Ch. 45 New Jewelry

Shoto was going to be home any minute now to take you to dinner, and you still couldn't find your bracelet. It wasn't in the guest room – no, not the guest room, it was now the studio - the word felt too pretentious to even say out loud, or your bedroom.

The last time you remembered wearing it was when you were in Shoto's room. When the two of you had...

You groaned, wishing you could turn back time and change that decision. Who were you kidding, there were a lot of decisions you would change if you could, most a thousand times worse than the decision to have sex with Shoto Todoroki.

He wasn't back from work yet so you wandered into his room to see if you could find it. His bed was neatly made, but maybe it had fallen under it? Truthfully you hadn't been paying much attention to where things went when you both stripped your clothes off. There was no telling where the bracelet had ended up.

Crouching down on the floor, you felt around under the bed, but....nothing.

The red tie he wore last night was on his dresser, but no sign of your bracelet. You picked up the tie to look under it, but grimaced when the scent from the tie hit your nose. It smelled like smoke and old food, not unlike the way you smelled when you came home from work. Must have been a wild benefit dinner for the hospital, you decided, placing it back on the dresser.

Had he put your bracelet with his things on the bedside table? You started looking through it, opening each drawer. But when you pulled open the bottom drawer, you almost stopped breathing.

Nestled against the side of the drawer was a tiny box. A jewelry box. Ring sized.

No fucking way.

That was your first thought at least.

Trying to be more rational, you realized that it could be a class ring. Did UA give out class rings? Surely they gave out class rings. That was all. A class ring. You wouldn't know for certain though, unless you looked for yourself.

You had a split second to decide whether or not to take the box out and open it. But even though you felt like couldn't breathe, you also couldn't help yourself, you had to do it. You had to know.

As soon as you lifted the lid, you saw the light hit the diamond.

Holy shit.

That's a big diamond.

There was no way that ring was for you... right? You'd been living together for just over a month and you weren't even really living together, in that way. But as far as you knew, it wasn't like there was someone else he would be giving the ring to, so really, what the fuck?

Truthfully, the design of the ring was a little more over the top than you would have liked, but there was no doubt that it was beautiful. Fuck, what were you even thinking, this was insanity. You hardly knew each other.

You heard a noise in the other room, so you quickly closed the box and shoved it back in the drawer.

Mere seconds later Shoto walked in the bedroom. Could he hear your heart beating out of your chest?

"Y/n. What... what are you doing in here?"

"Nothing," you said probably too quickly. You took a deep breath to stay calm. "I was looking for my bracelet."

"I haven't seen it. Give me a second and I'll be ready to go," he said, going to his closet to change clothes. He grabbed his red tie from the dresser on the way, tossing it in the hamper.

You quickly walked out of the bedroom and tried to shake out your nerves.

What if he took the ring with him tonight? Oh god, was he going to propose tonight? You started to feel sick and noticed that your hands were shaking.

My nails look like shit, you thought, before shaking your head. That was the least of your problems.

It didn't matter what your nails looked like; there was no way you were going to be wearing that ring. That very expensive, insanely, extremely gorgeous ring.

Maybe you were overreacting. You would talk to him tonight at dinner, set everything straight, and then never mention that you saw a ring.

You needed to move out immediately, you realized, if not sooner.

It took the whole meal to work up the courage. Shoto took you to the same restaurant where you'd had your first date and you sat at the same table by the window. You hardly paid attention to what you ordered or ate; you were too focused on what you were about to say. 

Once the plates were finally cleared away, you knew it was now or never. You had to tell this handsome, kind, and generous man that it just wasn't going to work. Part of you realized that you'd told him this numerous times already, but this was going to be different. 

You signaled for the server to refill your wine glass, again. Shoto had ordered a bottle for you to split, so you had no idea what kind of wine it even was, but it didn't matter. You just needed it to calm your nerves.

"Shoto," you gulped. "We need to talk about us."

"I agree."

"You are wonderful," you started to say, "and –"

"So are you."

"Thanks, but what I'm trying to say is that I've truly appreciated everything you've done for me. I don't want you to think that I'm not grateful."

"I know you're grateful."

"Um.. yes. Okay. So."

