Todoroki's house was a mansion, bigger than it had looked on the map, even. Around it were high walls, at least three metres, topped with spikes and security cameras. The reason for the walls became quickly apparent as Midoriya approached. There was a crowd gathered around the gate, video reporters with cameras and mics, and some newspaper journalists too, along with three or four people who looked to be hardcore fans wearing head-to-toe Permafrost merchandise. To even get to the gate Midoriya would have to barge through the crowd. He hung back on the street, reaching for the phone in his pocket, but it buzzed before he got to it.

Todoroki's message was already on his screen.

i see you

How do I get in?

leave it to me

There was a crackle to the left, the sound like glass shattering as Todoroki rose from behind his compound wall on a pillar of ice.

The journalists set off at a run, with shouts of -Permafrost! Permafrost!- cameras beeping as the photographers pointed their equipment at the pro-hero. The fans went with them, one of the women pulling out a sign that read make me your ice queen and waving it at Todoroki.

Midoriya's phone buzzed, and Todoroki's message was a single word.

now

His eyes still on the rabid crowd, Midoriya backed towards the gate. It didn't make a noise as it opened, the two sides sliding slowly apart. By the time the crowd noticed, Midoriya was through and the gates shut again with a soft click.

Midoriya stood in the quiet of the courtyard in front of Todoroki's house, the sound of the crowd outside muted by the thick walls. The place looked very traditionally Japanese, if you ignored the high-tech security systems, the path to the house flanked by sculpted black pines. Todoroki met him halfway up the path. He'd changed from sports gear into a dark blue yukata, and his left cheekbone was icy from his quirk.

"Hey." He flicked his chin up at Midoriya in recognition.

"Thank you for inviting me over, Todoroki." Midoriya gave a deep bow.

Todoroki stared at him. "Knock it off," he said.

"Knock what off?"

"The bowing." Todoroki's nostrils flared slightly, cold mist rising from them. "We're the same age. You shouldn't bow and scrape."

"Oh. Sorry-" Midoriya went to bow again, but stopped himself halfway.

Todoroki gave a short snort of laughter, and the tension between them eased as if a string had been cut. "You really did work customer service, didn't you?"

"Are they always that bad?" Midoriya gestured backward, at the gate.

"Mm-" Todoroki gave a small shrug as he led Midoriya into the entrance hallway, removing his shoes. "It's worse after big events."

Midoriya crouched to unlace his own trainers. There were several pairs of outside shoes on the rack, some of which obviously belonged to Todoroki, but there were women's shoes too, in conservative, flat styles.

"You're married?"

"Those are my mom's," said Todoroki, his voice a little flat. "You?"

"No. Well, yes, technically. Sort of."

Todoroki stared at him, his mismatched gaze intense. "How can you be sort of married?"

"She sent me the divorce papers. I've not signed them yet."

Todoroki tilted his head. "You should sign them."

Midoriya chewed his lip. "But I feel like I can't give up, you know-"

"It doesn't matter what you feel," said Todoroki, interrupting him. "You shouldn't force someone to be in that kind of a relationship with you."

"I'm not forcing anyone."

"Then why haven't you signed the papers?"

"I only got them this morning."

"Oh." Todoroki scratched his chin, and had the decency to look abashed. "Then you should sign them first thing tomorrow."

Midoriya nodded. "I will."

Todoroki nodded, apparently taking his agreement at face value.

It wasn't the sort of conversation he'd ever imagined having with the pro-hero, but then again, this wasn't the kind of day Midoriya had ever imagined having. He trailed Todoroki through his house, all elegant panelled walls and tatami floors, through to the kitchen.

Considering the decor of the rest of the place, Midoriya had been half expecting traditional clay burners and iron kettles, but the kitchen made some concessions to the western style, with a breakfast bar in the middle, polished stone counters and a gas stove. Todoroki looked to be simmering some beef tendon for a winter stew, and there were radishes on the side, half-chopped.

