Chapter Text
Things were going well for Todoroki Shouto these days.
He was just awarded the Number Two spot on the Hero Ranking. After all this time, he felt like he’d finally shaken the association of being “Endeavor’s son” and ended up where he wanted to be in life. He felt like he’d made peace with everything that had happened.
He was able to take more time for himself and to find out who he was outside heroics. Recently, he’d signed up for bowl and chopstick making classes and traveled the country on a casual quest for the best soba recipe. He was even considering accepting a guest judging position on a cooking competition show.
Life felt lighter these days. Smiling came easier.
In his heart, he would always be grateful for the previous Class 1-A and what they’d done for him. His family had always been abnormal to say the least. Having the support of his friends was the only way he’d been able to end up here.
Admittedly though, these days everyone was busy. Not just with hero work, but with their side passion projects and charities. They all got together as often as they could—as many as were available, anyways—but it wasn’t uncommon for some time to pass before they all saw each other again.
Shouto did his best to stay up to date with everyone, but it could be hard to keep up with every single thing that was going on. Even so, he liked to think he was still kept in the know. Even when times got insanely busy, Shouto figured he still got the gist of things.
For example, at the next (previously) Class 1-A gathering, Shouto could only stop by briefly before he was due to head to the train. He was traveling north to a small restaurant that a friend had recommended. Since the gathering had been arranged so last minute, he could only swing by for a bit.
Despite that, Shouto was still able to catch the important news of the evening.
He walked in, immediately spotting Midoriya, who was talking with Iida.
As Shouto approached, he could see Midoriya’s wide smile, the pinkness to his cheeks, and his bright eyes as he excitedly told Iida something.
“—so, I finally confessed!” Midoriya was saying. “Kacchan had told me that I needed to start thinking more highly of myself or I wouldn’t notice the obvious. At first, I thought he was being ridiculous seeing as he’s the one who misinterpreted my admiration as being condescending for the first, like fourteen years of our lives, but—oh, hi, Todoroki!”
“Hi, Midoriya,” Shouto said, nodding in greeting and smiling contentedly. “Hi, Iida.”
“Hello, Todoroki!” Iida greeted, voice as booming as ever.
“I heard something about a confession?” Shouto asked, curious and genuinely happy for him. “Bakugou was telling you about how you needed to notice the obvious?”
“Yes!” Midoriya nodded. “Plus he said a few other things that made me think… stuff about how giving special treatment to everyone means that no one’s special. When I gave it some more thought, I realized that there are people who are especially special to me when we were at your celebration dinner, Todoroki! So afterwards, I finally confessed!”
Shouto felt a warm fondness in his heart for his friends.
“Good,” he said, nodding and smiling happily. “I’m glad you two finally got together.”
“F-finally?” Midoriya asked, looking a bit shocked. “What do you mean?”
“I think it was pretty obvious to the rest of us that the two of you liked each other!” Iida admitted, though he was obviously just teasing despite his rather consistently formal tone. He seemed very happy for them as well.
“We’ve been watching you two pine over each other for years,” Shouto clarified, though he made sure to also smile to try and ease Midoriya’s stress. “It was a lot to just have to sit by and watch.”
“Oh…” Midoriya’s brow furrowed. He went red, smiling awkwardly and sheepishly. “Sorry, guys. I didn’t realize.”
Shouto shrugged, waving it off. “No worries. At least you’re finally together now.”
“Thanks,” Midoriya smiled, though he ducked his head a bit in embarrassment.
“Oi, Izuku,” Bakugou cut in, appearing from behind Midoriya and putting a hand on his shoulder to get his attention.
Here was the boyfriend himself. Shouto looked fondly at the two of them. He was so happy the two of them had finally figured it out after all this time.
The three of them—Bakugou, Midoriya, and Shouto—had worked together so much in high school. Shouto was the one who’d had to witness them interact like an old married couple the most. He was glad they’d finally talked it out and realized each other’s feelings.
“Oh, hi, Kacchan!” said Midoriya, smiling brightly at him.
“Come here for a sec,” Bakugou said, jerking his head in the direction he came from to indicate where he meant.
“Sure,” Midoriya nodded, before looking back at Shouto and Iida. “Sorry guys, I’ll be back!”
“No worries,” Shouto assured.
He had to leave before talking to them more about how they got together, but he was happy at least to be in the know.
The next time Shouto saw Midoriya was during a visit to UA. Midoriya was still there teaching part-time and had asked him to come in for a guest lecture.
Afterwards, Shouto stayed to speak with him. He’d heard a rumor that he was hoping to get cleared up.
“I heard that you aren’t going to join Bakugou’s agency,” Shouto said as Midoriya packed up his things for the day. “Is that true?”
Admittedly, Shouto was disappointed. He’d always thought that Midoriya and Bakugou would have a joint hero agency one day. There was a part of him that was holding out hope that when Midoriya got the armored suit that Bakugou had been planning for him that they would make that happen.
To be honest, Shouto had wanted to find a way to merge their agencies when it happened. Or maybe just find buildings next to each other like with Kaminari and Jirou. As much as Shouto loved his job and anyone he worked with, he missed the two of them. Midoriya and Bakugou had been some of his first friends. They held a special place in his heart.
