Chapter Text
It was a crisp late summer night in Musutafu City, and Izuku “Deku” Midoriya was walking down Banaizu Boulevard, having gotten the biggest shock of his life ever since he saw All Might in his usual form. Months earlier, Shoto Todoroki – one of the manliest and most handsome boys in UA High’s Class 1-A – had revealed that he was in fact Shoko Todoroki. This had earned varying reactions from the rest of his…er, her…classmates, from Katsuki “Kacchan” Bakugo yelling at her for not being up front with him, to Minoru Mineta perving out, to all of the girls giving her their full support, with Momo Yaoyorozu and Kyoka Jiro being her biggest supporters.
It had been an overwhelming day for Todoroki, but aside from the girls supporting her, perhaps the most meaningful support came from Deku, who told her how proud he was of her and promised to stand up against anyone who so much as thought of laying a finger on her. The first time he’d laid eyes on Todoroki, he’d found her somewhat attractive as a boy, more so at the Sports Festival when they were having their little chat before their match at the battle tournament, wondering why he couldn’t control his heartbeat and his urge to sweat around her. However, he never imagined he’d find her strolling right next to him, her hair grown in a 60s-style flipped bob, with a figure to rival Yaoyorozu’s, and quite frankly, he still wasn’t sure how to handle this, but he did his best…
“So, Todoroki…”
“Please, call me Shoko.”
“Right. So anyways, I just wanted to say…I…I’m still trying to process you as a girl. I mean, I’m proud of you for being brave enough to reveal your true colors, but I’m really not good at the whole love thing.”
“I’m not good at it, either. All I know is that your actions at the Sports Festival touched me like nothing else could, and I owe you a debt of gratitude for your help.”
Deku smiled nervously. “I…I’m glad!”
Deku and Todoroki said nothing else as they strolled along the boulevard. One thing that Deku couldn’t help but notice about the boulevard was that it was frequented by furui tetsu no aiko-ka, a subculture of people who imported old American cars, trucks and vans from the 60s-70s and held cruise nights here. Though similar in principle to the Swedish raggare, the furui tetsu no aiko-ka not only differed in their vehicles of choice, but also preferred to listen to 60s-70s psychedelic rock, hard rock, blues rock and proto-metal. Some of the vehicles retained their left-hand steering wheels, but some were also converted to right-hand drive by an Australian company. Speaking of Australian, aside from the usual Chevy Camaros and Ford Econolines, some of them imported Australian cars such as Holden Monaros and Ford Falcons. To Deku, it was almost like being in a different world, and with Todoroki by his side, it felt that much more surreal. At one point, Todoroki gently tugged at Deku’s hand, and they stopped.
“Why are we stopping?” asked Deku.
“This street light…it’s so secluded. Isn’t it romantic?”
“Um…”
Before Deku could answer, Todoroki wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. Despite the heat rushing to his face along with the redness, he nevertheless wrapped his arms around her as well. For years, he had dreamed of being a hero just like All Might, but until he met Todoroki, he never once imagined that being a hero could mean doing something as simple as helping somebody to come to terms with their identity. Nevertheless, in this moment, he felt extremely proud of himself, knowing that he’d helped liberate a poor, unloved soul from the crushing oppressiveness that came not only from having to hide who she was, but also letting someone else define half of her Quirk. That, and he also got a great deal of joy from experiencing her soft, sensitive side.
Todoroki got a great deal of joy from kissing Deku, too. The first time she laid eyes on him, she thought he was the absolute cutest green bean ever. However, owing to the fact that she was masquerading as something she wasn’t, she would’ve been hugely embarrassed to try to make any moves on him, not that she cared if people were going to mistake her for a gay man, but more so that he would’ve turned her down and told her that he wasn’t into men. Now that she was free to share her feelings with him, she could feel her body tingling from the excitement of laying her affections on him. The more time she spent holding him, the closer she felt to him. Overall, this was heaven for both of them, though even heaven couldn’t last forever, and eventually, they broke away from the kiss, but kept making eye contact with each other, smiling.
“I love you, Midoriya.”
“I love you too, Shoko. Also…”
“Yes?”
“Please…call me Deku.”
“A cute nickname. How did you get it?”
“Well, Kacchan came up with it because he thought it was short for ‘Defenseless Izuku’, but Uraraka told me how much she loved it, and since then, it’s grown on me!”
“Well, then you should keep using it. It suits you very well.”
Deku said nothing else, simply chuckling at Todoroki’s kindness. Even if the future hadn’t been written in stone, thus far, he felt the future was looking more hopeful with her by his side.