Deadlock

The following morning, Todoroki woke to the sound of half a dozen footsteps running across the hallway outside his room. They stopped outside his door.

"Todoroki!" Uraraka's voice rang out. "Todoroki we need your help!"

He rubbed his eyes but didn't move. "With what?"

"The toaster isn't working. Can you come downstairs?" Hagakure this time.

Todoroki sighed. "I don't know how to fix a toaster. Go talk to Yaoyorozu."

"We did. She said she'd look at it later and to ask you instead, so can you get your butt up and get moving?" Mina whined.

Todoroki sighed and rolled off of his mats, yawning and cracking his toes for a moment before shuffling over to the door. The three girls sighed with relief when he stepped out into the hallway and followed them into the elevator.

In the kitchen, Tokoyami was watching Youtube videos with the aid of the specialized headphones he'd paid Mei to design for him while awkwardly eating a hardboiled egg with chopsticks and sipping orange juice through a straw. Kirishima was snacking on a protein bar, looking out the window, while Kaminari was repeatedly trying to electrocute the toaster into doing his bidding. It wasn't working.

Todoroki made his way to the sink, washing his hands thoroughly and pulling out the bread. "Ok, who all wants toast?" he asked, rolling his eyes internally but enjoying the fact that he was appreciated. A chorus of "Me!"s and "Me too"s and "I do"s rang out from the living room, where a couple of other stragglers filtered in. They all got in what could almost reasonably be considered a line while Todoroki placed the bare palm of his left hand on one piece of bread at a time, browning it slightly, shoving plate after plate to those waiting. Dark Shadow snagged a piece out from under his hand.

"Good morning to you, too," he said to the odd 21st member of their dormitory. Dark Shadow screeched out a reply through a "mouth" full of bread.

"Don't encourage him," Tokoyami said, smacking the bread out of Dark Shadow's reach. "You're just making a mess." The two continued back to the kitchen table, bickering as siblings usually did.

As the last person in line left, a quiet shuffling was heard on the stairs. Momo stepped into the kitchen, half-asleep and trailing a hand across the wall to keep herself from falling over.

"Wow, Yaomomo, you look awful."

"Thanks for noticing, Kaminari, but I'll be fine."

"Toast?" Todoroki asked.

"Sure, why not." She made her way to the counter, where she dropped her head onto her folded arms. "Did you hear anything back from your dad?" she asked, her voice quiet.

"Not yet."

We need to talk. It's about Nonoha, was what the text message said. Admittedly, he probably could've worded it to sound a little more like he was trying to be cooperative, rather than weasel out of the agreement with Nonoha, but the fact remained that Endeavor not answering was not Todoroki's fault.

He felt exactly as tired as Momo looked. The previous night, they'd stayed up and discussed the logistics of their plan, working through every contingency and potential backfire they could think of. By the time they'd gone to sleep, they were fairly confident that they could pull it off.

As Todoroki twisted the bag of bread closed, leaving one last piece for himself, the pocket of Momo's pajamas started flashing and buzzing. "Speaking of parents," she said. "It's my mom. I may have left her a cryptic message and a few missed calls this morning, so she's probably entering emergency mode." She breathed shakily, fishing her phone out of her pocket and heading back towards the girls' elevator.

"Hey," Todoroki called. She stopped before stepping inside the cart. "It'll be fine."

She gulped and nodded at him. "Thanks for the toast."

"Good morning, Mother," Momo said once she was behind closed doors. "I'm sorry if I frightened you. I just have something I want to talk to you about before school starts." She needed to focus on today. She'd slept a little more soundly knowing she had a plan to deal with Steve the night before, but soundness of sleep didn't mean squat in the face of going to bed near three in the morning.

There was a clacking noise on the other end of the line. Momo recognized the sound- her mother's heels clinking down the stairs as she prepared to leave for the day.

"Are you talking with your mouth full?" Momo's mother asked.

"Um," Momo swallowed quickly, ashamed. "Yes. Sorry, Mother. It was toast."

Momo's mother sighed. "I know things have been hectic lately. Things must be very stressful for you with this wedding and-"

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you-"

"Sweetheart, I know it's frightening, but when challenged with the unknown, we have to face it head on." It was a household mantra.

Momo arrived at her bedroom door and closed it behind her, sliding down until she was sitting on the floor leaning against it. There wasn't much she could say in this conversation that wouldn't sound like she was chickening out to her mother. Maybe, in a way, she was.

Futaba Yaoyorozu had been married at seventeen to a young man who was set to inherit his father's company. She'd gone to college to study mechanical engineering and moved on to a PhD in Materials Science like her father before her. After a few years, she and her husband fell in love.

"Mom, I have to talk to you about the wedding."

Momo took a deep breath. She could rip off the band aid and potentially piss off her mother, or try to ease into the subject and risk losing control of the situation. Both outcomes had the potential to end in failure.

"Is Steve nearby?"

"Not at the moment. He's still asleep."

This was the point when Futaba would usually give the house staff the instructions for the day and head out. Instead, she made the sounds of walking to her office on the ground floor and shutting the door. This was good. She wanted to turn this into a conversation instead of a lecture.

"Good. That's good," Momo said. "I'm…. not going to sign the new agreement."

The sound of an office chair rolling out from under a desk came over the line. "All right. Let's talk through this. You didn't seem enthusiastic this weekend, and I chalked it up to nerves. I suppose there's more going on, then." Futaba's voice was hard but not without compassion.

