Chapter Three: You Could Bring Down My Level of Concern

The week that followed seemed both to drag out and also scream by at an incredibly fast pace. Class 1A was actively on top of finding new and interesting ways to handle quarantine and, for Momo, just watching them was a stream of endless entertainment, which she and Iida mercilessly broke up by presenting their "Lockdown Curriculum for the Hero in Us All". The name was courtesy of Midoriya, but seeing as some of their classmates needed encouragement to do school when they didn't absolutely have to, it seemed best to make it sound fun.

Aizawa-Sensei had been in touch with them during this time and expressed that he had been planning something similar and was on board with their initiative. He gave his input on their plan and added his own grueling additions before approving it to be sent out to the class and effectively ruined more than a few people's "vacation". The complaints came back faster than a boomerang, but that was to be expected from such entities as Mina and Kaminari, despite their constant complaining of how bored they were.

Mina dove headfirst into her new TikTok career and she roped Toru in fairly easily to make internet sensations, or rather fools, of themselves. A few of the boys tried to get in on their internet clout and the ensuing chaos rippling through their multiple group chats every day was getting to an embarrassing point.

One such group chat included their entire class, which bore them witness to the strange and chaotic worlds that they were all living in. The chat was created to discuss their at-home school assignments, but everyday messages were slipping through with pictures of Sato baking, Kirishima linking at-home exercise videos, Toru and Koda posting pictures of animals, quite a few of them sending memes, and every few hours an all caps text from Bakugo telling them to shut up or die. After the sixth time Midoriya attempted to explain to him that he could just turn off notifications for the group chat, but when the threats only got worse Momo and Iida asked Kirishima to call him and show him how to adjust his settings. Bakugo had been quiet ever since.

That was all a sideshow to Momo, though. It was a reverberation of life outside of her new world, which was the face on her computer screen and the voice on the other side of her phone.

Shoto was getting clever about avoiding his family to sneak as much uninterrupted time with her as possible. She still had yet to see Endeavor enter the frame or meet Natuso. Perhaps it was carefully planned on Shoto's part, maybe he was afraid of her hearing those infamous arguments or knowing some shame that she didn't already. But she didn't want to push him about it, even if her curiosity was roiling inside her. After all, they weren't really even dating yet and there was no point in rushing things when they weren't; a reality that brought a daily weight to her chest.

Through the nearly two weeks that they'd talked consistently every day, the pair hadn't run out of things to talk about. Shoto was a mostly quiet person at school, but when she got him on certain topics he actually had a lot to say and Momo loved hearing him express.

Shoto was a big All Might fan - he was no Midoriya or even Bakugo for that matter, but a fan nonetheless - and told her about how he'd grown a new interest for cooking since the Summer Camp where they had been made to cook their own meals. Neither of them had ever really had to cook for themselves, considering their economic status and upbringing, and Momo agreed that to do such an independent task as preparing and cleaning up after a meal was a very rewarding experience. Of course topics of quirks and UA were always a big hit with him, but she tried to steer their conversations away from the things they would normally talk about at school; they would have the next three years for that.

They were able to maintain their "relationship" like this for quite a while and for Momo it was developing into a new sort of problem where the face on the other side of the screen was starting to become the only thing that was keeping the walls from closing in.

During their Friday call, Momo was in the middle of explaining the answer she'd gotten for the trick question that Aizawa had added onto their tests when someone called for Shoto in the distance. The briefest scowl passed on and then off of his face, but he ignored it. The voice came back again persistently, a deep, demanding sound despite Shoto's efforts to disregard it.

The voice kept getting closer as Momo tried to talk until the aggressively barked, "Shoto!" couldn't be mistaken or passed over any longer. She'd seen him on TV before, but hearing Endeavor's voice in his own home was somehow more real and intimidating than it had ever been while fighting against a villain. But for Shoto it seemed little more than vaguely annoying.

His attention turned in the direction of his door, cutting off Momo mid sentence. The voice was intrusive now and she couldn't blame his shift of focus, but she couldn't say she liked it. It pricked her heart when he tapped a button on his computer and a notification said that she'd been muted.

"What do you want, old man?" Shoto blinked at the door.

"I won't be ignored in my own home!" the disembodied voice barked.

Momo flinched when she heard him clearly for the first time. Her own father's voice was quite gentle with her, but she'd never given him a reason to raise it. She was aware that this was normal behavior between Shoto and Endeavor, but it was still shocking.

"Say something worth hearing and I won't ignore you."

Butterflies burst in her stomach. The blatant disrespect he showed for his father shouldn't have been attractive, but seeing his emotions, even the negative ones, reach surface level made it feel as though she was really seeing him, seeing through the icy outer layer to the sharp fire underneath.

