Chapter Text
The first card slips innocently from Bakugo's backpack one random evening, around the end of February.
It's after a long, stress-filled week that she'd set up camp in the common room. Taking up an entire couch with her books and notes, while she studied for a written test they would be having early next week.
At this late in the game, her Third Year at U.A. there was absolutely no room for mistakes anymore. Written course work could be lethal.
There had been a steady slew of Class 3-A students trickling in and out of the Alliance building for the last couple of hours. But most of them knew by now that if they didn't want a face full of explosions, that they should leave her be when she was that deep into her study session.
It's why she'd missed the pink, heart-shaped monstrosity in her bag the first time around, so engrossed in her text books, that she hadn't noticed it right away.
It wasn't until she'd been rummaging around in her bag to find an eraser that she'd seen the card at all.
'I want you to sit on my face...'
Katsuki stares hard down at the garishly pink card. Expression horrified after she plucks it from her bag. Re-reading the lewd words over and over, before her face eventually bursts into an embarrassed red, because...WHAT?!
“What the ever-loving fuck is this shit...?!”
Never mind the fact that the card is pink as all hell, cut into a lame ass heart...and that Valentines Day was almost two fucking weeks ago!
But the words...
Katsuki feels herself squirm in her seat, her crimson eyes still bugged and shocked. Her ears were practically steaming.
Before she can even fully wrap her mind around the context of what that short sentence exactly entails, she's already burning the card to nothing. Her quirk activating in her embarrassment, destroying all physical evidence as her cheeks continue to heat up.
Someone has some fucking balls on them, that's for damn sure!
It's got to be a joke. Right? Right. One of her classmates must have put that in her bag or something. To tease her for the meltdown she'd had a couple of weeks ago, during actual Valentines Day. It had been the talk of her class for days afterwards, her tantrum going down as one of the top ten worst she's ever had.
Katsuki had entered Aizawa's homeroom class that day to find her entire desk and the surrounding area filled to bursting with Valentines gifts. Cards, chocolates, teddy-bears and candygrams up the ass. Notes and cards that she just knew would have a bunch of lovey-dovey shit written all over them. There had even been a huge bouquet of flowers for fuck sake. All from different guys around the school, apparently, and maybe even a few from her own classmates. She wasn't entirely sure, really...mostly because she hadn't even bothered to take a look at them.
When she'd seen the mess, she'd gone straight to a 10 on the blasty scale. As Kirishima had dubbed her moods over the years and thrown the most foul of temper tantrums in front of her friends. Most of whom had cackled like a bunch of disgusting hyenas as she'd lost her mind.
The bastards.
She'd screeched and blown up all the sickly pink sweet-nothings, the entire classroom raining burnt, chaotic Valentine confetti as she shouted and ranted. 'I fucking hate this holiday! The next person who gives me anything will get a fist in their face! Fuckin' try me ass wipes! If I find out anyone in this class helped contribute to this, YOU'RE DEAD! SOOO FUCKING DEAD...LIKE, DEADER THAN DEAD...THE DEADEST! DIEEEEEEEEE!'
Aizawa had walked into the classroom, taken one look around at the chaos that had ensued in the short three minutes that he'd been grabbing a coffee, and sighed. Even their class REP hadn't made a move to stop her...too in awe over the spectacle of carnage and exploded stuffies and chocolates to scold her.
Tch!
It's not one of her proudest moments...but eh? She is who she is...and ain't nothing gonna change her. Raging was built into her Bakugo DNA, so get the fuck over it!
Besides, she wasn't interested in any of the loser extras around U.A. All the boys at her school were morons and drooled over anything with legs. They weren’t interested in brains or bronze, of which Katsuki had lots. No, all they wanted was to get in her pants.
Disgusting.
How many guys had she turned down since First Year?
She can't even remember anymore.
Not matter how many times she's snarled and bitten the head off of anyone who braved a confession, there were always others lying in the wings, trying to grab a chance with her.
She hates being a chick, seriously. It's nothing but morons after morons. But, she'd be kidding if she didn't admit that most of the guys in her own class experienced the very same thing too, just with the opposite sex. It kind of came with the territory of Class-A being a hot topic of gossip for the last three years.
Never-mind the fact that she was part of the Big 3 now.
