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They are touching a little too much.
He unconsciously puffed his cheeks as Sero’s hands ran through Kaminari’s sides, tickling the blonde boy into a laughing fit. There were tears in Denki’s eyes as he begged his friend to stop, and Sero gave out a few snickers as well before finally relenting, passing an arm around Denki’s shoulders. He could clearly see from his table as the boy leaned into the other for support, laying his head on Sero’s shoulder with a small, satisfied smile to his face.
“T-Todoroki.” Momo’s hesitant voice snapped him out of his trance, and he turned to her, confusion written across his features. She was eyeing carefully, as if accessing the danger posed by a cornered animal, before adding helpfully: “You are freezing your desk.”
“Oh.” He hadn't noticed that. Still, there was enough ice covering the right side of his desk to create small stalactites on the edge of the wooden surface, with big, lazy tears slowly dropping to the floor. “Thank you.” What else could he say?
Sheepishly, he put aside his backpack and notebook and used his fire side, melting the ice into a puddle of cold water. Momo’s stare was still on him, worried, and he mentally chastised himself for being so obvious. No one could know, and yet here he was, being an idiot and making a fool of himself in the middle of the full class. Fighting against the blush creeping to his cheeks, he forced himself to keep a straight face, though his stare frequently fled away, back to him , and now he also had to fight a snarl.
Momo wondered why Shouto felt the need to hide his crush. It wasn't like he was being subtle about it. Her eyes slowly threaded from her friend's silently menacing self to the image of Denki and Sero pulling each other’s cheeks into smiles, and wondered if the blonde boy’s brain had been fried too much, or if he was just that oblivious.
Maybe she should say something. But what? It wasn't like she was an expert on romance herself. She couldn't even avoid to look silly in front of Kyoka. A blush crept to her cheeks, and she clenched shaking fists while Aizawa finally walked into class.
He had just stepped into the classroom that day when it happened. Mina jumped on Denki’s back, covering his eyes with her palms while happily chirping “Guess who!” to her unsuspecting friend. They were way too close, her breasts firmly pressed against his back, and as Denki chuckled and removed her hands from his eyes, they still didn't let go of each other.
“Todoroki-kun?” He had been so focused on the dreadful sight that he hadn't noticed Uraraka right next to him, concern on her frowning face. It seemed like she had appeared out of thin air on his side, pulling on his sleeve to call his attention. “You look angry.”
“I just couldn't sleep last night.” He pulled on his collar, not really comfortable about lying to Ochako when she was rightfully worried. But it wasn't like he had a choice. No one could know…
Ochako was almost being straight up to Todoroki about it, as she had been to Bakugou about Deku. It was only Iida’s words to her that gave her pause, the feeling of his warm hand on her shoulder and the seriousness in his eyes.
“It’s best if we let Todoroki come to terms with it on his own.” He told her gravely over lunch about two weeks back, when she brought the subject of Shouto’s obvious crush on Denki while the red-and-white boy was away getting more cold soba. “As much as we want to help him, he'll probably just close himself up more if we press him about it. He will work it out eventually.”
“I agree with Iida-kun!” Deku added from his spot the other side of her, his curls bouncing across his face with the quick nods of his head. “Let's give him time. He needs to work out the feelings, he's not used to it.”
“Which is why I thought we should help him.” Ochako replied then, still not fully buying her friend's idea. “Won't he feel better if he knows he has our support?”
“I think he'd be too awkward to really talk about it if we just come to him like this.” Deku mused, giving a short pause to swallow another bite of his lunch before finishing his trail of thought. “But I agree that he should know he could come to us if he wants.”
“Doesn't he, though?” Iida interjected. “You think we are not being clear enough about it?”
The conversation had been sidetracked by the return of Todoroki, with a silent agreement between the three of them to give Shouto some time before asking him more about it.
Still, seeing him like that was almost painful enough to change her mind.
Training was finally over. Shouto sighed as he walked into the dressing room, his muscles aching from effort and his clothes sticky with sweat. He felt disgusting, longing for a good onsen more than anything, though a shower would have to suffice for now.
A loud “ Eep! ” suddenly got his attention, as he immediately recognized the voice who said it. Kaminari was standing in the middle of the room, one hand on his buttocks while Kirishima laughed heartily behind him, a folded towel on his hands. It made his skin crawl.
“You little shit, Kiri!” Denki exclaimed, a pout on his beautiful lips. He suddenly opened his own shirt, the one from his hero costume, and took it off with a quick movement of his shoulders, twisting it into an improvised weapon against Kirishima.
