Work Text:
“It’ll be fun!” Eijirou had said. “Trust me. You have nothing to lose!”
Nothing, except for his last tiny bit of faith in humanity.
The waiting area was paved with motivational slogans about the magic of love, happy couples that made Katsuki want to throw up and tons of hearts in every color you could imagine. It was a disaster. As if cupid himself vomited into the room.
It was the epitome of stupid.
Katsuki hated it with every fiber of his clearly annoyed being – and he just arrived a few minutes ago.
What Eijirou praised as ‘fun’ was nothing less than a highly recommended matchmaker agency. Yes. A fucking matchmaker agency.
The only reason for Katsuki to come here was because he knew Eijirou and his sheer infinite stamina in being annoying as hell. Katsuki didn’t even know why he still allowed this massive idiot to be a part of his life, but sometimes, friends could be useful. Emphasis on sometimes.
Also, Eijirou was like a damn puppy. No matter how many times Katsuki yelled at him or told him to get lost, he’d always come back with a happily wiggling tail (or rather a bright smile, everything else was gross to imagine), blatantly ignoring he was ever mad at him. It was awful.
Speaking of awful: even the smell emitting from the air fresheners was disgusting. Way too sweet for his liking and Katsuki bet the scent was named something like ‘Summer Dream’ or ‘Spring’s Kiss’. As he took a closer look to confirm his theory, it turned out to be even worse. The label literally read ‘Love is in the air’.
Ugh. Why was he here again…?
As if he called for it, a door to his left was opened just a second later, followed by the words, “Katsuki Bakugou?”
The man standing in the doorframe was scanning the room as if Katsuki wasn’t the only fucking person here, but more importantly, he was – fuck.
He was hot. Outrageously hot. Like one of the hottest guys he ever lay his eyes on.
He shouldn’t be hot. Having a hairstyle like this should make him look stupid and ridiculous. It was stupid and ridiculous.
Who the hell dyed one side of his hair red and the other white? And more importantly: who got away with it?
Well, he did. Both. And he wore it like he owned this style. Which was a very stupid and ridiculous style. Even if he could be taken straight out of a damn fashion magazine, with his dark blue button-up shirt and the gray ankle-deep pair of trousers.
Katsuki forced himself to snap out if it and answered with an affirmative grumble.
But getting closer didn’t make things better. Quite the contrary.
This guy even had mismatched eyes, which had Katsuki look or rather stare at him for an inappropriate amount of time. The left side was ocean blue, while the right side showed a warm grey. Maybe that explained the weird hair. Or it was supposed to distract from the large burn scar covering the left side of his face. Which wasn’t necessary. It didn’t disfigure him at all, but only added more uniqueness to his... beauty.
Yeah, okay, this bastard was handsome as fuck. Also, he didn’t seem to mind his staring at all, but casually reached out his hand to him.
“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Shouto Todoroki. I am glad to inform you that I’m going to be your matchmaker. With the help of Cupid Me, our successful and prize-winning agency, true love is only a heartbeat away.” He kept his face and voice perfectly still, not showing any hint of an emotion.
Katsuki was sure he was supposed to say this bullshit to all his clients, but the way he did it with no dedication at all was ludicrous.
“Yeah. Whatever,” Katsuki said as unimpressed as possible, leaving his hands buried in his pockets.
This matchmaker idiot shouldn’t even think for a second he was affected by his (very) pretty face. And presumably well-toned body. And stuff.
He didn’t seem to mind at all and just stepped aside to gesture for Katsuki to enter his office. He followed the silent invitation, not hiding his I-hate-everything-about-this-place attitude at all.
“Are you serious about this?” Katsuki asked, grimacing in disgust as he pointed at the horrible heart shaped chairs. The walls weren’t any better, filled with even more idiotic posters about true love. The only difference to the waiting area were some pictures of cats squeezed in between.
Todoroki shrugged. “Most people like it.”
“I won’t sit on that,” Katsuki clarified, crossing his arms in resistance.
Todoroki stopped at the doorframe, slightly shifting his head to the left as he seemed to ponder his options.
“We can sit on the floor, then,” he concluded with a self-assuring nod.
“No! I’m going to grab a chair from the waiting area,” Katsuki snapped on his way to stomp out of the room.
