#tasth | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

buttterknifeee · 4 years ago

Text

Masks- Teen Titans X Aquagirl! Reader

Masterlist

Request: "Can you do the episode when they find out Red X is Robin?" Summary: Robin seems a little more emotionally distant than usual. Is he holding a secret or what? (S1 Ep9) Pairings: Robin!Dick grayson x reader Word count: 4,785 A/N: Hey sorry I haven't posted a fic in forever school and work have kept me really busy!!! I'm still working on episode inserts in my ask box so if you submit any of those I'll probably take longer to get to them!!! (However I will be able to get to headcanon and blurb requests quicker!)

“This is just like a James Bond movie,” you whisper, latched onto the ceiling of a room, covered by the shadows. You and the Titans watch as one of Slade’s henchmen reaches for a computer chip in the middle of the room. The henchman is about to grab the chip when Robin announces his presence. “Tell Slade if he wants this, he can come get it himself!” He jumps from his hiding spot and kicks the henchman down. You jump out of your hiding spot only for a second before a laser barely grazes your arm. You look up and see a circle being burned into the ceiling by the lazer. The chunk of the ceiling falls and a sea of henchmen pour out, diving onto you and your teammates. You face off with one of the henchmen; he has a suit similar to Slade’s aesthetic with the black suit and metal embellishments. However, instead of Slade’s half orange mask, the henchman has an orange circle in the middle of its mask. You flick open the canister at your belt. Sometimes (like right now) you’ve been in situations where summoning water from the ocean or underground had been too risky, so now you opt for keeping some water on hand. You raise the small blob of water into the air and shoot your arm out at the henchman. The water separates and lengthens into little shards and whizzes straight towards the henchman. The first few water-projectiles miss the henchmen as he dodges, but the last one hits him right in the chest. The henchmen almost crashes into another henchmen, who quickly dodges and fires a laser above you. You assumed he missed until you noticed the giant computer lens hanging above you, getting hit by the laser. You barely have any time to react when Robin slams into you, pushing you away as the giant lens crashes on to where you were just standing. You and Robin groan from the impact when you look up to see three more henchmen, lasers about to fire. Suddenly, a large computer shelf crashes into them from the side, courtesy of Cyborg, who you see dusting his hands off at the side. “Amazing what you can do with computers these days,” he said. You run back into the fight, taking down guards with your powers, your seashell necklace glowing as you swing at your opponent, the water acting as a third arm. You hold yourself well on your own until you see a henchman dodge Cyborg and Starfire's shots, snatching the computer chip they were here for. He makes a dash for the exit and you bolt after him. Robin, who was in front of you, threw a birdirang at the thief. It hits the henchman’s hand and the computer chip goes flying into the air. “Mine!” Beast Boy yells. He jumps and turns into an anteater, catching the chip with his now elongated tongue. As he skids to a stop at the edge of the room when a henchman jumps down onto his tongue. He yelps in pain, releasing the chip. The henchman grabs it, and retreats back to his team of other henchmen. You grit your teeth as one of them throws down a smoke bomb and disappears. “That tasthed thso nasthy,” Beast Boy says, recovering from his stomped-on tongue. Robin runs ahead. “Titans Go!” he yells. You help Beast Boy up before running after the Boy Wonder. You end up in a hexagonal room with openings on all sides. “Split up!” he orders, and the four other Titans run in a room of their own. You were the last to leave with Robin, when he stopped you. “In there.” he says, staring at the grate in the ground. You peek through: under the grate was a dark sewer, leading to who knows where. Nevertheless, you nodded, raising your arm at the grate. The water under it rose, pushing the grate out of its place. You relax your arms and Robin jumps into the sewer, and you follow. You and Robin run side by side through the sewer, the hench man right in front of you. He turns and shoots a laser at the two of you. You both dodge, and Robin throws a birdirang again at the henchman, but this time he dodges, destroying it with a laser. You try to shoot jets of water at him, but he manages to dodge all of them. You clench your fists and focus on the part of the tunnel in front of the henchman. A wall of

