Chapter Text
Todoroki Shouto - pro hero Shouto, as of the past three years - knew right away that a certain dreadful moment was finally drawing closer when he received an invitation to go out for lunch from his father via text.
Initially, he tried to decline the invitation by claiming he was far too busy with work that day to meet with him. But his father, Todoroki Enji, was technically his boss, pro hero Endeavor, and, hence, he was the one in charge of deciding his work schedule. Being too busy could not be used as an actual excuse now, and neither could he claim to already have plans made for that time slot when he had just tried to fool his father into thinking he didn’t have a moment to spare for leisure lunches. Todoroki also wasn’t all that good at lying. Finding some sort of excuse under duress only made coming up with a lie even harder.
In the end, Todoroki had no other choice but to notify the hero agency that he would be out on a lunch break with the big boss and then meet up with his father at an upscale restaurant located just a couple of streets away. Thanks to having gotten a private room for the two of them, he didn’t even have to change out of his hero costume. The whole thing stank of an elaborate trap, and Todoroki went in with his guard raised sky-high.
Their lunch began like every other meal they shared together, a bit awkward with some pleasantries and small talk, followed by uncomfortable silence as they decided on what to order. Once the dishes had been served and their assigned waitress had left the private room, the true objective of that last-minute lunch meeting was finally revealed.
“I have some files here I’d like you to read through whenever you have the time,” said Enji after having loudly cleared his throat. He grabbed a thick paper pocket folder that he had left on the empty chair next to him and placed it on top of the dining table before sliding it closer to his son. “There’s no rush or deadline to meet, but I think it’s about time you start looking more closely into it.”
“............” Todoroki silently dropped his expressionless gaze to the pocket folder. The cover had no words written on it or clues that indicated the type of files compiled inside, but he could tell right away what they were, taking into consideration what his father had just said. After a small sigh, Todoroki rested the cutlery he was holding on the sides of his plate and addressed Enji head-on. “I already told you I don’t want to have anything to do with Quirk marriages.”
“It’s a family tradition, both from my and your mother’s side of the family,” sighed Enji, already resigned to the fact that there would be some pushback from his son. “Generation after generation, all of our ancestors had arranged marriages organised by the corresponding heads of the family. This is simply how things have been done for centuries now, even before Quirks were a thing.”
“I don’t care about family traditions, I’m not go-” Todoroki continued to argue back, deadset in declining such an unreasonable, antiquated tradition no matter how many times his father tried to push him into it, but he was quickly cut off by him.
“And this isn’t a Quirk marriage,” reiterated Enji, his big, muscled body uncomfortably shifting in his seat. He, too, fully placed down his cutlery on his plate, his scarred face serious but also slightly contrite. “I now recognise that marrying someone just for the sake of mixing specific Quirks is a dangerous long-term mistake. I want to be the last one in our family to make such a bad choice. However, I still want to follow the family tradition of doing arranged marriages the old-fashioned way. That’s why I used our long-standing family connections and selected several spouse candidates who would be a good fit for you. Quirks were not taken into consideration when I was making that list, you can rest assured of that. There are even several young ladies there who are Quirkless.”
“That’s not the problem here,” nearly groaned Todoroki, already feeling very fed up with this conversation. “I don’t want any type of arranged marriage, period. Some family traditions are better off forgotten in the past rather than used and abused in modern times. What difference does it make whether I get married to someone of your choosing or don’t get married at all? I’m still going to continue being a pro hero and carry on with the family legacy. Isn’t that more than enough?”
“For now, sure, it’s working out just fine,” acknowledged Enji, despite already shaking his head in apparent dissatisfaction. He crossed his arms over his chest and tightened his stern gaze, his blue eyes closely observing his son. “But you are only in the beginning stages of your career and during a relatively calm period at that, now that the League of Villains has been dismantled and All for One is long gone. Things are bound to become a whole lot harder and busier as time goes on. Living alone and being the sole person responsible for your livelihood outside of working hours will be too much of a burden. All of those daily tasks will pile up on top of your duties as a pro hero and run you down more and more until it reaches a breaking point. And that’s when accidents happen and heroes are lost, sometimes forever. Having a wife would lessen some of those burdens, as well as give you one more reason to come back home alive once things get tough during a particularly dangerous fight or mission.”
“I make more than enough money to hire someone to look after household tasks and cooking if I ever need help with those things,” deadpanned Todoroki, verbally slaying those (admittedly very true and sensible) arguments in the blink of an eye. “Besides, I already have plenty of reasons to come back home alive. Adding one more wouldn’t make much difference.”
