Preface
La Douleur Exquise
Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at /works/13703979.
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: M/M Fandom: 僕のヒーローアカデミア Boku no Hero Academia My Hero Academia Relationship: Bakugou Katsuki/Todoroki Shouto Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Todoroki Shouto Additional Tags: Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Compliant, Thats confusing but you understand, Soft Bakugou Katsuki, Fluff with a sprinkle of emo, Its sad and it's happy, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Bakugou Katsuki-centric, Things happen and you react Language: English Collections: my precious recs, live love laugh bakugou fics Stats: Published: 2018-02-16 Completed: 2018-07-16 Words: 41,107 Chapters: 13/13 La Douleur Exquise
by HeartfulCakes
Summary
"La Douleur Exquise": [French] Loving something you can't have
Todoroki is the human equivalent of 'perfect'. Google 'perfect' and Bakugo guaran-fucking-tees you'll find a wiki link to Shoto Todoroki. Such a sickeningly 'perfect' individual would of course only have the best of the best when it came to a Soulmark. Because life, the universe, and fate just fucked that way.
Bakugo couldn't give a fuck less if Todoroki's Mark was an etch-a-sketch imprint of the Queen herself, Katsuki Bakugo wasn't gonna let that step in the way of him being the best.
Because fuck Shoto Todoroki.
Notes
'SoulMarks' in this story are the words/frazes/sayings that your 'Soulmate' says to you that are ultimately the most important thing they say to you. Those words can be the very first thing they say to you, the last, or anytime they talk to you. This has been Ted Talks, thanks.
See the end of the work for more notes
Chapter One: Markless
Nothing was normal about Katsuki Bakugo in the slightest. His borderline albino appearance, the loud quirk, and even louder personality. The sweat on his brows, the explosions from his palms, the profanities spewing from his mouth 24/7; Yeah, none of that was normal.
Being Soulmate-less? Not normal.
Everyone would ask if it hurt, if he even cared because he just was Katsuki Bakugo. Katsuki didn't care what people thought of him, didn't care what people said to him, and sure as hell couldn't give one fuck if one less person gave a shit about him.
But he was human, which a disturbing amount of people forgot. Was that so fucking hard to believe? Typical bullshit really.
His mom, Mitsuki Bakugo, absolutely knew it bothered her son. Katsuki didn't care a lot about little things, but he cared a lot about the big things. One being that he had nobody to call his own. A Soulmate.
Mitsuki has a moment-by-moment, vivid memory of the time Katsuki came home in tears saying that the universe was right for not giving a soulmate. He said he didn't deserve love, and fuck, his mom had never been the same when it came to Katsuki. Maybe that stemmed the reason she was so harsh with him while also being disgustingly doting.
Katsuki would, and still to this day, get shit for being an absolute asshole to Midoriya. Mitsuki never wanted her son to be in the wrong, but he was. However, a very small part of her believed the hatred sprouted from Midoriya's 'perfect' soul mark and Katsuki's lack there of one.
It hurt her to see her one and only son physically and mentally beat himself up daily over this. He'd kick and scream over almost anything he didn't get a say in. The fact that he didn't get the choice in the matter killed him.
Elementary school was a downright mess. Middle school was edging on brink of being scary. Mitsuki knew she shouldn't have thought for a second Katsuki had or would get any better. She felt terrible for not being able to do anything. Like mother, like son.
It wasn't until the very last months of Middle School that Mitsuki noticed a drastic change in Katsuki's demeanor. He was always a head strong kid with a tendency to let his tongue slip far too often; that was a fact. What did change was Katsuki's random decision to no longer give a single fuck about Soulmate and marks. No more temper tantrums, no more yelling and screaming about doctor visits, everything was at a abrupt standstill.
There was one slip up on the first week of school though. Katsuki came home a threw his bag so hard against his bedroom wall that it actually went through. Mitsuki came in screaming and hollering how Katsuki would have to fix that all himself, not before hugging her son so tightly she thought she was going to lose him. She was losing him.
She didn't know what triggered him to have such a meltdown. All she ended up finding out was that it was about Izuku Midoriya and that he was a 'traitor'. Mitsuki knew the two had a rocky relationship, she'd seen it with her own eyes, but Katsuki never came home having an absolute breakdown. Things had to change.
Masaru insisted they finally push their son to see someone; A therapist.
Katsuki immediately hated it, just like everything else. He was brash and harsh and even called the man a 'cunt', in which Mitsuki felt bad for laughing in the doctor's face. So onto the next one. And just as before it did little to no good. Mitsuki even was starting to think it made her son even more on edge. Every time they switched therapists if felt like another stab in the old 'problem child' wound. That ended as quickly as it started.
After some time, and during a monthly date with Midoriya's mother, Inko. Mitsuki soon discovered the switch that flipped her son's entire outlook on soulmates. Izuku has come home one day saying Katsuki told him that he didn't need a soul mark because 'that just further proved nobody was good enough for the God that was Katsuki Bakugo'. Mitsuki ended up leaving their little get together early because she couldn't stop crying.
Masaru was a good man, a very good man Mitsuki should add. However, even though he was frighteningly smart he couldn't grasp what was so wrong with Katsuki's way of thinking. Sure, the boy tended to place himself on this pedestal but:
"Isn't this better? Honey, don't cry. At least Katsuki has found some good in this." The man fixed his glasses nervously as he drove back home. He ended up picking his wife up because she couldn't drive she was so distraught.
"You don't understand," She responded back through drying tears. "He's lying."
And if Katsuki's parents drove home in silence for the rest of the way, they didn't bring it up the next morning.
~•*•~
"Aren't they cute?" Ashido asked their group lunch table with a sickeningly sweet smile.
Sero and Kaminari turned to look in the direction she was staring and watched as Ojiro and, they were guessing, Hagacure ate their lunches together. Give them credit, it was hard to see her shirt from their spot.
"She's got a mark?" Bakugo genuinely asked. He'd never seen it... never bothered to look anyways.
"Yeah, it's on the bottom of her foot! It's kinda funny actually."
The blond rolled his eyes. Even an invisible girl could have a soul mark. He guessed it was fair, it was. He just thought it was ridiculous you couldn't see her at all, but somehow her mark still showed up. That must get annoying when she's trying to hide.
"What does her's even say?" Kaminari asked.
Ashido laughed. "It legit says 'Hi, I'm Ojiro!' Can't get more straight forward than that, really."
Ojiro and Hagacure seemed like the kind of couple that would be as sugary-sweet as they seem. No one person was that nice or perfect. And Bakugo thought he was the weird one. Right.
"God, I wish I had that." She sighed playing with her lunch.
"Don't worry, Ashido." Kaminari patted her back. "I'm sure you'll find a guy that really digs the color pink some day."
Sero snorted. "What?"
"My mark," Ashido tugged at the cuffs of her uniform and showed the table her arm. "It says 'Pink's a cool color'." She nudged Kaminari's shoulder. "Kaminari was just being an asshole."
"Nothing new there." Sero joked.
"Hey!" The other boy wined.
Sero hummed lightly to himself. "At least you have a good one. Kaminari and I are screwed."
"Why's that?" Kirishima asked.
"Ours are so basic." Kaminari wined.
The pair undid certain parts of their clothing. If it wasn't so common to show your friends your Soulmark then Bakugo would probably bat an eye at Kaminari unbuttoning his entire shirt during lunch period. Sero twisted around to lift up the hair on the back of his neck to show everyone the very broad stroked writing hidden there.
"Oh Sero, yours says 'Come back'?! That's so cute!" Ashido praised. "That's not basic at all, are you crazy?!"
Kaminari shrugged off one side of his button up shirt to show off his shoulder. 'Stay' was written is a typewriter font starting at his shoulder to the very beginning of his collarbone. It was small but spaced out rather far.
"You guys are so dumb." Ashido groaned again. "Yours are so poetic and cute. They're not basic at all. Boys." She rolled her eyes at the last part.
Before Kaminari could get Kirishima to show the group his mark the bell rang to go back to class.
"Just tell us!" Ashido begged.
Kaminari stepped in a tsk'd. "Ah-ah-ah! Kiri's soulmark is so cool that you're gonna have to wait."
"Yeah, I've never seen it either." Sero added.
Kaminari shrugged. "Gonna have to wait."
The other two groaned and moaned about it the entire way back to class. It gave Bakugo a headache.
It wasn't until after school in the dorms that Kirishima caved in. "Alright, but I have to take off my pants."
Sero laughed. "Of course you do."
The red head undid his belt and shimmied off his pants down his thighs slightly and brought the fabric of his boxers up. Right under the spot Kirishima's boxer had laid was the three words permanently etched into his skin in perfect print.
'Will you marry me?'.
"What?!" Ashido cried. "That's insane! Kirishima, you never told me!"
"You never asked?!" He laughed along and fixed his underwear and pants back into place.
"Sorry guys." The girl spoke to Kaminari and Sero. "Kirishima wins."
Kaminari cried. "No fair!"
"Hold up, we still haven't seen Bakugo's." Sero pointed out.
And oh,... Oh.
"Yeah come on man! Show us!" Kaminari egged on.
Bakugo knew this would happen. Him and Deku were the only kids from their school to get into UA, so they were the only two left that knew about Bakugo's 'problem'.
The blond was sat in the conjoined 1-A boys and girls' living space with the rest of the group around. Bakugo insisted he have the whole couch to himself so everyone else was spread around the small coffee table on random chairs and Kaminari even sat on the floor as always.
Bakugo shrugged with a sigh. "Can't."
Sero made a face and Ashido pouted.
"Kirishima took off his pants, dude. You gotta show us. It's bro code." Kaminari grumbled.
Before the conversation could press any further, Ashido was whispering to Sero about this 'bro code' while Kaminari sat there "patiently" waiting.
"Is it embarrassing?" Kirishima asked softly. "We won't judge you, Bakugo."
He snorted. Kirishima was actually worried the others were going to hurt Bakugo's feelings. Hilarious.
Bakugo couldn't remember the last time he had 'the talk' with anybody from school. His elementary class, which became his middle school class as well, just kind of accepted it an moved on. Everyone knew it wasn't normal, but nobody wanted to get in a fight with Katsuki Bakugo. One brave human did, but that kid ended up eating dirt during recess and everyone kept their lips shut since.
However, high school was a mean, mean place. Katsuki convinced himself that by now he had a hard skin and was used to the pointing and judging... he couldn't blame them. But he was 17, he wasn't a child, he's heard it all by now. Bakugo was indestructible. At least, he tried so fucking hard to be.
As if some strike of fate, or even a curse, Deku had to stroll in with his posse in tow.
"Hi guys!" Uraraka happily greeted the group around the table.
"Heya!" Ashido smiled and waved back.
Uraraka squatted next to Ashido's seat and grabbed her hand. "Oh my god, did you see Hagacure today?!"
Ashido squeaked. "Yes! She's a cheater, we were all supposed to be single and cry together our entire high school career. She's a fake!" There was no heat behind her words as she happily joked with her girl friend.
"No seriously," Uraraka shook her head. "We need an intervention. By the end of this year we're gonna be the only ones left!" She cried.
"No, oh my god! Please be my soulmate Uraraka!" Ashido pleaded.
Uraraka grasped her heart. "Ashido, does this mean-"
"Yes, it does!" Ashido said while wiping away nonexistent tears.
"What is going on?" Kaminari asked the others.
"Shh, let them have their moment." Sero rolled his eyes.
"Uraraka, you are my soulmate!" The girl cried.
They ceremoniously hugged each other and pretended to cry on the floor.
"Sorry fellas." Ashido dusted herself off as the pair stood up from the floor. "Uraraka's my wife now. I don't make the rules."
"Yeah, Ashido is mine!"
"You can have her." Bakugo snorted.
"Oh, rude!" The pink girl hissed back.
Iida pushes his way through and dramatically shook both hands. "I wasn't aware you to were soulmates! Much congrats to you both on your long life and love together."
The two girls looked at each other and then bursted our laughing, even Bakugo his his smirk behind his hand. Iida was a hot mess.
"Iida!" The brunette yelled. "We're not actually soulmates!"
His face flushed as he busied himself with fixing his glasses. "Oh, my apologies- I just-"
"It's ok, man." Ashido patted his shoulder. "I wish it was that easy to find my soulmate."
The other girl nodded. "Seriously! If I don't find my soulmate by the end of high school I'm marrying you."
"No, like, same. I'm so over it!"
Bakugo wanted to ask what the fuck the rush was for. He wasn't a moron, of course he had no clue what they felt. It just seemed like a big point of Soulmates was for it to just happen. Bakugo was far from patient, but the fact that you knew it was going to happen eventually would easy the irritation of 'when's it going to happen'. Hell, even Kirishima had to wait until someone got on their knee for him to figure out that person was his soulmate, and he didn't look like he was in any rush. Maybe girls were different about that shit, who knew.
"Are we having a party?" Todoroki asked as he made his way into the living area with the couple previously mentioned a few moments ago.
"Ojiro you dog!" Ashido smirked.
"W-what-?!" The man's tail flipped and swayed back and forth in embarrassment. He really did look like a dog when he did that.
"Hagacure, you're such a traitor!"
The three girls giggled and laughed in the corner all bubbly and cute together. At least they were having fun. Bakugo shrugged.
"Hi Todoroki!" Deku smiled up to his friend.
"Hello."
Kaminari and the other boys physically dragged Ojiro into a mosh pit and patted and praised the boy for finding his Soulmate.
Bakugo wondered if Halfie over there had just as a 'poetic' Mark like the rest of his friends. He knew Deku's said 'My Hero!', that genuinely pissed him off to no end. But it shouldn't matter really, Deku was a Hero now. They all were. It shouldn't matter but it still found a way to get under his skin.
With a sigh he had enough of everyone's bitching and moaning about Soulmates and shit. He decided it was his time to run away a while he still had a chance.
"Where you goin'?" Kaminari asked from the pile of testosterone on the floor.
The blond shrugged. "My room." He didn't have to tell anyone where and what he was doing. However, Kaminari was annoying to no end so if Bakugo left without saying a word he wouldn't hear the end of it during class in the morning.
"Awh, com'on! Stay!"
Bakugo huffed and turned on his heels to head up to his room. He'd spare himself and extra day of not explaining he was Mark-less, or even trying to dance around the topic. It wasn't anyone's business anyways. It was for Katsuki, and he guesses Deku, alone to know his secret and he'd like to keep it that way for now.
Chapter Two: Emotionless
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Turns out Deku and his mouth can't keep a secret the second he gets to exploit it. That, or he's a moron. Bakugo's going with both.
Katsuki wasn't an idiot, he could feel the eyes and hear the whispers as he walked down the halls. Which, honestly, wasn't that uncommon. Most kids from UA had an interaction with Bakugo at least once already. Some were just more luckier than others.
"Well if it isn't the Prince of 1-A himself." That one blond kid from the other class the Bakugo half remembers graciously stated.
Bakugo distinctively remembers profusely using the word 'King' to describe himself. The fact that this guy was deliberately trying to insult him was a big no.
"Damn fucking right, ugly." Katsuki spat.
"Ugly?!" The look on the kids face was priceless.
Some red-orange haired girl walked up behind the 1-B student and sighed. "Let's go. Don't bother him, Monoma."
So the fucker did have a name. Good to know.
It was then that the fucker said something under his breath that Katsuki couldn't quite catch, but heard something. The words 'Soulmate' most certainly passed the kids lips and by that word alone he knew something was up.
Bakugo did not 'rush' to class, he was a punctual man, but he did not run to class. Instead, to get his aggressive point across, he slammed open the classroom sliding door and everyone turned to look at him. Most faces were shock, some looked expressively worried, and Deku, well, he looked terrified.
Bakugo had little to know clue what was happening, just that the fucker from 1-B made a point to acknowledge his existence this morning and say the word 'Soulmate' to him. With the Blue's Clues he had, Bakugo only decent assumption was that Deku said something. It was only logical. The fact that the green haired boy was quacking in his boots only further proved all signs pointed to him.
"K-Kacchan!" He was sweating. "Look, I-I Just-"
Bakugo threw his bag on his desk and pulled at the tiny red neck tie around Deku's neck. "You just what?"
Katsuki wasn't yelling, which scared Deku and the rest of the class further. Deku had seen Katsuki mad enough to cry and talk in monotone... it's just been a while.
"I didn't mean to- I just- they asked!" The smaller boy wined.
Bakugo clicked his tongue and shoved the boy against a desk. "Whatever."
If he acted like it was a big deal, it would become a big deal. He has perfected the image of 'not giving a fuck' to a T, he wasn't about to fuck it up because some extras knew he didn't have a Soulmate.
"Don't go telling nobodies my business, Deku."
Katsuki sat down harshly and waited for the class to remotely settle down. They didn't.
"Does someone have something to say?" He yelled to the class.
Everyone turned their attention to anything but Bakugo. All except one.
"Are you alright, Midoriya?"
Oh for the love of fuck. Half and half had to come in a save the day. If anyone was the 1-A 'Prince' Todoroki definitely has that base covered. Stupid asshole Monoma, or whatever the fuck his name was, was getting under his skin.
Deku awkwardly laughed. "Haha, yeah I'm fine." He fixed his tie while on the ground.
Todoroki offered a hand and the other took it happily.
"Shame he cant use that aggression for something else." Todoroki said as he dusted off a part of Midoriya's shoulder.
Deku swallowed. "T-Todoroki!" He whispered.
Bakugo tilted his head to the side to get a better view of the two boys not so quietly talking behind his back. "Got something to say, Halfie?"
"As a matter of fact-" Deku physically tried to stop Todoroki from stepping any closer to Bakugo's desk. "Do you just enjoy making a scene where ever you go?"
The look Todoroki was giving him was just as unreadable as everything else the kid did. It was annoying.
Bakugo crossed his arms over his chest and stood up. "Do you enjoy stuffing your nose in other people's business where ever you go?" He spat back.
Todoroki didn't get the chance to speak because Aizawa was yelling at the class to get their things because it was a 'hands on' kinda day.
If Aizawa could read the mood, he didn't care. He ended up pairing the two up for a simple Heros vs Villains training. Bakugo and Todoroki being the villains while Aoyama and Mineta were the Heros. This would be too easy.
"Alright, Halfass, were doing this my way." Bakugo said as he fixed his arm gauntlets.
"We are?" The other boy asked unamused.
The blond made a face. "Last time I checked, you haven't been the villain in any of these practical courses. So unless you wanna fucking guess the whole way through, be my guest."
Todoroki sighed and shook his head gently. "Whatever you believe is best."
"Good." Bakugo nodded.
He didn't give a shit what the asshole thought of him, he was just pleased they got to play this his way. Almost any time he got partnered up with someone they ended up fucking it up for the both of them because they would just do whatever the fuck they pleased. At least now they could plan and plot something. Assuming Todoroki was a good egg like everyone said he was and followed directions, Bakugo assured they'd have no problems.
This days challenge was remotely new, as in nobody had ever done it yet. So of course Bakugo and the others were the first ones to test it out. Didn't matter to him as long as he won.
The challenge was simple, Capture the Flag, but with a twist.
Heros had to bring the Villain's flag back to their 'base', which meant any spot the flag ended up landing as long it was in anyone's hands. The Hero's could not move their flag, except take it from the enemies hands. In turn, the Villains could move their flag where ever they pleased and could carry is around if they wanted to. However, they could only win if one of the team members from the Villain's side held both flags.
Ultimately, it was a cluster fuck.
"So you're gonna take our flag and build and ice wall around yourself. I'm just gonna go grab their flag and bring it back to you." Bakugo explained.
"Wouldn't it be easier for us both to go their base with our flag?" Todoroki asked.
Bakugo frowned. "No, idiot. If by some wild change Grape Bitch sticks you to the ground they he could just steal the flag from your hands and run it back to their base. I'm not risking it, even if they are the worst team Aizawa could pair up."
"Alright." Todoroki nodded.
Even though every part of working with the fashion disaster that was Todoroki made Bakugo want to punch a wall, he was glad it was by far the easiest pair up he has had.
It came to no surprise to legit anyone that Bakugo stole the flag right from under the idiots noses in no time flat.
"Ah! Très mal!" Aoyama screeched when he looked behind him and noticed their red flag was missing. "Our flag!"
"No way!" Mineta started to sweat. "They got it already!?"
The two ran towards the other side of the city in hopes to gather back their flag. Aoyama tried a few 'laser jumps' over some rooftops only to be winded and get sick by the fourth one. He stuck to using his legs for the rest of the way.
Bakugo, on the other hand, was not winded in the slightest as he weaved through the alley ways back to their base. Running on the rooftops and just aggressively charging forth was so typical of his fighting style, the fuckers wouldn't even think to use the short cuts on the ground floor.
"Gotcha!" The purple rat thing sprung out from a random side alleyway.
Bakugo wanted to say Mineta was remotely smart enough to figure out his plan, but he damn well knew the kid was just too lazy to hop over roof tops. How the fuck did he even get into this school?
Immediately on sight Mineta started throwing his purple balls at Bakugo. One stuck to to his shoulder that did nothing but annoy him and another perfectly landed in his right palm and would not leave even when he blasted it.
"Bitch!" The blond hissed as he jetted away using his one good hand.
Mineta was slow as shit, his little baby legs most certainly would not catch up with Bakugo's rocket-powered jumps. However, Aoyama had the upper hand from running and flying over the houses so Bakugo needed to take that into consideration. Still weaving though the maze of buildings, Bakugo allowed himself to peak out onto the main road and took in his surroundings. Apperantly he was a lot closer to home base than he thought because he could see Aoyama trying to laser Todoroki's ice wall down. Not good.
"Hey!" Bakugo yelled out.
The French boy turned around surprised. Upon seeing Bakugo he booked it over to him.
"Halfie, wake up!" The boy yelled as he blasted himself up to roof of a building.
Aoyama quickly followed suit and had no signs of stopping any time soon. Maybe the kid vomited on his way over there because Bakugo didn't sense the guy looked sick at all. Whatever, they were still going to win even if Aoyama learned how to keep down his lunch.
Bakugo cursed as he continued to jump from platform to platform away from the Hero and there was not a sound from Todoroki anywhere. Which side was he on?!
"Coca-Cola Bitch, where the fuck are you?!" Bakugo yelled as he made a quick u-turn to head straight back to the ice wall.
The other boy was keeping pace behind Bakugo just a few feet like it was nothing. Why did this guy even bother becoming a Hero? He could be an Olympic track star with this speed.
"You know, to keep my legs looking this great and long I jog every morning before school." Aoyama happily pointed out from behind him.
Bakugo groaned as he tried to pick up his pace. "Shut The fuck up, Croissant!"
Where the fuck was his partner?
"Todoroki I swear to fucking God!"
He dashed over one final house and lunged over the ice wall. Todoroki was on the ground, probably got knocked out by one of the laser blasts that managers the cut through the ice wall. Their blue flag was still clucked gently in Icy-Hot's right hand. Great. Not only did he have Sparkle Slut breathing down his neck, his partner was unconscious. Beautiful.
Bakugo tucked and rolled on the cement and grabbed fully at Todoroki's body. That had turned to become a huge mistake because now they were glued together due to Mineta's fucking glue ball on Bakugo's shoulder.
Dead weight Glue = Angry and Exhausted Bakugo
Not only that, but the Hero Flag just magically fell from Todoroki's hands and was now a foot away from him.
Aoyama was now clinging to the ice wall's ledge because he couldn't make the jump. Bakugo didn't have much time before the other would pull himself up and over.
"Fuck." Bakugo grunted.
Now that Todoroki's entire 'dead' body was basically sitting in Bakugo's lap he had to get creative. Forcing the other's body to hug onto Bakugo's front like a koala gave him back access to his feet. Aoyama was sliding down the wall of ice when Bakugo plucked the other flag off the ground with easy.
"Finally." The blonde sighed.
"Team Villains win!" All Might's excessively happy voice rang through the fake city.
French boy hobbled over to the conjoined boy's chuckling. "Ah Monsieur, are you and Todoroki perhaps attached?"
Bakugo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, tell your fucking friend to get his ass over here and unstick us!"
Right on queue both Aizawa and Mineta found a hole in the wall and were climbing through.
"How the fuck do you take these off?!" Bakugo barked at Mineta.
Mineta gave a disturbing smile; the kind only saved for when he was trying to look up girls' skirts or when he was just being a straight dick. "You have to wait for them to disintegrate."
"Can't you take them off?!" He yelled. "I thought they didn't stick to you?!"
"They don't," The perverted boy shrugged. "But you don't want to risk ripping off the skin on your shoulder, or on Todoroki's face."
"So I'm stuck like this?"
Mineta nodded. Bakugo wanted to rip the skin off that fucker's face.
"Are you able to carry him all the way to Recovery Girl's office?" The teacher simply asked.
Bakugo groaned. "Do I have much a choice."
It was rhetorical question, still, Aizawa answered it with a straight 'no'.
It wasn't the worse thing ever honestly. The fact that Todoroki was asleep made carrying him a lot less weird. If Bakugo had to hear him speak while they were legit attached he'd probably just rip Todoroki's face off like Mineta said not to do.
"Mornin'." Bakugo said as he used his foot to slide open the door of the nurse's office.
"What brings you in to- oh?" Recovery Girl slid into view on her rollie-chair. Bakugo could tell she was trying not to laugh.
"Do you have anything to unstick us?" He asked unamused.
The Hero got out of her chair and told Bakugo to sit on one of the beds.
"Is he asleep?" The woman asked.
"He got knocked out."
She gasped. "Why didn't you say that first!? That's far more important than you both being stuck together!"
Bakugo clicked his tongue. "Priorities." He said under his breath.
Recovery Girl gave him a pinched look while she gathered some supplies out from the cabinets.
"So can you unstick us, or what?" Bakugo asked again.
"Would you let me handle your friend here first?" She snapped back.
"He's not my friend."
While the comment about him and Canadian Flag being friends was uncalled for, Bakugo respected the old lady still had some bite in her. Good thing too, because if the school didn't have her they'd be fucked.
"How long has he been out?" The nurse asked after she gave a big smooch on Todoroki's forehead. It was kinda funny only because she looked like somebody's grandmother.
Bakugo shrugged and Todoroki's head bobbed with his movement.
"Would you please keep his head resting on your shoulder. We don't want anymore neck or head damage to be done."
Bakugo rolled his eyes but allowed Todoroki's head to sit in the crook of his next. The kid's breathing was driving the blond mad, it was so ticklish it was hard to sit still and calm. Ice Queen better appreciate this bullshit Katsuki was doing for him, even if he genuinely had no say in the matter.
"And to answer your question from earlier," Recovery Girl sorted through some papers on her desk, she had a lot. "I don't have anything to remove you both."
"So I have to wait?"
"You have to wait."
Bakugo attempted to lean his head against the wall the bed was pressed along but the face that was glued to his shoulder was not allowing it. So sitting in criss-cross-applesauce while 'The Pretty Boy of 1-A' drooled on his shoulder was going to be the position for right now. Wonderful.
