Archive of Our Own

So it's not going to get any better. 

He could read it on his mother's lips as she growled it at the doctor, like all of this was somehow his fault and he better think of something to fix it. He could vaguely hear the doctor explaining how he wasn't a good applicant for the cochlear implant and the reasons why, but mostly he just tuned them out. He knew he wasn't a good component for it. He was too old for it to have much effect on him and he was in hero training. One wrong hit and his hearing would be worse than it is now. So he just sat there with his arms crossed and waited for this whole stupid appointment to be over. 

Katsuki couldn’t believe that he had to get special permission to leave school for this non answer to his issue. Recovery Girl insisted that this wasn't something she could fix, but he still had an inkling that she was holding out on him. He'd seen her deal with worse on fucking Deku before. Surely she could fix his ears. 

But her face when he asked… 

He grabbed his jacket and pushed off of the seat. "Katsuki, where are you going?" His mother shouted at him. She was just about the only person that he could hear anymore.

"Class," he said back sharply. "This is a waste of time. I'm not missing hero training for this-"

There was a muffled noise and something caught his elbow and he looked back at the doctor. He spoke too fast but Katsuki was able to catch the end of what he was saying and a rock dropped into his gut. Hearing aids.  

-

He got back to school when class was already finished, his ears having been measured in every possible way. He felt exposed and awkward when he walked into the common room and everyone started talking at him, probably asking where he had been. To which he responded, "None of your damn business!" And shoved his jacket onto the hook by the door before he kicked off his shoes. 

Most of the class went back to their conversations but he could feel Izuku staring at him as Kirishima ran over. He made a stupid joke that Katsuki didn't waste the energy that it took to take it in. Instead he shot a glare at Izuku to tell him to keep his thoughts down and accidentally caught eyes with Todoroki. He was watching him too with his silent and never faltering gaze. It was as annoying as it was unnerving. He heard his name and looked back at Kirishima who was pouting. "Are you even listening, bro?"

"Yeah, yeah," he sighed feeling tired. His head hurt and he just wanted to do his homework and go to bed. He felt his phone go off again, his dad checking in on him after a full day at the doctor with his mom. She had probably told him by now just how fucked up he was. He ignored it. "What did I miss in class today?" 

-

It was hard not to be resentful watching his classmates go off on their work study assignments as he was stuck behind doing remedial licences work and extra courses with freaking Icy Hot. Freaking Icy Hot who was still staring. He tried to ignore him, but his staring was just so. loud. 

"What?" He demanded finally. 

Todoroki pointed down at his book. "You're learning sign language." It wasn't a question, but he knew it was meant to be. 

Bakugo huffed and grabbed his book, stomping off to his room. 

-

BM: did u get it? 

BM: recovery girl told me she had it dropped off. 

BM: u gonna answer me u brat?

He'd gotten those three texts before class that morning and pushed it off. Aizawa had told him that Recovery Girl was expecting him when he was ready when he walked in homeroom-- but Katsuki hadn't been ready. He wasn't sure if he ever would be. 

So he pretended that nothing was different. He'd struggled through this for the entire semester, it wasn't like it would make any difference right then. He paid attention to the assignment the best that he could and managed to make sense of most of it, but he knew Aizawa could see his struggle when he stopped him on the way to lunch and sent him up to Recovery Girl without giving him a choice. 

Recovery Girl wasn't overly nice and, in his own way, Katsuki appreciated that. He let her walk him through basic care of the hearing aids and put then on, making small adjustments here and there. She smiled when they finished and put a mirror up to him. 

"They won't replace anything," she warned him. "The hope is to preserve what you have. But you'll be able to hear when something is around you and when someone is calling you. Which will be helpful in battle." She urged the mirror upwards and he got a good look at himself. He looked… Weak. His mind supplied him and suddenly he didn't want to be there any longer. 

He tore them off as soon as he left the office and headed to what was left of their lunch period, not that he was very hungry. 

-

Hero training was a chore. He'd blasted through almost every obstacle only to be pinned last minute by Dark Shadow. He hadn't even heard him coming until he was just there and everyone was watching Katsuki like he was some kind of loser. He'd been close to boiling over so he shoved him off and went to get dressed down. He was surprised that Aizawa let him. 

He sat in the locker room as he waited for the period to come to a close and checked his phone again. He had a new message from his mom. 

BM: look brat. I know calling won't do any good. Just wanna know ur ok and that u got it. 

Katsuki put his phone on the bench and pulled the case out of his pockets, opening it up to glare at the hearing aids. He hated this. He hated that he needed this. He hated that he had to be dependent on something. But he also knew that he needed to give this a try.

He pulled them out slowly and turned them on, settling into the strange crispness of the world around him where he was used to blurred edges. He picked up his phone. 

BK: I'm fine.

"Bakugou?" 

His eyes snapped up and he saw Todoroki standing in the doorway looking a little battered. He immediately zeroed in on his hearing aids and Katsuki ripped them out again. 

"You didn't see anything," he hissed at Todoroki and stormed out before the others could file in. 

---

"Are you okay Todoroki?" Midoriya asked and leaned into his view. He blinked and looked at him. 

"What?" 

"You were staring at something pretty intensely," Uraraka commented, both her and Midoriya turned to look behind them. 

"I got distracted. I apologize." 

"Oh it's fine," Uraraka said and went back to her story. Midoriya was frowning when he turned back. Midoriya didn't bring anything up with the group there, but was probably going to talk to him later when it was just the two of them. Instead Midoriya turned back to Uraraka with a smile. He glanced over again and saw Bakugo push Kaminari's arm off his shoulder. 

The angry snap seemed more defensive than normal. The day before he'd blasted Kirishima in the face when he'd jumped on his back. Kirishima had laughed it off, his quirk taking the damage with ease, but he saw the wild look in Bakugou's eyes. It hadn't been anger, but fear. 

Shouto wasn't sure the first time that he noticed something off about their explosive classmate. But he'd noticed something, and now that he had he couldn't stop. Iida had commented how Bakugou wasn't as shouty, his word, as he had been before and with a somber look they had all put it down to the kidnapping and Kamino Ward incident. He wasn't so sure that they were right. Even at training camp he'd been more reserved. They'd walked in silence for most of their way through the forest. Something for sure had changed after they got back. Bakugou's eyes were always moving, flicking person to person as they talked at lunch. He focused solely on their teachers during lectures, ignoring the comments of the classmates around him. 

Uraraka said something and Midoriya laughed and he forced his attention back to his friends and not the blond haired boy sitting across the cafeteria. He didn't even know why he cared. 

Shouto dodged one of Iida's kicks with a single step and followed after him with a shard of ice. As he turned he saw Dark Shadow come up behind Bakugou and pin him to the ground. Tokoyami seemed just as surprised as everyone watching that he had been able to beat Bakugou, one of the only people in their class that his quirk was truly weak against. He watched Bakugou storm out of the gym and as the doors swung shut Iida was suddenly there. Shouto barely threw up a thin sheet of ice before his foot was crashing through it sending him tumbling across the gym. 

He laid there for a few seconds as the world righted itself. As he sat up, Iida came to a stop in front of him. 

"Are you okay?" he asked. Aizawa walked over,  concern clear in his eyes. He didn't know when he had started to notice that either. 

"I'm fine. You've gotten faster," he offered. He hoped no one had noticed how distracted he'd been. 

Iida's shoulders shifted back in pride as he thanked him. Aizawa told him they were done and motioned for the next pair to start in their space. Midoriya and Sato were already fighting on the other side. Iida headed over to watch Midoriya and Shouto knew that he should, but he still felt a little unsteady. 

"You can go see Recovery Girl if you need," Aizawa said quietly. No one around them seemed to notice. "Or go sit in the locker room for a few minutes." He looked up at him and the lights of the gym spun. He nodded and carefully got to his feet. When he pushed into the locker room, he saw Bakugou sitting in front of his locker. He was staring at a small case, even open the case fit in his palm. He pulled out whatever was in them and touched his ear. After a moment his hands dropped and small black devices were left. Hearing aids. He saw Bakugo type something out on his phone before setting his phone down and letting out a slow breath. It all made sense. The quiet, the hyper focus during class, the panic when someone walked up behind him. The sign language book. 

"Bakugou?" He heard his own voice call out. Bakugou turned and Shouto's eyes were stuck on the hearing aids. Bakugou was going deaf?

"You didn't see anything," Bakugou hissed at him, bumping his shoulder on the way out. 

He sat down heavily on the bench and held his head. Maybe he should go to Recovery Girl. 

-

Bakugou glared at him any time he caught him looking at him, which was more than Shouto wanted to admit. He watched to see if anyone else had noticed, but it didn't look like any of his friends had. 

"Are you and Kacchan fighting?" Midoriya asked. They were sitting in the living room waiting on Iida and Uraraka to get back with snacks. He hadn't noticed Midoriya come back from the bathroom. 

"No," he said and looked up. Midoriya was frowning and looked over his shoulder to where Bakugou looked like he was seconds from blowing. His eyes flicked over to them and his anger shifted from the normal flashes to something molten. 

"Are you still fighting?" He asked. Midoriya sat down and Shouto glanced again at Bakugou who had been dragged into a game reluctantly. 

"No. He's been really calm lately." Midoriya shifted uncomfortably. "How are your extra classes going?" 

"Fine," he answered. "We haven't really started much yet." 

"They didn't have any more tea, Todoroki," Uraraka said as she walked back in. Iida followed her, arms full of snacks. When he looked back over, Bakugou was already staring at him. Iida drew his attention and he turned back to them. 

-

He waited by the front doors. All Might was taking them to their extra course and he'd texted that he was going to be running a few minutes late. He'd replied back with an okay and opened his sister's thread. She asked if he was coming home for dinner on Sunday. He replied that he didn't know if he'd have time. He knew that it wasn't her asking, but their father. Fuyumi had come to take him out to eat a few times since they'd been moved into the dorms. If she really wanted to have dinner she would have just come. 

He looked over when the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Bakugou looked irritated, but for once was trying to hide his irritation as he stomped across the lobby, fists tucked deep into his coat pocket. 

"Are you going deaf?" he asked after a couple beats of silence. 

Katsuki didn't hear what he said, Todoroki's voice was so damn soft that he was impossible to hear half of the time. He blinked at him and almost asked him to repeat himself but he was glad that he didn't when Todoroki said, "You're going deaf."

It wasn't a question. It might have been the first time, but Katsuki had fucked that right up. He grit his teeth and pushed through the shock of it. If he let on about his surprise then that would be just another thing that Todoroki had over him. 

"I thought I told you to forget about it," he grunted and pushed past him to go toward the outer gate. He wanted to head over the training area on his own, but All Might had texted he would be there soon. And a disappointed All Might was more than he wanted to deal with right then. 

The world sounded blurry around him as he stormed forward, the little case in his pocket feeling heavy on his leg. He could wear them. It was just Todoroki here and he already knew-- but that felt like he would be admitting defeat. He didn't need his ears. He would beat everyone in this stupid training course without them, and then when Todoroki ran back to his friends he wouldn't be able to call it a weakness. 

The ride to the training center was quiet, Katsuki kept his eyes on All Might and Todoroki to make sure he wasn't missing out on anything. But Todoroki was just staring out the window and All Might was grading papers. He was surprised when they got to the arena to see Endeavor standing out front like he didn't have a hundred better things to do than watch his kid be bad with other kids. 

