Rescue // Shoto Todoroki x OC Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The light and shadow hero paced the length of her office with her phone in hand. She had a text typed up to send to Shoto, she just wasn't sure if she should send it. Ochaco had helped her draft it up, and even as simple as it was, it was still nerve-wracking. It wasn't like Katsumi to thirst after men. 

Of course, she'd had her fair share of one-time flings. But dating? That wasn't something she did. it was often too messy, and having a needy partner wasn't something a hero could have, especially in her position where she ran an agency. She was on call most of the time even when she wasn't in the office, and often needed to be able to leave at the drop of a hat if called. Some people she'd tried to be with were too needy for that and didn't like how much she was away. After experiencing the same thing over and over again, she'd decided that dating just wasn't her thing. 

So, sending a text to Shoto, essentially asking him on a date, was a really hard thing for her to do. The text wasn't phrased like it'd be a date, but there was a fair chance he'd take it that way after what went down between them the last time they saw each other. 

Katsumi stopped pacing and looked down at the phone, reading the text aloud to herself to see how it sounded. Again. 

'Hey Shoto. Did you want to grab lunch with me sometime?'

Simple. Straight to the point. But did it look like it was a date? Was it a date?

There were too many questions swirling around in Katsumi's head. it was literally as simple as hitting send. Either he'd accept or deny the offer, regardless of what she said. She just had to hit send. 

Her finger hovered over the button, but she hesitated again and started to pace. Before her mind started to run again, she stopped and shook her head a little, trying to pull herself back to the present moment. This wasn't as big of a deal as she was making it out to be. Ochaco had told her that. 

She looked back down at her phone and pressed the send button before she could start thinking too hard about it again. Now, all she could do was wait for a response. 

She plopped down in the chair at her desk and threw her phone down by the computer keyboard. Before she even had a chance to let go of the breath she'd been holding, her phone dinged, and she picked it up with far too much enthusiasm. 

She frowned inwardly at herself, scolding her schoolgirl behavior before even checking who the text was from. But when she looked, it was him. It had been less than a minute since she'd sent the text, and he'd already responded. 

Maybe he really had been waiting for her to reach out first. She clicked open the chat and read his reply. 

'That sounds nice. Does tomorrow work?'

She texted back 'yes' before setting the phone back down on her desk. The phone chirped again, but she rested her face in her hands and tried to calm herself down. She felt ridiculous, getting so worked up about something so small. If anyone had seen her acting like this, she would have been mortified. She was very careful in how she presented herself to others, and this would have been absolutely embarrassing. 

* * *

The next day came, and the morning passed by at a snail's pace. Katsumi's leg was bouncing underneath her desk as she waited for her lunch date/not date. She tried to get work done, but her mind was completely elsewhere. She was wondering what she'd say. Should she say anything about what happened, or pretend it didn't? She had no idea what to expect going into this. 

Katsumi liked to know what she was getting herself into. She didn't like feeling so uncertain. Yet when it came to Shoto, she was always uncertain of how things would go. It seemed like there was never a set answer on what she should and shouldn't do when it came to him. 

When lunchtime rolled around, Katsumi headed toward the restaurant where they'd be meeting. When she got there, Shoto was already inside waiting for her at a table. She sat down across from him. 

"Hello," he greeted with a soft smile that made her chest feel warm. 

"Hey," she replied. A waitress came by and dropped some menus off at the table before leaving them. "Um, thanks for coming."

"Thanks for inviting me." He folded his hands together on the table and looked at her. She felt her cheeks blush from his attention, and felt awkward, not knowing what to say next. 

It was weird--before, she'd always known just what to say to him, even if it was usually just to get under his skin. But now, she had no idea what to do. The thought of messing this up at all freaked her out. 

After a small silence passed between the two of them, Shoto finally spoke. "I'm assuming you want to talk about what happened that night, am I correct?"

Shit. Straight to the point. She still wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about that. She didn't know what it meant or how she was supposed to move forward from here. 

"Um, yeah," she finally said, just going along with it. 

"I apologize for doing that, and I can promise you that it won't happen again," he said a little too quickly. Katsumi felt her heart drop into her stomach. 

She had been right. He regretted it. He didn't want her anymore after what happened. She'd already known that would be the case before coming here. It's all that had been running through her mind since that night. 

"Okay," she simply said, not sure what else to say. She tried to hide her disappointment, which was easier after they'd gotten their food. She focused on the plate in front of her, finishing every last bit of what she'd ordered, even though it upset her stomach. 

They shared a bit of awkward and polite small after that, only talking about work-related things. Katsumi didn't focus on it too hard and tried not to look him in the face. As always, whenever she did meet his eye, she couldn't tell what was going on inside his head. He had that same icy expression on his face that he always did.

It was possible she'd conjured up everything herself. He was never one to really show emotion, so maybe assuming that he had any sort of real feelings for her was all her imagination. Just because he came to look after her didn't mean anything, and it was only natural that they'd wanted to kiss each other after putting each other in that situation. It didn't mean anything. It was clear he thought the same thing. 

She left the restaurant feeling dejected. All that overthinking she'd done had been for no reason. Ochaco was wrong. Her advice was wrong. Shoto didn't like her. It hadn't meant anything when he'd kissed her. 

Once she was back at her agency, a few people tried to talk to her on her way back up to her office, but she brushed them off as politely as she could. She didn't want to deal with anyone right now. She just wanted to be alone.