Thank you all for the views, reviews, and all that fun jazz. I really dropped the ball on this story but I am here to finish it (a year or two later, whoops). But thank you all for sticking with it along the way!
Shouto was up far earlier than usual, even for him. The sun had barely began to rise over the horizon and he was wide awake, staring at the ceiling. His calm exterior was a mask for the torrent of various emotions swirling inside of him. Tonight he would be going on a date with Yaoyorozu. He looked up tips on how to be a gentleman on the first date and even called the restaurant ahead to ask them to have some flowers set aside on their table for her. He hoped that red roses wouldn't seem too forward for their first date. But thinking back to it, it feels that they've had many "dates" before this; from project planning to late night study sessions, this one just happened to be official. He checked his phone and noticed that it was a couple minutes after 5. He still had three hours before he even had to be at school to set up, 'better make the most of it,' he thought and walked to the shower.
Elsewhere
Momo was a hot mess. She may have had her dress planned out but everything else was a mystery. Should her makeup be bold or subtle? Should her hair be up or down, curled or straight? Should she wear heels and risk being taller than Todoroki? Would he mind that? She flung herself onto her bed with a 'humph' and stared at the canopy draped above her. It's barely sunrise and she's stressed about her attire. Since when did all of this matter?
Running her hands through her hair, she started giggling at herself. She was behaving like a regular teenager for once. Not worrying about a villain attacking them or the next training routine she should follow, but an outfit meant to attract the attention of her crush. It all felt so normal to her. She glanced at her phone, 5:15 am, she still had plenty of time before she had to go set up with Todoroki.
She threw a bit of makeup into a travel size bag, straightened her hair, and put her dress in a protective bag. While they were setting up, she didn't want to have to create things wearing that dress and risk it ripping or getting stained. She would just wait to put it on until it was closer to the actual presentation time. Instead she opted for the UA training attire; sweatpants, a tank top, and her jacket. She left her room and headed to the common area to grab some breakfast. With everything she planned on creating, she would definitely need the extra lipids.
Half of her classmates were nowhere to be found, presumably still sleeping, while the other half were silently eating in the common area, probably too stressed to sleep. Todoroki was nowhere to be found and she assumed he was one of the lucky ones still able to sleep. She grabbed her prepared meals from the fridge and decided to walk to school and eat there. It was a quiet, serene walk this early in the morning and although she arrived over an hour earlier than what the teachers had recommended there was already other students and administration setting up. It appeared that a majority of her classmates she thought were sleeping were really already here, including her partner. He was standing off in their roped off square of the auditorium, basic model plan filling the aquare, back to her, in deep thought. She immediately felt guilty and ran up to him, breakfast in hand.
"I apologize for being late, Todorki." He didn't hear her approach and jumped a little as he turned around. She noticed the way he eyed her outfit and she blushed, "I also apologize for my attire, I didn't want to create large things in my dress until it was time to demonstrate."
He nodded and cleared his throat, "That's understandable, and you weren't late, I was early."
"Could you not sleep?"
"Not really." They both nodded in silence then he glanced down at her food. "You should finish eating before we start setting up."
"Ah yes, of course!" As she finished her omelet and fruit she noticed the remaining students trickling in. They all were dressed in their best attire, for some that meant actually wearing a button up shirt, and for others it was a full gown with their hair done. Her eyes did a once-over then a twice-over of Todoroki. He was in a black suit with a red vest underneath, similar to what he wore on I-Island. His hair was neatly combed and he glanced between the layout plans and the model with one hand in his pocket. If it wasn't for his occasional movements, she would think he was a model pulled from a magazine. She slapped her cheeks to reground herself and did a little stretch in preparation for her quirk use.
