Archive of Our Own

"Ah, so warm," Uraraka sighs contentedly as she squeezes the hand in her own, fingers interlaced securely together. The larger hand squeezes back while Midoriya lets out a sheepish chuckle at the same time. The couple had been a huge blushing mess in the first few months of their relationship, but now, watching their comfortable, pleased smiles as they hold onto each other's hands, Shouto knows without a doubt that they are perfect together. He can never be happier for his two friends.

"Back at it again with the perfect hand hold!" Ashido gushes enthusiastically as she joins the group, dropping herself on the couch next to Shouto. "Featuring Ochako's eternally cold hand and Midoriya's eternally warm hand!" She clasps her hands over her heart dramatically before turning her bright smile into a pout. "I'm so jealous. You guys are so perfect!"

"Right, I remember that post you showed me about the perfect hand holding equation. One cold plus one warm equals one ideal temperature," Uraraka considers, placing her free hand over her chin. "Which brings me to..."

"Todoroki!" Ashido turns herself bodily towards him, her exclamation startling him a little. She lets out a little giggle at his reaction. "You're a super interesting case because you have a warm and a cold hand yourself. You don't need anyone else to do the perfect handhold!" She leans closer to Shouto and drops her voice. "Well, Todoroki, you're too good for anyone anyway."

"Or, it opens to more opportunity," Uraraka suggests with an index finger held up, then beams. "Think about it, any hand, warm or cold, would be perfect for Todoroki-kun to hold. You're so lucky, Todoroki-kun."

Ashido pokes his arm lightly. "Hey, hey, do you have anyone in mind?" If Shouto had to choose which interpretation of the contradicting temperatures of his hands is correct, he'd choose Ashido's in favour of Uraraka's, agreeing that he, indeed, needs no one. There's absolutely no need for him to hold anyone's hand or be held by anyone. He's never even thought of having a significant other in his life, completely satisfied with the friendships he's discovered and treasured all the time he's in high school. Of course, he's happy for Midoriya and Uraraka who have found each other to lean on, but it doesn't mean he expects the same to happen to him. Plus, he has zero intention in finding a partner either.

Shouto is about to shake his head no when he hears his name called. Well, rather than his proper, perfectly normal name, it was more like a nickname he's never approved of but ironically doesn't hate. "Half and Half."

"Bakugou," Shouto greets politely.

Bakugou's scowl only deepens, while Kirishima, who is standing next to him, shoots them a smile so bright that Shouto just manages not to squint. He thought hanging around Midoriya nearly twenty-four seven would get him accustomed to bright smiles, but it doesn't seem to work that way. The two rays of sunshine are too powerful.

"Give me your hand," Bakugou demands, stepping directly in front of Shouto as he holds out his own hand.

From his seated position, Shouto has to look up to see Bakugou's face which reveals nothing but his usual frown. Shouto only tilts his head to the side, shooting Bakugou a questioning look.

"Your hand," Bakugou repeats, narrowing his eyes as if his intentions should be obvious to his everyone and that he's not asking anything out of ordinary.

In utter bewilderment, Shouto reaches his right hand up above Bakugou's, not touching since he isn't sure whether or not Bakugou would receive the contact well. It seems, however, Shouto didn't need to worry since Bakugou quickly snatches his hand, holding it in his own and appears to be examining it. In the corner of his vision, he can see Midoriya's eyes widening, growing impossibly bigger.

"Your hand was injured-" was the only thing Shouto hears escaping from Bakugou's mouth as his mind begins to focus on the feel of the other boy's hand mere moments after their hands touched. The slightly rough skin of Bakugou's palm gives such a delicious friction against his own skin, which in turn, makes him want to desperately press their palms together -- an abnormal urge that he manages to ignore. As their palms touch, warmth rushes from the blond's hand through to Shouto's cool hand, like liquid sunlight, spreading to the expanse of his palm, reaching to the back of his hand and to every part that hasn't even been touched directly by the other boy. What amazes Shouto the most is the tingling sensation, almost ticklish but he doesn't feel like laughing at all; instead, he lets out a small shiver despite feeling, not only his palm, but also somewhere around his chest become warmer as the seconds pass. For reasons he can't comprehend, his chest feels full, as if all the void inside has been filled, as if he's finally complete.

The moment finishes abruptly when Bakugou seems to have finished examining his hand and drops it. He's saying something, based on the movement of his lips, but Shouto can't hear it. In fact, he can't seem to register anything at all. All he feels is the warmth lingering at his palm and chest, slowly fading and replaced by his usual coolness, to Shouto's dismay.

"Oi, you're making the same face as Dunce Face after his 1.3 million volts," Bakugou snaps, triggering Shouto's brain to function again. Perhaps Bakugou was right; it feels like all his brain cells have been electrocuted into nonexistence for a few moments there. Except there was no lethal electric current around, just Bakugou's hand which was supposed to produce explosions, not electricity. And Shouto is quite sure no electric current can bring such a... nice sensation along with it. It's probably the biggest understatement of the century.

"Uh, yes, I visited Recovery Girl immediately after class so my hand is now perfectly fine. Thank you for your concern, Bakugou," Shouto is thoroughly impressed with himself for producing not one, but two coherent sentences after... whatever it was that happened.

Bakugou stepped away with a mumbled "whatever", leaving for the kitchen.

"Glad you're okay, Todoroki," Kirishima says, patting Shouto on his shoulder. "Bakugou was worried the whole time even though we told him Recovery Girl would fix you up in no time." He grins and runs to catch up with Bakugou who doesn't seem to hear what Kirishima had told him.

