Chapter 3
Midoriya wanted to talk to him.
He knew this because if he didn't, the greenette wouldn't be staring at him with such intensity that ripped away his ability to write the way it did. It was as if he was purposely focusing all his strength (which he still didn't understand how he had so much) on attempting to communicate with him without saying a word. To his credit, the dual haired male did understand what he wanted.
What he did not understand was how he would confront the other of it. Usually, the other would stare for a while and then speak to him once he figured out that Todoroki would do no such thing because he was either not seeing it (which happened most of the time actually) or because he wasn't sure if the other wanted to talk at all. So the greenette, seemingly having more balls than Todoroki did, would set the conversation in motion and talk to him.
Todoroki had been fine with this. He enjoyed not having to begin the conversation and he enjoyed being the one the other could depend on with his problems even if he didn't always have answers or advice, which the other then again completely understood and just thanked him for letting him vent. He was fine with that method. He was used to that method.
So not knowing why Midoriya hadn't said anything to him about what he wanted to say for the past week was making him incredibly uncomfortable. The other never stopped talking as he did, for better or for worse, yet here he was, completely silent and just...staring.
Staring and staring and staring- so much that he was worried if he didn't blink soon, he would harm his eyes.
Then again, he figured this was fair for all the times he had done this. All the times he had just stared at the other in hopes of him being uncomfortable enough to ask him what was wrong. A cruel method but an efficient and rather good one in his own opinion. And now, the method that was used against him.
He knew he couldn't stare at his half-filled google document, which he had only managed to get done because he hadn't paid attention to the other for the first ten minutes of this little one-sided staring contest, for the rest of the night. Or at least until Midoriya had gone to sleep. But he also knew that he didn't want to look in the direction of his roommate either. He was perfectly fine with not having to speak to the other.
To be completely honest, he did have a hunch of what this all was about but he prayed to whatever power there was out there, that he was wrong and that Midoriya would eventually stop wondering why he hadn't gone to see Bakugou for the past three weeks.
“Todoroki,”
As if reading his mind, the greenette demanded Todoroki to look at him. He didn't say it in words, no, but the dual haired male got it. It was a demand, and it was a demand he would follow for he wouldn't like to see what the other would do would he not. So, reluctantly, and way too slowly, he looked up from his screen and at the only other person in the room.
“Yes?” he asked, hoping his voice wasn't as unsteady and uncomfortable as he had thought it was, though he doubted it. He hadn't ever seen the other upset, or mad, and to be completely honest, he would prefer to keep it that way. He didn't need to know what the other would be like and he didn't want to know what he would be like.
“Are you working?” the other asked which made Todoroki suspect for a moment that he didn't know how to begin this conversation either.
“I-” he paused and stared down at his laptop. He hadn't been typing for the past five minutes thanks to the other and he knew it. He also knew that Midoriya had noticed it as well, which is probably why they were in the situation in the first place. “-am” he completed like the complete fool and liar he was. “Is...is there an issue?” he asked, voice drenched in hesitance and uncertainty.
“No…” Midoriya replied with a tone that meant ‘yes’. “Well…” he averted his gaze, which let the taller male breathe for a moment. He hadn't even known that he had been breathing as little as possible, which would explain why he felt so tired all of a sudden. “Did you-...”
“Did I?” he questioned when his roommate didn't continue his question or at least give any sign of it. He supposed part of him wanted the whole confrontation, if that was what it was, to be over with as soon as possible, while the other part of him wanted nothing more than erase himself from the memory of the other so he could avoid the whole mess.
“Did you and Kacchan have a fight?” he asked, those intense and observing eyes right back on him and somehow blocking his windpipe and forcing all the air to stay inside his body once more.
Never had he been so upset at how right he had been.
“What?” he almost wheezed out. He needed to calm down. Definitely his first priority. And so he forced himself to breathe again. Forced his lungs to operate the way they were supposed to, and forced his heart to stop pounding in his ears and keep to his chest as it was supposed to. It wasn't even the fact that the blonde had been mentioned that threw him off so much. He had seen this coming after all.
It was the fact that Midoriya, who he had assumed was more curious about him and the blondes well-being more than anything, seemed to be so utterly heartbroken as the question slipped out of him.
“Ah- is that what you've been worried about?” he proceeded to ask as casually as he could though the other didn't glance away or fidget with his hands like he usually did. This new clam version of him- it scared Todoroki. All he got as a response to his rather obvious question, was a nod. Which was better than only silence he supposed but it wasn't something he'd pick over words. “I can assure you Midoriya, Bakugou and I- we...we didn't have a fight,” he said, sparing himself the embarrassment of adding the fact that he hadn't actually even talked to the blonde employee.
