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It’s 6.40pm on Christmas Eve, and he and Katsuki are fighting a Volvo for a parking space. It wasn’t by design - up until 30 minutes ago he’d been snuggled up to Katsuki under the kotatsu with a Christmas movie on and a cat on his lap. The ideal existence, really, being caught between his two prickly balls of fluff. But the mood had broken with a single question.
“Shall we put the presents for my parents under the tree too? Or just wait until we see them on the 26th?”
Cold, hard dread had spread through him at the realisation. His parents . Because, several weeks before, Mitsuki had agreed to let them spend Christmas day together so long as they got to see them the next day. They were going to spend the day there with the Bakugos and the Midoriyas, since they lived so close to each other. They’d already seen his family on the 23rd, and were going back there for the New Year’s celebrations, and had made sure they’d be seeing everyone either before or after to make sure they’d get to have a quiet Christmas day to themselves.
And he had… forgotten. In fairness, apparently all the villains kick off before Christmas and the last two weeks of work had been beyond hectic. Both he and Katsuki had both been pulling 12 and 14 hour shifts, and while most of the villains had been fairly small-scale, low-stake fights, they’d still had a couple of heavy hitters each.
He had winced, and Bakugo had seen right through him.
“Oi what’s up with you? Spit it out.”
Shoto had worried at his lip a little, enjoying the last few moments of tranquility, before spilling the beans.
“I had forgotten we were seeing your parents and the Midoriyas on the 26th.”
He had expected some quips about his ‘empty pretty boy head’, but instead he just heard-
“Shit.”
That was what had gotten him to glance over, where he saw Katsuki gripping the bridge of his nose, eyebrows furrowed. He thinks if he listened hard enough, he could probably have heard the grinding of his teeth.
“Um, Katsuki?” He asks, when Katsuki provides no further explanation.
“Deku. We’re seeing Deku and Round Cheeks.”
“Um. Yes, we are.”
“I didn’t get them a gift.”
Shoto’s eyes had widened in shock, and he had to cover his mouth to stifle a chuckle.
“Oi, you fucker! You can’t laugh at me, you forgot to get my parents shit too.”
That had sobered him a bit, but even that couldn’t fully wipe the amusement off his face. Still, when Katsuki had asked “Do you think he’d mind?”, Shoto couldn’t help but answer with “I think Deku would die of sadness if he knew you’d forgotten to get him a gift.”
Katsuki had huffed, but they had ultimately agreed that while Izuku might not die of sadness, he certainly would flood the Bakugo’s house and leave Katsuki with the damages.
So, they had left the serenity of their little slice of heaven, and entered the hell that was the department store parking lot on a Christmas Eve, 20 minutes before close.
“You fucker! I was here first, I’m the one going the right way around the one way system, I’ve earned that fucking space!”
He slams his fist into the horn to punctuate each syllable of the end of his sentence, making Shoto cringe in on himself. Unfortunately, Katsuki’s sound logic does not seem to pierce the windows and make itself known to the driver, who finishes parking in the spot and flips Katsuki off. Katsuki sounds his horn again in anger, before continuing to circle the parking lot.
It’s another 7 minutes of peppy Christmas songs interspersed with loud swears before they get parked up and on their way to the storefront. Katsuki pulls his mask up and puts on a beanie to keep his appearance low key, but even with most of his face covered up Shoto can tell how grumpy he is.
“So…” Shoto begins, trailing off a little at the glare he gets from Katsuki, but ultimately deciding to forge on.
“What are you thinking of getting for Izuku?”
Shoto watches as Katsuki’s face transforms from irritated to concerned. It’s truly a miracle, he thinks, that Katsuki is able to be so incredibly expressive. He’s grateful - he never feels like he has to second guess how Katsuki is feeling, because his actions could never be anything but honest. Though, he does think it’s lucky for him that his quirk helps prevent him from wrinkling: otherwise there would surely be permanent lines etched between his brows by now.
“I don’t fucking know, some hero shit or something. Maybe I can actually get him a fashion sense. God knows that would be a gift for both him and Round Cheeks.”
Shoto tilts his head as he ponders.
“Can you give someone a fashion sense? I thought it was some kind of innate ability or learned skill rather than something that can be gifted.”
Shoto is aware he’s being purposefully obtuse, but seeing the corners of Katsuki’s eyes crinkle a little with as he scoffs, Shoto can’t help but smile.