"We don't get along. At all." Momo winced at how weak that sounded.

"Steve seems to think the two of you get along quite well," Futaba said democratically.

"I was being nice, Mother." She inhaled. "I can't move to America. I've already started to make a name for myself here. Moving there after graduation would be a reset button, and I don't know the culture well enough to predict how I need to act to gain popularity."

"Momo, I'm completely certain you can figure out how to make it work." Futaba stopped and sighed. "But, truth be told, I don't want you to just go and move across the globe, either. I thought it would be selfish to say something and influence your decision, but I'm not seeing as much benefit to you as we were before. I don't even know what would happen to the company if management had to move overseas."

Right. The company. What on Earth would happen to the company once her father retired? Momo wasn't going to run it, so Steve was going to. He had enough business exposure from his background. Now the plan was different, though. Todoroki certainly couldn't take it over after her father retired-

Correction. It would have to be whoever came after. Todoroki was temporary.

"I know things wouldn't work out with Steve and I in the future, but there's still the company to consider," Momo said, trying to ease the conversation in the direction she wanted.

There was an audible sigh from the other end of the line. "I don't know what we're going to do about it, Momo. Steve seems to like you, and Mark and your father still want to go through with it. Let's talk to him about agreeing to live here in Japan instead. We're going to have to work something out. I won't let anyone rush into this, I promise."

"That's not- no. As of last night, I'm engaged to one of the boys in my class."

That had been ripping off the band aid. She stood up and gripped the post of her bed, half-listening to the hallway on the off chance Tsuyu was upstairs to overhear.

"Um…" Futaba trailed off, her scholarly attitude broken. "What?"

Momo tried again, more deliberately, trying to sound like she had herself together. "I've made an engagement with one of the boys in my class. Steve is trying to be accommodating, but I don't think it's going to work in the long run and I've found a better solution. "

"Well," Futaba said, "I must admit I'm confused. Is this… what's his name. Todoroki?"

Momo paused. "Um, yes, actually. You… haven't met him, right? I don't think he's come over for tutoring."

"No, but you've talked about him. You were on the same team in the sports festival. The poor boy whose mother burned his face off. Endeavor's son. I remember when that happened."

Momo didn't know what to say. Maybe this would make it easier to convince her-

"You just…. Agreed to marry this boy?"

"Sorry, sorry, I should have elaborated. His dad can get us access to funding from the Hero Network. We're actually headed to speak with him after school today."

Momo wondered how her mother was feeling. She remembered vaguely being introduced to a young Steve in their previous house. Sitting on the floor and showing him her quirk, which at that point was nothing more than formless pink sparks. When she and the other girls had pretended to be princesses on the playground when she'd first started school, she'd told her friends excitedly about her handsome and dashing prince Steve, who went on elaborate adventures using qualities she'd had to make up for him. And then… nothing. She'd gotten older, and Steve had disappeared from her mind. By the time her teachers were asking her what she wanted to do with her life, other things had happened and she'd forgotten Steve was supposed to be a part of it.

But Futaba wouldn't have. She was one of the group who made the engagement in the first place. She'd thought it was the best thing she could do as a mother. Now Momo was telling her she could make her own decisions, even ones that suggested Futaba's arrangements were unsuitable.

"I see," Futaba said. "This is very sudden, but I see what you're trying to do. Why don't the two of you come over for dinner after you speak with Endeavor? It sounds like we have quite a bit to discuss, and this isn't a conversation for just the two of us."

"All right. We'll be there." It would be nice to eat something not prepared by a gang of teenagers. "Steve will still be around, won't he?"

"Momo, honey, if you're going to do this, you're going to have to face Steve."

"I know." She wasn't looking forward to it. They weren't compatible, but he wasn't a bad person.

"You'll have to talk to your father as well. He'll be disappointed. Mark is his friend."

"He'll understand."

"He will. We'll figure it out. We both want what's best for you." Futaba paused again. "You know you don't have to do this, right? If things are really as bad as you say with Steve, you don't have to go find someone else the very next day. Money is tight but we're not going to force you to do something you shouldn't."

"Dad would just find someone else after all of this died down. I'd rather it was someone I know." She didn't know what to say about what feelings, or lack thereof, were between her and Todoroki. She knew her parents would never agree to a marriage she was planning on ending at the earliest possible opportunity, but it was still a lie.

"You're right. We're trying to secure your future, here." Futaba laughed a little. It was awkward. "We'll see what we have to do to make this work."

"I'll see you tonight."

On the walk to school, Momo trudged silently along the sidewalk to the classroom building with Jirou, who was reading an article about some animated band on her phone. The general atmosphere of the class was that it was Monday, and she was certainly not the only one tired and emotionally unprepared for the week ahead. Still, she knew she looked a little rough.

"So, you gonna tell me why you're so tired or should I mind my own business?" Jirou asked, still scrolling. "Just cause, you know, I texted you last night and you didn't answer me." She smirked. "You up to something?" She was teasing. They both knew the most Momo was ever "up to" was studying late. It was an old joke.

She remembered what she and Todoroki had agreed to. If no one knew, it would be like nothing was going on. As soon as the last bit of paperwork was signed, nothing at all would be out of the ordinary. She hadn't thought too much about the fact that Jirou would be locked out of the loop. Keeping the information away from Mina, gossip supreme, had been an obvious choice. Jirou was her best friend. Now that she was standing in front of her, the urge to share swelled.

