Chapter Text
UA was not the escape Shouto had hoped it would be.
He had thought that getting to escape his father’s ever tightening grip and be among people his age would mean that he would make friends and enjoy some of the fun he heard kids his age were supposed to get up to in school.
Wrong.
The students at UA already knew about his father’s legacy due to his admission via recommendation. He had tried to convince his father that it would be more impressive if he took the entrance exam like all the other students, but it seemed that the flame hero didn’t mind Shouto not “putting in the work” if it meant he could get out of taking the entrance exam with all the “common” kids.
So here he was, coming to the end of his first year at UA: friendless, tired, and still controlled by his father.
But at least he had managed to do something to get back at his father- he had successfully won the 1A Sports Festival, completely decimating that loud, cocky Bakugou boy by encasing him, and the whole stadium, in ice.
And just in time to, because he had made the foolish mistake of doing that for every match he had in the festival, and he had nearly exhausted his left side.
Festival win aside, his father was still disappointed, as naturally he still refused to use his left side. Hence why he was now en route to his father’s agency directly after his last class ended for the day.
Shouto supposed the one benefit of having no friends was that it left him plenty of time to train his ice powers. And if extracurricular training happened to take place in the glass walled quirk gym of his father’s agency- where Endeavor and all his sidekicks could clearly see him using only half of his quirk- well, that was just an added benefit. Pissing off his father was just one of the few nice things about his day, since his plan to miraculously transform into a social butterfly upon entering the gates of UA had failed.
Shouto reached the tall and obnoxiously shiny doors of his father’s agency and walked in, heading past small groups of fans on tour who whispered loudly at his arrival and pointed obnoxiously.
This was a new addition.
Up until a few weeks ago, his father never allowed anyone other than his sidekicks, other heroes, and the occasional reporter inside his massive agency. Suddenly now he had decided to let small groups in. As far as Shouto could tell they were only allowed on the ground floor, and were basically herded like geese and kept around the main reception desk and guided through the halls that housed the offices for all of the Endeavor Hero agency’s costume designers and publicists. The bright fabrics and sketches of new designs seemed to keep them occupied most days, but there was always a noticeable increase in chatter whenever he entered the room.
Shouto cursed his obvious hair and scar. And his height. He’d curse that too if he wanted, because maybe if he hadn’t clearly started to shoot up closer to his father’s height then he might be able to sneak by unnoticed.
Oh, who was he kidding. With his "candy cane hair", as Bakugou called it, there was no sneaking. Anywhere.
Head up high and avoiding eye contact with everyone in the lobby, he walked straight to the elevator. Luckily, it was empty. None of his father’s sidekicks were waiting to try and kiss up to Enji’s favorite son. Thank god for small miracles, he supposed.
His typical routine after school was to head straight to the agency, right up the elevator, and head directly to his father’s office.
Despite how much of a hot headed asshole his father was, he had somehow managed to keep the sweetest personal assistant for as long as Shouto could remember.
Tanaka Hanako was a sweet old lady, quite short and wrinkled, but always sported a pale pink head of hair that she kept styled in an outdated beehive on her head. When Shouto was much younger, he had thought her quirk was actually called “cotton-candy hair.” At least he was somewhat close- her quirk was hair related- she called it Endless Pencils, because she could pull an infinite amount of pencils out of her strange hairdo, no matter how she styled it.
She was always sweet to Shouto when he came to his father’s office, asking just enough to be nice but never fully delve into extensive small talk- or god forbid- a real conversation. Sadly, she was the closest thing Shouto could call a friend. Outside of Fuyumi, but she was his own sister, so did that really count? Probably not.
Visiting Tanaka-san had a dual purpose, as did most things Shouto did within his father’s agency. With Tanaka-san being Endeavor’s personal assistant, he could enter his father’s office and obnoxiously place his school bag on the center of his father’s desk- without his father being present. He could have a few short words of conversation in with Tanaka-san, and then could make his way to the gym, where Endeavor- notified by his assistant- would be waiting, to watch Shouto once again use only his ice to run through his training exercises.
Today however, was different.
His father’s office- whether he was inside it or not- was always silent. Endeavor took all his calls in a separate office room (obnoxiously) and Tanaka-san had the strange ability to remain completely silent no matter what task she was completing. Her keyboard never clacked, and her pencils never made even the softest scratching sound against a post-it note.
Today it was deafeningly loud in comparison. And it only got louder as Shouto opened the door to his father’s office.
“AND PUT THOSE HANDS UP FOR DANI-DOO AND THE DREAMERS!”
The obnoxiously loud voice of his English teacher was playing from a small handheld radio that was placed on the corner of Tanaka-san’s desk.
Except...
Maybe it wasn’t Tanaka-san’s desk? Had he walked into the wrong office? Had his father decided to respond to his daily placement of his school bag by just switching offices? His father always got the best of him, but this was ridiculous. How was Shouto supposed to compete with switching offices?
As he debated his retaliation, Shouto finally took in the rest of the desk. This was definitely not Tanaka-san’s desk.
First off, the nameplate on the front now read “Endeavor PA: Midoriya.”
Midoriya?
Had Endeavor finally found some fault in Tanaka-san? Poor old lady, at least she had to have amassed a great retirement plan by now. Shouto hoped she got compensated nicely for putting up with his father. And with him, to an extent. His petty bursts into his father’s office were mainly received by her alone.
