Hokkaido was colder than Toru had expected
Which was odd, because...well she 'knew' it was cold, from tv and hearing about other people's trips there, but that didn't really prepare her for the reality of her winter vacation.
The entirety of Class 2-A, soon to be 3-A, had gone there together as they prepared to move on to their final year at UA High School.
Still, despite the destination, a lot of her classmates had been spending the trip indoors, which Toru just couldn't understand.
Was it cold? Yeah.
Was it so cold that even three layers sometimes didn't feel like they were enough? Yeah.
Was it so cold that Toru had seen icicles starting to form in that terrible moustache Sero was trying to grow when they'd all been wandering around the night before? Yeah.
But this was supposed to be an experience! Their last event in their second year!
Which was why, subzero temperature or no, she was waiting outside a local frozen pond with rented ice skates in her hand, looking out for her date.
Speaking of...
"Izuku, over here!" Toru called, waving a gloved hand at him.
She hoped he could tell from her voice that she was happy to see him, since he couldn't exactly look at her face and see her smile.
Izuku jogged over, looking embarrassed, so Toru decided to tease him a little. "Don't you know it's rude to make a lady wait?"
As expected, that only made him blush more, contrasting well with his green hair. "I-I'm sorry, I was just working on-"
With a giggle, Toru embraced him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
Then, while he was stunned, she grabbed his arm and pulled him over to a nearby bench so they could put the skates on. "It's fine, I was just teasing you, silly!"
It had taken a while, but Toru had gotten used to the fact her normally wonderful boyfriend was liable to be late sometimes. Izuku was great at a lot of things, but healthy time management wasn't one of them.
They'd worn pretty similar outfits for their little skating date. A baby blue scarf was wrapped around Toru's neck, and she had a few layers of jackets and pants to try and protect her from the cold, along with a cute winter hat with a fuzzy top.
Toru was feeling a little overdressed, in the sense that it was a little hard to move with that much clothing on, but it was necessary to keep from getting frostbite.
Meanwhile, Izuku looked adorable with his super-long striped yellow scarf and his forest green blazer. From the way he was grinning at her, she must have looked good too, which almost made up for how encumbering it all was.
Toru tried not to think about her clothes, though. This was a fun date! They were having fun!
Izuku was first on the ice, and Toru had to ask him, "You're sure you've never skated before?"
He didn't look like he would be trying out of the Olympics, but Izuku was able to smoothly go from taking hesitant steps on the ice to gliding along the top of it like it was nothing!
Meanwhile, Toru was trying her best not to fall down.
She wasn't sure if it was fear of falling or the unfathomable cold making her knees knock together, but either way they weren't helping.
Taking a deep breath, Toru tried doing what the other people on the ice seemed to be doing, but it was taking everything she could to just stay upright.
When she did start sliding, slowly, she didn't know how to stop!
"Hold on, I've got you!"
Izuku skated right in front of her, moving backwards like it wasn't an issue at all, his hands outstretched for hers to take.
They clasped hands, and his solid stance lended her enough stability to feel a little safer.
"Here, let me..." He helped guide her around, so they were skating hand in hand beside each other, still moving at a sedate pace.
"Thanks," Toru breathed, feeling better already. "But again: skating, you, first time?"
She'd thought they'd have fun blundering around on the ice together, but Izuku's skill had sunk that idea.
Like any time Toru so much as indirectly complimented him, Izuku's freckled cheeks turned red, and he stammered a little as he tried to explain.
"I-it is! Well, w-with ice skating, anyway. I've roller skated before, when I was testing to see if retractable skates would be good for adding speed and mobility to my hero costume."
She wasn't surprised it somehow came back around to his hero training, since a lot of Izuku's random skills did.
"Think you can teach me to move faster than a snail?" she asked him, and from there Izuku was all too happy to share his insights.