“Let me do that. It’s my job to make you feel as comfortable as possi – ”
“I don’t need your help!”
Todoroki watched him as he threw the heart shaped chair out of the room and replaced it with the uncomfortable plastic chair he had spent his time waiting on for this bullshit to begin.
“Is my chair disturbing to you too?” Todoroki asked when he was done, pointing at his own chair.
“I don’t care about your damn chair!”
“Okay. So apparently, you don’t like to sit on heart shaped chairs,” Todoroki hummed and leaned to his desk to take some notes. “Is there any other kind of chair you dislike?”
“What.” Katsuki couldn’t tell if this idiot was fucking with him right now or not, which was disturbing, but he looked way too serious about this.
“I am going to create a character profile of you. I’ll try to make it as accurate as possible. Normally, I don’t ask about chair preferences, but it appears to be an important topic to you, so I will include it,” he explained soberly.
This guy either had the best poker face in existence or he was stupid as fuck.
Did he win his doctor’s degree in a fucking lottery?
“Are you trying to fuck with me right now?” Katsuki asked instead.
Todoroki was fast to answer, still unaffected by his visible anger. “Not right now, no.” He didn’t bat an eyelash and something strange happened: for once, Katsuki didn’t know what to say, because what the actual fuck was that supposed to mean?
Meanwhile, Todoroki continued as if nothing happened. “You see, often it’s about the small details and habits. I want to include as many facts as possible to minimize the error rate and maximize the success.”
Katsuki snorted. He couldn’t believe this. This guy was serious about this and even made it sound perfectly reasonable.
“I don’t care about fucking chairs,” he grunted. “So scratch that.”
“Okay.”
Todoroki finally sat down in front of him, skimming over his notes. He crossed what he had written so far, nodded to himself and eventually looked at him again.
“Your registration form says your name is Katsuki Bakugou, you’re twenty-eight years old and,” he paused, making quote signs with his fingers, “Super cool.”
Okay. He’d totally kill Eijirou next time he saw him!
“My idiot friend signed me up for this shit, so I didn’t come up with this!”
“So it isn’t true?”
“Of course, it is! But I don’t need to write it down. It’s fucking obvious,” he grumbled.
Todoroki nodded again, taking another note.
“Okay. I’m going to ask you a few questions now. The more information you give me, the better the results will be.” He made a pause to leave room for objections, looking straight at him again with his mismatched eyes, but Katsuki just crossed his arms and glared impatiently back.
He didn’t want to give off the impression he was affected in any way by Todoroki’s presence, even if he was fucking hot. And no, his heart rate totally wasn’t fucked up because of him and his staring!
“Let’s begin with your general preferences,” Todoroki stated, unimpressed by his attitude. “What are you looking for? Women? Men? Both? No specific gender?”
“I don’t care, as long as they don’t bother me”, Katsuki grunted.
Todoroki nodded and scribbled something down.
“What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a stuntman.”
“Oh.” Todoroki seemed to scan every inch of his body with new interest, his face still perfectly straight. It didn’t make Katsuki uncomfortable, but no one could tell him they wouldn’t feel, well, something while being in the center of attention of those damn eyes! Fuck this pretty bastard and his pretty eyes…
“Sounds like a very interesting job,” he concluded calmly. “Isn’t it dangerous?”
“It’s only dangerous for incompetent losers,” Katsuki sneered confidently.
Todoroki nodded again. Seemed to be a habit of his. Then he suddenly asked, “Any movie recommendations?”
“What?”
“As far as I know, stuntmen are usually used for movies. Can you recommend a movie you appear in? I think it would be interesting to know for a potential love interest.”
“Every movie I work on is a fucking masterpiece,” he clarified sharply, raising his chin.
“You can name more than one.”
“Fine. Killing Machine, The Return of Killing Machine, Tigers In Space – “
“Tigers in space?” Todoroki interrupted, raising an eyebrow. “Are we talking about real tigers?”
Katsuki rolled his eyes due to the stupidity of this question. “No. It’s the name of the crew, obviously. A tiger in space wouldn’t make any sense, would it?”
“It depends. In a fantasy setting – ”
“Well, but it’s not a damn fantasy setting, that would be dumb as hell!”
Todoroki just hummed to himself and was smart enough to not argue with him.
