Icy? Or hot? ~TodoBaku~

Chapter 5: back to black

Shoto Todoroki

Walking down the street, I began to recap all the events of my so-far crazy day. My sensei wants me to look after his grieving nephew, my friend is acting weird and I got 100% on a test-that-wasn't-really-a-test! What a day, huh?

Still, it wasn't over yet. It was time for a little fun now. It'll be restricted, of course. My hyperactive mind makes teasing people very scary, so I have to tone it down, but despite Bakugo's temper, he didn't strike me as a murderer, so I felt quietly confident that I could push the boundaries of my rudeness today with him. Grinning like a Cheshire Cat, I opened the door.

ding!

And there he was. Slouched over the counter, looking about as unprofessional as you might expect. Upon hearing the bell on the door, he looked up with a slight flash of "oh shit I'm gonna get fired" before his eyes settled on mine and he groaned, returning to his previous position. I smiled to myself, knowing I'd already done enough to put him on edge. Approaching the counter, I stood silent for a moment, before reaching into my bag for a textbook. Once I'd found one suitably big, I lined it up with the counter, and slammed it down as hard as I could next to the grumpy boy's head.

"WHAT THE - HEY, YOU FUCKER, WHAT WAS THAT FO-"

"Just a black coffee for me, thanks" I said with an innocent smile, pretending as if he'd asked for an order.

A vein bulged on the boy's forehead, clearly irate that I had just ignored his outburst, and I did my very best not to burst out laughing. He was about to say something more before he thought better of it, instead turning around to make me the black coffee I'd asked for.

Slightly put off by my failure to rile him further, I decided to make a little small talk. "So....busy day?" I asked politely. I saw Bakugo's eyebrows furrow, before his face relaxed once again, and he said "not really..." in a relatively neutral tone.

By this point I was baffled. I was expecting "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE YOU HALF-N'-HALF PRICK", or "WHY CAN'T YOU PICK BETWEEN SWEET OR GODDAMN BITTER, YOU CRAZY BASTARD", but instead I'd been met by somebody...calm? As he approached me with the finished coffee, I decided to go all out, not allowing myself time to acknowledge the consequences.

"Oh, before I forget, can I also get a chocolate muffin? No! TWO chocolate muffins!"

I immediately spotted the urge on his face to just scream at me, but to be fair to the guy, he's holding it down well. Maybe he just chooses to be angry?

Regardless, he handed me the muffins, and I gave him a "thank youuuuuuu~" in a sing-song voice, before paying him and making my way towards the exit. However, on my way out, I heard him speak.

"Hey, half-n'-half."

"Yes, Bakugo?" I said, turning back around to look at him, with a frown on my face.

"Why can't you pick between sweet and goddamn bitter, you crazy bastard? First it was black coffee, then an iced caramel frappé, then black coffee again. You got bipolar tastebuds or some shit?" he said, before chuckling at his own joke.

I looked at him, completely deadpan, before saying "no, I just want to balance out the consequences", and walking out without another word. It was hard to keep a straight face walking out, hearing Bakugo's confused "HAH?!", then his (surprisingly calm) voice calling after me, clearly wanting to hear more.

However, I'd had enough. It was time to go back to my apartment and relax. After arriving back home, I quickly finished off one of the *exquisite* muffins, placing the other in the fridge for tomorrow, before deciding to shower quickly. Making sure to lay the bath mat out today, having mentally scolded myself for risking dying and having "slipped getting out of the bath" written on my tombstone.