Chapter Text
( .prologue. )
“We're riding on a train, into the night, a train in the night,” Midoriya sang under his breath, mumbling and fading into a nondescript hum.
Bakugou sucked in a huff of breath, a little laugh, heart feeling liquid, hot and expansive, filling his whole chest with fondness. "Idiot, what's that supposed to be?"
“A song,” Midoriya countered evenly, staring out the window and bouncing in his seat, excited obviously. "I made it up. Like it?”
The song wasn't wrong. They were taking an overnight trip over a long weekend, treating themselves. An impromptu vacation. When asked about it, Midoriya’s mom had flustered but said yes, while Bakugou’s mom had blustered and clearly wanted to say no. But in the end, it all worked out: his mom had been convinced, and let them go after threatening to embarrass them both if there was “untold hanky panky” on the trip. Bakugou had challenged her on that (“How the hell are you even gonna know?”), but he was thankful she’d gone along with the plan. Bakugou’s dad sent them off with pocket money, Midoriya’s mom with snacks for the ride, and Bakugou’s mom with more threats -- and then, right at the end, sincere and quiet urgings for them to be careful.
Bakugou would like to act like he didn’t know why she worried so much, but he took way more after his mom than he generally liked to admit. He could relate to hiding your more neurotic thoughts (the ones that would never shut up, just played on loop inside your head, over and over and over again) behind yelling and annoyance. But it didn’t matter: this trip was gonna be great.
“Your song's shitty, just like you,” Bakugou told him flatly, curling firm fingers around Midoriya’s bicep and pulling him in for a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth. I don't mean it, the kiss said, I just don't want to reveal how dumbstruck loving you makes me feel. To me, it's like you shit stars; it's like you cry diamonds. It's all incredibly fucking stupid and I really cannot handle how big these feelings are, bursting a hole right inside my chest.
Midoriya laughed softly and cupped a gentle hand to Bakugou’s cheek, and they were forgetting for just a moment that they were in public. But only for a moment, for one tiny moment to let themselves indulge. “Got it,” Midoriya whispered, and Bakugou knew he meant he understood the untold song Bakugou’s heart was singing back in reply.
Tuneless, made up, silly but sweet, Midoriya hummed his song. We're riding on a train, into the night, a train in the night...
( .one. )
“Shouto, we're here.”
Todoroki slowly opened his eyes. Somewhere in pretending to be asleep, he'd actually fallen asleep, face pressed awkwardly against the car window, a crick settled and gripping in his neck.
They were parked in a driveway, because his dad did nothing halfway. Build himself up from nothing, prove himself to be a prodigy in law, and go to a prestigious university? Accomplished. Be the go-to legal prosecutor for his (now former) company, a huge and reputable and well-known law firm, amassing a small wealth for himself and his immediate family? All over that. Uproot from everything his family had ever known and move himself and his youngest several cities over to start anew? Oh boy, did he ever.
So, the new house was fully bought and paid for. This driveway they were sitting in -- in Dad's familiar car no less, which had almost tricked Todoroki and his sleep-hazed brain into thinking nothing had changed for the briefest of moments -- was theirs. Their brand-new start to their brand-new life. Outside the window, Todoroki could see a medium-ish sized sticker of the pride flag stuck to the front door. He stared at it flatly and wondered, not for the first time, if this was maybe all one huge practical joke or cruel punishment -- except he knew it wasn’t. At least Endeavor hadn’t worked up to flying a legitimate gay pride flag yet. Todoroki didn’t have to feel like he was choking on the second-hand hypocrisy too much, if there was a sense of shame in being too visible still tingeing Endeavor’s behavior.
“Come on,” his dad urged, shutting off the engine and flinging open the driver's side door. “Let's get started before the movers show up with the furniture.”
Todoroki sighed to himself, heavy and grim, and surrendered to the inevitable. This was happening. This had happened. Might as well check out his new room and get an idea of the best place for his bed to go.