Shouto understands a little why Bakugou was worried. He may have seen Shouto's injury as his fault since it was him who had tripped Shouto while thinking he was Kaminari, causing Shouto to fall down the steps in front of their dorm building. He'd landed on his right hand quite violently, breaking a few bones as a result. Shouto is sure that the result was more severe than Bakugou, or anyone at all, had expected from the small act of sticking one's leg out on the way. It only highlights that Shouto was too absent-minded for his own good which means he was partially at fault, too. It was a little unlike Bakugou to care, though, so Shouto is pleased to find that he did.

"Earth to Todoroki!" Ashido claps in front of his face.

As Shouto looks at his friends, he realises that Uraraka had been talking to him and he'd missed everything. "Sorry," he mutters sincerely.

"That's alright. I was just saying that Deku-kun and I are going to do homework now. Are you coming?" Despite appreciating, the offer, Shouto certainly does not want to do homework at the moment, or anything that requires any amount of thinking. In fact, he's a bit sleepy.

"No, thank you. I think I'll be sleeping soon."

With that, Uraraka and Midoriya left. Ashido must have also declined Uraraka's offer, too, since she also stays at the couch.

"So, it's Bakugou," Ashido grins at him.

"What?"

"The one you have in mind! You said Bakugou."

Shouto quickly reviews the earlier conversation that he's almost forgotten about, where Ashido had asked him if he had anyone in mind to hold hands with. Indeed, he did say Bakugou but, "Ah, that's not what I meant. I was only greeting Bakugou."

Instead of correcting herself as Shouto had expected her to do, Ashido shoots him a smile before getting off the couch, leaving him confused as he tries to understand what the smile had meant. Soon, he decides that he's too sleepy for all this thinking and walks to his bedroom.

The next morning, Shouto wakes up with a lingering feeling on his right hand that feels a lot like Bakugou's hand. He finds that he desperately misses the warmth of the other boy's hand and he thinks, perhaps it's to do with his cool hand having been pressed against a deliciously warm hand. Perhaps it was the equation Ashido had mentioned last night. Perhaps he can solve this on his own, also as Ashido suggested.

So Shouto finds himself pressing his right hand against his left hand and waits for a rush of satisfaction.

But none came. He only feels silly to be clasping his own hand together, waiting for something new to occur while he's done this many times before. So he decides to step up his game. He lets a thin layer of frost emerge from his right hand and heats up his left hand, letting the temperature rise as much as it can without producing any flame. The heightened temperature surely would also heighten the sensation, right?

He watches as steam escapes from the small space he's left between his hands, rising up until it mixes with the air and fades. That is quite satisfying to watch and even feel but he still doesn't feel the sense of gratification he'd felt in the midst of the warmth coursing through him last night.

Instead, now he even sees a visual image of Bakugou's hand in his head, the rough callused surface waiting to be touched by his own. Shouto's hand twitches. He really needs to hold Bakugou's hand again.

But of course, Shouto plans to ignore that need since he's neither suicidal nor desperate. There is at least one hundred percent chance of Bakugou exploding his hand all the way to America if his hand goes anywhere near Bakugou's without his consent. Well, perhaps the chance is slightly lower than that since Shouto also knows that Bakugou is a softie, as Utsushimi likes to describe him. He knows that Bakugou's threats are empty and are probably a way to express fondness, even. But Shouto is not so desperate that he'd be willing to risk losing his right hand in exchange to a small chance of having to hold another person's hand. Yet.

But as days pass, Shouto isn't quite sure if he isn't desperate anymore. To say that he's distracted would be a severe understatement. He has his eyes on Bakugou at all times in class, his hand in particular, how he holds his pen roughly as he takes notes of every single word every teacher says in class, how he twirls his pen when there's nothing to take notes of, the way his hand seems to instinctively fiddle with the corner of the page on his notebook, only to smooth it out when he irritatedly realises he's creased the paper. Shouto always wishes it was his hand Bakugou was holding, was squeezing at, playing with. When Bakugou has his fists clenched, Shouto has the strongest urge to pull the fingers down, unclench the fist, and interlace their fingers together. He finds that somehow, Bakugou's hand has invaded his mind more than even cold soba and sleep which is a true phenomenon.

Three days of pining after Bakugou's hand is what it takes for Shouto to realise that he's in a huge crisis. He's become obsessed with holding Bakugou's hand when he's never even properly done it. He's so obsessed that he wonders if he's affected by a quirk despite knowing that it's impossible since he hasn't been outside of the school grounds the whole week.

Near the end of school on that third day, he finds himself lining up as part of training with Bakugou directly in front of him with his back towards him. And his hand is just there, unmoving but seemingly pulling Shouto's own towards it like a magnet. Shouto is only human and as far as resisting temptations goes, it always has a limit. Not to mention that Shouto is now desperate and desperate times call for desperate measures. What is losing a hand compared to getting high on Bakugou's hand and possibly a chance to get rid of this obsession that's rapidly taking over his life.

So Shouto reaches forward, allowing the pull to take over him after fighting against it to exhaustion for three days straight. Excitement builds in his chest, causing his heart to flutter so fast that he's worried it's becoming unhealthy.

But when his hand is a mere inch or two from Bakugou's, the said hand lifts up in a face palm, Bakugou smacking his hand against his forehead and lets it stay there. He sighs in exasperation at whatever Sero is saying in front of him, completely unaware of what Shouto was about to do or his major internal conflict.

