Anywhere but There

Even More Talks

Thursday wasn't a bad day. The media, although still there, were not nearly as aggressive as a few days prior. Todoroki's classmates had stopped their questions; not even asking about his absence from their practicals that the boy had begrudgingly agreed to. It felt as though everyone was finally moving on from the events in the past week.

Todoroki got home earlier than Yamada and Aizawa and he relaxed; read a book; watched tv. Yamada and Aizawa arrived home together at around 5:45pm, the latter holding Chinese takeaway. They ate at the table as usual.

"How was school?" Aizawa asked around a mouthful of noodles (he had refused to part from them the moment they were on the table).

"Boring." Todoroki replied, grabbing another prawn cracker. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He had opted for using WhatsApp for only very close contacts to avoid touching his messages. Just as he was about to bite into the prawn cracker, he stopped.

Midoriya 
Hey did you do the English homework?? I need help

"Shit." he cursed under his breath.

"Language." came the immediate response from Yamada. With wide eyes, Todoroki looked up slightly frantically.

"Was there English homework?" he asked. Yamada stopped eating, his scowl taking permanence.

"Yes, there was. It's due tomorrow." the other replied.

"Fuck."

"Language." Aizawa said, muffled by noodles. There was a short pause where Todoroki contemplated his next words.

"What was it?" he asked meekly. Yamada sighed and dragged his hand down his face.

"A sheet." the man answered curtly.

"Can't you excuse me this once- or give me a little more time?" Todoroki straight out begged.

"No."

"But I wasn't listening in that lesson cause d-Aizawa was distracting me." the boy tried to persuade his teacher. Aizawa paused from devouring his noodles at the latter of the boy's excuse.

"How was I distracting-" Yamada cut his spouse off.

"-I don't care. It's your fault for not listening in the first place." he said harshly.

"Do you have a spare sheet?" Todoroki asked, defeated.

"No. It's all at school." the boy groaned. He pulled out his phone under the table and mass texted the class.

Todoroki
Hey can anyone send me the sheet for English?

He pocketed his phone again and finally took a bite of his prawn cracker. Aizawa finished his noodles.

"Maybe we should set down some ground rules after dinner." he said, treading carefully. Todoroki didn't comment. They finished their food and moved their plates aside.

"What kind of rules were you thinking of?" Todoroki asked. Aizawa brought up his notes on his phone.

"Let's start with no swearing." Yamada interjected. The other man nodded and started typing.

"Do your homework by 7pm everyday." Aizawa added.

"Curfew at 10pm- bedtime at the same times." Yamada said.

"Can't it be eleven?" Todoroki butted in. 

"Absolutely not. You have to wake up at seven on school days and you need nine hours sleep. That takes you to 10pm." Yamada said before Aizawa could agree, having no healthily sleep cycle himself.

"If we think of anything else, we can add it later." Todoroki huffed- a bit peeved- but agreed nonetheless. They weren't too bad after all. His phone buzzed again.

Iida
http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Advanced%20Sentence%20Correction%201.pdf

A ghost of a smile danced across Todoroki's face as he breathed out a sigh of relief.

Todoroki
Thank you

"May I leave the table please?" he asked.

"Yeah." he grabbed a notebook and pen and began rewriting the questions and answering them. Getting to the fifth question, he reread the question multiple times with a scowl. Huffing, he stood and went in search of his teacher. The pair were in their usual spot on the sofa; reading this time. They paused, looking up at him.

"You all right?" Aizawa asked. The boy looked to Yamada as a light pink made their way to his cheeks.

"Could you- uh- help me with the homework- please?" he stuttered out. The man smiled warmly.

"Sure. What do you need help with?" he asked, resting his book on his stomach. Todoroki walked towards him and handed him the notebook.

"Question five." he mumbled. The man took a minute to read the through all his answers; the other standing awkwardly while wringing his hands.

"Oh yeah- question five was a red herring. There's no mistakes." Yamada said, handing the book back. He breathed out a small sigh of relief.

"Thanks." Yamada smiled, picking his book up again.

"No problem. If you need anything else- just ask, ok?" he said, not looking at his upturned book. Todoroki nodded.

"I will." with that, he walked back to his room and completed the last question. Picking his phone back up, he went back to Midoriya's message.

Todoroki
What did you need help with?

The reply was instant.

Midoriya
Does question five even have any mistakes??

Todoroki snorted. Maybe he and Midoriya weren't so different after all.