Momo's body shot up slightly, kind of like a little bounce. Her skin color changed directly into a dark shade of red as her lips began to make odd noises, specifically little stutters, that were oddly cute.

Her eyes shot to different directions, anywhere to avoid Todoroki's eyes. Her brain stopped functioning, and the only thing present in her mind was the texts from her best friend and the person who made her heart flutter, the stranger.

After quite a long period of time of stuttering in a rather strange manner, she cleared her throat, kept her eyes locked on the candle light, focused on the sound of rain falling, and spoke softly.

"Uhm, wh-where is this coming from?" Momo asked, her voice trailing into an inaudible form, a smile still on her lips to assure him she still thinks he's a great guy, it was really wobbly though.

Todoroki's eyes were locked on the candle too, thus causing his facial features to hide. He averted his gaze eventually as soon as she brought up the question, "I'm kind of .. curious .. and sort of in a situation similar to it." He said, letting out a soft cough in the end.

Momo's eyes widen. It's quite surprising to heart that from Todoroki Shouto. She pushed her lips together, the shade of red now forming on her cheeks only. She averted her eyes' attention the empty plate before her. "Well .." Her voice trailed off.

Silence occupied the area for a long period of time.

"I .. Uhm, I do kind of like someone." Her lips formed a little genuine smile, embarrassment clear in her facial features.

She doesn't notice his eyes widen.

He pushes the tip of glass against his lips, holding the top with his fingers. "I see." He mumbled, taking a long chug from his drink.

Momo's heart fluttered at the thought of the stranger's texts. Her body blossomed with different feelings inside, they felt warm and lovely, that's for sure.

She eventually connected back to reality and noticed the awkward silence. After adapting to situations like these, she was able to collect herself easily and get up from her seat.

"I should wash the dishes." Momo said, collecting all the plates and utensils from the table. "You can rest now if you want to, Todoroki." She said, meeting his eyes finally, forcing a little smile to form on her lips.

It was scary to see his eyes at that moment. If you can tell, Momo has a sudden ability to understand Todoroki's feelings, just by looking at his eyes. Somehow, this one truly nearly made her yelp from surprise.

Why would his eyes be filled with disappointment and sadness at that moment?

Yeah, I know right, Momo's dense as usual.

She gulped and walked over to the sink.

"No."

Momo stopped her tracks after hearing his voice suddenly speak. She smiled awkwardly and turned around to see Todoroki's back by the table. His facial feautures were hidden due to this.

"Wh-What?" She questioned, tilting her head, that nervous smile still on her lips.

He stood up. "I won't leave yet." He then took the candle from the table and walked over to her.

Her lips wobbled, as always. "Wait, w-why though?" She began to giggle awkwardly.

He stands by her, the only source of light was the candle light between them.

"It's like back at the bus stop, leaving you seemed wrong." His eyes were glued to the candle in his hand as he talked.

Momo's lips fell into a rather confused kind of form. A tint of pink formed on her cheeks.

"I'll help you out with the dishes too, don't worry. You can rest now if you want to anyway." He said, walking ahead to the sink.

[ ? ♡ ¿ ]

Momo rejected his offer, so here they are now, with green, rubber gloves on their hands, water pouring from the sink and soaking the platters covered in bubbles.

Momo wiped the fourth plate given to here and placed it back on the stand. Momo sighed, satsified.

She takes her gloves off, and smiled to herself. "Haa, we can finally go to bed."

Todoroki does the same, "Mhm."

Placing the gloves back, Momo plopped herself on the couch, listening to the rain as she shuts her eyes.

Let's see if you were paying attention, two chapters, what did the intro say?

Yeah, the events in the building happened yesterday, and it was yesterday.

Currently, it's 12 AM now.

She leans her head back, a sigh escaping her lips.

"You should head up now."

Momo's eyes open slowly to see Todoroki by the side of the couch, staring at her.

She smiles, "I'll catch up." Her eyes then fell back into its original form of being closed.

Todoroki just stares, before sighing.

He sat on the opposite couch, waiting for her to get up and get some sleep and catch up to him like she said she would.

...

