"Midoriya."

No reply.

Todoroki tried again.

"Midoriya?"

Still no reply.

"Izuku?"

Still no reply. He groaned and snapped a finger in front of his boyfriend's face, making a few flames flicker as well. Whether it was the heat, or the light, Izuku snapped out of his trance.

"Yes?" he asked, pushing his hair back which had fallen into his eyes again.

"Tomura has woken up," he stated as if talking of the weather.

"Oh," Izuku said, getting up and going to the door, Todoroki following him, "By the way, you calling me Izuku sounds really cute, please call me Izuku."

He didn't notice Todoroki's blush as he made his way down.

"Call me Shoto then."

"Ight."

Tomura was blankly staring at the wall. He looked at the Quirk Repressers fitted on his hand, which prevented him from destroying the place in his hyper state.

"I see Sleeping Beauty has finally woken up," Izuku drawled when Tomura noticed him. He didn't find it amusing however as he totally ignored it and said, "What conspiracy is this?"

Izuku frowned and feigned ignorance.

"Conspiracy? What are you on about, Tomura-kun?"

Tomura shot up from his bed and Izuku actually took a step backward.

"Don't fuck with me. The Nomus went down the moment after you pressed the button, and I am pretty sure Todoroki's ice was deliberately positioned that way to hide us from Sensei. Besides, you actually aided in their escape. I might be insane, but not dumb."

Izuku opened his mouth and snapped it shut immediately.

"It was destroying you," Todoroki began slowly but deliberately, "All For One was destroying you. He was trying to rip empathy and all feelings from you. Those hands which you wear on your self, he made it so that you can always keep the frustration near, always feel that burning itch to destroy. He was—"

"Shut up," Tomura growled, turning towards the exit, "Sensei saved my life and those of you three. If it hadn't been for him, I would have died long ago, God knows what would have happened to Izuku and you wouldn't be in a much better state either."

"Tomura-kun—," Izuku began but said person was already out of the door and outside.

"So much for peace," Todoroki grumbled, sitting down on the vacant bed, "Well he cannot take those Repressers off unless you press the button right?"

"Yeah—," Izuku was still staring at where Tomura had disappeared. He would appear sometime later, still grumbling, but for the moment being, his words had struck a chord. He knew perfectly well how he would have ended up as if All For One hadn't stepped in, and for that, he was slightly grateful. His words made him feel like he was disloyal to him somehow, his heart ached, because he hated this feeling, he knew that he was grateful to All For One but he could also see how much he had manipulated the both of them.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Todoroki's voice was quiet, but it carried well. Izuku looked at him. He was staring at his left hand, something he tended to do when upset.

"Yeah, but he didn't really mean it—"

"He meant it pretty well, Izuku, and you know it. This is the same kind of excuses you would make for Bakugo in the beginning. You cannot hope to heal someone if you don't see their flaws and make excuses for them. Yes, they are caused by others, outside circumstances, but they are very much there and making excuses just furthers the abuse. Learn to take care of yourself too. Speak up for yourself amongst us too."

Izuku almost started crying after Todoroki finished speaking. Sensing the waterfall and not knowing what to do, he got up and patted him awkwardly, which led to Izuku hugging him like it was the end of the world.

Stain came in just then, looking grim. Izuku shifted his head slightly to look at him, still clinging onto Todoroki who was beginning to thank his lungs for not giving up on him yet.

"What's wrong?"

"Let's say, hypothetically, if I ran into Shigaraki in the streets, what would I do? Just nod at him and he would just grunt and go away."

"Let me guess, he almost strangled you, called your "cause" crap, which it is to some extent, and then started on a diatribe about how he wished he could disintegrate you if only Izuku hadn't meddled?"

Stain gave Todoroki an incredulous look.

"What?" he asked, self consciously as Izuku began giggling, "What?"

"No, it's just, too accurate," Stain spoke, his lips twitching as he sat down.

"Wait, even that part about your cause being crap?"

Todoroki had to dodge a knife thrown his way, but that was worth it for Stain's answer.

"I might have been too harsh."

He raised an eyebrow as Stain got up and disappeared into another room. He patted Izuku's head.

"Do you have a mental health therapy Quirk?"

"I wish, hah."

