Archive of Our Own ^beta

Here’s the thing about Entropy. 

Entropy is well-known to be consistently in the top five heroes in hero rankings in Japan. Entropy has been voted sexiest man alive before. Entropy is Todoroki Shouto, son of the former number 1 hero, Endeavor (despite the flaming garbage pile Todoroki Enji had been). Before Entropy became a household name (a byproduct of Entropy’s actions in the Fukuoka Disaster), Entropy was known as Endeavor’s son. And then he proved to the world that he was much more than that moniker.

Now here’s the thing about Cellophane.

Cellophane barely breaks it into the top fifty heroes in hero rankings in Japan. Cellophane’s advertisement deals are mostly with office supplies companies and most of his merchandise is stickers and various types of tape dispensers. Cellophane is plain looking and the son of a normal Japanese family. Cellophane has no legacy to live up to. Most people don’t know that Cellophane’s name is Sero Hanta and, frankly, no one cares to remember. Cellophane is a simple rescue hero in the neighborhoods he frequents and teaches at Yuuei as a homeroom teacher to class 3-B and teaches hero lifestyle to the third year hero classes.

And for the life of Sero Hanta, he could not tell you why Entropy, current No. 4, is looking at him like he hung the stars in the night sky himself when Entropy should be answering the questions the conglomeration of hero students are asking the Yuuei Alumni gathered in the theater. 

This is what Cellophane has to say about Entropy.

They’ve never talked - not that Sero can remember. Sero graduated a year before Entropy’s class that the world would call the Miracle Class by the time they graduated themselves. And Sero couldn’t tell you how glad he is to have skipped a grade when he was elementary school after he moved back to Japan. There could’ve been a chance that Sero was a part of the Miracle Class and Sero wouldn’t wish anything that happened to the Miracle Class on anyone. 

Sero had seen Todoroki Shouto around. His class had been curious about the class that Aizawa had not expelled any students from. Sero’s class was infamous for being the only class with nine students by the time they moved onto their second year. Sero had seen Fuwa sparring Todoroki in their third year, when Sero’s class had been asked by Aizawa to spar the Miracle Class. (Sero, himself, had taken on a purple haired teen that looked perpetually tired, and Sero is 100% sure he went Underground, and the teen that would become pro hero and part-time radio host Earphone Jack.) 

Sero could count on one hand the number of times they’ve worked the same emergencies before and there was nothing to count for being on the hero commission assignment. Cellophane and Entropy may be heroes in the same country and in similar areas of work but they never saw each other beyond passing glances.

Sero should really be glad that he didn’t embarrass himself when he greeted the alumni from the Miracle Class to the Q&A. Though it would mean so much more if Entropy stopped staring at him and the others stopped giving him knowing looks.

Sero is in his black, white, and yellow costume, as always, with his visor up, waiting at the entrance to Yuuei to let in the guests - one of the perks of being one of the youngest heroes on staff.

Sero is mostly hoping that the Miracle Class alumni will at least recognize him. His third years were excited, asking if he knew any of the Miracle Class because he was technically their senpai. Sero had denied their questions, fully aware that the Miracle Class could be quite closed off to people they didn’t know very well. Either a defense mechanism or learned behavior because of all the shit they’ve been through, Sero doesn’t know, but Sero has drilled into his students’ heads to not glorify the shit the “Miracle Class” has been through. (Sero is lucky to have a class with zero casualties and only a couple serious injuries over the years while also being mature enough to understand the dark side of being a hero). They’d dropped the topic quickly but Sero could still tell quite a bunch of them were still excited.

In any case, it would be embarrassing, not just because of his students, if no one recognized Sero.

As soon as the clock hits one thirty and two cars pull up to the curb, Sero quickly wonders why he worried in the first place.

The passenger door to the first car opens and immediately a head of green hair is bounding towards him with sparkling eyes, “Sero-senpai! I mean, Cellophane! It’s so good to see you!”

Sero chuckles as the No. 1 hero bounds forward, coming to shake his hand, “There’s no need to call me “senpai”, I’m actually the same age as you lot. And it’s good to see you too, Deku.”

Deku’s smile is as dazzling as it is on TV and on the news sites. His grip is firm when they shake hands, “I wondered about that. Did you skip a grade?”

Sero smiles sheepishly, “When I was younger.”

Deku pulls away first, “Wow. That’s interesting. I wonder if the entrance exam process was different because you were a year younger. Or did they have to make special accommodations-”

“If you don’t shut him up now he’ll just keep going on and on,” Uravity smoothly interrupts, smiling brightly up at Sero. “Sorry about him.”

Sero shakes her hand too, “Thanks, I’m sure he’ll have kept us here for the whole duration of the Q&A.” It’s all in good fun and his tone is light, he even winks at Deku for good measure. Uravity and Deku laugh, clearly agreeing with his sentiment.

“You say it like he wouldn’t be completely capable of that,” the purple haired man says, voice a low rumble and slightly muffled as he speaks through the capture tape wrapped around him like a scarf, “But he is.”

