Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It all started with a text. Mina had included everyone from class 1A in the conversation, except Midorya and Todoroki, which everyone immediately began questioning. The name she had chosen for the groupchat was not helping their confusion.

Mina Ashido changed the name to DekuXTodoroki Fanfic

Ejiro Kirishima 10:32 pm- finally u actually did it

Katsuki Bakugo changed the name to DekuXIcyHot Fanfic

Katsuki Bakugo 10:34 pm- There

Eijro Kirishima 10:34 pm- ya i like that better

Mina Ashido 10:34 pm- fine

Ok guys, Im sure you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered us on this snap gc

Tenya Iida 10:34 pm- This is incredibly inappropriate Mina! It is 10:30 pm making it well past lights out and we are all still on our phones! Not to mention you are leaving two of our classmates out!

Denki Kaminari 10:34 pm- chill

Mina Ashido 10:35 pm- dont worry Iida, this’ll only take a minute.

ik im not the only one who’s noticed the little predicament our beloved ‘left out’ classmates are in

Tsuyu Asui 10:35 pm- Are you talking about Midoriya-kun and Todoroki-kun tripping over eachother?

Katsuki Bakugo 10:35 pm- No shit

Toru Hagakure 10:36 pm- OPERATION TODODEKU IS A GO

Momo Yaoyorozu 10:36 pm- What.

Kyouka Jirou 10:36 pm- girl 

Eijiro Kirishima 10:36 pm- i think what Mina’s trying to say is, their in love

Tenya Iida 10:36 pm- You used the wrong form of they’re, Kirishima-kun. Their would be used as a possessive pronoun. I too, have noticed THEIR feelings towards eachother.

Eijiro Kirishima 10:38 pm- stfu 

Mina Ashido 10:38 pm- anyways

remember how today at lunch i was talking about a movie night

we should like actually do it since tmrw is friday

Eijiro Kirishima 10:38 pm- me and bakubro r in, he just passed out tho

Kyouka Jirou 10:38 pm- how tf do u kno that

Eijiro Kirishima 10:39 pm - were on ft

Ochako Uraraka 10:39 pm- Yeah Mina-chan, that sounds really fun!

Denki Kaminari 10:40 pm- does anyone have the hw????

Hitoshi Shinsou 10:40 pm- ill send it, hold up

Tenya Iida 10:40 pm- That is cheating! I demand you do your own homework, Kaminari-kun!

Momo Yaoyorozu 10:40 pm- Yeah Mina, I’m in and so is Jirou.

Hanta Sero 10:40 pm- can we watch The Notebook?

Rikido Sato 10:40 pm- I’ll make snacks

Mina Ashido 10:41 pm- okokok

so like the whole point of this is to get them to like idk stop being such babies and avoiding eachother yknow

so everyone needs to pick someone to sit with and DO NOT MOVE so they’re forced to sit next to eachother k????

Momo Yaoyorozu 10:41 pm- Jirou and I will sit together.

Ochako Uraraka 10:41 pm- Tsuyu?

Tsuyu Asui 10:41 pm- yeah

Eijiro Kirishima 10:41 pm- bakubro and i

Mina Ashido 10:42 pm- idc whos sitting with who as long as those lovebirds end up next to eachother

figure it out amongst yourselves and stop spamming

also show up 20 min b4 the time i say in the actual gc k?

Class 1A 

Mina Ashido 10:45 pm- movie nite tmrw?

Eijiro Kirishima 10:45 pm- ya

Kyouka Jirou 10:45 pm- mhm

Shouto Todoroki 10:47 pm- Yes

Denki Kaminari 10:47 pm- ok

Hitoshi Shinsou 10:48 pm- k

Izuku Midoriya 10:49 pm- Sure! Thank you for inviting me!

Mina Ashido 10:49 pm- 8pm k?

nite kids 

The moment Todoroki received the text from Mina announcing a movie night, it took him a minute before his fingers could catch up to his very fast moving brain. Thoughts had begun to swirl through his head, all of which involved Midoriya this and Midoriya that. He wasn’t used to having to tip toe around things the way he had been these past few weeks. When he had come to the realization that things between him and Midoriya were very non-platonic, at least on his end, Todoroki made the decision to avoid him and those feelings at all costs. Whether it was getting up to sit on the opposite end of the table at meals or banishing himself to his room during free time, he knew that under no circumstances could he be within a close proximity to Midoriya. 

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe he was just overreacting and expecting the worst. Aizawa always said he had a tendency to hyperfixate on everything that could go wrong, specifically the small and unimportant stuff. Todoroki had nothing to worry about. After all, its not like they’d have to sit next to eachother or anything, all of their other classmates would be present as well. He could handle steering his focus away from Midoriya for a few hours. 

The worst part about all of it was that they had just started becoming real friends. Todoroki hadn’t had much experience when it came to kids his age since he had spent his childhood either in and out of Endeavor’s hero agency or alone, sentenced to train to become his father’s successor. Oddly enough, it had been Midoriya who had taken him under his wing in a way. He had been there for Todoroki’s first fast food run, his first trip to the mall, and even his first school dance. After last year’s fiasco with the USJ attack and Kamino and all of that drama, him and Midoriya along with the rest of Class 1A had gotten more accustomed to hanging out together, which in turn meant they spent almost all of their time doing real teenage activities. 

Todoroki wasn’t quite sure when things made the switch from platonic to romantic but if he had to narrow it down, he probably realized a month ago. 

It had been an unusually warm, March morning. He had been on a run with Kirishima, remaining quiet as he complained about the charming Bakugo and his constant mixed signals. As he turned to the side to nod his head in acknowledgement, a head of green hair found its’ way into his vision as it tumbled onto his body, tackling both of them to the ground.

Todoroki’s head hit the grass, his vision going a tad dark for a moment before returning to the sight of Midoriya apoligizing profusely and Kirishima rolling around on the ground laughing uncontrollably. A hand reached out to him in an effort to pull him up and he gladly took it, pulling himself up from the dew covered ground. Before he could thank him and accept his apology, Midoriya gasped, eyes fixed on the ground where he had been a minute ago.

“Todoroki-kun, your head,” he choked, a concerned edge to his tone. “Are you alright? Turn around.”

Obviously he complied, for there was no use arguing with him when he got an idea in his head. There was a small drop of blood on the ground, probably from a sharp rock of some sort, but he couldn’t feel anything back there so he wasn’t worried. He’d been through worse. Kirishima was up now, jogging over to them a few feet away. When Midoriya was satisfied with his checkup, he turned back to face Todoroki, green eyes meeting his heterochromic ones.

“Recovery girl should look at this,” he stated, reaching for the bottom of his cotton t-shirt. “It’s bleeding so we need to hold something over the cut and put pressure on it.”

With that, he pulled the All Might Rocks tshirt over his body and placed it against Todoroki’s head, pressing firmly against it in an effort to stop the bleeding. The cut was small and yeah a little bit of blood was coming out, but it certainly wasn’t enough to require Midoriya to undress in the middle of the UA training field. 

Before he knew it, Midoriya had guided his hand to rest where his shirt was, in an effort to pass the responsibility of applying pressure, over to him. As he turned to head back towards UA and Recovery Girl’s office, his eyes caught a glimpse of Midoriya in front of him, standing next to Kirishima waiting for him to be ready to leave. Todoroki didn’t know whether it was the toned stomach, the incredibly attractive broad shoulders, or the way his doe-like green eyes seemed to sparkle in the mid-morning sun as he stared back at him…

“Todoroki-kun, are you smoking?” Midoriya asked, catching a glimpse of his very steamed up left side before panicking and backing away towards Kirishima.

Holy shit. He was on fire.

“No, no, Im okay,” he answered, hastily spreading a layer of ice to regulate his temperature. His face felt like it was burning, maybe he had a concussion. “Kirishima can we go?”

“Uh sure man,” he answered, spinning on his heels to follow Todoroki who was already 10 feet away. “See you later Midoriya.”

“I’ll give your shirt back tonight after I wash it,” he yelled behind him, still attempting to put distance between himself and whatever the hell just happened to his body back there.

Kirishima eventually caught up, tapping his shoulder to get him to meet his eyes. “Smoking at the sight of Midoriya’s chiseled abs?” 

Todoroki could feel his smirk without even turning to the side.

“I’ve seen him with his shirt off plenty of times, this was no different. I must have a concussion,” he answered picking up his pace.

“I think you’re using the wrong c-word bro, you must mean crush,” Kirishima laughed, eyeing him up and down. “Don’t act like you didn’t feel how red your face got when he looked up at you.” 

“A crush?” Todoroki asked, his attention caught by the unfamiliar word.

“Yeah bro, like your down bad for him?” he added, only to be met with yet another confused expression. “Cmon, you haven’t heard any of us talking about who we liked?”

“Oh, you mean like a boyfriend? Midoriya and I aren’t boyfriends,” he responded, turning back to the path in front of him. He hadn’t given much thought to the idea of a relationship unlike the rest of his classmates. Everyone basically had their eye on someone, and as the quietest kid in the class, most of them confided in him to keep their secrets so he knew all about who everyone liked. 

“No, like you have a crush on him or at the very least you’re attracted to him,” Kirishima replied. “I saw you looking all over him.”

He wasn’t wrong. Todoroki had been looking him over when he took off his shirt, but only because of how out of nowhere it had been. He wasn’t expecting an eyefull that morning, but he wasn’t necessarily upset about it. He decided it was best not to respond and to just think it over when he got back to his dorm room that afternoon. Out of sight out of mind until he had a chance to properly analyze Kirishima’s statement. 

After that, Todoroki began to notice his cheeks heating up on even more occasions. Turns out, it hadn’t been a concussion, he even made Recovery Girl check him three times, insisting she was mistaken. A swift whack to the thigh with her cane sent him briskly walking out of her office and back to the kitchen to make himself lunch before he ‘wasted her time’ any more than he already had. 

As the weeks went by, Kirishima caught him in more than one predicament where the heat on his face returned and his right side had to fight hard to prevent his left from sparking. Every instance involved a certain green haired boy and his terribly unfortunate love language of physical touch. They were friends, obviously, Todoroki just couldn’t be anywhere near him without wanting to pass out from holding his breath for too long. 

He kept conversation casual and avoided Midoriya in situations where he knew there’d be clothing missing which made training lessons a bit difficult. Nonetheless, he was determined to get over this ‘crush’ so things could go back to normal and they could be friends again without his heartbeat racing every time they got close. Easier said than done but Todoroki wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. 

Chapter Text

The school day came and went. Aizawa droned on about about the importance of studying for the upcoming exams and then led Class 1A to Ground Zero where they met with All Might for a rather rigorous training session. To Midoriya, a movie night was exactly what he needed after the day’s straining activities. His brain had been mush the past few weeks, tunneled to a certain half red haired and half white haired boy. It was a rather unfortunate situation, making things difficult to navigate when it came to their friendship. Todoroki had already began avoiding him, probably due to the fact that Midoriya turned beet red whenever they so much as brushed arms, so needless to say, things were complicated. On one hand, he cherished their friendship more than any others that he made over the course of his time at UA. They had grown close since their first year, their personalities mixing almost perfectly. Todoroki was the only one in their class patient enough to sit through his analyzations of heroes, even adding his own opinions and insight every few minutes. This was refreshing to Midoriya, to feel like he was actually being listened to. Ochako and him were close, but nowadays she was busy chasing Tsuyu and swooning everytime she looked in her direction. Kacchan rarely even looked his way anymore now that Kirishima followed him around like a puppy, although he couldn’t lie and say they weren’t a great match. All of the couples forming amongst the students hit Midoriya harder than he wanted to admit, leading him to become just as lovesick as his friends. But, where they all had their sweethearts, he was being ignored by his. 

