"Hey, Shoto? You okay?"
Todoroki's head snapped up, then back down when he realized that it was Izuku speaking to him and he had four inches on the boy.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just zoned out for a moment," he responded, his voice steady despite the realization he'd just had. He could feel his hands begin to tremble, quickly shoving them in his pockets.
"Oh. Okay!" Midoriya seemed to buy it, at least enough for Todoroki to slip away by the third round of the game. He quickly made his way through the crowded space and got back to U.A. within an hour. Somewhere along the way, he felt his phone buzz the familiar pattern he'd set for Midoriya, but he didn't check until he was tucked away safely in his Japanese-themed dorm room.
Hey, Shoto? Did you leave early? I can't find you.
He debated if he could get away without responding, but quickly realized his mistake. He'd opened the message. He couldn't leave Midoriya on read, so he sent a reply. yeah, I did. felt a little sick. im okay, though
Ding. Oh, okay! I'll ttyl then?
Another ding. And I hope you get better soon, ofc!
Todoroki smiled. At least he wasn't in love with love with an asshole of a guy.
Well, he was still in love with . . . Well, a guy.
He shook his head and shot back a text. ofc, ill ttyl. probably tomorrow, yeah?
Yeah, sounds great! Gn
Todoroki paused, waiting for the typing symbol to disappear. It did, briefly, so he began to type his reply only for it to appear again. Was this an accident, or was Midoriya doing this on purpose? He didn't know.
"Uraraka! Give me my phone!" Midoriya screeched, nearly hopping over the air hockey table table in his attempt at grabbing the obnoxiously red phone.
"No! If you're not making a move, I'm doing it for you!" The round-faced, bubbly girl couldn't hold back her giggles, quickly typing something up and hitting send. She grinned as she held the phone back out, an evil glint in her eye that Midoriya didn't understand until he saw the simple message that made his jaw hit the floor.
<3
A heart?
How ironic, considering Todoroki's was about to burst.
What did he do? Send one back? This was friendly, right? It had to be, Midoriya couldn't like him back. He clearly had something with Uraraka, with how touchy they were. And he blushed whenever she said certain things.
He sighed, typing the heart back and pausing with his thumb over the send button. He cringed as he pressed send, smacking his phone face-down on the bed and groaning into his pillow. He really hoped that was the right move to make.
"What'd he do? Tell me!"
Uraraka shook Midoriya's shoulders rather aggressively, earning a loud, "Hang on!"
Midoriya stared at the screen, really not believing that he'd gotten a heart back. Once the realization hit, he was grinning ear to ear and squealing like a child. "He sent it back!"
"Who sent what back?" Tsuyu asked, a slight twinge of curiosity in her tone.
"His crush!" Uraraka sang, giggling like a little girl. "I stole his phone and sent them a heart since he was too scared."
"Oh. You like someone, Midoriya? I thought . . ." Tsu's voice trailed off as she looked between the green haired boy and the bubbly girl.
"Oh, no! No, no!" Midoriya's hands flailed in a few wild gestures as he explained at Uraraka and him were not a thing. "I, well, I like dudes . . ." He muttered, twisting his fingers. "But specifically Todoroki."
"Oh." Tsu stared blankly and placed her index finger on her mouth and nodded, her brain connecting the dots. "I suppose that makes sense. You do seem rather flustered around him."
Uraraka giggled once more, walking away proudly to play air hockey with Iida and ignoring Midoriya's curious gaze. She was not in the mood to deal with him, despite her doing the exact same thing to him.
"Yeah," Midoriya managed, though it was more like a squeak than a proper word. He knew logically, Tsuyu wouldn't care if he were gay, but it didn't make it any easier to say. Especially considering she was only the second person he'd told.
"You should tell him. He looks at you different." And with that, she was off and leaving a very confused Midoriya alone, joining the others for a game of lazer tag.
* * * * *
"All Might," Midoriya started, though he hesitated.
"What is it, young Midoriya? You know I can answer any of your questions about One For All, or—"
"No, no! It's not that." The boy mumbled to himself, his nerves getting the best of him. He'd managed to get All Might alone, sitting on the same beach he'd trained for months at. But, now that he was there—well, it was anything but easy.
