Changing | Tododeku

Just the Two of Us

-three years later-

The cold January air chilled the city's residents, who were all bundled up in thick jackets and beanies. A thin layer of snow covered the roads and car tops. A certain pair stood by the front of the window of a small bakery- yet only one of the two was affected by the cold.

A certain 'one' with bright green eyes and red mittens shoved over his numb fingers, and pushing up against another with half-red, half-white hair.

"You can't possibly get any closer to me, my love," Shouto chuckled softly. Izuku grunted and hid his nose in Shouto's left shoulder.

"I don't wanna hear a word. I don't have a literal built in heater like you do," Izuku grumbled, though his words were muffled by Shouto's sweater. Shouto shrugged and wrapped his warmer arm around Izuku's lower back, only to earn a sharp wince from the latter. "A-ah, Shouto-"

Shouto quickly retracted and furrowed his brows. "What's wrong?"

Izuku pulled back with a hand on Shouto's chest for stability and the other soothing his aching hip. His face, however, was practically fully covered in a light blush from his cheeks to his ears. Something in Shouto's brain clicked.

"Ah. Was it...?" he started. Izuku scowled up at him.

He quickly looked around before saying, "You said you'd be gentle last night!"

A smirk pulled at the corner of Shouto's lips. "You still enjoyed it though," he replied calmly. "With the sounds you were making, I didn't think I had any reason to slow down. Especially since you kept asking- begging, actually- for me to go faster o-"

Izuku slapped a mitten over Shouto's lips, his face beet red and his eyes wide as saucers. "Y-You-! Don't just- w-why... oh, you're unbearable!"
He promptly turned on his heel and stormed off in the other direction with his ears burning red. Honestly, for him to be talking about something so...!

Shouto grinned and reached for Izuku. The golden band around his ring finger glinted in the sun in the process, and Izuku's matching one was buried underneath his mitten.

"Okay, okay, I'm done teasing. Come here."

The green haired man turned to face Shouto again to playfully stick his tongue out. "I'll make you sleep on the couch again!" he called out, walking backwards on the sidewalk. He wasn't looking where he was going, and it was then that something collided with him from behind and almost sent him flying forwards. The impact went straight to his hips and lower back that were still aching like hell and definitely didn't feel any better. He yelped in a mixture of surprise and pain and stumbled over the slippery ice.

"Watch where the hell you're going, you fuckin' idiot!" a man yelled.

Izuku startled and whirled around to see an angry bald man pointing an accusing finger at him. Still, he did his best to splutter out an apology. It was his fault for acting so foolishly on a public sidewalk, after all.

"I-I'm really sorry, sir. I didn't- agh- mean to." His waist was sending jolts of pain up his spine from the collision, and he feared he may have to ask Shouto to carry him the rest of the way. There was no way he'd make it home like this.

"You coulda spilled my goddamn coffee! D'ya know how much this costed?!" he continued loudly. Bystanders were beginning to catch onto what was happening and paused to stare at them. The man furiously raised his hand in the air, his palm glowing with some kind of quirk and preparing to strike Izuku.

Izuku panicked. With this pain in his hip, there would be no way he'd be able to dodge that. He couldn't run, and had no quirk to defend himself. His eyes went wide and he shielded his head with his arms as best as he could with a soft whimper of anticipation slipping his lips.
However, before he could feel the hit, Shouto slid between them and blocked the man's hand with his own forearm. He towered over the man and ice from his right side completely enveloped the man's arm in a split second.

Shouto's eyes were narrowed darkly at the now shaking man, and his right hand continued to slowly freeze over the man's shoulder and torso.
"Don't touch him." He spoke lowly, making sure to enunciate each syllable. "You're lucky I stopped you. If you hit him with that disgusting hand of yours, I assure you..." Shouto's hand squeezed tighter. "That the next morning you wake up, it'll be without an arm. Understand?"

By that point, the man's eyes were comedically wide and filled with terror. He swallowed dryly and his mouth opened, but no sound came out. The ice began to spread to his other arm.
"I asked you a question."

Suddenly, Izuku gently tugged on Shouto's jacket.
"That's enough, Sho," he said tenderly. "Let's just go home. This isn't worth your time." Shouto looked over his shoulder to see Izuku giving him a warm smile, and his anger simmered a little, but just enough to get him to roughly push the man away. He scoffed at the way the man scrambled to get away; his coffee had long since grown cold after being splattered to the ground. Shouto straightened his jacket and immediately turned to Izuku.

The fury and annoyance in his eyes instantly melted away and was replaced by a look of warmth and concern. "Are you hurt?" he asked softly. Izuku shook his head.

"I'm fine, you worrywart. You scared the poor man off anyways," he giggled. Shouto resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and instead settled for carefully wrapping his arms around Izuku- this time mindful of his lower back.
"'Poor man' my ass." He sighed, still shaking his head at that man's audacity. "There's not a day when you're not in danger, is there? I'll just have to trap you in a bubble to keep you from all the assholes in the world."

Izuku laughed and leaned his head against Shouto's chest. "You'd have to kick Kacchan out of the manor if you did that!"
Shouto huffed a laugh and led Izuku to a bench where they could both sit. "That wouldn't be so bad."

Izuku smiled and cuddled up against Shouto's left side for more warmth. After a while, he asked, "Are you sure you're okay, though?"

Shouto raised an eyebrow.
"Why wouldn't I be?" he questioned.
"That man's palm was glowing: probably with some type of quirk. That power had to go somewhere after you blocked him, and what if his quirk... I- I don't know, transferred to you or something?" Izuku explained, softly placing his mittened hand on Shouto's arm.

"I don't think so. I don't feel anything so far," he said nonchalantly. Shouto flexed his hand a few times to test for anything and sure enough- nothing. Still, Izuku didn't seem convinced.
"Still... just- if you feel strange, even in the slightest bit..."

"I'll tell you," Shouto finished for him with a small smile. "Who's being the worrywart now, hm?"
Izuku scrunched his nose and playfully slapped Shouto on the shoulder.
"I don't wanna wake up tomorrow morning next to a giant cat or whatever that man might have turned you into. Remember that time you accidentally ran into that little girl with the musical quirk-"

Shouto immediately stiffened. "You said you wouldn't talk about that."

"And you spent a whole day singing every word you said-"

"Okay, that's enough from you," Shouto quickly said, covering Izuku's mouth with his palm. Even without his hand, Izuku wouldn't have been able to get another word out anyways. He was too busy laughing so hard at the memory that he almost lost his breath.

-to be continued-

the second part will be much longer than this one btw, and sorry i keep setting the scene in winter i just love cold weather and snow snuggles lmao

also sorry for disappearing for like a year and a half i deleted wattpad for a hot minute