Elsewhere, a few minutes later
Jirou Kyouka's mood is currently: done with everything.
Being assigned to Bakugou's team is a draining enough experience for one day (even if following him let their team achieve a flawless 4-0 victory). Then, while she is recharging her mental batteries, Hagakure causes Jirou to choke on her food by literally appearing out of nowhere to update her about some Momo and Todoroki gossip.
Before she can start, Jirou raises her earjacks and threatens her: "I'm tickling you to death if you ever do that again."
At the end of Hagakure's romance report, she mentions that she is going to look for Ashido to spread the word. Before she can leave, Jirou stops her and convinces Hagakure to hold off on doing that. She pouts but promises not to share with anyone else and walks away.
If Ashido finds out, the entire class would definitely hear about it not long after. While Jirou is sure that the class vice-president has some sort of feelings for the hot-and-cold hero (she's seen the way her best friend looks at him), she also knows about her surprisingly timid nature when it comes to romantic matters. The class teasing her about it could cause her to do something unpredictable or worse: not act on her feelings.
If it involved any other girl in the class, Jirou would gladly join in on the fun, something that she sorely needs today. Heck, she would probably go with Hagakure to tell Ashido. 'You owe me one, Yaomomo.' She grumbles.
Then, when she finally thinks she has a moment to relax, Class 1-B drops by the dorms and Kendo beelines straight towards her.
Jirou inwardly groans. 'Great, I'm so popular today...'
"Hey Jirou, do you know where Yaoyorozu is? I would like to talk with her." Kendo asks.
She thinks about saying no to avoid more stress but tells the truth. "Yeah she's probably in her room, I'll go get her for you."
Why did she tell the truth? No, it's not because it's the right thing to do. Her real motivation: when she goes there to ask, she'll get to relax on her friend's comfortable bed for a few minutes.
She opens the door to Yaoyorozu's room without knocking. This isn't the first time she's doing this and certainly wouldn't be the last. Perks of being best friends.
"Yaomomo, Kendo and the rest of Class 1-B stopped by- '' She loses her train of thought when the first thing she sees after opening the door is Todoroki sitting down at the desk and holding a plate of cake. The owner of the room is nowhere to be found. "Er- hey, Todoroki."
Just in case she made a mistake in entering the wrong wing, she double-checks the room number and the room's decor and confirms that it is Yaoyorozu's.
"Hello." He replies and then stuffs a fork full of cake into his mouth.
She remembers that she is talking to the socially challenged Todoroki, and thus has to ask the obvious questions if she wants any information. "So… where's Yaomomo? And what are you doing here?"
"She went to the bathroom shortly before you opened the door. And I'm eating cake."
Jirou rolls her eyes. "I can see that you're eating cake... I do have eyes, you know."
"Yes, I know. I saw you rolling them just now."
It takes Jirou a moment to process what he just said. "...If that was a joke, it wasn't very funny." She comments, though there is nothing on his face to suggest that he is joking. "I'll rephrase: why are you here in Yaomomo's room? Is there something going on between you two?" She adds a teasing tone to the last line.
"Is there a reason I shouldn't be here? And 'something' is too general a term for me to know what you could be referring to."
She can't tell if he is trying to mess with her or not but what she does know is that he is driving her crazy. Half the fun in making snarky comments is seeing the other person's reactions and and the other half is dealing with their comebacks but… Todoroki's expression rarely changes and she's not sure if he understands sarcasm.
For her sanity's sake, she decides to end this talk by giving him a quick "Nevermind."
Jirou remains standing near the door and, with the newfound silence between her and Todoroki, her ears pick up the sound of flossing coming from Yaoyorozu's bathroom. Most people can't hear it, but to Jirou the sound of flossing is just plain gross, especially the sound when the floss is being pulled out of the teeth. After flossing, next in Yaoyorozu's post-meal routine is gargling... that she also did not need to hear.
The bathroom door finally opens after what Jirou feels is an eternity. "Hey, Yaomomo." she says exasperatedly.
"Hello, Kyouka! What can I do for you?"
She could start out with mentioning Kendo, but asks about the question that has been nagging her since she entered. "Sorry, but could you tell me why Todoroki's here first?"
"Todoroki-san is a very thoughtful classmate so he came to check on me after my training loss earlier and even brought me cake from the dessert shop that just popped up. Would you like some cake? It's delicious."
"Uh- I'm good, thanks. I just came here to tell you that Class 1-B stopped by and are chilling downstairs."
"Their whole class?"
"Yep. And Kendo said she wants to chat with you. Though we don't have to go immediately." It is here that Jirou plans to ask to lie on Momo's bed.
"They came all this way to our dorms, it wouldn't be right to keep her waiting. Are you coming with us, Todoroki-san? Otherwise, we'll be going ahead."
'There goes that hope. Nothing is going my way today…' Jirou thinks as she's already included in the return trip.
Todoroki eats the last of the cake on his plate and says: "I'm finished. I'm coming with you."
"How did you enjoy the cake, Todoroki-san?" Yaoyorozu asks as they wait for the elevator to land on the ground floor.
"Not bad." He states.
"What was your favorite part? Personally, I loved the fudge filling. It complimented the cake extremely well. I could feel the sugar melting in my mouth!"
He ponders for a moment before answering: "My favorite was your company. My sister told me that if you eat it with people you like the food tastes better."
