Work Text:
Izuku darted across campus, furred feet scampering behind him because their position made it difficult for him to not use all four limbs when running but that wasn’t really all that important, even if it did make his hands dirty as he buried his fingers in the dirt to get a good purchase.
Reaching the dorms unseen had been easy, it was late and everyone was supposed to be inside getting ready for bed or doing homework or preparing for the school day tomorrow. Izuku had been on patrol on his internship, which was why he was only just now returning.
An ear flopped into his face as he skidded to an abrupt halt in front of the building, looking up at the lack of window ledges for him to grab onto in irritation. Because there was no way he was just casually walking into the lobby of the dorms like this .
So he scurried to the back of the dorm building, and was immediately relieved to find the balconies lining the building. Not that he expected them to disappear, considering he had his own balcony on the second floor.
Except, his own balcony wasn’t his goal, because Mineta and Aoyama were on his floor and they loved to burst into his room in a panic to get help with last minute homework and Izuku really didn’t wanna be seen like this.
So his eyes darted from balcony to balcony on the fifth floor, lining up the position of the dorm map in his mind (that he had naturally memorized when Aizawa-sensei had shown the room assignments) with the specific room he wanted. The dorm of the only person he knew would hide him without question and wouldn’t make fun of him for his current appearance.
Finding the room he was looking for, Izuku shifted until he was lined up with the balcony and prepared to jump. He was about to activate Full Cowl, but then curiosity got the better of him-how far could he jump with his new legs?
As it turns out, he could jump very very high , because one second he was flexing his calves and the next he was clinging to the metal rail that guarded Shouto’s balcony. Holy shit, he just jumped five floors . Without One for All . Okay, that was honestly a rush, why couldn’t he have a mutation quirk like this one? Though he would’ve preferred not to look so… cutesy, considering his baby face already gave him enough issues with being taken seriously in class.
Not the point, Izuku. Come on, you’re literally hanging on Todoroki’s balcony, get up there. Not wasting anymore time, Izuku hauled himself up, swinging his legs over the rail and landing softly on the other side. Before knocking on the transparent doors though, Izuku’s gaze scanned over the area to make sure he wasn’t seen. No one, he was in the clear.
He turned on his pawed foot and lifted a hand to knock on the glass of Todoroki’s double glass doors, a solid thunk ringing in his ears three times before he dropped his hand and waited. Izuku watched as blue and grey eyes peered through the curtain only for it to be pushed to the side and the sliding doors opened to let Izuku in.
Finally, he relaxed, walking into his best friend’s dorm and collapsing on the floor, his new rabbit legs spreading out before him. He didn’t say anything as Shouto moved to his bed and sat down heavily, the other not saying a word as he took in Izuku’s new appearance.
Starting with Izuku’s face, he now sported the two obvious flopped ears hanging on either side of his head. Moving down, Izuku’s nose was now more bunny like, twitching and pink with the different smells of the room (was that lavender? Was Todoroki burning lavender incense right now?). Izuku’s torso hadn’t really changed, aside from the All Might t-shirt he now sported instead of his hero costume, but from the waist down was a pair of rabbit legs, covered in green fur and paw pads that Mirio had squished earlier when Izuku had been brought to the medical staff of the Nighteye agency and hadn’t that felt weird.
The room was silent as Todoroki observed him, and Izuku began to tense again under his friend’s stare, flushing brightly as he squirmed in his seat. He’d put on shorts, earlier, the shortest pair he could find because anything longer would feel weird against his fur and the sensory stimulation was honestly too much for his sensitive skin.
“Please say something,” he begged, wrapping his arms around himself and looking everywhere in the room but at Todoroki who exhaled slowly and ran his fingers through his hair.
“What exactly do you want me to say? Hey Midoriya, is there a reason you’re half rabbit now? Or maybe you want me to ask about the weather and not comment at all on the fact that hey, you’re half rabbit now.”
Izuku flinched, looking at Shouto with a hurt expression.
