change of plans || todoroki shouto x reader

chapter thirty-one

time flew by and suddenly it was the last week of june.

after the mind-opening conversation she had with todoroki, [name] started spending more time with him. they would spend their lunch break together, often with midoriya, iida, uraraka, and tsuyu.

it was nice. they went out together several times, having study groups, going places together like malls and to the movies.

it was the first time in japan that [name] actually felt like she fit in. it was kind of unbelievable, that what brought [name] to the group was two awkward conversations, and two villain attacks.

her heart felt warm. if you told the [name] three months ago that she would actually enjoy UA and make good friends, she'd laugh at your face and call you dumb. well, maybe past [name] was the dumb one, she now thought.

but it felt like it came at a price. [name] started to drift away from dabi. the last time they met up was a week after her internship, but even then he seemed aloof and distant. she'd text him often and he'd respond with quick cold replies, unlike the ones he would send before.

it's like, she gains five close friends, but has to lose her best friend in exchange.

she tried talking to him about it, but all he said was he was getting busy because he found something to do. don't get [name] wrong. she loves the fact that dabi found what he wanted to do with his life, but it hurt a bit that he's started spending less time with her.

nevertheless, she was happy for him.

"summer vacation is pretty close, huh?" todoroki asks, making small talk. he and [name] were usually the first to arrive and they'd often wait for each other at the gate and walk together to their classrooms.

a small part of [name] was guilty that she's keeping a secret from todoroki, but it didn't feel right for her to be the one to let him know.

"mhm," [name] answers. she was comfortable with him now, losing all negative idiosyncrasies she used to have when interacting with him. "before, i was actually hoping to stay in america for the summer, but now i'm pretty excited about the training camp."

"i hear the practical exams are pretty rough," the crimson-white haired boy says. they arrive at the classroom and he opens the door for her like always.

[name] responds, keeping up the small talk, "kousuke told me that their practical exams before were robots of different difficulties. but since it was long ago he said there's the possibility that they've changed it."

"either way, i feel pretty good about," [name] continues. "i've been training a lot more than usual and i feel like my stamina's really improved and it's decreased the intensity of the drawbacks of my quirk."

...

it was lunch break and the chatter all around were still about finals. yaoyorozu offered to help some of the others. [name] was ranked first in midterms, so she didn't have to worry about finals. again, the lessons they were having were topics she'd already studied before. she would have offered to help as well but, frankly, she didn't feel like she'd be a very good teacher.

"the academic tests are drawn from what we learn in class, that's manageable," midoriya says. "but the practical? it's scarier, since we have no idea how it'll go."

"i think it'll just be like academic tests and just an overview of what all might taught us in hero basics in the first semester," [name] says, after chewing on her food. she wasn't really an eating lunch person, but after spending time with the rest, she started hanging out with them in the cafeteria and eventually started eating regularly too.