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Hanta Sero never in his entire life imagined he would be in this position. His crush, the Todoroki Shoto, was sitting in front of him, rose faced after having just suddenly confessed to him. A minute ago, they were just reading their latest manga exchanges, and next thing you know - he was holding his hand and sheepishly saying he liked him.
And the thing is - he considered himself a pretty good judge of character. He read people pretty well - even Shoto, who most people assumed was unreadable.
It wasn't even because he had a crush on him, either. Sero just naturally found himself watching people very closely. But his curiosity especially spiked with people who others easily misunderstood.
But this came way out of left field. The taller man’s face was burning with a blush, his generally calm and collected demeanor crumbled to the ground by that pretty pair of differently colored eyes that were staring at him so seriously.
After a while of no response, though, Shoto faltered and looked away. "I know this isn’t right. You already have Denki, and I would never dream of coming between you two. I just..." he sighed and took his hand away, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "I just needed you to know."
Sero flailed in place, the hand that his crush had just been holding suddenly feeling especially cold. "Roki, I- No, this isn't- Well-!" He groaned and hid his red face in his hands, making Shoto stare at him curiously and worriedly. "God. This is too much," he whispered.
The other teen frowned even more and held his hands out, trying to do anything to amend the situation. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"
"NO!" Sero cut him off, grabbing onto his wrists gently. "You're perfect, Todoroki, you have nothing to apologize for!" he hung his head with a deep sigh. "Let me get my thoughts in order…” he breathed heavily for a while, before softly admitting, “I never... I never imagined you would like me..."
Shoto tilted his head, confused. "Why? You're really nice and kind, and you're also really pretty..."
"AAAH, SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" Sero screamed, face growing even hotter as he slapped his hand over Todoroki's mouth to keep him quiet. "You're not making this any easier for me!"
Hearing that, Shoto deflated even more, looking up at the taller teen like a wet, sad puppy, this time not able to apologize again.
Only after several minutes and some deep breaths, Sero finally inhaled really deeply and, hand still over his crush's mouth, started speaking, looking into those droopy, pretty eyes.
"First of all, Roki, I think it's pretty obvious, but I like you too," he croaked out, deeply embarrassed. His heart caught in his throat when Shoto's eyes shined happily at this - God, did he seriously not notice...? "Second of all... I'm polyamorous. And. Denki knows. About how I feel about you."
Todoroki's eyes widened, and he gently took Sero's hands away from his mouth to speak. "What's polyamorous?"
Sero was only shocked for an instant, quickly recognizing why Shoto wouldn't know about that kind of thing. He smiled kindly and finally relaxed a little bit, happy to explain rather than deal with the very happy but overwhelming reality of their mutual confession.
"Me and Denki are cool with dating other people, basically,” he started, sitting back down on the floor slowly. “Polyamory is when you date more than one person at a time - though it comes with a lot of communication and boundaries, of course."
The other teen was quiet for a bit, then frowned a little. "Wouldn't that be tough on him...? If you don't only like him but me too..."
Sero's eyebrows furrowed. "Well, it's not everyone's cup of tea, of course. But Denki is polyamorous too, and he's dating Shinsou. I know he loves him and me equally, and we make a big effort to make sure nobody feels less taken care of. We talk about things super openly because of that."
Todoroki nodded slowly, but his sad expression didn't fade.
Feeling a pang in his chest, Sero tried to swallow the lump in his throat. "Do you... not like the idea of... sharing me with Denki...?
"That's not what it is," Todoroki said immediately, matter of factly, making the black haired teen quietly sigh in relief, shoulders relaxing. "But I... if it's not too much to ask... I think I'd like to talk to you and Denki together...?"
"Absolutely!" Sero immediately shot back up. He wanted to do anything that would make Todoroki feel more comfortable. "I'd actually really like that too. He should be hanging out with Jirou right now, but he'd probably be able to get away soon. I'll text him."
As he took his phone and hurriedly messaged his boyfriend, Shoto hummed and tilted his head again. He coughed awkwardly, scratching the side of his face. "Is he... is he dating her, too...?"
Sero deadpanned then burst out laughing, making Shoto pout.
"Roki, I'm sorry but have you SEEN Jirou? C'mon, she's-" with that, he motioned with a limp wrist.
"...what does that mean...?"
Sero wanted to kiss him so fucking bad.
After a couple of minutes, Kaminari burst through Sero’s dorm door, visibly worried and out of breath, seemingly having run all the way there in a hurry.
"Is everything alright?! You told me to rush!"
Shoto stared at him in a daze. "Your face is glowing..." he muttered, transfixed.
"Ah, thank you! Me, Momo and Jirou had a bit of a self care Sunday sort of thing going on, we did a couple masks, peels and creams and they also did my nails- BUT THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT RIGHT NOW! STOP LAUGHING, HANTA."
Sero tried to hide his giggles behind his hand as he patted the floor beside him, motioning for his boyfriend to sit by the two of them. Kaminari pouted and huffingly stomped all the way there, plopping down with his arms crossed, feigning insult. He was so cute when he acted sassy and bratty.
The taller teen shook those thoughts away and inhaled deeply, looking at Shoto for confirmation. When he nodded, Sero awkwardly ripped the bandaid off.
