Don't Let Go || Tododeku

Monster In Me

[Izuku's POV]

"Hi, I'm Shoto Todoroki."

Tsu smiles warmly. I watch as she turns to face us, signalling that it was our turn to introduce ourselves.

I realise a little too late and stumble over the pile of weapons that were in the middle of the room, basically falling onto my butt in the process. My face becomes red in embarrassment at my clumsiness and as I look up, I see Todoroki trying to hide a little smile behind his hand. That seems to make my face heat up more and I forget I have to actually get off the floor and introduce myself.

I can hear Uraraka laughing at me in the background and I cast her a glare as I brush off my clothes and finally make it to the new boy.

"I'm Izuku Midoriya, and I promise I know how to walk."

I see the corner of his mouth tug, a small smile breaking onto his lips. "I'll take your word for it," he replies as we shake hands and I can't help but want to make him smile more, it really was a beautiful sight.

"So, how did you get here?" I ask, trying to make conversation as we guide him to the workshop.

"I was looking for a place to get some money and the red head came over and offered me a job here," Todoroki says, picking up a damaged double edged bronze sword.

My eyes widen when I see him expertly mending the broken weapon. He clearly knew what he was doing, and casts me a smirk when he sees my surprised expression. For the third time in a single day, my cheeks feel hot, and I have to restrain from slapping myself for allowing this guy to have this effect on me. But damn when he smirked he looked hot.

I nod, knowing that he is capable of handling himself and move back to my station to tend to my batch of weapons and tools. Almost immediately, Uraraka comes over, a smug grin plastered on her face. I fight the urge to roll my eyes at her, a smile forming on my own face as she leans over and whispers rather loudly.

"Soooooo, what was that~?" She interrogates, bumping her shoulder against mine.

I raise an eyebrow at her, looking over my shoulder to sneak a glance at Todoroki to see if he is listening. "What was what?" I say, impassive.

"Oh come onnnnn, Deku-kun, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You literally blushed like seventeen times around him."

I scoff. "Exaggerating a little are we?"

"You so like him~" She smiles widely.

"Yeah Ochaco, I like Todoroki and you have a crush on Tsu." I say sarcastically.

Her smile suddenly wavers, her face flushing a dark shade of red and my jaw drops.

"Wait, seriously?!" I whisper, wondering how I didn't see it before. I knew she was into girls but I didn't know it was Tsu.

She chews her lip, staring at the ground. "I don't know..." she shrugs. "Just don't say anything...please."

"Of course, you can trust me," I reassure her, placing a hand on her arm. She looks at me and smiles, patting my hand with her own for a second. Then she shakes her head and her regular, bubbly expression is replaced. She smiles at me again before walking back to her station, throwing a newly mended piece of silver armour in a separate pile.

~

At the end of the day, Tsuyu asks Todoroki to walk home with us. When we learn that he is new in town, I offer to show him round, and my heart flips in my chest when Tsuyu and Ochaco say that they can't come with us. I glare at Uraraka, as Todoroki and I head in the opposite direction and she flashes me a grin in reply. She knows exactly what she's doing, I'm definitely going to get her back when I can.

I think about what she said earlier, when she came over smiling like an idiot, 'You so like him~', and my face only gets more red. But it's not like that at all. I mean, sure he's super cute and good looking and all, but I'm not into him like that. It's just that hot boys make me super nervous...

"S-So, what do you wanna see first?"

"I don't know, I'm not really familiar with the place." He replies, shoving his hands in his jacket pocket as we walk.

I immediately facepalm; of course he would have no idea where anything was.

"Right, that was a stupid thing to ask...um so, we could go to the villages, or the--oh! the bakeries here are the best--or we could go to the town hall, it's the perfect place to look at the stars and the hills--and at the summer festival it's decorated with banners and fairy lights--"

"Do you mind slowing down, I can't understand a single word that came out your mouth," Todoroki says, smirking at me.

I slap my hands over my mouth to stop myself from talking, my cheeks flushing as I realise I was muttering on and on and probably bored him to death, I completely got carried away. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry, I just do that sometimes I'm sorry..." I grumble, hanging my head in embarrassment.

"It's okay, it was cute."

My brain doesn't listen to the last part, maybe because it short circuited and I had to take several minutes to remember how to breathe properly. "U-um, yeah, well we could go to the town hall if you want?"

He nods, following as I show him the way, making conversation while we walk.

He is taller than I am but when he walks he slouches; hands shoved in the pockets of his trousers like he is afraid he might hurt someone if he touched them. His shoulders are slumped in a sad manner, and there is something behind his interesting heterochromatic eyes that suggested there was so much he was hiding. Only because I'd seen it plenty of times in myself I could tell that behind his façade he is incredibly sad and hurt, although he seems to hide it. As I study his profile while we walk, sneaking glances at him, I notice the skin on his neck is slightly red...

"This is it," I say, when we arrive, the soft glow of the sunset setting behind the town houses, casting golden shadows across the cobble stoned ground, familiar to me.

"It's beautiful."

"Yeah, it is. I always came here whenever I needed a place to escape, it's the perfect haven."

I watch as his lips part in awe, as we watch the view of the sun setting over the village like he's never seen anything like it before. I feel myself smiling, it really is amazing.

"So where about are you from?" I ask, dangling my feet over the edge of the stone bridge we are sat on.

"Err, over there..." He points to a cluster of houses in the distance, near The Border.

I tilt my head to the side. "Huh, I live around there, how come I've never seen you before..."

"I moved recently," Todoroki replies, a little too fast.

Suddenly the right side of my body starts to feel warmer than the rest of me. I turn to Todoroki, who is sat next to me, to find him covering the left side of his face with his hand despite wearing the eye patch. My eyebrows furrow in confusion as I hear Todoroki's breathing getting slightly heavier.

"H-Hey...are you okay?"

He jumps up suddenly, almost frightening me. "I-I-I have to go."

My eyes widen when I hear him stutter and try to talk to him, ask him why he's acting so strange but he's too weak to stand and collapses onto the hard, cobbled stoned bridge. His breathing gets rougher with each breath he takes and he starts shaking uncontrollably. My heart beats faster in fear as I run up to him and kneel down next to him, trying to help him up.

"Todoroki, what's happening?" I ask, fighting the urge to panic.

He puts his hands on my shoulders, trying to push me away, but I don't move. I want to help him, but he just keeps pushing me away.

"Todoroki, let me help you..." I say, softly, so he knows I'm telling the truth. I lift his chin up to meet my gaze, to try to get him to calm down but my eyes widen when I see the features on the left side of his face blur. My heart rate quickens as his eyes become alight, a cry of pain ripping his lungs as black smoke swirls around him, and the eyes of a monster glare right back at me....