Chapter Text
Todoroki is confused. Puzzled. Befuddled.
It’s been 2 years since UA established the dorm system and already, Todoroki is certain that Class 3-A will bring about his early death. Or at least, his early pro hero retirement. That is, if he even graduates. He’s going insane, he thinks. 2 years of utter chaos, perhaps torture to anyone outside their tight-knit circle.
He didn’t think it was humanly possible for 3-A to grow any closer than they already had over the two years they’d all known each together, but of course the class always finds a way to prove others wrong. Maybe that’s their collective second quirk.
“Maybe what’s our collective second quirk?”
Todoroki whips his head behind him to where Uraraka is striding across the common room to him, oblivious to his brief panic. “I- uh… Sorry?” he stutters.
“You were muttering. Out loud.” The brunette chuckles as she sits on the couch beside him. “Almost thought you were Deku for a minute there.” she says, smiling at him, choosing to ignore the way Midoriya glares at her from the opposite side of the common room at her statement. He tries to look annoyed at her. It doesn’t work out.
“Gee, Izuku-chan,” Tsuyu pipes up from her seat on the floor beside him, “I know it’s our third year and we all look different now, but your face really isn’t all that intimidating to us, kero.” From her position she can see Uraraka muffle her laugh and Todoroki smile sheepishly. She doesn’t miss the slight frown Midoriya gives the three of them, before he sighs and smiles timidly.
“Yeah, I guess some of us needed to stay baby-faced,” he says, rubbing the back of the neck. “We can’t all be Kacchan now, can we?” The other three can’t help but agree. Over the years the class had gone through some major glow-ups together — Midoriya in particular filled out his hero costume with the muscle mass of two Iidas by the middle of their second year, yet his face still remained nearly identical. However with Bakugou, there was simply just. More.
While Bakugou hadn’t filled out nearly as much as Midoriya had, he sure had the body and facial proportions to show for it. On their first day as third years, the class was greeted with a version of Bakugou that only could’ve come out of a limited edition fitness modelling magazine.
His shirt clung tightly to his frame, showing off a set of pecs that Midoriya could only compare to bodybuilders in their prime. Ashido had continually joked about the two of them having similar cup sizes, but now it didn’t seem outside of the realm of possibility. While his uniform pants remained baggy — “I have a fucking reputation to uphold!” he had screamed at Kirishima when he asked — now they could no longer hide his butt, his hips accentuating them slightly as he walked. It was hot, but also kind of cute. The fiery blond would kill each and every one of them without hesitation if word ever got out about that, though.
“He puts Mt. Lady to shame,” Kaminari had said one day in the baths, and Midoriya would have to agree. “Legend has it that the sheer power of the clap of his ass cheeks could simultaneously end world hunger and bring world peace. That’s how powerful he is.” Midoriya would have to agree a little less, ducking as Bakugou jumped over him to lunge at Kaminari.
His face had also become more handsome, perhaps even charming over the summer. The blond's face continued to fill out after middle school; however, now each curve of his face was accentuated with a slight chisel to them only top models could achieve. His jaw could probably cut glass if he tried to, and the class could’ve sworn they saw the beginning traces of... facial hair growing? Bakugou now sported a 5 o'clock shadow that only emphasized the handsome ruggedness of his features, yet there was still a boyish quality to them. Midoriya could only theorize it had to do with his quirk. Nitroglycerin sweat gave its users clear and shiny skin that, for Bakugou, didn't even look out of place on him despite his other features. Midoriya had spotted Kirishima in the kitchen at one in the morning more than once, crying a tear or two at Bakugou's "unfair manliness". Combined with the matching undercuts Bakugou and Midoriya had gotten over the summer that gave his untameable spikes new life, the class could collectively agree that the gods of beauty were quite unfair.
