Day Two: Baking

"How do you think you did on the math final?"

"Honestly no clue, let's be real though probably not the best."

"Do you think if I got a concussion I wouldn't have to take the english final?"

"Better go with permanent brain damage just to make sure."

"Have you written that final paper yet?"

"Whey, nooooo, why would I?"

"It's due in five days?"

Class 1-A talked amongst themselves in the common room of their dorm hall, the fear of their final exams lingering over their heads. The end of their second semester was drawing close and while the thrill of knowing that they had survived, for the most part, their first year was great, the fear of final exams was equal to that. Already the first wave of tests had hit them, with more to come over the next week. The fact that this weekend was likely going to be spent studying was not ideal either, for any of them.

Mina glanced around the common room and saw how exhausted her classmates were. Iida sat straight in a chair but she could tell that it was a struggle to maintain his form. Kaminari was reduced to a bumbling mess; his hair stuck out every which way, his eyes were glazed over and he couldn't manage to sit still. Even Bakugou had a little less irritation in his glares than normal. Something needed to be done about this.

"Everyone!" Mina stood from her chair and raised her right hand with a smile. "We should do something this weekend! Ya'know, since we'll all be leaving soon." It was true that all the students would be returning home after their exams, so really after the end of the next week they wouldn't be seeing each other for a good while.

"Yes!" Iida stood up and started waving his arm as well. "Something to brighten the mood and help everyone prepare for our final exams would be preferable."

"Please no more studying." Jirou commented as she pulled Kaminari down next to her. "I don't think I'd be able to handle it." The way she glanced towards Kaminari told a different story, but nobody was willing to point out the obvious.

"What if we baked cookies and had a fun competition?" Midoriya chimed in. He was looking well, save for his unusually-messy hair and the heavy bags under his eyes.

"Great idea! But we need the supplies." Mina said and turned towards Iida with a bright smile on her face. "Maybe the class president will be able to help out?"

"I'm sure Iida would like to rest. I don't mind getting what's necessary, just give me a list and I'll get it." Todoroki quietly said.

"Perfect! Thank you Todoroki!" Todoroki nodded as everyone started to thank him. Honestly it wasn't that much of a deal for him to get it since he was one of the more wealthy students. It just made sense.

Later that afternoon he left with Midoriya, Shoji, Sato and Sero to go shopping and returned about two hours later with the baking supplies. While each of them carried a significant amount of bags, Shoji was the real team player. Since he was able to carry multiple bags with each hand, and having multiple hands, he looked like a tree that was decorated with shopping bags. They stuffed the refrigerator in the kitchen full and the competition was set to begin at three o'clock the next day.

Momo entered the common room just ten minutes before the competition began to see everyone setting up. Since the kitchen was too small for the entire class to use at once, they had opted to do the preparation in the common room and then bake the cookies all at once. Long tables had been set up and the couches pulled away to allow for the most cooking space, and Aizawa "oversaw" the entire operation from the couch on the opposite side of the room. In reality, he was probably asleep. She felt someone next to her and turned to see Jirou.

"Hey Yaomomo, where are you planning on setting up?" Jirou said from her side.

"Oh, um," she glanced around the room and saw that it was already pretty crowded. Bakugou and Kirishima were in the far-right corner, Midoriya stood in the middle next to Iida and Uraraka and everyone else was getting set up. The only real spots left were near Mineta and Todoroki. "I actually don't know." She gave a half-hearted laugh, she definitely had a preference but didn't want to say it.

Both Jirou and Momo saw the way Mineta looked over at them and immediately decided that sometimes being dead was better. For a moment, it looked as if a difficult choice was going to be made, but then Kaminari came into view right next to Mineta.

"Hey Jirou! Come on over here, you said you'd talk to me about the paper!" The blonde practically shouted across the room. Jirou blushed and turned towards Yaoyorozu.

"Ah, I guess I'll be going over there then…" She gave Momo a small wave and then rushed over to Kaminari, who stood there with a broad smile on his face. Momo sighed but felt grateful for him, and then turned towards the last available spot which was next to Todoroki. She walked over next to him and set down a small journal she had been carrying with her since she had entered the room.

"Good afternoon Yaoyorozu." Todoroki said as she walked up. He had all his ingredients set in front of him, but no obvious recipe.

"Good afternoon Todoroki-san." She replied, "are you excited for the competition?"

He nodded and turned towards her. "Yeah, granted I don't think I'll be able to win." He glanced towards Sato who looked as if he was the most professional chef in the world. He had on an apron and matching hat, and his equipment, from the stirring bowl to the whisk, was obviously of the highest quality. "I honestly think Sato has the best chances out of all of us. That being said," he looked towards her again, "I'm looking forward to trying yours."

