Archive of Our Own

Izuku sprinted the last fifty meters back to his apartment building and basically fell up the stairs to his front door. Todoroki was just a breath behind him—

No, Shoto was. He had asked Izuku to call him by his given name, “only if you want to” and Izuku definitely wanted to, and had suggested in exchange that Shoto call him—

“Izuku, do you need help with the keys?”

“No no, I’ve got it!” His fingers were numb with cold, and he had to wiggle the handle of the door just so to open it. “There! Sweet indoors!”

They both hurried inside so they could shut the door against the late December wind.

“I still can't believe I forgot flour,” Izuku said as Shoto dropped their prize on the kitchen table.

“You didn't forget it.” Shoto's voice was muffled as he pulled his sweater off over his head. “We just did the most important step in baking cookies, putting the half-mixed dough in the fridge while we run out to the supermarket in below-freezing weather because we were a cup short of flour.”

“Well, you’re the baking expert.” Izuku shook his hands to try to get the blood flowing back into them. He grinned. His classmates who hadn’t spent so much time with Shoto had no idea how funny he could be. He had a fairly dry sense of humor, so it was easy to miss.

“That’s me.” He frowned at Izuku, who had switched to breathing on his still-cold fingers. “I told you to wear gloves. Here, let me.” He held out his left hand.

Sheepishly Izuku let Shoto grasp his fingers and warm them with his quirk. Izuku looked down at their clasped hands, remembering how guilty Shoto had felt about his and Iida’s injuries last summer. Now he offered to fix Izuku’s hands without a second thought.

Izuku glanced up, which seemed to startle Shoto for some reason. He dropped Izuku’s hand.

“Um,” he said. “Other hand.”

“OK!” He added, “Thanks, Shoto,” mostly for the chance to say his name.

“Sure,” Shoto replied gruffly, avoiding his eyes. “Like I said, wear gloves so you don’t get frostbite.” He let go. “Better?”

Izuku smiled. “Perfect. Let’s break out our newly-purchased flour and make those cookies!”

Izuku sighed. He’d basically had Shoto over for two whole days, but now that Shoto was headed back to his dad’s house it felt like the time had gone by in an instant. Not that he wasn’t looking forward to New Year’s with his mother— their family might be tiny, but their holiday meals weren’t! But the thought of Shoto spending the holiday with Endeavor made him sad. And more than that, after a whole term living together in the dorms, Izuku kept looking around and getting disoriented by the simple fact that his friends weren’t there. And Shoto was kind of maybe his best friend.

“Izuku, what’s wrong? You miss him already, huh?”

Realizing he cut a rather pathetic figure lying on the couch and sighing, Izuku sat up quickly. “I’m fine. Do you need help shopping for New Year’s?”

“Thank you, I appreciate it. I thought we could go tomorrow. But don’t change the subject,” she added. Her expression was stern but there was a smile in her voice. “You know they have these things called phones nowadays.”

“I know!” He put a hand on his phone where it rested in his pocket. Shoto wasn’t the most enthusiastic about texting, but at least he was better than Kacchan, who as far as anyone knew refused to give his number to anyone at school besides Kirishima. (Izuku was pretty sure the number he had from junior high still worked, but he didn’t quite dare test it out on a whim.) Shoto texted Izuku when he had something to say, which wasn’t super often, and Izuku tried to follow suit.

(Sometimes, what Shoto had to say was “I saw a stray cat” accompanied by a photo of said cat.)

(Todoroki Shoto was not only surprisingly funny, but he was also kind of cute.)

“It’s too bad he couldn’t stay longer,” Mom said, sitting down next to Izuku. “I don’t suppose he’ll have another chance to visit during the break?”

“No, he’s at his dad’s through the new year and then we go back to school next Monday.”

“I notice,” she said slowly, “that it’s always ‘his dad’s house’, not his house. Shoto-kun does that, too.”

“Oh! Does he? Huh, that’s funny…”

She cut him off before he could start babbling. “Are Shoto-kun’s parents separated?”

“Y…es,” Izuku said. “Kind of. I think it’s complicated.”

His mother lapsed into thoughtful silence for a moment. “I guess in all the years Endeavor has been in the headlines, I’ve never heard anything about his marriage.”

“Shoto says he won’t talk to anyone from the press who tries to ask about his family.”

“Well, I can respect that, certainly. Does Shoto-kun see his mother?”

“Yes, sometimes.”

“And have you ever met her? Or anyone in his family for that matter?”

“I met Endeavor at the sports festival this year. Just briefly.” The Flame Hero didn’t come to U.A., as a rule, and Izuku was in no hurry to follow up on their last encounter. “And I met Shoto’s older brother by chance a few weeks ago.”

That had been just after the culture festival. Despite Izuku’s tendency to get himself into trouble, he’d been granted permission to go into town one Sunday along with the rest of his classmates, and a handful of chaperones. Iida’s destination of choice, the local library, had been labeled “super boring” by much of class 1-A, but Izuku, Shoto, Yaoyorozu, and Uraraka agreed to go with him, even as Izuku thought enviously of the group going to the cinema.

(Yaomomo’s assertion that books were “like movies, but better” didn’t really help.)

They split up to explore the library, a place Izuku hadn’t been before. With Shoto by his side he was marveling at how full of people and other things that weren’t books it was, when Shoto stopped with a mildly surprised, “Oh.”

The young man in front of them had snow-white hair and warm gray eyes. He seemed startled just for a moment before his face broke into a smile.

“Hey, little brother. What brings you here?”

Haltingly, Shoto explained about their trip and introduced Izuku. If Izuku didn’t know better, he’d have said Shoto was nervous, but that didn’t make any sense. As far as Shoto had ever mentioned, he didn’t have any difficult history with his siblings, just a little distance. And Natsuo seemed really nice.

After Natsuo went back to studying, Izuku asked him about it.

“Do you get along with your brothers and sister?”

Shoto shrugged. “I guess it’s better than when we didn’t talk at all. Endeavor always treated me like I was so different from them, sometimes I wonder if it came true.”

“I don’t know. Natsuo-san was nice, and you’re nice. So I think you’re at least a little alike.”

“I’m not nice.”

“Yes you are. What’s your sister like?”

“…Nice. Izuku—”

“What’s her name?”

“Fuyumi.”

“And your other brother?”

“Touya.”

“What’s he like?”

Shoto was quiet for a long time, then finally, he shrugged. Izuku waited, and after another long pause, Shoto said, “I haven’t seen him in a long time.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

Shoto shrugged again. “I don’t… I still don’t know any of them very well.”

“Well, I think Natsuo-san was happy to see you.”

“I guess.”

Izuku told his mother about meeting Natsuo. Todoroki Natsuo, 19, college student. Todoroki Fuyumi, 22, schoolteacher. Todoroki Touya, ???. Izuku felt like without meaning to, he’d been gathering Todoroki Shoto facts the way he collected data on heroes. Birthday, favorite food, blood type, place of birth… That would be an embarrassing notebook to be caught with at school.

“Well,” Mom said, “tell Shoto-kun hello from me when you do talk to him.”

He still hadn’t texted Shoto when he went to bed, which he told himself was because he’d seen Shoto in person earlier that same day, and surely he didn’t need to talk to him that much.

He was about to silence his phone and go to sleep when it buzzed in his hand.

Shoto: do you want to come over after new year’s?

Izuku wrote back, to your house? and then immediately dropped his phone and hid his face in his hands, because obviously, where else would he have meant?

