Chapter Text
It was 6:30 p.m. in Class 1-A’s Heights Alliance Dorms. Shouto Todoroki had just finished studying in his room on the fifth floor and decided to go downstairs to get something to eat. He took the elevator to the first floor where he found a surprisingly barren common area. Only his classmates Ochako Uraraka and Tsuyu Asui were there, watching the TV. He walked into the kitchen where he found his classmate, Momo Yaoyorozu standing at the stove watching her tea kettle. He didn’t say anything when he entered. It wasn’t until he opened the fridge that she noticed he was there.
“Oh, good evening, Todoroki!” she said, enthusiastically. “Would you like some tea?”
“Oh, um, sure.”
Shouto rummaged through the fridge, but couldn’t find anything he thought looked good, so he closed the door and sat down at the table. Not sure what to do, he found himself staring in her direction. She was wearing her hair down, which he thought suited her; she looked more mature that way for some reason. She wore an oversized white sweater that doubled as a skirt and black leggings; Shouto thought that outfit looked good on her.
“Where’s everyone else?” he asked her.
“I’m not sure? I suppose they all had plans this evening.”
“Hmm,” he hummed in acknowledgement.
“Speaking of plans, your birthday’s coming up, isn’t it?” she asked, giving him a small glance. “Are you doing anything?”
“My sister said we’re going out to eat for dinner. She said we’re gonna do something during the day, too, but she wants me to decide what we’re doing. I’m not good at that sort of thing.”
“Why don’t you just tell her to decide?”
“I’ve already tried that, but she insists.”
“Oh. Well, if you’re having trouble thinking of something, I could help you,” she offered.
“Really?” he looked up at her in desperation.
“Of course! My parents know this area like the back of their hand; they know about all the popular places to have fun. I’ll call them and have them draft a list of all the places in town, then I’ll narrow it down based on where I think you’d be the most interested in attending. From there, you can decide which places you want to spend your birthday.”
Todoroki was left speechless by her instantaneous plan of action.
When he didn’t reply, Yaoyorozu started to lose confidence in her plan. “Or, we could do something else…We don’t have to-”
“No, your plan’s fine,” he said. “I was just surprised that you came up with all that so quickly.”
“Oh. Yes, well, I-” she was about to say something, but was distracted by the tea kettle, which had just started steaming. She grabbed two tea cups and poured the hot water into them. She inserted the tea bags and set the cups onto their own separate cup plates.
She walked over and handed Todoroki his tea cup. As she was handing it to him, her hand brushed up against his. It was only a brief moment, but that was all it took for Yaoyorozu to start blushing. She glanced at Todoroki to see if he was as well, but he didn’t seem to notice.
Todoroki had noticed, however, he just played it off as if he hadn’t. He was trying not to blush. Yaoyorozu was the first girl he’d ever been interested in, so he wasn’t sure how he should act around her.
“Thanks,” he said, trying to sound as nonchalantly as possible.
“O-oh, you’re welcome.”
It was the same case for Yaoyorozu; Todoroki was the first boy she’d ever liked, so she didn’t have much experience when it came to romance. The only difference between them is that Todoroki has learned to mask his emotions, and she hasn’t.
She quickly hurried over to the counter to grab her own tea cup, then sat at the table across from Todoroki.
He took a sip. “Good tea,” Shouto said.
“Thank you, mother just sent it to me today. It was imported from France.”
“Wow,” Shouto said, sounding just slightly less nonchalant than usual.
When she mentioned her mother, it got her thinking. “Hey, Todoroki. What is your mother like? Sorry to ask you out of the blue, but, I mean, everyone knows your father is Endeavor, the Number 1 Hero, but I don’t believe I’ve ever heard anything about your mother…”
“She’s nice,” Todoroki said, curtly. He wasn’t sure what to say: He himself didn’t even know her that well. He’d only started visiting her a few months ago, so he wasn’t very confident when giving Yaoyorozu an answer.
“Oh.” Yaoyorozu wasn’t sure how to respond to the non-informative answer. She found herself thinking back to a conversation she had overheard Todoroki and Midoriya having: It was a little after the Sports Festival. Todoroki had approached Midoriya and started thanking him for something. She wasn’t sure exactly what he was thanking Midoriya for, but she remembered Todoroki saying something about him visiting his mother. At the time, she thought that was strange: Based on how he said that, that implies he hasn’t been living with her, she thought to herself. But time had passed since then, so she assumed whatever issue there was had been resolved, and she found herself asking him, “are you living with her?”
Todoroki’s expression turned serious, which caused Yaoyorozu to panic.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to overstep-”
“No. It’s okay.”
Yaoyorozu waited for him to say something.
“She’s in the hospital. Has been for the last decade. She should be getting out soon.”
“Oh. Was she ill? Why is she in the hospital?”
Todoroki suddenly looked angry, causing Yaoyorozu to panic even more.
“Sorry! You don’t have to tell me if it’s too personal…”
Todoroki didn’t respond.
