You were oblivious to his mood change, happily chatting next to him about all the students and their fighting capabilities. You felt like Midoriya for a second, and had to laugh at the thought.

Todoroki snapped out of his funk at your cute laughter and sighed.

“Yea, I guess you would think Bakugou is amazing.” His eyes widen a fraction before going back to normal, unable to figure out why he just said what he did.

You raised a brow.

“I mean, yea Bakugou is one of the best students in this course honestly. Besides you.” 

“Hm.”

“I mean it, Bakugou has an explosive power for sure, and can be pretty analytical when he wants to be but,” you grinned, “you’re pretty hot.” You were hoping that a more forward approach would help this dense boy realize you were flirting.

“Well, I mean I’m mostly cold. I prefer my right side” Todoroki responded.

You sighed internally, these kind of answers were nothing new to you.

“Well then you must be a 90 degree angle.”

“What?”

“Cause you’re looking right!” 

“Okay?” 

This boy was impossible, but that’s why you liked him. Before you could respond Bakugou came up behind you and grabbed your bag from you.

“Let’s go short stack before I leave you here.” 

You sent a glance at Todoroki who just stared at Bakugou with indifferent eyes. You frowned and nodded, walking off. A part of you wishing Todoroki would ask you to walk with him back towards the dorms. 

Todoroki kept his gaze unwavering as he stared straight into Bakugou’s eyes. He had the overwhelming urge to shove him away and be the one to hold your bag and walk you back to the dorms. Bakugou smirked once more before shaking your bag in his face, like he was showcasing his victory. Todoroki’s eyes snapped into a sharp glare, his demeanor breaking as he shoved his shoulder roughly against the others while he stocked off, making his way passed you and quickly disappearing.

You looked back at Bakugou with a brow raised.

“What was that?” 

Bakugou just shrugged, his present frown back on his face and he shoved his hands in his pockets.

“I told you IcyHot likes you, you’re the dumbass who doesn’t want to believe me.”

“W-why bring that up now-he could hear you!” You hissed out, cheeks growing dark at the thought of Todoroki listening in.

You walked next to him, who continued to pester you about your crush the entire walk back. It wasn’t an easy feat to befriend the explosive boy, but it was worth it. You enjoyed his friendship, hard edges and all. While everyone thinks you two are an item, you both try to shut down any rumors quickly. You had only ever thought of him as a brother, your heart was taken by a cute boy who never understood any of your pickup lines. It was frustrating to say the least, you wanted to know if he felt the same way or not. Bakugou’s insistence didn’t help ease your heart in the slightest. 

You caught the bag Bakugou threw at you, and you saw he glanced behind you. You went to turn around to see what he was looking at but he put his hands on your shoulders to keep you in place. You saw a smirk in place as he leaned in close to your face, you just had a bewildered expression on.

“Uh-” You heard a large smacking sound and whipped your head to see one of the chairs to the breakfast table on the floor, with Todoroki walking into the kitchen out of sight.

“Bakugou-”

“You’re an idiot.” He whispered softly and you bite your lip to keep the snarky remark you wanted to spit back at bay. Bakugou’s eyes were soft, even though his lips were still pulled in a thin line. “You need to get your head out of your ass and tell that dense bastard you like him, before I do it because this constant pining is fucking annoying.” 

“But what if he doesn’t..” You looked down. 

The squeeze on your shoulders made you look back into his eyes.

“IcyHot may be a low-class nobody, but he isn’t fucking blind. It seems you are though if you can’t tell how much he likes you.” He pulled away and crossed his arms, looking to the left where Todoroki disappeared. “Just go before I kick your ass.”

You felt hesitant but nodded anyways.

“Thanks Baku-bestie.”

“Call me that shit one more time and I’ll kill you and shitty hair for giving you those stupid names.”

“Whatever you say Baku-bro.” 

You ignored his yelling as you walked into the kitchen, your heart thumping as you saw the man of your dreams making tea.

“Hey Todoroki, are you okay?” You walked up and saw how his shoulders tensed before relaxing, if you weren’t paying attention to his broad back-when weren’t you-you would have missed it.

“Fine. Is there something you need.”

You swallowed a lump in your throat. If you had any ounce of a Casanova in you, now was the time.

“Did it hurt?”

“No? I mean the chair was the only thing that fell, I just didn’t have time to pick it up. I was craving tea you see-”

“When you fell out of heaven?” You cut off his rambling.

“What?” He blinked, finally looking straight at you to see the large blush across your cheeks as you played with your fingers.

“I uhm, I do need something actually. I need you to call the cops..”

