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Aiko really hated being sick. Probably more than most people, she would guess. How could she not, when whenever she sneezed, the people around her were affected with her quirk? It was annoying and inconvenient, and always seemed to happen at the worst times. Everyone who knew her avoided her as much as they could when she had a cold, except for that one time her friend had tried to get her to use her quirk on the boy she liked. That really hadn’t ended well.
The upside was that she always got to leave class without much argument. Affecting (or perhaps infecting was a better word) her classmates with her quirk was too disruptive for any sort of teacher to ignore. So when her nose started tickling in her second class of the day, she was hastily given a pass and sent packing. She sneezed a few times going down the hallway, but thankfully no one had been around and the little clouds of blue mist were able to dissipate without bothering anyone. She really should have just asked her mom to let her stay home this morning, she thought with a sigh.
Recovery Girl couldn’t do a whole lot for colds, it wasn’t really worth it, so she just sped up the healing process and told Aiko she’d be going home for the day. Her mom was going to come pick her up, so she sat down to wait on one of the beds with a sigh followed by a fit of coughing. Recovery Girl bustled off to a different room, and she was left in the silence, only her sniffles for company.
Or so she thought.
Her nose started to itch, and on impulse she clamped a hand over it to try to stop the sneeze that was coming. But she couldn’t stop it, and a moment later three loud sneezes burst out of her. She coughed a little and brought her knees up to hug them. She felt better than before, but still pretty awful. At least she wouldn’t get anyone with her quirk today, she thought, watching the blue mist from her sneeze slowly drift outwards.
But then there was a quiet voice from her left that made her jump. “Bless you,” a tired boy’s voice said, as she realized with a sense of dread in her stomach that she was not alone in the room.
She scrambled to her feet with surprised cry and put herself in the corner of the room farthest from him. But the damage was already done. The mist from her quirk floated right over the foot of his bed. She desperately hoped that he was far enough away to not get affected before it faded away.
Her stomach sank as he sat up, directly into the cloud.
“I’m sorry, are you-” he started to speak but then his face glazed over as he breathed it in, and his words trailed off.
Not again. Couldn’t she have a cold once without messing with someone’s head? Was that really so much to ask? Apparently so.
It was probably unreasonable to assume no one else would try to talk to this kid in the next few hours before it wore off. She pulled a tissue from her pocket to blow her nose and sighed again. “I’m really sorry, whoever you are,” she told him, going back to the bed and flopping back down on it.
He was unresponsive of course, still staring dazedly at the corner she’d been in when he sat up. With nothing else to do, she looked him over. He was pretty nice looking, aesthetically speaking. Not that she cared much, but she figured a lot of people were most likely interested in him. Hopefully he didn’t already have girlfriend or something, when that was the case it was always a disaster. Maybe he could make it out of this situation without making a fool of himself. She hoped so, for his sake. A lot of people she’d accidentally affected were not so lucky.
He didn’t appear to be injured. Recovery girl probably already looked at him and he was resting. After a little while, she realized she recognized him. He was in the hero course, a second year maybe? One of those types people were always watching. She had little interest in heroism herself and thus never paid much attention to that lot, so she didn’t know his name, but that two tone hair and the scar definitely rang bells.
Goodness, she hoped this wouldn’t mess up his hero career. Depending on who spoke to him next, there might be quite a problem. Maybe the possibility of that was a stretch, but what if it wasn’t, huh? What would she do then? She was starting to get worried. Her mom would be here any minute, and she couldn’t just leave this kid here like this. She was responsible for what happened to him after all! Hopefully Recovery Girl would come back in time Aiko could explain it to her. Her quirk was on file of course, maybe they could help him?
She didn’t get far in her planning however, because there was someone opening the door to the room. As soon as she realized, she got up as quickly as her sick body would let her and tried to stop the person before they came in. If she could just keep them from saying anything to the kid in the bed…
But of course, it couldn’t work like that. She was only halfway across the room when the door slid open fully and another boy stuck his head in, her croaky cry of, “Wait don’t!” getting lost in the excited words already coming out of his mouth.
