AN: for todomomo week 2020 day 1: soba and tea!
first time writing for this pair but they're so cute i love them! hope you guys enjoy :) also these r my personal rules on soba eating that i am projecting onto todoroki lol
Rule number 1: Soba is best served cold with a small sprinkle of nori and fresh ground wasabi
"Good evening, Todoroki."
Todoroki pulls his head out of the fridge, turning back to see Yaoyorozu standing in the entryway to the kitchen. "Ah. Good evening, Yaoyorozu. Did you need something?"
Yaoyorozu shakes her head as she turns to the cabinets, pulling out a tin box as she sets some water on the stovetop to boil. "Just wanted to drink some tea. I can get out of your way in a couple of minutes if you need the kitchen."
Todoroki nods, grabbing his supplies as he walks back to his plate on the kitchen counter. "It's fine, your welcome to stay. I'm just having a late night snack myself," he says, gesturing towards his tray.
"Soba? This late at night?" Yaoyorozu asks, covering her mouth as she smiles. "I suppose that's to be expected of you, Todoroki."
Todoroki shrugs, methodically crushing the nori with his fingers before he sprinkles it in. He pauses then, looking up at Yaoyorozu through his bangs. "Would you… would you like some? I have fresh wasabi."
Yaoyorozu blinks back at him, hand lifting to her mouth once more as she lets out a loud laugh. It echoes a bit off the concrete walls, and this late at night it's the only sound in the kitchen other than the soft hiss and crackle of boiling water. It's loud and unrefined – everything that Yaoyorozu normally is not.
"I think I'll have a bite, then," Yaoyorozu says, walking over to him. "I can offer you some tea in exchange."
"Hot and cold," Todoroki comments as he begins grating the wasabi. "Like me."
Yaoyorozu laughs again, hand over mouth.
Todoroki is absolutely charmed.
Rule number 2: Use your right hand to regulate the temperature colder when eating – this really only applies if your name is Todoroki Shouto
"Todoroki, do you mind if I sit here?"
Todoroki looks up from his noodles to see Yaoyorozu picking her way around the tables and offers her a nod. He indicates to the chair to his left while his right hand continues to scoop the noodles up to his mouth.
She smiles at him as she sits, setting down her large tray of food. "I promise not to force you into conversation while eating."
Todoroki tries his best to smile around the noodles at the thoughtful gesture.
It's a companionable silence as they sit there, focusing on their food while they let the chatter of their classmates wash over them. Yaoyorozu focuses on inhaling as much food as she can (while still dabbing gently at the corners of her mouth with a napkin when the occasion calls for it) while Todoroki focuses on refining the temperature of his soba while appreciating the depth of flavor.
"Man," Kaminari complains from his right. "Is it just me or is it absolutely freezing in here?" His lips are slightly blue-ish and he shivers in his seat. "Why would they turn on the air conditioning in the middle of winter?"
Todoroki pauses then, setting his chopsticks back down so he can turn to face Kaminari. "My apologies," he says, placing his hand on Kaminari's shoulder to slowly warm him back up. "I like to eat my noodles cold."
Kaminari just blinks at him before shrugging and resuming his conversation. Behind him, Todoroki hears a soft snickering and turns to find Yaoyorozu leaning over her now empty tray as she laughs.
"Are you… laughing? At me?" Todoroki asks, eyebrows rising on his forehead in surprise.
Yaoyorozu coughs a little in surprise at that, shyly fixing her bangs. "Ah, well… Your quirk is so powerful, I never thought you would use it for something as mundane as cooling soba."
Todoroki considers that for a moment before shrugging. "It's useful, in its own way."
Yaoyorozu nods, picking up her thermos to take a sip before wincing.
"What's that?" Todoroki asks, leaning forward to take a better look.
