maneuvering through

Idiots In Love

The low hum of her phone woke her from a seemingly dreamless slumber. With half-lidded eyes, she haphazardly tapped the surface of her bedside table for the device. The soft drizzle of the morning rain pervaded her senses, gently knocking the glasses off her window, pleading entry. Curling into a fetal position underneath her duvet, she opened her eyes to an early morning call.

“Hello...” She cringed at how thick her voice had been, worried at how she might have sounded on a static reception.

It took quite a few heartbeats before a deep timbre of a voice resounded. “Yaoyorozu, I haven’t awakened you, have I?”

She shot right up and chanced a glance at the wall clock, the small, thick hand pointing six.

“No. Not at all.”Momo answered with the slightest tremor, smoothing the back of her head, and taming the stray hair back in place.

She heard him take a sharp intake. “Todoroki-san?”

“I’m... leaving today.” He rasped, in a manner that would make one think he was going somewhere no one could follow. If she was to guess, his remark was laced with an obvious ring of trepidation.

The wind picked up outside and rattled the window panes, lashing the potted plants she placed outside. Propping herself on her knees, she peered over the windows, contemplating whether she should move the antagonized foliage back inside.

“Momo?”

She jerked back into position. “Y—yes?”

“I thought you'd fallen back to sleep...”

“No. No. I heard you for the first time...”

“I want to call you while on a train, but, I don’t think that’d be the best reception for what I have to say...”

Despite the howling wind, his deep voice flowed like lemon and honey. ‘What I have to say..”

Momo hiked her legs, arms around her knees as she sat at the edge, duvet hanging over her shoulders. She cleared her throat. “What do you... have to say?”

As though heavily burdened by whatever it was that prevented him from going straight to the point, she asked again. “Todoroki-san, a—are you alright?”

A soft whiff on the other side. “No. Momo, I’m not. Not until I have the answer to the question you left hanging yesterday.”

Her window swung wide as a heavy gust of wind slammed it open. Begrudgingly, she walked towards the window, dodging the flailing pink curtains on the way as she secured the latch back on. Immediately, she spun to avoid soaking in the rain. She leaned behind the closed windows wiping off her drenched skin.

“What question?”

“About... wanting me as well..”

It petrified her from head to toe. As though being sopped in the morning rain wasn’t enough to stiffen her. The question so off-guarding her reflexes let loose her phone.

“Momo?”

Shaken, she bent over, pulse hammering in her ears as she picked up the device. “Hello, Todoroki-san, you still there? I’m sorry, my... my phone fell... I”

‘As well? Does he want me as well?’

“It’s quite alright if you do--.”

“I do.” She answered a tad too quickly, hardly allowing him to finish, her heart instantly racing as she said so.

“What?”

She shook her head. “I said... I do... I... want..”

The moment soon turned out to be so frustrating when she heard nothing from him, at least for a second.

“Turn around then..” He softly demanded.

“Eh?”

“I’d like to see your face when you say it.”

Dumbfounded, she whirled on her heels, rain still battering the windows. Her heart stopped as he crooked a smile from down below.

“Todoroki-san?!” She briskly leaned a hand on the window sill.“ Have you been standing outside in the rain all this time? Are you insane? I thought you were leaving?!” She berated continuously, sighing in relief that he was under the shelter of an umbrella. She leaned closer to get a better look at his state. A cab was waiting on the other side.

‘What’s up with Shouto and making cabs wait?’

Ignoring her shuttle of lecture, a boyish smile wreathed on his pleasant face. “You said you wanted me too?”

She silenced, warmth had immediately taken over her face. “I did. I did say... that.” She repeated, largely to convince herself.

“Momo, Can I ask something more from you?” He asked again, amidst the faint pattering of the pouring rain.

“What of? Todoroki-san?”

“I know you never said anything against it but... just would like to hear it from you...”

“Eh?”

“If I could keep...” She heard him take a deep sigh before he pushed through, “... calling you ‘Momo’..” She blinked at the oddity of his request but consented without question.

“Of course, Todoroki-san.”

“And also... if you start calling me Shouto as well.”

A static silence.