“Then- how come you won't leave?” he questioned and Todoroki was going to respond. Honestly, he was. He just never got a chance to do so since the grenettes eyes went about as wide as they could before his eyeballs would roll out of his head. “Not that I want you to leave!” he exclaimed, explanation already bundled up in the back of his throat. “I love your company actually! Really I do- I just meant that-”
“I know, Midoriya” the dual haired male replied before it could get too out of hand. Which meant before he could start since that was usually a good place to stop his apologies. “I just-” he paused, glancing at his laptop for a moment. “-I’ve been kind of busy,” he said.
It was actually a very dumb excuse since, well...the reason he had started going there was because he was so busy with the number of things he had to do and how late he stayed up working on them that in a last desperate attempt to be a good roommate, he had gone.
“Oh,” the greenette responded, not giving any hints of whether or not that was a good ‘oh’ or a bad ‘oh’. Then he smiled at him. Not that it made Todoroki feel any better. “Oh!” he said again. This time, the ‘oh’ was definitely a good ‘oh’. “I was really worried the two of you had an argument! You seemed so fond of him!” he told him, sighing his worries out and visibly relaxing. The tense look he had before melted away in an instant and was replaced by one of his usual and abnormally wide smiles.
“Did I?” the taller male asked, eyes going back to his work again and hands resting on the keyboard. He, on the other hand, felt himself get tenser as the other relaxed even more. Maybe he had been obvious- but he couldn't have been that obvious. Fond could mean many things. He was fond of Midoriya for example, but he didn't want to kiss or think of Midoriya the way he had been fantasizing about with Bakugou (which he sadly had to admit to himself of doing after about a week and a half of avoiding the blonde)
“Yeah!” the other said, now comfortably laying back in his bed and glancing up at the ceiling. “You talked about him all the time before, you know? Well, maybe not all the time, but you did talk about him a lot- so when you suddenly stopped I thought maybe something had happened- but- it seems you were just tired” he sang and the fact that he had gotten away with his lie would have relaxed Todoroki a fair amount, except now he had a whole other thing to worry about.
“I didn't... talk about Bakugou a lot” he denied rather lazily since he was currently going back and checking through his memories of whether or not it had been true. Sure, he had mentioned him every now and then to him, but it hadn't been that many times. Then again, Midoriya was rather observant when it came to certain things so maybe it seemed like he spoke more of him than usual to the greenette. By the look on his face though, he was probably correct with the latter. The intense and strange look was back on his roommate and friend's face, once again staring into his soul just as it had done seconds ago. “Did I?” he found himself asking out loud. It had just slipped out.
“You really did, Todoroki,” he replied. It was followed by a short huff of a laugh that made the dual haired male turn to look at the other once more only to be faced by a grinning mess. He didn't say anything after that though, much to Todorokis delight and misery. About ten minutes later of being incredibly aware of his roommate's presence, the other bid him good night which then was followed by soft snores.
________
After the encounter with his roommate and getting laughed at for speaking of the blonde so much without noticing it, he decided to return to the cafe to prove...well, he wasn't sure what- but he felt the need to go back so Midoriya would stop thinking whatever it was he was thinking.
It had been awfully confusing when the need to stay away turned into the need to go. Either way, wherever he went, he seemed to be plagued by one or the other of two childhood friends. One place involved getting grinned at as if Midoriya knew everything that was running through his head, while the other involved the blonde he had recently found out he apparently had feelings for.
One seemed to be severely better than the other, but now that he found himself in front of the cafe, he wasn't so sure anymore.
Either way, there was no going back anymore and what was done had been done, and what would come could come at him with all its might. He could take it. Probably. Most likely. He could face Bakugou- and it wasn't as if he could avoid the other for the rest of his life.
That, however, didn't mean that he couldn't feel relieved when he saw Kirishima stand behind the counter instead of the blonde he had grown to like when he entered the place. The red-haired male, in turn, seemed equally as excited to see him.
“Todoroki!” he exclaimed, and the dual haired male was about to greet him back, had it not been for the mini-heart attack he had when he saw the rather aggressive blonde stomp out of the staff-room looking wildly alert until those crimson red, sharp eyes landed on him and narrowed. Instinctively, he shut up and just waved.
“Hello Kirishima, Bakugou,” he said, nodding to both of them. They seemed to be at opposite ends of the mood spectrum where Kirihsima looked like an excited puppy, much like how Midoriya had seemed for the past three days, while Bakugou looked just about ready to put him in the coffee grinder.
“You-” he growled out, ignoring the looks of the two other people that were there that he received. Had there been more people there, Todoroki probably would have left since he never enjoyed being the center of attention, but since there were barely any people there, he couldn't care any less. “Where the hell have you been?” he asked, vice drenched in venom much like it had been the first time he had waltzed in there.
“Uh-” he paused, staring at the blonde spikes getting closer and closer to him until he couldn't see anything else but the person they belonged to and the red eyes from earlier but much closer and a lot clearer.
