"What the hell are you doing in my seat shithair?"
Kirishima abruptly sat up at Bakugo's desk. He'd chosen to sit there everyday his friend had been suspended. 'In honor of his memory.' He'd explained to his questioning classmates, who responded with exasperated sighs. "Katsuki!! You're back." He exclaimed. He jumped from the chair almost in slow motion as the world around him sparkled at his reuniting with his grumpy friend. He spread his arms wide and skipped to hug his friend.
Bakugo blew him up.
It was fine. Kirishima had expected it.
He pushed himself up from the floor laughing and deactivating his hardening quirk. "Nice to see jail time hasn't broken your spirit."
"You're as annoying as ever." Bakugo dismissed, taking a seat at his desk. He lifted the top to retrieve his books, but was distracted instead.
Flowers poured from his desk and rained down onto the floor around his feet. Bakugo's eye twitched. "What...the hell is this."
"A show of our love and support!" Denki appeared behind the blonde placing a hand on his shoulder. "We held a proper funeral for you after finding out Eraserhead was incharge of your punishment."
Kirishima stood behind him, restraining his laughter and cleared his throat. "We even put Satou up to making a cake for you today. It's shaped like a heart."
Bakugo blew them both up.
"Take your seats." EraserHead instructed dryly, entering the classroom. "Why are there flowers every-nevermind." He sighed, opening his attendance book.
"Katsuki Bakugo."
"Here."
"He lives!" Denki murmured from a few desks away, earning a few chuckles."
"Hey. So what's up with all the fights." Kirishima whispered, leaning forward to poke a finger in Bakugo's spine. "You don't usually go all out like that. You three fighting for top bragging rights or something?" He nudged his head in the direction of the attentive Midoriya and the absent todoroki.
"Shut up shithair." Katsuki ignored.
"Wealmosthavethesamehair!" He retorted. "But really Katsuki, you've gotta tell me what's been going on in your head…"
Katsuki leaned into his hand and let his eyes pan over to the empty seat Todoroki usually occupied. No one had been competing. Shoto had lashed out in a pent up frustration with himself. Bakugo had done the same with Midoriya. It was part of the reason he had went along with Shoto's fight in the first place. He could tell the boy wasn't in his right state of mind, and whatever had been weighing on him caused him to make the same expression Bakugo had made before. He'd looked lost and angry. Empathy was a strange thing.
Katsuki knew he'd been a hypocrite when he'd told Shoto to just confront his feelings immediately. He'd worked himself up to the point of being an idiot too. He looked to Midoriya who raised his hand in attendance, but someone else caught his eye. His teacher eyed him levelly and Katsuki raised a brow. EraserHead however turned back to the board and begun the days class.
Other than his strange reception back into the classroom, the rest of Katsuki's day seemed to progress as usual. He had a shitload of makeup work to catch up on and a new training regimen to learn, but he could handle it. He wasn't an idiot, and 4days of work was just at the border of overwhelming. He couldn't imagine what Todoroki's workload would look like after coming back from a week.
He put on his back pack, preparing to return to the dorm with his friends. He hesitated.
"C'mon dude. Satou has cake for us waiting back at the dorm." Kirishima nagged.
"Go ahead. I'll be there later." Katsuki walked back up the stairs, not answering his friends when they shouted inquiries toward what he was going to do.
The sun was starting to set and it cast a red orange glow into UA's empty halls. Bakugo stood outside his classroom with a frown knowing he was about to do something out of his character.
He entered the room and Eraserhead sat in a chair patiently. He looked as if he'd been waiting for him.
"Hello Bakugo."
"I have a question." He got straight to the point. "Can you give me duplicates of the work for the next week?"
His teacher turned to face him fully. "For Todoroki?"
Bakugo's face reddened. It was obvious why he'd asked, but it didn't stop the embarrassment. "yeah".
"That's unlike you. Big change from knocking him out of a window."
Bakugo huffed. "Look, I thought you wanted us to try to get along. Are you going to give me the work or not?"
"No." Eraserhead answered dryly.
Bakugo sucked his teeth and headed for the door without protesting. He'd tried and was embarrassed. Time to go.
"Unless," his teacher added without emphasis. "You're honest with me, because I also have a question."
Bakugo stopped and turned to his teacher, hands in pocket.
"What happened last night?" His teacher asked without a hint in his voice.
Katsuki swore he could hear his mind come to a screeching halt. He blinked stunned and panicked. Lie.
Unless you're honest with me.
He looked away silently. What the hell...did he already know? How? Who else knew?
He sucked his teeth. What the fuck did he want him to admit to? Because he wasn't going to verbalize any of that.
EraserHead sighed, watching his abnormally quiet student change colors in front of him. "I'll make it easier for you and be specific. Do you think you exercised restraint?"