“You. Stay there.” She ruled sternly, tossing her phone on her bed, and began pacing towards her bedroom door.


“Momo?”

The other line died, and he could no longer catch a glimpse of her from her window. He ended the call, his legs moved even before he realized what he was doing, skipped over the puddle and pushed the rustic gate open, and into the front door. He should have gone and asked her if he could come inside, but his lame-ass was too agitated, in fear that he might withdraw from his plan.

There he waited, sheltered under the awning, soaked umbrella unceremoniously laid out on the side where a vine peppered with white flowers climbed up the trellis. The wooden door creaked open, and she gazed at him. There went his heart thrumming erratically again.

“You dummy could have just asked if you could come inside...” her voice muffled in his shirt. “It’s morning, you know.”

‘Oh’.

A reserved upward turn tugged the corner of his lips.

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to go once I do.” His breath floated on her forehead, as he slowly pulled her closer and tenderly pressed a cheek there.

She looked up, a frown on her beautiful face.

“Don’t let me stop you! Todo--- Sh—Shouto..”

How cute she looked at the shift. “We’ll see each other soon, I promise.”

He brushed a strand off her face, joining the rest of her jet-black hair. “I’ll take you up on that, and also..”

He pulled her closer to his chest yet again. “I like you, Momo...so much..”

“ As am I to you.”



Natsuo stared suspiciously at his younger brother, furtively elbowing his sister beside him, who shared his sentiments. His focus momentarily taken away from the last bite of his food, the younger Todoroki, presently, wore a stupid smile on his face after he put down his phone after replying to a text. Enjie, slightly disturbed by the shared glances of his older children, finished his dinner before the three and joined his wife in the living room, who was quietly watching a television show. Years after living separately and after the house had undergone major refurbishing, she moved in with her daughter and son. Natsuo sporadically visits the family on weekends or while Shouto is around.

Shouto, who had a place of his own, went straight to his childhood home for dinner with his family.

Natsuo, overtaken by curiosity, opened his mouth to speak. “What’s gotten into you, Shou-chan? Never seen you with that stupid smile on your face? Has this newfound attitude of yours have anything to do with that little rendezvous of yours in Osaka?” He paired up the question with a smile that so much mimicked that of his younger brother.

“Natsuo!” Fuyumi chided, dabbing her mouth with a clean cloth, though she had gotten intrigued as well.

He leaned back, throwing another smirk. “Heh! Don’t act like you haven’t reacted to some sort, nee-san, that’s some juicy gossip right there.” He pointed a hand gun at his younger brother.

Shouto deadpanned. None of those stupid rumors matter now. He slurped soundly at his cold soba. Fuyumi, without the intention of joining her brother in his teasing tirade, gazed at her younger brother with concern.

The rumor sure spread like the plague. But knowing her brother as she did, he most likely just gave it a cold shoulder. But seeing him now as she'd never seen him before, something positive happened on his short trip, and she couldn’t help but be happy and wonder at the same time.

The elder brother prodded for more questions, propping an elbow on the low table. “Say, who won your heart, lil’ bro? I’d place my bet on the one you took for a date.” Following it with a snicker, brows wiggling in intentional jest.

“Natsuo, don’t treat dating like it is some kind of a  gamble.”

“Of course it is. Love is a gamble, one must take a risk.” He replied sagely.

Fuyumi glared behind her glasses, “That’s not what I meant.”

The opposite ignored her, sparing Shouto his utmost attention. “So, who was it? Don’t worry about Dad, he’s out of earshot.” He encouraged in a whisper enough to fill only their ears, shooting the said Todoroki a glance, who barely moved beside his wife, immersed in the playing show.

Fuyumi rolled her eyes as she finished her food. Shouto was done with his as well after one last slurp.

“Natsuo, you’re last to finish, it’s your turn for dishwashing.”

“What?!”

“Make it quick, I need the table for schoolwork.”

“Like seriously? Fuyumi-nee?!”

A sly smile carved on Shouto’s lips as he headed his way toward his room, picking up his phone with him.


