To say class 1-A was a fan of horror movies would be absolutely and undeniably incorrect. While a few certainly enjoyed the genre it was limited to the more eccentric characters of their class- Bakugo, with his tsundere rage and certainty that nothing bothers him, Tokoyami, with his eclectic personality (although notably Dark Shadow was never seen watching anything of the sort), and to everyone's surprise, Aoyama, who loved to speak of how dazzled he was at the special effects in what could only be assumed to be some Aoyama-version of French. While there were a handful others who did not balk at the idea of horror movies, a majority of the class actively avoided these movies.
This, of course, led to the incredibly logical conclusion that every Saturday night in the dorms, the entire class would gather in the common room once it was dark to start their horror movie marathon.
Originally it started with Bakugo and Midoriya, because of course everything starts with Bakugo and Midoriya. The three horror movie fans were preparing the common room to watch the newest release of hero-themed horror movies; because if there was money in it, then of course it would be made. Normally when the whole class watched a movie together, it would be a little more lighthearted, but Bakugo managed to trap Midoriya in with the promise of 'a new All Might film' and Midoriya convinced the rest of the class to agree, not asking any more questions beyond 'All Might'. In all honesty, Bakugo was surprised this was the first All Might themed horror movie to come out, but he assumed the pro's recent retirement had something to do with the dam breaking on unapproved movies.
"What's this one called?" Midoriya asked as Yaoyorozu passed around blankets.
Todoroki picked up the box and glanced at the cover, reading over the words that were styled to look like fake blood. "All Might: Symbol of Blood," he spoke without infliction, then directed his dual-coloured eyes toward the explosive blond in the corner, his voice still showing no indication of his feelings. "Bakugo, is this a horror movie?"
"Huh?" Bakugo raised his hands as though he were surprised to be questioned about it. "I said it was about All Might." Todoroki cocked an eyebrow toward the blond but made no move to stop what was happening. He was among the small group who could care less what movie they were watching.
"W-w-wait," Midoriya, whose opinion on these types of movies fell in line with most of his classmates, stuttered. "I don't think All Might would approve of these types of movies."
"Technically," Iida provided with a chopping motion of his hand for emphasis, "When a hero retires, their name and likeness enter public domain. So, this movie was probably made right after his retirement."
"That's pretty quick," Todoroki continued to mess with the box. "That explains why it looks so cheesy."
"Huh?" Bakugo exclaims again, once again sounding offended at the other. "It's an All Might movie, let's just watch it."
"Bakugo," Jirou scolded, "most of our class hates horror movies." While that didn't include herself, she felt the need to speak up for others. "Even Midoriya probably doesn't want to watch it."
Midoriya glanced from the box in Todoroki's hand, depicting a look-a-like of his hero with an uncharacteristically menacing grin. "I… suppose it's not a bad idea to branch out…" he mused nervously, mostly in an attempt to placate what he feared would soon be a fuming Bakugo.
"Hah," the blond's shouts turned from confusion and offense to mocking. "I doubt you can last the whole movie."
The challenge was accepted. "Please, Kacchan," Midoriya feigned boldness in his voice, though nobody was buying it. "I know I could make it through. If I had to," the last part was whispered.
It was Iida's declarations that caught the class's attention. "This would be a great form of mental training," he stated, punctuating his every word with seemingly erratic but controlled hand motions. "It's almost like what the Wild Wild Pussycats set up for us."
"Oh right," Kirishima responded, slamming hardened fists together. "It's like working out our manliness muscle!"
Rather than chastise him for his forgiving use of the word "manliness", the class instead started to murmur in agreement. After handing out the lasts of the blankets, Yaoyorozu decided to address the class next. "Alright, are we all in agreement then? All Might: Symbol of Blood is our movie for tonight?" Against anybody's expectations, there was not a single protest.
