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Festivals were not Todoroki’s thing -- unless it was a sports festival or some other event where all he had to do was show up and throw ice and fire around. Social gatherings, in general, made him uncomfortable and he typically preferred not to go to them. Socializing had never been a big part of his upbringing. If anything, his father had discouraged it. Everyone was a potential rival, after all, not a friend.
Which is why when Midoriya suggested going to the pride festival the school had decided to hold on campus, Todoroki immediately -- and noticeably, from Midoriya’s reaction -- balked. He had heard about it, but he was ashamed to admit it had never even crossed his mind that Midoriya might want to go.
“We don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I just thought it sounded fun.”
There was no accusation in Midoriya’s voice. If Todoroki said no, that would be the end of it. Midoriya wasn’t the kind of person who would try to insist or guilt him into doing something he didn’t want to do. He’d probably call up Uraraka and Iida and go to the festival with them, have a good time, and bring Todoroki back a souvenir or two. Truthfully, Todoroki wasn’t used to having actual choices laid out before him.
He almost said no.
His orientation had never been something he’d been particularly proud of. Endeavor had never said anything explicitly homophobic to him -- partially because Todoroki hid it from him as best as he could -- but he reminded Todoroki often enough that as his prized child he had a duty to continue the family line. The implication was certainly there, and so being gay was something Todoroki tried to avoid thinking about at all -- at least until his relationship with Midoriya had become romantic. It wasn’t something he was used to talking about or acknowledging and it definitely wasn’t something he’d ever considered celebrating until his boyfriend had suggested it.
“I want to go.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want you to go because you feel like I’m pressuring you or--”
Todoroki gave him a small smile. “You aren’t. I think it’ll be fun.”
“Really?”
“You’ll be there. That’s a few points in its favor.”
Midoriya’s bright smile was worth any lingering misgivings he might have had.
~
What did people even do at these kinds of things? Walk around? And do what? Were there arts? Crafts? Todoroki realized he had no idea what to expect and, at this point, he was a little embarrassed to ask. He knew Midoriya would be happy to explain anything and everything, in detail, and ordinarily Todoroki would have been happy to let him, but he already felt foolish enough.
“You look nervous.”
“Do I?”
Midoriya laughed, sounding a little nervous himself. “Kind of. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah.” He just wasn’t sure what to do with himself, which he supposed really wasn’t that different from his usual day-to-day life. “Midoriya…” The other boy looked at him expectantly and it was too late to back out of the question now. “What do you do at a pride festival?”
“Todoroki, is that what’s bothering you?”
He stared down at the ground. “I don’t know anything about this kind of stuff.”
“You just have fun! You just walk around, hang out with your friends, meet new people, participate in group activities... Things like that!”
That sounded terrifying, honestly.
~
Todoroki wasn’t sure how many people he’d been expecting to be at the festival, but he was taken aback by just how many people were there. He wasn’t in the habit of guessing at people’s orientations and he certainly never asked anyone. The only reason he knew Midoriya was bi was that, well, they were dating. He supposed he had just sort of assumed most people at their school were straight.
He’d been wrong.
The entire school wasn’t there, but a substantial percentage of it was. The place was bustling with activity. Maybe that should have been a comforting thought: that he and Midoriya were in the presence of so many kindred spirits. Instead, he found it intimidating. Everywhere around him, students were sporting colorful signs and shirts and ostentatious face makeup and he was just sort of… there, in the middle of it. He felt overwhelmed and woefully out of place.
“Well,” Midoriya said, thankfully oblivious to the small breakdown Todoroki was having, “where should we go first?”
It was hard to focus on any fixed destination. The festival grounds themselves weren’t as big as they possibly could have been, but there was so much happening simultaneously, and so many people milling around, that it seemed like utter chaos.
Midoriya reached out and took his hand. It gave him something to focus on, which helped Todoroki get his bearings, a little. Maybe he wasn’t so oblivious, after all.
~
“Hey, we should go look over there!”
Todoroki’s eyes followed the line of Midoriya’s pointed finger. The tent was a garish shade of bright pink that made it impossible to miss. It also had a sign hanging just to the right of the entrance that said in bold, bright letters “Face Painting Fun.”
He wasn’t sure how to respond, but Midoriya was still holding his hand and they were already heading in that direction. He was grateful, actually -- he wasn’t sure he’d be able to find him again in the sea of people if they’d gotten separated.
“What do people get painted on their face?”
“Whatever you want,” Midoriya explained, “but at this kind of thing, most people get rainbows and stuff like that.”
There were fewer people near the tent itself, which was a relief. Although, he wondered: if face-painting was such a past-time at an event like this, why weren’t there more people lining up to get it done? It was around noon, though, so maybe everyone was more interested in food than paint. At the thought, his stomach growled.
Midoriya laughed and Todoroki felt his face heat.
“We could get lunch if you want.”
“No, let’s get our faces painted.”