"You haven't finished with your training today," Endeavor scolded, "You have nothing better to do, so there's no reason to be distracted right now."

"I still have school," Shoto responded, crossing his arms, "And I've already doubled my practice time for today. You're making things up now."

"If I say you need to train more than you'll do it," Endeavor said with finality, "You came to me, remember. You won't make it to No. 1 if you don't commit yourself fully."

Shoto's face tightened, head dipping a little. "Fine, you get ten more minutes."

The next bit was muffled and Shoto shrugged. Another moment passed, the door closed, and he turned back to Momo, unmuting the computer.

"Are you still there?" he asked.

"Yes, what was that about? I've never heard Endeavor like that before."

Shoto blanched. "You heard all of that?"

Momo nodded, "Were you trying to mute yourself?"

"Yes," Shoto looked at the computer with confusion.

"That button mutes me," she grit her teeth, but smiled, "I'm sorry if I heard something I wasn't supposed to."

Shoto sighed lightly. "It's fine. It's nothing out of the ordinary. And I do need to stay diligent with my training. I was planning to do more tonight anyway, but he probably wants to get in another bout before he has to go on patrol tonight. I'll make him wait a little, though."

"You're going out of your way to get on his nerves?" Momo didn't like that her tone wasn't disappointed.

"Usually," Shoto tapped his knee, frowning, "But he's been acting especially strange lately... I'm just trying to figure out what his game is."

There was this suspicious glint in Shoto's eye and Momo was hooked. She shuffled closer to the screen, intrigued. "What's been going on?"

Shoto glanced around and then frowned thoughtfully.

"It's hard to say exactly," he said, "But I get the sense that he's going easy on me when we train. Yesterday I almost beat him and then he even gave me a compliment. Earlier this week he made a joke; it was terrible, but Endeavor doesn't make jokes. He isn't trying to stop me from spending time with Natsuo and he brought up Mother's Day, he even encouraged us to send something to my mother. I don't know, it's all very suspicious."

At a slight loss, Momo just stared at him, lips parting and then closing when nothing came to the surface.

"Do you think maybe he's up to something?" Shoto narrowed his beautiful, intense gray and blues like he was trying to crack the cipher that would explain the meaning of existence.

Obviously their home lives were nothing alike. He'd told her a bit about what sort of a home he'd grown up in and the relationship he still had with his father, but she had very little confidence that her perspective was worth anything in this situation. She wanted to view it optimistically, but she was also aware that it may not be the answer he wanted to hear.

"It sort of sounds like…" she skirted her eyes over the keyboard so she wouldn't have to look him in the face, "Maybe he's... trying?"

"Trying to do what?"

"No, I mean, trying," Momo felt out of place even suggesting it, "Like, putting in an effort. Maybe to relate to you or win you over or something?"

Shoto took his chin in hand and pondered hard. His thoughtful pout had her stomach in knots. How on earth had she gotten him to agree to date her? There was no way she compared to his innate perfection.

"But for what?" Shoto hummed, "I've already decided not to reject my left side and I'm willingly training with him to use it better... What else is he trying to make me do? Maybe he wants to convince me to work for his agency later on by subtly winning me over to his good graces now. I think Kaminari calls that a 'long-con'."

"I don't know your father, Shoto, so I could be completely wrong," Momo prefaced, "But it sounds a bit like he's just trying to get closer to you. Maybe he's trying to make up for something... I don't know."

Shoto had been short when discussing his and Endeavor's history, but it was plenty detailed enough without it needing to be long. It easily instilled very negative feelings towards Todoroki Enji, but she was not as cynical as others in their opinions of him and she wanted badly to find the good in people. Maybe it was just a naive idea to think Endeavor was trying to make up for past hurts in his own peculiar way, but she really hoped it was the case. She had a wonderful relationship with her father and she hurt to see others without that.

Such an idea didn't get even a moment's consideration from Shoto, though, disregarded as soon as it came. "I'll have to watch him closely. Maybe he'll slip up and reveal what he's planning."

Momo sighed and let her argument go when she saw how difficult it would be to get the point across to him. She could be entirely wrong about Endeavor anyway, so she allowed herself to differ to his judgment.

"Do you need to go?" Momo asked, hoping to move on from their conspiracies.

"Yes," he nodded and paused, "I won't be long, so I don't have to hang up if you would like to wait on the line."

"That's fine," she grinned, "I'll go make some more tea while I wait."

Once agreeing, Shoto moved his computer across the room onto the surface of his desk, facing her towards the dull background of the back wall. The design of the house was so classically Japanese that there was not much to see except the partially opened slats of the closet. There was nothing about the room that denoted that a teenage boy lived in it, not a hero poster or hobby related item in sight.

