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"My dad wants to meet you." Shouto mentioned one Thursday evening, curled up on the couch with a big, fluffy lump of blanket-clad-boyfriend in his lap.
"Who?"
"The bitchass motherfucker who ruined my life." He corrected, pulling Katsuki into his chest a little more so he could see the television without blond tufts interrupting his view. "And Fuyumi wants to too."
Katsuki hummed, shuffling so that he was once again in Shouto's way. "How similar to the bitchass motherfucker who ruined your life is your sister?"
"You're going to have to word that differently."
"It's been working so far."
"I'm starting to think you don't know my dad's name." Shouto pointed out, directing Katsuki to the left a little so that he could at least see one half of the screen. "And all these noun phrases are making it seem like our whole relationship is an English lesson."
Katsuki sighed and turned around fully, somehow managing to poke Shouto with every one of his joints and once again placing himself in front of the television. At this point his attempt to watch Jojo's Bizarre Adventure seemed in vain, and after such praising reviews from Kirishima as well, how sad.
"I know his fucking name," Katsuki said, flicking his forehead in mock irritation. "I just think 'bitchass motherfucker who ruined your life' is more fitting."
"You know, you didn't actually say his name once there, which seems pretty dubious if yo-"
Katsuki cut him off with an affectionately aggressive kiss, which involved more teeth than tongue and didn't actually hit his mouth or…
"Did you just bite me?" Shouto asked, pulling back sharply and grabbing his nose (the victim of his boyfriend's attack).
Katsuki rolled his eyes, regretless. "Yeah."
Without any real response to that, at least not one that wouldn't a) detract from the conversation he'd been trying to have or b) include too many of the words Kaminari had taught him and would therefore result in his getting punched, Shouto moved swiftly onwards and vowed to honour his poor nose's sacrifice by convincing Katsuki to meet his dad.
(Besides, a bite was basically just a kiss that hurt, so it's not like the blond had done anything too anomalous.)
"Back to my dad."
"I'm not-"
"I want to have a serious conversation here, Katsuki." His boyfriend's mouth froze just as he opened it to make a rebuttal, before shutting again with a highly irritated but accepting click as his teeth placed firmly against one another.
"Fine." Katsuki sulked, sticking his tongue out and glaring. "Your dad is Endeavour and he fucking sucks but he's still your dumbass dad or whatever."
"So you'll come to dinner?"
"I never said that."
He rolled his eyes. "It's just a few hours and he'll probably barely look at you. He's just doing this to show he's okay with my 'choices'." 'Choices' meaning Shouto's 'choice' to date and be romantically interested in men, which was a cool and ignorant way of looking at his son's sexuality, but then again Endeavour had never really embodied anyone's image of a 'good parent'.
(Just the phrase 'good parent' seemed like an oxymoron to Shouto, but according to Midoriya it was a fairly common phenomenon. Katsuki hadn't weighed in.)
The blond pouted in the way that showed he was actually annoyed and pulled himself off Shouto to both sulk and pace, his favourite guilting combination. Incidentally, this finally opened up Shouto's view of the television, but only long enough for him to see a dog die onscreen before Katsuki stomped on the remote and shut the whole thing off.
Having a short-fused boyfriend seemed fun until they ruined your electronics and refused to compromise.
"I don't even get why you want me to go if you agree that he's such an asshole." Katsuki said, pacing with enough force to send his downstairs neighbour (Iida) into an aneurism. "He'll just piss me off and then I'll kill him and go to prison."
"I'd break you out." Shouto promised.
Katsuki glared at him, a trend in their very loving relationship. "It'd still be on my record, idiot."
"You're worse than Iida."
"Hah?!"
Before he could punch him for making that completely fair comment, Shouto walked over to clasp the blond's popping hands in his own, staring him down with as cold of eyes as he could muster on a cosy evening he planned to later initiate sex on.
"I want to see if he's actually trying to get better, and I want you there because that will make me feel more secure, understand?" Katsuki's head bowed down to face the floor, quirk ceasing but sulk still present.
Eventually, the blond nodded. "I'll go to a shitty dinner and see your shitty family if you really want me to, I guess…" He paused before looking up again, with determined, angry eyes. "But I won't be nice to him."
"I'm not asking you to be." Shouto chuckled, running a hand up Katsuki's arm to rest on his shoulder, his other hand coming up to gently caressing his cheek. "In fact, the meaner you are the better; I'll see if he's actually making an effort."
