Yūgen: TodoMomo

one

Yaoyorozu's phone screen lit up, pulling her attention from the textbook she was hunched over. She had been sitting at her desk so long, she hadn't even noticed the natural light from her dorm window fading. Now it was almost completely dark aside from the small lamp next to her.

She finished what she was writing in her notebook and stuffed it inside the textbook to hold her place, then picked up her phone. She didn't really feel like taking a break, but she knew she should. Her stomach squealed, reminding her she hadn't eaten dinner yet, either.

'Who could be texting me?' She wondered. All her friends knew when she was in room room with the door closed she was studying. Nothing special was going on tonight. It wasn't like her family would really contact- Message from Mom- her thoughts jammed in her head as she read the notification.

"What?" She whispered out loud, more than a little surprised. Her mom never texted her unless she wanted to know her test scores, or... 'would that really be why? I hope it's just about my grades,' she thought as she opened the message.

'Your father has finally crossed the line. I've called the agency and told them he needs another place to stay for a while. If he contacts you, please just don't respond. I hope this doesn't distract you from studying.'

Yaoyorozu's eyes widened at first, then she shut them. She wanted to shut out the voices she heard, too. The memories. Not here, not in this sanctuary she had finally created for herself.

Her peaceful study session came crashing down. Even though there were no villains here, her breathing became unsteady and her hands started to shake. She wrapped her hands around her shoulders, trying to ground herself. 'Please, Mom- Dad, don't bring your energy into this place. This is MY dorm, not your play house. This is my home, not yours,' she pleaded silently in her thoughts. Their shouts and insults tore at her conscious, threatening to cripple her from the inside out.

Her mom never told her about the arguments with her dad unless it was bad. The briefness of the message was what worried her the most. She had hoped it might get better with her being at the dorms, but that wish was a far cry from reality. 'Why would being out of the house be any different from locking myself away in the mansion? I'll never be free from their screams, from their pain, and their expectations.' Her thoughts were like razors that cut into her psyche. Suddenly the darkness of the room seemed to choke her. S almost felt hands tightening around her neck and ankles, the silence of the room crashing against her cacophony of thoughts.

"I need to get out." She spoke to break the silence. Standing up, she felt wetness on her cheeks and realized she had been crying. Not wanting to be approached by anyone, she pulled on a hoodie and swiftly made a break for the exit.

Once outside, she let out a shaky breath. Her hands were still trembling, so she stuffed them in her pockets. She forced her feet to keep moving. She didn't care where she went. A few people were out on the street but no one seemed to recognize her. Moving in the opposite direction as them, she heard footsteps abruptly stop, then the sound of someone pivoting on gravel.

"Yaoyorozu?" Todoroki's voice cautiously called out.

'Great, now he's gonna see me in my worst state of mind. I have to think of an excuse,' she thought. Despite her growing self-consciousness, her muscles seemed to instinctively relax at the sound of his voice.

Why did he have that effect of her? Why did her feet not run away? She ran away from everyone else, but couldn't run from him. She didn't want him to see her as helpless, as someone who couldn't even compose herself after getting a disappointing text. He always showed up as her strength, why couldn't she be the strong one for once?

Still, her head turned towards his approaching footsteps. They were hurried at first, then gradually slowed until he stood a few feet from her, hesitant, as if approaching a wild animal.

"Momo, are you ok? What's wrong?" His tone was quiet, but steady. Her body yearned to fall into his arms, to spill her pain all over him until they were both soaked and stained with it.

"S-Shoto, I... " She tried to open her mouth, tried to say more, but her vision grew blurry; the chill in the air seemed to cradle her, stealing her words from her lips. Her knees buckled under her, and she distantly felt herself falling as she submitted to the numbness.

***

Yaoyorozu's face felt warm, almost feverish. Her feet were cold, but she could tell there was something over top of them, a blanket? And the ground underneath her was soft. What had she been doing? Did she take a nap? She wiggled her fingers, one hand was also under the blanket, but the other was just as warm as her face. She was holding something. It felt so comforting and it was so warm, clinging to her as she started to stir. Whatever it was, she didn't want to let go.

Opening her eyes, she saw she was in a bed, but not her own. "What? Where am I?" She started to panic as she sat up. Her hand received a squeeze from whatever she was holding.

"It's alright, Momo. You... you fainted in the middle of the street. I caught you before your head could hit the ground, but you were cold and I could tell you had been crying. I figured you didn't want to go back to the dorms, so I brought you here." She looked over to the side of the bed, and saw Todoroki.

Her face flushed at the sight of him, and at her bedside nonetheless. Slowly, her eyes followed his arm down to the mattress, where her hand rested, firmly griping his own. 'That explains why my hand was warm, he's using his quirk to warm his hand up,' she thought.

Before she could say anything, her stomach spoke for her. A massive growl erupted from under the blanket and Todoroki let out a small chuckle.

"It's just like you to forget to eat, Momo. Good thing I came across a corner store on my way here. I didn't know what you'd want, so I bought a few different flavors of my favorite instant noodles," Todoroki motioned with his free hand to a small table on the other side of the room. "Oh yeah, this is a motel not far from UA, it was close and discrete, I apologize if I overstepped by bringing you here."

He looked back at her. Concern was clouding his eyes, uniting them with emotion but not color. She almost thought, 'It's nice to see him so concerned about me, not embarrassing like I thought it would be.'

She just stared back, lost in his grey and blue eyes, his hair looked disheveled as it was messily covering his forehead, the two halves of his hair mixing together.

"I was just gonna stay with you until you woke up, I thought you might want to be left alone. But... " He broke eye contact to look at their hands, still clasped tightly, "...you took my hand hostage... and... I don't feel like asking for it back."

A/n: When Yaoyorozu thinks her hand is warm because of Todoroki's left handed heat quirk, he's actually not using it. He's naturally warmer than her. For contrast, at that moment his cold side is probably about the same temperature as her.