Archive of Our Own

The cool air of the stadion doesn’t do much to prevent the nervous sweat collecting in Izuku’s hands and his slight tremble doesn’t stem from it either. The nerves are high, higher than ever. This is his first competition representing the university of UA. He has to do well, so of course the anxiety hits him even before the spotlight does.

His breath comes in puffy clouds, visible because of the cold that radiates from the ice. Izuku skates another round, going through his routine in his head and doing the calming exercise like his couch told him to. He adjusts the sleeves from his sage blouse, a flowy piece of his costume that matches perfectly with his hair and eyes. Ochako had her hand in chosing the costume, she loves these sorts of color matches. Izuku also checks the laces on his skates again, the poor things have some age to them and Izuku can’t afford new ones at the moment, but they still hold up well nonetheless. They were a gift from his mother for his 16th birthday and that was three years ago. Izuku treasures these skates more than his first autograph from Yagi Toshinori, because his mother always did her best to make his dream real, even with money being tight.

His mom is somewhere in the audience today, together with his friends, but Izuku can’t make out any faces from the rink as the spotlights makes them appear like a black void. It’s a good thing, that way the judges are hidden from view too. Izuku shakes out his trembling hands one more time and finds the middle of the rink. He places his right foot behind his left and brings his arms slightly up, gaze towards the ground on his right.

Izuku takes a final deep breath and then the music starts. He moves with the first notes of Voulez-Vouz by ABBA, his mom’s favorite, that’s why he chose this song. His body loosens up with the music and instinct takes over. He practiced this more than a hundred times and he likes this song as much as his mother does, because it reminds him of her and everything she does for him. Izuku smiles while gliding across the ice to the beat, he hits his first two jumps on the pre-chorus and a spin right after. The chorus calls for another jump and Izuku smiles wider, he nailed the diffilculty and he’s in his element, moving to the music like it’s breathing. The next verse is another difficult jump which he lands a bit sloppy, but he’s having fun now.

Izuku enjoyes the next few jumps and spins all while dancing in between them, time passes like a blur, just like the vision beyond the spotlight. Izuku hits the ending pose with a smile on his face and panting from exertion. He did great, only one mishap, but most importantly is that he had fun skating and doing what he loves.

“That was Midoriya Izuku, starting off our show tonight. He is Yagi’s very own student and protigee, appearing in the figure skating scene almost out of nowhere when he was only a high school student! Ohh, the points just came in, will it be enough to keep him at the number 1 spot for the evening?” The commentator chatters on enthusiastically and Izuku bows a few times, then moves to exit the rink, making room for the next skater.

“Good job, young Midoriya. Like a true natural.” His coach and idol greets him with a head pat and Izuku’s rosy cheeks turn even redder. Yagi gives him the skate guards and a water bottle, then guides hin to the stands. He will watch the other competitors from there, something Izuku wouldn’t want to miss, because next up is Bakugou Katsuki.

Izuku’s childhood friend turned bully turned rival turned friend again, both bound by their love for figure skating and idolizing Yagi Toshinori, Musutafu’s very own figure skating hero, now retired and coaching the younger generation. Katsuki had a head start with the sport, both of his parents are also retired figure skaters and he was practically skating on ice before he could even walk. They are still his coaches and the reason why Izuku got a chance at figure skating too, since he always got Katsuki’s skates second hand and a few lessons for free thanks to their mother’s friendship. That stopped in middle school, when his childhood friend turned against him suddenly and Izuku was forced to find different ways to practice. A chance encounter at a frozen lake on a winter morning is what made Yagi Izuku’s coach and started the rivalry with Katsuki. Now they have this weirdly strong bond, Izuku calls it friendship and Katsuki calls it a friendly rivalry, still competitive as ever.

“Next up is Bakugou Katsuki, son of the famous figure skaters couple and Musutafu’s biggest hope for the future! He’s known for bold jumps and unconventional music choices!”

Bakugou Katsuki enters the ice and starts his own preperation. Izuku knows that his song of choice will be Sonne by Rammstein and he saw parts of his program, but Kacchan refused to show him the full thing, always arranging training in a way that would make them conviniently miss each other. He’s wearing a scarlet blouse for his costume, a color that makes his eyes pop and him seem intense. Izuku knows that this freestyle will be intense, because everything about Katsuki is powerful. They both have pretty different styles, Izuku is often described as someone who effortlessly flows through his movement like through water and Katsuki takes a more technical approach, he does it in a bold kind of way and he’s a perfectionist at heart.

That bold technicality shines through as Katsuki lands one difficult jump after another and Izuku holds his breath all throughout. His freestyle is flawless, something achieved only by the perfect mix between talent and hard work. Izuku knows how hard his friend works to nail these jumps and hone his body to perfection. If he wins gold today, it will be rightfully won and Izuku will gladly hold a silver medal. Maybe he won’t hold any medal, which will be fine too. The best 10 get to move on to the next round and he might be one of them. But winning isn’t important to Izuku as much as being part of the competition and having fun is. Katsuki would drop a few choice words if he were to hear that, always chasing that gold medal.

“Hey Yagi, I need to go to the bathroom real quick. Since Kacchan is done now… And I think I’ll look for my mom after.” Izuku whispers into his coaches ear. He wants to watch the next skater, but as usual his bladder is acting up once the adrenaline of his own freestyle wears off. Yagi gives him his sneakers to change and a thumbs up.

The hallways around the stadion are long and vacant at this time, everyone is watching the competition going on inside. Izuku finds the bathroom quickly and does his business. He also texts his mom, asking where she’s seated and telling her that he will come to watch from there in a bit. Turns out that she’s on the opposite side of the rink and Izuku takes the long walk around, until he hears some hushed voices and stops. He doesn’t want to intrude, but the conversation peaks his interest and he can’t help having good hearing like that.

“Father will be livid if I mess this up. Even more so if he sees me with you, Touya.” A monotone voice says.

“Good thing he won’t see me then, I’m not planning for confrontation now. Look, you won’t mess up, you will just make this slight change-“

“No. No, I can’t do that.”

“Shou, I’m telling you, if you don’t change this part up there will be consequences for your ankle and that’s when father will be livid!” The second voice is deeper and getting louder, they are clearly arguing. Over an angry father?

“I’m fine. This is nothing.”

“You’re limping and I’m worried.”

“I’m doing the program like father told me. I’m sorry, Touya. I can’t be rebelious.” The voice (Shou?) is coming closer and it’s too late for Izuku to hide before a guy about his age turns the corner. True to the other persons word, he is limping slightly. He has two-toned hair, split in the middle and heterochromatic eyes, something Izuku immediately notices because it’s such a unique appearance, but also due to the scar that covers nearly the whole left side of his face. He’s dressed in a typical figure skating costume, light blue blouse and dark leggins. A competitor?

His good looks distract Izuku for so long that he doesn’t notice what’s happening before he’s pressed against the wall and looking straight into those cold eyes, one grey and one ocean blue. He’s not much taller than Izuku but his posture makes him seem intimidating and Izuku is firmly pinned to the wall.

“Are you snooping out competition?” Shou, because Izuku still doesn’t know his full name, says and a nasty frown distorts his face into clear anger.

“No, no, I wouldn’t do that! I just needed the bathroom! Besides, my program is already done-“

“Shouto, let him go, please.” The other person says, a man a few years older than them. He has the same ocean blue eyes, which must mean they are brothers. But his hair is black and his facial scarring… is a lot more extreme than that from the guy that is still pinning Izuku to the wall. The piercings, dark hoodie and ripped jeans add to a scary appearance and Izuku doesn’t want to judge the guy based on only that, but he doesn’t necessarly look friendly right now.

“Look, I didn’t even hear anything.” Izuku tries and his voice wobbles slightly. He doesn’t like his current position at all, it brings up some bad memories. He definitly doesn’t want to start crying right now, but his tear ducs never listened to him in situations like these.

“Liar.” The heterochromiac says, but finally lets go after another minute. “You better not tell anyone about this.”

“About what? I mean… nothing happened! Just me going to the bathroom…” Izuku chuckles nervously.

“Shouto, you’re up in five.” The brother says and Shouto turns to walk away, leaving the two of them standing in the otherwise vacant hallway. “Don’t take it personally, you know, nerves and everything.”

It sounds insincere coming from Touya’s(?) mouth. Given the conversation Izuku just overheared… He shouldn’t butt into other people’s business though. That’s rude and clearly these two don’t want him to. So Izuku just nods and continues on to meet his mother and friend in the stands. He is curious though how Shouto’s program will look like, since he will be up next as it seems.

