Chapter Text
Phase One: It’s A Date
Two Days Before
“We have proof that we can do it, just look at our latest work: Bakugo and Midoriya” – Kaminari
“You and Inasa would be such a cute couple!” – Mina
“I thought Yao Momo would be better though” – Sero
Sigh. “Guys…” – Kirishima
Their new victim rubbed his temples and wondered idly if coffee could help cure headaches. 'I seriously doubt it...' Sighing, he held up a hand to stop the madness, which thankfully worked, and used the silence to process (well, it wasn't really silent since they were in a cafe).
“Now…” Todoroki started, after a moment of processing. “Let me get this straight, you think that because you helped Bakugo date Izuku that you can help me?”
“Pretty much!” Mina chirped, wilting a bit under the unimpressed eyebrow raise from the other.
“They would have eventually ended up dating” Todoroki stated, crossing his arms and leaning back. “Bakugo’s so into Midoriya that I’m surprised that he didn’t track down someone with a quirk to tattoo ‘Bakugo’s Property so back off!’ onto Midoriya’s face”
“Oh my God, write that down, write that down!” Mina harshly whispered to Kaminari, the blonde nodding along and writing it down in a notepad. “That has got to happen!”
“Wait, how did you know that Bakugo was into Midoriya?” Kirishima asked, frowning at the idea that he wasn’t paying as much attention to his best friend as he thought. How did Todoroki notice that and he didn’t?
“Bakugo once stared openly at Midoriya’s ass for a good five minutes when we were all training together last year” Todoroki replied, taking a sip of his latte. “He finally knocked out of it when Midoriya turned around. He had to wipe off the drool and pretend he was sweating”
“Dude, I didn’t know Bakugo was that thirsty” Mina harshly whispered to Sero, who nodded in agreement. Who would have thought the explosive blonde had been drooling over Midoriya’s ass? Then again, that green broccoli of a man looked mighty fine in his hero’s suit.
“Please tell me you videotaped it!” Mina pleaded, whining when Todoroki just smiled mysteriously. God dang it, he was acting so sexy but so frustrating. “Please share it with me! I promise to only upload it on Instagram!”
“Back to the matter at hand” Todoroki ignored the pink haired heroine’s whines in the background. “What makes you think you can help me?”
The whole Bakusquad blinked at him before looking at each other for a moment.
“Do you really not know dude?” – Kaminari
“Todoroki, you just showed that you’re not oblivious so why are you starting now?” – Sero
“He has to know right?” – Mina
“I don’t know guys, he’s looking pretty confused right now” – Kirishima
“What do I not know?” Todoroki frowned, looking pretty frustrated and regretful about coming to meet the four of them on his day off. He could have been doing something better with his time.
“Dude, you are the coldest guy I have ever known. Once you go pass the looks, you got no game” Kaminari said bluntly, shrugging when the other gaped at him. Maybe Kirishima was right and Todoroki really didn’t know…
“So?”
The whole Bakusquad blinked and looked at each other again.
“So what?” Sero asked.
“I’m fine when it comes to dating someone. I don’t need help and I’m not cold, I’m just blunt”
The whole Bakusquad blinked for a third time and looked at each other for a moment before laughing. Todoroki was, understandably, not impressed.
“Dude, I am up to speed with everyone’s dating lives and I know that you have been single for ages! You sir, need our help, especially with your blunt personality” Mina laughed again. “Trust me, Inasa will not appreciate it”
“Nor Yao Momo” the pink heroine added when she saw Sero about to pipe up.
“So what? I have to change? How is that a real relationship?” Todoroki frowned harder, looking really upset at the fact that they were laughing at him. He could definitely get someone. He just…hadn’t tried, that’s all.
“Whoa, whoa...” Kirishima put his hands up as if to calm him down, which, surprisingly, helped. Todoroki looked slightly calmer now and not ready to start erupting flames and burning down the poor café. “No one said you had to change your personality…we just wanna help whoever you choose to experience it to the fullest instead of, you know, misunderstanding and leaving you cause sometimes that happens to other people”
“Yeah, like it’s some kind of weird romance story or fanfiction that they are in” Sero noted, scratching his chin in thought.
