Chapter Text
"Ah, damn it." Hinako hissed as the lace of her shoe tripped her. Even after activating her quirk to keep her from hitting the ground, she still cursed like she felt the impact of concrete.
"Go on ahead, bro." She urged her brother, who had hastily grabbed her after hearing the trip up. His eyes were ridden with mild concern, silently asking if she was okay. Hinako ignored the look.
"Looks like there's tons of reporters hounding the entrance today, so you should go ahead and squeeze through."
Kneeling down to tie her shoe laces, Hinako waved her concerned sibling away.
"But Hina.." Izuku protested, not wanting to leave her in the midst of the commotion.
"Get on now, dummy. I'll be right behind you." She paid the boy no mind, focused on untangling a stretched out knot from the strain it faced a few seconds ago.
"If you say so, then." The green haired boy hesitantly gave in, turning and running towards the school.
Hinako's were fingers focused on their task when she caught a shifting figure in her peripherals. Her green irises glanced to the side, and she found a tall person with a jacket on, their body hidden from the commotion by the leaves of surrounding shrubbery. The hood of their jacket covered their mouth and head, and though alarms did go off in Hinako's mind, she shrugged them away, assuming they were just here for All Might like the rest of the crowd. Still, it was a bit warm out for a coat, no?
Just as she was about to tear her eyes away, the figure turned their own gaze towards the girl, electric blue irises sending a shiver down her spine. Fingers halted their movements, and the red headed girl stared at the figure that stood not too far off from her, green shrubs blocking them from the everyone else. Swallowing, Hinako forced herself to speak up, not wishing to offend who was possibly just some normal person. A person that had looked at her like she wasn't supposed to be aware of them. A faulty position that let her interrupt their plans.
"Um, hey?" Hinako's voice was a bit quieter than she anticipated, nervousness breaking the surface as she twisted her body to face the stranger.
Getting a better look at the person, she noticed that they were a male, had black hair that fell just above piercing blue eyes, and the tender flesh beneath his eyes were darkened, burnt patches of skin acting as gruesome dark circles. Worry for the guy set in for Hinako, her initial reaction molding into concern. The man was injured, and potentially hiding more damage beneath the surface of his jacket.
"Are you okay?" Laces still untied, Hinako stood from her position and began to step closer towards the man that was currently backing away a few paces, hiding himself a bit more.
Hinako was now behind the shrubbery with him, unaware of how dangerous the situation might be perceived. How dangerous it actually was. The stranger's left arm had lifted to act as a barricade between the two, and the action exposed the flesh of his arm, allowing Hinako to see what she had expected. Healthy pale flesh crashed with a tide of rough purple, burned skin held to the white with silver staples that acted as makeshift stitches. His palm looked rough with thickened skin, and Hinako studied the scene with precision.
The girl stopped in her tracks, noticing his hesitation to allow her any closer. She didn't want to make him uncomfortable. Help couldn't be given to someone whose boundaries had been pushed, especially by a stranger. Forcing her worried expression to soften into a friendly one, she reached out her hand out to the stranger, inviting him to take it.
"Hey, those injuries look pretty gnarly. Let me help you? They could get infected."
Her tone was gentle, but still held a quiver of urgency about the situation. What was she actually doing right now? This guy could be heinous, could snap her up in an instant. But what if he was good? She couldn't leave someone to suffer even if they carried the possibility of being a bad person. Hinako's perception wouldn't act as a scale of deciding whether or whether not to help someone. It wasn't fair, and she couldn't call herself a hero if she just left someone behind. She had absolutely no idea who the man before her was, only that he needed help, and that's precisely the reason she came to U.A. To help.
"You a student here?" A raspy voice sounded from the man whose arm was still guarding against her, his blue eyes examining the girl before him, taking note of her clothing.
"Yeah, but that's not-." Hinako tried to tell the man that where she went to school wasn't important at the moment, but she was interrupted by another question.
"Does a boy named Shoto Todoroki go here?" His voice was sharp, the vocal fry making him sound like he'd been smoking for quite a while. The stranger felt a familiar, agitating warmth behind his eyes, already knowing the answer.
What an odd question, Hinako thought as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Why did this take priority over his condition? Why Todoroki?
"Todoroki? Yeah, he's in my class, but why?" She asked in return before quickly shaking her head. No, this wasn't important.
