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“Please accept this.” Todoroki bowed low, holding out his hands with a small white envelope. Though Midoriya had a feeling he knew exactly what was inside, he also had a feeling he was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. After all, why on earth would Todoroki, one of the hottest guys in school, give him a confessionary note?
“Uh… Todoroki?” Midoriya looked down at the note. “What are you doing?”
“I love you.” He stood a little, loosening his bow to let his eyes meet Midoriya’s. “I have for a while. This is the tradition, is it not? A note to explain myself?” He asked, and Midoriya stared for a while before he nodded.
“Yeah, but… me? There’s a whole school full of women who would love to have you even look at them and… you’re confessing to me?” Midoriya asked, honestly already feeling guilty, even though he hadn’t given himself time to think about this at all. “Are you sure you want to make me think of such things?”
“Yes!” Todoroki stood straight, nearly jumping to his feet. “Definitely! Please do!” He blinked away the nervous, eager look in his eyes, leaving Midoriya sighing with resignation.
“Can… you wait for a decision until after class? I don’t… know whether to accept or not.” Midoriya admitted, not knowing if he wanted to read the note, if he wanted to know what kind of feelings Todoroki had towards him.
What he wasn’t expecting was Bakugo to push through knocking Todoroki off of his feet, startling both of those who’d the explosive blond had displaced as he shoved past them. “Don’t block the hallway being fucking gross.” He grumbled, glaring at Todoroki before he pushed through the door, leaving Midoriya and Todoroki staring in surprise before Kirishima stood, walking after him, giving Midoriya an apologetic glance on his way through the door, leaving the two even more confused as Todoroki pulled himself to his feet.
“He’s in a mood.” Todoroki mumbled, brushing himself off, and Uraraka, who’d been watching on with morbid curiosity, was now watching the empty doorway with intrigue.
“He’s not just in a mood.” She whispered, finally shifting her eyes to Midoriya. “He’s hurt.” She watched the confusion slip over Midoriya’s face, leaving Uraraka with a smile. “You’re so innocent sometimes. I worry about you, you know.” She chuckled, standing and stretching her back a little. “I’ll be back in a moment.” She started towards the door.
Midoriya didn’t quite understand her words, or her motivation and reached out, grasping her arm. “Wait!” He swallowed nervously. “You shouldn’t go to talk to him when he’s like that. I don’t want you to end out getting into a dangerous situation.” He looked her in the eye, and she chuckled, shaking her head.
“Toilet.” She chuckled, patting his shoulder. “I’m not suicidal.” She slipped past him, leaving Midoriya and Todoroki watching with worry before Todoroki glanced back over.
“You really didn’t understand?” He asked, and Midoriya turned, tilting his head, the confusion easy to see on him.
“Understand what?” He asked, though the question let Todoroki know that Midoriya didn’t even understand what he didn’t understand.
“It’s nothing.” Todoroki shook his head, a smile slipping over his face.
At least he had this advantage.
It was one more period before lunch, and then hours until the end of the school day, leaving Midoriya nervously leaving the locker room, his heart dropping into his stomach as he noticed Todoroki waiting near the door. “I’ll walk back to the dorms with you, alright?” He watched, seeing Midoriya nod.
This wasn’t a feeling Midoriya was familiar with at all, his nerves not at all calm with everything happening.
They walked back, and though Midoriya had started the walk near terrified, Todoroki hadn’t asked about the confession or offered his note again. The loss of the pressure left Midoriya more comfortable as they walked back, and by the time dinner was over, he was much more relaxed. Todoroki, Midoriya, Iida, Uraraka and Kaminari sat around, chatting happily about a television show that had been on earlier.
“Hey, Midoriya, can I talk to you for a second?”
Midoriya looked over his shoulder, seeing Kirishima looking a bit worried, a very unfamiliar look on the energetic, optimistic red head. “Yeah, of course.” He stood, though he was surprised to feel a hand slide around his wrist and looked over, seeing Todoroki looking up to him, a plead in his eyes unfamiliar to the young man who it was directed towards. “Todoroki?” He asked, more curious about what was going on than asking to be released.
“I love you.” Todoroki said softly, pulling his hand back, the plead turning to nervousness as Midoriya’s hand fell to his side, though no matter how hard he stared, nothing seemed to make more sense, so he nodded, saying that, if nothing else, he understood before he turned to head to Kirishima.
“What’s up?” Midoriya asked, and Kirishima waved him to follow, taking him down a nearby hallway, out of the sight of the one that left Kirishima the most nervous at this point.
“Hey, uh, I know this isn’t something you should have to deal with, but I think you need to go talk to Bakugo.” He looked up, swallowing down his nerves. “I don’t wanna be a bother, but he’s really upset. He won’t leave his room. I was able to talk to him earlier, but he talked himself into a fit and threw me out. I don’t know what to do to calm him down. I think you might be the only one who can.” Kirishima admitted, sighing at the look of complete disbelief on Midoriya’s face.
“I’m the one who always pisses him off the most. I’m probably the last one who’d be able to calm him down.” Midoriya chuckled, and Kirishima shook his head.
“No, it’s because you’re the one that can get through to him so easily that makes you the one he needs to talk to. Please, at least try?” He asked, and all Midoriya could do was nod.
“I guess.” He shrugged, even more confused as Kirishima visibly sighed, his shoulders dropping.
“Thanks. I think this is probably not gonna be easy for you. I’m sorry, especially with everything else today, but I think… if you don’t talk to him now it’s going to be a problem.” He sighed, both of them going rigid a second later when a yelp sounded from the main room followed by the scent of smoke and ice crystals in the air. “Ah, shit…” Kirishima sighed, turning to run out to the room, seeing Bakugo and Todoroki toe to toe, each with one hand on the others’ collar, the other readying a strike as they growled words that no one else could hear.
