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To the wonder of many classmates and Bakugou’s so-called “fans” that he’s gained after the jobless soda loser incident, here is how Bakugou truly feels regarding Shouto Todoroki. He honestly thinks that Todoroki is someone truly special. Special, because he didn’t think it was possible for anyone to be a pain in his ass more than Deku, but as that one dude in that retro dinosaur movie said, “life finds a way.” It would seem like Todoroki and Deku are neck and neck vying for the coveted, who annoys Bakugou the most, top spot. Except the worst part of it is Todoroki is seemingly unaware of it, and that this is all formulating organically off of him.
The only reason Bakugou is even thinking about IcyHot at all, is because that annoying bastard lives right above him and uses his quirk to sneak off to, wherever it is he slides off to. It's already starting to drive him up the wall, he even discussed it with his friends, and apparently they all sleep like rocks and were completely unaware of it this entire time. Bakugou’s decided he’s had enough, no one interrupts his sleep MULTIPLE TIMES, he most certainly must add, and lives to tell the tale. He’s ending this tonight.
So when he heard the sound Todoroki’s ice bursting out today, he didn’t let his post forcibly being woken up drowsiness cloud him from quickly rushing to his window. He watched as Todoroki, in an annoyingly graceful manner, maneuver from sliding down his ice construction to a casual jog. His eyes then followed him jogging off on the west side of the campus until he was out of Bakugou’s eyesight
Bakogou then grabbed his keys and the first jacket he could get his hands on, which he then hastily zipped up, all in an effort of getting ready to deal with this once and for all. He followed in the direction Todoroki took, thinking dreamy boy probably couldn’t have gone off to anywhere too far this late at night. After searching in the cold dead of night for a good fifteen minutes, much to Bakugou’s shame he lost any trace of where Todoroki could have gone. That lucky bastard. He turned around and began walking his way back to the comfort of his own bed, when he heard what could only be called a splashing sound. He turned his head first before walking over to see what caused it. He took in his surroundings, realizing he’s near the school pool, what kind of daft loser uses a pool at two a.m. he wondered.
He walked over to the pool steadily, making his way through the lockers and then into the pool area. Where he saw none other than the subject of his current frustrations. He then recalled his comments about someone using the school pool this late and smirked at himself finding it quite fitting. Todoroki hadn’t noticed him yet, as he was currently staring deeply into the water. Whatever sort of weird fascination Todoroki is getting of it, Bakugou isn’t in the mood to care. He took in a breath in preparation to call out IcyHot here and now, before Todoroki swiftly dropped back down into the water, much to Bakugou’s annoyance.
Bakugou’s rants must be heard with ears wide open, so having any of it being muffled from IcyHot being underwater was a no go. He crossed his arms and waited for Todoroki to pop back out. He began to tap his foot in impatience, and about a minute later, something that most certainly could not be described a worry began to blossom. He walked over to the edge of the pool and looked down to see Todoroki sitting cross legged on the floor of the pool, looking quite serene all things considered. Whatever it was that was blossoming in his chest, it was suddenly becoming harder and harder to ignore as each second passed while he watched Todoroki down under.
“Yo IcyHot!” Bakugou called out, figuring having to deal with a dead Todoroki is even worse than a living one. Todoroki seemed to have heard that, because he emerged from the water, but in an oddly casual fashion from Bakugou’s point of view.
“Oh Bakugou,” Todoroki said calmly, while water still rolled off his hair and skin.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
“Thinking,” he said plainly.
“Thinking?! Your dumbass can’t think to think anywhere else?!” Bakugou asked before he realizing that this isn’t why he’s here. “Anyways look, I don’t know if you think you’re being stealthy, but news flash you’re absolutely fucking not, because whenever you run off here, you wake my ass up with the sound your stupid ice! Got it?” Bakugou raved.
Todoroki stared at him plainly for a while before finally saying, “Apologies. I’ll make sure to be more quiet next time.”
Todoroki saying next time caused Bakugou’s hands to tense up in irritation. Really, a next time? Bakugou quickly pondered before he realized he doesn’t care and that IcyHot could make Japan's Olympic Swimming Team for all he cares.
He and Todoroki continued to look amongst each other. Bakugou before deciding to ask what the hell IcyHot was staring at, realized Todoroki was waiting for him to say something back.
“Good,” Bakugou finally answered, not knowing how else to respond to that. See this was the Todoroki effortlessly being a pain in the ass thing he was talking about. Always making sure to have the final word, Bakugou stormed off back to his room before Todoroki could mutter out one of his typical weird responses.
