Chapter Text
“I think I saw one around here…” mumbled Todoroki, more to his own buttons than to his still clueless ‘spouse’. They were back on the same street where they had previously caught the group of wannabe thieves, which was now a whole lot calmer without all of those police cars and curious onlookers. Some areas were still cordoned off due to the damage to the buildings, but the repairs were already underway. Because of that and having paid little attention to their surroundings earlier, it took Todoroki a while to locate the store in question. “Oh, there it is. I had the feeling we had passed by one on our way to the movie theatre, and it seems I was right.”
“Wait, this is where you want to go next?” asked Bakugou once he managed to close his wide-open mouth. He was already expecting weirdness to come his way, seeing as this was Todoroki he was dealing with here, but such an establishment wasn’t necessarily what he had been counting on. “You’re the last person I imagined wanting to go to jewelry stores on a day off…”
“Usually, yeah, I wouldn’t want to visit this sort of store,” acknowledged Todoroki, holding Bakugou’s hand a bit more tightly just in case he was getting ready to beat a hasty retreat. “But I think it’s about time we buy them, right? We’ve been married for a few days now, and with the amount of photos everybody has been taking of us, people might start suspecting something is missing.”
“Why even bother? That’d be a total waste of money…” groaned Bakugou, quickly getting the gist of what Todoroki was talking about without the words ‘wedding rings’ having to be mentioned even once. “Besides, it’s not like we can wear or carry them with us. Not with our Quirks. They’d melt or break in record time, and I’m not about to add jewelry to my weekly shopping list.”
“They might have something we can wear. We won’t know until we ask,” insisted Todoroki, pulling at Bakugou’s hand to drag him inside the jewelry store too. He was fully aware of the hardships they’d face in finding something compatible not only with their Quirks but also with their lifestyle as pro heroes. However, he wasn’t going to give up on buying a pair of wedding rings until an expert told him that such a product did not currently exist.
“Stubbornness truly runs in the family with you guys, doesn’t it…?” grumbled Bakugou under his breath as he was swiftly brought inside the small store. Due to the location and the time of day, the store was pretty much empty, with just one older lady currently browsing through the glass displays by one of the walls. Bakugou was more than okay with that, as he didn’t want more sets of photos of him doing ridiculous stuff plaguing his social media and news feed, all for the sake of this unofficial mission.
“Hm… I’d say something simple would be the best for us, but…” said Todoroki, ignoring completely his ‘husband’s’ annoyed grumblings and the pouty frown on his face. He wasn’t an expert in jewelry or metals, but he had a certain notion of what the melting points of the more famous ones were.
It would be easy to find rings made of a material that could withstand the highest temperatures of his flames, like gold, platinum and even tungsten. The problem was the rapid cooling of said metals and the strain of constantly switching between two very extreme temperatures. Some alloys got stronger by rapidly cooling them, while others got brittle and deformed. Safety also needed to be taken into consideration, as very hot and very cold metal could cause severe burns, through both direct and indirect contact with human skin.
Then, of course, Bakugou’s Quirk brought about an entirely new set of issues. Extreme temperatures weren’t as much of a problem in his case, but constant explosions definitely caused a type of wear and tear that had never been tested in the jewelry trade. There was simply no telling what kind of damage the ring would sustain or how the material would react to it over a prolonged period.
“Like I keep telling you, this is a waste of time and money,” sighed Bakugou, rolling his eyes at the intense stare his ‘husband’ was throwing at the ring section of one of the display cases. “Most pro heroes don’t wear jewelry for a reason, yeah? Your father doesn’t wear a wedding ring either, as far as I’m aware.”
“That’s all the more reason for us to get them,” declared Todoroki, now twice as determined to find himself and Bakugou the perfect wedding rings. Seeing as even his father didn’t wear one, both during and outside his work hours, strutting about the hero agency with one on his ring finger seemed like a wonderful way to stick it to him. And for that, mindlessly browsing the display cases simply wasn’t cutting it. Todoroki walked straight to the store attendant with a grumbling Bakugou in hand. “Excuse me, we’re looking for wedding rings.”