"Todoroki-san, I was talking about the cake..." Yaoyorozu replies with an apparent blush on her face.
The gears inside of Jirou's head began to move. Did Todoroki just say he liked her? So the feelings really are mutual? They don't seem to be a couple yet, but if their relationship has already progressed to this point… maybe I just need to give them a little extra push? She formulates a plan and decides to execute it later.
The next morning
Jirou thought that she would be able to execute the plan last night, but the timing wasn't right. In terms of privacy, the morning is actually better since most of the class' early birds wake up and go straight to training except for Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. The ones that don't typically wake up early won't bother them either. The problem? Jirou herself belongs to the latter group and she knows it.
'If this doesn't work, I'm never waking up early again.' Jirou internally whines as she rubs her eyes.
Todoroki is sitting down on the living room sofa. He glances up from his book to greet her. "Morning, Jirou."
"Yo, Todoroki." She sees Yaoyorozu in the kitchen. Time to put her plan into action. "Those were some nice things you said about Yaomomo during training. It's too bad she wasn't there to hear it." She says loud enough for her target to overhear.
Yaoyorozu walks over as planned. "Good morning, Kyouka. It's rare to see you here at this time. And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I heard my name. You talked about me yesterday, Todoroki-san?"
"Yep, he talked up a storm. Said way more stuff than usual." Jirou answers. "I don't remember exactly what he said, though. Could you repeat it, Todoroki?" She lies. In reality, she already paid close attention to what he said when he mentioned her best friend's name and Hagakure's statement allowed her to remember exactly what he said.
"I'm not sure what it has to do with a storm, but I only said the facts." Todoroki hesitates to repeat himself, not because he doesn't remember or doesn't want to praise her, but because she once said that she felt pressured by his presence and he worries that repeating what he said earlier could pressure her more. "It's not much different from the analysis we discussed before. I said if they knew the threat that you posed, all four of them would have teamed up to crush you."
"But that's not all, is it?" Jirou asks. "You also said, and I quote: 'Rising to the challenge is Yaoyorozu Momo's specialty.'"
Todoroki is about to reply, but then realizes the contradiction in her statements and frowns. "Jirou, I thought you said you didn't remember what I said?"
"Don't sweat the details."
"...I just elaborated on the expectations that I had for her."
Yaoyorozu, who is carefully listening, hangs her head slightly and says. "I'm sorry if I disappointed you, Todoroki-san. I couldn't perform to your expectations after you said those kind words about me... I'll do my best to perform next time."
Todoroki responds by saying: "It's exactly as you said yesterday, the result doesn't matter much because it's only training. I'm not sure I could think that way, so you have a more mature outlook than I do. As long as you improve from it, you can look back at this as a worthwhile experience."
'Plus, you could never disappoint me. I'll always believe in you.' He chooses to keep this part in his head.
…Or so he hoped. The gaping mouths of both Yaoyorozu and Jirou implies that he failed to do so. He feels a lump form in his throat and his body feels heat that's not coming from his quirk. Half of him wants to apologize and say that he didn't mean it, but the other half wants him to continue and see where this goes. His instincts lean towards the latter. "As a hero or a leader I know you will be one of, if not the best in the future. You are highly intelligent and never stop giving effort to improve. So please, do not doubt yourself so much."
"Do you really mean that, Todoroki-san?" Yaoyorozu asks after a pause.
"Yeah, I meant every word."
"The truth is: I don't think I'm worthy of so much of your trust now. But I will definitely live up to your expectations in the future and won't let the pressure crush me like before." She says with a proud expression.
"Mhm, that's good. Confidence looks good on you. It makes you shine even more brightly than usual."
A heavy blush on her cheeks. "Todoroki-san, you don't know the effect your words have on me. In any case, I can't hold back after hearing that…" She takes a step closer towards Todoroki and her head leans forward. "Forgive me for being so bold." She closes the distance until they are only a few centimeters apart when he finally realizes that she is trying to kiss him. Once he realizes her intentions, he leans forward to close the distance.
After what only feels like a few seconds, he feels the need to breathe. Breathing through his nostrils didn't provide enough oxygen. Never before had he hated the necessities of the human body. When they break apart, he notes that he should make sure to inhale more air before starting to lean in again.
"...Are you guys finally done?" Jirou finally speaks up and turns towards them. Her plan worked too well; for one, she thought it would take a much longer conversation and perhaps a couple more tries to get through to them. She was also expecting to witness a confession first, not their first kiss turning into the beginning of a makeout session. When they started, she locked her gaze towards the wall to avoid the scene. Of course, that didn't stop her strong hearing from picking up the sounds that they were making even if she covered her ears. What she heard is something that she predicts she'll hear in her dreams tonight. "Get a room next time."
Hi, sorry for the long time between updates! I'm back from the dead to give you the final chapter of this fic. I spent a long time internally debating whether this chapter would be the last one and editing the ending of this.
Made a lot of changes to the original concept like throwing away a lot of crazy ideas that didn't fit i.e. the first draft had Jirou walking in on them feeding each other in Momo's room! I also didn't expect to end this on a kiss scene when I first thought of this fic. Was about to post them doing their kiss in the elevator but made changes at the last second to get what you see here. I learned a lot writing this and I hope it'll show on my next fic
Hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading~