emerald boy | tododeku

hidden

the night was cold and harsh, biting at midoriya's skin. the cold boy had wrapped a large bright green coat around his freezing body and trudged out into the darkness in his slippers. it wouldn't take him too long to reach the bench as he lived quite close.

as he walked, negative thoughts drowned his mind.

why am i out here again? why am i dragging myself to the bench?

it wasn't that midoriya didn't know that he was hoping to see todoroki — in fact, he knew well that he had some weird drug-like addiction to the icy boy — but he tried to tell himself that he didn't need todoroki. in the end, todoroki would abandon him, like all his old friends did. midoriya didn't blame them. if he was midoriya's old friends, he would have abandoned him too. he was annoying and quirkless and useless.

when he reached the bench, he was surprised for some reason. he knew there was a chance todoroki would be sitting there, his alluring heterochromatic eyes staring into the streetlights beams, his air swaying lightly in the breeze, and his coat surrounding whatever clothes he had worn to bed, this time a red vest and a pair of soft white shorts. unsure how to say hello when in his state of mind, he whispered, "um, hey todoroki-kun."

todoroki's head swivelled and his eyes met his. "oh, hello again midoriya-kun. i didn't expect to see you here again."

"well, i'm full of surprises," midoriya sighed with a small but fake smile. faking smiles could be considered a talent for midoriya, seeing how well he did it, but it was such a horrible talent to have. the smile was horrible. midoriya was horrible.

todoroki patted the space beside him as a gesture for midoriya to sit and midoriya nodded gratefully. he did as told, then asked, "how long have you been here?"

the bi-haired boy didn't respond for a few seconds, but before midoriya could curse himself for being so inconsiderate towards todoroki's privacy, he replied, "since 7pm. skipped dinner and haven't been back since."

"th-that's not good..." midoriya murmured. "may i ask why?"

another pause, but just like before he did speak. "you know endeavour?"

midoriya's eyes grew wide and he raised his index finger. "the number two hero, he has a fire quirk nicknamed hellfire, right?"

todoroki rolled his eyes and stared back into the depths of the flickering streetlights. "tch, yeah, him. would you believe me if i told you he was my dad?"

"...i'm not sure. you kind of resemble him, but you have an ice quirk; it seems a bit odd to have a father with a fire quirk."

"well. er..."

midoriya shook his head, his leaf green tangles shaking around. "no, i believe you, todoroki-kun. but what's the problem? you wouldn't have brought him up to brag when asked about a problem, you're not like kaccha—" midoriya cut himself off and silently cursed himself.

"kaccha..? who?" todoroki queried.

"h-he's nobody, just a... friend of mine." midoriya would have been beaten by bakugou for calling him nobody. he would have wanted to tell everyone that bakugou was the best.

todoroki raised his eyebrows as if not entirely convinced. "have you got... char on your face?"

midoriya stiffened his shoulders and his irises shrunk. "j-just started up the fireplace yesterday night for my mom. it was cold yesterday... just like today actually. anyway, so i was doing that and it... blew up?"

"if you're cold you should probably go back. i don't want you getting ill."

midoriya's heart fluttered at his kindness, but at the same time it skipped a beat. he didn't want to go home, he wanted to continue talking to todoroki! "n-no, i'm okay."