"I will be back. I just need to deliver some papers." Recovery Girl announced. "Don't go anywhere."
"Wouldn't plan on it." Bakugo's sarcastic comment didn't bother the Hero in the slightest. She simply collected her things and headed out the sliding door. Bakugo concluded he liked her.
What a turn of events the day had. Bakugo fought Todoroki, then fought together with him, and now here they were literally and figuratively attacked at the hip. Maybe in the future he could look at this moment and laugh at it, but right now Bakugo was not laughing. It was pure torture sitting in silence, with no phone, nobody to talk to, and to be stuck with one of your least favorite classmates.
At least they fucking got an 'A' for today's class. Shout out to Bakugo for getting the first and only 'A' in 'sportsmanship' for the year for himself. It probably was partly due to the fact that Todoroki actually listened... and inevitably did nothing. Well, that's one way to get a good grade he supposed.
"Mmm." Todoroki's body stirred in Bakugo's lap.
Halfie tried to move his head and Bakugo absolutely wasn't going to have Recovery Girl choke him out for having Todoroki snap his neck while she was gone for ten whole minutes. The blond moved the other's head back to rest on his shoulder. Todoroki still seemed out of it because he hummed when his head rested into place.
"Don't move." Bakugo snapped.
"What happened?" The other mumbled through exhaustion.
"Fanny Pack knocked you out."
Bakugo could feel Todoroki thinking about who in the blue hell 'Fanny Pack' was, after a few second he heard him make an 'ooh' sound.
"And then the other thing got us stuck together."
Todoroki attempted a nod. "I see that."
And then... silence.
Bakugo didn't get awkward. He had emotions and feelings, that was normal. But never once in his life could he feel the awkwardness setting in so hard that someone could probably take a butter knife and cut into the awkwardness. It was just too damn unsettling.
"Are you alright." He didn't care, but anything to break this terribly awkward silence was worth it.
"You're asking if I'm ok?" The other boy sounded surprised. Did Todoroki show emotion? Bakugo would bet money he's part robot.
Bakugo sighed. "Alright, fine, fuck you then."
There was a pause. "Do you care?"
"Does it matter?"
"I don't know, does it?"
If Todoroki was looking for a challenge or a fight Bakugo was not in the mood.
"Do you have something you want to say?" The blond sneered.
"Must everything turn into a fight with you?"
"I don't know if your deaf or some shit, but you instigated this, asshole." He shit back.
Todoroki did his best to look up at him with a scowl. "I think you instigated it when you pushed Midoriya into the desks this morning."
Now he was mad.
"I don't know why you get off defending that fucker. It was his big mouth that started this whole shit." Bakugo yelled down to the other. "He had to go around telling everyone I was Markless. This is all his fault!"
"Markless?" Todoroki parroted.
The blond huffed. "Yes! Markless, as in, I don't have a Soulmate."
Todoroki blinked a few times then proceeded to make a confused face. "You don't have a Soulmate?"
"Guess you're the last to know. Surprise."Bakugo said with fake amusement.
It was back to the awkward silence Katsuki hated so much. It didn't matter though, Icy-Hot got him mad.
"I'm sorry." Todoroki broke the silence.
"What for? It's not your fault."
Katsuki was genuinely confused whether or not Todoroki wanted to be civil or not. One moment he was nice and pleasant enough to work with, enjoyable enough that Bakugo had no problems working with him during class today. Shocking really. But then in the next moment Todoroki was instigating fights and talking shit. The fuck was this kid after?
"I know it's not." The other boy muttered. "It's still not nice to be reminded of it though."
"Yeah."
Todoroki probably knew a lot about being reminded of things he'd care not to be. If the scar and broken childhood was anything to go by. Would Deku exploit that secret too? Bakugo sure hopes not. At least the blond was tough enough to tell any student to fuck off if they gave him shit for being Markless. Todoroki seemed like the type to nod it off and then cry about in a broom closet not to offended anyone.
Hopefully Deku was a better friend to Todoroki than Bakugo. Even if he didn't like Half n' Half, it wasn't fair for the whole school to know his father was... fucking terrible. If news got out the number two Hero was a woman abuser and terrible father then not only just looking in the mirror would a reminder of his past. And that, that wasn't fair.
Bakugo guesses they could agree on that.
Chapter End Notes
I wanna start off by saying thank you everyone for the amazing feedback on chapter one! I was so shocked to see enough people actually gave a shit. It's honestly probably due to the huge lack of TodoBaku content but I'm just gonna lie to myself and say I'm great. Lmfaooo anyways, thank you guys so much for the comments and kudos. It means a whole lot! See yah in the next one!
Chapter Three: Meaningless
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Mineta's quirk must have magical juice or some shit in it, because after Bakugo and Todoroki's one pair up for class they could not seem to get away from each other.
"Can you and Todoroki help Class 1-B with something?"
"Oh Bakugo, could you and Todoroki move this desk to the other classroom over there?"
"Todoroki and you need to deliver these papers to the Principal."
"Bakugo could you and Todoroki-"
"Todoroki and you-"
It was driving him up a fucking wall.
So of course, they were paired up for the history presentation. When Aizawa had pulled both their names from a hat, he was just as fed up with them being together all the time as Bakugo was, Bakugo didn't even blink an eye. The blond even snuck a glance to the other side of the room and noticed Todoroki looking straight back at him. They were in this for the long haul.
"Why does Aizawa even bother pairing people up any more? He knows we're going to be partners anyways." Bakugo shuffled his feet as they made their way to the library.
Todoroki fixed his bag higher up on his shoulder with a shrug. "It does seem strange we keep getting paired up together."
"Probably sick of seeing me."
"I don't hate it."
Bakugo made a face. Didn't they hate each other? They probably did, but Todoroki still felt bad that he chewed Bakugo's ass for... being an ass. Whatever, by the end of this project the curse would most likely be lifted and Halfie and him could officially part ways.
Bakugo decided they'll have the empty table in the farthest corner of the library. Todoroki made it a point to give him a questioning look after he pulled out his own chair.
"I just don't want anyone to bother us, problem?" The blond asked as he sat down.
The other boy sighed. "Do you think every time I ask a question that I'm trying to start something with you?"
Katsuki pulled out his note books and pencil case with a glare. "Do you ever hear the words that come from your mouth?"
Halfie blinked back slightly. "Yes?"
Bakugo didn't even bother with a response, he just shook his head and opened his notes.
"So the guy we got is Dr. James Edwards Maverick." Bakugo opened his notes to the page that had all the information about the guy, color coordinated with sticky notes, highlighters and all.
"Who is that again?" Todoroki genuinely asked.
Bakugo glanced up from his papers to eye the boy across from him. "Are you joking? You're joking right?"
"Why would I be joking?"
"Oh my fucking god."
And this guy was ranked fifth in the class. No wonder everyone below him was permanently brain dead. Too bad too, Bakugo was assuming they'd pass this with flying colors as well. Spoke too soon, I guess.
"Maverick, the Englishman that basically discovered Soulmates?"
No response.
"He coined the term 'Jems' as like the prototype name for Marks?"
Still nothing.
"The guy that ate his wife during the Emerald War?"
"Oh, him!"
This was going to be impossible.
"What the fuck do you even write in your notes, dude?" Bakugo stole Todoroki's notebook out from under his nose.
The boy made grabby hands to take back his notes but Bakugo wasn't having it. Good thing too because once he got a good glance at Icy-Hot notes he noticed a giant problem. The kid didn't have notes.
Bakugo flipped through the next three pages and then back five previous pages. These were the barest bone minimum notes he has ever seen, and he's tutored Kirishima before. Holy fuck.
"Do you even pay attention in class?Where are your notes?" Bakugo snapped, throwing back the notebook.
Todoroki remotely caught back his notebook. "I write notes, I don't know what you mean?"
"You barely wrote shit." He pushed his book in front of the other's for comparison. "These are notes."
"These are nice. Your penmanship is far better than what I anticipated." Bakugo huffed at that backhanded compliment. "Can I copy them?"
The blond pulled back his notes. "You ain't copying shit. I'll tell you the information and you will write that down."
"Wouldn't it be quicker to just copy the notes now and then you go over it with me?" Todoroki pulled out his one pencil he used.
Bakugo rolled his eyes. "You won't retain the information that way. I tell, you write."
Bakugo went over the basis of who Dr. Maverick was and his role in Soulmate science and study. Marverick was commonly known for two things, one, being basically the first to find out what SoulMarks were. And two, starting a three way war, Emerald War, with France and Ireland (France was the winner). There was the third part where James, after losing the war, ended up killing and eating his wife out of anger. But nobody really liked to bring that part up. The man was mostly recognized for his vast knowledge and discoveries in SoulMarks, so Bakugo wanted to focus on that part.
"I don't understand." Todoroki asked as he continued to jot down his notes. "How did he start a war?"
"The Emerald War was basically the same shit that America and the Soviet Union dealt with with their race to the moon shit."
"But that didn't start a war, did it?"
"No, but, this was different times and people were desperate to be the first with everything."
Todoroki nodded and got back to listening to Bakugo ramble more on about the Emerald War, SoulMarks, and history in general.
The boy across from Bakugo set down his pen and leaned his cheek into his hands.
"So what happened after France won?"
"Nothing. It was a dumb ass war that started with Maverick being like 'my horse is bigger than your horse', everyone got offended, a war broke out, and people died." Bakugo shrugged. "It's a really dumb reason as to why Paris is now called the City of Love."
"That's the reason?"
"That's the reason."
Todoroki eyed Bakugo's open notes, then glanced up to the blond, and then back down to the notes once more.
"Could I-" He glanced back up to Bakugo. "Use your highlighters?"
Bakugo shoved his pencil case over to the other. "Here."
"So I don't understand," Todoroki uncapped a yellow highlighter and began marking up all years and dates. "What actually started the war?"
"You know how like Women's Rights was a huge thing. It still is, but, they were actually still ironing out the laws back then and shit?" Bakugo pointed at one of Todoroki's dates. "That's supposed to be a nine not a seven."
The duo hair-colored boy nodded and changed the numbers, allowing Bakugo to finish the story with out interrupting.
"Anyways, a big thing back then was arranged marriages. Since Maverick basically found out that you couldn't just push two people together and hope they fall in love, it got messy." He breathed. "England was a lot more lax and just basically sided with Maverick because he was a scientist. Honestly, whatever put England in more pages of History books as the 'good guys' they just sided at this point."
"I'm guessing France wasn't for that?" Todoroki pulled out a blue highlighter from Bakugo's pencil case.
The blond hummed. "England wanted France and Ireland to follow suit, they had all had conflicting opinions, and thus the Emerald War became a thing."
"Why Emerald?"
"Mavericks initials spells out 'Jems' and that's the term he used for 'Marks' in the early stages of his discoveries. I'm guessing Emerald has to do with the fact it's a gemstone, yah know, like 'Jem'."
"That seems like an awfully convoluted way to come up with a name for a war."
Bakugo leaned back in his chair, almost too far that Todoroki wondered if he was gonna fall. "Alright," The blond shrugged. "What would you have called it?"
"Nothing in particular, really. Besides Maverick being disturbingly insane, it seemed fair to at least credit him in that fact he wanted to abolish arranged marriages."
Bakugo leaned forward again so all legs were back on the floor. Todoroki physically relaxed knowing Bakugo wasn't going to fall in the middle of their work.
Bakugo sighed. "Yeah, I'd imagine being forced to see someone everyday of your life, not by your choice, would fucking suck."
"Are you indirectly connecting this to us being paired up?" Todoroki's brow furrowed.
"So you are learning."
"You are deplorable."
"I basically just fucking taught you a months worth of literature in an hour. Shut the fuck up, Half n' Half."
"Fair."
And it went like that for the rest of the week. It turns out that Todoroki is not actually a moron that doesn't pay attention in class, it was just history. Something about the subject was nearly impossible for the boy to focus in. With the help (force) of Bakugo, Todoroki ended up having a firm grasp on the subject that they were supposed to write about. Thank fucking God.
It came by a straight stroke of luck that Todoroki enjoyed learning about this one specific moment in history. But only that one, because when Bakugo caved in and offered him access to the blond's notebook... he declined.
"You're an idiot. I'm legit allowing you to copy my notes!" Bakugo yelled as the two of them headed back to the dorms after their last day working on the project.
Todoroki shrugged. "I'm fine where I am at with the rest of my academic and physical abilities. Thank you though for helping me during most of our project."
"You're taking this!" The blond shoved the book into the other's hands. "If we fucking get paired up again I'm not holding your hands through the entire thing."
"What happens when I pass you in grades? You won't be so excited then to hand me your notes." Todoroki wasn't a smirker, Bakugo never saw the guy's face change from anything other than anger to downright blank stare. However, if Todoroki did smirk, he did just then.
"Not gonna happen."
"What about Iida and Yaoyorozu?"
"Do you get off on making me mad?!" Bakugo spat.
The other hummed. "It is entertaining."
"Fuck you."
The next day, Todoroki was seen in class with a pack of highlighters and a shit ton of multicolored pens. Girls in their class all crowded around him calling him 'smart and organized', while others squeaked about 'The Prince of 1-A' being nothing short of adorable.
Bakugo taught him that shit. What a prick.
He didn't care that the girls were all over Todoroki, couldn't give a fuck less truthfully. It just was annoying to see the same shit Bakugo did daily get praised solely for the fact that someone else did it. Todoroki was a copy-cat bitch and Bakugo should have told Aizawa he did nothing to help the blond during their project. Maybe if he did then his class rank would be bumped down a notch or two. That'd show Mr. Perfect.
But he didn't; It wasn't worth the effort.
Todoroki could sleep on his high horse all day long if he wanted to. Bakugo was still going to gallop his horse to victory while the others ate his dust. Even if Todoroki did nothing and was still praised for doing nothing then that was on him. Didn't bother Bakugo none if Todoroki got his rocks off to getting everything for accomplishing nothing.
If Todoroki was the disgusting leech Bakugo was telling himself deep down he wasn't, then he would just ride on his farther's coattails all the way until the end of senior year.
It didn't feel right to peg him as the type though. Bakugo heard the amount of distaste the kid had for his dad. He wasn't supposed to know, but he knew. It really wasn't in the boy's character to hitch a free ride with somebody he hated. Probably the reason Todoroki eventually did end up turning down Bakugo's offer to allow him to copy his notes. He just wanted to do it himself and show Bakugo he was better.
Typical asshole Todoroki bullshit.
Even if the apology in the nurses office sounded genuine to Bakugo's ears, the fucker was probably lying through his teeth just so they wouldn't get knocked in a second later.
Sure, Todoroki's Dad was a bitch and his mother was... somewhere doing something, most likely not in the best of shape if by Todoroki's distaste for his father was anything to go by. But all in all Todoroki had some rich ass dad, a big fucking house, Deku and his gaggle of annoying friends, and apparently, was one of the highest watched bachelors by all of UA's girls and even some boys. It was just downright bothersome that this guy had it all and barely lifted a finger, while also simultaneously looking down at Bakugo, even though the blond most certainly worked harder for his spot.
It pissed him off that he didn't hate working with him. Halfie honestly probably was just that good and Bakugo was so fucking salty about it and wouldn't admit it. He was admiring it and it still didn't sit great with him. Fucking bullshit.
Mr. Perfect could trip and fall and everyone would cheer him on. Was there nothing this kid could do wrong? What wasn't he perfect at?
Todoroki is the human equivalent of 'perfect'. Google 'perfect' and Bakugo guaran-fucking-tees you'll find a wiki link to Shoto Todoroki. Such a sickeningly 'perfect' individual would of course only have the best of the best when it came to a Soulmark. Because life, the universe, and fate just fucked that way.
Bakugo couldn't give a fuck less if Todoroki's Mark was an etch-a-sketch imprint of the Queen herself, Katsuki Bakugo wasn't gonna let that step in the way of him being the best.
Because fuck Shoto Todoroki.
Bakugo didn't want to say he thought they could be friends, they couldn't, he just... thought. He doesn't know himself really. With the combination of working together, the part at the nurse's, and even the history project, Bakugo felt like an idiot that he caved into Mr. Wonderful's charm. It was annoying to think that for a little while Katsuki Bakugo tolerated and even enjoyed Shoto Todoroki's presence.
What-fucking-ever.
Chapter End Notes
Don't worry my friends, we will have some hot conficlt coming up. Don't worry your pretty little heads, we are getting there. Anyways, thank you everyone that sticking with this story, it means a whole lot! I appreciate every comment, kudo, and read! Y'all are the best! Thank you again and I hope you enjoyed!
Chapter Four: Motionless
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Bakugo was trying everything in the book to stay far, far away from Todoroki. For whatever fucking reason, probably the world just hating him at this point, Todoroki could not stay the fuck away.
If the two could just exists in school and class together and just never interact, like ever, Bakugo would be a happy man.
It was bad enough he heard at least once a day some girls in the hallways drooling over him. It was bad enough they had class together. It was bad enough that the name 'Shoto Todoroki' could not stay out of anyone's mouth for a short period of time. It was all bad and Bakugo had enough.
Since their random collection of team ups and partnerships, Bakugo would constantly hear students talk about them. Mostly it was to compare Bakugo to Todoroki, saying how beautiful and wonderful the other one was and how none of that applied to the blond. He couldn't tell if he was genuinely upset or just annoyed.
Fucking, why Todoroki?!
Deku? Sure. They were childhood friends, constantly fought, and just were 'those two'. It didn't matter if Bakugo liked to be compared to Deku or not, he didn't, it just made a shit ton more sense than to be compared to Mr. Fucking Perfect.
Perfect his ass.
"Todoroki is so cute!" Ashido giggled as she stared off during lunch.
Bakugo nearly snapped his fork in half.
"It's ridiculous! He's got all these pastel highlighters and sticky notes! Uraraka was having a panic attack because she said she never saw anything cuter! I swear I heard Midoriya say he needed to go get colorful markers before he went back to the dorms today. They're so cute."
"What's cute about using highlighters?" Bakugo grumbled into his lunch.
Ashido thought it over for a moment. "It's like..., how do I word it. Oh, you know how Todoroki is very cool and calm. Well, him having cute school supplies is like seeing his cute, soft side. Yah know?"
"I have no idea what you even mean." Sero added.
Kaminari shook his head. "Girls are weird."
"It's not weird!" Ashido wined. "It's like a girl like Jiro, who's very quiet and calm, knitting her crush a sweater. That's cute!"
"So, Jiro." Kaminari nudged the girl next to him. "When are you knitting me a sweater?"
"I can't knit." She stated bluntly.
Kaminari draped an arm around her shoulders. "That's fine, Babe. It doesn't need to be perfect. Just that you made it!"
Jiro continued eating her lunch without bothering to comment on Kaminari's hopeless advances. Poor kid.
"Ah, Wait." Kirishima piped up. "Don't you use cute little highlighters, Bakugo? I swear you were using them when we studied together that other time."
Kirishima was a fucking traitor.
"No way! What!" Ashido cried. "Bakugo, you're so cute."
"I'm not cute!" He hissed.
"Bakugo's blushing."
"Jiro!" Bakugo spat.
She simply shrugged and continued to munch on her lunch. Both Kirishima and Jiro were not Bakugo's friends anymore. He lost all respect for them. Blacklisted.
Ashido smiled. "Oh my god, you and Todoroki have moe gaps."
"Do you ever stop talking?" The blond grunted.
She stuck her tongue out. "You two have just been spending so much time with each other. No wonder you've both been picking up each other's habits. You're such good friends."
"I wouldn't say they're friends." Sero added.
"We've partnered up like seven fucking times. We're not friends."
"That's not what I heard!" Ashido sing-songed.
Bakugo blink back slightly. What did she hear?
Bakugo scowled. "What are you talkin' 'bout, Pinky?"
She smirked and stirred her lemonade with her straw. "Oh, nothing~!"
"Fucking tell me!"
"Mmmmm, nahh."
"Bitch." He slapped the lunch table.
"Wait, I want to know." Jiro stated.
Ashido nodded. "M'kay! I'll tell you later."
"What the fuck?!" Bakugo spat.
"Ashido instigates Bakugo more than I do." Kaminari chuckled.
"That's because Bakugo would throw you out a window. Ashido, on the other hand, will just get yelled at from five feet away." Sero took a sip of his water.
Kirishima smiled at Bakugo. "Yeah, he wouldn't hurt a girl."
"Do you want to die?" Bakugo asked.
"Ahhhh, classic Bakugo." Kirishima continued to smile.
Him a Todoroki were nothing alike at all. What the fuck were these idiots even talking about?
The bell rang and the students filed out to dispose of their lunches and head back to class.
"Halfie and I are nothing alike." Bakugo grunted.
"I don't know man." Kaminari shrugged. "I can see it."
The blond pouted. "See what."
"I don't know, it's like the appearance you both give off." He shrugged.
"Ice Queen is a stuck up bitch. He's nothing like me. Asshole thinks he better or something."
Kaminari laughed. "Dude, Do you hear yourself?!"
"Whatever."
Bakugo knew what Pikachu was referring to. The biggest difference between them was that Todoroki didn't do shit to get where he was, he was just accepted into the school without even trying. But Bakugo, he worked his whole ass off.
"I don't know," Sero walked up beside Bakugo and they exchanged looks. "Part of me feels like Todoroki's kinda lonely."
"How can he be lonely when Deku and the rest of those idiots cling to him like lost puppies?" Bakugo asked.
Sero shrugged with a soft smile. "He just seems distant, yah know?"
Sero's comment stuck with Bakugo for the rest of the day. It was like he was constantly getting reminded everytime he breathed that 'Todoroki was lonely'. Why he couldn't stop worrying about it, and why it bothered him at was making Bakugo insane. He shouldn't give a fuck if Mr. Wonderful was sad and alone. Who gave a fuck?! Bakugo did.
It got to the point where spacing out in class was just Bakugo staring down Todoroki's back. He caught himself doing it and had to hold back setting his entire desk on fire because why the fuck was he staring at Icy Hot?! It pissed him off even more that in his stare down session with Todoroki he couldn't help but notice the guy never took any notes! Who the fuck was this guy anyways?!
After class, Bakugo made it his soul mission to stop Todoroki at his desk and slap a palm on the boy's books.
"Can I assist you?" Halfie asked with a bored expression.
"You, me, library. Now."
Todoroki shrugged while the rest of the class was straight up pissing themselves. The blond couldn't tell if he liked or hated that Icy Hot was basically the only person that just didn't give a fuck about anything at any hour of any day.
"We've talked about this!" Bakugo hissed as he ripped Todoroki's one notebook from his hands.
The other boy let it happen with a sigh. "I'm not sure I understand what you are talking about?"
"Your notes!"
"My notes?"
"Yes?!"
"Ok?"
The blond grumbled here and there as he flipped through a weeks worth of notes. There was a huge difference between the ones that Bakugo had overseen a week prior, and now the ones that were back to being bare bone minimum note taking.
"I offered you my notes and you didn't take them!"
Todoroki scowled. "I am capable of doing things myself."
"Well clearly you're not." Bakugo huffed.
Todoroki took back his notes with a pout. "If you came here to mock me I'm not interested in staying." He tried to collect his things and hastily shove them unceremoniously back into his bag, but Bakugo stopped him.
"I'm not fucking mocking you, asshole!" He hissed, tugging at the other boys wrist. "I'm helping you!"
"Why?!" Todoroki pulled his arm from Bakugo's grasp and continued to throw his things in his bag.
The blond stood awestruck as the other boy stormed out of the library. Other students turned to take glances at Bakugo who just stood in the empty space of Todoroki.
That was a good question.
Why?
~•*•~
Aizawa was a fucking sadist, or just UA in general... maybe the dog-bear... puppy (?) School Principal was King of Sadism, Bakugo could see it. It was like the whole school was suffering because of this influx of test prep. Legit everyone. Bakugo swears he saw a kid sleeping on one of the tables during lunch, he himself was too tired to give it a second glance.
The dorms were filled with annoying cries and groans of students trying to cram enough information in their brains to somehow asexually reproduce a second, bigger, brain. It wasn't working.
Bakugo decided the dorms were the worst place to study and focus. The library we go.
It's not like he predicted a lot of students at the library, but none at all seemed a little crazy to him. All the students were probably piled high, banging down Yaoyorozu's door for help. Ha, fuck that.
Before Bakugo has stepped foot outside his room he was basically tackled by both Kirishima and Ashido, begging for his help. He promised them he'd help them Wednesday, it was only Monday, and he needed to help himself before he could help others.
It was shocking that not a single person, even the librarian, were taking a spot at the library. Even more shocking, Shoto Todoroki somehow showed up in the middle of Bakugo highlighting his notes and scared the fuck out of him he ruined the page.
"What the fuck?! Icy Hot what the fuck is your damage? Do you wanna die?!" Bakugo threw his green highlighter on the ground. The liquid started to drip on the carpet and Todoroki was quick to snatch up the marker before it could ruin so much of the floor.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were deep in thought." Todoroki stayed as he carefully placed the green marker back onto the table.
Why the fuck was he here? Why the fuck was he here?! Why the fuck was he here!
"The fuck you want?" The blond sat back down in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest.
The other took that as a signal to steal the seat across from the other. Todoroki placed his things on the table and glanced a Bakugo with another unreadable expression.
"What?" Bakugo pressed again.
The other boy fixed his hair. "Could we maybe study together again?"
The blond sighed and sank deeper in his seat. "I thought you didn't want my help?" He asked almost mockingly.
Todoroki shifted in his seat and sat his hands in his lap. "Yes, well- I realized my mistake."
"Which was?" Bakugo tilted his head.
"I cannot take notes."
"Figured."
"There's nothing I can study."
The blond groaned into his palms, then rubbed his eyes. He was hoping he could study solo for the next two day, and then have to assist the idiots. Things change.
"Seriously, How the fuck have you come this far with terrible note taking? Do you cheat or some shit?"
Todoroki flinched. "Cheat!?"
"Surely Mr. Perfect is too good to cheat. Had a feeling." Bakugo pulled out all of his notebooks and flipped through to their current curriculum.
Icy Hot scowled. "I would have thought you of all people would be against cheating? And I'm not perfect."
"Right right. And yeah," He flipped through some more pages of his notes. "Cheating is for losers."
After, begrudgingly, allowing Todoroki to copy a few notes to get them started, Bakugo grumbled.
"You owe me by the way."
Todoroki glanced up from his papers. "Oh, of course."
There was no bite, and no hesitation. Todoroki has wholeheartedly planned on repaying Bakugo. Well, fucking good, he should.
Soon it was dinner time and Bakugo couldn't concentrate when he was hungry. After stretching he began to pack his things.
"Are we done for the day?" Todoroki quickly highlighted a key word. He capped the marker and handed it back to the blond. Didn't this kid bring his own highlighters to school the other day? Why didn't he have them now?!
"Yeah," Bakugo sorted his notebooks into order. "It's dinner time."
