Archive of Our Own

So tell us, Hero Shouto, how have you been celebrating your new position as Japan’s number three hero this past month?

I met up with a couple of old friends to celebrate. They were incredibly supportive, though everyone kept mourning the ‘five-weenie’ hero. 

You haven’t been number five in two years, though!

Try telling that to Pinky and Dynamight.

You must feel incredibly proud of yourself for rising through the ranks as quickly as you are. 

I am, actually. Now that I’ve risen through the ranks, I’ve actually discovered that there’s more to life than just hero work. 

Has anything —or anyone special— captured your eye? 

I’m a lover of food now. As for romance, that ship sailed years ago. I’m content with my life alone now, though I might get a cat since my work hours are less chaotic nowadays. It pays to be your own boss sometimes. 

So there’s no secret special someone?

Not at the moment. 

– Hero Shouto for Japan Hero Monthly (September)

Izuku Midoriya’s world tilted on its axis at the age of twenty-four on a Thursday afternoon in mid-September. 

There was a hot coffee in his left hand and a bag of cookies in his right, a gift from the companion walking beside him in a well-worn hero suit. The leaves crunched under his feet with every step he took, and the wind ruffled his curls with each passing second while the sun setting behind them reminded them of how late they had finally escaped Yuuei’s clutches for the day. There was no indication for an earth shattering declaration, no reason for one to be made in the comfortable silence on the way to the train station. 

And still, Izuku received one anyway. 

“I used to like you, you know.”

Izuku tripped over his toes and stumbled for a bit before coming to a complete stop in the middle of the sidewalk. Shocked, he snapped his head up straight to stare at Shouto, who had come to a stop. 

“What?”

”I used to like you,” Shouto repeated, this time meeting Izuku’s gaze with piercing turquoise blue and charcoal gray eyes. “In second and third year. Everyone knew except you.”

“Are you serious?”

“As the plague,” he answered, and Izuku felt a little  stupid because this was Shouto; he’d never been one to lie about anything. Especially something like this. 

Sweat trickled down the back of his neck and skated along his spine. He’d never been confessed to, not in the way that mattered anyway; he wasn't sure what to do with this, not sure what to say to not hurt his friend. He wasn’t sure what spurred this or why past feelings were on his mind six years later, and he wasn’t sure what the pounding in his chest meant. He wasn’t sure of anything now where he stood on unstable land, created by seven lethal words that shouldn’t mean anything but still made him feel like a high schooler with a puppy crush on the first girl who was nice to him. 

“Todoroki…I’m sorry, I don’t…I’m not–” 

I don’t like you like that. 

Shouto’s smile grew a little, and Izuku felt a little insane because he didn’t understand why he was smiling when he was being rejected. 

“I know.” A pause. “I don’t expect any reciprocation, if that’s what you’re worried about. I just thought you deserved to know.”

“You said ‘used to,’ as in past tense. That means you don’t…like me now, right?”

“That is what the words ‘used to’ mean, yes.” That smile remained on Shouto’s lips, unmoving, and Izuku was so ridiculously confused. “It’s okay, Midoriya. I’m over it, really. There’s nothing for you to do now.”

“Todoroki–”

“We’re going to miss the train,” Shouto interrupted, though not unkindly. 

Izuku wanted to protest and ask Shouto what the purpose of this was, if it was a test or a dare, but by the way he had turned to look away, he knew he wouldn't get an answer. The most he would get is an affirmation that his rejection was fine, that Shouto had moved on, and that was fine. 

It had to be fine. He just wouldn’t think about it, then. 

And still, there was a compulsory “sorry” that came out of his mouth once they resumed their way to the station. Shouto said nothing, but he flashed Izuku that same smile that revealed nothing and left him unsatisfied. 

Silence fell between them again, the sun set like always, and Izuku’s world was completely tilted off its axis by a love confession that had his heart lodged in his throat for the rest of the evening. 

Izuku (11:27 PM)

i hope you have a good night, todoroki!

are we okay?

Shouto (11:47 PM)

Always. 

Izuku (11:48 PM)

cool!

Read 11:49 PM

When Izuku was sixteen, he knew he wasn’t pretty. 

At sixteen, he had fought the greatest villain of all time and had earned jagged scars along the tenderest parts of his skin. At sixteen, he had to train his horrendously crooked fingers to pick up a pencil and relearn how to rewrite his name. At sixteen, he often fell into quiet depressive slumps thinking of the future that he concealed under a fake smile that most believed to be real. At sixteen, he wasn’t the pretty boy that the new first-years were throwing themselves at. 

Perhaps that’s why he couldn’t quite believe Shouto’s words, even two weeks after they had been said. After all, there was no reason for Shouto to like him; he was as ordinary as the next hero, less so without a quirk now. There was no reason for the prettiest boy in their class to like him for two years straight, no reason for him to even remember it six years later, and no reason to confess it. 

And yet, he had confessed anyway with that smile that Izuku still didn’t understand all these days later. 

“Katsuki just texted. He should be here in twenty minutes. He got off patrol late,” Eijirou announced as he plopped down on the couch. When Izuku didn’t reply, he turned to him with a frown. “Are you okay?”

Blinking slowly, Izuku shifted his gaze to him. “What?”

“You’ve been sipping an empty cup for the last ten minutes,” Eijirou pointed out with a nod at the empty glass. Concerned, he asked, “Is everything okay?”

“Oh,” Izuku answered dumbly. Taking a second to formulate his words, he fiddled with the glass. “Do you remember what I was like during second year?”

“Second year?”

“Yeah.”

“Hm.” Setting his phone down, Eijirou frowned and stared at the black TV screen in front of them. “From what I remember, you were a little more reserved than in your first year. You also had a bad haircut, man. Like, a really bad one. I think enough time has passed for me to say that, right?”

”So you’re saying I was rough on the eyes during second year.”

“Well, not exactly,” Eijirou laughed nervously. “You just took a while to glow up after that awful buzzcut.”

“Oh.”

“Why the question?”

Running a finger over the rim of his cup, Izuku said dismissively, “Don’t worry about it.”

“You say that but I’m going to worry anyway. So?” Eijirou prodded, “Why the question? Did you suddenly remember something from second year?”

“No.” Inhaling sharply, he closed his eyes and said quietly, “Todoroki told me he liked me in second year.”

When Eijirou didn’t say anything, Izuku cracked his eyes open and glanced at him. Instead of disbelief, he found no change in his expression. 

“And?”

“What do you mean ‘and’?” Izuku frowned, staring suspiciously at his friend. “Why aren’t you more surprised?”

“Why are you surprised?“ Eijirou laughed. “Everyone knew Todoroki liked you. He wasn’t exactly subtle about it, you know. I’m pretty sure he liked you all the way up until graduation.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah!” When Izuku didn’t answer, his smile faded and was replaced with a look of disbelief. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know.”

Shoulders slumped, he sighed and stared at his glass. “I didn’t. Not until he told me two weeks ago,” he confessed. 

“What?” Eijirou asked, his brows hidden somewhere in his hairline now. “But it was so obvious. Like, I’m talking me-crushing-on-Katsuki levels of obvious. It was awful. He practically worshiped the ground you walked on for two years straight!”

“That’s what he said.” Izuku winced, “Well, not the ‘worship’ part. Only that he liked me during second and third year and that everyone knew.”

“Yeah man, everyone totally knew. And he wasn’t the only one.” 

“What?!”

Grinning, Eijirou said, “You were quite the heartbreaker in high school, you know. I think about half the class had a crush on you at one point or another during our three years together. You just never seemed to notice it.”

“But why? I wasn’t anything special in high school. I was just me.”

“Um, yeah,” Eijirou laughed. “That’s why you had so many admirers. I mean, you were ridiculously kind even when people were mean and you always made an effort to be there for everyone in their greatest time of need. You were practically  a prince, man. That’s why Uraraka never quite got over her crush on you in high school, either.”

Flushing pink, Izuku let a small pleased smile creep up on his face. “I liked her a lot back then, too.”

“Believe me, we know,” Eijirou replied with a teasing smile. “You weren’t subtle about it, either. Please tell me you at least knew that she liked you.”

“I always had a hunch that she did, but I didn’t act on it.” Sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, he continued, “It just never seemed like the right time.”

“We’re heroes. There’s never really a right time to make a move,” Eijirou said before catching himself and hastily tacking on, “For anyone, really. Not just heroes.”

Ignoring the ache that made its presence known at the mention of being a hero, Izuku managed to mumble, “Yeah, I get it.”

Eijirou flashed him a toothy smile before lowering his gaze to the coffee table. “Honestly, third year was a little crazy. So many bets were made about who was going to confess to who before graduation.”

“Really? I don’t remember that.”

“That’s because you were the center of most of the bets,” Eijirou replied with a quick glance at him. “Half of the class thought you were going to confess to Uraraka. The other half, well…”

“What did they say?”

“They thought you were going to confess to Todoroki.”

The dreaded feeling of his stomach tying itself in knots and his heart beating faster hit him at full force. 

“Oh,” was all he managed to say. 

“Yeah. I knew you weren’t going to ask Todoroki out, but…” A small, sad smile crossed his face, and with too much sincerity he said, “I don’t know. Sometimes you looked at him the way you looked at Uraraka, and I wondered if you liked him that way, too.”

Izuku stared at him in disbelief at the confession. It was like he was standing in the park in front of Shouto again, watching him admit something huge that was meant to be nothing. His insides twisted and filled with something like unease, sending bile up his mouth because it couldn’t be true, he didn’t like Shouto. 

And still, people believed he did. 

“We…we were just friends,” Izuku managed to get out with trembling hands. Why were they trembling? “I don’t– no. That’s wrong. I don’t like Todoroki like that.”

Eijirou stared at him for a few excruciating seconds with an unreadable look before he nodded and said, “I know, dude. I guess that’s why Todoroki never told you anything until now.” A pause. “Huh. I wonder why he decided to tell you, though.”

“That’s what I want to know!” Izuku groaned, tipping his head backwards to stare at the ceiling. “I’m telling you, it came out of nowhere! He said he used to like me, not that he still likes me, but I can’t stop thinking about it. Why would he tell me something like that out of nowhere?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Eijirou shift in his seat. “What?”

“Well,” Eijirou said carefully, “it’s not really my place to gossip, but if I had to guess why, I think he’s going to start dating soon.”

Fully turning his head to stare at him, Izuku asked, “Why do you say that?”

“Mina and I were talking the other day and she mentioned that Todoroki and Yoarashi have been hanging out more frequently since they teamed up in Kyoto a couple of months ago. She asked him if there was something going on and he said no, but he wouldn’t be opposed if it became something more.”

Mouth suddenly dry, Izuku blurted out, “But Todoroki doesn’t care about dating.”

“I guess he does now.” Eijirou shrugged. “Honestly, Midoriya, I think he told you about his crush on you to close that chapter for good.”

For some reason, that made Izuku’s insides twist inside and out. Why do I feel like this? “Well,” he eventually said with a forced hollow smile, “I hope it all works out for him.”

“Me too,” Eijirou said with a soft smile. “I hope it all works out for you, too. You know, with Uraraka.”

“Right,” Izuku chuckled weakly. “Should we set the table?”

“That is a good idea.”

Izuku only smiled in response. They set the table, and when Katsuki arrived, he did his best to act like nothing was wrong and pretend like the revelation that Shouto had indeed moved on didn’t make him feel like vomiting until his stomach was outside his body. 

Why? Why, why, why–

So here’s the thing:

If he really put his mind to it, Izuku could probably make out a few fuzzy images of Ochako in high school.  

He could make out the secret smiles and her rosy cheeks whenever they got paired up for training drills in class, anticipation and admiration clear in her eyes. He could make out the silhouette of her body moving around the kitchen every Saturday night while she baked with her nearest victim and Sato, her hair bouncing with each step and spin she took. He could make out the sound of her laughter, bright and bell-like at the corniest joke made by any of their friends during dragged-on study sessions that made his head hurt. 

He didn’t have to even think about Shouto for more than a second for all of it to hit him at once. 

He remembered second-year Shouto casually remarking how they had opposing scars now before recommending the best ointments to treat it. He remembered hearing Shouto’s true carefree laugh for the first time when his friends took him to a nearby cat cafe for his seventeenth birthday, months after losing Touya. He remembered his kind smile when Izuku forgot to give him back his English notes, brushing it off like he didn’t mind the two-week missing notes. He remembered the gentle grounding touches when he felt more like a ball of anxiety than a human being, always there and so kind that they did miracles for his racing heart. 

Above all, though, he remembered how they both made him feel; happy, grounded, and normal. There wasn’t a moment spent with either of them that didn’t end with him laughing or having his heart singing with happiness by the end of the night. 

Therein laid the problem, because Izuku wasn’t in love with Shouto. And still, if he went over the interactions with enough scrutiny, he could pinpoint  the quickening of his pulse and the blood rush to his cheeks only happened with them; just Shouto and Ochako, a beautiful boy and a pretty girl that made his dark days brighter. 

(If he thinks it over for the millionth time and realizes that most of his smiles have been because of Shouto, he doesn’t dare give it a name, too afraid of what it could mean.)

What are your plans for the New Year?

I plan on ringing it in with my family at my sister’s home. We’re renovating it this week with the help of a few of my old friends. 

Sounds sweet! Still no special someone to ring in the year with, I assume?

That’s right. But I’m looking forward to new opportunities in the new year. I want to move on from the past and make way for something new. 

You heard it here first, folks! Hero Shouto is officially on the market!

I’m also in the market for living room color recommendations, so if you have any, please tweet them to me or my friends Deku and Ingenium. They’ll be helping me make my sister’s house a disaster.

– Hero Shouto for Japan Hero Monthly (December)

“Are you going to stare at the wall the whole afternoon or do you plan to pick up a paintbrush anytime soon?”

Startled, Izuku snapped his neck around to gaze up at Shouto. Holding a plastic container with blue paint and clad in old black sweatpants and a ratty blue hoodie that Izuku swore was identical to the one he lost in second year, he looked nice. From where he sat crouched on the ground, Izuku should see the quizzical red-brow raise aimed at him from under bangs that were long overdue for a cut. 