Instead, he went on with his weird questions, covering stuff like his living situation, hobbies, music and movie preferences and even stupid things like his favorite animal or color, as if he was five fucking years old. But for every complaint, Todoroki came up with another smartass answer.
‘Break ups can happen due to unsolvable conflicts caused by the color of new furniture. If you move in together, colors can become a very important topic.’ – Katsuki told him this was the most stupid break up reason ever and he didn’t care for colors, but if he needed to know so badly, he preferred black and orange.
Or ‘Imagine you’re scared of snakes and your match is a snake lover, owning a terrarium with a hundred snakes.’ – Katsuki said a), he was scared of fucking nothing and b), who the hell owned a hundred snakes? This wasn’t even realistic! But he admitted lions weren’t too bad, because they were fucking badass and the kings of animals.
Todoroki gave him a thoughtful glance afterwards, before asking, if he preferred longhaired or shorthaired cats, which was weird again, because he hadn’t talked about lame cats, but lions! And actually, he didn’t give a fuck. Which he told Todoroki.
This handsome idiot nodded in reply, looking content, before he praised his answer as a good one, because all cats were great.
Katsuki just frowned, wondering again what the hell was happening and why he was still here, denying that the answer was sitting right in front of him, shamelessly blabbering nonsense.
Afterwards, he couldn’t even tell what had been the weirdest topic, but the soba question was a hot candidate for number one. It was beyond him how it was relevant to know if he liked cold soba.
In this case, Todoroki didn’t even come up with a defense. He just mumbled something like ‘That’s too bad,’ when Katsuki said he couldn’t care less about soba, the most boring dish in existence.
It didn’t make any sense, but on the other hand, what did he even expect?
Nothing good. Especially not a (hot) weirdo like Todoroki. That was for sure. But Katsuki didn’t complain. It was a pleasant sight at least. It could have been worse.
Actually, when Todoroki was done with his super weird questions, he wouldn’t have been too mad about staying a bit longer, but there was no rational reason for it.
“Thanks for your time and the trust you have placed in this company. I will contact you as soon as possible,” Todoroki said after he walked him to the door, reaching out a hand to him now. He was back to his weird professional language. Katsuki thought he preferred the stupid-talk about tigers in space or cats more than that, but shoved it aside as things-that-have-no-business-being-on-his-mind.
Katsuki ignored the attempted handshake. “Yeah. Whatever,” he said, turning his back on Todoroki.
He had halfway crossed the room, when he heard him stating, “I will find your perfect match. I promise.”
Katsuki shot a glance back at him and was confronted with serious determination. He couldn’t deny that he liked this expression, because it was something real. He could tell right away it wasn’t part of the standard blabla, but something Todoroki added by himself. He didn’t say that to everyone.
Katsuki should pride himself with it and be done, but something about that promise upset him. He didn’t give it anymore thought and just walked away, but in a dark corner of his mind it still lingered. The fact that the matchmaker himself wasn’t a possible match.
It only took Todoroki three days to find him a match. He sent him a date, time and place. Out of boredom, Katsuki actually decided to show up for it. He wanted to see what Todoroki came up with after all.
They were supposed to meet in a small café. Nothing too fancy, which was presumably due to his own preferences, but you could choose from a million different cakes and cupcakes. Apparently, his date liked that sugary shit.
Katsuki said his name to a staff member and she brought him to a seat at the window façade. He ordered a coffee, black, with no unnecessary shit and waited for it or his date to arrive.
He wasn’t even a fan of this whole dating stuff. Usually he hooked up with someone from a movie set or party, had some fun and that was the end of it. Easy and uncomplicated.
So he didn’t expect anything, really. Most people were annoying or bored the hell out of him, but he was kind of looking forward to complain about it to Todoroki afterwards.
Katsuki was busy looking at his phone, when someone interrupted his peace of mind.
“Bakugou?”
“Ha?” Frowning he looked up, not expecting anyone who knew his fucking name and especially not to see this face.
“Round face?” His frown deepened. What the fuck was she doing here? They used to be classmates, but since they never had a stupid class reunion, he hadn’t seen her in ages. The chances of randomly meeting her right now were like one against a million or something, so what the hell?
She answered with a sigh, slightly shaking her head. “I told you a hundred times to stop calling me that,” she complained, but the hint of a smile was showing on her lips.
