* Takes place before "After The Festival"*

Shouto Todoroki was on a quest for redemption. It had been a long time coming and looking back; he couldn't believe he was acting like such an asshole. Every day he thanked Midoriya for helping him move past his childhood trauma through their battle at the Sports Festival (and giving him the number of a really good therapist). Since the start of his first year at UA he had been an arrogant, smug prick who cared only about power. Goddamn, he was such a fool.

His first order of business was to formally apologize to all of his classmates. He was lucky that they all accepted his apologies with no strings attached. Well, Bakugou told him that he didn't care in the slightest and he was going to "kick his half and half ass soon".

"Without you and Midoriya, I would have surely perished against Stain. You are nothing but a good person, Todoroki and a close friend." Todoroki smiled when he heard Iida say those words with such earnest affection. It was good to have friends.

"You're words to me when we fought Aizawa really brought me from the brink of a panic attack, Todoroki. You're better at talking to people than you know and I assure you that everyone will accept your apologise." Yaomomo's statement helped him ease up a bit with his anxieties. He had hoped that everyone else would be cool with him this quickly.

Todoroki soon apologized to the students of class 1B. Unlike his own class, the reactions from them were wildly different. Kendou and Tetsutetsu were cool with him almost immediately. They didn't take their rivalry with Class 1A and they were happy to see his change in attitude. That Monoma guy didn't accept any of his apologies though. He actually felt really guilty over it until Kendou smacked him over the head while Tetsutetsu explained to him that Monoma was always like that and that he should just disregard his weird jealous ramblings. The rest of the class was a lot more neutral about his feelings. To them, he was just another student that they didn't know and they didn't understand why he needed to apologize for his actions. They did say that it was a mature and brave to do, however and they offered to hang out with him if he were to ask.

There was one student who had been absent when he apologized, though. A certain green-haired girl who happens to control vines. He didn't know why he felt a twinge of disappointment in his gut after realizing she wasn't there to apologize to.

"Worried about Ibara?" Tetsutetsu started a conversation. The confused look on Todoroki's face told Tetsu that Todoroki didn't actually know who Ibara was. "The girl who can control vines from her head."

"Oh...that's her name…"

"Guessing you're one those people who won't be happy until they apologize to everyone."

"Yeah…"

"Well relax! Ibara's pretty cool and I'm sure someone like her would accept whatever you say instantly"

"W-What do you mean?"

"Ibara's pretty religious." Todoroki raised an eyebrow in confusion "Yeah, I know right? Even in this age, Christian people are rare in Japan. Now, she's not one of those jerks who are holier than thou and preach constantly. Nah, she's really tolerant about almost everything."

"...Almost everything?"

"Yeah, she abhors violence. She really hates Bakugou because, let's face it- the guy's a ticking time bomb in more ways than one. She doesn't even use her own quirk for any fighting either! She's always trying to capture villains instead of beating them up. She's not totally stupid about it though, she knows that people like Kendou and Midoriya have to fight people since they can't exactly capture people that well but she hates people who look like they enjoy causing destruction."

"Oh...Okay…" Todoroki walked away, leaving Tetsutetsu confused.

0000

Todoroki was hanging out with his two closest friends, Midoriya and Iida, something that should have put him in a good mood but he still couldn't stop thinking about what Tetsutetsu said about Ibara's distaste for violence. It should not have been bothering him that much, they haven't even spoken a word to each other but still he felt weird.

Maybe it was because he didn't want to be seen as a violent brute. He was afraid that he looked like his dad when he fought in the Sports Festival- a vicious monster that wouldn't stop until he won the fight. He didn't want to be anything like his father.

Or maybe it was because whenever he became friends with someone with green hair, something great happens to him. He looked over at Midoriya, who was busy gawking at his rather large house and smiled. He should ask Midoriya what he thought.

"Hey Midoriya"

"Yeah?"

"How would you describe…how I fight?"

"You fight like a crazy awesome warrior! Seriously, both of your quirks are so cool! You're gonna be a great hero one day, Todoroki!"

Todoroki only let out a melancholic sigh in return

"What's wrong Todoroki?"

"Well you...I wanted to apologize to everyone 1B too but I think Ibara Shiozaki is avoiding me...Tetsutetsu said it's because she doesn't like needless violence and I'm afraid that I might be needlessly violent with my quirk. I don't want to be like my dad...despite being the number two hero, not a lot of people like him because he's really brutal. I don't want to go out there and have the people I'm saving be afraid of me…"

Midoriya put his hand on his friend's shoulders and re-assured him "Todoroki, you put yourself down too much. And I can't believe I'm the one saying that! There are a hundred more logical reasons why she wasn't there when you apologized to her class, maybe she was running late? Maybe she was in the bathroom? You have to stop thinking about the worst case scenario!"

"I guess you're right…"

Iida, who was thus far been content with reading the novel he had in the corner spoke up "Maybe she is afraid of you...In a roundabout way of course…"

"What do you mean, Iida?"

"Todoroki, her quirk lets her control vines; am I correct?"

"Yeah?"

"And your quirk lets you control ice and fire, yes?"

