todoroki
This is going to be boring.
"Basically, the training fields are closed for the rest of today. You guys have done enough training, anyway, and the fields need maintenance," Mr Aizawa explained. "Just stay at the dorm house and do things kids do. I really don't care what it is as long as you don't destroy the building."
With that, the teacher left, leaving us alone in the common area of the dormitories. I sighed and leaned back against the couch. There go my plans for training tonight.
"What are we going to do now?" Sero asked the room a large.
"I wanted to train," Kirishima said. "Sitting around and doing nothing isn't very manly."
"You extras are too damn loud," Bakugou complained. He was sitting on the couch next to Kirishima and using his shoulder to prop himself up.
Izuku, who was sitting next to me, put his head on my shoulder and yawned. "I'm beat," he admitted. "I forgot how hard school is."
"You just have to get used to it," I said reassuringly.
"I'm so bored," Uraraka stated loudly. "What are we supposed to do if we can't train?"
"We should all study," Iida said enthusiastically. He was only met with groans, however.
"We should do something fun!" Ashido countered, her voice bubbly and excited.
"Like what?" Yaoyorozu asked.
Mineta saw his chance to do something dirty and started answering. "We could—"
He started scrambling around as a piece of Sero's tape clamped his mouth shut.
"I have an idea," Kaminari said, standing up from his seat by the table. "We should have a video game tournament!"
"That's genius!" Ashido squealed. "What video game should we play?"
A few people yelled "Mario Kart!" and nobody complained about it, so it was quickly decided.
Midoriya sat up, removing his head from my shoulder as he did. He seemed excited; his eyes were bright and a small smile was tugging at his lips.
I covered my mouth with my hand as I grinned at the sight of Izuku's smile.
"You're cute," I said bluntly, causing the green-haired boy to blush slightly.
"T-thank you, Todoroki," he answered, calming down quickly. "Have you ever played Mario Kart before?"
"Yeah," I stated. "It's been a while though."
"When did you last play?"
"It's been a few years. My siblings and I used to have small competitions when we had time."
"That's so fun!" Midoriya cried. "I used to play them all the time with To—I mean, when I was in grade school," he said, correcting himself.
"Did you every play with Bakugou?" I asked, remembering that he and Izuku had been childhood friends.
"Yeah, but—"
"I always beat his lame ass," Bakugou interrupted. "Damn nerd."
Izuku turned to answer but stopped when he noticed Ashido walk to the front of the room. The common area had filled up now that all twenty students were together and surrounding the couch.
"Alright!" Ashido yelled, quieting everyone with her voice. "There are twenty of us and you can only play with four people at a time, so get into groups of four."
"There are two consoles," Kaminari added, walking over to Ashido. "So we'll have three groups race at one and two at the other. Whoever's in the higher place wins, and the winners of each tournament will battle at the end!"
"The winner at the very end of the competition gets . . . um, bragging rights!" Mina finished.
A cheer went up from the other students and they all started racing to make groups of four.
Izuku and I stayed together, our hands interlocked as we stood up to find two more people.
Uraraka and Iida ran up to Izuku. "Do you want to be in our group?" Uraraka asked excitedly.
Izuku turned to look at me for my opinion. "Sure," I said.
Once everyone had gotten into groups of four, Ashido and Yaoyorozu walked around and passed out controllers to the groups who were going first. Luckily, Kirishima, Ashido, Sato, and Ojiro would be the first to go at the console we were at.
"Ready, and . . . start!" Ashido screamed. I looked over at the television and saw that the screen was divided into four sections.
"Who do you think's gonna win?" Uraraka asked Izuku. "I think it'll be Ashido."
"Ojiro and Kirishima look pretty good at this, though," Midoriya answered.
"Sato might pull around."
"HA!" Ashido shouted. "First place!"
"Aw, man," Kirishima said. "I'll beat you in the next one."
I looked around the room. Most of us were sitting on the floor, watching the races, except for the ones who were racing. On the other side of the room, Bakugou was screaming, "You're all going to lose! Why even try?"
"Good luck, Deku!" Uraraka said kindly. "The same to you two, Todoroki and Iida!"
"Thank you, Uraraka."
I watched as Ashido and Kirishima battled for the lead in their races. Ojiro came close behind them, and Sato was stuck in seventh place.
"You were saying?" Ashido asked Kirishima. The screen in front of them showed the leaderboard with her in first place, even after all four races. She was the winner.
"Congratulations, Mina!" Uraraka said.
"It's our turn." Izuku walked with me to the console as the group in front of us left, passing their controllers to us as they did.
The screen switched to a character-selection chart. Uraraka and Izuku both immediately moved to select their avatars while Iida and I were left wondering.
"Who should I be?" I asked.
"Anyone," Izuku replied, laughing slightly.
I chose a character I used once with my siblings and then continued to choose various parts for my car. Soon, the first race was starting.
Without hesitation, Izuku pulled ahead to first place and smiled happily, letting a genuine laugh escape his mouth.
"You guys are going down," he said, grinning.
