Chapter Text
Shouto sits in the centre back seat of Anika’s car, switch in hand as two curious bodies enter his personal space.
“What’s this button do?” Kaori asks inquisitively as she points to one of his switch’s few buttons. Her head basically rests on his shoulder as she watches the screen from his side. Denki isn’t much better, hovering on his other side curiously.
“Jump.” Shouto explains, pressing the button to show her.
“And how do I steer?”
“Like this.” Shouto says, running the controls by her one last time so she can understand.
“Just give her the damn thing. She’ll figure it out eventually.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty smart, y’know.” She makes grabby hands at him.
“I’m sure you are.” Shouto says honestly, handing the console over to the girl who basically vibrates with excitement.
She immediately becomes entranced by the game as she fiddles with the controls.
“You do realise you’re never getting that thing back now.”
Shouto shrugs. “I can always buy a new one.”
“Who are you, Bill Gates?”
“No, I’m just a guy who knows the pin to his dad’s bank account.”
“And he doesn’t notice you spending all his money?”
“I don’t really know. He’s never brought it up.”
“Man I thought you just came along with me this week for the free meals. Shouto, I honestly thought you were like.. flat broke.”
“With the way he dresses? Please.”
Shouto looks down at his very casual t-shirt and board shorts combo. He’d even had to borrow a pair of Yasuo’s board shorts seeing as he didn’t bring his own.
“I don’t dress expensive.”
“Shouto, you’re literally wearing a Tommy Hilfiger shirt to the beach.” Haruki says from the passenger seat.
“It’s the only t-shirt I brought.”
Denki shakes his head. “I can’t believe I thought you were poor five minutes ago.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t know your boyfriend was loaded.” Anika responds.
“I am a fool.”
“So if not for the free food, why did you come down here with the dumbass?”
“Oh well. Denki made a very special offer.” Shouto says, sharing a look with the blonde whose eyes light with recognition.
Denki chokes.
“Oh no. What’d he offer?” Anika asks, grinning at them in the rear view mirror.
“Nothing!” Denki shouts, clamping a hand over Shouto’s mouth before he can speak. “I didn’t offer anything.”
Shouto’s too distracted by the feeling of Denki’s hand over his lips to even recognise where the conversation goes after that.
His cheeks flood with heat.
Denki had kissed him this morning.
They were both awake surprisingly early in the morning and had gone downstairs to have an early breakfast.
They were the only ones downstairs for a few hours and so after breakfast they’d washed their plates and moved to the living room where they talked and Denki showed him ridiculous photos and videos of his friends on his phone.
Eventually the conversation moved to their fake relationship and Shouto was so caught up in trying to fill in the holes of their fake backstory that he didn’t hear Haruki coming down the stairs.
Luckily, Denki had and he rushed forward to press their lips together in order to shut Shouto up about the very top secret topic he’d been babbling on about.
At first, he’d been very confused and kind of uncomfortable but then his brain finally clicked when he heard Haruki coming around the corner.
He’d closed his eyes and tried his best to act like he wasn’t completely mortified with the way Denki was now basically sitting on his lap and trying his best to get Shouto’s mouth open so it didn’t look like the most awkward kiss in the world.
Shouto steeled himself and allowed his lips to part for the soul purpose of tricking Denki’s sister.
Then Denki’s tongue was in his mouth and Shouto’s brain completely rewired in a total of half a second and he started kissing the boy back, desperately.
He forgot about Haruki and he definitely forgot about how adamant he’d been about disliking kissing in the past because this was great. No, amazing.
He had no idea what he was doing or if it was right but each time Denki’s tongue brushed his own he felt a rush of heat envelop his entire body and he just did not care. He didn’t care how inexperienced and shit he was because Denki didn’t seem to mind either. He just kept going, pushing deeper and Shouto let him.
Then Haruki cleared her throat and Denki pulled back with a shocked gasp, like he hadn’t noticed she was there and Shouto thought he deserved an Oscar for how well he played it off.