"I had to deal with Steve," Momo finally answered. "I'm calling off the engagement."

"Got it. Nice. So your dad is just gonna find another way to the grant? Probably should have done that in the first place." Jirou shot her a sympathetic look.

On the other hand, she'd wanted to talk to her mother so that she could get this out of her mind and focus on school for the day. She loved Jirou, but she needed a little bit of sanctuary from the situation. Just for now, she thought, before she decided what to do about it.

"I have something up my sleeve, but I'm not sure it'll work. I'll let you know how it goes, though."

Subject changed. The rest of the walk was peaceful, Jirou talking about the new drum maintenance kit she was getting in the mail that day and Momo listening, absorbing another person's life and thoughts for a few minutes.

When they arrived at the classroom and Momo took her seat in the back corner, Todoroki shot her a low thumbs-up. He must have received a response from his father.

Now for the next step.

"You understand what this sounds like, right?" Midnight asked.

Todoroki and Momo were sitting in a spare room during lunch hour with their food trays, explaining the situation to Midnight, Principal Nedzu, and Aizawa. Somehow it had felt less awkward to explain it to Midnight, as her bizarre demeanor made bizarre situations seem commonplace. It had worked- once they'd finished their tale, she'd explained the situation to the other two and they'd consulted quietly outside for a minute before returning, collected.

In response to her question, the two students looked at each other uncomfortably and then back at Midnight.

"I can think of ten, maybe fifteen romantic comedies off the top of my head with this exact plot," she continued.

"Green Card," Nedzu said. "Son in Law. Or, wait, no- in Son in Law they were pretending to be engaged and decided to go through with it, not the other way around. I think they did that in The Proposal, too."

"Yeah," Momo said. "But this isn't a movie. We just wanted to let you know that even though we're going to be legally married, we don't want anything involving the school to change. According to the law, I have to change my family name, but I'd prefer to still be referred to as Yaoyorozu. We are going to continue to live on campus. We aren't telling our classmates. We just want to keep things going as if nothing happened."

Aizawa cleared his throat. "I've been teaching teenagers for a pretty good number of years now and I have to say I'm not convinced this is going to work out without weird romantic entanglements that will make everyone miserable."

Midnight nodded. "I agree with Eraserhead. He pegged you two three months ago and now you're suddenly engaged? There's no way everything works out the way you're planning with no strings attached."

"We thought about that," Todoroki said, nodding. "We agreed to just date who we want and then tell them if things are going well. We're splitting anyway, so it shouldn't matter. But the other side of this is that if we did develop feelings for each other or something, they'd have to progress as they would otherwise, right? We'd essentially just be two members of the class who are dating. If it ends badly, it would have happened whether we're married or not."

Midnight faltered. "I guess he has a point. The other students their year are dating now anyways- destructive love triangles are a fact of life for high schoolers."

Nedzu put a paw on his chin. "I suppose that since your parents are the deciding factor here the only thing we could do if we disagreed would be to kick you out of the school- and there's no way we would do that." He laughed. "The whole situation doesn't really appear to be your fault."

"It's settled, then?" Aizawa asked, and Nedzu nodded. "All right. We'll do it as you suggested. Talking to your classmates about it is up to your discretion. You'll be subjected to the same rules involving PDA as everyone else. Now get out and let us eat our lunch."

The Todoroki household was within walking distance of the school. After class, Momo and Todoroki returned to the dormitory to drop off their school materials, change clothes, and pick up enough money for the bus ride to the Aichi prefecture.

"Let's try to make this as quick as possible," Todoroki told her when they were on their way. "This will either go perfectly, where he looks you up and down and gives you a stamp of approval, or he'll throw a hissy fit for whatever reason and we'll get stuck there when he tries to make some huge display of dominance. Let's try to avoid the latter."

"Which do you think is more likely?" She asked, watching his expression.

"Well, my sister is moving out today, so he's probably not in a good mood." Todoroki sighed. "He was shocked when she said she wanted to raise her child in an environment conducive to something resembling a healthy emotional state. Besides, he and my brother-in-law didn't get along as well as is really necessary to live together. I think Father was hoping he would be the one to leave."

"I see," she said. "We'll have a similar situation when we get to my house. Steve will still be there, and my dad was pretty set on this happening, so we may have to do some haggling. My mom is open to it, though, so it looks like the hardest part is right about… now."

A large truck was parked in the courtyard of the Todoroki house, and a boy of about nineteen or twenty with dark red hair was helping a slightly older, thin man with glasses pack furniture and boxes of what looked like office supplies onto the bed. They waved at Todoroki, who sent a small wave back. Momo thought idly that it would have been possible for Fuyumi's child to have lived its entire life in such a huge house without ever meeting its grandfather, but she knew that was beside the point.

"Do you need some extra hands?" Todoroki asked Fuyumi, who was sitting in an outdoor chair under a tree, drinking lemonade she kept cooling with her quirk despite the chilly weather.

"I think they're okay," she said, looking between the two of them. "Hello there. I'm Fuyumi. We've got some more lemonade inside if you're interested."

"Oh! No, that's fine," Momo said, smiling in greeting. "I'm-" she paused, not sure how to introduce herself.

