Chapter Text
Thanks to the hard work of Cementoss, it’s been only a day since Shouto told everyone about his scar, and he’s already in temporary housing on the UA grounds, tucked well away from the entrance. He didn’t expect his friends to react so strongly to Endeavor’s treatment of him and his mom. He knew that how Endeavor treated him was wrong, but he didn’t expect it to be so wrong a field trip got cancelled to help him. His friends keep dragging him over to their houses, to play games or do homework or just hang out. Even though he’s not going out of his way to make friends anymore, all of them have continued talking to him and taking turns sitting with him at lunch.
Shouto takes off his shoes at the door and puts on his indoor slippers. He’s just come from the Midoriyas’ house, and he is so, so jealous of Izuku and his terrific mom. Midoriya Inko cheerfully made cold soba that was almost as good as Fuyumi’s, and she engaged with Izuku when he rambled even though she clearly only understood what he said about heroes through osmosis. Their apartment is cozy and warm and full of color.
Shouto’s tiny house… isn’t.
After class the next day, Shouto is heading home when Yaoyorozu falls in step with him. “Hello, Todoroki.”
“Yaomomo.”
“Your new home is a little dull, isn’t it?”
“It is.” Shouto opens the door and looks around. Dark gray walls, impersonal furniture, and hardly anything of Shouto’s own. Even the soft yellow of the tatami mats from home looks dingy in here. Not to mention he hasn’t been sleeping well on the bed--he’s so used to a futon that a mattress is just weird.
Yaoyorozu folds and unfolds her hands in front of her. “Ashido was talking about us all going into town for ice cream or something. Would you like to come along, and we can pick out some paints?”
Shouto puts his hands in his pockets as he thinks, and his hand brushes his wallet.
He has a terrible, wonderful idea.
Mina is doing homework when the doorbell rings. She hears one of her moms at the door, and then loud footsteps up the stairs.
Kirishima, Sero, Kaminari, and Jirou, she expected. Bakugou, less so, but a nice surprise. Momo and Todoroki, though? Completely out of the blue. And Todoroki is grinning. Mina might be in the twilight zone. “Hi, everyone! What’s going on?”
Todoroki waves a card in the air. “I have one of Endeavor’s credit cards that he gave me for spending! When we all go out for ice cream, Momo suggested that I go looking for paint for my house, and then I remembered I had this!” He stops to take a breath. It seems like Midoriya is rubbing off on him. “He’s in Hosu for the rest of the weekend, because he’s helping track down that Ironclad villain who got out of Asphodel. He won’t notice any charges on it right now.”
Mina gets what he’s saying at that point. “So you’re saying we should take this opportunity to completely outfit your house on Endeavor’s dime!”
“Exactlohmygoshcat.” Todoroki drops to his knees and starts cooing at Sprinkles. Sprinkles, the Ashidos’ big fluffy white cat, climbs onto his left leg and starts purring.
Kaminari tilts his head at the scene. “Do you think we can sneak a cat onto campus?”
“One of you would have to tell me how to take care of it.” Todoroki’s voice is muffled from where he’s laid down to let Sprinkles put her tail on his face. “I’ve never had a pet.”
Yet another item for Midoriya’s spreadsheet of Why Endeavor Shouldn’t Be A Hero, it seems.
Speaking of spreadsheets, Iida has one for their Ice Cream-slash-Spite Shopping Quest (name courtesy of Mina), as well as a timetable. Hitoshi guesses he shouldn’t be so surprised, and yet.
In other things that are unsurprising, the timetable is stolen by the Bakusquad. Mina, using her classmates as slalom poles to negate Iida’s superior speed, giggles, “You can’t put spite on a timetable! Just ask Blasty!”
Bakugou roars wordlessly, but immediately takes a calming breath and growls, “I could if I wanted to, but it’s a waste of time. Time that could be used getting revenge and getting stronger.”
Hitoshi makes a note to mention to Dad Mina’s glimmer of strategy and the progress Bakugou’s made in two or three days of counseling. He’ll make a proud grunt (as opposed to a tired grunt or an exasperated grunt).
Todoroki is actually smiling. Ironic, since it’s only after he’s stopped putting all his effort into making friends that he smiles more. Hitoshi sidles over. “So what’re you looking for?”