“Todoroki! Are you doing alright?”
And with that, the last of her hope for reducing the damage she’d done went out the window. She watched with a sinking feeling as the kid, Todoroki apparently, woke up from the daze, shook his head, and looked over with a soft smile at the boy who was stepping into the room. The quirk was in full effect now. Any second he’d start acting like they always did, Aiko started preparing herself for the secondhand embarrassment and the frantic explanations to the green haired kid.
But he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary.
He just kept smiling a little serenely and stretched his arms slowly. “I feel better, thank you Midoriya. Recovery girl was able to take care of most of what happened and now that I’ve rested I believe I’m fine.”
Midoriya bounced on the balls of his feet a little and smiled. “I’m glad! Should I tell the teacher you’re still resting or do you think you’re okay to come back to class now?”
Todoroki started to get out of bed. “I can come back to class, I’m feeling well enough.”
He seemed… completely normal? “What the hell?” In her disbelief she actually spoke the words, rather loudly.
The Midoriya kid jumped badly, just noticing her standing forlornly in the middle of the room. “Oh, hello! I didn’t see you there! Are you alright?”
“Am I alright?” She furrowed her brow in confusion. “More like, are you alright?” She directed her words at Todoroki. “Don’t you feel weird?”
He looked confused. “I think I’m fine? I feel normal? I appreciate the concern but I should go back to class.”
“Oh.” She took a step back, suddenly feeling a little dizzy and maybe like she needed to sneeze again. She sniffed sharply and covered her face, coughing to try and get rid of the tickle in her nose. What the hell? Did her quirk malfunction or something? It had obviously put him into the dazed state which had broken when he was spoken to by someone other than her, but then—? How was he acting like a normal person? Why was he helping her sit down on the bed as she stumbled from the sudden lightheadedness? Why was he even able to be aware that she was in the room? It didn’t make sense at all. Normally all common sense and alertness were nonexistent at this point.
Unless…
She watched them leave, saying something about getting Recovery Girl for her. Could she really have been so lucky? It had only ever happened like this with two people before.
They came back a few minutes later, and by then the shock and dizziness had worn off and she was feeling generally how she had before. Aiko watched them closely in the brief time they were in the room, before going back to whatever class they were missing. She listened vaguely to Recovery Girl telling her she needed to be resting because of the sickness and the treatment, but she was really thinking more about the interaction between Todoroki and Midoriya. The more she thought about it, the more she was sure that this odd development must be for the same reason as for the other people that had had this sort of reaction. She blamed her sickness addled mind for not considering it as a possibility at first.
Her parents were the only people she really knew that weren’t adversely affected by her quirk. That was why she wasn’t wary of being home when she was sick. If she sneezed next to her mom, all she had to do was go and call her dad (or vice versa). Aside from them being a little unbearably sappy for a few days afterwards, life would carry on as usual. Cause a quirk that made you fall in love with the next person that spoke to you was kind of useless when you were already in love with them.
By the time they got Recovery Girl back to that girl in the infirmary, she seemed to be fine, but she kept staring at him and Midoriya with an intent look on her face. It was rather unsettling, Shouto thought. They left soon after to return to the class they were supposed to be in, and the day carried on as usual. But the odd experience kept coming back into Shouto’s thoughts.
Had he blacked out at one point? He hadn’t felt like he had exactly, but when Midoriya came into the room, it had been a feeling akin to waking up. His mind had emerged from grogginess and progressed to feeling exceptionally clear, his eyes had been drawn to Midoriya, and he couldn’t help the happiness blooming in his chest and the smile raising on his face at the sight of him. Not that those feelings were anything unusual in themselves. Shouto had learned how to deal with them a while ago. Sometimes it hit him especially hard, like that morning, but it was still nothing he couldn’t lock down.
Perhaps he had just been dizzy from sitting up. He’d credit the weirdness he was feeling to that, he thought with a sigh as they packed up after lunch. Midoriya’s elbow brushed against his, and Shouto felt both of his cheeks start to burn. A normal occurrence for his left but an unusual experience for his right.
