouto follows behind, absently fixing his hair where Bakugou's hands had messed it up. Whipped?
“I don’t know what that means.” He calls ahead to Bakugou.
Bakugou just snickers and dismissively waves his hand at him.
***
Shouto meets Uraraka at the stairs going up to the boys rooms later that night.
“Todoroki!” She exclaims and waves enthusiastically.
“Uraraka.” Shouto smiles. “What are you doing in the boys wing? It’s late.”
Uraraka smiles a little sheepishly. “Uh, I’m going up to see Izuku.”
“Group study?” He guesses as they start to climb. Midoriya had been pulling a lot of late nights studying lately. He hopes he isn’t over doing it.
Uraraka laughs. “Sure, let’s go with that.”
Todoroki hums, “Make sure to get enough sleep, it’s no use studying sleep deprived.” He advises with all the sage wisdom of one who has no intention of practicing what he’s preaching.
Uraraka smiles slyly, “I’ll pass it on.” She says. Then her expression twists into soft concern.
“I heard from the boys that you and Bakugou were fighting? And you were distracted during training today.” She says.
Shouto winces at the reminder, he’d been so busy watching Bakugou in his spar against Midoriya that he’d nearly let Tsuyu brain him with a boulder. For some reason, now even his psycho killer ‘I’m going to destroy you, Deku’ smirk was starting to look cute to him.
“We were.” Shouto confirms. “But we're okay now, we made up. I’m going up to his room right now.”
“Eh? Why?”
“I don’t know, he told me to come over.”
Uraraka makes a skeptical face, “You're sure he’s not going to try and murder you in there?”
“He’s too smart to do it in his own room, he'll want to have at least two alibi's and a scapegoat if he’s going to murder me.”
“...That’s a rather concerning statement Todoroki.”
Shouto shrugs and they stop at Midoriya’s floor.
“Well, tell him I’m naming him prime suspect if you’re mysteriously missing from your room in the morning.” Uraraka says joking.
“I’ll pass it on.” Shouto says, using her words. For some reason, this makes her snort. But she waves away his questioning look and disappears down the hallway.
Hmm. Strange.
He continues to make his way up to Bakugou’s floor, counts down to his door and raps sharply.
The door opens immediately to reveal Bakugou looking grumpy in a skull T shirt and sweats. Was he waiting by the door?
“What the fuck took you so long?” He grumbles.
“You didn’t specify a time.” Shouto reminds him.
Bakugou shoots him an annoyed look and drags him in by the front of his shirt. “Whatever, just get in here before someone sees you.”
“Why? Am I your dirty little secret Bakugou?” Shouto deadpans. “I’m hurt.”
“Shut up! I just don’t want those extra’s all up in my business alright?! Those fucking clowns will never let me hear the end of it!” Bakugou grouses.
“I can’t believe my own boyfriend is ashamed of me.” Shouto says woefully, completely ignoring him.
Bakugou throws him a venomous look, looking like he already regretted letting him in.
Shouto steps deeper into the room, looking around. He’s never been in here before during all three years of his high school life. It’s surprisingly tastefully decorated in muted colours. There are old posters on the wall of rock metal bands. His desk is orderly and his shelf ruthlessly organised. There are some weights neatly stacked against the wall out of the way.
“Maybe this is a sign that I should find someone better who treats me right.” Shouto muses absently, looking around for the All Might merch that’s definitely in here somewhere. He just has to find it.
Bakugou hisses like an outraged Catsuki and that’s all the warning he gets before he’s being pounced on.
Shouto suddenly finds himself slammed up against the door, Bakugou pressed up against his front and kissing him hard, both his hands fisted near painfully in his hair.
“There isn’t anyone better!” Bakugou growls against his lips. “I’m the best! You hear that halfie?!” Bakugou glares at him through slitted eyes.
Shouto nods dazedly, hands coming up to frame that tiny waist. Possessive kitty. “You’re the best.” He repeats dutifully.
Bakugou narrows his eyes. “And don’t you forget it.”
Bakugou drags him over and pushes him down to sit on the bed, Shouto can only stare as Bakugou straddles his lap with a predatory look in his eyes, wrenching his head back with a hold on his hair and descending upon his mouth like a conquering king. He grips his jaw with his other hand and licks across the seam of his lips. Shouto gasps and Bakugou slips his tongue inside his open mouth. Oh wow, this is new. His tongue is slick and commanding where it rubs insistently against his own, the feel of it sending a shower of sparks down his spine. He had no idea that could feel this good. Shouto tightens his hold on Bakugou’s hips and rubs soothing circles with his thumbs, letting Bakugou have his way with him. Shouto feels positively ravished.
Bakugou breaks away with a gasp and Shouto drinks him in. Bakugou’s face is flushed a nice rosy pink, his eyes dilated, his mouth open and panting. His lips are spit slick and pink and his eyes are hungry where they’re now laser focused on his hands rapidly unbuttoning Shouto's shirt.
Huh? Wait.
Shouto stills his hands with his own and Bakugou looks at him with irritation.
“What?” He grits out.
“What are you doing?” He asks.
Bakugou looks at him as if he’s particularly dense. “Taking your stupid prissy shirt off idiot. What do you think I’m doing?”
“Are we going to have sex?” He asks, because really, they need to be clear about these things.
Bakugou looks at him with clear disdain. “What did you think I meant when I told you to come over.”
