"Hey, Yaoyorozu"

(Somehow, I'm #1 in Tsukoyami, so I figured I'd try to write some of that here)

Hello All! Before I start I just want to say thanks for all the support! I've seen quite a few people vote my story and I've seen several comments which made me laugh. Thank you so much, guys! You're making writing this story even more fun! :)

And now to the story...

~Momo~

"Just the person I was looking for."

"Huh?" I whip around, knowing my face is a cherry red tomato. Why is he talking to me? He never talks to me!

"Uh, h-h-hi, T-Todoroki-san," I try to contain myself. I flick a strand of hair out of my eyes and smooth the wrinkles on my skirt. "I must say I wasn't expecting you."

"I need to talk to you after class," he says.

Skrrrrrrrrrrrrt. [insert car wreck here]

"Um, sure?" I smile.

"Thank you. Meet me by the bench by the right side of the building." Then he walks off. I'm left there flustered and confused.

What does he want to talk to me for?

~Shoto~

All through class, I think about Yaoyorozu and what I need to say to her. I need to tell her thank you. I need to tell her that people have been saying things about us. I don't want her to feel awkward around me.

And Mr. Aizawa is saying some really important things, too! He's saying that we need to keep our grades up in our arithmetic and Language Arts as well as our Hero Courses because this is a High School, after all. We still have to do everyday school things.

Yaoyorozu perks up on this after Aizawa curls back up into his sleeping bag/cocoon. 

"I can help everyone with their math! I'm doing very well in that subject!" She says.

"Really? I just don't understand geometry!" Kaminari says. 

"I can help all of you guys! You can come to my house this weekend!" Yaoyorozu smiles brightly. I find myself smiling at her and I turn my head to face the wall.

"Even me? How generous of you Yaoyorozu..." 

I turn back to see Mineta Minoru's tiny little self waddling toward Yaoyorozu. 

"No, you're not invited, you sicko!" Ashido screams at him.

"She said everyone..."

"Mineta, when I said everyone, you should have known that you were not invited. Perhaps if you acted decently, you would be included, but due to your perverted behavior, when I say everyone is invited, you are not even considered a part of 'everyone' in my mind." Yaoyorozu's voice shakes with a frightening fury.

Mineta's body shakes with a hilarious fear.

Everyone in school begins to clap for Yaoyorozu. "You really told him off!" Uraraka cheers.

"Girl's got some spunk," Bakugo grins.

How can Yaoyorozu think so lowly of herself?! She's so smart and brave, and Bakugo's right (forget I ever said that), she does have spunk.

She's amazing.

~Momo~

I'm already at the bench when Todoroki gets there. He sits next to me at the complete opposite end of the bench. I want to laugh; he's so awkward.

"I came to tell you thank you."

This guy just keeps confusing me.

"What you did for me was one of the kindest things anyone has ever done for me, Yaoyorozu. And I haven't told you how grateful I am for that. I feel honored that you chose me."

"Oh! Um, you're welcome."

I chose him.

I chose him.

"I didn't know anyone else's food of preference and..." I start to trail off. "You're right. I guess I did choose you, didn't I?"

"Thank you for that." He grins, but it goes away quickly. "So, the other thing I wanted to tell you is that a few of my friends and even my big brother seem to think you have a crush on me..."

I feel embarrassed and tickled at the same time. Embarrassed for obvious reasons, but tickled because he looks like he's never said the word "crush" before. Ashido wasn't lying when she said that Todoroki was the most dense person she'd ever met.

"My friends... are saying the same thing," I speak in an almost-whisper.

"Oh..." his face takes on a shocked expression. "That's interesting."

"Not really. Friends do that. They tease. That's not new," I cover my mouth and laugh. This is probably the best I've felt since losing to Tokoyami in the Sports Festival. Todoroki's cluelessness is the peak of humor for me.

"Well.... I just hope it doesn't cause you to feel awkward around me," he says. He looks away for a second before looking back to me.

What is he about to say?

"Yaoyorozu, I'd like to be friends."

~Shoto~

She's not saying anything. 

Crap, am I doing something wrong? What did I say? Was it offensive? I thought I'd planned my words carefully--

"S-sure, T-Todoroki-san," she says with a timid smile on her face. There's something behind her smile, but I can't read it.

She said yes, so why do I feel like something's wrong with this exchange? She looks just as awkward as I don't want us to be with each other.

"Well, goodbye!" She runs off, leaving me in the hall by myself. I watch her leave, then drop my head.

Dammit. What did I do wrong?

I see Tokoyami walking by with a box in his hand. "Greetings, Todoroki-kun, have you seen Asui-chan?"

"No, I haven't. Sorry." I tell him.

"That's fine," he says and he walks off to find her.

Part of me wonders why Tokoyami was looking for Asui Tsuyu, or Tsu, as she prefers to be called. But I let that go because I'm still concerned about the way Yaoyorozu took my invitation to be friends.

~Momo~

Stupid.

Why did I run away from Todoroki? I want to be his friend, so why did I...

It's because I still can't understand why someone like him would want to befriend someone like me. I'm just not as amazing as he is. Why does he continue to--

A tear leaks from my left eye and as I wipe it away, I see Todoroki again. I turn, pretend I didn't notice, and walk in the other direction.

--

It's Saturday and everyone's coming over to help each other with our non-hero, academic work. I dust off the yellow pillow and set it back on the couch. I walk into the kitchen and pull the tray of cookies from the counter, placing them on the coffee table in the living room. Then, I set the teacups around the coffee table, placing the large tea kettle in the middle of the table.