Get a hold of yourself, he thought sternly.
They walked back to class side by side and parted ways at the door. Midoriya headed off towards his seat with a smile and a little wave, and Shouto answered with a nod.
Sometimes he thought about the friendship he had with Midoriya, and felt more than a bit of wonderment. There was just something about him. Shouto had never had much in the way of friends, so he didn’t have a lot experience to compare this to, but he was pretty sure that Midoriya was something special. Did most people’s friends feel this natural and easy to be around? Did they quite literally break their bones to get a point across? Did they work this well together, know each other so well and so quickly with so few words? Maybe so. But Shouto couldn’t help but feel he had stumbled into something extremely lucky. Or more like blazed his way in, he thought with a flicker of a smile.
He must just be having an all-around off day, Shouto reasoned to himself as he settled into his seat. He’d gone to the infirmary this morning because during their training exercise he’d heard Midoriya’s voice and lost his concentration for a moment. Only a split second really, but it was enough for him to slip up and the next thing he knew there was enough blood in his eyes so that he could barely see and he could hear someone apologizing profusely.
It wasn’t much damage, more superficial than anything, and Recovery girl had been able to heal it fully. All he had needed was a nap afterwards. But still he felt off balance, like something was pulling him. Pulling towards Midoriya of course. The more he resisted it, keeping his eyes glued to the front of the room and pushing down all the thoughts of Midoriya that wanted to overrun his head, the harder and harder it got. So he gave in a little.
You’re dangerous, Shouto thought, staring at Midoriya from across the room. No matter what happens in the future I think you’re going to be the end of me. For better or worse.
Like he felt Shouto’s eyes burning a hole in the back of his head, Midoriya turned to look back at him. Before he could see if there was any reaction, Shouto dropped his eyes to his desk, heart beating too quickly. And it was a good thing he had, as his left hand was smoking and his notebook was very much in danger of going up in flames. He pulled his hand off the desk and cooled it down as quickly as he could, but there was definitely a beginning of a burn mark on the surface. Oops.
What was up with him, he wondered?
Everything felt so intense today, all raw close to the surface. It was hard to keep a lid on it, he kept having to wrestle with his thoughts and remind himself not to take Midoriya’s hand, not to brush the lock of hair away from his face, not to lean into him as the two of them walked down the hall. As the day wore on, it only got harder. The feelings he was normally so good at keeping under lock and key were rising up unbidden at every chance they could, sinking their fangs and claws into his heart and making every thought and movement ache a little more.
By the time he said bye to Midoriya at the end of the day and started on his way home, he almost wanted to run the whole way there. It was both relief and pain to be left alone without the unknowing recipient of his affections constantly feeding his flames, so to speak. He wanted to hide away in his room and encase himself in ice until this intensity that had come over him let him be. If this is how things were going to be from now on, his careful plan of never letting anyone catch onto his feelings, especially Midoriya himself, was going to going to become significantly endangered.
And not only that, but even his resolve to keep that secret had been slowly but surely crumbling as the hours ticked by. The part of him trying to keep it in found it more than a bit concerning that the idea of telling Midoriya how he felt was becoming more and more tempting with each glance and word and brush of skin. He was constantly in a battle between that notion and his long standing tradition of never telling anyone anything about how he felt ever.
It became a little easier to think as he made his way home. By the time he was opening his front door, he felt almost normal. Almost being the key word. The house seemed to be empty, for which he was grateful. School had been particularly exhausting and he was really not up for interaction with people any more today. So Shouto grabbed a snack and stretched out on the couch, leaning against the armrest. His phone sat on the coffee table and he stared out it, trying to ignore the itch to pick it up.
His resolve didn’t last very long but he did manage to steer himself away from clicking on Midoriya’s name in the text message screen, opting instead to open up his conversation with his sister.
He just stared at the screen though, unsure of what to say to her. There weren’t a whole lot of conversations about feelings in the Todoroki household. Not that he thought Fuyumi would be averse to him possibly confiding in her, but he had no idea how to go about it, or even if he actually wanted to. With a sigh he dropped the phone on his stomach and stared at the ceiling.
