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If anyone asked Todoroki exactly when he somehow developed his crush on a certain explosive, loudmouthed, crude blonde boy, he honestly would not be able to answer. The same could be said if asked why as well. His crush sort of just happened. It could’ve been during their time going back and forth between Yuuei and their remedial classes. Either way, Todoroki Shouto had a real crush on Bakugou Katsuki that would no doubt not be going anywhere, end of story.
“Here are your assigned partners for your model projects.”
Until Todoroki read his name next to Bakugou’s for their upcoming science project.
Todoroki’s eyes widened. He blinked a few times, but there their names still were. Side by side. He glanced over at Bakugou, finding that the blonde boy had turned back to him as well. Todoroki held up his hand as a hello, however, Bakugou only turned back forward the moment their eyes met. Todoroki awkwardly brought his hand back down.
“It’s a quick weekend project. You have the rest of class to figure things out with each other. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.”
After receiving his paper copy of their project guidelines, Todoroki stood and made his way to Bakugou. He went ahead and took Hagakure’s seat in front of Bakugou since it was now free with the invisible girl over with her own partner. He was sure she wouldn’t mind. “So, DNA models…”
“The easiest way would probably be construction paper and tape, but that wouldn’t get us any creativity points for the project. Candy would work, but I overheard, like, three other groups already thinking of that, so not really original either…”
Todoroki kept his mouth shut during Bakugou’s ramblings. He couldn’t help but be reminded a bit of Midoriya. He laughed a bit at the thought, keeping it to himself for obvious reasons. That was when Bakugou looked up, making Todoroki jump a bit. Seemed his laughter caught the other’s attention.
“What?” Bakugou asked, irked.
“Nothing…” Todoroki mumbled, turning and shrinking away from Bakugou’s hard gaze.
Bakugou only grew more annoyed. “Come on. I can’t be the only one thinking of shit to do for this project.”
“Right, yeah, uh…” Todoroki glanced down at their assignment paper again. “How about ping pong balls? I think I have a bunch just laying around at my place. And I think my sister has wooden beads she wouldn’t mind us using. For the sugar and phosphate.”
“That could work… Oh, and that dry pasta stuff for the thymine and shit.”
“And we can attach everything with pipe cleaners.”
“Yeah, I think this’ll all work.” Bakugou cracked a smile at their plan. “Cool.”
Todoroki froze. His own smile came back again. He couldn’t help it. His crush smiled because of him and not because he tripped over his own two feet and nearly died on the way back from remedial class like that one time.
“Alright, so we’ll grab the pasta before heading to your place after school then?”
“Yeah, and I’ll let my sister know we’ll be over then.”
And just like that, Todoroki got a date with Bakugou. Only, not really. They were just going to the store and then to his place for homework, but he would take it! It was way better than nothing.
After school ended that day, Todoroki and Bakugou swung by the dorms to grab some things before going straight to the nearest supermarket. They grabbed a bag of multicolored dry penne as well as pipe cleaners from the craft section. Bakugou went ahead and paid since Todoroki was already supplying the ping pong balls and beads. However, he partially regretted it when they reached the Todoroki estate.
“This is your fucking house?” Bakugou asked.
“Uh, yes?” Todoroki hesitantly answered as he closed the large gate they entered through behind them. “Is there something wrong with it?”
“Maybe it being like 50 times huger than a normal house.”
“I guess it’s big, but it’s not that much bigger.”
Bakugou shot Todoroki a look before following beside him to the front door. He watched Todoroki unlock the door, sliding it open afterwards.
“Nee-san? I’m home,” Todoroki called upon entering his home. As he and Bakugou were taking off their shoes, someone else met them at the door.
“Well, if it ain’t little Shouto.”
Todoroki twitched at the familiar voice. He turned, meeting face to face with his eldest brother. “Dabi?”
Dabi let out another snort. “What? No ‘nii-san’ for me? I’m hurt.” He laughed even more at the unamused look Todoroki gave him.
“What’re you doing here?” Todoroki asked. “I thought you had an apartment for college.”
“I’m taking the quarter off for an internship. Thought I’d save the cash and just commute from here. Who’s this?”
Todoroki suddenly remembered he had a guest. “Right. Dabi, this is Baku—” Todoroki turned to Bakugou, thrown off by the look on his classmate’s face, “—gou…”
Bakugou’s eyes were wide as he stared at Dabi. His lips were straight in a tight line. He looked to be in total awe of Todoroki’s eldest brother. The jet-black hair no doubt dyed considering it was neither red nor white; the many piercings on both ears, nose, lip, and brow; the dark, distressed clothes; and the tattoo sleeves on both arms and up his neck. The complete opposite of Todoroki.
“…”
Dabi faked a cough, snapping Bakugou out of his stupor.
“Y-yeah, Katsugou—Bakugou! Katsugou fro—from Katsuki. That’s me! Bakugou Katsuki! Both me! All… me… yeah… fuck…”
Bakugou turned his gaze downward. He balled his hands up into fists, inwardly screaming and degrading himself for stuttering and sounding so stupid. Unbeknownst to Bakugou, Todoroki was staring, eyes agape, at him. He had never seen the blonde boy stutter or behave so oddly. He was doing his own inward screaming as well and not in a good way.