"My future sister-in-law?" Fuyumi asked. "So I've heard. Our dad is thrilled to meet you." She was looking at Todoroki, her expression unsure.

"Yaoyorozu is my classmate," he explained. "Not the girl Father brought yesterday. She's fine."

"Oh," Fuyumi said, relieved. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Momo said, smiling politely.

Momo understood Fuyumi's hesitation. The two kids had been raised in an environment defined by the poor matchup of their parents. Fuyumi had even stayed in the house until Todoroki had moved out to be sure he would be all right in their mother's absence. Watching Endeavor systematically try to find a wife with the perfect genes to combine with her younger brother's must have been nerve-wracking, as the one who could more clearly remember their mother's misery. She didn't blame Fuyumi for being wary of her.

"So you two know each other well, I take it?" Fuyumi asked. Her smile betrayed her career as a teacher- polite, open, eager, and mostly observant.

"Pretty well, yeah," Todoroki said, just as Momo answered with an "mmhmm" and a nod.

"I'm glad. Well, I'd love to talk more, but Father told me to send you two upstairs as soon as I saw you, so I should probably do that." Fuyumi stopped and frowned. "Is Yaoyorozu your given name?"

"No, it's Momo," the girl replied.

"Welcome to the family, Momo," Fuyumi said, and while there was a little bit of pity in her expression, her face was mostly kind.

Todoroki and Momo were kneeling at a table in an office space inside the house. It clearly wasn't used very often, but it had a printer, which Endeavor was jabbing at with his too-big fingers until it spat out the papers he wanted. He slapped them town on the table, thumbed through them with a comically ill-fitting rubber thumb, and signed it in several places with a pen he removed the cap of with his teeth, chewing on it as he scoured the legalese.

"Knock yourselves out," he said, shoving the papers across the table when he was finished.

"Not so fast," Todoroki said. "We need something."

"Hmm?" The big man grunted, and Momo wondered idly whether Todoroki would at some point shoot up to his imposing height. She decided he would look a little ridiculous.

"My family's company needs funding from the Hero Network," she said. "Can you get it?"

Endeavor regarded her for a moment. "Done. But I need something from you. A few things."

Momo hesitated, seeing Todoroki stiffen beside her. "That…. Depends on what it is."

Endeavor leaned against the desk behind him. "Did Shouto tell you why I'm having him get married?"

"Because you want him to inherit your agency."

"That's…" he scratched his beard. "That's the basics, yes. I tried to get him to talk to you about it a couple of times, but he didn't take me seriously. It's come to my awareness that I have failed as a father in one particular way-"

"Just one? Really?" Todoroki interjected.

"I was referring to the fact that you have absolutely no business sense," Endeavor said to Todoroki pointedly. "I did not teach you how to run a business and that is my fault. You do not cover these things at UA because they have a separate course for that, but you truly have little capacity for leadership and your inability to work at my agency due to your licensing issue is not helping matters."

Todoroki crossed his arms, opening his mouth and then closing it, not quite sure how to respond to that.

"So, what I require of you, Miss Yaoyorozu, is that you simply join my agency along with Shouto when he inherits control of it and join the board of directors. I've obtained what little information I was able to from the school regarding your status as a class leader and recommended student, and I would be much more comfortable knowing someone was on the board that I trusted to make decisions I would agree with should something happen to me after you two turn eighteen."

Momo ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head. "I'm flattered that you think my leadership skill is-"

"You would simply be one of several people making decisions. Of course, I would want you to complete an internship at my agency beginning in about three months so that you can observe the other members of the board interviewing sidekicks, consulting with marketing firms, and managing heroes. You're absolutely correct in saying that you are not an adequate candidate now. But Shouto has already told me he will not be taking his internship at my agency, and he can't even consider it until April, so I need to train someone to ensure his time as the top hero there goes as smoothly as possible. You're no management student, but that's not what I need."

"Okay, I'm going to stop you there. This plan sucks," Todoroki said, folding one arm and gesturing with the other. "No, it doesn't just suck. It's unacceptable. There is not a universe in which this plan would be okay. No. Yaoyorozu- that man is not right in the head. You should stay as far away from him as physically possible."

"Calm yourself," Endeavor said. "There is no need to let your emotions get the better of you. This is what we're doing. I won't be training her personally- I don't have time for that, and besides, her quirk isn't suited to my kind of combat. She'll be working with one of my associates."

Todoroki sat with his arms crossed, fuming. He looked at Momo, who was rubbing her chin with her hand and looking down. This was going in the wrong direction very quickly. Suddenly, this wasn't a quick marriage of convenience to solve their problems for a little while. Someone was expecting something of their union and the expectation had a degree of permanence yet unconsidered in their discussions. Now there was talk of a future they hadn't intended, and people relying on it. Everything they'd talked about had been how to keep it quiet, how to convince Momo's parents to let her do it, how to avoid backlash from Steve's father. Endeavor was a wild card they should have seen coming.

Momo shuffled uncomfortably and looked at Todoroki like she was asking for help. He tried to ask silently whether she wanted to just leave, but just giving up wasn't the answer. There was an uncomfortable silence that sat on the room.

"All right. What's going on here," Endeavor said flatly.

"This is just sudden-" Momo started.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Endeavor asked. "UA teaches you kids to jump at the first sign of an employment opportunity. Instead, you're just sitting there looking confused. You two are hiding something."