"Listen, you need proper assistance right now. Those staples aren't viable, you know." She slowly took another step forward, preparing to shed her uniform blazer and roll up her sleeves to help the man. He didn't move back this time. Good, she thought.
But then, she saw a stream of red falling from one of the man's eyes, crimson liquid coating a silver staple as it ran down. The sight alarmed her.
"Hey, you're bleeding.. crying?" Hinako's voice remained soft, trying to bury her unease at the situation unfolding before her. A flicker of sadness danced in his eyes before vanishing like a ghost, like the emotion had never existed.
"I can cauterize the edges of some of your wounds." Hinako quietly offered, her green eyes looking into his unreadable blue ones.
"I know I'm not allowed to use my quirk like this, but it'll help you until you get to a hospital. How many areas are stitched together like this?" Hinako referred to his exposed hand and eyes, sight paining her by the second.
She couldn't allow herself to shy away from the unsettling sight before her, though. Even if it made her uncomfortable to witness. If she did, she'd risk making the man feel even worse than he was probably already felt. Her heart continued to hurt at the situation unraveling in her mind, chest sparking uneasy embers.
The stranger lifted the hand propped as a shield to wipe fresh blood away from his face, thumb coated in dark red.
"No." He stated, voice distant and final. He began to walk away from the girl, tugging the rim of his jacket up around his mouth, but she gripped both her hands onto his one free hand just as he began to brush past her, determined to help.
"I can't just turn away from someone that needs help. Please!" Hinako pleaded, both of her hands warm on his in attempt to get him to stay.
Her thumb brushed against the cool metal stitching that held flesh together and the roughness that began in the center of the back of his hand, feeling over every ridge that it held. Electric blue eyes widened with surprise and the beginning of anger, the man's glare burning into her as her's remained focused and soft with concern. The contrast made him ill. He wasn't accustomed to being looked at in such a way. With warmth and genuine concern for him. For a split second, he felt thirteen again, looking back at his mother one last time before he-. No.
A blue flame flickered across his palm, burning the girl that held onto him.
Hinako shrieked at the sensation, instantly dropping the man's hand and stumbling backwards.
"You don't get it." The stranger hissed through grit teeth.
"People like you always think you can fix everything." He clenched his now freed hand, jaw tight. "Then you show up, make faux promises, smile for the camera, and leave the rest of us to rot. It's all a lie."
Hinako was confused at the man's monologue, picking up that he had a distaste for heroes, but what the hell did that have to do with her? She wasn't a hero at this moment, nor in front of any camera. She wouldn't leave this man to rot, or anything close for that matter.
"Hey!" She called out to him, voice risen in agitation and pain, partially due to the hand that suffered a burn from the stranger.
"I don't know what the hell you're going on about, but I just wanted to help you. Not for any self imposed glory, but because I wanted to take care of you. I'm not like any of the damn heroes you're thinking about. I'm me, got that, buddy?!" She yelled at the man, now holding her wrist as her injured hand began to throb with pain.
Anger was beginning to cloud her judgement, overstimulated by what was happening. Unsatisfied with the lack of response from the man that proceeded to walk away from her without responding, she yelled one final time.
"And stop smoking, you bastard! You sound one step away from lung cancer and you obviously have enough fucking issues already!"
She huffed when the guy still didn't respond, turning on her heels and walking towards the U.A. entrance, untied shoe laces forgotten.
She tripped over he laces once, cursing loud enough for the strange man to hear, and he barked out a laugh as he turned the corner, the sound of her cursing fading away.
"How annoying." The man mumbled as he walked down the same street he took to get to the school. The flesh on his hand memorized the gentle hold already. It lingered, as did her expression. Concern for him, sincere and adamant. Like she actually meant it.
He hated that. He buried the lingering thoughts underneath the surface in spite, shoving his hands deeper into his jacket pockets. There were more important matters to attend to than some reckless U.A. girl.
✶
Hinako finally shoved her way through the curious crowd and through the entrance, yelling at the hoards to back the hell off as her emotions simmered up to a boil. Maybe that damn bastard was a criminal that only intended to harm. Her hand certainly fucking felt like it. She thought about his blue eyes as she walked through the halls of the school, thumb rubbing over her wrist to soothe herself.
The sadness, the blood. His burned skin held together by staples.
Then she thought about Todoroki, and what the man could've possibly wanted from him. Should she have told the stranger about her classmate? What the hell was that even about? It seemed like an ignorant move to give up his location in hindsight, and Hinako scolded herself over it.
