all these little things
Relationship: TodoBaku
Tags: Established relationship, Character Study, Fluff, Characters are Pro Heroes
“Ugh. Bakugou is such an ass.” Tokage said, collapsing down on the couch in the agency common area. She didn’t work at Endeavor Agency, but she was currently part of a joint mission, leading her to spending a fair deal of time in the office anyway. “Honestly, Todoroki-kun. I don’t know how you like him.”
Todoroki thought about that for a moment. It’s true, Bakugou was harsh, abrasive. Loud. Rude. Aggressive. All seemingly negative traits. But somehow the blonde made them strengths. Todoroki himself wasn’t the sweetest or friendliest out there, people just tended to overlook it because he was quiet about it. Bakugou’s brand of jackassery was harder to ignore.
But even the supposed jackassery was a result of improper observation. Bakugou was ten times the man Todoroki could ever be. Bakugou was a million times nicer, and more observant. More sacrificial and more caring. He just went about it in ways that were hard to understand.
Bakugou was the type to hear you mention your favorite flavor of Boba tea once and order it for you every time without you needing to ask. In the same situation, Todoroki would have been oblivious to the knowledge and forgotten all about your preferences. There were a few exceptions to this, Bakugou being one of them. Shouto knew exactly what the blonde wanted from the Ramen shop next door, how he preferred his coffee (double shot, one cream, no sugar), and what flavor of ice cream he wanted if he was allowing himself to indulge (strawberry). Midoriya and Momo were probably the only other people Todoroki could remember the preferences of if asked.
Bakugou was a unique brand of self-sacrificial, where he’d put his neck out for anyone, hero-related or not, because he knew he was stronger than the opponent and could take anything thrown at him. Most heroes were self-sacrificing in a martyr way. A “better me than them” way. Bakugou was self-sacrificial in a “you won’t be getting either of us” way. It was something that inspired Todoroki to act in multiple scenarios, aiming to be the same despite continuing falling short on the self confidence front.
Todoroki also knew Bakugou’s harsh words were hard to understand unless you damn near had a doctorate in Bakugou-nese. The blonde might say “get out of my way, extras.” But what he usually meant was “you can count on me. I’ve got this.” People always misunderstood his harsh words. This one Todoroki could understand though, because for a while he didn’t get it either. In fact, the only reason he ever figured it out was thanks to Midoriya, who had long since become fluent in the language and seemed to get some sort of entertainment out of poking the bear to further provoke him in his own native tongue. Todoroki had spent hours of his life watching the two of them egg each other on and it never got less entertaining. He may have even picked up a few tricks from Midoriya to poke the bear himself.
Bakugou appeared to be rash and impatient, running head first into fights without thinking first. But that wasn’t true at all. Honestly, that was more a testament to just how fast the blonde was. While most people were a few steps behind still formulating plans, Bakugou already had several strategies in mind and a back up plan or two to boot. He rushes in confident in his ability to win and his opponents don’t stand a chance without time to plan a counterattack.
But these were all things anyone could see if they looked a little closer. What they didn’t see was the nights Bakugou would stay up for hours, crying or panicked about a less ideal outcome or being outmatched in a fight. They didn’t see the way his confidence did a complete 180 outside of battle, as the blonde compared himself to anyone and everyone else. Especially Todoroki. Todoroki knew he was pretty damn good, but as mentioned before, he also acknowledged his own shortcomings. Todoroki was selfish and rash, rude and often underestimated opponents and teammates alike. He was working on all that, of course, but if anyone were to ask him, right now he’d say Bakugou was a far better hero and definitely en route to reach number one before him. Bakugou didn’t agree. Bakugou would see only Todoroki’s successes and deem himself a failure. Well, in a way. He also saw Todoroki’s failures and offered assistance to improve on future attempts, but for some reason the blonde forgot about those instances when feeling particularly inferior to his partner. Todoroki sure as hell wasn’t giving up, nor was he content to simply accept losing to the blonde, but he couldn’t delude himself into thinking they were on the same level. Todoroki had some serious improving to do if he wanted to win.
Bakugou was kind. Caring. Affectionate. Not so much in the physical sense, naturally. But Todoroki saw it in the way he’d walk slower if guiding the young or elderly somewhere. He saw it in the way he intently listened to the discussions of their peers while pretending not to be involved in the conversation. He saw it in the way Bakugou would chuck a water bottle at his friends’ faces after an intense fight. He witnessed it when their schedules conflicted, and Bakugou would be as quiet as possible to avoid waking Todoroki, oblivious to the fact that Todoroki’s own trauma made it impossible to sleep if he so much as felt the sheets shift. (That, at least, had gotten a little better since he’d started seeing the explosive blonde. He got a comfort out of knowing anyone who dared to fuck with them in their bed would be dying in a very painful manner). Bakugou could be in the midst of an intense battle, focused on his opponent and protecting civilians at the same time and still manage to shoot off an explosion to stop larger debris from hitting Todoroki off guard. And the blonde’s sixth sense for diet seemed to always just know if Todoroki had opted for junk food instead of a proper meal.
So, yeah. Maybe Bakugou was an ass if you only looked from 15 feet away. But one of the shortcomings Todoroki failed to address earlier was his unwillingness to share. Quite frankly, he didn’t care how misconstrued the others’ perception of Bakugou was. It meant Todoroki got to keep all the more intimate knowledge to himself.
“I don’t like him,” he finally responded, not looking up from the book he was reading. “I love him.”