Midoriya flushes slightly as he recalls the memory, meeting eyes with an equally flushed Todoroki whose hands did little to hide his increasingly reddening face. Along with the flustered cough he hears come from Tsuyu the three of them could agree that they were more than gone in the ‘whipped’ category. Besides, nothing could hide how gay Todoroki could get at times. He would easily put a Kirishima and Mineta fusion to shame. At least the class shared the sentiment, starting to stumble over themselves speaking to each other like Kaminari had started to do by second year. He would later admit embarrassingly in a game of two truths and a lie that year that he may have developed crushes on all of them at that point, and honestly, 2-A couldn't blame him. With their closeness came certain feelings that the class didn't always know how to deal with, and no one was really all that surprised as they began to get more touchy-feely with each other. That is, except for Todoroki, it seemed.
"Oh!" Midoriya suddenly exclaims, making the other three of them jump. "What's this I hear about our collective second quirk?" He stands up from the floor, walking over to where Todoroki and Uraraka sat on the couches, the curls on his head bouncing with energy. Tsuyu follows close behind him.
Todoroki grimaces as they get back on topic, silently hoping throughout this conversation that they would forget about his slip-up. "Oh, uh," he starts awkwardly, "We prove other people wrong a lot. In terms of uh, our… bond, for lack of a better word." He fiddles with his thumbs, looking down at the ground nervously before continuing, "Like, for example when Katsuki got kidnapped in our first year, people started calling him this heartless villain wannabe when all of the evidence pointed to him not being one."
Midoriya shivers at the memory, remembering how Bakugou had broken down that year just a few days after he was rescued. With his breakdown came a better understanding of the two's confusing relationship, though, and by third year they had rekindled their friendship into something that really only resembled a close friendship to those outside the class. Todoroki wasn't sure if they were practically dating at this point, but he wouldn't be surprised.
“But then he started changing for the better,” Todoroki continues, smiling to himself, “He became more integrated into the class and strengthened all of his relationships with us to the point where I don’t even know where you two stand right now!” He gestures to Midoriya, who promptly flushes even more at the accusation.
Uraraka stifles another laugh at the teasing yet tilts her head in confusion, “But what does that have to your reaction earlier?”
“Oh, I- uh,” Todoroki pauses for a minute, “I mean, aren’t we a bit… close for classmates? Like, moreso than Izuku and Katsuki are?”
Midoriya glares once more at Todoroki. It still doesn’t have the intended effect.
“Careful, Izuku-chan,” Tsuyu says cheekily, “We wouldn’t want your cute little face to grow wrinkles on it now.”
Midoriya attempts to glare at her as well, but his glare softens upon meeting her eyes, and instead he smiles warmly at her and kisses her cheek before hugging her. Tsuyu melts into the contact, oblivious to Todoroki’s look of bewilderment at their display.
“This!” Todoroki blurts out bafflingly, as Uraraka stares at the three of them in amusement. “Since when have we been this close to each other?”
“I’d say since second year when Hanta-chan dared Denki-chan to kiss all of us on the lips during that one game of truth or dare,” Tsuyu replies nonchalantly, with Midoriya nodding along, his head still resting on her shoulders in the midst of their hug. “I don’t think anyone really minded.” She added.
And indeed, the four of them could easily remember how red everyone’s faces had been afterwards. And if they saw Ojiro and Jirou accompany Kaminari to his room later that night, no one said anything.
At that moment was when a group of their classmates walked through the dorm entrance, smiles on their faces.
“We’re back!” Hagakure exclaims, a floating bag of groceries hovering in the air next to her. Beside her, Yaoyorozu smiles in amusement at the invisible girl’s floating bag, one hand holding an identically branded bag while the other holds Iida’s hand. The class president is also doing the same, smiling at Yaoyorozu with a look that could only be described as severe enamour. Or ‘whipped’, as Sero and many others in the class would put it.
