Still slowly creeping along with this story. *Sweatdrops* You know, I actually had this story fully written BEFORE I posted the first chapter, but literally decided mid-posting that I detested the second half and just HAD to change it without any idea where I wanted it to go instead. Ugh. Fuck me, lol.

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Letters From a Fan

Chapter 15

"Damn it, Deku!" Katsuki hissed, "Take this shit off of me right now!"

Midoriya ignored the shouting as best he could while he worked on adding Mei's shop and product details to his newest batch of Analysis Notes that were to be sent out later in the week. He increasingly wished he was like Mei and could work with a pair of noise-canceling headphones on though, as Bakugo absolutely refused to be quiet.

"I swear I'm going to blow your ass so high it—"

"Will you just calm down?" Midoriya interrupted blandly. "You only have to wear it until you stop going through psychological withdrawal symptoms."

The blonde was currently chained up to a wall near Midoriya's desk with a specially designed straightjacket wrapped around his arms. It was fairly reminiscent of his first Sports Festival when Todoroki refused to use his fire quirk and 'cheated' Bakugo out of a real win. Maybe a muzzle wouldn't be such a bad idea?

"I don't need this shit on me you annoying little bastard! I don't need it and I don't need you! Let me fucking go!"

Midoriya grumbled to himself for a moment before twisting his rolling chair towards his enraged ex and leveling him with an unwavering glare of his own. "Kacchan, I get that you're pissed at me right now and I do realize that I kind of kidnapped you and stuff, but this really is for the best. Kirishima told me that your quirk has become erratic since you started drinking and I'm trying to prevent anyone—including you—from getting hurt."

Bakugo's red eyes bristled with tears and he looked away ashamedly despite the scowl on his lips. He knew the dangers of having an unplanned and likely uninhibited explosion going off, but that didn't mean he was ready to accept that he needed help. "Fuck you and that shitty-haired asshole. I'm fucking fine."

"Kirishima is coming up to see you this weekend so I hope by that point you'll have stopped being such a stubborn ass." Midoriya snipped back, returning to his work since it appeared that Bakugo was at least semi-relenting.

The blonde snorted and gave another harsh yank on his chain even as he got more comfortable on the couch they'd set up for him. "I never should have introduced you to that overreacting bastard. You both were nosey enough before getting all chummy and shit."

"We care about you, Kacchan," Midoriya sighed in return. His lips twitched back up soon, however, as he thought of a way to shut Bakugo up for a good long while. "And if we really are both 'nosey', then I'd say it seems like you have a type."

As expected, the blonde sputtered and growled, but became too flustered to retort, especially when Midoriya turned to bounce his eyebrows at him.

Todoroki awkwardly stood outside of Hatsume's workshop, duffle bag slung over his shoulder like he was a soldier going off to war rather than simply attempting to visit the love of his life. He looked down at his feet to see if he'd maybe iced them to the pavement on accident, but of course, he hadn't—no, he was just terrified of being told to leave and almost couldn't bring himself to take another step.

"I have to do this. If not for our sake then just for his… He could be killed if he and Mei are left unprotected." Todoroki told himself, taking in a steaming breath as he steeled his resolve.

The entrance bell chimed loudly in his ears the moment he pulled the door towards him and he darted his mismatched eyes around nervously. There was absolutely no one in the store that he could see, though he figured that would change the moment Deku's letters made it to their destinations.

"H-Hello?" he called, clearing his throat a moment afterward in an attempt to not sound absolutely pitiful and terrified. "Is—Is anyone here?"

An immediate crash resounded before a recognizable flash of pink side-skidded out before him, nearly crazed golden eyes trained on him like a predator. Todoroki knew that look all too well from the brief interactions they'd had in high school and quickly put up his free hand to speak first. "I'm here to see—To help—I got a letter?"

Hatsume was initially as confused as Todoroki looked while he attempted to get out the choppy, almost incoherent explanation of why he was there. However, she'd overheard tidbits from Bakugo and Izuku's constant bickering that Todoroki was somehow involved in the disastrous meltdown the blonde seemed to be in. "Uh… Izuku! You've got a visitor? I think?"

"A visito—Oh my God, Shoto!" Midoriya yelped, jolting when he laid eyes on the dual user. Neither of them moved for what seemed like an eternity, but eventually, Bakugo shouted something obscene from somewhere deeper in the store, breaking their longing gaze. "Erm… What—What are you doing h-here?"

Todoroki felt a rush of ice trailing up his spine from the sound of Bakugo's voice, but did his best to ignore the rage that followed. He rummaged in his jacket pocket for a moment before pulling out the crumpled letter Deku had last sent to him, holding it out for Midoriya to take. "I'm here to protect you, Hatsume, and the store…"

The dual user had to bite the inside of his lip slightly to prevent himself from adding 'and win you back once and for all' to the end of his explanation. He didn't want to overwhelm Izuku all at once and knew just how easily that could be done—especially when it came to him.

"Protect us?" Mei mimicked in confusion, her face soon breaking out in a huge smile. "You mean from any villain that tries to come after us because of 'Deku's' letters, right? Oh, hell yes!"

"S-Shoto…" Izuku almost whispered. He was caught between elating gratitude that Todoroki was apparently willing to uproot his life once more just to come to look after them and tremendous guilt over the same thing. "I… I didn't mean for you to do this. What about your career? You'd be giving up being a Pro just to work security for us! I can't let you do that, it's not right and—"

Shoto, however, simply crossed the distance to Izuku as he spoke, dropping his duffle bag along the way so that he could gently grab his loves' cheeks and pull him into a passionate, yet chaste kiss. When he pulled back slightly for air, he kept his forehead pressed to Izuku's, gazing into his glistening, ever anxious green eyes.