“Now, Bakugou- relax” the red-haired male helped out, dragging his friend back behind the counter by the back of his collar and holding him there so he couldn't escape. “Sorry Todoroki, he's just been worried” he explained and Todoroki understood it. If a regular customer disappeared for a month, he too would have been worried.
“Worried- my ass!” the blonde barked, glaring at the two others that he probably considered less of extras than the rest of the population.
“I'm sorry- I’ve just had a lot to do lately so I was unable to come here” he replied once he got over the initial shock of having seen the blonde appear out of nowhere. He figured that if the lie would work on his dear friend and somewhat lab rat Midoriya, it would work on the blonde as well.
“No one asked” was what he got in response from Bakugou who had wiggled out of Kirishima's grip. He didn't miss the way he seemed to relax a bit more than he had been before though. The scowl was still there but he started suspecting that it may have actually just been a part of the blonde. “God fuck- you here for your shitty drink again?” he asked, seeming to have collected himself a bit more. And by that, he meant he seemed to have gone from furious to overly pissed off.
“Well, if you’d let me,” he said, forcing his body over to the counter. Now that he was aware of his crush on the blonde, he seemed to be able to notice so much more about him. The hair falling over his eyes, the way his brows twitched in irritation at anything, his hands moving so swiftly from the screen to the drawer popping out at his command, how his eyes would land on him for a second and seem so insanely soft until they returned to their harsh selves. The usual.
“What happened to ‘it’s my drink’?” He questioned, though he saw the amount for his triple chocolate chip cream coffee pop up on the little customer display in front of him.
“I..feel bad?” he offered as an answer as he searched through his bag for a moment and pulled out the appropriate amount of cash he needed from it. He was almost ashamed of how many loose coins he had in it- so naturally, he decided to get rid of the evidence by only using said loose coins. He handed the money to the employee who eyed the number of coins in his hand for a moment. It seemed like he decided to not count it after all and placed the cash into the register.
“You should” the blonde replied which started making Todoroki rather curious of just how worried he had been to be acting as he was. He also decided against telling the other that he wasn't actually required to show up to the cafe since he had not undergone any oath to do so. “I thought I’d pissed you off or some shit” Bakugou suddenly said, kicking him out of his own thoughts for a moment.
In one way or another, Bakugou had pissed him off. But that hadn't been the blonde's fault. That would be blamed on his own foolish self for having to find this strangely rude person who had slowly turned into his friend at first, attractive, and decided to stick with him. However, he liked to think that the blonde could be blamed just a tad. Made him feel ever so slightly better about his one-sided bullshit.
“I'm sorry” he apologized again, lips twitching upwards into a tiny smile as his gaze fell onto the counter again. “You didn't” he cleared up to which the blonde just looked at him for a moment before nodding and disappearing behind the large machines again. He didn't actually use them, but the dual haired male did see that he needed the ice that was placed in a box under them.
The night went by just like that. He had received his drink along with some comment- whether it was good or bad- from the blonde employee and had gone to the window seats again, pulled out his laptop, and sat there with his drink next to him. Once again, out of all the spots in the room, someone had gone for the corner place. Which was why he was stuck by the window instead.
Bakugou hadn't come over to him as he had done before, which was a shame since he spent the last half of it expecting him to. Every movement behind the counter would catch his attention and he would glance up from the screen to the blurry reflection of the glass, only to be disappointed when it had just been the two employees moving around- either making new drinks or cleaning up after themselves.
By the end of it, he had given up and packed up his things to leave. It was fair, he supposed, with how he had ignored the other for no other reason than him being a coward for a month. That didn’t mean it didn't sting.
“Oi- half’n’half” Bakugou called from behind the counter. Lazily, he looked over to the blonde who was now not behind the counter but rather jumping over it and walking towards him and squinted his eyes in confusion.
“Yes?” he asked, dragging it out, unaware of what else to do if not that. In the corner of his eye, he did see Kirishima sign a rather obnoxious and not so very subtle thumbs up to the blonde, through the reflection. Or what he assumed was supposed to be to the blonde. Either that, or he had seen someone through the glass but given that it was the dead of night, the only lights from the outside world were from the streetlamps and the moon itself, and not a soul to be seen, he doubted it severely.
“Give me your fucking number” he demanded which pulled a frown out of Todoroki. In the distance- or a couple of meters away from them- he heard Kirishima groan quietly to himself, accompanied by some muttering that he could care less about at the moment. It probably cleared the suspicion of the fact that he was in fact watching the two of them interact.
“I...My fucking number? I don't...believe I have- oh” he paused for a moment. Maybe he was tired, maybe his Bakugou filter hadn’t been fully turned on, or maybe he was just dumb. The reason didn't matter since it all clicked a second later. “You want my number- yes, uh- why?” he questioned, cursing his younger self for not talking to people his age enough, to not give him the proper social skills he clearly needed to survive in the world with.