"Yeah…"

"Well since ice and fire tend to decimate plant life she's probably afraid of getting on your bad side, lest she suffers your wrath."

"Just like Pokémon!"

"Yes Midoriya, just like Pokémon. What you need to do Todoroki is to assure her that you mean no harm to her being."

Todoroki thought about Iida's logic and had to admit everything his friend said seemed logically sound. "Alright, I'll talk to her as soon as I can."

0000

Talking to Ibara had proven harder than it seemed. It seemed like every time he had a chance to talk to her, he found her slipping away. Even though he wasn't the most "social" person, he knew that he was starting to look like a creep. Iida's words about Ibara being afraid of him echoed in his mind.

Why do I even care so much about what this girl thinks of me?

He wanted to ask his friends why he felt this way but he didn't want to take advantage of their kindness and keep bombarding them with questions and advice requests.

By the time they got to lunch, Todoroki fully accepted that Ibara will always hate him.

"Hey Icyhot, why the fuck are you staring at other girls when you're dating Ponytail over here?"

Todoroki was shaken from his stupor when he noticed Bakugou talking to him.

"Uh, I wasn't staring at anyone and Yaomomo and I aren't dating." Yaoyorozu, who was sitting next to Todoroki simply nodded in agreement.

Bakugou's eyes widened in surprise for a moment before he huffed and went walked away from them.

Todoroki took another fleeting glance at Ibara once again but this time they're met. He was frozen and he didn't know what to do. Surprisingly, she was that acted first. Her face appeared to flush and then she excused herself from the table. Her friends seemed to be surprised that she was leaving and Todoroki knew what was going on- she was gravely ill and she wanted to hide that fact from her friends so they wouldn't worry.

He excused himself from his own table to get her some help. He didn't care is she hated or was afraid of him, she needed some help!

He caught her leaning against the wall, breathing heavily. It was worse than he had thought! He quickly ran up to her and when she looked at him he noticed her face was totally flushed red. She must be having a pretty bad fever…

"I know you're afraid of my quirk but please let me help you!"

She looked at him with an air of befuddlement "Afraid of your quirk? What are you talking about?"

"You know, fire and ice aren't good for plants…"

"I...I never really thought about that."

Todoroki lowered his face in shame. "Then you must be avoiding me because you think I'm a violent thug. I know this isn't much coming from someone like me but I'm not a psychopath like Bakugou and I'm working to get my quirk under control. But right now, you're sick and we need to get you to Recovery Girl."

Once again she was confused. "I...I don't think you're violent...and I'm not sick at all…"

"You aren't? Then why are you flushed? And why were you avoiding me?"

"It's because I...I think you're really cute and I didn't want to talk to you because you're Shouto Todoroki, the heartthrob of this school and I'm just a regular student and I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of someone like you because I...I have been rambling haven't I?

"Y-You think I'm cute?" Todoroki felt something warm in the pit of his stomach

"I really do…"

Todoroki was too nervous to look at her so he just started staring at the floor

"I think you look really nice too. I think that's why I tried so hard to apologize to you because I didn't want you to think that I was a jerk."

"And me avoiding you because I was afraid I was going to embarrass myself in front of you made you think I thought you were terrible…" Ibara sighed when she realized she made him feel like he was guilty of some sort of crime against her.

"Look I'm sorry for making you feel like that, Todoroki."

"It's no big deal. I'm just glad that you don't hate me. We should go back to the cafeteria."

"You know since we left at the same time and we're returning together our friends are going to suspect that something is happening between us…"

"...I don't mind"

She gasped in surprise before a gentle smile spread across her face "Neither do I."

0000

Despite his rough childhood, Todoroki never really had anything terrible to him that he associated with Christmas. Even after his mother got admitted to the hospital his siblings always made Christmas a time for comfort and joy.

He never actually went to church for a Christmas prayer, hell he never actually went to church at all. He didn't wake up early in the morning to pray however, he wanted to surprise someone who was definitely the type of person who prays on Christmas morning. He looked down at the small box he held in his hands and hoped that she would like it. His sister had helped pick it out with him (he didn't know what sort of things girls would want).

He waited patiently outside the church for the doors to open and saw some people exit. The church was about half full that day but he wasn't there to get a headcount or anything. He was busy looking for a head of long green hair.

"Ibara!"

"Shouto?"

He ran up to her and enveloped her in a tight hug. Her parents simply smiled and told the two they were going to catch up with some friends before leaving them. He reminded himself to thank them for that later.

"You woke up this early to see me?"

"Yeah...I wanted to give you this too." Todoroki opened the small box to reveal a small necklace that was adorned with a small silver cross. His sister wanted to get something flashier but he had a hunch that Ibara didn't care for those sorts of things.

"I-It's beautiful Shouto, thank you."

"I hoped you would like it."

Ibara concentrated for a bit and Todoroki noticed that she controlled some of her hair to make a mass of ropey vines appear above them.

"Oh look, it's a mistletoe…"

"I don't think that's a mistl-" He paused for a second "

It's awfully convenient that a mistletoe just suddenly appeared in front of us." he decided to play along.

"You know what happens when you're caught under a mistletoe."

"Yeah…"

That was but the first of many mistletoes that appeared above them that day.