Notes: This was 80% inspired by a tumblr post, which made me laugh for five minutes, and 20% inspired by wellthengetouttathesoupaisle's Chaotic Rich Kid Todoroki fic, "two hundred and fifty-three black sandelwood bathbombs". I wasn't supposed to write Todochako, but when sven from the Kacchako Discord asked for Todochako fluff, my lizard brain refused to focus on anything else. Uh, this was supposed to be like 3k. Now it's at least two chapters. I might make it three, but I'm not sure.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
It took Todoroki an embarrassing amount of time for the actual idea to form. Instead of hitting him all at once like lightning, it came to him in pieces, a part of the puzzle here and another there until it formed a picture. Once the idea was in his mind, he couldn't let it go. There was something so perfect about it that it almost made him smile just thinking about it (which probably should've been when he knew that this was different). With the idea created, he realized what he had to do.
No, he knew what he wanted to do. He had spent his whole life living by what he had to do that he sometimes forgot that he could do things simply because he wanted to do them. There didn't have to be some grand reason or life or death situation. If he wanted ice cream, he could get it. He didn't have to wait to reward himself because he accomplished something in class, won a mock-battle, or defeated a villain. He could just do things.
Even if those things were extremely petty.
He didn't say they had to always be good things or nice ideas.
The first piece of inspiration had actually come from Bakugou, who had been telling his friends a story about how he'd stuffed cotton balls in his ears so that his mom's yelling was muffled. Then, after laughing, Ashido had added that she sometimes wore her headphones when she was on the train even when her iPod was dead so that guys wouldn't talk to her. They were such small things that Todoroki couldn't help but take note of upon overhearing them in the common area. Apparently, Bakugou's mom had been so pissed upon finding the cotton balls that she had quit yelling and left the room, just as he'd wanted.
The second piece of the puzzle came from Momo. Blushing, she had told people that she'd upset her mother over the weekend by wearing purple to some fundraiser her parents' were throwing instead of the assigned red and gold theme that were her family's colors. It was such a dumb, little thing, but it had apparently infuriated her mom, who didn't always agree with Momo's decision to become a hero. She was very close with her parents, but they didn't always get why she was so willing to put herself in danger all the time. They didn't know her like their classmates did.
Still, the fact that Momo had done something so small to get back at her mom was...eye-opening. Whenever Todoroki had tried to get back at his father, it had usually been something on a much grander scale, such as refusing the fire half of his quirk for years or trying to become a hero with only the half of his quirk that he'd inherited from his mother. He had always been a "go big or go home" type of person. Maybe it came with the nature of his powerful quirk.
After coming to U.A., he had figured out that sometimes much more subtle jabs were more efficient, like the time he'd slurped his food during whenever his father had tried to talk. The shock and frustration on his face had been utterly priceless, but because Todoroki hadn't done anything really, he couldn't say much without looking like a total idiot.
The third and last piece seemed so random compared to the rest and it had taken him a day or two to piece them all together. On the rare occasion that they had a break, Todoroki had gone out with a group of his classmates (his friends) to blow off some steam at the mall. By the time they left to get something to eat before going back to the dorms, everyone had bought something - except for Uraraka. Her thriftiness was by now known to everyone. Even if she was saving money by no longer having to pay rent, she kept a very tight budget, a habit she couldn't break.
When they stopped to eat at a restaurant, she'd hesitated and then ordered the cheapest meal. No one else had noticed it, but he certainly did, especially when he ordered what might've been the most expensive meal. He hadn't done it intentionally - it was simply the best-sounding one on the menu - but he couldn't miss the way she had stared almost dreamily at his food when everything arrived. When he had asked if she'd wanted a bite, she had blushed furiously and insisted that she was fine. She avoided him the rest of the night, embarrassed at having been caught. Being considered poor didn't bother her, but she didn't like to bother her friends with it.
A week later, with the plan in mind, Todoroki sat at the couches in the common area with his friends. They were supposed to be doing a study session for Present Mic's exam, but to be honest, he wasn't paying attention. Iida and Deku were the most involved, trying to help Ashido and Sero, both of whom were lamenting about the class. Their scores had begun to improve once they'd started doing these sessions, but the cost was high apparently. Todoroki had studied English as a kid with his mother, the only reason why it didn't seem so difficult to him.
Uraraka sat on a large cozy chair with her textbook and notes in her lap, chewing on the end of a pen as she read through them. If she wasn't careful, it was going to explode in her mouth like last time and get ink everywhere. She'd looked like she got into a fight with a giant squid and potentially lost. Not that she lost many fights these days. Now near the end of their second year, her technique with her quirk had grown into one of the strongest in the class. Just the other day, she had helped them win a mock-battle in their hero course. He wasn't sure they would have won without her.