“I know right!” Mina piped up. “It’s sweet when it works out though”
“Makes you wonder if we might be characters in a Wattpad story…” Kaminari grinned.
“Wattpad?” – Sero
“I cannot believe you said that…” Mina deadpanned.
“What’s wrong with Wattpad?” – Kaminari
“You cannot be serious right now” Mina looked at the blonde in disbelief. “Tell me you are being your usual self Kaminari”
“I’m being totally serious right now” Kaminari shrugged, wondering what Mina’s deal was. He looked to Sero and Kirishima for help but both of them just looked confused like he did. Then again, Sero didn’t look like he even knew what ‘Wattpad’ was.
“It’s bad enough you said ‘Wattpad’ but to say that we would be characters in one of those stories…” Mina grinded out, her palms steaming slightly which made Sero lean away to avoid any acid spilling on him just in case. “You have crossed a line”
“I honestly don’t…” Kaminari put his hands up as if to calm her down, which didn’t work like it did for Kirishima. He backed away like Sero did just in case she decided to leak any acid.
“If I say yes, will you please stop?” Todoroki interrupted, rubbing his temple as if to heal his headache…which he did have so there was no point in trying to stave it off. Quickly activating his quirk only in his fingers, he sighed at the nice cool feeling. He knew it was against the rules to use his quirk unless it was an emergency but sometimes you had to make an exception.
“Sure” Mina piped up happily as if she wasn’t about to get violent a few seconds ago. “So, first things first, Inasa or Yao Momo?”
“Inasa”
Mina cheered silently in the background while Sero slumped dejectedly and slipped the pink heroine a dollar note. Kirishima just shook his head in exasperation.
“Okay, so do you have his phone number or some way to contact him?” Kaminari asked, continuing for Mina since she was busy cheering for being right again.
“Yes, I have his phone number. Why?” Todoroki took out his phone and quickly navigated through it until Inasa’s phone number popped up. He smiled as he remembered fondly how the other hero had given it to him the day they were done with the whole training thing. It was definitely an experience the first time Inasa called which almost rivaled the day he decided call Inasa instead.
“Alright, you are already looking pretty smitten…good, good” Mina commented, breaking Todoroki out of his reminiscing. “We might need that just in case”
“Wait, wha?”
“Just in case” Mina quickly said. “Obviously if all goes well, you won’t need it but it never hurts to have a backup plan”
“…O..kay” Todoroki said uncertainly, wondering why he hadn’t left yet.
“Okay, so since you have his number, I want you to call him and ask him out on a date on a day that both of you are free”
“Wait, what? That fast?” Todoroki blushed, opening and closing his mouth over and over again. “Wait, I could have done that myself!”
“True, but you didn’t” Sero noted, grinning cheekily at the other’s glare in his direction.
“Fine and?” Todoroki huffed, trying to calm down so he could stop blushing.
“Call him and arrange the date first and then we can move on to step two” Mina clasped her hands together, nodding towards his phone so he could dial. Todoroki stared at her for a moment before looking down at his phone as if it was something else other than a phone. Kirishima wondered if he would need to jump in and suggest texting the other hero when he kept on staring for a full minute long but thankfully Todoroki dialed and held the phone to his ear.
Everyone at the table knew when Inasa picked up because the hero immediately started talking by giving a loud and warm greeting.
“Todoroki, I am so glad that you decided to call me today! I was thinking about you…”
“Y-You were?” Todoroki blushed, smiling a little at the thought that Inasa was thinking about him. “Why?”
“So, I was fighting this villain and…”
Todoroki nodded every now and then as Inasa continued his story, giving a few comments at certain parts but pretty much staying quiet. The Bakusquad in the meantime were observing the other and was amazed at the difference in their former classmate. Todoroki was smiling and even chuckling at what Inasa was saying sometimes and generally looking enraptured in the conversation. Mina was amazed she hadn’t died from the shock that the other hero could blush. Honestly she thought he was like a marble. A beautiful marble sure but a marble none the less. Kaminari and Sero were making notes and writing stuff for Todoroki to say during the phone call when he could manage to jump in and ask Inasa out on a date. Kirishima was monitoring them and was taking out the raunchy ones they were coming up with. Mina was already thinking of ideas of how to get Inasa’s attention in the right way when Todoroki was saying “goodbye” to Inasa.
