You felt like something was missing. You unpacked another cardboard box full of your stuff and placed a textbook on the bookshelf. Before pulling down the blinds, you took a look outside. Hundreds of trees surrounded the U.A. grounds, lit up by street lights all the way to the academy.

For the first time in a while, you relaxed. Though that calmness soon vanished when you realised that tomorrow would be the first time you would see Todoroki since the Sports Festival.

You would be lying if you said that you didn't mind that he didn't say goodbye to you that sunny weekend. Fuyumi had helped you pack your things. And you were grateful Endeavor had not got the chance to complain as Mr Aizawa loaded your suitcase into his car and drove you all the way to U.A.

Your new home at the U.A. dorms had been waiting for you shortly after your teacher raised his concerns about your living arrangements. Little did the staff at U.A. know about the real reason for your sudden decision to move out. Yet they did not complain in the least. You recognised that they kept their word: U.A. truly cared for their students.

The brand-new building smelled like plastic. You ran a finger across the spotless window sill, realising what was missing. You had forgotten your silver music box under the bed you slept in at the Todoroki household. It's gonna be awkward to ask for that one back.

---

You glanced out of the window from your desk at the front of your homeroom. A few students leisurely walked to the main school building. Taking a sharp breath in, you noticed Todoroki strolling past the large door to your homeroom. Given that the room was rather empty, now could be a good time for you to muster enough courage to catch up with him?

However, he approached Yaoyorozu, with a cloth bag in his arm. You forced yourself to look out of the window, letting the fresh breeze attempt to distract you. Even though it shouldn't be any of your business, you couldn't help but try to listen in.

A loud noise by your side startled you. Bakugo had thrown his school bag on his desk. He set a foot on his chair as he glared at you. "What's with the fuckin' depressing mood?"

You shrugged your shoulders, secretly annoyed that the explosive boy wasn't allowing you to hear Todoroki's conversation with Yaoyorozu.

Kicking one of the legs ot your desk, Bakugo's face contorted into a scowl. "Listen to me, damn it!"

You aligned your desk, not without shooting Bakugo a glare back. Why did he always have to do this? Even if you wanted to ignore him, you knew that would only result in him getting even more riled up. "What now?"

"That's better. Was it that bloody hard, cheater?" he lowered his voice while you looked over to your side to see his shit-eating grin.

Rolling your eyes, you sank into your seat.

He tried to push yet another button to get a reaction from you. "Or are you still salty you lost against fuckin' engine-legs last week? Because, for fuck sakes, it looked like only reason you lost was because you were too much of a fuckin' wet wipe to fight me!"

I'll give you a piece of my mind later, just let me listen to what Shoto's saying. You clenched your jaw as you faintly recognised your name part Todoroki's mouth from the back of the classroom.

Your ears perked up and all traces of irritation that had been marring your facial features went missing in action.

Bakugo knew well that his outbursts bothered you less and less these days as you were growing used to them, but the only thing that having your skin grow thicker achieved was to piss him off even more.

Perhaps, that's why when you turned around to hear the sound of a beautiful tune, Bakugo reacted the way he did. He saw that you cared about it in the glow of your (e/c) eyes. As Todoroki walked up to you hiding something behind his back, Bakugo snapped.

That darned smile on your lips as you extended your arms to receive the music box set Bakugo off. He slammed his fist on his desk, but you paid no attention to him.

Your heart fluttered as you heard Todoroki's calm and collected tone. "You forgot this. I asked Yaoyorozu to make a key."

Really? Shoto would do that for me? I guess he's seen me with it before, so he might know how much it means to me. Before you could thank Todoroki, someone snatched the music box off your hands.

Bakugo registered the shock in your face before you could hide it while he sized up the music box in his calloused hands. Jackpot.

The ash-blond boy puffed out his chest. "What a shitty piece of junk, Icy Hot."

"Don't you dare," Todoroki said, raising a finger at Bakugo.

"Or what, huh?"

"Or else, Bakugo."

"As if I gave a fuckin' damn." He ignited his nitroglycerin sweat before throwing the music box out of the opened window.

Without a word, you pushed Bakugo away, making him stumble back.

The rest of your classmates stared at you in disbelief as you dashed out of the classroom. The warning bell was about to ring, after all.

And Kaminari let out the loudest gasp as Todoroki soon followed after you.

When you found the music box on the school grounds, it was molten and shattered beyond recognition. You kneeled down and picked it up, but soon dropped it on the floor as it burnt your fingers. "Ouch."