Izuku finds his mom and friends quickly, giving out some hugs to everyone. Ochako and Tenya both tell him how amazing his performance was and his mom has the proudest look on her face as he sits down between her and his friends. He’s just in time to see the same guy from before entering the rink.

“Our next competitor is Todoroki Shouto, youngest son from the Todoroki family whose members all have an affinity to the ice. I’ve heard that he studies at UA, but he’s on a private team in this competion instead of the university figure skating team, funded by the Endeavor agency owned by the one and only Todoroki Enji!”

Todoroki Enji is a name that Izuku is familiar with, he’s the lifelong rival of Yagi though he never managed to win any gold medals with Yagi Toshinori on the ice. Only after Izuku’s idol retired did Todoroki Enji win gold and made headlines for not accepting the medal, since he hadn’t won it against Yagi. Izuku’s coach described him as a prideful man, he never told Izuku about any Todoroki family though. He holds back the curiosity to look the name up until after Todoroki Shouto’s freestyle.

The man on the ice now looks stiff and he clearly favours his left foot, the injury that had him limping must be worse than he made it seem to his brother. It worries Izuku, even though Todoroki literally just threatened him, he doesn’t want to see the guy fall. He knows how painful that is.

Vivaldi’s Winter starts playing from the speakers and Todoroki starts gliding across the ice, looking like his ankle isn’t injured at all. He must really hold the pain in now. The first jump is perfect and so is the second and the third. A spin follows and if Izuku were to describe Todoroki’s style, he’d say it’s graceful all while doing these complex jumps. But he falls on the next jump, immediately gets up and takes a second fall right after. Izuku is too far away to see properly, but he’s pretty sure that his ankle gave out. Todoroki finishes the program without another mishap and leaves the rink only seconds after the music ends. Izuku could swear he saw a flicker of dread in his eyes, even from the distance.

“Hey guys, I need to find Yagi again, I’ll see you later, okay?” He says quickly and doesn’t wait for a response. Izuku rushes to the exit that would get him to where Todoroki Shouto left the ice, he hopes that he will find him again. He doesn’t know what’s gotten into him, but he suddenly has a bad feeling. Sure enough, a very furious voice makes itself known arround the next corner.

“I apologize, father. My injury hasn’t healed yet.”

“Don’t lie to me, Shouto! This isn’t the injury from 2 months ago, is it?! This must be a new one that you haven’t told me about!” A sudden noise that sounds suspiciously like a slap echoes through the halls. This voice doesn’t sound like concerned father, it sounds like a furious madman. “You’re ruining your future, just like your damn brother-“

“What’s going on here? Why are you hitting your kid?!” Izuku steps in without a second thought, instinct takes over and it’s stupid because the scene shows a huge muscle mass cornering Todoroki Shouto just like he did only half an hour ago to Izuku. But much more intimidating.

“This doesn’t concern you, brat!” Todoroki Enji turns around to face Izuku, the anger on his face flickers to recognition and then back to anger. “Yagi’s protegee, I see. Go back to your coach and tell him to not show his face here.”

“No, not until I take Shouto to the infirmary. I will call security if you resist.” Izuku makes himself as tall as his 170 cm lets him be, which is not much, but confidence is key. Someone approaches from behind, but he doesn’t turn around to look. The step pattern reveals it either way.

“Right, I’m with Izuku on this one, for once. Make a scene and your out, Enji.” Katsuki says firmly and it’s a lot more effective with his taller and broader frame. Todoroki Enji scowls and to Izuku’s surprise, walks away without another word. He takes the win where he gets one. Shouto still stands against the wall with a blank expression, almost as if he weren’t present at all. He still has his skates on and still favours his left foot.

“Hey, uhm, we got off the wrong foot before, but let me help you now?” Izuku approaches him slowly. “Your program was good, but like your brother said, your ankle-“

“Shut up!” The blank face turns into a frown. Katsuki takes a different approach, surprising Izuku once again because he does something very un-Kacchan-like. He swiftly lifts up Shouto in bridal style, so fast that the injured guy doesn’t have time to protest until the deed is done. “Let me go. Right now.”

“Not happening. Your great competition and being taken out because of an untreated injury? That’s lame.” His cold tone has little affect on the blonde and Izuku follows him all the way to the infirmary. Kacchan carries Todoroki Shouto all the way too, which is quite the sight. Shouto stops protesting after a minute, then he just lets it all happen with an empty look on his face.

“Do you know each other, Kacchan?” Izuku asks, because Katsuki wouldn’t act like that if they didn’t.

“Tch, Icyhot books out the whole fucking rink for himself after me each evening, or rather his rich asshole dad does. Stupid fucker twisted his ankle last week.” That makes sense. Katsuki usually likes to practice in the early evening around 5 pm while Izuku is more of a morning person, Yagi books the rink for him before classes start and most of Izuku’s classes aren’t in the early morning either way. And since Shouto isn’t on UA’s figure skating team, Izuku wouldn’t have ever gotten the chance to see him at practice. Apparently Kacchan is so aquinted with Shouto that he has his own nickname already.

“You didn’t treat it?” Izuku asks Shouto.

“I did.” He says coldly.

“Icing it and then going back to skating is not treating it. Look, I know injuries suck, but that’s stupid as fuck!”

Izuku doesn’t add anything to that, he just watches Shouto’s reaction, which is exactly none. He has an insanely good poker face. Good looking too, the scar doesn’t change that at all.

They arrive at the stadion’s infirmary and Chiyo, the nurse, comands Katsuki to place the injured one on the bed. Shouto busies himself with untying his skates, wincing slightly when pulling off the right one. His ankle is sloppily wrapped with tape and clearly swollen in concerning colors. It looks bad and painful and Izuku wonders how he managed to skate with that. Whatever the injury was before, it is worse now. Chiyo’s face contorts into concern.

“Young man, you were clearly in no condition to skate and even less now. It’s not broke, but you shouldn’t put any weight on it for at least two weeks. That means no skating for the next month.” She scolds Shouto who’s poker face finally contorts into something akin to fear.

“The next competition is next month.” He states.

“Yes, you will sit that one out. Unless you want to ruin your chances to step on the ice ever again.” Something in Shouto’s eyes flickers dangerously, something that tells Izuku that he won’t follow through with the nurse’s orders. “There isn’t much I can do for you now, you took a defty dose of pain killers already, am I right?”

Shouto nods and adjust his expression back to the poker face.

“Allright, either you stay here or go back to watch the rest of the competition, but if you do then let one of your friends lend you a hand. Remember, no weight on that foot, understand?”

“Yes, understood.” Shouto says and lays down on the bed.

“So you don’t want to watch?” Izuku asks, wondering why he got himself into this exactly. But somehow he’s now helping out Todoroki Shouto? Clearly against his will though. Izuku can’t forget the image from the hallway.

“Yes.”

“You’re at UA too, right?” He wants to know more about Shouto for some reason, though that’s not quite unlike Izuku, he usually likes making new friends. It’s just that the situation is strange.

“Yes.” Shouto answers again.

“What’s your major then? I’m in education, oh, Midoriya Izuku, I don’t think I introduced myself!”

“Business. Todoroki Shouto.”

“Damn, I’m leaving this bullshit. Make sure this asshole doesn’t stand up.” Katsuki bumps Izuku’s shoulder on the way out, but not in a malicious way. He’s not the sociable type and Shouto doesn’t seem that way either. Surprisingly Katsuki gets along better with enthusiastic extroverts who adopt him into their circle instead of his own kind, the grumpy introvert. It shows in his friend group, the self-proclaimed Bakusquad.

“Huh. I guess that’s why I never saw you before.” Izuku continues the conversation or at least tries to, because after a full minute Shouto still hasn’t said another word. “Do you need something? A drink? Or a snack? I could use a snack…”

“Water would be nice, please.” Izuku thought he’d say no, but that answer is more then fine.

“Allright, the vending machine is close, so let me just grab something quickly! Don’t move!” He calls and rushes to the new destination. He buys the water and a sandwich for himself. Shouto hasn’t moved at all it seems, still laying down and still like a corpse. His whole body language doesn’t show much emotion and it’s slightly concerning.

Izuku unwraps the sandwich and offers to share, but Shouto turns it down again and then they just sit in silence because Izuku doesn’t know how to start another conversation and Shouto doesn’t seem to want one any way. He brings out his phone to check on the scoring instead, there are still about 10 more competitors to go and Izuku find his and Kacchan’s names at the top. Katsuki is first place by far and he is second.