sewage water erupts in front of the henchman, blocking him from continuing. But without any thought, the computer chip thief skids and changes direction, taking off into a branch tunnel. You almost crash into the Boy Wonder before you both change directions yourselves. The henchman throws something over his shoulder; a small metallic device. You yelped and pulled Robin back as the device exploded, blocking off the henchman’s escape route with debris. You watched the henchmen through a hole in the debris wall as he walked towards the end of the tunnel and faced the wall. He takes out his lazer again and carves a hole in it, kicking it to reveal the sewer was at the edge of a mountain, clear skies and greenery surrounding it. You raised your fists, tendrils of water rising with you. You held yourself in a poised position, ready to break the rock barrier. Suddenly, Starfire rises up from outside, stopping middair to face the henchman. “I am asking you nicely to stop running and-” she begins, but was off by the henchman shooting her in the chest. Robin yells, and you break the rock barrier. He runs towards the edge and immediately jumps off. He pulls out two grapple guns and shoots one at the henchmen, who had activated some type of jet pack shoes, and Starfire, who was falling unconsciously to the ground. You ran to the edge of the tunnel opening to see Robin and flung around with Starfire swinging around with a grappling hook. You jump down to help Starfire, who Robin had lost grip of after being dragged around by slade’s henchman himself. You hold her up as she spits out a fish, soaking wet. “You alright?” you ask, crouched next to her. You notice Robin a few feet away from you, holding the henchman by his collar. He seemed angrier than usual. “Now talk!” he snapped, pulling the henchman closer. “Who’s Slade? Why does he want this chip?” Robin looked like he was about to kill the guy. “And why are you working… for… him?” The anger leaving Robin’s voice brings your attention from Starfire. He’s holding the mask the henchman was wearing and under it was… a computer screen? It seemed to be a video of Slade standing in the shadows. You stepped up behind him. “Excellent work, Robin, Aquagirl as well.” he said calmly behind the screen. The mention of your name made the hairs on the back of your neck jump. “Slade.” Robin gritted his teeth. “Really, I think your skills are improving.” the villain continued. “No more games! What do you want?” Robin yelled. “But you do lack patience. If you're really so curious about my intentions, perhaps we should meet face to face.” “As if we’d fall for that-” you begin, but the boy wonder interrupts you. “Tell me where you're hiding and I'll be there in a heartbeat!” he glared at the screen. “Patience, Robin. Patience.” And with that the screen goes dead, sparks flying everywhere. Robin turned to face you, an angry scowl plaster on his face. . You find yourself back in the Tower, everyone in their own chipper mood. Well, except for you. After the Slade’s little video message went dead, you quietly scooped up a dazed Starfire and made your way back to the Tower, a silent Robin following you behind. You didn’t ask why he reacted the way he did, or why he wanted to meet up; he would probably make up some lame excuse anyway. You were dozing off on the couch next to Raven when Beast Boy slid into the room, holding some VHS tapes. “So, my fellow couch potatoes,” the green teen grinned. “what'll it be? Super Ninja Showdown Eight or Maniac Fury: Attack of the Protozoids?” “Wow, this is a hard decision,” you joke lazily. “Yeah. They just sound so good.” Raven adds sarcastically. “Yeah, we should just watch them both!” Cyborg says cheerily. Starfire perks her head up. “Perhaps Robin would enjoy potato-ing the couch with us. Tell me, is he--?” Starfire asks, but Beast Boy answers before she could finish. “-In the exact same place he's been since his little chat session with Slade? Uh, yeah.” Beast Boy grumbles. Cyborg nudges

you with a metal finger. “Yo A.G., I nominate you to talk to Robin,” he grinned. You stared at him in shock while the others murmured in agreement. “Wha- Why me? What about Starfire? They get along well, she can talk to him,” you argued. Starfire's eyes widen; it's been obvious since day 1 that she has a crush on him; and even though you think he's cute, you would probably never admit it. “It has to be you; you were the one who saw the video too, duh” Beast snorted, flopping down on the couch. Cyborg nodded and Raven, well Raven has been reading her book this whole time. You glanced back at Starfire, who was now staring daggers at you and sighed. “Jeez, fine whatever.” . You find Robin in his room, or his conspiracy workshop, there was no difference. His walls were covered with tons of papers: news clippings, pictures, notes, all about various villains. You see him staring at something on his desk, the robot parts of Slade’s mechanical henchman. “Hey, Robin.” you called gently from his door frame. He predictably flinches at you, probably breaking his train of thought. “We’re all gonna watch a movie together, wanna join-” You ask, but Robin is quick to decline. “No. uh. Thanks. I just need to find out why Slade wanted that chip.” Robin says, still engrossed in his work. You rolled your eyes. “I get it man.” you say. “But maybe the best thing to do right now is rest. Beast Boy’s putting on a double feature for us: two terrible action movies if you wanna watch?” you offered. “I can't.” “Dude.” Robin walks up to face you at the door. “I just- you saw the video too. We don’t know what he’s planning and I have to find out before more people get hurt.” “But-” Before you could finish, Robin closes the door on you. dick, you thought, leaving the hall. You’re with the rest of the Titans later that night, on the roof of a building. Almost an hour into Beast Boy’s action movie, you get a call about the computer chip from before being stolen again; this time someone other than a henchman. You purse your lips, looking at the screen on Cyborg’s robotic arm. It's Robin, much calmer than earlier. “I'm working a Slade lead on the far side of town. Sure you guys can handle this without me?” he asks. “No problem!” Cyborg reassures him, and the screen goes out. Right as the call with Robin ends, you hear a noise from a few feet away, and a guy in a stealth suit climbs out of a skylight. Cyborg warms up his cannon as he approaches you. He was dressed in head-to-toe black, with a black tattered cape to match. He had a skull mask and bright red ‘X’ marks on his mask, chest, and arms. “You working for Slade, tough guy?” Cyborg yells, aiming his cannon at the thief. “Red X works alone.” the mystery thief says, his voice obviously distorted. Wow, I would have never been able to come up with a name like that, you thought sarcastically as Red X charged towards you and the other Titans. You figured it would be an easy fight, I mean, 5 vs. 1 seems pretty obvious. But you were sorely mistaken. Somehow, Red X knew all of your teammates' weaknesses. He trapped Beast Boy in a giant sticky ‘X’, and none of the animals he turned into could set him free. Starfire and Raven almost take him down, but Red X throws two of his ‘X’ shurikens. One of them wrapped around Starfire’s arms, causing her to fall from mid air. The other sticks to Raven’s mouth, preventing her from reciting her incantations. That left you and Cyborg. Cyborg charged forwards, but the thief was too fast. One rewiring of his circuits left him defenseless, and you standing off against him alone. Without warning, Red X threw a shuriken at you. You quickly dodged and opened your water canister, meeting his next throw with a blast of water. The shuriken explodes midair, but you keep blasting, ready to defeat the thief. As the water reached him, he held up something in the palm of his hand. Before you were able to see what it was, electricity shot out. Here’s a quick note; if you ever encounter lightning or electricity, DO NOT be wet when

