Chapter Text
Shouto leans against the wall, taking a momentary respite from the party around him. Ashido’s apartment is as brightly decorated as her dorm room used to be, and the people around him are boisterous and loud. He’s happy to be spending time with his friends, especially considering how hard it is to get this many of them together these days, but it’s all a little overwhelming at this point.
Shouto takes a drink and closes his eyes. It helps a little; he feels less tense now that he’s no longer bombarded by the bright colors of the apartment and the bustling movement of his fellow partygoers. He’s just buzzed enough that if he hums quietly and rests his head against the wall, the noise around him seems to lower into a more manageable murmur. He rests like this for a few seconds; inhales, then exhales slowly.
He feels a warm body settle next to him against the wall, but he doesn’t need to look to see who it is. Sure enough, a second later he hears Midoriya say, “You look tired.”
Shouto slowly opens his eyes and turns to look at Midoriya, who is observing him with a warm smile. Instead of vocalizing a response, Shouto just gives a single nod and a grunt of affirmation. Midoriya chuckles, then asks, “Do you want to head home soon?”
Shouto shifts slightly so that he is facing Midoriya before replying. “You don’t have to leave early on my account. It’s only eleven.”
“I know, but we’ve already been here for a while, so I’ve had plenty of time to catch up with everyone,” Midoriya says, shrugging lightly. “Anyway, I have a morning patrol tomorrow, so I’m already pushing my luck. I want to make sure I get enough sleep and have time to eat breakfast before leaving, otherwise it takes me 20% longer to activate Black Whip. I know that’s only a fraction of a second, and that there’s statistically less crime during the early morning hours, especially on Sundays, so it’s unlikely that I’ll be in a situation where it would make a difference… but I don’t want to risk it. Actually, that reminds me, I keep forgetting to reach out to that quirk scientist that Mei recommended. Can you help me remember to do that? I want to talk to hear more about her research on metabolic function and emitter quirks, and see her opinion on…”
Midoriya continues to ramble quietly, rubbing a finger over his chin while he thinks out loud. Shouto watches him, taking another sip of his drink while he listens.
“I’ll remind you to email her,” he says once Midoriya has finished. “And I’m okay leaving now, as long as you’re sure.”
Midoriya smiles brightly at him. “Great! Okay, I’ll take our cups back to the kitchen. Can you grab our coats while I say goodbye to everyone?”
“Sure,” Shouto says, handing Midoriya his cup. Midoriya flashes him another smile before walking away. Shouto knows from experience that it will take at least ten minutes for Midoriya to make a final lap around the room, so he stays where he is for a while longer. He closes his eyes and rests his head again, this time listening for the sound of Midoriya’s laughter.
Eventually, Shouto removes himself from the wall and makes his way to the bedroom, where everyone had been instructed to “toss their shit” when they came in. He’s sorting through the pile of coats on the bed when he hears someone enter the room, and he looks up to see Ashido wiping her eyes. Her shoulders are shaking and there are streaks of mascara tracking down her cheek.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
Ashido startles, then drops her hands to reveal a large smile.
“I’m amazing, Todoroki-kun,” she giggles, swaying a little on her feet. “I don’t think I’ve laughed my ass off like this in weeks. C’mere, look!”
Shouto joins Ashido at the door and looks out at the commotion. Kirishima and Tetsutetsu sit on opposite sides of the dining table, deadlocked in an armwrestling match while Kaminari commentates to the spectating crowd.
“Again?” Shouto asks, and Ashido laughs.
“Look, look!,” she says, grabbing his arm and pointing. “Look at Sero.”
It takes a second to figure out where she’s pointing, but when he does, he has to stifle a laugh. Sero is on his hands and knees under the table, taping Tetsutetsu’s ankles to the legs of his chair. Kirishima’s legs have already been bound all the way up to his knees. The two of them, faces strained with effort, are seemingly too distracted to notice.
Ashido is saying something again, but Shouto doesn’t pay attention because he’s just spotted Midoriya on the other side of the room next to Uraraka, smiling at him. Midoriya’s smile grows wider when they make eye contact, and he raises his arm to wave at Shouto. Shouto smiles and waves back.
“Todoroki-kun!” Ashido whines, shaking his arm in both her hands. “I asked if you’ll keep me company while I wash my face. My mascara is stinging like a bitch, but I don’t want to miss anything.”