“I don’t know, I thought we were going to talk or something? I was under the impression there was some sort of gradation to this.” Shouto muses.
Bakugou snorts and resumes in attempting to divest him of his shirt. “We can talk later, you’ve been driving me fucking crazy for weeks. Tonight, I wanna fuck.”
Shouto's eyes widen as the want in his voice shoots a spike of heat straight through his gut. Wow, he’s learning all sorts of things about himself today.
But something makes Bakugou’s hands stop in their task and his scowl fades, looking hesitant for the first time all day.
“Unless..” He starts, “You don’t want to? Fuck I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking, I should’ve asked, shit, fuck-" Bakugou curses softly and alarmingly starts sliding out of his lap. No, wait, come back.
He wraps his arms around Bakugou to stop him from escaping and bodily twists the both of them around so he can pin him down underneath him on the bed. He kneels over him, one knee in between his and hands by Bakugou's head propping him up over his body. His shirt hangs open on either side of him as he gazes down at Bakugou earnestly.
“No I want to.” He says fervently, “I definitely want to.” Because he realises he does. He wants to make him blush again, wants to make him moan and cry out in pleasure, wants to make Bakugou feel good and have it be because of him.
Bakugou's surprise at being tossed around fades into a slow smirk. He slides his hands up over Shouto’s exposed chest, tracing firmly over muscle and lightly scraping with his nails in a slow pull down. Bakugou’s palms are rough and calloused as a result of his quirk, it makes him shiver from the sensation.
“Yeah?” He asks wickedly.
He’s never attributed the word sexy to anyone before but Shouto thought Bakugou was being very sexy right now.
“Yeah.” Shouto breathes, he doesn’t recognise his own voice, it’s gone deep and husky in a way he’s never heard it go.
Bakugou wraps his arms around him, one around his waist and the other around his neck and pulls him down into a kiss. Shouto goes willingly, closing his mouth over Bakugou’s and kissing him deeply the way Bakugou did to him. Tongue plunging in and tangling intimately with his, suckling it and then releasing to caress the roof of his mouth. Bakugou whines low in his throat and the sound tugs at something sweet and hot in his gut. He shifts and feels his leg press up between Bakugou's thighs. It makes Bakugou break their kiss and cry out, arching his back and thrusting his hips up against his thigh.
Oh, very nice.
Shouto lays down against him fully, lodging his thigh firmly in between his legs and grinding down slowly against Bakugou’s by now fully hard cock. Bakugou makes a noise that sounds suspiciously like a whimper and Shouto smiles, pressing an open mouthed kiss against his cheek, flicking that reddened skin with a quick lick.
“Asshole.” Bakugou mutters. But there’s no heat in it. Bakugou lies pliantly underneath him, surprisingly docile. His hands clench in the fabric of his shirt, watching him with dazed eyes.
It makes Shouto want to bite him again, so he does. Latching onto the side of his neck, he bites down on the tender skin, sucking harshly. Bakugou shudders and his hips jolt against him, a knee coming up. One of his hands buries itself in his hair but he doesn't pull him away, moans long and low instead. Every sound that’s coming out of Bakugou is making him intoxicated, making him want to pull out more. He feels drunk on it.
“Thought you said you weren’t a fucking vampire.” Bakugou pants roughly.
Shouto corrects that assumption, “I’m only a vampire for you.” He says.
Bakugou laughs hoarsely, “You’re so damn stupid, icy hot.”
Shouto hums and kisses the abused flesh lightly, pressing more kisses against his neck and throat as he works both hands underneath Bakugou’s shirt. He explores that strong body leisurely, hand curving over sturdy muscle and smooth skin. Pressing firmly and squeezing. His hands move up and brush a nipple quite by accident.
“Ahh!” Shouto blinks in surprise and looks up, that sound couldn’t have been made by Bakugou, because he didn't think Bakugou’s vocal chords were capable of a voice that high pitched. But Bakugou has an arm thrown over his eyes, face flushing an even brighter red.
“Shut up!” He growls in his normal voice of blended gravel.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Shut up!”
Shouto grins and decides to use this new information for evil. He pushes Bakugou's shirt up underneath his armpits against Bakugou’s half hearted protests. All that skin is now exposed to him and Shouto marvels. He’s seen Bakugou shirtless many times before of course, but never in this context, never this close and that makes all the difference. He’s leanly muscled and powerful, chest well defined, his skin fair and unblemished.
“Even your nipples are cute.” He sighs contentedly.
“Stop saying embarrassing shit like that!”
“Okay,” he says and gently rolls one pink nipple in between his fingers.
Bakugou mewls and pushes his chest up against his fingers. “Fuck!” He says, all embarrassment forgotten, “Do that again!”
Shouto chuckles and complies, gently pinching his nipple before rolling it again. He moves his head down and kisses the other nipple. Bakugou exhales a breath like it’s punched out of him and he presses a hand against the back of Shouto's head, keeping him there. He throws the other hand over his eyes again and whines, hip rocking against his leg rhythmically.
Shouto thinks he’s found his happy place and he settles down, laying on his side with half his body draped over Bakugou, he squirms one arm underneath his back, keeping it nice and arched. He laves attention on one nipple with his mouth, teasing the other with his fingers. Sighs and moans keep falling from Bakugou's lips even through clenched teeth, his head is thrown back. Eyes squeezed shut.
Definitely his happy place.
Bakugou eventually growls in frustration and grabs his wrist tightly, shoving Shouto's hand between his legs and against the hardness straining against his sweats.
