Archive of Our Own

Here’s the thing about romance. Katsuki tries his best to steer at least fifty miles clear of it at all times. 

It sounds basic, but he has better things to do. Like, at least a million other things that are more worth spending his time on than mushy-gushy feelings. Not to mention the fact that Katsuki doesn’t know how to have a relationship of the romantic sort. Something to do with him being terribly emotionally constipated. Plus, untangling those sorts of feelings would force him to have to face the…. whatever he had going on with Deku during elementary school. Even if he was a little kid, the mere notion of feeling like that towards Deku is thoroughly mortifying. Thank goodness the feelings stopped as he got older. 

So yeah, he doesn’t plan on ever navigating the absolute disaster zone of romance anytime soon. Or ever, really. He’s quite content with life as is. 

Now, all these things considered, this would mean that Katsuki is probably the last person anyone should be going to for relationship advice, right? Right. Everyone is in agreement, then. Katsuki does not want to talk about romance, ever, with anyone, and trying to bring the topic up with him is a bad idea. 

Which is why it baffles him to the core when Todoroki approaches him to do just that. Even years later, Katsuki will recall the following conversation and claim it is the worst one he’s ever had to suffer through. He pities himself, really. He was woefully underprepared. 

—————

It’s lunchtime when it happens. Katsuki is making his way to his usual table, lunch tray in hands, when Todoroki materializes silently at his side. This prompts a raised eyebrow from Katsuki, because, uh, why the hell is he here ? Doesn’t Todoroki usually sit with Deku and his band of obnoxious idiots?

“Bakugo,” Todoroki says with a slight nod. 

“No.”

“You have no idea what I’m about to say.”

“I know I don’t want you bothering me or wasting my time. I wanna go eat lunch. Don’t disturb me.”

Todoroki continues, unfazed. “I need to talk to you about something important.”

“What did I just-“

“It’s about Midoriya. His Quirk, more specifically.”

-Katsuki freezes. He makes sure his reaction doesn’t show, because that would make Todoroki suspicious and he doesn’t know how much he knows , but the cold pit of dread settles in his stomach all the same. 

What the hell. One for All?

“What about his Quirk,” he manages carefully. 

Todoroki casts a look at their surroundings, then jerks his thumb over his shoulder. “There are too many people here. Let’s talk in the hall, it’ll be more private that way.” 

And, yeah, that does absolutely nothing to help calm Bakugo’s nerves, but it does strike him as kind of funny how cornering people and bringing them to a secluded area to talk seems to be a habit with Todoroki. Although, Katsuki isn’t really supposed to know about that time during the Sports Festival when Todoroki did this with Deku. Oops?

Anyway, it’s a big testament to just how wary Katsuki is about this whole situation when he follows Todoroki without much complaint, food tray and all. He supposes he can eat while they talk. 

Todoroki leads them to a deserted hallway, their footsteps echoing against the walls as they wander in search of an empty classroom. They find one eventually, Todoroki ducking inside after him. 

Katsuki sits on a desk and pulls his food tray onto his lap while Todoroki slides the door shut. He shovels a few spoonfuls of curry into his mouth, chews, then swallows. He raises an eyebrow at Todoroki, who seems to be completely lost in thought. The silence drags out until Katsuki speaks up. 

“Are you gonna say anything, Half-n-Half? You can’t just drag me all the way here with some vague stuff about Deku’s Quirk and then not actually talk. I thought I said I don’t like my time being wasted.”

Todoroki stares blankly at Katsuki for a moment before speaking. “It’s about Midoriya’s Quirk.”

Katsuki grinds his teeth, on edge. “You frickin said that already. Get to the point, or I’m walking out of here.” 

Todoroki stays quiet for a moment longer, shoving his hands in his pockets and slumping his shoulders forwards slightly. 

“I thought I’d ask you since you’ve known Midoriya your whole life. Bakugo, in all the time you’ve known him, has Midoriya said anything about having a second Quirk? Or have you ever noticed anything strange about, um…” Todoroki wrings his hands together. “About how you regard Midoriya?”

Uh. What?

“What?”

“Do you know if-“

“No, I heard you, I’m just trying to process the amount of stupidity in what you just said. Shouldn’t you have gone to Deku with questions about his Quirk, anyway?” Katsuki’s head was reeling. He feels a little too much like he just barely managed to dodge a bullet. Here he was, worrying over whether Todoroki had learned about the true nature of One For All, but it seems like Todoroki had missed the mark. At least, he hopes so. Katsuki still isn’t sure what prompted this line of questioning. Plus, how you regard Midoriya? What the fresh hell was that supposed to mean? Why was that relevant to this conversation? 

