Chapter Text
The first few days back at school had felt odd, to say the least.
The summer felt almost like a dream. Or a nightmare. When he was young, Shouto's nightmares had consisted of watching Endeavor's fist come down on him. Of course, he'd gotten used to those nightmares, and they had stopped scaring him because how could one be scared of the reality they lived day after day for years in a dream? But now, he'd started to see his friends against the back of his eyelids, reaching out for him, and his hand coming up short every time. Now nightmares were about other people. About people he cared about getting hurt, and those hurt in a different kind of way than his old nightmares ever had.
The dorms, of course, were...nice. Knowing his classmates were all sound asleep around him. Not having to go back to his house. Not having to see his sister put on that plastic smile and hear Natsuo come through the kitchen grumbling because he couldn't stand to be around the old man and have to train with said old man every night.
It was just...a little bit annoying to not be able to go outside. The curfew system didn't allow them to leave without notifying a staff member at night. Normally, Shouto climbed out his window and sat on the roof just above his bedroom to stare at the night sky and quiet his mind when he had trouble sleeping, but he had to make do with walking down to the common room and getting a glass of water now. It was only his second night there, but he felt restless.
He heard the sink running as he silently padded towards the kitchen. As he rounded the corner, he spotted Yaoyorozu with her back to him, half-bent over the sink as she scrubbed at something. There was a small kit on the counter beside her for stain removal. It wasn't a training uniform she was scrubbing, though- it looked like something she would wear in her downtime. Trying not to startle her, he stood there for a moment before clearing his throat.
The girl yelped and straightened up so fast he thought he heard her spine crack. She whirled around, a cloth still in her hand and the collar of a shirt in the other, half pulling it out of the sink.
For a brief moment she looked frightened.
She quickly smoothed it over with a stilted smile. "Oh, Todoroki! I didn't hear you...I was just, erm, getting a stain out of my shirt before I put it in the laundry tomorrow."
Shouto felt his eyebrows pull together in confusion. "At...midnight?" he asked, after checking the clock on the wall. Her eyes darted to the side as if to avoid his. "Why not just do it at laundry time tomorrow?"
"Ah, well. You know what they say, the earlier you do it the better it comes out!" He tilted his head to try and get a better look at the shirt. She reached back and dropped it into the sink. "What did you need, Todoroki?"
It almost looked like something red on the cloth. Then again, he couldn't tell that well with only the light over the sink on illuminating the kitchen. "Sorry. I was just getting a glass of water. Didn't mean to disturb you."
"It's perfectly all right." Yaoyorozu's smile became a smidgen more relaxed as he walked over to a cabinet to retrieve a glass. As he went, however, his eyes caught on something even more familiar.
It could've been the light, but he could have sworn there was a discoloration in the crook of her elbow. She'd already turned away to keep rubbing at the stain with cleaner, but he paused, staring more. Then it clicked in his head that the red could have been blood. "Did you get hurt, Yaoyorozu?" he asked, though he hadn't fully comprehended yet. He wondered what it was from. They hadn't had any offensive training exercises yet, maybe she'd fallen in the hall-
"What? No, of course not!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed with a short, hoarse laugh, nearly dropping her shirt. "What makes you think that?"
"Well- it's just- your arm..."
Her hand clapped over her elbow as if on instinct.
It was then it finally dawned on him. She could have been doing the exact same thing, had a bruise the same spot, in another situation, and he might have believed her explanation if she was acting different. But the way she was acting- he could recognize it, he knew the way it felt. From how she moved to the look in her eyes to the strained quality of her smile- the bruise, the blood- trying to hide what she was doing under the cover of night.
"...Oh," he said, softly, as he pulled his glass close to his stomach and wrapped his fingers around it.
And he recognized the sudden shame in her expression, too, as she looked at his feet and shrunk in on herself. "...It's no big deal, really," she whispered, doing her best to smile again. "You- you won't tell anyone, will you? It's not- not anything, after all."
"I won't say anything," Shouto murmured, unable to meet her eyes, and she was unable to meet his. She nodded, slowly, hesitantly.
"Thank you...everything is all right, I assure you. It was just...a one-time little accident. Nothing of importance..."
He didn't believe her. He knew she knew that. But there was nothing else he could say, so he gave her a small nod and left the kitchen, without his water.
