Chapter Text
New Years
“What the fuck?”, a blond man looks at and judges the girl sitting next to him; drunk and acting in a way that in her 5 senses would never occur to her, “Are you serious?” the tone of his voice falls somewhere between characteristic annoyance and genuine disbelief.
The end of the year party in which most part of the Japan pro-heroes and, well, also many of their contacts attended every December 31th; had taken place a couple of hours ago in that same restaurant, following the same itinerary as every year; With the great exception that one of the most important heroes in the country, if he wasn’t the most important, took the occasion to make public his engagement to his partner; another hero with outstanding recognition in Japan; just a few feet from both young adults now sitting in the wee hours of the dawning.
Of course, the two of them already knew about said engagement beforehand. After all, Katsuki and Shouto are ex-classmates and close friends of the couple; a nervous Izuku Midoriya had begged for their and Tenya's help a couple of months ago; in how he should ask the big question to his girlfriend since high school, it was even funny to see how the hero, Deku who had saved the country and the world on several occasions; finds something so normal difficult. Obviously each one had advised him... in theit way of course... 'You have to make her feel very special, Midoriya, keep that in mind!' Tenya had said making abrupt gestures with his hands, old habits that never die; 'Tch. Don’t even talk to her sweaty and trembling as you are right now, or you're going to screw it up,' added Katsuki rolling his eyes; 'Just ask her and that's it, why is it difficult?' Questioned Shoto; who of the group was clearly the least experienced.
In the end; the marriage proposal turned out to be a success since the freckled man made it private for both him and Ochako; both heroes decided that in the case of having to make their future union public, they would do so at the end of the year party. The announcement, like the proposal, was received in a positive light, since most of those present were happy for the couple who ended up being the center of attention for the rest of the night. It was then that one of her beloved former high school classmates encouraged the Todoroki's youngest daughter to drink more of the sake they offered because 'Heyyy, it's not every day that we find out that Midoriya and Ochako are getting married'; having as a consequence the image in front of him at this moment; a completely drunk Todoroki Shouto, laughing and babbling stupid and meaningless things. Katsuki thinks about how he will get revenge on Raccoon Eyes when he meets her again, but for now he has to help his friend (reluctantly).
“I'm lonelyyy, aloneee, lonelyyyy! Why whyyy?!” she whimpers as she plops herself down on top of the huge restaurant table.
"Shut up!!"
Katsuki has had enough. A second hand embarrassment due the noise caused by the woman invades his being; he's almost certain that if the fearful staff didn't know they're both famous and intimidating heroes they would have thrown them out as soon as she opened her mouth. Out of the corner of his eye, he also looks threateningly at the few spectators, taking care that no one records her at such a “vulnerable?” moment.
"Anyway, why the hell are you sad?"he asks, trying to hide his curiosity, observing how Todoroki was still leaning on the table with no intention of answering but of continuing to babble "Oh, no. Don't tell me you like fucking Izuku-"
The blonde freaks out at the idea; he doesn't want to deal with love shit right now, it's enough that now he's the only one there to help whatever he's witnessing. For his good luck, the bicolor girl, despite the state she is in, raises her head to look at him as if he had said the most illogical and stupid thing she had ever heard.
"What?? No. I'm very, very happy, fooor Uraraka and Midoriyaaa, it was about time, wuuuu!" Seeing that the girl is being 100% genuine; Katsuki puts aside the theory of a possible unrequited love, before he could speak, Todoroki continues: "But, it's just that I feel alonee too!! You, you wouldn't understand!"
He clicks his tongue, annoyed.
"Well, how the fuck I’m supposed to I understand if you don't explain anything you say, fucking half and half!" hisses
“Seeee!” she points with her finger. "You don't understand!" And she leans back between her crossed arms while she stammered things that the other couldn't or expected to decipher.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stop making a scene, hopefully none of these extras have recorded you and your antics; I'm going to take you, but only because at your grown ass age you don't know how to moderate yourself with fucking alcohol. But you owe me one, huh!”
When Katsuki is finally willing to make the effort and pick up his friend; the noise of the nearest bathroom door catches their attention; Someone else? At these hours? The vast majority had retired at about 4 and something AM; the others proposed to continue the party elsewhere; the recently engaged couple left a little early; since they wanted to spend the morning of the first day of the year with their respective families, and at the same time, avoid the gossipy press, hungry to be the first to know and spread the details of the future wedding. Eventually his other companions withdrew too and when he least expected it; they had left him in charge of taking care of the youngest of the Todoroki. Ah, yes, he would certainly take her revenge. Now, a little surprised that there was someone else there; he looks closely at who was coming out of the restroom, wondering how come he didn't see him come in.
