Work Text:
The world was a vast, maddening, mysterious place. The people of the world thought things can’t get weirder after a glowing baby was born, and things just gotten complicated. Surely, superpowers were the weirdest thing, right? Like even if aliens drop down from the sky, it still wouldn’t be weirder than suddenly having superpowers.
Nobody thought there would be monsters coming up from beneath the ocean, though.
They were horrifying, and while heroes and people of the military could subdue them, a lot of them died, so it was clear, that these monsters could not be stopped with only Quirks.
So they built giant robots to fight them.
Because that was the next logical step, obviously.
A lot of pro heroes stepped over to pilot these Jaegers, obviously, pairing up with each other. Which caused some weird matchups, and huge surprises, like All Might mostly acting as a trainer and rescuer, and not outright fighting.
“My Quirk is too overwhelming” All Might explained in an interview, his smile not wavering. “I would not dream about crushing someone’s mind with all my power - so I focus on what I can do, as we all should, in these trying times. Do not feel bad, if you can’t find a partner, or you can’t pilot a Jaeger! The ones piloting those Jaegers are not the only heroes in our lives. Never forget that.”
There were huge fights online whether Endeavor, who actually did use to pilot Jaegers, usually with his wives, should have been the Number One hero, seeing as he did actually battle the kaiju. Then others pointed out, that as his marriages fell apart, so did his partnerships, and while he tried to look for new partners, All Might never stopped working on what he chose to work at.
Of course, Shouto Todoroki was completely sure, that his father wanted him to be his new partner.
Shouto Todoroki had no intentions of partnering up with his father.
-
Problem was, there wasn’t much he could do, unless he outright bailed, and ran off, doing something else with his life. His father’s oppressing aura followed him wherever he went, and so far, he had been unsuccessful in trying to find himself a suitable partner.
Well… there was one place he did not look, yet.
“I want to go to the Yuuei Shatterdome.”
His voice was way more calm, than he actually felt, when he saw his father’s fiery gaze turned on him.
“You think you could finally find what you are looking for under All Might’s wings? I think not.”
“Are you afraid you’ll be proven wrong?”
His father turned to face him completely, and took a few steps closer. Shouto did not move, even though he felt his right hand cool down reflexively, as if as a response to his father’s flames being close to him.
“How about this, Shouto? You get to go there. But if you fail there, if you are still not able to find yourself someone drift compatible with you… then you will finally fulfill what I want. You will come with me, and pilot the Jaeger on my side, giving the Jaeger your full power. That’s my condition of you going there. Do we have a deal, or not?”
It was a gamble, Shouto knew this completely well.
He could have taken the safe route. He could have just turned his back to the whole Jaeger program, and find a work for himself elsewhere. Find himself elsewhere.
But there was this part of him, this bitter, utterly spiteful part of him, which wanted to look into his father’s eyes, smirk, and say I win.
So there was only one answer.
“We have a deal.”
-
Yuuei Shatterdome was the best, most loved out of all of them. And also the most secretive - while it was no secret who were there, what heroes, and the Jaegers, their names, but nobody actually knew who piloted which Jaeger.
Shouto supposed it made some sort of sense, shrouding them in secrecy. Other Shatterdomes liked to promote the heroes, to get more support.
Yuuei Shatterdome didn’t need that. It had All Might, and numerous other top heroes working there.
“We don’t know how intelligent these beasts are” Aizawa told to him as he led him deep within the Shatterdome. “So we try to sometimes mix up who pilots which Jaeger. The pairs stay the same, unless something happens, obviously. We want to make sure those beasts can’t pair the abilities and fighting styles to specific Jaegers.”
-
Before the first time he could join a compatibility test, there was a hurried knock on his cabin door, and when he opened it, there was someone around his age, with bright, wide green eyes, flailing excitedly.
“Shouto Todoroki, right? You are one of our newbies right?”
“Yeah… yeah it’s me. And you are…?”
“Oh sorry, I’m Izuku Midoriya” Midoriya was clutching a folder to his chest, as he extended his left hand for Shouto to shake. “I was asked to help you find the testing grounds.”
Shouto nodded, stepping out from his cabin, following Midoriya, who walked around excitedly, babbling more and more.
“Is this your first test? Oh, surely not, right? I mean you are Endeavor’s son aren’t you? Sorry, but everyone had been talking about it, so…”
“No, it’s… okay. Yes, he is my father, and it’s not my first time either.”
“Oh! Well, we have a lot of people who are not paired up yet. I’m sure we’ll find someone for you!”
“Are you one of them?”