“Oh. Certainly,” said the older man after blinking a couple of times at the unexpected customers that had just waltzed into his store. “What sort of rings are you looking for?”
“I don’t know,” admitted Todoroki, cutting right to the chase with the biggest roadblock he had ahead of him. “We’re pro heroes and our Quirks aren’t very jewelry-friendly. I’m pretty sure regular rings would either melt or break in a matter of days.”
“Hmm… Indeed, rings might not be a good match for you,” remarked the older man, knowing what he knew about these two famous pro heroes. “My best suggestion would be to simply avoid wearing them during your work hours, or remove them whenever you are using your Quirks.”
“I’d prefer it if we could keep them on at all times, though…” insisted Todoroki, even his expressionless face unable to contain how heartbroken that advice had gotten him.
“That is a bit of a challenge, given your circumstances,” said the older man, also sad to have to be the bearer of bad news. “While the raw material itself can be made to be durable, jewelry is simply not created with that intention in mind. It is oftentimes too fragile, even. I’m afraid you will be hard-pressed to find wedding rings that meet your needs, both here at my store and at other ones.”
“Told you so…” mumbled Bakugou after having heard exactly what he had already told Todoroki earlier.
“Oh…” Todoroki’s shoulders dropped despondently instantly. His dream of wearing matching wedding rings with Bakugou and rubbing them all over his father’s face had gone down the drain not even an hour after it had been born…
“However, if you do not mind having a still experimental product as your wedding rings, I do have something that might be of interest to the two of you,” announced the older man soon after, which promptly restored the expectant glint in Todoroki’s heterochromatic eyes. “Please excuse me for just a moment.”
“...?” Todoroki and Bakugou exchanged a puzzled look with one another as the older man turned around and went inside the staff-only area accessible from behind the counter where he had been sitting.
“This here is my grandson, who is currently mentoring under me to, hopefully, one day inherit my store once I retire,” explained the older man once he returned to the counter, this time accompanied by a much younger man with a striking resemblance to him. They were very obviously related to one another, as the older man had most kindly pointed out. “My grandson has only been studying to become a jeweller for a year, so he’s still quite wet behind the ears, but I can assure you he has what it takes to one day make a name for himself.”
“Okay…?” acknowledged Todoroki with a very uncertain tone, not entirely sure where exactly the store owner was trying to get at with this whole conversation.
“Oh, excuse me. This isn’t the time to be bragging about my grandson, ohoho,” laughed the older man once he noticed the increasingly more confused demeanour in his customers’ faces. “As a jeweller-in-training, he was fortunately gifted with a quite unusual, but very fitting Quirk. Are you familiar with the concept of indestructible objects?”
“Like, the ones in video games?” asked Bakugou, his eyebrow getting even more arched at that seemingly random question. He wasn’t much of a gamer, but as a former child with an actual childhood, he was familiar with the term. Todoroki, on the other hand, had no clue what they were talking about.
“Yes, yes. My grandson’s Quirk allows him to create something similar to it, so long as it is something he can fit in the palm of his hand,” explained the older man as he urged his grandson to put down the tray he had brought from the backroom on the counter. On it laid several trinkets and accessories, all of them small in size. The older man grabbed what looked like a glass rose bud and brought it to Todoroki. “If you wouldn’t mind, could you please try to melt this glass rose with your Quirk?”
“Sure.” Todoroki accepted that request without thinking twice, mainly because he was so very curious about this atypical jewelry store activity. While holding the small rose bud with his left hand, he created a small burst of strong flames. But nothing much happened to the intricate trinket. The glass neither heated up nor melted despite the surrounding fire. “Oh.”
“As you can see, the objects created by my grandson’s Quirk are, in layman's terms, indestructible objects. Or, at the very least, something similar to it,” proceeded the older man now that he had provided his customers with a little demonstration. “Unfortunately, it is possible to destroy my grandson’s creations, but only under very specific conditions, as far as we’re aware. The first condition is that my grandson wants them destroyed. As their creator, he can revoke their status as indestructible objects whenever he so wishes. The second condition is if the origin of the material wishes for it to be destroyed. Of course, this is still an experimental production method that hasn’t been approved for sale yet, so there might be other conditions we are still not aware of.”
