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“Todoroki is going to miss the first 2 days, but let’s all welcome him back when he gets here. If you didn’t already know he took a summer internship in America. Iida, I’ll leave it to you to get him caught up.”
“Aizawa Sensei, you can count on me!” Iida said.
“Good. Now, congratulations on making it to second semester, class 2-A,” the class started cheering. Even Aizawa had a small smile. “We’re going to do a few review assignments before we start learning to make sure you didn’t go braindead over the fall break,” Aizawa’s eyes slid over Kaminari and Sero,“I’ll leave your homework by the door so don’t forget to grab it on the way out.” Aizawa turned to the board and began writing. “Now who can tell me…”
Iida tried to pay attention, he really did. He had been so excited for the first day of school that he couldn’t sleep until nearly 9:30, despite going to bed an entire hour earlier. He mind had kept wondering about how everyone might have changed over the quick fall break. Iida himself went with his parents and his brothers in New York, visiting relatives. Iida spent a solid week with Tensei at the library, reading whatever sounded interesting. Iida found himself in the teen section, reading stories about heroes who fall in love. He learned that it was merely a way to create drama and steer yourself away from the hero world. Iida’s mind would wander when they went home, how would his fellow classmates do in the hero world? He worried for Bakugou, his rash demeanor would make it difficult to find someone to hire him.
YaoMomo would easily be able to find a job, but how did her quirk even work? How much did she have to know about an object to create it? He read a few books on biology and chemistry, learning about basic atomism and the theology behind it.
How would Todoroki react in the hero world, on the same playing field as his father? Iida knew Todoroki and Endeavor weren’t on the best terms, and so he continued in the research section and looked for books on psychology and relationships. He learned that socializing was a basic human need and that isolating yourself from others could drive someone mad. The mind would go to the darkest ideas possible when it didn’t have an immediate answer, stress hormones would skyrocket, and the immune system would become compromised. Iida made a mental note to make sure to include Todoroki in activities, to make him feel more welcome.
All the students actually, maybe they should all have a designated game night filled with family-friendly board games. Yeah! Iida would have to ask the others what games they enjoyed and what day of the week they’d prefer—
“Iida? Do you know the answer?” Iida shot out of his daydream. He thought of a quick response.
“No I don’t, Sensei,” Aizawa have a ‘humph’ and called on Midoriya next. It was a good save for Iida to not be called out on not paying attention, but it wasn’t good that he wasn’t paying attention. He decided that he needed to go to bed earlier that night.
~
Iida sat at cafe table close to campus, working on a report on his laptop. He made them based on recent police excursions shown on the news as practice when he finished his schoolwork. Aizawa had assigned them history notes, and Yamada had told them to translate cursive poetry into Japanese. All the students already had a basic understanding of arial numerals, so their English so far in the semester they were learning English cursive. Plenty of people incorporated it in their everyday handwriting, which made it important to learn. Iida took a sip of his non-caffeinated drink and heard the door open, and an employee greet them. Iida felt the air get cooler around his ankles from the outside weather. Autumn had arrived. Iida had on his ‘classic gay dad’ outfit, which had been dubbed by his classmates. They knew he was gay and everyone was supportive of it, meaning this was just a little banter between classmates. Iida thought it was nice, but his ‘gay dad’ outfit would have to spend more time in his closet. The weather outside was getting colder, which meant that a his pale blue sleeveless sweater over his light dress shirt was becoming inappropriate due to the oncoming weather. He would have to change from Khaki shorts to Khaki pants however, his calf engines seemed to be a little temperamental during colder weather.
Iida saw someone in his peripheral vision walking towards him. He pushed his glasses up his nose as he turned towards them to see— Todoroki Shouto!
“Todoroki! I’m so glad to see you, it feels like it’s been forever!” Iida stood up and held his hand out.
Todoroki was wearing one of those black and white striped shirts underneath a white hoodie, where the arms were ripped out and the armholes went down to the bottom seam. The logo on the hoodie said something that looked like ‘guns and roses’, but Iida didn’t know what that meant. Todoroki had black jeans with rips in the knees and dark boots with a similar style to combat boots. Todoroki grabbed Iida's hand and gave a firm handshake. Iida noticed he had leather gloves on, each of his thin fingers exposed.