"What would you do if he punched me?" Katsuki asked, leaning into his touch with something between a playful and sadistic smirk sat upon his lips.
Shouto considered for a moment, mocking. "I'd probably freeze his pathetic little flame beard and send a big, icy spike through the middle of his head."
Katsuki laughed a genuine little sound and kissed him, waiting only a second before pulling back again. "That was sweet but if you think a couple of threats of violence are enough to seduce me then you're a fucking idiot."
"I don't know…" Shouto said, pinching the blond's cheek so that a blush blossomed beneath his fingertips. "It usually works pretty well."
Sadly, this comment only served to get him bit again, and Katsuki absolutely refused to have sex with him again unless he actually killed someone in his name. Not great, but at least he'd managed to convince him to meet his father.
__
The dinner was slated to take place at some nice, upscale place in the city on Sunday, and Fuyumi told him a car would come to pick him and Katsuki up. Shouto would’ve picked a McDonald’s were the choice up to him, in some futile hope that the greasy food would combust in his father’s hands and somehow kill the man. Fuyumi said this was why she hadn’t let him pick.
Growing anticipation/dread marked the week preceding their meal, as Shouto both struggled to keep Katsuki on board and struggled to convince himself that this was a good idea. He needed advice, so naturally he went to his friends for help on the Saturday before, abandoning Katsuki to play Mario Kart with Kirishima and Kaminari.
(Did it really count as ‘abandonment’ if he’d left of his own volition? Probably not, but Shouto liked to think Katsuki preferred his refined company over excessively swearing at fictional blue shells).
“So you’ve finally come to me for relationship advice, huh? It’s about time.” Uraraka smugly leant back in her armchair, hands behind her head and a smirk splitting her face. “It’s only natural, considering that I helmed the first relationship of our class~”
“But, Uraraka-san, you and Tsuyu-chan broke up last m-”
She cut Iida off with a glare, and Midoriya wisely pitched in. “Obviously she knows that, Iida-kun, but that doesn’t undermine her achievement in being the first-”
“But Todoroki-kun was clearly asking for advice on his ongoing relationship, so her accomplishment in starting a relationship first is null and void, unless…” Iida paused, a look of absolute horror dawning on his face as he stared at Shouto. “Unless you- unless you’re planning on breaking up with Bakugou-san and starting a new relationship!”
Shouto wondered how he’d ever thought these people would be helpful. He hadn’t even asked them a question yet, he’d barely gotten out: ‘I need your advice’ before they all decided his relationship was failing and he was looking for someone new. As though he could ever consider dating another person after being with Katsuki. To be fair to his friends, none of them knew he was planning to have dinner with his father (for fear that they might slash the tyres of whatever car came to pick them up), but did it really seem like his relationship was fragile enough to warrant this much concern after a brief mention of needing vague advice?
Meanwhile, his ‘friends’ were trying to determine who he might dump Katsuki for.
“Inasa from the licensing exams would make sense, right? I mean, they must know each other pretty well by now…”
“Nah, someone from our class is way more likely. Todoroki-kun would want to date someone he sees daily, I’m sure, with his abandonment issues and all.”
“We still don’t know who though, maybe someone similar to Kacchan? Kaminari and Aoyama are both blonds.”
“What about Ojirou?”
“Oh, uh… I guess I forgot about him…”
Shouto sighed loudly enough to garner their attention, and their surprised wince at the noise made him wonder whether they’d even realised he was still sitting there with them. At least Iida and Midoriya had the decency to look ashamed, meanwhile Uraraka still seemed too crafty for his good.
“If you would let me finish a sentence, you would realise that this conversation is pointless. I have no plans on breaking up with Katsuki; in fact I’m certain I’ll stay with him forever.” He explained, and they all let out a concerning sigh of relief. What, did they think something unspeakably bad would happen were he to break Katsuki’s heart?
(Katsuki getting upset sounded like a tragedy all by itself to be fair, though his friends were probably more worried about the property damage that would no doubt ensue, now that he thought about it).
Iida still looked vaguely confused. “So you’re saying you need advice on… Proposing? That seems, um, ill-advised considering our juvenile age and your long harboured fear of commitment.”
