Friendship, Love & Hellfire

The Proposition

Todoroki sat at the breakfast table in the class 1A dorms, sulking into his soggy bowl of cereal, looking as though he had gotten absolutely zero hours of sleep.

“Good morning, Todoroki!” Midoriya chirped, sitting down across from him. The two-toned boy glanced up.

“Oh, hey Midoriya.” His eyes focused back down on the sludge in front of him, wincing slightly at the sound of a pan being banged in the kitchen. He looked up to see that Bakugo had also joined them, though he seemed thoroughly uninterested in the other two.

“Todoroki, what's wrong? You look exhausted…” Midoriya noted, concern lacking his voice.

“It's nothing, Midoroya. Nothing you need to worry about. Just… family drama, I suppose.” He poked around at the milky soup in front of him.

“Oi. Is your dad being a dick again? I could blow his fiery ass straight to hell and back if you want.” Bakugo offered, slight anger lacing his tone. Todoroki looked up in surprise.

“You care about me enough to fight my old man?” Bakugo huffed.

“No, I just want an excuse to prove I can beat the number two hero.” Todoroki rolled his eyes.

“Anyway. There's this pro hero banquet that my father is basically required to go too. It's for pro heroes and their families. Every year, my father only drags me along. Says I'm his greatest accomplishment, and that none of my siblings are even worth showing off.

“However, this year my father is requiring me to bring a date, now that we're in high school and have our provisional licenses. He wants to show that the strong Todoroki bloodline will be continuing.”

“Hah? So, fucking ask any of the chicks here. I'm sure they'd fucking love to go with you. I don't see what the deal is.” Bakugo grumped, twisting his face in disgust at the two boys occupying the table.”

“I'm not dating anybody, and my father would pressure any girl I brought into speaking about having children with me. Plus, it would be a blatant lie, as I'm not really interested in females.” Todoroki says, almost nonchalantly until he realizes what he let slip. His eyes go wide, and he looks up at the other two, whose expressions match his own.

Surprisingly, Bakugo recovers first.

“So, take somebody as a fake date. Not that hard, Icyhot.”

“No, Bakugo. You don't understand. I want to take a boy with me. But I don't think anybody here would want to go on a date with me...to meet my father.”

“So, you explain to them that it's a fake date! For show!” Midoriya exclaimed, practically bouncing in his seat.

“Coming out to your dad by bringing a fake date to a public function is manly as hell, dude!” Kirishima greeted, coming down the stairs.

“Sorry, I wasn't eavesdropping. Midoriya is just...loud.” he grimaces at the insult, not liking being mean to his friends.

“Hah! It's okay, Kirishima. I know I could learn to quiet down a bit when I'm excited.” Midoriya mumbled.

“I've been telling the shitty nerd to shut the fuck up for years, and that's gotten me nowhere, so don't hold your breath, Shitty Hair.” Kirishima just laughed.

Todoroki opened his mouth as though it say something, then sat there contemplating for a minute before asking the three other boys a question.

“Would any of you like to be my ah...my fake date?” He asked, not making eye contact. Midoriya's face flushed.

“Of course, I wouldn't mind, Todoroki!” Midoriya said, almost in awe that the half and half boy was asking them.

“Oh, fuck no. I'd be a way better fake boyfriend than fucking Deku. You want it to be believable, right? Deku would probably start nervously mumbling and fucking out the plan to your dickhead dad, then you'd get the abusive end of it once the event was over.” Bakugo barked from across the kitchen, stomping his way closer to the other three as he spoke.

“Hey man, I don't mind. I'm uh.. I kinda also swing that way, so I could probably make it believable, but I'm not sure I can handle your dad…” Kirishima trailer off, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment of what he had just admitted for the first time.

“Fucking competition then.” Bakugo said in a challenging tone of voice.

“I'm sorry, what?” Todoroki asked, blinking.

“All three of us -” he motioned between himself, Midoriya and Kirishima - “pretend to date you. From now until the night of the thing. Then you choose which of us could fold your shit ass father.”

“That's… Bakugo, that would be us fake dating for two months.” Todoroki deadpanned.

“I.. I wouldn't mind…” Midoriya mumbled timidly.

“So? You need a convincing fucking date. We'll need practice, no matter who you choose.” Bakugo snapped. Todoroki is starting to think he doesn't actually have a say in this anymore.

“Can we, ah…” Kirishima trailed off. The other three waited, expectantly.

“Can we make rules? Like…” he trailed off again.

“If any of us get uncomfortable, speak up immediately. Nobody will judge. If anybody starts to actually catch feelings, communicate it. That way things don't get overly complicated. Let things flow...naturally? If somebody wants to go farther than...fluffy dating stuff… and it's mutual… but also first names? And ah.. I think we should all act like we're dating, not just each if us individually with Todoroki… That way we can...observe our dating tendencies?” Midoriya rambled on.

“Shitty nerd is right but… does that mean I have to pretend to be dating fucking Deku?”

“You guys don't have to do this…” Todoroki tried again, almost looking pained.

“Nah, fuck that, babe. You're stuck dating us for a whole two months. Suck it up.” Kirishima smirked. Todoroki's face flushes red, and Bakugo snorts.

“Alright, here we go.”

Todoroki is starting to think he should have stayed in bed.