“So,” she took the seat in front of him, which left him even more confused. “This is unexpected. I never thought you’d be the type of person who would go to a matchmaker agency and to be honest – ”
“Wait. What?” he interrupted, staring at her in utter disbelief as he tried to process what she just said. “You aren’t – we aren’t – what the fuck?”
She laughed with a shrug. “Yep. I’m just as surprised as you are. I mean – ” She gestured between them. “This is ridiculous. I never thought to see you here. Not even in my wildest dreams. This is… I don’t know.“ She laughed again and a faint hint of blush was showing on her cheeks.
Objectively speaking, she was kind of cute. She always had been, with her big deer-like eyes and the brown bob, but Ochako had never been an option. She was way too nice and shit, but more importantly, she had been with Deku, the biggest fucking nerd in the whole universe. He’d never date anyone who had such a bad taste.
And it was just gross. They weren’t supposed to be here! Not on a – no, he wouldn’t even call this a fucking date!
“Bullshit. A fucking joke,” Katsuki offered, to fill in the blanks.
“You’re as charming as always, Bakugou.”
“Well, ex-fucking-cuse me, but what the hell?
She laughed again, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I agree. This feels so wrong. If we were still in school, I’d never dare to be seen with you in public.”
“Uhm, say that again?”
They talked for three or four hours, about old times and their current situation. It was okay. Talking to Ochako was less annoying than talking to most people, but it clearly would lead nowhere. She admitted that she still regretted breaking up with the nerd after high school, because Deku went off to America for some time and it just didn’t work out.
She dated some guys and had some short-term relationships, but it never matched. After giving up on it for a while, her friends had talked her into trying to get to know someone new, so she signed up for Cupid Me.
Katsuki didn’t know why, but maybe he scribbled down Dekus phone number and passed it over to her. He didn’t care if she tried to get into contact with him again or not, but hell, if she wanted to settle with this loser, he wouldn’t stop her.
Sometimes Katsuki was forced to work together with the nerd. He was a lousy actor, but since people’s taste was shit, they liked him for reasons unknown to him. The only good scenes he had were the ones where Katsuki was involved, obviously.
When he was back home he felt the urge to text Todoroki immediately and tell him how shitty his matchmaking abilities were. Halfway through the message, Katsuki thought of something better and just decided to show up at the agency by himself. Confronting him in person was more fun anyway.
It was half past four when he arrived at the agency. This time, the waiting area was filled with a couple of people, but he didn’t care and just rushed to Todoroki’s office. He answered after the third knock.
“Bakugou,” he greeted him at the office door, his eyes slightly widened in surprise. This bastard was still handsome as fuck.
“Your matching abilities are shit.”
He opened his mouth to maybe protest, closed it again and said, “I have a client right now. We can make an appointment to talk about your experiences in detail.”
“What time do you get off?”
“Around six a clock.”
“Fine. I’ll wait until then.” Katsuki didn’t let him response, but walked away to get seated. When he shot a glance at his office again, the door was already closed.
Katsuki bridged the waiting time by arguing with the director of his current movie project. Katsuki had been working his ass off preparing for that one stunt scene and now he wanted to change the whole thing last minute into something lame. Like hell he would let that happen!
Talking sense into that idiot director drove his pulse up, but Todoroki was smart enough to not worsen it by making him wait longer than necessary.
“I usually don’t work overtime. My cat is waiting for me,” Todoroki informed him, but stepped aside to let him in.
“Then do a better job next time,” Katsuki grumbled as he moved inside.
There wasn’t an answer. Instead he saw how Todoroki got a chair from the waiting area and carried it into the room. The way his biceps tensed was distracting.
“I didn’t expect you today,” Todoroki explained as he changed the heart-shaped chair for the plain one.
Katsuki just rolled his eyes, but took the offer and sat down, his arms crossed to show his dissatisfaction.
“You seem to be upset. What happened?” Todoroki asked with a calm voice, as he watched him attentively.
“You matched me with a former classmate, that fucking happened!”
“Oh. What a fortunate coincidence,” Todoroki stated, but didn’t seem too surprised.
Katsuki warily narrowed his eyes. “Did you know?”
“Not exactly. I noticed you went to the same school and thought it to be a possible icebreaker. People bond over similarities. Having something like this in common leads to mutual sympathy in most cases.”
