Midoriya regrets getting out of bed at all today. The halls of UA are flooded with love sick students who are all too happy about not having any classes on Valentine's Day so they can spend the day with the ones they love, and all of it is just making him feel worse somehow. Maybe it's because he himself doesn't have the guts to confess how he's feeling about a certain classmate, to that certain classmate.

And what doesn't help is that most of Class 1-A seems to think that it's a great idea if they all make valentines for someone, even if it ends up being each other.

Keyword is most; Bakugo has absolutely no interest in any of it and claims that he'll kill anyone who might try to make a valentine for him. A couple of the others mumble about how they don't really have anyone in mind to make one for and decide that maybe friendship valentines are the way to go. Todoroki doesn't say anything about it but it seems like he isn't too fond of the idea.

Mina excitedly reminds everyone that Valentine's Day is tomorrow so everyone who plans to make one should get to work on them after classes are over. The class finally starts and all throughout Midoriya can't help but to wonder if he should make one for his... crush... or just forget about it and leave it alone.

After thinking about it for quite a while, he finally just decides not to make one. It's not like anyone is expecting him to make a valentine and absolutely nobody is expecting to receive one from him. It works out, he supposes. Besides, if he did make one, what would he write?

It's probably for the best that he doesn't try and find out.

The day goes by pretty slowly, but eventually all of the classes end and they're free to return to their dorms. Most of 1-A tends to hang out together even after school ends, but today Midoriya declines. He's just not feeling it today.

"Are you feeling okay, Deku?" Uraraka inquires worriedly, causing him to get flustered. She seems a little surprised and sad that he's taking off on them today and he's not exactly sure why. It's not like he always hangs out with them, but he supposes he does do it often enough now that that could be why she's confused.

"Yeah, of course!" Midoriya assures her, putting on a bright smile. Even with the smile, however, he knows he doesn't seem very convincing to anyone. Kirishima gives him a weird look and so does Bakugo, but then the blond just keeps on moving away from the group.

"Is something the matter?" Iida presses, but Midoriya shakes his head, feeling guilty for making all of them worry about him. That's not what he wants- he just feels a little sad and wants to be alone for now.

"Yeah, what is it?" comes from Kaminari, Mina looking between them and nodding.

"If something is wrong, you can tell us."

"No, nothing," Midoriya says with a wave of his hands, "I promise."

"Are you sure, Izuku?" Todoroki asks softly and Midoriya's heart skips a beat at the expression on the taller boy's face- he looks pretty concerned despite never really showing a whole lot of emotion, which is a bit surprising. "You seem a little depressed. If there's something bothering you, you know we're here to listen and to help if we can."

Bakugo scoffs. "When isn't that damn nerd depressed?" At this, Kirishima backhands him in the upper-arm and the blond scowls at him. "It's just how Deku is. He's nothing but a weak crybaby and he always has been."

"Katsuki-" Kirishima starts, but he stops himself with a sigh.

It takes everything Midoriya has in him not to cry right now, to ignore the looks and Kacchan's words. He wants to spill his heart out to Todoroki and hope that it'll turn out alright, but Midoriya is too scared to. He knows it wouldn't end well. After all, how could Todoroki possibly return his feelings?

"I- I'm sure," Midoriya insists after a moment passes and both Kacchan's and Todoroki's words have sunken in fully, Midoriya's fake smile returning to make him seem a bit embarrassed. Nobody believes him, but they let it go. "Anyway, I'll see you guys later."

He takes off before anyone else says a word, his face hot and his eyes filling with tears as he runs back to the dorms. Kacchan is right- he is a crybaby. It's just that Midoriya's not even sure why he's so sad today- maybe it's because he knows he doesn't have the courage to make a dumb valentine and give it to Todoroki. He's too afraid to find out what Todoroki would think of him for it.

Besides, Todoroki is sure to receive plenty of other valentines from other people. He doesn't need one more.

