Archive of Our Own

The soft breeze lifts a little bit of his hair, making it tickle his cheeks. Mechanically, Shouto tucks it behind his ear as a soft smile appears on his face as he sees the black and brown cat perched over the bright red mailbox. The cat opens one eye lazily and meows, welcoming him just like he always does. Shouto pets it behind its ears, just like he knows the cat enjoys it. 

“Hello there Neko-san. Have you had a good week?”

“Meow.”

“That’s good. I did too, thanks for asking. The weather is nice, isn’t it? A little windy but sunny otherwise.”

“Meeeeow.” 

Shouto nods at the cat’s agreement and keeps petting it. He’s happy this cat is so friendly and doesn’t run away from him like other strays always do. He plays with it for who knows how long before his phone beeps, probably a message from Midoriya asking where he is since he promised him he’d help him train.

“Sorry, but I’ve to go. Next week, same hour, okay?”

“Meeeeooooow,” the cat protests, curling its tail around his arm, making Shouto pout a little.

If only he could sneak it inside the dorms… but alas, he can’t, it wouldn’t be recommendable.

“Maybe in a couple of months, when I graduate and I get my own place, you and I can become roommates, would you like that?”

“Meow!”

Nodding, Shouto finally gets his hand free. Under the cat's rapt gaze, he pulls out of his jacket the letter to his mom and smiles, caressing the neat writing that reads: Todoroki Rei, and below it, his mom’s new address. Even if he visits her at least once per month since her new place is way farther than the hospital and they talk almost on daily basis via phone or text messages, Shouto still sends her weekly letters and waits eagerly for her replies. There’s something magical in letters and he loves it. 

The letter disappears inside the mailbox, and he pats the cat’s head, softly whispering a goodbye. He’s almost turning away when the mailbox spits an envelope, right into his chest. He easily catches it and blinks slowly, observing the letter.

Todoroki.

Oh. He’s almost going to put it back inside the mailbox when he realises two things: one, the envelope is not the same as his letter was and behind Todoroki it’s not Rei’s name that follows, but rather his own.

Todoroki Shouto

Shocked, he glances left and right, trying to see if there’s someone else on the street, if perhaps someone can help him untangle this mystery. The cat meows and stares at him, almost challenging him to do something.

“It says my name, doesn’t it? Therefore, it must be a letter for me, right?”

The cat blinks right back at him, tail wagging slowly behind it, almost as if it were waiting for Shouto to make his next move. There’s a small wall right in front of the mailbox, so he sits there and thank god he does, because his legs go weak as soon as he reads the first lines of the letter.

Mi amor,

Today, you looked even more handsome than usual, which is a lot to say. How do you do it to make your hair look so soft? I know, I know, you can’t tell me because you don’t know and yada, yada, yada. Still, there’s nothing I wanted more than to tangle my fingers on it and kiss you senseless… which, oops, it’s exactly what I did ;) 

What? Shouto’s hands shake as he clutches the letter. He feels his face heating up as he comprehends what the letter implies. Quickly, he pulls the envelope and double checks it: Todoroki Shouto. Scanning the letter, he feels himself blushing even more as he sees that, yeah, the letter has his name here and there.

“Is there another Todoroki Shouto?”

For sure there must be another one because well, he’s single and he would definitely know if someone loved him like this, and he would more than remember if someone woke him with, with… with kisses. 

He feels the need to pull the letter away and stop reading it as this is obviously something private and not for his eyes, but something makes him keep reading and the more he reads, the harder his heart beats inside his chest to the point it hurts his ribcage and he fears a bruise might appear.

Man, I love you so much Shou. I still can’t believe that you are mine… but if everything goes alright, tonight you are going to definitely be mine, like mine-mine. Mmh, the temptation to give you this letter is strong cariño, but I can’t :( 

Tomorrow, tomorrow I’ll give it to you… That if you’ve said yes and haven’t kicked me out in the curb :P 

(Please don’t do that, I promise I’ll make you soba everyday of our lives… Is this a bribe? No, this is not :D)

Would you be mine forever, Todoroki Shouto? I hope so. I also hope you like the ring I got for you. Midoriya helped me with the metal along with Mei. Don’t worry, your quirk won’t be able to melt it but I’m sure I’ve already babbled all this tonight. 

Man, I’m so sorry for how awkward this letter is, like super-sorry. Ah, I guess we can’t all be as cool and suave as you’re ¯\_( ツ )_/¯ 

Anyho-how you’re still in the bathroom, probably doing your disney princess hair in a nice braid that will drive me loooooco, but then again, when don’t you drive me insane, mi amor? Never, that’s the truth. Shit, I love you so much Shouto and I can’t believe today is the day I’m going to ask you to marry me. 

I just. I simply can’t wrap my head around the idea that you and I, YOU and I might be forever and ever together. It’s just insane.

I’m running out of paper, but yeah, I love you, I love you, I love you and I can’t wait to tell you so every single day that I’ve left of my life.

Thank you for being my best friend, my partner, my lover and just wholesome.

I love you a lot and shit, here you come.

Hopefully, your fiancé ᕕ (- ᐕ ) ᕗ

His chest feels tight. The mention of Midoriya and Mei and how his quirk might ‘melt’ the ring only cements more the idea that he is the Todoroki Shouto this letter is addressed to.

He re-reads the letter once, twice, thrice and then he loses count of how many times he has read it until he can whisper along every word of it. He feels his vision watering as he can feel the love poured on this piece of paper… and yet it feels like the cruelest joke he has ever faced.

Who would pull this prank on him?

He doesn’t have anyone. No girlfriend, no boyfriend. No one loves him.

He has the sudden urge to destroy the letter, to burn it to ashes and let them scatter on the wind, but he can’t do that. Something stops him from damaging it. He can’t help but caress softly every soft word addressed to him. 

“Who are you?”

The image of a certain grinning boy pops into his mind for a second, but he quickly shuts that down. No, there is no way… even if somehow the calligraphy reminds him of his, as well as the usage of little faces here and there scattered all over the text, and the general way it’s written is similar to his text messages and the way he talks…

It screams he.

But it can’t be.

“Meow.”

Flickering his eyes up, he meets the cat’s eyes and everything seems to unfreeze; it’s almost as if he has been frozen in time, in a small secluded bubble, reading and re-reading the letter, forgetting everything else.

Swallowing, he carefully folds it and places it inside the envelope, when he stills once more as he sees the date written neatly in a corner of the envelope.

Seven years from now. The date is seven years from now.

“What?”

He unlocks his phone and goes to the calendar app, and yeah, according to his phone, there’s a seven-year gap between today and this letter.

It can’t be. There’s no way.

“Is… is this letter from the future?”

A brutal silence takes over the street, no bugs, no faraway traffic, no wind, and as he tries to find some comfort in the cat, he finds out it's no longer perched over the mailbox.

The day passes by in a daze. His friends sense that something is going on with him, and they ask him if he’s feeling alright or if he wants to talk. They all back away when he assures them it’s nothing. Todoroki guesses they only let it be because it’s not something bad, something that affects him negatively; it has just left him shocked and confused.

He avoids a certain someone because he still can’t take his mind away from him and the letter. So yeah, Shouto is a little bit ashamed to admit that he inhales his dinner and speeds to the safety of his room with a hurried excuse of how tired he feels and that he needs to ‘crash’ asap. 

“See you tomorrow, Todoroki!” Midoriya beams as his eyes silently convey the message of, ‘I hope whatever it is, you get it solved, and if not, I’ll be there for you.’ 

He nods and bolts, but not before he hears, “ROKI!”

He runs away. He pretends he hasn’t heard that scream and sighs as the elevator’s doors close. Running a hand through his hair, he tries to compose himself as he feels his face on fire, as his mind repeats in an endless loop the first lines of the letter.

There’s nothing I wanted more than to tangle my fingers on it and kiss you senseless.

Biting his lip hard enough he could draw blood, he keeps his eyes trained on the floor when he bypasses his door and only manages to calm down his heartbeat when he reaches his own and gets inside. Feeling safe, he quickly changes into his sleeping garments and sets his futon, ready to go to sleep… but somehow he ends up curled against his window, using the moonlight to read over and over the letter, blushing harder and harder as he reads how his mysterious boyfriend loves him very much and wants to marry him.

He falls asleep with a messy tangle of thoughts featuring soft ink-jet hair and beaming grins that whisper soft promises of love, letter clutched in his hand.

His neck hurts a little from the awful position he fell asleep, and since he didn’t set his alarm, he’s kind of late and only woke up because Bakugou exploded something on the floor below. 

Even if he’s rushing all over the room, he takes his time to carefully fold the letter and hide it between some mangas… even if that flusters him as he wishes the sender is—

“ROKI!” The knock on his door startles him. “Hey man, you still there? You’re going to be late.”

He doesn’t even think, simply presses the letter further down his bookshelf, safely hidden between his manga and rushes to open the door.

“H-hey. Good morning, Sero,” he says a little breathless.

Sero beams and chuckles. “Morning, Roki, I see someone has had a hard time waking up, huh?”

“Why do you say so?”

Sero then laughs louder and playfully points at Shouto’s chest, where his shirt is still half-buttoned and his tie lies unknotted.

“Oh. Yes, sorry,” he mumbles, flushed as he quickly finishes getting dressed.

“Pfft, no worries, man. So, everything alright?” Sero’s voice changes a little, not something really easy to see, but Shouto has known him long enough to detect it. He nods curtly and picks up his messenger bag as he checks that he has all his things. “Good, that’s good, man. I mean, I’m happy you’re feeling good. So… class, am I right?”

Shouto’s cheeks hurt from how much he’s smiling, but before he turns around and faces him, he subdues it, setting his usual blank face, even if his heartbeat is another story. He’s glad Sero’s quirk is not like Jirou’s or Shouji’s, as otherwise he would be busted.

Luckily, Sero is as easy to be with as always and both make their way downstairs, talking about mundane things such as the latest prank he and Kaminari pulled on Bakugou and his reaction. They share a quick breakfast and then hurry to class, separating at the entrance as they see their respective group of friends nearby.

Shouto stares at Sero for three seconds as he represses a shiver.

When don’t you drive me insane, mi amor? 

Shaking his head, he forces himself to look away and make his way towards Midoriya, who is chatting with Asui on the front staircase, clearly waiting for him. On the last second before they enter the double doors of UA, he turns around and steals one last glance at Sero, who is laughing loudly, holding his stomach as he’s seemingly mocking an angry Bakugou along with Kirishima.

He smiles the whole way up to their class softly.

Sunday arrives and Shouto hesitates before he leaves his room. He’s holding his letter, the one he has written to his mom, the one he supposedly has to send today on the mailbox just like he’s been doing like a clock every single Sunday for the past two years and a half… yet he can’t move as his eyes go straight to his bookshelf where that other letter is safely tucked away.

The envelope isn’t as shiny and in perfect condition as it was last week, nor is the letter. Even if he’s been really careful with it, it’s what happens when one spends a whole week caressing the piece of paper, devouring over and over its contents. 

It’s unavoidable, he has tried, but it has been impossible: he has been unable to stop reading the letter daily, using every single moment he’s had of solitude to drink those sweet words of love towards him. He’s more and more convinced of who the sender might be, especially once he has googled what those foreign words mean and double checked that yeah, he only knows one person who speaks that language more or less… but still he can’t truly believe it. Perhaps he’s finally insane, has finally snapped and this is the result: he’s imagining there is a letter and its contents. Somehow, he doubts it. He highly doubts he could ever make up such romantic statements, he's not imaginative enough.

Blushing harshly to the point that little flames ignite all over his left side, he quickly extinguishes them, used to it as this has been happening all week long. 

Taking a deep breath, he calms himself down and puts on his unbothered expression as he makes his way downstairs. His classmates wave goodbye at him, no one stopping him or asking where is he going, as everybody knows by now his schedule on this fine day. He doesn’t even need to ask for permission to leave campus anymore, as all the teachers know his destination, reason to go and more or less the time it takes him to do so… even if last week was the exception as it turns out he took longer than ever as he compulsively read that letter for a good hour, delaying his usual returning time. Yet Aizawa hasn’t asked him why or demanded him to make sure that this week he comes back sooner.

