Perfectly Imperfect (Shoto Todoroki x Reader)

Chapter thirty-one

"Where did you get all of these stuffed animals?" Shoto asked, running his hand over the population of plushies on my bed. I had invited him over again for the weekend, since Mom had to cancel our weekend plans to pick up an unexpected shift.

"Some of them are just old childhood memories that I will never ever ever get rid of." I shugged, picking up a tiny, frayed pink bear from the seat of honor in the middle of the spread. "Meet Bear. Absolute veteran in the stuffed-animal business, love of my life, my closest friend since the day I was born. Literally." I carefully set him down, before choosing another. "And some of them are from old friends, a few from my mother, a few I picked up here and there from garage sales and the bowling alley, and some of them, I don't even know where they came from." I showed Shoto a large brown squirrel, unearthing her from between the wall and my bed-frame. "This is Twiggy! Got her from Build-a-Bear on my seventh birthday."

"Build-a-Bear?"

I tilted my head at him. "It's...probably a safe bet that you don't have any stuffed animals, right?"

Shoto looked at the squirrel in my arms, and carefully lifted a hand to pet its head.

"This is..soft." His eyes flicked up to mine, and he cleared his throat. "Uh, yes. I mean..no. I don't have any stuffed animals." His eyes shifted back down to Twiggy. "I've heard about Build-a-Bear, though. Don't they have stuff where you can choose the skin?"

I nodded. "They do! And then there's the heart thing, and choose accessories.." I paused for a moment, then set down Twiggy. "Go get your shoes."

"Get my...Y/n, what are you thinking?"

I pushed him through my bedroom doorway. "Get your shoes! Gimmie a moment." I closed the door and set to work scouring my room for cash. Estimating it would be about....maybe under 8,000 yen? Bah. Maybe Shoto could pay for a little bit of it. Just a little bit, though. This boy was getting his own plushie, and there was no stopping it.

I collected every coin I had and counted them up. I had... 4,522 yen. Hm. Maybe Shoto would have to pay partial custody after all.

I stuffed all of it into Hammerspace and opened my bedroom door, looking for Shoto. He stood by the door, still seeming entranced with the photo album.

"Ready?" I asked, grabbing my own shoes and shoving them on. Shoto closed the photo album and set it down on the table.

"Yes," Shoto said, grabbing my shoulder with one hand as I swayed, trying to keep my balance with one foot off the floor. "Careful."

"Mhm!" I finally crammed both shoes onto my feet and opened the door. "You ready for this? Which way to the mall?"

"Let me guess. You want to go to Build-a-Bear?"

I nodded eagerly. "You know it! Everyone deserves a plushie. Especially one with special memories. And I'm going to deck your dad next time I see him, assuming it's his fault you don't have any fuzzy friends?"

Shoto smiled a little. "It wasn't like I've always wanted one and he wouldn't let me get any, Y/n. I just never had one. It's not a hate crime."

"Hate crime." I ignored him, grabbing his hand and tugging him along to the bus stop. "Can you search up what time they close today?"

Shoto pulled his phone from his pocket. "They close in two hours."

"And the next bus won't be here until...another 45 minutes." I swiped through Hammerspace and came out with two pairs of rollerblades- hot pink and sparkly (I hated them but I got them on discount and they were good shoes that fit me) and a plain black pair, too big for me to wear comfortably. I kept them around anyway for emergencies. "And the mall is a fifty minute walk away, right?"