Sero holds out his hand to the man, “It’s been a while. You think you can kick my ass now?”

The man’s smile is wicked and they shake hands loosely, “Wanna try, senpai?”

“Let’s not start a fight before we’re barely in the school,” Creati scolds, mostly looking at the purple haired man. “I’m sorry about Blindside,” Creati says as she looks at Sero, taking his hand to firmly shake too, “He normally doesn’t operate at this time of the day.”

Sero shakes his head, “Hey, I instigated it, didn’t I? Sorry about that.”

Blindside nods his head at Sero when Sero and Creati pull away from each other. 

Sero turns to the last guest, ready to exchange pleasantries with the hero, when he gets full view of Entropy’s, admittedly attractive, features as a cold hand slips to meet his outstretched one and gets a whiff of something floral and tea-like as a low voice greets him. “Cellophane, I’m a big fan.”

Sero’s brain short circuits and he looks at Entropy with a frozen smile. “Huh?”

They aren’t shaking hands, Entropy is just holding Sero’s hand like it’s something precious and is too close for a handshake. Entropy is looking straight into Sero’s eyes, like he’s trying to convey something deep and meaningful. Like he just said that he’s a big fan. Like Entropy just said that he, Entropy, Todoroki Shouto, is a big fan of Cellophane.

Entropy speaks again, “I’m a big fan.”

Sero’s brain is still malfunctioning as he says, “Oh.”

Sero doesn’t know how long they stand like that, he’s still mystified by whatever just happened, but it’s a muffled cough that sounds suspiciously fake that snaps him out of it.

Sero shakes their hands up and down for good measure and fixes his smile, “Thanks, that means a lot.” He pulls away and subtly leans away to look at the rest of the group, hoping his cheeks aren’t burning, “Well, shall we get a move on?”

The group agrees and Sero turns on his heel to lead the guests to the room they’ll be waiting in before they’re put in front of a large group of heroes in training. He hopes, though, that he’s imagining the gaze that’s burning a hole into his back.

Sero makes small talk with the group about the teachers that have taken over the roles that some heroes have retired out of and who still remain. It’s mostly nostalgic. Sero can’t really remember the last time he talked to someone besides Fuwa from his class. 

As they near the waiting room, Sero is chuckling, “I’m sure you all have a better idea of how Principal Aizawa is doing.”

Uravity snorts before laughing from her stomach, “Pft! Principal Aizawa! I could never get used to that!”

Sero shrugs, “I have to admit, it was pretty hard to adjust to. He doesn’t really like it when we call him Eraserhead when we’re at school.”

Blindside looks delighted, smiling wickedly, “I forgot, you’re from the class that Aizawa expelled more than half of.”

Sero nods as he slows to a stop in front of the waiting room, his only acknowledgement of the comment. “Well, until we’re ready for you feel free to rest in here. Someone will come by soon to lead you to the stage whenever we’re ready for you.” Sero opens the door, like the gentleman he is, and the heroes pile into the room one by one. Sero hears a squeal of delight that he’s unsure if it’s from Deku or Uravity but he does know that Aizawa was the one who had the waiting room prepared. Sero looks into the room and chuckles at the delighted smiles on the guests’ faces.

He turns to let go of the door and get his class, instead he bumps into a very firm chest. It’s Sero’s quick reflexes that make sure that he doesn’t fall and his wrist is grabbed by the person he bumped into. The grip is warm. The door to the waiting room closes with a click.

“Sorry,” Sero says, not quite able to meet Entropy’s eyes, “I thought you’d gone in.”

Entropy is staring at Sero intensely, “Oh. People tend to tell me I’m very quiet. Sorry.”

Sero smiles and gently pulls his arm back, “Don’t worry about it. It was mostly my fault anyways.”

And then they just stand there. In an awkward silence.

Despite what anyone says, Sero was never the most social person out of the group. And if Sero isn’t very social, Entropy is practically a brick wall.

“Well,” Sero says, gesturing with his thumb, “I have to go get my class-”

“Will you be leading us to the stage?”

Sero blinks, his hand going limp at the sudden interruption. “Uh…” 

Entropy takes his limp hand and just holds it, again, like it’s something precious, in his hands, “I was serious when I said I was a fan.”

Sero looks between Entropy’s blank expression and his hand in Entropy’s surprisingly soft hands. Shit. He shouldn’t have thought about how soft Entropy’s hands are.

Sero can feel his cheeks glowing when he stutters, “I-I have to go pick up my class. I think someone without a homeroom will get you guys.”

Entropy’s brow furrows and Sero swears he can see Entropy’s bottom lip jutt out, “Oh.”

Entropy is still holding Sero’s hand. Entropy’s thumb is rubbing circles into Sero’s hand.

Sero swears the tips of his ears are glowing red.

“I’m gonna be late to pick up my class.”

Entropy is still caressing his hand. “Oh.”

Shit. What the hell is happening?

“Problem child, let go of Sero.”