Shoto: yeah so
Shoto: my mom is leaving the hospital for new year’s. just temporarily but she’s staying at the house
Izuku: that sounds nice!
Izuku: but I don’t want to impose on your family time
Shoto: no. please impose on my family time
Shoto: I mean
Shoto: you won’t be imposing and I’d like you to be there. you don’t have to stay overnight; anyway I don’t think endeavor would be very happy if you did
Shoto: just for like a few hours on saturday?
Izuku: I’ll ask my mom if it’s ok
Shoto: ok
Shoto: sorry to text you so late. I only just found out when I got home
Izuku: it’s fine! I was glad to hear from you
Izuku: I am gonna sleep now though. good night!
Shoto: good night

He didn't fall asleep right away. He was distracted by the idea of going to Endeavor’s house. He tried to think of it as going to Shoto’s house, but he knew his friend thought of the dorms as more like home than his father’s estate. Shoto said Endeavor wouldn’t like him to sleep over, but Izuku had to wonder how he would even approve of him being there at all. Although Izuku and Shoto had settled into more of a friendly rivalry, like Izuku had with Iida and was trying to have with Kacchan, Endeavor probably still saw him as the successor to All Might, and therefore Shoto’s bound enemy, or whatever. Izuku had no intention of being enemies with Shoto ever again. He decided he’d brave whatever he had to, even a very uncomfortable day-after-oshougatsu with Japan’s new number 1 hero, for Shoto’s sake.

In the morning, just as he was about to sit down to breakfast and ask his mother about spending Saturday with Shoto, his phone buzzed with another text.

Shoto: bizarrely, endeavor gave the ok for you to sleep over
Shoto: if you want
Shoto: I officially have no idea what goes on in his head

Feeling inclined to agree, Izuku typed back, just let me ask mom!

His mother smiled, likely already having guessed who he was texting. “How is Shoto-kun?”

“He— great— uh. He invited me over.”

“I’m sure he wants to spend the holiday with his family, don’t you think?”

“No— I mean, yes— he asked me over for the day after, anyway. His mom is gonna be there.”

“You’re sure it’s alright with his parents?”

“Yes,” he said, more confidently than he felt.

“Well, we’d better make something for you to bring to them, then.”

“Oh, I don’t know if that’s...”

“I don’t care who his father is, you’re not going to someone’s house the day after New Year’s without a gift.”

Thursday and Friday were full of cooking with texts from Shoto peppered in throughout.

Shoto: I don’t know why he’s making such a fuss about the holidays all of a sudden
Shoto: we never do this stuff. half the time he’s working. last year fuyumi and I just ate soba and watched idiotic tv programs
Izuku: that sounds nice!
Shoto: it was fine. that should be the new new year’s tradition
Shoto: but I guess since mom’s here he wants to act like we’re a happy family
Izuku: how long is she staying?
Shoto: through the weekend, as long as she feels ok
Shoto: how anyone can feel ok in this house is beyond me

On Friday evening Izuku and his mother made a very chilly shrine visit. Izuku pulled a pretty good fortune, which he hoped boded well for his impending trip out of town.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you?” his mother asked the next morning, for about the tenth time. She handed him the covered dish that held the inarizushi they’d made.

“I’m sure. I showed you on the map where Shoto lives. You’d hate driving up there, and anyway, Shoto’s going to meet me at the train station.”

“All right. Do you have everything? Toothbrush?”

He assured her that he had packed everything he needed, but then on a whim, ducked into his room to grab one more thing.

He took the main local train line a couple stops and then transferred to a smaller line that only ran a few times a day. The scenery outside the window turned suburban, then thinned to tree-covered hills and broad stretches of farmland. Probably there weren’t many people or cars out and about in this area on an average day, and on the first weekend of the new year, there wasn’t a soul in sight. He wished it would snow— that would make this the perfect winter weekend— but the forecast said it would probably stay too cold and the clear blue sky seemed to concur.

So this was where Shoto grew up. Izuku looked at the bare trees and imagined them in the flowers of spring, the green of summer, the red and gold of fall. He had trouble picturing Shoto as a little kid.

The station was barely even a station, and Izuku triple-checked the directions on his phone before getting off, but no, there was Shoto down in the road, his signature red-and-white hair just peeking out under a knit cap. Izuku thanked the conductor and ran off the train.

“Shoto!” he called, and was rewarded with a small smile.

“It’s this way.”

Shoto’s house was quiet.

Izuku’s apartment was a fraction of the size and whenever he was there it was alive— he or his mom was making something in the kitchen or the TV was on or the washing machine was running and even when he was home alone there were cars outside and neighbors doing stuff (the walls were pretty thin) and kids playing in the little park down the street. Sound and movement and life. Shoto’s house— his dad’s enormous estate— was not alive, which kind of made it dead.

He pushed the thought from his mind. Just moments after they got inside, a woman with white hair and glasses stuck her head into the hallway from one of the many doors that lined it. At first he thought it was Shoto’s mom but then realized she was far too young, and must be his sister Fuyumi.

She came out to greet them and accepted the food Izuku’s mom had sent with him.

“It’s just a little thing, but…”

“Oh, you shouldn’t have,” she said. “I’ll put it in the kitchen and we can have it with lunch.” To Shoto, she added, “we’ll eat soon. Dad had to go in to work but he’ll be back for dinner. Natsu is in his room studying, and Mom’s resting.”

Izuku was a little disappointed he wouldn’t get to meet Shoto’s mom yet, but Shoto said they could go hang out in his room until lunch. Izuku really wanted to see Shoto’s room. There was no way it could be as embarrassing as his own room, though…

They met Natsuo on the way.

“Midoriya Izuku, right? I saw you on TV a few weeks ago.”

“Yep, that’s me.” His teachers would have preferred he stop getting into situations that made the evening news, but he couldn’t seem to help it.

“And you met him in the fall,” Shoto said.

“I remember, I never said I didn’t! What are you kids up to?”

“I thought Fuyumi said you were studying?”

“I am! We can’t all be super geniuses.”

Izuku remembered that Shoto had told him Natsuo was in an advanced track course for some kind of science.

“Better get back to it, then,” Shoto said. Izuku thought he ought to be a little nicer to his own brother, but then he caught the look on Shoto’s face. His tone of voice might have been flat and dismissive, but his expression was kinda soft. Way softer than it ever was when he was talking about his dad, for sure.

So Shoto’s room was pretty much the same as his dorm room, which really wasn’t surprising because he had told everyone, hadn’t he? This room was even more sparse, with just a low table under the window, a rolled-up futon by the closet door, and Shoto’s suitcase in the corner.

Shoto closed his door and leaned against the door frame. He sighed, and Izuku saw that a tension he hadn’t even noticed was there had gone from Shoto's posture.

“Oh! Before I forget.” He took the envelope from the inside pocket of his jacket. “This is for you.”

“For me?” Shoto took it, looked down at it in his hands, then back up at Izuku. “I didn’t get you anything.”

“No, that’s OK, it’s just— just open it.”

Shoto pulled the flap out of the envelope carefully and peered inside. “Oh.” He took out the card inside, one of Izuku’s limited edition hero trading cards. It was the special rare All Might with the holographic finish, and it glittered even in the slight winter sunlight.

“I don’t want to split up your collection,” Shoto said, and tried to hand the card back to Izuku.

“Really, it’s OK. I had three of that one. And you seemed to like it? I know it’s not much, but…” Now it seemed like kind of a pathetic gift. Shoto lived in this big, fancy house and Izuku was giving him, what, a hand-me-down trading card?

“I do like it,” Shoto said firmly. And he crossed the room to the closet. Izuku peeked over his shoulder as he opened the door, curious.

The inside of the closet was divided by a shelf at about waist height. The lower level had a heavy-looking wooden chest of drawers, while the upper level just had… stuff. Izuku wanted a closer look, but then he thought maybe he shouldn’t be nosy and hung back.

Shoto glanced at him, then stepped aside. “It’s fine, you can look.” As Izuku watched, he lay the trading card down on the shelf next to a newspaper clipping about All Might.

It wasn’t an All Might collection like Izuku had. It seemed to be an everything collection. A couple toys, some books, a CD labeled “SHOTO” in a plastic case. A framed photo of a woman who had to be Shoto’s mother. It took Izuku a moment but then he realized what all the things on the shelf might have in common. It was a Stuff Endeavor Wouldn’t Like collection.

