Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Anxious energy filled the classroom after Aizawa announced that they would be doing practical exercises that afternoon. After a moment, Aizawa called them to attention and explained that he would announce teams before explaining the exercise. 

Midoriya’s stomach dropped upon hearing who his own partner would be. He had been paired with Bakugou, again. He could see Bakugou’s shoulders in front of him tense at the idea of being paired with him. Aizawa sure was determined to try and help their relationship and while it had gotten better since Kamino, it was still rough having to partner with the explosively angry boy. But perhaps this was a good chance for them to try out their somewhat new dynamic. Midoriya would be lying if he hadn’t thought about how their joint fighting style had potentially changed after the fight that landed them on house arrest a week previously. 

Next, Aizawa announced the team they’d be going up against.

“Team B, Bakugou and Midoriya, will be against team H, Todoroki and Kirishima.” 

Before any of them could react, there was a high pitched, “Ooh!” and some laughter from the rest of the class. 

“Pairing them against their boyfriends, how interesting!” Ashido exclaimed. Midoriya cringed a little at the playful tone of her voice.

The four boys looked at each other—Todoroki and Midoriya shared anxious glances, while Kirishima and Bakugou seemed amped to be going up against each other. 

Aizawa continued pairing off each team, though Midoriya wasn’t listening to any of it. As Aizawa finished announcing the matchups, he waited for the grumbles and mumblings of his class to quiet down. Once he had their full attention, he continued, “We’ll be at Ground Delta for this exercise.”

“The forest area?” Jirou asked, remembering that particular training field from her and Kouda’s practical exam.

“But we just had a training camp in the forest,” Kaminari pointed out. “Isn’t that a little repetitive?”

Aizawa blew out a sigh behind his scarf. “I do realize that our training camp wasn’t too long ago. However, since things ended so disastrously, Nezu-kocho wants you to have controlled practice in a similar setting,” the exhausted teacher explained, hoping it was enough to satisfy his earnest students.

“I’ll explain the exercise in more detail once we arrive. Go and get changed and meet outside the school in fifteen minutes,” Aizawa declared and there was a ripple that moved through the class.  

The class stood from their seats and headed down to the locker rooms to change into their hero outfits. Most of the kids paired off with their mock-battle partner to discuss tactics while trying to remain out of earshot of the opposing team. 

Kirishima walked alongside Bakugou and Midoriya stayed close to Todoroki’s side. 

“I think Aizawa-sensei is out to get me,” Midoriya said uncertainly. 

Todoroki nudged his boyfriend’s shoulder with his own. “He knows what he’s doing,” the fire-ice user said in defense of their teacher. “I think he’s trying to teach Bakugou a lesson more than you.”

“I-it’s not just that…” Midoriya muttered, leaning against his taller boyfriend and hooking his scarred hand on Todoroki’s elbow. “I…what if I accidentally hurt you?”

“You won’t,” Todoroki answered immediately, confidently. “You’re getting better every day at controlling your Quirk. You have nothing to worry about.”

“But—” 

“Besides,” Todoroki cut in with a small smile, “you gave it your all against me at the sports festival. Just because we’re on opposing sides as significant others doesn’t mean that should change.”

“Y-Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” Midoriya finally agreed, anxiously rubbing the back of his neck.

Just ahead of them, Bakugou and Kirishima were loudly discussing the exercise. 

“Like hell I’d let you win!” Bakugou shouted at Kirishima who laughed. Bakugou turned to look over his shoulder, his gaze locking onto Midoriya. “You better not go easy on half-n-half either!” 

“I won’t!” Midoriya promised. 

“We’re gonna beat you no matter what the exercise ends up being!” Bakugou declared as Kirishima stretched, linking his fingers behind his head in an easygoing gesture. 

“You have that much confidence in your teamwork with Midoriya?” Kirishima goaded Bakugou on. 

“Whatever! I’ll kick your ass regardless of who I’m paired with,” Bakugou proclaimed. 

“I’m doomed,” Midoriya muttered at Todoroki’s side. “I don’t think our relationship has been mended to the point of being a functional team. You and Kirishima on the other hand…well, you organized Kacchan’s rescue. I think your communication and teamwork are way better than ours.” 

“I think you and Bakugou have a chance at being a great team,” Todoroki encouraged him quietly, catching the door to the locker room before it could close on them. 

The weight in Midoriya’s stomach only seemed to get heavier as they changed out of their school uniforms and into their hero outfits. A million thoughts were going through his mind from how to best use the environment to the last few times he and Bakugou had fought together to try and come up with a decent battle strategy. Not that they had any clear idea of what they’d be doing just yet… If it’s at the forest training ground, then that meant that the staff were probably shaken just as badly as the students were about the kidnapping. They wouldn’t want to be too blatant about it, but what kind of training would they be doing? The classic hero versus villain set up? Would it be a rescue exercise? Which teams would play what roles? Would they— 

“Are you ready?” Todoroki pulled him out of his thoughts. Midoriya had been standing in front of his locker absently adjusting his gloves for the last minute. 

“Y-Yeah,” Midoriya nodded. He looked around realizing Kirishima and Bakugou and a few other classmates had already left. 

By the time they got outside, they found the rest of the class slowly gathering in front of a UA shuttle to take them to the training grounds. Once everyone was accounted for, Aizawa called the class to order. A hush fell on the students, who eagerly awaited further instructions. 

“I’ll give you a little more information on this exercise to allow you time to strategize before we arrive at Ground Delta,” Aizawa started. “The exercise will be recovery. A flag will be placed at the center of the training ground and each round will last fifteen minutes. Once you have the flag, the goal is to return it to your team’s starting gate. However, if neither team reaches their starting gate, the team that is in possession of the flag by the time the exercise is over wins.” 

“This is repetitive. Isn’t this just re-enacting Bakugou’s kidnapping? The flag just represents Bakugou, right?” Midoriya heard Kaminari whisper to Sero. 

“Knock it off,” Sero nudged his friend, but chuckled nonetheless. 

Midoriya’s stomach twisted unpleasantly as he looked over at Bakugou to gauge his reaction to the explanation of the exercise. The way Bakugou’s jaw clenched, Midoriya could tell he was furious. He saw Kirishima rest an arm on Bakugou’s shoulder and say something to him with a laugh, but he also looked anxious about his boyfriend and the situation as a whole. 

Midoriya startled slightly as Todoroki grabbed his hand, probably an attempt to provide a sliver of comfort. But even the unflappable boy seemed a little tense with their current assignment if the tightness of his mouth was anything to go by.

Once Aizawa finished, Iida began waving his arms and directing his classmates onto the shuttle that was going to take them to the training ground. While most of the class chatted normally, the two pairs of boyfriends couldn’t shake the underlying tension they all felt.

When they arrived, Aizawa announced the order the teams would be going in. Knowing Midoriya’s luck, they’d be last and he’d be left a nervous wreck for an hour before he and Bakugou had to face their boyfriends. 

Midoriya sighed in relief when Aizawa listed them as the second group to go. The first group to go was Tokoyami and Aoyama versus Uraraka and Asui. 

“We’ve got this!” Uraraka exclaimed eagerly. 

“Uraraka, Asui, please proceed to the north gate,” Aizawa instructed. “Aoyama and Tokoyami, the south gate, please. Once you’re in position, please wait for the signal.” 

“Yes, sir!” Uraraka exclaimed.

“Kero,” Asui nodded in acknowledgment. 

“Pay close attention, I shall dazzle you all~ ☆”

“Let’s get this over with,” Tokoyami sighed as he followed Aoyama towards the south gate.

“Talk about an unfortunate team up,” Midoriya remarked quietly to Todoroki. “I can’t imagine Dark Shadow likes being paired with the hero who can’t stop twinkling.” 

Todoroki smiled as Midoriya began to list off a number of strategies their classmates could employ to take on Uraraka and Asui. While Todoroki knew the muttering disturbed some of his classmates, he had come to find it endearing when Midoriya would lose himself to his thoughts. 

The rest of the class gathered around the media cart that had been set up, allowing them to view the battles taking place on the training grounds. There was nothing to see just yet, but the others were beginning to scout out the area on the monitors and see if they could begin to piece together strategies based on how the exercise was set up. 

Another ten minutes passed and eventually, they all spotted the two teams within their starting perimeters waiting for the signal. Aizawa marked something down on the clipboard he was carrying before reaching for the intercom speaker. He pressed the button, allowing his gravelly voice to echo out over the training ground. 

“Team A and Team C, your time begins now,” Aizawa announced, pressing another button which sounded an alarm to signal the start of the match. Aoyama and Tokoyami took off and Uraraka and Asui began moving but not towards the center of the training ground. Uraraka pressed her fingertips together and she began to float as Asui unfurled her tongue to wrap around the gravity hero’s waist. 

