Chapter Text
He sees the weirdo, Mr. Pure Blood sitting on an armchair as they are all leaving. Katsuki scrunches his nose as he observes him. He has never liked that dumbass with his superiority complex, big, sad eyes and weird hair. The idiot thinks he’s so superior and better than anyone else, so he prefers to be alone, rather than with others. Tsk, he’s so disgusting.
“Hey Bakugou, you should stop glaring at Todoroki.”
“SHUT UP, EXTRA!”
His outburst is met with whispers. Once more, he hears the same shit he’s been hearing ever since he got chosen as a Gryffindor: why is he here? With that attitude, he should be in Slytherin. He surely is a snake…
He hates them. He hates every single person who is standing in the common room, but especially the weirdo in the corner who is now looking at him.
Sneering, Katsuki sticks out his tongue before he turns around and huffs, annoyed with the world.
“Yo Bakugou, you left one of your ties in your bed.”
Glancing up, he sees one of the extras he has as a classmate coming down from the stairs. Nodding, he picks up his bags and makes his way upstairs once more. The bedroom of the first years is bare, except for Todoroki’s shit. They are all going back home for Christmas except that dumbass.
Katsuki glares at the bed next to his as he can’t believe he has to have him as his roommate and bed-neighbour, ugh, so bothersome. He easily finds his red and golden tie, lying forgotten over his bedpost. Shoving it inside a random bag he’s carrying, he takes one last look at his area to make sure he’s not leaving anything else behind before he goes back downstairs.
He’s met with utter silence as it seems everybody else has left… except for Todoroki, who is still sitting in the farthest armchair, hugging his legs and observing the landscape through the window as his chin rests over his knees. The image is kind of pathetic if you ask Katsuki, and once more, curiosity hits him. Ever since they got asked if they were going to stay in Hogwarts or going back home for Christmas, he’s been wondering about Todoroki. Everyone answered in unison home except for him, who simply whispered here, while looking at the floor. At first, Katsuki snorted as he wondered if maybe Todoroki’s grades had been so pathetic he was afraid daddy was going to get mad at him, but no, later he discovered the fucker was barely behind him except in herbology, where he excelled and got a higher grade than Katsuki.
He has also heard on the grapevine that Todoroki received a howler from his father, demanding that he came back home… So yeah, he’s a little bit curious, especially since the dumb fucker looks like a kicked puppy whenever someone mentions Christmas or going home.
Todoroki glances at him, and Katsuki freezes as he realizes he’s been looking at him like a dumbass for at least a couple of minutes, and he has no valid excuse or reason to explain why.
“Merry fucking Christmas,” he sneers as he quickly bolts from the common room.
Before he crosses the painting that serves as their entrance, he swears he hears a whispered, “Merry Christmas to you too, Bakugou.”
Huffing, Katsuki curses the stupid backpack as it weighs too much. He knows he could technically use wingardium leviosa to make his things float and follow him around, but he also knows physical strength is important. He should be able to carry his things even if his stupid mom has overstuffed his bags with useless things as a way to ask for forgiveness for making him return to Hogwarts way before he should. His father is sick, and so is the rest of his family. Mitsuki decided that, since technically Christmas is already over, Katsuki should return to school to not catch whatever disease his father has. So there, this is why he’s back on the 27th instead of the first week of January like he was supposed to.
As he kicks his bags across the main hall of the castle, he hears several of the paintings scolding him, so he flips them off, making them all gasp offended. In the end, it’s worse the remedy than the disease, as now he has to hear the whole way up an endless parade of old warts telling him that he’s extremely rude and should change his mannerisms and yada, yada, yada.
When he finally gets into the safety of the common room, he sighs and, pulling out his wand, he uses the levitating spell as his arms feel on fire and his breath feels way too short. As he reaches his room, he freezes when he sees Todoroki's unmade bed. Crap, he had completely forgotten the other was around… Wary, he peeks out of their room and, checking over the banister, he doesn’t see the weirdo anywhere around.
Glaring at Todoroki’s bed as if it had offended him, he unpacks his things and leaves everything completely tidy.
Smiling with satisfaction, he sneers at the still unmade bed.
“So much for being better than us. The dumb pure-blood can’t even make his bed. Bet he’s waiting for someone to do it for him.” Pulling a falsetto voice, he bats his eyelashes as he says, “Anything for his royal highness. Blergh.”
