Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“It’s time you learnt an important life skill, Toga,” Touya began the day with to the mutual exasperation of Toga and Hawks.

“I already know how to kill people, what else could you teach me?” Toga asked sweetly, Hawks sniggering from where he was sprawled on the couch, feet in Toga’s lap while his toenails were painted.

“Rude and hurtful. I’d expect that from Hawks, but Toga, you know better. Anyway, I’m teaching you how to bake.”

“You don’t know how to bake,” Hawks accused instantly while Toga looked unbothered by the wisdom Touya was going to impart on her.

“I am a culinary master,” Touya argued.

“You’ve never cooked for me.”

“Well, Hawks, I only cook for people who respect me.”

“Why do I have to learn?” Toga moaned, cutting off whatever Hawks was going to come back with.

“You don’t, but I only have one arm now so I’ll need some help.” Toga was quiet for a moment before scowling.

“Fine. But this is the last time I’m letting you use the one arm thing to boss me around.”

“It’s only been a week!” Touya protested.

“You have been using it a lot, babe,” Hawks commented lazily.

“Wow. Armless and roasted by people who’re meant to love me. Bad week for Touya.”

“You’re not armless,” Hawks argued, “you have one arm. It’s easy to remember because it’s the same number of brain cells that you have.

“It’s also easy to remember because it’s how many weeks you’ll be using your two hands on yourself,” Touya said sweetly.

“Uh-huh, I’m sure,” Hawks smirked, and Touya cursed the fact that he was right.

“Gross, please teach me to cook so I can leave,” Toga complained, dragging the focus back to the matter at hand.

“Of course, Toga. You’re about to witness mastery in action.”

~*~

“That is the ugliest fucking cake I’ve ever seen,” Hawks said as he meandered into the kitchen after the swearing petered off. He had a point – between Touya, who wasn’t used to doing things one-handed, and Toga, who was inexperienced and uncaring, the cake left a lot to be desired.

They hadn’t been able to get it out of the tin properly (which led to an argument about who was meant to butter the tin – it was totally Toga) so instead of being a perfect flat cylinder, the cake was ugly and crumbly, torn around the edges and breaking apart in several places. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the icing hadn’t gone quite to plan.

Normally, Touya would pipe the icing onto the cake and smooth it out with a buttercream spatula. Unfortunately, the apartment was severely lacking in baking equipment and had neither a piping bag nor spatula.

This meant trying to spoon the icing on and smooth it out with a knife.

This failed.

The crumbs of the cake mixed with the icing and gave it a sloppy appearance, so Toga, growing more and more frustrated, dumped the remaining icing out of the bowl onto the cake, turning it into a mess of cake and icing.

“Well it’s not finished yet,” Touya argued, defending his miserable excuse for a cake, as if there were any decorations that could salvage it. Hawks arched an impressive eyebrow.

“Go on, then.”

Touya grabbed the edible glitter he’d bought and shoved some over the whole thing, giving it a childish appearance. He then, with writing icing, carefully wrote on the top – cursing the fact that Shigaraki took his dominant hand – and somehow managed to make it legible. He scribbled on a few more designs with the writing icing before deciding he was done.

Touya stepped back and admired his creation with Hawks and Toga. Hawks broke first, laughing so hard that he had to cling to the kitchen counter to stay on his feet. Toga followed quickly, letting out hiccuppy, gasping peals of laughter.

“So…” Hawks tried to get his breath back. “So we don’t even get to eat it?”

“Do you really want to?” Toga smirked, and Touya, done with their negativity, swiped a finger through the remaining icing and smeared it in Toga’s hair, relishing the following screeches.

Somehow, the cake survived the ensuing fight.

~*~

“You… want me to bring this to school?” Shouto asked blandly the next morning, eying the mess of a cake. Touya could see the corners of his lips twitching.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Touya said in a pseudo-serious voice, and Shouto finally cracked a smile.

“This might actually have been worth coming all the way here this morning,” he admitted, putting the cover back on the cake and taking it.

“Make sure you film the reaction,” Hawks called after him, and damn, Touya loved him.

“Of course,” Shouto called back, and then he was gone, Hawks once again cackling and Touya joining in.

“Well,” Touya mused, “that’s going to be a hell of a video.”