With The Hand unreachable, Shouto lets his own drop to his side, suppressing the disappointment welling in his guts to make sure it doesn't reach his facial expression. As he does so, he looks away from Bakugou, only immediately meets Uraraka's gaze from across the field in another line. Taken aback, Shouto only stares back. She definitely saw Shouto's little act of desperation seconds earlier and he doesn't know what to do about it.

Then Uraraka smiles, her normally huge eyes nearly closing due to the intensity, and gives him a thumbs up.

Fondness rushes through him, grateful for his friend's support. So he decides to return her his own thumb up. But as he's about to lift up his right hand, he realises that it's, again, very close to Bakugou's despite having retracted it earlier. Exasperated, he notes that he really needs to closely watch his hand now; he very much wants to be at least aware of it whenever he's about to risk having his hand blown off.

"Is it strange to have an unbelievably strong desire to hold your friend's hand?" Shouto asks, perhaps seemingly out of nowhere to anyone other than himself who has been haunted by The Hand. Which has only intensified after his failed attempt yesterday.

Midoriya only gives him a surprised look and stays having that expression for at least three seconds. It would have been funny if Shouto wasn't panicking and having flashes of a certain person's hand in his vision more than every once in a while. It's gotten that bad.

So in his panicked state, Shouto adds, "I'm asking for a friend," as a safety measure. But the more he repeats the sentence mentally, the more he realises how unsure he sounded, as if he'd put a question mark at the end of the sentence. He also realised belatedly that he knows that Midoriya knows that Shouto has a very small circle of friends and Midoriya knows all of them.

Thankfully, Midoriya doesn't question his intentions and instead, lets out a slightly uncomfortable laugh. "Is your friend close to the friend whose hand they want to hold?"

Shouto really considers this. To him, Bakugou is a very dear friend but even after all this time, Bakugou still wouldn't admit that Shouto is his friend. Yet, if it's only a matter of Bakugou being in denial, it means they truly are close friends, aren't they?

"Uh... I suppose? Yes. Well, they have spent a lot of time together." That sounds a lot like what he's said in the interview in their first year and Shouto suspects that he's probably outed himself to Midoriya. Curse his friend's admirable observation skill.

Being the best friend Shouto could ever have, however, Midoriya doesn't say anything and instead, only gives him his opinion about his "friend's" situation. "It really depends on their condition. And intentions. For example, if your friend wants to hold their friend's hand to comfort their friend from sadness, or a bad day, or anything that upsets them, then I think it's reasonable? It could also be the other way around, if your friend is upset and they want to be comforted. Or if your friend is lonely, that could also be reason enough to want to hold someone who is close to them. And there's also the romantic idea; if your friend likes their friend, it's only natural to desire an intimate act like holding hands. So it really depends, Todoroki-kun."

Midoriya lets out another uncomfortable chuckle while scratching the back of his head, takes a breath and lets out a small screeching noise as he exhales. Shouto is sure Midoriya doesn't notice the noise he's producing and feels extremely guilty for causing his friend to feel this awkward. It's probably from the knowledge (assumed, mind you, Midoriya doesn't know anything for sure as Shouto never confirmed anything) of his best friend having some strange intentions towards his childhood friend.

Shouto mentally rakes through the admittedly very limited content of the social skills sector in his mind to find out how to stop his friend from being awkward. He (and Midoriya, too, he thinks) sighs in relief as Uraraka, along with Iida set down their tray of food on the table. As Uraraka settles down next to Midoriya, she greets them both before shooting Shouto a knowing smile. Somehow the smile reminds him of Ashido's from all those days ago.

That night he finds himself alone with Uraraka as Midoriya and Iida are in Iida's room working on their paired assignment. He's hoped for Uraraka not to mention the cause of his despair for the past four days but it seems that he's asking for too much.

"So... Todoroki-kun..." Uraraka leans her elbow on the dining table, resting her chin on her palm. "About Bakugou-kun..."

"Please don't tell anyone," Shouto cuts off. He doesn't meet her gaze and looks down at his hands, fiddling with his own fingers.

When he dares to look up again, Uraraka gives him the fond look she likes to give her friends, her expression looking softer than usual. She then lifts up her hand and motions a zip over her lips. "Alright!" She proclaims enthusiastically, an unmistakable glint appearing in her large irises. "I'll be your wingman, or wingwoman, and stay incognito!" She somehow produces a pair of sunglasses, seemingly out of nowhere since, as far as Shouto knows, her outfit has no pockets.

"Incognito..." The only time he's ever encountered the word is in his browser. He assumes and hopes it means unknown, looking at the context of their conversation. "Wait, what do you mean a wingman?"

"You know, the person getting you together with Bakugou-kun."

"I know what a wingman is," the meaning of the word had been thoroughly drilled into his skull by Ashido one day and he'd also been one for Uraraka and Midoriya after all, but that's a story for another day. "What I don't get is, why do you want to get us together. I don't see Bakugou in that way."

"Have you even thought about it? Really thought about being together with Bakugou"

"Not really, no."

Uraraka furrows her eyebrows, looking as if she knows something he doesn't. "Well, it's okay if you're unsure now. But you're sure that you want to hold his hand, right?"

At that, Shouto nods immediately, wanting his suffering to end already. Uraraka seems pleased.