doing so. You’ll see why.

When the electricity met the water, it traveled straight up the jet and to your hand. Electricity surged through your body as you let out a scream.(being electrocuted was not fun) You fell to your knees as Red X stepped back, and scurried away. “Yeah, you better run!” yelled Cyborg, who was recovering from Red X’s circuitry work. “A.G. you alright?” You huffed as you stood up from the pain. “Yeah..I just.. need to go back.. to the tower.. Ow.” You helped the other’s up, but something still bothered you. Who was that guy? The morning after, you all debriefed what happened to Robin. You were still sore from last night, but you tried not to show it. “I had no idea Red X would pose such a threat. I should've been there.” he said. “You bet you should've been there. Look what he did to my 'do!” Best Boy whined, pointing to his hair. Starfire was snipping away at it, the only way to get the red gunk out of his hair. “I'm looking at two months of bad hair days!” “You’re having a bad hair day?” you say, poking at your hair, its ends burnt to a crisp. “My hair is fried; literally!” You hear muffled yelling and turn your view to Raven, whose mouth was still wrapped in a bright red ‘X’. “I don’t know, Raven. That’s kinda a good look for you.” Beast Boy jokes, Raven glaring daggers at him. Cyborg stepped up to her examining the adhesive. “Hold still…” he murmurs. You looked away as he removed the tape in one go, making a large RIP sound as a result. You peek back to see Raven staring unemotionally, a large red welt the shape of an ‘x’ where the adhesive used to be. “Ow.” she says, surprisingly calmly. “Even if you had been there, it wouldn't have made any difference.” “Dude knew exactly how to bring each of us down. I guarantee he had a gadget with your name on it.” Cyborg said. “Agreed. You need not feel guilt. We are undamaged.” Starfire reassures. “Hel-lo?” Beast Boy says, pointing to his hair. “Mostly undamaged.” Starfire corrects herself with a smile. “And we are all eager to learn what you have discovered about Slade.” “Nothing. Lead was a dead end. I should get back to work.” Robin says, almost immediately leaving the room. You furrowed your brows. The rest of the Titans murmured to themselves then left the room. You were about to leave when you noticed a pain in your foot. You looked down, finding your right ankle to be swollen and purple. You probably didn't heal it properly the last time you hurt it (see Ep.8) . You got a glass of water from the kitchen and poured it on your ankle. You waved your hand over it, and the injury began to glow. Once the glowing stopped, you checked it; it was still swollen, and the purple faded only a little. You groaned.You thought you got the whole water-powers thing down, but apparently not. You tried to stand on it, but it started to hurt by the minute. You should probably get someone to help you wrap it up. And you knew exactly who to talk to. You stood in front of Robin’s room about to knock. You figured that, hey, he’s the only team member that doesn’t have super powers, so he's pretty used to injuries like this. And you really wanted to talk to him, especially after what happened yesterday. Robin opened his door to you standing on one foot, the other one slightly raised above the ground. “Hey,” you grinned. “Can you help me with something?” One awkward montage later, you sat on a chair, your foot freshly bandaged. You stared at a newspaper clipping in his room, a bright red string connecting it to a picture of Slade. “You’re really dedicated to this Slade guy huh?” you say aloud. “If by dedicated you mean dedicated to taking him down, then yeah.” Awkward silence. You put your shoe back on and stood up, testing your ankle. It felt like you never hurt it. “Works like a charm! Thanks Boy Wonder.” you smile. He smiles back and you leave the room. The rest of the day sped by; you sat around, did some chores, etc. You barely realized that it was nighttime when you received a message from Robin to meet

