The King is Dead

Let Me Hear the Melody of Your Smile

Out of everything, he appreciates that nobody exploits his fears.

Shouto has always feared pain being brought to anyone but himself. He's always feared his family being hurt because of him.

Father controlled the fear, took advantage of it until little Shouto was a puppet. He threatened and threatened and threatened and Shouto listened, because mother being beat for Shouto's wrongdoings was the worst thing he could possibly imagine. His brain couldn't fathom what to do if that were to happen.

(It's why he shut down when it did happen, he couldn't take the reality.)

Out of everything, he appreciates that nobody uses him for his quirk. During training, everyone wants to hear his plans, and Shouto gets to choose what he does with his ice and whether to use his fire or not.

Out of everything, he appreciates the listening ears they all have. He tells Yaoyorozu he's not hungry, she says she'll check in again in an hour. He tells Kirishima he doesn't like the way it feels when his arm is hung over his neck and touching his shoulders, Kirishima offers high fives and fist bumps instead.

He thinks, had it been any other class, he wouldn't have made it so far in what Matsuda calls his recovery.

"Todoroki," Iida whispers, and Todoroki leaves the couch to go see what it's about. Iida gestures for him to follow, and he's led to Iida's room. It's well organized inside, half the wall is just glasses, but in the middle of the room are two stand-up trays, both holding...

"Your favorite, cold soba."

Shouto sits down with Iida, looking across the trays to him. "How'd you know?"

Iida smiles and pushes his glasses up, "I asked Aizawa-Sensei what food you preferred. I figured that since we eat so healthy all the time it was due time for a small cheat day, considering you're a month clean."

Shouto tilts his head, "I shower daily, Iida."

"No," Iida says, and he smiles bigger, "It's been a month since you've induced your own vomiting. You've been eating healthy since, while skipping less than four meals a week. This is really good, Todoroki. I'm proud of you."

Shouto, out of everything, appreciates Iida. For helping him overcome an irrational fear of a dead man caring about his weight. Iida's the one who should be proud of himself, not Shouto.

Shouto can't help it, though. He does feel proud.

Halfway through their meal, Shouto starts a conversation. Iida has been discussing random things pertaining to school, and Shouto decides it's his turn.

"Midoriya has been acting weird, hasn't he?"

Iida nods with knowing eyes, "I was thinking the same. He seems more distant lately. Sadder."

"Agreed, do you think it's something about... his family?"

Iida shakes his head and slurps some of his soba noodles, "I was thinking more along the lines of his work studies. Although you could be right, I've met his mother before and she seems to worry a whole lot about him."

Shouto is proud to say he can relate.

He's not very happy that Midoriya is sad, though. And it's weird, because ever since his family started leaving him one by one, he hadn't cared about the feelings of anyone. Then came UA, and he suddenly has a voice that people care about, and he has people that he cares about. Like Midoriya, who probably needs extra care right now, the same way Shouto needed it.

"We should talk to him about it, Ms. Matsuda tells me it's smart to talk things out."

"I agree, we should ask him what's bothering him on Monday, during lunch while he's not scrambling around."