While he was gone Momo wandered back into the kitchen to heat another pot of water for the tea. She responded to a few messages and took a look over their class group chat to find an appropriate chaos for once. Rather than memes and talk of slipping sanities the general tone of the group chat was pure panic and discourse over the correct answer to Aizawa's tricky question. The way they argued about it and few other problems told her how little more than a few of them were grasping the overarching concept and her hands shook with the need to help fix it; it stressed her out to watch others struggle academically.

Since she enjoyed studying with them and even tutoring, Momo dropped a quick text in the group chat offering to run a study group later that night. There was an immediate positive response and she smiled to herself to feel so needed and useful.

When she came back to her computer the other side was still empty, Shoto still working with Endeavor. Momo settled in again and sipped her tea, watching the latest TikTok that Mina had made and realized more and more how little she understood of this trend. But she sent love and support despite it, proud to see Mina enjoying her hobby and being able to show off some of her dance talent.

It had been around ten minutes when the sound of a door closing came over her speakers. She closed the app and widened a smile at the screen. But it wasn't Shoto who slipped into her sightline.

A man, definitely Shoto's older brother, Natsuo - made clear by his coloring, features and the lack of other possibilities - was slipping into the room very quietly, sneaking on tiptoes like a character from a cartoon. He had a grin on his vibrant face as he snuck by and slipped wordlessly into the closet across from Momo's camera angle, not seeming to notice her.

Unsure if she should make her presence known to him, she sat silent and uncertain, watching and waiting for what was going to happen.

No more than thirty seconds later the door to the room opened again and Shoto moved into the camera frame, intent to approach his computer and obviously continue their earlier conversation.

Momo realized a second too late why Natsuo had been hiding in the closet and before she could warn him, the white haired Todoroki boy threw open the closet door and leapt out with a very loud, "boo!"

As a student of the prestigious hero school UA, Momo expected that such a juvenile prank would not have phased Shoto beyond light annoyance, but he practically jumped out of his skin when Natsuo appeared, his immediate reaction to throw a jagged spike of ice up from the ground and stopping right at Natsuo's nose.

"Whoa, watch it!" the older boy shouted stumbling back as Shoto fell on his butt from shock.

"Are you trying to attack me?" Shoto's face was a mess of shocked offense, looking for true betrayal on the amused expression of his brother.

Natsuo keeled over in laughter, gripping his sides as the ice started melting.

"What's going on? Natsu, what did you do?"

Fuyumi's voice joined them, scolding and exasperated.

Natuso was still laughing and shook his head while Shoto looked towards the doorway for help.

"It was just a joke!" Natuso defended himself.

Shoto stood as his brother tried to skirt around the ice.

"How is that a prank?" Shoto asked.

"I scared you, didn't I?" Natsuo bumped his fist on Shoto's shoulder.

Shoto's arms crossed up at him. He looked small compared to his fully grown brother whose physique seemed to favor Endeavor.

"I was defending myself against what I assumed was an attack," Shoto huffed, "You didn't scare me."

"I shouted, 'boo' at you!" Natsuo chuckled, "How did you think that was an attack? What kind of villain yells 'boo' right before attacking?"

Fuyumi came into frame and moved to get between them, her eyes begging for this not to get more heated. But seeing all three of them on her screen broke something in Momo's heart she couldn't have expected. This should have been an endearing, comedic moment, but...

"There's no need for-oh," Fuyumi stopped, blinking directly at Momo as the faces of both boys followed her, "Um...hi, Momo…"

Shoto's face went red and Natuso's grin got even bigger. Momo's expression fell hard.

In a fit of panic, Momo clicked "End Call" and slammed her computer closed.

She couldn't even take a sip of her tea. There was a knot in her chest and a constriction in her throat that only worsened when she looked around herself and felt the pulse of empty silence.

It felt deeply immature to have left the call like that, but she had panicked and didn't know what to do with this terrible new feeling except run from it. Something about seeing the full scope of life on the other side of that screen, of the world of the Todorokis, dropped her heart right into her feet.

She remained unmoving in the silence for nearly half an hour, not feeling a single second of it as it passed her by. Her tea went cold and her heart got heavier every second that nothing around her changed except for the gripping sense that the walls were steadily creeping in.

There wasn't a coherent thought to go with it, no directed anger or point of contention. It was like a ringing in her ears. A powerless instance where there was simply nothing and she could do nothing to change it.

That stricken stupor remained like a fairytale spell until the ring of her phone chimed reality.