Momo took off her jacket and stood next to Todoroki, eyeing the layout they had planned and what they had already made. While they finished the basic layout like the streets, smaller buildings, and some details they decided that putting everything on the platform would be too heavy and burdensome to move so they agreed that Momo would build the larger things the morning of. She lifted her shirt to expose her stomach and began pulling out a large structure. One after the other came out and she took a quick breath after five buildings. She glanced over and met Todoroki's wide-eyed stare. Glancing down, she noticed the state of her shirt and blushed before yanking it back down.
"Are you alright, Yaoyorozu?"
"Yes, I think I made these a little too quickly, that's all." The five buildings ranged in height and width, some were 6ft tall skyscrapers while others were wide business centers. She went back to creating while Todoroki was guiding her on what to build next. They moved the buildings into their proper locations and left a spot open for their test models in the center of the "city". Momo then went to put the finishing touched on the city by adding tiny model trees, cars, and people. By the time they had everything set up, it was nearly noon and almost time for the science fair to begin. Looking at the clock, Momo gasped and grabbed her dress bag and makeup and made a bee-line for the locker rooms.
Meanwhile
Shouto was always in awe of how much Yaoyorozu's quirk could produce. He admired how much training in both mind and body went into perfecting the process. He quietly watched as she grabbed her things and ran off and turned his attention to his peers and the now stream of parents and citizens coming in through the entrance. Thankfully they were one of the last presentations to go so she would have plenty of time to get ready. Not that she needed it, he thought she looked perfect no matter what she wore. He caught a familiar tuff of white hair bobbing through the crowd and saw Natsuo furiously waving at him. He inwardly groaned, if his dad wasn't going to show up, leave it to his brother to.
"Hey Shouto!" Natsuo waved and then took in the sight of the city-scape behind him. He let out a low whistle, "That's quite a project you got there, where's your partner?"
"Getting ready."
"Always the man of few words, Fuyumi said to say hi, she's with mom. She wants me to videotape your presentation and send it over."
"That's fine."
"Dad's coming."
"Okay." While things were getting better, it definitely was not okay. Why would Enji care if he presented something non-combat related. It felt very uncharacteristic of him. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of a red blur quickly approaching him. He turned and the air was caught in his throat at the sight.
There was Yaoyorozu. She must've been running because she was a little out of breath, tiny puffs of air coming out of her red lips. She put on lipstick. He glanced up to her face and saw she also put on some eyeshadow. Her hair was straightened and elegantly fell down her back and over her shoulders, melting in with the dress she wore.
The dress.
Todoroki had no words to describe her dress. Everything he thought of would not do it justice. Calling it elegant or beautiful or alluring would not be enough to capture how she looked. The asymmetrical dress covered enough to be practical for a school event but showed enough that it was beneficial for her quirk. The neckline was covered with a single strap stretching from one side of the dress over and around to the back. Her curves were perfectly accentuated in the dress. It was all-
"Stunning!" Natsuo said from beside him. "You look stunning." This earned a blush from Yaoyorozu and a glare from Shouto. Noticing the stare he was promptly elbowed by his brother, "What do you think, bro?"
"You look good." He cursed himself and went to try again, "You look really good."
"Please excuse my brother, he's never been good with words," Yaoyorozu let out a small chuckle, "I'm Natsuo, Shouto's big brother."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Todoroki," she politely bowed, "I'm Yayorozu Momo."
"Please call me Natsuo!" he insisted, earning another glare from Shouto.
"Shouldn't you be watching the first presentation?" Shouto said.
"You don't want to hang out with your brother? I'm hurt," he feigned getting stabbed in the heart.
"Ah, I didn't even realize the first presentation!" Yaoyorozu quickly hurried to the other side of the auditorium to watch Tsu and Koda present their Animal-Quirk-Comparison project leaving Shouto and his brother alone again.
"She's cute," Natsuo beamed, elbowing Shouto again, "I see why you like her."
Shouto didn't reply but allowed a slight smile to appear on his face and watched Natsuo walk away to listen to the other presentations.