Todoroki followed suit in organizing his belongings and tossing them into his bag. Bakugo would have a word with him soon about how not to just shove things in your bag. But he was too hungry to get mad over crumpled papers at the bottom of Todoroki's book bag.
"Are you hungry?" The other asked Bakugo. It was a stupid question because ugh... duh? But Bakugo would play along just this once.
"Yes?" He fixed his bag's strap higher up on his shoulder.
They headed out of the library and down towards the dorms. It would be a quick walk but it was still a little chilly. Bakugo no like.
"Do you want to get dinner?"
Again, that was a stupid question. Hadn't Bakugo implied they were leaving to go to the cafeteria?
The confusion seemed to get across to Todoroki because he quickly corrected himself.
"I meant as in a real dinner, Bakugo." They continued down the sidewalk. "I owe you, remember?"
And ok, yeah, that's a thing. Bakugo most certainly wants an actual real dinner. Especially one he doesn't pay for.
"Yeah, alright."
They head into the dorms with a lot (most) of the class 1-A students gathered in the lounge area. It's hard not to notice the inexcusable fact that both Bakugo and Todoroki entered at the same time. The blond hoped Kirishima and Ashido hadn't noticed so they wouldn't chew his ear off about studying together. They noticed, they didn't say anything though.
"Let me get my things." Todoroki at least has the decency to say that to Bakugo at the top of the stairs, out of ear sight of the annoying pricks in their class.
He didn't want to say it was embarrassing, but it was fucking embarrassing, ok? Him and Icy Hot on basically a fucking dinner date, that Todoroki's paying for. And this is all for a simple study session? Imagine if he just did the test for him. Bakugo would want a car at that point.
Bakugo tore off his uniform and decided on the most basic outfit he could think of; black jeans and a hoodie. Amazing, casual, and warm. Perfect.
Now the blond was pegging this whole thing as the worlds discreetest, most hush-hush kinda get together. Todoroki and him weren't close, they didn't do this. This was strictly a one time, pay back kinda deal. So Bakugo was assuming they weren't going to shout this to the world.
But he did. Todoroki actually did. Right in the middle of the fucking lounge room where most of 1-A's class was sat, studying or goofing off.
"Are you ready?" Todoroki asked Bakugo in the middle of the room as he's fixing his button up's sleeves.
Bakugo tugged on his hood and hoped somehow that could conceal his whole body from the world. Hagacure was such a lucky girl.
It was like a bomb went off in the middle of UA's student dorms at 6:47 at night.
"Where're yah going?" Kaminari's big mouth asked every other student's dying question.
"Dinner." Todoroki answered flatly.
Bakugo pulled on the strings of his hoodie. Could he self destruct right-fucking-here?
"Oh ho~ dinner?" Ashido, of course, added in.
Halfie seriously must have not left the house until, like, last year because was the only one to not catch onto the girl's innuendo. This kid was as dense as a brick.
Bakugo twirled around to scowl at her. "Yes, dinner." He spat.
"Mmhum, Yeah? What for?" She pressed on with a smirk.
"I owe him."
Todoroki, stop fucking talking. Please.
Ashido's smirk only grew.
"Let's go." The blond tugged at Todoroki's arm so they could get the hell out of there.
It was only when they were outside, a few feet away from the double doors, that Bakugo realized he had no idea where they were going.
"Where are we going?" He let go of Todoroki's wrist.
"What would you like?"
"You're paying!"
"But it's for you?"
There were so many feelings and emotions going through his head he didn't even know what to say. Why couldn't Todoroki just decide for them?!
Bakugo kicked the sole of his shoe on the sidewalk and huffed. "Soba?"
"Perfect."
Chapter End Notes
Me? Where have I been? I died?!!!? No but seriously how many italic words do I need to add in a chapter until I'm satisfied? Too fucking many to be honest. Anyways, thank you all so much for the love and support. I appreciate you all! Thank you again for checking out my story and I shall see y'all in the next one!
Chapter Five: Speechless
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Everyone about the situation: Bakugo, dinner, Todoroki, the fucking soba, all of it. All of it was so fucking weird. How the fuck did Bakugo manage to get himself sat across Todoroki at a candlelit fucking dinner. Was this real? Was this a simulation or some shit? Bakugo must be getting punk'd.
The funny thing was Bakugo remembers it all. He remembers helping Todoroki with his homework and then miraculously agreeing to this. He remembers doing it all. So why does it feel like that didn't actually happen?
Bakugo was so lost in thought that when he was clinging to the menu with a death grip and the waitress asked what he wanted for a drink, Todoroki just told her a water. Icy Hot had to order for him!? Why was this so weird?!
Did they hate each other? They couldn't, right? Enemies didn't go out and grab dinner together. Enemies would not pay the bill and ask you to help them study. That's shit friends do. Were they friends?
What was going on?!
Bakugo let the menu sit face up on the table as he rubbed his sweaty hands on his jeans. He couldn't glance up and look at the other's face, it was just too much. The music, the candles, the whole fucking dinner... it was all too much. He should have just said they go to McDonald's and sit on different sides of the parking lot. That would have been hell of a lot less awkward than having a fucking candle separate you and some asshole from class. Except, honestly, Todoroki was being the farthest thing from an asshole, and that just made this all even weirder.
Todoroki glanced over to the blond with concern. "Bakugo, are you alr-"
"What is this?" Bakugo asked in a rushed state. He wiped his hands on his jeans again. Why the fuck was he so sweaty? "I mean, like, I thought you hated me?"
Todoroki set his menu on the table to stare into Bakugo's eyes. Bakugo looked away after three whole seconds. "I don't hate you. Just sometimes you say things that aren't the best choice of words. We've had our moments, but I actually enjoy your company."
That's not the answer he was excepting at all. A simple 'I just owe you', in the posh-like phrasing Todoroki likes so much, would have sufficed. He was probably looking for a response from the blond, but nope, he wasn't getting one. Bakugo just stared down his menu and swallowed down the saliva that pooled in his mouth like he was fucking drowning in his own body. Jesus fucking Christ, why was Todoroki beyond chill? This wasn't weird, like at all?!
And 'enjoy your company', what the fuck did that mean?! All Bakugo ever did was yell at Icy Hot because he was an idiot. How were they classified as friends?!
"Here is your water." The waitress came back with both of their drinks. She stood close to the table as she smiled at the pair. "Are you ready to order?"
No.
"Yes." Todoroki nodded.
Bakugo had no idea what he wanted. He read the menu over like six times but he could not recall a single item on the menu.
"I'll have the Zaru, please." The other boy handed the woman his menu.
"And for you?" She smiled at Bakugo.
"What's you're spiciest soba?"
"That would be our 'Red' soba! It's one of our specialties. Just a warning, it's very hot. Most people think they can handle it but end up not finishing it." She smiled. "Are you sure?"
Bakugo nodded and handed her the menu. "Yeah, thanks."
If reading the menu in silence was weird, sitting in silence was the weirdest.
It felt like Bakugo's whole body was set on fire and then dunked into freezing cold water, repeatedly. There were goosebumps all up and down his arms, and he swears he was sweating. Thank fuck he was wearing a sweatshirt.
"Are you alright?" Todoroki sincerely asked.
Bakugo flinched. "How is this not weird to you?"
The other let his elbow rest on the table, and sat his chin his open palm. "I don't know what you mean?"
"We had an argument just the other day, and now we're are sitting at some fancy restaurant... having dinner together?"
Todoroki hummed. "I don't see a problem."
Of course not. Todoroki wouldn't see a bus coming directly at him at top speed even if it was blaring it's horn. This kid was a social nightmare. Maybe Sero was right, maybe the kid was actually lonely. But that didn't make sense. Anytime Bakugo wasn't around Todoroki, Deku, or anyone else really, would fill the void. Not well, he guesses.
"I thought you were popular?" Bakugo sipped his water, he needed it.
The boy across from him twirled the straw of his drink around in it's ice water. "I don't believe I am. Why would you think that?"
The blond blinked a few times, dumbfounded. "You're serious? Have you walked the halls of our school at all? I over heard the worst conversation from some random girls the other day about you. You, popular? Yeah, I'd fuckin' say so."
Maybe it was the way the candlelight grazed Todoroki's face, but Bakugo swears the other blushed.
"What did they say?"
"You don't even wanna know."
"Ok, that's fair."
The tables and chairs at this place were oddly tall. Bakugo didn't enjoy that his legs just hung in the air, swinging back and forth gently.
"I really do appreciate all you've done to help me and my grades." Todoroki broke the silence.
The blond nodded. "Don't keep thanking me. The dinner is enough."
"I didn't image you would be as patient as were with me."
Bakugo huffed. "Is that an insult?"
Todoroki stopped playing with his straw to look up at Bakugo. "Do you really think every time I say something to you it's an insult?"
It was almost as if Bakugo had insulted Todoroki with that comment, instead of the other way around. At least the boy was showing some of his emotions. It was getting to be nearly impossible to hold a conversation with him when he always looked so stone cold.
"The way you worded it, it sounded kinda backhanded to me." He took another swig if his water.
Todoroki sat up. His brows looked slightly furrowed as he glanced at the table below. "I'm sorry."
"Oh my god." Bakugo groaned aggressively. It caught Todoroki's attention. "Stop apologizing and thanking me. I get it!"
"Right, sorry." It slipped out before he could correct himself.
Bakugo glared across the table. "Are you fucking stupid and deaf? What did I just say?"
Todoroki chuckled, and that, that was something. It was more like a quick snort-chortle hybrid, but Bakugo wasn't much of a poet, so he'd just call it a chuckle. It caught the blond off guard, not in a bad way. It was at least good now that he had broken down enough of Todoroki's walls to get him to allow himself a chuckle. It also wasn't good because it made his hands and body all hot-cold again. He swore it was a weird side effect to Todoroki's quirk, but whatever.
The rest of the dinner wasn't too interesting until Todoroki insisted he could handle some of Bakugo's super spicy 'Red' soba.
He ended up chugging most of his own water with tears prickling the sides of his eyes. Bakugo had to muffle his own laughter in his hands because now other customers were starting to eye them.
"Too hot?" Bakugo himself chuckled in his hands.
Todoroki made a nodding motion as he downed the rest of his water. "How do you eat that?!"
Bakugo shrugged. "The bigger question is why can't you freeze your own tongue?"
"I've never tried that before." He answered honestly.
"You've never tried that before?"
"No?"
"You're lame."
Todoroki tried to talk over the ice cube in his mouth and it didn't work so he crunched it up and swallowed it. The entire time Bakugo looked at him like he just kicked a small animal.
"Who the fuck chews ice?" Bakugo cringed.
"I do?" Todoroki stated.
"You're fucking weird." He shook his head.
Todoroki played with his noodles for a moment with another chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Bakugo pouted.
The other shrugged. "I'm not allowed to eat ice, but you're allowed to eat extremely spicy soba?"
"I never said you're not allowed." He shrugged back. "Eating ice is just weird. 'Specially since you can freeze your tongue."
"But I don't know if I can."
"Well that's your homework for tonight."
Todoroki hummed. "My homework is to figure out if I can freeze my tongue?"
"Yup."
"Alright."
It wasn't the worst dinner Bakugo had ever had with someone. He'd even say it went better than that one time him and the others went out for Sero's birthday. That day was a huge fucking mess. Todoroki was a least seven levels more chill than Kaminari, Sero, Ashido, and Kirishima combined. It was nice not having to yell across a table to have someone pass you the fucking salt.
Bakugo hoped that everyone was either in their rooms or at least out of the lounge. It was bad enough Todoroki had to tell everyone they were going to dinner.
But of course, nothing ever went the way Bakugo hoped.
"Nobody picks white as a favorite color!" Bakugo yelled as they opened the double doors to the dorms, and headed down the hall.
"It's my favorite color? What's so wrong with that?" Todoroki asked back.
Bakugo hunched with a sigh. "At least it's not fucking beige."
"Beige is a fine color."
The blond groaned. "Of course you'd say that." He snorted.
"Well, well, well~" Kaminari whistled from his seat on the couch, in the middle of the open area lounge. Fucking great.
"How was your dinner?" Ashido asked.
These two were added to the blacklist. Sero was the only decent friend he had left.
"Did yah have fun?" Sero chimed in.
Nevermind, Bakugo had no friends left.
"Yes, it was fine, thank you." Todoroki answered their questions.
Maybe if Bakugo had Sero's tape ability he could tape Halfie's mouth shut.
"Yeah?" Ashido sat up. "Was Bakugo nice?"
Before he could yell at the girl in front of him about how much that didn't matter, Todoroki beat him to the punch.
"Of course," The boy nodded. "Bakugo is surprisingly kind to me."
"Don't make it sound like you get special treatment, Halfie."
Bakugo took the few seconds of silence to trot up the stairs and away from all his stupid friends. Todoroki, of course, had to follow Bakugo up to the third floor even though his room was on the second.
The blond didn't say anything when he turned around once he got to his door, he just eyed the boy following him like a lost puppy.
"Tomorrow?" The boy asked.
Bakugo quirked a brow. "Tomorrow?" He parroted back.
"Could we study again?"
Bakugo glided a hand through his hair as he thought it over. Studying by himself and studying with Todoroki weren't so different, really. Studying with all the others was more of a handful, and that's why he told them he needed two days for himself before he helped all of them. But Todoroki seemed to be the only one separate from that rule. And seconds ago he was saying Halfie didn't get special treatment... stupid fucking Bakugo.
"Maybe." He finally answered flatly.
Todoroki smiled with a nod. "See you tomorrow then."
"Asshole, I didn't say yes!" Bakugo yelled down the stairs that Todoroki swiftly made his way down.
"See you tomorrow, Bakugo. Good night."
"Bitch!"
~•*•~
The next morning at school, if Bakugo thought Todoroki couldn't get any more embarrassing than he was sadly mistaken.
After one class, during a short break, Todoroki rushed over to Bakugo's desk with a bright smile.
"Whats that look for?" The blond sneered up at the other.
"I did it."
"Did what?"
He stole a chair nobody was using and scooted it up against Bakugo's desk.
"I can freeze my tongue." He nodded happily.
"Hey, that's pretty cool!" Kirishima took upon himself to sit his ass right on Bakugo's desk; he didn't say anything. "When d'you learn to do that."
"Last night. Bakugo wondered if I could." Todoroki explained.
Bakugo was literally sandwiched between a rock and a hard place. He wanted so badly to drown himself in the bathroom. Anything would be better than listening to Todoroki spew the worst phrased sentences Bakugo has ever witnessed in his life. Todoroki was a walking embarrassment, an embarrassment to only Katsuki Bakugo though.
"Oh yeah?" Kirishima smirked. "You wanted to know if Todoroki could freeze his tongue, Blasty?"
Bakugo simply rested his forehead on his desk and groaned. It didn't help that before he plastered his face into the wood he noticed that Todoroki looked so confused. This poor kid needed to get out more.
"You both are the fucking worst." He mumbled into his desk.
"Awhhh come on, Blondie! Were your best friends!" Kirishima shook the desk.
Bakugo groaned. "I don't recall saying that to you, you liar."
"I'm not lying!" The redhead cried. "Don't listen to him, Todoroki. We're best bros!"
"Of course."
"Don't be jealous though! You and Bakugo can be best bros too!"
"Go away!" Bakugo shot his head up. His fave was contorted in a frown as he stared up that his shark-mouthed friend. "I hate you!"
"See," Kirishima scooted off the desk. "That means 'I love you' in Blasty talk. It's hard at first to understand, but you'll get it."
"Shut the fuck up." The blond spat.
"See!" Kirishima gestured between himself and Bakugo. "That's his own weird way of saying he enjoys your company."
"It's not."
"It is too!"
"I hate you."
"See!!"
All of Bakugo's friends were assholes.
Chapter End Notes
Don't y'all just love the calm before the storm? I don't! Y'all, life has been fucking crazy recently... I hope everyone's doing good tho! I'm posting this at like midnight because my life is a train wreck. Anyways, thank you all for reading, enjoy!
Chapter Six: Fearless
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Even though it had been only the second day, it seemed like the two had been doing this forever. They really had though. Bakugo and Todoroki would get out of class, head to the library, open their books, Todoroki would have zero to no notes, Bakugo would yell, finally cave and give him the notes, and then they'd study together. Plain and simple with no real hard work really. Everything went extremely smoothly and Bakugo enjoyed that immensely.
"I can't believe we're still learning about this Maverick guy! Like holy shit I know more about him then I know about myself!" Bakugo yelled. Not a single person was ever in this library to give a shit that Bakugo's voice level tended to be way over the limit, Todoroki didn't seem to care either.
"You think you know more about him than yourself?" Todoroki asked. He tried being coy in slowly pushing his notebook to the side in favor of listening to Bakugo ramble. He wasn't being slick, Bakugo noticed.
The blond shrugged. "Probably, I can't give you a play-by-play on everything I've ever done in my life."
"Really?"
"Why? Could you?"
Halfie played with his new pen in his hands. Bakugo nearly screamed at him when he found out the other didn't have any other writing utensils then the highlighters he bought on a whim and the like three pencils at the bottom of his bag. This kid was a whole ass mess, seriously, how he had come this far and this high up in the class was absolutely impossible.
"Tell me more about yourself." Todoroki officially closed his note book.
The other made a face. "Why?"
"We're friends aren't we?"
And, ok yeah, Todoroki was playing so fucking dirty. As much as people liked to assume shit, Bakugo didn't go out of his way to hurt peoples feelings... it just kinda happened. He wasn't about to spit on Halfie's face and tell him 'No, we aren't friends.' Because at this point, honestly, Bakugo couldn't deal with himself if he was lying to others and himself. He was as much of friends with Todoroki as he was with all the other loser that sat in the right corner of 1-A's class. It just was pure fact.
And as much as Bakugo wanted blackmail to dangle over Halfie's face any time he got sneaky, there was no way in fuck he was gonna email him a PowerPoint presentation autobiography. Like fuck that.
He caved. "What do you wanna know?"
"Favorite color?"
"Red."
"Favorite food?"
"Any thing spicy really."
"Favorite thing to do?"
"Ugh, hiking or some shit?"
"Biggest fear?"
Bakugo paused.
He could answer practically anything trivial that came to mind like spiders, or ghost, maybe even the dark. But none of those things truly scared him, maybe a spider if it touched him because honestly who fucked with spiders? Crazy people and villains, that's who. But honestly, only really two big things came to mind and he didn't even know if Deku, of all people, knew them himself. It's not like Deku was supposed to, but damn, if anyone knew all about Katsuki... I'd be him.
"I'll tell you mine first." Todoroki interrupted his train of thought. "You don't have to tell yours unless you want to. But I'll tell you mine so we're even."
They couldn't be even unless they both exposed themselves to one another, but Bakugo wasn't gonna push it.
"I'm not embarrassed about my fears if that's what you were thinking." Bakugo spat.
Todoroki nodded. "So you have fears?"
This kid couldn't find his way out of a paper bag but here he was pulling the ring under Bakugo. It was asinine really. They came into this because Todoroki couldn't take notes and now the same guy was sneakily figuring out ways to blow Bakugo's persona in his face. Bullshit.
"Of course I have fears, asshole!" The blond threw his hands up in annoyance. "Who do you think I am?!"
"I'll go first then."
"Whatever."
"I'm mostly afraid that I'll turn into someone I don't want to be, as if I don't have control over my own life." He started without ever breaking eye contact with the blond.
Bakugo stiffened in his seat and exhaled a sigh. "What the fuck do you mean? Nobody's forcing you to be anything you're not. If anything, everyone in class thinks you're great and supports you like... all the fucking time? I don't think you should be worried about something as stupid as turning into something that you're not. If anyone's telling you otherwise just tell them to fuck off."
In a weird sort of way the other understood that Bakugo meant for that to be encouraging, even if he wouldn't admit it himself.
Todoroki gave a weak smile. "That's kind of you, but it's bigger than that. It's not entirely a me thing-"
"Then what is it?" The blond crossed his arms with a huff. "You're perfect. It's not like anybody's fucking worried you're gonna turn out to be a villain or something!" He snapped.
Halfie's eyes widened as he watched Bakugo process what he just confessed to. The blond tucked himself further into his chair while tightening his hold on himself. Bakugo seemed to scowl at the table between them like it had just personally told him off.
"Bakugo?"
"What?"
The air around them was suffocating and Bakugo had a hard time swallowing. It seemed annoying to have feelings over certain words. It was like the word villain was somehow stamped on Bakugo's brain and that was his SoulMark. It would be fitting to be marked up as something people tended to refer to you as. It could be his own cruel little joke. It was getting harder to breathe.
Todoroki shifted in his seat, his eyes never leaving Bakugo's face. "I'm not perfect." He announced.
"Yes you are." The blond glanced up.
"You're not a villain."
Yes I am.
He didn't say it, but his mouth opened up. The look on Todoroki's face when Bakugo closed his mouth could be described as 'content', even if the space between his brows was creasing.
"I don't need a pep talk to tell me who and what I am, Halfie. It's not a big deal, don't make it a big deal."
Todoroki nodded. "You're allowed to have feelings, Bakugo."
Bakugo uncrossed his arms and huffed. "You should take your own advice."
"I don't know what you mean?"
"Oh come on!" The blond waved his hands in the air. "I've seen you smile a solid two and a half times."
Todoroki rolled his eyes. "What about you?"
"What about me?" He crossed his arms again.
"I haven't seen you smile yet."
Bakugo pursed his lips with a scowl. "And?"
"And," The other said. "You should smile more."
"Make me, Bitch."
"Would love to."
Bakugo tsk'd and turned his attention to the side of the room where nothing particularly interesting was happening. His hands did that sweaty thing again, like they weren't already sweaty before but whatever. He rubbed his hands on the inner elbow of his sleeves and sighed. Did this kid not listen to the words that came out of his mouth, they were so fucking weird.
"So," Bakugo turned back to Todoroki. "What makes you think you're gonna turn into something you're not, Mr Perfect?"
"I've already explained to you that I'm not perfect. I don't know why you keep insisting I am." He shoved his books into his bag, probably insisting they just up and leave the library at this point. Bakugo allowed it.
He placed his notes back into their correct folders and closed all his books to put them all back into his bag. They both got out of their chairs, pushed them in, and headed back to the dorms in route fashion.
"Have you met yourself?" Bakugo held the door for Todoroki.
"Thank you." The other boy nodded.
Bakugo shrugged with an eye roll. "Anyways," He continued down the sidewalk to catch up with Todoroki. "You're basically what every company is fucking looking for in a Hero. Didn't you get a dozen people that wanted to recruit you? You're the image of what ever brand wants." He huffed.
"If I didn't know any better I'd suggest you were jealous."
Bakugo glanced up the duo-colored boy with a grimace. Why where they friends again?
"And if you wanted to keep your nose in shape I'd suggest you keep your thoughts to yourself, Halfie."
Todoroki exhaled a curt chuckle. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Fucking whatever, asshole."
"But you are still wrong. I'm far from perfect, and I don't pretend to be." He fixed his tie back in place after the wind blew it over his shoulder.
Bakugo tilted his head with a shrug. "You don't see it, but everyone else does."
"And what do they see?"
The blond sneered at the comment. He didn't want to blurt out the obvious physical reasons as to everyone's enjoyment of Shoto Todoroki. Like, come the fuck on, Bakugo has eyes. For one, Todoroki has a (shit) dad that is already a Hero himself. Another factor is that he's been crafted into this well-behaved, nice human being that Bakugo still isn't convinced isn't half robot. Another part would be that Todoroki was gifted in the fact he has two quirks, like that's some cool shit that even Bakugo finds neat. You know how much you could do with two quirks, fucking brilliant shit right there. And finally, the part that Bakugo didn't even want to think about when Halfie was in the same room, was he was ... attractive? Bakugo has eyes, alright?!?
Maybe it was the mystery scar that covered half of his face. Maybe it was the stupid fucking hair he had. It was stupid, don't you dare say it isn't. It's the dumbest shit he's ever seen, and he's seen Kaminari's disaster hair. But fuck, what was on Todoroki's head?! Or, maybe, it was the heterochromia eyes and his stupid fucking pretty face to match.
Todoroki was a pretty boy, oh my god.
Bakugo snorted to himself. "Oh my god." He chuckled into his palm.
Todoroki, quick on his feet, stepped in front of the blond. He quickly removed the hand covering Bakugo's smiling face. It quickly turned sour when the blond took in the fact that Todoroki was holding his hand and staring at him.
Bakugo yanked at his wrist. "What are you doing?" His voice came out a little more pitched than he would have liked.
"You smiled." Todoroki said it like he won the lottery.
"Y-yeah?" He stammered. He mentally cured for stuttering, because Katsuki Bakugo doesn't fucking stutter.
"It's nice."
Bakugo successfully retracted his hand from the other's grip. "Don't make it weird."
Todoroki tilted his head slightly. "I'm making it weird?"
"Yes?!"
"But it's nice when you smile. Why is that weird?"
Bakugo's hands and body were doing that stupid shit again. That hot-cold, sweaty gross feeling was back. Fucking annoying.
"You're so fucking weird." Bakugo continued down the sidewalk to the dorms.
"I am not weird?!" The other tried to catch up to Bakugo's now rushed stride.
Bakugo stopped in his tracks to twirl around and Todoroki, of course, had to bump into him. The blond shrugged him off with a huff. "You have vanilla and strawberry ice cream swirl hair! That's weird!"
Todoroki ran a hand through his hair. "Is it?" He looked genuinely concerned.
"It's fine, you moron!" Bakugo finished walking into the dorms with Todoroki hot on his trail.
Thankfully there was nobody in the lounge or in the halls to side eye the two. Bakugo didn't want to hear anymore shit from the others. Once again, like routine, Todoroki followed Bakugo up to the third floor and this time he didn't even have to look at the other before he talked.
"What's your number?" Todoroki asked.
Bakugo turned around as he fished his key out of his bag. "My number?"
"Yes, we're friends."
The blond was starting to think this kid was going to use those words as an excuse for everything.
Bakugo pulled the phone out of his back pocket and tossed it over to Todoroki. Thankfully he caught it.
"You don't put a case on you phone?"
Bakugo continued to search for his keys as he dropped his bag on the floor to look for it.
He tsk'd. "Fuck that."
"What if you dropped it?"
"I mean, I have." He shrugged, Todoroki grimaced. "Hasn't cracked yet."
The half n' half boy winced. "That's not a good way of thinking about it."
The blond shrugged again. "Oh well." He found his key at the bottom of his bag.
Todoroki noticed the All Might keychain but didn't say a word. He plugged his number into Bakugo's phone, there was no passcode, and set his name as 'Shoto'. Bakugo was handed his phone back, and before opening the door glanced at the screen.
"I'm changing this you know." He pointed out as he held up the phone.
Todoroki pouted. "To what?"
"Doesn't matter, you won't find out anyways." Bakugo smirked.
Halfie flinched slightly. "Text me tonight so I can save it." Todorki said as he started to make his way to the stairs.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." The blond unlocked his door. "Cry about it."
