Chapter Text
Todoroki was having what one would call, ‘a bad day.’
He’d spent the early morning being berated by his father and made a quick exit out the front door of the estate, subsequently forgetting his backpack that contained yesterday’s finished homework in his haste. He arrived at school only for the realization of his missing backpack to hit, swore, and was promptly showered with muddy water as a truck on the road raced through a puddle from the rain the night before.
He spent a good few moments looking at his ruined uniform in shock before he decided to cut his losses and trudge into the building, his pant legs sloshing with each step. He ignored the obnoxious laughter of Bakugo as he sat at his desk, the seat of his pants squelching when they made contact with the chair and producing a noise similar to that of a whoopee cushion. He kept his expression neutral when he heard a few of his classmates snicker and endured a stern but somewhat pitiful look from Aizawa-Sensei as he walked through the door.
His phone had buzzed in his pocket as class began and he’d fished it out from his soaked pants, hope sparking in his chest when he read the contact name. Maybe Izuku was texting him about meeting for lunch? His boyfriend had begun picking him up for lunch quite often and the two teens would ride around town on Izuku’s motorcycle until they found a new ramen place to try. He swiped a finger across the screen of his phone only for it to flicker and promptly die in his hands, effectively squashing any hope he had of this day turning around. He sunk further into his chair, his face drawn into an expression of neutrality and peace despite the annoyance and frustration bubbling in his chest. Today was going to be long.
He wasn’t wrong. Time seemed to drag on as the school day progressed and misfortune after misfortune befell Todoroki in the most infuriating of ways; his pant leg caught on his desk when he got up to go to his next class and tore; during a sparring match, Uraraka easily swept his legs out from under himself and he went sprawling onto his back, the breath whooshing from his body as he choked and spluttered on the floor; teachers from various classes gave him an array of disapproving looks and speeches when he had to admit he had none of his school supplies. By the time it was lunch, Todoroki was considering cutting his losses and just going home. His dad would be on patrol at this point, at least, and it’s not like they had any tests or important lessons planned for the day. Skipping school wasn’t really his style but Izuku had taught him that rebelling for a good cause every once in a while wasn’t automatically the end of the world.
And that’s what had led him to stand idly on the sidewalk outside of the school grounds, his eyes darting up and down the road as he tried to decide whether or not skipping school was a good idea.
“Hey, Todoroki!” a cheerful feminine voice called from behind him, causing him to come careening back to the reality of his awful day. He threw a neutral look over his shoulder to see Uraraka exiting the school grounds with Tsu by her side and a smattering of his other classmates trailing behind them. Todoroki nodded in acknowledgment as the group came to a stop by his side and kept the annoyance off his face the best he could. On a day as terrible as this, he really didn’t feel like interacting with anyone that didn’t have freckles like constellations and curly green hair to match sparkling green eyes.
Uraraka smiled at him somewhat guiltily, biting her lip as if she had something to confess and Todoroki cocked an eyebrow in expectation. “I’m really sorry about winding you in training earlier,” she said, sheepish. “You seemed distracted; I shouldn’t have gone all out on you like that.”
“It’s alright,” Todoroki felt himself reassure on autopilot. Uraraka still looked guilty however, so with an internal sigh, he continued. “It’s admirable to always give training your full attention - I should have been doing the same. I suppose I was preoccupied.”
“Rough day?” Tsu asked with a pointed glance at Todoroki’s ruined uniform.
Todoroki hummed. “You could say that.”
“Wanna go for lunch with us?” Uraraka offered cheerfully. “Maybe some good food and company could turn your day around!”
“I don’t know . . . ” Todoroki murmured, glancing forlornly down the sidewalk he’d planned to stomp his way home on. The prospect of going home, throwing himself on his futon, and burying his face into the pillows until a new day came was comforting and definitely preferred over sharing lunch with a group of rowdy classmates. But Uraraka and Tsu were looking up at him expectantly and the thought of drowning his sorrows in soba was almost as appealing as sinking into his comforter. Besides, could his day really get much worse?