“Great, but I am not most cases! If I wanted to date a former classmate, I would have done it already.”
“Okay,” Todoroki said and took another note.
“Just give me the name of my next match before I meet them,” Katsuki grumbled.
Todoroki slightly shifted his head and seemed to give it a thought. “I could do that. But most people – “
“I already said I am not most people,” Katsuki interrupted him and changed his grim face for a smug grin. “Can’t handle that?”
Todoroki didn’t bat an eyelash, stating, “I am sure I can.”
Katsuki answered with a challenging “Tch. We’ll see about that,” still smiling presumptuously.
Todoroki didn’t seem impressed and arranged his notes. “I watched Tigers in Space,” he said casually and didn’t even bother to look up at him.
Katuski was taken by surprise and maybe his heartrate slightly increased. He liked the notion of that, but Todoroki interrupted it by being stupid once again.
“But I didn’t recognize you on screen.”
“Of course you didn’t,” Katsuki snarled, gladly taking the opportunity to snap out of it. “I am a stuntman, not an actor. I do the crazy shit for those cowards, but make it look like they did it themselves. Not recognizing me is the plan.”
“Oh. That’s a shame.”
Katsuki raised an eyebrow, smiling self-content. “You can take a picture if you like seeing me that much.”
Todoroki paused in his movement, but unfortunately, his head was lowered so Katsuki couldn’t get a look at his face.
“That’s not necessary,” Todoroki said with his professional tone. “I already have one in our customer file.”
Katsuki just snorted, discontent with that answer, but it was to be expected.
“Is there anything else you need?” Todoroki asked coolly. Katsuki didn’t like that aloof attitude. At all. Todorokis face was unreadable like a blank paper and Katsuki knew he had fucked up for now. It was as if Todoroki had built up a fucking wall of ice between them.
Maybe he overstepped a certain line, but hell, now he was convinced it didn’t leave Todoroki as unaffected as he tried to appear.
He didn’t know what to do with that information, but counted it as a victory. Somehow.
“No,” Katsuki grumbled eventually.
Todoroki nodded, not sparing him a single glance. “I will contact you as soon as I have a new match for you.”
Katsuki didn’t answer but just rushed through the door, his teeth clenched tightly. It was a victory, he tried to remind himself. A fucking victory!
Right now, it didn’t feel like that though.
A few days later, Todoroki presented him the next match. It was an unenthusiastic guy this time with eye bags as deep as the Mariana Trench. Hitoshi Shinsou. He wasn’t noisy or annoying, which could have been a plus for him, but actually, Katsuki wasn’t interested in getting to know him to begin with.
It appeared to be mutual, but Katsuki still took the chance to visit Todoroki again and complain about his shitty abilities as a matchmaker – even if he maybe wasn’t so shitty doing his job, but Katsuki had no intention of really getting to know someone at this point. He just wanted to – hell, he didn’t know himself!
But he had enough money to pay that handsome fucker to look for more meaningless matches, so why not? Arguing with him was kind of fun. Flirting too, even though he always stonewalled when Katsuki did or passed over it like it didn’t happen. It was frustrating in its own way, but seeing a real fucking reaction in his blasé face always felt like a victory. Katsuki liked that. It was a challenge. And he was a nice sight. So why the hell not?
It was after the sixth or seventh failed attempt to find a good match for him, when Todoroki said or rather hummed to himself, “I’m not sure, what I’m doing wrong… this never happened before.”
They were sitting in his office again. The chair from the waiting area had become an integral part of the furnishing by now.
Todoroki was studying the screen of his desktop as if it had all the answers he was looking for. He seemed dissatisfied, visible in the slight furrow between his eyebrows.
“Well. Maybe you need to change your strategy.” Katsuki leaned back in his chair, a superior grin on his lips. “Think outside of the box or something. Match me with someone you normally wouldn’t.”
Yourself, for example.
Todoroki just answered with a, “Mh,” still focused on his computer screen. The grin vanished from Katsuki’s lips. He hated being ignored more than anything. That bastard should shift his attention back to him!
Just as he was about to complain, Todoroki’s phone began to rang and occupied him immediately. He studied the phone screen, apologizing with a quiet, “Sorry. It’ll just take a minute,” and left through the door.
Katsuki’s mouth twitched in discontentment. Great. Now even some random fucker on the phone was more interesting than him!