“Me? Oh…” Suddenly Midoriya looked very embarrassed. “No I’m… not a pilot. I’m just a helper. I do what I can. Sometimes I help out with planning, or strategy, but most of the time, I’m really just someone who runs around and helps people.”
“....and being goddamned loud about it, aren’t you, shithead Deku?”
There was suddenly a third, growling voice entering the conversation, and at the next corner, there was another person, with wild blond hair, and a face that looked like it was frozen in a state of scowling for eternity.
On the other hand, Midoriya’s face brightened up upon seeing him.
“Oh hi, Kacchan! Are you going to participate in the candidate trials?”
“What the actual fuck for?”
That was all he said, before turning away and sulking off, not even sparing Shouto a glance.
“..who was that?”
“Katsuki Bakugo. One of the non-paired pilots I mentioned” Midoriya looked at him apologetically. “Don’t take it personally.”
“He looks like someone who is eating carpet for every morning just so he could be in a foul mood.”
“Honestly, that isn’t far from the truth. He can be quite unpleasant, I can tell you that” Midoriya shook his head. “Don’t even pay attention to him. That’s usually the most rewarding option.”
-
The first trials were a mess, and Shouto still had no partner.
-
Time passed, with trials few and far between, so Shouto just tried to figure out the others, trying to get to know them. He met a lot of other young pilots, both paired and non-paired, and listened to their explanations. Watched them go out to battle. Trained hard.
The more people he got to know, the more confused he became about two of them.
Midoriya and Bakugo.
True to Midoriya’s word, Bakugo was always in a bad mood, sulking his way through the Shutterdome, and biting back whenever other pilots teased him, while others indeed ignored him.
Not Midoriya, though.
He was indeed someone who ran around the Shutterdome a lot, and planned a lot, and rambled a lot, but also followed around Bakugo a lot. And Bakugo bared his teeth, snarled almost like a cornered animal, and Midoriya just rolled his eyes, and kept following him.
-
“Why do you keep going after him, if he’s that bad?”
It was right after one more failed candidate trial, where Shouto didn’t find anyone, and Bakugo didn’t attend, that he asked Midoriya this.
“Well, it’s just… Kacchan, you know?”
“Yeah, you call him this weird nickname. Do you two have a history?”
“I had known him ever since I was little” Midoriya shrugged a little. “It’d be weird to not have him around, I guess. Besides, you hadn’t seen him in action. He is seriously amazing, as bad as he can be. And he can get really bad, trust me, I know that. Probably better than everyone.”
For a moment, Shouto wondered whether Midoriya wanted to be Bakugo’s partner in a Jaeger or not, if they had known each other that well, but seeing Midoriya’s pensieve look, he decided against asking.
-
“The fuck are you aiming for, either way?”
He was training one day, where he heard the irritated voice. He turned around, and there was Bakugo, sitting on a railing, and surprise, scowling.
“Right now I was aiming for a training dummy.”
“Oh, very fucking funny. In general, I mean. Why are you here?”
“I’m here to participate in the Jaeger program.”
“Of fucking course you are. But why here? You could get things done with your old man’s place, couldn’t you?”
Shouto did not answer, just turned away, looking at the training dummies, which looked worse for the wear thanks to Shouto’s ice.
“...better question why are you here?” He asked, looking back up at Bakugo, who looked taken aback. “You are not participating in the trials. Why are you calling yourself a pilot, then?”
If looks could have killed, Shouto Todoroki would have been dead already, perishing under Katsuki Bakugo’s glare.
-
“Can you tell me what’s the deal with Bakugo and Midoriya?”
He asked Yaoyorozu this one day. Yaoyorozu was one of the pilots, and right now she was alone, without Jirou on her side. Yaoyorozu frowned, looking around.
“Why you ask?”
“Just curious. Is it a secret?”
“No it’s… not really” She sighed, rubbing her temple. “It’s just… messy thing. Nobody likes to talk about it much.”
“I figured as much. There must be a reason why Bakugo is allowed to basically just be around, not even competing in the trials.”
“Yeah. People are giving him time for now, at least.”
“...time for what?”
Yaoyorozu looked at him, her eyes suddenly turning serious.
“Bakugo and Midoriya used to be co-pilots.”
Shouto figured he should have been more surprised than he was. But then he thought about how Midoriya followed him around, how sometimes their movements still seemed to be synchronized, stepping together subconsciously, turning their heads the same time.
He had seen people acting like this before. Lots and lots of them.
Drift compatibility did not only exist in the drift, after all.
“...what happened?”