And even though he didn't care, his eyes shot over to Todoroki. He watched as his back straightened and his eyes got hard. If you didn't know him you would barely notice any change, but Katsuki had been watching him. More than he liked to admit. Not wanting him to sneak up and kick him out of his top seat. 

-

He stared at the seventy eight on the top of his paper and tried to keep his hands from singeing his desk as Aizawa passed by. There was no way that he had gotten that low of a mark, he had studied all week, reviewing his notes over and over again. He looked over to Kirishima who grinned at his own paper and he frowned harder. There was no way that shitty hair got a better grade than he did. He shoved the paper into his notebook and waited for class to be over. 

Aizawa seemed to have been expecting him to stay behind, he waited with his small bored expression as the class emptied and then watched as Katsuki marched up to his desk and threw the paper down in front of him. 

"This can't be right," he told him. "I studied all week, it matches all of my notes-"

"Your notes are wrong," Aizawa said simply. He waited for Katsuki to explode on him and when he didn't he simply held out his hand for him to pass his notebook over. He opened it to the subject that the test had been over and took out a red pen crossing through things here and there, switching numbers on dates around. He handed it back and Katsuki glared at it. Aizawa tapped his arm so he had to look back at him. He was surprised when he spoke and signed at him. "You can't keep up, if you don't try to adapt," he told him. Then he just signed slowly for him to follow. ' Do you want to flunk because you are being stubborn? ' 

Katsuki's glare fell away. ' No. ' He pulled his two fingers down on his thumb and shoved his hands in his pockets. 

Aizawa crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "I want you to take an extra course with Present Mic. He's more than proficient in sign and we need you to get comfortable with it. Then I can start using it more in class. Or we can get you recording of lectures-" Katsuki watched him talk at him about all of the extra things that were now piled on top of everything else that he had to do until, "--it would be easier for you, if you had someone to practice with. You are already doing extra course work together, so maybe Todoroki-"

"I'll be fine," he said and took his paper back, shoving it in his bag on the way out. 

-

Katsuki could feel everyone looking at him when he walked out of his room the next day wearing his hearing aids. He shot a glare at Mineta who was straight up gaping and he scrambled to hide behind Mina who at least had the decency to look away. 

For once he wished that Kirishima would butt in and make a joke to get everyone off of his back, but he was out for his work study. At least Midoriya wasn't there to pester him.

He was annoyed to find that Aizawa was out as well and Mic was standing at the front of the class with that same stupid smile he always had. He smiled extra big when he saw Katsuki. He grimaced, averting his eyes as he went to take his seat. The lesson was torture. Mic was always loud but now he was speaking slower too, casually throwing in signs and singling him out. If he wasn't his teacher he would have thrown an explosion right at him, but as it was he did his best to grit his teeth and bear it until the day was finally over.

--

Aizawa kept looking at him as he lectured. Shouto looked around him when he turned back to the board to write some information down. He didn't think that he was looking at anyone else. As class ended he started packing up.

"Todoroki." He turned as Aizawa called on him. He cricked a finger and Shouto picked up his bag. He weaved through the rest of the class as they filed out of the room. Bakugou looked like he was going to say something to Aizawa, but just growled something under his breath and stomped after Kirishima. "Let me see your notes." He nodded and pulled his notebook back out. 

As soon as Aizawa opened the notebook and the doodle he'd done the class before was there before his eyes he wished that he hadn't handed it over. He remembered one of his tutors reprimanding him for the tiny stick figures that danced along the bottom of the page. His father hadn't said anything when the man had shown him the drawings expecting him to chide his son. Instead he'd just asked the man if his studies had suffered. When the man said no, he'd grunted and walked off. Shouto still didn't know why he hadn't said anything. 

"Doodles aside, your notes are thorough and organized." He just looked down at the pages. Aizawa didn't say anything for a moment. "I'd like for you to let Bakugou copy your notes for a few weeks." 

"Why mine?" he asked as he put the notebook back in his bag. 

"Iida writes down every word I say, and his handwriting is," Aizawa scoffed. "Yaoyorozu uses shorthand. And Midoriya…" Aizawa trailed off. 

"I have seen Midoriya's notes." They were chaos incarnate to say the least. He knew that Midoriya had always taken notes, and you could see that he grasped concepts, but he also wrote questions for himself, or ideas that he had in a seamless thread of words, sometimes they didn't even pertain to the subject. He had ended up giving the notebook back and had asked Tsuyu for hers instead. 

"He won't ask for them, but he might accept them if you offered them." 

He looked at Aizawa, he looked tired. He always looked tired, but this was different. "Okay," he heard himself agree and picked up his bag. 

-

Bakugou was tucked into the corner of the room away from everyone else. Shouto had asked Kirishima where he was and he'd shrugged and told him he must have gone to bed already. He had thought that would be the perfect opportunity, but when he'd knocked no one had answered. He'd made sure to knock loudly in case, but he hadn't heard any movement in the room when he'd pressed his ear against the door. 

He made sure no one was watching him when he walked over. He sat down in front of him and held out his notebook. He knew that Aizawa would have talked to him about it first. Bakugou stared at it for a few seconds before ripping it out of his hands. Shouto looked over at the others talking amongst themselves. Mineta and Kaminari were up to something and the girls were pretending not to notice, but he could see Jiro's attention drift to them every few minutes. 

He heard a scoff and turned. Bakugou glanced up and tapped the doodle he'd done of Cementoss. "Nice," he mumbled and went back to the notes. He watched him cross off some things on his own and correct them. Then add a few lines here and there. He seemed to have the most trouble with math. He grumbled as he read the notes. "He really went over all of this?" he mumbled and looked up. 

He nodded. Bakugou rubbed his hand down his face and hissed a curse under his breath. He glanced over and Sero had Mineta taped up and Yaoyorozu was blushing as the other girls yelled at him. 

"Explain this," Bakugou said and pointed to a figure. He went over it and Bakugou took a few notes as he talked. 

"Why aren't you over there?" he asked when he noticed Mina and Kirishima laughing at something on TV. 

Bakugou looked across the room, like he wanted to be over there too, but didn't want to let himself want that. He finally said in a gruff voice, "Too loud. Gave me a headache." 

Bakugou closed the notebook and pushed it back into his hands. He took it and walked off. 

-

He stared at his phone as another text came in. 

"Are you coming or what?" Bakugou asked and walked past him. He jerked and shoved his phone in his bag as he caught up to him. "You avoiding someone?" Bakugou asked. He didn't answer, just shot him a look and kept walking. "That's a yes." 

"It's none of your business," he replied. 

"Why the hell are you so quiet?" Bakugou snapped as they walked off campus. "Almost as bad as Deku's fucking mumbling." 

He looked over to Bakugou. He was pretty sure that that admission was the closest he was going to get to 'I can't hear you.' 

Shouto hadn't really thought about it. Honestly he didn't realize he was quiet. He knew he wasn't as loud as most of his friends, but he just thought that they were loud, not that he was quiet. They had seemed loud to him when he'd started school. Everything was quiet at his house. And if it wasn't it was because someone was angry. 

"Aizawa has been nagging me about practicing with someone." Bakugou groaned and rubbed his face again. He touched one of his hearing aids and looked over to him after dropping his hand. "My friends are a bunch of idiots, will you-" It looked painful as Bakugou started and stopped his question. He knew he was asking him to study with him, and could answer, but he liked watching him struggle over admitting that he couldn't do everything alone. "Will you help- ugh- sign language?" 

"Okay," he replied when Bakugou finally managed a mostly complete sentence. 

They didn't talk for the rest of the trip. He wondered why he wasn't asking Midoriya. Shouto knew that he would have jumped at the chance to help his friend out. He glanced over and saw Bakugou frowning down at his phone. 

Katsuki made a face at the email reminder of his extra lesson with Present Mic after remedial training. He tried to keep his face straight but with all the extra work he was starting to feel overwhelmed and he didn't have time to feel anything at the moment. He grumbled nonsensically under his breath and shoved his phone in his pocket, keeping his hands balled inside as they waited for All Might to come pick them up like they were damn children. 

And he made that face. That face that everyone made when they looked at him in his hearing aids and didn't know what to say to him. Like they thought he'd lost his spark. He could feel the same thought coming from of every single one of them. Will he make it? And he wanted to rip it straight out of their heads and shove it down their throats. He would be the number one hero if it killed him. He'd show all the idiots who didn't believe that or thought he was too violent, meant for other shit. Too mean. An obvious villain. At a disadvantage. The only person who hadn't looked at him like that was Todoroki. 

Katsuki still wanted to rip his head apart, but not for the same reasons. He wanted to know why he was always so calm and why the fuck he kept staring at him from across the dorm. But he couldn't spare any frustration on him at the moment. 

Still he found himself watching Todoroki, trying to figure him out or maybe trying to figure out why he needed to figure him out. But his expression never changed. Gang Orca was having them spar with him. They were playing a weird one on one game of capture the flag, forced to sit and watch each person as they stumbled through the exercises when they could get it all done at once. Katsuki sat forward in his seat, elbows on his knees as he watched Todoroki calculate his next move never pulling his gaze even as his father shouted from the sidelines. He hadn't been trying to notice but he couldn't help but see that he was different with his father standing there. His attacks were harder and less sure, more frantic like they were during the sports festival. 

It pissed him off. 

He watched as Gang Orca pinned him and Endeavor shouted again. Katsuki shot him a glare before he pulled his gaze back to Todoroki who was pushing himself up to head back to the bleachers. For once his calm had cracked and for some reason, Katsuki felt like he had to look away. 

-

Mic wasn't as annoying as he thought he'd be. He moved slowly, allowing time for Katsuki to catch up to him and he exaggerated his speech to help him read along. But he hadn't been wrong about his work load. 

He struggled. Going from class to training to more training and back to class before going home to study was slowly destroying him. His fuze was getting shorter and shorter and he was snapping at everyone all of the time for no reason. Even Kirishima had had it with him and Katsuki couldn’t say that he blamed him. He would be tired of himself too. But he didn't know how to stop. He had never figured out how to push past the anger and the frustration to act like a normal person. Everyone in their class was always so positive, so driven and so--good. No one had picked them out after the sports festival to try and reform them or try to incriminate them. 

Katsuki sat in the corner, listening to the strange crisp and yet still fuzzy sound of them laughing from the main area until he couldn't handle it anymore. He pulled out his hearing aids and set them on the table next to his notebook, closing his eyes and rubbing at his temples. In that moment the silence was almost a blessing, but when he opened his eyes, Todoroki was there with his notebook like he was almost every night that week. Katsuki braced himself to snap at him but before he could, his hands moved. 

'Are you okay?'

He didn't know why he was surprised. He had asked Todoroki to help him. He'd even gone to two of Mic's extra classes with him without Katsuki having to say anything. Aizawa had probably talked him into it, just like he had with his notes. But he still did it. And Katsuki could feel the pressure building behind his eyes lighten slightly. 

"How do you do that?" He demanded quietly. Todoroki's brow gave the slightest twitch in question. "Fit in and hang out with them all of the time?" He bucked his head toward their classmates. 

