"Hey! Icyhot! What the fuck you doin' in my room?!"
"This one's mine. You picked the wrong door. I almost took yours by accident as well. Sorry about that."
"Hah?!"
The blonde looked outside of the door for the sign and truly, he had picked the wrong door.
"Doesn't matter! Either way, don't you dare to hold back! Don't even think about it! Or I'll kill you! Understood?!"
The teen with the monochrome hair shrugged and gave the hint of a nod but then his eyes fixated on something behind Bakugo and widened a bit.
Immediately the blonde spun around and saw nothing more than a wall in front of himself.
His eyes wandered downwards and he saw green, curly, tousled hair and felt how little explosions were created in his palms.
That couldn't actually be true!
"Hey!"
The small guy in front of him flinched and trembled as he tried to take up as little space as possible.
"Please don't hurt me! I don't have a strong Quirk! Please! I didn't want to - I…! I didn't mean to stand in your way!", squealed the boy and hurriedly stumbled to the side without looking up.
"Look at me when I talk to you, pisser!", growled the explosive teen and made the other one, yank his head up.
Green curls, green eyes, freckles.
The Scars, the eye bags, and the blind eye were new but he was sure.
"You!"
"M-me? W-what… I… I don't know you! I promise it was somebody else! I - I just - I'm only - I…!"
A cold hand pushed Bakugo who was seconds away from blowing up the boy in front of him out of the way.
"Zuko, what are you doing here? We actually should be alone."
Katsuki stiffened.
Was Shoutos voice actually warm and friendly? What had happened to their class ice-prince?!
Wait… Zuko?!
"What's your name?!", he snapped at the curlyhead.
"Z-Zuko I-idori!", stuttered the greenette and grabbed for Shoutos hand.
"Com' on, Bakugo, you're scaring him. He's completely harmless."
The blonde observed the two of them and huffed in a derogatory manner.
"Reminded me of an old acquaintance. Quikless shitnerd. Always thought he could tell me what's good and what's bad.", explained the delinquent and examined the pair in front of him again.
"I'm gonna leave you scar faces alone then but don't you dare to let me hear how fisheye here sounds like when he gets fucked!", with the words he went away, although he flipped them the bird for good measurement.
As soon as he was out of sight Izuku relaxed and smiled at the taller one.
"That went pretty well."
Shouto lifted one brow at that. It seemed that their definition of 'well' was rather different even though it had some resemblance.
"Well? That was even worse for his normal behavior."
The eyes of the greenette grew round and big and he pointed in the direction in which Bakugo vanished.
"What?! That was bad? H-he talked normally with me! That was more than well!"
"What did he do to you?", asked Shouto aghast and pulled the boy into the cleared room where a table stood in the middle with a mug with some red liquid was standing.
"Oh! Uhm… U th-think that's something that one should show.", mumbled the one-eyed boy as his cheeks were dusted with a light red.
"Then show it to me. I hate him either way and I'm going to show him what it is to be hated by me soon."
The functioning eye of Izuku looked a bit overclouded as he stared up at him with an empty expression.
"Are you okay?"
The smaller one shook his head to wake up again before nodding.
"Ha… that...that's going to be strange.", mumbled stains successor lowly and pulled off his hoodie.
"Don't mind all the scars on my right side, they're from my jump and the… this… the padded ones? - ya know, these ones that are ragged and ugly, they're from the ring or from the streets."
The teenager with the heterochromatic eyes said nothing and let his view roam over his friend's torso.
That was tough.
Even with his standards and experience.
There were too much, too big, too noticeable ones so that you could even ignore or overlook one of these scars.
But three caught his eye.
The two crossing cuts in Izukus face.
A big burn scar on his upper arm that looked like someone ripped out a bit of his flesh or detonated something very close.
This one had to come from Bakugo.
And then there was one on his stomach that was made of multiple short, deep cuts.
"What happened when you got this one?"
"This? Oh… that's the one of when Stain found me. I stole some stuff from a store and the owner is after me. By now I actually know that I fell because of spider silk. And when I fell all the bottles I had on me… broke and impaled me. And… well… actually, they left me behind in this alleyway to die but then Stain came across me and took me home and patched me up. So I owe him my life in more than just one way..."
And all that started because of Bakugo, it was his fault that Izuku preferred the streets and death over his own home and life.
Hesitantly he reached out to brush his fingers over the healed injury but he pulled back before Izuku could notice.
