Chapter Text
“A pizzeria?”
Todoroki grinned. “Yeah. Are you in?”
Shinsou just blinked at him.
“Geez. You’d think I’d just asked you to stab yourself.” Todoroki rolled his eyes. “Take it as the compliment it is.”
Blink. “...It’s a compliment?”
Todoroki smiled even wider. “What else would it be?”
“A scam.”
Mouth dropping open, Todoroki let out a laugh. “You think I’m scamming you? How?”
“No.” Shinsou shifted his weight. “I think you want me to scam somebody for you. Why the hell else would you ask an eighteen year-old kid with no restaurant experience to join your crackhead business venture?”
Crossing his arms, Todoroki grinned at him. “Maybe because you’re smart...and honest. And I like you.”
Shinsou let out a sigh. “That’s nice, Todoroki, but,” he shook his head, “I was kind of aiming to go to college in the fall. Opening a restaurant is literally the last thing I pictured myself doing.”
“Oh?” Todoroki cocked his head. “What’d you want to study?”
Trying his best not to smile, Shinsou looked down. “Psychology.” He shrugged. “I want to help people.”
“Well,” Todoroki jumped up and sat on Shinsou’s dining room table, “money can help people, you know. Think about all you could do to help others if you had fuck-you money from being a restaurant owner.”
Shinsou raised an eyebrow. “Owner?”
Todoroki nodded. “I’ll give you partial ownership of the business. You, me, Midoriya, Bakugou…” he cleared his throat, “you know...everybody involved.”
Grabbing the back of his neck, Shinsou tightened a corner of his mouth. “That’s…” he shook his head, “wait: where are you even getting the capital to do this? You know if you take out a loan, and your business--”
“/Our/ business.”
“--flops, you’re -- I mean we’re going to be fucking ruined before the age of twenty.”
“I don’t need a loan.” Todoroki gave him a big, toothy smile.
“I find that hard to believe.” Shinsou crossed his arms. “What: you just have thousands of dollars stashed away in your piggy bank?”
“Let’s just say...Mom and I sued Endoucher, and won.”
Shinsou’s jaw dropped open. “What?”
Todoroki nodded. “Turns out you /can/ put a price on years of torture. So,” he tapped the scar, right under his eye, “thank you, Daddy.”
Blink. “You’ve just depressed the fuck out of me, you know that?”
“Enough to join my pizzeria business?” Biting his bottom lip, looking flirtier than usual, Todoroki swayed from side to side. “I’m not below accepting a pity gesture, you know.”
Shinsou rolled his eyes. “I honestly don’t know what I could do to help you.”
Todoroki crossed his legs. “I need a negotiator -- somebody who’s really good with people...somebody smart. I also need a brat tamer.” He nodded. “Got a lot of brats who need taming.”
“Isn’t that Midoriya?”
Todoroki snorted. “Midoriya’s a doormat. I need somebody who can say ‘no.’” He grinned. “You were the one guy I couldn’t manage to nail all through high school, so you’re pretty damn good at ‘no.’”
Shinsou couldn’t help but laugh.
He shrugged. “My gut tells me you’re the perfect one for the job, and I’m not ignoring my gut.”
Shinsou sighed. “You’re asking a lot, though. I can’t imagine I’ll be able to both, do this and attend college.”
“Hell, Shinsou: you do this, and I’ll /pay/ for you to go to college.”
“Really?” His eyes widened.
“Mmhm.” Todoroki nodded. “Besides: you might like this better, and wind up not even going.”
“Ha.” Shinsou ran his hands through his hair.
“Will you at least pop by the place I’m thinking of renting with me -- just to check it out? Maybe, if you actually see the place, you’d feel differently.”
After hesitating for a moment, Shinsou shook his head. “Fine. Just as long as you understand that I haven’t made up my mind about it yet.”
A victorious grin on his face, Todoroki pushed himself off of the table with a little jump. “Let’s go!”
“Well?” Todoroki looked at Shinsou. “What do you think?”
A drop fell through Shinsou’s stomach.
The place was cute...if you managed to see through all of the remodeling that needed to be done on it.
Shinsou sighed. “I think you’ve got your work cut out for you.” He looked at Todoroki. “Why this place? Aren’t there better ones that’re less…” he shrugged, “in need?”
