You tightened your grip on your pencil before you turned on your desk light. Yes, you had taken pictures of your uncle's diary, but they were all in code. Because of that, you knew he had a meeting next weekend, yet you had no idea about its location.

Scrolling down the search page, you picked yet another website on cracking codes. Your eyes brightened when an idea popped into your mind. You knew Daiki would have to get off at a particular stop if he was coming to the city, so maybe you could tail him from there.

While you tapped the pencil against your cheek, you heard knocking at your door. You stood up from your desk, which had papers sprawled all over the surface. Almost tripping up over some laundry on the floor, you shook your head. Though you had poured hours planning and researching, you didn't have your life quite in check.

The knocking became louder, accompanied by some girly giggles. It's nice to have some company here at the dorms.

As you opened the door to greet your classmates, you saw the group of six girls. Ochaco placed her arms behind her back while she said, "We're doing a room competition! Can we please check out yours?"

You began closing the door when the boys joined in as well. Especially when you spotted Todoroki further down the corridor, walking next to an excited Midoriya. You nervously fidgeted with your fingers as the girls looked at you in expectation. You wouldn't be too bothered if your friends saw the messy state of your room, but Todoroki... That was a different story.

You lifted your head. "Right, yeah. I'll show you, but let me sort out a couple of things first!"

"I'm sure it's great!" Mina loosely spun a couple of times as you shut the door.

You pulled your cuffs up, tidied all your paper off your desk, and picked up various bits and pieces from the floor. When you had a pile ready, you decided to shove it into your closet. You forced the door to shut, placing your heavy school bag as a precautionary stop.

Hurrying to the door, you straightened your hoodie before opening it. "All sorted!"

As the girls rushed in, the boys in your class stood at the entrance scrutinising your room.

"Woah, so tidy!" Kaminari said, resting against the doorframe.

Kirishima elbowed him. "Of course, it is. That's what girls' rooms are like."

Todoroki stood behind both of them. Though he didn't understand the point of this competition, he was genuinely curious to see what your room was like. It was as if you were letting him into your world, bit by bit. He tilted his head to the side, examining how Mina, Ochaco and Asui surrounded you.

Mina picked up your hefty toolbox from the bottom of your desk. "And what's this for?"

"Oh, that... it's just a hobby. Fixing stuff." You let out a few awkward laughs as you went down on your knees to get a box under your bed. As you opened the flaps of the cardboard box, the girls began gushing over the various low-tech gadgets.

Todoroki took a cautious step forward, not only studying the place but also yourself. It had become a habit of his: taking in every single detail about you, hoping that that would help him understand you, and his feelings better. But the more he got to know you, the more pleasant surprises he discovered.

Yaoyorozu scanned the (f/c) decorations in your room, analysing how much they cost. As she noticed the worn punching bag at the corner, she raised an eyebrow. "(y/n), I could make them for you if you needed them."

Everyone's fangirling quelled at those canny words. You rubbed the back of your neck. "I'm sorry, Momo, but that kind of defeats the whole point."

Yaoyorozu covered her small mouth with one hand as she realised how back-handed her remark had been. "Oh, I apologise. Reflecting on it I also see that that could affect our economy, and as an upstanding citizen, that's something I should avoid."

"No worries." You said, but flinched when you heard a creaking noise come from your closet. "O-okay, I think we've done enough judging for my room. How about we move to the next one?"

A shadow cast over Todoroki's eyes. Even though you and he lived yet again in the same building, he struggled to spend time with you more than before. Todoroki pressed his lips into a line, dismissing his previous thought. He was to blame for that. He had spent the whole day remodelling his room to fit a traditional Japanese style, after all.

As you shut the door behind you, Todoroki's mood lifted. "Hey, (y/n). I noticed you're wearing my hoodie."

You held on to the sleeves of the navy hoodie, not wanting to return it yet. "Yeah. I can go get something else, though."

The rest of your classmates carried on with the room competition further down the corridor. Todoroki took a step forward as he leaned against the doorframe. He quickly noted that it would cause trouble if he walked into your room, as it would go against the school's policy.

He still couldn't make himself ask you something about the upcoming weekend. He wanted you to meet his mum, even more so as she had encouraged him to invite you. But after his father had pushed him towards you, Todoroki feared that it would unearth some nasty memories. For both you and his mum.

However, a faint laugh escaped him, his steely facial features going softer. As you pulled the hoodie over your shoulders, a chaotic pile of paper, clothes and training gear fell on top of you.

You whipped your head back to the half-and-half boy, who shook his head sideways. You went on your knees, frantically putting your stuff back into its place. "I'm generally more organised than this!"

