I Royally Decline// Todoroki Shouto x Reader

Ch. 28: Back to Normal?

Your POV
I woke up with a small yawn, eyes blinking open to see Shouto's arms wrapped around me. Once again, he didn't bother to change and just threw his jacket and tunic on the ground. His smell pervaded the room and was completely intoxicating. I snuggled deeper into his hold, hoping he wouldn't wake up. I took my pointer finger and began tracing the words "I love you" onto his bare chest. As I got to the "e," I failed to notice Shouto beginning to move a bit.

"I love you too, Angel,"  Shouto's tired voice broke the silence of my room. My hands retracted inward and an aggressive blush slapped my face. Shouto looked down at my pitiful sight and began laughing. "Oh, was I not supposed to know about that?"

"Sho-Chan!" I retorted, snatching a pillow and shoving it into his chest. He grunted and I turned away from him in embarrassment. He moved the pillow and draped and arm over my waist.

"Hey, why are you so flustered? You already know that I love you," he chuckled.

"Well I got caught doing something stupid so..." I explained with a "hmph".

"Stupid? That wasn't stupid, that was adorable," Shouto said and kissed the tip of my exposed ear, causing my blush to spread. "Come on now, look at me."

I turned around and stubbornly agreed to look at Shouto. His face held so much relief in knowing I was here with him.

"Looks like you regained some of your strength while I was dead," I giggled, poking his arm.

"Don't say it like that! Geesh, you make it sound like death isn't that big of a deal," Shouto huffed, rolling his eyes and getting a laugh from me.

"Ugh... I have a huge mess to deal with from the battles, don't I?" I groaned, pushing my forehead into Shouto's chest.

"Yeah, it can't really wait either. Tokoyami and Rory tried their best to manage the army, but no one can do it as well as you can. I'm sure my father wants to have a meeting and discuss the previous events."

"Ughhhhhhhh, life sucks! I want to die!"

"(Y/n)!"

"Ha ha, I'm just messing! I guess we should probably get up," I sighed, wrapping my arms around Shouto's waist and pulling close to him one last time.

"Well, when you do stuff like that it makes it hard for me to convince myself to get up," Shouto whispered into my ear, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to rise. I gave him a quick shove and he plummeted to the ground. "Ow! Why do you always do that?!"

I laughed, but my laughing ceased when I saw the whip lashes on Shouto's back. I crawled to the edge of the bed and waited for Shouto to sit up. His eyes met my disapproving frown and he sighed. "It wasn't that bad, I swear."

"Sho! Your back is littered with welts and scars! You can't tell me it 'wasn't that bad!'"

"Well at least I didn't die!"

"Sho... stop doing that! Why won't you talk to me about what happened?"

"Well, in my defense, you haven't told me about what happened when you went back to Crystalli. Like how you survived the mirage attack, how you got so strong, and why you cut your hair! We haven't really had the time to just chat it out over (f/f)," Shouto rolled his eyes. I swore that one of these days his eyes would get stuck in the back of his head.

"Hey! Is there something wrong with my hair?" I pouted. In all honesty, I didn't really want to cut my hair, but Milaina insisted. She told me that it would be easier to deal with and it would make me appear more mature. Frankly, I was kind of self-conscious about it.