“It really does feel that way. I hope you had a nice break,” Todoroki said. Iida noticed that his voice sounded deeper than the last time he had heard it- whether he had just not heard it in a while or if Todoroki had continued through his teenage growth. Todoroki’s hair had also grown a little bit. “Yamada-sensei told me the English assignment, but I’m having some trouble with a few of the words.. I was wondering if you could help?” Todoroki’s arm moved so he rubbed the back of his neck, and his eyes averted themselves. There was a light dusting of blush on his cheeks, he probably was a little ashamed of asking for help. Iida still felt proud of him, Todoroki had actually been asking for help this semester instead of isolating himself from everyone. It was improvement!
“Of course I can help you! If you pull up a chair, I’ll go ahead and grab my notebook as you do that…” Iida trailed off as he ruffled through his pile of notebooks. He grabbed the one he was looking for (a yellow one, it reminded Iida of Yamada-sensei's hair) and started to flip through it. Todoroki pulled a chair from an empty table next to them and set it down right next to Iida. He sat in the chair and the boys’ knees touched under the table. Iida didn’t pay any mind, instead, he laid his notebook over his computer keyboard. “What might you be having trouble with?”
Todoroki also had opened his notebook, where he had the assignment transcribed onto alternating lines. His penmanship was stunning. He had written the title at the top, “A dream within a dream -- Edgar Allan Poe” Iida took a better look to see that the stanzas were numbers in Roman numerals and each line had an Arabic numeral in the margins. most of the poem had been translated to Japanese under the English line with gaps here and there.
Take this kiss upon the forehead brow!
And, in farewell from you now,
Thus let me --
You are not evil , i think who i am,
That my time to be a desire;
Yet if hope has streamed away
In a night, or in a day,
In a fantasy, or not,
Is it their therefore disappearing?
All that we look and appear
Is a dream in a dream
Iida looked at Todoroki’s notes on the first stanza and smiled. His side-notes were fairly sloppy but it was oddly kinda cute.
“Line three was what was confusing me. What was the word- ahvowh?” Iida nearly laughed at the way his friend was butchering the pronunciation.
“It’s pronounced uh-vow, written with the kanji for ‘word’ and ‘release’ to make Iihanatsu,” Iida said with a little bit of a giggle, “It means to confess something, openly. Probably in front of people, to let everyone know.” Todoroki let out a soft ‘ah’ and wrote it down to create the line “Thus let me avow--” and wrote Iida's definition in the margins. The afternoon went on like that, the sun setting outside slowly.
~
The next morning, Todoroki got up early. The sun was peeking its way through the trees. He was sitting by the front doors of the dorm room when Iida himself came gently down the stairs. He was quiet, probably so that he wouldn’t wake other students, but it still was quiet enough that Todoroki had a hard time hearing him. Todoroki finished tying his shoe and looked up. Tenya was in his usual color scheme of blues and greys, and he had even brought along a jacket. Todoroki himself was in another top with loose armholes, this time a black t-shirt. His arm had a wrap around the bicep- Iida probably thought it was a fashion choice. Todoroki had gathered as much hair as he could into a short ponytail.
“Good morning Todoroki!” Iida said.
“Ah, good morning Iida. Mind if I join you this morning?” Todoroki had, not that he would admit it, set his alarm just a tad bit earlier in hopes of catching Iida on his way out.
“Of course! I find a morning jog much more enjoyable when someone is there along with me!” Iida was enthusiastic but still quiet. Todoroki smiled. Being with Iida the other day had made him feel so safe, despite there being nothing making him unsafe.
