Archive of Our Own

Bakugou prided himself on being a wolf hybrid. He was dignified, noble, and strong, and above all else, he prided himself on having such a secure grasp on his predator instincts.

This was no small feat as the new department he was transferred to at work was staffed with nothing but prey hybrids, and he found himself being constantly tested. Before he was transferred, every predator that had started working in the department had at some point lost control of their instincts and made a scene or attacked one of their coworkers. But Bakugou scoffed at the weaklings who let their instincts play with them like toys. Sure he had all the natural impulses of a predator, but he kept his under safeguard.

He first started work at Endeavor Home Goods in the sales department, which was staffed exclusively with other predators. He’d made a name for himself for his cutthroat salesmanship and had won the company several very good deals. But he had become somewhat tired of the environment, so when a job opened up in the bedding department, offering less interaction with clients and with a raise in pay, he applied for it. He interviewed well and got the job.

But perhaps he should have had some second thoughts about why every predator before him had snapped, including the person whose job he was taking. He had never known how distracting it was to be surrounded by mostly sheep and other prey animals for all hours of the day. And he could feel their eyes on him, waiting for him to slip up like all the rest. Even though Bakugou knew he would never allow himself that moment of weakness, everyone else waiting for it like it was a foregone conclusion ate away at his nerves.

Even the head of the department was a sheep, the only department head in the whole company that was not a predator. But Bakugou had seen Midoriya in meetings before he switched to the department. Bakugou was struck by the short and seemingly mild-mannered sheep staring down a room full of predators who were openly hostile to the prey hybrid. Midoriya proved he had a spine of steel in those situations and never once backed down. He argued his points and presented his reports flawlessly. Bakugou had to admit to himself he found it hot as fuck and his attention was fully captivated by the sheep from that day on. He’d be lying if he said working closer with Midoriya wasn’t part of what motivated him to apply for the switch in positions.

Midoriya was the only one in the department who didn’t seem afraid of him. And Bakugou ate up every available interaction with the sheep he could get. On his first day, he made a mistake in reading Midoriya’s nameplate in the office, having only ever heard him addressed by his family name he had never known his first, and read “Izuku” as “Deku”. Oh, the face Midoriya had made when addressed by “Deku” was so funny that Bakugou resolved to only use that to address him from now on.

Of course, Midoriya got his revenge around the 5 th time he was called Deku by calling him “Kacchan” in retaliation. Jokes on him if he thought he could out-embarrass Bakugou into stopping; Bakugou’s heart had swelled at the nickname, and knew he couldn’t wait to hear Midoriya’s voice say “Kacchan” every day at work from then on. The two quickly set into a routine of gentle teasing of each other and it delighted Bakugou’s soul every time one of his cutting remarks was met with a clever retort from Midoriya.

Okay, so he might have had a little bit of a crush on his boss. But it wasn’t a big deal or anything. It's not like Bakugou sometimes thought about asking him out on a date or running his fingers through the sheep’s curls, or maybe even honeymooning on a beach together. Nope! He was never plagued by such thoughts when he was drifting off to bed, who told you that? But the truth of it was he didn’t see a way he could approach Midoriya about that. He didn’t want to come off as some creepy predator who salivated over prey hybrids, so he worked hard to keep things professional, if rather friendly, with Midoriya.

In fact, he had to work hard with how interacted with the entire bedding department. He mostly kept to himself, still responding to the small talk to avoid seeming like a creep, but still very much a bit of a lone wolf. Bakugou had been like that even back when he worked with the predators. A dyed-red Akita dog hybrid named Kirishima had only managed to snatch the title of “best friend” by slowly wearing him down with his attempts at friendship and incessant good mood. It also helped that his being around another canine was a good outlet for Bakugou’s pack instincts, so he allowed himself to make one real friend on the job. Kirishima worked in marketing and would often come to find Bakugou so they could eat lunch together. He’d even managed to make a routine of getting Bakugou to hang out after work with some of his friends at bars and the occasional karaoke night.

