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 briefly 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.
How many times had he turned to catch Midoriya staring at Bakugou with open adoration?
How many times had he caught Bakugou “subtly” taking care of Midoriya?
How many times had he been mid conversation with Midoriya when he realized that his friend had somehow made the conversation about Bakugou again?
Not to mention the first time that their class had all drank together and Shouto had accidentally gotten caught up in a very deep conversation with Bakugou about the exact hue of Midoriya’s eyes.
Well, it wasn’t much of a conversation so much as a drunken rant on Bakugou’s end, but Shouto hadn’t minded listening. He loved supporting his friends’ interests. There was always something so heartwarming about hearing his friends talk about the things they were passionate about.
So what if Bakugou’s passion was gazing into his childhood best friend’s eyes? Shouto wasn’t one to judge.
All in all, Shouto was very glad they’d finally talked it out and realized each other’s feelings.
“Oh, hi, Kacchan!” said Midoriya, smiling brightly at him.
“Bakugou,” Shouto offered him a knowing smile. “Midoriya was just telling us the news.”
“Hah?” Bakugou’s face contorted into a scowl, looking over at Midoriya in confusion. “What news?”
“Oh!” Midoriya beamed at him, eyes shining.
Shouto wasn’t much of a romantic himself, but he couldn’t help but smile fondly at the two of them. The way they looked at each other…
Thank god that they’d finally figured their shit out.
Midoriya went on, “I was telling them about how you told me that I should think more highly of myself and stop treating everyone as equally special and—”
“Oh, yeah,” Bakugou cut him off sharply, his scowl deepening as he glanced away off to the side. “That shit.”
Shouto frowned, eyes flicking back and forth between the two of them curiously.
The two of them had always had an interesting dynamic but why did Bakugou look so openly irritated when Midoriya was clearly happy.
Not in Bakugou’s usual pretend not to care way either. He looked genuinely, openly annoyed.
Were they fighting or something?
They often fought but…
“And how that led to me realizing my feelings and confessing to—”
“Yeah, you’re a Grade-A oblivious dumbass,” Bakugou said, glaring at Midoriya with a rage in his eyes that would’ve made lesser men cry. “Congrats, stupid.”
“I know!” Midoriya was unphased, grinning up at him with bright, open adoration. “I couldn’t believe I’d been so blind. What would I do without you, Kacchan? Somehow you noticed before I did, I mean how could I not have—”
“Because as I mentioned,” Bakugou gritted out, shoving his hand at Midoriya’s face a little too aggressively. “You’re a massive fucking idiot!”
“Ow! Kacchan!” Midoriya ducked away.
Shouto squinted at them.
Was this… flirting?
It wasn’t really the sort of lovey-dovey stuff he’d seen in the movies, but also when had Bakugou and Midoriya ever been normal? It wasn’t like Shouto knew personally what healthy, typical relationships looked like, considering his own shitshow of a family.
“Stop fucking thanking me for this shit!” Bakugou barked angrily. “I’ll kick your ass!”
“Kacchan, I’m just grateful to have you in my life, why can’t—”
“I will set you on fire, nerd!” Bakugou threatened dangerously, turning to look from side to side as if he’d misplaced something nearby. “Shut the fuck up!”
Their banter seemed a bit more… aggressive than it had been of late. At least on Bakugou’s end. While Midoriya seemed fairly unphased, Bakugou seemed genuinely pissed off.
Shouto decided that he simply did not understand their dynamic romantically. It was very strange to him, but no one else batted an eye so he just shrugged it off.
“But Kacchan, without you I never would’ve figured out my feelings for—”
Bakugou stepped over, snatched the empty cup that Iida was holding right out of his hands, and threw it at Midoriya’s face at full force.
It was made of hard plastic… so at least not a sharp or breakable projectile this time!
Bakugou pitched it quickly and beautifully, and it hit Midoriya square in the face with such precision and power that Shouto didn’t know whether to wince or applaud.
Perhaps if hero work didn’t work out for Bakugou, he could take up baseball or something.
“OW!” Midoriya doubled over and clutched at his nose. He looked up at Bakugou with wide, watery eyes. “Kacchan!”
“Midoriya!” Iida’s booming voice cut through the air. “Are you alright?!”