America on the other hand, Things were incredibly unsafe compared to Japan that Todoroki was used to. The 3-week internship had started in Chicago, moved to Los Angeles, and then to New York. The flight back to Tokyo airport had taken 15 hours and ran into the second day back to school. During his time in America, Todoroki had been paired with two other aspiring heroes; Josh and Alex. Josh had a quirk where he could not only remove however much light he wanted from an area and had an echolocation ability along with it. Alex on the other hand, with stealth as their main ability, used the soles of their feet and the palms of their hands to stick to walls and ceilings. The three of them had made a fairly good team, despite Todoroki not knowing much English. He knew enough to go through a mission with them, he just couldn’t analyze English poetry yet.
“Alex would usually go in and take a look around before coming back out and telling us what was going on. We would make a generalized plan, and one time while we were practicing in Chicago, we were about to start when the water from Lake Michigan came up and flooded the warehouse! Apparently some real villains had come to attack- they weren’t hard to catch, but still! Everything was canceled for the rest of that day,” Todoroki explained. They had a few blocks back to the dorms that they were walking as a cool down to their exercise.
“Todoroki! Just because they were low-level villains doesn’t mean the situation couldn’t have been serious!” Iida had completely stopped, and Todoroki did the same.
“I know but it wasn’t, we--”
“Did they hurt you in any way? Is that what the bandana is around your arm?”
Todoroki paused. “They flooded the warehouse, and the building collapsed. There were splintered bits of building everywhere in the water, of course, something had to have gotten me. Josh and Alex helped me treat it while we were there before an ambulance had the chance to show up. It’s fine though, It should be back to normal in a few weeks.”
“Have you been cleaning the wound thoroughly since? You can’t let it get infected, especially with winter coming upon us. It’ll be more difficult for it to heal in the colder weather.”
“I have. I went to recovery-girl to see if she could heal it, but she said that since it was while I wasn’t at a school-related event then she couldn’t do anything without legal repercussions.”
“Well, as long as you’re taking care of it then I’ll leave it to you,” Iida began walking again and Todoroki followed, “You did say Chicago was often called ‘The Windy City, right?”
“Yes I did, why?”
“Because I just thought you’d understand colder weather, and at least bring a jacket out. You’re shivering!” Iida was like an overbearing mother to Todoroki sometimes, but not the way that sounds. To Todoroki that saying meant that someone truly cared about him.
“Yeah, I didn’t expect it to be this cold today,” Todoroki explained. He didn’t even notice that Iida had taken off his jacket until it was draped over Todoroki. He paused for a moment.
“But won’t you get cold?” Todoroki asked. Iida had worn a grey T-shirt under his jacket, more than Todoroki had thought to wear.
“We don’t have very far to go so don't worry about me. It would be improper to let my classmate be cold when I have the ability to fix it!” Todoroki smiled and slid his arms into the sleeves. It was big and hung past his hands, but it really was warm. It might have been a little stinky but Todoroki didn’t mind. He was to caught up in what Iida had called him; merely a classmate. Todoroki couldn’t figure out why that bothered him.
~
Art classes. Iida knew they were important for stimulating both parts of the brain, but he could easily think of plenty of other things to do. Not only that but doing anything that wasn’t objective was difficult. Even objective was hard, getting the lines right. But, Kiyama-Sensei told them to draw an object in an abstract fashion, so that’s what the students had to do. They sat in a different room for this class, they had large wooden tables with 2-3 students at each one.
Todoroki seemed to be having an issue keeping his pencil on the paper. He took a moment and took a deep breath - he looked frustrated - before getting up and talking to the teacher. She nodded and called for Iida.
“Can you take Todoroki to Recovery-Girls office? His arm is tensing up, it’d be nice if Chiyo could do something about that.”
“Yes, I can! Would you like me to drop him off and come back or wait to walk him back to class?”
“It shouldn’t take to long, I think it’s safe to say you can wait for him.” Iida nodded and headed out the door behind Todoroki. The two were quiet.
“I thought you said that your wound getting better?”
“It is. Some of the muscle got cut so it’s a little painful to write. It starts to hurt when using the fine motor skills for a while, like drawing an abstract lamp.” Todoroki let out a light laugh. Iida let out a ‘hmm’ of affirmation and it was quiet between the two of them again.
“Todoroki, I am very sorry, but I cannot speed up the healing process. I can, however, give you some pain medication if it gets to be too much but other than that there is nothing that I can do,” Recovery girl said.
