Chapter 1: The Favour

"Midoriya?"

The low hesitant voice behind him startled Midoriya as he accidentally dropped the pen he was holding. Another pair of hands immediately reached forward along with Midoriya's to catch the pen before it dropped on the floor. "Sorry…I didn't mean to surprise you," apologized the boy, handing the pen back to Midoriya.

Midoriya immediately sat up straight and put away his notebooks over which he had been mulling since the last hour. "I-It's alright Todoroki-kun! I guess I got too absorbed in analyzing Snatch's quirk. I didn't even hear you come in." Something about Todoroki seemed off. Midoriya and Todoroki had grown a lot closer ever since the Sports Festival during their first year at UA to the point where Midoriya was certain Todoroki considered him his best friend. Their increased interactions had enabled Midoriya to be able to read the subtle hints that Todoroki gave out whenever he was disturbed. The slight shifting of his eyes every few seconds, the stillness in his stance, and the very aura that he gave off – while most others couldn't really tell the difference, it was clear as daylight to Midoriya that Todoroki was extremely nervous and fidgety. Seeing that Todoroki was still standing, Midoriya patted the seat next to him on the sofa and indicated to Todoroki to sit down. "Is something bothering you Todoroki-kun?" asked Midoriya as soon as Todoroki sat down. It was 1am on Saturday and the rest of their classmates went to sleep long ago. Midoriya had been jotting down points on his Hero Analysis notebooks in the dorm common room with the television tuned into the Hero News Channel. Todoroki remained silent. Biting his lips slightly, he peeked a glance at Midoriya before shifting his gaze to the ground, his fingers nervously twining.

Midoriya had never seen Todoroki this anxious before. It bothered him. It always bothered him whenever Todoroki was feeling even slightly out of it. After a few minutes of silence had passed while Midoriya wondered whether he should break the silence or not, Todoroki took a deep breath and looked into Midoriya's eyes. The sheer intensity of those beautiful heterochromatic eyes so close to his face overwhelmed Midoriya. He could feel his heartbeat increasing considerably and a slight hot flush riding up his cheeks. Not now! He thought to himself angrily.

"I…have a favour to ask of you," gulped Todoroki. Midoriya's mind immediately answered – anything. Shaking his head a bit, Midoriya gave him a smile. "Sure Todoroki-kun. What is it?"

"I…waswonderingwhetheryouwouldagreetobemyfakeboyfriendforaweek," gushed out Todoroki in one breath, his cheeks reddening immediately. Midoriya's eyes widened. Had he just heard him right? Todoroki kept his eyes fixed on the floor, refusing to look at Midoriya. Silence stretched on between them until Midoriya could take it no more.

"Ummm…T-Todoroki-kun? You…want me to be your fake boyfriend for a week?"

Midoriya could see Todoroki's hands clenching tightly and the blush on his face becoming more prominent. Slowly, he gave him a nod.

"Why?"

At Midoriya's question, Todoroki closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. Midoriya could see that the nervousness in him had gone down a lot. Finally looking at Midoriya again, Todoroki said, "I'm sorry, Midoriya, for springing this on you without any sort of explanation. I was just, well, really nervous and it seems I might have messed up the order a bit."

Seeing that Todoroki no longer looked like he was about to pass out of nervousness, Midoriya visibly relaxed, but the beating in his heart never slowed. Fake boyfriend? Todoroki had a lot of explaining to do.

"Last week, I got a call from my father." Midoriya stiffened at the mention of Endeavour. He might have an inkling of where this was going. "Now that we're almost about to graduate he's been pestering to set me up for marriage interviews for months. Of course he doesn't want me to marry immediately or anything. But he wants me to be at least engaged to someone of his choice as soon as possible. I've been refusing his offer every time he called but last week…the argument got too heated and I might have…lied that I was already in a relationship. I should never have hoped that that would deter him though. Since I refused to tell him the name of the person I'm in the supposed relationship with, he threatened to force me into an engagement unless I introduce my…lover…to him and he also said, and I quote, 'You better bring this lover of yours to stay with us for a week during your vacation. I'll judge whether she is fit to be your partner or not.' "

Midoriya took a while to process all the information. When Todoroki mentioned Endeavour, Midoriya had pretty much guessed what might have happened and he was right. But there was a tiny thing in what Todoroki just told him that was bothering him. "Todoroki-kun, I think Endeavour is expecting a girl to be your lover. Wouldn't it be better if you asked one of the girls in our class?"

Todoroki sighed. "I'm…not really close with any of the girls. I am friends with them but this is not a favour I can ask of them. I know I'm asking a lot Midoriya but, would you please at least consider doing me this favour?"

Midoriya would do anything to help his friend. There was no question about that. But…there was just a teensy tiny problem. Midoriya was very much in love with Todoroki and he had a bad feeling about getting into a fake relationship with him for a whole week. He had been in love with Todoroki for two years now. His feelings had started to grow ever since the end of their first year in UA and by now, in their third year, Midoriya was head-over-heels in love with him. He had never really considered confessing his feelings to Todoroki. He didn't want to leave an awkward mess out of their friendship if he got rejected. And now, the very person he had dreams about, the very person who made his heart race a thousand miles per hour…was asking him to be in a fake relationship with him. Somewhere deep in his heart, Midoriya felt a pang of pain. He quickly dismissed it.

Midoriya looked at Todoroki…and his fate was sealed. Todoroki was looking at him with a pleading face, eyes wide and hopeful. There was no way he could deny Todoroki if he was going to do the puppy dog face on him.

"Izuku," Midoriya sighed.

"Huh?"

"If we're going to do it, we better get used to calling each other by our first names. Otherwise Endeavour might get suspicious," replied Midoriya. "So…call me Izuku." Seeing Todoroki's eyes widen, Midoriya wanted nothing more than to dig a hole and bury himself in it. What was he thinking? That was way too forward! He should have asked whether Todoroki was ok to be on first name basis with him! The blush that spread on Todoroki's cheeks was quite similar to the one that had covered Midoriya's whole face.

Midoriya's thoughts on how to completely erase his existence was interrupted when Todoroki replied, "Then I hope you'll be calling me Shouto from now on…Izuku." Midoriya's brain short-circuited. Hearing Todoroki say his name…the way his deep and sensuous voice seemed to caress the word…was too much for him.

"Y-yeah…" he managed to stammer out while trying to stop his heart beating out of his chest.

Todoroki got up from the sofa. "It's getting late. You should head to bed soon." Was it just him or was Todoroki avoiding eye contact? Heading towards the elevator to go up to his room, Todoroki paused and turned to Midoriya again. "Izuku?"

"Y-yeah?" squeaked Midoriya. Dammit, he would have to get used to that!

"Thank you…and goodnight," smiled Todoroki.

Izuku's heart did a triple backflip at the warm smile that lit up Todoroki's face. "Goodnight…Shouto," he replied. After Todoroki left, Midoriya sank down on the sofa and tried to gather up his thoughts. The whole thing felt like a dream to him. There was only 2 days left till their one week long vacation started. He would have to act as Todoroki's boyfriend during that week…a fake boyfriend. Midoriya once again dismissed the slight pain he felt in his heart at that thought.

It's alright. He could do it. After all, what's the worst that could happen?