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Shoto lifts his bottle, holding it to his lips just long enough to conceal his muttered, “Creati?”
Then he tips back the beer and drinks. Keeping his gaze resolutely focused on the reflection of their target in the mirror behind the bar, he waits.
But there’s no response.
Shoto grits his teeth and glances down at his watch. It’s been at least three minutes since he last heard from her, when she informed him that she was going to investigate an unlocked office in the back.
Damn it.
That’s far too long. They agreed to make contact every sixty seconds whenever they are separated, even if it is just a loud breath to let the other know everything is fine. It was Yaoyorozu’s idea in the first place, and she usually never fails to hold to that.
So, either the damn comms are malfunctioning or something has gone wrong on her end. Regardless, it doesn’t bode well for them.
Shoto’s jaw tightens as he weighs his options. They have already been here several times over the last month to gather as much information as possible without sticking their necks out too much. But tonight is the first time either of them have taken such deliberate action to further their investigation. Yaoyorozu seemed confident in her ability to do so without being caught while Shoto keeps watch, but now he is thinking that it might be best to pull back for tonight and try another tactic.
Shoto edges away from the crowded bar, careful to keep the large man speaking with the bartender within sight.
“Yaoyorozu,” he vehemently hisses, “Come in.”
He slows his breathing as he waits, listening carefully.
His eyes flicker back down to his watch - four minutes now.
Shoto continues to wait, grinding his teeth together as he tries not to think about what kind of trouble Yaoyorozu could get into at a shady shit-hole like this.
But the line remains dead. He hears nothing apart from the ear-throttling bass of the speakers, the occasional clinking of glasses, and the raucous laughter and shouts of the club’s other inhabitants.
As soon as five minutes have passed, Shoto resolves to find her. From his periphery, he can see that the alleged drug-pushing club owner is still preoccupied at the bar. Gambling that he has at least a few minutes, he takes off in the direction she went before.
He tries to recall Yaoyorozu’s brief whispered commentary to him as he makes his way to the far side of the club. There, he finds a small, empty hall in the corner that he follows.
Shoto stops at the first door and leans close to listen for any inhabitants. That is when he notices something glinting on the floor further down the hall. With a frown, he steps forward and bends to get a better look: It is a red hair clip, with a small diamond on the end. Noting its familiarity, Shoto smiles to himself and picks it up.
Once again, it seems that Yaoyorozu has anticipated the unexpected and predicted that he might come looking for her.
Shoto looks carefully back down the way he came to ensure he hasn’t attracted any unwanted attention. Then, he quickly turns the doorknob with the tail of his shirt (Yaoyorozu would kill him if he left his prints) and slips inside.
“Hey,” Shoto says hesitantly when he enters, only to find the room empty.
He is met with a loud exhale as Yaoyorozu emerges from under a desk. “You scared me,” she says, grasping onto her sleeveless, red silk top.
“You haven’t been responding,” he replies. His gaze sweeps the small office before landing on Yaoyorozu again. This time, he notices that she is wearing gloves and holding a stack of papers.
“I think the comms are down,” she answers briskly, “But don’t worry about that - look what I’ve found.” She holds the papers out for him to see. “It looks like some of their financials.”
Shoto raises his eyebrows. He didn’t anticipate that they would be able to find something so useful.
“It’s made to look like it’s just normal paperwork for a night club such as this,” Yaoyorozu continues as her eyes scan over the papers, “But the numbers don’t make sense to me. I think it might be coded somehow.”
Another small smile settles onto Shoto’s face. He has always been impressed by her ability to pick up on things like that.
“I’ve already taken photos,” Yaoyorozu continues. “Hopefully this will help the detectives get a solid lead on the case,” she says before replacing the documents carefully into a drawer of the desk sitting in the middle of the room. She carefully removes her gloves, and Shoto averts his eyes as she stuffs them into the top of her tightly-fitted blouse. “I was just finishing up before you came in. I think we can -”
She stops suddenly, her eyes growing wide.
Shoto hears it - heavy footfalls coming from outside, then the settling of the door, possibly as someone grasps the doorknob...
Fuck.
He is wracking his brain for an escape plan when Yaoyorozu suddenly rounds the desk and pulls him roughly by the collar of his shirt, just as he hears the doorknob turning.
Shoto is completely unprepared when, instead of shoving him out of sight, Yaoyorozu crashes her lips against his. She swallows his breath of surprise in a full kiss, gripping the back of his neck and pulling him closer until they stop with an abrupt bump against the desk.
His heart beats fast as he tries to register what is happening. Yaoyorozu yanks the hand hanging limply at his side to her leg, which she hooks around his hip. His fingers briefly jolt against the smooth skin of her bare thigh before he realizes her intention. In silent understanding, he palms her flesh, perhaps digging his fingers a little too roughly in his eagerness.
