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Winter tinges the mountain peaks in white, dusting snow on the trees that cover the flank of Mount Tekari, at the edge of the Shizuoka prefecture.
It’s almost noon as part of class 1-A steps out of the bus that brought them there, but the air is still prickly with that morning chill that makes Izuku’s cheeks red. They were already hurting from how much he’d been smiling on their way to the forest, so patting them with his gloved fingers is not much use.
Everyone’s excited to have an actual camping trip, but Izuku more than anyone else, since during their last one he and Kacchan had to take down a monster while nursing a fever, which ended up cutting the trip short. He barely had the chance to enjoy himself then, so he doesn't want to miss out on the fun again.
They reach a clearing with the ideal space to set up a camp, and Aizawa leaves them with a few last minute warnings.
“I’ll be sleeping down in the village in case anything happens, but I’m begging you: try to avoid getting yourselves in trouble. Just this once.” He sighs, exhausted. "Try to enjoy these few days of peace, you need them."
There's no doubt about that, Izuku thinks. Lately, they had been working on the same schedule as their pro hero mentors, and while it was an extremely rewarding experience, it had also taken a toll on their collective mood.
The program for the trip included skating on an iced lake, karaoke in the woods, stargazing, and many other activities that they had all come up with together. Day one is mostly reserved to set up the camp though, which should be a relatively smooth process since they had already divided the tasks among the ten of them while on the bus. Izuku was assigned to grab wood for the fire, so he sets towards the thick of the forest while the sun is still high in the sky.
Once he's satisfied with the amount he got, he makes his way back to the clearing, pleased to see that the tents have been set out and there's already cooking equipment next to a bunch of logs, which will likely serve as seating benches.
"Do you need help, Mido?" He hears Kirishima call for him.
“No, thanks, Kirishima! I think I’ve got it!” Izuku waves in response. A bundle of branches hovers up in the air in front of him, held together by Blackwhip. He never misses an occasion to train it, especially when there’s so much space around and he doesn’t have to worry about hurting people.
He leaves the wood in a pile at the centre of the camp for Todoroki to light up, and dusts off his gloves on his trousers. Izuku spots him chatting with Iida and Tsuyu, with a beanie pushing his hair down and a soft smile that no one would’ve ever thought could grace his face just a few months ago. If possible, he looks even more handsome when he smiles— it sucks in all of Izuku's attention, blurring everything else around them. It’s a miracle that they can work so well together on the field, a divine sign that they’re meant to be, despite Izuku’s pitiful pining.
As if sensing the pair of eyes spying on him, Todoroki turns around and his eyes find him. His smile seemingly widens and god—Izuku’s breath catches in his throat as he frantically waves.
Todoroki excuses himself and starts walking towards him.
No. Oh no. Damn it. He caught me staring again. I'm busted, I'm gonna have to move to another class—
As Todoroki approaches him, Izuku stares anywhere but at his face. The sky is clear, no clouds in sight, and the tiny rocks next to his feet have never looked so fascinating. But then, from the corner of his eye, Izuku sees a hand reaching towards his head with purpose, almost as if Todoroki wanted to pet him, to—
“Sorry for touching you, there was a twig in your hair,” Todoroki says, removing it and showing it to Izuku.
“A-ah! Oh, t-thanks, Todoroki-kun, I didn’t notice.”
“No problem,” Todoroki replies, and slips off one of his gloves to set the pile on fire with one smooth gesture. Izuku swallows dryly.
Despite having witnessed Todoroki use his left side countless times, he has never seen anything more attractive than this in his whole life. There’s something so natural about Todoroki’s flames. They burn languid, comforting—just as his ice is never as freezing as people think.
Izuku should probably break the silence somehow, since he's just staring at Todoroki and smiling like an idiot. But god knows he doesn’t trust himself opening his mouth right now, in fear of uttering something embarrassing, like a declaration of undying love.
Luckily, Sero and Kaminari interrupt the peace of the camp site, filling the quiet with their shouting. They brought fish to grill and it’s almost time to have dinner.
“Shall we sit together?” Todoroki asks. His voice is calm and gentle as always, but his face looks a bit flushed, perhaps due to the orange of the firelight shining on his pale skin.
Izuku hums in agreement and follows him wordlessly, for once. If it’s Todoroki lighting him up, he would gladly combust and burn to ashes.
*
It’s a pleasant evening overall. The first few fish are more burnt than edible, so Kacchan and Sato take charge of the grilling and the results are far better. Izuku suspects Kaminari burned his on purpose so that he could have the two of them cook. It only takes a minimal amount of begging because Kacchan really loves cooking, even if he'd never admit it.
Everyone chats and laughs, and the air is warm around them despite the cold wind. Rather than the fire, It has more to do with the bubble of fleeting happiness that’s enveloping them right now. They feel the warmth inside, or at least Izuku does.