“I suppose if it were possible to give someone a fashion sense no one would have let Deku continue the way he does without intervention. I could still get him a half decent shirt though.”
Shoto hums in agreement and pulls his mask up over his face as they approach the front of the store. It doesn’t do as much to hide his appearance as it does for Katsuki - the baseball cap he has on can’t fully hide his hair, and nothing short of a balaclava can cover up his scar - but it does well enough that most people won’t catch him at a distance, and those who do clock his appearance usually say nothing or simply ask for a quick autograph.
Shoto pushes the door open once they get there - or rather, he attempts to - because it turns out to be locked.
He tries once more, before Katsuki grabs his hand and forces it down.
“Shit! Fuck, it’s shut.”
Shoto looks over at him in confusion as Katsuki runs his hands down his face.
“But the lights are still on?”
Katsuki glares back at him, but sighs and softens a little.
“They usually shut the doors 15 minutes before closing which was…” He pauses as he checks his watch. “3 minutes ago.”
Katsuki shoves his hands in his pockets and turns around to leave, but Shoto grabs his arm just before he can take a step.
“Oi, you didn’t hear me? It’s closed.”
“No it’s not. There are still people shopping.”
“But they aren’t letting anyone in.”
Shoto looks back, tilting his head.
“By fire safety regulations they are required to have at least one fire exit that can be operated during the full extent of time that people are in the store.”
Katsuki is still frowning, but as realisation takes over his face seems to shift to something that might have been a mean grin, if Shoto could see his mouth.
“Bastard. Alright, lets go around the back and get looking.”
—
It takes them less than 2 minutes to get into the store through a back entrance. They sneak through, staying low key until they get far enough into the store that they won’t be questioned.
Once they’re in, they take a second to figure out the path of least conflict to get presents for both Izuku and Katsuki’s parents.
“Right, so we’re at the back right of the store, the nerd shrines are on the front right of the store, alcohol and fancy shit is by the tills. Check out is back central, so we should be able to get through this quickly if we hit the nerd shrine, fancy shit then check out.”
Shoto frowns a little, though mostly because he’s been out-strategised by his famously hot-headed boyfriend. Although, if he’s fair, despite the press opinions he knows Katsuki is an excellent strategiser. Once he’s looked over the top of the racks to confirm Katsuki’s information, he nods.
It’s tricky to get across with the hoards exiting the store, but they manage to duck and weave until they make it to the corner containing hero merchandise. Shoto vaguely looks around, mostly overwhelmed with the options. Seeing his face slapped across sections of the store makes him feel vaguely uncomfortable, though it’s at least a little better from when Endeavour merch watched over him from every store. Katuski looks through in detail at all of the options, and discounts anything he 'knows the nerd already owns'. Shoto pointedly doesn't mention the ‘office' waiting for them at home containing almost all of the exact same collectibles.
Shoto does, however, start to draw the line when Katsuki is picking between three limited-edition, unreasonably expensive Mirko comics.
“I think Izuku will just be glad to receive something from you. I don’t think the specifics matter too much.”
Katsuki glares at him, comics in hand.
“Hah? What are you saying? I’ve got to blow whatever that dumb nerd got me out of the water. No way I’ll let that bastard show me up.”
Ah yes, Shoto thinks. Destroying his ‘rival’ with superior gift giving skills. It was certainly nothing to do with wanting to get a nice present for one of his best friends.
“Right, of course. How could I forget?” He replies drily.
Another minute or two and Shoto is getting antsy. They don’t have much time, and they still need to get something for Mitsuki and Masaru. He’s seen them for the holidays before, but it’s the first time he and Katsuki are spending Christmas day together away from both their families, and he wants to make sure the Bakugo’s don’t think he doesn’t appreciate their hospitality. Despite how difficult he’d found the loud household at first, he’d grown particularly fond of the liveliness. He looks up over the racks to try to see the checkout line and… nothing? He looks around and can’t see any other shoppers. He quickly checks his watch but it still says 6.52pm so they shouldn’t have closed yet. He looks back up trying to get a glimpse and sees some shoppers and a member of staff being herded out through a staff door in the back corner of the shop. Over the Christmas music instrumentals blasting from above, he can hear shouts as they direct the people dressed in heavy black vests to split up.