He went to open his mouth to voice his reluctant agreement but found his lips wouldn’t move. His reflexively went to bring his fingers to his mouth in surprise to find he couldn’t move his arm either. His eyes narrowed and darted down to his feet which he attempted to wrench off the sidewalk with no success. Todoroki was completely paralyzed.
Todoroki looked at Uraraka and Tsu in panic only to find that the two teens were standing as still as he was, something akin to panic in their eyes. So it wasn’t just him?
His eyes darted as he attempted to assess the situation and locked onto a dishevelled looking man with a long, bulky coat, obscured by the shade of the school fence, leaning against the masonry as if was the only thing holding him up. He limped out into the sunlight, a deranged smile on his angular and scarred face as he surveyed Todoroki and his classmates, all of whom were frozen in their stances like some sort of bizarre tableau. “Nobody move!” he rasped threateningly, only to begin cackling as if he’d made the world’s funniest joke. He shook his head, running a shaking hand through his long, straggly hair and giggling to himself as he spoke hushed words under his breath. “Poor, poor little Class 1-A students. Everyone’s got their eyes on you, you know that? A select few of you disappear and suddenly you’re Japan’s most wanted. The heroes, the villains - everyone would want a piece of you, under the premise of returning you to safety or using you for leverage.” He grinned and waltzed up until he was almost nose to nose with Todoroki, threw his head back, and laughed. His sour breath made Todoroki want to gag. “Heroes or villains - who cares!? All I know is if it’s Class 1-A for sale, I’ll always have customers!”
He pursed his lips and pinched a strand of Todoroki’s hair between two grimy fingers. “My quirk has never been good for much - the more things I freeze, the longer I do it, the more I lose my grip on reality.” He grinned again, wider this time, his lips stretching across his face in a way that Todoroki thought had to be painful. “I knew if I attempted this kidnapping I’d push my quirk too far - that I would never go back to who I was. But sanity is a small price to pay for the money I need.” He unearthed a mass of wrinkled black latex out of one his pockets, unfolding it slowly, methodically, until Todoroki identified it as a gas mask. “I can’t keep you frozen forever. The longer I do it the harder it is to - to - ” The man shook his head. “The sooner I put you to sleep, the better. Don’t worry! You’ll wake up! I just can’t guarantee you’ll be somewhere comfortable.”
“Hey!” barked a voice suddenly, a voice that was all too familiar to Todoroki. His eyes snapped to it’s source, locking on to a sight that on any other day, in any other situation, would’ve been an instant mood boost and a beacon of hope. But it wasn’t any other day. Today was a day where the only comfort he could take was that at least his loved ones were safe and would be there to support him when the day was done but, with the appearance of the teen in front of him, that comfort, too, had vanished. His lips refused to form the warning he desperately wanted to screech, his muscles straining but unmoving, his struggle refusing to show on his face. He’d never felt such a yearning, such a desperation to move, a fact proven by the steam emanating from his body as if he were a kettle reaching it’s boiling point.
He watched, frozen, as the villain threw a sinister yet gleeful look over his shoulder, cocking an eyebrow bisected by an ugly scar that zigzagged down to his cheekbone. “And who might you be?” he asked, his voice walking the tightrope between jovial and deranged.
Shoto watched as knees clad in cargo shorts bent, as red sneakers took purchase into the asphalt, as two hands curled into fists, the same hands that could make the most beautiful art and hold Todoroki’s face like it was a precious gem. “I’m the guy who’s gonna kick your ass if you don’t back the fuck away from my boyfriend,” Izuku snarled and Todoroki felt like he was freezing and burning all at once.
A Cheshire grin spread across the villain’s face. “Another hero? It’s my lucky day.” His lucky day and Todoroki’s nightmare.
Shoto watched in horror as the villain lifted his arm, as he flicked his wrist and curled his fingers inward in a jerky, unstable movement. Izuku’s eyes darted to stare at the villain’s hand, and Todoroki quickly realized that was the same hand that held Todoroki and his classmates frozen, paralyzed, unable to do anything but dread and worry about the fate that awaited them. Todoroki felt like he couldn’t breathe. The villain had paralyzed Izuku and there was nothing he could do.