And that's how it went for almost two months now. Every Saturday night, class 1-A gathered to watch a different horror movie. While not everybody was particularly fond of the heroes as killers genre (Todoroki vehemently protesting watching an unlicensed movie titled Endeavor: Hellfire, and an accidental misunderstanding of the title Midnight Visitor had most students nervous to try any more), they found more classic horror movies made their way into the mix. Not all of them were in Japanese and a few found their way with no subs. By the end of the first month, American movies with no subtitles were the new choice, Iida claiming it improved their mental fortitude and helped study for Present Mic's tests (because nobody felt like explaining that 'somebody save me' and 'knife-wielding psychopath' weren't common phrases they studied).
Today in particular, Kaminari came down, connecting his laptop to the television. He pulled up a questionably legal stream of a b-rated indie American horror film. "Some girl gets tortured and shit when she spends the night at some other guy's house," he explained, and everybody just went with it.
Todoroki, wrapped in a soft blue blanket for nothing more than blending in with his peers while his quirk regulated his body temperature for him, leaned against the side of the couch, Midoriya sitting in the seat he leaned against, wrapped in at least three All Might blankets. "Are you cold, Midoriya?" He gestured to his own left side in offering.
"Oh no," Midoriya laughed, gripping his All Might plush tighter. "I just like torture movies the least," he admitted quietly while Kaminari continued to mess with movie settings and Jirou dimmed the lights. Tokoyami kept Dark Shadow from coming out, since Dark Shadow was only nervous when in light, and the risk of hurting his classmates was too high. They agreed to once a month keep the lights on where Tokoyami could control Dark Shadow, and Dark Shadow could try to be more confident in the light. Nobody was sure if that would actually work, but training was training, they figured.
"You don't have to do this," Todoroki reminded him, only for Midoriya to settle himself into the couch more in determination. Todoroki noticed that the couches and chairs were occupied by students who were more anxious during this movie nights; even Bakugo had taken to sitting on the floor, albeit after Yaoyorozu made him extra pillows for support. Still, the gesture was quietly appreciated by those who needed it. Todoroki figured this was the closest the entirety of class 1-A got to 100% teamwork.
Finally, everyone settled in, and the movie began with what Todoroki was learning to be a cliché of 'start at the ending of the movie' with a clearly injured woman wandering through a forest. Then, instantly cut back to some interaction with a character he could assume wouldn't matter in thirty seconds as the woman drove away. Even with his grades being high as they were and English being a language he understood with some mild fluency, the actors didn't seem keen on speaking loudly or clearly enough for the movie to make sense, so Todoroki just assumed the action would be more interesting.
It was over a half hour in, and Todoroki was starting to feel himself growing bored. He had to assume that the woman in the movie had never had anything bad happen to her ever seeing as she willingly accepted a ride from a stranger, stayed over night with said stranger and his wife, then went down to the basement for no reason he could figure out than plot convenience. He was thankful his classmates had insisted he watch higher quality movies earlier in the year when they found out he never watched any before, since if this was his first one, he probably wouldn't have chosen to watch another movie again.
But finally, things seemed to be happening in the movie, so he let his mind drift back into focus on the screen. Currently, the woman looked like she was duct taped to a chair. The rest of the class leaned forward with interest. Still not invested enough to follow in the random clips of dialogue, Todoroki instead focused on the plot.
He didn't notice at first, but the camera focusing in on the tea kettle began to make his left-hand tremble. He knew in these films random objects would be focused on for no reason. Taking a deep breath, he reminded himself there was (probably) no way this tea kettle mattered.
Besides, he reminded himself, this was the training Iida talked about. While the past two months had exactly zero effect on him, that didn't mean there was nothing he could learn from this. It was just a tea kettle. How can I be a pro if I can't even see a tea kettle? He asked himself grimly. He was present several times when Yaoyorozu made tea for the class; he watched a movie a couple weeks ago where some other person fell into boiling water. He just needed to school his emotions, feeling nothing as his father taught him.
Before he could take a deep breath and return to his almost natural stoicism, the whistling came. Instead of a grounding deep breath, Todoroki felt his breathing silently but rapidly accelerate. It's just a movie, it's just a movie, it's just a movie, the kettle means nothing, the kettle means nothing the kettle… he repeated this mantra to himself over and over in his mind, knuckles growing white as his fingernails dug deep crescents into the palms of his hands. He almost didn't notice that his turquoise eye was suddenly being covered by his own shaking fist.
