Chapter Text
A visit to his mother from the hospital became a weekly activity for Todoroki, especially now that both of them agreed to carefully fix what has been broken by their hurtful past and to restart a new maternal bond that’s filled with acceptance and joyful memory. Though both of them also knew that it’ll take some time to catch up because of the years they spent away from each other, but they’re sure that all will be worth it in time.
It was late afternoon, the time when navy blue sky is already spreading and covering the apricot ones. Todoroki steps out from the train with his planner on hand, busy checking out his vacant weekends to plan his next visit to his mother’s hospital when a body collided into him, next thing he knew, he’s sitting on the tiled floor across the teen that wears a red hoodie, the teen apologizes straightaway as it gets up and offer a helping hand to Todoroki who accept it with a small ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘Thank you’. Before they release their hands, an unnoticeable white puff of smoke appears and the teen immediately let go of Todoroki’s hand like he touched something hot and got burned
“I’m really sorry” Red hood teen slightly bow and Todoroki was about to do the same when a woman in his late 30’s appears behind the teen and reach for its wrist
“Let’s go, we’re late for dinner!” The woman tugs at the teen and enters the train before it shuts close, the teen follows behind her and glance back with a worried look
Todoroki was left somewhat confused while standing on the platform with his planner on hand, he watches as the train leave, along with the two random strangers he bumped into, he blink once to wake himself up before shrugging the confusion and silently walk away.
Bakugou enters the class arrogantly and ignores everyone in front of him as he make his way to his place, he drop his bag beside his chair and prepares to sit down on the cold seat when Kirishima and Kaminari, the idiot duo greets him a good morning with their smiles too bright it made him squint his eyes and inwardly wince
“What so fucking good about the morning?” Bakugou lazily sits down and close his eyes to take a small nap before classes start when he heard a worried Midoriya and their class representative, Iida talks behind him, he was supposed to shout at them to gossip somewhere else when their topic catches his attention
“Do you think he over slept?” Midoriya ask while tapping on his phone, sending another text message
“I know that it’s very unlike him to skip class, maybe he’ll take a half day” Iida tries to reassure but fails, because he knows that there’s something wrong with their friend Todoroki, they haven’t seen him since last night, and haven’t got any reply from their messages and calls
“Let’s see him at lunch” Iida suggested and Midoriya agreed
They change the subject to lessen their worries, but Bakugou already overheard their conversation, though he doesn’t care whatever happen to half n’ half bastard, but it’s quite odd that the said guy would be missing his first class, knowing that those type of students are always present.
A few minutes later, after Iida made everyone get back from their proper seats, the front door opens and their homeroom teacher, Aizawa-sensei enter with his usual apathetic self and stare at the whole class before letting out a weary sigh, he opens the piece of paper in his hand and starts to announce some of their activities for today and lastly
“Todoroki Shouto won’t be joining us for the time being” Everyone stops from talking to listen “He sent out an urgent and valid message to be excused for days”
Then all of the student in the room starts whispering to each other and Bakugou just listens to them, he even heard Kaminari sharing a story that he talked to Todoroki last night and there seems to be no problem with the guy, except that he keeps staring at Koji fondly. The whole class right now have their own stories to tell until Aizawa-sensei interrupts the chit-chat by starting the lesson, making everyone whine.
Back at the dorm, Todoroki couldn’t believe what he was seeing in front of him, last night as far as he can remember, he slept like a normal human being, without cat ears and a tail, but when he woke up this morning and look at himself on the mirror, the things are there attached to his body like it’s been part of him since birth. He wanted to stay calm, he really does but every time he see his own image looking like that, he can’t think straight nor properly make a word, and the fluffy tail waving at his back that appears to be so adorable is not helping him relax at all
Todoroki paces back and forth in his bedroom, trying to clear his mind out so he can think of a way to solve the problem, but his thoughts were disturbed by his phone falling to the tatami floor and still continues to vibrate, a sudden realization hits him that it’s been ringing for a couple of minutes now, the number of miscalls and unread messages flashes on the screen are the proof
“I can’t be like this” He pinch the bridge of his nose and breath out, then he stride towards his closet to pull out a royal blue hoodie.
