Archive of Our Own ^beta

“T - Todoroki?” she asks, frowning. She is certain that the voice belongs to him, but the figure in front of her does not look like Todoroki. 

And yet when she peers under the hood, she clearly sees his heterochromatic eyes staring back at her. 

She reaches a hand out to his... shoulder? He's wearing so many layers that it's rather difficult to tell. 

"Are you ok?" 

To her surprise, Todoroki leans into her touch and practically clings to her. Momo can feel him shiver against her. 

"I'm just s - so c - cold..." 

"You're cold?" Momo asks, confused. But, it's the middle of July. She herself is quite comfortable wearing a pair of shorts and a lightweight t-shirt. 

How can he possibly be -

Wait. 

"You're cold?!"

"So what you're saying," Momo says, setting down a steaming cup of tea in front of Todoroki. "Is that you're having trouble with your body temperature because you were trying to push the limits of your Quirk earlier today and ended up overexerting yourself?" 

Todoroki gives a nod and reaches quickly for the teacup. 

"Please be careful," she scolds, holding out a hand as a barrier in front of the cup. "Scalding your throat will not help you, I can assure you of that. Just give it a few minutes. It needs to steep anyway." 

Todoroki sighs audibly and seems to sag a little in his chair (how he is sitting down in what she estimates to be at least three pairs of sweatpants is beyond her).

"And you said this has happened before?" Momo asks, frowning. 

"A few times." 

"I see... Well, it seems like what you're experiencing is similar to having the chills. I imagine that you need to do something to increase your internal temperature." 

"Well if you'd let me drink my t - tea..." 

Momo purses her lips, tries to keep herself from smiling. She's never known Todoroki to be so cheeky.  

"No, I meant something more like taking a hot shower," she says. "That will warm you up better than hot tea alone."

"I should have mentioned," Momo says, briefly racking her brain for the components needed to create a hairdryer, "That wetting your hair may not be the best idea." 

"Isn't it k - kind of difficult not to when you sh - shower?" 

Todoroki's teeth chatter, despite the thick blanket he wrapped himself in. Momo works to uncoil the cord as quickly as she can. 

"I suppose I can see it being difficult for you," she assents. "You can't exactly put your hair up. And I don't see you willingly wearing a shower cap." 

She smiles when Todoroki's body then trembles not from the cold, but from a chuckle. 

"Now, please sit still," she advises as she bends to plug in the hair dryer and then pulls a comb from her arm. "It won't be pleasant if this accidentally gets too close to your head."

Momo frowns at the huddled mass on the couch in front of her. "You're still cold."

"No... I'm f - fine..."

"I can see you shivering, Todoroki."

"It doesn't matter. We've already tried everything. And you're exhausted from creating that portable heater and the extra blankets." 

"Maybe not...everything," Momo replies hesitantly. Admittedly, it's probably been in the back of her mind this whole time. 

Not that she would ever tell him that. 

"You have an idea?" Todoroki asks. 

"W - well...if we were, say, stuck in the tundra or something, the most effective way of generating enough heat to survive the night would be..." Momo flushes heavily, swallows. "Uh, sharing body heat." 

"You mean like being next to someone." 

Momo's flush spreads throughout her body. She can feel her palms start to sweat. 

"Well...it's a bit more...involved than that..." 

Todoroki stares at her. 

Momo sighs, resigns herself to her fate. 

"You see," she says, trying to sound as matter-of-fact, as clinical as possible, "The more space and clothing there is between two people, the less direct body heat they share..." 

Silence.

“Oh.”

"Obviously - obviously I'm not actually suggesting that we..." Momo sputters, her face burning when she realizes that she definitely doesn't want to finish that sentence. "Of course, if it were a matter of saving you, well there would be no question, but - ah -"

She grits her teeth, wishing with all her heart that she could redo the last five minutes of her life.

"Yaoyorozu, you've done more than enough. D - don't worry about me. Just go to bed, try to get some sleep." 

Momo looks at him, shocked. "I can't leave you like this!" 

But she also can't cozy up to Todoroki naked, while he is also naked. 

Momo bites her lip, then says, "I propose a compromise." She averts her gaze. "We will sleep, uhm...together, and we will wear the littlest amount of clothing possible without feeling uncomfortable doing so." 

“Are you sure about this?” Todoroki asks wearily after a moment.

No.

Not really.

“I’m not leaving you like this,” Momo repeats, turning back to face him. She nervously tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. “Now, uhm, I would be comfortable wearing a pair of shorts and, uhm...a sports bra. Is that acceptable to you?”

A pause. 

“Sure.”

"And, as for you?" Momo asks.

"I don't know... Frankly, I think I would be fine in just my underwear. But I want you to be comfortable." 

Momo’s brain short-circuits. She already knows it will be next to impossible for her to sleep tonight.

But sleeping right next to Todoroki, the heartthrob of class A, while he's wearing nothing but his underwear?!?!