“You’re so stubborn…” sighed Enji under his breath, his shoulders dropping just a tiny little bit. By the expressionless yet decisive look on his son’s face, he could tell there was no use continuing this conversation right now. He wasn’t going to change Todoroki’s mind in the slightest at this point in time. “Why don’t we continue this conversation at a later time, once you’ve read all the information and the profiles of those young ladies? Think about it for as long as you need. If no one in that folder interests you, there are plenty of other candidates that haven’t been included in today’s list. If anything, there’s a long line of women your age who would love to marry you, Shouto. You can literally have your pick in this regard. So keep that in mind and make your decision, the sooner the better.”
I think I already made my decision more than clear…, Todoroki pointed out in the back of his mind. There was no use continuing to argue back and forth with his father, though; they were both equally as stubborn and far too unwilling to compromise on such a sensitive topic.
Their lunch meeting would and indeed did end in such an impasse, with Todoroki feeling quite peeved at his father for being such an old-fashioned, pig-headed geezer that shouldn’t be making such unreasonable demands of his children while also seeking to make amends with them, and with Enji grumbling under his breath about not expecting his youngest son to reach the peak of his teenage rebellion as a young adult.
It was needless to say that Todoroki would never say yes to an arranged marriage, regardless of it being because of Quirk affinity or just to gain a free houseworker. He was against it as a matter of principle - after all, he had seen firsthand how much misery and pain it could bring to those involved. But that wasn’t all there was to it. There were two other big factors as to why he was so against it.
The first one was that he didn’t want to burden his mother with even more guilt. While their relationship was now that of a regular mother and son, Todoroki could tell she still felt some guilt about her past actions - or the lack thereof, in this case. She probably believed that if she had somehow talked it through with her husband, maybe their parenting style and expectations wouldn’t have destroyed their oldest son. If she had been stronger, their second and third children wouldn’t have had to be raised separately from their other siblings. If she had been a better mother, she could have protected their youngest from those abusive training sessions and her own mental breakdown.
If Todoroki was strong-armed into an arranged marriage, would his mother also blame herself for it? Seeing as it was a family tradition that came from both his father’s and his mother’s family line, it was very likely she would feel guilty over it, yes. That was the last thing Todoroki wanted.
The final factor was a more personal one, something Todoroki had never shared with another soul. While he knew he was his own person and had broken free from a lot of generational trauma, a small part of him feared that he would one day start copying his father’s behaviour if he was ever put in the same position as him. It sounded completely ridiculous, given the type of person Todoroki was, but even so… That small doubt kept popping up whenever the topic of arranged marriages came up, gnawing at him and making him fear and abhor his future self.
With all that taken into consideration, Todoroki had long decided that he would never, under any circumstances, accept being involved in a Quirk or an arranged marriage. He was ready to fight tooth and nail to decline any such offers, whether they came from his own family or from someone else.
However, he also wasn’t all that interested in continuously being pestered with conversations like that one or sudden marriage proposals. He wanted to bury this matter as soon as possible so he could focus all of his energy on his job as a pro hero, rather than worry about being tricked into going on blind dates organised by his father or whatever else crazy schemes Enji might come up with after being told no one too many times.
Todoroki needed a concrete and permanent way out of all the arranged marriage discussions.
If he had a lover, like his older brother Natsuo had had at the time, he could have used that as some sort of leverage. Natsuo was obviously also aware of this family tradition, and the moment Enji started nagging him about arranged marriages, he managed to convince him to postpone any decisions until he graduated from university. However, on the very same day he received his college degree, Natsuo also announced he had gotten married to his then-girlfriend. That instantly destroyed all conversations of arranged marriages, and their father was forced to give up on pursuing that matter further. All in all, it had been a brilliant plan that Todoroki unfortunately could not copy, as he didn’t have a girlfriend.
He also couldn’t use the impressive feat his sister managed to come up with as a long-term solution to any and all conversations about arranged marriages. She had long graduated from university and had a very stable job as a teacher. Initially, she had plans to quit and work in a different field, but she soon changed her mind and started working anew at a local elementary school. Given the nature of her job, she claimed she did not want to get married and would instead spend the rest of her life raising and teaching the children of others, which would indirectly fulfil her ‘duties’ as a woman. There were a few complaints about it at first, but their father eventually gave up on it and let her pursue her life plans with his full support. Seeing as Todoroki was a pro hero and had no plans to become a teacher of any sort, he would also not be able to use a similar strategy.
But then, what else could Todoroki do to free himself from such a sticky, complicated situation?
Should I lie and say I’m already dating someone?, wondered Todoroki to his own buttons as he casually walked around downtown, as per his afternoon patrol route. Yes, he could lie and pretend he was dating someone, but again, he wasn’t very good at lying. He probably would get caught very fast. And if he didn’t, he would eventually get backed against the wall once his father started pestering him to meet his so-called girlfriend.