But Class-A's fame had also come after the War...with the almost destruction of an entire Hero generation. Fighting an endless, uphill battle that just about killed all of them. Before Deku had finally put Shigaraki into the ground. The country had been working tirelessly for the last few years to rebuild and regroup after the League had been taken out. It was only now, two years later, that things were starting to feel normal again.
Fuck, their First Year had been rough...
But she digresses.
Valentines Day...ick!
Ugh, mountains and mountains of smarmy dick-bags...
It was fucking annoying!
There was literally no escaping it! Man or woman.
'I want you to sit on my face'
It passes through her mind again and she just sits there, textbooks and notebooks surrounding her in a chaotic mess. She flushes hotly at the words, pulling her legs closer to her chest, her black leggings resting against her red crop top.
Who the fuck do they think they are? That shit...it wasn't ...she wasn't...she'd never...
She growls to herself and kicks her bag off the couch, watching in satisfaction as it slumped unhappily onto the floor, much like the state of her worsening mood.
She doesn't know why those words make her uncomfortable. But they do.
She's not a fucking prude. She's had a boyfriend before...and they'd fooled around a lot. Had sex.
Granted...it was with Kirishima...at the beginning of Second Year, in fact. For like two whole months before they'd called it off and mutually decided that being friends just made more sense. Besides, Kirishima has had a stupid crush on Mina for forever...like even predating U.A, since they went to the same junior school...and Ashido had finally gotten her head out of her ass...both of them wanting to date each other. So yeah...Bakugo could be a bitch, but she never wanted to get in-between them. So they'd called the entire thing off.
Katsuki hadn't been in love with Kiri, but she'd been attracted to him and if there was anyone in this entire school she'd spread her legs for, it would be stupid Shitty Hair. But, regardless! They'd fucked. A lot! Had fun. Kirishima had been a very attentive lover and Katsuki still sometimes thinks about the things they used to do to each other...
...but she'd never done that!
Kiri had offered...lots of times...to go down on her...
'Cause she's not dumb. She fucking knows that 'sit of my face' means eating them out. But, she'd always felt weird about it...Kirishima would offer sometimes, to use his lips between her legs, but she'd always refused. Fingers were fine and even his dick, but his mouth had always been a different story.
It also hadn't been because of his shark teeth either, no matter if Kirishima had initially thought that to be the case.
It had always just felt weird to her.
Like she would be extra vulnerable.
Being exposed and on display like that...?
Giving up control.
It was an unknown.
It made her squirrely.
But regardless, that had been over a year ago. She's in Third Year now, quite a bit more grown up and with more than enough battles on her belt, that she shouldn't be dwelling on what some dumb Valentines card said.
"Even though it's NOT Valentines Day, you dumb idiot! Ugh!” She growls out into the abandoned common room, miffed as hell and wanting to vent her frustrations. Honestly, it makes her so out of sorts that she kind of just wants to blow something up. Like, really bad.
But there isn't anyone around to hear or care...and where is the fun of explosions if no one is here who can complain about them?
“Tch,” she scoffs, huffing to herself and slamming herself back against the couch cushion. Trying to get comfortable and will the embarrassment from herself with pure force. “I'm gonna kill whatever fucker put that in my bag, mark my words...”
She sighs dramatically and forces herself to forget the damn card altogether and get back to her studies. Even though Third Year had only started a few months ago, their classwork was already at an all-time high. Throw in training, working out, extra circulars, lectures, internships and a little bit of side-kicking at agencies around Tokyo and their weekday hours had become almost overwhelming.
She's still contemplating the impending semester a little while later, when she feels a sudden, heavy weight crash down behind her on the couch. It startles her, as she hadn't heard any movement and makes her jerk forward and smash her knee off the coffee table.
“Ow! What the fuck?!”
“Sorry,” comes a dull reply, the apology sounding far more amused than remorseful. Tch. “I tried to get your attention, but you were spaced out and not answering me...”
She hisses, turning towards the offender and glaring at red and white. "So you decided your best course of action was to smother me?!"
"Yes."
Bakugo rolls her eyes at his response. Typical. “What the fuck do you want, Icyhot?” because of course it was Todoroki! Of course. When she'd been talking about all the boys in the school being morons, she'd meant it...and Todoroki was the biggest moron of them all!