in the main room. You found the other four Titans and the rest of you made your way over to the main room. “Okay, Robin, what's the...?” Cyborg began, but you all soon realized that Robin wasn’t even there. “Robin?” Starfire called out. “You mean Captain Research? Ah, he's probably filling out note cards at the public library.” Beast Boy yawned. Suddenly you heard a voice from the speakers. “I was.” Robin’s face blipped onto the screen. You snickered as Beast Boy almost jumped out of his skin. “But then I spotted Red X pulling a robbery in the tech sector.” Robin continued. “I'm on it. Get here as soon as you can!” You find yourself once again on the roof of a building, waiting for action; except this time you know what happens when you encounter the guy you’re looking for. “There!” Cyborg yelled, pointing at something in the distance. You watch Red X running across the rooftops, Robin right behind him. You watched in horror as the thief threw some kind of net at Robin, sending him tumbling to the ground. “Robin!” you yell, the five of you running to free him. But he puts his hand out to stop you. “I’m fine! Get X! Go!” he yells. You reluctantly leave, following the direction Red X fled. You see him jump into a subway station, and follow him close behind. The subway station was dimly lit, easy for a thief like Red X to hide in the shadows. “I've adjusted my ocular implant to scan at multiple sub-harmonics in the EM spectrum” Cyborg says, focusing on the computer at his bionic arm. “'Kay...do you come with subtitles?” Beast Boy asks, confused. “My eye should spot him even if he's invisible.” Cyborg says, his robot eye shining red. He scans the room before getting hit by someone, flying back a few meters. “It's him,” Raven says, now in a fighting stance. Red X appeared behind Cyborg, attempting to hack his systems again. You remember Cyborg working on something after the battle from yesterday, and smile as you see he remains unfazed. “You're gonna have to learn some new tricks, dog.” He throws the thief over his shoulder, him landing on his feet in front of you. “Surrender! We do not wish to fight you!” Starfire offers. “Sorry, I'm not through with you yet.” Red X says, throwing another X at her, but this time Raven blocks it. The fighting commences, you and Cyborg team up on him, but he dodges Starfire’s lunge at him, causing your two teammates to crash into each other. You dodge his attacks, yanking on his cape to pull him off balance. You were about to deliver the final blow when he grabbed your arm. You brace for him to punch you or even throw you over his shoulder but he kicks at your right ankle. You soon realize why, the pain in your ankle re-blossoming. If he had kicked in the other ankle you wouldn’t have been fazed, but all the pain from before had come back, even worse this time. He lets go of you, and you fall to the ground, clutching your ankle in pain. Raven helps you up and you watch helplessly as Beast Boy takes on Red X. The thief kicks him onto the train tracks, and you gasp as a train comes near. Suddenly, Red X jumps down, grabs Beast Boy by the collar and leaps onto the other side of the subway station. The train passes by, making your hair sweep in one direction, but also blocking your view of Beast Boy and the thief. Once the train leaves, you spot Beast Boy on the ground and Red X once again making his leave. Starfire flies Cyborg over and Raven flies you over to Beast Boy. “Beast Boy! You are undamaged?” she asks, helping him up. Starfire asks. “Who is that guy?” Beast Boy says, staring at the exit. . Back at the Tower the rest of the Titans were talking about Red X, but you couldn’t get something off of your mind. The only person who knew about your ankle was Robin, and this Red X guy somehow knew exactly where to hit it. It’s not like there are security cameras up in the tower, much less would be in Robin’s room. Well, if you think about it, Robin definitely has the agility to match Red X’s. Not to mention the gadgets, the mask, the voice modulator; that’s all

something he would do. And when Red X saved Beast Boy… any other villain would have let him get obliterated by that train, but he saved him? That must mean… “Robin!” Starfire’s notice of Robin’s arrival snaps you out of your thoughts. “Wonderful! Our efforts to locate the Red X will benefit greatly from your help.” “It'll have to wait. I'm close to a breakthrough with Slade.” He said. You eyed the box he was holding. What could be in there? The group goes back to talking, but you decide to confront him. You saw him hurry into his room, not noticing you right behind him. Wasting no time to knock, you slam the door open. "Robin!" You yell, obviously surprising him. He jumps, dropping his box of stuff. A ton of gadgets fall out, and he quickly turns to you. You spare the details. "You're Red X, aren't you?" You ask, crossing your arms. "What? No I have no idea what you're-" Suddenly one of the gadgets from the box lights up, and a hologram of Robin appears, repeating something you recognize. "I'm fine! Get X! Go! I'm fine! Get X! Go!" "... this is really embarrassing for you Rob." "I-I promise I have an explanation for everything but I really need to-" "What the FUCK could you possibly need to do right now that's more important than this? Than what you did??" You raised your voice, and Robin sighed. "I really need to do this." He said quietly. "It's to keep you and the rest of the team safe I swear. Please just don't tell the rest of the team." You frowned. You were angry, more than angry. But he seemed really distressed about this thing he needed to do. "Fine." You grumbled, staring at the floor. You didn't know what else to say than 'fine. He grimaced; his way of saying thanks. He walked out of the room, leaving you and his hologram. You stared at his face, flickering as the hologram glitches. With your good foot, you crush the gadget, and his hologram blips out. . Somehow, you're on another roof. After you rejoined the rest of the Titans, Cyborg announces that he found a lead on Red X. You didn't tell them what you knew; even if you wanted to, you knew that they would be just as hurt as you were, and you didn't know how to break the news. The five of you wait on Cyborg's mark. After waiting a little, he lasers a hole into the ground and breaks it in, creating an entrance to the room below. You all jump through to find a bunch of robots and Red X/Robin with… Slade? "Titans! Go!" Cyborg yells without processing any of the scene. Raven and Starfire attack one robot, Beast Boy attacking the other. Cyborg grabs the disguised Robin as Slade makes his exit. "Gotcha!" He yells, grabbing his cape. "Cyborg! Let go of him it's-" you yell at him but Red X takes off his mask. "-me!" Robin yells, now revealing his identity to the rest of the team. The rest of the team stops dead in their tracks. "Robin we-" Raven begins, but Robin cuts her off. "Slade's getting away! Come on!" He commands, running in the direction of Slade. However, none or the Titans budge. "Did we just get played by our own teammate?" Beast Boy asked, in shock. "It appears so." Starfire answered. "How did you know Aquagirl?" Raven asked, turning to you. You flinched, forgetting about what you yelled earlier. The robot began to spring back to life, so you all resumed fighting. "You were in on it, weren't you?" Cyborg accuses, punching a robot in the face. "What? No!" You yelled back, dodging a robot laser. "I had a hunch! And it was confirmed! Like, this morning." You added that last part with awkwardness. The last of the robots were defeated so you began to run to catch up with the boy wonder.

