Knock, knock, knock.
“It’s open!” Jiro shouted over her shoulder. The door opened, and Yaoyorozu stood in it’s place. She smiled at her upon entry as she peered at her upside down, her head hanging off the side of her bed. “Hey, Yaomomo. Was the note thing a tease?”
Yaoyorozu looked down at her feet, her hands held behind her back. “Not exactly.”
Jiro’s eyes shot wide open at the news. “Wait, seriously? Who was it? Tell me!” She flipped herself around on her bed to sit up right, crossing her legs excitedly. It was about one of the few times the girl ever got excited about gossipy like subjects. Perhaps it was because Yaoyorozu was not one to typically take romantic situations in stride. “Momo, if you don’t tell me, I will blow up your phone overnight. Say goodbye to sleep.”
"Okay, okay. I never said I wasn’t going to tell you.”
Jiro patted the mattress in front of her, smiling widely. “Then stop standing there and come over here!” Yaoyorozu walked over to her friend’s bed, looking up at the black and red patterned ceiling as she took a seat. “So? Who was it?” She hung her head down, her face burning hot as she made a miserable sound. Jiro gasped dramatically, leaning toward her. “I was right, wasn’t I?!"
Yaoyorozu brought her hands to her face to hide her cherry red cheeks, numbly nodding her head. “Yeah...”
She laughed. “I told you! I knew it was him! It had to be! Only Todoroki would do something like that. Tsu and Toru don’t write notes to people, Iida would have confronted you directly, All Might wouldn’t have asked you to meet him at the gates - that would be a little weird - and Tokoyami doesn’t really talk to anyone. Todoroki would be the only person who wouldn’t have a clue how to talk to you. You know how he is - he’s pretty clueless when it comes to people.”
"I know, I know.” Yaoyorozu picked at the bandages binding her neck. “I just... didn’t want to believe it at the time.”
“Enough about why it was him and how I was right. Tell me all the juicy details! What did he want? Was I right about him confessing, too?” Yaoyorozu’s cheeks only brightened and Jiro burst out in a sudden fit of laughter. “Are you serious?!”
"Uh huh...”
"Oh my god! Momo!” she exclaimed. “How did he do it? Some grand gesture? Did he make some little hearts out of ice and fire? Did he show up on a large ice pillar? Did he-”
"Kyoka,” Yaoyorozu said sternly, holding up a hand. “Slow down. Todoroki didn’t make any... Grand gestures. No.”
Jiro frowned. “Well then what did he do? Just walk up to you and, ‘hey, you’re cute. Wanna be my girlfriend?’” Yaoyorozu rolled her eyes at her.
"He didn’t just come out and say it, Jiro. It was a little awkward at first. He asked me how I was and we talked briefly before I finally prompted him. Earlier, after the exams where me and Todoroki were paired up for the sixteenth battle, he pulled me aside and wanted to talk to me, since earlier in the day I said that if I won I wanted to him to hear me out about something. Of course, I lost the battle, and along with it, my confidence to face him. He eventually got it out of me, and... I admitted to having feelings for him.”
'Wait, wait, wait... WHAT?! Why didn’t you tell me?!” Jiro cried.
"Because I got embarrassed when he stayed silent and ran off. I felt so stupid for ever thinking he would like someone like me, but then... he chased after me.”
Jiro laughed again. “What, was it all slow motion with slow R&B music playing in the background?” Yaoyorozu slapped her leg and she flinched, but kept laughing.
"Shut up!” She hissed, then closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. “No. It wasn’t like that. He basically thanked me for liking him, stating that he would become someone worthy of me.”
“Worthy of you?” Jiro echoed. “That sounds a little peculiar. But how does this relate to what happened today?”
“He brought that up. He said that I had shared with him something personal and he replied with only a thank you at the time. He said he thought it was time to return my feelings.”
“Awww!” Jiro flopped down on her back with a dramatic groan. “That is so adorable it almost literally makes me sick.” Yaoyorozu stayed silent, and Jiro looked up at her, tilting her head. “You okay, Momo? You don’t look as pleased as I thought you would be.”
