"Todoroki!"
Shoto was walking down the corridor to head out to school, bag over his shoulder and usual calm expression on his face. When he heard someone loudly shouting his name he turned around with a raised brow.
"Good morning Todoroki!"
"Good morning Midoriya. Why are you shouting?"
"I wanted to catch up to you so we could walk to school together."
"Okay. Let's head out then."
"Right."
Midoriya walked next to his friend in a comfortable silence, trying his best to restrain himself from blurting out the class' surprise for Todoroki. Todoroki noticed how bouncy and jumpy Midoriya was but decided it wasn't too far from his usual behaviour so he let him be.
"Oh, I almost forgot! This is from me, I made them myself! Happy Birthday Todoroki~." Midoriya congratulated quietly.
"Thankyou Midoriya."
Shoto took the plastic tupperware box and opened it, revealing two red velvet cupcakes. They were red and white with small blue sprinkles on top.
"Is there a reason for the colours?" asked Shoto with a knowing look on his face.
"No!" Midoriya replied quickly, too quickly, and the pair ended up quietly laughing.
"Here."
Todoroki handed one cupcake over to Izuku, who took it with a surprised look on his face. He tried to decline, saying he had made them for the birthday boy, but Shoto insisted and said that he should try his own baking.
"Okay, if you insist... Whoa!" exclaimed Izuku as he looked down at the cupcake with wide eyes. They tasted fantastic!
"They are quite delicious. Thankyou Midoriya."
"No problem!"
The pair ate their cupcakes as the walked to school, dropping the paper cases in the bin before heading into the classroom. Midoriya was quick to place the plastic tub back into his bag, knowing he had to continue to act like he was keeping Todoroki's birthday a secret. When Shoto sat down in his seat, several of the students greeted him a good morning. They talked about the cold weather and what they would be learning in class that day, before Aizawa walked in and told them all to sit down.
"I'm going to take the register. Don't talk or I'll kick you out."
Once they had been signed in, Aizawa said that today they would be doing some training with their quirks. Shoto had been absentmindedly looking out of the window at the snow-topped trees, so he was slow to stand up and join everyone as they headed off to get changed into their training uniforms.
"Do you like winter Todoroki?" asked Mina as she walked next to him, noticing his looks to the scenery.
"Yes."
"Me too! Isn't the snow really pretty?"
"I think it is, yes." agreed Shoto.
The pair split up to get changed and everyone headed into the arena to practise. They were put into small groups to practise- lightly, Aizawa warned- and Todoroki was put with Bakugou, Denki, Momo, Mineta and Uraraka.
They warmed up in their own ways and Todoroki took a moment to take a deep breath in and out with his eyes closed, trying to expell the memories surfacing in his mind from all those years ago that day. When he opened his eyes he was calm, collected, and focused; to Bakugou- from the other side of the group- he knew they would have a good fight.
"Your task is to disable the other people in your group with minimal injury. Minimal! You can start now."
Todoroki could feel Bakugou's intense gaze right on him yet chose to ignore it. He hoped, that by taking out the others, the blond would understand his intentions. Shoto wanted them to work together to disable the others before fighting each other. A rematch was what both of them wanted anyways.
Bakugou watched as Icyhot focused on Uraraka. He created a dome of ice that completely surrounded her. He made sure it wouldn't freeze her but instead trap her and take her focus away from her quirk. Aizawa watched and when Uraraka couldn't escape he called out:
"Uraraka out!"
Todoroki immediately dropped the ice dome and turned to where Bakugou was fighting Denki with Momo. He was using a similar tactic to him but trapping Denki with explosions whilst Momo was creating a huge net. They were both multitasking whilst dodging Denki's electricity, so none of them noticed a creeping Mineta who was slowly going up behind Momo with a smirk on his face.
With a disgusted frown, Shoto sent out a streak of ice on the ground to freeze Mineta; then he sent a short blast of fire to the boy making the ice break and send him flying backwards. It was only a small explosion but it caught the attention of Momo. Looking behind her to see a disabled Mineta, she looked at Todoroki with a smile and nod before continuing her creation.
"Mineta out! Use this time to get some help!" Aizawa shouted as he dragged Mineta away from the fight with a frown on his face at the perverted boy's intentions.
Now Shoto could either join Momo and Bakugou in fighting Denki, or join Denki and take out at least one of the other duo. Knowing it would gain him more points to now work with someone instead of going solo, he joined in the fight and decided to help Denki along. He slid over on his ice and created a ramp; sliding to the top he flipped over in mid-air and used his fire to burn the net created by Momo. The girl's eye widened as she watched Todoroki slide back down and trap her in a case of ice, blocking her from using her quirk anymore.