“Ah,” Midoriya gasped, smiling at his friends on the screen. “I figured!” Midoriya nodded, his fingers began twitching as if he were writing, despite not having a notebook and pen in his hand. 

“I think everyone’s taking inspiration from training camp,” Todoroki remarked. 

Spinning, Asui launched Uraraka into the air and she floated over the top of the trees and out of sight before Asui began making her way towards the center of the training field. 

The fifteen minutes seemed to fly by as they watched the two teams duke it out over the flag. Uraraka got to the center of the field first but was so nauseous from her Quirk she wasn’t able to retrieve the flag in time. This allowed enough of a gap that Aoyama flew in using his naval laser and started working on undoing the flag from its post. However, his stomach wasn’t reacting kindly to his extended use of his own Quirk. When both of their teammates arrived in the clearing, they found their classmates leaning against trees and trying to get their nausea under control. Asui wanted to check on Uraraka but realized she had the opening they needed to retrieve the flag, making her own way towards the pole. As she reached the top, Tokoyami emerged from the trees and took in their situation. 

As Asui undid the flag, Dark Shadow charged at her. The unflappable girl dodged out of the way but misjudged the distance to the ground, falling hard on her feet and dropping the flag which Tokoyami scooped up. 

Finally having recovered enough from their Quirks, Uraraka and Aoyama rejoined the fray and began playing a fast-paced game of keep-away. Uraraka and Aoyama both attempted to use their Quirks to keep the flag, but each of them were still fighting nausea from their starting moves that got them to the center of the field. 

Aizawa watched as the time ticked down on his phone and when the timer hit zero, he sounded the alarm again to signify the end of the exercise.

Their fifteen minutes ended with Asui holding onto the flag and climbing a tree on the far north side of the clearing.

Midoriya had been so enthused to watch his classmates work together, he had nearly forgotten that his turn was next. 

“All right!” Kirishima exclaimed, bringing Midoriya out of his thoughts. “Let’s do this! See you out there, huh, babe?” Kirishima nudged Bakugou before pressing a quick kiss to Bakugou’s cheek. “Sorry in advance for kicking your ass!”

“Hah!?” Bakugou barked. “Yeah, right, asshole! They’ll be cleaning you off the field when I’m done with you!” 

“Ah, class 1-A’s most romantic couple,” Ashido teased them, stifling some laughter.

“It’s okay, that’s how he shows affection,” Kirishima told Ashido with a shrug. “You see how he treats Midoriya and they’ve been super good friends forever, y’know?” 

Ashido snorted in amusement. Kirishima’s light-hearted teasing only made Midoriya more nervous.

“Goddamn it, Ei, shut it,” Bakugou spat, rolling his eyes as Kirishima continued to grin, extremely pleased with himself. 

“Team B, Team H, your turn. Bakugou and Midoriya at the south gate and Kirishima and Todoroki at the north gate. You’ll be given the go-ahead once everything’s been reset,” Aizawa sighed as he scribbled a few things on his clipboard.

Ashido gave them a thumbs up and a big grin. “Either way, good luck!” 

“Whatever,” Bakugou said sourly before turning away. “Let’s go, Deku!” he growled. 

“Hey, dude, you ready?” Kirishima came over and tapped Todoroki on the shoulder as he nodded to the entrance they were meant to use. 

“Yeah,” Todoroki affirmed with a nod. He squeezed Midoriya’s hand one last time before letting go and following his teammate. Midoriya looked around and saw Bakugou already skulking off to their own entrance. 

“Kacchan!” Midoriya called, running after Bakugou, his stomach churning unpleasantly.

“Man, this is almost unfair. I kinda feel bad for Midoriya,” Kirishima muttered as he stretched, waiting for the signal for the exercise to begin. “We can agree the strategy is to wait for them to be distracted by arguing with each other and that’s when we can swoop in and retrieve the flag, right?” 

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Todoroki flexed his own hands. “Although their teamwork is far from perfect, they’re both incredible strategists. Together, they could be deadly.” 

“I know.” Kirishima nodded, rolling his shoulders. “But I hardly think either of them are in a cooperative mood. Katsuki’s still rattled after…y’know, their fight a-and Kamino. I imagine that’s why Aizawa-sensei put them on a team together again, to get them to work it out without having to put them on house-arrest and making them cooperate. I just think we could take advantage of that, as awful as it feels to say it.” 

Todoroki nodded in agreement, though he still looked thoughtful. “It’s a decent idea, but I also think we should have another plan in case they actually do decide to cooperate properly.” Todoroki held out his left hand, conjuring a small flame in his palm. “Also, I have to be careful about using my full power out here…especially my fire. I don’t want to ignite the whole forest accidentally. I’m assuming Bakugou is aware of his need to be cautious with his Quirk, as well, for the same reasons.”

Kirishima laughed a little nervously.  He wanted to have faith in his boyfriend, because Bakugou was certainly capable of greatness, but he was also extremely susceptible to his own intense emotions. Kirishima trusted Bakugou with his life, but it still wouldn’t hurt to be careful. “It’s hard to say with Katsuki, especially when he’s riled up about something,” he said honestly.

Todoroki hummed, taking that into consideration. “I’m also certain that they’ll be expecting you to be the front-line offense, with me providing backup support from a distance. Izuku knows how poor I am in my close-quarters combat skills.”

The redhead nodded. “What would you suggest, then?”

Touching his fingers to his chin in a thinking pose, Todoroki mulled over their options. They could go with what was expected of them, because it was a good plan. Kirishima’s Quirk was quite literally a solid defense against the explosive power of Bakugou’s Quirk, and the destructive raw power of Midoriya’s Quirk. Todoroki had no doubt that he could easily keep up with his long-distance attacks, even with limited use of his fire.

Both Izuku and Bakugou would undoubtedly realize that…would they try something different? Could Izuku even convince Bakugou to cooperate?

They could do something completely unexpected to throw off their genius boyfriends and shake things up a bit to catch them off-guard. But instead of saying any of this, he fixed his mismatched eyes on his partner. “I have a couple ideas, but I want to hear what you have to say.”

Kirishima lit up. Being well-known as part of the One Brain Cell Squad, it wasn’t often that his classmates deferred to him for any kind of planning or strategizing. He and Todoroki had planned Bakugou’s rescue together, so they had a history of working well with each other…especially because the plan had overall succeeded.  But it still warmed his heart to know that one of the best students in the entire class valued his input. “Well, here’s what I was thinking…” 

“In terms of maneuverability in the forest, we have the advantage,” Midoriya muttered as he paced back and forth in their starting perimeter. 

“Will you stand still for once?” Bakugou snapped at him. “Come on, why aren’t they starting?” 

“—which means we’ll probably get the flag first. The real problem will be holding onto it…” Midoriya continued as if he hadn’t heard Bakugou’s angry comments.     

“I’ll be able to hold back Eijirou,” Bakugou interrupted Midoriya. This was enough to get Midoriya to pause his pacing, surprised that Bakugou wanted to contribute to their strategy. Bakugou sighed and continued. “He’ll be the one charging in first with icyhot’s support from behind. If I’m our first defense, it makes sense—once we have the flag—for you to keep a hold of it and get the hell out of there and I’ll hold them back. You should be able to keep your distance with your full-cowl-whatever speed boost.” 

“That’s…that’s pretty smart, Kacchan,” Midoriya complimented as he accepted it. 

“Don’t act so surprised, and just stay out of my way.” Bakugou stepped forward, already observing their surroundings and analyzing it all. “If I’m lucky, I’ll get a chance to face that half-n-half bastard for real this time.” 

Midoriya bit his lip. He wanted to interject and tell Bakugou that Todoroki wouldn’t be using his flames in the forest, so it wouldn’t be the rematch he wanted. But it didn’t seem smart to rile him up even more before the start of the exercise.

Instead, he took a more passive approach to his hot-headed teammate. “Just be aware of our surroundings, Kacchan,” he warned with a small smile. “We don’t want the whole forest burning down. You know other teams have to use this field once we’re done.”

Bakugou scoffed. “Shut up, Deku, I’m not that stupid.” 

It was supposed to be an assurance that he had everything under control, but Bakugou still felt the slight tremors of irritation under his skin. The sweat from his palms was pooling in his gauntlets, causing small sparks that weren’t completely voluntary.

He wasn’t gonna be helpless this time. He wasn’t.

Before either of them could say anything more, Aizawa’s voice echoed over the intercom system.

“Team B and Team H, your fifteen minutes begin... now. ”

The loud klaxon sounded on Aizawa’s vocal cue, signaling the start of the fifteen-minute countdown.

"Fucking finally," Bakugou muttered, a smirk already forming on his face. 