“Not many people know, and I don’t know either. All I know is that a mission went wrong, and Midoriya’s hand… well, his right hand got so messed up that he can’t pilot anymore.”
-
“I really think you should give the trials a chance, Kacchan.”
Bakugo grunted, putting his forehead to Midoriya’s back, without another word.
“...I’m serious. I think… I think that Todo--”
“Do not fucking finish it, got it, Deku?” Bakugo growled, as he shifted, putting his arms around Midoriya’s waist, pulling him closer to himself. “I don’t fucking need anyone in my head. It was bad enough to have you yappering about in there, I don’t need some half-and-half bastard to get in there too. Or anyone else.”
“...you can’t keep being a pilot if you won’t have a partner, Kacchan.”
“I just have to convince All Might that I’m good enough to pilot a Jaeger alone.”
“That is literally the worst idea ever, Kacchan.”
“Shut the fuck up, Deku.”
-
“Todoroki, you look very much on edge. Is everything okay?”
No, nothing was okay, nothing whatsoever. His father kept calling, the deadline that he had set was coming up, and Todoroki still didn’t have a partner.
“I just…”
“Hey…” Midoriya looked uncharacteristically serious as he put his left hand hand on his arm. “I’m sure you’ll find a partner for yourself.”
Yeah. Maybe he’ll have his father.
“Actually, I think you and Kacchan could work together well.”
“...what?”
Midoriya nodded, still seriously.
“You two are both very strong, and there are more similarities than either of you would admit. I think you two would make a great team.”
“Wouldn’t it bother you, me being with your former partner?”
Midoriya’s hand shook, and he pulled it back slowly.
“...it’s not like I can ever pilot with him again. If I can’t, he should be able to go out to fight again.”
“Do you really think me and him could be drift compatible?”
There was a michevious glint in Midoriya’s eyes, and then he moved suddenly.
He threw the folder in his hand up in the air, and took a swing at Shouto with his left hand. Shouto didn’t even think, just leaned back, and Midoriya didn’t stop, aimed a kick towards him, which Shouto blocked, catching his leg with his hands. Without thinking more about his next movements, he pushed Midoriya back, and his own body moved further trying to hit Midoriya himself, which he blocked with his left hand - and then the folder fell back down, and Shouto caught it automatically.
The two of them stood there, and Midoriya smiled.
“Yeah, I think there would be no problem.”
-
That was the first time Shouto felt anything like that. He fought with many, many people on numerous trials, but he never felt this, the way his body moved on it’s own, the way he could anticipate and respond to Midoriya’s movements, the way they basically had a conversation without talking.
Figures.
He found someone drift compatible with him, and it’s someone who can never pilot a Jaeger, ever again.
-
But then again, if he was drift compatible with someone, and that someone was drift compatible with another person, did that mean that Shouto was drift compatible with this third person as well?
-
“Fucking idiot” Bakugo hissed. “There’s no way to say that it’d work. That just because you had a short tug-o-war, it does not mean I’d be drift compatible with him. Like hell I would!”
“Kacchan, would you stop being a stubborn idiot for like… a few minutes, and hear me out?”
“What the fu--”
Midoriya grabbed the hem of Bakugo’s shirt with his left hand, yanking his face down to his own face level.
“Don’t be an idiot, closing yourself away, from what you love to do just because something happened. Life happens. Just because my hand will not heal, you are not injured. Not the way I am. You have to go and kill some monsters, got it? And you can’t do it alone, Kacchan, no one can. And you have a chance to do so with Todoroki.”
“You… goddamned fucking nerd.”
Bakugo almost breathed his words, as he leaned forward, touching their foreheads together.
“So… will yo--”
Midoriya didn’t finish it, because Bakugo’s lips cut him off from doing so.
Not like this was an unusual occurence between them.
-
“Hey! IcyHot!”
Right. Bakugo had such charming nicknames.
He was glaring daggers at Todoroki as usual, as he walked up to him.
“Fifteen minutes. Training ground. Be there, or fuck everything that goddamned nerd says.”
“...what?”
“I will not make a fool of myself asking for a candidate trial before seeing it myself. So be. Fucking. There.”
-
So he went there.
-
His fight with Midoriya was nothing like a fight, not really. With Bakugo, though… it was. It most definitely was.
The training grounds were fortified, so they were free to use their Quirks, and Bakugo was quick, and Shouto didn’t even have any time to think, but to block and fight back, responding to what Bakugo did, and launching attacks on his own.
It was a good thing that his body moved on it’s own, just like it did with Midoriya, then.
By the end, the two of them were lying on the ground next to each other, both of them trying to catch their breaths.