Meanwhile
The parents and citizens were enjoying the presentations so far. Tsu and Koda's had real animals and showed how similar quirks can be to their animal counterparts, Midoriya and Uraraka were dropping many different objects such as a pound of bricks, mannequins, different food, and a pound of feathers from different heights to test not only their impact site but terminal velocity. Jirou and Kaminari's tested how electricity can move through different materials by using Kaminari's quirk to try and power Jirou's guitar while she was playing music through a variety of different cords made out of different materials, curtesy of Momo.
Reaching Mina and Hagakure's experiment, Momo was visibly nervous at how they were going to present their results. The duo showed off how they presented the questions, demonstrated a couple of the pictures and showed how different people's heartbeats sped up for different pictures. Mina's eyes then turned mischievous as she caught Momo's eyes in the crowd.
"We also found, that showing people the object of their affection, a crush so to speak, saw their heartbeat soar and elicited an extremely high positive response." While Momo was proud of their scientific vocabulary, she couldn't help but feel nervous at their implications and how it was directed straight towards her.
Momo decided to make her way back to their project to get ready, there was only one group remaining before it was their turn and although she's been in countless battles, there's still something nerve-wracking about presenting in front of others. Todoroki was there and seemed to sense her nervousness. He offered a gentle smile, one that made Momo's stomach flutter and not from nerves. She wanted to say something, anything, but couldn't find the right words to she opted to stand there in silence with him.
The crowd began to approach their square. There was probably a couple dozen people, some reporters, some interested citizens, but most were parents. Momo caught sight of Natuso holding a phone next to the new number one hero. While he normally seemed so intense and angry on TV when fighting, he looked softer standing in jeans and a polo, his expression was unreadable, just like Todoroki's, but caught sight of a smile when Natsuo muttered something to him.
"And next may I present to you Todoroki Shouto and Yayorozu Momo demonstrating common building materials effect to withstand stress!" Principal Nezu said before moving out of the way.
Momo snuck a glance at Todoroki, he remained impassive as always, "Hello and thank you for attending. As Principal Nezu mentioned, we are here to show how building materials hold up to stress put upon it by certain quirks. In this instance we are using ice and fire."
"Welcome to Test City," Todoroki chimed in. "This is where we will be testing the materials, however we need a building first." Upon saying that, Momo began to form one of their 8ft tall test buildings and placed it on their square. The crowd gave a couple 'ooos' and 'aahs'.
"And now we need ice and fire," Momo smiled, gesturing towards Todoorki. He returned her smile and stepped up to the platform. "Please everyone, take a couple steps back," she directed.
Todoroki began to freeze over the building, while Momo talked about different materials' melting point and freeze point. The crowd watched as Todoroki switched to fire and began to melt down the ice as well as the material. More 'ooos' and 'aahs' echoed through the auditorium.
This continued through all the materials they had listed and ended by demonstrating that more tests should be done with different quirks to determine the most suitable building material to withstand villain attacks. The crowd gave applauded then moved onto the next presentation leaving two people behind, Natsuo and Enji.
"You two did great!" Natsuo said. "Especially you, Momo!"
Momo felt her cheeks heat up and instinctively glanced to Todoroki to find a little bit of smoke coming from his side and a glare directed towards Natsuo.
"Yes, you both did… well I suppose," Enji muttered, his deep yet quiet voice catching Momo off-guard from his normal booming tone she heard on TV.
"Thank you so much, Natsuo and Mr. Todoroki," she bowed. "We appreciate your feedback."
"Mom and Fuyumi are going to love this," Natsuo smiled as he tapped away on the phone.
"Um Natsuo? If it's not too much trouble, can you send the video to me as well? My parents were unable to make it and I would like for them to be able to see it too."
"Of course Momo! Put in your number." He handed her his phone and she sent it to herself, smiling. While things may not always be the best with her parents, they would be proud to see her become such a well-rounded hero and student.
"I'm not sure what this had to do with becoming a hero, but it was, good," Enji said.
