Chapter One: Intuition

Sometimes instincts warn you long before you can even imagine what you're being warned for. Sometimes a feeling of foreboding will try to protect you, to prepare you before it's too late. Most of these times you refuse to listen to it, willfully ignoring the warning signs for the sake of a false normalcy about to be broken in a manner irreversible. Perhaps it is human to do so. Perhaps it is foolish instead. Or maybe, they're both the same to begin with.

Todoroki Shouto was surprised to find himself trapped in one of those mornings, where nothing felt right and the desire to remain hidden away from whatever fate awaited him that day until the feeling passed was great yet impossible to fulfill.

He had slid the shoji window slightly open, the breeze pushing back a few wayward bicolored tufts of hair, still out of place from sleep. With mechanical movements he buttoned up the shirt of U.A.'s trademark school uniform, his gaze remaining without much thought on the outside, or as much of it he could see through the thin gap he had allowed the open window to show. It was still early, too early for him to already be prepared for class, the first hints of sunlight only now brightening the horizon with the warm orange hues of early morning. He wasn't meant to be up quite yet, but any attempt to go back to sleep before had failed.

That was how he ended up a few minutes later in the shared kitchen of the dorm rooms, after his own space had driven him off, as the feeling of a world ready to collapse in itself began to suffocate him. He had expected to be the only one there. He was wrong.

"Midoriya…?" he called out in a soft tone, quiet as to not disturb the comfortable silence found only in those small hours. The boy's back was turned to him, but there was no mistaking that mop of unruly green curls.

To say he jumped would be an understatement and if he was anyone else Todoroki might have laughed at the other's surprised yelp, the short sound much louder than his own greeting. Midoriya turned back to face him, a sheepish smile on his face, his eyes still a little droopy from sleep.

"A-Ah! Todoroki! Good morning…!" Midoriya's usual cheery attitude was ever present even if he had lowered the volume of his voice to match that of the other boy, mindful not to wake the rest of their classmates. "You're up early."

Todoroki raised a challenging brow up at him. "You're one to talk."

The boy let out an awkward chuckle, a matching grin settled on his face. "Ah- well, you see, I couldn't, you know…" he rambled nonsense for a bit, a hand coming to scratch the back of his head. As he trailed off however, the expression faltered and fell, a crease appearing between his brows. The change from his eager ramble to this serious thoughtfulness showed there was more to his awake state than he let on, even before he decided to elaborate on it on his own. "Do you ever… get the feeling something is going to go wrong…? But you- you can't explain why? Or how?"

Todoroki found himself speechless in front of that question. It was a feeling he was familiar with. In fact, his instincts had been going haywire all morning, second-guessing his movements and stealing his sleep. And while bad days of that kind would be normal, though annoying in their nature, the idea that both himself and his classmate suffered from the same kind of unexplained anxiety at the same time was suspicious, not to mention more than a little worrying.

"To-Todoroki…?" Midoriya tried to call to him, concerned that he had said something wrong by accident.

He shook his head against his own thoughts. "Sorry. I know what you mean. I've…" he paused for a second, hesitating to admit how deep his empathy run, as if saying it would somehow make their shared unease more solid, more real. "I've been bothered by it myself. Especially today."

Just as expected, already large green eyes widened even more at the revelation and in a manner complete opposite from his usual bright smile, his lips twisted downwards in an expression of stunned horror. Feeling bad was one thing. Two people sharing that feeling was far too worrying.

In his defense, Midoriya tried to lighten the mood after a few seconds, forcing his grimace into a shaky smile. "I'm sure it's just a coincidence! Right? I mean, it's not like either of us have a premonition quirk!" His chuckle was stilted at best but Todoroki felt obliged to curl his lips upwards just a hint in what could pass for a smile when it came from the usually expressionless boy. After all, Midoriya tried hard not to make him worry, the least he could do was offer some encouragement back. He was most likely right anyway.

It was just a coincidence.

Right?

As the school day went on, it got easier to ignore the weight settled on his chest, the worry that refused to leave. As if his body had found a way to adjust its breathing around it, he went through the motions of the day with it merely a thought at the back of his mind, a mild annoyance noticeable only if he paid attention to it. Todoroki focused on his school work while in class, kept himself busy during the breaks either by observing his classmates' endless banters or burying his nose in a book once more. Despite his self-assigned distractions however, he didn't fail to notice All Might approaching Midoriya's desk after his lesson was over, asking him something in hushed tones. He, too, must have noticed the boy's unusually despondent mood.