It was rude and nothing somebody should do without some kind of allowance.
"Actually I wanted to cheer you up before the fight.",
explained the villain crestfallen,
"But I'm afraid I did nothing of that sorts.
It's not much but I'd say you should do everything possible to get Kacchan out of bounds. Don't knock him out because then he'll get what he wants.
He starts all his attacks with a right hook, after that he goes backward with one explosion and fires a bigger one from a safe distance.
Try to cool him down and to freeze his sweat because he can't generate Explosions without it.
Oh! And injure his wrist because they have to withstand the pressure of the detonations.
I hope that's going to help you a little bit."
Surveye smiled encouraging and hugged the taller teen (he still wasn't wearing his hoodie.)
"You are my hero, Shouto.
You've already done more for me than most humans ever did.
I hope that you're going to be the one to put me into jail or kill me.
No one else than you should do that for me."
The happiness that rose with the two first sentences was crushed beneath the meaning of the second two.
"Please don't say that. I'll neither kill you nor capture you. You don't deserve that. I'm going to do what a real hero should do and save you."
The one-eyed teen stepped backward and examined him.
"Maybe you'll even be able to accomplish that.",
admitted/acknowledged/allowed the curlyhead finally,
"But you'd have to sacrifice a lot for that and I don't know if I'm comfortable with that idea.
The fruit tea was a great choice, by the way."
Then he gave Shouto a quick peck on the cheek before he disappeared out of the room while pulling the hoodie over his head.
The student touched his cheek where the other boy's lips had brushed over his skin.
Did you do something like that as friends?
He had seen how the girls gave each other kisses on the chooks… but he'd never seen any boys do it.
Izuku surely meant well.
With a smile, he grabbed his tea and took a sip.
For some seconds he was back in the homely flat of Stain and Surveye with a mug in his hand and the both of them in the smallish kitchen.
This couple hours had been more of a home for him than everything he had been a part of by now.
"Todoroki? It's about to start."
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
The noise was deafening.
The second thing Shouto noticed was that the battleground was even higher than before.
Without hesitation, he climbed the stairs and saw himself opposite of Katsuki who seemed the have reached the stage at the same time as himself.
"Well? Had fun with your 'friend'?", asked the blonde hostility.
he shrugged and looked in the direction where he remembered Izuku sitting.
It didn't take long for him to notice the green mop of curls between the other spectators.
"Shake your hands, to a fair fight!"
Instantly he went on towards the middle whilst the blonde took some seconds until he started moving.
"Please don't let this destroy our as good as nonexisting relationship even more.", he said as he reached out his hand for his classmate to shake.
"Just come at me with everything you've got!", growled his opponent and swat his hand away.
The whole stadion gasped as Bakugo turned around and strode black towards the line.
The dual teen stood there for some more heartbeats before he let his arm fall to his side and returned to the start position with gritted teeth.
All the members of the audience, it didn't matter if they sat in front of a TV or in the ranks, every single one of them observed with a shudder how the atmosphere changed from politeness to hate.
In the span of a heartbeat there burst out so much rage, disapproval, and detestation from the son of Endeavor that it could be nothing else but destructive.
"The rules are still the same and now: FIGHT!", with the last word the teacher whisked herself into safety, just in time, because in this split second the UA students charged at each other like two well-trained fighting dogs who had waited for hours to finally be committed.
Bakugos right hand shot forward and Shouto touched the arm with his right.
Instantly the boy with the explosion Quirk was covered in a thin layer of ice that slowed down his attack just enough for Shouto to move out of the way again.
They pounced at each other anew, flames flickered past the blonde, the ice melted, a new layer was created.
Again and again, this alternation of lasting coldness and short heat that only brought more cold with it repeated itself.
Katsuki cooled down more and more as his explosions grew weaker until they were almost nonexistent.
The audience started to cheer with new vigor as they noticed that the terrible demon was about to be defeated.
Bakugo looked around unbelieving before he attacked again.
He would win and earn the first place!
He would become number one!
He would prove to anyone that he was the best!
With an angry exclamation he struck out, his hand cracked and he stumbled backward with a string of curses.
This damn Half'n'half bastard had increased himself in ice so that he broke his hand!
Again he tried to charge and get closer to his opponent but his arm was swiped to the side before a fist collided with his face and he got a kick against his temple.
Fire flickered to life and forced him to retreat.