"Oh." Midoriya looked around at the half-finished meal, the steam rising from the pot. "I'm sorry if I interrupted your cooking."

Todoroki just shrugged. "Not like I'm a chef or anything." He paused, giving Midoriya a long look. "You can help. If you want."

Midoriya nodded. "Shall I do the radishes?"

The flesh of the white radishes parted easily under the blade of the knife that Todoroki had been using, and Midoriya chopped carefully, matching the size of the segments with the pieces already cut. While he was doing that, Todoroki drained and rinsed the beef tendon, and filled the pot with water again, before he reached into one of his cupboards and pulled out a familiar looking box. The label on the side read Quick and Easy Oden Stock.

"You use premade store brand stock base?" Midoriya asked, before his brain could stop him.

"Told you I wasn't a chef."

"I know, I know, it's just-" Midoriya reached for words. "It's at odds with everything here- your house is so elegant. And it's so ordinary."

Todoroki tilted his head, his two tone hair falling to one side, and Midoriya wondered for a second if he'd taken offence. "I like this one. The expensive brands don't use enough salt," he said.

They finished the prep and then sat in the quiet as the stew simmered, and the simple activity and tranquil surroundings seemed to take the edge off the buzzing in Midoriya's brain. It was strange, but he was sure that if he had been eating takeout in his own apartment he would have felt like the walls were closing in on him.

"Thank you," said Midoriya.

Todoroki looked up from poking the stew. "Hm?"

"For inviting me into your home."

"You lost your job and you're getting a divorce," said Todoroki, tone deadpan. "I think you might be about the only person in the city who's had a more stressful day than me."

"Why? What happened?" Midoriya paused. He'd scrolled through the story about the attack on the way back from Kamino, but the reports had been light on details. "I mean, I saw the news. If you don't want to talk about it-"

Todoroki silenced him with a raised palm. "It's okay. If you saw it on the news then you don't need to hear it from me all over again."

"Okay." Midoriya bowed his head, focusing on the radishes. "If you wanted to talk, though."

"I'm fine," said Todoroki, an edge of anger in his voice. Midoriya heard him take a deep breath, and the room grew a couple degrees colder.

Midoriya sat at the breakfast bar as Todoroki added ingredients to the stew, and decided not to push his luck any further. It was a lot that Todoroki had invited him to his home, and even if they had taken the UA entrance exam together they were still practically strangers.

"You said you had a crazy day," said Todoroki, changing the subject.

"It's-" Midoriya hesitated, not sure how to put what happened to him in words. He pressed his forefingers together. "I don't want to bother you."

Todoroki made an annoyed grunt, then stopped stock still as there was a noise from the front of the house- a screen door sliding open. Midoriya tensed, wondering if it was intruders, one of the rabid fans from outside making their way in. Todoroki didn't seem like he was about to leap into action, so Midoriya held off too, as a white-haired woman pushed open the door.

The woman was wan, almost fragile looking as she stood in the kitchen doorway. Her hair hung past her shoulders, and her cheeks were hollow, as if she was in the midst of a long illness. Her eyes were a dull brown, matching Todoroki's left side. If Midoriya had to guess her age, he would have said about sixty.

"Mom." Todoroki looked up, his expression neutral. "You know you're not allowed in the kitchen."

"I know, Shouto. I just wanted to see you is all."

Todoroki sighed to himself, turning off the gas on the stove with a swift movement of his hand. "Where's Fuyumi?"

"She headed off already. Wanted to get home in time to put the kids to bed."

"Okay." Todoroki closed his eyes. "Midoriya, could you take my mother to the dining room for me?"

"Oh! You had a friend over?" Her grey-blue eyes lit up as she noticed Midoriya. "Shouto never has friends over. How do you two know each other?"

"He was in my year at school," said Todoroki, tersely. It wasn't untrue, technically. And, Midoriya supposed, it saved him telling her the events of earlier that day.