The academy is surprisingly quiet, the classes haven’t started and yet, there are only few students in the corridor, and Todoroki was very much thankful for that as he easily made his way to the nurse’s office without being recognize
“What seems to be the problem child?” Recovery Girl ask, turning her swivel chair to face the troubled student
Todoroki exhales heavily before standing in front of the petite old woman awkwardly “I have a very serious problem” He glance back at the door to check if he locks it then reaches for his hood to push it back to reveal a pair of cat ears with matching colors of his hair “Can you help me with this?”
The petite old lady’s eyes studies him thoroughly, making things more uncomfortable the way it was from the start “I’ll see what I can do, but if it doesn’t work, we’ll try to get help from others”
Todoroki nodded almost happily “Yes, thank you”.
Recovery Girl really tried and he’ll be giving lots of brownie points for that, but honestly speaking, fixing things without the knowledge where it started, who is he kidding?—With each minute passed by in the nurse office, in the back of Todoroki’s mind he’s already learning to accept the truth, the morbid truth that from now on he’ll be spending the rest of his life as a cat hybrid.
‘I wonder what will be my father’s reaction’
That’s the first thing that comes out of Todoroki’s mind as he remember what his friend Midoriya once told him ‘Try to look on the bright side and think positive’ And Todoroki now understand the true meaning of those inspiring words, and he’ll make a good use of it.
A piece of paper was place in front of him, stopping him from his reverie
“I’ve written a letter for your homeroom teacher to excuse you until we found the way to turn you back to normal, Todoroki” The petite old woman, dials a number on her office phone and after two rings, the voice of Aizawa-sensei is heard from the other line, Recovery Girl explained everything what the teacher needs to know and ask for Aizawa to go to the clinic to get his student’s excuse letter before coming to class.
Bakugou is annoyed, he always does but this time it’s different, as soon as the morning class was over, he didn’t hear any other things comes out from his classmate’s mouth except Todoroki this, Todoroki that and so on, he know it’s normal to voice out their worries but seriously, it’s too much! It’s not like the guy is dying or something
“Man, this girls are going crazy without seeing the resident pretty boy today” Kaminari takes the seat next to Bakugou followed by Kirishima who stands in the middle with arms crossed, watching the girls and some boys form a circle to gossip about their absent classmate
“They’re talking like half n’ half is fucking missing” Bakugou places his legs up on the table and looks back at the swarm of flies from behind “Ladies! It’s too damn noisy!” He scowls at them and the noise reduces
Kaminari snickers “Seriously Bakugou, you won’t get yourself a girlfriend if you keep acting like that”
The said platinum blond raises a brow “Huh? What are you saying?” He smirked maniacally “You should keep your priorities straight dunce face, not everyone is a simpleton like you”
Kirishima let out a laugh to lighten things up but it came out awkwardly “Guys, let’s not roast each other up shall we?” The red hair tried to reason out and watch Kaminari shut his own mouth and sulk at the side with Sero trying to comfort him but fails
Bakugou click his tongue and stare at the far wall in front of him “I rather have a pet than having a girl, pets are more obedient and they don’t talk shits much”
The three suddenly lightens up and Kaminari nervously smile “I didn’t know you’re in to that kink, dude”
Silence
“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY?!”
Later that night, Bakugou stirs awake after hearing a shuffling sound just above him, it’s like a person have been walking around the room in search of something in the middle of the night. Growling as he sits up and fully open his tired eyes, meeting the darkness made him realize something, that the noise is coming from the room that supposed to be empty. Aizawa-sensei said that half n’ half bastard won’t be joining the class for now cause of some urgent shitty reason, so probably the bastard is staying in his own home, then why is there a noise at the room where he is staying?