He thinks about that. “Basically everything needed in a home. Preferably as tacky and colorful as possible. And neon paints.”
“What about chalkboard paint?” The group starts toward the ice cream shop, Iida chopping the air at the head of the group.
“What’s that?”
“It turns the wall into a giant chalkboard. You can draw on it.”
“...Yaomomo! Can I see Iida’s spreadsheet? I need to add something!”
Nothing says spite like twenty teens hopped up on ice cream (Izuku would say hopped up on sugar, but Sato got sugar-free) raiding the thrift store. Iida’s spreadsheet is coming in handy, since Todoroki looked very lost when asked about furniture. His initial contribution was just “I want a futon, not a bed.” Now, with the spreadsheet, he’s checking out all the furniture available. And all the throw pillows (he currently has all the neon ones stacked in a cart). And…
Aoyama wails like he’s being murdered. “ Sacre bleu, no! You have a fashion sense, I know you do!”
Todoroki hugs the fur trench coat closer. “I had a fashion sense. I have tossed it out with any affection for my father, and now this is my fashion sense.” He tries it on; it goes past his fingertips and trails on the floor. “Besides, it’s not real fur, right, Koda?”
Kouda gives him a flat look. It’s bright green with red stripes and clashes horribly with the delighted Todoroki’s hair. Even the white, somehow. It’s terrible, and this is coming from Izuku.
“It’s soft on the inside, too. I need it.”
Iida is pinching his nose between two fingers; Yaoyorozu can’t stop laughing. A bystander, with black hair and really bad scarring, is very unsubtly listening in; his chuckles sound like rocks falling. His throat must have been damaged in the accident that gave him those scars.
“Actually, who’s the manufacturer? I need all their clothes.” Todoroki checks the tag. “...hey, Bakugo.”
“What? Found you a fuckin’ cat, Half-and-Half.” Kacchan deposits an enormous fuschia stuffed cat on top of the throw pillows.
“Next time you see your parents, tell them I love their work.”
Izuku snaps his fingers. “I knew that design looked familiar! It’s missing all the decoration, though. It’s supposed to have giant plastic jewels and gold chains around the wrists.”
Todoroki immediately turns to Yaoyorozu. “Momo Momo Momo--”
“We can stop by the craft store on our way back.” Shinsou turns up with a large cat sweater. Todoroki makes big cat eyes at it. “Teach you to sew, too.”
“Sewing is manly,” Kirishima chips in. “Also, I found a futon.”
“Natsuo tried to teach me to embroider once, but it didn’t go so well. Mostly because Endeavor got home before I finished.”
Uraraka pats his shoulder. “This time will probably go better, Todoroki.”
Todoroki looks up. “Actually, you all can call me Shouto.” He points at Kacchan. “Except I know you’re just going to stick with nicknames.”
Kacchan snickers, which is as good as confirmation.
The futon Eijirou found isn’t really very comfortable, so they check out. The cashier gives them no trouble about the card, and they high-five once outside. With a guard consisting of the girls and Midoriya, Yaomomo slips into the back alley and creates the parts for a large covered wagon for carrying the bought items, anticipating needing more room.
Eijirou slides up to Iida while they’re busy. “So, Iida. You’re very devoted to the rules, right?”
Iida pushes his glasses up on his nose. “Correct.”
“But you’re okay with the way this shopping spree is being funded?”
“Of course. One, Endeavor gave To--Shouto permission to use that card for spending. Two, one can sue for emotional damages, and if anyone deserves to be paid emotional damages, it’s Shouto and his siblings. This is just a little more direct.” Then Iida starts muttering. Eijirou listens, and he seems to be practicing calling Shouto by name.
The Wagon Crew gets back, and Iida checks his phone. “The next secondhand store is… this way, about two blocks! Though I have to say it has a bit of an odd name. ‘Neon Dreamer Emporium.’”
The name turns out to be because the owner specializes in “neonizing” donated items with their color-change quirk. They should have gone here first thing. Except Shouto doesn’t see any copies of the trench coat, so maybe it’s a good thing they didn’t. It’s dark with purple lighting, which makes all their light-colored and white clothing glow. To everyone’s delight, including his, so does the white side of Shouto’s hair. Midoriya rambles about blacklights and heroes whose costumes glow under them, which… very odd but strangely interesting trivia. Also, his hair glowing is “probably a secondary facet of your quirk, because you’ll notice that Kacchan’s doesn’t, and he’s almost as blond as you.”
