Archive of Our Own ^beta

xxi.

"You're really dense, I still can't believe it."

"Huh?"

"She, dumbass." Bakugou says, like it is obvious, pointing with his chin to where the girl has already walked to her table. "She was massively, abysmally, stupidly annoyingly hitting on you."

Todoroki blinks. "Oh."

Bakugou rolls his eyes and reaches out for the drink that sits in front of him. "Yeah."

There is a pause; and then, “Is that why you're jealous? Because she was flirting?”

"Hah?! I'm not fucking jealous!”

"Hm." Todoroki looks at him, "I mean, I'm not interested."

"And I don't fucking care, idiot." Bakugou scowls.

"It's fine." Todoroki says, as calm and irritatingly impassive as ever—and completely ignoring Bakugou. "I can tell her we're seeing each other."

"Hah?!" Bakugou exclaims, outraged. "We're not!"

Todoroki seems confused. "We are, though?"

Bakugou blinks. “What? Hah?”

“We live together.”

“Yeah, but that’s only—”

“And we work together.”

“Yes, but—”

“And we have sex.”

Bakugou chokes on nothing. Todoroki pats his back twice, like the moron he is.

“Don’t fucking yell it, idiot!” He hisses, trying to regain his composure.

Todoroki stares, his eyes moving from Bakugou's face to the blush that is, surely, at the tip of his ears. "Oh." He cocks his head in that ridiculously cute way of his, like he's just getting something curiously rare. "Sorry, are you embarrassed?"

“I am fucking not, but I don’t want everyone knowing about my sex life, stupid dumbass!”

Todoroki raises an eyebrow.

Bakugou sighs. “Look, about that girl—I really don’t mind. I’m already used to people flirting with you and you not giving a damn because of your oblivious ass.” He smirks, then. “And I’m obviously hotter than all of them.”

"Mmhm." Todoroki mutters thoughtfully, glancing at the exposed skin of his chest and collarbones peeking out from between his dress shirt.

It's funny how he is very (not) subtle. Bakugou has learned it over time: Todoroki Shouto is an open book. If he feels or thinks something, he says so. If he wants to look at something, he does. End of the story. Zero filter.

Before coming, when Bakugou entered his room to help him with his tie, Todoroki had looked at him from his position in front of the mirror, his hands loosening at the collar of his own shirt.

"You're doing it wrong, moron." He had said, and Todoroki had blinked like a child would when you tell them that the sky is not always blue. Bakugou just rolled his eyes, walked and stopped in front of him, at a short distance, tugging on the fabric of his tie to undo the poorly-done knot and redo it.

"You look nice." Todoroki had told him then, watching him work through long eyelashes with that kind of attentive look in his eyes, and Bakugou had felt a hint of pride.

"Damn right, I look hot." He had conceded; he was wearing a wine-colored shirt (sleeves rolled up to his elbows, the top three buttons unbuttoned, no tie—Bakugou was not a big fan of them after all), black dress pants, and matching shoes. Of course he looked good. He knew it.

Still, the way Todoroki looked at him… it’s ridiculous, but it almost made him feel self-conscious. As if he was paying attention to every detail, carving it carefully into his mind. Bakugou was ashamed to admit that he kind of liked it, no matter how unnerving it was, too.

"Please don't have a boner right now; that would be embarrassing." Bakugou says now, trying to hide the way the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end when Todoroki stares at his neck for too long.

Todoroki blinks, like he is getting out of some reverie, and then chuckles. "Okay."

"I'm not having sex with you on Deku's wedding, kinky bastard." Bakugou kicks him under the table. "So stop giving me those sex-eyes."

He gracefully arches an eyebrow in response, a trace of a smile tugging at his lips. "Sex-eyes?"

"Yeah, you know." Bakugou makes a vague gesture to Todoroki’s face with his hand, as if that explained it. "Sex-eyes."

Todoroki's lips twist slightly in what Bakugou has learned to recognize as silent laughter, his eyes sparkling with soft amusement. For some strange reason, that's even worse than the intense, hyper-focused eyes.

"Shut up." Bakugou mumbles, crossing his arms, and Todoroki's trademark little smile makes an appearance as he leans over the chair, still looking at him.

"I haven't said anything."

Bakugou frowns, because he's right. "You're so annoying."

Todoroki opens his mouth, like he’s about to say something else, but Kaminari appears out of nowhere behind him and clings around Bakugou’s shoulders like a koala. “Bakugouuuuuu! Dude, haven’t seen you in a while!”

Bakugou snorts. “We worked together two weeks ago, dunce face.”

“And I missed you, man! Two weeks it’s an eternity without hearing you curse!”

“Fuck off, idiot.” Bakugou says, shoving his hand into the boy's face, and he laughs lightheartedly.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” He beams, “Oh! Todoroki! Man, you look great!”

Bakugou wants to laugh at Todoroki's stunned expression. He blinks, like he can't follow the conversation. "Ah," he says awkwardly, "thank you."

Kaminari nods over and over again. "You hurt my ego, dude—woaaah." He steps back and opens his mouth dramatically, "Bakugou!" he gasps, impressed, and looks him up and down. “You look amazing, too!” He puts his hands on his hips and looks from Bakugou to Todoroki and then back. He gives a whistle of amazement. "You two definitely look more than great."

Bakugou rolls his eyes. "You're not half-bad, I guess."

Kaminari blinks, seemingly taken aback by the half-compliment. Then he puts a hand on his heart as if he was going to have a heart attack; it's so over the top, but Todoroki seems alarmed for a moment, and Bakugou is about to laugh at the ridiculous interaction.

"Aww, thanks!" He turns around, and shouts, over the music, “Ei, Bakugou just complimented me! I think he’s drunk!”

For a moment, Bakugou looks at where Kirishima dramatically opens his eyes from where he is standing chatting with Sero (who laughs hysterically besides him at Kaminari's statement), and then at Deku far behind, in his wedding suit, trying not to cry in his wedding photos, and then to Todoroki, who has the same expression of not understanding anything at all, and wonders how he ended up being surrounded by so many idiots, and at what point did he stop feeling irritated by it.

Huh.

(They don't end up having sex on Deku's wedding, of course—he's not that into exhibitionism, after all. But Todoroki finds him two hours later in the lonely bathroom, after the toast, and Bakugou ignores for a moment how unsanitary it turns out to be and kisses him against the wall. Todoroki doesn't complain at all.)

.

.

i.

“We should live together.”

Bakugou stops, mouth hanging open before biting his toast, and looks up at Todoroki, who’s intently looking at him back. “What the fuck?”

“Live together.” He repeats, as if Bakugou didn’t hear him the first time. “After graduation.”

Bakugou narrows his eyes, putting his toast back on his plate. “Are you high right now?”

“High?” Todoroki frowns, seemingly confused.

“Like, on drugs, fucking idiot.”

“Oh.” Todoroki blinks. “No.”

“Then, again, what the fuck?”

“I’ve been thinking about it and—”

“What the fuck?”

“—I think it’s a pretty good idea.”

“And why the hell do you think that, moron?”

“Well, we’re pretty good friends—” Bakugou rolls his eyes, and Todoroki starts counting with his fingers. “—you’re very clean, organized and your cooking is amazingly outstanding.”

“And you’re messy, stupidly annoying, don’t know how to hold a knife and the difference between detergent and hair conditioner. What’s your point?”

“We’ve already spent so much time together since our second year, and I like spending time with you.” Todoroki continues, like he hasn’t been interrupted before. “I never thought about living with someone else before because I like being alone, but with you it’s fine.”

“Are you trying to confess or something, dipshit?” Bakugou scowls. Todoroki’s rather bluntness and honesty and sincerity it’s always been good because it means Bakugou doesn’t need to read so deep to understand him, even if at first it seemed like he was a hell more problematic to understand. But it’s always been a problem too, because Todoroki says things without filter at all. Like this bullshit.

“We’re going to work on agencies very close to each other. We could buy some place near that zone and it’d be convenient for both of us.”

That was true. After all, Miruko and Endeavor’s agencies weren’t that far away. But still—

“And you wouldn’t have to pay for anything. I can pay for the rent—or the place, if we want to buy it and it’s on sale.”

“Are you implying I can’t afford a nice place by myself, rich bastard?”

“No, I’m not saying that.” Todoroki shakes his head. “I’m sure you’re very capable of paying by yourself alone, but that zone is very expensive, and if you still want to build your own agency by yourself alone and without any help, it’s better if you save your money for that.”

Bakugou goes silent.

“I can buy the stuff in the house, too.” He adds. “The food and cleaning… stuff.” Todoroki presses his fingers to his chin. Just like the fucking thinking emoji. "You have to tell me what I would have to buy, though."

Bakugou stares at him. Then blinks. “So, basically, you want me to be your housewife because you're so hopeless and incompetent you can't live by yourself alone, and by exchange you'll pay for everything?”

“I can buy you All Might stuff, too. Or whatever you want.”

Basically, the cliché phrase, “here, have this and buy something nice, darling”.

Bakugou doesn't exactly know why—maybe because it's extremely ridiculous, or because it's so absurd that it almost becomes hilarious: Todoroki asking him to live together so he can cook for him and wash his clothes and clean the house and that kind of stuff at fucking eleven o’clock in the morning, a Saturday on the kitchen at the dorms, while they’re eating breakfast Bakugou just cooked for them, just by the end of their third year at U.A.

It's just so stupid.

He looks at the window, at autumn making its way into the day, and then at Todoroki, still sleepy, still with bed-hair, crumbs on his shirt and neck, wearing silly Christmas pajamas on fucking October.

And he doesn't know why, but he laughs; he fucking cackles until he can't breathe and he’s wheezing and Todoroki is giving him this weird look, like a mix between amusement and confusion, like he can't quite get it but it's funny all the same.

Looking back, it’s the start of everything, he supposes.

.

Now, there is not an "everything", exactly. It's just a bunch of things stacked on top of each other, chained and superimposed, accumulated between them, that just happen and keep happening. Little things and big things, many things, that perhaps don't have a beginning and an end, that perhaps didn't exactly start there, when Todoroki asked him if they should move in together, but before, much earlier, and everything becomes blurred, like when you don't wear your glasses and you see all the lines but they are not well-defined, and you don't know exactly where something starts and something ends.

Maybe it was at the sports festival, when Bakugou overheard that conversation, or when Todoroki decided not to use his fire on him, or maybe when he was kidnapped and Todoroki went to save him, or maybe in the months of the provisional license training courses, or when Bakugou interned with his father, or when Todoroki had a panic attack right in front of him in the kitchen at two in the morning, looking like a scared five-year-old boy, because his mother lived with them now and he couldn't even get close to the kitchen because he heard the sound of the steaming kettle in his ears and he felt like his chest was going to explode, and he was stupid, very stupid, because he was supposed to be fine, because his mother was better, but he couldn’t help it.

Or maybe it all just started when they met. From that very first day, even if they didn’t talk to each other; perhaps everything was meant to be that way.

.

.

xxiii.

"You're making eggs?"

Bakugou looks up to see Todoroki there, standing at the kitchen doorway, in all his overflowing, messy morning glory: black boxers hanging low on his hips, All Might bedroom slippers that he himself actually gave Bakugou two years ago on his birthday on his feet, all disastrous and messy bed-hair; rubbing his sleepy eyes, wearing Bakugou’s black T-shirt with the 'Boom' cartoon in the center of it.

"Yeah."

“Hmm”, comes the sleepy murmur. “’kay.”

"And why are you wearing my shirt again?"

Todoroki just yawns and sits on the stool across the table where Bakugou is chopping vegetables.

"Comfy." He says, resting his chin on his folded arms on the table.

Bakugou snorts.

"Yeah, I know that, dumbass." Bakugou turns to stir something on the stove, “but you're always wearing my stuff, fuckhead. You have your own clothes, you know."

"I can take it off, if you want." He says, sounding all innocent-like and magnanimous, but Katsuki is past that by now. "You like me shirtless, after all."

Bakugou flips him off over his shoulder, without even turning around to look back at him; and he doesn't even need to, to know that the bastard has that cheeky subtle smile on his face.

"You act all mighty, but whose mouth was on whose dick last night?"

"Hmm, I didn't see you complaining before."

Bakugou pushes the lunch plate right in front of the sleepy and arrogant and falsely-innocent, pretty face. "Just eat and go die."

Todoroki's smile grows half an inch.

Bakugou shoves the way he wants to punch that smile.

Or kiss it.

.

.

xvii.

The first time something happens is, in fact, after a party. They have just come back from the karaoke-bar meeting for Kaminari's birthday, tired, full, and spinning in the doorway of their house with awkward feet.

Todoroki stumbles across the threshold, somewhat buzz-off already. He's such a lightweight after all. Bakugou touches the wall and flips on the switch, snorting at the way Todoroki's face contorts as the light bathes over their heads.

"I'm brushing my teeth first." He announces, and Todoroki nods as he goes into his room to put on comfortable clothes.

Minutes later, Bakugou leaves the bathroom so Todoroki can go in and their positions are reversed.

“Do you need an aspirin?” He asks later, leaning against the door frame, in his cotton t-shirt and boxers, once he's finished changing.

Todoroki talks with the toothbrush still on his mouth, in a way that would be unintelligible if Bakugou wasn't so used to hearing him talk like that every time he’s trying to take a quiet shower in the morning (noon, if it's the weekend and he can get up late) and Todoroki ignores him and enters the bathroom anyways, as if no one was there, because he has no manners whatsoever. "I'm not that drunk."

Bakugou looks at him and shrugs. "Good."

Ten minutes later, he hears the faucet closing and Todoroki's footsteps approaching until he collapses next to him on the sofa without saying anything.

It is actually one of their typical nightly routines. The TV buzzes in the background with a movie they didn't finish watching last week, the air from the fan purrs over and the night appears through the window like black ink spilling on paper.

Normally, silence between the two is common. Bakugou doesn't talk much during movies unless it's to complain about something, and Todoroki doesn't usually talk much either, unless they’re watching some anime he really likes. But this time, for some reason, it feels dense, loaded, like it needs to be broken.

Maybe that's why he says so. Maybe that's why he talks.

"Well," Bakugou starts, and Todoroki looks at him, like he was waiting for him to say something. "I didn't know you had the hots for me, pretty boy."

Todoroki arches an eyebrow in response. "I thought you knew you were attractive?”

"Uh, damn right. I know I'm hot.” Bakugou leans back, half-smirking, arms fully extended on the back of the sofa. "I just—didn't know you were aware of that."

Todoroki glances briefly—albeit perhaps for longer than it would be considered reasonable or normal—at Bakugou's fingers, which curl just behind him.

"Why?"

Bakugou shrugs.

"You didn't seem... interested, I guess."

Todoroki's face crinkles up in confusion. "You said I tried to kiss you before. Months ago.”

“Well, yeah, but you were drunk as fuck. Completely wasted. That doesn't count. You couldn't even say your name."

Todoroki just watches him, silently, and then turns his eyes to the television.

It is a little unnerving, the return of silence: it itches on his nape, on his neck, it irritates his skin. But this time, he is not the one who breaks it.

"Bakugou."

That is the preamble to the entire, whole disaster: his name, leaving Todoroki’s lips like announcing the day of his death.

Bakugou turns around, looks expectantly at him, and Todoroki looks back, and for the first time in a long time, Bakugou actually doesn’t know what he's thinking. It is difficult to deduce from his neutral expression, but Bakugou can tell that something is happening.

The air suddenly feels like metal.

Bakugou looks into his eyes, and it's... it's...

"You—"

Todoroki doesn’t let him finish, because he leans in, and kisses him.

There.

Just. Kisses him. With his eyes closed and his mouth firmly pressed on his.

It is chaste, and clumsy, and Bakugou supposes that, for all the scandal they make about Todoroki being the most attractive and handsome hero out there, the "most beautiful", the "most charming" (with his, ironically blunt and indifferent, and very often dense, personality) and how many fangirls (and fanboys) he has out there waiting to even be looked at by him, Todoroki doesn't really have any experience with these things. Bakugou has known him for a long time, and while Todoroki is attractive—because Bakugou is not blind and can, obviously and very objectively, notice it—Todoroki is also as socially awkward as Bakugou himself is, (perhaps even more awkward than him, because where Bakugou ignores certain "socially correct" rules because he thinks they are so damn stupid, Todoroki is not aware of them at all. Even if he has learned some over time, Todoroki is still inept in that regard). He never goes out on dates or anywhere other than reunions with old high school friends.

Bakugou doesn't have much experience either, though, because he's never been very interested in this kind of thing. Always focused on his work, on being diligent, on being the number one. You don't have much time to devote to a partner when you're taking on defeating stupid villains and saving the country.

Todoroki is... something, though. And it could be the alcohol in his system, or how soft his lips are, or how hot his mouth is, or the way his hand clings to his shirt (with long, thin, trembling but firm fingers, very firm, as if a part of his subconscious doesn't really want to release him, even if he's not quite sure what he's doing), but Bakugou kisses him back, in all his beginner glory. He curls his fingers in the back of Todoroki's head, pulling slightly at the soft hair there, scraping his nails in his nape.

He opens his mouth slightly in response and instinctively stands back, perhaps surprised that Bakugou kisses him back; he looks at him from where Bakugou is stopping him a few centimeters away with his fingers at the nape of Todoroki’s neck. His eyes are wide and bright, framed by his long, long and thick eyelashes, and they are much more open than they have ever been, dancing with the light of the living room spotlight, a sea of emotions there on full sight.

Bakugou looks at the line of his scar, sees the messy hair and the stunning eyes, and feels something. He sees Todoroki, someone he has known for years now, someone who is handsome and socially inept and awkward and so... him. And it is strange. It's like he's been looking at him through a clean bottle the whole time. He could see him, clearly, but now he's in high definition.

"Bakugou." he whispers, glancing at his mouth, and for him, that’s like breaking a fucking faucet. The water overflows, and overflows, and spills onto the sink, floods the bathroom, escapes under the door and wets every corner of the house.

"Fuck." He tilts his head so their noses don't collide this time, digs his fingers into Todoroki’s neck, pulls at him. And they kiss again. A little more urgent. A little more deranged.

Todoroki sighs into his mouth, his fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt insistently. He tastes a bit like alcohol and toothpaste and desire and Bakugou just wants more. He thumbs at his jaw carefully, angling Todoroki so he can suck at his bottom lip, and Todoroki melts into his touch. He makes a breathy sound, gasps, presses into him like he can't get enough.

And they kiss and keep kissing and everything becomes a bit blurry and foggy.

For two inexperienced 21-year-olds, they both do what they can. They’re fairly careless, desperate, not at all meticulous, but Bakugou would not have wanted it in any other way. It is strangely gratifying, because they both know each other, and strangely captivating, too, because at the same time, they don’t. The warmth of Todoroki's skin is familiar, the way he shudders when Bakugou's fingers gently scratch his back under his shirt is not. His hair, the hollow of his shoulders, the cascade of his neck, the valley of his clavicles. His cheekbones, the firm skin of his jaw, the arch of his lower back. Everything is familiar, even the feeling of Todoroki's fingers wandering over his skin—Bakugou assumes that they are both (or have become, rather, after years of living together), after all, somewhat touch-starved.

Bakugou is used to touches, he is used to Todoroki leaning against him a little more than necessary on the sofa; he is used to their knees touching in the dining room. He is used to Todoroki falling asleep with his head on his lap or on his shoulder in the middle of a movie. He's used to the feel of his fingers on his arms when he tries to warm him up in the winter, trying—and failing—to be furtive. He's used to those things, of course, but not to Todoroki's lips on his, not to the remaining heat of Todoroki's skin brushing on his skin, not to Todoroki clinging to him like he wants to devour him whole. Nor to the shaky breath on his neck, nor to the bone of Todoroki’s clavicles under his lips, nor to the tender skin scraping against his teeth, or the panting, labored breathing, the tremulous sounds Todoroki keeps making at the back of his throat.

