#this is no hate towards todobaku

[anti-katsuki-lounge]

Yeah Shoto wanting to be friends with Baku makes no sense. Like Baku is literally like his dad but worse. Worse in terms of screaming more and insulting him all the time. Realisticly Shoto would hate Baku and avoid him. But for some reason he wants to be his bestie??? Even tho Baku himself tells Shoto to piss off??? BUT THEN BAKU BECOMES HIS BESTIE OFFSCREEN??? AND SHOTO LIKES HIM EVEN THO HE IS A COPY OF HIS SHITTY DAD??? AND HE NEVER SAYS ANYTHING ABOUT BAKU BEING ABUSIVE TOWARDS DEKU EVEN THO SHOTO SHOULD'VE NOTICED THAT? AND THEN I SAY THAT TODOBAKU SHIP AND FRIENDSHIP IS BULLSHIT AND SHOULD DISSAPEAR CUZ IT RUINS SHOTO AND MAKES HIM OOC???

All of this. Katsuki once again being a blight and ruining both characters and logic.

#anti katsuki bakugou #anti bakugo katsuki #anti bakugo #anti bakugou #mha critical

[denkisauce]

KIRIBAKU

okay please don’t hate me for this, part of me didn’t even want to answer this one bc i have not been into krbk in a while and i feel weirdly guilty about this 😭😭 bc i used to LOVE them they were my fave ship in the story and i’ve drawn sooo much krbk fan art and spent so much time as a kiribaku but i think the fandom kind of ruined them for me 😞😞

first ship to have a bingo/almost have like 5 bingos!! i have a lot of conflicting feelings about them 😅

it’s weird bc bkdk has definitely become my favorite bnha ship but i still super enjoy other ships for both those characters — i loveee todobaku they’re one of my favorite ships to read fic for, love tododeku bakukami shinbaku shindeku etc etc etc but kiribaku is one of the only ships i feel like i dislike and its 100% because of twitter which maybe says more about me than it does the ship! i follow a lot of kiribaku ppl bc they used to be my faves but as the story progressed i really pivoted towards liking bakudeku the most. this is all fine and i still loved kiribaku for a while but i feel like over the course of this year i saw a lot of kiribaku shippers become really bitter and constantly making things krbk vs bkdk in a way i didn’t really see from bakudekus. a lot of people like pretending the whole past 100 chapters didn’t happen, hating deku, constantly talking about bkdk being toxic (despite the fact that bkdks were the ones acknowledging bakugous character development the most and Not ignoring it in favor of their ship!) and it sort of just felt like a lot of the krbk fandom was extremely fixated on the time when their ship was in the spotlight and not willing to let go of that for the sake of like, where the story went and how the characters developed. it’s just something i really can’t relate to as a multishipper bc i enjoy aspects of a lot of ships so it’s always been less about what’s canon and more about what’s interesting. but if canon content is making a ship Really Interesting im gonna be into it!! and it just feels like a lot of the kiribaku fandom is trying to force this kiribaku canon agenda and shitting of bkdk and clinging to remnants of the past as opposed to just enjoying krbk as a ship you know what i mean?? but! this is clearly the opinion of someone who is Too Online and i think this is a personal sign for me unfollow a bunch of ppl on twitter, it’s just a shame bc i really want to still like kiribaku!!

okay rant aside — i think kiribaku is extremely wholesome, which can be sweet it’s just not extremely my flavor anymore? but i’m still a big fan of blood riot x dynamight bc i LOVE when a ship is fucked up, and there’s still a lot of kiribaku fics i love and whole near and dear to my heart (2 am knows all secrets and the pit you have NEVER let me down agdjfjsjsk) they’re an aesthetically great ship andddd they should definitely fuck/be fucking. definitely realizing through writing this that maybe my main problem with kiribaku is it’s just become a weird representation of my feelings toward monogamy?????? this is a relationship anarchy and polycule positive space!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#krbk vs bkdk discourse is actually mostly about whether you wanna read bakugou as a top or a bottom #(not actually but agdkgjsjdj it’s an aspect) #mad at myself for not making a bingo square along the lines of #‘put them in a polycule and i love it’ #bc that’s definitely how i feel about kiribaku now #is deku there?? is he present??? do him and kirishima have a thing going on as well?? #is kaminari there and shouto and shinsou and etc etc etc

[uozlulu]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Saw this going around and thought I'd do this. I'm uozlulu on AO3

How many works do you have on ao3?

149 (not counting orphaned works)

What’s your total ao3 word count?

745,334 words

What fandoms do you write for?

I have written for 40 fandoms. I'll spare our dashboards the list, but you can find the list on my AO3 link at the top of this post.

Top 5 fics by kudos

Our Soulmate Academia - BnHA/MHA - TodoBaku soulmate AU - 366 kudos

Pain - Banana Fish (manga) - Eiji finds a plane ticket Ibe gave Ash to give to Eiji - 287 kudos

Crush - Teen Wolf (MTV)/Supernatural - Stiles has a one-sided crush on Dean - 261 kudos

A Gift - MCU!Avengers/Daredevil (Netflix) - Matt and Clint run into each other at a Claire's store - 222 kudos

Names and Promises - Black Clover - Asta & Yuno soulmate AU where they're platonic soulmates with the first thing they said to each other written on their bodies - 210 kudos

Do you respond to comments?

I always respond to comments. It seems polite. It's also a habit from posting my fics on message boards back in the day.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

In the Pasture of a Vale - Five years after the end of season five of Supernatural, Dean comes across Ben and Adam who have also become hunters (I wrote this back in 2010)

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think the majority of my fics skew towards the happy side though most I think are a mix. So I'll link the most recent one with a definitively happy ending.

The Mystery in the Fog - ACD!Sherlock Holmes - Unbeknownst to each other, Holmes and Watson belong to the same underground club. They find out at a wedding for a couple of fellow club members in 1902.

Do you get hate on fics?

I do occasionally. The worst one was a flame on an SPN fic that graphically detailed what would happen to me when I went to hell for my fic (It was an AU exploring who Castiel's vessel could be that I wrote while catching up on SPN not knowing the Jimmy episode happened).

Do you write smut?

It's not my fave but I do it when the story warrants it. So far I only have two fics on AO3 that deal explicitly with sex.

Swallow My Fang at Night Island - IwtV (AMC) - Devil's Minion human AU set in the year 2000.

Best Laid Plans - Banana Fish (manga) - Ash goes to Japan at the end of the manga AU

Craziest crossover

My TayNick character crossover New Information. Also my only crossover so far, but that’s a side note.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I have 15 crossovers but I think the fandoms I put together make sense together

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I've given permission for it but never heard back from anyone about it.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

My brother and I wrote several together that have been lost to time and space

All time favourite ship?

Probably Kagome/Inuyasha but the evidence of this has been lost to time and space

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I really wish I had it in me to write that BnHA/MHA fic that's basically Tenchi in Love, but it's Aizawa and Class A going to the past to save All Might

What are your writing strengths?

According to compliments in reviews, fight scenes and fight sequences.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Spelling. Thank goodness for Word.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I don't mind it, but it depends on how it's executed.

First fandom you wrote in?

Technically fairytales/fables but in terms of publishing it, then Gundam Wing.

Favourite fic you’ve written?

The Land Across the Sea - Black Clover/Boruto - Boruto gets taken to Clover by a tsunami and meets up with the Black Bulls and Golden Dawn recovering from the Spade Arc. Portions of both squads get to escort Boruto back to the Land of Fire, which is where Yami comes from. (This was written before the Spade Arc ended in Black Clover).

#ao3 #my fanfics #adventures in fic writing #about me #long post

[chipscouchtv]

bnha 286 spoilers

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Horikoshi watching you guys misrepresenting the characters grabbing each other’s hands as something romantic: k bet

#this is no hate towards todobaku #i actually find this the most in character thing for them #todobaku #bnha 286 spoilers #bnha 286 #mha 286 #mha 286 spoilers #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #katsuki bakugou #bakugou katsuki #shoto todotoki #todoroki shouto

[nights-legacy]

Hello, how are you? First I would like to say that I love your writing, I scroll to your account first to check updates every day🌻. Secondly, I would like to request a story, I read one of yours recently that was a poly between Bakugou, Todoroki and the reader, which I really enjoyed so if you could give me more of that it would be great😌. The reader character has a quirk, let's say superspeed and strength, and Y/N is fine for the "name"

First of all, I am doing alright! Thanks for asking!! Second, thank you so much, I am so glad that you enjoy it as much as I love writing it! 💕

Of course you can have more TodoBaku x reader! Here you go!! I started writing and it turned itself into angst. Hope you like it.

Too Much? Not Enough? - TodoBaku x Reader

Main Masterlist MHA Masterlist

TodoBaku x Reader (meaning Poly Relationship. Don’t like? Don’t Read. 😋)

2497 Words

Angst to Fluff

Readers quirk is super strength and speed

+Y/N, Todoroki, and Bakugo are all in lowkey relationship. No one knows that they are all together. One day, after training they are lounging off to the side before they planned headed back to Y/N's room for a date night in. Plans change when Bakugo accepts an invitation to go out with the squad. Bad thing, this isn't the first time.

I groaned as I sat up from the ground. I glared at Midoriya as he came back to the ground. He looked like he was trying not laugh. I pushed up onto a knee. I was getting real tired of this exercise. I looked around to see what I could work with. Movement from Midoriya drew my attention. He was darting towards me.

“Not this time.” I said. I moved just before his foot made contact with me body. He stumbled on landing before turning to look for me. His eyes landed on me and I made my move. I was in front of him before he could blink and kneed him in the chest.

“Damn, what’s got L/N so aggressive today?” I heard Kiri on the side lines as Midoriya hit the ground over 50 feet away. He didn’t stay down long but the time ran out. I walked over to him to make sure he was okay.

“You okay?” I asked. “I didn’t break anything that you hadn’t already, did I?” He laughed, shaking his head.

“No but what’s got you so riled?” He rubbed his chest.

“I don’t know. Just woke up on the wrong side of the bed I guess.” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. We walked off the training pad and parted ways. I walked over and sat down on the ground. I spaced out for a bit before I felt hands start to rub my shoulders.

“Someone is tense.” Todo whispered in my ear. I shivered before looking back at him half annoyed half amused.

“Maybe a little.” I mumbled.

“A little? You hit Deku nearly to kingdom come.” Bakugo sat down next to us. He crossed his ankles and wrapped his arms around his knees. “That was a good hit by the way. Sent the nerd flying.” He whistled before making a boom noise, accentuated by his quirk.

“Bakugo.” Todo countered. Baku just smirked. I shook my head before leaning back into Todo. He wrapped his arms around me, setting his chin on top of my head.

“What can I say? It’s amusing seeing Deku being put in his place.” Baku laughed. I chuckled before reaching a hand out for him. He glanced at it before tentatively taking it. He rubbed his thumb across the back of my hand. I closed my eyes and laid my head back on Todo’s shoulder.

“Bakubro!” I jumped as Baku ripped his hand from mine. I opened my eyes and leant forward as he moved away. I sighed and slumped back into Todo, grabbing onto Todo’s arm.

“I hate when he does that.” I whispered. I felt Todo give a silent sigh. I turned and put my back to Bakugo. I set my forehead against his neck. He pet my hair for moment.

“Was wondering if you wanted to come with the rest of the squad to that new Ramen place down the street?” I heard Kiri ask Bakugo. I listened for his reply.

“Yeah sure, whatever.” I heard him reply. I stiffened when he said that and I felt Todo stiffen as well. I sat up and looked at him. I could see the anger in his eyes as he gazed back at me. The three of us were supposed to be having a lazy night in, just us.

“Fine.” I mumbled, looking down. I felt the anger rush through my already annoyed frame. I pushed up off the ground and brushed myself off.

“Baby?” Todo called out softly. I just walked away from the whole situation, not wanting to cause a scene or make a fool of myself. I sped off at high speed before anyone could stop me.

3rd POV

As Y/N walked away, the three males watched. One in confusion, one in empathy, and one in shame and regret. You could tell in the way they walked before they sped off that they were upset. Todoroki turned towards the other two. His eyes narrowed at Bakugo before he got up and walked away towards Midoriya and Iida.

“What was all that about?” Kiri asked, turning towards Bakugo. He looked down at the ground before shrugging.

“Hell if I know what? Probably did something to piss them off. Remember, none you extra’s can keep up with me or my personality.” He exclaimed, putting up his normal persona.

Everyone knew that Todoroki and Y/n were dating. What no one knew was that it was actually Todoroki, Y/N, and Bakugo in a relationship. Bakugo wasn’t ready to let people know about the full relationship yet. Todoroki and Y/n understood and never pushed it. But it was times like these that drove the two nuts. The three of them would make plans but then Bakugo would go and make plans with someone else at the same time. He could just as easy say he had other plans and go on but he never did so, too afraid someone would find out.

“Whatever you say Bakugo.” Kiri said unconvinced but he left it alone.

“Well that is what I say. Now let’s go, trainings over.” Bakugo got up and they walked back towards the locker rooms. Once inside, Bakugo could feel the icy glare before he could see where Todoroki was at. He turned to look slightly to the left to glance at Todoroki. There was a dark look in his eyes.

“Hurry up Bakubro. We’re going right after we’re all get cleaned up.” Kaminari called out. Bakugo groaned as the look in Todoroki’s eyes got even darker. A chill went up Bakugo’s spine.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” He mumbled before going to the showers.

Y/N’s POV

I slammed my dorm room door as I got in. I wanted to scream, cry, and hit something all at once. I was already having a bad day and Bakugo bailing AGAIN was not helping. I threw my bag into the corner before kicking off my slippers. I sat down at my desk and pulled open my laptop. I was going to at least get the movie ready for Todo and me.

“Baby?” I heard the door open. I looked over to see Todo.

“Hi.” I said blankly. He sighed before coming in and closing the door. He came up behind me and began to rub my shoulders again.

“I don’t like it either, baby.” He said softly. He moved from rubbing my shoulders to running his hand up and down my arms. He kissed my hair. “But you know how he is. He is, dare I say it, too shy with relationships.”

“But he does this every other time!” I exclaimed. I sat back in my chair. We were silent for a minute before I kicked out and sent my small table flying across the room. It hit the wall with a thud and clambered to the ground. “Shit.” Good thing everything in my room is reinforced to at least try and withstand my super strength, including the walls. Aizawa-sensei that it would be a good idea.

“Alright…” Todo turned me around and picked me up bridal style. I wrapped my arms around his neck and cuddled into him. “I think you need to wind down now.”

“But, but…He…” The tears started to run down my face as he laid us down on the bed. He pulled me to his chest. “Does he just not want to be with us anymore? Is he ashamed to be? I don’t understand. Did we do something wrong?”

“No, no. Baby. Of course not. Or at least I hope we didn’t.” I let out a sob at his last statement. I felt him flinch. “I am sorry, darling.” He held me tighter. “I am sure Bakugo has his reasons.”

“But I wish he would just talk to us. Maybe we could figure something out. I…I don’t want to lose him.”

“I don’t either.”

Bakugo’s POV

I pushed the ramen around my bowl, not really hungry at all. The others were talking away while I didn’t bother to listen. All I could think about was how upset both Todo and Y/N were. My chest hurt from it.

“Bakugo? Something bothering you?” Mina asked me. I jumped a little before looking at everyone. They were all staring at me with concerned looks.

”Why would anything be bothering me?” I snapped. They gave each other looks. “What!”

“I mean you have been off ever since the end of training bro. What’s eating you?” Kiri asked. I looked down at my food. I set my chop sticks down. I thought about Y/N and how they looked when they ran off. How Todo was beyond just giving me a cold shoulder.

“I bailed.” I said quietly.

“What?”

“Bailed?”

“Bailed on what? Who?” Kiri asked.

“I bailed on a date night. Again.” I said before running my hands down my face. I sighed heavily before my phone got my attention. There was a text from Todo, well more like a couple.

“I gotta go guys.” I said getting up and running out, ignoring the calls and questions. I ran back to the school as fast as I could. Straight through the dorm lobby, into the elevator, and down Y/N’s hall to their room. I knocked on the door lightly.

“Yes?” Todo called softly.

“It’s me Icy Hot.” I heard shuffling before footsteps came towards the door. He opened it and let me in silently. I immediately looked at Y/N’s figure on the bed. They were sound asleep. I sighed before something caught my attention. Their table that normally is by their desk is against the wall on the other side of the room.

“Let’s get this cleaned up.” I nodded and helped him clean up quietly.

“Baku?” I sleepy whimper caught my attention. I looked up from where I was knelt on the floor. Y/N was sitting up in bed, rubbing their eyes. They reached out like a child. I smiled before looking at Todo and going over to them. I wrapped my arms around them.