"What the hell would we be hiding?" Todoroki asked, trying to keep a neutral-irritated expression.

"I don't know. But I'm not playing games. Someone explain to me what's going on right now." Endeavor jabbed a meaty finger into the desk for emphasis, the flames in his beard flaring to obscure his eyes for a moment. Momo bit her lip, and Todoroki clenched his jaw, unsure of what to do. They were in fact hiding something, and there wasn't much he could make up that could dissolve Endeavor's suspicions.

"Is there a reason you can't work at my agency?" Endeavor said after another few seconds of not having an answer.

"No, I got my license two weeks ago," Momo said. "Everything's fine."

"Is there something that might keep you from being able to marry my son?"

"We just haven't really talked to my parents about it yet," Momo replied, trying to emphasize her hesitation. "I called my mom this morning and she seemed like she'd be okay with it, but we haven't actually talked to my dad yet. We're not one hundred percent on this."

"Well, that makes sense. You could only talk to one set of parents first, and it happened to be me. Whatever they're asking, I can get. But that isn't a secret, either. Is there something wrong with you?"

"What?" Momo asked, shrinking.

"Are you dying? Are you infertile? What is it?" He stepped forward, leaning his head down. It occurred to Todoroki that Endeavor wasn't as angry as he thought he would be because he was looking for a way to solve his problem. Momo was an avenue to that solution, and so he was looking at her as some kind of obstacle that could conceivably be crossed with money or power.

"I might not be able to have kids," Momo said, wincing. "My quirk is a mutation- changes the way my body handles digestion, fat storage, hormones in general. Doctors say they have no clue what makes my quirk work, let alone how it affects my body processes. All I know is I have to eat a lot of food and I haven't been able to create living material."

"Could have sworn I saw you make something out of cotton once," Endeavor said. "Was that my imagination?"

"No, cotton is organic, but it's not alive. I can't make living cultures, but I can do dry things- wood, fabric."

"What happens when you try?" Endeavor asked, his face flat.

"It just… comes out dead. A lot of these things are really complex. I think it's a combination of the fact that I can't really make liquid, and the fact that living things have a lot of tiny parts. I'm pretty sure I'm just screwing up tiny elements of cells that I can't see."

"So it's possible, but very difficult," Endeavor said.

"Well, I can only use whatever mass I have on hand from food. Even if I could comprehend an entire human form for a single instant, I couldn't just make clones of myself. Besides, people are almost entirely water."

"What about a single cell?" Endeavor asked. "An egg. Could you make an egg, theoretically, and give it to a doctor to for external fertilization? Backup, if it turns out your quirk does interfere."

Todoroki watched Momo's eyes flicker in his direction, but not meet his face.

"I just… have to warn you," he'd said in the dark of her room at two o'clock the night before. Besides the the moon, the only light was the lamp on her nightstand. He blinked the stickiness from his eyes, trying to emphasize his words. "He's a monster, and he's going to ask, and he's going to keep pressing it."

He'd told her everything. It was only fair that she know his father would paint her as someone only worth something to him if she could get past the single limitation she didn't even know if she had.

"Thank you for the warning," she said, pushing her hair behind her face and over her other shoulder. It faded into the shadows cast by the dim light. "I'll just be straight with him," she continued. "He'd find out either way if he ever spoke to my parents."

"Maybe we should just have him call your parents," Todoroki said. "Cut out the middle man."

"Todoroki, it's a little jarring to hear about your dad. It's awful. But I can't say it's… too surprising." Momo bit her lip, searching for words. "What's the first thing people notice about my hero costume?"

Todoroki looked down after a moment of hesitation. "It's… it's the skin." He knew why, but it would be dishonest to say he hadn't seen it that way, even a little.

"I've had this quirk my entire life. I've always had to leave my skin exposed. Don't you think I'm at least a little bit used to some people seeing me as an object?"

Todoroki blinked, understanding a little more about her then. She beat herself up, but no one else could. There wasn't anything anyone else could say that would change her own opinion of herself. She'd stopped caring about whether people noticed the way she dressed a long time ago. It made sense.

"I know not everyone is the best the world has to offer," she said. "But being a hero means keeping my faith in humanity even through seeing its worst. If your dad only cares about whether I can have kids, he's noone special. Some people are just like that. I'll talk to him. If he's as serious as you say, he might just reject me as soon as he finds out. It has to be me. Don't say a word, okay? I'll be fine."

"Theoretically, yes," Momo said. "I'd have to learn a lot about it, but I think it's plausible."

"Make it happen," Endeavor huffed. "I want this to work out. Fuyumi went and married a man whose quirk is to induce sneezing. Their children will be weak. You're the best candidate I've found, Miss Yaoyorozu. Let's do what's necessary to make this happen. If that means paying for cloning services, that's what it means."

Momo sat unblinking, her mouth set. She didn't look at the man. Her eyes slid to the window, where birds were hopping about in a tree, pecking at insects. She scratched her arm through her plum sweater, betraying a moment's feeling of vulnerability before she caught herself and folded her hands in her lap.

Todoroki's respect for her grew just a little bit more.

"Now. The internship," Endeavor continued.

"I'd work for one of your sidekicks, through your office," Momo said. "Would I be doing actual hero work?"

"Of course," Endeavor huffed. "My office has always had the most incident resolutions for a reason. I won't pay you for sitting around."