Shouto stood in the middle of the hellish inferno with a smug smirk.
His pulse was racing and he felt how a little bit of sweat collected in his hand again.
"DIE, BASTARD!"
He vaulted towards the damn whore's'son, wound up, but his hit connected with thin air and he landed gracelessly on his feet, but he still was standing! And he would stand in this damn ring until the very bitter end! They would have to carry him away on a stretcher!
And then he saw the eyes of the taller teen and flinched.
That was pure insanity that burned within them!
Insanity and bloodlust.
In the next moment, he was thrown backward and flew through the air and he couldn't stop his fall!
His arms were frozen but he couldn't just…!
He still had time!
He smashed his hands together to burst the ice, wiped over his forehead and somehow managed to catch himself before he crossed the line.
He was panting and shivering.
His body was hypothermic, his heart was beating away in his chest and he knew the next was about to come and it might be the one to kick him out.
He would not be conscious when he was defeated.
Todoroki should give his all and give him the finale he deserved!
In the next moment, he looked up and saw his classmate not even a meter away from him.
Fire and ice surrounded Todoroki like the wings of a goddamn angel of revenge and there was this look on his face again and Katsuki just tried to stay standing and to not let his knees buckle.
Right now he wasn't the number one! The bastard still hasn't won!
With a battecry, he charged again.
His body was too cold, he could forget his Quirk in a state like that, but he still had muscles and fists that could do the talking!
And again he took more hits than he even thought to dish out and then there was a clod hand wrapped around his throat.
Shouto tilted his head to the side as he examined Katsukis blood-red eyes, which were blown wide, filled with panic and had tears glistening in their corners.
Even when the other boy bared his teeth and growled, cursed, spit, tried to hit him, he looked and acted rather pathetic.
'None of them is as dangerous as me or the man in whose house you live in.', echoed Izukus words in his head and he only understood now how right the broker had been.
He loosened his grip and let Bakugo fall onto his knees before he enveloped himself in the warmth of his fire for the last time to thaw himself and threw the blonde out of the ring and over the edge of the platform.
In the same moment where the other threatened to land he send out his ice to catch Katsuki and 'save' him.
"Bakugo is out of bounds. And thusly Shouto Todoroki is our winner!"
This applause surpassed each and every one of the previous ones.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
With a shout of joy, he jumped up from his seat and ran to the railing, took a deep breath, formed a funnel with both of his hands so that it was ensured that everyone could hear him when…
"WELL DONE, SHOUTO! YIU FINALLY ACCEPTED YOUR DESTINY, MY SON! I'M PROUD OF YOU, YOU'LL BE BETTER THAN ANY OF THEM!"
This cannot be…!
"HEY! YOU GIANT ASSHOLE!"
Everything grew quiet as Izukus voice echoed through the stadion as Endeavors did shortly before.
"DON'T YOU DARE TO TAKE UP THE CAUSE OF HIS VICTORY AS YOUR OWN! JUST SHUT YOUR TRAP AND GRANT HIM THIS MOMENT! NOTHING THAT HAPPENED TODAY HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH YOU!!!"
Panting he stood there and felt the eyes of the whole arena on himself.
But he just swiped a bit of spit out of the corner of his mouth as he still caught his breath and mumbled: "Holy shit that felt good."
Then the murmuring started as Endeavor stomped away.
Izuku knew that he would stand in front of the "Hero" a second time soon and that it wouldn't end as lenient as the last time.
"Uhum… well. TIME FOR THE AWARD CEREMONY!"
Present Mic struggled to somehow save the situation which was truly admirable because that was what true heroes should dom
"AND THIS ARE OUR WINNERS!
TSUYU ASUI FOR THE THIRD PLACE!
KATSUKI BAKUGO COMING IN AS SECOND!
AND OUR FIRST PLACE WHICH IS WELL EARNED AND WON WITH STRUGGLE BY NO ONE ELSE THAN: SHOUTO TODOROKI!!!
AND THIS YEAR THE MEDALS ARE AWARDED BY NOONE LESS THAN ALL MIGHT!!!", exclaimed the voice-hero.
Izuku heard heavy steps behind his back and smiled weakly.
"I know you want to beat me to a pulp, Enji Todoroki, and I am sure you've got some questions for me and surely you hate me, but, trust me, that one is mutual.
But please let us watch the ceremony before we fight or do something else, we owe Shouto that much."
