Notes: Oops this was supposed to just be Origin Trio + Rody gen but my shipper's heart was just like, "Rody and Deku in the same room? Gotta make it gay." Sigh. What can you do?

Forewarning that Rody's cluelessness with the Japanese language might be a bit exaggerated, partly for humor and partly because I just plain forget what it's like lmao. He doesn't mean any real harm!

I hope you enjoy~!

Accidentally on Purpose

Rody was used to lively meals, chatting over home-cooked dishes with Roro and Lala, their camaraderie enough to flavor the meal even if finances meant they had to skimp on spices. Even during the three days he spent traveling with Deku, though their meals were little more than bread and gas station junk food, they spent the time chatting amicably or at least discussing their next escape plans.

And so, yeah, Rody knew that this was a hospital and all, but as he stared down at his breakfast of bland porridge, plain toast, and half a slice of melon, he couldn't help but grow irritated by the silence. Before he could even hope to remedy that, though, there was something he had to clear up.

"Hey," he said, pointing his spoon at the two boys on the opposite side of the room. "Sorry, what's your names again?"

The blond answered with an irritated "ahhh?!" while the boy with red-and-white hair simply blinked at him, looking a bit surprised.

"Oh, right..." Deku, in the bed next to Rody's, tapped his own spoon against his lips thoughtfully. "Did we even properly introduce you guys? We were in such a rush to deal with the bombs..."

"You might have mentioned their names once? Japanese names are just so hard to remember, though..."

"Well hurry up and remember, Birdbrain!" the blond yelled, slamming a hand on his own breakfast tray.

"Oh!" Rody snapped his fingers, paying no heed to Pino's angry chirping. "Sorry, guess I didn't tell you my name either, then. I'm Rody Sou—"

"I don't care, Birdbrain! My name's Katsuki Bakugo, and you better not forget it!"

Well that was a string of syllables that Rody had no hope of remembering on the first go. "How about your hero name? Might be easier for me to say."

"If your head is so full of feathers that you can't grasp my real name, there's no way in hell you'll remember my hero name!"

"He's keeping it secret for now," Deku whispered conspiratorially, leaning across the safety bars of his cot towards Rody. "Kacchan hasn't told his hero name to anyone yet."

"Hmm..." Rody considered that information. "Well, if Deku calls you 'Kacchan,' maybe I'll just go with that too."

The blond boy didn't yell this time, but the smoldering calm with which he lifted a hand and released a small warning explosion was even more unnerving. "Call me that even once and you're dead."

Now, Rody wasn't scared or anything, not in the slightest. It was just, you know, he had a responsibility to care for his siblings and it would be so much more convenient if he remained in one piece instead of a thousand. "All right, all right," he said, holding his hands up placatingly. "I get it, I won't call you that. So your name is... Kasuki, right? Mind if I just call you 'Kasu' then?"

"THE FUCK DID YOU JUST CALL ME, YOU BIRDBRAINED IDI—"

"Excuse us for just a moment!" Deku lunged over his breakfast to pull the curtain on their side of the room closed. "Rody!" he hissed once they were blocked from view of his classmates. "'Kasu' is an insult in Japanese! Can you please stop antagonizing Kacchan?!"

Rody raised his hands defensively. "Hey, hey, I don't know Japanese! I'm not trying to make him mad, just trying to learn his name!"

Deku frowned as he gingerly picked up the melon that had been knocked onto his bedsheets. "Pino is laughing."

Rody grabbed the little bird and shoved him under his covers. "Okay, so it's a little funny. But seriously, I'm not doing this on purpose."

Sighing, Deku turned so that he was directly facing Rody's cot, his legs crossed in front of him. "Okay, then let's try this. Face me and watch my mouth carefully."

"S-sure." Rody did as he was told, placing a firm hand on his bedsheets to block any avenue Pino might have to escape, because suddenly the situation had become awfully intimate. "What for?"

"Just watch my mouth and repeat after me." The way that he pointed to his lips was strangely distracting, but Rody did his best to focus. "Tsu."

"Su."

Deku shook his head. "Tsu."

"Su."

A sigh. "Ka..."

"Ka."

"...tsuki."

"Suki."

