Momo Yaoyorozu wasn't well acquainted with casual social gatherings. She was accustomed to fancy parties where formality was a big part of the event, therefore, interacting with her classmates' loud and vibrant ways at night was not common amongst her social interactions.
However, when Jirou and Mina had insisted she came with them to the common room, she couldn't refuse them. After all, they were one of her closest friends. And they promised her a night of comfiness, pajamas, and tea. And maybe even some movies.
The promise of a calm night was what got her to be in the common room. After preparing some tea, Momo was sitting on a couch, dressed in comfortable pajamas.
She was drinking lavender tea, closing her eyes as a feeling of warmth enveloped her when the room's door opened brashly.
Furrowing her eyebrow, she saw most of her classmates enter through the threshold and she sighed, wondering how she didn't see that one coming. Of course Mina wouldn't settle for something quiet to celebrate the end of their third year.
After all, going through lots of hardships did make the 3-A Class of UA a tight-knit group. So it was no that much of a surprise seeing them together celebration such an important moment.
Momo lowered her cup of tea and put it on top of the table.
She wasn't really mad at them lying subtly to her, but she had been indeed prepared for a quiet night.
Upon seeing her conflicted expression, Kyouka came immediately close to her and smiled unapologetically. "I'm sorry Yaomomo, but don't be mad. I can see you enjoying this night in a bit.''
Momo furrowed her eyebrow. "What do you mean?''
Mina jumped from behind the couch and flopped down on the seat next to Momo. "We know,'' she whispered, while leaning into Momo's space, "that you will enjoy this night greatly if some dual-haired classmate of ours participates too and lucky for us, Midoriya —bless that boy— is getting him as we speak.''
Momo blushed furiously, justifying herself quickly, "I don't know why you would imply that Todoroki-san is the reaso—'' However, she didn't finish because the door opening again cut her words.
She looked up and Midoriya was walking with a very stoic-faced Todoroki, dressed in comfortable pajamas that reminded her of his first hero costume design.
Taking a lower voice tone, Yaoyorozu whispered to Mina, "I'm certain we will enjoy the night." She looked sideways at Todoroki's frowning expression, "and Todoroki has nothing to do with that.''
When Todoroki started walking towards them with Midoriya by his side, Yaoyorozu stood up and went to put the kettle to boil again, in hopes of drinking another tea.
A few hours later, everyone was doing their own thing.
Shouto was sitting quietly on the floor, mostly listening to a very talkative Midoriya telling yet another All Might story —about the Symbol of Peace's beginning— meanwhile Iida accompanied his tale with hilarious and enthusiastic arm movements.
Upon hearing a loud sound, he looked over the source, only to find Mina making a clicking noise with a fork against a knife, standing up on a table. Looking at the group, the pink hero grinned, and yelled, "LET'S DO SOMETHING FUN! LET'S PLAY TRUTH OR DARE!''
A great part of the class giggled and immediately agreed, except for Katsuki Bakugou. "Tch. Like hell I'm playin' that shit!'' His eyes moved angrily over the whole group and he started to get up.
Kirishima, next to Bakugou, pouted at him. "C'mon Bakubro! It's just a game. We will have lots of fun. I promise.''
Shouto tuned them out. He wasn't very keen on social interactions, mostly due to his childhood —or lack thereof. Instinctively, Todoroki looked over at Midoriya and Iida to see their reactions at Mina's words.
He didn't know exactly what Truth or Dare entailed, so when his friends moved to form part of the circle his classmates —and friends— had formed in the center of the room, Shouto moved too.
Been previously lost in his thoughts, he followed a little behind his friends, so when he looked for a place to sit, Shouto didn't find one next to his two friends.
Iida looked at him apologetically, so he realized he had to continue to look for a place to sit amongst the group and he found a vacant spot next to Momo Yaoyorozu, who waved and smiled at him. She was dressed in a red pajama, sipping a cup of tea. A feeling of warmth surrounded him suddenly upon looking at her, his left-side feeling hotter all of the sudden. He looked quickly at his left arm, wondering if he had activated his quirk without noticing? To his relief, there weren't big flames coming from his arm. Sighing at this, he walked over to where Yaoyorozu was sitting.
Shouto sat down and inclined his head towards his friend. "Yaoyorozu, do you know what we have to do in this… game?''
Momo blinked at him. "In Truth or Dare?'' Shouto nodded, "Mina said this time we are playing with a bottle. There is the possibility of choosing either truth or dare when the bottle points at you. I suppose that if you refuse to do a dare, there could be a punishment or simply you don't get to play anymore, Todoroki-san''.
Todoroki nodded. He didn't quite get the point of the game but it seemed entertaining to the group, so he decided to play along.
They started playing. The bottle first fell on Midoriya and Sero got to ask him. When the green-haired hero decided on a dare, Sero smiled, saying, "Midoriya, I dare you to call All Might and tell him you'll dye your hair blonde to honor him!''
Then, there were a series of truths and dares, and Yaoyorozu was listening attentively to all of them, laughing when something funny came up. Todoroki, alongside her, didn't register most of them, however, because he still felt a strange sensation, like his quirk would suddenly activate any time now.
Momo Yaoyorozu laughed at Iida's attempt at breakdancing when Mina elbowed her, breaking her gaze away from the hilarious scene.
