Chapter Two: Keep it Cool
Snap out of it, Momo. It's just a meeting, not a date. You've spent time with Todoroki a million times before.
Yaoyorozu told herself that, but left her place looking flawless. Her luscious black hair was down, floating behind her. She was wearing a cotton pink dress that wasn't too fitted, but was enough to show her figure. The night air was cold, but she was sweating. .not. .
When she arrived at the café, Todoroki was already there. He was sitting at their usual table outside, resting his face on his hand while he read a book titled, War, Love, and Quirks. It was a book that she recommended to him. He seemed to be comfy in his white t-shirt and gray pants. Yaoyorozu blushed at the sight of him.
She forced herself to walk up to Todoroki. She was all square, "Good evening, Todoroki."
Yaoyorozu didn't have enough courage to look him in the eyes. Todoroki sat up and closed his book to give his attention to her. She took the seat in front of him and pulled down her dress, still not meeting his gaze.
He was curious, but did not question it, "Thank you for meeting me on such short notice."
She averted her eyes downward and fumbled with the ends of her dress, "It was no issue to me."
Todoroki gazed at her for a moment. There was an awkward silence, which felt like forever to Yaoyorozu. What is he thinking? What should I say? Ughh I'm not being normal right now…"
"You're the only one I can rely on to do this for me," he spoke.
With those simple words, Yaoyorozu finally met his eyes. In that moment, her heart felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. Her mouth was open, but no words came out. He always thought so highly of her when she – herself- could not.
"How should I put this?" he asked himself, putting his fingers to his chin, "More specifically, I need you and your quick to fulfill a special assignment at my agency."
Yaoyorozu felt a little embarrassed at her overreaction. Her head dropped. She coughed and said to him, "I have to ask my agency…"
"I called your boss already," he said smugly, "You will be under a special contract with my agency. It's a partnership."
"Partnership?" she croaked imagining herself and Todoroki as 'partners'.
"Yes. You will be working with me to accomplish a special assignment. I estimate a year for it to be completed."
"One year?" With Todoroki. Her heart started to flutter again. She shook her head, trying to get her mind off it, "What-What will I be doing exactly?"
"My agency signed a construction contract with the government. With your ability to create resources and your keen eye, the process will be much quicker."
"So I won't be fighting villains under this new contract?"
"Temporarily, you won't," he took out a folder with several pieces of paper in it. He slid it in front of her, "If you agree, you can sign these papers. Sleep on it and come by my agency when you've reached a decision."
She took the papers in her hands. Her name and basic information were already printed on the sheets. Yaoyorozu was a little surprised that he had access to this information. All it needed was her signature, "How long do I have to decide?"
"As long as you want."
The barista approached them and placed a cup of hot chocolate in front of her. Todoroki thanked the barista once he walked away from them.
"I figured that you wouldn't drink coffee at his hour," Todoroki said as gave a small grin.
He's such a gentleman. She placed the papers on the table and took the cup in her hands, "Thank you."
He watched her take drink from the cup and it made her nervous. She tried to hide her face by lifting the cup higher, but ended up drinking everything.
"All done," she chuckled nervously. I can't do this. I need to get out of here.
Todoroki was surprised by how quick she drank it, but more so with how weird she was acting, "I didn't realize you were so parched. Would you like me to order another one?"
She hastily stood up, still not wanting to look him in the eyes, "No-no thank you. I'm… actually quite tired, so I'll be taking my leave."
Todoroki didn't question why she was acting so strangely, even though he badly wanted to. He was concerned. Are you okay? He wanted to ask. It didn't come out of his mouth.
Yaoyorozu gave a quick polite bow and rushed her way out, "Have a good night, Todoroki."
She did not bother to wait for his reply and was gone by the time he said, "Good night, Yaoyorozu."
"I think you should do it, Yao-Momo," Kyoka said reassuringly on the phone.
By the time she arrived back at her condo, she was fast to give Kyoka Jiro a call to spill the news.