Since it’s almost lunch time, he decides to head downstairs, but soon he’s reminded of why he was in such haste to get into his room as the paintings keep giving him the stinky eye and scolding him.
Screaming in anger, he storms away and somehow ends up in one of the outside patios that lead to the forbidden forest and the hut of the keeper. But that’s not what makes him halt, no, it’s the lonely figure that is sitting in the middle of the snow without even wearing a coat. Dread fills him as he can feel how icy the wind seems to be and how still that dumb fucker is… because of course he knows that stupid person who seems to be running for icicle of the year is. That hair is impossible to miss or confuse.
Torn between concern and not wanting to be seen as if he cared about him, he makes a snowball and throws it at Todoroki’s head. If the boy is dead, Katsuki guesses he won’t move, and if he’s alive… he crouches down and prepares a second one just in case. As he’s done, he sees that no, Todoroki isn’t dead, as he’s looking at him with confusion.
“Bakugou? What are y—”
Katsuki throws another ball at him, hitting him straight on his face. Todoroki simply blinks as the snow falls down his face. Somehow, his lack of expression seems hilarious to Katsuki, who bends over and laughs as he points him.
“Oh my, are you even human, or are you a robot?”
Standing up, Todoroki approaches him. “A robot? What is that?”
“You don’t know what a robot is? Gosh, you truly are dumb. A robot is a machine that does things. It can be pretty much anything, but in your case, I was talking about robots as an android. Kinda like the ones from Asimov.” As he sees the blank expression on Todoroki’s face, he rolls his eyes and sighs. “The writer. I, Robot?”
Todoroki shakes his head, and some snow falls from his hair. “I don’t know what that is.”
Katsuki grimaces, not only because the boy is as dumb as a rock, but because his lips look kind of blueish and his skin is even paler than usual. Without even thinking about it, he takes off his scarf and wraps it around Todoroki’s neck.
“You are going to die from hypothermia, dumbass.”
Todoroki’s eyes widen and then he almost offers him a tentative smile as he caresses the scarf. “Thank you, Bakugou… may I ask you something?”
He grunts and wonders what kind of stupid thing is going to come out of Todoroki’s mouth.
“What was that thing you did before? It was snow, I know that, but the way it hit me… I think I’ve seen others do it before, but I never got the chance to ask.”
For a second, Katsuki wants to shove him into the ground as he believes the dumbass is messing with him, but as he glares at him, he sees that no, Todoroki’s eyes show honesty and curiosity.
“You don’t know what a snowball is?! You have never had a snowball fight?” Todoroki shakes his head and mumbles a no. “Holy fuck, what kind of childhood have you had?”
Somehow, he knows that was not the appropriate question to ask as Todoroki’s mood simply withers. His shining eyes dull, and his almost half-smile completely disappears as his blank expression returns. Katsuki is sure this has been the first time he has seen the other boy show an emotion other than blank. Now he wants to see it again.
“Do you want me to show you how to do one?” He blurts.
The expression stays the same, but he sees his mismatched eyes show some spark of interest.
Crouching, he takes some snow and gathers it together before he shapes it as a ball. When he sees Todoroki trying to imitate him with his bare hands, he quickly stops him and, grabbing him by the arm, he marches with him inside the castle, not letting the other go nor protest —not that Todoroki is doing either of those things, the guy could perfectly pass as a doll. As they head upstairs, the paintings start to fuss again, and Katsuki bares his teeth and hisses at them to shut the fuck up already. He’s almost going to rip one apart when he hears the booming voice of Present Mic coming from downstairs, demanding to know what this ruckus is about. Katsuki doesn’t care that much about him, but it's the second voice that truly makes him fly upstairs. He’s definitely not in the mood to receive another lecture from their Professor of Potions again.
“Shit, not Aizawa, run half and half, run!”
Panting, both boys reach the Gryffindor common room, and as the painting closes behind them, Katsuki can’t help but laugh a little.
“Why are the paintings mad at you?”
“Huh? Oh, that, I might have offended them.”
Tilting his head, Todoroki asks him, “How does one offend a painting?”
“With turpentine?”
His reply is met with a snort and then a tiny chuckle. Astonished, he glances at Shouto and checks that, yeah, it was him who has just shown some amusement. It’s not something wild or super expressive, but it’s there. Observing him, he sees his skin still looks pale as hell. Pushing him towards the fireplace, he sees a couple of other students who have also stayed, playing Wizard’s chess. From the amount of red fragments on the table and the floor, Katsuki can bet the white one is winning. He shoves Todoroki into an armchair that is closest to the fire and then throws his jacket over him.