How exactly did Shouto get prescribed all of these emotional issues? It’s like you talk about your abusive home life ninety times and mention your broken family at every tangentially relevant opportunity and suddenly your friends think you’re ‘unhealthily obsessed’ or ‘struggling to move on’ or something.
It occurred to him now that his inner monologue was beginning to sound an awful lot like his boyfriend, snark and all.
“I’m not going to propose.” Though honestly that idea didn’t seem half bad. “I literally just wanted to ask whether or not you think I should take Katsuki to lunch with my father and sister tomorrow.”
What met his words would best be described as looks of mourning, either for his assumedly misplaced sanity or Katsuki’s clean record, he did not know.
“Todoroki-kun,” Midoriya said seriously, grasping his arm with a faint flicker of his quirk pulsing through. “If you take Kacchan to see your father, you will need to come to terms with becoming an orphan.”
“I still have my mother though.”
“Half an orphan then.” Uraraka cut in.
“Whatever the case, Endeavour will not live through that encounter, and I care too much about Kacchan for you to sign his life away to villainy.” Midoriya was still staring at him as though this matter was inarguable, as if Katsuki had no ability to restrain himself after nearly seventeen years of constant anger issues.
He told him as much, and Midoriya held one solemn hand over his heart, actual tears pricking at his eyelids.
“Consider, Todoroki-kun,” Iida pointed out, a similarly resigned look on his face. “That the fact Bakugou still has such debilitating problems with his anger management after seventeen years is proof for our argument that he will kill Endeavour on sight.”
__
Well and truly convinced that he was dating a fated murderer, Shouto went through the rest of that day and the following morning in a complete daze, wondering whether or not he’d be allowed to see Katsuki for conjugal visits when his beautiful boyfriend was incarcerated. Now would actually be a fairly good time to work on that ‘proposal plan’ Iida had been talking about.
He didn’t mention as much to Katsuki himself though, not wanting to be the victim of his apparently homicidal rage.
Instead he led his grumbling boyfriend out of UA and to the waiting limousine outside, where Fuyumi was sat nervously chewing at her bottom lip in the back. If anything the gratuitous choice in vehicle only worsened Katsuki’s already foul mood, as he slammed the doors with more force than necessary and began writing curses on every available surface, clearly having brought a permanent marker for this exact purpose. Shouto would usually be amused by this, and he was certainly happy for his father to pay for any damages Katsuki made to this limousine, but the gnawing thought that this would be his last free day to see his boyfriend soured the mood slightly. Katsuki may be beautiful from all angles, but his hunched back and scrawling hand were really testing Shouto’s libido.
Fuyumi sat uncomfortably across from them, twitching hands clasped on her lap. “So…” She tried, offering Katsuki and himself a weak smile. “Are you excited for dinner?”
Predictably, Katsuki did not glance up to meet her gaze, and so Shouto replied for the both of them. “I’m sure our father will have picked a nice restaurant, if nothing else.”
He heard a stifled chuckle from Katsuki just as he finished off his graffiti, and looked over to see a messy pattern of curse words and Endeavour caricatures decorating the surface. If Fuyumi took issue with his boyfriend’s childish behaviour, she did not speak up.
“Where are we fuckin’ going, anyway?” Katsuki asked as he sat himself up, looking to Shouto for the answer.
“Somewhere in the Jabu district, I think, though I’m not sure where my father frequents.” Endeavour had never been particularly interested in family outings or meals, and kept both himself and Shouto to a strict diet throughout his childhood to ensure they were both in peak physical condition.
Obviously that had changed now, as his father tried to repent and all that. Still, Shouto had no recollection of sharing anything other than a protein shake with the man.
Fuyumi looked confused, tilting her head at the two. “I thought I messaged you about going to Cantina Fountains?”
Katsuki’s eyes widened from beside him, leaning forward ever so slightly in interest. “That place costs a fortune to eat at, and just getting a fucking reservation is impossible. Did your shitty dad really manage-” He paused, eye twitching as he fixed his gaze on Shouto. “We’re so underdressed.”
In retrospect, Shouto thought he might remember getting a message from Fuyumi about some fancy restaurant, and looking at her she did seem to be sporting some fine apparel, though she didn’t look particularly comfortable in the long silver dress as she kept fiddling with her necklace. Meanwhile, though Shouto had thrown on a button-up shirt he was still in jeans, and Katsuki was even worse off. He still looked great, of course, but he was wearing his scruffiest oversized jumper (courtesy of Kirishima) and his jeans were ripped to high heaven.