"Oh, hi, Bakugo..."
“Baldy?”
The one who came out of the bathroom was none other than Inasa Yoarashi; former classmate of the license recovery course they took years ago in high school; they had bumped into and talked to him on some occasions after they started their work as pro heroes, however, it's a bit strange to find him now, surprisingly calmer than usual; normally the volume of his voice is one of the things that stands out (and for Katsuki, irritates) the most when he was in the room.
“Ah… even if I don't have that cut anymore; you still call me bald? I'm not bald, you know?” he claims approaching the pair; even his face, the shape of his eyebrows, look more relaxed than usual. Katsuki is getting a little scared; why this sudden calm?
Without letting him say something; Todoroki, still drunk, speaks first, getting up from the position she was in before to look at the newcomer.
"Baldy once, baldy forever!"
“…Todoroki? …Are you alright?” Yoarashi asks with a confused smile.
"Yes, command? What is it? ”, she answers with a frown, which is far from intimidating as expected; turns out to be funny. He can't help but laugh at her attempt to sound more serious.
“Her reckless ass drank too much sweet sake and now she's like this…” Katsuki explained with a roll of his eyes.
Looking at it on the positive side, perhaps the present could help carry the woman, instead of him having to carry her himself; she's taller than him, but smaller than Yoarashi, so the mastodon's help wouldn't hurt him; not that he doubted his own strength, but he has to admit that the party a few hours ago has left him tired. As much as the other's calm demeanor is slightly disturbing him, he could use a little help carrying it.
"Ohhhh, the sake... It was very nice, I drank a lot of that too, hahaha...", the more Yoarashi talks, the more Katsuki understands where this is going. No, no, no ; he thinks. “Actually, I drank so much that I had to go to the bathroom; And well, I fell asleep right there, crazy, right? Haha. I woke up and it turns out that the party is already over… What a shame…”
"Damn!!", the red-eyed one curses, facepalming himself; defeated. “YOU ARE DRUNK TOO, DAMN IT!! What I fucking needed.”, he growls tiredly running his hand over his face thinking about what the hell he would do now.
With the early morning sky little by little lighting up due to the early arrival of dawn; the blond drives in silence and with a frown. The two-colored hair woman and the black-haired man are still drunk in the back of their car, Katsuki had found it difficult to take Todoroki on her own since she was the one who was most affected by alcohol; with her slurred words and yelling nonsense; Yoarashi, on the other hand, though he was also not fully aware neither, he could move without difficulties such as tripping and fall over, so Katsuki ordered him to follow himself to the car where he would take the two of them home. The taller one insisted that he could return home by himself using his quirk, the other glared at him and told him that it wouldn't be his fault if he crashed into something because of his choice. In the end he agreed, scared and sat next to a Shouto Todoroki who laughed at the slightest thing and mumbled barely understandable sentences.
Along the way, they both began to fall asleep while one spoke incoherently and the other responded casually; and so they had been until now. At a red light, Katsuki impatiently taps the car’s wheel with his index finger; discreetly listening to the confusing conversation of the back passengers; there is a specific exchange that makes the blonde slightly surprised and I raise an eyebrow; he prefers not to interrupt. The green light is present again, so he advances thinking about what he just heard; after a few minutes he turns and parks briefly.
"We're here, baldy" He takes off his seatbelt and gets out of the car ready to help the giant get into his apartment; leaving Todoroki who had finally already fallen into the arms of Morpheus.
Guest
Opening her eyes against her will and more than anything because her body was begging her to wake up; Todoroki Shouto examines the room she is in, confused at first, but almost immediately recognizes where she is. The guest room of Bakugo's apartment; which also now served at the same time as a laundry; one of the washing machines is on, rinsing the clothes inside it, so the sound of it is what has woken her up; The clock indicates that it is 3 in the afternoon.
She lazily rubs her face, feeling a horrible, bitter taste in her mouth; the nausea from her hangover suddenly begins to hit her, so she sits up on the futon ready to leave the room; Outside the circling washing machine, she catches a glimpse of the sound of someone moving dishes and pans. Careful not to trip; she opens the door, dragging her feet and staggering from time to time as she goes where the noise is coming from.
She watches her friend inside the kitchen shared with the dining room, washing a couple of pans in the spout; there's a smell of something freshly prepared, but Shouto isn't sure what it is; Bakugo covers the plate served with food with his back.
"Finally you deign to wake up, icyhot", he says, letting her know that he noticed her presence, he doesn't even turn around; as he insistently scrubs what appears to be something stuck to what he is washing. “Sit down at once; I have something for your damn hangover.”