“Katsuki-”
“Christ, fine , I’ll get the stupid-”
Shoto gets a hand over Katsuki’s mouth as soon as he can and drags him down into a crouch. His boyfriend, while delightful in so many ways, was not quiet. He hears Katsuki struggle a bit and shushes him. Katsuki goes still, so Shoto removes his (now wet) hand.
“I think the store is under attack by villains. The other shoppers and staff were led out the back. I think they must not have noticed us yet.”
Katsuki risks a glance around the racks to see, and then crouches back down next to Shoto.
“ Shit . Right, okay. Neither of us has our gear on us and they’ve got hostages so we’re gonna have to be careful. I’ll message Deku, you message the old man?”
Shoto sours a little at the thought of being bailed out by his father, but gets his phone out anyway. He goes through his contacts until he hits Endeavour and then… nothing happens. It just dials out. He tries again but nothing. He ends up glancing at the top corner of his phone to notice-
“The signal’s jammed.”
Katsuki pauses from jabbing hard at his phone, before checking back down at it.
“Shit.”
“Shit,” Shoto parrots. Not ideal.
“I didn’t see how many there were but I think less than 10. I should be able to ice them before they-”
“What the fuck?! No!” Katsuki whisper-shouts. “They’ve got hostages, we have no idea about their quirks, and we have no back up. What if any of them have powerful quirks? What if they want to start killing off the hostages? Absolutely not. Number 1 thing we need to do is get help . Ideally on the way we can get an approximation of how many villains we’ve got here too and some kind of idea of what they want with the hostages so we know if it’s safe for back up to charge in or not.”
Shoto doesn’t pout. He doesn’t. But if he did, at least Katsuki wouldn’t be able to tell since he was wearing a mask.
Just once, it would be nice if Shoto could come up with a good plan faster than Katsuki.
But Shoto nods.
“Okay, shit. Let’s stick together for now and try to get out.”
Katsuki gets up to move back towards the front doors, but just as they’re about to walk Shoto feels a breeze against his cheek and drags Katsuki back down.
Katsuki glares at him, but Shoto brings a finger to his mouth. Walking on the other side of the hero merchandise is a villain. His footsteps are completely silent, and once he’s cleared the stall they’re hiding behind Shoto notices his feet aren’t actually touching the ground, instead they stay 2 inches off the floor. Katsuki’s eyes are wide, seeming a little horrified at how easily they were almost caught out. The villain goes to the side of the front doors and fiddles around with something Shoto can’t see. After a second, there’s a heavy clanking as the metal bars move down across the glass storefront doors. The quirk must be something like a weaker version of float then, rather than something that can work as a silencing quirk. Katsuki shuffles quietly to reach behind him, and bypasses a stack of Dynamight stationary to grab a ‘Deku’ felt tip set, rips it open and marks a tally on his arm.
Shoto gives him a disbelieving look.
“As if the fucker wouldn’t want to be helping in this situation.” Katsuki whispers even quieter than before, and gives him an eye roll.
In spite of the situation, Shoto feels himself smirk and looks away. No matter how close Katsuki and Izuku have gotten over the years, some things will never change.
Katsuki taps his shoulder, and when Shoto looks over starts gesturing his hands. Sign language.
>>We should sign to stay quiet<<
Shoto’s sign isn’t as good as Katsuki’s, who has been learning since school, but it’s been getting a lot better lately, so he nods in response. It makes sense - he would have struggled to understand a plan through it but for simple communications it will keep them quieter.
>>Let’s go to the fire exit<<
Shoto nods once more, and they slowly crouch-walk around to the edge of the hero merchandising store. Just as they’re about to peek out, Katsuki leans back and snags the comic he’d been looking at, stuffing it into a pocket in the lining of his jacket. Shoto looks back at him, and gives a general ‘what the fuck’ gesture, and Katsuki simply signs back >>fuck off<<.
By the checkout, the floating villain is chatting to someone with an animal-type mutant quirk. He can’t quite make out what the quirk seems to be, but that could spell more trouble for them. Animal-type mutant quirks were, in his experience, often pretty powerful. Mirko, Beast, Hound Dog, Shishido - all incredibly physically strong, and often had sharper senses. Katsuki follows where he’s looking, and makes another tally on his arm.