“Because out of all of the places I’ve looked at, this one has the perfect setup for a fully visible brick oven.” He pointed toward the kitchen entrance. “People’ll eat that shit right up. Think about it: Korean barbecue...hibachi…”
After a few slow nods, Shinsou shrugged. “I get where you’re going with it.” Taking a few steps inward, he looked around a bit more. “What’s the rent on a place like this?”
“A problem.” Todoroki sighed. “The guy wants way more than market value -- he’s trying to take advantage of an inexperienced kid. I really need to talk him down.”
Shinsou let out a laugh. “And let me guess: that’s where I come in.”
Todoroki grinned at him. “Knew you were smart.”
“Todoroki...I’m not going to brainwash the guy into lowering the rent. That’d be unethical. And shitty.”
“It’d also be a lot easier, but if you won’t do it that way, just use your negotiation skills.”
He sighed. “I told you: I’m still not convinced about this.”
“Too good to be true?”
“Kind of.” Shinsou nodded. “I mean, you have no clue what you’re doing.”
“I don’t have to: I’m just financing it, and going to help fill in the gaps wherever we need help.”
“Then who’s running the business?”
“Midoriya.” He smiled. “Midoriya’s already done a whole bunch of research on how to run a restaurant -- he’s gotten, like, six notebooks filled with notes, and he wrote up a business plan.”
“OK: cooking?” Shinsou cocked his head.
Todoroki raised an eyebrow. “Bakugou, of course; anything he cooks is fucking ambrosia. Give me a hard one, will you?”
Shinsou gave him a look. “You’ll need a competent wait staff; you fuck up with that, and it’ll ruin your reputation.”
A wide grin came to Todoroki’s lips. “Oh, don’t you worry about that. I’ve got somebody who has sun rays beaming out of their asshole.”
“And that is?”
The old bell on the front door rang as it was pushed open. “Sorry I’m late, Todoroki!”
Eyes wide, Shinsou spun around. He /knew/ that voice...he practically /lived to hear/ that voice.
“Meet the face of the business, big boy.”
The sweaty, skinny blond, who was holding a big cardboard box, stumbled inside of the building. Quite a bit of his hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but the bottom hung loose, and his bangs were clipped over to the side with bright, plastic barrettes. “It’s so hot outside, I--” Once he made eye contact with Shinsou, he stopped, frozen in place.
...Then nearly dropped the box.
Shinsou ran up to him, taking the other side of the heavy box. “Careful, there.”
“Hah...thanks, Shinsou.” Cheeks flushed, sweat rolling down his face, Kaminari blinked up at him. “Wh--what’re you doing here?”
“Rejecting my advances...as usual.” Todoroki came up and took the box from them both. “Did you get all of the samples I asked for?”
Not taking his eyes from Shinsou, Kaminari nodded. “Y-yeah.”
“Oh, good.” Todoroki took off with the box, toward the kitchen.
Shinsou took a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Kaminari. “Here. It’ll hurt if the sweat gets in your eyes.”
“But...I’ll get your handkerchief all dirty.”
Shinsou smiled. “Nonsense.” He dabbed at Kaminari’s forehead, and could’ve sworn that his face flushed even more.
“So…” Kaminari squeaked, “Todoroki was trying to fuck you?”
A loud laugh came from behind them, and Shinsou snorted.
“In a manner of speaking.” Lifting Kaminari’s chin with a finger, Shinsou dabbed a bit more. “He wants me to join the business.”
Kaminari’s mouth opened. “Really? We could be working together?”
Shinsou nodded. “If I say ‘yes.’”
“Mm!” Kaminari bounced on his heels, making it difficult to wipe the sweat from his smiling face. “You’d make it so much fun! Please say ‘yes,’ Shinsou, please!”
“OK: yes.” Blink, blink.
//...Wait--//
Kaminari gasped. “REALLY?” He grinned so widely that his teeth showed. “Todoroki! Shinsou’s in!”
“I knew he would be!” Todoroki called from behind them. “Now, help me decide between these tiles, you two.”
Kaminari giggled, then took Shinsou by the hand. “Come on!”
As the blond dragged him along, he could’ve sworn his soul left his body for a moment…
//I’m so dumb.
I could be flushing my entire future down the toilet.//
...but, as he looked down at their joined hands, he smiled.
//Might as well enjoy the journey down.//