Chapter 16: Kiss Me When You're Sober

Todoroki chokes at nothing in particular. Maybe it was Midoriya's breath that smells like four different kinds of wine, or the fact that his lips are too close for comfort, or that Todoroki wants to lean down and take his lips down for his own, aided by the fact that he actually has a chance with Midoriya now, whatever that means.

"It was parent's day. You know, that day when you bring your parents to school back in grade school? Since my father left when I was very young, and my mother needed to support us so she couldn't miss a day at work, no one attends that event for me. So, every year, I dreaded that stupid day to come since I will be the laughingstock of my classmates and the object of pity for the adults.

"So yeah, this one year, instead of attending that bring your parent event parentless, I decided to skip altogether."

"You're already a badass at an early age," Todoroki comments which made Midoriya laugh, the warmth of his breath on his neck causing him to shudder.

"I was at the playground," He continues, smiling at the memory. "crying my eyes out when this shadow loomed over me. I turned around and saw this huge muscular foreigner, probably beyond 6 feet, with blond hair styled into the most questionable shape ever. He sat down to my level and asked,"

Midoriya lowers his voice to a depth absolutely beyond him but manages to do. He probably imitated this person a lot.

"'What's the problem, my boy?'" Then I told him about my parentless parent's day and he placed his hands on his waist and burst out laughing, 'Never fear, for I am here!'"

"He sounds like a pedophile," Todoroki remarks.

This makes Midoriya break from his imitation game, heartily guffawing.

"Looking at it now, he probably did look like one," Midoriya says, reminiscing. "But you know, that isn't what I saw that day. It was his pearly smile, the slight shaking of his shoulder as he laughed with his deep baritone, his electric blue eyes, and the kindness in his voice like he truly cared for my well-being. I... I loved him the moment I met him."

There is a dull ache in Todoroki's chest. He remains silent.

"That day, was my happiest parent's day ever. I introduced him to class as my uncle, and he happily played along and acted as the best uncle a person could possibly have. My mom picked me up from school after that and I introduced them to each other. Imagine my mom's horror when she saw my 'uncle' that can easily tower over any normal person.

"His name was Yagi Toshinori. He was a former Navy soldier in the American base in Okinawa. He moved to our prefecture after his military skit and works as a teacher at some high school there. He was on his way from work when he happened to find me on that playground that faithful day."

"You said he's a foreigner, but why does he have the most Japanese-sounding name a foreigner could have?" Todoroki pointed.

"Oh, no. He's half-Japanese! He can't even speak English even if his life depends on it!" Midoriya explains. "His father is a full-blooded American who also worked at the American Navy, met his mom there, yadda yadda yadda you know the drill."

Todoroki hums but doesn't say anything. He heard about such events before but never thought he'd hear it coming from someone close to him.

"The only reason why he bothered working here is to get intel about the father who left them to the dust. It didn't lead him anywhere, though.

"Anyway, ever since, All Might, oh, it's the moniker they gave him at the Navy and I fondly use to call him, visits our apartment whenever he could. I didn't think it was odd, then. 'Hey, at least I could see the man that changed my life as often as possible' kind of mindset, you know.

"It was a year and a half later when All Might and Mom got married."

Todoroki barely suppresses a gasp.

"I know, right!" He says mirthlessly. "He visits our house not for me but for my mom! I was so crushed. To cut the story short, I served as a bridge for my first love and my mother to get married. Tragic."

"Tragic," Todoroki agrees.

Midoriya chuckles at the support. "It was during middle school when his health started debilitating. I never knew it was possible for a person to deflate. He used to be this muscle man and then he became this walking skeleton that scared children shitless wherever he goes.

"It never occurred to me before but you just don't get released at your military post out of nowhere. Apparently, it's because he was diagnosed with an incurable disease and he wasn't fitting to be a military man anymore. My mom and I never knew until it was all too late.

"Looking back, my feelings for him weren't love. It was just me forcing my daddy issues to someone, and he just happened to be there, to carry all of my bullshit with a smile on his face while he himself was fighting his own battles."

There is a long silence, Todoroki turns to Midoriya, only to see him crying, his black suit is slowly turning damp with his tears. Awkwardly, he wraps his arms around Midoriya and tries to imitate the comforting backrubs his mother used to give him. Midoriya slightly calms down, Todoroki guesses he did the right backrub motion.

