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“Kirishima are you sure this is a good idea?”
The question is innocent enough and coming from Todoroki, well, it should have raises warning signs in Kirishima’s head. It doesn’t. Instead, it makes Kirishima tighten the strings to his ice skates tighter and stand up straight. Wobbly, actually.
“Of course! It’ll be fun!” he assures, giving Todoroki a grin as he reaches to take the pianist’s hand. “C’mon, just for a little bit… I’ll buy you a milkshake?”
There’s more concern, torn between relenting at the promise of the chilly treat and the denial the other would like to give Kirishima. Said redhead pouts. Waits a moment, then wobbles his lip as his balance also wobbles.
“...fine,” Todoroki relents, squeezing Kirishima’s hand, surprisingly gentle. “Only for a little bit…”
The grin on Kirishima’s face is blinding when he drags Todoroki forward on shaky legs into a hug. He’s a waterfall of thank you’ s as he pulls away enough to look at Todoroki’s face. Cupping his cheeks, Kirishima kisses the other excitedly before pulling back in favor of attempting to wobble his way towards the edge of the rink.
Kirishima turns around as he grips the wall tightly for support, tentatively stepping out onto the ice. His skate slides and he tests it for a few seconds before actually putting his weight on it. Kirishima brightens up when he doesn’t immediately eat shit--he steps onto the rest of the rink. He glides for a few moments, arms wobbly and flailing as he tries to find some balance.
It doesn’t quite work, and he finds himself clinging desperately to the wall, a distressed look in his eyes when he looks back at Todoroki. The other only looks faintly concerned, staring down at the ice as if it’d somehow come alive and drag him down. Kirishima laughs as he waves a hand at the other, doing his best to disguise the thoughts that probably ran across his face.
(holy shit im going to die on the ice i regret coming here why did i decide this was a good ide--)
Kirishima feels a tap on his back, where he clings desperately to the wall, and when he looks over at Todoroki--clinging just as tightly though not quite as desperately as Kirishima was to the wall--the redhead shoots him a smile.
“See! Super fun!” he assures, though his skates skitter suddenly when he tries to straighten up and balance himself. He lets a hand go to flail it in the air before he finds balance again. This time he holds his hand out to Todoroki, grin on his face strengthening when he finds that the other takes it readily.
“I don’t know, smashing one’s face into the ice doesn’t seem… enjoyable,” Todoroki murmurs back, tightening his grip on Kirishima’s hand when the redhead pushes off the edge of the rink and starts to actually skate. Todoroki is right there by his side, just as wobbly as Kirishima was but: they manage.
(holy shit hes doing it hes managing it hes gonna--)
“Psh! It’s all part of the experience, Todoroki!” Kirishima says, voice loud in an attempt to be heard over the shrieking of girls nearby. Kirishima’s grin doesn’t waver, even when Todoroki starts to skate further ahead of him slightly, tugging gently at his hands and making the redhead’s chest tense.
“If you say so,” Todoroki continues on, voice lilting into something that sounded a lot like amusement. Kirishima laughs as he tries to skate closer to the other male, free arm flailing slightly as he tries to retake his balance. It works for half a second before a multitude of things happen all at once.
One: Todoroki’s free hand goes flailing.
Two: Kirishima keeps going.
Three: they both eat shit.
Kirishima takes note of the startled noise that comes out of both their mouths when they land, hard, on the ice. Except his landing is a tad bit softer, since, Todoroki broke his fall.
“...is this the part where I say ‘I told you so’ Kirishima?”
“Normally, yeah, but let’s not ‘n say ya’ did?”
Propping himself up so that he didn’t continue crushing poor Todoroki, Kirishima glances down to meet the other’s eyes. He gives him a sheepish grin, face reddish from the cold (and probably the rapid beating of his chest at being so close to Todoroki; not like he hasn’t been intimate with the pianist before--this was different, probably, given Kirishima’s track record with ridiculous connections to theories that don’t quite make sense) as he attempts to get up and off Todoroki.