"Oh, well I'll make sure to save you one then." She tapped her notebook and smiled, "I handcrafted this recipe by borrowing from other famous recipes. You have to learn from the best you know." Todoroki nodded and she turned away to gather her materials, her heart fluttering.

When the clock struck three the competition began and everyone dove into making cookies. The common room became so loud from the conversations and the general noises created from the cracking of eggs and the whirring of beaters that Aizawa looked up and groggily watched his students. While making a cookie was ultimately a pretty basic format, each student was unique in their approach. Bakugou made his cookie dough aggressively, Sato added a lot of sugar and Tsu added green food coloring.

Momo flipped open the notebook to her chocolate chip cookie recipe and began following the step-by-step instructions to the letter. First she cracked two eggs into the bowl and added one cup of brown sugar, one cup of white sugar, half a stick of butter, and a teaspoon of cinnamon and began to whisk it together. Then, halfway through, she added another teaspoon of cinnamon and brown sugar and enough flour to make the cookies just soft enough to melt in your mouth. Her recipe was tried and tested and she was confident that her cookies were at least going to be well-received.

As she cooked she glanced over at Todoroki. He appeared to be focused on the task at hand, but again Momo did not see a recipe that he was following. In fact, there were no measurement supplies he used except for simple glass one would use for water, a tablespoon, and a butter knife. He did not measure how much butter he cut and added, or how much sugar he poured into his mixing bowl. It was almost as if he was adding things in randomly. She trusted Todoroki, however, and turned back to her own work.

After the cookies were baked, some students decorated theirs to match themselves. Kaminari added a lightning bolt and Jirou added a guitar, Kirishima's was fully red frosting and Midoriya's had the carefully drawn smile of All Might on it. When all the cookies were finished, they were plated and each was set before a placard that named the student who made them.

"Alright let's dig in!" Mina declared and everyone began touring the room tasting cookies. It soon became clear that Sato's cookies were among the best of the bunch, along with Bakugou's.

"How did you get them to be so soft, Bakugou?" Uraraka asked as she bit into another one of his cookies.

"It's easy! Just roll the dough until it hits the sweet spot and bake it and the right temperature!"

"I don't think you really explained it…" Kirishima said as he took another one of Bakugou's cookies.

Momo turned away from that commotion and back towards where Todoroki and her had been standing, hoping to catch one of his cookies. However, when she returned, neither one of them had any cookies left. She frowned slightly and glanced around, wondering who took them all.

"Oh, sorry Yaomomo did you want some of Todoroki's?" Kaminari asked, with what appeared to be the last of her cookies in his hand, half of it missing. "Sorry they were really, really good." He rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "Yours were really good too though! Not gonna lie I think you rival Sato."

"That's very nice of you to say, Kaminari." Momo smiled and turned to clean up her mess. If she was being honest with herself, she was just a little upset. She had promised Todoroki one of her cookies but it appears that she wouldn't be able to fulfill that promise.

"Hey." Todoroki's soft voice caused her to slightly jump and turn to him. He held up his hands in apology, "Oh, sorry to scare you."

"You didn't scare me Todoroki-san, I just didn't think anybody was closeby." She said as she piled up her dirty dishes. "Did you manage to try any of my cookies?"

"No actually, I kinda got distracted." He rubbed the back of his head and then looked up towards the ceiling. "Are you doing anything tonight?"

"No, why?" She turned towards him and crossed her arms.

"Oh, well, do you mind if a stop by around ten?"

"That's awfully late since we're supposed to be studying." She smiled and nodded, "But I wouldn't mind."

"Great," he met her eyes then and she swore she could see a plan forming there, "I'll see you then." Midoriya caught his attention then, and the fluttering that Momo thought was gone only returned.

Shoto Todoroki knocked on Yaoyorozu's room and took a half-step back. Outside the day had grown dark and the excited air the dormitory had held dissipated. Now, most students were likely sleeping or studying for the upcoming tests and here he was standing in a t-shirt and pants in the middle of the hall.

The door opened and Yaoyorozu stepped out. She had let her hair down and was dressed in a tank-top and pajama pants. "Hello Todoroki-san," she smiled and carefully shut the door behind her, "what did you want to talk about?"

"Oh, actually, since neither one of us managed to try each other's cookies I figured we could fix that. I bought a little too much yesterday and didn't want to let it go to waste."

Yaoyorozu smiled and let out a small laugh. "That sounds like a good idea, though is it really a good idea for us to bake cookies this late?"

"I mean, technically no." He shrugged then and glanced down the hall, "but I don't think anybody is going to stop us." He took her second laugh as agreement and started down the hall. She quickly caught up to him and walked close.

