Happy winter~ Like geez so suddenly too, this weather is bipolar and it's gotten me sick! _ Well, have to admit its prob been close to a year since I got sick anyways so I guess it was long overdue? Almost like this chapter-

Disclaimer in first chapter.

Spoilers to season 3 episode 7.

Chapter 5

On the way home, Shoto marveled at the flowers. 'It was still something really nice of him to do, considering he's not that type.' The dual haired couldn't help but feel warmth leaking into his blood stream. Dabi was the aloof and indifferent type but maybe he had a caring side after all.

When he came home, he asked Fuyumi to place them in a vase full of water which he took to his room. He fixed them on the window sill where the sunrays could add a nice glow to them. Unexpectedly they added a perfect finishing touch to his room and probably the only most vivid color there. Staring at the flowers, it made Shoto want to return the favor. The elder did help him out plenty of times, maybe a small thank you gift wouldn't be a terrible idea. 'But what exactly? For someone like Dabi…'

"Oh wow! Those look so nice indeed!" Fuyumi scared him. He turned to find her standing right beside him in his room.

"Uh, yeah."

"I'm assuming they're a gift? They have to be, there's no way you bought them for your room suddenly."

"Okay… maybe they are. So?"

"Oh my God Shoto." Fuyumi stared at him with eyes and a hand covering her mouth. "From who? You've never received flowers—and not roses before." To say his sister was curious was an understatement.

"It's not what you think it is." Shoto answered with a troubled expression. She wouldn't drop this, he already knew.

"A girl?"

"No."

"…A guy?"

"…Fuyumi, seriously?"

"Oh come on, I'm sorry Shoto, but I'm just so curious."

"Don't worry about it, someone just randomly gave them to me. It's not that deep."

"Hm…okay fine, if you say so. But," She hesitated for a second to make sure her words came out right. "Don't be afraid to explore."

"…What do you mean?"

"I mean…you're always so reserved, it's great that you're very focused on your training and school, but sometimes I feel like you're missing out on the normal pleasures of life. So don't hold back your feelings, if any."

Shoto raised a brow. She was saying a lot and nothing that applied to him at the same time. Or did it? He did have this unspoken attraction towards the elder teen. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Shoto ended that thought and thanked his sister instead so she could leave his room. Even after the door closed, he stood there pensively for a moment longer.

"Freakin half-n-half! What's your problem?!" Bakugo suddenly shouted at him.

"Excuse me?" Shoto was in a trance but broke out of it to look at him. They were in the middle of changing classes, waiting for the second bell and the teacher to enter the room.

"You're glaring at me!" The blond accused.

Shoto relaxed his shoulders. He hadn't realized he was frowning while staring forward, or more like into space. "I wasn't…glaring…at you at least." The blond was sitting backwards in his chair, a table ahead of him, talking to Kirishima when he noticed the dual haired.

"Just put your head down or something—you're distracting!" Bakugo dismissed rudely. Shoto merely sighed and left it at that. He wasn't in the mood or had the energy to argue anyways.

"Something on your mind, Todoroki-kun?" Kaminari interjected from the parallel desk.

"A bit."

"A bit?"

"Well…I was trying to figure out something but having a difficult time." The dual haired confessed.

"Class related?" The other teen guessed.

"No. Person related."

"Oh."

"Nevermind." It wasn't Shoto's nature to express himself.

"No, I mean you can tell me! Maybe I can help!" The blond felt guilty for judging so blatantly.

"No it's fine." Shoto turned away.

"Hm…are you tryna get them something?"

Shoto instantly swerved his head back towards the electric quirk user. "How did you know?"

Denki patted himself on the back internally. 'Lucky guess?' "See, I'm good at this stuff, so you can confide in yours truly." He swiped his nose proudly. "So, who's the receiver? A friend? A lover?"

"No, nothing like that…maybe an acquaintance…? I don't even know what we are honestly, I just run into him a lot."

"Oh so, it's a he. That can't be so hard. What's the occasion? Birthday?"

"In…appreciation? A small thank you?" Shoto answered, not fully sure how to explain it himself.

"Hm, how old?"

"In college. So older than us but not that much older I'd say."

"Any interests?"

"I don't know."

