Good Enough
(My Hero Academia: Ler!Todoroki/Lee!Momo)
Wordcount: 906
Heya ZD!, surprise! I was your pinchhitter for the secret santa this year! I'm so sorry this took so long to get finished, I had a lot come up at once irl, and I know it's already pretty late, but I hope you enjoy anyway!^^
"Yaoyorozu... I really don't think it's a good idea to keep pushing yourself like this..."
Todoroki sighed, unable to suppress a small frown of concern as he watched his classmate do sit up after sit up, a set look of determination on the girl's face despite how exhausted she had to be by now...
Ever since their recent joint training against Aizawa, despite winning, the girl had seemed adamant on doubling down on her training, and had shyly asked Todoroki himself if he wouldn't mind helping her out, and he'd seen no reason to turn her down at the time.
Now though, he was beginning to wonder if getting a teacher involved might be a good idea by this point. It had been two weeks, and it was almost like every bit of freetime she had was spent training... She was wearing herself out, and if she wasn't careful, she could end up seriously hurting herself in the process of trying to improve.
And yet...
"Oh, don't worry, I'm fine, honestly! I really do appreciate your concern though." She would always brush off any concerned comments with that same tired smile, exactly like that.
Todoroki knew the signs of being overworked though. In fact, his entire childhood had practically been consumed by it under his father's strict training regimens, and he also understood the negative consequences that could come with it if the mind and body weren't given ample time to rest.
So, he did the one thing he could think of that wouldn't force him to get Aizawa-sensei involved, something that Kirishima had once demonstrated on Todoroki himself when the dual quirked teen used to have a similar struggle of managing his time...
"Really Todoroki-kun, I promise, there's truly nothing to- Eeheek!" Momo suddenly squeaked, eyes widening as she sat straight up, surprised by the uncharacteristic blush on her classmate's face, hands still positioned over her sides where he'd pinched her gently.
"Take a break, or I'll tickle you." He says bluntly, fixing her with such an intense look that it almost startled her. Did he really just...
"But-" She tries to argue, only to be cut off again as he fixes he with an even harder stare, giving her a slight pause.
They stay like that for a long moment, Todoroki with a look of dissaproval, and Momo one of uncertainty.
"I... I really don't have time for joking around like this Todoroki-kun... I need to get back to training as quickly as possible, if not I might.. I'll end up.."
She trails off softly, fidgeting, and Todoroki frowns, sighing at the look of self loathing on her face, and after a moment, when it became clear that she wasn't going to agree... he pounced.
"Wha-?! Todoroki-kun what are you- Ee! Ehehe!! T-Todoroki-kuhuhun!!" She giggled out daintily in surprise when he suddenly lunged at her, both hands scribbling determinedly yet gently at her tummy, and she quickly brought a hand up to her blushing face in embarrassment. His technique was definitely unpracticed, but still effective enough to garner a reaction from the poor girl.
"I... I did warn you." He states, clearing his throat awkwardly as he continued his ministrations, still giving her enough room to back away if she wanted to, but she never did.
"You shouldn't be overworking yourself so much. You already do so much. Tutoring our classmates when they ask, helping Iida out with his duties as class representative, working extra hard in training..." He states, having to bite back the strange urge to smile at his classmate's embarrassed yet happy smile.
"B-Buhuhut if I don't keep trahahaining, wh-whahat if I-"
"You won't." He says firmly, interrupting her before she could continue on that line of thought any further. "You're not going to fall behind Yaoyorozu. You won't." He pauses, letting her catch her breath while he looks her straight in the eyes.
"You're not going to fall behind, because you're already more than enough. You're one of the most talented and dedicated people in our class, and even on the worst of days, none of us are going to think any less of you. Not our classmates, not our teachers, none of us."
He says, slowly helping her to sit back up as she seems to take his words to heart. "The only way you're going to end up failing, is if you keep overexerting yourself and get hurt, so please, don't-"
His words are suddenly cut off in response to the small sniffly laugh Yaoyorozu lets out just then, and he startles when he looks up to her to see tears dripping down her face.
"Ah. Yaoyorozu? Was it something I said? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset." He stammers awkwardly, wondering if maybe he'd gone about this all wrong. Maybe he should've gone about this differently after all, maybe he really should've just gotten one of the teachers involved instead, or one of his other classmates...
"No! No it's fine... Thank you, Todoroki-kun..." Yaoyorozu says suddenly, soft and genuine, drawing Todoroki out of his frantic second thoughts as she smiles at him tearfully, setting her hand on his shoulder in reassurance before slowly getting to her feet and extending her hand out to help him up as well.
"You're right... I think... I think it is time for a break..." She says with a small laugh. "So let's go get some Soba together, yeah?"