He was also ridiculously hot...
...but stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. Though, it was kind of endearing...and also annoying...gah, she wasn't sure exactly what he was. Just that he was dumb and she disliked him a lot...but also, not, because she could actually stand to be in his presence for more than a few minutes without wanting to commit Seppuku. Also...he was pretty much one of her closest friends and they had almost died for each other plenty of times. So there was that.
She doesn't know when this started. This friendliness between them. If you can call the butterflies that tumbled around inside her belly whenever she was in his presences, friendship.
When Todoroki stopped reacting to her cursed angry threats and barged his way past her defenses, deciding they were besties. But... the guy was absolutely relentless and after a while, she'd learned to just deal with Todoroki and his absurd behavior when concerning her.
“Sleepy,” comes his slow reply, a large yawn falling from his lips as he snuggled into the couch. “Where is everyone?” He was lying on his side now, behind her, as she sat upright. His face turned and mushed into one of her text books. Jeez that can't be comfortable...
“Fuck if I know,” and she hears the telltale crinkle of a few of her papers and she gets even more annoyed when she realizes the icy bastard was crumpling all the notes she'd taken. “You're ruining all my shit, Half-n-Half?! Get offa me, you bastard!”
“Comfy, you're warm...'m cold...”
“You can literally regulate your temperature, idiot!”
“Too lazy...”
“UGH!”
She tries to untangle herself, but with little success, especially when Todoroki wraps one of his arms around her waist, his grip making her flush. The guy was ridiculously tall now...he'd had a growth spurt somewhere around the middle of Second Year and trying to dislodge his toned, but slothy limbs was a nightmare when he got like this...
When he got all cuddly...
...with...with her!
AHHHH!
Oh my god...! Since when has this been fucking acceptable!?
No one else was allowed to be this forward with her...
So...she doesn't know why she just lets Todoroki get away with this crap. She should punch him in his stupid, good looking face... teach him a damn lesson for defying her!
She never does though.
Why? Why does she never punch him?
“Can't you go bother Deku or some shit!? I'm trying to work here...” she sighs, resigned to her fate. She gathers as many of her belongings as she can, ends up salvaging most of her papers. She frowns down at a few pages that looked more ruffled than she would have liked and rolls her eyes, placing them into a folder and then into her bag after she scoops it off the floor.
Todoroki just grunts into her text book, his face is completely smushed. “Midoriya is lumpy. Not the ideal snuggle partner.”
“And I am?!” Katsuki growls, pretending that her face isn't flushing at the word 'snuggle'. What the hell am I, five years old?! How does he do this shit to me? Says a couple of words and leaves me reeling for a comeback.
“Yes, you smell good and are soft.”
Bakugo, ignoring the warmth of heat that sweeps through her body at his words, smacks the Half-n-Half bastard upside the head, “get moving, now!”
“Ow...” comes his grumbled, pouty tone as he runs a hand through his long, bi-colored hair. He sweeps his bangs from his face, sighs and finally, blessedly, sits up. Before staring down at her with a sleepy expression on his face as he leans close to her, looking dumb. He's cute and...ridiculous, but dumb. Also, he's been growing his hair out for two years and it reaches just past his shoulders now...and it does things to her. Especially when he put it up in a pony-tail.
Her inner fan-girl voice swoons...just a little bit.
Why does she put up with this shit, anyway?
She should be used to this by now, though. Ever since the beginning of this year at U.A, Todoroki has made it his lifes mission to annoy her.
“You're a dork,” she finally mutters, halfheartedly glaring at him with 3% ferocity.
He only blinks down at her, as if his brain is moving slow and he's not even fully aware of himself. Well, until he jerks rigidly, his eyes widening comically, like he'd just remembered something. His abrupt movements startle her and make her careen forward, almost falling off the couch again. She flails in her spot and Shouto grabs around her waist again, securing her. She blushes so hard she would be shocked if he didn't notice. She swears he does this crap on purpose.
Todoroki will ultimately be the death of me.
After everything I've been through, this fucker will be what finally gets me.
God...do I ever hate you...
“Whoops," he frets, chuckling. "Sorry about that, but...I just remembered that I got you something...”
