Growing Close: Tododeku

Part 8: Gossip

::💕👫🏻

The next day, it was as if everything changed. Not exactly in a bad way, but certainly not a good way, either. The day after our outing, Izuku acted far from his normal self, and it was during breakfast that I'd first noticed.

We were sitting across from each other at breakfast, Iida at my left and Tsu at Izuku's right. It was normal in every aspect, and yet, I sensed an off aura from him. His eyes lingered on things for far too long, and he moved unreasonably slowly, his chopsticks hovering above his rice and eggs almost defensively. Tsu seemed to notice, as could be assumed from her sideways glances that came every so often, but she didn't seem too worried. Out of respect, I thought, she was ignoring it for now. I figured I would too, but if by noon he was still acting like this, I would intervene.

Iida conversed in his usual serious, but polite tone, asking us about our class work and weekend plans. Deku answered with a tired but courteous no, and that he had nothing planned but was excited to relax. As he finished that statement, I managed to catch his eye. For a moment, a fragment of a second, his gaze melted to awestruck happiness and excitement, his shoulders releasing all the tension that had collected during the night and his expression becoming soft. But as quickly as the moment came, it left, and a flustered, ragged face with stiffened muscles replaced it. He blushed and stuttered more after that, with nervous glances targeted my way, but eventually calmed back down.

The rest of the day followed a similar pattern. And, to make it even better, every time I approached him about it, once during lunch and twice during class, he excused himself from the scene. By the end of the day, I was done being passive about it. I was getting worried about his behavior.

We'd finally been excused from our last class of the day, and, of course, everyone immediately rushed out, excited voices rising up quickly from the respectful silence that came before it, Mina's rising above them all.

"Hey! What're you guys doing this weekend?" Mina chimed as she walked arm in arm with Jirou. I tried to get passed them and to Izuku, but they blocked the door. I figured I'd catch him in his room later, and with just the two of us, I'd convince him to tell me what's wrong.

Kaminari piped in, "nothing. Last weekend was fun, but I'm exhausted. I need a weekend of absolutely nothing," Kaminari finished with excessive hand movements to accompany his exclamation.

"You can say that again," Sero affirmed with a sigh, reaching up to place both hands on his neck, "I left early, too. After that spin the bottle game, I think."

"I left an hour after, I think," Kirishima added, "but honestly, I should have left earlier. After that game, I was out of it."

"Wait, you played, too? What about Bakugou?" Kaminari jeered as he shot fearful glances at the only half-listening Bakugou.

Kirishima donned a surprised expression, then a sly, cheeky smile replaced it, a light pink coloring his face. "Well, we came to an agreement about that. He knows it was all for fun."

Clearly, I was the only one with a goal in mind.

I followed behind them at a safer distance as they all left the classroom, putting in my earbuds and shoving my hands in the pockets of my uniform's pants. I couldn't hear them quite as well, and the distance meant I couldn't see anything as clearly, but I'd rather have done that than to have been caught eavesdropping. Their conversation drifted away from their relationship, and instead to the earlier events of the party, which, I had apparently missed out on entirely; Izuku and I both. Eventually, though, the conservation drifted back to the game, our dormitory building coming into view quickly.

"... You know who else seemed awfully excited when they were going down on each other," Sero insinuated with a playful smirk, looking at each of his friends with suggestive eyes. Kaminari smirked back, the knowledge of the pair he was referring to hitting him immediately.

"Todor-mido," Kaminari stuttered out, laughing boisterously at himself. "I mean, I," he huffed out between puffs of laughter, "I-I mean Todoroki and Midoriya."

"Be quieter! Todoroki's right behind us!" Mina hushed, holding her index finger to her lips as she sent a worried stare my way. I did my best to avert her eyes.

Kaminari took her hand in his own, and look at her with a cocky expression as he dismissed her worries, saying, "he's wearing earbuds, so he can't even hear us! It's fine." I was wearing earbuds, but I could hear every word. Here's a lesson: only be cocky when you can live up to it. Not everyone is a Bakugou, however much of an asshole he acts. (Light Todobaku for the multishippers? Anyone?) "And if he can hear us, whatever! It's nothin' bad, it's just what happened, ya know?"

"Anyway," Sero continued, "they were really getting into it. And I don't mean to mess with a dudes relationship and all that, that's their business- but it was all right there, right in front of us!" Sero threw his hands out in front of him, as if to motion to some spectacular event. Kirishima nodded, only semi-interested in the conversation, but eventually he spoke up.

"Yeah. They went over their three seconds. Like, way over their three seconds," Kirishima said, exaggerating the word way much more than should have been necessary. "They probably got so into it that they didn't even realize, and I get it, but... still. Everyone was watching."

"Felt like I was watching the beginning of a porno," Sero added, to which all but Bakugou laughed, although his shoulders did rise and fall to indicate some sort of chuckle.

"There's no way they've fucked yet," Bakugou stated with a scowl, "Deku wouldn't want to lose his virginity if his life-long crush presented her pussy to him."

"He's straight?" Mina asks.

"Hell if I know." Bakugou shot back in a grumble.

"I mean, they don't act like they've fucked yet, but there's definitely something going on," Mina chimed with an investigative tone. "Like, there's no way they were acting that way during spin the bottle if there wasn't."

I could understand the second comment, but how do you act with someone you've been fucking? I didn't understand the question.

Apparently, I'd shown my confusion on my face, because Kaminari had pointed behind himself and right at me; I had been spacing out, and he caught me looking directly at him. I knew there was no way to fake any sort of reaction and make them believe it was a coincidence. I might be able to look nonchalant on command, but I was no lier.

They put a bit more distance between themselves and I as we finally reached the building, and the group quickly found a corner of the common space where they finished their discussion, their eyes tracing me every once in awhile. It was annoying, but I couldn't blame them: Izuku and I put on quite the show, and at the time, neither of us had even known it.

I leaned against a pillar near the front door, scanning the area for Izuku. Once I was satisfied with the search I put up, having not found Izuku, I got up from my position against the wall and decided on heading up to Izuku's room. I was going to get answers, even if I had to be direct with him to get them.