No, he didn’t need to talk about it. It was just a difficult day. He was tired from the injury and healing and seeing Midoriya smiling like that had caught him off balance was all. He’d get it under control. It’d be better tomorrow.
To his dismay, it was not better the next day. In fact it seemed by all accounts to be worse. It was a good thing that he and Midoriya were not in the same group for training again that day or it would most likely have turned into a repeat of the day before. Resilient as he was, he would rather not visit the infirmary two days in a row, and he doubted Recovery Girl would be too eager to see him again so soon either. He could image the scolding, and it was enough to keep him in line for the morning.
Though when they were at lunch and Midoriya laughed at some antic between Uraraka and Iida, smiling wide and shining like the sun and leaning into Shouto a little where he sat next to him, it was enough to make Shouto reconsider the plan of not going to the infirmary again. Was he sure he wasn’t sick? Maybe he was having heart palpitations? Surely this couldn’t be healthy, Recovery Girl wouldn’t rebuke him for that would she? She’d probably ask about the cause though.
“Midoriya is damaging my heart,” he imagined saying. That wouldn’t go over well. There was nothing she could do about it anyways. He sighed once more. But he smiled when Midoriya’s shoulder touched his. Risking heart attack was probably worth this anyways.
Distracted as he was, he nearly jumped out of his chair when Tokoyami spoke to him from where he was sitting on Shouto’s other side.
“Todoroki, I think I should let you know that I believe you’re being stared at. I can’t tell whether she wants to talk to you or challenge you to a fight you but if looks could kill you probably would not have long left.”
“What?” He turned his head to where Tokoyami was looking and stiffened a little. There was indeed someone staring in their direction with a startling intensity from across the lunch room. She noticed him looking back at her frowned before turning back to face her food, seeming frustrated rather than embarrassed for being caught staring.
That was odd.
Wasn’t that the girl from yesterday in the infirmary? She seemed well. The look she had been giving him and Midoriya before they left the day before, which he had at first chalked up to weirdness from being sick, was the same as ever though. It was unsettling, he somehow got the feeling that she was trying to figure something out about him that he’d rather she didn’t know. Did it have to do with the weird feeling he had about his memories from the day before?
He had half a mind to talk to her about it, but was not looking forward to the idea of confronting her, especially if it turned out to be nothing like what he was thinking. The decision was taken out of his hands, however, as she cornered him after lunch, arms folded and brow furrowed. Midoriya had pulled ahead earlier, in a conversation with Uraraka, and Shouto watched his retreating back with dismay. They were standing in the middle of the hall, her blocking his way and people walking around them, with a few looks thrown back over shoulders.
He said nothing, waiting for her to say what she had to say.
“This has been bugging me,” she began, “and I figured I should tell you what happened, since I didn’t get the chance to yesterday and I feel a little bad about it. If things are the way I think they are it’s not really a problem but I figure you still have a right to know.”
“A right to know what?” He had an odd suspicion. “Did you do something to me yesterday?”
The girl’s face turned apologetic. “Not on purpose, it was sort of your fault but mostly mine I guess and well- oh I should say! My name is Yusuke Aiko, I’m a third year in the general studies course.”
“Todoroki Shouto,” he replied automatically.
She started talking again before he could continue. She seemed sort of nervous, and Shouto’s worry about what exactly she’d done only kept increasing.
“So I was sick yesterday, as you know yeah, and my quirk—it’s so dumb and annoying really but anyway, my quirk goes off when I sneeze. And I thought I was alone in the room so I let myself sneeze but you were there and you sat right up and got a face full of the mist.” At the look on his face, she held up her hands in a placating gesture. “Don’t worry, don’t worry! It doesn’t hurt you!”
“Is it memory loss?” Shouto asked, thinking back on the fuzzy spot in his memories.
She shook her head. “That’s sort of a side effect but really the main thing is,” she pulled a face and sighed. “Well it makes whoever breathes it in fall in love temporarily with the next person that talks to them, the next person who isn’t me that is, thank goodness.”
