Hey, here's the sequel to 'you float away and leave me behind.' It would mean a lot if you could leave a review or favorite on this story and my other MHA one (it's tokoyami/midoriya, if that interests you)

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters in My Hero Academia

(Edit: 10/16/17, I added line breaks for better reading!)

Lesson 1:

Shouto, apparently, can not keep his mouth shut. He used to think this was something he was exceptionally good at but obviously, with the way Midoriya was looking at him (face flushed, mouth slightly open, even the way he looked shocked was pretty), he was wrong.

He didn't think he said anything surprising, just a simple, "You're amazing, too, Izuku-"

Wait.

Oh.

He may know how he messed up. He can feel a crushing coldness almost exceptionally close to using half of his quirk for too long is like, and he has no one to blame but himself. He didn't mean to, but at some point during the late nights when it was just him and the quiet night, he would think about Midoriya as Izuku and he would think of Izuku as his.

And, well, wasn't he? In some way?

"Sorry," he said instead.

Midoriya trembled for a moment, before he put his hand on Todoroki's arm, sending him a smile. "It's alright, Tenya calls me Izuku, s-so you can too!"

Shouto freezes again, but it wasn't from embarrassment. No, this time, it was something closer to anticipation. He leaned closer, letting a sliver of steam escape his lips. Quietly, he said, "Then call me Shouto, Izuku."

Once again, there was a tremble, and Shouto wondered if he was imagining the moment between them or not.

And then Izuku looked behind him, a grin splitting his face as he called out, "Tenya!"

Shouto felt his mood sour. Iida was a friend, one he didn't feel as close to as Izuku, but he was still a friend, so in most cases it didn't make sense that he would feel this way to him.

Iida sat down across from Izuku, his hand reaching out across the coffee table. Izuku didn't hesitate in doing the same, and their fingers interlocked, a moment just between them, so intimate it shocked Shouto to the core to see Iida do something like that in public. Iida flushed, looking away, when him and Izuku finally let go, but Shouto saw his smile.

'Oh yeah,' he thought to himself, that same sour bitterness coating every inch of him, 'that's why.'

Lesson 2:

Jealousy doesn't look good on anyone. Shouto wasn't prone to jealousy, and this was mainly due to the fact that, despite however much he didn't want to be, he was the son of the Number 2 Hero. That wasn't to say that he never got jealous, not when he saw happy families or heard his classmates gushing over their moms. He got jealous, but never something that burned, that made him irrational, that pushed him to act on it.

He should've guessed that when it involved Izuku he would act differently.

He knew that Izuku had wanted something with him, and that was fine. Shouto wasn't sure exactly how he felt at the time, just that it made him feel good. He also knew that Izuku decided that since it seemed like Shouto wasn't interested, that he should get over him, but Shouto thought that whatever they had couldn't be forgotten that easily, that if he flirted and smiled and did everything right, Izuku would want him again.

Iida whispered something to Izuku, the usual movement of his hands subdued in the quiet air of the library. Izuku's shoulders shook, he hunched in, trying to stuff his laughter back down into himself.

Shouto burned.

He stood up, forcing his hands to unclench, grabbing his bag and the open book, before stalking over to Izuku and Iida.

They both looked surprised when he dropped his bag and slammed his book onto the table.

"Sh-Shouto? What's-" Izuku began, but he was cut off when Shouto dropped into the chair next to him, before burying his face into Izuku's side.

"Izuku."

"Y-yeah?"

Shouto peeked out, face blank, before murmuring lowly, "I don't understand the math, can you help?"

"S-Sure!" Izuku said.

His face was so red that with his green hair he looked like-

"A strawberry," Shouto said. At the confused looks the others sent him, he struggled to not blush himself. "You look like a strawberry, Izuku."

That just made the boy turn even more red than before, and he sputtered before turning his attention back to his bag, looking for his math textbook.

He could, however, still feel an intense gaze boring into him. He looked up, raising an eyebrow at Iida. Iida's eyes flicked over to a still hunched over and muttering Izuku, before he looked back at him. Shouto chuckled, because it was nice to know that he wasn't the only jealous one.

Iida glared, and just for that, when Izuku came back up, Shouto threw an arm around his waist.

Lesson 3:

You can't win the heart of someone who doesn't think you like them, Shouto finds out.

And honestly, the way he did hurt.

He had gone down to get a drink of water, and surprisingly, Izuku had been there too, with Iida of course.

They has been talking, voices low, but that had stopped when Shouto stepped into the kitchen doorway.

"Izuku," Shouto had said, feeling the corners of his lips pull up, "what are you doing here?"

"Tenya and I are making cookies for the class," Izuku said, but Shouto saw the way he only seemed to tense up.

"Do you need any help?"

Izuku looked at Iida, hesitating, and Shouto felt a creeping sensation make its way up his back.

"We are fine," Iida said, his hand flapping left and right.

"I asked Izuku." Shouto knew that his response was cold, something that bordered on angry, but he couldn't help himself.

"Shouto-"

Izuku was cut off by Iida standing up, hand slamming onto the edge of the table. "That is exactly why we are fine!"