They talk and play games until the sky above them is dark and draped in stars. Todoroki wins, despite it being the first time he plays, and Sero insists he shouldn’t be allowed to play anymore, since beginner’s luck never seems to run out for him.
After the first few people start to leave for their tents, Izuku remembers he’s sharing a tent with IIda, and if he doesn’t want to disturb him while he sleeps, he should start to go too.
He goes through his backpack to fetch his pajamas and the sleeping bag but—he can’t find either. He starts rummaging desperately, as if something as big as a sleeping bag could’ve just gone missing.
He’s taken out all of his stuff at this point, disseminating it on the ground under the confused watch of his classmates, and that’s when he realizes that none of the things he had packed for the trip is there. Horrified, he takes a better look at the items he took out: notebooks, a jumper, his UA uniform.
“No—nooo,” he groans, dragging the syllables in a high-pitched whine that could probably attract wolves. “I took the wrong backpack by mistake!”
The one currently laying on the ground was the backpack he had used to go home over the weekend. There’s nothing in there that he can use during the trip, no extra clothes, no camera—most tragically, nowhere to sleep.
“I’m such an idiot!” He reprimands himself for being that careless. He’ll probably have to go home now, he can’t possibly sleep in the freezing cold. But it’s so late—no one is going to drive him back to school. Maybe he could call his mom, but she will be in bed by now, and it wouldn’t be fair to wake her up because of his distractedness. Then again, he could maybe sleep wherever Aizawa is, in the small village downhill. He’ll have to go there alone but—
“Quit muttering, you idiot!” Kacchan’s voice cuts through the cloud of thoughts he had spiraled into. “There’s ten of us in here, we have so much shit combined that you could survive for a week and be fucking fine.”
“Bakugou is right,” Uraraka chimes in. “We all have something to spare! We’ll make sure you don’t have to go back home, right everyone?”
The entirety of the class agrees, nodding and scrambling to search among their belongings, and Izuku has to muster all of his strength not to cry at how lucky he feels, for having such wonderful people around.
“Thanks, guys. I don’t know how I managed to bring the wrong one...”
“It’s because they’re exactly the same, dipshit. Stop buying the same things twice.”
He couldn’t really argue with Kacchan.
In just a few minutes, Izuku gets a change of clothes from Kaminari, who is the closest to him in terms of height, and socks and thick gloves from Tsuyu, who always brings extra when she has to sleep in the cold.
Kacchan throws an extra pillow at him, warning that he’ll come kick Izuku’s ass first thing in the morning if he doesn’t sleep right because of it, and all that’s left is finding an extra sleeping bag or some blankets to make up for it.
Izuku doesn’t want to dampen the mood, since everyone looks so eager to help, but he already suspected that it was unlikely that someone came with two sleeping bags for such a short trip. As he is about to express that concern, Todoroki’s voice pierces through the chatter of the rest of his class.
“If you don’t mind sharing, you can sleep with me.”
Izuku’s head never whipped so fast towards anything or anyone. “H-huh?”
“I borrowed my brother’s sleeping bag. I think it can probably fit the two of us,” Todoroki explains, and Izuku suddenly remembers how wide Natsuo Todoroki’s shoulders were, compared to them.
Now, if Izuku were a smart boy, he would refuse the offer and sleep under a leaf blanket in the woods, because no one—no one in their right mind would willingly get in the same bed as their unrequited crush. And that already takes into account the fact that a bed is spacious enough to leave room between two people, something that a sleeping bag clearly lacks.
But of course, the rational side of Izuku’s brain conveniently decides to make itself unavailable in favour of fantasizing over Todoroki’s suggestion. He can feel the flush spreading on his cheeks at the mere thought of them lying with their bodies pressed together, waking up with only a few inches separating their faces, Todoroki wrapping his arms around Izuku as he slept—
“—riya? Midoriya?”
Izuku yelps. “Hi—yes! Sorry, Todoroki-kun. Please, yes.”
There, he’s done it. If Izuku could open up a hole in the ground and throw himself in it, he would. He just confirmed he’ll spend the rest of the trip in Todoroki’s bed—bag. Next to him. Way too close. Waaay too close. Thankfully, the sky is dark enough to mask how flustered Izuku is.
“Okay. I’ll set it up then,” he says, and has the audacity to smile at Izuku as he stands up and starts walking away.
“S-sure. Thank you.”
He watches Todoroki disappear inside his tent and his throat closes up, making a noise akin to that of a dying animal. Uraraka turns towards him, alarmed, and she offers a sympathetic smile, knowing full well what Izuku is going through, but it doesn't help with the way his brain is running a thousand miles an hour.
Izuku's not gonna make it out of there alive. He just knows.
“I’m—sorry, again, for causing you trouble,” he whispers as he gets inside.
