Roller Baby (Tododeku)

You Must Preform

Shoto's p.o.v

   After today's argument with Bakugou, the tables had turned. I knew how talented he was at skating but he had nothing against us. Right? I was slowly starting to panic. I hadn't seen him for four years. That's a lot of time to improve your technique. And he was new to the rink bad a performer and I was old news. I had been here for a while, he was a fresh face with a set of skills I didn't know if I could beat. My only hope was Midoriya. He had a hope and I knew he could learn quickly and with my growing affection towards him, I knew I could pull in some tricks to woo the crowd. Once I got home from the Pancake Joint and dropped Izuku off at his house, I snuck back upstairs to my room. Dad has been off at work today until late tonight but I knew the second he would get home, he'd find something to yell at me for. All my siblings were older and moved out living their own lives. I didn't see them much anymore but we talked on the phone sometimes. Mom had gotten a divorce from my dad when I was seven and Dad had custody of all the children because he was deemed 'more fit' for us. I didn't see my mom often, not even on holidays because she moved so far away from him. A part of me always believed she hated us for being with him but after she wrote this long letter to me on my thirteenth birthday with a pair of skates, we bonded closer and we wrote to each other often.

After I got in my room, I placed my skates by the door and flopped onto my bed. I pulled up the song he had recommended, finding three different versions of the song. The first one was the one he recommended, a nice fast pace song with a nice beat to it. I liked it a lot. The second version was slower, a lot more calm yet too long. I found I couldn't preform for long, my legs would hurt and I kept pushing myself to go longer but it would lead to more leg pain the next day. The third one wasn't much different but I still liked the pace of the first version so I decided that would be the best one for us to skate to. I decided to text Izuku a good night message early because today was tiring and I knew I'd see him tomorrow. I got a quick message back and soon enough, I was drifting off to sleep, prepared for another day with Izuku.

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It had been a few days now, hours of my days spent practicing with Izuku and teaching him from the very start. I had choreographed our routine which he seemed to like. It starts with us at opposite ends on the rink, slowly skating towards each other. We'd flow right past one another, doing a quick turn before he skated back to me, who would be spinning on one skate. Then, as he came over, he'd spin into my arms. I'd grad into his elbow, he'd grab mine and we'd drag each other forward before pushing off and taking a side of the rink doing our own tricks. After a minute of this, we'd skate right back together where I would scoop him off the ground and spin for a bit then stop myself as the music stops. It would end with him in my arms. Perfect idea right? Well, I thought it was until Bakugou came to watch one of our performances at the rink.

"What is he doing here?" Izuku whispered in my ear as we had grabbed onto each other's elbows to push apart. Looking over, I realized he was talking about Bakugou. I had let go of his arm and skated back to the entrance. "I have the rink rented for private use every day this week for our practice. You need to leave." I stormed over to him, annoyed that he was even here. One look at my face and you could tell I wasn't playing around but he just scoffed and pulled his skates on anyways. "What are you gonna so about it nerd? The staff is on lunch break for another two hours and I'll be gone by then. I just wanted to say hi to him." He pointed over to the greenette. Once Izuku knew we were talking about him, he came skating over. "Hey Kacchan, what are you doing here?" He asked cheerily. "Don't ducking call me that!" He half yelled, grabbing his chin and squeezing his face. Izuku was quick to pull away from his grip and ran behind me. "You can't hide behind your boyfriend Izu. I need to talk to you about something."

   "What is it about? I'm sure I don't want you grabbing me while you talk to me. Tell me right now." I nodded in agreement to what he said, grabbing his hand and rubbing circles in him palm to calm him down. It seemed to work luckily. "Well, I've been thinking," he started. "You're skating with your little boy toy right?" He asked, the question he obviously had an answer to. "You already know that Kacchan. And he isn't my 'boy toy', he's my friend." He spat towards him from behind me, hand squeezing mine. "Whatever you want to call him, you're doing a routine with him. If I'm going against you, that doesn't seem like a fair game to me." He skated over to Izuku from behind me and pulled him over to a table, skillfully pressing him down with his leg on his stomach. He looked down at him from his spot above him. "So we have to make it fair. So I'm proposing an idea. You have to skate with both of us on Friday. Let the crowd decide which duo they like better. Whoever wins gets to be your permanent skate partner." He said. I immediately interjected. "That's not fair at all." I started but he seemed to have an argument prepared. "And how so? It's two to one that's not even. And the only reason you're getting the people to come out is because of him. You're not special news anymore. But him, he's new to this. He's new to the crowds. I have no doubt he'll bring in a killer crowd on Saturday." Izuku looked up at me with pleading eyes, I could tell he was trying to think of anything to do so he wouldn't have to preform with him. Looking back up at Bakugou, he nodded knowingly with a sinister smile. I sighed and looked back to Izuku. With a moments hesitation, defeat lacing my voice, I almost brought him to tears.

"You must preform..."