“Wait, hold on. What do you even mean, if the origin of the material wishes for it to be destroyed?” asked Bakugou, wanting to backtrack and seek some clarification due to the extremely confusing wording used for the second condition.
“I can only use organic matter as the raw material…” explained the grandson, his hand timidly raised in the air. “The glass rose was created using an actual rose. And I’ve made that dog-shaped pendant using some fur from my pet dog… I’ve never sold any product created with my Quirk, but friends and family have requested that I make some accessories using their hair locks, to make the final product more personal and meaningful. In those cases, the origin of the material, or in other words, the person from whom it originally came, can override the indestructible object status and destroy it…”
“Oh. We’ll take that, then,” said Todoroki right away, almost as if those words had broken free from his vocal cords by their own initiative. Luckily, both his brain and heart also held the same opinion on the matter, so his impulsive response turned out to be a-okay in his book.
“Hey!” Bakugou, on the other hand, wasn’t as quick at making up his mind, especially when related to such an odd item that wasn’t even a proper product for sale yet. Who knew if there wasn’t some sort of nefarious effect secretly cast into it, or if it wouldn’t fall within the classification of ‘illegal item’ as far as the HPS Commission was concerned…
“But don’t they sound like something perfect for us?” pointed out Todoroki, already deploying his expressionless puppy-dog eyes while looking at Bakugou. “If we use the ring created from the other’s ‘raw material’, our Quirks wouldn’t be able to damage them, even if we keep them on while we’re at work. Plus, knowing my father, he’s gonna be pissed about us wearing something like this as our wedding rings. But no matter how many times he tries, he won’t be able to destroy them. I see that as a win-win for everyone involved. Save for him, obviously.”
“Grrr…” While he still wasn’t entirely sold on the idea, Bakugou had to admit those were very convincing arguments. He, too, had the feeling that his ‘father-in-law’ wasn’t going to be all that happy about the rings and would try to melt them as soon as they were off their fingers. But with them not having to take them off for any reason, not even while at work, Endeavor simply wouldn’t have any opportunities to try to get rid of them, let alone find out they were ‘indestructible items’ to begin with - so long as Todoroki didn’t open his big mouth about it, of course.
“How much would two wedding rings of that kind be?” asked Todoroki, proceeding with his shopping plan now that he had obtained Bakugou’s begrudgingly silent consent.
“Oh, they wouldn’t cost you anything,” answered the older man, already grabbing his ring size measuring tools and a notebook and pen to get the planning started. He chuckled a little bit when he noticed his words had been met with an expressionless raised eyebrow and a very suspicious crimson glare. “I cannot in good conscience ask that a customer pay for an experimental product. It’s still being developed, which means it might not be at a stage where it can be sold to the general public without damaging the store’s or my grandson’s reputation. That’s why I don’t feel comfortable with adding a price tag to it just yet.”
“Yes, exactly…” added the grandson, albeit a bit more reluctantly than his mentor. “If possible, I’d also like to have the jewelry created by my Quirk tested in all sorts of environments, to better ascertain what kind of customers and lifestyles they would be best suited for. Being worn every day by pro heroes like you is the best type of durability testing and quality control we could ask for…”
“If you end up finding the final product to be lacking or if you have any issues with the rings at a later date, feel free to come back to our store. We’ll get the issues fixed or replace the product altogether with something more fitting,” reassured the older man, smoothly including a few more benefits to their ‘business exchange’ to make it more enticing, as the experienced salesman that he was. “Also for free, of course.”
“...That sounds way too good to be true,” grumbled Bakugou, not relenting with his suspicious glare. “What’s the catch, huh? Don’t think you can buy my favour or anything along those lines with gifts and free services. No matter what others might say about me behind my back, I can’t be bought or owned.”
