Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You called me by my first name.”

Todoroki is sitting in the park, on one of the swings with Momo beside him. She’s glancing at him as she swings back and forth only slightly, feet dragging in the dirt. She’s wearing sneakers instead of her usual flats or heels, and it feels nice to not care about dirtying up her shoes.

“Oh,” Todoroki hadn’t even noticed, and for a minute, he thinks he’s crossed some sort of line. “I’m sorry, would you like me to call you Yaoyorozu instead?”

“No! I don’t mind, it just surprised me, that’s all.” Momo smiles. “We’re becoming closer friends, it’s nice.”

As a matter of fact, he’s starting to call everyone in their class by their first names. Midoriya was thrilled and almost cried about it, the softie. Todoroki doesn’t know where it comes from, but they’ve been through so much together, keeping up formalities just seems like a waste of time to him. For once, they’re not at the hospital, and while they both enjoyed spending the days there, talking outside of the hospital was enjoyable too.

Todoroki doesn’t know why he picks a park, but these days he’s starting to feel less like a kid. His mother’s mood fluctuates. He can see the shadow of his father looming over him more and more. The only thing that cheers him up is hanging out with his friends, so he’s taking what he can get. Momo is smiling more, but there’s a hint of strain in it, as if it’s taking all her energy to do so. He was worried about her when she broke down crying in the hospital yesterday. She hasn’t talked about it, and he didn’t pry.

That seemed to be the basis of their relationship, didn’t it? Never really reaching into the problem, but helping each other out when they could. Todoroki doesn’t know if that’s a bad thing or not. Weren’t you supposed to break down walls and have arguments as friends? Maybe he was overthinking it.

“It’s hot.” Momo says, wiping at her forehead.

That was another thing that added to Todoroki’s unpleasant mood. The weather. If it got any hotter he was going to scream.

“We can get something to drink.” he suggests, and they unpeel themselves from the swing sets in search of beverages.

There’s a convience store around the corner, and Momo’s phone rings. She digs it out of her pocket, and tells Todoroki to go inside without her. “I’ll be there in a second.”

He enters the store and picks out two drinks. He sticks to water, but he knows Momo is fond of sweet tea, and pays for both at the register. When he returns outside, Momo is hanging up and looks crestfallen, pulling back her hair into a tighter ponytail.

“Is everything okay?”

She manages a half-smile. “Yeah, it’s just my mom. She wants me to attend a party tonight.”

“You don’t want to go?” he takes her drink out of the plastic bag and hands it to her.

“I hate dinner parties.” She accepts the tea and twists off the lid. “They last forever.”

Todoroki can tell that it’s more complicated than that, but he doesn’t say anything. They walk aimlessly, away from the park, into town. As a boy, Todoroki attended various parties as well, and he hated it just as much as she did. Luckily, with Endeavor’s busy schedule, he hasn’t gone to any in months.

“What about Sayuri?” the words come out of his mouth before he can stop them, and Momo turns to him.

“What about her?”

He stares at her, she stares back.

Finally, Momo sighs. “It’s complicated,” she admits. “I can’t do anything about her awful family, and I can’t do anything about my mother. I just...have to take it in stride, I guess. I can put up with my mother and I can try to make Sayuri as happy as possible for as long as I can. There’s no use crying over it.” She gives him a determined smile. “I’m going to do my best!”

She sounds like Uraraka. Momo was always taking things in stride, wasn’t she? Never letting anyone see just how hard she was trying. Todoroki supposes he was like that too, but this was different. Momo deserved to let everyone know what she was feeling once in a while. He figures that yesterday would be the only time Momo allowed herself to cry in front of him.

They keep walking, talking periodic sips of their drinks.

“Do you like your parents?” Todoroki asks, and Momo has to think for a moment.

“Yes, I think so.” she pauses and asks, “Do you like your parents, Todoroki?”

“I like my mother.”

“What about your dad?”

