Work Text:
Todoroki Shoto suffered.
For six months now.
Oddly enough, the blame for his suffering lay not with the hard job of a pro hero, not with social interactions imposed by the environment, and not even with his father. The latter recently showed miracles of adequacy and understanding when it came to communication.
The root of his grievous suffering lay in a man from whom one could least expect it. In a man who was kind, sincere, caring, and maybe just a little nerdy, but still the best guy in the whole world.
He and Iida had moved in recently, after three years of a relationship that started in their late U.A. courses and turned into a serious one during their heroic days.
At first, of course, it was embarrassing, because both of them didn’t understand anything about dating, and classmates always stuck their noses into other people’s business. Midoriya, especially followed them with the enthusiasm of a maniac, all the time writing something down in his notebook. Then the truth turned out that he needed this to gain the necessary knowledge about couples and finally approach Uraraka, but at first, it still scared him to shiver in the knees.
But after graduation, everything became somehow easier.
Iida worked at the family agency, Shoto at his father's agency, simply because he chose the easy path, and since they didn't cross paths much at work, there was no one to gossip about or pester with embarrassing questions.
Todoroki, of course, was never embarrassed by questions, making poker face was still his favorite strategy and the solution to many problems, but Iida was different. He considered it his sacred duty to explain to everyone that there was nothing reprehensible in their relationship.
Therefore, at first, they tried to rent apartments in different parts of Masutafu, but nevertheless quickly realized that this option was not so appealing. It was much cheaper to rent an apartment together, and Shoto did not want to depend on his father's money again.
Even if he redeemed himself.
Kind of.
Yes, and a whole mountain of duties has piled up, and he was tired of arguing with the landlady after the fifth time.
It cannot be said that Iida had similar problems. Most likely, he simply decided to take pity on Shoto out of the kindness of his heart. Again.
Iida was full of enthusiasm, he found a decent option near the station, and even in a renovated building, he sorted garbage himself, did all the grocery shopping, and politely greeted the grandmothers in the neighborhood.
How he managed to do all this when he had to work, fill out paperwork, spend time together, and, in the end, even have sex from time to time, Todoroki did not know and did not want to know.
Perhaps it was the turbo legs or the mysterious word "time management" that Tenya occasionally gave out, accompanying him with a reproving look and a heavy sigh. Altogether, it gave him chills, and Shoto honestly tried to collect himself at least for a while.
But that was not the source of the suffering. And not even that Iida stocked their refrigerator with orange juice and cooked curry three times a week. Say, soba is just carbohydrates and unhealthy.
In terms of romance, the turbo hero was impenetrable. Like a rock. Like a monolith of the Allmight.
Not to say that their relationship worked poorly or experienced some kind of crisis there from the brochures that were voluntarily shoved into everyone in the advanced training courses for heroes, but the longer Todoroki lived with Iida, the more it seemed to him that he was just sitting on his neck.
He, although he was expressive out of place, and sometimes nerdy to the point of impossibility, endured any antics of Shoto, took care of him like a mother bird, and in every possible way showed his love, as far as the limits of decency allowed.
Iida generally considered taking care of Todoroki his sacred duty almost from the very beginning of their relationship. Gathering bento for work, wrapping Shoto in a fluffy scarf in winter, ignoring weak protests about the fire quirk.
He took on all the things that might seem unpleasant or take Shoto out of his comfort zone. He even put stickers on the refrigerator during rare business trips so that Shoto would not forget to eat his vegetables and set the settings on the washing machine.
Shoto himself, who forgot about household chores, and as for cooking was only capable of heating water with his quirk, could only counter all this with warm hugs in winter. But even though they saved on electricity by not buying kotatsu, it was definitely not enough.
Six months ago, when Shoto accidentally stumbled upon Momo during one of the tasks, she buzzed the guy's ears about how she wanted to please her girlfriend in return for her care and attention.
Buy concert tickets, and give some rare and beautiful flowers. The former classmate so sparkled with her eyes and smile that Shoto even became a little ashamed that he did not do anything like that.
Upon arrival home, having found perfect cleanliness, washed and ironed things and soba in the kitchen, he became very ashamed.
It was decided to do romance. In the most efficient way possible. Since Todoroki did not know any ways at all, he had to search on the Internet.
