Chapter Text
Todoroki Shouto sits on the steps by the front door of his family home, pulling his shoes on and ready to go. He already said his goodbyes to his siblings and is ready to head back to school after a weekend at home. As he stands up, he slings his book bag around his shoulders and slides his phone into his pocket. Heavy footsteps echo behind him.
"Shouto, were you going to tell me you were leaving already?"
He looks back at the large flaming man, idly shaking his bangs from his eyes.
"Wasn't going to, no," he says calmly, just to watch his father squirm in frustration. It's a fun game he likes to play- how much of a brat can he be before the new number one hero implodes?
"Shouto, I expect-"
And with that, he opens the door and leaves, without sparing the man a second glance. Todoroki hears a crash behind him and he grins to himself. It seems that he is the winner of his little game yet again.
He walks to the train station, ready to be back at the dorms with his friends. Never in a million years did he think he'd find a second family in class 1-A. He had started the school year so angry and more influenced by Endeavor's teachings than he had cared to admit. It wasn't long before he learned what it meant to have a team, to have people at his level that were rooting for him rather than trying to tear him down. People like Midoriya Izuku.
Todoroki's heart flutters as the name shoots through his mind in big, bright, marquee letters. He wonders if that boy had any clue the effect he'd had on Todoroki. How his kindness had touched him. How his smile warmed his heart.
Okay, Todoroki hopes he doesn’t know that last part, even though there were many times that Todoroki had almost let it slip. Sometimes he just got so lost in his thoughts that out-loud conversations didn't sync up quite right. Many of his remarks would earn him strange looks from his classmates.
Like the time that the girls had sat down to eat lunch where he was. They had been talking about a recent training exercise and the name "Midoriya" had caught his attention. He thought of his smile and his kindness and how bright he was and -
"Isn't he just a ray of sunshine?" he had said, earning silence and stares. Todoroki at that point wasn't even sure if they were actually talking about Midoriya or if his name was just mentioned in passing. Either way it was very embarrassing and he left the table immediately.
The phone in his pocket buzzes once he gets on the train, and he quietly pulls it out to check. He smiles instantly when he opens the screen.
Midoriya: Hey! You're coming home today right?
Todoroki quickly types out that yes, he is, and refrains from also telling him "Funny, I was just thinking about you !"
His phone buzzes twice more.
Midoriya: Will you be back for Lnwh?
Midoriya: Lunch**
Lunch! An invitation perhaps?
Todoroki : I will
Quickly, he shoves the phone back into his pocket and the muscles in his chest contract. He’s not sure what to make of his feelings, if he’s being honest. All he knows is that certain things make his insides feel warm, make him want to start smiling and never stop. Some of the things that do this to him are: Midoriya smiling, Midoriya talking to him, and anytime Midoriya is physically close to him. He doesn’t know if this is a normal way that people feel towards their friends, or if it means that there’s something more to it. He wasn’t around kids his age much growing up, so he’s not really an expert in the matter.
The train lurches forward, and Todoroki manages to not stumble as he grabs the nearest pole. The phone in his pocket buzzes again.
Midoriya : Uraraka and I are about to go get take-out and are writing down orders - what will you have?
Todoroki’s throat clenches at the message. What is this feeling? This ringing in his ears? For whatever reason, the thought of Midoriya going out alone with Uraraka feels . . . unpleasant? Why does it feel unpleasant? He knows Uraraka is a friend - She’s even Todoroki’s friend too, right? Though she doesn’t make Todoroki feel the way Midoriya does so maybe they’re not . . . That must be why, and he just didn’t see it before. He and Uraraka Ochaco are not friends. Obviously. He thinks .
His phone buzzes again before he has a chance to respond.
Midoriya : Soba?
Todoroki has to remind himself to breathe. But it’s hard to contain how gracious he is that Midoriya remembers his favorite food. This means that Midoriya listens to him when he talks, pays attention to the things he does! Does he make Midoriya happy too? That would be nice.
Todoroki : Ya
He send the message so quickly he doesn’t have a chance to realize he hasn’t typed out a full word, that he doesn’t sound thankful at all -
Todoroki : I mean, yes please. That would be delightful.
Yes. That’s better. Polite and respectful - just as one ought to be when speaking to someone who is currently getting your lunch.
His phone doesn’t vibrate again until after he has left the train. He’s already out of the station, walking along the sidewalk. Hoping the message is from Midoriya again, he takes it out, not bothering to stop walking as he does.