“Sure,” Shouto says, and he follows her back into her bedroom. He hovers outside the open door to the adjoining bathroom as Ashido washes her face and speaks to him, barely audible over the sound of the faucet and voices outside.
“Were you about to leave?” Ashido asks, and Shouto confirms. “Boo! Does that mean Midori is leaving too?”
“He is.”
“You’re both lame,” she teases, then shuts off the water. She reaches blindly for the towel rack behind her, fingers barely missing. Shouto pulls the towel off and places it into her outstretched hand. “Thanks, babe!”
Shouto looks back out the living room, trying to spot Midoriya, but he’s moved somewhere out of sight. He must still be making their goodbyes.
“How much longer are you guys gonna live together?”
Shouto pauses at the sudden question, and then turns his gaze from the living room back to Ashido, who’s gently dabbing her face with the towel.
“Why do you ask?”
“Dunno.” She shrugs without looking up. “Everyone else from our class is either living alone or with their main squeeze.”
Shouto takes a second to make a mental inventory, then realizes she’s right.
Despite the notoriety that Class A has obtained from their battle with The League, they were still relatively low ranking when they graduated from UA and started their careers. Most of them shared apartments with a roommate since they couldn’t afford to live on their own, but that would have been over four years ago. Since then, they’d all climbed the rankings, so their friends had all either gotten their own apartments or moved in with their partners. It had happened so gradually over time that Shouto hadn’t really thought about it.
Shouto knew from the start that Midoriya would eventually want to leave. Naively, he’d still been thinking of that eventuality as a distant thing, but he considers it now. He and Midoriya are certainly financially stable enough to afford their own apartments. If they don't need to keep living together anymore, then how long will it be before Midoriya decides to move out?
“I don’t know,” Shouto says. He distractedly watches as Ashido finishes drying her face and puts on moisturizer.
“Much better,” she sighs. She turns to face Shouto, and strikes a pose. “Still cute?”
Shouto takes her in – damp bangs, tipsy smile, cheeky wink – and feels a surge of affection for his friend.
“Cuter every day,” he says, and she laughs and twirls on the spot.
“Todoroki-kun, you beautiful, serious, peppermint snow leopard of a man,” Ashido pulls him into a hug. “You guys should come visit again soon, I miss your dumb faces.”
He’s about to reply when they’re interrupted by the sound of a crash, then another, followed by an explosion of raucous laughter. Ashido breaks the hug and hurries back into the living room, calling out, “Please tell me someone recorded that!”
Shouto quickly finds and collects his and Midoriya’s coats from the bed, then makes his way past the ruckus to the front door. Midoriya is probably almost ready to join him by now, so he slips on his shoes while he waits and considers putting on his jacket as well. He doesn’t notice that someone is approaching him until they speak.
“You know,” Hagakure says, “you remind me of a little kid, when you stand there like that.” Shouto can feel his eyebrows raise slightly as he turns to face her. She’s recently taken to wearing prescription glasses – contact lenses when she’s in the field – and the light blue acetate frames she’s currently wearing make it easier to approximate eye contact with the invisible girl. She laughs at his expression before explaining. “My parents would drag me and my siblings with them to their friends’ parties. My little brother used to be really, really shy. He would stick to my mom’s side like a shadow — like, he’d hold on to her sleeve or her skirt— the whole night. When it was finally time to leave, he’d run to put on his coat and stand by the door while the rest of us got ready. It was so obvious that he couldn’t wait to go home.”
Shouto doesn’t know what to say in response, so he just says, “Oh.”
Shouto can see the frames of Hagakure’s glasses tilt slightly. “Sorry, I hope I didn’t embarrass you or anything. It’s not a bad thing, I promise! I think it’s sweet.”
“It’s okay,” Shouto says, and he means it. They’re not as close as some of his other classmates, but Shouto knows Hagakure well enough to know that she wouldn’t purposefully mock him. He thinks fondly of their afternoons spent quietly doing jigsaw puzzles together with Koda and Momo in third year as a way to unwind while waiting for their other classmates to return from their internships.
“I’m really glad I got to see you,” Hagakure says, her smile audible in her voice.
“I am too,” Shouto replies. He can see Midoriya make his way towards them, so he slips on his jacket.
“What are you guys talking about?” Midoriya asks, accepting his coat from Shouto.
“Nothing, I’m just teasing Todoroki-kun a little.”
