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It had been three weeks, four days, and half an hour since the last time Shouto had been able to focus on training. He was still training, of course - he fully intended to become number one in spite of his father, but the focus just wasn't there. Laps took an additional eight seconds to complete, his punches were only ninety-two percent as strong as usual, and just yesterday Hagakure had managed to surprise him in heroics class.
Shouto had still won their exercise, but she had gotten close enough to touch him. It was, frankly, unacceptable. And here the reason for his distraction was smiling nervously up at him, asking for his opinion on whether a shoulder throw or hip throw would have been better in an earlier bout. Shouto dismissed the thoughts his mind supplied about what hip throws he would like to be doing, and responded. "I think your technique was fair enough, Midoriya. It was the timing that made it fail." Just that small response was enough to get Midoriya muttering again, something about signs he could watch for.
Three weeks, four days, and half an hour ago, Midoriya had surprised Shouto and thrown him across half of the training ground. Shouto thought he had injured something when the sight of Midoriya's worried face, haloed by the afternoon sun, made his heart stutter. But the longer that afternoon's training went, the more Shouto noticed about Midoriya. And then it continued the next day. It did not help that they saw each other in all sorts of situations in the dorms. Whether it was Midoriya's absurdly captioned shirts, or the way his bedhead looked before he tried to tame it for class, Shouto noticed.
The first week, Shouto had let himself consider the odd feeling, and enjoyed Midoriya's presence all the more for it. But, when it showed no signs of fading, he realized he would have to do something. The next two weeks had been spent on ignoring the feeling - repressing it and abandoning it as much as Shouto could. He did not spend less time with Midoriya, however - how ridiculous would it be to make him upset over something that was Shouto's own failing? No, he just squashed the feeling all the harder.
That, clearly, had also not worked. So the last few days had been spent on putting together a plan to resolve this feeling once and for all. It only took a couple of days to decide what to try - most of the delay since that was because the plan relied on finding time alone with Midoriya. There were many things Shouto enjoyed as part of UA becoming a boarding school, but opportunities for private conversations were not on that list.
This was, quite honestly, the strictest exercise in information security Shouto had ever done. At least he would get some good training out of this situation. He needed time alone with Midoriya, he needed Hagakure, Jirou, and Shouji far enough away and sufficiently occupied to avoid their eavesdropping, and he needed to be aware enough of the upper years to avoid their attention. He needed the extra time and space to let Midoriya do his thinking, and likely some muttering, without interference. It was a tall order, but Shouto had finally come up with a solid plan, and tonight was the night.
Midoriya seemed to have no idea that Shouto's mind was not on their conversation as the class returned to the dorms. They split to go to their separate rooms, and change. Then? Why, then it was Iida's prescribed chore time, and this week Shouto was on trash duty. It had taken some finagling, but he had managed to find a way to spoof additional full bags of trash, more than one person could reasonably carry and still see where they were walking. Midoriya, being not only his friend, but the absurdly selfless person he was, would be the first to volunteer to help, and they could have a private conversation.
What Shouto had not accounted for was how zealous Iida was.
"Nonsense! It is my duty as class representative and your friend to make sure you are supported! My chore is already done, so it is only right for me to help you take these to the dumpsters."
Three weeks, five days, and nineteen and a quarter hours. That was how long Midoriya had broken Shouto's focus. The new plan had not taken as long to put together. Shouto had learned his lesson - the simpler the plan, the better. This time, he merely chose a time most of the class would be using to finish homework early in preparation for movie night. Shouto had completed the homework in a flurry the night before, and he knew Midoriya had his eye on analyzing some old Sports Festivals, so he must have completed his homework early as well. That just left one step - ask Midoriya to spar with him. Quirkless, so they wouldn't have to have a teacher listening in.
Shouto caught Midoriya eating breakfast. It wasn't hard - Midoriya did not have a set schedule for Sundays, but he always made his way down to the kitchen between 8:30 and 9 am. In the first week or so of this distraction, Shouto had learned precisely what Midoriya's footsteps on the stairs sounded like, so finding Midoriya was merely a matter of showing up in the dining area thirteen minutes after he heard those steps.
Yes, there were others eating at the same time, but Shouto was fairly certain that they were all committed for the morning - either doing homework, or helping others with their homework. Iida, Bakugou, and Yaoyorozu would be tutoring the class. Or rather, Iida and Yaoyorozu would be tutoring, while Bakugou did his best to verbally beat information into his friends' skulls. Of the rest, Shouto did not think any of them would have finished their homework last night, unless they also had plans for the morning.
Shouto retrieved his breakfast from the kitchen, and slipped into a chair opposite Midoriya and Uraraka. He had made a breakfast that could be chilled overnight - it was not uncommon for him to do, and it meant less opportunity to miss Midoriya leaving while he tried to act like he was having a perfectly normal Sunday morning. Shouto nodded a silent greeting at both Midoriya and Uraraka, and began to eat. He waited for a natural lull in their conversation. From experience, this could take several minutes, so Shouto was prepared to eat his breakfast rather slowly.