Todoroki lulled Bakugou into a false sense of security, because a little over a week later, where Bakugou had almost completely forgotten and moved on from this incident, heard Todoroki on the move again. It was even more noisy than before.
Bakugou grabbed his jacket and keys again and made a beeline straight towards half n’ half. When he arrived at the pool this time he managed to catch Todoroki right before he jumped in.
“Wait right there!” Bakugou called out, halting Todoroki’s movements.
“Bakugou,” Todoroki said, sounding at least minutely surprised this time around, while Bakugou continued to stomp over to him.
“You managed to be even louder dumbass!” Bakugou yelled, cutting straight to the point.
“Really? I tried using less ice by using a steeper slope,” Todoroki explained.
“Yeah, well it obviously didn’t work.”
“I’ll think of something else next time.”
“And it better work.”
“I’m sure you’ll tell me if it doesn’t,” Todoroki said, instantly annoying Bakugou even more than he already was.
Todoroki spoke so monotonously and could be so dense, Bakugou couldn’t tell if Todoroki was being earnest or trying to be witty. He’s sure he could figure it out if he spent the time trying to figure out Todoroki’s intricacies, but he couldn’t be interested in anything less than getting a degree in Todorokiology.
“Care to join me?” he asked.
“No!” Bakugou said, offended Todoroki would even think he’d want to do something like that.
Todoroki shrugged clearly unbothered by Bakugou’s response, before then taking a dive into the water. Bakugou noted how little splash came from Todoroki’s dive, thinking that IcyHot would have gotten a pretty decent score at a diving competition. It somehow only frustrated Bakogou even further over how Todoroki managed to be so annoyingly perfect and horrendous at everything all the time, truly a half ‘n half anomaly.
Bakugou figured he’s said everything he needed to say, so he more than happily saw himself out to let Todoroki do, whatever this thing is.
The next time it happened, it was quieter than the last time, but it still needed work. So that’s why Bakugou was by the poolside once again watching Todoroki’s backstroke with an irritating grace.
“Don’t act like I’m not here! You just going to do that the whole time?” Bakugou asked, annoyance flowing through his veins, because he knows Todoroki sees him standing there. Todoroki then flipped around so he went under the water before resurfacing and resting his head on a floating pool divider.
“Me acknowledging you has never stopped you from saying what you’ve wanted to me in the past, so I didn’t think it would be any different this time,” Todoroki finally answered and Bakugou grumbled hating to admit Todoroki had a point.
“I’m tired of coming down here, fix this shit or else,” Bakugou threatened.
“Noted,” Todoroki said unaffected by Bakugou’s declarations. “You can leave now,” he added.
Was IcyHot kicking him out? Katsuki Bakugou. He was the one getting kicked out, the gall of the half assed bastard, Bakugou had thought. Well he’ll show him what good that’ll do he decided, and then staked a spot for himself and began sitting by the edge of the pool.
“What are you doing?” Todoroki asked.
“What’s it look like I’m doing? I’m waiting till you leave, obviously,” Bakugou answered and Todoroki seemed to find that so off putting, that he’s actually emoting with face.
“Can you not do that?” he asked, unknowingly offending Bakugou to the deepest degree.
“What not good enough for your precious private pool time? Is that it IcyHot?”
“Not exactly. I come here to think and I can’t quite do that with you glaring at me,” he explained and it was a solid reason, but Bakugou didn’t care about solid reasoning right now.
“Well that’s just too damn bad, figure it out and while you’re doing that, come up with a better way of sneaking out so you don’t wake me up. And I don’t glare!” Bakugou ranted from his spot.
“You do. I think it’s the most common look on your face,” Todoroki answered, pissing Bakugou off more and more with each response he gives. “Do you think you’ll get a lot wrinkles from that?" Todoroki asked genuinely. Bakugou felt like he was about to pop a blood vessel.
“Can you hurry this up, I don’t have all night! Sleep is actually valuable to me!” Bakugou yelled back wondering what he did wrong in a past life to be put into this situation. “And I’ll have you know my family line has amazing skin, so wrinkles are a thing I don’t have to worry about unlike your sorry ass,” Bakugou added with great importance.
“Really?” Todoroki asked, sounding honestly intrigued about the Bakugou family thing.
“I said hurry up, didn’t I?”
Todoroki looked at him in mild irritation, before finally deciding to drop back into the water. Bakugou watched intently as he saw Todoroki reassume his pose from the first time Bakugou saw him out here.