"And that brings me to the next point," she produces a brochure, again, out of nowhere, and pushes it towards Shouto. A photo of the Kiyashi Ward shopping mall. "This weekend, the whole class is planning to go shopping together because there's a sale going on. You couldn't come with us last time, right?"

Shouto hums as a response.

"So, you should come with us this time! If you're free."

"Yes, I'd like to go."

"Alright, so back to Bakugou-kun," Uraraka clenches her fist not unlike Midoriya when he's pumped up. "He told us he's not coming yesterday when we asked, but he'll most likely end up coming when he hears that you're coming too."

"Huh, why is that?" Shouto still doesn't know how going to the mall would have anything to do with Bakugou or him wanting to hold Bakugou's hand.

"Well, that's just how he is," Uraraka grins while Shouto is even more confused. Confusion seems to be the theme when it comes to Shouto's thinking process these days and he doesn't like it. "You'll see on Saturday. Sue me if you haven't held that hand by the end of the day!"

To Shouto's surprise, Uraraka had been right; Bakugou does come to their little outing, even if he's begrudgingly stomping out of the dorm building beside Kirishima.

The bus ride proves to be harder than expected. More than ten of them have agreed to come and the bus is nearly full. So they manage to get to the mall after they split up into two groups in different buses with Shouto going in the first bus, as are Midoriya, Uraraka, Bakugou, Kirishima, and Kaminari.

Seeing the full busses should have prepared Shouto for what he sees when they arrive at the entrance. His peers, however, don't seem to be bothered and are jumping with energy with Bakugou as an exception, sporting his permanent frown.

"It's... crowded," Shouto observes. Crowded would be one way to describe the whole place while also being an understatement. What unfolds before Shouto is something akin to a warzone where everyone is shoving at each other, trying to move faster than a snail's pace while there's quite literally no space to do so.

"Ah, that's right. I forgot to mention that nearly everything in this place is on sale today. So I suppose we'll have to literally squeeze into the crowd," Uraraka explains, smiling as if she's satisfied with something and gives him a look that he can't comprehend. Shouto isn't very good at understanding looks. If this has anything to do with Uraraka's wingman plan, Shouto still can't see how this crowded place has anything to do with it.

"I see," he says though Shouto really doesn't see.

"Todoroki-kun, is there a place you want to go to?" Uraraka asks, her eyes glinting. He's absolutely sure that she looks as if she's plotting something and being aware of his own inability of picking up hints, Shouto suspects that Uraraka is making this obvious on purpose. But he truly can't figure out what Uraraka is planning.

Shouto considers her question. "I thought I could go to the book store and get a book I've been wanting to get for a while now."

"Do you know how to get there?" Uraraka asks.

Shouto hasn't been the mall too often, not enough to know the directions to all the stores there. And he's never been to the particular bookstore in that mall. "Not really, no."

Midoriya opens his mouth as if he's about to say something, but Uraraka pulls his arm gently and gives him a look. Midoriya looks a little confused -- to Shouto's relief since even Midoriya doesn't understand Uraraka sometimes -- but shuts his mouth closed.

"Actually, I'd love to help you get there but I'm planning to get something, too," Uraraka says, scratching the back of her head. "It's usually never on sale so I've been dying to get my hands on it. But it's on the other side of the building. I'm not sure if we can get to both places on time before the curfew with this crowd."

"That's alright, I can just find the store by myself," Shouto offers. Getting to a book store inside a mall can't be that hard. "Or, I can just go to a different book store at another time. It's fine."

"Or," Kirishima starts with his signature wide grin, his sharp teeth which should be intimidating looking quite the opposite. "Bakugou can take you there!" He pats Bakugou on his back, earning a glare from the hot headed blond.

"I mean it, it's fine. It doesn't have to be today," Shouto reassures.

But the unexpected happened as Bakugou steps forward with his hands shoved down his pockets. He stomps past everyone, closer to the mall entrance. "Hurry it up, Half and Half. Haven't got all day," he calls out. Dumbfounded, Shouto finds himself speed walking to catch up with the other boy. He swears he sees at the corner of his eyes Uraraka high-fiving Kirishima while Midoriya and Kaminari grin when they leave to enter the warzone.

As soon as they're inside, he feels like there's a pull directing them to a certain direction based on where the crowd is heading. Bakugou doesn't seem to fight it so they're most likely heading to the right place.

Since Shouto doesn't need to concern himself with direction, he's painfully aware of the distance, or lack of, of himself and the other boy which makes him uncharacteristically nervous. Nervous that he's made Bakugou do this for him against his decision and nervous that The Hand is just one breath apart from his own hand. What if he unknowingly reaches for it again? "You really don't have to do this, Bakugou."

The blond glances at Shouto and grunts. "I know, but I've got nothing to do anyway."

"Then why'd you come?"

"Shitty Hair won't let me off." Shouto finds it a little endearing how Bakugou seems to comply to his friends' wishes. It only emphasises how much of a softie he truly is that it warms Shouto's heart in a similar way that The Hand does. The fact that he's here, helping Shouto in the midst of the crowd that he knows Bakugou hates, also brings a small smile to his lips. He quickly realises that Bakugou's company has always been something Shouto has unknowingly cherished for a long time.

It turns out, as they keep going with the crowd, it leads them to the escalator where people are dangerously squeezed together -- and even over the edge -- while getting up to the next floor. They, too, go up to the second floor where the war truly starts.

They go against the current since, rather conveniently, the book store is in the opposite direction everyone seems to be going. They have to physically fight against the masses, shouldering through every single person on their way and receiving more than a dozen of death glares and curses. But Bakugou returns the sentiment, putting his firey eyes and potty mouth to good use.