Fifteen minutes and she doesn't wake up.

He sighed softly, hoping to not disturb her slumber. He leaned his back on the couch, his head falling against the frame of said furniture.

He stares at the ceiling in silence, legs spread and hands dangling between them. He started to daydream, and think, of who knows what.

That question felt like some source of heavy weight was pulled out of his chest, like some kind of rock was parted from his lips, something he's been wanting to pull out and vocally say.

Her answer had a strange impact, and he knew exactly why it did, he knew why her answer felt like a wrecking ball crushing his guts to bits, why her answer felt like a blast of lightning striking him at the worst moment.

Pondering, he continued to stare at the ceiling, his expression rather impassive mixed with a hint of disappointment.

The sound of gentle rain began to enter his ears as he slowly shuts his eyes. His impression towards Momo never changed ever since Day 1 with her. He thinks she's beautiful, thinks she's awfully creative in plenty of fields and categories, thinks she's hardworking, thinks she's way too kind to be in this world, thinks she's extraordinary, and just generally thinks she's a genuinely .. amazing person.

Someone he could easily talk to, someone he could easily relate to and understand in plenty of ways. Someone he could easily lean on, but would rather not to.

He sighed before heading upstairs after such a long period time of daydreaming in the dark.

No, he didn't leave her, why would he do that?

He comes back from his room with a blanket. He proceeds to unfold the folded fabric, and then lightly throws the blanket over her, giving a bit of adjustments so she's warm, trying his best not to wake her up at the same time, and walks back to the kitchen to get the candle. He examined it and noticed the thread almost about to wither with the flame.

He blows it out, and sparked up a new flame in his hands for light. He grabs a new candle in the kitchen drawer, and lights it up. He then placed it down by coffee table in the living room.

He saw the result of his actions, not quite satisified. Momo's head was still leaning back on the frame of the furniture, her face rather pointing towards a different direction, right, in particular. If she wakes up, she'll encounter minor yet rather painful neck pain.

He sat down beside her, leaning his head against the frame, then turning his head to meet Momo's beautiful facial features (Since she was staring at the side quite a bit). He stares blankly, pondering how to get her to sleep comfortably for the night. Eventually, his head disconnected from his original thought, and began to focus more on Momo's soft lips, feathersoft raven hair, and such long, pretty eyelashes. His eyes widened just a little, his impassive expression fading.

He furrowed his eyebrows, his eyes trailing to the side as a shade of light pink begins to paint against the surface of his skin on his cheeks. A blush.

He looks away, adjusting his position. He then lifted the back of hand, attempting to hide the crimson color emerging, his eyes still targeting a different direction and eyebrows still furrowed.

Finally picking every last bit of his sanity up, he checked back on Momo. His current goal was to just make her sleep comfortably.

With such a bold mind, and a brave yet quite dorky attitude, he scooped her head up with one hand from the other side, and yes, did that.

( I hope you're not thinking of anything dirty. )

He gently placed Momo's head on his shoulder, trying his best to prevent her from waking up. He succeeds and allows his hand to fall from her head. He stares at her, admiring her like before. It's truly magical that he literally cannot find a single flaw in that gorgeous face of hers.

He shot his head back against the frame, shutting his eyes, pushing his lips together, and just simply allowing the crimson hue to spread across his face. It takes some time for it to fade, but what really calmed him was the rain in the background. His withering love for the rain began to blossom once again after the moment he had with Momo yesterday, it was lovely.

He lifted his head back up to check on her, if ever she was disturbed or such. He needed to sleep now, but like he always says, leaving Momo seemed wrong.

And so he sat there, Momo's head against her shoulder, watching over her in the frigid, raining night, hoping that she'll wake up to head upstairs to sleep for real.

Leaning his head back one more time, he curses under his breath, "Damn it."

Disappointment and a hint of regret melting in his voice.

He's so bummed. So disappointed. Despite the position he was in, despite the fact it really made him happy, that answer to his question still had an impact in him.

She doesn't wake up, and he doesn't sleep.