“I uh… got hit by a species changing quirk on patrol?” the way he said it sounded like a question, as if he wasn’t totally sure that’s what happened himself but had said it anyway because that was the only explanation he had .
Shouto’s shoulders slumped forward as he watched Izuku, and the green-haired boy grinned sheepishly.
“Alright, so you’re half rabbit now. How long will this last?” Todoroki asked, scooting backwards on his futon until his back hit a wall.
Izuku’s nose crinkled as he thought back. “Dunno. We couldn’t find the person who hit me with their quirk when I was chasing a criminal who’d stolen some woman’s bag. We’d assumed they were a partner of some sort and they were trying to slow me down. Sir Nighteye said it should only last a few days at most, but that was about it.”
“So you want to hide in my room until the quirk wears off?” Shouto asked, and Izuku’s face heated up at the thought.
“No! I just… want to hide in here until morning when I can use class as an excuse to get everyone off my back.”
Shouto nodded, not once taking his eyes off of Izuku, though the shorter boy felt like he was just taking in the new changes of his appearance. Izuku shifted in his seat again, leaning back on his hands in an attempt to get comfortable despite the formality of the room and the usual stiffness Todoroki gave off.
“Do you have any other rabbit like traits or is it purely physical?” Shouto asked, both boys starting to relax as they got used to each other being there.
Izuku hummed in thought for a second. “Well, before the sun went down I could see pretty well in the dusk. And my sense of hearing and smell are both heightened, as well as my sense for danger. I was also able to jump up to your balcony from the ground without the use of Full Cowl, that was a rush.”
Shouto’s eyebrows shot up at that, the fact that he was on the fifth floor not at all lost on him. Okay, so his best friend now had powerful back legs that could crush him (not that he didn’t have that before , but now it was just ridiculous). Good to know.
“...Do you want to go to bed? I’m sure I can pull out some extra blankets.”
Izuku sagged at the suggestion, his exhaustion suddenly hitting him like a freight train at high speeds. Fuck, going to bed sounded like heaven right now.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Shouto said, amusement lilting his voice, though his expression didn’t change as he stood to go to his closet and pull out some extra blankets and a pillow.
“Thank you, Todoroki. You’re a blessing.”
Shouto grunted in response, gently setting the pile of blankets on the floor. Though, before he could even begin setting up a proper bed set up, Izuku scrambled into the pile, kicking the blankets around until they formed a nest around him and wow, seeing the shorter boy curled up and relaxed in his new nest was honestly adorable. Noted.
After that, Shouto himself laid down on his futon, not really ready to go to bed, but doing so anyway because it felt weird to be awake when Izuku was, as far as he could tell from the even breathing and slight snores across the room, asleep.
The next morning, Izuku woke up with a start. He hadn't had a bad dream or anything, but he could feel hands on his ears and the second the touch registered, he'd yelped and jerked away from it because his ears were sensitive what was this person thinking, touching them?
And then he realized it was just Todoroki and he relaxed.
"Sorry, they looked soft."
Izuku shrugged, yawning and sitting up to look around his nest. It felt cozy, it was a shame he wasn't going to get to sleep in it again after this. And it was that thought that brought his mind to the day ahead, making Izuku let out a groan. How was he supposed to get down to his dorm and then to his class without being seen?
Todoroki watched as his friends face fell, turning away to get dressed as he groaned and flopped back into his nest.
"I can get you a set of clothes, and if we hurry, we can leave before everyone else starts getting up, though you won't be able to avoid Iida, he's probably already in the classroom."
Izuku sighed in relief, his chest getting lighter at his friend's suggestion.
"Thank you, Todoroki. You're actually the best."
Shouto couldn't resist the small smile he got at the praise, glad he was turned away from his friend so it would be hidden.
Honestly, it was amazing the other boy hadn't picked up on his crush on him, considering it was obvious by Shouto's standards. He would do just about anything the other boy asked of him, including, apparently, hide him from his classmates because he'd halfway transformed into a rabbit.
Then there was also how flustered he got when the other was around, leading to ridiculous situations like his mouth hanging open when he walked into the room shirtless, or tripping over air when walking by the boy while he was lifting weights and the sight of flexing muscles distracted him.
