{Discontinued} 𝙀𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘽𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙨

- T E N -

"Try curving your fingers more."

"Like this?"

Todoroki fumbled his digits to imitate what you'd shown him.

"Let me help you."

You layered your hand over his, gently guiding him like a puppet. He relaxed under your touch, becoming malleable to your shaping.

"Now you've got it!"

He inspected the new gesture, proud to have mastered it after several failed attempts.

You two had been practicing non-verbal signals to communicate in your room when you didn't want to be heard. It was a necessary precaution after learning someone may be listening.

"I think that covers everything we may need."

You paused and giggled, earning a quizzical expression from he who was sitting on the floor in front of you.

"I feel kind of cool having these secret tricks like a spy," you explained. "Don't you?"

He nodded in agreement, a content smile adorning his face. It had been making more appearances lately.

He watched as you continued to practice the signs to yourself, too engrossed to notice his regard lying heavily on you. He rested his chin in his palm, elbow on his knee. In the lull, he repeated his routine of memorizing your features, noting the way they twitched. He thought it was quite charming how your lips tended to purse in concentration, your tongue poking out of your cheek.

Without warning, he found a pair of eyes looking directly back at him. Your gaze had flickered to meet his, causing his spine to straighten. He bashfully averted his attention to his shoe, which had suddenly become very interesting.

Was he staring at me?

You brushed the question off when he asked you one of his own.

"So... were you born like that- like a butterfly I mean?"

It was almost completely random, but he was desperate to distract you from the moment prior.

"It all began when I was about four. My antennae" - you wiggled them accordingly - "started as nubs that sprouted like stems."

You grappled the side of your t-shirt and lifted the black fabric to reveal a translucent, flesh-colored eardrum on your rib cage. He was admittedly less focused on the oddity than he was the inches of skin vulnerable to his curious vision.

"My ears used to be small, flat circles that gradually deepened and elevated into their current form. As you can see," - you held your fist up to compare the similar sizes - "they're bigger now."

You dropped the shirt and turned around to show him your back. Your wings hung out of the two holes you'd ripped in your top. You extended them behind you, stretching what had been retracted.

"My wings were the most exciting to grow. My parents weren't sure what I was becoming until they developed. They were worried I was going to be some kind of creepy bug. I'm grateful I wasn't."

He listened attentively, examining their metallic sheen. They glimmered under the fluorescent light cast from above, sneakily shifting hues with every changing angle. Their canvas-like texture was so intriguing that he found himself wondering what they felt like.

Hypnotized by the iridescence, his hand moved on its own. It reached out, drawing increasingly closer, but just before he made contact, he halted. The realization that you hadn't given him permission dawned upon him, and he lowered once more.