Shouto had to pause, covering his face with a hand as an unwanted blush spread across his cheeks. Denki’s muscles moved smoothly under his glistening skin, slender yet defined like a gymnast, making the ice-and-fire boy fight back thoughts he didn't know he could have. He had never noticed how fit Kaminari was under that school uniform. He had never wanted to touch another man’s muscles like that, especially not when they were both dirty. The loud smacks and cheerful laughs echoing across the room from Kaminari and Kirishima hitting each other like five year olds were not helping, either.
“Todoroki-kun.” Midoriya’s voice was a welcome change from the hurricane of thoughts and his own loud heartbeat, and he clung to it like a thread of salvation. “Are you feeling ill? Do you want to go to Recovery Girl’s office?”
“N-no. I’m fine.” Todoroki answered, a little too quick to his own liking. “I'm just tired.”
“You know you can tell me if something is wrong, right?” Midoriya questioned helpfully, looking at him with huge, green puppy eyes. It made Shouto’s resolve tremble - he could count on Midoriya, those scars on his hands were a painful reminder of that. Certainly Izuku could help him with this issue, couldn't him? He wouldn't be a bother, and maybe he'd know better how to deal with those inconvenient feelings.
He opened his mouth to speak, to tell Midoriya to talk to him after class so he could open his heart up, when Bakugou’s angry voice screeched across the room with a loud “GET OFF ME, YOU TWO IDIOTS! YOU HIT ME WITH THIS SHIT AND I’M BLOWING YOU BOTH TO HELL!”
“I know. Thanks Midoriya.” The answer came smoothly. “But I'm fine.”
The little ice cream parlor was quiet that Saturday afternoon, being too early for most of it's regulars. Besides a group of teens taking selfies on the front tables and a quiet person drinking an iced coffee on one of the sofas at the back, Shouto Todoroki was the only customer, quietly protecting the scoops of Neapolitan and mint and chocolate ice cream in front of him from melting. A quick look on his phone informed the person he was expecting was fifteen minutes late. Apprehension had its grips on him, on the way his idle fingers slid through the thin layer of ice on the table, or how his eyes frequently darted to the door and to his lock screen, counting every slow passing minute.
After twenty minutes, the small doorbell rang to allow a familiar, blonde, beautiful figure in, and Todoroki let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding.
“Hey Todo~” Kaminari greeted playfully, leaning close to give his boyfriend a peck on the cheek, nuzzling into Shouto’s flushed face afterwards. “Sorry I'm late. There was a villain or something down the metro line, it was pretty slow.”
“It's alright.” Todoroki managed to mumble as the blonde luckily moved to his own seat, eyes shining at the sight of his favorite green and brown ice cream.
“You got my favorite flavor!! Thank you!!”
“You're welcome.” The reply was almost automatic, but his boyfriend didn't seem to notice, instead digging into it with gusto. Shouto mimicked him, trying to focus on the flavors on his tongue and the sound of Denki’s voice, to finally let go of the anxiety plaguing him through most of the week.
Unfortunately, it didn't quite go as he expected.
“I was at Bakugou’s place.” Kaminari explained in between spoonfuls. “His mom looks just like him! Much nicer though… At least to us.”
“Us?”
“Yeah. Me, Sero and Kiri.”
Oh. Kiri. And they were at Bakugou’s house…
“His room is really big, and he has a lot of interesting stuff. Like, I knew he was into photography, but not that he had…”
In his room… Maybe in his bed… There was a growing layer of frost on both his spoon and chair, not that Todoroki was able to notice with the whirlwind of guilt and jealous thoughts swirling through his head. Who do you think you are, to think like this of his friends? He clearly enjoys spending time with them. Probably more than with you...
“Todo?” Denki’s weirdly quiet voice pulled him away from his self-loathing thoughts, and Shouto slowly blinked back into reality. Denki’s yellow eyes were full of uneasiness, a strange insecurity that made Shouto want to leap out of his chair and hold him to assure him everything was fine. “Did I do anything wrong?”
“N-no. Of course not. Why would you think that?”
“You didn't hear my question at all. And you're glaring at your ice cream… Is something bothering you?”
It felt like a lump nested in his throat, something bad and uncomfortable like the thoughts in his mind and the painful words coming from his mouth. “You… Are really close to your friends, aren't you, Nari.”