"Thanks," Todoroki muttered back. "You should watch the other presentations too, it would look bad for you if you didn't."
"You're right thank you Shouto," he turned and took a couple steps before calling over his shoulder, "It was nice to meet you, Ms. Yaoyorozu, I look forward to seeing more of you in the future."
Momo's cheeks turned bright pink and she shot a glance at Todoroki who also appeared to flushed and at a loss for words. She tried to muster something but was cut off by Natsuo's laughter as he clapped his dad on the back and they walked away. They stood their in silence for a couple seconds, not able to look at each other.
Then Momo piped up, "You should go hang out with them, Todoroki, they came all this way to see you."
"I should help you clean up though."
"Family is more important, I can handle this." He nodded and walked off, disappearing in the crowd as they watched Bakugo and Kirishima's very loud presentation on explosives.
Afterwards
With the last presentation finished and the auditorium nearly cleaned up, Shouto found Yaoyorozu in the crowd chatting with Kyoka and her parents. It was nearly 5pm and he made the reservation for 6:30, enough time to walk over and get there with time to spare. He had already said goodbye to his family and had endured a lifetime's worth of teasing from his brother, and occasionally his father, about Yaoyorozu. It was the most normal conversation he ever had with his family. Kyoka, noticing him just standing there, promptly said goodbye to Yaoyorozu and ushered her parents out of the auditorium, flashing a thumbs up to him on the way out.
"Oh Todoroki! I didn't see you standing there," she smiled at him.
"I wasn't here long."
"Did your brother and father already leave?"
"Yeah they had… things to do I guess," he shrugged. The true reason they left so quickly is that during all the badgering, Shouto let out that they were getting dinner after this and they didn't want to "interfere" with the "lovebirds" as Natsuo put it.
"Ah I see." They stood there in silence for a few more seconds.
"Would you like to get dinner now?" Shouto blurted out, "I found a nice place earlier."
"Oh! Yes, of course, I hope it's not too nice though, I don't want you to spend a lot of money on me," she twirled a strand of hair between her fingertips.
"But you're worth it," Todoroki deadpanned. If he wasn't so embarrassed himself for saying that out loud he would've cherished the way her face turned pink for a lot longer. Still acting on instinct, he grabbed her hand and led her out of the auditorium, much to the glee of the several students who were still cleaning up, including Mina and Hagakure.
They walked outside in the cool afternoon air and were a little ways down the sidewalk when Shouto noticed he was still holding her hand.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled, quickly releasing her hand. He was surprised when her hand reached back over to grab his.
"Don't be," she smiled. He relaxed into her grip. He liked the way her hands were soft and she was drawing a small circle on his knuckled with her thumb. He never knew such a small gesture like holding someone's hand could feel so intimate.
They made it into town in relative silence. Shouto barely noticed the busy streets and crowds of people, he was too busy admiring the way Yaoyorozu's eyes would light up when she noticed a dessert shop or the thoughtful smile that teased her lips when she saw another couple walking and holding hands. They were only a block or two from the restaurant when a loud crash broke them from their thoughts and they quickly parted hands, looking for the sound of the commotion.
People were running towards them so they pushed against the flow of the crowd to get to the source of the noise, they saw a three story building engulfed in flames, a stream of people screaming and running out while small bangs and crashes could be heard from inside.
"We have to help them!" they both said at the same time and immediately sprung into action. Seeing people on the rood, Shouto created an ice ramp up and helped the people slide down while Yaoyorozu crated some oxygen masks and began distributing them to people outside.
"There's more people stuck in there, please, help!" an older woman ran out crying to Yaoyorozu. Shouto could see her think for a moment before charging into the burning building. He quickly helped the last couple people slide down the ramp before sliding himself down and following her into the building. It was filled with smoke and the heat was radiating from the flames that filled the room, he began to try and put them out with his ice, but the sound of screaming caused him to stop and root out the source of the noise. He ran up a flight of stairs to see Yaoyorozu creating a support beam and saw from her body. She placed the beam underneath a noticeably saggy section of the ceiling and hearing footsteps behind her turned and smiled when she saw it was him.