“I always wanted to have interesting things in my room like the others had, like toys and posters, but Endeavor wouldn’t let Mom buy that kind of stuff for me. And then she wasn’t even here anymore. But I got some things anyway… Natsuo made that, and Fuyumi got me that, even though Endeavor told her not to,” he said, pointing to the CD and a little stuffed Anpanman that looked like it had probably lived its entire life on this shelf. “And this,” he said, picking up the picture of his mother, “I combed over the entire house after she went away. He acted like she didn’t exist, the others wouldn’t talk to me, and I wanted proof. I don’t know if he knows I have it. He’s never said.” He turned to take in the rest of the room. “I don’t know what he’d do if I…”

“If you got, like, a meter-high poster of All Might and hung it right by the door?” Izuku suggested. “’Cause, I know where you can get one.”

Shoto cracked a smile at that. “I don’t really spend much time here now, so I guess it doesn’t matter. But I wouldn’t mind…”

“Having one for your dorm?’ Izuku said, kind of joking at this point, but he couldn’t help it, All Might merch was kind of his thing and he’d pitch it to anyone, no matter the context.

“No…” He didn’t elaborate, but Izuku noticed to his complete astonishment that Shoto’s cheeks were faintly pink. Todoroki Shoto was blushing.

They heard Fuyumi in the hallway calling them for lunch, and as he followed Shoto to the kitchen he wondered what it could mean. Maybe Shoto liked somebody! And he wanted their picture in his dorm room! Probably someone elegant and tall like Yaoyorozu. He imagined Shoto with Yaomomo’s picture on the wall above his bed, but the image was just too ridiculous. But then, so had been the image of Shoto blushing, right in front of him.

Shoto’s mom didn’t come out for lunch. Fuyumi said she was still feeling tired, which Izuku could understand, but he couldn’t help wondering. Endeavor had said it was OK for Izuku to come for the weekend, but what if Shoto’s mom didn’t want him encroaching on her first holiday with her family in years? What if she didn’t want to meet him?

“So, Midoriya, tell us about yourself,” Natsuo said.

“About me?” Izuku repeated, and it came out as an embarrassing squeak.

“Yeah! Whenever I ask Sho about you, he clams up. But I wanna know what kind of guy my brother is hanging out with, you know?”

“I’m… not that interesting.”

“Oh, I’m sure that’s not true,” Fuyumi chimed in. “Shoto told me you’re being mentored by All Might himself.”

“He did?”

“He did?” Natsuo demanded. “You didn’t tell me that.”

Shoto shrugged and continued eating.

“Um!” Izuku was eager to move the topic away from his connection with All Might. “What do you want to know?”

“You’re from Shizuoka, right?”

“Yeah, outside Shizuoka City.”

“Hey, that’s not far. We could have crossed paths and never even known it. Well, not Shoto, he never goes out anywhere. Ow!” It sounded like someone had kicked him under the table. Fuyumi looked alarmed while Shoto kept eating as if nothing had happened. “But he’s gone to visit you a couple times now, hasn’t he?”

“Yes?”

“Say, you got into U.A. through the entrance exam, right? What was that like?”

“They talked about it on TV for the sports festival, Natsuo, remember?” Fuyumi said. “They had to fight those giant robots.”

“Uh… it was kinda scary, honestly.”

“Really? I bet you were just like— what does All Might say? Smash!”

“Hah… sort of.” He didn’t look at Shoto, who certainly remembered that at the beginning of the school year, Izuku hadn’t been able to control his quirk at all.

“So you were, what, best eight in the sports festival?”

“We’re glad Shoto could make such a good friend, is what he means,” Fuyumi said pointedly.

“I was just making conversation.”

Shoto set his rice bowl down with a loud clack. “Thanks for the food." He stood up and looked expectantly at Izuku.

“Th-thanks for the food.”

Izuku followed Shoto out of the kitchen, and caught a bit of Fuyumi and Natsuo’s conversation as he left.

“Seriously?”

“I’m just trying to help…”

Izuku quickly realized that without Shoto to guide him, he would absolutely get lost in the long, same-looking corridors of the house. He definitely didn’t know the way back to Shoto’s room from the kitchen, and they didn’t go back there after lunch, but instead to a small courtyard enclosed on all sides by the walls of the house. Seriously, Shoto’s house had a courtyard. And by the sound of it, more than one.

“It’s too small and flammable to be any good for training,” Shoto explained.

The door slid open behind them and both boys turned quickly to see who it was.

“I thought I might find you out here,” the woman said, and she smiled.

So this was Shoto’s mother. She was a little older than the photograph in her son’s room; Izuku could see lines around her eyes and mouth that hadn’t been there whenever that picture was taken. But she was still really pretty. Each of her children (at least, of the ones Izuku had met) bore a resemblance to her. Her smile reminded him of Shoto’s, although his was so rare.

Shoto jumped to his feet and helped his mother over to sit on the ledge above the garden. Izuku wondered if he should follow suit. “Mom, this is Midoriya Izuku. From school.”

“Yes, of course. Izuku-kun. No, don’t get up, I’m alright. Although, it is rather cold out here. Izuku-kun, are you cold?”

“Oh, no, I’m OK,” he said, even as he shivered. He hadn’t known they would be going outside, and he’d left his coat in Shoto’s room.

“Shoto, why don’t you go get your friend a blanket? And Izuku-kun and I can get to know each other.”

Shoto looked reluctant to leave them, but he did as his mother instructed and disappeared back inside.

“Thanks, Shoto,” Izuku called after him. He added, “I would have brought my coat, but I left it in his room, and…”

“Were you worried about getting lost?”

“Yes…”

She chuckled. “Oh, I was the same when I first came to live here. For a while I wondered if the rooms could move, I kept getting turned around so much. My family lived in a small apartment, you know, so this was all awfully strange for me.”

“Me too!” Izuku said. “I mean, about the apartment. Ours is nowhere near big enough to get lost in.”

“Shoto told me he’s been to visit a couple of times. You live with your mother?”

“When I’m not at school, yes.”

“Oh yes, you live in dorms now. How is it?”

“It’s really fun! We all hang out and sometimes we cook or watch movies.”

“I heard you’re an excellent cook.”

“I mean— I like cooking, I grew up helping my mom, and it’s kinda relaxing, and did— did Shoto say that?” He felt his face growing hot. His classmates tended to enjoy the things he cooked for them, and they told him so, but it felt different to get a compliment from Shoto, even indirectly.

Shoto’s mother just smiled, and started asking him about classes. He was glad she was so easy to talk to. It was a relief to know that she didn’t not want to meet him, and that she wasn’t as standoffish as Shoto had been when they first met. Not that there was anything wrong with Shoto’s personality, Izuku totally understood why he had been like that at first, and now they were friends, which was great.

Izuku told her about class 1-A’s culture festival preparation, and they were both laughing when Shoto came back with blankets. Like, eight blankets. He dropped them all in Izuku’s lap and went to sit on the other side of his mother. His face was red again.

“Thanks!” Izuku said, and set all but one of the blankets aside.

“Izuku was just telling me about the school culture festival. Are you sure you don’t want one of these?” she added, taking a blanket for herself.

“I’m fine.”

Izuku laughed. "Shoto likes the cold."

“And Shoto, I didn’t know you were third in your class on your finals this term!”

“It was just a test.”

“It’s still something to be proud of. I’m sure you worked hard.”

“And Kacchan didn’t even try to fight you over it,” Izuku added, hoping to coax a smile out of him. “I think your relationship really has improved.”

Shoto just shrugged. “I guess.”

“Kacchan?”

“Bakugou Katsuki. He was third last semester, and he’s really competitive.”

“Oh, I’ve heard that name— he’s the one from your remedial lessons this fall? The ‘difficult’ one.”