"I don't care about being a Pro; I've only ever wanted to protect people and right now, you and Hatsume need someone to protect you. I can't let you slip away from me a third time, Izuku… Please, let me stay… even if it's just as a friend and colleague… Say I can stay here with you…"

Midoriya's misty eyes bubbled over as he nodded, throwing his arms around Todoroki's neck to pull him close. He relished the way each of his forearms seemed to experience a different temperature as he nuzzled his nose into the cool crook of Shoto's neck.

"Ugh. I can't—It's too sweet." Mei fake choked, breaking the heartfelt reunion. "I'm going to go wash down all that sugar with some water and then when I get back, we can talk about how this little situation is going to work… especially with him here…"

As if on cue, Bakugo's loud cursing continued to disturb the serenity of the otherwise silent store. This time though, Todoroki didn't mind its sound at all—he couldn't even pay attention to something so insignificant when Izuku was bright red and squeaking something back at Mei. He simply pulled Izuku a little closer to him and kept softly staring, memorizing the spot of every new freckle on his flushed cheeks.

"So, what's the deal, Deku?" Mei questioned once Todoroki had left to make sure his Hero Paperwork was all set now that he was moving to a new city again. "I've gotten bits and pieces, but some serious shit must have gone down between the three of you."

Midoriya blew out a puff of air in exasperation, wondering himself how he'd managed to get into this mess. "Well… it's a long story, but basically Shoto and I are soulmates and Kacchan and I have always been best friends that happen to bring out the worst in each other if we try to be more than that. Anyway, I—"

"You ran away from both?" Mei interrupted, sighing when Midoriya lowered his head and gave a weak nod. "Well, they're both here now… What are you going to do about it?"

"I… I have no idea…"

Mei blinked at Midoriya curiously, a mixture of amusement, disbelief, and confusion twisting her face. "Are you serious? You're the world's number one advice-giver and you're telling me that you can't think of a single thing to do?

"It's not that simple, Mei!" he responded. "I… I've never had good sense when it comes to Kacchan. I love him so much but I love Shoto too! I can't hurt either of them but everything I do seems to make one of them suffer."

"Okay… but, this time you actually can't run away."

Midoriya nodded in agreement, his eyes trailing towards the duffle bag that Todoroki had left. "Maybe… Maybe it won't be that bad?"

Mei snorted over her shoulder as she put the final touches on her newest baby, eyeing it with approval. She had no doubt that the first several weeks, if not months, of this arrangement were going to be straight-up awful.

Having Bakugo there in all his chaotic glory had been a literal nightmare until she'd made herself some 100% noise-canceling headphones with an alarm clock built-in. It was a miracle they didn't have someone call the cops on their shop with how loudly and consistently he screamed. Now Todoroki would be there too and while he was generally quiet, Mei wasn't ignorant of the hatred he and Bakugo had for each other.

"Well…" she sighed after a time. "I guess we'll just have to get creative!"

Midoriya felt himself shudder from her tone. "Not another baby…"

"Are you sure it's a good idea for me to come up there?" Kirishima questioned as he paced back and forth in his home. "If I know Katsuki, he's probably still really pissed about me interfering since he thinks accepting help makes him weak and I bet it's ten times worse because I got you involved."

When Kirishima had met Midoriya for the first time at the restaurant all those months ago, he'd been able to see there was a tension between the couple, but he'd never expected the situation to absolutely implode so soon after… He'd especially been blind-sided by the absolute meltdown Bakugo had been spiraling through directly following he and Midoriya's break up.

"I just…" He continued, "I don't want to make things worse, ya'know? For either of you…"

Midoriya sighed on the other end of the line and shook his head to himself, knowing the feeling so well. "I'm not going to lie to you and say that Kacchan won't throw a tantrum when you get here, but I really think you being around is for the best. If neither of us can get through to him on our own, then maybe both of us working together can?"

"Has he improved at all?" Kirishima questioned.

"No…" Midoriya hummed sadly. "But that's probably because of some other unexpected stuff happening around here. You probably don't need all the details, but Shoto is going to be around a lot and—"

"Dude, no! Don't get me wrong, I have no idea what all went down between you three and I'd never slam your choices because that's unmanly, but you have to know how much Todoroki being around is going to hurt Katsuki!"

Midoriya huffed and rubbed his tired eyes, trying to come up with a reason for Shoto being there other than the truth since it centered around his still very classified alter ego. It wasn't as if he didn't trust that Kirishima would die before he spilled his secret, but everyone who did know was a target if a villain found out that they might have information.

"He… He's not here for a relationship, Kirishima…" Midoriya explained slowly. "If there was another solution to the problem Shoto's here to deal with, I'd go for it, but there isn't. I'm going to keep them separated as much as possible but I think once he calms down, Kacchan won't mind him being here so much."

"How can you say that, Midoriya? Isn't Todoroki at least part of the reason you left Katsuki to begin with? I know my bro is the manliest, but that's got to be tough to swallow." Kirishima argued.

"It's… It's hard to explain since I can't really tell you everything… Just, trust me on this, okay?"

The redhead ran his hand through his hair and nodded with a heavy breath. "Alright, Midoriya… I'll be up there this weekend as planned. I'll see you guys then."

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Lol I know I'm awful (especially with updating consistently) but I promise I won't leave this story unfinished!

I love reading comments though so please tell me what you think!

*Also, check out my other stories if you're interested! I have a bunch of TodoDeku, BakuDeku, and even a ShinsoDeku to dive into XD