Y/N’s POV

I gripped onto the man tight. My arms locked around his neck as he crawled onto the bed. He pulled me into his lap. I wrapped my legs around his waist.

“Please don’t pull away from us.” I said into his neck. I felt him give a shuttering breath. Another body sat down right next to us. “Please let us in. Let us know what is wrong.”

“I am worried.” He finally said something. I pulled back to share a look with Todo before looking back at Baku. His eyes were watery. “I worry that I am not enough for you but at the same time I worry if I am too much for you. Like when I get heated and go over board that you two will realize that I am too much of a hastle. Or that I don’t do enough for you two. Not be lovey enough or soft enough. I, I, I…”

“Bakugo…”

“Also, I worry that if we go public, the three of us, that people will start to look down on you two for…” He paused looking between us. A tear slipped from his eyes. “For being with a ‘villain in the making’ like me.” He closed his eyes. A small, almost undetectable if I wasn’t on his lap, whimper escaped his lips.

“Bakugo, Katsuki. No.” I said cupping his cheeks. Todo wrapped his arm around him. “We would never think you’re too much or too little. We know how you are. We don’t expect you to be soft or lovey all the time. That’s just not you. We want you to be who you are.”

“And if there was any doubt about handling how boisterous and over the top you can get, we wouldn’t have entertained the idea of being with you.” Todo said. He ran a hand through Baku’s hair. “We want you for who and how you are. Just like Y/N said. Baku smiled through the tears, nestling into Todo’s hair.

“Now that last bit. We couldn’t care less what people think about the three of us together. Their opinions don’t matter about OUR relationship. They want to look down on us, fine. That’s their decision. It won’t sway us one bit. And another thing…”

“You are not a ‘villain in the making’!” Todo and I both said at the same time. Baku’s eyes widened. I rubbed tears away with my thumb. He chuckled.

“We can come out when you are ready but until then what we’ve been doing is fine.” I nuzzled my nose against his.

“But please don’t shut us out. Not again.” Todo asked. Baku nodded.

“Never. Now I think we all need some sleep.” I yawned right as he finished his sentence. They both laughed at me. I nodded rubbing my eyes again. Baku moved me off his lap and in between them. “Bedtime.”

“Goodnight.” I whispered before falling asleep just like that.

The next morning, Todo and I woke up on our own. We looked at each other confused. Before getting changed into different clothes. We made our way down to the common room and kitchen. The smell of waffles, eggs, and bacon wafted through the air.

“Hey! Hands off. Those are not for you.” We heard Bakugo growl. We walked in to see Kami trying to steal some bacon.

“Then who are they for?” He looked back at Kiri who just shrugged.

“They’re for my partners.”

“Partners?” Both Kiri and Kami exclaimed. My eyes widened and Todo made a sound of surprise. Baku looked up at the sound and smirked.

“Yep and here they come.” He motioned our way. Kiri and Kami’s head shot in our direction. I smiled before running and jumping into his arms. He chuckled and squeezed me tight. “Yeah, yeah. Now get off. I’m trying to cook.” He gently shoved me off, into Todo’s waiting arms.

“No way.” Kiri said surprised. We looked at the two. They were star struck. That was until Kami took off like a shot, yelling.

“Sero! You totally owe me 2200 yen!” We heard groans follow his yelling. I burst up laughing, leaning back into Todo for support.

“So that’s what you meant yesterday.” Kiri said. Baku nodded.

“What happened yesterday?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about it.” I felt a kiss on my forehead. “Nothing to worry about anymore.” I looked at him with a smile. He pulled us both into a big hug.

“Okay. As long as you’re sure?” Todo asked. I could tell there was more than one question in his words. I looked at Baku. He smiled confidently.

“Absolutely.”

#todoroki x reader #bnha todoroki #todoroki shoto x reader #shoto torodoki #todoroki imagine #todobaku x reader #bakugou katsuki #bakugou imagine #bnha bakugo katsuki #bakugou angst #bakugo imagine #bakugou x reader #polyamory #poly #imagine #imagines #mha #bnha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha bakugou #mha imagines #mha x reader #angst to fluff #my hero x reader #my hero academia imagines #mha todoroki #requested

[baku-bowl]

broke 1,000 followers (the fuck? I don't even make content people), so decided to write up a list of some (but not all, I'll make other lists later) of my favorite Bakugou-centric fic recs. my tastes run towards hurt/comfort, as you'll probably figure from the list. if there are some Baku-centric fics that you've enjoyed that aren't on here, please add them - this is definitely not a complete list of the ones I've read and love, but I'm always up for some recs. <3

fair warning, most of these are wips.

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Social Media 101 by WindsChild8178

Part 1: Survival Guide to Fucking Up

[Solely Bakugou’s point of view]

Katsuki Bakugou doesn’t have a gentle bone in his body. He’s aggressive in everything he does and does everything with 100% of his heart in it. After the Sport’s Festival, Katsuki starts to get harassed by strangers for his unheroic demeanor. It starts with letters but it doesn’t end there. The moment Katsuki realizes the harassment has entered dangerous territory and he needs to tell someone, it’s already too late.

Part 2: Post Traumatic Life Disorder

[Point of View opens up to Bakugou, teachers and classmates]

When the Dorms are finally built, everyone is settling in well, but things become tense as people begin to realize something isn’t right with the recently rescued Bakugou.

[Cannon compliant right up to after the License Exam]

hands down my favorite fic in the fandom right now. it’s the one that converted me into a Bakugou lover. if you have any fondness for Bakugou as a character then it’s likely you’ve read this one already, but if not, I can’t recommend it enough. incredibly depressing, but with the hope that comfort is coming soon in the next few chapters.

The Kids Will Be Alright, Eventually by NotWithThatAttitude

Bakugou is spiraling in the aftermath of Kamino and his friends are starting to notice. He's stubborn, aggressively independent, and less than willing to dig into his past, but after a breakdown that ends with a painful secret revealed, he starts to get help.

Whether he likes it or not.

Meanwhile, a new kind of villain threatens an uneasy peace following the loss of Allmight. Whispers build as a new narrative slowly takes shape:

Hero society needs to change.

Feat. Therapy, Dadzawa, best boy Kirishima, dysfunctional families, healing, growing up, and the mortifying ordeal of being known

guys.. the medical accuracy of this fic is just... *chef’s kiss*

I rarely see mental health genuinely handled well in fics, but this one goes above and beyond. kudos to the author for doing such excellent research into psychology, and making the application of it in here not-boring. also, while this one does have abusive!Mitsuki, it’s done in a way that feels realistic, and how I usually will see it occur in real life, rather than just for the hurt/comfort feels.

fair warning, the fic can be incredibly triggering (themes of severe depression, PTSD, panic attacks, rape survival, abuse survival, suicidal ideation/attempted suicide, among other things), so be safe and heed the tw’s if you decide to read. legitimately one of my Top Favorite fics in this fandom.

Lock and Key by autochorystalize

Bakugou made a choked, gravelly noise before croaking out a low, “You can’t be serious.” His fingers ached to blow up everything in the room.

“I’m sorry, young man, but you can’t change reality! This sometimes happens.” Recovery Girl clicked through his file, adding a new symbol in a previously empty slot.

- - -

A pair of eyes discreetly locked on to an explosive blond plowing his way forward, parting people in his path. He recognized the kid, of course. Anyone in the underbelly of society would recognize him, after the publicity of both UA’s Sports Festival and the events leading up to All Might’s fall. The uniform he was wearing cast away any doubts about the young man’s identity.

It was a bit of a surprise that the little firecracker presented as an omega.

- - - - - - - - -

Or: there are certain types of evil that seemed too distant, archaic violations and perversions that would never actually threaten bright-eyed heroes-in-training in the clean, modern world...but sometimes those evils aren't as distant as one might think.

remember when I said that I love a/b/o fics that are full of plot and world-building and gender-induced tension? that’s this one. the OC’s are fabulous and you love to hate ‘em. also, it’s the fic that made me fall head-over-heels for the TodoBaku dynamic, so it’s got a special place in my cold, dead heart. 

be warned, there are rather explicit non-con scenes between an adult (OC) and a minor (Bakugou) in this one, but the author warns for them in advance, and you could likely skip those parts without missing too much if you need to.

Never and Always, Eventually by Wawa_Boonliang

"Katsuki can remember the exact moment that he and Deku…that he and Midoriya Izuku became friends. He can also remember the moment he and Izuku became fierce rivals, a time when they were almost enemies.

However, what he remembers most clearly about their relationship is the moment that they moved passed rivals and became something more close than mere friends. Something more like brotherhood, something forged in fire and secured in the middle of a battlefield or in the midst of natural disaster where the number of the dead was climbing ever higher. And then it was torn from him."

Katsuki is given a second chance. A chance to save everyone. A chance to change everything.

But should he?

y’all. I’m a slutty, slutty whore for time travel fics. a time travel fic with autistic!coded Bakugou? it was love at first read.

Lessons Learned by Sif (Rosae)

Rather than the police station, Katsuki's friends bring him to a hospital after rescuing him from the villains. His wounds were minor, but it didn't make having them treated any less important. As it would so happen, Best Jeanist was also brought to this hospital after the attack.

Sometimes, small choices have a big impact on how a story plays out.

classic Bakugou hurt/comfort. this fic opened me up to the potential that could be a genuinely good Best Jeanist & Katsuki mentor-mentee relationship, and I kind of dig it and search ravenously for it in other fics now. I’m also a huge fan of the behind-the-scences Pro Hero Chat group.

Slope by sunfleurmoon

“I’m not a hero. Or a good person,” Katsuki says, giving Aizawa a pointed look, “So leave me alone. I don’t care about the League or UA, or you—” The two years he’s been away have been fine, more than fine, fucking fantastic actually if you ignore the bi-monthly near-death experiences. He doesn’t need this place. He doesn’t miss this place.

And yet, longing, a childish desire to tear up, or maybe blow something to bits, they all twist in his chest like a band of traitors regardless. “—I just want to go home.”

Or: the one where Katsuki and Izuku fail the first term exam, Aizawa discovers their pasts, and Katsuki is booted from UA. Featuring questionable descriptions of villain organizations, a slightly illegal moving shop, and your favorite emotionally constipated badass in distress with a newly discovered penchant for collecting strays.

paaaaaaiiiiiiiin. the hurt is ALIVE in this one. lots of tortured, angsty exploding child goodness. the OC’s are excellently crafted, and the Bakugou & Eri relationship? beautiful. definitely deserves a read.

Ground Zero by WindsChild8178

In the wake of Kamino, Katsuki is tested more than anyone could imagine. Bound by a villain’s quirk to keep his silence or die, he lives each day knowing it might very well be his last. He continues to work towards becoming a hero, keeping his secret from his classmates and teachers, focusing on making it through each day and trying not to allow the panic or depression to get the best of him. When the villain finally corners him with demands in exchange for his life, there is really only one answer Katsuki Bakugou can give.

honestly don't know which I want updated more - social media 101 or ground zero. this author's fics are amazing, and I really wasn't expecting the twist in this one. can't wait for windschild to come back to this fic some day.

The Defect by LadyGreenFrisbee

"Why do you want to win the Sports Festival so badly?" 

Because I want to see if the defect could usurp the masterpiece.

(In which Endeavor holds a terrible secret and Bakugo has to suffer since childhood for it.)

a great concept, and I adore the shouto and Katsuki sibling interaction here. hoping the author will come back to this one some day.

A Name That You'll Remember by Heronfem

Kirishima Eijirou is a Hero. Bakugou Katsuki... is not. Trapped in his toxic workplace and increasingly desperate to get out, Red Riot's days are only brightened by a new villain known as Caution, who's not exactly villainous and keeps accidentally doing good deeds. But when a real villain appears, a threat from the past that demands that Red Riot make the ultimate sacrifice to keep the public safe, Bakugou is forced into saving the day... and eventually, Red Riot himself.

sob story good guy villains are my weakness, this fic is a gem, and I'd kill for the sequel.

Our Hero by AnonymousTwit

He felt everything jerk to the side and throw his balance off before he saw anything, dust clouding his vision and irritating his lungs as the earth itself opened up to swallow them whole. For a single moment, in a millisecond's time, his wild eyes locked with Raccoon Eyes', hers alight with fear and adrenaline-fueled desperation. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized that it was the first time she'd looked at him with something other than long-deserved hatred in days.

And then he was free falling.

Or

After a particularly nasty encounter between childhood friends, the class learns about Bakugou and Midoriya's dark history and practically ostracizes Bakugou while trying to defend Midoriya. An earthquake during an outing has all sides regretting their decisions.

just fucking tear apart my self-sacrificing faves in every way imaginable while their loved ones watch on in terror. 💖🥰💖 this one is heavy on the Bakusquad and Class-1A feels, and VERY heavy on the Mina & Bakugou relationship (platonic).

Running back the tape, watching it replay by Faralyne

For someone ripped from their time, ripped from the few but strong relationships built by time and personal development, by self-reflection and swallowed pride, ripped from the one thing that made him feel worthwhile and needed and put-together, and forced to forge everything over again—Katsuki thinks he is handling it pretty fucking well.

Or

A villain’s quirk sends a 29-year-old Bakugou back in time to his middle school days.

am I a sucker for time travel? yes. am I a sucker for vigilante!bakugou? also yes. am I a sucker for this fic? literally refreshing the page in wait for an update as we speak.

Liability by sandelf

After All-Might dies rescuing Bakugou from the League, Bakugou is determined to prove it wasn't for nothing.

But the world is against him, his grief is overwhelming, and his stability is splitting at the edges.

very self-indulgent bakugou angst. tw for harassment, severe depression, and suicidality.

Special Mentions:

How To Win The Sport Festival: A Step By Step Guide by mhwright

Short re-imagining of the Sports Festival Arc if Shinso had planned a little better and worked a little harder to win the Sports Festival and if the match-ups had been slightly different. Self-indulgent fic of watching him succeed.

this is completely Shinsou-centric, not Bakugou-centric, but I love and adore it and am dying for a sequel. Shinsou is Best Boy here and you'll be rooting for him the whole time.

#fic rec #katsuki bakugou #bakugou #seriously though if you have a rec for me please always assume i will be unbearably grateful for it #and hit me up with it in the comments or through messaging #thanks for the follows y'all!

[epickiya722]

izuku midoriya? or todoroki. whichever you prefer

I like them both very much, so I'm doing both. They're my babies.

First, Midoriya!

💚Favorite thing about them: So many things! So many thingssss! He's so adorable and badass. Special mention gotta go to his freckles. And somehow he got me to like the color green. I used to hate green with a passion, but he changed my mind.

💚Least favorite thing about them: Baby, sweetheart, please stop pushing your body to the limit! You're strong... but NOT INDESTRUCIBLE!!

💚Favorite line: So many.

"You're forbidden from carrying them, Mineta."

When he got into a monologue about chicken in S5 EP17

"I didn't expect him to be bonkers." - S2 EP14

From the previous episode - "HOLY WHOA, HE'S DEAD!!" Gran Torino wakes up. "HE'S ALIVE!"

And a lot more lines.

💚brOTP: Dekusquad, or Izucrew (including Shinso). I also just love him with Kaminari and Kirishima as a trio. I feel like it's underrated. It's such a precious brOTP.

💚OTP: When I first got into BNHA, Tododeku was my first OTP. Still is one of my faves along with so many others. Bakudeku, IzuOcha, etc. Midoriya deserves affection (platonically and romantically, either/or).

💚nOTP: Midoriya x All Might, like who came up with that?

💚Random headcanon: I feel like he's actually a good artist, so at least sharpens his skills overtime. We see he does draw in his journals, but they're messy sketches because well, he's in a hurry to write down info before he forgets it. But I like the thought of him having separate sketchpads he draws in and shares it with Kaminari (who I also headcanon as an artist).

Speaking of notes, I also think he's the type to have color coded notes with sticky notes used as a bookmarks or to jot down extra info.

💚Unpopular opinion: We see him wear those red sneakers all the time, but I like them. I'd wear them. Also, him being emotional is an endearing character trait. I hate how some people in the fandom just label him as a crybaby. No, he just wears his heart on his sleeve. It can be a weakness, you know, letting your emotions get the better of you (I know too well), but it's also a strength sometimes because he still shows he's compassionate towards others.

💚Song I associate with them: 'Go Beyond' by Nemraps which I recommend if any of you into nerdcore raps! Also 'So Am I' by Ava Max and (I do like the music) 'I'll Show You' by KDA.

💚Favorite picture of them: Like others before him, I can't choose just one picture... and trust there's a lot.

