Work Text:
With the pressure of academic obligations bearing down on him, Midoriya had decided he needed somewhere casual to work. His apartment was too full of distractions and the university environment was too stressful for him at the time, so found a cozy cafe just down he street from his house. It was mid winter and snow had just started to fall. Noticing smoke from everyone's fires coming out of the chimneys of the houses either side of the street, Midoriya pulled his coat tighter around himself against the sharp cold on his skin.
Breathing out a thick cloud of vapour, Midoriya looked at his watch. At quarter to nine, Midoriya worried he'd got up a bit too late for a day of study. He'd usually get up over an hour before that for university, but he had a few days off.
Finally, he turned the corner and the cafe was right in front of him. With both warmth and a homely orange glow from inside, Midoriya noticed a quiet crowd chatter coming from inside as it was quite packed. Momentarily hesitating at the door, he shook his head and pushed the door open, briefly scanning the room for a spare seat.
After spotting one and dropping his bag on it, he walked up to the till to order as his eyes continually glazed over the room. His train of thought had gone from work just to the atmosphere in the cafe as he accidentally started staring at someone before a waitress appeared in front of him.
As he didn't notice, she leaned forwards and looked in the direction he was looking before smiling devilishly.
"Looking at someone?" She asked, jolting Midoriya back into reality as he jumped..
"Ah! Eh-I, sorry, I-"
"You know you shouldn't stare at cute girls you see."
"Eh?" Midoriya asked, confused. His eyes had come to rest on an odd boy with one side of his hair red and white, and he hadn't even noticed the girl sat on the table behind him.
"Alright, I've made fun of you, sorry. Eh, what do you want to order?" She asked cheekily.
"Oh - uh -" Midoriya stuttered, staring into space. He was still trying to piece together his thoughts on the boy with the red and white hair and what the waitress had said about him or the girl, his brain was completely in the wrong place and he stared at the menu, blurting out the first thing he saw.
"Eat drink relax-"
"What?" She asked, smirking.
"I - I mean - I mean mocha!" He blurted out, seeing that word on the menu, already flushed. Dammit, he'd just walked in and already embarrassed himself twice.
As she nodded and walked off with a chuckle, Midoriya realised he'd accidentally ordered Mocha, which he hated. He sighed, awkwardly standing by the till waiting to collect and pay for his drink that he didn't want. Briefly considering mentioning that he didn't actually want the mocha, he completely forgot it as he saw the boy with red and white hair staring at him, a flushed mess, and proceeded to lose all the composure he had. Midoriya faced back towards the empty till, covering his red face with his hands, waiting for his drink to arrive.
Eternally grateful to see the boy looking back down at his phone, Midoriya went to sit down at a table. After sniffing the mocha to see if he could bear to drink it and recoiling, he stared at his laptop screen as it went black, and his face went to one of dread.
His laptop was out of battery. There was absolutely no way he'd embarrass himself further by getting up and leaving, so scanned the room for a power socket. Glad to see one quite near himself, he sighed as he stood up with his laptop to see if he could charge it.
Then he tripped.
Not like this...
The ground fell towards him in slow motion as he managed to catch his laptop and stop his face from hitting the ground. He stood up, dusting himself off, as everyone in the cafe stared at him, some chuckling. Fortunately he'd only brought his laptop and nothing else which would have been absolute disaster.
Moving all his things from one table to another, Midoriya finally sat down to work.
About seven seconds later, the waitress approached him, trying not to laugh.
"Ehm, sorry buddy but this table is reserved, it says right there." She said, pointing to the 'reserved' sign he somehow managed to miss.
With the while cafe staring at him once again, many trying not to laugh while awaiting his response, Midoriya started blushing profusely and grabbed his things, leaving the cafe, and sitting some on the bench outside.
Finally, no one was staring at him.
With his laptop out of battery, Midoriya pulled out his phone and set about working on that instead.
Several minutes passed with very little productivity. Midoriya was constantly shuffling around, uncomfortable in the cold. No matter how many times you try pulling every piece of fabric around you closer to yourself, you won't get any warmer.
Starting to shiver, Midoriya cursed his situation. There was no way he could go back into the cafe and face everyone. He couldn't get a good amount of work done. He was really skinny, so he couldn't stay in the cold like this.
Should he go and find a different cafe? But then he might never see that boy again.
Midoriya suddenly faced forwards, blushing. He was giving the guy way too much attention, especially considering they had no idea who each other were.
Noticing his screen had turned off from inactivity, he moved his hand to turn it back on, and knocked over the damn mocha.
Midoriya's life flashed before his eyes as the deadly concoction made its way towards his phone and clothing.
Then something odd happened. The liquid snap froze in that instant, forming a weird icy solid shape in the air.
