Archive of Our Own

The first time Bakugou Katsuki remembered his first meeting with Todoroki Shouto was a peculiar one. After all, Todoroki was dressed so sharply like a prince at the dumpsters. Katsuki kept glancing at him because he surely did not look very old, but was dressed immaculately, so what business did he have at a dumpster? Surely, he was not like Katsuki who had taken his eyes off his weeks’ worth of maths homework only to find that his old hag had dumped it into the bin which was picked up and emptied earlier that day and taken to the dumpsters… surely. Katsuki casted his attention away and continued looking through the hundreds and hundreds of bags wondering why he was doing this and that maybe it would just be faster for him to do his maths homework from scratch.

Just as Katsuki was about to give up, the boy dressed so neatly walks up to him and asks, “do you need some help?”

Katsuki was able to study the other well from the proximity. Two toned hair split down perfectly down the middle – and seemingly with the eyes; heterochromia and the face; a scar that marred the upper left of his face, the boy appeared to only be dressed well, his face and poor excuse mop of hair was disastrous.

“No”, Katsuki looks away before he takes in more of this person who really stands out like a sore thumb. He’s going home. He’ll just re do the maths questions and give up on this terrible idea.

“What is it that you have lost?” The boy asks and Katsuki finds him terribly insistent.

“Two days’ worth of sleep”, Katsuki answers angrily and then stomps off.

As Katsuki grumbles to himself sitting on the bus home, he really thinks that he will need at least 2 days to complete ALL of the maths questions again. Which already is probably at least two days faster than anyone else in the school.

The next time Katsuki bumps into the boy who definitely did not belong at the dumpster – not that he, Bakugou Katsuki himself belongs there either – was when he was grabbing a curry bun from the convenience store. Or intending to do so but the boy standing at the register trying to order or whatever was clearly clueless. Or dumb. Or both. Probably both. Because how is he even holding up the line questioning why his lunch is going in the microwave and not the oven? Like, honestly, what the shit? It’s a convenience store, the lunch you made, manufactured in bulk is divided and separated appropriately into different packages and then delivered to the convenience store to sell. Of course, it’ll be microwaved for convenience, not bloody wood-fire oven or whatever other crap the boy was spewing out.

It gets to the point where another employee comes over to open the next register so that line can start moving again. Katsuki rolls his eyes at the other boy’s back when he simply orders his curry bun and pays for it. He sends the snobbish boy another look before he makes his way to the corner of the convenience store, he sits on a stool with his schoolbag slung comfortably across a shoulder and starts munching on the curry bun. It was as expected good. Even more so as it was still hot and he could stare out at the dreary day, feeling extra warm. He tunes out the calm explanations from the employee of the convenience store and the continual confusion of the boy.

Katsuki was just about to finish when the same boy takes a seat next to him. There are so many other seats he could choose from, but he chose to sit next to Katsuki. Red flags are waving around in his head and Katsuki thinks that he really needs to distance himself from the other.

He’s sure the boy doesn’t even remember him.

“I can’t believe they warm your lunch up here in a microwave”, the boy comments and looks at Katsuki with exasperation, as though he expects Katsuki to agree with him.

But boy does Katsuki remember the boy, that funny hair and scar is hard to not recognise. “This place is called a convenience store for a reason”. Katsuki doesn’t want to sit here and be the one to have to explain to the other boy why it’s inconvenient to have an oven in a convenience store. Honestly. At least if he just wanted someone to listen to him complain, it’s not as creepy that he took the seat right next to Katsuki. But still bothersome and none of his business. So Katsuki gets up and prepares to leave. He dumps the paper bag the curry bun in in the bin and then walks out of the convenience store and into the fresh autumn day. It was cold and just as dreary as it looked from the inside.

What Katsuki didn’t expect was for the other boy to come chasing after him. How annoying. He could hear the hurried footsteps before he even heard the eager, “wait up!” Katsuki turns around and wants to yell at the other for following him but he opens his mouth and what he had intended to say doesn’t come out. Because right in front of him is a warm can of hot chocolate.

“What?” Katsuki says as eloquently as he can, his voice not raised or covered in angry overtones.

“This is for you”, the boy says and reaches to grab one of Katsuki’s hands and he places the warm can in it, “you seem like you don’t do well with the cold”.

Katsuki frowns as he looks at the can and then at the boy again, his frown deepens.

“I promise, it’s not poisoned”, the boy fumbles around and then takes out a receipt from his carry bag which is holding the lunch he had microwaved at the convenience store not too long ago. “Look, it’s on the receipt”.

Katsuki blinks a few times and hopes that this boy before him did not buy the drink planning to give it to him from the start. Because, that’s creepy. He doesn’t thank the other.

“You go to Yuuei public high school?” The boy nods at the logo on Katsuki’s blazer. Katsuki covers it straight away knowing that it’s already too late. His eyes dart and looks at the logo on the other boy’s blazer, he recognises that logo. The school down the road.

“I go to Yuuei private high school”, the boy says, “we’re close!”

Down the road, but quite the distance still, so no, they’re not close.

Katsuki turns around and walks away. He kind of wishes that he was still in middle school wearing his gakuran. Harder to tell which school you’re from with that on for sure. He doesn’t give which school the boy is from, none of his business. It was worse knowing that the other is down the road. A very long road, but still down the road.

“Wait”, the boy calls out again but Katsuki only quickens his pace. He has no time to further listen to whatever junk the other had to say. The other clearly lacked in social skills. And social awareness. And just knowledge anyone growing up within the society should have.

What an idiot.

Katsuki doesn’t wait. Not for anyone.

The next time he bumps into the boy, it’s on the train. Of course, it’s crowded, Katsuki is standing minding his own business, he generally tries to mind his own business like everyone else on the train. But when someone clearly calls out to him, he can’t help but look. And that’s when he realised the boy from Yuuei Private Highschool recognises him.

“Hey”, is the greeting.

Bye is what Katsuki felt like he should’ve said. But he just ends up walking away squeezing between the rest of the people on the train. It was kind of rude, especially since he wasn’t getting off the train. He was just going to walk away from the other. He isn’t running away.

He’d never run away, especially not from someone as flashy as that guy who just doesn’t get the hint.

“Wait up”, the other student says, not loud enough to capture everyone’s attention, but not quite enough for people around them to not notice. Katsuki does not sigh nor does he pick up his pace, he only continues to walk further into the train carriage. This time maybe the other will finally get the hint.

He doesn’t.

Katsuki roughly shakes off the hand that grabs at his shoulder. Katsuki puts on his meanest frown and whips around to find himself perhaps a bit too close to the other for comfort. And maybe it was the rocking of the train as it went down into a tunnel because Katsuki’s eyes are wide, pupils dilated and nothing escapes his lips because the other student’s lips were attached to his own.

The hands grabbing at Katsuki’s waist tells him otherwise.

“Wh-!!” Katsuki pulls away rapidly and finds his head hitting the door of the train loudly. It causes a few eyes to dart their way before looking away again.

“I-!!” The other boy also looks surprised with his eyes just as wide as Katsuki’s own.

“You!!” Katsuki is loud now and he wants to grab the other by his collar but at the same time he doesn’t.

“I? You!” The other boy says just as loudly and even takes a step forward to close their distance again.

Katsuki is not at all intimidated. He reaches out and grabs the other by his collar and he can hear people start whispering about whether they were going to start a fight or not. He’s not really going to. Sort of. “Come with me”, Katsuki whispers to the other, his frown in place and eyes hardened by now.

“What?” The boy questions but allows himself to be pulled along.

Katsuki clicks his tongue when they get off the next stop. It’s his first time skipping school. But it can’t be helped. He has to get this pervert sorted.