"Goodnight, Bakugo!"
Bakugo shut the door behind him with a click of his tongue. "Goodnight." He whispered mostly to himself.
It wasn't until later that night that Bakugo found out that giving Todoroki his number was the second worst thing to being in a group chat with his four other goofball friends. Todoroki was lucky he was second to worst.
message: Shoto sent you a photo
It was another photo of a cat.
message: Shoto
This one is you!
It was a photo of a white cat with blue-green eyes and was sitting on some guy's face, who appeared to be passed out on the floor. Amazing.
Now that he had the chance, Bakugo wanted to change 'Shoto's name to something a little more accurate. He thought of all possible cat-like names and was either stuck with something bad or something bad. So cat names were a no. Maybe a cat emoji, because, why the fuck not? But, of course, they were all so fucking ugly.
However, regular emojis of regular items weren't so bad. Fire, Ice cream, and Ice. Perfect.
message:(fire emoji/ice cream emoji/ snowflake emoji)
!!!! Look at this one!!!
This would be fun.
Chapter End Notes
It's yah boi... uhhhh., skinny penis! Y'all, I'm so fucking soft... look at these boys! Look at them!! Gosh I'm so fuckin weak man. I'm so attached to my own fic, how egotistical can I get. Let's be fucking real, this is so self-indulgent, I ain't even gonna lie about that. That's just plain fact. I'm calling myself out. Anyways, thank you all for being here at my Ted Talks! See you all in the next one!
Chapter Seven: Clueless
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
It was finally Wednesday, the day that Bakugo was forced to help all of his idiot friends understand basic math. It's not like they cared enough to study at the library or really any other place that didn't have a TV or outlet for your phone on hand.
"If you idiots want to fail, that's on you." He said to Ashido and Kaminari as they were both fighting over who got to use Ashido's charger.
"Why can't you just bite your phone and charge it that way?!" Ashido hissed as she finally got to use her charger.
Kaminari, defeated, went back to sitting on Bakugo's bed. "Bakugo, can I use your charger?" He wined.
Bakugo rolled his eyes when Kaminari presses his cheek into his shoulder. He guaranteed if he looked at the Pikachu bitch he would be giving him puppy eyes; he was.
"When you finish this math problem." The blond pointed at problem five on their study sheets Aizawa was kind enough to give.
Kaminari groaned and flopped backwards onto the bed and most of Bakugo's thighs. "I don't wanna!"
"Get off of me!" Bakugo yelled, but he didn't actually try to move him.
"But you're so soft!" Kaminari petted Bakugo's thigh.
The blond stiffened. "You're not getting the charger now if you keep petting me, bitch!"
Kaminari shot up lighting fast. "Ok ok!" He nodded. This kid was legit a dog.
Bakugo pulled it out of his bag and threw it at Kaminari's face. "Fetch." He thought it was funny, Kaminari just pouted with a glare.
"So is anyone here actually ready to learn, or what?!" Bakugo yelled out in his room.
Kirishima and Sero were sat on the floor across from him, nodding and agreeing. Kaminari was trying desperately to plug the charger into the socket that was right behind Bakugo's bed, he was struggling. Ashido was too busy looking through Bakugo's closet and wait-
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" The blond barked.
The girl shrugged as she continued to rummage around through all the jackets and hoodies. "I want one."
"You... want one?" Bakugo parroted back.
She twirled around with a black hoodie, Bakugo wore as a second skin, in her hands. "Can I borrow this!"
"No." He sighed. "By 'borrow' you mean take now and never give back. And that's one of my favorites so absolutely not."
It was top three in Bakugo's most worn hoddies. It was all black with some cool English writing up the sleeves and a red moon on the back, shit was fly as fuck. Ashido wasn't trustworthy enough with his items, or anything, to 'borrow' his fave hoodie. In her dreams.
"How about this one." This one was white, something Bakugo didn't wear often enough to know what it said.
He caved. "Yeah ok, whatever, fine. You can keep it if there are no more interruptions!"
Her black eyes widened as she threw a pencil at the still struggling Kaminari. "Hurry up, we're gonna learn!"
Kaminari winced, it hit his ear, and finally got the charger shoved into the wall. "Ow!" He rubbed the side of his head. "You're just learning for a hoodie!"
He turned to Bakugo with another puppy dog pout. "Baku! What the hell! You know I've wanted to borrow your hoddies before, why does she get one!"
Bakugo shrugged. "It gives her incentive."
"I need an incentive!"
"I won't kill you if you get most of these right."
"Ughhhhhh!!!"
An hour later everyone seemed to be getting itchy to take a break. Bakugo sighed loud enough to gather everyone's attention, and then he closed his book. The others followed suit with bright smiles on their faces because 'break time'.
"Bakubuddy! Let's go to the store for some snacks!" Ashido pulled on the hoodie she 'won'. Guess he was never getting that back ever. She flipped on the hood part with a giant smile. Well, at least she was happy.
"Yeah ok, whatever." He pulled himself off the bed.
"Oh oh!" Kirishima stopped him. "Can you get me a soda and some chips, please!" He handed Bakugo a five.
"Me too, please?" Sero chipped in as well.
"Ah, me too?!" Kaminari asked.
Bakugo held out a hand. "Cough it up you cheap ass."
"You know I don't carry my wallet on me!" The other sobbed.
"Fine, but only this once." Bakugo huffed. "Wait, why the fuck do I have to go if you all want something?!"
Kaminari smirked. "We're lazy, and you don't mind going for us."
The blond pouted angrily. "It's my room."
"Yeah, but," Sero stretched out his arms over his head. "We're not gonna break anything. So don't worry."
"Better fucking not."
Ashido pulled Bakugo out of the room happily.
"You really like that hoodie, don't you?" He have an almost smile.
The pink girl nodded happily as she continued to guide Bakugo down the hall. "Yeah, ever since I saw you wear it I wanted it so bad! But then you like never wore it again so I thought you got rid of it!"
"No, I just don't wear it that much."
"Well thank you! I can't believe you actually gave it to me!" It was slightly oversized for her so she bunched up the elastic around her palms as she walked. It made her look even smaller.
"Oh, hiya guys!" She waved and the fabric flung back and forth around her wrists. Yeah, that shit was too big for her, but whatever.
Deku and his clan, also including Todoroki, were seated in the living lounge area. Uraraka seemed to be playing cards with Todorki and winning, Iida and Deku were looking over their notes like responsible human beings. Ashido, of course, had to make a scene because her 'bff' was in the room.
"Oh, Ashido! That's a cute hoodie, where'd you get that!" Uraraka asked. She tugged on the strings of now Ashido's hoodie.
Ashido smirked over her shoulder to Bakugo. "Bakugo gave it to me." She wiggles her brows.
"I did not! You basically stole it!" He threw his arms up in the air.
"Did not!" She yelled back. "I asked for it!"
He clicked his tongue. "Keep telling yourself that."
"Well it's mine now anyways." She flipped her nonexistent long hair. "So hush."
Bakugo scowled. "Whatever. Are we going or what?!"
"Yeah yeah, stop yelling at me!" She skipped over to him to tug on his wrist. "Let's go! You're buying me snacks!"
"Am fucking not!"
"Are to!" She teased as the double doors whooshed behind them, drowning out their continued bickering.
"Oh, they're so cute." Uraraka continued to play cards with a smile.
Todoroki looked up as he drew three cards. "Cute?" He asked back.
The girl nodded. "Yeah, cute."
Thankfully Bakugo and Ashido were long gone, and Uraraka was too engrossed, to notice the almost scowl on Todoroki's face. If looks could kill.
~•*•~
"She was a straight up MILF, for starters, right. Like, she wasn't real." Kaminari blabbered from his spot in the lounge.
Bakugo snorted from his seat on the smaller couch on the side. He was shoved next to Ashido on this small couch but he hadn't complained once. It was a new record.
"She was not." The blond rolled his eyes.
The other gasped. "You were there! You saw! That woman-" Kaminari did the chef's kiss. "Was a MILF."
"Just you- Hearing you just say that, makes me wanna die." Sero laughed from the floor.
The others gathered in with laughing.
Kaminari pouted. "MILF, MILF, MILF!"
"Maybe if he says it fast enough, she'll appear." Bakugo smirked.
"She was real, damnit!"
"What really even is a MILF?" Ashido asked.
Sero banged his head off the coffee table, Kirishima cried into the corner of the couch, and Bakugo held back crying into his hands. Kaminari just sat there shaking his head at his oblivious pink friend.
"How old are you?" Kaminari snorted.
Ashido huffed. "I'm seventeen!"
"Sure you are." He smiled back.
"And you're not even telling the story right, man." Kirishima nudged his electric-haired buddy. "You make is sound like she even looked your way. We all know she wanted Bakugo the second she got her eyes on him."
Bakugo groaned. "Don't remind me."
"Dude!" Kaminari hissed. "She was a MILF, why are you even mad?!"
"She had weird teeth." He deadpanned.
"She had weird teeth!" Kaminari screamed back. "Oh my god!" He buried his hands into his scalp.
"Unlike you," Ashido giggled. "Bakugo looks for stuff that isn't just skin deep."
"Yeah, he's teeth deep." Kirishima chortled.
"Are teeth considered skin?" Sero asked from the floor.
Kirishima shrugged. "Hell if I know. That'd be kinda gross though."
"Skin teeth." Sero shuddered.
"Skin teeth." Kirishima winced.
"Are y'all saying I'm shallow?!" Kaminari crossed his arms with slight aggression.
Both Ashido and Sero nodded. "Yeah." They said together.
Kaminari turned to his other friend sitting next to him. "You said it, not me!" Kirishima defended.
"I'm surprised you even know the word for it." Bakugo stated, he shrugged.
"You guys are assholes!" Kaminari pouted.
Kirishima gave a reassuring pat on the back and in seconds the two were laughing about something stupid. That was good.
Ashido glanced up to Bakugo with a confused look. "So, you really turned down some pretty lady because she had weird teeth?" She smiled. "What if she was you Soulmate!"
"Not really." The other shrugged. "She came on a little too strong and looked like a Barbie. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with that, I just couldn't get over her fucked smile."
"Ha, really?!" The girl laughed back.
"I mean, fuck," He ran a hand through his hair. "If you're gonna go full Barbie then just fix your fucking teeth, bitch!"
"Oh my god!" Ashido leaned on Bakugo's shoulder as she shook with laughter. "Why teeth!?"
"Fucking fix your teeth!"
Ashido snuggled closer and was losing her mind. She kept repeating 'teeth' and 'oh my god' every few seconds into her laughing fit. She ended up crying into Bakugo's lap because it was just that funny.
"Bakugo," She wiped away her tears. "You're hilarious."
"Sure."
She glanced up at him. "And adorable."
"Ew." The blond shoved her lightly. "Don't call me that." He covered her mouth with his hand.
"Sup, guys!" Kaminari nodded to the handful of other 1-A students that piled in. He winked at Jiro and she kept walking. Ouch.
Deku and Uraraka flew into the kitchen for some drinks, Iida followed behind slowly. Todoroki and Tokoyami wandered into the living room together just trying to tag along in the room's fun.
Right at that moment Ashido licked Bakugo's hand.
"Did you lick me?!" He whipped his hand from her face and wiped her saliva on her cheek.
"Don't wipe it on me!" She half laughed, half yelled back. She wiggled in her spot as Bakugo continued to drag his wet fingers on her face with a smirk.
He rolled his eyes, retracting his hand. "You licked me!"
"Wouldn't be the first time." Ashido winked.
The blond's face contorted into a disgusted confusion. "I- when the fuck?"
Ashido shrugged. "I'm just being annoying."
"Got that right."
"Hey!"
Sero groaned into the coffee table. "Could you both stop flirting, it's gross."
Bakugo raised his now dried hand. "What's actually fucking gross is the dried saliva on my hands."
Ashido pouted. "You hand tastes gross."
"You're not supposed to fucking eat it."
She threw her hands up in exasperation. "Ok?! Yeah, your point?!"
"I sweat nitroglycerin!"
"And?!"
"Bitch, is you dumb?!"
Kirshima tapped Sero on the shoulder. "You call that flirting?" He thumbed over to the two that were now at each other's necks, yelling about each other's hand sweat. Really 'vigorating conversation happening over there.
The other pondered it for a moment. "I mean," Sero waved his hand around. "How would he flirt?"
Kaminari chuckled. "You know that video, with that guy and the dog?"
"Which one?" Sero asked.
Kirishima lit up with excitement. "Oh my god, are you talking about the," He took in a breathe of air. "'I LOVE YOU DOG!' video!?!"
Kaminari lost it. "Y-Yeah! Fuck, I'm crying!" He continued doubling over with laughter.
"Bakugo would just- he'd just like." The redhead could barley get his words out, he was laughing just as hard as his best friend next to him. "He'd just knock on your door, throw roses at your face, with thorns and all, and just yell at you."
"No wait!" The neonyellow-haired boy wheezed. "He'd pick flowers from your garden, like the dirt's still stuck to the roots, and just whip it at your face and run away!"
The two laughed their asses off into the couch while Sero chuckled along with their stories. Even Tokoyami and Todoroki were seen snickering along.
"You assholes done being rude?" Bakugo spat from the other side of the room.
Ashido laughed. "You're only mad 'cuz it's true."
"I would not ruin your garden as form of flirtation!"
"So, what your saying is," Kaminari smirked. "You would throw flowers in your crush's face."
The three boys continued to poke fun at their hot headed friend from the safety of their couch. Cowards.
"It's ok Bakugo." Ashido reassured. "I used to have a boy in elementary school who would rip up flowers for me and give them to me during recess. It was cute."
"I wouldn't pick flowers for shit." He huffed.
She pouted, snuggling her face closer. "Not even for widdle o' me?"
The blond sneered. "In your dreams, Pinky."
"Please!"
"Get Babyface to buy you flowers."
"Who the hell is-"
"Hey!" Uraraka could be heard yelling from the kitchen.
The rest of the night continued with the half dozen boys, and girl, watching stupid movies. One of them had an actual scene where a man gave his crush flowers while he was soaking wet in the rain. The left side of the room had a field day during that part. Bakugo was over the movie the second he saw the opening credits, but stayed because a whole person was fast asleep on him.
Todoroki, even though he was seated on the exact same couch as him, didn't say one word to Bakugo the entire night. The blond snuck a few glances in the dark Halfie's way and his eyes were glued to the screen the whole time. Not once did he look a Bakugo. Were they fighting? He didn't recall saying shit to Todoroki all day, he didn't even think he spoke a word. They were fine yesterday, what happened?
After the movie, and waking Ashido from her nap, Bakugo confronted Todoroki before he could run to his room.
"Hey." Bakugo tugged on Todoroki's wrist after the second floor stairs. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
Halfie gave a perplexed look but didn't say anything.
"I mean, why fuck haven't you talked to me? Did I offend you or some shit?"
The other boy's body sagged at the question. So Bakugo did hurt his feelings? When and how?!
"You didn't offend me, this isn't something that you caused. It's my own issue."
The blond let go of Todoroki's wrist but scooted closer into his person bubble by jutting his neck up. "What the fuck are you talking about?!"
Even though the halls were empty Bakugo shouldn't be yelling. Everyone was either already asleep for the night or just lounging in their rooms before bed. Causing a ruckus this late was a no. Todoroki glanced around the quiet halls and tugged Bakugo into his room.
Todoroki's room was basically the same as when they first got their rooms, it was fucking weird. The only major difference were the navy blue colored bed sheets and a mirror hanging above the dresser that came with the place. There was a photobooth photo shoved in the corner of the mirror, but Bakugo didn't get a good look to see who was in it.
"So," Bakugo took upon himself to sit on the bed. "You were saying."
Todoroki wandered over and sat right next to him with a sullen look. He sighed and dragged his hands down his face.
"My father is a piece of shit."
Bakugo choked. "Y-Yeah?"
The Halfie turned to face him. "Seeing you with Ashido reminded me of how much I hate him."
"Wait, what?" Bakugo flinched. "You think Pinky and I are-"
"No-no. I would have assumed you would have informed me, or at least your other friends, that you both were dating. I'm not the greatest with picking up social hints, but I however would only assume I would have been notified if you were with someone." He stated. "Your interactions, and Kaminari's pestering, only reminded me of relationships."
The blond leaned back. "Yeah, people would probably know." He shrugged. "What does this have to do with your dad though?"
Todoroki inhaled and rolled his shoulders. "I'm- I'm not allowed to date, or anything of that nature really."
"Who says?" Bakugo clicked his tongue.
"My fiancé."
Chapter End Notes
I would first like to apologize becasue I have been gone, but that's becasue I have been out of power for like five days... it's been a fucking mess. But here I am, charged phone, lights on, and all! Y'all miss me?! Probably not, anyways, thank you all for the adorable comments and such. Y'all are the best! Thank you and I'll see you in the next one!
Chapter Eight: Hopeless
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
So, like, a fiancé. Yeah ok, that's... that cool? Or something? Right?
It wasn't the most far fetched situation Bakugo had heard. Fucking, Deku became a hero, so anything was possible at this point really. But Todoroki, but as in like taken. Fiancé, marriage-like, ring on finger... taken. Bakugo calls bullshit because not once has he seen any ring on Todoroki's finger. Not once!
It wasn't until after Bakugo collected himself that Todoroki started to explain the situation better.
"My mother, she was... put into an arranged marriage." He played with his hands nervously. "More of a agreement of terms- I don't entirely know the logistics of my parents arrangement-, but I digress."
Bakugo nodded. The scowl only growing fiercer by the moment.
"I was maybe ten,- twelve, doesn't matter. I was told I was to marry this... girl. Her name's Klaire, she's half American- she's a lovely girl it's just-"
"You don't love her?" The word 'love' fell out of Bakugo's tongue like bowling ball. It felt odd to say it out loud, but there really wasn't a better word to use.
Todoroki nodded. "It just- I-"
"What?"
"It's bullshit!"
The blonde blinked, surprised. "Oh, wow..." Bakugo couldn't tell if he was more or less shocked than he was three minutes ago. Todoroki swearing was something new.
Todoroki fixed himself. "I'm sorry, it's just-"
"It's fucking bullshit." Bakugo smirked.
"Exactly."
Bakugo laid flat on his back to stare at the ceiling. It was a lot to take in, he could only imagine what a twelve year old Todoroki was thinking the day he was told he was in arranged marriage. That would be something. Bakugo would tear the roof off his house if his mom ever said shit to him like that. Halfie doesn't seem the type to cause a scene though. Not his style.
"What now?" He turned to his friend to get a look at him. "Have you said anything to you dad about it?"
The other laid down in the spot next to the blond with a sadden puff of air. He sat there thinking over his words, just taking in the view of the ceiling. Not much to look at, but it was there.
"There isn't much to say to him, really. There's only really two sides with my father. You either shut up and agree, or you disagree and you're shunned."
Bakugo groaned. "It can't be that cut throat."
"You clearly have never met my father."
"Fair." He hummed.
At the Bakugo household if there was a disagreement there was a discussion, a vote, everyone played a part. You sucked it up if majority ruled, but it was never something as drastic as a marriage, probably only a vote for dinner or something as basic and random. The Todoroki household was held up by 'definites' and 'yes man syndrome'. Fucking yikes.
"What if you... don't?" Bakugo offered with a calm shrug.
"'I don't' what?" Halfie seemed a little more peeved at the question than he would have liked, but the truth was the truth.
He shrugged again, like the entire situation could be blown off by 'what if's. "I'm just saying, what if you just don't."
Todorki sat up. "I don't agree to marriage? That's absurd! He'd never allow it."
"And?"
"And what?"
Bakugo sat up as well. Todoroki looked drained and tired, he clearly hated this subject. It was quite 'touchy' to tell someone how to live their lives, both from Bakugo's perspective and Papa Todoroki's. Neither truly could factor in all of Shoto's hopes and wishes, but fuck, Bakugo's idea could at least be more freeing and better.
"What happens if you don't go through with the marriage? I mean- fucking hell, does this chick even want to go through with it?!"
Todoroki sulked. "She didn't seem... opposed."
"But you are!" Bakugo shook. "That has to account for something, right?!"
"My father doesn't account for my feelings!" The boy shouted.
The blond winced at the force of the comment. They sat in uncomfortable silence for a brief moment, allowing the tension to breathe.
"Yah ever thought about running away?" Bakugo attempted a joke.
The other at least snorted with a shaking head. "Too many."
"Oh, fuck, my bad."
Todoroki rested a hand on the blond's thigh. "Don't be. You were only trying to help."
The look he was giving made Bakugo physically upset; an angry upset. It just wasn't fair for anyone's life to be dictated on who they were supposed to love. It was like a fucked up Soulmark, but not as cute and fluffy. It was more rough and gritty; Kinda like the mark that marred Todoroki's face. That constant reminder.
It was unfair.
"So what? You're just gonna give up?!" Bakugo spat.
Todoroki hissed at the comment. "I'm not 'giving up'!"
"Sure fucking sounds like it!" Bakugo shot out of the bed. "You're just going to let him walk all over you like that?! You're going to just sit here and make him happy?! For what?!"
"Because!" The other rose up.
"Because why?!"
"Because he is my father!"
The blond huffed in annoyance. "Yeah, And? What does him being your dad have anything to do with this? Huh?" He took a step closer. "Just 'cuz he's you dad makes him right? Does that make it ok for him to decide what's right for you all the time?!"
Todoroki stood in silence.
"Well!?" Bakugo yelled in his face.
He gave in. The duo-colored boy sighed and rested his head on Bakugo's shoulder for support. He didn't know if it would, or if it did help at all, but Bakugo rested his hands on Todoroki's back for comfort. The blond wasn't really good at 'comfort', more of like a slap upside the head and a hard truth kinda guy. He wasn't soft, but damn, this kid had it rough.
He finally guided them back to sitting on the bed, Todoroki's face pressed into Bakugo's chest like a life line. Bakugo's mom would soothe him by dragging her hands through her son's hair, so Bakugo did just that. It seemed to calm the other down, he wasn't breathing like a maniac anymore, that was a good sign.
"I wasn't trying to make you upset or anything." Bakugo stated. "It just gets me mad when people tell you to be something that you're not, or act a certain way, or be a certain person. Look, I'm not trying to be an asshole, or whatever. I'm probably not helping-"
Todoroki chuckled into his chest. "You are, you're very helpful actually. You don't get to hear it enough, but you are very kind."
He clicked his tongue with an eye roll. "Yeah, sure."
"I mean it." Todoroki looked up into Bakugo's eyes.
There was a knock at the door and Bakugo flinched, just now realizing how close him and Todoroki were.
"Todoroki? Are you alright in there? I heard yelling." Iida asked beyond the wooden door.
Bakugo looked at the door and then back at Todoroki. It was late, a little too late to be up and screaming. A lot a too late to be in a dorm room that wasn't yours.
"Yes, sorry. I was having an argument on the phone."
Bless Todoroki for not ratting our Bakugo. If Iida found out he wasn't in his room at this time he'd probably get an earful.
"Well, have a good night." Iida added kindly. "Don't stay up too late."
"I won't. Good night." Todoroki answered.
Once Iida was heard making his way down the hall the blond stood up. Halfie tugged on his sleeve to stop him in his tracks.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
Bakugo made a face. "Ugh, back to my room? It's late."
Todoroki seemed to register their location and cleared his throat. "Right, sorry."
"We've talked about this. Stop apologizing for everything." The blond sighed.
The other walked him to the door with a soft smile. Todoroki held the door open for him, he must not be worried in the slightest if they got caught; Bakugo liked that. Todoroki was fucking fearless.
"Thank you," Halfie stayed clinging to Bakugo's wrist. "For everything."
"I didn't-"
Todoroki stopped him. "No listen, it means a lot that you've listen to all of my... my-"
"Bullshit?" Bakugo smirked.
The other nodded. "Yeah, my bullshit."
"Don't make a big fucking deal out of it. I thought we were friends?" The last part of his question was remotely playful. Using Todoroki's own words against him was kinda fun.
He hummed in confirmation. "Friends."
Bakugo still didn't want to leave the doorframe, it felt like something was missing. It just didn't feel right to leave Todoroki in the state he was. Bakugo was sure neither of them were going to get any sleep, that was a given. There was no way Todoroki could fall asleep soundly after the fight they had. It wasn't a fight really, more of pent-up anger with no outlet to throw it at but each other. If leaning against Todoroki's doorframe just little bit longer made Bakugo feel a little better, then he'd allow himself that luxury.
"We can talk about it more in the morning. Maybe I can talk to my father about this, maybe he will change his mind." Todoroki sighed against his door as well. "I doubt it, but you're right, I can at least try to better the situation any way I can."
"You don't have to talk to him. I mean, if brining it up only makes it worse then you shouldn't even fucking bother. The day of the wedding just don't show up, that'll teach him."
Todoroki chuckled lightly. "I could only imagine the look on his face."
"He'd set the whole alter on fire."
"I wouldn't doubt it."
Maybe it was the picture-perfect moonlight and streetlight glow coming in from the windows behind Todoroki, but the boy looked so soft and almost angelic. The blond didn't like how the scene made him feel, the closeness between them was almost unnerving, their eyes were locked and Bakugo really didn't want to leave. He sure as hell had no idea where this was leading. The rational, logical part of him was telling he needed to leave. His senses all felt like they had been mushed together, he was hearing what he was seeing and tasting what he was smelling. Bakugo was on fucking drugs; Todoroki drugs.
"I-," The blond cleared his throat and straightened himself up. "'Night."
The prickly hot-cold sweat ran down Bakugo's spine as Todoroki released his wrist to guide it down the blond's hand. His thin, white fingers carded between Bakugo's own, and he couldn't look away. It was terrifying to think if Todoroki just grabbed his hand, and pulled him into the room, Bakugo felt like he really wouldn't leave that time.
"Bakugo?"
His mouth went dry. If the other so much as interlocked their pinkies, Bakugo wouldn't look back.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
"See you in the morning." And he was gone.
Bakugo physically counted the stairs on his way up to his room. Todoroki's eyes burned a hole so deep in the blond's back he wondered if they left a mark.
Once in the safety of his own room Bakugo let out the most annoyed groan into his pillow. Whatever this- it was that was happening, he could tell it wasn't going to end well. Bakugo didn't like to dwell too much on the little things, didn't care much to worry about dumb things, or even take into account suspicious 'coincidences'. However, if he did care enough to wonder about coincidences, it was a huge red flag that he was this out of breath from one flight of stairs.
~•*•~
They didn't talk about it the next day like they had discussed. Bakugo specifically didn't want to talk to anybody named Shoto Todoroki for at least 24 hours. It was quite a difficult task when said boy was eye fucking him from across the cafeteria, the others took notice.
"Something up with you and Todoroki, there a' Blasty?" Kirishima snickered, sliding into the seat next to the blond.
