Shoto Birthday Special!

***Oh hi there, Reader-chan- if you're unsure as to why this chapter is late, then please direct your attention to the conversation section under my profile; it explains it in more detail. Additionally, the events portrayed in the first 100 words of this chapter have happened to me as well, making me feel bad that I didn't get my friend a present on time because she gave me literally 3 days' warning.***


~~7th Of January~~



The school was great.


Hanging out with my friends was great.


Life was great.


At least, that's what I thought ten minutes ago, "Shoto, why didn't you tell me it was your birthday on the 11th! That's literally in a few days!"


Not seeing why I was getting so worked up, my dual-toned friend simply tilted his head, "Should I have given you more warning?"


My right hand met my forehead as Shoto turned to ask Midoriya, who was sitting next to him, "Midoriya, do you understand why Y/N's so annoyed at me?"


Unfortunately for Shoto, Midoriya was also panicking, mumbling all sorts of possible gift ideas under his breath as our friend simply watched with confusion.


Frantically looking around for inspiration, my gaze landed on Shoto's chopsticks, which he'd just picked up again to resume eating. The novel idea of getting him a pair of custom chopsticks came to mind, but I wasn't sure if I could get them in time for his birthday, so I filed the thought away and kept searching.


Shoto appeared to have accepted that neither of us were capable of coherent speech anymore, so he simply reminded us, "Lunch is over in ten minutes, so you might want to finish eating before then."


His words shook us out of our stupor and we hurriedly finished eating, then headed to our respective changing rooms to get dressed for our next class: hero training.


~~8th of January~~


Since Shoto's actual birthday fell on a Monday, his surprise party would be on the day before, Sunday the 10th of January. This further encroached on the time we had to plan the party and buy his gifts.


Iida, Mina, Uraraka, Kirishima, and begrudgingly Bakugo as well, had all joined forces with me and Midoriya to plan the party, but it was still slow going.


We decided to plan the party during and after school, leaving us the Saturday to finish up buying the presents. Since Bakugo always called Shoto 'icyhot' and Shoto had been getting muscle cramps recently, I suggested he gift the birthday boy a tub of his nickname's namesake, IcyHot.


Seeing an opportunity to annoy Shoto with a reminder of his nickname, Bakugo immediately stole the idea and disappeared from the group chat. Uraraka decided to do some home baking and make some cookies for Shoto, Iida heading down a similar route by promising to supply an appropriate cake. (Mostly because he didn't trust us with the cake though.)


Mina, our snack-loving queen, called dibs on snacks and drinks as well as supplying a venue: my house. I sent my father a text, briefly experiencing flashbacks to chapter 17 as I did so, and soon got the go-ahead to use the house from Hawks. Midoriya finally managed to decide which specific piece of All Might merchandise he would give Shoto as Kirishima had an amazing idea: the revolutionary tortilla blanket.


***What is a tortilla blanket, you may ask?


Allow me to enlighten you!


It is a circular blanket with a soft underside and one large tortilla print on the top.



And above all else, it is a worthy gift for Shoto Todoroki, who most likely won't have a clue what to do with it upon receiving it.***


Kirishima departed soon after, on a mission to locate and purchase a tortilla blanket as soon as he could.


Last but not least, I'd decided to check out Art & Time to see if I could get any inspiration, so I briskly walked over to the quaint store and headed in. At first glance, nothing really caught my eye, so I headed over to the cashier. He was quite tall, wearing a lime green hoodie and black cargo pants as he idly stood behind the counter. I walked up with a smile, "Hey, I'm looking for a present for my friend, but nothing's really caught my eye yet. Do you have any recommendations?"


His light brown bangs fell over his green-grey eyes as he tilted his head in consideration, "Tell me more about your friend while we walk."


I was slightly confused as to what he meant until he walked out from behind the counter and headed towards a display, at which point I moved to follow him. One glance at the badge on his hoodie told me his name was Yume, but before I could act on this knowledge, a flash of purple entered my peripheral. I immediately whirled around, just barely seeing a feminine figure with long purple hair walk past Art & Time's front door.


Yume also seemed to notice, his eyes widening slightly in alarm as I rushed towards the door and looked for the woman again. The woman was already gone by the time I got there, but judging by Yume's reaction, she hadn't simply been a figment of my imagination either. As I turned to question him, however, he sighed and quickly spoke, "Sorry, but that woman right there is a wanted criminal, so I'm closing early and calling the police!"