Todoroki saw something glisten in her eyes. An opportunity.

"I'll do it."

Endeavor smiled. "It's nice to see we have someone cooperative entering the family. For a minute there, it looked doubtful. Maybe you'll be a good influence on Shouto."

"Are we done here? We've got somewhere to be." Todoroki asked before he could let himself get riled up. Beside him, Momo looked a little annoyed.

Endeavor cleared his throat. "Yes. So, I'm sure there will be a bit more to arrange, but I'd like you two to get married in the next three weeks. I'm certain you can find a time you're both free before then."

The two teenagers tensed. The speed would have been otherwise surprising, but in this situation, all convention had been thrown violently out the metaphorical window already. "I'm fi-" Todoroki started, but turned to judge Momo's reaction.

"That seems like enough time," Momo said. All things considered, everything was going okay. They had the papers, and Endeavor had agreed to help her parents. That was what mattered.

"All right then," said Todoroki. "Is that it?"

"For now. You two can go."

Momo stood and left the room. Todoroki reached onto the table and grabbed the waivers that had been printed earlier, not making eye contact with his father.

"Maybe I am right about you sometimes," Endeavor said, nodding towards Momo.

Todoroki left without another word.

"We lived," said Momo when they got on the bus to the Aichi prefecture.

"That we did. It was a little touchy for a while, though."

"I hope we wait a few minutes before eating when we get to my house," Momo said. "Your dad's approval is making me... somewhat nauseous." She was holding tightly to a pole, her knuckles white and the exhaustion from their interrogation session suddenly hitting her.

"Yeah, his aggressive acceptance of you was a little weird, but he was in a good mood. You're giving him what he wants. I still know those pressure points if you need them," Todoroki offered.

Momo laughed, and Todoroki's mood lightened. They were now going to have a regular future-family dinner. There would be food, and awkward conversation, and glares from Steve, and best of all, no Endeavor.

"Do you know what you're going to say to Steve?" Todoroki asked.

Momo sighed. "No. I haven't really thought about it. I think I used up my way with words on your dad. Here's hoping, though."

"He might be a little bit of a jerk, but he didn't seem too unstable. He'll be fine."

"Yeah, he's just a kid like us. It's my dad we have to worry about. He likes to plan, be in control of the situation. He's never met you and he still loves Steve's dad. He might find a reason to veto even if it doesn't make sense."

"Well…" Todoroki scratched the back of his head. "You know you've got the final say, right? Girls can make their own marriage decisions at sixteen. I Googled it. After Thursday, they can't make you do anything."

"What? No!" Momo said, eyes wide. "They're my parents. I can't just go behind their back like that, it would be awful."

Todoroki put up the hand that wasn't holding on for balance in a universal gesture of surrender. "Just a suggestion. Your family isn't like that and that's cool. I'm just saying, you aren't completely at their mercy."

Momo nodded, looking at her feet. She watched the passerby go by in blurs for a few moments before speaking again.

"Are we really going to keep this a secret for two and a half years?" She inhaled shakily. "I know it's no one's business but it's an awfully long time. I'm not sure it's even possible."

Todoroki shrugged. "They don't have a reason to think anything's going on, so there's really not a way they'd find out. If they did, we'd be the talk of our grade until something more exciting happens."

"That we would," Momo conceded. "I mean, what do you think? More exciting things happen all the time, but not this kind of thing..."

What did he think? That was a question. Something needed to be done, and this was the best way to do it. But he got what she was saying. There would be this whole aspect of them, something most people would call a big deal, that no one would know about. For Todoroki, it wasn't weird at all. But Momo was far more open than he was, and her place at the center of the class would put lying an everyday occurrence for her. Not just avoiding questions, but actually concealing the truth.

"It's a little weird. I get what you're saying. If you want to tell people, we can. I just thought you'd want things to be quiet. Whatever you decide, I guess."

"I do want things to be quiet. It just feels wrong, you know?"

"Yeah."

The Yaoyorozu household was near the campus where Momo's mother taught. It was a private school, and the people who lived in the area made that fact obvious.

When they rang the doorbell, a cry of "Coming!" rang out in Futaba's voice. Steve opened the door anyway. He was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt and he was barefoot. He glanced at Momo, shook his head, and stared Todoroki in the face for several seconds until Momo's parents came up behind him.

"Why are we standing here?" Futaba asked. "Come inside, kids. We don't want to be out when it gets cold." Her stiff posture, the way her face was set to show that what she had to say was important, was so different from Fuyumi's that it took Todoroki off guard. Both very traditional teachers who gave off very opposite vibes.

Momo obediently stepped inside, kicking off her shoes in a natural motion and sweeping them into their proper place without looking. There were brief "welcome home" hugs, and most of the party went inside. Todoroki paused a moment, realizing how unsure he was about how to handle this situation. He knew what he needed to say, but that was all theory for now.

"Hi," he said to Momo's father, who was still standing in the doorway, after collecting himself. "I'm Shouto Todoroki. I'm a classmate of Yao- your dau- Momo's."

"So I've heard," said the man, stiffly. He was a businessman, dressed like someone who spent his time in an office building. "Tsukasa." He looked warily at the boy, and Todoroki got the uncomfortable feeling he'd been spoken about before coming.