He couldn't back out now, though, so he took a deep breath and continued. "How do you ask someone out?"
Midoriya watched as All Might processed this, the man's thin lips parting slightly in his realization. "Ah, I see. Well, you know I've been more focused on my hero work, so I wouldn't exactly know very much about the subject." He paused, not wanting to say the wrong thing. "I'd tell her how you feel, maybe if you want to go on a proper date find a nice place and ask her about going. Make your intentions and feelings clear, some people are kind of . . . oblivious."
Midoriya nodded, thinking this did make sense. But, there was still a small problem.
"Well, about that—they're—he's—" This was a lot harder than it was with Tsu. "I don't like girls," he finally spat out, barely glancing up from the floor to see All Might just as confused as before, if not more.
"I see. I apologize then, I shouldn't have assumed—I just thought there was something with you and Uraraka." All Might smiled, unable to hold himself back. He had been caught off guard, but his chest swelled with pride at the fact that Midoriya trusted him enough to tell him this.
Midoriya giggled, feeling heat in his cheeks once more. He sure did blush a lot. "No, no, she likes someone else. Well, I haven't properly asked, but she's not exactly subtle. He's just clueless." Iida, All Might figured. He did pay some attention to his other students. "Though, uhm," Midoriya continued to laugh at the thoughts popping in his brain. "We did date for a while. Like, a week. We never got to the telling anyone part."
All Might laughed at that, tasting the slightest bit of blood on his tongue. "I see. Well, then, who—ah, never mind. I shouldn't be asking a student—"
"Todoroki."
Well, that certainly caught All Might's attention. It wasn't surprising, per se, but it was surprising that Midoriya had spit it out so quickly.
All Might just grinned again, feeling oddly proud of the boy in front of him. He felt like a father, talking to his son about love for the first time. Of course, he knew Midoriya wasn't really his son, but the feeling was definitely like that.
"Young Todoroki, hm?" Midoriya nodded, a highly embarrassed smile plastered on his face. "I see. He's definitely a good kid. I think you'll have luck with him."
Midoriya quickly thanked the hero, making his way to Uraraka's dorm.
He softly knocked on the wooden door of the girl's room, grinning when she opened it. "Hey, Deku! What's up?"
"I wanna ask him out," He muttered, just loud enough for the girl to squeal and pull him into the blankly decorated dorm. It had a handful of new things—such as a cute cat lamp Iida had purchased for her and a few organization containers she'd filled with beads, wire, and string for her occasional jewelry making—but overall looked the same as it was when they'd first moved into the dorms.
Uraraka shoved him to the bed, where he sat cross-legged facing her as she sat the same way.
"You're asking him out?" She squealed, grabbing and shaking his hands around in her excitement. "It's about time! I swear, something was up with him yesterday and it was not friendly."
"I just said I want to!" Izuku tried hiding his own excitement, but the rising tone in his voice let her know. "I don't know if I actually will, but I think I might."
"If you don't, I'm not just sending him hearts, I'm sending him a whole love confession. Besides, I'm pretty sure the dude's drop dead in love with you anyways."
"What? No!" Midoriya giggled, gently pushing her shoulder. "Don't be ridiculous! It's already a stretch to think he may like guys."
"It's not that unlikely! I read that most people are actually bisexual, and with how many people in our class alone that aren't straight? I believe it."
Uraraka mentally counted off the people who had come out in just their first year—Jiro, Kaminari, and Sero bisexual, Shinso gay, Momo and Mina pansexual, Tsuyu an unlabeled asexual, probably more she couldn't think of off the top of her head. Then, of course, even if he wasn't out, Midoriya was also gay. It couldn't be much of a stretch to think Todoroki was remotely interested in guys.
"I mean—well, yeah, I guess. But still, I don't know! What if he's not? I don't wanna mess up our friendship."
"It's Todoroki, Deku! He's not gonna hate you or anything." She wasn't laughing as much anymore, seeing that Midoriya's nerves were starting to show again. She needed to give Midoriya that little boost. Something clicked in her brain and she jumped up with a sudden, "Hang on! I have an idea."