As he makes his way across the streets, he nods at the shopkeepers he has become used to and even has a little conversation with an old lady who owns a small flower shop tucked between two buildings. 

The cat greets him with a meow and Shouto doesn’t move. The cat meows again, puzzled by the lack of petting, but Shouto can’t move as he feels himself on fire. 

His eyes are trained on the mailbox lid, almost as if he were expecting the incoming letter to hit him once more on the chest.

“Meow!”

“Sorry,” he mumbles, finally breaking away from his trance. He pets the cat or tries to, but he can’t focus on anything that is not the mailbox lid. 

The letter he has on his jacket to his mom feels heavy, incredibly so and his blood pounds against his ears as he can’t wait. Fingers tingling, he shakily takes his mom's letter out and swallows as he prays his mom doesn’t find the contents of the letter to be too weird, since he hasn’t been that eloquent as always, too distracted to properly write to her. It’s not his fault, not really, there’s nothing more he wanted than to open his heart to her like he’s been doing these past years, yet he found it incredibly difficult to word what has happened to him.

How does one confess to his mother that he has a crush on a friend and that he has the hope that said friend will love him in the future, since he has a letter that says so? 

One doesn’t, one can’t. Especially not if one is him, Todoroki Shouto, a boy whose face has been disfigured by an awful scar, who has a huge emotional baggage and family issues —very public ones to top it all, ones that people still talk about— and who has zero idea of how to love or…

He shoves the letter inside the mailbox and holds his breath as his heart redoubles its beat inside his chest.

Eyes wide open, his hands somehow curl, waiting for the miracle to happen again.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting…

Nothing happens.

No letter comes out of the mailbox and Shouto’s mood plummets harder and faster than his father’s popularity on Father’s Day.

Damn it.

Sighing, he pets the cat, pouring his sadness and mourning the lack of— of what? What was he exactly waiting? 

“I’m obviously turning crazy. Perhaps there is not even a letter, maybe last week was just a hallucination or—”

Clink.

The metallic lid of the mailbox opens and a letter appears, half of it hanging from it.

roki Shouto

His heart does a weird thing as he sees the ROKI. He pulls it out and sees his whole surname, making his mood somber a little at the loss of that distinctive nickname. Still, he pretty much rushes to the wall and, like last week, he sits on the top of it as he opens the envelope and pulls the letter out.

My dearest and most fabulous partner-in-crime,

I truly hope this isn’t my last letter, our last letter. Now, for real man, I hope Bakugou doesn’t kill us for our little prank of last night… but in case this is the end, know that I’ve lived a life of no regrets as I’ve got to love you and even got your love back.

Dramatic too much? Please, mi amor, don’t roll your eyes so much or Shinsou might get jealous. You should have seen him last Wednesday when Kami decided to bless him with godawful pick-up lines. Man, I hope I had taken pictures, if only to share with you how funny his face was. I haven’t laughed that hard since your brother got drunk and sang a rendition of ‘I need a hero’ to your dad last Christmas. Btw, that reminds me that we should probably rewatch Shrek soon :D How does tonight sound? My schedule is free. How’s yours, handsome? ;)

Before you say no, let me rephrase it: me, you, a nice romantic dinner, cuddles on the couch, a kiss here and there… and hey, if we end up somewhere or doing something else, well, so be it :3

Hey Shou, guess what? I just took a break and visited you and I guess now you know why I’ve kissed you out of the blue in your office. I just, well, I got a little bit too hot thinking about you and I needed to swing by. So there, now you know why. 

Although something tells me that you already know, your eyes said so and it’s not as if this is the first time I’m writing you a letter and end up pinning you against the closest surface. 

Are you going to laugh like always when you reach this point? I bet you’re. Probably you will be reading the letter on our couch, feet tucked under my legs as you bite your lip, eyes moving from the letter to me. 

You’ll try to be sneaky and I’m going to pretend that I don’t feel your eyes on me —even if I do— and then you’ll chuckle and your toes will wiggle, tickling me a little as I try my hardest to not break and pound on you, kissing your smile away until you are nothing but a melted puddle between my arms.

Mi amor, cariño, let’s stop pretending. Te quiero tanto como tú a mi y te deseo ahora.

Please, start to undress right now and don’t play hard to get. Don’t leave me hanging, man, that’s my thing. I’m the one who hangs from the ceiling… although if you ask nicely, I could hang you tonight ;)

Always yours, the man whose pants are suddenly really-really tight and hopes so are yours.

He has to release the letter to not burn it or ice it. He’s on fire, literally. Even he can understand all the innuendos scattered all over the letter. He hides his face in his hands as he has a mini-attack, as he can’t stop imagining the scene so vividly described in the letter.

More calm, he picks it up and reads it again and has to stop several times to take deep breaths to not set himself on fire once more. 

This is spicy, really spicy and he can’t help but love it. 

It’s not the horniness —that too— but the general vibe the letter gives him. It’s obvious the two of them have a solid relationship, an intimate one where they have gotten really used to each other, and that’s something that he craves a lot. He daydreams for a little bit more about the idea of how in the future he manages to get that, how somehow he might end up in the arms of someone that wants him so much they can’t keep their hands to themselves and even just writing or thinking about Shouto makes them want to seek him out to turn those fantasies into a reality.

He wishes he could do that.

His whole body feels warm and his stomach knots around as he can’t help but imagine who his lover is, who it might be.

He really wishes the sender had added a name at the end of the letter and he knows exactly what name he wants to see spelled out. He can see a ghost S and a— 

He has to release the letter as his hand erupts into fire again. 

He’s ashamed of his lack of control. He hasn’t lost it this hard since his first year in UA when his father easily got under his skin over and over.

Taking a deep breath, he picks the letter up and reads it again. He does it slowly, savouring every word of it and googles all the words and expressions he doesn’t know, although by now he’s familiar with what mi amor and cariño mean, they are both lovely endearments that make his heart flutter wildly. 

But it’s nothing compared to when he reaches ‘te quiero tanto como tú a mi y te deseo ahora’.  He has to try his hardest to not melt his phone away and he needs several tries to stop shaking to fully read what the translator gives him back: I want you as much as you want me and I want you now. 

Fanning himself, he bites his lip harshly as he tries to cool down. He stares ahead, at the end of the deserted street, the tip of his baby blue sneaker hitting the pavement underneath in a rhythmic beat that denotes how nervous he truly is. 

Knowing he shouldn’t read the letter again or attempt to, he folds it carefully and places it inside the envelope. Then he sees the date. Four years from now. Oh, so this one comes before the marriage proposal one, interesting. 

When he makes his way back to UA, Shouto’s step carries a little bounce that wasn’t there before, but he barely notices it as he feels like floating. His mind is a whirlwind of sensual words and nervous marriage proposals and as he opens the door of the dorms, he almost sets himself on fire as the first thing he sees is him, chatting happily on the couch with Kirishima, arms moving around as he’s explaining some kind of elaborate story.

I want you now.

The translated words make him shiver and just before Sero can glance up and see him, he bolts, hiding behind the door, hand placed over his crazy beating heart as little flames and frost spread under his feet. 

Taking a deep breath, he counts down from ten and then takes his phone out, pretending he’s on a call so he won’t be stopped until he’s safe and sound in his room. 

Eyes glued to the floor, he makes a quick hand wave when he hears the cheerful, “ROOOOKI!” 

His heart pounds so hard it feels ready to burst out of his chest and the letter burns in his pocket, almost as if it has sensed the presence of the man who has written it, or well, the person who will write it, or so hopes Shouto.

He takes the stairs, two at a time, as the elevator sounds like torture, and as he reaches his room, he can’t help but fall on his knees, right in front of the door. Heavily breathing, he slides his jacket off and grimaces as he sees he has burned it a little around the neck area and the cuff. 

Shouto spends the whole day holed up in his room, compulsively reading both letters, memorising the newest one and daydreaming wildly about the implications of it, imagining himself on his office, working peacefully when his lover bursts inside and kisses him passionately, leaving without an explanation until that same night he gives him the letter with a smirk and just like the letter describes, he sees himself on a couch, in a small homey apartment, feet tucked under his love as he slowly comprehends the impromptu make-out session on his office.

Sometimes he imagines himself teasing the other man, pretending he has handed him some hero reports rather than a spicy love declaration and others he can even hear the faint sound of his shirt buttons hitting the floor as he rips it wide-open, unable to control himself anymore, right before he pounds on him, their laughter and heavy breathing mingling as they kiss each other and—

He loses count of how many times he has to open the window of his room to let the cold air inside, as he can’t stop setting himself on fire. 

On one occasion, he laments his weakness, clutching tightly the railing as he tries his hardest to look ahead rather than to his neighbour’s balcony. But yeah, the thing is that he’s weak, powerless, and he slowly turns around. Luckily, Sero is not there, but Shouto’s imagination is still running wild and he sees the two of them, kissing harshly as Sero towers over him, pressing him against the railing as his hands pull his hair, making Shouto moan unabashedly. 

His hands tingle as he wonders how Sero’s hair must feel. He wonders how his lips would feel against his… and there he goes again, on fire once more.

“At this rate, I’ll kill him before he can write those letters to me,” he whispers, crouched on the floor as he tries to control himself.

Then everything stops. 

It’s the first time he has said aloud that Sero is the author of those letters. It’s the first time he has allowed himself to say so beyond a quick thought.

But is he?

Are the letters even real?

Glancing inside his room, he sees the two envelopes on his desk and one of the letters on the floor, the other swinging a little on the edge, ready to fall at the slightest breeze.

He wants the letters to be real. It’s not just his hormones and crush talking, no, it’s deeper than any of that. He wants the kind of relationship the letters expose. He wants to have someone on his side who loves him so dearly and who is obviously close to him.

But. He can’t shake away the feeling that it’s too good to be real, and for the first time since the day began, dread paralyses him because what if this is the work of some villain’s quirk? What if these letters are a trap set for him, to undermine his mind and expose him?

With a sour taste on his mouth, he hides the letters away and prevents himself from reading them by heading to the gym. It’s easy to convince Midoriya to join him, and his friend helps him to keep his mind far away from the letters but when night falls, he finds himself with a shaky hand raised, fingertip almost grazing the shelf where he has hidden the letters.

As he sits on the opposite side of the room, glaring at his shelf, he can’t help but wonder if perhaps he should tell someone about the letters but the possibility that they might be real that he might expose Sero to Aizawa or— whoever has written them almost makes him throw up. He can’t do that. If they are real, then it’s pretty obvious those letters are personal and sharing them with someone else who is not himself will mean breaking his lover’s trust.

When next Sunday arrives, Shouto heads to the mailbox with another lame letter to his mom, talking vaguely about his week and knowing by heart the latest letter. He has also reached the point where he can think about it without setting himself on fire… unfortunately, Uraraka has caught him a couple of times looking at Sero for ‘too long for just a friendly glance, wink, wink’, whatever that might mean.

Petting the cat, this time he stalls as much as he can the moment of truth. The cat purrs happily with attention, but as thunder echoes, Shouto knows his time is over. The cat leaps from the mailbox as it seeks shelter, leaving a shaking Shouto with the mailbox and two letters, one that he has to deliver and one that has to appear.

Closing his eyes, he opens the mailbox and slides his letter in before he places his hands right under the little slit and waits. 

The soft paper hits his skin and he rushes back to the dorms without reading it, as he knows that if he does, the rain will catch him, as he always loses track of time reading his letters. 

He huffs a hello before going upstairs, ignoring the worried and surprised looks of his classmates. A little bit of rain has got him, so he guesses that if someone asks, he can say his behaviour is because of that, the need to get dry and whatnot.

Roki,

I hope you can forgive me for stealing some of your letter paper, but I’ve seen you carrying your letters around, and well, I guess I wanted to give this a try. 