“Um, I have school to attend”, the pervert says. Katsuki rolls his eyes. So does he. But there are things that are more important at the point in time. Like Katsuki’s lips. His freaking first kiss. Katsuki growls as he plugs in some words on google maps. When he finds what he’s looking for, he roughly tugs at the pervert’s tie and pulls him along with him.

It seems as the pervert quickly gave up his fight and let himself be dragged by Katsuki. Damn right he should. When they arrive at the police box, Katsuki ignores the questions the pervert throws at him. Instead, Katsuki throws the pervert in – he doesn’t go very far at all, in fact, he doesn’t get thrown in at all, if anything, it was a push. A rough push. Katsuki curses to himself when he realises how hard it was to manipulate the pervert when he wasn’t willing.

“Why are we going to see the police?” The pervert asks, his facial expression unchanging but his tone exasperated and confused at the same time.

Katsuki lets the door close behind him and forces the pervert to take a seat at the desk, still holding onto his tie.

“Good morning, what can I do for you?” The policeman behind the desk asks with a friendly smile, he glances over at the clock and Katsuki knows the other is checking to see what time it is, he can hear the policeman wondering why there are two high school students sitting before him instead of heading to school. He can see the million thoughts flutter through his head as his mind conjures up the worst.

“This guy”, Katsuki jabs his thumb at the pervert sitting beside him, “on the train this morning, he molested me”.

“Wh-what!?” The pervert looks at Katsuki in disbelief, “I did no such thing!” He is quick to deny the accusations.

“First”, the policeman says as he interjects swiftly, “let me get your names, I trust you both have your student IDs with you?”

Katsuki grunts and takes out his student ID card and hands it to the policeman. The pervert does the same.

“Bakugou-kun and Todoroki-kun, am I right?” The policeman says as he jots down the information on both cards before handing them back.

Pursing his lips together, Katsuki holds back his thoughts. Todoroki. Todoroki the pervert. A common surname. But a flashy person. It was almost a joke. A name that wasn’t quite fitting of the person from what he can tell so far. At least the policeman didn’t say Katsuki’s full name right out. He’d hate for the pervert to learn of his name. Katsuki frowns as he swipes his card back when handed. Though he supposes there aren’t many people with the surname Bakugou in the country, so it would be easy to stalk if the other really put his mind to it.

“Yes”, Todoroki the pervert says as he takes his card from the policeman. “But I really didn’t molest him”, Todoroki points at Katsuki. “Please believe me”.

Katsuki slams his hands on the table as he stands up. “You shit”, Katsuki is not having any of that, he’s going to get this Todoroki-kun punished appropriately for molesting his lips. It’s sexual harassment. Huffing, Katsuki takes a seat again and crosses his arms as he angrily tells the policeman his story. “This guy called out to me on the train. When I moved away he followed me and then groped my waist before planting his filthy lips on mine!!”

Watching the policeman take notes on his computer was annoying for Katsuki. It was frustrating even though he knew it was the right thing to do. He just wanted someone else to also agree that what Todoroki-kun the pervert did was absolutely in the wrong and that he needs to taught a lesson for it. Preferably with Katsuki’s fist in his face.

“It wasn’t like that”, Todoroki tries to explain, “I did call out to him, but I did not, I absolutely did not grope your waist”, Todoroki looks at Katsuki with a frown, “the train was rocking and you were unsteady so I only helped by reaching out to you-”

“That’s what ALL the perverts say”, Katsuki glares at Todoroki, “my hand slipped, or some other stupid excuse like that!” Katsuki doesn’t even hesitate to kick the leg of the chair Todoroki was sitting on, “In your bloody case both your hands and your mouth slipped!!”

“Cal-calm down”, the policeman tries.

“No”, Katsuki refuses, “he molested me! You can’t expect me to be calm about it!”

“You seemed pretty calm when you were dragging me all the way here!” Todoroki bites back. “Plus, it was an accident, I wasn’t trying to cop a feel!”

“But you did!” Katsuki retorts. “I won’t let you off for this!” Katsuki then turns to look at the policeman, “Right!?”

“Well”, the policeman is calm, “we have to do things properly. It seems I have both your statements”, the policeman taps at his screen, “all I need are your contact numbers so I can call for your guardian to pick you up and contact you for further information if need be.”

Katsuki frowns and eyes the policeman warily, “I don’t need anyone to come pick me up”.

“Neither”, Todoroki huffs and crosses his own arms.

“Well, at least you both agree on something”, the policeman sits back on his chair and gives them both a small smile, “we still need someone to escort you both back home or to school”.

“No”, Katsuki and Todoroki say at the same time.

“You don’t want a police officer to be escorting you to school, do you?” The policeman raises his eyebrows.

Katsuki scrunches his nose, “that’s better than my old hag coming to get me”.

Todoroki grunts.

The policeman shrugs, “I can always phone your school to ask for the contact details of your parents, either way, they will be here”.

And the policeman was right. Katsuki sits far from Todoroki and crosses his limbs as he glares at the other whilst he waits to be picked up like a lost child. Thankfully, it’s his father – Bakugou Masaru who comes in with concern written all over his face. Masaru immediately goes to his son and wraps his arms around the other, “Katsuki-kun, you have me so worried”.

Katsuki grunts in reply but hugs his father back. He rolls his eyes when the policeman tells his father the same thing he had said over the phone, that Masaru’s son is here with him because of a sexual harassment claim he made. When Masaru hears that, he is reminded and quickly looks around the room before sending daggers at Todoroki – the only other high school student in the tiny police box. Masaru doesn’t stop glaring even as they leave the police box. He holds tightly onto his son and mutters about how disgusting people in the world are and even suggests to his son that he stops taking the train to school. Katsuki ignores all of it and is quite good at ignoring it by the time they arrive home in which even his mother had left work early to greet him with of course, her boisterous voice.

“What is this!?” Mitsuki has her hands at her waist as she looks at her son, “You were molested on the train this morning!?”

Katsuki sighs before taking a seat at their dining table.

“I hope you socked him in the face”, Mitsuki waves a fist around and then her leg as well, “or gave him a few good kicks”.

“Mama, that’s also harassment”, Masaru says, “our Katsuki-kun isn’t like that”.

“I wanted to”, Katsuki admits, “he was a real pervert”. He realises he’s sulking. His thoughts go back to that, that- that… kiss – not a kiss – kiss and he wants to kick Todoroki in the face. Katsuki gently touches his lips and then thinks no, he’s going to slam Todoroki’s head into a wall.

He takes the day off school. His parents phone in and only talk very generally about what had happened to the school.

Katsuki thinks it’s the most embarrassing thing in the world to be escorted to school the next day by his dad. It was adding fuel to the fire that was already there. It was already strange for Katsuki to miss a day of school, and now he was coming to school with his dad who is looking around with alert, it almost made Masaru the one who appeared to be suspicious.

Ignoring all the commotion around him, Katsuki passes it off as him being sick. He kind of was. He was definitely feeling out of sorts, unwell.

The chatter does down eventually when more interesting news rolls around. Katsuki is also glad when his parents stop following him to and from school – how they found their time in their busy schedule, he doesn’t want to think about because it’ll just prove how much they love him – some months after. It was a slow dwindle, but they got there.

And then… Katsuki just had to bump into one Todoroki Shouto again. It’s also when he remembers the police never got back to him whether they dished out a punishment for the pervert or not.

Katsuki wants to turn around and walk out of the cat café when he finds Todoroki staring back at him. But he also wants to play with the cats. Both were quite high on his priority lists. With the scrunch of his nose, Katsuki glares at the other and then points his nose up and ignores the other. He pays for a drink and then sits on the opposite end of the room and starts luring cats to come play with him.