"I mean, sneaking a cat in isn't that much trouble especially because Koda is here."

"Tell me again why I promised to help you out?"

"Idk, because you wished to? Definitely not the ingrafted love between us, the centuries old romance—"

"STFU, Purple hair."

"Alright, angry Pomerian."

Bakugo gave him a death glare as he put the cat food in front of Smoothie. He wasn't that interested to get into this kind of useless trouble, but he doubted Aizawa would mind much, considering that it was a cat.

"Smoothie seems to like you more," Shinso said, faking hurt as he knelt down to look at the cat.

"It's because of the ingrafted love between Smoothie and me."

"Oh shut up," Shinso snorted in amusement as he set the last of his books on the bookshelf. The strategy was that the cat would be hidden below the bed during classes and then Shinso would see to him when they ended. She had bathroom training so it wouldn't be much troublesome.

"I still can't believe that we are doing this," Bakugo said disbelievingly as Smoothie licked his fingers.

"'Tis just a cat, dude, Aizawa sensei wouldn't—"

"I think Aizawa-sensei would very much like to know how an unauthorized cat got into the school premises."

Cursing under their breath, the duo turned to face Aizawa who was sporting a strange expression. It was somewhere between nostalgia and irritation.

"It's a CAT," Shinso said, as if it would solve all the problems of his existence.

"I am not blind, Shinso," Aizawa said dryly, stepping into the room. Smoothie ran over to him, sniffing his leg. Despite himself, he knelt down to scratch it behind the ears.

"I knew a man who brought a kitten to school in his school bag. He would have given it human food and made it sick. Thankfully, someone had the sense to bring milk. And another someone had the sense to adopt him to give him some peace."

"Is it Sushi?" Shinso asked innocently. Bakugo's look could only be described as, "Yeah, I see where you get your naming skills from."

Aizawa's lips twitched.

"Yes it is. However, this doesn't mean that you should disobey rules such."

"IT'S A CAT!" Shinso waved his hands, "A CAT, SENSEI, A CAT."

Bakugo decided that he didn't need his Quirk to actually make people dance to his whim if he so wished to.

"I can see THAT, but atleast issue a written letter for permission."

"Oh and then we can officially have this cutie here?"

".......I suppose so. Now run along and write that letter."

"YAY."

"How tf," Bakugo began, later after they had obtained permission for the cat, "Do you do that?"

Shinso gave him a grin, a rarity which seemed to appear only when he was around, "I have a convincing personality."

Bakugo shook his head. "Sure." The statement had been meant to be sarcastic, but it lost its edge as he looked at him feeding the cat. Shinso was just incredibly enthusiastic about cats, enthusiastic enough so that even God couldn't keep him from adopting one if he put his head to it.

Their training sessions had ended late that day. It had been raining, and they ended up being forced to share one umbrella because Bakugo had somehow left it behind. Shinso had given him a quizzical look but held his umbrella over him before he could protest. Not that protesting would have done anything good considering his Quirk.

They had come across a cat, almost kitten mewing on the side of the road. Someone had left their umbrella over her. Bakugo had stopped suddenly and Shinso had immediately taken that umbrella off and handed it to Bakugo, saying, "It's yours, I presume?"

He totally ignored him screaming and had bent down to take the cat in his arms. The poor creature had been shivering, and Shinso held it close to himself.

"I am taking her home."

"You are what now?"

"Taking her home. My parents would understand."

"You—, YOU JUST CANNOT ADOPT A CAT OUT OF NOWHERE!!!"

"I sure can, now stop screaming because you are scaring the poor girl."

"...are you fucking insane?"

"Yes. Now what's your favorite kind of drink. No, not hot sauce."

"....chocolate smoothie."

"Alright then," Shinso had said, cheerfully, and it was the first time Bakugo had seen him genuinely smile, "Her name is Smoothie from now on."

The rain had stopped then, thinning out, a rainbow over their heads.

He blinked his eyes to listen to Shinso saying something about, "Psychology is a must for hero courses, if you ask me."

He looked at the cheerful boy and nodded, vaguely wondering exactly how much he had changed.

A/N: Honestly, speaking, the current manga is making me want to scream and to compensate, I am just writing as much of soft Bakugo as I can.