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He knew it was too easy.
Bakugou would’ve been telling him how much of a dumbass he was if only he was there with him on the job, but Todoroki insisted that he should start to prepare dinner for the two instead since everyone knows Bakugou’s cooking is to die for, but it requires sufficient time and effort which Bakugou would be lacking after yet another fight that day which would leave them eating pot noodles for the fourth time that week. Not that Todoroki would’ve minded but he knew Katsuki wasn’t much of a fan of ‘that shitty microwavable garbage which probably shortens my goddamn life span by 7 fucking years everytime I eat it’.
Maybe he should have just put up with Katsuki’s short outburst of anger and whining again today.
Todoroki had the villain cornered and was ready to deal the final strike and finally knock him out when darkness enveloped his vision. He should’ve known. He should’ve fucking known that the villain had something up his sleeve judging by the fact he couldn’t pinpoint him using his quirk at any point during close combat, at which the villain seemed to excel based on how precise and quick his movements were.
Panic slowly began setting in as Todoroki’s vision didn’t seem to be returning and he was left aimlessly firing in every direction he picked up any sound from. The villain was also extremely stealthy from the lack of sound he made when moving which left Todoroki on high alert. However even trying his best to stay aware of his surroundings he failed to pick up on the sound of a blade being drawn, which he would blame on letting himself be startled by the sudden loss of vision and not keeping his cool. Before he managed to spin around in the direction where he heard a slightly louder approaching foostep from, a metal object found itself lodged in Todoroki’s chest.
“Fuck” Todoroki’s vision returned, blinding him momentarily due to the bright lights of a building nearby. Despite the pain it caused him, he shot out sharp shards of ice in the direction of where the blade seemed to have come from and heard an agonising scream of pain followed by a loud thud of a body hitting the ground.
He began feeling cold. Far too cold, and for once it wasn’t him having trouble controlling his quirk that was causing it. He couldn’t help but wish that Katsuki was here to embrace him and warm him up. Crimson blood was leaving Todoroki’s body at an alarming rate from the wound that the blade had created. Taking out the blade seemed like a reasonable idea for about a second before he came to his senses and realised he would bleed out if he did that and even his fire powers wouldn’t be fast enough to cauterize the wound before he bled out or passed out from the blood loss.
With his vision back, Todoroki could see that the villain lay seemingly dead in a puddle of his own blood a few feet away from him with numerous deep gashes caused by the ice he sent soaring through the air. If the villain wasn’t dead then at least he was probably going to be unconscious for long enough for authorities to arrive and take him away. At least he got the job done, right?
Todoroki winced as he let himself fall back and slide down the wall as his legs began giving out. His vision began to swirl with black dots as they began taking over his vision once more along with unshed tears which blurred his vision. He reached for his phone, trying to stifle the cry of pain he wanted to give out as the blade seemed to lodge itself deeper with that movement. He notified the authorities of his and the villains location and dialled the top number on his phone.
“You took your sweet time you half n half bastard, I’m nearly done cooking so hurry your royal ass the fuck up I made cold soba.” Katsuki grumbled the last part, seemingly embarrassed at admitting he made his lover’s favourite food. Todoroki had to choke back a sob.
“I’ll be there soon don’t worry.” Todoroki voice was slightly raspy and choked up but he smiled softly all of a sudden reminiscing the first time that Katsuki had cooked for him, albeit they weren’t together yet and were on less than friendly terms.
“Oi, half n half” Bakugou had shouted out to him after one of their classes' close combat sessions. Todoroki had to look around to check if anyone else was around in case he misheard before turning his attention to the slightly impatient looking blond.
“I want you to fight me.” Silence ensued.
“What?” Bakugou’s eyebrow twitched at the taller teen’s confusion.
“I said I want you to fight me asshole, you know make up for your shitty half assed attempt at the sports festival? I know Iida knocked you over the head during training today but I didn’t know it was possible to do damage to a seemingly non existent brain.” Bakugou smirked in triumph as he saw Todoroki’s usually passive face twist with annoyance at the childish insult.