With both teenagers’ yelling kept to themselves, the foyer was in complete silence. The silence stayed for a few moments longer before the eldest there finally decided to break it.
“Yeah…” Dabi started. “Well, nice meeting you, Bakugou. I think Fuyumi is digging through the upstairs closet for something if you still need her. I’ll probably see you guys later. If not, then, whatever.” Dabi gave one last smile before going on his way.
Bakugou held up his hand as a goodbye, however, Dabi had already turned his back on them. Bakugou awkwardly brought his hand back down.
“…That’s your brother?” Bakugou asked after another silent moment.
“Yeah…?” Todoroki unsurely answered with a just as hesitant head nod.
Bakugou slowly nodded himself, mouthing under his breath, “Wow.”
Todoroki frowned. “Let’s grab the ping pong balls. They’re in the garage.”
Heading down the hall the opposite direction Dabi went, Todoroki led Bakugou to his garage. He opened the side door and flipped the light switch. With his dad not home, there was more space to move around and find things. It didn’t take long for Todoroki to find the container of ping pong balls. Good thing they still kept it, despite his siblings no longer playing much.
“I got the ball—” Todoroki cut himself off after turning and noticing Bakugou off admiring something else in his garage. He headed over to his classmate, finding Bakugou by the motorcycle parked beside them.
Bakugou turned to Todoroki, the look on his face asking for an explanation.
“My brother’s.”
“Dabi’s?”
“Yeah.”
Bakugou turned back to the bike. “Damn.”
Todoroki’s frown returned. “Come on, Bakugou. We still have our project, remember?” he asked, already heading for the door.
“Yeah, yeah…” Bakugou mumbled, following behind despite keeping his eyes on the bike. He didn’t look back forward until Todoroki prematurely turned off the lights.
Taking the lead again since it was his house, Todoroki took Bakugou upstairs to his room. On the way, they ran into his older sister. Fuyumi had found the beads Todoroki had asked for while on the phone with her earlier. With all their supplies in hand, they went ahead and started their project.
Todoroki and Bakugou started on their own halves of the models first. Whenever they ran out of materials, they would then put their structure together. It was what was great about a model based pretty much purely on a pattern.
With the two boys doing their own things and neither being much talkers, the air was silent once again, save for Bakugou’s music filtering through his headphones. Despite not minding the silence, Todoroki rather that’d not be the case. He had all those chances to talk to Bakugou walking back and forth from remedial classes to better their relationship, but the best he’d gotten with him was the title of acquaintance. Not even close acquaintance, let alone friend. Building confidence once again, Todoroki turned to Bakugou, awkwardly waving his hand again to grab the other’s attention.
Noticing Todoroki’s waving hand in his peripheral view, Bakugou glanced up from his work. He removed one side of his headphones. “What?”
“I, uh, I can sorta hear your music,” Todoroki just as awkwardly said.
“And?”
“What’re you listening to?”
“Just some alternative music.”
“…Alternative…?”
Bakugou returned a confused look at Todoroki’s confusion. “Yeah… Like Imagine Dragons?”
Todoroki looked even more lost. “…Fantasy music?”
“Holy shit,” Bakugou breathed in disbelief. Without warning, he scooted right to Todoroki’s side. He took off his headphones, angling them so they both could hear. “Come on; I’m positive you had to have heard this somewhere.”
Todoroki froze. Bakugou was right next to him. Their arms were touching. They were listening to music together. Sort of. Todoroki was having a hard time paying attention with Bakugou so close. He hoped the unfamiliar song was louder and drowning out his heartbeat.
“So, you know it?”
It took Todoroki a moment to realize Bakugou had asked him a question. He didn’t trust his words to come out smoothly, shaking his head to answer no.
Bakugou didn’t believe him. “Nu-uh, you’re fucking lying.”
Todoroki shook his head again.
Bakugou’s eye grew wider again. “Have you been living under a rock before the dorms?”
Todoroki didn’t answer. Instead, he glanced around his room a bit. He turned back to Bakugou, hearing the other laugh.
“You’re such a fucking weirdo, half-n-half,” Bakugou said through his laughter.
Todoroki’s smile returned along with his confidence. From Bakugou’s smile earlier that day in class, to them side-by-side listening to music, and now his lighthearted laugh. Things were looking good for Todoroki.
“Fuyumi told me to get you guys for dinner.”
And now they weren’t.
Without warning, Todoroki’s door opened with Dabi peeking in. “You guys at a stopping point?”
Startled, Todoroki shot away from Bakugou. He partially hoped Bakugou wouldn’t find his actions odd, but when he turned to his crush, Todoroki rescinded his worries. Bakugou had zero reaction, pretty much forgetting he was there with Dabi’s appearance.
However, Dabi wasn’t as oblivious. “…Am I interrupting anything?”
