Warmth of Sunrise ✓ ᵗᵒᵈᵒᵈᵉᵏᵘ

Warmth of Sunrise

Song Suggestions (listen while reading):

'arms' by Christina Perri
'Daylight' and 'long story short' by Taylor Swift

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The thin, faint strip of orange in the distance was the only indication that the sun would rise sooner or later, streetlights still illuminating the area near the Class 1-A dormitories. It was quiet aside from the chirping of crickets, the occasional early birdsong, and the footsteps and slightly heavy breaths of two people jogging alongside each other.

Izuku Midoriya grinned, feeling content serenity revitalize his tired self after spending too much time fighting all kinds of villains (every single one of them seemed to personally enjoy targeting him and his class, which really ticked him off), doing his best to stay alive and keep up with his classmates and friends at the same time. He had always liked the peace of sunrise, or, more accurately, the time that came before it. As much as he loved interacting with other people (Ha, he thought, tell that to Kacchan), he was still an introvert at heart, and he always valued his downtime.

He closed his eyes, knowing no harm could come to him when it wasn't even dawn yet.

Besides, Todoroki-kun is here.

If someone had told Izuku on his first day of high school that he'd be good friends with the Shouto Todoroki, cool and distant and powerful as he was, he would've laughed awkwardly and told that person that they had it all wrong.

But now, here they were, exercising together like they'd done it every morning, even though this was one of the first times they had, and definitely the first time Shouto himself had asked to come with Izuku, which had almost given him a heart attack, because the red-and-white-haired boy is way too silent and he should really wear a bell or something; Izuku almost punched him in the face when he called his name.

He opened his eyes when Shouto quietly said from beside him, "Midoriya."

"Yes, Todoroki-kun?" he replied, hoping his voice didn't give away too much of his resurfacing anxiety. His friend wasn't the type to do things just because he felt like it. If he'd asked to tag along with him on his daily morning jog, Izuku knew that there must be a reason for it.

This must be it, then, he thought, swallowing down another wave of his constant nerves.

Shouto turned his head slightly to look at him, the tiniest of smiles on his face. "You can drop the formalities now. I've never bothered with them, and I think we've known each other long enough for you to not use them anymore."

At this, Izuku immediately turned bright red. "S-Sorry, it's just that I'm, ah, really used to it, a-and it just feels odd to not say them, but you have a point, s-so-"

"You'll try?" Shouto finished for him, that tiny smile growing a little bigger as he watched the shorter boy snap his mouth shut, nod, and utter a rather embarrassed but determined "Mhm!" of affirmation.

In all his seventeen years of life, he'd only met four people who could cause his small smiles to grow bigger: his mother, his sister Fuyumi, his brother Natsuo, and now, the first friend he'd ever had, Izuku Midoriya. Of course, he had that effect on everyone (excluding Bakugou, who was truthfully a different breed), but it was so rare for Shouto that his heart couldn't help but be warmed by it. Kind of. Just slightly.

Okay, maybe that last part was a lie, but he wouldn't dream of ever telling anyone that, especially not Izuku himself.

"I'll try for you, b-because we're friends..." a deep breath for courage, "T-Todoroki."