Chapter Text
The first person to notice is Kirishima.
Again.
At this point nobody is surprised.
"What are you looking at?" Kaminari asks, Kirishima slowly points down the hallway.
"...Am I losing my mind?"
"Probably."
"Not helping."
The hallway leading to the dorms is mostly empty students are either studying or eating dinner.
Normal.
Then Todoroki walks past nobody thinks much of it. Until she reaches Bakugou's door. And opens it, without knocking.
Without texting. Without hesitation.
She simply opens the door and walks inside, the hallway goes silent.
Kaminari blinks "...What." Kirishima blinks "...What."
"...WHAT."
The door closes behind her. The two continue staring nobody comes back out.
Five minutes pass.
Then ten.
Then fifteen.
The investigation begins, unfortunately for everyone involved-
Bakugou and Todoroki have absolutely no idea.
Inside the room "Took you long enough."
"You said six."
"It's six-oh-three."
"Tragic." Bakugou throws a telemetry report at her.
She catches it.
Normal.
Outside?
Not normal, not normal at all.
Kaminari has created a group chat.
Kirishima is taking notes.
Ashido has somehow obtained snacks.
Nobody knows how
"Maybe she knocked."
"She didn't."
"Maybe he invited her."
"He wasn't even near the door."
"Maybe they're secretly married."
"MINA."
---
The next incident happens three days later.
Bakugou is missing, again.
Nobody can find him.
Training ended twenty minutes ago. No garage.
No simulator room.
No cafeteria.
Nothing.
Until Momo casually says "Maybe he's with Todoroki."
The room freezes, because that's a valid possibility now.
A horrifyingly valid possibility.
They find him thirty minutes later... in Todoroki's dorm room,
The door is open.
He's sitting on the floor telemetry spread everywhere.
Todoroki is sitting on the bed.
Both look up "...What?" Bakugou asks.
The entire class stares, nobody answers.
Because somehow that's worse.
Not because they're doing anything because they're not.
They're literally working.
The problem is:
They look comfortable, far too comfortable.
After that, things become impossible to ignore.
Todoroki starts appearing in Bakugou's room regularly.
Bakugou starts appearing in hers. Nobody announces it.
Nobody discusses it.
It just...
happens.
Like it always has.
Like it's completely natural. Which only makes the class more concerned.
----
The breaking point arrives on Friday Kirishima walks into the common room.
Holding evidence.
Actual evidence.
"Explain this."
Nobody knows what he's talking about until he slams photographs onto the table.
Photos. Not romantic photos.
Worse.
Routine photos.
Todoroki leaving Bakugou's room Bakugou leaving Todoroki's room.
Late-night study sessions.
Shared telemetry reviews.
The same hallway, over and over again.
Ashido immediately starts crying "I KNEW IT."
"You know nothing." Jirou says.
"I know enough."
That evening.
Garage Three, rain taps softly against the windows.
The track lights glow outside.
Bakugou reviews lap data.
Todoroki scrolls through engineering notes.
Comfortable silence.
Eventually
"Kirishima thinks we're weird."
Bakugou doesn't look up "Kirishima is weird."
"That's fair."
"Apparently people think it's strange that I go to your room."
Bakugou finally looks up "...Why."
"That's what I asked."
Silence.
Both think about it.
Honestly.
Then simultaneously:
"I don't know."
Another pause.
Because they genuinely don't. When had it become normal?
When had opening the other's door become automatic? Neither remembers.
And somehow-
that should probably concern them.
It doesn't.
Outside the garage window-
Kirishima slowly lowers a pair of binoculars "Another checkmark."
"YOU BROUGHT BINOCULARS?" Ashido screeches.
"It's science."
"It's stalking."
"It's important."
Inside the garage, completely unaware-
Bakugou slides a telemetry report across the table, Todoroki takes it without looking.
Like she's done a hundred times before.
Because she has.
And that's exactly the problem.