“Oh, no, no. That isn’t our intention in the slightest,” said the older man, shaking his head in denial of that (perhaps warranted) accusation. His grandson, likewise, turned ghastly pale, thinking they had just inadvertently gotten themselves in trouble with two highly ranked pro heroes. “We’re fully aware that pro heroes are public servants and don’t work for the betterment of anyone but the country as a whole. This isn’t a bribe or an attempt at currying favour with both of you. Though I must admit… Without your intervention here today, I could have been out of a job right now or, worse yet, lost my grandson. So I can’t deny that there is a bit of gratitude mixed into our offer that might make these free items and services akin to a gift brought forward by your earlier actions…”
“We were only doing our job, though. Kinda,” pointed out Todoroki, not having expected to be so openly thanked for the earlier rescue and villain apprehension. While they were technically on vacation, they still had a duty to act in case of an emergency. Since there hadn’t been any other pro heroes around at the time and the police officers chasing the thieves had been blocked somewhere else, it was up to Bakugou and him to step up to the plate and make sure no one got hurt. However, the moment other pro heroes and the police arrived, they took a step back and let them deal with the rest of the case after providing them with their version of the events.
“Yes, but we are thankful for it, nevertheless,” chuckled the older man. He had been alive for a long, long time now and had learned plenty throughout those years. To see these two young men acting in accordance with their duties without seeking to gain anything else but what they rightfully deserved was a testament to how much the quality of pro heroes had improved as of late. “It would be an honour to have you two be the very first people to wear our new jewelry line on a trial basis.”
They exchanged another silent glance between themselves before Bakugou sighed and grumbled a moody “Fine, if you insist,” which got Todoroki chuckling as he provided the store owner and his grandson with a more definite ‘yes’.
With the entire fabrication happening through the power of a Quirk, the majority of the process was spent getting all the measurements and details about the design written down in a notebook, for the sake of safekeeping all the information about the final product in case there were any issues with it at a later date. Despite them being meant to symbolise their ‘marriage’, both Todoroki and Bakugou agreed about keeping the rings as simple as possible, as that would make them safer to wear while performing their work as pro heroes - while the rings themselves might be ‘indestructible objects’, their hero costumes and those around them were not, so they didn’t want to take any risks with elaborate designs or additional elements like gemstones.
Once the design was discussed, sketched on paper and approved by the ‘couple’, the creation of the indestructible object-like rings could be initiated.
“All you need is a bit of our hair, right?” asked Todoroki as he reached for the scissors that had been placed on top of the counter.
“Yes,” confirmed the grandson with a couple of nods of his head. “Since the design is so simple, I won’t need much of it either. A lock of hair big enough to circle your ring fingers, give or take, is more than enough.”
“Oka- Oh.” Todoroki was about to turn the scissors towards his own head to cut the required amount of hair when they were suddenly snatched away from his hand.
“Give that to me. If you do it, someone is gonna end up with a huge bald spot on their damned head,” grumbled Bakugou, his sixth sense telling him that leaving the hair cutting in his ‘husband’s’ hands would go down as nicely as giving a pair of scissors to a toddler. He wasn’t about to let a complete klutz who is unable to fully control his strength be the one in charge of such an important step. Bakugou cut the indicated length of his own hair with steady hands before repeating the same process with Todoroki, always careful with the area where he was chopping it from. Once he was done, he gave both locks of hair to the grandson. “Here ya go. Now, hurry it up.”
“Y-Yes, of course,” acknowledged the grandson, promptly putting his Quirk to good use after confirming that the ‘raw material’ was the correct amount and length for what it was intended for. With the design being so simple, the creation process was fairly straightforward and not all that time-consuming.
As he held the locks of hair in his closed hands, one lock in each, he could feel them changing into something more solid and with a completely different shape. When he opened his hands again, all that could be found on them were a pair of identical rings. The only difference between the two indestructible object-like wedding rings was their colours: one was golden, the other a light silver with thin streaks of red, just like the locks of hair that had originated them.
“What do you think…?” asked the grandson with a bit of hesitation, uncertain if his creation was up to the two pro heroes’ standards, even if they did look exactly as they had agreed on.