“Thank you for doing what you can,” Todoroki said.
Iida thought for a moment before speaking up. “Aren’t you allowed to heal injuries that may interfere with schoolwork? Todoroki’s arm hurts just writing, I wouldn’t be surprised if it hindered his hero training.”
Chiyo stopped her movements and smiled. “I suppose you are right. Todoroki, if you don’t mind,”
Todoroki’s cut had started to heal faster already and the two were on their way back to the classroom. The two were quiet, yet again.
“Thank you,” Todoroki said quietly, almost in a whisper.
~
"Don't worry Mina, I have 2 math problems to do and then I'll be downstairs, alright? I just want to finish my homework first," Todoroki said. Iida was on his way to the main lounge of the dorms when he passed by Todoroki's room. Mina, Uraraka, and Hagakure were hovering around his door even after it closed. They turned around to see Iida and ran for him too.
“Iida! Were gonna do a Mario Kart tournament if you want to join! It’s gonna be great!” Uraraka exclaimed. She must be into the game, she had a sparkle in her eye. Or it could be that Tsyu would be there. Either way, she seemed excited.
“I was on my way to have dinner anyway, I’ll eat quick and join you if that’s alright!” Iida waved the girls goodbye and made his way to the kitchen to make a fast and healthy meal of yogurt and fruit, with a protein shake. He mixed chocolate protein powder, milk, ice and strawberries in the blender and poured it into a tall cup. Then he pulled a tub of yogurt out of the refrigerator. He scooped a nice serving size into a bowl and began cutting up the fruit. He got a small knife and a cutting board, then got a banana and a container of blueberries. Iida peeled his banana and then sliced it in half. Denki and Kirishima walked in as he was cutting the banana into about ½ centimeter slices.
“And then I was like-- Holy shit dude!” Denki had interrupted himself midway through his story to run to the counter next to Iida. “I haven’t done this since I was a little kid! Kiri, you’ve got to try this!” Kaminari scooped his own bowl of yogurt and grabbed something from the pantry. He opened the container and poured a mountain of sprinkles into his bowl before stirring it up.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Bakugou walked into the kitchen. “You’re gonna make your teeth rot, dumbass.”
“No, I won’t. Try this, it’s really good!” Kaminari held a spoonful of yogurt out to Bakugou. If literally anybody other than Kaminari or Kirishima had done that, they would have been blown to bits. It was no secret that the three of them were dating, it was honestly kind of obvious, but the three did make an effort to not spell out their relationship to every person they meet. Everyone in the class was perfectly fine with not only the LGBTQ+ community, but they were also accepting of Bakugou, Kirishima and Kaminari’s polyamory relationship. It made Iida wonder, how they had even gotten together. Bakugou had a brash way of showing his affection towards his boyfriends. They had to read between the lines to see what Bakugou was really saying. Kirishima seemed just happy to be near the two of them, constantly being in contact with them. Whether it was playing with Bakugou’s hands, leaning on Kaminari’s shoulder, he seemed at peace with them. Iida had heard Kaminari be called a Disaster Bi plenty of times. Iida had looked into love languages before, and Bakugou, Kirishima and Kaminari seemed to have a variety of them to bring into their relationship.
“What kind of sprinkles are those, They taste like the ones from Dekus stupid birthday party,” Bakugou said.
“Yeah, they’re the ones we used on his cake. Is that alright?” Kirishima asked. Bakugou looked at the bowl in Kaminari’s hand for a moment.
“Next time I go to the store, I’m getting you better sprinkles. Those taste like shit.” Kaminari seemed happy with Bakugou’s answer.
Iida took his dinner and went into the living area where Sero had already set up his Nintendo switch. Him and Mina were setting up the controllers as Ochako and Hagakure were creating a bracket. Iida set his bowl on the coffee table and sat next to it, leaning on the couch behind him. Bakugou, Kirishima and Kaminari walked in not long afterward, fitting themselves into a single chair. How they managed it? Iida couldn’t figure that out. But he had to admit, he envied them a little bit. What they had was so special to them. Iida wished he could have something like that, someone who he could be that comfortable with. Some more students had made their way down to the main floor and were getting comfortable on the couches.
