The words stop Sero instantly. He freezes where he is, over-top of his boyfriend with the other boxed in against the bed, his fingers just barely brushing the slip of skin between Shouto's shirt and waistband.
He pops away from Shouto like he's been threatened, sitting stiffly on the edge of the bed. He tries not to feel too upset. After all, he knew that it wasn't going to be very long before Shouto realized he didn't /actually/ want to be his boyfriend.
It was pure luck that he managed to catch someone as special and amazing as /Shouto Todoroki/, even if it was just for a few months. Though he wonders where this is coming from. Things had been good, hadn't they?
Sero's mind skips back, trying to find the cracks in the relationship. Shouto had seemed happy to him. Had he done something wrong? Missed something important?
He starts a little when Shouto sits up, scooting in close behind him.
Shouto's fingers skim the back of his neck -- it's his cold side, Sero notes idly -- and slowly tangle into his hair. They fiddle for a moment before both of Shouto's arms come around him.
"What's wrong?"
Okay. Now Sero is confused. He clears his throat awkwardly, "You said we're done. I'm just...surprised, I guess."
Shouto's arms tighten around him, pressing his back to his chest, "Sorry. I said it wrong. I didn't mean it like that."
Sero doesn't yet let himself feel relief. Shouto's lips touch the back of his neck now, so softly it makes him shiver.
"I just mean...you always seem so anxious, when we do this part. Sometimes I wonder if you enjoy it or if you're just doing it for me."
Sero baulks. What? Of /course/ he enjoys sleeping with Shouto. He loves the way that Shouto whimpers when he kisses his neck, the way he clings when he curls his fingers just-so, the blissed out glassy look in his eyes after he cums -- there's nothing better than that.
"Do you not like it?" He asks, dreading the possible answers. He wants to turn and look at Shouto, but he also definitely does not.
"I like it," Shouto replies softly, "But sometimes...it's like you're trying so hard you forget to feel good yourself."
"I like focusing on you, Sho." Sero feels laughter bubbling up in him, his usually mechanism for avoiding awkward situations.
"You could let me focus on you, instead," Shouto's hand slides up his chest, slowly and gently.
"You don't need to do that,"
Shouto makes a displeased sound against his back, "And that. Do you not like me touching you?"
"It's...No, it's not that,"
"Then?"
Sero feels tense and uncomfortable, even cradled so gently in Shouto's arms. He bites his lip, his dark eyes flicking from one part of his room to another as if anything will give him an answer that doesn't sound pitiful. Finally, he shrugs.
"Just making this worth your time."
Shouto releases him suddenly and Sero almost flinches.
"Worth my time? You're my boyfriend?" Shouto sounds incredulous in a way that is wholly alien, "What are you talking about?"
Sero puffs out his cheeks and sighs, "...come on, Sho. We both know you can do better."
Shouto says nothing and the silence is painful, so words start falling out of Sero's mouth. Even as he panics and tries to stop.
Despite Shouto's voice being several decibels quieter, it silences Sero like a thunderclap.
"Kind. Patient," Shouto's arms are circling him again, slowly, tightly, "Charismatic. Funny. Gentle."
Sero can feel himself shaking and it's incredibly embarrassing. Part of him wants to run but the other is melting into Shouto's firm hold.
"You make me happy," Shouto whispers against Sero's back. "...is that not enough?"
The words hit him like a brick to the gut. Gods, he really was pathetic, worrying so much about how Shouto felt about him without actually considering /how he felt/. Shouto was blunt, incredibly so. He could have just asked.
"...yeah." His voice is thick, "Yeah, it is."
Shouto exhales and Sero can feel the tension bleed out of his body, can feel him sag against the plane of his back. And then Shouto kisses the back of his neck again, hands spreading across his chest and abs.
"Do you still want to-?" he asks gently, and Sero nods.
"Let me-" Shouto's voice is still small and quiet but Sero hears him clearly nonetheless. He exhales and tries to relax, to tell himself that it's okay not to take charge every time.
He idly wonders if his quiet, sometimes shy boyfriend has wanted to take the reins for a while.
Shouto's cool hand slides up while his warm hand slides down. The pad of his thumb brushes over Sero's nipple through his shirt, then circles and presses gently. His lips find bare skin just above his collar to be kissed and nibbled.