Strangely, he felt the phantom urge to cut them himself like he did once in third year. 

Swallowing the ball in his throat, Izuku managed to say, “I was just trying to decide where I should start.”

“That’s easy. You start with the molding first, then the wall,” Shouto explained with a gesture at the wall. “Ivory for the molding, blue for the wall. Simple enough, right?”

“Right. I just don’t want to mess anything up.”

“You won’t be able to mess it up any more than Denki did last week in the kitchen,” Shouto deadpanned. “My sister has his white handprints on the wall now. She says they give the house character, but there’s a reason they’re hidden behind the fridge.”

“Oh.”

“I don’t expect the same from Iida,” he continued with a soft shake of his head. “He’s too meticulous to mess up something simple like painting a wall. Neither is Asui. Uraraka, on the other hand, might end up painting the ceiling if she activates her quirk,” he attempted to joke. 

“You invited Uraraka?” Izuku blurted out. 

Shouto fixed him with a frown. “Why wouldn’t I? She’s our friend, isn’t she?”

“No, right! I understand, I just…” Izuku shook his head. “Never mind. I don't know why I’m being stupid today. Ignore me. I’m just going to paint the molding now.”

“Midoriya.” Shouto sighed, weariness heavy in his gaze. “You’ve been avoiding me since September. Please tell me you’re not still thinking about what I said.”

“What am I supposed to do? Forget it?” Izuku laughed hysterically, “It was a love confession, Todoroki!”

“Crush confession,” Shouto corrected. “And yes. I said my piece, you said yours, so you’re supposed to forget it now.”

“Todoroki–”

Sighing, Shouto said, “Please don’t make this weird. I told you it was six years ago. Besides, it was just a silly high school crush. If I’ve forgotten it, you should too.”

“But I don’t know what to say or what to do to not hurt you!” Izuku rushed out with wide eyes. “You’re my best friend, Todoroki. I don’t want to ruin this by being careless with your feelings, and it sucks because I don’t want things to get complicated, but I don’t–!”

Between one blink and the next, he felt something wet land on the tip of his nose. Going cross-eyed, he hesitantly wiped blue paint off his nose. 

“Did you just–”

Holding a dropping blue-stained paintbrush in his hands, Shouto said, “You think too much, Midoriya. It’s over. I told you we’re okay. You need to let it go.”

But I don’t want to let it go. 

I want you to tell me everything, to say what it was that made you want me, to say what made you stop, and lay out exactly everything from beginning to end. 

I can’t let it go. 

Biting his tongue, Izuku wiped the wet paint on his old worn jeans, emerald eyes never leaving that mismatched turquoise blue and marble gray gaze. 

“You can’t just put wet paint on my nose when you want me to stop talking,” he said with disapproval laced in his tone. 

Lips twitching, Shouto replied, “It’s the only thing that I know works for sure.”

Suddenly, Izuku remembered being seventeen and laughing with Shouto as they painted Natsuo’s new house. It had been snowing the day they had painted each other white in the kitchen, sage green in the living room, and pale yellow in the nursery. Izuku remembered the bright flush on usual rosy cheeks and loud laughter coming from Shouto, and in a moment of weakness, he craved to hear it again. 

Standing up, Izuku picked up the white paint bucket. Dipping a brush in it, he walked towards a suspicious looking Shouto. 

Before Shouto could blink, Izuku swiped the brush over his right cheek, leaving a bright white mark to match his hair. 

“Are you serious?” Shouto gaped, running his fingers over the wet paint. 

“Now we’re even.”

“You are such a child.”

“You started it,” Izuku rebutted with raised brows. 

“And I’ll end it,” Shouto decided before swiping a streak of blue across Izuku’s forehead. “I win.”

“Oh no you don’t!” Izuku playfully raised his brush threateningly, and a smile crossed his face involuntarily when Shouto ran to the opposite side of the room, his own brush pointed like a weapon. 

“Is that all you’ve got?” Shouto taunted playfully. “I expected more from you. You’ve gotten slow.”

“Oh yeah? How’s this for slow?” Izuku didn’t give him time to think it over before making a mad dash for the other side of the room. “You’re the slow one, number three!”

“No,” Shouto rebutted as he ducked to avoid the slash of paint, “That’s all you, professor.”

“Screw you!” Izuku laughed, and finally, Shouto let out that beautiful laugh of his that made his insides quiver with fear and something almost like want. 

“Shut up,” Shouto laughed, amusement clear in his eyes. “What would your mother say if she heard you speaking like that?”

“I won’t tell her if you don’t.”

“I can’t promise anything,” Shouto answered with a secret smile that made Izuku feel like he had won the title of Japan’s Number One hero. 

“Todoroki? Midoriya?” 

Still smiling, Izuku turned his head to the door and shouted, “We’re in the living room!” 

Shouto took advantage of that moment to quickly swipe his brush over Izuku’s scar, coating it in a thin layer of blue that has Izuku shivering. He grinned like he had won, and in a very mature move, Izuku stuck his tongue out at him. 

“Very mature, professor.”

“That’s Mr. Midoriya to you.”

“Professor Midoriya.”

“Why do you insist on teasing me–”

“Ah! We found you two!” 

Glancing back, Izuku‘a gaze briefly flickered to  Tenya who was smiling at them, not a trace of paint on his skin nor his clothes. Beside him stood Ochako, and Izuku’s eyes immediately latched onto her sparkling brown eyes and wind-swept chocolate hair barely kept in place by a baby pink headband.  

Shouto was the first to respond with a warm, “Uraraka. I’m glad you could make it. Is Asui with you?”

“No, she’s running a little late. Something about having to intervene in a fight downtown.” Ochako tilted her head to the side, and almost curiously said, “Do you know you have paint on your face?”

“That was my doing,” Izuku blurted out, finally finding his voice. “But really, he started it. See this dot on my nose? He did it first! So really, it was all deserved.”

“I put one dot on your face and you practically gave me a face mask,” Shouto deadpanned. 

“Deserved, don’t you think so?”

Despite his tired sigh, Shouto’s lips still curled upwards into a smile. Turning to Ochako and Tenya, he said, “We should probably get back to painting. Uraraka, you can work with Midoriya. I’ll keep working with Iida in the hallway.”

Before he could stop himself, Izuku said, “I thought you and I were going to paint the living room together.”

Brow raised, Shouto replied, “No, the plan was always you and Uraraka.” Turning to the woman, he said, “There are extra brushes in the container beside the bucket by Midoriya. Please don’t paint the ceiling; my sister will kill me if we touch it.”

“I promise I won’t,” she said with a smile, but there was something calculating in her eyes for the briefest of seconds before Shouto left the room with Tenya. 

Suddenly aware of how alone they were, Izuku shifted on his feet and flashed her a nervous smile. 

“It’s been a while since I last saw you. How was the assembly in Fukuoka last week?” 

“Oh, the same as always. A lot of students came forward for quirk counseling in the middle schools we visited, which is always the goal.”

“That’s great! I’m glad your project is picking up popularity.”

“Thanks,” she said with a shy smile. Stooping down, she picked up a dry brush and dipped it in the open white paint bucket. “So what’s the deal here? Are we painting the molding first and then the walls?”

“Yeah!” Dumbfounded, Izuku asked, “How did you know?”

Giggling, she answered, “I remember Todoroki and Bakugou lecturing us when we painted his brother’s house a couple of years ago. Paint the molding first, let it dry, then paint the walls. I wonder why we’re doing blue, though.”

“I don’t know, I think it’s kind of nice,” Izuku shrugged. “It’s a very Todoroki color. You know, like their eyes.”

Ochako raised a brow and smiled at that. “Their eyes?”

“And the ice quirks,” Izuku tacked on with a nervous laugh. Why the hell was their eyes my first thought?

“Well when you put it like that, it does make sense.” Smile widening, she nodded at the windows in the center of the living room. “Want to do the bottom of the molding while I do the top?”

“That’s probably the best option.”

“Great! Now tell me about your latest classroom gossip. I’m dying to hear about the shenanigans the future heroes are getting into!”

Lighting up, Izuku picked his brush up, and with the next swipe of ivory on the molding he told her about his favorite students and how they were advancing greatly for first years. 

(If he momentarily wishes he was still smearing paint on Shouto’s rosy cheeks and breathtaking smile, he convinces himself it’s nothing.)

Izuku realized repression and denial could only go so far a couple two months later. 

“I can’t believe the water damage this villain caused,” Tenya said with a disgusted look around the flooded streets. “It’s a good thing Manual is on his way. Otherwise these poor citizens would be stuck with a river in their yards.”

“I feel like a wet dog,” Izuku chuckled as he attempted to shake water from his curls. 

Tenya laughed at that, running a hand through his damp hair. “I’m sure the middle schoolers you saved from the flash flood appreciate it.”

“Ah, well, you know,” Izuku said with a small smile, “Force of habit.”

(It stings that his urge is still to save when he no longer has the capacity to do it anymore.)

“Iida. I didn’t know you were working in this part of town today.”

Izuku jumped at the sound of the familiar baritone voice. Turning around, he was met with the sight of Shouto in his hero suit, his hair wind-tousled like he had walked straight out of a tornado. He couldn’t help but let himself think that he looked handsome like this. 

“Shouto,” Tenya greeted with a kind smile. “Yes, I was supposed to be off duty but you know how it is. I didn’t know you were called in for cleanup.”

“I wasn’t. I was dealing with another villain a few streets down with my partner.” He shook his head. “It seems like every time we think they’re dwindling, they appear in masses.”

“That’s just how it is, I fear.”

“True.” Shouto shifted his attention to Izuku. “Midoriya. I didn’t expect to see you out here at this time of day. You’re usually at Yuuei with your students.”

Smiling, Izuku said, “That’s usually true, but you’re forgetting one important thing.”

“What?”

“It’s Sunday. There are no classes in session today.”

Shouto blinked slowly, then inhaled quietly through his nose. “Damn. You’re right. I’m sorry; I’ve been on patrol for four days straight. The flu hit Entropy hard this year, so I’ve been covering for the sick sidekicks.”

“Um, aren’t there supposed to be labor laws against that?” Izuku asked worriedly. 

“What the Hero Commission doesn’t know won’t hurt them,” Shouto said with a small shrug. 

“Did you not ask for assistance from other agencies?” Tenya asked, visibly equally worried. “I’d be happy to have some of my sidekicks cover your downed one’s while they recover.”

Flashing him a smile, Shouto said, “Thank you, but it’s fine. This is actually my last shift for the week. Most of them are returning to work tomorrow, pending physician clearance.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” Izuku said with a sigh of relief. “What are your plans for your days off?”

“Not much. I’m thinking of grabbing dinner with a friend and possibly looking into trying out a noodle making class. I might also just sleep, though. It depends on how I feel in two hours.”

“Where is your partner?” Tenya asked curiously. 

To Izuku’s surprise, Shouto’s cheeks flushed a light shade of pink and he nervously scratched his cheek with a pale finger. “He went back to the agency to write up the incident report for the last villain we defeated. It’s his last day at Entropy as a sit-in for a downed sidekick, so it has to be done by the end of day.”

A sudden nauseous feeling filled Izuku’s gut. Feigning nonchalance, he asked, “Who’s the pro?”

A pause. “Gale Force.”

Behind him, Izuku heard Tenya say appreciatively, “That was a good choice,” and heard Shouto murmur his “Thank you,” but all he could focus on was the way his stomach fell to his toes and how his smile froze on his face. 

“Midoriya? Are you alright?” 

Somehow, Izuku managed to lie, “I’m fine. What, um, made you ask him to fill in for your missing sidekicks?”

“I’ve already worked with him before, so I know we work well together. He’s also more tolerable now than he was in high school, so there’s that.” Shouto frowned. “Why the question?”

“Oh, no reason. I was just curious since his agency is like an hour away from Entropy, that’s why.”

Shouto nodded slowly, wariness in his voice as he said slowly, “Right. Well, I should be heading back to my agency. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t need any assistance.”

“No, we have it all under control,” Tenya said with a confused smile. His eyes ping-ponged between a thin-lipped Izuku and suspicious Shouto. “Thank you for stopping by, though. Are we still on for lunch next week?”

“Yes, I’ll text you the details once my sister gives me the address.” Nodding at both of them, Shouto said, “Be safe. I’ll see you two around.”

Izuku watched him walk away with his tongue caught between his teeth, the bitter taste of iron and Inasa Yoarashi’s name filling his mouth. 

“So,” Tenya said once Shouto had disappeared. “I hate to be intrusive, but I’m sensing something is off.”

“What?” Izuku asked, a little harsher than necessary. 

Tenya stared at him for a few seconds, his brows twitching like he was trying to figure him out. “You don’t usually speak to Todoroki like you did a few minutes ago. Did something happen between you two?”

Heart suddenly in his throat, Izuku’s eyes widened and he let out a forced laugh. “No. No! No, everything’s fine between us. It’s perfect. There’s nothing going on between us.”

“No offense, Midoriya, but you are still a terrible liar.”

Izuku let out a defeated sigh and frustratedly pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, you’re right. I’m sorry. I just don’t want to bring it up again because I want to stop thinking about it but I can’t.”

”Thinking about what?”

“Todoroki told me a few months ago that he used to like me,” Izuku confessed. 

Tenya remained silent.

“Kirishima says that everyone knew he liked me but I didn’t know, and now that I know, I can’t stop thinking about it. Todoroki told me to just forget it but it’s a love confession, Iida. A love confession. How do you just stop thinking about something like that?”

Noticing Tenya’s silence, he looked up and was met with the taller man’s unreadable eyes set on him. It was honestly sort of nerve wracking. 

“What?”

“Nothing,” Tenya said quietly. “I’m just thinking about how brave Todoroki was for telling you that.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing,” Tenya breathed with a shake of his head. “Look, the police are here. Let’s get this over with and then grab lunch together, alright?”