She reached over the table and grabbed his hand. She was so distracted by determination, there was no room for embarrassment. “Listen, if you ever want to talk to someone about these things, please let me know. I know I’m not as close to you as Midoriya and Iida are, but, I…we’re still friends, right? Friends are supposed to tell each other when they're hurting. You can’t always internalize your pain…”
Todoroki stared at her, then nodded.
Momo let go of his hand. She was relieved that he didn’t shut her down. She half expected him to say something like, “I don’t need anyone else’s help”. Momo was sure that if she had offered her help to him at the beginning of the school year, that’s how he would’ve responded. She recalled how isolated he was. It wasn’t until after the Sports Festival that she noticed him starting to let his guard down around her and the rest of their class. Compared to how he was at the beginning of the school year, it’s almost like he’s a completely different person. When they had first met, she couldn’t help but be intimidated by him: His icy glare, his powerful quirk…who wouldn’t be intimidated by someone like that? But now, after she’s spent so much time around him and really gotten to know him, he’s grown to be one of the people she admires most in this world.
She was about to get up and retrieve more tea for the two of them, but then Todoroki started talking. He explained, well, pretty much his entire life story. He started with how his father, Endeavor, had tried for years to become the Number 1 Hero. When he realized he could never hope to achieve his goal, he sought out his mother, Rei, with the intention of creating a child with a quirk powerful enough to surpass All Might. On his fourth attempt, Shouto was born: A child with both Endeavor’s Fire quirk and Rei’s Ice one. He explained how, from the moment he was born, Endeavor was obsessed with him, which caused him to neglect his three other children. Shouto had started his training when he was young, and when he was 5, his eldest brother, Toya, had burned to death in a forest, starting the descent of his mother’s mental state, and causing Endeavor to focus even more on Shouto’s training. With the increased intensity of his training, his mother witnessed how harshly Shouto was being treated by his father. She would try to step in, but Endeavor would immediately hit her in retaliation. Being driven further and further towards her breaking point, she called her mother to try to find an escape from her prison of a home. A 5-year-old Shouto overheard his mother, and, in a confused state, asked her if she meant what she was saying. Rei, in a panic, grabbed the tea kettle she’d just heated and threw the scalding water on Shouto’s face.
Yaoyorozu gasped, and covered her mouth with her hands. When Todoroki hit her with that last bit of information, she just couldn’t keep it in anymore.
“H-hey, don’t cry,” Todoroki said, not knowing what to do. “It’s fine. It…happened a long time ago-”.
“It’s NOT ‘fine!’” Yaoyorozu said, wiping tears off her face. “I’m so sorry, I had no idea.”
Todoroki said nothing.
“Who else knows?” she asked him.
“I’ve told Midoriya about it. And Bakugo knows after dinner the other night...”
“Dinner?” Yaoyorozu asked.
“My sister invited Midoriya and Bakugo over to our house for dinner during our internship,” Todoroki clarified.
“Oh,” she said. She looked at Todoroki and noticed he was trembling. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Sorry,” he said, clearly trying to stop himself from shaking. “It’s just…When I told Midoriya, I felt fine, but for some reason it felt different when I explained it to you. I just-” he faltered.
“Hey, it’s okay,” she told him. “You don’t have to say any more.” She got up from her spot at the table and sat down next to him. She spread her arms. “Come here. You need a hug.”
Todoroki stared at her. He was surprised that someone who gets embarrassed as easily as she does was voluntarily offering him a hug. Her face started to get red. He realized she probably felt awkward sitting there waiting for him to move closer, so he leaned forward and they embraced each other. Resting his head on her shoulder, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. She smells nice, Todoroki thought.
His body’s so warm, Yaoyorozu thought. She began rubbing his back with her hand, trying to make him feel better. She hoped that Todoroki hadn’t noticed her embarrassment. She may have seemed pretty calm when offering Todoroki a hug, but internally she was freaking out. Her heart rate doubled the moment he leaned closer, and when he wrapped his arms around her, she was very aware of his hands on her back. It’s not like she was trying to make them hugging a sexual thing, but she just couldn’t help but think of it that way. She thought to herself: Okay, hugging usually indicates closeness. It is something often seen between family members as a greeting or as a goodbye, but since Todoroki and I aren’t family that information is irrelevant. It is also something seen between couples as a demonstration of affection for their significant other… That thought only made her more embarrassed. Just the idea of her and Todoroki dating was enough to make her heart skip a beat.
Todoroki thought back to the first time he had noticed Yaoyorozu: It was during the indoor battles their class did on the second day of school. He was impressed by her analytical skills, so when they were voting for who would become their class representative, he voted for her. Since they sat right next to each other in class, they would sometimes talk, mainly about school but occasionally about their personal lives. She would talk about her mother and father, about how they were very kind and caring people who loved her a lot. And that even if they were a little too controlling sometimes, they did it out of love for her. Todoroki was impressed by that: She was able to recognize that her parents’ intrusiveness was just their way of expressing their love. Most people their age would just complain about their parents being too invasive, and not question why they were that way. That was one of the first times Todoroki realized how caring of a person she was. Thinking about all this instantly made Todoroki happy that she was a part of his life.
He hugged her tighter. “Thank you,” he said.
