Serendipity

indulgent

Katsuki knocks at Todoroki's door as the sun comes up. It's six in the morning and Todoroki is already awake, probably has been for hours.

The dark circles under Todoroki's eyes aren't anything new, not anything surprising, either. The implications were there when Sensei told Bakugo that "He's confused! You can't provoke someone whose only instinct is to protect themselves! Shouto doesn't come from a good place, it's complicated!"

What does it imply?

That Todoroki isn't just skinny because of genetics. That he doesn't know how to fight because he wants to be a hero, but because knowing to fight is survival. That he might've been with the League for more than ten stupid days, or maybe he was with something much worse before that.

His guess is torture. The League creates those Nomu, does all kinds of bad shit. Todoroki could've been their next target. Or maybe the bastard really was a villain, maybe he is.

Either way, he's decided Todoroki is not a threat. He can fight, despite his little stature and weak lower body, he can fight. But so can everyone else in this damned school.

"Get into your gym uniform," Bakugo huffs, he bites back a laugh at how messy Todoroki's hair looks when he wakes up. "You've got five minutes before I leave without you." And the bastard closes his door without saying a word. Bakugo holds back on pushing through the door and yelling on account that everyone else is sleeping.

Down in the common rooms, shitty hair and dunce-face are still sleeping, a mess of limbs on the couch. He rolls his eyes at them and then searches through a kitchen cabinet to find his hidden protein bars. Usually, he eats one and gets going. Today, he grabs two, and he stuffs one in his pocket for Todoroki.

It's not snowing out any more, it started last night though. Ashido had to hold Kirishima back from running out and creating so much noise the whole campus would be on high alert. Katsuki went out to see it, though. Used the excuse of needing an extra blanket from his room and stepped out onto his balcony. The snow itself was shitty, nearly slush if it had been a degree warmer.

The entire scene was something to admire, though.

Todoroki seems distracted, staring at the melting snow underneath his sneakers and twisting his ankle a little, Bakugo allows it for a few moments.

He isn't sure why he's training Todoroki, all of the sudden. He had a reason, last night. But somewhere between creating it and thinking it over, he lost it.

Maybe he feels bad. He knows that anyone would say it's out of character for him, but he does. Maybe.

He'd spent a mere day with the League. They only had him sit there, chained up onto a chair while they tried intimidating him into joining them. All Might saved him, out of all the heroes. It still haunts him, though. There's a hopelessness their leader emits. That's all he can think about: how hopeless it felt to be there. Each plan he had in his head was ruined by some fact about them. No running, no fighting, no help.

Ten days would've driven him mad. He would've begged to be killed, maybe.

"Hey, let's start."

Todoroki snaps out of it, his hand twitches as if to come up but he holds it down against his side, nodding.

Kastuki takes off, runs his normal route. Todoroki is smart enough to catch on. His posture is perfected, obviously trained into him. That's not why he's slow. Even though he's taller, has longer legs than Katsuki, he's behind a few steps.

He probably hasn't run much, Katsuki reasons. Wasn't he a regular civilian just a few months ago?

(That makes his whole story even more terrifying.)