“Hey, look, you’re still third. No one seems to get any higher score as of now…”

“Doesn’t matter now anyway.” Shouto sighs. He doesn’t show any feelings, but something about the way he lays there… just looks miserable. He doesn’t only not look content laying in the infirmary, he doesn’t look content about the whole evening.

“I’m sure once your ankle is better you will still be able to go to regionals. I mean, you clearly have the talent and put in the work, even while injured your pragram looked really good.”

“What do you know?” The scowl from earlier is back and the anger.

“Don’t you want to compete?” Izuku asks and Shouto doesn’t give an answer other than a frown. “Don’t you like skating?” He asks quietly.

“I hate it.” The poker face returns.

“Oh.” Is all Izuku can say and it’s silence again. This time it feels heavy and unpleasant, but Izuku fears that leaving the room isn’t the right move right now. Something about the way Todoroki Shouto said that…

Izuku loves skating, he loves everything about it, from the nervewracking competitions to the strenuous practice. He loves watching others skate just as much as doing it himself, he loves skating in the rink and he loves skating on a frozen lake in the coldest of winter. He loves the feeling of gliding across the ice, the cool air and the warm heart.

Izuku can’t imagine hating ice skating, he can’t imagine hating anything at all. But suddenly it clicks, Shouto stands under pressure. He stands under the heavy gaze of Todoroki Enji, a strict father and coach. Calling him strict might be an underestimate given he literally hit his son. Izuku doesn’t know the details, but he knows that Shouto’s relationship to ice skating is fractured and only build on expectations, not on love for the sport. He doesn’t know how to enjoy the ice like Izuku does.

And Izuku swears to himself that he will show Shouto that ice skating can be fun. It will be a long way, perhaps a difficult way too, but he swears that he will share his love, because Izuku won’t stand by something so elegant being tainted with one mans ruined pride. Because that’s what it is, Enji’s hurt pride from losing against Yagi over and over.

“You’re not supposed to be here anymore, Touya.” Shouto’s voice brings him back from the insides of his mind. Izuku turns to see the scarred man again.

“Guess what, I actually care about you. Don’t worry, the old man left.” Touya rolls his eyes and sits down heavily on the second chair in the room. He doesn’t acknowledge Izuku at all.

“He left?”

“Yep, back to the mansion. Fuyumi’s words.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Did you eat anything yet?” Touya asks leaning forward and Shouto just looks down on his lap, not answering. The older brother sighs and pulls out a food container from the plastic bag he carries. “I brought soba.”

He places it in Shouto’s hands, together with some chopsticks and takes a portion for himself as well. Very slowly Shouto moves to open the box to reveal plain noodles, no veggies and no meat. The same for Touya, who brings out a third container that holds sauce. And then the brothers just start slurping soba, completely unbothered and it’s such a funny sight that Izuku chuckles. That finally makes Touya notice him, he looks towards the corner that Izuku sits at.

“Huh. You again.” He says ominously.

“He’s babysitting, Chiyo’s orders.” Shouto deadpans and Izuku reddens out of perplexity.

“Well-“ Izuku looks down at the colorful ankle of the injured patient. “He’s not supposed to walk on that foot.”

“Clearly.” Touya gives his brother a disapproving look.

“May I ask, what did you mean by changing the program?” Izuku can’t help but let his curiosity win.

“Into something that would have been kinder to that damn ankle, though I still think you should have sat out this one anyway, Shou.”

“And live down fathers wrath? Easy for you to say, when you’re away.”

“I also said you should move in with me. Look, Enji fucking knows about it now anyway and he will wack your ass no matter what. You’re not a kid anymore, you can just walk away, Shou.” Izuku feels like a terrible intruder, but Touya only confirms what he already deduced from the short time that he met their father. This also feels like a conversation that he shouldn’t witness.

“I don’t want to move in with you and Keigo.”

“What’s your damn issue with Keigo, huh?!”

“He’s a government official.”

“No, he’s literally not. Even if, why would that be a problem! Shouto, I’m serious, I just want you out of that damn house and you’ll be free.” Izuku feels so out of place and he doesn’t know that full story behind this debate, but from what he can deduce with limited information… Izuku hates to meddle in problems that aren’t his because people hate that kind of behaviour, but if he deduced correctly, then he happens to have the solution for the problem.

“Uhm, sorry to interrupt, but you’re trying to move out? I just happen to look for a roommate and I live near campus, so…” He tries and looks from one brother to the next. It’s true, since Katsuki moved in with Eijirou he is in desperate need for a new roommate to cover rent. Ochako lives with her parents and doesn’t plan to move out and Tenya lives with his brother, so they are out of question. He almost thought about moving back in with his mom, but that would make the commute to the ice skating rink and classes almost two hours long, it would eat up his precious time and make him unable to work part-time. And Izuku doesn’t really know Shouto and he’s not quite comfortable living with a stranger, but he’s in a bit of a tough spot himself.

The brother look at him blankly, Touya turns towards Shouto after a few moments.

“Say yes.” He deadpans in the same tone that Shouto does.

“Yes.” Shouto says without further qualms, which- okay, that surprises Izuku so much that he nearly falls out of his chair. He only doesn’t because the piece furniture is very sturdy.

“Oh. Wow. I didn’t think it would be so easy.” He chuckles nervously.

“Well, make it effective immediately.”

“Immediately? Like, right now? Today?”

“Sure, if you can. I’m not letting Shouto go back to the fuckers mansion like this.” Touya gestures to his brother who scowls at him.

“Okay, uhm, I guess, I can do that. It’s close to here too. You know what, the award ceremony won’t be for another hour, we can even go now, if you want?” Izuku slightly regrets meddling, having found himself in a strange situation like this one now. But no other choice but go with the flow, right?

“Sure, then I can check this place out and leave with my mind at peace.” Touya says and starts packing away the trash after their little soba meal. “But you have to carry him, broccoli boy. I’m not allowed to go above grocery bag weight, doctor’s orders.”

“Oh, right, I’m Midoriya Izuku.” He hasn’t introduced himself and Touya wants Shouto to live with him? This is so strange.

“I can walk.” Shouto says stupidly.

“Maybe can, but you aren’t allowed! Hop on.” Izuku decides to go for a piggy bag instead of Kacchans bridal style. Shouto is surprisingly light, almost concerningly so. Izuku doesn’t comment on it.

“My stuff is still in the locker.”

“We can take a detour. I need my key from the locker anyway.”

And so Izuku ends up carrying an injured fellow figure skater all the way to his apartment, which is only 5 minutes away on foot, with his strange older brother in tow. And then he leaves those two strangers at his home, oh, his mother would kill him if she knew, to go back for the award ceremony. While all of this was happening, Katsuki and Izuku remained in 1^st and 2^nd place respectively and Shouto dropped down to place 7^th. Still in the top 10 but without the medal.

“Oh, look, bro. You don’t have to attend, lucky you!” Is what Touya said about that and Shouto nodded happily and said that he hated award ceremonies. No wonder, if he hates competitions and ice skating as a whole.

Izuku shakes his head, no time to think about this now. It’s a problem for later, once Shouto is ready to skate again, Izuku will show him how fun it can be. Right now he will let the brothers snoop around his place, with dread curling in Izuku’s stomach about how he’ll find the place when he returns.

“So you took the idiot home.” Kacchan greets him in the locker room, both are putting on their skates again.

“Yeah.” Izuku smiles awkwardly.

“Idiot.” His friend says and goes to enter the stadion.

The commentator is just starting to announce the 3^rd place, a second year student from UA. Once he steps on the podium, Izuku enters the rink. He smiles and waves and skates a round before stepping on the podium as well. Katsuki does the same afterwards with a proud and very Kacchan-like grin. They get their medals and take pictures and the rest of the ceremony passes in a bit of a blur. Izuku feels the exhaustion, the adrenaline finally went down completely, leaving him tired from the day. It’s also nearly midnight already, since he’s an early riser, he also goes to bed early.

But he won’t be able to fall asleep before resolving things with the brothers. Like how much the rent is and other details that usually take more then a single evening to discuss. This is so sudden and spontanious that Izuku’s brain isn’t catching up. Many people congratulate Izuku on the silver medal, some reporters snatch him away for a short interview after failing to do so with Katsuki. He does his best to involve himself in another conversation with them and then with his mom and friends and then with Yagi, who tells him that he should rest for tomorrow instead of going back to practice, then he exuses himself. He tells them that he’s tired and ready to crash, a valid exuse to skip out on anymore after-comp festives. Izuku showers and changes out of the costume before going back home and once he’s finally infront of that door again, he does a few deep breaths in anticipation of what will await him.