“Okay?” Izuku frowned. “But Iida–”

“Manual, good to see you!” Tenya cut him off before walking over to the other hero, leaving Izuku to stare after him dumbfoundedly. 

What did he mean?

So here was another thing:

Izuku knew he was a liar. 

From telling his mom at five years old that split lips and scraped knees didn’t hurt to telling his friends that teaching had truly given his life meaning, he always lied. Over time, he perfected his hollow smiles into something believable and learned to lace his lies with brightness he didn’t feel. Izuku lied through his teeth until even the people closest to him believed it, and in turn, he believed it too.

It was easy to lie about his past now. No, he didn’t miss his quirk. No, he didn’t miss being a hero. No, he didn’t think about what his life could’ve been like if he was still a hero. No, he wasn’t sad about it at all. He was an expert at lying about the things people expected him to lie about. 

It turned out it was harder to lie about the things he never thought he would have to lie about. 

“Mr. Midoriya, do you ever think about dating?”

Izuku’s hands stilled over the board, half of his fingers coated in white from the chalk falling off the eraser. Turning around, his gaze flickered to the blue-haired boy sitting in the front row with a blank test in front of him. 

“What?”

The boy’s face flushed, and averting his gaze to his blank test sheet, he murmured, “It’s nothing. Sorry for asking.”

Izuku set the eraser down and looked at him carefully. “That didn’t seem like ‘nothing,’ Yuki.” Silence. “Why are you asking about dating?”

“It’s just that we’re training to be heroes, right?” Yuki gnawed on his bottom lip, still avoiding Izuku’s eyes. “We’re training to be the best, so there’s no use caring about dating, right?”

Fingers twitching at his sides, Izuku said slowly, “That’s not necessarily true.”

“But All Might never dated anyone,” Yuki said, finally meeting Izuku’s eyes with his fear-filled ones. “Neither did you, and you’re both legends in the hero world.”

Shifting on his feet, Izuku reached a hand up to nervously scratch his cheek. For some reason, the gesture felt oddly familiar yet foreign to him all at once. 

“It’s true that neither All Might nor I dated anyone when we were in high school, but that doesn’t mean it makes you a weaker hero for caring about it.” Gaze soft, Izuku said, “Wanting to fall in love and having your dream job shouldn’t be in separate categories. You can have both if you and your partner know how to make it work.”

“So why didn’t you date in high school? You had to have had someone you liked, right?”

Brown hair. Chocolate eyes. Pink cheeks. 

Flushing pink, Izuku let out a nervous laugh. “Well, yeah. Of course I liked someone. I was a teenager, after all. But me not pursuing her was purely a personal choice.”

“Oh.”

Leaning against the clean side of the board, Izuku asked carefully, “Is there someone that caught your eye?”

Yuki flushed crimson and averted his wide-eyed gaze to his blank paper. “No.”

Izuku hummed quietly. “There’s no shame in liking someone. There’s no reason to feel like you can’t have a career as a hero and love at the same time. You should tell her how you feel.”

To his surprise, Yuki visibly flinched. He watched in confusion as he shrunk in on himself, his eyes resolutely avoiding Izuku. 

Then the pieces clicked, and Izuku felt his skin prickle. 

“Is it…not a girl?” Silence. “You don’t have to tell me, I just–”

“I’m not supposed to feel like this,” Yuki rushed out, looking up at Izuku with fear in his eyes. “I’m not–I’m not supposed to think about it. That’s not who I am, but I…I can’t stop thinking about him. He’s my best friend and that’s all he should be, but I feel like I want to fight villains and win just to see him smile at me. I’m not–”

Izuku watched in stunned silence as Yuki aggressively wiped tears away from his eyes. “I can’t want him like this. It’s wrong. I’m broken.”

“Yuki, look at me,” Izuku demanded. Heart in his throat, he said fiercely, “There is absolutely nothing wrong with you liking another boy.”

“It’s not what everyone thinks I should be,” Yuki choked out with tears. “My mom asks when I’m going to bring a girl home all the time, but I can’t even think about girls when he’s with me. There’s something wrong with me.”

“No, there’s not. You can fall in love with whoever you want, boy or girl. The only thing wrong would be to ignore it. You can’t be the best version of you by ignoring the parts that make you you.”

“I’m so scared, Mr. Midoriya,” he whispered with red eyes. “He’s my best friend. I don’t want to lose him.”

Fiery flames and chilling ice. Fiery red and snowy white hair. Marble grey and turquoise blue eyes. 

Kindness. Loyalty. Devotion. Best friend. 

Where are you looking?

I want, I want, I want–

Suddenly weak-kneed, Izuku clutched onto the edge of the chalkboard for support. 

Yuki looked up at him through thick wet lashes, and flashing him his best smile, Izuku said, “You won’t lose him. He’s your best friend for a reason, r-right?”

“Do you really think so?”

I just thought you deserved to know. 

“Yeah,” Izuku said a little hysterically. “Yeah, I really do.”

Yuki fell silent after that, pen scraping across paper as he finally started answering his exam. All Izuku could do was stare at the chalkboard in front of him, his train of thought completely disrupted by the sound of his heart beating in his ears, the sound suspiciously spelling Shou-to, Shou-to, Shou-to. 

Thinking truly about it, Izuku never considered dating in high school. He was always too busy with coursework, or too busy saving the world and pretending losing his quirk didn’t destroy him at sixteen. He was too busy perfecting the fake smile that everyone seemingly bought as truth.  

Everyone except Shouto, that is. 

(They’re walking to class together, Shouto’s gifted All Might keychain on his bag softly thumping shaking it. It’s the first day of third year, and everyone is talking about putting in applications to start their own agencies or for internships as sidekicks at established ones. 

Izuku is the only one who doesn’t have that option. And he pretends it doesn’t sting to hear it, like the loss of One For All is something that didn’t leave a massive hole in his soul, like he’s content with becoming an educator at Yuuei like it’s rumored he’ll be offered before graduation. Izuku smiles and walks like he’s not falling apart inside, and he’s fine. 

He’s fine. 

And then Shouto opens his mouth and says, “You don’t have to pretend with me, you know.”

Izuku turns his empty smile to him. “What?”

“You don’t have to pretend with me,” Shouto repeats, locking eyes with stunned emeralds. “I know this must be awful for you. I wish you were getting promoted with us.”

All Izuku can do is stare in disbelief, the smile gone from his face. He opens his mouth to ask how Shouto knew, but Shouto only huffs quietly and shakes his head. 

“You’re not a very good liar. I see the way you shrink back and fall silent during our conversations about what the future holds after graduation.” Shouto tilts his head, and there’s not pity but understanding in his eyes, and it makes Izuku’s throat constrict. “Please don’t feel like you have to pretend with me. I’m your best friend, aren’t I?”

That’s when Izuku lets out a choked laugh that turns into sobs, and they stand under blooming cherry blossoms that make the start of their third year, unmoving while Izuku cries with his head on Shouto’s shoulder and the other boy lets him.)

By the time Yuki had finished his exam, Izuku had written a grand total to zero notes on the chalkboard, all his thoughts consumed by thoughts of Shouto; his smile, his kindness, his selflessness, and his beauty both inside and out. 

All Izuku could think about was how he was twenty-five, single, and how he had missed the fact that maybe Shouto knew his feelings better than he did all along. 

“Why did people think I was going to ask Todoroki out during third year?”

The sound of water boiling on the stove for the noodles Katsuki was cooking and the ticking of the kitchen clock was his only answer. Katsuki’s back remained turned to him and his hand remained unmoving where the ladle rested on the countertop, but Izuku saw the subtle rise of his back as he breathed in after hearing the question. 

“His confession is still bugging the fuck out of you, huh.”

“It’s not that,” Izuku argued weakly. At Katsuki’s knowing look, he sighed. “Okay, it might be that.”

Katsuki snorted before looking back at the dishes, his head shaking just a little. 

Silence filled the air between them. 

Izuku resigned himself to not receiving an answer, and preparing to play it off, he opened his mouth. He was silenced by Katsuki saying quietly, “You were obvious about who your favorites were.”

Startled, Izuku sat up straight. “What?”

“Your favorites. You know, Todoroki and Uraraka. You always spent more time with them than anyone else.”

“That’s not–”

“Yes,” Katsuki cut him off, looking at him over his shoulder. “You always went along with Uraraka’s weak ass pranks and planned parties with her, but Todoroki?” He shook his head. “If you weren’t in your room or the common room, you were with him. You practically latched onto him like a leech when his brother died. And your face–”

“What about my face?”

“You looked at him like he was the most beautiful freaking thing you’d ever seen,” Katsuki said with a hint of disgust in his tone. “He’d say something dumb and you’d laugh, or he’d get quiet and you’d make sure he was fine. You never stopped following him.”

“Oh.”

“To people with eyes it was obvious you got flustered around Uraraka, but to anyone with a brain it was obvious you spent most of your time with Todoroki. That’s why people thought you’d ask him out instead.”

Silence filled the room again. Katsuki’s ruby red gaze remained on him, watching him silently fall apart at the kitchen table from something he should’ve known earlier. 

He should have known the missteps of his heartbeat when Shouto flashed him a beautiful dimpled smile meant something more. He should’ve known the itch to seek for his mismatched eyes in group settings and training field meant something more than friendship. He should have known his desire to still follow him anywhere to the date meant everything. 

He should've known, yet he didn’t. But now that he knew that his carnal need to be within Shouto’s orbit at all times meant something like this, he couldn’t help but overthink it.

“Do you think he knew?”

Katsuki snorted at that. “Half and half can be dumb when it comes to some things, but I think this is the one thing he hit right on the head. I can’t tell you how many times I caught him watching you and talking about you when you weren’t around. He was like a lovestruck fool every time he brought your name up when you weren’t even a part of the conversation.”

“But how do you know he knew?”

“Like I said, he used to talk about you. A lot. Especially with Yaoyorozu.“ Something shifted in his gaze at that, sharp rubies softening into something short of pitiful. “One time he told her he thought you might feel something for him because you mentioned friendship being the best foundation for a relationship.”

Izuku stared at him, stunned. “I told you that when you were debating whether or not to ask Eijirou out during third year.” 

Katsuki nodded. “He was convinced you’d ask him out that whole year. Then we graduated and you didn’t say anything, so he didn’t say anything either. I don’t know if he was embarrassed or mad, but what I do know is that he stopped talking about you.”

Silence. “He didn’t seem upset when he told me he used to like me.”

“He told you that six years after we left high school,” Katsuki deadpanned. “That’s a hell of a time to get over the embarrassment of a one-sided crush.”

“Do you really think he was embarrassed to like me?”

“Don’t be stupid. Obviously he wasn’t embarrassed to like you if he was blabbing about it to whoever would listen.” Frowning, he folded his arms across his chest. “I think he was more embarrassed about how sure he was that you liked him. He won’t say it because he’s a prideful guy sometimes, but I know it killed him when he realized you weren’t ever going to confess. Hell, I was embarrassed for him.”

“Why?”

“Because I watched him stand behind you after graduation with hearts in his eyes, waiting for you to confess like a lot of people were betting you’d do, and then you said you hoped you’d see him around soon and walked away.”

Izuku’s fingers curled tightly around the edge of his chair, the memory of graduation hitting him at full force: him, fighting the miserable reality that all his friends would be fighting villains and he’d be grading papers and retiring to Yuuei in a few weeks. Him, doing his best to pretend it didn’t kill him. Him, not seeing anything but tragedy and loss in front of him and walking away before anyone could ask about his post-grad plans again like they’d been doing for months. Him, flashing Shouto a fractured smile because he was the only one who had ever held him while he cried over this. 

Him, always, always running away. 

“I didn’t know,” Izuku whispered, shame burning in his chest. “I’ve never– I’m not good at letting myself feel things. Shouto knows that.”

“Still doesn’t make the rejection sting any less.” When Izuku winced, Katsuki took a deep breath. “Listen, I’m not saying this to make you feel like shit.”

“Really?” Izuku said sarcastically. 

“I’m saying this because you need to understand that whatever you’re thinking of doing now that you know what you feel, you have to consider that Todoroki’s patched his walls up pretty good since then. You can’t just say I want you after he’s licked his wounds and told you to move past it. He won’t believe a single word you say.”

“I wasn’t going to do that.”

“Yes you were,” Katsuki said, calling Izuku out on the lie. “And before you do it, I need you to think. What do you want from this? Are you telling him you like him just to tell him he wasn’t crazy? Or do you want something real from this?”

Izuku stared at him, at a loss for words. “I hadn’t even thought that far yet…”

“And what about Uraraka?”

“What about her?”

“You like her too, don’t you?” Katsuki narrowed his eyes. “Don’t even think about lying to me, either. I’ve heard about her being a guest speaker at Yuuei every year for your class.”

“She’s a friend.”

“So was Todoroki before you realized you’ve been pathetically blind to how much you actually like him,” Katsuki deadpanned. Reaching forward, he whacked Izuku’s head, making the man scowl at him. “Don’t give me that shit.”

“Stop making me feel like it, then.”

“I’m not making you feel like shit. It’s your own damn conscience that’s making you feel like that. You have a decision to make and feelings to figure out, and that scares the fuck out of you.”

“Of course it does!” Izuku’s head fell into his hands, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips. “If Todoroki knew I liked him then that Uraraka had to have known as well. What if I end up hurting them?”

“No one’s telling you to make a decision right now, you idiot. Think about it for a few days, and when you finally realize what it is you want, you make a move. Just make sure it’s the right one and not what you think is the right one.”

Izuku flashed him an irritated look. “That makes no sense.”

“No, it does. You’re just pissed off that I’m making you think before jumping.” Turning back around to the sink, he said, “By the way, make sure to thank them for the suit. They were two of the top funders for it. Other than me, that is.”

Smiling bitterly to himself, Izuku murmured, “Of course they were.”

How lucky am I to be blessed with two people who care for me the way Shouto and Ochako always have. 