Both boys launched forward, propelling themselves through the forested area in leaps and bounds. Midoriya followed Bakugou as the blond took the lead, prepared to find and hold Kirishima off while Midoriya retrieved the flag. 

A small thought entered the back of his mind, as Midoriya was reminded of his and Bakugou’s childhood. Kacchan was always ahead…always in the lead…

Midoriya tried to shake the thought from his mind, reminding himself they were in the middle of an exercise. This was no time to try to shake the status quo. 

It wasn’t long before the trees began to thin and there was a large clearing. 

“That’s it!” Bakugou shouted. They skidded to a halt as they looked around the clearing to try and identify where the flag could be located. There was a tall pole at the center of the clearing with a bright blue flag at the top. 

“Easy, ” Bakugou muttered to himself as he launched himself up towards the pole. 

“Kacchan!” Midoriya called. “I thought I was the one responsible for retrieving and keeping the flag…” Midoriya sighed as he ran forward to keep up. 

Bakugou reached the top, grabbing onto the top of the pole and adjusting his grip before working on freeing the flag from where it was attached. Midoriya reached the base and looked up, waiting to take the flag from Bakugou. 

A chill rippled through the air and Midoriya could see his own breath forming, even though it was a warm September day. He looked around. If Bakugou’s theorizing had been correct, it should have been Kirishima that made his appearance first, not Todoroki. Shouto was more likely to be support, wasn’t he?

“Kacchan!” Midoriya exclaimed up to his companion. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Bakugou nodded as he began to search his surroundings from his vantage point. The wind picked up and began to tear leaves off the branches and the cracking of ice echoed through the forest. “The fuck…?” Bakugou muttered under his breath. He thought for sure his dumbass excitable boyfriend would be the first to catch up to them and certainly they wouldn’t have been this fast. He and Deku had the advantage when it came to speed.

“Hurry up, Kacchan!” Midoriya begged. 

“It’s stuck!” he shouted. “Stupid Deku, shut up,” Bakugou growled under his breath as he worked at the clasp that kept the flag attached. 

“Here, Kacchan, I’ll come up and—”

“No, I got it, just—”

“But I was supposed to grab the flag in the first place! According to our plan!” Midoriya argued back, feeling his anger building. 

“Shut up Deku, I almost have it! Back off!” Bakugou yelled back, jostling the flag’s clasp even more to no avail.

Bakugou didn’t have the time to work the flag out before a path of ice traveled across the ground all the way to the pole, covering everything in its wake. The frost traveled up the already cool metal of the pole and froze the whole thing solid, including the clasp holding onto the flag. The cold was nearly enough to bite Bakugou’s skin through his gloves.

From the tree line came a blur of two people in a really odd position. Midoriya’s eyes widened as they followed Todoroki skating across the ice he’d created…

...using Kirishima as a sled?!

And they were heading straight for the flagpole. 

“Kirishima, get ready!” Todoroki yelled to his teammate, creating a ramp of ice that connected to the flat surface they had been sliding across from deeper in the forest. Kirishima grinned confidently as they started sloping up on the ramp towards the top of the flagpole.

Bakugou growled as Kirishima and Todoroki rocketed towards him. He tried freeing the hand that was gripping the pole, then realized with dread pooling in his stomach that his glove was frozen to the pole.

“Kacchan, watch out!” Midoriya yelled, powering up his Full Cowling to jump into the air and pull Bakugou off the flagpole before the other two could ram right into him. With a burst of green lightning, he shot into the air.

Todoroki leapt off Kirishima’s back and created another ramp of ice with his fingertips, this one leading toward the end of Midoriya’s trajectory. Kirishima, on the other hand, continued his momentum and leapt off the top of his ice ramp, readying a punch.

Bakugou ducked out of the way so he wouldn’t be pummeled by his boyfriend’s rock-hard right hook, his hand still stuck to the pole.

But Kirishima wasn’t aiming for his boyfriend.

“Hey, babe!” Kirishima grinned at the blond as he punched the frozen clasp with his hardened fist, shattering it into a bunch of tiny metal and ice pieces. With his other hand, in a swift motion that could rival Bakugou and Midoriya’s agility, he snagged the flag before it could drop to the ground where it would be fair game.

As angry as Bakugou was that the other team was in possession of the flag when it was right under his fucking nose, even he had to admit that their plan was kind of genius.

Meanwhile, Midoriya had seen that Todoroki was coming for him and changed his trajectory to avoid his boyfriend’s ice attack. Kirishima had the flag now and turned to head back to the north gate. Midoriya had to come up with something quick to get it back, especially with Bakugou momentarily incapacitated.

“Kacchan, can you get free?” he yelled to his teammate as he landed hard on his feet, charging up One for All to five percent in his right arm. As Todoroki changed the direction of his ice path to follow Midoriya, Midoriya dashed forward and aimed a powerful punch at the ice itself. He missed Todoroki’s booted foot by a hair and shattered the ice entirely, sending his boyfriend flying into the air with continued momentum.

Bakugou didn’t grace Midoriya with a reply, and instead focused on heating up his hand. He let loose an explosion that melted the ice instantly, freeing his hand and destroying the top part of the pole. They would probably be deducted points for that, but whatever, he needed to get the flag back from Kirishima before time ran out.

A blur of red signified Kirishima quickly making his way back to the north side of the clearing. 

As soon as Bakugou freed himself, something solid slammed into him and Bakugou was flung to the ground. When the dust settled, he gasped for air and blinked his red eyes open only to see Todoroki sprawled out next to him, looking similarly winded.

“Shouto, Kacchan!” Midoriya shouted as he saw the two collide and briefly fought back the urge to go check on his boyfriend to ensure he was okay. No, he told himself, later.  

Kirishima looked over his shoulder to where he had heard Midoriya shout, where he spotted Bakugou and Todoroki sprawled out on the ground. He paused and turned back to go check on both of them and make sure no one was seriously hurt.

“Kirishima!” Todoroki choked out, still trying to catch the breath that had been knocked out of him. “Go! To the gate!”

“Deku! Get the damn flag back while I take care of half-n-half!” Bakugou ordered from where he was trying to get back up and catch his breath. 

Take care of...damn it, Kacchan! Midoriya thought with a growl. We talked about this!!

With another moment of hesitation, Kirishima finally decided to continue towards the north gate again when he spotted Midoriya hurrying towards him after casting another worried glance at the two. 

It wasn’t very difficult to catch up to Kirishima who still maintained his rocky exterior and Midoriya could tell it slowed him down considerably. As he reached the redhead, he sprang into the air above Kirishima. Aiming for the shoulder of the hand Kirishima had the flag in, Midoriya came hurtling downwards, his foot connecting with the hard rubber of Kirishima’s shoulder pauldron.

“Detroit Smash!” Midoriya roared as the other boy was knocked to the ground. Midoriya rolled away, finding his footing before grabbing for the flag in Kirishima’s hand. 

His hand closed around the nylon fabric of the flag and jumped to his feet. 

Across the clearing, Todoroki let out a breathy groan as he slowly sat up. He barely had enough time to raise a defensive wall of ice against the angry, exploding punch Bakugou aimed at him. Since when were his reflexes so slow? Endeavor would be spitting on him if he’d seen that.

But, the larger problem at hand was fighting in close combat with Bakugou, who was currently blasting himself into the air and over the ice wall Todoroki had erected, screaming at him like a feral beast.

“Why the hell did you run into me like that, you fucking idiot!?” Bakugou roared, sending off another warning explosion while he was still airbound. 

Raising another wall of ice to protect himself, Todoroki yelled back, “It wasn’t on purpose! Calm down, Bakugou!”

Bakugou landed hard enough to shake the earth before jumping into the air again, throwing another explosion that Todoroki blocked with his ice.

“USE YOUR FIRE, HALF-N-HALF!” the blond barked in a rage, coming at Todoroki from above again with an exploding punch.

Both boys turned towards the commotion of Bakugou screaming at the top of his lungs, realizing this fight had grown beyond just a class exercise. 

“Uh,” Kirishima hesitated when he realized Midoriya wasn’t immediately taking off with the recently captured flag and glanced back to where Todoroki and Bakugou were fighting. “What are we going to do about that?” Kirishima pulled himself up.

Midoriya looked down at the flag in his hand and back to where the scuffle was happening. 

“I don’t know, but I don’t think they’re worried about the flag anymore…we should probably do something.” 

“Like what? This is still a class exercise, but I don’t want to just ignore this. They’re seriously attacking each other.”

“We should step in,” Midoriya agreed. “Sometimes being a hero is about sticking your nose into places where you don’t belong.” Midoriya gave Kirishima a small smile. Kirishima nodded in agreement. 

“Any ideas?” Kirishima asked the other boy.

