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"Yo, Shouto-kun!"
The loud voice booming from across the street caused Todoroki to freeze in his tracks.
It is unclear to the young teen whether the beating in his chest was out of dread, excitement, or embarrassment at the combined fact of someone using his first name so liberally while yelling it for all to hear. That someone was currently bounding to where he stood, with a beaming smile and a disregard to the gawking people surrounding him.
Todoroki wondered vaguely if he was going to get run over and crushed by Yoarashi's giant body. He figured that if this were to happen, he would surely die. The other boy is twice Todoroki's size, and at the speed he was going, it didn't seem like he would stop anytime soon.
So he did what anyone would do; he stopped him. With a movement of his right hand, he put up an ice wall in front of his person right as Yoarashi was about to smash head-on with the smaller boy. Instead he crashed into the protective barrier of ice, his face comically smushed up against it. As Yoarashi groaned pitifully, Todoroki allowed himself a small, barely noticeable, amused smirk.
"I keep telling you not to call me that," he muttered, in his usual quiet voice. Yoarashi was bent at an awkward angle and it seemed like his left cheek was stuck on the ice, so the sheepish grin he gave the other boy looked even more ridiculous than usual. His words came out slightly muffled as he replied:
"But you're my friend now, right?! I can call you that!"
Todoroki turned his head away to hide the slight tint in his cheeks that formed at his words. "Uh, Shouto-kun?"
His attention was turned back to the grinning boy who was now pointing at his cheek. He tried pulling away from the ice wall a few times, which just caused his face to contort his mouth into a wider, pained grin. "This's starting to hurt a little, heh."
Todoroki's face paled as he mumbled a soft but sincere, "sorry," and got to work on melting the wall with his left hand.
When Yoarashi was finally freed, he thanked Todoroki loudly, giving him his usual wide, beaming smile. The shorter boy nodded curtly and ignored the slight pang of guilt he felt upon seeing the discolored mark left on Yoarashi's left cheek.
"So, what did you need, Yoarashi-san?" he finally asked. The taller boy blinked, and his smile disappeared in place of a confused frown for a second.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, slamming his fist into his palm. "That's right," another beaming smile was directed at Todoroki. "I just wanted to say hi!"
"Oh." Todoroki didn't know why he felt disappointed.
Yoarashi's enthusiastic grin suddenly changed into a look of dramatic alarm. "Ah, but now that I've got you here can you do me a favor?! It's super important, man! I promise it will be quick." Deep and intense brown eyes bored into surprised, heterochromatic ones as he brought his rough hands on Todoroki's shoulders, pleading with him.
Todoroki's widened eyes blinked in confusion, but he decided to give a quick nod in response. Anything to get Yoarashi's hands off of him and stop the incessant beating in his chest.
But that seemed to have the opposite effect, because Yoarashi only brought himself closer to the boy, wrapping his arms around his body and lifting him up in enthusiastic glee. "Aw man, thanks! You're the best, Shouto-kun!" Todoroki didn't reply. The beating in his chest was now way too loud for comfort and it was making him increasingly nervous, not that he would show it; and the added fact that Yoarashi is much too strong for his own good, Todoroki couldn't even breathe.
Yoarashi continued to flail the smaller boy around, giddily announcing how thankful he is to him, until he felt a sharp sting to his left side. "Ouch!" he whined. "Please let go of me, Yoarashi-san," a muffled voice came from the boy in his chest.
When he finally let go, laughing loudly and apologizing the whole time, Todoroki did the best he could to hide the obvious blush that formed on his face. It didn't seem like Yoarashi noticed though, just like he didn't seem to notice how he almost suffocated Todoroki just a few moments prior. He was torn between feeling annoyed or grateful of this.
The two boys started their walk together when Yoarashi beckoned for Todoroki to follow him. He didn't explain where they were going or what he needed Todoroki to do, but as they walked together, the shorter boy realized he didn't really care what it was.