Todoroki is already in his nightwear, a matching set of light plaid pajamas that would be appropriate for a 80-year-old, but that makes Todoroki look cute and endearing, somehow.
"It's no trouble at all," he replies, mindlessly playing with the corner of his pillow as he speaks. "I'm glad we found a solution, the trip wouldn't have been the same without you."
Two minutes in and Izuku already wants to scream. Why on earth does he have to go and say such things?
"Ahh, I'm happy too! R-really, I didn’t want to repeat the fiasco of last time!"
“Yeah, that was unfortunate… But I guess it all worked out this time round.”
Izuku chuckles in panic, because it almost seems like Todoroki is glad his backpack didn’t have a sleeping bag. Almost.
"Should we sleep then?"
“Um, yeah. We have an early rise tomorrow, we—we should sleep.”
Izuku quickly changes into his borrowed pajamas and slips inside the sleeping bag, settling next to Todoroki. Their thighs—well, their everything touches. It's so crammed he doesn't think he'll be able to sleep comfortably unless he sleeps on his side, but then he'd risk latching himself onto Todoroki's side, and that’d be nothing short of a problem.
“Are you—”
“Is this—”
They speak at the same time, as they try to adjust their bodies to fit comfortably next to each other. Todoroki snorts a laugh, he laughs, and Izuku is glad at least one of them finds this situation funny, because he’s about to have a heart attack.
“I’m just going to—” Todoroki lays on his side to leave more space for Izuku to sleep comfortably, always so considerate, even when it goes against his own benefit.
“Thank you,” Izuku whispers, and settles in the space Todoroki carved for him.
They both remain silent for a few minutes, and it’s a heavy one, dense with things Izuku wishes he could say out loud, but knows it's best to keep locked inside his brain. Todoroki’s eyes have slipped shut, and the faint glow of the moon shining through the tent casts pretty shadows of his lashes on his cheeks.
He is beautiful. Not just his features, the peacefulness on his face makes him glow. It suits him, so far from the haunted expression he used to sport the first few weeks at UA. He deserves to look like this all the time, he deserves peace, and Izuku secretly wishes that part of the reason Todoroki is so relaxed right now has to do with him. He wishes he’ll never have to know any more pain.
Todoroki’s silence tricked Izuku into thinking he was sleeping, so when he speaks Izuku startles a bit.
"Are you cold?"
"Uhh—" Izuku blinks a few times. He looks down, and knows he is close to Todoroki's left side, so he doesn't quite understand the question.
"Your heart is beating fast."
Shit. Oh. Izuku holds his breath and focuses for a moment, feeling the furious beating in his chest as loud as thunder.
Caught by surprise he nods shakily, hoping that Todoroki would ask no further questions, because there'd be nothing more dangerous than running his mouth now. But Todoroki doesn't ask anything—arguably, he does something even worse.
"I can warm you up," he says, and Izuku can physically feel his soul leave his body.
He doesn't know what would be more suspicious, refusing Todoroki's offer now that he admitted he's cold, or giving in and having his traitor heart expose him for the filthy liar and friendship-ruiner he is.
He's starting to feel lightheaded, and that's when he registers Todoroki has placed both hands on his, which was currently balled up in a fist against his own chest. He hadn't realized he was trembling.
"Midoriya, breathe."
Izuku inhales sharply. Todoroki's touching him. And his hands really have a noticeable difference in temperature. He focuses on that sensation and it makes him calm down.
"I'm sorry, I—I feel like I shouldn't be using you for your warmth."
"I really don't mind."
"You—don't."
"Not one bit."
There's something undecipherable swimming in Todoroki's eyes, something that makes Izuku wonder how people can possibly believe that his face doesn't show any emotion, when just now his gaze only is stirring a fire inside his guts.
If he has to die of embarrassment, at least he'll do so of his own accord, with one last good memory. He lets Todoroki wrap an arm around his shoulders, allowing the warmth to envelop him, seeping through to his core and washing the tension away.
The wind shakes the trees above their heads. They rustle, filling the silence in the tent, sometimes accompanied by crackling of the fire as it dies down.
"I hope it's better now." Todoroki’s voice comes out like a whisper, close enough to Izuku’s ear to cause a shiver to ripple down to his toes.
Much better. Never been better in my life, Izuku's brain provides, helpful as ever. He quiets it down and opts for a simple reply.
“Thank you, Todoroki.”
*
A birdsong pulls him back to his senses. Izuku blinks the sleep away, focusing on the blue fabric of the tent above him. There’s a gentle light filtering inside, all shades of peach and orange that he’s sure must look beautiful from outside.
He has half an idea of putting on his warm clothes and going outside to admire the view, but as his body catches up with his brain and he realizes just where his cheek is pillowed, he’s suddenly remembered of how he fell asleep last night—of who he fell asleep with.