"He's still staring at you,'' Mina said, bouncing lightly in her seat, "Todoroki's been looking at you since he sat down, to be honest,'' she finished, putting her hand on her chin, in a thoughtful gesture.
The creation hero blushed automatically, side-eyeing Todoroki, who was, indeed, looking at her steadily. Not quite knowing what to do, she then looked up, gazes finding each other and Todoroki breathed deeply. It seemed like ages passed at that moment, Momo not knowing what to do and Shouto still feeling that strange sensation that made him feel warmer than usual. Nevertheless, they were abruptly interrupted by Asui shouting, "hey, Todoroki-chan! Todoroki-chan!''
Todoroki looked away reluctantly, focusing on Asui instead, asking, "what?''
"It's your turn now because the bottle pointed at you,'' Asui told him like it was obvious. "Truth or dare?''
Todoroki's usually impassive stare changed slightly, a little bit conflicted at having been so focused he didn't catch all the noise around being about his lack of attention.
He still was silent when Momo touched his elbow. That snapped him out of it and he looked at her.
"Todoroki-san, it's okay if you don't want to play,'' Momo reassured him softly.
He smiled slightly at her. "It's alright, Yaoyorozu-san. I just… got lost for a bit. But I think I would like to play, at least one round,'' he breathed and shifted his position, looking at Asui dead in the eye, "I choose truth. I guess it's always best to face whatever comes.''
Asui smiled, thinking about what to ask. "Ah! I got this,'' she grinned, happily, "What do you think you'd look for in a person to be your partner?''
He cleared his throat, still feeling incredibly warm on his left-side, "what do I look for in a partner? I think that's an easy one. Someone that would work well with me in every aspect,'' he said as (and he didn't exactly know why) Yaoyorozu's face from the day they took their practical exam in their first year at UA flashed on his mind, "and, most importantly, someone that has trust on me and, at the same time, someone that I can trust back," he continued, remembering the Kamino Incident, "like for example, how Yaoyorozu-san trusted me when we saved Bakugou from the League of Villains,'' he stated, bluntly.
Yaoyorozu shifted a little then. And everyone got suddenly quiet. Todoroki looked at Yaoyorozu's red face and suddenly felt like he hadn't quite said the right words. He felt like he may have been too blunt but he honestly didn't know what was wrong with his words.
The silence was broken when Bakugou, after processing everything Todoroki said, yelled, "oi! Half and Half brat! You didn't save my ass for shit! Stupid Half and Half, who d'ya think ya' are?''
Todoroki sighed, deciding to ignore Bakugou to look at Yaoyorozu. Softly, he looked at the girl currently looking down at her lap. "Hey, Yaoyorozu. I—'' He was suddenly interrupted by Momo.
"I need to go to the restroom, Todoroki-san. Excuse me,'' she whispered, still not looking at him directly.
Todoroki sat there, still confused.
Midoriya coughed, attracting all the looks that were previously upon Todoroki and Momo. "So, whose turn is it now?''
Momo felt herself getting flustered upon remembering Todoroki's words. Looking at herself in the mirror, she wondered... could he mean…? Or was it a poor choice of words? But no, she thought, 'Todoroki is usually blunt but his words have always seemed right.'
Deciding to try to reign in herself a little more, she splashed water on her face. Momo felt ashamed then and scolded herself at such a disastrous way to react just moments before. She exited the restroom, a little bit conflicted but determined to apologize to Todoroki and her poorly mannered reaction.
Upon walking, she collided with someone. "I am so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going,'' she said and upon realizing it was Todoroki she stated, "Oh! Todoroki-san, I'm sorry for behaving in such a rude way too! I—'' She was interrupted by Todoroki at that moment, making her look down at the floor.
"I'm the one that should be apologizing, Yaoyorozu-san. I shouldn't have said such poorly educated words when answering,'' he said, Momo's expression changing suddenly to one that seemed more dejected, "I shouldn't have implied I just started trusting you when the Kamino Incident took place, I have trusted you since way before, I can't exactly pinpoint the time but I have.''
Momo's head instantly got up, looking at him questioningly, "Todoroki-san, what? I thought you would deny what you said, not that you trust me since before…''
Todoroki moved his head slightly to the side. "But I do trust you, Yaoyorozu-san. It wasn't a lie.''
Momo blushed. "I trust you too, Todoroki-san!'' she said, in a cheerful manner.
Then, Shouto smiled at Momo, happy at seeing everything was alright. All the anxious feelings upon thinking he had done something wrong before banished. And then, a realization hit him. He liked her smile, he liked having her trust and trusting her back, he liked how happy she got at drinking tea, he liked the way they complemented each other.
His expression changed at that moment and he got closer to her, saying, "I should say, too, that I meant everything else I said before, as poorly expressed as it was. What we have and could have is something that I look for in my life,'' he stated firmly.
Yaoyorozu felt like this day was going to have her blushing the entirety of it. She felt really warm on the cheeks, and it was intensified more at each word Todoroki continued saying but at that moment it didn't matter. What mattered then was the feeling of warmth enveloping her heart, the feeling of happiness.
"I look for what we have and could have too,'' she said softly, putting her hand on his right arm. He looked down at her hand and moved his arm, placing his hand on top of hers.
Todoroki noticed, at seeing her hand on top of his right (and icy) side, that, maybe, the sudden warmth on his body wasn't his quirk malfunctioning at all.
The warmth he felt now was Momo Yaoyorozu's presence at his side.