Such thoughts soon changed into wondering if he could get someone to pretend to be his lover temporarily, just until he found a different way to escape that cursed family tradition.
But such a plan also had several drawbacks. If he asked a woman to pretend to be his girlfriend, she would get roped into a quite dramatic family feud. Involving an innocent bystander in such a problematic situation didn’t sit all that well with Todoroki, especially since he had no way to predict how she would react to his father’s unreasonable demands and old-fashioned ways, or even what his father would force that poor woman to do to be accepted into the Todoroki family. There was also the possibility of his fake girlfriend falling in love with him for real at some point and then wanting to turn their pretend relationship into an official one, which would be just as, if not even more, problematic than an arranged marriage…
Yeah, asking or paying someone to pretend to be my girlfriend would definitely be a bad idea… I think…, concluded Todoroki in the back of his mind, trusting this gut feeling he was having and pushing that plan into his mental trash can. He sighed, “But if I can’t pretend I already have a girlfriend, then what exactly could I-”
His ongoing inner turmoil was suddenly interrupted by the violent sound of a loud explosion. A few passersby walking past him ducked down and protected their heads, thinking debris or broken glass was about to fall on them. Fortunately, whatever it was that caused that blast was somewhat contained to the detonation area only, and so that portion of the downtown ended up being relatively damage-free.
But that didn’t mean Todoroki could just leave it be. He promptly switched into serious mode and used his Quirk to rush towards the area where the explosion occurred. As luck would have it, Todoroki didn’t have to travel too far. In a matter of minutes, he was staring down at a familiar entity - who he supposed had been the instigator of the explosion - and a poor soul quaking in his boots, despite not seeming all that inclined to give up just yet.
“Baku- I mean, Dynamight,” Todoroki called out, fumbling his words a little bit out of habit of using one name over the other.
“Huh? ‘The heck are you doing here?” growled Bakugou Katsuki - aka pro hero Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight -, his face crooked with a raging frown. He was currently grabbing a shabby, dishevelled man by the collar of his scorched shirt. “I’m almost done dealing with this piece of shit. I don’t need any backup.”
“C-C’mon, don’t be like that. The least you could do is hear me out until the end!” That man tried to reason, his arms gesturing around emphatically. “All it takes is a single glance to know you’re on the wrong side! You are a natural-born villain, my guy! Even your hero name is a dead giveaway! ‘Great Explosion Murder God’? Yeah, that’s the coolest villain name I’ve heard in my whole life!!! With you as our leader, we’d conquer the whole world in record time!”
“Shut up, the adults are busy talking right now!” hissed Bakugou, stuffing his hard, pointy knee guard on the man’s lower abdomen in an attempt to silence him. Once the man was whimpering in pain, he turned his focus back to Todoroki. “Where were we? Oh, right. He’s as good as arrested. You can leave. I’ll be just fine waiting on my own for the police to come and drag his sorry ass to jail.”
“Right,” deadpanned Todoroki, briefly glancing at the whining man before he returned his gaze to Bakugou and his frowning face. “I see you’re still the same villain magnet of always.”
“Fuck off!” Bakugou yapped back in retaliation, giving a quick kick to the man’s limp leg as a way to release some stress and bottled-up anger. “It’s not my fault these morons are not only stupid but also blind and delusional to boot. The only god damned silver lining in this is that they all come to me on their own, rather than me having to hunt them down one by one.”
“W-We can’t help it, okay…?” stammered the man, his voice strained and weakened by pain. Nevertheless, his eyes remained steadfast and determined, like he was willing to sacrifice himself so long as he managed to accomplish his objective. “Y-You are like a beacon to this new age. You represent everything that the villains of the old age were lacking, from your Quirk to the way you carry yourself. Those on my side can see it. And I bet those on that side see it too. T-There’s a reason why you can’t climb higher than number 5 in the Hero Billboard, yeah? They will never give the spotlight to someone meant to be the leader of all villains, even if you are undisputably the strongest pro hero in this entire country. Don’t think having a clean record and zero scandals to speak of will give the world a better impression of you. If anything, having such a pure white reputation since you went pro only makes you look even shadier. No one knows anything about your private life, no believable rumours are being spread around, and no journalist or paparazzi has been able to dig up any sort of information on you aside from what you do during your working hours. Heh, all of that makes people stop and think… ‘Just what kind of illegal, backhanded tricks has he been using to keep himself this pristine? He definitely has to be hiding something dark behind his saintly façade.’ Hehehe, poor you, Dynamight! Being the strongest and yet ending up hated because of that strength! But don’t worry! Me and my brothers and sisters will welcome you in the underworld with arms wide-”
“I told you to shut up already, you fucking asswipe!” growled Bakugou, this time going all out with his next strike. The moment he hit the side of the man’s neck, his body went completely limp as he lost consciousness. Bakugou simply clicked his tongue and let him drop to the ground, removing a pair of handcuffs from a pocket to get this criminal restrained while he couldn’t fight back or struggle. As he did so, he kept grumbling under his breath, “These delusional assholes sure like to yap away… I’m getting sick and tired of hearing the same dumb story every single time these fucking morons want to recruit me or whatever…”
“You seem to be having it hard,” said Todoroki, sympathising quite a bit with his former classmate’s struggles. He had to agree that one of the hardest aspects of being a pro hero was public perception. Bakugou had his cards set against him when it came to captivating public attention and affection, as he did indeed look more like a villain than a hero as he raged around and exploded with stuff. His aggressive personality and tendency to cuss with very colourful terms also didn’t help much.