Hope sparked in Todoroki’s eyes as he watched Izuku raise his fists in front of his face, watched as the villain’s shoulders slumped. The villain’s quirk . . . had failed?
“Oh, what a treat!” the villain exclaimed, dropping his hand back by his side. “You’re quirkless, aren’t you? It’s a pity; I could never quite figure out how to paralyze those without one. And you’re not wearing a uniform so, logically speaking, you’re of no use to me. C’est la vie. Looks like we’ll have to do this the old fashioned way.” The villain’s hand jerked and glinted in the sunlight and Todoroki quickly realized that he’d procured a blade from within his sleeve, his gnarled fingers curled around the handle of a dagger. Like a scene in a nightmare, Todoroki felt words try to rip their way out of his throat but he was powerless to open his mouth, to scream for Izuku to run, to get somewhere safe.
And then Izuku was sprinting towards the villain.
Todoroki could only watch as the villain swiped the dagger through the air with a whoosh and Izuku jumped out of the way at the last second. He watched as the blade slashed a stripe through the front of his shirt without scraping the skin underneath. The villain laughed, a broken, maniacal sort of laugh, and spun the blade in his hands. Izuku looked down at his shirt, chest heaving, and momentarily locked eyes with Todoroki. He paused, his eyes boring into Shoto’s and full of an emotion he’d never seen on his boyfriend before, something raw and determined.
Todoroki’s eyes bulged as the villain slashed the dagger downwards in a swift motion, a move that would have easily cut a deep gash across Izuku’s face if the teen hadn’t shot his hand up, caught the villain’s wrist, and twisted it in his grip, causing the villain to drop the knife. There was a fury in Izuku’s eyes as he jammed his knee into the assailant’s stomach, causing the villain to stumble and for a moment that couldn’t have been more than half a second, Todoroki regained control of his body. The words that had been gargling at the back of his throat rushed out his mouth, bellowing out, “IZU - ” before he promptly froze once more. Izuku’s eyes had darted to his when he heard his scream and Todoroki watched, as if in slow motion, as the villain used Izuku’s momentary distraction to backhand the teen, sending him flying to the ground.
He heard Izuku let out a pained groan, his body rolling on the sidewalk as he attempted to recover from the hit, dots of crimson fluid on the ground below his face. He pushed himself onto wobbly legs and the villain’s hand shot out to wrap around his throat, lifting him off the ground with a single, trembling hand. Todoroki wanted to scream. Instead, he could only watch as Izuku struggled in the villain’s grip, legs dangling and kicking, rivulets of blood flowing out of his nostrils from the strike to his face, pooling into his spluttering mouth and dripping perfect, red circles onto his white t-shirt.
“Some hero,” the villain growled and Todoroki looked at Izuku, expecting to find him frightened, devastated, maybe even remorseful. Instead, the only thing Todoroki could see in his eyes was a determined rage and he watched as one of Izuku’s hands, which had been previously clawing at the fingers wrapped around his throat, dropped to his side and brushed against a cylindrical bulge in the pocket of his shorts. In a blur, Izuku unearthed a can of spray paint from one of his bulky pockets, lifted it in front of the villains’ face, squeezed his own eyes shut and sprayed a liberal line of black paint directly into the villain’s eyes.
The villain screeched, dropping Izuku who fell to the ground in a heap, coughing and spluttering and spitting a splatter of blood onto the reddened asphalt. The villain was holding his face in agony and Izuku pushed himself off the ground, chest heaving, legs wobbling, and with a spin of his lithe body and a raise of his leg, he kicked the villain across the jaw in what could only be described as a roundhouse kick.
The villain went spiralling and suddenly Todoroki was free of paralysis, as were the rest of his classmates, all of them staring at Izuku who was standing over the unconscious body of the villain with blood staining his clothes and smeared across the lower half of his face.
“Izuku!” Todoroki exclaimed before he could stop himself, sprinting over to his boyfriend with shaking hands and a temperature that was zigzagging between freezing cold and boiling hot.