"Generally?" he teased.

Todoroki noticed the mild blush on your cheeks as you shut the door behind you. He wanted nothing but to pull you closer to him, but he stopped himself. He settled for watching you walk in front of him with a spring in your step. He wasn't confident about how to act now with so many of your classmates around. "Keep it. It suits you better than me."

You stopped right on your tracks before you flashed him a warm smile. "I'm the luckiest girl in the world."

He maintained steady eye contact with you as he raised his mismatched eyebrows. "I've never had those words said to me. And I don't want to hear them from anyone else."

You stood right there with your heart pounding. I love you.

"I'm sorry. Judging by your reaction, that was a little too forward from me." Todoroki ran a hand through his hair, the red and white strands mixing until they returned to their usual well-groomed position.

"I love--" You took a sharp breath in. But was it too soon for you to say that? Both of you had only been officially dating for almost two weeks now. "Ah, I mean, I love it when you do that."

"You don't mind? I see."

---

The next day, Todoroki sat on the sofa in the common room. He was looking out of the window when he caught a glimpse of you, in your sports clothes, jogging down the gravel path. His jaw tensed when he noticed how you shut your eyes. Why were you so focused on sensing your surroundings?

Todoroki stood up from the sofa and walked across the common room. This earnt him some exclamations from Sero. The black-haired boy had missed a critical scene in the season finale, but he wasn't to the point of tears like Kaminari.

Todoroki turned around at the sound of a dramatic explosion. Even though he could see through the cheesy acting, he almost wished that he didn't have to struggle to express himself like those characters on TV. He had become used to hiding his tongue-tied strife from everyone. Not that he wanted to share his every thought, but he admired you for opening up to him more these days.

As Todoroki glanced out of the window in corridor, he spotted you talking to yourself. His lips quirked into an amused smirk, only pondering for a little longer until he made up his mind.

---

You squeezed your eyes shut again, wiping some sweat from your jog around U.A. off your forehead. "I said, come out. I know you're there. It's not polite to stalk people. Did no one teach you that?"

Wait, this person's gone underground? You pivoted on your heel as you felt his bright presence behind you. Not threatening, but bright, that was the only way you could describe it.

The first thing that drew you in was his hilarious oval-shaped eyes as his face snuck out of the path. As you had suspected, the blond teenager - who was a couple of years older than you - posed no threat. He cleared his throat. "Excuse the intrusion. I hadn't expected you to notice me."

"So, would it have been okay if I hadn't noticed?"

The third-year permeated up the ground until he stood right before you. "No! I just wanted to check out the first years for a bit of fun."

You weren't sure whether you should feel honoured, or laugh it off. He seemed friendly, but you had learnt to be a bit warier about who you could trust.

"My name is Mirio." He held out his hand, with a goofy smile plastered on his face.

You winced a little when he gave you a keen handshake. Though your wrist wasn't in a cast but only bandaged thanks to Recovery Girl's quirk, it still felt sore. "(y/n)," you said. "Nice to meet you."

"Same here! I'll make sure to keep an eye out for you. Good luck with your work studies!"

You tilted your head to the side. "I thought first years don't take part in those?"

"You'll know soon enough." Mirio's smile didn't falter as he saluted you, soon fading into the ground. You would have never guessed he was one of the Big Three.

You felt a familiar presence a few meters away from you, at the entrance of the dorms. You turned around and met eyes with Todoroki.

Yet, he averted his gaze, not willing to admit that he had been watching over you, nor that he wished to know all about the blond boy you just talked to. He shook his head at himself, realising that that may come across as possessive.

Todoroki went down the steps to meet you, the sun setting on the horizon. "I was looking for you. I wanted to ask you whether you're free this weekend."

"Yeah, we're still gonna investigate my uncle's meeting, right?"

You swore you saw Todoroki lose his composed posture for a second. "Right," he said. But something about his mellow tone did not sit quite right with you.

As both of you stepped into the dorm, you tugged his arm. "Is something bothering you?"

"No, it's fine."

"Are you sure? You can tell me about it, you know."

Todoroki sighed, and you were worried that you had annoyed him by insisting. But a smile ghosted his lips. "I wanted to invite you to come with me to visit my mother. Do you think we can go there after investigating? Would that be okay with you?"

You nodded, even though you thought that mixing both activities on one day wasn't the best of ideas. "Definitely. If that's okay with you, too?"

Todoroki's muscles in his shoulders relaxed slightly. It hadn't been that hard to ask you about it, but only because it was you. Glancing to his side, he eyed you from head to toe. Sometimes, he couldn't believe how fortunate he was. "If I have you, then that's enough," he whispered to himself.