How cursed am I to feel the same way for both of them eight years too late to make any sense of it.

One month later, Izuku was sitting in a restaurant celebrating Shouto’s rise to Japan’s number two hero with a heart too alive in his chest and feelings all too prominent in his mind. 

Izuku should’ve been paying more attention to the conversation around him. He should’ve been ruminating over Katsuki’s words on the way there about his special treatment, a thinly veiled way of telling him and his heart to make a decision. He should’ve been doing many things like finishing his food and partaking in the conversation at his table, but all he could do was take in Shouto’s beauty like it was the first time he was seeing it. 

The lights above him sparkled in their reflection in Shouto’s bi-colored eyes like water reflecting on crystals, and the bright laughter coaxed out of him by Eijirou made his cheeks flush like the rosiest of peonies. His lips glistened red like he’d been kissed soundly after each sip of water, and Izuku found that he shamelessly couldn’t look away. 

He’d seen Shouto countless times in passing since his revelation, but he hadn’t had the chance to sit next to him like this in ages. In high school he’d always have a fleeting thought of how pretty Shouto looked under the training explosions or mid-battle with the burning desire of victory clear in him, but sitting here and watching him laugh and exist without a care in the world who saw him, he found that he had done him a disservice. 

Here, sitting beside Izuku and laughing at jokes and enjoying life, Shouto was at his most beautiful. 

How had he missed this? How had he not realized that his best friend was the most stunning creature he’d ever set his eyes on? How had he not realized that beauty in all its perfection had been waiting for him; him, a creature not worthy of something so good? How had he let it slip through his fingers?

“Midoriya. Are you alright?”

Startled, Izuku jumped in his seat. Meeting Shouto’s curious eyes, he managed to nervously say, “Sorry. I had a long day at work today.”

Shouto’s eyes softened with understanding. “Midterms. I remember you mentioning something like that last week.”

“Still, it’s impolite of me to be zoning out during your party.” Tilting his head sideways, Izuku asked, “So what did I miss while I was zoned out?”

Unexpectedly, Shouto’s cheeks flushed a darker pink. “It’s nothing important–”

“Nothing important he says!” Eijirou laughed, pointing at Shouto. “Only you could go on your first ever date and call it ‘nothing.’”

Shouto flinched in his seat at the same moment Izuku felt his heart crumble inside his chest. 

“Ei,” Katsuki warned. “Don’t go airing out his business like that.”

“It’s fine,” Shouto said faintly, flashing the remorseful-looking Eijirou a small smile. “It was bound to come up anyway. You just saved me the trouble of finding the right time to announce it.”

“So…it’s true? You’re dating Yoarashi?” Izuku asked, and miraculously he didn’t sound as upset about it as he felt. 

“I am,” Shouto confirmed, eyes averted to his drink and pointedly looking away from him. “It was the natural progression of things. He’s a nice guy. He always has something nice to say about me. My sister and brother also told me I’m too old to not have had at least one partner by now, so…”

“Oh,” Izuku whispered. “That’s…cool.”

Shouto’s eyes finally met his, entirely unreadable. “Do you really think so?”

I don’t. I think he’s a brute and too tempestuous. I think he’s the worst person in the world and doesn’t deserve someone as perfect as you.

Biting his tongue, Izuku forced a weak smile onto his face. “Why wouldn’t I? I’m glad you’re dating. I only wish I could be that brave and start dating.”

“Why haven’t you?”

Fingers curling on his knees, he answered, “I don’t know. I think I just have bad luck with romance.”

Eijirou’s eyes ping-ponged between him and Shouto, almost as if he was searching for an answer to something. Katsuki sighed heavily to his right while grumbling something under his breath. 

Shouto looked like he wanted to say something, but before he could, a ruckus exploded on the other side of the room. Glancing sideways, Izuku saw Mina gushing about someone coupling up while everyone watched on. 

What caught his attention, however, wasn’t the gushing over romance or the teasing remarks aimed at Kyouka and Denki that both denied. It was the short, chocolate brown hair and the rosy smile on Ochako’s face while she laughed at the things being said. She looked beautiful with rosy cheeks and twinkling eyes, and he remembered thinking the same thing back in high school. 

If she started dating someone else, I know I’d be sad. I really like her. It’s no different than being sad over Shouto dating Inasa; that was just what happens with crushes. There’s no difference between my crush on Shouto and the one on Ochako. 

Fingers curling around the glass pressed to his lips, he forced himself to look away from her while his heart made its decision. 

That night, he told himself over and over again that what he felt for the two was the same. That night, he chased after Ochako and asked her on a date. That night, she said yes and beamed up at him in a way that made his heart pound loudly in his chest and his cheeks flush. 

(Kicking blankets at two in the morning and staring at his bedroom ceiling hours later, he quietly wonders what going out with Shouto would do to his heart instead.)

Mina (09:22 AM)

> JUST HEARD THE NEWS!! SO HAPPY FOR YOU AND MY DEAREST OCHAKO <3 

> IT’S BEEN TEN YEARS IN THE MAKING!

Hagakure (09:25 AM)

> it was about TIME!!!!

> can’t wait for the wedding!!!!

Eijirou (10:20 AM)

> Congrats on finally making a move! 

> We should totally go on a double date soon! Let me know if you and Uraraka are down for it. 

Katsuki (12:20 PM)

> 🔪 🔪 🔪 

Izuku sighed as his phone buzzed on the table for the umpteenth time that morning. He’d woken up to a slew of congratulatory remarks from various classmates after news of him and Ochako going on their first official date last night spread, as well as various teasing remarks about it being long overdue and possible wedding bells. And then there was whatever the hell Katsuki had sent, which Izuku was too tired to decipher. 

“Someone’s popular today,” Shouto commented with a subtle brow raise as he watched Izuku pocket his phone. 

“Yeah,” Izuku sighed. Running a hand down his face, he said tiredly, “I don’t even know what to reply anymore. Would it be rude to just say thanks to everyone?”

Humming, Shouto pushed his noodles to the far corner of his bento. “I don’t think so. A polite ‘thank you’ after congratulations has never gotten me a negative reaction.”

“I’ll do it later.” Izuku dropped his chin in his palm and looked up at Shouto, something heavy sitting in his chest as he watched him eat. “Thanks again for agreeing to be a guest speaker for my class today. I think you’re the best example I have of what good quirk control looks like.”

“It’s a necessity when you have two quirks like I do,” Shouto said without looking up at him as he picked his noodles up with his chopsticks. 

“Still. Thanks for coming down here.”

“It’s always an honor to teach your students something new. They’re far better listeners than our class ever was.”

Unable to stop himself, Izuku snorted into his palm. “Yeah, I guess that’s true. They’re far better listeners than you ever were, anyway.”

Shouto paused with his hand halfway to his mouth, noodles hanging in midair. “What do you mean?”

“Remember when we found those kittens in third year and I told you not to approach them when the mom was hissing at you? And how you swore up and down that you were different, but still ended up in the infirmary with like ten different cat scratches on your arm and a shredded blazer?”

To his delight, Shouto’s cheeks flushed pink and he huffed as he pointedly looked away. “Shut up. I still think you jinxed it with your worrying. Cats love me.“

“I don’t think she did after you froze her in an ice block to get her off you,” Izuku snickered. 

“Fuck you,” Shouto said bluntly, and it was said with so much sincerity that it made Izuku fall into peals of laughter. 

“Geez, Todoroki. You’re a real funny guy.”

“Comedy is my middle name.”

“Sure, sure.” Izuku’s heart ached where it was pressed against his ribs, growing so impossibly big as he watched Shouto chew on his noodles. “I have a lot more examples of you not listening to me. Want to reminisce with me?”

“No, not really.”

Izuku opened his mouth to tease him about that time he told Shouto not to eat cheesecake because he was lactose intolerant, only to hold his hair back as he threw up later that night during third year, but his phone buzzed on the table once more before he could do so. 

He didn’t have to flip the phone around to know it was another congratulatory text about him finally going out with Ochako. Finally, everyone said, like it was inevitable. And perhaps in a sense it was inevitable that they’d go out, but to jump to conclusions about marriage before they’d even kissed once was a bit extreme in his opinion. All the teasing messages only served to make him feel strangely unmoored despite him knowing they should have helped him feel like he was making the right choice by asking Ochako out on a date like it was expected of him. 

(He does not think about whether or not he’d be feeling the same dread at receiving congratulatory messages if he had gone on a date with Shouto instead. He doesn’t.)

“It’s going to be a while before they stop congratulating you,” Shouto said, eyes trained on his noodles as he pushed them to the edge of his bento again. “It’ll be even worse when the rest of the hero community finds out. Your phone won’t stop buzzing with the same messages until maybe next week. Trust me, I would know.”

That same acidic bile creeped up his throat at the reminder that Shouto and Inasa were officially dating. “Right. Because of you and Yoarashi.”

“Mhm. I told Ashido first since she was the one who encouraged me to be open if he tried to make any advances. Then she told everyone, which was fine until Camie found out.” An irritated look crossed his face, and Izuku had the irritation urge to smooth out the wrinkle between his brows. “Then she told every hero within a fifty-mile radius, which is a lot of heroes. Even Best Jeanist congratulated me during our latest team-up mission. It’s been an odd three weeks.”

“I didn’t know,” Izuku blurted out. “About you and Yoarashi going out. Ashido didn’t tell me.” You didn’t tell me, and were supposed to be best friends. 

Refusing to meet his eyes, Shouto absentmindedly picked at a noodle before setting it back down. “I suppose the word ‘everyone’ is an exaggeration if you didn’t hear it from Ashido, then. Sorry for confusing you.”

“Is that why you told me you used to like me?”

Shouto’s gaze finally flickered back up to him, eyes slightly more widened than usual. “What?”

“A few months ago, when you confessed you used to like me. Did you tell me so you could go into this…thing with Yoarashi on a clean slate?”

“I didn’t…” Shouto frowned, then said almost irritatedly, “No, I didn’t tell you I used to like you so I could date Inasa with a clear conscience. That would imply that I still liked you when I told you. Which I didn’t.”

For some reason, the admission of what Izuku already knew stung like his heart was being stung by a swarm of hornets. 

“Oh,” he said lamely. 

“I told you about it just so there’d be no secrets between us. That’s all. The feelings I held for you are non-existent now. There’s no need to dwell on any of that anymore.”

No, actually there is a need to dwell on it because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it and it’s been months since you said it, Izuku thought hysterically. There’s a need to dwell on it because I’m going out with the girl everyone expects me to marry and be head over heels for, but I can’t be happy about it knowing that you’re with someone else.

A sigh. “Just let it go, Midoriya. You’re happy, aren’t you?” Izuku nodded jerkily, like a liar. “Then that’s all that matters.”

But what about you? Are you really happy with Yoarashi? Do you really mean it when you say that you don’t feel anything for me anymore? Why do you talk to me about everything except your love life? Why, why, why–

A knock echoed through the silent room. The door slid open to reveal Ochako in all her pink-cheeked glory, looking as beautiful as ever. 

Izuku should’ve been over the moon to see her, but all he could register was the snapping of a lid over a bento and the non-stop buzzing of his phone. 

“Deku! Sorry I’m a little early.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she came to a stop next to Izuku, mere inches between them. “I managed to get out of my meeting a lot sooner than I expected.”

“Are you a guest speaker today too?” Shouto asked politely as he tossed his bento into a plastic bag. 

Ochako blinked as if she suddenly realized he was also there. Smiling, she answered, “Yeah, but only for the afternoon. He said he has the morning covered already. Did you teach about quirk control?”

“Yes. Two quirks, more control.”

“Great!”

“I’m sure you’ll be fantastic in teaching them control, too,” Shouto said with a small smile. Standing up, he slipped his arm through the white plastic bag. “This has been fun, but I have an important afternoon meeting. I hope everything goes well this afternoon.”

Izuku wanted to protest, but Ochako’s hand found its way to his shoulder and he found himself pinned to his seat. All he could do was flash Shouto a smile he hoped wasn’t all teeth and frustration, nodding along when Ochako wished him safe travels. 

Shouto paused halfway to the door. Turning around, he nodded at both of them before saying quietly with a small smile, “And congratulations to both of you. I hope you’re happy together.”

Izuku’s tongue hung heavily in his mouth like it was made of lead instead of soft tissue as he watched Shouto walk out of the classroom, unable to stop feeling like he’d walked out of his life, too, like all missed opportunities did. 

A sick feeling crawled up his esophagus into his mouth tasting like the soft congratulations Shouto had thrown in there. Why would he congratulate them? Congratulations to Ochako for winning the ten-year competition still lodged in his classmates minds? Congratulations to Izuku for doing a good job of pretending his belated love confession hadn’t rattled his core? He didn’t want Shouto’s congratulations. Not like this. 

“Did you eat anything?” Ochako asked, and oh, that’s right. She was here now, and Shouto was gone. That was always the problem since the love confession that left him untethered to reality all those months ago. 

“No, I wasn’t hungry,” Izuku lied with a barely there smile flashed at Ochako. “Should we go over the notes for your part in my lecture today?”

Ochako blinked down at him, something odd caught in her eyes. Her fingers reached up to press his curls back on his forehead, but her touch only served to make Izuku tense. 

Sensing his discomfort, she dropped her hand to her side and flashed him a small smile, acting like her fingers weren’t curling into somewhat alarming fists. 

“Whatever you think is best, Deku.”

Izuku (05:20 PM)

hey todoroki! thanks again for stopping by to teach my kids about quick control. they really enjoyed your visit!

think you’d be up for another guest lecture soon?

Shouto (06:25 PM)

I have to take a look at my schedule to see when I’m available. 

Izuku (06:26 PM)

oh okay 

are we okay?

Shouto (08:01 PM)

Always. 

Izuku (10:00 AM)

hey todoroki! i’ve been thinking about checking out that new soba shop that opened up a few blocks from my place and was wondering if you’d like to join me tonight?

Shouto (12:02 PM)

Sorry, I have a meeting scheduled tonight. 