“I’m not fucking happy about the idea of letting you in my head.”
Now that was one way to start a conversation, but not like Todoroki was surprised.
This was Bakugo, after all, lips pursed, glaring up at the ceiling, even when Todoroki glanced at him.
“...it has something to do with Midoriya, right? What happened with you two.”
“It’s not--- not everything is…” Bakugo let out an annoyed huff. “Okay, fine, whatever. I’m gonna tell you, because why the fuck not. If this shit works out, you’d be in my head either way. We went out, the thing was stronger than expected, went straight to the cockpit, the bastard. I don’t remember much, I fucked up, I passed out. Deku had to pilot the Jaeger back alone. There. That’s the big fucking story. I was too weak, and now I got to stay alone. Do you really wanna go to fight with me like that? Because that’s what fucking happened last time.”
Todoroki knew what was going on.
Piloting a Jaeger took a horrible toll on a person’s body, that’s why they shared the weight between two co-pilots. You take one of them out, the other will have to do it alone.
The weight of the Jaeger probably crushed Midoriya so much that left him unable to pilot a Jaeger anymore.
“I don’t think that always happens, though. I had heard about things like that happening. One pilot outright dying and the other is still able to pilot.”
Bakugo tensed up upon hearing the possibility of a pilot dying, but he still replied.
“I don’t fucking know. The Jaeger we went out with was a new shit. Cutting-edge, best at utilizing Quirks at a Jaeger-level. More complicated, more heavy than most Jaegers. I guess that’s why it’s harder for one person to pilot them. Whatever. I don’t fucking care. I told you this, because if it works you, you gotta deal with this shit in my head, do you fucking wanna do that?”
Shouto sat up, and just twisted around, putting his hands on both sides of Bakugo’s face, so he could look into his angry red eyes from up above.
“We will never know if we won’t try, will we?”
A grin crept up on Bakugo’s face - there was nothing gentle about Bakugo, Shouto had known this for a while, and there was nothing gentle about this grin either, but it sent a glee into Bakugo’s eyes, and that glint was enough to make Shouto’s heart skip a beat.
“See, sir? I told you it’d be alright!”
It was Midoriya’s voice that rang through the center, and he looked way too proud of himself.
By his side, there was All Might.
-
Endeavor was obviously not happy about the news, and that was one of the best news Shouto had heard in his life.
But then even the feelings he felt over that faded when they got sent out the first time.
Bakugo and him were being prepped, and there was Midoriya, excitedly swiping away on a tablet in his hands.
“Alright, so this Kaiju is a Mark III, gotta be a bit challenging, but a good first run for you two! And you can go out with the Jaeger Silver Beta, who is really great, do you remember piloting it, Kacchan? She is a dream to work with, and while she’s small, she can really pack a punch and has good firepower behind her so it gotta be alright. And then--”
There was really no telling how much longer would Midoriya keep on rambling, but Bakugo and Shouto exchanged a look, and Bakugo moved first, yanking Midoriya closer, pressing a kiss to his lips, which made him yelp a little. Then Bakugo just moved, twirling a surprised Midoriya around, straight into Shouto’s arms, and he just leaned down, kissing Midoriya as well, and he felt pressure leave Midoriya’s body.
After the kiss ended, Midoriya was looking up at him with wide eyes, but it was Bakugo who broke the silence, because of course it was.
“Shut the fuck up, Deku. We got this.”
-
“Do you think he’s gonna be okay?”
They were in the cockpit, but not yet connected obviously, when Shouto asked this, and Bakugo grunted.
“That fucking nerd had been keeping up a happy-go-lucky front all this fucking time. He really hates that he can’t pilot anymore, but not like there’s much to do about that. But he also felt fucking guilty because he felt like he was keeping me back.”
“So, what you’re saying is, that you admit that he was right, and this might be for the best?”
Bakugo grunted again, rolling his eyes, and Shouto couldn’t help himself, and just stepped forward, and pulled Bakugo in for a kiss as well.
He didn’t get blown up. Obviously. But when the kiss ended, Bakugo did scowl at him, obviously.
“What the fuck was that for?”
“I didn’t want you to start complaining in the drift about being left out.”
“Go and fuck yourself.”
-
Obviously, in the end, Midoriya turned out to be completely correct, and the two of them managed to work together spectacularly.
And as much as Bakugo grumbled about it, by the end of the day, both of them were sitting on Midoriya’s bed, leaning on both of his sides.
-
Needless to say, when Shouto Todoroki came to the Yuuei Shutterdome, he could barely hope for finding one person to be compatible with.
Turned out, he had two.