“N—no! We were just taking a break!” Bakugou explained a little louder than needed.
Dabi only nodded along. The silence was back. “…Alright. Well, dinner’s ready if you’re hungry.” With the message delivered, Dabi headed out again, leaving the heavy atmosphere behind him.
Todoroki and Bakugou sat in silence once again. Neither were in a great mood anymore.
“…You want food?” Todoroki asked to break the silence.
“Yeah, sure…”
Best to exit the scene before anything worse occurred.
Todoroki led Bakugou once again, showing him to the dining room. The table was already set. Fuyumi and Dabi were also already there.
“I thought you said we were gonna have fish yesterday,” Dabi said as Todoroki and Bakugou came in.
“Shouto’s home though,” Fuyumi replied. “Why not have his favorite?”
“Because I’m not a fan of soba.”
Fuyumi smacked her younger brother upside the head.
Todoroki’s smile returned. Fuyumi was his favorite sibling for a reason. “Thanks for the food, nee-san.”
“Oh! You guys are here!” Fuyumi said when realizing the two teens’ presence. “How’s the project going?”
“A little time consuming, but not bad,” Todoroki answered. “We should be able to finish it tonight.”
“That’s great! I hope it’s not too big or heavy to take back to the dorms.”
Todoroki and Bakugou froze. They had a to carry it back. It wasn’t heavy, but it was turning long.
“Shit,” Bakugou groaned.
Todoroki didn’t voice any curse, but he wholeheartedly agreed with Bakugou.
Fuyumi gave a worried look while Dabi only laughed.
“How about I give you guys a ride back whenever you’re done then?” Dabi offered.
“On your bike!?” Bakugou instantly asked back.
Dabi let out another laugh. “Car.”
“R-right,” Bakugou stuttered, inwardly beating himself up again for being an idiot again. Of course. How the hell were they going to hold the model on a motorcycle? Plus, there were two of them.
“You saw that in the garage though?” Dabi asked.
Bakugou nodded.
“Heh, tell you what; next time you’re over and I’m free, I’ll give you a ride.”
Bakugou’s eyes widened. However, he seemed to be the only one enthusiastic about the offer.
“Dabi,” Fuyumi started in a warning tone.
“What? The kid’s 15. He’s old enough.”
“16,” Bakugou corrected. “I am 16.”
“There you go, Fuyumi. 16.”
“It’s still not safe,” Fuyumi replied, not convinced. “You don’t even let Shouto on with you.”
“I don’t really want to be on it with him anyways,” Todoroki deadpanned.
“What!? Why not!?” Bakugou asked, looking at Todoroki as if he was crazy. “It’s so cool!”
“Stick in the mud,” Dabi answered under his breath, laughing. Both his siblings gave him matching looks.
“So much for a loving family dinner,” Fuyumi sighed.
After dinner was all finished, Todoroki and Bakugou went back to their project upstairs. Todoroki was no longer in the mood for talking, so he kept to himself when building the model. However, Bakugou seemed to want to initiate a conversation for a first.
“So,” Bakugou started, “how, uh, old are your siblings?”
Todoroki’s hand clenched, the ping pong ball he held slipping loose. It bounced across the floor. “…Why?”
“Just wondering,” Bakugou answered. He picked up the stray ball, rolling it back over to Todoroki. “I’m an only child, so I don’t really have an idea on how much older siblings usually are, or whatever…”
Todoroki stared at Bakugou. His classmate wouldn’t look him in the eye. “…We’re all 4 years apart from each other.”
Bakugou finally turned to Todoroki. “Dabi’s 19?”
Dabi. He knew it.
“Dabi’s 23. I have another brother living at his college dorms.”
Bakugou turned away again. “Oh…”
“Yep. Eight years older…”
Despite his forced even tone, Todoroki wanted so badly to curse. His crush had a crush on his older brother. Todoroki might have been awful at picking up on social cues, but this. This he could read one hundred percent. And the worst part was how opposite he and his brother were. Todoroki was far from the punk-ass, tattooed, pierced person his brother was that Bakugou seemed to be really into. Perfect. Just perfect.
“Hey, I think we’re out of pasta,” Bakugou said, snapping Todoroki out of his self-deprecation.
“Hm?” Todoroki looked up, noticing Bakugou’s empty pasta pile. He then picked up the box, finding that empty as well. “Oh, yeah. Guess we can attach them now.”
“Should we also let your brother know since he’s giving us a ride?”
Todoroki’s head shot back to Bakugou. He still wasn’t looking him in the eye. He clenched his fists again, standing. “I’ll go tell him.”
Todoroki headed out and closed the door behind him before Bakugou could follow. After a few steps, he paused. He let out a sigh. “What the hell am I doing?” he asked himself. Whatever. He continued on, though, going to find his sister instead of his brother.
Todoroki made his way into the kitchen. “Nee-san?”
Fuyumi turned around upon hearing her younger brother, pausing her dish washing. “Hey, Shouto. You need something?”