“Sorry.” He said, face just as flushed as Shouto’s own felt. “Didn’t see you there.”
“Yeah well next time keep that shit for the bedroom. I don’t need to be scarred twice.” She said, stepping past them so she could make her way to the kitchen.
Shouto’s brain finally caught up to him and he stared absently at Denki’s chest for much too long.
“Hey, Shouto.” Denki asked, shaking him gently. “What’s wrong with you?”
Shouto’s eyes snapped up and he abruptly pushed Denki off of his lap. “Excuse me.” Shouto muttered and very quickly made his way up the stairs and into their bedroom before locking himself in the en-suite.
Shouto had experienced his fair share of erections in the past but he’d never ever gotten excited for any specific reason. For any person.
Usually it was normal stuff like the friction of his pants rubbing the wrong way or a sudden change in the weather but this..
He’d just gotten hard for Denki Kaminari.
He could feel the damn thing straining against his pants.
He wasn’t sure whether to feel excited or terrified about this new revelation and he never got a chance to decide because the boy himself was knocking on the door, quietly muttering apologies and Shouto jumped.
He tried to think of as many disgusting and offputting images as he could and eventually settled down enough to actually face the boy.
He splashed water on his face in a hopeless attempt to hide his bright red cheeks and opened the door.
“I’m sorry, Shouto. I’m so sorry. It’s just- Haruki caught me off guard and I didn’t want her to overhear anything so I just freaked out and that’s the first thing my brain came up with and I’m sorry. I’ve made you uncomfortable haven’t I? Oh my god why do I always ruin everything I swear it was an accident-“
“Denki.” Shouto said firmly and the boy looked up at him, eyes wide and wet with panic stricken tears. “It’s okay.”
“No it’s not. You said you didn’t want to unless it was necessary and it definitely wasn’t necessary and I-“
“Denki. Stop. I said it’s fine. You just caught me off guard, that’s all. You don’t need to apologise.”
“But I-“
“But nothing.” Shouto responded firmly. “It was an accident. I’m over it.”
But now, as Shouto tries desperately to stare at anything other than Denki’s lips, he realises that no, he’s not over it.
-
Everyone piles out of the car with no time to waste and Shouto quietly wonders when this became a race and why he never go the memo.
Kaori is literally already down the poorly constructed wooden steps and sprinting across the sand by the time Shouto’s closing the back door behind him.
Haruki also brushes past him, sprinting after her sister.
Seconds later Denki shoves a heavy surfboard in his hands before unclipping his own from the roof of the car and beckoning for Shouto to follow.
“Yeah, thanks for all your help, guys!” Akina shouts after them. Shouto turns to see her swathed in heavy beach bags and he goes to help but Denki grabs his arm and pulls him along.
“Leave her, she’s being dramatic.”
“She has four bags on one arm.”
“Not important.” Denki waves him off. “So anyway, this is what a real beach looks like.” He says in a tone that sounds suspiciously condescending.
Shouto rolls his eyes.
Denki continues, undeterred by the attitude. “This is probably the best beach in the area. Mum used to bring us here all the time as kids so we could surf and stuff. I broke my arm over there after getting smashed by a wave.”
“Broke your arm?” Shouto’s brows rise almost to his hairline. “Surfing?”
“Happens more often than you’d think.” He shrugs and when he sees Shouto’s hesitation he immediately backpedals. “Not that you’re going to break any bones today. No sir you’re in good hands. I’m actually very well versed in training newbie surfers and am yet to have any casualties.”
“Is that so?”
Denki nods. “Yeah, I used to teach a surfing school when I was still living down here.” He says proudly, puffing out his chest. “All of my students made it out without a scratch.”
“That’s good to hear.” Shouto responds but still eyes him cautiously.
“Wait.” Denki stops mid-stride and turns to him. “Do you know how to swim?”
Shouto gives him a disbelieving look.
“Wow, Okay. No need to get offended.” Denki responds, dumping his board on the sand next to where his sisters had already thrown their towels and other belongings. “You’re the one who said you’ve never been to a beach before.”