“It’s just that... I kissed him, and-”
“You kissed him?!” Jiro nearly shouted. Yaoyorozu clapped a hand over her mouth to silence her.
“Yes. I did. But...”
“But what?”
“He shoved me away from him.” Yaoyorozu finished. Jiro’s easy going expression fell away, leaving her with a blank, flat line for a mouth.
“God. I’m sorry...”
“No. There’s no need to be sorry, I just... There was a reason for it.”
“What do you mean?”
Yaoyorozu motioned to her neck. “You remember how this happened?” She questioned. “Why Todoroki burned me in the first place?”
“You said that his fire quirk was starting to cross over to his right side, so he’d be capable of using his fire and ice with both sides rather than just his left or right.” Yaoyorozu nodded in confirmation.
“Exactly. But it’s still so new that he can’t control it. And, when I kissed him...”
“It activated it again,” Jiro finished. She nodded once more. Jiro suddenly grabbed her arms, scanning the exposed skin she could see. “Where is it?”
“Where’s what?”
“Did he burn you again? I’ll kill him if he did. I know it’s not his fault, but if he hurt my girl again, I’ll-”
“He didn’t burn me, Kyoka.” Yaoyorozu pulled out of her grasp, scooting back on the mattress. “He pushed me away because he sensed it before it got to that point.”
“Then what happened? Did he erupt into flames or something?”
“No. He tried running off again, and I was left chasing after him for nearly an hour. Until I found him about to cross over someone’s private property. I eventually caught up to him and got him to stop, but he kept refusing to look at me, much less touch me. It’s like he has some PTSD thing now that makes him afraid of hurting me in any way. When the heat takes over, it’s like he... changes. Shoto Todoroki is usually a quiet, calm, rational, and often distant student who rarely shows much emotion. But when this new flame ignites, it’s like he completely flips. He tries to get away; he starts shouting; he completely freaks out. He looks absolutely terrified...”
“Do you think it has to do with his father? Doesn’t he hold a lot against Endeavor?”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking.” Yaoyorozu looked down at her hands as they rested on the bed in front of her. “The first time this happened, back in the alley, he mentioned something about ending up like him. I didn’t ask at the time who him was, but I already had a pretty good feeling as to who.” She traced the lines in her palm absently as she spoke. “If it was his ice that started developing further first, I believe he’d be much calmer when it comes to all of this. He wouldn’t be as jumpy or scared. But since it’s his fire...” She sighed, closing her eyes. “Maybe it is a PTSD thing. He’s scared of becoming his father.”
“Man...” Jiro muttered, sitting back up on her knees. “That’s like, deep stuff.”
“I know…” Yaoyorozu rubbed her hands together and inhaled slowly, taking her own words in. “I don’t want him to feel like he’s going to hurt me. I don’t want him to feel on guard whenever I’m so much as in the same room as him. But I can’t control what he feels, so I can’t prevent any of that.” She paused. “When I caught up to him, we talked. I tried to settle him down and calm his obviously racing mind. When I finally managed to calm him down, we started having a normal conversation, that eventually lead into where we are now. We talked on the way to the Height’s Alliance, and we parted ways at the elevators. That’s when I came here since I promised you I’d tell you what happened.”
Jiro scratched her head. “Damn...” She muttered. “You two are perfect for each other. You both seem to make everyone worry.” Yaoyorozu reached out and smacked her arm. “What? It’s true. When you showed up to school late and then fell asleep halfway through a lesson, everyone kinda worried about you. I worried about you, at least. You’re never like that. Now Todoroki’s dealing with some half-and-half crossover crap? Geez, you guys are so frustrating to deal with sometimes.”
“We are not,” Yaoyorozu contradicted.
“Uh, yeah. You are. And stop denying stuff! Everything I’m saying is true and you know it!” She folded her arms. Jiro frowned. “What is with you being all ‘I’m-right-and-you’re-not’ lately? Is that burn messing with your head, too?”
“What? N-no. I don’t believe that I’m always right.” Jiro perched an eyebrow at the girl and Yaoyorozu returned her frown. “I don’t.”