Once he's safely in his dorm, Midoriya lets the tears fall, his back pressed against the door. He's not sure how long he stays there but eventually he moves away from the door and over to the desk, wiping his eyes. He drops his backpack on the bed and takes a seat at the desk, switching on the lamp.

Should he make a valentine? He may get teased or picked on for it and Todoroki might end up feeling uncomfortable because of it, but Midoriya feels like it's his only chance to tell Todoroki that he likes him and to find out how Todoroki actually feels.

With a nod to himself, he wipes his eyes and gets out everything he'd need from his desk drawer to make an okay-ish valentine. Luckily he still has all his old craft things from when he used to make his mom homemade birthday and mother's day cards- that includes stickers, construction paper, glue, glitter, scissors and washi tape at the least. This'll work.

He spends the rest of his evening working on it until he thinks it looks okay. He finishes it off by signing it and then realizes that he should make some for his other friends so that they don't feel left out. After everything, he cleans up and puts everything away, ending up with a total of four valentines- Todoroki's, and then ones for Uraraka, Iida, and Kacchan (despite the angry blond boy's warning).

He's hungry, but he missed dinner and now it's too late to go get anything. He hopes that he hasn't made anyone else worry by not showing up, but nobody has come to check on him so he assumes they're not all that concerned.

He tries to sleep pretty early but finds himself tossing and turning. Eventually he does pass out though and sleeps soundly through the night.

-

He wakes up to the alarm on his phone and immediately remembers what day it is. He gets dressed quickly and carefully takes his valentines before he heads out- they all pretty much agreed to meet downstairs in the boy's dorm after they've all gotten the chance to wake up a little, so Midoriya makes his way downstairs to the bottom floor where everyone is going to be.

Pretty much everyone is there, including Bakugo. Midoriya finds himself blushing when all eyes fall on him.

"Deku, we've been waiting for you," Uraraka tells him, her hand brushing his shoulder. "I was just about to come wake you up. Happy Valentine's Day!"

Midoriya laughs shyly, embarrassed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I sorta overslept just a little; I'll do better next time. Happy Valentine's Day, Uraraka."

Uraraka frowns, stopping him when he tries to move away. "Are you okay?" she asks worriedly. "I was really concerned about you yesterday- not only did you take off early on us but you also didn't come to dinner. I wanted to come and check on you, but I talked myself out of it because I didn't want to bother you or anything."

Midoriya shakes his head, flustered. "I'm sorry for making you worry," he murmurs, his fingernails digging into his palm. "And you wouldn't have bothered me, but anyway, I'm... I'm fine. Thank you for asking, though."

He swallows and avoids her eyes. He's not fine just yet, but he will be eventually. No matter how Todoroki reacts to his valentine. Midoriya takes a deep breath and moves away from Uraraka before she can ask more questions and press further than she needs to. Uraraka sighs sadly, letting it go for now.

Some of the other girls are pretty excited though, enough to have set everything up already. They placed little buckets on the table and made sure each one was labelled with someone's name, and then the girls encouraged everyone else to drop their valentines in since they'd already put their own in.

One by one, the valentines go into the buckets, everyone taking turns putting them in order from who has the most to give out to who has the least, which means it starts with Iida and ends with Bakugo.

Once all the valentines are in buckets, Mina, Momo, and Uraraka hand the buckets out to everyone and then start to go through their own. The girls find that they've each received one valentine from Mineta among all of the others they had, much to their dismay, but Mineta only receives one valentine overall and it's from Iida- apparently, as class rep, he felt that he needed to make a valentine for everyone so that nobody was left out, which is exactly why he went first.

Unsurprisingly, Bakugo probably had the least amount of valentines to give out, but what makes it surprising after all is that the number isn't zero- it's two. He made two total, though he finds that he received three. That pisses him off just a little, but what makes it worse is when he sees who they're from.

