Work Text:
Sero walked into the cafe, it had been 5 years since they graduated from college, and sure, the two of them kept up as well as they could, but still, this whole situation was just… bizarre . Todoroki Shouto, who some would all Japan's most eligible bachelor, couldn't find a date to his Fuyumi's wedding. Why is that relevant? Oh. Because he asked Sero Hanta to be his date.
Well, it was more like Todoroki asked Sero to be his cover.
Sero spotted Todoroki at a back table in the cafe. He looked exactly how Sero was expecting—totally normal. Some would have expected Todoroki to be wearing a nice crisp suit or some other fashionable clothing. Instead, Todoroki was wearing some old jeans and a comfortable-looking sweater he had owned since college. He was sipping an iced coffee staring out the cafe window.
What Sero hadn't been expecting was Todoroki looking very sad and very lonely... it filled Sero with concern. The Todoroki before him looked like "Earlyroki," from their first year in college. The one who felt like they were drowning in a sea of sadness… He had come so far from those days. It had been slow, but Sero swears that no one on this Earth had a better smile or wit than Todoroki.
So... what happened?
Something definitely had to have gone wrong for Todoroki, especially since he had to stoop down and ask Sero to be his fake date. Especially since—wait, hadn't Todoroki been seeing someone? Sero could have sworn he saw that Todoroki had been dating someone in the tabloids but then why? Why not take them to Fuyumi's wedding?
"Hey Roki, um, it's been forever since we actually got to sit down together, huh?" Sero offered Todoroki a small smile.
Todoroki, shaken out of his trance, had jolted upright. "O-Oh Sero hi—thank you for meeting me, can I buy you a coffee? Or should we just…"
"The coffee would be much appreciated. What you're having looks pretty good" Sero smiled a little bigger to give Todoroki some reassurance. Sero was a little bit crushed when all Todoroki could do was offer a small, sad smile back. Sero kept thinking the same things over and over, 'What the fuck? Is he okay? What happened? Why the fuck did he choose me? Fuck is he okay???' Instead, he kept quiet and watched Todoroki nod, then ordered Sero a coffee.
"Thanks, man," Sero rubbed the back of his neck.
"Of course… Iced coffee is hardly something to thank me for, especially since you're doing me a huge favor." Todoroki shrugged.
Sero saw this as his chance to probe about it, "Yeah, about that—um—I—um I get if you don't want to get too involved in the details or anything but jeez Roki, what the hell happened?"
Todoroki opened his mouth and then closed it again.
It actually hurt Sero to see Todoroki like this—sad was one thing, but he looked pained. It really was like Earlyroki had returned… Sero remembered how sweet Todoroki had been; kind; a little awkward, sure; but had the saddest eyes Sero had ever seen to see him like this again…
They were silent until Sero's coffee came.
"Roki, I hate to poke at this, but you really haven't given me well anything at all… I have to know what happened before. Well, we do this thing."
"I-I know. I just don't even know where to start."
"Um, okay, why don't we try something a little easier? Why on Earth did you ask me, of all people, to be your date for Fuyumi and Tensei's wedding? Like, I get it we were really close—er well, as close as we can be considering we can't meet up in person all that much. I'd never leave you high and dry, but like—there are other people who could do this for you… so why me? I mean, out of all of your friends, I'm a little homely lookin' for a start, and I mean I don't have an important "career" I'm just a photographer, dude you could do way better than boring ol' me—"
Todoroki stared incredulously at Sero, "Why would you say that? Any of that—that's wrong, Sero. You're not boring or homely, and you're one of the best photographers in the world—that's—don't say that."
Sero blushed, "I-I, uh… well, um I-I er okay, but um that still doesn't answer my question. You have other options, and okay, I know I'm harsh on myself sometimes but let's be real here. You have other friends who are better looking, who have higher profile jobs, etcetera so stop dodging all of my questions."
Todoroki sighed and gave Sero a mournful look, "I have never trusted anyone the way I trust you, okay? You have seen me at my absolute worst, defended me, protected me, and every time I had a bad day-night—whatever—and I never had to worry that I might read about it in the next days' papers. So that's why… in some ways, you've been the only true friend I've ever had."
Sero's jaw dropped. He wasn't expecting all of that, and—to be frank—he didn't know how to deal with it, so he changed the subject.
"W-Well, while I'm flattered, but Momo, Midoriya, Iida, Uraraka, Inasa, and hell even Bakugou have all done those things for you in the past, not just me. And dude, I'm pretty sure Momo and Midoriya are still single."
"They're not. Awase and Momo just hit their one-month anniversary, and Uraraka got fed up and asked Midoriya out." Todoroki swirled his straw in his glass and chuckled.
Sero smiled softly, "Oh, that's good to hear."
Todoroki nodded, "They all seem really happy, but as you said, everyone else also has a significant other."
Sero raked his hand through his hair, "I mean yeah, I guess, but also it's just that—I mean, you never needed getting a date to a family function before."
Todoroki's cheeks burned, "Ah well, um, about that…"
"Yes?"
"I panicked and told Tensei and Fuyumi that we have, in fact, been dating…"
Sero blinked, "I'm sorry, you what ?"
"I—er well I um told them that—" Todoroki rubbed the back of his neck and groaned, "Sero, I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have. I wasn't doing all that well emotionally, and I guess..." Todoroki trailed off and took his gaze away from Sero, fixing it out of the window.
"They were worried about me being too lonely—and it was fairly obvious that they were going to try and set me up with people I'd prefer to not engage with... And I knew that my only possible way out was telling them I was unavailable, and that's when they asked me why... I—" Todoroki sighed, turning his head back to meet Sero's gaze. "I-I saw a magazine with you on the cover—it was from that interview about your National Geographic work—and I just said your name."
