#skyll rambles

At his new school, Izuku befriends Ochako. When he starts hanging out at her place, her dad takes a liking to him and becomes the father figure he never had. Whenever he shows Ochako how to build or fix something, Izuku is always included. With time, Izuku grows to really love construction work, and he realizes what a valuable career it is to the community. He still tries for UA, but when he fails, he sees Uraraka off with a smile and then accepts her parents' offer to intern at their construction company while in high school. Once he graduates, they hire him full-time.

Fast forward, and pro hero Shouto has been quickly climbing the ranks and is ready to open his own agency. His dad buys a very modern, expensive building for him. Shouto refuses it and instead buys a place that is quite literally crumbling apart. He wants to hire a construction team to turn it into something the surrounding neighborhood can be proud of.

The villain is apprehended, and their quirk's effect is finally revealed. Izuku is stuck feeling the emotions of the first person he touched after getting hit. This was Shouto, who helped him to his feet. The effects last three days.

They have VIP tickets, so they're practically flush against the stage. There are four back-up dancers in the front, and the leftmost one is so close, they can practically touch him. Since he's closer than the actual star, Todoroki decides to just watch him instead. He finds himself impressed with his dancing skills.

Meanwhile, on stage, Midoriya cannot help but notice that famed pro-hero Shouto is staring at him like he's the main attraction.

During the final number, all four lead back-up dancers all blow a kiss to the audience. Todoroki is only watching Midoriya, though, so he doesn't realize they all did it. He assumes Midoriya is a fan and the kiss was directed at him. He's never been blown a kiss before. Unsure of what to do, he catches it.

Midoriya cannot deny that, from within the audience, THE pro hero Shouto is flirting with him.

He goes backstage with the others, since they have passes. Midoriya sees him and assumes he asked to come back stage to talk to him. Swallowing his nerves, he approaches him. From Todoroki's perspective, the back-up dancer who blew him a kiss is now initiating conversation.

Meanwhile, Midoriya Hisashi has stopped sending money to his family. Inko wants a divorce, but he won't return to Japan, so it's a drawn-out legal process for the separation to happen, and the lawyer fees are costing money. Even once they're separated, she knows Hisashi won't pay child support. As long as he stays in America, it'll be next to impossible to hold him accountable. She needs money, so when she hears the Endeavor Agency is hiring, she applies, fully expecting not to get it. She does.

Option A: She can now afford her apartment, and she drives to work every day in time to take Shouto to school. However, Izuku has come home a few times now with burns. He lies and says there's a disgruntled salaryman on the train that singes people with his fire quirk when they don't give up their spot. Concerned, she starts driving him to school. This is easy because his school is on the way to Shouto's private school. The boys just have to ride together. For nine years, Shouto and Izuku share twenty-minutes a day together in the back of Inko's car, driving to and from school. They become hesitant friends, and by UA are both in love and both just as certain it's unrequited.

Also me: Okay, but what if he were born with a kissing quirk? Like, if he locks lips with someone, he can immobilize them for x amount of time. He can also blow a kiss and a little heart appears, and if it hits his target, they get immobilized. He can choose when he uses it, so not all his kisses cause paralysis. Wouldn't that be fun? Kacchan would be his first victim, back when they're kids and he gives him a birthday smooch. He couldn't control it at first, but he mastered turning it on and off after a year or so. Imagine Shouto's face during the Sports Festival if Izuku had managed to get close during the cavalry battle. He feels fingers in his hair, and he turns and immediately lips are on his and his band is being stolen.

As such, he ends up being probably the only person in Japan who has never heard of Todoroki Shouto.

They have some sort of meet-cute, and at first, Shouto can't figure out why this guy is pretending not to know who he is (is he trying to be polite, pretending Shouto is normal??), but eventually he realizes Izuku legitimately has no clue who he is, and Shouto is soooo enamoured, because Izuku is so nice and seems genuinely interested in him, and for the first time, Shouto knows it's all sincere and not someone trying to get close to him because he's famous. He becomes desperate to keep his profession a secret, leading to some comically close calls. But the longer it goes, the harder he falls, and Momo keeps insisting he has to tell Izuku the truth because he can't enter a serious relationship with this huge lie between them. But just when he's about to fess up, something happens that makes it clear to him that Izuku isn't just out of touch with popular culture, he is /actively/ avoiding heroes and dislikes hearing about them, which makes Shouto think he'll stop talking to him, and he doesn't know what to do, and now Jirou is helping Momo scold him, and he's so stressed.

Of course, the boys don't realize they know someone in common. Bakugou somehow lets the cat out of the bag, not knowing Shouto was keeping his heroics a secret. (Back to botany...maybe instead of orchids, Izu specializes in poisonous plants? And a new poison is involved in some sort of crime, and the police want him on as a consult, and Bakugou ends up involved on the heroics end of things, leading to a reunion with Izuku who he hasn't seen since middle school. Somehow Shouto comes up in conversation while they're working on the case.)