Wobbly on his feet, Kirishima takes the opportunity to slowly skate towards the wall, clinging desperately. Someone skids to a stop near the two of them, concern on their face when they look down at Todoroki still on the ice. Kirishima gives them a weak thumbs up, as Todoroki manages to get himself back on his feet--with the help of the good samaritan--and make his way next to the redhead. Todoroki clings to the wall as he stares at Kirishima, usual deadpan expression on his face.
“...so, that was… fun…?” Kirishima tries, laughing slightly as Todoroki looks at him; the slight furrow to his brow only makes Kirishima worry that he might’ve pushed the other too far.
“You weren’t hurt, right?” Todoroki asks, head tilting to the side while Kirishima blinks. Shaking his head, the redhead waves his hand as he grins, “No I’m good! Promise! Are you okay? ‘Cause ya’ did hit the ice kinda hard..”
Todoroki shrugs, clinging to the wall as he glances out to the other skaters on the ice. Kirishima follows the gaze, eyes focused on the way the groups of people moved--couples holding hands, children scrambling to keep up with one another--before he looks back at Todoroki.
“Wanna go back home? I think Midoriya’s gonna order that one take-out place!” Kirishima offers, laughing quietly at the way Todoroki absolutely seems to perk up at the prospect of food; a normal reaction, but still, it makes Kirishima’s heart do a flip in his chest.
“We can’t forget the milkshakes,” Todoroki replies, much to Kirishima’s amusement, and the pianist pushes off from the wall and makes his way (rather carefully) towards the exit of the rink. Kirishima watches as Todoroki finds his balance way quicker than he did, gliding effortlessly towards the edge of the rink--though he does stumble when switching from slick ice to solid ground.
Todoroki turns around to look at Kirishima from across the rink, and the redhead waves before pushes off the wall in an attempt to make his way to the pianist. Wobbly on his feet still, Kirishima flails his arms a bit as he narrowly dodges a couple skating past him. A startled yelp leaves his mouth when it abruptly switches from the ice to the solid ground; arms catch him by the waist, with surprising support and Kirishima can’t help but let another startled noise escape his mouth.
“Bwh--!”
Gripping Todoroki tighter, Kirishima looks up through his bangs at the other male. He has a vaguely concerned look on his face, and Kirishima thanks his lucky stars that his face was pretty flushed regardless--the romance movies he watched come to mind immediately, and it makes his heart stutter in his chest, yet again--as he straightens up with a laugh.
“That’s the second time ya’ managed to save me!” Kirishima says, face on fire as he motions towards the exit. Todoroki shakes his head as he heads outside, Kirishima hobbling after him.
—
Todoroki walks next to Kirishima, happily sucking down a rather large milkshake in his free hand. Kirishima holds Todoroki’s free hand, swinging their hands together as they walk to the familiar cafe that Kirishima likes to grab their early morning coffees from when Bakugou destroys their coffee maker.
(the baristas know him by name)
When they enter the cafe, it’s surprisingly empty, save for the baristas and a couple of lingering patrons. Kirishima drags Todoroki towards where he usually sits, far off in the corner of the cafe, away from prying eyes and plops down in the seat. Todoroki slurps noisily at the milkshake, the last dregs of it disappearing into Todoroki’s mouth.
Kirishima props his head up with a hand as he watches Todoroki quietly, small smile on his face. The other cocks an eyebrow, brow lifting then furrowing as he returns Kirishima’s gaze.
“What is it?” Todoroki asks, once he finishes off the rest of his milkshake, and Kirishima blinks. The question throws him off and the redhead shakes his head, smile in place.
“Nothing! Just… happy,” Kirishima murmurs softly, “...it was fun, right? Despite y’know, falling…”
Kirishima glances over at the sparse amount of people still hanging around the cafe, busying themselves with whatever it was they were doing, and when Kirishima looks back at Todoroki, there’s a small smile on the pianist’s face. It’s something that throws him off, and the sight of it makes Kirishima’s chest tighten and his smile grows in intensity.
“...yeah, Kirishima. It was fun.”
Kirishima beams.
“I’m so glad!”