Todoroki frowned at him, a small crease puckering his usually infallible expression. "I'm not doing anything."

And his headache was back. "Right," Katsuki grumbled and snatched his notebook so he could start fixing his notes. 

-

Endeavor was at practice again, walking up and down the bench as he examined the scene his son had set up. It was hard not to notice him, even when he tuned him out, the flicker of his flames always brought his eyes back. He could see Todoroki's attention wavering too. With every failed attempt to get past Gang Orca he would look to his father, a resentment he couldn't hide starting to seep out of him. 

Katsuki watched as Endeavor spoke to his son, tension radiating off of his shoulders. All Might went up to them and put a hand on Todoroki's shoulder, completely oblivious as usual and after a moment Todoroki was walking back to the car. Katsuki went back to his notes as he climbed in next to him and practiced a few hand movements before he looked over at the boy next to him. He was staring out the window, probably thinking about how he'd failed to get the flag again. "You have no close range attacks," he said, keeping his eyes on his book. He could feel Todoroki watching him though. "Soon as he gets within ten feet you're done for." He looked up at Todoroki, keeping his expression bored. He knew he had to offer this. Todoroki was helping him, and he would be damned if he was going to be indebted to IcyHot. "I can help you, if you want."

Bakugou actually looked genuine in his offer. He doubted that it was from a tender place in his heart, but Shouto shrugged. Bakugou said he'd ask All Might if he could reserve gym time for them. 

His dad texted him again that night. He read the message and set his phone down. It felt odd getting praised. He'd gotten his usual yells of what he supposed his dad thought was support, and a brief rundown of what he could improve on. But there on his phone, just for him, was a message that he had impressed his dad. He didn't respond. He didn't know how he was supposed to. 

TS: Is dad texting you?

TF: He is. He's been messaging Natsuo as well. 

TS: It's weird. 

TF: Haha. It is. But it's nice?

TF: How are your classes? 

He loved his sister. She didn't let the awkward comment sit too long, or insist on him agreeing. She just moved on. They talked for a while. It was easier this way. He wondered if that was what his dad's thought was. He ignored him as much as he could at home, but it was hard to ignore a text. He could refuse to respond, but he still saw it. He still got the message. After Fuyumi told him she had to go get dinner ready he headed down to give Bakugou his notes. 

"All Might said we could use Gym K tomorrow after class," Bakugou said as he handed his notebook back. 

"Okay," he replied. 

'Thank you,' Bakugo signed. 

'No problem,' he replied. He saw the small grin before it was snuffed as he stood. 

-

All Might stood by the door. He didn't seem to trust whatever Bakugou had told him they wanted the gym for. He rolled his shoulders and watched Bakugou stretch. He leaned forward as he stretched his arms.

"What are you laughing at?" Bakugou snapped. 

"What?" 

"You're smiling. What are you laughing at?" Bakugou asked, his fingers added a few signs in, words he knew. 

"You and Midoriya do the same stretches," he offered. 

Bakugou grumbled something he didn't catch and went back to his stretches with a determined air about him. "Let's see how much you suck," he said as he faced him. 

Shouto frowned at him and Bakugou grinned. He saw a flicker in his palm before Bakugou was jumping at him. He dodged and slid away then remembered that they were supposed to be fighting up close and stopped. He threw a few walls up, blocking the blasts as they came. Every time he saw Bakugou he was smirking and moving. He was never in the same place. He barely dodged a blast and as Bakugou kicked at him before he slid away he heard a growled taunt. He could see why Midoriya was always sucked into competitions with him. Shouto wanted to twist his foot and end this all, but he doubted that he would, a few blasts and he'd be free. He threw a blast of ice out, then realized Bakugou wasn't there anymore. 

The punch hurt. It was just a fist thankfully, but the force of it to the side of his head drove him to the ground. 

"Todoroki!" All Might called. He raised his hand, though he felt shaky. Bakugou stood above him looking surprised, and a little disappointed. 

"You didn't even defend yourself," he growled out. 

"I didn't see you," Shouto said and pushed himself back to his feet. He rubbed his jaw. 

"Bullshit," he said. He glared at him. He could feel his temper rising. He pushed it back. 

"I have… issues with this side." He flicked his hand up gesturing at his scar. Bakugou stared at him for a second. "Do it again." 

"Maybe we should-" 

"Do it again," he snapped. 

"No. You rely too much on your quirk, sliding around and dodging." He bit back his retort that Bakugou used his quirk just as much. "Do you even know how to throw a punch?" 

"Yes," he mumbled. 

Bakugou's frown slid into a grin. His heart heaved in his chest and he dodged the sudden punch thrown at him. He resisted the instinct to use his quirk and blocked a heavy hit with his forearm before throwing his own punch. Bakugou blocked it easily. He took a few more punches and managed to get Bakugou in the ribs, before another hit from the left came and he blocked too late. Bakugou pulled the punch at the last second, but it was still hard. 

Shouto staggered back a few steps and held his hand up in front of his face as he held his mouth, his eyes burned with frustration. This was why he hated brawling. 

"Are you done?" Bakugou asked. He looked up at him, through the fringe of his hair. He felt his hand ignite and the surprise of the flame was like a bucket over his head. He lowered his hand and straightened. Bakugou's hand relaxed. "We need to teach you how to throw an actual punch," he said after a few seconds of tense silence. He walked off and Shouto couldn't do anything but follow. 

All Might ended up wandering over and gave them pointers and praise that had Bakugou turning red.

"Your time is up," All Might said and Bakugou argued for a few minutes before giving up. He watched him storm off to the locker rooms. When he got out of the shower Bakugou was standing at the sink staring into the mirror, his hair was still wet and somewhat flat, though parts of it still stuck up in random spikes. Shouto watched him frown at himself before sliding his hearing aids back in. 

He walked over to his locker and got dressed. "Do you want to practice?" he asked after tapping Bakugou's arm. He signed practice, though he was pretty sure he had gotten it wrong. 

"Yeah whatever," Bakugou grumbled. His enthusiasm from their fight had faded. 

Everyone was spread across the common room when they got back, he could see Bakugou's normal hideout had been taken by a few of the girls as they showed each other their phones. The blond grunted and kept walking. He followed him into the elevator. Bakugou jammed his thumb into his floor and Shouto pressed his. He guessed they weren't practicing anymore. The doors opened on the fourth floor and Bakugou stepped forward. He hesitated for a second then grabbed Shouto's wrist and pulled him out into the hall. 

Bakugou opened his door and walked in without looking back. He followed him in. He was pretty sure he was the first person to be in Bakugou's room. Kirishima had complained about how he didn't even know what his best friend had on his walls a few weeks ago. He could tell him that he didn't have anything except for a calendar. His room was pretty plain. Everything was neat, and in order. He eyed the books on the shelf for a few seconds. Two All Might figures stood on the top shelf. There was a half built grenade shoved in the corner by the door. Those were the only two things in the room that looked like they were Bakugou's, and not any random UA student. 

Bakugou sat in the chair at his desk and Shouto hesitated for a second before sitting on the end of the bed. 

"What do you want to work on?" he asked when Bakugou just sat there in silence. 

"Introductions," he replied. 

They signed back and forth. He frowned at a sign that he wasn't sure was right and Bakugou did it again, shifting his finger. They made up names for people, to practice fingerspelling. Then drifted into basic conversation. He had more trouble there. Bakugou had a few weeks on him, so he knew more signs, but they could mostly talk. He huffed a laugh at something he signed and Bakugou continued elaborating on the answer. 

Bakugou yawned and Shouto realized that they'd been talking for a few hours.

' Bakugou?' 

'Todoroki .' He watched as Bakugou's fingers slid fluidly through the letters for his name. 

'Why not ask Midoriya to help?' 

Katsuki hesitated. 

He took a breath to speak, but in the quiet of his room it didn't feel right. Todoroki was there to practice with him, this wasn't an actual conversation. 

' I miss the... muttering.' He had to spell out the last word and Todoroki watched carefully and when he looked up at him he raised his eyebrows in a silent question. Katsuki rolled his eyes and focused on keeping his face neutral even though he could feel his cheeks heating. ' I never liked it. But now that I can't hear it…' he stopped not sure how to sign the next part. "It sucks. Spent my whole life listening to the idiot go on and on..." He finished lamely and glared when he noticed that Todoroki's eyes had gone soft. He couldn't remember ever seeing him look like that and he didn't like that it was pointed at him. ' You tell him and you're dead .' He signed and then crossed his arms in front of him, staring at the corner of his room where he'd been working on upgrading his gauntlets. "Besides, the last thing I need is Deku thinking I'm weak ."

Todoroki nudged his foot with his own and Katsuki looked back at him. ' He won't. ' He signed at him. 

And Katsuki knew that. Somewhere in the logical part of his brain he knew that Izuku would be tripping over himself at the chance to help him with something. And maybe it was only fair that Katsuki let him in on his secret since he knew about Izuku's now. But still. "Yeah whatever." He shrugged. "You tell Deku you're blind?" For a brief second the wall dropped in front of the scarred boy and he stared at Katsuki seemingly shocked. "You said you had trouble with your left side. I've heard eye injuries are a bitch. You got glasses?" 

Todoroki shook himself into speaking "I don't wear them." 

' Maybe you should. ' Katsuki stood up and walked over to his door. The hall was empty when he opened it. "I'm not gonna say anything," he told him, keeping his eyes on the empty walkway way, making sure it stayed that way. "Don't go thinking we're friends now or anything, I just have my own shit to worry about." He waited for Todoroki to leave, but he stopped in the doorway next to him. "What?" Katsuki snapped. 

' Thank you. '

He fought to keep his glare as he nodded his acknowledgement. 

-

Katsuki spent most of the next week thinking about what Todoroki had said about Izuku. He had made up his mind to tell him. Release himself from some of the unspoken debt that he felt he owed Izuku so they could go back to something more normal. Or at least their version of normal. 

He waited after class a few times, but there was always someone with him or one of his friends would come out first and he wouldn't be able to sneak off without telling them why. He knew that Izuku could tell that he had something to say because he was watching him more than he usually did and his shoulders were unusually tense when he walked into class. But he didn't make the effort to look for him, and Katsuki let Izuku walk off with his friends feeling both tense and relieved every time. But he knew that he needed to tell someone. Eventually the truth of how bad it was would get out and he needed more than just Todoroki to be behind him-- if he even was. 

It felt like he was. He went with Katsuki to every one of his lessons with Mic that week without a word and Katsuki continued to help him with his close combat. He was almost able to throw a punch that hurt him by the end of the last one and Katsuki had grinned at him before he managed to shove it back down. 

He was sitting with his friends in the common room on Friday night feeling exhausted as he watched Kirishima talk about his work study and tried not to be jealous. They talked for a while about how Kirishima didn't feel like he had enough of a quirk to be working with Fat Gum until they couldn't stay up anymore and as they trickled back up to the dorms, Katsuki pulled out his books and studied again until it was just Kirishima left. 

"Well, I think I'm heading to bed," he said finally with a yawn and smiled widely at Katsuki. "Don't stay up too late dude," he said and got up. 

Katsuki grabbed his arm before he could make it back to the couch. Kirishima frowned at him and raised an eyebrow. His expression was so completely open when he asked Katsuki what was up that it made his chest feel tight and he couldn't help but wonder why Kirishima even liked him. And he knew that he should tell him. That Kirishima of all people would want to help, that he would do whatever Katsuki needed to get better-- 

But he couldn't. 