Kaminari stared at him. That sounded like Shoto alright. Man of few words.

"Okay, let's see…I mean it's a guy, anything could work. A wallet, a jersey, a badass pocket knife, you pick~"

None of those sounded like they hit the mark until the last one. "Wait. A pocket knife?" Why did that sound up to Dabi's alley or something he'd hype over?

"Yeah, there's plenty. A sick foldable one with a keychain or something—that'd be cool as hell. And it'll come in handy if he's fighting. He a hero?"

"Villain, more like—"

"Even better then!" Kaminari's energy sold the idea to the dual haired.

"Okay, I think that works." Shoto didn't show it much in his expression but his tone was optimistic.

"Lemme show you some right now." Kaminari went on his phone and leaned over, Shoto doing the same as they browsed online like two enthusiastic kids.

'Alright. I have it…but how do I give it to him?' Shoto paced with the small gift box wrapped with a ribbon in his hands. He was right outside the U.A. university but couldn't simply enter the campus. 'Furthermore, why was he so nervous?! He was just passing along a small appreciation gift—that's it. Nothing more, nothing less.' Then again, this was all new for Shoto. When was the last time he physically gave someone a present?

'Should he just wait for him outside? He didn't have the other's number or anything. I mean, why would he?' Shoto huffed. Before he could make up his mind, he heard a woman scream, prompting him to swing his body in that direction.

"Help! There's a monster!" People came running from the oncoming direction and yards away Shoto made out a weird muscular creature with the body of Hulk and mouth of a bear trap. The creature was absurd with its brains exposed and expression maniac yet blank like it was programmed to only destroy.

Shoto stuffed the gift in his messenger bag and decided to take a little detour instead. The teen ran towards the thing and used his ice powers right away to freeze the monster's leg while people fled the scene. The monster broke through the ice barrier fairly quickly and swung at the teen who dodged and froze his arm instead. While the teen was at it, he also sent a signal to the heroes to alert them of this presence.

He stalled for time and managed a few hits, until he was thrown across the street towards the university street. The commotion caused the university students to exit the building too. During the tussle, Shoto's messenger bag flap opened up a bit, some of his pens and the gift box rolling out. In the heat of the moment, he failed to realize it and hopped back towards the monster.

Unmistakable blue flames blazed towards the creature and took it by surprise. Simultaneously, the professional heroes surrounded the area as well and Shoto accepted the back seat. He wiped the dust off his chin until someone approached him from behind.

"I believe this belongs to you." The teen rotated to face the other and was briefly shook to see Dabi standing there holding out his present. Shoto's heart skipped a beat when he saw the elder casually gazing at him. 'Of course. Why was he surprised? Those blue flames undeniably came from Dabi.'

"Ah that. Um, actually that's yours." Shoto disclosed.

"What? No, it's not. It came out of your bag."

"No, I meant it's for you."

Dabi looked impressed, studying the box forward and backwards. "From who? You?" The elder raised both brows and looked straight at him, eyes eager to know. The younger nodded. "Damn~ To what do I owe the pleasure? I don't remember it being my birthday."

"It's nothing." Shoto rubbed the side of his neck. "Just a little thank you, for you know the flowers and helping me out that time when the League attacked."

"Aww, aren't you cute?" Dabi shamelessly teased, putting the other on the spot. The ravenette didn't waste time and began ripping the wrapping despite a whole attack taking place behind them. "What's this? Did our honor student come up with this by himself—you have good taste. I should give you more credit." Dabi played with the retractable butterfly knife with a keychain hook, swinging it around his finger.

'Actually it was Kaminari's idea…' Shoto stifled the urge to say. He'll take the credit for now.

Meanwhile Dabi swirled the steel blade in his hands, lips unable to stop smiling on their own. What was this feeling? It had been a while, like he just got a Christmas gift for the first time or something.

Flying boulders and debri over their heads brought both of them back to reality. "I think this probably isn't the best place for this." Shoto commented expressionlessly making the other laugh.

"Right?"

"What is that thing?" Shoto was looking back at it while the heroes contained it. A good portion of it had been burned by Dabi's flames anyhow.

"A Nomu. That's what they call it."

"Who?"

"The league."

'So this is the League of Villain's doing?' Shoto echoed.

