Melted

Todoroki closes his eyes. He inhales and exhales like a runner who gathers strength to begin the race of his life. He moves his tongue and links his teeth with nervousness. He focuses really hard again. He focuses until his eyelashes hurt his eyeballs but… he does not recall anything, not even something so elementary.

And that is really strange. Todoroki has always been proud of his good memory —or at least, he has been conscious of his facility for recalling details—. He remembers how many bears there were in the zoo when his mother took him there —seven grey and two brown ones, the big one was like ten times his height— and he remembers every book about meditation he has ever read, including that pamphlet called How to survive an abusive father: Beginner Edition.

So he does not understand why the memories of the incident are blurry in his mind, as if the memory had decided to jump off the window right into a blender.

He is sure that the incident had happened at the end of August. It was hot, much hotter than usual even for someone who lives by the coast. The seagulls were bathing in the sea unable of putting a leg on the incandescent sand, that kind of hot. That is why he decided to take Midoriya to the beach.

And why had he met with him in the first place? That is when Todoroki got lost in an emerald green blur. He knows that was not the first time they were —alone— together talking about homework, teachers and practices. Later on, as if it was something natural, they were passing through various subjects and Todoroki surprised himself when he could speak to him about delicate issues like why his mother was in the hospital and his father's empty hopes of future. Midoriya listened to him quietly and let Todoroki express —with difficulty because of the lack of practice— how frustrated and insecure he felt. Denying the path in which his father had instructed him and without any idea where he could go to.

"But… you want to be a hero. Right, Todoroki? Being there when somebody needs you, saving innocent's lives, stopping thieves before they leave the crime scene with the stolen jewellery…"

"Yes, of course."

Midoriya had offered him a light big smile that deserved to be exhibited in a museum.

"You can start from there."

And the incident came. August, warmth, a marine breeze which brought fire instead of the fresh air they were both craving for.

"Are you sure you don't want it?" Midoriya asked moving this legs on the maritime walk banister. The ice-cream began to melt it in a cola and vanilla waterfall. "Come on, you have paid for it. It is really sweet, I'm sure you gonna like it."

"I am fine." Todoroki answered, regretting right away his dry answer.

Although he could not be seen like that, Todoroki was curious of humanity, a philanthropist hidden in the shadows, and during all the A.U. course he had observed his acquaintance's behaviour closely. That was the first time in his life when any adult had let him alone with someone his same age so he had been studying them before talking to them. And he saw the camaraderie they shared. That blind confidence among them. Those jokes they had in common without the fear of saying something inappropriate.

And Todoroki tried. Really, he had took all his effort in inserting himself in the group so that he could be treated as an equal and not as Endeavor's son. He wanted to be recognised as one of them and so, he could sit with them in the café without the perpetual apprehension of saying or doing something wrong. But it was as difficult as hell to open up to them using four or three-words sentences, as his father had insisted him to communicate to others all his life. —"Time is such a valuable treasure to spend it with foolishness" he had always said—. Speaking was easier with Midoriya, who was always waiting with all the patience in the world to get Todoroki rearrange his thoughts and express them in a detailed way; but he had a long path to walk in order to feel normal.

"As you wish." Midoriya said.

Without all doubt, Midoriya was the only one who understood him. Or, at least, he could deduce that Todoroki doesn't understand all the gestures and taunting Kirisihima and Bakugo shared at lunch. So he tried to explain Todoroki with total kindness, far away from the other's looks so that nobody knew how much it cost him to differ a joke from a real fight.

"It's like you, you know?"

"Excuse me?"

"The ice-cream. It's like you. And no, I don't mean that it's like your hair." Midoriya had gathered a certain ability in guessing what Todoroki was thinking about even when he had not made an expression with his face. "I mean… It's cola and vanilla, isn't it? Nobody would ever have thought that they could match together and, all of a sudden, it's the best ice-cream I've ever tasted. Like you."

"Like me?"

"Yes. Ice and fire. Your kind gestures hidden in your deadpan look. Or… you know, when you had the power of destroying skyscrapers in a hint and you'd rather meditate all afternoon next to the river. You create the perfect balance without any effort".

That was when Todoroki's body decided to move by instinct without him being able to do anything to avoid it. Because like this, suddenly, he found himself with Midoriya's lips a few centimetres away from his. And then, there was no space between them.

It was a short soft kiss, one of those that remain in the memory crystalized in silver and amber. But Todoroki was not a fool, he knew if he longed that perfect moment a bit longer, Midoriya would feel so embarrassed that he could not look him in the eye ever again. And so, Todoroki separated from him.

"You are right" Todoroki affirmed, turning the face to the sea, pretending he had not seen the surprised expression on Midoriya's face. "The ice-cream is really sweet".

And time passed by. And passed a little bit longer.

Todoroki used to take problems with stoicism and philosophy, so he only had to wait. He did not know what he was waiting for —just like he did not know what Mineta spoke about when he said "Little strokes…"— but he could not do anything other than expecting.

During that period of time —weeks, months, he did not know how long— Todoroki realized he liked Midoriya and that is why he had kissed him in the first place. And he accepted that with tranquillity, like somebody who accepts Fridays is pizza day at the University Café. There was nothing more to considerate, why nor how he liked a boy when that is not the normal thing to do. He liked the way he talked and expressed, he liked his impetuous smile which he gave everybody away, he loved his writing, reflexing in his own world of calm, while he observed a new hero fighting.

Sometimes, Todoroki commented something in a low voice, afraid of breaking his concentration bubble. Midoriya had only answered in one occasion, accepting him like that in his own paradise of strategies without precedents and milimetrical calculations.

However, Todoroki had always valued the power of patience. To let nature flow its way and continue to evolve, creating ties between life energies and growing up to reach the sky. He had no hurry at all, so he waited. He contained himself not to do any abrupt movement nor try to approach Midoriya. Todoroki ignored —despite himself— his existence doing queue in the café and he displayed no reaction when he saw the horror expression of the green-headed when they were close.

Well, maybe Todoroki was not indifferent to him. That was like if his frozen part and his volcanic part had combined to create a new sensation within him, much more painful than absolute freezing or second degree burns.

But he could do nothing more than waiting.

So he had waited.

And waited.

And he did not know how much time he could hold on that situation without going crazy.

And he did not know how much time had passed.

But a sigh escapes from his lips when he sees Midoriya standing up from his table right towards him. Decided and shaky in equal parts. And the waiting ends.

"You… want… an… ice-cream?" Midoriya stuttered with a badly drawn smile in his mouth. And his small body covered with emerald vibes like a piano cord in a Beethoven concert. "I owe you an ice-cream. I invite you. Let's go together to the beach. Please."

Todoroki does not bother in hiding a thin laugh. He had thought about what would happen with Midoriya but none of his crazy predictions —nor his very detailed fantasies— had ever thought that Midoriya would offer him an ice-cream, an ice-cream, with Halloween around the corner.

"I would love to." Todoroki says to delete the embarrassed expression in Midoriya's face. "But, are you going to taste it the same way I tasted yours?"

Midoriya's face acquires a new red tone which Todoroki had never seen in somebody's skin.

"I… I don't know if…"

"I was joking." Todoroki affirms with his backpack on his shoulder. "An ice-cream. Nothing more. I promise".

But I am open to any possibility.

This is my first try in translating one of my fics from Spanish to English. I will have like a million mistakes, please tell me about them because I want to improve!

Duckisses!

KJ*