Shoto shifted in his seat. “That’s what I said. But he’s Izuku’s friend.”

“Only kind of! He really is difficult, though.”

The door slid open again— this time it was Fuyumi. “Mom? What are you guys doing out here, it’s really cold!”

“It’s fine, Shoto brought us blankets.”

Fuyumi took in the pile on the porch between Izuku and her mother. “What, did you take all the blankets in the house?”

Shoto muttered something that sounded like an affirmative.

“OK, well, I need some of these. I was going to put out Izuku-kun’s futon.” She gathered up the remaining blankets, then turned to him. “We have a guest room for you, or you can stay with Shoto. It’s up to you guys.”

“I— uh—” Should he stay with Shoto or by himself? He would have preferred to sleep in Shoto’s room so he could have company, but maybe Shoto wanted his privacy? Or would Shoto’s feelings be hurt if he asked for the guest room? Maybe he should just let Shoto decide—

“My room,” Shoto said simply.

“OK!” Fuyumi said. “Don’t stay out here all afternoon, you’ll freeze and you’ll make Mom sick.” The door snapped shut behind her, and that was that.

“Should we—” Shoto began, but his mother cut him off.

“I’m perfectly fine. I’m going back to the hospital tomorrow, and I want to enjoy every second of my holiday with my children.” She reached out and stroked her son's hair.

“You’re sure? I know this week— seeing him—”

“I’m sure. It isn’t about him.” She faced Shoto with one hand on his shoulder, and Izuku felt very much like this was a private family thing and he should not be here, but it was far too late to do anything about it. “It’s about me, and you, and Fuyumi, and Natsu, and seeing the beautiful people you’ve grown up to be. And I got to meet your friend Izuku-kun, who is just as charming and funny as I thought he would be.” She reached over with her free hand and laid it on Izuku’s knee. “It is really cold out here, though. Shall we go inside? Izuku-kun, want to go sit under the kotatsu?”

“I definitely know the way,” she told Izuku softly as they padded down the hall, and then made a show of hesitating at the next intersection of hallways before turning decisively to the right. He laughed.

She left them at the door to the kotatsu room (they had a whole room just for their kotatsu) saying, “I’ll go get us some tea and snacks.”

“No, Mom, let me—”

“It’s my house, too, dear. Go relax.” Shoto opened his mouth to protest, but she put her hands on his shoulders, spun him around, and pushed him through the door. “Relax!”

Izuku looked at the dazed expression on Shoto's face and started laughing again. He laughed and laughed, while Shoto leaned against the wall and let himself slide down to the floor with a sigh. But it was a happy sigh, because at long last, Shoto was smiling.

“Sorry,” Izuku said, “but you didn’t tell me she was so— so—”

“She used to be. I think. I think she used to be like this. I never thought that I’d see her smile again like that here.”

“Well, it’s like she said. She came to see you.” And me, he thought, which made him feel warm inside the same way slipping his feet into the kotatsu made him feel warm outside.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Was it really OK? When they met?”

Shoto thought for a moment. “I think so. He’s very… careful with her now.”

“That’s not a word I would have associated with Endeavor,” Izuku said. “Oh gosh, sorry, that was kind of harsh, I just mean, obviously, he’s very… passionate? That’s, like, his hero image? I mean, it seems like he must be responsible sometimes too, in order to be a successful hero he would have to, but maybe it’s not his dominant characteristic, if that makes sense?”

He made a conscious effort to stop rambling, but one thing about Shoto, one really kinda great thing, was that he never seemed to mind if Izuku just started talking and kept talking and forgot to stop. But they were having a rather serious conversation about Endeavor right now, so Izuku made himself stop.

“I wish it had occurred to him to be careful before,” Shoto said quietly. He took a deep breath, and let it out. “Anyway, he doesn’t really know what to do, I think. He mostly stays in his room or his home office since Mom’s been here. I bet he was glad to get called in for work.” Shoto picked at the hem of his sweatshirt. “Mom says he’s ‘trying’ but I don’t even know what the hell that means.”

“I guess it’s better than not trying?” Izuku offered.

“I don’t know. It was easier to just be pissed off when he wasn’t trying.” He cocked his head like he was listening to something, and maybe he heard footsteps, because he changed the subject. “How was New Year’s at your place?”

“It was nice! I mean, it wasn’t very exciting or anything, we ate osechi and went to the shrine yesterday. And on Thursday night we watched my favorite movie.”

Shoto rested his elbow on his knee and his chin on his hand. “Which is?”

“…All Might: Story of a Hero.”

“I figured,” he said, but he was smiling again.

Shoto’s mom came back then, with a tray full of tea and sweets and mikan.

“Sorry for the wait, boys, I got lost on the way to the kitchen— that was a joke, Shoto, please don’t panic.”

A joke, he mouthed at Izuku, and Izuku grinned back at him.

Izuku approached dinner that night with no small amount of apprehension, but when he, Shoto, and Rei arrived in the dining room, Fuyumi informed them that Endeavor was still on the way and had called to say not to wait for him. So they sat down to eat without him, and Izuku saw to his delight that the food being served was—

“Katsudon!” Fuyumi said brightly. “Shoto said you like it. I hope it came out OK, I don’t have a lot of practice making it.”

“It’s my favorite,” Izuku said, turning to smile at Shoto, but Shoto was busy pouring tea for his mother and wasn’t paying attention.

“You’d better eat up, little brother,” Natsuo said. “Katsudon equals victory!”

Fuyumi cleared her throat meaningfully.

“I just meant, like, general success in life. Jeez, nee-san…”

“What’s wrong?” Rei asked.

“Fuyumi doesn’t like to talk about fighting,” Shoto said around a mouthful of rice and pork.

“I just think we can have a nice family meal without talking about things that are stressful for everyone,” Fuyumi said. “And swallow your food before you talk, Shoto.”

“Nee-san, Mom’s here, you can chill out.”

“I’m sure Mom would agree on the importance of table manners, especially when we have a guest!”

Izuku picked up a bite with his chopsticks and shrank down in his seat.

“Yeah, we have a guest and you’re totally freaking him out.”

Fuyumi looked at Izuku. “Oh, Izuku-kun, I’m sorry!”

“No, it’s OK—”

“You shouldn’t have to see us fighting—”

“I don’t think it was fighting, really—”

“All right,” Rei said gently. “Natsuo is right, katsudon is good luck, and I’m sure it’s something we could all use, but please don’t antagonize your sister. Fuyumi, I think your idea of not talking about fighting at the dinner table is a very good one, but you don’t need to be quite so vigilant about it. Shoto, please don’t talk with your mouth full. OK?”

“You should scold Midoriya too, so he feels more at home.”

Fuyumi flicked Natsuo’s ear.

They all ate in comfortable and companionable silence for a little while. Then Izuku heard a door slam somewhere in the house.

The impact it had on the atmosphere in the entire room was palpable. Fuyumi sat up a little straighter; Natsuo hunched his shoulders and continued eating. Rei hardly reacted, but Izuku could see a tightening in the set of her jaw. Beside him, Shoto kept at his dinner, but his hand, which rested on the table, tightened into a fist. Izuku switched his chopsticks to his left hand and lay his right on Shoto’s wrist.

He wasn’t sure why he did it. Right now, he wasn’t sure why he’d thought it was a good idea to come and have dinner and spend the night at Endeavor’s house. Couldn’t Shoto have just come to his place again? Maybe they could have gone to see Rei in the hospital and he wouldn’t have to worry about her smile and her wonderful laugh disappearing in the presence of her husband. But this was Shoto’s life, and he couldn’t just run away from it, so Izuku wanted to remind him that he was here. He’d made the decision to be here.

Shoto breathed in, and exhaled. His hand relaxed a little under Izuku’s.

Right, Izuku thought. That’s why.

He thought he was ready but he was so not prepared when Endeavor walked into the room and Izuku was immediately reminded of three things.