Iida, Midoriya, and Kirishima. He can't say he's surprised though. In any case, Iida's is very simple and plain and boring, Midoriya's is just 'Happy Valentine's Day, Kacchan' written on pink, heart shaped paper, and Kirishima's...

Bakugo shakes his head, his face slightly pink. Let's just say that the blond boy is going to kill his stupid boyfriend later for what was written inside.

Uraraka goes through her own small bucket and reads each valentine she has. There's the one from Mineta that she actually doesn't even read because she knows that it's just something perverted written inside, there's the one from Iida, ones from each of the other girls in 1-A, one from Todoroki, and one from Midoriya.

Most of them are really simple valentines, including the one from Midoriya, however one does stand out, and it's the one she finds is from Tsuyu, which has cute frog doodles on it. She smiles when she sees it and puts it on the very top.

Some of the others spread out in the dorm a little to read theirs, wanting some privacy. Kirishima gets a few from his friends, but the one he cares about the most is Bakugo's, which, in a weird roundabout way, basically says 'I hate this holiday but I love you, even though you're an idiot'.

Midoriya feels discouraged in a way seeing how many Todoroki has in his bucket, ignoring his own for the moment. He must've gotten one from almost every member of the class or something, because it looks like he has a nearly full bucket and he's the only one like that besides maybe Momo and Uraraka.

Midoriya listens in as Kirishima asks Todoroki how many valentines he got, as if the red-haired boy knew exactly what Midoriya wants to know himself but is too afraid to ask. Todoroki goes through them quietly and then looks up at Kirishima again.

"About nine or ten," he answers and then places all the cards back into his bucket. Kirishima is as surprised as Midoriya is- both having gotten way less than him. All the green-haired boy can hope for is that Todoroki actually reads his despite how many he has.

"Well are you gonna read them or what?" Kirishima asks, taking a seat beside the taller boy. Todoroki shrugs and Midoriya freezes in place, his knuckles turning white from how tightly he's gripping the handle of his bucket. Midoriya put in so much of himself in that card- Todoroki has to see it, otherwise what's the point? Although Midoriya doesn't want anyone else to see what he wrote; as it is, he's still panicking inside about how Todoroki will react.

Thinking about other people seeing it makes him want to actually die.

Kirishima pushes until Todoroki gives in, agreeing to open and read each card. Midoriya already feels like he's going to be sick, his chest tightening. Todoroki reads the ones on top first, starting with Uraraka's and Iida's and then moving onto some of the others.

He reaches Momo's and he goes from having a slight smile to a surprised expression as he and Kirishima read it together.

"Whoa," the red-haired boy exhales, shaking his head, though he doesn't actually seem surprised. More like disappointed in a way. "Somehow I didn't think that any of the valentines we were all making today would be all that serious, but Yaoyorozu's... Dude, based on that, she really... she likes you. Like seriously."

Midoriya seems to almost forget how to breathe. It feels like he's being stabbed, hearing those words. So... Momo likes Todoroki, too. Of course she does.

Todoroki's expression is blank and he's unreadable. Kirishima raises his eyebrows. "So what are you gonna do now? Are you gonna go out with her or something, or...?"

Midoriya's heart is pounding- he can't listen to Todoroki's answer, he can't stay and watch Todoroki's reaction to his valentine now, he can't watch as Kirishima reads it too. Before anything else, before Todoroki speaks or even gets to Midoriya's card, the green-haired boy quickly heads upstairs, back to his own dorm room.

Away from everyone else.

When he's safe inside, he locks his door, breathing heavily. He sets down his bucket on the desk and falls onto his mattress, his hands pushing his hair out of his eyes when he moves to sit up with his back against the wall.

It's only then that he realizes he's crying. Hot tears spill over, down his freckled cheeks until they're dripping onto his legs and also onto the blanket he's sitting on. Midoriya brings his knees to his chest and wraps his arms around his shins, hiding his face as he cries quietly.