"You aren't weak," Katsuki told him. 

He moved like Katsuki had hit him. "What?"

"You remember what All Might said back in Kamino?" Kirishima didn’t respond so he took that as his answer. "Just being able to keep standing through anything makes you crazy strong." He let go of his arm and Kirishima's face reddened. "Don't fuck up because you can't get it together."

"T-thanks, Bakugou," he said so softly that he barely managed to read it on his lips. He nodded and turned away so he didn't have to keep talking about it. 

-

They had a longer training session the next day since they didn't have class and Gang Orca was hitting them harder than he had before. Katsuki had barely managed to grab his flag before he was blown back against the gym wall and sent limping back to the stands as Todoroki walked out. His eyes flicked over to Katsuki for the briefest moment and he signed, ' Don't fuck up. ' That earned him a little gleam in the boy's eye that he was growing almost accustomed to, and Katsuki smirked as he sat back to watch him. 

He was positive that Gang Orca didn't know about Todoroki's vision because he kept his attacks straight on and all over the place. Katsuki tensed when he took a punch to his left ribs and stumbled slightly, but Todoroki managed to dodge the next attack and counter another. He was building up to something and Katsuki knew that if Todoroki could just keep dodging that he could get enough space between them to freeze Orca out. But he didn't try to put space between them. He ran into Gang Orca's attack, ducking under his arm and landing a hard upper cut under his chin that sent him to the ground. 

"Fuck yeah!" Katsuki shouted, having jumped to his feet before he could stop himself. The entire gym stared at him and All Might hissed a reprimand as he sat back down hard. But he didn't care. Todoroki had captured the flag. 

Shouto looked over when Bakugou yelled. He half expected to feel that same frustration build in him as it did when his father yelled for him, but it never came. Instead he felt a smile curl on his face and his heart thud heavily when one was directed back to him for just a moment. Gang Orca pat him on his back and shoved him toward the bench. 

He watched the rest of the class go and tried to calm the racing of his heart, at beating someone on his own, with his own hands, and being praised for it. By the time they were heading back to school he had calmed down and the roar of Bakugou's cheer had faded into a pleasant warmth in his chest. 

-

Shouto caught himself doodling cactuses, and porcupines as he took notes. He tried to focus on the teachers, but his eyes flicked to where Bakugou was paying close attention to the lecture every few minutes. Cementoss was answering one of Kaminari's inane questions and Bakugou's fingers pushed through the side of his hair behind his ear in frustration. He watched them slide through the spikes and wondered if they were soft. They looked soft. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, he doubted that he would have seen it a few weeks before. When he turned to see what it was he saw Midoriya frowning at him. He looked back down at his page and then back to Cementoss. He scribbled down a brief summary of what he'd said. He dared another glance at Bakugou as class wrapped up.

Uraraka and Iida were talking about one of the hero battles they'd seen on the internet while they waited for Midoriya to finish his meeting with All Might. He was trying to listen, but he kept scanning the cafeteria. He saw a flash of red and Kirishima walked in, Bakugou a step behind him mid rant about something. Kirishima laughed and he saw the flicker of a smile before Bakugou forced it into a frown. Bakugou turned away when Kirishima looked at him and their eyes met. Bakugou didn't look away like he'd expected, like had happened the last few times it had happened. Crimson drew him in, Shouto couldn't look away either. Bakugou turned back, but his eyes stayed on him for a few more steps. He smirked before he turned back and pushed Kirishima. 

That night Bakugou wasn't down at his normal spot. He asked Kaminari who was playing a game on the couch if he knew where he was and he said that he'd gone out with Midoriya and they hadn't come back. He felt something sour slide around in his chest as he walked back to the elevator. He pushed it aside. 

It was good that they were spending time together. He knew that Midoriya was bothered by the state of their friendship. He knew that Bakugou constantly felt like he had to prove himself to Midoriya. So it was good that they were out doing whatever it was that they were doing. It was good . He ignored the text that came a few hours later asking if he was still up.

-

Midoriya looked across the table at him for a while. He stayed focused on his textbook and tapped Midoriya's to remind him that they were supposed to be studying, but he kept staring. 

"You're my friend," Midoriya said. Shouto looked up in surprise. 

"You are mine as well," he replied, though it felt like a question. He didn't think he'd ever had someone explicitly say that before. He had been pretty sure that they were friends, and Uraraka and Iida too. He would maybe even stretch to say that Yaoyorozu was his friend, but he'd never had them before. Was he supposed to confirm it with them? 

"So you know if you wanted to talk about something with me you could. I'll always be here to listen to you." 

"Okay," he replied. Midoriya looked like he was waiting for something, but after a minute or so he smiled brightly at him and went back to his book. They worked in silence until his phone vibrated. He expected it to be his dad again, but instead he saw Bakugou's name on the screen. 

BK: If I don't practice that shit Present Mic taught us today I'm going to forget it. Come up to my room tonight.

TS: Okay.

Midoriya looked away from his phone when he set it down on the table. 

-

Bakugou was in pajama pants and a tank top when he opened the door. The grenade had spread out a few feet from the last time he saw it. He saw him reach to grab his hearing aids, but he tapped his wrist. 

'Better practice,' he signed. Bakugou frowned before sitting down at his desk. Shouto took the same corner he'd sat before. They went over the latest lessons. He stared at his fingers as they moved, his hands as expressive in their language as they were with his mood. Shouto grabbed his hand, when he started to move too fast, signs not making sense. He held his fingers for a second, Bakugou stared at their tangled hands and Shouto let go while signing 'Slowly .' 

They practiced for a while longer before Bakugou demanded his notes from the last two days. 

'Have you ever seen a hedgehog? ' Bakugou finger spelled the last word without hesitating. He pointed to the doodle taking up half of the page. He shook his head. He hadn’t really been thinking about the animal when he'd started doodling. Bakugou laughed, a sarcastic mocking noise, and went back to reading his notes. Shouto laid down and stared at the ceiling. 

-

The next morning he heard a heavy knock and pushed himself out from under his covers. He opened the door and Bakugou was standing on the other side in his gym clothes. 

"C'mon," he said after a few seconds. Shouto blinked at him. "We have the gym." Bakugou snapped his fingers in front of his face and Shouto pushed his hand away and shut the door behind him. Bakugou made a disgruntled noise and started knocking again. He opened the door and saw the surprise when he stepped out in his gym clothes while rubbing at the weird bump in his hair. It was getting long. He'd need to ask Fuyumi to cut it soon. 

It was just them. All Might dropped by sometimes and gave pointers or just watched as Bakugou slipped easily in and out of Shouto's guard. It looked like he trusted them now. 

' You're not wearing your hearing aids ,' he signed as they finished stretching. He didn't know how he hadn't noticed them missing during their walk to the gym. 

Bakugou frowned and looked down for a moment, then back up at him with determination clear in his eyes. 

' I don't want to be-' He watched Bakugo's fingers and when they stopped he met his eyes. 'If they break.' Bakugo finally continued and shrugged. 'I need to be able to fight without them.' 

'Okay ,' he replied. 

It started out like most of their training did. Bakugou flitting around the room, in the air more than on the ground, while Shouto threw up walls to block him. 

He tried to do a few of the moves that his dad had taught him, throwing flame and ice shards. Bakugo dodged them easily, they weren't nearly as fast as his normal attacks. Bakugou reacted quickly, though he could see some frustration leaking through when he didn't think he was fast enough. 

Bakugou ended up calling to a stop when he took a block of ice to the gut. He sat down heavily on the ground and Shouto moved to sit down next to him. 

' You're not gonna ask if I'm okay?' Bakugou asked. His movements were steady, not quick with irritation. He liked knowing the difference now. Bakugou's voice always sounded angry, if it wasn't broken in frustration, but his fingers seemed to move with his real feelings. 

' You're breathing,' he replied. Bakugou leaned back and laughed. It was loud and echoed through the room, rattling something loose in Shouto's chest. 

'Explain this.' Bakugou was oddly chatty that morning. There were days when they didn't say a word to each other. Just trained, traded notes, and went on their way. But there were days when he could see the boy that craved attention breaking through. ' Your dad trained you. He uses his fists. You don't.' 

' I'm small. Was small. I could never hit hard enough for him.' He didn't think that he'd have said any of this out loud. There was something different about sitting here in the quiet and letting out some of his secrets. 'After my injury I couldn't track movement as well. So he focused on power.' He watched Bakugou, but he didn't have any outward reaction if he reacted at all. 

'You hit hard enough now,' Bakugou said and pushed to his feet. 'Let's go.'

They fought in close. Normally when he fought Bakugou he tried to keep to his ice, the heat from his fire just made him stronger, boosting the potency of his quirk. But he couldn't. Bakugou focused on his left side. He drove hit after hit at him, blasting him back time after time. He saw his flame singe the tips of Bakugou's hair, but only had a second to brace before Bakugou was flying at him. 

His breath rushed out of him as his back slammed onto the ground. He panted unsteady breaths under the heavy hand and the knee digging into his side. Shouto stopped struggling, when it was clear he wasn't dislodging him. He looked up at Bakugou leaning over him with a triumphant smile on his face. Even strained from the effort it took to keep him on the ground, it was a nice smile. He saw a bead of sweat slide down the side of his face, curving along his jaw. His eyes flicked from the drop as it fell to Bakugo's eyes. They sparkled from the pops and sparks of his quirk as he held him in place. 

"Your eyes are pretty," he said. 

Bakugou blinked. The bubbling energy in his palm died immediately and he said, "What?" a little louder than normal. 

He pushed up through the grip that had slipped during his surprise and kissed him. 

Bakugou didn't move at all, and after a few horrible seconds Shouto dropped back to the floor and closed his eyes. Why had he done that?

Katsuki knew that he had to look insane right then. His eyes were wide in shock and he was all too aware that he was still sitting on top of Todoroki-- whose face was so red that Katsuki's heart felt too big for his chest. He grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him off the floor with every intention of threatening him or demanding to know what the fuck he had been thinking. But the closer he got, the hotter his face felt and before he knew it, his mouth was crashing into Todoroki's. 

He felt the vibration of his surprise at whatever noise he must have made. But after a second he was kissing him back and his hands were grabbing at Katsuki's back as they slipped back down the floor. Katsuki had never kissed anyone before. He'd never been interested. He had known a few girls in middle school that had been interested in him but he'd been busy training, his eyes focusing too hard on UA to think about anything else. He knew that people liked kissing. But he'd never known why until Todoroki's tongue slipped between his parted lips and he felt the groan that was forced out of him. He bit Todoroki's bottom lip and he pressed harder against the small of his back, rolling them so that Katsuki was the one with his back to the floor and Todoroki was leaning over him. 

It took them a minute to work past the initial part. Their teeth hit once or twice making Todoroki grab Katsuki's head and move him to where he needed him to be. It was hard to think with Todoroki pressing into him, his tongue caressing his, his hand cold on the back of his neck. Katsuki fisted his hands in Todoroki's shirt to pull him closer, a surge of pleasure running up his spine when he hit a raw nerve and they broke apart long enough to actually see each other. See the situation they were in, a tangle of limbs and swollen lips. 