"So, um. Roki just. Confessed to me."
Kaminari's jaw slackened and his eyes went wide, and he looked between the two dumbfoundedly. He wasn’t sure whether to cheer or be civil first.
After a couple seconds of opening and closing his mouth like a fish, he looked at his boyfriend and cleared his throat, whispering, "so, you... you told him, right...?" Sero nodded, making Kaminari smile and look back at Shoto. "That's great! Congrats, you two!" He patted Todoroki's knee with a wide grin. "Welcome to the polycule~!"
Hearing that, Shoto jolted slightly and cleared his throat, looking down. "I don't... I'm not super sure I understand everything, yet…” he said stiffly. “I'd like to talk to you two about things, because I'm not sure I get how this works..."
"Absolutely!" The boyfriends exclaimed in unison.
"Ask away!" Kaminari reassured, smiling kindly and rubbing at Shoto's knee. "I'm sure this is a lot to take in - me and Hanta started dating pretty quickly so we kinda get ahead of ourselves sometimes, hehe."
Shoto nodded, looking at the blond’s hand touching him. He thought about it for a moment and wondered. "Won't you... get sad, or jealous, Denki...? If you have to... share Sero..."
Kaminari shook his head immediately. "We've set some pretty huge boundaries on that and I think we're really good at respecting them. For example, I always let Hanta know when I'm hanging out with Toshi, in case he wants to join."
"And whenever one of us gets lonely, we mention it, that way we can hang out more, or talk things out. Y'know?" Sero added. "We try really hard not to keep anyone in the dark."
"I'm also, just. Not a very jealous person, in general," Kaminari hummed. "The only thing is that I do get lonely easy so I'd say I'm kinda needy... But Hanta loves spoiling me, so!"
With that, the blond giggled and bounced a little from side to side, acting cutesy as a joke. Sero laughed and grabbed him around the head, tussling his hair, making his boyfriend squeal.
This made Shoto smile lightly. "You guys are so open and honest... I suppose I never imagined relationships could work like that."
The black haired teen grinned and manhandled his smaller boyfriend on top of his lap, hugging him. "We've been best friends for three years, so we trust each other with anything!"
Shoto nodded, and started thinking deeply again. His smile slowly faded as his insecurities clearly rushed to the surface.
"...I just... I guess I'd-" he swallowed. "I'd really hate to. Steal from you, Denki."
Kaminari shot up, perplexed. "Steal?” he almost yelled, then quickly lowered his tone, looking up at Todoroki with worried eyes. “What do you mean by that, Sho…?"
The other teen seemed to shrink in on himself. "I don't want to take any love away from you..." he whispered. "I don't want to make you have to share what's supposed to be all yours."
"Roki, that's not how-" Sero started, eyebrows knitting together, feeling his heart grow heavy.
"That's not how it works at all, Shoto!" Kaminari reassured, equally as upset as his boyfriend, quickly getting out of his lap to hold onto Todoroki's shoulders. "Love isn't a limited resource!"
That's not how Shoto was raised, though. Sero frowned even deeper, knowing that very well. He had heard from his crush before about the kinds of worries he had, especially in relation to his family, but to think that he felt the same way about any possible future relationships as well made him want to cry.
Sero also moved closer to grab Shoto's hand, touching it gently and comfortingly.
He avoided both their gazes, feeling weak and vulnerable and broken after having admitted something so raw. He kind of wanted to disappear.
Kaminari sat down slowly, knees touching together with Todoroki's, patting his arm still, trying to calm him down.
"...Shoto, when you make a new friend- when you befriended Kacchan, did that make you like Midoriya less?"
"Absolutely not!" Todoroki shot up, clearly upset. "Why would making a new friend change how I feel about my old friends?"
"Exactly!" the blond smiled. "It's a really silly thought, isn't it? Well, that's exactly how it is with romantic love, too. At least for us!"
Todoroki was shocked awake. He felt a lot of these insecurities become silly in real time. "...oh."
Sero laughed softly. "Get it now, Roki? I would never start loving Denki any less. I couldn't!"
The icy-hot teen looked down, feeling bashful. This was a lot to take in, and he felt a little overwhelmed. "...I think that makes a lot of sense."
Kaminari giggled and reached out to tussle Todoroki's differently colored hair. "It makes sense that you would think that, since you're half and half, hmm? But love isn't something that could ever be divided. Love only ever grows bigger, not smaller!"
"It's a little more complex than that, babe..." Sero chuckled, but shook his head and looked Todoroki in the eye. "But, he's kinda right - you don't have to worry about me liking him or you any less, ever. Okay?"
Todoroki blushed and nodded, feeling shy from the attention he was receiving from his...
"...I'm... I think I need to think about this a little bit more,” he admitted, suddenly feeling really tired. This really was a lot, after all, “...but... if... if you guys wouldn't mind having me..."
"We don't!" Kaminari exclaimed, getting inches from Shoto’s face and grinning. “No matter what you wanna do, we’ll respect it.”
"Take all the time you need, Roki," Sero smiled, now blushing too.
Feeling Hanta squeeze his warm left hand, and Kaminari his cool right arm, Todoroki felt double the love he initially expected.