Todoroki x Reader Arranged Marriage
“The rankings come out in a month and a half,” you say casually, but I know it isn’t really about the rankings. It’s about time. “In two and a half months, I defend my thesis.”
I nod without looking away. Then you roll onto your side, resting your head on your hand as you settle closer to me.
“And we’re getting married in less than five,” you finish, narrowing your eyes just a little. “You’re not going to change your mind at the last minute, are you?”
It sounds like a joke, but I can hear the faint thread of uncertainty in your voice, one that doesn’t show itself very often. My hand moves on instinct, brushing through your hair as it frames those attentive eyes waiting quietly for my answer. I shake my head.
“Of course not,” I say before pressing a kiss to your forehead.
“That’s good,” you add, slipping right back into your usual self. “I knew it was a silly question.”
Even though the conversation seems to be over, you don’t pull away. Instead, you take advantage of the kiss I left on your forehead to bury your face against my neck, at first as though you were simply hiding there, and then you leave a small kiss against my skin.
It’s intimate in a different way from the intimacy we’ve built over these past months. But I don’t mind. If anything, it awakens a new kind of curiosity I’d never allowed myself to feel. I stay where I am, unmoving, feeling the warmth of your breath against my neck.
“Shoto...” Your voice sounds vulnerable, and suddenly the air around me feels heavy.
“Yeah?” I ask before searching for your eyes.
I don’t let you go. I don’t want to. The only thing I feel is a deep desire to have you even closer, to kiss you, to bury my face against your skin.
“Are you still overthinking everything?”
You draw another smile from me with such ease because the way you read me is almost overwhelming.
I feel your body move a little closer, and my hand leaves your face to help you close the distance. Hesitantly, I rest it against your waist.
“You don’t have to guess what I want,” you say as though it were the simplest thing in the world, because words have always been your language. You pause. “Just ask me.”
My fingers tighten slightly, an unconscious attempt to feel your skin instead of the fabric separating us. It’s almost funny, because with you, everything feels simpler.
“What is it that you want?” I ask, barely recognizing my own voice. It sounds far steadier than I actually feel.
And that is when I realize that everything else has disappeared. Everything: the time we have to wake up tomorrow, the guest list our parents keep changing, the interviews I have this week, even the plant hanging in your room that already needs water fades from my field of vision. Because now the only thing I am capable of seeing is your open eyes, full of trust, your warm and steady breathing mingling with the lavender scent from the rest of the tea sitting on the nightstand.
“You.” There is no hesitation in your expression when you say it. Apparently, the answer has been there long before I ever dared to ask. “Closer to me.”
I just released a new Patreon one-shot: Hanahiraku (花開く) 🌸
A Todoroki x Reader arranged marriage story about learning that love isn’t always loud — sometimes it’s found in the quiet moments, in trust, and in choosing each other every day.
It will be available publicly on AO3 in a few weeks, but Patreon readers can read it now, including a special intimate scene that will remain exclusive there. 🤍