“Not any good ones, but…” Midoriya again looked down at the flag before closing the distance between him and Kirishima. He began tying the flag to Kirishima’s belt as he explained, “Maybe if Kacchan sees you with the flag, it could serve as a distraction. I’m not sure it’ll work, but we can try.” He tied the flag into a knot and his green eyes met Kirishima’s ruby ones. “We don’t want to get caught in the crossfire.”

“Any idea is better than no idea,” Kirishima said, looking off at the explosions in the distance. “Let’s go stop our idiot boyfriends from killing each other.” He attempted a light-hearted grin and Midoriya nodded as they both began to take off in the direction of the uproar.   

Todoroki kept blocking each punch with layer upon layer of ice, unable to gain the upper hand against Bakugou’s barrage of quick attacks. Bakugou’s fiery fist shattered the most recent ice wall and melted it into water droplets that evaporated into steam around them. Todoroki used the steam to his advantage, chilling the air until the moisture became ice again and surrounded Bakugou. It wouldn’t keep him trapped by any means, but it would slow him down by fractions of seconds that Todoroki could use to build some distance between them and better use his Quirk.

Bakugou blasted through the newest ice blockade just as easily as the first few, and now he was furious. “Fucking fight me instead of running away like a little bitch!” he roared, trying to egg the fire-ice user on. He knew Todoroki was pretty unflappable for the most part. If he could just trip his emotional trigger somehow, get him to use his fire the way Deku had during the sports festival…

Todoroki scowled at the angry blond, dodging yet another blast aimed at his face. He knew what Bakugou was doing, trying to get a rise out of him. But Todoroki had to be careful about using his fire, as he had pointed out to Kirishima earlier before the start of the exercise. He didn’t want to actually hurt anyone, let alone burn down the whole forest. But Bakugou clearly didn’t give a shit about the consequences of blasting everything into oblivion, going balls to the walls for a fight that Todoroki didn’t want to have.

Instead of defending as was his wont, Todoroki sent a full blizzard of icicles in Bakugou’s direction. Bakugou threw his arms up in front of himself, crossing his giant gauntlets to block the incoming storm from hitting his face or his chest. The icy knives tore through bits of Bakugou’s costume and speared his skin enough to draw blood. The first drops of blood in the fight.

Midoriya and Kirishima had just about reached the two boys when they saw the sharp ice slice through his skin. 

“Katsuki!” Kirishima screamed, surging forward to try and reach his boyfriend. 

Another path of ice materialized and Todoroki skated away from the explosions, which cut Kirishima’s path off. Todoroki circled around behind Bakugou and leapt into the air. 

Midoriya changed direction and followed Todoroki’s path to meet him as Kirishima went the other way, avoiding the ice walls to reach Bakugou.

Bakugou rolled out of the way just in time as Todoroki aimed a solid, downward kick right at the middle of his back. The blond snarled, his palms sparking. “Come on, icyhot! Fuckin’ Daddy ain’t here, so there’s no reason to hold back, you asshole! Just come at me with everything you’ve got already, goddammit!”

Todoroki felt like he had the wind knocked out of him far worse than when he’d hit the ground earlier. Every breath he tried to take in was white-hot and full of ire that burned down in the deepest part of him that he didn’t want unearthed. 

Hm. Maybe fighting fire with fire wasn’t such a bad idea.

At least, that’s what the cold and bruised part of Todoroki said as he unleashed a flurry of flames, incinerating every blade of grass in a perfect circle around him.

“Damn it!” Midoriya exclaimed, just barely dodging back as Todoroki’s flames erupted around the angry boy. “Kirishima-kun, you okay?!” he called across the area.

Kirishima barely had time to dodge himself, hardening his skin to protect himself from his teammate’s flames. Even through the coarse rock of his skin, he could feel the blistering hot temperatures of the fire. “I’m fine!” he called back to Midoriya. He tried to think of a way to bulldoze through the fire, but with how hot it was, he wasn’t sure his rock skin would be able to withstand it.

Deciding to find a new path to Bakugou and Todoroki, Kirishima began to work his way around the mounds of shattered ice to approach from a different direction. 

Bakugou let out a bloodthirsty roar and leapt for Todoroki, hands sparking and ready to explode. Todoroki raised another ice wall to block Bakugou’s line of vision, then escaped to the side and unleashed a blast of his own fire—his, not Endeavor’s—straight at Bakugou. There was a strange light in Todoroki’s eyes that Bakugou wasn’t used to seeing, a light that was reflective of the very flames headed right for him.

It then dawned on Bakugou that he really had no solid plan for how exactly to deal with the flames. So he went on the defensive, rolling out of the way to avoid being roasted alive. He unhooked a grenade from his belt and launched it at Todoroki, the resulting explosion sending the half-and-half boy flying right into the trunk of a tree with a loud thud that sounded painful. 

“Shouto!” Midoriya cried out, having seen Todoroki go flying past the tree line. He ran in between the trees, trying to find where his boyfriend had flown.

Barely noticing the distressed call of his given name, Todoroki slumped forward and staggered on his feet from the blow. A few droplets of blood crawled down from his forehead over his silvery eyebrow, coloring it red like his other brow. He hastily froze his index and middle fingers, closing up the cut on his forehead with his ice before dashing forward back into the clearing. Ice coated his right hand, hardening his fist into crystal. Fire raged from his left hand, licking at his skin in an almost loving way. Using both sides at the same time definitely slowed him down, but he didn’t care about his speed anymore. All he cared about was using his full power to put Bakugou in his place.

And he would do it without losing complete control over his fire. He’d been training hard and was sure his efforts would pay off in this fight.

Bakugou mirrored Todoroki’s actions, surging forward, hands crackling. He smirked, knowing how much of a toll Todoroki’s Quirks took on his body. He had the speed advantage now. With a gloved hand, he grabbed for Todoroki’s face, intent on exploding him enough to leave him unconscious. Then he could truly claim superiority over Todoroki, not like his bullshit victory at the sports festival.

A knocked out half-and-half would be a much more gratifying sight this time around.

The fire-and-ice user seemed to cotton onto what Bakugou was planning because he shoved Bakugou’s gauntlet away just seconds before he let loose an explosion that might have taken off Todoroki’s face, or at the very least made his face symmetrical. Instead, Bakugou only managed to singe some of Todoroki’s bangs. 

Just as the blast cleared there was a blur of energy that flew between them, catching Todoroki and pushing him back. 

“Stay out of this, Deku!” Bakugou roared. Midoriya stumbled on his landing, rolling with Todoroki, trying to keep him unharmed from his abrupt intervention. As soon as they had crashed to the ground, Midoriya leapt to his feet and stood in front of Todoroki like a human shield. 

“That’s enough, Kacchan!” Midoriya shouted hoarsely. “Both of you,” Midoriya looked back at Todoroki who was still looking agitated. “This is a class exercise! Not some…some grudge match!” 

“I don’t give a fuck!” Bakugou shouted as he charged forward again. Midoriya braced himself against his own teammate and deflected Bakugou’s direct attack aimed at both of them. 

“You can’t fix everything by blowing it up!” Midoriya continued as Todoroki stood and placed a firm hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder. 

“Yeah?” Bakugou righted himself, gearing up for another go at his classmates. Just as Bakugou launched himself forward, Kirishima moved into Bakugou’s path, hardening his body to deflect Bakugou’s firepower. 

“Katsuki!” Kirishima cried as he restrained Bakugou the best he could. “Dude, come on,” he pleaded. 

“Get the fuck off of me, shitty hair!” Bakugou screamed, unleashing another barrage of explosions, which Kirishima had braced for. 

“Fuck…” Kirishima hissed and before either of them realized the flag that was tied to Kirishima’s belt had caught fire from Bakugou’s explosions. Kirishima jumped back in surprise, his grip on Bakugou loosening as he tried to pat out the fire. For the briefest of moments, Bakugou hesitated, watching in horror as the flames began to climb up towards Kirishima’s exposed skin. He knew Kirishima would most likely be able to prevent himself from burning with his Quirk but he knew he had used a good amount of stamina just to hold him back and terror pooled in the pit of his stomach. 

“Kirishima-kun!” Midoriya gasped, surging forward to help his friend pat out the fire that was quickly consuming the flag at Kirishima’s hip.

Todoroki darted past both Midoriya and Kirishima, charging right at Bakugou. 

“Stop being so damn reckless, you idiot! Don’t drag them into this!” Todoroki delivered an iced punch right to Bakugou’s cheek, belatedly hoping the cracking sound was the ice on his fist and not Bakugou’s skull. Bakugou dropped like a fly, a bit dazed from the hit but still aware of his surroundings well enough to dodge the flaming roundhouse kick that would have probably knocked him out. Ducking low, he shot forward and tackled Todoroki’s right leg, the one that kept him balanced, and Todoroki hit the ground a second time that day, knocking the wind right out of him.