"So I noticed that you didn't use a recipe today." Yaoyorozu said when they reached the kitchen. Todoroki had all the supplies set up on the kitchen counter, and instead of the too-bright kitchen light he instead had lit a few candles and set them nearby giving the room a warm atmosphere.

"Well I learned all my baking skills from my mom, and she never really used a recipe either. It was all 'a touch of sugar here, then add this much butter and stir for five seconds' type of stuff." He looked over at her, "I notice you didn't bring that notebook of yours."

"No I didn't." She turned to him and put one hand on the counter to rest against it. "I actually had a request." He nodded and she continued. "Do you think you can teach me how you make your cookies?"

"I don't mind, but when will I be able to try yours?"

"I guess we'll just have to do this again." She smirked then and time froze for a brief second. Todoroki smiled in response and began taking the supplies he had brought out for Yaoyorozu away.

"I guess so, I'll clean up if you want to crack two eggs into the bowl." Yaoyorozu turned away and gathered the eggs while Todoroki put everything away. "After the eggs you want to add some brown sugar and white sugar, then a pinch of cinnamon and about a cup of flour. A pinch, mind you. Then some butter and you can start mixing everything together. Halfway through you will want to add the vanilla.

Once everything was cleared away he leaned against the counter and watched her cook. Her measurements weren't exactly the same, but that was fine. He had no doubt that she could make chocolate chip cookies no matter what. It was just nice to watch her, if he was being honest. When she began to mix the ingredients together, he got an idea.

"There's a special way to mix everything together, do you mind if I show you?" Todoroki asked her and took a half-step closer. She turned her head towards him and gave him a small smile.

"No I don't." She offered him the spoon and he shook his head.

"It'll only work if I guide your movements." He said in all seriousness, to which Yaoyorozu's face became a shade of red he had never seen before. "If that's okay with you," he quickly added, heat rising on both sides of his face. Did she hear a pounding too?

"I-it's fine." She stammered and turned to stare down at the bowl. Todoroki slowly stood behind her and laid his hands over hers. For a moment he could feel her hands shaking slightly, or was that his own? Todoroki noted that she smelled nice, her perfume reminiscent of mint, and that she was warm, even against the half of his body that was accustomed to the heat.

"What you want to do is hold the spoon like this," he spoke in a soft tone as he guided her right hand, "and cup the bowl like this." They moved as one and Todoroki judged that first step done. "Begin mixing clockwise, then after three turns reverse it for four." His hands gently followed her movements and slowly he could feel her, and himself, get more relaxed. She let him guide the spoon in the motions he described. "Then, as if the spoon is a shovel, turn it over on itself." Again he guided her movements, but almost stopped when he felt her back press against him. Heat flared across his face once again when she rested against him. "Repeat the process twice, and you're done." He ran through the motion with her again, and when it was done he stepped away from her.

"What do we do now?" Yaoyorozu asked in a soft voice. She looked over at him with a soft smile, eyes hiding a mysterious light.

"Put everything on the pan and let the oven do the rest." Todoroki said, meeting her eyes with a slight smile on his face. She put the dough they created onto the pan and slid it into the oven, and left it to cook.

"Tell me, Todoroki-san," Yaoyorozu stepped closer to him and tilted her head, "Why did you really want to bring me down here?"

"Is wanting to have your cookies not a good enough reason?" He asked in a level tone.

"I think it is, but I also think you were planning something else."

There was a pause in conversation as the air shifted. Both stood rather close to each other, bound by an invisible rope that kept them from breaking the half-foot that separated them.

"Would you be mad at me if I said I was?" Todoroki finally said. Tentatively he reached forward and brushed a few strands of Yaoyorozu's hair out of her face and behind her hair.

"I don't think I would be," Yaoyorozu whispered and shifted closer to him, her shaking hands moving to gently lay against his shoulders. "I trust you, so whatever you have planned…"

The kiss was sudden. The moment Yaoyorozu stopped speaking Todoroki leaned in for a soft kiss that held for a few moments before he pulled back. Yaoyorozu's face was a light shade of red, but then again so was his. They made eye contact for a moment again before he leaned back down for a more passionate kiss.

They were interrupted when the oven timer dinged and forced them to turn their attention to the cookies they had just made. "Ah Todoroki we should probably get to that." Yaoyorozu spoke softly and took a step away from Todoroki, though she did link hands with him.

"We probably should." He grabbed an oven mitt and opened the oven so he could pull the cookies out of the oven and set them on a cloth on the counter. "Now we need to wait for a little bit to let them cool."

"Whatever will we do in the meantime?" Yaoyorozu asked with a small smile on her face. Again she stepped close to him, and Todoroki wrapped his arms around her lower back.

"I have an idea." He whispered back to her as he pulled her against him once again, and everything that seemed to matter faded away.