'Dumbass. He was just a weirdo, nothing will happen.' She thought as she walked straight past her classroom door, fuming in anger over the situation. She'd be late for class, but oh well. She wouldn't be able to focus on class with her hand throbbed like this, anyway.
Blue flames, huh? Hinako thought, eye twitching as she examined her hand that was now swelling and pink on the edge. Thankfully her opposite hand remained unharmed, only suffering a tinge of pain from the incident, but damn, the heat that man produced made hers feel like a warm bath. She hated it. She felt envious, wanting the flame for herself. But she could barely even handle her own flames, which made her want to vomit. How weak she was. What a pain. Quite literally.
Reaching Recovery Girl's office, Hinako tapped her knuckles against the door, waiting for a response before sliding the door open.
"Hey, sorry for the inconvenience, but I-." Hinako silenced herself, instead raising her wounded hand to the woman and gesturing towards it, the sight of it getting increasingly irritated. "I had an accident."
Recovery Girl only smiled at her, hand motioning for the girl to come in. "Just sit down in a chair. I'll get you patched right up."
Hinako walked to the nearest chair in the room, sighing to herself in agitation as she sat down. "Sorry again. This was stupid."
"No worries, dear. It's my job to heal you, after all." Recovery Girl reassured Hinako as she swiveled her chair over to the girl, giving her a peck on her wounded hand.
Immediately, Hinako felt the effects of the healing quirk melt her pain away, and she clenched her hand into a fist a couple times, testing the results. Needless to say, Hinako was amazed at the results, remembering what happened during the first exam.
"Thanks." She said before a question popped into her mind, situation from earlier eating at her.
"Say, what's the extent of your quirk?" Hinako asked, thinking about her strange encounter.
He wouldn't leave her mind, his flesh and blood filling her thoughts. Those injuries, who did that do him? Did he do it do himself? Surely not, his own quirk hurting him to that extent? Ridiculous.
Then, without warning, Izuku's face appeared in her mind, his quirk destroying his body as he used simple moves. His broken and battered body crossed her mind, and she cringed at the thought. Hinako's breath halted, and she wandered between the both of them. Why would they go through such extremes? Izuku wanted to be a hero, but what about this man? What did he want? Shaking her head to keep from spiraling any further, she spoke up again.
"If someone had really bad wounds all over their body, would you be able to heal them?" Hinako's question left a tightening sensation in her chest, wondering how long that man had carried his scars.
"You can't save everyone from themselves, dear." Recovery Girl answered Hinako casually.
"I.. see." Hinako mumbled, unsatisfied with the response.
The older woman grabbed a candy dispenser from the top drawer of her desk, popping two small candies into Hinako's now healed palm. Hinako popped both into her mouth, crushing them beneath her teeth while she focused on the woman's words.
"I need to write up a slip for you before you head out, so sit tight. It will only be a moment." Recovery Girl told Hinako as she walked to a conjoint room to grab whatever she was looking for.
Hinako's breath halted didn't respond, mind far off from the four walls her body resided in. Izuku had been in this room multiple times already, and it was only a few days into their high school career. Izuku wouldn't be able to do this every single day, and it angered her.
"I don't know what I was expecting." Hinako said aloud, not sure if Recovery Girl could hear her or not.
"It's just.." scary, Hinako finished in her head. She couldn't finish that part.
Admitting her fear would open doors that let her brother know that she wasn't a solid rock for him to depend on. All the walls she built for him would crumble as soon as she admitted what terrified her. The man from before wouldn't be able to rely on some girl that couldn't even handle familial affairs. No one could.
"I'm sorry, dear. I know it must be a lot for you." Recovery Girl said kindly when she walked back into the room with a form, sitting in her desk chair to fill it out. Recovery Girl assumed the girl was only speaking about her brother, blissfully unaware of the mysterious stranger that stood outside U.A. only moments ago. It pained the older woman to know how big a secret was being held from the Midoriya family. It wouldn't end well.
"Have you ever experienced a wound you couldn't heal?" Hinako questioned, brain skipping back to the stranger. If the wounds were that severe, it made her anxious.
"Many times. It's just an unfortunate part of life, I'm afraid." Recovery Girl said gently. "It's best to not to let the times you couldn't help someone overshadow the times you could."
Hinako's mind saturated once again with that stranger from earlier. His blue eyes, the purple coating his arm and underneath his eyes. The pain that lingered behind his tears for that half second, his resistance against help. How long had he been suffering? What happened to him? Would she see him again?
