✓LIFE SENTENCE|| TodoDeku Au

☆Twenty-Three☆

"Really? For how long?!" Izuku probed, shifting in his position to get a better look at the elder male.

Shoto released a humorless chuckle, his arm wrapping his arm around Izuku's shoulders before continuing. "My great, great, grandfather built this farmhouse in seventeen-forty-five. That got passed onto my great grandfather, then my grandfather, then my father," his nose twisted up in disdain as he thought of his father, Enji Todoroki.

The green-haired male cambered his head to the side, noticing the obvious look of discomfort at the mentioning of Shoto's father. He didn't press for more answers, having the knowledge that this would only upset the elder further—and he hated seeing Shoto upset.

"It's getting late," Shoto whispered, heterochromatic eyes darting over to the clock mounted on the far left wall. "You can sleep in this room if you'd like, or take one of the other rooms in this hall; it doesn't really matter to me," he said simultaneously as he got up.

Izuku's eyes widened as the space between them began its task of rapidly growing, the deafening pounding of his heart reverberating through his ears as Shoto's foot crossed the threshold of the door. Quickly scrambling upright, the younger darted over towards him—small, fragile, limbs winding themselves around Shoto's waist. He ignored the prickly feeling the erupted in his chest as it pressed against the elder's back, only focusing on the task at hand:

Not leaving Shoto's side.

Shoto stiffened for a fraction of a second, the soft thumping of Izuku's heart and ragged breathing of his lungs expanding and condensing thudding against his back. Slipping his eyes closed his relished in the feeling, again finding himself losing his train of thought with the younger wrapped around him. God, he wanted to tell him so fucking bad.  

"What's wrong?" Shoto asked a few heartbeats later, his hand coming up to cup Izuku's in an affectionate manner. Only to briskly pivot on his heel to face Izuku when he felt droplets of tears soak through his shirt.

"I—I'm sorry, it's just . . . It's been a while since I've slept in a room by myself and I got used to it and—" his rambling was rather unintelligible, the onslaught of tears only adding onto Shoto's difficulty to decipher his words. But he managed to figure it out quickly.

"Hey," Shoto soothed, softly stroking his thumb across Izuku's freckled, tear-stained, cheek. "I'm sorry I should have known, it's okay . . . Do you want us to sleep in here or the master bedroom?" he asked, offering Izuku a reassuring smile.

The younger's crying came to a faltering halt, being replaced by a watery, lopsided, dimple-showing grin as he wrapped his arms around Shoto's neck. If he were being candid, Izuku really did not know what he would do without the elder there by his side. No matter how hard things get for him, no matter how much he must be a bother, no matter what the circumstances Shoto has proved countless times that he's there for Izuku. That he was safe with him, free of judgment . . .

Something Izuku hasn't had in quite some time now.

"Master bedroom," he whispered, barely paying any mind when Shoto scooped him up in his arms.

As the two made their way towards the other side of the house Izuku buried his face into the crevice of Shoto's neck, inhaling the fragrance only he and he alone could produce; it never failed to calm Izuku's nerves. However, the boy—per usual— was rather oblivious of the slight stiffening of the duel-haired male's shoulders, or the hitch in his breathing when his mouth skimmed the surface of his neck accidentally.

He had been oblivious of a lot of things that night. Izuku hadn't noticed the affection and mirth that danced on the outer planes of Shoto's two-toned pools, nor how they watched him with more vehemence. Izuku hadn't noticed that him merely touching the man had the power to knock him to his knees, to steal his breath away. Izuku hadn't noticed the adoring smile that lingered on Shoto's lips for most of the night, or how it only widened when he smiled back at him.