Work Text:
Shouto falls onto his futon with a groan.
It's not as if training was particularly hard today, no. The thing Shouto is truly dreading is the thought of checking his email.
"Unlike internships, where we handed out packets with offers from agencies who wanted to work with you, a representative from the work-study office will be contacting you," Aizawa revealed. "Some of you will get offers, and some of you won't. Keep in mind that you aren't required to take part in a work study. They are challenging, and you will still be expected to keep on top of your classwork."
Shouto let Aizawa's voice fade into the background as Izuku caught his eye and exchanged a knowing glance. They both knew exactly who surely planned on sending an offer- but when an offer comes from Endeavor, it's more of an order than anything .
Shouto startles out of his daze when he hears a light knock at the door.
"Come in," he calls.
The lock twists, and Izuku gently pushes the door open. "Hey, Shouto-kun!"
"Hello," Shouto greets. He sits up and scoots back, gesturing for Izuku to join him on the futon. "What's up?"
"I thought you might want to check out our work-study offers together," Izuku says hesitantly. It's only then that Shouto notices the laptop he has, well, in his lap. All Might themed, of course.
"I figured we could check out mine first, if you want?"
"That sounds fine," Shouto agrees. His lips quirk up into a small smile, barely more than a grimace. Izuku grins. He flips open his laptop and slides closer to Shouto, balancing his laptop across their legs and leaning into Shouto.
Once Izuku logs in, he pulls up his email. He has a few offers from some local agencies. (Well, as local as any agency can be, when they live at Yuuei.)
Izuku seems happy, at least, so Shouto congratulates him accordingly. Izuku parses through his offers, but he reads remarkably quickly.
Izuku and turns to Shouto. "Are you ready to check out your offers?”
"Yes," Shouto says. "I'll be back." He rises to grab his laptop, then returns to his spot on the futon.
Shouto inhales and opens his emails. As arrogant as he's going to sound, it's about what he was expecting. Dozens, if not hundreds of offers.
Father's offer sits at the top of his inbox, sent a mere five minutes ago. Shouto exhales and scrolls down, skimming the names as he goes.
Native, Backdraft, Manual. As far as Shouto can tell, most of these heroes don't even have skill sets that match up with Shouto's; they don't want Shouto, they want Endeavor's son.
Shouto's a third of the way down when an email finally sticks out. The subject line has a blood-red font that's hard to read but draws his attention nonetheless. He clicks on the email at Izuku's urging.
[Dear Todoroki Shouto,] it begins. [I hope you are well. My name is Yamamoto, and I am a representative at IceBreakers, and-] Shouto loses his train of thought when Izuku gasps dramatically. "Do you know what those are?"
"Do I?" Izuku asks in disbelief. "How come you don't? Kacchan's been using them to tease you all year!"
Thinking back, Shouto does recall a few choice nicknames, although they quickly fell into disuse when everyone pointed out how bland they were.
Shouto shrugs in response to Izuku. "I guess I remember a bit."
Izuku sighs and leans in closer. "Let's see what the rest says!"
In short, it's both a paid role in a commercial and a work study offer. IceBreakers even has their own team of heroes. "It's good publicity," or something.
Shouto is still reading when Izuku laughs a bit and points at the screen. "Shouto, look! Burnin' has a part-time job with the company! If you accept the offer you'll be working with her."
Izuku laughs again, and Shouto can't help but think that he looks a bit hysterical. "I can't believe I didn't know this!"
Shouto winces sympathetically. He knows what it feels like to be in Izuku's shoes.
"I'm glad that it's her," Shouto says after a moment. "She's always been nice." A little boisterous, perhaps, but kind nevertheless.
"That's good. Are you thinking of accepting?"
Shouto shrugs. "Probably, yeah. They've got a lot of resources, I'll make a name for myself, and it'll piss dear ol' dad off. It's a win-win-win."
Izuku snorts a laugh, then frowns. "W-wouldn't that have…" Izuku hesitates, and Shouto knows what he's going to ask. "What if he hurts you again?"
"I'll be fine," Shouto reassures him. "I barely see him nowadays, what with the dorms, and it's not like it matters much. I've faced worse."
"That doesn't make me feel any better," Izuku admits. Shouto bites his lip.
After a moment he opens his arms. "Do you want a hug?"
He needn't have asked, because Izuku was already hugging him. After a few moments Shouto awkwardly pats Izuku's back, and he releases Shouto. "I'll be fine," Shouto says again. "Trust me."