Midoriya scrambled down from the high stool where he had been sitting. "Nice to meet you, Mrs Todoroki."

Todoroki's mother gave Midoriya a small smile. She stood a little taller than Midoriya, but the way she held herself made her seem smaller than she was, her shoulders a little hunched. "You're such a well-mannered young man, too. I suppose I can show you to the dining room. "

"How did you get through the crowd outside?" Midoriya asked conversationally, as he sat down at the dining table.

"Oh, that's Fuyumi's doing. My daughter," Todoroki's mother clarified. "They know that if they don't get out of her way she'll run them down with the car. She broke a man's foot the other month, and Shouto gave her such a talking to."

"That's awful!" said Midoriya, eyes wide.

"What's awful?" Todoroki stood in the doorway with a tray of bowls in his hands.

"I was telling Midoriya how your sister broke a man's foot."

"Oh." Todoroki gave a sniff as he knelt beside the low table. "I wish she wouldn't do things like that."

Midoriya stayed quiet. He couldn't imagine ever driving a car over someone's foot, but then it was hard for him to imagine having a gang of people camped outside his home.

"She's just doing what she knows. She's not soft like you, Shouto."

If Todoroki was annoyed at being called soft, he didn't show it. "Here." He put three bowls down on the table. Two of them steamed, and one did not. "Mom, I cooled this one for you."

"I'm not an invalid." His mother frowned at him. "I can eat hot food."

Todoroki said nothing, just set the cooled bowl in front of his mother, and the other two in front of Midoriya and himself. The stew was salty, as Todoroki had promised, and the beef sinew was tender.

"If you went to school with Shouto, you must have a pretty good quirk," said Todoroki's mother, after she had eaten a little.

"I, ah-" Midoriya toyed with a piece of radish floating in his stew. "This is going to sound insane, but I didn't have one. Until today."

"What?" Todoroki had stopped eating, and was watching him.

Midoriya felt uneasy. His late manifestation, in more ways than one, his unique quirk, would sound wildly unlikely. But Todoroki was a pro hero. Million-to-one odds happened to him every day. He had to trust him. "There was a man in the memorial gardens. He was attacking someone, and I… stepped in. That's when my quirk manifested."

Doubt clouded Todoroki's face. The oldest anyone had ever manifested a quirk for the first time was seven or eight years old. "What is it? Your quirk?"

"I come back from the dead."

Todoroki stared at Midoriya as if he were on fire. "You come back from the dead?"

"Yes! I have video evidence! Not on me, but-" too late, Midoriya realised how far-fetched his story was becoming. "Sir Nighteye has it."

"Sir Nighteye has a video of you coming back from the dead," repeated Todoroki. There was a strange, tight expression on his face, and his gaze flicked from Midoriya to his mother, who had remained silent through the exchange.

"I'm telling the truth," said Midoriya.

Todoroki gave a meaningful look at Midoriya's empty bowl. "I think we should call it a night. Do you need me to call someone to get you home?"

It was pitch black out when Midoriya left, refusing Todoroki's offer of a taxi. He'd bothered the man enough.

The reporters were still there, though fewer of them, and a couple caught enterprising snaps of Midoriya as he left, hugging his jacket around him. The trousers Nighteye had bought him were thin material, hardly suited to a midwinter night-time stroll.

The houses and compounds in the neighbourhood were big, and set back from the street, so the street itself was dark. Midoriya took his bearings from Todoroki's gate and walked out, back towards the station, bringing the train timetables up on the screen of his phone. The light from his screen desensitised his eyes to the darkness.

Midoriya stopped dead as he stumbled into something. He looked up, and realised that the something was actually someone. Someone large, dressed in business attire.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Midoriya rushed a bow. "I was looking at my phone, I didn't see you there."

The man he'd walked into looked down at him without reply, and Midoriya realised with a chill that there were two others with him, moving to the shadows at Midoriya's sides. He'd been surrounded.