“Bakugou and I are done,” Todoroki answered, nearing his sister.
“Great! So, you’re heading out?”
“Yeah, but can you drive us?”
A confused look grew on Fuyumi’s face. “I thought Dabi was going to. Is he busy?”
Todoroki turned to his feet. “I don’t know…”
Fuyumi’s confused look turned to all-knowing. “Is this about your friend?”
“…no…”
Fuyumi sighed, still supporting a smile. She dried her hands so she could ruffle her little brother’s hair. “If you really want, I will drive you guys, but your friend’s just gonna find the change of plans weird.”
“Fine,” Todoroki gave in. He turned to leave, but a thought stopped him as he was about to head out the door. “Hey, Dabi was my age when he got his first ear piercing, wasn’t he?”
“Dabi hot-needled it and you are doing no such thing, young man!”
“…Hot needle?”
Fuyumi sighed. “Never mind, nothing. Go, go. Just go.”
Todoroki didn’t ask any more questions. Not when his sister was clearly disturbed with whatever flashback she was reliving.
Todoroki quickly made his way back upstairs. He headed down the hall, his eldest brother’s room coming into sight. The door was already open.
“Hey, Dabi—”
Todoroki cut himself off, finding Bakugou standing beside his brother at his desk.
“Hey, baby bro. Ready to go?”
Todoroki stepped into Dabi’s room. “What’s going on?”
“I found your friend walking around trying to look for you,” Dabi explained.
Todoroki turned to Bakugou. Like before, Bakugou’s eyes were elsewhere. Looking for him. Sure.
“Then we started talking about tattoos and shit, and I’m showing him the one I’m working on now for a customer.” Dabi motioned at his computer screen. There was a beautiful digital drawing of two koi circling a flower.
“It’s crazy that you fucking drew that,” Bakugou said.
“Well, you know, lots of time and practice. That’s pretty much you with those doodles you showed me.”
It took Todoroki a moment for his brother’s words to sink in. “You draw, Bakugou?”
“No!” Bakugou instantly denied, suspiciously hiding his math notebook behind his back.
“Oh, sorry, man,” Dabi apologized with a small laugh. “Didn’t know it was a secret.”
Bakugou didn’t respond, flustered.
“They are good though. You said you wanted one of them as a tattoo, right? You should proudly show it off then.”
Bakugou still didn’t respond. However, a small smile did grace his lips.
Todoroki felt something burn and it wasn’t his left side. “Can we have a ride now?”
At the reminder, everyone exited Dabi’s room. Todoroki and Bakugou went back to grab their things and their project while Dabi went to grab the keys. They borrowed Fuyumi’s car, it being the only one home, and went on their way. Todoroki was sure to sit in the front beside his brother while Bakugou sat in the back with their project. It didn’t take long for them to arrive at Yuuei.
“You guys sure you got it?” Dabi asked, offering to help carry the long DNA model.
“We got it,” Todoroki said. He was carefully carrying one end while Bakugou had the other.
“Alright. Well, it was nice meeting you, Bakugou.”
“Same,” Bakugou responded, smiling.
“Don’t be a stranger. Shouto, stop getting stranger.”
Todoroki rolled his eyes, walking away first. Bakugou had to follow, with them holding their project together. “Bye, Dabi.”
The last they heard from Dabi was his laugh before he drove off.
“Your brother’s cool,” Bakugou said after another silent moment. They were just nearing the dorms.
“My brother’s alright,” Todoroki responded bitterly.
“You guys aren’t close?”
“Does it look like we’re close?”
Bakugou shrugged as he managed to open the dorm door with his foot. “Guess not. You two are complete opposites. I would’ve never guessed you guys were brothers.”
“Let’s not talk about Dabi please.” Todoroki sighed. “Where do you want to keep this, by the way? Your room or mine?”
“We can do mine. My room is closer anyways.”
Now that they were back in a familiar place, Bakugou no longer wanted to follow Todoroki and took the lead when heading to his room. They went up to the fourth floor and to the third door. Bakugou’s desk was already cleared, so they placed the model there.
“Alright, all done,” Bakugou breathed.
“Yeah, guess so,” Todoroki responded. And, once again, awkward silence…
“…You can go now.”
“Right…”
Without anything else to say, Todoroki headed out. Great. His chance to get closer to Bakugou with their project partnership and nothing came of it. Not only were they pretty much in the same place, but now Bakugou had a thing for his brother and Todoroki lost all confidence to do anything about his own dumb crush. Just perfect.
Todoroki sighed. He hoped everything would blow by, and soon.
Days later, after everyone turned in their models, their project scores were given back to them. Todoroki and Bakugou received high marks. An A on their hard work.
“Nice work, everyone. You can now either take your models back or feel free to toss them if they’re not needed. To those who made your models out of candy, don’t eat them, I swear to god, don’t. Class dismissed.”
Ignoring the grumbling of some classmates he walked past, Todoroki went ahead and grabbed his and Bakugou’s model. Seeing Todoroki do so, Bakugou headed up to him and their model as well.