"But that aside," The ravenette nonchalantly brushed that aside and continued. "You ate yet?"

"No. I didn't."

"Then let's go. What you in the mood for? My treat. I'm in a good mood~"

"What? No, of course not. Ill pay half."

"Don't sweat it, peppermint. I gotchu, since you got me this~" Dabi swung the Keychain around his finger with a wide smirk on his face as he began turning away. Shoto's footsteps followed suit without question. He didn't expect the other to be this excited from the present. It brought so much joy to him to know that.

'But peppermint?'

"Soba? Of all the places you could've picked." Dabi blurted. as they stood in front of small shop.

"I like Soba." Shoto didn't see anything wrong with his pick.

"Okay okay, sure, whatever his highness wants." Dabi led them into the store. Shoto noticed the third new nickname and truthfully he didn't mind them at all. In fact he was amazed at how naturally they flowed between them even though they weren't even 'friends.'

"One bowl of cold Soba please." Shoto ordered as he sat on top of the stool at the counter.

"Cold? Make that two." Dabi quickly added after the initial double take. "So this is what the honor student eats? Pretty basic."

"Sometimes simple is strong." Shoto monotonously responded, already digging in.

"Hmph. True, I suppose." The ravenette scoffed, eyes not leaving the teen the entire time as he did. Meanwhile Shoto slurped away and enjoyed the newfound silent company. Both teens ate in peace without many words exchanged and neither of them complained.

"You dumbass! You ruined my Nomu!" Shigaraki yelled at the ravenette, who only rolled his eyes without regard. "You have one chance to redeem yourself and I want those hero students! We need to instill fear in these heroes, and I want inside information."

'Hm…the loud blond, the bird, or Shoto…or all.' Dabi rehearsed the students on the list he previously saw. 'Kidnapping Shoto and bringing him back here…? He couldn't allow that.'

"Their class is going on another training camp—so get on it!" Their boss demanded.

It was true, in two weeks' time, the U.A. class had moved to a training camp near the forest for the weekend. Dabi, Compress, Twice and Toga all gathered around the area and waited for the right opportunity to attack. It wasn't until the next day when the teens split up in the forest that the villains decided to drop by. Shoto, Midoriya, Bakugo, Tokoyami and Shoji all ended up together when Compress, Toga, and Dabi barged in. The teens weren't expecting the League all the way out there but nonetheless, tried to hold their own.

"Leave the split top to me." Dabi muttered to Compress in the middle away from the teen's ears.

"No!" Deku screamed as he ran after but was tackled by Toga fangirling all after his blood.

While the teens were shocked to see the League, Shoto was absolutely dumbfounded to find a certain ravenette with blue flames standing right besides him. Something told him, that was no coincidence. If anything, the ravenette almost looked in charge of all this. He would love to face him but Twice kept him busy. The dual haired attacked and defended with his ice quirk for the most part until Shoji called out.

"Midoriya! Todoroki! We're running away!"

Shoto clenched his jaw, unwilling to retreat just like that but had no other choice. He would have to deal with Dabi later…if that was even an option anymore. Shoto created a barrier of ice between the villains and himself while he ran towards his classmates. Albeit, their retreat was truncated when a familiar smoke of black and purple blocked their way.

'Kurogiri!' Shoto recognized.

"Let us go, Dabi." Kurogiri instructed. The teens looked back at Compress, who opened his mouth to reveal two tiny marbles with Tokoyami and Bakugo trapped in.

"N-no way!" Both Deku and Shoto cried out in unison. Compress grinned until a novel laser shot from the depths of the forest and broke his mask, releasing the marbles. Shoji and Shoto instantly jumped forward to grab them, Shoji catching the first but Dabi palming the second one instead. Shoto stared wide eyed, staring into deep turquoise eyes.

"Feels like a déjà vu, no?" Dabi was pretending to grin but his tone seemed forced and tense. Shoto couldn't believe it. Was Dabi even who he said he was this entire time? His entire being was beginning to come into question... And the teen didn't like it at all.

To Be Continued…

Uh oh, someone is in trouble. Dabi better start rehearsing apologies haha. Hm…I wouldn't mind seeing an angry Shoto, its not everyday haha. Anyhow, thanks for reading and please review!