When he finally calms down a little, he sighs deeply and reaches for his bucket, pulling out the valentines to see who they're from.

He finds that he got a few more than he was honestly expecting to. He opens the first one up and it's the one from Iida- all it says is 'Happy Valentine's Day, Midoriya' in a dark blue ink with a touch of matching glitter. As plain and boring and simple as it is, Midoriya appreciates it all the same.

He wipes away his tears and reaches for another- one from Kirishima. It's as simple as Iida's (in fact, most of them are all kinda the same thing) but everything is in red and there's doodles inside too and there is a slightly different choice of words. Kaminari's is also the same, pretty much- just in black and yellow instead. Tsuyu's and Mina's also, but in different colors.

The next one is from Uraraka. It's decorated cutely, with stickers and doodles and all kinds of colors. Opening it up, he reads the inside, which says, 'Happy Valentine's Day, Deku! I hope you have a really good day and hope you feel happy and loved!'. And that message alone helps him feel a little happier.

Midoriya is surprised to see that the next one he pulls out is from Bakugo. It's even more plain than Iida's- just plain white copy paper folded in half, and black ink. No decorations or anything, though Midoriya knows that Kacchan wouldn't decorate his even if he had the things to.

Midoriya isn't all that surprised, however, when he sees what's written. 'I'm just reminding you that you're nothing but a useless nerd, Deku', it says. Midoriya rolls his eyes at it and goes to fold it up, but he freezes again when he sees what's written in small letters at the bottom.

'Oh, and just tell that clueless bastard how you feel already. I hate seeing that stupid love sick look on your dumb face.'

Midoriya blushes and breathes in deeply, wondering if he's been too obvious about his feelings for Todoroki or not. Clearly he has if even Kacchan knows about it and is giving him of all people advice.

Well, Kacchan does surprisingly have a boyfriend so obviously he must know what he's talking about.

Midoriya reaches into the bucket and grabs the valentine he was saving to read last- Todoroki's. His heart is pounding as he holds it in his slightly shaky hands and looks over the outside; it's not very decorated at all and is sort of smaller than the others'. Biting down on his bottom lip, Midoriya opens it.

'Izuku,' it starts- Midoriya gulps, his heart fluttering a little in his chest, 'I'm not the best vocally when it comes to words; especially when I have to express how I'm feeling. It's hard for me, but I'm sure you understand what I mean at least a little. Anyway, my point is that I need to tell you how I'm feeling and this valentine is the perfect way to, so here it goes.

I have feelings for you. It took a while (and perhaps a conversation with a certain surprisingly perceptive, red-haired classmate) to fully realize it, but it's the truth. I do truly like you as more than a friend and I hope that you'd be willing to accept my feelings, though I understand if you can't. Whatever your answer may be, please have a happy Valentine's Day.

-Shouto.'

It doesn't feel real, almost as if Midoriya is reading exactly what he wants to and not what's actually there.

But it is- it's actually there, written in white ink on red paper. Todoroki has feelings for him. Todoroki actually likes him back. But now what does Midoriya do? Does he just wait or does he text Todoroki and ask to meet somewhere in private, or...?

As if he knows exactly what Midoriya was thinking, Todoroki texts him. 'Please, if you don't mind, meet me outside when you have the chance.'

Midoriya stares at the text for a while before he gets off of his bed and heads to the door, quietly opening it and slipping out into the empty hallway. As he goes down each step downtstairs he can't even find it in himself to worry about what Todoroki is going to say- he just has a good feeling that it's going to go well, even in spite of Momo's valentine.

Midoriya wonders if Todoroki talked to her yet, and suddenly he himself feels really bad for her. She's going to be so sad if she realizes that Todoroki rejected her for Midoriya.

The green-haired boy stops in his tracks before he gets to the bottom floor. What if Todoroki didn't reject her? What if he wants to talk to Midoriya for a different reason than their shared feelings? Midoriya hopes that Todoroki doesn't take back what he wrote and turn the shorter boy down for Momo.

