"What if…" Midoriya starts, flipping to a page in her notebook and shoving it proudly in their faces, "What if we froze Kacchan's sweat?"

Their jaws both drop a little… and not in a good way.

"Eh? What? What's wrong? It could be really cool! If Todoroki-kun uses his fire to make Kacchan sweat more, he could freeze it and use it as a weapon! If you hit a villain with it, it'll explode on impact!"

Bakugo answers bluntly, "But if I'm covered in sweat and stand too close to the flames, then I'll get blown up."

"Ah." He's right.

Todoroki adds, "We're also not focusing on an offensive move this time either. We need something defensive."

"Ah." He's right! "Oh, y-yeah." She closes her notebook in embarrassment and nervously plays with her hair. "Sorry, I guess I was a little too excited and got carried away."

"S'fine," Bakugo assures her, "Just come up with another one. There's more where that came from, right?"

He's betting on her. She can tell. So she sees his challenging glare and raises him a confident smile. "Yes!"

Todoroki adds, "Then we'll count on you," And for the first time, Midoriya notices that Todoroki is totally calm. I mean, he's almost always calm, but she expected him to be a little more disappointed in her idea or to make some suggestions and try to help her with the plan. But no, it's like he has no questions, like he… trusts her.

Which only motivates her even more and makes her smile even bigger. "Yeah! You can count on me!" Two amazing heroes, the top two in their whole grade, both depending on her, trusting her… She couldn't ask for a better opportunity any more than a potter could ask for finer clay. And she just knows she won't let them down.

So with that, she decides to leave the brainstorming session for later and start by running some basic exercises with them, getting them warmed up and writing down her observations. Kacchan is still a slow starter, but his explosions have gotten sharper than ever after discovering the level of intense focus and control that creates smoke. He's gotten a lot better at conserving his energy and making more fluid movements. Meanwhile Todoroki-kun can go on full blast whenever he wants but has to learn to balance both sides of his quirk. She can tell he still relies just a little more on his ice, which isn't surprising since he's been using it all his life in place of his fire. Little by little, she sees it all, and before any of them realize how much time has passed, the class ends.

"Great job, you guys!" she encourages them as they finally wind down, panting and wiping the sweat from their brows, "I got a lot of great stuff today, so I'll definitely have a better idea by tomorrow! Until then, get lots of rest." As they listen to her, her eyes send a silent challenge. "Tomorrow, things get real."

Given that they're already out of breath, they can't imagine what "real" looks like to her. Well, actually, Bakugo can imagine since he went through it for about 2 weeks. It lights a fire in him just thinking about it, and he grins at her.

But unsurprisingly, his excitement starts to fade when the end of the school day comes and Midoriya leaves him to walk home with Todoroki ("Be nice," she reminds him in a whisper) while she goes to her first therapy session. He's happy for her. Really. Or as close to happy as he can get anyway, since that emotion is still kind of new to him. In fact, what he's feeling is probably more like "relieved". But that doesn't mean he wants to walk home with a guy who almost killed him. Twice.

However, surprisingly, as he glances over at Todoroki, he notices the two-tone also staring at Midoriya's back with a clearly "relieved" look. And Bakugo's just not sure how he feels about that, about how easily his emotions tend to sync up with Todoroki's whenever it comes to Midoriya. It's starting to get creepy.

Todoroki catches the blonde's gaze and turns to him. "What?"

"…Nothing."

"Then let's go."

"Don't give me orders," he wants to say on reflex, but he holds it in. Instead, he takes a deep breath and starts walking. Todoroki starts too until they're side by side.

"…Hey, Bakugo…"

"What?" the blonde replies with just a tad too much attitude.

"Do you remember how you and Midoriya met?"

Bakugo nearly does a double take at such an insanely personal… no, the word is "invasive", question. He narrows his eyes at the asker.

Not hearing a response, Todoroki glances at him, sees his expression and apologizes. "I just thought… It would make more sense to me why you used to hate him if something happened to you guys in the past."