What?
Aiko continues on quickly, as if she hadn’t just dropped that bomb on him. “The effects wear off after a few days or so, so you’re fine and all, and you didn’t react normally so you’re more fine than most, I just really thought you ought to know.”
“I didn’t?” He asks faintly, mind combing through everything he’d felt the last two days.
“No, you actually didn't seem to react even at all," she tells him “Which is why I sort of freaked out because like, what the hell right? Sorry about that by the way. But I think I figured out why, and you’ve probably caught on to it too, yeah? It’s like pouring water on someone who’s already soaked, you know? Or throwing a match on an already lit campfire. Doesn’t change much.”
He nods a little distantly, still taking it in. The first person who had talked to him, of course, had been…
The look on her face turned to one that might have been sympathetic. “I’m really not one for romance, ironic I know, and it’s not any of my business really, I know, but I was watching you and that other kid to see if I could figure out for sure whether I was right or not. And I’ve seen a lot of people affected by my quirk, I know how strong it is. I don’t know how you were before, but for it not to phase you and for people to not notice a difference in your behavior?” She shrugged. “I just… most people can’t even hold all that inside them, yeah? It’s only going to keep hurting you.”
Anything further she might have had to say, as well as any reply Shouto might have managed to formulate to all of that, was lost as a bell for the next class rang. With a swift curse and a wave accompanied by, “I’m sorry man, good luck!” Aiko ran down the hall with a surprising amount of speed, and Shouto was left alone in the hallway with his thoughts.
In love with…
He hadn’t been ready to face it fully, but she’d just shoved the word “love” onto him and there was nothing he could do to get rid of it now.
The quirk affecting him explained the heightened emotions he’d been unable to get a good handle on the last two days. He’s sure it would be a major shock to anyone’s system if they didn’t already have feelings for the person. The only times they had a chance was if they were like Shouto, already too used to it all to even notice something had happened.
With a start he realized he was late for class, and hurried off. He slipped in the classroom, and thankfully Aizawa barely spared him a glance, presumably too tired to care.
Midoriya gave him a questioning look, and Shouto shrugged in reply. I’ll tell you later, it implied. The small smile he got in return made him press his hand to his chest and take a deep shaky breath as he sat down at his desk. He wasn’t sure if he would tell him later though. His fear of that was still powerful.
“Pouring water on someone already soaked” indeed. More like he’d been up to his neck in water before and Aiko had poured in enough that he was struggling not to drown
Shouto wasn’t totally sure whether remembering that he and Midoriya had plans to study after school that day meant that his day was going downhill or uphill. On one hand, the thought of spending more time with him made him very happy. But on the other hand the whole feelings thing was exhausting and he wasn’t exactly looking forward to the having to deal with it for several hours in close quarters part of this arrangement. The well-being of his heart was at stake in more than one way, now more than ever.
No matter what though really, he had no inclination of skipping out on it. That was hardly fair to Midoriya, who would not understand the reason for it and would most likely misunderstand. Best to avoid that. So he followed Midoriya to his house and the two of them spread out the contents of their bags all over his floor.
Shouto tried to focus, he really did, but said task was easier said than done. And who, in good conscience, could really blame him? How was he supposed to read the words in the book in front of him when he could look at Midoriya sitting next to him and watch his hands fiddle with a pen as he read? How was he supposed to remember the English words for the homework assignment when he could listen to Midoriya’s voice mumble quietly as he wrote? And how could he even think about the math problems on his page when faced with the much more pressing problem of how many freckles Midoriya really had?
It was no use. Shouto dropped his head into his textbook with a huff, partly to rest, partly to hide the red that was constantly trying to creep onto his cheeks. Midoriya nudged him with his shoulder and Shouto swallowed thickly, face still hidden. Calm down calm down calm down, he reprimanded his speeding heart.
“You want to take a break?” Midoriya asked him.
“Yes please,” he mumbled into the book. He felt Midoriya stand up, and Shouto leaned away from the cold empty feeling left at his side.