Answering was an act of impulse and adrenaline and she regretted hitting "accept" the moment her finger touched it. What was she supposed to say to him? How was she going to explain something she didn't even understand?

"Hello, Momo, this is Shoto," he said as if she didn't have caller ID and that it wasn't obvious who was calling her, "I'm sorry if my brother and sister upset you. I've told them to respect my privacy so many times, but they still keep trying to involve themselves."

"Don't apologize, Shoto, they didn't do anything wrong," Momo quickly replied, not wanting him to be upset with Natsuo and Fuyumi; "I shouldn't have hung up like that...I'm sorry."

"Did I upset you, then?"

Momo leaned back to lay her head on the arm of the couch; every inch of her felt weighted. "No."

"Who was it?"

"It was no one," Momo sighed, "No one upset me."

"Then you aren't upset?" his confusion was clear.

Momo's voice got very quiet. "I...could be better."

"Did I do something wrong?" He tried again.

"No, Shoto," she said quietly, "I don't know why, I'm just upset…"

Momo ground her teeth in frustration, unable to really explain what had overwhelmed her in that moment. She'd been careful not to show it, especially not to Shoto, but it had been dragging on her all week that her parents still weren't home. That the house felt emptier every passing day. That their decision to wait on being official until they were able to be together in person again was keeping her from being with the only person she really wanted to see right now.

Try as she might to stay distracted and busy with calls and school, there was very little that she'd done to maintain her mental health over the course of this quarantine. Distractions were just that, something to keep her attention away from the bigger problem, prevailing loneliness.

"Oh," he said very shortly, "You were fine before I left."

Momo's eyes pinched and she swallowed hard. "Well, maybe that's it… I wish I had what you have at your house. Something always happening and taking you away from our conversations and distracting you. I wish I had to help someone with dinner or that I had an aggravating sibling trying to embarrass me. I just…"

"You want bad things to happen to you?"

"No!" Momo rushed to correct him.

"I've heard it's called masochism."

"Shoto, stop!" she snapped a little harsher than she should have, not angry, just a bit distressed. "You don't know what you're talking about."

The phone line went quiet and guilt stabbed her sternum. She didn't mean it to sound so mean.

"I…" Momo choked a little on her words as she finally started to form an explanation, "I don't want to be by myself. I hate being alone at home. I got so used to having so many people around at the dorms and I miss being able to walk down the hall to talk to Kyouka or be able to go downstairs and see you."

"I miss living in the dorms too."

The palm of Momo's hand rubbed her eyes as she continued. "But that's just it. You shouldn't. You have this big family and there's always something happening around you and it's not fair. I wish you were here or that my parents were home or that I had a single sibling to my name who could be driving me crazy right now."

"I love my brother and sister, but it's not all that exciting, Momo," Shoto replied blandly, "I'd personally prefer the peace and quiet that you have."

"You wouldn't understand," Momo sniffled, internally beating herself for losing to these emotions she'd been ignoring for too long, "This is really hard for me."

"Could you try to explain it to me?" The lack of tone in his voice only drove the stake of dejection deeper.

"I'm just lonely, Shoto," she pouted, "There's not much more to explain than that."

"But we're talking right now," he said, "You aren't entirely alone."

"You're not here," she hit her head back on the couch cushion, frustration mounting, "There's no one here! Even I have a limit to how much studying and reading I can do before I feel like I'm losing my mind. I just want to see another person in the house or sit next to someone on the couch. I want to hold your hand and share tea at the same table…"

She wiped tears from her cheek as she trailed off, berating herself for crying despite her efforts to suppress it. It wasn't fitting for a Vice Class Rep to be so emotional. She was supposed to set an example as a student and a hero in training, but she wasn't behaving like either right now.

"I wish I was there too," Shoto said softly and a little warmth jumped back into her heart, the words a comfort she hadn't realized she needed to hear.

But then the background on Shoto's end of the call got very loud and suddenly his voice became distant and mixed in the clutter. It was nearly unintelligible and Momo couldn't help feeling ignored once again.

"I already told you I'm not saying anything to you about it," Shoto came back into focus, tone calm and cold, but not directed to her.

She recognized Natsuo's voice, lighthearted and almost teasing, following it. "So you just weren't going to tell me you had a girlfriend? I told you about my girlfriend! We have to share these things, little bro!"

"I don't ask you to overshare," If it had been anyone there would be an accompanying glare with those words, "Please leave."

"Shoto," Momo tried to cut in, sitting up on the couch.

He didn't seem to hear her. He just kept arguing with Natsuo, which only twisted the knife of longing deeper in her heart and built her frustration further that he wasn't paying attention to her.