"What if I mess up and fail him?" she gripped the pillow tightly to her body. Shoto Todoroki was almost a full-fledged hero. It would be terribly embarrassing for him to hire her only to mess up his record of perfect assignments.
"And what if you don't?" Kyoka shot back.
Yaoyorozu didn't know what to say, but she still didn't know what to do. She didn't think she was good enough for him.
"Look, it's not just about failing him, which I know you won't. It's also a great opportunity to spend more time with him. I know you like him, so take this chance, Yao-Momo," the sound of rock-n-roll music rang in the background, "Crap, that's my work phone. I have the night shift today. I have to go now. Call me tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay," Yaoyorozu mumbled.
"Don't sound like that. You'll do great, I promise," her words were followed by the sound of the phone hanging up.
Yaoyorozu placed her phone beside her and stared at the stack of paperwork on her nightstand.
THE NEXT DAY
Please don't pick up. Please don't pick up. Please don't pick up. Yaoyorozu begged as she kept the phone to her ear. She planned to call Todoroki earlier in the day to refuse his offer, but couldn't think of anything to say. She put off the thought for a while, but felt obligated to call him. Yaoyorozu decided to make the call in the afternoon. She called him alright, but had no idea what to say to him.
"Hello?" Todoroki answered on the third ring.
Crap.
"Good day, Todoroki, I-uhhh…..I wanted to talk to you about something," Yaoyorozu nervously let the words come out.
"Yes?"
"I wanted to….to…." it was hard for her to say it. But she had to say it. She felt like she was not the best person for the job. Sternly, she said, "I wanted to refuse your offer."
Todoroki didn't say anything for a while. He wanted to ask why. He wanted to question her decision.
"I'm….I'm sorry to hear that," he responded.
Yaoyorozu felt bad an didn't want to stay on the phone too long, "I'm really sorry, Todoroki. I have to go."
"Good bye, Yaoyorozu," he made sure not to make the sadness in his voice noticeable.
"Good bye," she hung up.
Todoroki stared at his phone in silence. He proceeded to search up the recent picture of her and Bakugo that became viral on the internet. It bothered him.
Yaoyorozu wasn't doing so well either. She sat at her desk with her face buried in her hands. She didn't know how she was going to face him now. If only you knew, Todoroki. It all would've been easier.
She shook her head and tried to forget about everything. She slicked her black hair into a ponytail and accepted a list of assignments for her to complete. Yaoyorozu had to move on…
...or so she thought.
"Why bang won't bang you bang forget bang about bang it," Yaoyorozu was banging her head on a nearby building. The impacts caused her ponytail to unravel itself, making her hair fall. Idiot.
People passed by her quickly to avert themselves from her awkward situation.
Yaoyorozu leaned on the wall and stared at the stack of paperwork in her hands that was given to her from Todoroki. She often went back and forth on the decision. At times, she was tempted to call back. At times, she passed by Todoroki's hero agency. With all that time, no decision was made.
I can't call him back after doing that. Well, maybe I should. That might be better. No, I already said NO.
"Ughhh!" Her head was spinning.
Grrrrrr. Her stomach growled and it was enough for her to stop herself from burning out in thought. She buried herself in assignments, but did not get anything to eat. In order for her quirk to work successfully, she needed to eat a big meal, but she had no such meal since breakfast and it was already 7pm. Maybe some food will help me decide.
She started walking to go to a nearby restaurant. As she was walking, she looked through the stack of paperwork and read through the documents again for the tenth time. Right when she was about to cut the corner of the building, she bumped into a stranger. She took a quick step back, but ended up tripping herself. She landed on her butt and all the papers flew.
The impact of her breasts caused the stranger to fall back. He let out a loud "Fuck!" as he fell.
"Watch where you're fucking going!" he yelled.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mea-" she was about to fully apologize when she saw who the stranger was. It was Katsuki Bakugo. He was wearing his hero uniform and tried to catch the papers that also fell out of his hands, "Bakugo?"