Maybe next time. 

Izuku (09:30 AM)

morning todoroki!! any chance you want to grab lunch with me during patrol today?

Shouto (02:21 PM)

Sorry, just saw this. 

I ate lunch already. But thanks. 

Izuku (08:59 AM)

hi todoroki! any chance we can hang out at the Japan hero conference this weekend?

Shouto (04:20 PM)

I’m not attending. 

I’m being sent abroad for the weekend. Sorry. 

Izuku (08:20 AM)

todoroki! i saw you on patrol yesterday and tried to say hi but you walked away :(

Shouto (06:01 PM)

Sorry. Didn’t hear you. 

Got an ear infection in England.

Izuku (07:19 AM)

hey todoroki, we’re grabbing drinks at that bar that has your favorite blue monstrosity cocktail tomorrow to watch a soccer game. wanna come?

Shouto (09:21 PM)

Sorry, I already have plans. 

Izuku (04:29 AM)

do you hate me?

Shouto (08:20 AM)

No.

Izuku (08:22 AM)

ok

Read 08:25 AM

The loud laughter of his friends and the clinking of glasses in the bar did nothing to improve Izuku’s poor mood. 

His sleep had been pitiful last night as evidenced by the cringe text he’d sent Shouto at four in the morning, then pointed out by Katsuki during patrol four hours later with the heavy bags under his eyes. Ochako had pressed her thumbs over them with worry clear in her eyes, but Izuku couldn’t bring himself to explain why he woke up most mornings than not with those bags under his eyes nowadays. 

Sorry, my best friend confessed he used to like me and now that I’m dating someone else he’s clearly avoiding me and it’s bothering me to the point I’m losing sleep over it. How unfair would it be to tell that to the girl who he’d chased and asked out who he knew deeply cared for him? Spoiler: pretty damn unfair, actually. 

“Are you alright, Midoriya?”

Izuku looked up from his drink at Tenya’s concerned look. Mustering his best fake smile, he said, “I’m fine! Why the question?”

“All the ice in your drink melted,” Tsuyu pointed out with a vaguely concerned look on her own face. “Not to mention the bags under your eyes. Are you sick?”

“No, I’m fine!” Izuku lied with a laugh. “I just haven’t been sleeping well for a few weeks. I haven't found my balance yet as a pro while still teaching. But I’m fine, I swear.”

Frowning, Tenya said, “If you say so.” 

Giggles filled the air as Ochako slid into the seat next to Izuku, her cheeks their usual cute rosy shade of pink and her eyes full of amusement. 

“I’m back!”

“You were gone for a good while,” Tenya commented curiously. “Everything alright?”

“Yes, I just got caught up in the bathroom line. Camie Utsushimi’s here tonight and we may have gotten a bit carried away complimenting each other’s outfits.” A sheepish smile crossed her face. “Apparently she’s here with Katsuki and Eijirou.”

Tsuyu hummed at that. “I didn’t know they were here.”

“Oh yeah, Camie says they’ve been arguing back and forth all night about who’s going to win tonight’s game. She had to get away from them in the bathroom to feel less of a quintuple-wheel, she says.”

Izuku raised a brow at that. “Quintiple wheel? Who else is with them?”

“I’m not sure.” Taking Izuku’s watered-down glass, she asked nervously, “Can I have this? Thanks.” 

Izuku watched her down his glass with a small frown on his face. Her eyes refused to meet his as she quickly jumped into a story about her last team-up with Camie and Momo, a clear sign that she was lying. She knew who else was here with the odd trio but didn’t want to tell him. Why? 

He murmured an excuse about going to get another drink before slipping out of his seat. His eyes darted across the room as he made his way to the bar, searching for something he wasn’t exactly sure he was looking for. Groups of people in different soccer jerseys and vibrant flashes of hair caught his eye on occasion, but it was only when he was leaning against the bar waiting for his drink and the familiar scent of peppermint filled his nostrils as an arm unceremoniously brushed against him to ask the bartender for a drink that he found his answer.  

“Can we get another round of tequila shots? I’m afraid I’m not nearly drunk enough to agree with my boyfriend that Kobe is going to lose to Hiroshima tonight.”

Izuku’s stomach dropped to his toes as he snapped his head to the side to stare at Shouto’s handsome side profile. There was the telltale pink flush of alcohol on his cheeks and a beautiful smile on his face not aimed at him. He was breathtaking, and yet Izuku couldn’t help but blurt out, “Todoroki?”

Shouto’s smile promptly dropped as he turned his head around to meet Izuku’s emerald stare. 

“Midoriya. What are you doing here?”

Brows pinching together, Izuku couldn’t help but say irritatedly, “I should be the one asking you that. I invited you to watch the game with us tonight and you said you already had plans.” So what are you doing here without me? 

“Bakugou and Kirishima had already invited us to hang out with them to watch the game. It would’ve been rude to turn them down after agreeing.”

“You could’ve told me you were coming with them. We could’ve turned this into a Class-A mini meet up or something.”

“Considering I’m also here with my boyfriend, no, we couldn’t,” Shouto said flatly. “We don’t have to hang out with each other all the time. Separating ourselves and living our own lives is just a part of adulthood.”

Something in Izuku’s chest shrank at the tipsy bluntness falling from Shouto’s lips. Nothing he was saying made sense, not when they had been at this bar together just a couple months ago drunkenly giggling about unfortunate hero names during a spontaneous mini get-together to watch some sports game he couldn’t remember anymore. They didn’t do distance; it wasn’t what was required of best friends, and yet Izuku felt like the sand and Shouto like the tides that drew farther and farther away as the day progressed. 

Shouto moved to pick up the tray of shots the bartender had handed him, but before he could walk away, Izuku stupidly curled his fingers around his wrist to stop him. 

“Midoriya–”

“Did I do something?” he blurted out, throat constricting. Shouto’s eyes widened slightly. “Tell me what I did and I’ll fix it, I swear.” I’ll do anything to get you to like me again. 

Shouto stared at him for a few seconds, a foreign emotion swimming in his eyes that seemingly searched his soul. Eventually, all he did was quietly shake his head before tugging his arm out of Izuku’s grip. 

“Go back to your friends, Midoriya. There’s nothing to fix here tonight.” 

Izuku watched with his hand lingering in the air as Shouto made his way back to his table. Camie was there clinging onto Katsuki while he yelled at her, Eijirou was laughing, and Inasa was staring at Shouto with a stupidly fond smile as he set the tray down on the table. 

He said something that made Shouto crack a beautiful smile that turned into a laugh as he slid into the seat next to him. Inasa’s large hand came up and draped itself over his waist and Shouto leaned into the touch, not the least bit ashamed to be so publicly affectionate. 

Unwilling to see more of that horror show, Izuku picked his drink off the bar and stormed back to his table in an incredibly more foul mood than he’d left it. 

Ochako picked up on his mood as soon as he fell into the seat beside her. 

“Are you okay?”

“Todoroki’s here,” Izuku said bitterly. “He turned down my invitation to hang out with us tonight to spend time with Kacchan and Yoarashi and didn’t even think to tell me he’d be here too. So much for being best friends.”

“You didn’t know?” Tenya frowned. “Forgive me, I assumed he’d explained the situation to you when you said he wouldn’t be able to make it. He told me about his plans when we had lunch together on Tuesday.”

Izuku’s bitterness only grew tenfold at the realization that Shouto was still hanging out like normal with everyone who wasn’t him. “That’s great, Iida. I’m glad you two are such close friends that he still agrees to having lunch with you. The last time we had lunch together was two months ago before he started avoiding me. But yeah, I’m the crazy one for thinking he’s pissed off with me.”

An awkward silence filled the table. Ochako mumbled an excuse about getting more drinks for everyone —why, Izuku didn’t understand since everyone still had full glasses— and Tenya let out a heavy sigh while Tsuyu stared at him oddly. 

“You truly don’t understand why Todoroki might be upset with you?”

“Obviously not,” Izuku snapped. Breathing in through his nose, he dropped his face into his hands. “I’m sorry. Forgive me for snapping at you. I’m just…so frustrated.”

“It’s fine. I’m going to go help Ochako with the drinks.” 

Izuku pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes hard enough to see white, gritting his teeth in frustration as Tsuyu walked away from the table. 

“Dammit. I’m sorry, Iida. I’m ruining our evening.”

Warm hands wrapped themselves around his wrists, pulling his hands away from his face. 

“I’m not going to say it’s fine, because it’s not. Nothing is fine, including yourself.” Before Izuku could protest, he held up a hand. “That being said, I believe it might be best for you to give Todoroki some space right now.”

“What? Why? He’s the one giving me space!”

Pity filled Tenya’s eyes as he met Izuku’s emerald stare head-on. “I just think it’s better this way. At least for now.”

Izuku narrowed his eyes at that. “You’ve been looking at me like that ever since I told you he confessed he used to like me.” Silence. “What do you know, Iida?”

“I’m sorry, Midoriya. It’s really not my place to say anything.” 

A humorless chuckle escaped Izuku’s lips. “Of course it isn’t.” He pressed his glass to his lips and took a long sip to avoid Tenya’s increasingly frustrating pitiful look, eyes aimlessly drifting around the room until they landed on a familiar head of fiery red and snowy white hair. 

His heart dropped to his toes as he watched Inasa curl his hands around Shouto’s jaw, large thumbs caressing his pink cheeks while pale pink lips curled into a smile. He watched almost in slow motion as Inasa pulled Shouto in for a long, languid kiss that had Shouto grabbing at his jersey collar to pull him in closer. Camie cooed and snapped a picture while Eijiro wolf-whistled, but Katsuki’s sharp ruby red eyes stared straight at Izuku as he felt the world begin to collapse under his feet. 

Setting his glass down on the table, Izuku mumbled, “Sorry, I’m going home. Enjoy the rest of your night.”

He ignored Tenya’s calls to return to the table and Ochako’s vaguely confused look from the bar with Tsuyu, and it wasn’t until he had walked a good ten minutes away from the bar that he grabbed frustratedly at the roots of his curls and harshly kicked the corner of a brick building with the tip of his sneaker. 

It was a gorgeous late June evening. Babies were being born and older folks were dying, strangers were falling in love and couples were breaking up; everything was normal, and yet Shouto Todoroki had kissed Inasa fucking Yoarashi in the middle of a crowded bar in Shizuoka like something out of a romcom, and the world had fallen out from under him like when he lost his quirk and purpose at sixteen. 

Izuku realized something sick that evening: he couldn’t stand the thought of Shouto kissing someone who wasn’t him. 

(It’s normal, I’d feel the same if it were Ochako, he told himself that night as the clock struck two in the morning and he couldn’t close his eyes without seeing the kiss behind his eyelids and feeling the need to throw up the two crackers he’d eaten for dinner after that. It’s not going to be an issue. It can’t be an issue.)

It became an issue. A big, heart-stabbing, nausea inducing issue that made it impossible for him to walk without looking as miserable as he felt and to breathe without feeling like he was going to throw up.

The newspapers that reported on his return to the field miraculously hadn't caught onto the fact that he was miserable, but Yuuei was a whole different playing field. His students murmured about his eye bags and took turns offering their advice on sleep techniques as well as bringing different fruits for him to eat to keep him standing during his lectures as if he were one misstep away from collapsing completely. The staff room mysteriously went silent anytime he stepped into the room, and pitiful looks followed him as he was handed papers from the printer and when he asked for another teacher’s opinion on a lesson plan. Everyone stared at him like he was a ticking time bomb one ‘are you okay’ away from exploding. 

It was humiliating. He hadn’t felt that way since students and teachers alike pitied him for losing his quirk before beginning his second year quirkless and with a bad haircut. 

It was only after exams were over for the first term that someone dared approach him about it. 

“Young Midoriya, might I take a moment of your time?”

Izuku blinked slowly as he unglued his eyes from his computer, the bright neon colors of his calendar staining his vision until he managed to focus on Toshinori looking at him hopefully from behind his computer. 

“All Might. I’d love to hang out with you, but I was actually in the middle of planning my work schedule for the break.”

“You can wrap that up once you’ve had something to eat. It’ll be fast, I promise! I just have some things I’d like to get your opinion on before you leave today.”

Gnawing his lower lip, Izuku glanced at the neon highlighted calendar on his screen and then at the bunny-wrapped bento in Toshinori’s hands. It reminded him of all the times he’d brought him meals when he was still a student, and he cursed his sentimental heart for the way it crumbled under Toshinori’s hopeful eyes and the bento in his hands. 

“Just for a few minutes–”

“Great!”

Izuku barely suppressed a yelp as Toshinori all but ripped him out of his seat and tugged him down the hall to the teacher’s lounge. He was all but shoved into sitting on the couch with the bento as Toshinori locked the door behind him before he sat opposite Izuku on a well-worn green couch. 

“Eat! Eat!” Toshinori insisted. 

Izuku eyed him warily before unwrapping the bento. When he saw the familiar katsudon that looked too similar to his mother’s cooking to be a coincidence, he sighed heavily. 

Picking up his chopsticks, he mumbled, “Who asked you to intervene? Nezu? Uraraka? Kacchan?”

“No one asked me to intervene. They simply brought up their concerns to me and they happened to match my own concerns. Hence the meal.” When Izuku refused to look at him as he pushed his rice around, Toshinori said quietly, “You haven’t been eating or sleeping well. Please eat. If not for me, then for your mother who made this with love.”

All the fight left his body as he half-heartedly nibbled on the pork cutlet. This seemingly satisfied Toshinori, who smiled at the sight of him eating. It made him feel even worse than he had already been feeling; leave it to him to regress so badly to the point where he had to be babied by All Might of all people. It was like he was sixteen again with a fake smile that only Shouto had ever seemed fully intent on cracking, knowing far too intimately what hid behind it after failing to perfect his own. 

“This isn’t an intervention,” Toshinori repeated, yet based on the way he clasped his hands tightly over his knees, Izuku knew it was. “I’m not going to interrogate you or demand you answer me. I’m just going to ask you one thing, and I would like an honest answer: are you alright?”