An interaction with Yoarashi Inasa, Todoroki noted, was almost always guaranteed to be a loud one. Even as Todoroki replied in short, quiet bursts, Yoarashi still chatted excessively. His voice was booming, needlessly so, and it filled Todoroki's ears and head and made him dizzy with something he didn't recognize. The taller boy talked with enthusiasm about everything, and his smile, huge just like everything else about him, never wavered. He reminded Todoroki of a big happy dog who's tail never stops wagging.
"-kun? Shouto-kun! You okay?" The mentioned boy blinked out of his daze a few times and realized, with embarrassment, that he's been staring. The worried brown eyes of Yoarashi bore into his own and he looked away quickly as he murmured, "Y-yes."
He finally lifted his bicolored head and realized that they've stopped. "Why are we at the grocery store?"
"I need to buy ice cream!" came Yoarashi's enthusiastic reply.
Todoroki blinked, and then his expression turned into a grimace. "Yoarashi-san, did you bring me here so I can keep the ice cream cold for you?"
Yoarashi's expression was almost comical, looking like a kid who was caught with his hand in a cookie jar. "N-no!" he quickly said, but his sheepish grin betrayed him. "Well...yeah, but I also just wanted you to accompany me! You're a cool guy, Shouto-kun! Heh," he chuckled to himself at the pun he made, but Todoroki's glare deepened at it.
His frown softened, however, upon looking at Yoarashi's sincere smile. He supposed he could accompany him (there really was no doubt that he would, but he wanted to at least pretend to be hesitant, dammit) plus, he was headed to the grocery store anyway. He informed Yoarashi of this as he walked inside, the taller boy bouncing along beside him like a puppy.
Todoroki was asked by his older sister to pick up a carton of strawberry milk, which is her guilty pleasure (and admittedly, his too). So he grabbed a basket and Yoarashi and him headed to the dairy section.
Once he found his and his sister's favorite brand, he picked the carton out of the shelf and put it into his basket, heading towards the frozen foods. Yoarashi was there crouched on the floor and staring intently through the glass. "Watermelon, chocolate, green tea, wasabi, strawberry...," his loud voice listed off all the flavors, causing some passerby to stare wearily at him.
"Yoarashi-san..?" Todoroki's clear voice seemed to bring him out of his daze. He smiled cheerfully up at the other boy, and Todoroki tried not to blush too hard. "Hey! You done already?"
"Yes. What are you doing?" His tone was curious.
"Oh man, there's just too many freakin' flavors here! All of them sound real good, but there's too many options! I dunno what to do!" Yoarashi groaned, his face contorting into dramatic anguish. Todoroki felt his eyes roll, but an amused smile pulled his lips slightly.
"Which would you pick, Shouto-kun?”
Todoroki was a bit taken aback with the sudden question. He didn't reply right away, but soon found himself crouching down next to Yoarashi, peering into the foggy glass. His heterochromatic eyes landed on the strawberry flavored ice cream. "I don't really eat ice cream," he explained. "But strawberry is...my favorite flavor...," his quiet voice died down when he turned his head and noticed, nervously, that Yoarashi's face was inches away from his own.
The mentioned boy's smile was softer this time, his eyes still expressing the same usual giddiness he felt, but tuned down into something more...intimate. It made Todoroki's breath hitch as he vaguely wondered if it was unhealthy for his face to heat up so much.
They stared at each other for a moment, holding the other's gaze, neither of them breathing. That is, until a fellow customer politely asked for them to move so she could get something from the freezer. As soon as their daze was broken, Yoarashi's loud demeanor came back in full force, his laughter booming through the store, making Todoroki slam his palm to his face in embarrassment.
"So strawberry, huh?" Yoarashi practically yelled, once their embarrassment over the previous moment diminished. "That's actually quite fitting of you, Shouto-kun! It's pretty cute," the last statement was said with an unusual softness, and his red cheeks matched Todoroki's own.
Todoroki didn't reply, he couldn't, he was too busy choking on his own spit. Yoarashi ended up picking out the strawberry ice cream.
Once they bought their things and left the store, Yoarashi held out a calloused hand to Todoroki, who stared at it dumbly. "Your bag," Yoarashi's voice was lowered to a normal speaking tone, and his face was turned away from the other boy. Todoroki blinked. "...my bag?"