“What do you mean why? Is it not obvious?” the blonde questioned right back. It kind of was. Though Bakugou did kindly- or as kindly as he could probably- remind him of his disappearance. “So next time you vanish for like- a decade- you could at least tell me you didn't overdose on sugar”
“My liver is actually doing quite fine thank you very much” he mumbled as he glanced around for a moment in an attempt to remember his number. He, honest to god, probably should have started to memorize it actually. There was a four in there- that much he knew, and a three that was either before or after the four. “Give me a moment, I'm trying to remember it,” he said when Bakugou's brows started furrowing again, corners twitching like they did when he got overwhelmed or just impatient.
“Do you seriously not know your own number?” the blonde asked, either very amused or dumbfounded. Now that he thought about it, it was probably both. Todoroki on the other hand felt ever so slightly embarrassed. He definitely should know his own number by now, but-
“I've never had to call myself so it must have slipped my mind” he replied though the sad truth would be that even if he did have to call himself, he would have saved his number and never thought about it ever again.
Bakugou seemed to pause at the answer for a moment before nodding slowly as if it was an acceptable excuse. Then he sighed and reached his hand out which left Todoroki to just stare at it for a moment then back up at the eyes of the slightly shorter male.
“Give me your phone- I'll put my number in,” he said and the dual haired male could do nothing but comply and lay his phone (which was the newest Samsung model and earned him a strange look from the blonde) in the others hand. He quickly tapped away, gentler than he had been with the register, before handing the phone back to the other.
“Thank you,” he said, though technically speaking, the other had been the one wanting his number. “I'll...text you when I get back,” he said, finding this new step rather strange. He hadn't ever believed he would be texting the other- which he found even stranger than the step itself since he had been able to imagine himself dating the other.
“Yeah, yeah- get out of here” the other dismissed him then turned to head back to his friend behind the counter. The exit, Todoroki later decided, was incredibly cool and he played it on loop- adding a couple of sentences and touches here and there.
True to his word, he did text the other when he had returned to the dorm, though it had taken longer than anticipated because he couldn't decide what to say to the other. Speaking to him face to face, that was one thing. There he had to decide what to say in a second. When he was texting, he could delete his mistakes. Which was exactly what he hated so much. If he made a mistake when he had a chance to remove them, he would be looked upon as a fool.
But then again, had the aggressive employee not seen that yet, then it really wasn't his fault anymore.
Surprisingly, after he had managed to send the other his Hello, this is Todoroki from the cafe, he got a response almost immediately. He had just put his phone onto the nightstand to go to sleep when it lit up, giving him a small heart attack as he desperately tried to giver the screen so the light wouldn't wake Midoriya.
‘Yeah, hi’ and then two minutes later, ‘your number is super easy to remember what the fuck’
He had laughed quietly to himself and decided to respond in the morning instead, knowing fully well that had he decided to respond then instead, he wouldn't have gone to sleep at all.
__________
It was horrible how all his life-changing realizations came to him while he was doing the most random things. For it was when he was folding clothes with Fuyumi (he had returned home for a weekend) that he suddenly realized how bad his pining was getting.
In a sense, it was good that it was Fuyumi he had been with rather than Midoriya or Yaoyorozu, or maybe even Natsuo. Cause right after he had come to this sudden conclusion of his pining getting ridiculous, he had blurted out-
“I wish I could confess”
-to which his sister had responded with- at first wide eyes, and then the sweetest yet sickening grin he had ever seen in his entire life. And that said a lot considering he had spent three out of seven days with Katsuki Bakugou almost every week.
Which was how he ended up having to explain everything that had happened to his sister. She...found it amusing, to say the least. At least her five minutes of laughter said so.
“Sis…” he mumbled as a lazy attempt to get her to concentrate on the problem at hand rather than laugh at it, looking over at her and folding the t-shirts and button-ups he had in front of him as fast as he could. Then he remembered he had to iron them all and sighed as he got the equipment for what he needed.
“Not going to lie, Shoto- this Bakugou guy sounds really nice!” she hummed as she ironed her own shirts and folded them as so beautifully it almost made him feel slightly insecure of his own folding skills- which were mediocre at best.
“He is,” he confirmed. To be fair, he wasn't quite used to this. This being speaking to his sister of his own ‘crushes’ rather than listening to her go on and on about people she enjoyed the company of so much that she wished to become an item with them. “In his own Bakugou way,” he added, quickly realizing that not everyone would think the blonde was kind. “But that's not the problem at hand, Fuyumi” he reminded her as she snatched away one of his shirts to iron since she clearly wasn't satisfied with it.
“Right, right” she hummed, puffing steam from the machine in her hand as she removed the wrinkles and creases in her younger brother's shirt. “Why don't you just talk to him?” she asked, proceeding to point the heated machine at said younger brother.