1. He was kind of… huge. They were all sitting on the floor at the traditional-style table, and Endeavor towered over them.

2. Izuku hadn’t seen Endeavor up close since his battle in Kyushu. His scars made him look more like— like a regular person, because…

3. At home, Endeavor wasn’t really Endeavor. He was Todoroki Enji, a big guy in plain clothes without fire coming out of his face.

Izuku knew he was staring, but there wasn’t really anything he could do to stop.

Endeavor— Todoroki Enji— Shoto’s dad looked down at him. “Midoriya Izuku.”

“Hi,” he said, and it came out as an extremely embarrassing squeak.

Shoto’s dad was still looking at him. The room was quiet.

Then Natsuo cracked up. It was a big, full laugh and went on for like a whole minute. Nobody else joined in, but it did seem to cut the tension. “Sorry,” he said, and actually wiped a tear from his eye. “That was so— just— OK, I’m gonna go— Dad, Fuyumi put your dinner in the kitchen and I’m gonna— yeah.”

They could still hear him laughing in the next room.

The sense of ease from earlier was gone, but the meal continued without further incident. As Endeavor sat down— Izuku couldn’t think of him as anything but Endeavor, even in plain clothes; to call him Shoto’s dad made Izuku angry and he didn’t like being angry so better to just avoid that— Shoto quietly slipped his hand out from under Izuku’s.

“You took the train here?” Endeavor said.

“Yes,” Izuku replied, in a nice, normal tone of voice, although Natsuo still choked back a laugh.

“When do you leave?”

“Dad,” Fuyumi said, in her very disapproving voice.

He scowled, apparently thinking, and then said, “How long are you staying?”

“I can catch the train anytime tomorrow. It’s just a couple hours for me to get home.”

He didn’t say anything else. Izuku remembered what Shoto had said— “Mom says he’s ‘trying’”— and this was apparently what that looked like.

There was a clatter as Shoto set down his chopsticks and got up from the table, hurriedly thanking his sister for the meal and exiting the room. He didn’t wait for Izuku this time, but a brief, firm tug on Izuku’s sleeve indicated Shoto wanted him to follow.

He didn’t rush to finish his own food, though he hoped it wouldn’t mean he had to find his own way to Shoto’s room in the dark hallways.

“Thank you for the food, Fuyumi-san. It was really good.”

She beamed at him.

He got up, and upon consideration, stopped and dipped a short bow towards Endeavor. “Thank you for having me.” His glimpse of Endeavor’s reaction as he turned away told him the man was baffled by the gesture, but Izuku knew it was what his mother would have wanted him to do. And Rei offered him an approving smile as well.

Out in the hallway he almost crashed into Shoto, who was waiting for him. His friend seemed on edge. Izuku held out his hand.

Shoto just looked down at it for a long moment, and Izuku questioned the impulse. Maybe Shoto wanted to deal with this on his own, maybe he felt like Izuku was looking down on him or didn’t understand, and yeah, Izuku would never really know what Shoto had gone through or what this was like for him, Izuku was lucky, really; no, he didn’t know his own dad very well but the parent he did have had always taken care of him and wanted what was best for him even when she didn’t really understand him—

Shoto grasped his hand— his left on Izuku’s right, and it was warm. He led Izuku through the maze of corridors back to his room.

Inside, he let go of Izuku’s hand and walked over to the window. It was dark in the room and dark outside, but Izuku wasn’t sure if Shoto wanted the lights on, so he waited by the door for Shoto to tell him what he wanted, or to figure out what he wanted, or to do something.

Shoto heaved a great sigh and sat down on the floor and put his face in his hands.

Oh. Oh no. OK.

Izuku went over and knelt down next to him and, after a moment of vacillating, tentatively pulled Shoto into a hug. Shoto didn’t resist. Izuku wasn’t sure if Shoto was actually crying, because he was so quiet. They sat there like that for a long time, then Shoto gently extricated himself from Izuku’s hold.

“I hate,” he said, “all of this.”

“All of what?”

He gestured vaguely. “All of it. Him. This house. Being terrified for Mom.” Very quietly, he added, “Being scared of her. Of— what might happen if she can’t handle being here.” He sighed again. “And sometimes I hate Fuyumi and Natsuo just for being normal and then I hate that I think like that, and then it comes back to him. Every time he leaves, I think, what if he doesn’t come back this time? And I don’t know if I want him to or not." He let himself fall backwards onto the tatami floor. In the faint moonlight from the window, Izuku could just make out the line of his profile and the shiny white strands of hair on his forehead next to the duller-toned red ones. “I can’t believe you talk like this all the time. Do you just say everything that comes into your head?”

“Not everything.”

“What are you thinking about right now?”

He didn’t know how to answer that; his brain was always full of a hundred different thoughts going in every direction. A brief selection of his current lines of consideration included— thinking about how limiting your sight heightened your other senses and he could hear the wind outside and some pipes rattling somewhere and the whisper of cloth on tatami as Shoto shifted slightly and even though there were a couple of inches between Izuku’s knee and Shoto’s leg he could feel warmth radiating from Shoto’s left side, wondering if Shoto’s two sides always ran at different temperatures or if it was the result of his current emotional state, and kind of weirdly wanting to touch Shoto’s face. He said, “I kind of hate your dad.”

“Wow. I didn’t know you hated anybody.”

“Sure, I mean, I hate villains. And I’m not a big fan of Monoma from class B, he’s, like, unnecessarily mean.”

“Villains, Monoma, and my dad. What company.”

“Sorry.”

“What, for hating Endeavor? You definitely don’t need to apologize for that.” Izuku felt Shoto’s hand nudge his, and lifted it up so Shoto could take it. Shoto angled his hand so their palms were flat against each other, and laced their fingers together.

In the dark, Izuku could hear Shoto breathing. The room was cold, and his feet were falling asleep, but he really only felt his palm where it pressed against Shoto’s, where Shoto’s warm fingers brushed the back of his hand.

The door to the room crashed open and Izuku tumbled backwards in surprise.

“Nee-san sent me to check on you. Tell me you’re OK so I can go tell her to stop worrying,” Natsuo announced. “Hey, are you guys just sitting around in the dark? Don’t tell me you’re—” He broke off as he fumbled for the light switch.

Izuku blinked at the sudden brightness; Shoto just closed his eyes entirely. “Go away, nii-san.”

Natsuo walked over to peer down into his face. “OK, now I know you’re not all right. Tell it to me straight, Midoriya, is he dying? Or maybe possessed? Because I can count on two hands the number of times this kid has called me ‘nii-san’ and still have enough fingers left to count all my toes.”

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Izuku said.

“All the way down the hall to the right,” Shoto said, still without reopening his eyes. As Izuku left he heard him add, “And I’m fine, you can tell Fuyumi I said so.”

“Fuyumi? Not Nee-san?”

Izuku waited until he was safely in the bathroom to freak out.

In the dark it hadn’t seemed so strange, just totally normal to hold Shoto’s hand again— it certainly hadn’t been the first time— and to want to be closer, to want to just stay next to him all night—

Under the stark fluorescent lights, with Natsuo standing there looking at them—

Izuku flexed his hand open, then closed. The hand. He could still feel the ghost of Shoto’s fingers between his, fingertips brushing along the lines of his scars—

Holy shit.

Izuku shut the lid of the toilet so he could sit down on it. His face felt hot, no, his face was pretty much on fire, not literally like Endeavor’s face but like maybe he would spontaneously combust if he didn't stop thinking about Shoto’s face and Shoto’s… skin…

“Oh wow. Oh shit. What do I do. We were holding hands. Our hands were touching. I thought that was normal, why does it suddenly not feel normal, what do I do, what do I do?”

Stop muttering to yourself in the bathroom, for starters, he thought to himself, deliberately and silently. He stood up. It was fine. So he’d… felt something about Shoto. It was going to be OK. He and Shoto were good friends. He could figure this out. He would just go back in there…

Where Shoto and Natsuo were talking, after Natsuo had come in and found them in the dark, and totally thought something was up! What if Natsuo thought they were— kissing— or something— and didn’t approve?

