Todoroki had never been over a friend's house before. He wasn't sure what was expected of him. His first thought was that he should bring something but they were going straight there after school, so there wouldn't be any time to do that. He would just do his best to be a courteous guest and maybe not think about being alone in Midoriya's room.

Too late. He was there.

Somehow they'd traveled from the school, to Midoriya's home, Todoroki had greeted his mother, and now they were here. Todoroki was sitting at Midoriya's desk and his host was sitting cross legged on his bed. Of course, Todoroki noticed all of the All Might paraphernalia, almost like he was in a museum dedicated to the hero. But what took most of his attention was how comfortable Midoriya looked in it all.

"I don't know why", Midoriya started. "But some of the scenes are a little difficult for me. So I think we should try to practice outside of school as much as possible. If you're not busy, that is."

It was a half-lie. Or a half-true. Or maybe both. Midoriya knew exactly why he was having trouble with some of the scenes. But he couldn't say it to Todoroki. His friendship meant everything to him. There was no way that he could let his feelings ruin it. He just needed to get through the festival with their relationship intact.

"I can make time", Todoroki said. He'd much rather be doing this anyway. There wasn't much for him to do at home besides training and he figured he could miss an hour here and there to rehearse with Midoriya. Being alone in close quarters with his crush was just a perk. Just a perk of course.

"Great! Then we can start with this one." Midoriya picked a scene that he was totally fine with, but needed help finding the right voice for. If all the parts he chose were the romantic ones, Todoroki might catch wise. It went fine and Midoriya felt more at ease with being alone in his room with him. He was no longer thinking about pulling Todoroki onto the bed and kissing him.

Instead, his mind was focused on playing the part of the hero. He wasn't even sitting on his bed anymore but was now, standing up and gesturing, his script in one hand while the other moved with his words. He hadn't even noticed when they got to one of the love scenes.

"The dragon king must have spies even here, at the festival", Midoriya said.

"Here, take my hand", Todoroki held out his hand. He had moved from the desk long ago.

Midoriya took it without thinking but seconds later his brain went into overdrive. Todoroki looked unbothered but internally he was counting all the times he and Midoriya had held hands. The number wasn't high enough. Todoroki pulled him close and put an arm around his waist.

"Dance with me."

"M-m-m-maybe we should wait to do this scene!" It was a miracle that Midoriya hadn't melted into a puddle when Todoroki had said that. He gave credit to the fact that it was his ice arm that was currently wrapped around him, as ridiculous as it sounded.

"Yeah! Because! You know! I don't know how to dance so..."

"I could teach you", Todoroki offered. He knew the basics, enough to look good for a school play.

"You could? Oh! I have an idea!" Midoriya pulled away from his hold and grabbed his phone to send a class wide message.

"We should have a practice session for dancing, since there's a whole scene of it", he said to Todoroki, explaining what he'd just sent. A bunch of their classmates replied, agreeing. And as it turned out, Yaoyorozu and Shinsou had some experience.

"Now that that's settled, why don't we do another scene?", Midoriya suggested.

"Okay." Todoroki found nothing wrong with the way Midoriya had decided things, but he couldn't help but feel like he'd lost something when he pulled away from his half embrace after offering to teach him dancing. He let it go, focusing on the lines in his script. Perhaps he'd made his friend uncomfortable, suddenly grabbing him like that.

The rest of their practice went fine, he was even able to recite the more poetic parts of his character no problem. Although Midoriya never met his eyes during that part. He tried not to think about why that was. When it was time to go, he said his goodbyes to Mrs. Midoriya and thanked her for her hospitality. She told him she couldn't wait to see the class performance.

Todoroki hadn't mentioned the play to anyone in his family yet. He hadn't really wanted anyone to come and see. Especially not his father, who would probably call it a waste of time and force him not to participate. He couldn't stomach the idea of someone else going up on stage and saying these kinds of things to Midoriya, as hard as it was for him to do it himself.

But maybe, if it all went well afterward, he'd tell his mother about it.

Midoriya should have known that he hadn't cleared an obstacle when he'd avoided dancing with Todoroki the other day. He had just switched it with another struggle. Namely having to deal with Shinsou's questions. He didn't even have to use his quirk to get an answer out of Midoriya. He was just that bad at lying and dodging questions from his friends.

And due to the nature of his quirk, Shinsou knew how to ask all the right questions. He'd already known about Midoriya's crush on Todoroki.

"How do you know how to dance anyway?", Midoriya asked as Shinsou led him through a simple step.

"I took classes when I was younger. So, are you going to use this play to confess your feelings?"

"Like I could do that", Midoriya said, looking down at his feet.

Shinsou looked at Todoroki, who looked like he was trying to freeze him with one eye and burn him with the other. Todoroki had already helped a few of his classmates with their dance moves and was taking a break. Shinsou didn't really like being in the middle of things, but at this rate, Todoroki and Midoriya would drown their class in sexual tension and no one would survive graduation.

He leaned in close to whisper to Midoriya, ignoring the tingle in his back from staring eyes.

"I'm going to dip you. When I do, watch Todoroki's face."

"Wha-huh?"

Suddenly the room was upside down and his face was inches away from Todoroki's. How did Shinsou even get them so close? Midoriya could actually feel Todoroki's breath on his face for a glorious two seconds before Shinsou brought him back up. Kirishima's proclamation of how manly that looked was lost on Midoriya, whose ears were filling with blood he was blushing so hard.

"Well? Did you see?", Shinsou asked.

Midoriya was trying to answer but his words were having an all out brawl to get out of his mouth and nothing coherent was coming out. Shinsou sighed tiredly. He cared for and respected Midoriya dearly, but his friend was a mess when it came to his own life. If things kept going at this pace, he would need to enlist some help.

Hero: The dragon king must have spies even here, at the festival.

Prince: Here, take my hand.

Hero: [grabs the prince's hand]

Prince: [brings hero into a dancing embrace] Dance with me.

Hero: What? Why?

Prince: If there are spies, we have to look like we belong. Just follow my lead.