“Wait, don’t say goodbye! The date! Remember?” Mina put a hand out as if to stop him, the rest of the Bakusquad looking as shocked as she did.
“Oh um…wait, Inasa, I need to ask you something”
Todoroki heard Inasa give a grunt of acknowledgement. He swallowed as he realized what he was going to ask and looked at the others for help, eyes shifting over to Kaminari and Sero pointing to a piece of paper with some writing on it.
“’What Men Want’ is showing [a day that I’m free], oh uh…I mean ‘What Men Want’ is showing on Wednesday and I was wondering if you would like to see it with me” Todoroki read, blushing at the mistake he made and hoping that Inasa didn’t notice.
“I would love to go with you! Oh hey Camie…” Todoroki heard the rest of Inasa’s words a bit quieter as the other pulled the phone away from his mouth to speak to his teammate. “Yeah, Todoroki just invited me to see a movie with him Wednesday…oh you wanna come? I’ll ask”
Todoroki sent a slightly panicked look towards the Bakusquad but they just looked confused, wondering what was making Todoroki so panicked. “He’s…” He started but he was interrupted by Inasa coming back.
“Todoroki, can Camie come with us to see the movie Wednesday?”
Todoroki mouthed “Help” and “Camie” to the others but Inasa started talking again before he could get help on what to say.
“Todoroki?”
“It’s fine, she can come with us” Todoroki winced at the Bakusquad groaning in front of him and the fact that he had failed at getting a date (two’s a company and three’s a crowd) instead of his friend’s loud exclamation of happiness, glancing over to the notepad that Kaminari was writing in. Maybe they had written something to salvage the whole thing. Reading the first thing that the blonde hero had written, he missed Inasa saying that he was letting Camie speak to him. Although confused at the wording, Todoroki decided to go for it and said:
“I was hoping that we could have a ‘butter beat off’ when we’re there”
Silence.
Todoroki furrowed his eyebrows at the lack of response and looked towards the Bakusquad, his eyebrows raising close enough to merge his hair as he noticed the varying looks on their faces. Kirishima looked horrified and Mina also looked horrified but also amused. Kaminari was grinning and Sero looked like he was trying to hold back from laughing out loud and clutching his stomach.
Mina broke first. “I thought you vetoed those Kiri!”
“I did! They must have wrote that just a second ago when I looked away”
“Oh my god, I can’t believe he did it” Kaminari was laughing now.
“That was epic! I gotta tweet this!” Sero picked up his phone and Todoroki had the strong urge to burn something, precisely Sero’s phone. He just needed to know what he had said wrong. Before he could ask though, Todoroki’s eyes widened as he heard Camie’s voice in his ear.
“Todoroki, you sly dog you!”
“Camie, where’s Inasa?” Todoroki asked, wondering why Inasa gave Camie the phone. Did he just say something embarrassing and it wasn’t even to the right person? Todoroki felt that headache from before coming back. What had he even said?
“He gave me his phone cause I wanted to talk to you and man, I feel like I just walked in on something I wasn’t supposed to”
Todoroki noticed she didn’t seem ashamed or embarrassed but amused. He didn’t like it.
“Like what? We weren’t…” Todoroki felt like throwing his hands up at the fact that everyone was being weird. He hated feeling so out of the loop, especially when it concerned him. “Forget it; can you give Inasa back his phone? I need to talk to him about Wednesday?”
“Don’t worry, I changed my mind about coming Wednesday so you can have your ‘alone time’”
Todoroki could see Camie lifting her eyebrows up and down when she said ‘alone time’ in his mind. He also did not like that.
