Chapter Text
They had agreed not to tell anyone, but Momo was finding it hard to keep this piece of news to herself. She was just so excited! The only person she could think to talk to was Tsuyu. She invited the girl over for cool drinks and movies, a whole day dedicated to laying on the couch. When Momo tells Tsuyu, all she does is nod and smile. Granted, Momo didn’t expect her to jump up and down or scream or anything, but still.
“I’m happy for you, Momo.” Tsuyu says, she’s donned in a sundress, the both of them laying haphazardly on the couch. “I think you two go well together.”
“Really?” Momo smiles at her, and Tsuyu nods. “I think so too. He makes me happy.”
“Does your mom know?” At this, Momo’s face falls flat.
“Yes, I don’t think she’s happy about it.”
“How come?”
Momo shrugs. “I don’t know. She’s complicated. And mean.” a sigh escapes her. “I hope I never grow up to be like her.”
“I don’t think you will.” Tsuyu says. “Daughters learn a thing or two from the women who raise them.”
“You’re so wise, Tsuyu.” Momo complimented, and the girl beside her blushes. “Are you in love?”
“Me?” Tsuyu ribbits, and her face, if anything, gets even redder. “I-I don’t think so…”
“Don't think so?” Momo sits up from her upside down position on the couch, shifting her legs onto the floor. “Is there someone?”
When Tsuyu doesn’t answer, Momo’s curiosity grows. “Tsuyu, you don’t have to answer me now. But if there’s any possibility that you like someone you have to tell me!” For as long as Momo had known the girl beside her, Tsuyu was a closed book. She was quiet and mysterious, and only rarely shared what was on her mind when the situation called for it. In a way, Tsuyu reminded Momo of a pond, quiet and serene.
Tsuyu gives a small laugh. “Okay.”
They’re at the hospital. Momo is nervous, and she keeps fiddling with her hair. Todoroki had suggested she meet his mom, and Momo had agreed without giving it a second thought. Now that she was here, however, Momo was starting to have her doubts.
“You’ll be fine, Momo.” Todoroki said, taking notice at her trembling hands. “My mom is really nice.”
“I can’t do this, Shouto.” Momo sighed, eyes to the ceiling. “I’ve never been very good with talking to others.”
“Momo you’re class president.”
“Iida is the class president.”
“Well, I voted for you, so I feel like technically that counts.” He gives her a smile. “You’re going to do just fine.” He’s already sliding the door open. “Come on, let’s go.”
Momo has no choice but to follow.
Rei is, for once, not laying in bed. Instead, she’s up and looking at herself in the mirror. Fuyumi had recently bought her hairpins and combs of all different colors, and she was now trying on a pair of hairpins when she spotted them in the mirror.
“Shouto!” Rei turned and gave her son a hug. She pulled away and graced Momo with a smile. “Momo, it’s nice to see you.”
“Yes!” Momo bowed lower than necessary. “It’s nice to see you again, ma’am.” she rights herself and gives a big smile, trying to subtly wipe her palms on her jeans. She desperately hopes that the sweat on her forehead isn’t too noticeable.
Rei takes an instant liking to Momo, and they spend the next ten minutes talking to each other, with Rei insisting she braid Momo’s hair. Todoroki had excused himself to the bathroom, leaving just the two of them alone.
“So,” Rei says, a playful smirk on her face. “Which one of you confessed first? Shouto gets embarrassed whenever I ask him.”
“Shouto confessed to me first.” Momo said, blushing at the memory. “I was sort of relieved, because I was planning on telling him first and I was freaking out on how I was going to do it.”
“Ah, that’s so sweet.” Rei sighs, fingers gently combing through Momo’s hair. “He told me all about your date, however. I think it’s wonderful that he’s found someone like you.” As she’s saying this, something akin to sadness is flickering across her face. Her fingers slow. “I hope you two stay happy.”