“Try not to die from becoming an icicle, will you?”
Then he marches upstairs, into their bedroom. Heading towards Todoroki’s bed, he searches around until he finds a coat. Throwing it over his shoulder, he goes to his trunk as he deems there is no way he’s going to look around Todoroki’s shit that much to find a pair of gloves when he has a spare pair. On the last second, he grabs a wool cap his mom knitted for him last year before he heads downstairs once more.
Throwing at the other boy everything, he yanks his coat back and crosses his arms over his chest as he taps his foot against the floor, showing how his patience is running thin.
“Get dressed. Like hell I’m going to get another scold from Shuzenji just because your dumbass has deemed that playing in the snow without proper clothes is fine.”
Todoroki blinks slowly before he does as he’s been told. Katsuki wastes no more time before he heads outside, and grimacing, he sighs as he knows he has to go through the stupid paintings once more.
“Take the railing side,” Todoroki mumbles as they get close to the staircase.
“Huh?”
He wants to scream at him that no one gives him orders, but as they reach it, he sees why Todoroki has said that. For once, Katsuki decides that, whatever, he guesses he can follow a suggestion, but he still shares his piece of mind. “I’m only walking on this side because I want to.”
His remark is met with silence, and that irritates him a little bit. As they move downstairs, the paintings keep reproaching him for his behaviour until Todoroki addresses them.
“Aren’t you supposed to show example then? You are right now insulting an eleven-year-old for no reason whatsoever. If you preach good behaviour and mannerisms, perhaps you should start by doing so.”
“Jeez, did you swallow a dictionary or what, half and half? Do you always talk so prim?”
Todoroki glances at him. “I talk strangely? I apologise, I’m afraid I do not know the nuances of modern language. My tutor was an old man who spoke like this.”
Katsuki sneers at that. There you go again, the bastard is showing off once more his family status. He glares at him, and as the boy doesn’t even flinch, he gets even angrier. He’s considering pushing him downstairs when the paints start to mock him as well.
“Oh, the great Todoroki. I knew your father. He too was a—”
“I am not my father,” Todoroki hisses.
Katsuki blinks, perplexed, as finally, he has seen some real emotion in the boy. The way Todoroki is shaking, fists clenched and glaring at the canvas is familiar, and when Todoroki keeps talking and adds, “I am nothing like that bastard.” Katsuki feels shaken to the core as he hears the other curse.
Laughing, he flips off the painting again. “You’ve heard him, fool, he’s nothing like his old man. Now take this!”
Grabbing Todoroki, both start to run downstairs, ignoring the yelps and indignant screams from the paintings. As they reach the outdoor patio, they bend over, heavily panting, and as Katsuki sees how close they are one from the other, he quickly moves away and kicks some snow.
“Alright, Halfie, let’s make some snowballs. Even an idiot can do them, okay? And for fuck’s sake: do not take the gloves off unless you want to end up being the only wizard that holds his wand with his mouth.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because your fingers will fall off!”
“Mmh, I’m pretty sure the nurse must have something that cures ice burns.”
“Wanna give it a try?”
Todoroki shakes his head and crouches, burying his hand in the snow as he observes it. Katsuki stares at him intently, and even if it’s hard as hell to tell, he can see that the boy seems excited as his eyes are shining a little and one corner of his mouth seems to be slightly higher than the other. Kneeling next to him, he grabs some snow and presses it together, making a compact ball as he mumbles aloud what is he doing. He sees Todoroki observing him before he starts to imitate him, making a smaller and irregular ball. It’s ridiculous, and Katsuki is going to mock him when he sees that the fucker actually seems proud of himself. It’s weird, in class, Katsuki has decided that Todoroki is his rival. He sees him as that because, in the end, it’s the two of them who are always answering the questions of the teachers. True, they always miss whenever they have a shared class with Yaoyorozu from Ravenclaw, but otherwise, if Katsuki fails to answer, the Professor always asks Todoroki, who answers in a monotone voice the correct answer. Katsuki thought the boy did it in a mocking way, showing off his superiority over him, but now that he can actually see how Todoroki looks when he’s proud of himself… he realizes he might have been wrong all along, not only in his answers but also in his analysis of him.
He hates being wrong.