Midoriya : Got the food! We’re on our way back to campus now!
Todoroki smiles.
He’s about to type but then notices the symbol that shows Midoriya is still typing. He waits. The suspense is building in his chest, hanging on every word Midoriya says, even when he isn’t physically speaking. Still, he is so enthralled, he doesn’t hear the people around him, the shocked murmurs of:
‘Hey, isn’t that Endeavor’s son?’
‘Yeah, he’s in class 1-A, didn’t you see him at the sports festival?’
‘Is it weird to ask him for a photo?’
Midoriya : Can’t wait to see you! :)
It’s the smiley face that does him in, really, sucking him in so fast that the next thing he is consciously aware of is a crushing pain shooting straight down the front of his face. The world spins for a moment, and he’s landing on his back with a thud !
He has to take a moment to get his bearings, lying on the pavement and wrapping his head around what happened. A bystander is rushing over to him. He feels something flowing from his right nostril.
“Whoa, kid, are you alright?” He sits up and glances at the stranger, his cheeks burning with embarrassment. “You - you really just walked straight into that pole, huh?”
“Uh -”
“You’re Todoroki Shouto, right? From class 1-A?”
The question grounds him in reality and he’s suddenly hyper aware of the crowd across the street, phones out and pointing at him. Oh. Oh no. That can’t be a good thing.
“I have to go,” he says, getting himself to his feet and sprinting away as fast as he can.
---
“Todoroki’s back!” Uraraka cheers when he finally enters the dorm building. There are take out bags on the kitchen counter, but Midoriya is nowhere in sight. “What happened to your face?”
A little forward, he thinks.
“Well, it’s a scar I’ve had since I was a child. You see, my mother -”
“No, your nose is bleeding,” she corrects. That makes more sense to point out, of course.
“Right,” he says, still not offering an explanation. He thinks of how embarrassed he was that he was distracted by Midoriya’s texts, and that reminds him that he is possibly not friends with Uraraka.
He frowns in her direction. “I’m going upstairs.”
“Uh, okay,” she mumbles.
Todoroki hurries to the nearest bathroom and takes a look at himself in the mirror. The blood is starting to dry, but there’s a light bruise forming around his upper lip. How could he have let himself act so foolish in public? People recognized him and saw him walk straight into a lamp post. They rushed to help the future pro-hero. He was supposed to be the one helping people.
Okay, it’s no big deal. It will be fine. He can keep his cool.
The toilet in the stall behind him flushes. Todoroki gasps and splashes his face with water, washing away any sign that his nose had been bleeding.
“Todoroki!” a familiar voice calls, emerging from the bathroom and moving to the sink next to him. He looks up and smiles, his face dripping with water, to see his favorite green-haired boy.
“Midoriya, hi,” he says, his heart doing that fluttery thing again. Midoriya isn’t dressed particularly nice - just a t-shirt and basketball shorts, but Todoroki thinks he looks amazing. How can someone look so good with so little effort? It really isn’t fair.
“Did you just get back?” He asks, washing his hands.
“Yeah, just a moment ago, I had to wash my face,” he says, though he doesn’t know why he tells him that.
“Oh, why?”
“I always wash my face before lunch,” he says, quickly. It’s a lie and he instantly feels terrible for lying to Midoriya. His best friend does not deserve to be lied to! “I’m sorry, I lied, it’s because my nose was bleeding.”
“Oh,” he says, a little confused, but he still smiles. “Are you okay?”
“I’m great,” he says, and it’s truthful because he’s standing in front of the literal human incarnation of sunshine and happiness.
“Great! Lunch is in the kitchen, I don’t know if you saw it, I’m about to go eat now,” he says. Todoroki nods and dries off his face with a nearby towel. Midoriya is already halfway out the dor before he starts to follow him.
He joins Midoriya and Uraraka in the kitchen and a few others - Asui, Kaminari, Sero, Sato - are trickling into the kitchen to claim their orders. Only Sero and Kaminari opt for sitting at the table with Midoriya, Todoroki, and Uraraka.
“Man, thanks for going out and getting this,” Kaminari says, already with food in his mouth.
“Yeah, what he said,” Sero chimes in.
“I am thankful as well,” Todoroki adds.