“Midoriya! You and Iida are part of the first round so don’t go anywhere. We’re just waiting for Yao-momo and then the three of you are gonna race with Sero!” Ochako said. Midoriya nodded. Iida would have to put his dishes away later it seemed. Iida was comfortable in front of the couch where he was, so he stayed. Not only that but it also gave other students the chance to sit there. Midoriya sat to the right of him, and Sero moved to sit behind Midoriya. He was player 1, since it was his console. Iida was handed the player 2 remote, Izuku had player 3. Ochako came back in the room with Yao-momo, and she sat behind Iida on the couch. Sero set the game to play 4 courses at random and 100 cc. Ochako stood in front of the TV.
“Since almost everybody is here, I’m gonna go ahead and explain the rules. 4 races per match and the lowest 2 average scores will continue into the next round. All the races are random and you must have the same character and vehicle throughout the whole tournament. Does that make sense?” There was a chorus of agreement from the class. Iida noticed that Todoroki hadn’t gotten there yet, was he having trouble with his homework? Iida couldn’t worry about that at the moment, The race was starting.
Iida hadn’t played Mario Kart in a long while. He played as a kid, on a Wii, but his family never kept up with the console updates. They didn’t play it enough to really mind. Iida had a grasp on how to play, except he was having trouble with the new controls. He was used to a different program, and everything was much faster. He got 12th place in his first, second, and third race. The last race was Mario circuit. He was halfway through the second round before something caught his eye. Todoroki had finished his homework and was now sitting on the floor, next to Iida.
“Hey, Iida.”
“Hello, Todoroki. Did you finish your homework?”
“Yeah, I did.”
Iida's cart flew off the track.
"Was it hard?"
"No."
Iida crossed the finish line, starting lap three
"You said you only had 2 problems earlier, are you sure? I don't mind helping you again."
Iida tried to drift around the corner, but pressed the wrong button and used a mushroom. He flew into the fence.
"Mom had called, I used my homework as an excuse," Todoroki whispered
Iida ran into a goomba and lost all of his 0 coins
“Is everything alright?” Iida whispered back.
“No. I don’t really want to talk about it now though.”
“That’s alright. I’m always open if you need anything.”
“Thank you.”
Neither of them said another word until after Iida finished in 11th place. Sero and Izuku were in the lead, and Yao-momo was right behind them. Iida failed with flying colors but he couldn’t really care. The class was all having fun in a friendly competition. But not only that, Todoroki had an issue. Was it his father? Was his mother ok? Todoroki wasn’t acting any different, he must have experience in this. It worried Iida. But, Todoroki was willing to share the information with Iida that he wasn’t ok, which meant he was opening up.
Iida put his controller on the table in front of him for the next racer and sat back to watch.
“Todoroki, did you get your earrings pierced?” Yao-momo asked.
“Yeah I did, I got this one done in New York. My two internship partners got matching tattoos at the same place,” Todoroki answered. The majority of Japan associate tattoos with gang violence, so it made sense that Todoroki didn’t join in.
“But why did you only get one?” Jiro was sitting to the left of Yao-momo and had a good view of the other side of Todoroki’s head. Iida noticed that his one earring on the right ear was a small silver hoop, something he hadn’t noticed before. What he did notice was that Todoroki’s hands were shaking. Why was that? Was it the thing with his mom?”
“There’s a saying in America from the ’80s, left is right and right is wrong. When a man gets his ears pierced, it can hint at three different things: an earring in the left ear means he is straight, both being pierced hints that he is Bisexual, and one on the right means he is gay. I got it on my right ear because I myself am gay.
So that’s why Todoroki was nervous.
“Hey, that's chill man,” Jirou said, “What I don’t like though, is the saying. It’s hinting that being gay is wrong, and that part of it’s a load of bull.”
“I agree with Jirou. Todoroki, you aren’t wrong and I hope that you know that were all ok with who you are.”