“Well, I’ve already worked on being a teacher all this time,” Midoriya explained. “I don’t want to throw all that work away. Plus I love sharing my experiences with the next generation. I really do like teaching, and I think even with One For All I would still enjoy being a teacher.”
“You can’t just join his agency and work sometimes?” asked Shouto after a moment. “Since you already take the suit out to collect data sometimes?”
“Well…” Midoriya shrugged as he swung his backpack over his shoulder. “Between my teaching job and now planning dates and everything, I didn’t want to commit to it. I know Kacchan, so I knew he would want me to spend all my time competing with him if I joined.”
“Ah, right,” Shouto nodded knowingly as they both turned to leave. Then he sighed and said, “Everyone’s so busy these days. At least dates are time set aside for quality time together. That seems to be important for a healthy relationship.”
Even if they weren’t working together, Shouto thought that it was good that Bakugou and Midoriya would still see each other so much on their dates outside of work. It made Shouto feel comforted. Even with everything always changing, those two would stay the same.
“Did you have a nice date last night?” Shouto asked at the next (previously) Class 1-A gathering. Kirishima was hosting at his place, and they were currently all mingling around, eating and catching up. Shouto was making his rounds and found Midoriya.
He’d arrived in town yesterday and asked Midoriya if he wanted to grab dinner. Midoriya had turned him down because it was date night.
“Yeah!” Midoriya nodded emphatically. “Sorry that we couldn’t meet up.”
“No worries,” Shouto waved it off. “Where’d you guys go?”
“We went to the new restaurant downtown. The sushi place. Have you heard about it?”
“Haven’t been there yet,” Shouto replied, “but it looks good.”
Later, when he saw Bakugou sitting alone against the wall and frowning down at the ground, he approached and said, “Hi, Bakugou. How was the new sushi place?”
Bakugou looked up, looking mildly confused and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “How did you know I went there?”
“I talked to Midoriya earlier,” Shouto explained, gesturing vaguely at where Midoriya was, on the other side of the room.
To Shouto’s surprise, Bakugou’s face immediately fell. He looked rather down—a big contrast to Midoriya’s mood earlier. Shouto was confused but decided it was best not to comment.
Maybe they had a fight? It wasn’t best to get in the middle of it for now, surely.
“Oh right,” Bakugou said, somewhat dryly. “Well, it was good. I liked it. Apparently, Izuku did too.”
Shouto only grew more puzzled. “Why do you seem upset that he liked it?”
“Nothing,” Katsuki replied sharply, shaking his head. “Nothing. Forget it.”
Eventually, Shouto had made his way back near Midoriya. Glancing at where Bakugou was sitting in the corner—now joined by Kirishima and Kaminari—scowling deeply, Shouto decided to interfere just a little.
“Are you and Bakugou fighting?” Shouto asked.
“Me and Kacchan?” Midoriya asked, looking surprised. “No. Why do you ask?”
“He seemed upset when I brought up the sushi place,” Shouto explained, trying to get to the bottom of the strange reaction from Bakugou. “Did something happen last night?”
“Last…” Midoriya’s brow scrunched up in thought. “Uh, no? I mean, Kacchan was the one that recommended the place! He went there last week with some work friends and then was telling me how good it was. I mean… he did originally recommend that he and I go last weekend, but I wasn’t available. And yesterday… well… it was date night.”
He suddenly looked a bit worried and added, “Do you think… do you think he’s upset that I turned him down last weekend? He seemed fine with it at the time.”
“I doubt it,” Shouto replied honestly.
Bakugou probably wouldn’t care that they ended up going for date night yesterday rather than last week. Shouto didn’t know why that would matter at all, anyways. They’d still gotten to go. Maybe it was something else.
Shouto sighed, deciding he really shouldn’t interfere with his friends’ love life after all.
“Well, I’m glad you finally got to go and try it,” he said.
Midoriya nodded, though he glanced over in Bakugou’s direction with a slightly worried look.
Aizawa-sensei’s retirement party was incredibly packed. There was an insane amount of people there, and yet Shouto had yet to see Aizawa-sensei himself. The man was likely hiding in his sleeping bag somewhere.
Despite their old teacher being MIA, there were so many people to talk to. Eventually, he spotted Midoriya talking with some colleagues and walked closer.
Shouto walked up right as he heard Midoriya say, “—and I are finally moving in together! Oh, hi, Todoroki!”
“Hi, Midoriya,” Shouto said, unable to stop his supportive smile. “Moving in together? That’s so exciting. I’m so happy for you guys.”
Midoriya was smiling widely. “Thanks! We’ve both been so busy lately, and I figured this way we could spend all of our free time together!”
“That’s true,” Shouto agreed, thinking how he’d heard Bakugou complain a few times recently about how little he saw Midoriya. “That’ll be good for both of you.”
Later, he found Bakugou, walking up and greeting him. “Hi, Bakugou. Congratulations.”
Bakugou looked over at him, and Shouto was shocked to see the scowl on his face.
Wasn’t he supposed to be happy? Why wasn’t he smiling like Midoriya was?
“What the hell are you talking about?” Bakugou drawled, mildly annoyed.
“Midoriya told me about the move,” Shouto elaborated, trying to figure out what was wrong with his friend.
“So?” Bakugou frowned in question.
Shouto felt somewhat at a loss with his response. Was “congratulations” not something you said to two people who were moving in together? Before he could ask, they were interrupted by a few others who came to join the conversation.
Shouto was very busy being the Number Two Hero and with all of his newly acquired hobbies, so he actually heard about their engagement through another hero—a sidekick who was previously a student of Midoriya’s:
“Deku-sensei is engaged!”
Immediately when Shouto got off work, he called Midoriya up, unable to keep the smile off his face. “I heard about your engagement. Congratulations!”
“Thanks, Todoroki!” Midoriya sounded elated through the phone. “I proposed last night! It was so magical!”
Shouto raised his eyebrows. “You were the one who proposed?”
“I—uh… yes?” Midoriya seemed confused now.
“Huh,” Shouto said as he nodded thoughtfully. “Wouldn’t have called that.”
Bakugou had always seemed like more of the type to make a big move like that, but it wasn’t like Shouto knew much about their romantic relationship anyways. He really needed to catch up with just the two of them soon for the details. Time really flew by fast these days.
“I—oh. Well… yeah,” Midoriya seemed a bit at a loss for words, before he recovered and started to chatter happily again, “Anyways, yeah, I proposed last night! We went to the restaurant that we went to on our first date!”
“I’m very excited for both of you,” Shouto said, genuinely.
A part of him had still been holding out for the Dynamight-Deku Hero Agency, but he supposed this was an acceptable alternative.
“How’s Bakugou feeling about it all?” Shouto wondered aloud. “I haven’t talked to him yet.”
“Kacchan?” Midoriya parroted blankly, before going on, “Uh, well… he was supportive when I talked to him.”
“Yes… I assumed,” Shouto frowned at Midoriya’s wording.
“And I want him to be there, of course!”
“Well, yes,” Shouto said, admittedly thoroughly confused now. “I would imagine he would be there too.”
He hadn’t been to a whole lot of weddings, but he was pretty certain that the two people getting married were required to be there at the bare minimum.
“I only talked with him briefly,” Midoriya said, “but he agreed to help me with everything!”
Shouto frowned even deeper. “You only talked briefly after the proposal?”
Though he generally tried not to get involved in their relationship, Shouto still cared about both of his friends. He didn’t know for sure, but he felt like proposing and then going your separate ways right after was weird. Shouldn’t they be excited and want to spend more time together?
“Well, I—I—” Midoriya stammered, sounding thrown off by Shouto’s very slightly critical tone. “I was busy, you know?! He didn’t mind!”
“Hmm, okay,” Shouto conceded, reminding himself that their relationship had always been complicated. “Well, that’s good that he’ll be doing his share of the work for the wedding.”
“Yeah, Kacchan’s good at that kind of thing,” Midoriya said, brightening again. “I’m not good at any of it, honestly, so I appreciate having him help with my part of things. I mean he knows so much about food and cooking and design and stuff. More than I do, anyways.”
Shouto chuckled slightly. “Why not let him do most of it then? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”
“Well, uh, that wouldn’t really be fair of me to ask of him,” Midoriya responded, sounding a bit embarrassed.
“I guess,” Shouto replied. It was nice that Midoriya was so committed to an equal and fair relationship. “If you say so.”
Shouto was really, really busy, so he didn’t see them throughout their entire engagement. Of course, he made time for the wedding, which his assistant had put in his schedule under “Midoriya Izuku’s wedding.” He didn’t bother correcting her and telling her it was both Midoriya and Bakugou’s wedding. He knew that she was fonder of Midoriya than Bakugou. Bakugou’s sudden yelling had once startled her into spilling coffee all over herself.
Shouto showed up early, when things were still getting all finished setting up. Not everyone was here yet, but more people were starting to gather. He spotted Bakugou first, leaning against the wall with Kirishima next to him.
As he made his way over, Shouto couldn’t help the happy smile that spread across his face. He loved both of his friends so much, and he was so glad that they were finally spending more time together and making things official.
“Congrats on your wedding,” Shouto said in greeting.
To his surprise, Bakugou just stared at him blankly for a minute. “What?”
Shouto glanced over at Kirishima, who was also staring at him as if he’d grown another head. With each passing moment, Shouto felt increasingly bewildered.
“Uh… congratulations,” Shouto tried again. “On getting married to Midoriya.”
Bakugou leveled him with a very unimpressed look and said monotonously, “This is Izuku and Uraraka’s wedding.”
Shouto blinked.
He stared at Bakugou, waiting for the punchline or something. He slowly turned to look at Kirishima, who was still looking at him incredulously.
“Wait…” Shouto muttered, turning to look around him.
As he looked, he became aware of how, though it was a very nice wedding, it was not one he’d expect of Midoriya and Bakugou. There was far too much pink—a color he didn’t think either of them favored.
He turned back to Bakugou, wondering when the hell this new development had occurred.
“Wait, what?”