Ashido seemed to be in on the joke too, she too took the other empty spot next to the blond with a wide grin. Sero and Kaminari seemed far too invested in their own topic to bother picking on Bakugo. Good thing too, he didn't know if he could handle all that attention at once.
"I don't think he's taken his eyes off you all day." Ashido, being the carefree soul she was, turned around to smirk over her shoulder at the pouting Todoroki. "Yeah, he's still staring."
"Don't look!" Bakugo hissed, busying himself with the meal in front of him.
"Why?" Kirishima asked the rhetorical question. "You embarrassed?"
Bakugo wanted nothing more than the bury the redhead's face into his soup. He wasn't hungry anyways, at least it wouldn't go to waste then.
"So what happened with you two?" The girl next to him probed.
Bakugo stiffened. "What are you talking about."
"Don't play dumb, Kaminari saw you guys." Kirishima smirked.
The ominous indication that Sparky saw any and all of their little scene in the hall was terrifying, and Bakugo was hard to scare. He could feel his mouth go dry just as it did last night. The soup in front of him was looking a little more promising.
"Yeah," Kaminari moved his focus to the blond. "T'was cute seeing you both holding hands in the doorframe of Todoroki's room."
Bakugo wanted to now throw his whole bowl of soup square into the asshole's face. He wouldn't be sorry either. He opted to not do that, for obvious reasons, but still rattled the table with a fist.
"Don't." Bakugo seethed.
Kaminari physically recoiled. "Sorry dude." He sounded remotely apologetic.
"Look man." Kirishima softened. "We're not trying to rile you up."
Bakugo scoffed at that. Kaminari offered a weak, apologetic smile in return.
"It's just-"
"We're nosey!" Ashido finishes for him.
The redhead nodded along. "Yeah, exactly."
"Besides, I wanna know more about the kinda guy that get the luxury to hold our Bakugo's hand like that." Ashido wiggled her eyebrows. "Did ya' kiss?"
Bakugo was going to need several more bowls of hot soup and several new friends.
"It's not like that!" Bakugo hissed.
"Then what is it?" Sero finally butted in.
He didn't know what it was! He was just as lost as the people around him, and it made him so angry. Bakugo didn't know what any of this meant, he never had this, what ever the fuck any of this was.
"We're just friends!"
"'Just friends', huh?" Ashido leaned closer with an unconvinced look.
Kirishima sighed. "Dude, you can just tell us."
"Yeah, 'just friends' don't hold hands in the middle of the halls on a Wednesday night, well past hours at that." Kaminari continued to tease.
Before Bakugo could snap, Sero chimed in. "Don't listen to him." He shoved at his friend. "Everyone's just curious about all of this, Bakugo. Maybe everyone should lay off and let Bakugo tell us what he wants and when?" He offered a solution.
The others nodded in agreement just as Jiro took her spot between Kaminari and Ashido.
"Where've you been?" Ashido asked the other girl.
Bakugo was just glad the focus was off him and situation with Todoroki, he didn't need them all to get any ideas. Even if they already had.
"Sorry, I had to go get something before lunch." The other girl said, setting down her tray. "Are we talking about Bakugo and Todoroki again?"
The blond sneered. Jiro was in on it too. Typical.
"No we are not." Bakugo announced. "We're don't talking about it."
"Are we though?" Ashido smiled over her shoulder and fucking waved to Todoroki. "Oh, he's coming over here!" Her smile grew.
Bakugo froze. "No he's not!" He whispered.
"Oh hi there Todoroki!" Kirishima played along.
Bakugo whipped around and... no Halfie.
"You asshole!" He yelled.
Ashido snorted. "You looked terrified! Oh god!" She laughed.
Kirishima slapped Bakugo's back. "Oh man, you've got it bad."
"Fuck you!"
Yeah ok, he had it bad.
Chapter End Notes
OWO WHATS thI S? It's alright, I hate me too. This chapter is lowkey short and dialogue heavy because I've got plans for the next one :3c (someone please stop me I'm so fucking cringey) Anyways, I love my emotionally fucked sons, thank you for loving them too. Also, me??? Posting in the morning??? (Its morning here) What a concept. Thank you again!!
Chapter Nine: Heartless
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
All of this was his fault. All of it.
He should have never let it get this far. It should have never become something; it should have never became IT.
Being Markless and SoulMateless should have never an issue! It never was an issue until Shoto Todoroki and his stupid fucking face had to just waltz into Katsuki's life like he owned it.
That's a fucking lie, it always was an issue. Katsuki just didn't pay it attention (mostly) because it didn't effect his day to day life. He was still going to graduate UA, he was still going to be the number 1 Hero, and he still sure as fuck wasn't going to let being Markless stop any of that. But nooooo, Shoto had him by the fuck balls. Todoroki was right, this was fucking bullshit.
He was so mad that it had affected him like this. It shouldn't, but it did. Others had it so much fucking worse. Others like Todoroki. Here Bakugo was, aggressively yelling in his brain, while Shoto Todoroki was to be married to a girl he barely knew because a dad, that was barely a dad, had forced it upon him. It was like Todoroki's Mark didn't even matter, his feelings didn't matter, none of it mattered.
Katsuki couldn't tell if he was more upset that Todoroki didn't get a chance to fall in love with whom he pleased, or he himself couldn't do the same.
Karma, Fate,- fuck, even God itself was probably looking down on Bakugo with a shaking head. He deserved it, all of it.
"That's what you get for being a fucking dick, I guess."
It was comical really. Bakugo made fun, harassed, and bullied Deku most of his childhood because he was Quirkless. Now look at him. It was fair though; It made sense to be screwed over for causing some defenseless kid to cry himself to sleep. That seemed to be a fair trade of Karma in Bakugo's book. Still fucking sucked though.
He can't believe he allowed others to get so far into his life, to see his wounds, his issues, he allowed them to care and worry. He allowed all of it to escalate this far. He never wanted any of this. Why couldn't he just pretend everything was fine like he always did? Maybe he needed to remind everyone of how great he was so they'd all forget about his sob story. Why make everyone feel bad for you when you can make everyone feel bad?
Katsuki chuckled to himself. Yeah, ha, like that'll solve anything.
What's worse is that, logistically, even if Katsuki was interested in anyone, including Todoroki, it's not like they'd ever work out. Bakugo wasn't meant for anyone, especially not Todoroki... he was already taken.
After a three hours of scrolling through Google to find any dying light of hope, Bakugo ended up with way more complex and very specific stories of others that were Markless. One woman talked about how she was aromantic and how it was perfect for her to not have a Mark because nobody ever questioned why she was alone; she said something about it being 'fate'. Well I mean... fucking duh? Another person talked about how they magically met another person that didn't have a SoulMark, and they got together. Great for them, but Bakugo's a hundred percent certain Todoroki has a Mark. He just... hasn't seen it yet. And if he didn't, somehow, Bakugo's willing to bet when his secret got out Todoroki would have been like 'wow, crazy, me too!' Or at least, something along those lines?
The finally story, that made him throw his phone into the safety of his bed, was this one guy didn't have a Mark but just-, get this, got one. He woke up on day and there it was, plastered on his right arm in big ol' beautiful letters. What the fuck kinda bullshit is that?!
After genuinely not leaving his room all Saturday, Katsuki finally decided he should at least eat something since it was-
"It's already one thirty?" The blond groaned. Yeah, time to do things.
Throwing on a tank top, hoodie, and black jeans that surprisingly fit, Bakugo finally left his room after hours of nothing.
If anything were to kick him out of his his Todoroki funk it would be Kaminari literally yelling about-
"A bag of condoms!" The electric blond yelled.
"It was more of a sack." Kirishima pointed out.
Kaminari noticed Bakugo's mildly disgusted but mostly puzzled look at the top of the stairs.
"Bakugo, just the person we need!" He sing-songed.
Bakugo huffed, jumping off the last stair. "I'd rather not be included in a conversation about a fuckin' bag of condoms."
Kaminari smiled wide. "See!" He pointed to the other. "Bakugo agrees!"
"He does not!" The redhead fought back. "He just said bag because it was easier!"
"Yeah, easier than 'sack'! Nobody uses the word 'sack'!"
"I do!" Kirishima scoffed. "Plus I swear he had like twenty plus in there. That my friend, is a sack of condoms."
Bakugo took a seat on the empty couch and sighed, staring off into the ceiling tiles. "I'm hungry." He announced.
"Well it is lunch time, so you've missed breakfast. Let's go get lunch together!" Kaminari suggested.
Bakugo immediately got up. "Yeah, let's go."
"Also," The other blond added while standing up. "It's still a bag regardless of how many things you have in it."
"I mean, we don't call Santa's sack a 'bag' now do we?" Kirishima followed the pair out the door, snickering behind them.
Kaminari twirled around with a pout. "You cannot compare a legit bag of condoms to Santa!"
"I can and I will!"
"Would you both shut the fuck up?" Bakugo hissed over his shoulder.
Kaminari, careless as always, slung his arm over Bakugo's shoulder. "Is Baku all angry because we caught him with his boyfriend."
Bakugo sneered and shimmied the other's hand off his shoulder. Kaminari's shoulder privileges had been revoked. "Piss off, I'll go get lunch alone."
"Kaminari! Bakugo is in a sensitive state right now, you need to be nice!" The redhead shouted out.
The other sighed. "I was just teasin' is all."
"I know, but we need to think about what is best for our friend." The way Kirishima talked, like they were in some Disney movie and everything could be solved with friendship, annoyed the fuck out of Bakugo. It was fake sweet, and it was fucking rude.
"I hate you both." Bakugo announced.
Kaminari slithered his way back into Bakugo's bubble like it was nothing. "S'all right man. We get it."
"You just haven't told us anything!" Kirishima whined.
Bakugo sighed. "He's engaged."
"Engaged?!" The neon-colored hair duo screeched at a halt. "What?!" The both continued to say at the same time.
He shrugged. "Yeah, engaged. Now stop bugging me."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait man!" Kaminari skid in front of Bakugo's line of sight. "We didn't know it was this bad."
"Yeah, shit." Kirishima placed a hand on the blond's shoulder. "I just thought it was about you being horrible with your feelings for him or something."
"It's not like that. I told you." Bakugo grunted. "We're friends."
Kaminari rolled his eyes and continued to walk extremely close. "It seems he's still horrible with his feelings."
"Bakugo, I've told you, you don't have to lie to us. We're friends."
The way Kirishima said the last part slightly stung. It reminded Bakugo of when Todoroki used the same line on him the other day. Maybe he should have taken that as a red flag and not sorta, kinda, maybe not want to be just 'friends'.
Bakugo dragged the soles of his boots aggressively down the sidewalk the rest of the way to the cafeteria. Whether a blessing or a curse, Ashido, Jiro, and Sero were all camped out at a table by themselves already.
"Yo, guys, fuck." Kaminari ran up to the table. "You'll never guess what the hell I just heard."
Kirishima dash's over to a friend with a frown. "'Ey, none of that. That's a secret unless Bakugo himself wants to tell it."
Kaminari pouted but nodded in agreement. "Alright, my bad."
Bakugo took a seat next to Ashido and stole a chip off her plate. "It's not that serious."
"I think an engagement is pretty serious!" The electric boy hissed in frustration.
The entire table's eyes turned to Bakugo with growing anticipation. He stole another chip off his friends plate and glanced at all the shocked faces. Kirishima looked displeased that his friend just did exactly what he was told not to, but if Bakugo didn't seem to care he'd let it go.
"It's not fucking me!" Bakugo threw his hands up. "It's Todoroki."
Ashido gasped. "What?!" Her voice echoed off the cafeteria walls. She flushed slightly after noticing how loud she had been.
"My bad." She quieted down. "But still, what?!"
It was now he noticed that Ashido was wearing the hoodie he gave her. The blond wondered if every weekend this was going to be her go-to look; it probably would be.
"Todoroki's engaged, like, actually?" Sero asked from across the table.
Jiro leaned in closer. "To who?"
"Some girl, Caitlyn? Karen? I don't fucking remember, doesn't matter." He rested his chin his palms.
"Wait, why? I'm so lost. Isn't he like seventeen or something? Why the hell is he getting married?" Sero questioned.
Bakugo shrugged. "Look, I don't know all the fucking details. All I know is that his dad's forcing him to marry some chick that he doesn't even like and that's that."
It was bad enough that he sat in his room for literal hours groaning and moaning to himself over his problems. Now that the cat was out of the bag, all his friends were gonna be on his case about every little thing moving forward. He didn't need a magnifying glass to be held over him at all times, and he most certainly could do without people trying to read his emotions all the time. Todoroki didn't scrutinize him for every stupid thing he said or did. Great, now he was thinking about him again!
"Damn, that sucks." Sero pouted.
Ashido placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"I said it doesn't matter."
Bakugo could feel himself lying. It wasn't cool or strong to lie in the faces of his friends, and the front that he was trying to pull over everyone heads might as well have been see-through. He knew they could tell, it didn't change anything though, he just said it to make himself feel better. Even if it didn't.
"It does too matter! Bakugo, what?" The girl cried.
"It's not like it changes anything anyways!" The blond snapped.
Pinky pouted and crossed her arms. "It does change things, this changes everything. You have feelings."
"Yeah, I may, but it doesn't change the fact that none of this was gonna work out anyways." He angrily stood.
The lunch table all gave worried looks up at the standing man. Bakugo didn't need their pity, he didn't need anyone telling him make believe stories about 'how this could all work out in the end'. Because, it wouldn't, and it didn't. Life wasn't some fucking Disney movie, that's not how any of this worked.
"But, Bakugo-" Kaminari got cut off.
"I'm Markless, it's been like that since day fucking one. That's not going to change." He breathed heavily. "I wasn't meant to be happy, I never have been and I never will."
His comment was loud enough for passer-byers to stop and listen. Even a few tables that were close perked up to glacé over to the fuming blond.
He had enough of people's stares and prying eyes; he left.
"Bakugo! Wait!" Ashido yelled from her lunch table.
Throwing the hood over his spiky hair and shoving his way through the double door Bakugo didn't look back.
He walked passed the office, down the small court yard and to the gate of the school. No bodyguard or teacher was out patrolling, even if they were it wouldn't matter. He tried the gate with no luck but it did gather attention from some newscasters that happen to be taking up space on the pavement. Almost all of them recognized him at first glance, hard not to.
"Ah, you're a UA student aren't you! Could you tell us a little something about yourself?" A woman with a giant black bun on her head stuck her microphone through the gate rails.
Some teacher yelled behind Bakugo and he knew he had get out of there before they could catch up. He squatted slightly and used his hands to project himself up and over the large gate. Many 'ooo's and 'aah's were heard when the blond landed but he didn't take notice because he was off running for the hills the second his foot felt pavement.
Usually the teachers were pretty lenient on outside access, especially on weekends, but you needed to notify the office or something... and Bakugo would much rather jump over the gate than tell anyone where he was going... ever.
Once he finally stopped running he fully realized how fucking stupid he was. If he had just filled out the stupid fucking form, or legit did anything but hop the fence, he wouldn't have the entire top ten Heroes on his ass for the rest of the day. He just wanted to walk the park or get some rest air without people being on his case. Turns out he did the exact opposite.
Giving up, he decided there was only one person that could tell an entire army of Heroes off, without turning himself in, and that person was his mom. Having the family house just a few miles from the school made getting there before UA sent out a SWAT team extremely convenient.
"Katsuki?" His mother answered the door with a face that screamed 'why are you here'?
"I just got a call from school, say's Bakugo ran off?" His father yelled from the kitchen.
Mitsuki gripped the door like it was going to fall off while giving a piercing look at her son, still in the doorway. "Tell 'em he's here!" She yelled back.
His mom moved slightly out of the way, still giving off the aura that she wanted to snap his neck; He'd let her.
Bakugo shuffled into the kitchen, didn't bother saying 'hi' to his dad when he smiled at the blond, and just sat down, face planting onto the kitchen table.
"Oh- Oh, well this is something." His father lightheartedly spoke from the other side of the room.
His mother sighed and scooted into the seat next to him. "Hey?" She asked.
"Mnn." Bakugo's smothered voice rang back.
"Yah wanna talk about it?" She rubbed circles in his back.
It's not that he didn't want to, he did. And it's not that he was afraid to, he wasn't. If anything, Bakugo's mom made everything better, all moms did. It was just- everything was bad, everything.
"Mom, why was a born." Bakugo turned his face to look at his mom with a sad smile.
Mitsuki chuckled solemnly, running her fingers through her son's matching hair. "Because I wanted a child, duh?"
Bakugo snorted and rolled his eyes at her. Both his parents sat in silence, still giving gentle smiles to their son, waiting for him to start the conversation.
"It's not fair- life isn't fair. Stupid bullshit." He huffed on the table top, allowing his hot breath to coat the top layer of wood in a small amount of condensation. Katsuki drew a frowny-face in it; Mitsuki snorted at that.
"So," His Mom retracted her fingers from Katsuki's scalp and leaned closer to her son. "Yah gonna tell me why you ran all the way home?"
"I- it's, its fucking stupid!" He groaned.
Mitsuki hissed. "Whatever brought you all the way home is not stupid. There's got to be something, it's not nothing!"
"It's stupid because I complain about it all the time!" Bakugo sat up. "It's stupid because I think something is going to change and it won't, because that's life. I don't even know why I'm still upset about this shit, I should be over it!"
"Katsuki," His Mom sighed.
"You're allowed to have feelings and emotions." Masaru chimed in.
"You sound like the kids from school." The blond groaned into his arms.
"Well you should listen to them, they're right." Mitsuki held her tongue from asking if he meant 'friends', but was dodging around that.
Bakugo groaned and leaned back, resting his head against the wall behind him. "What are you supposed to do when everyone else already knows who they are, and who they are compatible with? I don't- I don't have any of that, I don't know. So how am I supposed to live my life when I don't- when I don't have even a chance to know what that's like. Everyone has it so fucking easy, and I- I don't know anything."
"Katsuki." His mother pulled him in for a hug. Their chairs pushed so close together that Bakugo was basically in his mother's lap.
"It's no fair, they have it so easy Mom. They know where their going and doing, they know what's going to happen. I'm just going into this blindly. Nothing is set in stone. I'm- I'm just-," Katsuki was on the verge of tears at this point. Katsuki would call these 'angry tears' because Bakugo was equal parts angry and upset.
She hushed her child, pulling her fingers through his hair again to calm him down. She told her son to breathe and relax, that he'd figure it all out when the time comes. Mitsuki promised her son the world, him becoming a great Hero, and a greater son. Katsuki groaned at that last part, she yelled at him and told him to 'let her have her fun.'
"You're gross." Katsuki mumbled into his mother's shoulder.
Her shoulder bounced lightly as she giggled. Her son was horrible at picking a mood. "Can I just be sappy with you for one minute."
"No." Bakugo pulled away to give her a look.
Mitsuki sighed. "Even when you're crying?" She begged.
"It's even worse when I'm crying." He said with little to no heat.
She hummed and pulled her son closer, waiting for his breathing to settle lightly. Across the room, not far away at all, Masaru eyed his wife with a sad look. He knew she wanted the best life for their son, a life that they couldn't promise or give. But to them, it was just as unfair to Katsuki as it was them. Having a child born Markless was devastating. Seeing their child come home like this took a toll on their hearts. They truly wondered if God, or whomever, really did have it out for their son. If Katsuki really would just... die alone. It didn't seem real, even when their own child was crying in their palms telling them 'it would'.
It wasn't fair. Life was heartless and brutal, and Katsuki was lucky enough he had great parents and above-average talent to push him through tough times. If he didn't have either of those things, Katsuki wonders if he'd even get this far. Most likely not.
They ate dinner together, avoiding the elephant in the room as much as possible. Katsuki, because he is him, bluntly announced that it was annoying his parents were extensively dodging all questions geared to the only real thing that brought him stress. It was nice of them, but it was obvious and almost distracting.
"You're not gonna ask who?" Bakugo chewed down some rice and chicken.
Hs mom glanced to her husband, he openly shrugged back. "Alright, fine, since you want us to know so badly-" Mitsuki smirked.
"I don't. It's just you guys will probably bug me about it sometime later on, and I'd rather be embarrassed now that I've cried in your arms two hours ago."
She nodded back lightly, taking a sip from her water. "It's not Izuku, is it?"
Masaru begged his wife mentally to stop toying with their son. When Katsuki slammed the table with his fist, the man didn't even flinch.
"What?!" Bakugo choked back.
"What?" Him Mom parroted back. "You two were close at one point."
"Yeah, once." Katsuki emphasized.
Mitsuki thought it over, tapping her chin with her index finger. "Didn't you both kiss in-"
"Mitsuki!"
"Mom!"
The boys in the room begged her to stop. Katsuki was far more red than his father, but nonetheless, was highly embarrassed for his son. Now was not the time to bring up the 'last person' Katsuki would be infatuated with to come home crying. That wasn't the truest statement, however, because Katsuki has had his fair share of outbreaks because of one Izuku Midoriya. But Mitsuki would digress.
"No! It's not Deku, are you blind!"
"I do need a new prescription." She pointed out.
Bakugo groaned, not bothering to press any farther and just finish his dinner.
"So now you're not gonna tell me?!" His Mom asked him offendedly when he got up to put his cleaned plate in the dishwasher.
He glanced over his shoulder with a sneer. "Yeah, You were an asshole about it."
Before his wife could blow a gasket, Masaru stepped in. "Let's not do this now." He begged.
Katsuki sat back in his seat with his lips sealed tight. Mitsuki looked like she was going to lose her mind if her son didn't give her a name anytime soon; he wasn't going to now.
Before bed, because Bakugo was allowed to spend the night back home, he felt the need to text Todoroki and at least notifying him he didn't get stabbed in an alley or something.
message: (emojis)
I'm glad you are alive. What happened?
Katsuki decided he'd actually tell him all about it in the morning. They had a lot to discuss.
Chapter End Notes
You've been hit by- you've been struck by- another fucking snow storm! Do do doo do do doo~ No but fucking seriously, if Boston gets another snow storm in the middle of fucking spring I'm moving to Florida or some shit, I hate this. It's legit spring break- SPRING PEOPLE! I feel like I haven't been on here in ages, maybe I'm wrong, but holy fuck life's been a mess. I won't go off into detail, because nobody cares, HOWEVER if y'all wanna be friends you can follow me on all my other social medias were I DO complain about my life. (Twitter: @HeartfulCakes / Instagram: @heartfulcakes) I post art there because I'm a bad bitch and I have more than one hobby. Feel free to hit me up at all, I swear I'm not intimidating, legit follow me or message me and I'll cry. I love you all so much, thank you for all the amazing support! And as always, I'll see y'all in the next one!
Chapter Ten: Painless
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Seeing Bakugo across the dinner table was like a very strange version of déjà vu. Where, in the previous version, Bakugo was a confused mess, and in this one, he's less confused and just a pure mess. It's entirely like Todoroki expected Bakugo to say yes to another dinner, that's a lie he did, but he at least thought the two were past the weird-awkward stages.
"Bakugo, are you alright?" He asked his friend when the blond sighed the nth time that night.
He looked tired, exhausted even. Todoroki over heard students talking about Bakugo's presence on the news, the news personnel made emphasis on that it was 'the Bakugo Katsuki'. Todoroki wished he'd just pick a Hero name by now.
"I'm just tired." And, yeah, he figured that. It was just that Bakugo was never just 'tired'. Sure, humans needed rest and sleep, but Bakugo just wasn't ever 'tired'.
Todoroki leaned closer in his seat, offered a remotely gentle smile. "You can talk about it if you like. Isn't that why we are here?" That's at least why he had figured they agreed to (formally ask for permission to) leave school; to talk about all of this.
"I just-" Bakugo sighed again. Todoroki didn't like the look on his friend's face. "How do you deal with it?"
"With what?" He asked quickly in confusion.
Bakugo played with some broccoli between his fork, not looking up yet. He eventually gave up and finally locked eyes with Todoroki.
"Everything! Your dad, the attention, your mom, Deku, school, your quirk, the whole SoulMate thing. It's just seems like such a fucking hassle, I can barely keep track of- well, anything."
Todoroki was taken aback. Bakugo never once looked so defeated in his life. Even when Todoroki himself had given up on fighting off his own father, Bakugo was right there to push him forward. Maybe today he was to return the favor.
"I've never known anything different, I guess. I've always been under a tight schedule, with many rules. There hasn't been much freedom for me... until now." He glanced at the boy across from him.
Todoroki wondered if Bakugo would take the hint that, yes, he most certainly was referring to the fiery blond when he was talking about his freedom. If anyone had ever pushed Todoroki to be his best, it would be Bakugo. Sure, Midoriya has helped him realized his ability was his own. They'd always be friends because of it. But, Bakugo was different, he didn't walk on eggshells when it came to Todoroki. He was always aggressively blunt while being disturbingly right, even if you didn't like it. You almost never liked it.
Bakugo was familiar with choice words and seemed to let his tongue slip far too often, but it was charming... in a way. Nothing was held back with the blond. Always so sure and determined, it was invigorating to watch. Todoroki wanted that, he wanted to be like that. To just say 'fuck it' and not care what anybody else wanted from you, or do what anybody asked of you; to just be.
But of course, Bakugo did not take the hint and was stuck still pouting at his mixed vegetables. Todoroki wanted him to smile again, or honestly, be angry. A sad, pouty, quiet Bakugo was Todoroki's least favorite Bakugo. He'd rather him flip this dinner table over right now, and spit in his face then have the same boy look like he was going to pass out in twelve seconds.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Todoroki asked once more.
"How do you not care that you're going to marry some girl you don't even like?" Bakugo finally asked. His attention far away from the assortment of food on his plate.
Todoroki was remotely startled over the random question. "I- I've never said I don't care, it's just not at the forefront of my mind at the moment. We're not even technically engaged if you were wondering. It's only supposed to happen after high school, and even then I don't know how long it would be until it was official."
Bakugo sneered, at least it was far better to look at than a pout. "And that's just alright with you! You're not even worried about your real SoulMate?!"
To be frank, it wasn't until that very moment until Todoroki thought about another 'real' SoulMate. This whole proposal had been force fed to him at such a young age that he didn't realize there was someone on the other side waiting for him. This whole plan only really worked out because him and his fiancé had such comparable Marks that they could get away with it. Not to say others couldn't and still be actually Mates, it just happened to work that same for Todoroki's father and mother, so he guesses it'd work for him too.
"I've never really thought about my SoulMate, if I'm being honest." Todoroki announced.
Bakugo looked furious. His knuckles turned white as he gripped their table and Todoroki wondered if the blond would actually flip the table like he thought previously. He sure hoped not.
"You fucking bastard." Bakugo spat so aggressively that Todoroki was actually worried. "You have such a damn luxury of not even worrying about the person that was meant for you. You're so fucking unbelievable."
When Bakugo got up out of his seat Todoroki knew he shouldn't have been dumb enough to dream that he was just getting up to use the bathroom. Even when he reached out a hand to hold Bakugo back, he still hoped the blond would stay; He didn't. Bakugo didn't even turn around when Todoroki called for him.