Shouto knew he didn't know Yaoyorozu's situation. He knew he could even make things worse by pestering her about it, or he might be too paranoid and overestimating what was going on. But that night he'd dreamed about Yaoyorozu and Uraraka being taken in the woods instead, and he couldn't get the pained look on her face out of his head all morning. So, while they were walking to class and she had paused at a water fountain to get a drink, he came to a stop- where she could see him, this time- and patiently waited for her to finish.
She straightened up and wiped at her mouth. "Did you need something, Todoroki?" she asked, always so polite, as if the previous night had never happened. Shouto wasn't impressed, just used to it. He was used to acting like something had never happened, like things were normal.
"I just wanted to..." He drifted off, unsure of how to say what he wanted to say, and glanced around the hall to make sure no one was listening. "If you ever want to...talk, or something...I can."
Her expression dropped in surprise. For a moment, he saw it again- the vulnerability she wasn't hiding- before her mask came back up and she smiled weakly. "Thank you, Todoroki. I'm fine, though. But...but thank you for the thought."
Thank you for caring.
Because it wasn't like most people did.
He nodded awkwardly. He walked beside her as they started heading for their classroom again. He could see Jirou and Hagakure stopped up ahead.
"-cut it out, Mineta," he heard Jirou hissing as they got closer. It didn't escape his notice that Yaoyorozu went tense, even though she was trying to hide it, and part of her dimmed again, the same way it had earlier, as if she was just exhausted to even exist. She let out a light sigh. "Seriously, I'll punt you into the wall."
"Just go ahead and hit me, you'll probably get suspended or something," the smug voice of Mineta retorted. He was standing between the girls and the wall with his phone in his hand. Shouto didn't know what he'd been doing with it, but it wasn't anything good, knowing Mineta. Jirou visibly ground her teeth.
"Just for one day, can you not be fucking annoying?"
"I'll tell sensei you were swearing-!"
"Cut it out," Shouto interrupted, his tone empty and blank, because Mineta was the only one of his classmates that he didn't really like. He was always bothering other people, taking things too lightly, acting like he wasn't even in the hero course.
Mineto let out an eep and jumped. He took one look at Shouto and his usual bland, icy countenance and shrieked, taking off for the classroom, though Shouto himself had no idea why he was apparently so scary.
"Asshole," Jirou muttered, and headed for the doorway. Hagakure let out a sigh of relief.
Shouto kept his head down as he moved to his seat. For some reason, he felt like he was in a low mood. Something just felt a little off somehow. As he went, however, he noted Midoriya staring pensively at his desk, a frown on his face, which usually wouldn't happen unless he was taking notes about something, and he frowned too. Other than Ashido twitching in her seat at something Mineta was saying, no one else looked visibly upset, so he wondered if Midoriya was just thinking or if something was bothering him.
The door slammed. More than one of them jumped, and Shouto's heart skipped a beat, though he tried to ignore it. "All right, quiet down," Aizawa called, his usual tired, vaguely-irritated-looking self. "We have a test review today. Yes, it's only day four, but get used to it, because it only gets more intensive from here on out."
Shouto pulled out his notebook. Unfortunately, he had stopped taking notes about halfway through the previous day's lecture. It wasn't like him; he never zoned out like that, but he couldn't help it. As he'd stared at his own writing, he'd started thinking about the moment he'd been reaching for Bakugou again. He had been so panicked- so determined to get to Bakugou and Tokoyami before they disappeared- but he'd failed, he'd failed, and it felt as though he was back in that dark forest, trying frantically to dodge metal spikes, reaching for someone, Poor little Todoroki Shouto-
Someone nudged him. Drawing in a slow breath, he looked up and realized Aizawa was halfway through writing something on the board. Yaoyorozu gave him a brief look, concerned but somehow understanding too, and went back to writing her own notes.
Just focus on the lecture. He went back to writing, telling himself that it didn't matter. They were all there, and all safe.
Ochako took a deep breath as she stared down at the job posting in her hands.
It wasn't out of the ordinary for Pro agencies to offer small, tedious jobs to students as a way of technically giving them experience in the boring parts of running an agency and mostly as a way to get someone to do the things they didn't want to do for very little money. An agency near the school was looking for an office filer, someone who just needed to type things up into the computer and file physical records, and it was easy enough, even if she would have to work from six o'clock in the evening to ten. It was the perfect hours, really! After school, it gave her about an hour to do homework, and she could still go to sleep at a...mostly reasonable hour. It would give her money...
Tears pricked her eyes. She wanted...to just be as carefree as everyone else seemed to be. But her parents were barely scraping by with their bills, the losses from their business the previous year, her tuition, paying for her apartment near the school, all the groceries...she was still such a burden on them. Anything she could do to help...