“It’s really no problem, guys, we like being able to go out sometimes you know?” Midoriya says, and there’s another pang of unfamiliar emotion. The same one that told him that he might not like Uraraka. Maybe.
“Go out ? What?” Sero gasps.
“Not like that, oh my gosh,” Uraraka says, her cheeks getting a little pinker than usual. “Just like getting off campus, having a change of scenery - like not all of us go home on the weekends like Todoroki does.”
“How was your weekend, Todoroki?” Midoriya asks, smiling bright between bites of food.
“It was pleasant for the most part,” he says, not going into too much detail. “My father was working most of the time, so that made it better.”
The others nod in understanding - by this point Todoroki has made it very clear that he is not a fan of the number one hero. He goes back to eating his food - the same food that Midoriya knew he would like. That Midoriya ordered for him. He is the most thoughtful person.
“Well that’s good, I’m glad,” Midoriya says, in his perfect, soft voice. Todoroki gazes over at his mouth as he speaks, the words leaving soft, pink lips. He imagines how nice they would feel against his own . . . He freezes, his heat in his cheeks rising. Are you supposed to want to kiss your friends? Is that a friendly thing to do? He tries to remember if he’s ever seen anyone in class 1-A kissing each other in a friendly way before and - nope, he can’t think of a single time. He knows that Bakugou and Kirishima have been caught kissing, but it’s because they’re dating and not because they’re friends.
“Todoroki?” Midoriya says, and he realizes that he’s been staring straight at his friend, not saying anything.
“Nothing,” he says, quickly. He tries to jog his brain of something clever to say but nothing is coming out - he has no cool jokes, no funny stories no -
“Holy shit, dude.” Kaminari breaks him from his thoughts as he makes his outburst. Todoroki looks over to see him and Sero watching a video on his phone. They seem thoroughly amused and Midoriya leans over to see what they’re watching.
“Dude, Todoroki, did you know about this?” Sero says, as the three boys look up at him. Todoroki stares blankly, having no clue what they are talking about. Kaminari catches on and turns his phone towards him.
He doesn’t know what he’s looking at at first. Some social media site that he’s not a part of and - oh. There’s a video of himself, it looked like it was from when he was walking home- when he - no.
In the video, Todoroki is walking, staring at his phone screen as he walks straight into the lamp post and falls flat on his back. The video keeps playing in a loop, over and over like it’s some horrific nightmare.
“What?” he says, not sure what to think quite yet. He is certainly embarrassed that his friends are seeing that. He was actually hoping no one saw that but he clearly didn’t get that lucky. “Where did you find this?”
Surveillance? Spying? No - he remembers bystanders with their phones out, they must have recognized him and filmed him. A weird concept, he thought, but nothing he wasn’t used to growing up with a famous father.
“Dude, it’s all over Twitter,” Kaminari says.
“Is that why your nose was bleeding?” Uraraka asks. Todoroki frowns at her, confirming his suspicions that he is not her friend. A friend wouldn’t expose such an embarrassing injury without consulting him first.
“All over Twitter? Already?” Midoriya asks, as Todoroki glances down at the views. His eyes widen at the number, which is growing and already in the thousands.
“Oh,” he says, feeling a sudden weight on his chest.
“Look at the comments!” Sero insists and Kaminari takes the phone back to start scrolling and Todoroki wants to hide.
“They’re using the hashtag #heademptyhero with it,” he says, and Todoroki sinks back into his chair. “This one says ‘I’ve watched this video so many times I can’t stop laughing,’ oh, man, this one: ‘He came in second place at the sports festival, but was defeated by a lamp post,’ and of course, lots of comments complaining about today’s youth being glued to their phones -”
“I think that’s enough,” Midoriya says, and thank god he does because Todoroki doesn’t know if he has the vocal power to do so.
“How could this happen?” Todoroki mutters to himself, his face turning a deeper shade of red. He shudders and lets out a tiny flame just off the tip of his ear.
“You must have been looking at something pretty important if you were that distracted,” Uraraka says and god dammit why couldn’t she stop making him dislike her?! His head is filling up with a whirlwind of emotions as he stands up. It’s like there’s a roulette ball spinning in his head and whatever it lands on is what slips out of his mouth.
“We are definitely not friends, Uraraka!” he shouts, bringing silence to the table as the girl’s eyes widen. He can’t believe he just said that, but he also can’t believe how little control he has over his emotion in the moment.
So he opts for leaving the table and running to his room.