Shoto groans in satisfaction at the closeness, the heat building between them, and returns her kiss with equal fervor. Unable to help himself, he slips his tongue through her parted lips and drags out a moan from the back of her throat. Even though he is sure it’s mostly put-on, the sound just further fuels the fire that she -
“Hey, what the hell is this?!”
Just as quickly as she started it, Yaoyorozu pulls away from him with a loud gasp. She then gives an unexpected giggle and a breathless, cloying, “Oops! ”
Shoto blinks in dazed surprise before turning to look at their intruder. The glare he sends to the man they’ve been surveilling is full of genuine displeasure at being interrupted.
“How the fuck did you get in here?!” the man shouts, taking a step forward. He thrusts a finger toward the door. “Get the hell out!”
“Ugh, fine,” Yaoyorozu says. Shoto turns his attention back to her when she tugs at his collar again. Her eyes lock onto his, dark and sultry, and she drawls, “Let’s finish this at my place.”
He knows that she is just keeping up with the charade, but that doesn’t stop this intense electricity that seems to travel from her hand on his chest down to the tips of his toes, leaving his body buzzing with a strange, elated tension.
She then pushes off of the desk, smooths down her rather short skirt, and leads Shoto toward the door by the hand. “You know, if you don’t want people in here, you might remember shutting the door,” Yaoyorozu says to the man as they pass by, in a very airy and pretentious voice Shoto’s never heard her use before.
Shoto takes one last look at the club owner before they are past the threshold, watches his brows furrow as the man seems to analyze her words. But before he can say anything else, Yaoyorozu is insistently tugging Shoto out of the room and down the hall.
Even before they’ve fully entered the throng of club-goers, Yaoyorozu leans in close again, startling Shoto. She places a hand on his chest, over his wildly beating heart, and whispers in his ear, “Keep it up.”
Right. It’s entirely possible they are being watched after that.
He hesitantly slides an arm around her shoulders, but she shrugs it down until his hand catches her hip, and he can just barely feel the curve of her ass along his forearm.
Shoto’s eyes widen a fraction and his body stiffens. Throwing a glance toward Yaoyorozu, he observes that she seems perfectly at ease, putting out the guise of a normal club-goer so easily.
How is she -
“Act like you’re telling me what you want to do to me.”
The sudden whispered instructions have Shoto’s body nearly going rigid again as they continue making their way through the sea of people.
What he wants to do to her…
A few thoughts enter his mind: Her long hair splayed out across rumpled sheets… Whimpers of his name as he kisses and nips along the sensitive skin of her inviting neck… Her bare body against his, so soft, so warm, so perfect as they -
Yaoyorozu grips his arm tightly, pulling Shoto’s attention back to the present. His blood feels molten in his veins as he struggles to push away such elicit thoughts.
He definitely cannot tell her about any of that.
Hesitantly, he dips his head down toward her. “I… don’t really know what to say…'' he whispers as quietly as he possibly can. His lips tingle when they brush against the shell of her ear. He grits his teeth at the sudden impulse to tug her earlobe between his lips.
She hums in response. Turning to flash him a rather uncharacteristically wicked smile, she remarks aloud, “I love it when you talk dirty to me.”
Shoto looks away as a hot flush covers his face.
They finally make it outside to the nondescript car the agency lent them for the undercover mission. Shoto opens the driver’s side door for Yaoyorozu before going around. It is with a heavy exhale of relief that he finally settles into his seat. He opens his mouth, the words ‘that was close’ on the tip of his tongue, but then Yaoyorozu leans over the middle console and pulls his lips to hers again.
He is taken by such surprise that he doesn’t even have time to react before her lips slip off of his to trail along the side of his face. Gaping out the windshield, he struggles, once again, to understand what she is doing.
Was she being serious about continuing what she started?
He thought she was acting solely to protect their cover. But, could it be that, like him, her actions are fueled by…deeper feelings?
Shoto’s heart starts to pound fast in his chest again. With each soft kiss pressed to his jaw, his body grows hotter and hotter. His breath hitches when he feels her teeth graze the underside of his jaw, and he tentatively moves his hands to curl around her slim wrists.
His mind clouds with thoughts of kissing her again, of trailing his mouth along her neck, just as she is doing to him now. But he wants to know, he needs to know, that this isn’t just -
Yaoyorozu’s lips suddenly stop when they reach his ear: “Is anyone watching us?”
The tension all but sags from Shoto’s body as her words have his head plummeting back down to the earth.
So, she is still putting on an act for the damn mission.
Trying to ignore the burn of disappointment in his chest, Shoto surveys their surroundings.
“No, I don’t think so,” he mutters when he doesn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
Yaoyorozu’s hot breath wafts against his neck as she sighs deeply before retreating back to her side of the car. She turns the key and the engine roars. Some pop song bursts out from the radio.