"Momo out!"
Momo sighed and made her way from the fight as the ice fell off of her. Bakugou was distracted with firing blast after blast towards Denki and the electric boy was grinning as he sent shocks towards the explosive boy. Todoroki ran to the opposite side of Bakugou, essentially trapping Denki between them.
A flash of peppermint caught Katsuki's attention and he smirked before sending an explosion right into the air. A boulder of ice met it immediately and the ice exploded, crashing down onto the ground right atop Denki. Shoto dived and grabbed Denki, throwing them out of the way of the ice. They were now engaged in a fist fight, but Todoroki's combat excelled far beyond Denki's. So before Kaminari could get in even five hits Shoto was pinning him to the ground, arms behind his back and coated in ice.
"Kaminari out!"
Now it was just the two of them left.
"Finally!" Bakugou shouted. "I've been waiting!"
"I've done all the work. I've taken out four people and you've taken out one! What's been distracting you, huh?" Todoroki teased, smirking slightly when Bakugou growled. "Angry Pomeranian."
"Huh? What did you just call me Icyhot?!"
"An angry Pomeranian. Or- what was it again- King Explosion Murder? Cute."
"Huh?!"
"It's your move Katsuki."
It was a silent standstill between them. Bakugou wanted to rush over and slam Shoto's damn perfect face into the ground and explode him thirty feet in the air, yet he also didn't want to rush into it and end up losing. He knew that Todoroki would give it his all and was waiting for him to make the first move. He noticed flickers of fire on Icyhot's arm from where his sleeve had burnt away; the sight made his eyes gleam with excitement.
He nodded before running forwards and building up two giant explosions in his hands. Shoto simply stood where he was, wanting Bakugou to lose some energy to give him an advantage. When the boy was a few meters away he created an ice rink around the whole fighting area. He used his quirk to maintain his balance whilst Katsuki slid slightly.
"Damn Icyhot." muttered Bakugou as he continued to run at Icyhot, making sure not to fall back on his face. If he wanted to travel faster he would have to use his quirk which would tire him out quicker; looking into a pair of blue and grey, analytical eyes, he knew that was Todoroki's plan.
Now he had reached Todoroki and joined his explosions together before jumping up and sending his fist right down onto where Shoto was standing. At the very last moment Todoroki used his fire to fly into the air right over Katsuki, leaving the blond to deal with the aftermath of his explosion. Exploding ice would create a mass bomb, definitely dangerous if he didn't protect himself.
Luckily Bakugou realised at the last second what was going to happen so created a big explosion that re-directed the shards of ice shooting at him from all directions. The next second he turned around only to be greeted by an incredible sight.
From around twenty feet into the air, Todoroki sent out his fist, fire shooting out from his body. Two flaming phoenix wings formed behind him before diving right at him. He had no time but to turn and run across the icy ground; yet trying to outrun the flames was like trying to stop time. Impossible. Well, it wasn't if you had the right quirk. Which he didn't, damn Icyhot!
Shoto watched the retreating figure as he slid to the ground on a ramp of ice and made his way slowly over to the clouds of smoke. He used his cold temperature to dissipate the flames and remove the ice and found a pair of ruby red eyes piercing right into his soul. Bakugou had been blasted back into the corner of the arena and he was sitting against the wall whilst taking in heavy breaths.
They stared at each other for a long while, knowing the verdict was decided.
"Bakugou out!"
The arena was silent as they watched the battle between Bakugou and Todoroki. It was fast-paced and intense but their eyes were captivated by one sight only: Shoto's flames were beautiful. When Aizawa announced that Bakugou was out and therefore Shoto was the winner, there was a stunned silence before the class erupted into cheers.
Todoroki turned and saw some of them low-key fangirling over him and Midoriya looked like he was about to cry. But none of that mattered except for the opponent in front of him.
"I used my flames like you wanted."
"Like hell you used them, you owned that shit."
Todoroki smiled, like actually smiled, and for a moment Bakugou didn't know how to breathe. So when everyone came running over to congratulate Shoto and Bakugou for their epic fight, he had to force himself to let out a breath and hide his-
"Bakubro you're all red!" Kirishima exclaimed as he pulled up Bakugou.
"It's hot Shittyhair!"
"Yeah it's hot." Kirishima agreed before adding with a grin: "In more ways than one."
"Shittyhair!"
Bakugou raised a fist to punch Kirishima but Shittyhair managed to dodge at the last second. He had to be content with raising his middle finger before turning to the approaching teacher.
