Izuku is sitting in the common room, minding his own business, focused on the hero notes he's refining on some of his classmates now that some of them have been improving their skills and moves even further. Usually no one will disturb him, and even if there's a ruckus going on around him, he's always too into what he's doing to actually notice.
Today, however, there's a few giggles that are tugging at the edge of Izuku's consciousness and pulling his eyes from his writing and to wherever the noises are coming from. Out of the corner of his field of vision, he spies Todoroki's dual coloured hair and the wild pink locks that belong to Ashido as well as Uraraka's rosy cheeks and Hagakure's floating clothes. Not thinking anything of the situation, just their friends interacting with each other, Izuku turns back to what he's doing, almost immediately forgetting what he saw.
That is, until he hears a call for his attention, Todoroki's voice, closer now, and he looks up from his notes. His eyes take a little to adjust and focus from staring so closely at his own handwriting for so long, but as soon as he takes in the image, he furrows his brow in confusion. His friend is standing beside him with a little bag of Pocky, one of the chocolate covered treats between his index and middle finger, his expression as neutral as ever.
Blinking a few times at Todoroki before looking behind him and seeing the smirks on the girl's faces, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on. Izuku's already feeling his cheeks warming slightly, and he's going through fifty thousand ways to reject the suggestion before it's even offered without offending his friend or something.
"Midoriya, I've been 'dared' to play the pocky game with you. Apparently if I don't do it I am to be turned into some form of a domesticated fowl, which seems ridiculous to be quite honest. I'm pretty sure they're having Shinsou do something."
Izuku can hear the air quotes on the word "dared" without Todoroki having gestured them at all, and that's simply impressive in and of itself. He wants to turn back and tell the girls that they can't do that and that Shinsou probably would never agree to such a thing but knowing their ways of bribing people into doing their bidding (mainly Ashido and Hagakure), he's not actually sure.
"I didn't agree to this." He finds himself saying anyway.
Todoroki just shrugs, entirely unfazed, and Izuku tries to ignore the part of him that is disappointed.
"If you chicken out too you get to be a chicken with Todoroki-kun." Hagakure chirps from where the girls are sitting, waving her arms like wings teasingly.
With a sigh, Izuku turns back to his friend, expression apologetic and heart attempting to beat right out of his chest. Still stone-faced and looking calmer than he had any right to be doing something this embarrassing, Todoroki places the Pocky stick between his lips, sitting down next to Izuku to get closer to his level.
Swallowing nervously, Izuku leans forward, wrapping his lips around the chocolate end of the Pocky, opposite Todoroki. Just from this distance alone, he can already feel Todoroki's cool breath blowing against his face, and it does nothing to calm the increasing flare of his cheeks. Izuku thought he was pretty good at keeping his feelings to himself, but clearly, he was being at least a little obvious if the girls were already plotting these sorts of silly games to force them together.
Well, it isn't like he can do anything about it now, is it?
Todoroki takes the first bite. It's tiny, barely advancing anything noticeable, but Izuku is hyperaware of the other's closeness already so it only makes alarms go off in his brain. When he takes his own small bite he almost backs away immediately, but his eyes lock with Todoroki's and he can see the specks of gold dusted over the edge of his blue iris and he gets a little lost.
The second bites come now and Izuku's holding his breath. His face feels so much warmer all of a sudden, and it's not because he can feel the radiating heat from Todoroki's ever hot left side. It has more to do with the fact that he can see the bumps and valleys of the scarred skin surrounding his eye and he wonders if Todoroki can feel it if Izuku softly brushes his fingers over it.
With another bite, Todoroki's face gets even closer, to the point that it starts blurring a little. Yet if he focuses on a particular place, Izuku can see in the highest definition from this distance, each pore, each individual eyelash, the subtle flutter of his lids as he blinks. He's forgotten how to breathe and he should really back away, lest he faint from lack of oxygen. Instead, Izuku draws closer with one more bite and Todoroki follows right after.
Izuku isn't sure if he's impatient, eager, or just daring. He logically thinks it is the last option, knowing his friend has a competitive streak despite everything. He also foolishly hopes it might be the second and the reason he hasn't backed out yet is because he's just as curious as Izuku as to what would happen at the end. Though, whether that curiosity will win over the fear that is gripping his insides, Izuku has to take another bite to find out.
The treat is shrinking moderately quickly, but it feels both tortuously slow and breakneck fast, as if the notion of time is having as fearsome a fight as his nerve and undecided on which one to stick with. Fast or slow, back away or keep going? Izuku's heart is pounding and his cheeks are on fire, he can't really think straight because their lips are getting dangerously close and he doesn't know what he wants to or should do.
What he wants to do and what he should do seem to be equally contradicting and overlapping. They're vague concepts that he can't grasp when he can almost feel the tickle of Todoroki's hair on his nose when he exhales a little harder because he's breathing in stutters now. His friend gets even closer and he can feel the crunch of the pocky on his own tongue and he breaks.
Izuku backs away with his hands rising to his face in an attempt to hide it. But between the gaps in his fingers, he can see Todoroki's tongue poke out as he simply pulls the rest of the treat into his mouth and he nearly chokes on what's still in his own. Expression still impassive, Todoroki leans back against the chair and hums.
"Seems I win."
Izuku looks away, his blood boiling and pooling on his cheeks and the tips of his ears, hand shaking as he picks his pencil back up and continues adding the corrections and reiterations to his notes.
"Guess so." He mumbles, writing a footnote on Todoroki's page that reads 'breath smells like fresh snow'.
NOTE: I just felt like writing this, so I did xD
I know it's short but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless haha
Feel free to leave any feedback you may have ^-^