It takes him a long time to answer, and Momo starts to backtrack. “I’m sorry, that--that was rude of me to say…”

“No, it’s fine. He’s not...he’s not someone I would consider to be a good parent.” It’s the nicest way he can put it, and even then there’s an edge to his voice. Momo’s eyes dart to the burn mark on his face and then dart away just as fast. There were rumors about his scar in class, and Mina was a magnet for gossip. She brought it up on occasion whenever the girls got together, which had sparked different theories and debates. Momo had her own share of curiosities, but she never voiced them. It just didn’t seem polite.

Momo sighs and wipes at her forehead again. This heat was becoming unbearable.

A thought comes to Todoroki then.

“Do you want to go to my house?”

Ten minutes later, Momo is at the front steps of his house, suddenly feeling shy and hesitant. This is her first time at a boy’s house. Todoroki has already unlocked the front door and is stepping inside.

“You can come inside, Momo.” Todoroki says, when he sees that she’s still lingering outside.

“A-Are you sure? I don’t want to be an inconvenience!”

“I invited you here.”

Momo blushes, feeling like a dork. “Right...I know. Okay.” she steps inside and removes her shoes. It’s much cooler inside, and Todoroki closes the door behind them. Immediately, footsteps can be heard shuffling into the living room, and Fuyumi Todoroki comes rushing into view. She immediately relaxes upon seeing Todoroki, and places a hand on her chest.

“Oh,” she breathes, glasses slightly askew. “Shouto, you scared me. I didn’t know you were coming home so early.”

Ever since summer break began, Todoroki spends most of his time outside the house, not coming home until nearly 9 o’clock.

“It was hot so I decided to come home, I brought a friend over as well.”

Momo’s posture gets even straighter and she bows deeply. “H-Hello, I’m Momo Yaoyorozu. I’m a classmate of Todoroki.”

Fuyumi bows back. “It’s nice to meet you, Yaoyorozu. Please, make yourself at home.” Fuyumi is giving Todoroki a look that he pointedly ignores, and instead is focusing on her hair.

“Did you just wake up or something? Your hair is a mess.”

“Shouto!” Fuyumi blushes and pats at her hair, smoothing it back into place. “I was taking a nap, for your information! If you’re going to be here, just make sure you don’t make a mess. Dad won’t be home until late tonight.” She gives another bow Momo’s way and walks back to her room. Todoroki nearly smiles. Teasing his older sister was just too easy. There was a time when she was almost too nervous to even smile much around him, too burdened with guilt from being unable to protect him against their father’s wrath. Talking to her like this is much easier.

Momo takes in the house. It’s nice and clean, with expensive wood furniture and painted vases. There aren’t many family photos, and it leaves a strange feeling of loneliness in her chest.

Todoroki is opening the sliding door that leads to the backyard, and Momo trails along after him. Outside, there’s an enormous pool glinting under the sun with chairs spread out. Momo’s family owned a pool as well, but it wasn’t nearly as big as Todoroki’s.

“You have a lovely home.” Momo says, and wonders if she’ll ever stop talking like someone’s mother and more like a teenager.

“It’s alright.” Todoroki replied in a bored tone. “Do you want to swim?”

“Swim?” Momo echoed, and now she’s growing flustered again. “I--uh--I don’t have a bathing suit! And my clothes will get ruined! Really, I don’t think I can…”

“You’ve never jumped into a pool with your clothes on?” Todoroki asks, and realizes that maybe his question wasn’t the right one to ask. Todoroki used to jump into the family pool without thinking about it on many occasions, when he couldn’t stand looking at his father and the smothering atmosphere of his own home. It started when he was nearly nine and it just grew into a habit. He’d sink at the bottom of the pool and try to block the whole world out. There wasn’t much incentive to do it now, but the urge is still there, especially today.

“No! It would be improper!”

Todoroki shrugs and walks over to the pool. He watches his reflection distort and feels the heat on the back of his neck.

He doesn’t want to think right now.

“Todo--!”

SPLASH! He hits the water and lets the cold take over him. It brings back a myriad of memories, and the stress that has piled up inside of him leaves in an instant. Todoroki breaks the surface of the water and shakes his hair. Momo is staring down at him in astonishment, mouth agape. Her eyes are sparkling in a weird way, the sun is making her hair nice and glossy. Todoroki blinks.

