Time period: 3 years after the final battle against the League of Villains
[16:58] Fuyumi: Shouto, it seems that Mom, Dad, and Natsuo can't make it for dinner so it's just going to be us. I bought too much food and, if it's just us two, the leftovers won't fit in the fridge. Do you have any friends that you can invite over?
[17:00] Shouto: I'll ask around.
[17:20] Shouto: I found one person that can come tonight. We'll be coming together.
[17:22] Fuyumi: Great! I'll get everything ready for three people. Dinner will be ready at 7:30 as usual, so get here by then.
[17:22] Shouto: Ok
If Shouto couldn't find anyone, Fuyumi was considering asking Natsuo to come here with his girlfriend instead of going out on their restaurant date, but she was glad it didn't come to that. Plus, this was a way to get to know more of her little brother's friends! While she was working on the food she was thinking whether he would bring over either Midoriya or Bakugou or someone she hadn't met yet.
'It'd be nice if he brought a girl here… Just kidding~ I can't imagine him doing that.'
She hummed as she cooked and when everything was finished it was already 7:25 before she knew it. Not 15 seconds after she looked up at the clock, she heard her brother's voice from the entrance.
"I'm back."
"Welcome back!" She called from the kitchen. Due to the way their house was designed, she couldn't see who he brought over from the kitchen so she went over to greet her brother and his friend.
"Hello, thank you for having me!"
She was untying her apron while walking and stopped in her tracks when she heard a female voice.
'What?! He actually brought a girl?!' She hurried her pace to get quickly a look at this mysterious female friend. When she got there, she assumed that her expression must have been funny because of Shouto's words.
"Fuyumi-nee, why do you look surprised? You're the one who invited us."
"Shouto… When I asked, I never expected you to bring home a girl!"
"You never specified which gender I should bring."
There were times when getting answers from her brother felt like pulling teeth, and this seemed like one of them.
She decided that it would be more efficient to spend time elsewhere, and so she turned her attention to their guest instead. Fuyumi recognized her as one of the heroes occasionally mentioned on television, Creati. She seemed extremely… excited? Or nervous? Her eyes were darting around every corner of their home as if trying to memorize it.
"Ah, sorry! I've been rude, I should always greet the guests first. I'm sure you have a busy schedule so thank you for coming on such short notice! I'm Shouto's sister, Fuyumi!"
"Not at all! It's a pleasure to be here. I'm Yaoyorozu Momo." She smiled and bowed.
Now that Fuyumi got a better look, she recognized her as one of the people in Shouto's hospital room after the raid on Shigaraki that ended in catastrophe.
'Those were some dark times. Best not to bring that up.' It was hard to tell in the hospital, and she did look attractive on TV, but in person she was stunningly beautiful. 'Not bad, Shouto.'
"You came right on time, I just finished preparing the food! Let's eat while it's hot. The dining area is over there." She pointed to the hallway on the right. "But you should wash up first. The dining room is the second door on the right and the bathroom is the third."
"If there's anything you can't eat, don't worry… I can also prepare something else if you want it! Not everyone likes authentic Japanese food." From what Fuyumi knew, the Yaoyorozu's were an extremely wealthy family, so she was slightly anxious that her food might not be up to Momo's taste.
"Ah, you don't have to worry, everything is absolutely delicious!" Fuyumi exhaled a small sigh of relief. "The food here is better than many five-star restaurants. Admittedly, I was only neutral about authentic Japanese food when I was younger, but since meeting Todoroki-san, I've come to enjoy it a lot more!"
"Is that so? So you eat with him a lot?" Fuyumi asked with more suggestiveness than she intended and Momo's cheeks turned light pink.
"Y-yes, we try and make time every week for at least one dinner. It's not always possible, but I happened to be free today and am glad to be here. I've also always been interested in seeing Todoroki-san's home. Now I can see where he got the inspiration for his dorm room."
"Huh? His dorm room?"
"Yes, he mentioned that his family's home's style is traditional Japanese so he remodeled his entire room to fit that theme. How did you do it again, Todoroki-san?"
"Hard work." He said without looking up. An awkward silence ensued.
'Maybe I misunderstood their relationship.' Fuyumi thought that Shouto might have been more talkative if their relationship really was what she thought it was but now she had her doubts. 'I need to at least break up this silence.'