There's tongue and hot breathing, and Todoroki moving to straddle him on the couch, cupping his jaw with warm hands, kicking the TV’s remote out of the way.

Bakugou licks into his mouth, savors every inch that Todoroki gives him, feels the skin beneath his hands. His fingers dig into the broad shoulders, the hard abdomen, slip inside Todoroki's shirt and scratch at the firm, lean muscle on his back.

"Ah." Todoroki opens his mouth, clenches his fingers around Bakugou's face, grinds into him, moans low at the back of his throat.

He's hard. Fuck.

Bakugou's hot all over.

"Bakugou", Todoroki cracks on his ear, and he wonders if he's using his quirk on him and setting him on fire, or why he's suddenly feeling like he's going to combust.

He grabs his chin, moves his face to face his, and bites his upper lip. Not really hard to hurt, but enough to leave a mark, tugs and Todoroki actually whimpers.

“Do you—” Todoroki breaths in his mouth, “—want to stop?”

Bakugou leans back and shoots him an incredulous look. "What part of me fucking making out with you on our couch makes you think I want to stop, idiot?"

"Just asking." Todoroki frowns slightly, his hands wandering delicately on Bakugou's chest over his shirt. "It's good to check first."

"Hmm." Bakugou grunts, ignoring the warm that settles on his belly. He rests a hand over Todoroki's left one. Todoroki's fingers keep nagging at the hem of his shirt like flower petals. “Well, no, dumbass. I don't.” His eyes focus on his neck; he brushes the tooth mark he just left barely above his pulse with his thumb, marveling at the way Todoroki shivers under his touch. "Do you?"

Todoroki shakes his head just before he dives in and kisses Bakugou again.

.

.

ii.

Bakugou is sitting on the sofa in the common room, looking at his notes from History of Heroes III and trying to study the diagram with dates he has made before six o'clock. There is a warm buzz in the place and by some miracle most of his noisy classmates are in their rooms and he can actually concentrate.

"Bakugou."

"What do you want, Icyhot?" He grunts softly, without looking up.

Todoroki doesn't seem to understand, as always, social signs, and sits in front of him as if Bakugou had invited him, his feet wrapped in socks brushing Bakugou's toes. He leans over and places a piece of paper on top of his notebook. It is an ad section of the newspaper. Bakugou looks at him and then looks at Todoroki, one brow raised.

"I've been searching for options of places to move in and..." He begins, when he has Bakugou's attention on him.

"Oh my fucking God."

"… I think that—"

"Oh my God."

“—this is the best option. It's open for visits this weekend, and I wanted to know if you—”

"Shit, you weren't joking."

Todoroki stops for the first time since he started talking, confused, his finger still pointing to the paper box showing the place he was talking about: it looks modest but decent. Two bedrooms, living room space, an equipped kitchen and a bathroom.

Todoroki doesn't need to answer verbally, Bakugou knows.

“Of course you weren’t.”

“Um.”

“Look”, Bakugou sighs. “I’m living by myself, okay? I don’t want a roommate and of course I don’t want to have someone to take care of. I need to focus on my work, I don’t want distractions.”

“But—”

“You need to focus on your work, too, dumbass.”

“But—”

“No.” Bakugou gives him the newspaper back. “Now, let me study.”

Todoroki looks at him.

“Let me study, half-and-half.”

He sighs and finally leaves, looking like a kicked puppy. Bakugou grunts.

“Keep working on your English homework, nerd.” He says, once Todoroki turns around the corner to the elevator.

Deku lets out an "eek!" sitting at the living room table, "I was working, Kacchan!"

"You're a terrible liar, idiot." Bakugou mumbles, but decides to leave it there to continue reading: he needs to study. The exam is the next week.

.

The situation does not end there, though, because Todoroki is almost as stubborn as Bakugou is.

"Bakugou, Fuyumi was looking on the internet and—"

"No."

"You don't even kn—"

“No!”

.

"Bakugou—"

"No."

.

"Baku—"

"God, can you shut the fuck up about that already?"

.

"Why don't you ask someone else?" Bakugou asks then, on a Wednesday, two weeks after their past meeting in the living room, after the fifth time Todoroki approaches him to talk about the same thing in the week.

"Because I want to live with you." Todoroki replies, as a fact, and Bakugou feels kind of stunned at his lack of hesitation.

"Well, you're really stupid."

"Because I want to live with you?"

“Yes! I keep saying no and you keep asking, moron. No is a no.”

"I know, but—"

Bakugou sighs.

Fucking half-and-half.

.

.

xvi.

"Okay, so, hmm. Let's think." Mina plays with her drink with the pads of her fingers, pursing her lips thoughtfully. Then her face lights up, and she jumps out of her seat with a mischievous smile dancing in her mouth. "Oh I know, I know!” Kaminari, sitting next to her, does the imitation of drumrolls on the table with his hands. "Who in this room," she starts, as if about to share the secret of life, "would you want or wish to have sex with?”

"Isn't that too... intimate?" Izuku asks, kindly but with a wary smile, at the same time that Todoroki goes:

“Oh.” He blinks. “That’s easy, actually. Bakugou.”

There are different reactions: amazement, surprise, wide eyes, giggles. Someone chokes on their drink. Izuku doesn't look so surprised, but his whole face turns red, it can be seen between his fingers when he sighs and covers himself with his hands, as if he was the one who just answered the question and was pretty embarrassed.

"He's not in the room right now, though." Todoroki mutters to himself, frowning, like he’s getting aware of an error in an equation he solved.

"Bakugou?" Ashido squeals, surprised but sounding all delightful. She doesn't seem to mind at all that Bakugou isn't in the room. "Oh ho ho. That's juicy.” She sways in her seat, smiling as if she just discovered blackmail to Aizawa-sensei. “Unexpected but not that much, I guess. You're into angry blondes, then.”

Todoroki kind of shrugs, noncommittally. "Well, he's attractive."

Mina grins like that cat in Alice in the Wonderland. "That is superficial, Todoroki." She pretends to berate, but her smile doesn't go away. "So you're physically attracted to him. Never would guessed. But yeah, Blasty is pretty hot.”

As if summoned, Bakugou opens the door and enters the cubicle with two drinks in hand—one for Todoroki, ironically. When all eyes turn to him, he stops mid-step. He looks at Kirishima, Sero and Kaminari’s playful and wicked smiles, at Deku, who looks at him with an apologetic smile, and then at Mina’s shit-eating grin, who sways with joy besides Todoroki, as calm as ever.

"What?" He asks, frowning, and they all start talking at once:

“Dude, Todoroki just admitted he wants to sleep with you!”

“Todoroki wants you both to fuck, that’s nuts!”

“Man, the most attractive guy in our class thinks you’re the hottest in the room and wants to get into your pants, that’s so awesome.”

Bakugou blinks, then looks at Todoroki, who looks back at him. “What?”

Instead of Todoroki answering, Mina hugs him by the shoulders and smiles brightly at Bakugou. “Basically, I asked him with whom in the room would he go to bed, and he said you.”

"We've already gone to bed together, actually—" Todoroki says, and the whole room goes wild. Even Deku seems to have a nervous shock while looking at Bakugou with wide eyes.

Bakugou splutters when Mina looks at him with sparkling eyes and laughs like crazy. “Not like that! We haven't—!” He stumbles, and then glares at Todoroki.

The guy just blinks. "Uh."

"Oh my god, so," Mina bubbles, beaming. "You sleep together?"

"I said that’s not—" Bakugou begins, his voice a low dangerous growl.

“I know! I mean purely sleep! You sleep together!”

The hitting realization that he just accidentally admitted something he shouldn't must be seen on his face, because Mina cackles at his silence. Kaminari coos at her side. “Dude, that's super cute! I want to cuddle someone!”

"We don't fucking cuddle, asshole!"

Mina murmurs sweetly. “Mm, but that’s still super cute.”

“Fuck off.”

“Aaaaah. I think it’s pretty normal, right? I mean—”

“Deku—”

“I’m trying to help!”

“But I mean,” Mina continues, “you were being honest, right, Todoroki?” She asks, her arm still around his shoulders like a snake and a smirk and sparkling eyes on her face. “You think Baku is hot.”

“Uh”, Todoroki says, lost. “Yes.”

Bakugou blinks, stunned. “Hah?”

Todoroki blinks at him in response. “I thought you knew?”

“That you—” Bakugou emphasizes, incredulous eyes, bewildered, “—find me hot? No!”

“Ah.”

“W—Hah?”

“Oh. Um.” Todoroki looks, as if unsure what to say. "Well, I do." He confirms, and Bakugou remains silent, staring back.

Everyone goes silent, looking from one to the other as if following the ball in a ping pong match. Except this time, it's a staring contest.

After a moment, Bakugou's face shifts and contorts, and he smirks; only Izuku notices the confused and trembling and not so arrogant edge of the smug smile. “Well, it was pretty obvious, Raccoon Eyes.” He scoffs, looking at the girl arrogantly. “What did you expect? I’m hotter than all you together.”

Mina pouts. “Hey, that’s so rude!”

Bakugou shrugs as he sits down next to Deku, and passes Todoroki his drink. "Get over it." He says, and the atmosphere returns to normal when Mina jumps on him vengefully and Bakugou tries to push his drink away from her, shouting expletives all the time.

.

.

xiv.

Todoroki sits next to him on the couch while he is watching the news. He is wearing his black turtleneck sweater he used to wear in high school, a little worn out and short on the sleeves, and a candy cane (ironic) stuffed into his mouth.

"Hah, you're matching." Bakugou jokes.

Todoroki doesn't look back at him, doesn't say anything at all, and there's something on his face that makes Bakugou pause for a moment before uttering a complaint about his lack of humor. It's subtle, barely noticeable at all, but Bakugou has looked at Todoroki's stoic face for years to learn the smallest differences.

“Are you going to your parents’ home for Christmas?” He asks, then, before Bakugou can even say anything.

He shrugs. “Maybe. The old hag’s been pretty annoying with the whole bullshit that she’s gonna die before I visit them.”

Todoroki snorts a bit, and Bakugou smirks. It’s such a weird noise. Todoroki hardly ever does anything that has to do with laugh out of their house. “I think she’s still pretty young to die.”

Bakugou makes a face, like saying “well…” and Todoroki rolls his eyes at him, but there’s a faint of a smile dancing on his lips.

“Why are you asking?” Bakugou turns off the TV. “You wanna see the old hag? She’ll be beyond pleased, to be honest. Maybe I should just kidnap you and send you to her in a box with a bow and a card so she doesn’t bother me anymore.”

Todoroki taps tentatively at Bakugou's thighs with his toes before hanging his calves over them. He leans back, his hair cascading out of the armrest. It is a simple gesture; Bakugou is so used to it that he doesn’t flinch at all.

"Fuyumi wants me to go to dinner with her and everyone now that Natsuo has agreed to go with his wife. And she is very excited, seriously, because for the first time we’ll be ‘all’ together; and I don't want to reject her, but…” Todoroki frowns. “Mom and… him in the same house…” Todoroki seems to ponder the situation. “I mean, I know I've seen them together before, but that doesn't mean I don't think it's strange.” It’s usually weird that Todoroki talks this much in a row, but Bakugou keeps silent. Lets him rant. “I don’t know. I should probably be used to it. It’s not like they’re together again, you know? They are only in the same place. That's it. But it's... still…” Todoroki covers his eyes with his forearm and sighs. "I'm being stupid."

“You're always stupid, moron. What's new about that?”

Todoroki kicks him and Bakugou leans in enough and flicks his forehead. It scrunches up in the same way it does when Todoroki mentions his father, or when he focus so much on the manga he's reading he doesn't know Bakugou is asking him about dinner. And it's weird; knowing this kind of little things. The fact that he knows about these weird, stupidly lame and tiny details, like the way Todoroki's eyes light up when he's watching a stupid cat movie, or the way he usually sleeps looking to the left, or the way he's so messy and disorganized he ends up using different socks at the same time. It's weird the way it isn't weird at all, talking with Todoroki about these things so openly. It's weird how Bakugou notices when he's lying or when he's upset. But, he supposes, living with someone for about two years and a bit more entails this kind of thing: knowing each other inside and out.

"Hey." He flicks at Todoroki’s arm.

"What?" Todoroki peers an annoyed and tired look at him from above his arm.

“Do you want me to come with you? Because if so, you don’t have to fucking explain yourself, idiot. Just say it.” Bakugou huffs. “I thought you already knew that.”

Todoroki looks away, at the forgotten steaming mug on the living room table, and Bakugou hates it a bit. When he looks away. It feels like he can't tell him something, and it's annoying, because it's not supposed to be like that. “She wanted me to invite you, too, actually.”

Bakugou raises a brow. “And you don’t want me to come?”

Todoroki looks at him. “You already went with me to Natsu’s wedding, I don’t—”

“You don’t want me to come? It’s a question, Todoroki.”

“I don’t want to bother you again with—”

“That’s not what I fucking asked. Do you want me to come with you or not?”

Todoroki scowls. “You’re such an asshole sometimes.”

“Yeah, I know.” He taps Todoroki’s chest. “Takes one to know one, idiot. Now, do you—”

“Yes.” Todoroki sighs.

Bakugou smirks. “Was it that difficult?”

“I’m actually regretting my answer.”

Bakugou huffs out a tiny and half-mocking, amused “Hah”.

“I want you to come,” Todoroki clarifies, “but you don’t have to—”

“It’s fine, dumbass.” Bakugou says, “I mean, your sister cooks a ton better than the old hag. I want to eat her mappo tofu again.”

“But your parents…” Todoroki hesitates. “I mean, I don’t want them to think I always drag you away from them.”

“You don’t ‘drag me away from them or whatever’, moron. It’s not like I see your family more than I see mine.”

Todoroki doesn’t look very convinced.

Bakugou sighs.

“Look. I can call them and say we’re visiting later.” He offers. “We can go and have dinner at your sister’s house and the next day have lunch with the old hag. She’ll be happy if you go, it doesn’t matter the time.”

Todoroki shoots him a look. “You really don’t mind?”

Bakugou rolls his eyes. “For fuck’s sake. No, Todoroki.”

He smiles. Small, soft. “Thank you.”

Bakugou rolls his eyes again. “Yeah, yeah. It’s whatever.”

.

.

xx.

"This is from Todoroki and Bakugou—aw, they already buy things together like a married couple!"

"It's called convenience, Round Face."

.

.

iii.

"Maybe it isn't such a bad idea, Kacchan."

"Don't start you, too, or I'll kick your ass to the moon, Deku."

He dodges Bakugou's foot and moves to catch him in a headlock. Bakugou is faster, however: he squats down, sweeping his feet and sending Deku to the ground, on his back.

"I'm just saying—" Bakugou pins him, but Deku moves his hip and reverses his positions, looking at him from above and pressing his body down. "I'm just saying—" he repeats, "maybe it would be good if you have company after we graduate."

Bakugou rolls his eyes, kicks the ground under his feet, but it's useless. "Why are you on his side?"

Deku laughs. “I’m not. I just think it would be great to both of you.” He moves when Bakugou manages to loosen a hand from his grip and hit his jaw. “Ouch.” Both roll over for a moment on the ground when Deku loses his balance because of the punch and Bakugou takes advantage of that and lunges at him. In one smooth movement, Deku stands up, stretches back, and Bakugou follows closely. A punch, dodge, another punch, dodge.

“You get along pretty well, even if you keep denying it sometimes. You’re really good friends; you can’t deny you’re close.” Bakugou grunts in response. “And I don’t know,” Deku spins back, hands behind his head, and kicks forward as he spins around in a backwards summersault. It is one of his fastest and most practical moves without using his quirk, but Bakugou sees it coming and moves back in time to avoid being hit, while also pushing his hand to the front and grabbing Deku's calf and pulling him over.

Deku manages to hang behind him when Bakugou tries to crash him to the ground, "I don't know, maybe I'm worried about Shouto living on his own?"

"Then why don't you live with him?" Bakugou raises an eyebrow, pulling both Deku's arms forward and finally knocking him to the ground.

Deku gasps. “I’ll live with my mom after a bit. I don’t want to leave her alone, you know that.”

Bakugou closes his eyes. Right, Deku had told him before.

"Oh, yeah."

Deku smiles softly at him, and then, in one smooth motion, tackles Bakugou to the ground, pinning him again.

“You're really amazing in close combat, you know that?”

"Yeah, and you suck, what's new?" (He really doesn't. But Bakugou knows the little shit knows that. So he's not admitting it anytime soon, no matter how much they get along now.) "Get the fuck off or I'll break your leg."

Deku smiles and releases Bakugou's wrists, without objecting. He leans back and hugs his knees, sitting next to him on the floor, watching Bakugou's chest rise and fall.

“Can you help me train with Black Whip later, again? I want to improve more.”

"Sure, but I'm not going to go easy on you just because you're a wimp."

Deku laughs. “May I remember you who won last time?”

"Go die." Bakugou flips him off and sticks out his tongue childishly, and Deku smiles.

"You'll miss me too much if I die, Kacchan."

"Hah." Bakugou scoffs. "Don't think so high of yourself just because we talk, nerd."

“And train.”

“Whatever.”

“You also cooked for me last time.”

“Can you shut the fuck up? You’re annoying.”

“Ah, but you also cooked breakfast for Todoroki-kun the other day, so I guess I’m not that special.” Deku pretends to lament and Bakugou glares at him.

“That's it. You lost your food privileges.”

“Ah? No, Kacchan!”

“You fucking asked for it.”

“Aaaah.” Deku pouts and then lies down on Bakugou’s side, staring up at the ceiling. Bakugou doesn't say anything afterwards, his calm face after warming up the muscles. Deku shoots him sidelong glances from time to time, like he's looking for a sign. "Why are you so opposed to it, anyway?" He asks, after a bit of silence. He doesn't need to clarify what he's talking about, if the way Bakugou's face crinkles up with irritation is any indication that he understands perfectly what he means. “You don’t think friends and people you care about are weaknesses anymore. You’re past that now.”

“I know.”

“So what?” Deku says, raising an eyebrow like a mother who is about to reprimand her young son. “Or you’re saying you’re not that great and having Shouto around is suddenly going to make you weak?”

“No.” Bakugou growls.

“So?”

“Ugh, shut up.”

“Kacchan, is there something—”

“Deku.”

Deku goes silent, because he knows Bakugou, really, and he knows it’s time to, but Bakugou sighs, covers his eyes with his arm and grimaces. No matter how much time passes, he hates this kind of conversations when they turn on to the emotional side. Even if he is better with them than before, they will always be a nuisance that he cannot remove from his life.

"You know he's living with his mom, now, right?"

Deku blinks, not really expecting Bakugou to talk again, he supposes. “… Yes.”

“And his piss-ass dad is not there anymore.”

“… Um. Yes.”

“So.” Bakugou grunts. “He could be happy. He could have a family now.” When Deku remains silent, Bakugou continues. "I don't want to take that away from him just because he suddenly decided he wants to live with me of all people." Bakugou sounds angry, but also impotent, and Deku listens attentively, saying nothing. “He deserves a fucking family, Deku. He deserves to have this. You and me know that, more than anyone.”

“Kacchan.”

Oh no. He knows that voice.

“Deku, I swear to God, if you start crying I’ll kick your ass so hard you’d feel my foot for years.”

Deku laughs, though it trembles a bit at the edges and sounds somewhat watery.

“You know it’s not that easy, right?” he says, “I get what you mean, but if he wants to live with you, there’s have to be a reason.”

“Yeah. He’s dumb as fuck.”