"I'll hold you to that," Izuku says, though he looks less tense than before. They sit in silence for a moment. Izuku says, "You're planning to take IceBreaker's offer, right?"
"Yes," Shouto says. "I'll glance through the other offers just in case, but I think this is the one."
"Alright," Izuku says, more to himself than anyone else. "Before you make a final choice, let me call Kacchan down here. Please?" he adds when Shouto doesn't answer immediately.
"What does he have to do with this?" Shouto asks curiously.
"Just trust me," Izuku says, and Shouto does so he waits as Izuku steps out to fetch Bakugou.
Five minutes later Izuku quite literally drags Bakugou into Shouto's room. Bakugou is writhing in his arms much like a stray cat would, but he isn't using his quirk, which Shouto is thankful for. Once they're far enough in, Izuku closes the door and sets Bakugou down.
"I still don't see why I need to be here," Bakugou says petulantly. He's clearly continuing some kind of argument with Izuku.
"I've already told you, Kacchan! You've gotta be here for this," he insists.
Shouto glances back and forth between them. "What are you guys arguing about?" he asks curiously. His mind is already racing with possibilities.
"IcyHot doesn't even know?" Bakugou snorts.
Izuku throws his hands up defensively. "It's not like we've known about this for days, and I thought it would be a fun surprise! Besides, he needs to know what he's getting into," Izuku adds.
"Getting into?"
"With IceBreakers," Izuku exclaims earnestly. "They want you to represent their brand, but how can you do that when you haven't even had any IceBreakers?"
"Deku told me all about that dumbass offer they sent you," Bakugou interjects, "and while I'll sure as hell take all of those mints you earn, you-" Bakugou coughs, then mutters, "you deserve to know what you're getting into."
"Earning mints?" Shouto repeats, baffled.
Izuku nods furiously. "In the email, it mentioned a bi-weekly truck of IceBreakers that'll be delivered to the dorms if you accept!"
Shouto nods and hums thoughtfully. "I didn't read through it thoroughly," he admits.
Bakugou snorts. "That's pretty obvious, isn't it?"
"Fair point."
"Anyways, here ya go," Bakugou throws something at Shouto and he catches it without looking down. Bakugou looks slightly impressed. "You will be repaying me with mints," Bakugou says.
To anyone else it would sound like an order- and it is- but Shouto can hear the hidden fondness.
Shouto narrows his eyes for the sake of the charade, then looks down at the case in his hands. It's circular and round and rattles when Shouto moves it, but the thing that stands out most to him is the colors.
Bright red on one side, cool blue on the other. Shouto now sees why they want to hire him.
Holding the case almost religiously, Shouto opens it and brings it up to his mouth. He tilts his head back and dumps the IceBreakers into his mouth.
"Shouto, no!" Izuku protests, as if Shouto is a particularly naughty cat, but it's too late. He's already chewing.
crunch
Crunch
Crunch
Even Bakugou looks shaken.
The next few minutes pass slowly.
Shouto eats his IceBreakers. Midoriya cries. Bakugou sits on the floor and looks vaguely disturbed.
It is silent beyond the CRUNCHING .
Finally, Shouto finishes.
"That was delicious. I am going to accept their offer."
Later the three agree never to speak of this again.
Aizawa-sensei isn't exactly pleased with Shouto's choice of work study, but he accepts it.
Class 1-A practically riots, even more so when Shouto mentions that literal trucks of IceBreakers will be delivered to their dorms bi-weekly.
Yamamoto, the representative who reached out to Shouto, is rather excited. They text often, although most of their chat is focused on the IceBreakers brand.
Yamamoto seems kind online, and Shouto is eager to meet them in person.
Eventually, the day arrives. Shouto takes care to dress cleanly, but it turns out that he needn't have bothered.
Yamamoto has an outfit in hand when they meet Shouto, and they look to the side when they realize that Shouto is all dressed up. Shouto waves off their concerns and takes the clothes anyways, smiling slightly.
Two minutes later finds Shouto showing off to Yamamoto. He's decked out in brightly coloured Hawaiian clothes; an orange, flowery shirt and banana-covered swim trunks. Somehow, Yamamoto acquired a fake pigeon for him, and it sits on his shoulder.
All-together, the outfit is hideous.
Shouto loves it.
Yamamoto smiles when Shouto expresses his admiration. "I'm really glad you like it," Yamamoto admits as they lead him to the studio. "You seem like the type, but then you showed up and oh , you were just so fancy and I was so worried!"
Shouto is struck by how young Yamamoto is. They're just out of high school, barely older than Shouto and his classmates. It's unexpected, but nice.