He refused to see her face, here eyes wide and filled with something unhuman, something that, to this day, Todoroki didn't recognize. She was in the hospital. She was safe. She would never hurt him (again).
Any resolve he had, however, broke instantly as he watched the lady who was not currently taped to a chair move for the kettle. No, no, no, he repeated inside his mind. This wasn't what was happening. There was no way anyone would ever think to do what he thought they were going to do.
For the first time, he wished his English wasn't good enough that he recognized the psychotic woman saying something about keeping the bound girl quiet. The psychotic woman, free and unrestrained, moved swiftly to the poor protagonist, clutching the tea kettle and holding the younger girl's mouth open.
That was the last that Todoroki could remember of the movie, of being with his classmates, of being safe in the dorms knowing that tomorrow he was going to go see his mother and have a friendly chat with her. Instead, he felt slender fingers grip the back of his hair, sharp fingernails scraping his scalp, expertly focused on the red side of his hair. His side.
"I can't do this anymore…
The children, they're… like him more and more every day…
And Shouto…
His left side…
It's unbearable…
I can't raise him anymore."
The words circled through his mind, repeating themselves over and over. Unbearable, unbearable, unbearable, he reminded himself, my left side is unbearable. When he saw her, his mother's eyes were replaced by something he knew wasn't her. It was something so inhuman, so unlike the woman who held him and told him he could be the kind of hero he wanted.
It was his fault. His left side was unbearable. He repeated his mantra again, warped into nothing but a reminder of how unbearable his left side is. Even the small part of his mind that knew he was safely at the UA dorms knew this was correct. His left side, his fire, his father's eyes, his father's hair, his scar was all so unbearable.
Sharp pain pricked against his- no, his father's- eye. He blinked frantically to keep the blood out. When had he started bleeding? He wandered slightly until he felt the searing pain of wounds against his eye. Right, he reminded himself, it was the boiling water. His mother was pouring boiling water over his left eye.
His mother loved him though, right?
She had just told him.
But his left side. It was unbearable. Nobody could love him with it, and he repeated this to himself as he tried to bear the pain. The entire left half of his face felt wet now, though the burning remained against only his left eye.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to his mother. She shouldn't have to endure the pain from his left side anymore.
"I'm sorry."
Todoroki's quiet whisper barely registered in Midoriya's mind as the movie switched scenes from the kitchen. "What's wrong, Todoroki?" he asked as he glanced down to his right where his friend was sitting.
It took a moment to realize what was happening. At first, he just saw Todoroki staring at the screen, his hands covering his left eye, fingers hidden under his crimson bangs. But, when he saw a drop of blood fall down his chin and onto his white shirt, panic started to rise in Midoriya's stomach. "Todoroki!" he screamed, causing his classmates to shift their attention from the movie to him.
"What's going on Deku- oh my god!" Uraraka screeched from the other side of Midoriya when she leaned over to survey the scene. Her panic caused Jirou to bolt up and switch on the lights, and the rest of the class took in the scene quickly.
It was worse than anything on the screen in front of them currently (not that much had really happened so far). Midoriya managed to pull Todoroki's hands away from his face just long enough to see the gashes he left along his scar where his nails dug deep into the skin, tearing it apart. The entire left side of his face was streaked with blood which also stained the tips of his fingers, his shirt, and the blanket he casually donned.
Bakugo glanced between the two of them and the movie and instantly understanding clicked in his mind. "Turn this shit off Dunce Face!" he shouted at Kaminari who, under the threat of Bakugo's explosions, couldn't move quickly enough to pause the movie. "And the rest of you get out of his face!" A few more expletives were hurled as he pushed past a few of the 1-A students to join by Midoriya's side, helping hold down one of his hands.
Despite physical strength not being Todoroki's quirk, Midoriya found himself nearly needing to activate One For All to avoid letting his friend continue to maul his own face.
