From the first time the former Class 1-A had rung in the new year with a bonfire and fireworks, it had become a UA tradition. And now, it served as the perfect backdrop for them to have their class reunion. And for Shoto and Izuku, it was the perfect opportunity for another kind of meeting.

Six months ago, Iida had responded to a villain attack and had found a little girl among the wreckage left behind, orphaned, her parents unfortunate victims of the villains responsible for the violence and destruction. Either because he knew that Shoto and Izuku had reached a point in their marriage where they were wanting to start a family or because the little girl’s recently manifested quirk- called Push and Pull- was similiar to Izuku’s mother’s, Iida had immediately reached out to them when the time came to arrange the girl’s- Kana was her name- placement with a new family. Moved by her story and unable to turn away anyone so clearly in need of their help, they had immediately agreed to take her in. The circumstances by which Kana had come to them were sad, yes, not to mention tragic, but soon Shoto and Izuku grew to love her as their own. She was their daughter, regardless of whether she had been born to them or not. 

Now, with the arrival of the new year and the Class A reunion at UA’s annual New Year’s bonfire, Shoto and Izuku felt the time was right for their friends and former classmates to meet Kana. She had already met Iida, of course, as well as her “uncles” Katsuki and Eijirou, but the rest of the former Class A had yet to be introduced to her, or even to be told of the new addition to Shoto and Izuku’s family. But they wanted them to have a relationship with her, if they wanted it, and they wanted her to have the same support system in their classmates that they’d had growing up, and in many ways still had.

“Where we goin’ Dad?” Kana asked on the train to UA, bouncing excitedly in her seat in Izuku’s lap. When she’d first come to live with them, she called them “Mr. Izuku” and “Mr. Shoto”, respectively, but now she called Izuku “Dad” and Shoto “Papa”, and there had never been a name in his life that Shoto had been happier to be called by.

“It’s a surprise,” Izuku replied with one of his characteristic sunshine-bright grins, pinching Kana’s cheek playfully. She squealed and giggled in response to the gesture, squirming in Izuku’s lap, and Shoto felt a spreading warmth in his chest as he observed the scene. As a lonely, isolated teenager, he would never have imagined this life for himself, falling in love, getting married, starting a family, but here in this moment, with his husband and their daughter, on their way to a long awaited reunion with their classmates and friends, he had everything he could have ever wanted.

Flufftober Day 30- Fall Asleep in My Lap

Out of the corner of his eye, from where he was curled up at one end of one of the couches in the common room, Izuku saw Todoroki  start to nod off for what must have been the fifth time in the last hour. He knew that he must have been exhausted after a long and strenuous day of training, but he also knew that his sense of courtesy would keep him from retreating to his room until at least after dinner. Izuku was also painfully aware of the fact that the traumas of Todoroki’s past made it so that he was not the kind of person who could just fall asleep anywhere like some of their classmates were. He’d only feel safe enough to allow himself to rest in his dorm room with the door closed. The common room was too open for him to allow himself to be caught unawares in sleep, even if consciously he knew that no one here would hurt him. It was unfortunate, and saddening, but there was absolutely nothing Izuku could do about it. He knew that eventually Todoroki’s exhaustion would win out of his sense of courtesy, and he would retreat to his room to finally get some rest. The only thing he could do was wait for that to happen.

Thank you for trusting me to keep you safe, Izuku thought but didn’t say, feeling his shoulders sag with relief as he reached down to absentmindedly play with Todoroki’s hair, running his fingers through the silk soft strands and mixing the red and white together. Todoroki sighed again, contentedly this time, and there was something oddly endearing about the cat-like way he leaned into Izuku’s touch.

Feeling troubled despite knowing that there was nothing he could do, he did his best to return to what he’d been doing- notes and analysis on Amajiki’s quirk following the day’s training exercise, wherein he’d finally had a chance to observe it in action in a normal, safe classroom environment rather than the fast paced life or death situation he’d last seen it in, where there’d been so much else going on that he hadn’t really gotten to see much of it anyway. He could see now how truly versatile of a quirk it was, and he had no doubt exactly how Amajiki had earned his spot in the Big Three despite being prone to anxiety that otherwise might have held him back.

Another hour passed in comfortable silence. By now, Izuku could see that Todoroki had completely abandoned all pretense of trying to read the book he’d brought to the common room with him and was now simply sitting with his head resting against the back of the couch, his gaze fixed on the ceiling, his eyelids drooping as he fought sleep all the while.

Any minute now, Izuku thought, setting aside his notebook and pencil in preparation to exchange good nights and other such pleasantries with Todoroki before he retired to his room for a clearly very much needed nap. But to his chagrin, Todoroki’s sense of courtesy apparently continued to win out over his exhaustion and he remained glued to his seat on the other end of the couch. When he nodded off again, this time listing so far to one side that he almost fell over, Izuku thought, Screw it. Helping Todoroki feel comfortable enough to actually sleep was more important than Izuku’s fear of potentially crossing the boundaries that lay unspoken of but abundantly clear between them.

“Here,” he said, straightening up and resting his feet flat against the floor. He locked eyes with Todoroki and rested one hand in his lap in what he hoped was a clear invitation for him to rest his head there. However, it must not have been as clear as he’d thought, because Todoroki just stared at him for several long moments before asking “What?”