“Stop fucking around and touch me already bastard!”
Shouto huffs out a laugh and cups his hand against Bakugou’s crotch over the fabric, throwing his leg over Bakugou's calves to give himself more room. He rubs slowly, gripping as much of his cock as he can through the cloth.
“Like this?” He teases, smiling when Bakugou’s breath hitches and his mouth opens on a gasp.
“Yes! fuck, more!” He whines.
Shouto lays his chin on Bakugou’s shoulder to watch his face as he shoves his hand inside his pants to curl around his cock.
Bakugou’s eyes pop open wide and he lets out a long broken moan, his thighs fall open wider and his cock jerks in his hand. Beautiful.
He pulls it out and starts stroking slowly, grip tight and unrelenting, Bakugou curses and urgently cups his face, bringing him up for a kiss. Shouto kisses him deeply again, timing his strokes in tandem with the way his tongue sinks into his mouth. He rubs a thumb over the head and swallows the moan that follows. Bakugou’s mouth is slack when he pulls back, eyes clouded over with lust. He rests his head against his forehead and breathes with him, hand still working between his legs.
Bakugou is slick with precome and sweat, but it can’t be enough to be entirely comfortable. “Where’s your lube.” Shouto mumbles against his lips.
“Wha’?”
“Lube.” He mumbles again.
Bakugou blinks and shakes his head a little bit, he blinks again and then scowls, “Damn it, I’m out. I forgot about that.”
“You should be more prepared next time.” He advises.
“Fuck you! It’s because of you I ran out in the first place.” He snarls and then immediately goes an embarrassed red and clamps his mouth shut in clear regret.
“Oh?” Shouto asks smiling.
“Nothing! Shut up!”
Shouto watches him lick his lips in what Bakugou would deny was nervousness and gets a terrible idea. Either a terrible one or a wonderful one. He decides to go through with it.
“Since we’re out, it can’t be helped.” Shouto starts. He lets go of Bakugou and brings his hand near his mouth. “Lick me, kitten. Get me wet for you.” He hears himself say.
Bakugou stares at him with such offended incredulity in his face that Shouto is sure the night is going to end prematurely. But then-
Bakugo suddenly erupts into a spectacular blush, skin red up to the roots of his hair. He scrunches his eyes shut and groans, “Fuck halfie, where'd you learn to talk like that?”
Shouto smiles, “Please kitten? For me?” He rubs his thumb across the seam of Bakugou's lips.
Bakugou makes a small noise and resolutely keeps his eyes closed, but he opens his mouth and licks at his thumb tentatively.
Shouto is entranced, “Just like that, a little more now.”
Bakugou frowns and squirms, but he reaches up to hold onto his arm with both hands. Then he opens his mouth and licks at his palm. Shyly at first, then more confidently with long careful licks, until his palm is wet with it. Shouto taps at Bakugou's lips with two fingers, slipping them inside his mouth when they open obediently.
“Suck.” Shouto breathes against Bakugou’s ear. He kisses the lobe when Bakugou swallows and complies. He rubs his fingers against his tongue, feeling it slip between his fingers as Bakugou suckles. He plays with his mouth for a moment, lightly thrusting in and out and rubbing against his tongue, pressing against the walls of his cheek. He bites his ear gently when he slowly pulls out of the heat of his mouth.
Bakugou opens his eyes just slightly, he looks wrecked, with his face flushed red, eyes unfocused and mouth pink and shiny, panting as if running a marathon. “That..that good enough for you halfie?” He gasps.
“Perfect.” Shouto near croons, he presses a kiss to his cheek. “So good, so good for me. My pretty kitten. You did so well.”
Bakugou makes a sound that could be categorised as a squeak and opens his mouth in embarrassed outrage. Shouto wraps his hand firmly back around his cock before he can and Bakugou breaks off into a choked moan.
“Shh kitten, I’m going to make you feel good now.” Shouto says and kisses him for good measure.
Shouto starts stroking again, faster this time now that it’s wet enough, paying special attention to the head. Trying to remember the way Shouto usually does this to himself. Long firm pulls, rubbing just under the head, before pushing down to the base. He reaches down further to cup his balls, squeezing gently and rolling them in his palm.
He swallows down Bakugou’s sighs and moans of pleasure, kissing languidly and playing with Bakugou's mouth with his tongue the way he did with his fingers. Once he’s sure that Bakugou is well kissed enough to have forgotten his earlier train of thought, Shouto pulls away and kisses under his jaw, nuzzling and sucking. He scatters kisses along his throat, his collarbone, his chest, until he finds his way back to an erect nipple. He blows on it, making his breath cold and grins in satisfaction as Bakugou flinches bodily.
“Are you close kitten?” He asks when when Bakugou starts moaning louder and clenching his hands in Shouto's hair and the back of his shirt.
“Ngh! Y-yeah! Fuck! Fuck!” Bakugou whines again and arches, pressing his chest into Shouto's mouth.
Shouto helps him along, he heats up his mouth and tongue, latching on to the offered nipple and sucking harshly, flicking the tip repeatedly with his tongue. Bakugou cries out loudly, hips thrusting wildly into his hand.
He releases him from his mouth momentarily, “Katsuki.” He breathes. “Go on and cum for me kitten, come on.” He urges softly. Then he bites down hard. Teeth sinking in to the firm muscle of his chest.
“Ahhh! F-fuck!! Sh-shouto!!” Bakugou’s voice trembles as the orgasm rips through him.
