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There were some factors no one had to aknowledge to be known in class 2-A.
The first and honestly the most obvious - so obvious that it wasn't something particular for the involved students, but something the whole U.A. and probably the whole population tuned on the news and gossips about the future heroes of the world recognized - Bakugou Katsuki was extremely egocentric.
In truth, this denomination came mostly from outside 2-A - Bakugou's classmates (he still refuses to call them friends) recognized the blond's effort and determination to become the number one hero, even if he still throws a whole ass tantrum if anyone dares to say a word about how All Might always have and always will inspire him in the creation of such dream. Even if the unbeatable way Katsuki showed himself was most of the time taken the wrong way (with reasons), the 2-A students spent enough time with him for his rude mask to tear and glimpses of vulnerability appear from the cracks to the others, that always supported him even if Bakugou wouldn't stop pretending to want to get away. At this point, he was tamed enough to simply sigh like a provoked mad bull and roll his eyes while one of his classmates (friends) patted his back or circled their arms around his shoulders.
The second thing - Midoriya Izuku was the seal that connected 2-A. His shining eyes and admirable resolve were things that made him win the trust and respect from each person in the class, gifting them one objective in common: reciprocate all the help they got from the boy that ended up becoming the inspiration number one to most of his classmates without realizing.
They had lost the count of how many times Kirishima had dehydrated for crying because Izuku came to him with a new update he wrote down on the notebook he especially made for the red haired, always recieving a hug so tight that his feet raised from the ground and a tearful "This is so manly, Midoriya!" from Eijirou. Bakigou always rolled his eyes when Izuku wanted to show him the notes he
did for the blonde, but always looked from the corner of his vision while pretending to be offended by Deku trying to say how he could get better at his posture while throwing a jab or at his instance before igniting an explosion.
And the most commented factor inside and outside class 2-A:
Todoroki Shouto was an oblivious dumbass.
The dumbass part was gifted by a scowling Bakugou. Apart from that, the oblivious part was a denomination providen by... honestly, everyone that dared to exchange a word with the famous princess, the currently number one hero's daughter.
Surprisingly, or not that much, it wasn't common to see someone with the guts to try to exchange phone numbers with her. People usually stilled in their places when Todoroki Shouto made herself present in their headsights, appearing in front of people like an angel that didn't realize the effect she had on the hearts of anyone that as much as glanced at dual hair color and similar looking eyes. A simple tilt of her head could be the responsible to wobbly legs anywhere she walked by.
That... That wasn't really the problem. The problem discussed between her friends was that the nominated prettiest girl in U.A. - and some would say in Japan - was that said girl had no idea.
To anyone that watched from outside, the thought that Todoroki Shouto was oblivious for the power she had with her looks, talent and elegant personality that left anyone fidgeting in their places, was impossible. People used to whisper between each other inumerous foolish teories that would make anyone that actually knew the girl scoff, from the existence of an pretender equally as charming as her that lived in a distant country and was certain to have claimed her hand for a future wedding, to a supposed manipulation of her looks from under the covers with illegal and unsafe beauty quirks.
If anyone that spread those insensitive rumous saw Todoroki Rei, their opinions would certainly change on the spot.
Even if the number of people brave enough to approach Shouto wasn't as high as the people that content with admiring her from afar, this number sadly was far from being inexistent.
Her friends knew that she could defend herself, but seeing how it happened in front of them, it was clear that her obliviousness extended to the point they were afraid one day someone would lead her into something dangerous without her even realizing if a stranger was guiding her to a really suspect, dark and vacant alley.
The first time class 1-A went to hang out together was on the fair on the west side of Musutafu by late afternoon, to watch the province's well-known sunset that happened in every end of June.
There was a time that everyone broke apart with the objective of each one to go to the stall they wanted, agreeing to meet again on the edge of the high mountain the fair was located on, to catch the promised sunset together.
Denki and Sero wandered through the tangle of people in search for the okonomiyaki stall they saw in the colorful map at the start of the fair.
The two stopped in practically all the stalls while on the way, impressed with the delicious foods and the games that promised an award to the ones good enough to beat the highest score. They bet between each other on every game for the loser to pay for the next candy the winner wanted.