“Ah... I - I -”

“I thought so," Todoroki says. "Don't worry. I’ll wear shorts too.”

“No - no...it’s not that I’m... uncomfortable, per se...” Momo says, flushing heavily. 

“I’m wearing the shorts, Yaoyorozu.”

"But I...I just want to make sure that you stay as warm as possible..." Momo glances down at the floor. "I'm sorry for being so flustered. I... Well, obviously I wasn't expecting any of this." 

“It’s ok.”

“Alright, so why - why don’t you start with shorts and we will see if it’s warm enough?”

Todoroki doesn't waste any time in ridding himself of his shirt after they reach an agreement. 

Momo's eyes grow wide, her gaze drawn to the well-defined muscles of his torso. 

"So," Todoroki says after laying his shirt over the back of the couch, "Where will we sleep?" 

Momo averts her eyes, flushing, as he looks back at her and gathers the blankets around himself again.  

"Well, uhm, this seems like a pretty neutral space," Momo says, gesturing around the common area. "And there are couches..." 

"Ok." 

Todoroki takes a seat on one of the couches and looks toward Momo expectantly. She realizes that he might be waiting for her to join him. And to take off her shirt as well. 

Momo is comfortable with her body, but she still feels quite nervous as she reaches for the hem of her t-shirt. It does help some when Todoroki seems to notice and then turns his head, affording her some privacy. 

After she removes her shirt and places it with Todoroki's, she tentatively moves to sit next to him on the couch. He opens his blankets, scoots closer, and drapes part of them around Momo's shoulders. 

Their arms touch in the confines of their bubble. 

Though now quite warm, Momo can feel goosepimples forming down her arm. She swallows. "Uhm, so how would you like to do this?"

"Hm?" 

"Perhaps something like a - a spooning position may be most comfortable?" 

"Spooning?" Todoroki raises an eyebrow at her. 

"We - we don't have to," Momo says quickly. "I just thought, given the size of the couch and the fact that it would, uhm, make us close enough to keep you warm -"

"What is... spooning?" 

Momo blinks at him a few times. "Eh? Oh... Oh!" She finally understands that he genuinely doesn't know what she's talking about. "It's, uhm...like a form of cuddling," she replies in a soft voice. "You lay on your sides, back to front or front to back, depending on your perspective." 

Todoroki stares at her for a moment before saying, "Ok. If you're suggesting it, then I'm sure it's the best strategy." 

Momo looks at him, bewildered. Strategy?! He talks about it as if it's some kind of important mission!

"So how do we...?" Todoroki asks. 

"Oh. Well, typically the smaller of the two people is positioned on the inside." Momo shrugs, adding, "The little spoon, if you will." 

"Little...spoon..." Todoroki repeats, as though it's an important phrase for a foreign language he's trying to learn. "So that would be you." 

"Right," Momo says, her voice slightly higher than usual. She gestures on the couch. "So I guess that would make you the, uhm, big spoon. So you just...lay there, and I'll...be here..." 

They rearrange the blankets and settle themselves such that Todoroki's back is against the back of the couch and Momo lays with her back to his chest. 

She draws in a deep, steadying breath. There is just the slightest gap between them. After debating with herself for a few moments, she wriggles backward, just a little, and -

Nope. Nope. Nope. 

Momo recoils at the sharp intake of breath that came from behind her and moves to create space between them again.

She is pretty certain that she just pressed her behind right into Todoroki's groin. 

The awkwardness presses in on her like pins and needles. She can only hope that Todoroki doesn't think her terribly indecent or that she is trying to take advantage of his situation in any way.  

"Would you like to try switching?" she asks quietly after a few moments. 

"Yes," he answers rather quickly. 

The two then scramble to swap roles. Momo notices that they both seem determined to avoid each other's gaze as Todoroki turns to face the back of the couch and she turns to face his back. 

Momo spends about a minute trying to find a spot to tuck her left arm before she gives up and hesitantly reaches over Todoroki's torso.

"Is this...ok?" she asks as she rests her arm around him. "I'm not sure where else to put it." 

"That's fine."  

Silence. 

Momo shifts. "Is this helping at all?" 

"It is," Todoroki replies. "You're...really warm, Yaoyorozu." 

"I'm glad," Momo replies. Her heart skips a beat. "Well, goodnight, Todoroki." 

"Goodnight, Yaoyorozu."

“What do we do? Should we wake them? Tell Mr. Aizawa?”

“Are you nuts?? Hell no we don’t tell him. There goes our co-ed dorm life and all dating opportunities!”

"Oh, don't wake them... They look so sweet." 

"Yeah, at least let me get a picture first -"

Momo stirs.

Why are these people...in her room? And what are they...talking about?

Everything feels so warm...maybe she should just ignore it and sleep a little longer... She is awfully tired...

“Oh, crap! Here he comes!" 