“Well there’s such a thing as pools, Denki.”
The boy rolls his eyes with a huff. “This is no way to treat your teacher.”
Shouto ignores him and glances over his shoulder at Akina who is trudging very slowly across the carpark, hidden under a mountain of bags.
Shouto places the board next to Denki’s and runs over to help her.
“Whaaaa- Shouto. Stop helping with things!” He hears from behind him but that is quickly drowned out by Akina gushing over what a ‘thoughtful young man’ he is.
Somehow Shouto ends up lugging more bags than she does but he doesn’t really mind.
“Shoouutttooo.” Denki whines once he reaches him where he hadn’t even budged from the sand. “You have to stop helping out around here. You’re making me look lazy.”
“You are lazy.” Akina growls, kicking sand in her brother’s face.
Denki squawks and throws an arm out in an attempt to trip her which just ends in him overreaching and face planting in the sand.
Akina shakes her head in disdain. “Pathetic.” She mutters as she slowly unravels herself from the bags wrapping around her wrists.
Denki’s head pops up out of the sand and he glares at her, eyes setting like steel. “What’d you say?”
Akina’s eyes widen. “...nothing.” She mutters, taking a step back.
Denki jumps at her faster than Shouto’s eyes can even track and before he knows it, the blonde has his older and heavier sister over his shoulder as she kicks and thrashes at him.
He turns around and begins trudging casually down to the water.
“Denki no!” Akina howls. “These clothes were expensive! The water-!” Then she screams as Denki flips her over his shoulder and dumps her in the waves.
Haruki shouts from where she’d been splashing Kaori a little further in and wastes no time tackling her brother into the water.
Shouto’s happy to sit on the dry sand and watch the battle unfold.
-
The rest of the family arrive as Denki is showing Shouto the basics of surfing.
Yui, Yasuo and the twins all spill out of one car, followed by another car with Denki’s mother, step father and aunt who are also accompanied by Hana and her baby.
Denki snaps his fingers at Shouto for getting distracted by the incoming family.
“Am I a joke to you, Shouto?”
“What?”
“Out there, in the waves, one second of distraction could be life or death.” He continues. “The deep blue is relentless, Shouto. Relentless. Those waves will not hesitate to smash you against the rocks. So you best listen to every word I say, as though your life depends on it.”
Denki had been acting strangely for the last fifteen minutes as he’d explained to Shouto the essentials of surfing. In all honesty, Shouto’s starting to wonder if he’s doing a bit, especially after that ridiculous cat Santa performance the night before.
“Are you monologue-ing?” Shouto asks, tilting his head slightly.
Denki shoves him off the board he’d been trying to balance on, sending him sprawling on the sand. “What did I say about distractions?”
“You’re a maniac.” Shouto replies, climbing back onto the board only for Denki to shove him again. This time he manages to stay on his feet but he does stumble off the board.
“Your balance sucks.” He says, tapping his chin like he’s trying to find a solution to this particular problem.
“Maybe because you keep shoving me.” He replies, once again stepping back onto the board. This time when Denki comes at him, he manages to dodge and stay on the board.
“Better.” Denki nods, impressed. “But you need to stay in the middle or you’ll just flip the board.”
Shouto sighs.
After an hour of screwing around on the beach, Denki deems him fit to enter the water and leads Shouto out into the waves after fetching his own board.
Shouto only has to take one look at the boy as he paddles out into the water to know Denki knows what he’s doing here. Shouto tries his best to keep up, taking notes from Denki’s form as he follows him.
Unfortunately, he’s a little distracted by the boy’s surprisingly muscular shoulders as he leans forward on his board and gracefully pushes through the water with his arms.
Then he thinks about how Denki had effortlessly lifted his sister earlier and wonders if he could lift Shouto like that.
He shakes those thoughts away.
“Are there sharks out here?” He asks once they come to a stop in a moderately calm section of water.
