Under pressure

Chapter 5

Todoroki looked around the busy supermarket and was fairly impressed with (Y/n)s ability to make her way through crowds. He was put in charge of holding the basket when she ruffled through ingredients.

He looked down at what she had picked out and he was a bit confused, they were all fresh so they had to be used soon, but it was no dish he had recognized.

She had picked out celery, garlic, and chicken broth which seemed normal enough for a soup, but then she took dill, baking powder, and this thing called matzo which he didn't even know was a thing until now.

Curiosity got the better of him while they were in line to pay once they had picked up more.

"So what are you making with all of this?"

She kept her glance at her wallet, trying to calculate how much she would be spending and simultaneously said

"Well a lot of it are just standard items, but I was missing home so I decided that I would make matzo ball soup today."

Once her mental math was done she looked up to see an intrigued Todoroki.

"Have you ever had matzo before?"

He shook his head and for the third time that day she took a risk.

"Would you like to try some?"

They walked home in a comfortable silence, grocery bags in each of their hands, anticipating the next destination that awaited them. Todoroki was now just thinking to himself 'where does she even live, I never heard her talk about any relatives who live here, and there's no way she could afford her own apartment'

He decides not to question her and they continue the walk for a couple more minutes before arriving at an apartment type building about a block away from UA.

She presses the button for the 4th floor and then walks down a small hallway to her studio. It was nothing luxurious by any means and wasn't exactly 'spacious' but Todoroki could tell instantly that it was hers.

He put groceries down and began to hand them to her as she put them away in either the pantry of the fridge as he just took in her home.
It was very cozy, and fairly clean as well, she decorated it with various pieces of artwork and even had a picture of her and someone else framed on her counter. She must have caught him staring as she responded to a question he never asked.

"That's (f/n), they're like my all time favorite person ever from back in the states, they trained with me a lot too, they go to a hero school all the way in New York which is crazy to me"

She smiled as she reminisced on the fun times they had together, mainly beating the ever loving daylights out of each other while trying to win a sparring match.

Ah good times, when there were no rules about 'holding back'

She picked up her bag again and took out a few notebooks from her school bad, and went to the door.

"You ready?"

Todoroki nodded and she questioned him on what he wanted to study. He thought for a moment.

"I think I want to research different types of ice, maybe be able to access different densities to accomplish different objectives. I want to expand my capabilities with my quirk"

He looked back at her making sure he didn't make a fool of himself by talking too much. When he was met with intrigue sparked in her eyes, he was both relieved and a little bit nervous about the questions that would soon start. He was starting to like the attention from her, but strangely only from her, and he didn't know if he liked that fact yet.

They continued to talk away, the conversation mainly being carried by (Y/n) asking about his quirk and the type of training he does. He made sure not to mention anything about his dad. 'She doesn't need to know yet'.

The library was peaceful as ever, a couple in the corner playing chess, two kids quietly reading story books, a study group of kids who looked like they were in college.

Once again Todoroki was met with a comfortable silence. He wasn't used to that yet, usually any time he sensed quiet, he left the situation in favor of being alone but this was new to him. He could just coexist with a person one moment, and talk with her the next. There was momentary peace that washed over his consciousness that he enjoyed.

He finished his studies when he looked over at (Y/n), who had pulled out diagram after diagram of the human anatomy from her notebooks and was flipping back and forth between them, writing small paragraphs all over the pages and circling certain spots.

Soon they were walking back to her house at around 5, the time really escaped them in there and the entire day flew by from his perspective, but by far what he would remember most was cooking with her.

It was chaos.

(Y/n) was the type of cooker to have 17 things going on at once, and only she knew exactly where to be at each moment. At first she had him cutting vegetables, then watching the broth, then cracking eggs. He was just confused on how she was able to keep track of everything.

They were almost done and they were cleaning off the extra crumbs that had gotten onto the counter when a timer she had forgotten about went off, startling her, and then a very interesting series of events happened.

First she stepped back, knocking into Todoroki who was only wearing socks and the tile floor and also had his hands cupped with crumbs inside. He then stepped back but completely undershot his footing and began to fall. In a panic, (Y/n) grabbed his wrist and his waist, stepping forward so her leg was right aside his torso, and his legs were between hers, putting them into a position almost like a dip.

They both flushed red, tuning out the timer in the background and just looking at each other. Not knowing who should move first, they stood there for a second before reality came crashing down.

"Oh my goodness Todoroki I'm so sorry"

She quickly apologized and pulled him back up to his feet, going to the stove to turn off the oven, finishing the soup.

Todoroki just looked down in embarrassment and said it was okay, but they both pretended to just brush it off in order to eat the soup they had just cooked together.

There was one thing that plagues Todorokis mind all the way from that moment to when he fell asleep that night.

'If we were cooking with strong ingredients like garlic and onion, how did she smell so nice?'