"Well done Todoroki. You controlled your flames very well. I'm impressed. And Bakugou, you didn't entirely lose your cool so you passed too."
Shoto nodded his head in thanks to Aizawa, whilst Bakugou just grunted at the half-compliment. Todoroki and the rest of the group all sat along the bleachers whilst the other groups took their turns battling. It was entertaining to watch and Shoto enjoyed seeing how his classmates had all improved in using their quirks to the best of their abilities.
"Hey Icyhot."
"Hm?" hummed Shoto as he continued to watch Kirishima use his hardening quirk.
"I didn't go easy on you!"
"Well, I was going to ask if you were going easy on me because of what day it is, but I'm glad you cleared it up."
"Going full out was a- shit- damn- a present okay? Happy birthday or whatever!"
The corners of Shoto's lips turned up as he stopped himself from laughing at how flustered Bakugou was. It was nice seeing him express emotions other than rage and was appreciative that he didn't go easy on him.
"You know Katsuki, I actually enjoyed using my fire today. It felt freeing, in a sense. So thankyou."
"Yeah whatever! It's not like you looked less stupid than usual when using them and that flaming wings thing was not cool at all!"
"Okay Bakugou, whatever you say."
Once all the groups had finished fighting it was already lunchtime so they all headed back to the changing rooms and practically raced into the dining room. Todoroki was taking his time to once more admire the scenery, so he told Deku he would meet up with him soon enough. The freckled boy nodded and went ahead with the squad, very hungry for food!
But he was soon pulled out of his admiring by thudding footsteps racing his way. Looking over his shoulder he saw bright red spiky hair racing towards him with a massive grin too.
"Todobro!"
"Yes Kirishima?"
"I wanted to give you this!"
When he came to a skidding stop he held out a tupperware box that was filled with noodles.
"What is this?" Todoroki asked as he peered curiously at the tub.
"Bakubro was cooking last night and he had left over soba and since you like it cold I said we should give it to you because you love it so much so here!" Kirishima blurted out before taking a huge gulp of breath.
"Oh... tell him thankyou for the food." said Shoto with a nod of his head before Kirishima pushed the box into his hands and ran off.
Shoto held the box until he was sitting down at the table next to Iida. Then he opened it to be greeted with the amazing smell of cold soba and a pair of chopsticks. He raised a brow however, because there wasn't only cold soba noodles in there. There were chopped vegetables and diced chicken mixed in with a pot of sauce at the side. He was going to question at how there was just the perfect amount of everything left over but he was too hungry and settled on just eating the food quickly.
"Whoa Todoroki, that looks so delicious!"
"It is." agreed Shoto when he swallowed the food in his mouth.
There was so much of it too! He enjoyed his meal very much and whilst doing so brushed off all the compliments his friends gave him about the training exercise. He ended up having very red cheeks at the end of lunchtime and enjoyed the breeze from the open window once they were all back in class.
The rest of the day passed by quickly enough and when they arrived back at the dorms, Todoroki dropped of his bag in his room before grabbing a towel and heading to the showers. He enjoyed the warm water easing away any stiff muscles from training. He turned the water cold just before he got out and laughed at how it tickled his back.
He did any missing homework and replied to some texts from Fuyumi and Natsuo wishing him a happy birthday, before Bakugou's loud belting voice echoed throughout the entire dorm, calling them down for dinner. He changed into a white t-shirt and black jeans before slipping on some sneakers and heading to the elevator.
The smell hit him before he turned the corner into the kitchen. The most aromatic smell of cold soba noodles! His eyes gleamed with excitement yet he made sure he had a calm composure before walking in.
"Todoroki bro!" Denki shouted as he hopped off his stool and dragged him towards the table that was full of different foods: soba, yakitori chicken, tonkatsu, steamed buns, onigiri, and more! He eyed the food with a raised brow before turning to look at Bakugou who was wiping down the sides.
"Why the feast?" he asked as he sat down next to a grinning Mina, jumping up and down on the stool.
"Because I felt like it."
"Okay."
"Bakugou!" Mina shouted, causing Todoroki to jump a little from the sound.
"What pinkiepie?!"
"Can we tell him yet?!"
"Huh? No!"
"Are we doing it?" asked Midoriya with a big smile as he snuck into the seat next to Shoto.
"Yeah bro let's!" Kirishima agreed.
"Urgh, fine!"
Then the world was plunged into darkness. Todoroki felt hands over his eyes alongside lots of muffled giggles. He maintained his calm exterior but couldn't help the curiosity creeping into him. Only when flickers of light peeked through the dark did everything click. Oh...