Peeved at my overreaction and assumption that he knew her, I nodded and left the shop quickly, not seeing Yume scolding said purple-haired woman in the shop as I did so. As I walked through the chilly streets of Musutafu looking for inspiration, a few snowflakes had started falling, and when one landed on the back of my exposed neck, I bitterly wished I'd brought a scarf.


And then I blinked a few times, a devious plan forming as I quickly headed towards the inner city once more.



~~10th Of January~~



I glanced at Shoto, who was more than a little confused, as we took the elevator to Hawks' penthouse and smiled, "What's up?"


He met my gaze, "I'm suspicious of you and Midoriya."

I sweat-dropped, "Uhh, w-why?"


As he considered his response, I internally berated myself; Nice save, Y/N, now he definitely thinks we're up to something!


However, I was saved by the  ̶b̶e̶l̶l elevator notification sound, alerting us that we'd arrived on our destination floor. Deliberately not giving Shoto a chance to speak, I quickly entered the hallway and he followed, the only apartment door in the entire short corridor before us when we stopped. I unlocked the 'door,' which actually only made the keypad accessible, then punched in the 6-digit code and waited for the door to actually unlock. Even though it only required a key and a code to unlock, the locking mechanism itself was now insanely strong, easily repelling would-be-thieves or diehard Hawks fans. As I closed the door behind us and made sure it was locked, Shoto commented, "You got an upgrade?"


I raised an eyebrow as I hung up my coat, "Would you rather dad and I turn up on your doorstep again?"


He snorted softly, "It was amusing to say the least."


Then, after Shoto and I left the house's small mudroom, I flicked the living room lights on with a grin, "Happy birthday, Shoto!"


My friends, who'd been hidden in the dark living room, all jumped up (with the exception of Bakugo, who simply muttered 'damned extra') and parroted, "Happy birthday, Todoroki!"


Thanks to Mina, the penthouse living room had been decorated with snowflake garlands and various other winter-esque decorations to appeal to Shoto's... y'know... conviction.


Said dual-toned boy blinked a few times before his head slowly swiveled towards me, "You planned this, I assume?"


I gave him a thumbs-up and a wink, "I had the idea and the others joined in!"


Shoto looked around at everyone gathered in the living room, then remarked with mild shock, "Oh wow, you even got Bakugo to help too."


I raised my hands and backed away from said angry pomeranian, "Well actually that was more Kirishi-"

Bakugo took that moment to toss Shoto's gift at him, then stomped out of the apartment as Kirishima dutifully went to go after him, but returned seconds later empty-handed, "Sorry guys, he's already gone!"


Mina laughed, "That's such a Bakugo thing to do though!"


Iida was bowing and Kirishima was sheepishly apologizing, but Shoto simply waved them off and unwrapped Bakugo's gift, "Ah, icyhot, just what I needed."


His monotone tone and clear lack of understanding of the pun caused most of us to immediately burst out laughing, which evidently confused Shoto enough for Iida to feel bad and fill him in. 


Kirishima, once he'd recovered from his fit of manly chuckling, presented Shoto with a large tubular present, wrapped in red and white patterned wrapping paper. The tortilla blanket was revealed moments later, Shoto originally quite confused until he saw 'blanket' on the label and wrapped it around his shoulders.


Uraraka presented a small bag of cookies with a handmade card, which Shoto gratefully accepted and read, then stepped back to give him some space as he tried one of the cookies. His eyes widened and he gave a small smile before thanking Uraraka, then forced himself to save the rest for later.


Finally, it was my turn. I presented Shoto with a small floppy present wrapped in white and grey patterned wrapping paper, which he delicately opened to reveal a minimalistically patterned scarf.



Mina wheezed, "Inspiration much?"


I winked, then elaborated, "To prevent Shoto from needing to use his left side in order to keep warm in winter, I have gifted him a completely normal scarf."


Shoto didn't seem to get the reference, which was fantastic if you asked me, and donned the scarf immediately. As expected, he suited the scarf well, but we weren't done with him just yet.


Mina took the opportunity to bring out some food from the kitchen as Iida retrieved the cake, then Midoriya presented Shoto with his final gift and ominously spoke, "Put this on, then come back into the living room, okay?"


A few minutes later, everyone but Shoto was lounging on the sofas with the cake on the coffee table, at which point we heard a loud sigh from behind us, "If there is a god, why have they forsaken me so?"


Already quietly sniggering, we turned around to see Shoto standing there wearing none other than an All Might special-edition onesie.


***Couldn't get a pic of teenage Shoto in one, but I hope this shall suffice!***


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