A grunt was the only reply he got before the man positioned himself next to him.
"What is wrong with this brat?!", asked the hero dumbfounded when he was the person the second place of the pedestal.
The villain next to him chuckled: "That Kacchan for one. Maybe he doesn't want his medal because he didn't earn his position with full power."
– he threw a glimpse at the adult beside him –
"You two really do have some things common."
Katsuki Bakugo was gagged and his hands were captured in a box as he was chained to a metal post and fought against his bondage like a madman as he panted and screamed into his gag.
Todoroki on his podium inched towards Asui who looked, in spite of her rather expressionless face, proud with herself and satisfied, as well as a bit marveled.
Shoutos expression was composed, lost in thoughts and pensive.
"I should have yelled at the garbage-fire later. Now he's concerned. Should I try to gain his attention so that he knows that everything's alright?
On the other side, his disappointment of a father is hard to ignore. Everything is surely going to turn out just fine. I hope he's, at last, a bit happy…", mumbled the greenette curlyhead without noticing and Endeavor actually wanted to punch the damn brat for his insults but then he thought about all the people surrounding them and this one, functioning eye that was tacked solely on his masterpiece and he could see that this boy know rather well about the worth of Shoutos being and was admiring him for it.
"Asui-shojo, your skill, and cool mind helped you through all your battles reliably - work on canceling out your weaknesses and continue to trust your abilities. You did really well.",
said All Might as he hung the bronze medal around the girl's neck before he pulled her into a hug and added,
"You are going to become a brilliant heroine."
The symbol of peace went to the other side of the pedestals and seemed to be a bit overwhelmed by the sight of Bakugo.
Everyone could see the quizzical look on the pro heroes face as he whispered an unheard question to which Midnight gave an unknown answer that satisfied the muscular man more or less.
"Bakugo-shounen. You gave all your schoolmates a hard fight and gave your best until the very end. Although it wouldn't hurt to work on your vocabulary and temper."
He took off the students gag and Izuku had to stifle a burst of laughter when he saw the regret on All Mights face as Kacchan spit out a flood of insults and profanities.
When the number one hero tried to award the second place with his medal the teen writhed as much as he could and finally the hero found a solved both problems with one action as he gave the student the medal by shoving it into his mouth and effectively shut him up.
"Todoroki-Shounen. Your commitment and your efforts, your will to combat but also your willingness to help, like when you saved your opponent from a bad fall at the end of your fight are admirable.
You've improved a lot over this past weeks and showed everyone today how much dedication and diligence actually pay off.
I am pleased to hand the gold medal for the first place over to you out of all my students."
Todoroki reverently bowed his head and received his medal.
After a hug, All Might stepped backward and called out: "And now, let us all say it together, two words."
"PLUS ULTRA!", yelled the hero together with the whole audience.
"All Might-Sensei."
– the audience froze when Shouto spoke again. –
"May I ask if someone of the audience could join me?
He helped me a lot today in more than one aspect and he deserves a bit of the spotlight and the praise as well."
"Oh… uhm… sure. I'll fetch him. Where is he?"
"Next to Endeavor."
"... oh."
The number one hero looked around and Izuku just stared at Shouto.
His head was empty because:
...
...
...
WHAT?!
All Might jumped and landed on Izuku's other side which made him flinch away from this even taller and bigger man, he felt tiny and dwarfish between these two herculean heroes.
"A-a-all... All M-might! R-right – right in front of me! I think imma faint..."
The whole body of the greenette was quaking and couldn't decide if he should flake out, barf, screech or run away.
THAT WAS ALL MIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM!
"Are you the boy Todoroki-Shounen mentioned?"
He nodded helplessly and the man picked him up with a broad grin.
Surrounded by these strong arms he felt like a damn toddler.
And then the hero jumped back down again and placed him next to his friend gently.
"Are you all right, Zuko? You look a bit pale in the face."
"Please hold on tight and pinch me. I think I going to throw up. All Might talked to me. I don't know if Endeavor killed me and I got to heaven or if I'm dreaming.", mumbled the boy slurred and swayed threateningly.
Immediately his hero placed a supporting arm around his waist to steady him.
"I'm going to change your story a little bit.", murmured Shouto and Izuku was too addled to understand what he said.
"This is my best friend, Zuko Idori. He is an orphan, quirkless and disabled, as everyone can easily see.