( ■ )

Momo's eyes slowly open to be greeted with the sound of rain, a warm blanket, a candle light and melting wax on the coffee table, and finally, Todoroki, arms folded and head down, asleep, right beside her with her head against his shoulder. Guess he did fall asleep.

Her eyes widen at the appearance of the said boy, clearly surprised and confused. For a very, very short moment, she went silent. The real impact of the situation finally hit her, and she dashes away from the couch, a shade of red invading her face as she backed away from his prescence. Her lips wobbled as she stood before him, panting, clearly embarrassed that she slept in that position. She wrapped herself with the fabric tightly, trembling.

Her mind was still trying to process what lead her to be leaning against him, cleary her brain was just a mess. Everything was all over the place and she was way too overwhelmed to understand what brought her into such a situation.

It's way too early, and despite sleeping at 1 AM, it's strange she still has a lot of strength and get up and dash away despite the ungodly hour in the morning.

Her dusky orbs scans the fabric wrapped around her in a strange rushed and troubled manner, saying 'Eh?' with every glance she gave, then darts back to Todoroki.

She then went silent, a huge impact of realization hitting her. Finally cooling down, she stops panicking, and finally brings herself to a state to investigate and understand. 'This must be his ..' She thought, her blush finally fading slowly.

She stares for a moment at the fabric once again before another blush began to invade her cheeks. The thought that Todoroki [might] have allowed her to rest on her shoulder and give her blanket to keep her warm is flattering, fluttering and rather embarrassing. She immediatly shakes her head, collecting herself once again.

Hesitantly, she pushed her lips together, and approaches Todoroki. She slowly wraps the blanket around him, specifically from the back, before proceeding to exit the area of his prescence to prevent awakening him from his soft slumber. She observed him if he was ever disturbed or such before completely leaving the area to stand by the window panes.

Walking her way to the window panes, she clutched her head with her right hand. "Wh-What even happened last night?" She murmured to herself softly, her eyes glued to the floor as she walked. She finally arrived to the prescence of the curtains.

She lets her right hand fall from her head, then proceeds to gently press her head against the wall, eyes darting on the ground and another blush emerging from her face. Her heart was still thumping as she furrowed her eyebrows. She was overwhelemed, but she couldn't help but feel so happy he was okay with their position for the night, thus concluding he was still comfortable around her as a friend.

With a sigh, she moves the curtains aside to reveal the dull weather, trying to clear her mind. She notices the dew soaking the yard, and the grass sparkling from the sky's tears as they continued to spill from the gray clouds. Immediatly, the sight calmed her, lifting her mood. A smile begins to form on the maiden's lips slowly. She felt a lot better now, she was able to cool down from her shocked and flustered state. It was quite easy though, especially from the fact he is someone she's comfortable enough to lean her head on. He's quite a good friend from her perspective.

She smiled while watching the rain pour down, this time, gently. Her fingertips slowly trace down the racing waterdrops on the pane, smiling to herself at such a pleasant sight.

Momo's still in a state of worry regarding her bond with Todoroki. It's such a peculiar bond. One moment they would be chill and comfortable around each other, the next thing you know one of the two will state something rather flattering yet something that can definitely cause them to flush in embarrassment, thus causing an awkward atmosphere to bestow upon the pair. After a few moments of the silence, they would go back to being comfortable around each other.

She sometimes thinks it's all her fault. She constantly focused on other things. Always targeting her attention to something and never bothered to balance her admiration for that something to another 'something' that required her attention too.

Basically it's like your love for wattpad and your need to finish school work, the balance of the two things.

In this case, it's the stranger and Todoroki.

Not too long ago, she would melt away the time with warm conversations with the stranger, light jokes shooting there and there, awful gags, lovely compliments, and topics about flowers with the stranger. She was in a healthy friendship, and she was thankful for that.

Despite the gender reveal quite being surprising, it didn't make sense too. The stranger didn't really care regarding Momo not believing it, as if, it was part of a random plan they plotted for some time, perhaps to capture her, or get info regarding U.A and such, but she never will speak even if they tell her to.