While distracted in a match, Sero was positioned with his elbows on the wooden division while holding a water gun between his hands, aiming at the rubber duck on the top that wouldn't stop moving - he groaned when the water jet didn't even reach close to the tiny duck and clicked his tongue at the smirking stall's owner. That old man was surely cheating with that shitty game for no one to be capable of actually winning the two floors cake being showcased - when Denki shook his shoulder making him lose the aim and turn his glare to his friend.
"Dude." Sero followed Kaminari's agitated gaze across his shoulder. When he saw the scene, he understood why the blonde was so worried.
Shouto wore her usual blank expression while a man smiled down at her mischievously and held her forearm between tight fingers. The stranger's face grew closer from her, while she simply seemed bored trying to search for something across his shoulders.
Sero didn't wait one more second before walking hurriedly and approaching the two, Kaminari at his side, and using one of his tapes to get the creep's arm away from Shouto. The man got caught so off guard that his fingers spasmed loose against her skin and his hand was roughly shoved back. He snapped his head to the direction of the tape and stared Sero up and down.
"Oh, there's a boyfriend."
Sero pretended his cheeks didn't warm and decided better than to deny the stranger's statement. "Can I help you?"
The man curled his lips and glanced back at Shouto, that now looked with raised eyebrows at Sero and Denki. "Just asking something for the pretty girl."
Todoroki calmly blinked. "I don't know where the nearest motel is, no."
Sero heard Kaminari make a gagging sound beside him and stepped closer to the idiot now trying to fight against the tape trapping him in place, but a scarred hand appeared on the man's nape, pressing him down and paralyzing him in place.
"I know where the nearest motel is, sir. Do you want me to show you?" Izuku said lowly and with a lit of charisma in his voice, but anyone that looked at his cold smile and empty eyes would be able to notice his true intentions. His fingers turned white by the pressure against the creep's skin, who started shaking.
He roughly pulled his body away from the hand and was freed by anything that was holding him before, since Sero had loosened his tape around his arm when Izuku appeared, and the man hurriedly left while mumbling curses. Izuku watched with the same expression that made Sero shiver in his place. When the man was lost in headsight, the green haired sighed and gave Shouto a true smile.
"Are you okay?" Shouto stopped her searches of something in the crowd and looked at Izuku, giving him a small smile and bowing slightly in his direction. "Yes. Thank you, Midoriya." Deku stuttered with the tips of his ears red and scratched his nape with adverted eyes. "O-oh, it's fine."
Shouto turned to Sero and Denki and did the same gesture. Sero heard a choking sound by his side and knew his cheeks weren't the only ones heating up.
Todoroki adverted her eyes when something between the people catched her gaze, making the three boys turn when she smiled and looked at her feet.
They saw Camie - the girl outgouing enough to be able to exchange contacts with Shouto. The first time they met each other, they got surprised by the relaxed way Shouto allowed the Shiketsu High's student to enter her orbit. It was amusing how the quiet and misterious Shouto seemed to always reveal herself more open to people exactly her opposite.
"Hi, Shou-chan!" Camie and Shouto made a visual contact weirdly long, and Sero cleaned his throat, what made Camie snap her head to him in surprise. It was weird to see the usually carefree girl advert her eyes and Sero frowned when for the second time that night ears turned red. Oh well, it was probably blush. He wasn't sure how make up worked, but he remembered Mina making her apple cheeks pinker with a fluffy brush one day.
"Oh, hi!" Camie recovered her posture fastly, making Sero wonder if what he saw was a figment of his imagination.
"Utsushimi-kun!" Izuku greeted her, happy to see a friend from other school, but then tilted his head thoughtfully. "I thought Shiketsu High was having that camping in Hosu that Aizawa-Sensei promised that would happen for us next holiday."
Camie blinked. "I couldn't go."
"Oh! Why not?
"Because I'm sick."
"Oh?"
They all looked at each other while Shouto watched the side of Camie's face amusedly.
"You're here though-"
"Shou-chan! It's starting!"
Camie snatched Shouto by her hand and pulled her to a place they could see the sunset better. Shouto glanced behind her shoulder and gave an apologetic smile for the three boys that looked at the girls confusedly.
"Oh, well," Kaminari took a bite of the forgotten candy in his hand. "We should go too."
Hours later, Sero walked downstairs of the dorms in direction of the common room in the hope to spend a little more time awake watching TV shows, since they were free from class the next day. But when he heard a sound coming from the kitchen, he got curious once everyone was spent from the afternoon, and it seemed too late for anyone to be making a snack - he was quite sure his friends had eaten enough food to last for months at the fair.