There’s a calico cat sitting in his lap already when Katsuki’s iced lemon tea arrives. He strokes the cat gently as he takes a sip from his tea every now and then. The cat purrs and looks up at Katsuki who is looking down at the cat. Katsuki grunts when the cat stretches in his lap and then climbs up his chest and onto his shoulder naturally before bunting his cheeks, slipping around Katsuki’s neck and then slipping back down into Katsuki’s neck. Katsuki lovingly pets the cat and rubs his fingers on the cat’s head.

“You’re good with cats, Katsuki”, Todoroki remarks as he deliberately walks up to Katsuki and takes a seat opposite him.

Immediately scowling, Katsuki glares at the other, “piss off, pervert”, he hisses out.

Todoroki looks taken aback.

“Shouldn’t you be in underage counselling or something like that?” Katsuki spits out.

Todoroki tilts his head to the side, confused as to how Katsuki came to that conclusion.

“You were arrested for molesting me”, Katsuki’s tone is harsh, but quiet, wary of not catching the attention of the other patrons, but he didn’t want to disturb the cats around him.

“I-”, Todoroki starts but then stops. He swallows thickly and stands awkwardly in front of Katsuki.

Katsuki stares hard at Todoroki. He then holds the cat in his lap securely before standing up with his drink in his other hand. Without another word, Katsuki walks off to the other end of the room, where Todoroki once was.

As expected, Todoroki follows him, “it wasn’t on purpose”.

“So, you admit that you molested me”, Katsuki spits out harshly.

“I didn’t!” Todoroki’s voice rises, “I could say the same for you”, Todoroki’s voice is softer again.

Katsuki scoffs. Loudly.

“Your lips pressed onto mine too”, Todoroki reasons.

Katsuki reels back in disgust. “Disgusting”.

True though.

“Don’t talk to me”, Katsuki tells the other angrily. He takes a seat and gently lays the cat on his lap and his drink on the table.

“No”, Todoroki takes a seat opposite of Katsuki, “I want to talk”.

Katsuki rolls his eyes, he places the cat aside, grabs his drink and then walks out of the cat café. Because he sure did not want to talk, and if staying at his favourite cat café means he has to deal with Todoroki’s shit, then he’s leaving. When Todoroki moves to follow him, Katsuki sneers and takes off quickly.

He has confidence that he can outrun Todoroki in his own neighbourhood. Todoroki who Katsuki remembers sharply as someone who stood out like a sore thumb at the rubbish dump, someone who is 100% unfamiliar with the convenience store.

And Katsuki does outrun the other. A shit-eating grin makes it to Katsuki’s face as he toddles home happily. Until he remembers that that same person also violated his lips on the train and that drops his smile all too quickly.

Katsuki wants to pull his hair out in frustration when he comes across Todoroki again. This time, the ass had the nerve to sit right next to him at Yoshinoya. If Katsuki hadn’t just ordered his gyudon and watch as it was already being prepared, he would’ve up and left.

“Medium gyudon…?” Todoroki says and pays with the exact amount, he looks around shiftily before his eyes settle on Katsuki.

Katsuki sighs and moves a few seats away from Todoroki.

When Todoroki follows suit, Katsuki scowls and walks to sit on the opposite bench in which he was sitting at. Todoroki continues to follow Katsuki, his expression still nonchalant.

Todoroki calls out to Katsuki, an attempt to make conversation, “Bakugou-”

“Piss off”, Katsuki sneers and continues to walk swiftly around the restaurant to try and put some distance between him and Todoroki.

“Your order”, a worker at Yoshinoya states and places Katsuki’s medium gyudon in front of him, sort of forcing Katsuki to take a seat. Todoroki immediately sits next to Katsuki as his own medium gyudon is placed before him.

Huffing, Katsuki thinks about taking his bowl and moving elsewhere to eat in peace, but he decides maybe it’s not such a great idea with a steaming hot bowl of gyudon that just can’t wait to fill his tummy. It won’t be worth the risk of accidentally dropping his meal. If he pretends Todoroki isn’t the pervert he is, it’s easy to ignore the other. Focusing on the food before him makes it easy to pretend that Todoroki is just another person, just another customer of the store.

The beef filled with the flavours that is distinct to Yoshinoya rubs against his tongue and the oils smears across his teeth as Katsuki nearly inhales his meal.

“This is amazing”, Todoroki speaks, “for its price”.

“Huh!?” Katsuki is angry again as he can’t stop himself from putting down his chopsticks and look turn to his side to look at Todoroki with aggression.

“What?” Todoroki asks, tone just as bland as his expression.

Katsuki has a hunch. But the answer may be something he doesn’t want to know. In the first place, he doesn’t want to engage in a conversation with Todoroki, or have anything to do with Todoroki, but it sounds so ridiculous. “You’ve never eaten Yoshinoya before”.

It was most definitely a statement.

“Is it obvious?” Todoroki asks as he places his chopsticks down too.

Katsuki raises one eyebrow and looks at Todoroki with something akin to disgust.

“It’s nice”, Todoroki nods.

“Nice”, Katsuki repeats with a snort. The student beside him in unbelievable. What kind of high school student hasn’t had Yoshinoya in their life before?

“It’s quite tender”, Todoroki grabs his chopsticks and picks up a slice of beef, “I didn’t expect this quality at a fast-food chain”.

Katsuki rolls his eyes and returns his attention back towards his own meal. He better finish it quick so he cannot have to further dampen his mood with Todoroki there.

“Do you eat here often?” Todoroki asks.

Without turning to look at Todoroki and continuing to pick up his meal with his chopsticks, Katsuki answers with no haste but definitely enough bite, “None of your business”.

It feels like déjà vu when Katsuki quickly finishes his meal and walks out of the restaurant, especially with Todoroki chasing after him, again. “Go away”, Katsuki grunts as Todoroki’s legs take him to walk beside Katsuki.

“No”, Todoroki denies.

“Stop following me”, Katsuki says unhappily with his lips sticking out.

“No”, Todoroki denies again, “I’m going this direction too”.

Katsuki side-eyes the other, apertures narrowing as he stuffs his hands in his pockets and continues walking. He takes out his earphones and plugs them into his phone and scrolls through his playlist to find something nice. His attention was demanded with a few sharp taps to his shoulder. With frustration, Katsuki turns to look at who was tapping at his shoulder – even though he kind of already knew.

“Quit following me!” Katsuki says loudly, earphones still in place.

“Bakugou”, Todoroki holds onto Katsuki’s arm and stops him from walking any faster, from walking away from him.

Katsuki shrugs off the hold only to find that Todoroki catches his arm again, this time the hold is tighter. “What do you want!?” Katsuki nearly screams as he continues to try shake off Todoroki’s hold, “stop following me already!”

“Bakugou, calm down”, Todoroki says in a much calmer voice, “you’re causing a commotion”.

“If you’ll bloody let go of me you pervert!” Katsuki says even louder than before. If he’s causing a commotion, good, maybe it’ll make Todoroki let him go. Already he can hear the whispers and stares of the punters passing through. But maybe Todoroki is somehow use to all this? Because he doesn’t budge and continues along with his trash talk.

“Don’t you want to eat something sweet after the gyudon?”

Yes. “Not with you!” With an irritated growl, Katsuki drags his arm as he continues to walk, if Todoroki won’t let go, then there’s only one thing left to do.

Katsuki brings Todoroki to the local police box. A different one to the last, but still, a police box.

“Eh?” Todoroki doesn’t know what to say. But his grip on Katsuki’s arm does not lessen.

Without slowing down, Katsuki drags Todoroki into the police box and before the police officer behind the desk even asks what he can do for Katsuki, Katsuki angrily complains, “This jerk is stalking me”.

“Eh?” Todoroki says straight away before the police officer can even say a word, “I’m not, not really”.

“Not really”, Katsuki rolls his eyes before pointing to his arm in which Todoroki still has a grip on, “look at this, officer, he’s gotten to the point where he doesn’t even want to let me go”.