“I wanted to look kind of shitty (impossible) to annoy the fucker, but they won’t let us through the damn door if we go looking like this!” Katsuki gestured emphatically to both himself and Shouto, wrinkling his nose particularly at Shouto’s canary trainers. Kind of rude, considering they’d been a gift from Midoriya.
Usually his boyfriend didn’t “give three fucks about what other people thought of [him]”, but in this case he seemed seriously off-put. Maybe he was nervous about meeting Shouto’s father completely unrelated to his hatred of him; Yaoyorozu had mentioned that this was a supposedly big step in their relationship. Shouto tried to imagine meeting the infamous Bakugou Mitsuki, genius fashionista and head of her own design company, in any item of clothing that Kirishima had given him. The very thought had his face heating up in embarrassment, and so he gestured for the driver to stop the limousine.
He didn’t care about being late; after everything his father had done he deserved to get stood up for a while at a table he was probably paying by the minute to reserve. “It’s fine,” He tried to say comfortingly, resting one hand on Katsuki’s shoulder in support. “We’ll just go shopping, find something ‘esteemed’ to wear and then we’ll head over to meet my father.”
“You’re using ‘esteemed’ wrong.” Katsuki replied sourly, pouting. “But okay.”
__
One hour later, but only thirty minutes tardy, Shouto, Katsuki and Fuyumi were strolling into Cantina Fountains. It was extremely fancy; everyone in suits or dresses, pristine white table cloths adorning the place and pink lilies sprouting from every corner. Mirrored walls gave some semblance of depth, and reminded Shouto that he was dating the prettiest boy on the planet as he stared adoringly at his boyfriend’s reflection.
Katsuki was gorgeous, that was a given. Pale blond hair fell across his forehead in soft tufts, not unlike the golden mist surrounding the freshly dawned sun. His eyes were sharp and keen, vibrant scarlet bleeding out at the edges into something fainter, contrasting against the porcelain skin of his perfectly rounded face. Shouto could praise his visage for hours, and his body for days, but staring at Katsuki in a well-fitted suit had blown his mind passed the ability to articulate how he looked.
Shouto had picked the suit, it was his money after all, and he’d been inspired by the one Katsuki had worn on I-Island (minus the numerous rips from battle). A simple black trouser and vest, with a cream shirt underneath and a dark blazer with floral patterning up the sides, the same colour as the shirt. Katsuki hated ties, so they had opted out of that, but Shouto had really splurged on a nice pair of shoes to make it up to him. It would not be an exaggeration to say his boyfriend resembled an angel.
(‘Resembled’ because Shouto doubted even holy spirits could properly compare to Katsuki).
They were allowed in quickly, the name ‘Todoroki’ immediately garnering enough respect that Katsuki’s scowl was politely ignored. Shouto assumed his father would have his own private corner so that his fame would not impact their meal, but he was not expecting to be led into an entirely different room. He must have booked it out for this dinner, and Shouto remembered Katsuki’s shock at Endeavour even getting a reservation, let alone a private diner more beautifully decorated than the restaurant itself.
As soon as they entered, his father shot to his feet, giving them a stern nod and gesturing for them to sit. Waiters pulled out their chairs, and they all took their places around the circular table, Shouto across from Fuyumi and Katsuki across from their father.
So far, no one had died. They hadn’t even exchanged greetings yet, but it was still an accomplishment.
“Shouto, Fuyumi,” Endeavour nodded again, stiffly clasping his hands on the table. He looked at Katsuki, who was practically growling. “And won’t you introduce me to your, uh, partner.”
“Father, this is Bakugou Katsuki, Katsuki this is my father.” Despite still looking ready to pounce at any moment, Katsuki restrained himself and blinked (somehow aggressively?) at the man in acknowledgement.
There was no doubt over Shouto’s social skills being lacklustre, but even he knew this was an awkward situation. Then again, Yaoyorozu had explained the overwhelming tension when Jirou met her parents, so maybe this was a culturally uncomfortable experience. At least they had Fuyumi to break the ice.
“How was your case on Wednesday? I know you were concerned about its outcome.” Fuyumi tried, smiling at their father as the others surveyed the menu.
He shrugged her off. “It was fine. Shouto, how did you and Katsuki meet-”
“Call me Bakugou.” Katsuki interrupted roughly, his menu crumpling in his damaging grip.