“Well…” Todoroki glances away for a moment, fists clenching in his pockets in an uncharacteristic display of nervousness, “it’s a little embarrassing. I thought I’d confirm my theory with someone who knows him before confronting him about it.” 

Katsuki frowns, hand paused halfway to his mouth with another spoonful of curry. He feels sort of lost, to be honest. There’s something he’s missing here. 

“Embarrassing?” He echoes. “Hold on, back up. What made you start thinking this in the first place?” Katsuki is still afraid that Todoroki has accidentally stumbled across some information about One For All, which, if that’s that case, Katsuki is going to have to give Deku a good beatdown for continuing to be so stupid about keeping his biggest secret a secret. 

Todoroki sits down on top of a desk across from Katsuki, mirroring him. “You see… I think Midoriya has a sort of psychological-type Quirk. One that he’d never notice on top of his other Quirk, especially if nobody has mentioned the effects of it to him before.”

“A psychological Quirk?” Katsuki parrots, bemused. “Again, can you stop being so vague and get to the point already? You’re really starting to tick me off. Why would that be embarrassing?” Hes brandishing his spoon like a weapon now, waving it in Todoroki’s general direction. Todoroki watches the display with mild amusement as little flecks of curry fly off the utensil. 

“The embarrassing part has more to do with the actual effects of the Quirk. It seems like a really useful one to have in battle or in undercover missions, but if he isn’t aware that he has it, he might be using it on people without realizing. For a while I thought it could be that he’s aware he’s using it, but then again Midoriya is a really nice person, and he wouldn’t use it on his friends without their knowledge for fear of being cruel…” Todoroki is frowning to himself now, staring down at his knees.

Katsuki does his best to fight the irritation swirling in his chest. Todoroki truly seems as if he’s at a loss, and Katsuki isn’t such a bad person that he’d lash out at someone going through a hard time. At least, not anymore. 

(He hopes. He’s trying his best.) 

“Elaborate,” he manages through gritted teeth. Todoroki turns his frown up to face Katsuki. 

“I… I think Midoriya has a Quirk that makes other people feel inexplicably drawn to him.”

What. 

“ What?” Katsuki says again, disbelief clear in his voice. Inexplicably drawn to him…? That’s definitely not how he’d describe the abilities of One for All. Katsuki is intimately aware of the details behind that- knows Deku was born with an extra joint, knows about the fact he was given a Quirk and who he got it from- but it’s not like he could tell Icyhot any of that to dispel his theory. 

A second Quirk… one that makes people feel inexplicably drawn to Deku? Anything strange about how you regard him… it’s a little embarrassing… 

Hold on.This can’t be leading where he thinks it’s going, right? Does he have feelings for Deku without even realizing what those feelings are? Todoroki can’t be that dumb, surely. That would be a whole new level of pathetic. 

“Ever since a little before the Sports Festival, I’ve been feeling very strange things I’ve never really felt before. Seeing Midoriya fight at the USJ incident, I thought he was foolish, but I couldn’t deny there was something about him that was sort of… magnetic? I felt the urge to spill all of my secrets to him. I told him more than I’ve told anyone else about the nature of my family, and that’s even before we were friends.”

Yeah, Katsuki was there for that. That was uncomfortable, to say the least. 

Todoroki continues. “Then we fought at the Sports Festival, and ever since then I..” he breaks off for a moment, blinking sheepishly and staring down at his hands. Katsuki feels his dread mounting with every word Todoroki speaks. “I’ve felt… well. I have these strange and frankly embarrassing feelings around him. When he’s near me, it’s like I can only process things pertaining to him. I get clumsy and lightheaded, and I just want to see him safe and protected and happy. I know some of those feelings stem from friendship, but I don’t feel like this for any of my other friends. My pulse speeds up when I see him, and I think about him so much it’s hard to focus on anything else. I’ve never felt something this odd before, so the only conclusion I can come to is that it’s the result of a Quirk.”

Oh. Okay, nevermind. Todoroki really is that dumb. Katsuki has managed to encounter someone even worse at romance than he is. How that’s possible, he’ll never know. 

This is the worst day of Katsuki’s personal life. Like, officially. Of course nothing can beat being kidnapped by the League, or destroying a shopping mall via slime villain attack, or watching the end of All Might, but this… is a whole different genre of terrible. Katsuki is so shocked he can’t even bring himself to eat the rest of his quickly cooling curry, jaw hanging open as abstract horror takes hold of him. 

