tell me you love me - todomomo

Chapter Thirteen: A Long Way From Friends

(One Week Later)

Momo was such a sweetie. At least that's what Mina thought. Always thinking of other people, never drawing others into her problems, even when she should. Every thing about her was soft and ready to help at a moments notice. Sometimes the bubblegum girl couldn't help but wish she herself was more like Momo.

That's what Mina was thinking about at the moment Momo strode through the door of class room one a. She was also thinking about how happy Momo had seemed that week. All week and the week before it she had seemed so chilled out, care free and relaxed and just, more like herself. More like the Momo Mina was used to. She had missed that Momo.

Soft lips came in contact with her cheek. Only for just a second, though. With Momo suddenly sitting in a different place a a couple weeks ago, a change had started. The girl had started something. Now, people just sat where ever they wanted.

Mina turned around in her seat and laid eyes on her boyfriend, handsome man that he was. He gave her a toothy grin and blushed lightly.

"Hey." She gave him a sweet smile as he greeted her with a cute nod. She loved him. She hadn't told him that yet, but she did. "Sit next to me."

"How about you sit next to me." She gave him a satisfied smile, to which he responded with a pout and puppy dog eyes. Goddammit she knew she would hold up against his puppy dog eyes. "Ugh fine!  But I get to choose tomorrow."

"Deal." She took a seat next to her boy friend. She had chosen her seat because she had a good vantage point on the two love birds of this year. Oh, I'm talking about our favorite couple-except-not-really-a-couple, Todomomo.

She shrugged. She could still see them. Just not as well. Damn. She would have to just observe them for the rest of the day. She was determined to get to the bottom of what was happening between the two. There was chemistry there. More than chemistry. There was some kind of love.

What ever is happening, those two are a long way from friends.

———— * ————

Momo raised her eyebrows at the script in front of her. There was no way she was going to be able to perform this. Let alone in front of living breathing people who could judge her and notice when she misread a line or when she started blushing because she had to KISS her best friend who she was hopelessly in love with in front of LIVING BREATHING PEOPLE.

Momo was not a natural performer, as some might say. She may have had decent memorization skills, but she was utterly useless when put under spotlight. She had always known she was chosen for the part of Juliet because of her looks. Momo herself didn't consider herself to be anything special or out of the ordinary, but the class seemed to think she looked the part. Nobody had ever bothered to asses her acting prowess.

When it had been a month away the challenge of actually being Juliet had seemed minor in comparison to the rest of her problems (her funding parents, her definitely much more than a crush in her best friend, the upcoming sports festival that she hadn't even had time to think about), but now it seemed so real. And so so terrifying, and uggghhh she didn't wanna!

She voiced this opinion to Mina, who merely sat, engaging all of Momo's worries.

"I don't wanna Mina! I don't want to!" She whined. "You know how I feel about Shouto and it's just too complicated and it'll make everything complicated! Oh god we're such perfect best friends and what if he doesn't want to be best friends anymore Mina? What if he never talks to me again?!"

"Momo, why would he do that?" The bubblegum girl secretly enjoyed Momo coming to her room after school just to rant about boy problems and school related stress, but she would never tell her that. Normally, Momo would sooner have died then bothered anyone with her problems, but Mina found that the recent influx of drama in the poor girl's life had somewhat pushed her over the edge. "Girl, you guys have been best friends since day one! He's not gonna give that up over a dumb play! And plus, you just had that whole thing right? I doubt he'd do anything stupid to jeopardize your relationships after that. Just relax! Things will work out in the end."

Mina wished so bad she could keep hearing about Momo's juicy relationship drama, but she did have to eventually deal with her own, though she hated being the one in the middle of things. Usually, she just wanted gossip about other people's problems and judge others for making stupid life choices, but it was so much less fun when you were the one making stupid life choices. Like not telling your boyfriend you love him even though he's said it to you multiple times.

"I'm sorry Mina. I'm probably taking up all of your time. I know I shouldn't be dragging you into my problems...it's just..."

"Don't be sorry!" Mina actually enjoyed the distraction. "Girl, you never cause problems for anyone! You need to learn to rely on people sometimes."

"Thank you, Mina. You're a great friend." Momo tucked her script back into her bag and shifted to a more comfortable position on Mina's bed. "But, I think maybe it's time for you to do some talking. I've just been ranting for the last half hour. How is everything with you and Kirishima?"

Mina's face flushed at her question. No one ever really asked about her problems. After all, she was the love guru. God forbid she actually have problems of her own to share. That's one of things she loved about Momo. She always wanted to help her friends.

There was also some hesitation, though. It was hard. There wasn't anything wrong with her and Kirishima's relationship, they worked really well together and he was a really good kisser and she wanted to spend every minute with him.... but... well, you wouldn't expect a love guru to be so scared of committing.

"Um, well... things aren't going badly..." Momo quirked an eyebrow and frowned. She was not used to hearing doubt in her friend's voice. Mina was usually so sure of her every action. "I just. I can't tell him I love him...." Her voice was so soft Momo barely heard it, but she did. And she gave Mina a sympathetic expression.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I just mean that... okay, so he tells me he loves me all the time. And, god I don't deserve him, but he never asks me to say it back, and I just feel like I'm being unfair... But I don't know how... It's just that-"

"Well do you love him?" Momo's question was so simple for such a complicated issue.

"YES! Of course I do... but how do I just say that? I can't just say that? How do I just... hehe, I mean. Whatever right? Eventually he'll either get tired of waiting and dump me, or he'll find someone who will say it back. He wouldn't have any problem with that."

There was a hint of sadness in her voice, and for a few moments, Momo didn't think about Todoroki. She didn't worry about him, or their relationship. She didn't stress about the play, or her parents. She was just there, with Mina.

She knew in her heart that Kirishima would never dump Mina. Not even if she never said the three magic words. He wasn't that kind of guy, and he would never do anything to hurt Mina. Momo knew that well. But Mina was right. It wasn't about her saying three words. It was about him knowing she was committed to him. That she cared about him, and maybe three words were the best way to say that.

For an undetermined amount of time, for hours maybe, maybe just minutes, she let the bubblegum girl cry on her shoulder and have intermittent fits of tired laughter. She let her normally cheerful friend wet her shoulder with graceful tears. She was the friend Mina needed. And Mina was grateful for that.

———*———

A/N - So, kind of a shorter filler chapter. I know I haven't updated in a long time so I'm sorry about that. But, I hope you liked some of the Kirimina stuff in this chapter. I was just kind of in the mood...

Word count: 1405