“Yeah, it’ll do,” said Bakugou with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders. He grabbed the silver ring and put it on his ring finger, wanting to check if it fit correctly or not. “The size is just fine, too.”
“Shouldn’t I be the one putting it on your finger?” pointed out Todoroki, his head slightly cocked to the left. In his mind, he had the impression that was how the ring exchange went, but then again, this wasn’t a wedding ceremony of any kind, so maybe it didn’t work like that…
“You think I need help putting a ring on?” grumbled Bakugou while throwing a moody stink eye at his ‘husband’. He was already annoyed at having to do all of this stuff for a measly accessory; adding to that could very well be the last mistake someone would make before they breathed their last. Obviously, Todoroki was completely oblivious to that, and it showed right away.
“No, but isn’t that the normal protocol for this kind of stuff?” noted Todoroki, choosing to do things by the book when unsure about the proper way of doing something. “You can also put my ring on my finger.”
“If you make me touch that, I’m gonna destroy it,” hissed Bakugou, his face all scrunched up with a frown, before he turned around on his heels and started stomping out of the jewelry store. Inwardly, he was fuming - albeit the core emotion behind that tempestuous mood was up for debate. Why the hell does that half-assed dumbass always have to open his stupid mouth to spout all sorts of nonsense stuff? Who would want him to put a ring on their finger? Not me, that’s for sure! If he wants the normal wedding route, he can hurry it up with our mission, finish it, divorce me and get married to someone as brainless as him! ‘Cuz I ain’t doing it! Never! ABSOLUTELY NEVER!
“Oh…” Todoroki could only watch as Bakugou stormed off during yet another of his hissy fits. While he knew this was just par for the course, typical gremlin Bakugou behaviour, he still couldn’t help but feel a tiny little bit disappointed at being told no in such an upfront way…
“One last piece of advice before you go your merry way,” chuckled the older man after witnessing the little bickering interaction. “Throughout the years, I’ve seen and talked with all sorts of couples. With someone like your spouse, I’d say you’d be more successful if other people aren’t present. You should try again when it’s just the two of you. If you do, I’m sure you’ll get to enjoy the intimate moment you were hoping for.”
“Oh. Okay. I will,” said Todoroki with a small nod of his head, even though he wasn’t entirely sure what exactly he was hoping for, to begin with. Something other than a rejection would be good, of course, but aside from that, Todoroki was having a hard time coming up with a proper set of expectations. Nevertheless, any piece of advice that might lead to a better relationship with Bakugou was highly appreciated. “Thank you.”
After exchanging some final pleasantries with both the older gentleman and his grandson, Todoroki too left the jewelry store, intending to find and go after Bakugou. With how little time had passed, he couldn’t have stormed off too far away. A quick turn to the street next door was all it took for Todoroki to find the man he was looking for.
“Ba-” Todoroki was going to call him and get his attention, but a single glance at the current look on his face immediately told him to pipe down and approach with caution. “Um… Is something wrong?”
“I’m gonna kill Kaminari. Like, kill kill him,” said Bakugou, his voice calm but so very cold and menacing. The earlier sulky undertone of his frowning expression had completely faded, and pure, unadulterated anger was the only thing left behind. “I should have hit him with the poisonous human porcupine after all. That’s going to be a regret I will carry for the rest of my life, and the reason why he’ll be dead by the end of this week, that I promise you.”
“Oh,” gasped Todoroki when he took a peek at the screen of Bakugou’s smartphone. There, your regular news feed was open. The titles of every single news article currently being featured in it had their names followed by the words ‘out on a date’ and other similar remarks. Todoroki also quickly found the mention of Chargebolt in a few headlines, as a confirmation of the source used for the news articles.
Perhaps because the cat was out of the bag in such an open, official way, others stopped being as reticent about discussing that suspected possibility, especially online. The floodgates burst wide open, and from it came a never-ending supply of social media posts raving about having spotted the newlywed couple here and there, alongside all sorts of photos and small videos of them out in the wild and getting all flirty with one another.
Just like that, Todoroki and Bakugou conquered the no. 1 trending spot and broke the internet for the nth time that week.