Deku's face flared up then for some reason, before he quickly cleared his throat in an attempt to compose himself. "No, uh... Come on, it's tsu. Tsu. Like... you say 'tsunami' in English, right? It's the same sound."

"Isn't the 'T' in 'tsunami' silent?"

Deku buried his face in his hands. "You're doing this on purpose!"

"I swear I'm not!"

"Bring out Pino so I can be sure!"

This time it was Rody's turn to go bright red as he tightened his hold on the bedsheets. "Absolutely not! Just trust me on this, Deku!"

That particular plea seemed to break down Deku's annoyance, and his mouth twisted as he considered his next step. "Okay, fine. Then... Oh, I know! Rody, can you say 'cats'?"

The brunet gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes. "Yes, Hero, I'm quite capable of saying 'cats.'"

"Right! So now just add 'uki' at the end of 'cats.'"

"Cats... ooki."

"Yeah! Also make the 'a' more of a softer 'ah' sound and shorten the 'u' so that you're barely saying it at all."

"Now you're the one doing this on purpose."

Deku laughed nervously. "Absolutely not. Just trust me on this."

The way that Deku returned his own words so earnestly had Rody's breath catching in his throat, so in a bid to shake away all unbidden thoughts he flung the curtain back open and greeted the other boys with a bright smile. "Okay, we're all set, Catsooki!"

Katsuki's eye twitched.

"It's, uh... it's a work in progress," Deku assured his childhood friend. "How about you introduce yourself now, Todoroki-kun?"

Now that was a name that Rody knew he'd never be able to remember. Todorodorotodo-what?

"Ah, right." The red-and-white haired boy put aside his breakfast tray—apparently they had finished eating during that little pronunciation lesson—and turned to face Rody. "My name is Shoto Todoroki. My hero name is just Shoto, if you'd prefer that."

"Ah, that's easy enough!" Rody grinned; after spending three days with Deku, he even got to be pretty good at understanding Japanese accents. "Nice to meet you, Short! Why's that your hero name, though? You're the tallest one here."

Silence fell upon the room for a beat before Katsuki barked out a loud laugh, then spat a string of mockingly amused Japanese at the boy next to him. The only reaction Short showed in response to the question and the jeering was a slight crease between the eyebrows.

Deku had hidden his face in his hands again. "Rodyyyyyy!" he whined in a voice much like that of a deflating balloon.

"What? I know I pronounced that one right."

"I've changed my mind, Birdbrain, you're pretty great!"

"Uh... no. It's not 'Short,'" not-Short clarified. "My name's Shoto."

Rody furrowed his brow in thought; he supposed they sounded a bit different now that he had said them both. But with the Japanese accent the "r" sound was weak enough that no one could blame him for misunderstanding at first, right? "Wait. How do you say your hero name again?"

"Shoto."

"And it's not supposed to be 'short'?"

"You're definitely doing this on purpose," Deku groaned.

"Seriously, I'm not!" This time, Rody allowed Pino free from the sheets to tweet insistently in his defense. "See?!"

"It's fine, Midoriya," Shoto assured his friend before turning to Rody again; he didn't look mad, at least. "It's Shoto. It's literally just my first name, which means 'burn' and 'freeze' in Japanese. Not 'short.'"

"Okay, gotcha, sorry about that!" Rody grinned apologetically before turning back to his green-haired friend. "Hey, Deku, help me get the pronunciation right again."

"What?!" Deku balked. "You still need help?! But this one should be way easier for you to say!"

Rody shrugged easily as he grabbed Pino and stuffed him away again. If he had any ulterior motives for openly staring at Deku's lips, he certainly wasn't going to admit it.

Deku sighed. "Well, all right... So, it's like the English word 'show...'"

"Show..."

"Then add the word 'toe.'"

"Show-toh."

"Yeah! Just try to shorten the second 'o' sound."

"Wha—? You're making this difficult on purpose, Hero!"

"You're being difficult on purpose...!"

All in all, it had become a very lively meal.

Notes: "Kasu" means "scum."
"Suki" means "I like/love you."
And it took me an embarrassingly long time to put two and two together and figure out why Japanese fans use the strawberry shortcake emoji for Todoroki...