Notes: Ahaha, so... this chapter is pretty much entirely characters I have little to no experience writing, and I have no idea if I did them justice. I hope I at least didn't mess up too badly!

Ah, also... there's a bit of a late-stage plot spoiler for World Heroes' Mission in this chapter, so if you want to avoid that I suggest coming back after you've seen the movie.

Please enjoy!

This is Where I Belong
Chapter 2

Shoto liked to think that he was quite good at keeping secrets.

He was quickly coming to realize, however, that he only had experience keeping his own secrets. Before coming to UA, he hadn't even had friends with whom to share secrets, really. Yet here he was now, trusted with Midoriya's secret, and he felt a bit like a fish out of water.

What was he even... supposed to do with such knowledge? If Shoto tried approaching Midoriya to talk about it, he would insist that he was fine and change the subject, even though it was clear that he was still struggling to sort things out. Whenever he glanced over at Midoriya during classes, the green-haired boy would be feverishly tapping a pen against an open notebook, muttering under his breath as he considered the page before him.

A few times Aizawa had even had to thwack him upside the head with a rolled-up textbook, reprimanding him with a gravely, "Focus, Midoriya," but the behavior still persisted.

It wasn't odd for him to mumble over a notebook, of course. What was odd was that, from whatever glimpses Shoto managed to steal, the paper always remained blank, Midoriya's fingers never moving the pen to form words on the vast, ruled whiteness.

In the three days since returning to Japan, Midoriya's vigorous tapping had bored a hole through half his notebook but accomplished little else.

If Shoto tried to ask about it, Midoriya would always insist he was fine and swiftly change the subject, but context clues suggested that his friend was struggling to compose a letter to Rody.

Midoriya needed help, and Shoto had no idea how to give it to him.

Bakugo was the only other person Shoto knew was aware of the context behind Midoriya's behavior, but he was even less willing to speak on the subject. That was to be expected, of course; Bakugo tended to respond to all of Shoto's conversation attempts with venom, just in general.

Still, even if it was expected, it meant that Shoto wasn't any closer to helping his friend.

It was incredibly frustrating. It was hard to even settle down to sleep that night when he could feel Midoriya's anxiety almost as acutely as if it were his own. He sat up in bed, debating how to best work away the wiry tension coiling in his chest, and eventually settled on making his way down to the first floor.

The common room was empty—Shoto had heard that Kaminari was hosting some sort of video game tournament in his room, so he supposed most of the ones still awake had congregated there. When he turned the corner towards the kitchen, however, he could see that there was someone bustling about near the stove.

"Oh, Todoroki-san! Good evening!"

"Yaoyorozu..." Regarding the vice-rep with a nod of the head, Shoto stepped cautiously into the kitchen area, trying not to get in her way. "Is it just you down here?"

Yaoyorozu nodded as she checked the contents of a teapot. "Yes, I was just preparing myself some chamomile tea before bed." She tilted her head at him, her ponytail bobbing with the motion, and began to reach for a second teacup. "Would you look like some? You look like you haven't slept much... Do you still have jetlag?"

"Ah... yes," Shoto said, choosing not to clarify that it was an answer to only the first question.

Yaoyorozu nodded, setting the second teacup on a saucer before serving the tea with grace. "I've heard that it takes as many days to recover from jetlag as the time zones you've traveled between, but this should help you relax for the time being. Here you are."

"Thank you, Yaoyorozu." Shoto gratefully accepted the tea and lifted it to his lips, allowing a moment to breathe in the sweet herbal scent before taking a sip.

Yaoyorozu sipped from her own cup, humming contentedly. "I imagine that the thrill of what you went through in Otheon must weigh pretty heavily on the mind, as well. It's nice to be able to relax a bit for once, after all that trouble with the Trigger Bombs. It was a boy local to Otheon who disarmed them, yes?"

Shoto gripped his teacup a bit tighter. "Ah... yeah. Rody." He stared down at the yellow liquid in his cup, then took another sip, letting the warm liquid spread across his tastebuds. It was calming, to a certain degree, but the mention of the brunet boy had his nerves wound up again. Pulling his mouth into a thin line, he considered the tea before turning his gaze to his classmate. "...Yaoyorozu, can you keep a secret?"

