Sorry.

Chapter 17

Third person pov

So Todoroki Touya wasn't a heinous murderer. This fact had been officially established, and was collectively believed by everyone in 1-A. Even Bakugo begrudgingly admitted that maybe they'd misjudged the redhead just a little. Either Touya was an idiot who'd gotten himself dropped through a warp gate, or he was just a super good actor. People severely doubted the latter. The guy's bad-boy act was suffering greatly. They all saw who he really was with relative ease; all they had to do was look closely for a change.

Rei Todoroki was a soft-spoken woman, a bit like her son Shoto in a way, but more emotional and willing to socialize. Touya seemed more open as well with her around. His smiled and laughed. Or maybe he'd always been like that, and they'd just avoided him too much to notice. Either way, it was becoming clearer and clearer by the second that he and Takashi were a lot of fun to be around, especially when you threw Izuku and Shoto into the mix. 

The rest of the day passed relatively quickly, as did the next one. It Thursday that it happened. It wasn't anything big or threatening. Despite coming to the expert conclusion that Touya wasn't dangerous, nobody had actually made an effort to communicate with him. Sero and Kirishima didn't hesitate to help the redhead and Takashi out in the kitchen with meals, but they weren't straight up hanging out with the scarred man like Shoto and Izuku happened to be. Thursday... Thursday was the start of something.

"Oh, hey." Touya said mildly, and Mina tensed, whirling around. Her eyes immediately dropped to the hot pink, cat-themed eraser in the man's hand. She blinked at it rapidly, shoulders stiff with surprise as her mind blanked on what to say. "You dropped this. Nice eraser, by the way."

She held out her hand almost on reflex, taking note of how he was very careful not to touch her as he dropped it in her upturned palm. He offered a small smile, and she realized just how tired he looked. He had this hesitant look in his eyes, ready to jump back at any given moment. He was searching her for discomfort. The realization that holy shit, the guy legitimately cared, hit her upside the head as her fingers curled around the eraser. Touya muttered a small apology and dipped his head before spinning on his heel and moving to march back into through the kitchen's entry way to rejoin Takashi. Mina sputtered.

"W-Wait!" She almost grabbed his sleeve, but stopped herself as he turned curiously. He looked a bit startled as she fidgeted. "Thanks for- uh... did you want to join our study group? We're... looking at Chemistry and English. I can show you more uh... u-uh, cat erasers, if you want. You can even have one i-if you like any..."

Touya seemed taken aback, glancing over his shoulder as though maybe she were talking to someone else. It almost made Mina snort, but she was a bit too busy twitching and trying not to panic to do so. Touya seemed surprised. It was surprisingly a little sad to see. It made her feel pretty bad, knowing they'd been pushing him away and ostracizing him for something he didn't mean to get wrapped up in.

"Takashiiii!" Touya drawled out, not taking his eyes off Mina. As though she'd lunge and rip his throat out. It was sort of amusing. "Can I go study with the pink one?"

"I'm supposed to babysit you!" Takashi's head popped into view, his face covered in smudges of flour. In the background, Shoto and Izuku are arguing with Sero and Kirishima about how many eggs actually need to go into the bowl. The recipe they printed out said twenty-three, which was obviously a typo. They just couldn't figure out if the two was the extra number or the three. Even Takashi wasn't sure, and he cooked all the time.

"I promise I won't get into trouble." Touya clasped his hands in front of him. Mina hid her snicker with a cough. "She has cat erasers. And she said I could have one."