Honestly, Shouto was incredibly obvious, why hadn't Midoriya noticed yet?
He sighed to himself, leaving the room to go down three floors and get into his friend's room to grab a uniform, stopping when he left because there was Aoyama, in all his "beauty rest" glory, wearing a face mask and curlers in his hair. Is that really what the French did every morning? How cumbersome.
"Morning mon ami!" Aoyama called, walking passed without even a second glance despite Todoroki having a tight grip on some of Midoriya's clothes. Well, at least he didn't have to answer any awkward questions. No, that was going to be Izuku's job when the class started filling out and everyone noticed that the floppy rabbit ears on Izuku's head did not in fact belong there.
Making the trek back up to his own dorm, Shouto thought some more about the predicament that was Izuku's transformation. Honestly, he'd been so shocked when he fully registered what he was seeing last night that he'd unintentionally snapped at his friend. If he, someone who was incredibly good at hiding what he was feeling and not making any of his thoughts known, couldn't control his reaction, what did that say about how the rest of the class was going to react?
Reaching his room, Shouto noticed that the nest of blankets was no longer a nest, but a neatly stacked pile and Izuku was now laying spread eagle in the center of the floor, his furred feet occasionally kicking with restless energy.
"Is something wrong?" he asked, raising a white brow at his friend in mild amusement.
"I can't do my usual stretches with my legs like this, they don't bend right."
"Have you tried working around that?"
"Can't figure out how without it hurting like a bitch."
Shouto was pretty sure he was the only one who ever actually heard Izuku swear without a care in the world and he always felt privileged by this. He didn't really understand why, but when Uraraka had made a squeak of surprise when Izuku swore loudly after stubbing his toe, Shouto felt a swell of pride because he was so used to hearing his friend curse he hadn't even reacted outside of concern for his friends aching toe.
“I got your clothes.”
Izuku sat up then, green eyes lighting up with a grin as he looked at Shouto. He really did appreciate his friend and everything he was willing to do for him, and sometimes he tried to give him gifts to show his gratitude but Shouto had a hard time accepting them, so he settled for physical contact because the touch starved teen would never turn away a hug or a few minutes of hand holding.
He stood, albeit amateurishly since he wasn’t exactly used to his legs just yet, and grabbed his clothes out of Shouto’s arms before walking into the cramped closet to get changed. It was a bit of an awkward endeavor, but he managed to come out of the situation not looking too entirely rumpled.
“Seriously, thank you Shouto. You really are the best.”
Shouto nodded, trying not to let himself blush at the use of his first name because Izuku only used it when he really really meant or wanted something from him and it was… always thrilling to hear it.
Having gotten ready while Izuku was in his closet, Shouto stood.
“Come on, let’s get to class before someone rambunctious sees you and makes you late,” Shouto said, stepping outside of his room, Izuku close behind as he slowly ran his fingers over one of the rabbit ears hanging loosely at his side to feel the soft curly fur covering the sensitive skin underneath.
The two walked in silence, Izuku occasionally ducking behind Shouto when they passed a student, no one paying the two of them any mind beyond a couple of second glances. They actually managed to reach the classroom completely intact, no one once stopping them to question Izuku’s change in appearance.
Iida looked up from his studying at his desk, nodding tersely his good morning before returning to his book. Then his head snapped back in their direction and Shouto almost winced when he heard the taller boys neck crack from the speed in which he gaped at Izuku’s new ears.
Izuku gave a sheepish grin, face already growing red from the attention and oh, he was going to absolutely die when the rest of the class got here.
“Morning, Iida. Studying going okay?”
Iida stood abruptly, already raising his arms to start gesturing wildly.
“Don’t question my studying when you so obviously have a change in appearance! What happened, Midoriya? Where’d those ears come from?”
He looked down and noticed Izuku’s furred feet peeking out from beneath his pants and the black haired boy grew even more indignant.
“And where are your shoes!”
