(btw this doesn't take into account that they live in dorms after their first year and other more advanced manga developments. Sorry about that.)

Shouto's plan was doomed as soon as he heard Yaoyorozu's voice.

His plan had been simple:

1) Avoid any useless chatter that sprang up from his classmates the moment Aizawa-sensei dismissed them for the day. This primarily included threats from Bakugou, annoyingly intrusive questions from Mineta, or (though well meaning) exhausting nagging from Iida. Acknowledgements of Midoriya were fine, but not encouraged; the freckled boy was great company, but could really ramble when he wanted to.

2) Exit the building as quickly as possible.

3) Take a shortcut, cutting through the graveyard instead of walking his usual path through the park. Morbid, but necessary.

And that was it. 3 easy steps and he could've been home in about 15 minutes, way before the majority of his classmates even noticed that he was gone.

There wasn't a complex reason why he decided to enact this plan. He simply wanted to go home. School was often exhausting and today had been particularly grueling. Though he normally enjoyed getting out of the house to avoid his father's presence, he knew the number 2 hero would be out late on a mission his agency had received the day before. On top of all that, his bed was calling his name and it would be rude to ignore it.

Shouto's plan had been going well enough. He managed to escape the rowdy classroom with only a small wave to Midoriya and a monosyllabic response to a question from Kaminari. Bakugou and Iida had been too busy arguing over the daily debate about the former's muddy shoes being on his desk, which Iida declared the "UA janitors put their hearts and souls into cleaning for the betterment of your education!" Mineta had been crying about something. Shouto couldn't bring himself to care. After he got beyond UA's campus and began walking towards the overgrown graveyard, the young prodigy was confident that his strategy would succeed, maybe in even less time then he had expected. He was no Yaoyorozu when it came to forming plans, but he had to give himself credit for this one.

And the moment after that thought entered his mind, her voice rang out to him.

"Todoroki-san!"

He sighed. It had been too good to be true.

Still, there were far worse people who could have foiled his plan. In fact, if he had to pick any one to get in his way, Yaoyorozu would definitely be on the list. He enjoyed her presence, and considering how her interference had saved them during the end-of-term exam, he even welcomed it.

Even so, he couldn't help but be a little upset that things hadn't gone his way. Pride, he supposed.

She was out of breath, hands on her knees. Her ponytail looked even bushier than normal, and her cheeks were flushed and shining, hand raised to wipe sweat from her brow. Then he noticed what she was holding.

"Y-you," -a huff- "left your notebook, Todoroki-san." She stood upright and looked at him directly, pushing her hair out of her face. A thought occurred to him.

"Yaoyorozu. How did you know where I was? I don't normally walk this way." He took the blue notebook from her outstretched hand.

"I saw you heading towards the graveyard. My home isn't too far away from yours, you know. I often take this way home."

He cursed inwardly; his plan had been more flawed then he thought.

Yaoyorozu ripped her ribbon from her unruly dark hair, the thick strands falling over her shoulders. Shouto pointedly ignored the sight, as well as a rather uncomfortable surge of warmth in his chest. His mismatched eyes instead shifted to notice that one of her blazer's sleeves was rolled up. They trailed down to the running sneakers that she had definitely not been wearing in class just 10 minutes before. His eyebrows shot up.

"Did you use your quirk to make those shoes? Just so you could catch me?" he asked incredulously. The girl had still been packing her things when he booked it for the classroom door.

She froze, her eyes wide and her hands falling from her re-fastened ponytail. She promptly rolled her sleeve back down and cleared her throat.

"Well, we do have an exam tomorrow. I couldn't just let you go all the way home without anything to study with!" Her face seemed to grow even redder; he figured she must still be tired from the run.

Shouto couldn't deny that he was touched. She was truly dedicated to the betterment of her peers, someone who already exemplified the ideal traits of a hero. He remembered her words from many months before:

If we don't earnestly cheer each other on...we'll never be top heroes!

He didn't have the heart to tell her that he had already chosen sleep over studying anyway. Simply paying attention in class had brought him this far, with only minor review when absolutely necessary. A small grin graced his features.

She tilted her head at this. "Todoroki-san?"

"Thanks, Yaoyorozu." He focused on her curious, dark eyes and the way the rays of sunlight caught the darkest flecks of brown within them. Fixated on the small shadows her long bottom lashes cast on her cheeks."I was right to vote for you."

