Melting an Icy Heart ( TodoMomo ) | *Main bnha Series*

Chapter 21 | Sitting Near the Campfire

Todoroki's Pov.

  He sat down on one of the benches right next to the fire and turned his head back to look at Yaoyorozu's face. She sat down and then turned herself so she was facing the same way as Todoroki. They sat silent for a few moments. He didn't know what to say... Why was she back there? What  did Midoriya have anything to do with this?

  Instead of saying any words, he had another idea, though he had never tried it.

  Todoroki started heating up his left side in attempt to dry the water faster. He had never tried to heat up a person like this before. Only in the tent when he made the blanket warmer for Yaoyorozu.

  "Do you want to know?"

  Todoroki's gaze flicked over to her. She was staring into the fire.

  "It's your decision whether you want to tell me or not," Todoroki responded after a moment, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

  "Then it would be for the best that I save this for another time..." Yaoyorozu told him, fidgeting a little bit. It was clear that she was uncomfortable with this, so Todoroki decided not to press the question any further. But... If the situation was what Todoroki assumed then he felt bad for barging in on their... "conversation". 

  "Thank you..." she sighed.

  They were so close together... His heart was pounding, though he didn't let his face express any of the nervousness that swirled in his stomach. 

  "I'll be right back," he excused himself as more petals surged up his throat. He walked through the forest until he got to a more secluded place. Then he couldn't hold the petals in anymore and coughed them out. There were around seven this time... It made his throat fell kind of sore because of the large petals... 

  "I'm telling you! Ya need to confess to Momo and then kiss her! With her permission of course," a voice behind Todoroki lectured him. 

  "Go away Ashido," he turned around to see her hanging from a tree branch upside down.

  "Confess right now! Your life is at stake!" Ashido crossed her arms. Todoroki couldn't tell if she was angry or just extremely annoyed.

  He turned away from her and coughed up five more petals.

  "I can manage," he told her in a hoarse voice.

  "You're already getting a sore throat! What do you think will happen when you get thorns!?" Ashido shouted. 

  "I'll make it. Just watch," Todoroki left her hanging upside down and went back to the campsite.

  He sat back down next to Yaoyorozu in silence and heated up his left side for Yaoyorozu.

  Ashido irked him. He wasn't appreciating her "help" and he didn't need it. He was doing just fine as he was. Todoroki didn't need her help. Why couldn't she understand that!?

  "T-Todoroki," he heard Yaoyorozu next to him.

  "Yes?" he glanced at her.

  "If you're going to try to use your left side to dry me off faster, could you use less of your left side?" Todoroki smelled something burning and realized that he had heated up his left side too much and stopped heating her.

  "My apologies, Yaoyorozu... There's just a lot on my mind," he apologized.

  

Momo's Pov.

  Ever since he came back from the undergrowth, Todoroki was acting sort of strange. Maybe it wasn't strange... Perhaps it was just her imagination or she didn't know how he acted normally...  But when he sat down next to her and used his left side to warm her, it didn't exactly go out of control, but he lost focus of what he was doing with his quirk and it heated to the point it singed her shirt slightly. She was still very grateful though... He tried to help her by using his left side: something he didn't use often.

  "T-Todoroki," she didn't mean for her voice to be as panicked as it was...

  "If you're going to try to use your left side to dry me off faster, could you use less of your left side?" Momo asked. She felt like that might have been too hesitant that time... Especially because her shirt was now a little burned.

 "My apologies, Yaoyorozu... There's just a lot on my mind," he apologized. Todoroki's expression didn't change though. It was still emotionless... Maybe she could try to help him? He could open up to her and she could complete her goal of getting closer to him.

  "Do you want to talk about it?" she wondered, hoping that he would share his mind. 

  Momo realized her shirt was nearly done drying... What a relief...

  "No," Todoroki's answer kind of injured her heart... She knew that this was most likely going to be his answer... And yet she still got her hopes up...

  "That's alright... Perhaps another time..." she trailed off, feeling slightly disappointed. 

  "But... You never got your book back..." Todoroki held out an object, and she took it.

  "Oh yeah!" Momo smiled at the literature, "I completely forgot! Thank you Todoroki!"

  Now she would have something to do in the small periods of pass time like lunch! How did she completely forget about giving her book to Todoroki?

  "You're welcome," Todoroki told her, and then it went back to awkward silence that neither of them wanted to break! Momo didn't want to start talking because she was afraid she'd say something wrong... She already made this moment weird enough...

  Momo couldn't flip open her book and start reading though... That would be rude... Wouldn't it? And would she ruin the pages if she tried to read it? Her shirt was still slightly damp... That probably had nothing to do with anything though...

  She glanced down at her shirt. Was it still see-through? Sort of? It wasn't exactly showing as much as before, it used to though, which was better than she could've hoped. 

  Momo planned on telling Todoroki what was going on later... But it was too early now...