The final question had her in a snare, and it was all she could focus on.
'I wanna see you again.' Hinako thought as she stared at her untied shoes, eyes unfocused and pupils dilated as she thought about the man. The memory of his soft pale flesh and the crashing tide of purple against it, tiny ripples of scars touching the sensitive skin of her hand. The cool metal of the staples littered across him. She wondered how many more he had hiding. She wanted him to be healed, too. Maybe then, he wouldn't have felt so bad. Maybe then, she would be able to get her damn mind off him. She thought about his resentment against heroes. Maybe one had failed him in the past. She wanted to mend that. Tell him that it was okay, that she's here for him to confide in, the toxic trait of wanting control baring its fangs. What made him hate heroes that only wanted to help? She needed to know. This guy was wriggling under her fingernails and into her bloodstream, leaving her antsy.
"Who are you?" Hinako muttered accidentally, catching the attention of Recovery Girl.
"What was that, dear?" The woman asked, chair turning to meet her patient.
"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking."
Recovery Girl didn't push for any other answer, unaware of what had transpired outside of the campus. She simply nodded and handed a slip over to Hinako, a polite smile on her face.
"Give this to your teacher, and try to avoid getting burned like that again if you can, okay?"
" Yes, of course. Thank you." Hinako stood and bowed her head quickly before exiting the room, finally heading to her classes for the day.
Her chest felt a bit tight, an uncomfortable warmth residing in her lungs and throat. Why was she so bothered? That man was a one off chance encounter and she would never see him again. He's a grown ass man, he can help himself. She could only focus on her brother's safety for now, no need to chase after a stranger that had injured her. Still, the uncomfortable feeling had settled itself around her heart, unbothered by the rationality of Hinako's mind.
✶
By the time Hinako had made it to her home room, she had opened the door to Iida counting small slips of paper at the front of class.
"You're late." Aizawa's voice called out, the man cocooned in a yellow sleeping bag behind Iida.
"Ah, sorry, Mr. Aizawa. I had to go to the nurse's office." Hinako swiftly apologized, walking over to the man to hand the slip over.
"It's fine, just don't do it again." He reached a hand from his sleeping bag to grab the slip, tired eyes looking at her shoes. "And tie your shoes."
"Sir." Hinako nodded, about to go to her desk when Iida called for her.
"Wait! Write a name of someone you think would make a good class president!"
Hinako's eyes looked up the massive chalkboard that had everyone's name listed on it, and the switched flipped for her.
"Are you counting everyone's vote right now?" She asked.
"Yes! And your vote is important!"
"I see." Hinako said before quickly giving her answer. The answer was obvious in her eyes. Someone that needed to take the lead and make sure everyone stayed in line under Aizawa's gaze? No doubt, this was the right answer.
"I vote for you then, Iida. Your personality fits well with this role, considering how passionate you are about school."
Iida choked on his breath before quickly recovering, not expecting a selfless answer after the commotion the rest of the class made. And a vote for him, as well.
"I see.. noted!" He recovered promptly, marking a tally on a clipboard.
"But why not vote for yourself?" Hinako heard Kaminari ask from his desk, an eyebrow raised in confusion.
"I'd rather not deal with that, actually. I have other things I'd like to do." Hinako replied, sitting in her seat finally and bending to finally tie her shoe. Damned thing, causing all this uneasiness in her chest. She'd buy a new pair, she thought.
After counting was finished, it was decided that the class president would be Izuku, which made Hinako snort before recovering her composure. Her timid brother leading a class? Yeah, this wouldn't end well. Shouts from Bakugo and disappointed sighs echoed throughout the classroom, and Hinako just sat there, eyes locked onto her brother's shivering form, nervousness igniting in his body. She smiled kindly at him when he looked at her, and he returned one that didn't meet his eyes. She studied his face, sorting out all of her inner thoughts as she came to the realization that she'd need to talk to Izuku about her nurse's visit later, if her brother's eyes had anything to say.
Time passed. Hinako’s mind should be on class, on Izuku, on friends. But then why? Why was that man from earlier still clawing at her? She'd known the man for less than ten minutes, he burned her, lied to her. Vanished without uttering any apology. Yet somehow, he had occupied more space in her mind than over half of the people in this room. She craved to know more about him more than anything, and she couldn't seem to stop. Was he okay? What was he doing right now? She wanted to feel his scars again, wanted to ask about them. To get proper justice, none of that glamorous hero shit. She wanted to help him by whatever means necessary.