“This is…”, Todoroki suddenly lets go and tries to explain himself, “we’re friends?”

“We bloody well are not!!” Katsuki vehemently denies.

“Look”, the police officer starts, “friends shouldn’t bring their everyday bickering to the police”.

“We are not friends”, Katsuki crosses his arms, “I’d never be friends with this kind of mob-character!”

The police officer raises both eyebrows and looks at Katsuki with peculiarity.

“He’s been following me around even though I’ve told him not to, too many times”, Katsuki explains and shakes his head.

“Just today?” The police officer asks as he scribbles down some notes, “anything else?”

Katsuki scrunches his nose, he has bumped into Todoroki quite a number of times already, “Today at Yoshinoya, that other time at the cat café, and then on the tram-”

“I’m not stalking you Bakugou”, Todoroki cuts in, “you just go to the same places I go to”.

“We’re strangers”, Katsuki stresses, “what kind of person keeps going up to the same stranger to talk or freakin’ grab their arm!?”

“We’re not strangers then!” Todoroki presses.

“Acquaintances at the most”, Katsuki glares at Todoroki.

Todoroki frowns for a few seconds, “Bakugou, we’ve kissed-”

“Oh. My. Stop.” Katsuki sighs and tilts his head back as the disgusting memory floods back through his head.

“Is this a lover’s quarrel?” The police officer interjects.

Both of the high school students deny straight away.

“I suggest that you have this quarrel peacefully”, the police officer gives them a nod, “I can refer you to a mediator if you wish”.

“Stuff this!” Katsuki says loudly before he grabs the notepad the officer was scribbling in to write down his details, “If this perverted stalker bothers me again, I will be back”. With that, Katsuki turns around swiftly and stalks out of the police box grumpily and hurries home in a sprint. Stuff Todoroki.

When Katsuki meets Todoroki the next time – coincidence or not, he hopes it’s a coincidence, he feels like the most unfortunate person in the world.

It’s in front of his group of friends as they walk towards the station after cram school – and just why is Todoroki the perverted stalker there? Katsuki doesn’t want to know. But he just wants to rip off everyone’s head when Todoroki enthusiastically approaches him with a delighted “Bakugou!”

Honestly, why does he not understand that he’s not wanted.

“What’s this? What’s this?” Ashido is surprised but the wide grin on her face betrays her as she nudges Kirishima with just as much enthusiasm as Todoroki greeting Katsuki.

“What in the world?” Kaminari raises one eyebrow and looks at Katsuki and then at Todoroki and back, strange, “Bakugou, you have friends from…”, he examines Todoroki’s school uniform with his eyes squinted.

“Yuuei Private?” Sero has a broad grin as he finishes Kaminari’s train of thought, “How unexpected”.

“Hello”, Todoroki nods and doesn’t bother to introduce himself – how rude – before he grabs Katsuki roughly by the arm and yanks him over, “Bakugou, it’s been a long time”.

Katsuki can hear his classmates talk loudly behind him of how rude students Yuuei Private High are. Which for once he 100% agrees that Todoroki is rude.

“Sorry everyone, I’m going to be borrowing Katsuki for the rest of today, I hope you didn’t make plans”, Todoroki says as though he had made plans with Katsuki – he did not.

“Let go of me!” Katsuki says the same time his classmates send him shit eating grins and bid him farewell. Katsuki grits his teeth at them and sends them a death glare each. Todoroki doesn’t let go and successfully drags a very reluctant Katsuki who tries very hard to push Todoroki’s grip off his arm.

“What do you bloody want!?” Katsuki presses and continues to shake his arm even when Todoroki is dragging him away from the station.

“Come with me”, Todoroki insists.

“No”, Katsuki replies straight away, “not with a perverted stalker!”

“I’m not!” Todoroki denies strongly, “I just, we, can’t we hang out as friends?”

Katsuki looks strangely at Todoroki, he nods shallowly to himself, “You… have no friends, right?”

“N-not like you”, Todoroki admits, and strange enough, again, it makes Katsuki feel different.

“They’re not my friends”, Katsuki says instinctively.

“Then you’re like me”, Todoroki doesn’t look away from Katsuki, “why don’t we become friends?”

“Hell no”, Katsuki’s frown doesn’t leave his face, his tone of voice just as angry as the expression on his face. What Todoroki is even thinking of, Katsuki doesn’t really want to know. This guy is creepy for sure.

Todoroki’s expression falls for a second but he somehow quickly regains a determined face and his clutch on Katsuki’s arm does not relent.

“Seriously, let go of me”, Katsuki’s volume dies down and he stares straight at Todoroki.

“No”, Todoroki shakes his head, “let’s go eat ice cream together”.

“What is with you!?” Katsuki asks loudly, again, but something in him thinks that it might be nice to have ice cream regardless.

“Just humour me”, Todoroki somewhat pleads.

Katsuki wondered if it would be alright for him to rip Todoroki’s arm off. He had somehow half expected to be manhandled into a convenient store for the ice cream. But he was wrong. Katsuki still isn’t sure how he was dragged into a fancy-ass dessert house to eat a parfait with Todoroki. A parfait each.

“This is delicious”, Todoroki comments, no longer holding Katsuki down who seems to no longer mind that he was forced there against his will with the parfait before him.

Swallowing loudly, Katsuki looked at the strawberry parfait before him, definitely more than a few times more in price than his regular icy pole from the convenience store. Perhaps it wasn’t so bad. Until Todoroki said the following –

“This is like a date”, Todoroki smiles after taking a scoop and looks at Katsuki, “almost”.

Katsuki chokes and his knees reflexively go up which knocks the bottom of the table and before Katsuki knows it, his parfait goes flying and half of it lands on his face. Katsuki most definitely feels like the most unfortunate person in the world. And even more so when Todoroki, in panic, runs over to try wipe the parfait off of Katsuki but ends up knocking his own parfait all over Katsuki’s lap. Katsuki definitely feels like the most unfortunate person in the world, almost covered from head to toe in ice cream.

“Ba-Bakugou! I’m so sorry”, Todoroki holds onto a napkin in either hand and starts wiping at the disaster, hoping to salvage the ruined uniform.

Roughly, Katsuki pushes Todoroki away as he stands up from his seat in even more shock, “Stop touching me!”

“But you’re covered in parfait”, Todoroki reasons.

“Whose fault is it!?” Katsuki pushes Todoroki and then storms out of the restaurant. Todoroki soon runs after him and catches up, he spews a load of apologies and his hands are back to grabbing at Katsuki’s arm. This time, his grip isn’t as tight as last time because Katsuki easily shakes him off.

Even though he’s upset he makes sure his bag isn’t covered any more in the dessert. Katsuki makes use of Todoroki’s clingy-ness and stalks right to the closest police box, again, and complains.

“I’m here to file a complaint”, Katsuki says with a scowl, “this guy”, he waves a hand at Todoroki, “threw parfait at me”.

The police officer has raised eyebrows and ushers for them to sit before bringing Katsuki a towel so that he can clean off the mess himself.

“Bakugou, not this again”, Todoroki sighs and his face drops.

“This pervert has been stalking me, today he went as far as kidnapping me in front of the station before throwing parfait all over me”, Katsuki says without missing a beat, his gaze on the police officer. “Place a restriction on him”, Katsuki demands.

The police officer is nodding whilst typing onto the computer, “Can I have your ID?”

Katsuki is already handing over his student ID and he turns around to glare at Todoroki to do the same.

“It wasn’t really like that”, Todoroki explains as he takes out his own ID, “I’m not stalking Bakugou. I didn’t force him either. Nor did I throw parfait at him”.

