Finding Me (Todoroki x Reader)

Chapter 10

"You know what, sweetie? I think you might actually be gaining muscle."

I almost choked on my breakfast - which was half chewed in my mouth - at my mother's statement. I coughed up the remains, and had a huge gulp of water before answering.

"Huh? What do mean I'm gaining muscle? I already had muscles!"

"I know sweetie, but..." Mum gave me a smile that I knew was meant to ease the sting of the words that were to come out of her mouth. "You weren't exactly the fittest girl when you started, now were you?"

I opened my mouth to retort, but stopped to think about what she'd just said. I closed my lips tight, accepting her point begrudgingly. "Whatever..." I grumbled as she grabbed my plate to wash up.

"Oh, don't give me that pouty face. You'll get wrinkles before you're my age," Mum joked, taking my plate and placing it in the sink to wash up later. "Now, run along and get ready for school. Didn't you say your teacher had a big day planned for you? Better not be late."

She pointed towards the clock, highlighting the fact that I had about twenty-odd minutes before I was meant to be at school. I jumped to my feet and bolted for my room, remembering the exact words of my over-tired homeroom teacher.

"Tomorrow is a big day class, so don't be late. Otherwise, you can say goodbye to weekends altogether."

'There's no way I'm giving up my weekends. I love my free time, too much,' I thought, a niggling of fear edging me to move faster. 'Maybe that's why I wasn't the fittest coming into high school. I'm, honestly, just lazy.'

After battling with my uniform, my H/L, H/C hair, my toothpaste, and my bed, I scrambled downstairs to grab my lunch, and bolted.

"See you this afternoon, Mum," I kissed her on her forehead as I left, tying my outdoor shoes up as fast as possible. "Tell Dad I wish him a good day when he gets back from the store."

"I will, now go be a hero!"

That made me smile every day, that statement did. Mum and Dad knew that that was all I'd ever wanted out of life, and now that I had an opportunity to do so, they were going to support me the whole way through.

'I will,' I promised myself as I rounded a corner, heading straight to UA. 'I promise.'

As I rounded the corner, I was met by a tall boy with red and white hair. 'Right on time.'

"Todoroki! Good morning," I greeted him with my cheerful smile.

"Same to you, L/N," he responded coolly, not showing much emotion as usual. However, ever since our conversation in the hallway the other day, he'd become more engaged with me, and everyone, really.

Since we lived near each other - we figured it out a while back - we decided to meet each other everyday on the corner before school and walk together to it. Then, we'd meet just outside school to walk home together. Most of the time we didn't talk, just walked in comfortable silence, but we'd have the odd chat then and there. It was nice, to say the least.

In school, Todoroki would engage more in class, although not to any great extent, but at least he'd say, "Hi," to everyone who passed him. At lunch times, he still sat by himself, but on occasions he'd sit beside me quietly as I chatted with the rest of our class.

'Baby steps, Y/N. Baby steps.'

Overall, Todoroki had made an effort to not only better his quirk and hero skills during school, but himself, in general. And that was something truly special.