Speaking of heroes, who does Shouto run into looking at coats? None other than Hawks. They stare at each other, then silently agree never to mention this to any other heroes. Shouto goes to look at the furniture section. Hawks wanders off into the bookshelves.
They find a futon that’s just right. It’s comfortable, it glows hot pink under the blacklights, and it doesn’t match any of the throw pillows. Perfect. Shouto tosses a pastel green one on and revels in the clash. There’s also an overstuffed, glow-in-the-dark green chair that Shouto needs. It doesn’t go at all with the futon, but that just makes it better. Then he sees a lamp that’s a leg , in an orange stiletto and purple fishnets, with a purple and orange polka-dot shade. “ I need that. Midnight’s going to spit out her tea.”
They pay and leave without problems, and once outside with the futon, chair, and lamp loaded into the wagon, Momo creates and tosses in a blacklight as well. They put in a stop at a convenience store so she can refuel. Iida protests a little about unhealthy junk food, but gets a cherry ice drink and insists on paying for it himself. Shouto, meanwhile, gets a bag of chips and revels in smashing his diet plan to itty bitty pieces. Take that, Endeavor.
Iida reads off the spreadsheet once they get outside. “Okay, we have a futon, we have an armchair, we have many throw pillows, we have picked-by-Shouto clothes as opposed to picked-for-Shouto clothes--”
Aoyama groans in pain at the reference to the trench coat. Shouto would apologize, but he’s reveling in picking stuff that he likes, and he likes the trench coat.
Iida reads on without pause. “--and we have a stuffed cat. We still need a desk and assorted accessories, a couch, a gaming system--”
Shinsou clears his throat. “Pops--Present Mic--is covering the gaming system, actually. So we don’t need to worry about that.”
“Excellent!” Iida marks it off. “Let’s see, couch, two more lamps, a kitchen table, and assorted colors of paint and painting supplies!” He checks his phone. Shouto peeks over his shoulder, and Iida lets him choose the store they go to next. He mainly needs furniture now, so he chooses a consignment shop called “The Big Yellow House,” in hopes that it’ll be like the Emporium.
Unfortunately, it is not. All the furniture is normal. Oh, well; if he can’t find anything suitably tacky, he can probably get the most comfortable one and go pay the Emporium owner to neonize it for him. And if he can’t? There’s always fabric dye.
He actually finds an ordinary couch that he likes. It’s large and he sinks into it when he sits down, but not enough that it makes writing or gaming hard. (The latter assessment from Kaminari, whose backup plan for if he gets too injured to keep heroing is gaming for a living.) Shouto actually likes the soft cream color, and it glows decently under the blacklight, so they buy it as-is.
The table lamps are a return to tacky and neon. Hot pink zebra stripes and sky-blue leopard spots on the shades, one base a miniature and less neon version of the big leg lamp and the other looking like a vase made out of half-melted marbles. Shouto’s house is going to be the most colorful house in Japan. Fuyumi’s going to love visiting.
Uraraka waves them down and points out a side table. The knob is a pink crystal cat paw, and the table itself is pink and has legs that look like bubble columns in the fish tank at the pediatrician’s office. “Isn’t it so cute?! If I had the money, I’d get it for me!”
Shouto doesn’t like it as much as he likes the bright orange-and-yellow one over there, but he gets it anyway. Birthday present for Uraraka, check.
They leave with almost everything on the list. Now they just need paints and desk accessories. Uraraka knows where to go next; she leads the way to a dollar store. There isn’t much in the way of tacky there, but Shouto gets a whole bunch of cute eraser caps and stationery. He also gets cat stickers; Shinsou suggested giving one to Aizawa whenever he doesn’t assign homework, and while Shouto doesn’t think that’ll work, he does want to thank Aizawa for helping him. There’s a pink wire cup that can hold pencils, and tie-dye pencils, and a pad of yellow sticky notes that have cheesy sayings on them. Shouto gets three of those, because the biggest phrase is “Be Who You Want To Be.” He’s going to stick those all over his house.