He observed the room furiously, killing every single happy couple on the walls with his eyes. It wasn’t very satisfying.
Since there was nothing to do for him but wait, he leaned over the desk to see if there was something more interesting, but Todoroki hadn’t taken any stupid notes today yet. His computer screen was a different story though. Katsuki saw his own name out of the corner of his eyes and his attention was caught immediately.
He turned his head to get a better look on it. There were names fitted with small icons matched with his own. A range of percentage numbers was visible behind each match. He saw between eighty-five and ninety-five percent with Uraraka, but it was marked with a cross. Right underneath it was Shinsou with the same range and a cross. Skimming over the screen, he saw his other matches, some with a lower percentage rank and also icons he didn’t recognize.
But there was also a match without an icon and as Katsuki read the name, his eyes widened in disbelief. In black letters, it was written on the screen.
Shouto fucking Todoroki.
Instead of a percentage number, there was a question mark behind their match, but Katsuki was too busy being pissed than giving a fuck about the missing number.
That bastard had actually thought about matching them together. Katsuki knew it all along! It wasn’t just him! So why the hell did he block him out so vehemently? What was his fucking problem?
The more he thought about it, the more anger rushed through his veins and suddenly, the stupid question mark seemed to mock him.
Witch clenched teeth he reached to the computer mouse and dragged it to their match. Todoroki wanted to half-ass this shit? Well, not under his fucking watch!
It wasn’t hard to figure out how to do it. When he clicked on the question mark a window opened with a short warning, stating ‘The file ‘Shouto Todoroki’ isn’t complete. Do you want to proceed?’.
Fuck yes, he wanted to!
It only took some seconds, but it was long enough for Todoroki to return. Katsuki heard how he opened the door, but didn’t care to look back at him. His eyes were glued to the screen.
There was a moment of silence. Finally, the result was showing on the screen: estimated between eighty and ninety percent.
Meanwhile, Todoroki seemed to snap out of it.
“What are you doing?” His voice appeared to be calm on the surface, but there was a sharp edge in it. Todoroki crossed the room with firm steps. A hint of horror was crossing his face, visible for only a second before he returned to his cold mask of professionalism.
“This is confidential information. You’re not supposed to see this,” he stated, closing the window immediately. His expression was stern. Cold anger was lingering underneath it.
Great, Katsuki was fucking angry too!
“Don’t leave it open, if you don’t want me to see it!” he snapped back and shot a glare at him. “And more importantly: what’s that shit even supposed to mean, huh? Trying to see if we match, but chicken out halfway through?”
“I didn’t chicken out,” Todoroki clarified soberly. “It was a mistake. An accident. I was going to delete it later on.”
“An accident? Don’t make me laugh!”
“I’m not trying to.”
“You’re the worst liar ever, so cut the bullshit and tell me what your fucking problem is!”
“There is none.” Todoroki said impassively.
Katsuki jumped to his feet, feeling the urge to punch him. He banged his fists on the desk instead, throwing daggers at him. “Our range is between eighty and ninety percent,” he hissed. “Maybe even more if you complete your damn file or whatever. I don’t care for these stupid numbers, but don’t tell me this isn’t a fucking match!”
Todoroki opened his lips, closed them again and lowered his gaze. “It doesn’t matter,” he said eventually.
“What?”
“It’d be unprofessional.”
“Unprofessional my ass!”
“I am politely asking you to leave now,” Todoroki said, ignoring his objections completely. “I will contact you as – ”
“I want a coaching,” Katsuki interrupted him unyieldingly.
That caught Todoroki by surprise. He met his eyes with a slight frown, clearly being on guard.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Do I need to spell it out for you?” Katsuki snarled feistily. “My dating strategies aren’t working, obviously. So I’m asking you to do your damn job and coach me!”
Of course, he didn’t need that shit, his dating abilities were top-notch, thank you very much. But getting that stick out of Todoroki’s pretty ass required drastic measures and if it meant asking that idiot for a dating lesson he would do it!
Katsuki wasn’t asking for help. He was outsmarting that bastard.
“I could do that,” Todoroki granted after a while. “But maybe someone else would be more fitting to coach you.”
“Too bad, I don’t want someone else,” Katsuki persisted. “We’ll meet tomorrow at seven. My place. You know the address.”
