Summary: Working off of their previous agreement, Shouto and Momo leave early in the morning in order to go to the cafe that Momo has suggested for them to spend some time at.
The day goes on.
"It's a bit of a hole-in-the-wall, but I promise you it's a good cafe!" Momo told him excitedly. "Despite it being kind of empty sometimes, it's quite nice!"
Shouto nodded his approval. Once he was sure, though, he pulled his hand up to flick the wide-brimmed black fedora she'd put on his head.
"What's the point of the hat?" He asked her. It covered the top of his head and the brim was wide enough to hide his face from afar. He assumed that's what it was for, anyway, and was pleased to know that he was right, once he saw Momo enthusiastically nod at him.
"So that the others can't tell it's you! Your hair is a dead giveaway, and this was all I could think of on short notice." She replied, crossing her arms as she looked him over. Admittedly, she thought the hat was quite nice. Todoroki often had an air of regality around him, though the hat put him a bit on the...cuter side of the spectrum. Momo tried to usher away the red in her cheeks and simply decided to leave her thoughts with, "It looks good on him."
He nodded his approval once more. Honestly, it wasn't a bad hat. It was comfortable, and Shouto thought it matched with his current attire pretty well. That, and the fact that Momo had smiled so brightly when he'd first put it on that it made him never want to take it off. The smile itself was wide enough, but she got this giddy little look on her face that he absolutely adores.
So, with renewed pride, he dons the hat as stylishly as possible. Paired with the red button-up, sleeves rolled to his elbows, the black vest she'd given him as well, and khaki jeans, Todoroki believes he's ready to go out into the city. However well he thinks he looks, though, something in his head still tells him that he pales in comparison to Yaoyorozu.
She's wearing jeans, a white blouse with a wide black belt around her waist, black heels that make her look deviously elegant, and two or so bracelets on each wrist. She walks with the presence of a princess and it's hard for Todoroki to even try and keep his eyes off of her.
Luckily, he doesn't have the time to think too hard about it. The two of them are awake and out of the dorms before seven, when they both usually woke up. Normally, Midoriya would be awake exercising at this hour but, strangely, they don't see him when they leave. Yaoyorozu has to remind herself not to count her blessings too soon, or else something could ruin their day out.
So, hand-in-hand like the night before, the two of them eagerly make their way into the city. Thankfully, they don't have to take any extended transportation, but the cafe is still a bit far on foot. It only means they really have more and more time to talk.
In fairness, though, the both of them are two very coddled teens who have no idea what they're doing. Instead of making small conversation, the two stayed rather quiet. Todoroki didn't know how to start a conversation, and neither did Yaoyorozu. The silence isn't all bad, though. It's a bit awkward from the both of them wanting to talk, but not knowing how to start, but it's comfortable too. Todoroki is a bit of a man of few words and Yaoyorozu is expressive enough as is, so she doesn't always need to talk.
The two of them are walking up an empty side-street when a gang of tabby cats dash out and run through their path. Yaoyorozu gasps and backs into Todoroki, who catches her instinctively. With wide eyes, Momo watches the cats run around in circles, playing with one another before they dash off once again and the street is quiet again. She follows them with her eyes and, upon not being able to see them anymore, she turns to look at up Todoroki. There's a wide smile on her face and her eyes are twinkling in the sunlight.
A light blush runs across Shouto's cheeks, but he smiles at her. Like before, it's small and unsure. Momo thinks it's beautiful.
A quiet meow pulls them back to the same alley that the group of tabby cats had run out of. Walking out into the light was a small white kitten with piercing blue eyes that felt oddly familiar. Despite how dark and dirty the alley seemed, the kitten's fur was pristine, except for that around its paws. Yaoyorozu squealed, a sound Todoroki never thought he'd hear, and she knelt down to watch the kitten.
It walked slowly, though it didn't look to be hurt at all. It looked at Momo out of the side of its eye, almost dramatically. Suspiciously wary of the animal, Shouto knelt down next to her. It was then that the kitten sped up and rubbed up against his leg. Eyes wide in surprise, his hand hovered over it for a mere second before he dropped it, petting the kitten softly on the head. Momo turned to watch him, surprise and awe etched on her face. The kitten was tiny. Maybe Shouto could...
He set his hand down and, as if it was reading his thoughts, the kitten jumped into his palm, snuggled up, and laid down. Carefully, he stood back up, instinctively bringing his arm closer to his chest and shielding the kitten with his other hand. Momo stood with him, a hand covering her mouth. Shouto assumed she was still looking at the cat but, when he looked up, her eyes were trained on him instead.
Todoroki tilted his head in question at her. What could she possibly be staring at? He looked down and noticed that Momo had her phone in her hand. He knew some of the other girls liked taking pictures of cute animals they saw in the city, but could she have moved that fast?
Anxiety started to build up, so he shifted, keeping the kitten in his hand, and sighed.