The girl sits in one of the chairs next to the bar that serves as a dining room for the blond's house; she waits for Bakugo to finish his thing. When he finally does it; he takes the plate that previously was covered by his silhouette to put it in front of the girl. There are a considerable amount of pickled plums along with a little rice and some chopsticks as cutlery. Umeboshi , Shoto thinks; while she takes the chopsticks. She eats one and makes a subtle face for her but not lost on the other.
"If you don't like it, I don't care, it's the most effective for these things", he blurts out, seeing how the girl takes another plum to her mouth with a bit of difficulty. "Plus I took the trouble of going to the supermarket on the fucking new year to get one of those, you better eat it all, ah!"
She nods, too tired to answer him anything; however, she can't help but think that she thought eating a bowl of raw eggs was good for a hangover; because she has seen it many times in movies and in fact, she has applied it the times that she herself had to take care of the discomfort. She glances sideways at the blonde who is checking her phone.
"Bakugo." says between bites Shouto.
"What?", the mentioned looks up.
“Sorry for whatever I did yesterday…”, she begins hesitantly, she really doesn't remember much of that early morning. Just vague images of Bakugo upset and scolding her and someone sitting next to her in his car. “And sorry that due to my imprudence you have to spend the first of January having to take care of me; instead of being with your parents-"
"It doesn't matter," he stops her with a wave of his hand, subtly interrupting what she was saying. “Anyway, the old man and the old woman traveled for the new year; Married couple shit… ”, he rolls her eyes at the last: “About your drunkenness. Yes, you were a pain in the ass. But, at least you didn't throw up on my car like others. Of course, you owe me one."
“Hmn,” Shouto states with his mouth full.
The breakfast-lunch remains silent, outside of the typing and cell phone notifications of the present. Struggling a bit, Shouto considerably advances the served snack; She didn't really like eating fruit with rice, but if it made the damn hangover go away, she wouldn’t be picky either. The red-eyed one makes a sudden noise; as if he remembered something.
"Speaking of married couples." he says. “About Ponytail and Mimi's wedding, do you have the memo they sent about how we had to dress? Some jerk at my agency accidentally took the fax, and I don't have the file."
Right, Yaoyorozu and Jirou are getting married that month; Among so many holidays, she had not noticed that the long-awaited date for her two friends is just around the corner. She takes her phone, looks for something and presses the screen sending it. Katsuki's cell phone rings immediately.
“Thanks.” he says after receiving a photo of said memorandum.
"Hmm." Shouto responds as she continues eating and looking at the device; the other takes that as 'you're welcome'
They both fall silent again. Seeing the memo unconsciously makes her see photos of the days that he had helped, along with the others, the brides to organize the wedding. They had decided that it would be something more private than any common superhero wedding; the music would be a combination of rock and classical. She comes across a photo she had taken of Yaoyorozu, in the dress she had chosen; At the moment it had only been the two of them and the women of the bride's family in the dressing room, since the other girls were helping Jiro to choose something according to the occasion and that she liked. It was a beautiful dress; long with a subtle neckline and lace sleeves apart from the dress itself. The black-haired one had been so moved to the point of tears; and she had requested the Todoroki to take a picture before she had noticeably started crying. After that she hugged her tight and thanked her for being present in such a special moment for her; Shouto had thought that they were friends and that’s what friends do. Yaoyorozu was a sweet girl, and she was always willing to help Shouto in whatever she needed, acting understanding at all times. If it wasn't for her; Shouto would never have realized that she was a woman; nor would she have taken the necessary steps to move forward as one. Helping her with something as intimate as her future ceremony was the least she could do for her.
The girl smiles slightly as she continues to scroll through the photos; seeing the bouquets for the tables and the flowers for the premises, the following photo is one of her invitation; which was partially handwritten by both. Before passing the photo, the feeling that she was forgetting something about her took over her; she frowns, not sure what. Until after a few long seconds she remembers:
"Fuck.", the curse catches the attention of Bakugo who looks at her instantly. "I forgot that Natsu told me that he couldn't go."
One of the many things that Shouto had been a part of was a small surprise that the hearing quirk had planned for her fiancée, which consisted of the girls from class A and B graduates, relatives of both and close friends from work acting as if they were in the creation quirk's favorite movie, which was Pride and Prejudice, she sees it at least once a week, and Jirou was sure she was going to love this surprise; with her inviting to dance, for that moment, her wife.