"And I didn't say anything because," You huffed, trying to maintain a fast pace. "Well, it's Robin! He's our team leader! As much as I saw it I didn't want to believe it! And he refused to tell me anything anyways but I'm sorry!" The team stopped as you saw Robin dangling off the side of the building, Slade above him. To your surprise, Slade pulled him up and they continued to fight. You saw the computer chips fall out of Slade's grasp and Robin pulling off Slade's mask and- You gasp as his face was revealed: nothing more than a robot again. You rush over to Robin as the robot self-destructs. "Heh. At least he didn't get the chips." Beast Boy says. . Even though you figured out who Red X was and technically put a stop to his actions, you felt even more defeated back at the Tower than before. You finally fixed your ankle for good: all it took was some rest and two hours of concentration and boom! Good as new. There's just one more thing you need to do. You stand in front of Robin's doorway once again. His back is faced towards you, and even though he probably knows you're there, he doesn't turn. "You want to yell at me too?" Robin asks, staring at the Slade mask he hung up. "Everyone else has. And I don't blame them." "No, all the yelling I needed to do was from before. You owe me an explanation." You state simply. "I needed to fool Slade. If you guys knew it was me under that mask, you would've held back. Doesn't matter anyway. Slade figured it out, and I still haven't figured out anything about him." "Well I've personally figured out all I needed to know, you guys are the same. Slade didn't trust you, and you don't trust us." You said. You stopped talking for a while and a silence fell upon the two of you. He still didn't turn. "It really hurt, you know." You began again. "Not just the double-cross; I mean getting my ankle bashed in by someone I care about. You were so worried about keeping us from getting hurt by this Slade guy that you ended up hurting us more yourself." More silence. You were tired. "Tomorrow's a new day. I hope you'll make the right choice then." You said, finally leaving the room.

119 notes · View notes

scarabsi · 7 years ago

Text

Match Cut (tododeku, BNHA Summer Exchange 18)

heyyyyyy so here’s the fic I wrote for the @bnhasummerexchange event, for @rutilatedho! I hope it’s enjoyable in some way or other, and if not, at least it amused ME.

[Read it on Ao3]

Shouto liked to think of himself as a decently balanced person. He understood his faults, he paid attention in classes sometimes, he knew some of his classmates’ names. Perhaps sometimes he’s not the most composed or reasonable person in the room, not the brightest or the quickest on the uptake, but that was inevitable when you’ve grown up with a tyrannical abusive twit of a father and what could Shouto be expected to do about that?

He appreciated summer for the chance to freely exercise his right side. In other times of the year it concerned others if he maintained crystalized ice over an entire half of his body, potentially risking frostbite, but in the summer there was little anyone wanted to do about it but join in.

Not to mention, it’s ridiculous to entertain the idea of his right side causing frostbite. He knew better than to do that; it’s his own ice, after all. He would save the frostbite for a particularly annoying day of school he wants to skip and not a day sooner.

“Dathhhhs pitty neat Tododoki, but it don’t tchangth how it tasthe,” Kaminari mouthed into Shouto’s forearm.

“Natsuo insisted I’d done it before,” Shouto protests. “Swear on my pops, you keep your tongue there another five minutes and the froyo flavor I ate should come through.”

“That’s cheap as hell, Todoroki, you hate your pops,” Uraraka chimed in from her front row seat to the spectacle.

“I love my pops?” Shouto squinted at her, confused. “I can’t make them the same with my quirk. The new brand mixes in a smooth milk and creme with the strawberry to really bring out the tartness of the flavor. I would protect my pops with my life.”

“Eyy!” Kirishima cried from his position a little higher up Shouto’s arm than Kaminari, “I think I tasthed thomething dust dow!”

“Whaaat? Theriouthly?” Kaminari said.

“Eyah, thorta. . . thavory?” Kirishima guessed, eyebrow raised. “Ait, ait, no, ait. . . no, dat’s thweat.”

“Yeah, I asked them to discontinue that flavor,” Shouto scoffed. “Nasty as hell, catch me dead before I touch it again.”