Hinako shook her head, realizing that her heroic ideals were slipping by continuing this train of thought.
Class. Focus on class.
✶
Lunch time had began several minutes ago, but Hinako wasn't standing in line with the rest of her classmates. The distant sounds of chatter and laughter drifted across the campus, a warm breeze carried over the training field. Every now and then she could hear someone calling to a friend or the faint scrape of shoes against the pavement, but out here the sounds felt far away, like they belong to a different world.
The field itself was completely empty beneath the afternoon sun. Blades of grass swayed around her feet while heat swarmed her above the packed dirt in uneven waves. Normally she found solitude a comfort.
Today it only made the knot in her chest hard harder to ignore.
Her blazer and white shirt were discarded nearby, leaving her in a black bra as she stood with both arms held away from her body in front of her. Flames danced across her palms and wrists, casting flickering orange lights over her skin. They looked normal. Controlled. Predictable.
Yet she knew they weren't. Not anymore.
The memory of her fight with Todoroki refused to leave her alone. The heat. The pressure. The terrifying moment where her flames had searched beyond anything she had ever produced before. Even now, thinking about it, made her skin prickle, the flames crawling higher for a brief second before settling again. Hinako frowned, muscles tensing. What had happened?
Had the stress of the battle pushed her quirk into overdrive? Was it connected to whatever happening inside her lungs? Every time she thought she'd found a pattern, another contradiction appeared. Her emotions fueled her fire, that much was obvious, but it felt deeper than that. It felt dangerous without the safety of knowing what sparked the change. It felt like something inside her was trying to crawl its way out. Closing her eyes, she inhaled slowly, adjusting her posture to stand straighter. Her breath dragged against her chest. It wasn't painful exactly, just wrong. Like drawing breath through a furnace that hadn't quite cooled. She ignored it.
The stranger from this morning briefly surfaced and her thoughts. The sadness in his eyes. The ghost of the burn he inflicted still lingered on her hand. The way he looked at her as though she was something fragile that might break if he spoke honestly. A flicker of concern rose inside her chest. Then she shoved it away.
Focus, Hinako, focus.
If emotions were the key, then she needed to understand which ones. Confusion. Conviction. Fear. Love. Which one had caused her flames to erupt so violently the other day? She had been desperate to prove herself, desperate to win. But what else?
Izuku came first to her mind, as he usually did. It drew an immediate smile to her face. His notebooks that were overflowing with observations and hero analysis. The way he would ramble whenever someone showed the slightest interest in his favorite heroes. His excitement whenever All Might appeared on television. The oversized costume their mother had bought him when they were children. The countless times spent playing heroes and villains together, Hinako happily throwing herself into the role of the bad guy because seeing Izuku win made him smile. The memory made warmth bloom through her chest. No quirk activated heat, but something gentle. Softer.
She remembered the rainy night spent hiding under a blanket with flashlights and comic books. The times nightmares sent one of them stumbling into the other's room. The tears streaming down his face when U.A. acceptance letter arrived, and recently, the way he smile. Really smiled. Not the nervous, uncertain expression he'd worn for years, but the smile of someone finally finding a place where he belonged. Hinako held onto that warm feeling as tightly as she could, but nothing changed. The flames continued flickering across her hands, exactly the same as before.
No surge, no pressure, no answers.
Her smile faded.
"Great." She muttered.
Time to be reckless.
Anger. Anger was easy. Anger was always easy. The memory of this morning slammed into her immediately, a burning pain slowly building in her chest. The man recoiling from her help, the frustration of trying so hard to reach someone only to be pushed away, just like Bakugo. Just like all those months she had been chasing after someone who had already decided that she wasn't worth listening to. The knot in her chest tightened, the heat rising throughout her lungs.
Her flames brightened. She thought of how weak her fire had been compared to the stranger’s, the feeling of helplessness coursing through her. How was she supposed to protect anybody when she could barely handle her own fucking quirk?
There, that was something. Hinako clenched her jaw. The anger grew, the helplessness beneath it growing as well. Her hands and chest felt hotter, melting at dead skin. Her shins began to warm as well, spreading down through her feet. From that feeling spawned her brother once more. Izuku holding things from her. Izuku smiling even after destroying his own body. Izuku getting hurt over and over and over again because he refused to stop. The wounds he held due to his quirk, just like-
A violent wave of nausea crashed into her. The flames had vanished. Hinako doubled over and her stomach twisted so hard it felt like someone had reached inside her and ripped her organs out by hand. Bile surge through her throat.