Todoroki’s hair was lifted up in a reather harmonious way, being the result of something that only nature could do. The moonlight highlighting the water and Todoroki in this capturing sight. Some time later he realized he’d been watching Todoroki for awhile. Not that it was anything corny and obviously falsem like that he could look at Todoroki for hours, it was just because of the water and-, why is Bakugou even trying to excuse himself to himself, he clearly knows what was going on. The point is, Todoroki’s been down there for awhile, and Bakugou knows his quirk has nothing to do with holding his breath for long amounts of time. If Bakugou were someone else, he might actually find this impressive, but he isn’t, he’s just wondering why Todoroki has this skill at all to begin with.
It wasn’t long after that, when Todoroki popped back up with his chest moving up and done more notably in attempt to regain his breath.
“How’d you learn to do that?” Bakugou asked.
“I practiced,” he answered. The response being so obvious, Bakugou wondered why he even bothered to question it in the first place.
“Well, did you get whatever it was you were trying to think about?” he then asked.
“Your glaring was quite disruptive at first, but after awhile it all just sort of faded away. So, yes I did.”
“Well come on then, I’m exhausted,” Bakugou said standing up. Todoroki then swam over towards Bakugou and pulled himself out of the water.
Bakugou looked on as it seemed like Todoroki began steaming, then quickly putting the pieces together to realize that Todoroki was using his quirk to dry himself off. It led to Bakugou realizing that Todoroki was shirtless, he’s been shirtless every time he’s gone down here, but for some reason it’s as if he’s suddenly more aware of that fact. Not that he cares, he was just simply assessing. Todoroki being shirtless has no greater impact on him as an individual, in fact-, he began to rattle off in his head before being disrupted by water being splattered on his face. He then noticed Todoroki shaking his head side to side, making his hair spin wildly and continuing to spray more and more water onto Bakugou.
“What, are you some kind of dog?!” Bakugou asked. Todoroki stopped moving, his hair now going off into in every direction.
“Sorry,” he replied, but Bakugou noticed a minute tilt upwards at the edge of Todoroki’s mouth indicating otherwise.
“This isn’t funny!”
“If you say so,” Todoroki said quietly.
That normally would have been enough to make Bakugou leave, but he hadn’t for a reason even unknown to himself.
So he stuck around while Todoroki made his way to the locker room and put on some decent clothes for this kind of weather.
“Aren’t you worried about getting sick?” Bakugou asked.
“I don’t get sick easily,” he answered frankly, but the inferiority complex that Bakugou has refused to acknowledge, read it as Todoroki boasting about his superior health, when in fact it was just a simple statement.
“Doubt it,” Bakugou grumbled. “Don’t come whining to me, asking for some soup when you inevitably catch a cold,” he declared. Bakugou watched as if something clicked inside the head of his heterocolored haired classmate, making him look at Bakugou in a seemingly knowing fashion, with his equally heterochromatic eyes.
“Thanks for the warning,” being all he said about it.
What was that supposed to mean?
Bakugou realized, it doesn't really matter to him, and made his way over back towards the dorms. Todoroki deciding to tag along and walk right beside him, much to Bakugou’s annoyance. He didn’t need dreamy boy all up under him. It was distracting.
“Ever heard of personal space IcyHot?” Bakugou asked.
“I’m just walking,” he answered simply.
“Well walk differently then.”
“I don’t know how you expect me to do that, we’re walking to the same place,” he reasoned and Bakugou felt like he’s done this song and dance before, and he has, several times to be exact. This was a frequent argument they had on their way to and back from the provisional licence course.
“You never learned arms distance?” Bakugou asked, even though to most people Todoroki was already standing that far away. “What’s next, you gonna hold my hand?” Bakugou mocked.
He was feeling proud of himself, until he felt a freezing hand gripped his left one.
“What the -,” he began, but with Todoroki being Todoroki he should have known better. Who would have thought Bakugou would be his own downfall. At least it was a badass who took him out though, he figured.
Bakugou wasn’t one to go down without a fight, so he shifted gears.
“Been wanting to hold my hand?” he asked, steering the conversation to put Todoroki on the hot seat.
“Kind of clammy,” was all Todoroki said, which only infuriated Bakugou to no end with how Todoroki could never truly let Bakugou win.
“Like your pruney ice box hand is any better,” Bakugou said in offense.
“Would you rather my other one?” Todoroki asked, lifting his left hand into view.
“NO!” he yelled while yanking his hand back from Todoroki’s grip. “Since my clammy hands are such a bother to you.”
“I never said that.”
“Can it IcyHot,” was how he responded, before taking longer strides trying to make as much distance between himself and Todoroki as possible.
At lunch the following day while he was eating with his friends, he somehow managed to lock eyes with Todoroki, who responded with a stiff and awkward wave. Confusion read clear on Bakugou’s face, so he did as any normal person would do and flipped him off. Like always, Todoroki took it in an annoyingly perfect stride and just looked away peacefully. Bakugou being too far to notice the small smile on his face.