Nevertheless, Friday brought forth a certain excitement to most people, as they would be allowed to head home for the weekend, see their families again after being cooped up in the dorms. Todoroki was not one of those people and the idea of heading home was discouraging enough for him to be able to blame the bad mood he was in on that fact alone. It was an excuse he made for himself which would later make it easier for him to ignore his own instincts. It was an excuse he made for himself that would later prevent him from doing anything about it.

Todoroki made his way across the school yard at the end of the classes, heading for the overly large gate. Reluctant though he was to return home, at the very least the school day was over. Hopefully the rest of the day would be just as uneventful.

"Todoroki-kun!"

"Todoroki!"

Two familiar voices reached his ears and he paused in his step, turning around to greet his two friends as they hurried to catch up with him. Iida reached him first with Midoriya close behind him, a grin etched once again on his face though his shoulders were hunched, giving a still rather subdued impression despite the cheery expression.

"Are you heading home, Todoroki-kun?" Iida asked, his posture serious as always, though his featured betrayed he was nothing but friendly towards him.

Todoroki nodded, unable to stop a sideways glance towards Midoriya, who still held on to his own half-hearted joy. The boy's hands held his backpack's straps tightly, his head tilted to the side as he observed his friends. "And you?" Todoroki asked in return, though the question itself seemed directed to Midoriya only, even if that hadn't been a conscious intention.

"Mm-hm!" he hummed. "I'll be heading towards the train station."

At first he wouldn't know why he said it. He didn't know why he had noticed it to begin with, but it certainly made no sense for him to voice the thought out loud. "Don't you and Bakugou leave close by?" he asked, his eyes scanning for their classmate.

Midoriya frowned at the question. Of course he did. Although it was common knowledge by now that he and Bakugou had known each other probably for as long as they could remember, none of them could ever possibly think that they were close in a way that would dictate they would head home together. Yet, in that moment, that forsaken day the idea of Bakugou, unfriendly though he was, going on the train together with his unwilling neighbor comforted Todoroki in a way he couldn't understand. "Yeah…" Midoriya did his best to reply without betraying much of his surprise at the query. "Yeah, but I think… I think I heard Kacchan say he would go somewhere first? I don't know, we don't really…" he trailed off and though Todoroki couldn't know what he meant to say specifically, he at least had a good idea of it.

And he looked at him then, he looked at Midoriya and felt his stomach churn. Midoriya who was still clearly worried about that stupid feeling they both shared but tried to appear joyous for everyone anyway. Midoriya who had gotten so much stronger during their time in U.A., who had fought the Hero Killer with him, who had overcome obstacle after obstacle. Midoriya, dependable, reckless, strong Midoriya who could take care of himself just as well as Todoroki himself and yet he found himself worrying for him, because the feeling of sheer and absolute wrongness persisted regardless of how much time passed and only intensified now at the thought of watching his friend leave on his own. It didn't matter if he was taking a trip he had taken so many times before. It didn't matter if Midoriya could kick some serious ass if he needed to. It didn't matter that between the two of them it was him who had his license already, proof that Todoroki now needed to catch up to him instead.

He looked at him and had to bite his lips to prevent the offer from leaving his mouth. Let me walk you home. Let me make sure you get home. Something's wrong.

But he didn't say it. Because it was preposterous. It made no sense for him to go so incredibly out of his way to take one of the strongest kids in his class home. Because the bad feeling was probably not a hunch, just a natural aversion to returning home to his father.

Because most of the time you ignore your instincts for the sake of a false normalcy.

With a warning of 'be careful', he bid his friends farewell and headed home, repeating to himself how his classmate was strong enough, he didn't need his help, there was nothing to worry about, again and again until he found himself believing it. He didn't realize then that when he had tried to reason with himself about Midoriya's ability to take care of himself he had neglected to note the boy's incredible knack for being reckless, his bad luck or his tendency to attract the worst kind of trouble. He had neglected to remember how Midoriya had basically been involved in every unfortunate incident to happen during their school year, one of which consisted of a personal run in with a villain in the middle of the day in a busy area no one would ever think that particular villain would appear in.

"See you soon!" Midoriya called back.

But he didn't.

A/N: Welp. This is my first BNHA fic. I hope I don't butcher the characters too much. I have a few things planned for it but not enough so let's all collectively hope I don't write myself into a wall. POVs will probably change depending on chapter/scene. Also this will be a multichaptered fic and I cannot stress how important reviews are for multichaptered fics so if you did like this rather short (sorry) first chapter, please leave a comment before leaving. Or even if you didn't like it, please let me know just as well. Thank you.