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“You don’t have to answer that, you know.”
The remark shouldn’t be as earth-shattering as it is, but the very concept knocks Shouto right on his ass. He looks back at his boyfriend, deliciously rumpled in his dorm bed, all mussed hair and kiss-swollen lips. The piercing sound of Endeavor’s ringtone had chosen a very inconvenient time to break through the quiet in the room, a heated silence punctuated only by small gasps against each other’s mouths.
The knee-jerk response had been to get up immediately, to dutifully report to his old man’s call. Todoroki doesn’t want to abandon the moment but ripping away, scrambling across the room to grab his phone, it’s a compulsive action driven by years of conditioning. His thumb is hovering over the “accept” button when Izuku’s voice reaches him, taking a moment to sink in.
“I… what if it’s important?” he asks, hesitant. It’s not, and they both know it. The Number One Hero has a habit of calling any time his texts go unanswered too long, checking in to ensure that his son answers him on command.
“You don't even work for him officially, yet. You’re allowed to have a life, c’mon, come back to bed,” the other hero reasons. There’s a pretty flush over those freckled cheeks, and a huskiness to his voice that’s so incredibly inviting.
There’s a shakiness to the hand gripping the phone as the call is reluctantly picked up on the last ring. “Todoroki speaking.”
“Shouto, are you receiving my texts?” The harsh voice of Endeavor booms across the line, filling the room with his oppressive presence immediately.
“Yes sir, I’m just... in the middle of something,” Shouto responds, all robotic formality. “I’ll get--”
“I expect a prompt response,” his father cuts across any explanation. “No excuses. Both as your parent and as your boss. Show some respect.”
“Yes sir,” he mumbles, defeated already.
“Good. Get back to me. I expect your signed acceptance letter by the end of the day.”
Endeavor disconnects the call without saying goodbye, gone as swiftly as he’d interrupted. The intimate atmosphere is already broken though, replaced by a dour silence in the wake of the intrusion. Izuku heaves a sigh as Shouto crawls back in next to him, wrapping strong arms around the taller man. They’re used to this, but it’s still frustrating.
“I’m sorry,” Todoroki whispers, nuzzling in close. The anxiety of ignoring his father is too much, too many years of consequences swimming in his mind.
“It’s okay, Sho. At least you thought about it first,” Midoriya says quietly, brushing lips to bicolored hair. “We’ll get there, one day.”
The long, arduous process of Shouto Todoroki unlearning to see himself as his father’s weapon had begun with a few simple words, a seemingly simple observation that flipped his world upside down. Izuku Midoriya was the first person to look at him and see more than just the son of Endeavor. He doesn’t recognize the independent version of himself reflected in those bright green eyes, but by god, they’ll figure it out together.
It’s your power, isn’t it?! The fire inside of him had never felt like his own, haunting him as a curse passed from his old man until their first year sports festival. It’s strange to realize that he doesn’t think of himself as a person. The bright blue eye in the mirror, the shock of red hair, they feel like his father clinging to him, shoving inside and driving his life for him. It’s been all too clear from birth that he was bred for one purpose-- to fulfill Endeavor’s goal. His roadmap has been drawn for him, and there’s never been any opportunity to veer off the course.
It starts small, with practice pushing his responses to texts to a later and later delay. The Number Two Hero inundates him with messages, piling up unread. Midoriya is there to sling an arm around him, reminding him that he lives in the dorms now, and Endeavor is just harmless words on a screen. There’s no punishment waiting at home, no inevitable lecture followed by a rough hand to the face. He can choose whether or not to allow his father into his day, and he’ll still be safe at the end of the night.
Shouto hadn’t even felt the crushing pressure around his chest until suddenly, there’s room to breathe.
He grows bolder in the comfort of his own space, leaving texts unopened for days on end and learning to deny his father’s requests to come watch training sessions at school. The latter move earns him several angry voicemails but Aizawa is there to back him up, reinforcing the boundaries of the training gym as a private space for the students. Removing the daily influence of his father from his life leaves him with the mental space to hold real conversations, to connect with others. It’s strange, but Izuku wants to talk to him about things besides classwork. He’s finally made a friend.
“Hey Shouto, what do you do for fun? We always just hang around here, or spar.”
The question catches him off guard, coming out of left field. The teens are lounging around on the floor of Todoroki’s sparse dorm room, sprawled out together and focused on their separate tasks. Heterochromatic eyes are bright, happy, as he pursues a comic book. Reading for pleasure is an indulgence for him, only permitted once his schoolwork is completed and triple-checked. He looks up to see Izuku peering at him inquisitively from over the notes the smaller hero had been furiously scribbling a moment ago.
