A PR Scandal (A Todomomo One-Shot)
Todoroki’s lack of media training is amusing until Yaoyorozu gets dragged into his latest scandal. Inspired by his strugglefest in Chapter 241.
——-
Answer within five seconds. Don’t overthink your answers. Be relatable, they said. If it’s specific to the police investigation, just say it’s confidential. He must look prepared and assertive to the public.
That’s what Todoroki recalls, minutes after he single-handedly defeated two Nomus. He was ready to fall apart, covered head to toe in debris, a slash across his chest, and a broken left rib. But here he stands, in front of a heavy camera and a news reporter jabbing the mic in his face.
Despite his exhaustion, Todoroki thought he had it under control. The questions were straightforward and fulfilled his criteria for minimal thinking.
“How did you defeat the Nomus all by yourself?”
“Ice and fire.”
“You haven’t even graduated U.A. but rumor has it that you’ll qualify for the Billboard Rankings next month! How did you get so strong so fast?”
“I train every day, study hard for exams, then maintain a healthy balance of quality friendship time versus solitude.”
“How are you treating yourself after this big win?”
“Soba.”
Easy, just as it should be. He was on auto-pilot, even as the reporter entered into her so-called rapid fire stage. Just say whatever comes to mind first and it’ll be over soon.
Until it backfires.
“Now Shoto, you have a very large female fan base crushing on you everyday. Do you have a special girl in your life?”
“‘Special girl?’” Todoroki blinks. They didn’t teach him this at the agency.
“You know, any pretty girls at school?”
“Like Yaoyorozu?”
———-
In the common area, Class A’s mood flips from their obnoxious cackling to a deathly silence. The spark being their Vice President’s name slipping out of Todoroki’s lips. And Yaoyorozu herself? Choking on her tea, its calming effects rendered useless with the latest revelation.
“M-M-Me?” Yaoyorozu stutters, eyes wide in shock.
It was a class ritual to watch Todoroki’s interviews because he always said funny, weird shit. But today? They didn’t know if it was a reckoning or the best thing that ever happened.
“What the fuck…” Jiroh gasps.
“So the shit show begins…” Tokoyami sighs.
“It’s only downhill from here for Todoroki-chan,” Tsu comments. “He was doing so good ‘til now.”
“Ohh is this a secret crush? A girlfriend?”
“‘Girlfriend?’” Todoroki repeats, confused.
“AHHH SO CUTE! THIS JUST IN FOLKS: ENDEAVOR’S SON CONFIRMS HIS SECRET RELATIONSHIP!”
“How do I have-”
“Now, tell us all about your new girlfriend Yaoyorozu!”
“Uh-confidential?”
On the screen, a sidekick drags Todoroki away, who is in disbelief at the turning tides. Midoriya turns the TV off, too aware of Yaoyorozu squirming next to him on the couch. He stands up, wavering his hands to the group.
“Hey guys, lets keep in mind that this is not Yaoyo-”
No one listens.
“TODOROKI IS IN LOVE WITH YAOMOMO!” Kirishima declares.
“I KNEW IT HALFIE HAS HORMONES!”
“GREATEST INTERVIEW EVER!”
“Intraclass relationships, oh how do I manage this as your President?!”
“I’m not dating him, Iida-san!”
“Guys, it’s all over the news!” Hagakure squeals, scrolling on her phone.
Yaoyoruzu opens her phone’s News app, horrified at the flood of Todoroki’s face on her feed.
“Endeavor’s Son Reveals Secret Girlfriend!”
“Icy Hot Hero’s Steamy Love Affair!”
“Shoto Breaks Our Hearts, Announces New Girlfriend Yaoyorozu!”
“Guess I’m not the only one staring at your boobs,” Mineta jeers, drooling in Yaoyorozu’s direction.
“Todoroki-san isn’t like that!” Yaoyorozu exclaims, crossing her arm to shield her chest.
“He legit admitted he’s got the hots for you, Yaomomo,” Sero cackles.
“I bet there’s a lotta wild thoughts within that dense skull,” Denki hollers, earning a punch from Jiroh.
“Give Yaoyorozu a break. We know Todoroki,” Midoriya tries to calm the situation. “He probably just said the first girl that came to mind.”
“That’s why it’s hilarious! First in mind, first in heart!”
“I thought he swung the other side,” Tokoyami shrugs, nudging at Kirishima and Bakugo.
“WHACHA TRYNA IMPLY, CHICKEN BOY?!”
Midoriya catches Yaoyorozu stand up abruptly from the couch, then run away from the common area. Hearing a door slam shut upstairs, he sighs.
Honestly, he would have done the same too.
——
He had been caught off guard.
They told him not to mention his private life for this reason. Now he was dealing with the pitfalls, his own words manipulated against him.
Todoroki doesn’t know how to escape this mess. Except, well, by actually escaping the interview and jumping back to his dorm. Nor does his father screaming through the phone make it any better.
“SHOTO! WHY AM I LEARNING ABOUT YOUR GIRLFRIEND ON TV?!”
“Look-”
“Who is this girl? Why haven’t I met her? What’s her class ranking? How compatible is her Quirk with yours? Who did she intern under? I need references. And how the fuck does she put up with your dumbass-”
Todoroki hangs up the phone, U.A. now in sight. He makes his final descent from his ice, then deactivates his Quirk on his dorm’s rooftop.
His classmates definitely watched that interview. The fact that he could hear yelling, alongside his own name, confirms so. Todoroki never understood why they found his interviews amusing, but today proved them right. He rather go straight to his room than deal with the mass interrogation awaiting him.