“I’ll get us some snacks, and maybe we could watch some TV, does that sound good?”
Shouto made a muffled noise of agreement. He’d have to remove his face from the book for both of those activities though and he wasn’t sure how well he could manage that. Maybe he could just stay like this forever and he wouldn’t have to figure out how to deal with life anymore. His resolve was on that was only strengthened when Midoriya walked past him, his hand settling on Shouto’s head and ruffling his hair for a moment before he left the room. He would have to live his life with his face hidden in a book, there was no way his face was going to return to a normal color ever again after that, it felt like it was burning.
The thought made him sit up straight suddenly though, for fear of the very real possibility that he was indeed on fire. Fortunately, there seemed to be no flames on the book or on his face or hands. Crisis averted, he settled back with a sigh, covering his face with his cold hand. He really needed to get a grip.
A minute or so later, Midoriya was back, dropping a can of soda and a bag of chips next to Shouto and flopping down next to him on the floor with the remote. He didn’t turn the TV on though, but tapped the remote on his leg instead, staring at their feet stretched out in front of them.
“Midor-”
“Are you alright?” the words came out quickly, and he peered at Shouto out of the corner of his eye after he said them. “I’m sorry if this is too much, but you’ve been a bit off the last few days I just couldn’t help but notice. Is it the injury from yesterday? Are you in pain? Do you need to get treatment? Or is it me did I do something? I’m sorry if-”
“You didn’t do anything,” Shouto said firmly, needing first to stop Midoriya from feeling guilty about anything. “And I’m not still hurt,” he added. “I’m sorry if I’ve made you worry, there’s just been some stuff on my mind I suppose.” Not a lie, doing well so far. He ignored his heart trying to escape his chest.
“Oh, I’m sorry, it’s none of my business then! It’s okay, I’m just glad you’re not hurt!”
That didn’t really sit right with him, and Shouto stared at his hands, willing himself to speak. “Well it is kind of your business.”
The room is quiet, the air full of expectance.
“I uh…” he breathed out sharply and then restarted. “You know that girl from the infirmary? Apparently she hit me with her quirk accidentally and I didn’t know. She told me about it that’s why I was late to class earlier.” Could he get away with only telling part of the story? Not telling it felt wrong, but at the same time every siren in his head was going off and telling him to turn back now or risk a fatal crash and burn.
“Oh no! What was it? I thought you said you were alright?”
The concern in Midoriya’s voice jabbed sharp fingers into Shouto’s chest. He was getting the feeling that there would be no slipping by on half-truths today, and the warning sirens shouted louder. Why had he started this? He could barely hear his own voice when he spoke next. “No I am alright, it didn’t hurt me it just, messed with my head? Not really my head, my emotions I suppose. And not really that either, apparently.” He was still staring fixedly at his hands in his lap, twisting his fingers together.
Midoriya’s legs disappeared from Shouto’s field of vision as he pulled them up to his chest. “What do you mean?” his voice was quiet, but somehow Shouto could still hear him of the deafening silence in his ears.
“She told me, umm, that her quirk makes people fall in love. Temporarily that is.” He wouldn’t look at him, he couldn’t.
“Oh,” Midoriya said, and there was such a strange crack in his voice that Shouto forgot all about his embarrassment and looked right at him for the first time in the conversation. What he saw took him aback. Midoriya sat with his knees hugged tight to his chest, knuckles a little white. His mouth was pressed into the space between his knees and his eyes stared blankly in front of him. What was he thinking?
He lifted his chin to rest on top of his knees and spoke again. “So you’re in love with someone right now?” The crack in his voice was gone, but so was everything else, the words coming out flat and nearly emotionless. What was that? Was he…?
Shouto watched him, feeling a little miserable, wishing he’d never brought it up but unable to stop the conversation midway. Might as well go for it, if he was going to die today either way? Rip the bandaid off, as they say. “I think so.”
“Who? Her?”