When the doorbell is rung, I smile and walk over to greet my first guest.

Uraraka and Midoriya stand at my door looking amazed.

"Yao-Momo! Your house is beautiful!" Uraraka grins as she does a series of small hops on her tiptoe.

I chuckle at her as I let them in. "You can sit wherever you want."

Midoriya says, "Uraraka is right. Your house is absolutely spectacular, Yaoyorozu-san!"

"Thank you, Midoriya-san."

"You guys are really early," I note.

"Oh, we walked over here together," Uraraka says. Behind her, Midoriya's face reddens at her comment and he turns around, looking at one of my family pictures. 

Soon, Jiro, Kirishima, Ashido, Kaminari, Iida, Tsu, Hagakure, Oijiro, and Bakugo show up.

"What the hell is this?!!!"

"Good afternoon, Bakugo-san." I wave.

"Don't 'good afternoon' me, Ponytail!! Why didn't you tell us you were living large like this?!!!! WHY IS YOUR HOUSE SO DAMN BIG?!?!!!!!"

"Everyone keeps asking that," I murmur to myself.

We all get out our textbooks and start on our work. Everyone drinks tea and eats the cookies I baked. Ashido says to me, "Damn, Yao-Momo! You're just like my grandmother!" Everyone laughed at that (even Bakugo, who smirked).

Then the doorbell rings again.

"I'll get it." I stand up and walk to the door. I turn the knob and open the door to see...

Todoroki.

~Shoto~

Midoriya was right. He'd texted me about the size of Yaoyorozu's home, and he had not lied. It was Midoriya who'd told me to come after I told him about how things with me and Yaoyorozu went.

"T-Todoroki-san!"

"Greetings, Yaoyorozu." 

"C-come in!" She looks unusually startled by my presence. Should I not have come?

Forget it. I'm here now. 

--

The study session went well. Yaoyorozu's certainly better at math than I am. She helped us all out a lot. However, Midoriya's exceptional in Language Arts.

When everyone starts to leave, I don't move, which Ashido and Jiro notice. They look to me and Yaoyorozu, then to each other, and they become a giggling fit.

I wonder what that is about.

"Todoroki-san... Do you plan on living here now?"

"N-no!" I feel myself blush as my eyes widen in surprise.

"Calm down, Todoroki-san." Yaoyorozu brings her hand up to her mouth as she giggles. Her laugh sounds like tiny bells. "It's only a joke."

People don't tell me jokes...

"I stayed behind because... I need to talk to you, Yaoyorozu-san."

She looks up at me with a curiosity, then sits on the couch and motions for me to sit with her. I sit next to her and look right at her.

"When I asked to be your friend today, why did you look unsure?"

~Momo~

Damn. Right to the point.

I don't blame him though, if he were to try and make small talk before asking, I'd take advantage and play around the subject like I always do when I'm uncomfortable with said topic of discussion.

"I..."

"Yaoyorozu. Please tell me the truth."

I swallow all the fear I can and look into his eyes. "I didn't understand... I didn't understand why you would w-want to be friends... with me."

"Why would you say that?" Todoroki's face takes on a surprised look, which I've been seeing more of lately.

"Because, you're this exceptional student, you're so good at sparring and plan-making, just being a hero. You're even the son of Endeavor"-- when I mention that, his gaze hardens-- "And I'm nobody compared to that. I couldn't even hold my own in one measly sparring match against Tokoyami!"

Tears fall and I can feel my nose running. Sh--. This is not how it was supposed to go. I didn't mean to open up like that, and I certainly didn't mean for my nose to open up either!!

If Todoroki is in any way disgusted, he does not show it. e simply takes a napkin from his pocket and hands it to me. I accept it and turn away from him to blow my nose. Then I fold the napkin up and walk over to the trash. 

When I arrive back at my seat, he says, "Yaoyorozu. You are not nothing. Far from it, actually."

What is he talking about?

"The only thing you lack is confidence, Yaoyorozu. You doubt yourself when you shouldn't. You are smart and strong. You understand more of our academic work than any of us! Being intelligent makes for a great hero. You're also compassionate and you're--"

He stops short, but I barely notice because he just broke what I thought I knew. I take into consideration what he said. My mother always says how smart I am, and Uraraka and Kirishima have said the same. He said I was strong, and come to think of it, I'd have to be pretty strong to control my hunger after I use my bodily liquids to create objects. He said I'm compassionate. I think of comforting my little cousins when they get hurt and the soba I brought Todoroki.

He's right.   

I am so much more than I give myself credit for.

~Shoto~

I was going to say "pretty"

I was going to say that Yaoyorozu is pretty.

I mentally thank myself for having the sense to stop myself. Then, I look back at Yaoyorozu. She looks at me. And for a split second, we just stare into each other's eyes.

Then she hugs me.

She wraps her arms around my neck and grins. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Todoroki-san!"

I am shocked at first, but a grin finds its way onto my lips as I hug her back.

It makes me really happy to see that y'all are enjoying this story! I love seeing your comments and seeing that you're adding this story to some of your lists and voting! :o

Before you say anything about "Momo shouldn't need Todoroki to help her realize herself" I thought about that, but at the end of the day it just fit, and everyone needs help.

Continue to be your amazing selves!

✌️😋

(none of this art is mine, just so y'all know)