Todoroki's POV

I knew that I loved Midoriya the moment he yelled at me in the semifinals of the UA sports festival. "It's your quirk, not his!" Those fateful words. So simple yet so powerful in their simplicity. Spoke. From his heart, just like everything else about him. I stared at him and forgot about me father watching in the crowd, I just saw him. Midoriya. Face flushed with fighting, body breaking with each attack he had blocked, eyes that refused to give up. And I loved him.

"Thank you, Midoriya." Moments later, he collapsed, unconscious. I ran to him and helped him into a stretcher. I wanted to follow him to Recovery Girl but by then I'd seen my father again and my heart started to freeze. How could I have forgotten? Even for a moment. I walked past him, not even fully registering what I'd said, only knowing that what if said was true. I was confused. And not just about whether using my father's flames had been a mistake. Midoriya was a boy, how could I love him?

When I was younger, I watched my father beat my brother when he said "he's kinda hot, I guess." in response to my sister's almost nonstop nagging about a boy in his class. He'd meant it as a joke but that sentence was all Endeavor had heard and he wouldn't stop until my brother was no longer responding to blows. Eandeavor had done that as a response to a joke, what would he do if he knew? To Midoriya? That thought chilled my blood and burned it at the same time. I couldn't let him know. I couldn't let Midoriya know either. He'd be different around me if he knew. He wouldn't hate me, that wasn't part of his nature. He was incapable of hating someone for fundamental, but he would be different.

Thankfully, I wasn't much a talker in class, so it wasn't weird when I was quiet. Something about me must have been though, no matter how much I tried to hide it because Ochako cornered me one day as we left. "What's going on with you,Todoroki? Did something happen?"

I looked at her, slowly, trying to hide that her question scared me. "What?"

"You know ... You're not the same. You look. The same but -"

"Ochako-née!" A little girl with Ochako's brown hair and fair skin skidded into her. "You're late!" And as she noticed me, her eyes and hair changed color. Green, red and white. She pulled frantically on Ochako's sleeve practically bouncing with excitement. "Onee-Chan. It's him. He's the one I was telling you about."

"What?" Both Ochako and I said.

"Are you sure, Mika? If it's him, you know what could happen, right?"

"I'm positive, Onee-Chan."

"Okay." Ochako turned back to me and I almost dreaded the look of mischievous delight in her eyes, more that I did original question. "I'll see you tomorrow, Todoroki." Then she picked up the little girl, who was waving and smiling like a lunatic, and walked to train. I have been more glad that we do t take the same train home.