Chapter Text
Todoroki was a serious person. Having a childhood like he had, it would have been hard not to grow up that way. He accepted that, yet also realized perhaps a little bit of a change was in order. He even attempted to crack a joke once. However, it fell horribly flat and the person got extremely offended. Granted, the recipient was Bakugou and joking with him was like trying to feed a bear. There's no possible way it could end well. However, there was one person who seemed to have made friends with everyone, even Bakugou. He even had the gall to call him Kacchan once in a while. He was also the only person who actually liked Mineta. That person was Denki Kaminari. He wasn't exactly the brightest person. Ironic because his quirk was electricity. It was a very strong quirk. The only reason he had chosen him for the Calvary battle at the beginning of the year. At that time, Todoroki was too blinded by his rage to be able to really see anything but his bastard of a father. Things had definitely changed since than, but he still had a long way to go. Suddenly, somebody brushed past him, knocking him out of his thoughts.
"Sorry, dude," Sero apologized as he headed towards a group of people gathered in a circle. Todoroki followed after him, curious about what all the commotion was about. As he got closer, he could hear music playing in the background. Then, he saw a pink spinning form. It was Mina, doing some sort of dance routine. The song ended, and Mina stopped dancing, breathing heavily.
"Wow, Mina! That was awesome!" Tooru squealed, waving her arms up and down.
"That is quite amazing. How did you learn such a dance routine?" Deku asked.
"It's not a routine. It's just a whole bunch of moves mashed together when you feel it," Mina said, grinning at him.
"Fascinating," Deku said, writing down notes.
"Isn't that oversimplifying it a bit? Also, are you sure you should be break dancing in the middle of the living room..." Iida interjected. Mina shrugged him off.
"If you want, I can show you a couple of moves, sometime," Mina said to Deku.
"Maybe. I- I don't really know if I can," Deku said.
"Ok, next time then," Mina said as the music started up again and Mina started dancing again.
"Yeaaah! Go Mina!" Kaminari cheered along with Kirishima and Sero, as he swung his arm roughly around Todoroki who had the unfortunate luck of standing next to someone as rowdy as him while shaking his other fist into the air.
"Hey! Hands off our pretty boy," Tooru said, shoving his arm away.
"Sorry, man. I got a little excited about Mina's awesome moves," Kaminari said.
"I didn't mind. Really," Todoroki said. If anything, he rather liked it. It made him feel inlcuded. Granted, he was pretty sure that Kaminari had tried to use him as leverage to make himself taller.
"Hey. Anybody want me to teach them any moves?" Mina asked.
"Me!" Sero said, heading towards Mina.
"And me!" Kaminari said, also going towards Mina.
"Imagine if our group made our own dance routine!" Kirishima said as he dragged Bakugou along with him to Mina.
"Okay, everyone. Follow my lead," Mina instructed. She started simple, with just a little fancy footwork. Then, made it more complex as they went. By the end, they were able to even perform a little, extremely simple, dance routine.
"Wow! You guys did amazing!" Mina said.
"Thanks Mina! It's only because you're a great teacher, though, because last time I checked I had two left feet," Kaminari said.
"You still do. You could barely keep up with us," Bakugou said. Kaminari made his dejected face, yeah, you know the one, before recovering rather quickly. He headed off to his dorm room. Later that night, he heard a knock on his door. He looked at the clock. It was 8:15. What would anybody want at this time. He opened his door to see none other than Todoroki at his door.
"Huh? Todoroki? What are you doing here?" he asked.
"May I come in?" Todoroki said.
"Oh yeah. Sure thing," Kaminari said, opening his door wider for Todoroki to come in. Todoroki came in, standing awkwardly by the door.
"Take a seat anywhere you'd like, dude," Kaminari said, sitting on his bed. Todoroki took a seat on the chair.
"So, What do you need?" Kaminari asked. This was a strange visit. Kaminari had had many visitors. The most frequent ones being of course Kirishima, Sero, Mina, and Bakugou. Tokoyami came around sometimes too. Jirou has also been in his room once. She stayed for a while 5 minutes. He had timed it.
"Well, I came to ask you a favor," Todoroki said.
"Favor? From me?" Kaminari asked, surprised.
"You see, I am quite... socially challenged and perhaps you could teach me how to be less so," Todoroki said.