"Anyways, here we are," Yamamoto says proudly. They scan their passcard- " Yours will arrive soon," Yamamoto assured him earlier- and push open the large doors; they're not unlike the big grey ones guarding U.A.'s gyms. "Welcome to the studio."
They usher Shouto inside. He looks around and gasps. The room is absolutely humongous. Props and costume racks are scattered all over, though there are surprisingly few people milling about. Even so, the room is rather energetic (he realizes why that is when he spots Burnin' leading some sort of fight off to the side of the room).
And there, in the center of all of the chaos, is a stage. It's flat with grainy-looking flooring that feels smooth under Shouto's palm, and there's a hanging beach background with bright pink flamingos to match.
"It's perfect," Shouto whispers.
"I'm glad you think so," someone says.
Shouto whirls around and Yamamoto steps out from behind her. "This is our director and producer, Sugihara Hanako," she introduces.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Todoroki-"
"I know who you are," Sugihara exclaims. "Our new poster boy! Glad to have ya on the team!" Shouto merely nods, but on the inside he's smiling. IceBreakers seems to have very lax policies, and it's going to be a nice change of pace.
Yamamoto checks their watch and exclaims, “Geez, it’s only ten minutes to showtime! Todoroki, please follow-“
“I don’t even have a copy of the script,” Shouto interjects blandly. Yamamoto grimaces but Sugihara doesn’t seem bothered.
“I know,” she says, explaining absolutely nothing. After a moment, she continues, “We’re going to have you begin with an improv, and depending on how well that goes we’ll either hand you free reign or switch to a script.”
“I’m not very good at improvising,” Shouto warns.
Sugihara waves him off. “Oh, all of you hero types are!”
“No, really,” Shouto insists. “And it won’t help that I tried an IceBreaker for the first time a week ago.”
“IceBreakers: Duos,” Yamamoto corrects absently as they glance at their watch.
“Yes, that.”
“Oh, that’s perfectly fine!” Sugihara reassures. “If you want to, you could just describe that.”
“That’s a good idea,” Shouto agrees.
“Excellent,” Yamamoto says. They gently grab Shouto’s wrist and steer him away. “Let’s get going.”
Shouto waves goodbye to a grinning Sugihara.
She heads off, seemingly headed towards the camera, and Shouto turns to Yamamoto.
"Do you want me to run through the plan again, or are you okay?" they ask, concerned.
"I think I'll be fine," Shouto says decisively. "It's not like I can mess up improvising, right?"
"Exactly," they agree. "Break a leg, kiddo."
Shouto startles- break a leg?- but Yamamoto is already walking away to stand by Sugihara, and Sugihara is directing Shouto to the stage.
Once he's on, she holds up her hand and calls, "Quiet on the set! Rolling in five! Four! Three!" She ticks off her fingers as she counts down, and she stops talking when she reaches two. Shouto watches her hand carefully, leaning back when he spots the thumbs-up that signals that the camera is rolling.
At first, Shouto flops. Despite the mortifying ordeal of being known that comes with being Endeavor's son, Shouto doesn't have many experiences in front of the camera.
He tells the story of his first IceBreakers: Duos experience in sentences that halt and stutter. It goes better when Yamamoto dismisses everyone who doesn't need to be here- leaving them, Sugihara, Shouto himself, and three other production members.
Shouto gets used to the camera eventually, and by the end they've got enough material for Sugihara to produce a short film.
"You did good today." She smiles and hands Shouto a case of IceBreakers. "I won't be seeing you tomorrow, so here's some IceBreakers: Duos for the road!"
"Thank you," Shouto replies sincerely. Then he processes her second sentence and asks, "Wait, why won't I see you tomorrow?"
Yamamoto cuts in, "It's nothing serious; you're just going on patrol with Burnin' tomorrow, and we're not going to follow y'all around."
"I won't be seeing you either?"
"Likely not," Yamamoto says. Shouto sighs and nods. They see this and pat his shoulder. "Hey, keep your chin up. We'll see each other soon."
"I certainly hope so," Shouto agrees. He bids them farewell and heads home. He's got to get a good nights' sleep to patrol the next day with Burnin'.
On the second day, Shouto walks into a room full of chaos.
Burnin’ is juggling flaming apples in the front lobby, for some reason Shouto can’t even begin to fathom. There’s a small crowd of spectators, each seemingly captivated by her performance.
Shouto hangs back towards the edge of the chaos, wary but unwilling to leave. His assignment was to patrol with her for the day, and it'd be irresponsible of him to abandon her now.