She grows quiet, and Momo examines the woman’s face in the mirror. Her eyes look slightly glazed over, and her mouth presses into a thin line.
“Ma’am?” Momo said, and Rei seems to come back down to earth. She shakes her head.
“Sorry, just thinking. There, what do you think?” she’s crown-braided Momo’s hair, and had weaved a red ribbon through the strands.
“It’s beautiful!” Momo grins, touching delicately at her hair. “Thank you so much!”
Rei smiles down at her, all traces of sadness gone. “No problem.”
Sayuri is over the moon when Momo tells her about Todoroki. She’s spending more time in bed, and she’s having trouble getting her thoughts together, but she’s excited all the same. She had already forgotten about meeting her daughter just one month prior. “It’s been a year since I last saw my Sakura.” Sayuri smiles. “She called on the phone and said she’d be visiting in a couple of days.” Momo plasters on a smile and promises to visit that day.
She bids farewell to Sayuri and tells Rei goodnight, thanking her again for braiding her hair. Todoroki spends some time talking to her before they leave, and they walk hand in hand to the train station, as they have done what seemed like a hundred times before. When they get back home, Todoroki walks Momo home and kisses her silly on the front steps of her house. She’s always surprised when that happens. Todoroki was so reserved and cool-headed most of the time, she never thought he’d be this bold, even with a romantic partner. Sure, he was still quiet and aloof, but Momo was slowly starting to see parts of himself that he kept tucked away. She knew that he had a great laugh, even if he didn’t laugh very often. She knew he had a deadpan sense of humor, and that he was blunt about his past if you asked the right questions.
She also knew, with his arm wrapped around her waist, that he was definitely a passionate person underneath all that cool. When Todoroki pulled away, he was trying to smother down what was most likely a full-on grin, and Momo laughed at that.
“How is it that you can be so forward and so bashful at the same time?” she asked, and he shrugged, both of their faces still red.
“Your hair looks nice with that ribbon.” Todoroki commented, and Momo smiled.
“I love it! Your mother is really nice.” Momo is giving him a gentle look, and Todoroki wonders how he got so lucky. “Thank you for letting me spend the day with her.”
“Of course, it was her idea, after all.” Momo stands on her tiptoes and plants a kiss his cheek.
“Goodnight, Shouto.”
He takes her hand and bestows her knuckles a gentle kiss. It sends an electric jolt through her, and Momo bites her lip. He releases her hand.
“Have a nice night, Momo.” she waves goodbye to him and steps into her house. Her mother is waiting, sitting on the couch and sipping wine, flicking through a magazine absentmindedly. She appears relaxed, but Momo knows better.
“Hello, mom.”
“Another day out with that Todoroki boy?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“Hm. You sure are spending a lot of time with him.”
Momo remembers the dinner party. “I thought you’d be happy about that.” she can’t hide the snark in her voice even if she wanted to. “Don’t you want me to run off and get married to a rich boy as soon as humanly possible?”
“You’ll never get married at this rate.” her mother quips, and something in the way she says that makes Momo halt in her walk up the steps.
“What do you mean?”
“You may be rich, Momo. But boys only care about one thing.” She’s looking up now, gazing at Momo intently. Momo stares back, confused.
“Sex.” her mother says pointedly. “That’s all men care about, and your little boyfriend is exactly the same.”
Momo feels a spark of indignation flare inside her stomach. “That isn’t true.”
“Isn’t it?” mockery practically drips from her mother’s voice. “You’ve been stared at for as long as I could remember. At first it was because of your face. I always got compliments from strangers about how pretty my daughter was. A couple of years later, and no one’s staring at your face anymore.” Momo knows her mother is true to an extent. She knew that her body had garnered much unwanted attention for years now, and many boys had practically tripped over themselves just to get a closer look at her chest. It was uncomfortable and demeaning, but Shouto wasn’t like that. He wasn’t. “Have you two had sex yet?”