“I’m used to it already,” grumbled Bakugou after clicking his tongue in annoyance a second time. He dusted off his gloved hands and then got back up from his crouched position, always keeping the man he had captured under his gaze as a precaution. “What I can’t get used to is being constantly approached by these douchebags. Fucking hell, they are such a pain in the ass…! I’m starting to think maybe I should fabricate some sort of scandal or something just to look more ‘normal’, whatever that even means.”
“Fabricate a scandal…?” repeated Todoroki, one of his eyebrows arching slightly in surprised puzzlement. That sort of thing was something he had never expected to hear coming out of Bakugou’s mouth.
Despite his evil appearance and gremlin-like personality, Bakugou was actually the least ‘problematic’ of this new generation of heroes. Plenty of corrupt or half-hearted pro heroes had been arrested or quit their jobs during the bloody war against the League of Villains, and the new version of the Hero Public Safety Commission had made sure to pay very close attention to those who remained in the hero business and the new folks dipping their toes in it. It was now a whole lot harder to become a sidekick, let alone a proper pro hero. But that didn’t mean that those working in the pro hero trade didn’t mess up every now and then. They were only human, after all.
That’s why it was quite common for scandals and rumours to surface every other week, much like it happened in the celebrity universe. Todoroki himself had a few of them already, as anytime he was seen in public with a woman, whether she was a colleague or simply an acquaintance, rumours and news articles immediately started creating a whole romance novel out of it. There was no truth to it, however, so they all eventually faded away after trending online for a couple of days. Some of his former classmates had also been caught ‘red-handed’ for a myriad of other reasons, like Mineta having several accusations of sexual harassment, or Hagakure being labelled as an undercover spy for villains due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Todoroki didn’t remember ever having heard of any scandals related to Bakugou, and the few rumours floating around about him were all based on hasty perceptions of his outward appearance and personality or things that had happened when he was still a high school student. He also kept his private life fully under wraps, to the point that only his family and closest friends knew about what he did outside of his working hours. The paparazzi constantly following him around to ‘catch him in the act’ hadn’t even figured out where he lived yet, such was his success in separating work from leisure.
“Yeah, like coming up with a stupid but plausible story and then feeding it to the press or to one of those professional stalkers that make Izuku look like a newb,” scoffed Bakugou with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders. “Anyway, get going already before the cops show up. I don’t want people to think I needed help to deal with this weakling.”
“............” Albeit Todoroki heard every single word Bakugou had just spat out, his brain was too busy focusing on a different aspect of their conversation to actually process them and act accordingly.
Todoroki wanted to permanently get rid of all conversations and plans for an arranged marriage imposed by a family tradition. Bakugou wanted to fabricate a scandal to get a break from villain recruitment attempts once and for all.
Didn’t that mean their current goals and needs were aligned perfectly?
Todoroki would be able to get a fake lover who could deal with his father’s unreasonable demands without breaking a sweat, and Bakugou would be able to fabricate the scandal of a lifetime in a way that didn’t negatively impact his reputation or job status.
Before he even fully noticed what he was doing, Todoroki grabbed Bakugou’s arm, not too strongly but still tightly enough to hoard all of his coworker’s attention and suspicion. His thoughts, his expressionless demeanour, and his whole body had gone into autopilot as he got more and more onboard with that sudden genius idea. It all culminated in him blurting out the most shocking line of his entire life.
“Bakugou, will you marry me?” said Todoroki without missing a beat, his face fully void of expressiveness. His mismatched eyes shone bright with gravity and sincerity, however, indicating that he had meant what he had just said and was not trying to pull a silly prank on his former classmate.
Bakugou’s response was the expected, absolutely flabbergasted “Huh?” that anyone in his shoes would utter without thinking straightaway.