“You’ve been nodding off for the past couple hours,” Izuku explained. “But I know you’ll force yourself to stay down here until at least after dinner, and you can’t sleep out in the open where you feel exposed, so here.” He gestured toward his lap again. “Just rest your head here, and trust me to watch over you so you can get some sleep. You obviously need it.” For a moment, Todoroki just kept staring at him, and Izuku’s earlier suppressed concerns about crossing a line by suggesting that he sleep with his head in his lap rose up anew to overwhelm him. Then Todoroki let out a long, almost relieved sigh and scooted over a little before tilting sideways to finally lay down with his head in Izuku’s lap as he’d suggested.

“Wake me-” he mumbled.

“I’ll wake you for dinner,” Izuku interjected, knowing what he’d been about to say. “Don’t worry. Just relax and go to sleep.”

A/N: A continuation of Day 21′s fic

Until next time, Deku. The words, spoken in a voice soft as velvet, echoed in Izuku’s head as he made his way to one of the chairs set out around the edges of the ballroom. He couldn’t get those few minutes spent with the prince out of his head, dancing with him, bantering with him, being told to call him by his given name. It was more than a commoner like himself could have ever even hoped to dream of, and after it Izuku found that he’d lost the desire to join in on any more of the dances. So now here he sat, on the outside looking in, wishing the “next time” Shoto had mentioned could be now.

As if summoned by his thoughts, a hand, long fingered, slender, and beringed, appeared in his field of vision, and Shoto’s cold velvet voice said, “Come.” His tone was that of a person used to having their orders obeyed- firm and brooking no argument and leaving no room for any response other than deference- though Izuku couldn’t have refused him if he’d tried. He took the offered hand and let Shoto pull him to his feet.

Without saying a word, Shoto led him out of the ballroom, ignoring the whispers that went up in their wake at the sight of the prince leaving the ballroom hand in hand with some unknown person, and out into the hall. Izuku became increasingly more bewildered as he was led through winding halls, past grand but empty rooms and elaborately carved doors that gave no hint of what lay beyond them and palace servants in drab clothing who nodded differentially to Shoto as they passed, but something in him told him not to break the silence between himself and Shoto with his questions. Finally, they emerged out into open air- the palace gardens. The Queen’s gardens, to be exact, though they were said to be under the care of the princess both now and ever since the Queen had fallen mysteriously ill. They were just as magnificent as Izuku had heard it said they were, but taking the time to truly appreciate the beauty of the Queen’s gardens was the last thing on his mind at the moment.

“Shoto,” he said, turning to him as they came to a halt. “What-” His words were stolen from his mouth along with the air from his lungs when Shoto surged forward suddenly and kissed him, hard, driving him backwards until his back collided with the garden wall. The jolt of the impact drove them apart, gasping, but Shoto was quick to dive back in and capture Izuku’s lips with his own once more. 

This time, Izuku let himself get lost in the moment, let himself be swept away by the sensation of Shoto’s lips on his and the feeling of his hands, one warm and one cold, on his waist and his scent of campfire and frost until he was dizzy with it all. For a moment, it didn’t matter that he was a commoner and Shoto was a prince and the heir to the throne. All that mattered was the here and now.

Then, suddenly, Tenya’s warnings about the consequences if he were to be caught came crashing down into the forefront of his awareness like a bucket of ice cold water being thrown over his head.

“Shoto,” he said breathlessly, managing to pull away. Shoto’s only response was to take advantage of the change in angles by making a trail of burning hot and cold kisses down the column of Izuku’s throat, robbing him of his breath again just as he managed to get it back.

“Shoto,wait,” he said with as much force as he could muster, which admittedly wasn’t a lot, given the circumstances, placing his hands against Shoto’s shoulders and shoving him back.

“What is it?” he asked, heterochromatic eyes searching green ones, chest still heaving with rapid breaths. “What’s wrong?”

“What if someone sees us?” Izuku asked, fear making his voice waver. “What if we’re caught?”

“We won’t be,” Shoto reassured him. “Nobody comes out here except my sister, and she’ll have turned in for the night hours ago.” He leaned in as if to kiss Izuku again, but he wasn’t reassured. Somehow, the prospect of being caught by Princess Fuyumi, of all people, only served to ramp up Izuku’s fear even more. Word of this would almost certainly get back to the king if they were to be caught by her.

“If we’re found out, at best your father will throw me in a dungeon for making a mockery of him and the crown,” he said, putting up a hand to block Shoto from kissing him again, if only so he could have a moment to collect his thoughts enough to make him understand the danger they were in. “At worst, he’ll have me executed for treason.”

“A late night dalliance in my mother’s gardens could hardly be construed as treason,” Shoto argued, intertwining his fingers with Izuku’s and forcing his hand down to his side. He tried not to be hurt by the implication that this was nothing more to Shoto than a mere dalliance, a bit of adrenaline inducing fun that would be forgotten at sunrise. He knew that Shoto was merely arguing a point, that he felt the strength of the connection between them as surely as he did. 

“He could insist that I was angling for the throne,” he insisted. “Or trying to destroy your marriage prospects and therefore your chances of securing a political alliance that would strengthen the kingdom by seducing you.” Even as he said it out loud, he knew that it sounded ridiculous, but he feared those might be exactly the leaps of logic that King Enji might be capable of. He was not known for being a reasonable man.

“Deku, listen to me,” Shoto said solemnly, stepping close to Izuku to cage him against the wall once more, reaching up to cup his face between his hands and gently tilting his head up to gaze deep into his eyes. “Nothing is going to happen, I promise. No matter what, I’ll protect you. I won’t let anyone hurt you, least of all my father.” He spoke with such conviction that it was impossible not to believe him. And this time, when he leaned in to press his lips against Izuku’s in a soft, chaste kiss, he placed his life in his hands and let him, and lost himself in the moment once more.