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“Why did you lie to me?” Shouto demanded. His face screamed it all, betrayal, bitterness, and heartbreak. Izuku wanted to cry, he wanted to break down and sob, and it was taking every ounce of power he had to prevent tears from flowing down his face.
The past few days had been hard. His boyfriend had been ignoring him for reasons Izuku didn’t understand. He felt guilty even though he had no clue what he did wrong.
Shouto didn’t talk to Izuku in homeroom, Shouto sat at a different table at lunch all by himself, and Shouto didn’t show up to their weekly movie night. Izuku felt horrible.
After four excruciating days of being avoided, Izuku decided to talk to Shouto. There was no problem that they couldn’t solve by talking it out, right?
Izuku had planned to talk to Shouto the following day after school, but when Izuku went downstairs for a glass of water in the middle of the night, Shouto was there too, brewing tea. (Izuku noticed that it was the kind he used when he couldn’t fall asleep.) They stood there together in complete silence, forced to be in the same room alone.
Izuku decided to speak.
“Why are you avoiding me?” Izuku asked. He mentally scolded himself for his phrasing.
“Are you seriously asking that?” Shouto responded, voice dripping with venom.
“I don’t know what I did, Shouto-“ Izuku froze when Shouto whipped around, staring Izuku in the eyes. There was pain in Shouto’s eyes, but there was anger too.
“Don’t call me that,” Shouto all but growled.
“Call you what?” Izuku asked.
“Shouto. Don’t call me Shouto. Before you ask why, it’s because only my friends get to call me Shouto,” Shou- Todoroki replied. His eyes shone in the fluorescent lighting.
“Wait- am I… am I not your friend?” Izuku’s voice was small, barely loud enough to hear.
“I don’t know, are you? Are friends supposed to lie to each other?” Todoroki asked.
“When did I lie to you-“
“Your quirk, Midoriya.” Ouch. “I know about your quirk, I overheard you talking to All Might about it.”
“Wait, I can explain that!” Izuku pleaded.
“Really? You can explain why you didn’t tell me about one of the most important things in your life?”
“Shou- I mean Todoroki, I…” Izuku hesitated, frozen yet again.
“Why did you lie to me, Midoriya?” Everything came forward at once. Everything Todoroki had been trying to hold back came to the surface, and it was devastating. Izuku had never seen Todoroki look so hurt before, and it was Izuku’s fault.
“Why?” Todoroki’s voice was impossibly small. That’s when Izuku lost the little power he had, the floodgates opening and the tears leaving hot, salty tracks down his cheeks and chin. His vision blurred and his head spun.
Izuku couldn’t stand anymore. It was all too much. He leaned against the counter behind him, slowly sliding down until he was sitting on the floor, both hands slapped over his mouth.
“It… w-wasn’t safe…” Izuku whispered. “I wanted t-to tell you, but I c-couldn’t.”
“What do you mean it wasn’t safe?” Todoroki kneeled in front of Izuku, face slightly wet on the right, but… dry on the left. Fuck. That made Izuku sob harder.
“It can’t g-get out there, so we had to tell as few p-people as possible,” Izuku tried to explain.
“Then why does Bakugou know?” Todoroki demanded.
“He f-found out on his own,” Izuku said. Todoroki went silent. Izuku couldn’t stand to look up, so he brought his knees up to his face and hid. He could hear Todoroki’s gentle breathing and the whirring of the refrigerator. “Whoever knows is i-in danger. Right now, there are e-eight people in the whole world who know.”
Neither talked for a few minutes. Todoroki was thinking; Izuku could see the gears turning in his head.
“Fuck,” Todoroki looked over, surprised. “I’m sorry, I fucked up everything,” Izuku said.
“Well... I’m sorry too. I guess- I’ve just been overwhelmed recently and I lost control of my emotions. I know that’s not much of an excuse,” Todoroki sat down, opposite of Izuku.
“Did- did anything else happen?” Izuku asked carefully. He didn’t want to push Todoroki.
“Do you remember Dabi? The villain with the blue fire from the training camp?” Todoroki said.
“Y-yeah?” Izuku responded.
“He’s Touya,” Todoroki breathed.
Everything started to fall into place. Todoroki’s world was falling apart due to lies and secrets that had built up. His brother was a murderer and a villain, and his boyfriend and first friend had lied to him for the entire time they knew each other about something important. It must have been too much for him to handle all at once.
“Do- do you still want to be with me?” Todoroki asked quietly. Just looking at the expression on Todoroki’s face made Izuku’s emotions run wild again. He surged forward, throwing his arms around Todoroki’s shoulders.
“Of course I do, Shouto,” Izuku whispered. He felt a small wet spot grow on his shirt where Shouto pressed his face against the crook of his neck.
“I love you, ‘Zuku,” Shouto mumbled.
“I love you too, Shou,” Izuku pressed a small kiss against the top of Shouto’s head. “How about we move from the kitchen floor and go to one of our rooms?”
“Can we go to mine. I always feel weird with All Might watching me from twenty different angles in your’s.”
“Hey! It’s not that bad!” Izuku retorted. Shouto laughed and leaned forward, gently brushing his lips against Izuku’s.
“Maybe we could watch a movie since I kinda missed movie night?” Shouto suggested.
“Heck yeah! A movie and cuddles?”
“A movie and cuddles it is.”