"Oh...Good morning", you greeted the man that stood in front of you. The sleep after the bath had you even nicer than usual, or maybe it was the surprise of seeing Todoroki at your door at almost dawn. He must've come to your door first thing waking up judging by his hair still being slightly disheveled; it was cute.
"I came to check on Kirishima. The burn", he specified and you 'ahh'ed.
"He's okay. I gave him some aloe. Quirk or not, his skin is pretty strong. It's sweet of you to check on him though. You were the one who helped him out last night too, right?", he nodded,"that's really kind of you, Todoroki."
There was no sign of the usual playfulness in your words. No teasing, no flirting, just a genuine compliment of his nature with a sweet smile and it caught him more off guard than your inappropriate jokes. He blushed lightly at your praise and nodded.
You yawned and it caught his attention.
"I'll let you sleep."
"Huh?",you didn't understand. Was that all he came to your room so early for?,"Where are you going?"
"Breakfast."
"Mkay. I'll go too", you smiled closing the door behind you and leaving no room for argument. Todoroki was surprised of your decision. Throughout the years he lived with you in the dorms, he'd not once seen you willingly wake up so early, but he didn't stop you. You took his turn to the direction and slow walking as approval to your self-invitation.
You walked beside him and laced your elbow around his; Todoroki didn't even blink, only side eyeing the view of it. He'd probably felt your touch more than that of his own siblings as of late. Not that he minded--it was starting to become a personal trait between your friendship.
It was a calm morning, probably because it was too early for anyone to be up. The sun wasn't up yet.
"Do you usually wake up so early?", you made small talk. The silence and darkness made it feel like you two were the only ones in the building. Todoroki nodded as he looked down at you. Despite the entertwined limbs, you weren't actually pressing yourself against him. He would've thought you'd go ahead and do that too.
"I got into the habit during high school. It was the only time I could eat breakfast without people screaming."
You laughed,"Did that include me?"
"Yes."
"Awesome. I'm glad I influenced your life choices so early on."
You let go when you got to the kitchen and poured out two bowls cereal at the table. The earliness and solitude with you two made for a careless atmosphere; Todoroki took the bowl you served him with silent gratitude and you took a seat next to him. Despite this being the first time you two ate breakfast together, it was impossible to feel awkwardness anymore.
"You did influence my choices early on. That should be obvious."
You paused your first bite of your cereal and tilted your head, hastily swallowing so you could ask,"What do you mean?"
"You were constantly taking my rank as second. I had to push myself harder. It even influenced my decision to intern with my father", he pointed out and you grinned.
"You mean our decision to intern with your dad. I can't believe we ended up choosing the same hero without even knowing. It was so uncomfortable for me."
Todoroki looked at you in confusion in between spoonfuls of cereal and you deadpanned,"Really?Do you not remember that?"
"I remember us both interning for my father", he furrowed his eyebrows at the second piece of information,"but I wasn't aware you were uncomfortable. Did something happen?"
"No way you just asked me that...", you sighed. Of course he wouldn't remember why spending your internship with him was a bad experience; he probably hadn't thought much about the fact he rejected you right before it.
It didn't bother you nowadays but you pitied your younger self. The last thing you'd expected when accepting Endeavor's offer of an internship was to see Todoroki there after knowing their history. It was part of why you'd even accepted it.
"It was weird because of the whole...y'know...", you trailed off. His eyes widened and you laughed,"There we go."
You were laughing but Todoroki didn't understand how. He recalled giving you the cold shoulder without a second thought; not because of your confession but because he'd had bigger thoughts and goals in mind. He'd never taken into account the recent heartbreak.
Truth be told, even if he remembered back then, he might not even have cared to treat you different over it. Now that he took you into mind a lot more he felt regret seep into him over how he behaved. Todoroki sat straight up and looked at you. You tilted your head. He looked serious all of a sudden.
"I'm sorry."
"Huh?", your eyes were wide open. What was he apologizing about?
"I was inconsiderate during our internship."
The apology surprised you. It'd been five years, why did he feel bad now?Still, you assured him,"Oh, dude, it's okay. Honestly. I'm just glad we can be good friends now. That's all that really matters", you smiled.
Todoroki disagreed. If he'd at least talked to you, you would've been good friends from way earlier. He really enjoyed what you two had and it felt like a waste for him to have ignored it for years. He broke out of his thoughts as you hummed playfully.
"I gueessss if you want to make it up to me", you smiled cheekily,"you'll have to let me keep clinging on to you the way I have been lately. Y'know, to restore my broken heart", you wiped fake tears off your eyes. Todoroki raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"You'll keep clinging onto me even if I say no."
Odlly enough, the lack of choice didn't bother him.
"With that big brain of yours, no wonder you ranked higher than me", you laughed,"although you also had an advantage over me. I was so busy ogling the handsome guy in class I wasn't paying attention to our lectures. God, I was so embarrasing back then", you sighed in dissapointment in yourself.
You didn't notice Todoroki's cheeks flushing. He put his spoon down as you started talking about a specific lecture you'd had trouble understanding, staying quiet and you mistakenly taking that as him listening.
Looks wasn't something he worried about but he'd gotten a few compliments about it every now and then. He'd never bothered to acknowledge them much. Somehow though, your own lack of customs was flipping his; instead of being flustered over touchiness and flirting, with a better handle on compliments, it was the complete opposite.
Todoroki didn't mind your touchiness--no, scratch that. He'd been coming to the realization that he actively enjoyed it. It was a reminder of who he was with and knowing that person was you pleased him. It was hard to describe it because it was a view he hadn't had with anyone else, but you almost felt...safe? You knew about his past and didn't tell others, overcame issues with him with ease, and looked at him equally despite it.