Izuku grinned up at him, his white teeth stained with blood, his hair mussed and nose streaming red rivers, his eyes full of glee. “Hey, hot stuff,” he said nasally, fishing a handkerchief from his pocket, hastily wiping his face, and holding it to his nose. “Looks like you’ve been having an eventful day.”
Todoroki stared at him, thousands of thoughts and scenarios running through his head, though none came out in words. All that time of wanting to scream and shout and speak and now he didn’t even know what to say. “You’re shaking,” he noted quietly.
Izuku looked down at his free hand which was trembling and laughed nervously. “That’s adrenaline for you,” he chirped a little too cheerfully and Shoto watched as his lower lip wobbled.
“Izuku,” he breathed and fat tears beaded at the corner of his boyfriend’s eyes. Shoto quickly wrapped him in a hug, holding him close to his chest, burying his face in his dirty hair. Izuku’s shoulders began to heave as hiccuping sobs left his body.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Izuku weeped into Shoto’s chest. “I - I saw you frozen and your classmates too and that stupid asshole was monologuing about kidnapping you and I knew I could either let it happen or fight but I’m no hero and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to save you - ”
“You are a hero and you did save me,” Shoto protested, holding Izuku’s at arm’s length so he could look into his eyes. Izuku sniffed and Shoto felt tears bead at the corners of his own eyes. “I was worried I wouldn’t be able to save you.” He spared a glance at the villain who was passed out cold on the ground. He flashed Izuku a weak smile. “Looks like I had nothing to worry about.”
Izuku let out a weak chortle and wiped at his eyes with the heel of his palm, grime and tears streaking his cheeks. “I have told you that I’m a certified badass.”
“I must admit, apart from the mortal terror, seeing you all bloody and bruised is kind of sexy,” Shoto said somewhat meekly and Izuku threw his head back and laughed, wiping away the last of the blood from his nose with the handkerchief and stuffing it back into his pocket. Izuku flashed him that famous grin and suddenly, everything was okay again, everything was right.
“Is that so?” Izuku drawled. “Well, hot stuff, if seeing me all roughed up gets you hot and bothered, maybe I should start picking fights.”
Todoroki exhaled, his breath coming out steamy and Izuku laughed, taking Todoroki’s hand in his and running his thumb along the knuckles. He was so lucky to have Izuku and even luckier that he showed up. Though that did beg the question . . .
“Not that I’m not grateful for your heroics,” Shoto began, “but was there a reason you happened to be nearby?”
“Well, don’t tell anyone, but there’s this really hot guy I’ve been seeing that goes here,” Izuku said playfully, slinging his arms around the back of Todoroki’s neck, nuzzling his nose against the bridge of Shoto’s as he spoke. Todoroki’s tongue felt far too thick for his mouth, sweat gathering under his collar and a light sheen of pink tinting his cheeks. He swallowed against nothing, desperately trying to control his temperature to no avail, heat pooling beneath the skin of his left side and spreading a blush from his ears all the way down to his toes. His boyfriend was a flirt and it was going to kill him one of these days. “I was hoping to take him out for lunch but he never answered my text so I figured I’d swing by.”
“My phone died first period,” Todoroki murmured sheepishly, his voice cracking on every other word as he lost himself in his boyfriend’s sparkling green eyes and the feeling of his warm, minty breath against his lips. He noisily cleared his throat and Izuku giggled, looking at Todoroki innocently when the latter shot him a pointed look in response. “I would love to spend time with you but I don’t think we should go get a bite to eat after a villain literally strangled you.”
Another laugh bubbled out of Izuku’s throat, something that left Shoto pleasantly confused as he’d been completely serious. “Sorry,” he said, with a shake of his head and a nervous shrugging of his shoulders. “I get that I just knocked out a villain who could’ve just killed us both but I don’t really want to think about that right now,” Izuku said frankly. “I’d really like if I could just say, ‘hey, hot stuff,’ and then, you know, you would blush and get all flustered, and I’d drive us to some new noodle place on my bike. I just - I don’t - I really can’t think of the idea of losing you right now.” Izuku dug his teeth into his lower lip, pearly whites still stained with the crimson of his blood.