Katsuki shoved Todoroki up and slid out from under him, jumping to his feet. He paced for a moment wondering what he should do here, knowing that he shouldn't do exactly what he was about it as he turned his glare on the boy who looked just as confused as he was. 

' This never happened. ' He told him, holding his gaze as he tried to catch his breath. He reached up to his face and slid a hand over his mouth, his lips feeling hot and he knew his face was read. ' Forget about it. ' He signed and stomped out of the gym. 

-

He found Izuku in the kitchen the next morning and stood next to his chair so that he couldn't escape with one of his loser friends. He could feel Todoroki watching him from the common area but he kept his glare on Izuku, counting his stupid freckles until he could make himself talk. 

"H-hey Kacchan!" He stammered looking surprised. Round Face and Glasses were watching him like they thought he might kill the nerd. 

"We need to talk," he told him and jerked his head toward the door. He didn't wait for him to respond before he turned away and made his way back past Todoroki. He caught his eye, glared, and then picked up his pace until he was in the far corner of the room. 

Midorya watched him warily as he approached, but looked otherwise open. He put his hands in his pockets to keep from fidgeting as he stopped in front of him. "Is everything okay?" He asked. 

Katsuki huffed out a breath like he was annoyed to cover how nervous he felt. But he knew that he had to tell him. He couldn't face a lesson that afternoon with just Todoroki or he would… he stopped that thought in its tracks to keep his face from turning red. He focused his glare on the wall next to them. 

"I'm going deaf," he said straight to the point. "From the explosions. And I need you to… to take this class with me. To... help me learn sign language." He waited a moment and when he pulled his eyes back up to Izuku he was staring. "Well?"

Well shook himself and nodded. "I- yeah, yes. Of course!" He agreed too easily, like Katsuki knew he would. He looked like he wanted to ask a million things all at once, but he clamped it down. 

He grunted and pushed back at his embarrassment from needing help, trying not to turn it into more fuel for his fire. "Mic's meeting us in homeroom at 7," he told him and went to go find Kirishima. 

-

Izuku was horrible at sign. Katsuki expected him to be behind, but trying to follow his hands was like watching a car race off a cliff. Kirishima was a little better, but that was hardly saying much at all. Neither of them had the ease that Todoroki had with subtle movements and they were so slow that he ended up letting them practice with each other while Katsuki stayed partnered with Todoroki. He hadn't said anything when Katsuki showed up with two more people for their lessons, but he could see his eyes shift when he had them sit between them and Izuku pulled him into a conversation Katsuki couldn't hear. He ignored the burn in his chest and reminded himself that was exactly why he'd done this as Mic came in and blinked at the newcomers before smiling and starting the new lesson. 

He couldn't ask Izuku to come to their training sessions though. So he invited All Might, insisting that they had gotten to the point where they couldn't progress without him. He thought it would be easy to move around Todoroki knowing that they were being watched. But it wasn't. He got distracted by his mouth and his shaggy hair and his hands when they would come up to hit him. Or block him. Or talk to him. He stumbled back and cursed when he took a hard hit to the side of his head and clutched at his ringing ear. He had jumped at Todoroki from the left and he'd struck him on a reflex. 

Katsuki glared at him when he ran up to help him, his hands sending shock waves up his spine. He pushed him back with a groan of frustration and bit at his lip as Todoroki seemed to catch onto why he was pushing him so hard. His cheeks flushed and Katsuki would have blasted across that space in an instant if All Might wasn't there. But he was. That was exactly why he'd asked him to come.

They went on like this for a week, supervised study sessions and training until they were heading to their final licensing training before they retook the test. Todoroki was waiting in front of the school like normal when Katsuki walked up behind him. He hesitated looking around and then grit his teeth and pushed forward, stopping next to him. He stared forward even though the pressure of his gaze was overwhelming. He turned his glare at him. 

' Stop staring at me. ' He told him. Todoroki pulled his eyes back in front of them, but it did nothing to ease the heat creeping up his neck and the swell in his chest. 

Todoroki turned on him, his eyes taking on that determined glaze they only ever had with Izuku.  ' No. ' He signed. 

' No what? '

' I won't stop staring. We are friends. '

Katsuki blinked at him and he had to force his glare not to falter. ' No we aren't. '

' Yes we are. '

' No, we're not. ' He signed more forcefully and slower like it would get the intention across better. ' You help me, I help you. That's all there is to it. '

Todoroki shook his head, for once looking frustrated but All Might came up behind them and they headed off to practice. 

-

They had made a plan to study that night as a group and Kirishima insisted that they used Katsukis room, for some reason he was obsessed with seeing what he had in it. It made him feel self conscious about how empty it looked when the knock came at his door. It was just Todoroki, looking at him like he'd rather be anywhere else. ' Kirishima and Midoriya had to stay late at their work study. ' He told him. 

Katsuki grimaced. "Perfect," he grunted and considered calling the whole thing off-- but mentioning the work study reminded him how far behind he was and he pushed the door open wider to let Todoroki know to come in. 

He sat at his desk and Todoroki sat on the corner of his bed, only this time Katsuki's mind flashed back to him straddling him in the gym as he sucked on his tongue. Heat swirled in his stomach and he looked away, holding his hand out for Todoroki's notebook. Usually he waited till after they signed but he needed a minute before he had to look at Todoroki's hands. 

He flipped open to the newest lesson and smirked when he saw a doodle of a small feral looking spiky haired dog. He glanced over at him and pointed at it. Todoroki shrugged. ' The lesson was painfully boring. You'll see. ' He was right. Katsuki finished looking over the notes and shut the notebook, turning to hand it back but Todoroki was on the floor looking at the grenade he had been working on. Katsuki tossed the notebook onto his bed and went to stand next to him. 

' What are you doing to it? ' Todoroki asked when he looked up at him. 

' It's too heavy. ' He crossed his legs and folded so that he was sitting next to him. He felt a little less heated now that he wasn't on the bed, and his head hurt less not having to follow anyone's lips. ' It's making my reaction time slow. So I'm trying to… 'he struggled for a moment. "Spread the tank so that it makes the case a shell." He picked it up and showed him the lining that he'd put in. "The thinner wall will distribute the sweat so that it doesn't sway against my movements." He looked up at Todoroki who was watching his face instead of his hands. He swallowed remembering what he'd said about his eyes and growled out, "What?"

' Why not let the support department do this for you? ' He asked. And the normal question cooled him slightly. 

' I don't want them to break it. ' He shrugged thinking of that crazy girl at the sports festival. ' I made them, so I can fix them myself. ' 

' You made these? ' Katsuki nodded. ' I didn't know you liked this kind of stuff. '

He could feel his face getting hot and he didn't know why. It made him feel tense and activated. ' You didn't ask. ' He said simply and pushed off the ground going back to sit at his desk. Todoroki followed back to his spot on the bed and they started going over the new lesson from Mic. They were at it for about an hour when Todoroki rubbed at his eye and squinted at his hands. ' You know I don't care if you wear your glasses. '

Todoroki frowned. ' It's fine, I don't need them. '

' Right and I don't need these. ' he tapped his hearing aids and smirked at him. ' Maybe if you asked Midoriya he'd help you with your seeing. '

Todoroki rolled his eyes and shoved him as Katsuki laughed. Todoroki pushed him again and he grabbed his arm. Todoroki tried to yank it away and ended up pulling Katsuki out of his chair and he stumbled into him. He froze for a moment, having caught himself on Todoroki's shoulders and looked down at him, heart hammering out of his chest. 

Shouto's phone went off, chiming from his pocket. He shifted and Bakugou moved back like he'd been burned. He pulled his phone out and frowned at it. Bakugou was still standing above him looking down at the screen. 

'What is it? ' he asked and sat down across from him. 

'My dad's going out of town this weekend.'  

'That was your dad? ' Bakugou glanced down with an odd curl to his eyebrow. 'You don't talk to him?'  

'Do you talk to yours?' His fingers moved sharply and he knew his voice would have spiked in anger if he'd spoken. 

'Everyday.' Bakugou pulled out his phone and after a second showed him the thread, the back and forth conversation. 'We didn't used to talk much.' Bakugou's shoulders slumped. 'But after Kamino, we started talking more.' 

'You're lucky.'  

Bakugou scoffed. 

'You are. My father doesn't care. This isn't him caring. It's him not liking that he doesn't have control over everything anymore.' 

'I wouldn't keep texting someone after getting no response if I didn't care.'  

'You don't get it,' he signed and looked away. Bakugou tapped his fingers. 

'Explain it .' 

He frowned. Bakugou just sat there and waited. 'My father-' He stared at Bakugou's hands as he continued, as he told him everything, things he hadn't even told Midoriya, hadn't told anyone. It was safe in this room, within the steady movements of his fingers, and the boy sitting across from him. When he stopped, Bakugou's eyes were wide. His face felt hot and he wiped at it, surprised that his cheek was wet. He breathed slowly until he had a handle over his emotions again and pushed to his feet. 

'Goodnight ,' he signed and slipped out. 

"Todoroki," Bakugou called after him. He pushed the button on the elevator. He could use the stairs, but that felt too much like fleeing. When the elevator chimed and he turned back to the hall Bakugou was standing in the doorway to his room staring after him. 

-

He gave Midoriya his notebook the next day and asked that he give it to Bakugou. Midoriya looked like he wanted to ask why he couldn't give it to him himself, but accepted. 

He spent the rest of the day in his room writing to his mother. Bakugou had been avoiding him for the past week anyway. He was doing him a favor. 

Midoriya had been all smiles when he'd returned his notebook to him that morning. He'd even offered to take it to Bakugou again that evening. He'd nodded, glad that he didn't have to ask, and handed it over. 

He jolted from his nap when his door shook with heavy knocks. He blinked away the last vestiges of sleep and opened the door. Bakugou shoved the notebook into his chest as he pushed his way in. "Stop using Deku as your messenger." His voice was just this side of too loud. He was getting better at determining the volume of his own voice. 

He caught the notebook before it could fall. Bakugou stood in the middle of his room. He wanted to ask him to leave, but knew he would just refuse, simple because he'd asked. So he shut the door and sat back down on his bed. Bakugou settled at his desk and looked around for a few minutes. 

"Explain the new Math crap," Bakugou said and it was only then that he noticed the notebook in Bakugou's hand. 

He grabbed his notebook and blinked a few times. He closed his eyes and opened them. He looked at Bakugou. 'Hold on,' he told him and went into his bathroom. He hadn't meant to fall asleep with his contact in, normally it didn't matter. He'd slept with it in before, but it was calibrated so carefully to his eye that if it slipped out of place or if his eye got irritated he knew he needed to take it out. He grabbed his glasses from their pouch in the cabinet and headed back out. Bakugou watched him. He tilted his head to look at him, and said 'huh' to himself. He wasn't sure if he'd meant to though, the sound had been so quiet. 

'You're staring,' he pointed out. 

Bakugou's eyes darted down to the notebook then back to him. He waved for him to get with the lesson and he started signing while his words followed his fingers. Bakugou watched him and every few seconds his eyes drifted from his hands to focus on his face. He ignored the feeling building in his chest and kept explaining. 

'Stop avoiding me,' Bakugou said when they'd finished. 

