1
Friday nights were usually movie nights for all of class 1A. They would vote for what film to watch and then spend their evening unwinding from the school week together. Most of the time, before that, they would break down into small groups and have their own little party. And it meant that, like every Friday, Shouto was currently in Midoriya’s room with Iida, Ochako, and, obviously, the green-haired boy. Subjects would vary from the homework they had to finish, to finding new ways to use Endeavor’s credit card. Tonight, Midoriya decided to launch his love cabinet by giving Ochako all types of love advice. She had just confessed her crush on Tsuyu and admitted she had no idea how to act on it.
“You should compliment her next time you see her! Tell her she looks pretty or something like that! I know I blush a lot when people I like compliment me”
The young boy that Shouto was was confused. Of course, he had read some romance manga before, but he had never seen nor experienced love. So how does one know with that much certainty that they were in love? The confusion must been readable on his face because Ochako frowned “What?”
He almost had the mind not to ask, afraid of being judged by his lack of knowledge. “How do you know that you have a crush ?”
Everyone else in the room fell silent, exchanging looks. The only girl blushed, not sure how to answer. “I mean I…just know ?” Shouto wasn’t satisfied with that answer. “Yeah but how ?”
Ochako seemed to think for a bit, gathering her reasons. “I am... I feel the butterflies every time she talks to me and… I just want to hug and kiss her every time I see her… I guess…” She mumbled the end of her sentence, hiding her face in her hands. So that’s what it was… In this case, he was sure it meant he had a crush on Sero.
He couldn’t help but recall every time the other boy would look his way or talk with him and Shouto would feel funny in his tummy, thinking he was getting sick. The time when, after seeing a gay couple kissing during one of their movie nights, he kept imagining his lips on Sero’s and what it would feel like. He thought he had been hit by a quirk, making him obsessed with the black-haired boy, but no, he just had a crush on him. Everything made so much more sense now. He knew what he needed to do next.
One hour later, they were all sitting in the big living room, some on the couches, others on the floor, in front of them. Shouto was the last to arrive, a bowl of popcorn in his hands. He looked for a free seat somewhere when his attention was attracted to Sero, sitting on the far left of one of the couches. Next to him, Kirishima and Kaminari were fighting to know who would get to sit between him and Bakugou. The black hair one made eye contact with Shouto, waving his hands to point out the free place next to the armrest. Grateful -and because it’s Sero and he would never turn him down-, he went to sit, offering him some popcorn. Ok now was the time for a compliment, based on Midoriya’s lesson.
“Your skin looks very smooth.”
Sero stopped talking for a bit before smiling at him, blinding him with his beauty at the same time. “Thanks! I use lotion every day, I can tell you the brand after this !”
Shouto didn’t know if it was the expected effect, but he’ll take it.
2
It was Monday, during the lunch break, scrolling on his phone, that he fell upon something Kaminari reposted on his social page. It was one of these weird quotes he usually didn't understand. On it, he could read ‘flirting is just a conversation with a twist. It’s like a regular conversation but with a wink.’
So all he had to do was wink the next time Sero talked to him, right?
The next time came the same afternoon when they were all on the training grounds. Today’s training was a rescue mission, four of them were actively training while the others were watching through the big TV screens. Shouto felt a small tug on his costume sleeve. Turning his head, he saw the object of his affection.
“Do you wanna be partners for the next round ?”
Ok, don’t forget, it’s time to wink. Wink, wink, wink, wink . And above all, act normal.
“Yeah sure.”
Sero gave him a weird look, putting his head forward. “You have something in your eyes ?”
Instantly, the teenager stopped winking, confused. “What? No, I don’t.”
“Oh I thought so with how much you were blinking, my bad !” The boy looked relieved and stepped backward, to put a distance between them again, for Shouto’s greatest displeasure.
It appears that nobody had taught Shouto that winking was with only one eye.
3
Since the last attempt did not work at all , Shouto decided to go a step further. Late at night, when sleep seemed to forget he existed, he found himself searching “How to flirt with a guy” on Google. The first link that popped up was from a site named “Wiki How”.
He had heard of that site before by Midoriya. Apparently, it had ‘the greatest advice ever’. So it’s without any suspicion that he clicked on it. He scrolled quickly through the page, confused with the amount of said advice. The first one was saying to make eye contact. Ok, that’s something he could do. Easy. Just look at Sero in the eyes until he does the same then maintain contact for we don’t know how long.
….
The first thing he did when he walked into the kitchen to eat breakfast was search for the black hair he loved. Sitting on the counter with Kirishima and Bakugou, Sero was eating cereals. Shouto preferred traditional breakfast, so he went to grab a bowl of rice and fried an egg, all while keeping his eyes on the other boy.
He was too into his task to notice a little burnt smell starting to come from his egg. It was only when the pan was ripped off his grasp, with Iida panicked scolding, that he broke the visual contact and saw his dear food completely black-burned.
Everyone was looking at him, not understanding what happened. Ochako rested a hand on his forehead to check if he wasn’t sick. “No, I feel fine” He said to calm her down. But in the end, Sero was looking his way so he guessed it was working.
….
All day, Shouto kept his eyes on the other student. During classes, during lunch, and training. Even if he stood on the other side of the room he would stare at him. And every time, Sero would meet his gaze for a while, making Shouto’s inside tighten and his heart beat faster. They were currently in the changing room after training, the ice-fire user in a stall to change back into his school uniform, when he heard Kaminari’s voice whispering -in a not-discreet at-all way- to his friends.