“You.” The word made his tongue buzz and his ears ring a little. He was feeling much more daring than usual. Maybe it was a side effect of the quirk? He’d have to ask Aiko some time perhaps.
Midoriya’s head snapped towards him so that their eyes met, and he was quiet. Shouto could imagine he could hear the gears of his brain turning at furious speeds. Midoriya bit his lip and scratched the back of his head, looking away again to carefully set his sights on the All Might poster on the wall above the television
“I’m sorry, it must feel really awkward to hang out with me, if you want to go home that’s fine! I hope you don’t feel like I forced you into coming over, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable!” The smile looked forced.
He couldn’t help but hope, from the way the conversation was playing out, that the next thing he said wouldn’t completely ruin everything. “Well, Midoriya, you see the thing is…” This was even more difficult than he had thought it was going to be, and he had thought it was going to be all but impossible. “It hasn’t been, um well… It hasn’t been much of a difference from usual honestly. It’s just a little more… overwhelming.”
“Oh,” Midoriya said again. But it was a different kind of tone than the last one. It wasn’t flat or pained, but it was something Shouto didn’t know how to read. Midoriya just stared at him, mouth slightly open, and Shouto felt restless as the silence creeped on. Maybe he’d made a wrong assumption. His skin felt itchy and hot all over, he wanted to crawl out of it, wanted to get out of that room and the roundabout confession he had just made.
“Sorry, maybe I should actually go home, this wasn’t really a good idea, I’m sorry,” he started fumbling half blindly for this things on the floor as unfamiliar tears started to prick in his eyes before a weight slammed into him and he landed hard on his back. He found himself looking up at Midoriya, pinned to the floor. Midoriya’s hands were on his arms, where he’d grabbed as he’d launched himself at Shouto. The sudden closeness was a little dumbfounding, and all he could do was stare and attempt to calm down his frantic heart.
“No, no I’m sorry. Please don’t,” Midoriya said after a moment, eyes wide and locked with Shouto’s. “Please don’t leave and please don’t say you shouldn’t have told me.”
Shouto blinked a few times, trying to get his bearings in this new sea. There were even more freckles visible from this close, it was rather amazing. “Alright,” he said quietly, watching the light shine in Midoriya’s eyes. “I won’t.”
They stayed like that for a moment before Midoriya suddenly jumped off of him, face burning brilliantly with a blush. “Sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to do that really, I just moved without thinking and, you know!”
Shouto watched him with amazement, still reeling as he sat up. “No, it’s okay.”
That just seemed to fluster Midoriya even more, and Shouto almost felt bad except that he was too cute for any regrets to be had.
“So um,” Midoriya said, his face a frankly alarming shade of red, “Did that mean you…?” He trailed off, his mouth opening and closing a few silent times like he was trying to find words.
“I like you,” Shouto supplied, “I really like you.” And there it was, clear as day for the first time, and it felt so good to let it out.
Midoriya made a noise that couldn’t be called anything but a squeak, and he looked just as nervous as Shouto felt but still reached forward to grab Shouto’s hands firmly. “I like you too of course! Well maybe it’s not of course but it feels like of course I would to me! And I never said anything because I didn’t think you’d like me back but you do??? And I-? Woww.”
“Breathe, Midoriya,” he told him with a little smile after the barrage of words, rubbing the back of Midoriya’s hands with his thumbs.
“That’s pretty hard to do, looking at you,” Midoriya retorted, then making a face that implied he hadn’t entirely intended to share that thought out loud, but he shook it off after a moment and stared at their hands instead. “You know you could uh… call me Izuku if you’d like.”
He would very much like. “Okay, then call me Shouto, Izuku.” Shouto attempted to keep his face composed but it was really so hard with Izuku there in front of him, holding his hands and blushing like a tomato but still smiling brilliantly
“Didn’t I just remind you to breathe?” Shouto asked, his tone one of mock admonishment. “We can’t have you keeling over,” he told him, fighting a blush as he traced the rough lines of a scar on Izuku’s hand with his finger. “I could probably carry you to Recovery Girl but I’d rather not have to.”