“Got me looking so crazy right now, your love’s
Got me looking so crazy right now (your love)”
Shoto’s stomach lurches when the lyrics of a love ballad pull for his attention, seemingly mocking him. His fingers twitch as he feels the urge to shut it off, or at least turn down the volume. Instead he turns to stare resolutely out the window, lifting a hand to cover the bottom half of his red face as he tries to calm the still-rapid beating of his heart.
“Got me hoping you’ll page me right now, your kiss
Got me hoping you’ll save me right now
Looking so crazy, your love’s
Got me looking, got me looking so crazy in love”
Shoto cannot get out of the car quick enough when Yaoyorozu pulls into the lot for his apartment complex. But she doesn’t grant him the privilege of a fast exit.
Instead of driving up to the door to let him out as she’s done before, she maneuvers into a spot in the lot. The one she chooses is close by the front, but remains rather hidden from the bright light at the entrance of the building.
She reaches forward to press the volume button, shutting off the radio.
The car is dark, quiet. The tension lays over them like a thick fog. Shoto’s hand fidgets against his leg, fisting and unfisting as he struggles with his discomfort.
His mind continued to play back their kiss the entire way here. His lips still twitch with the desire to move against hers again. His body feels agitated by the unresolved tension stirred up by their provocative position.
Their first kiss held so much passion. As dedicated to their mission as she is, Shoto doubts that even Yaoyorozu is that exceptional an actor. Again, as he continued to think it over, he could not help but wonder if part of her has any real feelings for him.
Shoto slowly turns his head to study her shadowed silhouette. It is obvious that she wants to talk. But what about? The mission?
Or…
“Todoroki…” Yaoyorozu starts after a moment. “I, uhm, I…wanted to apologize...”
Shoto furrows his brows. He cannot see her eyes clearly, as she is still facing straight ahead. But he notes how her hands grip the wheel rather tightly.
“I hope… I hope that I didn’t make you uncomfortable,” she mumbles, her timid tone a far cry from the confidence she exhibited back at the club. “Back there. I - that - it was the first thing I thought of…”
She means the kiss, he realizes.
Kisses.
“It’s fine,” Shoto practically chokes out in his haste to reassure her. “I - it -” He hesitates.
There isn’t much more to say about it. Well, there is, he supposes, but he’s definitely not going to say anything more to her. Not now.
“It’s fine,” he adds. “You got us out without any problems. It was - it was a smart idea.”
“Oh, ok…” she replies, though she sounds downtrodden, like his response disappointed her in some way.
They fall quiet again. Shoto debates whether he ought to just get out of the car now before he says something to worsen the situation. But a part of him doesn’t want to. He doesn’t know what to say, but he feels like he needs to say something so that she will stop frowning like that.
“Really,” he tells her. “I - it’s fine, Yaoyorozu.”
She finally turns to face him. Her eyes shine in the darkness of the car. A yearning tugs at Shoto’s navel and he finds himself staring back at her wistfully. His chest floods with the affection that he usually manages to keep at bay.
If he could just work up the courage to tell her…
Could she possibly - ?
“I just,” Yaoyorozu says, “We - we…. I like…”
For a moment, Shoto's stomach lifts.
Yaoyorozu swallows. “I - I like…being friends with you… And I don’t want things to be weird.” With a tilt of her head, she asks, “You know?”
Shoto takes a deep breath and forces those feelings, those thoughts away. She doesn’t want him to think this was more than it was, she means.
“It won’t be,” he tells her, mustering a smile. “Don’t worry.”
She continues to watch him. His jaw aches from the strain of keeping a straight face.
“So… we’re good?” she asks.
“Yeah.” It almost hurts to force the word out. Shoto nods. “We’re good.”
“Todoroki?”
Shoto nearly jumps out of his skin at the gentle touch to his shoulder. He drops the file he was holding, allowing the contents to fall out and slide across the floor of their office breakroom.
“Crap,” he mutters, feeling his face burn as he kneels to pick up the pages.
“I’m sorry if I startled you,” Yaoyorozu then says. “I was just wondering if I could see one of those documents? I want to check something before we start the briefing.”
Shoto gives a terse nod and gathers the stack together as quickly as he can, avoiding looking at her legs as she takes a step closer to him. Even in his periphery, there is far too much bare skin for his eyes to greedily drink in. His fingers tremble as he recalls how it felt to touch the soft, soft skin of her thigh. His chest grows tight as he thinks about how perfectly her body fitted against his, her hips flush against his, her curvy thighs all but wrapped around him…
The room starts to feel warmer as his mind’s eye supplies an image of the two of them kissing, with Yaoyorozu pinned between him and the hardwood of a desk behind her.