“Dude what have you done to Todoroki? He was glaring at you all day “
Sero’s sweet voice answered him, not whispering. “Uh nothing? He wasn’t glaring at me..”
“Bro he was. He really looked angry… Well I think he did because his face was pretty unemotional”
Oh… But he was not angry with Sero. Why would he be? He liked him and tried to have a ‘eye contact’ like Wiki How said he had to do. Thinking back on it, they did have contact with their eyes multiple times today.
4.
Shouto was starting to get truly desperate. Of course, the previous attempt did work. However, by the time he began to get the message across, Ochako was fully dating Tsuyu. And do not misunderstand, he was genuinely happy for both of his friends. But he needed to ‘up his game’ -as he heard Ojiro say one day-. So who else to go for a piece of advice than Tokoyami? Thanks to late conversations, he had learned that the latter liked to write love poems in the dark of his room. If winks and eye contact didn’t work, a love poem surely will.
The bird student was not the outgoing style and preferred to stay in silence when hanging with his friends, enjoying the calm wrapping them up. Shouto was the same, in a way, favoring quality time to talking for nothing. Tokoyami was quick to open the door and help him, happy -even if he didn’t show it- to be useful. And that someone else understood the beauty of poems.
To be honest, Shouto was not sure he understood a word of the poem, but he trusted Tokoyami when he said it was the perfect one for a true love confession.
He read the poem one last time before sliding the small sheet of paper under Sero’s door and bolting out without asking for his rest
I lost all the color in my face
My throat is closing up
My brain is frozen
My hands are shaking
I'm nauseous again
I didn't mean for it to happen
Why in the world did I ever hit send?
Waiting here like a fish on a hook
Reeled closer and closer struggling to drift away
The hook is caught on my lip I can't escape this I can't breathe
The weight of this is crushing me
It's like carrying the world and the planets on top
Patrick, the name of a saint
Michael the name of an archangel
Why did you leave me hanging?
Hands are shaking
Mind is frozen
Soul is burning
Mouth is dry
Losing color slowly
Fading away
Preparing for the big bang.
The evening was still early, everyone was occupied in their rooms with homework and such. In the living room, the only two there were Shouto and Tokoyami. The bird was reading one of his books -probably the one from Poe- while the other teenager was watching a documentary on Blobfishes. And, just for your knowledge, it was honestly intriguing.
The calm was disturbed by Sero coming down, an empty bottle of water in one hand. Shouto didn’t see him at first, only surprised by his presence when his voice was heard.
“Hey Tokoyami! I wanted to talk to you about..you know what..”
The look on the concerned fellow indicated that he had no clue what the ‘you know what’ was. But as the good friend he is, he sat up, nodding.
“Okay so I truly appreciated your poem and all but I can’t reciprocate your feelings I’m sorry…”
Shouto was astounded. It appeared that Tokoyami also harbored feelings for Sero and gave him his own poem.
“...What poem ?”
5
The week after, Shouto had renounced to flirt with the other boy, because of all the attempts that did not conclude. The universe was undoubtedly telling him to leave the ship -as Mina would say-, to abort the mission. He had understood that he would never be able to kiss Sero, or even at least hug him.
The last part of today’s training had been kind of tough, challenging each student to fight against anothers in several different environments. Shouto had won almost all his fights, except the one against Bakugou. The latter had been very fierce in his striking method, using blast-on-blast. So much that Shouto’s hearing was getting bad. It wasn’t the first time it happened, and he knew that his hearing would go back to normal soon.
In the meantime, all sounds were muffled, like they were coming from afar. That’s why he would usually go back straight away to his room: to not engage in a conversation he would not be able to hear normally. But today was not like other days, as he was stuck in the changing room because Bakugou decided it was the best moment to threaten to blow up ‘stupid nerd’s’ face. -Shouto assumed he meant Midoriya’s face-. Nobody dared talk out loud, whispering furiously one to another, in fear of enraging the angry boy even more.
“...ter train…. homewo……?”
He was, at first, not sure that someone was talking to him, but turning around and noticing Sero’s eyes on him, he had no more doubt. sh*t. “What ?” The confused look on his face wasn’t enough for the other boy to understand that he did not get a word he said. On the contrary, the black-haired boy repeated the -he assumed- same sentence but still whispered. Shouto really hated himself and Bakugou for not being capable of understanding right now.
Frowning, he leaned on the locker next to him before leaning toward the shorter one, not taking his gaze off him. With a nod, he told him to speak again, his eyes falling on his lips to read on it. Damn, they looked soft. He couldn’t help but wonder what taste they had. He heard people say it was usually sweet, tasting what they ate or drank last.
“Do uh… Do you want to uh..want to do homework with me tonight..uh..yes ?”
Confused by the apparent stuttering, he moved back a little, even more perplexed by the small rosé tint of Sero’s cheeks. Worried that he might be sick, Shouto put a hand on the other’s forehead, checking for fever. Wrong moves, as it seemed to have increased the reddening of Sero’s cheek.
“You stupid f*ckers! Stop flirting in front of everyone !!”
Shouto stood even more confused about what Bakugou meant as he was not actively trying to flirt with anyone.