Now, Todoroki!

❄Favorite thing about them: His design is a favorite trait of mine. I have a weakness for the half-half hair color thing and I have had my hair red and white like his once. Also, his voices. Both his VAs do an amazing job in my opinion. And his love for soba and that he reads manga.

🔥Least favorite thing about them: Eh... I don't think I do have a least favorite thing about him. Wait! His first hero costume was so... horrendous... I understood why he had it like that, hating his father and all, but... I hate it so much.

❄Favorite line: Again, so many.

"It's like I'm the hand crusher or something!" & "You damn mutt!" (BOY REALLY WAS GOING TO FIGHT A COP!) - S2 EP18

"He's like a miniature version of you." - S3 EP2

"This is me, incognito." - S3 EP8

"I want to see your cute face. Don't spoil it with wrinkles." - S4 EP17

🔥brOTP: Todomomo is a fave, as well as him and Sero, them sharing manga is so cute to me. Also, him and Midoriya, because they are definitely disaster besties. Yes, they're an OTP, but they're a brOTP, too.

❄OTP: Tododeku, but again, so many. I got into Todobaku lately, too. And I do like Todomomo and I see Todoiida has some potential.

🔥nOTP: I refuse, absolutely refuse to ship him with Dabi.

❄Random headcanon: Maybe this is canon, I don't know, but he can sleep anywhere. I said this with Shinsou, too. I also think he like cold foods more than hot and that he has a sweet tooth. He probably didn't get to eat a lot of sweet foods when he was younger, so when the dorms were made and Satou would bake, Todoroki is one of the first to eat anything he bakes and will fight a classmate over a cookie.

🔥Unpopular opinion: He's so awkward, but it's so adorable. I don't blame him for being awkward (backstory). His little quips like napping whenever or his sense of humor is off is nice for his kind of character. I don't see him as a boring character as some folks say.

❄Song I associate with them: Don't be surprised I'm saying 'Hot 'n' Cold' by Katy Perry. I'm joking! I like Gameboyjones' 'Heat Up, Freeze Up', which is yes, another anime rap song. Also 'I Smile' by Tayla Parx. (LISTEN TO HER MUSIC, IT'S AMAZING)

🔥Favorite picture of them: Like others before him, I don't have a picture. I have many.

Send Me a Character

#kiya answers #kiya answers questions #bnha #mha #boku no academia #my hero academia #todoroki shouto #todoroki shoto #shoto todoroki #shouto todoroki #midoriya izuku #izuku midoriya #deku

[oyavaski]

🎀Oyavaski's BakuDeku Fic Masterlist🎀

Under the cut are some of my all time favorite BakuDeku fics I've ever come across on A03. They range in ratings from Teen to Mature to Explicit. The majority will be Explicit because I prefer more adult themes over toothrotting fluff (mostly for the miscommunication and drama that spurs from intimate romances lol) So be sure to pay attention to ratings before considering clicking the links 😏👌

Not Rated:

Burn, Pine, Perish by Kindaopps

"Three things dawned on Izuku, as he stared at the slick flower petals scattered over the black words of his book: he has fallen in love with his husband, his husband did not love him back, and he is going to die." <- Izuku is a fae cursed from birth, never to fall in love lest his love go unrequited. Hanahaki Disease trope done very well.

Teen Rating:

Solar by Kindaopps

"Here he is, a God, wanting a mortal." <- Sun God Katsuki falls madly in love with a human man named Izuku Midoriya. One of my newest favorites

__

I Still Do by RaeRyn

"He's losing him to pieces, but Izuku still tries to make them count. In which a battle leaves Katsuki with Amnesia, and Izuku finds himself picking up the pieces." <- perfect summary description. Heart breaking dialogue exchanges and concept. One of my treasured fics.

__

Many Sunflowers Later by Jeka

"Scholar Midoriya Izuku comes back to the person he left behind after his journey through the kingdom, the mighty dragon clan leader Bakugou Katsuki." <- A super precious and unique take on the Fantasy AU. It's a short one, but I guarantee it'll warm your soul like homemade stew on a frigid winter morning.

__

The Way You Used To Do by Edema_Ruh

"During a battle, Midoriya gets hit by a villain whose quirk detaches his soul from his body. Stuck in a ghost-like state, the boy enters a race against time in order to save himself from permanently dying. Much to his luck - or lack of it -, the only person who can see and talk to him in this state is no one other than Kacchan. Alternatively: Deku and Kacchan are Soul Bound." <- quite possibly the most popular and well written/nearly perfect canon characterization BakuDeku fic currently out there. Very worth the read, and enough insanely detailed chapters to keep you reading for a week or more lol.

____

Mature Rating:

The Night We Met by Majjale

" "You a poet?" "Only for you." Two sincere wishes and the ramifications of them."<- part one of the Dead Poets series. A simple summary for a Deeply Painful fic that will Hurt You until it doesn't. I've reread this, and it's epilogue fic, over a dozen times now. It's seriously so beautifully written.

__

Take Me Back by Majjale

"A soft epilogue." <- epilogue to The Night We Met, and part two of Dead Poets. A fitting end for our heros after the events in the first part of Dead Poets. Made me cry like a babybackbitch.

__

Imperial Retrograde by Mynameis152

"Raised on a continent at the brink of war, Katsuki and Izuku's sides were chosen the day they were born. But now, as Katsuki's birth right is stripped of him and handed to a foreign prisoner, as Izuku's stolen from his home in the dead of night to fight for an enemy nation because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, the two are forced to find common ground with each other, and end a war heading towards total annihilation."<- A wonderful Fantasy AU fic set in a universe/kingdom where harboring a dragon is punishable by death. And our poor Izuku just so happened to accidentally hatch a dragon he didn't intend to find!

__

I Feel You by Soulstring

" "I don't always take questionable substances from strangers but when I do I end up getting a second hand boner from my childhood friend's feelings" - Midoriya Izuku, most likely."<- Izuku meets a girl with an empathy quirk that manifests in the form of a goo that she bottles and offers it to him as a gift for rescuing her from a kidnapper. Izuku becomes addicted to the goo because of the intense feelings it gives him, and Katsuki has a few issues with that.

____

Explicit Rating:

On The Run by Justaperson1718

"(Based in an AU where All Might loses to All For One) Follow Izuku and Katsuki as they fight together for their very survival and mature through their experiences with each other, on the run together from the League of Villains with no one to depend on but each other. The two will have to work out their differences if they want to continue to live and escape the villains."<- summary explains it pretty well. Haven't read this in quite a while so I don't have much to elaborate on.

Fire In The Mountains/Fire In The Blood by EllaBesmirched(El_Bell)

" “I’ll do it.”

Enji finally turned around and fixed Shouto with an expression so scathing, Shouto had to fight to keep his chin raised. “You’ll marry the Barbarian King.”

Shouto blinked. “Yes.” " <- A polycule masterpiece. I've reread this series no-less than 12 times by now. Incredibly detailed, insanely well written and fleshed out characters. Polygamous relationships and multiple pairings throughout. Main pairs are TodoBaku/TodoBakuDeku/BakuDenkiMinaKiriTodoDeku. It's honestly fantastic, I highly recommend it.

Kacchan by KyuukaKoinu

"Sometimes it’s about winning an argument. Other times it’s about acknowledging your feelings. And in rare cases, it’s about trying to make sense about your ex-childhood friend making out with you in your mother’s kitchen when he swears that he hates your guts. But most of the time, it’s about growing up and understanding what makes the difference between a boy and a man. Both Katsuki and Izuku are finding this out, and they are figuring it out in the hardest way."<- OK so, I can totally look past the almost word-for-word plagiarism of the summary for Boys by CaseyV (the greatest SoRiku fanfic ever fucking made, thank you) because this story was really fucking good. And the character development and progression throughout the plot is fluid and doesn't feel forced at any point. Katsuki coming to accept his sexuality and love for Izuku, Izuku being bullied by his peers for his obvious affection for Footballplayer!Katsuki, and all the drama that lies throughout between two boys learning to accept their feelings and an older man Izuku seeks comfort in from his issues with Katsuki.

Vicious by feelslikefire

"Midoriya and Bakugou wind up in the very last position either of them thought they'd be in: Hero Partners. It's not fun, but they learn to cope. Their first big assignment together takes them undercover to infiltrate a cult, but the situation turns out far more sinister than they first thought. (Or: Midoriya and Bakugou pretend to be Fake Married, join a cult, start having sex, and learn not to suck as partners, not necessarily in that order.)"<- where do I even BEGIN??? This fic has. It. All. Fake marriages, Fake relationships, an insane scary ass cult, hardcore bondage sex, friends with benefits, an insanely well thought out plot that will keep you hooked. Seriously worth the read. I've reread it multiple times and I'll probably reread it again soon once my glasses are repaired lol.

Play The Field by Lalazee

"Baseball and feelings, feelings and baseball. Turns out, Bakugou and Deku are both good and bad at the same things. They try to work on it"<- in which Izuku and Katsuki were aiming to go pro in Baseball, until Izuku's good arm is mangled in a serious accident that creates a crevasse between himself and his relationship with Katsuki. Been a while since I've read this one, but anything by Lalazee is worth the read!!

Blood Moon by Lalazee

"The Thank-Fuck-We-Aren’t-Dead Sex had started then, and had never really stopped. Then came the feelings and the fights. The ego, the pride, the jealousy. And then there was Us (The one-shot smut fic that turned into an entire world for you.)"<- the very first BakuDeku fic I ever read, and an AMAZING way to start. The horny dial is sex to MAXIMUM. (OK so I made an error here, but I think "horny dial is SEX to MAXIMUM is better kept than fixed so fuck it LOOOL)

So there we have it!!! I spent a good hour or so jotting all this down. So I hope ya'll see a few you haven't read yet and give them a shot!

Please like/reblog if you find anything you end up liking so others can take a look themselves 🥰

#bakudeku #fic reccomendations #fic rec #my hero academia #fanfiction #boku no hero academia #bakugou katsuki #izuku midoriya #ao3 #archive of our own #editing days after the fact because i realized i misspelled epilogue like 3 times because my phone is telling me its wrong when its not? lol

[emotionalcello-makefanfics]

Disclaimer tho, all my knowledge of the fandom is strictly from fanfic and google. I don't read the comic or watch the anime. I only have some vague knowledge of what's canon or not and making this fanfic has been somewhat of a fever dream.

Tags: Fluff and angst. Attempt at humor. Crying. Probably ooc. No smut, just holding hands and some hugging and some kissing. Shouto smokes, and probably incorrect depictions of smoking. Implied child abuse (you know who). Lowkey Fuyumi bashing.

Warning: In character cussing from explodo boy. 

Summary:

They found each other in coinciding vulnerability. Shouto was smoking, Katsuki was crying. Miraculously, no one died. It seems that vulnerability is exactly what they need to get through their respective problems, because vulnerability makes them do the one thing the two boys are allergic to do, opening up.

Or, Shouto and Katsuki cope with each other. It miraculously didn't end in explosions, just a lot of physical affections and crying.

Words: 10.9 k

 You don’t have to take life so seriously Shouto! It can be whatever you want to be, it’s yours!

Shouto knocks his head back and parts his lips. White ribbons bleed to the orange sky. The clouds are pretty pink instead of white. The smoke doesn’t blend in with the white clouds anymore like a few hours ago. He taps the amber ash on the portable coffin-shaped ashtray. More than a dozen filter buds crammed there.

He should go back to his room. Any darker then it would be noticeable when goes back to his room. But there’s always that small whisper at the back of his head: Maybe after one more. This spot has been his salvation from overstimulation. It’s the highest building in UA, the rooftop of the dorm. He’s been here for two years and has always been alone.

The door slammed open.

High on nicotine, Shouto passes through shock to immediate acceptance that he’s busted.

Only, he’s not busted. The next sound that came is sobbing. The first thing he sees is awry blond hair and a tear-streaked red face. Soon came the already red blood-shot eyes, staring at him with a sadness that not even in Shouto’s wildest imagination can imagine on Bakugou’s face. It takes a few seconds too long for the default glare and anger to return.

“The fuck are you doing here!” He yells, his voice croaks in a not angry way. Wet and breaking at the pitch.

Shouto, still a bit floaty and relaxed from the nicotine in his system, nor is he yet to register the shock from seeing Bakugou’s tears, just points down towards his fingers.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” his voice is scratchy, a tad bit deeper. He never smoked so many that that happened. Then again, today is a special day.

Seemingly just as shocked, Bakugou seems to still. Shouto expects crackling hands, bared teeth, or maybe a ‘TELL ANYONE AND DIE’, but never that he strides his way and sits on the floor beside Shouto.

“Still have one of those?” Bakugou leans back.

Wordlessly, Shouto digs the last pack from his pocket. There are six left. Bakugou takes one, and Shouto lit a fire on the tip of his thumb towards Bakugou.

“How do you do this?” Bakugou says, eyeing the fire.

“You’ve never done this before?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I have Icyhot! Now fucking tell me already.”

“You put it between your lips, and inhales a bit as you put this corner on the fire.” Shouto crowds him cupping the end of the smoke with his palm and keep the fire controllably small. It feels like Deja Vu, but this time, Shouto is showing someone how to smoke instead.

Bakugou tries, and before Shouto can say to take it slow, Bakugou already choked and doubled over coughing. Shouto pats his back.

“What the fuck was that!” Bakugou roars and grimaces when he sees the stacks of cigarette buds on his ashtray. “How the fuck do you smoke that many!”

Shouto shrugged, “I’m used to it.” He puts out his bud on top of the pile and picks up the mostly one-piece cigarette that Bakugou chucked to the floor and lights it up. He feels eyes on him as he put the filter on his lips and lit it up in one smooth move.

With the cigarette properly lit, he offered, “Wanna try again?”

“No! That shit’s nasty.” Bakugou snarled at the hand holding the smoking cig.

“Suit yourself,” Shouto takes a deep drag and sighs. Surprisingly, Bakugou doesn’t up and leave, and more so that Shouto doesn’t mind the silence.

Alas, it only lasted exactly 33 seconds.

“How the fuck did you get in here!” Bakugou grumbles, “The door was locked.”

“I made ice stairs from my balcony.”

“Like how Elsa did?”

“Exactly like Elsa did, she was my inspiration.”

Bakugou snorts. No sadness left, just a condescending smile, which is better than the ghostly tears in his eyes.

“How did you get in through the locked door?”

“How else would you think?” Bakugou lifts his hand, cradling a small cluster of explosions.

Shouto face palmed, dragging it down.

“What?” Bakugou barks.

“Well when they figured out the door broke then they gonna figure out that someone’s been here, don’t they?”

“That nicotine is already killing your fucking brain cells.”

“That’s not how it’s-”

“Let’s get the fuck outta here before anyone finds us you loon.”

“But I-”

“You’ve burned through enough death sticks, let’s go!” Bakugou grabs his hand and pulls him up.

“Fine fine, let me tidy up.” Shouto could barely close his ashtray with all the buds in it, and he dusted the ashes that drops to the floor.

Shouto already makes the stairs down to his room before looking back at Bakugou, “Want me to drop you to your balcony?”

“I don’t know,” Bakugou narrows his eyes dangerously, “Will it suddenly melts away as I walk on it?”

Shouto huffs, “You have no faith in your favorite sparring partner?”

“The only thing I learned these past couple of years with you being shoved at my face as my sparring partner is that you’re a little shithead.”

Shouto makes the stairs towards Bakugou’s room first, reveling in how badly Bakugou tried to cover his amazement at the stairs.

“Just like Elsa’s, right?”

“You want me to give you Elsa’s number 1 simp trophy?”

Shouto melts Bakugou’s step and lets him fall blond head first into his balcony.

“YOU’LL FUCKING PAY FOR THAT, COCA-COLA SHITHEAD!”

Bakugou roars, and Shouto giggles as he jumps upstairs to his room with explosions fading behind him.

Not until he’s laying in bed that night that he thinks about Bakugou’s tears again. Rest assured, his imagination spiraled to ‘what could it be’ until 4 am.

  ++++

 I don’t understand why your dad wants you to be number one when he should’ve want you to just be happy. Nothing in life really matters unless you’re happy.

Shouto loves everything about living in the dorm, but it has one and only one weakness. He can’t smoke as freely.

His dad knows and just rant about how it’ll affect his performance.

Now, Aizawa knows, and he’s at the principal’s office.

Shouto instantly knows how. Bakugou broke the rooftop door. Iida must’ve found it, reported it to Aizawa-sensei. Maybe his homeroom teacher has magnifying vision too because Shouto could’ve sworn he left no trace.

Yet Shouto can’t find it in him to blame anyone. He knows as an aspiring hero he shouldn’t smoke, those reasons never matter at those desperate times he needed to smoke.