Yaoyorozu inclines it towards his direction to reveal a golden brown liquid sitting inside. "I like to wash down my meals with a nice cup of hot tea, but this thermos could use some better insulation. The manufacturer should have really considered using double walled vacuum insulation technology, but it seems they just built a – Oh! I'm sorry, I'm probably boring you with all of this technical talk," Yaoyorozu trails off sheepishly.
Todoroki shakes his head, blinking at her slowly. "Not at all. Although, I wonder," he muses, "Why not make a water bottle yourself? You seem to know well enough about the chemical structure of a more efficient model."
Yaoyorozu blushes then, pink scattering across her cheeks as she answers, "Well, I normally try to avoid creating items for personal use with my quirk. It could be bad for the economy if I created too many items for free, rather than using the money my family has to continue the circulation and exchange of products and services. In addition to that, I believe that following quirk law 47 in subsection 12.3, it would be constituted as improper usage of my quirk..."
Todoroki sits and listens as Yaoyorozu rambles on, watching her hands move in small gestures as she explains her reasoning. It almost makes him wonder if she's secretly a more tempered love child of Iida and Midoriya before he realizes that it's not physically possible, considering they're all the same age.
Moving on impulse, Todoroki leans forward, indicating Yaoyorozu's thermos as he asks, "May I?"
"And I – oh! Sorry, of course," Yaoyorozu answers, pulled out of her rambling. She hands Todoroki the thermos, watching with wide eyes as he holds it with his left hand for one, two, three quick seconds before returning it to her. "What did you…" she trails off in her question as she takes it back in her hands and realizes it's been warmed to the perfect temperature.
"My quirk is rather good for mundane things like this," Todoroki answers with a smile. "I hope that doesn't go against any quirk usage regulations?"
Yaoyorozu laughs in a mixture of surprise and delight as she shakes her head and answers, "No, not at all. Thank you, Todoroki."
Rule number 3: Turn your chopsticks in a slow clockwise motion to thoroughly stir the noodles into the sauce
Yaoyorozu has invited all of the first years to her family's lake house, and Todoroki lets the current carry him around and around in circles as he lays back in a swimming tube he'd stolen from Kaminari, who's too busy trying to get the girls to play beach volleyball with him anyways. The sun is warm on his face and the water laps gently at his feet and hands, so Todoroki finds himself relaxing into the depths as a calm tiredness washes over him. He's nearly half asleep, until he hears a small splash to his left.
Blinking one eye open, he peeks to his right, only to see a small flash of red before he's flipped over and out of the tube, coughing as he bobs back up to the surface.
"Who the hell–" Todoroki jerks with surprise as he sees Yaoyorozu standing in the water in front of him, holder her hand to her mouth as she giggles. "Yaoyorozu?"
"Sorry, Todoroki," she giggles, quickly wading out of his reach. "You just looked too peaceful!"
"I didn't know you had it in you," Todoroki comments, still in awe and shock. He narrows his eyes as she continues to laugh. "Well, that does it."
Yaoyorozu's expression drops immediately as she stumbles back, "Wait, Todoroki, don't–"
Her please come too late as Todoroki rides an ice bridge over to her in seconds, dropping a second giant chunk of ice into the water the plops in with a giant kerplunk and drenches her head to toe. There's a small strand of seaweed hanging off her ponytail as she frowns, and reaches down to her stomach to pull out a – "Oh shit."
Todoroki stumbles back, falling flat on his ass in the water as Yaoyorozu sprays him head to toe with the most powerful water gun he's ever encountered in his life. From further up on the beach, he hears somebody shout, "Water fight!" and the subsequent thundering of splashes and footsteps as everybody jumps into the water, but he's currently too busy wrestling Yaoyorozu back into the water to notice.
It's only halfway through the chaos of the battle that they both stop and realize that they're standing nose to nose, Todoroki's arm around Yaoyorozu's waist and Yaoyorozu's hands on either of Todoroki's shoulders as they grapple together.
"Oh," Todoroki says with surprise, dropping his hands to his sides.