“I - okay,” Todoroki responded, nodding to himself. He wasn’t thrilled with Izuku not getting medical attention right away but he seemed coherent enough and Todoroki was also very on board with not thinking about what would of happened if Izuku hadn’t had spray paint in his pocket or if that knife had come a couple inches closer. “Okay. Let’s start over.” Izuku nodded, his brow furrowed and Todoroki nudged him with his nose. “Come on. Make me flustered.”
The grin that split across Izuku’s face was blinding and Todoroki couldn’t stop the smile that twitched it’s way across his face in return. “All right, hot stuff,” Izuku cooed, “how about we get on my bike and I, ha, take you for a ride?”
Todoroki tried not to think about how Izuku just said what might have been his most scandalous flirt yet in favour of focusing on extinguishing the flames that were now licking the hair at the top of his head. Izuku snorted, giggling behind the palm of his hand as Todorki patted the last of the flames out with a szzzt. “That would be nice,” Todoroki croaked and seeing Izuku’s raised eyebrow, he quickly clarified, “I meant going for a ride on your bike, Izuku.”
“Shame,” Izuku cooed and the blush in Todoroki’s cheeks deepened. Izuku laughed again, shaking his head and planting a soft kiss on his boyfriend’s cheek. “I parked around the corner. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” With another parting kiss and a flutter in Todoroki’s stomach, Izuku took off down the street in search for his bike. It wasn’t until Todoroki heard a strangled noise behind him that he remembered he wasn’t alone, nor had he been when Izuku had appeared out of nowhere, knocked out a villain, flirted with and kissed Shoto, and then disappeared with a promise of returning with a motorcycle. Todoroki turned, meeting the wide eyes and stunned faces of almost half his classmates. He repressed a sigh. This would take a lot of explaining.
“Thank you for the invite, but I won’t be able to have lunch with you all,” Todoroki started neutrally. His classmates said nothing, instead blinking owlishly and Todoroki continued, a small twitch at the corner of his mouth the only tell that he was inwardly laughing at the absurdity of the situation. Why did everyone always have to find out about him and Izuku in the most ridiculous ways? “Something just came up.”
“Todoroki!” Iida exclaimed, his face a cross between panicked and relieved. “Please explain!”
“I think it’s pretty obvious,” Jiro murmured under her breath with a smirk.
“Oui! Où as-tu caché cette mignonne?” Aoyama sang. Todoorki glanced at Aoyama and quickly looked elsewhere. Todoroki didn’t have to speak French to understand the wiggle of Aoyama’s eyebrows.
“Wait, Todoroki,” Uraraka said with a shake of her head and a concerned look exchanged between her and Tsu. “Isn’t that the guy that you said had some sort of manipulation quirk?” Everyone’s eyes shot to him and he shifted uncomfortably, a blush rising on his cheeks.
“I did, I did say that,” Todoroki said more to himself than anyone else. He wasn’t exactly sure how to explain that Izuku was his boyfriend without anyone getting suspicious of some sort of villainous forces; for all the class knew, Todoroki was a stoic loner who didn’t need friends. Witnessing the class recluse canoodle with someone they’d never seen before was bound to raise some questions. “That was a long time ago, though, before I really knew Izuku. That whole day was a complete misunderstanding.”
“Even the part where he was running from the cops?” Tsu asked curiously.
“He was running from law enforcement!?” Iida exclaimed, sounding scandalized.
“He did just roundhouse kick a guy,” Jiro added unhelpfully. “Speaking of which, what should we do about the guy Todoroki’s boyfriend just knocked out?” She paused. “Wow, that’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.”
“We should inform Aizawa-Sensei,” Iida said with a nod to himself and the rest of the students who’d been paralyzed along with Todoroki made a collective murmur of agreement.
“I’d prefer if you don’t tell him about Izuku when you mention the villain,” Todoroki said neutrally, running a hand through his hair and dishevelling it so red strands were mixed haphazardly with the white.