"Momo? Are you alright?" He asked, for lack of better words. She quickly started to nod and then, taking the hand away from her mouth, she pointed at him shakily.
"Th-that was..oh my god," She muttered out, pressing the back of her hand against her forehead. "That was the most adorable thing I've ever seen, Shouto. I-I can't even comprehend that!"
Clearly confused, he tilts his head at her again.
"What are you talking about, Momo?" He asks, clarification clearly needed. Instead of talking, though, Yaoyorozu just shoved her phone in his direction, pressing it into his hand.
"I-I can't say anything. Look at the picture, please." She answered, pressing it further into his empty hand and curling his fingers around it. No less confused than he was ten seconds ago, Todoroki lifts the phone up to his face, weirdly so he doesn't disturb the kitten now in the crook of his arm, and inspects the picture still open on its screen.
He sees himself, knelt down on the ground. His hair is waving in the wind, but the wide-brimmed hat on his head does well to keep it contained. Like usual, his eyes are half-lidded, his heterochromatic eyes facing downward. Once it gets to his mouth, though, the picture is weird.
Todoroki is clearly staring down at the cat in front of him and it seems the cat is staring back up at him with the same look. Looking closer, his eyes look a little wider and his pupils a bit smaller. He has a smile on his face. It's small but very obvious, though Shouto doesn't even remember smiling.
There's some kind of wonder in his eyes, looking down at the kitten in the picture, almost as if he can't believe that it's so small. Much like an excited child, it looks like Todoroki just couldn't keep it contained.
Now, he understands her reactions. Todoroki's face is as red as the left side of his hair and he silently pushes the phone back to Momo's hands. Dammit. She was completely right about the picture. It was goddamn adorable.
As if it could understand him perfectly, the kitten mewed in his arms and snuggled closer to his chest, prompting another short squeal from Momo. Shouto looked up at her, a questioning look in his eyes.
"What do we do now?" He asked her, shuffling on his feet. "I don't think the cafe we'd meant to go to will let me bring a kitten in."
That seemed to jar Momo from her thoughts enough for the kitten to be pushed a bit further back. She brought a hand up to hold her chin and tilted her head downward, thinking. With his hands full, Todoroki couldn't really mimic her movements, but he did fall into a lapse of thinking. After a short moment, Momo snapped her fingers.
"Don't worry! I'm certain I can work something out, once we get to the cafe." She told him. Having no reason not to trust her, Todoroki nodded and stepped away from the entrance to the alley. Momo followed and began to lead the way again, though she neglected one specific thing.
Before she could get too far away, Todoroki shuffled the kitten into his other arm and reached out to take Momo's hand in his. She froze immediately and turned to face him, that same bashful look on her face that she so often got when she was around him. In return, he smiled at her. At the same time, the kitten in his arm mewed cutely and pulled Momo back to the present.
"Lead the way, Momo," Shouto said once he'd stepped up next to her. With blush still clouding her face, Momo nodded and began to walk again. With their hands joined, Todoroki was prevented from falling too far behind her. Even if they weren't holding hands, though, he'd want to be as close to her as possible.
She was like the sun to him, after all. Momo really did light up his world.
"I'll be honest, I hadn't pegged you as a cat person, Momo." Todoroki answered, to which Momo giggled.
They'd been walking for a couple of minutes mostly in silence. Unlike before, though, this silence was only in part to Yaoyorozu wanting to watch the kitten in Shouto's arms. The few times they did talk, it happened to be about the cat, or about animals in general.
"I like dogs as well, but they can be really excitable." She countered, eyes straying down to the kitten for a moment before going back to Todoroki. He leaned his head in her direction, sort of pointing at her without his hands.
"So can you," He said simply. Momo started to protest, but he shook his head and continued. "Once something has your attention, you focus on it with admirable determination. I like seeing that look in your eyes. It shows that you really have something to strive for."
Momo blushed and looked away, causing a smile to slip over Shouto's face. He gripped her hand and she returned the gesture.
"Y-you have some kind of way with words, Shouto." She mumbled to him. Todoroki shrugged as much as he could. The kitten in his arms had fallen asleep.
"It's easy to tell the truth," He replied simply. Once again, he shuffled his arms uncomfortably. He turned to Momo again. "Why do you think the cat came to me?"
Yaoyorozu shrugged. "Maybe it's because you have this air about you?"
At his curious look, she elaborated. "W-well, it's very...c-calming to be around you. Your presence helps me keep a clear mind when I need it. Maybe the kitten senses it too."
After that, they walked on in silence for a few minutes. Momo's face burned with blush and the only thing she could think of was: "Why did I say that? Gods, that must've sounded so weird!"
She felt a tugging on her hand and Momo turned to face Todoroki, only to find him leaning closer and closer already. Her face turned even redder than before, but she fought herself and didn't move away. Quickly, Shouto kissed her on the cheek and then leaned back up. Already, the cat began to mew in protest from where it was pressed against his chest.