The moment is broken as Yaoyorozu falls back suddenly, falling onto her butt in the water with a shout of shock. They blink at one another for a moment before bursting into peals of laughter, leaning against each other for support as Todoroki helps her back up.
"Attack them!" a voice screams suddenly from behind them and they turn simultaneously to see Sero and Kirishima leading a charge right at them, swinging buckets of sandy water as they hop through the shallow water.
Todoroki and Yaoyorozu exchange glances for one brief moment, but it's plenty enough for them to sort their alliances as they turn back with a determined face and ready their weapons.
Rule number 4: Soba may be eaten alone, or in good company with friends and family. Never eat soba with your enemies – they do not appreciate the true rigor of its flavor
"Todoroki, are you sulking?" Yaoyorozu asks in disbelief. It's only a few hours after their water fight and they all sit around Yaoyorozu's kitchen and living room, taking turns in the showers as some flick through the channels on the television.
Todoroki shrugs and turns his head another quarter inch in the opposite direction. "I don't see why I can't enjoy a nice cold bowl of soba after such an energetic day," he says, even as his teeth chatter aggressively from the cold.
Yaoyorozu smiles fondly down at him, reaching behind him to grab something before putting it in his hands. "The water was much colder than I expected, Todoroki. And you were in there the longest, too," she explains, hovering over him as she taps the thermos. "Drink up some tea and warm yourself, then you're free to eat as many cold things as you'd like."
"Hey!" Sero calls from a corner where he's wringing out his hair onto Kirishima's back. "Why don't we get any tea?"
Yaoyorozu sticks her tongue out at them, and Todoroki finds himself coughing as he unintentionally inhales his tea. "Water battle losers don't deserve special tea privileges," Yaoyorozu declares and Todoroki leans around her to nod sagely back at them, emphasizing her statement with a thumbs down.
Rule number 5: And last but not least, never laugh while consuming soba. It may come out your nose
"Yaoyorozu?" Todoroki asks one night as they sit together at the kitchen counter, sharing their soba and tea. He's not sure when exactly it happened, but it's become something of a ritual for the two of them to sit together after a long day, indulging in their favorite food and drink as they bask in the quiet.
"Yes?" Yaoyorozu asks, lowering her hand down from her mouth.
"Why," he begins his question slowly. "Do you always cover your mouth?"
"Oh," Yaoyorozu answers, furrowing her brow. "I didn't realize I ever did that, I suppose it's just… habit." When Todoroki merely looks on at her in silence, she flushes red and continues, "When I was younger I had braces to fix my teeth, and well. I suppose it became a habit to cover my mouth because of my smile."
Todoroki pauses, considering her words as he slurps up a mouthful of soba. "Well, I think your smile is beautiful."
Yaoyorozu turns even redder, then, and her hand is already rising to her mouth when Todoroki reaches out a hand and grabs her wrist, stopping it halfway. He doesn't stop the smile from rising to the corners of her cheeks and watches as the crooked grin hangs on her face, mouth slightly agape. Previously undiscovered dimples appear on either side of her cheeks and Todoroki stares at them with wonder.
"See?" he says, moving his fingers down to interlock with hers. "I was right."
Yaoyorozu ducks her head down, mumbling, "But I have such an ugly laugh," as she shovels a mouthful of soba into her face with her other hand.
"Well," Todoroki considers that for a moment. "Your laugh kind of sounds like an elephant. But I've always liked elephants."
He hears a snort and then a gargled choke come from beside him and turns to see Yaoyorozu laughing her beautiful elephant laugh as tears stream down her face. "Shouto! You can't say things like that, look what you've done!" A long soba noodle hangs from her nose, and the sight has Todoroki stopping in shock for a minute before he's leaning over as peals of laughter escape his mouth.
"See?" he says again. "Just like an elephant."
Yaoyorozu is still crying and laughing as Todoroki hands her a tissue, but at least she doesn't cover her face with her hand, leaving it open for Todoroki to pepper soft kisses onto her dimples.
AN: thanks for reading :D
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