Chapter 19: Only Human

He adjusts the black long-sleeved turtleneck he's wearing, completely covering all the marks that needed to be covered. Todoroki sighs, exiting the bathroom.

Now the real cleaning of evidence starts.

Midoriya is sprawled all over the bed, trousers, and boxers loose on his waist. He looks so innocent, not like the person who completely dominated Todoroki a few hours ago. He takes a few more seconds admiring Midoriya's sleeping face, realizing belatedly that he's acting like a creepy sparkling vampire.

"I should probably change his clothes," Todoroki thought, no one usually sleeps wearing their expensive pants to bed.

Still, against the idea of searching through Midoriya's cabinet for clothes, Todoroki checks the balcony for any dried laundry. As expected, some articles are fluttering under the polluted Tokyo wind. He takes some clothes off its hangers (Taking a quick whiff and indulging himself of how Midoriya it smelled) before heading back to redress the sleeping man.

Thank God Midoriya is completely wasted because he doesn't wake up no matter how much he moves him. Todoroki feels slightly embarrassed at looking at his naked form but they already exchanged sexual fluids with each other, something like dressing him up shouldn't be a problem anymore, right?

Midoriya lies on his bed, wearing a t-shirt that says 'T-shirt' and faded grey sweatpants. Of course, he also makes him wear some boxers. Hopefully, Midoriya isn't the type of person to sleep naked or else this will end up more suspicious than intended.

Now, the real problem is the bed sheets. There isn't any spare set hanging outside, and Todoroki really has something against snooping around other people's things. Since it's dark, Todoroki isn't sure about how stained the sheets are. Surely, it isn't that bad right?

Right?

Todoroki says sorry to the cream sofa in the living room before sitting on it. He feels like he's touching things unnecessarily but the idea of sleeping next to Midoriya is absurd, lying on the sofa is a better option than staring at the older man sleep until morning. In front of the sofa is a coffee table with books piled on top of each other. Even under the darkness of the room, he recognizes the cover of his book arranged by year of release. Midoriya collected each and every book of his. He really isn't lying when he said he's a big fan of Endeavor Shouto.

Todoroki gives a sideward glance to Midoriya and then back to his books. Surely, the reason why these books are on the coffee table is for the visitors to read, right? This isn't considered snooping if the books are strategically positioned there in order to be viewed.

Brushing off his paranoia, Todoroki takes a book, his book, from the pile. Call him narcissistic but he just wants to find out what type of reader Midoriya is. Is he the type to highlight specific words or sentences that he finds noteworthy, adding small notes on the edges of the book for memory's sake? Or is he like Todoroki who prefers keeping his book as clean as when he first bought it?

Todoroki soon finds out that Midoriya is the former. Although the idea of highlights and sidenotes on a book irks him like insects crawling on his skin, small things like this give you a better notion of how a person thinks. For example, he notices that Midoriya tends to highlight words that are connected to sadness, anxiety, and despair.

He blinks, skimming over the highlighted words once more.

This isn't what he...

Todoroki returns the book to its initial location. Blankly staring at the ceiling, he processes what he just witnessed. That book was published about 3 to 4 years from now, Midoriya probably experienced something dark during those years to be able to conjure such dark thoughts.

A strong sense of curiosity brimmed him to the core, Todoroki picks up another book, this time Osamu Dazai's 'Only Human', a Japanese classic, and proceeds to read each and every highlight. All of them are phrases and sentences that lead to death or suicide and depression. Todoroki frowns, maybe he's just overthinking. These are the prominent themes of this book.

He picks up another book and repeats the process. And another one. And another. And another.

Yet they all have the same emphasized words and phrases.

"Todoroki-kun,"

He nearly jumps out of his skin. A green-haired curly top stirs on the bed, grasping his head for dear life.

"Oh my God, what how much did I drink last night?"

Todoroki waits for a second or two before answering. "Enough to warrant a hangover." He returns all the books he took to their rightful position as quickly as he could.

Midoriya doesn't say anything, instead, he groans in pain and mutters colorful words under his breath. "Are we... Are we in my apartment?" Todoroki nods. "God, how did we even get here?"

"Momo had a chauffeur prepared for us. Also, I asked Iida for your address, I hope you don't mind."

He waves his hand dismissively, sitting up. "Fucking fuck,"

Todoroki raises an eyebrow. "Do you want some water?"

"And aspirin, it's in the medicine cabinet inside the bathroom." Midoriya nods feverishly. "Please do."

The younger man goes to the kitchen, getting a glass from the cupboard before getting a liter of mineral water from the refrigerator. He heads to the bathroom, assuming the mirror works as a medicine cabinet like in his residence, and opens it. Surprisingly, or should he say not since Midoriya was a former medicine-tracked student, the cabinet is completely stocked with all kinds of medicine. It takes him quite a while to find what he's searching for.

"Here," Todoroki hands him the glass and the tablets.

Midoriya smiles wearily, basically shoving the pain reliever in his mouth, gulping on the water like a man dying of dehydration. He probably is, in all honesty.

"Did I do anything weird, last night?" Midoriya makes a weird face, the bitter taste of the aspirin still in his mouth. "Shit, when was the last time I had such a horrendous headache?" He says, rhetorically. Not like Todoroki would know.

Probably when he was still together with Kaachan.

Todoroki bites his lips, testing his theory. "Well, you vomited on me as soon as we arrive here."

Midoriya jolts from his bed, only to falter down almost immediately with a groan. "I'm so sorry, Todoroki-kun." He buries his face in his hands. "I was probably such a handful last night."

"Don't worry," Todoroki reassures. "You didn't do such a thing."