It would be so easy to open his mouth and say yes, the way he lied to Ochako when she asked over dinner if he was okay because he’d barely touched his pasta or the way he lied to his students when they asked if he was okay because he’d zoned out mid-writing on the board. It would be so easy to lie and say he was alright, but it wasn’t easy to suppress the sudden stinging in his eyes and his trembling hands that nearly dropped his egg onto the carpet. He could lie through his teeth, and still his body would betray him. 

Then again, that was the crux of his whole damn problem, wasn’t it?

“Do you ever feel like you don't know what you want?” At Toshinori’s confused look, he inhaled deeply. “What I mean is…have you ever felt indecisive about things? Like, really important things?”

“A few times, yes. What are you feeling indecisive about?”

Izuku refused to meet his gaze as he said, “This is going to sound awful, but I feel like I don't know what I want anymore with my love life.”

Silence. 

“I thought things were going well with Uraraka.”

“They are,” Izuku said honestly. “She’s been nothing but supportive of me working while still teaching the whole time we’ve been together. She’s beautiful and kind and a badass, and she’s my friend, but…”

“…but?” Toshinori prodded gently. 

Fingers curling tightly around his chopsticks, Izuku bit out frustratedly, “I can’t stop thinking about Todoroki.”

Toshinori blinked slowly, understanding dawning on his features. “Ah. And why exactly are you thinking about Todoroki?”

“Because he told me he used to like me in second and third year and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it,” Izuku hissed as he gripped onto his chopsticks tighter. “I don't even understand why he said it, but he told me out of nowhere last year and I’ve been turning it around in my head every day since, and I still can’t make any sense of why he’d tell me that almost ten years later!”

Toshinori looked stunned, for a lack of a better word, and Izuku wanted to laugh because yeah, I felt the exact same way when he told me that last year. 

“Oh. Wow. And he didn’t say anything else when he confessed this?”

“No. And I even tried getting the truth out of him a few months ago, but all he said was that he told me about it so there wouldn’t be any secrets between us. It was supposed to be something we were supposed to laugh about, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it, and now I haven’t talked to him in a month because he’s been ignoring me and I’m giving him space since Iida said I should–”

“Young Midoriya–”

“–but I miss his blunt judgemental opinions on hero gossip and his awful jokes and his daily messages about the stray cats he feeds after work and his dumb pretty eyes and his incredibly kind heart!” Body trembling, Izuku rasped, “I miss him so much, but I don’t know how to reach out anymore. I tried so hard to keep things normal between us after I started dating Uraraka, but he just kept pulling away and ignoring me, and it hurts.”

“Him ignoring you?”

“Yes, but you know what hurts more?” Swallowing the lump in his throat, he said, “What hurts more is that I know this isn’t affecting him nearly as much as it’s affecting me. He’s kissing Inasa fucking Yoarashi in bars and singing his praises in interviews, and I can’t sleep without seeing them together in my dreams. I can’t eat because when I think of them kissing and the inevitability of Todoroki settling down with him it makes me want to throw up what little food makes it into my stomach. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep; god, I can’t freaking breathe without thinking about how much I hate that he’s with someone else and that I’m not the only one that had the privilege of being confessed to by him!”

Looking up at Toshinori, he was met by sadness swimming in his blue eyes. 

Setting the bento aside on the couch, Izuku pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes and laughed bitterly as he tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. “So no, All Might, I don't think I’m fine. I’m the opposite of fine, and the only person who has always been there for me to not be fine with doesn’t want to speak to me.”

Traitorous tears managed to escape Izuku’s eyes, and he desperately wiped them off with his hands while avoiding Toshinori’s eyes. The other man didn’t say anything, and the only sound filling the room was Izuku’s shameful sniffles and the clock ticking on the wall above the locked door. 

It remained that way until Toshinori said softly, “Do you mind if I say something?”

Unable to talk, Izuku shook his head as permission for Toshinori to continue. 

“I am not a love expert. Far from it, actually; I’ve never been in a long-lasting relationship and couldn’t tell you how to keep someone around even if I tried.” Chuckling, Toshinori continued, “Needless to say, my advice comes from what I feel and not experience. Based on what you’re telling me, Todoroki expressed his feelings for you and that made you start thinking about him in a romantic manner, correct?”

When Izuku nodded, he hummed. “Up until that point you had only seen Uraraka as an option, but his belated confession made you start seeing him as an option as well. And now that you realized he was an option, you can’t stop thinking about the what if.”

“Maybe.”

“I also know that you’re most likely trying to reason out these feelings for Todoroki by comparing him to what you might feel if he and Uraraka were in each other’s shoes right now. But I also feel like you’re not being entirely honest with yourself over how you’d react if the roles were reversed.”

Izuku stared at him warily. “What?”

“I can’t offer solutions, only assumptions. But based on the way you describe your feelings for Uraraka compared to the sheer pain you feel by Todoroki simply not speaking to you, as well as the way you can’t stand the thought of him with someone else…” Toshinori let out a heavy sigh. “It sounds an awful lot like the jealousy of being in love.”

Izuku stared at Toshinori with wide eyes and shaking hands. The jealousy of being in love. 

If Ochako was honestly dating someone else, would it leave him restless? If Ochako didn’t talk to him daily, would it make him cry? If Ochako kissed someone in front of him at a bar, would he honestly be spinning out and crying over it?

No. No I wouldn’t, his traitorous heart whispered, because it was sickeningly right. He’d be upset about it but he would get over it after talking about it with her because Ochako was one of his closest friends and talking about distance was easy with her, but she wasn’t Shouto. There was a difference between the intensity of the feelings he held for both of them, and with horror, Izuku found that the intensity of his feelings for Ochako greatly paled in comparison to what he felt for Shouto. 

Oh. There it is. The truth you’ve been avoiding, laid out in front of you so you can’t run away from it. 

Love, love, love. 

You’re in love, and it’s not with your girlfriend. It’s with the boy you can’t have, but could’ve had. 

Gone, gone, gone. 

Izuku (10:21 PM)

i’m a fucking idiot 

Katsuki (10:22 PM)

yes, you are. 

Izuku (10:25 PM)

sorry to bother you so late, but do you think we could have dinner together tomorrow?

i can cook at my place. 

i just have some things i need to tell you is all

Ochako (12:01 AM)

I’ll clear my schedule 

There are some things I need to tell you, too.

The end of things were never easy for Izuku. 

When he lost his quirk and effectively had his dream of being a hero ended after tasting it for a brief moment, it wasn’t easy. When he ended his third year and left Yuuei with the promise to return as a teacher instead of a hero, it wasn’t easy. The point was that the end —the grand finale of things, the inevitable— always left him off kilter. He’d never faced an end that didn’t make him want to throw up and reconsider his whole existence as Izuku Midoriya. 

The end of his and Ochako’s relationship was the first ending that was simply an ending. 

“You’re breaking up with me, aren’t you?”

Izuku paused with his noodles halfway to his mouth, eyes meeting Ochako’s tired brown ones across from him. Setting his chopsticks down on his plate, he clasped his hands together under the table like they could save him from the humiliating truth he’d have to tell her. 

“That’s not exactly how I wanted to approach this.”

“But you are, aren’t you?” When Izuku pressed his lips together, she huffed out a small sigh. “You are.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I can’t say that I didn’t see it coming. I mean, from the very first moment you asked me out it didn’t make sense.”

Izuku frowned at that. “Why wouldn’t it make sense? We liked each other in high school.”

“Yeah, but high school was a lifetime ago,” she laughed softly. Wistfulness filled her eyes as he continued, “I mean, don’t get me wrong. I was happy that you asked me out. It was like my high school dreams were coming true right in front of me. But even back then, I didn’t think you’d ever actually do it. Or that we’d even last if we ended up going through with it.”

“Why?”

Ochako fixed him with a tired look. “Deku, you and I may have liked each other, but what we had wasn’t nearly as intense as what you and Todoroki had, as I’m sure you’ve realized since we’re quite literally breaking up right now.”

Izuku groaned at that and dropped his head into his hands. “You saw it too? Everyone’s been telling me I was obvious about it, but I didn’t even realize I liked him until he mentioned he used to like me.”

“He…told you. He used to like you.” Ochako’s brows pinched together, and then relaxed as she breathed, “Ah. Now I get it.”

“Get what?”

“Why you’re so crazy about him now the way everyone thought you would be when we graduated.” Sighing, she dropped her chin into her palms. “Do you know why I never said anything these last ten years about my crush on you?”

Izuku shook his head. “It’s mostly because I still felt so guilty after what happened with Toga and didn’t think I was entitled to being happy when she couldn’t be. But it was also Todoroki.” 

“But he said he only liked me in second and third year,” Izuku said dumbly. 

Ochako leveled him with an exasperated look. “And you believed him?” Izuku snapped his mouth shut. “Look, Deku. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I was privy to all of Todoroki’s thoughts, because I wasn’t. But I have eyes. Todoroki gets this look in his eyes every time he’s with you, and it’s changed a little over the years, but he’s not good at hiding it. The way he looked at you…it reminded me of myself so much and I couldn't take that away from him.”

“And then I asked you,” Izuku whispered. 

“And then you asked me,” she confirmed with a nod, “and I couldn’t turn you down because it’s all I've ever wanted. But the way you look at Todoroki…” A sad smile crossed her face as she stared at her barely touched plate. “You would never look at me like that. You’re not in love with me. You’re in love with him.”

Izuku suddenly felt like crying upon seeing the sad smile on Ochako’s face. “I’m so sorry for hurting you. I just…I didn’t know. And now that I know, it would be crueler to keep stringing you along than letting you find happiness with someone else.”

“I know. Thank you for breaking this off as soon as possible before it could get anymore complicated.” Staring at her plate, she said quietly, “But it doesn’t mean that I’ll be able to bounce back from this quickly. I will eventually, but for now I’m going to be selfish and ask for just one thing from you, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Can you give me some space, please? Just for now while I try to process all this. Then I’ll be able to come back as your friend and nothing more. Okay?” 

“Okay.” 

Ochako finally looked up from her plate at him, that heartbreaking small sad smile still on her lips. “Thank you. And I can’t say it doesn’t hurt me to say this, but don't take too long to chase after Todoroki. I think you still have time to get your happy ending, too.”

Just as quietly as she’d walked through his door with her warm smiles and kind heart, she walked out with a sad smile and a kinder heart. The world didn’t fall out from under him as she walked out his door as an ex-girlfriend; the cosmos didn’t change and time didn’t stop, but through his sadness at letting a good woman go, he also felt relief that it hadn’t ended the way it did for him and Shouto in that Shizuoka bar two months ago. 

(It’s the first night he sleeps more than four hours, but not through the night like every night before this one.) 

Congratulations on your quick rise as Japan’s Number Four hero! 

Thank you! It’s been an exciting and sleepless three months balancing teaching and hero work, but it’s been very rewarding as well. 

I believe I speak for everyone when I say we’re truly impressed that you’ve dedicated yourself fully to doing both. How do you do it?

I can’t exactly give you an answer given the fact that there are still some very unbalanced parts of my life, but I will say that it takes a lot of conscious effort to make things work. I do hope that one day everything will be balanced, however. Hopefully. 

Any hints on what that unbalanced part of your life is?

Not yet. I just hope I’ll have a ring on my finger in less than five years to show the world that I did manage to fully balance my life out in the end. 

– Hero Deku for Japan Hero Monthly (August)

If Izuku had to compare himself to anything in this moment, he’d have to compare himself to sunflowers. 

Not necessarily because he was bright and beautiful —he wasn’t, despite many eager fans comparing him to the sun— but because like the sunflowers gravitated to the sun’s powerful rays of warmth to flourish, Izuku also couldn’t stop himself from gravitating towards the powerful warm rays of sunlight given off by basking under Shouto Todoroki’s presence. 

“Midoriya,” he said cordially as he slipped into the seat next to him. 

Izuku blinked from his spot at the bar, the cool condensation from his beer running down his fingertips as he gripped onto it tightly. The dim lights in the bar Momo and Kyouka had rented out for their engagement party and sparkles from the row of glasses in front of them reflected in Shouto’s eyes, giving them a sparkle that made something pitifully burn in Izuku’s chest. He looked as beautiful as he did when Izuku first realized he liked him, but the knowledge that he was in love with him made his heart skip extra steps and his limbs fill with a warmth and itch to hold and to have. 

“Todoroki.”

“Hey. It’s been a while.” Drumming his fingertips on the counter, Shouto murmured, “I feel the need to apologize for being a bad friend. I drunkenly said some very harsh words that I didn’t mean last time we were here. I’m sorry.”

Izuku shook his head at that. “No, I think you did mean them when you said them.” When Shouto opened his mouth to protest, he rushed out, “And it’s fine, Todoroki! It’s really fine. You were right, anyway. We sort of needed time apart to be able to talk like this again, right?”

“…I suppose so.”

Silence only filled by the loud chatter of bar goers fell between them. 

Biting the inside of his cheek, Shouto breathed in before hesitantly asking,” How have you been?”

How have I been? In the two months since we last sat here and you all but told me to fuck off, I realized I’ve been in love with you for years and ended a perfectly good relationship over it. In the last two weeks, all I’ve been able to think about from my waking moments is you; you, bathed in the bar lights looking like everything I’ve ever needed. Everything I think about starts with you and ends with us. 

“Fine,” Izuku answered with a pathetically fake smile he hoped didn’t betray the way he had been everything but just fine.  

Shouto’s doubtful look told him he didn’t, but he mercifully let it slide in favor of tipping his beer back. Setting it down on the bar, he nodded at Izuku. “If you say so.”

“And you? How have you been?” Are you still with Inasa? Is there any chance you’d like to be mine instead even though I’m nearly ten years too late to ask?

“Fine. I patrol, eat, then sleep, and occasionally I’ll indulge in watching trashy reality shows with Inasa. It’s a bit hard to, though, since he’s in California and all that, but…” Shouto shrugged. “We somehow make it work.”