Right now you are sleeping, and let me tell you that you look truly beautiful. The sun is hitting your hair, making it shine in a way that should be a crime because damn, you are so h o t babe ♥️ :P 

 [there is a scratch made with the pen and a blot of ink between paragraphs]

Sorry, I got distracted looking at you. Shit, shit, shit. Okay, I owe you like three sheets of paper because well, I N K. Sorry, amor, forgive me. It’s just. You look so fucking pretty and. I’m gonna stop right there because otherwise I’ll embarrass myself further and you’ll break up with me because I’m too embarrassing. 

Please don’t break up with me.

[there is a small drawing of what Shouto believes is someone begging, but it’s been crossed out way too many times to see it properly]

Okay, this is now ridiculous. How do you write letters, man? I swear yours always look so neat and composed and mine look like a baby has just taken a pen and someone has told them ‘go wild’… am I a man-child? I guess, kinda. 

Shit, you’re starting to stir. AAAAH. 

False alarm, false alarm, you’re still sleeping.

I’m so not going to give you this. Not now, maybe in the future once you are so in love with me you can ignore me being a klutz who can’t write for shit. 

Oh, like an anniversary gift: look, babe, I’ve learned how to write you proper love notes. What, you don’t believe me? Check out my first try. See? It’s p a t h e t i c ™️ . Now compare it to my fabulous ones.

That if I ever get good at writing you letters an—

[the sentence ends with another long line and some splotches of ink, then the next paragraph is written in a different pen]

Cariño! Look at baby-me trying to write you love letters, heh, now I can officially say that I got the hang of it. Here, I hope you’ve laughed fondly at my past self. It’s okay, you can go on, I’ve laughed too :D

Anyway, you are still sleeping and as I was looking in our closet for one of my spare belt pieces, I found this at the bottom of a box. How cool is that? I’m happy I didn’t throw it away. 

I remember writing this, you did wake up and I panicked and fucked up all your paper but you weren’t angry. Nope, you simply snorted and kissed me softly and I thought I had died because damn, I fuck up your stuff and you simply let it slide and even give me a prize? Yeah, that’s when I knew for the first time that I wanted to marry you.

Breakfast is in the oven, you will see ;) I hope you’ve a nice day and I’ll see you later :3

P.S. Yesterday I swung by your favorite beauty shop and I bought your bath bombs :DD 

Please, have one in my honour and if you appreciate the detail, you know how to show me later how much you love me… 

Joking, but have a nice day and remember that I love you lots!!!!!!!!! 

This might be Shouto’s favorite letter so far. This is the one that feels more real. He can comprehend Sero’s embarrassment at the beginning as if it was his and then the ending is just… 

The idea, the image of the two of them going from shy to confident, is just perfect, simply perfect, and everything he has ever needed but never knew he needed.

And Roki.

It’s Sero, it has to be Sero who has written to him all these letters. It has to be him.

But what if someone else calls him Roki in the future?

It’s true that right now Sero is the only one, but what if someone else does it? It’s not as if it’s such a far-fetched idea, right? Perhaps someone hears Sero calling him that and thinks ‘cool’ and starts to address him like that.

But I want Sero to be the one. I want him to be.

He blushes at that last thought, at the possessiveness of it. 

It’s true, it’s been like that since the first letter he received. He has always imagined Sero being the one who was behind them. Even if he tried not to, it has always been Sero who plagued his mind whenever he imagined his mysterious lover, the man who loves him so dearly and who makes Shouto happy and soft in the future.

Cradling the letter over his chest, he lies on the floor and stares at the ceiling as he imagines himself sleeping next to Sero, who gently slides out of the bed and sits on Shouto’s desk, nervously writing a letter as he keeps glancing at him, checking that he’s still sleeping. He smiles as he can almost hear Sero cursing softly as he has stared at him for too long, pen still touching the paper, making it lose ink, soaking it. Then he sees an older version of Sero, kissing him good morning before he goes back to sleep, while Sero laughs and rolls his eyes, too used to Shouto being a not-morning person. He imagines their closet, a mixture of his sweaters and cardigans mixed with Sero’s more colourful tees, his lovely geometrical patterns and ginormous loose pants, contrasting directly with his skinny jeans and then, under all that there are several dusty boxes, lined perfectly in a corner and one of them catches Sero’s attention and then boom, the man is gently writing, grinning and chuckling amused as he reads his old letter before he decides to complete and leave it for Shouto to find once he finally wakes up.

He smiles as he imagines himself reading the letter in their bathtub, waiting for Sero to come back home to properly kiss him…

The letters keep coming, and every single one has the same effect on Shouto: they make him happy, extremely so, to the point he wonders what walking is like, he can’t remember. Every night he falls asleep reading them and spends the daylight thinking about them, repeating in a loop the latest one he has memorised, mixing it here and there with his favorite fragments of the previous ones.

Cariño, today I wanted to kick your ass so badly… one job Shou, you only had one job and you let me down… HOW COULD YOU BLUE-SHELL ME IN MARIO KART??? And worst of all: let that traitor of Denki win T_T 

The BETRAYAL.

No goodnight kisses to you. No, sir, no. And don’t you dare to think pouting will give you something!!!

…

Okay, maybe ONE kiss but that’s it!

My love, my sunshine, my beautiful Roooookiiii have I ever told you how hot you look on the battlefield? No? Well, there you go, now you do along with a dozen more people. Popping a boner amid a fight is not good for your reputation, but it sure is a nice distraction to make the villains go ¡?_?! ¡?_?! ¡?_?! 

Anyway, if you need me, I’ll be in a hole, hiding from the world and trying not to die in the process :D

But you are more than welcome to join me, I actually would like it if you hold me while I cry in this corner :)

Sometimes I ask myself why I am friends with Denki and Eiji. Like, for totes real. 

My head hurts a lot and I’m eternally grateful that you’ve taken such good care of me. Thank you so much cariño for covering my ass and taking my shift and yours. And yes, I’ll thank Midoriya later on for helping as well. Also, thank you so much for all the meds and water you fed me last night and this morning. 

Next time those two awful men come around saying something about just a couple of drinks, I give you my total permission to encase me inside another block of ice and smack me with a newspaper as if I were a bad dog. Bad boyfriend, baaaaaad!

I’m still crying and I know so are you. 

I can’t believe that after ten years it’s over.

I can’t believe someone on Shonen Jump has authorised the ending of our favorite manga to end up being like THAT.

The betrayal. Top 10 manga betrayals, I’m telling you.

Hey… since the two of us are so keen on writing, what if we write our own ending? I think I could ask Mineta to draw it even, guy’s got a knack with art, and since it’s not about heroes, I know Midoriya is off the table… unless… you LIE to him. 

Before you say no, think about it Shou: OUR MANGA. 

We can’t let it end like that.

Just think about it.

Today, as I was swinging downtown, I saw a cat that reminded me of you. It was gone by the time I tried to snap a pic for you, but it was really cute, just like you :3

I’ve left enough soba in the fridge to last for a month and a pile of my used (but clean) clothes on the bed. Don’t worry, mi amor, I’ll only be gone for three days. Before you realise, I’ll be back and squishing you between my arms like always :) 

Today is the happiest day of my life and it’s only because I can share it with you. Shouto, thirteen years ago, when I first saw you, I thought, ‘wow, this guy looks really cool’ and aloof, let’s be honest, you were. 

Early-Roki was a tough cookie, but we managed to crack you, hooray! And then we became friends and love, you’ve no idea of how happy that made me. Sharing all my morning walks with you to class, spending some afternoons reading manga in our rooms and training together, getting better and better… You helped me a lot. And then I got to know you, the real you and you opened your heart to me, and wow.

Thank you for saying yes to moving in together. Thank you for saying yes to my marriage proposal, and now, thank you for saying yes to this. Our own family. At last. Yeah, I know our cats are also our babies, but you know what I mean ;)

Shouto cries when he reads that last letter. He has a full-on breakdown as he reads how he and Sero are going to start a family. Together. He just can’t wrap his head around it.

The urge to burst into Sero’s room is stronger than ever. There’s nothing more he wants to do than to seek the comfort of his arms, a comfort he has never experienced, only read and imagined it, yet he knows it’s everything he needs.

He has fallen in love.

The term ‘crush’ is no longer applicable to what he feels. He’s in love with Sero, or at least, he’s in love with the one who has written these letters, and it hurts. It hurts because he’s still not sure if they are real or just an elaborate product of his imagination or part of a villain’s plan. 

His heart aches and everybody has noticed that something is going on with him. He can’t help it, he’s addicted to his letters. He can’t stop ditching his friends to spend all his free time holed up in his room, reading and daydreaming about his possible future with Sero. 

The only thing that hasn’t changed is his Sero moments… even if they have changed, a little bit, but still changed. How could they not? Shouto has to constantly fight the urge to touch Sero, to stop staring at him and he knows that Sero knows but plays it cool, as if it was normal that another guy stares at you intently for almost five minutes without barely blinking, head empty just the echoes of words that future Sero might or might not write to him.

Today, Sero is supposed to come by and they are going to read a terror manga that Shouto has found in the depths of an online store. The manga came yesterday, and as soon as he got the package, he hurried to tell Sero. The other boy was playing ping pong against Bakugou with Ashido being the referee while Kaminari and Shinsou commented the match, edging Bakugou more and more as they went directly to hit his competitive streak. Shouto stood on the side, carefully watching Sero as he moved so easily, returning the ball right at Bakugou. Once the match was over, Sero’s grin seemed to widen as he saw him, making Shouto’s heart skip a beat.

“ROKI! Hey man, what’s up?”

“It’s here.” He lifted the package, and that was all it took for Sero to understand. 

Unfortunately, Bakugou wanted a rematch, and since Sero had obviously already made plans, Shouto offered to read it today. Sero quickly agreed and that was it. But now that Sero is going to come and after reading his latest letter… Shouto is scared.

What if it isn’t Sero? 

Yes, everything seems to point so: the nicknames, the quirk mentions here and there seem to point to the tape user… but still. 

Sero never signs his letters with his name. It’s always some random sentence like: your friendly neighbourhood howdy-herooo, your beloved papito —that one hit Shouto hard once he found out what it meant—, the light of your life, the cheese to your macaroni —Shouto laughed so hard he even startled himself with that one… just so cheesy—.

But he wishes Sero would just sign one of the letters with a simple Sero Hanta. 

There’s nothing Shouto wants more than that.

He hears the elevator’s doors open and then Sero screaming from the hall, “Rooooki! Give me five minutes and I’ll be there, ok?”

Quickly, he places all the scattered letters he has been reviewing inside a metallic box he has and hides it inside his closet just in time for Sero to knock on his door.

Breathless, he opens the door.

“Hey.”

“Hey there,” Sero replies with amusement. “Ready for the most terrifying experience of your life?”

“Is my father coming?”

Sero blinks for a couple of beats before he cackles. “Savage. Dude, you’re such an animal. I love it.”

Shouto hastily turns around to hide his expression as he feels his cheeks warming. 

I love it. 

No Sero, you’ve no idea of how much I love hearing you say that word.

Shouto sits in his usual spot, and his shocked when Sero sits right next to him. For a second, he stares at him, trying his best to look expressionless even if his eyes can’t help but glance down, into Sero’s lips. He’s struggling really hard when Sero simply says, “Where’s the manga?”

Of course, the manga. Sero is only sitting so close to him because both are going to be reading the same book. Holding it together. Yes.

He picks it and returns to his spot, a dazzling fire pooling on his stomach and goosebumps appearing wherever Sero is touching him. 

Both read and at first, there’s a strange tension between them, but soon enough, the story traps them and everything else is forgotten. By the time Sero turns the last page, Shouto releases a breath he didn’t realise he was holding and Sero mumbles a ‘holy shit’ that makes Shouto nod and realise he’s tucked against Sero’s side, head resting against his shoulder as Sero’s chin is perched over his head.

It’s domestic. It’s just what he has been daydreaming.

His heartbeat skyrockets and that’s when he notices that Sero’s does too. He can feel against his back Sero’s beat, and it seems to be going in crescendo.

That makes Shouto more nervous as he wonders if it’s something good or bad, if perhaps Sero is freaking out because Shouto is touching him so much, if maybe he feels repulsed by his touch because who would want a freak like him all over themselves?