“Well, uh. Running, I suppose. I like it better than temperature work.”
“No, I mean, outside of training. I wanna get to know you better! Like, I really like to cosplay. Hobbies, you know?”
Todoroki stares blankly. He can’t recall a time when he wasn’t studying, training, or sleeping. His childhood had been noteworthy only in that it had been completely centered around becoming a hero. He’d been isolated from his siblings, from other children, pumped full of lies about how they didn’t understand his purpose.
“I don’t really do much outside of training. I wasn’t allowed a lot of free time.” he admits, a little embarrassed. Does Izuku think he’s boring?
“Oh. Well, we gotta change that! We’ll figure out what you like to do!” Midoriya says brightly. “I have a few ideas.”
It turns out that his idea is just… trying things at random when they’re out of class. Izuku takes him rollerblading that weekend, skating circles around him and giggling at the way he wobbles through the turns.
“Come on, I’ll help you,” he says, reaching out with a scarred hand. Shouto hesitates for a moment before taking it, allowing the energetic green hero to pull him along.
Izuku seems determined to figure him out, spending their weekends gauging his likes and dislikes. It’s alien, to have someone be interested in him, to dig into his brain and ask so many questions. Shouto is infinitely adaptable. He wears what he’s given, eats what he’s served, sleeps where he’s told. He’s never had to have preferences before, but suddenly, Izuku wants to know if he wants to see an action film or a comedy. Does he like to sit in the front of the theater, or the back? Does he want to have an early lunch, or go afterward? Shouto doesn’t know.
“No,” Izuku says with a smile. “You have to choose!”
A few weeks later, Todoroki is at his very first convention, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people crammed into the meeting hall with him. He’s attended awards ceremonies and banquets before, but those are quiet, dignified. The con is loud and bustling, overflowing with sights to catch the eye at every turn. He’d be completely lost if not for Izuku, decked out in a Best Jeanist cosplay and gripping his hand tightly.
“What kind of comics do you read?” Deku asks curiously, cutting through the crowd carefully and tugging Shouto along.
“Superhero stories, mostly,” he mumbles, repeating his statement in a shout when he realizes that the words are completely lost in the crowd.
“What's your favorite series? I bet you there’s interesting merch around here!”
The convention turns out to be a lot of fun, and Midoriya clearly knows his way around. They take photos with incredible cosplayers, eat awful teriyaki chicken over crunchy rice that comes with a whopping price tag, and wander the alleys looking at art. It’s nice, honestly, to be able to spend a day doing nothing but enjoying his time with his friend. On the walk back to the dorms, Todoroki reaches for the other boy’s hand first, this time.
“I had a really great time,” he says quietly, “Thanks for showing it to me.”
“You’re welcome!” Deku absolutely beams at the admission, squeezing at their clasped hands. “Next time you can cosplay too! I’ll help you make it, I’ve gotten really good at working with foam and stuff, so if you just decide who--”
He’s cut off when Shouto takes a step closer, rolling down the denim face covering to glance at the other teen’s lips. “Hey, can I kiss you?”
“What?!” Midoriya stutters, blushing all the way up to the roots of his fluffy green hair. “I mean, yeah, go ahead, I just… don’t know if I understand.”
“You've spent all this time trying to help me decide what I like. And I think I like you.” He says it with a confidence he doesn’t feel, dangling his heart on a hook.
“I'm glad I could help you figure it out, then.” The flush on that freckled face deepens, going tomato red.
Shouto leans forward to press his lips to his best friend’s in a closed-mouthed kiss. A little bumbling, a little awkward, but when he pulls back they’re both starry eyed.
“Okay, I can say for sure that I like doing that.”
They're grinning like fools as they finish their walk home, getting into the privacy of Izuku’s dorm room before they make it official.
Shouto Todoroki likes romantic comedies. He likes to sit in the back of the theater, and he doesn’t like butter on his popcorn. He uses citrus shampoo, and likes to leave the window open when he sleeps. Most of all, he enjoys spending his free time hanging out with his boyfriend, Izuku Midoriya.
“You don’t have to accept it, you know.”
Shouto’s hands tremble as he reads over the employment bid from Endeavor Hero Agency, the words jumping around. He sits cross legged across from Izuku, the paperwork packet sitting ominously between them. His boyfriend had received an identical one already, skimming over the terms briefly before immediately rejecting the offer. The casual way he’d done it had shocked Todoroki; he threw aside the top agency in their industry so easily, without a moment of hesitation. Doesn’t he realize that there’s nowhere to climb past number one?
