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Three years at U.A and plenty of growth and destruction to go with. Tokoyami couldn’t believe it was over, in his heart. But despite the day of strangeness and last minute mess-ups and improvised solutions needed to pull it off, he was with his class at their graduation party. Everyone looked quite nice, there was food, and Present Mic had already given approximately three speeches, two stemming from attempts to get Aizawa to make one, both of which the scruffy teacher had expertly escaped. All Might had given one, and so had the principle, of course, and Midnight had rambled for a while, but now speeches appeared to have ceased in favor of Present Mic’s DJ duties.
Tokoyami leaned against the wall with a drink, silently observing the dancefloor. Midoriya was clumsily twirling Uraraka, who appeared to be having a good time anyway. Her red dress swished around her legs, and Midoriya’s face matched the shade. Tsuyu and Mina were excitedly bouncing around each other, looking surprisingly color-coordinated for them. Probably because Mina had opted for blue instead of one of her usual garish shades of pink, which looked nice next to Tsuyu’s gray dress and blue flower headband. Bakugou, of course, was starting a fight. Typical 1-A, really. Looking around he found the other reserved members of the class doing much the same as he, except…
It was hard to miss a man of six feet and two inches, particularly when he had six arms. Yet he couldn’t seem to locate Shouji. A throat was cleared next to, and more appropriately, above him. Tokoyami turned around and wondered at how he’d let such a large man sneak up on him, before taking Present Mic’s opinions on ‘suitable volume levels’ into account. He looked particularly nice, gray vest and no dress shirt, too difficult with all his arms, presumably. Still, the brown waistcoat and black tie made up for it. Shouji extended a hand towards him, and he instinctively placed his own within it, feeling Shouji’s familiar warmth envelop it completely. He looked at his boyfriend curiously and noticed a heavy blush on his cheeks, where they were visible. One of Shouji’s tentacles became a mouth and said something that was lost in the music. Tokoyami mimed putting a hand to his ear, even if his ears were internal. The mouth came closer and repeated:
“Do you want to dance? With me?” Oh. Dancing. Didn’t know that was a thing they did. He glanced at the dancefloor again, seeing his friends scattered among the many other students of U.A’s graduating class. Then he realized it was his last chance. Not that he’d be separated from Shouji after they graduated, he could see a future in his eyes. But this was an end, in its own, quirky way. He wouldn’t see these people every day anymore, except possibly on the news, given that it was class 1-A. He may never see some of them again, which saddened him, in a strange way. A cautious squeeze of Shouji’s hand brought him out of his reverie. Returning his gaze to his boyfriend’s face, he smiled and tugged him towards the floor.
Neither of them were particularly skilled at dancing, but that didn’t bother them. Besides, an advantage of Tokoyami’s slender frame and modest height was that Shouji could twirl him even with the extra bulk of his arms. In many ways, they were really quite perfectly matched, he thought idly. The music was nothing to complain about, a little too poppy for Tokoyami’s taste, but that was to be expected at a school function. Maybe he’d dance with Shouji at home sometime, when they could choose their own music.
Then the music switched to a downtempo, and the crowd separated into pairs. Tokoyami leaned forward and buried hi face in Shouji’s chest, refusing to believe that they were dancing to a slow song. Shouji, however, took this in stride and curled his arms around Tokoyami, beginning to sway to the the relaxing, sappy song. Tokoyami slid his arms up around his neck, keeping his face hidden, even if his feathers would betray him to anyone looking. Six hands slipped across the forest green of Tokoyami’s vest. He’d pushed up the sleeves of his dress shirt and hadn’t even bothered with a blazer, knowing the venue would be hot, and in risk of a fire starting, given Bakugou’s presence.
He couldn’t deny that this felt nice, even if his calves were beginning to burn from having to stand on his tiptoes to get even close to Shouji’s height. Worth it. Even if it was hot, Shouji’s heat felt good, and he smelled nice, as usual. The song switched again and sped up, but even as the crowd around them began to bounce and twist to the beat, Tokoyami was reluctant to leave Shouji’s embrace. Eventually his heels hit the floor again, but he stayed close to Shouji for the rest of the night, When the last song wound down, they bid some friends farewell until the official ceremony in a few days time.
He hand found one of Shouji’s as they set off towards Tokoyami’s home. They knew they were leaving U.A’s campus for one of the last times. It felt strange.
“Shouji.” His voice sounded strange breaking the long, comfortable silence that so often surrounded them.
“Yes?” The voice came from the tentacle nearest him.
“Would you ever consider teaching? At U.A, or anywhere else for that matter?” The silence descended once more. He didn’t mind. Shouji thought about his responses and replied honestly. Tokoyami appreciated that about him. They reached his home before Shouji answered.
“I might teach, but it would be after working as a pro hero for a while. At least twenty years, barring crippling accidents. Teaching seems like a rewarding path, but it’s not what I entered the field for.” Tokoyami hummed in agreement. Besides, having to keep people like Bakugou in check and teach at the same time seemed exhausting.
“Why did you ask?” Tokoyami pulled out his keys and let them into the house, where they headed for Tokoyami’s room.
“No real reason. I’ve just been thinking of what the future might hold.” Tokoyami stretched, trying to release some of the day’s stress.
“Hm, I think we should live in the moment for a bit.” That got a smile out of Tokoyami. He turned to his boyfriend, and let Shouji undo his tie. He managed to slip out of his vest and flopped onto his futon where Shouji crawled onto him and began working at his own tie with gusto.
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Tokoyami opened his eyes and silently blessed mornings undisturbed by alarms. He was curled up against Shouji’s chest, and took a moment to pet his hair and enjoy his even breathing. If this man was in his future, he decided, he had nothing to worry about.