"And they believed you?!" Sero asked incredulously.
"Funny thing is, they um... actually celebrated the news—they even went as far to say—unimportant. But... well, now they're under the assumption that we have been dating for about a week or so that everything's still new and that we weren't ready for those vultures that call themselves "journalists" to ruin what little privacy we had."
Sero raked his hands through his hair, "I—wow um, I kind of don't really know what to say? When did this all happen?"
Todoroki swallowed nervously, "Um… when I told them we were dating or…?"
Sero's eyes narrowed a little. Now Todoroki meant the world to him—even if they didn't hang out as much—but this was ridiculous, "No Roki, when was I on a magazine—of course, I meant when you told them we were dating!"
Todoroki cringed, "2 weeks ago—maybe 3?"
Sero buried his face in his palms and whined, "So you're telling me that Fuyumi and Tensei think we've been dating for a month?!"
"And Natsuo..."
Sero buried his hands in his face and groaned at the news causing Todoroki to wince at his friend's plight, "I'm sorry… I really hadn't thought this through, and it's not fair of me to push this on you." Todoroki swallowed harshly, "Y-You don't have to do this, I can explain—"
"No, No..." Sero sighed overdramatically, "Roki, I got an invitation, so I was always going to go. Look, I'll do it. You know I'd always do it. It's gonna be hella awkward, but… Roki. Look, I know if it were reversed, you'd drop everything to help me. Of course, I'll go as your date."
"You will?"
"Yeah, besides, I know that if things were reversed, I know you'd do it for me. And look at it this way you're not the only one who has had to go on horrible blind dates. I know that our friends mean, but it'll be nice to have a break."
"Oh?" Todoroki gave a small surprised smile, "well then, I'm glad to help."
"Oh yeah, my knight in shining armor." Sero batted his eyes and got a genuine laugh from Todoroki—hell, if nothing else, maybe he could get Todoroki feeling better about why he had to go to these lengths for a simple date.
"So how're we going to do this? I mean, we should probably set up parameters on what we need to do to maintain that we're dating and what we're comfortable with, right? Like… um kissing in public, on the cheek, and light pecking, right? Or is that too much?"
"No, I think we'll need to do some that, hand-holding—shit."
"What?"
"We're going to have to dance together at the reception."
"Oh right," Sero shrugged it off until he saw how pale Todoroki it was, then it occurred to him.
"Wait. Roki. Are you telling me that a rich kid such as yourself was never forced into dance lessons?"
Todoroki said nothing, and his silence spoke volumes.
"Okay then," Sero chuckled. "So clearly, I'll take the lead on that. I'll show you a couple of steps too. We'll be okay. Um—oh uh, sharing a room, I assume so… we alternate on who takes the floor?"
"I don't think that'll be necessary it's a pretty big room with a pretty big bed we will both be able to fit."
Sero shrugged, "well, alright, as long as you're cool, then I'm cool."
"Hanta?" Sero was startled by hearing his first name leaving Todoroki's lips.
"U-Uh yeah?"
"You can probably get away with calling me Roki, but um, Sh-Shouto's probably a better choice." Todoroki stared down at his iced coffee.
"O-Oh r-right."
The two of them couldn't look at each other for a moment, something about this whole thing felt far too intimate, so it took them a bit to shake off a heavy feeling that was both unsettling as well as exciting.
"Shouto—" Sero tested out Todoroki's name, and it was odd how natural it felt. "Yeah, anyway, we should probably hang out a lot during the days leading up to the wedding, just to, you know—get much more in sync with each other? I mean—"
Todoroki nodded. "No, I understand, that sounds like a good idea—I mean discussing how we will appear as a couple while not being too PDA."
"Oh, okay, great—um, I guess we should also discuss what tv shows we like, and I mean current interests and all of that."
"Don't we already know all of that? W-We don't as much as we used to but like we still know that, right?"
Those sad eyes were going to be the death of Sero. "No, of course, we do, but maybe we should rewatch some old stuff go to dinner or something—at least have some kind of trail of proof that we actually have been dating, you know?"
Todoroki nodded enthusiastically, "All good ideas. When are you free for dinner?"
"I-uh, I let me look at my calendar. I'll specifically cancel plans with Denki, Eijirou, Mina, Bakugou, so they'll suspect I'm dating someone—you should do the same. When do you have plans with Natsuo?
"I'll check—would Thursday work?"
"Oh, perfect! Yeah, I'll tell them I can't make it now because, you know, less rude—but man, this is kind of fun payback."
"I know what you mean, and there is a bonus."
"Oh yeah, what's that?"
"I get to spend time with you again."
The moment Todoroki said those words, it felt different. Those words had weight to them, a kind of weight that neither of them wanted to acknowledge but knew that was there. It reminded Sero of college. They had moments like this back then. This moment felt so heavy and grounding; they were so meaningful but so terrifying. They couldn't—wouldn't acknowledge them—but here they were again, and Sero couldn't help himself.
"Yeah, that will be a lot of fun. It'll be just like college and—I've missed you too."
They sat in weighted comfortable silence for a moment, but then both of them shoved back that moment like they always did like they always had.
"So…" Sero continued, "we'll hang out as much as we can, and then well—I'll be the best fake boyfriend you'll ever have."
Todoroki smiled sheepishly while they caught up; they coordinated their calendars, made "dates," and thought up ways to convince everyone that their 'relationship' was real.
However, it was plain to see that it was real—they just didn't know it yet.