“Kacchan!” Midoriya yelped, rushing over, and though at first Bakugo thought he was just jumping in to stop the fight, he was startled a second later when Midoriya grasped to his arm, rubbing just below his tee shirt’s sleeve on the hand he’d been ready to strike with.
Bakugo turned, looking down in confusion at the awkward movement as Todoroki stalled, his eyes wide on the affectionate closeness, almost as if he were hugging Bakugo’s arm. “I’m sorry.” Todoroki mumbled, startled at the realization of what had happened and why.
He could see the ice on Bakugo’s arm, the bright red skin already showing frostbite. Bakugo was pissed off enough that he didn’t feel the pain, but Midoriya was able to see it easily enough. Todoroki lowered his hands, taking a step back as panic bubbled in his chest. “Why are you on my arm?!” Bakugo blinked away his own shock, and Midoriya looked up with a sharp glare of anger, a look Bakugo was very familiar with.
“You have frostbite on your arm! Come on, let’s get you to Recovery Girl! This could be serious!” Midoriya turned, nearly running with Bakugo’s arm still wrapped in his own. Of course from where he was Midoriya couldn’t see the blush that crossed Bakugo’s cheeks as he was pulled away.
It didn’t take long before they were out of the dorms, halfway to the school building, and Bakugo dug his heels in, stopping their progression. “Kacchan, come on! You don’t want permanent damage on your arm!” He turned, looking up to see a soft gaze in Bakugo’s eyes, though the instant he saw it, Bakugo looked down, his eyes shifting back to malcontent.
“You can’t say yes to him.” Bakugo grumbled, and Midoriya stilled, completely confused.
“What?”
“You can’t say yes to Todoroki!” Bakugo said louder, this time the words quite easy to hear. “You’re mine! You’ve always been mine! I fought tooth and nail to keep you from trying to be a hero when you were a kid because I know what happens to quirkless kids who become heroes, Deku, and I didn’t want you to end out some fucking smear on a sidewalk! I fought my ass off to get into UA so I could impress you, and your dumb ass got a quirk and followed me! I can’t help it if you completely change the fucking fate of the world or whatever the hell you’re doing, but… you can’t say yes. Not to him.” Midoriya watched, seeing the anger in Bakugo’s eyes taper back off into a painful desperation Midoriya was completely unfamilair with.
And then everything clicked.
“Wait…” Midoriya stilled, his mind reeling from the realization. “You like me?” He asked, completely baffled, and Bakugo’s lip twitched as he fought to get the words out.
“I’ve always loved you. I thought you knew. I fought so hard to keep you safe, and you didn’t even know? You didn’t realize?” Bakugo asked, honestly feeling every bit of energy he had sucked from himself.
“I… thought you hated me.” Midoriya replied. “I… We need to get you to Recovery Girl. You can’t let your arm get damaged. If it permanently affects your quirk you’ll have trouble.” He whispered, and Bakugo nodded, feeling heartbroken.
It didn’t take long. Recovery Girl was able to heal the damage easily enough, and with that out of the way, on their walk back, Midoriya let his mind wander to the man beside him.
This was entirely different from Todoroki. He was still as nervous as could be, and he felt just as much like he could throw up, but the feeling of trepidation he had earlier wasn’t there.
“Why me?” Midoriya asked, glancing over, suddenly feeling nervous and a bit upset. Either way he was going to hurt someone.
“How the hell should I know?” Bakugo looked down at his feet, feeling unusually nervous. “I know that by the time I discovered my quirk, I already knew it had to be you. It hasn’t changed. That’s all I know.” Bakugo watched as Midoriya nodded, looking down.
“Hey, Kacchan?” Midoriya’s voice was soft, a nervous tone that Bakugo wasn’t familiar with. “This isn’t the same as Todoroki’s confession at all.” He admitted.
“You have some balls, mentioning another man during a confession.” Bakugo grumbled, and Midoriya shook his head.
“I spent all day afraid of the end of the day. I didn’t know how to tell him I didn’t want to take his note. He put his heart into it, and it seems so cruel.” Midoriya looked down at his feet, not noticing the confusion on Bakugo’s face that realization turned to surprise. “I only ever do what I want to do, right? I ignored your words and came to UA, I got a quirk, I’m gonna be a hero.” He looked up, seeing Bakugo staring, slowly nodding as he realized Midoriya was watching him. “Is it alright if I’m happy with your confession?” He asked, seeing Bakugo nearly stumble as relief hit him harshly.
“Yes! Why in the hell wouldn’t it be? That’s what I wanted you to say!” Bakugo sighed, missing the way Midoriya let out a relieved sigh, leaning his head to Bakugo’s shoulder.
“Good. Kacchan?” He watched, seeing the joy Bakugo fought to hide.
“What?” He asked, the corner of his lip turned to a smile beyond his control.
“I think I like you back. I’m sorry. I don’t really know about this. I never really spent time thinking about this kind of thing, but I think that would be the only explanation for this feeling.” He smiled, sliding a hand over his chest, seeing Bakugo’s eyes widen before he nodded, stilling from their walk back to the dorms to turn, wrapping his arms around Midoriya, pulling him to his chest.
“Then go out with me. Accept my confession.” Bakugo knew he was asking a lot, especially considering he’d just been asked out by someone else.
“Alright.” Midoriya barely hesitated, laying his head on Bakugo’s shoulder. “Ah, I’m really happy.” Midoriya grinned, sliding his arms around Bakugo’s back to hold him.
“Good.” Bakugo nodded. “Stay happy.” He closed his eyes, finally feeling honestly relieved. “Stay with me, and stay happy.”
“Of course, Kacchan.”