“What’s going on?” said Midoriya from the living room entrance.

A shiver went up Shouto’s spine, and Kaminari and Kirishima fell to the ground with twin yelps as their tongues were suddenly thawed free.

“Todoroki says he can make his ice into different flavors if he eats something before,” Uraraka explained to a bewildered Midoriya, who absently dropped his schoolbag in the middle of the hall.

“Yeah, can you imagine Midoriya? Free icees?” Kaminari waved enthusiastically. He grabbed Shouto’s right arm and ran a hand up the length of it. “It’s too bad it takes so long! Does it take a lot of concentration?”

“Yeah,” Shouto replied absently out of reflex, which was wrong because it shouldn’t take much concentration at all. He watched Midoriya fumble his hands all around his hips.

“Fascinating,” Midoriya said, retrieving a small notebook from his pocket and flipping to an empty page. “Can you give me more details? What kinds of flavors is it possible to replicate? Can you replicate foods not traditionally served in ice or can you replicate any flavor regardless of suitability? If the flavor is related to foods you take into your body, is the flavor secreted from your pores or spun out of the molecules of the air?”

Shouto shrugged.

Midoriya nodded, appeared to scribble something, and continued without missing a beat. “How were you able to discover such a property existed? Does the flavor contain traces of the food it comes from? Is it possible to recreate nutrients? This could be very useful in times of emergency and may be interesting to know for the future if we find ourselves in a situation short on food. . .”

Uraraka laughed. “Oh, Deku, there you go again.”

Kirishima groaned and Kaminari whined out, “Come on Midoriya, it’s way too hot for this right now.”

“Is it really that hot?” Midoriya asked, a surprise lilt to his voice. He laughed and ran a hand through his untidy hair. “I guess it is! I’m used to training my body through all weather conditions so I forgot to pay attention.”

Shouto could smell the fragrance of sweat and musk from Midoriya’s hair as he ruffled it, far overpowering whatever soap he might have put into it once upon a time, long before his training session. Now that he mentioned it, Midoriya had clearly been spending the day in the dormitory gym; the unfashionably plain clothes he was wearing clung to his skin when he moved and there were still small signs of condensation in parts of his face and hair.

“Wanna have a go?” Shouto found himself saying.

“I’m sorry?” Midoriya said.

Shouto blinked; he was a foot away from Midoriya, right arm proffered prominently under Midoriya’s nose. A droplet of sweat from Midoriya’s wild forest-green hair dripped into the palm of Shouto’s hand, and he thanked his luck that he hadn’t extended his arm prone like a noblewoman awaiting a kiss.

He could hardly believe what had just left his mouth. Perhaps the heat was getting to his head after all, despite his liberal use and abuse of his right side. He had to say something else to rectify his reputation with his friends at once.

“Wanna tongue up my arm?” Shouto corrected.

It took until English class the next day before Midoriya spoke to him again. He appeared by Shouto’s desk as soon as Present Mic left the classroom, his expression contrite but his body language strong and determined.

“H-hey, about yesterday,” Midoriya said, his voice shaky and his cheeks pink, “I’m sorry for running up to my room so quickly. It was just, uh. . .” he trailed off, cheeks flushing more, until his eyes seemed to glaze over.

Shouto waited, but Midoriya seemed to be done, so he shrugged. “I don’t mind. It did seem like you really needed to shower.”

“It-- it seemed like I needed to shower?” Midoriya squeaked.

“Yeah,” Shouto said, a little confused about the strange reaction. “You were covered in sweat. Like, everywhere. You literally dripped sweat onto me.”

Midoriya laughed strangely. “That’s right! I did do that! I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t be sorry,” Shouto said with a soft smile. Midoriya definitely had nothing to apologise for. He could still remember the sensation of the warm droplet hitting the palm of his hand, something that had come out of Midoriya’s face and dribbled past his lips and fallen off his sweet little chin. Later in the evening he’d even found himself putting his palm against his mouth, as though he would be able to smell or taste some trace of Midoriya from it hours later. He felt his fingers tingle now from the memory of it.

He twisted his head to look back at Midoriya, who stretched an arm behind his head. There were some popping sounds as he stretched his right arm, and then he shook out his hands and picked his special All Might controller back up.

“You should never be sorry for needing to take care of yourself,” Shouto said, mostly to himself. Midoriya quirked his head over, his large eyes bulging out of his head.

“Wh. . . what?!” he croaked, and then his eyes darted around and he seemed to hit on a conclusion. “Oh, because we’re playing fighting games in this heat? It’s honestly fine! Even if you weren’t here,” he gestured to his room closet, where boxes of wrapped merchandise were stuffed to bulging, “I have a limited-edition All-Might electric fan that’s a great help when I start to get dizzy.”

Shouto frowned and put down his own (much more generic) controller. “I didn’t realize you let yourself get dizzy. I’ll take care of that.” He raised his right arm and focused on gathering a thin layer of ice onto it.

Midoriya watched Shouto’s arm in a slight daze, and gave no reaction to the incremental cooling of the room. He slowly moved toward Shouto until he was practically bent over Shouto’s right arm.