That gave Endeavour pause, as he looked between Shouto and Katsuki as though he didn’t understand the hostility. “Alright. Care to tell me how you met?”
“In class. We go to the same fuckin’ school, idiot.”
Shouto’s father frowned, an angry light erupting in his eyes as he stared down the angry teenager before him. “You would do well to mind your words in the presence of the No1 hero, Bakugou .”
“Weird, didn’t see All Might on the way over here.” Katsuki spat, grabbing a bread roll and slamming it onto his plate. Fuyumi flinched, and Endeavour seemed to regain some of his wits, not retaliating even as he seethed in his seat.
A waiter came over to take their orders, and Shouto realised he hadn’t actually read the menu, even though he’d been hiding behind for the last few minutes. A quick scan told him there was an extensive mix of various cuisines, but even so he still just ordered cold soba for his main dish and asked for whatever entree Fuyumi ordered. He didn’t trust Katsuki’s tastebuds, and he didn’t like the idea of being similar to his father in any way.
The waiter left and Fuyumi tried to start back up the conversation, fiddling with her necklace as she spoke. “You’ve been interning with Best Jeanist recently, right Bakugou-san? How are you finding it?”
Somewhat reluctantly, Katsuki broke from his glaring competition to reply to her, far less snark in his voice now. Shouto was still just happy that he hadn’t yet punched his father, but now he was beginning to worry Endeavour himself might bite that particular bullet. He’d said his boyfriend could be as hostile as he wanted, but that decision had been fueled by hormones and the incorrect belief that Endeavour was too focused on repenting to strike back.
Maybe he shouldn’t have come. What would he do if his father hurt Katsuki? He hated the thought that he might be putting his boyfriend in any sort of danger, but Shouto also desperately wanted to give the man this chance to prove he’d changed.
His father might have been “the bitchass motherfucker who ruined [his] life”, but even so there was still this deep, childish hope in his mind that he could change and love him as a parent should.
__
By the time their entrees arrived, everyone was acting a little more civil. Katsuki and Fuyumi had moved on from talking about his internship and were now discussing recipes, with Shouto interjecting occasionally to compliment them both. Fuyumi always got flustered at that, talking herself down, whilst Katsuki confidently preened under the praise.
His father was still quiet. He wasn’t glaring at Katsuki anymore, though, instead pointedly fixing his eyes away from the table.
As they begin eating, Katsuki turned towards him, side eyeing Endeavour and speaking under his breath. “Your sister clearly knows what she’s doing in the kitchen- why the fuck aren’t we just at your house?”
“Maybe my father wanted to impress you.” Katsuki laughed derisively at that. “Or maybe she didn’t want to cook today.”
His boyfriend looked unbelieving. “From what I’ve heard, I’d say it’s her favourite pass time.”
“Birds of a feather flock together.”
“Hah?!”
Both his sister and father gave them a glance, the former surprised and the latter annoyed. He supposed Katsuki had upped the volume at the end there.
“This might be a private room, but I still have a reputation to uphold.” Endeavour said sternly, placing his cutlery down with a pronounced ring of silverware against glass. “So I would rather you refrain from unnecessary volumes, Bakugou. ”
“Oh right, your ‘reputation’, forgot the rest of the country didn’t know what a shitty fucking dad you are.” Katsuki snapped back, and could Shouto really blame him? He had told him not to pull any punches.
Endeavour shook where he sat, red in the face and openly growling at Katsuki, who was now leant halfway across the table, glass cracking underneath his heated palms. “I am trying to be nice-”
“Like that makes up for all the shit you did?!”
“My family matters are none of your concern!”
Before Shouto could speak up to stop them, or possibly egg Katsuki on, Fuyumi stood abruptly. Her chair toppled to the floor with a crash of wood against lineum, and a wave of icy power consumed the table, trapping both of Katsuki’s hands. She was trembling, fingers still caked in frost and eyes angry with unshed tears.
“I just want to have a nice dinner with my family.” She said, voice struggling to stay even. “I don’t care if it’s just for a couple of hours- I want to make fun of my little brother and his boyfriend and tell my dad about my stupid, ‘unimportant’ life for once!”
“Fuyumi-” Their father looked guiltily to his daughter.