‘Don’t tell me it’s a stupid thief?’
“Who on earth is brave enough to enter UA’s dorm and in halfie’s room?” Bakugou question himself and gets out of bed, he walk towards his door to go see it for himself and maybe if he’s lucky enough, punch a thief but before his hand reach the knob, the shuffling stops and everything became quiet, he stayed in front of his door for a minute to wait if there will be another noise but he only received a deafening silence, he lightly scoff and looks at the clock on his bedside table “Maybe the fucker decided to stay for the night, it’s already late anyway” A yawn escape his lips and Bakugou goes back to bed and continue his sleep
Early that morning, Bakugou woke up again from a loud noise, but this time it’s his own alarm. He actually made a schedule for himself to wake up earlier than most of his classmates to have a run every morning before going back to get ready for school. It’s his own regime that he set to himself to stay fit.
After Bakugou suits himself up with his running gears, he goes down to the dorm’s pantry to get some energy drink for his morning jog but halts from entering as he saw a person’s upper body across the counter, wearing a white hoodie that covers its head and its back facing him
Todoroki turn his back slowly after making his tea and was surprise to see one of his classmate, Bakugou is all geared-up and is dead straight staring at him with eyebrows furrowed in confusion
“Good morning” Todoroki greeted and shifts a little from where he was standing before making a hurry beeline towards the pantry’s entrance where Bakugou is standing, also forgetting about the hot tea he just made on the counter
But Bakugou’s eyes are fast enough to notice something was off, including some little details like the weird thing coming from the other's back and Todoroki is obviously hiding it as it tries to exit while facing him, and the bastard’s face looked pale is as if he had seen a ghost
“Never thought you’ll still be here, shortcake” Bakugou smirked and steps in the other’s way
“Actually, I’m leaving now, so nice seeing you Bakugou, again, good morning” Todoroki bows a little and made and attempt to make himself fit to the little space between the platinum blond and the wall but was stopped
“You seem awfully chatty and jumpy today” Bakugou teased and tries to look at Todoroki’s back
The said man notice it and took a single step back from the evil grinning demon incarnate as he already know what the other’s planning “Move Bakugou or I’ll freeze you” Todoroki threatens but the other didn’t even budge nor made a reaction, instead it just snorts back at him
“Enough with bullshits, what you got there bastard?” Bakugou arches an eyebrow and points at Todoroki, who made another step back, making him more curious and irritated at the same time “Seriously what the hell are you—” He swiftly took a huge step forward and successfully reaches the little thing that barely shows behind half n’ half “—hiding?” He stares at the soft white furry tail in his grasp and made an experimental tug, making the other escape an embarrassing short whine
Bakugou blinks then looks up to see Todoroki staring down at him with wide teary eyes and a face that suddenly became the same color as his other nickname ‘Strawberry Shortcake’. Never in his mind, had he thought he’ll live to witness one of god’s beautiful miracle
“Back off!” Todoroki suddenly pushes the stunned platinum blond to the side and made a sprightly run to escape
Bakugou gain consciousness from his trance and gets on his feet to chase after his new found target. He uses his quirk to catch up and was successful to get a hold of the other’s jacket. He pulls the piece of cloth in his hand, making the unfortunate bastard gets pulled back and land its back on his chest. Bakugou was pretty sure that he heard Todoroki made a hissing sound to show aggression and exert quite a lot of effort to escape, making them both stumble to the floor and wrestles like an elementary schoolers
“Who’s there?”
The two stops from almost tearing each other’s ear out as they heard footsteps coming down from the stairs. Suddenly, Todoroki was raised from the floor and got manhandled. Bakugou sprinted to one of the doors with the bastard on his shoulder, resulting to be the outside and the back of the building.