Todoroki is still talking. Please, no. Katsuki thinks he might die. 

“I think he must have activated it during our fight in the Sports Festival. It’s probably triggered via physical contact and in a high-emotion situation.” Todoroki waves a hand about, gesturing towards his own chest as if pointing the emotions out. “It’s an incredibly useful Quirk, like I said before- opponents would lose their will to fight him during a battle, he’d be able to gain intel and access secrets easily with villains having the urge to talk to him about things they’d usually never tell anyone else, and during a war of attrition the enemy would be weakened via lack of sleep due to thinking about him all of the time…” Todoroki, clearly flustered, rubs his hands over his cheeks in a way that reminds Katsuki of suspiciously of Deku. Now that he thinks about it, Icyhot seems to have picked up on more than a few of Deku’s mannerisms. It just goes to show how pathetic he is; Todoroki has been spending way too much time with Deku. “Like I said, useful Quirk- I just wish he’d stop using it on me , because it always throws me off. I can’t exactly put the feelings away for convenience, you know?”

Okay yeah, that does it. He’s even muttering like the nerd. That’s probably the most Katsuki has ever heard Half-&-Half say in one go. 

There are a million unsavory things unpack here, and Katsuki has no idea where to even begin. He’s going to be sick. He hates romance with a burning passion. 

“Todoroki,” he begins solemnly, mind reeling. Todoroki’s eyebrows shoot up past his hairline, likely surprised that Katsuki hasn’t tacked on a nickname for once. “If you value your life, stop talking. Now.”

Todoroki’s face morphs into a surprised frown. “Why? Bakugo, listen, I thought I’d come to you with this because I know Midoriya would feel guilty-“

Katsuki stands up all of a sudden, almost knocking his lunch tray to the floor. He casts his head around the room as if looking for something. This can’t be real, right? Someone has got to be pulling his leg. “Half-&-Half, did someone put you up to this? You can tell them to stop. Ha ha, very funny, let’s approach Bakugo during lunch and torment him. You guys can come out now! I’m gonna beat you so bad not even your mothers will be able to recognize what’s left! I’ll show you-“ 

“Bakugo, nobody put me up to this. Why would you think this is a prank?” Todoroki looks bewildered, as if he hasn’t said the most genuinely stupid thing Katsuki has ever heard in his life. Which is saying a lot. 

“Icyhot,” Katsuki grits out, “Please tell me you aren’t being serious right now. Please. I think I might die.”

“Why?” Todoroki frowns at him as if he’s being the catastrophically stupid one right now. “Bakugo, everything I’m saying is one hundred percent honest. I’ve been thinking about this very seriously for weeks.”

Katsuki might cry. 

“Icyhot,” he says, very slowly, “Do you know what a crush is.”

 Todoroki narrows his eyes questioningly at Katsuki, equal parts confused and annoyed. 

“Yes, of course. That’s when you have romantic feelings for someone. I don’t know how cut off from the rest of the world you think I am, Bakugo, but you don’t have to be so patronizing about it. I am aware of the complexity of human emotions. Surprise.”

Katsuki throws his hands up in exasperation and yells . This is the most excruciating conversation he’s ever had in his life, and he lives in the same building as Kaminari. 

“ How can you be so oblivious!??” He shrieks. The irony here is physically painful. He wants to throttle Todoroki, really, but he is a good and nice person so he will not do that. 

Unless it’s as a last resort. 

Katsuki paces around the classroom, running a hand over his face. Todoroki is silent, watching him pace about like he’s following a tennis match. Katsuki halts after a few moments and jabs a finger in his direction. 

“Okay, let me get this clear,” he wheezes, sounding not unlike a boiling tea kettle, “You want to sass me and say you understand the complexities of human emotion , thank you very much, but you start having mushy-gushy feelings for Deku and your first thought is that he has a second Quirk ?!? You realize how ironic and pathetically dumb this is, right?”

Todoroki tilts his head to the side like a stupid clueless puppy. Actually no, Katsuki likes dogs and he will not do them the disservice of comparing the likes of this bafflingly idiotic elite to them. 

“Not particularly, no..?”

Katsuki makes a noise like a drowning goat, grinding his teeth together. He can feel a vein popping on his neck.

“I can’t believe I have to spell this out for you. This is the worst day of my life. You’ve officially ruined everything, you Half-&-Half moron.” 

Todoroki frowns at him. “Whatever you have to say just spit it out, Bakugo.” And, really, what a hypocrite. 

Katsuki takes a moment to curse every single choice he’s ever made in life that has led him to this point. 