They’re going to have to cross the centre aisle of the store to get to the fire exit, which is going to take good timing. The department store is fairly large, with lots of sections for them to weave in and out of; but the centre aisle is mostly clear, with only a couple of islands in the middle, which is going to make it harder to get across to the other side without having been seen. He glances back at Katsuki, who is clearly thinking hard.
<<Let’s go down towards the back and watch for villains>> Shoto tries in his clunky signing. It takes a second for Katsuki to compute what Shoto’s clumsy hands are trying to convey, but once he’s got it he gives a decisive nod.
They creep slowly down, moving through the hero merchandise and to the surprisingly expensive black clothing area. Katsuki is watching out ahead of them, but Shoto’s eye is caught by a black leather belt with a gold buckle. He glances back at Katsuki, who is now glaring furiously at him.
<<What, Dickhead?>>
Ah, it is truly a beautiful thing that Katsuki has such an excellent command of sign language swears. His boyfriend is incredibly talented at expressing himself in so many ways.
<<For your dad>> He signs back. Katsuki shakes his head and sighs quietly, but grabs the belt. And then he grabs another 3.
At Shoto’s obvious confusion, Katsuki rolls his eyes.
<<Not a gift, idiot>> He signs, and then mimes wrapping a belt around his wrists.
Right, a restraint. Shoto would rather use his ice, if he’s honest, but understandably Katsuki’s quirk would be pretty troublesome while they try to stay under-the-radar. Not only is it a dead giveaway as to who they are, it is also incredibly loud. If Katsuki needs to fight or restrain anyone, he’ll probably have to do it quirkless. Shoto feels himself wince at the realisation; he and Katsuki are both high ranking heroes, and while they are both perfectly capable of combat without their quirks, it’s certainly unfamiliar. Even sneaking around like this is something Shoto thinks he hasn’t had to do since UA. Since he and Katsuki both have fairly destructive quirks, they tend to be called in for the heavier hitters and general patrol work, rather than anything undercover or any underground work. Quiet and stealthy really isn’t either of their fortes - but they are heroes. They’ll make it work.
They push on, staying tucked behind the rails of clothing. Katsuki adds another two tallys to his arm as they see more villains patrolling the main area of the store. And, yes, despite being in a serious situation Shoto continues to stay on the lookout for potential gifts for the Bakugos. Villains no longer scared him, but Mitsuki’s fiery glare certainly did.
Katsuki glances back behind them, and ends up walking into some of the suit jackets hanging up. Shoto flinches at the sound of the hangers scraping on the rails.
“Shit, shit !” Katsuki whispers under his breath, and Shoto quickly drags them under the long coats hanging against the wall. It’s not perfect by any means, but he’s hoping it’ll keep them out of sight from a distance.
They’re not that lucky, though, as they hear footsteps walking around towards them.
“Did you hear that? Over.” He hears, distorted by static.
“Yeah, I’m checking it out now. Over.” Another voice calls, and it was closer than he’d thought. Maybe 10 meters away or less.
He finds himself holding his breath as the villain glances around the clothing racks before moving on. Shoto lets out his breath, and the footsteps stop. He clenches his fists, doing everything he can to stay still despite the burning in his legs. He can feel Katsuki’s thighs trembling next to him under the strain of crouching perfectly still.
The footsteps restart, and oh god they’re moving back towards them. They stop close in front of them, and he can see the light cut off as the villain starts to bend towards them. As fast as he can, he reaches his right hand out to grab the ankle of the villain and ices him all the way up. He sighs, and shifts his weight to his knees as he relaxes a little.
He expects some kind of reprimand from Katsuki for breaking their ‘don’t engage’ pact, but instead all he receives is a proud nod. Shoto reaches his left hand over to the walkie talkie clipped to the villain’s waist and unfreezes it.
“Find anything? Over.” Shoto’s eyes bug out in panic, but Katsuki grabs the walkie talkie from his hands.
“All clear, over and out.” Katsuki says, in a much lower register than his usual in an attempt to match the villain. Thankfully, it seems the static must distort the sound enough that Katsuki’s raspier tone isn’t obvious.