Her dark eyes seemed to light up the tiniest bit. "I... well, I would like to think so," she said diplomatically, and it occurred to Shoto that perhaps she had never had real friends to share secrets with before, either. The thought was more comforting than he would have expected. "Is there something the matter?"

Shoto paused; it wasn't his secret to tell, he knew, but he didn't know what else to do. "He confessed to Midoriya," he said in a rush. "Rody, I mean."

Yaoyorozu put a dainy hand up to her mouth, and the brightness in her eyes had intensified into a girlish excitement. "Really? What did Midoriya-san say?"

Shoto shook his head. "You can't tell anyone, please."

Her excited expression dulled just slightly as the situation fully registered. "Of course I won't, but... this is Midoriya-san's secret, yes? I don't think you should be telling me about it."

"I know," Shoto grumbled, staring into his tea again. "But Midoriya is struggling with how to answer, and I want to help, but I just don't know..."

Yaoyorozu placed her teacup on the kitchen counter with a sigh. "Well, if you were going to tell any of the girls, I suppose it's a good thing you told me. Todoroki-san, you absolutely cannot tell Uraraka-san."

"Uraraka?" He looked up at her, brows furrowing. "I wasn't planning to, but why...?"

The raven-haired girl tilted her head, putting a hand to her cheek in thought. "She would be... disappointed. Especially if she were to hear about it from anyone besides Midoriya-san himself, I believe." She traced the rim of her teacup with an index finger, eyes softening. "Do you know if he returns this boy's feelings? Midoriya-san, I mean."

Shoto stared harder at his tea. He hadn't yet taken the time to organize his suspicions on that matter, to piece together what he had observed from Midoriya ever since the day they left Otheon—and even before that, during the Trigger Bomb crisis and then their time in the hospital together, but... "I think he does."

"Has he told you this?"

"No, but..." Now that he was saying it aloud, Shoto was ever surer of his assessment. "I know Midoriya well. I've never seen him having difficulty analyzing something before, but it's clear that he's hit a roadblock here. So with Rody, I think... he's found himself facing an emotion unfamiliar to him. Something beyond just friendship."

Yaoyorozu nodded slowly, considering. "Yes, now that you mention it... I've never seen him as distracted in class as he has been for the past few days..."

"Umm..."

The two recommendation students jumped, their heads whipping to the entrance of the kitchen where Tsuyu Asui was standing.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," she said, raising her hand in an awkward wave. "I just thought it was best I make myself known before I accidentally eavesdrop on anything else. Momo-chan, can I have some of that tea, too?"

"Ah, yes! Yes, of course!" Clearly panicking a bit, Yaoyorozu nearly tripped over her own feet as she turned around to fetch another teacup.

"Um... how much did you hear, Asui?" Shoto asked.

"Call me Tsuyu-chan. I didn't hear much, I came in around where you said Midoriya-chan feels 'more than friendship' for the Otheonian boy." She nodded her thanks at Yaoyorozu when the tea was placed in front of her.

"Please don't tell anyone," Shoto stressed, trying not to sound too desperate while simultaneously wanting to express how critical it was that it didn't spread.

Asui blinked her large eyes at him over the rim as she drank her tea, then placed the teacup down again. "I won't, of course. Whether intentional or not, I think you told the two girls least likely to blab about gossip."

"Ah, yes!" Yaoyorozu placed a hand on her chest, looking a little flattered to have been regarded as so trustworthy. "Your secret—or rather, Midoriya-san's secret—is safe with us!"

"And I think you're right, by the way," Asui added, placing a finger to her chin in thought. "This is something that Midoriya-chan doesn't know how to analyze. If it were anything else, he'd probably just smash through whatever mental barriers necessary, but I think he knows that these feelings are too delicate for such rough treatment."

Shoto nodded, heartened to have someone agreeing with his assessment. "So since Midoriya is having trouble realizing this, I guess I'll just tell him directly that—"

He was then assaulted by opposing shouts of "Yes!" and "No!" from Yaoyorozu and Asui, respectively.

"Ah... I'm sorry," Yaoyorozu said, clapping her hands over her mouth. "Please disregard that, I don't have much experience with such things. I trust Asui-san's judgment more..."