In his imagination, they aren’t interrupted. In his imagination, Shoto is less timid and doesn’t hesitate to take control, reaching behind her to sweep the contents off of the desk before slipping his hands under her skirt to lift her up onto it. In his imagination, the moan she rewards him when his tongue slides into her mouth isn’t put-on. In his imagination, she wants him just as badly as he -
“Todoroki?”
Shoto reels back, throwing a hand out behind his body to catch himself. His eyes widen as they lock onto Yaoyorozu’s.
Her brows lift as she looks at him. Her eyes are clouded with concern. Now crouched in front of him, she pulls her extended hand back close to her chest, as though he might have burned her.
“I’m sorry,” she says again, more hesitantly. “...Are you alright?”
Shoto gapes at her. His mouth is dry as he struggles to force the fantasies out of his head.
“I, uhm -”
His eyes stray from hers momentarily and he swallows before hurriedly looking up toward the ceiling.
Too much damn skin.
He suddenly thrusts the file toward her. “H - here.". And then he scrambles to his feet and gets away as fast as he can.
“Mhm hm, mhm hm,” Kaminari says, scrunching his face in confusion despite nodding along. After Shoto finishes, Kaminari looks up and narrows his eyes as if trying to solve a difficult puzzle. “You do realize that your Quirk is better suited for this, though, right? Why are you asking to switch again?”
“I… I’ve been feeling off today.” Shoto’s shoulders sag under the weight of such a pathetic excuse. “I don’t want to jeopardize the mission.”
It’s not untrue, but he feels uncomfortable for essentially avoiding his job because he cannot stop fantasizing about his colleague.
He’s not a damn teenager anymore. Why can’t he just control himself?
“Well, alright,” Kaminari replies with a shrug. “I guess it really isn’t that big a deal. I should be able to handle it fine.” Flashing Shoto a smile and digging an elbow into his ribs, he says, “Besides, with Yaomomo’s brains, this’ll be a cinch, eh?”
“Right.” Shoto’s chest clenches. A buoyant feeling fills his stomach when he pictures her face. “Yeah.”
“Okay, see ya. Feel better, man,” Kaminari bids with a wave as he walks off. “Oi, Kyoka! Todoroki’s gonna go on patrol with you, instead!”
“Great. I won’t have to listen to you talking the whole time, then.”
“Aw, come on, Kyoka!”
Shoto frowns down at the floor as the couple’s squabble goes on in the background.
It’s still unnerving how much a simple interaction affected him. It has been a couple of days since the kiss he shared with Yaoyorozu. Once the initial tension subsided, he didn’t think it would be an issue anymore.
It isn’t like he is only just now noticing what an attractive woman she is. That was clear to him from the first moment he saw her at U.A.’s written exam for prospective recommendation students.
He never kissed her before, though, obviously. That only ever happened in the brief daydreams he occasionally succumbed to during math class when they were in high school.
But he thought he was past all that… She’s always made it clear that they are friends, that his friendship means so much to her.
If he can’t even talk to her at work without completely losing his shit, then how -
“Alright there, slick?”
Shoto jolts at the sudden voice close by.
Jiro leans away and appraises him nervously. “What is up with you? You’re not gonna puke on me, are you?”
“No,” replies Shoto with furrowed brows and a frown. He turns to head toward the stairs.
“Alright,” Jiro says skeptically as she follows. “Just, like, keep your distance - Denki said you’re not feeling well and I don’t wanna catch it.”
Shoto purses his lips as he leads the way down. He sucks in a breath when they reach the bottom floor. “I’m not sick,” he mutters before pushing the door open.
“Really?”
He glances to see Jiro coming up on his side. She leans forward a little to meet his eyes. “‘Cause you kinda look like crap.”
Shoto huffs back. He feels like crap. He opens his mouth, is on the verge of saying so, but closes it again. It would maybe be nice to say something to someone, and at least Jiro doesn’t usually gossip like Kaminari or Ashido might.
But she is Yaoyorozu’s best friend and he feels like he can’t say anything without being completely obvious and making a fool of himself.
“Haven’t slept well,” Shoto simply mutters back.
‘Sorry, can’t. I’m visiting my mom’
Shoto frowns down at the message. It is the third time in the past few weeks he has turned down an invitation from Yaoyorozu like this, when they regularly spend time together during their off days.
The guilt gnaws at him. But what else is he going to do? He still can’t look her in the eye, let alone have a conversation with her or spend an evening with her, without feeling like he might burst into flames any second. He has even had to rearrange his work responsibilities to limit their time together, swapping patrols, jumping at single-person dispatch calls, getting himself taken off of missions…
Shoto’s jaw sets as he slips his phone back into his pocket. He closes his eyes and inhales deeply.
Hopefully, with a little time apart, things can go back to normal. They have to. It seems both his career and one of his most treasured relationships depends on it.