When it became clear Tsukasa wasn't going to say anything else, Todoroki stepped inside, left his shoes where Momo had, and followed her to a tea room off the main hallway.

"You must be Todoroki," Futaba said, and he bowed at her. "We'll talk in a few minutes. For now, what kind of tea do you like?"

"Uh. Whatever you've got. My sister doesn't usually make tea, but definitely count me in."

Futaba stopped in her tracks a moment at his words, her sympathetic eyes raking his face. He wondered how much she knew about him. There wasn't much a quick Google search wouldn't reveal.

"I've got something nice," she said, and scurried off.

The tea room wasn't set up like a dining room, but it was clear from the arrangement who the "head" of the table would be. Steve sat immediately at Tsukasa's left, and Momo and Todoroki sat across the table from them.

There was an awkward silence while Futaba was away making tea, saved for Todoroki by a small cat meandering into the room and weaving its way between his feet. Steve said something in English, and Momo answered politely. They didn't make eye contact.

"He asked how things went with Endeavor."

Futaba returned with the teapot and placed it on the table, sitting across from Momo and next to her husband.

"All right. Why don't you two start at the beginning," Tsukasa said.

Todoroki looked at Momo. "Do you want to start?"

"We should start with you. I'll translate, though."

Todoroki nodded, then faced the group again. "My mom is Scandanavian," he said, pausing for Momo to translate. "She was chosen for a quirk marriage to my father, and they hadn't met beforehand. Even before their relationship turned abusive, they didn't get along and she never truly adjusted to life in Japan. My sister says she remembers Mom talking to her mother in tears almost every day. When Yaoyorozu told me she was going to be moving to America for a business agreement, a lot of alarm bells went off. My dad's already agreed to get whatever grants you need. But, in my experience, there's not a good outcome to Yaoyorozu marrying Steve."

There were opposite reactions from each of the Yaoyorozu parents. The mother gripped her tea and sized him up again, as if she was committing him to her mental library. Someone significant. The father shook his head and looked at his wife, crossing his arms. Whatever he'd said had lost points with Tsukasa somehow.

"Which is why we were talking about moving me here," Steve said through Momo. He gestured with a stiff, frustrated hand.

Todoroki shook his head. "Yaoyorozu, don't translate. Steve, do you have any idea what I'm saying right now?"

Steve looked at him intently, his lips moving as he tried to parse the words. He gave up and looked at Momo helplessly.

"This would be even worse for you," Momo told him.

"Well, young man, it seems you've thought this out,," said Tsukasa, rolling his hands and stretching his fingers. "But I have to say I disagree. I... appreciate the anecdote about your mother, and you seem like a sensible young man, but this isn't quite the dire situation you describe. The two have been engaged since they were three and five. Momo has been to America a few times, she speaks English, and even if she and Steve aren't particularly close, we know his family well. This is a plan we've had for many years, and changing things now would really cause a whole host of complications."

He wasn't making eye contact with Todoroki, but with Steve, who seemed relieved that he was being defended.

"No, not changing something before it goes wrong would cause a whole host of complications," Todoroki said frustratedly. "Now there is an opportunity to avoid problems and I don't understand why you're not taking it. It must be me you have a problem with, then." He looked at Tsukasa until the man was forced to make eye contact. "I haven't heard you ask Momo what she thinks, either."

There was silence at the table as Futaba reached over and began pouring tea, checking the eyes of the rest of the party. No one noticed.

Tsukasa looked at Momo and then back at Todoroki. "You're right. It's a problem with you. I'll admit you're correct in the holes you poked in the plan to give Momo to Steve- settling in a new place is intimidating and we will of course see her less often. But I trust Steve and what comes with him. When you marry someone, you marry their family as well. I've got a computer. I know how you got those burns, and you just told me your father was abusive and may still be. I didn't ask her opinion because I don't want my daughter around your family and I don't want your money, either."

At this, Todoroki didn't have much of a defense. Tsukasa was right. Momo shifted uncomfortably next to him and he looked at her, hoping she could read his mind. Please just remember what I said. You can't go through with this.

Tsukasa was silent for a moment, thinking. No one else said anything as he leaned forward onto his elbows and sighed. "I just had to say that first. But now, I would actually like to hear from Momo about… why. She's the one who wants to change things. I just want everyone to know where I stand."

Momo went still. This was the point where she would actually have to confront someone. It wasn't her style.

"I-" She breathed again. "I wouldn't be here if we didn't have something to talk about."

A head poked in the door- small woman in a simple uniform. Probably the chef.

"Dinner is ready," she said nervously, the tension in the room palpable.

"Momo, why don't we go wash up?" Futaba asked, her expression pointed. She wanted to talk in private, it seemed.

Momo opened her mouth to protest, but nodded and stood up. She put a hand on Todoroki's shoulder but looked at Steve before leaving the room.

"Steve, show Todoroki to the sink. Tsukasa, can you take the tea to the dining room? No one's touched it," Futaba called as she left. Her husband stared after her, yanked out of his train of thought and looked down at the tea.

"Come on," Steve said to Todoroki, gesturing.

Todoroki stood and followed Steve back down the hall where they'd entered, skimming the walls with his eyes. He realized he'd never been to a classmate's house before. Midoriya had been his first real friend, and they'd moved into the dormitories soon after that had happened, so the most he knew about any of his classmates was what could be gleaned from their personality and actions. He didn't know anyone's family history. Now, he was seeing framed pictures of grade school girls' soccer teams, science fair trophies, and photos of Momo at various ages with seemingly random objects of varying complexity. A news clipping with a very little girl and a young Best Jeanist. He needed no reminders that his childhood wasn't exactly normal, but still, this was a little bizarre.