A series of desperate gasps escaped her before she vomited onto the dirt below her, taste burning through her mouth. Her eyes watered instantly for several seconds, all she could do was cough and spit, trembling as another painful spasm ran through, then silence returned. Only the wind moved only the distant sounds of students enjoying lunch carried across the field.
She stared at the ruined grass before her, heart hammering against her ribs and somewhere beneath the nausea, beneath the burning in her chest, and the confusion grouting her mind, a terrible realization began to take shape, but some part of her desperately didn't want to see it. Black scorched grass lie under her toes, and she hadn’t even felt it.
"Are you sick?" A voice rang through the spinning thoughts in the red head's mind.
Hinako jumped, looking behind her to meet the voice.
She had spun around so quickly that her foot slipped against the grass. Todoroki stood a few yards away, hands buried into his pockets. His expression was unreadable. Hinako had been so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't even heard him approach. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Hinako wiped her mouth with the back of her wrist and glared.
"Hell, do you usually sneak up on people like this?"
"I wasn't trying to." The answer came immediately, matter of fact, of course it did. Todoroki's eyes briefly shifted towards the patch of discolored grass before returning to her face.
"You threw up."
"No shit." Hinako snarked at him, looking away, slightly embarrassed.
"You also weren't in the cafeteria." Todoroki stated, his mismatched eyes studying the girl's behavior.
"Uh, anything else, detective?" Hinako sarcastically questioned, irritated.
A faint crease appeared between his brows.
"I was actually looking for you." The reply caught her off guard.
"For me? Why? Because I beat your ass?" She teased, trying to overlook her bewilderment.
"You wanted to know why your flames changed."
Hinako blinked. Right, their fight. Most people would've been eager to forget getting nearly burned alive. Todoroki, though, apparently has spent lunch thinking about it.
"That's why you're here?" Hinako asked.
"I assumed you'd be training." He replied simply. The irritating thing was that his assumption had been completely correct.
She let out a slow breath and looked away.
"Well congratulations." She sighed. "You found me."
The wind drifted between them. Todoroki's gaze stayed on her for another second.
"Your flames are quite different today, too."
Hinako stiffened immediately, curious about his observation.
"You can tell?"
"They seemed unstable." He calmly replied.
A nervous pulse ran through Hinako's chest. Before she could stop herself, another thought surfaced. The stranger. The burn. The scarred face. The eyes. Her gaze snapped to Todoroki. The question the man asked her earlier, should she pry? Hinako wanted to know more about the stranger, but she also felt as if she shouldn't speak too much of him. Her secret. Her's. Hinako's face flushed at her weird behavior before mentally shaking her head.
Todoroki noticed the shift immediately. It was subtle. The crease around her eyes, a hesitation that hadn't been there a moment ago. His gaze narrowed slightly.
"What?"
"Huh?" Hinako responded too quickly.
"You looked like you wanted to say something."
Damn it. She hated how observant he was.
"Nothing." She stated with the intent of cutting off conversation. "My flames probably looked unstable because I'm testing how much I can put out. The other day was, uh, new for me."
"You were staring." Todoroki partially ignored her, still focusing on the shift she had just made. Nosy bastard.
"I wasn't."
"You were, though."
Hinako groaned loudly and dragged both hands down her face. "Has anyone ever told you that you're unbelievably annoying?"
"Yes."
The immediate answer made her pause. "Really?"
"My sister says it frequently."
For a moment, Hinako only stared. Then she barked out a laugh. A real one. Not forced or bitter, just surprised. Todoroki blinked once, as though confused by why she found that funny, which only made her laugh harder.
"That's unfortunate, man."
"It is."
The conversation died as quickly as it had begun. The wind shifted. Somewhere in the distance a whistle sounded across one of the hot training field. Lunch would end soon, but neither party moved. Todoroki's eyes drifted toward the scorch marks littering the ground around her, evidence of training. Evidence of frustration. Evidence of someone trying to understand a power that wasn't listening.
"You looked angry, or scared."
The statement made her a bit confused, Hinako's smile vanishing.
"Huh?"
"When your flames disappeared." His voice remained calm. The same way one talked about weather.
"You looked scared."