Yaoyorozu blinked so rapidly Shouto feared something flew in her eye. Before he could question it, she quickly turned her head to the left with a swish of her ponytail and fanned her face, mumbling something that included the words "heart rate" and "unexpected". He patiently waited for her to work through whatever she seemed to be struggling with; the concept of him arriving home early was surely impossible by now. When she won her inner battle about 10 seconds later, she cleared her throat again, raising her fist to her lips, eyes landing on his.

"T-thank you, Todoroki-san," she bowed slightly, a graceful smile on her face. "It was no problem. And Iida-san does an amazing job as it is! Though he can be a bit..." She trailed off, playing with her fingers and looking down as if she expected to find the word she was looking for in the overgrown grass beneath their feet.

"High-strung?" he offered. She looked back up at him, her eyes brightly shining in gratitude. Shouto felt heat rise up his neck and immediately slapped his right hand over it. Maybe his quirk was malfunctioning due to exhaustion.

"Yes! Um...well-I mean," She gave a small cough in her sleeve, averting her gaze again. He released a breath he hadn't known he was holding. "Yes. He can be... a little over the top. But-!" She rushed on, dark eyes shooting back up and nailing him in place."-undoubtedly an amazing and dedicated representative for our class! In fact, he wanted me to relay a message to you."

Shouto took a mental guess.

"He said," Yaoyorozu erected her posture and stiffened her hands. His eyes widened. "'Study hard, Todoroki-kun!'" She moved her hands up and down in the air rapidly. He covered his mouth. "'As one of Class 1-A's top students, you must remember to be a good representative of our class and an example for our peers!'"

Yep, he had been pretty much right.

Yaoyorozu visibly relaxed after she finished the message, something Shouto was thankful for; he didn't know how long he could stifle his laughter. The stoic boy didn't have much practice controlling something that rarely happened. He let his hand fall, a smirk still slipping through against his will. Seeing this, his seatmate peered at him questioningly.

"Todoroki-san?"

"That was a great impression of Iida, Yaoyorozu." Easily an 8/10. His smile grew. He considered himself blessed to see such a rare display from their class's top student. Definitely something worth committing to memory.

She looked somewhat shocked at first, but then responded to the equally rare sight with a smile of her own.

"Well, he was very insistent about it! I wanted to do him justice. Either way, I agree with him. This test will be very difficult according to what little information Aizawa-sensei gave us. Not that I'm overly concerned when it comes to you, but..." She sighed. "Unfortunately, some members of our class seem to not be taking it seriously." Kaminari and Ashido were on the list of names she wasn't saying out of courtesy, if he had to guess.

Shouto re-adjusted his backpack strap. It had grown heavy during their conversation. Insects chirped at the approaching night.

"No surprise there. It's like that with every exam." The same students being too lazy to study or pay attention in class was nothing new.

"Mm," was all she said, nodding with a resigned and melancholy expression. She looked somehow older in that moment, a wise sage mourning the ignorance of youth, the far-off tombstones adding to the somber scene. He felt a sense of honor at being in her presence.

The sky had darkened. A breeze passed through their spot near the graveyard, rustling crimson, white, and black strands.

"Well!" Yaoyorozu clapped her hands softly. "I've taken enough of your time. I've got to be going now. I have to pick something up for my father before I head home, and I have a lot of studying to do." Shouto wondered if she was really the one who needed to study, and not the horde of students who sought her for last minute tutoring. The girl could ace these tests with her eyes closed. She shifted her backpack, her grip on its straps tightening. He found it ironic how his heart dropped at her dismissal considering how much of a hurry he'd been in to get as far away from his peers as possible. He decided not to ponder it too much and nodded at her.

"Right, well...thanks again, Yaoyorozu. I appreciate the trouble," he said, turning his notebook over in his hands. She looked at him with warm eyes and gave him a small smile.

"Of course, Todoroki-san. We are seatmates after all." At that she turned on her self-made sneakers with a loud crunch of grass, her mass of hair and skirt swishing, and walked away.

When she was out of sight, he opened his notebook and noticed a sheet stuck inside the cover with a sticky-note. It was Yaoyorozu's notes from a week before: neatly-written, highlighted, and color-coded. An invaluable commodity. The ice and fire user felt blessed once again.

Todoroki-san, I know you were out of class one day last week due to injuries, so I included a copy of my notes from then. I hope your studying goes well! :)

Shouto closed the cover and smiled to himself.

He figured skimming the notes for a little while wouldn't hurt.