He shook his big hand in a beckoning motion, and the gears in Todoroki's mind clicked. "Oh. It's fine, Yoarashi..." his sentence trailed off when Yoarashi turned his head to give the smaller boy an expectant smile, like he wasn't going to take no for an answer. He moved his hand again, and Todoroki sighed. He ignored the blush creeping on his face once more, as he handed Yoarashi his grocery bag of strawberry milk.
As they walked together, the sky had switched from blue into hues of orange and pink. The amount of passerby on the street dwindled down as the day was nearing its close. Both boys walked in silence, which was rare for Yoarashi, but Todoroki didn't mind. It was a content silence, warming him from the inside, the tints of the sky reflecting his mood.
"Y'know, back then, uh...," the gruff voice of Yoarashi pulled Todoroki from his thoughts and he looked up at the boy. His face was pulled into an anxious frown. "Back then, I never apologized for...how I acted n' stuff..." Todoroki almost didn't even realize what he meant. Then he remembered.
His mind flashed back to their second encounter, Yoarashi's eyes full of contempt and hatred towards him. He remembered the guilt and the anger he felt towards the other boy as well on that day, and the cold look in his eyes never quite left his mind, even now. It wasn't until they met again during the hero license exam lessons that their animosity turned into a sort of reluctant friendship, once Todoroki proved how much he has grown since their first meeting, and Yoarashi coming to understand the reasoning behind his behavior.
"Yoarashi..." Todoroki started, but was interrupted when suddenly the boy next to him was bowing at him in an almost perfect 90 degree angle, the grocery bags crinkling at his side. "I'm sorry, Shouto-kun!" he yelled at the floor, with such intensity it made Todoroki let out a puff of laughter.
"Yoarashi-san," he said again, beckoning for him to straighten himself once more. "I-it's okay." Todoroki mumbled, tentatively putting a hand on his shoulder in a way he hopes is comforting. His eyes met with Yoarashi's, and he realized then that there was a smile tugging his usually aloof face.
His soft stare wavered, however, when Yoarashi's unoccupied hand reached up to the one on his shoulder. Yoarashi kept his eyes on Todoroki, intense brown boring a hole in his face as he quietly, and gently, took Todoroki's hand in his own. For a moment, Todoroki thought he was just removing the hand from his shoulder, but the sudden sensation of having the other boy clasp his palm around his tightly, erased those thoughts from his mind.
Todoroki stuttered, uncharacteristically, as he stared dumbfounded at their interlocked hands. Yoarashi's red face matched Todoroki's own, but he smiled hugely at the shorter boy's reaction. "Ah," he spoke, realization on his tongue. "Your hand's warm." Todoroki's face flared up even more, and he hid in the palm of his free hand.
They continued walking, their hands still clasped together. Yoarashi seemed a lot more chipper, staring at Todoroki unabashedly with a wide smile. The intensity of the stares and the feeling of the hand on his made Todoroki worry that he was going to accidentally burn Yoarashi if this kept up.
But he didn't want it to stop, either. Definitely didn't.
The warm feeling in his chest now consumed his entire body, reminiscent of when he uses his fire quirk too much, but nowhere near as scalding. He wanted to feel more of it, to hear more of Yoarashi's gruff voice filling his head, making him dizzy. But for now, the occasional squeezes to his hand, and the slight brush of shoulders were enough.
Finally Todoroki realized they were on the path back to his home. He mentally scolded himself for not even noticing where they were going.
"Yoarashi-san?"
A questioning hum, and a squeeze of his hand came as a reply from the taller boy.
"Where do you live?" Todoroki asked slowly, worried it might come off the wrong way. He was just concerned about Yoarashi having to go back home when it's nearly dark out, and didn't want to trouble him by having him walk to his place.
"Ah, I live just by Shinketsu. Kinda far, huh?!" Yoarashi's laughter boomed through the empty sidewalk they were on. Todoroki's face paled, and his distress became obvious to the other boy. "Heh...did ya wanna come over?" his eyebrows raised suggestively as he asked, and he threw a crooked smile at the other boy.