Bakugo has a flashback to when he fell in the river. Defensively, he replies, "Y'know you can't just get by in this assignment by talking about him the whole time. It's not like I wanna talk about'im all day."

Todoroki makes a face like he hadn't considered that. "…Huh. You're right. Sorry. Then what do you want to talk about?"

The question only irks the blonde more. "Nothin' really. We don't gotta talk at all."

Todoroki stares at him a long moment, then looks down. "…Yeah. I guess so."

Bakugo could swear he looks disappointed. At first, the blonde just wants to brush it off and keep walking in silence, but then he starts to overthink it, wondering if he actually said the wrong thing. This whole "being nice to people" thing is like a fuckin' battlefield, and not the good kind.

Eventually, he can't take it anymore and makes a gamble. "Fine. What do you want to talk about?" he asks like he's swallowing broken glass. But he's only asking because he knows it's the "polite" thing to do when starting a conversation.

Todoroki looks at him, and the blonde could swear he looks eager, but then his gaze returns to the ground, and he answers, "You said you didn't want to talk about Midoriya, so…"

"Why the fuck do you wanna talk about him so bad?!" Bakugo snaps. Then he catches himself and closes his eyes to take several deep breaths again.

Todoroki actually starts to feel bad for him. "Sorry… It's just… the only thing that doesn't make sense to me. If you guys can be friends now, then why couldn't you be before? …Because you only saw him as a rival?"

"What's it to you?!" Bakugo wants to ask in retaliation, but obviously, he already knows the answer to that. He knows Todoroki won't let up, not when it comes to her. So Bakugo takes another deep breath, stares at the ground, and steels himself, ready for whatever criticism the two-tone will inevitably throw at him. "Yeah, that's it. S'all it was… I don't think I ever really hated him. You'd have to actually know someone to hate them. I really hated… how he made me…" His words caught in his throat before being forced out. "…feel about myself… That's all."

Todoroki sees that he's struggling and feels some sympathy well up. "…So it was a misunderstanding?"

"…Yeah, I guess so."

"I see… That's good."

Bakugo hears something familiar in his voice, so he hesitantly looks up and to the side at him. Just like he thought, Todoroki's staring into the open air, looking relieved again, like when he says "That's good," he really means it. And it's then that Bakugo realizes something. Todoroki is a guy of few words, and maybe even fewer expressions, but he always means what he says. He doesn't play games or beat around the bush.

And Bakugo doesn't dislike that.

Then for a second, Todoroki's face changes to something like confusion or uncertainty, and Bakugo gets a foreboding feeling. The two-tone looks at him and starts again, "Then can I ask you one more thing?"

I knew it. Bakugo doesn't like that he's starting to "sense" when the guy has questions now. He wrinkles his nose and bites out, "What?"

"Are you in love with Midoriya?"

The blonde finally stops in his tracks. "…Hah?"

At his incredulous expression, Todoroki stops too. "…Ah… If you don't, then nevermind. Forget I asked." Like he thought, the rest of their classmates must have jumped to the wrong conclusion. He'll have to set them straight before they do anything reckless.

"Wait a second!" Bakugo yells and grabs his shoulder. "What the fuck makes you think that?! Huh?! You too?! You think just 'cuz we get along now that means I wanna do weird stuff with him?!"

"N-No, I—"

"Why the fuck does everybody think that?!"

Todoroki blinks. "S-So you knew?"

"Hah?!"

"That everybody thinks you guys are…"

Wait, what? "Everybody? …'Everybody' who?"

Todoroki hesitates, realizing that Bakugo might not've meant what the two-tone thought he meant. But Todoroki soon realizes that he won't get out of this peacefully, that it's best to tell the truth, lest he make the blonde even angrier. "E-Everybody… in our class."

Bakugo pauses, gob-smacked. Then Todoroki watches his face slowly contort, second by second, transforming into a beast of pure rage, until he looks just like he did when he won first place at the sports festival. His grip on Todoroki's shoulder is so tight, the bone just might snap.