“There probably are now that you’ve summoned them by name.” Denki says, shaking his head in disbelief. “First rule of surfing, don’t even think about sharks.”
“I thought the first rule was dont get distracted.” Shouto tilts his head as his board bobs up and down in the water, ripples licking at his hips “You mustn’t be very good at mathematics if you don’t know there can only be one first rule.”
“Do you want me to push you off that board again?”
“No.”
“Then shut up.” Denki scowls but his eyes are light and playful. He switches to a more serious tone as he says. “Okay so you know how to stand on a beach but can you balance on your board in the water?”
“Probably not.”
“This is understandable.” Denki taps his chin. “But were gonna try anyway.”
“Okay.”
It goes horribly at first, even when he tries to be slow and careful he ends up tipping the balance of the board and falling but eventually gets the hang of it, to the point where he can stand fully upright on the thing without immediately flipping into the water.
Denki gives him a double thumbs up when he does this and Shouto immediately fall backwards into the water.
“Time to catch some waves, my young padawan.” Denki confirms once Shouto resurfaces.
As it turns out, surfing is pretty fun once he gets the hang of it. At first it’s horribly embarrassing and Denki makes sure to laugh almost maniacally every time Shouto gets thrown off a wave.
Denki’s pretty good from what Shouto can tell. He’s never been into surfing himself so he’s not entirely sure what it’s meant to look like but he does know not falling every five seconds is an achievement in itself and Denki apparently has that down pat.
As Shouto watches the boy glide through each wave he starts to realise that maybe he should have seen this coming. Denki is your stereotypical surfer dude -blonde hair, golden tan and honestly... not a bad body- Shouto had stared a little too long when the boy had taken his shirt off in the beginning, but he’ll deny it to his death bed.
He looks very at home with his hair wet and the sun shining on his face. Shouto thinks he looks almost luminescent under the harsh rays and very quickly squashes that thought down. He’ll have a lot of mulling to do tonight, that’s for certain.
“Bored already?”
“No. I was just.. watching.”
Denki makes a particularly haughty sound as he puffs out his chest. “Enjoying the view?”
Shouto pushes his face away, knocking Denki sideways into the water with a loud splash.
-
The family move up onto the grass to have lunch, Yui throwing down a few picnic blankets as the other adults place bags of takeout in the middle of each one.
Shouto and Denki get banished to ‘the kids blanket’ on account of them both still drying off from the ocean. As they eat, Haruki shows them the shells her and Kaori had found along the beach. Shouto inspects them curiously before passing them along to Denki.
Kaori explains with a pout how she’d wanted to explore the rock pools around the ends of the beach but had been denied because she was too young and no one wanted to supervise.
“I could go with you.” Shouto blurts, not liking the pout on the little girl’s face.
“Really?!” She shouts, turning to place her palms on his knees excitedly.
“Sure. I’d like to have a look.” He says, glancing in the direction of the adults picnic. “If that’s okay with your parents. You should ask them first.”
“Dad!” Kaori shouts, whipping around to nag her father.
“What’s up.”
“Can I go over to the rocks if Shouto goes with me?”
Tai shrugs in a way that seems much too relaxed for a man deciding whether his young daughter can go play on some very sharp rocks. “I don’t see why not.” He says but he turns to his wife for confirmation.
She nods. “Fine, But you stay with Shouto, Okay?”
Kaori nods, grabbing hold of Shouto’s hands. He almost throws his fork across the blanket at Haruki when she does this. Shouto stares at their hands for a moment and then offers her a small smile.
“Get your little paws off my boyfriend.” Denki barks and Kaori lets go but not without shooting him a sly grin. “I’ll come too.”
“Same!” Haruki agrees.
“In that case,” Yui says, leaning back to look over them from where she’d been sat behind her husband. “You can take the twins.”
Kaori sticks her tongue out, hunching forward like she’s about to be sick.
“No way! They’re your kids, you look after them.” Denki agrees with his youngest sister.
“Oh come on.” She huffs. “You can’t even spend an hour with your niece and nephew? They’ve missed you, y’know.”