Izuku worried for nothing. Because Shouto is fast asleep on his couch and his mysterious brother has gone home, he won’t have to discuss anything tonight. So Izuku takes the sleeping figure skater on his couch as an example and passes away on his own bed after covering Shouto with a spare blanket, he doesn’t want his guest or roommate to catch a cold on his first night.

Izuku dreams of shining silver medals and blinding spotlight, of green and red and blue blobs skating on ice. Of a beautiful ice prince and his scary guard. Of someone trying to break into his apartment-

Wait, that’s actually not part of the dream anymore. He is rudely awaken by the ringing of his doorbell and incessant knocking and Izuku scrambles out of bed. He trips on his covers and then again on his bag that he forgot to put away yesterday and Shouto still looks to be deep asleep when he enters the living room. Izuku shakes his head with a sigh and finally reaches the door, he’s greeted by Touya and a blonde man standing right behind him.

“Morning. I brought some crutches and some of Shou’s stuff from the mansion.” He says and doesn’t wait to be welcomed inside. He just walks past Izuku with the crutches and a bag in tow. Which is very rude and very strange.

“Hi! Sorry about him, he’s just such an overprotective brother, you know?” The blonde man scratches his neck awkwardly and then they just stand there for a moment, watching each other just as awkwardly. It’s interrupted by Izuku’s yawn and at this point he guesses he could just let this guy in too. That’s some terrible survival instinct, but what else should he do? Stand there and wait?

“Well, come in, I guess.” He tries and the blonde does as told.

“Aww, how can he still sleep so soundly after that?!” He almost screeches after they reach the living room.

“Keigo!” Touya whisper-yelp and holds a finger to his mouth. He’s planted himself on the couch where Shouto’s leg are, which are now on Touya’s lap. And Izuku realizes that this is the Keigo that Shouto seems to dislike. He’s learning so many strange things lately…

“Well, what else brings you here?” He asks, because the other two guest making themselves comfortable in his living room just confuse him at this early hour. Izuku glances at the microwave clock, it’s only 7 am and he planned to sleep in for once, since there is no practice today and it’s the weekend.

“Oh, right, congrats on the silver medal!” Keigo jumps in enthusiastically.

“Thanks-“

“But that’s not what we’re here for.” Touya interrupts. “As you might have guessed, our family is quite messed up, so, I guess, thanks for housing my brother. I will pay his part of the rent, so don’t worry about that. But I also need to ask something else of you, Midoriya.”

“Okay. What is it?” Izuku asks after Touya takes a whole moment of silence. He checks if his sleeping brother is still asleep, which he is. Shouto is very much still out like a candle, not stirring at all. His sleeping face looks so calm and cute-

“You might have deduced that Shouto is being trained by our father. That involves almost every aspect of his daily life, our father pretty much controls everything. What I’m worried about, is that my brother won’t handle living on his own very well…” He looks pained to say it, still watching his sleeping brother. It’s kind of a rude thing to say with Shouto present and not present at once. “I’d preffer if he moved in with me.”

“But for some reason Shou-chan doesn’t like me!” Keigo butts in with a pout that a grown man shouldn’t be able to do.

“Yeah, so, you don’t have to babysit him, he’s 19 after all. But please watch out for him.” Touya looks very uncomfortable with asking that of Izuku and honestly, it just makes the whole thing weirder. Izuku doesn’t know this guy, now he’s suddenly his roommate and that on top of it all? But he feels bad for Shouto, it’s not quite pity, more like worry. Given the interaction he had with their father, Izuku can only assume how much worse that man is in private.

“Okay, I will. I’m sure we’ll get along.” He agrees and smiles, because even if he could get out of this still, Izuku doesn’t want to. And he promised himself that he will show Shouto the joys of figure skating, he will show him how fun it can be.  

Izuku’s guest stay until Shouto wakes up, which isn’t long after their conversation. He does a weird combo of facial expressions uppon seeing Keigo, which the blonde takes as a sign to leave, saying he will wait at the entrance. Shouto grumbles about the crutches and about waking up too soon, not a morning person it seems.

“Are you sure you don’t need them for the next weeks?” He asks when Touya rises from the couch, heavily supported by Shouto.

“I’ll be fine.” The older brother grunts and walks to the door while leaning on the wall. Izuku hasn’t noticed that before, but he remembers that Touya was quite slow on his feet yesterday as well. Before he can reach the door, he turns around once more and grins. “Good thing you’re off the ice for the month. I’ll take all your evening rink bookings.”

“Sure. Have fun. Bye.” Shouto says in that monotone voice and slumps back on the couch. Izuku finally sits down as well, up until now he was standing because his couch isn’t big enough to hold more than three grown men.

“He’s a figure skater too?” He asks.

“Was. Touya had to quit after his accident.”

“Oh.”

“He likes skating a lot, even though he can’t do any complex jumps anymore. You seem to like it too. Congratulations on your medal.” They sit in silence again, something Shouto doesn’t feel the need to fill and somehow Izuku doesn’t either.

“Do you want breakfast?” He asks after a while.

“Natto?” A flicker of hope flashes through the otherwise emotionless eyes.

“I probably have some natto. Rice too?” Izuku asks and Shouto nods, so he gets to preparing a simple breakfast at the kitchenette that is connected to his living room. Izuku also makes some fried eggs and miso soup, both of which Shouto declines politely. He slowly eats the rice and natto once it’s done, both silent again before Izuku interrupts it again.

“You didn’t need to sleep on the couch. The room next to mine will be yours, it’s a bit small though. But it has a proper bed, you know.”

“Oh. That’s fine.”

“The bathroom is opposite to that and then there is this living room. Nothing much, but enough for two people.”

“Okay. I should shower and unpack then.” Shouto says and hops away on one leg, the hallway is small enough that it’s possible.

In the meantime, after washing the dishes, Izuku busies himself with replying to the congratulations text he got on various social media platforms. His mom and Ochako also send him a couple photos from yesterdays freestyle and the award ceremony, some of which he has to cringe at. Izuku never viewed himself as the photogenic type, he doesn’t think he has the face for that like Katsuki does. But a few pictures are instagram worthy and he swiftly posts them on his page along with the one of him biting his silver medal and Katsuki with his gold medal next to him. It’s the same photo Katsuki posted just minutes ago, he tagged Izuku in it, claiming another win over his longtime rival.

Of course Kacchan also texts him that he will check up on the idiot in his home at some point today, his words not Izuku’s. He mentally prepares himself for another sudden door banging in the near future and then retreats to his room to study, leaving his door open. University doesn’t wait after all and UA is known for their demanding curriculum. Shouto also makes himself scarce, retreating to the second room and Izuku doesn’t hear from him until it’s lunch time. He doesn’t hear from him then either, but he takes the initiative to ask if he should cook for two.

“I’m not hungry.” Shouto replies and Izuku doesn’t question him any further. He prepares a healthier version of instant ramen for himself by adding an egg and veggies and turns on the anime he’s watching at the moment. Just as Izuku is about to sit down, the knocking at his door starts. Of course Kacchan would time his visit exactly when Izuku is about to consume a very not-Kacchan-approved meal. He’s not only a perfectionist in figure skating, but in the kitchen as well. Izuku sighs in defeat and lets his friend in, because he would just continue harrassing the door with his knocking if he didn’t.

“Where’s the idiot? Is that instant ramen?! You’re not doing yourself any favours! You need more nutrition and protein and vitamins.” Katsuki scolds him as soon as he sees the sin that is Izuku’s cooking, as he likes to call it.

“Hey, there’s an egg and veggies! Protein and nutrition!” Izuku deffends himself, but he knows that it’s futile. Today Katsuki seems to have another goal though and he lets the instant ramen slide.

“Where is IcyHot? Why aren’t you feeding your guest?” He scowls at the closed door that was his room once and Shouto’s room now.

“He didn’t want any and I’m sure Shouto can feed himself just fine.”

“Tch, right. He’s an idiot, he can’t cook for shit.”

“I can cook.” The subject of the discussion says as he appears in the living room suddenly, scaring Izuku because he didn’t hear the guy approach at all. Izuku wonders how he did that and Izuku wonders how Katsuki knows so much about someone he claims he’s not friends with.

“Noodles don’t count. If you want to heal that ankle then you need a proper meal and lucky for you, that’s what I’m here for. And don’t you dare disrespect my food!”

“Oh! What’re you making?” Izuku asks, instant ramen forgotten. Kacchans cooking is godly and Izuku doesn’t get the privilege to taste it as often anymore with him moved out.

“Nothing for you, that’s for sure. Choke on your sorry ramen excuse.”