Shouto works him through it, milking his cock as cum spurts out, slicking his length even further. He holds Bakugou as he shudders through the aftershocks, leaning up again to kiss his cheek and temple. He keeps holding him in his hand even as he softens and stills. He lays his head on Bakugou's shoulder and nuzzles in, waiting for his chest to stop heaving.
There's only the sound of harsh breathing resounding in the room for the next few minutes. Then Bakugou snorts and laughs hoarsely.
“Who knew you were that kinky you little shit.” He says, voice rough, but he doesn’t sound all that mad about it.
“This is new information for me too.” Shouto tells him.
Bakugou snorts again, “There are tissues in the drawer.” He says, nodding towards the nightstand.
Shouto presses one last kiss to Bakugou's lips and pulls away, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed so he can reach for the aforementioned tissues. He pulls off a few for himself and twists to hand the box over to Bakugou. He’s finished cleaning himself off and is contemplating whether if he can make it if he tosses the wadded up ball of tissues at the trash bin in the corner when he feels Bakugou shift off the bed. He comes to stand in front of him.
He’s lost his shirt but he has his sweats pulled back up, Bakugou is looking at him with fond exasperation, a slight blush still high on his cheeks.
Shouto looks at him questioningly and Bakugou huffs and inexplicably sinks to his knees in front of him. “We didn't get to you idiot,” he mutters, reaching for the buttons on his slacks.
Shouto hadn’t even thought of that. He’d been so focused on Bakugou's pleasure that his own had been an afterthought. Really, watching Bakugou fall apart, being the cause of that, was reward in itself. He didn’t think it was necessary. He’d always had a very low sex drive, morning erections and occasional masturbation aside. He’d never really got the preoccupation with sex that most boys had. Naked bodies didn't really do much for him. The porn that Mineta had cheerfully shared with them had only the initial fascination of viewing something considered illicit. It had soon become either too tedious or too ridiculous to watch.
But now. Now there was something alluring about Bakugou kneeling between his legs, blushing shyly with his eyes lowered, hands determinedly reaching for his half hard cock and pumping. His sweet kitten, so insistent on wanting to please him.
He leaned back on one hand and spread his knees wider, hand reaching down to cup Bakugou's face, making him meet his gaze. Bakugou scowls up at him a little petulantly. He tilts his head and smiles.
“Are you going to suck my cock kitten?” He asks softly.
He waits for the blush and, ah, there it is. He brushes his thumb across that pretty flush as Bakugou glares at him half heartedly, muttering something that sounds like ‘stupid sexy bastard’ as he turns his eyes back to his lap and wraps one hand around his thigh.
Shouto bites back a smile and leans back on both hands, head tilted down so that he’d have an unobstructed view of Bakugou taking his cock into his mouth.
Bakugou glances up at him challengingly as he holds him by the base and kisses just the tip. Shouto gasps at the feel of those soft pink lips at the head of his cock. Bakugou holds his gaze as he licks at the head and flashes him a quick smirk, opening his mouth and taking him in as far as he can, being careful with his teeth. He's only able to go halfway down but the heat and wetness is so unexpected that Shouto finds himself hunching forward in surprise and pleasure. He sinks both hands into Bakugou’s hair, crying out.
He blinks away the haze and glances down at Bakugou who is looking up at him very smugly indeed. He narrows his red eyes in satisfaction and wraps his lips around him, sucking slowly, hand pumping where his mouth can’t take him. Heat rockets through Shouto and his cock hardens even further in Bakugou’s mouth. He moans and can’t help but thrust in a little.
But that makes Bakugou choke and pull back. He coughs hoarsely and Shouto is immediately apologetic. “I’m sorry kitten. You don’t have to do this.” He says worriedly.
“Shut up icy hot, I can take it! Your dick isn’t that big.” He growls, wincing.
“Dick sucking isn’t a competition Katsuki.” Shouto explains patiently. Really, Bakugou is a treasure.
“Just let me do this asshole!” Bakugou says, an unfortunately familiar competitive light in his eyes, and true to form, the next time he goes down on him he takes him deeper, the head almost breaching his throat.
Of course he has to pull back immediately to cough and splutter.
“You know, Rome wasn’t built in a day.” He says sagely.
Bakugou glares murderously at him through teary eyes.
Shouto frames his face with both hands and smiles at him. “I meant that we have plenty of time to practice kitten.” He says, wiping away the tears at the corner of his eyes.
He rubs at that pink mouth with his thumb, now starting to turn red with abuse. “But since you’re so eager to choke on my cock..” He says and Bakugou’s mouth drops open in either shock or protest, he doesn’t know. He presses his thumb against that pink tongue before he can find out.
“One day I’ll hold you down and fuck your throat like you want.” He continues, smiling at how Bakugou's eyes open wide and his hands clench on Shouto's thighs.
“But that day is not today.” Shouto removes his thumb and takes his cock in his hand, rubbing the head against Bakugou's lips. “Now be a good kitten and behave.”
Bakugou is blushing furiously through his glare. “You’re a fucking menace, you know that?”
Shouto nods. “Now I’m your problem to deal with.” He says, smiling slightly.
Bakugou huffs and tries to keep scowling, but fails. He swallows him down again before could be accused of the indignity of laughing at one of Shouto’s jokes.