"Huh?" he looked confused.
He didn't recognize me. She thought of it to be irritating considering the many years they went to school together. Then again, they weren't really 'close friends' at UA. Because he always called her Ponytail, she assumed it was her hair that made her unrecognizable. She put her hair in a ponytail.
"Well, watch where you're fucking going, Ponytail," this changed nothing.
They both gathered the papers that they dropped before it could fly away.
"I almost lost my shit because of you," he growled, getting up and fixing his papers. She was still organizing hers.
"It wasn't just my fault! You were also- Grrrrrr" she was interrupted by her roaring stomach. She put her hands to her stomach and blushed out of embarrassment.
"Tch," Bakugo hissed and walked past her, "Hurry up."
Yaoyorozu didn't understand and just stared at him with a perplexed look.
He shot his head back, "Did I stutter, Ponytail?! I said hurry up! Get your shit, and get up!"
Bakugo waited for her to get up. Once she stood, he led the rest of the way.
When Bakugo and Yaoyorozu entered the restaurant, all eyes fell on them. It made Yaoyorozu uncomfortable, but it didn't faze Bakugo.
"For two?" the hostess asked.
"What does it fucking look like?" he didn't even bother to wait for the waitress to show them to the table. Yaoyorozu could feel the stares burying into her back. She heard them snicker and take pictures. I really hope they don't post it on social media. Sooo embarrassing…
She didn't want to go with Bakugo, but how could she turn him down? It was hard to argue with him. Once she sat down, she felt a whole lot of awkward. She didn't have anything to say. He didn't have anything to say. Yaoyorozu literally wanted to eat and split. Once they placed their orders, time was crawling too slowly.
It didn't bother Bakugo as much as it bothered her. In fact, he was acting like she wasn't even there. He placed his papers on the table, took out a pen, and rested his chin on his other hand as he focused on his work.
He stared at the first paper for a while and picked it up, "You're going to sign a contract with half-and-half?"
She was quick to grab it off his hands, "No! …or….I don't know. Maybe. I guess…I'm still thinking about it.
He didn't shift his eyes to look at her and wrote on his papers, groaning to himself, "This is the shittiest part of the job."
He's not even listening, her eye twitched, "All the paperwork is necessary to-"
"No one asked you," he interjected, not bothering to stop writing.
I hate this guy. Yaoyorozu felt frustrated. Todoroki doesn't treat her like this. She let out a heavy sigh and felt that it was going to be a long and annoying dinner. Instead of engaging conversation with him, she spent her time eyeing things in the restaurant that were interesting. She turned her eyes to his papers and saw one that read 'RESIGNATION'. Before she could read on…
"You should do it," he finally spoke up again.
So he was listening, she was quite shocked that he was concerning himself in her business, "You mean the contract with Todoroki?"
"If he's asking for your help, he must really fucking need it," he explained.
She sunk in her seat, "I don't think I'm qualified for the job."
He stopped writing. He didn't look at her as he spoke, "Than half-and-half bastard wouldn't have asked you."
"Well I-"
Bakugo slammed the pen on the table, loud enough to grab people's attention, "Why the fuck do you keep arguing with me? Its simple, moron. He needs YOUR help. Not anyone else - YOU."
Ah. It was simple. Todoroki asked for HER help. Now, she felt like an idiot for refusing. Why do I never see it? I really am sorry Todoroki…
She created a pen from her body and signed in the necessary areas, "You're right."
He picked up his pen and started writing again. He mumbled under his breath, but made sure it was loud enough for her to hear, "You're damn right I'm right."
Bakugo was violent, crazy, and arrogant, but he wasn't so bad at the moment. Yaoyorozu gave him a sweet smile. She sincerely said, "Thank you, Bakugo."
He stopped writing again for a moment, and looked at her this time. Click.
"Tch," he brushed it off and continued to focus on his work.
