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“What’s truth or dare?” Todoroki tilts his head. The group talking in the common room stop, and instantly whip their heads toward him, eyes wide.
“You don’t know truth or dare?” Kaminari asks, eyes wide.
“What??!” Mina exclaims, “That’s unbelievable! You’ve never played?”
Todoroki turns to Bakugou, sitting next to him on the sofa. “What is it?”
Bakugou sighs, mostly at his classmates’ reactions and immediate distraction by talking over each other about past dares they’ve been challenged to do. He rolls his eyes.
“Is it weird that I don’t know?” Todoroki asks, voice quieter this time. Bakugou immediately starts shaking his head.
“Nah, it’s just a stupid game. Usually, little-shit’s play it at sleepovers.”
“Oh,” Todoroki accepts, “I’ve never been to a sleepover before.”
“So, you wouldn’t have played it then.” Bakugou says simply.
“What are the rules?”
Mina, apparently a self-appointed Truth or Dare expert, stands up and comes bounding over. “You dare other people to do stupid and embarrassing stuff!”
“Why?”
“Because it’s fun.”
“Oh.” Todoroki pauses his questioning, trying to piece together the game with the limited amount of information he’s received.
“You know what,” Mina cuts through his thoughts. Bakugou sinks further into the sofa, already knowing what’s coming. Mina turns dramatically around, raising her voice to get the attention of the rest of the group. “Time for a game! Gather round everyone, Truth or dare!”
The group (Kiri, Kami, Mina, Sero, Shinsou, Jirou, Momo, Deku, Ura, Iida, Tsu, Hagekure, and Bakugou and Todoroki, of course) have gathered around in a loose circle. Mina dragged Todoroki to sit on the floor with her, Kaminari on his other side, to get the whole experience. Bakugou remains sitting on the sofa, Jirou and Momo taking Todoroki’s spot.
“First, we’ll choose someone to start.” Mina decides, “Sometimes you can spin a bottle, but we’ll just pick.”
Shouto blinks, an image of a spinning bottle playing in his head. How a bottle can choose someone, he doesn’t know; Bakugou snickers at him and Todoroki has the distinct feeling Bakugou can read his thoughts.
“Deku. I choose you!” Mina shouts, dramatically pointing across the group.
Midoriya’s eyes widen dramatically. “Wait, let someone else go first! Last time I went first, Kacchan made me eat a bug then declared the game over.”
Bakugou cackles, clearly remembering the event.
Todoroki is even more confused. “Why would you eat a bug? Does the game make you hungry?”
Midoriya splutters, “No, no. It was the game,” His hands wave around. “Well, Kacchan just wanted me to eat a bug.”
“You deserved it,” Bakugou says, “You cried over my drawing and ruined it.”
“You drew a monster! I was scared!”
“Boys, please,” Mina scolds, her face the picture of disappointment. “We’re here to play a very serious game of Truth or Dare. Now, Deku, will you go first; For Todoroki?”
Midoriya turns to Todoroki and puts on a brave face. “I will.”
Mina now excitedly looks around the group, “Now, we plan.”
“So, we’re going to make Midoriya act like Aizawa-Sensei?” Todoroki asks.
“Yeah, start off easy.” Kaminari says. “Then it ramps up!”
“Remember to keep it fun though,” Iida adds, “We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.”
“Agreed, it’s best enjoyed if everyone’s having fun.” Momo nods.
“Silence class.” Midoriya cuts in, voice low and gravelly. He’s wrapped his jumper over his head, a poor imitation of a sleeping bag, or long hair, Todoroki doesn’t quite know.
“Oh my god,” Mina giggles.
“The next person to speak will be expelled, forever.”
“Dude, that voice is so good.” Kirishima pumps his hand in the air. “You nailed it!”
“Let’s go, next person,”
“Kirishima!”
“Why me?”
“Truth or Dare…”
The game progresses, Kirishima ends up with a face full of blindfolded applied make-up, Iida is doing his best to talk in a pirate accent, Mina had to sing and dance to Jingle Bells (it’s not even Christmas??). Momo’s turn had her drinking tea, prepared by Kaminari (It was bad, even if she politely said it was ‘almost palatable’.) Todoroki still doesn’t quite understand, but he’s relaxing into it; everyone’s having fun.
“So, you ready to play, Todo?” Mina sits down, catching her breath after laughing at the latest dare. “It’s easy, right?”
“I’m not sure,” He trails off; the atmosphere is nice, but he doesn’t particularly want to do anything embarrassing.
“Hey assholes,” Bakugou cuts in, “You’ve only explained half the fucking game, he does get a choice.”
“Hmm?” Todoroki turns back to look at Bakugou. “What else do you do?”
“Oh, of course,” Uraraka smacks her forehead, “The truth part.”
“Right,” Mina says, “You can pick truth instead. I usually forget about that because dares are usually more fun to do, not to say truth isn’t fun either…” She cuts herself off and actually begins explaining, “You don’t have to do a dare but answer a question, with the honest truth!”
Todoroki likes being honest with his friends, so it’s an easy choice. “Okay,”
“Awesome, give us a moment to think of a question,” She starts tapping her chin, hand poised in practised thought.
“Why did you reject that girl who confessed to you last week?!” Kaminari calls out.
“That’s the question we’re going with?” Mina sighs but shakes her head. “I suppose asking about someone’s love life is a classic.”