There’s a cackle from the toy section. Shouto wanders over there, confused, and gets an orb shoved in his face. “Here, Half-and-Half, it matches your hair!”
He… supposes it does. “What is it?”
“It’s a pokeball, Pokeball.”
Sero must see his confused expression, because the entire rest of the time in the dollar store is filled with stumbling and oft-interrupted explanations of Pokemon from the entire Bakusquad. Shouto wants a Pokemon. He tells Bakugou, “You should have a Voltorb,” and grins to himself as this sets Bakugou off on a rant about how obviously he’s a Charizard if anything.
He buys the pokeball.
Their last stop is the hardware store. They go straight for the paint section, and Shouto amuses himself figuring out the best color combo for the walls and trim with the digital paint picker. (Kaminari turns the whole sample room purple and yellow when he turns his back.) Considering all the neon furniture, a nice peach for the walls and purple trim will balance nicely.
And they run into Aizawa-sensei of all people in the paint aisle.
He blinks blearily at them, then at the cans of paint, and puts back his own. “I see you’ve chosen paint colors. Hizashi convinced me to help you paint your house over the weekend.”
Shouto tries to put his calm mask back on, because adult, but Uraraka elbows him. When he squints at her, she just grins. He rolls his eyes and turns back to Aizawa. “Yes, and I’ve gotten some furniture that I like.”
Aizawa sighs. “Why do I sense trouble? Bakugou, just give me three paint cans. You can carry the other four. Why do you need all this paint?”
Mina takes that question. “They’re all different colors!”
“Yup. Trouble.” Aizawa sighs and starts walking toward the checkout.
“...And we’re going to paint the guest bedroom yellow and pink and blue, in case Shouto’s older sister needs to move out! He says he’s absolutely positive those are her favorite colors!”
Shota is actually a little surprised that all the kids are on first-name terms with Todoroki. Well, except Bakugou, who alternates between “Icy-Hot,” “Half-and-Half,” and “Pokeball” every time he addresses Todoroki. He’s a lot more surprised that they had enough money to get… whatever’s in the covered wagon Todoroki looks apprehensive about him getting near. Considering what he’s said his father is like, Shota figures he expects the stuff in there to be in danger, and stays well away. For the other students’ part, Izuku took one look at Todoroki’s face and convinced his friends to surround the wagon so Aizawa couldn’t get too close. It’s good tactical thinking and a sign of budding leadership...
Augh, he’s getting attached. He’s proud of these kids banding together for their friend. It’s a good thing he doesn’t have a fire quirk; else he’d have crisped his capture weapon thinking about that video Hitoshi showed him. As it is, he’s working on getting together a legal case that even the Number Two hero can’t escape from with just a slap on the wrist. While the adults take care of legalities, the students can emotionally support their friend.
Then they get back to UA, the wagon is unpacked, and Shota seriously considers expelling all of them. “Who did you take decoration advice from?”
Todoroki shrugs. “I like color.” With that, he pulls out a monstrosity of green-and-red neon fur, puts it on, and struts off to help with the fuschia futon.
Shota gets out his phone and calls Nemuri. She’s going to find this hilarious. Or lose her voice from screaming. One of the two. Then he follows them in. “Hang on, hang on, you’ll want to paint before you bring in the furniture. That way you won’t get paint on anything.”
Todoroki, pleased as punch in his horrible coat, runs off to his bedroom with a stuffed fuschia cat.
Nemuri does scream when she arrives to The Coat and the kids planning to paint without smocks. Aoyama whips around wide-eyed and whispers, “ Feel my pain. ” Yaoyorozu is easily convinced to make smocks, though Aoyama’s turns out more like a poncho because he needs to protect his hair.
Shouto is skidding a paint tray over to Midoriya when there’s a yell from the entrance. “SHOTAAAAA! You started without me!!!”
Aizawa rolls his eyes. “ They started without you. They went furniture shopping on Todoroki’s dime, and I only ran into them at the hardware store.”
Shouto says smugly, “Endeavor’s dime, actually. He gave me a credit card for necessary expenses at the beginning of the school year.”