“You’re really gonna keep this thing?” Bakugou asked
“No, my sister just wants her beads back,” Todoroki answered. “I’m just gonna take out all the beads and then throw the rest out.”
“You want help with it?”
Todoroki nearly stumbled on his way back to his seat. “Really?”
“Don’t sound so surprised,” Bakugou responded, irked. “I pretty much used the beads as much as you did and all.”
Todoroki was still shocked, but quickly shoved it aside. His eagerness to spend more time with Bakugou took over. “Yeah, sure. It’ll go by faster with another set of hands. Thanks.”
“Yeah, don’t mention it. And we can drop it off at your place afterward.”
Todoroki nodded. “For sure.” He didn’t think much of Bakugou’s words as the other boy started heading back to his own desk. Not until he turned back to him.
“Both your siblings would probably be there, right?”
Crash!
Bakugou stared down at the model Todoroki just dropped. He looked back up at the other teen with a brow quirked. He picked up the model, handing it back to Todoroki.
“Sorry. Thanks.”
“Yeah…”
“…”
Todoroki really didn’t want to answer Bakugou’s prior question. He didn’t need a detective to know he was asking about Dabi, but if Todoroki didn’t say anything in the next five seconds, then he knew Bakugou would be questioning him more.
“…I don’t know.”
Bakugou nodded his head. “Alright.”
“Should we, uh, start heading for the dorms?”
“Yeah, sure.”
With class over, Todoroki and Bakugou headed out with the rest of their classmates. Despite wanting to spend time with Bakugou moments ago, Todoroki was now glad the two of them were surrounded by a majority of their class also heading back to the dorms. It bought Todoroki some time to think of what to do now. He didn’t want Bakugou meeting with Dabi again, but they already made plans to revisit his house. There was no way he could text his brother telling him not to be home; Dabi would just question him on it and Todoroki knew himself and his brother enough to know that Dabi would get him to slip and answer. He could get Fuyumi to somehow shoo Dabi away, but he’d rather his sister not get involved or give him her pointed look. Todoroki just had to hope that Dabi was away by the time they got to his house.
“I’m gonna change out of this first,” Bakugou said, snapping Todoroki out of his thoughts. They all had just reached the dorms.
“Oh, yeah, go ahead,” Todoroki responded. “I’ll, uh, just get started down here.”
Bakugou nodded once more before heading up to his room while Todoroki stayed in the dorm commons and started taking apart the model. It didn’t take too long for him to change and he was back downstairs to help in no time. And just as Todoroki said before, two hands were better than one with the task. They finished disassembling their project in no time flat.
“Do you mind grabbing a bag for all the beads?” Todoroki asked as he and Bakugou were finishing up. “I still need to let my sister know we’re coming.”
“Whatever,” Bakugou grumbled, already getting up to find a spare bag.
Todoroki waited a bit until Bakugou was more into the kitchen area before pulling out his phone. He texted his sister and waited for a response.
‘Bakugou and I are stopping by to drop the beads off. Anyone home?’
Nice. To the point. And Todoroki could get an answer on if Dabi was there or not without being so blatant.
Seconds later, a response.
‘Kk. Just me and Dabi. Dad’s still at work.’
Todoroki did not need to know about his crap dad, but at least he got an answer on his brother. Great. He was home. Todoroki sighed. Dabi used to always be out who-knew-where doing god-knew-what before coming back way past a normal curfew back when they were younger; why couldn’t that be the case now? His brother just had to grow up more responsibly.
“Ready to go?” Bakugou asked as he came back with a paper bag. He went ahead and slid all the beads into it.
“Yeah,” Todoroki grumbled. “Both siblings are home.” He grew bitter at the bit of excitement that shined through Bakugou’s eyes.
After quickly changing out of his uniform as well, Todoroki and Bakugou headed out again. They went down the same roads, went through the same gate, and returned back to the same giant house.
“Nee-san, I’m home,” Todoroki called out again like he’d done last week. This time, Fuyumi did meet him at the door.
“Welcome back. You have my beads?”
Todoroki handed over the bag.
Fuyumi smiled as she took back her beads. “Thanks. I thought of an idea with these for class.”
Todoroki smiled himself. Seeing his sister happy made him feel better.
“Oh! Bakugou’s here, too!” Fuyumi finally noticed, spotting Bakugou behind her brother.
Bakugou held his hand up as a hello. “Thanks for letting us use your beads.”
“It’s no problem. Come in, come in! Are you two hungry? There’re snacks in the kitchen.”
Fuyumi didn’t wait for Todoroki or Bakugou to answer, already leading the way. They wordlessly followed the older girl to the kitchen, finding Dabi at the table.
“Oh, hey, it’s you two again,” Dabi greeted.
Todoroki noticed Bakugou’s excitement minutely show. His bitterness returned. “Yeah. What’re you doing out here? Usually you’d be locked in your room.”
“Was grabbing a bite, scrolled on my phone at the same time, and ended up distracted and staying. You?”
“We dropped off the beads,” Bakugou answered.