“Ah, well, you see, my shoes wouldn’t… fit,” Todoroki also hadn’t grabbed them, but that didn’t really matter anyway because his shoes were not made for rabbit feet.
“And the ears and feet? Midoriya please! Where on Earth did you get this new appearance when it is quite impossible to change so drastically overnight!”
Izuku glanced at Shouto for help, but the icy flame simply sat in his seat and watched the whole scene unfold with an air of amusement. Traitor.
“I uh, got hit by a species changing quirk when pursuing a purse snatcher last night. I’ve been like this ever since.”
Iida pursed his lips, but seemed to accept the explanation because he sat down and glanced over his notes before speaking up again.
“I hope you know that every single girl in class is going to be all over you,” he warned, looking at Izuku over his glasses and wow, did Tenya know he could be really intimidating when he did that?
Izuku groaned, nodding at the statement. “Yeah, I know I kind of figured. It’s why I snuck into the dorms last night through Todoroki’s room instead of going to my own.”
Tenya tensed at that, ready to scold Izuku for going that far when a bright, cheery squeal permeated the air and suddenly Izuku’s ears were being stroked by hands he couldn’t see and a shiver traveled low on Izuku’s spine.
He yelped, yanking away to ‘look’ at Tooru as the air she gave off permeated a pout.
“You’re so cute Midoriya! When did you get those ears? They’re absolutely adorable!”
Oh God, he was going to have to explain his appearance a lot today, wasn’t he?
“U-Um, well--”
“He’ll explain when everyone gets in class,” Shouto interrupted, making Izuku sigh in relief because his friend had effectively helped him avoid having to repeat how his appearance happened a thousand times in the span of the next hour.
“Oh. Well, can I touch your ears some more? They’re really cute and soft!” Hagakure asked and Izuku couldn’t resist pressing his low hanging ears close to his cheeks in an attempt to hide them from the invisible girl.
“I’d uh… rather not. They’re super sensitive.”
And things continued like that as more people came in, Izuku saying he’d explain once everyone was here and everyone asking to pet his ears with exclamations about how cute they were. Though, no one just reached out and touched like Tooru had when she first entered the class.
As soon as Sero walked in, Izuku moved to the front of the classroom (which was odd because the last time he stood up there he’d been in the running for class president) and explained his appearance.
“I got hit by a species changing quirk while on patrol. No, I don’t know how long it’s going to last, just that it’s going to be a few days, and no please don’t pet my ears they’re sensitive. Yes, I have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, no, I don’t think I can suddenly understand rabbits, though I haven’t tested that last one out, hey Kouda-” he was about to ask when Aizawa-sensei stepped into the room.
The teacher stopped, seeing Izuku standing at the front of the class, frozen and wide-eyed staring at him with… floppy rabbit ears hanging on either side of his face and a twitchy pink nose that seemed to crinkle with his student’s surprise.
“...Get to your seat, Midoriya.”
“Y-Yes, sir!” And with that the green-haired boy scrambled to his seat behind Bakugou and Aizawa sighed because of course this was going to be interesting seeing how Midoriya was going to work around todays training with his new appearance.
Soon they were on a search and rescue training ground, making the exercise for the day pretty obvious, in Aizawa’s opinion. He turned to look at his suited up student’s, eyes lingering on Izuku and his floppy ears and obviously altered lower half, before glancing over everyone else.
“Today is a standard search and rescue. Each one of you will get a partner and will have to save a minimum of five people, represented by bots, in order to pass for the day,” Aizawa explained in his usual exhausted monotone. He gestured to a large screen hovering above him with everyone’s stats.
“I will be staying here and observing everyone as they go through the exercise. Only two teams will be on the field at a time, though this will not be a competition to see who saves more people. The goal is to efficiently save all the bots on the field without risking further injury. Should your actions result in the death of a bot you will immediately fail the exercise and be brought back here to go over your mistakes.”
The class started to murmur amongst themselves, several glances being thrown towards Bakugou, who ignored them with an irritated scowl.