Hawks -- because that's what he went by, some weird law school nickname that he still told people to call him by, just like how his dad easily answered to his own old nickname of ‘Endeavor’ -- was here the second the movers finished and left. With pizza and soda of all things, like Todoroki was five and easy to please. Because it sure wasn't something his dad was going to be interested in, pizza and Coke --
But maybe Todoroki was underestimating Hawks and his wily persuasion over his father -- Todoroki left to get cups from the kitchen for drinks, and came back to the dining room in time to witness Hawks holding up a slice of pizza that Endeavor eyed only briefly before taking a bite, rolling his eyes but still doing it. Todoroki froze in the entryway, stunned that his dad would ever subject himself to something like eating pizza.
“Are these truffles?” Endeavor asked in moderate surprise. Todoroki, who hadn’t gotten a slice yet, was further shocked by this revelation of truffle pizza from a guy like Hawks. Hawks didn’t look like your usual law firm fare, but maybe he fit in that world after all. Maybe there was a sharpness lurking under his lackadaisical exterior, maybe that same cruel efficiency and ruthless ability of pinpoint observation that Todoroki associated with Endeavor lived in Hawks, too.
As if to continue to act contrary to Todoroki’s thoughts, Hawks grinned widely and pressed the pizza slice closer to Endeavor’s mouth to encourage a second bite. "You have expensive tastes, so I know better than to show up with something subpar.”
Endeavor snorted. “You've taken me out for chicken and beer at a nosedive bar before, what is this nonsense?" Still, he took another bite as Hawks continued to offer the pizza, and he chewed thoughtfully. “This isn't bad, though.”
They’d both clearly forgotten Todoroki was even here. And he couldn't stand this irrefutable proof of the bullshit his life had become. So, Todoroki turned tail, cups in hand, and fled out the other side of the kitchen, crossing through the living room to retreat upstairs to his new room.
Todoroki didn’t have to go to school the next day, because his father had moved them on a Friday afternoon. On Saturday, Todoroki didn’t plan on getting out of bed -- because where was he going to go? -- but Endeavor peeked his head in and warned him about being lazy.
“I’m going downtown to speak to the college and see about the temporary office and how the department logistics are going to work,” Endeavor told him, like Todoroki, aged 15 and very very sullen, cared about the ins and outs of turning into a guest professor at a local college. “Don’t stay in bed all day while I’m out.”
Todoroki raised a hand from under the covers to give a thumbs up. “I’ll go hang out with all my friends at all the usual hang outs,” Todoroki mumbled into his pillow. “Oh wait.” There were levels to this joke, and they were that 1) they’d just moved, and 2) Todoroki didn’t have friends back at his old school, either.
He heard his dad sigh. “Just get out of bed and eat something. Maybe explore the town. If I come back and you’re in pajamas -- ”
At the familiar buildup of an incoming threat, the hair on the back of Todoroki’s neck raised, and on auto-pilot he carefully stayed very, very still. His dad hadn’t angry-yelled since this whole -- being gay with Hawks thing had started. And he hadn’t verbally threatened and stormed around and stood imposing and looming over people, menacing out, 'It’s my way or the highway,' at Todoroki since even before that: not since Natsuo had moved out after this huge yelling match between him and Endeavor, in which dead siblings 'and whose fault is it -- ' were brought up. But old habits died hard, and so Todoroki was now completely awake and waiting, hand damningly frozen in the facetious thumbs up.
But Endeavor only followed up dully with, “ -- then we’re going out for dinner so you’ll have to get dressed.”
Todoroki sucked in a deep breath, releasing it and feeling stupid as he calmed down, snaking his hand back under the covers and grunting to let his dad know that he heard him.
Minutes later, after hearing the car start up and then drive off down the road, Todoroki rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, heart beating a little faster than normally. This was stupid. This was all so stupid.
A weekend at home with his father wasn’t exactly torture, but it wasn’t interesting or desired, either. Mostly, Todoroki avoided him -- not hard in their fairly spacious new house and with his dad sorting out work things and starting up some certification course he needed to be allowed to be a real professor with real qualifications for teaching. But Todoroki didn’t have anywhere to go, nor any way to get there besides his bike. And the fall chill had begun to set in, so Todoroki didn’t feel like wandering around aimlessly, freezing until he had no choice but to come back home.