Something uncomfortable twisted inside her chest, making her lungs heat up. He was right. She had been. Under all that anger, the fear of something she didn't want to name ate at her. She just hadn't wanted to admit it. Not even to herself. Hinako looked away, jaw tightening in annoyance.
"Well, I wasn't."
"You were." Todoroki insisted, voice still monotone. Hinako wanted to punch him for a brief moment, but she recovered herself.
"You're really starting to piss me off, half n half bastard."
Todoroki didn't react to the name, only curious to her earlier actions. "Why?"
The question was quiet and simple. Why? Why had she looked afraid? Why had she thrown up? Why were her flames changing? Why was her heart racing every time she remembered those blue eyes? Hinako didn't have an answer. Or maybe she had too many. Her fingers curled, uncomfortable heat gathering beneath her skin. Not enough to ignite. Just enough to remind her it was there. Waiting.
"I don't know." The admission tasted bitter.
Todoroki seemed to consider that. Then he said something unexpected.
"I think I do."
Hinako snapped her head toward him, green eyes piercing the boy. "What?"
His gaze remained fixed on the horizon. Not on her. On something much farther away. Something only he could see.
"When people don't understand their quirks," His voice lowered. "they usually don't know how to be afraid of their power."
A strange feeling settled over her, thick and uncertain. "What am I supposedly afraid of, then, if not that?"
For the first time since arriving, Todoroki's expression shifted. Only slightly, but enough. Enough for her to recognize it. Because she'd seen that look before.
In mirrors, in Izuku, an in people carrying things too heavy for their own shoulders.
"The reason the quirk exists."
Silence. Hinako's heartbeat stumbled. Once. Twice. The furnace inside her chest flickered.
The reason it exists. Her breath caught.
Something moved beneath her ribs. Not physically, but mentally. Like a locked door rattling under pressure. A thought only half formed, possibly buried. A sensation more than an image. Incinerating heat, then nothing. Vanished before she could grasp it. Hinako staggered. Only half a step, but enough for Todoroki to notice.
"What happened?"
"I-." Her voice cracked and she swallowed, bile that coated her mouth burning on its way down. "I don't know."
And that terrified her. Because for the first time all day, she was telling the complete truth. Todoroki studied her silently, then his eyes softened. Barely enough to notice, but it was there. Understanding. Not pity, or concern, but understanding. The kind that came from someone who knew exactly what it felt like to stand inhabit a body that carried answers you weren't allowed to have. The realization irritated her immediately. Because she didn't want him understanding her. Didn't want anyone understanding her. Especially not when she couldn't even understand herself, yet. It made her feel small, weak.
"Stop looking at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you know something."
"I don't."
"Damn liar."
A pause settled between the two.
"I know what it's like to fight against your own power." The words were so quiet she almost missed them. Almost.
Todoroki wasn't looking at her anymore. His eyes had drifted somewhere distant. Far beyond the training field. Far beyond U.A. Far beyond lunch period. A place she couldn't reach yet. And this time, Hinako didn't have a proper response to his words. She realized something. For all the ways they were different. The fighting. Their fire and ice. Maybe, just maybe, Todoroki understood a little more than she wanted him to. And unfortunately, that made him harder to ignore.
"Yeah, whatever." She mumbled dismissively, walking back over to her partially discarded uniform.
"Let's just get to class already."
Todoroki said nothing in return, only watching and following behind the girl in silence.
✶
By the time classes had ended, the sun had cast a blueish pink hue across the sky. Soft light spilled through U.A.'s windows and stretched across the hallways in long bands of warmth. Students flooded the halls in groups, conversations bouncing off the walls as everyone prepared to head home. Hinako walked beside Izuku. Or rather, Izuku walked beside her, because she certainly wasn't paying attention.
She hadn't paid much attention to anything today, if she was being honest. Politely shoving Kirishima's worries aside, telling him and Mina that she just felt tired from her trip to Recovery Girl earlier that morning. Hinako made sure it was believable, the excuses of her distant behavior partially true. Bakugo stared at her with his usual grimace, but it didn’t affect her today, which should’ve raised a red flag.
"And then All Might said that proper foot placement is important because if your center of gravity shifts too far-."
"Mhm."
"And I think if I can adjust the angle by even a few degrees-."
"Yep."
"Then maybe I can reduce the damage done to my body."
"Sounds good."
Silence washed over the siblings. A few more footsteps sounded on their way to the train stop before Izuku spoke up.