“You’re so mean Kacchan,” Kaminari said, making it known that he witnessed what just happened.
“I know and to his best friend too,” Sero added, reminding them all of that embarrassing interview that caused everyone outside of UA to assume he and Todoroki are all buddy buddy.
Unlike the rest of his friends, Bakugou didn’t burst out into laughter.
“He’s not my friend ,” he said with gritted teeth and continued to glare daggers at all of them until at least until one of them stopped. Kirishima being the most considerate of them, pulled himself together first.
“Alright, come on guys,” Kirishima said with dying laughter. “Is it still even really all that funny anymore?” he continued, sounding completely unconvincing.
“You’re right,” Mina said and Kirishima looked over at Bakugou giving him a look that read, see everything’s going to be just fine. “It’s hilarious,” she said making them all break out into laughter again.
Losers, Bakugou thought.
All of them, complete and utter losers.
This sneaking out business was starting to become annoyingly routine, Bakugou decided as he stood by the poolside again. That’s when the dots connected from what had happened at lunch the other day. Was Todoroki thinking that Bakugou's coming out here was some weird roundabout way to show that he cares about what Todoroki does, only furthering Todoroki's delusional idea that they’ve somehow become friends.
“I’M NOT YOUR FRIEND!” Bakugou declared the moment Todoroki popped his head out of the water. Todoroki just blinked at him and looked a tiny bit thrown off by Bakugou’s sudden outburst.
“Okay,” he responded simply.
Bakugou physically relaxed, more than glad to have this finally settled between them.
Todoroki then swam over to the edge of the pool and looked up at Bakugou. From this angle Bakugou’s mind jumped to thinking that Todoroki looked like a mermaid, not in a he looked like an ethereal being way, because he so does not, but because he looks like someone who is one with the water, or something.
“What are you looking at?” Bakugou asked.
“I could use a hand,” was what he said while raising his arm to reach out towards Bakugou, who then stepped back in response.
“You got yourself in there, you can get yourself out,” he said crossing his arms.
Todoroki’s expression changed to something Bakugou couldn’t decipher, because as Bakugou previously stated he doesn’t have a degree in Todorokiology. Todoroki continued to look at him for another moment, before deciding to swim back off into the water like the weird little mermaid he is.
“Are you serious right now?”
“Deadly,” he answered once he made his way back to the middle of the pool. He lowered himself, to where now the only part of himself that was above water was from his eyes upward. If Bakugou was like any of those silly people who fawned over Todoroki, he bet they’d think that sight was adorable, but he’s proudly not one of them and saw it for what it was. Annoying.
“Grow up, Todoroki,” the irony of him saying that statement, completely flying over his head.
They stared each other down from their respectives spots waiting to see who will fold first. Bakugou was well aware of how long Todoroki could hold his breath and how often he stared off blankly into space, this could last a while.
Just a correction before anyone could get it confused, Bakugou technically didn’t fold first, he hadn’t blinked if the burning sensation in his eyes was any measure, but he simply believed he was better than this childish game and wanted to go to sleep like any reasonable adult would, alright. Bakugou unfolded his arms and reached his right one out towards IcyHot.
“Well hurry up, you think I’m going to stand here forever,” Bakugou said.
Todoroki’s eyes then scrunched and it better not be because he was smiling under there. Bakugou hadn’t gotten to get a good look to make sure, before Todoroki swam his way back. Bakugou leaned down to close the distance where he felt Todoroki’s wet hand clasp his own. Then in a matter of seconds he felt a strong force yanking him downwards and to become submerged under water.
Todoroki was dead, Bakugou had decided as he quickly found his way to the surface. He quickly scanned the pool and noticed IcyHot had already made his way to the furthest part of the pool.
“You look like a soaked cat,” Todoroki pointed out.
“What in the hell did you do that for?!” Bakugou fumed.
Todoroki paused with an unknowing dramaticness before saying, “for the lols.”
For the lols?
For the lols?
Lols?
The words didn’t look or sound right coming from Todoroki’s mouth.
“For the lols?! Who even told you what lols is?!”
“Kaminari,” Todoroki answered calmly. “He told me this is what people say in these kinds of scenarios,” he further explained. Bakugou should have seen that one coming.
He quickly moved on from that, because he had to make Todoroki pay. He quickly swam over towards Todoroki, not letting the weight of his now wet clothes deter him.
Todoroki was agile in the water, but Bakugou’s quick reflexes were nothing to underestimated. He managed to get a hold on Todoroki’s hands, where his right was on Todoroki’s left and vice versa, and tried to use his strength to dunk Todoroki in the water.
