Weak [BNHA Fanfiction]

Chapter 33

Charlie scrunched her hair up on the top of her head and pulled an elastic over it, making it into what might be called a bun; it fell out almost immediately into a misshapen shape on her nape. She was sitting cross legged at Mina's dinner table. Mina sat beside her, working through the question Charlie had just assigned to her.

They had walked to Mina's fathers house so Charlie could help Mina go over English before going to Yaoyorozu's house to study some more. Mina's younger brother was at her mother's house and Mina's father was at work so it was just the two of them at home. 

Mina slid her sheet over to Charlie, who took a moment to finish scribbling down the answer to the math question she had been working on before reading over the sentence that Mina had translated.

"Close but not quite..." Charlie pointed out Mina's mistakes, "mountain is spelt wrong, there's an i after the a and the sentence is in past tense so it's walked, not walks. You have to pay attention to tenses, it's an easy mistake you can lose a lot of marks from."

She slid the paper back to her slightly disappointed friend and checked her equation's answer in the back of the textbook. Charlie frowned, "do you know how to do this one?"

Mina spared a quick glance at the question "no clue. Ask Todoroki, isn't he the best at math in the class? Is he coming to the study group tonight?"

"Dunno, I'll ask him." Charlie picked up her phone and shot Todoroki a text. As she did so she heard the front door open and close.

A man stepped into the kitchen and placed some grocery bags on the table. He was tall and dark, with a wide frame and closely cropped hair.

"Mike, this is Charlie. Charlie, this is my step dad, Mike."

"Hi Charlie!" Mike piped.

"Hello!"

"We're leaving to go to a study group soon, can you tell my dad when he gets home?"

"Sure."

The two continued to work quietly as Mike put the groceries away. When Charlie heard his footsteps retreating to the upper level of the house, she leaned close to Mina, whispering. "I thought we were at your dad's house? Why's your step dad here?"

Mina blinked at Charlie before cracking a smile. "'cause he's married to him, duh."

"Oh. Wasn't expecting that one, sorry."

Mina laughed and turned back to her studying. Charlie's phone buzzed and she checked it. "He says he'll be there but he'll be late."

"Great, he can help us with math. We should get going so we aren't late."

The pair packed up their books and left the house as the sun was beginning to near the horizon.

They made their way down the street towards the bus stop, Mina popping the question, "so, do you like anyone?"

Charlie stared down at her feet, her face flushing for a moment before she answered. "...Ojiro. Wo-WOAH who are you texting?!"

"Tsu. She owes me 400 yen."

Charlie sighed and slid a hand down her face. "But he rejected me before I even got the chance to confess."

Mina clicked her tongue and shook her head pityingly, giving Charlie a pat on the shoulder. "He's going to be there today, right? Will that be awkward for you?"

"Nope. We're still friends so it's alright. I'll get over it soon. What about you? Got anyone you like?"

"Probably Momo."

"Not even surprised—she has ginormous tits."

"I KNOW, RIGHT?"

The study session passed by quickly. Momo and Charlie—first and third in the class—spent most of the time helping tutor the other students as a way of reaffirming their own knowledge. The group ordered pizza half way through, Todoroki arriving just in time to eat with them.

Charlie had a lot of fun with getting everyone to practice English by trying to lead a conversation in it while they are. They chatted about school and asked each other and answered a couple questions to practice comprehension. Todoroki—their local math wiz—was shyer about teaching and didn't do any group exercises, but seemed happy to help whenever someone brought him a problem. Momo was just an all arounder and was helping everyone memorize art history dates and facts that night.

By the time everyone had called it a night, it was well past dark. Todoroki offered to walk Charlie to the subway station explaining that his house was in that general direction. The two packed their bags along with everyone else and said goodbye, stepping into the chilly nighttime air in tired but good moods.

As they walked down the road towards the subway station together, Charlie ran through art history dates in her head and Todoroki wondered whether she would shake off his hand were he to grab hers right now. Instead, he asked, "How's your dad doing?"

Her father had been transferred to a rehab facility two days ago and would be there for at least two weeks. Nemuri insisted that Charlie live with her for that time.

"Fine I think? Haven't heard from him much since we checked him in. He seemed different in the hospital so maybe he'll take this shit seriously after he almost died and at least try to get better."

Todoroki nodded solemnly. "I hope he gets better too."

"How's your mum? Have you visited her recently?"

"Yeah, I saw her over the weekend after I was discharged. She seemed to be doing well."

Charlie's lips couldn't help but lilt upwards as she watched a small smile tug on Todoroki's cheeks. They arrived at the station quickly and she paused at the entrance.

"Can I give you a hug?" Charlie opened her arms questioningly and grinned.

Todoroki only nodded let himself be pulled into a warm embrace, wrapping his arms around her mid section and curling to her shoulders to avoid her backpack while Charlie reached up to hug his neck.

They pulled apart and she found Todoroki's hands lingering on her forearms. Charlie looked up at him questioningly.

He kissed her.