Endeavor Home Goods was a big brand. From their bedding to their furniture to their furnishings, the company was known to be of premium quality. The owner of the company was a big Gorilla named Todoroki Enji but everyone ended up calling him by the company’s name because of how devoted to the company he was; he was Endeavor Home Goods.

But he also employed his children in the company. His daughter worked as his private secretary, a calico cat hybrid that was brisk, polite, and always on top of managing her father’s schedule. His elder sons were not involved in the family business but his youngest was being groomed to be the next head of the company, a snow leopard hybrid named Todoroki Shoto.

And oh, that damned snow leopard. He always found a way to get on Bakugou’s nerves in so many ways. Bakugou wasn’t even sure what his official job title was because he just seemed to wander around every department, observing and asking a barrage of bizarre questions to the department heads. Bakugou saw him doing it in sales and now he sees him doing it in the bedding department.

But while he had only visited occasionally for sales, he made time to come talk to Midoriya at least once a day. And recently, even more than that, he was always appearing with some sort of question about the products or request to examine the demo products. But Bakugou knew the real reason he kept showing up was to interact with Midoriya.

Eventually, the constant harassment led to Midoriya sternly telling Todoroki that he had to manage a department and was going to assign someone the role of the official Todoroki handler. And, of course, just Bakugou’s luck, he was the one given that responsibility.

Todoroki did not take this as the shake-off it so clearly was meant as, and still showed up to talk to Midoriya some, but more often, came over to bother Bakugou throughout the day. And it was Bakugou’s job to handle it. He had to now play babysitter when Todoroki showed up to play with the prototypes and listen to his bizarre barrage of questions about how to improve said prototypes or asking for more information on how design choices were made. Bakugou now had the words “I don’t know, I’d have to look into,” coming out of his mouth several times a day and had to send off multiple emails to others in the department and other outside parties to answer all of Todoroki’s questions.

And the damn snow leopard seemed to think they were friends on top of it all. He was infuriating. Bakugou did not see what made him the topic of so much office gossip. From the predators in the sales department to the prey animals in bedding to overheard conversations in the lunch room, it seemed the attractiveness of the hybrid was always a topic of discussion. And sure, people flirted with Todoroki. Bakugou had seen it with his own eyes, but Todoroki often brushed the comments off with a polite response and never engaged in flirting back. And that just annoyed Bakugou more; this snow leopard was being showered in attention and he kept turning it down?

Or maybe he was just waiting for the right target. Bakugou was suspicious of the constant attention he showed Midoriya. He probably was trying to seduce the sheep. Well, Bakugou wasn’t about to let him get away with asking out his crush.

One day, when he saw Todoroki talking to Midoriya just outside the latter’s office, and saw just how close Todoroki was leaning into Midoriya’s space, something inside of Bakugou just snapped. And he knew he had to make his move before Todoroki got to it first. So he walked over to the two and when Midoriya greeted him with an “Oh, Kacchan!” he struck.

“ Go out to dinner with me. On a date.” Okay, he could have perhaps worded that more like a question than a demand but he was not about to risk correcting his wording.

There was a moment of silence when the two of them took in Bakugou’s words as he stared expectantly back at Midoriya waiting for his answer. But it was not Midoriya who spoke first.

“ Alright, I’m free the nights of this week except for Thursday. What days are good for the both of you?” Todoroki responded. Wait. What the fuck? Did Candycane think he was being invited to dinner as well? But before Bakugou could tell him he was not invited Midoriya spoke up.

“ A date? With Kacchan and Todoroki-san?” Wait, now Midoriya also thought he was asking them both out? “We could never! The power dynamics at work alone-”

“ Will not be a problem,” Todoroki said smoothly, “I will talk with HR about what the guidelines for such an interpersonal relationship would be and what we can do our best to make sure we do everything properly. But I’m sure we could manage something professional between the three of us.”

Bakugou opened his mouth to tell Todoroki it would not be the three of them, but before he could figure out the exact words, Midoriya was already talking. “If you’re sure, then I guess we could do that. It sounds fun, a date with both Kacchan and Todoroki-san.” Bakugou stared at Midoriya as he saw the sheep’s cheeks begin to blush. He was actually excited about this!