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, moving away. “I never meant to make you uncomfortable.”

He keeps his eyes on the table, body stiff as an icy coldness overtakes him. He had never realised, but Sero is really warm.

“Huh? Nah, man it’s cool. I don’t mind.”

Shouto would believe him if Sero’s voice hadn’t been high-pitched at the end. Once more, a heavy tension seems to settle between them. 

Sero is the saviour, because, of course, he is. He always knows what to say, how to make Shouto feel comfortable and something akin to normal.

“That was a good horror manga, wasn’t it? I got chills, man, real chills. What about you?”

Tongue dry, he tries to swallow and nods as he finds it hard to talk. Sero patiently waits, without hurrying him to break his silence. 

“I liked it. The art was creepy.”

“Totally! Hey, can I?” Shouto sees him pointing at the book, so he hands it to him. Sero quickly passes the pages until he reaches a double spread. “This one. Look at this. This is horrific.”

“Agreed.”

They spend the rest of the evening going back and forth, reviewing panel after panel and discussing all the foreshadowing the author has been giving since the first page. Shouto loves it. He loves spending his time with Sero, doing something as simple yet fulfilling as looking at pretty, horrific art and carrying on a conversation about impossible theories about the world, trying to answer all the open questions the manga has left for them. It’s fun and he wishes it’d never end, but alas, dinner time arrives and both boys head downstairs.

Usually, Sero goes with his group of friends and Shouto does the same with his, but today he touches Sero softly and squeezes his bicep, stopping him from moving away.

“Would you like to keep talking with me over dinner?”

Sero stares at him for a second and it’s the longest one Shouto has ever experienced before he beams and nods eagerly. “Sure thing, man! We’ve barely eaten together, now have we?”

Unable to speak, he just moves his head, agreeing with him and it’s only then that he notices that he’s still touching Sero. He quickly lets him go and stares a hole into the ground, feeling the telltale of his little flames ready to burst all over his left side. Squeezing his eyes, he tries to cool himself down before he follows Sero into the common area. He hears him playfully dismissing the invitation to hang with his usual friends and Kaminari dramatically calling them out.

“Oh no, we’ve been ditched. Guys, HanHan has ditched us.”

“Dude!” Sero sputters. “Don’t call me weird stuff.”

Kirishima laughs and nods. “Yeah, dude, you just sounded as if you were his boyfriend. HanHan…”

“It’s cute,” he whispers, realising one second too late that he has said it aloud.

Only Sero seems to have heard it and Shouto sees him giving him a look and then blushing a little before he flips off his friends and keeps moving ahead. Shouto stays right where he is, unable to move until Bakugou groans and kicks him on the shins.

“Candy cane, you forgot how to walk or what?”

Bakugou’s little push is everything he needs before he follows Sero into the kitchen. He stays on the threshold nervously, wondering if he should apologise for his slip-up or pretend it hasn’t even happened, but Sero takes the initiative and thankfully ignores Shouto’s weird comment. 

He sees Sero is already filling two bowls with rice, and before Shouto can complain about the lack of soba, the boy has a spoon pointed at him. 

“I know you had soba for lunch, dude. I think one intake per day is more than enough, you know?”

Sighing, he pouts a little as soba is his comfort food and right now, he needs it if he wants to survive this evening. Don’t get him wrong, he loves spending time with Sero but right now it’s kind of hard because he can’t stop associating him with the other Sero, the one that supposedly is in love with him, or well, with future Shouto and his crippling fear is re-appearing and oh no, oh no…

“So… cute, huh?”

Okay, maybe Sero hasn’t decided to ignore it. 

Shouto quickly opens the fridge and pretends it’s the most interesting thing he has ever seen, hearing a little chuckle on his back. Sero playfully whistles some melody and Shouto’s heart is set on killing him along with Sero, because then the other man starts to mumble in Spanish, and Shouto is gone, and so is his heartbeat.

Cariño.

Mi amor.

Te quiero tanto como tú a mi y te deseo ahora.

He bursts into fire and, to cover it, he sticks his head inside the fridge.

“Roki?!”

“Uh, I’m, uh… there’s something in the back of the fridge, yes.”

“… what?”

Only once he has his fire under control, he moves back, closing the fridge and staring at the ceiling, he calmly says, “There’s a cat in the mailbox. It’s black and brown. I pet it.”

He wants to disappear as the silence drags on. He guesses this is one of those situations his friends have told him that he acts ‘too weirdly’ and he should ‘tone it down’. He knows the fridge thing was weird and that’s why he has said the first thing that has crossed his mind.

“Really? So, it’s a friendly stray?”

If he could, he would kiss Sero. He has to clench his fists to stay right where he is. 

This is why he’s been crushing on Sero since last year, perhaps ever since their first grade. Sero is just easy to hang around. He doesn’t get offended or put off by Shouto’s mannerisms and always treats him as if he wasn’t insane or a dumbass. He actually listens to him and is patient enough not to pry for answers when Shouto cuts himself out of the world. But he never leaves. He’s a constant in Shouto’s world and he’s eternally grateful for that.

Feeling a knot in his throat, he nods. “Yes, he’s a friendly one.”

“Cool. That mailbox is it the one you go to every Sunday?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, I see. That’s why lately you've been taking so long to come back.”

“You noticed?” He turns his head slightly, stealing a peek at Sero.

Sero is still placing their food on the dishes, but Shouto notices how his shoulders seem to tense for a second before he laughs nervously. “Y-yeah, I mean, you used to just go, you know? Like, you were back in fifteen or twenty minutes, but lately you take like an hour or even more. It’s hard not to notice.”

It makes sense. The tiny flame of hope dies in his chest, leaving him a little sad. 

Oh. He thought Sero had noticed because he was paying special attention to Shouto.

Perhaps the letters are fake. Or maybe it’s one of those parallel universes Midoriya has talked about sometimes.

That new idea hits him like a freight train. The possibility makes him want to throw up. 

No, no, no. It can’t be that. It has to be Sero, this Sero who writes those letters. If another Sero is in love with him, Shouto can’t… he won’t be able to withstand it.

“Todoroki?” Concerned, Sero approaches him and helps him sit down on a chair. “Hey man, you okay? You’re shaking and looking a tad pale?”

“I-I-I—”

He can’t say it.

What is he even supposed to say? I think I love you, but I definitely know I love the idea of us, of a future where we are together, and now I've just realised that it might not even be this world? 

How does one say that without sounding insane?

He gives it a try, being subtle.

“Do you think parallel universes exist?”

“Huh?”

“Do you think it is possible that someone might communicate with another person in the future? Or is it more likely that someone from a parallel world does?”

Sero looks at him with a mixture of concern and something else before he hums and leans his weight against the counter.

“Mmh, parallel universes… You mean, like Into the Spider-verse?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know, man. You know I’m not a brainiac, but I guess it’d be really cool, right? And that future thing, you mean like Back to the Future? Going back in time and—?”

“No, more like, like… Writing a letter for someone, and somehow that letter goes back in time and the past version of the person who was supposed to get the letter reads it.”

There goes subtlety, right out of the window.

Sero frowns as he seems to give it a thought. “Man, that’s definitely not the kind of conversation one has with an empty stomach… Are you feeling better? We should eat and while doing so, keep talking about this.” He can’t reply before Sero helps him up and points to an empty table in the common room. “Go, I’ll be right behind you with our food.”

Dragging his feet, Shouto makes his way to the table as he thinks of a way out. 

He needs to tap out of this conversation pronto, like yesterday. 

Sero places the bowl of rice and a dish full to the brim with different foods. It’s obvious they are leftovers from others’ dinners, but he won’t complain. Sitting right in front of him, Sero mumbles itadakimasu and starts to eat with a thoughtful look. Shouto picks up his chopsticks and starts with the rice. 

“I guess it would be like really cool too.” Shouto glances up and stares at Sero with a quizzical look, completely lost. Sero chuckles. “Your last question, the letter from the future thing. I mean, what if today I wrote down the numbers of the, I don’t know, the lottery? I could send them to you and then: we’re rich baby.” Shouto suppresses a shiver at Sero calling him baby, even if it’s not directly, it goes straight to his heart. “Well, I mean you’ll be richer than you already are, but you get the deal. Anyway, why do you ask? Have you read some good sci-fi lately?”

“N-No.”

Sero hums as he keeps chewing. “You know, this future thingy always kind of bugs me. I mean, when stuff gets revealed from the future, it’s kind of counterproductive, you know? Like people from the past try to change it, and that’s weird because if it’s happening in the future, then it has to happen, and if it doesn’t, then how the heck do future people send it back? Man, my head hurts just thinking about it.”

“But what if I don’t want to change the future? What if I want that to happen?”

Sero tilts his head and observes him. Shouto freezes, literally. His chopsticks are covered with a little ice as he realises he has once more slipped.

“Well,” Sero starts to say, alien to Shouto’s turmoil. “Then I guess you shouldn’t worry too much, Roki. If the future is already happening and somehow you get a glimpse, that means you’ll get there, you know?”

He hopes so.

He really hopes so.

A letter is missing. 

Shouto panics and he stops just in time before he bursts into Sero’s room, asking him if he has it. Sero is the only person who comes to his room. Not even Midoriya does. They usually hang in the common room or the garden, never in each other’s rooms. Only Sero hangs with him here.

Taking a deep breath, Shouto searches the whole room.

Nothing. He only finds twelve letters, and he’s sure there were thirteen. Biting his nails, he tries to figure out which one is missing to see how bad this is. If it’s the spicy one where Sero goes into detail about how he’s going to tie Shouto to their bed and pound into him until he’s a babbling mess and— No, it’s not that one, that letter is still here.

Okay, what about the one where Sero and he are starting a family? Here. 

The marriage one? Here.

He counts them all and nothing. 

Sitting back, he blinks slowly as he can’t comprehend it. He could have sworn he had thirteen letters, yet he can’t remember the contents of the missing one, which is weird because he knows by heart all the letters. Has he dreamed the thirteenth one?

“No, because I’m pretty sure there was a letter between the blue-shell one and the hangover. I’m sure there was one.”

Yet he can’t remember it. Taking a little piece of paper, he writes down a big 12 and places it inside the metallic box before he carefully places all the letters back. 12 letters. Right now, he has 12 letters and the last one is from just yesterday.

Cielo, mi dulce, dulce Shouto te he dicho ya lo hermoso que eres? Seguro que te estas imaginando ahora mismo mi voz, susurrándote esto al oido. Como anoche, eh? 

Ah, pedirle a mi tía que me ayudase a mejorar mi español ha merecido la pena solo por verte como te muerdes el labio tan desesperadamente :D

The translator sucks but Shouto is pretty sure the most approximated translation goes like, ‘sweetheart, my sweet, sweet Shouto, have I told you how handsome you are? I bet you’re imagining my voice right now, whispering into your ear this. Like last night, huh?

Ah, asking my aunt to help me improve my Spanish has been worth it, if only to get to see how you bite your lip so desperately’.

Yes, Shouto has done that after playing the robotic voice reading aloud the text over and over to the point he memorised the cadence of the word, so then he could replay it, imagining it with Sero’s smooth voice. He can only guess the real thing will be a hundred times better. He can’t wait for it to become a reality. 

A buzz from his phone startles him. Grimacing, he hopes it’s not his father with some stupid demand or message.

It’s Sero.

>> hey roki :3

>> wanna hang out?

>> i’m kinda bored and lonely 

>> wanna watch something with me?

He sends a yes and heads to Sero’s room. He’s knocking as three dots appear on the end of his screen.

“It’s open!”

Shouto gets inside and sees Sero lying on his hammock, laptop perched hazardously over his knee as he looks at him.  

“Hey there, stranger. I see you were bored too. You know, thanks to you, I’m in the mood for some sci-fi and monsters, so Pacific Rim?”

They’ve already seen that one, but Shouto doesn’t mind. Nodding, he approaches him as Sero gets down and then climbs over his bed, sitting with his back against the wall they share. Shouto imitates him and gently sits right next to him, hoping Sero doesn’t call him out. 

His fears are unfounded as Sero simply places the laptop over their knees and hits play. 

He barely pays any attention to the movie. He’s busier feeling how nice Sero feels against him, how warm he is and how good he smells. Some of his soft hair caresses Shouto’s shoulder and he has to bite down a little sound from the back of his throat.

When the movie ends, Sero stays uncharacteristically silent and Shouto vibrates with nervousness. 

“Hey Roki, so uh… there’s like an exposition a couple of weeks from now and I was thinking that maybe you’d like to go? I mean, it’s on a Sunday and I know you’ve your thing but maybe—”

“Yes.”

“Really?” Sero’s head snaps up, their eyes meeting. 

Shouto’s breath gets knocked as he gets lost in his beautiful black eyes. He has heard several times Sero being called plain, and every single time he wants to retort against that, because how could someone look at this beautiful boy and say such an awful thing? 

“Yes,” he whispers in a breath. “Next week?”

Sero shakes his head a little, and one lock from his fringe falls over his left eye. “Nah, the other one. So, you’re up for it?”

“Yes.”

Shouto’s fingers itch to move that strand of hair away, back to its place, but he knows he can’t. Not yet, at least.

“It’s a manga expo,” Sero says. He seems a little bit short of breath. “We could have breakfast out too.”

“Fine by me.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.”

“And then we, huh… lunch too?”

“Yes.”

With every affirmative answer, Sero’s cheeks tint redder and redder. 

Cute.

Before Sero can say something else, someone bangs loudly at the door, making the two of them leap away.

“SEEEEEROOOOO!”

“Oi, tape face, get your ass out.”

Sero offers him an apologetic smile and a little shrug. “I guess I'd better see what they want, but, uh… You could stay? I mean, hang with us or you know, with me.”

He would like that. He’s friends with all of Sero’s, especially Bakugou -even if the other still denies it from time to time- but Ashido might be a problem. Like Uraraka, the other girl is well-known for being a little bit too nosy, and he has caught the two of them gossiping and glancing at him with a knowing look… even if he doesn’t know what they are talking about. 

As Sero opens the door, Shouto quickly checks that it’s only the boys. As Sero glances back at him, he stands up and nods, making Sero’s grin get wider.

“Is it okay if Roki comes with us?”

“Of course! Roki is more than welcome!” Kaminari boasts.

Shouto grimaces and flinches at the usage of Sero’s nickname. His old fear of someone using that name for him other than Sero comes back at him with viciousness. He notices Bakugou observing him, scarlet catlike eyes fixed on him, studying his reaction intently, trying to decipher it. Shouto composes himself and offers his signature blank expression, but his heart trembles with fear.

If someone is capable of figuring him out, that’s Bakugou. The other is keen and intelligent enough to easily read Shouto, especially after so many years of fighting alongside and training. He silently pleads to him, and Bakugou seems surprised for a fraction of a second before he elbows Kaminari and grunts, “Pikachu, stop being so cringey.”

“What? But why Kacchan? Why so mean?”

Shouto wants to sigh in relief when he notices Sero’s expression. He’s glaring at Kaminari, and that freezes Shouto. Why would Sero glare at Kaminari?

When Sero notices Shouto’s eyes on him, he quickly stiffens and glances away from the duo of blonds that are now playfully fighting in the middle of the hall while Kirishima tries to make them stop —well, Bakugou more aggressively than the other— and casts his eyes on the floor, cheeks blushing a little bit, almost imperceptibly. 

Sensing that Sero wants him to let it go, he simply moves out of the room and heads towards the elevator, guessing that wherever they are going, they need to take it. Sero follows him wordlessly and only when they call the elevator, he whispers, “We’ll talk more about that, like the details and all that.”

“Okay,” he whispers back breathlessly. 

Sero offers him a lopsided smile and Shouto feels a pang in his heart. They are standing so close, yet so far away… he wants to shorten their distance and—

“Dudes,” Kirishima slaps both of them on the back and grins, placing himself between them. He can’t help but glare at him a little and is surprised to see that so is Sero. Kirishima seems a little bit taken aback and glancing between the two of them, he finally mumbles awkwardly, “Did I interrupt something?”

“No,” they both reply quickly, glancing away from the redhead.

“Ooookay... if you say so. So, we were thinking of doing an arm wrestling contest since Baku here still wants a rematch. Tetsutetsu will join us later. Once we’re done, Mina and Jirou might come along. Mina, for sure, Jirou is still there.”

“She’ll come,” Kaminari assures. He’s still in a headlock as Bakugou crackles some explosions close to his face, but he seems unfazed by it. Probably too used by now if Shouto had to guess. Neither Kirishima nor Sero seem worried about it either, so Shouto turns around and decides to follow their lead.

The arm wrestling contest ends up with a victim: a wooden table that Sero fixes with some of his tape while laughing.

“Dude, Aizawa told us last time that if we broke another table, we’d be cleaning the floors with our toothbrushes!”

“How hygienic,” Shouto mumbles as he helps Sero. He’s holding one piece of the table as Kirishima holds the other.

Kirishima chuckles. “Well, last time we did this we were in the B dormitory and you know who lives there…” Shouto grimaces as he steals a glance at Bakugou, who is fuming as he picks some splinters from the floor along with Kaminari and Tetsutetsu. Kirishima nods and whispers, “Yeah, Monoma.”

“Monobitch!” Snaps Bakugou making Kaminari lose it. Even Sero snorts and Kirishima bites a smile.

“Yeah, so anyway, some furniture broke.”

“Two fatal casualties,” pipes Sero. “Three saveable. Chairs flew Roki. Have you ever seen a pair of chihuahuas fighting?”

“No?”

Sero’s eyes glint with mischief before he points with his head at Bakugou. “That’s what it was. Him and Monoma fighting back and forth, Monoma teasing him and Bakugou barking at him before shit started to fly across the room.”

“Dude, Kan-Sensei wasn’t thrilled,” Tetsutetsu mumbles with a grimace.

Bakugou huffs and flips Sero off. “Fuck you! Call me a chihuahua again and I’ll blast you into the sun!”

Sero just rolls his eyes and smirks. “Sure you will,” he says dismissively before he turns to Shouto. “Anyway, let’s just say we’re banned from their dorm until the year ends. That’s why Tetsutetsu comes here instead. He’s not banned from coming around. Yet.”

“I see… is that why you were grounded for a couple of days back in September?”

Sero nods. “Yeah. I got two days of detention, Baku got a week, and Monoma got eight days for being the instigator. Thank god Kendo spoke up… but Aizawa has no chill, you know?”

“I don’t have what, now?” A new voice says, making all the boys go stiff except for Shouto, who simply waves at their teacher. Aizawa’s eyes are fixed on the table and Sero’s tape that is keeping it in one piece. “I don’t even want to know. Clean it and you’re all gr—”

“It was my fault,” Shouto says. “I tripped and fell over it. It was already loose, and it broke. I received a text from my father,” he adds.

Aizawa’s eyes narrow as he observes him, the table, then the rest of the group.

Shouto isn’t sure why he has just lied, but in a way, he does: if Sero gets grounded, he might not be able to go with him to that manga expo, even if it’s in a couple of weeks from now.

He can feel everybody’s eyes on him, so he steels himself and looks as unbothered as always. 

It’s no secret that he and his dad are not in the best terms, even if now they are more friendly. Still, from time to time, his father says something that infuriates Shouto. Everybody in class A knows by now that it is better to avoid him and let him calm down whenever that happens. Except for Sero. He doesn’t mind his grumpy mood. He simply seems to enjoy his company and doesn’t push Shouto for answers.

Aizawa doesn’t seem convinced, but rolling his eyes, he points at the floor. “Clean this up. If I see a single scratch on any other piece of furniture, I swear I’ll have the six of you mopping all the floors in UA for a month, and yes, that also includes all the bathrooms on the campus.”

All the boys swallow at the same time, even Shouto, as he knows what the bathroom on the second floor is like.  

“No sensei,” they all mumble.

Aizawa nods curtly, and just like he came, he disappears behind a corner.

“DUDE!” Kaminari bursts. “That was epic. Oh my, oh my. It was almost as if the class rep had lied for us. But why, dude?”

He glances at Sero and his eyes widen for a second before a tiny smile appears on his face, a knowing soft look on his eyes follows it.

Shouto glances at Kaminari and shrugs. “I don’t know. Just didn’t want to get grounded, I guess.”

Bakugou looks at him and then at Sero before he snorts and keeps picking splinters. 

Shouto doesn’t really like it, especially not the way Bakugou looks so smug, because he knew it; he knew that if someone could crack it, it was going to be him.

They tidy everything up and then lie on the couches, watching some TV lazily and talking about classes and their upcoming graduation. Shouto is simply happy as he ends up sitting next to Sero, and somehow, since Kaminari has his head on Kirishima’s lap, that makes everybody end up piled over the rest. He has his own head tucked against Sero’s shoulder and one of Kirishima’s legs over his lap, but he doesn’t mind, because he has his head right next to Sero’s neck, and since Sero is at one end of the couch, no one else is touching him, only Shouto.

At one point, Sero glances down and Shouto has to fight really strong not to tilt his head up and claim his lips, remembering a letter where future Sero promised cuddles and kisses on their couch.

He wishes the future were now. He wishes he could simply cuddle with Sero and kiss him whenever he wanted, without fear of being rejected.

He wishes he could know for certain that this Sero is the same Sero who loves him, or will love him.

Yeah, he wishes.

He counts nine letters, yet the note says 12. He tries to recall what those missing letters were about and realises he can’t.

He’s late to class as he has another panic attack while searching all over his room, pulling out all his stuff from the closet, all his mangas and drawers. He even considers breaking into Sero’s room to see if perhaps the other boy has them. 

Running a hand through his hair, he considers his options. He can’t fake being ill as Aizawa will immediately know, and even if he doesn’t, the nurse will.

Since he has a reputation for being a heavy sleeper, he decides to play the insomnia card, as that will cover him from being late and weird as the day goes on.

The minute he steps into the class, he can feel everybody’s eyes on him, silently inquiring what’s wrong. Cementoss is their teacher at this hour, so he approaches him and mumbles an apology and his excuse. His teacher nods and simply tells him that they were currently discussing the winners of the last 3 years’ literature awards and why they might have won over the other manuscripts presented. 

Keeping his eyes down, he makes his way to his desk and ignores Yaoyorozu’s worried glance while he takes his notebook out. 

The blank page stares right back at him and before he can stop it, he starts to write. To anyone looking at him, it might look like he’s simply taking notes, but instead, he’s pouring his heart to Sero, his Sero, the one who loves him and who might not exist.

Dear S—

I better not write your full name since who knows what might happen… 

Your letters are gone. Or at least, I think they are. Am I going crazy? I could have sworn I had twelve, yet now I only have nine, and I’m afraid that the day after tomorrow, when I go to the mailbox, I won’t get one of your letters. 

What does it mean?  Are you gone? Have you died in the future? Are the remains of you scattering across the timeline? Have I perhaps changed the future without wanting to? What if now we don’t have a future?

I’m scared. I don’t want any of those options to be true. 

I want you. I haven’t even got a chance to get to know you, yet I want to. I want to experience everything you wrote down. I want to wake up every day next to you. I want to establish a routine next to you. I want to keep being your friend, your lover and partner in crime. I want to kiss you senseless and be kissed back until I can’t breathe. I want to see us growing our hair long enough until we can braid it to each other like you described once, and I want to be there when you need me.

I want to have a future with you.

I think I love you, I think that thanks to your letters, now I fully know what love means, and I can’t wait to get first-hand knowledge about it.

Please, don’t go. Don’t leave me. I don’t want someone to have taken our letters, but I’d rather have it that way than any of the other scary possibilities...

I've been thinking, and what bothers me the most is that I can’t even remember what those letters said. I s it magic? And w here do these letters come from?

I think that if I crack that, then I’ll be able to determine if you are real, a quirk, or just me slowly going insane. But I’m scared. I’m so, so afraid of what I might find. I’m not sure if I could withstand discovering that all along our love was just an illusion. Because for me, it felt real.

Isn’t it funny that the only time I get to know what love is like, it might all be a mirage, an illusion? 