After merely one minute, however, Shouto's effort doesn't seem enough as he feels himself getting led astray. Like a tidal wave, the crowd crashes between them and separates Shouto from Bakugou, starting with one person squeezing in between, and then five, and then ten, and the next second, Bakugou is out of his sight.

It takes only one minute until Shouto completely abandons his attempt on struggling against the current. It takes around fifteen minutes of just going with the flow that he sees an opening, a place not so crowded that he can simply stay there, without the constant movement of people, and perhaps plan a regroup with Bakugou. It's a cafe that's mostly empty despite the rowdiness outside. It looks like paradise to him.

When he's ordered a random drink and settles at a table, he pulls out his phone. Only to realise that he's already received a text from Bakugou.

Bakugou: Dumbass
Bakugou: Where are you?

Rolling his eyes, Shouto quickly texts the name of the cafe he's in and waits. Meanwhile, his drink arrives and when he sips, he understands why the cafe is near empty.

"How the hell did you get all the way to a different floor?" Bakugou makes his presence known after ten minutes. He pulls the chair across from Shouto and roughly drops himself on it. "And not just one floor up, but two. How in the fuck."

"The crowd washed me away," Shouto explains earnestly, earning a disbelieving snort from the blond. Shouto's statement is completely true and the most likely reason why Bakugou could fight the crowd is probably because he has impressively big shoulders. They must've helped a lot with painfully shouldering past people. "And the escalators are very close to one another. I couldn't have avoided it even if I tried." Even to himself, he sounds awfully defensive. He averts his own eyes from Bakugou's piercing red ones and takes another sip of his awful drink.

Bakugou narrows his eyes but the corners of his lips are slightly tilted upwards. "So you didn't even try."

"No," Shouto admits. He can't help his own smile. "But you still found me in the end."

At that, Bakugou only grunts and glances at Shouto's drink. Seeing that Shouto has nearly finished his drink, he gets up abruptly and declares that they need to "get to the damn book store." Shouto doesn't bother to finish his drink and trails Bakugou obediently as he hopes the crowd goes a little easier on them.

It doesn't.

Within one minute, Shouto can feel the sure pull of the crowd holding him back, tripping and stumbling him in an attempt to get him further away from Bakugou. That is, until he sees the sight that had been haunting him for too long, just a short glimpse of the object, just dangling by Bakugou's side in all its glory, unoccupied. With the crowd getting harder to push through as more seconds go by, Shouto knows that he needs an anchor, something strong that will keep him in place despite the storm that is bound to send him to his peril. Call him dramatic, but it's such a gratifying feeling to reach out, stretch his arm out towards his anchor and just seize it.

As their hands touch, Bakugou stops on his tracks. They both tense as they freeze on the spot, the constantly moving crowd pushing against them and slowly shifting them backwards. Moments that seems like hours pass as Shouto silently revels in warmth and the same tingling feeling he'd been craving for, the heavenly feeling of a solid hold of the other boy. He never wants it to end.

Shouto physically flinches when Bakugou shakes his hand off. He looks anywhere but at Bakugou, feeling slightly humiliated and disappointed while being oddly grateful that the other boy hadn't blasted his hand off. But the cold creeping in his heart quickly stops when Bakugou gruffly takes his other hand. His right hand.

"I sweat something like fucking nitroglycerin and your left hand shoots out fire. Not a good match, moron," Bakugou explains curtly while squeezing his hand gently. Shouto realised the slight wetness on his left hand, understanding that it only takes a few moments for Bakugou's hand to sweat when in contact with his left one. A safety hazard indeed.

"Oh," Shouto manages to say as his mind once again begins to leave his body. Once again, he goes to an entranced state when he can feel nothing but the warm hand against his cold one, the warmth traveling to his racing heart, the liquid sunlight flowing through his body again. His entire mind zeroes in every single receptor on his palm, the rough skin pressing against it, the feel of Bakugou's thumb moving slowly at the back of his palm, and the heat. Oh, the heat.

The whole experience gives him such an overwhelming satisfaction he can't describe with words alone -- the feel an itch that couldn't be scratched finally scratched, the feel of cold water running over parched throat, the feel of the cool strands of soba over his tastebuds, they all feel underwhelming compared to whatever Shouto is feeling right now.

He should really be scared that a simple touch of a hand can affect him so much, to bring out such a sensation that shuts down all his senses other than touch and on his right hand only. He knows that he desperately needs to do something about this when he starts to become lightheaded from the sweet pleasure.

What is wrong with me?

"C'mon, bastard." He's partially brought back to reality when Bakugou tugs at his hand and starts violently pushing against the crowd again.

Right. The book store.

They keep walking hand in hand while Shouto's brain is turning into absolute mush. He doesn't even notice or care when the people around him keeps bumping into him none too gently, causing him to sway and stumble. He has an anchor. Something that secures him in place and ensures that he's safe from the treacherous waves. A troublesome anchor that absolutely destroys his mind in the most pleasurable way. It seems that although his craving has finally been satisfied, Shouto isn't entirely satisfied. Despite knowing that it's impossible, he knows that he never wants to let go, wants to keep the blond's hand in his forever.

When they successfully reach the book store, it's not as crowded as it is outside. There are many people, but no one is pushing against each other. Shouto still doesn't want to let go of the hand so he makes no move to suggest it. What surprises him the most, though, is that Bakugou himself still has the firm grip on his hand, warmth continuing to course through Shouto's hand while he's sure that cold spreads to Bakugou's.

