emerald boy | tododeku

games

the couple made their way to town, and todoroki's fingers intertwined with the emerald boy's the entire time. it had begun to snow, and as much as the emerald boy loved the snow, he was very sensitive to the cold, so the heterochromatic boy decided to warm him up with the heat of his left hand.

"okay, where are we going to first?" the bi-haired boy asked, his gaze on the emerald boy.

"i— i don't really know. i just know i had a lot of fun here yesterday, so i wanted to come back, but now that i think about it, there's nowhere i have to be." the emerald boy placed his free hand to his chin in thought. "i-i'm sorry, shouto-kun," he stuttered with a wine red blush on his face.

the heterochromatic boy chuckled and waved his free hand in reject. "no, don't apologise, i'm sure there are places we can go. besides, we both thought the same, right? plus we both really wanted to be here. there's gotta be something we can do."

there was a minute of silence between the two as they stood in the crowd of strangers. the two were in deep thought when todoroki thought of something the emerald boy could find enjoyable. he tapped the emerald boy's shoulder to receive a glance from him. "any ideas?" the emerald boy asked.

"isn't there an arcade around here?"

those six words seemed to lighten the emerald boy's smile, and todoroki internally sighed in relief to himself. he had somehow managed to suggest an idea the eccentric emerald boy would enjoy, but his likes and dislikes were so diverse it was hard to keep track, but the thought of blinking lights, plushie prices and sweets sounded like something he would have enjoyed, and by jove, he was right.

"y-yeah!! that sounds great!" the emerald boy gasped with a beam. "who knows? maybe there'll be some all might plushies in the grabbers and coin dozers!"

oh, and there it was again, the emerald boy's ever-so-contagious smile that tugged at todoroki's lips, but he decided to let his smile show. where was the con? he was out with the emerald boy, having a good time... dating him. he could be himself. the emerald boy could be himself. today was a good day.

todoroki was snapped out of his thoughts by a tug at his arm, and he knew who the tugger was. the emerald boy was tugging him away and towards the arcade with blinking red, white and blue lights, with a massive sign that hung over reading, 'akedo', meaning 'arcade' in english. the emerald boy rushed inside with todoroki's sleeve still in his grip, and they were met with the sight of tons of different arcade games; coin dozers, grabbers, simulators, shooting range games, bowling, and so much more.

"now, the important question is, which machine do we attempt first?" the emerald boy uttered with a finger to his chin.

the expert of topics that the emerald boy enjoyed, todoroki shouto, already knew what to reply with. "there must be something with at least hero merchandise, maybe even all might."

"i like your thinking, shouto-kun," the emerald boy beamed with determined glimmering eyes, his hands balled into fists. "a coin dozer with all might stickers? a grabber with all might plushies?"

"the plushies sound great," todoroki replied with a chuckle. "we'll need to find a grabber that isn't rigged though, these days they're all rigged."

the emerald boy nodded and began muttering to himself in deep thought. "yes, you're right, grabbers have been modified lately to have you deposit many more coins into the machine plus the claws are super fragile and they're not too strong meaning that usually you can't grab the target you're aiming for so it leaves you spending all your money and in the end you usually don't end up with a plush anyway and if anything it's probably a 60% to 70% chance that you won't get anything anyway so the creators and modifiers end up laughing about all the money they receive and they get away with it but to be honest nobody really cares because they're still fun anyway so nobody really complains but the modifiers always get away with scamming you—"

"izuku-kun." todoroki put a hand on the emerald boy's shoulder and he turned around instantly, his enchanting green eyes locked onto todoroki's heterochromatic stormy icy ones. "let's just have fun, okay?" he said with a smile.

the emerald boy paused, then nodded with a small but sincere. "yeah, let's."

"there's a claw machine over there with hero plushes, i noticed." todoroki pointed his finger to a claw machine in the corner of the room, decorated in chibi hero stickers, and the plushies inside were chibis too. there was an all might, a mt. lady, an endeavour, a gran torino, a crimson riot, and more piled onto each other, but the all might was all the way at the bottom. "i'm gonna get all those plushies to get to the all might, just watch."

"that's gonna be a lot of money, y'know," the emerald boy said with a giggle. "there's no way you're gonna have enough."

"and if i don't," the heterochromatic boy said with a smirk, putting his arm around his waist, "i'll just come back tomorrow."

"don't exclude me from the challenge then," the emerald boy smirked and planted a quick kiss on todoroki's cheek. "i realise you've never told me the hero you look up to, though."

"my dad tried to force me to look up to him and wouldn't really let me even think about other heroes, to be honest," todoroki admitted, "but i really don't feel too bad about it, because i decided this morning who my favourite hero is."

the emerald boy gasped and widened his eyes in surprise and wonder. "who?! all might?! gran torino? or, maybe a fire hero?"

todoroki chuckled and looked simply down at the emerald boy's ponderous eyes, and with a small smile, he said, "he's standing right next to me."

a moment of confusion hit the emerald boy, but only a few seconds. then, with wider eyes and a rose red face, he yelled, "ahh!! i fell for it!!"

with a smug face, todoroki inserted a coin into the claw machine, and put in all his best efforts to receive the all might plushie, while the emerald boy stood beside him, zoned out, swooning.

-

hello... again...! jayden here.

um, i know i said i'd update daily, but some things went on lately, i guess—? i came out to my parents as trans but they're not too accepting, so that depressed me.

updates are gonna be slow for a bit, not only due to that but also due to the fact that i'm on holiday, but i'm doing my best, okay? i love writing streetlights and i'm so proud of it.

and one last thing... thank you all so much for 570+ reads. i never expected to get this many, but i'm glad you're all enjoying my work.

- rowan