He briefly exchanged messages with Momo as the latter excused herself to charge her phone. He laid back on the futon, arms spread outwardly, with the lack of better things to do. He should probably check his itinerary for tomorrow, though, he was quite sure it would be nothing more than patrolling. He thought about sleeping, but then, he had taken good hours of sleep while on his trip back. So, what to do?

‘Train? Maybe.’

He did have a good stretch yesterday, chasing the villain with a teleportation quirk. A flash of raven hair in a ponytail stood before him, in her lovely, pastel pink dress and a captured villain by her side. He brought his arm to his face, imagining her again.

He rolled on his chest, resting his chin on a pillow. Going through his gallery of the accomplished mission meant for compilation, he did not forget the slew of photos and screenshots sent by Midoriya. Deleting the ones that reminded him of the stupid debacle, leaving only the one with him and Momo. Though slightly blurred, Momo seemed to have been crying.

‘So she had been jealous of this..’

He suppressed a smile, but not the guilt bubbling as well. He scrolled for a bit further but nothing followed.

‘That’s it? That’s all of it?’

He rose from his futon. Feeling enormously idiotic again for not taking a photo with her. A happy one. Should he just steal one from her social media? Not like it would matter, now that he was made sure they both liked each other.

He connected to the family WiFi, and his phone dinged at the onslaught of messages and notifications, ignoring the barrage of them in a single blasé sweep.

Running a hand on his crimson locks, he never tapped on a social icon quicker than he did now. The only one he got under the conspicuous name shouto. Though a lot of it swarmed the Internet, using his name, whether for good fun or some twisted delusional scheme, he didn’t know and he hardly cared.

The excitement on his face morphed into confusion when her profile picture did not immediately appear on his most searched page, nor while he typed her name. Confusion increased by a second; he was left with a desperate choice; to go through either Jirou’s or Kaminari’s impractical long list of friends.

He opted for the one which he considered the lesser demon of the two, Kaminari. After looking over his stupid long list, he realized she seemed to have disappeared on the face of the Internet.

‘Had she deleted her profile?’

‘Did she receive a lot of hate messages to compel her to do so?’

‘But she seemed fine when he last saw her, but she always looked fine until her feelings betrayed her.’

‘Shit.’

‘Did she?’

But she sounded enthusiastic during their phone call.

Now haunted by a monster of his own making, the gnawing anxiety pressured him to step out of his room, sliding and slamming it a bit more harshly than necessary. Appearing troubled and shaken.

He could call her, but she pointed out that she turns her phone off while charging.


His heavy footfalls had his siblings leap on their seats around the chabudai. His father barely spared a glance, while his mother blinked a concerned look. Wordlessly, he joined Fuyumi and Natsuo, legs sprawled below the low table, a baffled look on their faces. Fuyumi was currently recording her student’s exam scores while Natsuo corrected the rest.

He remained quiet, absently staring at the open space like a poor, deranged fool. It was Natsuo who broke him into a confession.

“I can’t seem to find her social media account.”

“Whose?” Fuyumi prodded, looking through her glasses, bemused by her brother’s not so massive of a problem, but still looking the part of a stressed human being.

Still staring idly into space, he answered as if under hypnosis. “Momo’s.”

It stirred intrigue into his brother’s already prying nose, stopping on his assigned task, and dropping the red pen on a whim. His angsty little brother was troubled over the disappearance of someone’s account. Tilting to face his sister, he asked, “Who’s Momo?”

Shouto raked both his hands on the sides of his crimson and white hair in defeat. Planting his forehead on the surface of the low table.

“She probably had something going on with her that she’s not telling me.” He mentioned to no one in particular. His siblings glanced at each other before judging the abject misery that was their brother. “It’s just like that night, all over again...”

“Did you have a misunderstanding?” Fuyumi questioned, her mind steering towards the port that said her brother definitely had girl troubles. Pursing her lips tight to suppress a giggle.

He shook his head, face still resting on the wooden lacquered table. Natsuo briefly strayed from teasing his brother and threw in his inquiry. “Well, is she acting oddly while you’re calling her? I mean, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but I did hear you talking to someone over the phone.” He raised his hands, while his younger brother didn’t flinch or anything to show his dislike.

He gave another shake of negation.