“How mean, Kacchan!”

“Sorry not sorry.” Is all his blonde friend says before starting his aggressive cooking show, something Izuku is used to but Shouto eyes with dread. Izuku is slowly starting to read the poker face, if he looks closely enough, Shouto’s eyes always give him away.

“Kacchan’s cooking is very nice, don’t worry.” He tries, but Shouto doesn’t look convinced. “Maybe you should sit down and ice that ankle in the meantime?”

He hops to the couch on his good leg and Izuku takes out the ice pack from the freezer. Shouto obidiently places his foot high and the ice on top, while Izuku busies himself with finishing the ramen and accepting defeat about being unable to have Kacchan’s cooking instead.

“Do you know each other outside of the colliding practice sessions or…?” Izuku asks, because Katsuki cooking for a stranger? That’s unheard of. He’s also acting weird around Shouto for some reason.

“Icyhot won against me in high school a couple of times, you know, back when you didn’t do comps yet?” Katsuki grumbles.

“Oh, right. You were kinda pissed about that!”

“Damn right I was. But I can’t accept a worthy rival losing to a damn ankle injury.”

“I won gold at junior nationals when I was 15.” Shouto adds as if that wasn’t a huge achievement. Izuku genuinely doesn’t recall reading about him anywhere. But he wasn’t really into competitions at that point, he just liked to skate for himself and not in a competitive way.

“Really? How come I’ve never heard about that?”

“How should I know? It was all over the news, nerd!” Katsuki places a really good looking and good smelling serving of Oyakodon infront of Shouto and takes another one for himself. If only Izuku hadn’t made that ramen… Now he’s left sandwiched between the other two on his tiny couch and pouting at his loss. “Stop being dramatic, Izuku! Eat up, IcyHot!”

“You could just call me Shouto.” He says while eyeing the Oyakodon suspiciously. He just holds the bowl in both hands, gaze far away. Shouto still hasn’t taken any bite when Katsuki nearly finished his serving and it’s starting to worry Izuku, because logically he should be hungry and happy to be presented such a nice meal. He’s an athlete like they are and ice skating is strenious, but Shouto only had a small serving of soba for dinner and almost no breakfast. Izuku thinks back to what his brother said, about their father being controlling and it clicks, because of course Enji would control Shouto’s food intake as well. It’s not uncommon in figure skating that athletes take on intense diets to fit a certain mold, a certain body type and Shouto is slender and light for his height. Izuku hates to assume, but the warning signs make him assume the worst. Katsuki seems to have caught on even before him, having struggled with food himself in the past as well. Right, that’s what this whole cooking session is about and Izuku is the social buffer.

“Hey, Shouto, this might look like a lot, but it’s safe to eat. It’s rice and egg and chicken, no extra oils or anything. Just nutrition that your body needs. You can eat.” It stirrs Shouto from the depths of his mind and he lifts his chopsticks, before hesitating again.

“It’s too much.” He says.

“Then eat only what you can and leave the rest for later. Or, you can put away some now?” Because then the bowl won’t look so full and intimidating. And there will be less shame with leaving leftovers. Shouto nods and Izuku takes the bowl from him to do just that, he puts about a third into a reusable container and closes it. Then he arranges the Oyakodon in the bowl like Katsuki did before and brings it back, it’s less and it doesn’t look so heavy anymore. “Better?”

Shouto contemplates over it for another moment and then nods, finally taking the first bite of the now cooled down meal. Katsuki and Izuku share a knowing look, which proves that Katsuki deffinitely knew something was up. He must have, because like Izuku he ran to find Shouto after his freestyle last night. He saw the injured ankle from afar and the warning signs about a clearly unhealthy coach-athlete and father-son relationship. Izuku got himself into something way deeper than just a new roommate. It’s sad, how much one greedy man can ruin another boy’s life like that. No wonder Shouto hates skating.

“Thank you for the meal.” Shouto says after finishing everything, Izuku’s tactic worked out because eating some is better than eating nothing and he’s pretty sure that Shouto would have skipped lunch otherwise.

Katsuki collects the dishes and washes up even after protests from Izuku that he doesn’t have to. He doesn’t stay for long after and that leaves Izuku alone with his new roommate again, who is still very quiet and unwilling to converse, only answering Izuku’s questions without an input of his own accord. But Izuku finds out that he has two more siblings, another older brother and sister. He majors in business because he didn’t know what else to study and also partly because of his fathers wishes, of course. He likes Yagi Toshinori’s old skating videos a lot more than Enji’s and Touya shares his love for cold soba. Not much, but it’s a work in progress, this getting to know each other.

“Oh! Right, I almost forgot, but I need to give you the spare key. Our schedules probably don’t align that well.” That genuinely slipped his mind with how spontanious this roommate thing was. “Honestly, I’m pretty much out the whole day from Monday to Friday… I have practice in the morning, then lectures at noon and I work in the evening, sometimes there is team practice in the evenings too.”

“I would usually have training in the evening, but that’s not happening for a whole month…” Shouto mumbles. And Izuku gets an idea, something that might actually bring his plan to get Shouto to like ice skating forward even before he can step on the ice again.

“Hmm, would you want to watch my practice in the morning? You’ll probably get bored if you stay here the whole time. Or do you have morning lectures?”

“Only on Monday and Thursday.”

“You could just come along on the other days, if you want!”

“Okay.” Shouto agrees and it’s settled. Izuku will show him how training looks like with Yagi, from the tiny glimps he got of Enji, it might be very different and a lot more enjoyable than what Shouto is used to.

“Great! Well, it actually starts with a morning run, but you don’t have to join that. I’ll just pick you up on the way back at 7:30, that’s not too early for you, right?”

“It should be fine.” His poker face has quick flicker of something akin to shock, definitely not a morning person then. Izuku snickers.

For the rest of the day both retreat to their respective rooms, both have some assignments and studying to get done. Izuku also calls his mom to tell her about the very sudden appearance of a new roommate, which somehow calms her worry and starts it up again, because now Izuku won’t have to worry about rent, but he also lets someone who is pretty much a stranger live with him. Izuku assures her that Shouto is not a douche and that they are getting along well so far, but he can totally understand her concern, given how sudden and strange the situation is. Ochako and Tenya scold him next over text about the same thing, but Tenya tells him that he shares a few business lectures with Shouto and that he looks like a decent guy. Izuku doesn’t tell them that he hadn’t had any doubts about that because they would call him out for trusting people too easily and having survival instincts of a broccoli. That’s exactly how Ochako would say it, out of obvious reasons.

Izuku makes himself a quick dinner and Shouto reheats Katsuki’s leftovers and then they watch a movie together. To Izuku’s ever present dread when it comes to what else he would find out about Todoroki Enji, Shouto doesn’t know many movies because he wasn’t allowed to watch any as a child. So Izuku makes it another personal assignment to introduce Shouto to the world of Marvel. They watch the first Iron Man movie and after that the Incredible Hulk, to which Shouto seems to be falling asleep to at the last few minutes of the movie and Izuku takes it as a sign to retreat into their rooms and their beds. His new roommate liked Iron Man, so he takes that as a win because the following movies are definitely better.

Like every day, Izuku wakes up at 6:30 the next morning and prepares a small breakfast to energize before his run, leaving some of it for after the run. He leaves the apartment 30 minutes later to do his 5 km circle around the district and returns at around 7:30. Shouto seems to have just woken up, if the crazy bed head is anything to by, the two hair colors are all messed up in the middle. He’s performing some morning stretches in the living room, still half asleep though.

“Good morning!” Izuku says and fills a glass with water. He prepares another portion of second breakfast for himself. “The rice in the cooker is fresh. Do want me to leave you some tamagoyaki too?”

“Morning. Yes, please.”

“Allright, feel free to take and use anything else in the kitchen. I gotta go again, bye!”

Izuku grabs his bag where his skates are safely placed inside as well as some workout clothes and he lightly jogs to the stadion. Yagi will come in later and Izuku does some stretches and leisurely rounds around the rink to warm up, a few single jumps too. He’s already preparing his next program, he had some ideas for it last week, but no time to discuss them with his coach and he needs to ask if Shouto watching their training is actually fine with him. He’s pretty sure that Yagi won’t have any qualms about it, because his coach loves helping people out just as much.

The blonde man arrives in a thick winter coat, ever since his cancer treatment a few years ago he had trouble keeping warm. His body isn’t the same as it used to be, there’s no muscle mass to show off like Enji has. But his smile is bright as ever.

“Sorry for my tardiness, young Midoriya. Did you rest well yesterday?”

“Yup! Very much so.”