Shoto lets out a breathy laugh, trying to keep it as silent as possible, but Katsuki’s shoulders are also shaking as he contains his own laugh. Once they catch their breath, Shoto sees some of Katsuki’s ash-blond hair is escaping his beanie, and Shoto leans over to tuck the soft spikes back into the hat. He can’t see Katsuki’s face, but he can picture the soft smile that always appears when Shoto runs a hand through his hair. He pauses for a second, just looking into the bright red eyes in front of him, and is struck by how grateful he is to have Katsuki. The larger than life personality that manages to inject energy into almost every situation keeps Shoto forever on his toes and having fun, and he wouldn’t want it any other way. Katsuki looks back, and reaches up to tuck a lock of red hair behind Shoto’s ear, before starting to sign again.
<<Let’s go.>>
Shoto smiles back and nods. Katsuki adds another tally to his arm, and they get past another stall and stop - they’re opposite a large enough centre aisle that they can probably get across. They pause and take note of where the villain’s they’ve seen are - there’s still one at the front of the store on the other side of the aisle, but the animal quirk and floating villains are out of sight. They take another few seconds, hoping to maybe catch a sight of any more villains lurking, but when they see nothing, Shoto decides they’re better off just getting moving.
<<One at the front, let’s cross>>
Katsuki agrees, and they get moving. They cross behind the centre island, which leaves them uncomfortably open to any villains at the back of the store, but if there are any there it doesn’t seem like they’re looking their way.
They make it across, but that point starts to bug Shoto. If they aren’t there just to rob the tills, why are they there? Why bother taking hostages? They seem to have cleared some of the jewellery from the store, but most of the merchandise has stayed untouched. They could be going for the stockroom, but why would they bother to come in while there are still people? Surely if they’ve got this many of them and a way to jam signals they could just break in after hours. He shakes the thought from his head as they start to make their way to the back of the store through to the hallway with the fire escape, choosing instead to focus on the task at hand.
They go through the “Staff Only” door, and the hallway is much darker than when they came through - lit only by the green glow of the ‘FIRE EXIT’ sign at the far end of the corridor. Shoto grins, and they stand up a little straighter and start walking forward when a loud metal clang freezes him in his tracks.
“Shit!” Katsuki shouts, not bothering to be quiet any more. The bucket continues to roll, and Shoto feels himself heat, starting to sweat under the immediate threat. They hear a door swing open somewhere nearby, and Shoto rolls his sleeves to get ready.
“No, wait-” Katsuki grabs his arm. “You need to hide.”
They hear muffled voices getting closer to them. “What was that?”
“I’ll check it out, I’ve not heard Ryu-”
Shoto just stares at him. “They already know we’re here.”
Katsuki rolls his eyes and doesn’t let go.
“No, they know I’m here,” He hisses. “I can pass as any old shopper, but they catch sight of Pro Hero Shoto and they’re gonna panic. Quick, I’ll boost you up into the vent.”
He can hear heavy footsteps getting closer, and doesn’t wait to ponder the decision any further. He hops a foot into Katsuki’s clasped hands and lets himself get boosted up. He quickly pushes the vent aside, wincing at the clattering sound, and hauls himself up. Barely a second after he’s all the way in does one of the doors in the hallway swing open.
“Thank God, I am so lost. I was looking for mhhmp-” Katsuki’s excuse is easily cut off as the villain slaps a gloved hand over his mouth and drags him back through the doorway he came from. He watches as Katsuki is led away, carefully noting the quick thumbs up just before he passes through the door.
His heart is still pounding and he can’t help the concern he feels for Katsuki, but he knows if needed Katsuki can comfortably defend himself.
He waits until he hears another door a little further away slam shut, and then another few more seconds, before peering back down through the vent. All clear.
He drops back down through the vent and creeps cautiously down the hallway until he makes it out the fire escape. The cool air hits him and sets him comparatively at ease, and another 10 meters and the signal on his phone returns. He flicks through his contacts until he hits ‘I’, and hits call.
—
At 23, Katsuki thinks he’s probably been held captive more than enough times in his lifetime. Actually, once would have been plenty. But at least by now it’s far from shocking to him. He shoves down his instinct to kick off and fight back, and instead stays comparatively pliant as they duct tape his wrists together, bar the occasional snarky comment. Fucking sue him, so long as he keeps the aggression down and the beanie and mask on no one will recognise him.
They roughly push him down with the other hostages - a quick count gives him 14 - and a minute or two later another villain returns with a member of staff. Katsuki feels sick when he sees how young the kid looks - probably 16 or 17, likely working extra shifts over the holidays. The kid's shoulders are practically hiked to his ears, and his eyes are stuck staring at the floor. Too young to be held captive like that, he thinks.
