Finding Me (Todoroki x Reader)

Heroes Rising - Chapter 3

Immediate regret for patrolling with Bakugou flowed through me the moment I opened my eyes. Any movement was like lifting dead weight, my joints stiff and sore when I moved them. "Guess all that action yesterday exerted me more than I thought," I muttered to myself, my eyes wandering the room and noting its emptiness. Guess I had a bit of a sleep in, too.

Stretching my limbs out a bit more, I quickly made my way downstairs, not bothering to change into my costume yet. As expected, the others were already at work, the sound of phones going off filling the air as I walked into the kitchen to find some breakfast. Quickly putting together a quick meal of rice and eggs, I sat down to enjoy it when two of my classmates walked into the room.

"Oh look. You're awake," Kirishima said, an amused smile tugging at his lips. "Nice to see you aren't dead, sleepy head."

"Haha," I replied, giving him a slitted glare as I shoved a chopstick clump of rice in my mouth. I didn't have the energy to fight anyone just yet. I needed food, first.

Walking through the door, Shoto came to stand beside Kirishima dressed in his hero costume, too. "Late night patrol?" he asked. I nodded, to which he let out an exasperated sigh. "You didn't have to go with the damn idiot, you know? He could've done it himself. And besides, you had worked hard already yesterday."

"I know, I know," I grumbled, placing my empty breakfast bowl on the table. "But I chose to go with him, so there's no point in complaining. Got any problems that need solving yet that I could do?"

"Todoroki and I were just on our way out to complete one, ourselves," Kirishima answered. "If you want, you can come, too. But maybe just check with Yaomomo and Iida to see if you're needed elsewhere. Don't want to be taking away our resident solar panel in case you're needed, am I right?"

I sweat-dropped at that. His nicknames were not improving. "Yeah, all good. I'm still not fully awake right now, so I'm not sure how much help I would be. You guys go on ahead and I'll see what I can do to help here for now. Have fun."

"We sure will! Come on, Todoroki!"

"I'll see you later, yeah?" Shoto asked as Kirishima left the room, leaving the two of us alone.

I nodded, giving the red and white-haired boy a tight hug. "Don't worry. I'll be here. Now go and be a hero, Shoto."

His small, rare smile appeared on his lips, which sent my heart fluttering into a frantic frenzy as they touched my forehead sweetly. "See you later," he called, running out after the spiked red-head boy.

Bring my fingers up to touch my forehead, I couldn't help but smile to myself. The warmth he brought and left behind reminded me of the night of our whole-class movie night - the night of Endeavour's fight with the High-End nomu. He'd been through hell and back without even moving that day, going through a whole range emotions with just a few minutes. But that night, as we'd held each other and laughed along with classmates to the film, his words remained with me.

"Thank you."

He was grateful for me, just as I was grateful for him.

Suddenly feeling full with renewed vigour, I cleaned up my mess and strode up stairs to get changed. A few aches and pains were not going to stop me from doing the very best I could for Nabu Island today. But as I went to enter the girls' sleeping quarters, I passed the boys' room, a certain ash-blond boy catching my eye.

I hesitantly entered the room, scared that someone else was in here, too. But there was no one else; only Bakugou stood alone out on the balcony, leaning against the railing in his usual black workout singlet and sweatpants. He was holding a magazine of sorts in one hand while the other was shoved deep in his pocket. In his mouth was an orange popsicle to combat the heat.