"I'm the worst," Midoriya whispers, burying his face in Todoroki's drenched dress shirt.

Todoroki runs his fingers on his green curly hair; surprisingly, it was the softest locks he has ever touched. Not like he has touched many, mind you. On instinct, he dips his face into Midoriya's hair, deeply inhaling his scent. It smells like mint and ground coffee and everything he imagined Midoriya to smell.

It is perfection.

"Us and our daddy issues," Todoroki mutters as he tries to distract himself before his nether regions start to react.

Midoriya chuckles that somehow turned midway into a sob. He pulls away from him (much to Todoroki's dismay) and fishes something out from his blazer. And Todoroki swears, he probably got indirectly drunk from Midoriya's scent because Midoriya brought out a bottle of wine from underneath his clothes.

"Cheers to us and our daddy issues," Midoriya waves the bottle like the drunk ass that he is.

"Where did you get that?" Todoroki sputters incredulously, reaching for the alcohol but the curly top is suddenly too strong for him to handle.

Midoriya takes a swig. "From the restaurant,"

Go figure. "How did you hide that?" Todoroki was literally embracing him a second ago and he is absolutely sure he didn't feel any bulky object, much less a fucking bottle of wine!

Midoriya's forest green eyes are shimmering in deviousness.

"Didn't I tell you," He leans until they're nose-to-nose, voice an octave lower. "I'm Doraemon in my spare time."

A hand is harshly shoved at his freckled face, the drunk idiot roars in laughter and rolls on the car seats. Once he calms down, he resumes his previous position, not the one where he's leaning on Todoroki because he's currently too pissed to let Midoriya touch him at all, and drinks again.

"Stop that!" Todoroki growls, effectively snatching the bottle from him.

Midoriya seems unfazed. "How about you, Todoroki-kun?"

"What." He says, more of a statement than a question.

"Don't be mad," Midoriya teases, poking him on the cheek. Todoroki immediately swats his hand away. "Have you ever fallen in love?"

The scowl on Todoroki's face diminishes. Instead, two-toned eyes widen, and his mouth slightly gapes.

"Don't tell me you're in love with me?" Midoriya hiccups, Todoroki doesn't know how but he has the bottle again on his hand and he's gulping that nasty shit down like there's no tomorrow.

"But what if I do?"

Midoriya peers at him through half-lidded eyes, processing his words through his intoxicated mind. "You can't, you're just in love with the Detective Greene character you made up but not me myself."

"How can you possibly know that?" Todoroki lets go of the breath he was holding, hurt evident in his voice.

"Because," He kisses him on the forehead like a mother would to her child. "I am not who you think I am,"

Todoroki grabs his wrist. Heterochromatic eyes look at him intensely as if begging like he wanted Midoriya to take his words back. Green eyes dilate but it soon relaxes as the heat of the alcohol takes over. Oh, poor innocent Todoroki-kun. Midoriya moves lower, kissing him on the eyelid, then the other scarred eyelid, his nose, his cheek, the other cheek, and--

Todoroki pulls away.

"I don't want this,"

Midoriya huffs in quiet laughter. That was easy--

"If you're going to kiss me, kiss me when you're sober."

And for some reason, those words reminded him of someone else. All the emotions he's been keeping to himself felt too heavy right now like it's going to crush his heart, like how it should've been years ago.

"I'm sorry," He whispers, covering his face with his hands. Soon he finds himself surrounded by an endearing warmth, and he finds himself melting under it.

Todoroki cradles him, telling him it's alright to cry, to not worry, that he's here for him.

Soon, Midoriya falls into a deep slumber. So does Todoroki.

Midoriya dreams of the wedding day, his parent's wedding day. They had 2 ring bearers, one was Midoriya and the other one was the child of Inko's matron of honor. He was a blond spiky-haired boy with menacing red eyes, at least, as menacing as an 8-year-old kid is capable of. It was the first time they met each other but the other ring bearer already hated him so much.

"I can do this by myself!" He declares gruffly, earning him a scold from his mother. Traditionally, you only need one ring bearer after all.

But Midoriya doesn't mind, he likes the rambunctious boy's company. He liked him so much to the point they stuck with each other (more like Midoriya clinging unto him like a Tarsier on a branch) until halfway through college. They even had stupid childhood nicknames for each other.

He called him 'Deku', while Midoriya called him 'Kaachan'.