“We’re not supposed to use our quirks outside of class.” Was Todoroki’s plain response as his face slipped back into his usual cold façade, but as he began walking away he could hear something, or rather someone, fast approaching from behind and reacted by turning around and trying to throw a punch which was stopped by Bakugou’s hand catching his fist which only served in Todoroki letting out a silent ‘tch’ and attempting to yank his hand away from the blond’s hold whose smirk only grew. Oh it was ON.
The two seemed to silently agree to sticking to hand to hand combat purely to avoid getting chewed out by All Might or even worse, by Aizawa. Of course this gave Todoroki the advantage seeing how his father had, quite literally, knocked the speed and reflexes into him at a young age so when it came to close quarter combat, Todoroki had all of his class beat. Or at least he thought so.
Most would think Bakugou would be one to fight dirty, use underhanded tactics and such, or to not have much thought behind all his punches, however Todoroki could see how Bakugou wasted no movements and how all his actions were thoroughly thought out. He couldn’t help but admire the way Bakugou’s muscles moved with every punch or kick and the way his eyes burned with raw determination to defeat his opponent. Todoroki was never one to really ponder over his sexuality but he sure as hell was questioning it now. Well shit.
The small moment of distraction was the only opening Bakugou needed to sweep Todoroki off his feet and pin him down to the ground. Both of their chests heaved with the effort to catch their breaths after the intense fight. An unexpected growl left Bakugou as Todoroki looked up at him to find Bakugou glaring at him with a frown on his face.
“I think I fucking told you I didn’t like your half assed attempt at a fight the first time yet here you are getting fucking distracted in the middle of a fight, are you mocking me?” Todoroki could only describe Bakugou as livid as he grabbed Todoroki by the front of his shirt, hands crackling with explosions begging to be let loose, and pulled him up into a sitting position leaving mere inches between their faces with Bakugou’s warm breath ghosting over Todoroki’s face.
Suddenly Todoroki grew VERY much aware of their positions, flushed red and by instinct proceeded to knock, a now bewildered and surprised, Bakugou off him in his embarrassment. He could only pray to every god and hope Bakugou didn’t notice how deeply red his cheeks had been tinted. Todoroki stood up, brushed himself off and briskly walked away as Bakugou watched him from the ground, where Todoroki had thrown him just a few seconds back, in slight shock until his mouth slowly curved into a small smirk when realisation dawned on him that he managed to knock the passive 24/7 Todoroki off balance and made that shitty blank mask he always wore disappear even if only for a split second. Bakugou’s going to have a field trip with this, is all Todoroki could think on his way back to his dorm where he immediately laid down on his bed and pulled out a revision book to read so he could get ahead on the material they’d be covering in class.
After an hour or so a knock could be heard on his door which he begrudgingly proceeded to drag himself to open just to be met with a plate with what looked and smelled like some spicy curry held by no other than Bakugou. Todoroki stared at him with a blank expression waiting for him to say something, any remnants of earlier embarrassment were gone, disappointing and irritating Bakugou since any expression is better than that stupid cold façade the idiot always puts on.
“How do you expect to fight me at fucking full strength if you don’t even eat dinner you shitty strawberry shortcake.” Is all Bakugou grumbled out before shoving the plate into Todoroki’s hands and slamming the door behind him. Todoroki could see past his excuse and accepted the others roundabout apology for making them both miss dinner as a result of that small fight. Needless to say, the food was even more amazing than Todoroki had expected. He knew the blond was skilled in the kitchen, having heard from Midoriya how Bakugou would always help around the kitchen when he was younger and how his skills in the kitchen developed over time, but he certainly didn’t expect the food to taste on
par with food he got to eat at home where he had professional chefs cook his meals.