Todoroki once again became in danger of burning Yoarashi's hand.
"N-no, I mean...that's not why I asked...," he finally said slowly, so as to not continue stuttering. "Just...you don't have to trouble yourself with walking me home, Yoarashi-san..."
The boy blinked at what Todoroki said, and then frowned. "It's no trouble!" He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Still, that didn't do much to ease Todoroki's guilt. He was about to retort, but was stopped when the other boy gently tugged at his hand, causing him to look up into deep brown eyes.
"It's no big deal, Shouto. I walked you home cus’ I wanted to."
The breeze around them moved freely, opposite of Todoroki's own breath, which was hitched into his throat. They had stopped walking, but their hands were still clutched tight, Yoarashi's calloused thumb running circles over the back of the other's palm.
Todoroki reveled in the feeling, enjoying how big Yoarashi's hand is and how strongly it held his own. It sent a shiver down his spine, but he wasn't exactly sure why.
When they finally reached the gate to his home, they stopped walking and faced each other.
It was a little awkward at first, but with Yoarashi things never stayed awkward. Todoroki also took note of this, of the way his beaming smile washes away any sense of inadequacy he might feel and shines on him like sun. He becomes grateful, at that moment, that the cold glare Yoarashi used to regard him with at the beginning of their relationship all that time ago was gone from his features, as if it never happened.
As they say their goodbyes, Todoroki thanks him for walking him home and apologizes again for the inconvenience. Yoarashi waves it off once more insisting loudly, "I already told ya, it's no trouble, man!"
Their hands are still clasped together when Yoarashi suddenly brings the two plastic grocery bags up to Todoroki's surprised face. "Eh..? I only need the milk, Yoarashi..."
"You said you like strawberry, right?! Have it!" The taller boy insisted, shoving the bags closer to him. Todoroki blinked down at them and hesitantly took it in his free hand, their fingers grazing each other.
"It's my treat, okay?" Yoarashi beamed down at the boy's worried face. His eyes were crinkled shut, and Todoroki took this as his opportunity to do something without thinking.
He gripped Yoarashi's hand harder, using it as a balance as he got on his toes and leaned his pursed lips on the corner of Yoarashi's mouth. The kiss was quick and chaste, and as soon as Todoroki realized what he'd done, he let go of the other's hand to cover his reddening face. "S-sorry. Thank you, Yoarashi...," he weakly mumbled through his palm.
Todoroki hurried at opening his gate and didn't wait for Yoarashi's response before almost running away towards his house. His heart was in his throat and regret swallowed him whole, but a strong hand on his wrist stopped him from moving further away from Yoarashi.
He turned his head slightly, and the expression on the other boy made Todoroki's eyes widen. His entire face was red, along with his neck and ears, and his lips were quivering as he yelled, with a deep urgency: "W-wait!"
It took a bit for Todoroki to answer, and the two stared at each other for what seemed like centuries. "What?," he finally breathed.
"I have another favor to ask you." Yoarashi's voice was more clear and stable this time, his face pulled into a determined frown despite it's redness.
At his words, Todoroki's mind raced at all the possibilities of things he could ask of him. He's not sure if his heart could take anymore of Yoarashi's...Yoarashi's anything today. The hand at his wrist tightened slightly, and Yoarashi took the other's silence as a sign to continue.
"Call me Inasa!"
Todoroki was surprised that his face could get any redder; his heart could beat any faster. He's aware that getting flushed over simple things like sudden cheek kisses, and calling a friend by their first name is something only a child would do. That just makes his reactions to these things even more embarrassing.
But Yoarashi smiled cheerfully at Todoroki's red face, his hand slightly pulling the boy's wrist as a way to urge him for an answer. All Todoroki could reply with was a small: "Th...that's too..."
He couldn't finish his sentence. Too what? Informal? He's already known Yoarashi for a while. Yoarashi calls him by his first name, so why shouldn't he? He settled in his mind, that it was simply too embarrassing. Todoroki still doesn't even call Midoriya by his first name, and he's known him longer than he has Yoarashi.