Then, an idea struck Bakugou. If he could keep Todoroki pinned, keep his Quirk subdued long enough to run out the timer, then he’d be—

“Katsuki!” Kirishima cried, rushing forward to grab Bakugou again. Bakugou looked up for a moment to see Kirishima charging his way.

The momentary distraction was all the gap Todoroki needed to knee Bakugou right in the stomach and shove him off. The blond hit the ground with a grunt, wheezing slightly from the attack. But it didn’t do much aside from pissing him off even more.

Todoroki was on his feet in a whirl of snow and flames, combining each side of his Quirk together to produce enough opaque steam to hide and gain some distance between Bakugou and himself.

Red eyes glared through the steam, searching for the bastard. “Coward!” Bakugou yelled, gleering in every direction for any sign of Todoroki. He couldn’t have gotten away that fast.

Hearing a small shuffle to his right, Bakugou fired up a blast and sent it flying in the direction of the noise. The explosion hit Todoroki square in the chest, the heat tearing at the exposed skin right along his collarbone. Todoroki let out a cry of pain and slumped forward on his knees, moving his right hand to his chest to cool the burn.

Bakugou appeared from the clearing steam, yelling out another battle cry and raising his hand for another blast. Going on the defensive, Todoroki walled himself off from Bakugou with his ice to buy himself more time to recover.

Bakugou pounded on the ice until it splintered, just like all the times previously, but Todoroki was ready. With a flaming hand, he reached for Bakugou’s arm and pulled hard, flipping the blond over and onto the ground and leaving a few red fingerprints on the bare skin of Bakugou’s upper arm.

“You’ll fuckin’ pay for that!” Bakugou screamed, barely registering his own injuries as he shot up from the ground with some help from his blasty powers. He’d wanted a full-on fight but now he was just angry, even though he got exactly what he wanted. 

Foregoing his Quirk altogether for the moment, Bakugou lunged for the icyhot boy and tackled him to the ground. They rolled around across the burned grass, trying to throw punches and kicks that were missing their targets entirely. It was becoming less of a test of Quirks and more like a desperate cat fight, both boys trying to wail on each other with the last of their energy.

Bakugou ended up on top, his knees on either side of Tororoki’s torso, pinning the boy down with every ounce of strength left in his muscles. The blond had his gloved hands clamped around each of Todoroki's forearms to keep the other boy immobilized. With the reinforcements of Bakugou’s gloves and gauntlets, it wasn’t likely that Todoroki could do something sneaky like burn or frostbite his hands just to get free.

“I win, half-n-half,” Bakugou sneered.

Todoroki glared daggers with his mismatched eyes, his lips twisting into a faint smirk. “Are you sure about that?” he asked, punctuating his question by twisting his legs enough for leverage to turn the tables and flip Bakugou onto his back. Before Bakugou could think of fighting back, Todoroki froze Bakugou’s arm to the ground so he was stuck in place. Slowly rising to his feet, Todoroki stared coolly down at the seething blond beneath him.

“Checkmate,” Todoroki declared, his breath coming out in a cloud of frost.

And then Todoroki started swaying on his feet, dizziness overcoming him and tinting the edges of his vision black. His eyes fluttered shut and with a breath that caught in his throat, he dropped to the ground motionless.

“Shouto!” Midoriya cried. He dashed over to his fallen boyfriend, his heart pounding in his chest with dread.

Bakugou thrashed about, screaming profanities that would make grown adults cry, tears of rage crawling down his bruised cheek. He finally stopped trying to fight when he felt gentle hands on his face.

“Babe, stop, it’s done,” Kirishima said softly, his thumbs wiping at his boyfriend’s unbidden tears.

The blond let out a short gasp that could have been a sob, wrenching his eyes shut in frustration.

With a somewhat sad smile, Kirishima hardened his fist to break the ice restraining Bakugou. He helped Bakugou to his feet, trying to shush him as Bakugou grumbled more profanities at the unconscious Todoroki, who was being tended to by his own boyfriend.

“Fucking asshole…” Bakugou growled out before his eyes rolled back into his head and he slumped against Kirishima, passed out.

“You idiot,” Kirishima chided affectionately as he was pulled off balance and collapsed onto the ground with Bakugou. 

The klaxon sounded once more to let them know the exercise was over and their teacher’s exhausted voice came over the intercom. 

“Stay where you are, we’ll send escorts to get the injured back to Recovery Girl,” Aizawa sighed. 

“Thank god,” Kirishima sighed as he relaxed a bit. “How is Todoroki?” Kirishima called over to where Midoriya was. 

“Unconscious but alive,” Midoriya replied weakly. “How about Kacchan?”

“Same here,” Kirishima called. “God, scared the shit out of me,” Kirishima breathed as he settled next to Bakugou, gently touched his boyfriend’s face, his fingers ghosting the nasty bruise starting to form on his cheek. “I can’t believe Todoroki used his fire here in the forest. He must be getting better at controlling it, considering only patches of the ground were burned.” 

“Y-yeah, he’s been working on it,” Midoriya confirmed also settling beside Todoroki, keeping an eye out for Aizawa. 

“It’s impressive,” Kirishima admitted as he gently ran a hand through Bakugou’s hair.

There was a rustling from the treeline and Midoriya and Kirishima looked up to see their teacher coming towards them.

“Aizawa-sensei!” Kirishima called in relief. 

Their teacher gave them an exhausted sigh in response as he gestured for the stretcher-bots to head towards the injured students.  Kirishima and Midoriya helped load their unconscious boyfriends onto the stretchers. 

“We’re really sorry, Aizawa-sensei,” Kirishima bowed his head. “We didn’t complete the exercise…” Kirishima held up the ashen remains of the flag.

“It’s all right,” Aizawa sighed, taking the flag remains from Kirishima. “I expected something like this. I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case, but…to be honest I didn’t think it’d be Todoroki and Bakugou.”

Midoriya fidgeted as he felt Aizawa’s gaze shift to him. 

“Anyway,” Aizawa continued with another exhausted sigh. “I do want to commend you both on trying to step in and control the situation. You both tried to stop the fight, and in turn, prevented even further damage to your surroundings...and prevented Bakugou and Todoroki from hurting each other further.”

Midoriya and Kirishima both flushed a little, rubbing the backs of their necks. Sure, it was great hearing such positive feedback from their typically hardass teacher, but…

They both still couldn’t help but feel like they should have done more.

“And you, Midoriya…” Aizawa gave him a pointed look. “You’re getting better at controlling your Quirk. Keep at it, okay?”

Midoriya gave a thankful nod, remaining quiet under Aizawa’s praise.

“Uhm, Aizawa-sensei…” Kirishima kept glancing at the path the stretchers disappeared down.

“I know it’s tempting for you to accompany the other two to Recovery Girl’s office, but I’d prefer if you stayed and watched the rest of the exercises. At least to make up for the failed exercise here.”

“Y-Yeah, of course.” Kirishima nodded. 

“You can go visit them once the class is over,” Aizawa added in a softer voice. “I’m sure they’d appreciate your company after this.” 

“Th-thanks,” Midoriya nodded. 

Midoriya paced anxiously in the hallway in front of Recovery Girl’s office. He was relieved that today’s practical exercises left him without any broken bones, but felt awful about the state both Bakugou and Todoroki had ended up in.  

Midoriya was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of another student hurrying down the hallway. He looked up, relieved to see Kirishima sprinting towards him. As much as Midoriya had been anxious to see Todoroki after class, he had been especially nervous about being there when Bakugou woke up. At least if Kirishima was there, he’d act as a bit of a buffer. 

“Sorry, I meant to walk down here with you earlier, but I got held up by Kaminari. They haven’t woken up yet, have they?” Kirishima asked as he caught his breath. 

“No, I think we would have heard if they had,” Midoriya chuckled to himself.

“True.” Kirishima visibly relaxed at the news. “Man, today was awful,” Kirishima sighed as he shrugged off his backpack to place at his feet. “At least Aizawa-sensei wasn’t too harsh on us. But I mean yeah, I should have expected it, Katsuki’s been kind of…in a mood anyway since Kamino…uh, and your fight,” Kirishima muttered. Midoriya nodded, not sure what to say in response.

“Yeah…” Midoriya muttered and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Listen, I know ever since you and Katsuki fought, something changed…he’s—I guess—trying to be not as awful to you? I don’t know what happened between you two that night, he still won’t talk about it…”

Midoriya swallowed loudly, feeling terrible that this secret of his was now putting a strain on Bakugou’s relationships.  Of course, he couldn’t say much of anything to Todoroki, either, which Midoriya also felt terrible about. However, he knew that the truth about his Quirk still had to be kept between All Might, himself, and, now, Bakugou. 