“Great! I gotta ask though, is it true that Todoroki’s son is now living with you?”

“Word travels fast, huh? Yes, Shouto is my new roommate. Yagi, I actually wanted to ask if you know anything about Todoroki Enji’s family?”

“My rival… You know, I never saw him as a rival, just as a fellow competitor? Enji is quite intense of character, similar to young Bakugou. All I know is that he wants his kids to surpass him, since he couldn’t surpass me.” Yagi sighs. “I fear that he has taken that greed into his training regimen.”

“Shouto said that he hates skating. I think it’s because of his father…”

“Sadly, I think you might be right with that.”

Yagi agrees to having Shouto watch their training as well as Izuku’s plan to show him how fun ice skating can be. Izuku hasn’t thought about how Shouto’s escape might affect his whole skating career and it’s honestly not his problem to tackle, but he is part of the reason for it. Shouto basically quit his fathers training with this move, even with the forced month long break he might not return to the competition without a coach. The only way he could still do so is by joining UA’s figure skating team, another goal on Izuku’s growing list of how to make Shouto hate the sport less and maybe even making him fall in love with it. If he wasn’t invested a 100% before, he definitely is now.

The rest of the Monday passes terribly slow, especially his shift at the convenience store has Izuku watching the clock tick in slow motion. But he does it all for the money and Izuku can’t complain about this workplace too much, there are many much worse jobs. It’s pretty convenient to be able to go grocery shopping at work, saves Izuku the extra way. This time he picks up some more natto with his usual items, since Shouto seems to like it.

His roommate is lounging on the couch when Izuku returns at 8:30 pm and it looks like he started watching Iron Man 2, Izuku mentally pats his shoulder for being such a good influence.

“Did you have dinner?” He asks.

“Touya brought some bentos earlier. Yours is in the fridge.”

“Oh, that’s nice, say thanks for me.” It means no cooking tonight, a nice surprise that Izuku misses since Katsuki moved out. He heats the food up a little and changes into some comfy clothes before taking his place on the couch. “How’s the second movie?”

“I like it, better than the first one.” Shouto says and they watch in silence until the credits start playing.

“You’re still up for tomorrow, right? Joining me at practice?”

“Yes. But not joining, only watching.” Shouto points to his foot that is propped up on the coffee table.

“Yeah, that’s what I meant. Another movie or sleep?”

They chose another movie over sleep which Izuku regrets only a little the next morning. He needs at least 7 hours to function and 8 is always better. But the morning run wakes him up enough to face the day and he shares a second breakfast with Shouto after before they leave for the stadion. It’s a bit slower with his companion walking on crutches, but they still make it before 8.

“Allrighty, I think you can just sit whereever. I’ll start with stretching over there.”

After that, Izuku warms up on the ice with a couple single jumps. He watches Shouto engage in a conversation with Yagi, which is probably just his coach asking questions and him answering. Since they still seem busy enough, Izuku takes the initiative to do some jumping drill, starting with singles then doubles then triples. Just for the fun of it he skates some round in between, backwards and forwards, adding some spins here and there. This is a jumping drill with added fun, he calls it, because jumping over and over would be boring. It’s also how he collects ideas for his next program, Izuku still hasn’t decided on the music, but he has some ideas about what jumps he wants to include for sure.

After about an hour Yagi calls him to do some strength training off the ice and Shouto seems to have left for his classes. Izuku is sure though that he got to show how training doesn’t have to be rigorously disciplined. From what he knows about Todoroki Enji, he probably makes Shouto do jumping drills until he falls over. It’s just a guess, but even Touya said that he’s a verycontrolling man and that must mean he controls his sons training from start to finish. Yagi doesn’t do that, he gives Izuku guidance and the freedom to chose what he wants to do in his program. Izuku’s practice sessions are strenious because he himself puts the work in, not because someone else forces him to. And he hopes he got to show that today, just like he showed off his hard work at the competition.

“Coach Yagi is very nice. My father lied about Yagi being malicious.” Shouto says that evening, once they sit down with dinner and ready to watch another Marvel movie.

“Really? Is that what Enji said?” Izuku thinks it’s ridiculous. Yagi couldn’t hurt a fly and even back when he was an active skater, he faced his competitors with respect and awe. His gold medals were deserved, every single one of them.

“He really dislikes Yagi Toshinori. I don’t get why, Yagi was objectively better than him. But he can’t accept that.”

“Well… I don’t think your father would like to hear that. But there is a reason why Yagi always scored higher, just from my analytical point of view, Enji really liked technicality but he lacked in rhythm. He focused too much on complex jumps and too little on the music. Yagi skated to the music and did complex jumps, he put on a show and a smile. You do get points for that in figure skating too, it’s not only who does the most impressive jump, the in between components matter too.”

“You’re right. You’re really good at the inbetween too, Izuku.” Shouto nods and gives him a tiny, tiny smile. Izuku feels himself blush. So he did notice that, huh? He gets compliments like this from his mom and friends and coach, even from the media, but something about the way Shouto said it… A warm feeling spreads in Izuku’s chest and he smiles.

“Thanks. You’re good at it too, I’m sure your father doesn’t focus on that in training, but you’re really elegant on the ice, Shouto.”

“You’re right, he only focuses on technics. But I learned the other things from Touya.”  

“Oh, do you skate together sometimes?” Izuku asks. Touya is quite a mystery and Izuku looked the name up just a few hours earlier. There isn’t much to read about him, but there are a few videos of him skating at nationals. He won gold 10 years ago at his first and only nationals, before the accident. Touya dominated over his competitors in every aspect and his program was awe inspiring. After the accident he was never heard of again in the figure skating scene, not in competitions at least. Izuku also looked up Shouto’s gold medal program, strangely enough there isn’t much media cover on him though. He has quite a different style than his brother, but it’s also evident why he won the junior nationals. Both of them are great figure skaters.

“Not often. We do on nights when father is otherwise occupied, Touya isn’t on good terms with him.” Shouto says and Izuku thinks about how that can forward his plan. Clearly the family dynamic is based on fragile relationships, but if Shouto were to look up to his brother more than to his father, then that might just turn out better for Izuku’s plan to show him the fun in skating. Because Touya seems to do it for the fun too.

“I would love to see your brother skate sometime.”

“Why?”

“I’m just curious. And he seems to really like skating too, he was very excited to take your booked sessions at the rink.” Izuku says. Shouto looks at the clock on the microwave.

“He’s probably at the stadion right now. My training is usually from 7 to 10.”

“Oh! Are you implying we could go sneak up on him?!”

“I wasn’t implying… I guess, we could do that though.” Shouto mumbles.

“Lets go!” Izuku hops up, movie forgotten. He snatches his bag with his skates after contemplating if he should take them and meet Shouto at the door, already ready with the crutches in hand. They reach the stadion in no time, Izuku lives really close after all.

“What does this ‘sneaking up’ imply?” Shouto asks with a serious face that makes Izuku snort.

“Exactly what you think it does, we will watch him from afar so he doesn’t notice us at first and later we will make ourselves known.” Izuku grins, he played this game with Kacchan a bunch of times. Sneaking up on his training and waiting to see when he will notice. Katsuki would always blow a fuse when Izuku managed to watch him for more than 15 minutes.

Sneaking up on crutches isn’t so easy though and Shouto tries his hardest to not make them clack on the floor each time. They manage to get to the entrence to the rink either way, Izuku chose one that is higher in the stands and less well illuminated. They should be fine just sitting down to watch, because it’s really not that visible from the ice itself.

And sure enough, Touya is on the ice skating, but there is another person too. Keigo, Izuku notices and watches intently. They aren’t doing much right now, just slow rounds hand in hand. Huh. They look awfully lot like a couple.

“Ugh, they are doing couple stuff again.” Shouto huffs from his right.

“Are they a couple…?” Izuku asks and sees Shouto nod from his periphery. That makes sense, Touya did say that Keigo and him live together. Just then Keigo skates up infront of Touya and turns around to face him, holding both hands now and the blonde skating backwards. They also seem to be talking about something and Izuku and Shouto are too fare away to hear, but he feels awfully lot like intruding on a date or something. Maybe sneaking up wasn’t such a good idea after all.

The couple speeds up and now both are skating backwards in sync, then they turn around in sync and spin in sync. Everything is synchronised and Izuku keeps on watching in awe, it feels like witnessing something intimate that is not meant for outside eyes. Izuku can’t look away though, they aren’t even doing anything crazy, but it looks so effortlessly elegant. Even with both wearing casual clothes, jeans and hoodies. Then they do a jump in sync, but Touya stumbles and Keigo is immediatelly by his side to stabilize him.