It was frustrating to say the least, but eventually he decided it would be best if he put a stop to his feelings towards Todoroki. The last thing he wanted to do was make the poor boy uncomfortable, especially after how hard he had worked to get their friendship to where it was now. 

The school day was long finished along with his homework for the day. Midoriya had taken the elevator back up to his room after a quick dinner to shower, before it was time for tonight’s plans. His room was dirtier than normal, studying for finals had pushed cleaning to the bottom of his priorities list so he decided to straighten up before hopping into the bathroom. It wasn’t like he was overwhelmed. His brain was moving faster than normal, trying to keep up with his lessons and his training while actively guarding his thoughts from the boy in the room next to him. 

He wasn’t even sure when things started looking like a crush. Of course he found Todoroki attractive, everyone in the class, hell, everyone in the school openly referred to him as ‘pretty boy’. His looks were no secret, between his tall lean figure and his split colored features, he stood out enough to be considered beautiful, even. But his looks ccouldn’t have been what sent Midoriya over the edge. 

No, it was probably the time they were studying last semester in the library.

Todoroki had noticed Aizawa handing back Midoriya’s quiz folded with a disapproving look on his face so naturally he had offered to help him prepare for the final exams. They met up after school, choosing a secluded spot between shelves to prevent any distractions and got right to work. An hour went by, and then two, time flying by as their classmates came and went through the doors. Todoroki had a way of explaining things in Midoriya terms, which helped him memorize the concepts he needed to study. It was such a simple change, to switch the way he worded things so his friend would get the idea quicker, but Midoriya appreciated it more than he let on.

As they moved onto the math portion of their session, Todoroki switched to Midoriya’s side of the table to get a better look at the problems instead of having to read them upside down. Their shoulders were touching, with the green haired boy’s curls brushing against the other’s cheeks as he leaned in to get a better look. They were close, more so than they normally were. Midoriya picked this particular moment to turn his head to make eye contact with Todoroki, suddenly realizing how many parts of them were touching. He jolted back like he’d been shocked by Kaminari and quickly created a healthy amount of distance between the two of them, hopefully enough where the flush that had risen to his face wouldn’t be noticeable. If the other boy noticed something wrong, he didn’t comment. 

Ever since then, a slowly growing butterfly began to form in Midoriya’s stomach. It fluttered when they were close to eachother or when their eyes lingered on one another for more than a few moments. Truthfully, he had no idea if Todoroki even knew what a crush was. Regardless, he knew there was nothing that could be done about his feelings towards the boy, no matter how many times Ochako tried to convince him otherwise. Thankfully, the past month or so seemed to have created a nice line between friendship and romance between them, so Midoriya wasn’t too worried about having to hang out with him tonight. If anything, he was excited to do something fun with everyone before hell began on Monday with all the studying he’d need to do. In the end, it wasn’t like he’d be forced to sit by him. He’d probably find himself cuddling up between Ochako and Iida, a familiar and rather comfortable spot in his opinion.

By the time Midoriya had finished up organizing, it was 7:45 pm, leaving him just enough time to rinse off before he’d need to head downstairs to the common area. 

Before walking out of his room, he slid his All Might plush slippers over his fuzzy socks and pulled a UA hoodie three sizes too big for him over his head. With his outfit complete, he turned the door handle and pulled, only to find the man of the hour walking down the hall towards the elevators.

“Midoriya,” Todoroki stated, looking as surprised as he was to see him. 

“Todoroki,” he smiled, turning around to shut his room behind him. “You headed downstairs?” 

“Yeah,” he answered, his gaze turning towards the elevators. He wasn’t exactly wearing traditional pajamas, instead he had chosen grey fitted joggers and a blue UA long sleeve shirt with white athletic socks. Midoriya would’ve been lying if he had said he wasn’t a bit self conscious about his choice in pajama pants. 

They were tighter than he remembered due to the muscle he had put on over the past two years, so they showed off a few curves that he hadn’t intended. This had to be the karma of not cleaning his room hitting him. Maybe if the ‘pretty boy’ in question hadn’t been consuming his thoughts, he would’ve had time to do laundry. If Midoriya wasn’t too busy focusing on how tightly the Plus Ultra pants clung to his thighs, he would’ve noticed Todoroki’s eyes glued to them. 

After a long beat of silence, he suggested they head downstairs before they missed the beginning of whatever rom com the girls had picked for the night. With that, they made their way down the levels in complete silence, looking anywhere but at eachother as they anticipated the ding that would signal their arrival.

Chapter Text

DekuXIcyHot Fanfic

Mina Ashido (7:59 pm)- ok kids, u kno the plan

“Mina, why don’t you just say that out loud, they aren’t even here yet,” Jirou asked, glancing behind her and Momo’s spot on the floor to make eye contact with the pink haired girl. 

“I’m being discreet just in case,” she responded, draping her leg over the side of the couch. “Besides, they could walk in at any…”

“Hey guys,” Midoriya spoke, entering the room with Todoroki beside him. “You guys are all pretty early, did I get the time wrong?”

“No, Deku, we just had nothing better to do I guess,” Ochako giggled, “What a weird coincidence.”

“Sit your ass down so we can start, IcyHot,” Bakugo growled from his spot on one of the couches. Kirishima looked up at Todoroki from his lap, tossing him a toothy grin. 

He glanced around the room, looking for a spot where he could make himself comfortable. Midoriya was still by his side, eyes darting between the chairs and sofas already claimed by their classmates. Yaoyorozu’s projector was already set up and ready to begin “The Conjuring'' , a movie Sero had chosen earlier that afternoon in the class group chat. From the looks of the loading screen, it definitely was NOT a rom com, much to his disappointment. Coincidentally, the moment his eyes landed on an open seat, Midoriya had found the exact same one! 

Shit. 

Oh shit.

The spot was barely big enough for one person, let alone two, but it seemed to be the only place available. Bakugo was starting to get restless and although Kirishima had power over him, he didn’t have enough to hold back his impatience, so Todoroki needed to sit and fast. He took the spot next to Aoyama and Midoriya cautiously squeezed in beside him, with the arm of the couch on his other side. 

Well, more like under him. It was tight and one of his legs hung over the side in an effort to keep their bodies from touching more than they had to. It looked really uncomfortable and Todoroki couldn’t help but notice Midoriya’s stiffness.

Don’t do it.

He turned to face Midoriya, an apologetic look across his features. 

“You look cramped,” he stated, not really sure how to word his question.

“Oh, yeah, we’re all kind of jam packed in here,” the green haired boy responded, laughing nervously. “Sorry to hold you all up, lets just start the movie.”

Jirou reached over Momo and pressed play on the projector, a doll showed on the screen and he felt everyone around him tense up, naturally snuggling closer to each other. Midoriya still looked crushed and it was painful to witness. Todoroki decided that his offer was their best bet to enjoy the night.

“You can put your legs over mine if you want,” he offered. Immediately after the words left his mouth, he felt the familiar feeling of heat crawling its way up through his body. 

“Thank you, Todoroki-kun, that would really help!” he laughed, pulling his feet up to rest over the other boy. 

Todoroki could feel his classmates’ eyes on them, which was odd since not a single one of them remained untouched by another. He thought cuddling was just as platonic as any other activity, considering how often they all did it. Just as he was about to relax into the back of the sofa, he caught Mina pulling her phone out from under her in the corner of his eye. 

DekuXIcyHot Fanfic

Mina Ashido- yup yup yup

* mina sent an image*

Toru Hagakure- FUCK YEAH

Todoroki could hear quiet dings sounding throughout the room. He noticed Midoriya perk up too, eyeing everyone as they tried to discreetly check their phones.

Tsuyu Asui- Turn your phones on silent, Midoriya-kun is onto you guys.

Eijiro Kirishima- shit guys shes right

Tenya Iida- It is rude to exclude Todoroki and Midoriya from our conversation! Especially while we are all in the same room as them! 

Denki Kaminari- iida, respectfully stfu unless ur talking about how cute they r

Hitoshi Shinsou- i thot we agreed on a romcom tf is this

Momo Yaoyorozu- Mina and I thought it best to take Sero’s suggestion of a horror movie into consideration. They normally end with everyone in the arms of the people they like so it seemed appropriate. 

The dings had come to a stop, but everyone was still on their phones, barely paying attention to the movie. 

“Am I missing a texting thread?” Todoroki asked, eyes clouded with confusion.

Denki Kaminari- HA not it

“Shut up and watch the movie, half and half,” Bakugo finally answered, saving everyone from a very awkward explanation.

Mina Ashido- ok guys we can discuss everything later k?

With their phones away and their eyes glued back to the screen in front of them, Todoroki could finally ease up on the tenseness of his body against Midoriya’s. Yeah, things had gone in the exact direction he had wanted to avoid and yeah Midoriya’s  head was leaning towards Todoroki’s shoulder instead of away like he was hoping for, but everything was fine. The movie was pretty chill for a horror movie, with only a few jump scares here and there. Unfortunately for him, everytime Midoriya tensed up from one, he unknowingly pressed closer to him, closing the distance between them and creating a situation dangerously similar to real cuddling. 

There seemed to be a devil on his shoulder, tempting his iron will to drop its guard and reach over to pull the head of curls closer. It enticed him to sneak a quick glance over to the boy’s face, catching a glimpse of the freckles that decorated the bridge of his nose. He felt himself lose his train of thought and begin counting them, a decent distraction if you may. That was, until he heard the sound of an “aw” promptly followed by a smacking sound.

Kirishima sat diagonally across the room, draped over Bakugo with a blanket strewn loosely over them. His mouth was being covered tightly by the blonde, eyes filled with regret like he’d been caught in the act of something criminal.

Hanta Sero- KIRISHIMA

Kyouka Jirou- OMG NO

Ochako Uraraka- I dont think Deku heard that but Todoroki-kun DEFINITELY did LOL

Katsuki Bakugo- Fucking hair for brains idiot

Eijiro Kirishima- I COULDNT HELP IT DID U NOT SEE TODOROKI FUCKING STARING AT MIDORIYA???????? THEYRE PRACTICALLY SOULMATES ITS CUTE

Katsuki Bakugo- Well you almost got us all caught.

Mina Ashido- i cant believe im saying this, but blasty is right

we cant afford for them to know we’re onto them

even tho its like super obvious how down bad they r for eachother lol

Momo Yaoyorozu- You’re all looking at your phones again and Midoriya and Todoroki look like they’re about to figure out something’s up.

Hanta Sero- bakugo, keep your bf’s mouth shut or we’re all fucked

Katsuki Bakugo- WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?

Eijiro Kirishima- calm yourself bakubro its fine

Mina Ashido- blasty and eijiro sittin in a tree

k i s s i n g

Todoroki could see Bakugo’s face turning redder by the second. With his hand still covering the redhead’s mouth and his other typing furiously into his phone, he could tell someone was instigating. A quick glance towards the floor across from him revealed Sero, Kaminari, and Shinsou looking as restless as ever. Kaminari’s head was in Shinsou’s lap, his face covered by a pillow and his body shaking from holding in laughter. Sero looked like he was about to explode, and with the way Bakugo was staring daggers at him, he technically could’ve been. Did they know something he didn’t?