Aizawa sighed, admitting quietly that with Bakugou’s performance during the Provisional License exam he needed this exercise more than anyone else. Still, with everyone’s improvement, Aizawa was actually looking forward to seeing how this exercise turned out, even with Izuku’s new look.
“Your teams have not yet been decided, you guys are free to pick who you work with for this, play to your strengths and weaknesses, no one can switch teams once they’ve been decided.”
Izuku was vibrating in excitement, Ochako already at his side with a determined grin. He was so ready to pull out what he’d been learning during his internship with Sir Nighteye and Ochako seemed just as ready to put her skills to good use.
As soon as everyone had picked a partner, Aizawa pressed a button and the screen randomly selected two teams to go out on the field together.
Izuku’s and Ochako’s faces showed up next to Shouto’s and Mina’s.
Huh, Izuku would’ve thought his friend would’ve picked Momo. Shrugging, he stepped up to the gate of the training ground with the other three he’d be working with, bouncing on his feet in excitement. Which was… weird because he wasn’t usually this excited to do a training exercise in Aizawa’s class. Did being part rabbit heighten his emotions somehow?
Izuku didn’t get time to dwell on it, because soon the door was open and he was off with Ochako, Mina, and Shouto close behind him.
God, he didn’t even need to activate Full Cowl to bounce against the walls of the destroyed fake city, trying to get higher to get a better vantage point to see where the damage was at its worst. It didn’t take him long, seeing the smoke and dust gather near the center of the city, rubble and half a skyscraper standing just barely tall enough to see over the rest of the buildings.
Izuku reached up to press against his comm link.
“Head east, Uravity, there’s a lot of rubble. We’re going to need you for sure to get through it to the civilians.”
“On it!”
Shouto came through a second later.
“Alien Queen and I are going to loop around and look for any further damage and civilians in need of rescuing. You two go ahead to the center of the wreckage and we’ll meet up with you to stabilize anything.”
Izuku nodded despite the fact that Shouto couldn’t see him and continued towards the damaged building before remembering to verbally confirm that he’d heard Shouto.
“Got it, you guys be careful.”
And then he was in the middle of the wreckage, Ochako not far behind. They glanced at each other, Ochako nodding firmly at Izuku’s determined expression. He gestured to the right and up, asking her to float herself up the building to see what she could find. Nodding again, the brunette took off.
With her gone, Izuku tilted his head in the opposite direction where he heard strained metal beginning to snap under pressure of the fire. He darted in that direction, flinching slightly as his comm link shifted uncomfortably in his ear. They definitely weren’t made for rabbit ears, he thought, reaching up to readjust the important piece as he a turned a corner.
Izuku skidded to a halt, seeing an apartment building on fire and ready to collapse. Swearing loudly, the up and coming hero bounded forward.
“Todoroki I may need you sooner than I thought, I found a building covered in fire and I don’t know if there’s any survivors inside.”
“Location?”
Izuku rattled off coordinates, looking around his area as he slowly approached the burning building. The crackling fire was hell on his senses, but he could hear what sounded like screaming inside and made his anxiety skyrocket. Someone was inside.
“Deku, I finished checking the collapsed skyscraper. I have three confirmed civilians injured and crying for help inside with two suspected dead.”
Izuku swore just as Todoroki slid in on some ice, immediately setting to dousing the fire while Izuku struggled to come up with what to do.
“Someone’s in there, I can hear screaming over the fire. Do you need me?” Izuku asked, eyeing Shouto while he waited for an answer.
Shouto shook his head. “Go help your teammate. Alien Queen will be with you once she’s done checking the rest of the city.”
Izuku nodded, darting back the way he’d come to help Ochako with the rescue of those she’d seen and hopefully the two suspected dead weren’t actually dead.
He came back to the clearing just in time to see Ochako crawl through a shattered window, broken glass catching her bodysuit and ripping through it, but she paid it no mind.
“Uravity what are you doing?” he asked, walking up to the collapsed building to watch as his partner disappeared into the fray.
“There’s someone in here, I’m trying to see if the rubble around them is structurally sound enough for me to use my quirk and help them,” she answered, coughing through the dust.