Midoriya laughs at this, but doesn’t press further. Instead, he wraps Hagakure in a loose hug. “I couldn’t find Ojiro, I think he might be in the bathroom. Can you tell him we said bye?”
“Of course,” Hagakure says. Shouto can see the fabric of Midoriya’s coat rumpling as she returns his hug, then the two separate. “Get home safe!”
“We will!” Midoriya replies. He places a hand on Shouto’s arm to steady himself as he puts on his red sneakers. Once he’s ready, he holds the front door open for Shouto, and they exit together. Shouto is silent as the two make their way down the flights of stairs to the ground floor, and Midoriya hums one of Jirou’s new songs. They exit the building, and pause together under the awning, taking a moment to breathe in the fresh evening air.
“Should we take the train or walk?” Midoriya asks.
Walking home would definitely take longer, at least thirty minutes. As tired as Shouto feels, he finds himself wanting to draw out his time with Midoriya a little longer.
“Let’s walk.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
They make their way down the street at a relaxed pace. Midoriya is humming again, this time the title theme from an old All Might movie, and Shouto gazes leisurely at his surroundings. The sidewalk is littered in neon advertisements, and the lights bathe the street in a soft glow. Technicolor pinks, blues, and purples reflect like watercolors in the wet, black pavement. The effect is pleasant: an artificial dusk.
After a few minutes, Midoriya asks, “Did you have fun tonight, Todoroki-kun?”
Shouto turns towards Midoriya, who is already looking at him. The fluorescent lights of the city flicker in his eyes like candlelight. “Yes, I’m glad I went.”
“I’m glad, too!” Midoriya says, beaming. “Mina’s new place looks just like how I imagined it would. And it was really nice to see everyone! It felt like being back in the dorms on a Friday night; I kept thinking that Aizawa was going to walk in and tell us to quiet down.”
Midoriya’s smile fades a little, and Shouto feels a pang of guilt. He wonders if Midoriya might have preferred to stay longer at the party with his friends, if perhaps Midoriya just wanted to avoid waking Shouto up when he came home later in the evening if they’d left separately. Shouto thinks it’s probably pointless to ask him; he would deny feeling inconvenienced, whether or not it’s true.
It occurs to him that Midoriya wouldn’t have to make these kinds of compromises if he moved into his own place.
Shouto feels a small bump against his shoulder, and looks down to find Midoriya smiling at him. He smiles and reciprocates his shoulder bump.
“You seem a little out of it,” Midorya remarks.
“Kendo’s punch was really strong,” Shouto shrugs, deflecting.
“Was that meant to be a play on words?” Midoriya asks, and Shouto knocks him with his shoulder again, smiling.
Shouto feels his tension diffuse, and he listens as Midoriya launches into a recap a party game that he’d participated in while Shouto had been talking with Yoarashi on the other side of the room. Midoriya laughs often while recalling the events, and does a scarily accurate impersonation of Bakugo.
Shouto watches as Midoriya speaks, dividing his attention between him and the pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk. Midoriya has his hands shoved into his coat pockets, and there are visible puffs of air escaping between his lips. Shouto lays a hand on Midoriya’s shoulder and stops walking. Midoriya also stops, and looks at him in surprise, a windswept flush across his cheeks and nose.
“You should have told me you were cold,” Shouto says. “Let’s switch sides. If you’re on my left, I can warm you with my quirk.”
Midoriya stares at him for a second before smiling. “Thanks, Todoroki-kun.”
Shouto takes his place on Midoriya’s right, and then the pair sets off again together.
“Can you continue your story?”
“Sure!” Midoriya says, fidgeting a bit. “Uh, can you remind me where I left off?”
Midoriya is somehow even pinker than he was a minute ago. Shouto increases the heat from his quirk, and motions with his head for Midoriya to move nearer to him. “Bakugo and Tokoyami both were just forced to finish their drinks again.”
“Oh, right!” Midoriya laughs and presses closer. He picks up where he left off.
The sidewalk is crowded now, so it requires a little more effort for them to stay by each other’s side as they navigate the current of pedestrians. But this is a well-practiced dance, and they’re both familiar with its steps. Even when surrounded by the undeniable and encroaching presence of the outside world, the space they share feels private and wholly theirs.
Shouto tries to ignore the heavy skip of his heart whenever their hands brush, and the familiar want and worry that both nest in his chest. Instead, he enjoys being close to Midoriya while he still can.