Please, please, please be real.

And if so, please wait for me.

I’ll get there. I’ll do anything to reach you, and if by any chance you’re hurt or on the edge of death, then I’ll do everything in my hands to get to you, even if I’m sure future me is more capable than current me to aid you, my desperation for sure is bigger.

Please be okay.

Please, please, please let the letters be our future, not a mirage.

He keeps writing. Recalling every letter he still possesses, he replies to them. In a way, it feels appropriate, and it kind of shocks him that he hasn’t done it yet, and on the other hand, it serves a further purpose: if Sero’s letters keep disappearing, at least now he will have some proof, some hints that the letters did exist.

He hides his notebook and keeps it away from curious eyes to the point Kaminari jokes about him acting like Midoriya, which makes his friend look a little bit offended, before his shining emerald eyes fall into Shouto’s notebook with infinite curiosity. Seeing that, Shouto switches notebooks and even if it’s really hard, he takes notes and then casually leaves the bait notebook there as he takes a fake call. Just as he knew, half of the class is looking through the notebook once he returns.

“How boring, he was just taking notes!” Ashido exclaims.

Shouto pretends to be a little bit annoyed, but he sees that certain people see right through him. Midoriya for one, Yaoyorozu… and Bakugou. The last one casually passes by his side on his way out to lunch and says, “Funny how all your stupid notebooks pretty much look the same.”

He nearly chokes but manages not to show it. Feigning being unbothered, he observes Bakugou and says, “I buy them in packs. It’s cheaper.”

“Sure, because we all know you need the money.”

Kaminari laughs at that. And Kirishima grins. “Didn’t you buy Asui like a bunch of duvets for Christmas with your father’s credit card just because she said it was cold?”

“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure he bought Uraraka a new laptop after she said hers was too slow!” Kaminari buts.

“So?”

Sero sits on his desk, making him still as he hadn’t noticed him being so close. His friend offers him a beaming grin that makes Shouto’s stomach feel weird.

“Their point, Roki, is that you don’t care about money, never have, and I highly doubt you’ll ever do.”

“Is that bad?” He whispers.

In his letters, Sero never mentioned their economy, but now Shouto is afraid. Is it because he spends too much and frivolously that makes Sero not date him? Do they divorce because Shouto becomes too money-driven in the future? Is that why the letters are disappearing and—?

“No,” Sero simply says. Shrugging, he jumps from the desk and tilts his head towards the hall. “Wanna eat with us? You can pay for my meal.”

“Sure.”

“Oh, mine too, mine too!” Kaminari exclaims.

Kirishima laughs but then sheepishly adds, “well, I wouldn’t turn down a free meal… but only if you want, no pressure, man.”

Nodding, he agrees.

“So manly.”

“Yeah, Shou, superb!”

Kaminari’s nickname makes him still.

Shou today and the other day Roki…

Could it be?

Glancing at Sero, his heart stills as he sees the other boy with a strange look on his face as he looks at his friends.

Could it be that he’s been wrong all along?

Forcing himself to look away from Sero, he glances at Kaminari with dread.

Could it be that his mysterious boyfriend, his lover and future husband, is… Kaminari?!

He spends the whole meal staring at his food tray, feeling Sero and the rest looking at him from time to time, until Bakugou snaps.

“Oi! Half and half, what the fuck is wrong with you?! You look as if you had seen fucking Deku making out with cheeks.”

“… what?” Kirishima says.

Bakugou sneers. “That would be disgusting.”

“Or hot,” Kaminari pipes. “Think about it. He might even grope her, and that’d be a free show.”

Shouto slides further down his chair and tries to bite his grimace. He has nothing against Kaminari; he knows he’s a nice guy, but sometimes he can be too much, and after Mineta, he’s the most perverted. At least he’s consensual and not a dick about it, but still...

Shouto can’t imagine them being together. He can’t imagine Kaminari writing lovely letters that talk for a whole paragraph about how pretty his eyelashes are, making Shouto feel beautiful for the first time in his life. He can’t picture the two of them softly dancing in their kitchen while food is burning on the stove, both too lost in each other to notice the mess that is happening in the pan either.

All the boys are discussing Kaminari’s comment except for Sero, who has also been uncharacteristically silent. Then, Ashido comes by with Jirou, and before she can talk, Shouto does, asking something that has been bothering him but never intended to say out loud.

“Why would you call me that?”

That makes everybody’s attention fall on him.

“Huh? What the fuck you mean, half and half?” Bakugou says with a deep frown. “Breaking news dumbass: I’ve been calling you that ever since day one.”

“No, I meant Kaminari.”

“Me?” The boy in question says, dumbfounded. 

It’s pretty obvious that they are all lost, except Sero, whose breath hitches a little and meets Shouto’s eyes with a hidden glint in his. Shouto’s eyes widen, and he quickly glances away, heart pounding like a maniac on his chest as he’s suddenly afraid of spilling more stuff, of confessing about the letters by accident. It’s clear today is not his day.

They ask him questions, but he ignores them, finally eating his food even if he doesn’t feel like it. 

It’s Ashido who finally makes him crack.

“Are you perhaps heartbroken?”

“… what the fuck, you alien freak? How the fuck would soba for brains be—” Bakugou unusually cuts himself as he looks at him.

Everybody is looking at him. It’s unnerving.

“Oh sweetie,” Ashido mumbles, making her way to him. “I knew it. It was so obvious. You were in a relationship with someone, weren’t you? I knew it! You looked so in love these past weeks. You even blushed! Which was suuuuper cute by the way, but today… It’s over, isn’t it?”

His heart breaks.

Is it? Can something be over if it has never even begun? 

He’s paralysed. He’s afraid to move, to even breathe. 

Everything feels like too much.

How many love letters remain in his power? Eight, seven? He… He can’t remember. And if he goes to his room, will they still be there, or are they going to be gone? And what about the sender, are they Sero’s or Kaminari’s? What if neither? What if it’s someone else, someone unknown?

Someone touches him and he leaps away, rushing out of the lunchroom, ignoring everybody.

He’s pacing up and down an isolated hall when Uraraka finds him. She doesn’t really say anything, just sits against a wall and stares through a nearby window, letting him unwind as he keeps walking until the bell rings. When she doesn’t move, Shouto finally sits in front of her.

“Did you know it was Aoyama who made me realise I liked Izuku?”

“Huh?”

Uraraka’s cheeks look redder than ever, and she avoids his gaze, playing instead with her tie. “Yes, it was during our final exam, back in first grade. He pointed it out and well…” Chuckling, she shakes her head. “I decided to ignore my feelings and focused on my hero career, just like I knew he wanted to do. I’ve always liked him and I find him inspiring, but… I still like him like that.”

Why are you telling me this? He wants to ask her, yet he senses she’s not done.

Biting her lip, Uraraka glances down the hall, towards the main one where their class is located.

“Saying it out loud is hard. Ashido knew, I mean, she figured it out, and so have the other girls, but they support and understand me. It’s actually easier now that I can talk about it with someone who understands. I know you and I are not that close, Todoroki, but I want you to know that you’re not alone. I know how scary feelings can be, especially when they are for a close friend.”

Shouto shivers at that last remark. Glancing up, he sees that she knows.

“Is it that obvious?” He whispers.

Uraraka shares her head. “No, but I could read the signs because, well, been there, done that?” She chuckles nervously and scratches her arms as she avoids his eyes once more. “You don’t have to, but you can talk if you want. I mean, I hate maths and if Ectoplasm asks, we can say I got sick and you stayed with me until I got better.”

Shouto feels gratitude. Indeed, he and Uraraka aren’t that close, but he still considers her a friend, and right now, she’s proving it. Tugging a little bit his hair, he considers her offer. He can’t exactly dump into her lap the whole truth; he can’t ask her about the letters, but maybe he can ease a little bit the burden.

“I think I’m in love with him… with Sero.” He whispers his name so softly he even has a hard time hearing it, but he knows Uraraka has heard him. She doesn’t press him and Shouto finds the courage to keep talking. “I just. It’s easy being with him and I’d like to keep doing so. I want to get to know him, experience how we can be together and see the kind of men we’ll become. I want to grow and get better next to him, as his friend and partner. I also want to hold and get held by him…” He trails off with his face on fire, afraid that he has said too much, but as he glances at Uraraka, he sees her with wide eyes and a soft expression.

“That’s so romantic, Todoroki. I, uh… I don’t really know Sero, but… I mean, I think you might not be the only one?”

“What?”

Uraraka nods and bites her lip. “It’s just. You know, you look at him in a way that kind of conveys how much you like him, and here’s the thing… he looks at you like that too. I think. No. I’m pretty sure he does. And like, he always stands like super close to you and yeah, he’s kind of like that with all his friends, but with you he’s always the one who seeks you and always calls you, like, ‘ROKI!, Roki, Roki! Over here, Roki! Oh Roki, I was looking for you…’ You get what I mean?” He can’t help but grimace at her using Sero’s nickname, and she catches him and frowns. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t like it when someone else calls me that,” he confesses.

Uraraka blinks and then laughs. “Oh my, trust me, neither does he. I once saw him smacking Kaminari, and I was like, weird, only Bakugou kicks Kaminari around, but then Sero hissed to him to stop calling you Roki. See? He likes you, I’m sure he does.”

Could it be? It’s true that Sero glared at Kaminari last time he called him Roki, but perhaps it was a coincidence. 

Playing with a wrinkle on his pants, he stays silent, reckoning everything he has discovered in this brief but useful conversation. 

“Uraraka, what if you received a letter from the future?”

“What do you mean?”

“A letter from Midoriya, a love one.”

She blushes hard and starts to float as she gapes a little. “Wh-what?!”

“Just a letter where he tells you how much he loves you, then you see it’s from the future… but the worst thing is that it’s not signed, but somehow you know it’s from him. But then things happen, and somehow you start to question if it’s really from him or even if that is your future.”

She stops floating and eyes him with curiosity and thoughtfulness. He knows he's said too much, so he silently begs her to just answer. That seems to shock her, and still curious, she complies. “I don’t know, I mean, how do you, I mean, how would I know it’s from him?”

“The calligraphy, the mannerisms. I bet he would describe someone’s quirk down to the t amidst it.” 

That makes Uraraka scoff. “Yeah, that does sound like him.”

“So?”

Tilting her head, she keeps observing him. “But then, even if the love letter is not signed, it’ll be obvious it’s from him. Todoroki… have you perhaps received a secret love letter from someone?”

“No.”

His answer is too curt and blunt. The lie is pretty obvious.

Uraraka smiles. “Oh, I see. Well then, if I were you, I’d talk with Sero. I mean, I’m pretty sure he likes you, and if he has gone so far as to the point he has even written you a love letter, then I don’t see why—”

“He hasn’t,” he cuts her. “No one has. Trust me, Uraraka, I don’t have any love letters from this present day.”

She frowns. “This present day?” She repeats slowly before her eyes widen. “Do you… Do you mean you have them from the future? Oh my, oh my, oh my!”

Quickly, he leaps from his position and kneels before her. “Please, don’t be so loud!”

Uraraka covers her mouth and nods, eyes still excited as she glances at him. Then she lowers her hands and whispers, “Todoroki, you’ve to tell me everything!”

After a little consideration, he does.

He feels free for the first time in months.

Faking both are sick, they manage to trick Present Mic, who luckily is the only teacher in the lounge, and head towards their dorm, where Shouto shows Uraraka one of the love letters he has. He picks one that is sweet and brief, one that doesn’t break too much of Sero’s trust in him… or whoever it is that has written it.

Mi amorrr, 

Today my intern reminded me of Kiri and his friend of Kami. It was really hilarious and even grumpy-kugo agreed with me :D He spent the whole morning trying to trade, mumbling that he couldn’t deal with another idiot trailing after him, but I told him to scram… I’m afraid he’s going to be insufferable during our next karaoke night. I’ll tell Mina to pick the most embarrassing songs just for him and then tease him until he falls for it and ends up being ridiculous.