Todoroki squirms in pain, trying to get free. "B-Bakugo, calm dow—"

"HAH?! YOU THINK YOU GOT ANY RIGHT TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO?! YOU AND ALL OF 'EM TALKIN' BEHIND MY BACK?! HUH?! YOU THINK THIS SHIT IS FUNNY?! LIKE ME AND HIM ARE JUST SOME KINDA SHOW TO YOU?! YOU GET A GOOD LAUGH?!"

"N-No, I—"

"WELL WHAT ABOUT YOU, HUH?! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S IN LOVE WITH HIM!"

Todoroki pauses. "…What?"

"Don't fucking lie! You're the one who was hugging him and shit!"

"…No. That's—"

"You're the one who won't stop fucking talking about 'im either!" Bakugo finally shoves him away. "If everybody knew what you did, then you'd be the laughing stock!" Bakugo starts to stomp away.

Todoroki is still in shock a bit from those words, but he quickly turns to catch up to the blonde. "Bakugo, wait! Nobody's laughing at you. They're just concerned."

"Save it! I don't fucking care! You jerks can laugh all you want! But I'm not in love with Midoriya! That's bullshit!"

"Okay. I get it. They were wrong. I never thought you guys liked each other like that anyway… And for the record, I don't feel that way about him either."

"Yeah, right!"

"Bakugo!" Todoroki takes a risk by grabbing his shoulder and yanking him back to look him dead in the eyes. "I mean it. I'm not lying."

…Ah, that's right. Todoroki means what he says. Being forced to look into his eyes, Bakugo remembers that. As much as the blonde is tired of everybody saying whatever they want about him and not listening to him, as much as he's sure everybody's making fun of him, making light of what was a serious, gut-wrenching journey for him, underestimating how sincerely he just wants to make amends, and instead thinking he only went through all that trouble just 'cuz he wants to touch his friend in all sorts of gross ways… at the very least, Todoroki is different. And the way he's looking at the blonde, eyes full of concern, begging to be trusted… It reminds him of Midoriya. Of Kirishima. Maybe… if Bakugo just talks to him, Todoroki might…

Todoroki's eyes widen as he watches Bakugo's face change again, slowly, from a look of blind fury to one of frustrated pain. "I just… I just wanna do right by'im. Is that… so hard for people to believe?" His gaze starts to drop down. "Was I really that big a jerk that everybody thinks I just want something from him? They think I'm just some gross pervert?"

Todoroki's having trouble keeping up with his train of thought. "W-Wait, where did that come from? Nobody's saying you're a pervert."

"They are! They think I just wanna do gross stuff to 'im!"

"…Bakugo… if you think it's gross, then it's obvious you're not in love with him. Everybody was wrong. So, calm down. It's okay. I'll make sure everybody knows the truth. There's no good reason for things to keep going like this. I won't let them keep saying it if it makes you that upset. Okay?"

Bakugo breathes in and out, trying to calm himself down, running a hand through his hair. "…Yeah," he sighs as Todoroki lets go of his shoulder. Bakugo really hates this whole "being vulnerable" thing… but he hates breaking his promise to Midoriya even more. "Sorry," the blonde says finally, somberly. He swore he'd do better, be a better hero for Midoriya's sake as well as his own, which meant that he had to stop blowing up at people. Especially Todoroki, since the two-tone is also Midoriya's friend, and Midoriya wants all her friends to get along. It's a tall order for the blonde, but he knows the nerd would still be proud of him for trying.

"Yeah," Todoroki replies, "I get it. You have every right to be angry. I tried to tell them there was no way you guys would like each other like that."

"…Wait… So, they think Midoriya's in love with me too?"

"Yeah."

"The fuck?"

"Yeah."

"He likes Uraraka."

"Yeah."

"Buncha' idiots."

"Yeah—" Todoroki catches himself and covers his mouth.

Bakugo spurts a laugh. Maybe this won't be so hard after all.