"Hina."
"Hm?" Hinako looked away from the cement ground to look at her sibling.
"I wasn't saying anything."
Hinako blinked. "What?"
Izuku looked up at her, his expression caught somewhere between concern and amusement. "You stopped listening like three minutes ago."
"No I didn't." She shook her head in disagreement, red hair that fell from her long ponytail falling over her shoulders.
"You did."
Hinako sighed, aware that she was spacing out.
"I'm sorry, bro." She rubbed her face in disappointment with herself.
Izuku tilted his head, green eyes curious about something. "You've been doing that ever since this morning, you know."
"Doing what, exactly?" Hinako asked, looking through her pointer and middle finger at him.
"Well, you know, spacing out." Izuku told her with a concerned tone. "And you came to class late with a note from Recovery Girl." He paused, glancing to the side for a moment before finally asking.
"You okay? Did something happen after I went ahead of you?"
The concern immediately made guilt twist in the red head's stomach. She should have been worrying about him. Not herself. Not some stranger. Not some random encounter that lasted less than ten minutes. Izuku was right here, walking beside her and telling her about his training. Smiling. Trying his best. Destroying his body one punch at a time.
And somehow, Her mind drifted back to blue eyes.To staples.To blood. To a rough voice that sounded like broken glass. The realization made her sick. What was wrong with her?
"Yeah, no, everything's fine. Just had a small accident." The lie came easier than expected. "I'm fine."
Izuku didn't look convinced, but thankfully, he didn't push. The two continued walking, and eventually they reached the train station. The evening crowd had begun gathering around the platforms. Businessmen, students, parents. Normal people living normal lives. Hinako found herself staring at every face. Every jacket, every flash of dark hair, every pair of blue eyes. Without meaning to. Without realizing what she was doing. Searching. The realization finally hit her several minutes later, and her stomach dropped. What the hell was she doing?
The train arrived. Doors opened, people shuffled inside and thankfully didn't pack in like sardines this time. Hinako followed the crowd and took a seat beside Izuku, pressing her cheek against the cool glass window. The city blurred past. Buildings. Streetlights. Crosswalks. People. Thousands of people. Yet somehow her thoughts returned to the same person.
Again.
And again.
His arm. The staples. The tears. The anger. The way he'd looked at her hand when she touched him. The laugh he'd let slip after she tripped. That memory caught her off guard. She'd forgotten about that. It had barely made its way to her ears when it happened. The laugh. It had sounded so.. normal. Not cruel, or threatening, but natural and human, almost like he hadn’t expected it. Hinako hated that she remembered it so vividly now. Hated that she remembered the exact sound. Hated that she remembered the shape of his eyes. The way his shoulders tensed. The way he'd flinched from kindness like it physically hurt him. Why? The question dug itself deeper. Why?
Why was he injured? Why did he know Todoroki? Why did he cry blood? Why did he hate heroes? Why had he looked so, what was the word? Lonely? The train rattled over the tracks as it parted from the station, and Izuku was speaking again. Something about combat exercises. Something important, but she wasn't listening. Not anymore. A cold realization settled over her. She wanted answers.
Badly.
Far more than she should. The worst part? She didn't even know his name. Not a first name, or a hero name. Not even a villain name. Nothing. Just a pair of eyes and a handful of questions. A complete stranger, yet he occupied her thoughts like a ghost. Like a wound she couldn't stop touching. Hinako squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her hands into fists. This was ridiculous. Tomorrow she'd forget about him. A week from now she'd laugh about it. A month from now she wouldn't even remember his face. That was how these things worked. People met, and people disappeared. Life moved on, Hinako knew that very well. So why did her chest tighten at the thought of forgetting? The train continued forward.
✶
Outside, the city lights slowly came alive beneath the evening sky.
And somewhere in Japan, a man with blue eyes and stapled skin briefly found himself remembering a stubborn red haired girl who had tried to treat his scars like they weren't horrifying, like he wasn't horrifying. The memory irritated him enough to make him light a cigarette.
'Stop smoking, you bastard!' He remembered her voice after taking a long drag, narrowing his eyes.
"How annoying." He grumbled, throat rough from his condition.
Unfortunately, neither of them realized this would not be the last time they thought about each other.
Not even close.
✶
That night, in the comfort of her bed, Hinako dreamed of blue fire.
She woke with her heart racing, yet she couldn't remember why.