"I don't wanna jump to conclusions...but I think you're mad at me."
"..."
You were used to blank expressions towards your jokes but Todoroki wasn't giving you even that, keeping his stare on your arm as he worked on taking the small glass shards out with tweezers. It was a little worrying. The atmosphere was a little too tense for your liking and your attempts to fix it weren't going well.
Endeavor had already taken Toga away and now the two of you were left with all the collateral. Todoroki made it clear that your injuries would be the first thing that you'd take care of, which would've been pretty nice of him if not for how obviously he was upset. You had an idea of why but he had yet to bring it up.
If anything, he'd been radio silent from the moment he sat you down on your bed. You winced at a particularly big glass shard being pulled out your arm. Todoroki tensed at the sound.
"I know. Sorry. Just a few more and we'll be done."
Your eyebrows shot up. You felt his fingers graze softly in a soothing manner around the cut he'd just emptied and smiled in physical and mental relief,"We're talking now?"
His mismatched eyes finally went to yours,"We were never not talking."
That was a lie and you both knew it,"Bull. You didn't once give me a deadpan face this whole time I was making jokes. You're mad at me."
The specifically realistic reaction would've made him crack a small smile if not for his thoughts. Todoroki averted his gaze from you as he found another cut to take care of,"I'm not mad at you."
That one wasn't a lie. His silence wasn't out of anger. The mixed feelings fighting each other in his head simply had him distracted.
You were a hero and for him to worry so much about you was unnecessary. You hadn't done anything wrong by going after Dabi; it was your job.
However...Todoroki couldn't describe the pit that grew in his stomach the moment he turned to you and found you gone. The immediate churning in his chest when he realized you weren't safely close to him was a horrible feeling.
It was hard to balance the trust he had in you to defend yourself and the urge he had to be around to make sure he could protect you himself. Todoroki wanted to be rational about it but his care for you ran deep. He'd found himself blinded with it a few times.
You looked at him curiously when he stopped grazing the cut with his fingers. Todoroki's eyes fell on yours again and you prepared yourself; this was it. This was for sure the moment he'd bring up how reckless it was of you to run after a villain you're weak against all by yourself.
Todoroki's expression softened as he resumed his touch,"You did a good job. I wouldn't have trusted any other hero to catch a member of the League of Villains by themselves. Especially when they were impersonating Bakugo."
Surprise shot up in you. Todoroki was looking at you with respect. It filled you with sheepish pride and you grinned widely,"You're giving me too much credit. Toga was never one of the strongest villains anyway", your smile faded,"but you are bringing up something important."
Todoroki stayed silence as he waited for you to continue and you looked at him with uncertainty,"Bakugo."
His fingers stopped again. You didn't check to see the face he was making,"It's been a while since anyone heard from him and all of a sudden, Toga had access to large quantities of his blood?It's just not right...Did he tell you anything before leaving to the baths?"
You finally looked up at Todoroki to hear his thoughts. His gaze was on your small cuts and he nodded.
Todoroki looked you in the eyes,"He gave me advice."
"Advice?", you tilted your head. It wasn't what you expected at all,"For what?"
If Todoroki remembered correctly, the advice was for him to let his feelings for you 'curl up and die'. Ironic. He shook his head in reassurement and gave you a small smile,"Don't worry about it. We need to take care of your wounds first."
"No, hold on", you stopped him from redirecting the topic,"because that brings me to another question. How did you know it wasn't Bakugo so fast?Everything about Toga's transformation was spot on and you somehow knew as soon as you saw him."
Todoroki's smile dropped, blank expression returning. You stared at him patiently for an answer to your question. It was the only time he could confidently say he didn't like you looking at him because your attention wasn't in it; it was on someone else. You were only looking at him as a middleman.
He was caring for your wounds and all you could think about was Bakugo. The blond was somehow still a problem. Todoroki kept himself from gritting his teeth as he found another cut to tend to,"The first explosion was aimed at us, not Dabi. That's how I knew."
The lie sounded good enough in your ears,"Smart."