“Tea?” Nezu raises his pot of pink teapot, Shouto narrows his eyes at the paw (how did that paw hold the teacup?)

“Yes, thank you.” The cup is equally pink, with two cheerful yellow flowers on each side. This looks like a tea set Eri had.

Shouto sips the possibly herbal tea, trying to ignore the glare Aizawa-sensei is sending his way from beside Nezu.

“Todoroki, how long have you been smoking?” His sensei’s voice gravels, like he just woke up from bed, his bed hair supports the theory.

Apparently  a little mental, Shouto said, “Overall or in school?”

“Both.”

“Started when I was in first-grade junior high school.” As soon as he has any time away from home. “In UA, as soon as I stayed at the dorm.”

“Now, Todoroki,” Nezu put his paws together, “You know someone as young as you shouldn’t smoke. You’re underage, and an aspiring hero on top of that...”

Nezu then continues his PSA on smoking. Nothing Shouto hasn’t heard. Every word goes in the left ear and came out the right. He also isn’t surprised that Aizawa will be taking his stash of cigarettes. It doesn’t suck as much because Shouto doesn’t have a lot left anyway, nor is he been regularly smoking. He smokes when he’s stressed and nothing else could calm him down. He never reached out to the cigs first. The coffin-shaped portable ashtray reminded him that.

As soon as he’s back at the dorm, he’s greeted with a cheerful environment. Half his classmates are hanging in the living room. There’s a group playing Mario Party, a group that’s putting on nail art, and a group that seems to cook something ambitious. Shouto usually joins the group, but not today.

“Todoroki!” Iida comes from the hall, “Aizawa-Sensei came earlier and ran through your room! He seems to confiscate a pack of cigarettes. I’ve tried to tell him that it’s all a misunderstanding-”

“No, it’s mine.”

“Todoroki! At our young age as aspiring heroes we sho-”

“Nope, sorry not today Iida. Good night.”

Todoroki feels a few eyes on his back, but he walks on. With him naturally keeping things to himself, his friends tend to worry but they trust him to reach out to them in his own time. When it gets too long they usually check up on him. Shouto wished they never will.

 +++++ 

 You have the power to be whatever you want, but why are you following the wishes of someone you hate? I know he’s your dad, but your life is yours, Shouto.

Shouto’s wish didn’t come true when Bakugou bugs him on the rooftop again two days after he was raided.

It’s Deja Vu, but fewer tears from Bakugou and Shouto isn't a pack and a half deep in cigarettes.

“I fucking know you’d be at my spot again!” Bakugou spat scathingly.

“Excuse you,” Shouto scowls, “I’ve been smoking at this spot since the dorm opens. This is my spot.”

“Well, I’ve been- I’ve been-” Shouto should’ve known that Bakugou would turn red and explodes instead of admitting he’d been caught emoting, “What the fuck are you doing here anyway! You’re doing nothing!”

“No thanks to someone.”

Bakugou narrows his eyes, confused at the implication, but his exploding friend is smart, so he figured it out, and isn’t happy with what he figures out. “The fuck, get your accusing eyes away from me discount Sans, I don’t tattle.”

“No, but you exploded the door which leads to Iida reporting it, which leads to Aizawa inspecting the premises, and him figuring it out that smoked here.”

“That’s just your fucking fault for not covering your trace clean!”

Shouto inhaled indignantly, but then too tired to justify himself. There’s no ending of arguing with Bakugou, and Shouto had learned to choose his battles.

“How about you? How did you get in here?”

“Stole a key from Iida.”

“Are you here to cry again?”

Bakugou’s palms explode, his face an embarrassed flush and teeth bared in anger, “WHOS FUCKING CRYING!!?”

“I have eyes.”

“You’ve been sucking on those death sticks way too much.”

“I wasn’t smoking that type of substance.”

“Whatever, I’m not dealing with this,” Bakugou turns to step away.

“I don’t get it, it’s not a big deal!” Shouto raises his voice a bit, for some reason his heart rate picks up when Bakugou starts leaving. “So what if you sweat through your eyes? Midoriya does it almost every day, sometimes twice a day...”

“Don’t fucking compare me to fucking Deku you fucking fried ice cream!”

“...And Midoriya beat you at this year’s Sports Festival,” Shouto dismissed.

Bakugou grits his teeth, but his eyes watch over Shouto. “Stop stalling and tell me what you want from me,” Bakugou growls.

Shouto’s eyes widen at the sudden honesty, he nibbles on his bottom lips, “Stay here?”

For a second, Bakugou glares at him, but after two years of being his classmate, Shouto can confidently say that they’re friends. He knows Bakugou isn’t angry at him. As to prove his point, Bakugou sits beside him, a bit closer than Shouto expects him to, though still with that permanent scowl. Shouto moves his palms from his pocket, letting go of the aluminum ashtray. Shouto tests the waters and moves closer so their shoulder bumps. No explosions, no snarl, success.

Instantly, Shouto relaxes. Focusing on the pressure of their shoulders, the light shifts Bakugou does (because he can never fully stay still), and the clouds moving. No thought, just being alive.

Alas, no quiet ever lasted long with Bakugou, he expected it though.

“No wonder Aizawa figured it out, this place still stinks of tobacco.”

“It does?” Shouto takes a deep sniff, all he smells is Bakugou’s sweat that always smells sweet because of his quirk. “I didn’t smell anything.”

“Yeah no shit scar head, your nose is probably numb at this point.”

“I don’t smoke that much.”

“Said someone who smoked more than a dozen in one sitting,” Bakugou’s nags turns to worry, “Damn, was it really in one sitting?”

“Is that worry I detected?” Shouto deflects.

Bakugou grits his teeth, “I’m not worried! Go die off lung cancer I don’t fucking care!”

“Good, then, because yes it was, and there’s nothing wrong with it.”

“Fucking hell it’s not! What the actual fuck are your lungs made of? I barely suck it past my throat and I almost coughed out my insides.”

“I missed your dramatics,” Shouto says genuinely, and he waits for an explosion to come. Bakugou doesn’t do well with praises thinly veiled with snark.

It never came, Bakugou watches him closely instead, “Yeah? And who’s fault is that?”

Shouto dared to glare back, but it didn’t last long, he knows the answer. Shouto had come out of his shell nicely, as Momo had put it. He’s still awkward, can’t really quite grasp ‘pop culture’ and how to correctly implied it, but he regularly hangs out with his friends. As of late, he’s noticeably withdrawn. Going straight to his room after class, and opting out of game nights, nail nights, and even soba nights.

They had been giving him space, which he finds endearing. Of course, Bakugou isn’t one to give anything liberally.

“Mine...” Shouto admits, and Bakugou looks surprised.

The fun part of befriending Bakugou is that Shouto could be a bit of a bitch and Bakugou would be a bitch back, and it wouldn’t matter. No one’s feelings were hurt, and Shouto can let go of steam without guilt. Shouto could’ve been in denial, said that Bakugou should step off his dick and no feelings would be hurt.

But he had enough of space, though admittedly, he should’ve confessed that with someone that wants to be in his space.

“Finally, you’re done moping around, everyone’s been on my ass worrying about you.”

“Why would they be on your ass?”

“Hell would I know.”

“Was that the reason you cried?” Shouto is just teasing, but the grim in Bakugou’s face isn’t a familiar one.

“I told you that didn’t happen!” he growls lowly.

Shouto considers, clueless yet curious. “I’ll tell you about me if you told me about you.”

“Just because you’re vomiting your crisis that I didn’t ask for, doesn’t mean I’m obligated to do the same!”

“Okay, that’s fine too.”

“No, shut-”

“My mom and dad are getting back together.”

Bakugou’s expression mellows to confusion, “That sounds convoluted as hell. Didn’t they just got a divorce or something?”

“They never got a divorce. She’s just sent to a mental hospital and never came home, doesn’t mean the marriage is legally broken.”

The fact seems to sink slow with his explosive friend, “What the fuck.”

Shouto sighs, looking down his jittery hands, his mouth dries. “Last year when I visited my mom, we were talking about the future. She said she’d filed for a divorce, and I’d live with her.” Shouto feels oddly numb, but there’s this dull ache deep in his chest that’s constant. “I should’ve known. She said that before he ‘tried to change’... she said that when everything was still bad, she thought it still happened.”

“What still happened?” Bakugou sounds angry, but he always does.

“I got hurt a lot when I was a kid, because of training. She thought he still hurts me.”

He felt the shoulder beside him tensed. Beside Shouto’s jittery hands is Bakugou’s clenched shaking fist. Shouto looks up from their laps and finds that Bakugou’s face... an eerie stoic.

“Hmmm,” Bakugou hums, and a chill runs down his spine. “When did you start training by the way?” not even a curse in that sentence.

Shouto realizes then, this is Bakugou truly angry, even though Shouto can’t figure out why on earth would he be.

“The day after my quirk manifested.”

His childhood is unforgettable. The day his training starts with fear and pain, then ends with exhaustion and anger. The day Touya never came back, the day his mom left, the longing stare towards the backyard wanting to play with his brother and sister. He remembers it all, like a tattoo in his memory.

“We been knew that Endeavor was an ass but I didn’t know he’s a fucking child abuser.”

The words snap him away from his musing. This time, Bakugou looks angry angry. Teeth-gritting, scowling, boiling anger.

Oh, that’s why he’s angry.

“It was training.”

“Not at five fucking years old you e-boy himbo!” Bakugou barks.

“That’s new, what’s a himbo?”

“Not the fucking point!” Bakugou takes his shoulder away, and suddenly Shouto feels cold. Then he’s held by his shoulders, pinned by sharp maroon eyes, and the lack of warmth turns cold when a growl says, “You’re telling me that your dad’s been abusing you, and no one stopped him? And he’s fucking getting away with it??”

There are so many things wrong with that question and implied statement. One is that it was not abuse. Two is that no one could’ve stopped the then number two hero. Three is that Shouto didn’t tell him any of that but Bakugou assumed anyway.

Shouto doesn’t get to say all of it as Bakugou lets go of him and takes deep breaths. Bakugou pinched the bridge of his nose, seemingly displeased at what he’s thinking.

“Why did you think your mom wants to get back together with your dad?”

Shouto feels relieved now they’re back on topic, “I don’t know. It feels like one moment she’s afraid of him, and now she wants to be with him again. I guess... he did ‘try to be better’. Everyone else seems to forgive him, but I can’t.”

Then Bakugou does something that he didn’t expect, he defends them, “I mean... He’s not that much of a dick now, right? He’s a dick but he was pretty alright when we have a work-study at his agency. And your mom’s better, so maybe they could make it work?”

Shouto knows it’s technically true, but displeasure clawed him still, his blood boiling.

“I don’t care whether it works! I hated that she forgives him so easily!” Shouto shouts.

“Well, that’s selfish of you, isn’t it! It’s her decision, not yours!” Bakugou barks back.

“What the fuck do you know about it?” Shouto spats, he stands up, “They’re going to destroy each other, and what then? Do they want me to just look at their trainwreck while they insist everything is okay? No! I’m not going through that again!”

“You’re just not trusting your mom! Things changed!” Bakugou stands up too, he looks exceptionally angrier than ever.

“No, I don’t. Especially after she said she wanted to get a divorce with him then changing her mind only a year later. Of course, I don’t trust her!”

“But isn’t it better to have both your parents together?”

“No, it doesn’t especially when she’s not happy!”

Bakugou doesn’t bark back, and Shouto only realized how Bakugou’s question was laced with a cracked voice. Shouto looks, only partially surprised that the eyes that look back thinly veiled with tears. The heat in his bloodstream wanes out, more worried/horrified that Bakugou is now openly crying.

This is the worst. Both of them are socially awkward lone wolves that have no idea how and what to do with emotions. So, Shouto does his #best.

“You can tell me.”

Bakugouu glares. Okay, so maybe Shouto’s #best isn’t what he needs.

“Only if you want, if you don’t then it’s okay too.”

“Shut the fuck up, thermostat.”

What else do you do when someone cried? Shouto racks his memories of times when he was crying a lot when he was little, trying to find examples he could follow. He remembers his mom.

“Come here.”

“The fuck are you trying to-”

Shouto cuts him off with a hug. It’s as awkward as it comes. Shouto has his arms around the broad shoulders, his chin hooked on the right side. Shouto doesn’t know how tight he should hug, but it’s enough to press their chest together. Then one of his arms, the left one, rubs Bakugou’s back, emitting a slight warmth. In two languid swipes, Bakugou’s tenseness bleeds slowly.

“I don’t know what’s wrong,” Shouto says, mimicking what his mom had said once upon a time when he’s upset. “But it’ll be okay. Maybe it’ll take a long time, or it’ll be really hard, but you...” have me, you don’t have to deal with everything alone, was what his mom finished with. He doesn’t know if Bakugou would see him as reliable, but Fuyumi had said that intentions are the most important. “You have your friends, and you have me. I don’t know what will help, but I’ll do it if you asked.”

Shouto surprised himself that he means it. When he encounters an emotionally fragile situation, he usually gets Midoriya, or Urakara, or Momo to handle the situation. With Bakugou however...seeing that his usually prickly friend tipping at the edge like this, Shouto felt like he wants to help. Perhaps it was the camaraderie of the S.S. Emotional Constipation that makes him reach out his personal hand towards Bakugou.

Shouto found another surprise when Bakugou hugs him back, his spiky blond head tucked at the crook of his neck. Shouto also didn’t expect the reflex tears pooling in his eyes at the feeling of tightening arms around his torso. He’s being held, tight and needy. When was the last time he’s held like this? Tears pours without his will when he realized the last time someone hugged him was Touya as Dabi when he was about to burn himself along with Shouto.

They stay there on the rooftop just holding each other as if they’ll fall apart if they don't. When Bakugou lets go, his eyes are even redder than it already is. When those red eyes look up, he noticed the tear streak down Shouto’s face and doesn’t comment about it.

Instead, Bakugou says, “My parents are splitting up.”

Shouto says nothing, only to pull him in his arms again.

They say nothing else as they sit at the same spot on the concrete floor leaning on each other, hand in hand. Shouto instinctually teared up again when he remembered the last time someone holds his hand was his mom as she walked him to a park, all those years ago. Other than that, it was for survival and fighting.

Bakugou leans his head on Shouto’s shoulder first, Shouto says nothing about it. He then leans his face on top of Bakugou’s hair, it feels like a bed of grass, Bakugou says nothing about it too. Shouto realizes that Bakugou can be vulnerable as long as no one points it out. Being untalkative, Shouto can do just that.

The future is scary, especially when their supposed foundation is changing. Bakugou’s foundations are breaking apart, while Shouto had grown accustomed to the torn apart pieces now move together crossing fingers that they fit.

But the future is for tomorrow. The changes are not theirs to make. All they can do now is hold themselves together as everything changes, hoping they don’t break in the process.

Eventually, nightfalls, but none of them moved. Shouto suspects that Bakugou might be sleeping on him.

It’s a suspicion no more when Aizawa found them there, and Bakugou doesn’t stir from being found. Those tired eyes already look exasperated as he finds Shouto’s tear-streaked eyes looking back.

Aizawa sighs, “Is it life-threatening ?”

Shouto knows that the teacher is prone to worries despite his appearance. Their stumble at first year seems to scar him and made him extra vigilant with his students ever since.

“There’s nothing we could do about it,” Shouto says, which is true, but seemingly a wrong thing to say.

“That doesn’t answer my question, trouble child.” Aizawa scowls, which means his worry cranked up to max. “Are the both of you facing a problem that harms you, or threatening your life?”

“It’s nothing like that,” says the bundle of blond in his shoulder. Bakugou sits up and stretches, yawning so big his jaw seems to unhinge a bit. He doesn’t look angry, just tired. “It’s family drama, you know how it is.”

“Is it really just drama?” Aizawa squints at Bakugou, too knowing for someone without a mind-reading quirk.

Bakugou looks at Shouto, searching and prodding. Shouto doesn’t understand what he could be looking for, or what he wants. Bakugou just sighs, “Yeah, just drama.”

Aizawa looks at Shouto too and softens. “If you two need to cuddle you can just do it in your respective room.”

“Nah, too many nosy people.” Bakugou starts to leave.

Shouto follows with a “Good night Sensei.”

Aizawa grunts.

“We can use my Elsa stairs,” Shouto pipes in as he walks alongside him.

Bakugou looks at him and huffs, “Turns out you’re not a himbo after all.”

Since Bakugou won't tell him, Shouto looks up ‘himbo’ himself. This raises a lot of questions about how Bakugou has been seeing him, but Shouto decides that he’d be offended by it.