Mouth suddenly dry, Izuku nodded. “Ah. I didn’t know Yoarashi was in California.”

“He’s supposed to be there for a month.”

“Right. And everything’s going…fine with him?”

“Swimmingly,” Shouto answered without looking at him. “I assume the same can be said for you and Uraraka?”

“We broke up,” Izuku blurted out. 

He searched desperately for a reaction, but all he was greeted with was the slight hunch of broad shoulders and a frown. 

“Ouch.” Not even looking at him as he pressed his drink to his lips, Shouto murmured, “I’m sorry. I know how much you liked her.”

Maybe it was the three drinks in his system, or maybe it was the nonchalance in Shouto’s voice as if they were discussing weekend plans and not the romance that had put miles of distance between them for months; or maybe it was the disbelief in Ochako’s eyes when he confessed Shouto had told him about a crush that was supposedly long gone. He didn’t know what exactly the trigger was for the next idiotic thing he asked next, but the words were out of his mouth he could stop them:

“Are you really sorry?”

Shouto abruptly set his beer back down on the bar before finally turning his attention to him, expression guarded and shoulders trying their best not to look taut. He looked relaxed to the passing eye, but Izuku had spent the greater part of ten years unknowingly learning every tell and twitch of his body to know that this wasn’t nonchalance, but rather a facade. 

“Why would I not be? This was what you wanted for so long. It’d be rude not to console you over something so devastating.”

Izuku almost laughed bitterly at that. Pressing his chin into his palm, he flashed Shouto a bitter smile. “That would be a more convincing argument if you hadn’t stopped talking to me when I was dating her.”

Shouto’s shoulders subtly hiked up higher. “That’s not true. We talked. The message logs say as much.”

“You ignoring me asking to hang out and giving me excuses for not talking to me when we did see each other is not ‘talking.’” Rolling his eyes, Izuku said, “Who uses an ear infection as an excuse to have not heard someone? I would’ve preferred for you to tell me that you just didn’t want to talk to me instead of lying like that.”

Gnawing on his bottom lip, Shouto looked down at his drink. “Sorry. I just thought space was good for us.”

“Why?”

“You’d been acting strange since I told you what I did about my feelings for you in high school. You kept bringing it up when I thought you’d forget about it. I figured distance would make you stop thinking about it the way the distance after high school made me forget the foolish feelings.” 

Izuku hummed at that. He could see why Shouto would think that was a logical step, and had he been willing to be graceful, he would’ve let the excuse slide. But Shouto couldn’t look at him as he put up another excuse to avoid the crux of it all, and Ochako’s ‘and you believed him?’ as he told her the other man’s feelings for him were long gone rang loudly in his ears, so he really couldn’t be blamed for the way he was suddenly desperate to not let this slide. 

“I don't believe you.”

“You’re always in the business of not believing me.”

“Shouto.” At the uttering of his given name and seriousness in Izuku’s tone, Shouto finally looked back at him. “We’re not going to get anywhere if you keep pretending you’re doing this for me instead of being honest with me.”

Something complicated crossed Shouto’s features; fear, anger, sadness — Izuku couldn’t pinpoint it, but it ended with Shouto gripping on tightly to his beer and frustration swimming in his eyes.  

“What do you want me to say, Midoriya? That telling you about my humiliating feelings and having them thrown back in my face eight years after making my leave with them wasn’t embarrassing? If that’s what you wanted to hear then fine. You’ve won. I distanced myself so I wouldn’t be reminded that the fact you didn’t like me absolutely devastated me when we graduated and how hard I had to work to not be embarrassed over the way everyone knew how I felt and pitied me for it.”

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Izuku whispered, “Todoroki–”

“You don’t know how hard it was to pick myself back after that, and I’m not blaming you for my misery, but you just…you don’t know what it’s like to be so humiliated over feelings that were all in your head.” Pressing his hands over his eyes, Shouto rasped, “Momo and Kyouka didn’t leave me alone for almost a month to make sure I was eating right and not self-destructing by throwing myself recklessly into work to avoid thinking about it. My sister didn’t stop calling me for months to make sure I wasn’t wallowing, and the messages. The stupid condolence messages from everyone in our class; Eijirou, Ashido, Katsuki, even Uraraka. That one stung the most. I thought she was making fun of me for winning the stupid competition that was in my head.”

Lowering his hands so they were over his cheeks instead of his eyes, Shouto flashed Izuku a hurt look. “It took me so long to unlearn my dislike for her and my resentment for you. It was a humiliating and embarrassing process, so forgive me for wanting some distance when you started bringing it up even though the intention of telling you was to finally let it go for good.”

Something about the hurt in Shouto’s eyes made him look ten years younger in a haunting way, and Izuku was suddenly struck to stab his own chest with a knife until his heart bled in a self inflected punishment for making him look like that. He’d seen Shouto’s devastation when Tonya died, his anger with his father and the subsequent uneasiness that came with a tentative consideration of forgiveness, and his happiness when surrounded by his friends on his birthdays while celebrating another year well lived. He’d seen Shouto in all his highs and lows caused by other people and the circumstances around him, but he’d never seen him look so devastatingly hurt as he did now recounting his feelings eight years after he’d suffered through packing them away all alone. 

“I’m sorry–” Izuku attempted, because there was nothing else for him to do but apologize, but Shouto shook his head and held a hand up to stop him. 

“Stop. Don’t– just don’t. I don’t need your apologies for things that I made up. I liked you, you didn’t like me, and I got over it. I had all the time in the world to get over it and it’s fine now. I’m not resentful or angry anymore, so it’s fine. I just want us to move on from it and for you to let it go. Please.”

It could’ve been so easy to go the cowards route and give Shouto what he begged for. But Izuku had spent months of losing sleep over his confession and replaying it in his mind like a horror movie, and recently realizing his own feelings made him come to his own realization: he didn’t want to move on, and he certainly didn’t want to let it go. He wanted Shouto. 

Izuku’s hand moved before he could stop it from latching its fingers around Shouto’s delicate wrist. “I don’t want to let it go.”

Jaw set, Shouto replied tersely, “Is it an ego thing? Is the knowledge that you had two people fall so hard for you in high school making it hard for you to let it go? I never took you for an egoistical bastard.”

“You know it’s not that,” Izuku snapped, suddenly furious. Grip tightening around Shouto’s wrist, he rushed out, “Why do you act like you were the only one affected by the confession? It’s almost been a year since I first heard it and it’s all I’ve been able to think about since you told me. Do you even have any idea of how much I’ve turned it around in my head? How much sleep I’ve lost over it?”

“You weren’t supposed to think about it–”

“If you didn’t want me to think about it then you should’ve confessed to someone who wouldn’t care about it!” Tears prickled his eyes, he hissed, “You are my best friend, Todoroki. You’re the person who understands me best and you consider everything I tell you with such care, so why is it so hard for you to understand that it goes both ways? Your feelings aren’t meaningless to me, they’re precious!”

Shouto closed his eyes and his lips pressed together like they did when he was trying to anchor himself. “Please don’t say that.”

“I won’t when I mean it.”

“What’s the point of this?”

Heart collapsing in his chest under the weight of his own love, Izuku confessed, “The point is that you told me something life changing and acted like it meant nothing. The point is that I’m stupid and didn’t realize what was in front of me until you told me. The point is that I broke up with my perfectly good and loving girlfriend because the whole time we were together, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much better it would’ve been if I was with you instead.”

Shouto snatched his wrist out of Izuku’s grip, and his eyes widened with such pure hurt and anger that it left Izuku speechless. 

“No,” he hissed, clutching his hand tightly against his chest. “No, you don’t get to do that now. You don’t get to tell me that you have feelings for me when you’re still looking at me the same way you did back then and you didn’t–”

“Todoroki–”

“To hell with my feelings being precious; you’re being cruel, and you’re just…you’re being mean, Midoriya.” He said it in such a broken way that it made Izuku want to cry. “I didn’t think you could ever be this mean.”

“I’m not trying to be mean. I’m trying to be honest.”

“How is this being honest? You’re looking at me the same way you did when we were third years and you even told me last year you didn’t feel the same way–”

Izuku winced at that. “I know what I said, and I know what this looks like, but I need you to listen to me. This isn’t something I’m saying just because I feel sorry for you liking me in high school or pitying you. I’m not telling you this because I was too much of a coward to do it back then. I’m telling you this right now because I didn’t know, Todoroki. I didn’t know that I felt the same way back then.”

Shouto opened his mouth to argue, and Izuku continued, “I know that sounds dumb and stupid, and you can call me all the meanest names in your vocabulary later, but I need you to listen to me right now. I didn’t know I liked you because I had never considered you in that way before. It was never a thought in my mind that I could —that we could— be something more than best friends who understood each other better than anyone else in the world. Not until you told me how you felt.”

Breathing in deeply, he said, “The way Uraraka made me feel was everything I thought love was supposed to be. She gave me butterflies and made me blush like crazy, but you? You made me feel cared for. You made me feel comfortable being myself, even when being myself meant crying over things no one could fix. You made me feel like I could talk to you forever and you’d never get tired of it. You made me feel safe. And I’m sorry I was too dumb to realize that was love, and I’m sorry it took me so long to get here, but I’m here now…even if you’re not anymore.”

A stray tear fell from Shouto’s left eye at that, a frozen little crystal that fell on Izuku’s lap and melted on his jeans. His face looked like he was a wounded animal, like his chest had been torn open by the claws of Izuku’s love confession, and Izuku wanted to do nothing more than to hold his face and press a kiss to those soft lips to chase all his visible anguish away. But this wasn’t the time for that; they were in a bar where a kiss would make headlines, and Shouto was still with Inasa, and still Izuku wanted him more than he’d ever wanted anything before. 

Shouto hastily reached up to wipe at his eyes, lips trembling as he tried to stop himself from crying. “You always pick the worst times to tell me the things I want to hear.”

“I know.”

“I’m still with Inasa.”

“I know.”

“I’m not breaking up with him.”

“I know.”

“I like him,” Shouto whispered. 

“I know.” A sad smile. “But if you ever want to fall in love, you should fall in love with me.”

Heached over to squeeze Shouto’s cold hand. Softly, he said, “No matter if it takes five or ten years, or if you never fall in love, I’ll still be here. Hate me, like me, love me; I don’t care. I’m down for all of it so long as it’s with you.”

He gave Shouto’s hand one last lingering squeeze before walking out of the bar. He murmured his thanks for the invitation to a confused looking Momo before slipping out into the cool September air, and even though he was walking out without Shouto’s hand in his, his heart felt ten pounds lighter than it did from the lost heaviness of unsaid feelings and ten pounds heavier with his love for Shouto. 

(That night, he sleeps and dreams of him and Shouto slow dancing and laughing as they drunkenly kiss while their friends whistle and holler because they’re what true love looks like. In the morning, he wakes in the same bed alone, but he hopes this time that maybe, maybe, the world will work with him and give him what he thinks he deserves.)

What is your position on love? Is there any room for love as a pro hero?

I believe there’s always a place for love, regardless if you’re a pro hero or not. I know some pros get some backlash for dating other pros, but I don’t know. I think there’s something beautiful in having someone who loves you having your back both at work and at home. 

Have you ever been in love?

Once. I’m still in love, actually. Fingers crossed that it all works out in the end. 

– Hero Deku for Japan Hero Monthly (September) 

izukumidoriya 

[An image of Shouto, Tenya and Izuku in their hero gear eating soba together. Izuku’s flashing a peace sign, Shouto’s smiling softly, and Tenya’s unaware mid-bite.]

Liked by shotodoroki and 1,240,219 others

izukumidoriya lunch meet up! 🍜 

ingenium My lawyers will be in contact shortly. 

redriot RIGHT ON!! CARBS!! 💪

shotodoroki 

[Los Angeles, California]

[An image of Shouto, Momo and Kyouka at the Santa Monica Pier.]

Liked by izukumidoriya and 2,551,097 others

shotodoroki 🏝️ 

chargebolt denki KAMINARI 💛 

glamourcamie 💋 💋 💋 

uravity 

[An image of a laughing Ochako in her hero suit with puppies at a shelter. Katsuki is in the background being tackled by a German Shepard puppy and Eijirou’s laughing at him as he takes a picture.] 

Liked by shotodoroki and 1,092,653 others 

uravity a big thank you to the Whiskers and Woofs Shelter for inviting us to their charity event over that weekend! to donate to your local animal shelter click the link in my bio!  🐶🐱

ingenium Cute! 

invisiblegirl cute! (the dogs too i guess)

Where do you see yourself in ten years? 

Still happily working as a hero, though I hope to be married by then. Or engaged at the very least. If not for my happiness, then to ease my sister’s worrying that I’ll die old and alone. 

Do you know who you wish to share your future with?

I think I do. But when I want the world to know, you’ll know. 

– Hero Shouto for Japan Hero Monthly (November)

Izuku Midoriya’s world tilted back into place at the age of twenty-five on a Friday evening in the beginning of December. 

Final exams were right around the corner, meaning that Izuku had been running on fumes for the last week with work and preparing his students for his final. It was the first week that term that he’d been unable to get a decent amount of sleep, and for the first time it wasn’t because of his mind overthinking things. Being a top pro hero and a good teacher was a hard life to balance, but he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t fulfilling. 

He was in the middle of typing out the last question for his exam when a knock at the door interrupted him. 

One glance at the clock told him it was 8:22 PM, and he hadn’t ordered any food for delivery, yet the person at the door kept knocking insistently. A neighbor, perhaps? I knew inviting Katsuki and Eijirou over for drinks last week was a bad idea. Sighing, he slipped his glasses off and set them on the table before making his way to the door. 

He opened the door with apologies ready to tumble from his lips, only for them to die in his mouth when he came face to face with beautifully mismatched eyes staring back at him. 

“Oh. You are not my neighbor.”

“Sorry,” Shouto said, sounding anything but sorry. “Can I come in? It’s kind of cold out here.”