'Are you going to stop avoiding me? ' 

Bakugou frowned at him and he could almost see the thoughts that he was sure were going through his mind. It was perfectly okay for him to ignore Shouto, but he couldn't ignore Bakugou. 

'I wasn't ,' he signed sharply, his cheeks tinged pink as he pushed to his feet. "Good night," Bakugou said, his voice quiet. Shouto blinked as the tone struck him in the chest and he felt like the room was suddenly too small.

He nodded and replied in kind.

-

TF: Natsuo and I are visiting mom tomorrow. Can you come? 

TS: I have class. 

TF: Oh. Well I'll tell her you said hello.

TF: How are your extra classes? 

TS: They are almost over. I should have my license soon. 

TF: That's great!

They talked for a little while longer before Bakugou walked past him without stopping. He told Fuyumi he'd talk to her later and caught up with him easily. Bakugou had slowed his steps. 

"Finally texting your dad?" 

"My sister," he replied louder than his normal voice. Bakugou smirked at him. 

They spent that evening running through scenarios with All Might. They didn't do much fighting, mostly worked on Bakugou hearing calls, or other ways that he could be signaled. Shouto's throat was sore by the end of it. He wasn't used to being that loud. 

-

He was in the kitchen when he heard the news take over the movie that most of the class was watching. 

He stepped out to see what had happened, when he saw his father's name on the scroll. He'd watched battles before, sat in his mother's lap when he was little. Or over Fuyumi's shoulder when he'd gotten older. Most of the time he didn't watch them, but he remembered his father's words at the ceremony. Half of the school had been talking about them, 'just watch me'. He wandered into the room 

The helicopter zoomed as his father's flame died. The nomu was gone. Or it- 

He saw the strike. Saw the blood. But the thing his eyes focused on was the flames, the ones that he rarely saw his father without, die. The feed stayed on the battle. Stayed on his father's, flameless body slumped over the rubble. 

He could hear his classmates as they said his name, but he couldn't look away from the TV. He couldn't hear anything but the announcer. "However Endeavor, who was the first hero on the scene, has been-" His hands shook, so he balled them up as he watched. He had to get up. After all of this. After everything he couldn't-- he couldn't. 

There was movement and for the first time in his life he felt relief at the bright burning of his father's flames. The announcer continued to talk as if he was losing, as if he'd already lost. He watched his father fighting and heard the words, and couldn't believe that they were watching the same thing. He was the number one hero. He was Endeavor. He didn't lose. He didn't-- 

The boy's voice broke through the screams and panic of the voices on screen. He heard him and that doubt washed away. He couldn't lose. He wouldn't lose. He watched him fly at the nomu, fire burning brighter than he'd ever seen before, moving faster than he'd known he could. 

"Dad!" He shouted when he saw them collide. He took a breath. He'd asked for everyone to watch him. And they were. He- "I'm watching!" He shouted as the flames flickered. The helicopters blades flicked through the edge of the shot as they moved higher, further away to where they were nothing but a bright dot in the sky. Then like a supernova the flame went impossibly bright and he was falling. Falling too fast. 

A cloud of dust and smoke billowed out as the camera zoomed in, and standing there, with a single arm raised in victory, was his father. Shouto's knees gave out and he slumped in relief, his hands coming together as he thanked everything that he could think of. The class made a noise of surprise, and Midoriya touched his arm. 

"Okay everyone, let's give him some space," Aizawa said and slowly everyone moved away. Only Midoriya stayed, hand still touching his arm. He opened his eyes and looked at him. He looked concerned, but he had that same look he'd seen before, watching a hero fight and win. He let out a breath and stood. 

-

He wasn't surprised when the door of the gym opened. He watched the flame in his hand dance in the darkened space. The sun was setting and the light was slowly dimming in the room. Bakugou sat down next to him. He looked over to him for a second then back to the small flame. 

"He almost died." 

"He won."

"He almost died," he repeated. 

"He won," Bakugou said again, his voice firm. 

He let the flame go out and turned to Bakugou. "I hate him. I used to want him to die. So he'd leave us alone." His hands flew as the words spewed from his mouth. "But he almost died ." His voice cracked. 

Bakugou watched him.

"I hate him. But - but he's my dad." He looked down at his lap then back to Bakugou. "All I could think about was that I didn't respond to any of his texts." 

"He's still here. You can respond now." 

"Nothing has changed. Him almost dying doesn't erase everything he did." 

"I have to believe-" Bakugou frowned and touched his own chest. "People can change. That they can get better." 

"He won't."

"I think you should let him try." 

He stared at Bakugou, at his fingers. Here was the only person that knew everything, and he was telling him that maybe the effort his father was putting in was different than he'd originally thought. Maybe he saw how much Shouto wanted it to be different. He hated that he did. Hated how much he'd felt that afternoon. But he did. Bakugou's fingers were soft. He expected them to be rough like his quirk, but they weren't. He pulled his hands down together then his arm wrapped around him. He was hugging him. He let out a shaky breath. Then another. Then he gripped Bakugou's arm and buried his face in his shoulder as everything swirling in him broke free. 

Katsuki hadn't expected him to cry. If he was being honest, if he had known Todoroki would cry then he wouldn't have hugged him. He wasn't exactly sure what it was that made him do it in the first place. Probably the fact that he had cried in his room the last and only time that he talked to Todoroki about his dad. He'd probably hugged him to stop him from crying and just ended up making it worse. It felt weird not being able to hear it, but he could feel it in the shudder of his shoulders and the dampness at his neck and it surged something through him that he couldn't explain and was too afraid to explore. 

"It's okay," he told him and pushed back on Todoroki's shoulders so that he had to look at him. Tears were leaking down his face and they wouldn't stop no matter how many times his thumb wiped them away. He held his face in his hands and tried to clear it but he couldn't. Todoroki closed his eyes and let his hand hold onto Katsuki's wrists letting him try. 

"I was a jerk in middle school," Katsuki said when nothing else worked. Todoroki raised an eyebrow at him and Katsuki rolled his eyes. "No, I mean worse that I am now. Like… a hundred times that. I know how I seem-- but it's not as bad as I have been. Everyone always asks me why Deku pisses me off so much. It's because he reminds me of who I was. And I don't want to be that anymore. I want to be better." He looked down and let his hands drop and he signed the next part. ' When I was at my internship everyone compared me to your dad… ' he took a deep breath not knowing where he wanted to go with it. ' I have to believe that people can change. But I know what he did to you. You don't have to let him try, but Deku keeps giving me a chance. And as horrible as I was to him, it's more than I deserve.'

Todoroki wiped at his face and when no new tears fell Katsuki felt like he accomplish something. ' Midoriya told me some of it. ' He admitted and Katsuki felt his face burn in shame. ' I don't think you're a bad person. '

Katsuki swallowed hard and looked away again, feeling like his chest had just been set on fire. ' Thank you, Shouto. ' He offered and offered his hand to him when he stood up so they could walk out of the dark gym.

-

Izuku was being more annoying than usual. It didn't help that the talk he'd had with Todoroki the day before had ripped that part of his life wide open. He had to clamp down hard on his temper as they trained, trying to push him to his next level. It helped when Izuku threw in some signs for him as he spoke, allowing Katsuki to slip in and out of talking. 

He sat next to him in the field, catching their breath after their last match and he could feel Izuku watching him. He tried to ignore it because Izuku was always watching, but now he was smiling at him too. "What?" He snapped at him. 

Izuku didn't even flinch. ' You have been spending a lot of time with Todoroki lately.' He signed almost flawlessly. He had gotten a lot better really fast and it was infuriating.

' He signs better than you.' He shot back and smirked when Izuku's eyes narrowed. ' And his notes are legible. '

' Make that last sign again. '

He signed it again and said, "Legible." As he did. Izuku threw his water bottle at him and Katsuki couldn’t help but snort when he caught it. 

"Can I say something without you getting mad?" Izuku asked. 

"That's a stupid ass question." 

Izuku sighed. "Okay, well I'm going to say it anyway." He warned him and Katsuki tensed himself. "You seem different when you are with Todoroki. Almost like you are happy." His eyes gleamed when he got a reaction out of him. "I would almost say that you-"

"Don't finish that sentence."

"-like him." Izuku rushed out anyway and jumped back when Katsuki's hand sparked. "You doing that only proves my point!"

"How?" He frowned hating the way he knew his face was heating up and he couldn't stop it. 

Izuku stopped smiling and looked like he actually felt bad for teasing him. "You were so mad when he didn't bring you his notes the other day. And Todoroki-" he stopped and Katsuki looked at him. "Well, I think he likes you too." 

He knew how he should react, lash out and tell Izuku he was an idiot and not to talk about it again. But the small part of him that was still in the gym with Todoroki, holding his face as he tried to wipe his tears away couldn't resist the pull. The spark died in his hands and his glare dimmed slightly in his embarrassment to be talking about this with Izuku of all fucking people. ' Why do you think that? '

-

Todoroki was sitting in the common area when they got back to the dorm house. He had left early that morning to go see his family and honestly Katsuki hadn't expected to see him back after everything with his dad-- but there he was. He stood just out of the doorway for a minute, debating on whether or not he should go ask him how it went. But there were other people there and he still freaked from sparring with Izuku. So he went upstairs to shower and change. 

When he got back the couch was clear and Todoroki was still there. He ignored the look that Izuku gave him and jumped over the back of the couch, falling closer to Todoroki than he meant too, but he didn't move and focused on keeping his face from burning. "You're back."

Todoroki blinked over at him like he didn't notice him sit down. "I am." He nodded. 

Katsuki pressed his lips together and looked around. ' How did it go? ' 

And to his surprise, Todoroki smiled at him. ' It was better than I thought. '

---

It was strange answering his dad's texts. Stranger when his father actually seemed to want to know more about Shouto's day than just that it was fine. He didn't respond to any of his follow up questions. A single text alleviated that little bundle of guilt that he hadn't noticed until it was almost too late. 

He had just finished telling his dad that he'd trained with All Might just to see if he'd get a response to that, when Uraraka asked if he wanted to go study with her. They walked to the library together, he watched the colors of the sky darken and glanced over to her. She was fiddling with the strap of her bag. 

She glanced over to him and made a noise. 

"Oh gosh. I don't know why they picked me," she mumbled to herself. Then turned to him. He stopped and turned to face her. She stood her ground and met his eyes. "Will you-" she swallowed. "Will you teach us to sign?" 

"What?" Of anything he could have expected, that wasn't it. 

"Bakugou may be an ass, but he's still our classmate and there are a few of us that want to learn, but we know Bakugou wouldn't want us to bother. So will you teach us?" 

"Why me?" he asked. "Present-" 

"We don't want to bother a teacher. And Deku said that you knew it the best." 

"Okay," he replied with a shrug. He turned back toward the library. He took a few steps before looking back. Uraraka was still standing there looking shocked. "Did you still want to study?" 

"Oh. Yeah!" she smiled as she caught up with him. 

When they got back he saw Bakugou sitting on the couch with Kirishima. He walked around and sat down next to him. Bakugou glanced over and offered him a slight nod before he focused on Kirishima again. He replied to Kirishima's signed greeting and got a smile from the boy. Bakugou leaned against him a few times when he got frustrated before sitting back up and going back to explaining the correct signs. 