  ++++++

 You could still be lonely even though you have tons of sibling, or even when they really love you. I guess they just don’t know how to show us they love us.

He really should’ve known. He really should’ve fucking known.

The thought spins in his head as he smoked the last cigarette on his freshly bought pack. No one to catch him this time. It’s the weekend and he’s supposed to be at home, but it’s unbearable to be in the same room with his family. Usually, he could just slurp his soba in feigning ignorance but not now.

He’s sitting by the bench of a lonely park. He’s been sitting here since sun down. He has no idea what time it is. His phone in his pocket is on silent, he hasn’t checked on it since he walked out.

He should’ve stayed at the dorms, fuck the family dinner.

It’s not that Shouto wants things to end up badly. It’s not like he doesn’t want to be home, especially since his mom finally comes home after so many years. Everyone is happy that she’s back, even Natsuo, even his dad. Everyone except her. It looks so hard for her to be there. Shouto can see in her face that some places still hold strong bad memories for her.

His mother is strong because she pulls through. She holds herself through it all even though it seems only barely.

Yet why is he still so angry at her? Maybe not angry, frustrated. Shouto wants to ask her clarity. Why is she doing this? Why did she change her mind? Why come back here? Why not grasp the independence she had been telling Shouto she strived for? Was she coaxed to be here? Was she feeling some kind of responsibility to go back here? To salvage that sham of a marriage she had with Endeavor?

Shouto wants to ask, wants to understand. He crowded her with questions that moment when they said they’d be getting back together, only for his mom to wince, eyes widen, and quickened breath. For the second time in his life, his mom had looked at him with fear. Today, Shouto could barely meet her eyes again.

Is he really such a monster in her eyes just because he’s half his father? Then why go back to his father at all?

Shouto bought half a dozen packs as per tradition. Also because of his self implied tradition, he puts all the ashes in the coffin-shaped ashtray, even though there’s a park ashtray right beside him.

“You carry that everywhere,” Says a groveling voice that Shouto would notice anywhere.

Bakugou is in casuals. Black jeans and a grey hoodie seem like he’s out in a hurry. Just like Shouto.

“You’ve got to stop stalking me,” Shouto inhales deep, watching red amber burns till the filter and sighs.

“Who fucking stalking you Zuko.”

“Zuko doesn’t have-”

“Shut up,” Bakugou plop his ass beside Shouto, sitting waaay too close. He snatched the coffin tin, inspecting it. “Even when you didn’t smoke you carried this.”

“How did you know?”

“It shows your pocket, not big enough for a phone.”

Shouto knows he can’t get away once Bakugou began prying. “My first friend gave it to me.”

“That fucking Deku???”

“No,” Shouto chuckles at the image of Midoriya taking the role of what his first friend did. “It’s someone I met first-year junior high. She gave me this after introducing me to cigarettes.”

“That’s so fucking passive-aggressive I would’ve punched her in her teeth,” Bakugou grumbles, putting the ashtray to Shouto’s lap. “And why the fuck would anyone smoke at thirteen anyway!”

“Exactly because we’re thirteen, Katsuki, just because,” Shouto chuckles again at the memory. Seemingly too carefree from the nicotine, Bakugou had become Katsuki in his tongue. Katsuki bristles at his given name, but says nothing about it. It mysteriously made Shouto very happy.

“Among everything though, she was my first best friend, she teaches me a lot of things that make me who I am. She made me realize that I didn’t have to follow my dad’s wishes. That I can be what I want to be instead of what I was born for. That it’s valid to be lonely even though I technically have a big family. That it’s okay to not strive to be the best and just to be... happy.”

Shouto closes his eyes, remembering her lessons always fell bitter-sweet. But he’ll hold it in his heart forever.

“What you’re born for?” Katsuki says scathingly.

“Yeah, you know about this.” Shouto was told that Katsuki had eavesdropped on his conversation with Midoriya. Shouto was born to fulfill another man’s vendetta. A purpose first, and a son last.

“Seem like a wise person for a thirteen-year-old,” Katsuki sneers.

“She was, I loved her,” Shouto’s confession brings Katsuki’s face to a red grimace.

“Shit, I didn’t ask you to tell me your fucking secrets.”

“It’s not a secret.”

“Oh, really?” Katsuki spat bitterly, “Then why are you hiding your girlfriend from us?”

So many things wrong with that question. Shouto raises his eyebrows in surprise, “She’s not my girlfriend, and I’m not hiding her. She’s dead.”

The grimace fell like a hot potato, it would’ve been fun watching how Katsuki splutters if he didn’t look like he’s legit choking. “Holy fuck, that's... fuck, then why the shit you’re so stoic talking about it,” Katsuki seems appalled.

“It happens a long time ago. She seems accepting of her death that I... well I want to respect her decision.” Shouto knows it’s weird to not feel mournful of the departure of your closest friend. He still misses her, but she had been so positive until the very moment she left. Shouto was sure that she’s happy, so Shouto wants to be happy for her.

Katsuki paled, horrified, seemingly to misunderstand again.

“She had a terminal illness. Very likely no chance of survival. She chose to live her remaining time normally instead of undergoing treatment.”

“There’s... There’s no way her parents let her do that.”

“They’re economically challenged. They tried though, just too late in the end.”

“Fuck...” Katsuki cursed, running through his hair roughly. “Never thought you’d be the type of person to have life-changing moments like that.”

“A lot of people have proven to me that everyone has potential to be unexpected, and that’s just how it is.” Shouto looks pointedly at Katsuki, who glares at him in retaliation. “There’s a reason why we’re both here instead of home.”

“Yeah?” Katsuki mumbles, clearly not wanting to talk.

Shouto doesn’t too, to be honest, and yet keeping it in feels more exhausting, “My mom’s home.”

“No shit?” Katsuki was mildly surprised, “So it’s really happening huh.”

“It’s like walking on eggshells with her. I wanted to ask, but last time I did she flinched at me. I couldn’t look at her today.”

Katsuki sighs. This time, Katsuki is the one that scoots over till their shoulders touched all the way to their thighs. The contact makes Shouto breathes easier, he’s drawn to it like moths to a flame. His body goes limp as if it’s been too tense too long from holding itself together, and he drapes himself on top of Katsuki. Shoulder pressed together, his head heavily falls on Katsuki’s shoulder. Instinctually, his hand looks for another hand. Katsuki snakes around his hand and clasps it with his. It’s uncharacteristic, but Shouto finds himself grateful for it.

It’s warm, it’s damp, it’s grounding. Like lying on even earth after running away for so long.

“I don’t want her to be with him under the obligation that parents are supposed to be together for the kids. She’s been through so much, I would’ve understood, but I didn’t know how to say it without triggering her.” Silence follows, and Shouto realized what he said. “Sorry, uh, I’m not insinuating-”

“Shut up candy cane, I know.” Katsuki leans closer, his head on top of Shouto’s.

It’s warm, just what he needs in the middle of an emotional crisis at the beginning of November. It’s a bit out of character for Katsuki to do this, nor Shouto, neither of them are known for physical contact or talking about their personal lives. Yet here they are.

And Katsuki speaks anyway, “They’re fighting.”

Shouto, contrary to what Katsuki called him, isn’t a himbo. He knows who they are and he knows what a fight could entail.

“Did they hurt each other when they fight?” Shouto asks, then mused even if they did, could Katsuki do anything about it? Shouto couldn’t back then.

“No!” Katsuki says, indignant, “Of course not, they’re just bitching at each other about... about... I don’t know, it’s fucking stupid.”

“Hm, that’s good.”

“Fucking hell it’s good, they’re being idiotic!”

“They’re not hurting each other.”

Katsuki paused, his hands clenched tighter, “Did he hurt your mom when they fight?”

Shouto takes a deep inhale at the surge of memory. The fear that settles is old, he knows. Just leftover trauma that never went away, still, it bubbled to the surface, makes his skin cold.

Not trusting his voice, Shouto nods.

“They were fighting about me,” Katsuki says after a while, his voice a bit shaky, and Shouto knows better than to point it out. He keeps his head on the shaking shoulder and listens. “They didn’t know I was listening, they never did. They never... Turn-Turns out they didn’t even plan on having me.”

Katsuki holds his hand tighter and trembling.

“I’m a fucking accident,” Katsuki spat, venom dripping in every word. “Then they had a shotgun wedding, they didn’t even love each other at all.”

Shouto hears one escape of a sniff and lets himself relax, feigning clueless that Katsuki must’ve been crying. He lets the silence stretches until the hand holding his relaxed and the shaking subsides. Shouto had the same breakdown before. It downs to him that they’re not so different after all, children of a loveless relationship. Though he wonders if that instantly means he’s unloved. It had felt that way, but now... now it feels so much complicated than yes or no.

“Does it matter why we’re born?” Shouto hears a deep inhale of an incoming rant but he cuts it off with, “We’re our own person, with our own lives, and our own dreams. No one can tell us otherwise. Not even the one who makes us.” Shouto pauses and listens, what came to his ears is soft breathing, so he continues. “So what you’re not planned? That doesn’t mean you’re unwanted,” Shouto rubs his thumb over the damp knuckles, “You’re not unloved.”

Because Shouto had been to the Bakugo residence. Bakugou Mitsuki is as explosive as he is, but he can see her adoring stare at her son even when she’s scolding him. Bakugou Masaru is softer, always trying to calm both of them and giving small smiles when Shouto tells him stories about his son at school.

“What the fuck do you know, water dispenser?” Katsuki lowly growls, but it doesn’t have that biting hate, he doesn’t move away from Shouto.

So Shouto only hums and lets the silence stretch. He grabs the ashtray with his other hand, rubbing the plain surface with his thumb, remembering her, thanking her.

“What’s her name?” Katsuki says after minutes of silence, his voice with less snarl.

“Arisu.”

“... I’m sorry you lost her.”

And that’s what happened, isn’t it? Shouto may be able to let her go, but she’s still lost to him. Still hurts, Shouto still mises her. “Thank you.”

They didn’t let go of each other until Shouto’s phone rings. It’s Natsuo. His brother is just as unhappy about their parents' reunion, though for him it’s more about hating their dad and less about questioning their mother as Shouto did. Natsuo called to offer to spend the rest of the weekend at his place. Shouto immediately agrees, then he remembers Katsuki.

“Is it okay if I bring one of my friends?”

Katsuki instantly glowers at him.

“Who?”

“Katsuki.”

“Who??”

“Bakugou.”

“Oh, yeah sure. Buy some dinner on the way, I didn’t get to eat much.”

“Okay, me too.”

As soon as they hang up, Katsuki bares his teeth.

“Who says I’ll go with you, Pokeball?” His voice raised a bit, his arms crossing defensively.

“I’m not, I said if. You don’t have to, but if you want, you can.”

“No one fucking asked you for shelter,” Katsuki scoffs, facing away.

“I know...” Shouto knows Katsuki would rather leave than accept help. The only way he accepts it is that if no one acknowledges it. He knows Katsuki can take care of himself, but Shouto is the one that doesn’t want him to leave just yet. Shouto knows he’ll go back to Natsuo’s place only to hear him bitch about Endeavor when the real problem is with their mom and her odd decision.

“Can’t you just stay for dinner?” The desperation in his voice is real, Katsuki seems to notice it and is bewildered by it. “Please?”

Katsuki’s eyes widen at the magic word because no, Shouto doesn’t say it often, much less towards Katsuki, he had enough ego already.

Nose flared and fist clenched, Katsuki finally barks, “Fine! But we’re cooking instead of ordering take-out, I fucking know what you’re gonna get you soba simp. Your brother better has a kitchen.”

“He does,” Shouto replies, the upbeat tone in his voice is rare. Can you blame him? He’s excited that he’s not coming home, and Katsuki goes with him with his admittedly superior cooking.

At Natsuo’s apartment, Shouto helped Katsuki cook, nothing more than chopping stuff. Natsuo gave him a brief summary of what happened at home after Shouto left, but thankfully, he’s not saying too much because Katsuki is there. Once Natsuo finished talking and left to get beers, Shouto gives Katsuki an arm squeeze of thanks. Katsuki only grunts.

Dinner is ‘simple’ in Katsuki’s opinion. Stir-fried vegetables, miso soup, and hamburg steak. As always, it’s delicious, and Natsuo who’s none the wiser to Katsuki’s God-like cooking skill is blown away.

They’re in the living area on the sofa watching TV when Shouto scoots closer again. Natsuo is in his room studying.

“You can stay here for the rest of the weekend if you want,” Shouto says, bumping shoulders.

Katsuki frowns, eyes on the screen. “I don’t have my change of clothes with me.”

“You can borrow mine, I have some here.”

“Ran away a lot don’t you?” Katsuki sneers.

“You have no idea,” Shouto admits.

The sneer falls, “Why?”

“Just because I finally can.”

“You couldn’t before?”

Shouto shakes his head, finding his head heavy, so he lays his head on Katsuki’s shoulder again. “Before he was number one, he insists on using all my free time on training. If I didn’t, he’d take my phone, or the internet, or my manga, even burned them on some occasion. He even flushed my pet fish, rest in peace Kiya. Then he’s number one, and the dorms are established... so...”

Shout shrugs. He doesn’t reach for Katsuki’s hand this time, just pressed against him, afraid if he pushed then Katsuki would retract. Shouto doesn’t want to stop his newfound comfort just yet.

Then his hand is grasped by a firm clammy hand. Shouto keeps thinking of how Katsuki’s sweaty hands must be because of the nitroglycerin of his quirk. If he’s not thinking about Katsuki’s quirk then he’d think about how it makes his heart skipped a beat that Katsuki initiates the touch again. So yeah, clammy hands that hold him tight.

“Why didn’t you tell anybody?” Katsuki says, weaker than he’s accustomed to. It makes Shouto wary.

“I don’t know what is there to tell.”

A groan stretches, “What do I do with you?”

“Hey...” Shouto mock complains “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Does he still train you like that?”

Shouto feels a bit of whiplash with all these questions. Katsuki has been asking personal questions left and right, and Shouto doesn’t understand why answering it doesn’t feel as hard as usual.

“No, not since he became number 1.”

Katsuki scoffs, “Got what he wanted didn’t he?”

“Sometimes I wonder if that’s the case. When he got it, he didn’t seem happy, just angry. Then he started wanting the family he broke to get that number one spot.”

That renders Katsuki to another bout of silence. He knows Katsuki strives to be number one too, and at first, Shouto had ridiculed him about it. Why does a superficial title mean so much anyway? Katsuki changed over the years though, with Midoriya being the main cause of it.

Heart on his throat, Shouto dare asks, “Hey, Katsuki? Why do you want to be a hero?”

Katsuki tensed, but Shouto holds him tighter, “Why are you getting nosy all of the sudden?”

Shouto knows he’s not getting things easy, “I just wanna know.”

“Yeah, that’s nosy.”

“No, I just want to get to know you.” Shouto bites his lips as soon as the words left, was that too forward?

They’re not looking at each other, but Shouto can feel the glare directed at him. “Why?”

“We’ve been friends for a while...”

“We’re not fucking friends-!”

“...But I feel like I’m taking you for granted. I didn’t even know you’re going through something so big.” Some friend I am, Shouto broods.

It takes a few seconds, but Katsuki defeatedly sighs, and Shouto smiles in victory, “At first, I just want to be the best.”

“Best at what?”

“Everything...” Katsuki muses, his head knocked back, “Then I realized that it was an impossible goal... Did a lot of thinking, did a lot of uh, self-reflecting. Started talking to Ito-san too. I realized that I just want to be needed.”

It makes sense why Katsuki is here then. Shouto wished he could outright say that he needs him so Katsuki would stay longer, but just imagining him doing so already makes him pink in embarrassment.

Ito-san is the school counselor, her doors are open for every UA student. Shouto had half the mind to go to her, but there’s always this weight of silence from being a son of a high-profile hero. Endeavor always drilled him about secrecy and how he shouldn’t say anything about his family to anyone or it’ll ruin everything. It’s the reason why Arisu was his only friend, she was dying, and she did take his secret to her grave. Shouto still feels guilty about that.

“Have you ever talked to Ito-san?” Katsuki asked as if reading his mind.

“Can’t.”

“Why?”

“Everything that comes out of my mouth is tabloid-worthy. Endeavor had drilled me from way young that I can’t run my mouth about our lives. He’s right about that at least, I didn’t want paparazzi swarming us demanding half-assed rumors if I can help it. It had happened before, someone even sneaked into my mom’s hospital to reach her. I guess... that’s also why I never told anyone at all about anything.”

“You told Arisu didn’t you?”

Shouto bites his lip, guilt gnaws at him, “Because I know she won't carry my secrets long enough.” Please don’t hate me. Shouto’s grip on Katsuki tighten.