You watched him extract the last piece of glass from your arm and smiled,"Y'know, I'd have gotten all these cuts even with my hero costume. It sucks that having my skin out in the open can be really good or really bad and I never know which."
Todoroki thought your words over as he switched spots from his chair to beside you,"Then change your costume. Your skin can be exposed and covered at the same time. A thin material that lets sunlight come through but is strong enough to avoid cuts like these should solve the problem."
You were about to question his sudden change of spots but stopped once you felt ice graze over your cuts. You looked at him with an appreciative smile. He thought it was a much better use of your attention.
You hummed,"That's not a bad idea. Oh, I think Midnight can help me with that!!"
Todoroki furrowed his brows in displeasure,"She'll make your outfit more revealing than it has to be. I'll help you instead."
"She has experience though."
"No. We'll figure it out."
You rolled your eyes. They landed on Todoroki's hair and you held back the urge to bury your hand in it like you'd done before Dabi's appearance. He began to wrap soft bandages around your arm and you sighed in pleasure. Todoroki lifted his head to raise an eyebrow.
You huffed your cheeks defensively,"What?Ice is very cold, I'll have you know. These bandages may as well be a blanket."
Todoroki couldn't help crack a small smile at that. He wrapped his left arm around you and you instantly got the message, leaning into his chest as he warmed up his body for you and smiling. It made you really happy that moments like these were so common.
You shamelessly pressed your cheek against his warm chest and groaned,"We'll have to look for a new place to sleep in."
Todoroki tilted his head downwards to look at you in confusion,"We can sleep here."
"And freeze to death?My AC's all wonky, remember?"
Todoroki stiffened up; it was barely noticeable but with how tightly you were pressing yourself against him, you felt it. He coughed,"Let's give it one more chance."
You grinned at the peculiar insistence and wiggled your eyebrows,"Is this your attempt to get in bed with me?Because if so, all you have to do is ask."
Todoroki's cheeks grew pink and he put his hand over your face to smother you and shut you up at once. Unfortunately for him, you wouldn't be silenced. You felt him flinch the hardest he'd probably ever had as soon as you licked his hand in retaliation.
His cheeks were as red as his hair and eyebrows as scrunched as they could be,"Did you just..."
"Yup. Word of advice", you kept the ruse up and batted your eyelashes excessively as you slid a hand onto his chest,"Don't cover a girl's mouth while on a bed if it's not for a good reason~."
You felt Todoroki's heartbeat speed up under your hand, grinning at his attempt to not give you the embarrassed reaction you wanted and he turned his flushed face away from you. His jaw was very prominent in that angle. You laughed and broke the act.
"I'm kidding. Obviously."
"No, you're right."
You didn't get the chance to question him before his hold on you got tight enough to flip you with ease and you let out a squeal of horror at the feeling. Regaining your surroundings, your heart stopped once you realized your position.
Todoroki's face was flushed, your face becoming the same as you took in the sight of him caging you to your bed. Your heart began pumping harder and it only got worse as you realized that this was his attempt to turn your joke around--the position was meant to be suggestive.
His breath fell softly onto your face as he worked on keeping his composure and your throat closed up even more. You would've never expected him to pull a stunt like this. Todoroki's hair blocked a bit of his face but his unique eyes were still visible. Breaking the eye contact, or the silence, was a great temptation yet felt harder than ever.
Todoroki hadn't planned anything for after. The stillness between you two was the result of mutual fluster but the more seconds passed, the more he was growing to like the vision he had. You laid with the biggest blush he'd seen on you yet, looking at him with lips pursed from nervousness and it was like moments in these that he felt his feelings for you more than ever.
You stayed absolutely still as one of his hands made their way onto your cheek and said nothing as he caressed your cheek with his thumb. The friction between his rough finger and your soft skin broke the last bit of calm you still had. At this point, your heart was in a frenzy.
Hearing Todoroki's voice in a whisper was the last thing you could've handled.
"I don't get tired of staring at you."
Your eyes widened. The compliment rose even more heat to your cheeks and you were too busy stammering a response out to notice the small smile on Todoroki's face.