"I'm going to cut in through the door, please stand back!" she yelled to the occupants on the other side. After hearing some footsteps, she began to cut through the door with ease and the three remaining occupants of the building, a father and his two kids, were able to clamor out through the hole.
"Thank you so much!" the father cried, picking up a child in each arm and following Shouto as they run out of the building. Yaoyorozu was not far behind, and they made it out onto the street, coughing heavily as the building began to collapse. Two heroes arrived and were able to quickly put out the flames with one's water quirk and the other's air quirk.
After catching their breath and being thanked by countless civilians, Shouto checked his watch; 6:25pm. They still had time to make the reservation. He glanced over at Yaoyorozu as she was answering the hero's questions regarding the incident. She turned to face him and smiled, a little bit of ash was smeared on her cheeks and her dress was singed around the bottom. She looked down and gasped, but then laughed.
"I guess we won't be able to go to that fancy place now."
"I still think we can," he smiled and grabbed her hand, leading her a few blocks down to the restaurant.
Apart from receiving strange looks from the waiters and other patrons, they had a remarkable dinner and Yaoyorozu was thrilled when she saw the red roses. Claiming with a blush that red was her favorite color. Shouto instinctively brought a hand up to his red side and felt himself smile, at least someone likes it. They shared dessert, a strawberry cheesecake, and went to leave.
"Please Todoroki, let me pay half, I feel bad."
"This was my treat to you, so no. Plus Natsuo would never let me live it down if I did."
She smiled and shyly looked down to her lap, "Then let me pay for the next date?"
"Next date?"
"Yes, I mean if you want to go out on another one, we don't have to, it was a silly idea. I'm sorry I got ahead of myself and-"
"I would like that," he cut her off and the anxiety on her face melted into relief and happiness.
They returned to the U.A campus around 9:30pm, making it back with a little time to spare before curfew. They stopped on the staircase leading up into the dorms. The lights in the common area were off and it looked like all the students were in their rooms. Shouto was inwardly relieved that no one would see them come back. He had enough teasing for the day.
"I had a really nice time, thank you," Yaoyorozu smiled.
"Of course Yaoyo-"
"You can call me Momo."
"Momo." He marveled at the way it felt to say her name. "I had a really nice time too."
"Maybe we can do something again, tomorrow perhaps?"
"Yeah, tomorrow is good," he couldn't help the excited smile break through onto his face and when he saw her cherry red lips curve upwards, he acted instinctively and swooped his head down for a quick kiss. He went to pull away but Momo's hands stopped him as she grabbed the lapel of his ash covered suit jacket and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss.
A few moments in pure bliss passed and they pulled away, both a little out of breath but smiling.
"I would like to do that again tomorrow too," Shouto said.
"I would like to do that again now," Momo countered, leaning in for another kiss.
Elsewhere
Pinky: Shared 1 image
Shared 1 image
Shared 1 image
Shared 1 image
Deku's Girl: THEY KISSED?!
Rockstar: the plan worked!
Froppy: should we tell them Azaiwa-sempai is on his way to lock the front doors for curfew?
NowYouSeeMe: nah, I overheard him and Midnight-sempai talk about them as couple, let him have this
Pinky: YOU HEARD WHAT? How could you not tell me? The betrayal!
Rockstar: I better get a big shoutout at their wedding
Pinky: PROJECT 2: JIROU AND KAMINARI!
NowYouSeeMe: YYASSSS
Froppy: they would make a good couple
Rockstar: WHAT?
Thank you for reading! I can now happily say the story is finished! You guys are great, thank you so much for sticking through and reading all of it. I probably wouldn't have finished it if not for all your kind words and favorites and such. You guys really are fantastic :)
