He never knew fire could be anything but destructive.

It had burned holes through his family, scarred him for the majority of his life. His father was the primary reason for that. Always an intense pressure on Shouto's back, never yielding in his quest to mold his prized possession into the number one hero. Always burning in the back of his mind, always there when he turned the corner with that piercing stare and flames licking his skin. It was enough to drive anyone to come to detest the idea of fire.

She somehow brought about a different side to the element that he never thought possible.

It had started during their second year at UA. Small smoldering embers in the pit of the stomach at first, igniting at a mere look in her direction. It was strange to the icy hot hero then. No one besides his father had caused such a rise out of him and part of him was fearful that he was harboring a hatred for the black haired girl. Why else would he feel so warm around her? His flames only reacted out of anger for as long as he could remember. Of course he had gotten better at controlling them but still... To have his left side begin to just suddenly flare up out of nowhere in her presence was worrying.

He had fully noticed the reaction during a training session with the girl in question. It was a simple exercise: defeat your partner by pinning them or rendering them incapable of moving. Everyone had been paired off, himself with Jirou. Yaoyorozu had been paired with Mineta, elicting a groan from her and some rather excited vulgar sentences from the purple haired boy. Something about his words had caused a blanket of annoyance to settle over Shouto but he merely brushed it off like a bug. It was probably just how little seriousness Mineta had in regards to training to be a hero. Yeah... That was it.

They ended up sparring next to each other. He made quick work of Jirou, waiting until she went to shake the ground with her earphone jacks to freeze them to the ground. Of course, she had managed to make him work a little harder for the victory but that was because she happened to be so agile on her feet. He knew she was fearsome, not just with those earphone jacks, but with her fists as well. He would certainly have a few bruises littering his arms tomorrow.

"Good work, Jirou." Her only response was a smirk once her teeth had finally stopped chattering from the cold. Shouto had released her rather quickly, heat flaring up from his left side as he gently placed a hand to the ground in front of her.

"Thanks," she breathed out after a moment. "Might as well make sure Yaomomo is alright considering her partner." He nodded, a bit too quickly to the surprise of the short haired girl, before raising his gaze to find Yaoyorozu engaged in a heated battle with her smaller partner.

Purple balls littered the floor before her and as he stepped closer, he could practically see the wheels churning in her mind. Her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, an expression he was growing very accustom to seeing. After all, she was as intelligent as they came. She could practically think her way out of anything while he relied on brute force and a strong quirk. Perhaps that was why he was so curious about seeing her fight. He enjoyed seeing what plans she came up with in the heat of the moment. It was almost like watching a general at work, formulating strategies in the middle of battle.

"She looks frustrated."

He almost jumped at the voice beside him, so entrapped in his own thoughts that he forgot Jirou had joined him. She wasn't wrong, however. Yaoyorozu's hands had clenched into fists as they watched and she seemed to be getting a bit flustered at her current options. It was either charge at Mineta head on or wait for him to get impatient and let him strike first. The purple balls were quite daunting, after all. Even the slightest touch and one would be stuck. He knew she didn't want to get stuck to them, especially with the way their classmate was, but it seemed as though she was having doubts about waiting as well.

"You got this, Yaomomo!" Jirou yelled out, grinning at her best friend as the ponytailed girl glanced in their direction. She gave a soft smile at the girl beside him before he saw her eyes shift to him.

There was that fiery feeling again.

It licked at his insides as he noticed her cheeks grew flushed under his intense gaze. Her head quickly whipped back to the battle before her only to find Mineta had moved. A sharp gasp escaped her lips as she cursed under her breath and stepped back a few inches. Shouto's gaze dropped to her feet and his lips parted in an attempt to warn the girl, but it was too late. She was already stuck to a purple ball.

"Shit!" He heard her force out the curse as she struggled against the balls at the back of her ankles.

"Got you now."

The sudden voice snapped his gaze to her left. There, running toward her with a hint of drool at the corner of his mouth, was Mineta. Damn perv. He was so checked into the fight unfolding before him that he hadn't noticed the slight rise in temperature. How could he pay attention to anything else besides the purple haired boy? Mineta had launched himself into the air, arms outstretched as he landed on his target. He hit her waist, knocking her down into more balls laying in wait. The creation hero was completely stuck at that point and she let out a frustrated scream in response. The majority of her problem wasn't being stuck, however, as much as it was Mineta wrapping himself around her body.

