The Broken Hero, Jashi

Part 21~Damn it Bill

Yawning, I laid my head on Toshi's shoulder. He laughed at me as he ran his fingers through my green curls. Today was the battle exam and I might have struggled to sleep last night as I was panicking over it. It was a valid panic though, I have only been in this class for a week and if I fail this exam they might kick me back to general studies.

"Stop worrying Izu," Toshi scolded me as I pouted up at him.

"But Toshi! What if I'm not good enough...?"

Toshi jolted as he looked away from me. "Stop looking at me like that Izu! And you'll be fine. I've seen you practice, you'll beat whatever they throw at you."

"But robots. I can't beat robots and neither can you."

"Well, yes. But if there are robots we can claim it is unfair and get a rematch. We both know that none of the teachers can say no to you. You're too cute for them to say no."

I blushed at Toshi's comment, chewing on my bottom lip. "You think I'm cute...?"

Toshi's face turned red as he looked away from me. "I- I... Ummm... well... you are the cutest person I know, so yeah."

He couldn't look at me as I felt my face heat up. I buried my face in the gap between his shoulder and his head. "I think you're cute too, Toshi."

"Hey! Izu! Toshi! Stop flirting for a sec!" Bill came running up to us causing us to jump away from each other. "It's been a while since we saw you to, how's it been?!"

Chiyumi, Kosaku and Umeki all came up with Bill, sitting around us.

"We've been fine," I whispered quietly, fiddling with my sleeve.

"It's the final exam today, isn't it?" Kosaku looked at us- or at least I think they did, it was hard to tell with his squiggly body.

"Yeah..."

"Is that why you are here so early?" Umeki sent a glance to my eyes, noticing the bags under my eyes. "You shouldn't spend so much time with Hitoshi, he seems to be rubbing off on you."

"Hey, I try to get him to sleep," Toshi grumbled, not wanting my sleep deprived state to be blamed on him. "It's just been a few stressful weeks for Izu alright, leave him alone. I'm sure he'll sleep through the weekend to make up for it."

"Aw, you keep track of his sleeping habits, that's sweet of you Toshi," Bill joked with a smirk on her face.

"Don't make fun of them Bill," Chiyumi scolded.

"But they are so gay for each other, it's cute!"

"Like you're any better," Toshi shot back while blushing. How could he be so calm?!

"Yeah right I am!" Bill threw her arm around Chiyumi's shoulder, a proud smirk on her face.

Jumping up, I startled the group. "We should be getting going, Toshi. We can't be late." Grabbing Toshi's arm, I dragged him away, a large blush on my face.

"They're so gay for each other."

We walked in silence, not wanting to bring up what just occurred. There was no way I liked Toshi. We have been friends since childhood and were practically raised together. He is amazing, very cool and cute when he is flustered or sleeping. He always stands up for me and makes sure I sleep which always makes me feel really cared for. He always knows how to make me smile and when he does my heart always beats faster and I feel like I'm on the top of the world... fuck. Bill was right... or at least for me.

Does Toshi feel the same way? Could he feel like that for me? He has never shown any interest, has he.

"You are the cutest person I know."

Gripping tighter onto Toshi's sleeve, I moved faster. I can deal with this after the exam.

"Calm down Izu, you'll pull me over," Toshi joked with a smile making me stop.

My heart was beating faster at that smile, that rare smile only meant for me. Damn it, Bill was really on point. Toshi gently unhooked my fingers from his sleeve making my stomach twist. Was he pushing me away? Please don't push me away.

Toshi laughed at me, soft and angelic. He slowly interlocked our fingers, brushing my skin as he went. He brought his other hand up to carefully remove a strand of loose hair from my face. "This will work a lot better, Izu. You won't be able to lose your grip if I'm holding on too."

I felt my face heating up. My heart was going so fast. I nervously brought my hand to his chest. I could feel his heart. It was going as fast as mine. He was as scared as me. One look in his eyes and I couldn't control myself. They held so much love, like I was the only thing in the world. I took a single step forward, stilling looking in his eyes despite the height difference. Toshi gently placed his hand against my cheek, stroking it in a rhythmic pattern.

I forced myself to stop- if only because I was unsure whether Toshi wanted this too. What if I was wrong? What if I was reading all the signals wrong and he was only doing this because he knew how insecure I was? I don't want to force him into anything. He was too important to me.

"Izu, stop overthinking things," Toshi whispered to me, leaning down to close the gap.

His lips sent chills up my spin, electricity through every nerve and I loved it. He was soft and caring. Gentle and warm and full of love. When he pulled away he put our foreheads together. I could feel his breath on my lips and wanted nothing more than to pull him back in.

"I love you Izu. I have for a really long time. You have no idea how long I've waited for a sign- any sign- that you felt the same." Toshi was still stroking my cheek, holding me close and squeezing my hand.

"I... I love you too Toshi. I'm sorry it took so long for me to realise, I had other things on my mind." I let out a happy laugh, as Toshi chuckled. I couldn't help but stare at him as I pulled him down and connected our lips once again.

"Hitoshi! Izuku! Stop that and get to class!"

We both jumped apart when hearing Shota shouting at us. Well, this just got awkward. We turned around and quickly got to the class 1A room.

"You're so mean Shota," Zashi complained. "They were being so cute."

"They can flirt when they at home, we are fighting a war right now, they need to stay focused in school." Shota started his walk to the classroom, leaving behind a pouting Zashi. "But... they were cute. Kind of reminded me of us back in the day."

Zashi took almost a full minute to process what just happened. "Wait! Do you ship our child and unofficial child together?!"