Chapter Text
A bit after the whole deal with Mina and her lackeys following Katsuki and Half ‘N Half after school, Satou had showed up at the café for a job interview with Inko, that Izuku had decided he for some reason had to attend too, so now he had left Katsuki in the proximity of somebody who could easily be his biggest rival, and somehow expected them to not destroy the café.
Personally, Katsuki knew that he could never destroy the café, or even harm a little thing in the shop, really. Izuku was far too scary when he was mad for it to be a good idea in any way. So, instead of doing that, he turned to Todoroki. “You’ve got a crush on ‘im, don’tcha Icyhot?”
Really, Katsuki had had the idea for some time now. Yes, according to others, Todoroki Shouto was “hard to read”, but according to Bakugou Katsuki, he was an open book in a language others just didn’t know. It might have to do with the fact that Katsuki had dealt with Izuku being “hard to read” once or twice in the past, and since he didn't want to not understand Izuku, he had read about 17 books on psychology and expression of emotions, and had memorized them. So, he knew the language the book called Todoroki Shouto was written in pretty well, compared to other people.
And a big part of those books had gone over love, because for some reason, they thought that people mainly sought out those books to know if the person they loved loved them back, which Katsuki had thought was fucking stupid , but had read over anyways. And Todoroki showed all those signs.
The light red tint on his usually pale white cheeks, the fumbling for words when he usually answered things less than a moment after they were said, the way that he actually kept on talking or started conversations with Izuku, and that weird thing that almost looked like smiling that he did around him. They all pointed at just three possible things. Either he had secretly known Izuku for a very long time, he was his idol and he was trying to impress him, or he had a crush on him. And a crush was the most likely.
He had noticed all those things pretty easily. Not because he was particularly interested in how Todoroki acted, but because he had just taught himself to notice things. It was a good skill for a hero, after all. To know how a person looked just before blowing up and attacking, to know what turned a person to villainy, and to use their emotions as another way to battle them. Though, it also let him know how the people around him felt.
And right now, Todoroki Shouto, seemed to feel very, very surprised, and also rather embarrassed, for some reason. It wasn’t very subtle this time. His eyes had widened a little, and his lips parted in surprise, while his fingers curled in on themselves on the table. There was a hint of red on his cheeks again, and the air got just a tad warmer, which Katsuki had learned to link to him either being flustered or embarrassed.
“How do you know that?” The candy cane asked him, after a few more moments of making that ridiculous expression. He said it like it hadn’t been completely obvious, and instead of blowing up and getting somebody’s attention, Katsuki rolled his eyes at the question.
He took a cookie from the plate full of them that Izuku had placed on the table before leaving, and ate it before answering. “Because it’s fucking obvious.” He told Todoroki. And in his not so humble opinion, it was. It was very easy for him to figure out others’ emotions, most of the time, he just didn’t care.
“And really, I couldn’t care less. But, if you hurt Zuzu, then I am personally going to make sure that you’re never walking again, got it?” He warned, surprisingly calmly compared to how he usually was at school. But, clearly, he acted a bit differently out of it.
Todoroki didn’t seem to really mind that, and nodded at him, a more serious and determined look suddenly coming over his face. His eyebrows were knitted together just slightly, and his mouth was drawn into a small line. “Of course. I understand.” He answered, with a neutral tone. It wasn’t like he wouldn’t act the same way if he had known Izuku for that long. Honestly, it was impossible to not eventually start liking the boy if you continuously interacted with him.
Katsuki nodded too, and then turned back to his homework, which he was almost done with at that point. It was English, which he had no issues speaking or understanding, bur for some reason they had to write a story and he had decided on a Sherlock Holmes like short story, with a murder plot. But, it was set in nowadays Japan, and with quirks. He had found that he quite enjoyed writing it, but it wasn’t like he’d ever tell anybody.
Well, maybe he’d tell Izuku, but that was besides the point. He literally told Izuku everything, and if he didn’t, Izuku would know. Somehow. And said green haired devil was currently walking back to their table, with a spring in his step and a wide grin on his face. He sat down next to Todoroki, who greeted him calmly, receiving an enthusiastic greeting back.
“Mom decided to hire your classmate as cooking staff, which means that I can focus more on experimenting with recipes now! So, now you two can get some more cookies once you visit.” Izuku said excitedly, folding his arms on the table in front of him, and right next to where Todorki’s arm already was.
Katsuki nodded, easily seeing that his friend was excited for this. He hadn’t been able to experiment with his recipes a lot here recently, and according to him, it was a great way to blow off some steam. Katsuki supposed that it was the same way with him and cooking. “Sounds great, Zuzu.” He said.
Todoroki had to search for words for a few moments, and Katsuki noticed the way that he glanced down at Izuku’s hand, which was close to his own, almost like he wanted to hold it. Really, he could have screamed. It was just so obvious that he was crushing on Izuku, and he couldn’t help but wonder how he’d been surprised when Katsuki had asked him if he was. “Would you like me to stop by in the mornings too, then? That way I can try out some cookies the same way that Bakugou seems to do.” Todoroki offered, and really, Katsuki hoped that they’d end up on a date soon because it was getting very hard for him to deal with the way that Izuku was also very clearly checking Todoroki out as he said that.
Izuku clasped his hands in front of his chest with a big grin up at Todoroki, who did one of those weird almost-smiles back at him. “That’d be very nice, Todoroki-kun, I’d like that.” He said, and really, if they didn’t start actually getting together soon, Katsuki thought he might crack and actually set them up.