Momo's bond with Todoroki was something she thought was fading slowly, but rebuilding the friendship seemed to be going smoothly. Todoroki is not even aware of her troubled state about the bond. Overall though, as much as she's worried the gap would just grow even wider because she thought she was doing horribly shaping the bond back, she just kept thinking positive, knowing Todoroki is understanding and will be aware of her efforts. Plus, he was comfortable enough to ask her that question from their little dinner and open up the reason why he did.

Everything was becoming brighter for her, especially after that sudden position she was in early in the morning. She was happy,  so glad he was okay with her around.

Her eyes traces the dancing drops of water from the sky, admiring the small yard outside. A smile forms on her lips, then came in a blast of relief and peace melting inside her.

Everything will be alright. She can fix this. Things are going well, she's doing well. She knows everything will be okay. It will all be okay.

Everything will be okay.

A sigh escapes her lips, before turning her head back to Todoroki. His back was facing towards her, and he was still asleep. Her lips wobbled, still quite hesitant to approach him.

She walks her away back to the couch she originally was at, hesitant and slowly. She begins leaning her head back and keeping her legs closed together. She wanted to talk to him, but waking him up seemed rude.

Glancing once more at the boy, her head darts back to the frame, resting there in the song of the rain pouring into her ears. She shuts her eyes for a moment before opening them once more, a sigh running out of her lips. She smiles.

"Todoroki, what even happened last night?" She laughed, eyes glued on the concrete ceiling. "First, I was stuck in a building with you, then suddenly I'm eating dinner with you at 12 AM, and now I wake up leaning against you? So strange." She chuckles once more.

"And that question last night .." She began, her voice so soft that it blended with the rain spilling from the skies outside. "I'm quite curious who you like, honestly. You never really tell me your romantic feelings towards anyone despite the huge fanbase you practically formed in the school due to your good looks and heroic skills." She said, giggling.

"I wonder if you're curious of who I like too," She giggled. "It's embarrassing to talk about it though, and I look quite stupid talking to a person sleeping too."

"But .. I trust you, even if you are listening to what I'm saying right now, I know you'll keep whatever I say a secret .. I hope you do."

"But, I can tell you mine, I guess." She began, a lot calmer than usual.

"They're really kind to me, really, really kind to me. They're hilarious, ridiculous and quite childish," She chuckled. "Despite that, they're always there for me, they listen to me, and are very open with me. It's quite like Akane and Maru in my book and stuff .."

A sigh escapes from her mouth as she parted her lips. "I wonder though if they reciprocate." Her voice became softer than ever.

Silence for a short moment.

" .. I actually never thought of that .. " Her eyes were now pooled with worry, fear and despair. She pushed her lips, "Do you think I would be rejected? Am I-"

"No, no, I shouldn't think that way." Momo said, perhaps only to herself. She cupped her own cheeks, "I'll be alright." She told herself.

As you can now see, Momo's been keeping a positive mindset lately.

( And you should too, reader. )

"Other than lovey dovey, uhm, stuff, I'm glad the silent bond we had finally melted away, I hope you are too. I'm .. glad to talk to you normally again." She said. "I'm really happy. I really am. Thank you, for being with me." She says, giggling. She was comfy enough to open up due to well, he's asleep. In reality though, she would've been stuttering if he was actually listening.

"Haa, I think our bond's alright now." She said, starting with a small sigh. "I think I fixed it now. I think .. I'm done now." She was satisfied. There may be a bit ups and downs from time to time (usually from Todoroki's bold statements), but she knows she can handle them better now, better than before that's for sure.

She sighed, her hands fall from the contact of the skin on her cheeks. "Alright, I'll go and make breakfast now," She said, her voice drenched in such a positive and bubbly tone. She made her way to the kitchen, collecting the ingredients from the fridge and the cabinets, then colliding them on top of the counter before. She begins to wash her hands before beginning to prepare her class a meal.

She doesn't notice Todoroki's widened eyes while his head was hanging low and arms crossed, looking quite asleep.

But no,

He heard everything.

◇

a/n:

im sorry for the people who didnt understand the ending it at first!! i hope i rewrote into something much more understandable :)

( ty to the people who informed me about their honest thoughts of their confusion and also ty for the support!! )