“I’m sorry, Kirishima-kun,” Midoriya apologized.

“No, no, need to apologize. I know there’s a lot of…something between you guys. You guys really have been friends practically your entire lives, right?” Kirishima assured him. 

“I dunno about ‘friends,’” Midoriya muttered under his breath.

“Well, you’ve known each other that long…grew up in the same neighborhood is what Katsuki said…uh, anyway, it’s none of my business, it’s fine,” Kirishima explained with his usual smile, showing his pointed teeth. He didn’t seem bothered by it, which allowed Midoriya to feel a little relieved. “I just…I’m glad is all. I know he’s been awful to you since the beginning of the year. Probably before that too.” 

“I-I’m used to it,” Midoriya explained, waving off Kirishima’s worry. It was kind of him to think about it, but it wasn’t his issue to worry about, even if he was dating Bakugou. It wasn’t his job to fix Bakugou’s behavior, but maybe Bakugou had mellowed out a bit because of it. Of course, Midoriya wasn’t sure if it was because of his new relationship with the redhead or if it was due to the Kamino incident, or if it was a mix of both.

“No, you shouldn’t be used to it, Midoriya.” Kirishima shook his head, his expression going serious for a moment. 

“It’s okay, Kirishima-kun. I don’t expect you to do anything about it, it’s okay, really,” Midoriya pleaded with him, feeling guilty that Bakugou was now dragging Kirishima into their twisted friendship. 

“It’s not about wanting to do it out of obligation or something like that…I just think you’re really cool, Midoriya, and it’d be fun to hang out with you! But whenever Katsuki’s around, you can’t really enjoy yourself, which really sucks.”

“O-Oh, that’s really kind of you, Kirishima-kun!” Midoriya blushed profusely. He’d always loved how earnest and enthusiastic Kirishima was. “I think you’re really cool too.” Midoriya grinned sheepishly. 

“Yeah?” Kirishima perked up, seeming excited that Midoriya felt the same. He wished he could do something for Midoriya and Bakugou. Their relationship was strained at best, but he knew that it was an important relationship for both of them if the past few weeks told him anything. 

Maybe there was a way he could help Bakugou with his tenuous relationship with Midoriya, and even his relationship with Todoroki.

 “Hey…uh, maybe, this Sunday we should go out together,” Kirishima suggested earnestly. 

“Wh-what?” Midoriya stuttered, confused by what Kirishima meant. 

“You, me, Katsuki and Todoroki,” Kirishima elaborated, committing to the idea that had popped into his head. He nodded towards Recovery Girl’s room. “Y’know it’s going to be pretty crazy now that the term has started again and there’s talk of those internships…both of them are going to be starting their supplemental lessons soon…it just might be nice to go out and enjoy one of the last few weekends of summer together, yknow?”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Midoriya gave him a hesitant smile. “I mean, after today, it’s gonna be difficult for them to even be in the same classroom let alone out being social together.” 

“Erm, well…yeah. I should probably ask Katsuki first,” Kirishima nervously scratched the back of his head. 

“Probably a good idea,” Midoriya chuckled nervously. “It would be nice, though,” Midoriya agreed, but couldn’t imagine Kacchan spending time with any of them just because Kirishima wanted to. “We’ll do our best!”

“Yeah!" Kirishima told him. Before they could suss out any more details the door to the office opened and Recovery Girl stood in the doorway, giving them a wary look. 

“Sorry! Were we being too loud?” Kirishima immediately apologized. “Are they awake?” 

Before Recovery Girl could say anything, an extremely distinguishable shout came from inside the room. 

“Oi!” Bakugou roared. “Wake up, bastard! We need to finish things!” 

“Come in, come in,” Recovery Girl sighed, waving them inside. Kirishima collected his backpack and stepped forward into the doorway of the office where he was nearly hit by a pillow pitched by his head. He lifted his backpack belatedly as a shield to fend off the airborne pillow. 

“What the…” Kirishima frowned and followed the trajectory back to his boyfriend, who was sitting on the bed looking pissed off. Another pillow was on the ground at the foot of Todoroki’s bed. 

Midoriya stepped into the office past Kirishima and scooped the pillow up before throwing it back at Bakugou, where it hit him squarely in the face, his reaction time slowed by his injuries.

“Fuck off!” Bakugou shouted.  Kirishima went to Bakugou’s side with a sigh and a shake of his head, and Midoriya came around Todoroki's bed and reached for the curtain. He gave a pointed look to Bakugou before pulling the curtain shut between the two beds. Once both boys were situated with their respective boyfriends, the school nurse retreated to her desk and opened up a new window on her computer. The sound of sporadic typing filled the room.

“What the fuck are you and Deku doing here?” Bakugou growled at Kirishima, much of the vitriol from ten seconds ago mysteriously absent from his voice. In fact, he seemed a little relieved to see his boyfriend. Kirishima smiled, glad that Bakugou was okay and even a little happy to see him. 

“Of course we’re here, dude! You and Todoroki are hurt!” Kirishima put his backpack down on the ground and sat on the bed. “We were worried!” 

Bakugou grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.

“Dude, your hands look awful,” Kirishima commented, gently pulled at Bakugou’s elbow to unfold his arms so he could examine his injuries. Kirishima gently stroked Bakugou’s knuckles, grimacing as he inspected the scrapes and burns that poked out under the gauze. 

“Yeah, no shit. Half-n-half nearly blew me to pieces,” Bakugou glared daggers at the curtain separating him from the still unconscious Todoroki. “Fuckin’ asshole,” he hissed, sticking his bottom lip out in a pout.

Bakugou then lifted his gaze to Kirishima and looked him over carefully. 

“What’s with that look?” Kirishima asked. 

“Are you okay?” Bakugou asked in a strangely quiet voice. 

“Yeah, dude!” Kirishima grinned. When Bakugou didn’t look satisfied with his response, Kirishima sighed. “I’m okay, I wasn’t hurt,” Kirishima assured him, quietly. “C’mon, are you ready to get back to the dorms?” Kirishima asked. “I brought your uniform,” he added, gesturing to his backpack.

“Yeah, I don’t want to be here when that bastard wakes up,” Bakugou grumbled as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Or I’ll kick his ass.” 

Kirishima snorted as he handed Bakugou his shoes, amazed at the irony of his boyfriend’s declaration. “Hey, it was just a class exercise.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bakugou grumbled as he shoved his feet into his shoes. “How’d either of us score?”

“Uh, I think you’ll have to talk to Aizawa-sensei about your grade.” 

“Damn it,” Bakugou groaned and rolled his eyes.

“C’mon, let’s just head back to the dorms and try not to think about it tonight, yeah?” Kirishima offered a hand to help him onto his feet.

“Okay,” Bakugou agreed reluctantly, taking Kirishima’s hand.

“Okay!” Kirishima grinned. “Hey, Midoriya,” he called over the curtain, “I’ll text you later about this weekend!” 

“Sounds good, Kirishima-kun!” Midoriya replied, a bit quieter.

“This weekend?” Bakugou frowned. “What’s this weekend?”

“Let’s go, we’ll talk about it,” Kirishima gently tugged Bakugou’s hand as he led him out of the room.

“Eijirou,” Bakugou hissed under his breath almost like a warning and it sent chills down Midoriya’s spine, but Kirishima laughed it off and the door closed behind them. Midoriya groaned inwardly, wishing he hadn’t agreed to Kirishima’s insane plan. This was ridiculous, only a few hours ago Shouto and Kacchan were at each other’s throats…and now Kirishima-kun wanted to go out with them? Together!?

“What is this weekend?” Todoroki asked softly and Midoriya jumped, not realizing Todoroki was awake. 

“Oh, Sh-Shouto! Uh, Kirishima-kun wanted to go out with all of us this weekend.” 

“All of class 1-A?” Todoroki asked, stifling a yawn. “That sounds…chaotic.” 

“No, no,” Midoriya shook his head. “Us meaning you, me, Kirishima-kun, and Kacchan.” 

Todoroki bristled, still bitter about the comment Bakugou had made to him in the throes of battle. He also wasn’t too pleased that the blasty boy had gone after Midoriya, and even almost hurt his own boyfriend. Kirishima didn’t deserve that. “After what just happened? Why?” Todoroki frowned, wincing as he sat up. Midoriya helped ease him up so he wouldn’t hurt himself.

“He was thinking…y’know since Kacchan is apparently trying to be nicer to me…he wants us to, I dunno, bond more as a group? I think he meant it as a double date.” Midoriya realized with a blush. “But after today I don’t imagine you’d probably want to…” 

After a moment of contemplation, Todoroki reminded him, “I visit my mother on Sundays.” 