Well fuck, Bakugou wasn’t sure how Midoriya would take being told he was the only one invited. Maybe he would even turn Bakugou down for it? Fuck, he was stuck here. Bakugou was really going on a date with his crush and the owner’s son. Well, fuck it then! Bakugou never backs down. If he was going on a date with both of them, so be it. Todoroki would see they don’t have any chemistry and maybe give in. Then Bakugou could have the prize of Midoriya as his eventual mate.

They decided to go out Friday night and Bakugou told them the name and location of the place he was inviting them to. The rest of the week passed pretty much the same as usual, with Todoroki still showing up to bother Bakugou or talk to Midoriya and Midoriya playfully directing Bakugou, none of them betraying their plans to meet up outside of work.

The restaurant he picked catered to prey hybrids and predators that only ate fake meat. It was a tense subject sometimes between prey hybrids and predator hybrids about the eating of regular animals as food. But about two decades ago, they had created fake meats using plants as a base and even managed to infuse them with all the necessary hormones and additives that predator hybrids needed. It was now seen as the “dignified” thing to eat instead and only hybrids who were really old-school still insisted on eating meat from real animals. Bakugou had grown up on plant meats since he could remember, so he never bothered to try the real animal meats. Besides, it helped put prey hybrids like Midoriya feels at ease around him, so it was no big sacrifice.

Midoriya was waiting in the lobby when Bakugou arrived 20 minutes before their reservation. They sat and chatted while waiting for the dumb leopard to finally show his stupid face. Bakugou told himself he could not act too upset when Todoroki did finally show up, because that might give away he hadn’t been intending it to be the three of them from the start. Todoroki did finally arrive after 15 minutes and they all went to their corner booth in the back that Bakugou had specifically reserved. Midoriya ordered a vegetable risotto while Bakugou ordered a burger with a fake meat patty and Todoroki ordered a fake meat cutlet.

They ate the bread and drank the wine the waiter brought to the table in silence as none were quite ready to start the conversation for a moment. Before Bakugou found himself seizing the moment.

“ So how does it work that your dad is a gorilla?” It had been a thought that had been plaguing him admittedly since he had met the snow leopard. His sister being another feline made sense but their father? And it didn’t occur to him until after he’d already said it that it might have been a bit of a bad first question to start the night with.

“ My family is just very mixed in terms of genetics.” If Todoroki was displeased with the sudden topic he did not show it. “My mother was a cat. While my sister is also a cat, my brothers are a snake and a Labrador. I don’t quite understand how it all came about, but I have a whole collection of different genes in my lineage."

“ That must be fun to take after your mom like that!” Midoriya piped up, giving Todoroki a wide grin. Bakugou winced as it was not being directed at him. “I’m like that too, taking after my mom. She was a sheep but I have rabbit genes from my dad’s side of the family.”

“ My mom was a wolf like me. Dad is a corgi,” said Bakugou, simply. He was proud of his full canine heritage, you had to go back a way to find that his great aunt on his dad’s side was a cat. When he told them this, Midoriya’s eyebrows rose in excitement, but Todoroki just tilted his head.

“ Oh so all three of us take after our moms! How neat is that!” Midoriya chirped. “And it’s so funny how different your guys’ families are. Todoroki-san’s family is so eclectic and Kacchan’s is pure canine. While I’m mixed, my parents were both from homogenous pairings so I’m like 50:50.”

“ Midoriya-san, was it your mom or your dad who taught you to be able to interact with predators so confidently?” Todoroki asked, “I feel so awkward around some of the prey hybrids at work. They seem so skittish around me because I’m a snow leopard. But you’re not like that at all and it’s so refreshing.”

Midoriya blushed. “That was actually my stepdad, a goat. He was my idol growing up. He always faced everyone head-on and was the strongest hybrid I knew. I really looked up to him and try to emulate how he interacted with the world.”

“ Dead dad or divorced?” asked Bakugou.

“ Divorced. My birth father left to work overseas when I was a baby and ended up finding a new family there and sent my Mom the divorce papers. It’s okay though because a year later she met my stepdad and he was better than my birth Dad in every way. So it all worked out for me and Mom.”