She turned to him, a shaking finger pointed squarely at his chest, mere inches away from touching it. “I. Wasn’t. Done.” She bit out, eyes still shining but no tears running down her cheeks. “Maybe I’m pathetic to think we can still be a big, happy family one day, and maybe it’s childish to even pretend but you-” She turned accusingly to Katsuki, who had his eyes fixed on the table, hands still stuck in place. “You’re clearly a nice kid and I can tell you care about Shouto a lot, but it’s not your place to start fights at our table. And you-” She turned back to their father, angrier than Shouto had seen her in his life. “I want you to be a good father more than anything, and I’m trusting in you even when Shouto and Natsuo aren’t. Will you seriously not humour me for ten fucking minutes?!”
Carefully, not wanting to worsen the situation, Shouto reached out to grab Fuyumi’s hand from where it was trembling against the table, thawing the thin sheen of frost that had formed over her skin. She wasn’t much bothered by the cold, he knew that, but he’d suffered enough cases of frostbite from quirk overuse to want to avoid his sister suffering in the same way.
“You okay?” He asked her, ignoring the two hotheads for the moment.
Fuyumi nodded, taking a deep breath and scrubbing at her eyes. He saw that they were still pinkened with tears when she glanced up at him to nod, but he opted not to mention it.
(In that moment, it would’ve been nice for them all to cool off and finish their meals. Both his father and Katsuki (for once in their lives) didn’t look eager to start anymore fights, and Shouto had a suddenly renewed urge to connect with his sister some more. Of course, Iida always told him that he and Katsuki had an “impressive ability to insert themselves into danger, second only to Midoriya”. He supposed it made sense that such a smart student frequently ended up being correct about these things).
His boyfriend opened his mouth to say something, when the wall behind him suddenly crashed inwards. Katsuki’s eyes shot wide, before a hooded man appeared out of the rubble and grabbed onto his arm, pressing the barrel of a gun against his temple faster than Shouto could move.
In an instant, both he and his father were on their feet, quirks active. Endeavour grabbed a frozen Fuyumi and roughly pulled her behind himself, and Katsuki took a noticeable breath in as his assailant’s grip tightened.
“Sweet of the Number One Hero to have a hostage all tied up and ready for me~” The villain drawled. Tied up? Shoot looked to Katsuki’s hands, both still iced over. His sweat glands must be frozen too; he can’t use his quirk to get out.
Fuck. Shouto should’ve been more careful. Usually Katsuki would say something but he must’ve been trying to give Fuyumi an uninterrupted moment to speak.
Katsuki, without a single ounce of self-preservation, bodily shoved back into the villain, baring his teeth. “Don’t fuckin’ talk like I’m not here! I’ll beat your shitty ass so damn hard you-”
The man slammed the gun against Katsuki’s temple to shut him up, and Shouto seethed at the action. “If you touch him again, I swear I’ll-”
“What?” The villain laughed, his hood brushing up long enough for Shouto to catch sight of three, bulbous eyes, two blue and one red. “You can’t do nothin’, and if this little shit speaks up again I’ll blow his brains out and take the girl instead.”
His boyfriend still looked okay, though his temple was bleeding, but the villain had too secure of a grip for him to easily break out. If Katsuki had his quirk then this would all be over in a heartbeat, but as it stood…
“You really believe confronting me whilst I’m with my family will end well for you?” His father asked, speaking up and stepping slightly so that Fuyumi was further behind him. She was still too far from the door to get away, but it was an improvement. “What, you blew up that wall because you saw my name on the reservation list? You want some publicity? You don’t actually think you could defeat me, do you?!”
Trembling slightly, the villain straightened himself up, Katsuki still securely in his hold. “I wouldn’t charge in here without a plan.”
Katsuki muttered something derisive under his breath that Shouto couldn’t hear, and got knocked in the head again for his trouble.
They needed a plan. Shouto couldn’t risk either Katsuki or Fuyumi if he fought, and his father must have realised the same thing. However, his boyfriend wasn’t in much of a position to get himself out of danger and that second blow to the head had left him with vaguely vacant eyes, leaning a little more against the table. Shout moved to reach out for him but was told to keep his hands up.
“Why are you attacking my father?” He tried, mostly stalling to think of an idea. Patrolling heroes should be coming after that explosion, as well as the police, but he doubted more law enforcement would lower the tension in this hostage situation. “Aside from, uh, ‘clout’ I mean.” Despite his injury, Katsuki rolled his eyes.