“Thank you all, for being so accepting of me, I’ve been really nervous to come out, even knowing that everyone is supportive,” Todoroki said.
“It’s ok to take your time and come out to who and when you feel comfortable. I’m extremely happy that you are ok with telling us.” This must be what he and his mom were talking about, was she ok with it? Did his father find out, is he even ok with it? What is Todoroki going to do about it?
“If you need help with getting a boyfriend, I know some guys who you’d be compatible with,” Jirou said.
“Thanks, but for now I want to focus on creating a safe environment around myself before I worry myself with the romantics. Thank you for the offer, I might take you up on that later.”
That made Iida think. Who would be Todoroki’s type? Iida knew this was something Todoroki didn’t want to worry himself over, but Iida couldn’t get it out of his mind. Todoroki seemed closest to Midoriya and himself after what happened first year in Hosu. Midoriya had been extremely loyal to him, maybe he wanted someone who he could trust like that. After he came back from America, it seemed like Todoroki would be more into the ‘badass’ type character. Iida had seen him texting Inasa Yoarashi, that really passionate guy from Shiketsu. Maybe that was what he was into, large muscle men full of energy? But he was also hanging out with Sero more, and Iida had a sneaking suspicion that he smoked some sort of drugs. Maybe Todoroki liked that, the rule-breaking in the name of having a good time. Putting that all together Iida guessed that Todoroki was into genuine men. It put Iida at ease, but he didn’t know why he had been put off at first.
Iida realized that he had never asked himself what kind of guy he liked. Definitely, someone who was respectful and trustworthy, who would understand rules and boundaries. Equality would be extremely important, and being able to protect each other when the time came. A fellow hero would be preferred as to not stress out his partner due to constantly being gone, and he would understand putting the safety of everyone else first. While Iida had been thinking, There was another race starting.
“Ah~ but, mon amour, You are thinking to objectively. You can win first place with that ghost, but how do you win the hearts of the audience if you can’t shine?” Aoyama had picked Rose Gold Peach and criticizing Bakugou’s choice of King Boo.
“I’m sorry what the fuck are you saying?” Kirishima grabbed Bakugou before he could go blow up Aoyama.
“Bakugou, Aoyama, Tsyuu… Where’s Todoroki?” Ochako held the sheet with the bracket and the last remote. Todoroki raised his hand and Ochako tossed the remote at him. He picked Link from Breath of the Wild.
It’s probably tiring for Link, every game is a new universe where he often has to save the world and Princess Zelda. But from what Iida knew about the games, he was a determined soul. Todoroki was the same way. Iida decided to take Aoyama’s indirect advice and quit thinking of romantics as objectively as he had just a few minutes prior. He decided that he was going to let the feelings of love smack him in the face.
Race 1 was starting. It was moo moo meadows, that one with the cows in the way. Todoroki drifted around the corner and got a powerup, using his new red mushroom to push him into first place. He controlled his character very well, and there was barely any time where there wasn’t something going on. Iida looked at Todoroki’s hands. Even without looking at his own hands, he knew that Todoroki’s were so much smaller. They were smooth and maneuvered the switch remote with ease. He probably played video games while hanging out with Sero, but it still amazed Iida. He held the blue remote, meaning the joystick was in the middle of the controller. Iida couldn’t help noticing that Todoroki’s hands looked really nice maneuvering around light blue. What if-- no. Iida wouldn’t intrude on his classmate like that, even if Todoroki wouldn’t find out about dirty thoughts like that. Iida felt like it was a violation of his classmates privacy. He decided to watch the screen again.
“Iida, do you mind if we talk after this? I need help figuring something out,” Todoroki whispered. Bakugou and Midoriya were neck-and-neck on Rainbow Road, and it was the last round of the competition. Sero had decided that it would only make sense for the final round to compete using the three different rainbow road races, which were infamously the hardest Mario Kart races.
“Of course! I’ll do anything I can to help you through any kind of issues you are willing to let me help you with!” Iida whispered back.
“Thank you, Iida,” Todoroki said.