After that day sparring after classes began to become a norm for the two as they found each other to be worthy opponents and found they challenged the other to always try to do better whether it be through teasing, taunting or through their actions. It also became a regular event for Bakugou to cook for Todoroki after their sparring sessions if they went on for too long (although Bakugou avoided the kitchen and cooking in general one time for weeks after Uraraka caught Bakugou in the middle of making a meal. The news of Bakugou cooking spread across the dorm which ended up with the entirety of class 1A asking Bakugou to cook something for all of them. Let’s just say the kitchen had to be renovated after that and everyone learnt not to ask Bakugou to cook for them again.)
Todoroki sometimes wished he could go back to the times when the two were slowly developing feelings for each other and spending afternoons sparring; which turned into spending evenings studying together; which in turn turned into movie nights and eventually into nights spent together in bed.
He really wished he could go back to that time especially now as he realised he couldn’t bear not hearing Katsuki’s voice teasing him again and not feeling his gentle hands embracing him whenever he had a nightmare.
“You better goddamn mean it when you say you’re gonna be here soon icy hot because I sure as fuck am not gonna wait on you” Todoroki chuckled at how even Katsuki didn’t seem convinced about what he was saying. Even though they’ve been together for a good few years Katsuki’s way of talking to him hasn’t changed one bit, not that Todoroki minded since if Katsuki suddenly started acting nice it’d just be plain weird.
“I know, Katsuki. Did you remember to feed the cat by the way?” Blood was steadily dripping onto the ground from the gaping hole left by the blade by now and Todoroki’s eyes were slowly losing their ability to focus. The hand holding the phone was shaking heavily with the effort of holding up the device.
“I fed him, the fucker bit me again, can you believe that? Ungrateful shit” Todoroki chuckled at that, their cat had a very similar temperament to a certain blond he knows which is the exact reason he insisted on them taking in the stray when they found him as a kitten. He refused to be touched by anyone but Todoroki and acted as if he hated Katsuki; but Todoroki knew whenever Katsuki went to sleep the feline curled up next to him – tough love is what he called it.
“Maybe that’s just how he shows his love for you” Todoroki replied with a smile.
“Nah I’m standing by him just being an insufferable fu- you fucking try and I’ll shave your hair off” A hiss could be heard in the background which Todoroki could only assume was the cat which was most likely about to knock a glass off once again (the cat seemed to have a penchant for smashing all of Katsuki’s favourite glasses and cups). Todoroki could only flinch slightly as he heard a crash and Katsuki mumbling “that’s it I’m shaving the fucker after this call”.
“I love you Katsuki” Tears began blurring Todoroki’s vision further as his skin was approaching a sickly pale from the blood loss. He could heard Katsuki seemingly choke on air.
“The fuck idiot, don’t just say that out of nowhere” Todoroki couldn’t remember smiling this much in such a short amount of time in ages. Before Todoroki could say goodbye and hang up he heard Katsuki mumble out an “I love you too Shouto”.
He let the tears flow freely down his face as he choked down the sobs threatening to spill out as he thought about how much he still wanted to do. How could just one mistake cost him so much, this was supposed to be a simple task, one villain, yet now he’s on the verge of death.
He was yet to become the number one hero. He still wanted to spend more time with his old friends from class 1A and find out how their careers as pro heroes are going. He still wanted to try to spend time with his siblings and finish amending things with his mother. He still wanted to prove his father wrong.
He still wanted to marry Katsuki and experience living with him more. Much more.
“Hey, do you remember the first sports festival at UA and how you absolutely hated my guts?” Blood spilled over pale snow white lips as the words were said whilst Katsuki started ranting on about how much more of a dumbass Shouto was back in the day.
Shouto smiled listening to his lover, who stuck with him through everything, ramble on. Sirens resounded around the building as it was surrounded; but Shouto couldn’t hear any of it. He was happy that Katsuki's voice was the last thing he ever heard.
The “I’m sorry Katsuki” was left unspoken.