One hand caught the cup before any more could spill and another bolted through the air at light speed and caught the frozen drink just before it hit Midoriya.
For a moment, Midoriya sat, tense and unsure how to respond.
Suddenly, Midoriya jumped, startled and blushing bright red. Someone was extremely close behind him, his front touching Midoriya's back, reaching each arm around him, the hand that had caught the frozen drink extremely close to... where it shouldn't be.
"Wha - wha..." Midoriya stuttered, having no idea how to react.
"Sorry about that." Came a smooth voice. Midoriya stared as the red and white boy from before moved to sit beside him, placing the cup and frozen drink on the table.
Midoriya stared in amazement and confusion.
"Y-the ice-this-is that your quirk?" Midoriya stuttered. "I-I mean, thanks, for helping me out, ehm, sorry for looking at you earlier-"
"Hey, relax. Everyone stared at you earlier. You did nothing wrong."
Midoriya stared at the ground, freezing. He found his eyes travelling towards the muscular frame next to him in the sides of their sockets.
Without turning his head, Midoriya absent-mindedly looked up and down the body next to him taking in the view as the boy looked into the sky.
And he suddenly looked down, seeing Midoriya staring.
End of the line.
For the second time of the day, Midoriya's life flashed before his eyes.
The boy laughed at his hopeless blushing.
"Why are you staring at me?"
"Wha - I - sorry-"
"Ah, I'm just kidding ya. Seriously, relax. The name's Todoroki by the way, what about you?"
"M-Midoriya.
"It was great though, the look on your face. You're like a dear caught in the headlights."
"What!?" Midoriya cried in confusion. Todoroki kept changing between comforting and jesting Midoriya.
"Walking into a cafe, staring at me, blurting something out something random while ordering, staring at me again, sitting at the wrong table, tripping over, sitting on a reserved table, leaving the cafe, spilling your drink then staring at me again... What a way to set a first impression." Tomorrow muttered with a chuckle.
"S-sorry?"
"Hey, you're blushing all of a sudden. Was it something I said?"
Midoriya stared, again with absolutely no idea what to say. He couldn't fathom a meaningful mode. As he made a weird breathing noise, Todoroki burst out laughing.
"Y-you're adorable," he said, "oh and yeah, that was my quirk. I can freeze stuff," he monotoned, freezing a corner of the table. "Speaking of, you're pretty cold. Are you okay?"
"I..." Midoriya sighed. "No, I'm freezing... but it would be so humiliating going back in there, I would have gone home if it wasn't for you-"
"Oh, how romantic~" Todoroki interrupted, taking the opportunity to see Midoriya's surprising common flustered mess mode. "Seriously though you look freezing. Are you okay?"
"Wha - n-no... It's freezing... I-I'm leaving." Midoriya said, standing up. With a blush that he tried to cover with his trembling hands, he turned around and started walking.
"Wait!" Todoroki shouted and Midoriya paused, hesitant, before turning around.
"Why are you leaving?" He asked with genuine concern.
With snow falling all around, the whole scene was painted white and Todoroki's passionate, vibrant red stood out all the more.
Midoriya stared at his outstretched hand, confused to the core. Todoroki kept switching between making Midoriya flustered and making him feel warm. Part of Midoriya was telling him to leave but the rest of him was screaming at him to stay at the cafe. With Todoroki.
Giving up, Midoriya took Todoroki's hand to see way would happen.
"Come here." Todoroki said, pulling Midoriya in close and wrapping his arms around the shivering boy, using his left side to warm the two up.
Again Midoriya stared, transfixed on Todoroki's arms around him. He didn't know what he expected but this was far better. Still in the snow, he felt warmer than he had in ages. He wanted to stay there forever.
Finally, the two broke apart, both blushing.
Wordlessly, Todoroki lead Midoriya back into the cafe and plugged his laptop back into the charger.
"Eh, Todoroki, this table is reserve-"
"Watch my magic trick." Todoroki interrupted him, moving the reserved sign onto another table.
Midoriya laughed, causing Todoroki to laugh too.
"What're you studying for?" Todoroki asked, leaning forwards.
"Oh, eh, I have a paper due in a few days-"
Midoriya was interrupted by Todoroki's phone vibrating.
"Damn it, I gotta go. Sorry Midoriya," he said while standing up.
"Th-that's fine, thanks for coming to help me out."
As Todoroki moved to leave, he paused to think.
"Hey, Midoriya. How about we meet here next week to discuss your result?" He suggested, sneaking in a kiss on Midoriya's cheek before leaving.
Midoriya stared, wide-eyed. The whole cafe was staring at him but he didn't care.
With white hot determination flowing through his veins, Midoriya absolutely would get the best result attainable, kicking his work effectiveness into plus ultra mode