Déjà vu hit again when he remembered the sports festival ended something like this. Bakugo getting upset because Todoroki did everything half-assed. He remembers getting very upset over the little nickname Bakugo would call him behind and to his face. 'Halfie', maybe it was a fitting title. He was sure he wasn't doing anything halfheartedly, Todoroki believed he was pouring his heart and soul into every interaction with Bakugo actually. He was even brutally honest just a minute ago!
Todoroki guesses it wouldn't be fair to anyone to have a SoulMate that just didn't care. He hoped that wasn't what it looked like. But, in hindsight, it really did look that way now from where he was standing.
All he wanted was to have a nice dinner to clear things up and maybe get to see Bakugo smile, or even laugh again. But all Todoroki ended up doing was make it worse.
~•*•~
If Bakugo's goal was to ignore any and all advances Todoroki tried at a conversation, well let's just say the blond was winning.
"Bakugo, please!" Todoroki finally cornered Bakugo in the boy's community living room.
Bakugo spun around with a not-so-happy look on his face. "What, Halfie! What?!"
And they were back to the insulting nicknames, wonderful.
"Look, I didn't intend on hurting your feeling or come off as some...- some guy that doesn't account for others' feelings. I do!" He tried.
"I'm not fucking offended or upset, or any of that bullshit that you think. You're just a prick like I always thought you were." The blond yelled. "Don't try to paint yourself as something you're not!"
"I do care, Bakugo! Why can't you see that!?"
Bakugo tried walking away, only to be continuously followed down an empty hall. "'N stop followin' me, asshole!"
Todoroki came to the conclusion that if he didn't apologize now he'd have to deal with a cold Bakugo for god knows how long. That's not something he could handle.
"I'm sorry!" Todoroki yelled from a few feet away; Bakugo stopped. "I didn't mean to come off as this entitled, cold person. My father has me practically brainwashed! I haven't- I didn't know what it was like to just- to be allowed to care!"
"Stop spewing bullshit to me! It's pathetic I ever even cared about you at one point." He shrugged the other off, and continued down the hall.
Todoroki grasped at the arm nearest him, shoving the blond against the closet wall he could find. If anyone in the rooms nearby weren't paying attention at the beginning they probably were now.
"Let go, Halfie!" Bakugo hissed, tugging at the burning hold on his wrist.
"No! Not until you listen!"
Their fast breathing filled in the moment of silence between them. Todoroki was far too close for Bakugo's liking, he was nearly crossed-eyed trying to burn a glare into Todoroki's duel-colored eyes.
"Well?" Bakugo growled. "I'm fucking listening!"
The floor was his. "I've said it once before and I'll say it again. I don't understand why you pursue fights with me constantly."
"If you're going to just pick apart my life, I'd warn you that it's been done enough already. Cut to the chase!" The other scrunched his nose.
Todoroki loosened his binding on Bakugo's wrist, maybe if he didn't feel so trapped he'd at least hear him out.
"Why can't we just be friends?" He sighed.
"You make it fucking insufferable because you're people skills are ass!" There was the blunt Bakugo Todoroki was reminiscing of earlier.
"I really don't think you're one to talk." He pointed out.
Bakugo huffed. "Yeah, well, maybe you should fucking listen when I tell you you don't care!"
"I do care!" Todoroki pressed closer. "How do you not see that I care?!"
"Maybe once in your life you should be honest with others and yourself! Why the fuck can't you do or say whatever you want?! Fuck your dad, fuck everyone,- just be your fucking self for once and then maybe I'll give a damn about you!" The other yelled.
"I don't know what that's like, I don't know what that is. Bakugo, you don't understand, I've never really once acted how I wanted to. I don't know how to do that?!" Todoroki tried to explain.
Bakugo's shoulders seemed to relax slightly after his explanation, thankfully they seemed to be making progress. "What do you want then?"
"You!" Todoroki explained to quickly.
Bakugo blinked and pressed his head back too far against the wall, his hair started to spread out against it. W-what?! You're so fucking weird! This is the shit I was talkin' about when I said people skills! Normal people don't say that kinda shit!"
"But I'm not lying!" Todoroki grasped the other's hand in trying to prove himself. "You're amazing at speaking your mind and saying whatever you want! I want to do that! Can't you teach me?!"
"What? No?! I can't fucking teach you how to be like me! You gotta learn to be yourself first, do and say what you want, not what I want. You've gotta stop acting like some robot, fucking people pleaser, Mr. Perfect!" Bakugo huffed.
"Stop calling me 'Perfect', you of all people should know I'm far from that." Bakugo would beg to fucking differ but Todoroki wouldn't know that.
"Look, alright, this whole thing was a fucking mess." Bakugo sighed.
Todoroki moves in closer, if that was possible. "I'm sorry, I didn't take your emotions into consideration. It was selfish of me to think that I could just forget about my SoulMate. That seems pretty asshole-ish now that I'm looking at it."
The blond folded his arms over his chest. "Yah think? I didn't even have a SoulMate and here you are saying shit like 'I haven't even thought about them'. You're fucking stupid, that's what you are."
"I know, it was stupid of me. I'm sorry." Todoroki held out a hand. "Do you forgive me?"
"Yeah, Ok, whatever. Don't make it all sappy and shit. And am I supposed to shake that?" Bakugo pointed to his outstretched palm.
He shrugged. "I suppose you could."
"Fuck that." Todoroki didn't expect much else to be said. "But I guess... I'm sorry too, or whatever."
Todoroki brightened up because the pout Bakugo was giving was so adorable. He wonders if he called Bakugo cute if he'd blow up the wall next to them. He didn't want to cause any property damage, so another time.
"Thank you for your apology."
"Oh my fucking god," Bakugo pushed past him. "I'm over this sappy-lovey bullshit, I can't do this anymore. We're good and we're done talking about it."
Todoroki nodded and followed Bakugo back down stairs. Maybe they could try dinner again some time... and actually finish without causing a scene.
"So, I was thinking," Todoroki rushed up next to his friend. "Maybe you could teach me how to speak my mind better?"
"Oh fuck, you were actually serious about that?" Bakugo winced. "I should've known you weren't joking."
"I never joke!"
"Maybe you should."
Once they were back at the lounge Todoroki huffed in annoyance. "What, am I too boring for you to hang out with? Do you not like me?"
"All I wanna know is if you were born with the stick in your ass, or did your dad put it there?" Bakugo snickered, sitting down. Todoroki sat next to him.
Todoroki rolled his eyes. "You're rude."
"Why do you hang out with me then?"
"Because I like you."
"Then theres your fucking answer for your question."
Todoroki scrunched his face in confusion. "I don't-"
"Yeah, I like hanging out with you, alright?" Bakugo looked remotely embarrassed to answer truthfully. "I wouldn't fucking be here if I didn't."
The other smiled. "I'm glad." He scooted closer.
"Just because I like you in my presence, doesn't mean I like you in my bubble! Move the fuck over! There's a whole 'nother side of this couch!" His friend hissed, shoving Todoroki to the other side of the sofa.
Todoroki insisted sitting even closer. "I do this to bother you."
"Do you!?" The other snapped back rhetorically.
"It's fun to poke fun at you. I see now why all of your other friends do it." Todoroki pointed out.
Bakugo sank further into the cushion. "Yah know, I hang out with you because you're so much less work than those idiots. If you start acting like them I won't hang out with you anymore."
"Bakugo!" Todoroki responded in fake hurt. "I thought we had something special."
Bakugo's eyes widened. "Do we?" He questioned softly while looking disturbingly confused.
"Clearly I'm not special if you were going to drop me like that." Todoroki pretended to sound offended.
Bakugo slouched. "Now you're just trying to be funny. It's not funny."
"I am plenty funny!"
He shrugged. "Maybe sometimes, but you're annoying."
"I thought you wanted me to be myself around you?" The other questioned.
Bakugo turned and plopped his feet on top of Todoroki's thighs, getting comfortable on the couch. "Yeah, as long as it's not you being annoying."
Todoroki wasn't going to point out that Bakugo, just seconds ago, said he needed personal space but was now throwing his feet on him. Seems to him that Bakugo only wants to do things when he's allowed. That's not the way the world works, but Todoroki would allow it since they were now physically closer.
He liked being close to Bakugo. Even though Todoroki himself could warm himself up from his quirk, Bakugo was like a human heater. The boy was always so warm. It was so nice. Not to mention that even though Bakugo would call him a freak for it, Bakugo's cologne (or whatever it was) always smelled so nice. There wasn't a direct label of smell he could put on in, not like earthy or fruity, it was just nice. Everything about being in Bakugo's presence was nice.
"You find everything I do annoying." He finally snipped back.
"Do I? Huh, haven't noticed." Bakugo smirked.
Todoroki very lightly smacked Bakugo's knee with a pout. "Don't be rude to your best friend."
"Best friend?" The blond parroted beach with a quirked brow.
"I'd say so."
"Do you even know what a best friend is?" He asked.
Todoroki shrugged. "Do you?"
Bakugo leaned back to stare at the ceiling. "I think I did, once... maybe. You're still not my best friend though."
"How come?" Todoroki didn't even bother getting offended, he knew how Bakugo worked, he was mostly just pulling his leg at this point. However, he did believe the other was being remotely honest when Bakugo said he had a best friend at one point. He assumed Midoriya; he was the only person that seemed to even put up with all of Bakugo's outbursts and horrible attitude. He guesses now that Bakugo is a lot easier to manage. Todoroki got lucky.
"You're on the level of 'tolerable'." Bakugo stated.
Todoroki rolled his eyes. "The other day you called us 'friends'."
"Yah, but then we had a fight because you're a fucking idiot and now you're down a level."
"That wasn't a fight." Todoroki nudged the blond.
Bakugo tsk'd. "I'd calling storming out of dinner a 'fight', Halfie."
"I can't tell if I hate 'Halfie' or 'Mr. Perfect' more." He sighed.
"Pick the worst one and let me know, that way I can exclusively use that one." Bakugo glanced over to the other with an antagonizing look.
"Why are you this way?"
"Get used to it."
Todoroki most certainly would love to get used to this.
Chapter End Notes
Y'all I'm fucking dead alright. Shits been fucking wild recently. I doubt anyone follows me on anything, but if you have... I lost my job, my car needs to get fixed, I went to Florida for a few days, I got a sunburn on the back of my knees and I couldn't sit for a while... like I'm a fucking mess. But I'm better, so no-no... I didn't die. IM ALIVE! So, sorry for the horribly slow update... please don't hate me. Also, because I love you and wanted to make it up to y'all, this is a Todoroki point of view chapter. Look at that shit??? Hell Yeah?!?!?! Anyways, Talks comments on the last chapter fucked me up, you guys are too kind. Thank you again, night (or morning?)!
Chapter Eleven: Dreamless
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
"I saw you hangin' out with Todoroki last night." Kaminari nudged Bakugo walking to class that morning.
"I won't hesitate bitch." Ashido muttered under her breath with a snicker. Bakugo ignored her.
"Do you have eyes in the walls or some shit? Why are you stalking me?" He sneered.
Kaminari shrugged. "Firstly, I do not stalk... I just have the worst timing ever."
"I hate that I believe that. But go on." Bakugo snorted.
"And secondly, you were cuddling so-"
"Cuddling!" Ashido interrupted.
Bakugo gave the other blond the death stare. "Why do you lie to her?"
"Oh~ Blasty getting comfortable, huh?" Kirishima bounced in.
"You know they're just excited because none of them can get dates." Sero laughed. "They're living vicariously through you."
"That's not true!" Ashido pouted. "I'm just happy for my baby!"
"Your... baby?" Kirishima smirked.
"Bakubaby?" Kaminari wagged his eyebrows at his friend. Bakugo grasped the other's face and shoved him out of the way. "Ow, meanie!" He winced.
"Ashido's just waiting for all the juicy details." Sero pointed out as they continued to get closer to the classroom door.
"Well she's not gonna hear the story when Bakugo finally get dick downed by-"
Bakugo slammed the sliding door on Kaminari's face.
"Even though I expected this," The blond mumbled though the door. "I'm still upset."
"Eat shit, you human outlet!" Bakugo roared.
Most of the other students in the class were used to the 'Bakusquad's' rumbustious energy so early in the morning, nobody even bothered to glance up.
"Widdle Bakubaby wishes he were somebody's outlet." Kaminari snickered opening the door again.
Bakugo twirled around so fast that Kaminari's life flashed before his eyes. Kirishima got between the two to stop it before it even started.
"Why do you instigate him so much?" Kirishima looked over his shoulder at his best friend while he forced Bakugo into a weird headlock.
Kaminari shrugged back with a giant smile. Kirishima finally let Bakugo go before the blond started to bite. The red head's teeth maybe that of a shark's, but Bakugo was a close second to ruthless teeth sharpness.
They all took their seats over in the front-left of the room. Bakugo's seat wasn't on that side of the room, but he still lingered until Aizawa would inevitably tell him to move.
"Back to what I was saying before." Kaminari glanced up to Bakugo. "I heard you guys fighting, that's why I saw you cuddling."
Bakugo ignored the 'cuddling' comment for now in favor of just hearing the idiot out for once.
"You seemed to kiss and make up pretty fast then if you were snuggling on the couch." Ashido questioned.
Again, he tried to ignore everyone's stupid choice of words. They weren't going to get under his skin yet.
"I don't like holdin' grudges. Plus, it was stupid."
Kaminari snickered. "I really don't think you're one to say you don't hold grudges, when Midoriya is on your blacklist since like kindergarten."
"To be fair, we don't know what happened back then, so we can't judge that." Ashido, for once, was on Bakugo's side. "I mean, he's a nice kid. Doesn't mean he didn't do bad stuff in the past."
"Yeah, that's true." Kaminari agreed. "It's just hard to see him as anything but kind, Yah know?"
Ashido nodded. "I get that."
"So like, when are you guys official?" Kaminari blatantly asked.
Bakugo scoffed. "He's engaged."
"So you don't not want to date." The other smirked, Bakugo ignored him.
"Yeah, that is pretty shitty since you want to date him." Kirishima added in. Bakugo scowled down at him. Why was everyone so on bored with them dating? They weren't a thing! Todoroki just got penalized for being a moron and was now at 'tolerable' level. How could nobody see this?!
"I don't want to date him." The blond crossed his arms aggressively.
"Sureeee~ you don't." Kaminari rolled his eyes.
Finally, the man in question slid open the home room door and immediately found Bakugo in the sea of students.
"Good morning." Halfie spoke to the group in front of him.
Both Kaminari and Kirishima were not slick at all sizing the boy up. The fact that Todoroki didn't notice the two's scrutinizing looked made Bakugo want to ram his head into the wall. However, it was more a blessing in disguise that Todoroki was so clueless about everything around him because Bakugo, even though he hates to say it, would be well beyond embarrassed if Todoroki did notice.
"How'd you sleep?" His friend asked him.
Bakugo sighed. "What are you, my mom?"
Kaminari, from the remote safety of his seat, chuckled. "No, but you'd like him to be something else. Wouldn't you Bakugo?"
Bakugo was on fire. His face colored in pure embarrassment and his hands dripped with his stupid over sensitive quirk. Fuck Kaminari and his horrible, horrible innuendos. Kaminari looked beyond satisfied by the state Bakugo was in. This friendship was torture.
"I'm going to me seat." The blond huffed and pushed his way passed his friends to his seat all the way in the back by the windows.
"You're legit the worst." Ashido whispered to her friend. Kaminari shrugged ever so smugly.
Kirishima snorted. "He hates you man."
~•*•~
It started out with calling Bakugo and Todoroki's relationship just plain old 'boyfriends'. And, as annoying as it was, Bakugo could brush it off, or whatever. Then, it was the embarrassing comments about Todoroki's dick being in Bakugo's ass. And then the comments about Todoroki straight up being a... 'Daddy.' Just saying that in his brain Bakugo's face turned red.
Like who says that?! Who willingly calls their significant other a 'Daddy'?! Like fuck no?! Oh my fucking God! It probably made it worse because during that same week Bakugo, being fucking dumb as shit, called his real father 'Daddy' and his entire lunch table lost it. It was the worst thing ever, and Bakugo wanted to self-destruct.
And now, since, Kaminari specifically, everyone noticed how easily all these comments got to Bakugo, they all wanted to know when him and Stupid were going out.
"For the fifth fucking time, were not dating!" He practically yelled out during another lunch period with these losers.
"So, 'Operation: Get Bakugo and Todoroki Together' is a no-go?" Kaminari asked.
"It is, but hold on." Ashido shushed him. "Since Todoroki's engaged to some random, doesn't that mean that his real Soul Mate is still out there?"
Bakugo sneered. "That's what our fight was about last week."
"What? That he didn't realize that you two were meant for each other? Yeah, I could see that, he's kinda slow." Kaminari sipped his water.
"Slow? Look who's talking." Bakugo snorted.
Kaminari pretended to look offended. "At least I am aware of when people are head-over-heals for me. Right, Jiro?" He smirked to his lady friend next to him.
She looked up at him through her bangs, said nothing, then continued to eat her lunch. Bakugo secretly hoped they'd just make out and get over it because the two had been like this for two whole years. Enough was a enough.
Ashido, ignoring the pair's previous jabs at each other, continued with her topic. "So that still means that Bakugo has a chance then, right?! I mean, Todoroki didn't say anything about him and that girl being Soul Mates, right?"
Bakugo shrugged. "No, he didn't seem to like her at all really."
"Then perfect! All we need to know is what Todoroki's Mark is and then we can work from there."
"I don't really think that's how it works." Sero noted.
"What's a little tough love?" Ashido smiled.
Sero looked unconvinced. "Uh huh?"
"Alright Bakubuddy, what is your boyfriend's SoulMark anyways?" Kaminari smirked, most likely from his choice of words.
"I don'no?" He shrugged again.
"What?!" The pink girl slapped the table. "You've never brought it up."
"No?"
"Legit never?"
"Why should'I've?" He made a face.
"Well, I don't know?! Maybe because you're like in love with him?!" She exasperated.
The blond flinched. Love?! Before he could he could even think of a come back the rest of the table beat him to it.
"Maybe it's more of a crush?" Sero offered.
"Infatuation?" Kirishima questioned.
"Sexual attraction." Kaminari winked.
"A special attraction." Jiro made a face at Kaminari.
"It's love!" Ashido's cheeks bloomed in a deeper pink, all puffed out from smiling so big.
Bakugo shoves at her lightly. She was wrong, it wasn't love, alright?! Bakugo probably, in his defense, wouldn't know what love was if it hit him. He love his mom and his dad, that was easy. But that was a different love. A 'I couldn't be here without you' kinda love. The love that is strictly meant for family. And, in secret, he's maybe, possibly say he loved his friends. But that was top secret business. And that love was also different, the 'make your own family' kinda different. It was if one of them died- well, truthfully, Bakugo didn't want to think that far.
They were in the Hero business. It wasn't common, but it also wasn't unheard of for Hero's to... die.
If Todoroki died, that'd be something else entirely. It's not to say he wouldn't cry at his parent's or friend's funeral, because, he probably fucking would. Let's be honest here. And not putting Todoroki on a pedestal, because he wasn't. I'd just be different is all. Because even though everyone insists that Bakugo and him have some wild kinda connection, Bakugo feels like they haven't been friends long enough to truly feel like that. Is that weird? It's probably weird. Is that why he doesn't want to date Todoroki, because they haven't known each other long enough? Or is it something else?
Bakugo can barely understand his own feelings. He must be broken...
Maybe it's because he never knew he'd be allowed to love- no scratch that, he knew he was allowed to love. Just having someone reciprocate it would be impossible. At least, that's what he's been telling himself all these years so he didn't get caught up in shit like this. So he wouldn't get left heartbroken and have to deal with the inevitable of never ever being loved. Fuck that hurt.
"Earth to Bakugo?" Ashido nudged next to him. The blond blinked a few times to get him out of his headspace.
"He was day dreaming about his boyfriend." Kaminari said while tossing his lunch away.
Kirishima, right behind him, snickered. "When they do start dating, then what nickname are you going to give him?"
"Ugh, 'husband', duh?"
"And then what?"
"I haven't got that far."
"Ignore them." Ashido gathered Bakugo's attention again. "So what are your thoughts?"
Bakugo took both his and her's lunch tray to the trash and continued down the hall with the rest of the crew.
"About?" He asked, confused.
"Everyone's betting on it being inevitable that you two are going to date, and like, it's stupid to say this... but like-"
"Spit it out." The two of them walked slower than the rest of the group to keep their conversation remotely private.
"If any of this doesn't work out, for whatever reason, I still think you're great!" Ashido smiled.
For all her annoyingness, for the entire groups 'annoyingness', it was worth it. They were good people. Nice friends- best friends actually.
Bakugo caved and ruffled the patch of bubblegum pink locks in between Ashido's horns with a private smile. "Yeah, thanks."
She gasped. "I now know why Todoroki is in love with you, you're so cute when you smile!"
"Ew gross, forget any of that just happened!" He shoved her away.
She rushed back over, clamping her hands around one of his arms. "Bakugo you make me swoon!" The girl continued to tease.
"And I'm so fucking happy for you. Now off!" He tried to shove again but failed miserably due to Ashido's death grip.
"Bakugo, be my SoulMate! You'd treat me right, wouldn't you?" Her comment came off sad.
"I thought you and Float Bitch made a pact to like.. get married on the beach if you guys didn't date in the next two years, or something?" Bakugo gently shook his head.
She continued to hold his arm, almost tried to bury her face in his armpit. "Yeah, but I'm lonely now!" Ashido sounded like a child that was stomping their foot for candy, or something equally as juvenile.
"You'll find someone." Bakugo reassured.
"Ugh! That's what you all say!"
"It's true though."
"Promise me if you and Todoroki don't work out that we'll go on dates together?" Ashido looked up at her friend with those big black eyes.
Bakugo sighed. "'Dates'? Like plural?"
"Just one! Come on! Give a girl something!" She shook his arm.
They were getting closer to the classroom, and Bakugo's tolerance was wearing thin.
"Alright Alright, jeez, fine!" The blond finally got his hand free. "You want me to fucking bring a white horse and trot over to get ice cream or something?"
Her giant eyes only grew in size. Ashido nodded vigorously. "Yeah yeah! Oh my god, can we? I've never ridden a horse before!"
"Never?"
"What? Like that's a thing normal people do?"
He shrugged. "Guess not, but I have."
She slapped him on the shoulder once they got back into class. "What! What are you rich?!"
"No?" He half laughed. "I don't own a fucking horse, I've just ridden one?"
"When?!" She still continued to yell even though the entire classroom could overhear everything.
"For my birthday?! Why are you asking so many questions?!"
"Who rides horses for their birthday?!"
"Fucking- I do?!"
"Why?!"
"Because horses are cool?!"
"Why are they talking about horses?" Kaminari asked his friends.
None of them answered. It was best to just let the two of them yell about random things and get it out of their system then to ask questions. The pair really never made sense when they talked about really anything, as in, ever. But did good friends ever really need a reason to yell at each other playfully? Probably not.
Chapter End Notes
Comes back from the fucking dead with the shortest chapter ever. You're so fucking welcome. For the three people that are worried Ashido and Bakugo are endgame, they're not, I just have them headcannoned as that boy and girl friendship where it's like flirty... but like friendly? Like you call them 'babe' and smack their ass but you also talk about the hot guys/girls in you math class and try to get them dates? Does anybody have a friend like that? No, just me? Also, I hope everyone's Easter/Vacation/Holiday was fun! Thank you for reading and see you in the next one!
Chapter 12: Restless
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Bakugo didn't feel like it was his place to say. He wasn't nosey, like the rest of his friends. And he wasn't really an impatient person once you got to know him. But just knowing that, hypothetically, Todoroki could slip through Bakugo's fingers by the end of the school year was terrifying.
Did that mean they couldn't see each other once they graduated.
Bakugo didn't really know how marriages worked, or how arranged marriages worked, he just assumed it was one of those things that took a lot of planning, time, and money. Thing's that Papa Todoroki could easily dispense without batting an eye... all with the expense of his own son's happiness.
So maybe it was the jolt of fear-adrenaline that coursed through Katsuki's veins like hot lava. Or maybe, he acted on his true intentions and just wanted to know more about his friend. Or, most likely, it was the very, very, very small glimmer of hope Bakugo had left that allowed him to ask:
"What's your Mark?"
Todoroki looked up from his notebook; it was another study date. "My Mark?"
"Yeah, like ugh, your SoulMark? What is it?" Bakugo's hands got all clammy.
"That's right, I never told you mine after you told me- well, explained your situation."
Yeah, that's something that happened alright. A 'situation' wasn't a good word to use, Bakugo favored calling it a 'curse' maybe even a 'scar' and less of a 'Mark'. It was as ugly as a scar in the blond's eyes.
"I-um, have to get undressed?" Todoroki more or less asked for Bakugo's permission to get naked in the school's public library. Truthfully, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen in this school.
Bakugo nodded. "Yeah, we're pretty hidden anyways." He guesses it was a good idea to pick the table that was farthest from the door and it's prying eyes.
So, Todoroki made haste on his school uniform blazer and button down. Bakugo didn't want to stare, because that was wrong and uncomfortable. But really, there were no other spots his eyes would go. And if to defend himself in any way, shape, or form, every guy at this school had basically seen each other bare ass naked at least once. Fuck, Bakugo swears one time Kaminari and Kirishima compared dick sizes in the locker room; And Bakugo was there. How the fuck did any of these students have the brain capacity to be a Hero?! This world was fucked.
Todoroki shimmed down his white shirt past his shoulders, he looked like he was posting for something the way he half undid his shirt. This bitch was a Calvin Klein model. Fucking annoying.
"Here." The boy said, turning around in his seat.
Right under the nape of his neck, down a little ways, between his shoulder blades were three cursive words all strung together like a poem.
'I love you'. Bakugo read in his head.
Shoto Todoroki was carved by the Gods. He couldn't be real, this had to be a practical joke, a hoax, a sham! Like how the fuck could the one person that Bakugo, in Jiro's words, have a 'special attraction' to... and just like... be perfect?
Bakugo knows Todoroki hates being called perfect. But in this very moment the blond couldn't help him lips from forming that word.
"What?" Todoroki glanced over his shoulder, in his Calvin Klein pose like the God he was.
Bakugo snapped his mouth shut with a quick 'nothin', and pretended like he wasn't slowly losing his fucking mind. Alright! Fine! Kaminari was soooooo right, he was disturbingly correct about (almost) everything. Bakugo had never been so emotionally horny for another person in his entire fucking life, and Todoroki was giving him a lifetime supply of blue balls. Fucking why?!
"Bakugo?" Todoroki echoed over to the blond that was stuck in his own filthy mind.
This was a library, Bakugo! Show some respect!
"I- um, God you're," The blond's brain had severely malfunctioned. "Of course you'd have an amazing Mark." He finally settled with; trying his hardest not to use the word 'Perfect'.
