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“What are you looking at, Half n’ Half?”
Mismatched eyes blink, boring into Katsuki’s own red glare.
“I do not understand. I’m obviously looking at you,” Todoroki says evenly.
Sputtering, the explosive blonde points a finger at his classmate. “Well, you look stupid.”
“I don’t think I look any different than any other day. This is just my face.”
“Yeah, and your pretty boy face is stupid!”
Katsuki can’t be sure, because it’s fucking Icyhot for crying out loud, but he thinks he catches something flash in the dual user’s typically emotionless face.
“Fuck, why am I even talking to you?” The blonde shoulders past the other student as he stalks out of the locker room.
During their individual quirk training, he can feel the fucker’s eyes burning into his back. What’s his deal?
The next morning, Todoroki is uncharacteristically early to class. Katsuki halts in the doorway as he scowls at the teen’s terrible split red and white hair, tangled and sticking up in every direction. It’s obvious that he wasn’t fully awake while getting ready for the day in attempts to arrive before the other students.
“Good morning, Bakugou. If you don’t mind me asking but, why are you looking at me?”
“What kind of idiotic shit load of a question is that?”
He’s met with another one of the bastard’s slow blinks, blue and gray disappearing beneath thick lashes before reappearing to meet his gaze.
“The fuck is wrong with you, Icyhot?”
“Have you been going through extra training?”
“Obviously. I haven’t deviated once from my schedule since my conception.”
“Oh.”
Katsuki stares at Todoroki’s blank face.
Todoroki stares at Katsuki's livid expression.
“Are you fucking with me?” The blonde explodes.
“Woah there, man. Calm down.” Kirishima casually swings an arm around his friend’s neck and pulls him into the classroom.
If they were still first years, Katsuki would have blasted someone by now, but he’s matured, he’s chill, he can totally be fucking calm.
“Whatever, Shitty Hair.” He reaches up to bat the redhead away, but the teen retreats without any prompting, chuckling in his easy, carefree way.
Katsuki knows Todoroki is watching, but he can’t seem to muster up enough of a fuck to address it any further.
Ever since returning to UA as third years, the air around Todoroki has been different. Directly following the war, their class could barely stand being away from each other for too long, their first year of high school being an expert display of trauma bonding. They all decided to move back into the dorms for their second year attending the school. Katsuki of course came to that decision of his own accord. It definitely had nothing to do with caring about any of those extras.
Katsuki has never been that close to Todoroki, but there are times that he welcomes the teen’s company, sometimes feeling overwhelmed whenever someone stares at the scar over his heart for too long. He stopped taking his shirt off in front of people. Or guilty as he watched the last embers of One for All leave Izuku’s body. The nerd acted like Katsuki’s resurrection was worse, as if trauma is something that can be compared. Or burdened when his name is listed in an article or discussed in the media. Sometimes it’s nice to be around someone who doesn’t try to accommodate his new limitations or push him to be open about his emotions or expect him to be anything more or anything less than what he is. Sometimes it’s relaxing to sit in silence and simply not have to think about looking too weak or overexerting himself or being too angry or not feeling enough. He doesn’t want others to be concerned about him. He doesn’t want to be worried about his friends and teachers and parents reading too much into him being more mellow or being less Bakugou.
With Todoroki, they sit at square one. Less than friends. More than acquaintances. Less than rivals. More than classmates. With Todoroki, they are even. Nothing more. Nothing less.
However, since the beginning of their third year, the dual user has been acting strange, as if he’s suddenly more aware of Katsuki’s presence. As if Katsuki hasn’t always just been himself when it comes to Todoroki.
It’s lunch, and he’s sandwiched between Hair for Brains and Sparky, but for some reason is staring across into heterochromatic eyes.
“You lost, Icyhot?”
“Why would I be lost in an establishment I’ve been attending for almost three years now?”
Katsuki inhales sharply and releases some of his aggression before answering. “Where’s your loser squad?”
“Oh, Sero invited me to sit with you today. I hope you don’t mind.”
In disbelief, he watches the bastard turn to Soysauce Face to discuss manga they’ve been reading recently.