It's difficult to take a backseat. Sero has always felt like he's needed to take charge, needed to be the confident and active party...but it's not /Shouto/ that's ever made him feel like that.
So when Shouto settles in behind him more comfortably, when he tugs Sero back just a little to lean into him, when he hand dips low and opens his pants to palm him with a surprising amount of urgency...Sero does his best to let himself go.
"You're a good boyfriend," Shouto mutters against his ear between kissing and nibbling the shell, "Cos you're you. Not cos of this stuff."
Sero isn't sure how to respond, especially since the sentence is punctuated by Shouto pulling his boxers away so his cock can spring free.
He's switched hands without Sero noticing. He hisses a little when Shouto's cold hand wraps around him firmly, thumb sliding across the leaking head with a slow, agonizing press.
"Th-This is a plus though, I hope~?" He jokes, hoping it'll land.
Shouto bites down on his shoulder with a huff and admits, "This is a plus."
Sero finally lets himself laugh but it's quickly strangled out of him as Shouto starts to stroke him, even and controlled motions that have his hips jerking. He swears under his breath.
"Let me take care of you sometimes," Shouto says, almost plaintive, as if he isn't turning Sero to jelly right now, "I want to make you cum too, you know."
Sero's fingers are digging into Shouto's thighs where they are so neatly slotted outside his own, "Y-You're about to-"
"Hm," Shouto slides his hand down to the base of Sero's cock and /squeezes/, and Sero almost -- almost -- shouts.
"Wh-...What gives?" He asks, breathless, twitching in the wake of the orgasm that was just beat back with all the grace of a missed stair.
"I'm going to make you cum," Shouto replies, despite taking his hands off of Sero completely and starting to move away, "But I want to be inside you when you do it."
Sero really should be used to Shouto's blunt and passive affect but that still bowls him over.
His brain runs away with it. Shouto over top of him for once, holding him down, their hips pressed together. It's an incredibly appealing idea.
A little too appealing. Especially for someone who had just been really close to getting off.
"...Sero." Shouto doesn't sound disappointed, just exasperated.
Sero, however, is embarrassed enough to want to jump out of the two-story window regardless of being in a state of undress and covered in his own cum.
"You can't just.../say/ things like that after touching my dick-!" Sero's defense of himself is weak, he knows it.
Shouto slides from the bed with a roll of his eyes, "Well...you never let me get by with only one, so you should get comfortable."
"O-Oh." Sero says dumbly, quickly fumbling out of the rest of his clothes as Shouto watches appreciatively, "Y-...You're sure?"
Sero finds himself boxed in, in the same position he'd had Shouto not long ago. It feels...good.
Sero observes his boyfriend and comes to a realization.
Shoto Todoroki's passive affect is basically iconic. His flat expression, his quiet and steady voice, his incredible bluntness -- these things are trademarks of his character.
Alongside it was a certain cluelessness, maybe even a naivety, that often lead to plenty of comedic moments. Everyone remembered how baffled and confused Shoto had been during Mt. Lady's teaching them all how to face the public.
Title: Call of the Sea
Something for #mermay! #BKDK
Trans!DK
Will tag triggers as they arrive.
Izuku had wanted to work at the Conservatory since he was a young child. His mother had taken him to see some of the Mers housed there and had inadvertently set him on a path of conservational science.
Finally getting the job meant that all of his hard work had paid off.
Now, he was part of a team of researchers, doctors, caretakers, and conservationists that were all dedicated to the Merfolk that populated the waters of the world.
The Yuuei Conservatory was one of the largest on the planet and the most prestigious.
Katsuki is about thirty seconds away from slapping his partner (both business and pleasure) right out of his chair. Eijirou has been bouncing his leg for the last ten minutes, making his chair squeak irritably.
They've been waiting in the office for at least half an hour and it's always been difficult for the redhead to sit still. Regardless, his anxiety is giving Katsuki a nagging headache, and he needs to keep his temper in check for the upcoming meeting.
Being feared was enjoyable, but he had to admit that it did eventually get old. For untold ages he had been fed by the panicked glance into the periphery, by the rush of adrenaline soaked fear, the disbelief that nothing lurked there in the shadow. Perhaps.
But it did get old.
He was lucky. Unlike other entities of his particular breed, he didn't /need/ to be worshipped. Didn't need to stir up the feelings in humans that drove them to ask his space of the depths for his protection or attention.