Todoroki knew if they walked away from this tent, he was going to talk himself out of doing it and he was determined -- fiercely determined -- to participate, both for his and Midoriya’s sake. They hadn’t been dating for very long and he understood how important a day like today was to them both. It meant a lot to him that Midoriya was proud to be with him, and he wanted to show him that he was proud, too. And if that meant letting someone slather paint on his face, so be it.
He was ready.
Midoriya ran a hand through his hair and gave him a sheepish smile. “Um, I can’t, actually. I’m allergic to face paint.”
“Oh.”
“I just figured maybe we could watch other people get painted, but I don’t think anyone’s here…” He was trying his best to hide it, but Todoroki could tell he was a little disappointed.
“I’ll do it.”
“What? Really?”
He was a bit nervous, but Midoriya’s enthusiasm had a way of being oddly contagious. Why were they here, if not to celebrate? It was still kind of foreign concept to Todoroki, but he was willing to give it a shot.
“Yes, really. I want to do it.”
“I’m not even sure if the artist is in there right now, though. They might’ve left for lunch, too.”
He had a point. With the tent flap shut, it was hard to tell if anyone was inside. In the few minutes they’d stood outside, there’d been no activity. Nobody had gone in or come out. “I’ll go inside and check. Why don’t you go find us somewhere to eat and we’ll meet up back here.”
“Good idea,” Midoriya said. “I wonder if they have a map up around here somewhere…”
Midoriya disappeared into the steady stream of people flowing past the tent.
Todoroki pulled back the flap on the self-proclaimed “Face Painting Fun” tent. He had half expected to find it empty. What he found inside instead caught him completely off-guard.
The person Todoroki could only assume was the hypothetical face painter was hunched over towards the back of the tent, digging through several boxes and spreading various painting supplies out on a nearby table. He’d looked up when he’d heard Todoroki walk in.
“Oh, great,” Bakugou grumbled. “It’s you.”
Todoroki couldn’t help but stare. “What are you doing here?”
His fellow student leveled a baleful glare at him before straightening and waving a paintbrush in the air. “Take a wild guess, idiot.”
“ You’re the face painter?”
Todoroki was starting to have some second, third, and fourth thoughts about this, but he was already here. He intended to see it through.
“Yeah, I am. So are we doing this or what?”
He glanced at the boxes, and the table, and said, “Should I come back later?”
“Now’s as good a time as any. Might as well get this shit over with.”
Todoroki hesitated. He considered waiting for Midoriya -- after all, this had been his idea and he’d probably want to be there. At this point, though, the prospect of standing here in awkward silence with Bakugou for however long it took for Midoriya to return was more daunting than the thought of having his face painted. Besides, Bakugou probably wouldn’t be too thrilled to have Midoriya around during what he could only hope would be an actual artistic process and not just Bakugou angrily stabbing him with a paintbrush.
“Yes,” he said, “we are.”
~
Talking with Midoriya was easy, both because Midoriya was easy to talk to and because Midoriya did a large part of the talking himself. Sitting here with Bakugou was an entirely different experience. Todoroki had no idea what to say.
“I didn’t know you were gay,” was probably not it, and yet those were the words that left his mouth. He wondered if it was too late to transfer to a school overseas.
“And I didn’t know you were gay. We’re both just fucking full of surprises.”
“I--”
“Anyway, I’m not.”
“Not…?”
Bakugou gave him a look. “Gay. I’m bi.”
“Oh.”
He hadn’t really needed to offer that information, but he had. It almost felt like they were on the cusp of some sort of bonding moment. Almost.
“You come here with Deku?”
“Yeah.”
“I figured.”
After that exchange, they sat there perched on their respective stools in silence while Bakugou painted. Bakugou looked calmer than usual while he was focused on his work. There was a mirror the table beside them, but Todoroki couldn’t see anything in it from where he was sitting. Bakugou could have been calmly painting an explosion on his face, for all he knew. All he had to go by were the slow, careful strokes of the brush and he wasn’t nearly self-aware enough to tell what was being done by touch alone.
The coolness of the paint and the soft, repetitive touches of the brush were actually a little soothing.
“How did you end up here?” Todoroki asked. “Painting, I mean.”
“I’m the best artist in our class,” Bakugou replied, in a tone that said, What, isn’t it obvious?
It hadn’t been -- at least, not to Todoroki. In fact, he didn’t know much about Bakugou at all, really, besides his explosive tendencies. “Does that necessarily translate into being good at face painting?”
“Not smart to insult my skills when I have a pointy object in my hand, Icyhot.”
“I didn’t mean it as an insult,” Todoroki replied cautiously. “I’m just curious.”
Bakugou stared at him for a few seconds, like he was trying to determine whether he was being sincere or not. “Skin’s trickier than paper, yeah, but you’d better fucking believe this is the best rainbow you’re ever going to have on your face.”
Todoroki didn’t exactly plan on having very many rainbows on his face in his lifetime, but he didn’t think mentioning that would be wise.