“ I’m jealous. I wish my parents had been able to split up like that when I was a kid.” Todoroki’s tone was still casual and not at all worthy of the statement he just dropped. Bakugou tensed as he prepared himself for whatever Todoroki was going to trauma dump on them.

“ Not a happy childhood?” Midoriya asked carefully and Bakugou was grateful that he was the one to ask the question and not himself.

“ My father expected the best from his children and did not have the best way of making that expectation clear. He also was not a good husband to my mother.” Todoroki said simply. Damn, that was understated as fuck but what he did say did not paint a pretty picture there. Bakugou wondered what Todoroki thought about working for his father’s company if they had that storied history.

“ Is it hard then? Working under your father?” Bakugou found himself asking.

“ He’s a good boss,” Todoroki said, then took a sip of his glass before continuing. “And our relationship is cordial even if we will never be close. And I want to take over the company from him one day.”

“ So Todoroki-san, why exactly are you always so curious about our department?”

“ He does it to other ones too. Used to come to bother sales, though not as much,” Bakugou added.

Todoroki shrugged and gave them both a tentative grin, “I’m young and try to be aware of all the areas I’m lacking knowledge about the company. I don’t just want to succeed my father, I want to improve on his work and make my own mark. And as for why I come to your department so often, I just find it much more relishing and enticing I guess you could say.” And he even took a moment to meet both of their eyes.

Oh so now he was flirting with them! Bakugou watched as he saw Midoriya flush in response. He also resisted the urge to be charmed by Todoroki. What did it matter if Todoroki liked him? Bakugou only tolerated him and didn’t return the affection at all. Okay, sure, Bakugou could admit that Todoroki was gorgeous and was an attractive potential mate. That was just plain indisputable fact considering how much office gossip Bakugou had heard about him at work.

But Bakugou was not like that. He was not attracted to another top-of-the-food-chain predator. He was the one who should be the Alpha of the relationship and he couldn’t be like that if he had someone challenging him for dominance. Besides, this was all a charade of a date, he wasn’t really here to date Todoroki.

At this point, dinner was finally served, and they all started in on their food, letting the conversation dwindle for a bit as they ate. Once they finished their meals, they started talking again as they waited for the cheesecake they had all ordered. 

The conversation drifted to work a bit. Todoroki asked them point blank how they liked working in the bedding department. Midoriya gushed about how much fun he had running it and Bakugou politely spoke of how he enjoyed it better than sales. He mentioned the one thing it had over his old department was having such a hands-on boss. Midoriya’s eyes practically sparkled at this proclamation. He responded that he oh so enjoyed having Bakugou now working under him. Bakugou found himself flushing. 

Bakugou didn’t see the point in lying and admitted that it was very different to be working with only prey hybrids as his coworkers. He was even a bit self-deprecating and admitted he had to work to keep his instincts in check. Midoriya cheerfully intoned that Bakugou seemed like the perfect image of the ideal predator working amongst prey hybrids. Todoroki admitted he could understand Bakugou’s struggles, and that’s why he preferred to work with a hybrid that didn’t squeak and stammer when he talked to them, something both Midoriya and Bakugou had accomplished beautifully. 

When the check came, Todoroki used his natural speed to swipe it before either Bakugou or Midoriya could reach for it. Bakugou opened his mouth to tell him to give it back since it was he who had asked for the date, but Todoroki was already smirking cat-like, “I think my father will be paying for the evening. I’ll tell him this was a business expense.”

Bakugou decided that since Todoroki had crashed the date, he could very well pay for it. He couldn’t really feel bad about making Endeavor pay for it, and decided to set the matter aside. After they left the restaurant, they went for a walk around the park that was a few blocks away just chatting until they all made their way back to the train station. As they arrived, Midoriya noted that his train would be arriving first.

“ I had a great time tonight with the both of you,” Midoriya said, as he watched his train pulling up.

He quickly and shyly stood up on his toes and pressed a quick peck to both of their cheeks. Bakugou felt himself warm up under it.