'Help him,' Bakugou signed and leaned back. He shifted so that he could see Kirishima better from around Bakugou, their legs were pressed together and he could feel the warmth of him against his side. He could feel Bakugou watching him. Kirishima was catching on, but slowly. He was pretty sure that he was one of the people who had asked for the lessons. 

Kaminari came down and stole Kirishima's attention. He sat back, but didn't move away. Bakugou didn't either. Even after grabbing the controller he sat back down, warmth against his thigh. He watched them play and listened to Bakugou's rough voice as he taunted the other two. He saw him look down at the backs of his friends heads. He knew that he thought he was missing something and tapped his hand. Bakugou glanced over and he told him he'd let him know when they were talking to him. 

As the warmth pushed through his body he relaxed into the couch. His eyes growing heavy as he watched them fight. On screen. He tapped Bakugou and kicked at Kirishima when they started taunting him. Kirishima turned and glanced at him, then realized his mistake and grinned when he repeated what he'd said so Bakugou could catch it. 

"What'd you say?" Bakugou snapped and his player raced down from his snipers nest to face Kirishima's. Bakugou gave up in a rage when Kirishima beat him and leaned against him. He muffled a yawn with his fist and Bakugou stood. 

'Gimme your notes.'

Neither one of the other boys acknowledged them when they left, too busy yelling at each other. Bakugou's arm rested against his as they rode up the elevator to Shouto's room. 

-

"I heard that we're going to be training against Class 1A next week," a girl said behind him.

"Really? That'll be fun." 

"I also heard that they're doing something special this year." 

He turned around, but whoever had been talking had turned down a different hall. 

"Todoroki!" Kirishima called and summoned him over to the classroom. When he walked in he was a little surprised to see half of their class there. Midoriya was standing at the front and motioned him over. 

He went through the first lessons that Present Mic had taught them back when it had been just the two of them. By the end of class everyone could spell their own names and Ashido had started a game where like rock paper scissors, but where they threw out the letter that was called. He watched them all playing it as they walked down the hall. 

"Thanks for doing this," Midoriya said when it was just the two of them left. He nodded and straightened a couple of the desks before Midoriya grabbed his bag and headed out, locking up on the way out. "I have to return these to Aizawa. Do you want to walk with me?" 

"Sure," he replied. Midoriya smiled.

He didn't know why people kept walking places with him to catch him in conversations that they could have in a single spot, but Midoriya cleared his throat and he knew another one was coming. 

"Kacchan said that you're helping him with some calls." 

"Yes. All Might seemed impressed by them." he remembered the look on Bakugou's face when All Might had praised them. The look of astonished glee, that was smothered by a grumpy frown. 

"You're spending a lot of time together." 

"He trains with you as well."

"What?" Midoriya said, blinking at him. Maybe that was supposed to be a secret. Bakugou hadn't actually told him that that's where he went on the nights that he dropped by his room a few hours later than normal when Shouto was half asleep, and struggled to remember what his notes were even about. But Midoriya was always gone on those nights as well and Bakugou smelled like sweat. A few days ago he'd even spent the first few minutes wrapping Bakugou's elbow when he winced just picking up his pen. He'd fallen asleep with the sweet scent filling his room. "Did he tell you?" Midoriya asked. 

"No," he replied. Midoriya seemed to be even more confused, but shook that away to get back to whatever his point was going to be. 

"So do you like him?" Midoriya blurted. 

"Yes," he replied. He frowned at Midoriya's reaction. He seemed surprised, then a bright smile burst out. 

"I thought so," Midoriya mumbled to himself. 

"What are you two doing out so late?" Aizawa called. Midoriya turned and held up the key. He watched him run over, say a few things then run back. Midoriya kept smiling their entire walk back, but he didn't ask any more odd questions. Shouto was pretty sure that it was normal to like your friends. 

-

Bakugou was staring at him. He could feel his gaze even as he tried to focus on what Iida was saying. He glanced over and Bakugou looked away and back to Midoriya who had him cornered in a chair. Bakugou looked back to him. Midoriya turned and smiled at him then said something to Bakugou that had him smoking as he shouted for Midoriya to shut up. He watched him storm toward the elevator, their eyes met and Bakugou didn't look away until he'd past him. 

Midoriya came back looking a little singed, but happy. He would never understand the two of them. 

-

Bakugou grumbled under his breath as he nodded to their rooms. He heard Midoriya's laugh and Bakugou tensed. Shouto looked across the room where Midoriya was sitting with Kirishima and Uraraka. Both of them were smiling as Midoriya was talking, breaking every few minutes to laugh. 

Bakugou stood by the door and stared at the numbers as they ticked by. He watched him with a frown. He'd been acting strange the last few days. He hadn't been avoiding him, but the closeness that he'd gotten used to over the last few weeks was gone. Bakugou had jumped to his feet when Shouto had sat down next to him the day before. He'd come back with a glass of water and sat down, but with a few inches between them that time. 

"Kaminari explained something to me at lunch today," Bakugo said. "Kaminari," he said again like he couldn't believe it. He let him in and they set up in their normal spots. "He also greeted me in sign today." 

Shouto handed over his notebook. Bakugou took it and his eyes narrowed. He wasn't sure if their lessons were supposed to be a secret, but they also hadn't said anything about telling Bakugou about them, so it was probably better to err on the safe side. 

They went through their things, he tucked his hair behind his ear as he pointed to a Cementoss had made. It was next to a doodle of a bunny with flame ears. He had almost laughed when he thought about his dad with bunny ears glaring down villains. He did laugh when he saw it again. 

"Fucking Deku," Bakugou grumbled under his breath. 

He looked to Bakugou, and as soon as their eyes met he kissed him. Shouto dropped his notebook. He could hear the fluttering of the pages over the staccato of his own heartbeat as Bakugou held him in place with a single hand on the back of his neck. He pressed into the kiss and felt the sting of a bite before Bakugou pulled back. Crimson eyes searched his face. 

"Yeah?" Bakugou asked. 

He nodded. He didn't know what he was agreeing to, but it couldn't be bad if it made Bakugou look at him like that. 

The next kiss was softer, though Bakugou's hands on him weren't. He pushed him back until he was flat on the bed. He held on to Bakugou's side as they kissed. 

Katsuki had no idea what he was doing, but it wasn't in his nature to hesitate. His hands didn't shake as they pushed Todoroki back onto his bed and crawled over him, doing what he could to recreate the kiss that they had already done. He was positive that if he could just start from there that the rest of it would come to him and they'd be fine. If Todoroki thought any differently, he didn't say anything against it. He moved easily with him, his hand moving up Katsuki's side as he settled in his lap. His breath hitched and he could feel his face turning red, but he didn't give Todoroki the chance to see it as he pushed into him a little harder, his tongue tracing the edge of his teeth. 

And it was like he had flipped a switch. One minute Todoroki was under him completely calm and seemingly unflustered and the next he had Katsuki on his back, his tongue pressing into his mouth like he actually knew what he was doing. And for a horrible second Katsuki wanted to know of he did. If he had done this before and with who so that he could destroy them-- but then Todoroki moved him again. And Katsuki relinquished his control, the feel of Todoroki pressing into him from where he was positioned between his legs enough to make him forget almost everything else. He had never felt that way before, like a pit of lava was at the bottom of his stomach slowly seeping into the rest of his body. 

They stayed like that for a while, maybe hours, Katsuki didn't know. He heard his name like it was underwater as he gasped when Todoroki hit a partially sensitive spot on his neck, his hand sliding up his jaw and knocking one of his hearing aids out. He pulled back when he felt it fall out and Todoroki stared down at him with a bewildered expression. It was almost enough for Katsuki to maul him again. ' Sorry. ' He signed and pulled the hearing air out from behind Katsuki's head. He held it out for him. ' Are you okay? '

He tucked it back into his ear and sat up when Todoroki moved off of him. ' I'm fine, it just startled me.' He adjusted the hearing aid and then looked back at him, he hadn't quite been able to force up his usual wall again. ' Are you? ' He asked after a moment of hesitation. ' Was that okay? ' His face felt stupidly hot again and he grimaced. ' Did you… like it? ' 

Todoroki's eyes shifted down to his lips and back and he nodded. 

Katsuki swallowed. ' Good .' His hands hit together harder than he meant them too and he grabbed the notebook off the ground, pushing back into the territory that he was comfortable with. ' Explain this. He had his head turned to Kirishima the whole time. '

-

Nothing changed. At least not in a major way. Katsuki sat closer to Todoroki when they studied and when they were in common areas together. But other than that, it was more of the same. They went to lessons, they sparred. They weren't hand holding people. And they kissed sometimes. But it was amazing just how much different it felt with such a little shift. The biggest difference had almost nothing to do with Todoroki at all. 

He didn't know when or how it had happened, but one morning when he came down for breakfast Jiro greated him in sign. And she smiled when the surprise prompted him to sign back without thinking. It kept happening all day, almost everyone in their class saying small things to him with their hands, or casually throwing in a few signs when asking their teachers questions. Even Mineta was talking slower, his hands waving uselessly in front of him. Katsuki wanted to be annoyed, he wanted to be angry that so many people were taking pity on him. But mostly he was just really confused and, if he was being honest, he was relieved. It was the first day in a long string of days that his head didn’t hurt by lunch. 

‘ Did you do this? ’ he asked Todoroki when he sat at their table, Kirishima not far behind him. He stared blankly, his version of asking Katsuki to elaborate. ‘ Everyone signing today. ’

‘ Midoriya. ’ He said simply. Practiced annoyance flared in his chest and Katsuki turned to glare in his direction, but Todoroki tapped his wrist and he turned back. ‘ He set it up, but the whole class wanted to learn. They want to help you. ’ Katsuki blinked at him as the smallest of smiles pulled at his mouth. ‘ Maybe you should let them. ’ 

He would have kissed him if Kirishima and Ashido didn’t show up. He didn’t want to give Ashido any ammunition. 

-

Bakugou didn't seem as tense as the class collectively got better. Shouto wasn't sure if anyone else would agree, Bakugou included, but he saw it. Moreso he felt it in the kisses that ended their nights more and more often. 

He felt irritated and restless when he got back from dinner with his family. It had been a perfectly normal dinner. Fuyumi spoke about her week, she got Natsuo and him to talk about theirs, and their dad listened. It felt like what he imagined a normal dinner felt like. And he didn't know why it felt so wrong. 

"Your boyfriend is back," Kaminari teased as Shouto walked through the kitchen. 

"Just friend you moron," Bakugou corrected. Shouto felt accomplished. He grabbed a drink and headed up to his room. He heard Kaminari say something back and Bakugou's gruff demand for him to repeat it. He smiled as he rode the elevator. He hadn't gotten Bakugou to admit they were friends. He hadn't tried in a while, mostly because he thought that it was obvious now. They wouldn't spend so much time together if they weren't friends. But it still felt nice to hear.

-

Shouto was tired. They'd had a difficult training for their remedial course and Bakugou had insisted that they spar on their one day off. Then class had immediately shifted into rescue drills. He wanted to go to sleep, but Bakugou kept asking about their assignment for math. He answered and fought back a yawn. Bakugou tapped his hands and signed at him and Shouto stared at his fingers, he knew those signs, but his mind wouldn't give him the answer. He looked up at Bakugou and a yawn broke through. Bakugou huffed and a smile curled as he closed the notebook. 