“I told you to piss off”, Katsuki stresses as he hisses at Todoroki. “That means that you forced me against my will”, Katsuki rolls his eyes and then mutters, “to think you’re from Yuuei Private High”.

“Yet you still came with me”, Todoroki frowns, “so it wasn’t entirely against your will”.

“I was telling you no”, Katsuki growls, “what could be more certain than that?”

“You didn’t run away”, Todoroki is stubborn.

“You had a death grip on my arm”, Katsuki glares

Todoroki shakes his head, “You could’ve punched me or-”

“Please stop”, the police officer interjects, “this is a police box”.

There’s no stopping, Katsuki quickly wraps his hand into a fist and sends a punch towards Todoroki’s face. He did sort of ask for it. Except Todoroki the asshole was quick to respond and he caught Katsuki’s fist and was even quick enough to knock the other punch coming from the other hand by knocking it with Katsuki’s fist he had gripped onto. But what Todoroki hadn’t expected was for the police officer to grab their arms, his way of telling them to stop fighting. It gave Katsuki the chance to send a kick into Todoroki’s side.

It was a painful connection, for Todoroki.

Which is why Todoroki sent a kick of his own, to Katsuki’s side.

Which is also how the officers stationed at the police box had to separate them both to prevent further damage. Katsuki smirked when he realised that some of the parfait he had yet to clean off was smudged onto Todoroki’s own pristine school uniform. Serves him right for being such a dick.

Which is also how Katsuki founds himself with a lecture from the police officer. And then his father on the way home. And then his mother at home. And even his home-room teacher at school the next day. All because of one Todoroki Shouto.

He most definitely felt unfortunate.

Katsuki was glad the stains were washed out properly from his school uniform. He did spend many quarters of an hour soaking it and rubbing it all out. His hard work was put to good use. Thanks to Todoroki. The mere thought made Katsuki feel terribly upset.

When his classmates at school started asking him about the mysterious Yuuei Private High student he was hanging out with yesterday, Katsuki angrily pushed them away and kicked at their chairs in frustration at that mere memory. But his classmates who often swarm around him wouldn’t let the topic go and kept teasing him.

“Bakugou has friends outside of us”.

“We are not friends”, Katsuki clicks his tongue and folds his arms at his chest.

“To think Bakugou could even have a friend from that prestigious school”.

“Frankly, the fact that someone besides us can tolerate Bakugou is already, hehehehe-”

“Midoriya tolerates him”

“That’s because they grew up together”

“Shut up!” Katsuki growls at them all, “We’re not friends and I’m not friends with him either!”

“You two sure seemed friendly~”

“Going on a date after cram school too”.

“I don’t see you hanging out with us”.

“We’re not friends”, Katsuki deadpans.

“Being shy again, are you?”

Sighing, Katsuki rolls his eyes and walks off with a strawberry milk in hand.

It’s only a few days later when Katsuki finds himself face to face with Todoroki again.

“Stop-”, Katsuki starts.

“I’m not stalking you”, Todoroki says straight away with both hands raised.

Katsuki raises his expression and has all intentions to walk off. But it seems, as usual, with Todoroki Shouto, things just often don’t end up that way.

“You’re at my house”, Katsuki glares, “and you want to tell me you’re not stalking me!?” Katsuki slams the front door shut in Todoroki’s face.

“Katsuki?” Mitsuki calls and pops her head out into the genkan, “Who was that?” She has concern written all over her face.

“No one”, Katsuki spits out and walks away. He should not have opened the door.

A knock comes from the front door again and Katsuki glares at the door. He misses his mother who easily slips by him and opens the door.

“Hello, I’m Todoroki Shouto, Bakugou’s friend”, Todoroki greets.

“You’re NOT my friend!” Katsuki yells back.

“Oh!” Mitsuki exclaims, “I’m Bakugou Mitsuki, Katsuki’s mother, nice to meet you”, ignoring her son she continues, “please come in”.

Todoroki nods, “Thank you”. He shuffles in and takes off his shoes, “This isn’t much, but please accept this”, Todoroki hands over to Mitsuki a simple paper bag with slim handles.

“Isn’t this!?” Mitsuki takes it with a smile, “It is! Higashiya Ginza! They’re delicious!”

“I’m glad”, Todoroki smiles.

Katsuki frowns and shakes his head, he heads up to his room and pretends that he doesn’t know both his mother and Todoroki. He doesn’t want to hear about his mother gush about how Todoroki had gone into the heart of Tokyo to buy them some wagashi.

Pft.

He does like wagashi though. But not enough to look at Todoroki’s face. Katsuki shuts himself in his room and plugs in his earphones before opening up his mathematics text book. Things were going smoothly until Mitsuki barges into his room without knocking. Typical of his mother.

“What do you want!?” Katsuki whips his head around when his earphones are pulled out by his mother and he looks at her angrily, “I’m studying! Don’t bother me!”

“You brat”, Mitsuki grabs her son by his arm and tugs at it, “your friend is here, don’t be so rude”.

Katsuki groans and lets his mother drag him down the stairs and into their living room where Todoroki is politely sitting as he sets out the wagashi he had brought over. Katsuki swallows thickly. He shouldn’t let the wagashi distract him. It does look very enticing…

“Katsuki, it’s great that you have a friend like this”, Mitsuki sighs longingly, “I hope you learn a lot from him”.

“What”, Katsuki is not amused.

“He’s so polite, so well-mannered”, Mitsuki continues as she ushers her son to the living room and then pushes Katsuki to take a seat opposite Todoroki, “Shouto-kun is so pleasant”.

Katsuki’s frown deepens and when his mother’s hands are no longer pushing at his shoulder to keep him seated, Katsuki stands up from the chair and moves away with the first chance he gets.

“You old hag”, he looks at his mother with disbelief, “this person is the one who molested me on the train, he’s been stalking me!” He isn’t afraid or embarrassed to admit it to his mother who knows of that situation already, ever since his old man came back with him by the arm and a sullen face.

“Eh?” Mitsuki is confused and her behaviour clearly displays so as she steps away from Todoroki and closer to her own son as she realises what she had just done. She had let the person who had taken her precious son’s first kiss without permission in their house, where it’s supposed to be safe for them.

“Ah”, Todoroki quickly recognises the circumstances he’s under, “it’s a misunderstanding, it was an accident, the train was rocking and with the rupture in balance, our lips touched”.

Katsuki looks at disgust towards Todoroki and then glances at his mother to see that she looks just as disgusted. He feels satisfied at that. Until her expression softens, eyebrows furrowed and she nods.

What.

Mitsuki speaks with an almost fluffy tone, “I guess it could be taken as an accident, Katsuki tends to exaggerate greatly…”

Katsuki wants to sock someone in the face.

“So?” Mitsuki’s tone suddenly changes from light to heavy and tense as she looks Todoroki up and down, “Why are you stalking my Katsuki?”

“N-No?” Todoroki shakes his head and denies the accusation, again. He stands up straight with his arms by his side, “I haven’t been stalking him, we just bump into each other a lot”.

Katsuki scoffs loudly.

“Our schools are close by”, Todoroki indicates to the emblem on his blazer.

Mitsuki recognises it as Yuuei private High School.

“So, we bump into each other often”, Todoroki explains, “whether it’s at the cat café or having parfait together…”

“We’re not friends”, Katsuki stresses, he still looks at Todoroki with anger.

“Clearly”, Mitsuki agrees. Katsuki feels like his mother finally understood. Todoroki’s expression drops as though he is the pitiful one. His frown still in place. Mitsuki shakes her head and she continues, “Meeting on the train and going to school together, sharing a kiss-”

“What”, Katsuki’s frowns deepens as he stares strangely at his mother. Maybe she needs a hearing test. Or she maybe just doesn’t understand?

Mitsuki ignores her son and continues, “and even going out on dates at a cat café, and eating dessert together-”

“Seriously. What?” Katsuki’s voice is louder this time.

“We also met at the convenience store and a junk yard”, Todoroki supplies.

“That’s not very romantic”, Mitsuki’s nose wrinkles. Todoroki nods.

“Why would it be romantic?” Katsuki can feel his patience wearing thin.

“No wonder you’re not friends”, Mitsuki comments just as Masaru announces he’s home and walks into the living room, “you’re lovers”.

“What?” Masaru asks before his son can even react.

“No way”, Katsuki says loudly and his arms go up in rage.

“Bakugou, calm down!” Todoroki says and he rushes over to pull Katsuki’s arms down which ends with him on the receiving end of Katsuki’s head-butt as well as Masaru who acts immediately and pulls Todoroki off of his son.

It isn’t a surprise to say that Katsuki ends up taking Todoroki to their closest police box and declares that Todoroki is now breaking and entering after convincing his father – Mitsuki was a close match, but all Katsuki had to do was remind his father that the student before them was the one who attacked his lips on the train that day and it all went too smoothly.

Because his mother’s explanation of Katsuki being shy and wanting to make sure his parents weren’t against him dating Todoroki Shouto was most definitely much more far-fetched from the truth of the situation.

Having his father stand beside him at the police station gave him strength and confidence that this time things will work out. Todoroki had been silent the whole way, not a single word uttered.

The police officer seems sceptical when he brings up Bakugou Katsuki’s name and finds the very recent reports of him filing against the same Todoroki Shouto each time. And even more so when the police officer receives a phone call from Bakugou Mitsuki claiming that her son has deluded her husband and now they’re claiming poor innocent Todoroki-kun had broken into the house to stalk Katsuki when Mitsuki had clearly opened the door to let the student in.

Todoroki quickly agreed to Mitsuki’s story over the phone sent the police officer typing into his computer with suspicious glances. Until Masaru asked Katsuki whether that story is true or not.

Katsuki begrudgingly scrunched up his nose and looked away before giving the tiniest of nods.

Masaru sighs and turns to Todoroki to apologise.

“But!” Katsuki shakes his head rapidly and turns to look at his father, making sure he has his attention, “He’s been pulling at my arms and forcing me to eat parfait with him, and how do you explain why he turned up at our doorstep asking to see me!?”

Masaru hums.

“He’s a perverted stalker!” Katsuki is confident in this accusation.

Todoroki shakes his head and just as loudly, says back, “I’m none of those!”

“Then why were you at my house, huh!?” Katsuki is aggressive, “With wagashi in hand too!”

Todoroki’s expression hardens and he opens his mouth to speak but Katsuki cuts him off.

“Did you ask Deku what sweets I like? Is that why you were carrying wagashi!? Trying to buy your way in after perving on me and then stalking me are you!?” Katsuki is infuriated. The more he thinks about Todoroki, the more upset he becomes. Even at Yoshinoya he was irritatingly persistent.

“I just wanted to return your student ID to you!” Todoroki’s hands are formed into fists and he yells at Katsuki.

Katsuki frowns. He… wait, what?

Todoroki takes out a student ID card from his inner breast pocket and almost throws it at Katsuki. Katsuki catches it, takes a look and realises that it is his own student ID. Oh. He hadn’t even realised he had misplaced it. No. Wait. “You!” Katsuki looks angrily at Todoroki, “You took my card!? You stole my card!?”

Stunned at the further accusations, Todoroki frowns deeply before he takes a step towards Katsuki confidently, “You left it at the police box! I wouldn’t deliberately come return it if I had the intention to steal it!”

Katsuki scoffs and crosses his arms after he pockets his card, “And pray, tell me, just why would the police officer give you my card instead of delivering it back to me themselves?”

Todoroki crosses his own arms and stares straight at Katsuki, “Because we’re fr-”

“We are not!” Katsuki refutes before Todoroki can even finish his sentence. He hates thinking about what the other was going to say. That the police officers casually gave over his student ID because they assumed they were friends… honestly, really?

How ridiculous.

What was even more ridiculous was when the police officers thought it would be a brilliant idea to put both Todoroki Shouto and Bakugou Katsuki in a mock litigation. Of course, with their parents’ approval. They went as far to even hire lawyers to make the mock litigation seem more real.

How ridiculous.

Katsuki wanted to punch everyone in the room. How could his own lawyer decide that yes, the smooch on the train was a total accident. He definitely felt Todoroki’s hand on him, and the pressure he had exerted. It made him feel strange.

Even as Katsuki re-watched the video captured in the train for the nth time, with similar comments each time, he still felt that it was most definitely Todoroki trapping him with his arms and stealing his lips. That asshole. It was extremely unfortunate that everyone else saw it as an accident. Because it was not.

It was even more annoying when Todoroki kept sending him I told you so looks. He was infuriating. So bloody infuriating.

Katsuki felt like he was made to be the psychotic one when they cleared that Todoroki was indeed not stalking Katsuki.

He totally was. Heck, he even recognised him from the junk yard. Katsuki felt himself wanting to believe that perhaps he had met Todoroki much earlier than that, but just didn’t realise it himself. That makes him feel bothered. Because if that’s the case, how long has Todoroki been stalking him for? Enough to know that he likes wagashi… fuck.

In the end they settled on not throwing punches, kicks or headbutts at each other. (Only after Katsuki sneaked a pinch to Todoroki’s upper arm). They settled to not forcefully drag each other against their will (Todoroki pouted and still denied that it was not against Katsuki’s will). They settled on not slandering the other by calling them pervert or stalker (Katsuki pouted and said he can’t promise that but he will try to say it less – Todoroki settled with that).

Katsuki leaves unhappy and growling, complaining all the way home, before he even knew it, Todoroki was walking next to him also complaining and making jabs at him. They exchanged physical jabs. Sure, they were told no punches or kicks or head-butts, but they never said anything about jabbing each other. Somehow, Todoroki was invited back into his family home. Somehow, they both started complaining about the mock litigation together. Katsuki didn’t realise how weird it was until he caught the strange looks his parents were giving him.

“And you made Papa think that Shouto-kun was a weird boy”, Masaru smiles fondly over at the two as they eat dinner with the unexpected guest.

He can’t believe even his father is calling Todoroki by his first name, he expected it from his old hag, but not really his old man who seemed to have been on his side. Katsuki tries to calm down by blinking rapidly and pretending that Todoroki isn’t sitting opposite him at their small dinner table.

“To think you two got along so well”, Mitsuki sounds pleased, “Mama knew from the get-go that that was the case”.

Even though the company at the dinner table was terrible, at the very least, dinner was delicious.

Katsuki sleep in bed that night and wonders how Todoroki went from perverted stalker to someone who his parents soon became fond of all within a short amount of time.

When Katsuki bumps into Todoroki at the convenience stores, he grunts as an acknowledgement. When Todoroki sits next to him with a heated bentou without stirring up an argument with the worker behind the counter, Katsuki pretends he knows nothing.

When Todoroki buys an icy-pole and splits it into two so that they get 1 stick each, Bakugou mutters a very quiet thanks as he takes the icy-pole and eats it sitting at the bench of the convenience store. However, when they start fighting over the winning All-Might popsicle stick, the manager of the convenience store sends them to the neighbouring police box for discipline.

“Todoroki-kun, Bakugou-kun”, the police officer greets them, “how many times does this make?”

They both shrug.

They both wear disgruntled looks.

They both held onto half a snapped end of the winning All-Might popsicle stick.

They both got lectured by the police-officer for disrupting public peace with their rowdy behaviour.

When Katsuki bumps into Todoroki on the streets, he still feels like he wants to turn away and walk into a different direction. But he doesn’t. He isn’t afraid of Todoroki, he isn’t someone he wants to run from. He won’t show the other any weakness at all. Katsuki should’ve have found it strange when his fr- his classmates giggle and leaves him alone with Todoroki. Luckily it doesn’t happen often.

