Chapter Text
“Sit next to me.”
Tsuyu blinks, looking up from her trembling fingertips in surprise. “Ribbit?”
He doesn’t meet her eyes as he continues to survey the area stoically — like a statue, she muses before dispelling that interesting thought away. She looks around, craning her neck to look from right to left, before setting her sights back on her hands seconds after.
After confusing the loud and eager words of congratulations from the back of the Anteroom to be Iida-chan (— she has been notified moments later that their class representative has yet to arrive —), it seems that the many voices inside the waiting room had turned into this mishmash of things that reminds her everyone else.
They say a frog’s auditory senses are stronger than a humans, but it seems that she still hasn’t got that part of her Quirk downpat yet. That, or the effects of Seiai Academy’s plan from ten minutes prior hasn’t completely ebbed away — though, the latter seems to be a weaker reasoning between the two after pondering about it for a moment.
If she remembers correctly, her middle school science class had briefly explained the effects cold conditions may cause, one of which is hearing problems to an individual. However, this is usually common with people who are exposed to low temperatures for either a repeated or prolonged time, and though it was certainly a cold ten minutes, she doesn’t think the stunt the opposing group has done was enough to cause such a problem.
Tsuyu yawns.
And, anyway, this sudden difficulty in differentiating voices could have been brought on by the drowsiness of sleep clouding her mind instead. Still, she pins a mental note to seek Recovery Girl for advice as soon as they’re all back in UA. It’s better to confirm one’s condition, after all.
But, when she hears, “Asui,” she’s certain that it really had been Todoroki-chan that had called the first time. Another croak escapes her mouth when she sees him turn around to face her direction in her periphery. When she turns to meet his eyes, she takes notice of the eyebrow slightly raised in his trademark quiet interest and the polite canting of his head as he pats the empty seat to his left. “Sit next to me. You’re cold, right?”
Tsuyu doesn’t know what to say, not even the usual “call me Tsu-chan” crossing her mind.
For a moment, all she could do is stare at him as she processes his words.
It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen him be used as a, for the lack of a better word, living heater before. There had been multiple times where he had to increase the temperature after training simulations and hero exercises he’s been involved with that had gone south, where even the power of his Quirk’s other half would either fill the whole expanse of the gym or even reach the class surveillance room.
Other times, it would be a request by another classmate for whatever reason it may be. She’d sometimes join them too, huddling around his left side when it’s an especially cold day.
It is, however, the first time he had vocally called out to anyone, much less her, and she doesn't know how to make sense of that. The instinct to sleep isn’t making things easier either.
From the miniscule change in his expression though, it seems that he may have expected her to react differently as well, and he breaks eye contact before she has the chance to compose herself.
“Was I wrong?” There’s a single moment where he just stares at his left hand, before placing it atop his knee. “Sorry.”
She blinks first before her thoughts finally catch up to her, and Tsuyu shakes her head, “No, you’re not wrong. I’d like to take the offer, if you don’t mind.”
His mouth parts, as if to talk, but Todoroki-chan merely nods.
Despite the growing warmth, the seat is still relatively cold when she sits down, and she flinches the moment her back meets the backrest. It most likely hasn't been used, but, well, Tsuyu wouldn’t be surprised if it were due to the fact that just sitting beside him is intimidating to a lot of people. Being Endeavour’s son and his awe striking performance during the UA Sports Festival months prior would leave such an impression, and the seemingly frigid air surrounding him would throw off those curious few like a neon “Do Not Interact” sign. Todoroki Shouto could be pretty intimidating.
It’s too bad though, she thinks as she watches him scoot closer to her, left arm now only a hair’s breadth away from her right and gaze pointedly directed away from her — because he’s really quite an awkward child.
And, if she is being honest (—and, Tsuyu would like to think of herself as an honest person most of the time—), he comes off as a lot shyer than confident to her.
An awkward child, and Tsuyu taps a finger against her bottom lip when he looks at her through his periphery before averting his eyes away again. Pfft. “Todoroki-chan, you’re quite unexpectedly cute, huh? Ribbit.”
He tenses, shoulders set higher than normal and his fingers curling into a fist. “Unexpected …” is muttered out, and she couldn’t help but chuckle at his furrowing eyebrows and the small downside curve of the corner of his mouth. See? Todoroki-chan isn’t intimidating at all, and Tsuyu hums as a quiet settles between them.
It’s a quick one minute of them sitting side by side that ends when she hears Momo-chan's cheerful shout of “Tsu-chan, they got hot drinks here,” and it’s Shoji’s turn for the Todoroki Heating Service, but it’s a quick one minute that she’s grateful for, and she shoots him a smile by the once-upon-a-time vacant seat by his right.