They walk around the store and continue to browse through the shelves even after Shouto has found the book he wanted. He even sees Bakugou reaching out to a magazine that suspiciously looks like the hero magazine that Midoriya subscribes weekly to his mail. He quickly retracts his hand when he realises that Shouto is watching, looking away to pretend he's interested in the object to his left which, to the blond's distaste, happens to be Valentine's cards. The latter finds it very endearing -- the whole class already knows that Bakugou is a closet nerd but the explosive blond doesn't seem to know that.

The hand stays in his until they exit the mall and regroup with their friends, Bakugou releasing his hand while Shouto thanks him. He felt nothing but pure bliss the entire time their hands were connected. Now his hand feels empty and significantly colder. Still, it was quite an experience.

He truly has Uraraka to thank. And he does thank her later that evening which earns him a satisfied grin from the girl and a warm hug.

The next day when Shouto is relaxing on the couch, he receives a text from Uraraka.

Uraraka: Have you held Bakugou's hand again since yesterday?
Todoroki: No.
Todoroki: I'm not sure how I can do that again.
Uraraka: Well, I've just solved that for you
Uraraka: Cuz guess what I found!
Uraraka: A way to hold his hand!!
Uraraka sends a link.
Uraraka: I'm such a good wingman

When Shouto clicks the link, it leads to a website with a large heading saying, "Look what you can find out by holding someone's hand." Intrigued, Shouto skims over the webpage to find that it's a guide to basic palm reading, how the features of the hands can tell you about a person's characteristics and even their future. With this excuse, it looks like he can simultaneously know more about Bakugou and hold both of his glorious hands.

Uraraka Ochako is a genius. An absolute intellectual.

Shouto quickly becomes engrossed with the site that he forgets his surroundings. He nearly drops his phone when he hears a familiar voice from behind him, "Catch, Half and Half," barely managing to catch the small object thrown at him. It turns out to be a box of strawberry milk that he drinks almost everyday. But he hasn't had one today and he can't say this is the first time Bakugou gets him one when he's about to miss a day. "Should've seen your face."

"Thank you, Bakugou."

"It's whatever." He gives him the same response as always. And it brings a smile to Shouto's face nevertheless. As always.

The next night, the moment Shouto has been preparing for arrives. The night before, he spent his time trying to grasp the idea of palmistry and scrolling through images after images of palm diagrams until he fell asleep, forgetting the quiz he would have the next day. So of course, he's more than ready to try Uraraka's idea. Bakugou being next to him on the couch while playing on his phone only makes things a whole lot easier.

"Bakugou, can I have your hand?" He starts, holding his own palms up for Bakugou's to rest against.

Bakugou only stares at him, doing nothing for three full seconds while Shouto braces himself for some sort of backlash. It never comes, though, as Bakugou opens his mouth to ask, "Which one?"

Slightly taken aback by how smoothly his plan is going, it takes Shouto more than just a moment to choke out an answer. "The right one."

At this, Bakugou smirks. "What're you gonna do, Half and Half? Read my palms?"

"Yes, actually."

Bakugou lets out a soft huff of disbelief as he gingerly places his right hand on Shouto's hands. This time, Shouto is a lot more prepared. While the sensation is still just as intense as the previous experiences, he schools his expression to his usual, unassuming one while trying to keep his senses intact. It works a little when he focuses his eyes on Bakugou's own, the mesmerising, firey red so intense that it brings him back to reality when he's about to slip into his headspace full of mushy feelings. Perfect.

Right, now it's time for business.

When he feels that he might no longer go on another episode of blissful brain electrocution, he rips his eyes away from Bakugou's and set them on the hand in his grasp. He turns the palm to face him and traces the skin slowly, feeling the lines, the bumps, the calluses. The very feeling of his own fingers pushing down at the flesh of Bakugou's palms, turning the skin white for one quick moment. The satisfaction is so all-encompassing that Shouto needs to physically suppress the shudder threatening to travel throughout his body. He's slipping again. Something is definitely wrong with me.

Bakugou's hand twitches at all the attention it's receiving.

"Sorry, does it tickle?"

"Are you gonna read my palms or what?" Bakugou asks instead.

"I'm having a feel of your hand," Shouto explains, tone purposely all business. The other boy only shoots him a frown in return. "It's a requirement to become familiar with the hand, actually."

"What, so you can have some bonding time with it or something?"

Shouto doesn't catch the teasing tone until his answer is already spoken. "Yes, exactly. How did you know?"

Bakugou rolls his eyes but there's no malice in the act. "Beats me."

Shouto knows that he won't ever stop feeling the hand like a creep unless he makes himself stop sooner rather than later. So he soon proceeds to trace the bumps below each of Bakugou's fingers, this time purely for reading purposes.

Ah, there it is, the mount of Saturn. Shouto nods his head knowingly as he lets out a hum. Or was it Jupiter? Now he's frowning. Venus? Wait, Venus isn't even part of palmistry, is it? He can vaguely remember seeing Venus on one of the diagrams he's seen but perhaps he remembers wrong. Let's settle with Jupiter since it sounds more like Bakugou -- a mount for ambition and leadership. But Saturn, too, sounds fitting since it's a mount for a hard-working individual. Right? Perhaps settling for both isn't going to hurt anyone. As Shouto realises that he seems to have been off to a rocky start, he regrets his decision of starting with mounts first.