Finally, the moment came.
"Midoriya, would you join me for a Quirkless spar this morning? You wanted some practice with throws, and I would like practice breaking them."
The smile Midoriya gave him, with eyes gleaming, made Shouto feel like everyone in the room would hear his heartbeat. It was definitely time to resolve this.
Fiery eyes and a determined expression turned on them. "Quirkless?" Uraraka asked, cute voice belying her intense look. "May I come with you? And then we'll always have someone to referee!"
As Midoriya rubbed the back of his head and acquiesced to Uraraka's request, Shouto's heart dropped. He could not say no - not without giving away that something more was afoot. At least sparring with Uraraka was always a learning experience…
Five weeks, two days, and an hour without focus. No matter how simple or how complex Shouto's plans were, he had not been able to find a safe time to talk to Midoriya and resolve this issue. No matter what, someone or something would interrupt Shouto's plans. It was with reluctance that he abandoned his hope for information security - he'd simply have to live with the possibility of being overheard, and deal with the consequences as they came. It was the only way to get this resolved.
Midoriya was clearly sore today, and moving slowly when they got back to the locker rooms. It was a spur of the moment plan, formed as everyone else changed quickly, and Midoriya waved Iida off. Midoriya moved to do the same to Shouto, but everyone knew he did as he liked, so Midoriya was not surprised when he stayed.
Only when Shouto could no longer hear the sound of shoes in the hallway did he speak up. "Midoriya, you are incredibly distracting." Perhaps that wasn't the best way to start - Midoriya squawked with his shirt still over his head and those very, very distracting abs visible. "I haven't been able to focus on training in over a month."
Finally, the abs were covered and Shouto could look into Midoriya's eyes as he muttered in confusion. Shouto let him do that for another moment before continuing. "I think I like you?" The muttering suddenly stopped, and a vivid blush overtook Midoriya's face. Shouto braced himself for the rejection - even if he had been expecting it, and in fact planned for it, he knew that the initial rejection would sting. Hopefully the relief of being able to focus would be balance enough for it.
The silence continued, and Shouto suddenly wondered if this was a silence he was supposed to be filling. As if the conversation weren't already giving him enough anxiety, did he have to banish this quiet?
The muttering started back up with a vengeance, a blush still across Midoriya's cheeks. Shouto could pick out bits and pieces. "Is that why you've been inviting me to spar so much?" Shouto wasn't sure whether that was a rhetorical question, or one he was supposed to answer, but it was followed up with, "And all those times someone came with us, the corners of your eyes would crease, like you were disappointed."
So intensely was Shouto listening to Midoriya's muttering that neither of them realized there was someone approaching the locker room until the door swung open. The muttering dropped in volume, below what Shouto could hear, as Shouji spared them only the briefest of glances before leaving again with the bag he had forgotten. It was hands on all of his arms, so he likely could not hear what Midoriya was saying either.
The door swung shut, and Shouji's footsteps faded away. Before speaking, Shouto glanced over the locker room to make sure no one else had forgotten something. Midoriya was still muttering, and his face had gone from pink to red. Perhaps it was time to bring this to an end?
"You do not have to concern yourself with my feelings, Midoriya. I hope we can remain friends?" Shouto stood, careful to avoid the expression of disappointment that Midoriya had called out only moments earlier. This was what he had expected - a rejection, and a reason to put his distraction to rest. Midoriya did not need to know how it stung. He turned to leave.
"Todoroki! No, Shouto!" The use of his given name outside of a heroic context made a shiver go down Shouto's spine. He stopped and turned back to Midoriya, confused. With a determined expression, that blushing face turned up towards his, "I like you too?"
Shouto blinked, discreetly pinched himself, then blinked again. This was not how this was supposed to go. In Shouto's surprised silence, Midoriya had started an impassioned speech, something about enjoying their spars, and being distracted himself. Shouto cleared his mind to actually listen.
"-ing, I didn't think you liked me, so I'd decided to just be the greatest friend I could be. But… if you like me… I want to try and be the greatest boyfriend instead!"
A single question burned in Shouto's mind,and he wasn't sure how to ask it. He had assumed, planned on being rejected. The sentence would not form in his mind, so what he asked was, "You like me?"
Midoriya paused, and Shouto could see the gears in his head turning. Suddenly, Midoriya looked around the locker room as if everything made sense. "You expected me to reject you, didn't you?" At Shouto's nod, he continued. "You were trying to convince yourself to focus by removing that unknown." As he did his analysis, Midoriya's blush faded, and he looked at Shouto with a determined grin. "We both want to be the best, so we'll have to be sure to get the distraction out during off-hours! We can think of it as another kind of training, because we can't afford to be distracted by each other in battle!"
For the first time he could remember, Shouto felt his cheeks begin to warm and tingle. Was he blushing? All he could do was nod as Midoriya - no, Izuku - took his hand and led them out of the locker room.