“Well, yes? They're my friends, after all!” Denki laughed awkwardly, a hand behind that messy hair in a distracting, so naturally him way that made Todoroki feel even worse. He's just so happy. I am in the wrong here… I shouldn't… Intrude on this.
“I swear, at first I was really scared of Bakugou, but now that I know him, he's really cool. He's just, you know, adorably hostile in a way.”
“ Adorably .” The word felt like a sting in his tongue and his heart and he forced himself to swallow yet another lump of self misery.
“Yeah, but…” Denki’s voice slowly died out, the initial look of confusion giving place to one of surprise and plain astonishment at the signs he could pick up from his lover. The slight pout, the red cheeks, the way his ice cream has been frozen solid-
“Todo… Are you… Jealous?”
Todoroki quickly noticed he had forgotten how to speak, and as well forgotten how to look someone else in the eyes, or how to properly convey or even structure his own thoughts in a coherent way. He was fully a mush of embarrassment and desperation, incapable of a proper response.
“Oh my god. You are.” He was too afraid to look at Denki now, afraid he would be hurt, he would judge him for the wrong feelings who worked their way into his heart. They were already compromising so much for his sake - for the sake of that man , and now Shouto wasn't acting that much different from him…
He felt like throwing up, until he couldn't take it anymore. The words just seemed to come crashing from him, from the fire he couldn't hold back.
“I… I know you're affectionate. And I know they're your friends, and you trust them, and I'm glad that you have their company and I know, I know I shouldn't feel this way, that I have no right . It's my fault that we can't come up to our classmates, that we can't talk in class, that we can't be affectionate like you naturally are, because I'm a coward and I'm afraid of what they're going to think, I'm afraid of what my father will hear…”
“Todo…”
“But I can't help it, I really tried, but I just feel so bad when I see you hugging them and touching them and being so close when I know that we can't be the same… Even though it's all my fault.”
“Todo.”
“And I'm sorry, I really am sorry, because I know that's not healthy and I don't want to-”
“ Shouto .” Denki raised his voice , enough for the cashier to look upwards from her phone, puzzle all over her features. Likewise, the person a few tables on the back seemed to move slightly. Self-consciously, Kaminari pulled his chair closer, almost leaning over the forgotten ice creams so to better knock some sense back into his boyfriend’s mind.
“It's ok. Really, it is.” He quickly added as he saw Todoroki opening his mouth, surely preparing another string of words of why, indeed, things were not ok. “I knew what I was getting into when we began dating. I knew we would take it slowly. And as much as I want be more affectionate with you in public, I knew, and I know , that you have your personal issues with affection and relationships, and I'm fine with it. You have your own rhythm, Shouto, and that's ok. We will tell them when you're ready.”
“Denki-”
“And feeling jealous is part of it, you know? It's not inherently unhealthy, and it is a feeling most couples have to deal with eventually. You just have to remember that the way I love my friends is different from the way I love you. Just because I'm affectionate with them doesn't mean I will like you less or get bored with you. I won't ditch you, I won't cheat on you and I definitely won't leave you, ok?” He slowly moved his hand over the deal surface, fighting against the chills brought on from the cold temperature, and reassuringly squeezed Shouto’s hand.
“I want you to take these words to heart, because they are true. I love you, Shouto Todoroki, and all your bi-colored, awkward self. Is that right?”
Part of him just wanted to squeal and squeeze at Shouto’s adorably flushed cheeks, the way he looked up at him behind those red and white lashes like an embarrassed little boy in desperate need the love and hugs Denki could so readily provide. “I-I think so.” He mumbled
“That's not the answer I wanna hear! The answer is yes, Denki, and I love you and all your awesome and electrifying self as well. ”
Todoroki let out a snort, a small smile playing on his lips afterwards. “ Electrifying? You're hopeless.”
“At least I made you smile.” Denki admitted proudly, quickly poking at his boyfriend's nose with his free hand. He couldn't help but giggle at Shouto’s startled look, feeling much lighter to see him better, at least for the moment. “You're really handsome when you smile. I could look at you forever. ”
And he could indeed look forever at that smile, that rare, genuine smile Shouto did when he felt truly happy, warmer than any fire he was able to produce. “Thank you, Denki. I love you as well. And your dorky, shockingly sweet self.”
“Shockingly? You're hopeless, Todo.”
On the back table at the small ice cream parlor, a boy in a hoodie sent his friends a text.
Midoriya: You know
Midoriya: I think they're going to be fine.