“Shut up!” He snaps as Kaminari and Mina giggle at his dismissal.
It’s not as if Todoroki never sits with them. He’s just usually with Izuku who’s usually there to talk to Katsuki.
For some unknown reason, the dual user continues to sit with them in the following days. Most of the time, he chats with Sero, but he also keeps up with group conversations. Sometimes he even surprises them with a clever remark.
“Come on, Kacchan, I forgot the assignment was due today,” Kaminari whines as he latches himself to Katsuki’s arm.
“Get off me, idiot.” He pushes his friend away, trying to free his arm. “I’m not responsible for you.”
“Give it up Blasty. We all know you’ll help us,” Mina chides.
“Us?” Katsuki leans forward to look at the pink skinned girl sitting on the other side of Kaminari.
Kirishima squeezes the blonde’s shoulder and laughs.
Out of the corner of his eye, Katsuki catches Todoroki’s grip slightly tightening around his chopsticks.
For curiosity’s sake, the explosive teen tilts his head up to glare at the redhead, blonde hair brushing against his friend’s chin. Kirishima laughs harder and lifts his hand off Katsuki’s shoulder to flatten the teen’s hair.
Glancing back over at Todoroki, mismatched eyes dart away as the dual user fixates on a point across the room.
Katsuki decides to turn it into a game. See how many times he can do something that forces the princess to divert his gaze.
~
With a swift kick, Izuku topples back and Katsuki pins the greenette beneath him.
“I win,” he growls.
“That’s not fair, Kacchan!” Izuku protests.
“How’s that not fair. You're the one who left your right side open.”
“Get off me. I’m going to win the next one.”
“Make me,” Katsuki sneers down at his friend.
“God, you’re infuriating.” Bucking his hips up, Izuku leverages himself up enough to flip them over. “Huh, that was easier than usual.”
“Yeah yeah yeah, I gave you that.”
The green haired teen sits up on his knees, resting his elbows on Katsuki’s knees on either side of him and giggles down at the blonde. “You’re being lazy, Kacchan.”
A shadow falls over them, and they both look up.
“Oh, hi Shouto,” Izuku smiles at their classmate.
“Can I spar with you next, Izuku?”
“Of course!”
As the student stands up, Todoroki glances down, briefly making eye contact with Katsuki before looking away.
Katsuki: 1
Todoroki: 0
~
Katsuki smacks the pink haired girl on the back of her hand as she tries to sneak another pair of sunglasses onto the counter before the blonde can pay.
“Ow! Kats, would you stop abusing me,” Mina complains.
“Wow, you’re like a total brute, Katsuki, babes,” Camie teases.
“We’re here to buy birthday presents for Ei, not useless shit for Pinky.”
The two girls pout as Katsuki completes the transaction and slips the box of sneakers into his bag. Mina and Camie link arms and walk behind the grumpy blonde, following him out of the store.
“We should have gone with Denki and Shinso,” Mina mumbles.
“We couldn’t babes. They were on a date, obvi.”
Katsuki sighs and turns around to look at the girls. “What are you planning to get him, Mina?”
The girl fidgets and plays with her horns. “He . . . he really liked this chain bracelet. I was thinking of engraving the plate.”
“No way!” Camie exclaims. “What is it going to say?”
“I’m not sure yet. I was hoping you two could help me,” Mina says quietly.
Giggling, Camie unlinks from the other girl and clings onto Katsuki’s free arm. They both look at Mina, the pink girl turning a darker shade of pink the longer they stare at her.
“Stop! Guys! Come on, I need your help!”
Katsuki glances down at Camie and cracks a smile as they make eye contact. He opens his mouth to tease Mina when he notices the unmistakable red and white hair of Todoroki walking towards them.
“Huh, I didn’t think Icyhot shopped for himself,” the blonde smirks.
“Who?” “Todoroki is here?” The girls ask at the same time.
Mina spins around. “Todoroki!” She calls out as he approaches.
“Hello Ashido, Bakugou.” He stands next to the pink girl and addresses his two classmates before focusing on the blonde girl still clinging to Katsuki. “Camie, I didn’t realize you and Bakugou met up outside of classes. I feel left out.”
