Keeping You (Todoroki x Reader)

Chapter 4

Shoto simply hummed. With agreement or disdain, I couldn't quite tell.

I trained my eyes on the declining numbers of levels on the monitor above the doors. I waited until we reached Level 1 before asking, 'So, are you going?'

He shrugged, but then said, 'I see no reason why I shouldn't. Fuyumi's cooking is always good.' When his eyes turned to me, his mouth turned downwards in a frown at my wide smile. 'What?'

I turned away, the smile still present. 'Oh, nothing, nothing. Nothing at all.'

His gaze was still upon me as the door pinged open at our arrival to the ground floor, practically forcing me to look back at him and answer his unspoken question. 'I just think it's funny how you try to play cool with your family, when really you care about them far more deeply than you like to let on.'

'I do not.'

'Do too.'

'Do not.'

'Oh, you so do.'

'I do not,' he protested once more, but I was already stepping out of the elevator, desperate to reach the kitchen and the food that awaited. It was Sato and Bakugo's turn to cook tonight, meaning we would have a feast on our hands.

Before I could satisfy my hunger though, Shoto gripped onto my wrist gently and pulled me to a halt just outside the kitchen entrance. The promise of marinated chicken and onigiri rolls and more breezed by on a soft wind, making it hard to focus on my boyfriend in front of me.

'Fuyumi said I could bring a friend,' he said, the desperation in his voice detectable from a mile away. 'I have a feeling she meant you, though.' It was both amusing and sad, really - how he grappled onto anything that could save him from facing his family alone. Although Shoto had assured me that his siblings were nothing like his father, the prospect of having dinner with his family still, admittedly, frightened me.

'Oh no you don't,' I said, weaving my hand out of his grasp to place both hands on his shoulders. 'Don't think for a second that you can hide behind me to placate your family. No, you're going to be a big boy and have a nice dinner with your family. By. Your. Self.'

'But they want to meet you. And- And-'

'Just say that I have a tonne of homework to do tonight. That I apologise for not accepting their kind offer, but perhaps another time.'

Before he could protest anymore, I spun him around and began guiding him towards the front door. And by guiding, I mean pushing him with all my might because gosh was he a lot taller and stronger than me.

We eventually made it to the front door, which is when he finally seemed to accept his fate as he personally opened the door for himself. He was a step outside before turning back to me, the slightest pout on his face. 'You don't even do your homework.'

I mock-gasped, placing a hand over my heart and feigning hurt. 'That is a serious accusation, Shoto Todoroki. I'll have you know, I am as diligent a student as Momo is, thank you very much.'

'You mean you're lucky you have a friend like Momo to help you with your homework.'

'Hey! Who helps you with your English every week without fail? And who has improved their grades since said person helped them?'

Shoto rolled his eyes, which I took as a victory. Another point to me.

'You're the worst,' he grumbled.

I chuckled. 'And you'll be fine. But seriously though, I do have homework to do. So I've gotta eat up before burying myself in the mountain of Hero History and architectural manoeuvring that is waiting on my desk.'