Midoriya put his phone back in his pocket, and let his eyes adjust to the low light again. The man in front of him was the biggest of the three, his hair styled in spikes. The figure to his left was smaller, but made metallic noises when he shifted, and the figure to his right was less humanoid- if Midoriya had to guess he'd have said they had some kind of snake quirk. Midoriya cleared his throat. "Excuse me," he said, but the three seemed to have no intention of letting him leave.

"We'll do it here," said the large man, looking down at Midoriya.

Snake quirk's voice cut in from the right. "What about the press? Permafrost's place is crawling with them."

"The divisional commander didn't say shit about avoiding press." The large man grinned, and Midoriya could make out the gleam of his teeth in the low light. "Let them watch."

Oh, this was bad. Midoriya took a deep breath, his heartbeat already thrumming in his ears. There were three of them, and one of him, and two of them were bigger than him. If they expected him to do anything, it was run back the way he had came.

"Excuse me," he repeated, stepping forwards.

The big guy's eyebrows quirked upwards, surprised, and he moved to grab Midoriya. Midoriya stepped in again, grabbed the guy by the back of his belt and threw him down before he started to run. Behind him, the tall man gave a roar of indignation as the other two chased him.

He felt the snake quirk user's tail come in from behind, and rolled to the side, feeling air on his back as it missed him. The tail hit the pavement with a crack, and Midoriya started running again. Something whirred in the air behind him, and he ducked instinctively. Too late, he realised that he hadn't been the target, as the lamp post in front of him crumpled sideways, blocking his path and forcing him to a stop.

He crouched, ready to jump the obstacle, but the snaked tail bore down on him again, knocking him forward and trapping his legs. Midoriya struggled, his face pressed against tarmac.

"Bigshot," said the leader. "Kill him."

"Sure thing, boss." There was a metallic clink as the third assailant moved, and Midoriya's brain raced.

Bigshot was a villain, a member of the Liberation Army. His quirk was the ability to impart force into objects that he threw. That meant that the man with the snake quirk was Sinuous, and if the large man was their boss, he was probably Handyman. His quirk was Toolbox, the ability to turn his hands into power tools.

There was a whirring noise, and Midoriya twisted in Sinuous's coils. The ball bearing Bigshot had thrown hit the ground beside his head with a crack, leaving a small crater. A few inches to the left, and the crater would be his head.

"You can't even finish him off like this?" Handyman's tone was mocking. "The man's quirkless, for fuck's sake."

"I can do it again," said Bigshot.

Midoriya struggled, but Sinuous was holding him more tightly now, crushing his ribs. He couldn't move. All he could do was stare as Bigshot's hand glowed with power as he charged another throw.

There was the whirring noise again. Midoriya didn't hear the crack.

Instead, there was the fire. The burning that ran through his body, and the pain that accompanied it. Red and golden. Midoriya found himself standing once again in a circle of ash.

Sinuous, who'd been holding him down, was hugging his snakelike torso and screaming, his tail a burnt ruin. Bigshot looked like he was about to be sick.

Only Handyman still stared at him with intent, his stance shifting slightly as he turned his hands into drills. "What the hell, man? I thought I told you to kill him."

"I killed him. You saw it." Bigshot reached into his pocket, pulling out another ball bearing, and Midoriya wondered groggily if he could survive another death so quickly.

"It's just a flame quirk," said Handyman. "I've dealt with his sort before."

Midoriya lowered his stance, eyes on Handyman. The villain had the advantage of size and reach, but Midoriya knew how to compensate for that kind of thing. If he closed into close combat with Handyman, Bigshot wouldn't have a clear shot on him. He leapt in, slipping through Handyman's guard, and struck upwards with his elbow, towards the man's chin.

Handyman was a competent fighter, shifting to soften the impact. Midoriya's elbow scraped the man's cheek, and there was a hissing sound, black smoke rising from the contact. Handyman backed off, his right drill hand turning back into a human hand as he held his injured cheek.