He leaned back when Bakugou stepped up in front of him. Bakugou looked at him for longer than normal, his eyes roaming over his face. Shouto yawned again, his jaw cracked with the force. 

"Go to bed," Bakugou finally said. Shouto nodded and stood. Bakugou hadn't stepped back any. He got a kiss a short soft one that he hadn't gotten before. He let out a hum and Bakugou smiled and kissed him again. He moved in closer and wrapped his hand around Bakugou's back. With every second that passed, his energy returned like Bakugou's lips were the source of his power. Bakugou tugged him down when they turned and he teetered over the bed. He looked down and was struck by how familiar this sight was. Bakugou beneath him, their legs tangled together as he watched a pink tongue wet swollen lips. Bakugou grabbed his head and tugged him down, impatient. 

He yawned against Bakugou's neck a few minutes later and got tugged down next to him. Bakugou refused to meet his gaze as he pulled the blanket over them both. Shouto closed his eyes as Bakugou's hand slid over his side and his breath puffed against his neck. He'd never been to a sleepover before. Bakugou murmured goodnight and tugged him a little closer. Shouto understood why everyone talked so much about them now. 

-

"Could I borrow your notes from yesterday?" Midoriya asked as they walked to the cafeteria. Shouto nodded. Midoriya smiled and talked about what he'd done during the day of school he'd missed. He took his notes and doodled his old cactus friends. Bakugou always tapped them with his pen as he went through his notes. He liked it. It felt like a secret. 

Midoriya didn't ask for his notes until people were starting to head to bed. He had come running in with a smile on his face that he couldn't smother no matter how much he appeared to be trying. They went up to Midoriya's room. He sat down on the corner of the bed like he did any time he was in Bakugou's room and looked around as Midoriya copied the parts he'd missed. There was a lot more to look at in Midoriya's room. He had something of his own on each shelf, and posters covered the walls. One of the figures that Bakugou had on his shelf sat on Midoriya's, front and center. 

"Bakugou has that," he said. Midoriya turned and looked where he was pointing. 

"Really?" he asked. "We've had them since we were kids. I didn't think he'd still have his."

Shouto looked at the figure grinning at him. His stomach felt uneasy as he looked at it. They'd been friends for so long. 

"Who was your favorite?" Midoriya asked. Shouto turned back to him and realized that he hadn't been listening to him. 

"All Might," he answered. He was what he'd always wanted to be. The opposite of his dad. Midoriya smiled and kept talking. He listened to him and added comments here and there. 

"Thanks, Todoroki," Midoriya said as he handed his notebook back to him. 

He had to duck his head to kiss Midoriya. It was different. His lips were rougher too. He felt a palm press against his chest then he was tumbling backward. Midoriya took a step back. 

"W-what are you doing?" he asked, his voice high and shaking. 

"I thought we were friends. Isn't this what friends do?" he asked. His chest hurt. He rubbed it and pushed himself up.

"No! Who told you that?" Midoriya's eyes widened before his eyes flared in anger. 

"I'm sorry," he insisted. Midoriya shook his head quickly. 

"I'm not mad at you." Midoriya sat down. "Friends don't kiss each other," he told him like he was talking to a kid. "It's supposed to be special. When you like them."

"But I do like you." 

"Love. When you love them," Midoriya corrected.

"But-" He thought about all the kisses they'd shared, the smiles and the soft touches. He didn't understand. 

"He lied to you."

He looked up at Midoriya and saw the anger there again, this time he knew that it wasn't for him. His chest hurt again, only this time it wasn't from the shove. "Oh."

-

Katsuki felt more than heard the knock on his door and turned to frown at it. It was almost nine o'clock and he hadn't been expecting Todoroki to come up after he walked off with Deku. He got up, growling that he was coming surprised to see Izuku at the door. He looked mad. Like actually mad, a face he had only seen him make a handful of times usually in training or in a fight or… he got a flash of a dark portal and a hand around his neck. He didn't think about that one. 

"What?" He asked when Izuku just kept standing there glaring at him and looking about as threatening as a bunny. 

"I've been knocking for five minutes." Izuku huffed, slowing when he saw Katsuki's eyes on his mouth and flushing. 

Katsuki just glared. He had already taken off his hearing aids. ' I'm going deaf, you idiot.' He reminded him in sign, Izuku's face glowing red. 

"Sorry." He grumbled and shook his head, ' Whatever!' He signed and shoved past him into his room. Katsuki watched him, crossing his arms when Izuku stopped and turned back to look at him standing in front of the desk. His hands moved slow and with purpose. ' We need to talk. '

Katsuki kicked the door shut behind him and it shut loudly if Izuku's wince was anything to go by. ' Then talk. ' He signed back in annoyance. Izuku seemed to have lost steam now that he was actually in front of him. Katsuki felt his fuze start to fizzle and did his best to just stand there and bare it. "You gonna say anything or--"

His lips moved so quickly that it all came out like a muffled bark of noise. "What?" He asked, his eyes narrowing. 

Izuku's eyes narrowed too, his hands balling into fists at his side. "I said Todoroki just kissed me!" He didn't consciously make the decision to try and kill Izuku. His quirk ignited from his fingertips tips and he sent a scorch mark across his desk, Izuku leaping sideways onto his bed. "Are you crazy!?" He shouted loud enough for even Katsuki to hear. 

He grabbed Izuku by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the wall, fire boiling his blood and begging to light him up. "You kissed my boyfriend?" He seethed, watching as surprise replaced the anger on Izuku's face as his door ripped open. 

Kirishima stood in the doorway, his hair was already down and he looked like he'd been sleeping. He jumped on Katsuki and yanked him away from Izuku, using his quirk to bar him in place. "Bro calm down!" He yelled right into his ear. It was muffled, but still fucking loud. He elbowed him, but of course Kirishima didn't actually feel it and Katsuki knew he would have a bruise. 

"Gonna fucking kill him--" he growled trying to get at Izuku again but Kirishima held him back. 

"Dude-"

Izuku made noise and Bakugou focused on him, watching his mouth and catching little bits. The word 'no', and 'misunderstood,' and 'my mistake.' Izuku talked a lot more until Kirishima finally let Katsuki go. He didn't know what Izuku said, but Kirishima eventually backed cautiously out of the door, eyeing them suspiciously when Izuku shut it. Katsuki glared again and Izuku held up his hands. 

"Just… hold on," he told him. It was difficult for him to hold his place but he didn't want Kirishima to run in again and pin him down. "Todoroki kissed me," he repeated and Katsuki growled. "I didn't want to kiss him!" He added quickly. 

And weirdly that made Katsuki even more mad. "Why not?" He demanded both with his voice and in sign. 

"Because--" Izuku stopped and sighed, signing the rest, ' I like Uraraka.' His face burned red and the anger fell out of Katsuki almost as quickly as it had lit him up. 

They stared at each other for a minute before Izuku started again. He wasn't as good as Todoroki was, but he still managed to get enough of the words right that Katsuki could keep up. ' He said it was a friend thing. Like it was something friends did… casually.' He raised his brow curiously at Bakugou who's own had drawn in. 

' Why would he think that? ' He asked. Izuku shrugged but then bit his lip when an idea came to him and looked meekly back up at him. ' What? ' he demanded.

' Have you… actually talked about it? '

He thought about that stupid question for the entire night and through class the next day. His leg bounced nervously under his desk while he waited for the day to be over. He caught up with Todoroki when they left class but he was in step with Momo all the way back to the dorm. So he waited some more, watching him from the corner of the common room until it became apparent that he wasn't going to get him alone. He walked up to him, watching the wariness in Todoroki's eyes as he approached, his stomach churning in a way that made him feel weak and fucking stupid. 

"Can I talk to you?" He asked. He felt everyone looking at him but kept his focus on Todoroki, refusing to give anyone the pleasure of knowing they were getting to him. 

Todoroki looked at Four Eyes and Roundface who were sitting on the other side of the couch and Katsuki finally sighed before he just sat down on the coffee table in front of him. 'Why the fuck did you kiss Midoriya yesterday?'

He blinked and frowned at him. ' Who told you? '

' Not you. ' He glared and tried to keep his hands from becoming stiff and snappy. He took a breath and thought about that stupid sentence again. ' Look, I didn't think I had to tell you this, but kissing isn't something friends do. You kiss people you like. Like like, not friend like. '

Todoroki furrowed his brow. ' But you told Kaminari we were friends. '

'Buzz brain is a loudmouth idiot.' Todoroki smirked at that and Katsuki had to work to keep himself from smiling back like an idiot. 'I didn't want him to give you shit. And I didn't know you were so fucking socially stupid that you couldn't tell that…' he sighed and shoved his hand through his hair. 'I like you. And not like a friend.'

"I like you too," he said with a smile. Bakugou's lips quirked as he tried not to smile back at him. He leaned forward and kissed him. Bakugou's eyes were wide with surprise when they separated. Shouto realized that the room was quieter than it had been moments before. He glanced over. Iida and Uraraka were staring at them. Iida looked like he was stuck between scolding them and praising them. 

"Bakugou!" Kaminari shouted. Shouto turned around and saw the group waving their arms at them. They were all coming over and Shouto watched Bakugou's face flush. "Are you blushing?" 

"Shut up," Bakugou grunted, but the color in his cheeks just got darker. Shouto's smile got bigger, he wasn't sure he had stopped. He listened to Bakugou's friends as they all started congratulating them and asking so many questions. Shouto felt like a fool when Bakugou told them that they'd been dating for over a month. Ashido asked why they didn't tell them and Bakugou grunted, "It's none of your business." Dinner saved them from more questions. 

---

He looked down at his license. The picture was terrible. Bakugou had been trying to get him to laugh the entire time. It hadn't worked and Shouto had felt accomplished as the photographer counted down. That was until Bakugou said, "C'mon baby," in a voice that he'd never heard outside of their rooms. Blush streaked across his cheek and his mouth had dropped open. That was the face looking back at him. 

Bakugou laughed as he looked over his shoulder. He elbowed him and shoved his license in his pocket. Bakugou's wasn't any better. He had glared at the camera until the photographer had told him he was done. Then as soon as Bakugou grinned to tease Shouto he'd taken the actual picture. 

"So what are we doing now?" he asked, his hands moving as he talked.

"I told my dad I'd have dinner with them. He wanted to celebrate." Bakugou huffed in disappointment. "You could come." He looked over to him and saw his surprise. 'I want you to come.'

Bakugou nodded. He liked these moments when he surprised him. There seemed to be steps to relationships and Shouto jumped around not knowing that he'd skipped a few steps, like kissing in public, or apparently meeting his family. 

They messed around downtown for a while before Fuyumi texted that dad had gotten home and they headed that way. Bakugou looked nervous, but kept letting out disgruntled noises and almost looked as if he was physically pushing the feeling away. Shouto offered Bakugou a smile as he pushed open the door. He got a weak one back. 

"Oh, that's probably Shouto," Fuyumi said. He heard his father's voice respond and guided them through the house. They walked in and his family stopped talking. Fuyumi smiled, she knew who was standing next to him in the doorway. 

"Hi," he said flatly. He caught Bakugou's hand with his and squeezed it. "This is Bakugou, my boyfriend."