He reached out and tugged Steve's shirtsleeve. "We… learn English… School," he said. His accent was probably awful. Present Mic would be ashamed of him.

Steve blinked. "Great! Uh…" They arrived at a small half-bathroom, where Steve gestured for Todoroki to enter and wash his hands. Steve stood in the doorway. "Look, I'm not sure whether to apologize or what I'm supposed to do here, but I heard what you were saying and like Tsukasa said you've got some good things to say and I'll keep that in mind, I guess? I know you're probably really mad at me right now but-"

Steve stopped, noticing Todoroki was staring at him, dumbfounded.

"Too fast. Ok." He took a breath. "Sorry, man?"

Todoroki looked at him intently and jabbed a still-wet finger into his chest. "Bad. Plan."

This seemed to visibly annoy Steve, if only a little. He sighed frustratedly. He spoke slowly and deliberately. "Momo. Does. Not. Like. You."

Todoroki made an exaggerated shrugging motion. "Okay." He pointed at Steve again. "You don't stupid plan." He hoped he made sense. If Tsukasa didn't like him, things could still turn out okay if Steve just dropped it.

Steve's facial expression dropped to a more accusatory one. He pulled out his phone and found something in his recent history on YouTube.

It was television footage from the Sports Festival. Midnight was explaining the rules to the cavalry battle. When she was finished, the camera cut to the crowd of students. For the first fifteen seconds or so, the kids milled about or stood frozen, trying to figure out what they wanted to do as individuals.

Steve held a finger close to the screen, struggling not to touch it as he followed a red-haired figure across the field with his fingertip. While the other students were wandering aimless, Todoroki had walked directly across the field to Momo. She was the first team member selected of the entire group.

"Don't lie," Steve said. "You care."

Todoroki shook his head. He remembered that day. He remembered how he felt- or rather, how he didn't. In the emotional state he'd had at the time, it was impossible something as trivial as attraction had made its way into his psyche. He'd known Momo was the key to victory- if he needed offense, defense, and mobility for his team, she was the strongest defense and could at least help with the other two. Momo was his plan.

He understood Steve's perspective, though. They'd met on a day he'd been spending time with her. Whatever research could be done on him showed several connections between them, and suddenly he shows up to the Yaoyorozu house with an engagement counteroffer. She was brilliant, beautiful, capable- why wouldn't he see her that way?

Oh.

The realization was a paradigm shift. His breath hitched, and he resisted the urge to put a slow hand up to his mouth. Steve's timetable may have been wrong, but his observations had merit after all, didn't they? Other things had occupied his mind until the sports festival, but since then, he couldn't pinpoint the time when his thoughts had shifted from "Yaoyorozu is capable" to "Yaoyorozu is capable of anything." No one could do anything-it was physically impossible. But somewhere on the line, he'd forgotten that she, unlike her quirk, was as much a slave to the laws of physics as anyone.

So maybe he and Steve didn't have so little in common. Was it possible he had some kind of bias? That he was seeing danger in some other person's situation out of jealousy? He would have to reevaluate, he-

He looked back at Steve. That wasn't it at all. Steve was trying to take the focus off of himself. He was starting to feel threatened by Todoroki and was trying to get him to back down. This was a man who was in a tight spot and wanted to use Momo to get out of it. Todoroki couldn't allow that, and so his current course of action, bias or not, was correct.

Steve kept his still face on Todoroki, waiting for him to speak.

Todoroki made a shrugging motion, huffing as he tried to rearrange the words he needed. "She does like you?" He asked. No, that was the opposite of what he was trying to say. "Does she like you?"

Steve stopped. He wanted to believe, but he could see the doubt that had been growing all day since Momo had called to say she didn't want to marry him.

So maybe there was a legitimacy to what Steve was trying to say. Maybe Todoroki had motives beyond just making sure he didn't lose a friend. But that wasn't the point.

He pointed to himself. "Fifteen." He pointed to Steve. "Seventeen." He gestured vaguely in the direction of Momo, her family, and the tea room. "Don't… need. Go home."

Steve's and Momo's families had been in support of him, and Momo had been too polite to turn him down outright. Todoroki knew he was the first to tell him his attempts to whisk Momo away weren't completely acceptable. Perhaps, at this point, he'd planted a seed of doubt.

"Hungry?" Steve asked, gesturing back down the hall. He'd stopped glaring, and his thoughts seemed occupied.

Todoroki nodded, and the two boys made their way back to the dining room.

A/N: So, first of all, this fic is now also on AO3 under the same name, if for some reason you prefer that. Second of all, massive apologies for this chapter taking three months. In that time, I wrote the draft of the first six chapters of this story, rewrote this one twelve times because I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with it, and got a job as a camp counselor teaching programming to high schoolers. . Unfortunately, that job takes up my day from 7 am to 10:30 pm Sunday through Friday right now. Fortunately, it'll be over in three weeks and I can write more! (Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but I just don't get much time for fanfiction in there.) Thanks for all your kind words and support, and see you at the next one!

By the way, this chapter was so long I had to split it in half and it still came out to 24 pages.