Though it'd hurt, Midoriya would understand why Todoroki would choose her over him. After all, Midoriya is plain-looking and doesn't even have his own quirk, unlike Momo.

But...

He has to take a chance, doesn't he? Yeah, so he'll meet Todoroki outside no matter what and deal with whatever happens next however he has to.

He passes by Uraraka at the bottom of the steps on his way to the door to outside. She looks at him but gives him a smile, and he smiles back before he keeps on going. He also passes Bakugo on his way out, giving the blonde a knowing look. Maybe Midoriya would thank him later, though he doubts that Kacchan would even care if he did say thanks or not.

Moving on, Midoriya heads outside. He looks around and doesn't see Todoroki at first, but eventually spots the red and white hair at the bottom of the steps. Midoriya takes his time and heads down them, sitting down beside Todoroki when he reaches the bottom. It sure is a pretty, sunny day outside, and the slightly older boy seems to be enjoying it.

"Hey," the green-haired boy starts softly, his shoulder brushing against Todoroki's. "I, um... I got your text. You wanted to meet me out here, right?"

He feels stupid for asking because he knows the answer already, but Todoroki doesn't seem to mind much at all, giving a nod.

"I read your valentine," Todoroki says, getting straight to the point. Midoriya feels his cheeks get hot when he remembers what he wrote and when Todoroki looks over at him. "I'm assuming you already read mine as well?"

Midoriya bites his lip. "Yeah," he replies with a small smile, shy. "So what does that mean then? What do we do now?"

Todoroki shrugs, trying to find the words. "Izuku, do you..." he begins nervously, scratching the back of his head, "Do you want... to be my valentine?"

Blushing a deep pink color, Midoriya nods slowly. "Sure, okay," he agrees, twirling one of his green curls around his finger, but then he frowns. "Oh, but what about Yaoyorozu? I- I overheard Kirishima say that she likes you."

Todoroki rests his chin in his palm, his elbow digging into his thigh. "I thanked her and apologized to her already," he tells the freckled boy with a soft sigh. "She took it pretty well and didn't seem to mind that I couldn't accept her feelings for me. I wonder if she accidentally gave me a valentine she made for someone else or something. Either way, she wasn't upset."

"I see," Midoriya murmurs with a sigh of relief, glad that Momo isn't hurting because of them. "So um... now that I'm your valentine, what do we do? I've never spent Valentine's Day with someone else that I... that I have feelings for, you know?"

"Neither have I," Todoroki admits, seeming to be feeling shy as well. "But I'm guessing we just hang out all day long and go do things together. We could go get something to eat and take a walk or whatever you want to do. What do you think? Would that be okay?"

"More than okay," Midoriya says with a grin, slowly reaching for Todoroki's hand. When he takes it in his own, the taller boy looks over at him, his heterochromatic eyes shining. "But um... Todo- I mean... Shouto?"

Todoroki hums and waits for Midoriya to finish speaking, but the green-haired boy doesn't. Instead, his face turns bright red again as he turns a little and slowly leans forward, tilting his head to the side and lightly pressing his mouth against Todoroki's. After a moment passes, the older boy's chilly hand finds Midoriya's warm, freckled cheek and his thumb brushes over the green-haired boy's cheekbone.

It definitely doesn't last long- this being the first kiss for both of them means they don't know a thing about what they're doing.

They break apart before anyone comes outside and sees them, faces pink and small shy smiles on their lips.

Midoriya jumps up quickly, pulling Todoroki up with him. "Come on!" he exclaims cheerfully, leading the taller boy away from the dorms by his hand. "We have a lot to do today!"

Todoroki's smile doesn't fade, and neither does Midoriya's.

-

happy valentine's day !! sorry if it's rushed ):

PS!!! thank you to my lovely friend matt for the title, ily bb