~*~

It was definitely the best video Touya had ever seen. He didn’t have to wait long for it to come, Shouto sending it to him as soon as he took it.

“Ok,” Shouto said in the video, the screen showing a shaky view of his classroom as he handed his phone over to someone, “I’m going to go give something to Bakugou, and you have to film it.”

“Um, Todoroki… and you sure this is a good idea?” Todoroki’s friend – Midoriya, Touya was confident his name was – asked cautiously, but Shouto just smirked at him as he came into view, cake box in his hands.

He then turned away and headed over to Bakugou, Midoriya muttering that it was a bad idea but still filming. Bakugou didn’t look up until Shouto was practically looming over him, and did so with a scowl.

“What do you want, Half-n-Half?” he asked suspiciously, and Shouto carefully placed the cake box on his desk. From the few other students that could be seen in the video, everyone was cautiously watching Shouto and Bakugou.

“A gift,” Shouto said, smirking as Bakugou’s expression changed from one of annoyance to one of confusion.

“You got me a gift?” he asked dubiously, only growing more confused when Shouto shook his head.

“No. I’m just delivering it from Touya and Toga.” At this, Bakugou’s scowl grew fierce, and he glared daggers at Shouto. Even so, he opened the cake box.

Everyone in the room, including Midoriya, and therefore the camera, gathered closer, eager to see what could possibly be in the box. All at one, they saw the miserable excuse for a cake, decorated with glitter and crudely drawn explosions, and, smack in the centre, a message written so poorly with Touya’s non-dominant hand that it looked as if it was done by a child:

Sorry for helping kidnap you :(

Several things happened at once:

Hysterical laughter rang out throughout the classroom after a moment of silence, and those who hadn’t seen the cake clamored to see-

Aizawa entered the room, face blank as he took in the chaos before him-

Bakugou grabbed the cake with both hands, and after a loud boom, the entire classroom and its occupants were covered in Touya’s lovingly-made cake.

Shrieking started, and then the video cut off, Touya and Hawks losing their shit over what they just saw. A text came in from Aizawa, saying nothing more than ‘Thanks for that.’ and reigniting their laughter.

“Holy shit,” Hawks wheezed, “You should apologise to people more often.”

“Well I have a feeling that I’ll have to apologise to Aizawa real soon,” Touya said, wiping the tears out of his eyes and doing his best not to crack up again.

(Touya did have to apologise to Aizawa, but for a separate incident. Shouto was more than happy to turn up to school with a cake again, this time with it bearing “Sorry for walking in on you and Yamada banging :(’. It was a long week.)

Chapter Text

Look, it wasn’t entirely Touya’s fault. He’d never been in a serious relationship, and had definitely never been in love before. If anything, it was Hawks’ fault for making him feel things.

It went like this:

“Seriously, why the fuck are you here again?” Natsuo asked, and Touya just sighed dramatically, turning onto his stomach on Natsuo’s bed to face him, head propped up on his hands.

“Listen,” he started, and then cut himself off. Was he really going to do this? To talk about something so embarrassing with his younger brother? He’d been trying to spit it out all week, hanging around Natsuo way more than he ever normally would and pissing him off constantly. It wasn’t Touya’s fault that he’d had a revelation (…maybe) while Natsuo had to work on a huge assignment.

“Would you just spit it out? And then leave?” Natsuo snapped, and Touya let out an ever longer, more dramatic sigh if only to watch the way Natsuo grinded his teeth.

“Alright. How the fuck am I meant to know if I’m in love with Hawks?” he asked, and Natsuo seemed to choke on his own spit.

“That’s it? That’s what you’ve been pissing me off over? You being emotionally stunted?”

“I’m not emotionally stunted,” Touya argued, and then considered. “Ok, maybe I am, but that’s not it. Just… I assume, at some point in a relationship, you’re meant to tell the other person you love them, right? That’s what they do on TV, anyway. And what if Hawks is waiting for me to say I love him because he doesn’t want to scare me off by saying it first but I’m not saying it and he thinks I don’t love him and then breaks up with me except-”

“Jesus Christ, how many of Toga’s soaps have you been watching? This relationship shit isn’t that complicated. Look, do you love Hawks?” Natsuo asked bluntly, and Touya shrugged.