Before his curiosity could get the better of him, he felt a weight shift onto his shoulders. The head of green curls was resting against him, eyelids heavy and fluttering open and closed. His attention was caught again by the brown speckles littering the skin of his face. Todoroki couldn’t remember a time when he was as entranced by anything as much as he was now.

Growing up the way he did, isolation was the only thing he had ever been familiar with. Endeavor was far from loving and affectionate, and his mother was repulsed by the sight of him due to the bastard, so physical touch had never been something he had learned to accept. Up until his classmates, he couldn’t remember a time when he’d been hugged. When that statement had leaked from his mouth, Ururaka had practically cried before pulling him into the biggest hug she could muster. But, it was weird because he had no idea where to put his hands or how to react so it turned into a very one sided display of affection. Every classmate that tried to show their love for him ended up pulling away awkwardly after a moment because they couldn’t figure out how to make him feel comfortable. That was, until Midoriya tried.

A few months ago, there was a private training session he had been dreading. All Might had offered to take him and Bakugo to Ground Zero for a lesson on fire use since he had noticed Todoroki having some trouble that week. Even though Bakugo technically didn’t use fire, his quirk caused burns so in All Might’s eyes, it counted. 

The night before, he found himself escaping the dorms for a breath of fresh air. A hasty attempt to sever any possibilities of a meltdown, if you may. The path around the perimeter was normally dark, only navigable by flashlight, but tonight the moon was full and the stars shone brightly, guiding him through the narrow walkways. It was on this road that he was always able to find solace, the peacefulness of isolation always calmed him when he was overwhelmed. Todoroki, being the genius he was, hadn’t thought to bring a sweater, so the cold wind nipped at his cheeks, turning them a rosy shade of pink and gracing them with the gift of windburn. 

When he was alone, he didn’t have to bury it all. With his classmates, the instilled concept of ‘power’ was always present, meaning he couldn’t let his guard down or he felt he’d be perceived as weak. Endeavor had a habit of following him around like that, whispering in his ear when he’d least expect it and telling him of all his failures. It was draining. And the only one who understood was Midoriya. Ever since the sports festival of their first year, he had known about Todoroki’s childhood. That’s how he knew where to find him when he noticed he wasn’t drinking tea in the kitchen that night. 

As he jogged down the fence line that separated UA from the forest beyond the perimeter, he let his mind wander to the thoughts he dreaded. With every step he took, the concepts his father had drilled into him his entire life poured out. They were apparent on his cheeks where tears slipped down his face and on his forehead where beads of sweat had begun to cling to his bangs. 

Eventually he had exhausted his body far past its’ limit leading him to collapse on the ground in the middle of one of the training fields. It hadn’t been too far past lights out when he had left, but based on the position of the moon, it had to have been at least an hour since he began running. The Milkyway seemed to stare back at him as he struggled to catch his breath. His breathing was shallow, partially from the overexertion and partially from the anxiety of using his left side. It had been over a year since the day Midoriya had convinced him of his own power, but the fear of becoming Endeavor when he used it continued to plague his mind. He was so consumed by his own head that he didn’t notice a figure approaching him.

“Are you okay?” Midoriya asked, handing him a fleece lined sweater. “I didn’t see you around tonight so I knocked on your door and you didn’t answer so I got worried and..”
“Midoriya,” Todoroki said, voice strained as he tried to regulate his breathing. “I'm alright, thank you.”

If it hadn’t been for Midoriya kneeling down and wrapping his arms around his shoulders, Todoroki wouldn’t have known he was squeezing his eyes shut. He let himself bury his head into Midoriya’s neck, creating a small wet spot on the boy’s shirt from the tears streaming down his cheeks.

Silence fell over them like a blanket. Yet, it wasn’t like the awkward feeling of nobody knowing what to say that was present after conversations with the rest of his classmates. Midoriya knew what this was about. 

Midoriya knew him. 

More than anyone else ever had. And that is exactly why he knew where to look when Todoroki went missing that night. He didn’t have to explain why he was so worked up, Bakugo had already told everyone that they would be training early the next morning on their explosive quirk attacks.
“You know you aren’t him,” he felt the boy whisper next to his ear. “We all know that, especially me.”

Something about the sincerity in his voice made Todoroki choke out a sob, but to his surprise he wasn't pushed away in horror. Instead, Midoriya held him tighter, slowly rubbing circles into his back. He’d never been treated like this before when he was upset. Endeavor tended to punish him for emotions that could alter his judgement, specifically sadness. 

Crying is for the weakest of the human race, grow up.

He would then pick himself off of the floor and train until the emotions were the last of his worries. 

As he rested in Midoriya’s arms, he was met with the realization that it was all foreign to him. He’d never been so physically vulnerable like this before, but the problem was that he never wanted to move ever again. It was grounding to be held so tightly by someone who understood the way he felt, so much so that he never wanted to let go. 

Eventually they did break apart, slowly, with Midoriya handing him a tissue before they walked back to the Heights Alliance dorms. They ascended the stairs together, opting not to wake up the halls with the elevator dings. Before they parted ways, Midoriya reached his hand up to ruffle Todoroki’s split colored hair and smiled at him. It had been the warmest, most genuine expression that he’d ever seen cross someone’s face, especially in regards to him. They had found themselves in front of the doors to each of their rooms, met with a decision to leave or not to leave. 

Against his better judgement, Todoroki listened to his feelings for once.

“Are you tired?” he asked, standing a few feet away from the green haired boy.

“No actually,” Midoriya responded, turning to face him and dropping the hand that had been on his door knob to his side. “You know, you never drank your cup of tea.”

The night’s fate was sealed as Todoroki tossed him a rare smile before turning on his heels and heading towards the stairs. 

Entranced was an understatement. He had never been under a spell as powerful as Midoriya, and he wasn’t sure a quirk existed that was powerful enough to break it, for that matter. 

 Suddenly, he was very aware of the tickle of something brushing against his cheek. To his horror, there was a very asleep Midoriya laying against his chest, arms wrapped around his torso and body pressed close against the warmth pouring off of his left side. At some point during his daydream, Midoriya had managed to completely pass out, laying almost completely on top of him. 

Shit.  

Chapter Text

The first thing that came to Midoriya’s mind when he was granted consciousness was the warmth he was surrounded by. Sure, he could sense the feeling of stiffness crawling into his neck but overall he was extremely comfortable and the absolute last thing he wanted to do was move. That was, until he realized where the heat was coming from. 

Here he was, practically laying on top of Shouto Todoroki. 

“Oh my god,” he whispered, pulling his head out from the crook of Todoroki’s neck. “I had no idea I fell asleep, I'm so sorry.”

Todoroki turned his attention away from the movie and onto Midoriya, sending him an apologetic glance. 

“It’s alright,” he said, granting him a close mouthed smile. 

Of course he had no idea how big of a deal this was. Because the feelings weren’t mutual, they were completely one sided. He unlatched his arms from the boy and swung one of his legs back to where it had been, even though his body was silently cursing him the entire time for moving from such a comfortable spot. His muscles were aching from his workout that morning so the heat from Todoroki’s body had been a blessing in disguise. Now that he had detached himself from the boy, all he felt was a reminder of the unrequited feelings he had. 

The dreaded pit in his stomach returned, swallowing the butterfly that had been in its’ place and replacing it with knots of anxiety. Beside him, Todoroki had returned to his usual self, his shoulders rigid and face turned to focus on the movie. Completely ignoring any hint of Midoriya’s existence. 

In that moment, the witch on screen noticed the young girl under the house with her and turned abruptly, causing the entire class to jump and a few surprised gasps as well. In fact, one of those students was Todoroki, who had shifted his body to face Midoriya, his face buried into the green haired boy’s shoulder. It was shocking to say the least, to be holding one of the most powerful kids in the class, consoling him from a jump scare. 

“Baby,” he giggled, looking down at the boy in his arms.

Todoroki looked up at him, suddenly realizing his position and pulled backwards quickly.

“I didn’t mean to do that,” he stated matter of factly, re-positioning himself so they weren’t as close.

“Consider us even, I guess,” Midoriya responded, smiling back at him. 

The feeling of closeness wasn’t something he was deprived of. His childhood was spent smothered by his mother, due to her terror of him being quirkless and the possibility of him getting hurt. Hugs were always provided when either of them needed one and he was showered in affection daily, meaning he was used to this. He actually enjoyed it. 

Towards the end of their first year after they moved into the dorms, he realized how close his classmates had gotten to eachother. The class had split into a few smaller groups that tended to hang out on the weekends with one another, and within those groups, pairs that began to separate themselves from the others. It started slowly, with Bakugo and Kirishima in the beginning of their second semester and then Yaoyorozu and Jirou a few weeks later. They hadn’t been open about their relationships to everyone, but Midoriya knew what was going on. The same thing had happened in middle school when his small friendgroup had branched apart into a few couples, with him being left alone yet again. It sucked, but when he told his mother how he was feeling, she dismissed him by telling him he should find a girlfriend of his own. 

He had looked at UA as a fresh start, a way to finally develop a friend group of his own where no-one would call him weak and look down on him. Kacchan and him had been close before elementary school, but the moment his quirk manifested and Midoriya’s didnt, things turned sour. He was suddenly the butt of all Bakugo’s jokes, and he took the brunt of his aggression when things started getting bad at home. That sucked too. 

The day he had gotten his acceptance letter, was the best day of his life. It was finally a chance to start over, in a place with kids who wanted to be heroes like him. When the first day rolled around and he met his classmates, he could barely contain himself when people actually came up and talked to him. He was making friends and it was incredible. Eventually, him Ururaka, Iida, and Tsuyu formed a bit of a group, spending their weekends together doing things like shopping or getting breakfast or studying. It was comfortable, having people he could talk to all the time. Even though his group was smaller than the Bakusquad or some of the other ones, he was friendly with all of his classmates, and typically spent his afternoons after class hanging out in the common room with everyone. 

When branches began forming and people started pairing up, slowly, things began to change. He found himself alone in the dorms when people went off together on the weekends. Friday nights he would sit in his room studying his analyzations of heroes and villains, adding to his notes as news articles popped up on his computer, while his classmates enjoyed themselves at the movie theatre off campus. He wasn’t ditched completely, but things just weren’t the same anymore. Nobody wanted to hang out in a big group as often.

One night, as he sat on his bed attempting to finish his villain analysis on Stain, the sound of knocking filled his room. He closed up his binder and pushed his laptop to the side, sliding off of his bed to get to the door. His hand met the cold metal of the doorknob and turned, revealing a very tired Todoroki with his hands in his pockets.

“Hey,” the taller boy said, looking a bit out of his element standing in Midoriya’s doorway.

“Hi, Todoroki,” Midoriya responded, uncertainty clouding his tone.

“I was just thinking if you’d maybe want to hang out?” Todoroki said, eyes glued to the ground. “If not, no pressure, I just..”

“Yeah actually,” the green haired boy said, smiling up at him. “I was just working on my villain analysis of Stain, if you wanna help.”

“I’d be happy to let you bounce your ideas off of me,” Todoroki said, the corners of his mouth turning up just enough for Midoriya to catch it.

