Patrol Team One (May)

[inheritance]

WHO: Team One! Izuku, Fushimi, Yata, Ochako, Shouto, Kaoru, Minato, Eijiro
WHERE: Everywhere
WHEN: Throughout May
WHAT: Teamwork! And patrolling the town, as a patrol team does
WARNINGS: None for now!

Comments

[glaciers]

Usually in the mornings and at night. There's stuff to do in the middle of the day.

[thriftea]

[This sounds like a working relationship instead of an actual friendship. But those smiles that she saw? What is the Truth?]

How often do you two just... hang out?

[glaciers]

Every morning. For about an hour when we wake up.

[ With Shouto's head on Izuku's lap. ]

[thriftea]

[She sees. (Spoiler alert: She doesn't.)]

Oh! So you must eat breakfast together? Or do you eat breakfast together and then train together?

[That's such a great way to bond! Yay!]

[glaciers]

... We wake up together until I'm awake enough to get up. We train some days when we don't have other obligations.

[thriftea]

[Hmm? The same room?]

Does he... talk to you until you're all the way awake? [They must have bunk beds or something??? This is the image in her mind: Shouto dozing on the bottom bed, Deku chattering away in the top bed.] That must be nice! It's like having an alarm clock.

[glaciers]

Mm, he does that too.

[They have been sharing a nest of blankets and pillows and Shouto would have it no other way.]

He usually wakes up first.

[thriftea]

[Too? Too? Shouto, stop being so frustratingly vague! Now she's extra curious!]

And he just... stays in the room with you?

[glaciers]

[Wrestle this vagueness out of his cold and burning hands.]

He sorts out my hair for me and we talk for a while. It's not perfectly sorted when I wake up.

1/2

[thriftea]

[WHA—]

[thriftea]

[Okay, she just has to... play it cool here? She has to act like everything is a-okay, like he didn't just casually tell her that Deku plays with his hair in the mornings. It's fine, she's fine, this is all so very fine.]

I-It's nice of him to help you with that! But it must be hard for him to fix your hair when you're still in bed...

[glaciers]

I roll over to make it easier for him.

[Shouto. He's saying this like it's a completely normal thing that friends would do.]

[thriftea]

[Shouto... but okay, maybe it's time for a new tactic. Maybe it's time to be blunt.]

Todoroki-kun... [Ugh, this is awkward? She takes a deep breath, her eyes sliding to the side before she just comes right out with it—] How close are you and Deku-kun?

[She doesn't do anything like this with Momo? Or Tsuyu?]

[glaciers]

[This was the best possible course of action.]

He's my first friend and my best friend. I trust him completely.

[That's not what Uraraka meant!!! Not that he realizes that.]

[thriftea]

[How is it possible for things to go from mildly uncomfortable to incredibly uncomfortable this quickly...]

That's a good start! But how do you feel about him? [Okay, wait. That's too broad, so give her a second to think.] How do you feel when you wake up and he's... sorting your hair?

[Side note: This is officially the worst patrol of all time. A stampede of spideer could come crashing out of the forest right in front of them, and Ochako would tell Shouto to just ignore them for a minute as she continues to puzzle this whole thing out.]

[glaciers]

[Shouto doesn't even recognize the air of discomfort around them.]

I care about him a lot, and I'm happy to spend time with him whenever we can.

[Asking about Midoriya playing with his hair though...]

... Comfortable. Safe. I'd want him to keep doing it.

[thriftea]

[Ah, so this is definitely what it sounds like.

Ochako faces forward once again, silently staring into the distance as she lets this information sink right in. There was a time—and not so long ago, either—when hearing all of this would have made her feel a myriad of things, but right now she feels... fine? Perfectly fine. Hmm. That's something to ponder over at a later time.]

I see. [She looks back at him now, smiling once again.] Have you told any of that to Deku-kun?

[glaciers]

[Shouto's still moving along at his steady pace, looking into the forest like something might pop out of it. He figures when Uraraka goes quiet for a moment the questioning is over.

Looks like it isn't just yet.]

Yeah. That I felt safe with him. I don't think I'd let anybody else touch me that easily.

[thriftea]

[She has her work cut out for her here. Give her, like, three minutes before she busts out with the "You have a crush!" line.]

That's good, but... what did he say? And how did it make you feel?

[glaciers]

He said "Oh." But he was tearing up a bit. I think... he was touched I trusted him that much.

[Shouto doesn't know how to process just "oh" as a response though.]

[thriftea]

[Tearing up is such a Deku thing to do. "Oh," though? There is a mental sigh here, because jeez, that's so... lame...

But what she says is—]

I think so, too. [Because she always has Deku's back. Duh.] ...Have you asked him how he feels about you?

[glaciers]

I know we're friends.

[And really, what else does he need? That's all he really needs out of their relationship. A friend who he can trust easily and implicitly.]

[thriftea]

[God, okay, now they're going right back into that awkward territory. Why can't things stay cute? Shouto, why can't you let things stay cute?]

Do you want to be more than friends?

[Ochako is a saint! Appreciate her!]

[glaciers]

[There's a long, quiet silence that settles over him. Does he want to marry Izuku? He's not ready for that. Neither of them are ready for that. Besides, they're too young for that anyway. So the step up from friends is... best friends, isn't it?

Then he speaks.]

I'd like to be his best friend. I'm not sure if it goes both ways.

[thriftea]

[She plays fifty questions with him, and this is what she gets? Best friends? Shouto, she... isn't the least bit surprised, but still.]

Maybe you should ask him?