Note: This chapter has entirely too much swearing. Guess which character is introduced.
Todoroki hung out with Momo the rest of the afternoon, went to work the next day and was unusually grumpy, but did pretty ok if he said so himself. And no one in the office was going to dare call him on it after the glares he'd been shooting.
When he got home, Midoriya was sitting on the steps of his building. Todoroki froze, considered going to Momo's instead, but took a deep breath and brushed past. Midoriya was staring at his clasped hands - those beautiful scarred hands - and muttering to himself. He almost didn't look up. But then Todoroki fumbled the lock, and the green haired man was on his feet. He grabbed Todoroki's arm. "Where have you been? You haven't answered any of my calls. I've been super worried." Todoroki shook him off and closed the door in his face. He sank back against it. Midoriya seemed so... genuine.
A small voice came through the door. "Todoroki, have I done something wrong?"
Todoroki clenched his fists. How was Midoriya this good of a liar? Had none of it been real?
He opened the door a crack. "I don't want to see you again." And then he slammed it shut on Midoriya's stunned face. He shouldn't feel like comforting the man who had cheated on him. Todoroki stomped up to his apartment and watched three stupid rom coms in a row and fell asleep.
In the morning Todoroki overslept, dashed out of the apartment with his tie half undone and a boiled egg in one hand. He barely noticed the blond man loitering on the stairs, though normally he would've given that amount of silver stud jewelry a wide berth. He had the egg half-way to his mouth when a harsh voice called him back. "Yo, Icy-hot." Todoroki paused in shock, barely noticing as the egg dropped onto the sidewalk. Really? This guy was confronting him?
A firm hand grabbed his bicep and dragged him to the side of the building. Apparently so. Todoroki was too furious to be frightened as the blond man spun him around and crowded into his space. "Why are you ignoring Midoriya, asshole?"
Todoroki trembled with rage. "Was I supposed to ignore that I was your boyfriend's side fuck, then?" "Or husband's. Or whatever," he bit out. Husbands was likely. Some sort of "spice up the relationship" thing.
Todoroki turned to leave. He needed to get inside before he cried in front of this chain clad bastard. This was what Midoriya wanted? In that case, well. A buttoned-up lawyer had never stood a chance, had he?
Todoroki rubbed his eyes furiously. The blond grabbed him again and Todoroki nearly punched him. But Todoroki hadn't punched anyone in years and this guy was built like a brick wall. Maybe muscles were what Midoriya liked. Todoroki still couldn't help hope it wasn't the guy's personality. But the blond's face was soft and confused. He held up his hands and backed up a few steps. "Woah crazy. My name's Bakugou. I am not Midoriya's boyfriend. Or fucking husband. Or anything sappy like that."
"Just someone who needs his ass at 4am," Todoroki amended bitterly.
"What are you on?!" Bakugou shouted, but then his eyebrows wrinkled and he rubbed his forehead. "Oh."
"Oh," Todoroki snapped back.
"Aw shut up," Bakugou growled, "It's not what it fucking looks like."
Todoroki took a step forward. His nails dug deep into his palms. "Then tell me what it is."
Bakugou opened his mouth, hesitated. "I need to talk to Midoriya."
"Getting your story straight," Todoroki sneered.
"You're the fucking lawyer!"
"What's that have to do with anything? Why do you care about me at all?"
Bakugou crossed his arms. "I don't care about you." He grimaced. "But Midoriya's bawling his eyes out and our office is not fucking insured against water damage."
"You... work together?" Todoroki didn't recognize him from the shelter.
"Yes. Work together, grew up together, marginally don't hate each other but I don't want his ass anywhere fucking near me."
"You're Kacchan."
"If you ever call me that again I will fucking rip out your tongue."
Todoroki's head whirled. Midoriya talked about Kacchan a lot. He obviously cared for him but it hadn't seemed to go farther than that. But what did Todoroki know. There were still all the last minute cancellations. There was still the text.
Todoroki shook his head. "I can't believe you."
Bakugou looked like he wanted to shake him. "I work with Midoriya and we are in the middle of a very important project. So I need you to trust me and then go suck his face until he stops fucking moping."
Todoroki felt offended, degraded, and confused.
"You help manage the animal rescue?" He knew caring for the abandoned animals was important, but he didn't think puppies were much bothered by a lack of focus.
Bakugou froze. "Yes," he gritted out. Todoroki's eyes narrowed.
"Pit bulls," Bakugou continued stiffly. Todoroki's eyes narrowed further. "They. They have a fucking bad reputation. And we're in the middle of some positive publicity stuff. And if fucking Midoriya offends the wrong person by dripping his sad-ass snot on them we'll be right back where we were."
Todoroki turned away. "When Midoriya feels like telling me the truth he can come talk to me himself."
After Todoroki turned the corner he got out his phone to text Momo. But he didn't know what to say. So he put it up and headed to work.
He could almost believe it. That Bakugou had a foul mouth (true enough) and just needed Midoriya to deal with a work emergency. That they both cared deeply about pit bulls. For certain, Midoriya would wake up at 4am to help make the world a better place in any way he could. That was no stretch of the imagination. It was just that Bakugou was so obviously lying.
Todoroki switched directions and headed for the animal shelter. He'd missed half his morning meeting already. No point rushing now.
