laography | i'll be the blood if you'll be the bones

Yaoyorozu won't pry either. I'll probably talk to her personally about our attempts to annul the contract, though, since I'm pretty sure her family has dealt with quirk marriages too.

[ What a headache... at least some of their friends won't make it worse. ]

Maybe she knows how to annul this kind of thing...

I'm a little surprised he didn't try to set you up with Yaoyorozu-san instead of me. You two seem to have known each other for a while.

I am a little, too, but I think he's trying to take a dig at All Might by picking you.

[ He tilts his head further back with a sigh. ] But I'd try to annul it if it was Yaoyorozu, too. We're friends, now, but I don't like her like that, and if I marry someone I want it to be my choice. Their choice.

I'm not All Might, and you're not him. Not even close.

[She sighs and stretches out for a moment before settling back into her resting posture.]

I'd prefer that too... I was talking to my mom before. She said she was worried I wouldn't find anybody to marry since training and being a hero takes so much time. Part of why she agreed was because it looked like I liked you. I mean, I do like you, but I wasn't thinking about marriage any time soon.

He sees things how he wants them to be. You're All Might's legacy, to him, the same way he still sees me as his legacy.

[ And with All Might out of the running, Shouto is sure that he'd expedited everything. And that's how they learned about it.

But those thoughts fly out of his head, and he drops his head to look at her properly again, blinking dumbly. ]

You like me?

[She looks confused at him for a moment before she rethinks her words and immediately colors bright red.]

I mean- yes, of course I like you. Of course I like you and hanging out with you and being able to talk with you- A-as a friend, I mean! You're my friend! A-A really good friend.

[Let her die right here, please.]

[ While he's... pretty socially inept a lot of the time, Todoroki Shouto isn't completely dense. He wants to question this further, because he doesn't. He knows people think he's cool, or thaf he's attractive even with his scar, but he doesn't think he's the type of person anyone should like like that.

But he doesn't ask, doesn't say that, and instead goes for his immediate honesty for the sake of understanding. ]

You were my first friend. [ He bows his head a little, using his bangs. ] I didn't have any when I was younger, not even my brothers or sister. I wasn't allowed to play with them. So...

[She looks at him as he talks. She'd gotten that impression somewhere along the way, between his awkwardness and his blunt honesty. The more and more she learns about Todoroki's past, the more she hates his father.

She sits back down, and tugs him into a hug, pressing her face against his shoulder.]

I'm glad to be your friend. I'm always glad to be your friend.

[ Being hugged doesn't necessarily surprise him, because it's Izuku, but he's still caught off guard. Shouto blinks down at her for a few seconds, as if trying to process the affection, before he just...

Drops his nose against the top of her head, bringing a hand up to curl his fingers into the back of her jacket. His other hand's fingers clench briefly before relaxing against his thigh. ]

Thank you. [ Yet again. But... ] I like you, too. Like this, as a friend.

[She clings onto him for a long moment, a part of her happy that Shouto's hugging her back.

She feels like somehow there's something he isn't saying, but there's something she isn't saying either, so maybe it's for the best.]

... I'm glad, Todoroki-kun. Um... is that fine?

[ Shouto is a poor liar. He has no practice at it, and was punished by Endeavor for any assumed lies throughout his childhood. But he doesn't think this is lying, even by omission. He doesn't know what these emotions are and what they mean, and he wants to better understand them before he tells her more.

So he holds onto it, mulling over it as he shifts so he can nuzzle her soft hair a little as he goes to put his chin on her head instead. It's nice. This us nice. ]

What, our being friends? I'd hope so.

[She giggles softly, and hugs Shouto a little tighter. He's warm and comforting and this... it's nice. Hugging him like this, she could stand to do it a little more often.

She was talking about the tiny little upgrade in familiarity from -san to -kun, but she gets the feeling Todoroki would be fine if she dropped the suffix all together. (She's not so sure she's ready for that though.)]

Alright.

[She should probably let go some time soon, but she finds she really doesn't want to.]

[ The fact that it sails right over his head, that he doesn't even register the change, speaks volumes of how very fine he is with it. Shouto is comfortable with Izuku as it is - she could call him whatever she liked and he would likely be fine with it.