"You have a very prominent mount of Jupiter which means you are very ambitious and prideful."

Bakugou looks unimpressed. "Tell me something I don't know, Icyhot."

"You also have a prominent mount of Saturn which means you're very hardworking and strives to rise high in life through your own efforts," he tries.

"That sounds right, but we both already know that."

Shouto can't help his annoyed sigh as the blond disregards his hard work. "Well, I'm sorry that your right palm only tells me things we already know. It doesn't communicate very well." Then the guilt hits him immediately. Really, Shouto shouldn't blame his lack of knowledge on The Glorious Hand but his nerves are not very kind to the decision making segment of his brain.

Bakugou retracts his hand and holds up his middle finger. "Is this communication enough, Icyhot? It's telling you to fuck off, by the way."

Shouto has to hold his huff of laughter but a smile still pulls the corners of his lips. Bakugou stares at him for two seconds before returning a small smile.

"Let's move onto the left then."

"Not gonna say anything about the three main lines?" Bakugou places his right hand back onto Shouto's palms, his face schools back to his unimpressed expression. "The shady sites didn't help you much, did they?"

"What? Sites?" Bakugou raises his eyebrow, silently telling him that no, he will not take any bullshit. So Bakugou caught him the other night when he had the site open -- he's more observant than Shouto gives him credits for. "Ah, right," Shouto begins to examine the very top line on Bakugou's hand, a deep line going upwards.

"Your heart line tells me that you have great verbal dexterity." And that Bakugou is a romantic while being a jealous lover; but he won't verbalise this since Bakugou is already scoffing. "Also, you have these small circles at the start of your heart line which means you have an emotional distress of some sort." As Bakugou scoffs again, Shouto pulls his eyebrows together in a frown. Is he reading this right? Those circles are islands, right?

He examines the other lines. None of the lines looks like the diagrams shown on the websites Shouto visited. Does Bakugou have a short or long head line? It looks medium to him, but he doesn't remember ever reading about a medium length head line. So he decides to forgo the head line.

"You have a long and deep life line which means you have a very good health."

"That's good to know," Bakugou remarks.

"Uh let's move onto the left hand." As he lets go of Bakugou's right hand, immediately missing the heat, he glances up to Bakugou to find the corners of his lips tilted up in amusement. Shouto finds that any type of smile is a good look on him.

Without having to ask, Bakugou places his left hand in Shouto's hands wordlessly.

Straight away Shouto notices that Bakugou has no line of success on his left hand but has one on his right hand. Taking the theory of the left hand revealing his potentials and the right hand revealing what he's done with his potentials, does it mean he's created his own line of success? Shouto realises that perhaps he should've done much more study before thinking he's mastered palmistry.

But his reasoning seems intelligent and he hasn't said anything remotely intelligent so far, so he voices it out, "It seems that although you were not granted success since the day you were born, you've created your own success through your hard work."

At that, Bakugou hums in approval which prompts Shouto to mentally cheer in victory.

This time when he takes a feel of the left hand, he thinks back to the time when his own left hand had held Bakugou's hand (the other hand, but still). Despite it having been a little sweaty, it had felt nearly as heavenly as his right hand against the pure warmth. So powered by curiosity, Shouto lifts up his left hand while his right goes under Bakugou's hand, supporting it. He spends some time tracing against the skin like the first time. But then, he lines up his left hand on top of Bakugou's, noticing that although his own fingers are longer, they are more slender than Bakugou's slightly stubby fingers.

That's good to know.

But the unexpected happens next. Never in his whole life could Shouto have foreseen this and even if he did, he could never have prepared for it with the very limited time that is his life time.

Bakugou Katsuki cheekiy curls his fingers upwards, securely interlocking their hands together. "Done molesting my hand?"

And no one can blame Shouto for his reaction. Absolutely no one can blame him for catching half of his body on fire.

Which, in turn, explodes the nitroglycerine-like droplets already forming on Bakugou's palm in a painfully conspicuous booming noise.

He'd exploded their hands. His hand and The Glorious Hand.

"Fuck," he whispers. Bakugou is silent despite his eyes being as wide as saucers and his mouth gaping. It would have been a funny yet extraordinary sight if Shouto hadn't been the one to have exploded their hands.

Exploded our hands

It's alright. It's alright. All he needs to do at this moment is to summon all of that calmness that his classmates believe he has. Be the stoic ice prince they like to describe him as.

So like the calm person that he is, he drops Bakugou's still perfectly intact left hand, with the palm still unread, gets up from the couch, and bolts to his room possibly faster than Iida himself.

But despite everything, Shouto still acknowledges that the short moment of Bakugou's fingers caressing his left hand had admittedly felt good.

The moment Shouto wakes up the next morning, he's set on apologising to Bakugou. He doesn't know what prompted him to panic last night, so much that he'd run away while he'd been facing all of his problems in the past head on.

But being Bakugou Katsuki, the boy is irritatingly too unapproachable that Shouto simply can't find a good timing. Shouto misses his chance before class because he runs late; class time is out of question since they sit very far apart and passing notes is too risky with his snoopy classmates and strict teachers; Shouto himself is occupied by his friends at lunch time and Bakugou also seems to be occupied by his own friends; and after school, Bakugou disappears somewhere to train.