Izuku sat back down. He needed to figure this out right now. He definitely did not want to have to face the spectre of familial disapproval without being sure of exactly what was being disapproved of.

So. He liked Shoto. Well, that was obvious, of course he liked Shoto, what wasn’t to like? Shoto was his friend, he was funny and kind even if he hadn’t seemed that way at first, and he was caring and dedicated and strong and also very good-looking. He had a nice smile, because he only ever smiled all the way, so that it even reached his eyes and made them all soft. So, he really liked Shoto.

He… maybe wanted to kiss Shoto? Hm. He tried again: he definitely would not mind kissing Shoto. Yes, that felt right. He’d never kissed anyone before or even really thought about it much and he wasn’t sure he would be any good at it and the idea of getting that close to Shoto’s face was kind of scary but he wouldn’t mind trying it. If Shoto wanted to.

But he wasn’t really sure if Shoto would want to. He thought back to his wondering from that morning and the hypothetical person Shoto might have a hypothetical crush on, but that was just speculation unsubstantiated by data. He didn’t have a lot of data on crushes or kissing in general and now this seemed like a drastic shortcoming in all his years of research. He had some suspicions about some of his classmates and more-than-suspicions about a few of them (Kacchan was… not subtle) but it didn’t usually have anything to do with their hero training (again Kacchan was an exception but he was also probably… not a good point of reference; whatever was going on between him and Kirishima would not help Izuku here) so he tried to mind his own business.

In the ordinary way of things, when he was worrying about something, there were two people he talked to. He talked to his mom, or he talked to Shoto. His phone was in Shoto’s room, along with Shoto, so neither was really an option here and he just didn’t know what to do.

OK, maybe he needed to think about what his other friends would suggest. Uraraka or Iida? They were both straightforward, sensible people. He liked that about them. He liked that about Shoto, too. And it wasn’t that Uraraka or Iida were ugly or anything! They both had nice, attractive features. Why didn’t he feel like kissing them? It wasn’t like he liked Shoto better but it felt a little unfair to them, like what if Shoto did like him back and they started dating or something and then he didn’t spend time with Uraraka and Iida anymore? That would be really mean! He couldn’t do that to them.

He forced himself to pull the brakes on that train of thought, reminding himself that this was all hypothetical and he would never even find out if Shoto liked him if he couldn’t figure out how to talk to him about it. Straightforward. Sensible. The only way was to tell him.

“Todoroki-kun, I like you.” He said it out loud, but quietly, in case anyone was outside in the hall. Which was unlikely, since it was such a big house and also the floorboards were all creaky and he could usually hear people coming. “Todoroki-kun, I like you.”

But that was kind of vague. Shoto probably knew that Izuku liked him, but just regular liking, not “I keep thinking about your hands and touching your face” liking.

“I keep thinking about,” he began, but he couldn’t even get all the words out because that was way too embarrassing and he really wanted to avoid spontaneously combusting when confessing.

Confessing! Like, confessing his love. “Todoroki-kun, I love you.”

Oh no. Oh, definitely not. He covered his face with his hands until their iciness helped level out his blush.

He tried “Please go out with me” but that seemed weird because it was nighttime and they were in the middle of nowhere and “I think I want to kiss you” was out because he still wasn’t sure and also he didn’t want to be beet-colored while they were discussing this. After several more minutes of this he was back at “I like you”. He was just going to have to explain that he didn’t mean regular “like”, he meant the special kind of “like” and they could figure it out from there.

There was always the possibility, he told himself firmly, that Shoto did not return his feelings and just liked him in a regular way and wanted to be regular friends. That would have to be OK. The last thing in the world that he wanted was to make Shoto uncomfortable, so he would just be regular friends if that was what Shoto wanted. (He really really hoped it wasn’t.)

Halfway back to Shoto’s room he remembered that just a little while ago Shoto had been really freaked out about his dad and his whole family situation and he started to wonder if maybe this was not the best time to bring up his weird new feelings.

Right outside Shoto’s door, he realized that the line he’d been rehearsing, Todoroki-kun, I like you… was not going to work because they didn’t call each other surnames anymore, because they were very good friends. Also, Natsuo might still be in there, and technically he could be “Todoroki-kun” too. He felt like an absolute idiot.

“…just going to tell him,” Shoto was saying on the other side of the door, and Izuku knew he shouldn’t eavesdrop, but it was way too late to worry about that. “Like, tonight or maybe tomorrow.”

“Just going to tell him? And you don’t even know when?”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Ugh, you are hopeless. Fine! Do whatever you want!”

And Izuku realized that Natsuo must be coming towards the door to leave, and Izuku really didn’t want Shoto to think he was being nosy, so he threw open the door and said the first thing that came into his mind.

“Shoto, I’m back!”

The two brothers looked at him with near-twin expressions of confusion.

Well, at least he’d said the right name.

“OK. On that note, I am going to report to your sister that you are a hopeless case and then I am going to my room to study.”

“When you say ‘study’ you mean watching Christmas movies on Netflix, right? I hope nee-san gives you first-degree burns.”

“Wow, you’re mean. See if I ever give you advice again.”

“Again, I did not ask for advice.”

Natsuo rolled his eyes and stepped around Izuku to leave his brother’s room. Despite their words, he got the sense that Shoto and Natsuo actually were starting to have a comfortable relationship. Maybe Shoto and Fuyumi, too.

“So you decided on ‘Nee-san’?”

Shoto narrowed his eyes. “I don’t need it from you, too.”

Izuku rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry.”

Now that he was back in the room with Shoto, he wasn’t sure how to go about saying what he’d planned to say. And he wondered about the meaning of the conversation he’d accidentally overheard. Shoto was going to tell someone something— tell “him”, tonight or tomorrow, which meant it was probably someone in the house, unless he was going to call someone or text someone, but more likely it was someone here, which meant it had to be either Endeavor or Izuku himself. Shoto needed to tell him something? And Natsuo thought he shouldn’t? What if it was something about the state of their relationship? Maybe Shoto felt something too— or maybe the opposite, and he was going to ask Izuku to give him more space, or maybe it was nothing to do with Izuku at all and he was just freaking out for no reason—

“Izuku, you’re muttering again.”

“Oh! Oh no. What was I saying?”

“I don’t know, something about texting.” Shoto took a few steps closer. “Are you OK?”

Izuku stumbled trying simultaneously to back up and not, and Shoto caught his arm.

“I’m fine?”

“You don’t sound sure.”

“I’m fine,” he said firmly, although it was kind of probably definitely not true. “Anyway, I should be asking you that.”

Shoto let go of his arm and stepped away. “I’m fine, too,” he said, and Izuku was surprised to find he knew what Shoto meant. You're not going to tell me what's up, then I'm not going to tell you.

My head's all messed up, Izuku thought. It would be better if he told Shoto tomorrow. That way, for better or worse, he would be going home soon.

“Do they really have Christmas movies on Netflix?”

“You don’t know? They’re awful. Nii-san made us watch one the other day.”

“My mom doesn’t get Netflix, so I’ve only ever watched stuff when Ashido puts it on for movie night.”

“Well, I think technically Nii-san set up the subscription but he used Endeavor’s credit card. I don’t watch it much, but I think they have better stuff than Christmas movies on there. Come on.”

Shoto got out his computer and they tried different stuff without really settling on any one thing— anime and American cartoons and some boring dramas and even a little of a Christmas movie because Izuku insisted on seeing what it was like and after five minutes Shoto shoved him away from the keyboard and switched to something with a bunch of explosions. Izuku tentatively leaned his head on Shoto’s shoulder, because it was late and it was Shoto’s warm left side.

“You’re gonna fall asleep to this?”