“How should I know? That’s what I’m asking. How did you know you loved Mai? How the hell do you distinguish feelings like that? Because obviously I like Hawks for some reason, and I live with him and am practically raising a child with him and want him to be in my life forever until I’m inevitably killed by an arch-nemesis, but-”

“Sounds like you love him to me. Can you please leave now?” Natsuo said, and Touya just really felt like Natsuo wasn’t giving this enough thought.

“And what if I do? Do I like… tell him?”

“Yes,” Natsuo said emphatically, and Touya groaned.

“But that’s so… embarrassing. Can’t I just text him?”

“Listen, you’ve been dating for months. Most people would’ve said it by now. You’re just making a huge deal out of something that really isn’t that big a deal. Stop listening to bad soaps and rom-coms. Now, get the hell out!”

~*~

After that conversation, Touya was feeling a little better. Natsuo was right, it really wasn’t that big a deal. Touya was confident in their relationship, and was sure that on some level, Hawks already knew that Touya loved him, just like Touya was pretty confident that Hawks loved him too (this was a lie, Touya just refused to focus on the possibility that he would tell Hawks he loved him only to be met with awkward silence.) And if Touya had just kept with that line of thinking, everything probably would’ve been fine, and it wouldn’t become an embarrassing story that Hawks would tell everyone he knew in the weeks following.

Instead, Touya made the biggest mistake he could’ve made: he talked to Toga.

“Of course it’s a big deal! What if Hawks thinks you said it to early? What if you say it and it’s too casual and Hawks doesn’t take you seriously? What if it’s not romantic enough? What if it’s too romantic? What if-”

“Ok, thanks Toga, I totally feel better now,” Touya said loudly, glaring daggers at the girl, who gave an innocent shrug. “So how the fuck am I meant to do it?”

“Just… when it feels natural, I guess. When you catch yourself thinking it.” Except Touya had never caught himself thinking it. There were times that Hawks would do something and Touya would realise that he was the luckiest guy in the world… did that count?

“Ok. I guess I could do that.” Or he would just sit Hawks down and tell him. Tell the hero that he had to talk about something important, and just get it off his chest. Yeah… that sounded good. In fact, Touya couldn’t think of a single fault in that plan. It would go great!

~*~

“Hawks, we need to talk,” Touya blurted out after putting out the small fire that had erupted in their kitchen (surprisingly, not his fault) while Hawks disabled the fire alarm.

“I know, I’m not allowed to try and cook anymore, I just wanted to-”

“That’s not it. I need to talk to you about something important,” Touya said seriously, watching the carefree expression on Hawks’ face turn more serious. Because it was something important – telling Hawks he loved him for the first time was sure to be a big step in their relationship, if Toga was to be trusted.

“Ok… let’s talk,” Hawks said hesitantly, slipping into one of the dining room chairs as Touya took another.

“To be honest, this is going to be pretty difficult for me to say-” Touya started, right before Hawks’ phone went off, and Touya gestured for him to take the call. Hawks answered, and turned away, but not before Touya saw relief flash across his face. Did Hawks know what was coming? Did he think it was too soon?

He had a quick conversation on the phone while Touya zoned out, suddenly unsure. “Can we put this on hold? There’s a situation-”

“Yeah, yeah, it can wait. Go be a hero,” Touya said, giving Hawks a smile that was mostly strained, one that Hawks mimicked before taking off.

Great. Who knew when he’d get another opportunity?

~*~

“I think Touya is going to dump me,” Hawks blurted out to Mt Lady after they handed off the villain to the authorities.

“What? No way! You guys are so cute together!” Yu exclaimed.

“I know, right? I don’t know what I did wrong. I mean yeah, I set the kitchen on fire a little bit, but I’ve done way worse in the past!”

“Maybe it was just the breaking point for him. What makes you think he’s going to dump you?” Yu asked, settling down on a bench to talk (letting Hawks put off going home and being broken up with).

“He was all ‘I need to talk to you about something serious, I don’t know how to tell you this,’” Hawks mimicked, lowering his voice comically. “Nothing good ever follows that, right? What am I meant to do? I don’t want to break up,” Hawks moaned. He couldn’t force Touya to stay with him though. And what would happen with Toga? Would they have to work out some kind of custody schedule like they were divorced parents?