“You said he couldn’t do jumps anymore?”

“He really shouldn’t. Hypocrite.”

Right, Touya is the one who told Shouto to go easy on his injured ankle and Izuku doesn’t know how much that accident affected the man really, but he knows it’s something about his legs. The way he had trouble walking the other day. Touya is leaning on Keigo as they both return to a slower pace, but it looks like they are arguing quietly over something. Nothing serious though, since they spin each other around next and then go back to skating rounds hand in hand, backwards, forwards, on one leg.

“Looks like they are having fun. After 15 minutes they still haven’t noticed us.” Izuku glances at the digital clock at the side of the rink.

“Looks like a date.” Shouto makes that slightly horrified face again, though it’s really subdued with his poker face still mostly in place.

“Just what I said, fun!” Izuku laughs.

The couple skate to the rink exit and sit down for a drink of water. It’s Keigo who finally notices the two spies in the stands and Izuku sees him nudge Touya, who then looks straight at them. Even from the distance his frown is visible, while Keigo just laughs. Shouto and Izuku look at each other sheepishly and make their way down towards the couple.

“How long did you watch us, sneaky little brats?” Touya grumbles once they’re in hearing distance.

“About 20 minutes. I thought you said not to jump on injured feet, Touya-ni.”

“Good thing I’m not injured then. And singles aren’t really jumps.” The brother stare at each other intenly, but Keigo jumps in before an argument can take place, if that’s even what this was. They have a strange realationship, Touya and Shouto.

“Hey, we were very careful and I wouldn’t let Touya hurt his pretty legs ever!” He blows a kiss towards his boyfriend who rolls his eyes, but smiles anyway.

“It’s quite rude to intrude on our date. I thought this stadion is off limits for you now, Shouto.” He grins smugly at his younger brothers shock.

“Skating is off limits, I can go here whenever I want though.” Shouto crosses his arms, he always shows the most emotions with Touya, Izuku noticed.

“I’m so sorry for crashing your date.” He bows to hide his embarrassingly red face, because something about this version of Shouto just makes Izuku blush like crazy. What’s gotten into him?

“Oh, don’t worry your pretty little head about it! Did you like the exclusive show at least? Two retired champions, back on the ice, who would have guessed that?!” Keigo butts in dramatically and Izuku looks up. So Keigo was a figure skater too? Izuku seems to have said that out loud because Touya speaks again.

“Tch. Of course you’re too young to have witnessed the golden boy Hawks.”

“Hey, please cross that words out of your vocabulary! Ugh. Just like Touya here, I won gold at nationals too once.”

“And then he went and sued his coach, it was a huge scandal some years ago.”

“Yeah, yeah, but I won the damn lawsuit and we don’t speak about it, no more! Cross it out of your mind!” Keigo does an overexagerated X with his arms. Izuku will look his name up later, sue him for being curious like that. “Anyway, is there something you wanted? Or why did ya play spies?”

“It was Izuku’s idea. He wanted to watch Touya skate.” Shouto, that traitor.

“Yeah? Seen anything interesting?” The older brother smirks and leans back on the bench.

“Well, Shouto and I were talking about how the points are distributed in figure skating and it’s not just technical for complex jumps. The performance in between, the components are just as important, something your father lacked but both of you don’t and Shouto said you taught him some and I just wanted to see for myself…” Izuku mutters on nervously as Touya is scrutinizing him with his intense ocean blue eyes.

“I talked to Yagi Toshinori today. He’s Izuku’s coach.”

“Ah, right, the old mans rival. Guess you noticed how much bullshit our sperm donor spouts then?” That’s some really condecenting language, but Shouto did say his brother pretty much hates their father.

“I knew that before too, but more now.” Shouto nods diligently.

“You see, Izuku Midoriya, I wouldn’t have won that gold medal back then if I was only trained by my father. I went against his wishes and I did whatever I wanted in training, I didn’t listen to him. And when it still paid off, he was livid. Because I earned that medal without going the path he wanted me to. I would have won many more, but he was the one who fucked up driving a car with his mood swings and landed me in a damn coma, 3 fucking years of life lost and 3 more stuck in physical therapy, learning to walk again. Ruining my dream forever.” He conveys it with such a straight face that it makes Izuku shiver, the hatred for Todoroki Enji seems to seep out of Touya’s whole body. It feels like a forbidden truth, a gaze into this broken family that Izuku shouldn’t be able to have. It feels planned, because Touya wants Izuku to see the horrible truth. He wants everyone to see it, but no one would believe him. Izuku does believe it though, the proof sits right infront of him and stands next to him, two people who were hurt by one man’s impossible ambitions.

“Well, but comps aren’t everything and right now we’re happy to just skate for fun, right?” Keigo breaks the pressuring silence like a saint, smiling at his boyfriend who’s frown slowly lifts again.

“Sometimes, skating is easier than walking.” He admits. The couple enters the ice again and Izuku watches them for some more. It’s like they’re in another universe, the heavy piece of information that was just dropped still hanging in the air, but Touya and Keigo don’t seem to care. And Izuku is now even more involved than before, what has meddling gotten him into?

Izuku and Shouto leave before the timeslot ends, they postpone watching Captain America and go straight to bed. Or Izuku tries at least, because the compulsion to look up Keigo is stronger. He finds the scandal that happened 8 years ago, Keigo suing the Athletic Commission for child traficking and abuse. The whole lawsuit has been made public and the Commission is no more because of it. He doesn’t know what’s worse, Touya’s background or Keigo’s, but it doesn’t matter much. What matters is that all of this could have ruined ice skating for both of them, but it didn’t. They still skate because they love it. Shouto can have that too, he can learn to love skating because no one should hate what they do, Izuku thinks and sinks into dreamland.

The following two weeks Shouto and Izuku arranged themselves in their new living situation and found a routine that fits them both. Izuku makes breakfast, Shouto tries to cook dinner. It usually ends up a bit burned or too salty, but Izuku finds he doesn’t mind too much. Being in control of the food seems to put Shouto at ease and he even admits that he has trouble with food one evening, the reason for it is obvious. Todoroki Enji paid them a visit that week and Izuku feared he might tear up the apartment, that’s how angry the man was. Luckily the conversation was quite civil, allthough it was nervewracking. Izuku didn’t think Shouto would manage it, but he told his father that he’s quitting being trained by him and that he won’t return to his mansion. It took a lot out of his roommate, who spend the rest of the day in a disassociative state after Enji left. He bounced back after a few days and coming clear with his father seemed to have had a great effect on his future mental health. The boundary was set, Todoroki Enji will no longer control Shouto’s life.

Shouto goes to practice with Izuku and Yagi engages him in conversation whenever he does, and somehow that as well as the movie nights make his roommate open up to Izuku a little more each day. There is a lot to discover behind Shouto’s cold façade, he is witty and has this special sense of humor. He is prone to believe the craziest conspiracy theories and Izuku finds out that that’s the reason why he is suspicious of Keigo. It makes laugh so hard the first time he hears it, because Shouto genuinely thinks that Keigo is a government spy and he backs it up with the craziest evidence. It’s hilarious and absolutely absurd.

Izuku also managed to infect Shouto with his nerdy love for Marvel, they are almost done with the Phase Three of the Infinity Saga after two weeks. With Shouto caught up like that, Izuku finally has the chance to share his own theories on the Marvel universe up to that point and he is delighted that Shouto doesn’t mind. Not only does he not mind Izuku’s rambling, he also engages with it! Katsuki never does that, even though he’s a Marvel nerd too.

By week three of living together Izuku feels like he might go crazy. He has developed a huge crush on Shouto. And Izuku doesn’t get a lot of crushes, not really and certainly never on another guy before. But these are some romantic feelings and butterflies brewing in his tummy, the same ones that were there for Ochako in high school. He was very much in love with his best friend and they dated for a while, but the feeling changed to something more akin to friendship later. Right now though, he thinks that he’s in love with his roommate and it’s frightning and distracting.

“I feel like there is something on your mind. You keep stumbling and falling on jumps that I know you could do with your eyes closed, young Midoriya.” His coach scolds him after another mess up, luckily on a day when Shouto has morning lectures and isn’t here to witness this. It’s bad, with the competition coming next week.

“Yeah… about that…” Izuku hesitates, because certainly this isn’t something to talk with his coach about. Yagi probably doesn’t have any advice either, being a happily single all his life.

“It’s allright, you don’t have to tell me. Lets do some strength training instead, but promise me you’ll talk this out with your friends or mom or whoever will help you focus again.”

