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The sight of ice ferns blooming on window glass during cold nights were something you enjoyed about winter. Those fragile shapes that spread over the glass, reaching higher and higher and when the sun rose, glittered into cold beauty. The way the sunrays broke in the window and the ice ferns, gleaming, glowing, giving you an otherworldly feeling. The frosty beauty of winter, captured in a small space.
With for excitement sparkling eyes, you crouched in front of the common area of the dorms and looked at the ice ferns that had appeared over night. The snow lay thick outside the window as well and you were sure that outside would be even more ice ferns around. Maybe you should go on a walk and look for some, you mused.
You heard footsteps behind you that stopped dead in their tracks, probably after seeing you crouching you randomly in front of the window. You didn't care, wasn't like anyone had to do anything right now over winter break.
"Is something wrong, [Name]?" Todoroki's voice sounded through the common area and you sit up straight.
You hadn't counted with him coming here. You turned around and smiled, scratching your cheek embarrassed.
"Ah, well, nothing's wrong. It just had frost over night and look! The windows have ice ferns now and they're just so beautiful!" You instantly launched into an excited speech for the fragile, frosty art of winter.
Todoroki only looked at you with mild amazement before a thoughtful expression settled on his face. Only then you realized how stupid, well, downright childish you must have sounded and your smile faltered. An embarrassed blush settled on your cheeks and you looked away, inspecting the floor with growing interest. He really must think you were a carefree airhead, you thought and sighed.
The cracking and clinging sound of ice made you turn your head again and you watched Todoroki with growing amazement when he grew ice flower over ice flower with a concentrated expression on his face in the middle of the common area. Filigrane, glittering, clear ice obeying the shapes he was giving it with its quirk. White mist was steaming from his body as a reaction to the cold he emitted but it stood still and only watched his field of ice flowers grow.
And you stood there open-mouthed, watching the scenery unfold in front of your eyes, absolutely baffled at his actions. The cracking and creaking of the ice stopped and Todoroki finally looked up again and towards you.
"Like this?" he asked and you laughed.
"Amazing, truly amazing, Todoroki-kun. Not exactly, but this is even more beautiful than the ice ferns on the window," you smiled, gingerly touching one of the ice flowers he had created.
"It's more fitting, I'd say," he said and you looked up in confusion. "You know, in German they call them ice flowers and I think that's more fitting," he explained and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
It was a random bit of information but you appreciated it all the more. Ice flowers indeed evoked a different mental image than ice ferns. Like true flowers they just bloomed in cold beauty, a lot like Todoroki's ice flowers before.
"Yeah, you right," you agreed and flashed him a sheepish smile yourself.
"So, I think there's lots of frost and ice flowers out there today. Do you want to go on a walk and look at them?" he asked, fixing his eyes on a point behind you.
You beamed at him and restrained yourself from hugging the reserved boy out of the blue. You definitely didn't want to scare him.
"Yeah, I'd love that!"
And Todoroki smiled at you, a tiny, cautious smile, the one you didn't see often and always seemed like he had to learn how to smile all over again. It was fragile and beautiful just like the ice flowers.
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NikaRyu