"What?"
Uraraka wasted no time, going to her desk and flipping through a few papers before returning to her spot on the bed. She dropped the strip of pictures she'd acquired at the arcade on her friends knee, letting him observe.
"Look at his face, Deku! He's smiling. It's not even a normal smile, it's the lovey-dovey smile and it's at you. He never smiles! I think I've seen it like, once, twice tops."
And, well, Midoriya couldn't deny it. He stared at the four pictures, observing each of them. In the first, Todoroki looked aloof as usual, mildly uninterested and staring at the camera. It looked like the first picture of all the ones they'd taken. In the second, Midoriya's face was slightly blurred and it seemed like he'd been laughing rather hard. Todoroki's eyes were now off the camera and on the face next to him.
But the third. The third one, Todoroki had a beautiful soft smile. His lips were just barely pulled up and his mismatched eyes were so kind looking. They usually looked uninterested, but there was something twinkling in the blue and brown that felt so oddly familiar to Midoriya. He had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to react to seeing this. It felt so raw and vulnerable and beautiful.
"Can I keep this? I'll give you mine," He asked, his voice just above a whisper.
"Oh, don't tell me you're simping for him again. I know, prettiest boy in class and whatever—"
"Shut up. He looks really pretty in this picture."
"Man, if you really steal him the girls aren't gonna be nice. He's nice, smart, strong, and beautiful? Of course you'd have to take him from us."
"Please, Kirbs, it's unlikely it'll really work anyways." Midoriya's gaze drifted down, smiling at the picture. "I gotta ask him to go somewhere with me, right? I mean, that would be the best thing to do—ask him on a date! But I don't know where or more importantly how or—"
"Deku, please, you're doing the mumbling thing again. Take him somewhere romantic! Like, uh, I dunno. Dinner may be a bit much unless it's casual."
"Exactly!"
"Maybe take him somewhere lowkey, then? I know his dad's the number one hero, now, but he's never seemed big on having anything extra. And definitely something you'll both enjoy."
"Mhm." Midoriya paused, searching his brain for an idea. "I know there's a really pretty garden that opened up recently. Maybe he'd like that?"
"Depends, what kind of garden is it?"
"Mostly a sightseeing place, they have a lot of fountains and plants. Plenty of places to walk around. A couple food stands I've heard are good, too."
"Ooh, yes! That sounds so romantic! He'll definitely like that."
They fell into a comfortable silence, Uraraka smiling at her best friend as he stared at the picture he was given.
"Are you gonna kiss him?"
Midoriya sputtered, choking on nothing as he gave her a confused look. "Why would I—no! I'm not gonna kiss him!"
"Not yet, at least!"
"Shut up! I'm not kissing him!"
Uraraka squealed as Midoriya grabbed a pillow, attempting to hit the girl over the head with it. Instead of smacking her head, it floated up and hit the ceiling before dropping back down.
"Oh, c'mon! That is not fair!"
"It so is!"
And for the next ten minutes, they threw the handful of pillows that resided in the small dorm, occasionally smacking each other in the face with one and howling with laughter.
"It's a good thing I don't have any neighbors right next to me, or we'd be dead right now."
"Oh my god, I didn't even think about that! Wait, isn't Jiro right below you?"
"Oh. Yeah, she is." They both fell silent as they realized Jiro was likely ready to murder them, quickly quieting down.
"Y'know, you never did answer my question."
"What question?"
"Can I have these?" Izuku asked, holding up the strip of pictures that had been abandoned on the corner of her bed.
"Oh." Uraraka thought for a moment, shrugging. "Yeah, go for it. Just give me yours whenever you get the chance."
Midoriya made a noise of content, brushing his thumb over Todoroki's smiling face. Now, he just had to figure out how to ask the boy out.
A/N
this is being released earlier than planned cuz @HolyButNotSoHoly is fucking nice and left a bunch of comments and well- I do have four chapters finished- uwu
it's getting a lil more interesting now. will probably release the next chapter in a week or so? that way I can have chapters ahead and form a weekly schedule. since it's Wednesday, I'll probably have it out on Wednesday! :)