Stupid Cupid
Chapter 4: Phase 3
Shoto awoke Sunday Morning to the murmuring sounds of Bella sleeping by his ear. She curled up like a cat, her face frozen in a goofy smile, all while a bubble hung from her nose in clear indication she was fast asleep. Her little snores and giggles were both amusing and annoying.
"Mmmph," He grunted and slowly sat up wiping the sleep out of his eyes. "So much for all of this being some elaborate dream. Guess it really is a conditional quirk." He yawned and ruffled his hair taking a glance at the study table he'd neglected to put away last night. He was then reminded of his study date with Midoriya, and his cheeks flushed.
"WHA!" The bubble on Bella's nose popped as Todoroki's hormones sent her inner alarms to go off. "What happened?"
"Good morning," he greeted her.
"Oh hoooo…" Bella sat up, her pink hair in disarray and bunny pajamas ruffled. "Look who's all flushed and happy this morning. I take it you had good dreams about Midoriya-kun?"
"Mmmm…" Todoroki absentmindedly touched his lips. "Bella… you said I shouldn't kiss Midoriya yet. Why not?"
"Precaution." Bella explained and sat up doing stretches as she spoke. "Kissing is a very intimate form of expression, but many people forget that. Ah…" she paused mid-stretch and scratched her cheek. "How do I keep this PG13…"
"I'm eighteen you don't need to hold back on my account." Todoroki pointed out.
"No, not you, the readers." She pointed outward and Todoroki looked around confused.
"What readers?"
"Ugh never mind, I'll stop breaking the fourth wall. Um…" she closed her eyes thinking hard. "Let's just say a lot of people focus too much on the physical aspects of a relationship. They tend to forget the importance and purpose of one."
"...and that purpose is?"
"Feelings, Todoroki-kun!" Bella floated up in his face and knocked him on the head with her fist. "Your feelings for each other is what matters."
"Ow!" He frowned. "You know you may be small, but that's really starting to hurt."
"Good! Maybe the pain will knock some sense into you." She crossed her arms. "Look, It's good to have a physical attraction to Midoriya, and it's good to make him aware of it… but if all you guys have is a physical attraction then your relationship will easily fizzle out. You'll get bored of each other, and stuff like that leads to cheating, and jealousy, and eventually you'll break up."
Todoroki went pale at the explanation and he hung his head.
"Relationships are scary. Maybe this isn't such a good idea."
"Oh don't be like that. Your relationship with Midoriya isn't focused on physical attraction and that's a good thing. It was clear from your study date yesterday that the two of you enjoy spending time together, so we just need to make it happen more often."
"How do we do that?" Todoroki asked still looking a bit wary about his situation.
"By moving onto phase 3!" Bella posed, the phase list popping out to remind Todoroki of the steps."
"Phase 3… performing romantic gestures?"
"Yep, and the best way to do that is to ask Izuku-kun on a date!"
"A date?"
"Yep! It's Sunday, and there's no school, so it's the perfect time for you and Midoriya to spend more time together. You can go to a movie, play at the arcade, have dinner…" she listed off suggestions, holding up a finger for each one.
"Midoriya usually trains with Bakugou on Sundays." Shoto rubbed the back of his neck. "He may not want to go."
"So convince him. Bakugou is your love rival whether he knows it or not. Anytime he monopolizes Midoriya, it affects your compatibility score and will ultimately affect Midoriya's decision on who to pursue a relationship with."
Todoroki's face went blue again. This relationship business truly was terrifying to think about. It seemed like just the slightest misstep could cost you the affections of your partner.
"Suddenly my belief in monogamous relationships has just gone down another 10%."
"Don't be such a downer. Show some confidence, Shoto!" She slaps his shoulder then pops over to his closet. "Come on, let's get you dressed and ready for- HEY! Where do you think you're going?" She called out when he walked past her and to the door.
"To get some breakfast. Whatever plans you have in store can wait until my stomach is full." He decided and left her behind.
~Meanwhile~
Izuku stared down at his bowl of cereal with a dazed expression. The events of the previous night had kept him awake with new sensations and thoughts he hadn't quite organized in his head. He'd always enjoyed spending time with Todoroki, but something about their interaction last night had felt… different.
There was this physical attraction to him he'd never given any thought to before… mainly because he and Todoroki had never really had any kind of intimacy together before. He always got nervous and jumpy when people came in too close to him, girls especially since they triggered his libido. Now all of a sudden Todoroki was triggering the same warning bells as the girls and it made him feel…
...different.