More often than not, Katsuki is already by himself when he bumps into Todoroki. And that is the only reason he’ll give as to why he ends up wandering from restaurant to restaurant tasting the meals on the ura-menu. It was, kind of fun.

Until they started bickering and as things escalated the bickering turned louder and louder and they ended back up at the police box with a salty expression and pointing fingers at each other.

Katsuki found himself stalking into Tokyo on his days off and waiting in line to but limited edition wagashi with Todoroki in line. There was limited small talk. But not so little that it made things awkward.

He found it strange that Todoroki was even following him home… but that was pushed out of the train when on the walk from the station to his house, they had started trying the wagashi together, and before they knew it, they had finished at least half of the box they had bought back for Katsuki’s parents. It obviously resulted in more yelling and shoving. Katsuki had no qualms in dragging Todoroki to the police box, again, and informing them of the thief that Todoroki is.

The police officer typed everything into the computer – Katsuki noticed they no longer asked for their name or ID. Katsuki scrunches his nose at that. His arms are crossed when the police officer escorts a very volatile Katsuki home. Todoroki is escorted back to his own home with his nose pointed up towards the sky. That cocky asshole.

The next time Katsuki drags Todoroki to the police box was when Todoroki had somehow grabbed a handful of Katsuki’s arse.

“Accident”, Todoroki proclaims.

“Accident my arse”, Katsuki sneers back.

Todoroki gives Katsuki a pointed look, “Indeed”.

Ridiculous enough, it gets swept under the carpet as an accident, again. At least it’s on Todoroki’s records. Because honestly, one’s hand simply does not just casually connect with another’s buttocks by accident and then squeeze as well.

Katsuki is not stupid. He’s ranked third in the national exams for his year. There’s no way Todoroki with the dunce face is ranked higher than him.

Summer holidays start and as Katsuki expected, his schedule changes and all of a sudden, Todoroki’s presence becomes sparse. And Katsuki was feeling great about it until he goes to grab the mail and finds a white envelope with his name on it.

It was suspicious.

He brings the letter back in and grabs the letter opener to cleanly open the envelope. He takes out the letter and checks to see who the sender was.

Todoroki Shouto

Pft. Katsuki internally rolls his eyes and then reads the letter. It was stupid. He doesn’t want Todoroki to ask him how his day is or whether he likes eating zaru soba.

Katsuki receives another one the following day. It’s also signed by Todoroki. He receives another one next day and the one after and the day after that. It goes on for almost two weeks before Katsuki is fed up. So, he stalks his mail box and waits for Todoroki to drop by. It’s obvious he does it manually. There’s no stamp on the envelope, and he hadn’t even bothered writing Katsuki’s address down either.

Growling angrily, Katsuki holds one of Todoroki’s wrist tightly. “I’ve caught you”, Katsuki stares at Todoroki who stares back blankly.

“Bakugou”, Todoroki acknowledges, “good morning”.

“Why are you putting these envelopes in my mail box?” Katsuki gets straight to the point.

Todoroki blinks once before he reaches out to grab Katsuki’s free wrist, “If you have time today, do you want to go get lunch together? There’s a zaru soba special-”

“Are you serious?” Katsuki is not pleased. He makes sure the gate to his house is closed properly before he shakes his wrist from Todoroki’s hold but doesn’t let go of Todoroki’s wrist himself, “Come with me”.

Of course, they’re at the local police box, again.

“Oh, Bakugou-kun”, the same police officer greets him, “and Todoroki-kun, good morning”.

Katsuki is still scowling. Todoroki looks nonchalant.

“What can I do for you both today?” The police officer is smiling despite Katsuki’s dark look.

Pushing Todoroki into the chair, Katsuki takes the free seat next to him.

“We’re going out of lunch later”, Todoroki comments, “zaru soba”.

“Oh~ How nice!” The police officer chuckles, “Perfect on a hot summer day”

Todoroki nods in agreement, his lips twitch up slightly.

Katsuki sighs and shakes his head, “This guy has been spamming me with letters”.

The officer raises one eye brow, “Letters?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself”, Katsuki grimaces, “he’s been stuffing our mail box will these”, Katsuki takes out the latest envelope and places it on the desk, “I’ve been receiving one from him every day for the last twelve days”.

“There’s no address or stamp on it”, the police officer notes straight away.

Todoroki nods.

“Which means he has been coming over to put it in our mail box ever day”, Katsuki folds his arms, “isn’t that creepy?”

Both the police officer and Todoroki hum. The police officer notes that the letter isn’t open, he looks at Katsuki and asks, “Have you read the contents…?”

“Most of it is filled with mundane crap”, Katsuki shrugs, “it’s spam.”

Todoroki frowns and nudges Katsuki with his elbow.

The police officer then looks at Todoroki, “What were you trying to achieve with the letters?”

“It’s summer holidays”, Todoroki states, “I was inviting Bakugou out for zaru soba, but he never replied, so I sent him another letter”.

“Persistent”, Katsuki mutters under his breath.

The police officer hums again and looks at Katsuki with round eyes.

“There’s no return address”, Katsuki points out and watches as the police officer turn the letter around and notes that indeed there was no return address there. “Nowhere for me to reply to”.

“Phone?” The police officer reminds Katsuki.

Katsuki scoffs, “I don’t have the phone contact of such a half-ass”.

“Oh”, Todoroki nods as though he had just realised something.

“Maybe exchanging contact is a good idea”, the police officer says in a calm voice, “then Todoroki-kun wont’ be delivering letters every day and Bakugou-kun’s mail box won’t be flooded”.

Katsuki shakes his head. He doesn’t want to exchange contact information with Todoroki. But Todoroki already has his phone out, QR code on LINE already out and he looks at Katsuki expectantly. Brows deepening in a frown, Katsuki stares at Todoroki as though that will have the other understand that this is not happening.

“I’ll stop dropping by your house every day”, Todoroki says as he motions for Katsuki to take out his phone.

“Sounds like a threat”, Katsuki hisses and turns to look at the police officer to see if he’s going to do anything at all. And it’s not like he does nothing, instead he gives Katsuki a kind smile and a nod, also motioning for Katsuki to exchange contact information with Todoroki.

Bakugou thinks the police officer should be fired.

Unwillingly, Katsuki adds Todoroki to LINE with all intentions to block the other.

They wind up getting zaru soba together.

It was pleasant.

Katsuki learns that Todoroki has a cat. A cat that funny enough looks just like him, half-half. So, he doesn’t block Todoroki on LINE so that the other can send him photos of his pet cat.

It was worth it.

When the summer fireworks festival rolls around, Katsuki may or may not have made plans with Todoroki. He tells his classmates (self-proclaimed friends) that he’s not going with idiots like them. But he never said he wasn’t going. So, they had absolutely no reason to be shocked when they bump into Katsuki at the festival with the same guy that snobbed them the last time.

“It’s the guy from Yuuei Private!”

“Bakugou!”

Katsuki could feel his blood pressure rising as his classmates pestered him, hovering him around like flies as they shot question after question. Especially Ashido and Kaminari. Honestly, their perception of private space was zilch.

“Why are you hanging out with this guy anyway, Bakugou?”

“Yeah! What’s wrong with us?”

Everything.

Katsuki rolls his eyes.

In the middle of their questioning, Todoroki introduces himself. And all of a sudden, everyone loves Todoroki. Katsuki scoffs and bites at his toffee apple, he bloody recalls them being sour over Todoroki not introducing himself the first time around.

How ridiculous.

Even Sero has taken an interest in Katsuki’s newest friend and questions him too. He even takes jabs at Katsuki. If Katsuki could help it, they were all going to die painful deaths.

