Youngblood - A 5SOS Inspired BNHA Fanfiction

Chapter 18

Takes one to know one, yeah/ You beat me at my own damn game

"Don't you think you're being just a little paranoid?" Uraraka asked. Her face showed the fear of repercussions from her statement, and Yaoyorozu's reaction showed that fear was not unfounded.

"I'm not being paranoid!" she shouted angrily. "Todoroki-kun has been ignoring me more often than not, and he stopped calling me pet names. I don't know what I did wrong but this is really frustrating. And it all has to do with whoever he's talking to on the phone!"

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, YaoMomo," Mina said with encouragement. "We all can agree he really needs to make friends outside the classroom, right?"

"Naturally. It would be the best for him to prepare him to be a better hero."

"And he's doing everything he can to not be his father, right?" Jiro goaded.

"Of course he is," Yaoyorozu sighed sadly.

"And you also said he's been talking to Shinso a lot, right?"

"Yes," her answer came on a groan. "He even showed me the text messages."

"Then what are you worried about?" Mina reasoned. "He's doing what you know he needs to do and you get to see who he's talking to. So what if he gets a little distracted and forgets to call you 'honey' or something, he is still your boyfriend and still by your side."

"Personally, I always thought the fact that you didn't let him out and about to talk to other people was a little bit too controlling and a tiny bit obsessive," Jiro said without a filter. "If Todoroki's gonna be a hero, he can't stick to your side twenty-four seven. He's got to get out there and put himself in uncomfortable situations with people he doesn't know, and he's got to do all this without you hovering over his shoulder like some twisted helicopter mom." Her statement had the rest of the girls standing there looking as though they'd just witnessed one of the most amazing, theatrical scary things on the face of the planet. Yaoyorozu, on the other hand, was very upset.

"I cannot believe you just said that to me, Jiro," she said angrily. "Todoroki-kun needs to be protected, and that's exactly what I've been doing!"

"No," Jiro retorted, "what you've been doing is trying to control every situation from daily communications with classmates to making sure to keep him away from anyone you don't like. How is that fair?"

"Todoroki-kun isn't comfortable in those situations," Yaoyorozu argued. "You know how he is with everyone, Bakugo and Midoriya being the only exceptions."

"And why do you suppose that is?"

"It is kind of unfair to Todoroki, YaoMomo," Mina added. "He isn't good in social situations, but you kind of don't let him get into any social situations. With anyone. Unless you're there. How is he supposed to get used to them if you don't let him?" As much as Yaoyorozu wished to argue it further, she had to concede their points. She did keep him under her thumb all the time, constantly watching over his shoulder with who he could and couldn't speak to wasn't helping him. It was helping her to keep a tight reign on him and ensure she was the only female other than his mother that he had any exposure to.

"I realize that what I've done is wrong," she finally admitted, "but I was doing these things to show him that I'm always here for him. To show him that no matter what I would always be by his side, even when things went wrong and he was left on his own."

"But he isn't on his own and has never been able to do things on his own," Jiro heatedly replied."You aren't trying to protect him as much as you're trying to protect yourself, and that's going to backfire on you. Maybe not tomorrow, but it will eventually and you're going to look back on all this and wish you did things differently." After her opinion had been spoken, Jiro walked away. The anger she unleashed at her friend's behavior was almost palpable in the space left behind her retreating frame.

Yaoyorozu had never had someone tell her talk to her like this much less point out her faults quite like this. Her parents had only ever emphasized where she excelled, friends only ever talking about how much they admired her and instructors only mentioning how well she was doing in class or how wonderfully her homework was done. No one had ever truly mentioned how she behaved or even began to argue with her about how she did things. Now, from the mouths of three of her closest friends, she had been dressed down for things she was certain was right.

Trying to see what they were talking about, she walked over to a chair and sat down. When she took everything she did at face value, at least from her point of view, she was doing everything she could to ensure that her precious Todoroki-kun would be protected from the influences of others and to be able to become the future husband and hero she knew he could be. But from the view of everyone else she was basically doing exactly what his father did to him as a child: keeping him away from everyone, not allowing him to speak to others and adding to his social awkwardness.

But what she didn't know was that he was branching out on his own anyway. He had a circle of friends that she had no idea he was communicating with and had been doing so via text message for quite some time. Some of them were from the Endeavor agency; people he'd met while on his internship. Others were people he'd met from the original exam. Especially Inasa Yoarashi, the least likely person for him to communicate with. But the two he spoke with the most via text were Shinso and L/N. Shinso had been one of the first people he'd spoken to via text, a surprise considering how often Yaoyorozu practically had him on a leash.

But it was L/N that he spoke with the most. Not only because he had been asking her advice about his relationship with Yaoyorozu, but because he was genuinely interested in how she was faring with class work and studying for the exam. There were also the plans they agreed on for her training at his place, checking in to see if she needed help with any courses..the usual. And now, with what happened, he was checking to see if she was alright emotionally. He may not be the most in tune with his own emotions, but even he could tell that when L/N cried her feelings were damaged and frayed.

To all of this, Yaoyorozu was completely blind. In her mind, she had been doing nothing more than making her original plan of keeping him to herself through school so they could be married afterward. But, behind the scenes, Shoto Todoroki was beating her at her own game.