"What's wrong with me?" He pushed his bowl away and lay his head on the table, letting the cool surface ease the flush rising in his cheeks.
"Good Morning, Midoriya." Shoto greeted him from behind and had Izuku jolting up in surprise.
"Gah!" He jerked sideways to see Todoroki and raised his hands up instinctively to cover his blushing face. "G-Good Morning, Todoroki-kun."
"Oh?" Upstairs Bella checked her sensor that was going off like crazy, and she had to grin at the read out. "Oh, ho, ho, looks like Shoto wasn't the only one who enjoyed the events last night. Izuku's hormones are rising to their peaks! I better get down there!" She squeezed through the window and hurried downstairs to the main level. She peeked her head in through the window and watched Izuku and Todoroki interact.
"Thanks again for studying with me last night. It really helped." He offered a smile. This put Izuku at ease a little and he slowly lowered his arms to return the smile.
"My pleasure, and you really helped me out too with Math and Japanese History."
"Anytime…" he glanced down at Izuku's unfinished breakfast and looked around. "I'm surprised we're the only ones down here."
"Yeah, most everyone has gone out for the day." Izuku reached for his bowl and took another bite.
"I see…" Todoroki glanced up, frowning a little as he caught Bella's not too subtle signal and sighed. "Midoriya, if you're not doing anything today, would you like to go out with me?"
Izuku choked, the milk from his cereal coming up his nose and he hurriedly reached for a napkin to cover and cough it out.
"W-What?" He managed to squeak out once his lungs were clear.
"I normally go to visit my mother on Sundays, but my father's going to be there and I'd rather avoid him if at all possible." He rubbed the back of his neck. "So I was wondering if you'd like to spend the day with me."
"Uh, well, um…" Izuku fidgeted as he tried to process this. "I was gonna do some training today since I missed out with Kacchan yesterday."
"I see…" Todoroki slumped, and grunted a little when Bella banged on the window with more "subtle" movements. "We could train together afterwards, but I was thinking we go see a movie, or to the arcade or something."
"Todoroki-kun…" Izuku laughed nervously. "This could just be my imagination, so if I'm wrong don't take it the wrong way but… are you asking me out on a date?"
"Yes." Todoroki answered directly and Izuku felt little arrows of attraction stab him in the heart and gut. "Is that okay?"
"Well I… ah… that is…" Izuku tried to process the information, but his brain was beginning to overheat.
"If it's money you're concerned about you don't have to worry. I'll pay for everything since it was my idea." Shoto assured and had more little arrows stabbing into Izuku's heart.
"Oh god, something is wrong with me." Izuku whispered to himself and stumbled to his feet. "Look, Todoroki-kun I'm really flattered, but I'm kinda confused on your intentions. So I don't know if it's a good idea."
"My intentions?" Todoroki frowned. "I don't understand."
"Well I mean it's not that I don't find you attractive, because I mean who doesn't, but we're both guys and that isn't exactly supported in our country, unlike America where you can pretty much get away with anything, but then again they still have to deal with a lot of hate crimes and discrimination despite the legality of things, but anyway-"
"Midoriya…" Todoroki blinked as Izuku went into his usual ranting, mutter, mode.
"-that being said, I don't want to be a snub, especially since I do support all kinds of relationships and wouldn't want to discriminate against you or your preferences, but I'm just not sure about my own preferences. I mean we're still teenagers, and I guess we're in that curious stage of our lives where we wanna try new things, and I suppose it wouldn't hurt for me to experience a same-sex relationship at least once in my-"
"Midoriya!" Todoroki repeated, a little more forcibly but still couldn't quite break the rant.
"And at any rate maybe this will be a good opportunity for us to-"
"SNAP OUT OF IT, DEKU!" Todoroki shouted at him, doing his best Bakugou impression. Izuku jumped and held his arms out again as if expecting an explosion and he glanced around.
"Eh? Whoa, was that you?" Izuku laughed. "You sounded just like, Kacchan! That was amazing."
"Thanks… I think." Shoto lowered his head, a little put off that it was his impression of Bakugou that had snapped Izuku free of his rant. "Listen, Midoriya, I didn't mean to upset you with my invitation."
"Huh?" Izuku blinked. "Upset me?"