He stepped aside to let his friend enter his room, closing the door behind them. Midoriya sat on his bed with his back against the wall, pulling his things back into his lap. Cautiously, Todoroki followed, his movements dipped in uncertainty as if he didn’t have much experience being one on one with his friends. He sat a few inches away, pulling his legs up onto the bed in a criss-cross position. 

Midoriya began by explaining with what he had so far, speaking about Stain’s sense of morality and his reasons for what he was doing. Todoroki nodded every so often, acknowledging that he was listening without interrupting. His fingers busied themselves with the All Might plushie that Midoriya had tossed to the side when he had gotten comfortable. With each moment that passed, the air between them seemed to carry off a small piece of the taller boy’s uncomfort.

There was something about Todoroki that captured his attention. He made him feel important, like what he was saying was knowledgable and it mattered. Midoriya wasn’t dumb, he knew he talked alot and he knew it could be hard for people to listen for long amounts of time. But with Todoroki, it was almost like the boy was grateful that he spoke so much. Maybe it was the lack of two way conversations that seemed to pull them closer, for Todoroki was never one who seemed to enjoy filling the silence. Midoriya on the other hand, was always more than happy to oblige when it came to letting his words swirl around the room. As he filled the empty space with the facts he had collected and the opinions he had formed, Todoroki smiled every so often. It was something he didn’t get to see very much from the taller boy, but when he did, it filled his heart with satisfaction. He had been able to lift the weight on the other boy’s shoulders enough that he could feel good for once and just enjoy the moment. 

He liked talking to Todoroki. He was smart enough to contribute to the conversation and patient enough to allow Midoriya to release all of the ideas that filled his head. Eventually, their meetings became more frequent. Todoroki would knock on his door on nights when the UA halls were long deserted and they would talk for hours about theories, analytics, hero work, their childhoods, and everything in between. Over the months they became good friends, soon they even started sitting next to eachother at lunch and on the bus to and from class outings. It was nice to have found someone to pair off with, but for Midoriya, it started to become something more. 

It was late now, the movie was finishing up as the family reunited in the driveway of their home. Some students stretched their arms while others woke those around them from their sleepy dazes. Todoroki and him were still decently close to one another, but they’d separated from their previous position, making it very easy for them to get up.

“Good choice Sero,” Jirou said, unwrapping Yaoyorozu’s arms from her shoulders.

“Yeah bro, Bakugo was on me the whole time, you practically had him pissing his pants,” Kirishima laughed as the boy beside him turned as red as a tomato.

“I was not,” he growled, sitting up against the back of the couch and untangling their legs.

“Thanks guys, I tried my best,” Sero smiled, peaking over at Mina from his spot on the floor. They shared a look of mutual agreement before turning back to their friends.

Yaoyorozu reached over towards the projector, flipping the switch to shut it off. As everyone began to get up and gather their belongings, Midoriya felt eyes scanning both him and Todoroki. It was weird, since he could feel people watching them, but anytime he glanced up, the feeling disappeared and all he was met with was the shuffling of people moving out of the room.

Operation DekuXIcyHot

Mina Ashido- ladies and gentlemen

id say tonight was a success

*Mina Ashido sent six images*

Eijiro Kirishima- PLZ u did not fucking take pics of them

Katsuki Bakugo- You’re crazy, racoon eyes.

Denki Kaminari- aww bakubro

r u still mad about kiri calling u out for being all scared????

Hitoshi Shinsou- i am not brainwashing him when he comes over and beats ur ass Kaminari

Katsuki Bakugo- YOU ENERGIZER BUNNY PIECE OF SHIT I WAS NOT SCARED

Denki Kaminari- chill

i wont judge, i did the same thing bro

Katsuki Bakugo- Shut you face and mind your business, Sparky. I was not scared and I was not being consoled by Shitty Hair.

Hanta Sero- *Hanta Sero sent three images*

caught in 4k

Katsuki Bakugo- WATCH YOURSELF FLAT STANLEY I SWEAR TO GOD

Ochako Ururaka- Deku even fell asleep on him! They’re so cute!

Tsuyu Asui- So what do we do next?

Kyouka Jirou- wym

Tsuyu Asui- Well, movie night was a step in the right direction, but we’re far from completion.

Momo Yaoyorozu- Tsuyu I think your’re right, we need to figure out another activity.

Denki Kaminari- we could lock them in the storage closet

Mina Ashido- todoroki would blast the fuck out of there so quickly

plus it would be too obvious that we’re meddling

Tenya Iida- I had alot of fun tonight!

Mina Ashido- im glad, iida

Ochako Ururaka- Well, what if we tried talking to them? Like I could talk to Deku and try and knock some sense into him without giving anything away and someone else could do the same for Todoroki.

Eijiro Kirishima- dibs 

Momo Yaoyorozu- Dibs

Ochako Ururaka- Both of you can have a nice little chat with our dear Todoroki-kun then.

Mina Ashido- and if that doesn’t work????

Denki Kaminari- plan b

Kyouka Jirou- ??

Mina Ashido- wtf is plan b

Denki Kaminari-   text me 

Toru Hagakure- tf is it kaminari
Denki Kaminari - the only people that it concerns is me, headphones, shitty hair, and pinky

Eijiro Kirishima- ok…

Toru Hagakure- does anyone have my UA blanket??

Kyouka Jirou- sry i do, ill give it back tmrw

Midoriya stood up from the couch, stretching his arms out above him. His friend was still seated, the rest of his classmates were heading back to their rooms, some stopping in the kitchen to carry a snack back with them. 

“You up for tea?” he asked Todoroki, turning to look at him.

As Todoroki rose to his feet, their eyes met for a moment. All of a sudden, tension appeared in the air around them, thick enough to cut with a knife. He stared into the boys heterochromic eyes, scanning them for a hint into what he was thinking, but turning up with nothing. Their gaze was broken apart by a voice from the hall.

“Goodnight kids,” Mina laughed, shooting each of them a wink before continuing towards the elevators.  

 Before his focus couldn turn back to Todoroki, the taller boy brushed past him.

“I’m tired, maybe tomorrow,” he answered, leaving Midoriya to somehow dissect what just happened all on his own.

Chapter Text

This was bad. Tonight was bad.

Todoroki had let things go way further than he should’ve. He’d sat next to Midoriya, he’d let him fall asleep on him, and then he’d made an absolute fool out of himself by jumping into the green haired boy’s arms like a three year old. Not to mention the pajama pants. Then, as if things couldn’t have gone any worse, he fucking blew the poor boy off, leaving him standing in the hallway probably confused as hell.

His brain had gone into overdrive, working tirelessly to overthink everything that had unfolded. It wasn’t incredibly late, but his body ached from the lack of sleep he’d rewarded it the past two weeks. Restlessness had followed him to his bed every night since he had figured things out about Midoriya, stealing away the chance for him to fully recharge lately. This being said, he was already running on a low fuel level, so everything that just happened basically drained the rest of it out of him. 

None of this was Midoriya’s fault, it was one hundred percent on Todoroki’s shoulders for falling for his best friend and thinking he could go on like normal. The joke was on him for letting his guard down like that. Maybe Endeavor wasn’t so wrong about the whole ‘feelings are weakness thing’. 

He just wished that what he had to do now would be easier.

That night he didn’t sleep very much. Clothes littered the floor of his room from where he had thrown them trying to find something comfortable enough to sleep in. The bathroom was a wreck, wet towels hung on the shower rod, soaked from the tea he had snuck downstairs to make around two am and then dropped all over his carpet. It was out of character, to say the least. Quiet, stoic, composed Shouto Todoroki having a breakdown over the most charismatic and beautiful boy in Class 1A. If only his father could see him now.

His pity party was interrupted by a quiet knock on the door. Assuming it was Midoriya, he remained silent, praying to the universe that he would eventually give up and go away.

“Uh Todoroki?” an unexpected voice sounded from the other side. “You in there?”

Kirishima? What the hell was he doing here?

“We just wanted to talk to you about something, if you wouldn’t mind,” Yaoyorozu added. “It’ll only take a minute.”

His eyes were still a bit puffy and red, so letting them inside his room would be the same thing as letting them in on the dirty secret of his emotions. On the other hand, ignoring them would be rude and he couldn’t afford to lose the only two people he’d have left after this afternoon. He got up from his bed, shoving clothes into various corners as he made his way to let his friends inside.

“I am coming,” he stated, hoping they hadn’t left already. He turned the knob, pulling the door towards him to allow them entry.

“Goodmorning, Todoroki,” Yaoyorozu greeted, slowly eyeing his appearance up and down.

He’d be the first to admit he looked like shit. From the fuzzy pajama pants to the extremely oversized hoodie with stains from where his tea had spilt the night before, it was obvious that he wasn’t himself. Not to mention, it was 10 am and he still hadn’t gone on a run or eaten breakfast. 

“You look like a mess, bro,” Kirishima said, voice laced with worry. “What the fuck happened to you?”

Todoroki really did try to hold it in. He held his mouth closed, pressing his lips into a thin line to prevent the flood gates from bursting. But, the looks his friends were directing at him, filled with concern, reminded him of Midoriya. And Midoriya reminded him of last night. And last night reminded him of what he was forcing himself to do in a few hours. And then he just wasn’t strong enough anymore

The tears came quickly, spilling down his face in an uncharacteristic act of emotional outbreak. His friends moved in, immediately realizing the severity of the situation, and wrapped their arms around either side of him. He let out a few heavy breaths, gasping for the air that couldn’t fill his lungs quick enough. His arms remained by his sides, pinned down to his body by Yaoyorozu and Kirishima, each squeezing him like they couldn’t hold him tight enough. 

‘Hey, hey don’t cry. What the hell happened bro?” Kirishima asked after a few moments of silence. They all pulled away from eachother and stepped away from the foyer area of the room, Kirishima shuffling towards Todoroki’s desk and Yaoyorozu making her way to a chair. 

They all sat, with Todoroki on his bed leaning against the wall and facing his friends. 

“I might have a crush on someone, but they don’t like me back and its hard being around them because of that so I am going to tell them we can’t be friends anymore,” he explained, noticingthe way Kirishima and Yaoyorozu exchanged glances.

“Midoriya?” they asked in unison, staring intently at the boy awaiting his response.

“Does it really matter?” he asked, curling his legs up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. This was harder to let out than he thought.

“Yes, Todoroki, it does,” Yaoyorozu began, slowly easing into what she was about to let out, “because, why would you end such a close friendship over something so silly?”

“Yeah, you don’t even know for sure that he doesn’t like you back,” Kirishima added, tossing him an understanding smile.

“I’m a mess when Im around him,” Todoroki continued, picking up his pillow and squeezing it, “I freak out and Im awkward and there’s no way a guy like him could ever actually feel the same way about me.”

That last part caused a sharp intake of breath to come out of Kirishima.

“Don’t sell yourself short, bro,” he laughed stiffly, “We dont call you pretty boy for nothing.”

“Todoroki, you have the type of personality that someone like Midoriya needs in his life,” Yaoyorozu added, shifting in her seat, “its no secret that he enjoys your company. I think everyone sees that except you.”

“But he doesn’t like like me,” the boy sighed, resting his head on his knees and closing his droopy eyes.

“You don’t know that,” Kirishima responded. “You haven’t even asked him what he thinks.”

“Kirishima is right, you don’t know for sure,” Yaoyorozu chimed. “You’d be throwing away your friendship and burying your feelings on a hunch fueled by self hatred.”

