Work Text:
If mangakas didn’t want grown-ass men to ship, they shouldn’t make a character shout “IT’S YOUR POWER!” to another
Gintoki had stared at that panel for at least ten minutes by now. He did not even move from his usual position on the couch. His eyes were getting dry because he had also forgotten to blink. But he did not care about the discomfort. All he cared about was the most amazing scene he had ever seen in a Jump manga.
“IT’S YOUR POWER!” Cried young Midoriya to a crying Todoroki-kun. Gintoki could feel his own heart beating rapidly and his breathing becoming agitated. He finally forced himself to sit up and put the magazine on the couch. Gintoki could not take his eyes from the pages, though.
W-what is going on with me? Why am I so touched by that scene? It wasn’t that great, was it? It’s not as if it was an iconic moment that makes love declarations pale in comparison and that will go down in History as the greatest achievement in the history of Shonen Jump, is it? Or could it be that it is like that? I’m probably over thinking this! It wasn’t that special!
Gintoki knew what he had to do next. He logged on twitter and searched for the reactions of that My Hero Academia chapter. He found key smashing, squealing, 369 fanarts of the scene and 45 metas about how Midoriya had lit hope in Todoroki’s heart and how the acceptance of his fire powers served as a metaphor of accepting himself and letting himself be loved.
“T-This is really good.” Gintoki said, hours later, after reading everything he had found about the subject. Midoriya was in fact perfect for Todoroki and anyone who did not see it had to be blind.
Wait! The man was startled by his own thought process. What am I thinking? I’m sounding an awful lot like a shipper! I’m not a shipper! I don’t care about romance at all! So what if Todoroki was a sweet kid who was seen by his father as an extension of the man and by his mother as a cruel reminder of the monster she had to marry? So what if Todoroki led a sad lonely life filled with self-deprecation, feeling guilty for something out of his control? So what if Midoriya was the first person to actually see wonder in Todoroki and acknowledge that he was his own person and should not define himself by his awful father? That means nothing! I don’t ship those two at all!!!
Gintoki could feel his tears streaming down his face and falling on the keyboard. The truth was undeniable and he had to accept defeat.
He logged on FFnet and AO3 in search of every tododeku fic he could find.