Yoarashi didn't care though. His smile didn't waver, but the determined glint in his eyes grew stronger. "We'll it call it payback!"
"...for what?," the shorter boy questioned wearily.
"For me walking you home! The kiss was payback for the ice cream right? Well in return for me walking you home, you can call me by my first name, got it?! Shouto-kun!"
Todoroki felt another wave of embarrassment at Yoarashi's casual mention of what happened just moments before. He stared dumbly at the other boy's beaming smile and swallowed thickly. As much as he didn't want to call Yoarashi by his first name and break the barrier of their friendship into something a little more personal, there was an equally overwhelming part of him that desperately did. So he breathed these next words clearly but quietly, as his blue and green eyes stared into Yoarashi's brown.
"Okay, Inasa."
Yoarashi- no, Inasa, practically squealed with glee. He brought both of his fists up in the air in a celebratory manner and Todoroki had to avert his eyes when the fitted shirt on Inasa's muscled body rode up slightly.
"Yes! Oh man, this is great!" he yelled, filling the empty streets with his booming voice. "You didn't even use an honorific! Is it okay if I just call you Shouto, too? Man, Shouto, you are really hot, y'know that?! I'm so pumped up right now, I could run all the way home!"
Todoroki flinched slightly at the volume of his words, but smiled warmly at the boy in front of him. There was a constant breeze surrounding the two of them, making Todoroki's hair lift slightly, and it was then that he realized it was coming from Inasa. The breeze felt nice and light, happily dancing along the two.
The pair looked at each other for what seemed like a long time, their eyes expressing something intimate and soft that made the other's stomach warm. "Inasa," Todoroki breathed again, as if he just liked saying it.
"It's getting dark out," he finished, when the mentioned boy didn't respond.
That seemed to break Inasa out of his spell, causing him to blink a few times. "Ah," he replied, realization hitting his face, but his smile never wavered. "Yeah, you're right."
"Would...would you like to come in for dinner?" Todoroki tried, his face getting warm. He cursed himself in his mind for getting embarrassed over something so tame again.
At Todoroki's words, Inasa seemed to jump out of his skin. He smiled widely and shakily, his face heating up just like it did when Todoroki kissed him. A large hand reached his cheek and scratched at it absentmindedly as he replied, in a frantic burst, "Ah, n-no it's fine! I really need to get goin' anyway, heh, my mom is...sh-she'll be worried! And I suddenly feel like taking a run right now so..."
Todoroki smiled again at Inasa's reaction. He figured that wouldn’t have been such a great idea anyway, since his father was likely inside. "Ah, alright. Then, I'll see you later, Inasa?"
Inasa's head seemed like it would fall off with the amount of vigor that he nodded with. Todoroki once again could see the imaginary dog tail wagging behind him enthusiastically.
As Inasa ran off, he yelled his goodbyes to Todoroki, who waved back at him. The wind from Inasa’s quirk hit his face and hair after he took off, and Todoroki shivered involuntarily.
The walk to his front door was uneventful and quick, but inside of his bicolored head was a tornado of thoughts surrounding a certain boy with a buzzcut.
Todoroki’s chest was still warm and his lips still tingled from when he gave Inasa the kiss. Every time he thought about it, his heart beat heavily in his chest and he realized that it would probably continue to do so, at least for a while. Todoroki is slowly starting to accept it.
After slipping off his shoes and walking to the kitchen to place the grocery bags, he ran into his sister. She smiled and thanked him for the milk, ruffling his red and white locks as she did.
She noticed the second bag and found it quite unusual. "Ice cream, Shouto? Since when do you eat ice cream?"
Todoroki shrugged and then his eyes widened at a sudden realization. With a frantic movement, he reached for the carton of strawberry ice cream, feeling the wet condensation at his fingers. "That idiot..." he breathed disbelievingly, already knowing what was waiting for him inside.
"Huh? What is it, Shouto?" his sister's voice rang in the back of his head.
He shakily opened the box, and what lay before him was nothing but a pink, warm, slushy puddle of what used to be ice cream.
"Ah," Todoroki said, smiling with a grimace. "The ice cream melted."