It's a long road...

ch. 6

468 words --

there was something disturbing about watching todoroki try to mimic his more outgoing classmates, aizawa had decided. the teacher had been keeping a closer eye on todoroki after the realization that the boy may have an eating disorder. this had then been confirmed after todoroki's first session with ikeda. ikeda had reported to the teachers and nezu that todoroki was noticably antsy and defensive while talking to her. and, todoroki had ended the session with ikeda by saying "so what if i'm throwing up my food?!", and then storming away.

aizawa was concerned for the boy. his concern had increased by tenfold seeing todoroki's suddenly personality change. the class seemed delighted with todoroki's sudden willingness to act goofy and joke around with them, but aizawa could see right through the act. todoroki's shoulders were always tense, drawn back in a constant defensive position. there were bags under his eyes that had been poorly covered up. and, now that he was paying attention, aizawa could see the baginess of todoroki's uniform.

when the bell for lunch rang, snapping aizawa out of his thoughts, he called out to todoroki.

"todoroki, come see me for a few minutes before lunch." aizawa said. he saw a flash of fear run through todoroki's eyes, and the teacher wished he'd used a kinder tone.

todoroki walked over to aizawa's desk and stood in front of it, clenching his bag tightly.

"todoroki," aizawa started, taking a breath. "are you doing... okay?"

"yes." todoroki responded in an even voice. "i'm doing okay."

"I ask because you're going through a lot right now, and-"

"i'm not going through a lot right now. i'm fine."

aizawa looked at todoroki with narrowed eyes. "don't bullshit me, todoroki. you're not 'fine'. it's okay if you're not. all i want to say to you is that i'm here. you dont have to pretend to be okay. whatever you have to get off your chest, i'm here to listen, alright?"

todoroki blinked. and blinked. and blinked again. aizawa watched in half shock and half discomfort as his most stoic and put together student try to fight off tears. aizawa wasn't expecting this reaction at all. todoroki was quickly pushing away tears, his movements jerky and panicked. aizawa wasn't quite sure why todoroki had such a strong and immediate reaction to his words. it was as if the boy had never been comforted before.

aizawa got up from his chair, and quickly walked to the other side of his desk where todoroki was. todoroki was pressing one hand to his mouth and pushing away tears with the other. his eyes were tightly screwed shut. aizawa awkwardly put a hand on todoroki's shoulder, not quite sure on how to comfort the boy.

of course, hizashi shoes that moment to burst into aizawa's classroom yelling.