“ We should do this again,” Todoroki said. Then the smooth motherfucker went and took both Midoriya’s and Bakugou’s hands in each of his and gave them each a small kiss on the back of their hands. Midoriya squeaked out a little noise that sounded very un-sheep-like. He took back his hand and was blushing a furious red. Bakugou was suddenly envious, but also not about to copy Todoroki’s moves, so he just stood and glowered at the big cat and took his hand back, shoving it into his pocket to wipe off the kiss.

Midoriya then boarded his train and left Bakugou and Todoroki standing on the platform together, near one of the pillars holding up the roof. It was a quiet few minutes before Todoroki broke the silence.

“ You didn’t intend to invite me on this date, did you?"

Bakugou tensed up. Todoroki had given no hint that he’d thought such a thing before this moment. What kind of ice-cold bastard was he? Bakugou turned to give him a look and the damn leopard was looking at him with a small smile.

“ I figured you were inviting Midoriya, but I saw an opportunity that was far too good to pass up. After all, the only thing better than dinner with one handsome gentleman is dinner with two. I hoped you would find yourself enjoying it anyways. Did you?”

“ Yes, because I was here for Deku,” Bakugou responded, finally glad he could reveal his true intentions and not have to pretend that he had intended to ask out Todoroki as well.

“ Bakugou-san, I don’t think you were as averse to what happened tonight as you are pretending to be. Come on, admit it. You enjoyed yourself. And you enjoyed my company.”

He reached forward and Bakugou found himself backing up till he realized he walked up against the pillar, staring back as Todoroki was giving off vibes like he was stalking prey. Todoroki reached forward and brushed a lock of hair off Bakugou’s forehead. His hand lingered for a moment, just touching Bakugou’s hair before Todoroki withdrew it.

“ Let’s give this thing a try: you, me, and Midoriya. We can keep going on dates like this: dinner or movies, or other activities. Perhaps you can both have lunch in my office on occasion. We just see where this thing takes us, and if things aren’t working out after a few months, we can see about dissolving the relationship. No hard feelings.”

Bakugou thought about it. His head had been so full of ideas for dates with Midoriya that he was quickly able to conjure some up, and this time just added Todoroki to the mix. He imagined the two of them going to amusement parks, wine tastings, or catching some of those superhero movies that Midoriya liked to talk about in the office. All with the snow leopard there and participating, maybe holding hands, maybe him giving out kisses on cheeks or lips.

Before Bakugou met Midoriya, he always thought he’d end up in a relationship like his parents. Bakugou as the Alpha wolf with a partner who would submit to him at certain times but still hold their own for the rest. Most likely another canine, possibly some other predator, but one who would submit to him as the Alpha of the relationship. But he definitely did not factor in a prey animal. But then he saw Midoriya’s strength and became intrigued by the sheep who would stand up to other predators, and Bakugou became fixated on that spirit. Midoriya would be a strong partner, one worthy of Bakugou.

But what about Todoroki? He was no meek predator. He was at the top of the food chain as well. Getting him to submit would be a challenge, but the thought of doing it sent a jolt of excitement through Bakugou. This could even be a fun challenge if Bakugou could end up with two strong partners who would submit only to him (or each other).

“ Fine,” Bakugou said finally.

Stupid pretty snow leopard spoiled rich boy. Yeah whatever, Bakugou would give this triad dating thing a shot. At least Todoroki was handsome, though his personality could do with a bit of work.

“ Can I kiss you?” Todoroki asked quietly, his gaze fully fixed on Bakugou’s lips. It felt like the air stilled at the question and Bakugou found himself staring at Todoroki’s lips, imagining them meeting his.

“ Yeah, okay,” Bakugou whispered, fighting a blush.

It was the lightest touch of lips at first before Todoroki pressed further, deepening the kiss before pulling away a moment later. Todoroki stood back and straightened his jacket and then looked back at Bakugou.

“ Thanks for that Bakugou-san. I look forward to convincing you that this will work.”

“ We’ll see,” Bakugou bit back, fixing his own jacket so he could hide his blushing cheeks in the high collar.

Bakugou’s train was the next to arrive so he boarded and spent the rest of the ride back thinking of how he was going to interact with the two of them at the office now that they were dating. And already planning the next date.