uno - todomomo

x 07 ~ i'm sorry || todoroki

Todoroki wasn't expecting her to come back crying. He wasn't expecting her to come back dripping wet, he wasn't expecting her to come back so late, he wasn't expecting her to be sad, and when she fell to her knees sobbing as she looked at him, he was stuck like a deer in headlights.

Todoroki knew how to handle angry ex-girlfriends, raging current girlfriends, and everything in between but sad girls who he kind of had a serious crush on did not fit into those categories. How was he even supposed to help her? What did sad girls want? Kirishima has once told him that people liked to be hugged when they weren't feeling well, but Todoroki had never been a particularly affectionate person so that was kind of out of the question. He could try consoling her, but he knew nothing about why she was crying in the first place, so that was simply a bad idea.

"Oh god, uh, please stop crying..." He edged off her bed, letting his phone fall to the fluffy white pillows. Okay, there was an answer to this. The emotions of a girl couldn't be more complicated than calculus, right? And he was good at math. Although, he guessed that math didn't really translate to feelings...but he had more pressing issues. "Are you...uh...is there something I can..."

He knelt down slowly beside her, almost hesitantly. Something in his heart ached for her. Seeing her like this wasn't right. He may not have known her super well, but he was used to the happy Momo who had a bit of a detective streak in her. Who wasn't afraid to call him out or call him a soulless dick. This Momo wasn't her. This Momo looked...broken.

"What happened...?" He tried a different approach to the situation, still making sure to maintain a healthy distance from her so as not to seem inappropriate. He was pretty sure just by knowing her that she wouldn't mind if he was closer but didn't seem particularly stable at the moment and he didn't want to hurt her more. She had broken down in tears just from seeing him, what would she do if he touched her?

She didn't answer his question and instead just lifted her arm to point to the Uno box laying on her desk. In an instant, Todoroki's tensed expression softened into an easy smile that warmed to a quick laugh as he ran a hand through his hair out of relief. He knew what she meant by it. If he wanted answers out of her, he would have to play her for them. She was still the same old Momo underneath all the tears and rain.

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ♡ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ♡ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

The game had started uneventfully enough, with Momo quickly gaining the upper hand by having a hand stocked full of reverses and skips and somehow all her cards seemed to be the same color which thoroughly annoyed the dual-eyes boy. But, after being forced to draw for the second time that game, Todoroki got to have the satisfaction of watching her draw four cards. 

"Draw four, Princess," He smirked, his voice low and smooth. She rolled her eyes, fluttering her long lashes that were still wet with a mixture of rain and tears as she plucked four cards from the top of the deck. He took some satisfaction in watching her slight frown at the cards in her hand but didn't say anything. "Green." He stated simply before placing down a green skip followed up by a green three. 

He watched her gorgeous face come to an easy, resting smile as she sighed. He only had two cards left in his hand so she was probably debating whether to kick him out before he could win and ask her a question she didn't want to answer or to just keep playing the game and be a good sport about it. 

After a moment of silence, she seemed to decide on the latter and just placed down a green four, giving in to her eventual defeat. Momo was raised as a kind, civilized girl, and it showed in her actions. It was one of the many things that Todoroki thought made Momo Yaoyorozu so beautiful. She did nothing ungracefully and even when she was displeased she still smiled. 

He just placed down a green seven and gave her a smile out of mock sympathy as he said, "Uno." She just smiled with a nod and said,

"Okay, I get it. You win your one question," She collapsed the cards in her hand into a neat stack as she began neatening up the rest of the cards that lay strewn about on her soft white rug, forming them into orderly piles. As she took the single card from Todoroki's hand, their fingers brushed, forcing her to swallow her reaction roughly, pretending not to have noticed the little skip her heart gave. 

Once she was done condensing the cards into a single, neat pile, with meticulous effort, I might add, she turned to face the boy with the most gorgeous case of heterochromia she'd ever seen, swallowing her feelings and putting on a mask of polite indifference. She waited for a moment. They both already knew what he was going to ask her. It was blatantly obvious on his features. The question was if he actually had the courage to get the words out. 

He pondered whether or not to ask her because it seemed like it was invasive, but at the same time that was how the game worked. That was their deal. So, he eventually decided that he was just going to get it over with, because if he didn't, it would hang over him. He would be wanting to know until the day she opened up to him, which might be never. So, agonizingly slowly, he asked,

"Why were you crying?" 

"My sister died when she was twenty and I turn twenty-one today," She answered simply, biting her tongue to keep the tears from welling up again. He could see the pain manifesting itself in her eyes, even if the rest of her expression was a stone-cold mask of marble beauty. It was liek she was carved from stone. "My sister is supposed to be two years older than me." 

"Oh," He suddenly quite regretted asking because Todoroki didn't know how to deal with his own probelms much less comfort someone on their own. He couldn't just ignore this like he did with his own issues. He asked, so now he was responsible for the reaction he gave. And so far he wasn't doing a very good job at the whole talking thing. "I'm-

"If you say you're sorry I'm going to slap you," Her full lips shifted back and forth to keep herself from crying and he nodded. He understood. The worst thing to hear over and over again was "I'm sorry." That was everyone's default response when they didn't know what to say. Even if they were sorry...People could be as sorry as they wanted but it wouldn't bring someone back. It wouldn't fix anything. Every time someone said "I'm sorry," it just served to remind you of everything you lost. 

So, he leaned against the side of her bed, letting the silence just be. Sometimes you didn't need to talk. The hard thing was that Momo, despite her best efforts, had let a few tears slip and thus had opened the flood gates for all of them to come pouring out. 

Without words, the raven-haired girl took a seat beside him, her silent tears running races down her soft skin and dripping onto her collar bone. Todoroki didn't know what to do with this. Did she want physical affection? Did she want him to say something? Did she want him to be quiet? He wasn't good at this kind of stuff but he felt like he had to do something. Becuase he would give anything for someone to be there for him. 

So, as gently and silently as was possible for someone to move, he laced his warm, calloused fingers with hers which were freezing from being out in the pouring rain for so long. Her hands were delicate and soft and if he held impossibly still, he could feel her fingers trembling ever so slightly. 

And they just sat like that for who knows how long, Todoroki staring at the fairy lights on her walls and lost in his thoughts, Momo's mind filled with the image of her sister, their entwined fingers embodying the fraglie bond between them. Momo didn't stop crying. She didn't stop hurting, but she stopped feeling so alone for a little bit. And that's all anyone could ask for, right?

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ♡ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ♡ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

a/n ~ i'm so sorry for the cheesy cliche angst/romance shit i couldn't stop myself  ಥωಥ. 

word count: 1462