~
The first thing he saw when he ducked out of the tent was Midoriya weaving his way through the crowd, headed back towards him. In each hand, he was clutching what appeared to be two brightly colored scarves he must have picked up along the way. They looked sadly inedible. He blinked in surprise and grinned when he spotted Todoroki.
Bakugou had, before Todoroki had left the tent, grabbed the mirror and shown him his handiwork. He had to admit, the smooth, vibrant lines that swept up and over the right side of his face from cheek to forehead probably was the best rainbow he’d ever have on his face -- even if the edges of the clouds that pillowed each end were sharper and pointier than typical cloud formations.
“So somebody was in there!” Before Todoroki had the chance to apologize for going ahead without him, Midoriya was already continuing on, “It looks great, Todoroki!”
“Bakugou did it,” The whole experience still felt a bit surreal.
“Kacchan’s the face painter?!”
“He’s pretty good, believe it or not,” Todoroki replied, gesturing at his face.
“I believe it, I just can’t believe he’d actually volunteer to do it.”
That was a fair point. As far as Todoroki knew, everyone participating in the booths and tents were doing so voluntarily and Bakugou didn’t strike him as the type to volunteer for much of anything. His being a good artist explained why he was a good choice for the job, but not necessarily why he would have chosen to do it in the first place.
“Oh, hey, guys! How’s it going?”
Kirishima stopped in front of the tent to adjust his grip on the biggest teddy bear Todoroki had ever laid his eyes on. If not for the top of his head being just barely visible, it would have looked like a stuffed bear had sprouted human legs and decided to walk around the festival of its own volition.
“It’s good! Todoroki just got his face painted.”
“Oh, really? Sweet! Hold on a minute…”
Their classmate grunted and wrestled around with the bear. For a second Todoroki thought the bear was going to win, but then Kirishima huffed and managed to shift the bear’s weight to one side so he could peek around at them, revealing his face had also been painted. Unlike Todoroki’s, Kirishima’s covered the entire upper half of his face. It looked a lot more like something Bakugou would paint when left to his own devices than the rainbow that Todoroki had gotten. It was red, white, and black with jagged, sharp edges and just enough iridescent glitter sprinkled across it to still look festive and situation-appropriate.
Midoriya beamed at him. “Oh, wow!”
“Right? Yours is pretty cool too, Todoroki!”
“Oh, thanks.”
He felt a little silly with a rainbow on his face, to be honest, but between Midoriya and Kirishima’s combined enthusiasm, which roughly equaled the intensity of the sun, he was starting to feel a little less self-conscious about it.
“Is that bear for Kacchan?” Midoriya asked.
It was hard to be sure with so much of his face covered in paint, but Todoroki was pretty sure Kirishima turned a shade redder.
“Yeah, I won it in one of the games! It was the top prize!” He sounded very proud. “Took me twelve tries, but so worth it. Just wait until he sees this thing.”
Bakugou didn’t strike Todoroki as the teddy bear type, but he wasn’t about to be the one to quash Kirishima’s illusions. Midoriya lifted the tent flap so Kirishima could make his way inside with the bear without getting tangled up. Kirishima waved one of the bear’s paws at them before disappearing inside.
Midoriya looked thoughtful. “Do you think Kirishima’s the one who talked him into face-painting?”
“Seems plausible.”
“Kacchan would probably kill me if he ever heard me say this,” Midoriya said, “but I think they make a really cute couple. They seem like they make each other happy, and it makes me happy for them too, you know?”
“Yeah,” Todoroki replied, nodding along with what Midoriya was saying and hoping he looked like someone who had known Bakugou and Kirishima were dating.
~
It turned out that somewhere between the face-painting tent and the stall Midoriya had bought the scarves, he had managed to find a place for them to eat. He’d also come across a small kiosk with printed maps of the festival grounds, which made the whole thing infinitely easier to navigate.
They’d already eaten lunch, walked around some more, and moved on to ice cream when Midoriya said, “You-- you look really cute with that face paint, you know.”
It took him conscious, concentrated effort not to turn the ice cream in his hand into a puddle.
“I do?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“You look pretty cute yourself.”
“I don’t have anything on my face, though,” Midoriya laughed, ducking his head.
“You have freckles.”
“Yeah, but they’re always there.”
“And you’re always cute.”
He blushed, which only made him all the cuter -- which, honestly, just wasn’t fair. Todoroki moved his cone to his other hand. At least if his right side flared up, it wouldn’t be as lethal to his ice cream. He took the opportunity to lean in and kiss Midoriya on one of his freckled cheeks.
Midoriya’s eyes were shining when Todoroki leaned back. “Thanks for coming today. It really means a lot to me.”
He laid a hand over Todoroki’s and Todoroki honestly couldn’t tell if it was sweat or steam that had made his hand clammy, but Midoriya didn’t seem to mind either way. They sat there together for a long while, watching the rest of the school come and go around them.
Todoroki felt content and, he thought, maybe even a little proud.