Once the session ended, everyone got up and started to head off to spend the little free time they had left before bed. Uraraka didn't seem to notice everyone leaving, too absorbed in her notes, until Iida put a hand on her shoulder. Startled out of her reverie, she smacked him in the chest and he floated quickly to the ceiling. "Oh, I'm sorry!" She pressed her fingers together. "Release!" When Iida crashed onto the couch unceremoniously, she cringed and pressed a hand to her mouth. "Oops, should've given you a warning."
"It's quite alright," Iida reassured her, adjusting his glasses as he pushed himself up. "I just wanted to make sure that you don't stay up too late. Pulling all-nighters to study has been proven to be detrimental to scores."
Uraraka smiled. "Okay, Dad, thanks. I won't."
Instead of getting upset over the teasing comment, Iida nodded his head and then walked away, his job done. That left only Todoroki, Uraraka, and Deku at the couches. While Uraraka went back to looking over her stuff, Deku was slowly gathering his things together, lost in thought about something. Todoroki glanced at him. Normally he didn't mind if the other boy was around, but for some reason, the persistent feeling that he wanted Deku to be gone kept creeping on him.
He didn't know why. It wasn't like this was a big deal or anything.
After placing his mostly ignored notes in his backpack, Todoroki slung it over his shoulder and walked over to her. Scratching her head and sticking her tongue out as she wrote down a sentence, she didn't look up. It wasn't until he said, "Uraraka," did she pause and glance up at him.
"Hey!" The smile from earlier reappeared on her face, the only difference was that it was less teasing. "You were quiet all night. Well, you're pretty quiet normally, but not that quiet. You good?"
"I'm fine. Thank you for asking." Todoroki gazed down at her. Now that he was here, he was having trouble actually saying what was on his mind. It didn't help that Midoriya was still around, but it wasn't like he could ask him to leave. Besides, it shouldn't have been an issue. They were friends. He'd hung out plenty of times with just Momo or Midoriya and he and Uraraka had become better friends over the past year. So he might as well just say it. "Do you want to get dinner with me tomorrow?"
Uraraka turned bright red. "Eh?"
There, the question was out. He felt a lot better, even with her looking at him like he'd grown an extra head. She had a habit of looking down on herself and he knew that he tended to be distant, so maybe she'd thought that they weren't actually that great of friends. They were. He simply had a difficult time showing it. He was trying to get better about it though.
"Do you want to get dinner with me tomorrow?" Todoroki repeated. Behind him, he heard Midoriya cough. It could've been for any reason. Maybe he was catching a cold. Whatever the case, Todoroki didn't mind him as he stayed focused on Uraraka. "I'm kind of mad at my dad right now and figured I could spend some of his money"
"So you...want me to have dinner with you...to get back at Endeavor?" Uraraka asked slowly.
Todoroki shrugged his shoulders. "Essentially, yes, but the place I was thinking of has a dessert special that you've mentioned really liking."
Uraraka's eyes practically sparkled at the mention of dessert. She had an insatiable sweet tooth, somehow worse than Natsuo's, one that she bemoaned on a frequent basis whenever she was trying to eat healthily. Maybe it was a low blow, mentioning the dessert since he knew how much she loved sweets, but then he had thought of her when he'd looked up the menu. He hadn't been there in years, not since he'd been forced to attend business dinners with his father, but the food had always been exceptional and he didn't think she'd ever been.
"You don't have to go if you're busy or uncomfortable," Todoroki added for good measure.
"No, no! I'll go!" Uraraka rushed to say, waving her hands in the air. "Um…" She put a finger under her chin. "What time?"
"How does seven sound?"
"That's fine. It gives me time to get ready after my gymnastics training with Aizawa. Ugh." Everyone was trying to build up their strengths in unique ways. If it seemed unusual, it probably helped in some unpredictable way. "Is there like a dress code or something? We're just gonna get some food, right?"
"Yeah, wear whatever you feel comfortable in." That was what he was going to do at least. He liked to think that he had a better style than, say, Midoriya, but he wasn't overly concerned with fashion either. Besides, it wasn't like he expected her to wear an evening gown or something like that.
"Okay." Uraraka's cheeks were still pink and the smile on her face was nervous for some reason, but she didn't look bothered that he'd asked her to hang out. He had worried that he might come off as weird or annoying, but then she had always been very friendly and warm. "This will be fun!"
It would certainly be interesting. Todoroki nodded his head in agreement, bid her and Midoriya goodnight, and left for his dorm. Midoriya wore a bright, wide-eyed stare and it took him a beat to respond. He wasn't sure why his friend looked so shocked, but it didn't matter. Dwelling on it was pointless and he was tired. He had a lot to do tomorrow if he was going to slack off at night.