Red eyes widen briefly. Is Todoroki pouting?
“Aw, babes, I’d much rather spend time with two hot guys than just one,” Camie giggles. “We just never exchanged numbers, but we can now.” She releases Katsuki and steps forward.
“What are you shopping for?” Todoroki ignores Camie, stepping past her and directs his question at Katsuki.
“Don’t be hurt, Todoroki,” Camie whines, twirling around.
“Do you want to join us for lunch, Todoroki?” Mina grabs Camie and relinks their arms.
“Sure.”
They decide on a burger joint and find a booth.
Katsuki sits down first. Todoroki is about to sit down next to him, but Mina slides in first. He eyes Camie who’s already sitting across from the explosive boy and huffs lightly.
“Something the matter, Princess?” Katsuki glances up from the tablet that’s displaying the menu.
“No.” He slides in next to Camie.
They quickly decide on what to eat and submit their order.
“Did you come here alone?” Camie asks, invading Todoroki’s personal space.
The dual user attempts back away without falling out of the booth. “Uh, no. I was with my sister. Oh, I should tell her where I went.” He pulls out his phone.
“You should have done that before following us like a lost puppy, idiot,” Katsuki rolls his eyes.
“Todoroki, exchange numbers with me now!” Camie says gleefully as she moves even closer and snatches the boy’s phone.
Mina lifts an eyebrow at the exchange and looks at Katsuki. The blonde shakes his head.
“You already have my number, meanie!” The girl complains.
“I do?”
“Look, KitKat, Todoroki doesn’t care about me.” Camie leans over the table, shoving the phone screen in the blonde’s face. Mina scoots closer to Katsuki to look over their classmate’s contact list.
Todoroki takes a sip of water, placing the glass down on the table with a little more force than what’s necessary. Katsuki’s eyes flicker up at the dual user, and the boy quickly looks away.
Katsuki: 2
Todoroki: 0
~
Kirishima compliments Katsuki’s manly physique in a manly manner. Todoroki is not listening in. Katsuki flick’s Ochaco in the forehead as he teases her. Todoroki’s hands do not flinch. Monoma and Katsuki explode each other in joint training and are sent to the nurse’s office, kicking each other as they go. Todoroki does not watch them leave.
At this point, this was an easy win.
Katsuki, five points. Shouto fucking Todoroki, a measly zero shit points.
~
“Why is the bird here?” Katsuki mumbles.
Hawks chuckles and ruffles ash blonde hair. “Honored that the great king murder explode-o kid respects how I identify.”
The student whacks the man’s hand away. “It’s Great Explosion—”
“Yeah yeah, I’ll remember next time.” The pro hero waves his hand lazily in the air.
Aizawa sighs.
“But to answer your question, where’s the lil’ Todoroki?”
“Why do people answer questions with their own questions?” Todoroki questions, walking over to stand next to their homeroom teacher. “You wanted to see me, Aizawa-sensei?”
“Shouto!” Keigo exclaims, wings flapping in an obvious demonstration of delight.
“Hawks-san,” Todoroki nods with a straight face.
“Well, I’m not needed here.” Katsuki turns to leave the room when his classmate stops him.
“I don’t mind if you stay, Bakugou.”
Bushy eyebrows rise as Hawks observes the students interact.
Aizawa sighs again. “Wake me if you need my input.” The man takes out a yellow sleeping bag, zips it up to his chin, and plops over in the corner of the classroom.
Hawks laughs. Katsuki rolls his eyes. Todoroki doesn’t react.
“Why am I still here? I just came to ask the insomniac a question. I don’t want to waste time when I could be training,” Katsuki rants.
“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, Bakugou. I just didn’t want you to feel as if you had to leave.”
Katsuki grumbles and crosses his arms over his chest.
Hawks smiles at the boys. “Shall we take a seat?”
The winged hero and dual user sit in two desks at the front of the classroom. Katsuki chooses to sit in the desk behind Hawks, propping his elbows on the surface and resting his chin on top of folded hands.