Deku laughs again. “You need to talk to him about it.” He tentatively touches Bakugou's thigh with his foot, and Bakugou grunts. “You need to. But with him. I really think you two can make it work.”

“You’re making it sound like we’re getting married or something.”

“Hmm.” Deku mutters, contemplative, like he’s actually considering it, and Bakugou gives him an incredulous look. “Maybe in the future?”

Bakugou grimaces. "Ugh, gross."

Deku gives him a knowing smile. “You said you think he’s pretty.”

“I said he wasn’t that bad, fucking nerd! Once! Just once! Forget it already.”

Deku shrugs, without losing the smile. "I don't know," he says, innocently, "I recall you calling him 'pretty' when—"

“Ugh, shut up!” Bakugou kicks him, and Deku laughs, all sparkling-like. “So what? I have eyes! He’s dumb, too! And he pisses me off way too much.”

"That's mean, Kacchan!"

"Just shut up, nerd."

Deku raises both of his hands in surrender, but his smile doesn’t disappear. "Okay, okay."

.

xviii.

The first time they sleep together in a sexual way is about a month after that first encounter on their couch.

They don’t go much farther than a couple of kisses, making out, and hands underneath the clothes that night before Todoroki decides it's time to go throw up in the bathroom.

He apologizes, tells Bakugou over and over again that he really isn't that drunk, that he really knows what he's doing, and Bakugou rolls his eyes in amused exasperation and ruffles his hair.

"I know, dumbass, you're just really bad with alcohol." And it’s true. Bakugou knows that both of them are a little drunk, but if it really had been that Todoroki wasn't in a good mental state and shape, he wouldn't have let him kiss him, nor would he have kissed him back. That would just be taking advantage of him.

"Are you okay? You seem like you just threw up your fucking brain." Bakugou grimaces. "Disgusting."

Todoroki groans, "I think that ramen wasn’t good for my stomach at all."

"I fucking told you, you wouldn't like it." Bakugou says, passing him a glass of water and helping him to stand up. "You're just as bad with spicy food. Combine alcohol and spicy? You have this."

Todoroki pouts. "I hate spicy food."

"Don't blame the food, blame the person."

Todoroki punches him in the side, and Bakugou just smirks teasingly.

.

And that had been it. After that, they had gone to sleep. The next day, none of them mentioned anything, and if it wasn't for the purple-ish mark at the base of his neck and the vivid feel of Todoroki's mouth against his, he really would have thought he had imagined it all.

He can still feel it two days later: Todoroki's tongue slipping into his mouth, the hot breath on his neck, Todoroki's broken voice moaning his name on his ear as Bakugou sneaks his hands under his shirt.

But neither of them mentions it at all, and Bakugou comes to believe that it will be a passing memory both of them will laugh over time, or that they will bury it so deep and far in their brain that they will forget that it even happened. He starts to wonder if Todoroki even remembers it happening; maybe he even forgot it already.

And one night, exactly a week after the ‘incident’, when Bakugou is meditating on how he feels about it (whether he even cares that Todoroki remembers it or not, whether he should continue to think about it or not), Shouto says, like it’s nothing important:

"Can I kiss you?"

Bakugou almost chokes on the air he's breathing. "What?" He asks, once he manages to calm down.

Todoroki moves the hand he used to pat him on the back, to his shoulder. "Can I kiss you?" He asks again, and his expression is so fucking neutral that Bakugou wants to kick something. Maybe him.

"You want to kiss me."

"Yes." Todoroki gives out a single nod. "We don't have to, if you don't want to, but I do. It felt really nice."

Bakugou looks at him for a few seconds, then stands up and turns off the TV. When he turns around, Bakugou leans down until he's face to face with Todoroki Shouto's pretty face, a week after they kissed in that same sofa.

"It didn't feel fucking ‘nice’, asshole." Bakugou mockingly hisses, and from that distance, he can see Todoroki swallow. It's the only hint showing that having Bakugou this close makes him nervous, because his face remains neutral. "It felt fucking amazing, because I am that great," Bakugou smirks, and looks at Todoroki's mouth, already feeling his heart pounding like crazy on his chest; blood buzzing in his ears; the taste of adrenaline in his throat, "and I'm gonna kiss your fucking brains out until you say it aloud."

Todoroki sinks his fingers into his neck and pushes himself up, kissing his smirk. And it feels downright amazing.

.

It keeps happening.

Bakugou loses count of how many times it happens after the fourth time they make out on the couch. He loses track of who starts it after a few days.

They just... keep doing it. They make out on kitchen, with Todoroki pressed against the table, the dinner (that's still on the stove behind them) forgotten until the fire alarm goes off and interrupts them.

They make out in the darkness of Bakugou's room (their room, practically) when they're about to drift off to sleep and Todoroki rolls over his stomach and gives Bakugou a kiss that deepens into something more.

They make out in their yard, when Bakugou is about to leave to the store and Todoroki leans in at the doorway.

They keep making out, again and again, again and again.

And around a month later of going to different "bases", as Kaminari would call it, Todoroki says something.

They're on Bakugou's bed, on their boxers, and Bakugou keeps nibbling and licking Todoroki's neck while Todoroki keeps making shaky little noises that make Bakugou feel so fucking alive inside.

"Bakugou," Todoroki gasps, when he goes down to his abdomen and licks his stomach, the line of his boxers, introduces his tongue inside.

Somewhere in his mind, he wonders if it's strange that he doesn't feel disgusted. Somewhere in his mind, he wonders why Todoroki's broken face when he does it turns him on so much.

"Hmm?" Bakugou hums, feigning innocence, his lips trembling in a smirk that is already forming.

Instead of getting angry, Todoroki groans, pulling at Bakugou's hair, desperately grinding against him.

Bakugou would almost laugh at his eagerness if he wasn't so turn on. He goes for a kiss again, feeling Todoroki's shiver under his touch when his hand goes down, and down, and...

"Is this okay?" Bakugou breaths in his mouth, the pads of his fingers teasing the hem of his underwear. He feels like he should ask. Touching Todoroki's dick is another whole thing than just making out with him and touching his abs and teasing here and there.

"Yes," Todoroki answers immediately, a little out of breath, and Bakugou kind of laughs.

"Okay," he murmurs with that hoarse, husky voice he has learned that undoes Todoroki to a puddle, and his hand reaches into his underwear.

Todoroki downright whimpers when Bakugou touches him. So loud he wonders if their neighbors can hear them.

He doesn't care at all.

Bakugou stands back to look at him, and with his other hand gently caresses his jaw, delights in Todoroki’s wrecked expression. The expression of complete pleasure. His open mouth, clouded eyes, wrinkles between his eyebrows as he rubs and moves against Bakugou's hand.

Bakugou loves it. Loves how he loses control, the way he's so open whenever they do things like this. The way his quiet facade falls off and he becomes this mess.

Bakugou runs his thumb across his bottom lip, swollen and bruised after the ministrations Bakugou's mouth, tongue and teeth have magnanimously and carefully given it.

And then Todoroki does something. At first, it's a little touch, something that may have been completely accidental. Something normal. A second later, Todoroki's tongue moves tentatively over his finger, licks at it carefully.

"Fuck," Bakugou breathes out, enthralled, hard and stupid as Todoroki looks at him with wild eyes, grabs his wrist and licks, bites, nips and sucks his fingers. "Fuck."

He's practically fucking his mouth with Bakugou's fingers, making sounds that are somehow much more obscene than those you get to hear in a porn movie.

A trickle of saliva slides down his chin and his eyes roll back as Bakugou's hand moves faster inside his boxers, and Bakugou feels like he's going to burn himself to ashes.

"Holy shit," Bakugou swallows, mouth dry, "you're so hot."

Todoroki looks at him, oblivious to every dirty thought crossing Bakugou’s mind right at the moment. Bakugou’s fingers firmly touch the base and move up again, increase the rhythm, and the precum makes it even easier.

That only makes Shouto suck more fervently. "Holy shit, Todoroki. You're so fucking hot, did you know that? Fuck." The idea that he is probably not even doing it on purpose (like everything he does) and just out of sheer instinct and desire, crosses Bakugou’s mind, and something inside him goes crazy. "I want to fuck you so bad, holy shit."

Todoroki moans, and takes his fingers out of his mouth with a noise that almost makes Bakugou come right there, untouched, while he does come on Bakugou's fingers.

Bakugou is not even a bit angry about that (Todoroki’s fascinating and devastatingly hot face when he comes has, maybe, something to do with that, though. It’s fucking breathtaking). He just. Jerked him off. Holy shit.

Todoroki throws his head back and then looks at Bakugou, stunned, like he doesn't quite understand what has just happened. He blinks, breathing hard, and Bakugou almost forgets for a moment that he has a diamond-hard boner until Todoroki's eyes fall on it.

"Fuck me."

Bakugou blinks. "Huh?"

"Fuck me." Todoroki repeats. "You want to, right?"

Bakugou doesn't even remember saying it out loud, and his face flushes red, embarrassed. "How do you say that out loud with a poker face and my hand still on your dick? Fuck." He pulls it out, strangely fascinated by the disastrous way his cum-filled fingers look. "God, you have no shame at all, have you?"

Todoroki shrugs. He is still unevenly breathing. "I want you to fuck me. I guess."

Bakugou raises a brow. "You guess?" He frowns. "I'm not doing anything you don't want to, dipshit, no matter how much I do."

Todoroki shakes his head. "I mean, I just—don't know how to, but I'm not—opposed to it."

Bakugou eyes him suspiciously.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Completely?"

"Yes."

Bakugou shoots him another look. "Fuck." Something inside him beats alive.

"Bakugou, fuck me." Todoroki says, like a boss instructing him to review the files from the previous mission, but in a much more deep and hoarse voice. That makes Bakugou's dick beat.

"So demanding, are we?" He tries to hide the way it turns him on by mocking, but he is pretty sure that it is still evident, if Todoroki's raised eyebrow is any indication of it.

"Do you want to—"

"Yes, fuckhead. Of course I want to, but the fact that you do, too, is too much to take! Give me a moment!"

Todoroki sits back then, running his hands through his hair in such a casual and natural motion that shouldn't be so damn hot, but it still is.

"Do you know how fucking hot you are?" Bakugou finds himself saying. "Do you have any idea?" Todoroki blinks, surprised at his outburst. It seems that having his friend-who-lives-with-him-slash-rival-slash-annoying-dumbass declaring him to fuck him and having had his hand on said person’s dick a few minutes ago makes Bakugou very talkative. "It's so fucking unfair."

Todoroki raises an eyebrow. "Are you complaining because you think I'm hot?"

"Yes. Unfairly hot."

Todoroki makes this face, like he's trying to hold back a laugh, but still laughs a second later. It is hoarse, and laconic, but Bakugou feels immensely attacked. Speaking of unfair.

Todoroki's gaze falls on his eyes and then on his jaw and neck, down to his chest, and move across his abdomen. Then go all the way back, slowly. It is disturbingly and ridiculously alluring, because he looks at him like every inch of his body is a delight on plain sight. The hair on the back of his neck stands on end when they lock eyes again.

"That's stupid, Bakugou. You're really hot too, actually."

"Smooth shit."

Todoroki smiles, his tiny, cocky and smug smile.

(After that, they sleep together for the first time. Sleep in a sexual way, like Todoroki would say.)

(It's both of them first times, so it's kind of awkward even if they're both hard and they both want it. It's full of hands on places they shouldn’t go, odd positions, elbows in the ribs, and a lot about finding the right rhythm and what feels good and what doesn't. It's much less "hot" than what you see in the movies, but somehow they both enjoy every part.)

(They do it better the second time. And a lot better the third.)

(Todoroki sets his headboard on fucking fire the fourth time, though. And there’s still that pillow Bakugou exploded. And the burned handprints on Bakugou’s hips that he secretly likes because he thinks they’re fucking hot. But they get better with time and don’t lose control of their quirks—that much.)

(“Practice makes it perfect”, they say, after all.)

.

Passionate kisses and hands under clothes dissolve into softer things.

They keep having sex. They do. And they keep making out. They do that, too.

But suddenly, Todoroki is leaning in to give Bakugou a peck when they're having dinner one night, and Bakugou is somehow much more surprised than the first time Todoroki said he wanted to fuck him instead (not because he didn’t like the way they did it, but because he sincerely wanted to try it, too, he had said). Suddenly, Bakugou is brushing Todoroki’s hair out of the way with his hand and giving Todoroki's forehead a tiny kiss, without thinking, while the other is reading some dumb manga on the couch, and Todoroki is giving him this weird look, with a flushed face, wobbly lips, like Bakugou is something else. Like Bakugou is something completely new. Like he's looking at Bakugou for the first time.

And that keeps happening. Again, and again, and again. Little kisses. At the door, in the kitchen, after sex.

And Bakugou keeps wondering if that's weird. If that, those... little kisses and touches mean something. They feel like they mean something. They feel way more intimate than having sex, somehow. He wonders if that is normal, too. He wonders if doing that kind of things is weirder than having sex, than jerking each other off, than giving each other blowjobs, than fucking each other into the wall.

He wonders if they should talk about it. He wonders if he should mention it.

But they never talk about it. That's not how they work. They never mention it at all. They just do it. And keep doing it. When they're alone, always when they're alone. It's an unspoken rule that that's for them, and only for them.

.

.

xxii.

"I saw the news today."

Bakugou pulls off his boots, "Yeah?"

"Yes." Todoroki answers. Then: "It wasn't your fault, Bakugou."

Bakugou throws a boot at the wall, right next to where Todoroki is standing. He doesn't even shrink a bit. "Oh, really?” Bakugou scoffs. “Because it sure seemed like that, you know?"

Todoroki shakes his head. "That's just for you. There wasn't anything that could've been done."

Bakugou stands up, feeling an irrational fury hit him like waves. "And how do you know, hah?! You weren't even there!"

"But Midoriya was. And he told me—"

Bakugou sneers. "Fucking Deku. He wasn't there either. I was the only one there. I could—I don't know! I could have done more, I know—” Bakugou stops and groans, and then screams, throwing his things to the ground, to the wall.

And he screams again, and he keeps screaming until he gets too tired and remains silent. He is furious. Angry. But not with Todoroki, not with Deku. With himself. He knows it is something that can happen at work. A part of him knows it's not his fault; knows that he shouldn't blame himself, but he can't help it.

It feels suffocating. The way he closes his eyes and can see the girl's body there, the way he can almost feel the cold of her skin beneath his fingers.

Todoroki looks at him silently as he destroys the room, as his voice breaks, as he falls silent again. And then, when Bakugou seems limp and lifeless, he moves.

It is a bit confusing if he tries to remember; it seems as if his brain has been bathed in white and has stayed that way for hours. He vaguely remembers Todoroki guiding him to the bathroom, the feeling of hot water on his skin, the feeling of Todoroki's fingers cleaning his face, drying his hair, putting him into bed.

The next day, when he wakes up, Todoroki is still there, asleep on his side. And Bakugou can smell his shampoo and his own misery, but he can also feel the warmth of the body next to him and the soft sheets, and tries not to be overwhelmed by the world for a bit.

.

.

xxvi.

Bakugou starts working with Deku more than he doesn't. It's not that they're an official team, not exactly, but they both work well together, they both know it and the world knows it, and for that very reason they tend to be paired on missions.

Fans have started calling them the Wonder Duo. The new "All Might"s of this era, the ones who have defeated, together, "All for One", and continue to dismantle what remains of the "League of Villains" as the heroes they are. The same ones that compete for the number one spot on the annual Hero Billboard.

At first, Katsuki ascended faster than Deku. He got to the 5^th spot first, the first year as soon as they graduated, with Deku at the 6^th, just below him. The second year, Katsuki had already climbed two spots, and the third year, he landed at the second one, just below Tamaki Amajiki. For the fourth year, Katsuki claimed the first place, and Japan went crazy, “He’s so young!", "Having so many wins and rescues in one year, it really is amazing! He sure is an outstanding hero, I’m telling you!", "The new face of All Might!", "Ah… or from Endeavor, should I say?”, “Even the hero Endeavor-san has said a few words about him!", "I don't know, Futaba-san, he may have so many heroic acts, but wouldn't he mind behaving better in front of the cameras? He is extremely disrespectful!”, “Well, his fanbase sure is huge, don’t you think? He keeps winning the number one spot on the popularity polls!”, “That’s right, 5 years in a row, it’s insane!”, “Loud and arrogant, do we really want our children to admire someone like him?”, “Well, I personally have always admired him, Touma-san. He may be harsh, but he’s so cool, too, don’t you think? He’s so talented but he’s always working so hard! I feel so safe just knowing he’s around!”

Even Deku had gone crazy with the news. He kept crying and hugging Bakugou, "You're so amazing, Kacchan!" he couldn't stop sobbing. “I can't believe it, I'm so proud! I always knew you could do it!”

Bakugou had patted him on the head, trying, futilely, to escape away from the hug. "Yeah, yeah." He had shot Todoroki a look, something like "get him off me now," but Todoroki had only replied with a teasing little smile in response.

"Fuck you", ha had mouthed, flipping him off over Deku's shoulder. And Todoroki had looked at him with sparkling eyes. “Later”, the bastard had mouthed back.

For a moment, Bakugou had been so stunned that he had stopped listening to Deku's sobs.

Stupid Todoroki Shouto.

"Okay, okay, I get it, nerd," Bakugou said, rubbing Deku's back in one last attempt to remove him without kicking him. “Weren't you supposed to surpass me, anyway? What are you doing?”

That had worked. Deku had leaned back, a determined look on his face. "I will!"

And the nerd had kept his promise. The following year, he had (fairly) stolen Bakugou's spot, and had remained that way ever since.

So basically they were the two strongest heroes in Japan.

But sometimes things just go wrong; even if Japan's two best, most beloved heroes are there. Something does not go as planned in the mission, there are more people in the building, the distance is miscalculated, the villain has an ace up his sleeve... many things can go wrong.

In this, everything works out relatively well at first. It's just a fire, or so it seems, and he and Deku are in charge of saving the people. Everything goes well, they manage to evacuate the people in a matter of a few minutes, and there are very few barely injured. They were both on a simple patrol nearby, so they weren't exactly prepared when they caught a glimpse of what was happening, but Deku has already called the ambulance on the way here in case of serious injuries when they saw the building.

The fire is not even that severe. Only the third and fourth floors seem to be on fire, but Deku looks at the building cautiously, as if thinking, "There is something strange here."

That must be the first sign.

When Deku is taking care of moving the people away from the building and Bakugou informs him that he will be watching around, everything starts to go wrong.

Katsuki spots the girl as he turns around the corner at the back of the building looking out for villains, and his body moves immediately, like a mere reflex. He doesn't even have to think about it: a microsecond later, Bakugou explodes his right hand behind him and advances in midair; he takes the girl by her shoulder with his left hand and moves to cover her before the third floor of the building decides to collapse on top of them.

"Fuck, what were you thinking, kid?" Bakugou scolds, looking for injuries. "Why are you here, are you okay?" she doesn't answer, just looks behind him with watery eyes. "Where are your parents?"

The burning debris teeters precariously above their heads, and Bakugou looks up in time to see how it's about to collapse.

Katsuki is fast enough to dodge it, and normally, everything would have turned out fine, but when the girl gets out of his grip and runs back to pick up her stuffed toy that has fallen from her hands, Bakugou instinctively moves and his leg gets trapped under a burning piece of cement when he pushes her out of the way. "Shit." At least the girl is fine, he notices when he looks back at her. He tries to move his leg out. Nothing. "Fuck."

"Deku," he grunts.

"Kacchan?" Deku answers through his communication device. "What was that? Are you okay?”

"Uh," Bakugou says, "there was a little problem. I need help, I have a trapped leg. I can't move it or get it out.”

"Oh my God, did the building—I'm coming, wait!"