“Todoroki. You have a crush on Deku. You’re fully in love with him, from what it sounds like to me.”

Watching Todoroki’s face morph from confusion to bewilderment to absolute horror was almost enough to lessen his bad mood. Almost. 

“I h-ha… I have..” Wow. Todoroki is completely lost for words. It would be amusing to watch if the whole reason behind it didn’t have Katsuki reconsidering his career plan, if only so he never has to see Todoroki again. This was like pulling teeth, but with no anaesthetic and the person pulling the teeth is also experiencing the pain. Why is this his life, again?

“Feelings for Deku, yes. And for him , of all people.” Katsuki ignores the vaguely Deku-shaped twinge in his own heart at his words, at this whole conversation really, because that was elementary school. Elementary school. 

( Why is the insistent press of those feelings still there .)

“I can’t believe… Midoriya... I’ve never had a crush before,” Todoroki says, looking lost and a little sad and really, Katsuki is the worst person to be dealing with this. How the hell does one provide emotional support? Especially when they don’t really want to in the first place? “What on earth am I supposed to do?”

Katsuki makes a disbelieving noise at the back of his throat. “The hell, you’re asking me? Does it look like I know?”

Todoroki blinks helplessly at him, brows stitched together in an unhappy frown. “You’ve known Midoriya essentially your whole lives. Are you saying you can’t help me out at all? Don’t you know him?”

And, well. That last question shouldn’t send a spike of insecurity and guilt through Katsuki’s chest, but it does anyway. Because that’s just one of the many problems in the precarious Katsuki-and-Deku situation, isn’t it? Katsuki knows Deku to an extent, but not really. Not as much as he wants to. He’s so physically aware of it sometimes, especially when he sees Deku interacting with his actual  other friends. There’s a massive gap between who Deku is as a person and what Katsuki knows about him, and it’s all Katsuki’s fault that they can’t interact normally. 

He shoves those thoughts away before they can spiral any further into truly dangerous territory. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. 

Todoroki stares intently at him, oblivious to Katsuki’s internal turmoil. 

“What makes you think I can help you?” He snaps. 

“I mean… am I his type? How should I go about wooing him? Is he looking for a relationship? Is he even into men?” Todoroki opens his mouth like he wants to continue, but Katsuki holds up a hand as a signal to stop talking. 

“Shut up before I puke. Wooing ? Are you my great-Grandmother? What the hell is this, the Victorian Era?” 

Todoroki just fixes him with a blank look at that. Dammit. Deku would get his reference to English history. 

“What do you what me to say then? Wooing him is my goal, I suppose. Would he be interested in me, or does… am I-“ Todoroki breaks off, eyes widening as if he’s just had some sort of revelation. After the silence stretches on for a few moments, Katsuki raises an eyebrow. 

“What?”

When Todoroki speaks again, his voice is small. “Do you think… would he be repulsed by me? I have so much baggage, I can’t expect him to just willingly enter a relationship with someone like me. I ruin all the good things in my life- what if I ruin him too?”

Oh. Well, this conversation just took a dark turn. Katsuki has never really had any interest in drinking or being drunk before, but right now, to survive this exchange, Katsuki sort of wishes he was absolutely smashed. 

“I’m really not… look,” Katsuki says with a groan, sitting back down on the desk across from Todoroki and running a hand over his face. “Deku is… a good.. person. He won’t be repulsed by you, or whatever stupid thing you’re thinking. And-“ Katsuki grimaces, feeling awkward, “You dont… ruin things. If people do bad things to you, that’s on them. It’s not like you did something to deserve it.” 

It’s a lesson Katsuki has been trying to internalize the past few months. It applies to both things that’ve happened to him, and what he’s done to others. 

He continues, despite the words feeling awkward and clunky in his mouth. “And um. If you confessed to him. He’d be nice about it no matter how he feels.”

Todoroki nods slowly, as if absorbing the information. 

“Thank you, Bakugo,” he says after a moment. “I mean, I can’t say I’d be able to say anything to him for fear of ruining our friendship, but thank you. You’re a good friend.”

Just like that, any traces of sympathy he might have been harbouring vanish from Katsuki in an instant. 

“HUH?” He shoots up from the desk, waving a fist near Todoroki’s face. “What on earth makes you think we’re friends, Half-&-Half!? The hell are you going around saying that for!?!?”

Unfazed, Todoroki opens his mouth to respond, when his eyes widen and his jaw drops in slightly horrified realization. 

“Oh my goodness… Bakugo, does this mean I’m gay?”

Katsuki’s resulting scream of frustration echoes all the way down the hall.