“Oh! Yes, of course, I can’t believe I forgot,” Midoriya muttered to himself, feeling a bit of relief at finding a plausible reason to not go with Kirishima and Bakugou. “Then we don’t have to go, of course not. You should go and see your mother.” 

“I can always go visit her after class, on Saturday,” Todoroki suggested. “I just have to give the hospital some notice.” The half-and-half boy then reached for Midoriya’s hand with his bandaged left one, giving it a light squeeze. “I’ll have to start going on Saturdays, anyway, once classes for my provisional license start up…”

“O-Oh, yeah, that’s right!” Midoriya said, squeezing Todoroki’s hand in return. The gauze felt rough against his skin.

They both sat in silence for a few moments, until Todoroki piped up nervously, “Do you really think it’s a good idea? Going out with Kirishima and Bakugou, I mean.”

The green-haired boy regarded his boyfriend with an uncertain smile. “To be honest, I’m really not sure myself. It sounds like it could be fun, but after today...I just don’t know.” Then, Midoriya let out a small laugh despite himself. “Besides, you did kick Kacchan’s ass, which he’s definitely not happy about. He was yelling at you when we got here.”

Todoroki’s shoulders tensed and he stared down at his bent knees, heterochromatic eyes squinting, missing the humor of the situation. “I shouldn’t have done that…” He swallowed hard, withdrawing his hand from Midoriya’s to glare at it for betraying him. “Even if he is an asshole, it still wasn’t right of me to rise to the bait like that. I knew exactly what he was doing, too, and I still fell for it.” Todoroki was outright scowling now, his lips twisted almost into a snarl as he clenched his left hand into a fist, steam rising from his skin through the bandages.

“Hey, hey,” Midoriya cut in, laying both of his hands atop Todoroki’s. “Don’t beat yourself up about it. Acknowledge that it happened and learn from it, y’know?” 

Todoroki pursed his lips. “I just...don’t want to be like him.”

The pronoun was said with enough hate that Todoroki couldn’t have meant anyone else but his father.

Reaching up to Todoroki’s cheek, Midoriya turned his boyfriend’s head to look at him face-to-face. “You aren’t, and you never will be,” Midoriya said firmly, planting a reassuring kiss on Todoroki’s mouth. “Just the fact that you’re worried about it is proof enough that you’re nothing like him.”

“I guess you’re right…” Todoroki conceded, averting his gaze.

“Also,” Midoriya continued, still intent on trashing Endeavor. “He doesn’t ever feel remorse for hurting someone, even his own family.” He stared pointedly at his boyfriend. “I’m...not a fan.”

Todoroki gave him a small smile at the remark and gently tugged Midoriya closer and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. Midoriya smiled against Todoroki’s lips and reached his other hand up to cradle his face and press deeper into the kiss, his right hand feeling the intense heat under his fingertips, then a chill in his left hand. Midoriya chuckled as he pulled away, finding Todoroki’s inability to regulate his body temperature when he was embarrassed extremely endearing.

“You have notebooks with every detail about him and every other pro-hero out there.” Todoroki cocked his head as he pulled away. “You’re not a fan?”

“Just because I have every detail about him written down, doesn’t mean I’m a fan fan.” Midoriya shrugged nonchalantly. “It means when the time comes, I’ll be able to dethrone him and take his place as the number one hero,” Midoriya said with a teasing smile. "Honestly, I think we'll all feel more at peace without him at number one." 

Todoroki gave him a small but genuine smile, which made Midoriya’s heart rate nearly triple. 

“Not if I take the title of number one first,” Todoroki teased gently. 

“We’ll have a rematch to determine the number one hero spot. I have a lot better control of my Quirk now than I did during the sports festival.” 

“I look forward to it,” Todoroki said. “But I suppose I’d rather you take the title of number one hero anyway. Too many public appearances to keep up with if you’re number one, and if you were number one, you know…All Might's secret love child, it’d probably piss him off even more.” 

"Sh-Shouto!" Midoriya sputtered in surprise.

“All right, all right, if you’re feeling better now, Todoroki-kun, it’s time for you to head back to the dorms,” Recovery Girl said, pulling the curtain aside to stare pointedly but warmly at the two boys.

Midoriya nearly jumped, forgetting she was still there. 

“Y-Yes, of course!” Midoriya stood up and bowed, feeling embarrassment rising in his chest and warming his cheeks. Todoroki gingerly pulled himself out of the bed and grabbed his things before also bowing to the school nurse and thanking her for her healing. 

“Oh, my costume,” Todoroki said, realizing he was still in his hero getup. He noted the rips and tears in the fabric, evidence of his fight with Bakugou.

“Don’t worry, I brought your uniform with me so you could change before we go back to the dorms,” Midoriya said, following Todoroki out of the office. He felt Todoroki reach for his hand with the hand that wasn’t bandaged…his right. Midoriya squeezed it back before bringing the hand to his face and pressing his cheek against the cool skin. Todoroki leaned some of his weight against Midoriya as they headed to the locker room, balancing his head atop Midoriya’s mess of green curls and letting out a tired but content sigh.

Kirishima was relieved that when they returned to the dorms, no one questioned them when they didn't hang around very long in the dorm common space. Everyone was probably relieved with what a mood Bakugou was in.

Ashido asked after Midoriya and Todoroki and Kirishima shrugged, letting her know they were still at Recovery Girl's office when they left.

"Now are you going to tell me what the hell you were talking to Deku about?" Bakugou asked as he let them into his dorm room.

Once inside, Bakugou shed his gym uniform, opting for his usual t-shirt and slouchy jogger sweatpants. Kicking his gym uniform out of the way, Bakugou went and face planted into his bed. Kirishima had already dropped his bag on the floor and sat down at the foot of the bed. 

“Just an idea I had,” Kirishima pulled his notebook to review his notes and get a start on their homework. 

“What idea, shitty hair?” Bakugou spoke into his pillow muffling his voice.

“Maybe we can go out on Sunday afternoon.”

Bakugou rolled onto his side to look at Kirishima at the end of the bed.

“‘We’ as in you and me?”

“‘We’ as in Midoriya, Todoroki, you, and me.”

“Why the fuck would we do that? There is no way I’m going out with half-n-half and that shitty nerd after today.”

“Yeah, today sucked, but it’s only going to get worse between you and Midoriya and Todoroki if you don’t do something about it.”

“So what?” Bakugou muttered.

"Dude, will you even consider it?” Kirishima asked, lowering his notes and looking up at Bakugou.

“For the last time, I am not going on a double date with you, Deku, and that icyhot bastard!”

“Listen, after your fight with Midoriya, you were all kinds of messed up. And now you’re fighting with Todoroki…if I'm right, it has to do with Kamino and All Might, doesn't it?”

"You don't know anything.”

“You don't have to talk about it, if you don’t want to,” Kirishima said as if it were the thousandth time he'd told Bakugou. “I’m just trying to help you.” 

“Help annoy the shit out of me is more like it,” Bakugou argued. “You’re my boyfriend, not my mother.” 

Kirishima rolled his eyes. 

“I just feel like we all need the chance to go out and have fun before we get too far into the term.” 

“We can have fun just the two of us,” Bakugou suggested, blushing a bit and avoiding Kirishima’s gaze by turning his face back into the pillow. 

“If you keep isolating yourself it’s going to make things worse. I’m not gonna make you talk to Midoriya and Todoroki about…about your feelings or anything like that,” Kirishima snorted to himself. “But if we went out and did something fun at the same time and same place as them…maybe it’ll make things a little easier going forward this semester…be on better terms with them. You don’t have to be best friends with them but…you know you’re going to have supplemental classes with Todoroki. You don’t want to spend the entire term going to classes with him while being pissed at him. Unless you really do enjoy being pissed all the time.” 

“Maybe I do,” Bakugou said, muffled by his pillow.

“Don’t be distracted by it though. If you fail your supplemental classes because of a stupid grudge you have with Todoroki…” 

“Shut up,” Bakugou rolled onto his back to stare up at the ceiling. “I’m gonna pass those classes easily—grudge, or no grudge.” 

“Okay, okay. Anyway, you told me to go back to my usual self after Kamino. I want you back to your usual self too.”

"Who says I'm not back to my usual self?" Bakugou grumbled.

“Says your boyfriend who has had a crush on you for the past four months. I think I have a pretty good idea of what constitutes 'normal Bakugou' by this point.” 

“Whatever,” Bakugou sighed, but the smirk on his face told Kirishima that he was slightly amused by Kirishima’s claim. Kirishima gave him a triumphant grin as he abandoned his notes to crawl up the bed and straddle Bakugou’s waist and planted his hands on either side of Bakugou’s head. He'd only done this once before, but his favorite thing was that Bakugou actually let him do it. The boy who refused to have anyone above him. Kirishima smiled to himself.