Selections on lurid-looking sites for girls offered several options that, according to reviews, worked perfectly, one hundred percent, and, apparently, should generally drive your partner crazy with their romance.
Going to the cinema on the last row, cooking, and, finally, a bubble bath with rose petals.
It sounded like complete nonsense, and numerous stickers with sparkles and animation in the form of swirling rose petals against the background of the site did not add confidence ...
However, after the incident with the yaoi manga that the guy took from his sister back in school, Todoroki was out of options where to peep tactics.
At least it was worth trying. For Tenya and his care.
Movies were the first item, and Shoto bought tickets on the Internet, choosing their day off with Tenya.
The plans were to go to the sale “Daikon for 80 yen, Shoto-kun, where else can we find one!”, but Iida could not object to the tickets bought in advance. The daikon could wait until tomorrow or even next year, as Todoroki couldn't stand it.
The film was chosen as a romantic one, based on some Western book, Shoto did not bother to go into details on the part of the description. He was worried about the last row.
There were few people, the row was empty and perfectly dark.
Sitting in a comfortable chair next to Iida, the guy was looking forward to how he could pull off his glasses and pull him in as soon as the screen went blank. As he gently draws up his boyfriend’s knee, he burrows fingers of his second hand into the regrown blue hair and kisses those soft lips, forever tasting like orange juice and mint gum.
But fate decided to do otherwise. As soon as Todoroki reached out to his boyfriend, he quite prosaically and not quite romantically hissed at him.
Say, don't bother watching the movie, young man. Be patient here with your blue balls. We are in a cultural society. Of course, Iida would never say that, he wouldn't even think about it. But it was still embarrassing.
And, the movie was boring. Therefore, Shoto slept through the rest of the time, leaning against Tenya's strong shoulder. It turns out that the kissing row could fit perfectly into the sleeping row category.
And Shoto would even be pleased. Heroism seemed to prescribe sleep deprivation to all those involved, so an extra couple of hours were, well, not superfluous at all.
However, Tenya was, apparently, the god of "time management" or, at least, a powerful warlock, because he watched the entire film without being distracted, and all the way he tormented Shoto with leading questions about the plot. At home, he dug up the original source on the Internet and sat down to read it all night.
The romantic site was failing. Shoto would say sucked, but over the past years, Tenya has succeeded in teaching him not to swear. Therefore, Shoto did not say but simply thought.
But it was too early to give up. After all, there were as many as two options, the next of which was cooking. The site suggested making something cute, ranging from homemade chocolate to some sort of three-tier mirror-glazed cake. Todoroki had no idea that the icing could be mirrored, so he chose the lightest option from those offered.
Cookies. Given the fact that the dough could be bought at the store, baked, and decorated, the task could not be easier.
It would be if Shoto had not decided to turn on the mathematical logic by setting the settings on the oven. If 20 minutes are baked at 356 degrees, then at 932 it will be three times faster ... Approximately.
As a result, it turned out even worse than if he decided to bake cookies on his own quirk.
The apartment stank mercilessly, reminiscent of the fun days of training with his father, and the resulting coal could not even be decorated.
Even taking into account the fact that we had to open all the windows and listen to the neighbors swearing, the burning smell disappeared only in the evening, which made him think about buying an air conditioner. Well, or at least about taking one out of his father's house. All the same, he has five of them there, no less.
When Iida returned from the mission, he found Shoto in the kitchen with a sad look on a plate of burnt cookies, vaguely resembling cars. He shrugged his shoulders, smiled his disarming smile, and even ate a couple. Even said that crunch is very interesting.
And he made another batch of cookies, which were fragrant, tasty, and two-colored. Shoto
almost shed a tear, ate his part of the biscuit, and kissed Iida, just under the faint indignation of unwashed dishes, which smoothly flowed into sensual sex on their narrow sofa.
But the romance didn't work out.
There was one last option.
The last lucky ticket, which was supposed to show Tenya the full strength of their love and finally assure him that Shoto is not just sitting comfortably on his strong neck.
Since all bets were made on this notorious bubble bath, Todoroki decided to even take it seriously. He found citrus-scented foam, candles, and roses. White and red.