"How are you going to know what to do or say if you don't let your big bro coach you?" Natsuo sounded mockingly dejected.

"I have all the help I need," Shoto insisted.

"Are you still mad about that prank?" Natuso asked, "Come on, kid, it's boring as hell here! Lighten up!"

"Shoto?" Momo said his name again, pulling a pillow under her chest and clutching tight.

The voices got distant and a shuffle ensued before Shoto picked up his phone again. By then Momo was crying freely. It was impractical to be upset by what had just happened since Shoto had no control over the situation around him, but she hated that he was getting distracted by his brother while they were talking, especially since it reminded her so much of what she was missing.

"Momo, are you still there?" he asked.

She took a long shaky breath. "Yes."

"You're crying," he seemed to realize for the first time.

Her head dropped in a sigh.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I already told you," she sobbed, "I'm tired of being alone."

The long week and the frustrating nature of this entire conversation were dragging over her mind and agitating every inch of her. Why couldn't he just understand what she was feeling and say the right thing? All she needed was a bit of empathy. That and a week's worth of his uninterrupted company and attention.

"Is there anyone who could go over and stay with you?"

The pillow fisted tighter in her hand. She didn't want just anyone to come and be with her. Unrealistic as it was, she wanted Shoto. And he didn't seem to get that.

"No," she swallowed, "Why can't you just be here right now?"

"Because of the quarantine," he replied.

Momo frowned. She wasn't looking for a practical response.

"I know that, I just mean…" she sighed, "Nevermind. This is just...it's really hard, Shoto. I hate being away from you all the time. I hate not being at school and not seeing everyone everyday."

"We could try to talk more," he suggested.

"That won't help."

"Why not?"

"It just won't," she said, "You can't fix this."

Shoto stopped talking for a good minute and then came back as though he hadn't heard her last statement. "What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know," she pouted even harder, "There's nothing you can do. You aren't here and you won't be… This is just so much harder than I expected. I thought I was strong enough to handle long distance, but it's just so frustrating."

This wasn't how she wanted her first highschool romance to be. She hated existing so separately from him and phone calls could only do so much to fix that. If this quarantine hadn't happened, they would have had their first date by now. They would be learning about each other while they learned to be heroes. They wouldn't be stuck in this relationship limbo where they were together, but not. And she wouldn't be making such a fool of herself in front of him right now either.

"Would it be easier if we didn't talk?" Shoto asked as an emotion finally broke through his cold exterior: disappointment.

The suggestion caught her off guard, but she responded with another, "I don't know…"

It felt like all the work she'd done on building her confidence this last year was slipping from her grasp in the light of her heart hurting so fiercely.

"It's difficult being away from you all the time, but maybe us talking every day is actually making it worse..."

"Mo-"

"Maybe we should stop talking until the quarantine is over… I don't know… I don't know what else to do. Maybe our talking is why this is so hard."

"Okay… If that's really what you want."

No! It wasn't what she wanted. Not at all! Why had she suggested that? Her head was screaming for her to do something sensible and stop acting so emotional, but she had already lost.

"Maybe that makes sense," Shoto added before she could dissuade him.

"Alright." It came out choked. "Goodbye then."

"Momo, I don't-"

Momo was already hanging up and felt that internal, guilting ache double in heat when his words were cut off by the tap of her finger. That was twice today she had hung up on him and she wanted someone to slap her out of the stupidity that caused her to do it.

The phone dropped onto the coffee table in front of her and she collapsed like a sandcastle into her own mind. After being the one so strongly promoting mental health to all of her classmates during quarantine she felt like a complete hypocrite for losing to the gloom. Even though she'd done everything she was supposed to, talking to friends every day, training her quirk, and studying material compositions for her creations, somehow she had never felt so depressed in her life.

But this was the first time she had wanted to be in the company of a particular person this badly and, to be barred from seeing him, to be this restricted in something she wanted to do, was too out of the norm for her. This was all so new to her - the relationship, these gloomy feelings, this lonesome situation with no end in sight - and she'd never had to control these reactions before. It seemed wrong to berate herself so harshly for breaking down under the circumstances, but recognizing the reality of it didn't lessen the guilt.

Helpless to do anything else, she pushed her face down on the pillow in her arms and cried into it until she'd exhausted herself into an elongated nap.

When Momo woke up it was almost evening and she felt even worse than she did before. Not because those depressive feelings she'd expressed to Shoto over the phone were any worse, but because that immense guilt had fully overtaken her. She couldn't move for an entire thirty minutes after waking up, so floored by what she'd said, the way she'd acted and her overall terrible response to her unbalanced emotions.