But he’s more or less more careful this time, only trying to swallow as much as he can take, using his hands on the rest. He only tries to take him into his throat one more time, Shouto curbs that attempt by reaching down and pulling sharply at Bakugou's bitten abused nipple. This makes him moan low in his throat and Shouto groans too as the vibrations stimulate his cock.
Bakugou shoots him a poisonous look but stops trying to deep throat him. So Shouto keeps his fingers there, playing with his nipple, He runs his other hand through Bakugou's hair, petting and scratching lightly at his scalp.
Bakugou like everything else he does in his life, fully devotes himself to the task with aggressive zeal. He wraps his red lips tightly around his length, sucking hard and hollowing his cheeks. He pulls off up to the tip and spends some time suckling lightly at the head before pulling off completely. Then he licks him, mouth open and tongue out, long careful licks like he did his palm, no longer embarrassed about it. He licks right up to the tip and sinks back down again, his head bobs in his lap, tongue massaging the underside of his cock, saliva drips down and Bakugou uses it to slick his grip.
Shouto’s head feels clouded. This feels so much better than anything he’s ever done to himself that he’s rapidly reaching orgasm. He can’t take his eyes off Bakugou. He’s so good. So good to him. Shouto brushes his hand over a red cheek, fingers tracing a path along his stretched lips. Bakugou has his eyes closed and brows furrowed in concentration, fully focused on making him cum. He’s beautiful like this. So pretty. Bakugou slits his eyes open and meets his gaze, daring and provocative even with his mouth filled with cock, Shouto is helplessly enchanted.
“You’re trying so hard for me kitten, you’re so sweet like this. So sweet for me. My sweet little kitten.” Shouto mumbles mindlessly.
Bakugou closes his eyes and whines. Shouto really isn’t going to last much longer.
“Kitten, Katsuki, I’m going to come.” He whispers, tugging lightly at his hair to try and pull him off, but Bakugou resists, sucking harder and tongue rubbing insistently. Shouto groans and pulls him off anyway, hand tightening in Bakugou’s hair and wrenching his head back.
Bakugou moans and looks at him dazedly, chest heaving and pretty red lips parted. He can't seem to take his eyes off his cock, still distractedly trying to lean forward.
Shouto doesn’t know what comes over him.
He takes his cock in hand and tugs rapidly. “You want me to come in your mouth kitten?” He asks gasping. Bakugou nods, red faced and panting.
“Then keep that mouth open for me Katsuki.” He says wrenching Bakugou's head back even further and positioning his cock over his mouth, still stroking furiously.
Bakugou blinks when he understands what he means, but he doesn’t pull away like he half expected, just groans and open his mouth pliantly, nice and wide.
Shouto moans at the ready acceptance. “So good kitten, so perfect. So good for me. You’re so good to me.” He slurs.
Then he comes in Bakugou's mouth, hunching over him and shuddering through the pleasure, splattering his tongue and lips with white. Shouto keeps his eyes open and on Bakugou, completely mesmerized. He reaches out with his thumb and wipes off the cum on his lips.
Then he reaches in and rubs it back into the mess on his tongue. “Swallow, kitten.” He says softly.
Bakugou looks at him, eyes clouded and fucked out. Then he closes his mouth and obediently does as he’s told.
Shouto widens his eyes in shock and tenderly cradles Bakugou's face with both hands. His beautiful Katsuki. His pretty kitten. So eager to suck his cock and swallow down his cum.
“I didn’t think you’d actually do that.” He says marvelling.
That snaps Bakugou out of his post sex haze and he scowls immediately. “You’re the one who told me to, you bastard!”
“I can’t believe you actually listened to me. What is this power that I now wield?” He says wonderingly.
“Fuck you, you asshole. You wanna fucking die?!” Bakugou yells.
Shouto huffs out a laugh and bodily pulls him up, settling him in his lap and kissing him soundly, tasting himself on his tongue. He wraps his arms around Bakugou tightly.
“You’re so cute, kitten.” He chuckles and kisses his nose.
“I can still murder you halfie. Don’t push your luck.” Bakugou says grumpily. But he wraps his arms around his shoulders and leans against his chest.
“You can't, Uraraka said that she’s naming you prime suspect if I end up dead somehow.”
“You and round face talk about some dark shit icy hot.”
“You’re just mad you can’t get away with murdering me anymore.”
Bakugou scowls, shoving his hand against his face and pushing him down onto the bed. Shouto just laughs and grabs his wrist, kissing his palm before lacing their fingers together and tugging. Bakugou grumbles but he follows him down, nuzzling against his shoulder.
They lay there in silence for a moment, enjoying the closeness and the simple feel of bare skin on bare skin. Shouto tightens his hold on Bakugou’s hand and presses a kiss against caramel scented hair. He wraps his other arm around him.
Something about this triggers a memory of something Uraraka had said. And then Shouto is hit with a revelation.
“Katsuki. You want to kiss me and hold my hand and cuddle with me right?”
“Where are you going with this fuckface?” Bakugou grumbled, already sounding like he regretted asking.
“That means you have a crush on me.” Shouto says gleefully.
A pause. “I just had your dick in my mouth you absolute fucking moron.”
“You’re not denying it.” Shouto says happily. “That’s so embarrassing Katsuki.”
Bakugou chomps down on his shoulder and makes an incomprehensible sound of unmitigated rage.
Shouto flinches and laughs again. Ow. His kitten is a biter.
“Hey Katsuki.” He says hushed, as if telling a secret. “I think I have a crush on you too.”