"It's clear that you're not entirely comfortable with the idea. I know our friendship is kinda shifting especially after the way things ended last night but-" He rubbed the back of his neck. "The truth is I've got all these weird feelings building up where you're concerned, and I'm not entirely sure what they mean or what to do about them. I was hoping if we spent more time together it would give me some clarity."
"Todoroki-kun…" Izuku stepped closer to him, and Shoto lifted a hand to pet him on the head and keep him at arm's length. Izuku felt his heart skip as he watched Shoto's expression turn a bit pained, despite the smile.
"My apologies, Midoriya. You can forget the invite… I'll just wander out on my own for today."
"Eh…" Izuku felt Todoroki's hand slip from his hair… when Shoto turned his back Izuku immediately reached for his hand and snagged it. "No, wait!"
Shoto turned back to him, his face back to stoic, but the reading in his eyes was different. How had Izuku not seen this before?
"I'll go with you. Just give me an hour to get ready, okay?"
"You sure?" He gave his hand a light squeeze. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable, Midoriya."
"I'm sure." Izuku held his chest with his free hand. "Me too, I've also been feeling the changes in our relationship. So I think it's a good idea for us to spend more time together to figure it out. You're an important friend to me, Todoroki-kun, so I don't want to make things awkward by rejecting these feelings before I've really had the chance to explore them."
"Mmmm okay…" Todoroki smiled and slowly let go. "I'll meet you out front in an hour then."
"Yeah, see you soon!" Izuku hurried past him to go get ready. Todoroki let out a long breath and crouched down to hold his chest.
"That was close…" He murmured and glanced up when he felt Bella patting the top of his head.
"You did good, Shoto." Bella congratulated. "You made it past the first hurdle."
"I really thought he was gonna reject me…" Todoroki clutched his chest. "It was more painful than I ever expected. I'm not sure if I want to do this."
"Don't be scared, Todoroki-kun." Bella held his face in her tiny hands and smiled comfortingly. "If you just bottle these feelings up, it'll only make the pain worse. It's better, a lot better, for you to confront these feelings of love and affection head on. This way you'll have no regrets in the end."
"Mmmm… okay." He took another deep breath and stood up. "I better eat fast and get changed. I told Midoriya I'd meet him in an hour."
"Well then hurry up!" she pulled out her whistle and blew. "You go eat! I'll pick out your clothes and arrange the schedule! Let's do this!" She blew the whistle over and over, hurrying back upstairs to make the arrangements.
~1 hour later~
Izuku paced the walkway back and forth, toying with the strap of his messenger bag, He chose a pair of jeans, a white shirt that read "casual" on the front, and a green and red plaid overshirt he left unbuttoned. From the sounds of it this would just be a "casual" date between friends, so Izuku didn't see a need to go super formal.
His instincts seemed to be on point as Todoroki hurried out the front door, wearing a jean jacket, designer pants, and v-neck. The designer clothes made him look more put together and slick, but it still ranged in the "casual" department. What made him smile, and his heart race just a little, was that Todoroki had taken the time to put up his hair.
"That's new…" Izuku pointed to the half up, half down, style. "I didn't realize just how long your hair has gotten."
"Yeah, I'm gonna need to cut it, eventually." Shoto tugged on the ends. "Does it look weird?"
"Not at all… in fact I think you should let it grow out more. Long hair looks super good on you." Izuku complimented with a slight flush.
"See?" Bella sat on Shoto's shoulder with a confident smirk. "... and you said it looked too girly."
"Well, it does." He muttered to her, earning a raised brow from Izuku.
"With your "pretty boy" face, you can afford to look a little girly." She patted his cheeks making him grunt. "Don't make such a sour face. Izuku can't see me, remember?"
"Sorry," Todoroki sighed heavily and waved a hand in front of his face, a silent signal for Bella to "buzz off."
"It's okay, I talk to myself too when I'm nervous." Izuku laughed and gripped the straps of his bag a little tighter and rolled back and forth on his feet. "Shall we go?"
"Yeah. Let's head to the station." Shoto took the final step towards him, and the two walked side by side away from the dorms. Bella floated above the couple and hummed a love song as they walked.
"That's not gonna be annoying…" Shoto muttered and had Izuku glancing up at him.
"Hmmm? What's not annoying?" Izuku looked up at him, concerned he'd already done something.
"I've got a random song playing in my head, and it won't go away." Shoto closed his eyes. "I don't even know the title, but it just keep playing."