He glances back down at his phone, his gaze fixing on the little smiley face that Yaoyorozu sent alongside her enthusiastic invitation to a new action movie that’s out. Thoughts of what could be once again enter his mind - the two of them going to a movie together, like they often do, only this time holding hands, leaning against one another closely, perhaps even stealing a kiss in the darkened theater.
A phantom tingle runs through Shoto’s lips as he recalls that night at the club.
Then, another memory surfaces: “So… we’re good?”
With a painful feeling in his gut and sudden tension in his jaw, Shoto snaps himself out of the brief daydream and shoves his phone in his pocket. He can’t keep doing this. He has to find a way to live with the reality that it’s never going to be that way.
Even if some semblance of these feelings will always be with him, he would rather just shove them back down and stay friends than lose her entirely.
But, as he should have anticipated, Momo Yaoyorozu is too stubborn to allow him such an easy way out. No more than a half hour later, Shoto opens his door to find her standing at his threshold.
“Y - Yaoyorozu,” he stutters as his eyes widen at the sight of her.
“Todoroki,” she replies calmly, if a bit stiffly. A furrowing of her brows wrinkles her normally relaxed forehead. And her usual soft smile has been replaced by a slight frown, complete with a noticeable tension in her jaw.
“I see you aren’t with your mother,” she says pointedly.
A lump forms in his throat as he senses her displeasure with him. “Well -”
“I only came by to speak with you, and I can make it quick if needed,” she interjects. “Would you mind terribly if I come in?”
Shoto swallows.
“‘Course not,” he murmurs, widening the door to allow her entrance. He glances at her apprehensively as she walks inside and gracefully begins to remove her footwear. When he turns back to face her after closing the door, he is startled to find her standing so close, staring him down with her arms crossed in front of her chest.
In hindsight, he should have known that she would pick up on his avoidant behavior and have something to say about it. He feels a sense of dread as he braces himself.
“I’m just going to be straight about this,” she prefaces. “Do you have a problem with me, Todoroki? Have I offended you somehow?”
Shoto’s stomach lurches and his cheeks grow warm as he stares at her.
“Uh -”
“And please do us both a favor and skip the part where you pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about,” she adds sharply. “You’ve been acting strangely - Kyoka and Kaminari agree, so it’s not just me - and you’ve been avoiding me for a while now. I know for a fact that you switched all the patrols we would have done together in the past two weeks and I have been informed that you made a formal request that we not be teamed up anymore.”
A crack in her voice at the end of her speech tugs at Shoto’s heart. His face falls as she glances away from him. Until now, everything about this encounter has made him think she is angry with him. Her curt tone, rigid posture, the terrifying gleam in her eyes.
But now she just looks like she might cry.
She takes a deep breath, her gaze still on his floor. “If it’s something I’ve done,” she says, “I wish you would have told me so I could at least have tried to make things right before you felt you needed to push me away like this…”
“No, no… Yaoyorozu, you haven’t done anything wrong at all,” Shoto replies, reaching out hesitantly. “It’s - I’m sorry. Please don’t be upset. This is my issue. It’s not you.”
She looks back up at him, brows still furrowed, eyes still watery. Instead of appearing reassured, Shoto can see irritation clear in her eyes again. “You’re honestly giving me the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech? What is this, Todoroki, some kind of… break up? Are we - are we not friends anymore?”
“N - no,” Shoto replies quickly. “Of course… we’re still…friends. It’s just…”
“Just what?” Yaoyorozu presses.
“It’s just -” Shoto gives his head a shake. Anxiety quickens his heart rate, clouds his mind as he toils over the right words. One false move and everything might be wrecked beyond repair. “It’s - it’s complicated. Alright?” he says before heaving a sigh.
“It’s complicated? ” Yaoyorozu gapes at him and steps forward. “Do you even hear yourself right now?”
“Yaoyorozu,” Shoto groans. “I - You don’t understand -”
“No, I don’t,” she retorts quickly. “Tell me so that I can understand. Please.”
“I…” Shoto’s mouth hangs open for several seconds. The lump returns to his throat. He is starting to think that he won’t be able to give her a satisfactory response without coming clean about his feelings.
But what if she doesn’t feel the same after all?
A loud sigh pulls Shoto’s attention back to Yaoyorozu.
“Forget it,” she murmurs, before turning and bending to pick up her shoes. “All I came for is a straight answer about why you’re obviously shutting me out. If you don’t have the decency to at least afford me that, then I guess there’s nothing more -”
“Yaoyorozu! I just - I want you and I can’t stop thinking about you!”
She stops, dropping the sandal in her left hand back onto the floor.
Shoto, with his hands held up in surrender, stares at her back, breathing heavily. A thick silence falls between them as they seem to simultaneously process his words.
Yaoyorozu then turns back toward him, arching her eyebrows upwards.
“What did you say?” she asks quietly.