They happened to be pretty evenly matched, meaning Todoroki wasn’t one to be easily to beat. Which only makes Bakugou inevitably taking him down all the better.
“You seem upset,” Todoroki said coyly, before Bakugou finally put enough pressure to get Todoroki to take a step backwards.
“I hate you,” Bakugou replied and Todoroki smirked at him daringly. It awoken something in Bakugou. Not wanting to dwell on what it actually awoken, decided to focus on the task at hand, taking this opening he had by doing a move where he swept Todoroki’s legs, finally getting him to go under. He let go of Todoroki’s hands once he got his victory and stared down pridefully.
Once Todoroki reappeared, Bakugou flicked water in his face, still not over Todoroki duping him.
“If I catch a cold because of you, you’re dead,” Bakugou threatened starkly.
Todoroki just did that head shaking thing again, letting his stupid hair spray water all over Bakugou’s face. Which only commenced round two of their dunking contest.
This time when Bakugou had caught up to Todoroki, he ran into him still dressed and inside the locker room.
“Moving pretty slow today, IcyHot,” Bakugou commented.
“Shh,” Todoroki responded.
“Don’t shush me!” Bakugou said and Todoroki gave him an exasperated look.
“Listen,” was all Todoroki said, and after a moment of silence he head a scream followed by a large splash.
“Holy shit, people are here,” Bakugou said.
Somewhere in that exchange, it seemed like they mutually agreed to check it out. They were peeking behind a door and noticed what looked like a bunch of third years having a party. A pretty lively one too, from all the laughter, playing around, and the couple making out in the corner.
“Aizawa would expel their asses so fast if they got caught,” Bakugou said with a maniacal grin, sounding pleased with scenario he was currently picturing in his head. He had no intention of snitching, because he’s no goody two shoes nark, but it was still fun to imagine.
"Yeah they’re pretty lit,” Todoroki responded and Bakugou stiffened.
“How do you manage to sound like a forty year old man trying to be hip with the youth when saying that?” Bakugou commented and he felt Todoroki shrug beside him more than actually seeing it. “You need to stop taking Kaminari’s tips,” he added before pulling away from the door and Todoroki following suit not long after.
“Why not? Isn’t he a cool person?” Todoroki asked. Bakugou feeling something weird in his chest realizing Todoroki genuinely thinks Kaminari of all people is the epitome of cool.
“He’s a total dweeb. I can’t believe he tricked you into thinking he’s cool,” Bakugou answered sounding softer than he ever care to admit.
Todoroki tilted his head to the side and looked at him with a strange expression, one that made Bakugou want to avoid Todoroki’s pressing hetero chromatic gaze. But not wanting to be a coward fought the urge to look away the best he could.
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
“I like seeing you talk about your friends,” Todoroki said earnestly.
Bakugou did not squawk. “Weirdo,” he mumbled, before seeing no point in sticking around and began going back to his room.
When Bakugou saw Kaminari the next day in class he grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him out to the hallway.
“‘Sup Bakugou,” Kaminari said unalarmed by Bakugou’s brash movements.
“Quit giving Todoroki bad advice,” Bakugou warned.
“Huh?”
“You keep telling him ‘cool’ things to say,” he explained.
“Wait. Todoroki actually listens to my advice,” Kaminari said practically glowing and Bakugou rolled his eyes. “I’m so touched,” he added.
“You shouldn’t be, you’ve only made him sound more lame,” Bakugou argued.
“Aww Bakugou,” Kaminari said and Bakugou was now alarmed. “Look at you, defending your friend's honor, would you do the same for me,” he continued with an annoying smile, while puffs of smoke began to emit from his uniform.
“He isn’t my friend,” Bakugou croaked out.
“And the nile isn’t only river in Africa,” Kaminari said in an attempt at wit.
“I’m not in denial,” Bakugou said and Kaminari gave him a smug knowing look. Kaminari’s book smarts may not be up to snuff, but he makes up for it in people reading skills.
“You said that not me,” he replied.
“You’re insufferable,” Bakugou said giving Kaminari a quick shake before letting him go. He then glared at Kaminari before walking back to class, not wanting to ruin his perfect attendance record for this idiot.
“I make no promises on the advice thing by the way!” Kaminari yelled out to Bakugou’s retreating figure.
“Die!” Bakugou yelled back, leaving a snickering Kaminari behind.
When they met up this time, it ended up with Bakugou sitting by the pool again, while Todoroki rested his chin on the top of his crossed arms, that were resting on the ledge of the pool. If Todoroki was waiting for Bakugou to pull him out again, Todoroki was surely a fool for thinking Bakugou would even dare try with what happened last time.