If Bakugo saw this, he would die of laughter, because nothing could be more trivial.
But, praise to all the gods of the Shinto pantheon, Bakugo worked in a different city altogether and could not see anything. Therefore, Shoto spent a good half of his day off peeling petals and artistically throwing them around the apartment, trying to lay out a path from all this to the bathroom.
The bathtub was full, the candles were placed, and the damned rose petals floated in the foam, periodically sticking to his body. But he had to be patient.
He should have waited for Iida. For the sake of romance. Just for her.
It didn't take long, except that Todoroki managed to build a small foam castle before the front door slammed. The moment was very tense, and Shoto even struck a pose that he considered remotely seductive, blew off a stuck petal from his nose, and prepared to entertain when he heard the sound of a vacuum cleaner working through the door.
Tenya, you motherfucker!
He wanted to slip into the bathroom and drown in it.
The sound of the vacuum cleaner was getting closer, and after about five minutes Iida looked in the door, still in his work clothes and with that damned vacuum cleaner at the ready.
- Shoto, don’t sit in the bathroom for a long time, you’ll catch a cold, - Tenya smiled again as if nothing had happened, and Shoto thought that it was impossible to love a person so much and want to drown him at the same time, - I bought us soba for dinner, it will be ready in half an hour.
And left. To vacuum. The romance in their relationship, apparently, was stillborn.
Exactly half an hour later, Todoroki was sitting in the kitchen in a stretched T-shirt with the logo of "Iidaten" and gloomily picking his soba with chopsticks.
No, the soba was excellent and even cold, as he likes, but that made his soul even sicker. The petals rotted in the trash can, and Shoto occasionally looked at them with hatred.
Iida was sitting across from him, enthusiastically talking about how the day went and the details of his mission, but Shoto didn't really listen. All options were exhausted and none worked.
-Tenya, am I a bad relationship partner? - Iida choked on his words, interrupting his long monologue about how irresponsible it was to let young trainees into serious combat with villains,- It’s just that you do everything for me, and I don’t even try. And when I try, it doesn't work. You must be just sorry to break up with me.
Iida blinked, took off his glasses, blinked again, as if not believing what Shoto had just blurted out, then wiped his glasses and put them back on. He often did this when he got into an awkward situation that he didn’t want to be in, and from this knowledge, Todoroki’s confidence that everything would be fine diminished exponentially.
-Shoto, where did you get such thoughts from? You do a lot for me, - Iida glared at the stain on the table, left over from the Endeavor’s long visit to their house, not daring to look up. - You always find time to listen to me, and although your work is no easier than mine, you try to somehow distract us both from all these heroic duties. If it weren't for you, I would have died under the documents long ago. It seems to me that you just put up with me and my tediousness out of pity.
Shoto blinked like an owl and, getting up from the table, smoothly flowed onto Iida's knees. He didn't even protest, just held Todoroki by the waist.
The situation went from tragic to absurd.
-Tenya, I… I would never tolerate anyone out of pity. You know me, - the left side heated up again due to emotions that did not come up in time and, it seems, even began to burn through the corner of the tablecloth, - I just wanted to thank you somehow for your concern. But it didn’t work out. Neither this movie, nor stupid cookies, - the tablecloth were definitely smoking, but Shoto did not pay attention, pulling off Iida's glasses with slightly trembling fingers, - I love you, Tenya, and I want to show it. Somehow.
Iida looked at Shoto for a couple of seconds with serious eyes, and Todoroki already wanted to grow into an ice block from embarrassment, but then, all with the same seriousness, Tenya pulled him close and kissed him.
Just like that, in the smoky kitchen, holding him by the waist and stroking his hair, from which both crackling heat and frost emanated.
They eventually put out the tablecloth, but Todoroki's weak excuses about cleaning were interrupted by Iida, who carried him in his arms straight to the bedroom.
When Shoto told this story to Momo a couple of weeks later, hoping to pose it as funny, he heard all about how romantic it all was and how lucky the two of them were to have each other. There was no romance here, a site with girlish recommendations could go far and for a long time, but the fact that Shoto loved Iida and he was very lucky with him was an indisputable fact.
Now it was heartwarming to know that Tenya felt the same way about him.