Shouto chuckled. “You’re hotter than I thought,” he said.

“I might need to take care of myself,” Midoriya mumbled. Shouto wondered whether he heard him correctly because he couldn’t make sense of it. “It’s really okay?” he asked.

“Course,” Shouto said, because he has never taken offense to his friends treating him like a walking climate control center, and takes pride in being able to provide such a necessary service that no one else can give, and then Midoriya leaned his head down and put his tongue on Shouto’s arm.

Instantly the room got a lot warmer.

Midoriya’s tongue darted quickly in small swipes, then travelled languidly up Shouto’s arm. One last lick leapt lightly off the top of Shouto’s shoulder, and then Midoriya hung there, his face beside Shouto’s, eyes lidded, tongue still peeking shyly from his lips.

As Shouto stared, Midoriya’s eyes focused onto his own, and then that tongue and those lips made a short reunion as Midoriya rolled them together.

“As promised,” Midoriya growled, his voice much deeper than before, “I’m not sorry.”

“I think maybe I am,” Shouto muttered frantically to himself through the watery echoes of the shower. He pressed both palms against himself and hissed from the shock of the conflicting sensations.

There was no way that ducking into the bathroom at full speed had been an appropriate or subtle reaction. It had taken him about five wet heart-pounding shower minutes to realize what had probably happened: Midoriya had taken him up on yesterday’s offer and had wanted to play the Flavour Ice game.

He let out a single bittersweet laugh as a novelty All-Might shampoo bottle made uncomfortable eye contact with him. It turned out his no-good father had been right all along and joking around with friends could indeed ruin his life, but in somehow the strangest most contrived way possible.

The others seemed to agree when Hagakure walked into the living room and found Kirishima teaching Bakugou a trendy new game he had discovered online. She prematurely screamed at the top of her lungs because she mistakenly thought something lewd was going on but, Kirishima assured, the strange way he had pinned Bakugou with his pelvis was a new wrestling move he was trying to perfect and the tongue-on-tongue contact was worth extra points.

Everyone else was loudly skeptical of this excuse, especially Bakugou himself who was so offended by the story he stormed out without saying a word, but Shouto was excited.

“What are the rules?” he asked Kirishima. “Is it fun?”

Kirishima’s eyes squinted and shifted from side to side. “Uh,” he droned. “Uhhhhh. I. . . yes? Yes.”

“It looks just like kissing. What makes it different from kissing?” Shouto asked.

Kirishima turned pale and laughed. “It’s. . . uh. . . crap, I know exactly how Bakugou would answer that. Oh, crap. For real.”

Shouto frowned and put his hands on his chin in thought. “Could you demonstrate the difference for me somehow?” he asked, and Kirishima almost turned blue.

“Todoroki, he was obviously lying!!” Uraraka said around her tears of laughter. “He made a really terribly-constructed excuse for him and Bakugou being nasty in public, and then doubled down on it because he never knows when to quit!”

“But what if that’s what he wants you to think?” Shouto insisted, leaning forward to give his table slam a little more dramatic weight. His Lunch Rush tray slid a centimeter in a suitably dramatic fashion. “I know what it looks like, but can you imagine how fun it would be if it was real? And he and Bakugou are hoarding the fun new game to themselves?”

“I regret enrolling in this school,” Midoriya whispered from beside Uraraka, his face nested into his arms.

Uraraka patted Midoriya half-heartedly, but her eyes were gleaming at Shouto. “So did you make him kiss you or something? Are you serious?”

“He refused,” Shouto sighed. “Hence, hoarding.”

Iida had dutifully moved Uraraka’s milk far out of her reach so that she would stop squirting it out of her nose throughout the conversation, and her hand was groping the lunch table subconsciously as she snorted. “You know what you could do instead?” she goaded, and Iida’s eyes flashed in alarm.

“What?” Shouto asked, a little warily if he were being honest.

“You know, I think maybe Deku would be interested in hel--”

In a flash of green lightning, Uraraka and Midoriya had vanished. A quick glance around found them balanced on a ledge close to the ceiling, where Midoriya seemed to be frantically shaking her.

Which Shouto hated, because what on earth did Hell have to do with Kirishima’s trendy new game Shouto still wanted to explore being real, and why on earth was Midoriya so bothered about it?

“No quirks in the school cafeteria!” Iida shouted dutifully at his dumb friends. “In addition, balancing on that ledge is highly dangerous and you’re setting a horrible example for the first years!”

“How are you like this and still friends with those two?” Shouto wondered.

“That is an excellent question that will no doubt be asked variously at the funeral for my early death!” Iida answered in the same dutiful voice, punctuating with a salute for good measure. Shouto raised his juice box, because he sure as hell could toast to that.

“Oh, thanks,” Midoriya said, reaching down to grab Shouto’s juice box. “I hate getting dehydrated in the middle of a set, these leg straps are a pain to get out of.”

Shouto smiled as Midoriya returned the juice box and continued his inverted sit-ups. Rather than deal with tucking in his shirt or having it fall into his face all the time as he hung upside-down, Midoriya preferred to circumvent the shirt altogether and it was a feast for the eyes. Each time Midoriya folded himself upward it was extremely clear which specific muscles were making it happen.