Denki glances over the two children who stare at him pleadingly. “Fine.” He huffs. “But if they get hurt, that’s on you.”
“Don’t you dare let them-“
“I won’t! Jesus, what am I? A sociopath? I’ll look after your kids.”
Yui squints at him skeptically and points two fingers at her eyes and then at Denki in the universal ‘I’m watching you’ sign. Then for good measure she points at Shouto and Haruki as well.
Shouto feels his stomach drop at the responsibility placed upon him.
-
“I wanna see! I wanna see!” Kono shouts, pointing at a ridge that sits around the same height as Shouto’s shoulders. Denki lifts the little boy, hoisting him on his hip with the experience of a veteran mother.
The little boy’s face lights up as he leans in closer to have a look. Shouto smiles at the scene until he feels a light tug on his pant leg.
He looks down to find Mako staring up at him with wide eyes. She points to the wall as if to say ‘let me see’.
“Oh.” Shouto says quietly. He squats awkwardly, trying to decide the best way to support the little girl but doesn’t have to worry for long because she steps forward and wraps her arms tightly around his neck. Shouto very careful slides his forearm under her little legs and picks her up. He lets out a contemplative sounds as he realises how light she is. She’s barely heavier than your regular cat.
He stands once he’s sure he won’t drop her on the rocks and steps forward so she can get a good look at the small ecosystem growing on the ridge.
She unwraps her arms and instead places one deathly cold little hand on his shoulder to steady herself. Shouto almost jerks away from her freezing fingers but manages to contain the action and pass it off as a mild flinch. She doesn’t seem to care anyway, too involved in the little creatures that cling to the rock.
A tiny red crab, about the length of Shouto’s pinky, scuttles carefully along the rocks and both the toddlers and Denki’s two younger sisters lean forward to get a better look.
Denki gives them a short explanation about the animal and the kids all listen attentively, as does Shouto. He’s impressed by the amount of information Denki seems to know about all these creatures and is curious to know where he learned all of this.
Eventually he runs out of facts and crouches down to put Kono back on the ground. When Shouto tries to do the same, he gets strangled by the little girl who wraps her arms so tight around his neck he doesn’t even think he could detach her if he tried.
“What’s up, Mako?” Denki asks when Shouto gives him a confused glance.
“He’s warm.” Mako responds.
Shouto notes the girls frozen fingers and the way she shivers against each gust of wind. “Maybe we should go back.”
“No!” The twins shout in unison.
“Okay, chill.” Denki holds his arms up, disarmingly. He turns to Shouto. “I can take her, if you want.”
“Oh. It’s okay.” Shouto responds, now feeling protective of the tiny body shivering in his arms. “I don’t mind.” The little girl takes his agreement as permission to lay her head on his collarbones like it’s the most natural thing to her.
Kids always confused him. Mostly on the account that they are so trusting. Like now how Mako lets him, almost a stranger, carry her around and trusts that he will not drop her or take her away.
Shouto’s never trusted anyone like that, he’s never wanted to, but now seeing how comfortable she is in his arms, he wants to understand what it’s like to trust.
He thinks maybe he’s starting to. He told Denki about his mother yesterday, a topic he’s never even discussed with Uraraka who he’s known for almost two years. He’d fallen asleep on the boy’s shoulder last night, feeling safe and certain the boy wouldn’t hurt him while he had his guard down.
It felt nice, being in the presence of someone without the hassle of keeping his guard up all the time. A part of him warns not to get too comfortable. He knows he shouldn’t be so trusting of someone he’s known for less than a week but then he knows he’s not just letting his guard down for any random person.
There’s something about Denki, some quality that makes him feel as though he can be trusted. He’d been very open since the first moment Shouto met him, answering each and every one of Shouto’s questions on the drive up here, even oversharing a little too much along the way, and maybe that’s why Shouto feels safe, he doesn’t think Denki has hidden a single thing from him this entire time.