When Kirishima finally speaks more than one word, Katsuki things that he’s saved now. At least someone reasonable is stepping in to stop all the drama going on to give Katsuki some peace.

“Guys”, Kirishima speaks up, “we should get going”, he ushers Ashido, Sero and Kaminari, “let’s leave Bakugou to his date-”

“Date!” Ashido squeals with excitement, but before she can say more, Kirishima is already dragging her away whilst waving brightly at Katsuki and Todoroki.

Katsuki thinks that Kirishima is no longer his best friend. Never was his best friend.

“Are we on a date?” Todoroki turns to ask Katsuki.

Katsuki looks with bewilderment at Todoroki, “No! Are you stupid?”

“Oh”, Todoroki frowns, “no, are you stupid?”

“No!” Katsuki fumes and takes the chocolate banana from Todoroki’s hand and eats that too. “We’re not even on first names”, Katsuki says in-between bites.

“So, you won’t date someone unless you’re on first names?” Todoroki reaches for the half-eaten toffee apple, grabs it off Katsuki and takes a bite from it.

Katsuki doesn’t care. He won’t even date someone if they’re calling each other by their surnames. He doesn’t give a shit. Sort of. “Does it matter, half-ass?”

Todoroki purses his lips, “You can call me Shouto”.

“Shouto the half-ass”, Katsuki chuckles to himself.

“Katsuki the stupid”, Shouto shoots back with a chuckle himself.

“Oi!” Katsuki stops in the middle and elbows Shouto roughly, “Who said you can use my given name?”

Shouto shrugs, “I gave you permission to use mine, it’s only fair I get to use yours”.

“No it’s not”, Katsuki complains straight away.

“Yes it is”, Shouto is quick to answer, “plus, I send you photos of my cat”.

Katsuki narrows his eyes as he looks at Shouto, “You’re just trying to use your cat to get your way”.

Shouto hums and looks away, trying to play innocent, but the smile on his face gives him away. His next comment makes Katsuki kick him before he stalks off.

“What?” Todoroki’s voice is playful, “Are you going to drag me to the police box again?”

At least the fireworks were a spectacle to be enjoyed.

Their next meeting does end up at the police box.

“Freakin’ Shouto is spamming my LINE with shit I don’t want to see”, Katsuki complains to his local police officer. Shouto sits calmly in his chair and watches as Katsuki creates a scene.

“You could always ask Todoroki-kun nicely to stop sending you things you don’t want to see”, the police officer suggests, “he seems like a very composed and reasonable person”. He doesn’t say anything about the two being on first-names but he does smile when it comes out in conversation.

“What? Are you blind?” Katsuki asks rudely, he takes out his phone and opens up his photos with Shouto on LINE, “Look!”

The police officer hums as Katsuki scrolls through the photos. There were… a lot of photos, but it wasn’t like the photos were indecent. “I don’t see a problem here?” The police officer blinks blankly.

“It’s”, Katsuki sighs with frustration, “it’s not of the cat!” Katsuki says, “It’s all photos of other things!”

“By other things do you mean my face?” Shouto asks with a frown.

“Obviously”, Katsuki says without even looking at the other, “why do I have to receive photos of your face!?”

Shouto stands up and grabs Katsuki by the shoulder and pulls at it so Katsuki has to look at him, “We’re seeing each other, of course you need photos of my face, how else can we see each other when we so infrequently meet up!”

“We’re not seeing each other!” Katsuki takes a stand.

“Yes we are!” Shouto does not accept Katsuki’s words, he takes out his phone and scrolls through it before he stops and shoves the screen in Katsuki’s face, “Look! You said that a man with a pet cat as cute as mine is 100% dating material!”

“Doesn’t mean we’re seeing each other you half-ass!” Katsuki exclaims, “Shouto, are you stupid!?”

Todoroki shakes his head, “Katsuki, are you stupid!?”

“Todoroki-kun, Bakugou-kun”, the police officer is standing again as he tries to calm the two feisty teenagers, “how about this?” He offers them a suggestion, “Why don’t we meet up with each other more often so Bakugou-kun’s LINE isn’t flooded with Todoroki-kun’s photos, and maybe this way, Bakugou-kun can meet Todoroki-kun’s cat too?”

Which, is how Katsuki finds himself frequenting young master Todoroki Shouto’s freakin’ mansion when they’re not over at his. Looking at Shouto’s place of residence only makes Katsuki’s frown deeper. It’s as though he has been enlightened as to why Shouto was dressed too nicely at a garbage dump. It made him understand why Shouto was struggling at the convenience store – he’s probably never been into one before. Katsuki wouldn’t even but surprised to learn that Shouto had previously been home-schooled.

When Katsuki asks, all Shouto says is that his father is loaded. Katsuki thinks that it makes sense.

Sometimes they walk hand in hand. Sometimes they walk with their arms brushing against each other. Often, they drop by the convenience store to buy an icy pole and split it in two, a stick each. (Neither of them obtains another legendary winning All Might stick). When Katsuki thinks about it, he supposes they are seeing each other.

Katsuki comments that Shouto’s cat is just as clingy as he is. Katsuki develops quick relationship with the cat, who seems to like him and is quick to nudge Katsuki with his head and wrap his tail around Katsuki’s arm as he lies in Katsuki’s lap begging to be covered with attention. And Katsuki delivers.

“What’s your name, kitty?” Katsuki asks as he rubs the back of the cat’s neck.

“Zaru”, Shouto says with utmost pride.

“Zaru…”, Katsuki repeats with eyebrows raised and clearly unimpressed, but he doesn’t stop petting Zaru – Shouto’s two-toned cat.

Shouto nods for confirmation and then leans in to rub Zaru on the head a few times.

“Seriously”, Katsuki shakes his head, “I’d believe it if you told me you named him Soba”.

Shouto chuckles, “Sounds like a name I would’ve named one of my pets in a different lifetime”.

“Zaru is just as ridiculous”, Katsuki quips.

Things seem to settle into a good pace. They even went back to that first restaurant they stopped by for parfait which ended in disaster to re-order their parfaits and enjoy it properly this time. It doesn’t end up in a police box visit. In fact, they don’t visit the police box to complain (much) anymore. Katsuki drops in every now and then to complain about how Shouto doesn’t send him enough photos. The police officer gives Katsuki a fond smile and tells him things will be alright. Shouto drops in here and there to tell the police officer that Katsuki is giving him the cold shoulder and the police officer advises him appropriately, depending on what Katsuki has been telling him as of late.

When Katsuki tells his self-proclaimed friends that his best friend is really, the police officer stationed at his local police box, it is not taken well. When Shouto steps in and explains what Katsuki really means by that is relationship counsellor, Katsuki’s self-proclaimed friends feel a bit better about it until they sleep on it and realise that it’s kind of strange for the local police officer to know more about their romantic relationship than his friends.

Shouto waves it off with a small but reassuring smile. He tells them quietly that Katsuki thinks of them as friends deep, deep down.

“You’re beautiful”, Shouto does not murmur but says clearly and quietly to Katsuki.

Katsuki doesn’t blink. A small smile makes it to his lips and he thinks that yes, this moment is beautiful.

“I like you”, Shouto says when Katsuki doesn’t say anything back.

This time, Katsuki can’t hold back the smile as it goes from small to big. Neither timid nor shy, Katsuki reaches out to hold and play a little with Shouto’s fingers before his hands dance further up and his fingers tangle up Shouto’s arms and he holds it tightly before replying, “I like you too”.

When Todoroki presses his lips against Katsuki’s own, Katsuki closes his own eyes, squeezing them tightly like his fists that hold just as tightly onto Todoroki’s arms. This time, Katsuki doesn’t storm angrily to the police box and turn Todoroki over as a sexual harasser.