The villain kept his mouth pointedly shut, so Endeavour pitched in. “If your only quirk is that three eye mutation, and your only weapon is that handgun, then you’re a lunatic for coming here. If you also don’t recognise your stupidity in grabbing that kid, considering he rather publicly won the UA Sports Festival and escaped the League of Villains, then you’re an idiot on top of that.”
Looking a little more nervous now, the guy looked down to Katsuki, perhaps registering who he was for a moment.
“Whatever.” He decided, gritting his teeth and gripping Katsuki even tighter, fingernails pressing against the lovely suit Shouto had bought earlier. “He can’t do anything and just trying to fight you will make me famous, so it doesn’t matter.”
Endeavour raised his eyebrow, and Shouto wondered if he always spoke this much during hero work or if he too was just stalling. “Actually, I would disagree with that.” His father nodded back down to Katsuki.
The villain’s eyes widened almost comically as his boyfriend suddenly turned easily in his grip and punched him in the jaw with a loud crack. He tripped backwards over the rubble, his flailing arm trying to aim his gun as Katsuki pressed an explosion against his wrist and forced him to drop it. The fight was won in mere seconds, despite Shouto being fairly sure his boyfriend was suffering from at least a mild concussion at this point.
Now that their enemy was anticlimactically defeated, sirens finally showed up, proving their absolute worthlessness. The villain stayed shaking on the floor, now weaponless, outnumbered and thoroughly humiliated.
Fuyumi crept out from behind their father, pale faced, and turned to Katsuki. “Are you okay?”
Katsuki shrugged, nudging his opponent with his foot and leaning against the table. “I guess. Glad he didn’t fuckin’ shoot me.”
“Er… Right.”
The police rushed uselessly in to handcuff the villain and Shouto pulled Katsuki in for a tight hug. Then he was immediately fussing over the blood on his head, since those hits had been pretty hard and, as much as Katsuki liked to pretend, he wasn’t invulnerable
__
Outside there were a few paramedics gathered alongside some C-list heroes and a few police cars. Fuyumi ushered Katsuki over to them, as Endeavour was quickly swarmed with the media. But Shouto wanted his attention for a second.
“Dad?” He asked, the word feeling foreign in his mouth but necessary all the same.
His father must have sensed he wanted to talk privately, or perhaps he just wanted to get away from the reporters, because he quickly left the cameras to talk with Shouto in a small, secluded corner of the mayhem.
“Katsuki couldn’t have gotten out of that ice alone.” He said, tone flat.
Endeavour nodded. “Yes, the cold affected his quirk’s ability to produce nitroglycerin.” Shouto didn’t dwell on why he knew that.
“So you’re the one who freed his hands, right? When you were talking you must have used Hellfire to thaw Fuyumi’s ice from the table.” Another nod. “So why didn’t you just use your quirk on the villain, instead? It would’ve been more efficient, and probably safer too.”
“I…” His father reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose, looking tired. “You forget that I participated in Kamino just as much as anyone else, and that Best Jeanist and All Might provided a very thorough briefing on your partner’s character to ensure we could all handle any situation that came to pass.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Most strikingly from that briefing, I remember his overwhelming pride. Perhaps because it’s a flaw I share, or maybe because I knew the moment I read it that he would not take kindly to needing to be rescued.” He explained, and suddenly it made sense.
“So instead of defeating the villain, you decided to let Katsuki save himself.” Shouto remembered the weeks after Kamino, he remembered Katsuki shutting himself away and refusing to see anyone. Kirishima had said he felt humiliated at needing saving, on top of everything else.
In all honesty, this incident wasn’t really a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Tiny, really. It was just some stupid villain who got very lucky , and this time Katsuki hadn’t even been the target- just an unfortunate bystander. But getting saved by Endeavour could have been the fatal blow to his already fractured pride.
“Thank you.” Shouto said in a small voice, looking down and away from his father.
Endeavour shook his head, looking vaguely thoughtful. “I didn’t do it for you, Shouto. You might remember that remedial lesson I watched; it included something I hadn’t considered before.” He looked up to his father. “That heroics requires “heart”, as much as anything else, and that you need to “save people’s spirits”. I am trying to better myself as a father for you and your siblings, but I also want to be a better Number One Hero. In this case, I was trying at the latter.”
“I would argue,” Shouto said, offering his father the tiniest of smiles. “That those two goals can go hand in hand.”