“Fuyumi...I've heard you talk about countless of these love stories- has anyone ever just-” he didn't finish his question cause about five specific stories did come to mind (though there were probably more), where whoever it was in question, whether it be Fuyumi, someone she knew or someone she had only heard about, did talk to whoever they liked and things had worked out now that he really reflected and thought about it. “I can’t talk to him. I have no skills when it comes to talking” he mumbled, changing it to that instead so it would be closer to the truth and reveal how bad at socializing he was. Though he doubted she didn't know that already.
He didn't even know how he had gotten so close to the blonde in the first place. Whatever had happened, it was most certainly ninety percent the blondes fault for there was no way he would have been able to pull off an introduction to someone as-...well as Bakugou
“I- have no skills generally” was the bitter truth he seemed to come to. It was true in a sense, assuming that his academic skills didn't count in a situation like this one.
“Shoto” his sister almost whined at him, shaking her head in disapproval at his thought process and then proceeding to hold her index finger up right in front of his face accompanied by her adjusting her glasses. Had he not been so used to it, he would have been shocked. Maybe even borderline scared of what would come next. But he was. So he didn't think any more of it. “You shouldn't say things like that. You have so many skills!” she scolded softly. “Sure you may not be that great at speaking with others- but for what you lack in that department- you make up in others. For example, you're a really good listener! There’s a reason I don't talk to Natsuo about this stuff” she hummed, giving him a warm smile. She was good at that. Making one feel loved and welcome.
“Listening doesn't do me any good here, sis” he sighed out. He enjoyed listening to others talk. Preferred it actually. He enjoyed being able to be there for others but sometimes, he realized, it probably would have been beneficial for him to talk too. “I'm good at two things, Fuyumi. Economics and Literature” he muttered, once again seeing no way of the two subjects being able to help him out. “I cant...wow him with my knowledge of Adam Smith and..well I can't write a story about the two of us and hope it becomes reality”
He had seen movies about that last point. They had been very amusing to him and he had found them to be a good way for him to use and exercise his imagination. He often found himself wondering what he would have done had he had powers like that. He probably wouldn't have done too grand things. Maybe write his bed to be made, or write himself a piece of cake- Bakugou’s cake- if he didn't feel like getting up. Stuff like that.
Fuyumi paused for a moment, iron resting on the side, cooling off as the look in her eye shifted into something that made Todoroki remember why he was so afraid of her in the first place. She was brilliant. That was no lie. But sometimes, her genius could be overflowing and they would both be left with chaos.
“You know, Shoto, that's not a bad idea,” she said which could only make the younger grimace and stare in confusion. Had his Adam smith idea been a good idea? Maybe if the blonde was interested in economics or historical figures. He hadn't ever told him he was or even shown any interest in either topics. HAd his sister lost her touch? Maybe. “Not the economics thing...that wasn't a good idea” she cleared up which sent a second wave of fear through his body for how had she even known he was questioning it. “The literature part” she elaborated.
“The literature part?” he questioned. He didn't have superpowers or at least not superpowers he was aware of having. “What about it?”
“If you're not good at talking-” she started, the glint in her eye turning more and more mysterious as she looked at him. “- How about you confess to him through a letter? Sure it's old school...but then you don't have to say anything. And you're good at writing- you said so yourself. Why don't you give it a try?”
Maybe this was her inner romantic side speaking out to him. It wasn't actually inner. She was a romantic and no one would deny that fact. Either way, this idea seemed to be something that would happen in stories and stories alone.
“I don't know, Fuyumi…” he mumbled, the idea not really seeming that amazing to him. Besides, writing it down in a letter meant that he would have to give the letter to the blonde which meant that if he got rejected, his words would die. They would stay on that piece of paper that the blonde could keep.
“You don't have to give it to him” she chuckled, beginning to work on the clothes again. “Just write it down and maybe you’ll get inspired to talk to him,” she offered as an alternative.
That...actually made some sense to him, so he nodded as a response. She was right. He wouldn't have to give it to the blonde. No one was forcing him and this whole exercise could potentially trigger something in him that could help him talk to the other. Confess his feelings.
Confessing would end everything a lot faster anyway. Once he was done with speaking of how he felt towards the blonde, said blonde could either reject him or accept it. Either way, he would be fine with it. Obviously, one was more preferred than the other but that didn't mean he wouldn’t be fine had he gotten the one he wanted less.
So maybe, and to him, that was a rather large maybe, the whole letter idea wasn't such a bad idea.
______
Todoroki had gone further with the letter idea and found a solution to every problem that he had had.
He would write a letter to Bakugou since writing was a skill of his and it meant he wouldn't have to talk to him. He would also give the letter to Bakugou- just not personally. He had decided to publish it instead, sign it secretly so the blonde- if he happened to read it- would know it was him and could send him a message of some sort. Maybe he would ignore it but at least he could say he tried if that were to happen. He figured the same could go for the scenario where the blonde didn't get to read it.