There were stacks, and stacks, and stacks of notebooks. The desk wasn’t completely covered in them- the small name plaque had a tiny place on the desk. The stacks managed to make the flat desk look more like a strange cubicle. Due to the stacks of notebooks, he couldn’t even see the chair behind the desk or if his father’s new personal assistant was even present at the desk. Shouto tiptoed closer to the desk, and began to peer over the stacks of notebooks, and just as he managed to see the top of a dark, curly mess of hair-
“AND PUT THOSE HANDS UP AGAAAAAAIN LISTENERS! THAT WAS THE NEW SINGLE BY-”
Shouto jumped, jolted back from his thoughts by Mic-sensei’s loud announcement coming through the radio, and in his shock he jostled one of the notebook stacks.
One by one, they quickly slipped away from Shouto, and down to the inhabitant of the chair.
“Oh shoot! Not again!” A pair of large hands with short fingers and skinny wrists shot up from behind the desk and attempted to push the stack back into place, but the notebooks continued to slip. Shouto took pity on the new PA, and placed a hand on the falling stack, freezing it in place.
“O-oh? Oh gosh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t even realize anyone had walked in! I assume you’re not Enji-san since you froze my notebooks- well I suppose Enji-san could be with you, but he’s such a big guy I think I would have noticed him lurking arou- not that he lurks! Of course Enji-san would have every right to be in his own office and check on how I’m settling in, but just I think I would have noticed? And I wasn’t aware of any sidekicks he hired that have an ice quirk so are you a sidekick or a visitor? Oh gosh if you’re a visitor you shouldn't be all the way up here I’ll have to-”
“I’m Endeavor’s son,” Shouto flatly interrupted the hurried rambling that had come from behind the stack of (now frozen) notebooks.
He could see the hands wave up occasionally, indicating that this man definitely spoke with his hands during his rambling. Shouto wondered if he always spoke with his hands, or if it was just a nervous habit. He also wondered how long it would take for his father to burst into flames upon hearing his new PA called him Enji-san. Even his father’s closest friends only ever called him Endeavor or Todoroki. Even Shouto’s own mother never addressed him as Enji, and he doubted even Enji-san would be acceptable to his father.
The stacks of notebooks were now wobbling dangerously as Midoriya was clearly trying to make his way around his own desk to properly greet his new boss’ son. By his voice, Shouto mused that he definitely couldn’t be as old as Tanaka-san, but as Midoriya finally breached his notebook maze, Shoto was not prepared for what he saw.
His father’s new assistant was… young. And cute.
Oh god, he looked so young? Was there a legal age minimum for a personal assistant?
There had to be. To work at the Endeavor Hero Agency Midoriya had to be at least 18. It was unfair for him to have such a youthful, freckled face. Midoriya was short, at least half a foot shorter than Shouto. As he stepped closer, Shoto realized the dark hair he had glimpsed earlier was green, and curled in short, messy ringlets that framed Midoriya’s forehead and cheeks. His hair looked so soft and fluffy and Shouto wanted to reach out and touch it so badly.
For once, he mentally thanked his father for drilling into him complete outward control of emotions.
“H-hello! Oh wait I already said that, uh, sorry. I’m Midoriya Izuku! I’m your father’s new personal assistant!” Midoriya bowed quickly, then promptly stuck out a hand.
Shouto stared blankly at the hand.
Midoriya was… something else.
Freckled and smiling and bright. What on earth had possessed his father to want him as a PA? His father hated bright smiles and cheer!
And Midoriya looked so small as well- despite his disproportionately large hands, his wrists and arms were so small, and not to mention his small waist that was only emphasized by the too-large belt that was cinched within the loops of his pin-striped dress pants. Midoriya looked like he might lose a fight with a milk jug.
(Shouto wasn’t even sure to begin with the dress pants. They should have been the ugliest thing he had ever seen, but the way they emphasized the fact that Midoriya clearly wasn’t as scrawny in his thighs and behind had him suddenly appreciating maroon pinstripes.)
“Uh-I..uh.. T-Todoroki-san…?” Midoriya was staring at him. One of his bushy green eyebrows was arching upwards in concern, and he stepped closer to look into Shouto’s face with those big green eyes.
And in that moment, Shouto knew. He was totally, completely, irreversibly fucked.
Quickly passing by that realization, Shouto realized he needed to actually reply to Midoriya, otherwise things would go south very, very quickly.
“Yes. That is me,” Nice. Smooth. Perfect save, he’ll never know you just had a mental crisis from one glance into his eyes.
“Ah-uh, yeah,” Midoriya took a step back and retracted his hand. “Well, thank you for freezing my notebooks. They keep falling everywhere, the bookcase your father ordered for me hasn’t been delivered yet.”
“I see,” Another short answer from Shouto.
He was doing so well at this whole small talk thing. Okay, okay- time to say something new, get Midoriya off of the topic of his father because he does not want to talk about that.
“I’m Shouto.”
An introduction- a little late, but don’t they always say better late than never?
Midoriya giggled, the smile widening on his face and emphasizing his freckles (he has so many freckles). His hand came up to brush some stray curls out his face as he looked up at Shouto.
“Ah, I… kind of got that. Enji-san told me you come here after school each day.”
“Yes.” Okay so Shouto may once again be failing at small talk. As he floundered mentally, he thought of his question earlier. “Where is Tanaka-san?”
“Oh! Yes of course, Tanaka-san decided to retire a few months ago!”
“A few months ago?” But Tanaka-san had just been here last week. Shouto had seen her as usual during his dramatic school bag routine.
“Yes, she had planned to retire a few months ago but there were some ah… delays in my paperwork. But I am here now!” With this Midoriya did a brief impression of All Might as he said his famous catchphrase.
Ah, what a shame. His father would most definitely fire Midoriya before the end of his first day.