A throat then clears loudly somewhere nearby and Momo's brows wrinkle. Her brain slowly starts to put together the pieces...

With a gasp, Momo snaps up into a sitting position. Her wide eyes immediately find Mr. Aizawa standing not at the foot of her bed in her room, but at the end of the couch in the common area of their dormitory. 

Where she is currently laying, half-naked, with Todoroki, who is also half-naked. He happens to spring up nearly at the same moment and the two of them share a brief glance before averting their eyes. 

"You two," Mr. Aizawa says in a low voice. Momo turns and her stomach drops at the sour look on her teacher's face. "My office. Now." He turns, then pauses. "Get dressed first." 

Momo bites her lip as Mr. Aizawa retreats toward the front door. She can now see that she and Todoroki kicked the blankets mostly off of them sometime during the night, so really nothing was left to anyone's imagination. And it certainly must have looked damning with Momo treating Todoroki's chest as a pillow. 

Head hanging, Momo pulls a blanket around herself and then quickly gets up to head to her room. Fortunately, the mob she heard before has since dispersed, so she doesn't have to pass too closely by any judging eyes as she makes a beeline for the elevator.  

Momo's never felt so humiliated before. She should have thought about this! Why didn't she realize that things could be problematic if they didn't wake up before anyone else in the building? She knows that she was concentrated on helping Todoroki to the best of her ability, but that's no reason to get so careless!

"Explain." 

Momo looks up from her hands fidgeting with her uniform skirt to Mr. Aizawa, and then back down again. She swallows, tries to gather the correct words, but Todoroki interjects. 

“Yaoyorozu was just helping me out.”

"Helping you out," Mr. Aizawa repeats in monotone. 

"Ah -" Momo looks up and flushes profusely. "What Todoroki means to say...is that his body temperature decreased after overexerting himself during training and he couldn't thermoregulate. He came downstairs shivering. He - he was still cold even after a hot shower - during which, I stayed in the common area of course -" She hates that she feels like she actually has to make this distinction. "And - and even after having a heater and some blankets as well, so I..." 

Mr. Aizawa holds up a hand. Momo falls silent and watches him nervously. 

“Yeah, yeah, I get the picture from here... And why didn't either of you alert me or another faculty member about Todoroki's condition? Those kinds of side effects from Quirks can be serious." 

The blood drains from Momo's face. That's...right. Obviously, that is what she should have done. She should have immediately thought to contact Mr. Aizawa and Recovery Girl...

What if Todoroki hadn't gotten better, and it was because she didn't do the right thing? 

"Yaoyorozu," Mr. Aizawa says. Momo looks up. "Your instincts to do what you can to help a classmate, a friend are good things," he goes on. "As heroes, when you arrive at the scene of a disaster or a crime, you have a responsibility to do what you can to resolve it properly and aid victims until the appropriate responders arrive. But it's also important to remember that you can't always save someone all by yourself." 

"And Todoroki," says Mr. Aizawa, "I can't say for certain, but I imagine that you wouldn't have gotten any aid if Yaoyorozu wasn't determined to help a classmate in need. I want you to focus on recognizing when you need help from others and actually asking for it." 

Momo glances toward Todoroki, who gives a nod. 

"Alright," Mr. Aizawa says tiredly. "You're dismissed. Better hurry to class." 

The two of them wordlessly pick up their bags and shuffle out of the office. They walk side-by-side down the quiet faculty hallway for a few moments until they suddenly turn toward one another, simultaneously saying, "I'm sorry." 

"You're sorry?" Todoroki is quick to ask Momo. "For what?"

"Mr. Aizawa was absolutely correct," Momo says, frowning at the thought of how badly things could have gone. "I should have notified a teacher so that you could get proper care. I - I wasn't thinking and you might have gotten really sick because of it..." 

"Well, I'm fine now. And Mr. Aizawa was right about me too. I could have reached out for help. And I shouldn't have made things difficult when you were trying to help me." 

"You didn't," Momo protests at once as they continue walking.

Todoroki gives her a look. "I still couldn't get warm, but denied feeling cold. Because I didn't want to burden you." 

Momo furrows her brows at him. 

"I now realize," Todoroki continues, "That doing so is only a nuisance to someone like you, who genuinely wants to help." 

"I wouldn't call it...a nuisance..." Momo mutters. 

"Anyway," he says, "I am also really sorry about all the..." 

"All the annoyances from our nosy classmates?" Momo supplies dryly.

Todoroki laughs. Momo tries to ignore how the sound makes her stomach flutter. 

"I was going to say all the 'unwanted attention'. But that works too." 

Momo giggles. She glances over at him and feels that same fluttering again. 

"Yaoyorozu?" 

Todoroki stops her as they near the door to their classroom. Momo shyly meets his gaze. A flush climbs her neck and covers her cheeks. 

"Thank you for helping me," he says.

And then he smiles, and Momo's heart skips a beat. 

"Anytime."