Twerkulator ||todobaku||

chapter 6

A week and a half after Bakugou's twerking reveal and Todoroki is feeling different.

He's a new man.

Maybe.

"Move out the way IcyHot."Bakugou says, shoving him aside as he sets the table with the food he's just made.

Todoroki doesn't take offense at all and instead just silently watches Iida scold Bakugou for his "rude" behavior.

The class sits around the large table—a gift from Yaoyorozu's parents when they found out the class ate dinner together.

There's enough space for everyone to sit comfortably, but when he sits down between Bakugou and Midoriya, he finds himself leaning more towards the blond haired boy than the green haired one.

No offense to Midoriya, of course.

No one notices though.

No one but Bakugou, but he doesn't say anything. He never does. He just raises an eyebrow at Todoroki and continues with what he's doing.

Hagakure gives a toast since it's her day to do so, and once she's done they all dig in to eat. Laughter carries across the room and utensils clink against tableware. Tokoyami accidentally spills a noodle dish on Ojirou, but the taller boy just offers him a friendly smile and assures him that everything's fine.

"Eat like you've got some fucking sense!"Bakugou yells at Kirishima and Kaminari, who are engaging in a competition to see who can eat the most.

"Bakugou, language!"Iida yells back before turning to the battling duo. "But yes, please eat more responsibly. The food has been made carefully and it would be a shame to waste it."

Todoroki hears the way Bakugou grumbles, annoyed with Iida for scolding him when they've said basically the same thing. He wants to point out that they didn't, actually, say the same thing. But he recognizes that it's a battle of semantics. He knows what Bakugou meant.

Kirishima and Kaminari quit with their challenge, much to the apparent and palpable relief of Kouda, who was catching strays since he's sitting next to Kirishima.

"Pass the mapo tofu, please?"Asks Shinsou, and it's then that Todoroki realizes that he's been waiting for it for a while now. Tokoyami apologizes and passes it to him only to then engage in a conversation with him.

Dinners with class 2-A are always interesting.

Todoroki likes them a lot and it's not for the first time that he's glad that they initiated them during their first year. As an older teen, nearing legal age, he has experienced a few nice dinners with his family. His sister, Fuyumi, is an excellent cook and his brother, Natsuo, is a great conversationalist but...

But there's always a bit of tension. Always awkward pauses and too much silence, not enough words to fill them. There's only so much Fuyumi and Natsuo can do when, the fact of the matter is, their family isn't complete. Their mother is in the hospital and their father is always busy.

And not to mention Touya....

But here—here at U.A. in the class 2-A dorms Todoroki doesn't have to face any of that. He doesn't have to worry about true, uneasy tension. He doesn't have to worry about awkward silences or feeling like there's a piece missing.

Not when he's surrounded by his classmates who have become dear friends and, for a few, like family to him.

"You're not eating."

It comes from Bakugou, but his voice is low like he doesn't want to be heard by anyone else. And he probably doesn't. He's just like. When he shows his care and kindness—he's quiet about it.

Todoroki's eyes flicker to him before looking down at his plate. He only managed to get a small mound of rice on it before he started zoning out. When he looks up at the table he realizes that there isn't much food left to take, and what's left isn't anything he'd really choose for himself.

"Fucking Candy Cane,"Bakugou mutters as he rolls his eyes. "So damn slow and stupid you'll wind up eating plain rice for dinner."

"I like rice."

Bakugou doesn't say anything for a second and just looks at him. And then he's shaking his head, "Fucking idiot."

He wants to comment that, really, he doesn't mind just eating plain rice, but then the blond turns around to join the conversation between Sero and Jirou. Todoroki is a bit surprised by the abrupt end to their conversation, but decides to leave it at that.

He goes back to observing his classmates and soaking up everything about this moment that makes him feel comfortable and content.

Movement out of the corner of his eye brings him out of focus once again, and that's when he sees Bakugou nonchalantly puts a bit of food from his plate onto Todoroki's. He occasionally adds more, but does it so quickly yet so unassumingly that Todoroki almost doesn't fault the others for not noticing.

He's about to say something—possibly tell Bakugou once again, that he was fine with just having rice—but then the blond shoots a look over his shoulder that stops him in tracks.

Instead, Todoroki goes back to observing his classmates and soaking up the moment as he slowly begins to eat his dinner with a small, almost imperceptible smile on his face.