“Todoroki, are you okay?!”

“It’s just water, Momo. I’m fine.”

Momo looks like she’s trying to form a coherent sentence and is failing miserably. “Get in.” he tells her bluntly.

“What?!”

“Get in. You’re hot, aren’t you?”

“W-Well, yes, but--” Momo hesitates. But what?

Momo creeps towards the edge of the pool.

She doesn’t want to think right now.

Momo jumps into the pool and the sting is wonderful. Her world is a rush of blue and white until she, too, breaks the surface of the water and comes up laughing. Her hair is sticking to her neck, her clothes are sticking to her body, and the water laps at her skin. Momo runs a hand down her face and catches Todoroki staring at her. They don’t move or speak, they just stare at each other, floating mere inches away from the other.

“I didn’t know you could be so spontaneous.” Momo says, after a pause.

“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me.” there’s a grin sliding across his face, and Momo can feel her heart thud.

When they come out of the pool nearly two hours later, there are towels and a change of clothes laying on one of the chairs. Momo races for a towel and wraps it around herself before Todoroki can see how drenched her clothes are. The last thing she needs is for him to see her bra. Fuyumi had laid out an old pair of clothes for her, and Momo takes them gratefully. Todoroki points her to the bathroom before going to his own room to change.

The pants and the shirt are too big for her, but Momo gives her thanks to Fuyumi anyway, who had since gotten up and was preparing sandwiches for them. Momo blow drys her hair and lets Fuyumi take her wet clothes into the dryer. Todoroki comes out minutes later, still drying his hair and they both sit on his couch. Fuyumi lays out the sandwiches, and iced tea before excusing herself back to her room. They sit in silence, and Momo realizes that she hasn’t been this relaxed in a very long time.

The sleepover. The pool. What more could he possibly do for her?

“Thank you Todo--er, Shouto?” Momo stutters. “C-Can I call you Shouto?”

“I’d like that.”

Momo is sitting in the living room, the smell of perfume thick in the air. Her mother had picked out a dress for her, a red number with a plunging neckline that’s much too tight for her. Momo almost wishes it would rip so she could put on something else. Her heels are too tall and it makes her feet ache. The jewelry feels heavy, her makeup feels caked on. Her hair is tied up in a too tight bun that makes her scalp sting.

There’s people everywhere, and it’s overwhelming. Momo has been smiling and exchanging pleasantries for over an hour, and all she wants to do is retreat into her room and go to sleep. Maybe if she sits on the couch and doesn’t attract any attention she can get through this evening without having to talk anymore. Her mother, ever present and domineering, is glaring at her from her position by the food table.

She insists Momo be a good host and greet their guests politely, but she cant bring herself to do it. She may be sitting dressed to the nines, but she’s still swimming with a boy with heterochromatic eyes.

In a flash, her mother is standing beside her.

“Get up, Momo. You’re being rude.” she hisses, trying to mask her words through a drink she has raised to her lips.

“Mother, I’m really tired.” Momo says. “Can’t I just...sit here for a few more minutes?”

“No. I didn’t throw this party for you just so you can ruin it! You’re acting like a child.”

Momo wants to point out that she is a child, but there’s someone sliding up towards her. He’s a handsome young man with wavy brown hair, and he’s gazing at her the way a wolf looks at a rabbit.

“Hello, Miss. Yaoyorozu.” he interjects smoothly, and Momo’s mother smiles, all traces of anger gone from her face in a flash. “Am I interrupting?”

“No, not at all!” She subtly pushed him towards Momo, who was still seated. “This is my daughter, Momo.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Momo.” he says, and she plasters on a smile.

“Thank you.” She doesn’t mean it in the slightest. Maybe if she sounds bored enough he’ll get the hint and leave.

“Would you be so kind as to accompany me around your home? It’s just beautiful.”

It takes everything within Momo not to roll her eyes. Why can’t he walk himself? Doesn’t he have legs?!

She’s about to refuse, and there’s a cold fury in her mother’s eyes that Momo can’t ignore.

I can do this, she thinks. If she could put up with Sayuri’s family for an entire day, she can certainly deal with him.

She takes his hand and stands.