Chapter Text
When the heat finally broke, Izuku’s eyes fluttered open to a sleeping Todoroki. His face, tilted awkwardly to the left, was tinged red with sunburn.
“Todoroki! Your cheeks! Ah—! I’m so sorry, I—” Before Midoriya could realize he was yelling, Shoto’s head shot upright, immediately sending a shock through his neck. His right hand, previously rested on Midoriya’s brow, flew up to cradle his nape.
“OW! Fuck—!”
Izuku jumped up in his seat and curled around to bring all of his wide-eyed attention to Todoroki, who, up until now, he had never heard curse. Before he could sling another ten apologies, Shoto put his left hand up.
“Midoriya, it’s okay — I’ll be fine.” His right hand had begun to produce frost as he soothed his neck with ice.
Izuku sobered, but only slightly. His brows were still furrowed with guilt. If I hadn’t fallen asleep on you, you wouldn’t have slept here until the sun went down—
“Oh shoot! We slept through the whole day!” Midoriya jumped again, this time to an alert stand. In the distance, the sun had almost completely laid to rest behind the first year dorms. He could see the facade of each of his peers through their windows, with only two windows left conspicuously dark. He looked around wildly, forgetting if he had left anything outside before falling asleep.
“Ah! I never finished my cool-down, and I still need to shower— and where are my gloves? Oh gosh I hope I didn’t leave them out in the sun somewhere, and—” His wide green eyes ground to a halt on a snickering Todoroki. Had he ever seen him snicker before? It wasn’t like when Kacchan does it — that was always bitter and snarky. This was…
“— so cute when you’re flustered.” Midoriya caught the end of Todoroki’s statement and his sunburned cheeks stung with blush. “I don’t mean to make fun of your worry, but…” Shoto paused, giving his neck a final icy rub before letting his right hand fall to meet his left in his lap. “It’s going to be okay, really.”
There was a cool assuredness in his heterochromatic eyes that simultaneously calmed Midoriya and lit his stomach aflame. Or maybe that was hunger… they had missed dinner, after all. Before his buckling knees and rampant thoughts could bring him to the ground, he managed to force some squeaked words from his lips.
“Sh-should we get something to eat?” His question was bookended by a loud growl from his stomach, which was met by a groan from Todoroki’s. A duet, of sorts.
Shoto placed a cool hand on his rumbling stomach. “That sounds like a good idea.”
…
They both elected to visit the men’s showers prior to eating, a thin plastic curtain separating them as they rubbed off a days’ worth of sweat and dirt. Though only there for ten minutes, the experience left Midoriya uncharacteristically nerve-wracked. Not to say he wasn’t typically anxious, but to say he had never felt specifically anxious about showering next to Todoroki. But as they sat in the common room eating soba, it was all he could think about.
Todoroki looked up from his Hero’s Journey book, mouth half full with soba and eyes as cool and collected as ever. With a quiet slurp, he broke their silence. “Is everything alright?”
Izuku jumped in his seat, nearly throwing his chopsticks across the room in the process. “Yeah! Yeah I’m fine, I’m great actually, I’m just—ya know… sitting, and enjoying my soba, and…” His voice trailed off as he looked down at his untouched meal.
“Thinking?” Todoroki interjected, tilting his book down to get a better look at Midoriya’s worried face.
Izuku winced. “Yeah, I guess…” his admittance was quiet and, for some reason, guilt-ridden. He stirred his soba bowl with anxious abandon. “It’s just—I, uhm…” his sunburnt cheeks stung again and he knew he was blushing. He forced his eyes shut, as if erasing his view of the world would make the thoughts easier to say. “IReallyLikedSpendingTimeWithYouToday— AndIDon’tKnowIfIReadAnythingWrong — YouKnowMeSometimesI’mAnAirhead — AndAnyway — ThisWasNiceAndIfItsOkayI’dReallyLikeTo—”
“Midoriya.”
“YES?” Izuku’s eyes sprung open and fixed intently on Todoroki’s face, ready to do anything he asked.
“Your soba. You’re spilling it.”
Midoriya glanced down to see that his stirring had thrown a mess of noodles and broth all over the table. He dropped his chopsticks like they were hot coals and threw his eyes closed again. “Oh geez I’m really sorry I didn’t mean to—” A cool hand landing gently upon the top of his fluffy head made him pause.
“I liked it, too.” His eyes were still closed, but Midoriya could hear a small smile in Todoroki’s voice.