“Also, that wouldn’t have worked on him cause Inasa doesn’t watch…”
Todoroki heard Inasa coming closer to his teammate and being handed the phone, trying not to smile as Inasa’s voice washed over him like it usually did.
“Inasa, I…”
“Sorry to cut this short Todoroki but we gotta situation nearby. I’ll talk to you again tonight. Sorry again! Bye!”
Todoroki sighed and said goodbye back, putting the phone back in his pocket when the other hung up. Turning towards Kaminari and Sero, who were still laughing, he took a deep breath to handle what was coming next before asking them outright what was so funny.
Taking the phone that was shoved towards him in response, Todoroki pressed play on the YouTube video and watched silently. The Bakusquad were quickly greeted to another side of Todoroki they had never seen before: the extremely pale one that looked like he wanted to throw himself off the nearest cliff or bridge. Taking the phone from slack fingers before the hero could come back to himself and possibly smash the phone into the nearest wall, Kaminari slipped his phone back into his pocket and tried to stifle his chuckles. It helped that Todoroki just stared in shock at the same spot for one whole minute. Kaminari felt sorry for the guy.
“It’s not that bad, I mean…you said it to Camie and not Inasa” Kirishima tried to reassure the other hero, sweatdropping as he didn’t get any response. Not even a blink.
“Todoroki?”
Mina waved a hand over the other’s face, yelping as she was suddenly grabbed.
“…I’m fine” Todoroki said after a few seconds of holding her hand.
The Bakusquad seriously doubted that but didn’t say, not wanting to upset him further.
“Now, onto phase two: the actual date” Mina tried to say cheerfully but the air was still awkward so it fell a bit flat. But if there was one thing about Mina, it was that she was insistent. “I’m going to put you in some nice clothes that are decent for society and will make Inasa look at you in a different light”
“Okay”
“Kirishima will keep those two from causing another incident” Mina sent a glare to the two responsible who finally looked ashamed of themselves.
“Okay”
“And you will get the tickets for the movie Wednesday”
“Okay”
“You okay, Todoroki?” Mina asked, more than a bit worried about the one word responses.
“I’m…okay, just tired” Todoroki finally said after a few moments, still looking like he was still in shock. “I’m just gonna go home and take a nap. I feel tired”
“Yeah, you do that but remember the plan, okay? And remember it was said to Camie and not Inasa so you’re good” Mina reminded him, feeling happy when he seemed to acknowledge that and looked less like a strong breeze was gonna blow him away.
“Bye Todoroki” the Bakusquad said as the other hero got up to leave, Kaminari and Sero sounding awkward. Todoroki didn’t really notice.
“Bye guys”
---
Nine Hours Later
“Todoroki, good evening! Sorry to bother you so late but I just got off of duty so this was the only time I could call”
“Hey Inasa and don’t worry. You aren’t bothering me at all”
“Okay, good I’m glad.” Todoroki could imagine Inasa smiling widely when he said that. He allowed himself to smile at the thought. “I remember you were gonna tell me something but I couldn’t stay around to hear it. I have the time now so I’m ready to listen!”
Todoroki bit his lip and wondered if he should tell him what he said. It was embarrassing but it would make life easier and he wouldn’t have to seek matchmaking help from the Bakusquad again. Telling people straight up what he thought without thinking of the other’s feelings was his forte, even after all these years and being more conscious of it.
“Todoroki?”
“Did…Did Camie tell you anything after you hung up?”
“No, should she have?”
Todoroki debated again whether or not to tell him, weighing the pros and cons.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”
“You seem…quieter. Did something happen? Did Camie say something to upset you?”
“No, no…she didn’t say anything to upset me” Todoroki quickly reassured the other, knowing that Inasa would march to Camie’s house in the middle of the night and defend him. Inasa was always like that. He would never let his friends be hurt by others. That was one of the reasons why…
“Inasa?”
“Yeah?”
“…Tell me about your day. What happened after you hung up?”
“Well we…wait, what about what you were gonna tell me?”
“Oh, it’s nothing”
“You sure?”
“Yeah…” Todoroki repressed a sigh. “It’s nothing”
TBC