“So how are we supposed to explain the guy passed out on the sidewalk?” Hagakure asked incredulously. Todoroki almost shrugged but ultimately decided against it - his classmates likely wouldn’t appreciate his brazenness. He opted to blink instead, looking blankly at his classmates who were clearly growing uneasy with Todoroki’s silence.
“What is it that you don’t want Aizawa-Sensei to know?” Tsu asked gently and Todoroki inwardly sighed. He wasn’t going to get out of this one, was he?
“He has a bit of a record,” Shoto admitted. “I just don’t want Aizawa-Sensei to see him as a villain.”
“Is he? A villain?” Momo asked quietly.
“What!? No!” Todoroki exclaimed, shaking his head and sighing in frustration. “He’s - I - ”
“Past cure he is, now reason is past care,” Tokoyami began grandly, his eyes closed while the rest of the students watched him in bewilderment. “And frantic-mad with evermore unrest; his thoughts and his discourse as madmen’s are, at random from the truth vainly express’d; for he has sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright, who art as black as hell, as dark as night.” Tokoyami opened his eyes to find everyone staring at him blankly and he sighed. “Todoroki hath fallen for a criminal, obviously.”
His classmates gasped and Todoroki felt like banging his head into a nearby pillar. Izuku had saved them. How had this gotten so out of hand? He opened his mouth in an attempt to convince them that Izuku was good, that he was happy, that appearances were deceiving but it was at that moment that five more of his classmates - Bakugo, Kirishima, Ashido, Sero, and Kaminari, respectively - exited the school grounds, joined them on the sidewalk, and did a double-take when they noticed the scarred man passed out on the sidewalk.
“Holy fuck, did one of you kill a guy!?” Kaminari exclaimed, causing Bakugo to smack him upside the head.
“Dunceface! We’re not with the class for five minutes and you think they went ahead and murdered someone!?” Bakugo exclaimed, exhaling an annoyed huff of air through his nose. He side eyed the body on the sidewalk and then Uraraka. “You didn’t murder someone, did you, Round Face?”
“No but Todoroki’s secret boyfriend did,” Jiro responded seamlessly.
“Todoroki has a secret boyfriend!?” Mina exclaimed, clashing eyes with Todoroki and beginning to jump excitedly in her spot.
“Are we just sidestepping the murder part?” Kirishima asked delicately, causing Sero to nod and Bakugo to bark out a laugh.
“He’s not a murderer and he’s not a criminal,” Todorki protested, becoming increasingly exasperated with his classmates. “He’s a normal kid, just like you or me.”
As Todoroki finished his sentence, the roar of a motorcycle echoed through the empty street and Todoroki turned to see Izuku’s green motorbike race down the asphalt with him atop it, green curls and freckled face obscured by his helmet. The bike came to a abrupt stop in front of his classmates, the back of the motorcycle lifting off the pavement as he braked. Izuku leaned into the handlebars as the bike rose onto it’s front wheel and clenched his thighs around the body of the vehicle as it slammed down back onto both tires. Todoroki choked on his spit. Why did he have to look so goddamn sexy all the time?
“I gotta go,” Todoroki said, turning and taking a few steps forward to swing his leg over the seat of the bike. “I’ll explain everything later, I promise.”
“So you’re just gonna disappear on a motorcycle with your boyfriend who may or may not be a criminal with a manipulation quirk?” Uraraka demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.
“He’s not a criminal and he doesn’t have a manipulation quirk!” Todoroki protested.
“Round Face, he’s clearly just some bad boy half-and-half is getting his rocks off to, don’t sweat it,” Bakugo snorted with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. “Besides, anyone with a bike that cool can’t be all bad.”
At that, Izuku whipped off his helmet, tossing it to Shoto who quickly secured it over his own head. Izuku shook out his green curls, tossing a somewhat amused and sardonic look over his shoulder at Bakugo, who, for some reason, was staring wide-eyed at Izuku as if he’d seen a ghost. “Thanks, Kacchan,” Izuku said with a smirk and a wink from an eye cloaked in dark shadow and liner and before Todoroki could ask how the hell the two knew each other, Izuku’s fist curled over the accelerator and Todoroki hung onto Izuku’s middle for dear life as they raced down the street.