Work Text:
When Rody Soul claims to have had teenage years unlike any other guy, everyone thinks of how he had to worry about his siblings or how he jumped through hoops - and do stuff not exactly… legal - to put a plate on the table, shouldering the role of parenting himself.
The few, very few who knew of his quirk might have thought how awful it must be for a teenager to have a pink bird ready to spew your every emotion. Rody, however, quickly dealt with it by telling only a few people about this secret - few in the sense that one can count them on the fingers of one hand. Pino is really the least of his problems.
The point is when your (belated?) hormonal awakening at seventeen is owed to someone from another continent . It would be hard even without being dirt poor, but Rody still has to either rebalance his karma or make his fate laugh, so he also has the subtle problem of studying outside of his job at the club and counting his change to make ends meet at the end of each month. Not exactly the best situation for flying back and forth once a month.
Some say it's all very easy now thanks to technology. Even keeping in touch with people far away― but Rody, well, he sometimes hates how lightly this is said and he hated it even more as a boy. When he and Deku were texting each other with hours of delay because of different timezones, for example. He lost count of the mornings when he got up early to catch up on a few hours of studying before work and got a good morning message from Izuku, finding himself texting him " goodnight " in response. Or of the times when a simple video call was like playing an advanced level of Tetris: the time difference, Izuku's schedule, Rody's shifts.
When he thinks back on it now, as he waits for the boarding gate to Japan to open, it is amazing to have held up a long-distance relationship when they were so young. To have made it with just the surrogates of holding hands, kissing, and sharing their everyday life only through a phone.
The speaker's voice announces the gate as the departure screen updates with the same data. Rody retrieves his cell phone, quickly typing an " I'm boarding. " A few moments later, the chat screen with Izuku - he will never be able to keep from snorting in amusement at his broccoli profile picture - sends back an " I'll be waiting for you at home. "
*
As is to be expected, Izuku shows up at the airport because no one would ever believe him to be the kind of person who comfortably waits within the walls of his home, leaving Rody to get around by cab or, even worse, by public transport. Even if they
do
take the cab anyway to avoid rush hour, meaning too many eyes that are used to recognizing the Hero succeeding All Might.
It's a strange feeling, to cross the threshold of an apartment with the knowledge of being at Izuku's home. During Rody’s last visit, Izuku was still staying in the condos provided by the agency. Typical of him, not wanting to burden Inko and preferring to wait until he has enough saved-up money to buy the apartment on his own and, at the same time, without wasting money unnecessarily. The place is not huge but, somehow, it is personal - and not because of the action figure of All Might in the bright and comfortable living room.
There is also a strange embarrassment, or maybe it's more of an almost under-the-skin awkwardness, in the awareness of a private space like that. One in which they don't have to worry about either mothers, younger brothers and sisters or fellow heroes with only three hours of sleep. It is similar to the nervousness of a first time alone in the room, but there is also the most intimate knowledge possible between two people. The distance, the glimpse - never enough - of everyday life, the anticipation of the next meeting and the one after that.
Finally, more real than anything else, Izuku's hand slips into his, fingers sneaking between Rody's like a pestiferous kid sneaking away when he shouldn't. He senses the scars on his palm, along his fingers; he has become acquainted with some of them from the first moment Izuku chased him as if he were the most dangerous villain around, others have been added to his personal list thanks (or because of) training too hard, missions too harsh for a teenager while he was worrying miles away. Rody hated them for what they have always represented, then learned to love them because they were part of Midoriya Izuku's body.
That same hand caresses him with a devotion that Rody did not think could exist between two human beings― between an artist and their work, perhaps, or between a believer and their God. Instead, when Izuku touches him it makes him feel that way, it made so since the first time, when Izuku’s fingers trembled and embarrassment made him blush to the base of his neck.
Rody moves one step, then one more. He finds himself with his back against the wall, feeling the doorframe against his shoulder blades. Which room it is, he has no idea; it's a little hard to concentrate on that when Izuku's mouth is against his neck and the hand not holding his is creeping its fingers under his shirt. Sweater. He no longer remembers how much stuff he's wearing until he hears Izuku make a sound somewhere between amused and frustrated as he mutters against his skin "Too many layers."
It makes him laugh, as he wraps his free arm around Izuku’s neck and distances himself just far enough to look him in the face and give him the most cheeky grin in his repertoire, "Oh no, save me from the clothes, Hero," after which he enjoys the way Izuku's expression goes from disbelief to trying to hide his amusement. It is when the other laughs at these tenth-rate romantic comedy joke that Rody realizes how lucky he is to be reciprocated. Or to not have been dumped yet.
"Rody, I wasn't saying that to start roleplay..."
"That's too bad," he comments, winking at him―a real blessing is also that Pino is somewhere else. Rody suspects it would make betray him by showing every single feeling that the sight of Izuku, ready to lean over him again, triggers in him.