"What? You're asking me to help you?" Kaminari asked, dumbfounded. Why would Todoroki ever need his help. If anything, it should be the other way around.
"Why? Should I have asked someone else?" Todoroki asked.
"No, it's not that. It's just that you're so attractive, you don't even need to be bothered with such things as social skills," Kaminari said.
"You think I'm attractive?" Todoroki asked.
"Cmon. Even from a guys standpoint, you're pretty damn attractive. If I had you're looks, the chance of girls turning me down would be decreased exponentially!" Kaminari said. He imagined it right now. Maybe if his hair were half black and half yellow. And he had one blue eye and one yellow eye. Oh! And a nice toned body, too! He looked at Todoroki.
"Do you really want me to help you with your social skills," Kaminari asked. Todoroki nodded.
"Okay. But only if you help me train. I gotta look my best for swimsuit season," Kaminari said.
"Deal. But, it's February," Todoroki stated.
"Let's just say I'm starting early," Kaminari said. Thus, the next day the two met for coffee at a local place near the school.
"What are we doing here?" Todoroki asked.
"People watching. A cafe is the perfect place for things like that. Look! There's a couple there! A mom with her kids! Friend catching up!" Kaminari said, clearly excited about people watching. Todoroki watched him intently, he sure was interesting.
"Excuse me, young men. Are you ready to order?" the waitress came by.
"I'll have a cappuccino with a double shot of espresso and steamed milk, and a cheddar cheese, romaine lettuce, and prosciutto sandwich on rye bread," Todoroki said.
"I'll have that, too. Only have my coffe with whipped cream, please!" Kaminari said. Truth be told, he never drank coffee because he was already kind of wired, so he had no idea what to order.
"Those'll be right up then," the waitress said, leaving them.
"Okay. Do you see those friends. They're casually sitting and chatting. That woman is talking about a new blouse she got and the other is listening politely. Now she is responding, talking about the new skirt she got and wow this is really boring. Let's find another table to observe," Kaminari said.
"Here you boys go. Enjoy," the waitress said, handing them their food. Kaminari took a sip of his coffee before making a bleh! face.
"Ugh. Even with whip cream this tastes horrible," Kaminari said.
"Hmm. How about we observe that table next?" Kaminari said, pointing to a mother and her child.
"Okay," Todoroki said, as Kaminari started pouring loads of sugar into his coffee. Todoroki watched as the mother put her baby back into the crib and it's father came in. He kissed the mother and they sat down, enjoying a cheery conversation about what they had down at work that day. Todoroki turned away, not interested in watching anymore.
"I think I've lost interest in this people watching. Let's just eat our food and go," Todoroki said.
"Okay," Kaminari shrugged. He and Todoroki ended up just eating their sandwiches and having light conversation.
"Okay. Before we go, we have to observe one last table. This has to do with something that even master socializers like me struggle with, dating," Kaminari said, pointing to a table near them.
"See? The point is to make eye contact with who you are with. But not too much eye contact or it could come off as creepy," Kaminari said.
"Also, see how the girl is reaching across the table to touch the mans hand lightly. That shows that she's interested in what he's saying and furthermore, interested in him," Kaminari said.
"So, like this?" Todoroki asked, grabbing his hand.
"No. It's more like this," Kaminari said, lightly touching his hand.
"Oh, you boys are just the cutest. And so brave too! Openly showing you're affection out in public. It must have been very hard," their waitress said, taking the plates. Kaminari blushed in embarrassment, pulling his hand away.
"Oh, am I embarrassing you boys?" he waitress said.
"No, it's just that we're not on a date. I'm just trying to teach him things," Kaminari said.
"Oh! My bad. Well, here's the check," she said.
"I'll pay," Todoroki said, pulling out his credit card.
"Is that... so... bright!" Kaminari gasped, amazed at how high class the card was.
"Are you two yanking my chain? Because it looks like he's paying for the meal like a proper gentleman should," the waitress said.
"No. I'll pay for myself," Kaminari said, searching for his wallet.
"Actually, I can't seem to find my wallet," Kaminari said, sheepishly.
"Just use my credit card for both of us," Todoroki said.
"Sure thing," the waitress said and lumbered away.
"I'll pay you back when we get back to the school," Kaminari said.
"No need. Think of it as a thank you for teaching me," Todoroki said.
"Okay. Thanks," Kaminari said, cheerfully. Then, they walked out of the cafe and back towards the school.