Midoriya nodded, still rubbing at his nose. “Yes!”
“Bakugou!” Iida said as he robotically turned to face Bakugou.
“What?” Bakugou snapped, exasperated.
“These cups are for drinking, not for throwing at Midoriya!”
“Well, Prez, I could’ve set him on fire!” Bakugou retorted petulantly. “He’s pissing me off!”
“Even so, I ask that you do not throw things inside! Especially at someone unprepared to catch it!”
“Tsk,” Bakugou clicked his tongue in annoyance, snatching up the cup where it landed and slapping it back into Iida’s hands. “Fine.”
He then rounded on Midoriya.
“Uh, Kacchan—” Midoriya straightened up, still rubbing at his nose.
“Your talking privileges are revoked, asshole!” Bakugou’s hand clamped down on his shoulder, digging in as he leaned in to growl in his face. “Stop pissing me off. I just came over here because I need to tell you something! Come on!”
Still scowling deeply enough that he looked like some sort of ugly gremlin, Bakugou used his grip on Midoriya’s shoulder to shove him forward.
Shouto’s face contorted ever so slightly with horror.
Was this foreplay or something for them?
Oh god, of course it was.
“Ah, okay!” Midoriya went along with it, smiling passively as usual. He shot a look back over his shoulder at Iida and Shouto. “Sorry guys, I’ll be back!”
“No worries,” Shouto assured, waving it off even as he watched them with a mix of fondness and confusion and slight shock at his newest realization.
They seemed… happy? In their own weird way. Even if Bakugou had seemed genuinely pissed for a second there.
Shouto 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, sounding somewhat irritated. “Well, it was good. I liked it. Apparently, Izuku did too.”
Bakugou scowled in Midoriya’s direction.
Shouto only grew more puzzled. “Why do you seem upset that he liked it?”
Bakugou’s head snapped over to look at Shouto, eyes slightly wide as if he’d been caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to. Then he scowled again, looking down and shaking his head.
“Nothing,” Bakugou replied tersely. “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—still 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 snapped, 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?
“So… how are you feeling about it? Excited?”
Shouto grew even more alarmed when Bakugou fully glared at him now.
“Are you being an asshole on purpose?” Bakugou barked out, narrowed eyes glaring at him as if he wanted him to burst into flames.
“No…?” Shouto said in confusion, but Bakugou was already storming away.
Shouto watched him go with a puzzled expression. Bakugou always seemed angry when he tried to talk to him about his relationship.
Maybe Bakugou was just shy about these sorts of things?
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 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 narrowed his eyes, sharp red eyes peering into Shouto’s own.
Shouto glanced over at Kirishima—who was now wide-eyed and horrified—and then back.
“Todoroki, uh—” Kirishima started, sounding nervous.
“You’re being serious?” Bakugou cut him off, his face made of stone as he stared at him.
Shouto felt uneasiness growing in his gut as his top-of-the-line, Number-Two-Hero instincts began picking up that something was wrong. They didn’t pay him the big bucks for nothing, and he was quickly realizing that something was wrong here.
Was “congratulations” not something you said at weddings?! Shouto was so certain that he was saying it in the right context this time! He’d looked it up after the whole situation when they were moving in together.
“Yes,” Shouto nodded, glancing back and forth between the two, his bewilderment growing. His brow furrowed as he continued to apply his Number-Two-Hero skills to try and figure out what was happening. “I’m happy for you two.”
Bakugou’s face twisted into a grimace that was some mix of pained and angry, and he looked away off to the side.
“Uh, Todoroki, my man,” Kirishima stepped closer, scratching the side of his face and looking incredibly awkward. He glanced back at Bakugou again. “Listen, uh—”
“This is Izuku and Uraraka’s wedding,” Bakugou cut in, voice sounding a bit lifeless.
Shouto blinked, turning to look at him.
Bakugou looked thoroughly unamused. His face was hardened with a deep frown in place and a look in his eyes that was rather… dull. Defeated, maybe. Exhausted.
It took Shouto a moment to comprehend what he’d said. He stared at Bakugou, waiting for the punchline or something. He slowly turned to look at Kirishima, who was actively cringing awkwardly.
“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?”