Just then the server showed up to ask if you wanted dessert. You politely said no, but Shoto whispered something to the server, the whole exchange making you tense.

"No dessert," you said, a little too loudly, to both Shoto and the server.

"All right.... " Shoto said slowly. "What about champagne?"

More alcohol? Why not.

"All right. So. First we need to talk about my living situation. I have a little money now from bartending, so I don't think we should continue living like this. It's not fair to either of us."

You looked at Shoto to try to gauge his reaction so far, but it was like he wasn't paying attention to anything that you were saying.

"Shoto, are you listening to me?"

"No."

"Wait, what? Why aren't you listening?"

"Because all I can do is think about how beautiful you look tonight."

"Well... thanks."

Shoto smiled and began to give you more compliments, which at any other time would have been flattering, but tonight they only served to make you feel even more guilty.

The server returned with the bottle of champagne, and as Shoto talked, you focused all of your attention on watching him pop the cork and pour two glasses.

You leaned onto the palm of your hand and watched the champagne fizz and bubble over as he poured; his actions helping you tune out whatever it was Shoto was saying, at least. You went to take one glass from the server, but he didn't hand it to you. To your surprise, the server actually held it back and seemed to be motioning with his eyes to Shoto.

Come on, you inwardly groaned, all you wanted was a glass of champagne. You weren't so drunk that you needed someone's permission to have another drink. But you looked over to Shoto first anyway. Oddly, he wasn't in his chair. When had he stopped talking? Had he left for some reason? 

Oh god.

Shoto wasn't in his chair at the table because he was on floor in front of you, where he kneeled on one knee, that damned tiny jewelry box in his outstretched hand. 

To the casual observer, of which there were many in the restaurant that night, it probably looked like you were surprised, and yes, yes you were, but mostly you were horrified.

"Shoto," you hissed, trying not to let the other tables near you hear. "Get up before someone sees you. What are you doing?"

"Y/n," he said, his voice not at all hushed. "Will you marry me?"

You could hardly hide your shock. Even though you knew this moment was coming, it was still shocking to see him on one knee in front of you, holding out a beautiful ring with a nervous and expectant look on his face.

Your mouth opened and closed, opened and closed; it was as if words were not seeming to work right.

"Shoto... what? This is crazy. What did you think I was going to say to this?"

"Say yes."

"Shoto, I'm saying... I don't know what I'm saying. What are you thinking?"

You took your hand and covered his, closing the box as he frowned. Taking his hand, you tried to pull him up from the ground, but he didn't budge. 

"Please get up."

"We'll have a beautiful life together, y/n. I'll keep you safe and happy and I want you to know how happy it will make me to know that you're waiting for me at our home, making it a beautiful place to raise our children."

Hold on. What?

"See - we've never even talked about any of that," you said.

"About what?"

"Kids, home life, that kind of thing."

"That isn't what you want?"

"I don't know what I want, but that would be something we would decide together. What am I even saying? Shoto. This is crazy. Get up."

"If I'm doing hero work, one of us would need to be home with the children."

"What if I don't want children?"

"You don't want children?"

"I don't know if I do. What I do know is that this," you gestured to him, "isn't at all what I want."

"Then tell me what you want. Tell me everything."

"I've been trying to! Why don't we go home and talk there?"

"Do you not like the ring?"

"Oh, it's not that, it's gorgeous. Really."

"Look inside the band," he said, holding that beautiful diamond up again. "I had it engraved."

Okay, this was too much. This was ridiculous. Absurd even. But he was looking at you so sweetly and insistently, so you took the ring to look at it.

And that's when the room was suddenly filled with applause.

Son of a bitch.

Realizing your mistake, and how this must have looked, you immediately tried to shove the ring back to Shoto, but he stood up and hugged you, pulling you up and out of your chair. "Just put it on," he whispered as he hugged you. "They're all staring at us."

"I...." you looked around. He was right. Tons of happy faces smiling and clapping, some with phones pointed right at the two of you.

"I don't want to do this," you whispered back.

"Please?" He pulled away from the hug and stared at you and you stared back. "I've done so much for you, just do this for me. We'll talk about it more when we get home. Okay?"

"You're damn right we will," you said through clenched teeth.

Shoto took your hand and slid the ring onto your finger, and you faked a smile as the cameras clicked.