"I'm sorry I messed up, (y/n)."

"It's not your fault. Can you help me pick it up? It's a little hot."

Todoroki lifted the music box from the floor with his heat-resistant left hand, some guilt corroding in his chest. He probably should not have brought it into school. Though after not being able to take his mind off you since the Sports Festival, he wanted an excuse to talk to you again.

"Thank you, though. Do you think you can carry it for me, please?"

He bowed down his head slightly as he followed your request. "I'm such a burden," he whispered to himself.

You dusted off your school skirt. "That's not true, Shoto."

"How's that? I destroyed something you hold close to your heart, didn't I?"

You looked back at the half-and-half boy. "It's okay, Shoto. I won't forget the memories that it brought me. I still believe that neither of us could ever be a burden. Everything has a purpose. Even machines. Maybe, that's why when they're broken, it makes me so sad..." You trailed, noting that you were going down a topic that might be just a bit too heavy for the morning.

"So you think that's your purpose? Fixing things?" He asked.

"I'm not so sure anymore. My dad used to do that. I thought I'd grow up to do that at some point, too. I'm happy I applied to the hero course instead of the support course." You rubbed the back of your neck. "As cheesy as it sounds, I'd like to help fix something bigger... like our society."

Todoroki observed how your (h/c) hair framed your face. He itched to tuck a strand of it behind your ear, but he continued to walk next to you towards the school building.

"Shoto, I thought I was a burden for the longest time. But machines never come with extra parts. If the world is a huge machine, you and I couldn't possibly be an extra part."

"I see. Thank you, (y/n). You're too kind, sometimes." He bit his tongue as he saw how you stopped right on your tracks and tilted your head at his compliment.

"We're going to be late if we don't hurry up," Todoroki said. As he sped up ahead of you, a broad smile broke on your lips.

Once you were back at the classroom, Todoroki apologised to Yaoyorozu, with you by his side. The black-haired girl lifted her gaze from her organic chemistry textbook.

Her confidence was knocked down when she realised that Todoroki had used her as a human 3D printer to give you a present. "It is no problem. It was my pleasure, Todoroki. I had not realised that the both of you were seeing each other."

Your eyes widened as Todoroki nodded.

Kaminari rushed in to spectate this conversation. The electric boy wanted in on this ever since he caught you and Todoroki so close to each other in the classroom.

You straightened your back. "I think you've misunderstood. I-I'm not seeing Shoto."

"What do you mean, (y/n)? I see you almost every day," he said.

You facepalmed your face, feeling your cheeks growing hotter by the minute. "That's not what that means."

"But I've seen you walk down together after school! Like, a lot," Mina joined the conversation as the rest of the class gathered around you.

"No, it's... it's not like that!" You took a step back, adopting a defensive stance by putting your hands in front of you. "Quit imagining things. Y-You guys are reading way too much into this!"

Todoroki gave you a once-over, the twinge of rejection settling inside him as he came to understand what Yaoyorozu had meant: she thought you were close.

Mina pouted, disapppointed that you refused to confirm her motherly suspicions. Both of you were good enough friends so you could have talked to her about it, right?

But you had to go and keep quiet about this when Mina would have been more than happy to help you. Despite the fact that it bugged her that you were so reticent around her, she accepted that this probably wasn't the time. And a cheeky smile broke on her plumpy, pink lips as she caught sight of Todoroki studying you.

Todoroki saw you squirm uneasily in your place. He could tell that you felt uncomfortable. "That's because we used to live together," he stated.

"That's pretty spicy." Blood gushed out of Kaminari's nose before he passed out.

Ochaco covered her mouth to muffle a gasp, as she remembered your conversation at lunchtime on the second day of school. You had lied to her. As she hurried away from you, you went down on your knees to help the blond boy up. Although Mineta passed out as well, you didn't help him with heal with your quirk because you suspected that he was pretending. And you were right. As soon as Mr Aizawa came into the classroom, Mineta got up and ran to his seat.

Mr Aizawa glanced down at his notes. He then announced that today you would all be deciding on your hero name in the lead up to your internships.

You wondered where Todoroki would undertake his internship, absentmindedly glancing back at him. You caught him staring at you. You smiled at him, but he looked away.

Is something bothering him?

You made a note to check on Todoroki later. In some ways, you felt relieved that he hadn't avoided you this morning. It made your heart swell to think that he wanted to surprise you with small acts of kindness, despite the fact that he hadn't succeeded this time. The ice wall that distanced you from him seemed to have melted even further.