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Yaoyorozu’s soft hands swiftly adjusted his tie around the neck, muttering something about “crookedness.”
“Hey, Shouto? Are you okay?” Ah, he’d been staring in the mirror again.
Shouto cleared his throat, shifting his shoulders in a way that lightly nudged her hands off of him. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
“You’ve just-- seemed spacey all day. Not that you aren’t-- ugh. More spacey than normal. I’m just worried. I- I don’t know what else to say. If you aren’t going to talk about it, there’s not really anything I can do.”
“Then stop asking. If you know it’s pointless, then you can stop.” His voice sounded sharper than he had intended it to, coming out with an edge that Yaoyorozu seemed to pick up on as well.
She sighed deeply, looking up at him with no resentment in her eyes from her tone, only concern. “You know you can talk to me, right?”
“I know, Momo. Thanks.”
“Forgive me for asking, but it doesn’t have anything to do with Midoriya, right? I know you’re close, did you fight or something--”
Shouto’s eyebrows furrowed. He thought about Midoriya, and if the man that had practically saved Shouto from himself could ever do something to wrong him intentionally. “No. That’s not it. You can stop prying.”
He thought about the irony in that. If anything, Shouto was the one doing something wrong. It felt dishonest, agreeing to be his best man when his feelings were much more intense than a best man’s usually were. It felt as if he was taking advantage of Midoriya’s infinite kindness, pushing himself as close as he could get without crossing the line. Midoriya trusted him, and it felt wrong to be hiding something so important, but he knew that Midoriya wouldn’t even shun him, turn away.
Instead, Shouto had resolved long before to stare at Midoriya’s bright green eyes and every little freckle from a distance, whether that be across the couch in his apartment, or from where he would be standing along with the groomsmen. Perhaps, he thought, it wasn’t too terrible to allow himself to feel the strange sense of satisfaction that he got from being the “best” man, or wonder what it might be like to stare at the stars that adorned Midoriya’s cheeks across from him on the altar.
“Oh- okay.” Yaoyorozu’s hands settled by her side. He noticed tears starting to settle in the corner of her eyes, and though he had grown much taller since the first time he had seen her cry, it still left him with a similar feeling of smallness.
“I’m- I’m sorry. Are you crying because of me?” He tried to keep his voice in the same monotone it usually was, even as guilt weighed down his lungs.
“No, I’m just... concerned.” She sniffled. “You’ve gotten better at opening up, anyone that’s close to you would be able to notice. Sorry, I’m not trying to like, psychoanalyze you or anything but… you usually talk to me, or Midoriya when something’s bothering you now, and it just--” she paused, taking a deep breath. “It just scares me. That you’re not opening up again. I’m worried. Your tone wasn’t appreciated, but I know you didn’t mean it, and it’s not why I’m upset.”
Shouto, unlike what many people would expect him to believe, doesn’t think the world is a cruel place. The stars never failed him, placed delicately in the night sky without wondering if they belonged. The natural world smiled at him, peeks of blotted clouds in-between open windows and through his father’s smoke. The sun would set kindly too, turning into bright oranges that bounced through his walls and reflected onto his mother’s hair. No, the natural aspects of the world belonged as they were, he thought. He remembers looking at his brother’s hair with a scowl. He couldn’t bury the past that easy. Cheap black couldn’t hide his natural roots from himself, no matter how often he re-applied. Running couldn’t hide a radiant smile and freckles from Shouto, either.
“It’s just. Midoriya. I guess.” It was barely a mutter, but it felt as if all the air had left his lungs. He’d always been open, much to the shock of others. But this was different, somehow. Not that he felt the need to spill all the details of his long-term crush on Midoriya to everyone that showed him the slightest bit of understanding, like how he’d been in high school, but he had still known it wasn’t healthy to do the exact opposite of oversharing.
“What about him?”