The teachers are silent, then as one turn to Iida. Iida, helping put together paint rollers, starts chopping the air. “As I told Kirishima-kun, I put up no protest for two reasons! One, Endeavor did say that Shouto-kun could use that card, though I have no doubt there was some limit put upon it. Two, one can sue for emotional damages, and if anyone deserves to sue for emotional damages, it’s Shouto-kun and his siblings! This is merely a quicker and more direct method of taking those damages.”
Aizawa snorts, shrugs, and starts helping sort out who needs to do what.
They spread plastic all over the floor and move all the old furniture outside. It’ll go to the Neon Dreamer Emporium, despite just the name making Aizawa rub his temples. Shouto finds it hard to hold back a giggle. Then they tape the plastic to the baseboards, fill trays with paint, and start working.
Midoriya and Uraraka end up next to Shouto, helping plaster the back wall with chalkboard paint. Shouto chose this wall to be the chalkboard because it’s the largest, and because it’ll be the first thing he sees when he comes in. He can hear Jirou and Yaomomo laughing quietly and the Bakusquad laughing loudly, with the occasional quiet explosion as Bakugou burns off the sweat building up. Midoriya chatters about heroes, sometimes running off on tangents about how they could better utilize their quirks. Uraraka talks about her parents, who are not well-off, but are kind. She assures Shouto, “I’d trade parents with you in a second!”
“That means you would get Endeavor.”
“Only until I floated him to Pluto.” She frowns. “Or, if we swapped quirks, too, froze him in an iceberg and made him regret his life choices.”
Shouto snorts and nearly gets chalkboard paint in his hair. Midoriya does get chalkboard paint in his hair, and Shouto melts some ice over the spot to wash it out.
About an hour into the painting, they hit a problem. The ceilings are high, adding air to the room; it’s the only reason Shouto didn’t absolutely loathe the house. However, none of the rollers or painters are tall enough to reach the ceiling. And they are not just leaving a gray stripe around the ceiling; if there’s going to be a stripe, it’s going to be a bright color. Maybe the yellow for Fuyumi’s room.
The solution arrives with Lunch Rush. As hungry painters swarm the tray, a scarecrow man with blond hair and long bangs peers in. “Hello. What’s going on here?”
Midoriya, for whatever reason, beams. “Yagi-san! We’re helping Shouto paint his house!”
Shouto looks way up at… Yagi-san. “You can help. You’re tall.”
Yagi-san blinks at him. “I… am indeed, Todoroki-kun.”
“I’m going by Shouto.” Shouto hands him a paint roller.
“I will be glad to help, Shouto-kun.”
The method they settle on is Yagi with a paint roller, Shoji stretching his arms as far as they can go, and Uraraka floating two people intermittently. While they’re working on the living room, the teachers start prepping the kitchen and bedrooms for painting.
Yagi is subdued, but kind. He always ruffles Midoriya’s hair and has good things to say to everyone who comes near. He also ruffles Shouto’s hair, when he miscalculates where Midoriya is, and that’s nice. Shouto’s never had someone ruffle his hair since Touya disappeared. He’s missed it. He angles himself for more hair ruffles, and Midoriya silently helps angle him correctly after squinting at him for a bit.
Toshinori escapes to the kitchen and hisses at Aizawa, “What in the world? Why?”
“Why…?”
“Why have I been roped into painting?”
“Because you’re tall, Shoji can’t reach very long without hurting his arms, and Uraraka can only help for so long without throwing up.” Aizawa tapes down more plastic. “As for the timing? I can only assume that Endeavor is too busy to notice his son’s expense card being used.”
Guilt curdles where Toshinori’s stomach used to be. How did he not notice that Endeavor hated him so? Why did he not see how Endeavor treated his son? How long has Shouto-kun been without help or hope?
Aizawa smacks his shoulder with the roll of plastic. “Stop beating yourself up about it. Abusive parents are very rarely obvious to those outside the house. Go help him make a life without Endeavor, and he’ll forgive you if he hasn’t already.”
Toshinori tries to take Aizawa’s advice. He goes back into the loud chaos of the living room and engages Midoriya in a conversation about heroes. He convinces Ashido-chan that making her acid into an improvised paint thinner is not a good idea, and Kaminari-kun that they should call Power Loader if they want to rewire anything. And in the middle of a conversation with Jirou-chan about what music was popular when he was young, he’s able to forget for a minute.