He's pretty much laying on top of Todoroki, head tucked in the groove of his neck, his forehead touching right where his pulse beats, relaxed. Izuku’s first instinct is to scramble away, but he can't move, because Todoroki's right leg is wrapped around his, keeping him close— he wishes he could say possessively, while one of his hands is gently resting on Izuku’s hair, as if he fell asleep while caressing him.
Now, that's another unhelpful picture.
Izuku would lie if he said this isn’t the best way of spending the morning, safely held in the arms of the most beautiful human he has ever seen. Warm outside, warm inside.
He pushes his head up just a bit without making any unnecessary movements. Todoroki’s lips are more chapped than usual, as if they were out in the cold, but still look so good, so kissable—they would look perfect against Izuku’s.
He knows he should stop looking, lest Todoroki wakes up with him staring like a creep, but he can’t bring himself to leave, to disturb his peaceful sleeping.
Suddenly, the silence’s broken by the bark of a fox. Izuku holds his breath as Todoroki’s brows furrow. He tries to look away, pretend he’s still asleep, but Todoroki’s mismatched eyes blink open and immediately zero in on his. It’s always like that with him, there’s nothing about Izuku that escapes him, ever.
"Morning," he greets, voice groggy with sleep.
“Morning, Todoroki.” Izuku hints a smile. He’s perched on his elbow while his other hand lays flat open on Todoroki’s chest, to keep himself stable. That’s as much distance he can put between them, confined inside the sleeping bag.
Todoroki seems to notice just now that the bottom half of his body is wrapped around Izuku.
“Sorry, I didn’t—it wasn’t on purpose.” His voice falters and his cheeks redden, a rare sight.
Why would Izuku think he’s done it on purpose?
“I don’t mind.” Izuku echoes Todoroki’s words from the night before, and this time he feels it, the heart beating restless against the ribcage, right underneath his palm. Quick, mimicking Izuku’s own rabbity pulse.
"Todoroki?"
"Mh?"
"Are you...cold too?"
Todoroki blinks in confusion. “Cold?”
"Your heart."
Todoroki's lips part and his eyes grow wide as he connects meaning to what Izuku just said.
“No,” he murmurs. “It’s not that.” His pupils are blown wide, staring directly into Izuku’s soul with purpose.
“Then—”
“Then—”
Izuku pushes their lips together in a soft kiss.
He can feel Todoroki freeze under him, and can’t help but freak out for a good second. There’s no point in lying to himself, he isn’t exactly experienced with feelings. He barely had friends before UA, let alone someone to hold like this. And Todoroki— the boy doesn’t know how ambiguous the things that come out of his mouth sound like. It's like he's looking for a fight half of the time, flirting the rest of them.
So there’s a good chance Izuku read the situation wrong, that Todoroki will push him away and he’ll have to explain the meaning of that kiss. I’m utterly in love with you is not a viable explanation, unfortunately.
Just as this inferno is swirling inside Izuku’s mind, Todoroki cups his cheek and melts into the kiss.
Izuku meant for it to be short and sweet, to give time to Todoroki to decide how he feels—maybe talk. What he didn’t expect is the delicious sigh of contentment that leaves Todoroki’s lips, the way his leg tightens around Izuku’s thighs.
He gasps, the sound immediately swallowed by Todoroki.
He didn’t intend for things to escalate so quickly, but he finds himself on the ground, Todoroki laying on top of him, and he doesn't really want to slow down.
Still, he forces himself to part from him, just for a second, and asks.
“Since when?”
Todoroki's eyes flutter open, and he bites the inside of his cheek before answering. “Embarrassingly long, don’t make me say it.”
“I—me too,” Izuku confesses. "Probably since after our fight at the festival."
Todoroki nods, letting his forehead rest on Izuku's, and sighs softly. "Right around the same time when you taught me how to love, starting with myself."
Izuku bites his lip to stop it from trembling. This is too much, and the damn sleeping bag is definitely too small for the movements he wishes he could do. Straddle that boy and make him groan and whine and cry in pleasure and happiness—he deserves it all, but it's too soon. It definitely feels like it's too soon, regardless of how right it feels, regardless of how eager they both are.
Todoroki is worthy of all the care in the world, and there's only so much they can do in such a tiny space, but Izuku will make it enough.
He holds Todoroki's face between his hands and leaves a long, soft kiss on his lips, one of the ones that fills your stomach with butterflies.
“I know I’ve talked everyone’s head off about this place for days but—Would you believe me if I said I don’t wanna get out of this tent?”
Todoroki’s chest shakes with a small laugh, his fingers tracing the outline of Izuku’s jaw. “Do we have to?”
“They’re going to come look for us if we don’t.”
“Let them look, then,” Todoroki replies, and Izuku doesn't find it such a bad idea.