But then there’s the part of him that questions the reason he’s even here to begin with. Denki is deceiving his entire family just so he doesn’t have to sleep in the basement for the next two weeks. He’s no saint and Shouto reminds himself to be wary.
But then he sees the boy wordlessly take his little sister hand to help her onto a particularly tall rock, one that he’s sure she could climb over on her own, but he offers anyway, just to make sure and Shouto’s thoughts settle.
He holds his palm out and takes Maki’s cold hands into his own. She lets him, and even smiles as he fingers begin to warm.
-
They sit in their shared bedroom, Shouto’s switch screen propped on the covers as they battle for first place in a particularly competitive game of Mario Kart.
Shouto sits forward to avoid Denki’s attempts to bump him off the bed. Damn cheater.
They’ve been playing for hours, Shouto enjoying the easy company of the blonde and Denki just happy that he’s finally gotten his hands on the game.
Shouto barely manages to snag first place but he puffs his chest and sticks his tongue out as if he’d won something actually important.
Denki falls back into the pillows with a dramatic groan. “You cheated.”
“How?”
“I dunno.” The man shrugs. “Distracting me with your good looks or something.”
Shouto rolls his eyes thinking, if anything, it would be the other way round. “It’s not my fault I’m attractive.” He says with a smug grin.
Now it’s Denki’s turn to roll his eyes. “You’re not supposed to agree with me.
Shouto shrugs, “I find it’s the least awkward way to respond to compliments.” Which is true. Disagreeing with the compliment leads to more compliments and attempts to lift his self-esteem. At least if he agrees people think he’s a cocky bastard and move on with the conversation.
“You sound like my first girlfriend. She broke up with me because I complimented her too much, actually.” Denki mutters. “Which was just ridiculous.”
Shouto’s interest piques at the mention of a past relationship, along with an uncomfortable weight in his stomach that makes him fidget. “That is ridiculous.” He responds, brows coming together instinctually. “How does that make sense?”
“She called me a liar and said I just told her what she wanted to hear.” Denki shrugs. “Insecure, I guess.”
Shouto agrees. “Sounds like a personal problem.”
“All my relationships in the past were kind of the same.”
Shouto has no idea where this came from but decides to indulge the boy anyway. “How so?”
“I uhhh.. fall too quick.” He says, and laughs a little hysterically. “Like this one time I asked a boy out and when he said yes I told him I loved him.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, he freaked out. That was my shortest relationship to date.”
“I’ve never been in love.” Shouto admits. He feels like he can now that Denki’s shared something personal.
Denki tilts his head against the pillows. “It’s really scary.”
“What does it feel like?”
“Hmmm.” Denki stares up at the ceiling, eyes squinting and thoughtful. “It’s kind of like... you know the feeling when you hear a really good song for the first time?”
Shouto nods.
“And then you look up the artist and you find their album and all the other songs are just as good.”
“I’m familiar, yes.” Shouto responds.
“And then the artist brings out another album and those songs are even better.”
Shouto smiles. “That sounds nice.”
Denki snorts. “Yeah, until they break up with you and you’re not allowed to listen to the songs anymore.”
“Oh.” Shouto frowns.
-
He receives a string of messages from Izuku that night and smiles at the few photos the man sends of himself and Uraraka. They look happy which makes Shouto’s chest all warm and stupid which is something he’s never experienced before in his life.
He’s always been happy for Uraraka and Midoriya’s relationship. He’s glad Midoriya found someone who’s good for him -especially after the shitshow that was highschool- but he’d never openly rooted for them. He’d never felt this warmth at the thought of them being happy together.
Jesus Christ. What’s happened to him? A few days in this house has turned him into a sappy mess. What a nightmare. Is he going to turn into one of those people who cry at weddings? Will he start relating to the hopeless characters in Uraraka’s beloved romcoms?
He thinks of all the time he’d spent staring at Denki today and realises he is one of those hopeless characters. Which means…
Shouto looks around at Denki where he’s arguing with Yui in the kitchen and feels himself blush stupidly. He stands from where he’d been tucked against the end of the livingroom couch and quietly makes his way to the back door, slipping out while the family is distracted by the bickering pair.