Momo nearly jumps a foot in the air, blinking rapidly. “N-No!” she exclaims, trying to control the heat rushing to her face.
“Well, if you’re really serious about being with this boy, you’ll put your body to good use. Or you’ll risk losing him.”
“Shouto doesn’t care about that.” Momo says, her heart is beating erratically. It’s taking everything in her not to start yelling. “You have no right to say that to me!”
“You’ve gotten pretty ballsy as of late, haven’t you?” her mother stands, setting down her wine glass. Momo is a little shocked, she didn't think her mother could speak like that. Her movements are stiff with growing anger. “You don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to, but I’m right. Aside from your wealth, what else do you have to offer him?” silence falls between them, Momo’s chest is tight and her hands are shaking. She had nearly forgotten how hurtful her mother could be. The urge to defend herself and her relationship dies inside of her. Tears of anger are threatening to gather in her eyes.
Momo rushes up the steps and slams her bedroom door, feeling breathless. She had never slammed her door before, she had never spoken up to her own mother like that. Momo shakes her head, trying to get herself together. Her mother was wrong. Momo had long since learned not to trust everything her mother said, now was one of those times...and yet, despite this, Momo can feel seeds of doubt taking root. She changes into a pair of pajamas and crawls into bed. It’s still early, but Momo wants nothing more than to sleep.
Aside from your wealth, what else do you have to offer him?
Momo heaves a sigh. She won’t play her mother’s game.
It takes two days of Momo staring at herself in the mirror before she reaches a breaking point. She’s not giving into her mother’s ridiculous notions, and the two don’t speak to each other for the rest of the week. One night, when Momo is bored and there’s nothing on t.v., she decides to raid the kitchen for junk food. Part of her knows that she shouldn’t be eating candy, but whatever. She has all her life to be healthy. Curiosity overtakes Momo, and she goes snooping through her mother’s wine cabinet. Dark glass bottles of every wine and champagne available line the shelves. Momo wasn’t well-versed in the different types of alcohol, her only expertise is tea. She drinks not even half a bottle of Dom Perignon before she feels nauseous. This was the most disgusting thing in the world! Why did adults drink this? She pours the rest down the kitchen sink.
It doesn’t take long before the champagne takes effect. Her tolerance for alcohol is embarrassingly low compared to her mother, who drank the stuff like it was water. Ugh, she feels sick. Momo considers laying down until the churning in her stomach passes, but instead takes her phone and leaves the house. She’s attempting to walk in a straight line and act composed, like she does everyday. Her? Drinking? Absolutely not. Momo knows it isn’t smart for her to be doing this, she should just go back home and lay in bed. But she doesn’t want to spend another minute in that house with her mother.
The rolling in her stomach has ceased momentarily when she raps her knuckles on Todoroki’s front door, a bit louder than necessary. Momo blinks, trying to get her eyes into focus. Why was she seeing double?
The door opens to reveal a surprised Todoroki.
“M-Momo?” he says, blinking down at her. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you!” she smiles cheerfully. Todoroki’s eyebrows wrinkle in confusion.
“Momo, are you drunk?”
Momo plants a hand on her hip, and in doing so she wobbles on her feet. “No.” she replies resolutely, but her face is flushed and she looks like she’s trying not to burst into laughter.
Todoroki takes her by the arm and leads her into the house before she can say anything. He takes her to his room and shuts the door behind him.
“What’s going on?” he demands, as Momo takes a seat on his bed.
“Nothing,” she’s squinting at him. “You’re lights are like, super bright.”
“Momo…”
“Look!” she holds a hand up, effectively cutting him off. “I’m fine, okay? I really am. I just got bored and drank some champagne from my mother’s cabinet, that’s all. You’ve done that before, haven’t you?”
Todoroki wants to say no, but can’t bring himself to lie. Fourteen was a wild year for him. “What did you drink?”
“Dom Perignon.”