“Then nothing is definitely wrong then,” Natsuo asserted decisively.

Shouto peered at his brother from behind his dual-colored bangs. “What made you decide that?”

“I just know.”

He face-planted again. “That’s not making anything better.”

Fuyumi felt a lot for her crestfallen brother. It is probably all foreign and strange to him, people and their complicated feelings. But she felt a lot better knowing Shouto was capable of keeping a close relationship with another human being outside his family’s circle. Now, there had been another progress, seeing that what was plaguing him was romance. She may have to lend some of her knowledge of relationships, though she was quite scarce of it herself. Anyway, she could always try.

“There could be some reasons behind it, Shouto. Don’t jump to conclusions, you’re creating problems that weren’t even there in the first place.”

“We sometimes have to expect the worse in most crucial situations.” He responded almost instantly, laced with defeat.

Fuyumi let out a sigh. “This isn’t one of your hero missions Shouto, if you overthink problems in relationships, you generate another problem that isn’t even there, so breathe and let us gather the possibilities, shall we?”

She then veered to Natsuo, “What could possibly be the reasons why we can’t find anyone on social media?”

Natsuo thought about it, hands gripping both his feet, rocking himself in deep thought. “Well, question first, are you friends?”

Shouto raised a brow, a face of boredom.

“I meant on her social media, you literal freak!”

That earned the purely white-haired Todoroki a glare before Shouto answered with a shake of his head.

“What? You’re not friends? What are you a stalker?”

He received another glare, but from his elder sister this time. “Okay, okay... Why do I feel like I’m the one piling problems here.. Geez... Okay, uhm, could you find her before?”

He nodded.

“Since when?”

He carefully straightened his back. “I didn’t follow her because I was kind of... indecisive that time...” He stated, ignoring the question. “... I am friends with her other friends so I was able to...” His lips thinned at the confirmation of Natsuo’s earlier deductions.

“... to look over her pictures..” His gaze drifted somewhere from the table surface and to his curling toes.

The deadpan look on his brother’s face confirmed what was already obvious.

“Then you suddenly can’t find her?” Fuyumi pushed a finger at her chin.

“There’s something you’re keeping Shou-chan?...” Natsuo pried over, his brows furrowed, a hand propped over the side of his knee angled flat on the floor, supporting his weight. An elbow resting on the table.

His shoulders dropped, jaw tensed. “I...kind of... accidentally...liked...a photo from...” Natsuo curiously leaned in closer. Fuyumi sat modestly on her zabuton, eyes trained on Shouto. “.. three years ago..” He fell back on the hardwood table again, burying his face out of shame.

“Called it!” Natsuo exclaimed, slapping a palm on the table surface, as though he had won a strenuous chess match.

“Natsuo!” Fuyumi chided, chasing after the rolling pen.

His sudden bellows grabbed the attention of their parents, who were eyeing them curiously. But he looked away again, noticing it was just Natsuo and his antics again.

Natsuo calmed down from his short-lived victory before switching into serious mode again. “I think I may have the best theory about why you suddenly can’t find her.”

He bent to his sister. “We’ll be needing nee-san for this little exploration..”

Fuyumi temporarily set aside her paperwork as she took part in Shouto’s little love problems. She scanned through her own social media account, searched for Momo’s name, and it turned out they were already friends.

“How did you...?” Shouto asked.

“Oh.” As if remembering something. “She’s on my recommended list, and I remembered her from the hospital and the dorms, isn’t that right, Natsuo? So I added her. She’s got a lot of followers.”

The three peered over the raven-haired’s gallery of pictures, huddled at their sister’s side.

“Whoo... So her name is Momo.. now I kind of get why I feel like I saw her somewhere..”

“Oh, It seems like she has added a new photo..” Fuyumi tapped on the image that registered to have been added 3 hours ago. “My! It already has a hundred likes..” The two brothers squeezed themselves closer to have a better look. Shouto noticed his sister had tapped the heart button, her thumb already scrolling through the trend of comments.

His brow roused and his eyes narrowed at the twine of repeated questions that asked ‘Who was the Lucky guy?’.