In some ways, Toru felt Izuku was almost wasting himself by learning to be a pro hero, when he'd be such a good teacher. Whether it was stuff like this, study dates, or even helping Toru with her hero work, Izuku was wonderful at guiding someone through what he knew, giving tips and adjusting behaviors as needed.
They ended up only spending half an hour on the ice before going to turn in their skates and walking to a nearby restaurant for lunch.
It was heated enough inside that they were able to comfortably remove their outermost layers, revealing Izuku's cute Christmas sweater and Toru's vibrant pink jacket.
Not long after they'd placed their orders, Toru watched as Izuku's eyes went wide and he suddenly ducked lower, bending over to hide his face from...someone. Toru looked around, expecting to see a villain or Bakugo or Izuku's mother, but there was no sign of any of them.
From the way he was angling himself away from one person in particular, Toru was at least able to scope out who he was avoiding: a middle aged man with a bored expression and thick-lensed glasses.
Only after he was out of sight did Izuku straighten up, though from how his eyes were still darting around, Toru was sure he was still tense.
"Who was that?" she asked, keeping her voice low.
He didn't answer her at first, so Toru reached across the table and touched his now-ungloved hand with hers, giving it a squeeze.
Even though Izuku didn't exactly advertise it to their class, dating him meant Toru had known for a while about his generalized anxiety disorder, and how different triggers could set off attacks.
It didn't look like Izuku was having one of those, but that man's presence had flared his anxiety regardless.
The hand-squeezing was something to ground him, but there was no expectation he'd have to tell her anything right then and there. She knew sometimes he needed time and distance before he was able to talk about what was bothering him. This time, however, it looked like he was willing to share.
"That was...one of the teachers from my middle school, Mr. Sakaguchi." Izuku's voice was unsteady, and not because he was excited or eager or any of the good reasons why that usually happened. Toru could hear fear, and distant echoes of other emotions she didn't quite know how to identify.
A server brought them their drinks, hot chocolate for Izuku and an herbal tea for her.
After taking a sip of her bitter but refreshingly warm refreshment, Toru gave him a little verbal poke to continue. "I'm guessing he wasn't a very good teacher?"
"H-he wasn't bad..." Toru watched Izuku clench his badly scarred right hand, a tic that usually meant he was getting more anxious. "He n-never yelled at me or anything...I bet he w-wouldn't even..."
Izuku didn't finish the sentence, but he didn't have to. She could take it from there. "...you don't think he would have recognized you?"
In the time Toru had known him, Izuku hadn't talked a lot about his time before UA, when he and Bakugo had been in middle school together. But everyone in class could tell, from how surprised he frequently was by their affection for him, that attention and adoration were things he wasn't used to getting.
His voice still unsteady, Izuku was stretching out his fingers and clenching again, not touching his sweet drink yet. "I...I didn't..."
"It's okay," she told him, clasping her hand around his and refusing to let go, letting him squeeze hers this time. "You don't have to talk about it, now or later, if you don't want to."
Curious though she may have been, that wasn't worth what talking about it was doing to Izuku.
"I didn't...didn't want him to look and not see me..."
Oh.
That's why he'd been nervous to talk about it.
He looked ready to apologize the moment he'd said it, but Toru laughed, even if she didn't feel the joy that normally came with the sound. "Please, don't. I'm glad you told me."
She was. She really was.
That didn't mean what he said didn't hit a sore spot for her too.
Toru Hagakure tried not to let her power define her. Everyone in class knew her as the kind, bubbly, sweet girl always happy to lend others the positivity they needed.
Sometimes, though, it didn't really matter what she did, or how she acted. People were going to judge her the same way regardless.
Their food came, and they enjoyed the time eating as a break from the subject matter.
They didn't even try to pick it up again until they'd gotten back to the hotel where the class was staying. Toru snuck Izuku into her room.
They weren't the fanciest places 2-A had stayed, but they were heated enough that changing into casual clothes was possible.