Shoto averts his eyes as a hot flush takes over his face. His heart thumps hard in his chest.
He opens his mouth to reply, but only stares at the floor for a few moments as he considers how best to put it. Closing his eyes briefly and drawing a deep breath, he then resigns himself to the truth, in whatever words it comes to him.
“I am… very attracted to you,” he admits softly. “Ever since you kissed me, I…can’t stop thinking about you. It’s made it hard to be around you. I’m distracted, practically useless whenever you’re around. Honestly, even when you’re not around…”
He glances at her, noticing that the surprise has left her face. Her eyes are still piercing, though, and her lips have thinned. She is looking at him so intently that he finds himself shying away again, moving his gaze down to the floor.
“It’s not really something I wanted you to know about or be burdened by,” Shoto mutters. “I’m sorry that I hurt you. I think… I just need a little time and some space, and then… then we can be friends again. I promise. I’ll - I’ll get over it.”
It’s quiet once more. He stands riddled with anxiety as he waits to hear what she has to say. Of all the times he imagined confessing his long-held feelings to Yaoyorozu, he never thought it would go like this.
Has he ruined everything?
Then he hears a breath.
“Are you sure…that’s what you want?”
Shoto’s heart skips. His lips part in an exhale of surprise, and his eyes slowly return to hers again.
“What do you mean?” he asks carefully.
“I mean…” She glances away. “Maybe - maybe there’s another option that would be…more amenable to both of us…”
Shoto notices how her cheeks flush, how she bites her bottom lip nervously.
“I’m not fishing for some kind of favor from you, Yaoyorozu…”
Yaoyorozu blinks at him a few times in confusion, her frown deepening. Then, she widens her eyes and turns away as her face grows beet red. Exhaling noisily, she remarks, “That isn’t what I meant, Todoroki.”
“Then what did you mean?” he asks, watching her.
She makes an exasperated sort of growl, her cheeks puffy. “You really can be quite dense, you know that?”
Shoto frowns. Dense? What is it that he is supposed to be understanding here?
Taking another breath, she continues, “I was trying to subtly imply that, maybe, instead of avoiding me indefinitely and ignoring your feelings, you could be honest with me and, I don’t know, ask me out? ” She raises her eyebrows pointedly.
Ask her out?
Shoto gapes at her, his brows knitting together as he thinks it over. For a while, he simply stutters over his own breaths before managing to pull himself together enough to respond. “You - I… You think I didn’t consider that?”
“Well, did you?”
He shakes his head in disbelief. Is she saying she wants him to ask her out, then? And she’s making it sound like it should have been obvious, even though she’s never given any indication that such an offer would be positively received. Every time Shoto thought they were growing closer, Yaoyorozu would emphasize the fact that they are friends. It was almost like she knew what was on his mind and was purposefully making it abundantly (painfully) clear to him that they would never be anything else.
Is she now saying that there is more to it than that?
Shoto’s frown deepens and he takes a step closer to her. “Of course I’ve thought about it. The only reason I haven’t asked you out before is because you keep going on and on about what good friends we are and how much our friendship means to you. How am I supposed to know you’re interested in more?”
“On and on?” Yaoyorozu scoffs, though she flushes and turns away. “I - I don’t think so, Todoroki. I’ve been flirting with you pretty openly for a long time now. How on earth have you not noticed?”
“Flirting? You - you’ve never done any flirting,” Shoto retorts, completely bewildered as he tries to recount any instance of Yaoyorozu blatantly flirting with him. He doesn’t recall her ever acting out of the ordinary toward him. If she did suddenly start to ‘openly’ flirt with him, as she puts it, surely he would have noticed?
“What?!” Her eyes grow comically wide at his rebuttal. “Coming by your desk every single day just to chat? The very careful accidentally-on-purpose touching of our hands when we patrol together? Strategically ordering too much cold soba - which, I’m sorry, I don’t even like much - just so you would have lunch with me? Giggling at your comments and jokes even when they’re not that funny?!” She huffs at him. “I have agonized over coming up with suitable excuses upon excuses to get together with you on our off days for - for months and months, and now you’re telling me that it’s all completely gone over your head?!”
Shoto stares, mouth hanging open, face completely flushed.
He remembers those things. He would look forward to her coming by his desk, to the occasional brush of skin during patrol, to their regular lunchtimes in the office breakroom.
But he never thought those were special moments to her. He attributed it to the same friendliness Yaoyorozu shows everyone, and coincidence.
“Wait… You…did all that on purpose?” he asks.
“So dense!” Yaoyorozu cries out, throwing her hands up. She starts pacing, muttering quickly, “I used to think you were just trying to be nice, acting like you didn’t notice because you didn’t feel the same and wanted to avoid embarrassing me. Just when I think I ought to give up on you, you do something so sweet and so utterly confusing that makes me think maybe you do have feelings and that I should keep dropping hints or even confess myself. But then -”
“Yaoyorozu?” Shoto tries to interject carefully as he notices a concerning uptick in her nervous energy.
