uno - todomomo

x 37 ~ you said you loved me pt. 2 || todoroki

"You said you loved me." 

Whether she noticed him visibly tense and almost pass out right next to her was unclear at the moment because all he could hear was the beating of his own heart taunting him with his own feelings toward this girl. But all she did was stare out at the sunset with an indiscernible expression. It was some kind of a confusing mix between worry and a soft kind of joy that only she could pull off. 

In case you were wondering, Shouto Todoroki didn't actually remember saying that to her. Well, he did, he was just whole-heartedly convinced that it had been a dream and thus had dismissed it from his memory completely. Which is why he was slightly dying inside as he clenched his jaw and tried to remain as stoic as ever. He did his best not to let his voice wobble as he asked her with as casual a tone as possible, 

"I said that?" He forced his eyes away from her because he knew that if he looked at her for much longer, he would start blushing, and blushing would lead to a sudden trouble with saying actual words and that could only spell bad things for him. It wasn't that Todoroki didn't want to tell her everything he felt for her. It wasn't that he didn't want to try to encapsulate every time she made him blush, made him smile, made him happy, in just three simple words...But the words 'I love you' meant worlds to some people. They meant everything to him. And he couldn't burden her with that kind of confession. 

Not to mention his obvious fear of rejection because he almost never got rejected by girls and if Momo did it to him it would (though he wouldn't say this out loud) break his heart. Shouto Todoroki didn't get his heart broken unless it was by the gentle smile of Momo Yaoyorozu. 

"Um, yeah," was her almost disappointed response. He forced himself not to read into things because he had developed a policy with Momo. He could read most women from a mile away. He could read the way they smiled at him, the way they flirted, put their hand on his knee, or laughed at something he said that he himself didn't even find funny. But Momo was different because she was so genuine and she wasn't trying to seduce him and she wasn't trying to be anything for him. She was just her, and that was enough for him. For the first time, it was enough for him. 

So he turned to watch the students still bustling around the campus as he said, "Like...out loud?" It wasn't the smoothest response and he knew for sure that if had been anymore unstable it would've fallen off the edge of convincing and into the deep depths of suspiciousness below. But he managed to keep his voice smooth as he ran a hand through his dual-colored hair. 

"Yes, that's the assumption," Her voice rang, something in it changing into an almost laugh, the ghost of humor tipping her tongue in a way that made the tips of his ears turn red. Todoroki wandered silently to himself how someone's voice could make him fall in love a million times over again, but then again, this was Momo Yaoyorozu we were talking about, so he shouldn't be surprised. He was broken from his thoughts, though, but her saying, "So is it true?"

"You tell me," The word rolled off his tongue like a waterfall of words but they thinly veiled his aching desire in his chest to simply say, 'yes.' Yes, I want you. Yes, you're beautiful. Yes, you're the only person who makes me feel safe. Yes, I love you. But he didn't say anything because, as usual, he was too scared. He was scared because he knew he wasn't good enough for her and she didn't have to say anything for him to know that. 

"What?" She almost laughed, her full, gorgeous lips contorting into a smile that caught his breath in his throat as she turned to him and said, "Could you answer me like a normal human being please?" her voice sounded shaky, almost as if she were on the edge of tears, but her smile was so genuine, so bright, that it brought his sly nature to the tip of his tongue once again.

"Are you expecting a straight answer from me?" He didn't dare meet those beautiful eyes for hers. Instead, he watched a guy try and fail to convince the girl he was creating a scene in the middle of the courtyard with to stop walking away from him. He took some slight satisfaction in knowing that he was probably getting what he deserved just by the fact that he was screaming, "Don't walk away from me Cassandra, you're nothing without me!" He was broken from his people watching by Momo's sweet voice saying, barely above a whisper, 

"I mean, ideally, yes," The giggle she gave him seemed to relax his muscles. He had been a little worried that she was going to be upset after she told him he said he loved her. But no, as always, she was Momo. She was kind and warm, and compassionate, and she gave way more than she ever got from anyone. She loved without expecting anyone to love her back. Even without knowing it. 

"That's too bad then, 'cause I can do this all day," They could both appreciate the playful atmosphere between them becuase that's what they were. They were sweet and gentle and subtle hints of something beyond friendship, but they were also best friends. They were making jokes when they shouldn't and laughing at said jokes despite themselves. Todoroki couldn't ask for anything more than that. 

"Sometimes I wonder why I still put up with you," She sighed dramatically, turning around so they were facing opposite ways, her back toward the setting sun in the distance that she easily outshone. "Fine, what do I have to do to get you to answer my question for real?" Her question forced him to contemplate this for a moment that felt like an eternity until he finally knew the perfect thing. 

Shouto Todoroki wasn't a terribly poetic man. He could fake it well enough for girls he wanted to take home, but even then his words were all for show. If he was being genuine, he tended to be more of a natural flirt mixed with something edging on a sarcastic brat, but whether it was the surprsingly beautiful colors of the sunset or the stupidly gorgeous girl in front of him, he found it in himself to bring them back to what brought them together. 

"You have to earn it. If you can beat me at Uno, I'll tell you." 

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a/n ~ thanks for reading uwu ~ <3 also, i'm releasing these two chapters together becuase i don't know how long it will take me to finish the last two. hopefully by the end of the weekend.

word count: 1146