Test of Courage

24

Iida's POV
I smiled to myself when Midoriya laid his head in Todoroki's lap and insistently fell asleep. Todoroki's face was immediately a bright red. I finished cleaning up our things from breakfast and pulled out some blankets and my sleeping bag. I handed one of the blankets to Todoroki who was still awake. He muttered a small thanks. Then I spread the other blanket over Midoriya.

I spread out my sleeping bag across the fire from the two. When I finished Todoroki had the blanket wrapped around himself and was asleep too. I wondered when they would confess their feelings to each other while I laid down. During our journey their feelings for each other has become more and more obvious.

I knew Midoriya made Todoroki happy and I hoped they would confess soon. As Todroki's guard I noticed he wasn't always happy in the castle. He didn't have many people to talk to besides his siblings and I. Even so, he wasn't close to his brother and sister because they weren't aloud to see each other when King Enji was alive. I spared one more glance at the two sleeping before doing the same myself.

I was the first to wake up during early evening. The fire went out during the day leaving a blackened pile of ash. The sky turned cloudy and gray and the air was chill for summer as the sun started to set. Todoroki and Midoriya hadn't moved much in their sleep. Only Todoroki's hand moved to rest on Midoriya's shoulder and Midoriya's hand rested on his stomach.

I rolled up my sleeping bag and stuffed it in my backpack. Then I got out food for dinner. As I was doing so, Todoroki woke up. He tiredly rubbed one eye with the palm of his hand. Then he noticed Midoriya was still asleep in his lap and he stiffened.

"Good evening," I said quietly holding out some bread with butter.

"Thanks," He accepted the food. I had my own bread too and we ate in silence.

It surprised me, how long Midoriya slept. The sun had set and was beginning to rising again. During the night Todoroki and I took small naps, but after sleeping all day we weren't tired. In earlier morning before the sun came up I helped Todoroki move without waking Midoriya since he was getting sore from sitting in one spot for so long. We used a folded up blanket as a pillow for Midoriya instead.

As the sun was rising, dying the sky shades of oranges, yellows, and blues. Midoriya began to stir and sat up while stretching. His hair was messier than usual.

"Are you ready to start traveling back to Nedzu?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I feel much better. How long was I asleep?" He asked, his voice was thick from sleep.

"About a day," Todoroki answered. He nodded. We packed anything we had out like Midoriya's blankets. Then we been the long walk back to Nedzu, The journey took longer than it did last time. We took long break and we saw no need to rush. We walked while we had the energy and we weren't afraid to take long breaks.

Midoriya's POV
The walk was calm and quiet, which I appreciated after constantly stressing over the three from Chester and All for one. Even though he was gone I still had nightmares about All for one. They were usually the same. Some how All for one didn't die and he came after me. As revenge he killed Todoroki and laughed while I cried. Thankfully I was able to fall back to sleep afterward, but not without checking on Todoroki.

I didn't know what to do about my feelings for him. I had no idea if he liked me, or if he was even gay for that matter. I also wasn't sure about his royal status. Was he aloud to be with someone who isn't royal or even the opposite gender? I wanted to ask him, but I was afraid the question would sound weird.

My second choice would be to ask Iida about it but there wasn't a moment where I could ask him privately. I knew he was very serious about his duty to the prince, so would I even get a moment to ask him? These thoughts swirled around in my mind while we walked until it was overwhelming.

"You looked worried. Is everything okay?" Todoroki asked quietly, bringing me back to the present.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," I said as a blush grew on my face.

"About what?" He asked with a mix of curiousness and concern. He only made me blush more. What do I tell him?! I was no where close to being ready to confess, but I didn't want to lie to him.

"Well, um, I was thinking of my crush," I started carefully, my blush remaining, "Now that this quest, or what ever you want to call it, is over I don't know what to do about my feelings for hi-them. I don't think they like me back and he-they might not even like guys. I don't know if he would be allow to be with me."

"Why wouldn't he be allowed to date you?" Todoroki seemed confused and I realized how uncommon the reason was. I mentally face palmed and tried to think of a good excuse.

"Oh, I-I mean his parents might not be okay with it, because they could be homophobic," I said too quickly. Luckily Todoroki didn't seem to suspect anything.

"Oh," He said thoughtfully, "I suppose you should tell who ever your crush is. He at least deserves to know and there's a chance he likes you back. Maybe you two could figure something out together." There was something in voice I couldn't place. Was it jealousy?

"Thanks, I'll think about it," I said giving him a small smile.

On the fifth day of leisurely walking we set up camp. The three of us enjoyed the luxury of walking at our own pace. There were no abnormal dangers, like someone from Chester or monsters.

"We should arrive at Nedzu some time tomorrow," Iida said as he prepared dinner.

"It'll be nice to see the others again," I admitted, "I hope the village is okay though. I don't know how much damage Chester did." Todoroki nodded in agreement.

"We'll see tomorrow," Iida said, "We can help out too."