“- you go back to acting completely disinterested and aloof, which tanks any confidence that I might have managed to scrounge up. Ugh! You have no idea how absolutely frustrating it is trying to get your attention, Todoroki! And you just have to be so cool about everything, so it’s next to impossible to tell if any of it has even the slightest effect on you -”
“Yaoyorozu,” Shoto attempts again, a little more forcefully.
“- let alone whether or not you might actually like me back, or if all you will ever see me as is your former classmate, your colleague, your pal, someone you would never -”
“Yaoyorozu.” This time, Shoto plants himself in front of her. He places his hands firmly on her shoulders, forcibly stopping her from continuing her endless, figure-eight path.
She stops abruptly. When she looks up at him, her eyes are wide and fiery. Her chest heaves from the exertion of airing her frustrations.
“I’m - I’m sorry,” Shoto says, at a loss. He didn’t realize there was so much planning and worrying and strategizing involved in having feelings for another person. Why not just tell them and be done with it?
Of course, he thinks that and yet he never could quite work up the courage to confess to her either. He now realizes that telling himself he never had a chance because of their friendship was probably just his way of chickening out.
If only he had gotten over himself and simply asked her on a date long before this, maybe he would not have hurt her so badly. At least she kept trying, even if she was likewise hesitant to make a bold confession outright. Meanwhile, Shoto simply kept pushing his deeper feelings down, complacent with a nice fantasy in which things were less complicated.
“And then I kissed you,” Yaoyorozu says quietly, her voice thick, as she looks away from him. “I - I was stupid and impulsive and…I kissed you…”
Shoto can feel her shoulders drop in his grip, and the ensuing guilt weighs heavily on him.
"You kissed me back, you seemed...to like it," she continues. "So I thought that...maybe... But then, you - when you didn't say anything...when you acted like it was nothing...when you started to distance yourself..."
She bites her lip, eyes trained on the floor, and gives a shrug. “It was totally and - and completely illogical of me to expect anything different, but I… It broke my heart, Todoroki.”
“I thought I’d ruined everything,” she then adds faintly.
"You didn't," Shoto insists quickly. "You - I did like the kiss. It - it was a good kiss. I -" He stops, at a loss once more. His stomach sinks as he stares down at her: Red in the face and frowning, she continues to avoid his gaze.
Although, now he suspects it is less out of anger and more out of bashfulness.
Shoto twists his mouth uncomfortably, bites down on his lip. He wishes he knew the right words to say. He knows what he wants to tell her, but he doesn't know what she needs to hear.
“Uhm.” He shifts and clears his throat. “I… What…what can I do to make up for it?”
Yaoyorozu sniffles softly, then looks up and meets his gaze with teary eyes.
“What?” she asks, frowning.
“Let me make it up to you,” Shoto reiterates. “I hate seeing you upset because of me…and how dense I apparently am.” He grins at her sheepishly. “Tell me what I can do to make you smile again.”
Yaoyorozu continues to stare at him. Her cheeks grow pinker and her eyes wider.
“Uh -” Mouth hanging open, the words seem to catch in her throat. “Y - you…” She looks back down and slowly shakes her head. “That - that won’t be necessary. I didn't mean for you to, uhm... I just…”
“Yaoyorozu,” Shoto murmurs. He tentatively reaches for her chin, swiping his thumb below her full lips; he’d really like to kiss her, but wants to address her feelings properly first. At his touch, she gasps, her eyes growing wide again as she meets his gaze.
“I’m not surprised that you say it isn’t necessary,” he says, his smile now teasing; he cannot help but relish the effect he seems to have on her. “But nevertheless, I would like to do something to make up for all the stress I’ve caused you. So, please, tell me what I can do.”
She appraises him for a moment. Then her flush deepens and she looks away, muttering something unintelligible under her breath.
“What was that?” Shoto leans closer.
“A proper confession,” Yaoyorozu says, flitting her eyes to his. Her cheeks grow redder and redder. “I just - I essentially confessed to you with that embarrassing spiel. And I know you said that - that you are attracted to me, that you liked kissing me, but you didn’t say…” She purses her lips. “But now I would like…a proper confession, if that is truly how you feel.”
His smile widens and Shoto snorts softly. “A proper confession,” he muses, reaching to take her hands in his. “Alright, then.”
“Don’t snort,” Yaoyorozu squeaks indignantly as she tries to tug her hands out of his grip. “If you’re going to laugh at me, then I don’t even want it -”
“I’m not laughing,” Shoto promises, though he has to work quite hard to force himself not to chuckle at her reaction. He covers her hands more securely with his and dips his head to better meet her eyes. “No laughing,” he reiterates, keeping his face as straight as possible. “Ok?”