“W-well, of course,” Yayorozu said. She was caught off-guard by Todoroki’s sudden show of gratitude.
They held each other for a few more seconds, then let go.
“Are you feeling better?” she asked him.
Todoroki nodded.
She sighed in relief, but was still concerned. Yaoyorozu’s eyes drifted towards the left side of Todoroki’s face, and they settled on his scar. She’d seen it before, obviously, but somehow she’d never even been curious about how he got it. Now that she knew where it came from, she felt strange. There were only a select few who knew the truth of its origin, so she felt special that she was one of the few people he had chosen to share it with.
She was so deep in thought, she didn’t realize when her right hand unconsciously started moving towards his face. Right when it was about to make contact, Todoroki grabbed her wrist, waking her up from her trance.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Yaoyorozu said, her face bright red with embarrassment. She tried to retract her arm, but Todoroki kept her wrist in his hand.
“It’s okay,” he said. “You can, if you want.”
“Well, I…” She was going to tell him he didn’t have to let her touch it, but she didn’t have time to.
Still holding onto her wrist, he guided her hand up to his scar. As soon as her hand rested on his cheek, he let go of her wrist. She brushed over the bottom of the scar with her thumb, feeling where his scar and skin meet. She was surprised to find that his scar didn’t feel that much different from his normal skin.
“It wasn’t her fault…,” Todoroki said to her. “I think of it as something he gave me.”
Yaoyorozu wasn’t sure what to say, so she just nodded.
Her face was hot. She looked away from his scar to observe the rest of his face and realized that his face, too, had started to get red. It wasn’t a lot, but it was just enough for her to notice. That’s strange, does he have a cold? She thought about it for a second. No, Todoroki hardly ever gets sick. Then she realized what was really going on. No, don’t tell me…? HE’S FLUSTERED! She looked at him again and noticed he was trying to avoid her gaze, furthering her theory. HE IS! Wait. Does that mean…HE LIKES ME, TOO?! Her face was becoming dangerously hot at this point, and Todoroki noticed.
“Hey, are you okay?” he asked her. “Your face is really red. Do you have a fever?”
She was about to respond, but before she could, Todoroki took his right hand and placed it gently on her forehead.
“Whoa! You’re burning up.” He activated his quirk, cooling his hand down enough to act as a makeshift ice pack. Little did he know that, by touching her face without warning, he only caused her condition to worsen…
OH MY GOSH! HE’S TOUCHING MY FACE! WHAT DO I DO?! Her whole body felt like it was burning from the inside out. Her head began to spin.
“Are you feeling alright?” he asked.
She fell forward, right into Todoroki.
“I-I’m fine,” she said, weakly. “I just…I just need a minute.” She rested her head against his chest.
“Oh. Okay,” he said. Not sure what to do, he decided comforting her was the best plan of action. He rested his chin on the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her.
Yaoyorozu thought this would make her embarrassed again, but she was surprised when she didn’t become flustered. She was so emotionally drained by this whole encounter that she didn’t have the energy to get embarrassed. No longer blinded by embarrassment, she quickly found his arms around her to be comforting. She felt like she could stay in his arms forever. Her head against his chest, she felt as if she could feel his heart beating. She could feel how muscular his chest was through his shirt, which was surprising to her because of how slender his figure is.
She began to wonder why she was feeling so weird. Am I sick? No, probably not. But just in case I am, being around Todoroki might not be the best idea. I should get some rest; I’ll probably feel better in the morning. The truth was, she felt like could fall asleep then and there. She felt so comfortable in his arms, so safe, but she knew going up to her room would be for the best. Yaoyorozu took a moment to collect herself, then sat up.
“Thank you for that,” she told him.
“Sure.” He looked at her, his eyes filled with concern. She’s been acting strangely, he thought. He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was his fault she was acting so weird. He wanted to help, of course, but he couldn’t if he didn’t know what the problem was.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked her again.
“Yes, I’m fine. I just-” she got out of her seat at the table and immediately started to feel dizzy.
She was about to collapse, but Todoroki quickly sprung out of his seat and caught her.
“You’re feeling ‘fine,’ huh?”
She didn’t know what to say. She was already focusing so hard on staying upright, she wasn’t able to formulate a response.
“You’re going to your room, right? I’ll take you.”
“What? No, you don’t have to-”
Before she could finish her thought, he had already picked her up and was carrying her toward the elevator.
“Todoroki, you really don’t have to…”
“Oh, I don’t? C’mon Yaoyorozu, you can barely stand right now. This is the least I can do.”
“I guess, but…” She didn’t know how to respond. She’d never seen him this way before, so concerned, but at the same time, it made her feel sort of relieved. She was glad to know that she could rely on Todoroki if she was ever in trouble. The thought of Todoroki always being there for her comforted her.
She snuggled up against his chest, then whispered, “thank you.”
Todoroki stepped out of the elevator once it reached the fifth floor. Still carrying Yayorozu, who had fallen asleep, he walked down the hallway and opened the door to her room.
He gently placed her unconscious body onto her bed, then pulled the covers over her.