"Are you all damn idiots!" Bakugo continued his rampage, pointing a free hand at Iida before quickly returning it back to helping restrain his panicked rival. "Go get Mr. Aizawa," he demanded of their class rep who, shockingly, did as he was told without protest to Bakugo's phrasing. "Idiot number two, you help me and the nerd," Bakugo's rage was almost quelled as his classmates began to listen to him.
Sero stepped over, uncertainty painted on his face as he placed a hand on each of Todoroki's wrists (though he didn't doubt he was idiot number two as Bakugo had been known to label each of his closer friends as idiots one through five). "Use your quirk, dumbass," Bakugo muttered at him.
"Right," Sero responded finally following Bakugo's logic. He created tape and began to wrap it around Todoroki's hands and wrists. "This feels a bit rude," he admitted.
"More rude than letting him rip his own goddamned face off?" While the tone was still sharp, Bakugo did calm down from yelling as he recognized the flinch in Todoroki's body with each of his shouts. He may not be made for crisis mode, but he was going to try his hardest.
"What the hell happened here?" the door slammed open revealing Aizawa, quirk activated as his glowing red eyes scanned to see what sort of dilemma his problem children gave him, ready to stop it as soon as he could.
Seventeen voices began to overlap each other as each of the students (aside from Todoroki, Bakugo, and Midoriya) attempted to explain to their teacher what happened.
"I don't know."
"We were just watching a movie."
"I guess it scared him?"
"It wasn't even that scary of a movie."
Aizawa, blinked harshly with relief when he realized there was no need to stop an active quirk. While his students continued to chime in different theories. "Be quiet," Aizawa stated in a calmness that had each of them suddenly on edge (but thankfully silent). "Iida?" he decided to let their class representative take control of the explanation.
Rather than his normal, controlled hand gestures, Iida's hands seemed much more sporadic as he set out to explain. "You see, sensei, every Saturday night we decided to do some mental training, like the Wild Wild Pussycats set up for us. We watch a horror film and try to withstand it."
"But anyone can leave whenever they want," Yaoyorozu supplied frantically. "We don't force anyone to stay, we never wanted something like… this… to happen."
"Yeah," Ashido admitted, "I've left a few times myself when things got scary."
"Hm, who would have thought that Todoroki would be the first of us to break," Mineta supplied, unhelpfully.
"You call it training, and you expect your classmates to not push their limits?" Aizawa quirked an incredulous eyebrow, and the other students shared bashful looks. "Maybe some of you have learned the very important lesson of when to stop, but I'm sure we all know some of your classmates haven't."
"Nothing was really going on yet, to be honest," Ashido said. "Honestly this was really one of the more tame movies we've watched. I don't know what happened."
It was at this point that Aizawa noticed the significance of the two students next to him remaining silent. He shot Midoriya a pointed look, and when the freckled boy looked away anxiously, he turned his attention to the much less reserved Bakugo.
"You're all idiots," Bakugo breathed a heavy sigh. With a loud groan he addressed Aizawa. "If they don't know what's going on yet, this bastard probably doesn't want them to know. Hell, I'm not even supposed to know. Shitty Deku and I can come with you to Recovery Girl if you want details." He shoved his hands in his pocket trying to look uninterested, but glances to the side at Todoroki's still frozen form betrayed him.
The half-hot half-cold boy now looked completely cold. His entire body was still and pale, and even his scar seemed a lighter color underneath all the blood. He was still trembling, eyes focused on something completely beyond their plane of existence. It was at this point Bakugo wasn't sure if Todoroki had any physical ability to cry, since the only thing missing from his face were tears. His legs were bent at the knee and arms outright as best he could with his hands taped together, clearly trying to keep whatever (whoever, Bakugo knew) away from himself.
"Alright," Aizawa agreed as calmly as he could. He glanced at the other students in the common room. "I don't care what you do but in five seconds nobody besides Bakugo, Midoriya, Todoroki, and myself had better be in this room." His entire threat wasn't even out before seventeen pairs of feet began making a mad dash upstairs to whatever room they chose to go to (Aizawa wouldn't ask any questions if it granted him the privacy he needed to try to console his current problem child).