“Sit the fuck down and shut up.” The villain says, and shoves hard between his shoulder blades. His hands are taped together behind his back so he can’t catch himself as he falls, though thankfully the kid has the forethought to take a knee rather than having his face smash on the floor. Katsuki feels his face twist in anger at the sound of knees colliding hard with the floor, and bites his tongue to avoid saying anything. Fucking sickos, hurting a kid like that.
The villain leaves, the heavy sound of the door slamming setting off a spark in Katsuki, and he gets to work.
He rubs his hands together, working on getting his sweat going. Normally he can get it going easily, but it seems like the staff room has pretty limited heating and it’s the middle of winter, so he focuses and tries to get it going as fast as he can. The angle makes it tricky: he has enough sweat that he could blast his hands free with a medium sized explosion, but he’s trying to avoid attention, so instead he focuses on getting his hands as slippery as he can. It’s not long after he starts that he hear the sound of heavy machinery getting going as they get breaking into whatever the fuck they’re after.
Katsuki takes a look around the room. No one seems to be hurt, but they all look pretty dejected. They’re cowering, some of them are shivering, and they’re all quiet. Katsuki’s not sure what the villains told them before he got there, but it’s obvious they’re all terrified.
He’s not exactly Mr Morale like Deku, but he can do something.
“Oi kid, you okay?”
The kid looks up at him, and Katsuki sees his eyes are red rimmed. But the kid must be brave, ‘cause he meets Katsuki’s eyes and nods.
“They need you for something?” Katsuki prompts again, trying to get him talking.
“Uh, yeah. The codes for the vault.”
Katsuki nods, filing the information for later.
“And you gave it to them, yeah?”
The kid looks embarrassed and looks down. “Yeah.”
Well that won’t fucking do.
“Oi, kid, you did the right thing. Stores have insurance for that shit, better you do that than get yourself hurt, hah?”
The kid looks up, surprised at his reaction, but nods. None of the other hostages have piped up, but at least they all look a little more engaged than they did before.
He gives his hands a test tug, seeing if they’re slippery enough to get out. Sure enough, with a few more tugs and some wriggling the adhesive starts to slip, and with a sharp pull the tape rolls off his hands.
“Fuck yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!” He shouts, grinning as he rubs the last bits of adhesive off his wrists.
Several heads snap onto him, in amazement. That’s the shit he lives for - Not just the praise, but seeing the hostages perk up and get going.
“Right kid, turn around.”
He’s not gonna coat the kid in nitro, but with the heavy machinery pounding away he should be able to use a few small explosions to weaken the tape enough he can rip it.
The kid looks pretty confused, but complies nonetheless. And with that, Katsuki gets started.
—
Izuku only picks up on the fourth ring.
“I swear to God Shoto this had better be an emergency! Ochako’s parents are already mad with the amount of family events I miss and I promised I wouldn’t go in for anything less than lives at risk!”
“Katsuki and I are involved in a hostage incident in the downtown PARCO store. We aren’t sure of the number of villains or hostages, and Katsuki was taken by them too. The store’s signal is jammed, so I had to get outside to call for backup.”
“Ohhh man do I regret how I picked up the phone.” Izuku groans. “I’ll get the police involved and get down there ASAP!”
“Thank you, Izuku. Katsuki and I aren’t certain yet what their plans are for the hostages, so perhaps it would be best to focus on undoing their signal jam and setting up a perimeter so we can communicate before the store is stormed, to ensure they stay safe.”
“Right! That makes sense! Go get Kacchan for me!” Izuku says, and the shuffling he can hear in the background makes it very clear for him that at least Izuku will be here soon.
“I’ll see you soon, I suppose.” Shoto responds, and hangs up before Izuku starts propelling himself downtown at high speed. He turns and makes his way back to the fire door. Time to get Katsuki indeed.
—
It’s only as he starts freeing the sixth hostage that someone finally engages their brain.
“Holy shit you’re Dynamight!”
“Took yer long enough. Keep it down though, yeah? Don’t wanna get y’all in trouble if anyone comes back in.” Katsuki responds, but can’t quite keep the smile off his face. The hostages are starting to get less subdued, and more hopeful. He’s not Deku, he’s certainly not the hero saving everyone with a smile, but he does what matters - he helps people.