He laughed in response to that, seeming to relax bit by bit. “That’s pretty far, are you sure you could?”
“I would if I had to,” he replied seriously.
Izuku raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“Prove it.”
“What??”
“I’m heavier than you think, prove it.”
There was an unfamiliar little gleam in Izuku’s eyes, and Shouto gave in to the challenge after only a few more minor protests.
He had underestimated how solid Izuku really was though, and didn’t get enough momentum when he tried to lift him which resulted in Shouto fumbling to try to stop Izuku from slipping out of his arms. His determination not to drop him, as well as Izuku’s arms latched around his neck, caused the inevitable crash to the floor to involve both of them. After the momentary shock wore off, however, Shouto couldn’t really say he was unhappy with the development.
Izuku laughed a little from where he was now resting comfortably on top of Shouto’s legs. “Looks like you’re just all talk after all.”
“Maybe so, but look at the result. I think this is better, don’t you?”
The redness in Izuku’s face from before that had faded a little returned in full force as he became aware of their position. He ducked his head down so that his forehead rested lightly on Shouto’s chest. “I can’t say I object,” he mumbled. Shouto imagined he could hear a grin in his voice, and wondered if Izuku had planned this somehow. It seemed unlikely but Shouto still wouldn’t put it past him.
Shouto smiled down at the top of his head, feeling the nervousness and embarrassment slowly fading off and being replaced simply with happiness. The ache in his chest and the itch in his fingers to do something had been sated, and he finally felt that part of him relaxing.
“That was a ridiculous idea.” Izuku laughed, his shoulders shaking against Shouto’s arms and chest.
“It was your idea??”
“I know I know, and it was a ridiculous idea,” his laughter increased, and Shouto couldn’t help but be caught up in it, beginning to laugh with him.
“I could actually carry you, you know, I just misjudged the force required to pick you up.”
“I believe you,” Izuku grinned.
He made a dubious face.
“I do!” His arms were still hooked loosely around Shouto’s shoulders, and his side pressed into Shouto’s front. It was warm and comforting to have Izuku on him, and he was pretty sure it was the only thing keeping him from floating away right then. He felt lighter than he had in, he didn’t know how long.
Carefully, he pulled his hand out from where it had been trapped under Izuku’s leg and used it to brush through the mess of green curls in front of him. A quick urge seized him, and he followed it before losing his nerve. He planted a quick, soft kiss on Izuku’s cheek as he laughed, right on top of a freckle on the curve of his cheekbone. He felt the cheek lifting in a smile before he pulled his lips away, and he returned the smile with one of his own.
“Are you glad you told me?” Izuku asked, his hand brushing through the hair on the back of Shouto’s head.
The idea of not being glad about recent developments was absurd, and he laughed. “I am very happy.”
Izuku dipped his head a little so that his forehead rested against Shouto’s and closed his eyes. “I’m happy too,” he said quietly, almost as a sigh. “This is really nice.”
“Yeah,” Shouto whispered. In contrast to Izuku’s, his eyes were wide open. His face was so close, Shouto could hardly breathe. His hair framed his face and brushed softly against Shouto’s skin, it almost tickled. Now would be an optimal time to return to the freckle counting problem, or to…
Izuku’s eyes cracked open almost just as the though came into Shouto’s head. “You’re really red are you okay?”
He made himself consciously take a deep breath. “I’m good… I was just thinking…”
“About?” His fingers continued to thread through Shouto’s hair
“Well I, could…” His thumb brushed lightly of Izuku’s cheek. “Could I…?”
His courage left him before the last few words could get out of his mouth, but Izuku seemed to get the idea.
“Yeah,” he blushed, “Yes please do, I mean.”
So he did. Shouto lifted his chin and felt his stomach swoop as his lips brushed gently against Izuku’s. The kiss was quick and soft and a little clumsy, but they both left it with smiles a bright as the warmth in their hearts.
The next day at lunch, he held Izuku’s hand under the table and shot a small thumbs up to Aiko from across the room. Neither burning nor drowning anymore, Shouto thought with a smile to himself.