Spare Him ||BNHA Todoiida||Villain Todoroki||

Chapter 2- Ice Cream

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"Hey. You look like you could use a friend."

Iida stared up at the teenager in front of him, confused. An ice cream cone was in their hands, held out to the blue-haired teen. The dark-gray hoodie they had on was covering their red and white hair, and a black eye-patch was covering one side of their face.

"I..." Iida uttered pathetically. "I suppose I could..."

The stranger seemed to take that well, sitting down next to Iida, still offering out the ice cream cone. Not wanting to be rude, he took it, but didn't bother to eat it. Instead, he just watched the ice cream drip down his hands.

"Are you unhappy?" the stranger asked bluntly, taking a lick of their own ice cream. He turned to Iida. "I couldn't help but notice."

Iida felt like the pit in his stomach sank deeper at the stranger's words. He licked his ice cream, looking away. It tasted like nothing. 

"Do you not like vanilla?" the stranger asked, unbothered by Iida's lack of an answer. "I know some people don't like vanilla because it's plain, but I find it just as tasty as other flavors."

"N-No, I like vanilla," Iida said, turning to the stranger. "I'm just not hungry right now. Sorry, it was rude of me to disregard your kindness!" he apologized with a quick bow.

"It's alright, you don't have to do that," the stranger said, lifting Iida back upright. "I was the one who went up to you first."

Iida nodded, forcing himself to swallow more ice cream, which was now dripping down his fingers. 

"I didn't introduce myself either, so apologizes for that," the stranger said politely. "You can call me Sho."

'Sho.' Iida noted. 

"Tenya Iida," he said after, holding his hand out in a handshake. "Nice to meet you, Sho."

"Likewise." 'Sho' said, taking the hand.  

Iida smiled slightly at the potential of a new friend. "Thank you," he said, taking a bite of the crunchy cone. "I think I needed a little bit of cheering up."

Sho nodded. "It's no problem. I like cheering people up. When you're sad and no one comes to help, it's one of the worst feelings ever. I want to prevent that."

Iida listened, feeling a sense of admiration for the teen. "That's wonderful," he said, "you're like a hero."

"Ah..." Sho looked away, finishing the rest of his ice cream. "I wouldn't go that far."

"But it's true," Iida insisted. "Trying to raise a stranger's spirits despite not needing to is a commendable quality. Being a hero means helping people, and right now, you're doing that for me."

Sho was silent for a few seconds. Eventually, he said, "...Thanks. But I don't want to be called a hero. I want to do this as a normal person," he looked at Iida, "because if everything boils down to heroes, then what will happen to the faith amongst the normal societies?"

"I... never thought of that," Iida admitted, frowning. "I apologize! I didn't realize you wouldn't want to be referred to as a hero!"

"Again, it's fine," Sho said. "Heroes are regarded in a positive way. It's only normal that would be a compliment. If I were anybody else, I'm sure I'd be beaming."

Iida grinned. "You're right. I'm actually training to be a hero myself! U.A. High School."

"So that's where I remembered you from," Sho said, putting a hand to his chin. "Didn't you have to leave after your battle with the Hatsume girl?"

At his words, Iida's grin was instantly wiped off his face, the urgent phone call he got that day and Tensei's bandaged body flashing in his mind. He accidentally dropped his cone, the melted ice cream forming a puddle on the ground.

"Y-Yes," he muttered automatically, face paler. "that was me."

"Iida?" Sho said, his face morphing into one of concern. He gripped the edge of the bench. "Are you okay?"

Iida put a hand to his mouth, the other ice cream covered one curled up into a sticky fist, and squeezed his eyes uncomfortably closed. He sucked in air through his teeth.

"Breath in and out," Sho said, putting a hand on Iida's shoulder. The blue-haired teen complied, exhaling heavily. "There."

"Thank you," Iida said, sounding strained. He put a hand to his chest. "I... I'm sorry, I... I need to leave."

He saw Sho nod faintly in the corner of his eye, before a heavy feeling clawed its way up his body, and he got up from the bench and left.

Sho didn't chase after him. Iida wasn't sure if he left or stayed at the bench, but all he thought about in that moment was his brother, who was still at the hospital.

The flame of anger grew even bigger.

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801 words

A/N- i think i accidentally published this chapter by accident a few days ago and gave myself a heart attack :')