She blinks stupidly at him. Mostly because he still has his arms wrapped around her and it was frying her brain cells.
“Hah?”
“Just a moment,” he commands, turning on the couch and leaning over the back of it to reach down to the floor for something. She assumes he is digging around in his backpack.
Bakugo tries her hardest not to stare at Todoroki's ASS...that is now only a foot in front of her face. Those toned cheeks sitting innocently in a pair of grey sweat pants. The sight makes her heart race and her lips become parched and...and, she's snarling every curse word in the book at herself by the time the icy bastard turns back around.
HATTTTEEEEE CHU!
He sits fully upright then, all casual-like, as a part of his lip twitches. A tick he does when he is amused or happy with something. Katsuki is still trying to get her beating heart under control when a small black tin is shoved in her face.
“Huh...?”
“For you.”
“The hell?”
Todoroki just shrugs and hands it to her, settling back, left elbow leaning against the back of the couch, supporting the tilt of his head as he watched her inspect the tin.
She glares at the small metal box, then at his passive mismatched gaze, eyeing them both critically, looking for any signs of deception or mischievousness. When she finally deems her scrutiny sufficient, she gingerly opens the tin, her nose immediately picking up the sweet scent of sugar.
“Cookies?” she questions, glancing at the half dozen sweet smelling treats. Was that...?
“White chocolate...” Todoroki offers, as if reading her mind, nodding as her eyebrows furrow in confusion. “I thought you might enjoy them...”
“Seriously...?” and she is frowning down at them, her heart going 'thump, thump, thump' again.
There were not many sweets that she liked, but white chocolate had always been a secret, guilty pleasure of hers.
But how the fuck did Half-n-Half even know that?
Was it just a lucky guess?
She glares suspiciously up at Todoroki again, pursing her lips.
He frowns unhappily at her distrustful expression. “Do you not like them?”
She eyes him. “You poison them or somethin'?”
“Uhhh...no?”
Katsuki feels herself scoff, inclining her body back so that she was more comfortable on the couch. Lifting her legs off the floor and curling them into herself on the cushion, unconsciously turning her body more inward and towards him. Her nose scrunches as she says, “what's wrong with them, then?”
“They are just cookies?” he questions, arching an eyebrow and giving her a bewildered 'Blink. Blink.' “That's what they normally look like...right?”
Her lips twist tightly. “Yeah, except, there's no way that you made these. Sooo, what the hell is wrong with them..?”
Shouto tilts his head at her, as if trying to figure her out. He scratches at his nose. “Um...nothing that I know of? I just thought they looked pretty tasty...”
Katsuki narrows her eyes at his dodgy answers. “Where did you get these...?”
“Hmm,” he hums, glancing away, looking like an air head. Bakugo just continues to glare him into submission.
It never fucking works! Todoroki has never been intimidated by her. Asshole.
Her eyebrows shoot up into her curly blonde locks when he says, “in a kitchen...somewhere...not here...but far...and away...”
Katsuki feels her face scrunch up again, trying to figure out why Todoroki's expression looks mildly sheepish. A light-bulb finally sparking up when she realizes.
“Did you freakin' steal these from the bake sale happening tomorrow?”
Todoroki's lip twitches again, aha! caught red handed! as he lazily glances at her, shrugging, neither confirming nor denying. “Let me try one...” he says instead.
Katsuki's mouth is stuck open in stunned surprise, but abruptly snaps shut as his fingers reach out towards the tin. She quickly whisks it away, pulling the cookies closer to her chest and out of his reach. “Ah ah! You said these were for me! I'm not sharing!”
“Ah, so you do like them...” he smirks at her, his head still tilted, leaning into her space.
“No I don't! I hate them!” she growls, but there is a light dusting on her nose and...and when had they gotten so close, huh? The heck? Why did the thought of Todoroki going out of his way to steal cookies for her, make butterflies burst throughout her stomach?
Todoroki just meets her glare, holding out his hand expectantly and arches his stupid eyebrow again, looking perfectly amused with himself.
Katsuki purses her lips, turning her nose up at him and glancing at him out of the corner of her eye in some kind of silly staring contest.
...
...
Just as she feels like she's going to explode if something doesn't happen in the tense silence, Todoroki's hand is swiping the cookie tin from her, quick as lightening.