~~~
Forty minutes later, the competition was coming to an end.
Ashido, Hagakure, Izuku, Kaminari, and Bakugou had won their group's tournaments and just finished battling it out to find the top two.
While Bakugou had been too busy screaming curses at Kaminari, the electric boy had taken first place and won. Ashido beat Hagakure and Izuku easily.
As Midoriya joined me on the couch again, Ashido and Kaminari started their next race.
"Come on, come on, come on—crap!" Kaminari yelled. Both his and Ashido's screens were covered in an ink splatter that went away within a minute.
Midoriya looked up at me with his bright green, joy-filled eyes and smiled. "Did you have fun, Shoto?"
"Yeah, even though you beat me by seven places."
The green-haired winner laughed. "I just got lucky or something."
I put my head on his shoulder and opened my mouth to speak. Instead, I was cut off by Ashido screaming, "Take that, Denki!"
"Oh, you really just blue-shelled me?" Kaminari said. "It's on!"
The two laughed as they raced. Most of the students had taken sides and started chanting the racers' names, creating lots of noise.
My head jerked up at the faint sound of the door opening. I looked over to the front of the room and saw All Might walk into the building.
The other students, including Izuku, were too absorbed in the video game tournament to notice the tall pro hero standing in the doorway. He pointed at Izuku and then outside, signalling that he wanted to talk to him out of the room.
Careful not to alert anyone else, I nudged Izuku and he stood up at the sight of his favourite hero. He reached for my hand and I grabbed it, slightly confused.
"Come with me," he explained. I agreed and walked to the door with him.
"Young Midoriya," All Might said quietly, closing the door as soon we were through it. We were standing on the porch, facing the hero. "It's good to see you."
Izuku's grip on my hand loosened as tears welled in his eyes. "You too, All Might."
I let go of Izuku's hand and he ran to hug All Might, both of them crying by then. "Are you okay, kid?" the blond-haired hero asked.
"Yeah, I am." Midoriya backed up to be by to my side again. "Are you?"
All Might chuckled. "Of course I am, kid."
"So what's up?" Izuku said, wiping away his tears.
"I came to talk with you about the, um, villains."
I felt awkward standing there with the two. The scene I had just witnessed seemed suspiciously like a family reunion, and I felt bad for intruding.
"What about the villains?" Izuku said.
"I don't know how to tell you this, but I have to. The villains have been scarily quiet since you came back to U.A. In the two days since your return, the crime rate went from 42% to 34%. Considering how much control the League of Villains has over minor criminals, its likely that they're . . . planning something."
I watched as fear flashed over Izuku's face. He looked so terrified that I had an urge to hug him and hold on until he felt protected.
"What do you mean?"
"You said that the League of Villains' Toga released you, right?"
"Yes, what about her?"
"We think that the League is planning to attack U.A. and kidnap you again, especially since it seems like this Toga was acting on her own."
The fear in Izuku's face only worsened, and I couldn't keep myself from reassuringly grabbing his hand to say I'm here to protect you.
"We'll be increasing security around the school," All Might continued, "and none of the students will be allowed to leave the grounds without another person."
"Okay," Midoriya eventually said.
"Anyway, young Midoriya, how are you? And you, young Todoroki?"
"I've been good!" Izuku answered quickly. "These few days have been really good."
"I'm just glad to have Midoriya back," I said.
"Me, too."
Izuku grinned. "I'm glad to be back."
"Anyway, young students, it's getting late. You should get to sleep soon, so I'll leave you alone."
"Goodnight, All Might!" Izuku said as the hero started walking away.
The green-haired boy next to me squeezed my hand anxiously and I gently kissed his forehead.
"Shoto," he said seriously.
"Yes?"
"I . . . I'm scared. I don't want to get kidnapped again."
I wanted to cry from the way his voice broke when he said those words. It sounded like windows shattering, and it hurt my heart. Izuku seemed so terrified that it took all of my power to not find the League of Villains and fight them all.
I hugged him tightly, wrapping my arms around his shoulders as he buried his face into my chest. "Don't worry, Izuku. I'll make sure that you don't get hurt by the League ever again."
He breathed shakily and nodded his head in response.
Our peaceful moment was suddenly ruined as a joyous cheer went up from inside the building. Even through the walls, it was audible.
"I won!" Ashido yelled.
Izuku laughed and let go of me before opening the door. Inside, Ashido was jumping around and cheering with Uraraka and Hagakure while Kaminari was getting a pat on the back from Sero.
"It's alright, dude. You fought till the very end," Kirishima said sympathetically.
I followed Midoriya back into the building and up the stairs. From there, we split to go to our respective rooms.
As soon as I closed the door and turned off the lights, blanketing my room in darkness, I laid down on my bed and took a deep breath.
The sound of Izuku's voice breaking replayed in my head over and over again. Every time I heard his voice crack, it crushed me.
I want to protect him. No, I'm going to protect him.
Slowly, I felt my eyes start to close and I fell asleep with one thought in mind: I will protect Izuku.