"We didn't fight" he answered.
"That's not what I asked." His teacher responded, watching him knowingly.
Bakugo sucked his teeth. He watched the floor by his shoe uncomfortably. He should have just went to the dorm. Shoto wasn't worth…
… damnit.
"No. I didn't." He answered truthfully.
"So you understand you're not learning the fundamentals of this lesson. The point wasn't to get you to get along. It was to have you work on self control; something you both seem to be lacking." His teacher stood from his desk and walked to stand in front of Bakugo.
Bakugo looked up, meeting his gaze and not looking away. "Am I back on house arrest?" Or expelled, he wondered to himself. He was sure there were rules about this type of thing on campus grounds, not that he really knew any of the rules.
"No, you're not. But your parents have been notified. If I had known the frustrations between you two were...of this nature, I would have never roomed you together."
"Shit" Bakugo averted his eyes once more, frowning. Great. His mom was going to bust a hole in the side of his head.
"You've been kidnapped, in two fights and now this rooming situation. The school consequently has accepted full responsibility for all these mishaps. We've let her know she has our support and understanding so if she wants to withdraw you..." Bakugo paled and his teacher didn't finish. She wouldn't, right? "She's opted to come to the school to speak to you before making a decision. She should be on her way to your dorm now."
Great. His mom was going to bust a hole in his head in front of Kirishima.
Bakugo groaned and walked in irritated defeat out the door.
"Pick up the folder for todoroki in the morning." His teacher called, but Bakugo missed his teacher's reassurance that he'd still attend his school tomorrow.
...at the dorm
Todoroki knelt in his own room feeling incredibly out of place. Bakugo's mother sat squarely in front of him smiling kindly as she chatted with him about idle things.
"Shouldn't he be here by now?" She questioned in a light tone. Her voice was raspy but pleasant.
Shoto nodded, kneeling with a straight spine and hands folded in his lap. He'd been taught to sit properly as a sign of respect to authority. His father being the no.2 hero and still unworthy of his respect set Todoroki's standards for the word pretty high.
But this, this felt mandatory. A regard you gave to someone who you owed a debt to. Someone who had every right to be mad at you.
He'd dragged her son into a mess, and he knew how intense a mother's feelings toward her children could be. He himself should be in trouble, but his father hadn't bothered to show. He couldn't help but feel this was going to be the dose of parental reprimand he'd been due to receive.
"So you both sleep on these mats then?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Hah! I'm sure that was a culture shock for Katsuki."
She continued to ask trivial questions and give compliments on the design of his room until his bedroom door cracked open.
"Well there's my delinquent of a son!" Her calm and smiling demeanor combusted as soon as she'd seen a strand of Katsuki. A shoe he hadn't seen her remove, flew across the room and somehow curved to hit the boy behind the door. Smack. Todoroki blinked.
She was up on her feet stomping across the room. "Two fights in one week! TWO!You want to be a hero but you can't even stop getting phone calls home!" She whacked him sharply on the back of the head before he'd even gotten the chance to enter the room.
"Hahaaaa!!" Kirishima erupted in the hallway. The older female version of his friend shot him a familiar threatening look before he hurried away.
The scowling mother snatched her son's ear and slammed the door.
"I wasn't tryna get in trouble!" He protested, hunched as he was dragged by the ear across the room.
"Oh and I'm sure you were just powerless to stop things. What about the other boy? Your friend from elementary school, you didn't start that fight with him?" She berated.
Katsuki frowned and didn't answer.
"That's what I though. I don't know where the hell you get this temper from!" She crossed her arms.
Shoto refrained from looking at her incredulously, lest he be her next target. He was still trying to get past the whiplash of her sudden personality swap.
She sat down and yanked her son down with her as he rubbed her ear. "I have every mind to kick your ass right here...and why were you late! You just got off suspension, you should've been back here STAT catching up on all your work. That handsome teacher of yours gave me a rundown on all the work you missed while you were on lockdown for being a shitty student! You feel like you've got free time hot stuff?!"
Handsome??? The boys thought in unison.
"He said you cost thousands in property damage! Really Katsuki?! If they would have charged me for any of this, it was goin' to come out of YOUR ASS. Do you hear me? Irritating kid." She pointes a finger in Shoto's direction and he flinched. "Isn't this the nice boy you beat at the sports festival? That wasn't enough?"
Katsuki shot his roomate a look that wavered between a threat and an embarrassed panic. Shoto felt himself watching fondly however as Mrs.Bakugo continued to verbally assault her child. She smacked him on the head again and turned to face the dual-colored boy.
Shoto flinched again.
"Now, as for the real reason I was called," she sighed, scooting closer and pulling her son with her. "I didn't think I would have to deal with things like this from you for a while, but I suppose you are that age."