Izuku hummed, noting she was the highest non wrecked floor of the building about ten stories up.
“What’s the position of the other three survivors?”
“One on the third floor underneath collapsed cubicles. Injuries are light but the massive amount of cubicles makes it difficult for them to move. The second is on the fifth floor, there’s blood on their head they were knocked out from the looks of it.”
Izuku muttered quietly under his breath, listening closely to hear the crying of the person on the third floor. He’d go after the unconscious one first, since they were in more immediate danger of dying. He crouched low, muscles tensing in his new, much more powerful legs, and then leaped to the fifth floor window, grabbing onto the ledge roughly.
Thankfully the window sill was thick enough for Izuku to swing himself up and land on with the glass remaining intact, not that it mattered since Izuku punched it out not even a second later anyway to get inside.
Glancing around, Izuku took in the scene. There was rubble everywhere, walls half caved in and near a door he could make out one of the bots they were supposed to rescue bleeding and unconscious just as Ochako had said.
Okay, time to set to work. Izuku darted over, reaching the victim much sooner than he normally would’ve with the powerful kick of his legs and gingerly picked them up. Looking back at the window, Izuku briefly wondered if he could get away with leaving the way he came in before quickly deciding against it. He didn’t want to jostle his cargo any more than he had to.
Taking a deep breath, Izuku started making his way down the building using the stairwell. He was careful to miss the caved in parts, leaping over any missing steps with ease as he made his way to the third floor.
It didn’t take long, now he just needed to find the third person in the building and then he could figure out a fast and safe way down while he was carrying two people. Quickly finding the cubicles, Izuku lifted as many as he could, watching as the bot squirmed out from underneath them before he dropped them and picked the civilian up by the waist.
“Hey, shh, it’s okay, I got ya now,” Izuku murmured, quieting the crying of the awake bot as he quickly made an assessment of the floor.
This one, much like the others, was crumbling and honestly it was a miracle this much of the building was still standing with how much of its foundation was wrecked. Izuku kept muttering reassurances to the bot while he looked around. He had no issues carrying the weight of the two bots, so he didn’t even think about adding a third unconscious bot when he spotted one by a window, having been presumably trying to get out before the building crumbled.
“Deku? We’ve got a problem on the tenth floor, one of the injured I found has a meter and it’s draining and I haven’t taken any first aid classes yet,” Ochako called over the comm link, making Izuku bite back a swear. He’d have to talk to Ochako about the merit of first aid because damn it, she should’ve known that already, it was basic training!
And now he had the dilemma of not being able to answer her because his hands were full and he couldn’t just set someone down fuck . Sighing, Izuku started to make his way to the lower building where he found Mina setting up a first aid camp where they could but the injured as they rescued them. Good, someone remembered the License exam.
Quickly and gently putting down the injured, Izuku finally lifted his hand to the comm link in his ear.
“Sorry Uravity, had my hands full. I’ll be up there soon just hang tight and apply what you do know to keep them alive.”
After getting the affirmative, Izuku darted back into the building and activated Full Cowl without thinking before jumping against the walls to spiral up the building… only to launch himself straight into a wall when he’d underestimated the strength in his legs and fuck that hurt. Okay, didn’t need Full Cowl to jump along the walls, duly and sorely noted.
After recovering from that fuck up, Izuku started making his way up the building to help Ochako with her predicament.
Aizawa watched the screens with mild interest, once having to hold back a chuckle when Izuku launched himself into a wall after underestimating the power of his rabbit legs. Honestly, these four were doing much better than he anticipated, though they all automatically looked to Izuku as the leader in this situation. Which didn’t hurt, since Izuku seemed to have a knack for search and rescue operations if what he was seeing was any indication.
He watched as his student reached the uppermost undamaged floor, though he used the term loosely when he said undamaged. He quickly started walking Uraraka through the steps of stabilizing the bot, and Aizawa could see the struggle in her expression. He’d have to ask Recovery Girl to help her with extra first aid lessons.