That left him with one problem which was just how he was going to publish the thing. Luckily for him, his professor was the literature course teacher and the head of the college newspaper ‘organization’. Unlucky for him, said professor was now staring at the letter he was holding, eyeing it as if it was the strangest thing he had ever seen.
Mr.Yagi, or All Might, stood behind him, whistling at the thing which Todoroki honestly didn't know was good or bad. Seconds later though the tall, skinny man seemed to have a rather proud look on his face as he nodded to himself.
“You want me to ask them to…” Mr. Aizawa, put the paper down on his desk, glancing back up at the dual haired student again in what he believed to be disbelief. “Publish this? In the newspaper and on the website?” he asked to which he only received a firm and confident look.
Todoroki wasn't actually sure of how much of that was real and wasn't since he had been pumping himself up for the talk after class all day. On one hand, this could all end rather well. On the other, it could end horribly and he would never leave his dorm room again.
“I don't know, kid…” he said, looking down at the paper once more.
“Oh, come on Aizawa, I think this is quite inspiring!” Mr.Yagi hummed from his side, his bright blue eyes darting from the young male in front of him to his colleague next to him. He seemed to be on board with the idea since Todoroki had started explaining that he wanted the letter to be published.
Whatever forces of the world had made this man stay behind with Mr. Aizawa that day, Todoroki thanked. For had he not been there, he would have given up at ‘I don't know kid’ and walked off.
“To be young and passionate! I must say young Todoroki, you are quite brave!” the tall man said, deep voice booming into a laugh. The laugh seemed to trigger something in the grumpier professor as he let out a sigh and leaned back.
“There's a fine line between brave and foolish-” he muttered out which, yes, kind of stung. Maybe it was foolish. The whole idea hasn't exactly been that great from phase one anyway. “- but if you really wanna go through with this, then I'll respect your choice and bravery” he finished.
Todoroki found himself staring at him. Then at Mr.Yagi who gave him a grin and a thumbs up in return.
“Oh,” he managed to get out. It wasn't that he wasn't happy about the acceptance of letting his letter be published. He was- in a way. But he also knew that this would be the last moment he could really take it back. Once he walked out of that room, he would have no control over the letter anymore. “I see” he added so he could buy himself a bit more time. It didn't do much though and he was forced to make up his mind. “Thank you very much,” he said, bowing ever so slightly to the two before bidding them goodbye. He had gotten this far- there was no point in turning back.
Besides, the news couldn't possibly be traveling around all that quickly with how busy everyone was. He figured he had at least a week or two before anyone even read it. That meant, a week or two of getting himself mentally prepare himself for the confrontation of Bakugou.
So he left the auditorium feeling a little more relaxed than he felt comfortable with a situation like that but tried his very best to not think more of it. What was done was done and he couldn't do anything about it.
He also had not missed the little smile on Mr. Aizawas' face just before he left, which gave him the little confidence he needed to push himself away from the room and back to his own where Midoriya probably already was.
_____
The letter had blown up. He had been wrong about the week or two bullshit he had used to calm himself and in the meantime, the letter had blown up. It was on twitter, on insta, on Facebook even (though he wasn't sure why it was there).
Mr.Aizawa had gotten his letter to be featured in the papers and added to the news section of their school website, which had been great since that's what he had asked for. After that though, he had started seeing the thing everywhere. In the hallways of the very dormitories, he lived in. Printed.
It wasn't until Midoriya had brought one of the copies into their room that he realized how big it had become and that there was no way Bakugou hadn't read it. The letter itself was even popular in other schools in the area and even in some outside of it.
“Hey Todoroki?” the greenette had said, though this time instead of looking concerned at him not going back to the cafe for obvious reasons, he looked smug. A look that went so well with the man that he felt threatened. “I read your letter”. He had handed the paper to him which did in fact have his letter on it.There was also a picture of Bakugou on there and then a silhouette next to him with the title of ‘Mysterious Romeo’ which he assumed was him.
“You read that?” he asked, face growing slightly red now that he had been figured out by the other. No one else had figured it out though, which surprised him a bit. Obviously, they had found Bakugou quite quickly but never him.
“Everyone has read it,” the greenette replied with a laugh. “I called it you know! You and Kacchan!” he hummed, slumping down onto his bed. “Has he called you?” he asked after that. His roommate had figured out he had received the others number about eight hours after he had gotten it. How? He had no clue.
Had Bakugou called him? Well...yes. He had turned his phone off because he wouldn't stop calling him, which was fair with the whole letter business he had dragged him into. But on the other hand, he wasn't ready to talk to him just yet. So he avoided him in panic.
“No” he lied to which the greenette pouted but did not push anymore.
_____
Both Todoroki and Midoriya had been rudely awakened at three in the morning on a Friday night by knocking on their door. No, not knocking. Banging.
“What’s going on?” Midoriya had mumbled, sleep still in his eyes as he turned the desk lamp on much to Todorokis protesting groans. His usually large and round eyes had been narrowed and looked unfocused as he glanced at the door.