Todoroki hiked his shirt back over his shoulders and sighed while trying to button it back up. "I just wish it wasn't so... broad. I'm not saying it isn't important to my future SoulMate and I, it's just-"
"It's just so easy for your Dad to find someone for you to marry?" Bakugo asked.
"Precisely." The other nodded. "I'm supposed to enjoy this Mark, and yet, it feels I'm a burden more than anything."
Bakugo never felt like he understood Todoroki more than ever until then. Even though the two had been on completely different sides about nearly everything, it just seemed like they understood. Bakugo, not having a Mark was just as much of a downer as Todoroki having a beautiful one and having it used to his horrible father's advantage. The blond can't tell if he was better off; he'd probably never know.
"It's probably unkind to say- or to think that a Mark could be so... annoying. I want to treasure this, I do, it's just hard." Todoroki added solemnly after fixing his uniform completely.
Bakugo sighed. "You don't need to explain yourself to me, Todoroki. I get it, maybe not entirely, but enough."
Todoroki offered a small smile. "Thank you, it's nice to be around someone that I can finally be myself with and not...?"
"Not what?"
"Just- I. Does it sound weird to say I can't be myself around Midoriya or anyone else I'm rather close with?"
"No." Bakugo make a face.
"Bad example." Todoroki back tracked. The other snorted with an eye roll. "It's hard to explain, but I really do like being around you, it's nice."
"You're gross." He scrunched up his nose.
Halfie pursed his lips in annoyance. "Can't you just take a compliment?"
"Not when it's worded like fucking gross." Bakugo spat.
"Is everything I do gross?"
And without a second thought, Bakugo's words left his mouth like nothing. "No, sometimes you're cute."
Cute. Cute? Cute?!
Bakugo just referred to Todoroki as 'cute' and the same boy was looking across at the blond like he was some kind of art piece. How could one man's eyes could look like he was simultaneously undressing you while also having this beyond fond expression made Bakugo assume he was seeing things. Because, ummmm, no way did Todoroki have any right to look like that. And furthermore, that same look made Bakugo think he was going to get a real human boner not like, that fake symbolic 'emotion boner' he thought about earlier. There must be something in the air, or something, because Bakugo was gulping for air like a dried fish. (Fun fact: it was not the air but just the angelic man in front of him.)
"I think you're adorable." Todoroki blinked slowly, like some shit from a movie.
Bakugo, if he wasn't careful, was going to explode.
Todoroki became amused at Bakugo's rising blush. It wasn't often to see the blond so shell shocked, he looked like a deer in the headlights.
"Cute." Todoroki smirked. Bakugo wanted to die.
Was this flirting? This was flirting right? I mean, Bakugo had been called 'cute' but not in the same tone. Never in the same context as this. Kaminari was forever using it to rub Bakugo the wrong way. Fuck, All Might called him cute once and Bakugo hip-checked his desk and nearly fell over because whyyyyyyy?!
Bakugo aggressively tried to ignore the praise the rest of the time they were in the library. It didn't entirely work, but he tried.
~•*•~
During dinner, Bakugo broke down. Not in the Deku kinda way where he'd cry his eyes out, but after Todoroki full on grabbed Bakugo's hand to tug him to dinner... we'll let's just say Bakugo was done for.
"Mina, this can't be happening." The blond muttered over his lunch. "I'm fucked, I think I'm fucked."
"Oh, honey." She sighed back, giving her friend a reassuring pat on the back. "You've got it so bad."
"Yeah he does." Sero added after a sip of his juice. Jiro just shot him a look like 'not helping'. He just shrugged back.
"I think you should tell him." Ashido finally added.
That got Bakugo's attention. He shot up from his slouching position to give her a pleading look, face red while still scowling.
The blond opened his mouth to talk, huffed, closed his mouth, then groaned. "I- I can't just-, firstly, ok, look he's- he's like basically married-"
"He's engaged to someone he doesn't even like." Kaminari added in.
"Yeah, if anything, having an excuse to break up this forced marriage thing would probably be beneficial. If you guys started dating then what? It's not like she'd be happy about that. It's probably work your favor to be honest." Sero noted while Kirishima happily nodded along.
"Ok yeah," Bakugo ran his fingers through his hair. "But what if- no ok, his dad is an ass, right? And assholes are like notorious for being homophobic, because, there's no way that man isn't homophobic. He looks like the kinda guy that would sneer at a gay couple. Stupid fucking bitch." Bakugo blabbered.
Ashido continued to rub circles in her friend's back; Bakugo much appreciated it. "Yeah, that seems like something he'd do."
"What if you kept is a secret?" Kaminari questioned.
"That probably wouldn't be much better?" Sero pouted. "I mean, if what Todoroki said was true, then him and his fiancé are gonna get hitched almost straight outta high school. Soooo..."
"Aren't arranged marriages... illegal?" Jiro asked the group.
The two boys on her left shrugged. Sero, on her right, made a thinking face.
"I guess not..., I mean, if both parties consent?" His shoulders slumped. "It's basically just a contract, just like anything else. I'm guessing they don't want the marriage to interfere with Todoroki's schooling and his Hero training, so that's why they are waiting until after high school."
Kirishima huffed. "Tha'stupid." Kaminari nodded.
"So like, there's nothing he can do?" Ashido deadpanned.
Just like that, Bakugo groaned and leaned into his friend's side. Ashido gave a sad smile even though Bakugo couldn't see it. She was worried, they all were.
"Couldn't you... talk to his dad?" Kaminari hesitated. Kirishima was the first to give him a look and the blond responded back with confused hand gestures.
Sero cringed. "Have you seen that guy, even if I was Bakugo or Todoroki I wouldn't wanna go near him, that man is Bakugo's anger on steroids."
"Don't compare me to him." Bakugo muttered sadly.
"Right," Sero face scrunched. "Sorry."
After some silence, and some worried looks being exchanged, Kaminari spoke up.
"So you can't date in secret because then I'd be pointless. You can't run away together because we're all like twelve,"
Bakugo and Ashido snorted at that part together.
"What, it's true!" The other whined.
Kirishima shook his head. "Go on?"
"You can't talk to his dad because he's a tool. Woah wait, have you even told Todoroki you like him?!"
Bakugo jolted, face turning slightly pink and not daring to look anyone in the eyes. "Why, ok, no?! Why would I say anything if it wasn't gonna work out anyways?!"
"Better to try then fail than never to have tried at all." Ashido bluntly added.
Bakugo gave her a look and she softly smiled back to him.
"She's right, you know." Sero calmly added.
"He has a Mark though, and I- I don't?!" Bakugo huffed in annoyance; not at his friends, but at himself. "That means I'm not part of the picture."
"Hey, woah, ok, no?!" Kirishima stood up. "You deserve love just as much as anybody else does??"
"Yeah, well, maybe I don't!" Bakugo also stood up.
Ashido pouted and also got out of her seat. She turned and tugged at her friend's collar and cane face to face with her flustered blond friend. "Look, Bakugo. We all understand you've got some issues and we understand that you believe that you somehow does deserve a SoulMate for some crazy reason. That's not true, alright. Yah, maybe it's not Todoroki and yeah, that sucks, but that's ok. People take years to find their SoulMates and it sucks you don't have a Mark, but it sucks more if you beat yourself up over it." She pulled him in for a hug. "We love and support you and we just want to see you succeed. So you may be right, Todoroki and you could not be a thing. But fuck it. Why not at least try?"
Bakugo gave in and hugged her back tightly. Ashido squeaked like a dog toy as she was squished in one of Bakugo's bear hugs. He even picked her up and she yelled.
"Bakugo put me down! I was being emotional!" She yelled, steadying herself by holding on dearly to the blond's forearms. "This isn't the response I was lookin for."
Jiro and Kaminari snickered as Bakugo continued to raise her and most of the lunch room was staring at their table.
"Did you want me to cry?" He smirked up at her.
"Yes you asshole! Now put me down!"
"And if I don't?!" He snorted, putting her down anyways.
Ashido continued to yell at him during their lunch period. He guesses they were right, his friends had been right this entire time, even when he didn't think he had feelings and he did. He always fucking did. It was only slightly annoying that his friends knew him better than he did... only slightly.
"I'm gonna do it." He announced.
His friends glanced at him mid-stuffing food in their faces. Kirishima was the first to smile brightly next to his friend.
"Yeah?" He nudged the blond. "Yah gonna tell him?"
Bakugo nodded, a pink blush dusting his cheeks.
"Hooray!" Ashido yelled, grabbing the attention of nearby students for the nth time that lunch period.
He could do this, he could fucking do this.
~•*•~
Bakugo was an absolute chicken, a frightened child, a lost puppy; Bakugo was fucked.
"I can't just- what do I say? I can't just knock on his door and be like 'oh yeah, fun fact, I have the biggest crush on you. No pressure, just a fun fact. See you in Hero class!'" Bakugo paced around Ashido's room.
Jiro was on the bed, busy scrolling through her phone trying to buy new socks on some foreign website. Why she couldn't just by them at the store was beyond everyone in the room. But no, she needed these socks. Kaminari had somehow ended up coming here uninvited, not that anybody really cared, and also (un)miraculously had already made a mess five minutes into being here. Kirishima and Sero were kind enough to keep quiet while Bakugo went on his boy-crush tangent.
"Well, what do you like about him?" Ashido looked up at her friend, tilting her head to the side like a confused dog.
Bakugo tsk'd. "What, you want me to swoon him with my words?"
"Yes, actually." The girl looked all to keen on that idea.
"I'm not getting mushy for Icy-Hot."
"Can't tell if that's a pet name or an insult." Kaminari didn't shut up.
Bakugo seethed. "It's most certainly not a pet name."
"Right~."
"Ignore him." Sero shoved his annoying friend's face out of the way. "Have you found out what his mark is?"
Bakugo clenched his jaw and avoid eye contact. Sero smirked, bingo.
"Alright," The Black haired boy nodded. "What is it?"
"I can't just f-fucking tell you?!" Bakugo cursed himself for stuttering.
"Dude, we won't judge. Even if it's sappy, or stupid... all of ours are pretty wild." Kirishima blushes only slightly. Yeah, his was a little extravagant to say the least.
Bakugo glanced up to Sero and mumbled it under his breath. The dark haired boy's ears perked up, shuffling just a hair closer. "Huh, didn't quite catch that." Bakugo found that hard to believe but he none the less clearness his throat with determination anyways.
"I love you."
The room went silent.
"Yes!" Jiro cheered from the bed. All eyes turned to her as she noticed the tension build up. "Oh, sorry. Found the socks. What's going on?" She turned her phone face down on the pillow, attention back where it should be.
"Todoroki's Mark says 'I love you'." Kaminari snickered.
Jiro rolled her eyes. "Good luck getting Captain Stubborn to say that."
"Hey!" Bakugo barked back.
The girl simply shrugged with a remotely apologetic smile. Whatever.
"I mean, just for all technicality sake, you haven't- Ugh, said that yet... to him, right?" Kirishima raised his hand.
The blond twitched. "God what- fucking, Kirishima, fucking- n-no?!"
Kirishima gave a quick laugh. "Hey, hey! I was just checking! Don't get upset man!"
"Do you though?" Ashido asked.
"What?" Bakugo asked confused.
She tossed her hand around in the air, looking to the side and then back to him to try and send the hint; nothing. "Do you love him?"
Bakugo pursed his lips and decided now was a good time to finally rest his legs. He gently scooted Jiro over to the other side of the bed, with little to no complaint, and sighed when his ass hit the bed.
"I'm in high school. I don't- I don't fuckin' know what the means?!"
The room seemed to think that was a pretty fair response. Jiro even went out of her way to show support by placing a hand on his knee. She wasn't a very touchy-feely friend like the rest of the group, so Bakugo knew she was really trying.
"Well, I for one knew it was love at first sight when Jiro and I met!" Kaminari wiggled his eyebrows to the girl on the bed.
She simply shook her head with a smile. Those two were getting closer, Bakugo could feel it. He was rooting for them.
"I mean, even if you don't know, couldn't you just say it to him and see what happens?" Kirishima offered an solution.
Sero nodded. "Yeah, and if that doesn't work then at least your feelings got across to him. So even if you lose you win."
Bakugo felt like in some sense that could work, unless-
"What if he says no?!"
The whole room groaned isync. Bakugo bit his bottom lip as not understanding what the fuck he wasn't getting.
"Dude, man, pal, bro, guy... buddy, he's got it too." Kirishima sighed.
"Got what?!"
Kaminari scooted inbetween Jiro and Bakugo and slung his arm around Bakugo, getting real up close to his ear. "The hots."
"Ew gross." Bakugo shoved at him. "Don't say it like that, weirdo."
Ashido clapped to gather the boys' (and girl's) attention. "So it's settled then."
"What's settled?" The blond growled.
"You're going to go over to the boys' dorm room, knock on the kids door, and profess your love to him!"
"I am doing no such thing!"
"You are doing such thing!"
Bakugo balled his fists into the extra fabric of his loose pants near his knees. He was supposed to do this... tonight. Like now, today? At this hour?!
"I-I can't!" He rose.
Ashido got up with him. "Yes. You. Can." She shook his shoulders.
"Dude, seriously, the worst that could happen is that Todoroki says 'no', for whatever reason. Honestly, you guys seem so close that even if he didn't return your feeling you both could still be friends. Todoroki isn't like that." Kirishima stood up and patted his pal on the back. "You've got this!" He gave a thumbs up.
It was corny, but Bakugo appreciated it.
"Who knows, maybe he'll pull you in so y'all can smash." Kaminari shrugged with the hugest grin on his face. "'M so glad I don't room next to Todoroki, wouldn't wanna here Bakugo moaning like a b-"
Kaminari was slammed into a wall.
"Shut up!" Bakugo, more or less, just yelled. Kaminari was so good at getting under his skin, made him feel a least a little less worried.
Sero groaned from the corner of the room. "Nooooo, I room next to Todoroki." He wined.
"You can room with me tonight if you want." Kaminari offered, still stumped on the floor next to the wall.
"Ok cool." Sero smiled.
Bakugo was a nice shade of watermelon pink. "We're not fucking tonight you idiots!"
"So you're implying there will be future adventures of fucking." Kaminari pointed a finger in the air like this idea had just suddenly dawned on him.
"He also didn't correct you when he said Todoroki was the top." Sero snickered.
Bakugo's blood boiled. "Would you-"
Ashido tugged him back onto the bed before he could punch her friends in the face.
"Hey, hey, hey!" She hissed, dragging Bakugo into a sitting position. "Ignore them, they just want you to get all your jitters out."
"I mean, I also want to be right about the bottom thing. I have a bet on with-" Kaminari was immediately shushed by Kirishima, who dramatically put a hand over his friend's mouth.
"Bitch, you fucking what?!" Bakugo tried to get back up again but was ultimately forced back down by Ashido.
"Ignore them." She groaned. These boys were making her job much, much harder. "Look, you're going to head over there right now and tell Todoroki how hot he is and how much you want to kiss his face." As she said this she fixed up Bakugo's button up shirt by smoothing it out and undoing one more button on his shirt.
"What are you doing?!" He swatted at her paws.
She gave a face innocent look. "We're trying to make you look ravishing." The girl winked.
"Don't- Don't unbutton my shirt?!" He wheezed.
"No, listen to me, alright. I may be a girl, and not a gay man, but I also like men, so I feel like I have a say. I know what I'm talking about when I say that you need to unbutton this shirt. Also, if you really want to get his attention, you'll put on a pair of tight pants."
"Bakugo, tight pants? Ha! The last time he wore those was when Best Jeanist made him sport them, and he hated his life because he needed me to rip them off of him." Kirishima laughed.
"No way!" Ashido looked in between the two of them. "He did what now?!"
Bakugo groaned and tilted his head back to the ceiling. He didn't want to be reminded of that.
"You had to... rip off Bakugo's pants?" Sero parroted back with tears on the verge of pouting from his eyes from how much he was holding back from laughing.
"Ok, how about this!" Ashido laughed, continuing to help Bakugo our by folding his sleeves up to his elbows. "We do that again, but this time Todoroki is helping you out of your jeans."
Bakugo blushed. "You guys are sick and twisted, you know that?! Y'all are like second hand embarrassing horny!"
"I'm coining that term as of today!" Kirishima laughed out. "Can that be my Twitter bio?!"
"It can all be out Twitter bios!" Kaminari screamed a laugh as he opened up Twitter beside Kirishima. They both almost bust a lung typing in '"second hand embarrassing horny" - Bakugo Katsuki, 2018'. These two were face too easy to please.
"So yeah, tight jeans!" Ashido clapped after finishing the boy's sleeves.
"No, fuck no!"
~•*•~
"Yes, oh my god, yes!" Ashido slapped Bakugo's ass the second he emerged from Kirishima's room.
"I'm not wearing these!" He didn't even bother yelling at her for smacking his ass, he could probably barley feel anything anyways because of the way these jeans were sucking on his lower half to begin with.
Kirishima, even though basically the same height as Bakugo, was by far not the same size. Kirishima ended up pulling out a pair of jeans from middle school that barely fit him then and surprisingly fit Bakugo like a glove now.
"Your ass looks great!" Ashido laughed.
Bakugo covered his ass with his hands. "Don't fucking look at it!"
"That's the point!"
"He's not even gonna see them since I'm just going to facing forward when he answers the door." Bakugo explained.
"Yeah but," She said while gently tapping his butt. "When he invites you in, you're going to strut your stuff all the way over to that bed, and sit down nice and pretty." The girl giggled.
"That's not what's gonna happen because I'm not wearing these." He announced.
"Wow, would you look at that." Ashido grinned. "Your room keys are in your pants that are in Kirishima's room, which, you don't have a key for. So unless you wanna go naked~."
Ashido was the devil, maybe a succubus, a masochist? She was something, alright.
"When this is all over," Bakugo said, ready to walk down the hall of shame. "I'm burning these pants, and not talking to any of you for a week."
"Hey! The pants didn't hurt anybody!" Kirishima whined.
"They hurt me!" Bakugo hissed.
"They hurt real good though!" The pink girl gave a thumbs up.
And with that, Bakugo was up a flight of stairs and ready to suffocate in his own embarrassment.
Chapter End Notes
Hnnnggzzz Sorry, I know I'm the worst. How long have I been gone? Like a month?? Maybe??? Yeah, sorry.. shits been wild, but I'm back! Did yah miss me??? Don't worry, if you miss me so much you can just say hi on Twitter or something, I'm legit always there. Anyways, thank you all so much for your patience. This chapter honestly fucking kicked me in the ass and I rewrote it like (no joke) five times completely, it never felt right. However, I like this, and we're going to leave it at this. I hate saying goodbye, so we shall leave that in the next chapter, which sadly, will be the last. I know, I feel like I've been a cock tease for a whole month and then I just come back like "whoops, here I am, I can't wait for y'all to suffer." But no really, I've been on this sight for such a short period of time with only two stories out (both about Bakugo, please save me, there's probably more coming tbh) and y'all have shown me so much support and love. I honestly with I could express how much wisdom y'all give me to keep going. I genuinly do love every comment, there's so sweet, you all are so sweet?!?! Can I adopt you all??? I'm so corny and gross, ok I'll stop blabbering!! I'm sorry! Thank you again, and I'll see y'all in the next one!!!
Chapter Thirteen: More
Chapter Notes
I've been gone for so long, please don't hate me, I'll explain it at the end...Thank you for reading!
See the end of the chapter for more notes
"Maybe if I jump out of a window and break my legs I could pretend to die and just never have to worry about this again."
Yeah, ok Bakugo, you keep telling yourself that will work.
Every step up to the third floor of the boy's dorm felt impossibly hard to climb. Maybe it had to do with the tight jeans, or maybe it was the lead in his stomach, but each step felt like a marathon to Bakugo's heart.
This wasn't that hard was it? I mean, all Bakugo was up against was Papa Todoroki and (probably) some Malibu Barbie looking American girl, yeah, no pressure.
There was so much pressure.
Bakugo somehow didn't realize he was in front of Todoroki's door until he was there. Did he teleport? Honestly, finding out he had some new crazy quirk was a lot more realistic than Bakugo actually knocking on this door.
He knocked, his fist just convulsed and basically slapped the door. Oh fuck, oh fuck, ok, he slapped the door. Would Todoroki hear that? Maybe he just thinks someone hit his door and left, because like, who the fuck knocks of the door with one knock?
"Yes?" Todoroki opened the door.
Bakugo felt his lungs dry up and his heart drop. Why did Todoroki answer the door, why did this man have good hearing?
"Bakugo?" Todoroki must have noticed the look of fear painting his friend's face. He opened the door slightly more to allow the boy to walk in.
No, he couldn't walk in, not now when he was disturbingly aware of the fact that his ass would be seen. Was that a thing, did people worry about that?
"Bakugo?" Todoroki asked again, this time more worry laced his voice.
Bakugo glanced up at him, gnawing on his bottom lip like it was going to somehow distract his from the inevitable. "We need to talk." Is what Bakugo settled with saying; that's all his mouth would allow him.
The other boy stepped aside fully, now allowing Bakugo to (ashamedly) walk past Todoroki. With each step Bakugo could barely focus on getting to sit down on the bed, he didn't want to go too slow, not too fast... how do normal people walk again? Somehow, miraculously, he made it. Ass on bed and all.
Todoroki was still standing up by the now closed door, looking worried, shocked, confused... Bakugo couldn't tell, he just stayed silent as the boy made his way over to sit next to him. This would be easier since he didn't have to face him when he talked. Nothing worse than seeing disgust cross over your big, dumb crush's face when you tell him you love him.
Bakugo let out a saddened laugh, god he was fucked.
"Bakugo?" Todoroki asked again, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"
The blond sighed. "Yeah, 'm fine." He shrugged.
Todoroki didn't looked convince, but he smiled regardless. "I was worried, you're new look made me think you were having a midlife crisis." He chuckled.
Bakugo flushed. "Y-You don't like it?"
Oh my fucking god. Oh my fucking god. Oh my fucking god. Oh my fucking god.
He should have never let Ashido convince him the tight pants and half button shirt looked good. He probably just looked like some weird, wanna-be-sexy pirate.
"Mmm, no. It's good, I like it." The other boy squeezed his shoulder.
Bakugo hands stared sweating. That was annoying, and stupid... and gross. Did his body hate him? Probably, he doesn't even know what he's asking himself that.
Todoroki, bless this kind man's heart, seemed to have picked up Bakugo's worry and just sat there silently waiting for the blond to gather his courage to speak.
"So," Todoroki tried to nudged the conversation along in the most tactful way possible. "What did you want to talk about?"
The blond swallowed hard. Actually following through with it sounded so much easier when he was outside the room just minutes ago. He couldn't tell Todoroki he loved him. He didn't even know what love was. He was just a fucking kid. And what if, magically, Todoroki said yes. Out of pity, or genuine love, -didn't matter. Bakugo wasn't meant to- wasn't born to have a SoulMate. Wouldn't he just be an assshole for stringing Todoroki along and toying with his feelings?!
Bakugo felt immediate regret coming in here saying he 'needed to talk'. If he pussied out now is just look like he was hiding something. He was, but Todoroki didn't need to know that.
Think Bakugo. Think.
"Do you think- do I really act like a villain?"
It was true concern, yes, but Bakugo didn't actually want to talk about that. Not now at least. But here he was, talking to his stupid crush about his stupid insecurities and fuck o'clock at night. Wow Bakugo, very fucking romantic. These tight jeans were used for nothing and Ashido would be beyond upset. He didn't want to be the one to tell her he chickened out and ended up talking to Todoroki about his big fear when he would have been sucking face by now. This truly was an amazing moment in history.
"What?!" Todoroki looked extremely caught off guard, and for good reason. "Bakugo." He sighed, sadly.
"You know what-" Bakugo stood. "This is stupid- I'm stupid. Let's just- Let's not talk about it, alright?" He scratched the back of his head in distress.
"But we-"
"No it's- it's fine, I'm- fucking- just ignore everything I've said. I'll just- go?" Bakugo stammered trying to shuffle his way to the door.
Todoroki grasped his wrist to stop him. "Wait, no, don't. We can talk about this, this isn't stupid. Come on," he tried to guide him back to bed slowly. "We can talk about it if you want?"
He didn't. He actually really didn't. It felt beyond dumb to cover up a love confession with a fucking fear confession. How the fuck did he even get here? Bakugo is the only person alive that could get himself into this position, basically all on his own. He was truly talented in all aspects of life. Even the parts he'd rather not be great in...
"Fine." He hung his head. "Just, I don't want to get into much of it. I'm sorry, I'm- there's too much going on right now. I should, like, put this on you- with all of what you're going through. Fuck, just- I'm-"
"Hey?" Todoroki's hand slipped higher up the blond's arm, to his shoulder, and gazed down at his worriedly. "We can talk about, we can not talk about it, either is fine."
Todoroki offered a weak smile and Bakugo was glad he was sitting because his legs felt numb. Todoroki could almost out-do Deku in the sugar coated sweetness that was being given to him, it was all just too nice and kind.
"Another time." Bakugo concluded with a sigh. "I'm too out of it to go through all of that, if I'm being honest."
Halfie nodded slightly with a reassuring smile. "Mmhum." He hummed.
The blond stared at the door, trying to gather himself because, fuck, he was a mess. Todoroki dared to rub his thumb across his shoulder and up and over the blond's collarbones. Bakugo tried not to physically twitch but he couldn't stop himself.
"Katsuki."
Fuck.
Bakugo turned his attention back to his crush. The soft lighting from the window outlined Todoroki like the whole ass man-god-prince-fuck he was. The blond kept his focus on the multicolored eyes in front of him, as he watched the pair take in the details of his face. It was almost as if Todoroki was just as transfixed as Bakugo was.
"Actually, it's good that you're here." The other boy hummed, scooting almost impossibly closer than they were already before. "I also had something on my mind."
Bakugo didn't miss the the glance Todoroki stole when the blond pursed his lips in confusion. He even tilted his head to the side to further prove that, yes, Todoroki was for sure eyeing up his entire face (mostly his lips).
"Mm? Yeah?" Katsuki barely whispered. He knew he was getting caught up in the all too friendly suggestions. With his luck, the other was probably going to say he was getting married in a week and Bakugo would just have to stare at Todoroki's pretty face an nod it off. The world was a cruel place like that.
Bakugo blinked slowly, fearing if he blinked too fast the pretty picture before him would disappear just as fast. Maybe if he hoped hard enough Todoroki would humor him and at least surprise him with 'the wedding's off'! Because truthfully, honestly, Bakugo wanted to be selfish and wrap the boy in his arms and never let his damned father catch a glimpse of him so-called-son again. He wishes he could. But he'd settle- he'd settle for at least some of Todoroki's happiness.
The last thing Katsuki wanted to see was another person get trapped in their own soulmark. He wouldn't even wish it on his greatest enemies...
"I was wondering..." The sentence didn't pose itself as a question, but never the less Bakugo was ready to give an answer.
