The Story Of Us (Todobaku)

The Request

There was a knock on Izuku Midoriya's bedroom door before his mother Inko pushed it open.

"Hi boys," she said. She then smiled at Shouto. "Shouto, look who's here."

Rei entered the room behind Inko with a smile just as pleasant. "Hi, sweetie. It's time to go."

"Aww." Shouto frowned from the floor, his arms propped up on Izuku's Star Wars pillow. He was lying between Izuku and Tenya Iida, the three boys in the middle of a Death Note marathon on Izuku's small bedroom TV. "Can't I stay a little bit longer? We just made it to the finale."

"No," Rei answered. "It's getting late and I still need to prepare dinner."

Shouto grunted as he punched the pillow. "Fine." With furrowed brows, he waved his index finger between Izuku and Tenya. "You guys better not watch it without me."

"Of course not," Tenya said. "That would be dishonorable."

Izuku offered a soft smile. "We'll wait, don't worry. You guys can come over tomorrow to watch it if you want."

"We can also go to my house if we want to switch it up," Tenya added.

Shouto nodded. "Okay."

That was a relief. He would've been salty if his best friends saw the finale of Death Note before he did. Not that any of them didn't already know what was going to happen. All three of them were avid manga readers and had finished all twelve volumes of Death Note earlier that summer.

"I'll be waiting downstairs, Shouto," Rei said. With that, she and Inko exited the room.

Shouto swiftly packed his bag with everything he brought to Izuku's house that day, from his 3DS to his Yu-Gi-Oh! cards to his One Piece keychain collection. Yes, Shouto Todoroki was a nerd. He wasn't as much of a crazed fanboy as Izuku, but more of a nerd than most. Not that he minded. As far as he was concerned, nerds had the most fun.

Izuku stopped him as he headed out the door. He dropped his voice low even though it was unlikely the adults could hear them from downstairs. "Are you gonna ask her?"

Shouto bit the inside of his lip and nodded. He was nervous, but he knew this wasn't something to shy away from.

"I don't think you have to worry," Tenya said. "She'll probably say yes."

Shouto shrugged. "We'll see."

Izuku laid a hand on his shoulder. "Even if she says no, we can do something with just the three of us. It'll still be fun."

"Thanks." He threw on his backpack and with a final smile, waved goodbye to his friends.

In the car, Shouto was quiet. He didn't know how to bring it up to his mom. It didn't help that this was a sensitive time for all of them.

It was the first week of December. The two year anniversary of Touya's death was fastly approaching. Last year around this time, Rei had completely shut down, even though her divorce with Enji reignited a fire in her that Shouto hadn't seen for as long as he could remember.

It wasn't his fault the dates fell so close to each other, but sometimes he felt like it was.

Rei didn't question Shouto's silence. Probably because it was snowing and she needed to concentrate on driving. Shouto just bounced his leg as he sat in the back, staring gloomily out the window and pretending he was in some black and white music video.

Back at the house, Shouto worked up the courage as Rei was preparing dinner for everyone. His steps were so light when he entered the kitchen that his mother gasped when she turned around and realized he was right behind her. It was a good thing she placed the knife on the counter before she spun around, or that could've been disastrous.