“God, you’re heavy as fuck, Ei,” Bakugou groaned as he put his hands on Kirishima’s hips to brace himself. “Is this what I get for dating a literal human rock?”

“Shut up,” Kirishima grinned down at him. “It’s all muscle,” Kirishima boasted.

Bakugou rolled his eyes and he hooked his thumbs through Kirishima’s belt loops. 

“Now, c’mon, don’t get off-topic here. This weekend. We’ll go for an hour, two at the most. We can tell them I still need to study for the test on Monday and ditch them and go do something else.”

“Like actually study for the test on Monday?”

“No way, I'll study before that so we can have all day on Sunday.”

“If that's true, I'll buy us dinner. If you still have to study, you're paying and we're getting it to-go so we can come back here and finish studying.”

“It's a deal.” Kirishima agreed with a grin before Bakugou pushed himself up to kiss Kirishima. 

“Now, get off, I’m hurt, dumbass.” Bakugou pushed him away. 

“Oh, shit,” Kirishima hissed as he rolled off of Bakugou clumsily and he checked Bakugou’s bandages. “Sorry, sorry, are you okay?”

“Quit it,” Bakugou waved his hands away. 

“Do you want me to kiss them to make them feel better?” Kirishima teased him, realizing Bakugou was really okay and just wanted an excuse to be pissy. Kirishima giving Bakugou a wide, sharp-toothed smile. 

“I’ll kill you.” 

“I love you, too, babe,” Kirishima laughed, pressing another quick kiss to the corner of Bakugou’s scowl.

The rest of the week passed quickly and before they knew it, it was Saturday evening. Midoriya gave a content sigh as he sat slumped against Todoroki’s left side. Todoroki’s arm was around Midoriya’s shoulder, shrouding the smaller boy with warmth. The two of them were on Midoriya’s bed, leaning against the wall with their feet dangling off the side. Well, Todoroki’s feet were dangling off the side; Midoriya had his legs curled up underneath him for easier cuddling into his boyfriend. They hadn’t had much time to see each other aside from class, because Todoroki left to see his mother as soon as school was over for the day. 

They were supposed to be doing homework, but Midoriya was much more interested in hearing how Todoroki’s visit with his mother went. He always loved how soft Todoroki’s expression was when he talked about his mother, often smiling in that subdued way of his. It made Midoriya feel warm on the inside.

“I talked to her about what happened in class the other day,” Todoroki said, idly stroking Midoriya’s shoulder with his thumb. 

Midoriya stiffened a little. “Y-you did...ah...what, what did she say?” he muttered into Todoroki’s collarbone.

Todoroki didn’t answer at first, sucking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly through his nose. He pulled Midoriya a smidge closer, laying his head atop his boyfriend’s mess of green curls. “She...said it might be a good idea to go on this, er...outing we have planned.”

“She did?” Midoriya asked, shocked.

A snort of laughter ruffled Midoriya’s hair. “I was kinda surprised, too, when she said that. Considering, well...you know.” Todoroki willed the tension away that had started taking root in his muscles. “But I had told her how guilty I felt for hurting Bakugou. Even if he started the whole thing, even if he kinda deserved it,” Todoroki said with a slight smirk that quickly morphed into a frown. “Either way, it was wrong of me and I’m upset with myself for hurting him…for stooping to his level.” He balled his right hand into a fist, glaring at the bruises that had formed on his knuckles from punching Bakugou in the face. 

“So...why did she say it was a good idea?” Midoriya prompted, nuzzling his nose against the bare, burned skin where Todoroki’s uniform shirt was unbuttoned at the neck. 

“Well…” Todoroki dropped his hand back to his lap and sighed. “She said it might be a good opportunity to apologize...make amends. I think I should.”

Midoriya hummed, delivering a tiny kiss to Todoroki’s new burn. “Okay, then. If that’s what you want to do, we’ll do it.”

Todoroki smiled and laid a kiss of his own to the top of Midorya’s head.

The two of them settled in, watching various hero theory videos on YouTube when Midoriya’s phone chimed alerting him to a new text message. He opened his phone and saw the new text message was from Kirishima. 

hey! katsuki’s agreed to go tomorrow if u guys are still up for it! how does the arcade sound?

Following the kana was a string of vaguely excited-looking emojis resembling Crimson Riot, as well as a few punching fists. Midoriya chuckled.

“Kirishima?” Todoroki asked as he glanced over at Midoriya’s phone, seeing the Crimson Riot emojis. 

“Mn,” Midoriya hummed in the affirmative. “Sounds like Kacchan actually agreed to go. They want to know if the arcade sounds good.”

“Okay,” Todoroki seemed to relax a little bit. “Yeah, we can do that.”  

“That should be fun.” Midoriya smiled as he replied to the text. 

sounds good! shouto and i are fine with that. what time do you want to meet?

Midoriya added a couple emojis of his own to his reply, though it was far less than Kirishima’s. One was a simple thumbs-up, and the other was of All Might’s grinning face.

Kirishima’s reply was near instantaneous.

15:00 outside the dorms? 

Midoriya grinned down at the multiple flexing arm emojis Kirishima had included in his reply. 

perfect!! see you guys then!

Midoriya put his phone away and settled in beside Todoroki for some more videos about how Best Jeanist kept his hair so perfect all the time. 

Kirishima grinned at his phone before putting it down and turning back to his books that were spread out over Bakugou’s bed. Bakugou sat at the head of the bed with a single notebook in his lap and a pen in hand. 

“Done setting up our nerd date for tomorrow?” Bakugou asked, barely looking up. 

“Yep, they’re good to go to the arcade,” Kirishima grinned. “That won’t be so bad right?”

“Nope,” Bakugou agreed. “I can kick both their asses at any game in the arcade.” 

“I know, that’s why I picked it so you can have something of a good time. So, does that mean you’ll try to not be awful tomorrow?” 

“Only if you finish studying,” Bakugou avoided the question. 

“Hell yeah, ‘cause you’re buyin’ me dinner tomorrow night,” Kirishima grinned with a small wiggle as he pulled a textbook towards him. Bakugou snorted. 

“Cute how you think that’s gonna happen. No matter how much you cram into that brain of yours tonight, you’re not gonna be ready for the test,” Bakugou told him. Regardless of what he said, he knew Kirishima could do it if he just focused for longer than two minutes at a time. 

However…the selfish part of him wanted Kirishima to need to study again tomorrow night. He didn’t want to be stuck with Deku and the icyhot bastard all evening long. If they at least had the excuse of studying, they could duck out early and enjoy an evening to themselves, which was far more appealing. 

“We’re gonna be sitting right here tomorrow night eating take-away food—that you bought for us—studying again. Then—maybe then, you’ll be ready for the test,” Bakugou told him.

“Try to have some faith in me, man!” Kirishima sighed. “Though I suppose that doesn’t sound too bad either. I like studying with you…and I’m pretty sure the reverse is true too.” 

“If you put as much effort into studying as you did with flirting, you’d be acing the tests, now c’mon, Ei, focus. ” Bakugou rolled his eyes, but Kirishima could see a clear blush spreading across his face. Kirishima felt a wave of satisfaction wash over him. Kirishima pushed his textbook away from him again, moving his notes and supplies away before moving to collapse next to Bakugou on the bed.

“How about you read your notes to me?” Kirishima turned and poked Katsuki in the thigh as he settled his head on the pillow at the head of the bed. “I’ll probably understand it better if you explain it to me.” 

“...Fine, just don’t fall asleep, okay?” Bakugou agreed as he flipped back a couple of pages to find his notes from the beginning of the unit, which also recapped a lot of what they’d learned last term.

After reading the summary of the main points that were going to be covered, Bakugou heard a soft snore. 

“You’re shitting me,” Bakugou muttered to himself, but he smiled. Even though Kirishima had been staying in his room more and more at night, something about seeing Kirishima fast asleep and relaxed on his bed still stirred something in the pit of his stomach. A small voice in his head told him it was the pure adoration and affection he had felt for the other boy for a while, and another part of his brain told him it was ridiculous and he was probably just getting sick. Yeah, that was it. No stupid boyfriend was going to turn him soft and make him act like a stupid kid with a crush. 

Bakugou tossed the notebook to the end of the bed and turned off the bedside lamp. His overhead light was still on but he didn’t want to wake Kirishima by getting up to turn it off. Cautiously repositioning himself, he laid down beside the other boy and closed his eyes briefly listening to Kirishima’s breathing. His brain suddenly told him that the soft snort that came from Kirishima was…downright adorable.

Goddamn it, he was infatuated.