Noticing how bitter Shoto looked across the table, you kept your mouth shut. Not even Natsuo seemed as annoyed as Shoto when Endeavor spoke in his booming voice.

You lifted your gaze up from your plate, as Endeavor called your attention. "How is U.A. treating you, young (y/n)? I heard you are unable to use your close-range quirk at the moment."

"I like it a lot at U.A." You rested your arms on the table. You couldn't forgive him, but you still maintained your manners. "And I'm making progress restoring my quirk back to normal."

"Alright. Therefore, it is not something to be concerned about in the long-term. It should not affect your children either, is that right?" Endeavor crossed his arms over his white t-shirt. You noted that this was the first time you had seen him in casual clothes rather than his hero costume. He had never meddled with you much as most of the time he was at work.

You wrinkled your nose, somewhat weirded out by his question. "Um, I don't think so? Hopefully, it should be okay by the time the Sports Festival comes round."

"Did you hear that, Shoto?"

Todoroki glared at him, before standing up and leaving the table in silent anger intertwined with what had become one of his greatest fears.

"Please, wait, Shoto! The cook made some lovely pudding for us today," Fuyumi said as she stepped into the dining room with a tray of coffee jelly in her hands.

Endeavor shook his hand as he dismissed his daughter. "Leave him, Fuyumi. I will deal with him later. It is about time I set things straight in this house."

---

The bell rang, signalling the end of the morning lessons. Chairs and desks rattled as the rest of the class rushed out of the classroom for lunch. Bakugo narrowed his eyes at you as you packed your books back into your bag. He huffed before sauntering away.

Observing that you weren't walking with Midoriya and Iida, Uraraka returned to the classroom. "Are you not coming to Lunch Rush with us, (y/n)?"

You jolted in your place, surprised that Uraraka had decided to check on you. Shifting in your seat, you scratched your cheek while you shook your head. "Oh, no, sorry. I've got to meet Recovery Girl in a bit, so I packed my own lunch."

With her hands behind her back, the cheerful brown-haired girl smiled at you. "No worries. See you later, yeah?"

"Yeah, definitely!" You found yourself saying, though you didn't know if you would make it alive after having to stand Todoroki's glare set on you if you managed to talk to him.

The classroom was so quiet you could hear a feather drop. As expected, you spotted Todoroki glancing out of the window, as he sat down on his seat at the back of the room. Out of the blue, you felt the usual ice wall that distanced you from Todoroki towering over you.

As you stood up, you pushed your bag further up your shoulder, wondering whether you could address Todoroki now. There was a small possibility that this could help to clear the air between you two. He had been avoiding you since his argument with his father. Every time you tried to ask him what was wrong, he pushed you away.

You were about to open the door to exit the classroom when you heard Todoroki's sulky voice. "Did you want to say something to me, (y/n)?"

You tried to compose yourself. "Yeah, if that's okay."

Todoroki stood up from his seat and strode towards you.

You took a step back, leaving your back against the wall because of how close he got to you. "Um, are you getting through this?"

The half-and-half boy still looked away from you, unable to meet your caring (e/c) eyes.

"What do you mean by that, (y/n)?" he huffed.

You glanced up to see his knitted eyebrows, making you feel guilty that you caused such a reaction on him. "I mean, are you enduring a lot of things for me?"

Beginning to come to a conclusion that made all of the good moments you had shared together turn to dust, Todoroki tested his theory with another question. "And why do you say that?"

I rope you into all sorts of dangerous situations. I'm probably annoying you right now as well, right? You steadied yourself before speaking. "Because... I felt that way."

Todoroki reclined on the desk nearest to you, pensive. "So you knew about it. Have you known about it all along?"

You tilted your head to the side.

"The reason why my father invited you to live with us," he said.

"We talked about this before I moved in, right?"

Todoroki shook his head as he looked down to your bandaged hands. Truth be told, both of you didn't talk enough, which only made the tension between you worse. Not that Todoroki talked much to the rest of the class anyway.

You carefully grabbed his hand, hoping that that would help him meet your eyes as that had worked once in the past. "Shoto, what do you mean--"

The muscles in his arm tightened before he snatched his hand away from yours. "Do you have no mercy, (y/n)? Do you want me to say it out loud? I'll tell you if you answer my question."

Your cheeks heated up as he leaned closer to you, resting his right hand against the wall. You gulped. "W-what?"

"Why are you so bothered by me?"

Covering your face with your hands, you tried to calm down. "T-there's no reason. I don't know why myself, even if you ask me."

He drew nearer to you, making your hairs stand on end. "Do you really not know? Or do you not want to tell me?"

"What are you saying, Shoto?" You said, having had enough of it. As you veered away from him, he trapped you with his other hand against the wall. He was nothing like his usual composed self, ever so desperate to get answers from you.

Someone casually opened the door to the classroom.

"There it is. What a pain," Kaminari mumbled to himself as he picked up his wallet from his desk. He only noticed that you and Todoroki as he headed out. "Hang on, what were you guys doing?"

What were we doing? You thought as you finally escaped from your spot, distancing yourself from Todoroki.

The electric boy stood there, gaping.

You took advantage that Todoroki got distracted glancing at Kaminari (whose brain had short-circuited) by taking another step further away. Without leaving an opportunity for you to turn back, you said, "Recovery Girl needs me, so I better go!" You dashed out of the classroom and down the corridor.

"(y/n), I--" Todoroki's eyes widened as he got a grip of himself, already too late to make you stay. He had never felt so guilty, but at the same time, so betrayed.

You tripped over, yet you leapt into action, your feet hammering on the tiled floor until you made it to the nurse's room. There, you punched a pillow, shredding to a thousand soft pieces. The feathers flew about the room, as you took in a deep breath. You never thought that taking a rest from training would be so hard on you, but thanks to your efforts your quirk had been restored.

Recovery Girl walked in to find the mess. She put her hand to her head as she looked at you. "I see your quirk is back to working as per usual, young (y/n)."

You turned around, your face still flushed from earlier. Your words got caught up in your throat as you nodded.

"I am happy for you. You're a good student, despite everything."

You looked down at your hands. They glowed with a breathtaking light, nothing like you had seen before. "Thank you for your help, Ma'am."

"I know the Sports Festival starts tomorrow; however, that does not mean that you can leave my room in disarray. So get on with tidying it, alright?"

"Yeah, will do," you said. A wistful smile cracked on your lips while you picked up the bits from the floor. Seeing the broken quirk-suppressing bracelet made you chuckle at yourself. No one could say that you weren't trying your best.

---

On the way back home, Todoroki walked ahead of you. You followed after him, wishing you could to talk to him. However, you caught yourself feeling frustrated and confused as to why he would act the way he did at lunch. It was so unfair. Why could he get away with getting so close to you to ignore you blatantly later?

I'm so stubborn.

Why wasn't he saying 'let's start again'? Or why wouldn't he apologise, even? He was, once again, running ahead of you when you wanted nothing but to walk by his side. You looked at the back of his grey school blazer, the imaginary ice wall stopping you from voicing your thoughts.

Yes, Shoto, I knew from the start that you didn't like me. I always knew that, but I still like you. I'm so stubborn. I'm sorry.

You shook your head and straightened out your school skirt, as you walked on the pavement. Surveying the grand houses on Todoroki's road, you recognised that both of you came from such different backgrounds. Every so often, you forgot that you had only known him for about four and a half months. You had come a long way so far, but you could tell there was still a long road ahead of you.