Icy? Or hot? ~TodoBaku~

Chapter 2: so normal it's weird

TW: Mentions of child abuse

Shoto Todoroki

After the chaotic events of the morning had ended, I arrived at class: caffeinated, and approximately 7 minutes late. Luckily, however, my professor was not a student-eating cannibal, only sparing me a disappointed glance before gesturing towards an empty seat.

As the professor resumed his lesson, I quickly realised that I knew everything I was being told already. And I hated that. I hated that I'd been forced to stay awake 16 hours a day studying economics, with one meal. I hated the fact that my father would quiz me weekly, and a wrong answer would earn me a slap on the face. I hated the fact that my mother was driven crazy by my father, to the point where she scalded my face with boiling water after seeing a resemblance between myself and him. I hated so,so much about this class already, and I'd only been here for...

3 HOURS?

Shit, it must nearly be lunchtime. That means socialising with other people, which means I have to act like I have control over my life. Shit, I thought again, as the professor wrapped up his teaching and dismissed us.

Having queued for a literal lifetime, I finally ended up with some food. Of course, cafeteria food is not quite restaurant quality, and I briefly acknowledged the possibility of catching life-threatening illness from eating it, but these thoughts were overshadowed by a more pressing issue -

WHERE THE FUCK DO I SIT?

I looked around, trying to judge people. Not polite, no, but definitely effective in picking my friend group. After being visually assaulted by many groups consisting of brightly dyed hair and strange voices, I finally found exactly what I was looking for. Sat quietly in a secluded corner of the room were three boys who looked, with all due respect, kinda normal.

There was a blonde-haired boy wearing a furry coat indoors, which I thought was kinda weird, but whatever. The boy next to him was far more interesting, however. A boy dressed all in black with a red choker around his neck, the kid was like a walking advertisement for Hot Topic. It was his face that caught me the most off guard, though. He had a very wide forehead, yet a very narrow chin, which made his eyes look massive comparatively. I brushed away the thought that he looked kinda like a depressed bird as I spotted the literal MOUNTAIN sat opposite the other two boys. Holy fuck! This guy is so buff it looks like his arms have arms, I'd snap like a twig if he even touched me. Angling up to see his face, I realised that he wore a mask over his mouth, which was unsettling, but also really cool. His silvery-grey hair lay sharply on his face, exposing only one glaring eye.

Once I'd finished assessing the trio, I worked up the courage to approach, first catching the blond boy's attention by standing awkwardly near the table.

"Uh, hi" he said, with a little wave. "Can I....help you?"

"Hi, I was just wondering if I could sit with you guys? I don't know anyone else here, and...." I trailed off, my anxiety reminding me that I hadn't prepared this far in advance.

Luckily, the boy obliged, saying "sure, don't worry about it. I only met these guys earlier anyway"

Hearing that calmed my nerves a little, and I sat down next to the boy.

"Oh, by the way, my name is Mashirao Ojiro, it's nice to meet you...." he trailed off, waiting for me to introduce myself as well.

"Shoto Todoroki. It's nice to meet you as well, Ojiro"

"Hmm..." I turned to the side, having heard the black-clad boy make a noise having heard my name. We locked eyes, and he spoke again.

"Fumikage Tokoyami. You seem an interesting character, Todoroki. I look forward to showing you the ways of those who follow the dark...."

I gave him a quizzical look, to which he smirked, clearly content with his introduction. Those who follow the....you know what, he seems cool and definitely not weird and likely to kill me, moving on! The muscle mass sat opposite me began speaking, with a slightly higher voice than I'd expected

"Mezo Shoji. It's a pleasure, Todoroki" he said, extending a hand. I grasped it (or, well, about half of it) and shook it firmly, which Shoji seemed happy with.

The next half hour was spent making conversation with the three, getting to know them relatively quickly, given how short a time we'd known each other. Turns out Shoji and Tokoyami are both studying psychology, and Ojiro has a joint history/education course, which made me really jealous, since I'd always wanted to study to be a teacher. Apparently he's also a black belt in Karate, which, naturally, made me wary of crossing him. Ojiro really cared about history a lot, and was more than happy to explain things I'd never understood in history class before.

"-and so while Mussolini introduced the idea of fascism to the Italians, it could be said that without the propaganda that enabled him to gain complete control of Italy, fascism could never have been born, nor maintained after his failures in Corfu and during the Spanish Civil War, therefore-"

Ojiro was cut off by his phone buzzing. He looked at it, then showed me an alarm, signalling that it was time for him to return to class. Since mine would begin shortly too, I decided to walk there with him. We said our goodbyes to Shoji and Tokoyami, before heading towards Ojiro's class. When we arrived, I was about to bid him farewell, but as I turned to leave, he pulled me aside.

I looked up at him, wondering what he had to say, and was surprised to see that his face had been overcome with a red tint. I immediately wondered if he was sick, and if I should find him someone or something to help, but before I could, he spoke, albeit softly.

"H-hey, um, I know this is kinda sudden, but I was wondering... ifyoumaybewannagetacoffeesometime?" Ojiro blurted out some jumbled words before breaking eye contact with me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear that last bit there, what did you say" I responded, truly unsure of what my new friend had said, but beginning to worry, both about him and the possibilities of what he may have said.

"O-oh, hehe, don't worry about it Todoroki. I'll see you tomorrow, 'kay?" He replied quickly, filling me with suspicions of him, but I let those irrational thoughts slide for now, instead saying.

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow then"

"You bet" he responded, then giving me a really awkward pat on the arm and strolling into his classroom without another word to me.

Something was definitely bothering him, I just hoped it wasn't as serious as I'd begun to imagine. Oh well, I could always ask again
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ugh, I'm so glad that's over. My first day at university, and I'm already exhausted! God, I might need 2 coffees a day at this rate. Just as that thought crossed my mind, I realised I was on the street where I'd met Midoriya, just this morning. I looked around, and sure enough, the coffee shop was there, on the other side of the road, lights still on. A quick glance at my watch told me it was 4:42, which led me to figure that the shop would close soon, and that I wouldn't have long to consider going in, leading me to an ultimatum. Coffee VS no more social interaction for the day.

"Eh, why not" I muttered to myself, before crossing the road and opening the door to joy, to salvation, to ecstasy, to-

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Well well well

I wanted to try and incorporate Ojiro, Tokoyami and Shoji into this, and I think it makes sense of Todoroki to look for "normal" people amongst the...*rest* of them

Fact of the day: Shoji is both the tallest (6ft 2") and youngest (Feb 15th) student in class 1-A (based on when season 1 of the anime was released)