“Fine then. I’ll believe you. Even though you’re clearly in denial. Again.”
Not in the mood to put up with the girl, Yaoyorozu rose from her spot on the bed, dusting off her skirt. “I should get going. I need to change out of my school uniform anyway.” She made a move to leave, but Jiro caught her wrist.
“Yaomomo, you just got here. Stay!” She pointed back to the edge of the bed beside her.
“Kyoka, I’m not a dog.” She ripped her arm away from her and continued to the door. “We can talk about this later. As far as I know, I’m not doing anything.”
“Momo!” Jiro groaned exaggeratedly. “Please? Pretty please? We can have another sleepover or something; Mr. Aizawa doesn’t care if we do stuff like that if we stay on the girl’s side of the dorms. Come on. You need some time away from everything, too, you know.”
“Exactly.” Yaoyorozu stepped out of the doorway, slowly closing the door behind her. “That includes you.”
Jiro frowned, taking off one of her shoes and chucking it at the door as it closed. “Damn it, Momo!” Yaoyorozu heard her muffled yell as she trotted off down the hall with a grin on her face, feeling slightly giddy for some reason she couldn’t understand.
“Sorry...again.” She pulled out her phone from her shirt pocket, checking the time. “Hm...another hour and a half until curfew…Maybe I could see what Iida’s doing.” Yaoyorozu glanced around the hallway, seeing if she was alone, then pulled up his contact information. Hopefully he’s not in the middle of something… She held the phone to her ear, waiting for him to pick up. After a long few seconds, he did.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Iida-san,” Yaoyorozu greeted.
“Yaoyorozu? Is that you?” He sounded puzzled, as if he wasn’t completely sure what he was hearing.
“Yeah, it’s me. Sorry for bothering you. I hope I didn’t disturb you at all.”
“No! Not at all! I was just heading to the dormitory; I stayed behind to get a head start on our exams next week.”
“You’re already starting?” She said, reaching up and messing with her earing. “I thought we weren’t allowed to do that.”
“I did, too. Though, after a little convincing, I managed to persuade Mr. Aizawa into allowing me to start a little early. I just have to wait for when the practical starts along with the rest of you. That I can’t get a head start on. I mean, I could train, but that’s about as far as it goes.” She heard him clear his throat. “Anyway, did you need something? You usually don’t get ahold of me like this, Yaoyorozu.”
She forced herself to retract her hand from her ear, replacing it back at her side. “Oh, right. I was just wondering if you could help catch me up in our classwork. Maybe just let me take notes or something. Nothing big right now; it’s nearly curfew already. I just want to catch up a little.”
He didn’t respond right away, which made her nervous. “Uh...of course. I can find my notes from around the first day you were absent. How much do you think you can get done with the time we have?”
“Not much. Maybe a couple days’ worth, at least,” she said. “Thank you, Tenya. I know it’s late, but I really don’t want to fall too far behind.”
He chuckled at the use of his first name, causing her to smile. “Any time, Yaoyorozu. There’s no problem at all. I did offer to help, so of course I’m okay with it. Where would you like to meet up at?”
“Well, I was just gonna go back to my room,” she stated. She heard his breath stagger slightly. “B-but, if you’re not comfortable with that, we could just meet in the commons space,” She offered quickly instead. Yaoyorozu knew that Iida wasn’t usually one for one-on-one time with others, especially with his female classmates.
“It’d be a little easier to get our work done in the commons space. You know, because of the table space and the couches. No one is typically down there at this time anyway. Adding to the fact that - if I can recall correctly from when we voted on the best room for 1-A - you’re room is fairly limited in space.”
“Yeah…” She managed a weak laugh. “You have a point.”
“Well anyway, I’m at the Height’s Alliance now. Come down when you’re ready.”
“Okay. I’ll be right down. Thanks again for this.” She hung up once the elevator doors opened, stepping inside and heading up to her level. Might as well change out of my uniform before meeting him down there. The doors opened on her floor and she quickly made her way to her room, digging in her bag for her key. “Come on, where is it?” She grumbled, fishing around. Finally, she found it, unlocking her door to quickly get changed and meet Iida downstairs.