He explored a little, checked out different routes to his new school mostly, and made sure to look busy whenever his dad came looking for him, mostly pretending to unpack boxes or move things around. This netted him a strange unintended perk of actually finishing up his move into his bedroom by Sunday night.
As he flattened the cardboard boxes for recycling, as he sat across from his dad at the table for dinner, as he declared he was finished and took his plate to the sink, Todoroki contemplated how school might go tomorrow. In general, he was trying not to think too much about it, because he was going to be a new kid who transferred in basically two months late. It was going to be awkward and bizarre and Todoroki was planning to keep his head down even more than usual. Weird and uncomfortable was just how it was going to be, Todoroki determined with a sigh as he scrubbed and rinsed the other dishes stacked up in the sink.
Never one to leave well enough alone, his dad decided to broach the topic too... after dinner. And as he was letting Hawks in for a few minutes before they headed out on date night. That alone was a concept that was still horrifying to Todoroki, if he thought about it for too long.
“I’ll drop you off at school tomorrow, Shouto,” Endeavor said, matter of fact, fixing his tie and checking his cuffs. Besides him, Hawks made a face, like he knew it was awkward that Endeavor was talking about this around him. Good, at least someone was an actual cognizant adult here.
Todoroki, now loading the dishwasher, tried not to wince. “I can bike. That’s the one thing I did leave the house for.” By checking the route, he had gotten a good estimate for when he needed to leave in the morning. His dad was going to be busy, and Todoroki never wanted to owe him anything. That was an age-old rule in the household, even back when his older siblings were still at home: don’t let yourself owe Dad anything, and he won’t have anything extra to hold over you. It was the precise reason Todoroki didn’t have a car, despite his dad offering to buy him one now and again.
“It’s the first day,” Endeavor argued. “And I haven’t started at work yet. Maybe, for an early birthday or Christmas present, we’ll get you a car next weekend or something, but -- ”
Todoroki loaded the next few plates into the machine more aggressively than he needed to. “I’m fine, I can take my bike -- ”
Endeavor sighed. “It’s your first day,” he repeated grimly. “Your mother -- ”
Todoroki looked up sharply, and saw that Hawks was doing the same, eyes wide and mouth disapproving. Endeavor himself also seemed surprised and reproachful at his own words, so maybe he hadn’t entirely meant to bring up Todoroki’s mom.
After an uncomfortable silence between the three of them, Endeavor cleared his throat a little and looked down at the crease of one of his cuffs, taking a thumb and finger and pinching it more severe. “Well. I talked to her, and she was worried. About the weather. About your first day.”
Todoroki held his breath and counted to ten. Then he breathed out, and went back to loading the dishwasher. He hadn’t even gotten to tell his mom about any of the things happening to him, with moving and starting a new school. Fuyumi and Natsuo were the ones to usually take him up to the hospital so they could see her together, and it’d been a while since all of their schedules had been free. But at least she was still thinking of him.
“Well,” Todoroki conceded, voice tight and unforgiving. “If she would feel better about it, then you can drive me the first day. I guess.”
The tension from Endeavor bringing up his mom slowly began to lift. Hawks helped it along by clapping his hands together, saying, “Well, hope you have a good day tomorrow, kid. Me and Endeavor are gonna head out now -- right, Endeavor?”
His dad stared at Todoroki, who simply stared impassively back. Endeavor seemed to be hesitating, and he opened his mouth to say something -- then snapped it shut and nodded simply. “Get enough rest,” he said gruffly. “And I’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early.”
Todoroki didn’t bother waving them off as they left. He loaded the last of the dishes, turned on the dishwasher, then went upstairs to climb into bed, already exhausted with this whole new experience. But it was his life now, and it wasn’t going away, so he was going to have to figure out how to get used to it. And that was exhausting too.
There was no escape, besides the distant glimmer of leaving for college in a few years. Todoroki was just hoping he’d be able to hold out for that long.