"So how did you customize your dorm room, Yaoyorozu-san?"
"A king-sized bed in the middle along with a large bookshelf on the side filled with encyclopedias and academic material. The bed took up a lot of the space in the room." But the voice that responded was not Momo's, but Shouto's. Both Fuyumi and Momo stared at him with wide eyes.
"Todoroki-san, it's a bit embarrassing that you remember that from our first-year. I didn't expect the rooms to be so small so I made sure to use a queen-sized bed the next year."
"Why is it embarrassing? You remember my room as well."
"I only remember because it was so unique and original, even amongst all of our classmates!"
"I only changed it that way because it's what I was used to. If I didn't have a preference, I would prefer your room. I didn't care for the beds that the school provided us so I just used a futon, but your bed looked quite comfortable."
"If you ever wish to change to a bed, let me know! I think this design especially would look nice in this house…"
The two continued back and forth and seemed to forget Fuyumi was there. She didn't mind and had no intention of interrupting this scene. She only had one thought while watching them: 'Cute!'
"Sorry for asking you to help clean up." Fuyumi apologized while putting the leftovers in the fridge. Fuyumi was expecting to be forced to throw away some food even with a guest, but thanks to Momo no food needed to be wasted. It ended up being a very pleasant dinner, and certainly one that Fuyumi would not forget anytime soon.
"Ah, no need to apologize. I want to help however I can after that delicious meal." Momo replied while washing dishes. "Plus, I would feel bad if I didn't do anything after eating the most. Did I eat too much?"
"If you weren't here there's no way we would have been able to fit the leftovers in the fridge, so if anything we're the ones that are grateful."
Fuyumi told Shouto to take out the trash so now she could finally start questioning his female friend's relationship with her brother. She decided that the direct approach seemed best. "Are you Shouto's girlfriend?"
The plate in Momo's hand slipped and would've crashed onto the floor if Fuyumi hadn't somehow caught it just in time.
"I'm s-so sorry! I just wasn't expecting that question, but that's no excuse for that slip-up." Momo remembered that she didn't answer the question yet. "And we're not dating, Todoroki-san. We're only good friends."
"Please call me Fuyumi-nee." She said as she put the fallen plate in the completed pile.
She blushed and said "Y-you can call me Momo, then."
Fuyumi wasn't convinced by Momo's earlier denial, and so she continued. "Momo, you said that you go on dinners with him almost every week, right? What else do you do together? And does he do anything for you?"
"We go shopping occasionally, like last Sunday and the Saturday the week before last. It's usually me trying on clothes with him helping me with my bags. Sometimes, something catches my eye that would look perfect on him and I would ask him to try it on. Also, when I tell him that I'm staying overtime at work he tells me he's going to cook for me and puts it in the fridge ready to microwave for when I come back. And we also go to a festival together once a year."
No matter how Fuyumi thought about it, the shopping and festival trips sounded exactly like dates. And as for the cooking, she thought it was strange that sometimes Shouto would be late for dinner even when he wasn't working overtime…
"It all makes sense now!"
'What makes sense Todo- Fuyumi-nee?" She looked slightly alarmed at the sudden outburst.
"Sorry, I said that out loud."
Fuyumi decided that convincing Shouto that he was, in-fact, in a relationship would be a long-term project. He has repeatedly said no without hesitation whenever anyone (family or interviewers) asked him if he was dating anyone. He also never mentioned a word about these dates before. She might as well try and see if she could persuade Momo here and now.
"We have a lot to talk about. Let's start with the shopping. The truth is those days that he went shopping with you were his only two off-days in the past two weeks."
"Eh?"
"And the truth is, he doesn't like shopping. I remember when he was younger, I had to measure him here so that I could know his size when I bought him clothes." She stopped reminiscing when she saw Momo starting to panic.
"So, I've been dragging him with me to activities that he hates? And that was his only time-off? But I asked him multiple times if he was okay with it and he always said yes… Does that mean he dislikes me now for that?! "
"No, no! That's not what I was trying to say!" Hearing Momo misinterpret her words like this reminded her a little of Shouto. "It's the opposite, Momo. He wouldn't go on activities he doesn't like with just anyone. If he didn't want to do it he just wouldn't go, right?" She nodded so Fuyumi continued. "I'm not sure about the exact reason, but he keeps going because you're there."