At first, they both ignored it, hoping that maybe whoever it was had some common sense and would remove themselves from their door. And it did happen. There was silence for a minute. Complete and utter silence as the two roommates could only hold their breath and stare at the door then each other.
Then the door flew open to reveal a pretty pissed off familiar blonde.
“Oi! Half’n’half!” he exclaimed, slamming the door shut behind him. He clearly did not care too much about the other sleeping people in the building. “You better answer your damn phone” he hissed out.
“Baku...gou?” he questioned, halfway sitting up in bed and probably looking ridiculous. No. It couldn't be him. He didn't know his room number and he most certainly did not have his key. He assumed he had used a key since there was no lock pick and the door wasn't broken. The dual haired male rubbed his eyes in order to be able to get some sense into his tired brain.
When the blonde was still there, he actually jumped out of bed, revealing his flannel PJ pants and Star Wars t-shirt that had once belonged to Natsuo. The blonde eyed him for a moment as his arms crossed. He didn't look too impressed which he couldn't blame him for.
“This is breaking and entering” Midoriya mumbled from his own bed with a sigh as he went to lie back down. He didn't seem too concerned now that he had figured out who it was. For a brief moment though, the other had forgotten that the two of them were childhood friends and millions of questions seemed to race in his mind. Then he remembered and the questions were halved.
“Shut the fuck up, Deku- I didn't break jack shit” the blonde huffed, not even sparing him a glance since his gaze seemed to have been locked on Todoroki instead, who was desperately searching for anywhere else to rest his attention on. “Your boyfriend says hi by the way” he added after that, throwing what he assumed to be a key at him. It had been small and gold, much like the one he had.
“He knows your boyfriend?” Todoroki couldn't help but ask, slightly offended by the fact that the blonde knew and he didn't.
“You know him too dipshit- how many Kirihsimas do you know?” he asked, frowning a bit at his question that had been directed at the greenette. “How do you think I found you?”
“You're dating Kirihsima?” Todoroki nearly exclaimed. Midoriya's eyes widened for a bit before nodding slowly, face growing rather red from what he could see.
“That doesn't matter- the fuck is this?” the blonde exclaimed, grabbing the dual haired males full attention once again. He was rather good at that. If only the circumstances had been better for he visibly shuddered at the sight of his letter in the hand of who it had been meant for.
Now, he could play dumb. He was good at playing dumb. But Bakugou was good at getting people to stop playing dumb as well with his aggressive and constant yelling that he would do to persuade them.
“It’s...a letter,” he said. Because that's what it was. A love letter for Bakugou that he had published and had now been read by thousands of people. “For you,” he said, gesturing to the picture of Bakugou that was also on it. The Bakugou in the picture seemed a lot happier than the one that was real though. The real one just seemed unsatisfied with his answer. “It’s me. It’s uh- It’s my confession” he said, only realizing seconds later that he made himself sound like a criminal. “No- wait that- uh-...” he paused. Again. He had to breathe. And so he did. Letting out a shaky breath that indicated how nervous he really was, and the feeling only growing as the seconds passed, he decided to start over. “It’s a letter I wrote to you...regarding- well, you've read it so you must know already” he concluded, glancing away from the paper and back at the floor. The floor was nice.
It was a good place to rest his eyes, though it didn't do much for him when it came to distracting. And he...really needed it. Especially when all he could focus on was how quiet the other was being. It wasn't all that silent though since he had the harshly beating heartbeat in his ears to keep him company.
“Couldn't you just ask me out like a normal person?” the other questioned a full silent minute later, shifting on his feet. He sounded amused again, though the dual haired male really wasn't too sure about it anymore.
“That would involve humiliation so no” he replied almost immediately. It had been a recurring thought after all so he couldn't really do anything about it. He forced his eyes up again to face the red-eyed cafe employee in front of him.
“You posted a love letter online and it's the hot topic of the school” he huffed out though it didn't sound harsh like it usually would “On top of that, everyone else has read it- how is that better?” he asked in disbelief, a scoff leaving his mouth and a grin appearing.
That was a rather good question. How was that any better than just handing it to him?
“I don't care about everyone else-” he replied honestly. For him to be able to get this all over with, he had to spend less time thinking and more time talking. So thinking out loud, would be a good way to start. Just say whatever came to mind. As long as it was the truth, he couldn't mess it up. “It's you I was worried about,” he said. It had been him. He hadn't wanted the other to reject him face to face. He had wanted him to- “I figured you could reject me over text or something instead...uh- something that's not...like this. Like-...face to face” he forced out, keeping his voice sturdy the whole way through.
He felt sick. As he stood there with nothing else to say- well, he had lots to say but no way to say it- watching the other stare him down and having no idea what he was thinking, it made him feel sick. The silence felt like too much. It was creeping up on him and he hated it. But what could he do? He had gotten himself in this mess and now he had to get himself out. Not that there was much to do other than wait for the other to speak.