That, got Todoroki’s attention. She wasn’t wrong, for the paranoia of unrequited love was deeply rooted in the lessons Endeavor had taught him. 

Love doesn’t exist, my son, when you feel things for a person that means you want something from them. You think I love your mother? I wanted her quirk, it’s as simple as that. You think I love you? I needed a predecessor, nothing more.

His father was cruel, but the idea had been instilled in him throughout his childhood. He never had a crush on anyone or even thought anyone was attractive until he began to let his guard down at UA.

Maybe love was weakness.

But if that was the case, Shouto Todoroki didn’t want to be powerful.

All his life he had been denied the affection most kids received, sentenced to live as a hero like his father, alone without attachments to anyone or anything that wasn’t his job. He hated Endeavor for this, but he never realized it could be different. He hated himself, because he was taught to believe that his father’s life was his future. He didn’t know he could choose his own fate, one where he was himself, not a carbon copy of Pro Hero: Endeavor. The past few months had been the best of his life, Midoriya helped him learn that he wasn’t doomed. 

“I think,” he began, wiping away the tears pooling in his eyes, “I might be in love with him.”

The room went silent for a moment.

“Shit, dude,” Kirishima said, “I was not expecting that.” 

“At least you finally admitted it,” Yaoyorozu laughed. “Now what are you gonna do about it?” 

“I dont know,” he began, unsure of what to say. “I guess I won’t tell him I don’t want to be his friend anymore.”

“Thats a great start, bro,” the red haired boy added, grateful he caught Todoroki before he could shatter poor Midoriya’s heart, “But we’re gonna need more than that.”

When his friends and him parted ways, it was already halfway through the day. Thankfully, they had offered to help him clean up his room, making a pile of dirty clothes for him to wash and thoroughly wiping up the tragically spilt tea. The sun was streaming in through the now open curtains, allowing him a nice view of the grounds below. Yaoyorozu had told him it was a nice day out, encouraging him to get fresh air of some sort.

Unsurprisingly, part of the reason he wasn’t feeling so great was because he hadn’t fulfilled his routine this morning. Things had screwed him up so much that the balance of his life had tipped over completely, making him sleep in and ignore the seventeen alarms he had set. His outfit was still the same it had been, messy and a tell tale sign of rock bottom. Somehow, he peeled himself away from the window, shuffling towards his bathroom to hop into a burning hot shower to clear his mind. He did need to eat at some point, and he knew for sure that his classmates would get on his case if he showed up to the kitchen looking the way he did.

Operation DekuXIcyHot  

Eijiro Kirishima- momo and i just finished up with todoroki

Denki Kaminari- howd it go

Momo Yaoyorozu- It would be better not to go into details, to respect his privacy, but I think we got through to him without giving too much away.

Mina Ashido- yay

ururaka??? 

Ochako Ururaka- Hi! I’ll be finishing up soon, things got a bit complicated.

Denki Kaminari- o?

Mina Ashido- no worries

take ur time but goodluck lol

Ochako Ururaka- Can someone please send Iida and Tsuyu up here?

Tsuyu Asui- Iida just went on a run but I’ll head up.

Denki Kaminari- shit bro how bad is he

Ochako Ururaka- Hard to tell! I’ll explain everything later.

Mina Ashido- just do ur best Ururaka

we believe in u

Ochako Ururaka- Thank you, Mina!

With a fresh set of sweatpants on and a more fitted UA hoodie covering his slowly drying hair, Todoroki headed into the elevator with a basket of his overdue laundry. First stop was the laundry room, and then straight to the kitchen for some soba and something to soothe his now sore throaght.

As he dumped his clothes into a machine and pressed ‘start’, a familiar voice rang in his ears.

“Half and half,” Bakugo grumbled, making his way to another spot across the room.

“Bakugo,” Todoroki answered, eyeing the boy as he aggressively dumped his things into a bin.

“So, you and Deku, huh,” he mumbled, causing the taller boy to choke on air.

“What do you mean?” Todoroki asked, suddenly aware of how tiny the room was.

“Don’t act like a fucking idiot,” Bakugo growled back, “for someone so closed off, you do a terrible job hiding how you feel about him.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he responded, slowly backing away from the machine in the direction towards the exit. “But while we’re on the topic, how are you and Kirishima?”

“What the fuck did you just ask me?”

“You heard me.”

“MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS BASTARD!”

“Mind yours.”

“THATS IT YOU FUCKING ICY HOT PIECE OF SHIT, DONT YOU DARE BRING UP SHITTY HAIR IN FRONT OF ME AND THEN NOT TALK ABOUT YOUR CRUSH TOO.” Bakugo now had small explosions dancing in his hands. 

“So you do like him.”

“Im not saying anything until you admit your fucking feelings for that nerd.”

“Fine, I like Midoriya.”

“Well then I guess I like Kirishima.”

Even though that was an observation that anyone could form just by looking at the two of them interact, something about Bakugo admitting it to him enticed him to question the boy.

“When you found out, did you freak out?” he asked, earning the extinguishment of the sparks in the boys hands.

“Yeah, actually,” he answered, looking away from Todoroki for a moment. “It scared the shit out of me to think I could lose what we had over some stupid feelings.”

“I know what you mean,” the taller boy responded. “I was going to tell him we can’t be friends anymore.”

“Seriously?” he growled, turning abruptly. “You were going to break Deku’s big ass heart just because you were scared? What the fuck.”

“I just, I can’t be around him without it getting weird anymore,” Todoroki defended. “I thought it’d be best for both of us.”

“If you’re that fucking blind then maybe you should tell Aizawa you need to see Recovery Girl for a fucking eye test.”

“What do I need to see?”

“Not my place to tell you, half and half.”

“Bakugo, please.”

“Grow a pair of fucking balls and don’t run away from the best thing that’ll ever happen to you.” Bakugo finished, grabbing his laundry bag and taking his leave without another word.

After closing his jaw that had just dropped, Todoroki tucked his basket in a cubby, set a timer on his phone to notify him when his things were finished, and headed back out of the room towards the kitchen. The halls were pretty quiet, most of his friends were either in their rooms or off campus, soaking up the last of their leisure time before they all had to begin their studying. 

He never really left UA, unless it was for training or to visit his mom in the hospital. Instead, he spent his time with Midoriya doing the plethora of things he had missed out on as a kid. Sadly, that was out of the question today, meaning he needed to find busywork.

Normally, when he couldn’t hang out with his friend, he went on runs. Immediately, his body sent a wave of soreness coursing through his lower back, rebelling against the idea. Technically he could hang out with his friends, he just couldn’t hang out with Midoriya, which gave him an idea.

Class 1A

Shouto Todoroki- Does anyone want to hang out with me?

Denki Kaminari- i wud but shinsou and i r out rn sry

Shouto Todoroki- Pardon?

Hitoshi Shinsou- we’re at the mall 

Katsuki Bakugo- I’d rather die than hang out with you, Icy Hot.

Shouto Todoroki- Noted.

Ochako Ururaka- Sorry Todoroki-kun, Im busy or I totally would.

Shouto Todoroki- It’s alright.

Izuku Midoriya- I’m free.

Shouto Todoroki- Oh.

He had no idea how to respond to that. If he had been thinking, he probably shouldn’t have mass texted the entire class and expected Midoriya not to respond. Overall, terrible idea and he definitely could’ve handled a response better. But no, he said “Oh” and probably fucked with the boy more than he already had. 

Operation DekuXIcyHot

Eijiro Kirishima- HE DID NOT JUST FUCKING ‘Oh’ MIDORIYA

I CANNOT FUCKING HANDLE THIS RN
Denki Kaminari- this is bs 

petition to cancel icy hot

who tf responds like that to someone they like

literally wtf

Mina Ashido- kaminari, i think its time

Eijiro Kirishima- mina r u sure 

Denki Kaminari- fucking finally

ive been waiting very patiently

Mina Ashido- yes im sure

neither of them r going to fix this on their own

Denki Kaminari- time and a place

Momo Yaoyorozu- Please keep in mind that Todoroki is claustrophobic, I remember him mentioning that a few weeks ago.

Denki Kaminari- how do u kno about plan b

Momo Yaoyorozu- Kyo. Also, everyone kind of knows.

Eijiro Kirishima- we’ll only keep them in for a few minutes, jirou will be listening too so we’ll pull them out if it gets too bad

Kyouka Jirou- when did i agree to that

Mina Ashido- this is a very important mission, J

Kyouka Jirou- fine

Ochako Ururaka- Deku is really good at calming Todoroki-kun down, so I don’t think we’ll have to pull them out early. 

Momo Yaoyorozu- Is Midoriya-kun alright after Todoroki’s response?

Ochako Ururaka- Nope!

Tenya Iida- What have I missed?

Hanta Sero- a fucking hormonal mess

Mina Ashido- not much, iida

we’re putting plan b into action tonight

Tenya Iida- I just read the texts from the official class groupchat. Is Midoriya alright?

Ochako Ururaka- Still nope! Iida get upstairs!

Btw guys, if Todoroki-kun turns up dead, ITS BECAUSE I KILLED HIM

WHO THE ACTUAL FRICK SAYS THAT TO SOMEONE

I WAS TRYING TO PROVE TO DEKU THAT TODOROKI WAS JUST TIRED LAST NIGHT OR SOMETHING BUT NOOOOO HE GOES RIGHT ON AHEAD AND SAYS ‘oh’ 

Mina Ashido- Ochako r u ok

Ochako Ururaka- I have been in Deku’s room since 9 am.

Momo Yaoyorozu- It’s almost 2 pm.

Ochako Ururaka- Thank you for proving my point Yaoyorozu-san.

Katsuki Bakugo- That’s it, Im coming up there.

Mina Ashido- blasty is that a good idea?

Katsuki Bakugo- Shut up Racoon Eyes.

Chapter Text

Midoriya was an absolute mess. The blatant rejection from the night before had thrown him into the seventh circle of hell, destroying every single ounce of self confidence he had accumulated. He thought that at the very least him and Todoroki were friends, and surely friends could hang out for a bit after movie night and drink a cup of tea. But no, they couldn’t. Because for some reason, Todoroki suddenly hated him and didn’t want to be anywhere near him. The entire situation was draining him of all of the tears he had promised himself he’d start holding in. Midoriya hated feeling like this.

Things had gotten so much better when he got to UA. He’d learned to deal with his anxiety better and he no longer let people push him around like Kacchan would. But suddenly, it was like he was spiraling out of control. His brain was a cd with a scratch on it, frozen on Todoroki and all the little details that he had fixated himself on to try and make sense of his feelings. It had been almost two years since things had been this bad, and he did not miss it one bit. 

When Ochako finally got to his room that morning, he hadn’t slept for more than two hours. That night as he tore apart his memory searching for a reason Todoroki could hate him, he’d been too busy to rest, meaning his under-eyes were dark and puffy and he was buried under his covers watching his collection of vintage All Might movies. 

Of course he wanted to tell her everything, he just didn’t have the words. Somehow his friend could sense this and thats how they found themselves snuggled up under his comforter watching stuff on his laptop all morning. It made his brain quiet, with her next to him in silent understanding, blankets engulfing them in the solace he’d been searching for the past twelve hours. 

Sadly, nothing lasted forever in Ochako’s eyes, and eventually, she wanted her explanation. She had allowed him his mourning period, but in return she expected a full run down on the night’s events. 

“He didn’t want to drink tea,” Midoriya sniffed, noticing the light smile growing on his friend’s face. “It’s not funny.”

“It isn’t. But why are you so upset Deku?” she asked.

“Because he just blew me off, he’s never done that before.” 

“Im sure there’s a reason he did that, there always is.”

“Yeah he freaked out because he doesn’t like me that way.”

“Deku, there are no romantic implications in asking your friend to get tea.”

“I know, but still.”

“Still what? You’re overthinking this.”

“I know.”

She broke apart from him, sitting with her back resting against the wall.

“Have you ever thought about telling him how you feel?”

“Absolutely not, I can't embarrass myself like that.” he stated, turning to face her with a solemn expression clouding his face. His usual smile had been replaced by quivering lips. “He wouldn’t like a guy like me.”

“Deku, what the hell are you talking about?” the girl questioned, shooting him a condescending glare. “You do realize half of the class has had some sort of crush on you at one point or another, right?”

“But, Todoroki is different. I dont think he’s ever even had a crush before,” Midoriya added. “Telling him would ruin everything, and I love being friends with him so that will always come first.”

“Deku,” Ochako began, trying to find a way to word what she had to say lightly, “your friendship with Todoroki is important to you, right?”

“Yes,” he responded without hesitation.

“Well, as people, we’re constantly growing, and we need space for that, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well if you’re limiting yourself to only friendship with Todoroki when you obviously feel something more, then you’re never going to feel comfortable ever again, only trapped and stuck,” she finished. “Whether it’s reciprocated or not, I think not knowing is going to hurt you more.”

The knot that had been twisting in his stomach loosened slightly as he took in her words. Ochako was his go-to when it came to advice due to the fact that not a single thing she’d ever urged him to do had turned out badly. Even though the voice in his head fought to keep him from listening to her, he knew deep down that she was right. He hated how he felt right now, and if the label for whatever this thing was is ‘stuck’ then he wanted to grow. But, if that meant telling Todoroki how he felt, then it was going to take a lot more than a pep talk to get him to confess. 

Immediately, he began losing his ever loving shit all over again. His brain moving at 100 miles per minute, thoughts spilling out of his head and finding their way to Ochako’s ears as she struggled to take everything in.

What if he rejects me?

What if he never talks to me again?

What if I lose him?

What if he tells the entire class and nobody looks at me the same ever again?
“DEKU-” Ururaka yelled, snapping him out of the prison of paranoia his anxiety had locked him in, “Todoroki just texted the groupchat.”

“Oh-” Midoriya sighed, picking up his phone to investigate the message. His friend had texted in the class 1a groupchat wondering if anyone wanted to hang out. “OH!”

“Let me see your phone,” she stated, prying it from his hands before he could respond. “Im gonna prove to you that he was just tired last night.”

“Ochako, no-” Midoriya tried, but it was too late. He tapped the phone out of her hand just milliseconds after she hit send on a reply that said, ‘I’m free.’

A moment of tense silence passed before a buzz indicated Todoroki’s response. He reached to flip the phone over only to reveal his lockscreen with a message saying ‘Oh’. His friend peaked over his shoulder wondering why the color of his face had muted itself to a sickening white, quickly discovering what was behind it.

“Deku I’m sure there’s a reason why he-”

“NO! OCHAKO HE HATES ME NOW AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHY.”

“Izuku Midoriya, you need to shut the frick up and stop freaking out. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth or I’m going to slap you in the face.”

“I CANT THIS IS ALL TOO MUCH I CANT LOSE HIM OCHAK-”

Slap.

“WHAT THE FUCK.”
“I WARNED YOU! Now in through your nose, out through your mouth, I have to handle something.” Ochako ordered, removing herself from the bed. She headed into his bathroom, shutting the door behind her and clicking the lock to seal herself inside.

The downward spiral lasted until about 2 in the afternoon, ending when Ochako called in reinforcements. When Tsuyu and Iida showed up, they all began damage control, consoling Midoriya and picking up the pieces that he had dropped in the disaster of emotions he was caught up in. 

Honestly, it helped him to know that his friends cared about him enough to spend their Saturday afternoon talking him through his problems. Tsuyu even brought him a muffin to snack on as they conversed, which helped combat the drained tank of energy that his body had been running on. Thankfully, as the afternoon progressed, his room began to feel less like a prison and more like a safe haven. After the night’s events, he was dreading the moment where he’d have to force himself to close his eyes and fight the urge to think about the boy in the room next to him. But after releasing everything into the open, the weight of it all had been lifted from his very tired shoulders and he was ready to pass out. 

Until suddenly, a bang sounded from the door.

“DEKU YOU BETTER OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR,” Kacchan’s familiar voice rang. “GET YOUR SORRY ASS OUT OF BED AND LET ME IN.”

“Bakugo what are you-” Ochako began as the door swung open, catching the entire room by surprise.

“YOU’VE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME,” Bakugo yelled at the group sprawled out in Midoriya’s room. “IS THIS A FUCKING PITY PARTY OR SOMETHING?”

“We would’ve invited you but you’re not really the ideal person to calm someone down,” Ochako answered, shooting him an antagonizing smirk from Midoriya’s bed. “State your business, Boom Boy.”

Iida and Tsuyu glanced at eachother, questioning whether or not they should get involved in Bakugo and Ururaka’s banter, but ultimately deciding to stay out of it. 

“What do you want, Kacchan?” Midoriya asked, peeking up at him from under his comforter. He knew he looked like shit, from the tear stained cheeks to the not-so-subtle puffy eyes, and the last thing he wanted was to get Bakugo of all people involved in his mess. 

“I heard you were being pathetic and decided to knock some sense into you,” the blonde responded, clenching his fists at his sides. “In fact, you’re not the first person to deal with my punch of truth in the past few hours.”

“What?” Ururaka questioned.

“Doesn’t matter,” he responded. “My point is, you need to remove your head from your ass and go with your gut, Deku.”

Midoriya crawled further into his bed, hiding the tears welling up in his lower eyes.

“How do you know what I'm upset about?”

“I think it's because you wear your heart on your sleeve, Deku,” Ochako quickly interjected, making sure the groupchat didn’t accidentally get leaked from Bakugo. “We all pretty much figured out your feelings for Todoroki-kun before you even told us.”

“If you don’t get over yourself by tonight, I’ll use my punch of truth on you literally instead of figuratively,” the boy threatened from in front of the door. “Are we clear?”

“Crystal, thanks Kacchan,” Midoriya choked out, retreating even further into the sheets. Bakugo shot Ururaka a glare before exiting, slamming the door behind him and leaving just as quickly as he had come. 

DekuXIcyHot Fanfic

Mina Ashido- meet in the common room rn

He felt Ochako’s phone buzz against his leg, instinctively reaching for it but being met with his friend’s hand batting his away.

“What was that for?” he asked, rubbing the sting out of his arm.

“Shh,” she responded, scanning the screen in front of her. “We need to leave, sorry Deku.”

“Oh.”

Ochako Ururaka- Tsuyu, Iida, and I will be down momentarily.

Denki Kaminari- shinsou and i r walking into heights alliance rn

Eijiro Kirishima- bakubro and i are heading to the elevators hold up

Momo Yaoyorozu- Got it, Mina.

He watched as they gathered their things, the feeling of loneliness beginning to drip back into his brain. As upset as he was, he needed to shower, desperately. 

A small hand appeared on his shoulder, squeezing knowingly. “I’ll text you later, okay? Get up, get clean, and get dressed, Deku.”

He nodded, not meeting her eyes. As his friends departed, he picked his heavy head off of the memory foam pillow below him and glanced around the room. Bakugo was right, he needed to get a grip and so far the only way he was going to pull that off was by taking the biggest chance of his life. 

Downstairs, class 1A minus Shouto Todoroki and Izuku Midoriya, had taken over the common room preparing to discuss ‘plan b’ one last time before implementing it. The clock read 4 pm by the time everyone had gathered around the three mischievous heroes-in-training who had come up with it, leaving them two hours before they’d need to be positioned and ready to go.

“Thank you all for joining us on this fine late afternoon,” Mina began, eyeing the kids around her. “I’d like to begin by saying what an incredible job I think we’ve done the past two days meddling in our classmates’ love life.”

“Before the main topic gets brought up, can we hear from the teams that were sent out this morning in a final act of peaceful reconciliation?” Jirou asked, eyes flickering towards her girlfriend beside her and the boy with spiky red hair beside Bakugo in the corner. “Let’s start with the Todoroki detail. Momo, Eij, floors all yours.”

“Yo headphones, I talked to him too.” the blonde beside Kirishima spoke up, glancing at Jirou with a matter-of-fact expression. 

“When the fuck did you talk to him, blasty?” Mina questioned, shooting him a confused look before turning to face Uraraka. “I thought he showed up at Midoriya’s room.”

“He did, but while he was there he did mention that he ‘implemented’ his ‘punch of truth’ on someone else today, which I assumed meant Todoroki,” the brunette laughed, looking back at her rival before deciding to give him a compliment. “Honestly, I think he may have gotten through to Midoriya more than we did.”

“Okay, wow, bakubro that was really manly of you,” the spiky red haired boy added, a light pink dusting his features as he made eye contact with Bakugo. “Anyway, let’s get to the report, shall we?”

The class nodded in unison, turning their attention to the group of three who had walked up to the front of the room.

“So Todoroki admitted his feelings to us, but he also spoke about his plan to end his friendship with Midoriya this afternoon for fear of hurting him,” Yaoyorozu began, careful to leave out the more personal details of their affair.
“We’re pretty sure we talked him out of it, but either way it worried us that he was thinking that way,” Kirishima added.

“I definitely knocked some sense into him,” Bakugo stated, “he won’t be cutting Deku off anytime soon.”

“Bro, what did you even say to him?” Sero asked from the back corner.

“None of your business, all I’ll say is I got the job done.”

The room trickled into silence, every pair of eyes fixed on the overconfident blonde standing up front with his chest puffed out.

“Ok-” the pink haired girl in front of him started, “Is that it?”

“Yes,” Momo finished, striding towards Jirou to take her spot beside the girl.

“Next group,” Mina went on, “Tsuyu, Ururaka, and Iida.”

“AND ME,” Bakugo growled, remaining at the front while his three classmates joined him.

“I was in Izuku’s room from 9 am to 3pm this afternoon and all I can say is that he was a mess,” she began, inhaling calmly through her nose. “BUT I SENT THAT FUCKING TEXT TO TODOROKI ON MIDORIYA’S PHONE SAYING HE WAS FREE EXPECTING HIM TO ASK TO HANG OUT BUT TO MY SURPRISE HE FUCKING MADE THE SITUATION A BILLION TIMES WORSE BY SAYING ‘oh’ AND DEKU FUCKING LOST IT AND I HAD TO FIX IT.”

She took another breath before continuing. “I am sorry for my outburst, I am a bit overtired.”

“I'm sorry you had to deal with that,” Jirou said, sending Ururaka an apologetic glance. “Did you resolve it?”

“Well from what we all witnessed, Midoriya has some very strong feelings towards Todoroki so everything is reciprocated,” Tsuyu added, “but we sped out of there when we got your text so it’s probably still bothering him but he’s definitely sitting on what Bakugo told him.”
“And what was that?” Mina asked.

“I told him to get over himself and go with his gut,” Bakugo answered.