"He mentioned on Sunday that he liked the way my eyes sparkled when I saw something I wanted to buy."
'Wow, I wasn't expecting that.' Fuyumi couldn't keep her smile from breaking out.
"See, he enjoys himself when he's with you! It seems you also like when he's with you. Or are you not interested in him?"
The dishes had been washed and put aside (Fuyumi noted that Momo seemed to be the type that worked faster when under pressure), so Momo had nothing to distract herself with. Her face was red when she mumbled "Of course I like spending time with him… and if he asked me out, I would say yes immediately. But I'm not sure he's interested in me…"
"Of course he's interested! In fact, he's trying to change himself for you."
Momo looked at her like she had three heads so Fuyumi sighed and said "Let's move on to the cooking. Shouto actually asked me to give him cooking lessons about three months ago. The reason I said it made sense earlier, is that I had no idea what he was learning it for, since, aside from the lessons, he wasn't cooking at all here at home. But now that I know it's for you it all adds up."
"I'm back. I took out all of the trash." Said the topic of the conversation.
Fuyumi wasn't done talking yet, so she sent Shouto on another task. "Shouto, could you wipe up the table now? All the dishes are gone so it won't take long."
"Sure." He grabbed the rag from the counter and made his way over to the sink to wet the rag where Momo was still standing. He looked curiously at her still red face and asked "Yaoyorozu, are you alright? You look like you have a fever."
"I-I'm fine, Todoroki-san." She managed but he wasn't convinced.
He put his right hand on her forehead and said "You're burning up. I'm going to use my quirk to cool you down."
After about a minute, he stated "That's strange, your temperature only seems to be increasing."
As adorable as this scene was, Fuyumi wasn't sure if Momo could take much more of this since the color of her face had evolved from bright red to dark crimson. She blurted whatever she could think of to make her brother leave. "Shouto, I can take over for you in helping Momo. I also have an ice quirk, remember? And she might feel more comfortable if it's another woman taking care of her. You can go clean the table now."
He looked like he didn't really understand, but still nodded his head and left.
"Sorry, I didn't think he would do that. Now, where were we?" Fuyumi said as soon as she was sure that Shouto was out of earshot.
"You mentioned him learning how to cook. Possibly because of m-me. So, he really might be interested in me?" Momo squeaked with a scarlet face.
"Ah, right. Yes! You can see from these efforts that he's trying his best to accommodate himself into your life."
"...Does this mean he's going to ask me to be his girlfriend soon?" Her eyes had a hopeful look.
"That um- might take a while, honestly. He's not the fastest when it comes to these things." Fuyumi grimly replied. She felt bad for not giving the answer that this girl wanted, but it was the truth that she needed to hear.
Momo had a dejected, but determined look on her face when she replied.
"I-I'll wait as long as it takes for him." Momo barely whispered.
Now, it was Fuyumi's turn to look at her like she had three heads. 'Did she really just say that?'
"Although I just said that, I'd rather not wait for the rest of my life…"
"Don't worry, Momo! You should know that I'm rooting for you now and you have my support! I'll do whatever it takes to make sure he can see that he's lucky to have you."
"Thank you, Fuyumi-nee." She bowed and really did look grateful.
"And thank you, Momo, for being Shouto's girlfriend. Even if he doesn't realize it." Which once again made Momo flustered. Fuyumi was having too much fun with this.
After Shouto walked Momo to the station and came back, Fuyumi was waiting for him.
"Welcome back, Shouto. So did anything happen when you walked her back? Did you talk with her on the way?"
"No, we just walked. She seemed like she was thinking hard about something so I didn't want to disturb her."
She sighed. No progress tonight, but Rome wasn't built in a single day.
"By the way, Shouto, it's been a while since I've asked you, but are you dating anyone?"
"No."
"Can you think of anyone you would like to date in the future?"
"No."
"...Momo seems like a nice person."
"She is."
"..."
His expression didn't change at all when he uttered these one or two word responses, which frustrated Fuyumi.
She sent him a deep frown that he returned with a bewildered look. She thought to herself 'I have my work cut out for me.'
This was originally supposed to be the beginning part of another TodoMomo fic that I was working on but it just kept going until it became a full story~
Thanks for reading!