Feeling that they already have their privacy, Bakugou drops the dead weight on his shoulder to the grass and looks down to see a mess of snow white and crimson hair that’s equally parted in the middle with cat ears perking up on each side and it also have the same matching colors with its hair, then his eyes trails down to catch a glimpse of the swaying fluffy white tail with pinkish red tinge at the tip before it was hidden from his sight as Todoroki kneels on the grass
Bakugou tries to collect himself from all the information his mind thought of and just ask the person in front of him to fill in some of the missing answers
“What the fuck happened to you?” He ask with his usual angry tone but instead it came out utterly amused
Todoroki looks away for a moment to ponder, then sighs tiredly, making his cat ears droop “Honestly, I also don’t know” He looked up to Bakugou, face puzzled “I just woke up yesterday with cat ears and a tail, obviously I don’t want others to see me like this so I skipped class and went to the nurse office instead to seek for help”
Bakugou stays passively quiet so Todoroki continues “Recovery Girl is still looking for some ways to help me, and I ask to be excused until I got cured”
Alright, Bakugou wanted to laugh from the bastard’s misfortune and so he did, after some cackles and a few hits on the wall, he wheezes and gets a hold of his aching stomach for being out of air, then he saw Todoroki pouting, and the look didn’t help him feel a single empathy towards the other at all, in fact it urges him to tease the latter
“Fuck, this could be the best morning in my whole UA life!” Bakugou lean his back to the wall and calm himself down before peering back at the moping hybrid “Hey bastard, need a help?”
Todoroki stares back with a faint light of hope in his eyes and watch as Bakugou slides down to his level with its signature devilish smirk
“But there’s a catch you see…”
‘Ah yes, how could he forgot—’ Todoroki thought
The platinum blond demon in disguise takes out his phone from his pocket “I’m not helping for free” Then he points the tip of the phone at half n’ half “You little snowbell, will let me take pictures of you with this form”
‘—it’s the infamous Bakugou Katsuki he’s talking to’
“I don’t need your petty help” Todoroki looks away and decline to save his remaining pride, Bakugou already saw the worse of him, so the least he could do is to gather himself up again to face his future problems
But the platinum blond won’t be accepting a No for an answer, there was a second of stilled silence before Todoroki heard a snap sound near him, his eyes search for it and found out that the noise came from Bakugou’s phone
“You know Todoroki, I was being a good fellow hero to offer help but since you declined, I think the class will be excited to see this new you” Bakugou grins and shake his phone in front of Todoroki’s face “What if I accidentally post it in SNS? I’m sure big ol’ daddy would love to see this”
“I didn’t expect you to be this shabby, guess I should think more lowly of you from now on”
Bakugou hides the phone back to his pocket and stands up “Sure, go ahead bastard, think what you want of me but from now on, you’ll be my pet cat to fucking entertain me” He put his hand in his pocket and leaned back on the wall “It’s the only way to compensate your action for not taking me seriously and oh! For also picking a wrong rival”
Todoroki hisses back in return, silver and sky blue eyes glinting furiously and tail forming like a line of fluff ball, but it soon relaxes down as he realized that right now, Bakugou have the upper hand, there’s no stopping the guy to get what he wants, even if he attacks him it’s still futile, someone might come out after hearing some noise and see him. Right now, fighting Bakugou will result for other problems
“I want to make a bargain” Todoroki bit his lower lip and faces down as he make a fists on his lap “You’ll promise not to tell anyone or anybody about this” He lift his head up wearing his most stoic and cold expression “You will update me about school stuff, that means taking down notes in every subject and lastly, you will help me find ways to turn me back to human, is that a deal?”
Bakugou mused and Todoroki gives him another reason to not refuse “It’s a win-win situation Bakugou, in fact, you still have full control in your little game of shallow revenge”
The platinum blond nod to himself and lets out a dark airy laugh “Okay, I’ll be taking your shitty deal, kitten”
Todoroki once heard that never make a pact with the devil, because no matter what happens, the devil always come back to collect his prize.