Again, the class fell into silence, wondering what had possessed the blonde to be so helpful that day.

“Okay..” Mina started, “that’s actually helpful what the fuck. Thank you guys, take your seats.”

The group dispersed, each planting themselves in a separate spot across the room and turning their attention to Mina, Denki, and Jirou up front.

“Katsuki?” Kirishima whispered into Bakugo’s ear, low enough so nobody else could hear. “Are you helping because they remind you of us?”

“What are you talking about of course not, I just had nothing better to do today.”

A warm smile plastered itself onto the redhead’s face, filling him with admiration for the boy beside him. Their relationship was so seemingly one sided to the naked eye, but if anyone cared to look a little further, it was blatantly apparent how much the blonde cared for Kirishima. Before he could get any deeper into his feelings, Mina started to explain.

“Okay kids. For those of you who don’t know, plan b is the idea Denki came up with to put an end to this madness if it ever got out of hand. He suggested we lock them in a closet initially, but upon further thought, we decided the elevator would suffice.”
“You’re going to lock them in an elevator?” Tsuyu gasped, eyes widened in horror at the violence in the idea. “Todoroki-kun is claustrophobic! I heard Midoriya and him talking about it in the library the other day.”
“Do not fret darling, him freaking out will leave him vulnerable enough to hopefully confess and thankfully, Midoriya is scary good at comforting him,” Ururaka spoke, consoling the girl beside her. “How are you guys gonna pull off trapping them in there?”

“I’m gonna short circuit it,” Denki smirked, “Yaoyorozu and Iida, you need to cut the wifi off to keep them from calling anyone.”

“I’ll be outside listening to them and making sure things don't get out of hand too,” Jirou assured Tsuyu, giving the girl a reassuring smile. “Mina and I will pretend we heard the elevator stop and tell them we’re getting Aizawa.”

“They’re staying in there until they work their shit out, I don't care how long that takes,” Mina laughed, turning to face Kirishima and Ururaka. “Kiri, when I tell you to, send a text to Todoroki saying his laundry is done or something and come up with an excuse why it needs to be done immediately. Uraraka, same thing, but text Midoriya that you need his help making a certain kind of tea or something.”

“Hey Sero, would you be able to block off the stairs from the third floor and write ‘closed for cleaning’ ?” Jirou asked.

“Sure thing,” he responded.

“If you have any questions, text our group chat or come find me,” Mina finished, giving the room a final look. “That's all kids, get to work, we have two hours. Hagakure, keep an eye on those two and make sure they’re in their rooms at 6 when it's go time.”

“Will do,” the invisible girl laughed, following her classmates out of the door. 

Chapter Text

Time passed languidly, his brain keeping things at a low hum for the remainder of the afternoon. Although tired, Todoroki had managed to steady himself enough to get some schoolwork done and relax, making for a pretty peaceful few hours, contrary to the night’s events. The sunlight that had been dancing throughout the room began to withdraw, the window’s view shifting from daylight to a sky full of stars. As he scribbled in his notebook, images evocated from the night before, the unfamiliar feeling of contentment crawling its’ way into his veins as he flipped through them. He had promised himself that he would try and concentrate on anything other than Midoriya, yet the galaxy that decorated the sky above him seemingly planted the memory of the boy’s face into his mind. Periodically he glanced up, each glistening ball a silent reminder of the green haired boy’s face full of freckles. A blanket of longing settled over the room, placing a roadblock between him and any chance he had at completing anything else for the night. 

 He carefully shut his laptop before pushing his chair away from his desk. To prevent any possible breakdowns, he reached for his curtains, barricading his eyes from any reminders of his imploding love life. With a few more shuffles across the room, he was at his bed, a book in his hands to pass the time before he could go downstairs to make himself dinner. He knew Midoriya would most likely be down there eating with the rest of his classmates, so as long as he waited them out, he wouldn’t have to socialize with anyone. 

From beside him, a ding rang out causing the screen of his phone to brighten. 

Eijiro Kirishima- hey man, ur clothes are in the washing machine and yours is the only load thats done. can u come down here and grab them asap?? bakugo spilled shit on my fav hoodie so i need to wash it before it stains :/

Great. He’d been in such a daze all afternoon that he’d completely ignored the alarm he’d set to go grab his laundry from downstairs. 

Begrudgingly, Todoroki swung his legs over the side of his bed, sliding his feet into slippers and extending his arm to lift a hoodie off of the side of his desk chair. He pulled the sleeves over his body and trudged over to the door, pulling it towards him as he slid his phone into his pocket. He closed it behind him and began to turn towards the elevators, but movement to his left entered the vision of his eyes. 

Fuck.

The movement was a body, and that body’s big, green eyes caught his immediately. 

“Uh-” Midoriya choked, a twinge of surprise in his tone. “Hey Todoroki, crazy seeing you here.”

“Our dorms are next to eachother,” he stated, hoping that the panic he was feeling wasn’t apparent on his face.

“Oh right, I forgot,” Midoriya gave a short laugh, scratching the back of his head, neither of them moving from their positions. “Well, nice talking to you.”

At that, he spun on his heels and headed further down the hall, in the exact direction Todoroki had been going. He walked a pace behind the boy, silently pleading that he was going to Ururaka’s room or something. But as they approached the elevators, it became increasingly clear that they were both going downstairs. Thankfully, there was a great option to keep distance between them just a little further down the hall, that was until he saw the tape covering the door and sign stating that they were, ‘closed for cleaning’. 

No big deal, they could deal with a four floor elevator ride in complete silence, no biggie. The two boys shared a glance as the doors closed, awkward smiles plastered to their faces as they were locked inside. 

Unfortunately, Todoroki had underestimated his friend’s inability to remain quiet in tense situations.

“So, I havent seen you in a bit, how’ve you-” Midoriya’s attempt at passing the time was cut off by a crash followed by the lights of the elevator going out. “What the-”

Todoroki had no clue why his body’s first instinct had been to latch onto the boy beside him, but there they were. He flew backwards immediately, detaching them and finding himself in the corner, hands gripping the bars on either side of him. It was dark, but the emergency lights had come on, providing him with just enough of a glow to make out the features of Midoriya in the center where he had left him. Their eyes met, a knowing glance shared between them before the room began to spin, forcing Todoroki to sink to the floor. 

The long nights he had spent locked in the training room as a kid had taken their toll on him. Everytime he felt stuck, no matter the situation, a voice in his head told him to get out of there while he still could. Depending on the severity of the circumstances, that was all it was. A suggestion. But sometimes, when things fell out of his control completely, it would rip the air from his lungs, forcing him into a state of panic. This typically led to his adrenaline kicking in and his instincts going into overdrive.

He remembered he had mentioned his claustrophobia to Midoriya while they had been training at Ground Zero a few months back. Todoroki and him had been trapped in a room of an office building, debris blocking their only exit. Things hadn’t been bad, but he was very obviously anxious as he searched for a way out. When his friend had asked him if he was okay, his guard had been down, so naturally he spilled the secret of his weakness. Over the next few weeks, the list of people who knew about it grew. Talking about it helped, something about his friends knowing his fears made him feel safer, like they had his back.

Even though it went against everything Endeavor had taught him. 

Now, as he sat cradled in the corner of an elevator, trapped with the boy he had been freaking out about the past week, the panic returned. 

He’d never been good with vulnerability, that was for sure. As he watched Midoriya begin to knock on the doors hoping to get the attention of a passerby, all he could think about was the irony of it all. Stuck in a room with the person he’d been avoiding all day.

“Hey, is someone in there?” a muffled voice sounded from outside. “Midoriya?”

“Yeah! It’s Midoriya and Todoroki, can you get Aizawa to come help please?” his friend asked, stealing quick glances behind him to check on the glob of a boy on the ground. 

“Sure thing,” Mina replied. Midoriya turned to face him.

A monster loomed in the corner opposite of him, only visible to it’s creator. It stared back at him, closing the distance between the walls with a pinch of his finger, the room slowly becoming smaller. His lungs began to fail him, short, shallow breaths escaping his chapped lips. Todoroki bit the inside of his cheek to keep from leaking the tears that were fighting to break free. His fight or flight began to kick in, adrenaline dripping into his veins. He needed to get out; he needed to leave; he couldn’t just sit around any longer-

The sound of Midoriya’s worried voice interrupted his panic, “Todoroki, hey, look at me.” 

His eyes tore away from the shadows in the corner and landed on the green haired boy in front of him. His friend looked worried.

“They’ll get us out soon,” Midoriya assured him, kneeling down to his level. “Look at me, Todoroki, not the room.” 

Dont run away from the best thing that’ll ever happen to you.

He wanted to move, god, he wanted to get out of there, but Bakugo’s voice began to fill his memory. Their shared gaze acted as a magnet, pulling them closer to one another as the room closed in. The air around them changed, their tension intensifying. Todoroki was terrified of their closeness, only now, his focus was no longer on running away. It was on the freckles sprinkled atop Midoriya’s nose and spilling onto his cheeks. A thin strand of restraint remained within him as he considered the thoughts dancing through his brain. If he hadn’t been coming down from a panic attack, he would’ve sworn Midoriya’s face was a mirror, adorned with the same curiosity and gentle admiration as his own. But all of the ways things could go wrong seemed to disperse as his friend’s hands unlocked from his sides and reached to cup Todoroki’s cheeks.

This was a bad idea. He could see the worry turn to hesitation on Midoriya’s face as he rested his hands over the warm skin above his jaw. Uncertainty filled the air, each boy locked in place, waiting for a shove from some unknown force in the direction they had both been wishing for.

Todoroki over-analyzed the past and worried about the future, never truly living in the moment. Until he met Midoriya, the last thing he saw in his future was love. But the face that stared back at him, full of concern and genuine kindness proved him wrong. Everything about his friend was so blindingly beautiful, from his determination to his compassion, there was nothing about the boy that he didn’t yearn to keep in his life. He knew he couldn’t run away from him, even if he wanted to.

A light pink had crawled onto Midoriya’s cheeks, the same color that Todoroki assumed dusted his own. He could feel his heart practically jumping out of his chest, a wobbly beat ringing through his ears. When his focus turned back to the boy holding him, a smile crept onto Midoriya’s face, one lacking his usual warmth. Instead, it resembled longing, the same feeling Todoroki felt within himself. 

A quiet sigh broke the silence, unknowingly snapping the last string keeping his self control in check. In one swift motion, he reached foward, grasping the locks of curly, green hair at the nape of the boy’s neck. Without thinking, Todoroki pulled him closer, the scent of vanilla surrounding him as Midoriya tipped his face up, catching his mouth in a kiss. 

For a brief few seconds, his brain slowed to a quiet hum, completely entranced by the warm lips on his. After a moment of their silence, his actions finally caught up to him in the form of a small flame appearing on the left side of his body. Thankfully, Midoriya pulled backwards quick enough to avoid getting singed, laughing quietly to himself as Todoroki tried to regulate his temperature. 

“Holy shit, what the hell was that-” the boy whispered, trying to catch his breath. “I cant believe that actually just happened.”

“I-” he started, eyes fixed on Midoriya and panic beginning to set in, “ really shouldn’t have, Im not sure what got into me.”

“What? You regret it?” a suddenly confused Midoriya questioned, immediately breaking eye contact with him and moving further backwards. 