Eventually, she catches sight of him, and she waves enthusiastically. Shouto gives a small wave in return, and she finishes up her show rather quickly.
“That’s all, folks,” she announces. Several crowd members groan exaggeratedly, but they disperse rather quickly. Burnin’ douses the fiery apples and makes her way over to Shouto. “Good morning, Shouto!”
“Good morning,” he replies neutrally. Burnin’, used to his rather bland demeanor, ignores his dull tone.
“I didn’t know you worked here before a week ago,” Shouto says.
Burnin’ laughs and brings a hand up to rub the back of her neck awkwardly. “Yeah, that makes sense. It isn’t discussed much around Endeavor’s agency, and you don’t really watch the news, right?”
Shouto nods.
Burnin’ sighs like she expected this and pulls out her phone. She taps the screen a few times, and then she’s shoving the phone in Shouto’s face.
“Here, read this!”
Shouto takes the phone and skims through the article quickly. There are a few pictures, and one thing quickly becomes apparent. “Your costume is different.”
“Yeah,” Burnin’ sighs. “That’s one downside of working for IceBreakers: Duos; you need to have a separate costume. Otherwise, my work for IceBreakers: Duos could be attributed to Endeavor’s agency. Some people have second hero names, even! It’s not required- thank goodness!” Shouto winces, only now remembering the main reason he doesn’t like to talk to her: she speaks too fast.
“Should I make a second hero name?”
“Probably not,” Burnin’ shrugs. “The main reason folks end up making one is that they don’t want to be attached to any other agency- since nearly all of us are just part-timers- or because their costumes are too similar and the media keeps crediting the wrong agency.”
“Oh. That makes sense,” Shouto says.
Burnin’ nods sagely and grins. “Now, go on and get dressed for patrol! We’ve gotta head out in five minutes, and we don’t wanna be late.” Shouto flashes her a quick thumbs up and jogs back to the locker room. He brought his costume to the studio yesterday, and it’s waiting for him when he arrives.
He gets dressed quickly, and they’re out the door in three minutes.
Patrol goes smoothly too. Several people recognize Burnin’, and after a closer look, Shouto as well. They end up signing autographs most of the time, and the worst villain they spot is hardly more than a petty criminal. Shouto stops her easily with his ice.
While they wait for the police, Shouto defrosts her. He isn’t cruel, and leaving her in the ice will give her frostbite if the cops don’t arrive soon enough. Once she’s free, Burnin’ cuffs her, and from there they wait for the police.
The media shows up at some point, desperate to know what prompted the massive iceberg that had covered half of the block.
Burnin’ explains, thankfully, and Shouto is glad. Later, she tells him that he did great. Shouto smiles, just a bit.
After those first days, Shouto never comes back on consecutive dates.
He's there routinely, though, and they manage to film several commercials and send him on several criminal-heavy patrols before his work-study is up.
As promised, trucks of IceBreakers: Duos are delivered weekly, and as threatened, Bakugou steals a third of each shipment. Shouto takes as much as he thinks he'll eat, which honestly isn't much, and Class 1-A divvies up the rest of the mints between themselves.
He goes on to co-found an agency with Class 1-A, but he keeps his part time job at IceBreakers: Duos. They keep the trucks coming.
He still works with Yamamoto, Sugihara, and Burnin'.
All in all, it's good.
Shouto is happy.
+++++
Shortly after Shouto filmed his first commercial, it was released globally. The transcript is as follows:
[The commercial begins as they usually do. Luxury. Power. IceBreakers.
Fifteen seconds in, Todoroki Shouto enters from stage left. He takes a seat on a pink flamingo positioned so that he faces the camera head-on, and he stares at it for another fifteen seconds. Then, he says in the most dull and monotone voice imaginable, "Try IceBreakers Duos. They're just like me; minty on one side and fruity fun on the other."
A hand appears on the right side of the screen, and Todoroki takes the offered case of IceBreakers: Duos. He holds it up to the camera so that his red and white hairstyle aligns with the case and says, still in a monotone, "See? We're exactly the same."
Todoroki then opens the case, holds it to his mouth, and dumps all of the IceBreakers: Duos in. He is staring at the camera the entire time. He simply sits like that for a moment, mouth full of IceBreakers: Duos.
And then he begins to chew.
crunch
crunch
CRUNCH
The video continues like that for another three and a half minutes. Finally, Shouto swallows the last IceBreaker: Duos. He smiles widely, unnaturally, and winks at the camera. "IceBreakers: Duos. Delicious."
The video cuts off. No credits roll. No logo is shown.]