“I’ve talked to your father,” Hawks starts, smile vanishing, but eyes staying open and friendly, an invitation to end the conversation at any point.
The explosion teen clasps his hands tighter. He had a feeling this discussion would be about Todoroki family drama, but it’s shitty that the information is coming from the Hero Commission and not the teen’s own father.
“And what did Endeavour say?” Todoroki asks, voice flat, giving nothing away.
“Dabi, formally known as Touya Todoroki, has completed his first year of rehabilitation. Family members are cleared for visits. It’s your choice.”
“You came all the way here just to tell me that?”
“I mean, I also wanted to see my favorite Todoroki,” Hawks grins, keeping the air light.
Todoroki nods again, but this time it doesn’t come off as casually as when he first entered the room, at least it doesn’t to Katsuki.
“Sho,” Hawks says softly. “You don’t have to see him if you don’t want to, but he did ask about you.”
“Thank you for telling me, Hawks-san.”
“Keigo. I don’t mind if the baby Todoroki wants to address me casually. You’re just too cute to not give you special privileges,” Hawks fawns.
Katsuki can tell that the dual user is shutting down from the strain of this news and wishes he chose to sit closer to him, if only to provide comfort through proximity. “What about me? I’m the youngest of my family,” the blonde supplies.
The hero chuckles. “You’re the spoiled only child with a god complex, Great Explosion Murder God Dynamite.”
“Damn right I am,” Katsuki snarks.
Todoroki focuses on his classmate and fierce, red eyes begin to melt his ice walls. This time he doesn’t look away.
Todoroki: 1
~
It’s Friday night, everyone gathering around the TV for movie night. Holding a bowl of popcorn, Todoroki walks over to the couch where Hitoshi, Kaminari, and Katsuki are already sitting. Before he can claim the last spot at the end of the couch, Katsuki sprawls out over Hitoshi and pulls his legs up to take up the rest of the space. The purple haired teen isn’t fazed as he continues scrolling through his phone.
Todoroki hesitates longer than what is usual for him. Just the fact that he’s even thinking something through instead of immediately changing course in favor of keeping his cool has Katsuki glancing up. “What do you want, Icyhot?”
The dual user’s emotionless face is not so emotionless for once as he chews the inside of his cheek. “I would like to sit down.”
Katsuki frowns. “Why not sit with your nerd squad?”
Across the room, sitting on the floor against an armchair, Midoriya’s shoulders rise.
Todoroki huffs, trying to stay neutral. “I’d like to sit here, please, Bakugou.”
At this point, their exchange has drawn the attention of their classmates. For the last month, the explosive blonde has been searching for Todoroki’s buttons, swinging and taking jabs in the dark, waiting for the teen to hit his boundaries. He doesn’t know why, but he has this urge to challenge the two toned boy in other ways that don’t include physical strength. This is a whole different playing field, and Katsuki is intrigued. The only way to win, get a genuine reaction, break Todoroki’s maddening composure and perfect control. Katsuki operates on chaos, on instinct, on thrill. He needs to know that his unstoppable force can crack Todoroki’s indestructible barrier.
“That can’t be comfortable for Hitoshi,” the dual user says evenly.
The blonde’s body buzzes with energy as he smirks up at Todoroki. “You somehow get lost in that empty brain of yours, huh, Half n’ Half?” He tilts his head back to look at Mindfreak. Hitoshi pauses and meets his gaze.
Cool fingers wrap around his wrist, and the explosive teen is pulled up momentarily before falling back onto someone’s lap. That someone being the emotionally stunted Candycane fucker.
“The fuck, Icyhot!” Katsuki tries to sit up, but is halted by a freezing hand, frost at the fingertips, the teen attempting to rein his quirk in.
Todoroki sets the bowl of popcorn in Hitoshi’s lap. “Just watch the movie.”
A snicker escapes the purple haired teen as he puts his phone down, sinks back into the couch, and throws a lazy arm on the back of the couch behind Kaminari. “Eyes on the screen, Denki,” he says casually, causing the other blonde to pause and think better of his actions. The electric user snorts and redirects his attention.
