Fading into the background

Chapter seven: The sleepover

Shoto woke up at 7AM which was pretty late. Last night he decided not to set an alarm since there would be no school the next day. He did his usual stretches and exercises, took a shower and began making breakfast at 9:20AM. He had never cooked anything before as his father didn't consider it beneficial for him becoming a hero, but an omelet seemed easy. He followed every step the tutorial said but clearly something went wrong, he didn't know the white part of the egg could turn black. While eating a toast instead, he cleaned up the mess, making it look like nothing happened.

Shoto had never gone to a sleepover so he didn't know what he was supposed to pack. According to the internet the essentials were a pijama, a change of clothes, toothbrush, phone and charger. There were other weird things he decided to ignore such as skincare products, hair gel or arts and crafts materials as they didn't seem necessary. There were still 50 minutes left until the hour they had agreed to meet, but since he had nothing left to do he decided to leave early and walk instead of taking the bus.

He arrived at Sato's house at 11 sharp just like they agreed and Ojiro was already there. The rest of them got there during the next fifteen minutes and they settled on the living room. They decided that before lunch they would play video games but couldn't decide which until Koda timidly proposed Mario-Kart. Shoto had never played video games and didn't know what Mario-Kart was so he asked "Umm, what is Mario-Kart?" The rest of the group was bewildered and outraged, according to Tokoyami Mario-Kart was "The greatest thing that has ever happened to this mad, dark world" which made it seem more like a religion then a video game. Even Koda talked up to say it was really good.

Since he had never played before, Shoto played in the first round along with Koda, Shoji and Tokoyami. For the character he chose Toad since it was white and red like him and he thought it would be funny. He won the first game, more than that, he completely destroyed the others. After 8 rounds of steadily winning Todoroki was banned from Mario-Kart, he really enjoyed it, but his trained reflexes did make for an unfair advantage.

It was finally time for lunch and they ordered takeout. While eating the others were trying to choose a movie to watch and there were currently two sides. Tokoyami and Shoji wanted Pixar while Koda and Ojiro said Disney was better. Shoto was called in to break the tie since Sato said they should watch a cooking reality show. "I don't have any preferences. I don't know either of them" which was true, he wasn't allowed to watch television. The scene from Mario-Kart was repeated with his friends gaping at him like he was an alien. It was then decided that they would spend the entire afternoon watching movies. According to Sato it was to "make him a man of culture" while Tokoyami took a more dramatical approach saying it was "the only way to fix this great affront against humanity".

After dinner it was time to change into their pajamas and brush their teeth so they took turns going into the bathroom, they chose the order by drawing straws and Shoto was the last. His pajamas consisted of a white long-sleeved shirt, gray training shorts and black high socks. Overall he wouldn't get too hot but the only skin that showed was his left calf which meant none of the big scars could be seen. He brushed his teeth and went back to the other who were arguing about sweets.

Everything was normal until Tokoyami suddenly froze staring at Shoto, or being more accurate at his prosthetic right leg which showed due to the shorts. "Your leg" he said. Now the others were looking at him as well, shocked. "Yes?" Shoto didn't really know what was going on. "You don't have a leg" Ojiro said with a higher pitch than it should be possible. "I know. You didn't know?" said Shoto, sounding even more confused. "You didn't tell us" justified Shoji looking slightly betrayed. "It isn't as if I tried to keep it a secret, we change together in the locker rooms" at his deadpan expression Sato cracked up and began laughing which in turn made the others laugh.

By the time they managed to calm down they were all lying in the ground from laughing so hard. "Any other incredibly important shocking fact you wanna share?" asked Sato, joking. Shoto took it as an actual question and thought about it for a while before saying "I mean, it's kind of obvious, but I'm completely deaf and blind on my left side" His answer was met with complete silence. "He is not joking, isn't he?" Ojiro asked Koda looking between nervous and exasperated. "It is not obvious" Shoji explained slowly. "Oh, okay"

After a short lapse of awkwardness and staring they kept watching movies as if nothing had happened. By the next morning they began calling each other by their first names and made two promises. To repeat soon and explicitly say any important fact about themselves that the others might want to know.

Author Note: Next chapter the announcement of the Sports Festival.