She'd never been depressed before, but this sounded like all of the symptoms she knew about. And it was just awful. No wonder people got nothing done and became antisocial. It was practically debilitating.

Panic was the only thing that pushed her up from where she lay. Her phone had buzzed and she looked with alarm for a message from Shoto.

But there was nothing from him. No text. No missed call. Just group chat notifications.

She checked the time.

6:15 PM

She'd slept for four straight hours.

Burying her face in her arms, she dropped the phone on her chest. This was so stupid, so childish. She should just get up and deal with this. She should call him. She should get up. She should move.

Silence became a buzzing in her ear.

She should move.

Brrrring

The sound alerted her to action and she swept up the phone, seeing a video chat request from Kyouka. Momo's face fell, but she told herself that this was a good thing. If she could do one thing she could try and at least talk to her closest friend.

Putting her back to the cushions, she took a deep breath and swiped "accept" on the call. Even though it was her most trusted friend's face that appeared on her screen she tried to force up a smile. It felt like it took every ounce of her energy, but she greeted Kyouka like she normally would.

"Hey, Momo!" The short haired girl on her screen waved.

Momo waved back. "Hey, what's up?"

Kyouka shifted where she sat on her bed, grabbing her water bottle while she talked.

"You said we would do a group study tonight," Kyouka explained, "I wanted to get in on the discussion. Are we still doing that?"

Momo's elbow dropped to her knee and her face went into the adjoining hand. Her head cycled through a hundred scolding words to herself for having so completely forgotten about the event she had organized earlier that evening.

"Oh no," she shook her head, "I completely forgot."

"It's okay," Kyouka shrugged, sipping her water, "We can still get everyone on the call, it's not too late to do it."

It felt like her chest suddenly weighed a thousand pounds and the very idea of running an organized study session devastated any vitality she had left. She felt like crying again from that alone. Helping her friends had always made her feel alive and fulfilled her heart, but right now she couldn't think of anything worse. Not while that conversation with Shoto throbbed like a headache in the forefront of her mind.

"I…" she took another very deep breath, lifting her head, but turning away from the camera, "I'm not sure if I can do it tonight."

That got Kyouka's attention like a slap. "Really? I mean that's fine, but you never cancel things and- Wait…"

Momo's head snapped back towards the phone finding her friend's skeptic eyes on her, leaning in close to her screen. She checked the mirrored box to see what Kyouka was staring at, becoming instantly self conscious. It wasn't a pretty sight; Momo was a mess, her hair a rat's nest, eyes rung with dark circles and clothes slept in and wrinkled.

"Are you okay, Momo?" Suspicion pierced Kyouka's questions.

"What?" Momo startled, "Of course! I'm just…"

She hadn't prepared an excuse and her half awake brain faltered in forming a proper reply.

"You look like you've been crying," Kyouka observed severely.

Momo's mouth opened, but nothing came out.

On the other side of the camera, Kyouka's phone went into her hand, her fingers tapping quickly. "I'm canceling the event."

"Well, wait, I mean, maybe I can-"

"No, you need to talk, I can tell. They can call Bakugo if they really want a tutor."

Momo grimaced at the very idea of leaving her friends to that recourse. Bakugo was smart and effective in teaching the necessary information, but he was...violent. Impatient. Volatile. She cared about her friends and didn't like the idea of leaving them to his tutelage when she could help with a far gentler hand.

"That might not be a good idea," Momo rubbed her neck, "I know I was the first to suggest canceling it, but now I'm not so sure."

Kyouka put her phone down and the notification bubble for their group chat popped up on the top of Momo's screen, showing a preview of Kyouka's message telling everyone the group study was canceled tonight.

As soon as it went through, Kyouka's full attention was back on Momo, a sympathetic smile pairing with determination. "It's better to wait until you're in the right headspace anyway. Now tell me what's wrong?"

Shoulders tucked into her sides as Momo's lips pouted uncertainly. She was adverse to admitting anything was wrong, but Kyouka had already seen past her sad attempts to hide it. And if she was being honest, she really needed to say aloud the things that had happened and who better to say it to than her best friend.

"Everyone is still gone," Momo choked, unable to look at Kyouka, "I haven't seen any of the staff outside of a glimpse of Chef here and there and we're down to only the minimal staff needed to function. On top of that we're even keeping distance from each other inside the house too and I just feel completely alone here."

"Hold on," Kyoua frowned, "You're parents aren't home yet?"

The bleary eyes and deepened pout were all the answer Kyouka needed.

"Momo!" she shouted, "Why didn't you say anything? It's been almost two weeks since this started! No wonder you're upset!"

"Well, that's not really the full reason," Momo blinked through the mist in her eyes, "I...I messed up, Kyouka."