Midoriya and Bakugou were nearly tied, the 1st and 2nd switching between the screens. Nobody knew who won, however, as Bakugou started explosions around him in excitement. Kirishima grabbed his angry boyfriend as Kirishima short-circuited the TV and Bakugou was yelling even more. Midoriya was smart enough to duck out of the scene and back off for a bit, and Todoroki had the same idea. He grabbed Iida’s sleeve and walked to the stairs, dragging Iida behind him. Iida had nothing to do other than keep up, and he watched Todoroki. He was acting protective of himself. His right arm was holding onto Iida and his left arm was wrapped around his own torso. His shoulders were hunched and the knuckles holding Iida’s sleeve were turning white. Todoroki must really be nervous about this. Iida was lead up to Todoroki’s own room. Todoroki sat down on his bed, now wrapping both arms around his legs which he brought up to his chest. He laid his cheek down on his arm and looked at Iida who sat to his left. They were quiet for a moment.
“Does this predicament have to do with a concern for your safety?”
“It does.” Iida noticed a slight quiver in Todoroki’s voice, he was trying his best to stay strong.
“Is it your father you’re worried about?”
“Yeah.”
“Does it have anything to do with your sexuality?”
Todoroki didn’t answer. He buried his head between his arms. Iida could see his back rising and falling, Todoroki’s attempts at deep breaths, but they quickly became shaky. His shakes became sobs and Iida started to rub Todoroki’s back. Todoroki wiped his eyes and leaned onto Iida, who hugged him in response. Todoroki cried into Iida’s shoulder, and neither said anything. Iida did his best to rub circles and soothing patterns on Todoroki’s back, and started thinking. This was the respect Iida had been thinking about earlier, taking care of each other at their best and worst, being willing to fight for what’s right. Iida himself felt willing to fight Endeavour, knowing he was going to fail, but he still wanted to. It was a safety concern for Todoroki to even… I guess exist with Endeavour.
“Iida,” Todoroki sniffled, “I know it- it’s technically against school rules, but, cou,” Todoroki sniffled again as he wiped his eye, “Could you stay here with me for the night? I, I, I’m just really scared. Enji can just blow right in here and, and hurt everybody here and we wouldn’t have anything we could do, he’s the number 1 hero and he’s just so powerful and he can do so much damage and-”
“Todoroki, it’s alright. It’s a concern for your personal safety, and us gays have to protect each other if we want to stick together. If you want to come with me to get my stuff in my room we can, and we can even just stay there if you want. What I’m worried about now is keeping you safe, ok? I’ll protect you.” Todoroki looked up at Iida as more tears welled in his eyes before trying to wipe them away.
“Thank you, thank you so much, Iida. You mean just so much to me, Thank you- I’m just so lucky to have you in my life.”
Todoroki decided he would feel better staying in Iida’s room, so they did just that. He had decided that while in Iida’s room, and to avoid interrupting students sleep anymore, Iida offered to let Todoroki borrow his pajamas. They were a bit baggy but Todoroki didn’t seem to mind. The two decided they would both be ok with sleeping in the same bed, rather than one sleeping on the floor and creating separation. Todoroki really was not in a good place if he wasn’t willing to be more than a few feet away from Iida.
“If anything in here seems out of sort, just speak up and I’ll do what I can to fix it,” Iida said.
“Thank you. For everything you’ve done, Iida-”
“Tenya. Call me Tenya.”
“Ok I-Tenya. Tenya. I can do that. You can call me Shouto if you’d like.”
The two continued with small banter for a while.
Shouto sat up during a lull in the conversation, and Iida followed.
“Is everything alright?”
“Yeah. I was just wondering, have you ever dated someone before?”
“I haven’t, but I’d certainly be open to it. Why?”
“I was just wondering.”
“Have you, Shouto?”
“I have had the option, but I said no.”
“Was there a story behind that?”
“Well, yeah. Josh and Alex from the internship I was part of, they’re currently dating. The two wanted to have me join, but I thought it would be too difficult for me to do a long distance relationship.”
The two were quiet.