Switching screens, Aizawa watched Todoroki leave the now iced over building with two people, one in his arms and the other clinging to his shoulders. At this rate these two teams were going to reach all of the bots on the field and th exercise would be over in no time. Good, he wouldn’t have to dwell on search and rescue for long if the rest of the class was this efficient.
An hour into the exercise, Aizawa noticed that Izuku had stopped responding to his teammates, which wasn’t like him. Upon rewinding some footage, Aizawa noticed his comm link fall out of his ear and ah, that would be a problem now wouldn’t it?
Things were quiet, and it took Izuku a moment to notice the lack of a headache from uncomfortable plastic pressing into his rabbit ear and well fuck, wouldn’t that be an issue?
Izuku frantically looked around for the comm link, not finding it anywhere, even after he started lifting rubble to see if it slipped somewhere unseen. He was so busy searching for his comm link he didn’t realize he’d shifted a vital piece of rubble needed for structural stability so when he heard a long groan of concrete shifting forward behind him he was taken totally off guard.
Whipping around, Izuku gaped as the biggest piece of concrete slowly caved towards him and when it started gaining speed he tensed, activating Full Cowl on instinct and leaped forward, bringing one of his legs forward to shatter the concrete before it could do any damage.
Well that was a rush, but now he really needed to find his comm link--
A loud buzzer rang out over the training grounds, making Izuku jump. Well shit, guess he was out of time.
Izuku groaned loudly, collapsing on a couch now that he’d changed out of his school uniform and back into his favorite All Might t-shirt and the booty shorts he’d been wearing yesterday. Nobody was in the lobby yet, except Shouto, and he was thankful he’d been so quick with his shower.
“Shouto you did awesome during the training exercise today,” Izuku commented, throwing his arm over his eyes as his legs twitched with the soreness aching in them.
“Thanks. I like you.”
For a moment, Izuku didn’t even register what Shouto had said.
“I like you too?”
“Izuku, look at me.”
And oh… he better listen, Shouto hardly ever used his first name for any reason. Lifting his arm, to look at Shouto and see the blush dusting his cheeks as he stared at Izuku very intently.
“I. Like. You.”
Oh. Oh. Okay, that’s…
“I… where did this… come from?” Izuku asked, cheeks burning bright under Shouto’s gaze and he really couldn’t help looking away.
Shouto watched Izuku for a moment before leaning back in his seat again. He wasn’t going to say he saw Izuku’s kick earlier, or that the concrete shattering had absolutely filled him with excitement or that Ochako had noticed him staring at Izuku and had basically ordered him to tell the shorter boy his feelings or she’d do it for him.
No, he wasn’t going to say any of that.
“Just thought you should know.”
And with that he picked up the fantasy novel he’d been reading and acted as if he hadn’t said anything, leaving a bewildered Izuku staring at him from the couch.
Before Izuku could say hey wait a minute you can’t just tell me you have a crush on me and then pretend it never happened , the class piled into the room and suddenly he was being bombarded by his classmates.
“Midoriya, my man! Or, my rabbit?” Kirishima shouted, arms suddenly hanging over Izuku’s shoulders and Izuku flushed a bright red at that last comment.
“I’m still human!” he squeaked indignantly, making Bakugou snort.
“Obviously not, nerd. Or did you actually fucking forget you have rabbit ears and legs?”
“Don’t forget the nose! God, the nose is so cute!” Tooru exclaimed, booping Izuku on his nose as she said that.
Izuku made a noise, overwhelmed by all the attention. Of course that only resulted in Mina and Tooru squealing in delight because apparently everything Izuku did was absolutely adorable in this state. He flinched away from them, grabbing the ends of his ears and tugging down until everything was muffled as he looked at everyone in disdain.
He just really wanted to talk to Shouto after that bomb he dropped, was that really too much to ask?
It was Momo who came to his rescue.
“Guys, you’re very clearly overwhelming him, maybe back up a little?” she asked, getting in front of Izuku to push everyone back a little.