He steps around to the side of the house and sits against the exposed brick exterior before tapping on Midoriya’s phone number.
The phone dials and Midoriya, true to form, picks up within the first two seconds.
“Todoroki? What are you doing? This is an international call you’ll get-“
Shouto actually hadn’t even thought of that but he cuts the man’s nervous muttering off before he can give himself an aneurysm. His father can pay the international fee.
“I have to tell you something but you have to promise not to say a word to Uraraka.” He says sternly.
There’s silence for a few moments and then a quiet. “But I tell her everything.” Then a panicked “Why, what’s wrong?”
“Nothings wrong. I just don’t want to be bullied.” Shouto reassures.
“Oh okay. What’s up?”
Shouto clears his throat, glancing to the side to make sure no one followed him out here. “I think I have a crush.”
There’s a loud gasp from Midoriya and then Uraraka’s concerned voice in the background and Shouto freezes when he hears her. Then there’s loud scuffling and Uraraka’s yelling before a door slams and Midoriya shouts an apology.
“What’s wrong, Deku?” He hears.
“Nothing! I’m having a private conversation with Todoroki.”
There’s muffled complaints but they’re drowned out by Midoriya’s whispered “Holy crap, tell me everything.”
Suddenly Shouto feels very immature. Like a teenager gossiping about their ridiculous love life and he realises that’s exactly what he’s doing.
And he initiated it! What is wrong with him?
“I’m not sure if it is but I’ve been acting… foolishly and I feel… all stupid.” Shouto admits, blushing even as he says it. He’s not even sure why he’s telling Midoriya all this. He’s not the type to share his feelings with anyone.
Midoriya chuckles and Shouto’s face grows hotter. “That sounds about right to me.”
“Oh no.” Shouto responds, dropping his head against his bent knees.
“Stop it. It’s okay. This is normal.”
“It doesn’t feel normal.” Shouto whines. Wow does he feel stupid.
“I know, it feels.. messy and weird but it’s a good thing, Todoroki.” Midoriya reassures. “Are these feelings for Kaminari?”
“Uh.. yes.” He admits.
“Wow. How exciting.”
“No. Not exciting.” Shouto responds.
“Deku! Speak up! I can’t hear what you’re saying!”
“That’s the point Ochako! Mind your business.”
Shouto cringes. Uraraka is going to kick his ass later for that.
“Anyway, do you want to talk about it? I’ll listen to anything.”
“Thank you but no, not really. I’ll feel stupid.” Shouto rubs at the back of his neck with cold hands. It’s not ideal sitting out here at night and he should probably go back in before he freezes to death. “I just wanted to… I don’t know, make sure I was right about it being a crush.”
“It sounds like one to me.” Midoriya assures him. “It’s a good thing, Todoroki. If you’re willing to pursue it. It can turn into something great.”
“I know.” He responds. He does know. He’s seen how Midoriya is with Uraraka. “Thanks for listening.” He says, feeling shy all of a sudden.
“No worries. Text me if you need help figuring this all out.”
“Okay.”
Shouto ends the call at the exact same time as the back door is thrown open. He flinches and tries to melt into the wall as Denki sticks his head out and spots him sitting against the bricks at night time like an idiot.
“What the heck are you doing?” He asks, brows slightly lifted.
“I was making a call.” Shouto responds, face absolutely burning in embarrassment.
“What?” Denki responds cupping one hand around his ear as if to listen better. “You’re trying to get hypothermia?”
“I was making a call!” Shouto repeats, voice louder and more annoyed.
“You’re morbidly fascinated with the idea of freezing to death?” Denki says, leaning forward with his hand still pressed to his ear.
“Shut up.” Shouto grumbles. He pushes himself up and stalks over to the door.
“Hurry up, ice man. We’re missing the movie.”
Shouto shoves him as he enters the house and earns a quiet chuckle in response.