emerald boy | tododeku

talk

it was only a few minutes until midoriya would arrive at the café, and todoroki sat inside with his tea. that day was a friday, meaning the last day of school for the week. finally he was free from the school work and petty classmates, if only for a few days. and, as usual, the bi-haired boy was motivated by just seeing midoriya — or in all honesty, just thinking about him.

it was strange how close the two had become just over twenty four hours. usually todoroki would have dismissed the person or not care much, but the green boy was different. his grass green hair, his emerald eyes, and his delicate skin; he truly was a sight and a joy to be around. even with their conversation about todoroki's fire and ice quirk early in the morning, he couldn't be angry or upset with him, but only with himself. how could he make someone so pure and kind feel so bad? shame hit him slightly, but he knew that wasn't what midoriya had intended; he just wanted to knock some sense into him. either way, todoroki still hadn't felt too well about it. he had pondered about his quirk, but found he still couldn't bring himself to use it.

soon the golden bell above the door rung, signalling someone's presence. todoroki turned, and soon enough he saw the mesmerising green boy, but something was off — too off. his thin lips, instead of curving into a happy smile, drooped to a small frown. his once emerald eyes were darkened and his eyelids drooped heavily. his composure was somewhat slumped, and his coal black uniform seemed somewhat ruffled. even his tangly green hair was a lot more tanged.

todoroki stood himself up, eyes wide, and rushed to midoriya's side. "are you okay?" he exhaled. "you— you look miserable."

"that's putting it lightly," midoriya sighed.

the green boy sat himself at the table with todoroki and and tapped his fingers on the table. for a few seconds it seemed somewhat awkward between the two, but midoriya soon spoke up. "i almost forgot i owe you tea," he laughed awkwardly. "raspberry, right? i remembered, i think..."

"you really don't need to, midoriya-kun," todoroki insisted. "i can pay again; it's the least i can do. then afterwards we can discuss your problems, hm?"

midoriya's fingers twitched and his face grew stiffer. "n-no, honestly, i'm fine. i don't want to waste your time. i'm sorry for making you worry."

the green boy's eyes were filled with concern and his fingers began to tap the table nervously. sighing, todoroki ruffled his hand in midoriya's hair and said, "i won't make you say anything you really don't want to, but talking about your issues is healthy for you. keeping them bottled up isn't going to solve anything."

midoriya's lips quivered again and he clenched his eyes shut. "o-okay," he stuttered, "but only a few. i really don't want to waste your time."

"you wouldn't waste my time; you deserve to be happy."

midoriya's eyelids flew open and he stared at todoroki, almost as if he was amazed. his eyes glimmered and held hope and wonder. todoroki smiled and pulled out some yen notes. "coffee?"

midoriya paused for a moment, then smiled lightly at him. "no. i'll have what you're having, raspberry tea i assume. but really, you don't have to pay for me-!"

"it would be my pleasure, midoriya-kun," todoroki smiled and turned away to the till.

the same girl stood there as yesterday, uraraka. her smile seemed contagious, and it wasn't actually fake. "you two seem to be getting along," she hummed. "is he okay?"

"he's okay," todoroki replied. he couldn't help but feel somewhat irritated by her nosiness, but he could tell she was just worried for him. either way, she shouldn't have asked, right? todoroki could deal with him. "may i have another raspberry tea?"

"for you or the green haired guy?" uraraka chuckled, reaching a hand underneath her to grab a mug from a cupboard.

"him."

uraraka reached for the kettle and spoke without taking her eyes away from her hands at work. "you know, it's clear to see you really do raise his mood... a lot."

"no, i'm sure i'm just like any other friend."

"well, i wouldn't know. i never see him in here with any other friends. he came here often beforehand, but it was rare someone came with him, and if someone did, it was his mom."

todoroki jolted in surprise. did the green boy have any friends aside from him? he always seemed so sad, depressed maybe, but he wasn't for sure, plus he had never heard of midoriya speak of anyone except his mother, when she would be worried about him if he came home late.

noticing todoroki's silence, she turned to him as she dropped the raspberry teabag into the mug, making a tiny 'plop' as it fell inside the creamy brown abyss of darkness. "i really think he holds you dearly, whoever you are. please don't take him for granted, and don't abandon him. i've never seen him so happy, so if something happened to you or you affected him, that would probably crush him."

"noted, but you don't have to worry. i don't plan on leaving him... he's all too kind and, well, just amazing. i'm surprised if he doesn't have any friends; he must be really underrated in school."

uraraka turned back to the teabag and pressed it up against the mug's side to speed up the process of mixing. "yeah? i've heard kids without quirks can be pretty unpopular."

todoroki's gaze grew stern. "how do you know about that?"

"his quirklessness?"

"mhm."

"he calls his mom sometimes from here about his dreams to be a hero. i feel so bad for him."

todoroki looked down at his feet and shuffled awkwardly. "i didn't know about most of this, honestly."

uraraka sighed and mixed the tea with a teaspoon. "well, i probably shouldn't be letting you know any of this stuff anyway. just... take my advice, okay? don't leave him. that will hurt him more than you'd ever know." she placed the tea up on the counter and smiled. "that'll be 1500 yen."

todoroki handed her the yen and carefully wrapped his fingers around the mug. "thank you."

"hey, no problem."

todoroki was about to take a step away, but a thought struck his mind. he turned to the chocolate eyed girl and said, "i really think you'd be a good friend to him."

the girl shook her head. "i've tried talking to him but he never seemed to want to talk."

"today's your chance," todoroki insisted, and walked back to the table to see midoriya happily sitting on his phone texting his mother.

how could this enchanting boy not have any friends? because he didn't have a stupid quirk?