Izuku almost teased him for the poor excuse for wanting to come in; he had a heating quirk, for crying out loud! But there was an odd look in his eyes tonight, as if he had come here with a purpose as opposed to a spontaneous visit to hang out. They hadn’t done that in months, anyway. 

Wordlessly, he stepped aside. He closed the door and watched curiously as Shouto toed his shoes off at the genkan and practically stormed into his living room, left hand hidden in his coat pocket and right hand clutching onto a white takeout bag. He looked sort of ridiculous standing there in jeans and a winter coat with no shoes on, but he also looked beautiful and like he had always belonged standing in Izuku’s apartment that way, so Izuku didn’t tease him for it. 

“Is everything okay?” he asked cautiously. “You usually text when you want to stop by and hang out.”

“You never pay attention to your phone this close to final exams. You also never eat.” Holding up the bag, he said tersely, “I brought takeout. We’re going to eat dinner together.”

Izuku nodded slowly at that. Seemingly satisfied, Shouto crossed the living room into the kitchen. He seemingly noticed he still had his coat on, so he took it off and draped it over a kitchen chair before loudly beginning to pull plates and cups out of the cupboard while Izuku watched bewilderedly from the kitchen doorway. 

“Um. Not that I’m not happy to see you and not hungry, but…why? You don’t usually do this.”

Shouto stilled with his back to Izuku. Hands braced on the kitchen island with the food in front of him, he breathed in deeply. 

“We broke up.”

Izuku nearly fell to the ground with the relief and hope that those words sent straight into his heart. “Oh?” he tried to sound sympathetic, “I’m sorry.”

“No you’re not.”

“No, I’m not.”

Shouto finally turned around to face him. Hands clenched tightly to the edge of his navy blue jumper, he looked straight into Izuku’s eyes and asked, “Are you still in love with me?”

Izuku couldn’t help it; he wrinkled his nose at that and laughed incredulously. “Am I– yes, Todoroki. I’m still in love with you.” It slipped out of his mouth easily because it was a fact: just like the grass was green and the sky was blue, Izuku Midoriya was in love with Shouto Todoroki. 

“Okay.” A shaky breath. “Okay.”

“…is that it?”

“Give me a minute.” Breathing in deeply, Shouto steeled himself and nodded. “Right. You have the worst timing any man could possibly hope to have. You know that, right?”

“You may have said that before.”

“I went to California a few weeks after you said what you did. I spent a month there with Inasa. We went to dinner together, we shopped together, we kissed and we had sex, and it was good. It was great. It was everything it had been up until before you’d told me you were in love with me.”

Izuku nodded as he stepped forward, walking towards Shouto who didn’t move away. “And?”

“It was easy. It was nice. I really liked him.” Breathing in shakily, he closed his eyes and confessed, “I still spent the whole time thinking about you.”

Opening his eyes, he met Izuku’s look head on as scarred hands took his trembling pale ones into his own. 

“It wasn’t just the embarrassment of having my old feelings thrown in my face that made me stop talking to you. I didn’t tell you to try and forget about it once and for all. I thought I did, but it was more of a last ditch attempt to see if you felt the same way. Then you went on to date Uraraka, and I felt stupid for hoping and still wanting you, so I distanced myself. But…”

“But?” Izuku whispered, holding his and Shouto’s hand against his chest. 

“But it’s hard to kick a habit.” Moving his hands so they were clutching onto the thin fabric of Izuku’s white T-shirt, he whispered back, “It’s hard to not be in love when you’ve spent nearly ten years drowning in it. So I need you to tell me, Midoriya– Izuku. I need you to tell me that I didn’t walk away from a good man for no reason. I need you to tell me you’re not going to change your mind and break my heart again. I need you to tell me this is a forever thing, because you’re it for me. You’ve always been it for me.”

Lips curling into a smile as tears prickled his eyes, Izuku cupped Shouto’s face in his hands. Brushing his thumbs reverently against smooth skin and the edge of the scar that had brought them together all those years ago, he swallowed the ball in his throat and nodded. 

“Say it.”

“I’m in love with you, Shouto.” Laughing helplessly as tears began to fall from his eyes, he pressed their foreheads together. “I want to be stupidly in love with you for as long as you’ll have me. And if it’s forever that you want, I’ll give you forever. Anything you want. Everything you want. It’s all yours to take.”

Shuddering, Shouto said, “I mean it when I say you can’t change your mind. I’m a greedy bastard when it comes to things involving you. I’ll ask for everything if you promise me you’ll give it to me.”

“I wouldn’t offer it if I wasn’t sure I could give it to you.”

“Okay,” Shouto breathed. “Kiss me.”

Izuku wasted no time pressing their lips together, and oh, he didn’t know how someone could come home to a home they’d never lived in before, but kissing Shouto’s soft strawberry chapstick-soft lips made it possible. He kissed Shouto sweetly even as Shouto’s hand found its way to his curls and the other hand found its way under his shirt to touch his skin and leave his imprint on it; it didn’t feel like fireworks like the books described it to feel like, but rather the quiet exhilarating promise of a forever type of love. 

Congratulations on your new position as Japan’s number three hero! How does it feel to break the top three barely a year after your debut?

A little insane, if I’m being honest. But I feel super honored to be the nation’s number three hero. I promise I’ll work hard to be worthy of the rank!

Last year you said it was hard to find a balance between your position as a pro and a teacher. Do you think this rank change will affect that? 

Not really. I have a great support system that reminds me to take my breaks and not carry too much on my shoulders alone, which is great considering how much of a workaholic I’ve learned I can be. 

You also said last year you felt like your life was a little unbalanced in regards to the love department. Is that still true?

Nope. There’s no ring yet, but there will be one eventually. I know what I want and I’m not letting it go.

– Hero Deku for Japan Hero Monthly (September)

Congratulations on the successful drug bust in Tokyo last week! 

Thank you, but I didn’t do it all by myself. I have to give credit where credit is due to Deku, Uravity, Dynamight and Ingenium for assisting Entropy in the bust. They’re truly incredible heroes. 

Speaking of Deku, how does it feel to be friends with the nation’s new number three hero?

Amazing. I am so incredibly proud of him for rising so soon in the rankings and wouldn’t be surprised if he takes over mine by this time next year either. Heaven knows he’s put in the work to deserve it.

That is so sweet. Tell us, last year you said you still saw yourself working as a hero in ten years and also engaged. Does that still ring true?

Absolutely. 

Do you know who you wish to spend forever with?

Yes. I’ve known he would be my husband for years, he was just a little slow on the uptake. But good things always come to those who wait, and boy did I do my waiting. 

– Hero Shouto for Japan Hero Monthly, (September)

“Being Japan’s number three hero means you have to take three shots. Hero rules, not mine!”

Izuku flashed a tipsy Ochako an exasperated look. “You are a hero!”

Ochako merely giggled before she was gently pulled down into her seat by Tenya. She leaned against his shoulder as he pushed a glass of water up to her lips, fond exasperation in his eyes. 

“I think you’ve had a bit too much to drink tonight.”

“I think Deku should really drink more. Shouto, back me up here!”

Shouto snorted softly from his place beside Izuku, a glass of water in hand. “I would but he has patrol in the morning, and I don’t want to hear him groaning about being hungover in the morning when he knows he signed up for this extra shift.”

“More like coerced into taking,” Izuku sighed. Pressing his cheek to the table, he looked up at Shouto. “Is it too late to change agencies?”

“Fuck you!” Katsuki snapped from two seats down. 

Humming, Shouto gently tucked a stray curl behind Izuku’s ear. Deciding to humor his boyfriend, he asked, “Whose agency would you transfer to?”

Izuku grinned at that. “I was thinking of switching to Entropy. Maybe you’ve heard of it? The boss is Japan’s number two hero, and that’s already an upgrade from number five.” Winking, he teased, “I also heard the boss is unfairly handsome.”

Shouto shook his head at that, but the pink flush dusting his cheeks and his pleased smile gave him away. “I’m not sure you’re worth the harassment our poor interns will deal with in the emails and phones.”

“But think about it! You’re the number two hero, I’m the number three hero, so it makes sense for us to work together!”

“We just went to Tokyo together last week.”

Huffing, Izuku reached up to poke Shouto’s cheek. “That’s not the same and you know it.”

Smile wide, Shouto twirled one of Izuku’s curls around his index finger. “You’ll live.”

“Ugh,” Ochako groaned as she eyed them fondly. “Maybe it’s a good thing you didn’t know Shouto liked you in high school. You two would’ve been insufferable if you did.”

Setting Ochako’s glass of water down on the table, Tenya said amusedly, “They were. We just pretended not to notice it.”

“Those are very bold words for someone who we pretended not to notice was pining for Ochako,” Shouto replied with a huff. Ochako and Izuku burst into loud laughter at that, and Tenya flushed red. 

“Why are you laughing? You didn’t know you liked your boyfriend until he told you how he felt eight years later!”

“And I take full responsibility for that,” Izuku nodded, chuckling as he picked his head up to drop his head into his palms to admire Shouto. “But we got here anyway, didn’t we?”

“Somehow,” Shouto replied with an amused smile. 

Ochako and Tenya were roped into a conversation with Eijirou shortly after that, leaving Izuku to admire Shouto as he drank his water. Shouto, to his credit, held out longer than Izuku expected him to before he flushed red and turned his full attention to Izuku.

“You’re staring.”

“The view’s pretty.”

“Are you sure you didn’t accidentally take those three shots Ochako got for you?”

Snorting, Izuku took Shouto’s hand into his own and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “No. I know how much you hate when I spend the morning puking in our bathroom.”

“The smell, Izuku–”

“–could kill roaches,” Izuku recited. He laughed when he saw the pout on Shouto’s lips. “Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before. Don’t worry, I won’t puke tonight.”

“Good.” Watching Izuku, Shouto’s pout meted into a fond smile. “You know, I really am proud of you for making the top three so soon. You’re amazing.”

Blushing, Izuku pressed soft kisses to the tips of Shouto’s warm right hand. “Thank you. But I think you’re overestimating me and underestimating yourself when you say I’ll overtake you in the rankings next year.”

“I only tell the truth in my interviews.”

“Uhuh. So you’ve always known I’d be your husband, huh?” He grinned when Shouto shrugged. “I’m starting to think you were just playing the long game with me.”

Raising his brows, Shouto said, “Need I remind you that you were the one who didn’t know you liked me until I told you how I felt?”

“No, Kacchan does a good job of reminding me daily when I send you flowers to your agency.”

“Good. Had it been by my terms we would have been married by twenty-five. I’m adjusting my plans to thirty now for you since I like you so much that I’m willing to adapt to your time.”

Raising a brow of his own, Izuku huffed out a laugh. “Wow. So generous.”

“Call me Generous Todoroki.”

Sitting up, Izuku let go of Shouto’s hand to cup his face in his hands. “You really don’t need to be so generous with your time table. I’d like to make you my husband by twenty-seven if you’ll let me.”

To his delight, Shouto flushed a bright pink and his eyes began to sparkle the way they did when Izuku first realized how mesmerized he was by him in the same restaurant one year ago. 

“That’s next year.”

“He can do math! So smart,” Izuku cooed.

Blinking, Shouto asked, “Really?”

“Really really. Or do you plan on telling the interviewers next year that you’re making me wait after I’ve made you wait long enough?” He laughed when Shouto pursed his lips. “Thought so.”

“This better not be your proposal,” Shouto threatened weakly. “I expect flowers and a ring. My sister has to be there to videotape it. And we’re having a spring wedding because I want to get married under the cherry blossoms.”

“Hagakure’s wedding really inspired you, didn’t it.”

“Izuku,” he hissed. 

“No, this is not my official proposal. But I am going to propose soon.” He grinned, pleased with the way Shouto’s mouth opened silently. “Your mom and sister already know. Your brother cried when I showed him the ring. It’s happening, sweetheart.”

Shouto nodded at that, and Izuku almost cooed at how hard he was visibly trying to contain his happiness. “Good. You’ve made me wait long enough.”

“Yes, I agree.”

“Our friends are going to think we’re crazy.”

“Not really. Kacchan whacked me in the head when we went ring shopping after my birthday and told me ‘it was about time, nerd’,” he said in a poor imitation of his childhood friend. It was worth it to see Shouto’s brilliant smile. “Eijirou said it nicely. I might make him my best man instead of Kacchan.”

“Fuck you, I heard that!”

“Please don’t. He’s the one who approves your time off and we’re going to need at least two weeks for our honeymoon.”

“Only two? I thought you were more ambitious than that.”

“You’re right. A month is more appropriate.” Unable to stay serious, Shouto burst into bright laughter that made Izuku’s heart sing mine, mine, mine.

“Hey,” Izuku said fondly as Shouto’s laughter died down. “I really love you. You know that, right?”

Instead of teasing him, Shouto’s smile softened into something equally fond. “I know. I love you too. Now are you going to kiss me sometime tonight or are you going to make me wait for that too?”

The taste of takoyaki and sound of Shouto’s soft laughter as he kissed familiar soft lips he wanted to kiss for the rest of his life was worth the wolf whistles and jeers from their classmates.

izukumidoriya 

[An image of a beaming Shouto holding his hand up, engagement ring on his finger. His other arm is wrapped around Izuku’s shoulders. Izuku is looking at him like he’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen, one arm wrapped around Shouto’s waist.]

Liked by uravity and 12,048,102 others 

izukumidoriya forever’s not enough, but it’s a start

uravity CONGRATULATIONSSSSS!!! 🩷🩷🩷

dynamight fucking finally 

redriot A MAN!!!! 

shotodoroki 

[An image of Shouto and Izuku sitting at a table at their engagement party. Shouto’s holding a champagne flute with his engagement ring in clear view, and he’s saying something while Izuku looks mesmerized listening to him. His chin is in his hand and his other hand is brushing Shouto’s bangs back.]

Liked by galeforce and 13,137,098 others 

shotodoroki love 💍 

galeforce Congratulations! 

glamourcamie BABY TODO!! 😭🩷🩷🩷

ingenium finally