“Normally, I don’t do house visits.” Todoroki didn’t even bother to look at him, but like hell he would let him get away so easily.
“I don’t care. I am your fucking client and I feel best when I’m at home.” Katsuki got his wallet and grabbed some banknotes to slam them at Todoroki’s desk. “And see this? I already paid. So do your damn job.”
Todoroki eyed the money in silence, so Katsuki added, “You made me a promise, remember? Or was this just part of your professional bla bla with nothing behind it?”
Now he got Todoroki’s attention. Mismatched eyes were looking up to him in clear discontentment. He pursed his lips and was about to say something, but Katsuki already turned his back on him.
“Tomorrow. Seven o’clock. My place,” he repeated as soon as he reached the door. “Don’t be late.”
With that, he walked away, cursing that bastard a million fucking times. How difficult could a single man be? What the actual fuck?
But Katsuki never backed away from a challenge so whatever that bastard was coming up with, he was ready – and he would be the one to win.
Todoroki was perfectly punctual. He was wearing a dark button shirt, grey jeans and, to Katsuki’s disapproval, his stupid name tag. As if he didn’t know his fucking name! But of course, Mr. Professional had to point out from the start this was a work-related matter. Stupid bastard. No. Stupid way too handsome bastard!
“Good evening,” Todoroki greeted him politely, reaching out a hand to him. Katsuki ignored it blatantly.
“Get in and close the door behind you.” He stepped aside to make room for him, but of course, Todoroki was being a pain in the ass again.
“We should repeat that,” he said soberly, taking a step back.
“The hell?”
“You should greet your date properly. If someone wants to shake your hand, it’s nice to return it. You could also offer to take my jacket or tell me where I am supposed to put my shoes. Thoughtful gestures like these can help to ease the initial nervousness and give your date a good feeling.”
Katsuki was just staring at him. He couldn’t be serious about this.
But it was Shouto Todoroki, readable on his fucking name tag, so of course he was.
“Let’s try again.”
He closed the door after getting outside and Katsuki wasn’t sure if he should let him in again. Chances were great he would break something if Todoroki continued like that.
Todoroki knocked at the door and before he could begin with his formal bullshit, Katsuki said in an uninflected tone, “Hello. I don’t care for pseudo-polite greetings, so don’t even bother to try for a handshake. You can put your shoes wherever the fuck you want, because I don’t care. And give me your jacket or whatever.” He reached out his hand to take that damn piece of clothing, grunting “Happy now?”
“I’m undecided,” Todoroki said, but finally closed the door and got rid of his shoes. As Katsuki took his jacket to hang it up he was confronted with a wave of his scent. It was fresh like cold air on a sunny winter day and no, it wasn’t the first time he had thought about this, thank you very much.
He gestured Todoroki to follow him to the kitchen.
“You made dinner,” he observed as he entered the room and got a look at the set table.
“Of fucking course.”
Katsuki walked over to the stove to stir the curry he prepared. It was cooking on a low heat, ready to be eaten any moment. He was a brilliant cook and that bastard should know about it.
“Sit down,” he ordered, without looking back at Todoroki. There was a moment of silence before he heard the chair being pulled back.
“It’s nice in here,” Todoroki said.
“Of course it is.”
Todoroki paused, before stating, “You could try to accept the compliment. It can be intimidating – ”
“Oh, so you think I’m intimidating?” Katsuki interrupted and turned his head to give him a teasing grin.
Of course, Todoroki didn’t play along. “No,” he said with a perfectly straight face.
Katsuki clenched his teeth, grumbling, “Great, so there’s no fucking problem.”
He didn’t get an answer to that, but that bastard should just wait and see. Katsuki would convince him this wasn’t just some random professional meeting, but a real fucking date. Both of them wanted it that way and it was stupid to deny it.
Katsuki filled two bowls with rice and added steaming curry. It looked delicious as fuck and it was. Todoroki better worshipped that!
“Thank you,” he said politely when Katsuki placed the bowl in front of him. He answered with a snort.
“Cooking for your date is a great idea,” Todoroki said, when Katsuki sat down opposite him. Fucking finally a word of approval from that bastard. “But I wouldn’t recommend it for a first date if you don’t know the eating preferences of your match.” And just like that, he destroyed it right away.