Todoroki gapes at the two, gesturing wildly to them as if it would immediately prove his point to the other three. Iida notices the group of them by the couches and then promptly proceeds to drop the bag of groceries. He rushes over to Midoriya and Tsuyu, picking up the shorter male, spinning him around and giving him a kiss on the forehead. As Iida puts him down to cater to Tsuyu, Midoriya decides that he hasn’t been given enough love, and he tiptoes up to pepper Iida’s chin with kisses. It isn’t as hard as it seems; in the two years they had known each other Midoriya had sprouted up a few inches to Bakugou’s height as it had been in their first year.
The pair are too preoccupied with each other to comment on how Todoroki’s jaw gapes even more. Jirou, who had apparently been walking behind the groceries trio the whole time, and holding a bag of her own, smirks at him. “Careful, Icyhot. You might catch a fly or two, and Tsuyu wouldn’t like that a whole lot.” she remarks, before setting her bag of groceries down beside the kitchen counter and presumably walking off towards her room, with Hagakure trailing behind her.
Tsuyu smiles at them as they leave, before turning to Todoroki and showing a playful display of joking displeasure.
Todoroki glances at the frog-like girl’s face before turning away from the scene with his eyes pinched shut, ignoring his classmates’ laughter at his blatant suffering. He doesn’t even know how the class got to this point. It’s almost like a constant string of romantic (and possibly even some sexual) tension encompasses the class at all times and is constantly three seconds away from violently snapping in half.
Todoroki peers back at his group of friends — the Dekusquad, as Uraraka had proclaimed them back in the middle of their first year.
He takes in Uraraka’s bubbly personality, how she makes him feel calm despite the constant stress of being in the hero course. She’s good at reading him, so he has no problems coming to her for advice when she notices he’s been feeling down lately. He also admires her fierce determination when the situation calls for it; she inspires him to keep pushing even when things are rough.
He takes in Iida’s firm yet loving gaze, that despite his (possibly permanently ingrained) nobility — one that Todoroki understands far too well — he’s humble and caring, always keeping the class in check. His overbearing tendencies, while irritating at times, let him easily ensure that Todoroki is taking care of himself, and the two of them support each other well in their heroic goals.
He takes in Tsuyu’s calm yet curious gaze, how her bluntness makes her the perfect honest friend who has no qualms about telling Todoroki how he can improve. Just simply being in the same room as her makes him feel reassured, and it takes the weight off his shoulders when he lies in her lap as she braids his hair out of boredom. Maybe growing out his hair past his shoulders wasn’t a bad idea. “Take that, Father!” he sometimes thinks.
He takes in Yaoyorozu’s blossoming self-confidence, the way she’s become much more sure of herself over the years and now makes others feel confident, as well. Both of them share many similarities: they’re both students from famous families who got into UA on recommendation, and they both have some of the more powerful quirks according to the class. They bond easily because of this, with Todoroki finding her one of the easiest people in the class to hang out with as they never truly disagree with each other.
He takes in Midoriya’s soft features, the way he welcomes everyone into his world of kindness. While also being 3-A’s trouble magnet, his smile could bring world peace among many other good things. (Faster than Bakugou’s ass cheeks even; he makes a mental note to bring that up with Kaminari later.) Midoriya makes Todoroki feel at home despite being away from home, and is his primary role model when it comes to coming out of his shell, despite the boy’s recklessness when he acts to help others. One of the leaders of the class, Todoroki can’t imagine where he would be without Midoriya’s influence.
Todoroki smiles at the five of them, and they smile back. On second thought, he doesn’t really mind their confusing dynamic all that much; they all support and love each other. He opens his arms for a hug and his friends come running into his arms, sending Todoroki and the group flying onto the couch with smiles on their faces.
His chest may hurt with the weight of five people on top of him at this moment, but right now, that doesn’t matter. Their shared laughter drowns out any concerns he may have, and as Midoriya begins peppering his face with kisses akin to earlier with Iida, those concerns quickly float away, and his chest begins to hurt with what could possibly be love, instead.
He’s happy.
-
Later that day, Kirishima would nearly set the kitchen on fire trying to bake cookies for the class. Todoroki is very tempted to retract his statement.