The thing is, the partner that Shouto had chosen for this had been Natsu, her older brother. Why? Because Shouto wasn't really known for being good in the realm of socializing with men; even if she was one of the most recognizable heroes in the country and even outside of it, the few dating attempts she had had to either meet a new friend or a potential partner had been a failure or mediocre if she was lucky. If they wouldn’t ask her in an interested way about her salary or father; they would ask awkward questions about her gender. That was the problem with having lived her entire life in the public eye, it was the effect of being part of the Todoroki family; everyone knew about her, what she used to be like or who her father is. Therefore, to save herself from the whole irritating process of meeting unpleasant people asking unpleasant questions and knowing whether or not she could invite them as her escort; she preferred to invite her brother. Her brother wouldn't bother her like other people; In addition, when she wanted to ask her ex-colleagues and UA friends, they all told her that they would be busy with another aspect of the wedding, inviting someone from the agency was not an option either; since she wasn't particularly close to her co-workers there. She had concluded that Natsu would be the extra person to go with her; and he had happily accepted that his sister included him in something like that. Everything was going well until nothing went well; Natsu had told him after Christmas; that he couldn’t be present that night, since from the fortnight until the end of January he would be busy with his finals. Shouto had told him that there was no problem, that she would find someone to accompany her, leaving the older one who was worried and embarrassed for leaving her like this relieved. And as much as she had assured her older brother of hers that she could manage; that is very far from reality, in which finding someone who could replace him on that day is even more difficult than any high-risk mission.
"Bakugo-", the young woman looks up at her companion and begins to speak in a pleading tone.
"I already told you that Ponytail asked me for help with her own surprise, even if I wanted to, I can’t." he responds by cutting off any request she had in mind; This isn't the first time she's done it.
Shouto covers her hand with both hands and groans in defeat.
“Tch, you give up too fast.” Bakugo says in a mocking tone. "Hasn't your big head thought to ask the baldy guy for help?"
"...'Baldy'?" Shouto looks at him in confusion, then looks up at the ceiling trying to get an idea of who she's referring to; Was there anyone in your circle of friends or peers who was 'bald'? He has someone in mind, but that person was no longer close enough to her to ask such a favor and a few years ago he had left that hairstyle. "You mean Yoarashi?"
"Yup."
At Shouto's deadpanned gaze, wordlessly asking him to explain. Bakugo growls rolling his eyes at her clueless personality.
“You really don't remember anything from yesterday?” he asks with genuine disbelief and in response Shouto keeps looking at him waiting for that explanation, Bakugo laughs briefly. “Shit, I knew you were drunk but not that drunk. We ran into him after the party last night.”
The girl brings her palm to her forehead as she squeezes her eyes shut; trying to at least make a percentage of memory of what the blonde man was talking about. She shakes her head in frustration; she really can't even have a mental image of it; it's as if after she woke up a while ago she had forgotten everything related to Yoarashi and his drunkenness. Bakugo laughs and continues taunting:
“You should have seen each other!! You seemed like lifelong friends!! HAHAHAHA!” he finally breaks into laughter. "Bah, just looking at you two made me nauseated, even though I didn't abuse the sake like you... you will understand-"
“Anyway,” Shouto interrupts, now slightly embarrassed. “Why should I invite him to the wedding? It's not like we're constant friends either… We rarely meet him at public events.”
“Ah, that's not why.” Bakugo rebuts, changing his expression to his usual scowl; as if he had remembered something specific. “Maybe neither of you remember anything; but while you were clowning around in my back seat, he said something that made me think that maybe the poor idiot would be willing to help us with anything.”
“Ah???” Shouto thinks about how he could convince someone as suspicious as Bakugo Katsuki to think of something so suddenly, her curiosity quickly invades her. "What is it?"
As if he quickly retracted what he said; he grumbles as he looks back, now angry at the Todoroki.
“Find out for yourself!” He crosses his arms. “I've already helped you a lot! Take it as a consequence of not measuring yourself with fucking alcohol, half half!
"You can't say something like that and expect me not to want to know, Bakugo."
“HAH!? Do you doubt my good judgment and judgment!?”
"Is not that-"
"Then call the moron!!", he demands. "You're not going to die trying."
To Shouto, all this seems completely confusing. In the first place, why out of so many people, would Yoarashi—known for being way too much in almost everything—be a good choice? Second, why would he be willing to help them with anything? She doesn't know if it was Bakugo, but at least she rarely made the effort to keep in constant contact with the boy; Most of their interactions after finishing high school had been limited to quick, casual encounters at work events for both of them, and the occasional patrol or mission that required the support of many heroes; and it's not like they could talk and catch up on each other's lives on the latter, either. If he thought that asking someone from his agency for a favor was too much, this was way worse.