Katsuki answered with a glare, grumbling, “Try it before you complain, Mr. I’m-a-nagging-pain-in-the-ass.”
Todoroki raised an eyebrow in disapproval. “You shouldn’t insult your date.”
“Oh? So we finally agree this is a date?” Katsuki shot back.
“I didn’t – no,” Todoroki stonewalled. “It’s a coaching.”
“Tch. Sure it is.”
Todoroki said nothing and took a first bit. “It’s good,” he said as if nothing happened.
“Told you so,” Katsuki grumbled.
“Cooking dinner together could be a suitable dating activity for you.”
“Why? Do you like to cook?” Katsuki looked provokingly into his mismatched eyes, but Todoroki didn’t lower his guard.
“No, not really.”
“Kay. So your advice is garbage.”
Todoroki frowned. He dug the spoon into the curry, just to lower it down a second later.
“I’m just trying to – ”
“Do your fucking job and deny you like me?”
It took him off-guard and Katsuki was pleased about it. Only some seconds passed before he managed to get over his surprise, but when this bastard opened his mouth, Katsuki cut him off. He had heard enough bullshit already.
“Don’t even try to argue. I’m not stupid!”
“I never said you are,” Todoroki deadpanned.
“No, but apparently, you are!”
They were staring each other down, or rather Katsuki was staring Todoroki down, while this bastard remained perfectly unmoved, like a fucking statue.
Eventually, Todoroki was the first to break eye contact. “I should go,” he announced, his voice calm like a frozen lake.
“Don’t you dare!”
Katsuki jumped to his feet, circling the table to block his path.
“You should stop being a complicated idiot who makes up problems that aren’t fucking problems to begin with. That’s what you should do!”
“Bakugou – “
“Don’t ‘Bakugou’ me,” he hissed, getting closer. His eyes skimmed briefly over Todoroki, getting stuck on his damn nametag. A wave of anger rushed through his veins and he grabbed that stupid piece of plastic to rip it from his chest.
“What – ”
“No nametag, no sign of your profession as a coach or matchmaker or whatever. Problem solved, you’re here in your free time now.” Katsuki’s eyes were beaming with determination as he grabbed his shirt, demanding, “Can we quit the bullshit now and get to the part where we can kiss already?”
Todoroki’s eyes widened in surprise, a hint of red on his cheeks. “That’s not – I didn’t come here to – “
“To what? Stop fucking around. You knew exactly why I asked you to come over.”
“You paid me to come here,” Todoroki said in a weak attempt to appeal to his sense of reason, but at this point, Katsuki knew he had won.
“You can pay me back,” he crushed Todoroki’s objections, leaning closer.
“This isn’t a good idea...”
“Stop me, then.”
Todoroki didn’t. Willingly, he let Katsuki press their lips together, melting into the kiss as if he initiated it himself. Stupid idiot. This could have happened way sooner! But he didn’t complain. Not, when Todoroki was kissing him like it was the only thing he ever wanted.
“Not a date my ass,” Katsuki grumbled, but the satisfied smile on his lips betrayed him.
Todoroki said nothing. He was just looking at him as if he wasn’t sure what he was doing here, probably rethinking what just happened.
Katsuki sighed deeply. “You can’t stop being complicated, can you?”
“I’m not good with these things.” Todoroki admitted.
“What?” Katsuki frowned. “Are you fucking kidding me? You’re a professional matchmaker! This dating bullshit is your job!“
“My job is different. Analyzing people, their habits and preferences and match them with someone fitting isn’t difficult. There are certain rules and repeating patterns. I can deal with that. And I like my work. It’s nice to make people happy.” Todoroki shrugged. “But I don’t know how to do it myself.”
Katsuki was observing him with watchful eyes, trying to find out if that handsome bastard was fucking with him right now, but deep down he knew it was the truth.
Todoroki always had a smartass explanation for his advices, but apart from that, he was a total disaster in getting social hints. Katsuki had learned that by now. It was ridiculous. All about this man was ridiculous!
Who the hell became a match maker without having a clue about dealing with his own love life?
“You are unbelievable, you know that?” Katsuki finally grunted.
“Thank you.”
“This wasn’t supposed to be a compliment!”
“Oh.”
Katsuki exhaled deeply, before leaning in for another kiss.
This was going to be a long journey, but hell, he was willing to take it.