“Nice. What’d you get on it?”
“A.”
“Heh, nice. You usually a good noodle in school, or this project just easy?”
Bakugou grew hesitant at the ‘good noodle’ comment. “Both, I guess. How about you?”
Dabi laughed. “Yeah, no. I’m not a role model, kid. I got by though.”
“You probably could’ve been top 5 in your classes if you applied yourself,” Fuyumi added in.
Dabi shrugged. “Probably, but didn’t care enough. Wasn’t like I was gonna be a hero or anything like these guys.”
“You didn’t want to be one?” Bakugou asked.
Dabi shrugged again. “Nah. Apparently, heroes and tattoo sleeves don’t go together well. You better change that idea when you go pro with a tattoo, kid.”
“Don’t encourage him,” Fuyumi scolded.
“What? He wanted one. Oh, piercings, too. Lots of piercings and fights don’t mesh well either. Why you’re not wearing yours now, right?”
Puzzled, Todoroki turned to Bakugou. His confusion turned to shock when he noticed Bakugou’s ears were indeed pierced despite no piercing. “Your ears are pierced.”
Noticing Todoroki’s stare, Bakugou instantly covered his ears. He shot his classmate a pointed look. “Yeah, so?”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Really?” Dabi asked. “I noticed pretty much right away.”
Todoroki turned back to his brother, bitterness growing. Dabi only stuck his tongue out at him, revealing another stud. “…I didn’t know you had that, either.”
“Me either,” Fuyumi voiced her shock as well. “When did you get that?”
Dabi brushed off both his sibling’s bewilderment.
“Dabi,” Fuyumi warned.
“What?” Dabi responded. “I’m an adult. I have my own income to use however I want.”
“It’s really cool,” Bakugou said in awe.
Dabi smiled. “See. Someone understands me. How’d my lame brother snag a friend like you?”
“We’re not friends,” Bakugou answered, unknowingly stabbing Todoroki with his words. Todoroki knew that was Bakugou’s stance, but it didn’t make it hurt less.
“Oh, shit, my bad. Was it that whole thing during the sports fest tournament?”
The atmosphere in the room dropped with Bakugou’s mood. Not that anybody but Todoroki seemed to notice at first. Todoroki knew with it, any sort of relationship he hoped to build with Bakugou was ruined.
“That was you, right?” Dabi asked when Bakugou stayed silent. “Or did I mix you up with someone else?”
“Nope, you’re right,” Bakugou answered, forcing a smile. “Well. I’m actually gonna go now. Thanks again for the beads.”
“You’re welcome,” Fuyumi hesitantly responded, beginning to pick up that something was amiss.
“Uh, I guess we’re goin—”
“No,” Bakugou interrupted Todoroki. “You can stay and hang around your siblings if you want. Don’t let me keep you.”
Despite Bakugou’s words, Todoroki knew what he really wanted was for him to leave him alone.
“See you at the dorms.”
“I’ll, uh, show you out,” Fuyumi said, nervously guiding Bakugou out.
That left Todoroki and Dabi.
“…Did I say something?”
Todoroki let out a frustrated groan, pulling out a chair and plopping his head on the table. “Why do you do this to me?”
“What?” Dabi obliviously asked. Until… “Shit! You like him?”
“Stop!” Todoroki whined, even more frustrated. Especially with his older brother starting to laugh at him. “You are the worst.”
“Okay, okay,” Dabi breathed, trying to calm down. He did not and, instead, continued making fun of his baby brother. “Oh my god, you like him. Him. Dude, a weirdo nerd like you with a pretty chill guy like that?”
Todoroki instantly picked up his head, seething with a frown. But he couldn’t help but think his brother was right. Agree that his brother was right. Bakugou said it himself; they weren’t even friends, and clearly Bakugou still had issues with him about what happened at the tournament. Everything was just a mess.
And Dabi seemed to finally realize this. “Shouto, I’m kidding. You’re not that much of a weirdo.”
“No, you’re right… It never would’ve worked out.”
“I never said that.”
“But you were hinting it.”
“I was not.”
Todoroki threw his brother another pointed look.
“…okay, maybe a little, but not really.”
Todoroki sighed. “It doesn’t matter. Pretty sure the kinda person he likes is the complete opposite of me anyway,” he said bitterly.
“Oh, and how would you know that?”
Todoroki held down the urge to smack his older brother. Instead, he confessed, “He likes you.”
Dabi’s eyes widened a bit, lips straightening into a tight line. “…Oh. Well. He has good taste.”
“Dabi.”
“I’m kidding. And, bro, 7-year difference,” Dabi instantly reassured. “Or, actually… Why don’t you, like, borrow my old clothes or something?”
Todoroki paused, taking in Dabi’s suggestion. The idea didn’t seem all that off-putting, but at the same time… “Would that really make any difference?”
Dabi shrugged, but still stood. “Doesn’t hurt to try it out.”