That was how Toru, wearing just a t-shirt and her leggings, was able to snuggle with Izuku on her bed, wrapping her invisible arms around his torso as the big spoon.
"I don't think anyone from my high school will remember me either, except maybe just as 'that invisible girl'," Toru admitted.
Izuku sighed, and Toru pressed her face into the back of his head, hoping the gentle contact carried some of her love. "If Mr. Sakaguchi did recognize me, it just would have been as 'the Quirkless kid'."
Even after learning about One for All, it was still hard for Toru to actually picture Izuku, strong and fast and breathtakingly ripped Izuku, as the meek, weak Quirkless kid he'd been at the time.
"It wasn't right. It isn't right. Just because you didn't have a Quirk, that didn't make it okay for teachers to ignore you, or for your classmates to bully you."
"I know." The confirmation sounded...tired, but it was better than Izuku would have given a year ago.
He was still coming to terms with the abuse and neglect, but he was at least able to admit it affected him, and that it had been bad. Izuku got a dozen back-of-the-head-kisses from Toru for that, and judging by the quiet laughter she received in return, he appreciated it.
She did get why he'd hidden from that teacher, at least.
If he had seen Izuku, and not recognized him, it just would have solidified how he'd left no mark on anyone back then.
If he had recognized Izuku, and looked at him with pity, it might have hurt even worse.
"Can you flip around?" she requested, and without a word Izuku did just that, so they were staring at each other.
Well...so she could stare into his eyes, and he could stare at the wall behind her. Though he'd gotten quite good at finding her eyes.
"I try not to let being invisible get me down, y'know?"
He nodded, and before she could say anything more, Izuku planted a quick kiss on her lips, hitting his target perfectly. Toru giggled, but that only briefly distracted her from the feelings this topic brought up.
"But the thing is...I still am. And I don't just mean my Quirk..." she explained, and Izuku looked confused at that.
She could understand why. After all, it was the thing that tended to stand out about her the most.
And yeah, the fact that most people, unlike Izuku, didn't really care to figure out where her eyeline was, or even try to look her in the eyes, that hurt.
But...there was more to it than that. "I always feel like...an afterthought. No one picks me for group projects, I never stand out when we're in the field, and...my future just isn't as bright as most of yours are."
It looked like he wanted to argue, but she was happy that he didn't. Instead, Izuku nodded, and implored her to continue. "Go on."
She shrugged, even knowing that her boyfriend would barely be able to see the gesture. "You're going to become the new Symbol of Peace."
There was no room for doubt there, not in Toru's eyes.
"Most of you guys are going to probably have your own agencies just a few years out of school. But I'll be lucky to get a sidekick position with a good hero. I try not to be bitter about it, it's just hard sometimes. I wish I stood out more."
But there wasn't really anything she could do about it. It was just the way things were.
Izuku had that look on his face, the one where it was obvious he was thinking hard about what he could say.
Instead of trying to tell her the fears and viewpoint weren't true, he just told her, "I don't know if it really means that much...but I see you. And I know I'm not the only one. There are a lot of us that care about you."
It was the same kind of thing she often said to him, when he was feeling friendless and alone.
Did it always feel this good, she wondered?
Twin streams of tears fell down her invisible face, and the two moved to rest their foreheads against each other.
They continued cuddling after that, until they felt like their rougher feelings had been properly smoothed out.
After all, this was a vacation, and no surprise appearance by a crappy old teacher was going to ruin it for them.
Toru looked up different places they could visit the next day, but resolved to make the rest of that afternoon an inside day.
They watched a few movies, ordered in food for dinner, and had the kind of fun that made Izuku adorably embarrassed.
He never even went back to his own room. Whatever he'd been up to the night before had left him very tired.
While he nodded off, Toru let herself relish a little in how lucky she was. Whatever complaints she might have, there were also really great things in her life too. And her beautiful boyfriend was one of the best.
That night, Toru fell asleep with her head to his bared chest, listening to the steady sound of his heartbeat.
