When the move-in day was over, Shoto couldn't help but wonder how Mei had fared. Her grandparents were strict, and he couldn't imagine they made it very easy for her to come.
Once all the students were gathered in the common room, he had to keep himself from staring. She was wearing a crimson turtleneck top that brought out her eyes, and she looked beautiful when she laughed at something Yaoyorozu had said.
It was rare that he saw her look soft, unburdened.
"Todoroki-kun, are you all done with your room?" Midoriya approached him.
"Yes, I finished a bit ago." he nodded, simply.
Whatever Midoriya said next, Shoto did not hear. He was looking through the corner of his eye, seeing Mei move to sit on the floor beside the couch.
Since the events of Mei's visit to his house to work on their group project, he couldn't shake an urge to be close to her.
He remembered the feeling of her skin and the softness of her lips, and it sent a shiver down his spine.
Todoroki wasn't sure if that had been the moment that changed everything. He didn't think it was. A part of him new something was different about the way he felt about Mei since the Sports Festival.
She had always been beautiful, and Shoto wasn't blind, but he always had very little time or care for girls.
When his father had expressed his intentions to betroth them, she became nothing more than another nuisance in his way. Another role he had to play to indulge his fathers delusions.
At the Sports Festival, when she threw all her spite and fury his way - when she forced him to show her who he truly was - that was when he noticed a shift.
How his heart would beat slightly irregularly when she was around. How he felt the need to impress her, show her had he had changed. The way he started to see through the cruel things she said, how her actions didn't reflect them.
Shoto pretended it meant nothing, it was nothing. But he didn't pay attention to anyone; and now, she was all he could see.
The incident at his house caught him by surprise. He was not the kind to be taken over by his emotions, but when she stood so close and he smelled the vanilla and jasmine on her skin, he felt completely out of control.
Todoroki frowned slightly, remembering how it felt when she left in a hurry. The look of regret on her face.
Monoma had warned him. Warned him about her sting. Yet still, something didn't seem right about the way he described her. Mei didn't seem rotten and cruel. She seemed sad. And Shoto new that look in her eyes - he'd carried that same look in his own eyes for most of his life.
"I think we should play charades." Ashido's voice broke his train of thought. "Teams of two, whatever teams win can be free of clean up duty for a month!"
"Uh, I think I'm going to head to sleep, actually." Midoriya refuted.
"Me too." Todoroki agreed, quickly. The sooner he went to bed, the better. He needed to distance himself from Mei until he got his feelings under control.
"No! Don't be lame, you guys." Ashido insisted. "This is important bonding for us!"
"I- um..." Midoriya chuckled, uncomfortable.
"Why don't we girls go to your room, Ashido, and chat until later." Momo suggested instead. "Let the boys go to sleep."
"Yeah, let's do that!" Uraraka agreed.
He was relieved when he headed up the stairs.
After a long shower, he made his way back to his room to sleep, when he saw Mei in the hallway.
YOU ARE READING
Todoroki x OC - I'll Only Hurt You
Fanfiction"You know what they say about flowers, Todoroki. The brighter the colours, the more deadly the poison. That's what Mei's like. All that pretty face and charm just hides how twisted up and rotten she is on the inside." Do not repost my drawings. Sto...