Asui nodded. "Don't tell Midoriya-chan. He needs to figure this out for himself. If you want to be a good friend, you can give hints and insight to help nudge him towards the truth, but giving the answer outright would be overstepping your bounds." She took another sip of tea before adding, "And whatever you do, do not tell Ochaco-chan."

Shoto frowned. "Yaoyorozu mentioned that too. I really wasn't planning on it, but why is Uraraka even a factor? Is there something going on with her?"

The two girls turned disbelieving stares towards him.

"You really don't know?" Asui asked.

"I'm a little shocked," Yaoyorozu admitted. "You're in the same friend group as Uraraka-san too, aren't you? And you haven't noticed?"

Shoto was growing frustrated. "Noticed what? There hasn't been anything odd with Uraraka."

"She likes Midoriya-chan," Asui said point-blank. "I wouldn't even consider it a secret at this point, because I thought everyone in class knew, except Midoriya-chan himself. You really couldn't tell?"

"Not at all..."

Yaoyorozu gave a small giggle before looking guilty and covering her mouth. "I apologize, it's just a little surprising. You were able to evaluate Midoriya-san's feelings with such accuracy in just a few days, and yet you didn't notice that Uraraka-san has been pining for months..."

Asui gave a small, amused 'ribbit.' "Well, Todoroki-chan only has eyes for Midoriya-chan, clearly."

The phrasing caught Shoto off-guard. "Huh?"

"Oh, Todoroki-san, that was just a joke!" Yaoyorozu dismissed his confusion with a chuckle, but something in his expression must have concerned her, because the amused angle of her eyebrows eased and the laughter faded. "It... was a joke. Right?"

A joke... that would be the easy explanation, yes. But for some reason Shoto was hesitant to accept that. Feeling a bit lost, he looked to Asui, who was regarding him thoughtfully, head cocked to the side.

"I did say it as a joke, in a sense," she admitted, "but I don't think anyone would argue that Midoriya-chan isn't special to you to some degree. We all saw the sports festival."

Right—Midoriya was Shoto's first real friend, the first to regard him as more than just Endeavor's son, as more than just his quirks. So it only made sense for him to command Shoto's attention from time to time.

"But," Asui added, picking up her tea again, "from what I'm seeing right now, I think you should take some time to figure out what you're feeling, too."

Yaoyorozu's eyes widened. "Asui-san, are you saying...?"

"I'm not saying anything. It's not my place to put words in Todoroki-chan's mouth."

The gazes the girls regarded him with were far from unkind, but Shoto still felt entirely too exposed, too vulnerable, and so, so confused. "I... think I'm going to go back to my room," he said, stepping back from the kitchen counter. "Thank you for the tea, Yaoyorozu."

"Ah... yes, of course." Yaoyorozu looked a little hesitant, as if she wanted to gently encourage him to stay and talk some more, but she ultimately let him be. "Have a good night, Todoroki-san."

With a cordial nod, Shoto turned back towards the stairwell and began to make the trek back up to the fifth floor, his thoughts spinning.

Midoriya was special to him... yes, that was absolutely true. He was a friend. A very good friend. But Bakugo was his friend too, as was Iida, and Uraraka... but somehow, those friendships weren't quite the same as his friendship with Midoriya.

He'd been telling the truth, those scant few days earlier, when he had said he'd never considered a romantic relationship with anyone before. But if he did... if there were someone that he wanted to pursue such a relationship with, someone he would want always by his side, that would probably be—

He gripped the handrail tightly and groaned, dropping to his knees on the stairs as reality hit him like a ton of bricks. Really, of all the times to realize...

But it was fine. There was nothing that could be done about it now—and indeed, he didn't really want to do anything about it. This didn't change the fact that Midoriya was his friend, his friend who clearly reciprocated another boy's feelings, and Shoto only wanted him to be happy. All he had to do was accept it and keep quiet.

And Shoto was quite good at keeping his own secrets.

Notes: I didn't originally plan for Tsuyu to be part of his conversation but then she just showed up and I was like "ok sick we'll go with it."

We should be going back to Deku POV next chapter! (Thank goodness, too, because I find him way easier to write than Todo... lmao.)