A longer pause this time. Then Bakugou snorts and says, dry as desert bone.
“No fucking shit?”
***
“Todoroki! Over here!” Momo waves him over as soon as he walks in. Today is their weekly scheduled Friday movie night and most of the class are already settled around their largest UA sponsored TV.
Momo is sitting on one of the couches with Tsuyu and Hagakure. Shouto smiles at her and thanks her for saving him a seat, greeting the two other girls as he moves to sit in between Tsuyu and Momo. Tsuyu ribbits back solemnly and Hagakure waves cheerily.
Mineta immediately splutters in outrage. “How come Todoroki gets to sit with the girls huh?! This isn’t fair! Is it because he’s handsome?! This is discrimination!”
“Its because he isn’t a fucking creep like you, pervert.” Jirou drawls lazily from where she’s sprawled on their only bean bag.
“And because he’s handsome.” Ashido says meanly with relish.
She’s laying down on the floor on her front, propped up on a cushion with her legs crossed in the air. Sero is sitting beside her with his legs stretched out, leaning back against a couch.
“Some men have all the luck.” Kaminari shakes his head sadly. He’s sitting cross legged on the couch behind Sero. Kirishima, Midoriya and Iida are taking up the rest of it.
“Its completely wasted on him too,” He continues wistfully. “There’s no point in having half the girls in school trying to hit on you if you're too dense to notice they’re hitting on you.”
Sero snickers, “It would almost be sad if it wasn’t so fucking funny.”
Shouto frowns at the direction this conversation is taking.
Midoriya giggles, looking sheepish when Shouto looks at him with betrayal. Traitor.
“Its not my fault if they can't be clear with their intentions.” Shouto tries to defend himself.
Kirishima looks at him amusedly, “Dude, the only way you would get it is if they outright just walked up and tried to make out with you.”
Mineta whimpers in what seems like pain.
Shouto clears his throat. Considering recent events, he’s not exactly...wrong.
“Alright, alright.” Iida says, “Let's not give Todoroki anymore grief. It can’t be helped if he’s slow on these things.” He says completely seriously and blinks in surprise when everyone erupts into laughter.
Shouto looks at Iida levelly. Et tu, brute.
Ashido giggles. “Even Iida thinks so!”
Shouto ignores them, this is a familiar conversation, it comes up every time Shouto’s dating life is brought up. One would think they’d stop finding it funny the third year in a row.
Shouto turns to Momo who is trying and failing to hide her laughter. “What are we watching?”
Momo delicately clears her throat, still smiling “It’s Tokoyami's turn to pick, so probably something dark and depressing.”
Tokoyami sniffs disdainfully from across the room at the opposite couch. “None of you mere mortals can appreciate such transformative art.”
Ojiro looks at him amusedly, “You’re mortal too Tokoyami.” He says, nudging him with his tail.
“My tastes in visual media transcends my mortal constraints.”
“What does that even mean?”
Tokoyami huffs as Sato laughs at him. Koda giggling nervously.
Shoji reaches over the couch with an extra arm and soothes his ruffled feathers, quite literally. “Is everyone here?” He asks, keeping the peace.
Aoyama looks around and turns a dazzlingly sparkly smile at them. “Bakugou and Uraraka are missing.”
“Anybody know where they are?”
“Bakugou and I were just sparring in the gym.” He informs. “He should be here soon enough.” They’d gone off separately to shower in their rooms. He had suggested they shower together but Bakugou had growled and immediately shut that down, blushing. It was probably for the best, he thought regretfully. They were already late.
“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Bakugou lately” Momo observed curiously.
“Have I?” Shouto says somewhat nervously. They were supposed to be keeping their relationship a secret.
“Yes! You’re always together now!” She laughs. “How did you two get so close?”
“I guess it just happened?” He didn’t know lying was this stressful, he’s sure he’s not being very convincing. Momo now looks even more curious.
“I didn’t think Bakugou would ever admit you two were even friends.” Momo mused. “He’s always so annoyed with you all the time.” She shoots him an admonishing look. “Mostly because you keep trying to annoy him.”
Shouto smiles despite himself. “I can’t help it. He’s like an angry kitten. So fierce, but actually just very cute and sweet.” He sighs, “I keep wanting to tease him.”
Momo looks at him in disbelief, both eyebrows raised nearly up to the hairline. “Cute.” She says, voice flat with surprise. Even Tsuyu is looking at him askance.
He nods contentedly. “And sweet.”
Momo starts looking like she's concerned for his mental health but Uraraka hurries into the room before she can ask him any more questions.
“Hey guys! Sorry I’m late! I’m here now!” Uraraka says, gasping. She looks around, searching for a seat, but all the couches are filled up. Usually, the earliest ones lay claim to them and the ones who are late are relegated to the floor in punishment.
“Uraraka! Come sit with me!” Ashido says, cheerfully patting a cushion beside her. “We'll definitely get the couch next week.” She pumps her fist in determination.
Uraraka laughs and moves toward her. But as she nears, she seems to catch Midoriya's eyes. Midoriya smiles at her brightly and Uraraka stops to look at him, expression thoughtful. She looks like she’s deliberating something. Then she gets a devilish look in her eyes. She smirks and walks forward determinedly.
She steps towards him. Midoriya pales significantly.
She takes another step, and then another. Each subsequent step making Midoriya look even more like a small hunted animal.
She stalks him like a lioness, petrifying her prey to stillness. She stops in front of him.
“Uhh Uraraka?..what are you doing?” Midoriya stammers out hesitantly, clutching his fists to his chest as if to protect himself.
Uraraka laughs a little evilly. Then, casual as you please, she plops down in his lap with little ceremony, throwing an arm around his shoulder and kissing his cheek. Midoriya squeaks and looks as if his soul has escaped out his mouth.
“That’s alright Ashido, I think I'll sit right here in my boyfriend’s lap.” She says wickedly.
There’s a beat of silence as everyone stares at them in shock.
Then Ashido squeals. “Oh my fucking gawd!!!!”
Everything erupts into pandemonium as their friends collectively express their surprise.
“Oh my god I can’t believe you guys are finally together, you've been crushing on each other forever!!!” Ashido squeals.
Kaminari looks utterly betrayed. “Midoriya you dog! I thought you were one of us!”
Kirishima beams happily. “Guys I’m so happy for you two. Love is the manliest thing in the world!” He sounds teary.
Mineta just wails pathetically in the background.
Hagakure claps her hands. “Oh my god you two. You’re so cute together!!”
Tsuyu nods beside her. “Congratulations. Its been a long time coming.”
Sero snorts, “Tell me about it, you two have been making googly eyes at each other for years.”
Midoriya has by now returned to life and is now hiding his face behind his hands, so red that Shouto is worried he’s going to pass out.
Uraraka is smiling brightly, flushed and shining with their friends well wishes. “Thanks guys! We finally decided to stop dithering and do something about it.” She glances at Midoriya wryly, who’s apparently lost the ability of speech. “Well I did.”
“You’ll have to tell me the story sometime Uraraka.” Says Momo, eyes shining and hands clasped.
Tokoyami nods thoughtfully. “The abyssal night is a terrible path to walk alone. It is always good to have company.”
Ojiro elbows him cheerfully, “Who knew you were a closet romantic eh?”
Shoji stops dark shadow from lunging at him. He forms a mouth, “I’m happy for you both.” He says, eyes crinkling at the corners.
Sato and Koda congratulate them. Sato enthusiastically and Koda more subdued yet no less heartfelt.
Aoyama sparkles in the background, ‘May your love shine as bright as me!’
The room fills with their laughter and enthusiastic chatter. Everyone is talking over each other and inundating the newly revealed couple with questions. Its a chaotic mess. Bakugou chooses exactly that moment to walk in.
“What the fuck are all you losers yelling about.” He grouses.
Jirou nods her head towards where Uraraka is sitting victoriously in a blushing Midoriya’s lap. “These two love birds finally got their act together.” She says smirking.
Bakugou follows her gaze and snorts. “About fucking time. I was getting sick of watching you two eye fuck each other.”
“Kacchan!!” Midoriya gasps, finally finding his voice and looking scandalized. Uraraka goes a bright red herself.
“Don’t be crude Bakugou!” Iida says sharply. But then he sighs, “But I have to say, I understand the sentiment.”
“Iida!!” This time, both Midoriya and Uraraka gasps out loud.
Midoriya finally speaks above a squeak, though he’s still flushed crimson. “Thanks guys, but I didn’t think that we were that obvious.”
“Only an idiot wouldn't be able to tell you were interested in each other.” Iida says wearily.
Shouto finally speaks up. He’d been sitting there absolutely shocked. He feels completely lost. Midoriya and Uraraka were together? How did that happen?
“I didn’t know.” He says plaintively, feeling very confused.
Bakugou looks at him with a sharp grin. “That’s ‘cos you’re a fucking idiot halfie" He says meanly.
Shouto nearly pouts, he wracks his mind, looking back through their interactions for any sign that pointed to this, wondering how two of his best friends started dating right under his nose without him noticing. His mind caught on a recurring theme and it’s like a light bulb flicks on in his head.
He widens his eyes in realisation and taps his fist against his palm, feeling victorious. “Studying!” He says, “You said you were spending all these nights studying.” He looks at Midoriya. “It was an euphemism for sex.” He says, searching for confirmation.
They all stare at him for a moment in disbelief.
Then Bakugou throws his head back and cackles. And everyone else is laughing with him too as Uraraka and Midoriya splutter and go red trying to refute it. ‘No No we weren't! Not always! Only sometimes! We just spend a lot of time talking really!’. Mineta is shrieking ‘You were having sex?!’
There’s another few minutes of utter chaos as their friends giggle, delightedly scandalised. Hooting and hollering and ribbing the two of them until Uraraka and Midoriya are thoroughly red in the face. Bakugou is at the forefront, looking like he’s deriving sadistic pleasure in teasing Midoriya till he nearly passes out. They all eventually settle down, the excitement of the relationship reveal dying down until they're all relaxed back in their seats once more. Much to the relief of the embarrassed couple.
Bakugou looks around for an empty spot. Finding none, he points to Jirou.
“Oi, earphones. Get outta there.”
Jirou smiles at him sweetly. “Fuck. You.”
“You can sit in my lap Bakugou.” Shouto calls, deriving inspiration from Uraraka. He pats his knees hopefully.
Bakugou looks at him with disgust as everyone giggles again. “Fuck that, I’d rather sit on the floor.” He says, sprawling down next to Ashido on the cushion.
This makes Kaminari perk up from where he had been mourning the loss of a brother from the class 1A single men’s club.
“Hey Bakugou, this means that Midoriya beat you right?” He says slyly.
