Yaoyorozu made him a mug, free of charge. It's a pale blue with a blue Rindou on it, because his mom likes those flowers and Shouto doesn't know anything else about her.
He wrapped the gifts with wrapping paper from Iida, because it was more traditional than the tacky Christmas comic paper Sero and Kaminari are sharing. So the fruit candies he got for Natsuo (because he doesn't know anything about him, either, and he had to ask Fuyumi for an idea) are wrapped in red and green plaid paper. The chapstick is also wrapped, Ashido taught him how to make a little bag out of wrapping paper, and how to close it off with tape.
Between it all, he takes the painkillers. Interacting with everyone is taking energy and with a lack of energy comes the headaches, and he's taking these stupid pink pills every day and it's so tiring to think about and when he doesn't take them he can't get out of bed and...
Shouto doesn't like this break.
Shouto doesn't like Christmas. He doesn't like Winter like he used to, because his mom hasn't sung those cheery carols to him (in whispered tones, because Endeavor hated when she rotted Shouto's brain with any sort of maternal bond) in eleven years, and Shouto can't remember what her voice sounds like when she sings.
He's never had presents before, because out of all the things they could sneak into that house, objects were rarely one. Just the singing - rushed and whispered, panic in each verse. Onigiri in the shape of a Christmas tree, sloppily put together because what if Endeavor found out, and what if momma got hurt? Stories, his mother's past Christmas's laid out before him in hushed words, mocking him over the fact that he'd never get those kinds of memories.
He remembers sitting in the cold every year since he turned four, melting all of the snow in the courtyard because Endeavor had told him to, and Endeavor rules all. It didn't matter if there was a foot of snow or more, Shouto would stick his left arm out and evaporate the frozen water. It didn't matter when he cried, and his quirk wouldn't work with him because he had gotten it a month prior, and it was the coldest month he'd experienced.
It didn't matter when his eye was heavily bandaged, and the tears wouldn't even come.
It didn't matter when Fuyumi left, and Natsuo spent more and more time away from home. When Shouto was left completely alone with no hero to call his own. Just the fake one who slept down the hall from him.
The snow would eventually melt, and Shouto could come inside, then. He did this every year, and so he does not remember anything else.
"Todoroki! Put this on and take a picture with us!"
A hat is thrown on his head, red and white just like his hair. The force of the hand which threw it on, jolts his head, and his headache has returned despite taking the painkillers just forty minutes ago.
A phone camera clicks, and Hagakure and Ashido move on to their next victim.
"You feeling alright, man?" Kirishima's voice bursts through the haze of numb pain. "You look more tired than usual."
Shouto nods, stirring the eggs Bakugo directed him to, because they're friends and apparently, friends cook together.
"I'm fine, didn't sleep that well last night."
"If I may," Iida interjects, and Shouto kind of wants to tell him to butt out. "Sleep should be one of your top priorities. If you're having issues, perhaps heading to bed earlier in the evening would be ideal for-"
"Shut up, four eyes," comes that oddly relieving voice. "I can't cook when you're bothering my assistant."
"You guys are totally friends," Uraraka sits down at a stool on the opposite side of the counter, a juice box in hand. "You've never let anyone else help you in there."
YOU ARE READING
When the Heart is Ash (I'll Savor Your Warmth)
Fanfiction'The sheet filled, multicolored pen marks on each name, the more talkative students in class came more often, the quieter ones had more to talk about. Even if in the meetings, it was just a few words, a cup of tea, and a nice setting in his dorm off...