But Deku doesn’t come. Five minutes pass, and nothing, and when he tries to talk into the earpiece again, there is no answer.

"Shit." Bakugou knows that is a sign of trouble, and if he doesn't get out of there soon, the situation will get much worse. He looks behind him and calls after the girl. She seems to want to get closer.

"No, wait," Bakugou says, before she can move two steps, "it's dangerous. I need you to go and wait right there. Do you see that car? Yeah? Well, I need you to be right there. Don't move, okay? I'm getting the fuck out."

He doesn't have that many options, though. Katsuki thinks and ponders them. He could try making an explosion to move out of there taking advantage of the impulse, and hope it doesn't end badly. It could work. Perhaps. Shit, it hurts like a bitch.

No, wait. It would be better to yell at the girl to ask for help from a nearby building.

Before he can do it, however, he hears someone's voice approaching. "Bakugou?"

Bakugou stretches his neck from his position to look back and—there he is. A fuzzy white and red dot in the middle of the fire. "Todoroki?"

"Don't move, wait. I'm helping you out."

Todoroki freezes the fire in one second, and the other, he’s helping him lift the rubble so he can get out.

As soon as Bakugou is out, he starts to cough. "Fucking smoke."

Todoroki squats down in front of him, frowning as he looks at his leg.

"That doesn't look great."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"I called an ambulance; they're already on their way here."

"How's the kid?"

"She's safe."

"Good." Bakugou hisses when he tries to move. "Fucking shit."

Todoroki's frown deepens.

"Are you—"

"Wait," Bakugou interrupts him. “How's Deku? He didn't answer me earlier.”

Todoroki frowns again. “He called me before, saying there was something weird, but when I got here, I just saw you. There's no one in the front.”

"What the fuck?"

Todoroki looks around and stands up, and when he walks to the side, he looks back at Bakugou with wide eyes, like he just realized something. And then, when he opens his mouth to tell him, the building behind them explodes and engulfs them in flames.

.

“Would it kill you to stop being so reckless for once?” Todoroki turns to look at him, looking annoyed.

Bakugou raises both eyebrows, outraged. “Hah?!” The guy checking his wounds on the ambulance stretcher jumps at the volume of his voice. “What are you talking about, I had that under control!”

Todoroki raises a single eyebrow, cynically. “Oh, yeah? It didn’t look like that when I saved you five minutes ago!”

“You didn’t save me, shitface! You just butted your ass in there! I was fine!”

Todoroki looks him up and down, his eyes lingering on the long raw open wound. "What about your leg?"

“There was a fucking kid! What did you expect me to do?! Ignore her?!”

“She wasn’t even real!”

“You didn’t know that either! What if she was?!”

“Okay, even if the kid was real,” Todoroki says, slowly, and it looks like he's gritting his teeth. His eyes light up aflame while he leans into Bakugou's personal space with an irritated and irascible aura, “if you weren’t so impulsive, you wouldn’t have made it worse! You’re usually smarter than this!”

“Hah?!”

“Did you seriously think beating up a cheap villain would help your bad leg to heal?”

“There were three of them, I thought there was a fucking kid, and Deku was busy, you couldn’t have done it all by yourself, fucking idiot!”

“I could have.”

“By burning yourself to ashes? Is that what you call better?”

“I didn’t—!”

“At least I tried to be careful! I didn’t even use my leg! Why are you so fucking mad?!”

“You knew it was all an illusion when you tried to help me! You could have tried to get Midoriya there, or—”

“But I was mad! I wanted to punch him!”

“Yeah, you were! And that’s so stupid!”

“HAH?! Who are you calling stupid?!”

“Uh, guys—”

“Don’t say a fucking word, nerd!”

“Shut up!”

Deku tries to talk anyway. "Um, but—" When they both turn to look at him with angry eyes, he raises both hands in surrender. Then, he makes an apology to the nurse who is in the middle of the discussion; he just shakes his head, like saying ‘it's okay’.

“How am I stupid? You seriously lost control over there! Were you trying to roast yourself or what?!”

“Because you’re not a teen anymore, Katsuki! You can’t just butt in a fight because you’re mad!”

“But those assholes—!”

“You could have gotten seriously injured, is that what you wanted?”

“But what about YOU!?”

Todoroki seems to get more irritated with that. “What do I have to do with this? You were the one who—”

“Uh, Ground Zero, sir.”

“What?!”

“Um.” The guy flinches a bit, and Bakugou huffs while trying to calm himself.

Todoroki shoots him one last annoyed look before turning around and going to talk to Deku.

The guy tells him that his leg is already fine after his treatment (the boy has a cell regeneration and healing quirk), but that he should be careful, and if he feels discomfort for more than three days, he should get checked.

Bakugou thanks him and rubs his face with the damp towel he passes him.

"Sorry you had to witness that," He says, after a bit, and the boy laughs nervously from where he is checking a minor injury on Bakugou’s arm. "I don't know what got into his pants. He's usually calmer than that. Fucking moron."

The guy offers him a crooked smile and looks over to where Todoroki is still frowning at Midoriya's side, his pretty face covered in ashes, part of his hero suit fire-torn. He scratches his neck awkwardly and then the bridge of his nose with a finger.

“It's fine”, he answers, and looks at Bakugou with soft eyes, “My aunt and her wife are just like that all the time. They're both heroes, too; they've been for years now. It's kind of funny and ridiculous watching them bicker, but I guess it's difficult not to get mad or worried when it's about someone you care that much, right?”

"Hmm," Bakugou muses thoughtfully, only paying half attention to what he's saying, because Todoroki looks at him again and, this time, his eyes go really soft behind all that irritation. "I guess."

The guy laughs.

.

.

iv.

"Listen," Bakugou says when Todoroki sits down at the kitchen table in the dorms, as Bakugou has previously indicated him to do. "I'll live with you."

Todoroki's eyes widen like saucers, so big that, for a moment, Bakugou thinks they are going to fall out of their sockets. He opens his mouth to say something, but Bakugou cuts him off.

"But," he says, "I have my own terms and conditions."

Todoroki, not quite sure that he is allowed to talk out loud, nods.

Bakugou crosses his arms over his chest. "First," he announces, holding up a finger. “I'm going to help you pay for the place. Half of whatever the amount it is.”

Todoroki opens his mouth to object, but, again, Bakugou won't let him.

"Second," another finger, "I'm going to help you pay for the food. If we go to the store once every two weeks, we will take turns paying. If we buy dinner outside, we will take turns paying." When it seems that Todoroki wants to object again, Bakugou adds, "and it is not up for discussion. I am not a fucking parasite that will live out of your money.”

Todoroki sinks into the chair. "But—"

"It is not up for discussion, Todoroki."

Todoroki kind of pouts, but agrees nonetheless. "Okay."

"Good." Bakugou nods sharply. Another finger. “Third—and it's not up for discussion either—I'm going to teach you how to do certain things around the house. I won’t be the only one doing the chores,” Todoroki doesn't seem very enthusiastic, but he doesn't complain either. It is a fair petition, after all. “However, the kitchen is prohibited. You can't even cut vegetables.”

Todoroki frowns.

"And fourth," Bakugou says; last finger. "If any of us doesn't want to live there anymore, we should tell each other, respect the other's decision and let him go."

Bakugou is very aware that sounds like something he made for himself, but it really isn't. That's the only way he can think of to talk about it without touching it directly; without emotional chatter. He has to know that if, at any point of the agreement, Todoroki doesn't want to live there anymore, he will let Bakugou know.

"So," Bakugou raises an eyebrow expectantly. "Do we have a deal?"

Todoroki grimaces, like he’s thinking it over, but then leans across the table and offers Bakugou a hand. "Okay."

Bakugou rolls his eyes at the silly action, but takes the hand anyway.

So, a deal.

.

.

vii.

“Dude, have you ever heard Bakugou laugh?”

“Mmm, I think? He doesn’t laugh that often, though.”

“I think I’ve just seen him sneer, does that count?”

“Nope.”

“Scoff?”

“Nope. A full laugh.”

“Oh, I know! Midoriya! What about you, you know him for the most time, have you heard Bakugou laugh?”

“Kacchan?” He blinks. “Um. Yes.” He grimaces. “Not that much, just. Briefly. I mean, if we're talking about happy laughs.”

“Woah.”

“Oh, oh, oh! Todoroki! They live together now!”

“Man, you’re right!” Kirishima says, enthusiastically, and then turns around to call him. “Todoroki!”

Shouto glances at him from his position on the sofa, where he is sitting, trying to watch the movie playing on the TV without understanding much.

"Have you seen Bakugou laugh?"

Todoroki tilts his head, and they must misinterpret his reaction as one of confusion. Kind of "Bakugou? Laugh? Those two words are used together?", but it's not like that. After all, Todoroki has seen it.

"I have," he answers.

"Oh my god!" Kaminari exclaims, opening his mouth in an full ‘o’. Kirishima, Sero and Mina seem already pretty interested. Even Midoriya, Uraraka, Jirou, Momo and Tokoyami give him curious looks.

"I think I can make him laugh right now, if you want." He offers, and Kaminari's jaw seems to drop to the ground.

“Dude!” He screams, leaning over him like an excited dog. “Can you do that?!”

Todoroki looks at the blond boy's oh-so-eager expression and then at the others. He shrugs. "I'm not so sure, but I can try?"

Kirishima gives him a thumbs up, “That's better than nothing, man!”

Todoroki resolutely nods, like a man on a mission.

"Bakugou!"

He looks back when Todoroki calls him, from the very end of the table against the opposite wall, where he was pouring himself a glass of toddy with a wary look on his face, like he didn’t trust his friends on doing anything remotely associated with cooking and getting it right. It’s kind of funny.

When Todoroki stands up and crinkles up his face like he's thinking (trying to remember the exact line), Bakugou arches an eyebrow.

Everyone looks expectantly.

"Are you—"

"Bakugou," Todoroki says, lifts a hand up in the air, and smiles, trying his best to imitate the blurry memory in his head. The expression, the gestures, the voice. Bakugou blinks and falls silent, the glass still in his hand, seemingly stunned at Todoroki’s smiling face. "I want to see your cute face, don't spoil with wrinkles."

Bakugou blinks again.

Todoroki stops smiling. He puts his hand down.

Bakugou blinks again. His left eye twitches.

Huh. Maybe it doesn't work if it's not an illusion and he—the real one—does it.

Or maybe that wasn't the—

"Pfffft." Bakugou snorts.

—line.

"Pffffffft." Bakugou snorts again, and leaves the glass on the table.

"Bakugou?" Todoroki tries, and that's it, Bakugou covers his hand with his mouth and loses it.

It's the same clean laugh that Todoroki remembers, even if he still doesn't understand why that's so funny three years later. Bakugou bends over and clutches his stomach, still laughing.

"Cute face!" He wheezes, and he continues laughing. "Wrinkles!"

Todoroki turns around and looks at the others, who have different expressions of amazement, but all of them seem beyond surprised. Even Iida, who has just come out of the bathroom, seems both shocked and confused. He keeps looking back at the bathroom door, like he thinks he’s just opened the wrong one and stepped into an alternate dimension.

And then, when Bakugou bends back and wheezes again with laughter, they all explode at once:

“Holy shit!”

“DUDE!”

“I feel like I’ve seen God himself.”

“What did I just witness?”

“I feel so blessed!”

“Did you see the sparkles too or that was just me?”

“Indeed, a work of darkness.”

“It’s like magic!”

“Shouto Todoroki? More like Shoujo Todoroki.”

Todoroki looks back at Bakugou again, and even if he keeps wondering why he laughs, he smiles a little.

.

xi.

The first time they sleep together is October. Not sleeping in a sexual way, but actually sleeping.

Bakugou has been asleep for about 5 hours now, because tonight he has been able to continue with his strict sleep schedule, and it is then that something wakes him up.

Usually, he sleeps like a stone, but Todoroki's cold hand on his neck feels as if a giant ice cube has been suddenly poured on him.

Bakugou wakes up instantly.

"What the fuck," he hisses, squeezing the wrist he just grabbed, squinting to define Todoroki's silhouette in the dark. “Did you want your hand ripped off, dumbass? Don't do that in the middle of the night!” he scolds, and rubs his sleepy-fogged eyes as he sits down.

The clock next to him indicates "01:08 am" in red fluorescent numbers. Bakugou frowns. Todoroki wouldn't get him up at that hour if something bad wasn’t happening.

His sense of alarm lights up.

"What—" He looks at Todoroki's face then, and cuts himself off. His eyes have adjusted to the dark so he can see better, and the moonlight filtering out from under his curtain bathes Todoroki's face clearly.

Bakugou's fingers reflexively twitch on Todoroki's wrist. It's cold.

He doesn't ask. It's obvious he's not okay. So he just sits there, silent, and waits.

Todoroki looks at his bed and then at the door, and his face scrunches up, like he wants to run away and flee.

Oh no. That's not going to happen. Not if he has that face.

Bakugou sighs, and carefully tugs on Todoroki's arm. When Todoroki looks at him again, Bakugou looks him in the eye. He is aware of how awkward it can be, but Bakugou doesn't know what else to do. When he opens his mouth, still looking at the features of Todoroki's face gently, his voice goes soft. Not in a gooey or sweet way, but rather… calm, serene. Like the sound of the sea or the grains of sand falling on glass.

"What’s wrong, moron?"

Todoroki blinks. He clears his throat, but his voice still comes out in a fragile thread, cracked and hoarse like sandpaper. "Can I—" He says, and then cuts off.

Bakugou looks at him. Waits. When Todoroki says nothing more, Bakugou lets go of his wrist and sighs.

"It's fine," he says, and moves to the side, opens the sheets, makes him room. "Get in, dumbass."

Todoroki blinks, and Bakugou has to look away, because the expression in his eyes...

Bakugou sucks for this kind of thing. Deku would be much better. What is he supposed to do now? Does he give him a hug? Does he ask him if he's okay? Does he get him a glass of water?

"Is it really okay?" Todoroki asks, then, and his voice sounds so small. Like a kid's. It kind of hurts Bakugou's chest.

He looks at him, partly annoyed. "Of course it is, idiot." Bakugou pats the place next to him with his hand. "Now get to sleep."

Todoroki seems to notice it really is fine, because he obeys and gets into bed under the soft sheets without saying more. It’s not exactly cold, since it is autumn, but the night is chilly, and the blankets are thin, and Todoroki's skin is fucking freezing. Is that supposedly okay? Is it supposed to be normal? Is that how Todoroki’s body works? He gets cold on autumn?

"Thank you." Todoroki says, quiet, blinking in the dark, and Bakugou flicks his forehead. It scrunches up as it always does. It would be funny if his face wasn't so sad.

"Just get to sleep, dumbass." He mutters, and it feels like he's screaming in the raw silence.

Todoroki moves and turns his back at him. Bakugou looks askance at him. Was that okay? He's being insensitive, right? Fuck. He doesn't know how to deal with this.

Maybe he really should call Deku. Slip off the bed, grab his phone, sneak into the bathroom and send him a text. "I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF EMOTIONAL SHIT, WHAT DO I DO."

That doesn't sound so bad. Maybe if he—

"I," Todoroki suddenly starts talking, and Bakugou freezes. "I had a nightmare."

"I... figured."

Todoroki snorts, although it is not a very happy sound. "Yes. It was about my dad. And my mom. And—you know. The same as always.”

Silence.

"Do you still have?" Todoroki asks, after a moment. "Nightmares."

Bakugou's prideful side is tempted to say “I never have nightmares!” and go to sleep. Hell, he doesn't even want to talk about them. But the way Todoroki asks it makes him stop.

So he thinks ‘ah, fuck it’, and answers:

“I do.”

Todoroki goes silent. Then,

“Really?”

Bakugou snorts. “Yeah, dumbass.”

Just when he thinks it's the end of the conversation and that Todoroki has gone back to sleep, Shouto speaks up again.

 “About what?” Pause. “Ah, sorry, I didn’t—you don’t have to—”

Bakugou sighs and then half-laughs. "You're such a dumbass. And stupid.”

Todoroki looks over his shoulder at him, but Bakugou doesn't look back.

"They're—" Bakugou puts his arms behind his head, stares at the ceiling as if he wants to dig a hole in it and fly away. "—I don't know. About a lot of things, I guess. About that fight with All for One in third year. About... All Might's death. Shit, sometimes I even dream about the fucking kidnapping, and that was years ago.”

Todoroki rolls over to face him, and Bakugou glances briefly at him before looking at the ceiling again.

"I know it's—"

"It's not dumb."

Bakugou snorts. "What, you read minds now?"

Todoroki places his hand on Bakugou’s ribs carefully. He opens his fingers, spreads them across his abdomen, and pats him lightly at the base of his stomach. The bed is actually barely wide enough for both of them to fit in, so Todoroki's entire body is pressed against his side as he moves slightly towards him.

Bakugou looks at Todoroki's hand, and it goes suddenly warm. His quirk.

Then, Bakugou looks at his face and wants to laugh. "Are you trying to comfort me?”

Todoroki stops his patting and looks at him, and although Bakugou can't see him clearly, he notices he is blushing.

"I don't know how to do it!" he excuses himself, frowning, embarrassed.

Bakugou snorts. "No shit." He flicks at his forehead again and, as it scrunches up, he reaches out his hand and musses up Todoroki’s hair. The strands are smooth and silky between his fingers. "I'm really bad at it, too." He says, retreating his hand to his own chest. "I don't know why you came to me of all people. Wasn't Deku awake?”

Todoroki seems confused, like the mere idea hadn't even crossed his mind. "I wanted to be here with you when I woke up." He says, and Bakugou raises an eyebrow. He shrugs one shoulder. "You calm me down, I guess." He explains.

Bakugou raises both eyebrows. "Me? ”

"Yes." Todoroki nods. "I feel... safe with you, I think."

Bakugou blinks, and then he shoves his hand into Todoroki's face and looks away, so he can’t see his embarrassment.

"God, you're so fucking embarrassing." He complains, "Go to sleep before I kick you out, moron."

Todoroki huffs a soft laugh into his hand. "Okay," he concedes, simply, and Bakugou can feel his soft lips move against his skin.

He is about to move his hand, but Todoroki moves his own first and grabs his wrist, sliding his fingers so they intertwine with Bakugou's.

Bakugou almost suffers a heart-attack. Whatthefuck.

Before he can say anything, Todoroki closes his eyes.

Bakugou sighs. Ah, fuck it, he guesses, and closes his eyes too.

That is—it is embarrassing, but nobody has to know that he fell asleep holding hands with Todoroki Shouto.

And with that thought on his mind, the warm feel of a body against him, and the pressure of one hand against his own, soft and throbbing with life, Bakugou Katsuki goes to sleep that October night.

.

"Sorry for—"

"Don't fucking apologize, dipshit." Bakugou grunts the next morning, because he is sure what Todoroki is about to say, and it irritates him. "It's fine."

He doesn't reply, just pokes at his lunch on his plate with his chopsticks.

"You can sleep there any time you want." Bakugou mumbles, after a moment, and when Todoroki looks up at him, Bakugou stops paying attention to his food to accusingly point a chopstick at him, fierce eyes. "But don't freeze me to wake me up, dammit."

Todoroki smiles. And Bakugou thinks, at the back of his mind, that's a lot better than that sad face he had last night.

.

.

v.

"Why the fuck are so many uninvited people in my damn house?"

"Our house," Todoroki corrects, as Kirishima enthusiastically exclaims, carrying a box:

"We're here to help, man!”

Jirou looks around with her hands in her jacket pockets, "this looks pretty nice."

Kaminari whistles out of amazement besides her. "It looks expensive, dude." He leans back and finger-guns at her. "Kyouka, when we get married, we should buy the house next to this one."