The universe seems to keep Shouto from speaking to Bakugou until night time when he finds himself sitting next to Bakugou. It's movie night where nearly everyone, in class 1-A gather together in the common area. When Shouto seated himself on the empty couch at the back of the room, he'd expected the space next to him to stay empty. So he'd been surprised when he heard a conspicuous thump from next to him to see the blond sitting on the couch with his legs spread wide open. This makes Shouto wonder what sort of special night tonight is since Bakugou somehow decides not to skip their class bonding time like he usually does.

As soon as the movie starts, Shouto turns to face Bakugou, only to find the other boy already facing him. Caught off guard, it takes Shouto a moment longer to gather his thoughts and form an apology in his head. But before he can voice it out, he sees a sudden movement from below and feels warmth gliding against his left hand. His eyes shoot down to where his own fingers are tangled with Bakugou's, heart racing and body heating up rapidly. Dangerously.

"Wow your hand really is fireproof."

Shouto looks at Bakugou as if he's insane, retracting his own hand from the explosive hands in lighting speed and mindlessly replacing it with his cool right hand. His thoughts on apologising to the boy in front of him are completely gone. "Do you want what happened yesterday to repeat itself?"

At this, Bakugou smirks, giving Shouto a very hard time to stay composed. "Well, seeing that your hand is perfectly fine, an explosion or two doesn't do anyone any harm, right?" He pauses. Before Shouto can answer, Bakugou gently squeezes his hand and rubs his thumb in circles. Everything Shouto was planning to say dies in his mouth and is released in an involuntary sigh. "But you're right, this hand is much better."

"Yeah," Shouto says under his breath, his mind is slipping again.

With his unoccupied hand, Bakugou lifts Shouto's face up by his chin, gently coaxing him into looking at the blond's face. "You didn't really want to read my palm the other day, did you?"

"I did," Shouto says honestly, eyes thoroughly kept on Bakugou's

"Cut the bullshit, Icyhot. You just wanted to hold my hand, didn't you?"

"Yes, which is why I really did want to read your palm."

"To hold my hand," Bakugou insists with an unimpressed stare.

"Yes. And maybe to reveal your secret personality, too."

Bakugou scoffs, but it sounds awfully fond. "You're shit at palm reading, idiot.

"Yeah, I know that now."

"And my hand communicates well, dumbass."

"I know that too."

"And you can just do it the next time you want to hold my hand," Bakugou says quickly in one breath.

"I kn- I didn't know that," Shouto stammers, completely taken aback. He feels a blush rising up his cheeks.

"Well, now you do."

This is it. That's what Uraraka meant by him wanting to be with Bakugou. The giddiness, the warmth in his heart, its unrelenting rapid rate, the fondness, the way his hand feels so perfect against his own, the joy he feels when just being next to Bakugou -- Shouto's feelings all point to the way he wants to be with the boy in front of him. Maybe forever.

"Will you date me?" Shouto blurts out.

Now it's Bakugou's turn to be taken aback, the tips of his ears becoming red as he looks away. Shouto nearly dies at how cute he is.

"What?"

"Will you go on a date with me, Bakugou?" Shouto rephrases, his voice slightly shaken by nerves. He doesn't know what has possessed him to ask Bakugou this question totally unplanned.

"What do you think?" Bakugou is still looking away. While the phrase may sound arrogant and demanding, Bakugou's voice is small, giving off a hint of vulnerability.

"No?" Shouto asks, uncertainty lacing his own voice.

"Then why'd you ask?"

"I was hoping I'd be wrong."

A flush appears at the top of Bakugou's cheekbones, colouring his cheeks rosy red. Shouto has to fight the urge to kiss them. "Well, you are."

Fed up with the way Bakugou refuses to look at him, Shouto reaches out his left hand to touch Bakugou's cheek, causing the other to finally look at Shouto.

Slowly, Shouto leans forward, making his intentions crystal clear and giving Bakugou a chance to move away. Bakugou makes no move but to grip his hand tighter. So Shouto kisses him.

If Shouto was obsessed with a simple touch of hands, a touch of lips is incomparable. Like the handhold, he's drawn to it instantly but the feeling is intensified at least tenfold. It's chaste and is over quicker than he'd like, but the feelings are there. Like Bakugou Katsuki himself, the kiss is explosive in a way that's far from aggressive, as if his heart has burst open, overflowing with all his feelings for Bakugou that's been hidden all this time while at the same time, liquid warmth fills his open heart. With the soft brush of their lips, his heart races faster than its ever been and he feels so, so warm that he's sure his insides has turned to jelly. It's strange but he once again feels complete in the way that only Bakugou can manage to achieve.

The taste of the other boy's lips lingers and he knows it will stay there for a long time, clouding his mind in the same way his hand had.

And when he pulls back to see Bakugou's face flushed red, he knows for sure that he's addicted.

With their faces burning, they turn back to the TV to finally see the movie. It's already running for so long that they are completely lost -- nothing in the movie makes sense. So they spend most of the time just enjoying each other's company, bickering and steal a few more kisses as they decide that the movie isn't worth the time. They never let go of each other's hand.

When the movie ends, way too quickly, both boys are startled by a body plopping beside them and a loud voice. "Here we are, back at it again with the perfect handhold! This time featuring Bakugou's explosively hot hand and Todoroki's icy cold hand!" Ashido has walked from her front row couch all the way to theirs.

"Fuck off, Racoon Eyes," Bakugou yells, flipping her off aggressively with his free hand.

"Meanie."

Shouto smiles as fondness fills his whole heart. He may be able to form the perfect hand holding equation on his own, but it sure is much more satisfying with one Bakugou Katsuki added to it.