“You want to know why I rejected her? That’s the game?” Todoroki asks.
“She was such a cutie! I thought for sure she would be your type!”
“I rejected her because I didn’t want to date her.” Todoroki says honestly… “I don’t get this game.”
“Yeah, that was a bad question on Denki’s part.” Sero grins, “We can try a different approach, if you want.”
“Sure,”
“Why did you reject her?”
“That’s the same question, idiot!” Bakugou scoffs, “Changing the emphasis won’t help him understand.”
“Let me help.” Momo injects, turning to her friend. “What would be the requirements for you to date someone?”
Todoroki takes a moment to think, he’s never considered this before. What kind of person would Todoroki like to date? If anyone?
“Someone you can easily talk to,” Midoriya prompts. Todoroki pauses his thoughts to listen. “Someone that you can confide in and trust.”
“I like talking to everyone here,” He answers. The group positively melt at that answer.
“Okay, imagine this,” Uraraka says, setting a scene. “You’ve just received some great news, like, you’ve captured a really strong villain and you’ve been chasing them for months. Who are you first telling?”
Who would Todoroki tell his news to?
“After the police and relevant Hero Agency.” Todoroki thinks, “Bakugou.”
“Bakugou?!” “Blasty?” “Seriously?” “Kacchan?!”
Todoroki nods his confirmation. “I like it when Bakugou praises me. He’s very honest and I feel satisfied when I manage to earn his approval. I like making him proud.”
The group pause, some choking in shock, most taking in Todoroki’s answer. Then, one by one, they slowly turn to look at Bakugou.
“That’s kinda adorable.” Uraraka is the first to speak up, which snaps Bakugou (and everyone else) out of their daze.
Bakugou’s ears are bright red, arms folded in a semblance of remaining nonchalant. He is evidently, embarrassed.
“But would you date Kacchan?” Kaminari asks with a smirk, ignoring the swear that gets thrown at him from Bakugou.
Todoroki pauses again. “What does dating entail?”
“Going out on dates, to a restaurant or something.” Kaminari shrugs. “Just an activity you do together.”
“I like to do activities with Bakugou.” Todoroki says; Bakugou sinking further into the couch. “When we study together in his room, he puts on music and it’s very relaxing. I like being around him, he’s a very safe person.”
“Holy shit,” Jirou covers her mouth, leaning into Momo’s side. “What is happening?”
“Outside of studying?” Sero asks, “Because studying isn’t the most romantic thing to do…”
“Last time we went shopping as a class, I ended up with Bakugou. That was a lovely day.” Todoroki smiles. “Bakugou is very thoughtful, I like following him around. We got a milkshake too, it was my first one.” Todoroki looks over at Bakugou quickly, “We should go again. That was really nice.”
“What about holding hands?” Hagekure asks, “A date should have a little bit of romance sprinkled in.”
“Wait, I could hold Bakugou’s hand?” Todoroki perks up, “That would be nice. You have very strong hands, Bakugou.” He turns back to Bakugou, excited. “We’d be connected and I’d always know you were there. That’s a lovely idea.”
“This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever witnessed,” Mina whispers, watching Todoroki get more and more excited at the idea of dating Bakugou.
“What about kissing!” Kaminari calls out with a grin. Bakugou, tuning out everyone but Todoroki at this point, watches as he swirls to answer. Bakugou feels overwhelmed with affection; he swallows it down.
“I could kiss Bakugou?” Todoroki mutters, amazed. “He’d be mine to kiss?”
Midoriya is on the verge of tears, happiness overflowing him completely.
“Bakugou is the prettiest person I know.” Todoroki mutters, nodding in confirmation, “Yes. I would like to kiss Bakugou.”
Bakugou splutters, blushing an even darker shade of red.
“Oh, wait.” Todoroki seems to come to a realisation. “I want to date Bakugou.”
The group watch with held breaths, no one quite knowing the next turn of events. Bakugou firmly keeps his gaze on the floor, as he works through the last few minutes.
Todoroki, turns to Bakugou, wasting no time. Everyone knows what he’s going to say (what he’s going to ask), but it’s still a shock to hear it so bluntly.
“Bakugou.”
Bakugou takes a second to ready himself; just because his crush apparently just had a whole-ass revelation in front of, basically, their entire class, doesn’t mean he, himself, is ready to be this open. But there is no way in hell he’ll ever be a coward, especially concerning Todoroki. He looks up.
“Yes, Icyhot?”
Everyone is completely silent, feigning privacy, save for the wide eyes dedicating every moment to memory.
“Go on a date with me.”
Todoroki doesn’t look nervous in the slightest, simply waiting patiently for an answer. Bakugou’s voice catches in his throat.
“He’s speechless,” Kaminari whispers to Sero, “I never thought I’d see the day.” Sero elbows him to stay quiet.
Bakugou stares into Todoroki’s eyes, finding nothing but excitement and hope. His head remains ever-so-slightly tilted from when he asked his question; hair so perfect and silky, evenly parted. His eyes blink slowly, much like a cat sharing affection. Todoroki’s breath catches as he watches Bakugou’s features soften.
“Sure halfie,”
Todoroki’s eyes positively shine, and the class has never seen him smile as wide. “Okay,”
And with that Todoroki turns back to the circle, looking at the around the group. “I like this game,” He decides and turns to Mina, “Thank you for teaching me. Who’s turn is next?”