Chapter Text
Todoroki opened his eyes to find his phone turning on, displaying a message.
<3: are you awake?
You: Yeah. Just don’t let anyone see you come in.
This had been going on for about a month. Him and Midoriya had been together for only about two weeks, and their classmates were beginning to get suspicious already. Sure, it was bothersome, having to hide their relationship so nobody blabbered to his father, but he couldn’t exactly do anything about it. He just hoped one day his father would accept him. Or die, whichever came first.
Izuku slowly opened his door and shut it behind him, walking down the hall toward his boyfriend’s dorm. He kept alert this time, reminding himself of what happened last time he was seen. Kaminari promised he wouldn’t blabber or start rumors, but inevitably, he did. At least he didn’t catch Midoriya near Todoroki’s dorm that time.
Just before he brought his hand up to turn the knob, a figure walked slowly past. Izuku whipped his head around to meet eyes with… Kacchan?
He continued to stare as he walked by, eyebrows creased. Kacchan isn’t one to spread rumors, right?
He waited until he was gone before swiftly heading inside the room and blindly to the bed, carefully settling his weight on the mattress and under the covers. It was too dark to see anything but shadows, so he flinched when he felt his arm touch another.
“Are you okay? You seem worried,” Todoroki sounded like he had just been woken up.
“How’d you know…?”
“Childhood trauma,”
Izuku cleared his throat. “Right… um, I’m fine, really,”
Todoroki put his chest to Midoriya’s back and an arm around his torso, nuzzling his face into his neck.
“You're not…” he kept his voice low.
Midoriya took a breath in and sighed, holding Todoroki’s hand loosely.
“...Before I came in, Kacchan saw me. I know you don’t want anyone to know about us, but he’s not… h-he wouldn’t do that, right?”
“Mmm… maybe. I dunno, the guy kinda hates you… maybe I can talk to him…”
Izuku sighed again, letting out a small ‘yeah’ before shutting his eyes and rubbing light circles on the back of Todoroki’s hand.
-
The next morning was like the rest. Izuku left early to sneak back to his own dorm, get dressed, finish any homework he failed to complete the previous night, pack his things, spend a little too much time on his phone and rush to class after checking the clock.
While walking through the halls, something felt wrong. Faces he recognized and didn’t recognize all looked at him, turning away when he looked back. He could hear his own ears ringing to fill in the lack of noise.
Even inside the classroom, he was largely ignored. Usually he’d have a hard time getting people to stop talking to him.
As the minutes of class ticked by too slow, Aizawa’s monotonous voice got increasingly difficult to listen to. Izuku had already been reprimanded multiple times in front of everyone for failing to pay attention, one more time would surely come with a consequence.
“Midoriya,”
“Ah! I was paying attention, I—”
“Class ended. You can leave now,”
Izuku nodded and apologized more than necessary, packing his things in a hurry before rushing into the hallway.
As he exited the school building, he noticed Todoroki walking by himself.
“Todoroki-kun! Hi!”
Todoroki walked faster.
Izuku attempted to catch up, but eventually slowed down to a very slow walk, staring ahead with his head tilted. Todoroki was always happy to walk together.
Once he noticed others were staring, he bolted for the dorms.
Todoroki rarely acted like this, only when he didn’t want to talk about something. Izuku made a mental note to visit Todoroki’s dorm later even if he’s opposed to it at first, he repeated to himself that it’s for the best.
Again, down the halls, anyone who he happened to pass by just stared. Everyone except Kacchan. In fact, it seemed that he made an effort to look away. Izuku shrugged it off and walked faster, rushing into his dorm and locking it. He closed his curtains and pulled out his homework. Even if he didn’t really understand it, he couldn’t just let his mind wander.
-
Izuku was about to leave his dorm to refill his coffee, until he caught a glimpse of the clock. 1:03. He breathed in, put down the empty mug and slid on a pair of fuzzy socks.
He slowly unlocked and opened the door. The halls were much darker tonight, instead of every other light being turned on, they had all been shut off.
Izuku quietly shut the door behind him and looked both ways.
He jumped and covered his mouth to avoid screaming. A shadowed figure stood beside him, but it only took a few seconds of conscious thinking to figure out who it was.
“K-Kacchan? What’re you doing here, outside of my door, at o-one in the morning, in a dark hallway…”
“Relax, I just wanna talk,”
“Oh, well, I’m sorta in a hurry and—”
“I know, I’ll walk you to Icyhot’s room, just shut up,”
Izuku pushed down all of the questions he had and just nodded stiffly as they began to walk.
“I was the one who did it. I saw you go into Icyhot’s room and I let it slip to Pikachu. I know, I shouldn’t have done that, but he’s a friend. I didn’t expect him to tell the whole damn school, okay?”
“Wait, so… so that’s why people were staring? They know…?”
“Yeah. The point is, I did a shitty thing, and I’m… ugh.... I’m fucking sorry, okay?”
Izuku suppressed a gasp. After everything, this is what Kacchan ended up apologizing for first. Maybe he really was getting better?
“Um… thanks,”
“Yeah, whatever. We’re here, good luck convincing him to not murder you,”
Izuku nodded and watched him leave. He hadn’t really processed the fact that he received an apology from Kacchan, but it was better that way. He had something else to focus on.
-
Izuku skipped knocking and just twisted the doorknob, peering inside before opening the door just enough to fit through. The only light was the soft moonlight that shone through the curtains, just barely revealing Todoroki lying on his side, facing the wall. His eyes weren’t visible, but he was definitely not asleep.
Izuku crept to the bed and sat beside him. He doubted either of them wanted to talk, so instead he spooned Todoroki, hugging him a little tighter than usual.
He sighed out a quiet ‘thank you,’ and held Izuku’s hand. It was only a few seconds until they were both asleep with the moon smiling down at them through the curtains.