“But you told Deku, you told me.”

“Well, I trust you,” he says like it’s the most obvious thing. “You sure you don’t want to stay over?”

Katsuki leans away, and the cold strikes immediately. Shouto leans back, pointedly not looking at red irises.

“Fine.”

Shouto quickly looks up, then he finds Katsuki’s face odd. There’s something familiar with it. He’s... smiling, only slightly, but it’s a smile, and his eyes aren’t furrowed or angry or glaring. His eyebrows relaxed and he looks.... soft. Maybe Shouto fell asleep and currently dreaming.

“I’ll need to call my parents first,” Katsuki says after clearing his throat, looking away a bit flushed.

“Sure, I’ll get you settled.”

Shouto is half excited half worried. He told Natsuo that Katsuki will be borrowing the couch, which only replied with a hum while his eyes doesn’t leave the book. His brother is not unfamiliar with runaways. Shouto isn’t the only one seeking shelter at his place.

Shouto passes the balcony where Katsuki is screaming at his phone. Shouto can only hear muffles, but he gives Katsuki some privacy and gets some spare clothes. When Shouto sees that Katsuki is still on the phone even after ten minutes have passed, he takes the liberty of taking a shower first.

When Shouto walks out, he finds Katsuki sitting by the sofa, his hands suspiciously inflamed. He faces the screen but looking particularly nowhere. Shouto had seen those empty looks before.

“Katsuki?”

He jerks slightly as his name is called. Katsuki schooled his expression to a careful stoic, walls up. No matter, Shouto thinks, sometimes you don’t need to tear down walls to help a person, just hold their hand through the gate.

“Go take a shower, bath’s warm.”

Katsuki nods, taking the towel Shouto offered and the spare clothes. Shouto makes tea, for him, his brother, and Katsuki. Shouto delivers the cup of tea to Natsuo’s room, seems like the books are multiplying around his brother.

“Tea,” Shouto says before putting it on a coaster.

“Thanks.” Natsuo finally looks away from the book and takes a sip. “That Bakugou, how is he?” Natsuo asks, knowing that Shouto only brings his friend here in a dire situation.

The only other person he brought was Kaminari, believe it or not. Kaminari had said he didn’t want to come home for the weekend because he was scared of facing his parents after he came out via text. From the replies, it hadn’t been good. Kaminari spent the rest of the stay switching between sobbing and full-on crying. Only God knows why Kaminari asked him instead of any of the Baku-squad, but Kaminari is still his friend too, so Shouto provides.

But today with Katsuki is different though. Shouto had to beg him to stay, whether it’s for the benefit of him or Shouto the line had blurred.

“Hopefully he will be,” Is all Shouto can offer. Natsuo nods before going back to his book.

Shouto lays out his futon in the living room adjacent to the sofa. He’s laying down, scrolling at his phone. Putting his dad on read and ignoring Fuyumi’s and mom’s chatbox. He opted to look at cat videos instead. Soon, Katsuki came out of the bathroom, drank the offered tea, and laid down on the sofa.

They spent probably an hour separately looking at their phones when Shouto finally calls it a night. He turned off the lights, and tuck himself in. Before he said goodnight, Shouto thinks and his desires take.

“Wanna hang out tomorrow?” he asked.

Blood red eyes look at him from the screen, “Where?”

Shouto shrugs, “I don’t know, just around, get my mind off things. There’s a cat cafe I’ve been wanting to see, then we’ll go from there.”

Katsuki stares, seemingly thinking it over, “Have you ever been to a rock climbing gym?”

“A what?”

Katsuki smirks, sharp-teethed and evil, “Oh you’re in for a fucking experience, red velvet oreo.”

Shouto is a bit suspicious, even so, he finds himself looking forward to tomorrow.

  +++++

 I’m sorry for not telling you sooner, but you shouldn’t think that way. Of course you’ll have more friends. You’re more lovable than you think, Shouto.

Something changed between them after that weekend. Comfort grows between them. Comfort that they don’t want to let go just yet, perhaps not anytime soon.

The bad thing about it is that everyone notices. Everyone.

To their friend's credit though, they came to school together, walking very close to each other. It was fully initiated by Shouto, but Katsuki didn’t snap or push him away, so he assumed everything is okay.

Everything is absolutely not okay because the moment he walks to class everyone has eyes on them. Shouto thought it won’t matter to him, but Katsuki tends to be defensive. When Katsuki is defensive, he pushes people away. Shouto tried not to watch Katsuki for the whole class.

Momo noticed, of course, but she notices more than superficial things.

“Shouto,” Momo whispers, “Everything alright?”

Shouto gives her a smile and nods.

It’s not until they’re getting up for lunch that Shouto is tested in a form of Kirishima.

“Bakubro! How long have you been dating Todobro?”

The world screech halt, and Kirishima tensed at the sudden chill he’s feeling. When Kirishima found the source of burning in his back, he sees Shouto, glaring hard and terrifyingly at him. Face darkens, pupils small, ready to kill.

Kirishima squeaks, “He-hey, uh-”

“Back off Kiri, it’s none of your business,” is all Katsuki says. Not even a scream, just a conversational tone as if he’s bored. No defensiveness, no snarling at Shouto in retaliation. “The fuck are yall extras staring at? Move outta my way, I’m hungry!” Then he left.

No one is barging Shouto with questions instead. It’s out of character of his classmates to not poke their nose in something juicy, but as he drops his butt at his chair, he finds himself alone in class.

Shouto is left in class with a big wave of relief, so much that he couldn’t stand. Why is it that the thought of Katsuki pushing him away scares him this much?

A hand landed on his desk, he looks up to find Momo’s honest stare, “Something is not alright.”

Shouto sighs, “No.”

Unlike Katsuki, Momo never pries, only assuring that she’s there for him. Unlike Momo, Katsuki understands that some things can’t be fixed, wherein if he opens up to Momo and some others, they tried to help by fixing. The number of times his friends told him, again and again, to go to Ito-san when they found out about Dabi being his brother is an exhausting amount. Maybe that’s why Shouto has been more comfortable with laying his problems to Katsuki.

So he eats lunch with Momo in the silence of comfortable company, and there’s just that.

  +++++

 Thank you for being there for me. You’re the bestest best friend I could ever wish for. And you won’t be lonely for long, you’ll see.

Shouto has peaceful days following that first Monday. His comfort with Katsuki doesn’t change. Though they don't get together on the rooftop anymore (Iida never let go of his key since Katsuki managed to steal it), they still gravitate towards each other whenever they don’t feel particularly great.

Katsuki would approach and say things like, “They want me home this weekend.”

“You wanna stay at the dorms or my place?”

“Can’t. I know they wanted to talk to me about who I wanna stay with.”

“We can make up an excuse if you want.”

“Hm.”

Then they spent the rest of the day together, just sitting at the school’s lawn, looking at particularly nothing. And if they sit too close together and their clasped hands only partially hidden by their legs, no one pointed it out.

Shouto would approach and say things like, “Fuyumi wants to call me, I know she’s just gonna talk about how I’m tearing the family apart.”

Katsuki snaps from his bed towards the window where Shouto is stepping down from his Elsa stairs.

Katsuki’s shock then turns to fury, “Your sister, Fuyumi, THAT Fuyumi said that to you?”

“She wanted the family together. I think she’s frustrated that I keep making my parents' union difficult.”

“You know what, her spicy mapo tofu isn’t that delicious anyway!” Katsuki barks his hands clenched down mini-explosions. It’s one of Katsuki’s outbursts that Shouto doesn’t understand, nor does he understand why her mapo tofu is related in any way, so he doesn’t comment.

“I’m gonna head up to the roof, wanna come?”

“No, you’ll just smoke and you’d give me fucking cancer.”

Shouto feels cold, Katsuki had never said no from hanging out before, “Fine.”

“Who said you can leave? Come here!” Katsuki held his ankle from the balcony, gripping tight.

Shouto blinks, remembering what Aizawa-sensei had said some days ago. “Oh, are we gonna cuddle?”

Katsuki’s face set aflame, “Just fucking come in here Katy Perry, before I yank you by your stupid Poland flag hair.”

Shouto finds himself obeying at the thought of cuddling, but then confused, “Why Katy Perry?”

“Hot and cold.”

“I guess that’ll make sense if I know who Katy Perry is but.”

Katsuki spat a curse, “Alright, time for a session of pop culture.”

“But I already had them with Mina and Sero”

“And they’re doing a shit job about it if you didn’t know the person that shapes a whole ass generation.”

It started with a music video of Hot and Cold by Katy Perry and ends with a retelling biography of Lady Gaga. Who knew Katsuki is so knowledgeable about female pop stars.

“TELL ANYONE AND DIE,” He said after Shouto pointed it out.

Most important of all, they did cuddle. They were sitting on the bedside then suddenly they’re laying down side by side. They’re watching a gameplay video of a Swedish man playing a horror game, another important role in pop culture as Katsuki said. It’s an old video, and Katsuki said that the man owns some part of Antarctica, which Shouto knows it’s some kind of an inside joke.

The nights getting late, and Shouto is reminded of the text on his phone, how it vibrates occasionally. Shouto has been in Katsuki’s room for four hours, but he doesn’t want to go back to his room.

Katsuki notices him lingering, “You wanna stay here for the night?”

Shouto looks up from Katsuki’s phone with big sparkling eyes, “You sure?”

“Tch, I wouldn’t have offered if I don’t.” Katsuki looks away, exposing his neck that seems red to the tip of his ears, “It’ll be a little cramp though with my single bed.”

“I don’t mind it. Just don’t kick me out of bed.”

“No promises.”

Katsuki didn’t. He curled away from Shouto as soon as the blankets tucked.  Their backs pressed against each other because of the small space. Shouto finds it hard to fall asleep, could be the new environment or the gnawing anxiety.

He’ll admit that Fuyumi is his favorite sibling. She’s there for him when he was condemned in that lonely manor only to train and study. Fuyumi stays back for him, tend to his wounds, cook for him, keep him company. Natsuo had left and rarely come back, even though he’s there for Shouto in the end.

Then his dad had a bootleg redemption arc and Fuyumi dropped him like hot potato and shoved both of them together despite what Shouto feels about his dad. When his parents are getting back together, Fuyumi stopped consoling Shouto and started to support them blindly. So desperate to have their family together. Doesn’t she know that there’s nothing to salvage? Doesn’t she remember what he did?

“I can hear you from here, air conditioner,” Katsuki grumbles, his back vibrates, “Go to sleep.”

“I’m trying.”

Shouto can’t stop thinking, can’t stop getting angry and getting hurt. It hurts when his sister is pointing the blame at Shouto, it hurts even more when it’s kind of true. It hurts that despite his fear of facing her, he still owes her a call at least. He’ll never be ready for what she’s about to say, never be ready to be hurt by her. Shouto turns around and buries his face at Katsuki’s back, ducking under the cover.

“What is it?’ Katsuki asks, not demanding, but Shouto’s floodgates are opened.

“I don’t understand how they could forgive him. He hurts mom, he hurts Touya to a point that he left and hates us, and he... he hurts me. It’s just training but-but- fine, okay, it hurt and I was scared most of the time that he’s not gonna pull his punches. Fuyumi forgives him so easily, and mom just went back in there even though they were never in love in the first place. It’s like they’ve forgotten what he had done, how deeply he scars all of us. Like what- like what happened didn’t matter.” Shouto’s voice breaks the whole time, a sob escaped in between the jumbled words and he’s trying so hard, so hard not to cry.

Katsuki turns around, his arms wrapped around Shouto’s hunched shoulders. A burnt sweet scent hits his nostrils, his face pressed against a defined neck and collarbones. All tenseness bleeds away when Katsuki starts rubbing his back, and tears break from his eyes without his will. Shouto wraps his arms around his friend’s torso, feeling his chest constrict when Katsuki mercifully says nothing about the silent tears landing on his chest.

He shuts his lips, pressing tightly because he’s not sobbing to Katsuki’s chest. They’re comfortable with each other but not that comfortable... right? Shouto’s tolerance to breakdown cries is thanks to exposure to crying most of his childhood, the same can’t be said for Katsuki. The hug is enough, it’s everything. Shouto never realized how much he craved being touched until that day Katsuki sits way too close to him.

His lips pressed tight keeping from sobbing, but his hands tremble on Katsuki’s back instead.

“Damn, you’re touch starved aren’t you,” Katsuki sighs to his hair, his face buried there.

“I didn’t know,” Shouto’s voice shaking pathetically, breaking at the edge and Shouto is too torn to care about it.

“Me too.”

Shouto doesn’t know which one Katsuki meant, but neither let go until they sleep.

  ++++++

 I love you too, Shouto. Don’t be scared of letting people in, okay? Not all of them are gonna leave you, I promise.

Things get rough, but their comfort pushes each other through.

Katsuki chooses to stay with his dad, but he’s co-parenting with his mom. Katsuki spends his weekends at both their house, switching every weekend. There’s still tenseness between his parents, and Katsuki explodes whenever his dad or mom asks Katsuki about the other. ‘Stop fucking asking me! If you wanna know so much then you shouldn’t have gotten the divorce!’ Katsuki doesn’t want to hear their reasoning, feeling better to just accept the change and move on, but Shouto thinks he’s just not ready to hear it. Sometimes Katsuki stays at the dorms with Shouto or the Todoroki estate when he gets overwhelmed.

Shouto finally talks to his mom. At first, it didn’t go anywhere. She’s as unsure as Shouto, but her willingness to try and salvage the marriage is as honest as it comes, even though her feelings might not be there yet. It feels like hearing Fuyumi talk, hearing the same desperation and blindness in putting things together. It’s hard to understand her foolishness, but Shouto tried to trust her. Shouto’s opinion might have been persuaded a little when his father announced that they’ll be moving houses due to mom’s tense reaction to the place. It’s a plus that his dad is willing to do that for his wife, but Shouto is still keeping an eye on them.

Then things get better, but their comfort doesn’t stop. Shouto is comfortable in following his desires without questioning them, but he quizically finds that Katsuki seeks him too even though he no longer approach Shouto with that near tears scowl, and situation bomb.

“How’s your mom?” Katsuki asked out of the blue under the summer blue sky. They’re sitting by the school lawn, their backs to a tree trunk, their friends strangely been leaving them alone.

“She’s fine.”

“Then why did you want to meet here?” Katsuki murmurs, looking down at the comic book Shouto lends him but not reading it. The tips of his ears are red.

Oh, Katsuki is testing the waters, “I just want to be with you.”

Katsuki flushes, “Ew, where the fuck did you even get that cheesy line.”

Shouto pays the snark no mind. “We haven't had any excuses for being together lately, do we?”

Katsuki hums.

“Do you not like it?”

“It’s fine,” Katsuki grumbles.

“Say... If I ask you to go to a cat cafe this Saturday, will you go?”

“Satan in hell, cat cafe again? I still have fucking fur on my black jacket from the previous visit! I felt like we’ve been to all the cat cafes in the country!”

Shouto pouts, “That’s not possible.”

“Let’s go hiking instead.”

“Okay.”

Katsuki twist his head towards him, “You would?”

“Just us two right?”

“Obviously, there’s no way I’m taking those extras. Those nature documentaries made them wimps.”

Shouto only listened to the first word he uttered, “I’ll go with you.”

Then Katsuki looks him that way again. Soft eyes, relaxed eyebrows, fond stares, and the most devastating of all, a small genuine smile.

“Cool. Come to my place, we have to wake up early. I miss seeing the sunset there, it’s awesome.” There’s light in his maroon eyes, excited to go, and he’s taking Shouto with him to his hobby, his precious place.

Shouto feels warmth radiating from his chest all the way down to his toes, a smile blooms on his face. He’s been feeling this mysterious warmth pretty often lately, only now has he realized that Shouto is happy and that he hasn’t been lonely despite his current family strain.

Katsuki’s rambling about his favorite hiking spot is cut short when Shouto leans in to kiss the corner of his lips. The smile is exchanged with shocked parted lips. Shouto feels himself shrink by the silence of Katsuki’s loud mouth and the pinning stare of his sharp eyes. Blood rushed to Shouto’s cheeks, knowing that he’s blushing up a storm, suddenly nervous.

“Is that okay?” Shout asks, too cowardly to say that he wants more, closer, to continue being together for no reason at all other than just because.

“No.”

He’s grabbed by the face, and a pair of lips pressed against his. Shouto expected to be bitten, his head clawed, and his lips bruised. But the weeks he spent with Katsuki should’ve made him know better. Because the gentle hands cradling his face, the complete capture of his lips, and the soft nips are all unsurprising. Shouto melts away, leaning his whole weight so they’re chest to chest. He grabs Katsuki by the hips, pulling closer, kissing back.