His right eye is blind and he can't use his right leg like he should because he injured both severely when he tried to get away from the bullying by jumping off a roof.", Shoutos steady voice echoed through the stadion thanks to the microphone Midnight had handed him.
"He was abused since he was four years old and didn't see any means in staying alive after nine years of suffering and tried to end his life because of that.
He never met his father and his mother never took care of him and even the hospital he was admitted to barely took care of him and refused to give him the needed psychological help because he is only quirkless.
This boy is through an alcohol and drug withdrawal! He did both on his own after living in the streets for over a year where he chased one high after the other.
Zuko's smart, he was the one who actually wrote the speech I gave at the start and he figured out a lot of things that happened today through the festival.
So I'm asking myself: Why did he have to suffer? Because of a whim of nature?
Or because our society is so blinded by the glory of our powers that we don't see what kind of destruction they cause?!
I hope each and every one of you looked at my friend closely who deserves this medal much more than I ever could because all the thing he fights every day of his life are at last twice as hard as what I fought against only today.
He helped me when nobody else even noticed that I was in need of help, so, if he isn't a hero, who else would be one?
Thank you for listening.",
with these words, the teen took a step back and made a move to take off his medal. Panicking Izuku caught his different tempered hands and held onto them.
"Sh-shouto. That's… that's truly… really nice of you...",
he explained with tears in his eyes.
On the spot where he stood before was a puddle of saltwater.
"... but please don't do anything stupid by giving me this medal. You're emotional! I… I am honored but I am not intended for touching something of this worth.
It's wonderful that you won, that you can bear it while I know that you've earned with a bit of my help… no! You can only wear it because of your own power! I-I'm not involved at all! It's yours! It's yours!"
Everything the smaller boy stuttered was displayed over the whole stadium and he flinched hard when he heard the reverberation of his own voice with a racing heart.
This was WRONG!
He didn't belong here! He didn't deserve to stand in the floodlights, to stand next to Shouto! He shouldn't be out in the public eye where everyone could identify him.
He felt nauseous and presses a hand in front of his mouth to not throw up in the same heartbeat.
"Shouto. I have to get away!", he begged quietly but none the less insistently.
His friend seemed saddened but nodded and helped him down onto the ground and lead him to the next restroom where he somehow managed to save himself just in time in one of the stalls before his stomach turned his insides out.
"That was truly impressive, Todoroki-Shounen.", he heard All Mights voice say in some distance.
Shouto sighted.
"Not really. I'm afraid I made him look like a fool and I caused a panic attack - I just wanted to do something so that he didn't have to suffer so badly any longer."
"That is the main trait of a good hero: They butt their nose into stuff that shouldn't concern them at all.
You made a lot of people rethink their opinions today, Todoroki-Shounen."
Izuku thought the hope in Shoutos voice when he asked: "Do… do you really think that, sir? That I changed something today?" was beautiful.
"I'm sure you did."
Izuku flushed the toilet and stumbled out of the cabin. Hurriedly he washed his hands and drank some mouths full of water to get rid of the bad taste before he shuffled towards the heroes.
"I am happy if at least one person does something for people of my kind.", he said with a smile and made both males turn in his direction.
"Idori-Shounen.
I have to give you my thanks. It seems that you helped this student quite a lot.", told the teacher and made a move to bow before him, Surveye, of all people.
He rushed to stop the hero.
"Please! Please don't bow for me! Not… not for me! Everyone else you respect but not me! My mentor would be ashamed to see you bowing!"
Talking of Stain…
He pulled out his pocket watch.
He would have to return to Hosu soon.
Soon he would be the cause of another massacre and it was possible that he would lose his mask in foreseeable time as well if everything continued as it did and then Shouto would be in for a real fix.
He took a deep breath.
"Could I ask you for a favor, Sir? Please take good care of Shouto and help him to stay on the right path, don't waste your energy on lost cases. He is going to need our support more than someone like a Bakugo.", he suggested to All might with a deep bow.
His eyes were on Shouto when he straightened again.
"I have to go now.
My sensei and I, we're going to spend the next weeks in Hosu, we got there yesterday but I returned to witness the festival.
I wish you the best of luck for your internship, Shouto. Please pick a nice agency. I'm sure you're going to be swamped.
Until next time."
With a smile, he placed a hasty kiss on Shoutos other cheek and disappeared before he did something dumb like turning himself in or kissing the other boy for real.
Not now.
Not yet.
Not when he wasn't the number one.