“Hey!” she barks, lunging for the tin and laughing when she successful snatches it back. Todoroki's surprised face making her grin. “Ha! Snooze you loose, Icyhot!” and she scurries to the furthest part of the couch, giggling evilly when he just gives her a forlorn gaze, like she'd wounded him.
He decides to switch gears, very adept at maneuvering around Bakugo and her moods after three years of exposure. Or maybe he's biding his time, for a chance to snatch the tasty treasure and lure her into a false sense of security. Either way, he regroups and says, “want to watch animal planet with me?”
Oh god...not again.
“You have a problem...” she groans back, rolling her eyes, but doesn't move to get up and leave when Todoroki grabs the remote to turn the television on. Now she understands why Shouto had come out to the common room in the first place. Katsuki glances at the All Might clock on the wall over the T.V and yep, eight-thirty PM sharp...“Like, animals ain't that freakin' interesting...”
“But they are lovely... I like learning about them.”
"Yeah, but you watch the same damn episodes over and over again..."
"So?"
Katsuki sighs, "and you don't see anything wrong with that?"
Shouto rubs at the bottom of his chin in thought, "Midoriya rewatches all of those All Might specials. Oh, and he also frequently reviews footage of fights, over and over again. So, what's the difference?"
"It's...I mean, that's...ugh..." and really...she doesn't have anything to bite back with, because he is right. Deku was disgustingly obsessed with All Might and frequently could be found sitting as close to the T.V as possible, mumbling like a lunatic, as he reviewed Pro-Hero footage from fights across the city. Writing at the speed of light into notebook number, ah, what was it at now? Fucking 309? Notebook #309 the last time she'd seen him so crazed.
Shouto chuckles and flicks the remote, "at least my show is only an hour. Honestly, if there is anyone you should be concerned about, I think Midoriya takes priority on that one."
"Tch!" But Katsuki is trying not to smirk and it is so hard because Todoroki is just...ridiculous! It's the only word that she has anymore to describe him and his obtuse personality.
It was a very well known fact around the Alliance building that Shouto Todoroki had a passion for all things furry. His absolute favorite program was Animal Planet, and watching all the different documentaries on countless species of animals on the History channel.
Literally every night.
Reruns after reruns. The same episodes replaying over and over and over again, like most shows do. After three years of living together in the dorms though, like...can it just be over? Seriously, how many times is she going to walk in on him watching the stupid polar bear episode? Sheesh!
Katsuki found it boring. As did most of the other students who Todoroki managed to ensnare in his clutches for an hour every night to watch the latest episode. It was always the same narrator guy too and she found his dumb voice more aggravating than informative. Most of the time she ended up tuning him out or wanting to blow up the T.V.
Todoroki ate it up like air though and it was sickening to watch him geek out when they were some particularly awesome new animals showcased.
Animals were cool, she guessed. But like...she was definitely cooler.
...and seriously, he's probably watched that godforsaken polar bear episode at least a hundred times, he's got a serious obsession!
She sighs and slumps into the other end of the couch, resigning herself to at least an hour of bullshit narrator dude and his grating voice, before she hightailed it out of there.
Why the fuck didn't she just leave? She hates this shit. But then...Todoroki would be sad...and...she doesn't have the emotional mental capacity to understand why Todoroki being sad, makes her, in turn, feel sad.
She doesn't want Todoroki to be sad.
She also doesn't want to care, about caring, about Todoroki being sad...
It's a fucking curse.
Half-n-Half is like a goddamned curse that you can't get rid of. Sticking to you like a parasite. If parasites could be endearing and overwhelmingly attractive. While also being a huge dork with dense expressions and slothy limbs.
Oh god...was this stupid show actually rubbing off on her? She'd been comparing Todoroki to a sloth!
She can't help but pout at her own train of thought, “hmph...”
“Did you say something?”
Crimson eyes meet vibrant mismatched ones and instead of saying any of the rude things that come to mind, she just shakes her head no, words stuck on her tongue instead, as she gets lost in that soft gaze.
Why does he look at her like that?
All soft and comfortable and relaxed.
Like he enjoys being in her presence. As if he is fond of her?