“And that’s roughly 200, I think,” Midoriya sighed as he lowered himself one more time, skin glistening in the dimmed gym lights. “Help me down?”

“Of course,” Shouto replied. He grabbed a small step stool and reached for the straps. “I’m steady.”

“Great,” said Midoriya, and wrapped his large, warm arms around Shouto. Shouto undid the straps on his legs and stood straight as Midoriya gracefully leveraged himself back to the ground.

“I think I get a big workout just from making sure I don’t drop you on your head,” Shouto laughed. “Is it really safe to exercise like that?”

Midoriya shrugged, then bit his lip with a small blush. “To be honest, I could easily do it by myself.” He gestured vaguely toward the juice box, and Shouto handed it to him. He sipped it with a sunny smile. “I like it better when you’re here, though. Everything is better when you’re around.”

Shouto felt like a boiling teapot, watching that smile, and fanned himself. “I. . . I need ice. Do you need ice?”

Those large round eyes lit up. “I would love to try one of your icees, if it’s not too much trouble.”

Ohhhh, that made Shouto even warmer.

He held out his right arm and Midoriya gripped it gently, pressing a cheek against it with a soft sigh.

“I. . . I think I should mention,” Shouto pushed through the embarrassment and the slight croak to this voice, “the whole thing about flavoured ice was a lie. I was pranking those guys into freezing their tongues and it got out of hand.”

Midoriya glanced up and their eyes met. Midoriya had a small smile on his face as he moved his face higher up Shouto’s arm, and they watched each other as Midoriya gripped Shouto’s shirt, turned his head and pressed a kiss to Shouto’s bared shoulder.

“I thought so,” Midoriya said, eyes soft, voice soft.

A warm shiver rushed down Shouto’s arms and made his fingertips dizzy. “I didn’t mean to trick you,” he said.

“You can’t trick me, Todoroki, how long have we been friends now?” Midoriya laughed. He put his hand over Shouto’s on his waist, and when had Shouto moved his hand there? “Did it get out of your hands, Hand Crusher?”

Shouto broke their heated eye contact to hide the dramatic flush to his face. “I’ll make that my hero name if you’re not careful. I’ll really do it. It will be legal and everything.”

Midoriya chuckled and put his forehead against Shouto’s. “It would suit you, since you’re so handsy.”

Shouto wrapped his other hand around Midoriya’s waist and they rolled on the ground, Shouto showing Midoriya just how handsy he could really be. They were halfway across the room when Shouto exhausted himself and settled for a hug, and Midoriya laid there and let him.

“Everything is better when you’re around too,” Shouto said.

Midoriya turned his head to smile sunbeams at Shouto. Shouto tightened the hug and buried his face into Midoriya’s neck.

“I’m glad you exercise with a spotter,” he admitted. “I’m glad you take care of yourself now. I hate seeing you hurt, and I hate even more when you hurt yourself.”

Midoriya tensed, and then put his hand into Shouto’s hair and stroked it gently. “I know,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Shouto said. It was hard for him to move his arms when they were wrapped around and under Midoriya’s body, but he rubbed Midoriya’s back with his thumb. “I’m not sorry so don’t you be. Be happy you’re healthy, like I am.”

“I’m happy that you’re happy,” Midoriya said. “That was always what mattered the most.”

It wasn’t reassuring to hear that, but the tremor in Shouto’s sigh wasn’t just from concern. He searched for something to say, but couldn’t find the words, so they lay there quietly for a while, listening to the hum of the fluorescent gym lights.

“Hey, Shouto,” Midoriya said.

Shouto hummed.

“Do you want to try figuring out how to get those extra points?” Midoriya said.

“I can’t believe you actually pulled off that crazy move at the last moment!” Kirishima cheered and whooped as Izuku made a perfect, cinematic superhero landing, green-lightning laced crater and all. “How did you figure out how to get us those extra points?”

“I noticed Kaminari had left himself wide open after his third discharge,” Shouto said proudly, clapping a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “But I can’t believe he understood what I meant when all I said was ‘Den’.”

“‘Den’ meaning Kaminari Denki, and also the conductivity between his quirk and the discharge from my quirk, right?” Izuku said, slinging his arm around Shouto. “Isn’t it obvious what I was supposed to do?”

“You guys cheated!” Kaminari called over from his team. “I should have poached Todoroki for my team! Who let you guys work together?”

Bakugou pushed Kaminari’s head down with a grunt. “We lost. They did a better job. Get over it.”

“Oh, that’s rich coming from Mister Muzzle!” Kaminari cried, clutching his head and surreptitiously checking his hair.

Kirishima glanced toward the other team and threw a thumbs up. Bakugou answered with a thumbs down.

Shouto rested his head against Izuku’s neck as he watched his classmates congratulate and complain about each other, feeling softly content. “Maybe it would have been more fair to join Kaminari’s team,” he said.

Izuku laughed. “You’re such bullshit, Shouto.”

#tododeku #bnha summer exchange 18 #rutilatedho #fanfiction #my hero academia #boku no hero academia

7 notes · View notes