Todoroki looks disgusted. “That tastes horrible.”
“I know!” Momo throws her hands in the air, and a laugh escapes her. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Todoroki takes a seat beside her, noticing that the flush on her face makes her look even prettier. He leans in close to her and rests his head on her shoulder, and it takes him by surprise when Momo squirms away.
“Momo--”
She stands up, unsteady on her feet, and turns around to face him. “Shouto,” her voice is serious. “Are you attracted to me?”
“Uh, yeah?” Todoroki gives a small smile. “You’re my girlfriend.”
Girlfriend. Momo resists the urge to let out a happy squeal. She needs to focus. “What about...sexually?” she can barely get the words out.
Todoroki’s eyes widen. “Momo…”
“I can’t have sex with you!” she blurts out, interrupting him again.
“Momo, oh my God.”
“I’m sorry, it’s just. I mean…” she puts her face in her hands, well aware of the fact that she sounds completely crazy. “Oh, God, I can’t even have this conversation.”
“Momo,” Todoroki is trying to get his heartbeat under control. “What is this about?”
Momo takes a deep breath, running her hands down her face. “How do you feel about sex, Shouto?”
“I think…it’s...okay?” he’s completely lost, as if he’s being presented with a big test that he hasn’t studied for. “I really don’t think much about it.”
“You don’t?”
“No. Do you?”
“No!” Momo shakes her head frantically. “I just wanted to know if sex was important to you when it came to relationships.”
Todoroki takes a minute to think this over, crossing his arms. He supposes that this topic was bound to come up at some point. Fuyumi had been trying to engage in a discussion about this recently and so far, he had avoided her successfully. He just...can’t talk about that with her. He really couldn’t.
Wow, his arms are amazing. Momo thinks, and her eyes widen. Stop that! Stop it!
“I think you can have a fulfilling romantic relationship without involving sex.” he tells her honestly. “Tons of people do it.” he raises an eyebrow at her. “Why did you bring this up?”
“My mom thinks that you’re only with me because of my body.” Momo admits, feeling angry and ashamed all over again. She should’ve defended him more. “She told me that if I was serious about you, I’d put my body to good use, otherwise I’d lose you.” She can’t even look him in the eye, and the silence that follows her statement is practically suffocating. Why won’t he say anything?
“And do you believe her?”
“No, not at all! But...” she can see his face fall from the corners of her eyes. “But I’ve always been looked at...you know, in that way, even in school. After a while, a part of me had just begun to assume that boys only really noticed me because of my body and nothing else.”
When Momo finally gathers the courage to look at him, she finds that his eyes are crackling with anger, and she rears back in surprise. “Sh-Shouto?”
“I didn’t want to be your boyfriend so I could have sex with you.” he says gruffly. “You’re an attractive girl, Momo. But there’s more to you than that.” he wasn’t going to get angry with her for thinking that way. It was pretty hard not to miss the stares she got while in school, and it always made something uncomfortable roll inside Todoroki’s stomach whenever he caught notice of it.
“I’m sorry,” Momo’s voice is soft. “I didn’t mean to make you mad.”
“No,” he shakes his head. “It’s not your fault. I just think it’s bullshit that your mom said all of that to you.” It was like nothing else about a girl mattered except her body. And why were adults so pushy and obsessive about sex in the first place? Didn’t they realize that some teenagers didn’t think about sex 24/7? Didn’t they see how creepy that was?! Todoroki feels a rant coming on, but takes a deep breath instead.
“I shouldn’t have listened to her.” Momo’s eyes are downcast, and she rejoins him on the bed.
“We have pretty crappy parents, huh?” Todoroki says after a moment or two, and Momo laughs.
“Yeah, kinda. Except your mom!”
“Except my mom.”
He takes her hand, and laces their fingers together. “I think that part of our relationship can wait until we’re both older.”
A sigh of relief escapes her. “I feel the same.”