Their conversation somehow got to the point where Bakugou was nos complaining about getting a gift for his father’s birthday, because what more could the old man want? Having him for a son is already a rare luxury very few could get.
“Why don’t you try asking him?” Todoroki asked simply.
“You can’t just ask someone what they want they for their stupid birthday,” Bakugou explained as if it were obvious.
“You can’t? That’s what I do,” Todoroki explained and it made Bakugou huff out a laugh at how Todoroki that was.
He then flicked Todoroki’s forehead, which was in a rare occurance of being bare from Todoroki sweeping it back earlier and his hair being wet enough for it to stick.
Todoroki scrunched his nose in response, not appreciating Bakugou’s gesture.
“Of course you’d say that.”
“Well, what does he like?” Todoroki asked.
Bakugou leaned back resting on his arms and pondered back to all the things his dad liked to bring up. One memory that flashed to the front of his mind was when he was in elementary school, his father would take him out for slushies every Friday. They stopped going as often, the older he got and pretty much completely stopped once he reached Jr. High. He never said it out loud, but he always loved doing that with him. He then realized his dad dealt with a prepubescent him hyped up on frozen sugar water on a weekly basis. A genuine smile broke out onto his face coming to the conclusion that his dad was more of a badass than he thought.
“What is it?” Todoroki asked in genuine curiosity about what was going through Bakugou head.
“Nothing. Just uh -, just remembering me and my old man getting slushies together, that’s all,” he explained downplaying it as much as he could.
“Hm,” Todoroki hummed thoughtfully.
A quiet moment passed between them.
“Are they good?” Todoroki asked and Bakugou raised his brow in confusion. “Slushies?” Todoroki clarified.
“You never had a slushie before?”
“I saw my brothers and sister have one, one time, but my father always said they were extremely unhealthy,” Todoroki answered.
“That’s the point,” Bakugou explained, and an idea flared inside of him. “You want one?” he asked.
“Right now?” Todoroki asked cautiously.
“Hell yeah, right now,” Bakugou answered and watched Todoroki ponder it, looking completely torn. “You’re already breaking the rules being at the pool at this time of night, I think sneaking out to get a slushie would equate to the same punishment,” Bakugou reasoned. Todoroki looked down, thinking it over one more time. He looked up at Bakugou again, the decision he made clear in his eyes, and Bakugou broke out into a smug grin knowing he’s won.
“Okay,” he finally said.
“Come on then, get your ass out the water and get your wallet, rich boy. I’m not paying.”
Todoroki got dressed and made a quick stop back to the dorms to grab his wallet, before making their way to the closest convenience store. Bakugou got cherry lime, while IcyHot being torn over what he wanted, ended up getting a mix of both cherry and blue raspberry.
They were sipping on them at the storefront, well at least Bakugou was, because he was currently watching Todoroki suck up as much as could in one go. Bakugou found Todoroki’s inevitable fate too good to do something silly like advising him not to.
“Ah!” Todoroki let out not too long after, his face scrunching up in pain and then began rubbing the center of his forehead.
Bakugou only let out a laugh in response at his fri-, at half n’ half’s misfortune.
“What was that?” Todoroki asked sounding completely mystified.
“It’s called a brain freeze, slushie boy,” Bakugou explained. “Shocked you haven’t gotten that from you quirk.”
“Sort of, but never in my head like that,” Todoroki said still massaging at it. “Why didn’t you warn me?”
“Slipped my mind,” Bakugou answered dishonestly, before taking another sip and Todoroki gave him a look as if he hadn’t believed him.
Todoroki then suddenly leaned in way too close towards Bakugou.
“What the hell are you doing IcyHot?” Bakugou asked, his face suddenly feeling warm as he attempted to lean back.
“Your tongue is green,” he answered.
“It’s because of the slushie, genius. Your's is purple by the way.”
“Really?”
“Why would I lie.”
“Cool,” Todoroki said softly, sounding truly fascinated by the concept.
“Let’s head back,” he said.
While this was his idea, he didn’t actually want to get suspended again.
On their way back to campus, maybe Bakugou tried to catch quick glimpses of Todoroki to see if he was actually enjoying his first ever slushie and maybe when the one time he caught Todoroki smiling, something warm blossomed in his chest that couldn’t only be described with pride, there was something else mixed in with it too, but that was all apart of this huge maybe.
When they put their cups in the recycling bin and made their way back into the dorms, there was a brief moment of awkwardness both unaware that neither of them hadn’t wanted to get rid of other just yet.
“Pretty amazing right?” Bakugou asked.