The chatter leaves him hearing it late, but as soon as he clocks it-
“Everyone shut up and sit down!” He hisses as he stands up, getting behind the corner where he can’t be seen from the door. He digs around in his jacket and puts a belt in one hand, and raises the other ready for a flash blast. The chatter trails off into nervous titters, but they at least manage to shuffle quickly back into place. The footsteps are heavy and quickly growing louder as they approach.
“Shit,” He mutters under his breath, but pulls his hands up and ready. He hears the squeak of the door being shoved open, and the hostage’s wide eyes confirm that someone has entered. He waits for them to push forward past the corner, but instead all he hears is a quiet cracking.
Hands still raised, he quietly turns the corner, only to see a 7ft block of ice containing the man with the animal quirk.
“Shoto!” One of the hostages cries out, beating him to the punch. He knew Shoto was going to be just fine, but seeing him in person still sets his pounding heart at ease.
He doesn’t shout out, but he gives Shoto a nod, and gets one in return.
“Follow me, please. We’ll be evacuating you out of the building. Please stay in the parking lot, the emergency services are on their way.”
Shoto holds his eye for a moment longer, and then turns and leads the hostages. Katsuki stays at the back, helping up those whose hands are still trapped behind their backs. Shoto opens the door and lets them leave, but doesn’t follow them out. There are sirens ringing in the background, so he feels safe enough leaving them out there. He makes quick work of the tape on the hostages left, before coming back inside for Shoto, who’s waiting for him there.
“They must be done with breaking into whatever stock or vault they’re robbing - we should still be able to catch them before they leave the store.”
They get walking quickly up the hallway, but Katsuki’s brain is still turning the sentence over in his head. There’s something wrong with it, he knows there’s something he isn’t remembering.
“Vault. Why are they breaking into the vault? They asked the kid for the password before the machinery started.”
Shoto freezes, looking back at him with wide eyes.
“They aren’t. They aren’t breaking in, they’re breaking out. They’re digging a way out.”
Shit. Shit! They should have caught that sooner. They speed up, taking care to keep their footsteps quiet.
Once they approach the tills, they see what’s been planned.
Dust and concrete are scattered everywhere, irritating his eyes. There’s a deep hole dug behind the tills, and the echoes of voices make it clear they’re in some kind of tunnel. But the dead giveaway is the smell that’s threatening to make Katsuki gag even through his mask.
“The sewers. They’ve dug into the sewers!” Shoto says, catching on a half second before Katsuki does.
“I’ll get in behind them this way and seal off the exit - looks like they’re heading out in the direction of the car park, so get the manholes covered.”
And boy does Katsuki not envy Shoto one bit. He nods, and gets moving, sparing a quick glance back in time to see his boyfriend drop down the rough, gaping hole in the floor.
—
Shoto couldn’t be more glad to hear his Katsuki’s cackle echoing down the tunnel. He could probably be more glad about the small warning sparks he lets off that leave his ears ringing for several minutes after, though. Normally when they fight together, Shoto keeps earplugs in, and he’d forgotten how loud his explosions were without them. The two of them are sandwiching the villains - the 5 that are left - and Izuku as well as a couple of sidekicks and several police squads are all above them. It doesn’t take much convincing after that to get them to leave quietly into police custody rather than fighting three top heroes. Once they’re all up and in custody, Shoto and Katsuki finally get to make their own way up.
After fighting off Izuku’s concern, Katsuki graciously allows Izuku to embrace them both. While Shoto is touched at the gesture, he doesn’t think that he, in the reverse situation, would have been so eager to embrace Izuku mere minutes after emerging from a sewer.
Once he’s seen them both safe and sound, Shoto encourages him to return back to his family. Izuku puts up a fair fight - but after Katsuki threatens him with physical violence, he chuckles and heads off, leaving Shoto and Katsuki to sit and wait to give their statement.
As the adrenaline begins to wear off, Shoto is just left… tired. He’s grateful to have been of help, but he wants to be back at home, cat on his lap and boyfriend by his side, listening to overly-cheery Christmas music or watching a movie with a hot chocolate topped with an excessive amount of marshmallows.
He’s ready to be back in the cosy warmth of their home, but they’re stuck leaning on the hood of a squad car while they wait. He finally takes his cap off - the mask was long gone - and runs a hand through his damp hair. The cold air cools the sweat quickly, but makes him feel no less unpleasant. He sighs, letting his chin fall to his chest. He can’t say this was how he had expected their first Christmas together as a couple would be, though at least it was on brand.