"Maybe I know it… hum the melody for me." Izuku beamed, eager to listen and figure it out as if it were a game. Shoto obliged, mimicking Bella's humming, and after a moment Izuku started humming too and then singing the lyrics.
"Cause you are the piece of me I wish I didn't need, Chasing relentlessly, still fight and I don't know why…" Izuku closed his eyes as he sang the lyrics. Todoroki paused his walking, looking at him in shock. "Hmm? What's wrong?"
"I... didn't know you could sing."
"Eh?" Izuku blushed and ruffled his own hair laughing. "I'm not all that good, honestly."
"I beg to differ… I think you sound good. You should have volunteered when we did that concert curing the culture fest."
"WHAT!? N-No, really, Jirou's a much better singer than I am." He covered his face with his arms. "I don't even like doing karaoke in front of other people. I'm not even sure why I was compelled to sing just now."
"I'm glad you did." Todoroki smiled and patted the top of his head, making Izuku blush. "I got to see a side of Midoriya not many have seen."
"Mmmmph," Izuku looked up from the opening of his arms, his face bright red, but the smile on Todoroki's face urging him to lower his guard. "Actually, you're the only person I've ever sung in front of aside from my mom. So I hope you'll keep that a secret."
"Alright…" Todoroki lowered his hand and held out his pinky. When Izuku just stared at it Todoroki wiggled it a bit. "Isn't this how people make promises?"
"Uh… sometimes…" indulging him, Izuku lifted his pinky up so that the digits locked around each other. He felt his heart give a loud thump, and Bella reacted with a display of squees and giggles.
"Serenading someone with song, and sharing intimate secrets. A big check in Phase 3, let's keep this up!" She danced in the air above the guys heads, loving at how well this was going. Once at the station she rubbed her hands together and whispered into Todoroki's ear. "This will be the perfect place for a casual body brush. The train is gonna be super crowded, so once you guys get in make sure to put an arm around him to keep him close, and HEY!" Bella screamed and floated above the crowd to keep from getting squished. As everyone piled on she took shelter on one of the hanging hooks and peered through the crowd trying to find her charge. "Dang it! I lost 'em!"
Meanwhile Izuku and Shoto had to move further down the train to make room for others.
"As always the train is super crowded on the weekend." Izuku grunted as he squeezed through. He let out a small squeak as Todoroki's arm came around and pulled him out of the way of a large man shoving his way through. "Whoa, thanks for that."
"Don't mention it…" Shoto grabbed the hook above him and Izuku did the same. When Shoto didn't remove his hand, Izuku tensed up and started fidgeting. "I'm sorry, is this bothering you? I just didn't want to lose you in the crowd."
"N-No, but uh maybe you can just grab onto my shirt or something?" He glanced back with a blush. "It's a little less… um conspicuous?"
"Good point…" he trailed his hand down and gripped the hem of Izuku's shirt. "Is that better."
"Y-Yeah…" though that didn't eliminate how close they were. Izuku could feel Todoroki's breath hot on his neck, and feel his body heat pressed on his back. Izuku's heart started to race, beating like a drum against his ribs. "Much better."
"Ooooh hu hu!" Bella let out a little girlish squeal. "I don't know what you're doing Todoroki-kun, but Izuku's hormones are rising off the charts!" She let out a small squeak as a stray hand knocked her from her perch. She landed on the floor and yelped, ducking around feet and weaving through a forest of legs. "May day! May day!"
The train stopped to pull into the next station, and Bella let out a small cry as she was lost in the sea of people and forced off.
"No, no, no, no!" She flew up, trying to race back into the train but the doors closed on her face. The train took off, leaving her floating in place. "Oh crap."
Meanwhile, Todoroki noticed Bella's absence and glanced around.
"Something wrong, Todoroki-kun?"
"Hmm?" He looked down at Izuku. "No, everything's fine."
"Are you sure? You look like you're trying to find someone. Were we meeting anyone else?" Izuku shifted a little so he didn't have to strain his neck to look at him.
"No… I thought someone was following us, but-" He shrugged it off, thinking Bella was probably in stealth mode and watching from the sidelines. Probably for the best. He always got distracted when she was around… and at any rate he needed to learn how to do this dating stuff on his own, without an obvious third wheel making all his decisions for him.
"I guess it was just my imagination."
~Ask Briry~
Briry: Sorry for the long delay. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and are looking forward to the next segment.
Next Chapter: A Date with Deku