She rolls her eyes, but her eyes are soft and there is an embarrassed edge at the tip of her mouth. "Shut up, Denki."

Bakugou groans, examining a box. "No, thank you. I don't want annoying neighbors.”

Kaminari makes an indignant sound. “So rude, dude! We would be lovely.” Kaminari sways by the wall on the right corner, where a sofa is covered with a white sheet. "In any case, you will be the annoying one. I bet you'll make a hole in this wall with an explosion by the end of the year.”

"Hah? Fuck you, dead battery, I won't.”

"It's very likely." Sero agrees, walking to see the wall too.

"Shut the fuck up, Tape-elbow."

Todoroki lifts a box, ignoring the conversation. "Bakugou," He calls.

"What?!"

Todoroki nods at the end of the hall. "Which room do you prefer?"

Bakugou heads off and follows him, and when he disappears into a room, he yells, "If you're not here to help us move that damn boxes, I don't want you in here, idiots!"

In the end, everyone starts to help, and the move goes fast. Kirishima and Bakugou carry the furniture, and Sero helps, while Kaminari, Jirou and Todoroki move out the boxes.

Only two hours later, almost everything has been unpacked and they almost finish carrying all the furniture.

"Man, I can't believe he bought all of this," Kirishima amazed-whispers, "that's so cool!"

Bakugou rolls his eyes, but the truth is that he is also impressed. How much money does the bastard have? The house also looks really good: they both chose it, and although it is not the most expensive in the region (Bakugou was not going to make Todoroki splurge), it is well above average. Bakugou wouldn't stay in a house that wasn't the best one, of course.

It is located in a quiet area—at least to be downtown. It has light-brown walls and the facade is beautiful. It doesn't have a garden, but neither of them is especially plant-loving, so that's fine. Two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen with a small dining table and space for a living room. Bakugou doesn't need more.

"Aw, dude," Kirishima pouts, when they cross the threshold with the smallest sofa, "I want money, too."

Bakugou snorts, and then, the tragedy happens.

"Crap!" Kaminari squeaks, in the kitchen, and Bakugou hears Sero whistle.

"You're a dead man."

And from there, Bakugou castes a glance at Kirishima and then goes to look into the kitchen. "Hey!" He screams, and walks over there. "What did you two fucks do?”

“It wasn't me!” Sero yells, and Bakugou hears Kaminari's lament of "traitor!" just before entering the room.

There, into the kitchen, where his All Might cup is lying on the floor. Broken from a corner. Bakugou can feel the vein starting to pulse on his forehead. His eye twitches.

"Pikachu."

"Aaaah," Kaminari half-laughs and takes a tentative step back when Bakugou looks at him. "I'm so sorry!" He raises both arms in front of him, like he wants to put a barrier between himself and Bakugou. "I'm so sorry! I could buy you another one?” He tries, with a shaky smile. “No?”

"Kaminari."

"Oh, fuck." He curses, and starts running.

He yells as he sneaks out of the kitchen, trying to justify himself, “I was just showing it to Sero, I'm sorry! I swear I didn't want to break it!” He hides behind Kirishima as he tries to dodge his predator, and Kirishima tries to reassure Bakugou in an unsuccessful attempt.

"Ahhhh!!! Kyouka, save me!”

(Kaminari doesn't die that day. Thankfully.)

(He also buys Bakugou another cup for his birthday.)

(Bakugou really liked that cup.)

.

.

x.

“I don’t understand Camie’s texts.”

Bakugou snorts from where he’s sitting at the couch, reading. “Yeah, using that amount of emojis should be banned.”

Todoroki blinks, confused. “What is ‘imo’??? And what does ‘4 u, this is p sick, fam’ mean? I’m not sick?” Todoroki continues, as if he was suddenly being taught another language and didn't understand anything. “What is a tiktok? It's a type of clock?”

Bakugou would laugh if he wasn’t so tired of hearing Kaminari use that word.

“She says we’re on a pretty popular one.” Todoroki adds, and Bakugou looks at him as Todoroki frowns, a question mark drawn over his head. “Are we on a popular clock?”

“No, idiot, that’s not—wait, HAH?!”

.

.

viii.

@thunderdenki19  has uploaded two new videos.

First video: Kaminari appears on the screen, grinning. "Well fellows, I decided to show Bakubro and Todoroki a video where a dead girl comes out of nowhere and this is what happened."

Second video: Todoroki and Bakugou are sitting together on the sofa. Kirishima's laptop is on the table in front of them, playing out a video of a hamster running on his exercise ball. Kaminari looks at the screen and winks. "Wait for it", he mouths silently.

"What the fuck is so interesting about this, dumbass?" Bakugou complains, bored, and then—

"Oh!" Bakugou and Todoroki shout, "Oh!" and again, when the girl dressed as that one on The Ring comes out of nowhere in the middle of the screen.

The video ends with the hysterical laughter of Sero, Kirishima and Kaminari in the background, as Bakugou leaps over the back of the sofa with a murderous look.

@thunderdenki19  has 567 new followers.

.

.

xxv.

"Morning," Todoroki says, walking into the kitchen with one closed eye and tousled hair.

Bakugou looks over his shoulder. "Hey, sleepy beauty."

"Is Midoriya coming?" Todoroki asks, yawning.

"Yes, later." Bakugou turns on the water on the sink, without looking at him. “Since you're already awake, can you go to your room and get me my towel? I think I left it there the other night.”

Todoroki makes a whiny little sound. “Now?”

Bakugou looks back over his shoulder, a plate and sponge in his hands, raises a brow. "Yes, fuckhead, now. Move your lazy ass for once, would you?”

Todoroki grunts and shoots him a half-annoyed look, but he moves anyway.

"Why is it in my room anyway?" He says, out loud, from the hallway.

“Says the one who has just woken up in my room.”

"Hmm." Todoroki opens the door to the room. "I just don't understand wh—"

Silence.

"Hey," Bakugo yells, closing the sink faucet and walking towards the doorway. “Are you still alive there, moron? I don't want fucking dead corpses in my house.”

"Katsuki."

"Yeah?" Bakugou leans against the door frame, folding his arms over his chest, and smirks at Todoroki's astonished tone of voice.

“Katsuki.” Todoroki repeats, like he can't say anything else, and turns around to look at Bakugou. The sight is impressive, mesmeric, almost breathtaking: he is standing there, eyes bright, bright, bright, and fully awake, mouth slightly open, messy hair, oversized shirt that almost reaches his knees, feet wrapped in plush socks.

The cat that Bakugou just hid that morning in his room taps at Todoroki’s stomach, where he is holding it between his arms like a sacred thing, and meows at where Bakugou looks at it. Todoroki looks like he's about to pass out, it's downright hilarious.

Bakugou grins, arrogant and perhaps a little proud, like his feral smile before starting a battle.

"Happy birthday, dumbass."

Trying to hide a baby cat quietly for two days was a complete pain in the ass, and the fact that taking care of it will be a lot of work is also a complete pain in the ass, but when Todoroki looks at him and smiles, actually smiles, with soft and impossibly warm eyes, looking like a five year old at Christmas, with that excessive and innocent joy that only a child can show… well, the pain in the ass doesn't sound so bad.

.

.

vi.

dumbass: Bakugou.

you: what, icyhot?

dumbass: are you going to the store after work?

you: … yes.

dumbass: you need to buy another blender.

dumbass: and a microwave.

you: …

you: … what did you do?

dumbass:

you: WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO, HALF AND HALF?? I SAID THE KITCHEN WAS PROHIBITED FOR A REASON!

dumbass:

dumbass: i wanted a smoothie.

you: hah?!

dumbass: the video Kaminari sent me on toubube looked easy. And i wanted a smoothie.

you: it’s YOUTUBE lmfao you’re so hopeless

you: but also, WTF, a new blender?? What did you do???? Fucking freeze it?????

dumbass: it broke.

you: hah?! how? lmao you really are hopeless

you: okay.

you: but DON’T get near the kitchen again, do you hear me?

you: if you want a fucking smoothie then freeze it yourself and do it with your bare hands.

you: wait, no. don’t do it. i’m joking.

dumbass: okay…

you: i’m fucking warning you, dipshit.

dumbass: okay, okay.

you: good. see you later, then.

…

you: W AIT, A FUCKING MICROWAVE, TOO??? h O W

dumbass: i wanted soba with my smoothie.

.

.

xii.

“Light is kinda cool, but I want L to punch his ass because he’s also crazy as fuck.”

“I knew you wouldn’t be team Kira.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re actually nice.”

“And you’re a fucking asshole.”

.

“WHAT? I go for one fucking episode and he DIES? But it’s still half of the anime! It’d be boring now!”

.

“Who the fuck is that white lameass bad-copy of L?”

“Oh, that’s Near.”

“Well, he sucks. Look for your own personality, jerk.”

Todoroki actually laughs at that.

.

.

xix.

“What the fuck, asshole? I’m taking a shower!”

Todoroki peeks out the curtain with his tootbrush in one hand, like he's glancing at the fridge or the cupboard, frowning slightly and head tilting, and Bakugou stands there in all his naked glory, shampoo on his head, thinking about why the hell did he think living with a neanderthal would be a good idea and questioning his life choices.

"Bakugou," Todoroki says, in the most super normal voice in the world, "I've seen you naked before."

"I fucking hate you so much."

.

.

xv.

Bakugou looks over his shoulder, where Todoroki half-hangs on his back, teetering precariously on his feet, dragging his heels across the asphalt, the soles of his expensive shoes scraping across the street.

"Hey, don't fall asleep on me, dipshit."

He doesn't even flinch. He babbles something in the hollow of Bakugou's shoulder, his hot breath tickling the exposed skin of his neck. A useless warning at this point, to be honest: Todoroki's eyelids fall and fall and fall again so much that Bakugou wonders if he's even awake.

Bakugou sighs. "God, whatever. You're such an annoying mess, did you know that? Drunkass." Bakugou mutters under his breath, more to himself than to him at this point.

Todoroki leans over him and babbles unintelligibly, something that sounds like "Hgfdk."

"Yeah, annoying." Bakugou agrees, like he actually heard him. "You're really, really annoying."

"... sshole."

Bakugou raises an eyebrow. "You're telling that to the person who can leave you in the middle of the street? Jackass."

Todoroki mumbles something that Bakugou, again, does not get, and then falls silent. His steady breath hits the hollow of Bakugou’s shoulder, warm and tickly.

He keeps walking, a little annoyed, making a mental note to remind himself that he has to reprimand, for the fifth time, Kaminari, for having intoxicated this idiot and making Bakugou carry him afterwards. He was pretty wasted when Bakugou arrived, clinging to Earphones and Dead Zombie with an idiotic, dumb smile on his face, so he doesn't think he’ll remember much of Bakugou's screaming the next day.

It is partly his fault. He must have imagined that he should not leave Todoroki alone with that group of morons. Practically everyone there was on a different level of drunk when he arrived. What the hell had happened there?

"Ah, Bakugou-san?" Momo's voice had sounded through the speaker when Bakugou had answered, just getting out of the shower after work. A towel around his hips, his hair damp, thinking about what he would do for dinner. "I'm so sorry to call you, but I think I need a bit of help here."

Fifteen minutes later, Bakugou was going into Kirishima's house, with Momo bowing apologetically in front of him.

"It's fine, Ponytail." He had said, more concerned about the fact that she had to deal with that bunch of stupid losers alone than anything else.

"I didn't know he was drinking that until it was too late and he started—"

"It's fine," Bakugou repeats. "He's a damn lightweight, should expect it."

Before Momo could reply, someone crashed into him from behind.

"Bro!" Kirishima's enthusiastic voice had screamed, right in his ear. "You came!"

"Fuck off, Shitty Hair, I'm leaving already."

“Eh? Why?” Kirishima had pouted. “It’s so much fun!”

Bakugou had raised an eyebrow, looking at the corner of the room, where Mina, Sero and Jirou were laughing hysterically at Kaminari doing impersonations of different characters in his "dumb" form, the one he becomes just after electrocuting himself. Shinsou looked at the ‘show’ from the side, like someone immensely cringing at another person, but he also seemed amused; almost like he found Kaminari endearing.

The house was a mess, but Bakugou thinks Kirishima was probably not very tidy anyways.

"I'm here for the popsicle," he had announced, and Kirishima had giggled.

“Aaah, he’s so freakin’ nice, man,” Kirishima had said, “he should come more!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

Two minutes later, Momo had guided him to the bathroom with a worried face, where Todoroki was hanging on the edge of the toilet. Judging by his looks, he seemed like he had been throwing up for a long time, but had finally stopped.

"Bkgooo", he had slurred when he saw him, with a happy little smile and bright eyes, messy hair.

"I can't leave you alone for a couple of hours, huh?" Bakugou had said, squatting down to face him, looking at him like a mother sees her son covered in mud on a rainy day. "You're such a mess," he had murmured, running his thumb across his cheek, and Todoroki had leaned into the touch.

“’m happy yr ‘ere,” Todoroki had told him, stumbling over his own words, falling to his chest with a half-hug.

"Yeah, yeah, gross scum." Bakugou had told him, although there was no real bite in his voice, patting his back. "Let's get you out of here."

Ten minutes after trying—and, thankfully, achieving—to get Todoroki up from the ground, pour water on his face, and help Momo control that bunch of losers, Bakugou was saying goodbye to her through the doorway.

"You're sure you don't need more help?" he had asked. "I feel like you're too nice to ask for it."

Momo had been laughed at that, friendly. “Ah, it’s fine, really.” She had dismissed. “Shinsou-san and Kyouka are still sober.”

"Yeah, but they're fucking dumbasses, too."

She had laughed softly. "Ah, I'll be fine, thanks." she had patted Todoroki's head gently. “Thank you for coming here for Shouto. I tried to help him all I could, but he kept asking for you.”

Bakugou kind of shrugged. "Ah, unfortunately, I guess he's kind of my mess now." Key word: unfortunately. "Thank you for prevent him to choke on his own vomit and dying."

Momo had smiled at him. "You sure you don't want to use my car? It will be difficult to carry Shouto while walking.”

"It's okay," he had said, and shooting one last look inside the house, he had walked down the steps of the porch. "Night, Ponytail."

She waved at him until he disappeared on sight, and that was all.

Now, fifteen minutes down the road, Bakugou is trying to keep Shouto from falling while fumbling with the keys at their door.

"Okay, we're coming to your room, dumbass," he says, even when he moves to go into his room instead, "and if you throw up on me, I swear to God, it doesn't matter how drunk you are, I'll kick your ass.”

Todoroki huffs a laugh.

“So, I’ll get you a glass of water and a pair of new clothes, and if you want to throw up, fucking tell me.”

"Mhm." Todoroki hums, and Bakugou rolls his eyes. At least he looks more lucid than before.

“Dumbass. What did you drink, huh? I bet you can’t say your own name right now.”

"... etty."

Bakugou raises an eyebrow as they walk through the entrance to his room. "What was that?"

He turns on the light and Todoroki grimaces a bit, but looks at him again, and his tongue moves, as if he’s trying to get out the word he wants to say into the air.

"... retty."

Bakugou's arm is warm against his back, and Todoroki staggers foot after foot as he walks beside him before collapsing and sitting on the bed.

"Okay, stay here, I'll get you water." Bakugou stands up, and shoots him a threatening look. "And don't throw up in my bed, asshole."

Todoroki smiles. Bakugou is a little stunned from the number of times he has smiled in the past hour.

He moves to the kitchen, to Todoroki's room, and comes back, and it is then (after Todoroki is in comfortable clothes and had drunk water and brushed his teeth) that Todoroki gives him this look again, sitting on the edge of Bakugou’s bed, waiting for him to put on his socks like a fucking babysitter.

"You're pretty."

Bakugou lifts his head so fast to look at him that he almost gives himself whiplash. Todoroki is looking back at him, with eyes that are somehow both clear and blurry.

"You're pretty," he says again, and his voice sounds a little unsteady, but not enough for Bakugou not to understand.

"What the fuck?" He splutters, the blush crackling all the way from his ears to his neck.

Todoroki smiles. His little smile. Bakugou just stares.

"What? You are."

He sizzles.

"Shut up, Icyhot."

"But I'm giving you a compliment." When did he start talking so coherently? What the fuck? Did Bakugou leave and enter another dimension when he came back? "You’re very, very, very pretty."

Bakugou looks at Todoroki's innocent, open and joyous expression, and then closes his eyes, exhales and surrenders. "Ugh, you're so embarrassing." He awkwardly shifts into his own space, embarrassed. "Dumbass." Exhales again. "Just go to sleep already."

"Mmm," Todoroki hums, and Bakugou's eyes snap open when he feels Todoroki's breath hit his face.

"What the fuck?" Bakugou kind of embarrassingly squeaks, alarmed, when Todoroki leans towards him with attentive, focused eyes and… kind of eager. "What the fuck, Icyhot? Go to sleep."

Todoroki winces when Bakugou puts a hand on his chest and pushes him away. "But I want to kiss you." He fucking whines, like a child throwing a tantrum because he has not got the exact candy he wanted.

"You're drunk as fuck." Bakugou says, exasperated. "You don't want to kiss me, idiot. You're just drunk.”

Todoroki's pout deepens. How does someone in their 20s look like a 5 year old so suddenly?

"You're just drunk, dumbass." Bakugou says again, his voice low, his lips twisted into a wry smile. Like saying "okay, enough, just go to sleep, moron."

"But I—"

"Ahhhh," Bakugou throws his head back, and then covers Todoroki’s mouth with one hand. Todoroki blinks, like a child caught walking down the stairs at midnight on Christmas to see Santa Claus.

Then, before he can say anything else, Bakugou leans down and kisses his own hand, where Todoroki's lips were supposed to be if he wasn’t covering his mouth. It's completely ridiculous, not to mention embarrassing. Bakugou can hear the way Todoroki sucks in a gasp, startled, his wide eyes framed by long lashes.

He pulls back a few seconds later. "There," Bakugou mumbles, feeling the discomfort of embarrassment itching on his neck. He withdraws his hand from his mouth, and Todoroki stands still, like a statue.

Bakugou raises an eyebrow, trying to hide the fact that every minute Todoroki keeps silent, he feels even more embarrassed.

"Todoroki?" he asks, and it's like turning on the lights of the Christmas tree. Todoroki's entire face instantly turns red, the left side of his face sets on fire.

“Ah, fuck! Wait!” Aaaah.

.

Seeing Todoroki die of embarrassment and an uncontrollable migraine the next day is immeasurably funny, and almost rewards Bakugou's embarrassment from the night before (in addition to his own headache. They really need to remove that fire alarm).

"What?" Bakugou smirks, watching Todoroki curl up in the middle of his bed with a grimace, “you don't want to kiss me anymore? Such a shame, pretty boy.”

Todoroki groans and glares at him, though it is feeble compared to his miserable appearance combined with the embarrassment showing on his flushed cheeks and his awkward gestures. "Shut up."

Bakugou devilishly cackles.                                         

(That night, just because he feels a little benevolent, he makes soba for dinner. If Shouto shoots him a look between grateful—and cautious—and amazed, Bakugou says nothing.)

.

.

xxviii.

Bakugou snorts. "Are you tired already?"

"I'm not." Shouto answers, and Bakugou raises an eyebrow when the other stops to drink water.

"I didn't know I lived with an old man." Bakugou teases, amused.

Shouto shoots him a look, raising an eyebrow in turn with incredulous eyes. “You're the one who goes to bed at 8pm, likes cleaning and watching the news. And also yells at kids saying things like ‘those fucking brats! I wasn't raised like that, you know?’ when they prank you ringing the house and walking away.”

Bakugou gets outraged. "They prank you, fucking moron, because you keep opening the fucking door!" He gestures with his arms and then crosses them. "And I don't sound like that!"

"You totally sound like that." Shouto retorts.

Bakugou grunts. "At least I can do mountain climbing without getting tired ten minutes later."

"I'm not tired, I'm just not used to this."

Bakugou rolls his eyes and keeps walking. "Why did you want to come with me, anyway? You don't particularly like this kind of things.”

"But you do." Shouto responds, like that explains it. "You love mountain climbing, I've always known that."

"Yeah, moron, but that doesn't mean you have to do it, too."

Todoroki makes a little frustrated noise deep in his throat. "But you love this. I just—don't know, I wanted to do something you like for once, you're always doing things I love.”

Bakugou stops and turns around to look at him.

Todoroki gestures at him, as if trying to explain himself. “You always cook soba when I'm sad, and watch those animes with me—you even got me a cat, I just—” Shouto deflates, sinks around himself, averts his eyes. He doesn’t need to say any more.

"Dumbass." Bakugou mumbles, and Todoroki stops looking at the ground beneath his feet to find him staring at him.

It’s not that Bakugou has a "soft" or "sweet" look, but there are times when he adopts this kind of... eyes, when he’s looking at him. Like Todoroki was something amusing and embarrassing at the same time, like he couldn't believe they live together, like he was something particularly endearing. All together. It kind of overwhelms him every time Bakugou looks at him that way. It makes his chest fill with soft warmth that he can't quite explain.

"You're so dumb," he says, rolling his eyes the way you do when you think something is really stupid but grudgingly adorable too. "I'm cooking soba tonight," he announces when he turns around and turns his back at him and starts walking again.

Todoroki blinks and then runs to catch up. He leans and tilts his head to look at Bakugou's face, holding the straps of the backpack he carries on his back. "Really?" he says, excitedly. And then frowns. “Wait, why? I’m not sad.”

Bakugou snorts and his whole face relaxes. “Because I want to, stupid dumbass excuse of a Candy Cane.” He says, looking at him with an ironic face, and then flicks at his forehead.

Todoroki grimaces and raises his hand to rub at it—out of reflex and habit to be honest, because it doesn't hurt. "Those were a lot of nicknames together."

Bakugou chuckles, and then goes and grabs the hand resting on Todoroki's forehead.

Todoroki's chest swells with something warm, tender and delicate that flutters alive inside him, that flutters like the wings of a butterfly taking flight in a spring sky.

They remain silent, and keep moving up the hill, but neither of them let go, and when Todoroki glances at Bakugou to see how the tip of his ears are red, and how the embarrassment can be seen on his features, combined with something else, mild, gentle and warm that Shouto can't describe, he suddenly feels immensely light.

.

.

xxvii.

"Kacchan!"

Bakugou stomps down the hospital hallway while Deku runs after him. Some doctors and nurses watch him go by with alarmed eyes.

“Wait! Your arm—”

"Deku," Bakugou snarls, and turns to him with eyes melted in fire. "Where the fuck is he?”

"But you're bleeding!"

"I don't fucking care!” Bakugou snaps, “It's been hours, fuck. I need to see him. You know I need to see him.” Bakugou glares. “If you don’t tell me, I swear to God I’m going to kick every damn door of this hospital until I find him.”

Deku winces in concern. Then he closes his eyes and grimaces, as if he knows he will regret what he is about to say. “Room 305. Third floor in the back.”

Bakugou doesn’t wait a second more and runs off. Anger boils in his veins as he presses the elevator button, the mark where the serum needle was on his wrist a second ago still-fresh, the stitches of his wound gaping because of the effort, the hot blood spilling and dripping into the ground.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he’s aware that his anger is irrational. He should be happy. He should be relieved. But he can't help but be upset.

Anger beats in him like poison in his blood, propels him as he leaves the elevator cubicle and heads for his destination. It buzzes in his ears, it consumes him. It is all he can hear. He can even taste it on his tongue, in his mouth.

When he snaps the door open, two faces turn to look at him, and something inside Bakugou breaks loose. It beats like something alive inside him, it flutters uncontrollably, it spins like a tornado that destroys everything in its path; and at the same time, he feels like something fragile inside him cracks, breaks, fractures.

"Sir, you can’t be here—" the young lady (that was, a second ago, checking up something on the screen at the side of the stretcher in the center of the room) says "—Oh dear God, your arm!"

Bakugou doesn't listen to her. "You!" he screams, and the guy sitting on the bed looks back at him with a pale face. "Fucking asshole!"

"Sir—"

"What the fuck is wrong?!" He yells, well aware that he must sound incoherent, but he must know what he is talking about. He must. "Just talk to me, for fuck's sake! I hate it when you don't talk to me!”

Todoroki blinks, with that stupid, stupid face of his. "You're crying."

Bakugou scoffs, and it's a bitter and ugly sound, coming from the bottom of his guts. "Yes, asshole, I'm fucking crying!" He blurts, but he hadn’t even realized it himself until Todoroki actually points it out, and suddenly, his mouth not only tastes like metal, but like salt, and his whole face feels wet. “And you're on a fucking hospital bed because you almost froze yourself to death! Are you fucking insane?”

Todoroki looks at his hands, like he couldn't stand looking at him any longer; like the very idea was painful.

"Oh no." Bakugou stomps over his bed, grabs Todoroki's hospital gown and pulls him foward until they’re face to face, with such strength that Todoroki gets up out of the bed. He winces, and beyond his anger, Bakugou hears the nurse's frightened scream, but he doesn't care. He doesn't give a damn fuck. “Look at my face when I talk to you!” He barks, "Do you know—do you have any fucking idea of how fucking mad I am right now?" Bakugou rages. The thing breaking inside him feels eternal, and it burns him, much more than any stupid fire could. "I almost lost you, asshole! Fucking lost you! What the fuck were you thinking, huh?! What the fuck were you thinking!?" Bakugou can’t breathe. His chest burns. The way Todoroki looks at him hurts. He wants to shut up, but his anger is bigger; it dominates him. “You never lose control like that anymore except when something bad is going on. I thought—I know I'm shit for this emotional bullshit, okay? But so are you, fuckhead! And if something is fucking going on, then you should tell me!”

That seems to irritate Todoroki. He frowns, his lips twist. "Why?"

Bakugou raises both eyebrows, indignant, and lets go. He turns around, looks at the door and screams, frustrated rather than angry for a moment. “You're impossible, for fuck's sake!” Bakugou looks at him, feeling something ugly move inside him. "Why?" he imitates, cynical and scathing, and looks at him with all the feelings that swallow him from within. "Because I fucking care, asshole!"

Todoroki goes still, his entire face changes.

“You were hell mad when I got injured last time, what the ever-loving fuck did you think I felt when I saw you here?”

Guilt invades every one of Todoroki's features, it was never more obvious. He stretches his hand, reaches out, as if trying to take Bakugou's arm, but Katsuki shakes his head.

"No, fuck you.” His voice cracks, and then he goes quiet, still breathing hard after the rush of adrenaline. He’s starting to feel the pain in his arm.

Then the door behind him opens, and several nurses grab him by the arms. "Sir," a woman says, "Ground Zero, you need to get back to your room."

"Fuck you," Bakugou repeats, as they drag him out of the room, flipping him off, "fuck you!" He screams, over and over, even as the door closes in front of him, and he collapses in the hallway, feeling miserable and extremely stupid. His whole body feels drained. Emotionally and physically. Like he’d just run a marathon sobbing.

Fuck all this.

.

Bakugou has never fully understood it. The nature of it. Maybe it's the fact that they've known each other since childhood; for more years than anyone in his life. Maybe it's the fact of the tumultuous and stormy story that both of them carry, the fact that he is all familiar to Bakugou. The only perpetual constant in his life. Maybe, somehow, Bakugou's brain associates him with emotional discharge, or with some kind of sense of protection and security, like the one you feel when you are around your brother. Maybe it's that—that, at some point in his life Bakugou has related him to the brother he never had, or maybe he always had something that made Bakugou show his fragile, ugly, vulnerable side, because it has always been like this, since the beginning of time. Maybe Bakugou looks at him and his brain immediately goes "oi, emotional toilet" because when Deku appears at the door, just as they’re returning him to his hospital room, Bakugou starts fucking crying.

That makes Deku’s face contort, like he's about to cry too, but he doesn't say anything while Bakugou stupidly clings to him.

"I thought I had lost him." He sobs, and feels increasingly more pathetic, "I thought I had lost him."

Deku rubs his back and hugs him. "I know, I know." He keeps soft muttering, over and over, “I'm here, Kacchan. He is still here.”

.

Bakugou is discharged hours later, but the doctor looks at him sternly and tells him not to reopen those stitches or he may get an infection. Deku accompanies him, but when he peers into Todoroki's room, he is asleep again.

He continues visiting him, falling asleep in the armchair sitting at the corner of the room, bringing food, asking the nurse and the doctor who come from time to time how is he doing. "Much better," they always reply, with a smile, "I'm sure he will be out by Friday if there are no mishaps."

By Friday.

Todoroki doesn’t talk. He watches TV, but Bakugou is sure that he is not actually paying attention at it. He looks at Bakugou when he goes into the room, but says nothing. It’s as if he were in an eternal and lethargic trance in which he couldn’t speak. Except that he answers Izuku's questions, and Momo's, when he visits him with Kendou the day after he enters, and his sister’s, and his brother and his wife’s, and from any other fucking person on the planet.

Bakugou knows he screwed up, so it doesn't surprise him. Screaming at a person that barely woke up from a mini-coma what's wrong with their fucking life isn't the smartest choice, he acknowledges it. That doesn't stop his chest from aching every time he sits in that damn uncomfortable armchair one day more, and Todoroki doesn't talk to him all day.

"Kacchan," Deku tells him, squatting next to him as Bakugou sits on the couch, trying to solve a fucking crossword puzzle like a 50-year-old man at the lunch table. The beep-beep-beep that indicates Todoroki's constant heartbeats sounds in the background, like a whisper or a buzzing, while Shouto sleeps. That’s something Shouto does a lot besides giving Bakugou (no pun intended) the cold shoulder.

"If you tell me one more time I should go to sleep in my damn house I'll kick your ass, Deku."

He smiles crookedly. "No, that's not it—you should, though."

Bakugou glares at him and he laughs softly.

"I mean, sleeping for a week in a couch doesn't sound comfortable at all, but I guess I can't do anything." Deku shrugs and gives him an innocent look. "I could carry you to your house with one arm, but I'm saving you the catastrophic public humiliation."

"Smug bastard," Bakugou grunts, but he knows it's true, and the fact that Deku hasn't done it yet is because he's being benevolent, so he doesn't push. "I miss when you were scared of me."

Deku smiles and pretends to wipe away a tear. "Good old times."

Bakugou rolls his eyes, suppresses the smile that is threatening to show up on his face. "What do you want, nerd?"

He makes an expression, like a light bulb lights right above his head. "Oh, right!" He says, and points behind him with his thumb over his shoulder. "Fuyumi-san is here, she wants to talk with you."

Bakugou glances at the door. "I already talked with her..." he says cautiously, because it’s true.

Deku shrugs. "I don't know."

Bakugou sighs and gets up, lets the crossword puzzle on the couch as he leaves. The nerd is right, Fuyumi is standing right there in the hallway when he goes out. She smiles kindly as she looks at Bakugou, gives him a quick hug, adjusts her glasses on the bridge of her nose.

"Katsuki, is good to see you." She laughs. "I mean, again."

They didn't actually talk when she came yesterday. She mostly talked with Shouto and gave Katsuki a hug before she left and asked him how he was doing.

"Hey."

Fuyumi smiles. "Natsuo told me you have stayed here all week with Shouto."

Katsuki nods.

Her smile becomes softer. "I'm happy you're here. With him.”

The way she looks at him stops Bakugou from telling her how her little brother doesn't really talk to him anymore.

"I want to be here with him," he says, instead, because it's true, and he doesn't like lying. Especially to her.

"I know," Fuyumi says, as if it was a simple universal fact that everyone knows, and she glances at the bandage that wraps his wound. "How's your arm?"

Katsuki shrugs. "Doesn't hurt anymore."

"That's good!" She smiles, and then makes this face, like she wants to say something else, but she's not sure if she should.

Bakugou narrows his eyes. "Is... is everything alright?"

She blinks. 

"Oh," her expression reminds him of Shouto, and Bakugou smiles despite everything. "Yes, yes.” She reassures. "Mom is a lot better now. I guess I'm just nervous because Shouto is in the hospital and mom is too, so I feel like it's a bad omen, you know?” She laughs nervously. "That’s just me, obviously. Natsuo always says I worry too much."

Bakugou's expression must tell Fuyumi that something is wrong, because she grimaces. "Ah." She winces, and looks concerned. "He didn't tell you."

Bakugou shakes his head.

She tilts her head sadly and rubs his shoulder with a warm hand. “I'm sure it wasn't for anything special. It is very recent, to be honest.” she explains. "She had a psychotic episode a few days ago; the doctor says is normal at this age. You forget things, you remember some others... but it was only a moment, she is much better. She’s only at a routine medical checkup now. Just in case.”

Bakugou nods, feeling his head like cotton, and she must feel that it’s time to change the subject, because she mentions that he should go to have dinner at the house as soon as Shouto leaves the hospital. She tells him about a recipe she found for a spicy dish that she is sure Bakugou will adore, and talks about the new flowers that grew in the garden last month. He mentions how Rei misses him a lot and how she saw him on the news last week.

She talks and talks and talks, and Bakugou listens to her. He is happy, really. Fuyumi has always been immensely kind to him, and Bakugou has always liked her. But a part of him feels out of its orbit, like it has come out of him and is somewhere else.

.

"Fucking Deku, he finished my crossword puzzle." Bakugou grunts. "Bitch."

"He looked like he was having fun." Todoroki says, and when Bakugou turns to look at him, he gives him an arrogant smirk, as if he knows that will only make him angrier.

There is an insecure edge in the smile, though. Bakugou notices it.

"So are we finally talking?" he says, because he's a jerk sometimes, and instead of taking it and going out, he has to dig his hole deeper. In his defense, he's a bit petty, and it still hurts a little that Todoroki hasn't talked about his mother with him.

Todoroki's face instantly gets wrinkles, looking hurt, and that's the only thing that makes him regret his words the second later they blurt out of his mouth.

“Ah, whatever,” Bakugou says, shrugging, and moves to turn on the TV, “it's fine. I screamed at you five minutes after you woke up, so I guess we're kind of even.”

Todoroki bows his head, plays with his hands, almost… bashful. Shy.

"I'm sorry." He says, then, after a bit of silence.

"Hm." Bakugou hums noncommittally, like it didn’t matter. Like everything was okay.

"I really am, I—" Todoroki insists, "I was being stupid, I know that, but..." Todoroki cuts off, as if he doesn't know how to continue, and Bakugou glances at him from the sofa, waiting for him to talk again, " … But there wasn't anything going on. Not exactly.”

Bakugou huffs. "And why the fuck did you do that, then?"

Todoroki stops looking at his hands to look at him, and he doesn't hesitate for a second. "Because I was mad."

Bakugou raises a brow.

"He made me angry." Todoroki continues.

That angry? Bakugou wants to discuss. So angry that you almost froze yourself to death? He wants to claim, but doesn’t. Instead, he just asks, "Why?"

Todoroki sighs. "Because he..." He stops, looks at the window, as if the words were difficult to say. Looks at Bakugou again. “He made a stupid illusion about you, and I know it wasn't real, but it still made me mad. He must have realized—last time, when he ran away—I don't know, maybe he heard me talk to you, but the point is, he used you, and—”

"You almost froze yourself to death," Bakugou interrupts. “Because he have made a stupid illusion about me. And you were mad.” Bakugou repeats, skeptically.

"I know it sounds stupid, but—"

"It is stupid, moron." Bakugou says, a bit of his anger seeping into his voice.

"I'm sorry."

Bakugou sighs.

"I just... wasn't in the right emotional state either, I guess."

Bakugou can't help it. "Because of your mom?"

Todoroki looks surprised for a moment; then, realization. "Fuyumi told you."

"Yes."

Todoroki’s face scrunches up. He remains silent.

Minutes pass and he says nothing, just looks at his hands, and Bakugou is about to turn on the television, thinking the conversation has come to a standstill, but then Todoroki speaks up again.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," he says, in a small voice. "I don't know why I didn't. I guess I just felt like… it wasn't that important—or maybe I just didn't want to be a burden to you again.”

Bakugou raises both eyebrows. “That's the stupidest shit I've ever heard you say. And you say a lot of stupid shit, so that’s something.”

Todoroki glares at him and Bakugou kind of laughs a bit.

"You're never a burden, moron." Bakugou says, with serious eyes, and then shrugs one shoulder. “You're annoying, yes. And dumb? Of course! Really dumb. And you're a jerk, too, sometimes. And stupid. And dense. And piss me off. And sometimes I really want to kick your ass when you talk, like. Seriously. I think even Levi wants to, and that cat fucking adores you. But—” Bakugou leans over, puts his forearms on his knees, like he’s about to tell him a very important secret, “you're never a burden for me. You'll never be. And if you think that, then you're even stupider than I thought.”

Todoroki seems like he wants to say something, but Bakugou opens his mouth again.

"So," he continues, "if something fucking upsets you, then fucking tell me, idiot.” He crosses his arms, “It's okay if you don't want to talk about it, I'm not going to pressure you on that. But at least say that something wrong is going on, dammit.” He looks at him and leans back haughtily, like he's just finished a great speech.

Todoroki is silent for a moment. "How sappy of you." He retorts then.

"Shut up, dickhead."

Todoroki smiles, amusement and something playful soft in his eyes. Bakugou knows that's his way of saying ‘thank you’.

("Oh, and Shouto," Katsuki says after a bit of watching tv.

"Hm?”

“‘You’re not a teen anymore; you can't beat up someone just because you're mad.’ ”

"Ah, shut up."

Bakugou smirks.)

.

.

xiii.

Due to their jobs, their free time is scarce. There are always patrols, or some robbery nearby, or some problem with the subway brakes in the middle of the night. Some lost child, an important mission that they have been planning for weeks. There's always something. But there are also those rare and quiet periods when everything seems to be fine and they don't have much work.

In those moments of peace, they sometimes meet up with friends. Bakugou and Todoroki go out for dinner with Deku, or the group of losers goes to the house, or Camie invites them to the cinema with Inasa. Or they just watch an anime at home or a movie by themselves.

It's not that Bakugou complains about the busy days: he loves being a pro-hero, he is what he always wanted, and he loves adrenaline at any time of the day, even years after working. He lives on it. But he must say that it is also nice to rest once in a while.

Tonight Todoroki finished his patrol early and came to the house to find Bakugou making dinner and Deku sitting at the kitchen table. An hour later, the three of them were in the living room distracted by the some action movie, and an hour after that, Kaminari had texted him.

dumb face: hey, do you have plans tonight? kiri and i were thinking on having some fun, are you free?? we could go for some drinks, idk. ^u^

In the end, Bakugou could have gone, but he felt too lazy and too comfortable to change up clothes, so he ended up inviting them over to watch something. There were also lefts over from dinner. Kaminari had been more than delighted, and five minutes later he had sent him another message:

dumb face: oh! can hitoshi go, too??? pretty please???

dumb face: [gif of the Puss in Boots making puppy eyes]

you: Yeah, yeah, shut up already and come, or you're not getting any dinner.

dumb face: dude, you're the best!!! T^T *^* ly, see u in a bit. ;D <3

This is how they ended up here, in his living room at eight o'clock at night, eating from the leftovers of the chicken he prepared a few hours ago and from the bowl of popcorn that Deku microwaved five minutes before Kaminari rushed into the house like a tornado, smiling and dragging a very don’t-know-exactly-what-i’m-doing-here-kind-of-confused Shinsou, looking a bit overwhelmed: Bakugou could understand it, between Kaminari and Kirishima, it was too much energy. Especially for him.

At one point in the film, Kirishima rolls over onto his stomach on the floor and glances at Bakugou.

"So," he says, like someone who just noticed something important in the midst of their mental fuss, "how long?"

Bakugou stares back at him from his spot on the sofa, arching an eyebrow. When Kirishima does not continue, Bakugou tilts his head exasperatedly at him. "Do you expect me to read your mind, dumbass? How long what?”

Kirishima looks at him like it's obvious and Bakugou is purposely being silly and playing dumb. “You know, how long have you and Todoroki been dating? I had no idea.”

Deku, who was about to grab a cookie from the snack bowl Bakugou set on the living table, freezes, arm in the air halfway to his destination. Kaminari turns to look at them from the other sofa, wide-eyes. Even Shinsou seems more interested in the talk than in the movie, because his eyes peek over from where Kaminari leans back on him to watch them instead.

"Uh, Kiri—"

“Hah?! We two what?”

“Kacchan—”

"Yeah, I mean." Kirishima continues, like someone who enters a minefield without even knowing. "I'm really happy for you two! I really am! But I'm kinda hurt, you know, man? Why didn't you tell me?”

Deku looks at Kirishima like he is looking at a coffin, and then raises his head to where Bakugou is, grimacing, as if to say "come on, he's still very young, don't kill him."

But Bakugou still doesn't understand, “You—we what?!”

Todoroki, who has barely paid any attention to the conversation by shooting Kirishima a brief glance when he mentioned his name and then continued to look at the screen, undeterred, clarifies, as if it was a normal every day conversation, as if the only reason Bakugou's brain has just been short-circuited is because Bakugou hasn't listened to Kirishima well, "he asked how long have we been dating," and he shoves a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"I know, I'm not fucking deaf, dumbass!"

Todoroki hums noncommittally.

Deku, in a poor attempt to prevent Bakugou from exploding something, uselessly lifts the plate of snacks and awkwardly laughs. "Uh, this is delicious, wouldn't you two like—?"

Bakugou sighs at the poor attempt to divert the conversation elsewhere, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers.

Finally, he slides against the back of the sofa and announces, "We're not dating, Shitty Hair."

Kirishima blinks. He turns around to look at Deku, who smiles compassionately at him, as if to say "I understand your confusion" (that little shit), and then turns back to glance at Bakugou and Todoroki again, looking like he's trying to put together a 500-piece puzzle.

"You're not?"

Deku laughs. "I told you I was not the only one, Kacchan."

Bakugou exhales, tired, and glares at him. "Well, you're all dumb, it's not that surprising."

"But you're always—! Always!” Bakugou shoots a questioning look at Kirishima, who makes a vague gesture with his hands in his direction, as if that explained everything.

Bakugou raises an eyebrow. "Always what?"

Kirishima bows his head, scratches his neck and grimaces, like he's thinking of a word to say. "I don't know..." he mumbles, "touchy?"

It is incredibly annoying that Deku has lost the fear for his life around Bakugou, because the nerd laughs again.

“Touchy?!" Bakugou outraged shouts.

Kirishima glances at where Todoroki has been all the time since the movie started, laying on the couch, with his head resting on Bakugou's lap, Bakugou's arm across his waist absentmindedly, playing with Todoroki’s t-shit, then at Bakugou's angry face, and finally, at Midoriya at the other side of the table. He blinks.

"What are you talking about? You are 'touchy' all the time!"

"You love it, man." Kaminari interjects.

"No, it's fucking annoying." Bakugou grunts. "You're clingier than anything, how is it suddenly weird if we sometimes touch each other?" Bakugou looks like he's about to explode something with his hands.

Kirishima raises his hands as if waving a white flag. "Okay, okay, sorry! I just thought you two seemed pretty comfortable with it—not that there's anything wrong about it. I mean, I know you are used to it, but I guess I just never saw Todoroki do it? Aaah, sorry, my bad. It's not weird at all, really!"

Bakugou scowls. "Hmph."

Like—ironically—wanting to reinforce Kirishima's point, Todoroki reaches out to squeeze Bakugou's hand.

No one says anything this time, though.

(After that, it's an unspoken rule that they never talk about Todoroki and Bakugou being weirdly "touchy" with each other—as they have come to call it.

Is Todoroki sleeping with his head on Bakugou's lap? Not weird!

Are Bakugou's legs over Todoroki's? Nothing weird!

Are they leaning on each other on the couch? Completely normal.

Is Todoroki leaning and kind of hugging Bakugou from behind when he's on the kitchen? Haha, not odd at all!

Is Bakugou laying on his stomach with Todoroki spread over his back while reading and Bakugou isn't complaining? Isn’t that an everyday thing?

Is Bakugou clinging to Todoroki's left side while out on winter? Is Bakugou mussing up Todoroki's hair, tapping at his ribs or his forehead, moving to grab his wrist when it isn't necessary? Is Todoroki falling asleep on Bakugou's shoulder, playing with Bakugou's knees, poking his back with his feet, laying across his chest on the floor while watching a movie on Mina's house? Super duper normal!

Basically, they just get used to it, as much as Todoroki and Bakugou get used to be close.)

.

.

xxix.

Bakugou arches back.

"Ah, fuck," he gasps, "yeah, right there."

His voice always sounds different during sex. Thick and husky and low, guttural and sensual. Even loud sometimes.

"Katsuki." Shouto's sex-voice is something else, though. It drives Bakugou insane, the same way it does how Shouto digs into his hip, with long, slender fingers, and moves him at just the right angle; the same way it does when he breaths, hot on his ear, and moans, low and kind of desperate, like he can't get enough of Bakugou; the same way it does when he bites Bakugou’s neck, at that weak spot he discovered, just inside his jaw, above his pulse.

“Katsuki”, Shouto's sex-voice is low, vibrates deep in his throat, breathy and shaky and kind of whiny without being stupid, and ridiculously hot. His name rolls out of his tongue like velvet, the same way he rolls his hips up and thrusts inside Bakugou, deep and slow and hard, like he's enjoying every bit.

Shouto says his name like it's the only thing worth saying, touches him like he's worth taking all his time.

He doesn't rush, and it's kind of weird because Bakugou it's always more rough when it's the other way around, and Shouto loves it. He asks for more, he begs for more. Likes being completely wrecked, likes being hard-fucked into the wall, into the bed, hearing the constant tac-tac-tac of the headboard hitting on the wall. He loves being wild, loves when Bakugou is balls-deep into him, fucking his brains out, fucking him senseless, fucking him until he can't remember his own name.

And it's so fucking hot. But it's hot like this too, taking his time with him, being slow but so sensual and passionate too.

It's so hot, seeing Shouto under him while Bakugou rides him, half-sitting on the bed, supporting himself on his forearms, mouth hanging slightly open, delicate lines on his forehead, hands on Bakugou's hips, rocking up into him.

"Holy sh—it, yes," Bakugou tugs Todoroki’s hair and he moans back, his fingers pinching Bakugou’s nipple. "Fuck, Shouto."

Bakugou looks at him through half-lidded eyes, licks at his chapped lips with his mouth still open, and he's pretty sure there's saliva slipping on his chin.

Shouto groans again, and Bakugou kind of breaths out a laugh (just a tiny, gasping "hah"), smirks with shaky lips and bright eyes. "Too hot for you?" he says, leaning in, hand on the headboard just above Shouto's head, hair falling on his eyes.

"Yes." Shouto answers, and it sounds so sincere, it makes Bakugou actually whimper. It's embarrassing.

He tries to recover making a mocking sound, as if the fact that Bakugou turned Shouto on just by looking at him and licking his lips didn't make him want to come any sooner.

"Lame." He makes fun of him, but it's useless and pointless because about a second later Shouto is moving and thrusting hard into him, hitting just right on his prostate, and again, and again, and again, and Bakugou can hardly breathe anymore.

"Fuck, you feel so good", he starts babbling, closing his eyes, shivering while Shouto just merciless fucks him. "Fuck, you feel so good." He whimpers. "So good, Shouto, holy shit." He's so close, he can feel it, he can feel himself on the edge, on the verge, falling, falling, falling. “Keep going—yes. Yes, Shouto, there.” He can't stop babbling. He doesn't even know what he's saying anymore. "There, there, fuck."

A hand brushes the hair off his forehead. "You're so beautiful."

Bakugou half opens his eyes to see Shouto right on his face, blurred and fuzzy in the mist of his pleasure. "Huh?"

And then he kisses him. And Shouto kisses so messy. So messy, like everything else he does. He licks into his mouth, wet and hot, nips at his bottom lip, sucks and tugs at it. He licks at the corner of his mouth, makes a soft and desperate sound, cups his cheeks with his hands with so much tenderness it makes Bakugou's chest ache. He combs through his blond and spiky hair, moans when Bakugou bites hard on his full bottom lip, breaths his name into Bakugou's mouth.

And Bakugou comes, hard and messy as well, sees white, feels like every part of his body is about to combust. He comes into his own stomach and Todoroki's hand, while he rides the waves of his orgasm out of him. He comes and moans into Todoroki's mouth, breaths his name into his neck, drags his nails into his back. He comes and clenches around Todoroki's dick, feeling every part of him inside, shivering while Todoroki looks so wrecked from that alone, shaking when he feels Todoroki coming too.

And he breaths, and breaths, and it reeks of sex. It smells like them and sweat. It smells like Shouto's messiness, like Shouto, Shouto, Shouto.

It's not a bad smell at all.

.

.

ix.

Bakugou gets in the house while Todoroki is reading a manga on the living room sofa, in socks and wearing one of Bakugou's t-shirt again.

"I bought dinner on the way and more milk and tea." He says, putting on the counter the things that he paid by himself because he's not a fucking parasite that lives out of Todoroki's money alone, thank you very much. He can buy his own stuff.

“‘Kay, coming.” Todoroki says, and Bakugou rolls his eyes in amusement.

"Are you reading that lameass manga again?"

"Excuse me, Ao no Exorcist is not lame."

"Ohhh, boo-hoo, he's the devil son, what a shame."

"That's not all—" He looks over the manga to where Bakugou is standing in the kitchen doorframe and he stops on his tracks.

"What?" Bakugou looks down at himself and then at Todoroki again.

"You're wearing jeans." Todoroki says, as if that alone explained his dumbstruck expression.

Bakugou arches an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

“Ripped jeans."

Bakugou blinks. "What, are you having a boner right now?"

Todoroki rolls his eyes. "Ass."

"No, Todoroki, boner. Bo-ner.”

Bakugou dodges the cushion Todoroki throws at him and sneaks into the kitchen again, snickering.

“You didn't say no!”

"I really hate you sometimes," Todoroki mutters, irritated as he enters the kitchen behind him, and Bakugou smirks at him.

.

.

xxiv.

They go to a shrine to celebrate New Year. As it is the first day of the year and a relatively popular place at the south of the city, it is practically full in the early hours of the day.

Bakugou moves through the mass of people with Todoroki holding his hand and he glimpses the green hair in the middle, standing next to a fountain.

When Deku sees them approaching, he smiles at them and waves his hand in the air.

"Ochako is buying emas so we can hang them later," he smiles as soon as they stand in front of him, and steps forward to hug them both. "It's so good to see you!"

"Yeah, yeah, it's good to see you, too, nerd."

Todoroki moves a little and Bakugou looks at him, one eyebrow raised. "I want one of those," Todoroki says, pointing to one of the arrow-shaped amulets hanging from a nearby stall like a child pointing to a giant stuffed toy in a cabinet.

"Oh no," Bakugou admonishes. "You're not going alone again after last year, dumbass."

Todoroki ended up getting lost around so many people that it took them two hours to find him. In the end, Bakugou had been so scared for him that he couldn't even eat well later. "I'm sure he's okay, Kacchan—" "I'm not worried! I'm just really angry! That fucking moron! How do you get lost in two minutes in a fucking shrine?”

"But I have my phone."

"Nope."

Deku laughs. "You two can go if you want, I'll wait for you here."

In the end, Todoroki gets distracted by looking at not only those omamori, but also ofudas, teru-terubōzus, fukusukes and, of course, maneki-nekos (he has already bought more than 4 since the first time they came, and seems to be contemplating adding another one to the row he has built on the table of their house) in the surrounding stalls. Bakugou looks at him, amused while Todoroki keeps moving from one place to another, looking at each of the items within his reach like a child in a toy store. He almost ripped Bakugou's arm off when he pulled him to look at the thumb-sized white maneki-neko with an expression like he just saw God himself.

He looks like some candy lover inside a pastry shop, looking at everything with amazement and innocent joy.

To be honest, Bakugou is not a huge fan of shrines. It's not that he doesn't like them, but he doesn't particularly enjoy them either. It is just a tradition he had with his family. There are a lot of people, he is not particularly religious, and he prefers to sleep until late a thousand times more than to be in a shrine full of noisy people, so when he moved away, he actually stopped going. However, when Todoroki mentioned something about it one day, saying about how his family would sometimes go but he had never been on one because he never got ‘the chance’ to, so casually and with an expression so indifferent, as if it were a simple fact; as if it didn't matter, as if it was a mere event, foreign to him; as if it was normal for him to be deprived of those things... Bakugou had been so outraged that he had made up his mind just a minute after the statement: It became his mission to have Todoroki go to a shrine in New Year.

And Todoroki Shouto was going to enjoy the fuck out of it, even if it cost him his life, damn it.

He made everything he could. He struggled with nails and blood, because Bakugou Katsuki did things well. Bakugou Katsuki did things better than anyone else, and above all, Bakugou Katsuki didn't half-ass do things, so if they were going to do it, Bakugou would make sure Todoroki had the whole experience.

That year, the first year, (two years after graduation), they went at night, with the whole group of idiots.

Bakugou had gathered them together and had vaguely explained the situation to them, and they all agreed. Kaminari and Mina couldn't believe it, “how is it possible that he has never been to one? It is an insult! I’m outraged!", “Look at yourself using clever words," Sero had mocked Denki, but he also seemed outraged. Kirishima, meanwhile, seemed so moved by Bakugou's actions that he almost burst into tears right there.

Everything had gone well.

They walked for an hour before midnight on the light-filled streets, with Kaminari telling jokes and Sero and Todoroki talking about manga every now and then.

There had been fireworks afterward, just before the New Year's bells, and they had lined up in a long line to say their wishes and their blessings, but Todoroki didn’t seemed at all bothered by the long wait, especially after he bought his first ema, an omamori and, of course, his (first of many) maneki-neko.

They had even stopped to buy a pair of omikujis before leaving. Kaminari kept complaining about his predicted "bad luck" all the way back, but Todoroki had looked at him amused all along, his paper stating "good luck" in his pocket.

It had been freezing, Bakugou had felt his ass freezing, and if you ignored the fireworks, nothing particularly interesting had happened. Or at least new to Bakugou. But Todoroki had enjoyed it greatly. He had looked at everything: the people, the food (especially the toshikoshi soba stall they had found on the way home), the lights in the sky, with a wonder so big and so pure that something inside Bakugou's chest had come to life. Shouto had been still talking about the event for two weeks afterward, and even if it was a little annoying, Bakugou supposed he could handle it if that meant he would see his eyes light up and excited smile as if he was still there.

Since then, they go every year. It is an unspoken rule. 

After a while, they decided that early is a better option, because even if there are no fireworks or chimes, there are fewer people, and Todoroki can look around more easily.

Every year, they go to a different temple, so that he has the whole experience. Todoroki really likes this one, though.

The way he looks at everything, with unbridled amazement and innocent curiosity, reminds Bakugou every time, every year, how Todoroki didn't have this when he was a child. No birthday parties, no silly games, no stupid outings to the street with friends or your neighbors. It makes Bakugou's chest ache; it makes him want to kick his father's ass every time even if he's a better man now.

"Maybe this year I should just wish you were less dumb, don't you think?" Bakugou had said angrily last year when they found Todoroki near a corner looking at a shichifukujin stand curiously and elated. "It could do us both good.”

But the truth is that Bakugou always writes the same thing on his emas, every year. And maybe it's incredibly stupid and embarrassing, but he can't help it. When Deku discovered it years ago, he had given him a knowing smirk that had made Bakugou blush to the pads of his fingers, and he had screamed threats to make him swear he would say nothing. Deku had just laughed, lighthearted, and said that there was no problem, that he was not going to say anything, with a cheerful smile, the annoying cheeky little shit.

"This year I prepared osechi ryori and zōni." Uraraka says as a greeting, once they both appear in front of her, smiling proudly with her hands on her hips and the wooden plaques she has just bought staggering between her waist and her forearm. "I would love for the expert chef to try them and give me his opinion," he looks at Bakugou and winks at him. "The mochi and otoso you made last year..." She trails off with an expression of delight on her face, as if she could still taste it, and Bakugou almost laughs.

"Sounds good." Bakugou agrees. He’s hungry after all.

She gives a little jump of joy and moves to give each one the ema she has bought for them, and then she laughs when she sees everything Todoroki has just bought.

He seems a little embarrassed.

"He is an impulsive buyer, he cannot help it", Bakugou smirks, mocking, and Todoroki glares at him.

Uraraka smiles, all sweet and innocent, but the sparkle in her eyes is malevolent. "Ah, that's not as bad as Izu; he sees All Might on something and immediately thinks: buy."

Bakugou cackles at Deku's embarrassed face.

"Oh, that's basically the same with Shouto," Bakugou tells her, grinning wildly like he's about to start a battle, and Uraraka's own smile-slash-smirk grows, "but with cats."

She laughs, and when they both decide to continue teasing their respective companions, Todoroki and Deku walk away to a food stall, annoyed and embarrassed respectively.

.

"What are you wishing for this year?" Todoroki asks when Bakugou finishes writing, trying to look over his shoulder. Bakugou pushes him away with his elbow and hides the ema he’s holding.

"The same as always, moron.” He grunts, and hangs up the wooden plaque with one hand while covering Todoroki's eyes and holding him back with the other. "You being less stupid."

"You said dumb last year." He corrects when Bakugou grabs his hand and takes them both away from there, where Uraraka and Deku are waiting.

"It's the same thing!" He groans, and Todoroki smiles, cocky, like he's happy to annoy him.

They begin to move away from the crowd, down a street adorned with lights that are not turned on at the time.

"I don't understand why you don't want to tell me what you wish for."

"I already told you—"

"Yes, yes, I get it." Todoroki rolls his eyes, and the conversation dies.

They walk in silence for a moment longer, although it is not particularly uncomfortable, while Todoroki entertains himself by looking around at the lights, the houses and their ornaments hanging on the doors and in the gardens, the sounds of their own footsteps and Deku and Uraraka’s in front of them echoing on the ground; the clear sky above their heads, the icy wind gnawing at their bones. Very cold wind. What’s the damn temperature today? 2° below zero? Fucking shit.

"God, I hate cold." He groans, hugging his own body as he tucks his face deeper into his scarf, in a totally futile attempt to warm himself.

Todoroki looks at him. Then, he reaches out and grabs his wrist, and takes off his glove.

Bakugou immediately starts sizzling, angry, “what are you doing? I'm fucking freezing, shitface, that won't hel—” Bakugou cuts off when Todoroki intertwines their fingers and starts to warm up on his left side. It's like turning on a fucking heater in the middle of the street. Bakugou relaxes instantly, as if a switch has been flipped, and Todoroki makes a proud little smile at his side. Bakugou is so stunned by the welcoming heat that he doesn't dare criticize or threaten him.

They continue like this for four, five, six more streets, in a silence as comfortable as the warmth spreading in waves over his body.

Then, Bakugou shoots him a look, askance, remembering their previous conversation.

"What did you wish for?” He asks, curious. "This year."

