𝓘𝓭𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓽𝔂 | Shoto Todoroki X Female Reader

18 | The Big Picture

"Y/N! It's wonderful to see you again!" Joey, Gwen's personal designer claps as he runs over to the two of you. "You ladies both look lovely today!"

"Thanks," you grin, as Gwen laughs. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Dress fitting for me," Gwen motions to you. "And technically for her as well... for the gala tomorrow evening." 

Joey nods. "Right this way!"

.................

You stand on the platform in the middle of the small room as Joey and his assistant buzz around you, adjusting the dress you picked to properly fit you.

You sigh and look out the glass wall separating you from the lounge area where Gwen was sitting, scrolling on her phone.

Joey glances up at you, then out at Gwen. "Hey, Claire?"

His perky assistant smiles. "Yes sir?"

"Could you make a Starbucks run?"

She nods, her multi-colored hair bouncing as she pulls a notepad and pencil out of her pocket. "What do you want?"

"A venti caramel frappuccino with one pump of caramel sauce, one pump of mocha, and one pump of hazelnut."

She nods and quickly writes it down, and Joey looks to you.

"You want anything Y/N?"

You shrug. "I'm good."

"You sure?"

"Mhm."

Joey looks to Claire, "Go ask Gwen if she wants anything, and if you want something go ahead and get it too."

The girl nods, hastily leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

Once she's gone, Joey gives a sigh of relief.

You raise an eyebrow. "Is something wrong-?"

He shakes his head. "No, I just had to get her out so I could talk to you one on one."

You shift nervously, glancing out the window again as you watch Claire taking Gwen's order.

"Don't worry honey, I'm gay. I had her make that run because I have tea to spill."

You let out a breath you didn't know you were holding.

"I just wanted to warn you." His tone changes a little as he goes back to work on the skirt of your dress.

You look down at him. "Warn me...? About what-?"

He looks up for a moment, subtly gesturing towards the two girls outside. "Her."

"Claire-?"

"No," he sighs. "About Gwen."

"...what about her-?"

"I worry about her. She's super smart, talented, extremely rational, and she's usually pretty level headed, but when her emotions get the best of her she can get impulsive and hypercritical, especially of herself."

You watch his demeanor closely, and you can see Claire leaving in your peripheral vision. "What are you getting at...?"

He hesitates. "It's sassy gay friend law to not betray your straight female friend, so I can't disclose everything, but..." he glances at Gwen again. "Be careful with her. She may not seem like it, but she's extremely fragile."

"Gwen-?" You laugh. "Fragile-? Are you serious?!"

"She hides her weaknesses well. All I'm saying is go forth with caution."

You nod. "I will."

He sighs. "About three years ago, she was hired to do a photoshoot and product promotion for Victoria's Secret. It was at that shoot where she was tracked down by a scout for a famous photographer who's known for her work with National Geographic and some other famous magazines like People and Vogue. She agreed, and their managers got in touch. Long story short she did the shoot, and was told it would end up in whatever magazine bought the gallery of photos, and that it would most likely be an art magazine of some kind. She later confided in me that she did find it a bit weird and somewhat lewd for an art magazine, but then again you can see full breasts in National Geographic, so she just shrugged it off."

You nod, listening intently as he continues.

"She and Shoto were so infatuated with each other, they were only dating for about a month before she moved in with him. He was so kind and gentle to her, and she brought the liveliness and energy that he so badly wanted. All of his friends and family loved her, and she got along with them so well. I remember talking with Midoriya about it, and he just kept going on and on about how glad he was that Shoto had found someone who made him so happy. He said that he'd never seen Shoto so lively in all of the years he'd known him, and that whenever she was there Shoto's smile could light up even the darkest of nights." He chuckles, shaking his head and smiling fondly. 

"I still remember when she told me he had proposed. She was so happy she would nearly cry- tears of joy, of course- every time she'd talk about it. I was even making her the wedding dress she'd dreamed of since she was little. They had planned it to be a private event at an exclusive resort, making sure to book the whole place so there'd be no chance of paparazzi sneaking in. Gwen had even made a whole dream scrapbook on it. They had planned it for the spring, and they managed to keep the media quiet about it, to the extent of Gwen taking her ring off when she left their apartment. But, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end." He sighs sadly. 

"About a month before the wedding was supposed to happen, Shoto found the pictures that had been taken in a playboy magazine one of his friends had. He confronted her about it and as far as I know he was pissed. They got into a huge fight, and in the end they broke up and he kicked her out. She went back to America for a while, and those of us who kept tabs on her knew that her manager got sent to jail for knowing the photos would end up in a porno, and so did the photographer's manager, which by the way, the photographer is mute and mostly deaf, so she didn't know either, but her manager did. So both of them got sent to prison, and Gwen got a new manager. After all that Shoto forgave her, but after their fight they both knew that they couldn't forget some of the things the other person had said. So they stayed friends, and that leads us to the current day."

You stay quiet, processing all of this new information.

"Sorry if that was a lot to swallow."

You nod. "No one has been that honest with me about it all."

"I'm not surprised, Gwen and Shoto don't really talk about it... although they never confirmed it I suspect there were some things that they didn't share with everyone... they really valued their privacy."

"Well, the media is always up their ass, so I don't blame them."

He nods in agreement. "Neither do I," he turns as he sees Claire handing Gwen her drink. "Although letting the wounds fester without treating or bandaging them just makes the problem worse," he sighs. "And Gwen, bless her heart, has a habit of distracting herself from heartbreak with other things, and shutting herself off emotionally for a time. She keeps herself busy, finishing the battle and only tending to her injuries when every enemy is dead. Whereas Shoto pulls away and stays quiet, grieving when he's on his own."

You nod. 

"She did this with all the lawsuits after she and Shoto broke up. To distract herself from the pain she focused on taking down the people who caused it. Once that was all over, she came back to Japan." he ties a knot in a piece of thread, cutting the excess string off. "And I suspect her refusing help on most things with the wedding was her way of grieving over something she wasn't telling us, although it could be over her grandmother's death, which happened around the time she started going all planner-nazi on us."

"Here are your drinks!" Claire's cheery voice announces as she enters the room.

"Thanks, Claire." Joey takes a sip of his coffee, getting back to his work.