“What was the photo about?” He asked his sister, face creased with inquisitive interest. Fuyumi retraced the lengthy comment section.

The photo seemed to have been taken during the night and he was instantly stricken with deja vu. The orange lights pushed back the darkness, creating a circle akin to a spotlight. The shadows in the photo hit a certain familiarity in him. He was assured that the other shadow belonged to him. Her signature ponytail was a telltale that the other was hers.

‘When did she take this?’

“That’s definitely Shou-chan.” Natsuo inferred, gray eyes not departing from the phone screen. Shouto stilled in his seat, feeling something funny in his stomach.

“It does seem like him.” Fuyumi looked closer, adjusting her glasses. Natsuo swiftly swiped left, earning a frown from his sister. It showed an image of her in activewear in what looked like had been a view from a grassy part of a mountain. She still looked pretty and fresh despite the obvious sweat damping her face and grey top.

Natsuo hurriedly scurried through his phone and immediately tapped add and follow next to her name.

“What did you do?” Shouto asked warily, reaching for his brother’s phone.

Natsuo grinned, a devilish grin he so wanted to wipe clean. “I just did what a prodigy hero can’t do...” He wagged his phone into the air. “I just added your girlfriend.”

His eyes shadowed, swiping through the air to grab his phone.


On the opposite side of the room, Enjie nearly rose to his feet to apprehend the squabble happening at the dinner table. He felt a light tap on his arm, restraining him from doing so. A gentle, soft smile curved up his wife’s lips, as she flitted an eye at her children.

“They’re just playing around, and it’s been a while since this house was filled with the sound of their cheerfulness. Just leave them be. They’ll be fine.” She gazed at the three, Fuyumi standing in between the two males. “Fuyumi’s always been there to watch over them.”

He watched as her smile faded, turning away again to watch the show. Enjie spared his children another glance before turning back at the TV screen again.


“She blocked you,” Natsuo affirmed after Shouto got hold of his phone. He was lying on the tatami mats, tired out from evading his younger brother’s hasty swipes. Shouto placed his phone back on the table.

“She blocked me?” He muttered, words hushed in disbelief. “Why would she do that? We’re...”

Natsuo rose from his back. Fuyumi arranged the strewn papers from the mini ruckus. “She probably mistook you for a stalking poser, creeped out by you liking a picture three years back, that’s a whole lot of creepy Shou.” he prodded at him. “Why didn’t you just add her anyway? For someone who doesn’t care much about what people think, that’s so not you. Knowing how carefree you can be...”

He quietened.

“Unless you’ve already felt something for her, that’s the only reason you deny yourself about the things you want the most.”

“I...”

“Anyway, you can just call and tell her to unblock you, now that she’s your girlfriend.”

He froze.

“What?” He asked dumbly.

“She’s your girlfriend, right? Recalling how dumb you look with the stupid smile, then how close you sound during the phone call. Anyone with half a brain can tell you’re together. Right?”

The room grew silent. He was silently arguing with himself if they were that.

His Adam’s apple bobbed and his siblings anticipated his answer.

“I... I don’t know..”  He answered, wondering at himself.

“Huh?!” Natsuo almost snarled at him, grimly. Fuyumi took a palm over her mouth.

“How do you know if you were.. together? Do you kind of ask them to be your...girlfriend?”

Natsuo brawled with his hair in frustration, stark white hair messed up. “What did you exactly tell her?”

“I told her... I like her, is that alright?” He answered nonchalantly, sparing Fuyumi a glance. After suppressing her giddiness for a long period since the convo started, she squealed in her seat. Her shriek surprised their father on his seat, yet again, immediately gesturing an apology to their father.

“That’s some kind of confession right there. Just please, for the love of everything, tell me, you  didn’t tell her that in such a robotic tone.“

“Of course not,” he answered, before lowering his gaze to the tabletop, “I think so...”

“Good. Good..” He nodded approvingly. “Then what did she say?”

“She...felt the same way..” His voice slowed and dwindled at the last two words, too flushed to admit.

The elder Todoroki smiled broadly at him.

“Well, you’ve got yourself a girlfriend.”

~~~Happy New Year 🥳🥳🥳