Red eyes sweep around the room and Katsuki can tell that the extras are purposefully looking straight ahead at the TV. “Tch,” the blonde clicks his tongue, but doesn’t move.
Katsuki: -5
Todoroki: 2
~
He’s winded by the solid kick to his stomach. He swings his arm up, preparing for a blast, but an icy hand pins him down, frost creeping up his arm. “I get it, Icyhot. Now unfreeze me,” Katsuki snaps, agitated from his loss.
Todoroki stares at the blonde, face blank as he melts his ice. Once his arm is free, Katsuki is moving, shoving past the other teen.
“Thanks for sparring with me, Bakugou.”
Katsuki whips around, shoulders raised and tense. “Who fucking asked you, fucking Half n’ Half bastard.”
“No one. I was the one who asked you to join me for extra training.” Todoroki tilts his head, meaning he’s recalibrating, trying to understand a social cue he knows he’s missed.
“I . . . you . . .”
Todoroki nods his head. “Me.”
“You stupid, dim witted, Candycane loser!” Katsuki barks.
“That held more insults than usual,” the dual user comments.
“And I bet they all just bounce around that pretty, empty head of yours.”
“Is that what you’d call a compliment disguised as an insult?”
“No, you idiot! It’s what you’d call a back handed compliment.”
“But a compliment, nonetheless.”
“You . . . I . . .” Katsuki snaps as his brain goes into overdrive to make up for Todoroki’s lack of competency.
“Katsuki.”
The blonde whips his head up to meet the boy’s steady, mismatched stare.
“What do you want from me?”
Match point.
“Why the hell would I want anything from you, Half n’ Half?”
“You keep doing things on purpose to hold my attention.”
“You have a colorful imagination.”
“I don’t think so.”
Todoroki strides up to Katsuki, closing the space between them. The blonde needs to strain his neck to not break eye contact. Stupid tall as fuck Candycane.
“I think you’re trying to make me angry.” The dual user lifts his left hand to Katsuki’s chin, preventing the blonde from lowering it.
Aim.
“I’m an angry person by nature. Not my fault if you get caught up in it.” Red eyes slip sideways, seeking a quick exit.
“Liar.”
Point blank.
That jerks Katsuki back to attention as he tries to withdraw, but Todoroki holds firm, even sliding a cold arm around the blonde’s waist, a stark contrast to the hot pressure at his jaw. “Let go, Todoroki,” he says in a low voice, warning.
“No.”
Safety off.
Katsuki snakes a hand up to wrap around Todoroki’s wrist. It’s rough and callused and smaller than people would expect. It sparks. “This is your last chance to back off.”
Heterochromatic eyes flick down to the blonde’s lips that are trying to hold their scowl and not twitch up into something that’d give away how his body is on fire. How electric currents are flowing through his nervous system. How exhilarating it feels to finally get a reaction out of the stoic Shouto Todoroki. How much power he holds at this moment. And then they’re moving back up to meet the brilliant, crimson gaze of Katsuki.
Todoroki gulps, tipping the scale, those tempting lips flipping up into a triumphant sneer.
Fire.
Katsuki rips the teen’s hand away, grabs the front of his shirt, and pulls him down to meet his lips. Todoroki responds immediately, one hand squeezing Katsuki’s waist, the other hand tangling in his hair. He slips his tongue into Todoroki’s mouth which elicits a moan from the dual user.
The teen stills, surprised by his own eagerness, but Katsuki is wrapping his arms around the boy’s neck, trying to keep him grounded. Don’t overthink it. Don’t retreat back into your head where you trap yourself because that’s what you think you deserve.
Katsuki gazes up at Todoroki.
Look at me. I’m here. I’m real. Stop thinking about Endeavour. Stop feeling guilty over Dabi. Stop spiraling by yourself. Live for this moment. Live for yourself.
”Shouto.”
It’s a whisper. It’s the last of Todoroki’s restraint.
He scoops the blonde up into his arms and kisses him. He doesn’t stop as he carries Katsuki across the empty training ground.
Game over.
Katsuki wins.
Todoroki doesn’t care. He’ll let the blonde win a hundred times over if it means this will never stop.