“I went to kindergarten with Kacchan. I can sleep through anything.”

“Oh god. I don’t even want to imagine.” After a moment, Shoto said, “You should bring some of those old photos you have to school sometime.”

“Mm, yeah, maybe when I’m ready to die.”

“Kirishima and Kaminari would lose their minds.”

“There would be photocopies posted all over the dorm within an hour. Followed shortly by my funeral.”

“I’ll say something nice about you when you’re gone.”

“Hm, like what?” His half-asleep brain belatedly told him not to ask that.

“‘He died doing what he loved, antagonizing his childhood friend.’”

“I think that’s something you love.”

“Same thing.”

Izuku laughed, and in laughing, totally lost his balance and fell, right into Shoto’s lap.

He blinked up at Shoto, who gazed down at him, expression pensive. Well, he was definitely awake now. He hauled himself into a sitting position— marveled momentarily at how he totally could not have done such a neat sit-up type move a year ago.

“I’ll set out the futons,” Shoto said. “Did you want to take a bath?”

“I… uh…” His brief moment of alertness triggered by being in Shoto’s lap faded as quickly as it had come and now thoughts were sluggish again in his head. He considered the question of taking a bath and just absolutely did not know if he wanted to or not.

“Never mind. Brush your teeth or whatever, but I feel like if you go in the bath you’ll fall asleep and drown.”

“‘He died doing what he loved…’” Izuku echoed drowsily.

“And what’s that?” Shoto asked. He pulled one futon into the middle of the room and unfolded it and draped a blanket over it.

“Sleeping,” Izuku replied, and collapsed onto the freshly made futon to emphasize the point.

“You’ll freeze to death if you sleep like that.”

“And my point stands.”

“That one’s mine, anyway.”

“Oh!” He felt his face heating up. Death by spontaneous combustion would not be ideal. “Sorry…”

“It’s fine. I figured we’d be a little warmer if we put them side by side anyway.” He tugged and unrolled the second futon so it was flush with the first while Izuku listened to the blood rushing in his ears.

“Cool… yeah… I’m gonna go brush my teeth.”

About five minutes later (two minutes of tooth-brushing and three minutes of saying “this is fine” to his reflection in the bathroom mirror) he came back, climbed under the blankets of the second futon, and closed his eyes. Maybe if he fell asleep instantly, he wouldn’t have time to dwell on the notion of sleeping right next to the boy he had a crush on right after realizing he did, in fact, have a crush on said boy.

The lights were still on in the room, though, and he couldn’t keep himself from opening his eyes to see what Shoto was doing. He realized Shoto must have changed out of his day clothes while he was in the bathroom, and was simultaneously disappointed and very glad to have missed that. Shoto’s pajamas were a matched shirt and pants. They had stripes.

Shoto caught his look. “My grandmother got me these.”

“They’re cute,” Izuku said, because apparently his brain was completely disconnected from his mouth now.

“Shut up,” Shoto said, and Izuku was pretty sure he was blushing.

Shoto shook out a big blanket and threw it over both futons, then switched off the lights and slipped under the blankets on his side. “Warm enough?” he asked Izuku.

“Yeah, I’m OK.”

“OK. Good night, Izuku.”

“Good night. Oh, hey, Shoto?”

“Yeah?”

“I like you. Like, like you-like you. Just wanted you to know.”

Izuku woke up with the sun on his face, a taste in his mouth like something had died there, and a sneaking feeling that he had said something weird right before going to sleep last night. Well, he could do something about two of those things. He rolled over and slipped out from under the blankets, wincing at the cold, and made his way to the bathroom. Then, after a series of wrong turns, he reached the kitchen. Sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and a newspaper was Endeavor.

They looked at each other awkwardly for a moment before Izuku managed to say, “Um.” And then, “a glass of water?”

Endeavor pointed wordlessly to the cupboard. Izuku took a glass, filled it from the tap, drank it in as few gulps as possible, carefully set the glass in the sink, and got the hell out of there.

So, it was possible that if he was going to have some kind of not-just-friends relationship with Shoto, he would need to figure out how to have an actual conversation with Shoto’s father.

On a related note, he hoped he hadn’t said anything too embarrassing as he was falling asleep the night before.

He went back to Shoto’s room, but Shoto wasn’t there. It was possible he hadn’t even been there when Izuku woke up.

Out in the hall, he wondered where to go next. He knew the door just down the hall was Natsuo’s, but he might not be awake yet and probably wouldn’t know where Shoto was anyway. One of the rooms nearby might be Fuyumi, but he didn’t know which. Rei was most likely to know where to look but Izuku had no idea where she was. He only knew where to find Endeavor, and preferred to stay as far away from him as possible. So he just picked a (hopefully) non-kitchen direction and started walking.

And by some miracle, rounding a corner he actually very nearly ran into Shoto’s mom.

“Oh! Good morning, Izuku. Did you sleep alright? It got pretty cold last night.”

“Yeah, I was… it was OK. I mean, I slept fine.” At least in part due to your son’s body heat, is what he did not say. It wasn’t as if they’d actually touched or anything but from what he remembered last night, it had not been unlike lying under an electric blanket.

If Shoto didn’t like him back, Izuku was going to lose out on some really cozy naps. Which was far from the biggest concern right now, but still.

“Do you know where Shoto is?”

“I haven’t seen him this morning,” she said, “but I just woke up myself. I was on my way to the kitchen. Did you eat yet?”

“Ye-no, I didn’t— I kind of wanted to find Shoto first, and, um.” There was no way to say it except to say it. “Endeavor was kind of in there? In the kitchen, I mean?”

“Hm…” She sighed. “I think I’ll probably survive it,” she told him. "Do eat breakfast, though. It’s good for you.”

“Yes, mom. I mean! Um!”

She laughed, and he understood Shoto’s fears, because he too felt an incredible relief to know that she could still do that even after spending time with Endeavor last night. She turned to go.

“Oh, wait!”

“Yes?”

“Where’s that courtyard? Where we were sitting yesterday?”

She told him the directions and he had to stop himself from running there. He felt very sure that was where he would find Shoto.

He threw open the door to the courtyard and holy shit was it cold out there, he should have gone back for his jacket but that didn’t matter because he was right, Shoto was here.

“Shoto,” he began.

“Good morning,” Shoto said.

“I need to tell you—”

“Come sit,” Shoto interrupted. Izuku came and sat. “I think I know what you’re going to tell me.”

“Oh— you— you do?”

“Yeah. You said it last night and then immediately fell asleep.”

“I… oh.”

“Yeah.”

“OK. I did not mean to do that. I was gonna tell you today, like wait and tell you in the morning so then if you wanted I could just… leave.”

“Wait, why would I want you to leave?”

“Um? In case you didn’t— we are talking about me saying I like you, right? Like, I like-you—”

“Like-me like me, yeah, that’s what you said.”

“OK. I was just worried, like that you would maybe not feel the same and then you would feel weird because we’re friends and we hang out and sometimes hold hands but then I was like wait, this feels funny, and then I freaked out and I want to touch your face? Oh no. No. I was not supposed to say that. Um.”

“I mean, you can. That’s kind of weird. But not, I don’t know, bad-weird.”

“Oh.”

They sat without saying anything for a long moment. Izuku did not touch Shoto’s face, because quite frankly the prospect terrified him.

“OK, I’m gonna just—”

And then Shoto’s hands were on his face and their lips brushed and Izuku just knew that his face was red as a tomato. Red as a tomato with Shoto’s hands touching it.

“You OK?” Shoto asked him. He was just a few centimeters away and Izuku couldn’t quite focus on his face.

“Y-yeah.” Breathe in, breathe out. He was OK. Shoto had just kissed him. He was definitely OK. “So you—”

“Yeah.”

“OK. That’s cool. That's really— can we try that again?”

It took a couple tries but he started to get past the sheer holy shit terror of it and then they kissed and Shoto put a hand on the back of Izuku’s neck and kept him there for several seconds. And that was an entirely different kind of holy shit.