Todoroki and Dabi headed up to the latter’s room. Dabi went ahead and pulled out a handful of different clothes that he was sure his little brother could fit. In size. Fitting in style was another story…
“Well?” Todoroki asked, dressed in dark distressed jeans, a skull top with the sleeves ripped off, a black leather vest, and a red flannel shirt wrapped around his waist as a pop of color. He was even given accessories like some chains, wristbands, a choker, and a beanie with some safety pins. “How is it?”
Dabi erupted in laughter.
“These are your clothes!” Todoroki yelled back.
“That I look good in,” Dabi responded between laughs, wiping his tears. “But you look so stupid!”
Todoroki groaned again, yanking the beanie off and chucking it at his brother. “You knew it was gonna look bad on me, didn’t you?”
Dabi shook his head no, letting the beanie hit him and fall to the floor. “No, but I had a hunch. You’re a prep through and through, baby bro.”
Todoroki only angrily changed back into his smart causal clothes. The complete opposite of his brother. “Forget it. All of this was dumb.”
“Yes, it was,” another voice said.
Todoroki and Dabi turned to the door, seeing Fuyumi.
Fuyumi sighed. “I didn’t want to get involved because I thought you two were finally getting along again, and what do we get?” she elbowed her eldest younger brother’s arm, “You making fun of Shouto again!” She had overheard her brothers in the kitchen after she had shown Bakugou out.
“Oi, I was legitimately trying to help,” Dabi halfheartedly argued back.
Fuyumi rolled her eyes, stepping to more. “Shouto, you should know by now, the person you like should like you for you. If he only started liking you because you started dressing up and acting like this idiot,” she pulled Dabi’s cheek, “then there’s no way you’ll end up happy.”
“But he doesn’t like me for me,” Todoroki upsettingly refuted.
“Then maybe he’s not right for you,” Fuyumi sympathetically responded.
“But you don’t know that,” Dabi said as he rubbed his stinging cheek. “You haven’t even said anything to him.”
“But he likes—”
“Did you ask him?” Dabi interrupted Todoroki.
“But—”
“Did you ask him and have him give you an answer?”
“…no…”
Dabi smiled. “See. You don’t actually know. Don’t just assume the worst. Ask the guy out. If he says yes, great. If not, then at least you tried.”
Todoroki sighed, but when he looked back at his siblings and took in their words, he felt better. He cracked a smile. “Okay.”
“Great,” Dabi responded. “Go grab your shoes and meet me at the garage. I’ll give you a lift back to school.”
Todoroki nodded before heading out. He walked passed his older siblings, unknowingly leaving them to share a few words with each other.
“See, you can be a good older brother,” Fuyumi said.
“I’m always a good older brother,” Dabi responded.
“Yeah, sure. Felt bad about potentially accidentally ruining Shouto and Bakugou’s relationship with that sports day comment?”
“I didn’t know things were tense between them with that. Or that Shouto liked the guy.”
Fuyumi smiled, ruffling her little brother’s hair. “Mmhmm. Go give Shouto that lift.”
Dabi rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything back as he headed for the garage where their littlest brother was waiting.
When Dabi made it to the garage, he found Todoroki standing beside Fuyumi’s car. He smirked. “Wrong ride, baby bro,” he said, opening the garage door.
Todoroki made a confused look. “What?” He then spotted a helmet in his brother’s hand before he tossed it to him. “You can’t be serious?”
“Why not?” Dabi asked back, already hopping on his motorcycle and putting on his own helmet. He handed his brother another thing to put on: an old leather jacket. “It gets cold though, so wear this.”
“Can’t we take Fuyumi’s car again?”
“Just get on, you baby.”
Todoroki sighed, putting on both the helmet and jacket before hopping on behind his brother.
“…”
“Are we going?” Todoroki asked with their lack of movement.
“Yeah, but you don’t have to hold on this tight,” Dabi responded toward his little brother’s death grip.
“I don’t want to die before confessing. After, maybe, but not before.”
Dabi rolled his eyes, but didn’t argue back.
Just as it didn’t take long to arrive at Yuuei via car, it didn’t take long to arrive at Yuuei via bike. And Todoroki did not loosen his grip one time throughout the whole ride.
“Alright, you koala, you can let go now,” Dabi called as he pulled up to the front gate. “We’re here.”
“Oh, well, that wasn’t so bad,” Todoroki responded as he finally let go and hopped off the bike, taking off the helmet.
“Yeah, say that to my spine,” Dabi said, twisting his spine. “Remind me to never give you a ride again.”
Todoroki only smiled back. Only, it dropped seconds later when he turned to the school.
“What?” Dabi asked, turning to whatever his brother was looking at. He stopped when he saw Bakugou up ahead. Seemed the teen just made it back from his walk.
Dabi pushed Todoroki forward, the younger boy stumbling a bit before shooting him a pointed look. Dabi ignored it. “Go.”
“But what do I say?”
“‘You are my everything, the sun of my world, the moon to my stars, you should totally marry me right now—’”
“I’m serious!” Todoroki cut into his brother’s endless nonsense, flustered. Dabi only laughed at him again.