Shouto nods and then switches his focus back to the television. Katsuki feels the air returning to her lungs that she hadn't even known had disappeared during their staring contest. “Oh,” he pipes up, pleased “...I haven't seen this one yet...”
“Well good for you...” she mocks, but there is no bite to it.
He turns up the volume, just as the catchy intro for Animal Planet starts to play and turns to give her a 'look'.
Nothing good for her sanity ever comes from that expression.
She leans away, ready to run and make a break for it... “What?”
“You're all the way over there,” he states matter-of-factly, pointing at her position. “I told you, I'm chilly...”
Bakugo barks out a mocking laugh, "and I told you, that you can literally regulate your temperature." She huffs and shakes her head. “I'm not your personal blanket, Icyhot! Warm yourself up!”
“But that's no fun...”
“Yeah well, tough shit...”
She hears a noise, almost like the smallest hint of annoyance or some kind of whine...
“Did you just...?”
“Bakugo,” Todoroki sighs, his tone getting her attention and sounding just a tad...tad...tad, tad, tad whiny. Half-n-Half doesn't whine though, ever... so she must have imaged it. But she's sure it's fucking there. Like he's pouting on the inside or something.
Those mismatched eyes simply glance and motion to the space next to him, giving her a passive stare and refusing to budge, even when the narrator guy starts to drone on about lions in the wild.
What she wants to say is, “no, get a life!” but instead she just narrows her eyes, huffs out the most dramatic, put upon groan that she can muster and shuffles closer to him.
Fuck Todoroki and his stupid face and unblinking eyes!
She releases an angry sneer into the air, ignoring how she feels heated, just for their close proximity. Knowing that it would just be more hassle not to give in to him when he got like this. He could be a real brat sometimes and he was stubborn as fuck.
Todoroki nods his approval and when he is satisfied with her close position he drags a blanketed quilt over them. The linen having been folded over one side of the couch. Pulling them even closer together. Great!
She hisses, “what are you...?”
“Shhh, Animal Planet...”
“Seriously...I'm not--?!”
“Bakugo?”
“What?”
He just gives her another 'shush'
She gapes at his audacity.
“I'll shush you, Icyhot--”
“Hush,” he mumbles, but he fusses with the blanket and ends up tucking them both inside it to his satisfaction.
“Yeah yeah, I fucking get it” she grouches in a rasp, rolling her eyes and ignoring the fact that Todoroki was making her feel flustered.
Her face is heated in the dim evening. They were basically cuddling. Under a comforter, in the middle of the common room, where any of their friends could walk in and see them.
But she couldn't focus on any of that.
Todoroki was just all there, up in her space.
His cologne...his body heat and just his mere presence, were making a headiness engulf her.
Their shoulders and arms were touching and she'd already curled her legs onto the cushion and under the blanket. But why was all this making her heart beat so damn fast? Why was she blushing like a brat? Hyper focusing in on any singular, miniscule movement he made against her?
All they were doing was watching a bunch of mother lions protect their cubs from a predator.
But together, practically leaning against one another.
Fucking Half-n-Half...
She ignores how his eyes brighten considerably a little later after a commercial break, when she offers him a cookie from the tin. Glancing away in annoyance, feeling anything but, as she allowed him one of her treats. Playing it off. Pretending that his grin of thanks didn't make her want to soar high into the air. Like Ochako's quirk.
Also, she ends up guilty eating all the cookies by the time the show is over, shit...
Katsuki secretly enjoyed them a lot, but refuses to breath a word of that to him whatsoever. Even though it had been kind of obvious after she'd literally inhaled five of them.
She liked them, okay? Sue her. Besides, the fact that she got to raze Todoroki about his evil, villainous, cookie thieving ways for the rest of his life, only sweetened the deal.
Never-mind the fact that she'd felt all sorts of fuzzy things over him going out of his way for her.
Before they know it, an hour has passed, them sitting close together on the couch. Trading barbs and witty remarks during the commercials and keeping companionable silence during the programing.
...and it's not until Bakugo is dragging Todoroki off to their dorm gym, to work off those sugar calories, that she remembers that stupid Valentines card to begin with. But, by then, she's so engrossed in competing with the icy bastard on the weights that she just writes it off as a joke and pretends that it never even existed in the first place.