“What’s wrong?” He grew concerned, looking at you up and down to see if you were alright.

“ Well because it’s illegal to look that good.” You pointed at him, then moved your hand to cup your chin as if you were deep in thought. “ Well maybe calling the cops wouldn’t be a good idea, you see I’m a thief and i’m here to steal your heart.”

He stared at you, conflicted emotions breaking through.

“(l/n).. Are you flirting with me?”

“I have been for the past two years but thanks for noticing.” You laughed shakily, still feeling nervous at the thought of being rejected.

“Why?” Was the only thing he could ask.

He didn’t understand it, you’ve been trying to flirt with him for 2 years?

“Why? Because… I like you Shouto..” You looked down at your fingers, blushing even more as his first name rolled off of your lips.

Todoroki felt his own face grow hot for the same reasons, until he frowned as he thought of the boy you were always hanging around.

“You’re always with Bakugou-” He spat out, and had to stop himself unless he wanted his flames to go off. He felt that same burning feeling in his chest at the thought of you two together. 

“Wait a minute… Are you jealous?” You questioned.

His eyes widened as he thought of his behavior and feelings. He was jealous. That explains his hurting heart, and the current distaste he held for the other boy. 

“I.. I suppose I am.” He admitted after a moment of silence.

“Shouto Bakugou and I are just friends. I can’t even imagine us together, that’s pretty disgusting.”

He blinked, unable to think.

Your anxiety rose the longer he was quiet and your fidgeting grew worse. He noticed and grabbed your hands to stop yourself from tearing your fingers off.

“(y/n).. I’m sorry. I should have realized sooner but…” You smiled at his blushing face.

“It’s okay, I should’ve told you outright sooner, since I guess you don’t know what cheesy pick up lines are.” You puffed out your cheeks.

“I know what they are, you’re just bad at them.”

You gasped and yanked a hand away to slap his chest.

“How rude! My pick up lines are actual gold! You just aren’t a connoisseur of perfection apperently.”

“I know you’re perfection.” 

His words made you speechless, his small smile even more so. Your heart was thumping so loud you swore he could hear it loud and clear. 

“Shouto..”

“Go out with me.” He spoke, his hushed voice sending goosebumps up your arms.

“Okay.” 

His smile stayed on his face as he turned to take care of the ringing tea kettle as it broke you out of your trance. You watched as he grabbed another cup and made you one. You brought it up to your lips to hide the smile of your own.

You spent the rest of the day getting to know each other better while trying, and failing, to get some studying in. 

“I’ll be back with some drinks,” the man said, walking away towards the bar.

You couldn’t recall the man’s name, nor too much about him. You had only met that night, having both been at the dance hall with your friends and met each other. He wasn’t the most charming man, but was fairly attractive, and seemed to be interested in you, which had become a rare occurrence. Maybe you would have liked him more if you weren’t in love with another man but as you doubted anything would come from it, you decided to seek out someone else.

Sadly, your heart wasn’t so willing to move on. Even with a somewhat decent guy who was willing to buy you a drink, you couldn’t have cared less. Your heart belonged to someone else and if that wasn’t a fault on its own, the owner of your heart was crossing the dance hall to join you.

James Barnes had been your close friend since childhood, your mothers having been friends. He was a year older than you and had always been there for you when you needed him, but he was also very good with women and rarely needed your attention seen as he could gain it from anyone he wanted. It did hurt you to see him with other women but you daren’t tell him that as you would much rather stay being friends than lose him all together.

“Is that fool bothering you?” He asked, leaning against the wall beside you.

“Why would the attention of an attractive man bother me?” You questioned trying to sound nonchalant.

“You don’t know him like I do,” he frowned. “He’s not a good guy. He’s just trying to take you to bed.”

You cocked an eyebrow at the man you called a best friend.

“If I didn’t know any better James, I would say that you were jealous,” you joked.

“Of course, I’m jealous, but I’m also trying to protect you.”

His words seemed to escape his lips without his knowledge as his face fell pale when he realised what he had said to you. You didn’t take it quite seriously though, making you rather nervous at the thought of him liking you but you didn’t want to believe it in fear it was merely a joke.

“Do you like me Barnes?” You said, trying to keep your nervous under control.

“I didn’t want to tell you like this,” he apologised. “I’ve liked you for a while, but I was scared that you would laugh at me if I told you.”

A laugh escaped you. It was terrible timing, but you couldn’t help the fact that you had both hidden your feelings which did make you laugh.

“I’ve liked you for years James,” you frowned. “I thought you didn’t like me in return though.”

He joined the gentle laugh.

“We have both been daft,” he chuckled. “Would you like to dance with me?”