A Song to Come Home to

Chapter Fourteen

It's been a quiet night. A night that Shouto can't quite complain about. He's been keeping himself busy by finishing up his letter to his mom. Due to the change of his schedule, he won't be able to see her on Friday because he'll be out interning. He admits, he'd prefer to visit his mom and spend time with Fuyumi and Natsuo- if his brother decides to show up this time. Frowning, Shouto refocuses on his letter. There's a time and place for everything and he had been spending too much time worrying over Natsuo.

A soft knock at his door stirs him from his thoughts. With a soft sigh, he sets down his pen and pads over to answer it- assuming it's Midoriya. When he opens the door, his eyes widen in surprise.

"Mister Aizawa." Looking at his watch, it's half past eight at night and he's left wondering exactly why his teacher is here. Aizawa looks down at him with unreadable eyes, the dark circles seem more prominent than usual. There's a long pause from his teacher until Aizawa softly sighs.

"Todoroki, come, there's something that I have to talk to you about." Shouto blinks and slowly nods and slips on his house slippers.

Silently following his ever tired teacher, Shouto keeps his shoulders squared and his gaze straight ahead. Even when a small voice in the back of his head is nagging at him that something is wrong, Shouto doesn't show that he's bothered or worried in the slightest.

Stiffly stepping into the elevator next to Aizawa, he watches as his teacher presses the button for the ground floor. Up above, Shouto hears the soft jazz of the typical elevator music. He had always found that peculiar that the Yuuei staff would even go as far as to put elevator music in their dorm elevator. Putting that thought aside, he casts a curious glance towards Aizawa and watches him for a few seconds before turning his attention back to the stainless silver doors.

Arriving at the ground floor, Shouto immediately spies Midoriya with his group of friends lounging on the sofas while a few others of his classmates are more spread out across the lobby. Everyone seems to be having a good time and that's enough to relieve Shouto, no one down here look worried or frightened. If anything, now Shouto's curiosity has piqued at the question of why he's being summoned.

A few classmates glance up and watch Shouto and Aizawa with similar curiosity. Before Shouto knows it, Aizawa has stopped in his tracks and looking down impassively at an extremely curious Midoriya. Shouto peers around Aizawa and gives a small wave to his friend, who of course- returns one with a sunny smile.

"Mister Aizawa! Is everything okay?" Midoriya asks, looking to Shouto and then back to Aizawa with a growing look of concern. Well practiced in dealing with Midoriya and his endless amount of curiosity and his general want to butt into everyone's secrets, Aizawa simply sighs.

"Midoriya, this isn't the time. If Todoroki feels confiding in you about it, I'm sure he will tell you. However, there are also matters that need to be given some space." He gently reminds Midoriya. Shouto's curiosity is tinged with worry once again and he looks down to study his house slippers.

"Bu-"

"No buts, Midoriya." Aizawa firmly interrupts. Midoriya opens his mouth to say something but closes it and reluctantly heads back to the sofa. On the way to Aizawa's dorm apartment, Shouto can feel the gaze of Midoriya and his friends boring into his back. He scratches at the back of his head, feeling odd to be under such scrutinous gazes from his friends.

"Sit down, Todoroki." Aizawa motions to the small loveseat and he obliges. Aizawa disappears into the small kitchen off to the right and comes back with a kettle and two mugs. "Would you like some tea?" Shouto examines the two mugs, both are a dark grey but one has soft white swirling loops and the other has a pair of delicate cream colored cats painted on it. From the looks of it, both mugs' decorations seemed to have been homemade rather than professionally done. Shouto wonders if Aizawa is into painting or perhaps he received them as a gift. Something about the two cats gets his attention and he takes that mug, feeling the cool ceramic beneath his fingers.