But, on the other hand, the girl's less logical and more impulsive side was being eaten away by the curiosity to know what the explosion quirk man was referring to to make himself stubborn like that; and unfortunately for her, this side was winning.
“…Do you have his number? -”
“I’VE ALREADY HELPED YOU A LOT.” Bakugo repeats.
Since Bakugo didn't think of giving her Yoarashi's number; she turned to someone else: Utsushimi, or how she had insisted on calling her, Camie. (Shouto still wasn't used to calling her by her first name.) Though, as is the case with Yoarashi himself, and she doesn't really meet her in person very often; it's easier to talk to her through her message; since the girl sends her daily memes by text message and also videos by tiktok (which she has no idea how or when she got, but this time she is grateful that she did). She texted her, the more traditional way for Shouto. She quickly got impatient to see that after an hour there was no response from the blonde, so she opened the reels app; and via message, ignoring the most recent video she had sent her, she wrote her; Pleasant was her surprise when the girl answered in a matter of seconds, happy that the bicolored hair girl responded with something other than thumbs up and hearts.
After some greetings and New Year's congratulations; and gossip from Camie. Shouto steeled himself to ask her about Yoarashi's number.
"Ohhhh sure sure dw sure u lost it, right?"
"Yes."
She had lied.
“I formatted my phone and lost many contacts; I'm not good with numbers."
"Ayyyy yes i get u dats why i studied for hero and not engineer lol, ok copy paste it cutie n_n"
Next Action Camie gave her the number; after thanking her for it; she proceeded to add the digits in her contacts.
Returning to the present, in her apartment; Shouto looks at the phone with a hint of nervousness; she had decided to call him instead of writing to him. It seems most appropriate, she had almost immediately ruled out asking him in person; she doesn't know what answer he might give.
As much as Bakugo had been right with his intuition on most occasions; she still understood little or nothing; why he of all people feels as if someone has told a joke that only she doesn't understand... If she's lucky and his mood hasn't changed over the years, the boy will optimistically decline her request with kindness; a loud tone of voice even. Breathing in and out, she presses the icon with a phone icon and listens to the ring while she waits patiently.
First ring. Nobody answers.
Well, the normal thing is that nobody responded instantly.
Second ring. Unanswered.
She begins to get impatient, it is true that perhaps the other is not answering because the call comes from an unknown number; but Shouto wanted to be rejected at once and thus have less weight on him.
Third ring.
The tone cuts out and suddenly background noise is heard.
"YES, HELLO?", a voice that seems to be used to speaking at such a high volume appears. “I am Yoarashi Inasa, Gale Force! AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
'Ah, yes.' Shouto says internally. 'He hasn't changed.' Absorbed in thought, she is unaware that she has left the other in the line.
“Do you hear meeeee!? Is the number wrong?"
Shrinking in place she finally decides to speak.
"Yoarashi... Sorry for calling you", she can hear a gasp of surprise from the other end of the call, before being interrupted she continues: "I'm Todoroki... Todoroki Shouto."
“TODOROKI! HAPPY NEW YEAR!" he exclaims happily.
“Happy New Year” returns Shouto to the greeting.
“Did you call to say hello?” asks the other.
"No, actually, I wanted to ask you a favor... I'm sorry if it's sudden."
Yoarashi makes another sound; Shouto has no idea if he's a good one or a bad one so she stays silent, a few seconds pass and when she doesn't receive an answer he speaks again.
"No problem! Tell me! What do you want to ask?"
Yoarashi's positive attitude overwhelms Shouto a bit; she takes another couple of seconds and answers determinedly.
“This month, some friends from UA are getting married…” she hesitates as she thinks about how to phrase what he has in mind. “Both of them are going to make surprises for each other at the ceremony afterwards… And I participate in one of them, and for this surprise I need someone to be my guest and partner.”
“OK!” Yoarashi replies quickly.
"Huh?" she is perplexed by the speed of the response, confused, she doesn't know what to say. Did he just accept? That's all?
Hours later, Shouto is still shocked by Yoarashi's immediate confirmation. A guy she hadn't had any chats with outside of hero work for a long time had agreed without a word to go to a wedding with her. Just like that. She called expecting a no, but little did she know that she would have that answer. 'Okay!' That whole call feels surreal.
Her phone rings again, she grunts at the thought that it's probably Yoarashi again, but to her good luck it's Bakugo. She answers back.
"Hello."
"And?" mocking question, the position of someone who has been proven right.
"He said yes…"