A hand settles on top of his. The fingers interlace, and the warmth spreads quickly. He doesn’t need it, really - he could have used his quirk - but the weight is comforting.
He keeps his head bowed, but feels the corners of his lips tug at the sight of their hands together. Still, he can’t help but feel like he’s managed to ruin their first Christmas together. The Todoroki Christmas celebrations tended to be sparse, so Katsuki and his family’s very serious attitude to holiday traditions were his first real introduction to many of the elements he now associates with Christmas. He feels like somehow, he was just inviting something to go wrong by trying to take Katsuki for himself for the day.
“Oi, I snagged this for my folk. We can wrap it and the other bits I grabbed from the both of us, and you can cover your folks next year.”
Katsuki unlinks their hands just long enough to pull out a large bottle of gin that Shoto recognises from having seen at the Bakugos house before.
“It’s their favourite, so it’ll go down well. Too well, probably, so watch out that the old hag doesn’t try to rope you into any more modelling.”
Feeling himself lighten a little, he huffs out a small laugh. Somehow, as always, Katsuki knows exactly how to unravel him when he’s wound too tight.
“Thank you, Katsuki.” He says, making no effort to hide the smile on his face. He still wants to be back under their kotatsu, but perhaps anywhere can be cosy enough if he has Katsuki. Except the sewer - that had been truly disgusting.
“I still have the nerd’s shit too. Gonna blow that asshole away.” Katsuki says, sounding characteristically smug. Shoto raises an eyebrow.
“Oh really? Should I be worried?”
Katsuki recoils, drawing his hand away once more to smack Shoto’s arm.
“Oi, fucker. As if I’d go home with anyone but you.”
It clearly had meant to start off as a chastisement, but it somewhat loses the effect when Katsuki’s cheeks tinge with pink. Shoto reaches out and takes his hand back from his lap.
“I love you.”
The flush deepens. Shoto greatly enjoys flustering Katsuki in public - somehow he becomes much more sensitive to all Shoto’s words, accusing him of being ‘shameless’ and ‘embarrassing’. But when Shoto had asked if he had wanted him to stop, Katsuki had just said “Do whatever you want.” Shoto thinks it’s fair - for all he’s able to fluster Katsuki in public, Katsuki is always able to find tender words to make him blush in the comfort of their own home.
“I love you too, stupid Half’n’half.”
And despite the rocky start to their Christmas together, Shoto couldn’t be more glad he gets to spend another day with Katsuki.
—
Epilogue
“Oh, and I grabbed this stupid shit for your fluff ball.” Katsuki says, and watches as Shoto looks up at him with wide eyes. He swears it should be illegal for any adult to be able to give puppy eyes like that.
He pulls out the small packet he’d had stuffed next to Deku’s mint collectors edition Mirko team up comic, and shoves it in Shoto’s hands. As he’d been running out of the store, he’d seen it in the queue next to the till/sewer hole: a cat stocking. A small stocking filled with treats and a catnip pouch. It hadn’t taken any thought - he knew his dumb boyfriend would probably enjoy it more than the cat would. He was obsessed with that stupid furball, and while Katsuki could admit the thing was cute, he had drawn the line when Shoto wanted to call it Cat-suki. Shoto had settled for calling it Soba, which obviously Katsuki had rolled his eyes at - but he was glad. He’d heard all about how Shoto used to love the strays outside his childhood home, so once they had a place that allowed it he couldn’t say no to letting Shoto get one. It had only taken one ‘accidental’ walk past the animal shelter.
Shoto handles it gingerly, taking more care with it than Katsuki has seen him take with several items at Endeavour’s place that cost tens of thousands of yen.
“Thank you, Katsuki. I’m sure Soba will love it.”
“Tch, the fluffball had better be grateful.”
“I love you,”
And damn, it doesn’t matter how long they’ve been dating, hearing his boyfriend sound so sincere always left him feeling a little unbalanced.
“Yeah yeah, I love you too dumbass.”
But he wraps an arm around Shoto’s side, and pulls him in to lean against him. And once Shoto wasn’t expecting it, he pressed a gentle kiss to his head. He really did love his idiot.
-end-