"Get off!" He faintly heard her shriek as heat rippled through the air. His feet moved on their own, stalking across the floor to loom over the pair. Flames licked at his left arm on their own accord despite his lack of awareness towards his quirk in that moment.

"You heard her."

Shouto was surprised to hear his voice erupt from the depths of his throat. It was a low growl, almost as menacing as his fire. He saw Mineta's lips moving but the boy couldn't focus on anything but the girl before him. Her cheeks were getting redder with each passing moment. Was she in pain? Was she hurt? The mere idea of it subconsciously caused his flames to burn a bit higher, earning a sharp shriek from Mineta before he scrambled back from her body.

"I-I'm sorry!" He merely grunted in response, too preoccupied with kneeling beside Yaoyorozu to pay Mineta much more attention. Her eyes were wide, cheeks flushed with strands of her dark hair falling against her face.

"T-Todoroki..?" She whispered, still slightly struggling against the purple balls at her back. He leaned closer as his eyes took in the rest of her condition. She didn't seem injured, at least from what he could tell. Why was her face so red then..? As his sudden anger faded back into his other senses, he was made acutely aware of the flames that slowly died out on his arm.

"Sorry," he mumbled. His hands went to her back to work on freeing her from Mineta's quirk, heat rising at the back of his neck. "I... I don't know what came over me."

Yaoyorozu blinked at him for a few moments before she slowly nodded.

"Thank you, Todoroki." Her soft voice hit his ears and as he glanced down towards her, he caught the shy smile that rested against her lips before it disappeared into the natural curve of her lips. Shouto nodded, his own half-smile on his lips, before gently tugging the last remaining section of her body from the sticky purple orbs. By then, Jirou had sauntered over to help Yaoyorozu to her feet.

"Man," she snickered. "I thought you were gonna light the poor asshole on fire." Her words earned a soft grunt from the boy, one hand raising to scratch the back of his neck sheepishly.

"He was getting handsy," he mumbled, his left hand immediately shoved into his pocket out of fear it could reignite at the mere thought of Mineta's grimy hands wandering over Yaoyorozu's body. The thought alone was enough to cause a sudden wildfire of emotions he couldn't place, the feeling of fire in the pit of his stomach erupting tenfold.

"I'm grateful," Yaoyorozu smiled as she looked from Jirou to him. "Thank you again."

He nodded and turned on his heels, cheeks growing hot. "Better go see how Midoriya is doing." Shouto took off then, practically hightailing it to the other side of the room where the rest of his friends resided.

As he moved, he made a mental note to ask Iida and Midoriya later about why he felt such a strong flame in his stomach during her fight. Part of him wondered if it was just because he knew how Mineta could be but he knew that didn't make sense. It had never bothered him before. Why now..?

Glancing over his shoulder, his mismatched eyes locked with her stormy gaze. The flames seemed to grow bigger at the smile that graced her lips and he quickly looked away with another rub of the nape of his neck. Damn it. Was he losing control of his quirk? He had never even seen his flames as unruly besides his fight with Midoriya during the sports festival. What was it about Yaoyorozu's fight that had caused him to lose it like that?

"Hey, Todoroki!"

Iida's voice broke him out of his thoughts as he came to a stop beside the taller boy. He offered a nod in greeting, settling into quietly watching Midoriya and Kirishima exchange blows.

The rest of the training had passed by quickly and while he tried to keep his mind on assessing his other classmates, he thoughts and his eyes always seemed to wander back to her. Each thought stroked the fire building within him and as he caught her eyes more than a few times, he noticed she always managed to send a warm smile his way.

By the time he had collapsed into bed that night, Shouto was certain he had never experienced a fire like this. He had deducted it had to stem from the creation girl and was pleasantly surprised to find that the flames erupting from his insides were quickly becoming his favorite feeling. After all, he had always known fire to burn everything to the ground. How was he supposed to believe it could make him feel so warm and tingly?

Notes • This one was difficult to finish for me! I feel like I rushed it a bit so hopefully it still came out okay! I listened to Slow Me Down by Issues basically on repeat while I wrote this so that's where the title comes from~ Jealous/Protective Todoroki is by far my favorite so hopefully I did him justice.

If you'd like to submit any requests for drabbles, send them to me on tumblr at pceluvtoga!

See you guys next time~