Katsuki hums, and the vibration echoes on Shouto’s body deliciously. Katsuki’s lips taste sweet and hot as it moves to nibble Shouto’s bottom lip. The hands cupping his face moves past his neck. One is clutching his back and the other plays with the hair at the back of his head. Fingers card gently around his nape and Shouto has a whole body shiver.

Then the lips go missing, and Shouto goes limp in Katsuki’s arms, gasping for breath on his chest.

“And that’s how you kiss, Strawberry Shortcake,” Katsuki says smugly, patting Shouto’s back condescendingly.

Shouto scoffs and leans back. Katsuki still has that fond eyes as he looks at him, but now paired with a cheeky smirk. Shouto wants to kiss that too, and Shouto does.

From then on, it’s expected that he sometimes steps down his icy stairs just to cuddle with Katsuki, and it’s perfectly acceptable that Katsuki barges into his room and starts pulling his hand towards wherever he wants.

They’d still bicker sometimes, and sometimes Shouto unintentionally steps on some lines that set Katsuki to explode. Sometimes Katsuki is frustrated with him. Those days they fight makes him nervous.

But they always say their apologies eventually. Katsuki always comes back and tries again with him. Even when the fights are between them, they eventually get over it and get better while they’re still leaning onto each other for comfort.

Eventually, Shouto keeps the coffin ashtray in his keepsake instead of his pocket.

He’d like to think that he can finally let her go now that she’s proven right.

Shouto finds someone that loves him, someone that makes him happy, and someone that doesn’t leave.

 ++++

nicknames that didn't make it: Colgate toothpaste, hot pocket, tide pod, dry ice. nicknames that I magically forgot: Half and half.

Tag yourself as Shouto’s nickname, I’m water dispenser.

#todobaku #bakutodo #todoroki shouto #todoroki shōto #bakugo katsuki #todobaku fic #todobaku fanfic #Todobaku fanfiction #emocel's #I'm crying #i googled shouto's nickname for this #I saw 'Strawberry Shorcake' and I lose my mind #I saw a trope that Bakugo smells like caramel becs of his quirk and i lose my mind #todoroki shoto fluff #boku no hero #boku no hero fanfic #my hero academia #my hero academy fanfiction

[class1akids]

god, todobaku’s continue to have such an unnecessary amount of passive aggressiveness towards izuku. it’s so tiring. in the middle of the war arc, with both arms and legs broken, he literally forced himself to activate black whip through his mouth and save todoroki from touya because, despite not physically, he was in his head worried because todoroki was suffering the most. how can you say that he sees him as a follower?

First of all, I don’t speak for all or any TDBKs only for myself, so please don’t use my opinions not written through shipping lens to try to discredit an entire ship or try to create shipping discourse.

My discontent has nothing to do with what I ship, but with how imbalanced the canon TDDK friendship has been portrayed (so it’s not even a criticism of Deku as a character, but rather what is being shown in the writing) after it served its purpose of inserting Deku into the Endeavor internship, as demonstrated by letting Deku still get all over Shouto’s own plot, while not giving Shouto any role or perspective on the OFA plot despite build-up and close narrative ties to it.

Second, you and I have very different ideas of what constitutes good friendship content. Saving people is what Deku does. He was also trying to save Shigaraki, a mass murderer he barely knows, while not being able to move - so that doesn’t make Shouto special in any way. Of course that’s nice of Deku, but it’s not really the type of plot material that feeds a balanced two-way friendship.

Shouto only registered as a blip on Deku’s radar when he was in danger. Before, when he was worried about Deku in the evacuation zone he got ditched with a lie (not yet addressed) or when he followed them to the battle-field, he was totally ignored.

I’d love to see the type of content we had during the Stain arc (when it felt like they fought together and not at cross-purposes) or a meaningful convo (even if just in a flashback) or to see Deku use Shouto as a source of inspiration and not always the other way around  - something that actually feeds a good friendship narratively speaking.

The black-tongue save was more about demonstrating yet another new ability for Deku (and damselling Shouto whose good fight moments were mostly offscreened anyways to add insult to injury). It had very little to do with Shouto as a person or their friendship. It’s not even like Deku gained that ability in his absolute desperation to save him - it was to show it off to the audience as another cool toy he already had and to one-up Shouto.

If it was Nejire or Rock Lock or a distressed civilian in Dabi’s clutches, it would have been the same move.

So yeah, I’m super-disappointed for now with not getting any OFA reactions from Shouto, with  not getting any acknowledgement from Deku or the narrative in what an absolute hell situation Shouto is right now. The friendships were more acknowledged at the level of the pros, but from the kids side, we got nothing at all in the aftermath, other than Bakugou’s desperation of trying to get to Deku’s room. Maybe we’ll get a crumb later - I hope so.

Or it will be dropped, having served its purpose of delivering Deku to the point he needed to be. 

I really hate the feeling that I can’t be sure, given BNHA track record of forgetting about friendships (the dreaded IidaDeku-zone, where friendship is all tell, no show, relegated into side-plots of the light novels or into anime-only content and marketing material. Same as what happened to KiriBaku or IzuOcha or OchaIida or TodoIida or countless other friendships that have been wilted away in canon).

The thing is, like Hawks said, the true nature of a person (and of relationships) is shown when pushed to the brink - so for me, the friendship content to feel real has to come in the narratively heavy moments, rather than just in sticky-sweet, silly side fluff that doesn’t even make it into the manga. 

#c1a asks #bnha 294 #bnha manga spoilers #this has nothing to do with todobaku #but that’s another friendship that has been painfully neglected #and frankly it sucks not just as a shipper #but someone who cares about the canon friendship #thank you for the ask

[professorwilliam]

todobaku fic recs !! ♡

🍙 — part 01 | part 02

there are not enough fic recommendations around here and also im a slut for some good fluffy tdbk lately, so here are some of my personal favourites ♡

complete, all are on ao3 , sfw <3

1. something of silence by viidoll

14,466 words | 1/1 | teen audience and up

When Bakugou Katsuki is unexpectedly hit with a muting quirk, he makes it his mission to hunt down the moron stupid enough to silence him. Reluctant to receive help, he somehow gets it anyway - in the perplexing form of one Todoroki Shouto. In the process of losing his voice and struggling to get it back, Bakugou might just learn a little about listening.

2. in the business of parenthood by bonnia

8,043 words | 1/1 | mature

“Oh,” Todoroki says.

Unfortunately, he’s noticed the lump in Katsuki’s sweater and is openly staring. Mercifully, it’s Todoroki, and he doesn’t question it.

(or: bakugou and todoroki share joint custody over a cat)

3. candy canes and christmas crackers by bigdorkenergy

104, 094 words | 11/11 | teen audience and up

your classic holiday romcom where Bakugou needs a fake boyfriend to bring home for Christmas and Todoroki is willing to take that bullet.

4. elevator hours by shoukazai

9,653 words | 9/9 | no rating

"Say, Bakugou, why do you hate me so much?"

Bakugou Katsuki has always hated Todoroki Shouto for the longest time possible, without any actual reason whatsoever other than the fact that the half and half bastard acted shitty towards him first.

And so when he got stuck in an elevator with him, things begin to stir up in a whole different way.

5. In my arms by LostLoveLetters

8,748 words | 1/1 | teen audience and up

Five times Katsuki realizes that his boyfriend likes being held and hugged.

6. But the sunshine makes me bloom by deplore

3,540 words | 1/1 | general audience

Flower shop AU. Some people merely remember their first love: Bakugou Katsuki is still living it.

7. status : it's complicated by blesseth

6,200 words | 1/1 | teen audience and up

for someone who doesn't use it too often, social media is a surprisingly big part of Shouto's life. Another is the crush he's been nursing on Bakugou. It's distinctly possible the two are connected.

🍀 !! best fics for my best boys <3 i will probably make more recs in future, i just need to find some good ones. if you have recs please drop them by 😭🙌 i would use some fluff, hurt/comfort.

#bakugou katsuki #todoroki shouto #bakutodo #todobaku fic recs #mha #my hero academia

[kae-karo]

for director's cut asks, how about more than that?

ahhhh excellent choice, tyty anon dear!!!

for context - send me a fic you want director’s commentary on!

more than that - bakutodo

He’s not sulking. Katsuki is appropriately pissed off

baku is SUCH a great pov to write from, like, generally? cause while he's definitely really conservative about some of his emotions, i think he lets himself get all pissed off and riled up inside his own head, and it's a case of there being so much more going on in his thoughts than he ever puts out into the world. and that makes for a super rich inner dialogue, which tends to be where i work best lmao

He exhales a heavy breath - he trusts Deku, though he’s loath to admit it.

baku having this inseparable soft spot for deku was kind of super critical to me during this whole story and fleshing out their relationship/his relationship with todo/etc? just like. almost not really knowing how to be apart from him, having to worry about him even more now that he's not here, etc. having to hand over trust, which he doesn't do easily - he strikes me so much as a character who needs control (oddly enough lmao) like, he needs to be the one doing things because he knows he can do it

“Reward me with information,” he says against his own will

although i find him more prone to inner emotions, i think his outward control is actually pretty meaningful? he knows what he wants, but unlike some other characters who are prone to acting heavily on emotion, i think it's a rarer thing for baku? when he has control over himself, at least. while he wants todo, he still has fair insight into the overall situation, into what could potentially heavily involve him, and he still makes that a priority? i find it rare in characters that i enjoy writing tbh, because for the most part, i like a character who acts on their emotions (or in direct counter to their emotions, ie a character in denial or pointedly trying to fight their emotions and reacting accordingly) - level heads (can't believe i'm using that to refer to baku but here we are lmao) are rare for me to enjoy writing

“She would like to meet you, I suspect.”

i knew from the start that once i got todobaku together, todo would want baku to meet his mom. and while it didn't end up working out in the second part of the series (in part due to the sheer freshness of their relationship), i'm glad i was able to put it in here. it also gave me a good chance to explore the implications of baku's status and personality, and his reservations about appearing/acting 'royal' enough to be with todo - which, now that some of the more pressing issues have been dealt with, he can actually think through now

“I was told you’d be a bit more...abrasive,”

okay tbh i actually love writing rei? she's fun as hell to build out as a character, i really like giving her some of todo's sassier personality traits, making her a bit of a gossip, and almost always letting her see through facades or other characters' obliviousness. i really like using her as a vector to bring light to other characters, or to open their eyes to things that they haven't noticed yet, and i adore her being blunt in a very wholesome, kind way

“Not for one fucking second,” he says, and takes Shouto’s stupid arm anyway.

can you tell one of my favorite tropes is 'character claims not to trust the other one while blatantly acting with the utmost trust toward them'? skfldjjklsdf really though, i think baku is the type to make well-considered judgments about whether a person is trustworthy and to what degree/in what situations, and he has that all filed neatly in his head for reference. and then todo comes along and gets slapped with 'trust at all times, always' and he kind of hates that, but his stupid intuition has never been wrong before

“This is your fucking coronation.”

i actually had this concept for a one-shot in mind from pretty early on, because i'd built sort of this whole domino effect that needed to collapse and have todo take the place of the king at some point - without trauma, ideally. but it allowed this really huge culmination of baku making some serious decisions about how he feels about todo and all of this, within the context of like. actually having to consider the royalty aspect firsthand. and ofc todo wouldn't just tell him, he'd make him decide on the spot sdflkjkdlf run away, or don't. and baku isn't a fan of running

“But the thought of your subservience,” his face twitches with clear distaste, “does not appeal to me.”

while a little bit of this is personal preference, i actually think...two things, really. the first, that todo genuinely doesn't want someone to blindly obey him. and, as such, he chooses his companions accordingly - people who respect him, people who want to support him because of that, not because he's the prince (or king). the second, that baku actually is kinda into being ordered around - provided he's allowed to fight it a bit before giving in. he strikes me as the kind to take control in every aspect of his life, but to give that control to those he trusts in moments of pure privacy. and i think it would kill him to ever admit that out loud lmaoooo

“This life is overwhelming. I am aware that I can also be...overwhelming, in some ways.”

i think todo really struggles with this, actually - like he's acutely seen the effects of him being the crown prince, the way it changes how his friends can interact with him, how he's expected to interact with the world. and it scares him, that baku might not be okay with that. but it's critical that he's allowed, uninfluenced, his choice. especially when it's this big, because it's one thing for someone like kaminari to sneak around and hang out with todo, but another entirely to subject baku to all the formalities required of the crown prince's....person? consort? whatever he is lmao

“I had hoped to find a more eloquent way of wording that.”

speaking of characters who act on emotions, todo is definitely that kind of character more often than not. and i like the idea of his life of underwhelming bullshit to be interrupted and turned on its head by the overwhelming presence of one bakugou katsuki, leaving him making all kinds of wild decisions driven mostly by the idea that he wants baku, and he's going to figure out how to have him (as long as baku wants it too)

“I fuckin’ hope so. All that coronation bullshit is gonna be really hard to backtrack on.”

y'know i actually did toy with the idea of ending this story at baku's 'more than that' comment, but it felt important to let todo say his piece. also, it's critically imperative that i let todo tease baku a bit lmao. i do also like to let baku get called out on things he's insecure about? which, while not really an issue most of the time, the 'acting like a royal' thing definitely feels like a shortcoming for him when it comes to being with todo. so having todo reassure him on that felt like a meaningful addition. and having baku reaffirm to todo that he's in it, come hell or high water, was definitely important. i like giving baku the chance, when he feels safe enough to do so, to open up and be a little vulnerable with the people he cares about

send me a fic you want director’s commentary on!

#bakutodo #bnha #bnha fic #ask game #fic game #ask #anon #fic directors commentary

[katutsukushii]

📂 but todobaku????!!

Bakugou couldn’t remember a time when he wasn’t called loud, abrasive, rude, downright villainous. It always bothered him, dug deep under his skin and came to the surface when he was laying in bed, but he also couldn’t remember a time it bothered him as much as it did once he started dating Shouto.

He knew why exactly it was even more difficult for him to hear people refer to him with those words than it was before - he’d heard the same exact words being spoken about Endeavour. He was even one of the people who’d called him a villain before; he had no problem doing so, especially after finding out about the way he treated his own kids, but over time Katsuki couldn’t help but notice the similarities between them.

Both of them had destructive powers, both of them didn’t have personalities that were very media-friendly, both of them were hated for their attitudes towards other people, and Katsuki couldn’t stand it.

His self-hatred was getting the best of him. But he already had some semblance of doubt and insecurities before, what he was scared of was what Shouto would think. He couldn’t ignore Katsuki’s personality forever, he’d have to realize someday that he was just like the man that hurt him for so many years.

He loved Shouto, he did, and every second they spent together made him happier than he’d ever been, but he couldn’t handle the thought of Shouto throwing him away, telling him he’s a villain, he’s not good enough, Shouto wanted someone better, more deserving of his love.

He knows there’s not much he can do about the way others view him but maybe there’s still hope for him and Shouto, maybe he could prove that he can be someone worthy of his affections.

So he quiets down, bites his lip until it bleeds when he wants to snap at someone, he tries to stop using insults instead of names. It’s alright. If he has to change every part of himself to get Shouto to stay he will.

It’s alright.

Only, Shouto notices the changes in Katsuki. He can see the dark circles under his eyes, he can see his raw and red-bitten lip, he can see how he flinches and looks around with a panic gaze whenever someone calls him a villain, almost as if he’s checking if anyone else heard it, he can feel the tension in his body whenever they’re in bed together and they’re not speaking.

And all he can think about is how it must be his fault, Katsuki was never like this before they got together.

In all his awkward and blunt glory he tells Katsuki they need to talk one night when they’re alone in the room. What he doesn’t expect is for Katsuki’s bottom lip to tremble and eyes fill with tears before he nods shakily and looks down at his lap, looking smaller than ever in the comically oversized hoodie he stole from Shouto.

“A-are you breaking up with me?”

He never thought he’d hear Katsuki sound so small and so sad, he couldn’t stand it.

“Huh? What? No, of course not, why would I do that?”

“Because of those fuckers, they all keep sayin’ I’m not good for you and that I’m loud and violent a-and I remind them all of your dad.”

Shouto just stares at him in shock before cupping his cheeks and kissing him firmly.

“You’re nothing like my father; you’re kind and thoughtful and even though you yell and swear I know that you would never hurt me. You’re ten times better than he could ever be.”

Shouto looks at him for a few seconds.

“Is that why you’ve been so weird? So quiet?”

Katsuki humms in confirmation, “didn’t want you to think I was like him.”

“Never.”