“What else am I supposed to do?” he says hopelessly, nervously folding the letter. His father has made it very clear that acceptance is expected, the plan for his career already predetermined. They have to leave the dorms tomorrow, after their graduation ceremony, and the idea of going back to Endeavor with a refusal is a daunting one.
“You’re part of the U.A. big three! There’s gotta be tons of places that want you,” Deku reasons, smiling reassuringly. “C’mon, you can’t tell me this is your only bid.”
“No, it’s not. But it’s the most prestigious one,” Shouto responds tersely. Not to mention that Endeavor is the most influential hero in the country, and will probably have a great time making his life hell for rejecting the agency.
“Sho. Do you want to work for your dad? Don’t think about what he wants you to do, or what you think you have to do. Do you want this?”
“No,” he whispers hoarsely. The idea of seeing his old man every single day, being at his beck and call again, drags up the hopeless feelings of his childhood in a way that turns his stomach. So much of his life has been spent bending to this man’s will already.
“Then don’t. Listen, Sho, please . This is your life now. You can do what you want with it, hell, you could walk away from all of it if you really wanted. There’s agencies that are beating down the door for a chance to work with you, and your dad is just taking for granted that you’ll pick his.”
“He’ll get at me no matter where I go. He’s Number One, you think he can’t stick his nose in a smaller agency’s business?” Shouto says dully. He doesn’t want to work for Endeavor, he doesn’t , but it’s so hard to see an escape.
“Then work with me.” It’s an insane idea, and Todoroki immediately gawks, but Izuku plows onward. “I know it’s crazy but just hear me out. I’m starting my own agency, and with you on board, we’ll have two of the big three. Everyone will be watching us, we’ll do it together.”
“You’re right. That is crazy.”
“Is it, though? No chance for Endeavor to get at you if we’re the ones in charge. We can build our own names from the ground up.”
“There’s nobody for Endeavor to influence if no one in the agency gives a shit about Endeavor,” Todoroki mulls over, considering the idea against his better judgement.
“Exactly! I’ve already looked at office spaces with All Might, I found a great place and he’s gonna help me set it up. We have enough connections, just you and me. We can do this.”
Shouto should say no. He should be responsible, take the top offer on his plate, and work his way into the industry on a paved road. Everything has been handed to him; he doesn’t even know, really, how much clout his own name has. It’s never been extracted from the context of his father, and there isn’t even a way to know how many connections he’ll lose by breaking that link.
But it’s a chance to be sure, really sure, that his success belongs to him. What meaning is there in a victory won by virtue of a man he hates? Even if he ends up with nothing, at least it would be of his own doing. Starting from scratch sounds terrifying, but what’s there to lose when the past is a burden?
“Okay,” he says quietly, looking up to meet his boyfriend’s gaze. There’s shock written all over that freckled face; clearly the smaller hero had been expecting to be turned down. Just like Izuku, to take the chance even when he doesn’t think he can win. That’s the kind of hero that Shouto wants to be, too. “It’s fucking insane, but I’m in.”
“Are you kidding?!” Izuku laughs, leaning forward to grab Todoroki in a clobbering hug. “That’s great, Sho, we’re gonna kick ass. You’ll see!”
Shouto can’t help but laugh, too. He’s worried, of course, apprehensive about the murkiness of the future. There’s a type of reassurance in the control of having his path pre-planned, an ease in knowing exactly where he’ll end up. Predictable misery is at least predictable. Stepping into the unknown is frightening, but there’s an overwhelming rush of freedom in breaking the chains.
He pulls out his phone, responding to the onslaught of unread texts with just one message. I’m not taking the job. Almost immediately, Endeavor’s ringtone splits the air, drawing the attention of both teens. Izuku looks carefully at Shouto but he stays silent, waiting. Todoroki picks up his phone and looks at the screen, the contact photo of his father, the most unflattering image he could find of Endeavor on the internet. He hovers his thumb over the button, hesitating.
With one tap he sends the call directly to voicemail, silencing his phone and tossing it across the room. He throws himself into Izuku’s arms and they fall backwards together, laughing hysterically imagining Endeavor bursting into flame over the rejected call. Scarred fingers tangle in two toned hair as their lips meet, a burst of familiar comfort in the uncertainty.
Shouto Todoroki may not know what lies ahead, just yet, but he knows who he wants by his side for the journey.