"How did you mess up?"

It was harder than she expected to say it even though she needed badly to talk about what had happened and get some reassurance. She had to fight through a lump in her throat.

"I think Shoto is upset with me," a tear escaped her defenses, "I-I said some stupid things, because… Well, I'm not sure why."

Jealousy? Depression? Loneliness? Pure idiocy? She was loath to admit that every one of those was a viable answer.

"What did you say to him?" Kyouka's eyes were searching.

"I said that maybe we shouldn't talk anymore, because it was too hard not being able to be with him…"

"Momo…" Kyouka was disbelieving yet sympathetic.

"And he hasn't called me or and texted me since!" Momo let her panic finally hit the surface, meeting the eyes on the screen, "I didn't really mean it. I don't want him to stop talking to me, but now I'm terrified that he thinks I hate him! Or worse, what if he hates me?"

Kyouka's hand went up like she was calming a raging beast. "I promise you, he doesn't hate you."

"Then why hasn't he tried to reach out to me?"

"Because you told him not to!"

"I know that, but-"

"Momo," Kyouka said her name through a sigh, "Remember who we're talking about, okay. Not only is he a guy, which inherently means he won't get when you're trying to be subtle, but Shoto is a very literal person. If you told him a joke went over his head he'd look up."

It was doubly frustrating to know that Kyouka was right, that it was unrealistic to assume Shoto would gleen some subtle, underlying meaning from the things she said.

Momo tried to formulate an argument, to make some sort of excuse for her behavior and disappointment, but another text interrupted her.

"Hold on," Momo told Kyouka as she clicked the message from Ochako and the screens shifted.

To her surprise the message was part of yet another group chat, this one just Momo, Ochako, and Midoriya. Anxiety choked her when she read what they were saying.

[Ochako]: Did somthing hapn ?

[Ochako]: Todo txted us a few hrs ago and said he was worried about u. We asked wat was going on and he stopped replying

[Ochako]: figured he might jus b exaggerating til I saw u'd canceled study tnight

[Midoriya]: Hey Momo! Have you heard from Todoroki at all? He's not answering calls either. We don't want to alarm you or anything, we just want to make sure you're both okay. It's okay if you don't want to talk about it! We thought you might know and we wanted to be sure we asked.

"What is it?" Kyouka asked.

"Ochako and Midoriya are texting me," she swallowed hard, staring at the messages with a new layer of fear, "They're saying that Shoto mentioned me being upset and then disappeared. It sounds like they're pretty worried…"

Apparently Kyouka could hear the distress in Momo's voice, because she was quick to try and calm her again before getting cut off.

"It's going to be fine-"

"Kyouka, what have I done? If he's not even talking to Ochako and Midoriya then he must be incredibly upset!"

She switched back to the video chat app just in time for Kyouka to get a good view of her panicked expression.

"You haven't done anything," Kyouka demanded, "Nothing irreparable, anyway. We don't know what's going on over there or what's going through his head. I don't think even his closest friends could figure that out."

"But what am I going to do?" Momo sobbed, rubbing the palm of her hand under her eyes to wipe away the tears.

"You're going to sit tight and breathe until you're calm and then you're going to call him," Kyouka hit her finger onto her laptop keyboard like an adamant teacher.

Kyouka was quick to catch her before another "but" got out.

"This was a misunderstanding and it's only going to be fixed by facing it and talking it out. You need to tell him plainly that you didn't mean it and…probably apologize."

Kyouka twisted her mouth uncomfortably at making the suggestion and Momo got similarly squeamish. It didn't make it the wrong idea, if anything it was the most correct course; Momo had been unfair to him over a situation he had no control over. But it didn't make it easier to consider admitting how childish she'd been.

It was hard to reply so Momo just leaned her head back into the couch and sighed, blinking out what felt to be the end of her tears.

"It's going to be okay, I promise," Kyouka offered an encouraging smile, "He obviously likes you a lot. If he's upset it's probably just because he's concerned."

Imagining that he was worried about her didn't really improve things, but it was better than him being angry with her at least, so she allowed the idea to stay.

"Even if he doesn't show it, there are thoughts and probably even emotions going through that head of his," Kyouka continued, "Just try to be understanding towards them and if he's actually angry with you afterwards then he's not the right guy anyway. And Momo…"

Momo took a last deep breath and met the eyes on the other side of the computer.

"I'm here for you too, okay? Just because Todoroki is in your life now doesn't mean the rest of your friends don't still want to support and love you. I don't care if I'm busy, if you're feeling down I want you to call me. Please?"

Confidence bolstered in Momo's chest as she smiled sadly to her friend with a nod.