So Izuku does just that, he calls Ochako and they meet at a coffee shop near campus.

“I had a feeling this might happen!” She says after taking a sip of her tea.

“How come?!” Izuku blushes and hides behind his hands.

“First of all, he’s exactly your type.” An embarrassing squeak escapes his lips. “Also, I knew you swing both ways! You won’t admit it, but you were madly in love with Shinsou all throughout our third year.”

“You’re imagining things.”

“You totally couldn’t stop staring at him whenever he entered the room.”

“Not true!”

“Okay, back on topic!” Ochako grins mischeviously. “I know for a fact that you might have a solid chance with this one.”

“How?” Izuku watches her with wide eyes.

“Well, we kind of talked about guys and stuff on our last girls night and I mentioned your new roommate. Mina actually knows Shouto, even though he wasn’t at our high school. That’s because he dated Hanta for a short while, who’s one of Mina’s besties, so he’s definitly into guys too.”

“Oh. That’s good to know. Not that I would ever ask him out-“

“Zuku, you totally should ask him out!”

“No, no, he’s totally out of my league and this would make everthing awkward-“

“First of all, you really don’t have to worry about league stuff. You’re handsome and personality wise a total sweetheart.” He was blushing before, he’s a tomato now. “And if it’s awkward then that’s because Shouto’s awkward!”

“Well, that’s kinda true…” Izuku mutters.

“Maybe wait until after your comp though? Then take him out on a date! How about a public ice rink? There’s an open air one near the city center, I think seeing a bunch of casual people ice skating might be refreshing for both of you.”

“Huh, that’s great advice. I think I might actually do it. Yeah, I’ll ask him out after the comp. I need to clear my head before that though, I’ve been of my game lately…”

“This calls for a distraction then! Let me share all the other gossip-“

Izuku pushes his feeling down the rest of the week until the competition day. He doesn’t ask Shouto out just yet, but he asks if he will come watch the comp. Shouto would have ben part of it too, but obviously his ankle is still tender and he doesn’t have a coach anymore with cutting contact to his father. Asking him to join the UA team instead is a whole other thing Izuku has yet to do, but today he will focus on his program only and push everything else into the background. He needs to defend that silver medal, it has awakend some competitive spirit in him for the past weeks of preperation.

This time a few other competitors went before him already and Izuku warms up in anticipation. He’s skating to a classical piece today, Danse Macabre in G minor, which has a nice rhythm going on and a theme fitting the season, as Halloween is around the corner. Izuku is wearing a simple white top and black pants this time, neutral colors because it’s actually not that easy to find something that doesn’t clash horrible with his hair, as Ochako likes to say.

He shakes out his trembling, sweaty hands as he skates down the ice and wonders if the nervousness will get any less the more he competes. Izuku hopes so, but he thinks it won’t. He’s always been prone to anxiety and this stage anxiety is nothing new. He finds the middle of the rink and places his feet accordingly. One more deep breath and the music starts.

Just like the other month, his program passes in a blur as instinct takes over and Izuku moves to the music like the skelettons at midnight, just how Camille Saint-Saëns imagined it while composing this piece. He implements the rickety movements with intent, an act befitting the music of choice. His jumps are neat with one complex sequence, but Izuku focused a bit more on the components in between with this program, something he hopes the judges will notice.

He holds the finishing pose for a moment and bows before exiting the rink where his coach is waiting for him again.

“Awesome, gold medal worthy even.” He praises and Izuku laughs, because this was fun. He’s content with the performance he put on and the audience is too, if their loud clapping and whistling is anything to go by. He glances towards the score board and sure enough, the 1^st spot is his. Though Katsuki might beat him again when his turn comes.

But he doesn’t, Izuku stays first by only a single point more than Katsuki, who stumbles on one of his jumps this time. It was an especially complex one, a risky choice to do in competition, but Katsuki likes to take that risk. And Izuku can’t stop smiling while receiving his first gold medal, because Kacchan was right, it feels awesome to have that around his neck. It means the adrenaline high is still going when Izuku finally meets up with his coach, friends and mom again, everyone swarming and congratulating him feels a bit unreal.

And then there is Shouto and if Izuku didn’t know him, he’d think he was indifferent. But there is a slight upturn of his lips indicating a smile, because he saw how much fun Izuku had with this program and how happy he is now. He told him once, that he’s jealous of that feeling, because he never had a lot of fun while skating. And that he’s happy for Izuku being able to enjoy what he does. And Izuku blames it on the elated feeling that the gold gave him and the adrenaline high that still has him going wild, he runs up to his roommate and does something very impulsive.

“May I take you out on a date, Shouto?” Izuku asks while hilding his friends hands. His heart feels like it’s trying to beat itself out of his chest every second that Shouto doesn’t reply, because this seems to have made the wires in his head work on overdrive. Izuku can see him trying to make sense of what he was just asked, he is a bit slow with that sometimes and Izuku doesn’t usually mind, but right now it is nervewracking.

“Yes, I would like that.” He finally says and smiles an ever tiny bit wider, which isn’t much, but it’s clearly visible in his eyes. Izuku smiles wider too.

“Wonderful! We will talk out the details later, okay?”

“Sure.”

A lot of people want to talk to Izuku at the award ceremony and his social battery is draining fast. He gets why Katsuki hates talking to the media now, they ask the strangest questions sometimes. This is a competition between universities, nothing huge like the nationals or olympics and still journalists swarm the top 3 skaters because they are the main attraction, so Izuku indulges them until he’s to tired to anymore. Then he hides away in the locker room together with Kacchan.

“Good game.” His childhood friend says. “Next time I’ll win again.”

“Sure, looking forward to it!”

Izuku says goodbye to his mom and friends and then Shouto and him go home together, Shouto without the crutches after the doctor cleared him last week. They walk in silence and Izuku is slowly coming down from his high with the cool evening air.

“I was thinking, we could go to the public ice rink in the city center, since your ankle is fine again.” He says after a moment of contemplation.

“Okay, I’d like that.” Shouto replies and Izuku bounces a bit in excitement. This couldn’t have gone any better, he mentally thanks Ochako once again. It also seems like after a month long break and watching Izuku all throughout, Shouto itches to be on the ice again, if Izuku read him right. He had this longing gaze the last time he watched Izuku skate in training. He definitely doesn’t hate ice skating as much anymore as he claimed to, Izuku is sure of that. Shouto absolutely needed this break and to get away from the toxic training regimen of his father.

The date happens the following week and before that Shouto tested the ice at one of Izuku’s training sessions. Of course someone who skated nearly his whole life wouldn’t forget that skill, but he wanted to test if his foot really felt alright. And on Saturday they went to the public ice rink together. Both in casual clothing, Izuku in a cream colored hoodie and jeans and Shouto in a cream colored cardigan, also paired with jeans. The color coding was completely accidental and made them grin once they saw it.

“I’m a little scared of bumping into kids.” Shouto says once they enter the rink.

“Yeah, they’re wild! But I think we can dodge them alright.” Izuku laughs. The rink is pretty busy at this time of the day and there are a bunch of people struggling not to slip, but also some who show off their skills. “Wanna show off a little too?”

Shouto moves to the middle where there are less people and does a layback spin with ease. Some of them stop to watch and clap, as he transitions into a catch and the biellman flawlessly. Izuku gives a thumbs up when the spin ends and plays copycat, doing exactly the same before making the spin longer by switching into yet another position.

“So that’s how it will go, huh? I’m on.” Shouto copies Izuku. They play this game for long enough to make a small crowd gather around, some of which recognized Shouto from his junior nationals win. Izuku notices that his date starts feeling uncomfortable with the attention and butts in.

“They won’t notice us if we act like casual people.” He says after the crowd moves on and then they do just that, skate around the rink in a slow pace and blend in with the people.

“That’s nice, without the pressure.” Shouto admits. “I was thinking of quitting skating for some time now, but I think I will only quit competions.”

“Oh, so you don’t hate it anymore?”

“No, I don’t think I hated skating. I hated everything around it though.”

“That makes sense. It’s a good decision, you don’t have to win medals or do comps. You can just skate for fun!” Izuku smiles wide and Shouto returns it with his own small one, which on him equals a big one. Mission accomplished, Izuku thinks. He wanted Shouto to join UA’s team too, but that would just make him controlling like Enji was. Shouto learning to like skating just for what it is, is a great outcome too. He mentally pats his shoulder.

“Yes, I think, I might actually like ice skating now. Thank you, Izuku.” Shouto says and the weight his words hold feels special. Izuku tucks them away in his heart and finds that this is just the beginning of a new story that has yet to be written.