He should have known it was Shouto. Sero was certain that what she was searching for on Momo's tea drawer was the lavender one - she made it her ritual to drink it everytime before sleeping after getting rid of a nightmare's night the first time she drank it - and the keetle was starting to whistle on the stove.
Sero stopped at the threshold and watched her for a moment in the quietude of the dawn, the kitchen's warm light illuminating the soft movements of his friend.
The shirt Shouto was wearing didn't look like something she would usually wear. It was a pink and light blue tie dye shirt. It must be something she only wore to sleep.
"Sero." Said boy jumped when he got caught staring, and scratched his cheek absentmindedly. He was met with a small smile from the girl looking at him. "Do you want some tea?"
"Yeah." He smiled back and sat on the counter, Shouto went back to preparing the tea.
They let a comfortable silence settle over them for some minutes, the increasing whistle of the kettle the only sound in the place. Sero started fumbling with his hands.
"Did... that man do something with you?"
Shouto kept silently mixing the lavender the way she was an expert in doing every night. "No, he just wanted to know where the nearest motel was." Sero glanced at the back of her head. "But he was making me quite uncomfortable with the way he was holding my arm." She stopped for a moment. "I'm really grateful that you guys showed up."
Sero supported his head on his hand and smiled, but it soon turned bitter. "You're welcome, you know we will always be there for you. But... Todoroki-kun, you know what his intentions were, right?"
Shouto stopped her movement and the whistle ceased abruptly. She put a mug in front of Sero, who mumbled his thanks, and sat in the chair next to him. Sero watched as she looked at the distance while lost in thought. Seconds later, she glanced back at him.
"He wanted to go to the nearest motel?" She waited with her blank expression while he tried to disguise his unease.
"Yeah..." He raised the mug to his lips.
It didn't take long for the creep guy incident to reach their classmates ears. Bakugou yelled at Izuku's face about how he should have followed him and teached him a lesson while sparks flew from his palms, and Kirishima slapped Sero and Denki in their backs for going to position the moment they saw their friend needing. Uraraka and Asui secured Shouto that only watched them with evident confusion in multicolored eyes. They all made a silent promise of always keeping one eye open for weird people getting too close to Shouto.
No one volunteered to explain what had truly happened to Shouto, knowing it would make the already awkward girl - even though her reactions looked like elegant indifference from the outside - even more awkward when people approached her. It was already hard enough for her to socialize, if they limited her to thinking that the ones that approached her searched for second intentions, she would create one more unnecessary self doubt underneath the blank mark she wore. Although those people were hard to deal with, if they warned something to Shouto, she would certainly block any attempt of getting closer to people, and would loose the opportunity of allowing herself to open up to new friends, like how happened with Camie. They just needed to be on guard.
Currently, after almost two years backing creeps away from Shouto, class 2-A had it's fair share of people they stopped from taking the advantage they wanted with the dual haired.
It was a honestly exhaustive job, and they asked themselves everyday how the hell after getting in the middle of so many people that made Shouto openly uncomfortable, she hasn't realize there was something weird.
.
It was late at night and the soon to be class 3-A was currently getting ready to go out for the dinner organized by President Mic to celebrate the class' final grades above average. They all tried their hardest after the promise for sushi by their loud teacher. Bakugou even got out of his way to help the autonominated 'Bakusquad' in his own rough way, bullying the physics formulas into Denki's brain.
The girls filled Uraraka's bedroom, Asui and Hagakure squeezing each other to use the full body mirror in the corner of the room to check their outfits. Momo was sitting on the bed, supporting her back against the headboard with a square mirror that she made herself following the movements Shouto's hand did with the thin brush on her closed eyelid. The dual haired was sitting beside her, with her arm extended in a manner that seemed uncomfortable. Yaoyorozui glanced at her from the corner of her open eye.
"Shou-chan, do you want to change to a position more comfortable for you?"
Shouto ceased her movements against Momo's skin the moment the black haired opened her eyes, and looked at her for a second before lowering her busy hand. She smiled softly at her. "That would be better."
Shouto wordlessly extended one of her legs over Momo's and settled on his lap, straddling her suddenly.
Momo gasped and her hands automatically reached to steady the girl on his lap by her hips. Shouto simply continued perfecting the makeup of the girl underneath her. She giggled quietly when she saw Yaoyorozui's lips trembling and her cheeks gaining color.
"Have you already put on the blush?" Shouto asked trying to hide her amusement when Momo stuttered in reply.
"Girls, we need to go downstairs!" Mina whined from her place on the floor while putting her heels. "Katsuki is already yelling at me through text!" She got up and threw herself on Jirou's back, who groaned and stumbled ahead.
"Tell him to fuck off," She glanced at the clock at Ochako's desk "we still have five minutes."
Shouto sighed and got back at her task at hand, Momo doing everything she could to not look at the girl on his lap.
.
Kirishima smiled when the girls finally appeared, secretly relieved that his ears wouldn't suffer anymore with Bakugou's wrath beside him waiting on the couch.
"Hey, boys." Mina blinked and made a show to get to them. Denki whistle at the swing of her hips. Ochako, Asui and Hagakure walked right behind her, connecting her arms and giggling at each other secretly. Jirou and Momo sat at the couch.
"Finally." Bakugou grunted and raised to his feet. He swiftly inspected the people present in the common room, and prontly missed a familiar face. He clicked his tongue. "Where the fuck is half n' half?"
"She forgot to get her heels." Mina fidgeted on her spot with a suspect glint in her eyes.
Bakugou looked at her for a solid ten seconds with incredulous disbelief across his features, but before he could as much as open his mouth, a sound of heels hitting the floor was heard, and everyone looked in the direction of it.
Hand delicately sliding across the rail, Shouto took each careful footstep in slow motion, checking to not stumble on unfamiliar thin, black heels.
The paled skin of her toned legs was unusually visible because of the short silk dress that sculpted every bit of her hips, waist, and breast. The sleeveless upper part highlighted her defined collarbone, and the black choker ornamented with ice crystals the same color of half of her hair, adorned her slim neck.
It wasn't anything shorter than alluring. They couldn't remember a time Shouto wore something like that. Something that hugged every trait of her body and made the angelic curves of her glow.
Bakugou watched she move with wide eyes, and decided to ignore the worrying way his heart was beating in a pace he was sure wasn't a healthy one inside his ribcage. At least he knew he wasn't the only one with the choked sounds from behind him. The realization made a weird feeling curl in his chest that made him scowl to the thought that other people were having this blessed vision - and more would, considering that they were about to go out.
"No fucking way."
Shouto kept walking closer, making Bakugou have to consciously stop himself from adverting his eyes like a scared nerd, until she stopped right in front of him and looked up at red eyes.
Bakugou would deny for eternity the involuntary high pitched sound that escaped his throat. If her body was enough to hipnotize anyone that dared catch a glimpse of it, her mismatched gaze would be the final blow to make them crumble and bow at her on the floor.
With eyeliner then.
He heard Mina snickering behind him and cursed at least her next eight generations. Bakugou covered the bottom half of his face with a hand and turned his back to Shouto. "No way what?" He heard from behind him.
"It's cold," he forced his mouth to open, not wanting to let the girl know a piece of what she was doing to his health. He tried not to sound desesperate. "Aren't you going to wear a coat or something?"
"Bakugou... My quirk is literally fire and ice."
He wanted to die.
.
Izuku was the one who ended up approaching Shouto with eyes exaggeradetly adverted, almost tripping on his own feet while his hand extended his coat to Shouto, that ended up accepting it.
After leaving the dorm and meeting the teachers waiting for them outside, they started the short walk to the luckily close restaurant Present Mic couldn't shut up about.
Shouto walked behind the big group, still trying to get used to the feeling of waking with the few new inches Mina forced her into. She walked slowly, looking carefully at where she stepped on, when by the corner of her vision she saw familiar red heels getting closer. Shouto blinked up at Momo when she realized the black haired had slowed her steps to catch with her discreetly. Todoroki watched the side of the other's face while she looked ahead, with patient curiosity.
"You're really pretty."
Shouto sucked in a breath and let herself repeat those words inside her brain for a moment.
"Thank you. You are gorgeous." Momo glanced at Shouto, and after some seconds of a wordless conversation, Shouto took the taller's right hand with her warm one and squeezed it softly without breaking visual contact. She smiled.
"It's cold."
Momo squeezed it back.
.
Gathered together around the large previously booked table, the students murmured admired with the classy interior of the restaurant. A lightning pendant on the maroon ceiling iluminated softly the people present on the wide room separated from the rest of the simpler tables - that still were impressively fancy.
The room was insolated with a broad opening that left them visible to the ones at the casual part of the restaurant, but still possessed the privacy necessary to carefree exchanges between close people, as the tables were far away from each other.
There was an exclusive area for drinks - a quite elegant bar. A man with stilled back hair busied himself by sleeking tall cups nimbly. It was an open counter, with high chairs for the people that wanted to focus on drinking.
The place wasn't crowded, but it wasn't empty. It was a cozy ambient, and Shouto observed with sharp eyes from her seat with a well positioned glass between her fingers.
Tokoyami glanced at her from his place beside her. "Dark shadow wants to know if something is worrying you."
Shouto smirked around the rim of her cup. "Why don't he come out and ask?"
She took a sip - of a non-alcoholic drink she wasn't sure what was, just that it was decently sweet - and watched as Tokoyami had a full body shiver.
She placed her drink on the table. "It's different for me, to go to a fancy place and actually like it." Tokoyami blinked knowingly.
It was at that time that a waiter different from the one attending them appeared between Shouto and Tokoyami, nervously biting his lips with a lonely glass adorning the tray he carried. He slowly descended the unknown drink for Shouto, that followed his movements quietly.
"I didn't ask for this."
The hand before holding the glass would certainly have dropped it if it wasn't already safely secured on the table, with the way the clumsy waiter jumped.
"Oh, uhm... Someone asked it for you, l-lady."
Shouto kept inspectioning the warm red liquid swimming in front of her.
She knowingly turned her gaze to the bar, catching the eyes of a charming young man sipping on his own glass, posture straight and waiting; like a hunter lurking for his prey.
Shouto held the stare for a moment, and when returning her eyes to the table, the gazes of her friends pinned her on her seat.
Aizawa was the one that opened his mouth first, frown in place. "She's underage."
The waiter fidgeted. "Uhm, he- he knows. It doesn't have alcohol." He briefly glanced at Shouto and yelped after catching her gaze.
She considered for a moment, before grabbing the glass and bringing it to her lips. "Say thank you, for me." He hurriedly left.
They all looked in astonishment at Shouto for her apparently acceptance to the invitation the misterious man made.
"Are you crazy?" Bakugou whisper-yelled from across her, raising himself with clenched fists on the table threateningly. Shouto blinked at him.
"Todoroki..." Izuku started with an worried expression. "Don't you know what that means?"
They ware silent waiting for an answer from the girl, that hadn't realize the serious air present on the table.
"Someone brought a drink for me."
Izuku breathed out and nodded dumbly. "I guess so..." He said slowly.
"Todoroki."
If the silence before was already deafening, after Aizawa's grave tone, the students stilled. Shouto glanced at him curiously.
"He was flirting with you."
Her classmates looked at her with wide eyes. Their teachers had never witnessed the behavior of people trying to hit on Shouto, so it wasn't surprising that when they saw how the girl unknowingly reciprocated the attitudes without noticing, they would make her councious about what it meant.
Shouto raised her eyebrows. "No, he brought me a drink. This always happens, it's okay."
Aizawa curled his lips with the answer. "This always happens?" She nodded. "Is it always a non-alcoholic drink?"
Shouto considered. "Not always."
"Todoroki..." Aizawa pondered with an unsatisfied expression on his tired face. "This is- Even if all the drinks you receive were alcoholless, those are grown man buying them for you, a clearly underage girl."
Shouto stilled with her drink next to her lips. She slowly lowered the cup to the table and looked again with wide eyes at the man that kept staring at her.
"What does usually happen after you drink it?"
Shouto opened her mouth in silent shock, and licked her lips before answering.
"They..." she frowned and started fumbling with her fingers on her lap. "They wait for me at the entrance."
Izuku gasped.
"I- I didn't..."
"Shou-chan." Mina grabbed her hands on Shouto's lap and the girl looked at her with a frown. "It's okay now. Just take more care from now on." She smiled at her and Shouto numbly nodded.
It took a moment for the animated talk to come back to the table.
.
This time there was no man waiting for Shouto at the entrance.
The class 2-A was certain it had something to do with the time Aizawa-Sensei whispered something to Present Mic and silently got up to supposedly go to the bathroom after the tension diluted from the table.
Shouto clearly, in seventeen years of her life, where she remembers going through things like this in all of them, had never connected the dots in front of her that now appeared so clear.
Her friends didn't miss her worried glances in the direction of the bar through the whole night.
Bakugou couldn't forget that scared expression.
He was the last one to walk through the dorms door, closing it slowly behind him. He breathed for a moment to try to regain some control over his ragged emotions.
After a couple of slow breaths while supported against the door, he approached the common room in agile steps, where his friends were animatedly chatting after the dinner.
Bakugou stopped beside the couch and crossed his arms.
"What the fuck, Todoroki."
They all became quiet with the menacing low tone coming from the usually loud blonde.
If they didn't knew her, they would say Todoroki Shouto was waiting for Bakugou's reaction, with the way she lazily raised her eyes at him, like an uninterested cat. They knew better than that.
"What?"
"You didn't know that that weirdass dude was trying to get on your damn pants?"
Shouto sighed and looked at her feet.
"No."
Bakugou seemed to warily consider that. The revelation that Shouto accepted stranger's - old men that knew she was a minor at that - drinks and then chased her at the end of the night made the food Bakugou had eaten rise to his throat. He didn't even want to know what the hell more Shouto did unknowningly.
"I'm sorry."
They looked at her.
"Shou-chan, it's okay, you didn't-"
"No." She interrupted Izuku. the green haired widened his eyes. "I realized."
"So you knew-" Bakugou took a step with a threatening instance, but Kirishima put a hand before him. Shouto continued before he could open his mouth.
"I thought- I didn't knew. Why did nothing happen with me all this time? I should have known. Now I understand why you kept pushing those men away from me. When- when they touched me. I didn't like it, but- I didn't realize I had a say before you started protecting me.
I'm sorry."
Bakigou gulped and looked up, trying to contain the sick urge to chase and strip the disgusting people that dared to try to manipulate such an innocent soul bare from their skin.
"I though- I thought you were just helping me by convenience. I thought it was a coincidence when you happened to be there every time it happened. I thought I was so lucky, and felt so grateful. But- but now... I can see, I'm more than grateful. You weren't helping me just because you were there. You were there to help me." She gasped for breath before bowing from her place on the couch. "Thank you."
"Shou-chan..." Ochako hugged her to her chest and Shouto circled the girls middle with trembling arms. Denki at her other side caressed her hair.
Bakigou breathed out and sat on the arm of the couch, next to Kirishima, that fisted his hands with downturned lips.
"It's okay." Ochako murmured against soft hair, and after some minutes, Shouto's body stopped trembling and she sheepishly left from her hidden spot at Ochako's breast. Shinsou held one of her hands from his position on the floor.
Shouto breathed in an out slowly. "Thank you."
"It's okay, Shou-chan!" Izuku straightened himself in the armchair before glancing at the distance and started to wonder out loud. "It's just... really surprising how you had no idea about it."
"I didn't realize." She frowned like she was disappointed with herself. "I think- I think my mom was supposed to be the one to warn me about those things."
Shouto shook her head.
"I'm not interested in those type of things."
"No shit." Bakigou murmured with crossed arms.
"What?!" Mina gasped and got up from the floor, holding Shouto by the shoulders. "Shou-chan, aren't you interested in romance?"
Shouto blinked.
"I am."
Mina screeched excitedly while Ochako gasped in shock. Izukus cheeks felt so hot that he wouldn't be surprised if he exploded. Bakugou looked at Shouto with eyes imensely open and shot up from his seat.
"What?!" he yelled, recieving a groan from Jirou.
Shouto frowned and Bakugou waited for an explanation that never came. "You just said you aren't interested!"
"I know" Shouto frowned harder, making Bakugou have a sudden desire to explode her shamelessly confused face.
"I'm not interested in men."
Mina ceased her animated jumps in the middle of the room and turned her head to Shouto in a way that honest to God fucking scared her, it was worthy of a horror movie with the way her eyes went large and her mouth silently hanged open. Shouto snorted unmindfuly.
Until she looked at Bakugou and realized he wasn't any better. Shouto was still looking at him when she furrowed her eyebrows about how quiet the room got. She slowly turned her gaze to search for an explanation about why the hell that was happening, and she felt her own eyes widening with the ultimate shock spotted on each of her friends faces. Shouto's brain worked slowly in the middle of the silence and she spent more than some seconds to process, the denial blocking the conclusion's appearment.
She shot up from her seat.
"You didn't know?!"
The silence spreaded for longer while Shouto hoped for someone to deny the conclusion she had gotten at.
"You didn't know?!" She was one step away from forcing someone to answer her by grabbing their hairs and shaking her friend's empty skulls like a rattle. Luckily, her voice wouldn't become husky like it probably would be if she had to yell three fucking times.
"Damn right we didn't!" Bakigou stomped closer and glared at her with such fire in his eyes that Shouto froze where she stood.
She traveled her gaze between two burning red eyes fastly, in search for a bad joke.
Or it would.
"You didn't kno-"
"Shou-chan..." lzuku stood up like a robot from the armchair and stiffly walked to Shouto, patting her shoulder akwardly. "We- we didn't..."
It was Shouto's time to wear an incredulous expression. She felt her stomach uncomfortably twisting and her limbs started to tremble again.
"What?" She pleaded in a tiny voice, blinking away the hotness behind her eyes. She discreetly rubbed her clammy palms on her dress and shooked her head numbly "What..."
"How the fuck were we supposed to know, dumbass! You never told anything!"
She snapped a glare at Bakugou.
"What the fuck, Katsuki. I dated Camie for five months!" the blonde's eyes widened comically, and if Shouto wasn't so horrified, she would be laughing about it with Denki.
"You dated Camie?" she snapped her glare to Sero.
"Are you guys fucking serious? We went to dates all the damn time!" She spilled angrily.
"Friendly dates?" Denki proposed wobbly.
Shouto draged her hand on her face and scoffed. "Yeah, if you kiss and have sex with your friends." They gasped with her rough bluntness.
Shouto snapped her head when she heard Momo gasp too, and she felt her face twist horrendously when the black haired seemed as shocked at the others. Shouto pointed at her accusingly.
"Momo, I literally sat on your lap to do your fucking make up!"
A feeling Shouto couldn't bother recognizing flashed in Momo's gaze, and she covered her wide mouth with both of her hands. Shouto couldn't believe what was happening.
"Momo," she repeated menacingly "I literally held your hand the whole walk to the restaurant."
"I-"
"I called you gorgeous!"
"I thought-"
"Damn right you did." Shouto spat sarcastically and thew herself again on the couch with a huff, suddenly exhausted. They all let the news (not really) settle on their brains and little by little, connected the dots.
"So, you like ponytail?" Bakigou asked with a frown.
Shouto sighed and glanced at Yaoyorozui, who was already looking at her with a red face.
Momo yelped.
Shouto felt frustrated. She couldn't believe that in all this time she was so certain the people that mattered the most to her were aware of a factor that held extreme importance over Shouto's life, they had actually no damn clue. She couldn't blame anyone but herself, because even if in her head it was as clear as Aoyama's preferences, she had never mentioned anything about this to anyone.
And she never appeared to have any sort of romantic life - Shouto never deprived herself from showing off her partners, but she never felt the need to do anything explicitly. Stopping to think about it, if she looked back, it really seemed like she wasn't anything more than a good friend of Camie's.
What left her hurt was the fact that if she had the exact same atitudes and interactions with men that she had with any women she felt interested in, the first instant they catched a glimpse at them, the conclusion they'd reach is that their relationship existed at the romantic aspect.
Shouto couldn't really blame it on her friends.
"Well," she scrunched her nose.
She didn't dare to try to steal another glance at Momo, the worry making her skin itch all over.
"Momo... I don't expect anything back." Shouto breathed out now that her feeling were left out in the open. "I-"
She yelped when Yaoyorozui suddenly appeared in front of her, looking down with a pout and glassy eyes at Shouto, who was honestly worried with the other's health with how red she was.
Soft fingers covered Shouto's cheeks, raising her head while Momo dipped down. Their noses touched and Shouto tried to stare her cross-eyed. Her lips were jutting out of a pout with the way Yaoyorozui squeezed her face.
Shouto didn't have time to ask aloud one of the thousands questions circling her brain before Momo lowered her head even further down and whispered against her lips.
"I like you too, silly."
And if Aizawa had to show up in the crack of the dawn at 2-A's dorms because of noise complaining, no one would doubt if one said it was Bakugou's fault.