They broke apart but Shoto didn’t move away; instead he pressed his forehead to Izuku’s. And Izuku raised his right hand and— it didn’t feel quite so scary now— cupped Shoto’s cheek.

“So, I like you,” Shoto said seriously. “Like, like-you like you.”

Izuku laughed. “You’re making fun of me.”

“Yeah, I am. Did you rehearse that? Is that why you kept disappearing to the bathroom for so long?”

“Shut up! You— you were gonna tell me!” he said, suddenly realizing. “You were gonna tell me and Natsuo was giving you a hard time.”

“He keeps trying to give me advice. Which I obviously don’t need.”

“Obviously.”

They were both laughing now and Izuku wanted to kiss him again and he thought, hey, I totally can, and then the door behind them slid open.

Izuku looked up quickly, remembering all his panicked thoughts from last night about disapproving family members, and he looked into the disapprovingest face of all, that of Todoroki Enji.

If anything, he looked as surprised as Izuku felt.

He said, “Crap,” and closed the door again.

Shoto drew back and folded his hands in his lap.

“So, that happened?” Izuku said, and he tried to laugh again but it sounded hollow. “Was that… is this bad?”

Shoto threw his hands in the air. “I don’t know. He’s never just not said anything before. Usually it’s ‘you shouldn’t waste your time on such childish things’ or ‘you have more valuable things to do’ or ‘if you have time to go off to your friend’s house for a whole weekend then you must have mastered every facet of your power!’” He spat out the last one all in one breath and Izuku had a nasty feeling it was word for word.

“Maybe this is him ‘trying’. Maybe he’ll let you do what you want.”

“He won’t stop me. He can’t. What I want— what I want…” He groaned and dropped down onto the wooden boards so he lay on his back with his legs dangling off the edge of the porch. After a moment, Izuku lay down beside him.

“Do you ever see your father?”

“Huh? Oh, not often. He and my mom are… I don’t know. He hasn’t come back to Japan in a long time. He sends birthday cards. I think the last time he came here I was… eight? No, nine. I had just turned nine.”

“Is it easier? To just not have him around at all?”

“I don’t know. My mom doesn’t have any other family left, so I think it was hard on her. And I wonder sometimes what he'd think of me now… the path I chose, the person I’m becoming. My mom hasn’t always been OK with how dangerous it is. And even though I think he probably stopped caring a long time ago, I still think, if he came back and said he didn’t approve or something, it would affect me. So I think it’s not totally different from you and your dad. It’s funny, you know, my dad even has a fire quirk, too…”

“I thought your mom’s quirk was telekinesis, though.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Then…”

Oh, wait. No. Oh, shit.

“Where did your quirk come from?”

“Um… Would you believe me if I said a bizarre genetic twist?”

“Izuku.” He pushed himself up on his elbows. “Look me in the eye and tell me All Might isn’t your dad.”

“OK, seriously,” he said with an awkward laugh, because that, at least, he could say. He pushed himself up to Shoto’s eye level and said, “All Might is not my dad.”

“OK. Now tell me he has nothing to do with your quirk.”

Well. Shit.

Shoto collapsed back onto the deck and covered his face and groaned.

Quietly, Izuku said, “Please don't tell anyone.”

“Tell anyone what? I don’t even know what you’re saying.”

“OK— OK, I’ll tell you everything, but you can’t tell anyone. OK?”

Shoto didn’t say anything, which Izuku could only figure as an affirmative.

So he told him. Softly, haltingly, pausing every time he thought he heard footsteps in the hallway inside. He explained about growing up without a quirk, and meeting All Might, and training all last year for the entrance exam, and eating All Might’s hair, and the connection to All For One, and even the weird dreams he sometimes had about lives he’d never lived and placed he’d never been. In between sentences he sometimes paused and apologized profusely to All Might in his head. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, he’s super smart and I forgot and now he knows and I’m sorry.

After he was done, he sat up and crossed his arms to try to keep his hands warm, because wow was it cold. Shoto was still quiet.

“Can you please say something?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, like that you don’t hate me forever for lying to you.”

“Hm.”

“I mean, I’m pretty sure you don’t hate me because even though you’re still hiding your face I know you almost laughed when I got to the part about the hair.”

“That was kind of funny,” Shoto said. He uncovered his face. “Sorry. I don’t hate you. I just— everything makes sense now. I feel kind of stupid.”

“No—” and Izuku had to laugh at that. “No way. I was just thinking, oh no, Shoto’s too smart, I should have known he’d figure it out eventually.”

“Well, if you keep going around telling people your parents’ quirks, you’ll find a lot of people are smart.”

Izuku sighed. “I’m not very good at this. The secret-keeping. But I have to, you know.”

“I get it. OK, come here.”

“What?”

“You’re freezing. Come here.” And he opened his arms.

“Oh! Yeah.”

He lay back down, this time with Shoto’s arm around his shoulders, toasty warm.

“Question.”

“Yeah?”

“Is your right side always a little warm or do you do that on purpose?”

“A little of both. When my quirk first manifested, the doctor said my temperature was changing based on my emotions. I learned to control it and push it to extremes, but there are definitely still little fluctuations linked to my mood.”

“So like, right now? Are you controlling it, or is it your mood?”

“Right now? A little of both.”

“I don’t—”

“I’m keeping you warm and you’re keeping me warm.”

“I— oh.”

“Yes.”

“OK.”

“My turn.”

“…Yeah?”

“What percent of your power can you bring out? At this point?”

“…You’re scouting.”

“Yep.”

“Twenty-five.”

Shoto was quiet. Then, “Well, shit.”

“Yeah, so like, better watch out!” He waved his fist half-heartedly. “I’ll kick your ass. When it’s warmer out.”

After another few moments of quiet, Izuku said, “You’re not gonna tell anyone?”

“I said I wouldn’t.”

“OK.” The wind rustled in the pine trees. “Can I kiss you again?”

“Please.”

He placed his fingertips gingerly on the side of Shoto’s face and leaned forward. Warmth.

A car came to take Rei back to the hospital. Endeavor carried her things for her. She hugged each of her children and, to Izuku’s surprise and embarrassment, him, too.

“Make sure Shoto brings you along to visit sometime,” she said, and waved with a smile that seemed ever so slightly more breakable than the one she’d worn earlier.

And then it was time for Izuku to go catch his train. He had his backpack and his coat. Shoto was going to walk him to the station. Shoto had been antsy ever since they’d had to rejoin the rest of the family, and Izuku wanted to reassure him that everything would be OK, but really he didn’t know what would happen. After Rei’s car was gone, he turned to look for Shoto but instead found himself face-to-face— well, face-to-chest— with Endeavor.

Endeavor stuck out a hand, and with a feeling of absolute surreality, Izuku realized Endeavor meant for him to shake it. So he did. Endeavor’s grip was vice-like.

Then Shoto had him by the arm and was pulling him away down the road.

“What did Natsuo say to you just now?”

“I’m not repeating it.”

“Shoto…”

“He said that was Endeavor giving us his blessing and you and I can get married now.”

“Oh.”

“Like I said, not worth repeating.”

“So… he’s OK with it. Us. You and me.”

“Like I also said, not his decision.”

“But still.”

“Yeah, apparently.”

The train station was deserted, and there was hardly a sound except for the slow rattling of the train approaching from a long way off.

“You got the round trip ticket like I told you, right?”

“Got it.”

“OK. Cool. Um. See you at school.”

Izuku pulled him down into a kiss, because that was a thing he could do now.

They separated just as the train pulled up.

It’ll only be a day until we see each other again, Izuku reminded himself, to fend off any sadness he felt at leaving. “Bye! Love you!”

He nearly tripped boarding the train as he realized what he’d said. He turned quickly to see Shoto almost doubled over laughing.

He waved from the window until Shoto was out of sight.