Word Count: 938

It was a festival. Just a festival. Just something that the two of them had never experienced before, experiencing for the first time together as friends. Yeah, just friends.

They did it again in their second year, together again because their other friends had begun pairing up. It would have been awkward to just tag along on them, to third wheel on what were dates-but-not-quite-dates, so together they went again. As just friends. Holding hands so as not to lose one another was normal, right?

Third year was when it all turned real. Last year's dates-but-not-quite-dates blossomed into real dates and real couples, happy and laughing and indulging in one another. This year there had not even been an invitation to hang out as friends with them, too busy were they in their own little worlds, so for the third time in a row, Todoroki Shoto and Yaoyorozu Momo went to Ennichi festival together.

It was normal for friends to hold hands as they sauntered through the crowds together, right? It was easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the late night fervor, to look away for just one second and find your partner gone without a trace. Because that's what it felt like to them.

It was normal for friends to splurge on each other when they both knew it was easier to pay separately, right? Paying for the other's taiyaki or soba was just pennies out of the wallet, but pennies add up. Because there was a tab of life debts built up in their hero training days together, and all that had to be paid back somehow.

It was normal for friends to steal glances at each other instead of the fireworks, the beautiful, fiery blossoms in the sky, right? The reflections of light and wonder in Momo's face seemed just all the more compelling to Shoto, who saw fire every day of his life, but never in the same way that she did. He'd never thought of it as beautiful, but then he saw the colors illuminating her beauty, and thought that perhaps that not all things that burn will also destroy. Likewise, Momo saw him transform before her eyes as his gaze changed from aloof and neutral to awe and contentedness. It almost made her giggle at how childlike he looked, staring up at the sky like that, how beautiful his face could be when he wasn't feeling so irritated or lost in thought.

Shoto caught her eye at one point, and they both looked away faster than the eye-catch had even lasted. It was normal, was it not, for friends to look at each other, right?

Because it wasn't, at least not like that.

Shoto peeked back at Momo, and his face turned a hot as hers looked when once again, their gazes met.

No, it wasn't normal, not in the slightest, to see someone you've known for all of three years and only just now feel like you've loved them for a thousand years and a day. To see them, as you did every day for all of three years and only just now really see them as someone you might like to possibly, perhaps, maybe, just maybe…

…love?

Momo's breaths grew as rapid and shallow as her heartbeat; dear god what was happening to her? He was just a classmate, just a friend, just someone to go to the festival with when no one else fit the bill. He was just growing closer, and of course it made sense that she would notice everything about him, like his pretty eyelashes and his too-long bangs falling in front of his eyes, and—

She was beautiful, so beautiful, even with her quivering lips and brow knitted with confusion. Even with tears spilling down her cheeks like it was her life's work to cry. Before he knew it, he was leaning in, and so was she; he knew it wasn't normal to feel this way, at least if you wanted to call yourselves friends.

And she knew it too, choked back the questions because she knew already the answers. She had simply been too afraid to consider them the truth. Yet there she was, staring them straight in the face, closing her eyes, feeling his steady breath on her lips—

—her hand softly, gently brushing against his cheek, sending chills down his spine and his own heart racing; all the world was aflame—

—and he was the center of that passion.

Was it normal to want to kiss your best friend?

Such was the thing Todoroki found himself wondering as he and Momo drew closer and closer together.

Because it sure felt normal. The booming of the fireworks, the scent of freshly spent gunpowder…

…the flashes of light against her eyelids, the coolness of night and its sweet, summer breeze…

The taste of the other's lips upon their own.

They only pulled apart because otherwise they would drown; the breath in their lungs wasn't enough to supply two for long. Momo took in deep gulps of air, her hand still on Shoto's cheek, (his hand still on her waist), their eyes still locked on one another as they audibly inhaled and exhaled over and over, as they breathed as one.

Oh, who were they kidding. Certainly not themselves.

Of course it was normal, if you were in love with your best friend.

They closed their eyes and closed the space between them once more.

author's note i. this drabble is the entire reason why i rehauled my name on this site and ao3 because my writing senpai with a god complex is going to judge me so hard if she finds this. idk. lowkey embarrassed of this, not just because it's my first bit of published bnha but also because like this was really... uh.. i, don't, usually, , write things this intimately? / /SWEATS ASEXUALLY. anyway that's all from me! thank you for reading! ! ! leave a review, if that's what you're into, and as always, have a greaaaat daaay~~~~