“Tenya, I have to say I’m glad that I said no to them. There’s someone here at UA, who I’ve grown close to, but I’m scared to say anything. I don’t know how he’d react to me like him, we’re just so different. But I still want to tell him.”
“That’s alright, just as long as your feelings are true then I think you should go for it.” Tenya felt Shouto move closer, the two were touching shoulders.
“You think so?”
“I do. If you need any ideas asking him out, I wouldn’t mind helping you out.”
“That would help me a lot. Just as a base idea, how would you enjoy being asked out?”
“I… I don’t really have a good answer to that question. Something private, I personally wouldn’t like if someone declared his love to me in front of other people.”
Shouto put his hand on top of Tanya's hand. “Would right now be a good time for that?” Tenya could feel Shooto's hand shaking mildly. Tenya could feel his heartbeat speeding up, and Shooto's pulse felt the same.
“Shouto? What might you be implying?” Shouto was looking Tenya in the eye, staring into his soul for a reaction. Tenya was almost certain that he knew what was going down now, but he didn’t have any want to stop it. He felt a growing connection to Shouto, and he was certain that Shouto felt it too. Tenya looked into his own self for a moment, and he didn’t have any opposition to their relationship evolving into something more.
“Iida Tenya, I just feel so safe near you, even without anything trying to get me. You don’t have to accept, but I really like you and I don’t want you to be grossed out by that. I want to hold your hand and hug you and be more than just friends. If you don’t, it’s perfectly fine, I’ll back off, but--”
“Shouto, don’t back off. I know it sounds a little cliché, but I wouldn’t mind that. I would really like it in fact, I want to be with you. I want us to have a special thing between us, and I want to make you happy.” Shouto had earlier looked as if his world was shattering, but now it all lit up.
“Tenya, Tenya Tenya,” Shouto muttered as he laid his head on Tenya’s shoulder, “This very well may be the best moment in my whole life.”
“We haven’t finished yet,” Tenya said, “I’ve got two more questions if you don’t mind.”
“Sure, I can do that,” Shouto said. He lifted his head as Tenya got off his bed. He kneeled to face Shouto, the bed's height making them only a few centimeters apart.
“Todoroki Shouto, would you like to go out with me?” Shouts face broke into a smile.
“Yes, of course, I would,” He said. Tenya noticed his eyes crinkling, and his smile reaching up his cheeks. Tenya leaned forward and kept a hand on the bed to hold his weight. He brought his right hand up to hold Shouto's cheek, caressing his jaw in his hand.
“Shouto, would you also be ok with me kissing you?” Iida was big on consent and wanted to make sure his new boyfriend was alright with moving this quickly. Shouto put his own hand over Tenya’s right hand and managed to smile even more.
“Tenya, I would be more than ok with that.”
Shouto's eyes closed, as he leaned forward. Iida felt his own eyes close, and the two met halfway. Tenya had never been happier in his life. He moved his right arm to wrap around Shouto, and Shouto responded by wrapping his own arms around Tenya’s neck. Tenya couldn’t help but stand up, leaning himself over Shouto and in turn pushing him onto the bed. He heard a groan from Shouto, Tenya wanted to deepen the kiss. Not all the way to a French kiss, but enough that they both felt comfortable. He let his lips move, and Shouto started to do the same. The two were anything but in sync, but that didn’t matter. They parted, and it felt all too quick for both parties involved. Both hearts were beating fast.
“Was that too much for you?”
“No, I actually quite enjoyed it.” Shouto’s response made Iida smile.
“As much as I want to continue, I’m very tired. And you, my boyfriend, also need rest to do the best you can tomorrow,” Shouto smiled.
“Alright, Tenya Iida, my boyfriend,” Shouto giggled, “Let’s get you to bed. Come here, we can cuddle if you’d like.” Shouto crawled back to his pillow, and Tenya followed suit. Tenya lay down and Shouto got all up and close to him, laying an arm across Tenya’s upper torso. He felt content there with him.
“Goodnight, my boyfriend,” Shouto said.
“Goodnight, my beloved boyfriend. Tenya said, before turning off the light and going to sleep.