change of plans || todoroki shouto x reader

chapter twenty

to: *dabs*
helloo

to: *dabs*
do you wanna train with me

to: [name]
are u sure

to: *dabs*
yes i literally recovered days ago

to: [name]
yea i think you need more than several days to recover from a broken idk everything??

to: *dabs*
pleaasee

to: *dabs*
just physical spar no quirk

to: [name]
fine

to: [name]
but the second you're overworked im taking you home

to: *dabs*
nice & i'll be fine

to: [name]
usual place in an hour?

to: *dabs*
yeah let's go

the two trained throughout the day in the same area they did a couple days ago. [name] felt that dabi had been going easy on her but she didn't mind. deep down, she knew she should still be recovering, but the memory of her blacking out when she was needed the most repeated in her head over and over again.

her insecurities bubbled up inside her and she pushed herself harder than she ever has before. this was her wanting to get stronger. not her mother manifesting in her thoughts. being strong and intelligent is her identity. if she's neither, then who is she?

what is she here for?

"yo, pretty deep in thought there, are ya?"

without realising, she'd been knocked down on the ground. she has been absentmindedly dodging and parrying, not noticing she just fell on her ass.

dabi squats down to her eye-level. kind of reminding her of the time they first met.

"you alright?" he asks.

she lets out a shaky sigh.

"i don't know."

dabi senses her exhaustion. they haven't been out for long but he felt that she was more than physically tired. he's grown quite fond of her.

he holds out his hand for her to grab onto and get up. "come on, i know exactly what you need."

...

purr

dabi sips his drink as the girl in front of him closes her eyes and relaxes while caressing the feline on her lap.

[name] wasn't usually a cuddly person. but there's something about touya that just sucks out the negative energy from her soul.

"so, you wanna talk about it?" she hears.

she opens her eyes and sees dabi resting his head on his palms, elbows on the table. there wasn't very much people in the café today and all you could hear was the clinking of dabi stirring his coffee and the faint café music.

"i don't want to unload my emotional burden on you," she says.

"mm, it bothers me to see you like this," dabi replies, leaning back on the chair. "you should go see a therapist or something. villain attacks can cause some serious ptsd."

"it's not that i'm bothered with," [name] answers, fiddling with her untouched dessert. "besides, who has the time for that shit anyway."

dabi is the one who sighs this time. "i don't know what else to tell you, girl. i'm no expert."

"but know that if you need me, i'm one text away," he adds.

touya stands up from [name]'s lap and stretches. dabi reaches out and scratches the back of the cat's ear.

"touya's always ready to comfort you too."

[name] only smiles.

"thanks."

...

to: bb sister
boy do i have news for you

to: bb sister
idk if it's good or bad

to: bb sister
depends on how u feel about the ua sports festival

to: big bro psi
nothing special ig?

to: big bro psi
sounds like a chore,, just can't wait for it to be over

to: bb sister
then you'll be ecstatic

to: bb sister
you won't be able to participate in the sportsfest

to: big bro psi
for real?? nice

to: big bro psi
why tho

to: bb sister
remember how i said we might have to move up the date for the foundation gala

to: bb sister
we're moving it up to sunday, two weeks from now

to: big bro psi
NICE ONE i have never loved time zones as much as i do now ( ꈍᴗꈍ)

to: big bro psi
mom's ok with it??? i don't think she'd be too happy about me skipping the sports festival

to: bb sister
surprisingly she was? something about it being risky since you just recovered from the usj thing

to: big bro psi
idk whether i should be offended that she thinks i can't completely recover within two weeks or be happy that she's actually caring about my wellbeing for once

to: bb sister
don't say that

to: bb sister
she does care

to: bb sister
but anyway i'll write a letter to the dean's office

to: bb sister
i'll take care of everything (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ

to: bb sister
just focus on school and recovering

to: big bro psi
okay

to: big bro psi
i'll go to bed

to: bb sister
good night ! ʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっ

to: big bro psi
(￣(ｴ)￣) night

---

tl;dr: [name] won't be making it to the ua sports festival.

a/n: sorry if it's a disappointing but it's a bit hard to fit the reader into a system and plotline that was meticulously designed by horikoshi like the sports fest (´(ｪ)｀）this is more of a filler chapter ig? that's why it's really short.

the story's gonna progress soon!! i swear. twenty chapters in and todoroki is still barely in the story HAHA when i said slow burn i really meant slow burn but dw bc once they get close it's gonna progress pretty fast

my motivation to write feeds off the feedback i get and i hope u guys know that i read each and every single one of the comments and i appreciate u guys so much you're the ones that keep me going

i'll likely update again before the end of the week ;)

ciao