“What the fuck are you talking about?.” Bakugou growls menacingly.
“He’s got a girlfriend before you! He totally has you beat there bro.” Kaminari says gleefully.
Sero catches on and he smirks, “Yeah Bakugou. Midoriya is a right Casanova compared to you. He’s got girls falling left and right.”
“But the only girl he’s falling for is me.” Uraraka reminds primly. Midoriya hides his face in her shoulder.
“This is fucking stupid. Who cares about shit like that?” Bakugou says dismissively.
Ashido smiles slyly. “So you’re admitting you lost?” she needles.
“I didn’t admit anything!”
“I dunno, bro. Sure sounds like admitting defeat to me.” Kirishima says grinning.
“Poor Bakugou, after all these years of rivalry, he finally loses in the realm of love.” Kaminari sing songs.
“Fucking shut up sparky!” Bakugou growls.
Shouto looks on, vastly entertained. He has an idea where this is going and has absolutely no intention of stopping it. Infact-
“Its alright Bakugou.” He says mock consolingly. “You can’t beat Midoriya at everything.” He pauses. “You’re still no. 1 in my heart though.” He says smiling.
Bakugou looks at him with seething rage, but is that a glimmer of exasperated fondness in his eyes?
Ashido laughs again, “Say, unless you have a secret girlfriend yourself, I think we have a clear winner here.” She says.
“No chance of that.” Sero snorts. “He scares all the girls away.”
“Maybe you should try being nicer. I’m sure girls will definitely like you then!” Kirishima says encouragingly.
Bakugou is getting progressively angrier the more they tease him, he can see him losing what little composure he had with each comment they lob at him. His eyes keep twitching and his hands curl in threat of impending explosion. He grits his teeth as Ashido starts giving him half pitying advice on how to get girls to like him. Shouto thinks he’s about to start breathing fire.
“Be gentle! Smile more! Don’t just go ‘rawr!!’ all the time!” She scolds.
Midoriya is starting to look distressed, he leans forward earnestly. “Kacchan! Don’t listen to them!” He says. “You shouldn’t get into a relationship just because of me! You should find someone who likes you for who you are!”
That seems to be the last straw.
Bakugou's patience snaps with a near audible crack.
“Hahh?! Who the fuck is doing anything because of you! Deku you little shit! Where the fuck do you get off acting that high and mighty? Huh?! You looking down on me?!” Bakugou jumps up and starts yelling. Melting point having been successfully reached. Shouto watches him fondly.
He rounds on the grinning Bakusquad, “You extras shut the fuck up alright? I don’t need a fucking girlfriend and if you say one more fucking word about it I’ll blow your head off!” He claws his hand in an explosion.
“Calm down, Bakugou and sit down. If you forgot, we're here to watch a movie.” Iida says long suffering.
“Oh, I dunno.” Says Jirou smirking. “I think this is plenty entertaining.”
Tokoyami nods, “The rage of the bloodthirsty beast is fascinating to witness.”
Bakugou growls unintelligibly and stalks forward towards a cowering Midoriya. Uraraka looks at him disdainfully, but he leans right in next to Midoriya’s face, scowling horrifically, completely ignoring her.
“Fuck you Deku, I’ll fucking show you. You don’t know shit.” He snarls.
He straightens up and turns his head to glare balefully at Shouto.
“You!” He spits.
“Me.” Shouto says happily.
“You think this is so fucking funny don’t you?” Bakugou yells.
He tries to keep a straight face and shakes his head. “No of course not. Your lack of a girlfriend is a very serious matter.”
Bakugou screeches and stalks towards him with purpose.
Momo and Tsuyu inch away from Shouto subtly, “Bakugou, there’s no need to fight.” Momo says carefully.
“Shut up ponytail.” He grumbles and stops right in front of Shouto. “Stop looking so fucking pleased with yourself.” He grouses.
Their friends are now looking at them with confusion, now that the expected explosion didn’t seem to be forthcoming.
“Will you sit in my lap now?” He asks again, smiling at him hopefully.
Bakugou rolls his eyes as Midoriya squeaks in horror behind him.
But he kicks Shouto’s legs apart and sits in the space in between. He leans back against his chest like a king reclining on his throne and reaches up with his hand. Then he grabs his neck and pulls him down to kiss him thoroughly, tongue and all.
Shouto wraps his arms around him immediately, happily letting Bakugou have his way with him.
Bakugou pulls back after a few seconds and crosses his arms, smirking smugly at their shell shocked spectators. “There! Shitty Deku didn’t beat me at anything!”
Their friends keep staring.
Shouto kisses his cheek, glad he can do that freely now “I think you broke them, kitten.” He says.
Bakugou, adorably, blushes a little.
Then.
“EHHHHHHH??!!!!”
“Oh my god, he doesn’t have a secret girlfriend, he has a secret boyfriend!”
“His secret boyfriend is Todoroki?!”
“Kitten?!!”
“KACCHAN?!!”
“Someone pinch me I think I’m hallucinating, I swear I just saw Bakugou kiss Todoroki"
“Oh my god it all makes sense, they actually were pulling each other’s pigtails!”
“Bakugou is blushing, this is so fucking surreal. I need to take a picture.”
Shouto laughs and tightens his arms to stop Bakugou from lunging at where Kaminari is pulling out his phone and the room devolves into absolute chaos for the third time that night.
Never let it be said that life in class 1A isn’t exciting.
He wouldn’t have it any other way.
***