I'm sorry, Mom, Dad...I know you're working hard...
She yelped when something bumped into her. Or she bumped into someone, more accurately, because she hadn't been looking where she was going. She didn't knock them over or anything, but she still felt bad when she looked up and saw the purple-haired Gen Ed student that Midoriya had fought at the Sports Festival. Shinsou was his name, right?
"O-oh, sorry," she began, in too soft a tone, because she could barely even hear herself.
Rather casually, the boy sighed and leaned back his head, stretching out a kink in his neck. "Eh, you hero students just walk around like you own the place, don't you? Think you own the hall?"
It wasn't a particularly vicious barb, and he wasn't being particularly aggressive, but it chipped at the chinks in Ochako's armor. It reminded her of how all the other hero students did seem to have that confidence, the kind that let them walk around like they owned the place, about how different she was, about how unworthy, because she couldn't even afford her gear if the school didn't provide it, and how she was so useless compared to them all, and how maybe it was a pipe dream, trying to break into that world-
"Uh, hey," Shinsou said, looking awkward, and she realized he was staring at her. "Uh...I'm sorry? Hey, don't cry- please do not cry."
Ochako reached up and scrubbed at her face. She was crying, she realized, embarrassed; she tried to say something but a choked sob was all she could manage. Awkwardly, Shinsou looked around before reaching into his pocket and looking for something. He pulled a handkerchief that looked hand-made out and held it out to her. "Uh, I didn't mean it?"
He obviously didn't want to be talking to her, but at least he was trying, and Ochako didn't want to be impolite to him, so she took the cloth and dabbed at her face, trying to make her lip stop wobbling. "Sorry," she stammered out. It was unfair that she was just being so- it was just a bad day. That was all. "I w-wasn't looking wh-where I was g-going."
"It's...fine. Seriously." Shinsou rubbed the back of his head, diverting his eyes. "Are you...okay?"
"Of course! I-I'm fine!" She plastered on her usual 'I'm fine' smile, which did not work at all. "Sorry!"
"You...don't have to keep saying sorry. And, you dropped...this." He spoke as he lowered his eyes to the piece of paper she now realized was in his hand, and something unreadable passed over his face.
"Oh! Thank you!" she yelped, snatching it back and quickly folding it up. She felt so...ashamed, for some reason. Another awkward moment passed as she hoped he hadn't read it.
Finally, he let out a cough into his fist. "Uh...hey. It's not...bad to not have a lot of money. I mean, I usually don't, y'know? Shitty foster parents an' everything. I get it."
Ochako's heart squeezed. Her parents were wonderful, she thought, the best ever, they always tried to make sure she had everything she needed even if they didn't have it, she wouldn't dare to compare herself to someone whose parents were neglecting them.
"I mean, I guess all of you aren't loud assholes who get things easy...are you...okay now?"
"I'm fine," Ochako repeated, though she felt more like she meant it that time. It still felt like a cloud was hanging over her, but at least her tears had ebbed. "Um...your name is Shinsou, right? I don't remember your first name..."
He shrugged. Stuffed his hands into his pockets. There were deep bags under his eyes that made it look like he just didn't sleep at all. Everything about him looked tired, really. "Hitoshi. Uraraka, right?"
"Uraraka Ochako. You can call me Ochako if you want."
"Not really here to make friends and all," Hitoshi told her, like he was saying it on autopilot, but he wasn't asking for the handkerchief back. "Take it easy, I guess."
"Uh- wait!" Ochako reached out and grabbed his arm, then recoiled when she thought he might not like being touched. "I can wash this and bring it back to you...?"
"Eh, no need," he replied with a shrug. "I kind of...sew and knit stuff, as a hobby...it's no big deal."
"Really? You're so good at it!" A flush began to heat his skin, making Ochako smile. "I've tried to knit for years, but I'm not very good at it. Could you maybe show me some pointers?"
"I...guess so. Not like I'm super busy or anything." He was muttering, trying to make it sound like he wasn't all that concerned with doing it or not, but the way she beamed made him turn mildly redder. "Just don't tell anyone...don't need anyone asking me for free shit."
"Can I bring my needles tomorrow? My mom's birthday is in a month, and I was really hoping to make her something that doesn't look...like trash," Ochako said, pulling out her greatest weapon: the puppy dog eyes. Hitoshi looked at her, opening his mouth to probably try and hedge out of it, but he wavered and faltered at her look.
"...sure."
"Thank you so much! Can we meet in 1A's room during lunch?"