Anyway, I really miss you, and even if I know our shifts will meet in a couple of days, it’s still bizarre that we only get to see each other for a couple of hours. I miss having you next to me when I go to sleep and when I wake up. I know you do too :( Man, being a hero sucks. Sometimes.

Babyyyyy, I want to hold you and squeeze your cheeks until they turn red and you give me a warning. 

I want to see what happens once we reach the third one :3 

Are you going to punish me, huh? Cariño, don’t huff, you know you love me ;D

Well, this was counterproductive. Now I even miss you even more T~T 

Shouto, my sweet, sweet Shouto, please, once we are back on the same schedule, would you give me the pleasure of cuddling with you for hours and then take you out on a date?

Please mark the appropriate option:

[  ] Yes

[  ] Heck yes

[  ] Absolutely! Yes!!

Someone who is absolutely not crying and missing you :))))

PS. No, no, these aren’t tears. It's sweat from how hard I’m working!!! 

Cariño, stop laughing at me, don’t be mean :(

Uraraka chuckles at first and then coos before she looks at him.

“This is really sweet.”

“I know.”

“You’re also an idiot.”

“What?”

She shakes the piece of paper. "This screams Sero. Even I can see it! I mean, c’mon, he mentions all his friends. And did you seriously consider for a second that it could be Kaminari? He literally mentions him! Why would he talk about himself in third person if it was Kaminari?”

That’s actually a good point, especially since he knows this isn’t the only letter that mentions the electric boy… yet none mention Sero, only his quirk, or at least, the writer hints at having some tape-related quirk.

“Do you think there are many tape quirks users out there?”

Uraraka’s jaw hits the floor. “You are kidding, right? You mean he mentions he has a tape quirk, and yet you are still wondering if it’s him?! Todoroki, right now I’m this close to sweep the floor with your dumb ass!”

He believes her, and he knows she can pull it out. He has seen her take down Kirishima during a sparring session. Sometimes Uraraka can be really scary. Extremely so. 

He decides to change to topic and focus on another scary thing, “What about them going missing?”

That makes her stop her playful threats. Reading the letter once more, she hums. “It could be a quirk, but not a bad one. What if future you or future Sero is the one sending them back? It could be like in a library, once time’s up, the letters go back to the future, where they belong.”

“Following that logic, shouldn’t the first letter I got be the one that goes back first?”

She grimaces at that before snapping her fingers, not even two seconds later. “How could you be sure it’s not like that? You said you don’t remember the missing letters, right? And even if it’s not that, I don’t think it’s an evil quirk or someone with bad intentions. The letters make you feel good, right?”

That's falling short, a euphemism. These letters have made Shouto fall harder for Sero, made him feel beautiful and worth being loved. Given him hope and knowledge of what love is, and that he, too, can experience it. 

One of his biggest fears has always been following in his parents' footsteps. He knows he’s not the only one. Once, Natsuo confessed to him and Fuyumi that sometimes he’s afraid of hurting his girlfriend, that he’s afraid of trapping her in a loveless relationship, because sometimes he still questions what a true functional relationship is like and if he’s doing it correctly. Shouto saw in Fuyumi’s eyes a mirror of his brother’s fears, and that only made him realise that he had that doubt rooted in his heart as well.

But. These letters, reading about how much Sero seems to love him and how Shouto loves him back, or at least that he manages to make Sero feel loved, have comforted him.

“Yes, they are not bad,” he whispers.

Uraraka gives him a smile and a soft squeeze before she folds the letter and places it back inside the box, with the other ones.

“I think you shouldn’t be so afraid, Todoroki. If this Sunday you get a letter, good, and if not, maybe it’s time for you to get a real one, one that current Sero can write to you, you know?”

“How?”

Chuckling, she closes the lid of the box and smirks. “Well, by actually dating him, silly. Ask him out! I bet he’ll say yes. Then you can make these come true.” She raps her knuckles against the box.

It can’t be that easy, right? 

The look Uraraka gives him tells him that yes, it can be that easy.

“Should I tell him?”

Raising her arms in the air, she jumps. “YES! Confess your feelings, Todoroki!”

“No, I mean about the letters.”

That deflates her. Tapping a finger over her chin, she glances at the box and then at him. “I’m not sure… I mean, when the letters disappear, you’ll forget about them, right?”

“Yes, I believe so.”

“Then, unless the letters stay, I wouldn’t tell him. I mean, you said in one he proposes, right?”

“It’s more like he plans to do so, yes.”

Uraraka clicks her tongue and swings on the heels of her feet as she glances around. “Mmh, I personally wouldn’t say anything, not for now at least. I mean, if I were Sero and you came around, telling me that some years from now I’m going to ask you to get married and all that… I’d be a little bit overwhelmed. And he never mentions it, right? I bet that if past you had told him, then he would mention it and know that you’ll say yes.”

He considers it, and even if it hurts his head a little bit, all these what-ifs and whatnots, he understands what Uraraka is essentially trying to say. 

Sero did sound nervous and even joked about Shouto turning him down in that note. If he had told him about the letters, then Sero would know that one day, they do get married and—

He can’t remember. Quickly, he opens the box and counts the letters.

“Eight. This morning there was, uh, nine? I’m pretty sure there were nine,” he mumbles to himself.

“Really?” Uraraka pipes, glancing at the box with a slight tilt. “Oh, I wouldn’t know… I mean, I don’t even remember how many there were when you showed them to me. Ooh, so this is how it happens, they just vanish? Like poof?”

“Yes. I think so, yes.”

“Well… Does that mean that I will forget I was even here, talking to you about this?”

That saddens him. Looking at Uraraka, he sees that the feeling is mutual. “Thank you,” he says from the bottom of his heart. “Even if one day we forget this, you’ve no idea of how much this means to me.”

Blushing, she chuckles and tries to play it off. “Oh, please don’t! I mean, it’s nothing, nothing. Just… ask Sero out, okay?”

“Should I do it now?”

“Right now, he’s in class,” she teases him. “But you could do it once classes are over. Do you want to plan it out or—?”

“What do you mean?”

Nodding, Uraraka pulls her phone out and starts to type. “Here, some cool date ideas.”

Taking the phone, he checks the list. Common interests catch his attention. “Oh. Mmh, well, we’re going to a Manga Exposition the next weekend, so I guess that’s off the table.”

Uraraka makes a gagging sound and punches him in the arm. “WHAT?! You two are already going on a date, and you forgot to tell me?!”

“It’s not a date?”

Snorting, she crosses her arms and wiggles her brows. “Say, are you two going alone?”

“Yes.” He hands her phone back.

“The whole day?” She keeps pressing with a grin that is getting bigger and bigger.

“Yes. He said we could have breakfast and then lunch.”

She starts to fan herself and giggle. “Oh my, oh my… Todoroki, honey, that’s a date! He totally asked you out without you even realising. How smooth! I bet he was testing the waters, trying to see if you were receptive. Is it this weekend?”

Shouto blushes a little as he ponders Uraraka’s words. Could it be true? Could Sero have already asked him out without him realising? “N-No, the next one.”

Nodding, she bites her lip and squeals. “Do you want to wait that long? If not, you could actually ask him out this weekend and then make the next one an official date.”

He considers it, and eyeing the box of letters, he shakes his head. “No. I think I’d like to keep the illusion of the letters for a little bit more. I… I know that if the letters are real, then one day we’ll have a nice thing, but I guess that at first it’ll be hard and I— I…” Frustrated as he can’t really express himself, he trails off.

Uraraka offers him a tiny smile and squeezes his wrist gently, almost encouraging him. “I understand. But Todoroki, don’t let yourself get too lost on them. I think you should seize the present! The things Sero writes on the letters might or might not happen, but right now you’ve the power to make new memories, memories that he never got to write about, memories that you’ll get to enjoy right now.”

Uraraka’s words stay with him the whole morning until classes are over and the rest of their classmates come. 

He can make new memories. 

He shouldn’t get lost in the letters.

Now that he thinks about it, he realises the first time a letter disappeared, it was one day he had spent the whole evening with Sero… or at least, he thinks so. Is that it? For every new moment he steps closer to Sero, a letter disappears?

He’s still mulling it, when a knock on his door interrupts him. Opening it, he finds Sero with a little smile, not as bright as usual, holding his things.

“You left these back in class.”

“Oh, I forgot.”

“Yeah, that’s why I brought them,” Sero teases as he offers him his blue bag. 

Nodding, Shouto takes them and gripping his door tightly, he tries to think about what to say. Should he invite Sero in? He wants to, but it feels too bizarre, not as natural as always. 

Sero, too, looks on the edge of saying something but remains silent. 

The tension goes in crescendo until Satou appears.

“Oh, hey guys. Todoroki, are you feeling better?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Nice, if you need some sugary treat or anything because you feel down again, you know which door to knock.”

“Will do.”

Then he disappears inside his room, and both he and Sero stare at it, unable to look at each other.

“So.” Sero finally says, clearing his throat. “You got dumped? Sorry. I meant— ¡Joder! Are you okay, man?”

Blinking, he has to fight really hard not to ice his door as he’s panicking. Oh, now he remembers. Ashido asked him about that and then he bolted.

“No.”

Sero’s head snaps towards him, eyes filled with concern and something else. 

He looks heartbroken, hurt and miserable, and Shouto hates it.

“No, I didn’t get dumped.”

“Oh,” Sero whispers. “Then you’re still dating them.”

“No. I’m not dating anyone.” The door creaks a little from how hard he’s holding it. He’s scared, but he does it, because if UA has taught him something is to be brave and face adversities no matter what they are. “But I do like someone and I would like to date him.”

He stares at Sero intently, trying to silently convey his message and mentally praying that he gets it. 

Sero seems nervous and a tiny smile appears on his face. It gets obscured by what Shouto now knows are self-doubts. He recalls one letter vaguely, and even if that’s worrisome because it means that letter is now gone or in the process of fading away, he still remembers enough to know that Sero is insecure regarding them, at least in the beginning. 

“Would you like to go somewhere this weekend? With me,” he adds a little bit too late, making it sound awkward, just like how he feels.

Gasping, Sero’s eyes widen as he looks at him. He seems shocked before a giant, beaming grin appears on his face. “Yeah, I’d like that. What do you want to do?”

I don’t know. I don’t care as long as it’s with you. 

He can’t say that, so he considers it. He’s not sure if it counts as a proper date, but once Sero commented off-hand, how cool it could be if they did it.

“Want to go shopping with me? We could dive into tiny second-hand book stores and try to find, hm, how did you call it?”

“Cheap kick-ass treasures,” Sero quickly says with amusement.

“Yes, that.”

“Sure thing, Roki.”

The nickname gives Shouto butterflies. Now it feels right. It only feels good when Sero says it, not when someone else does. His cheeks hurt and it’s because he’s been smiling like a fool this whole time. Luckily, Sero is grinning as well, although that’s the normal thing for him. 

He doesn’t want him to go, he wants to keep talking with him and his school bag gives him an idea, an awful one, that it’s going to be more than obvious it’s just an excuse, but that will also help him to see if Uraraka is right or not.

“I’ve missed classes.”

“Yeah, you’ve.”

“Would you mind explaining to me what you did?”

Sero snorts. “You sure about that? In case you’ve slept on it, I’m not exactly at the top, more like the other way around.”

“I’m sure,” he replies without missing a beat.

Smile widening even further, Sero takes a step closer to him. “Well, in that case, I guess I should help you.”

“Yes, I’d like that very much. I mean, appreciate it.”

Sero’s eyes do something weird. He looks almost on the edge of saying something, but in the last second, he stays silent and simply moves on, sitting in the usual place he always takes wherever Shouto has helped him study English. Sero studies a little bit with everyone: Bakugou, Yaoyorozu, Iida, and sometimes Shouto, depending on the subject he needs help with.

He sees the other boy eyeing the metallic box, and for a second, he panics. Sero doesn’t ask him what it is and why it's out and in the middle of his desk, simply waits for Shouto to move it away before he takes his notebooks out.

“Well, I must confess one thing, dude.”

“What is it?”

Chuckling, he spins his pencil between his fingers as he proclaims, “I haven’t taken a single note. I only know we’ve to do exercises 2, 3 and 6 from page 119 and exercises 7 and 8 from page 120. That’s it... Tokoyami told me so.”