"Oh please. Don't st-" Bakugo was hit again.
"Shut up, idiot boy! If you were capable of handling yourself I wouldn't be here now would I?!" She huffed and turned her attention, stiffening the other boy in the room. "Now, Todoroki-kun, I suppose I should say this while you're both here. I don't mind Katsuki having a relationship while he's in school." Bakugo's eyes bulged as he stared at the carpet. Todoroki did the same but didn't avert his gaze from the woman in front of him.
The school had told their parents everything.
"You're a very handsome boy and I honestly would be honored to meet you parents. If you two got married, id suddenly be related to a celebrity!"
Katsukis face felt inflamed. What the hell was she saying right now? He felt her words sucking the life out of him. He wouldn't survive her mouth.
"I only have a problem when it interferes with studies. Either one of your studies." His mother rattled on.
Shoto listened attentively as she aimed a much calmer lecture at the both of them. It actually felt a bit relieving to be lectured over a mistake from someone other than Endeavor... despite the circumstances.
"I suppose I don't have to have the 'use protection' talk considering you're both boys...well, no you should always practice safety. I never thought about this." She made a thoughtful face.
"Ma...stop." Katsuki groaned desperately. He leaned foward, covering his head. He was going to die.
"Hush. You were both suspended… property destroyed and then out of all that, a budding romance arises?" She waved her hand as if she'd seen it all before. "It's an angsty teenage novel if I've ever seen one. I'm surprised you two got as far as you did honestly. Katsuki liked a little girl in his elementary class once and had to hold her hand during an assembly. He was sweating like a pig and we both know how his quirk works so I'm sure you can guess how that ended. "
Bakugo was hunched over at this point, face in hands, a silent ball of embarrassment. Shoto sat, listening and slightly impressed at her ability to melt her headstrong son into a puddle. No one else probably ever addressed Bakugo's emotions or shortcomings so blatantly in front of him.
Except for maybe Kirishima. But that received a different reaction. He doubted Bakugo would blast his mother across the room however.
"I'm assuming the big fight had something to do with your hotheaded crush." She plucked her son, who sat up in response.
Todoroki cast his eyes down and felt a sudden shame prickle his neck. He hadn't cared about getting himself in trouble that day. He'd come to terms with swallowing whatever consequences came from confronting Katsuki the way he did.
But he hadn't considered the other boy's reparations.
Even if he had, he wouldn't have cared until this moment of kneeling in front of his mother. The last thing he'd want was to upset his own mother, much less someone else's. Now he had to answer that. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth to apologize.
"I couldn't help it." Katsuki lied, shrugging. "I never felt this stupid shit before...I didn't know what to do."
Shoto blinked in surprise as his roommate covered for him.
And how sincere the second part of his fib had sounded. Katsuki avoided his gaze,
Mrs.Bakugo plucked him. "Watch your mouth asshole. Blowing your room up sure as hell wasn't how to handle it."
Shoto pulled a face. Bakugo had said similar words to him.
The evening went on with a series of lectures and smacks to the back of one boy's head. Shoto sat quietly throughout his female guest's concerns and scoldings. Bakugo got hit every time he spoke against her and Shoto couldn't help but wonder why he didn't just stay quiet. The similarities between parent and child were astonishing however, so he was probably witnessing the fundamentals of their relationship. As she stood to leave, Shoto offered to walk her out and she chastised her own child for not offering.
"You should be thanking me for talking to the rest of the family and convincing them to let you stay in this school. I won't withdraw you despite what happens because I know this is what you want…" she paused as her son hugged her quietly. Shoto stood by her, seemingly startled at the sudden affection.
Bakugo's mother sighed and patted her son's head before he sat back in his spot on the floor "but Katsuki, don't make me have to come up here and kill you."
"You could try to if you want." Her son smirked at the carpet as he unpacked his makeup work, only to expectantly get pummeled.
"SMARTASS THIS IS WHY YOU CAN'T STAY OUT OF TROUBLE NOW!!"
Shoto walked with Bakugo's mother to the school gate. The sun had set completely set and street lamps lit their way down the empty path. Security greeted them with a nod and prepared to open the thick steel gate.
"I can tell when my son is lying." The calmed blonde woman spoke suddenly. Todoroki looked up to her but she was facing away, watching the gate lower. "You attacked him first, didn't you?"
Shoto staggered, caught off guard with the surprisingly knowledgeable accusation. If she knew, why hadn't she called Bakugo out on it in the dormroom? Was she waiting? She wanted to confront him alone like this?
Did he have a right to complain?
"I'm sorry."
"I know you are. I could see it in your face." Was her simple reply. She didn't sound angry and Shoto struggled to put a finger on the atmosphere.