"Thank you, Momo," He said to her, quietly. Then, he tugged on her hand, ushering her forward. "Let's go. We can't miss out on the cafe, can we?"
"When you said it was 'a hole-in-the-wall', I didn't think you'd meant it literally." Todoroki pointed out. Momo looked away, a bashful look in her eyes, before moving to separate their hands for the time being.
"I-I mean...I-It was an accurate description, was it not?" She responded, finally pulling their hands apart. She made a sound of disapproval in the back of her throat but quickly looked back up to Shouto. "Can you wait here a moment? I want to make sure we can bring the kitten in with us."
Todoroki nodded, shuffling on his feet. The kitten had woken up and taken perch on his left shoulder. Neither of them had a clue about how it stayed balanced, but the kitten didn't seem to notice. If it did, it simply didn't care about where it stood. Yaoyorozu took a moment to look at the white fluff-ball, smiled, and then did a complete one-eighty and marched into the cafe.
It was sat between two larger buildings, making it look tiny in comparison. Most of the front wall was glass, including the door, that was studded with a diamond design and painted over with a pale brown color, making it hard to actually see through. Shouto could really only make out a counter on the left inside of the building. It had pale pink borders arcing around and through the brown shades of the building. On the door was a black sign; A coffee cup with the words 'Espresso~Love' written across it. Despite the fact that he hadn't even stepped foot inside the place yet, it already seemed to instill some kind of calm over him. Todoroki unconsciously relaxed his muscles and sighed.
Before he knew it, Yaoyorozu was coming back out of the cafe with that same wide, beautiful, smile on her face. Eagerly, she grabbed his hand again and began to pull him into the cafe.
"Come on, Shouto! I got us a good table where we can keep the kitten with us while we're here." She told him. He nodded his acceptance, though she couldn't see his face, and followed her into the cafe.
The inside was painted similarly to the outside. The area just in front of the door was dark brown wood, but it quickly blended into a pink carpet that ran across the entire floor. The walls, dark brown planked wood, was adorned with bookshelves of varying sizes and pink picture frames with random people in it. Todoroki noticed one particular picture that had a woman—wearing a brown apron, which suggested she worked at the cafe or owned it—and their very own Aizawa-sensei. He had that same deadpan look on his face, but something was different about him. Shouto couldn't decide on what it was.
Yaoyorozu led him past the counter in the back left, past all the empty tables that seated two or four people, and pulled him behind the large bookshelf at the back. Pushed up against the back window was a table just like the others. It had two chairs, woven metal with comfortable looking pink pillows on the seats. The entire back window defied Shouto's expectations. Given that the cafe was small and seemingly pushed in between two other buildings, he'd assumed the other three sides of the building would be disappointments. He was tired of being wrong about such small things.
Behind the building, there was a garden. Not just a tiny garden, though, it took up as much space as the building itself. Stairs lead down into the center where circles and rows upon rows of different kinds of flowers arced out to the edges of the space. There was a white gazebo in the middle, housing four benches, each one facing different directions with their backs to one another. Trees were few and far between, but the ones that were there were white with pink blossoms emerging in the branches.
Shouto had long since sat down, Momo sitting across from him and watching his reactions, and was staring out the window with awe in his eyes. It didn't make any sense to him. The space didn't even seem big enough to house a garden of such magnitude, but yet...here it was.
He spotted tables outside, similar to the one they sat at now. Were people allowed to eat outside? He was suddenly hit with a want to get outside more.
"So...," Momo started and Shouto's eyes jumped back to her, the awe still there. Was it because of her? Her cheeks suddenly lit up red with blush and she struggled to get the rest of her sentence out. "..h-how do you like it? I-I tend to come to this place a lot a-and...I thought you'd like it."
His voice refused to work for a moment. The garden was amazing and it had temporarily caught his attention. But Momo...that bashful look that he loved to see, the light blush that dusted her cheeks, and the quiet, whispering, sound of her voice...she was beautiful.
"It's...It's perfect," He told her, his voice just as quiet, if not quieter, than hers. The kitten on his shoulder meowed softly and jumped onto the table, landing gracefully, to lie down. Todoroki adjusted the hat on his head. "I couldn't ask for a better experience than this one."
The blush on Yaoyorozu's face grew, but the wide smile that spread across her lips was enough to betray her embarrassment.
"Th-Thank you, Shouto...sh-should we order now? Th-they have very good tea here!" She sputtered out. To both their surprise, Todoroki chuckled. It was a deep sound, but it was quiet; Reserved, even. With a confident smile, he nodded.
"Sure," He answered, leaning on the table. Yaoyorozu's hands were on the table, clasped together, and he reached forward with one hand and laid it atop hers. "What do you recommend, Momo?"