"Mmm," Todoroki reflects, "Well, I prayed for my family, your parents and my friends.” Bakugou blinks, taken aback for a moment. His parents? "I wished for a cat," ah, yeah, that's not surprising, "more soba," not surprising at all either, "and good luck for the owner of the restaurant around the corner of the agency", Bakugou raises a brow at that. Todoroki loves the soba there. So, yeah, super normal, too. "I also wished so Levi won’t die in the manga this year, for Tanjirou and for Emma," Bakugou snorts, "Oh! And I prayed for our good luck.”

Bakugou raises both eyebrows. "How benevolent of you."

"I know." Todoroki says, sounding genuinely proud.

Bakugou kind of smiles. Todoroki's wishes are like that of a child. It is almost endearing. Almost.

“Oh, I remembered,” Todoroki says, out of the blue, “Momo wanted to know if you are free tomorrow, she wants to get dinner with us and Kendou.”

"Who?"

Todoroki raises an eyebrow, "Her wife?"

"Ah, right."

"Ah." Todoroki exclaims, remembering something else, “And Inasa called this morning. He and Camie want to have lunch on Sunday.”

"I still can't believe they got married last year. Fucking wild, I tell you."

Todoroki shrugs. "They're cute together."

Bakugou raises both eyebrows, looking scandalized, “Even if they are, don't you think is kind of unexpected? I always thought baldy had a crush on you.”

Todoroki looks alarmed for a second and Bakugou tries not to laugh.

“Ah, how do they even live together?” He says, suddenly horrified at the thought. "They're both dumb.”

“You think everyone is dumb.”

“That’s because everyone is dumber than me. Except Glasses. Maybe. And Yaoyorouzu.”

“She’s definitely smarter than you.”

“Shut up, dumbass.”

Todoroki smiles.

.

.

xxx.

"Midoriya."

"Hm?” The boy mutters, still looking at the menu in front of him with concentrated eyes.

"How do you realize that you like someone? That you love someone?”

That makes Izuku look at him. He blinks, his eyes wide and big, as if he didn’t quite understand the question.

"I mean, I think I never had a ‘crush’, so I really don’t know... how does it feel.”

He blinks again. Afterwards, he glances behind him, where Bakugou is discussing something with Jirou and Shinsou, both with knowing and snarky smiles.

"Uh," his gaze drifts to Uraraka, already sitting at the table with Kaminari and Tsuyuu, chatting cheerfully with a grin, and his expression softens. "Well, I don’t think I could exactly explain it." He says, and scratches the back of his neck with a nervous laugh. "I think you just... kind of know?"

Todoroki blinks. That doesn't help much.

"But I don't."

Izuku laughs. "Yes, I know that." Then, he smiles at him kindly, but something in his eyes makes Todoroki think that he feels kind of sorry for him. “I think it is a set of things. And for each person it’s different. Some people know it from the very beginning. Others start with physical or emotional attraction. Others begin to pay attention to the small details, things that they do not notice in others. But I think…” he pauses, looks at Todoroki with a soft, bright eyes, “I think it all comes down to the fact that, there comes a day when you realize that you like being with that person. That you want to be with that person, probably more than with anyone. That, no matter what, you want them there, with you, because they make you feel good. Safer, happier. It’s like your life is suddenly getting in order by the simple fact that they are there, with you. Or maybe it doesn't exactly ‘order’ your life, but at least it doesn't seem so gray anymore, you know?" he shrugs. "Love is complicated. It cannot be defined.” He brings his hand to Todoroki's chest, just above his heart, and pats gently. Tap tap tap. "It’s a feeling. Here. You feel it here. And then it expands and spreads, to your whole body. It's like... warmth. And softness."

Todoroki blinks. "Isn't that a heart problem?”

Izuku laughs. "It is similar, but nope." Then, he adopts this kind of saccharin expression; that bright, friendly smile, like when he's about to explain something to a child. "It's like, butterflies! Butterflies in the stomach. Like a flutter." Todoroki seems alarmed for a second. “Obviously they are not real butterflies,” Midoriya clarifies, “but that's how it feels. It's like your love for Levi, because you love Levi, right?”

Todoroki nods. Of course Todoroki loves his cat. He would probably die for his cat.

"And you love soba, right?”

Todoroki nods again. Todoroki would probably kill for Bakugou’s soba…

"Well, so it’s like that." Izuku says, and then opens his arms, wide at his sides. "But soooooo much bigger. And intense.”

Sooooooo much bigger.

And intense.

Todoroki looks at where Bakugou makes an annoyed grimace, and his ears are tinted red, "Pikachu!" he barks, and Kaminari looks at him curiously, “‘sup?”, “your girlfriend and boyfriend are annoying as hell, take them away from here!”

Kaminari blinks and then laughs. “Ah," he says, and then beams at them, "but they're also the most beautiful people ever," and finger-guns.

"Shut up, dumbass," Jirou answers instantly, as both Shinsou’s and hers faces bathe in embarrassment.

Bakugou rolls his eyes. "Sappy morons."

"You're just jealous!" Kaminari snickers, sticking out his tongue at him when he sits down next to him, and Bakugou flips him off. Then, for some reason, he looks at where Todoroki is standing, and their eyes meet, and Todoroki's stomach flips a bit. It's kind of a somersault or weird gymnastics; but in his belly.

Oh.

Butterflies.

Ah.

Bakugou's eyes are like fire. Deep red, effervescent, glowing even in the dark. But there, in the daylight, with his face relaxed—although irritated—they even look kind of soft.

Sooooooo much bigger.

Much more intense.

Oh.

Todoroki blinks and averts his eyes, and Midoriya looks at him like he knows. He gives him an impossibly soft and reassuring smile, reaches out to squeeze the back of his hand. "I'm not good at explaining things, but I'm sure you’ll figure it out by yourself."

.

.

xxxi.

"Katsuki."

Bakugou keeps typing at his phone with one hand, Levi (“Are you seriously going to call him ‘Levi?’ Like that manga character?” “Yes.” “That’s so lame.” “It’s my cat.” “Technically, it’s our cat, but—” “You want to call him ‘Murder’ or ‘Killer’, how is that any better?” “Hah?! Fuck you! What does that even mean, popsicle? Murder it’s one hundred times better than Levi.” “Maybe ‘Lord Explosion Murder’ would fit?” “Um, fuck you, Mister Unoriginal ‘I can’t think of any cool name so I’m calling myself just Shouto’. Just call him ‘fire snowman’, that’s better.” “Levi.” “Ugh, whatever.” “You think Levi is cool, too.” “Shut up.”) resting on his lap quietly, “Hmm?”

"I love you."

Bakugou's fingers twitch, involuntarily tighten around the handle of the coffee mug he holds midair, his gaze shooting to where Shouto sits in the armchair in the room. He looks so serene and calm that, for a moment, Bakugou wonders if he misheard. He blinks. "Hah?"

"I love you." Todoroki says again, like Bakugou didn't hear it the first time. "I'm in love with you."

Bakugou just looks at him. He suddenly feels like the air has been knocked out of his lungs. He must stay a long moment without talking, because Shouto gets up from his place and walks towards him. "Katsuki?"

"Eh?" Bakugou oh-so-eloquently says. "Uh."

Shouto looks at him, frowning in concern. "Are you having a stroke?"

For some reason, the words and the fact that Todoroki leans into his personal space to look more closely at his eyes wakes him up from his stupor. He splutters, pushing his hand into Shouto's pretty face, making him stay at arm-length. He can feel the heat building up at the base of his neck, at the tip of his ears, spreading on his face. "What? No, you fucking moron!”

Todoroki steps back and sits down, rubbing his forehead with a grimace. "Okay." He mumbles, and it sounds a bit annoyed. Levi jumps off Bakugou's lap and snuggles against Todoroki's legs, as if to say "you need emotional support and here I am", (or maybe like All Might’s “I AM HERE, SHOUTO!”?); Shouto scratches behind its ears and Levi purrs, and Bakugou looks at him as his face scrunches up. He almost seems... hurt. Disappointed, even.

Bakugou's chest burns and aches terribly, like Levi had somehow managed to get inside him and sloppily scratched his claws on his inner walls, opening some arteries, tearing his lungs apart, leaving him with inner bleeding.

Shouto never makes that face. Bakugou can’t believe he has made Todoroki make that face.

He looks up at the ceiling, still feeling open, exposed, and bleeding. So... vulnerable and small, as if Todoroki could look right through him and see what’s inside him without even trying or needing to figure it out.

He sighs, long and tired, aggressively rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration, an undeniable annoyance riding like waves deep in his stomach. "Ah," Bakugou groans, irritated, "fuck it." He mumbles and clicks his tongue.

He looks at Todoroki, who looks back at him with a confused face, like he doesn't understand his tantrum. Whatever. That is much better than his previous face.

"Tsk." He clicks his tongue again and turns so he’s facing the TV, because he suddenly can't look him in the face. "Me too. I guess." Each word comes out of his mouth in a lower volume than the last, and he can feel his ears already starting to warm up again. He insistently scratches his neck, his jaw, feeling uncomfortably itchy. Why does he feel so awkward?

He is not even sure that Todoroki knows what he means.

"You guess?" He replies then, and Bakugou side-glances at him so he can see his expression. He has a raised eyebrow and Bakugou swears there’s a snarky edge in the teasing, amusing twitch of his lips. It irritates Bakugou, but it also makes him want to justify himself.

“No, I mean—!” He kind of stumbles over his own words, looking at the guy in front of him with a layer of frustration. “Of course I do! I mean—Ugh, why did you have to tell me right now? Couldn’t you wait until I finished my breakfast?”

“Well, I was thinking about it just now, so I decided to tell you.” Todoroki Shouto, as blunt as ever.

“You were just thinking you love me.” Bakugou emphasizes, looking at him intently, “Like. Right at this moment.”

“Yes.” Zero hesitation.

Bakugou looks at him. Todoroki looks back, all his fucking sincerity written on every feature of his face. Bakugou facepalms himself and lets out a weary sigh between his fingers.

“Ah. It’s too early for this sappy crap, fuck.”

“It’s noon.”

“Again, too early.”

He breathes, over and over, and when he finally feels like he assimilated all of this, he peeks through his fingers and glances at Todoroki. He sighs again when he sees Shouto hasn't stopped staring at him all that time.

"Come here." He says, beckoning him with the hand that was previously on his face, and Todoroki heeds and obeys, moving Levi carefully out of the way to get closer to Bakugou. Maybe too eagerly. Bakugou kind of hates how his chest overflows with warm and tender fondness, but at the same time, kind of… doesn't hate it that much. "Listen." He says when the boy—the man—is in front of him, and grabs Todoroki’s face between both of his hands, thumbs carefully holding the base of his jaw, like he was about to kiss him. "Because I'm saying this just once. Get it?” Todoroki nods, sandwiched between his hands. "I'm in love with you, too."

Todoroki blinks, and then, as if Bakugou had pressed some kind of button, his whole face lights up, looking at Bakugou with a sort of awe, like he had just seen a giant cat.

“You are?”

“For fuck—yes, you dumbass! I thought you already knew!”

Todoroki looks confused instantly. “But you didn’t tell me?”

“Yeah, but it was kind of obvious, genius.” Todoroki only seems more confused and Bakugou chuckles. “I tend to forget you’re that dense and oblivious.”

“You’re not that better.”

“Hey, fuck you!”

“Right now?”

“Holy shit, how do you manage to be both dense and smooth?” Ridiculously cute and effortlessly hot? Dumb and sharp smart? Stuck up and emotional? Is it a duality that comes in hand with having a double quirk? “Shut up or I’ll regret what I just said.”

“What? Loving me?”

“You’re such a sappy, embarrassing and cocky shit, did you know that?”

“Hmm. But you love me anyways.”

Bakugou rolls his eyes.

“Yeah. I do.”

.

.

Bonus:

"Katsuki."

"Hm?" he says, already drifting off to sleep with Shouto's fingers combing through his hair.

The rain outside pitter-patters against their window and the asphalt of the street in a constant and relaxing noise, giving life and peace to a cool late summer morning.

"Marry me."

Bakugou opens his eyes instantly; the sound of the rain suddenly stops when he looks into Shouto's eyes, looking right back at him, and there’s a buzz in his ears.

"What did you say?"

"Marry me."

"What?"

Todoroki stops combing his hair and gives him a confused look. "I said—"

"I know what you said! But we've been actually dating like two days, dipshit, what the fuck?”

“We've been practically married for years now, though.”

Bakugou stares at him for about maybe 10 minutes, then closes his eyes and sighs into his pillow, muttering something unintelligible.

“Couldn’t you be more romantic at least, idiot? We just had sex. And I’m fucking sticky.”

“We made love.” Todoroki corrects.

“Ugh, you’re so gross.” Bakugou flicks at his forehead. “And lame.”

Todoroki smiles. “You just say that because you’re embarrassed.”

“I am fucking not.” He grunts, very aware he’s fucking blushing of all things, because his body is a fucking traitor.

“Besides, sticky or not, you’re still really pretty.”

“Ughhhh.” Bakugou pushes his face away with his hands and Todoroki starts laughing. Shouto is not exactly a hopeless romantic, but it is so breathtakingly beautiful to see Bakugou flustered for a compliment even at this age. “Stop laughing, asshole!”

Todoroki smiles and holds Bakugou’s hand on his face into his own hand.

“Is that a no, then?”

“Like fucking hell.” Bakugou says immediately, sounding almost offended. “I already tolerated you all my life, thank you. Must as well marry you.”

Todoroki’s smile grows. “I see.”

“Yeah. I’m going to be the best husband ever, the number one husband, do you hear me? No one in your life is going make you this happy ever.”

You already do, Todoroki thinks, but doesn’t say it out loud, and nods. “I’d appreciate that, thank you.”

“Hmph.” Bakugou scowls.

Todoroki just feels like hugging him right now. But before he can move and actually do it, Bakugou gets up, sits down and points an accusing finger at him; all fierce, alluring crimson eyes.

“But you better get me a ring and propose to me properly, on one knee, or I’m divorcing you.”

As Todoroki starts laughing at his words and Bakugou continues talking about how his wedding will be a million times better than ‘stupid Deku’s’, he thinks Bakugou is already living up for his promise: no one is ever going to make him this happy.

.

.

.

.

.

Epilogue

40 years later, Bakugou continues writing the same thing in his emas, every time, every year.

It never changes. No matter what.

With the same neat handwriting, and the same hands.

Year after year.

« Todoroki's happiness. »

The End.

NOTES RELATED TO THE STORY:

This is because, when I got to the end, I thought the story was all over the place. So, just to clear up some things (this is going to be rather long [that's why i had to include them in here and not in notes, hah] so if you don’t want to read them you can skip it lol and be happy! you finished reading!):

About todobaku’s relationship and ships: They start having sex around 3 years after they move in together (after they graduate) and they continue on sporadically doing it, but they never actually talk about it bc they’re both dumb idiots. Deku’s wedding is around a year later. The fact that they start giving each other pecks and that kind of soft pda happens a lot the first few months after they start having sex, like the ‘honeymoon’ phase, until it, not exactly fades, but they become more used to it, so they don’t do it as much anymore. They keep being weirdly touchy with each other tho, even if they don’t give each other pecks in front of their friends, but given that they start being weirdly (and I mean that as not exactly ‘weird’, but like. Not common in those two) ‘touchy’ much, much before that (before they even start having sex), their friends just got used to it and not really pay attention to it. Like, their friends don't find it weird by that point, haha. This is bc i particularly like to think they’re both touch-starved, lol. And bc they start sleeping (i mean. sleeping sleeping. just sleeping) with each other a lot about a year after they graduate and they get used to touch each other. Levi gets in the family sadly almost at the end of the story (chronologically speaking), that’s why he’s not into it that much. And yes. The confession is months after Midoriya tries to ‘explain’ love for Todoroki. And yes. Bakugou discovered he loved (loves) Todo much more before, bc I like to think he’s actually assertive in knowing this kind of things. Rather slow, but he discovers it at his pace. It’s like. He knows about this emotion, he just doesn’t know how to deal with it, yk? So he knows but he never says out loud bc. Feelings. And also, he’s always been about acts and not so many words. So. yes. OH! And about the minor ships in this: Kendou and momo start dating about a year after they graduate, they work in the same agency, and they get married months before Izuku’s wedding. Camie and Inasa get married too, Ochako and Mido, too, and Shinsou, Jirou and Kami are living together and planning on marrying later (I’m planning on writing a spin off about them later, lol. Probably. Maybe not.). All of this is mostly implied but if you don’t like those ships, you can ignore them, lol. Kendou and momo weren’t exactly planned, but I thought ‘hey, wouldn’t it be cool if they get closer?’ and then I thought ‘don’t you think is weird if they all date and get married with the people of the same class’ and bam, that happened. I really, really loved them, too, haha; they're so cute. Camie and inasa weren’t planned either, but I thought, about half of the story later ‘hey! wouldn’t it be funny????’ LOL, and b a m, it happened. Jirou/kami/shinsou was bc like… I love both (shinkami and kamijirou) ships way too much and i couldn’t decide which one i wanted on the story and then i was like ‘hey. why… why not BOTH? Both are great. Both are awesome.’ I mean, shinsou and jirou would get along pretty well imo and they both bond over their dumb crush on the dumb sunny boy while kami bi disaster is like ‘fuCK I LIKE BOTH WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO???’ bc he doesn’t even know poly relationships are a thing. aND then they just all fall in love, yay. ochako and izuku are just really cute, and I love the idea of ‘look this silly young crush bloom into something more mature and serious after time!’ but it was harddddd to decide. bakudeku brotp is just bc they act like fucking siblings annoying the fuck out of each other and also caring in their own ways and i LOVE IT, MAN. I LIVE FOR IT. i love to think they would get along pretty well by the end of UA and after. on their own way, but, yup.

and yes, finally, deku knew it all along. (that these both dumbasses are head over heels in love with each other lmao. he had to hear both of them rant about each other at ua sm, poor soul. ‘he pisses me off, whY DOES HE KEEP CALLING ME A FRIEND??? HE EVEN SAID IT ON NATIONAL TV. that dumbass. i mean, he’s not that bad I guess but HE PISSES ME OFF’ and ‘i think we get along even better now, midoriya, he’s helping me study tomorrow’ and so on and on and on for two whole years. JUST IMAGINE.)

ABOUT THE MISSION: The illusions the villain here creates are material. Basically, by this I mean that Katsuki and Deku could 'touch' them, or at least /feel/ like they were touching them, even if they weren't real. That is why Bakugou does not realize that the girl is an illusion at first. Todoroki realizes before bc if he moves in a certain way, the girl disappears from sight. This is because there is a certain range for the villain’s illusions. It's also why Deku doesn't look at Bakugou when he goes back at the building, and that's why Bakugou doesn't see him either. Basically they are caught in a mirage illusion. The building exploding behind them is also an illusion, but the fire is not, that's why Bakugou's leg is hurt for real. One of his colleagues can ‘wither’ any technology within five hundred meters radius, that’s why Bakugou and Deku cannot communicate and know what is going on. Basically, it is not something so severe, but it is well planned. imo, lol. It was what I came up with. Obviously the villains plan was to set a trap and capture the number one hero, but Bakugou was also an option. In the end, they manage to capture two villains, but the ‘boss’, that is, the one with the illusions, manages to flee with an illusion. LOL. And yup, it's the same one that Todoroki faces later and almost freezes alive and makes him almost freeze himself alive too. They manage to catch him that time c: Bakugou is injured in another simultaneous fight, not there, but he finds out about Todoroki on the news when he is in the hospital.

anyway, oof that was longer than i wanted, but i hope that was at least a bit helpful to understand the order better, lol! LOVE YOU ALL, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING THIS MESS!!! LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!!!