You smiled nervously with false bravado,"Who would?I'm insanely hot."
Todoroki's thumbs traced your cheekbone up and down as he rose an eyebrow,"Not the words I'd choose, but sure."
The atmosphere was finally a little more breathable and you grinned curiously,"What words would you choose?"
"Stunning. Inside and out."
Your face was practically radiating heat. However, the conversation was putting you in a good modd and you laughed, feeling good about yourself with all the sudden praise,"Is that why you have me pinned to my bed?"
Todoroki rolled his eyes and took his hand off your cheek, placing it on the other side of your head again. He didn't respond and you took the initiative, your confidence higher than ever.
You shook your head in fake dissapointment,"Shoto, you somehow forget I'm a hero too..."
The man rose an eyebrow and opened his mouth to question the point of your statement before the tables were flipped--and he was too. You took advantage of his legs caging yours and placed your knee on his stomach, giving him a harsh push to the side and using the momentum to flip yourself on top of him.
Except it went horribly wrong.
You hadn't taken the edge of the bed into account and you both let out small sounds of panic as you flew to the floor. Your plan worked; you now sat on his lap except it came with the price of slamming Todoroki's back onto the ground. You gasped at the grunt he let out.
"SHOTO, I'M SO SORRY, ARE YOU OKAY?!?I'M SO SO SORRY, I DIDN'T REALIZE WE WERE AT THE EDGE, OH MY GOD-"
Your breath hitched at the sound that came from him during your rant.
Todoroki chuckled.
You stared in awe as he finished his short burst of laughter. In the five years you'd known him, you'd never heard him laugh. Small hints of pink made their way to your cheeks. His laugh was really nice.
Todoroki looked at you with the biggest smile you'd seen on him yet and it had you too captivated to care about his hands grabbing onto your waist. If anything, you let out a few giggles yourself in amazement yourself and they didn't stop until he spoke up.
"I'm fine. Is this why you brought up being a hero?"
You laughed,"I wanted to be cool and flip you the same way you did to me...but it kind of didn't work."
"Really?"
You narrowed your eyes in annoyance despite the big smile on your face and he chuckled again. The new sound was music to your ears. Another sound made its way to your ears and you perked up in both curiosity and dissapointment.
The mood was so comfortable that you really didn't want to break it but as a hero, you took it upon yourself to never ignore a phone call. His hold on you registered in your mind and you were glad that the nightstand was right by your side, meaning you didn't have to get out of it. Grabbing your phone, you smiled widely at the caller ID. Todoroki had quieted down and his smile had faded away but his expression looked calm.
You looked down at him with excitement,"Kiri's facetiming me."
Todoroki's eyes lost their light immediately but your attention was on your phone already. You answered the red-haired hero's call and grinned directly to the camera,"'Sup?"
Todoroki heard Kirishima's upbeat voice. He didn't mean to eavesdrop but it was hard not to in his current position.
"(Name)!!!Last minute, but how do you feel about going to a science museum in a few hours??Midoriya's paying!!"
Your eyebrows shot up in interest,"Really?Wait, are you only inviting me because someone else is paying?"
The other line of the call went silence and you pouted,"Rude. Uh", you looked down at Todoroki and his eyes brighted up at seeing your attention back on him,"How do you feel about a science museum?We'd technically be pulling an all-nighter but it sounds pretty cool..."
Before Todoroki could respond, Kirishima spoke up as he brought the camera closer to his eyes, as if that'd help him see the parts of the room that your camera wasn't poniting to,"Are you with someone?"
You grinned widely as you nodded and plopped your chest on Todoroki's to angle the camera in a way that could show both of you. The sudden lack of space between you two combined with the new position made him jump and his jaw tightened in embarrassment. Kirishima's dropped.
"Shoto, say hi!!!"
---------------------------
First of all, if you noticed me editing all the 'Bakugou's to 'Bakugo', no you didn't
Second of all, my finger slipped and I published another mha book. Who knows what my update speed will be now but I'm just having fun out here
Written 1/29/2023
Published 1/29/2023