“No, I don’t regret it at all.. I uh… I wanted to.. I just.. I shouldn’t have… Im sorry,” He tried to explain, words failing him. “It’s been a stressful day, I wasn’t thinking about my actions.”

“Todoroki,” Midoriya began, his features softening back into his usual warm smile as his hand reached up to scratch the back of his neck, “I- I’m glad you weren’t thinking.”

DekuXIcyHot Fanfic

Mina Ashido- NAH BC THEYRE LITERALLY KISSING RN

Eijiro Kirishima- ON MY WAY

Mina Ashido- nvm 

Eijiro Kirishima- tf u mean

Mina Ashido- GET UR ASS OVER HERE RN

“Glad?” he asked, confusion fogging his brain. “Why were you glad?”

Another laugh escaped Midoriya, “Because you just proved that Ochako’s never wrong.”

“Wrong about what?”
“Todoroki, she told me I should tell you how I feel. I didn’t believe her at first, but what just happened made things pretty clear.”
“How you feel?”

“You’re joking right.”

Mina Ashido- GUYS THEY’RE DOING IT
Denki Kaminari- doing wut…

Mina Ashido- STFU DENKI GET UP HERE

Todoroki wasn’t sure what was going on. His brain was still extremely fuzzy from their little ‘moment’ and he could feel the heat crawling up his neck to rest on his cheeks. Was Midoriya saying what he thought he was saying?

“Wait-” he started, “are you saying-”

His voice was cut off by Midoriya’s hands on his face again, pulling the boy back into a kiss. This time around he was more sure of himself, allowing his hands to rest in Midoriya’s tangled, green curls. 

When they pulled apart yet again, Midoriya’s voice filled his ears, “I-” his eyes fell to the ground for a moment, voice searching for stability, “I’m in love with you.”

A flame danced on Todoroki’s shoulder.

“You.. You are?” 

“I have been, for a while now,” the boy breathed, the weight of it all finally lifting from his shoulders. “Wow, that feels good to say.”

“Midoriya, I-”

“No, no, I don’t expect you to feel the same, I just really needed to get that off my chest. I’ve been freaking out all week thinking you hated me and all that, but honestly Ochako was right, telling you made me feel-”

“Midoriya, I have been in love with you since the sports festival our first year.”

“What?” Midoriya squeaked, eyes practically bugging out of his head. “IVE HAD A CHANCE FOR THAT LONG?”

“Wait it wasn’t obvious?” Todoroki asked, wondering how his feelings hadn’t been easily noticed by the boy. “I thought everyone knew.”

Mina Ashido- TODOROKI IS SUCH AN IDIOT IM SORRY

Eijiro Kirishima- IM TRYING TO GET THERE AS FAST AS I CAN

Hitoshi Shinsou- ur missing the confession of their undying love for eachother, hurry

Denki Kaminari- ya eij, fucking slow bitch

Eijiro Kirishima- BAKUGO WONT STFU ABOUT HOW ITS NONE OF OUR BUSINESS 

Katsuki Bakugo- It isnt.

Ochako Ururaka- Shut up, Bakugo, we all deserve to see our hardwork pay off.

Katsuki Bakugo- Whatever you say, Round Face.

Ochako Ururaka- The fuck did you just call me?

Tsuyu Asui- How about we all just calm down and keep listening, no need to fight eachother right now.

Mina Ashido- agreed, Tsuyu

stfu

“IT WAS NOT OBVIOUS ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” Midoriya groaned. “You realize what ‘oh’ implied this morning right?”

“Oh, my text message?” he remembered. “It was a surprised ‘oh’.”

“You literally gave no indication of surprise.”

“Oh.”

“Oh my god,” Midoriya laughed. “So wait, why did you turn down tea last night?”

“I realized I couldn’t hide my feelings for you anymore and decided to stop being friends with you.” Todoroki responded, internally cringing at his hasty decision.

“What the fuck,” his friend spoke, voice filled with surprise. “I thought you were avoiding me because you didn’t feel the same way.”
“I could never avoid you, Midoriya,” he admitted, a very out of character blush intensifying on his cheeks. “You are the only person I’ve ever genuinely felt myself around.”

Mina Ashido- jeez, icyhot, tell us how u rly feel

Eijiro Kirishima- honestly wtf

“I.. I dont know what to say,” Midoriya squeaked, struggling to find words to fill the space between them. “Well, what now?”

“I dont know.”

“Very helpful, thank you Todoroki.”

“You can call me Shouto, if you want.” he said in an unsure voice. Nowadays, he didn’t get to hear it often unless he visited his mom or Fuyumi. Frankly, he missed it. “Only if you want, of course, I just never-”

“No.. No I’d like that. You can call me Izuku, if you want to, Shouto.”

Eijiro Kirishima- AWW 

Mina Ashido- sero, you can get aizawa now, i think they worked things out

Hanta Sero- uh i got him like 5 minutes ago it should be up any second now

Suddenly, the whir of power surged back into the elevator causing the boys to scramble away from eachother and hurry to get back up off the floor. Their classmates on the other side unknowingly did the same, but unfortunately, neither parties were quick enough to avoid being caught by the other.

A ding rang out as the doors opened, revealing a group on one side crowded around Jirou as she attempted to push backwards and Todoroki and Midoriya on the other. All eyes were locked on the lovesick idiots inside, both the color of cherry tomatoes and cowering in opposite corners.

“We weren’t listening,” Kirishima stated, looking Todoroki dead in the eye.

“Yeah, okay,” he responded, unconvinced. At that, he reached for Midoriya’s hand, pulling him out of the elevator before the doors shut them in. 

“Why were you all listening to us through Jirou?” Midoriya asked, specifically aiming the question at Ururaka. “How’d you all find out we were in there?”

The class was speechless, their brains suddenly finding the floor extremely intriguing to stare at. Nobody moved from their positions, that was, until Bakugo pushed Kirishima through the group with a huff. 

The poor boy stood front and center, the color completely drained from his face, “You see.. Uh.. we have this groupchat… where we were talking the other day… and uh… decided to…” the red haired boy began, stuttering over his words as he struggled to find the least incriminating explanation.

“For fuck’s sake, Eij,” Bakugo growled. “We have a groupchat where everyone came up with a plan to get you two to get over yourselves and tell eachother how you feel.”

“WHAT?” Midoriya choked, eyes boring holes into the poor brunette behind Tsuyu. “YOU’RE JOKING.”

“No.. uh sadly… we are not in fact joking,” Kirishima let out with a nervous laugh. “It was all Mina’s idea.”
“Fuck you, no it wasn’t,” she shot back, narrowing her features at him. “We all played a role, even if I was the genius behind everything.”

“Genius? You couldn’t have done it without me, bitch,” Denki added, stepping foward from his spot in the back. “How would you have stopped the elevator? Who would’ve come up with plan b?”

“You stopped the elevator?” Todoroki interrupted, looking at the blonde with irritation clouding his expression. “You almost gave me a heart attack Kaminari.”

“Oh shit… uh.. Nevermind it was all Mina’s idea,” the boy backtracked, not wanting to get on the bad side of one of the most powerful kids in class. “I had no idea you were claustrophobic.”

“I didn’t say I was claustrophobic.”

“Fuck,” Kaminari finished, sliding backwards into the group to hide behind Shinsou. “My bad, man, lets just forget about all this. You got the boy, I got the credit I deserve. Alls well that ends well, you know?”

“So you didn’t need my help making tea, did you,” Midoriya questioned, eyes narrowed at Uuraka.

“No, Deku,” she admitted, a smirk crawling its way onto her face. “We just needed to get you and Todoroki-kun into the elevator at the same time so Kaminari could stop it.”

“I am never talking to you again,” he mumbled, a smile forming on his lips. “You are absolutely crazy.”

“I was right though, wasn’t I?” she added, extending her fist to him. “He feels the same way, I freaking told you.”

Midoriya rewarded her with a fist bump, eliciting quiet laughter from the rest of their classmates. The group began to disperse, some making their way upstairs, while others shuffled back towards the common room. 

Before Todoroki followed Midoriya into the kitchen, he caught Kirishima by the shoulder, “Did you actually need me to grab my clothes immediately, or can I go hang out for a bit?”

“That was just a way to get you out of your room, go chill with Midoriya, dude.”

“Thank you, Kirishima, for everything,” Todoroki smiled, trying to convey the extent of his gratitude towards his friend.

“Anytime bro,” the red haired boy laughed. “You know, Katsuki wont admit it, but I think he’s really happy for you two.”
“Really? What makes you say that?” 

“He won’t confirm, but I think the reason he tried so hard was because you and Midoriya remind him of our relationship, if that makes any sense.”

“It does. Is that why he yelled at me in the laundry room?”

“He yelled at you?”

“Yeah, something about not letting go of the best thing that’ll ever happen to me?”

“Oh my god, I can’t believe he said that,” Kirishima laughed lightly, turning away from Todoroki. “I’ll see you later, IcyHot, glad things worked out for you.”

At that, he made his way down the hallway in the direction of a certain explosive blonde’s dorm room. 

There had always been something about the night time that Todoroki loved. Whether it was the quiet breeze that swam through the air or the endless sea of stars that looked down on him, its’ peacefulness was unmatched. 

“So,” Midoriya spoke, an audible smile creeping to his lips.

“So,” Todoroki responded, pulling him closer to his side, eyes lifting to the moon above him.

“I wanted to ask you something,” the green haired boy began, turning his neck to look him in the eye. “If thats alright.”

“Of course, Izuku,” Todoroki replied, resting his back further against the step behind him. They were positioned on the stairs in front of the dorms in an effort to put some space between them and their classmates. Most of them had eaten dinner together, but as the night droned on, he craved a conversation topic more engaging than ‘ omg are you guys boyfriends now’ . He’d never been one for small talk, especially not when it involved his feelings and boundaries they had yet to discuss. 

Midoriya picked at the skin around his fingernails, eyes drifting to fixate on his lap. “When did you know you loved me?”

It was such an honest question. The faint orange glow of the service lights on the street provided them with just enough illumination to see one another. “That night, in the field,” Todoroki sighed, noticing Midoriya scrunch up his brows. “Do you remember?”

“Yeah, I just,” he rested his hands across his chest, lifting his chin from against his friend’s arm and meeting his gaze. “What was so special about that?”

“No one has ever taken the time to know me like that. You figured out something was wrong and on top of that, you found me when I left,” the admittance elicited another eyebrow scrunch out of Midoriya, which drew a soft laugh out of Todoroki. “Nobody even knew I was gone, but you did.”

“I heard Kacchan bragging about a private session with All Might and he mentioned he wasn’t too happy you were going too,” he snickered. “When he told us why you guys were going, I went to your room but you weren’t there. So, I just checked the most likely place you’d end up if you were upset.” Green eyes climbed Todoroki’s face in search of his eyes. “Thank god I did, you looked like you needed someone.”

I needed you , he thought.

He noticed Midoriya’s body perk up, “Really?” 

Horrified, he realized that his thoughts had escaped him. “When I was out in that field, all I could think about was what you told me at the Sports Festival.” A quiet sigh left his lips, “it kept me from freaking out any further.”

Midoriya pressed closer to him, resting his head back onto the taller boy’s shoulder, “You’re the first person that’s ever really listened to me.” 

“You’re the only person who’s ever listened to me,” Todoroki smiled. “I love you for that.”

The new words evoked a curious smile to spread across Midoriya’s features, “I love you for that too.”