“Come on, that fool will never ask Yaomomo out! All he cares is trolling his pops!”
“Todoroki’s too dense to know what feelings are!”
Yaoyorozu…
He embarrassed her in front of their class and needed to apologize. It wasn’t his intentional to being her up, if she would believe it. It really was a slip.
And he’s not as dense as his Class thinks. He’s just…unsure on how to proceed. When second year started, being around Yaoyorozu made him feel a certain way that wasn’t there before. Something that he couldn’t see with Midoriya and the other guys. That she was someone to admire beyond her looks. That she was a trustworthy companion who never judged his stupid feelings. That he wanted them to be something more than a good friend who he trains and studies with. It was just an evolved form of their platonic friendship, right?
Except there had moments where Todoroki knew this was not the case. Moments that made him not in control, whether it was unintentionally activating his left side, finding his fist clenched right, or avoiding Yaoyorozu just to not deal with whatever turmoil he endured.
When their hands skimmed the other by chance and lingered for too many seconds. When they always sat next to each other during class movie nights. When he automatically checked the tea supply so Yaoyorozu never runs out. When he saw another third-year asking her out again. When he pinned her down during practice and her exhausted gaze was so inviting, he would have closed their gap if it weren’t for Aizawa-sensei declaring their match over.
This was the not an ideal time, but Todoroki wanted to get this over with. That stupid interview may have brought in unwanted variables, but his only focus was that Yaoyorozu was alright.
——
He called her “pretty,” Yaoyorozu muses in bed.
She knew it was an accident. Todoroki was never good at interviews, especially now that he’s one of the top young heroes alongside Bakugo and Midoriya. There is so much attention on him, he was bound to mess up like this. She just never thought it would involve her at some point.
“Why did he say my name first?” Yaoyorozu mutters into her pillow. “Could he…”
No, don’t go down that spiral. This wasn’t abnormal. He just thought she was pretty, nothing else. And based on the number of times she’s been asked of, several guys did too. Todoroki was merely catching up to a normal guy’s thought process.
You’re overreacting.
They do spend a lot of time together. And they text a lot, mainly for study and training sessions. Normal friend stuff, right? Just a boy and girl hanging out, alone with each other multiple times a week with minimal physical contact. There was nothing more, even if she wanted otherwise.
Todoroki is just getting used to having friends. It’s not a big deal that you’re the only girl he actively hangs out with. There’s no reason to think he sees you that way. Just keep your crush in check until he’s ready.
“Yaoyorozu, can we talk?”
“T-T-Todoroki-san?!”
Yaoyorozu gasps at the knocking on her window. She doesn’t dare to glance back. She knows Todoroki is right there, on the roof, knocking on her window. Like they’re in some romantic teen comedy-
Blushing harder, she rolls over, pulling the blankets over nose.
“I-I’m not feeling well.”
“Do you need medicine? You look really red. I can take you to Recovery Girl.”
She buries herself more, bothered by his offer. He’s escorted other girls to the nurse before.
“Or tea? I’ll make the honey ginger one.”
She drinks that a lot during study sessions, everybody knows that.
“What can I do to make you feel better?”
The last question makes her heart clench. He’s never been forward about her well-being, not sound so defeated at not having the answer. As if this was his sole responsibility instead of her own immaturity.
“I-I’m fine. Just tired from training.”
She hears a tired sigh on the other side of the window.
“I’m sorry for embarrassing you on TV. I’ll talk to everybody to stop teasing you.”
She hears Todoroki take the first step away. Her eyes widen as her body moves on its own, leaping out of bed to prop the window open. Todoroki halts at her sudden action, eyes just as wide in disbelief.
“Ano, Todoroki-san,” Yaoyorozu calls, gulping nervously. Todoroki turns around to walk back to her window. She didn’t know how to start this, her face warming up at the only thing she wanted to know.
“Do you think I’m attractive?”
“Yes.” The answer was immediate, even for Todoroki. Her blush was resuming all over again, probably crimson at this point.
“And do you find other girls…to be pretty?”
There was a longer, unsettling pause. “…Yes.”
Her chest aches. No surprise there. “O-Okay.”
“I like being around you more,” he adds quickly.
She watches him kneel down, bringing both to eye level with each other. He looked aloof as always, yet his whole body was tense. Was she making him uncomfortable?
She should have backed away to give him more space. Instead, Yaoyorozu finds herself leaning towards him over her desk. She’s rarely this close to him, where the smallest tilt would finally know how Todorok’s lips would feel against hers…
“I think about you a lot, so maybe that’s why I said your name in that interview,” Todoroki looks down, as if ashamed of revealing this information.
“And…how do you think of me then?”
She bites her lips, anxious to hear his next words. She’s still convinced that it’s nothing, but his gaze turns away from hers, only to something lower on her face.
“I don’t know the right words, but if you allow me…”
He makes the first move, pressing his forehead to hers. Yaoyorozu’s heartrate speeds out of control. His lips are just too close, just grazing her own nose. And his eyes say that he wants to do the same thing as she does.
“I’m better at showing than talking.”
——-
“Hey Yaomomo, we wanted to come by and apolo - AHHHHHH TODOROKI IS MAKING OUT WITH HER!”
“SO THE INTERVIEW WAS TRUE!!!”
“HOW DARE YOU LIE TO ME, YOUR CLASS PRESIDENT!”
“Ah…Revelry in the dark.”
————
Thank you for reading through my first Todomomo one-shot! Feel free to leave any feedback or comments. Planning to do more of these before starting a legitimate multi-fic.
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