"Thank you, Kyouka," she said, "I will. I promise."

Kyouka's returned smile was bright and loving and Momo couldn't help feeling strengthened in her approaching task. But then she glanced back down to her phone and she faltered.

"What should I say to Ochako and Midoriya, though?"

"I'd understand if you didn't want to tell them what happened," Kyouka swayed like her body was weighing the options for her, "But don't brush them off. You might want their help. They've been his backup squad so they may know more about what's happening on his side of things than we do."

Momo gave a considering nod as Kyouka's expression turned to pondering confusion.

"You know I really can't tell if he's just too complicated to understand or has no complexity at all. Is he just a pretty boy with a range of two emotions or is he hiding a tortured soul behind that stoic face?"

A bit of messy hair tucked behind Momo's ear as she made her bashful defense. "He may not be very expressive, but he's just as complex as you or me. He has things that make him happy or upset and he can be so incredibly thoughtful sometimes. And he has this sense of humor that's so subtle you almost wouldn't notice it if you weren't looking, but it's really so funny! And as a hero he's strong, he's what a hero should be and I'll be lucky if I ever live up to a quarter of what he can accomplish!"

Talking about what she liked about Shoto weighted and lightened her heart at once. It was driving home more and more why she couldn't let this outburst jeopardize her relationship with him.

Kyouka had a half smile pressed into her cheek. "Can't say he's my type, but it seems like he's just right for you."

"He is," Momo looked into her lap, appreciating the deviation the conversation had taken and the purpose it had given her to want to do whatever she could to make Shoto stay with her.

"Well go get him then," Kyouka encouraged and then added firmly, "And don't forget that we're here for you too. I'll say it as many times as I need to. You better call me if it gets bad again or if that boy hurts you, got it?"

Momo chuckled under her breath at her friend's protectiveness and nodded. She moved to end the call, but she caught Kyouka in a skeptical stare before either of them could hit the button.

"I can't believe I've never asked this before, but what exactly is your type?"

In her head Momo cycled through the rest of the guys at school and their many varying personalities and came up short trying to find one who she really thought matched well with Kyouka's personality.

"I see the wheels in your head turning," Kyouka laughed, already guessing that Momo was primed to assess the options.

"Well, you talk to Kaminari sometimes."

"I'd rather go deaf."

"Minus the extremeness, you have some commonality with Tokoyami…"

"Are you stalling? Emo and punk doesn't mix like you think it does."

"But he can play an instrument."

"So can Kaminari and Bakugo."

"What about Bakugo then?"

"Now I'm positive you're just trying to stall."

Momo's mouth turned sideways, called out.

"Even if that's true," she shrugged, "We should talk more about that sort of thing. We never seem to talk about boys or normal teenager things. It's always about the hero course. I want to find you a boyfriend too."

Kyouka rolled her eyes good naturedly. "Go fix your own boy problem first and then we can talk about my lack of love life until we're blue in the face, okay?"

With that agreed upon, Momo ended the call on a more positive note than she'd gone into it. She was still sick with worry about what she'd said to him and anguished over whether or not Shoto would actually take an apology so gracefully from her, but the diversion had helped calm her some.

Confident that she wouldn't break down into tears at a single word anymore, she went to make the fated phone call.

Her gut roiled and her hands shook while she listened to the phone ring. It was both pain and relief when it went to voicemail. She left a very simple message, just a quick, "Hey, I'm sorry about earlier, can we please talk?" and then she hung up.

She sent a text message to the same effect and then waited.

There was no response. Not even a read notation.

But she was determined, so she called again.

Voicemail.

She started a video chat.

Video Chat Unavailable.

Patiently she waited out a response for a good thirty minutes before caving and going to the messages Midoriya and Ochako had sent, finally typing out a response. That calm confidence fmro before was waning away into pure anxiety while she read and reread their texts.

She avoided going into detail, but she told them there had been a small argument and that she was also trying to reach him to no avail. Midoriya assured her that there were no police reports of anything happening in Shoto's area so there was no reason to assume any physical harm had stopped him from reaching his phone, but oddly that only made it worse. It drove home the point that Shoto was either upset or straight up pissed off at her.

Ochako tried to encourage her, but she'd heard it all from Kyouka already and was quick to avoid going back into that sort of pitying conversation again where she would have to further explain what had happened between them.

It was agreed that they would all keep trying to reach him and pass it on if they got any response. Momo appreciated their help, but her stress mounted further and further as hours started to drift by without any updates from either of them.

Before she even knew it was nearly midnight and she'd fallen asleep staring at her phone, rereading the twenty unacknowledged messages she'd sent Shoto.