"Todoroki, can you hear me?" Aizawa asked evenly, without any response. He gestured to Midoriya to retrieve the first aid kit, which he was almost certain the boy used his quirk to get it faster than he normally could. Aizawa pulled out some cloth and began gently patting away what he could around Todoroki's eye.
"You're not even going to take him to see Recovery Girl?" Bakugo balked, any concern for respect gone at this point.
"She's on her way here," Aizawa informed him. "I called her on the way over after Iida said something about an injury. It seemed more efficient when I had no context for what was going on." The foresight and logic Aizawa held had Bakugo regretting his disrespect suddenly, not that he would admit it. "Now tell me, what do you know?"
Bakugo gestured to Midoriya to explain, feeling it was less intrusive since Midoriya was the only one he knew that Todoroki actually told.
"Kacchan…" Midoriya fidgeted, looking away from Aizawa and Bakugo, trying to focus on Todoroki, but finding it hard to see his friend in such a state. He almost couldn't even tell if Todoroki was alive, other than the stuttered breaths and the occasional shifting away from the other three in front of him.
Since Todoroki didn't make any other moves toward himself (or the others, not that Aizawa had any concern for that), their tired teacher didn't make any attempt to get closer to the boy or restrain him, other than a gentle hand on his foot to keep Todoroki from slipping too far from them. He had already cleaned as much blood as he could without irritating any injuries, and nothing looked urgent enough it couldn't wait for Recovery Girl's arrival, assuming nobody touched his face. He knew too much contact would only trigger the boy.
"Midoriya, if you're trying to protect Todoroki, I advise you take a look at his current state and tell me if keeping quiet is protecting him." Though firm, Aizawa held no bite to his words, knowing it was an opportunity to give his students a chance to become better heroes in the future.
"It's his mom," Midoriya admitted, voice barely above a whisper, but it was enough for Aizawa and Bakugo to stop staring at him like that. "When he was five, she…" he gestured toward the scar that looked almost like Todoroki was trying to rip it off his face.
When it was clear Midoriya couldn't say more, Bakugo took this as his turn to explain. "The movie was damn stupid, but someone decided to pour a kettle of water on someone's face, and I think that reminded him of what happened. How it happened," he emphasized, hoping their teacher would understand without having to risk triggering the boy over again.
"I see," Aizawa's tone was grim as he looked back at his cowering student (he had to consciously remind himself they were his students, not his children, even when nights like tonight made that more difficult to remember). He was, for once, torn on how to respond, uncertain what sort of contact he could initiate without triggering Todoroki further.
"What a mess we have here," Recovery Girl tutted, and the three mentally present males jumped at her statement. They hadn't even heard her enter. "Shouta you should really learn to close the door to your students' dorms." Ah, that explained it. Aizawa cursed himself mentally for forgetting something so basic in his state of panic. It was, however, the first time he had seen something so gut-wrenching in all his years of teaching. He would have expected this while working as an underground hero, often finding himself in neighborhoods with less than savory events during back-alley deals. But this was a first he'd seen at the UA campus, even taking into account the mental quirks he often had to erase during a surprise trigger.
In the seconds he gave himself to be lost in his thoughts, Recovery Girl was already at work assessing the damage to Todoroki's eye. "That's certainly not the cleanest cuts I've seen," she mused, glancing between his eye and the first aid kit. "I could easily heal it with my quirk, but I'm not sure how he'll respond to that."
Aizawa nodded thoughtfully, wishing he had also called Midnight over. Despite his catatonic state, Todoroki being conscious meant that the wrong move could trigger a worse reaction that what he had already been through. "How long has he been like this?" he addressed this question to Bakugo who managed to remain the most levelheaded out of everyone tonight.
"About five or ten minutes, maybe? I think Deku noticed pretty quickly, though he still had time to fuck up his face that badly."
Five or ten minutes already felt like hours to the others.
"'m fine," they heard a faint mumbling from the boy as he slowly drew his feet away from Aizawa's grasp. He rested his head on his knees, lowering his arms so they protected his body, uncomfortably adjusting his hands in Sero's tape. Thankfully, Aizawa noted, he made no attempts to use either of his quirks.