"Tenya-"

"You don't speak for Izuku," Shouto rumbled. "Stop butting in to what we have."

"What you have," Iida began, head lowering, "what you have...is nothing!"

Shouto and Izuku both jolted, Iida himself even seemed surprised by what he had said.

Shouto looked at Izuku, a desperate want drowning him. "We have something, don't we?"

Izuku gaped, his mouth forming words that weren't coming.

"Izuku?" Shouto asked, stepping closer. "Please, I-I thought…"

"What?" Iida demanded.

Shouto swallowed back anything that told him he was doing the wrong thing, and said, "You said you like me, so act on it."

Silence reigned through the room. Iida, who only moments before had a fire burning in his eyes, blinked, and that fire was gone, as easily blown out as a candle.

Izuku said nothing, his head whipping from Iida to Shouto, before finally, Iida spoke again.

"He also," Iida started, stopping for only a second, his tongue darting out to wet his lips, before pushing out, "said that he was getting over those feelings. That is what he's acting on."

Shouto froze, and this time, his quirk really did start up. Pieces of frost decorated his skin, covering him, reminding him that no matter how hard he strived, his emotions still controlled him, still made him lose it.

He left the kitchen.

(Lesson 4)

It's important, Shouto learns, to listen to the people who matter to you.

And Izuku mattered him.

After he had left the kitchen, Izuku followed him, and Iida darted out after.

He had been in his room, alone and cursing himself, for only five minutes before his door swung open, and there Izuku stood, panting and crying.

"Shouto," Izuku tried to say, but it mainly came out as "Sho...ho."

"Shouto," Izuku tried again, this time, Shouto faintly noted, was far more successful.

"Shouto," quieter, closer, when did Izuku get closer, when did Shouto take his hand, curling their fingers together just how he saw Iida do.

"Izuku," he said, raw and open as a bleeding wound.

He took a chance, grabbing the back of Izuku's head, letting the curling gather between his fingers.

One tug, the brush of lips. They stopped, together, and then that brush became something closer to a crash.

A gasp came from the doorway, and Izuku broke away from him. Shouto turned with him, unsurprised to find Iida trembling, red eyes wet, his hand hovering over his open mouth.

Izuku peeled away, going over to Iida, pushing that hand down, getting onto the tips of his toes, and then he kissed Iida, too.

They stayed like that for a moment, before Izuku dropped back down.

Izuku looked over to Shouto, and he seemed more sure of himself than he ever had before.

"You said to act on my feelings," he said, green eyes wide, a raging storm of determination. "That's how I feel, for both of you."

Shouto knew, as he got up, took Izuku's wrist and pushed him into the wall, mouthing over his neck, as he heard the click of the door, saw Iida come over, mouth clacking against Izuku's, that this boy would be the end of him.

It was a good thing he loved him.

("So, let me get this straight," Momo growled, "Midoriya confessed that he likes you, but because you think that what you feel is 'strong platonic love' you're not going to act on it?"

The "yes" Shouto gives sounds ridiculous to even his own ears, especially when Momo groans in frustration.

She takes a deep breath, pushing it all out in one go, before looking him in the eyes again. "Let's go about this a different way. How do you feel when Midoriya is near?"

Shouto thought about it for a moment before responding, "I feel happy."

"And when he's with Iida, laughing, happy, or just doing anythin?"

"I… I feel like the heat side of my quirk is going to burst out, like the ice side is going to turn the world into a tundra."

"Do you think about Midoriya more than you feel is normal, or when he's not around you're more sad, or maybe you'd do anything to keep him happy?

Shouto found himself nodding along to everything she said.

"Todoroki," Momo began, before showing him her phone, "I honestly just got those questions from an 'Is It Love?' test. What you feel isn't what friends feel for each other, or at least, not the amount you feel for Midoriya."

Shouto blinked, before slowly coming to the realization that this meant that not only did he love Midoriya, Midoriya thought that he didn't love him.

Something had to be done)

"So," Uraraka began, "are you and Todoroki dating?"

"Yep," Izuku said.

"What?" Mina asked, shock coloring her face. "I thought you and Iida were a thing, to be honest."

Izuku chuckled, before nodding his head, "We are."

"Wait," Uraraka and Mina both said with almost twin looks of confusion.

"Izuku," Shouto called. "Come on, you know how Iida is with showing up on time."

Tenya waved both of his hands in a pacifying manner, "Not that it will be a major problem, but please let me remind you that the movie we will be seeing goes on in about two hours, and we will need at least an hour to eat, and then-"

Izuku laughed, boisterous and bright, before he walked over to Tenya and sweetly kissed him. Shouto took his hand, tugging him closer, dropping a kiss into the bundle of green that was his hair.

Uraraka shook her head, before turning to Mina. "You know, I should be less surprised, but…"

Mina laughed, before nuzzling her nose into Uraraka's cheek. "Yeah, I'm just glad they worked it all out, you know, babe?"

Uraraka looked at the three fading figures, before laughing too. "Yeah, I think they're gonna be alright."

If Izuku, Tenya, or Shouto had heard her, they would have agreed, and meant it too.