And when you were with him, he had your full attention. You weren't befriending him to be nice; you were eager about spending time together. It was starting to rub off on him. He was starting to be especially eager about that time too.
It surprised him because it was the reason he'd knocked on your door so early today. That and because he wanted to check on you after all the worries he'd had yesterday. As puzzling as Kirishima's weird burn had been, it had a good purpose. He was almost grateful for the injury.
"Todoroki", you pouted at him and he spaced back in at the sound of his name,"You're not even listening to me!!So rude", you shook your head.
"Sorry", he was honest about it and redirected his focus on you.
You spent the rest of the morning talking while eating and enjoying each other's presence in solitude until everyone else woke up. Todoroki thought it was a very nice way to spend the morning. It took hours. Even with how long you were alone together, he wished everyone else had stayed away for a little longer.
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"I promise he looked dissapointed when you told him today was for us girls to explore the spa!!You have a chance this time!!", Mina shook your arm. You rolled your eyes in annoyance and stood on a small artificial rock nearby to give yourself altitude over your group of female friends.
"New rule, everybody: Bring up my old crush on Todoroki again and I have full permission to slap cacti on you", you declared and Mina whined.
"Can I have one free pass?Please??"
"One and then never again. It goes away in ten seconds."
"You totally missed the sad look he gave you when you walked away from him to be with us. I'm telling you, you have a chance now, because how else would you explain what I saw?!?"
"I'd say dementia", you laughed at your friend's pout,"and that's your one free pass. I better not hear anymore of my old crush on him, okay?It's getting annoying to hear that come up all the time. Not even Todoroki brings it up as much."
Momo smiled beside you,"We won't bring it up anymore. But out of curiosity, are you looking for anyone?"
You thought about it,"I guess not really?I'm kind of waiting for the right person to find me instead. I have bigger things in mind right now", you explained. Momo's eyes lit up.
"Like Dabi?"
"Hell yeah. Fucker's not disrespecting me like that and getting away with it. He doesn't even know how closely I have him under my eye, just waiting for the right moment to strike", you sighed happily at the result of all your hard work. You'd learned all of the villain's patterns and habits by now. As soon as you strengthened your quirk enough, he'd be the one burnt.
"You get a weird violent look on your face when you talk about him. It's even weirder with the cucumber mask. You look like a villain", Mina joked. You shrugged.
"Gotta get into their mindset to understand them."
"Villain stuff aside, isn't he kind of hot?"
"Mina...no. I hope that was a pun or something."
"...Totally."
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"Knock knock!!", you yelled instead of knocking. Not that you could when you had all your bags in your hands. It didn't take long for the door to open and you grinned at your new roomate,"What's up?"
Todoroki's eyes seemed to brighten when he noticed your bags. It was clear you were going through with what you'd mentioned the day prior. He stood to the side so you could walk in and you clumsily carried everything to the bed oppsoite of his. You sighed in relief when placing everything down.
"You should've told me you were about to move your things in. I could've helped you."
You smiled at his kindness,"Nah, thanks though. I was excited about coming here so there was no need to waste time. A garden and Todoroki?Lucky me", you laughed. Your immediate start with flirting was very you and it nearly made him smile.
Who knew someone could make him look forward to seeing them so much in only a few weeks of talking?
You sat on your bed and smiled up at him,"Jokes aside, thanks for letting me room with you. I'm sorry if I'm being clingy--I know I made a joke about being like that earlier but I didn't mean it. I'll let you have your own time. I'll even leave the room every once in a while if necessary."
That brought his mood down. He furrowed his eyebrows. Why would he want you out of the room?You were going into this with the wrong idea of his preference and knowing it could affect the time he expected to spend with you bothered him.
"I don't want you to leave."
Your eyes widened. He was still standing on his side of the room but his eyes looked sincere from a mile away. The straightforwardness froze you for a tiny moment. His verbal honesty about such a thing was new. You smiled.
"Oh. That's really sweet of you actually. I'll stay with you then."
Just like that, Todoroki was happy again. He nodded in approval of your decision.
"Also", you started as you stood up and paced around the big room mindlessly,"since you offered yesterday, we're still going to the garden after lights out, right?", you smiled optimistically.
The look of hope you were looking at him with was pretty amusing. Once again, he couldn't pretend to relate to your love for plants, but just seeing your happiness for them made him equally as happy. He nodded.
"We'll go tonight."
You grinned and gave him another quick hug in excitement,"You're so awesome!!", you looked up at him without letting go,"I know my thing for plants isn't something you share but you're still so nice about it. I really appreciate you for that."
Todoroki looked down to you with wide eyes and a blush on his cheeks. As much as he thought your touch couldn't shock him anymore, he felt his heart beating a little faster than normal. The back of his neck felt hot. The gratefulness you had on your face over his words was strangely endearing; it also made a nice sight.
You let go at his silence, forgetting his different approach to touch for a moment,"Sorry. I'm not pervy, I promise", you laughed.
Todoroki stayed silent. He hadn't thought you were pervy or anything fo the sort. Different, sure, but as overwhelming as it was sometimes, he figured being on the receiving end of your unusual actions more often was all he needed to get used to it, and that didn't sound too bad.
Todorki realized, he was actually really liking your affinity for affection. The fact you agreed to stay by his side made it even better: he'd be the only one receiving it for now. It was a satisfying accomplishment.
He smiled and went to stand beside you, paying attention as you excitedly pointed at plants through the garden window and explained them to him. Maybe he hadn't appreciated you in the past but he'd make sure to properly do so from then on.
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I'm trying to take the development of romantic feelings slowly and not rush it but I have soooooo much planned out for when he goes real yandere, y'all aren't ready for it
Chappie Details:
Written 12/27/2022
Published 12/27/2022