Icy? Or hot? ~TodoBaku~

Chapter 14: umbrella hugs are the warmest

Shoto Todoroki

So. It's time. 2:45pm. I'm meeting Bakugo outside the café in only fifteen minutes, which was both the most exciting and most terrifying thing ever. I was changed and ready to go, with an emergency 2000¥ in my back pocket, just in case. As I was walking towards the door, my self-consciousness got the better of me, and I dashed back to my bedroom and sprayed myself with a little more deodorant. Again, just in case.

Keeping the weather in mind, I had placed an umbrella just by the door so I wouldn't forget it. Tucking it beneath my arm, I headed out the door and towards my destination. I made sure to walk slowly, wanting to arrive as close to 3pm as possible, so as not to be seen as too eager, nor complacent. I made it to the café at 2:59pm, which I thought was acceptable, and noticed Bakugo had not yet arrived.

About five minutes later, I began to panic. Did I get the wrong day? Did I get the meeting time wrong? Luckily, before I could get too worked up, a hand on my shoulder alerted me to Bakugo's arrival. Looking around, I realised that this was the first time I'd actually seen him in clothes other than his uniform. I was very relieved to hear that he'd gone for relatively casual wear as well, wearing a blue zip up hoodie and ripped skinny jeans. Holy shit he's good looking I thought to myself, before composing myself enough to greet him.

"Hey Bakugo! It's nice to see you. You look really nice, by the way!"

He hadn't yet made eye contact with me, which made me think he was nervous as well. He managed to respond though, saying "thanks, you don't look bad yourself, Halfy", to which I smiled.

"So, shall we go? I've got a little something planned, as I'm sure you've guessed~" I said teasingly, trying to pique his interest in our scheduled activity.

"Yeah, I got your message. "Hope you like rain"? We'd better not be going somewhere wet..." he said, with a pout.

"Relaaaaax, since there's rain on the way, the first thing we'll be doing is something indoors. The clue behind that message was just that it's a thirty or so minute walk, and it's meant to rain soon..." I trailed off, trying to suggest to Bakugo that we should get started while it's still dry. He seemed to understand, and did a little jog so as to walk alongside me on the pavement.

"You said earlier that the 'first thing' we'll be doing is this surprise. What's coming after?"

I tended up, not sure how he would take my answer, but said "oh, I was thinking we could go back to my place and make some dinner together? I figured it'd be nice to make a Niçoise salad for what's meant to be quite a hot day, and that any restaurant's food would leave us both overheating." To my surprise, Bakugo was totally up for this, claiming he loved salmon, but preemptively warned me that he was a "terrible chef".

It was pretty quiet for the next ten minutes of our walk, the only conversation being Bakugo trying to guess what the surprise was. Of course, I had no intention of telling him if he was even close, instead just shrugging at any suggestion he offered up.

It was then that the first drops of rain began to fall, and I saw Bakugo's face begin to sour at the sky. God you're so precious. I opened up the umbrella and held it over both of our heads. At first, Bakugo made sure to keep his distance from me, but I looked over to him and saw him shivering slightly in the cold breeze that had come with the rain. I guess the forecast was wrong about it being hot, huh? And so, not wanting him to be uncomfortable, I held out an arm around his back and slowly began to nudge him closer to me as we walked, not being forceful, but just...suggestive.

This eventually led to me walking and holding the umbrella with my arm around Bakugo's lower back, NOT WAIST, and his around mine, keeping him closely tucked against my side. Shortly after, he went as far as to lean his head on my shoulder briefly as we walked, before realising that his head was bouncing off my collarbone and that it wasn't as comfortable as he'd expected. So, he settled with being pulled close.