"I know you had nothing to do with his first fight so he's still in hot water, but…" she sighed. "As much as my boy wants to be the greatest hero, he's always been self-centered and hard headed. Today is the first time I saw him take the fall for someone like that." She turned to him with her hands on her hips.
Shoto watched her soft thoughtful expression. He felt tense and confused. Was she not angry with him? In that moment, her expression reminded him of his own mother. Maybe his mom was thinking of her children when she sat with the same look. She looked accepting.
"It surprised me." She confessed, referring to her child's uncharacteristic fib.
"Me too." Shoto nodded and she laughed.
"Well, I don't know if it's you or this school, but I'm seeing a change in him. I know he can fight like a hero but today I saw him act like one." She smiled. "So I'm fine with things staying the way they are. He has his setbacks but I'm proud of who he's becoming."
She leaned forward and gave her son's roommate a pat on his head. "You two take care. I think you're both just sweet boys beneath it all. I've seen you do well on television. I'm proud of you too."
Todoroki didn't respond, feeling something inside of him stir with her soft touch.
The gate fully opened with a clang and Bakugo's mother walked to the lone waiting car. "Don't break his heart. I'll let him blow you up." She called as she waved over her shoulder. "Be a good boyfriend."
Todoroki nodded silently, catching the serious warning behind her joke.
Boyfriend…
Todoroki sat in his room quietly, watching Katsuki sit at his low table with a mound of make up work.
Katsuki, in return, would repeatedly look as if he were a moment away from shouting at the other boy. Instead, he ignored the staring and focused on his work.
Shoto noticed this of course and watched further. His mother had noticed instantly something that he was just now seeing. Bakugo was changing...or trying to. The small amounts of restraint he showed were hard to catch, but they were there. Now his mind swam with a range of questions varying from 'why?' to 'for who?'.
Regardless of it's origins, this timely attempt to turn a new leaf may be the only slim window Shoto would have to ask the biggest questions floating on his mind.
"Your mother-"
"Don't talk about it." Katsuki interjected.
"Did you tell your mother we aren't dating?" Shoto ignored.
Bakugo froze, glancing his direction before going back to his work with a frown. "No." Was his curt response.
"Does that mean that we are?"
Instantly unsettled, Katsuki slammed his pencil down with a string of profanities. The day had been one discomfort after another. Todoroki was walking on thin ice with his whole 'self control' phase.
Despite being noticeably out of his comfort zone (blatant misdirected rage), Bakugo has took one lesson to heart. Things were always easier when you dealtwith them head on. "Damnit. What do you want, huh? Did you just want to-" his face flared and he cut himself off. "The Hell is your endgame Todoroki?" he struggled to finish the ends of his sentences while glaring at the boy across the room that watched him stoicly.
"Do you want to date?" Todoroki asked.
"DO YOU WANT TO?!" Bakugo snapped back. The table in front of him bounced as he clenched his fists, snuffing the blast he'd subconsciously created. He'd tried to ask first for a reason. He didn't want to be the one answering questions regarding... whatever this was. Ever. Speaking on emotional crap was not his strong suit.
"Yes" Shoto answered. It wasn't until a second later that he began feeling a bit surprised at his own immediate response.
There was a moment of silence in the room as each boy looked down at their own hands in a frozen perpetual state of awkward. The 'yes' hung over them as if it were a physical thing taking up most of the room.
"I want to."
"I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME!" Bakugo snapped, his face going red. He leaned into his hands, frustrated and wanting to get back to his work or blow the entire room to smithereens. Either option was a welcome distraction.
"Is that what you've wanted to say from the start?"
"I think so."
"Was that so fucking hard?" Katsuki glowered.
"You're the one who seemed to have the most difficulty with the conversation." Shoto sighed, walking over to his boyfriend. He felt lighter. A bit tired. Maybe satisfied was the word he was looking for.
Bakugo looked to him with a frown as Shoto knelt beside him. "Don't think this means you get to become a smart ass. I'll murder you." He threatened, feeling overly aware of the closeness.
Todoroki nodded. "I won't. Your mother told me to be a good boyfriend." He added, purposely knowing his new partner wouldn't handle it well.
Katsuki flinched hard. She was gone, but somehow still attacking him. He leaned down, putting his hands into his hair to hide embarrassment. "Fucking woman." He felt exposed at the new title given to him.
"I like her". Todoroki smirked.
"Of course you do." Katsuki prepared to tie an insult to the ends of his words. Of course the two people that went out of their way to overwhelm him would be fond of eachother. His thoughts stopped when his classmate leaned on him. His head was heavier than it looked, but warm and comfortable. Bakugo didn't move for a moment, letting his day and circumstances sink in.
He inhaled deeply and went back to his work, satisfaction smoothing his features.