She doesn’t say anything, but now watches him almost expectantly while biting her lip rather adorably. Shoto takes a step back and kneels down on both knees.
“Wait -” Yaoyorozu’s eyes widen. “You - What are you doing?”
“You said you wanted a proper confession,” he remarks, adjusting himself.
“Todoroki,” she moans nervously as she starts to fidget, “People don’t - this is not how confessions are generally supposed to go -”
“Well, I’ve never confessed to anyone before, so I’m winging it.”
She gapes at him, then starts tugging at his hands. If Shoto did not already promise that he wouldn’t laugh, her sudden change in behavior (after she requested this proper confession in the first place) would have him chuckling.
“Ok, ok,” she says, still trying to pull him back up to his feet. “You’ve made your point. Now get up. Please. This is getting embarrassing. I take it back. I don’t -”
“Momo Yaoyorozu -”
“- Oh dear. Todoroki -”
“I like you,” Shoto continues, keeping his eyes locked onto hers. He grasps her hands tighter, and her efforts to stop him grow less insistent. “A lot. More than I can put into words.”
She finally stops tugging at his hands. Her eyes growing round and shiny as she stares back at him, now fully attentive.
Shoto’s stomach flutters as he admires her face and recalls all the wonderful memories he has shared with her over the last six years. Looking back on the progression of their relationship, maybe he should have seen this coming. From engaging in awkward small talk between classes, to supporting each other during the occasional team-up, and then confiding in one another and spending more time together since starting at the same agency after graduation… It almost feels like they were always gravitating closer and closer to each other, and to this moment.
“I…” He hesitates, struggling. Him saying that he could not properly put words to his feelings was an understatement. But he is damn well going to try. If Momo Yaoyorozu wants a proper confession from him, then that is what she will get.
“You’re special to me. I… have always enjoyed any time I’ve spent with you,” Shoto goes on, simply saying exactly what is coming to him in the moment. “And I… I think that…you are so beautiful, and - and kind, caring, intelligent… Strong, too, of course. Not to mention fun and carefree, but sensible. You’ve always been so thoughtful, considerate, dependable, and -”
A small smile that has been growing on Yaoyorozu’s face suddenly breaks with a gentle snort. She turns away, lifting a hand to cover her mouth.
Shoto stops. Resisting the desire to smile, he instead raises an eyebrow at her. “So, I’m not allowed to laugh at you for requesting a so-called proper confession, but you can laugh while I am trying to do said confession?”
“Sorry,” she replies, her voice muffled by her hand. A brief giggle follows before she seems to regain her composure. “I’m really sorry. I - it’s just - it was starting to sound like that could go on for a while, so...”
“It could go on for a while,” Shoto confirms with a smile. “There are a lot of things about you that I like.”
“Well, then I am very sorry for interrupting,” she says, biting at her lip, “Do please go on.”
Shoto shakes his head at her. “I don’t know if I can even do it now after you ruined my painstaking build up.”
“Todoroki!” she chides with a half-moan, half-laugh.
Shoto grins. His heart skips a beat as he watches the way her eyes crinkle and her cheeks flush with her smile.
“You’re incredible,” he says under his breath. His jaw tenses as his thoughts turn serious once more, as he thinks about how important this woman has become to him, how desperately he would like to keep that smile on her face always.
“You’ve already brightened my life so much, ever since I first met you,” Shoto continues, “And I would be very happy if you would be my girlfriend.”
Warmth gathers in his chest as he watches tears well up around her eyes again. Her lips twitch and she looks him over for a while before glancing away. “You know,” she says stiffly, “You - you shouldn’t make your girlfriend cry so much in one day.”
“Duly noted,” Shoto replies, slowly ascending onto his feet so he can better comfort her. He cannot help but smile widely. The fact that a confession from him elicited such emotion in her makes him feel incredibly cared for and further reinforces his own feelings for her.
“I take it that’s a yes, then?” he ventures, bobbing his head to try to meet her watery gaze.
She scoffs good-naturedly and smiles. “Of course it’s a yes,” she replies, eyes sparkling with mirth as they meet his. “What are you, dense?”
“So I’ve been told,” he says, moving closer to wrap his arms around her waist. “It’s probably best to spell everything out for me.”
Yaoyorozu’s smile widens and she snakes her arms around his waist as well. “Oh, is that so?” she asks. She scrapes her teeth over her bottom lip as she looks him over. “Well, in that case…”
Shoto’s heart skips as she starts to close the distance between them. His lips part in anticipation. His eyes are locked onto hers. He feels drunk, heady from the love he has for her.
“Perhaps,” she breathes, her tantalizing lips hardly an inch away from his mouth, “A demonstration will help make things clear.”
And with that, she steals their third kiss.