They keep making more snowballs, and Todoroki taps him on the arm and shows him a perfect ball.
“For you. I did one that looks like yours.”
“Dumbass, you can’t give me your ammo.”
“My what now?”
Rolling his eyes, he pulls out his wand and makes his snowballs levitate with a smirk. “Now that we have enough, the war begins. In a snowball fight, you throw them at your rival. Me in your case, you in mine.”
“Oh.”
Moving away, Katsuki waits to be five steps away from Todoroki before he takes one and quickly throws it on his head.
“BULLSEYE!” He screams.
Todoroki stays still and Katsuki wonders for a second if perhaps he hasn’t got the point in the whole thing, but when a snowball hits him on the back, he turns around just in time to see two more incoming. Dodging them, he throws one at Todoroki and sees him with his wand out, guiding them at him.
“OI! That’s cheating, we said a snowball fight, a regular one, not a magical one!”
Todoroki lowers his wand. “Oh, I apologise.”
Before Katsuki can mock him, Todoroki throws one at him and fails as he gets short with the strength. The ball falls in the middle, between them and Katsuki can’t help himself, he laughs so hard it hurts his stomach while he mocks him between puffs of air. “Wow! You have no strength. My baby cousin has more than you. She threw her pacifier across our living room as if nothing I’m telling y—”
A snowball hits him straight in the face, and as the snow falls, he sees Todoroki with a raised brow and a tiny smirk as he’s crafting another ball. “You were saying?”
“Oh fucker, it’s on. It’s so on you won’t even see it coming.”
“Pretty sure I will, since magic is not allowed. You can only throw them from my front.”
Katsuki grins as he accepts the challenge. Rushing, he skids on the ground and hides behind some trees before he starts to make some balls. As he hears Todoroki approaching, snow crunching under his boots, he quickly throws one mock ball on the left and quickly runs towards the right, where he finds that the boy has fallen for his trap as his back is facing him. Katsuki smiles viciously before he hits him three times with three perfect throws to the head.
Todoroki counterattacks and soon, Katsuki stops keeping a score as he’s somehow having fun with the boy who seemed to not even know what the word meant or that it existed. As he feels his fingers getting numb, even if he has the protection of the gloves, he shakes off all the snow he has got on his hair and calls to the other boy to stop shooting.
“Oi, my fingers are going to fucking fall off, and I’m hungry as hell. You up for some food?”
“… okay. I’d like some Christmas cookies if there are still some left.”
Peeking from behind the wall he was using as coverage, he sees Todoroki isn’t with a snowball in either of his hands, ready to throw them at him, going against their truce, so he releases the one he was holding (just in case) and approaches him.
“Christmas cookies? That’s what you’ve eaten?”
“No. They also had roast turkey, potatoes, and pudding. Well, there were more things, but I mainly ate those.”
He feels the question on the tip of his tongue: why did you stay instead of going back home?, but remains silent as they are not friends and he definitely doesn’t want to come off as if he cared about what Todoroki does or doesn’t do.
As they go to the Great Hall, Katsuki sees the illusion of snow falling from the ceiling and the Christmas decorations still up, along with the remains of the feast. They seem to be the only students around. As they sit, Katsuki hesitates as he usually sits on the other side of the table, not next to Todoroki… but that would be weird, since there’s only the two of them now. Sitting next to the bicolored boy, he starts eating in silence as Todoroki does the same.
Once they are almost finishing the dessert, he sees Todoroki hesitating before he quietly asks him, “I was thinking of going to the library to study a little bit. Would you like to come with me?”
He doesn’t even need to think about it too much. Passing on the opportunity of studying as much as his academic rival does? No way.
“Lead the way, Halfie.”
“Shouto. My name is Shouto, not Halfie or half and half. I believe you have also called me that?”
Shrugging, he ignores his question as he stands up and, taking the coat he has left on the bench, he starts to walk ahead with Todoroki following him.
Maybe spending half of Christmas in Hogwarts with this boy wasn’t on his plans, but that’s how Katsuki spends it. Somehow once the rest of the students come back, he finds himself voluntarily sitting, studying and eating in silence with the other boy, who doesn’t seem to mind his outbursts, teasing or blunt nature as Katsuki finds out he too is quite blunt, but not in the same manner Katsuki is: Shouto simply has no filter and little to barely non-existent knowledge of the real world. Once more, Katsuki is curious, so, so curious about the boy born with everything.