"Yeah?" The blond couldn't help but interrupt, if only for a few seconds to get his breathing intact. Stalling wouldn't do much for his racing heart, but fuck it, he was already on his way to having heart failure at this rate.
Todoroki blinked like a cat, slowly and calmly. If they were in any other sort of situation Bakugo may have laughed, but this, this was different.
Their breath was mingling in with each other, and the city lights from just outside the window was painting every thing in Todoroki's bland room with a warm, angelic glow. The blond didn't know how long he'd been staring, probably not as long as he had been believing, but it felt like the question Todoroki had asked was asked hours ago.
When the other opened his lips to speak again, Bakugo flinched back lightly. He swore he could feel Todoroki's mouth move on his own, he didn't even realize he had gotten that close.
"I was wondering?" He repeated himself again, leaning forward to bring back the impossible closeness once again.
Bakugo swallowed, he was certain he wasn't imagining all of the social queues the other boy was hinting at.
"Maybe we-" Todoroki dared to fix his free hand just next to Bakugo's thigh.
Warning bells and red flags began to sound in Bakugo's brain because he definitely, definitely wasn't imagining that. The dip from new weight being pushed just next to Bakugo's side was enough for him to slightly tilt his head and focus on that hand right next to him.
"Katsuki." Todoroki called again.
Bakugo swiftly turned his attention back to the boy, their noses brushed at the all too closeness.
If Todoroki was begging for Bakugo's attention, he had it. He most certainly had it.
"Can I?" Todoroki asked an actual question this time, never moving from the predatory closeness he had enveloped onto the blond.
Bakugo's eyes stared up at the duel-colored iris that weren't looking back him but rather his damn lips again. That should have been all the answers he need, laid out right before him on a silver platter just ready to be taken, but the skepticism pumped though his veins like hot lava.
What if he said yes?
What if he said no?
"Todoroki?" Bakugo asked back in confusion. This wasn't real, this couldn't be happening.
Todoroki had a fiancé, a SoulMate, a whole life of his own, he couldn't just... do whatever this was.
Todoroki pulled back, just far enough for their noses to graze again. "Yes?"
To answer a question with a question pushed Bakugo physically, and literally, in a corner. He didn't know why he couldn't just give in at this point.
Just kiss him back, it's obvious he's waiting for you to make the move.
And while one whole half- maybe more- was just screaming at him to just lean forward, the other part was pulling him back like it was a life of death situation.
But it couldn't be that easy. Because a kiss was never just a kiss. He'd fucking know... that's basically why Deku fell in love with him in the first place- not that he wanted to remind himself of that entire situation while someone he did love back was just waiting for him to make the fucking move. But he couldn't move.
This would just further complicate everything. This wasn't supposed to happen, this couldn't happen, that's what fate and the world have been saying this whole time. No SoulMark, no SoulMate. That was basic logic that even Kaminari could understand. He could just-
"Katsuki." Todoroki begged for what felt like the eighteenth time that night. He must have noticed the wrinkle forming between the blond's brows, and the absolute panic etched across his face. "You're over thinking it." He brushed back a strand of Bakugo's hair.
Bakugo confesses that, yes he's right, but was he really? And when did they start using each other's first names?!
"I- I just..." Only Todoroki could bring him to the limit of a blubbering, blushing mess. "I... Ugh."
Bakugo watched as the Half and Half boy tried to cover a snicker (poorly).
"Hey!" Bakugo hissed lightly, slapping one of his palms down. He was aiming for the bed but he ended up hitting the edge of Todoroki's knee.
After Todoroki composed himself he gave Bakugo another one of those looks. He didn't really know what to call it, maybe it was endearment, or lust, maybe just genuine happiness... but it was something Bakugo had a hard time putting a name on.
With a smile tugging at his lips, Bakugo nearly forgot what he even came here for. This little moment of quiet euphoria was enough to get him lost in his own mind.
Why was he here again?
"I love you."
Right, that's why.
Bakugo paused, blinked, and stared into Todoroki's multi-colored eyes for a solid minute, unmoving. A cold sweat tingled against his now ill-colored pale skin. He opened his mouth and breathed heavily, trying to conjure up any structured sentence that his brain could form, but was left with static rolling around in his all too empty brain.
"Katsuki, I love you."
The words rattled around in blond's brain for a moment of silence. The bare walls caved in around the two of them and all the was left was just him and Todoroki-Shoto, Shoto Todorki.
And as the masterful wordsmith he was, Bakugo opened his mouth and muttered a "What" all too quietly.
Shoto, smiled so softly that the smile was nearly only in his eyes. He sighed, which almost sounded like a laugh. And for the third time that night he repeated himself. "I love you."
The furrow between Bakugo's brows started to give him a headache. He tried to calm all his nerves down but his body felt like it had been dumped in a pool of ice.
The silence seemed to turn sour rather quickly. Shoto grew progressively more uncomfortable the longer Bakugo just stared up at him quizzically. Shoto turned to look outside his window which must have snapped Bakugo out of his gaze because his deathly white skin was now burning, deep red.
"Wait- no, huh?" Bakugo nearly yelled. Todoroki blinked rapidly at the sudden change in pitch. "I was- no wait, fuck you?!"
Todorki laughed again at Bakugo's colorful language choices at a time like this.
"No, you listen here, alright! I came all the way here, ok?! In this- this stupid outfit. This isn't even mine, these pants, not mine! I don't even- I was supposed to say this, what?!" The blond flustered about with his hands, pulling on the cuffs of his own shirt and ruffling his hair erratically. "You can't just- what the fuck is happening?!"
"You're ruining the mood." The other chuckled half heartedly, taking his reaction as a good one.
"Ok yeah, maybe, what are you gonna do about it?!" Bakugo smirked up at the boy in front of him. Todorki brought their hands together before them, right in between their folded legs.
"Can I kiss you?" Shoto cutely brushed their noses together like earlier. Which Katsuki deduced that it absolutely drives him insane.
"Mmm." He mumbled reassuringly.
Todoroki leaned in, as if to kiss him finally and stopped just before. "Only if you say you love me back." He teased.
Bakugo's eyes were already shut tight but he still managed to roll his eyes like it meant anything. "I love you back."
Todorki snorted. "That's not what I-"
Bakugo wouldn't let him finish, he'd been teasing him for a solid hour with his stupid lips. He was going to kiss him, and he was going to like it.
All too quickly and all too shortly was the kiss ended; Bakugo would have sworn it never happened if he couldn't feel the heat prickle his lips.
"So," Shoto asked all to cocky-like, still holding their hands together. "Does this mean..." He dragged out the ending for Bakugo to fill in the blanks.
Bakugo didn't like the question. He just wanted them to go back to kissing and holding hands so he wouldn't have to be reminded that this was all just temporary.
He let out a big sigh which Shoto immediately recognized as a problem.
"Whatever you're thinking I want you to stop." Todoroki announced sternly.
Bakugo pursed his lips and tsk'd. "No wait, you don't understand I-"
"I do understand, Katsuki. You are my SoulMate."
Bakugo made a face and squeezed their conjoined hands like he had been shocked. "You can't just decide whether or not we're SoulMates, that's not how that works?"
"I'm not deciding anything, I know you are, I can feel it." Todoroki breathed.
Bakugo was skeptical, rightfully so. There was no way you could just become someone's SoulMate, no matter how many forums he read that proved exactly Todoroki's point. It just didn't seem plausible.
"Feel it? Feel what?" Bakugo questioned.
"My SoulMark?" Todoroki answered back like the blond was brainless. "You can feel it- it just- it's hard to explain if you don't have one."
"Wow, shocking." Bakugo rolled his eyes.
Todoroki rolled his as well. "No I mean it." He punctured his statement. "You can feel it. Like a heartbeat, or a headache. Sometimes it even burns, only when I'm around you though."
"Wait, you're serious?" The blond half laughed. It sounded like he was making this up, but the earnest smile plastered on Halfie's face begged otherwise.
Todoroki placed Bakugo's palm around his back, almost like a one armed hug, and pressed it into his Mark spot.
"Say it."
"Say what?"
"Say 'I love you'."
Bakugo swallowed down his fear that rose up his throat like bile. He nibbled his bottom lip in hesitation and took on deep sigh.
"I love you."
His palm warmed up, and almost thumped like he had been pressing his chest to a runner's heart.
"Woah, wait- is that?" Bakugo tried to pull his hand away but Todoroki held it there like glue.
"You're my SoulMate, Bakugo." Todoroki announced. The blond almost wished he had said his first name, it sounded so much better coming from his mouth than anyone else's.
Bakugo closed his eyes and rested his head against the other's broad chest, palming the beating Mark hidden behind the layer of clothing. Maybe later Todoroki would let him indulge himself and he could feel it for real, with no shirt separating them. Wishful thinking he supposed.
"Isn't it kinda weird that you have a heartbeat on your back? Kinda gross too?" Katsuki scrunched his nose and glanced up at the pretty boy above him.
"Yeah, but you make it like this, so I like it." Shoto rested his chin of the blond's head. He let go of Bakugo's hand and it (un)surprisingly stayed put.
"It- it almost," Bakugo chuckled, burying his face in his lover's chest. "It almost feels like your back is pregnant." He wheezed.
"Oh, well are you going to help me raise our child, Katsuki?" Todoroki played along with a giant grin that Bakugo couldn't see.
The other hissed and batted himself away from Todoroki's hold. "Ew gross, stop talking about being pregnant! That's so fucking weird!?!"
"You brought it up?!" Todorki defended himself. Grabbing at Bakugo fully and wrestling him to lay down on the bed with him.
Bakugo defeated, allowed Todoroki to pull the smaller boy against his chest to lay upon. Even though he grumbled, the blond secretly loved being right on top of Todoroki's full chest, while said boy ran his fingers through the soft, blond locks.
It put Bakugo at ease to know it was all over. No more worrying or crying over dying alone. He had Todoroki and that's all that really mattered. Bakugo guesses that it didn't really matter if he had a Mark or not, in the end, if Shoto loved him back then it didn't really matter if he had a stanza of words permanently written across his body. All that mattered was Todoroki was here in the now with him. Plus, friendship necklaces, matching tattoos, and even wedding bands all symbolized a connection. He didn't need a Mark to remind him that Shoto loved him, as long as he had the real thing... who cared, really?
Regardless, it didn't stop hims for muttering "kinda wish I had one too" against Todoroki's chest.
"Hmm?" He asked.
Bakugo sighed, pulling his face away to speak clearly. "I said, I kinda wish I had a Mark."
"I can give you one if you like?" Todoroki peered down to the boy nuzzled against his chest.
Bakugo quickly covered his burning face back up, flush against the other's chest. "You're fuckin' gross, Shoto!" He yelled.
"Awh," Halfie pet through his hair. "I like it when you say my name all embarrassed."
"Would you shut up!" Bakugo hissed, embarrassed.
Todoroki nudged the blond's shoulders lightly. "Katsuki~" He sang, trying to get his attention. "Look at me."
Bakugo burrowed, or at least tried to, deeper into the boy's chest. "No!" He whined.
"Look at me, please?"
"No!"
"Fine then, I won't kiss you."
Bakugo hesitated, not wanting to show how much he desperately wanted to do that again. Eventually he lifted his head up to coy looking Shoto.
"You're stupid." Bakugo pouted, crawling up further to be eye level.
"Stupid in love." Todoroki comically wiggled his eyebrows.
"You're gross."
"Gross in love?"
"Whatever."
Shoto carded his hands through the blond strands and tugged him forward to connect their lips again. This time Todoroki attempted to deepen the kiss and Bakugo wasn't having it when he licked the blond's lips.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Bakugo roared, pushing himself off the other to scowl down at him. He wiped his lips with his back of his hand.
"Kissing you?" Todoroki smiled curiously up at the blond like the question was almost comical.
"You can't lick me?!" Bakugo stammered out, still wiping the saliva off his face with the back of his hand.
Todoroki pushed his hands down from the roots of Bakugo's blond hair, to wrap gently around the boy's small waist. Bakugo looked suspicious as Todorki lifted himself back off the bed and into a sitting position that forced Bakugo into the other's lap.
"I can't?" He asked, challengingly.
Bakugo snorted and pouted, placing his arms around Todoroki's shoulders. "Fine, just- do whatever, I guess."
Bakugo wasn't trying to sound as inexperienced as he was, because truthfully, he's only ever kissed like two people... and neither of them instigated with a tongue. Was Todoroki trying to eat him?! He wheezed.
Todoroki tightened his grip around his waist, glancing up at the blond with half lidded eyes that just looked like trouble. "Whatever, huh?"
"Yeah!" Bakugo yipped. "'Whatever', can you not hear?!"
"No, I heard you perfectly fine. Just making sure is all."
Todoroki went in for another kiss, soft and simple, more of just a touch of lips. Bakugo could handle that, and he appreciated immensely that he didn't have to spell out he was a 'stupid virgin' because that would be extra embarrassing to just say out loud. Halfie slid and arm up Bakugo's spine- he flinched at that- and grasped the back of his head for guidance.
Todoroki dared to lick over Bakugo's lips again and be squirmed.
"Hnnng!" He made a noise that sounded a lot like distress and disgust mixed into one.
"You're supposed to open your mouth." Todoroki half smiled when he pushed back to look up at the boy grumbling profanities under his breath.
"Yeah well," Bakugo huffed. "That shits weird, 'ight!"
"Weird, huh?"
"Yes! Weird, ok! You need to get your ears checked you stupid idiot!"
"Mmm, alright." Todoroki responded back with another smug smirk dancing across his kiss swollen lips.
Bakugo made a face. "Don't be coy, asshole. Just say it!"
"Have you ever even kissed anyone before?" He asked, playing with the ends of the porcupine like blond strands.
"Yes! Are you- does that matter?! I've just never-"
"You've never done it with tongue though..."
Bakugo blushed. "Ok, yeah, and?!"
Todoroki nodded. "Nothing." He answered nicely. "Just proving myself right."
"You're an asshole!" Bakugo slapped the other's chest.
"You don't have to get mad, we can practice." Bakugo blinked too fast but he'd swear on his own grave that Todoroki fucking winked at him.
"No, fuck you, I'm leaving." He attempted to get up but was stopped by the from hold around his waist.
Todoroki pulled him closer, snuggling his face in the side of his neck. He giggled which tickled Bakugo immensely but he tried to pretend like he was unfazed.
"I'm sorry." Halfie smiled into the blond's neck. "I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable, I just think you're cute when I tease you."
Bakugo pouted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you're annoying." He said with no bite in his words.
After a pause, Todoroki pulled himself off the other and gazed up at Bakugo. He seemed like he wanted to say something, so Todoroki just continued to look up at him.
"We can, by the way." Bakugo announced, but not daring to look down at the other.
"Can what?" Todoroki asked earnestly.
The other glanced down at the beautiful boy below him, got embarrassed, and looked away. "I mean like, we can... practice. If you want!"
"You're so cute!"
"That's it- nope- I'm actually leaving now!" Bakugo yelled, attempting to thrash away with no avail. "Let me go, asshole!"
"You're being rather mean to your soulmate, Katsuki." Todoroki chuckled, still holding his vice grip on Bakugo's waist.
Bakugo huffed. "I hate you." He rolled his eyes.
"You don't hate me."
"I don't, but still."
Todoroki hummed a content sound while just admiring his soulmate; his soulmate- the real deal. Not some fake one that was forced on him because of some arranged marriage. Nope! The guy sitting in his lap that almost always had a permanent scowl on his face was his, all his!
"Quit staring at me like that!" The boy snapped.
Todoroki shrugged. "Why not?"
Bakugo was convinced he ended the wrong man's room, he'd expected Todoroki to me more subtle with his love. It wasn't bad per-say, it just wanted what he had pictured once they became a thing. It wasn't horrible being all cute and cuddly behind closed doors, but Bakugo would be lying if he said he enjoyed any form of PDA. That shit was gross.
"Ok, whatever, now let me go." Bakugo almost smiled. Halfie cemented his grip on the blond's waist as if saying 'no'. Bakugo frowned. "No really, it's late. I have to get back to my room and-"
"Stay."
"Huh?"
"Stay... here, with me?"
He shuttered. Maybe Todoroki wasn't pulling his leg when he alluded to Mark him.
"You're- Wait, what?! No, I-!"
Todoroki sighed, drawing circles in Bakugo's side with his thumbs. "I didn't mean it like that. And you think I'm the naughty one."
"Don't fucking-" Bakugo whined. "You can't say that! Just say 'pervert' like every one else, you sicko!"
"I rather like the word-"
"Don't say it!"
"Naughty~"
The boy slapped his clammy palms on his soulmates chest. "I thought you were supposed to be..."
"Supposed to be?" Todoroki questioned. He was certainly smirking and looking dangerously coy at the game he was playing, Bakugo was pissed.
He huffed a breath of air through his mouth. "You know what I mean!"
"I don't, enlighten me?"
Any word that came out of Todoroki's mouth, mixed with his high class way of speaking, and that look that straight up made Bakugo's knees week, was straight up unfair. The last time he heard the word 'naughty' was from the radio last Christmas. And if he was wrong, which he usually wasn't, his dad had the audacity to use words like that so innocently that it almost hurt.
To top it all off Todoroki was having an all out brawl with his mouth just minutes ago with tongue- with tongue. No, Bakugo was not over it.
He wanted to spend the night, he did... Todoroki even said they'd just be sleeping. In the back of his mind he knew that was utter bullshit, but Todoroki wouldn't do anything that Bakugo didn't want, so it seemed safe enough. He could trust Todoroki, he just didn't know how much he could trust himself.
Staying the night most certainly didn't sound terrible, and honestly, after all Bakugo's been through, he feels justified for allowing himself to indulge... just a little.
He ends up spending the night in the exact, tightly fitted close he came in. Which, in hindsight, was both the best and worse decision ever.
"I'm going to rip this off you." Todoroki huffs, annoyed, after fiddling with a button for far too long under his circumstances.
Bakugo shaked at the implications but stayed more annoyed than anything because, no, Todoroki is not ruining his sexy-pirate cosplay shirt, thing. "You are not ruining this!" He huffs, deciding to just take over himself. "You're impatient."
Todorki leaves the 'You are too' out, even though Bakugo can basically hear those words just by glancing up at the boy's face.
"Would you like to borrow some pajamas?" Todoroki asked while getting up to fetch himself something to wear to bed.
This interaction is domestic. Bakugo takes note of it rather quickly, almost too quickly. Maybe it's the fact that Todoroki is Todoroki, and just the thought of having this man as his Soulmate just seems highly unbalanced in Bakugo's favor. But it just doesn't sit too well that they are already this- this comfortable.
Todoroki dismisses Bakugo's fear rather quickly when the blond brings it up. Saying that 'they had always been like this, you're just noticing it now'. And yeah, maybe that's true, but it still leaves the horrible aftertaste of 'this could all end soon' in the back of Bakugo's throat.
Halfie hands the boy a pair of loose fitting sweats, something that Bakugo would practically swim in, for pajamas. The blond shoo's away the shirt and contently pulls on his pj pants for the night.
"I know you're worried about all of this, I am too, but I want you to know that I'm not going anywhere." Todoroki states while comfortably taking a seat on his bed next to his SoulMate.
Bakugo pursed his lips like that was not entirely what his brain had been worried about for the past hour and a half. "What are you talking about?" He lies, terribly.
"I don't know how my father will react, I can only assume not good. I don't know how she will react, my fiancé- ex-fiance." Bakugo rolled his eyes. "I not sure how anyone will take this, if I'm being honest. I don't entirely have a plan, and I'm sure you don't really as well. But, regardless, I think that... wherever I end up it's going to be with you right beside me. So really, I can't say that I'm worried. Whatever happens... happens, and I'm not prepared, and I'm not ready, but with you... it will be bearable- no, excuse me- it will be worth it."
Bakugo swallowed down a choked noise. Brows entirely pushed their limit as his eyes strain to hold back tears, because now is not the time to cry. "Damn." He half laughed- half sobbed. He sniffled a little bit, turning away from the boy next to him.
"It's going to be hard." Todoroki placed a hand on Bakugo's thigh, rubbing away his worries with his thumb and forefingers. "I just want to prepare you for the worst."
"We'll get through it, we're Heros... aren't we?" Bakugo genuinely smiled, taking in the creases around the other's eyes. He's worried, been thinking this over countless times, Bakugo can tell; he's been there too. He didn't expect this to be easy, he didn't expect Todoroki to just fall into his arms like the prince he is. Bakugo knows he's gonna have to work for it. But he's ready and he's right. It's all worth it. It's all so fucking worth it.
Todoroki attempts to tuck them both in but is quickly shot down at how 'motherly' he's acting with gets both boys disgustingly flustered and laughing. Through the night they held each other close, breathing in one another's scent, and dreaming up promises they'll die to keep for each other. It's stupid, it's rash and unorganized, and it's cute- disgustingly, dramatically cute- and Bakugo thrives off of it; getting the best sleep he's had for a while.
~•*•~
The next morning Bakugo insisted he leave early, as to not draw attention of them both leaving at the same time. Neither of them were really ready to just out each other, and they respected one another for that. Breakfast was less discreet with roaming hands and bashfully coy smiles across the tables. Some trained eyes caught a handful of encounters that were tactfully not spoken about, again, which both parties were immensely grateful for. School and classes stayed roughly the same for that week, if only a few coy looks and small gestures were thrown in there, but almost entirely the same as always.
Bakugo, again, was surprised at how almost nothing had changed between them and yet he thought everything was different. He caught both Kirishima and Ashido both giving the pair a few odd glances, but really, nothing was directed or said and it felt great.
Everything was the same and yet everything was different. It was perfect.
Eventually, after much probing during one classroom break, Todoroki finally hinted at something, leaving Bakugo a red, bashful mess.
"So?" Kaminari swung an arm around the blond, pulling him close to not-so-quietly whisper into his ear. "You and Todoroki, Huh?"
"Yes?" Bakugo swatted at the arm. "Him and I?"
At this point the couple was being cruel, they knew it, but it was fun to pull their friends along for just a tad bit longer. It was certainly driving the entirety of class 1-A insane.
"Well?!" He probed again, this time actually jabbing a finger into the other's cheek.
Bakugo rolled his eyes. "Go away, you're annoying."
"Ugh, come on, bro!"
Bakugo continued to saunter up to the cafeteria with a giant smirk on his face and his distraught friends scampering quickly behind.
Todoroki, as seen from the first night together, had little to no patience when it came to annoyances. He was in the cusp of just outing he and Bakugo, which neither at this point were really hiding... they just really thought it was fun. And although Bakugo had Kaminari and Mina to annoy the shit out of him, Todoroki had never imagined Deku and Uraraka respectably to be just as bad, if not worse.
"Kacchan was wearing a sweatshirt I saw you wearing just about a month ago. Sharing clothing isn't unheard of, but the only people that have been given the right to borrow Kacchan's clothes are Mina, Kaminari once, and now you. You on the other hand have never shown anyone borrowing your clothes before which means-" Deku continued to ramble, pulling up his seat to sit down while he mumbled over his lunch.
The green boy's incessant rambles continued with Todoroki paying little to no attention to them. Uraraka only fueled the PowerPoint presentation like lecture with notes and random facts that even Todoroki didn't remember he had done.
"They shared a water that time!" The girl added with a chuckle.
And that was the last straw for Todoroki, he couldn't listen anymore to them pick apart the dumbest of the things; a water? Really people, sharing a water bottle means you're in love?! Todoroki was rolling.
"Where are you going?" Uraraka asked nervously when the boy stood up to leave. "We didn't offend you, did we?" He voice growing more and more worried by the syllable.
Todoroki didn't bother with a response, didn't even glance at her. He simply got up and headed over to his target in one fluid motion.
"Ah, just the man we'd like to see." Kaminari smiled up to man approaching their table. "What's up man?"
Bakugo looked skeptical as Todoroki quietly sat down and faced the blond with no words exchanged.
"What?" Bakugo asked, almost annoyed that Todoroki was feeding into both of their groups theories.
Bakugo only had a chance to barely open his mouth again before Todoroki was diving in for a kiss. Nothing crazy fancy, just long enough for every to watch in coming shock as Shoto Todoroki kissed Katsuki Bakugo in broad daylight during school lunch on a Wednesday afternoon. And just as swiftly as he came, he left, pulling back from the kiss with a warm smile and a pat of the head.
Bakugo was both blushing and cursing internally that everyone had watched all of that.
"Alrighty," Todoroki pulled up his chair again, sitting down calmly. "What were we discussing again?" He asked, taking a bite from his pile of rice.
The entire class the gawked in silence, Bakugo remotely included, until Kaminari respectively broke the silence.
"I knew it!" He yelled, throwing his hands up triumphantly.
Bakugo fixed himself, busying himself with the food in front of him to not look up from his plate. He wanted to tell everyone, just not like that! He turned to looked over with a pouted face over to the other table across the way at Todoroki. Todoroki simply smiled with a hint of a shrug. That's fine, Shoto can act all cool and smug about outing them, but when they pair up later for Hero class Bakugo's gonna best his ass.
Bakugo swirled his food around one more time, chancing a look back up his lover. Shoto peered over to his shoulder to his boyfriend with soft eyes. The blond practically melted, face melting from cat-like anger to absolutely tender smile.
"Oh wow, he's soft." Ashido mumbled behind a hand, as if that was going to conceal the words from anyone at the table.
Todoroki touched the back of his neck, appearing to get a scratch on his back, but Bakugo knew otherwise; the cute little words hidden discreetly underneath their matching school uniforms. Something blossomed in the pit of Bakugo's stomach, something warm and- in Ashido's words- soft. Later he'd trace those words with his fingers when the couple would be snuggled under the sheets of one of their beds. And just like that Todoroki mouthed the words silently Bakugo had been thinking:
"I love you."
Chapter End Notes
I wanna start of with a big thank you for everyone that stick it out and waited patiently while I chucked you all for months, thank you... So much fucking shit went down and if I explained it all to you you'd just get annoyed. But I'm here, and I'm back with a fucking bang, sluts. I really hope you enjoyed this and much as I have. I really hope it ends in a way you're all happy with. Endings always get me emotional and extreamly seceptical if I did I right or not. Endings man... the hardest part. So thank you again for putting up with my bullshit hiatus, and thank you for all your comments and kudos, really means a lot to me. I don't know what I'm doing next really, don't know if I'll stay in the MHA kick or head on over to Voltron, regardless, I hope at least some of you will be familiar faces in the next one. As always, you can find me on almost all socials with the name 'HeartfulCakes' or atleast a remotely close variant of that. Once again, thank you all, and I'll see yah in the next one. Take care!
Afterword
End Notes
Guess who the fucks back, sluts. It's me, your Dad! No honestly who the fucks mad that I can't pick between TodoBaku and KiriBaku... everyone I'm guessing. Anyways, I didn't think I'd ever make a Soulmate fic becasue they have been milked so dry. But yah know... here I am!
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