Izuku aggressively gargled mouthwash, mentally cursing his inaction. And what the hell did he mean by 'He knows'?!
Shoto didn't necessarily want to leave, or know what to do with himself, so he just went out onto the balcony. He turned in a half circle before punching the wall for smelling like smoke there too.
He scowled as he thought of Japan in the distance. I'm on the 'right' side of the Pacific.. and everything is wrong!
Peeking before coming out, Izuku quietly joined him at the balcony rail. It's definitely him this time.. Izuku folded his arms over the rail and buried his head.
Shoto only gave in to looking over when he felt Izuku's hair blowing in the wind against his white knuckled grip.
Sighing, he accepted what Izuku had said about Ezra being smart. More like, a conniving bastard, he acknowledged with a clenched jaw.
Deciding not to let Ezra win, he put his hand on Izuku's head. Sad eyes quickly met his.
*BAM Bam bam*
"Zuku! Open up! We know you're in there!"
Shoto watched Izuku's eyes go wide, then tired.
"I'm sorry about this." Was all he could muster before he went to open the door.
Three attractive young men huddled around him as soon as they piled in.
"You blew us off! Ruude!"
"What the heck is happening here, are you moving?!"
"Are you leaving us Zuku?!" The shortest one mocked sobbed.
Shoto hovered at the threshold, schooling his face to be sociable. He offered only half a nod as the taller one caught his eye.
"Hi again!"
Everyone looked at Shoto.
"Is he-? Sorry, I mean, are you a friend from Japan? I'm Noah, and this is my cousin Xander, and I guess you know Liam already." The shortest one, rather hyped, introduced quickly.
"Todoroki, and.. yes."
Izuku felt the walls going up at not offering 'Shoto', but understood. He figured it was as good a time as any to reassure him, so he walked over and reached out his hand. Shoto looked at the three curious newcomers before taking it.
"I've known Shoto Todoroki since high school, and we're.. closer than friends." He placed his other hand on their joined hands. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before.. but yes, I'm moving back to Japan soon."
The trio blinked in unison. "Whaaat?!" "Nooo, don't leave uss!"
The shorter two were more dramatic and Liam seemed reserved, as if he had quickly calculated something and was torn about it.
"Sorry to steal him from you." Shoto said lightly, but studied him hard for a reaction.
Izuku, surprised at his humor, followed his line of sight to Liam.
Liam in turn looked up at Shoto then at Izuku and right when you'd think he'd burst into a teary late confession, he whined 'But we already planned your birthdayy!' *Sob*
Izuku couldn't help but laugh in confused relief, then felt guilt for the first time - for planning to leave this good bit behind.
He brought the three of them into a hug and Shoto leaned back on his stool, taking a quick photo he knew Izuku would appreciate later.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize you even knew my birthday, but.. you're welcome to Japan anytime!"
"We were curious once and sneaked a peek at your ID. Wasn't hard." Xander admitted coolly, shrugging.
"It's ok, it was mostly just us bar hopping and surfing - though July isn't a super great time to surf.. Do you surf?" Noah directed the back end of this towards Shoto.
Izuku's lip curled up. He answered for Shoto, "Nope, but we're gonna teach him, aren't we?"
Three pairs of eyes lit up as Shoto covered his face with the span of one hand.They planned to meet after collecting their boards. Shoto carried Izuku's quietly as they headed down to the beach. When Izuku could spot his friends in the distance, he stopped Shoto so they could talk before reaching them.
"Shoto.. I am sorry for earlier. We can talk about that more later.. and I wouldn't push this surfing thing today if it weren't otherwise the best time to try it while you're here.. I know you'll like it, it'll be like surfing on your ice.. just, not.."
Izuku fidgeted when Shoto's face didn't change. "And th-thank you for making an effort with them.. I know they can be a handful but they're good people, and they'll be the only good I miss when I leave."
Shoto gently squeezed Izuku's hand as if to say 'Okay, I get it, that's enough.' Then continued towards the friends in question so they wouldn't notice anything was up.He tried his best to mirror them in good spirits, and was mostly getting the hang of balancing but Izuku's board wasn't quite the right match for him.
"Sh..Todoroki, maybe try my board? It's longer.." Liam offered.
Shoto took the chance to ask, "Why do you call him Zuku?"
Liam gulped, "Oh, um. That's just what he told us when we met. Rather, that's what we heard and he's never corrected us. We saw it spelled out later but by then it had already stuck.."
"I see.. you may call me Shoto, if you would like. I didn't mean to come off.. cold."
"It's ok if you did. Mean to, I mean."
Shoto appreciated this even if he didn't need his permission to feel any type of way.
"Is Z.. Izuku okay?" Liam got off his board and floated it towards Shoto.
Shoto watched Izuku at a distance, seemingly happy with Noah and Xander. Oh, he's observant. "There was someone who came by earlier, bothering him. I think he may play a bigger role as to why Izuku wants to leave."
"Ezra?"
Shoto wasn't sure how much of this was okay to talk about.
Liam caught his drift and continued confidently. "We don't like Ezra. Noah and Xander haven't met him, but I caught a glimpse once when I just happened to come over earlier than expected this one time.
We had just met Izuku for the first time earlier that week. He was alone on the beach and we were surfing.. I guess after a while he felt comfortable enough to ask us if we would teach him. Afterwards, we planned to get together again to teach him disc-golf.
We were meeting at his place and I was able to catch an earlier bus so I just went for it.. When I got there, the guy seemed annoyed and left suddenly.. and Izuku seemed relieved.
I guess he's the only person Izuku knew here for a while, from work or something.. and when Izuku realized he should distance himself from him, the dude started to pop up everywhere.. just not while we were around. It's like he had some sort of super tracking power."
Before Shoto could think about that choice of wording, he felt getting sucked backwards. The water had been flat for a while but a swell was coming in and he got ready to try his luck on the longer board.
It was a short surf but successful in technique. Izuku cheered from the beach. Shoto thanked Liam and they got out to join the others.
"Time for tacos?" Shoto asked a beaming Izuku.
"It's always time for tacos!"***