“Just bang him as soon as you get home,” Yu suggested, and honestly, why had Hawks chosen her.

“That wouldn’t stop him breaking up with me after.”

“It would if you were really good,” Yu said with a waggle of her eyebrows, and Hawks shoved her away, scoffing.

“Whatever. I have to go home and get dumped now,” Hawks moped, and while it was a solid plan, it seemed the universe had another one for him.

At first Hawks couldn’t tell if the gang of criminals that showed up was coincidental, or if they were in cahoots with the one that they’d arrested, but soon enough there were enough of them that it didn’t matter, and all that mattered was getting reinforcements so they could deal with it.

“You should call Touya in,” Midnight said as the new heroes who showed up struggled to keep up with the sheer mass of criminals, “we need more people are you guys live close, right?”

“We can’t call him in,” Hawks blurted out instantly as the three of them continued to fight. “He’s busy. He’s… moisturising,” he claimed, and then instantly cringed. Moisurising? Really?

“For hours?” Midnight questioned.

“It’s special… burn moisturiser.” Midnight raised a questioning eyebrow at Yu, who rolled her eyes.

“Hawks thinks Touya is going to break up with him,” she explained, a shockingly rude move in Hawks’ opinion. Midnight just scoffed.

“I’m calling him down. Deal with your personal business in your own time.”

“He’s going to break up with me mid-fight and all of the criminals are going to laugh at me,” Hawks said mournfully, not appreciating the smack in the back of the head he got from Yu, who was likely not gigantifying just to continue the conversation.

“For all you know, the criminals will be very sympathetic,” she admonished, laughing at Hawks’ affronted look.

Touya showed up with another wave of criminals, and Hawks was almost certain that whatever was going on was a cover-up for other illegal activities happening elsewhere, and was quick to text Aizawa, who wasn’t involved in the fight, his theory.

Most of the criminals were unimpressive, posing a challenge only because of their numbers, but Hawks was taking on a tricky one with a duplication quirk. He lost track of which copy the real criminal was, and was sick of his feathers piercing through nothing as the duplication disappeared on contact. It was only because he was standing so near one of the disappearing duplications that Hawks even noticed Touya.

“Hawks-”

“Don’t talk to me!” Hawks instantly yelped, voice weirdly high and hysterical. Touya shot him a confised look, but shrugged and turned back to his fight. Hawks hoped that would be it – Touya would focus on fighting and then wait until they were home – or at least until the criminals were in custody – to break up with him.

And, well, it wouldn’t have been good if that happened, but it would sure be a hell of a lot simpler.

Instead, Touya incapacitated his criminal quickly and moved to help Hawks with the one he was struggling with.

“Hawks-” he began again, and Hawks growled in frustration.

“Holy shit, can’t you at least wait until we get home to break up with me?”

Touya blinked at him, dumbfounded for a moment, before scoffing.

“I was just going to tell you that the dude at your 10 is the real one. Why would I break up with you?”

“Exactly! Why would you break up with me? I’m delightful!” Hawks yelled back, barely comprehending the first part of the sentence.

“Why do you think I’m going to break up with you? We can replace the kitchen.”

“Earlier! Earlier you were all like ‘we need to talk about something serious’. That’s like, code for breaking up. What the fuck did you actually want to say?” Hawks demanded, but Touya was too busy laughing at him to answer.

“You’re so fucking dumb, holy shit. I love you, you moron.”

“What?” Hawks squawked, spinning around to gape at his boyfriend, and that was the last thing Hawks remembered before the villain he forgot he was fighting knocked him out.

~*~

“-and then Touya was all like ‘Hawks, I’m madly in love with you-‘” Hawks rambled before Touya cut him off.

“I did not say that, you liar,” he scoffed, only to be shushed by Hawks, his mother, and his sister.

“-and I turned around and I’m like ‘what??’ and whap! Knocked out, all because this one is just so in love with me that he couldn’t wait another second to tell me.”

“You brought the topic up!” Touya protested, but his mother and sister were already cooing, albeit Fuyumi was rather mocking.

