shut up.

Lets Play Pretend

Todoroki's POV

"breath Izuku, you're ok, you're safe. Just take deep breaths," I don't understand what's wrong with him. I mean why'd he start freaking out all of the sudden?

He relaxes into his seat, taking shaky breathes and staying silent. His breaths eventually start to come back down, going back to normal pace.

"Good... Are you okay..?" my voice filled the car but I was only responded with agonizing silence. I take a sharp breath and pull over into a half empty lot.

Izuku sits there, breath after breath, not saying a word. I naw at my inner cheek, trying to silence the thoughts scratching to break free. 

"Izuku...?" His name comes out as a question, my voice cracking a bit at the end. I was scared and my strong facade was starting to crack.

"Yes?" his voice brought me back to reality.

What's wrong? Are you okay? What can I do to help? Did I do something wrong? Do you need to go home? Take the day off tomorrow, okay? Are you anorexic? Why are you hurting yourself? Don't you know how beautiful you are?

A million things ran through my mind. But I say none of them.

"Wanna go to sonic and get some diet cherry limeades?" It was the only thing I could choke out. None of the other things seemed appropriate.  He wouldn't have told me anyways.

He smiles, "Yea, I'd love to." So we went.

We sit in the drive-thru waiting for the employee to bring our drinks. The hum of the air conditioning keeping us company. It was peaceful, a silent agreement. He didn't want to talk about it, and that I had no right to know.

There was no ill feelings on my part though, I get it. Why do I deserve to be told? Me who he's only known for two weeks. Me who has shown only sexual desire towards him. Me who has melted his worth down to his body, and his body alone.

The modeling Industry was cruel. I knew that.

He was soft. I knew that too.

But in the end I said nothing. In the end I sat and watched him pose, play dress up, even benefited from it myself. In the end I'm no better than the hungry eyes of the camera.

Our drinks come out and I hand him his, our hands brushing against one another.

"Thankyou.." He looks down, fidgeting with the straw wrapper. I hum in response and we sip at our drinks.

"I'll take you home." I knew dinner wouldn't
end well.

Izuku pauses before speaking, "no dinner then?" His eyes tell me all I need to know. He's relieved.

I'm relieved.

I don't respond.

Minutes go by and I glance at him. I've seen that face. I know that face. He's given up.

We pull into the apartment parking.

"My least favorite genre is fantasy and I never imagined things as a child. I wanted things to be strictly truthful and realistic," I looked at him, making sure he was listening, "Don't play pretend with me."

I walk him to his door and he stops in front of it before turning to me.

"Wanna get dinner anyways?" He smiles as his voice shakes.

"Do you?" I wasn't going to play his games.

He looks down and furrows his brows before sighing and shrugging, "Movie Marathon?"

I grin and wrap my arm around his shoulder, "Yea, I'd love to."

We go inside, watching the Harry Potter series all the way through. Whispering like there was someone else in the room, shushing each other's giggles and sipping sodas. Glancing at one another when something big happens and then quickly looking away when meeting eye contact.

Maybe tonight could be okay. Maybe just for tonight I could pretend. Pretend I hadn't seen glimpses of messages between models, pretend I haven't seen this before, pretend that maybe I was wrong.

Maybe I'm doing the wrong thing. I don't know.

But tonight I'm going to pretend it's right.

-673 words-

My chapters have been shorter lately but I think my writing has gotten better.