Shouto steps back from the wall and grins. The living room is peach and purple with dark charcoal gray on one wall. The kitchen is yellow with pink trim. Fuyumi’s-room-if-she-wants-it is yellow and pink and blue, like that towel set she loves. His room is a light blue with bubbles of different colors, every color they had wandering over and between the walls. Thanks to Yaomomo and an industrial fan, all the walls are dry, and it’s not even supper yet.
Time to bring in the furniture.
Present Mic makes a strangled noise at seeing the futon. Shouto waves as he ices the ground to make it easy for Shoji to scoot it. “Isn’t it great?! It’s the perfect mix of comfy and individual!” He does see Yaomomo sneaking (badly) down the hall, but he trusts her not to wreck anything.
Come to think of it, once logic kicks in, he trusts Aizawa not to break anything, even if he clearly dislikes the color scheme. Huh. Being able to trust an adult is… nice. Weird, but nice.
Yagi-san tries to help with the couch. Tries. The minute he picks up one end, Midoriya beelines for him babbling a mile a minute. Then everyone else notices, and Sato takes the couch while Iida tries to insist he sit down and eat something.
A floating desk chair and rug announce Hagakure, who dumps the orange faux-fur rug on the floor and continues into Shouto’s room. Then she pops back out, giggling. Shouto squints at her headband. What is Yaomomo doing in there?
Midnight does scream again when the leg lamps make an appearance, but it’s laughter and not horror this time. “These are hilarious! Clearly you have some taste!”
“My taste is neon and tacky.” Shouto plugs in the big one and huffs happily when the wall is dyed orange.
When all the furniture is in place, Shouto flops on the couch. Midoriya joins him with a tired grin. Then he perks up again. “One more thing, Shouto! Housewarming presents!”
Everyone got him something small, but some are more notable than others.
Iida got him curtains for all the windows. None of them match, a fact which pains Iida and delights Shouto. Not to mention the curtain rods have tiny disco balls on the ends. Yagi-san helps him put them up, height-wise, but Aizawa-sensei has to do the actual installation because he’s the only functional adult in the room.
Kirishima got him plastic stars, moons, and planets. They stick onto walls and gather light during the day, then glow in the dark. Shouto says gratefully, “I’m putting them on my bedroom ceiling.”
Midoriya and Ashido both got him stuffed animals. They are very soft and Shouto will treasure them, as well as the cat he’s already named Strawberry.
Kaminari presents him with purple light bulbs. “Here, they’re blacklight bulbs! I’m gonna ask Power Loader to make the light fixtures so you can turn them on with a normal lightswitch, or switch to normal bulbs, if you’d like!”
When Yaomomo hollers down the hall that she’s ready, they all troop into Shouto’s bedroom. Aizawa helps install the curtains, and then closes them.
The bubbles on the wall glow neon colors, with rings surrounding them that weren’t visible in the light. Shouto sticks Kirishima’s stars in between them, and realizes he’s smiling so wide his cheeks hurt.
He’s home.
Bonus scene:
“Hello, Todoroki-san. This is Shouto’s homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shota.”
“Oh, hello! He’s not in trouble, is he?”
“No, he’s been an exceptional student. The reason I’m calling is that Shouto delivered quite the dramatic speech the other day about your father’s treatment of him and you.”
Fuyumi freezes. “...what are you going to do?”
“We’ve already placed him in counseling and set up a housing situation for him here at UA. If you’d like, it’s open to you too. However, there seems to have been a bit of a misunderstanding. He’s convinced that your favorite colors are hot pink, bright yellow, and sky blue, and has painted the room you would take with them.” And that’s definitely laughter in Aizawa’s voice, no matter how grumpy he’s trying to seem. “Your walls are bright pink. ”
Fuyumi can’t help but laugh. “I have a towel set with those colors. Father doesn’t recognize them as a pride flag.”
“My husband did the same thing, before he moved in with me. If you ever feel you’re in danger, you’re always welcome at UA. Bring sunglasses; your brother has developed a taste for color.”
“...how bad is it?”
“His futon is bright pink, and his new favorite clothing item is a neon-green faux-fur trench coat with red stripes and enormous fake gems for buttons.”
Fuyumi laughs so hard she starts tearing up. This she has to see.