Closing his drawer, hiding the box away, Shouto smiles as he opens his math book and quickly scans the pages. He opens one of his notebooks and starts to explain to Sero how it’s done. It’s not that complicated, as their textbook is pretty useful, with a lot of practical examples and even some online resources to help them understand the topic better. Placing his laptop over the table, they watch some videos and find out that one of the examples is pretty similar to exercise 3.

“Man, you ended up helping me more than the other way around!”

Smiling softly, Shouto taps his mechanical pencil as he tries to get the courage to ask Sero if their weekend date can be a date-date. 

He’s scared. He has no doubt that he likes Sero, this Sero (and future one), but he’s still unsure if this Sero likes him back or not. If their friendship will change if things go south or—

Sero would never do that.

Uraraka’s last words before she left pop into Shouto’s mind.

“Todoroki, even if Sero doesn’t like you like that, which I highly doubt, he’d never toss you aside! He’s not that kind of guy, even I know it! For sure, you must know it too.”

She’s right.

Taking a deep breath, he starts to talk. “Sero, can we—”

“SEEEEEROOOOO!”

Both boys leap a little, and right now, Shouto would like to freeze Kaminari and slam a door on his face. Somehow, Sero looks equally annoyed.

“I’ll get rid of him, okay?” He mumbles before he approaches Shouto’s door and opens it quite harshly.

Shouto grimaces as he hears the loud banging coming from the hall, probably Kaminari slamming his hand all over Sero’s door.

“DUDE, stop it!”

“Oh, there you are! Oh-oh-oh! You were with our Rooooookiiiii-boooooy~”

Shouto frowns at that. He wishes Kaminari would drop that name, or at least for now, while he’s still so unsure. Maybe once he knows for sure Sero is the one, he won’t mind… that much.

“Stop that,” Sero hisses. That makes Shouto’s attention snap back to him. He has never seen Sero angry, and right now, he looks a little bit more than annoyed. “I told you to drop it.”

“… yeah, sorry, my bad… uh. Heh, did I… did I, you know, interrupt—?”

“Yes.”

“Oh. Fuck, crap man, my bad. I better get going, then. It was just, you know, something silly and—” Sero keeps looking unamused at his friend. Shouto can’t see Kaminari, but he sounds a little bit uncomfortable. “Okay, yeah, byeee Ro— I mean, Todoroki! I’m leaving, I’m leaving! Jeez, Sero, stop being all Bakugou-like!”

Then Shouto hears someone running away and a little yell near the staircase, followed by a scream of, “I’M OKAY!”

Sero sighs and facepalms, shaking his head as he mumbles something under his breath. He doesn’t look as bothered as before, just resigned and a little bit amused. As he turns around and shuts Shouto’s door, he leans against it and looks at everything except Shouto.

“Uh… did he fall downstairs?” He asks him slowly, trying to figure out what has just happened.

That makes Sero burst into laughter, doubling over himself. Wiping away his tears, he approaches him before he plummets right where he was, next to him. “Yeah, man, he tripped and fell on the staircase. Luckily, I think he caught himself on time thanks to the railing.”

Nodding, Shouto taps the tip of his pencil against the book as silence takes over them.

He wants to go back to their conversation, but he doesn’t know how.

Sero looks a little bit put off as well. Sighing, Shouto looks around until he sees a magazine peeking from his shelf.

“Do you want to watch a movie?”

“Yeah! I mean, yes,” Sero tries to cover his initial outburst with an awkward redo. It makes Shouto feel suddenly warm. “W-What are we watching?”

“Ghost in the Shell? The original one.”

“Oh, cool, I really like that one.”

"So do I.”

As the movie starts to buffer, Sero stops the video and opens his mouth before closing it and clicking the play button once more.

Shouto barely pays any attention to the movie and once Major is floating underwater, he simply blurts, “Is it a date?”

“What?”

“I would like it if it’s a date.”

“… Major diving and Batou?”

“No, not them in the movie, us.”

Sero makes a choking noise before he smashes the pause button and turns around, looking at Shouto weirdly. He’s blushing hard, and even if he can’t really decipher what Sero’s face conveys —too many emotions going on—, he doesn’t get the feeling it’s something bad, so he keeps going on.

“This weekend. I want it to be a date. Next one too.”

Sero’s blush gets even more pronounced before he runs a hand through his hair and glances away. “Y-you mean like… the definition of date, an appointment, or… you know.”

“A date.” He repeats, unsure of what Sero means.

His answer makes Sero mumble something before he hides his face against his knees. Embracing his legs, he keeps saying something too softly for Shouto to comprehend. Before he can ask him to repeat it, Sero emerges and peeks at him through his bangs, face still red, eyes looking soft and vulnerable.

“Y-Yeah,” he croaks. “I mean… Yes to the date thing.”

“Really?” He whispers amazed. His heart pounds on his chest and he feels like floating. He feels a hundred times better than when he read those letters. 

Uraraka was right, experiencing it first hand this is a hundred times better!

Nodding, Sero slowly moves his legs back to his usual sitting stance and nervously glances at Shouto, then at the laptop, and then back at Shouto. 

“Y-you said you like someone…”

Shouto’s nerves return, but he steels himself and decides to be clear. He doesn’t want to mess this up. He wants the future written in the letters to become a reality.

“I do. I like you.”

Sero gasps and then gapes, observing him with wide eyes as his cheeks colour. Slowly, his usual grin returns and even gentler, he moves his hand across, until his fingers graze Shouto’s hand. Placing his hand over his and then intertwining their fingers softly, Sero whispers, “I like you too.”

Shouto’s heart bursts, and a tiny flame appears on his hair as frost covers a few inches of his floor.

Sero doesn’t make fun of him for it or moves away, he simply squeezes his hand and repeats it, reaffirming it.

“I really, really like you, Roki.”

It’s Sunday, and like all Sundays, Shouto has a letter to deliver. This one is special, in it, he tells his mom about his new boyfriend and how today is their first date. He has the eerie feeling that his past letters have been lacking, so this one is almost three pages long, as he went on and on about how nervous he is and how much he likes Sero and how wonderful he is. He’s a little bit embarrassed, but somehow, he has a nagging voice in the back of his head that tells him his mom deserves to know. It’s not as if she will ever judge or dislike it. Somehow, Shouto knows his mom has known for a while about his crush. He has talked about Sero before and Rei has always asked questions about him, always a little bit more curious about him than any of the other friends Shouto talks about.

As he’s getting finished with his clothes, making sure the neck of his beige sweater is properly folded, his eyes fall on a metallic box he has inside his drawer. Yesterday, he had like two or three letters inside it, if he's not wrong. As he opens it, he sees there’s only one along with a little note with a big 12 written on it. Oh. Did he have twelve letters at one point?

He faintly recalls a conversation with someone about vanishing letters, but he can’t remember now. Was it with Uraraka? He thinks so, but he’s not sure. He knows they skipped some classes a couple of days ago, but he doesn’t know why. Maybe he should ask her. 

He picks up the envelope and gently caresses his name with his thumb. As he frees the letter from its cage, he’s shocked to see it’s blank. Shocked, he turns it around. There, he can see faintly some remains of words, but there's barely any ink to decipher what the text once might have said. 

A part of him mourns the loss, another feels relief. 

He wonders why.

A knock on his door pulls him out of his daze. Shouto places the blank letter inside his drawer and picks up the one for his mom before he rushes with a smile to open the door, and there he is: his handsome boyfriend waiting with a shiny grin just for him.

Without a single word, they slide their hands together and at last, Shouto feels that everything is going to be alright or that it will be.

He doesn’t know why; he simply knows.

The red mailbox looks like it always does: same vacant street, same friendly cat perched on top of it. 

Yet something feels different. 

Taking the letter to his mom, he lifts the metallic lid and slides it inside. Then he waits, and he’s not sure of why. 

Neither is Sero. “Uh… Roki? Is something wrong?”

“No.” A beat, then he concedes. “I don’t think so, no, it’s just…” He makes a vague gesture with his hand, unable to explain what’s wrong. Sero squeezes their joint hands. Shouto smiles as he glances back at him. “It’s nothing. Let’s go, I’m kind of hungry.”

Mocking a salute, Sero starts to walk ahead towards the end of the street, where Shouto knows there’s a nice coffee shop. As they reach the end of the street, just as they are going to turn the corner, he glances back and his heart stops for a second as he swears he sees a man who looks kind of like Sero, but older, taller, bulkier… sexier, putting something inside the mailbox before he winks at Shouto and then disappears.

He stops walking and so does Sero.

“Todoroki?” 

He can’t talk, he’s unable to look away from the mailbox as a myriad of butterflies run free through his stomach. That man… he— he looked just… so hot and—

“Shouto?”

Blinking, he’s put out of the spell and as he glances at Sero, he can’t help but smile. “I like it.”

“Huh, what? Is something wrong over there?”

He feels a little inkling towards the mailbox. A part of him wants to steal another peek and see if that man is still there or not, but as he looks at the handsome boy he has right next to him, he decides that he has everything he needs right here. After all, this Sero is also hot. That last thought makes his cheeks warm up a little.

“Nothing, I just thought I saw something... And I liked it." As Sero's brows rise with confusion, he clarifies, "You can call me by my name if you wish. But I also like Roki. Only if you use it,” he adds as an afterthought.

Sero smiles and whispers, “Shouto,” making him shiver. Squeezing their joint hands, his heart leaps as Sero leans close and says, “Then I must insist that you call me Hanta.”

He does.

“Hanta... Hanta, I’d like to invite you to breakfast. Don’t worry, my father pays.”

That makes Hanta cackle and shaking his head, he resumes walking towards the coffee shop, or tries to. Feeling the sudden urge, Shouto tugs him back, and closing his eyes, he leans forward just as Sero turns around and quizzically looks at him. Their lips meet, just for a second, but it's electric.

As he draws away, he sees Sero blushing hard, lips trembling as he looks at him.

“I, uh… I just—”

Before he can try to explain why he has just done that, Sero releases their clasped hands and wraps an arm around his waist, stepping impossibly closer. Shouto closes his eyes and relaxes as Sero presses their lips together. That kiss is sweet and kind of brief... but not the following ones. Slowly, as they gain more confidence, their lips part, tongues getting involved as it gets more and more heated. At one point, his hands tangle in Hanta’s hair, and yeah, his black hair is just as soft as Shouto has always imagined it to be.

When they finally break away, Shouto feels breathless and for a couple of seconds, he’s unable to open his eyes, overwhelmed by the sweet sensation of Sero’s lips against his. Fluttering his eyes open, he sees that Hanta seems to feel the same, cheeks bright red and eyes sparkling with happiness.

Both boys smile, and then they finally make their way to the coffee shop, but this time they don’t hold hands: Hanta simply keeps his arm wrapped around Shouto’s waist, giving him a severe case of wild butterflies on his stomach. 

The whole thing turns out to be the best date of Shouto’s life: he enjoys eating with Hanta and laughing around as they find old manga at ridiculous low prices; he also loves it when they end up in Hanta’s bed, kissing a little bit more as rain has cut their date a tad shorter than either of them would have ever wanted. But it’s okay, this is a better outcome if you ask him.

All the dates that follow become the best date of Shouto’s life (until the next one). One day, almost a year from that first one, when Hanta leaves a little envelope addressed to him, some faint memories resurface as he reads the letter. It’s like a déjà vu, one that won’t become a complete memory until twelve years later, when on their anniversary, Hanta says in passing that he has met someone with a sci-fi quirk.

“You won’t believe it, it’s almost like out of a novel, I’m telling you, amor. She can send things back and forth across time and get this: once she retrieves them, boom! No one remembers them unless they actively come across them in the present, isn’t that cool? It’s a really powerful quirk, isn’t it? Ay, mi vida, I bet Mido would have a field day if he ever got to interrogate her…”

Joke's on Hanta when it is Shouto who pretty much tackles him against the closest surface and whispers, “When can I meet her? And there’s something I think I should tell you.”

[fin.]