"Like hell you're fine you Icyhot bastard," Bakugo muttered angrily, arms crossed over his chest. He turned his body away from Todoroki, but still kept his face and eyes angled to keep his alleged not-friend in sight.
It became clear that Todoroki was not, in fact, talking to anyone in the room when his next statement was a muttering about 'not her fault' and 'you made her do it'. But the more he talked, the more lethargic he sounded, much to Aizawa and Recovery Girl's relief.
"I don't think he has the energy for me to use my quirk on him right now," Recovery Girl stated, "but I think he's calm enough we can get him somewhere I can clean him up and let him rest."
Aizawa nodded and stood slowly, carefully making his way to Todoroki's side and gently wrapping his hands around the boy. When Todoroki made no effort to move, instead his eyes drooping closer to a post-panic attack sleep, Aizawa lifted him up and followed Recovery Girl out and to her office, making no note of either boy in the room.
"I overheard you at the Sports Festival," Bakugo admitted through gritted teeth after a long silence. "Guess we should have fucking said something, huh?"
Midoriya looked down guilty, but at that point Bakugo placed a hand on his shoulder. Midoriya noticed Bakugo refused to look at him, deciding not to push the already uncharacteristically sweet gesture. "It's not either of our fault," he admitted quietly. "That bastard would be mad if you even tried to blame yourself."
"R-right," Midoriya half-heartedly agreed, though he knew that Bakugo was right. "Let's sleep, maybe we can see Todoroki in the morning?"
"Hmph, you do what you want," Bakugo took his hand back and headed toward the elevators, "but I'm not gonna see him." Before stepping in, Bakugo looked back over his childhood friend, another wave of guilt rushing over him (that he would refuse to admit if asked about). "He'll want to see you, though. So, promise me you'll check on him?"
"Right Kacchan-" Midoriya was cut off by the doors closing. If asked, he wouldn't tell anyone about Bakugo's concern; that was for him to remember.
A groan escaped his lips as Todoroki opened his eyes, noticing the familiar sensation of half his vision being blocked off and bandages wrapped around his left eye. He released a relieved breath when he realized that the room he was in was simply the recovery room at UA, and not a hospital. He wasn't five years old anymore, his mother hadn't just burned him, and his father was nowhere around.
His eye caught on a yellow sleeping bag, and he let his head fall defeated against the pillow, closing his eyes again and wishing the ground would swallow him up. He wasn't sure if it was worse to wake up and see Endeavor, or to wake up and know that his teacher saw him in the most embarrassing state he ever experienced.
"I know you're awake," the sleeping bag spoke, as Aizawa slowly began to reveal himself from his cocoon. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine," Todoroki responded apathetically, a habit he learned even before his face was scarred. "Am I- "
"I'm going to stop you right there," Aizawa placed a hand on Todoroki's chest, cutting him off. He was thankful to noticed that the other one didn't flinch at the touch. "You're not in trouble, nobody else was hurt, and your class- your friends are fine. Maybe a little shocked but they're fine now."
"I see," Todoroki hummed in response.
"Midoriya and Bakugo told me what happened," Aizawa admitted.
"I see."
"And why it happened."
A hum was all he received as an answer this time.
"Nobody else is going to know about this." Another hum. "We won't tell your father."
Todoroki speaking was almost as much as a shock as what he chose to say. "Thank you, Aizawa-sensei. He… can't know."
"I know." Aizawa's eyes drifted to the ground. He had this talk with people dozens of times. But this was a first time he had it with a student, and no amount of pro hero work and teaching seminars could have prepared him for the feeling that it left with him, so different than when he worked on the field. But he had to do it, for his kid's sake. "Hey kid?" This time the hum was a more welcome acknowledgement. "Let's talk."
A/N: Well here's my attempt at an angsty little one-shot. I looked up horror movies involving tea kettles when I found this one. Todoroki's review of it is actually much nicer than the one I would give it. But I had to use that scene to torture our poor boy, with just a bit of Dadzawa there at the end for a nice (implied) happy end for him. I hope you enjoyed by first actual attempt at angst.