“Oh shit, man. Sorry! You’re just too cute like this? Totally irresistible,” Eijirou said, patting Izuku on the head while Kacchan glared at the red head.
“You have a boyfriend, idiot. Or did you forget that?”
“I have two boyfriends, Katsuki, what’s your point?”
Kacchan growled, stomping behind the couch after grabbing Denki’s collar to just do the same with Eijirou’s so he could drag them up the stairs.
“We have homework fuckers, let’s go.”
“Wait what? But you said I could relax today!” Denki protested, trying to twist out of Kacchan’s grip.
“I changed my fucking mind let’s go!”
And with that they were gone, up the stairs and out of sight. Honestly, Izuku was grateful he didn’t have to deal with Eijirou or Denki anymore but that still left the issue of the girls trying to pet his ears.
Speaking of, Izuku felt a brush against his shoulder and he jolted away from it, staring wide-eyed at Kyoka who shrugged.
“Sorry, Tooru said they were super soft and I wanted to see for myself.”
“That really doesn’t mean you should touch without permission,” Shouto spoke up, though Izuku could see he hadn’t looked away from his book when he glanced over at him.
Kyoka shrugged again, patting Izuku’s head before walking away and would people please stop patting his head? It made Izuku feel demeaned and fuck he just knew this was going to happen. Nobody was taking him seriously at all, only backing up when other people came to his defense instead of when he protested himself.
He didn’t realize he was sprouting angry tears until Shouto was in front of him, gently tugging on his arms so he’d stand.
“Wha-?” Izuku started to ask, only to clamp his mouth shut when Shouto only shook his head.
They walked up the stairs in silence, Izuku wiping at his eyes in frustration because the tears wouldn’t stop even when he tried to force his anger at the entire situation to the back of his mind. Shouto opened his dorm door and stepped aside so Izuku could pad his way inside, sniffling angrily at himself.
When the door was closed behind them, Shouto opened his arms and Izuku really couldn’t deny an offer like that. He stepped into his best friend’s arms, burying his face in the others chest.
They stood like that in silence for a few minutes, Izuku crying into Shouto’s chest and Shouto just being there for his friend.
Once Izuku calmed down, he stepped back, wiping at his eyes and breathing slowly so he could gather himself. Once steeled, he put his hands on his hips, put all his weight on one leg and glared at Shouto with all his might.
Shouto flushed a bright red and looked away because wow that was precious and he really couldn’t handle looking at that much cute in one place.
“Shouto Todoroki, I can’t believe you just confessed to me out of the blue and then expected me to not say anything about it!”
Shouto briefly wondered if he could melt himself through the floor.
“How on Earth can you drop that bomb on me and not expect to say something? And not to mention how shitty it was to say it just before everyone showed up. I mean, I’m grateful you got me out of there, but why did you do that, Shouto? You don’t just tell someone you have a crush on them and then act like nothing happened!”
Shouto wilted, rubbing at his neck sheepishly.
“So you don’t return the feelings?” Which is honestly why he dropped the bomb when he did because he wasn’t ready to be rejected.
“I didn’t say that, don’t put words in my mouth, Shouto,” Izuku scolded, crossing his arms over his chest and twitching his head to get that one ear out of his face.
Hope swelled in Shouto’s heart, but he didn’t say anything. Izuku’s face softened and he smiled gently at the taller boy.
“Of course I feel the same way, you’re incredibly sweet, you’re there when I need you and yes, I have noticed you tripping over yourself when I work out I just didn’t think anything of it until now.”
He knew he was being obvious.
“Thank you, by the way for getting me out of there. I wasn’t exactly feeling respected in that situation.”
Shouto nodded, finally stepping further into the room so he could sit on his futon. Once he rearranged himself, he looked up at Izuku and opened his arms wide.
“Come cuddle with me. You’re soft.”
Izuku snorted, but complied anyway. May as well, since it was rare Shouto outright asked for affection.
“Fine, but I get to hide in your room until the quirk fades.”
“I thought you didn’t want to do that.”
“That was before you became my boyfriend.”
And, yeah. Shouto liked the sound of that a lot.