“Yeah,” Todoroki answered looking down momentarily before looking back up with a certain openness that was uncommon with him. “Thank you for sharing this with me,” he said too earnestly for Bakugou to handle. Bakogou wondered how Todoroki said embarrassing stuff like that with a straight face all the time.
“Don’t thank me, you weirdo,” Bakugou said, not knowing how to handle situations like this.
“Good night, Bakogou,” Todoroki said, doing the whole taking Bakugou’s comments in stride thing again.
“Night,” Bakugou grumbled.
Even though Bakugou hadn’t gotten the answer to what gift he should get for his dad’s birthday. Exposing Todoroki to his first slushie, made sure the night wasn’t a complete waste in Bakugou’s eyes.
“Bakugou?” Todoroki asked as he was floating inside the pool. In genuine shock at his current guest.
Bakugou came prepared this time around. The weather has been getting warmer and Bakugou was interested into seeing what drew Todoroki out here week after week.
“What are you doing?” he asked cautiously.
“Seeing what your private thinking time is all about,” he explained and Todoroki just watched him intently. Bakugou jumped in head first, and made his way over towards half n’ half. “What? No room for two in here?” he questioned as Todoroki continued to stare at him like that.
“I guess there is,” Todoroki said sounding ... off.
“What, so you just hold your breath and sit down there?” he asked.
Todoroki just blinked at him and Bakugou brought his hand over by Todoroki’s ear and snapped his fingers.
“Hey IcyHot! I asked you a question,” Bakugou said and Todoroki seemed to come back from whatever planet his brain had gone off to. “So do I just drop down there and hold my breath or not?” he asked again.
“Essentially,” Todoroki answered.
They exchanged an awkward glance, before Todoroki dropped down. Bakugou took in the deepest breath he could and following Todoroki underneath. When he reached the bottom he pushed air out of his nose to release some of the pressure squashing his head, and you know what? For a moment there was nothing but you and the rhythm of water, it was short lived because his body was already begging him to breathe oxygen.
Bakugou opened his eyes and saw Todoroki looking completely serene and unbothered, fueling him to push himself to stay down here longer, because he’s not going to let Todoroki one up him by such a large margin. He closed his eyes again and used it to focus, and his body just continued to beg him to pop back up already.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw Todoroki looking at him thoughtfully, he looked no worse for wear, while Bakugou looked and felt like he was about to combust. Todoroki then gracefully made his way over to where Bakugou was sitting and put his hand on the back of Bakugou’s neck before gently colliding their mouths. Bakugou’s eyes widened in shock as Todoroki breathed new life into Bakugou literally and figuratively.
The intended effect went downhill fast, because Bakugou sporadically moved backwards after the shock wore off, which then caused Bakugou to gulp in water and force himself back up to the surface. He coughed out the water he was choking on and brought up the back of his hand up to his still tingling lips.
“What the hell was that?!” Bakugou asked once Todoroki popped back up, and Todoroki had the audacity to look just as shocked as Bakugou did.
“Well I-, I-,” Todoroki sputtered out, looking completely lost. They looked at each other in equal bewilderment.
“I’m outta here,” Bakugou said first, then making a quick exit.
After quickly getting dressed, showering, and then getting dressed again for bed. The after effect of the kiss still were still at the forefront of his mind as he laid down in bed.
He brought his fingers to his lips, the lingering feelings of it haven’t faded away yet. Doing that only replayed the memory in his head, which then seemed to make his heart and mind race. He wasn’t completely rejecting the concept as much as he wanted himself too, but that made no sense, he and Todoroki weren’t friends, despite what others and Todoroki himself thinks. Is that a thing he wants? To hang around and potentially kiss Todoroki. Katsuki Bakugou? He decided this was all too much for him to think about and then pulled his blankets up to cover his own head.
Todoroki has cursed him.
People say curses aren’t real, but how else would one explain Bakugou thinking about the semi kiss everytime he so much as glanced at that guy, which then led him to being drawn towards his mouth. He just hopes there's an end to all his suffering and that it’s soon.
He planned to confront Todoroki about it the next time he snuck out, but he actually hasn’t heard him sneaking out recently. So Todoroki has either stopped sneaking out or finally used his brain cells to figure out a way to finally do it quietly. Who knew that all it would take was Bakugou doing some sort of long con, where he somehow convinced Todoroki into kissing him, to get Todoroki to finally get his act together.
At least that was what Bakugou had thought, until one night he heard a knock on his window. Not something sensible like a ping from a rock, no it was full on knocking. Bakugou grumpily got up and walked over to see none other then the root of all his current his problems. Todoroki was using his ice to hang off the side of the building.
