hospitality ~ s. todoroki

2.

『』

"you're everything I need,
to bare this fear"

『』

a sweet smell of a chocolatey dessert filled shotos nose which woke him up. he rubbed his eyes and immediately noticed that rei was gone.

he looked around before looking towards the kitchen to see rei with her hair braided into one long braid- that he made- and he smiled.

he walked over to the bar area of the kitchen, pulled out a seat and sat down.

the smell of chocolate getting nothing but stronger.

he rested his head in his palm as he watched her maneuver around his kitchen looking for supplies.

she seemed to be finding things easily until she started looking worried and confused. she placed her hand on her hip and scratched her head.

"hmm," she said softly looking around, still very unaware of the boy sitting right behind her.

a small smile made its way to his face as he watched her confused act. "rei," he called out to her which made her jump. "what is it you're looking for?" he asked her making his way into the kitchen.

"um..t-the oven thingys," she mumbled out making hand signals trying to give him a better understanding at what she was talking about.

he stood up and walked into the kitchen going to grab the 'kitchen thingys' she was looking for.

he reached down into a drawer and handed them to her. he watched as she took them from his hand, slipped them on and walked over to open the oven.

she took out a grey pan filled with freshly cooked brownies and another pan with freshly cooked cookies.

she looked up to see todoroki staring right at her.

"uh...todo you're staring.." she told him with a light blush. "oh sorry, it's just i never knew you knew how to cook." he moved closer towards her looking at the brownies she set out.

"w-well we only ever talked in our first and some of our second year..after that i grew distant for reasons," she explained.

shoto nodded before handing her a knife. "uhm?! can you not hand it to me like that..." she exclaimed to the clueless boy. he seemed dumbfounded at her words.

"what do you mean? i'm holding the handle.." he tilted his head looking at the knife and then her.

she rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"well i'm not going to hold the blade..? thats even more dangerous." he sassed at her which made her laugh.

"well you can just sit it down on the counter." she sassed back making him roll his eyes.

he smiled before sitting down at the counter watching her. he rested his head in his hands.

but just by watching her,

a feeling erupted in his heart.

he watched the girl cut the brownies into smaller pieces.

soon an idea popped up in his head.

todoroki moved behind rei and reached infront of her and grabbed a brownie. the girl froze at this actions not knowing what to say.

the two stood in the position for atleast a minute. rei took and brownie and turned around to face him.

trying to remain calm she thought of an idea.

"hey todo, lets play 21 questions."

- an hour later -

"soo you love dogs but are scared of them?" shoto tilted his head and giggled. he found this new fact about her interesting but cute.

rei covered her face in her hands, shaking her head 'no' out of embarrassment. "don't repeat it! it's embarrassing,"

"okay okay...!" the boy put his hands up in defeat and laughed. "but I have another question..why were you so distant after awhile?"

rei perked up at his words and quickly looked away from him.

"you...already asked your question it's my turn." she quickly tried digressing from the question at hand. shoto's eyebrows furrowed and he nodded knowing his turn was over.

the two sat in silence wait a bit. rei didn't have anymore questions to ask. she tried to come up with one but couldn't.

a feeling of guilt washed over shoto because he felt like he made her uncomfortable asking her that. which he didn't but not that he would know. rei could feel tension get thicker and thicker the longer they sat in it.

she began to fidget with her fingers and tried her best to not look at shoto. He sighed before grabbing the remote to his tv deciding that maybe a movie would make her feel better. "sorry, i shouldn't have asked. let's watch a movie or do something else,"

"actually.." shoto perked up at her voice. he put the remote down and turned to face her.

"i'll answer your question." rei took a deep breath before moving closer to him. she kept her head down still feeling nervous to make direct eye contact with him.

"it was my mom," shoto's eyebrows furrowed but he still listened closely.

- flashback (3 years ago) -

rei and her mother had been arguing for about 2 straight minutes going on 3. it was the same boring topic of 'friends' the one her mother was just so worried about.

"rei those 'friends' of yours are distracting you! your grades are slipping by a long damn shot!" rei wiped her tear filled eyes. "no they aren't! my grade dropping from an A to a B isn't a long shot once so fucking ever!"

"you didn't even graduate so how the hell are you going to tell me? the actual fucking student!" her mother stood there staring at her in disbelief. her words stuck to her deeply. her heart cracked a little. she knew an argument like this couldn't never recover. "you get your ungrateful ass down here and apologize." rei ignored her and went upstairs.

she heard her mother breathed in and out, an unexpected weight fell onto her shoulders.

"forget about your friends. distant yourself from them until you graduate." her mother then disappeared into the kitchen. rei felt light-headed and unstable. she guessed that maybe she was tired from all the arguing,

the next step she took she lost conscious...

end of flashback.

tears were flowing out of her eyes just thinking about it. shoto cupped her face in his hands and wiped her tears with his thumb. "well i'm still here as your friend. i'm not to sure about the others but who cares."

shoto guessed that she probably wasn't in contact with the others. she laughed a little thinking back to all the memories she rarely gained with the others.

she really did miss them.

but now it was too late to get that back.

"yeah...sorry for coming here a mess." she said softly. shoto shook his head at the poor girls words. "never feel sorry for something that was never your fault."

she laid her head on his shoulder to rest her eyes.
shoto wrapped his arms around her pulling her in. letting her use him as a pillow.

after all she needed this.