Not like he really can care about it, when he's being hugged. It's not something he gets much, so having the closeness seems to take him from tense to slowly relaxing, radiating warmth faintly from his left side. ]

... this is fine, too. [ He says it in a bit of a murmur, because it is, but he also doesn't know how to express his feelings like a normal person. So. ]

[It's hard for her to tell what's going to be okay or not- she didn't have that many friends growing up and so she tended to err on the side of overly polite. But... Shouto's definitely a close friend now, -kun only seems appropriate.

She considers the words for a moment. This? Their friendship, the hug or the tiniest step of closeness she made?

Possibly it's all three.]

Then... can we stay like this a bit longer?

[ Neither of them really have much of a basis for understanding friendships, but at least Izuku is more emotionally competent than him. But she just... barged into his life, at the sports festival, and it only continued after that. She's been nothing if not supportive, and his friend. And it's helped him quite a bit, from understanding himself to finally letting go of his demons.

So, it is all three, in a way, as he curls his fingers in the back of her jacket. ]

Yeah. [ Maybe this whole engagement thing won't be so bad, so long as they're in it together to break the contract. It'll be a long process, and difficult, but Izuku is someone he trusts. They'll take care of it. ]

[The image of Shouto undoing the ice of his right hand with the fire of his left- it was just so unbelievably sad to her. If she fought him, she was absolutely going to force him into using his left side. It's Shouto's power, all his and she's glad he's finally recognized that.

She settles into the prolonged hug for a little longer before finally pulling away.]

We'll figure this out.

[ Everything about this is based on their powers, which couldn't be more ironic to him if it tried. Shouto's powers, Izuku's powers - they belong to them, now. And they'll use them as the heroes that they are, with one another right there to remind them.

When she starts to pull away, he loosens his grip, letting his hand fall away. He can feel the warmth of it, a change noticeable enough to register to him. But it's not... bad. It's just different. Soft. ]

I'm sure we will. [ Confident, before he actually grimaces a little, remembering. ] I'm sorry for all of the exposure to my old man you're going to have to deal with.

[It's a quirk marriage that's landed them in this mess, but they're strong and they'll figure out how to get out of it. She's pretty sure of that much at least.]

Endeavor? I didn't talk to him much during the sports festival, but I didn't like him.

Oh- but you'll get to meet my mom!

Meaning he was probably being himself and not putting up his public act like some damn politician. [ At least he doesn't say that with venom. Just disdain, as he sighs heavily and visibly, watching the colder breath dissipate.

And then he looks at her. ] Your mom?

A good public image is part of hero work but... [Endeavor though.]

Yeah, she's seen you and heard about you, but she hasn't met you yet. I bet she'll love you.

Mm. [ He doesn't even have to tell her more about him - she knows. Although he'll warn her. ] Hopefully you won't have to deal with one of his fits.

[ At least the idea of meeting her mother is less awful. Why is he nervous, though... ] If you think so.

[She's not sure she's prepared for one of those, but if it comes up, she will.] We'll deal with it. [As long as they're together, they can manage it. Or at the very least commiserate.]

Come over some time. [She's... a little nervous about her mom meeting one of her best friends, but there's no reason for that, right?]

We have a lot to deal with. [ Most people would probably say that with some note of despair. Shouto just says it like an observation of the weather. After everything they've dealt with, this isn't much of a problem.

But he shifts to get back up to his feet, bringing a hand up to rub his fingers along his neck. ] Sure. Whenever you and your mom are fine with it.

[There's a lot, and Endeavor is a lot to deal with just on his own. But there's no way he can be as bad as the league of villains. He's just one terrible person who does his job well enough.]

I'm fine with whenever. I'll ask my mom how next weekend sounds.

[ Considering his ratings have gone down with the general populace despite achieving the number one rank - and have always been much higher with men of a certain age range than with anyone else - he's pretty much small fry compared to the League. So, Shouto's not concerned.

Just annoyed. ]

Is there anything I should know? I haven't ever actually met anyone's parents when it wasn't... [ He gestures vaguely. ] Formal functions.

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