#anon #todobaku #tdbk #todoroki shouto #bakugou katsuki #bnha #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #jayrambles #jay answers #📂 ask

[makeste]

this is pretty random and you don't need to answer it, haha, but could you share your personal hcs regarding platonic todobaku with me??? 🥺🥺🥺 i'm in need, LOL, and your takes on characterization and relationships on bnha are always so spot on, so... i hope you're having a good day/night!!!!!!!💖💖💖

thank you so much! sorry it took a while to gather all of these; my TodoBaku headcanons weren’t as immediately forthcoming as my general Baku headcanons were. but here goes. the first half of these ended up being more just my general thoughts about their relationship than actual headcanons, but I eventually steered myself back on track.

first of all, this is important to note: when Katsuki says in ch. 241 that “there’s no correlation between time spent [together] and friendship”, it’s not purely out of denial. this is something he genuinely believes, having learned it the hard way growing up. for someone who seemingly led a pretty charmed life for most of his childhood, Katsuki hasn’t actually had a particularly sunshiny experience when it comes to his friendships. all of his closest childhood friends eventually left him (Tsubasa), turned on him (Deku -- from his perspective lol. obviously this wasn’t actually the case at all, but it’s how he interpreted it, and it definitely had a big impact on him emotionally), or abandoned him (that long-fingered kid, who notably fled and never looked back when the sludge monster tried to eat Katsuki back in chapter one. like, thanks for nothing, my dude).

so it’s not surprising that all of these experiences would have a profound impact on Katsuki’s ability to trust other people and accept them as real, genuine friends. in its own way his childhood was almost as isolating as Deku and Shouto’s. it’s only since coming to U.A. that he’s started to make real friends again for the first time since kindergarten. and even then, in the case of Kirishima and Kaminari and Sero, even though I think he does consider them friends, he still isn’t very open with them. because he’s learned the hard way that that can lead to hurt, and I think he’s very hesitant to ever let himself be vulnerable to that again.

but having said all that, Shouto is still absolutely correct when he says that they’re friends. and the thing is Katsuki knows it too, but he’s just reluctant to admit it. partly because the part of his brain that processes everything as rivalry isn’t sure whether Being Friends With Shouto = Losing To Shouto (IS THIS A TRAP??), and partly because of everything else I just explained above. even though by this point he knows Shouto pretty well, well enough to be reasonably sure he’s not just gonna be another fakeass groupie who turns tail at the first sign of trouble, there’s still a part of him that’s hesitant to admit that connection is there, because doing so opens him up to potentially being hurt again at some point. goddammit. why is this shit so complicated.

meanwhile on Shouto’s side of things, this poor lil bubba never had any friends growing up to begin with, so he’s not nearly as paranoid or prickly as Katsuki is. instead, he’s still discovering for himself just what friendship is all about. the interesting thing about Shouto is that since he never had any childhood friendships, in a way, the friendships that he’s making now at U.A. are his childhood friendships. and so they tend to be straightforward and uncomplicated in much the same way that very young children’s friendships are uncomplicated. “I like this person; I am going to make them my friend.” boom. done. friendship is mad easy yo.

and he does like Katsuki! sure, his personality is a bit unconventional, but there’s a lot to admire about him even so, and they actually have a lot in common! they’re both rather introverted. they’re both very serious, and I think this is something that Shouto particularly appreciates, because jokes and idioms and playful insincerity sometimes fly over his head just because he doesn’t have a lot of experience dealing with other people. but Katsuki NEVER jokes around, and he is never insincere. he says what he means, with the exception of insults, which are 90% more bark than bite. and so once Shouto figured that out, it became very easy to figure out how to interact with him. aside from that, they’re both close with Shouto’s Other Best Friend Midoriya, they both have incendiary quirks, and they both tend towards the quiet side (yes, even Katsuki) with the occasional burst of hotheadedness (maybe a bit more than “occasional” when it comes to Katsuki’s end).

and like I said, there’s a lot that Shouto admires about Katsuki as well. he really respects how determined Katsuki is, because he himself lacked any sort of clear goals for quite a while growing up. all he knew was that he didn’t want to end up being like his dad. but Katsuki is someone who has always known what he wants, and he goes after it with a singlemindedness that Shouto is almost envious of. he’s also very intelligent and quick-thinking, and Shouto knows he can rely on him in a tight spot. he’s also honest, and surprisingly principled, and while he’s definitely not the nicest guy around, I think Shouto can recognize to some degree those same types of walls that he once spent so much time building up around himself. and so he knows that to a certain extent, Katsuki’s hostility is just a front. and I think he’s both intrigued by that, and drawn to it. because every so often when Katsuki’s guard does drop and his better self briefly shines through, Shouto can see that he’s someone worth getting to know.

anyways, but enough of my rambling about their relationship, and on to the actual headcanons. first of all, I firmly believe in my heart of hearts that at some point during all of those mentally and physically taxing weekends spent training for their provisional exam, they have each fallen asleep on the other’s shoulder during the ride home. Katsuki was actually the first to do it, and it was only for a couple of minutes, but when he woke up he was absolutely mortified. but much to his relief, Shouto never said another word about it. (and if Shouto still remembers the warm, cozy feeling in his chest during those few brief minutes when Katsuki was dead to the world, with his face smoothed out and completely trusting and his breathing strangely in rhythm with the movement of the car, and if doing so brings him a sense of calm that’s hard to describe, well then, that’s no one’s business but his own.)

anyway, so because life is Just Like That, eventually of course the reverse happened. and with anyone else, Katsuki would have violently shoved them aside without a second thought, and he was almost gonna do the same here, but then he remembered he owed him (because he really did keep his mouth shut about the earlier incident, thank fuck), and so he didn’t. for almost two whole minutes, anyway. whatever. that’s more than generous, really. meanwhile no one else knows about this except for Aizawa, who was chaperoning them that day, and took mild notice at first on account of it being unusual behavior on Katsuki’s part, but then immediately forgot about it afterwards. he was proud of them both for upping their napping game, though. he respects naps.

both Shouto and Katsuki were actually scared shitless during the test of courage at the forest training camp, and if Katsuki hadn’t been kidnapped and everything had instead gone on as normal, they would have both had trouble getting to sleep that night. Katsuki actually can’t stand scary movies or ghost stories (fyi this is canon according to the third light novel, and EXCUSE HIM FOR HAVING A HEALTHY RESPECT FOR THE SUPERNATURAL. you wanna go and get your own dumb ass cursed or dragged to hell or whatever, BE HIS GUEST). whereas Shouto has next to no experience with them and doesn’t really see what’s so scary about ghosts because GHOSTS AREN’T REAL DUH, but even he feels a little unsettled when an undead swamp girl suddenly rises from the depths and crabwalks towards them in the middle of the woods.

Katsuki has on rare occasions been so drained by provisional lessons that he goes into autopilot and forgets to pretend not to be friends with Shouto, which can result in them having completely normal conversations for minutes at a time before he eventually regains enough of his senses to realize he’s fraternizing with the enemy. this is how Shouto learned about things like Katsuki’s favorite foods, and his love of hiking. the latter is actually one subject that Katsuki can go on and on about if you get him started, and Shouto very much enjoys hearing about it and never tries to stop him.

by contrast, Katsuki never intentionally seeks to gain any new knowledge about Shouto because he feels like he already knows way more than he ever wanted to. however, this doesn’t stop him from absorbing knowledge against his will by simple osmosis, and then discovering to his dismay that he’s retained the information afterward. this is why he also knows Shouto’s favorite food in return (although to be fair, I think everyone in Japan knows Shouto’s favorite food), as well as other tidbits like the fact that he likes strawberry-flavored things (because he always gets the same brand of strawberry milk from the vending machine during their lunch breaks). he hates himself a little for both noticing and remembering these stupid little details, and would rather be kidnapped again than ever admit to Shouto that he does.

Katsuki thinks of Shouto as “Todoroki” in his head rather than “IcyHot” or “Half n’ Half”, and has to make a conscious effort to use the nicknames whenever he addresses him out loud. more and more often he finds himself forgetting to do so nowadays, much to his dismay. Shouto was pleasantly surprised the first few times it happened, but quickly stopped taking notice of it, as he’s come to realize that the way Katsuki addresses people carries very little meaning regardless, since something like 75% of his actual feelings are conveyed through his actions rather than his words.

Katsuki does wish that Shouto had had the decency to choose his surname as his hero alias rather than his given name, though. he lives in fear that one of these days he’ll be required to call him “Shouto” while on duty. number one hero or not, there’s a good chance he would resign from his internship at the Endeavor Hero Agency before he ever willingly agreed to that.

and last but not least, the number one thing that Katsuki would rather jump in a freezing lake than admit to Shouto or even himself is that he actually cares about him too. and has even mostly forgiven him for wussing out at the last minute during the sports festival. he still doesn’t fully understand why he did it, but he gets that Shouto was Going Through Some Stuff, and okay yeah, he can admit that his family situation is pretty fucked up, so whatever. there’s an uncomfortable feeling he gets whenever he’s reminded of this; sort of a weird, squirmy feeling in the pit of his stomach whenever the subject of Endeavor comes up, or whenever he sees Shouto talking to the man himself. it makes him feel restless and on edge, and he never knows what to say or do afterwards, especially if Shouto goes all quiet and sullen and reflective. he wants to scream at him, or slap him on the back of the head, or grab him by the shoulders and shake him; whatever it takes to snap him out of it and ease the tension. but he knows that’s not the right way to handle it. and more to the point, he knows that he’s not the right person to handle it. and sometimes, if he’s not quick enough to squash the feeling when he senses it coming, he wonders how Shouto would react if he ever found out what Katsuki used to be like back in elementary and middle school. and he wonders whether Shouto would still be so dead-set insistent on calling them friends. and then he does squash out the thought, as viciously as he possibly can.

anyway so that turned weirdly angsty towards the end whoops. not even sure what happened there, since this is supposed to be my cute and funny ship, while BakuDeku greedily hogs all the angst for itself! lol my bad. but don’t worry, they still love each other, and Shouto is still fond and soft and equipped with bullshit-radar, and Katsuki is still rabid and in denial and a dumbass.

#bakugou katsuki #todoroki shouto #todobaku #bnha headcanons #bnha meta #bakugou meta #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #makeste reads bnha #asks

[saikisuo]

todobaku fic rec

some tdbk fics no one asked for

elevator hours

↳summary - "Say, Bakugou, why do you hate me so much?"

Bakugou Katsuki has always hated Todoroki Shouto for the longest time possible, without any actual reason whatsoever other than the fact that the half and half bastard acted shitty towards him first.

And so when he got stuck in an elevator with him,

things begin to stir up in a whole different way.

appassionato (for a halcyon winter) (has to be my fav todobaku fic. make sure to watch ‘your lie in april’ before reading it since it has a lot of reference from it)

↳summary - “That boy…” His mother gives him a tired smile. “The music he plays is incredibly sad, isn’t it?”

Shouto blinks, because Bakugou’s music has never made him feel anything but an inexplicable feeling of freedom. But that’s the beauty of it, he supposes — that the meaning of music lies in the ears of its beholder.

“I don’t know,” he answers honestly. “But I think it’s beautiful.”

(or: todoroki shouto is a pianist who had sworn never to play the piano again, and bakugou katsuki is the unpredictable maelstrom of a violinist who turns his monotonous world upside down)

the bl quirk

↳summary - After rescuing a lost child, Bakugo and Todoroki find themselves faced with a very interesting quirk.

fake dating au

↳summary - Bakugou Katsuki, in typical fashion, makes a brash decision that changes his life irrevocably. Anger has always had a way of bringing Bakugou what he wants, though. He just hadn't realized dating someone would be so fucking difficult.

(Or, that one where Bakugou agrees to pretend to date Todoroki just to piss off Endeavor, and ends up falling in love instead.)

better late than never

↳summary - “I’m sorry, but I’m not letting you go. I quite like being in my own body.” Todoroki's next breath comes out icy cold, and Katsuki leans as far back as their joint hands will allow.

“Are you fucking hearing yourself?” he sputters, feeling heat crawl up his neck to his ears.

(or: bakugou and todoroki get hit by a body swap quirk, and physical contact seems to be the only answer to their predicament)

#todoroki #todoroki shoto #bakugou #bakugou katsuki #todoroki x bakugou #todobaku #todobaku fic rec #todobaku fic #tdbk #tdbk fic

[sourstares]

my todobaku/bakutodo fic recs list aaa!! i had to narrow it down a lot but these are most of my absolute favorites.

cruel to be kind by shaekspeares

(i literally. will cry over this fic i will never get overt his fic. this is literally what i dream of being able to create this fic is everything. if i could write like this i would just start sobbing.)

Over the course of a year, Katsuki Bakugou develops in the aftermath of the League of Villains run in. Introspection has never been his strong suit. Also, Todoroki is there- increasingly present, increasingly bothersome, and eliciting increasingly confusing feelings. Kidnapping was easier than this.

[alt: a look at todobakus evolving relationship from the perspective of one troubled lil asshole]

always gotta backtrack also by shaekspeares

(have to put this one too because it makes me sick from just. wanting to be able to do this with words. i love it so much please read everything by this author jesus god)

A kidnapping, a double dose of truth serum and a snowstorm walk into a bar- or no, wait, that’s just one day on the job for Bakugou. And then Todoroki shows up to reap the benefits.

It’s Just You by Ellessey

(just a really good confession fic to take a break from conflict. great balance of sweet and funny, bakugou pov, also the rest of the class is there which i like so much!)

"If we get it wet it'll stay in pretty waves when you take the braid out," Aoyama offers, and the mental image makes something snap inside of Katsuki.

"Ah," Shouto says with a gentle laugh. "That's alright. Maybe next time."

Next time? Next time Shouto turns up with his hair woven into this soft, intricate arrangement that is sending every bit of Katsuki's resolve up in smoke? How the fuck is he supposed to handle a next time?

--

Bakugou Katsuki has always had a lot of feelings about Shouto's hair. Seeing it in a French braid might be the thing that makes him stop keeping them to himself.

wanna put my tender heart in a blender by lelex

(makes me want to cry! tdbk as close friends and pro heroes after ua, really amazing hero work writing! very good and sweet and funny and has a really great dramatic point towards the end.)

Todoroki won’t eat anything peach flavored and likes his water exactly room temperature. He won’t let Katsuki make their tea because “he does it wrong” even though he does it absolutely right. He once made Katsuki listen to voice recordings of one of his cats meowing at different times of the day to “see if she sounded more melancholy earlier in the morning.” For being like, kind of jacked, his hips and shoulders and elbows are bony as fuck. He, as a rule, has to sleep on the right side of the bed or he can’t sleep at all. Katsuki fucking hates him.

And now previously empty corners of his brain are filled with all of this dumb shit about stupid Todoroki and he has to cart it around all the fuckin’ time.

the drawing board by strangergods

(i literally binge read this last night at 4am and it made me sick with feelings!! it’s the slow reveal darkish twist recovery/therapy heavy angst hurt/comfort fic of my dreams. i wish my angst was this painful oh my god. anyway.)

He understands, intellectually, that other people must do something with their day that doesn’t involve working out or getting beat up by super-powered mutant criminals or harassing one’s boyfriend into fucking them sideways. It’s just that he can’t quite picture doing it himself.

--

Todoroki takes up a hobby.

with you, it’s different by brioche

(conflict! it’s so good the conflict is amazing i am so excited. and an eight year slow burn jesus christ! i really like this one, especially pre/during confession.)

Four times that Bakugou goes with Shouto to visit his mother at the hospital, and the time that she leaves it to visit them.

all’s well that ends well and all’s well that ends by djbunn3

(um this is mine! i’m still working on it but i’m really excited for it, it’s the first fic i’ve been excited for in a really really long time. it’s a slow burn future/fake dating au with some currently undisclosed past conflict between tdbk, so if that sounds good to you then please check it out!)

The plan is simple: Shouto is to fake a romantic relationship with Bakugou. He is to convince everyone--friends, fans, colleagues--that they are, or very soon will be, in love. No one aside from the two of them and their agencies is allowed to know the truth--that their relationship is simply and entirely platonic. (If he can even call it that, considering the fact that they’ve barely spoken in the past three years.) Everything is riding on this lie--if Shouto’s faulty memory or Bakugou’s sudden secrecy get in the way, it could cost them their jobs, their futures, their friendship… No one is allowed to step out of line. No one is allowed to break character. No one can know the truth. Though the deeper they go and the closer they get, the less sure Shouto is that he knows it himself.

(the tdbk fake dating au that's not quite what it seems.)

#todobaku #todobaku fanfic #todobaku fic recs #bnha fic recs #bnha #bnha fanfic #my recs