“Aw, babe, don’t be embarrassed,” Hawks cooed, leaning over his hospital bed that Touya was sure he didn’t have to be in anymore. Surely his concussion was fine by now.

“I changed by mind, I am actually breaking up with you,” Touya huffed, fighting down his grin as Hawks responded by blowing him a kiss.

~*~

Bonus:

“Oh, same, by the way,” Hawks said as they walked home from the hospital.

“Huh?” Touya asked, distracted and not following Hawks’ train of thought.

“I love you too, moron,” Hawks said, lips curving up slightly, and Touya just.

“Uh… dope.”

“Dope, are you serious, god Touya you’re the worst-”

Chapter Text

Taking Toga to the arcade wasn’t a weekly thing, but a common treat for doing well in classes, or a great way to cheer her up on a bad day. Normally Touya and Hawks would take her – Toga and Hawks would become incredibly competitive, waste more money than Touya would like to think about on multiplayer games, and be creamed by Touya at DDR before pooling their tickets together to get a shit prize that would be discarded as soon as they got home. It was something of a tradition.

This time, however, Toga was with Shouto and his friends – their first group hang. Touya was sure it would go well – Toga had met many of Shouto’s friends individually, and he knew Shouto would get her out of there the minute it went pear shaped. Hawks, however-

“Don’t let her get out of sight and don’t let her see you,” Hawks hissed, the two of them pressed against a wall in the arcade and receiving a very judgmental look from a ten year old a few meters away.

“Y’know, stuff like this is what stops kids from calling later in life,” Touya mused, only to be shushed by his boyfriend.

“I’m not being overbearing,” he muttered as he spied on Toga. “Any reasonable guardian would do this,” he explained as he pulled them into a more suitable position to spy on the very capable 16 year old in their care.

“What exactly do you think is going to happen? They seem to be getting on pretty well.” Things seemed a little awkward, but that would happen even if Toga hadn’t tried to maim many of Shouto’s friends. Meeting new people could be awkward.

“I just feel more comfortable knowing I’m here in case anything happens,” Hawks said defensively.

“You know, when you made me take today off work, I thought, hey, Toga’s going to the arcade and Hawks wants us both at home, maybe he’s got something planned for us. Maybe he wants us to make love, to bring back the much needed spark in our dying relationship-”

“First of all, stop making us sound like an old married couple with four kids who are never alone, second of all, you literally fucked me last night, how fast do sparks die with you? Third of all – oh shit, I think Shouto saw me,” Hawks hissed, pushing Touya back against the wall. Sure enough, a text from Shouto came through a few moments later.

From: Baby Shouto
To: Touya

You guys are so lame. Go home.

“Well what does Shouto know about parenting?” Hawks asked when Touya showed him the text.

“Listen. If you let us go home now, I’ll wear that stupid outfit you like,” Touya offered, smirking when Hawks’ pupils blew wide.

“Well, if Shouto thinks we’re over doing it, I’m sure he’s right,” Hawks garbled out, grabbing Touya hand and pulling him from the arcade, but stopping in the abandoned entryway.

“Oh, for fucks sake, don’t waste more money on that thing,” Touya groaned as he saw Hawks eyeing up a toy dispenser. It was one of those mystery, collect-them-all ones where you could get a shitty toy in a plastic egg for 50 yen.

“I only have one more to get,” Hawks whined as he fished through his pockets for 50 yen, shouting triumphantly when he found a coin.

All Touya could think about, as Hawks wasted money and time on shitty children’s toys in an arcade where they’d be spying on Toga, was that he was a damned good boyfriend. He waited impatiently as the machine groaned and spat out a plastic egg that Hawks snatched up.

“Well?” Touya asked exasperatedly as Hawks opened up the container and stared inside, looking at the toy with an expression close to wonder, “is it the one you wanted?”

Hawks didn’t say anything for a few moments, staring inside the plastic egg like it had all the answers in the universe, before turning his stare to Touya, his eyes lit up with something he couldn’t name.

“It’s exactly what I needed,” he said reverently as he fished the toy out of the plastic and cupped it in his hands. Then, in a movement Touya never saw coming, Hawks sank down onto one knee. In his hand, a shitty plastic ring with a ridiculously large fake diamond protruding from the crudely painted plastic.