Midoriya glanced down at his elbow in surprise. He felt heat in his body from his rebirth, but he wasn't that hot, surely?

There were lights and voices coming from the end of the road, and for a second, Midoriya hoped it was heroes, or the police, but his heart sank as he spotted the cameras and the ID badges that the journalists wore. It was the crowd from outside Todoroki's house, attracted by the commotion.

"Stay back!" Midoriya called, closing on Handyman again. "These are villains! They're dangerous!"

Handyman jabbed forwards with his drill arm, forcing Midoriya back. The ground steamed where Midoriya's feet touched it, but apart from the heat, his body felt surprisingly good. He was moving well, keeping his body close enough to Handyman's that Bigshot couldn't hit him safely, and he was fast enough to avoid being hit by the drill. He couldn't hit the man, though- not when his body was this temperature- he'd risk killing him.

Handyman punched with his non-drill arm, and Midoriya blocked reflexively, the back of his arm batting away the fist, and Handyman gave a mad grin as his fist became a drill and began to rotate.

Midoriya screamed, staggering backwards, and Handyman followed, his teamwork with Bigshot forgotten. Midoriya ducked a followup blow, gritting his teeth as he glanced down at his arm. He expected to see his arm ruined, but instead it was burning, the same feeling as when he was reborn. Healing. Midoriya pulled himself up to his full height again, and there were gasps from behind him.

The press were there. Midoriya felt a spike of anxiety as the flash from a camera hit the scene. Why were they still there? Didn't they know how dangerous it was?

One of the journalists shouted, as if answering Midoriya's thoughts. "Permafrost!"

The ice moved like a wave, cascading down from above. Midoriya looked up, his heart lifting. Todoroki had arrived. Or rather, Permafrost, still dressed in his yukata and sandals. The wave of ice crashed over Handyman, freezing him as it carried him away.

"Todoroki!" Midoriya called, looking up.

"Midoriya-" Todoroki called, horrified, and too late Midoriya realised he'd left himself an open target for Bigshot.

There was a whirring sound from behind him, and Midoriya turned, too slow, as a second ball bearing hit him in the head. He was standing this time, and the momentum of it sent him staggering before he saw the flames again.

When his vision cleared, he was standing in a circle of ash again, the tarmac melted in a crater around his feet. Handyman and Bigshot were both encased in ice to the head, and Todoroki was staring at him. He was dimly aware of the crowd of journalists, too, their cameras clicking. Todoroki seemed to have made some sort of ice wall to keep them back.

"I-" said Midoriya, but his mouth felt burnt and dry.

"I guess you weren't lying about having a rough day," said Todoroki, deadpan.

Midoriya nodded, grateful.

"This was my fault." Todoroki stared at the unconscious villains, immobilised by the ice. "They're from the Liberation Army. They were after me." He looked to one side. "And I'm sorry about making you leave. I didn't listen to you. I assumed-"

"That I was crazy. I know." Midoriya grinned.

Todoroki looked at Midoriya warily. "How can you smile like that? You just died."

"Yeah, I know that," said Midoriya. "But-" he looked into Todoroki's mismatched eyes. How did he put into words the feeling in his heart right now? That, for the first time in years, he might be moving towards something rather than simply struggling to stay in the same place? That the dream that had burned inside him for so long might be more than just a dream? The feeling made his eyes sting with the force of it. "I can't give up," he said. "Not now."

"Okay," said Todoroki. He sighed, his breath condensing into white smoke. Sirens wailed in the distance. "You should come back inside." He gestured, and a bridge of ice formed over the wall of his compound.

Midoriya followed him without question, and was glad to note that he didn't just melt straight through Todoroki's ice. He was surprised to note that the ice bridge ended not at the front door, as he had expected, but at one of the windows on the upper floor.

"We're going in via the window?" he asked.

Todoroki gave him a chilly look. "You're naked and smoking. I'm not parading you past my mother."