What about him? There was so much about him. He knew that’s probably not what she meant, but there was so much that made him Shouto’s center of attention, constantly. “Do I really have to say it? I was trying to hide it but, I don’t know-”
Suddenly, her hands were on him again, tightly landing behind his neck as she held him in a tight embrace. “I kind of thought so, but-- I’m sorry, Shouto. I really am.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not. And that’s okay too, y’know.”
He simply sighed at that. It didn’t really matter if it was okay or not to him, because that wasn’t going to somehow magically change the fact of the matter. And without changing the truth, or at least his perspective on it, -- (Shouto thought about his fire. His power. It had somehow changed a fundamental truth he had instilled in himself throughout his childhood. He couldn’t see that happening here.) -- he couldn’t imagine changing his feelings on it.
A knock on the door startled him out of his thoughts and Momo out of her hug, stepping back and giving an affirmative for whoever was at the door to come in.
Shouto heard him before he saw him. “Hey Shouto, Momo, I’m sorry for disturbing you but I just really needed to talk to someone that isn’t my mom because she won’t stop crying about this and I’m really freaking out and I just--”
“Slow down, Izuku. Are you okay?” Momo said, offering a warm smile to him.
Turning around to face him was a huge mistake on Shouto’s part, honestly. Midoriya was wearing a simple black suit, a dark green tie fitted around his neck and one of a matching color on the right side of his blazer. His hair was actually done, still curly but without the frizz that usually made it so recognizable. It was becoming too common of an occurrence for him to suddenly lose the ability to breathe today.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, like, I’m not gonna ditch the wedding or anything, ‘cause, who does that? But I’m. So going to mess up my vows. What if I start muttering in front of everyone? Or drop my cards? God, that would be so embarrassing. I’m just--”
“You’re overthinking it. Nobody’s expecting you to be completely elegant, it’s you. You’ll be okay,” Shouto somehow managed to choke out. “It’ll be worth it in the end, right?” He wanted to cry.
“I- I guess you’re right? I really was overthinking it. You’re right. Thank you.”
With that, Midoriya apparently thought it was a brilliant idea to give Shouto his second hug of the day. It was a miracle he didn’t catch on fire, but before he could really recognize what was happening to him, Midoriya had bounced off of him and onto Momo.
“Thank you guys for supporting me, and--” He was going to cry. Dammit. “and always being there for me. You both mean so much to me and I don’t know what I’d do without you-”
“Uh.” Eloquent, Shouto, really. “Don’t cry. Maybe save that for the wedding itself?” That was even worse. Momo stifled a laugh.
“Right- I’m sorry! But really, thank you so much. Also, you’re so right, I’m not going to be able to get even like three words in before I start sobbing, am I? Ugh.”
Something pulled at Shouto’s chest. Instinctively, he backed up a bit, and did his best to breathe like a normal person. “Your mom’s probably worried.”
“Yeah, okay. Shit. Thanks again, guys. See you later!”
Once the door shut again, Shouto simply collapsed against the nearest chair. “I can’t do this, Momo.”
“What are you going to do, then?” He knew better than to label her voice as irritation, but that’s exactly what it sounded like.
“I don’t know. Leave?”
“You shouldn’t do that.”
“I’ll text him.”
“And say what, exactly?”
“I’ll figure something out.”
“He’s going to be devastated.”
“Yeah, well how do you think I’m feeling right now?” The tone of his voice wasn’t harsh, and instead reminded him all too much of a young version of himself, words shaking as he proclaimed he didn’t want to have to surpass All Might. He didn’t want to have to deal with watching Midoriya cry as he proclaimed his love in front of everyone.
Momo simply frowned. “That’s fine. You can deal with Midoriya yourself, then. I’m trying to help, running isn’t going to make it better.”
As if he didn’t know that himself.
“Okay.”
And he got up and left.
-----
To: Midoriya Izuku
-> I’m sorry I left so suddenly. My mother was having an issue at the hospital. My sister was teaching and my brother was taking an exam. I needed to go immediately.
From: Midoriya Izuku
-> It’s okay! I really wish you had been there, but I understand. I really hope everything turned out okay :)
To: Midoriya Izuku
-> Yeah. Thanks.