“Maybe start with ‘I like you’? Then a ‘will you go out with me?’”
Todoroki was still unsure, but nodded.
“Any other questions?”
“…What’s alternative music?”
Dabi was thrown off by the seemingly random question. However, he’d known his little brother forever. He grew used to things coming out of nowhere when it came to his youngest sibling and quickly brushed the confusion aside. “It’s like another genre of rock I guess.”
Todoroki frowned upsettingly. “I know what rock music is. Why don’t people just call it rock then?”
Dabi let out another smaller laugh. “We both know that’s not the question you need to be asking right now. Go.”
Despite his shakiness, Todoroki nodded. He turned back forward and ran up to his crush. “Bakugou!”
Hearing his name, Bakugou turned. He stopped walking when seeing Todoroki run up to him, waiting for his classmate. He didn’t say anything, even when Todoroki reached him.
“You, uh, you just got back?” Todoroki found himself asking, mentally kicking himself for beating around the bush. Especially when Bakugou still didn’t say anything to him. “I, uh… I just—I just got back, too… I got a ride.”
More silence. Instead of saying anything, Bakugou looked down. Todoroki followed his gaze, the both of them now staring at the helmet Todoroki was still holding. Todoroki still had his brother’s spare helmet. Hell, was even still wearing the jacket his brother gave him.
“I got here by motorcycle…” Todoroki worded as if telling himself more than Bakugou.
Todoroki then noticed Bakugou’s gaze move again to behind him. He turned as well, seeing Dabi still at the gate. His brother was just on his phone, probably waiting to grab his stuff back. Or. Did Dabi just want to make sure things turned out okay for him?
Todoroki turned back forward again. He took a deep breath, steeling his nerves. “Bakugou, I like you.
Bakugou’s eyes widened, now looking back at Todoroki. “What?” he finally said.
“I like you,” Todoroki repeated his confession. “Like, in a ‘can we go out together’ kind of sense. I know you probably don’t think of me that way since you don’t even consider us friends, but maybe we could be boyfriends instead of friends—No! I mean friends and boyfriends! Both. Or, wait, no… I mean yes! Wait, what am I asking—asking—asking you out. I’m asking you out—asking do you want to go out—go out with me… Will you go out with me…?”
Todoroki took in another deep breath. His confession made him sound like a madman. The look Bakugou gave him was one one would give a madman. He was a madman. Wonderful. Even so, with another breath, Todoroki tried one more time.
“I like you. Will you go out with me?”
The alarmed look on Bakugou’s face slowly changed. He now looked thoughtful, biting his lip as dropped his gaze. It made Todoroki grow anxious, but at least he had confessed his feelings. What happened next depended on Bakugou. If he said no, then… If he said yes, then… If he said—
“How about a test date?”
—test date. Test date. Date. Date! Test date, but a date!
“Yeah—yeah, we can totally do that. Friday good?”
Bakugou finally smiled again. “Sure, sounds good, you half-n-half weirdo.”
Todoroki smiled back as well. “Great. Great…”
The two stood awkwardly, unable to look each other in the eye despite smiling. Bakugou was the first to do something about the awkwardness. “Do you need to return that or…?”
Todoroki turned back to Bakugou, noticing him gesturing at his helmet. “Right, yeah, helmet. Not mine. I’m gonna go…”
“Yeah, you do that.”
“See you at the dorms?”
“Yeah, see you.”
Todoroki watched as Bakugou left first. He waited a moment, letting everything sink in. He got a date with Bakugou. Test date, but date. “Oh my god,” he breathed in relieve, fingers drumming against his brother’s helmet.
Right. Helmet. He had to returned that.
Todoroki turned back, spotting his brother yet again still at the gate. Dabi was no longer looking down at his phone.
“So,” Dabi started when Todoroki returned, taking the offered helmet. “How’d it go?”
“We have a test date Friday.”
“Test date?”
Todoroki nodded, unable to hold down his smiling.
Dabi shook his head despite letting out a chuckle. “Alright, way to go, baby bro.”
“Thanks, Dabi-nii…”
Dabi perked up, catching his little brother add the suffix to his name. His smile grew a bit. “Yeah… Whatcha got planned?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a movie?”
Dabi hummed. “Well, if you need any more help, don’t hesitate to ask Fuyumi. Because knowing you, you’re gonna need a lot of help and need a lot of answers, and I don’t have time for that mess.”
Todoroki rolled his eyes.
Dabi laughed again. “Yeah, you’ll be fine, baby bro.”
“Thanks.”
“See ya around.”
Todoroki waved as he watched his brother turned around on his bike. Though, as Dabi prepared to leave, Todoroki realized he forgot something else. “Wait! Your jacket.”
“Keep it,” Dabi called back. “Not like it fits me anymore anyways. Besides, it doesn’t look that bad on you. And I’m sure your soon-to-be-boyfriend likes the look, too.”
Todoroki glanced down at the jacket on him for a moment. When he looked back up to say thanks, his brother was already off. No matter. Todoroki could just text his thanks to his brother later.