“Care to let me in?” Todoroki asked.
“No,” Bakugou said, but opening the window anyways. Todoroki maneuvered himself inside.
A brief silent moment passed before Todoroki said, “I came here to apologize for kissing you.”
“Took you long enough,” Bakugou countered and Todoroki couldn’t dispute him taking his fair time with this, but he had a lot of things to think about too.
“Sorry, for that and kissing you,” Todoroki apologized again, but for some reason that hadn’t felt good enough to Bakugou.
“Why did you even kiss me in the first place?” he asked. Taking this opportunity to ask all the questions that have been swimming in his head for the past two weeks.
“I-,” Todoroki began to say before looking down, his hair now covering his expressions from Bakugou. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know,” Bakugou said with a muted frustration that burned brighter than any of his typical loud outbursts.
To be frank, I don’t know was the worst answer Bakugou could have gotten, he would have even taken a it was for the lols over that. At least that was clear and it meant something, what is he supposed to do with an I don’t know.
“That’s exactly your problem Todoroki,” Bakugou said and Todoroki quickly looked up in surprise. “You do things so haphazardly and half-heartedly, you’ve done that two me twice already, first with the sports festival and now this, what does it take for a guy to earn your respect,” Bakugou said laying into him, the sharpness of the statement piercing though to Todoroki.
“I do respect you, Bakugou,” Todoroki corrected, and Bakugou ran a hand in his hair with frustration.
“Well then act like it!” Bakugou countered. “The next time you kiss -, someone, make sure you do it for some better reason than your stupid I don’t know,” he continued, leaving him feeling much more vulnerable than he’d ever wish to be.
“I see,” Todoroki said thoughtfully.
“You better.”
“Well that’s all I wanted to say,” Todoroki said much to Bakugou’s relief, realizing that meant that this will all be over soon.
“You can use the door like a normal person you know,” Bakugou suggested as he watched Todoroki make his way towards the window.
Todoroki changed course and made U turn for the front door, when he arrived there he had a grip on the door knob and was hesitating for some reason.
Bakugou was ready to tell him off, but when he was about to, Todoroki turned back around and walked directly to Bakugou. He then grabbed both his hands.
“Would you want to go on a date sometime?” Todoroki asked. “I’m asking because I want to go on one with you,” he continued, showing he took Bakugou’s notes to heart.
Todoroki is so -.
So.
So stupid, that’s what he is.
He said stupid things that made Bakugou feel stupid things.
“I’m picking the place,” Bakugou answered, feeling sure that he was catching Todoroki’s stupid, but maybe that wasn’t such a horrible thing. Todoroki’s current smile was making it pretty worth it, Bakugou would gag if he admitted that part out loud.
“Okay,” Todoroki agreed. “Sorry if I hurt you feelings earlier, it wasn’t my intention.”
“What the-,” Bakugou started, his current flush faced turning from gross gooey feelings towards embarrassment. “You didn’t hurt my feelings!” he denied.
“Well I just wanted to say that, because I’m not very good at this,” Todoroki admitted, letting the fact that he was pretty sure Bakugou was lying slide.
“Obviously,” Bakugou agreed. A chuckle broke out of Todoroki, in surprise at Bakugou’s ego, even though it shouldn’t be considering all of Todoroki’s first hand experience with it.
“Aren’t you supposed to say you’re bad at this as well,” Todoroki corrected.
“Well if that’s what you’re hoping for, you asked the wrong guy on a date,” Bakugou said giving Todoroki a playful kick to his leg.
“No I didn’t,” there Todoroki goes saying embarrassing things with a straight face again, Bakugou pulled his hands back, not knowing how to handle this. Great, now Todoroki was doing that thing where he was staring at him weirdly.
“What?”
“It’ll only upset you,” Todoroki warned.
“Say it anyways!”
“You’re cute when you embarrassed,” Todoroki revealed, much to Bakugou’s mortification.
“You were right, and I’m not cute.”
“Would you prefer adorable?”
“GET OUT!”
“Pretty then?”
“OUT!” Bakugou’s had enough. He got behind Todoroki and physically began pushing him out the room.
“This Saturday?” Todoroki asked as he was being forced towards the door.
“Yes,” he answered. He opened the door and Todoroki thankfully got the hint to leave.
“Wait,” Todoroki said and Bakugou did. “How about fetching?” he asked and was met with a slam from the door, Bakugou not caring how loud it was.
Todoroki’s such a pain, but even so, that won’t stop Bakugou from being the best date Todoroki’s ever had, he thought. And maybe-, wait, no more maybes. He’s actually really looking forward to it.