He glanced over at Midoriya unconsciously to get a look of concern and worry in return before he can't stomach that either and stared at the spot on the ground again
“So are you gonna ask or what, half’n’half?” the blonde asked, once again breaking the silence that was haunting him and forcing his gaze up again. He didn't look any different to before, now more relaxed probably. Which was the complete opposite of how Todoroki was holding up.
“Sorry?” he asked, though the look of the other and the smile as he lifted the letter a bit further up seemed to clear it up. “Oh-” he wanted him to ask him. As in, ask him out. “Oh- yes- uh-”. Air was caught in his throat. For a moment he could do nothing but open and close his mouth as a stranded fish. “Uh-” he said since it was the only thing he could get out.
Talking had never been his strong suit and god damn, how he wanted to curse it out.
“Todoroki” he heard suddenly. Not from Midoriya, who he had honestly forgotten was there for a split second, but from in front of him. From Bakugou. He stared as those red eyes that always looked so sharp, looked at him in the softest way imaginable. “Relax”
“Coffee? Sometime?” he blurted out and it was rather obvious neither of them had expected it for they were now just staring at each other in both surprise and confusion. Next to himself, he heard Midoriya groan and then his head hitting the pillow as he seemed to have lost interest in the two of them and his pathetic excuse of an attempt he had made.
Instead of groaning as his roommate had done, Bakugou remained silent as he stared at him in wonder for a while, then he grinned again which turned into a full laugh.
“God, you suck” he snorted, shaking his head at what the taller yet younger male had said. “How about dinner instead?” he offered, giving him some sort of fond look that made him feel weak in the knees.
“Dinner?” he repeated as if he couldn't believe it. Because he couldn't. He even suspected for a brief moment that this was all a dream. A cruel cruel dream that he would rather not wake from if he had a choice. “Uh- yeah? Sure- that...that works for me” he said slowly, nodding along in agreement. It must have been rather awkward though since it seemed Midoriya was groaning or laughing again. He couldn't really hear it with how the pillow muffled him.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Bakugou declared rather quickly, standing straight again as he placed the letter in Todorokis' hand. “I'll send you the time and place, you just tell me if it works for you” he mused. It was probably a good thing that the other would take care of location since...well...since Todoroki had no idea what to do and was still kind of panicking.
“Y-eah” he managed to get out as he watched the blonde turn to open the door, a lot calmer than when he had first entered. “Yes,” he said again. His throat felt very dry all of a sudden though he couldn't remember if it had been like that for a while or if it was a new thing.
“Okay”
There was silence again but this time Bakugou started laughing a few seconds into it. He then quickly said his goodbyes and was gone as fast as he had come, which left a staring Todoroki and a grinning Midoriya.
“He said yes” he mumbled, more to himself though it had been picked up by his friend.
“No, you said yes” Midoriya kindly reminded him, though he ignored it.
He had a date. He had a date with Katsuki Bakugou. The Bakugou he had met and started speaking to because of an odd choice of drink. With a grin, he glanced down at the letter in his hand, going over what he had written before as he slumped back down onto bed.
To the aggressive, frustrating, and strange blonde, spiky-haired employee of Fat Gum Cafe.
You confuse me a great amount. I wasn't even aware that I could feel like I do when I'm with you until...well until I met you.
You make me feel weird. Like firecrackers have been set off in my stomach and I have no control of the little explosions they set off. I feel hot and squirmy which isn't like me. I've never been like this, so what's happening to me now?
This is your fault, you know? You've done something to me and you aren't aware of it at all which actually is rather unfair…
Every time you look at me, or talk to me or touch me or hand me my drink, I feel happy. I feel so very happy and you have no idea. Or maybe you do and you're sparing me the cruelty.
I suppose I'd be ruining that plan now with this though? I'm sorry about that.
I just feel as if telling you now- or not really telling you but- writing this to you now can maybe help me move on?
Obviously not if you think the same of me- it would be foolish to move on if that were to happen.
Anyway,
I like you.
A lot. Actually. Surprisingly a lot. I never thought this would happen. You were quite a lot when we first met. But then I started seeing these things, I started enjoying these things. Our bickering, your rude comments, my not always great counter-arguments- all of that put together made me feel so accepted and so important.
Maybe I'm just a friend to you and I'm alright with that by the way, but I still wanted to tell you. Figured keeping it to myself wouldn't do either of us any good. So here I am.
You might not even see this but that's fine too. I just wanted you to know that you mean a lot to me and regardless of whether you think the same or not, I hope we can stay as close as we are.
Sincerely,
Halfie
(Ps: thank you for the poison in a cup)
He laughed to himself and folded the letter back up, gently placing it on his nightstand and watching the room darken as Midoriya turned the lights off again.
Oh, how excited he was for the following day to come.