“Todoroki Touya,” he started, and Touya, for the life of him, couldn’t figure out if it was a joke.

“What are you doing?” he asked numbly. “Get up.”

“Dude, let me finish,” Hawks said before clearing his throat. “Todoroki Touya, you are without a doubt the most annoying man I’ve ever met. When I first met you, I hated you, not only because you were a villain in an organization that was trying to kill me and my friends, but because I really wanted to jump you and that just wasn’t appropriate. You’ve nearly died twice, at least, in the time we’ve been together, and you’ve made me want to kill you about a hundred times more. Even so, I’m still around, and even more miraculously, so are you. I love you, not despite how much you suck, but because of it. Will you marry me?” Hawks asked, clearly making it up as he went along, and nailing every fucking part.

“We’re a bit young to get married,” Touya argued, and Hawks just smiled back at him.

“Either one of us could die tomorrow, and I think a eulogy is much more moving when you’re crying about your dead husband instead of your dead boyfriend.”

“We haven’t even known each other that long, if you think about it.”

“I’ve known you long enough to know that there’s nobody in the world better for me than you.”

“Planning a wedding is going to suck. You know my family won’t let us just elope.”

“We can hire a wedding planner.”

“That ring won’t even fit me.”

“No, but the one I have at home might,” Hawks said, and Touya slipped onto his knees as well.

“The one you have at home,” he repeated numbly, and Hawks grinned brightly, resting his forehead against Touya’s.

“I’ve had it for weeks. I couldn’t figure out a good time to ask, and whenever one did come up, I chickened out. I made reservations at a fancy restaurant for next weekend – I was going to ask you then.”

“So what’s with this then? Why not just wait?”

“When I saw the ring I just realized… we’re not an expensive ring in a fancy restaurant. We’re a shitty bit of plastic in a kids arcade while spying on our kid, and I love that about us. It was the perfect time.”

Over Hawks’ shoulder Touya saw a mother and her child about to enter, see them pressed against each other on the floor, and then leave quickly, and he had to chuckle. Inconveniencing everybody so they could have a moment? Yeah, that’s them.

“Where did you hide the ring?”

“It’s on the shelf only I can reach,” Hawks said proudly, even though Touya and Toga could’ve used a step-ladder just as easily as Hawks could fly up and grab it.

“Well, I guess that’s better than buying a ring on impulse two months ago and hiding it at Aizawa and Yamada’s place without their knowledge, huh?” he asked, and Hawks pulled back sharply to stare at him.

“You bought me a ring?”

“I guess.”

“You want to marry me?”

“Wouldn’t’ve bought it otherwise.”

“But – but all of your arguments!”

“I had to make you work for it.”

“I hate you.”

“I hate you more,” Touya muttered as he pulled Hawks in for a long kiss.

“Ew, what the fuck?” Toga voice behind them broke them up, the two craning their necks up to see her glaring down at them.

“You come here to spy on me and then make out on the arcade floor? You guys are nasty.”

“And we’re going to be nasty forever,” Hawks said, standing up and shoving the plastic ring in Toga’s face, the two of them waiting a few moments for the ball to drop, and watching Toga’s face light up when it did.

“Shouto!” she screeched, running back into the main room of the arcade instead of offering her congratulations.

“Man, we’re going to have to deal with a lot of people being excited,” Touya complained, and Hawks slipped the ring into his hand.

“Worth it, though,” he said softly.

“Yeah,” Touya smiled, “worth it.”

~*~

Despite later giving each other the engagements rings they’d picked out for the other, the two kept the plastic ring – never on their person, for fear of breaking it or losing it, and it was never worn, having been made for a child.

Touya would throw it away once, when the two had a fight so bad he was sure they would never recover, only for the two to make up while searching through piles of garbage for it.

Hawks thought he lost it once, and searched, frantically and in tears until Touya came home only to find it in mere minutes.

It wasn’t a staple of their household, or on display in any way. They kept it in a ceramic mug that Hawks had made when he’d had a go at pottery (a mug that couldn’t hold liquids, but it was only his first go). But it was as cherished as either of their real rings, and brought out any time the story was told.

And it remained intact for decades, if a little worse for wear, until one day sorrowful day the decision was made to split it– half for Hawks, and half for Touya, as only in death do they part.