Sero physically jolts, his hand slipping out of Entropy’s, admittedly, loose grip. He whirls on his heel and swears that if any more blood rushes to his head, he’ll pass out, “Principal Aizawa!”

Eraserhead, Aizawa Shouta, and esteemed principal of Yuuei Academy flashes his quirk, looking past Sero, and glares, “Don’t make me repeat myself.”

Sero swears he hears Entropy click his tongue behind him but when he turns back around, Entropy has already opened the door and is walking into the waiting room.

Sero stares as the door closes in his face, still trying to process everything.

“Don’t you have a class to wrangle, Sero?” Aizawa drawls, raising a hand to wet his eyes with a bottle of eyedrops.

Sero jolts again and starts to speed walk the way he came, “Right!”

He keeps his head as he walks through the bare halls of Yuuei and prays that his flush will go down by the time he gets to his crackhead class. It was bad enough to be caught in a situation like that by his boss - imagine what a bunch of teenagers will do.

Luckily for Sero, his flush is either gone or his students are too excited to notice. He wrangles up his class with the help of the class representatives and they walk down to the theater as a group. As almost heroes, or even side-kicks, the third year hero students get to sit in the front row, closest to the stage. The left side is occupied by Class 3-A and the right side is occupied by Class 3-B. 

Thankfully, when they arrive, the guests aren’t on stage yet so it’s easy to get his students to settle down in their seats without being worried about intense stares. Soon after, the second year and first year hero students join them and it’s almost time for the Q&A to start.

Sero is against one of the walls that separate the many tiers of the large theater, the closest first year to him is five rows of seats in front of him and it’s almost comical to see a small gathering of students for a Q&A but this is supposed to be an event for heroes to pass on advice and stories to heroes-in-training. Sero is glad to be out of the way and to give the spotlight to his students and heroes who are technically his peers.

“Oof,” Kendo Itsuka, Pro Hero Battle Fist, and homeroom teacher to class 1-A says as she thumps against the wall, half a foot from Sero, “I don’t know how you do it, Sero.”

Sero snorts and pushes Kendo playfully, “My students are a little more mature than your babies.”

Kendo winces and holds her hands up, “If they hear you call them that I won’t stop them from their bloodshed.”

Sero chuckles, “There’s downsides and upsides to training a more experienced class compared to a less experienced class, but I think you’re doing good.”

Kendo cracks a smile at that, “Yeah, I don’t think I could handle teaching third years.” She has a faraway look on her face as she looks out to the empty stage, “It’d remind me too much of my third year.”

Sero does his best to not react to that. All he does is raise his hand a put it on Kendo’s shoulder and gives it a soft squeeze, “My offer to talk still stands you know.”

Kendo looks back at him and smiles, putting her hand over Sero’s and squeezes back, “Yeah. Thanks.”

They settle into a silence as their students buzz in excitement, still waiting for the Miracle Class.

“How were they?” Kendo asks, fiddling with the ribbon from her mask, “Some of them are here because they were on medical leave anyways, right?”

Sero nods, “Deku and Creati were supposed to be Crimson Riot and Earphone Jack. They seemed well enough to walk.” Sero pulls a face, “Maybe a run would strain them.”

Kendo snorts, “Class 1-A was always so reckless.”

Sero nods again, staring at the table and chairs with water bottles and jelly meal replacements on them set up on stage.

“You know Setsuna asked when you were going to come over for dinner.”

Sero glances towards Kendo and when he sees that she’s looking to the stage too he looks back, “Give me a date and time, I’ll clear my schedule.”

Kendo hums, “You know she really just wants more of your pudding?”

Sero hums back, “You know I really just want more of her agedashi tofu, right?”

Kendo laughs, her eyes crinkling with amusement.

Sero smiles, watching her. Kendo’s class had it rough too, it was just less talked about.

“Settle down or you’re all expelled,” Aizawa’s voice rings in the auditorium and almost immediately the students quiet.

Sero almost snorts in the silence when he sees the terrified expressions on the first year’s faces. It’s become somewhat of a tradition for students at Yuuei to figure out who Principal Aizawa Shouta really is. Clearly, there are some students who still don’t know that Aizawa is Eraserhead.

When Blindside walks out on stage, adjusting something under his capture tape with a wicked smirk and says in their Principal’s voice, “That’s a classic every time,” Sero is only slightly surprised.

Kendo snorts next to him as the students start to whisper to themselves with confusion and minut excitement, “I should’ve known.”

Sero elbows her, “You never know. Shouldn’t put it past Eraser.”

“That’s true.”

“Oi,” a voice calls out from beyond the wall they lean against, a familiar voice.

Sero turns back to the stage as the rest of the guests join Blindside on stage, exciting more of the students, “Did you hear something, Kendo-sensei?”

Kendo does the same with a wicked smile, “I have no idea what you’re talking about Sero-sensei!”

There’s a sigh behind them but no other noise.

Sero holds out his fist to Kendo and she fist bumps him with a wink.

Students whoop as a sudden flash of ice and fire on stage, startling Sero and Kendo and clearly some of the other heroes on stage because Uravity sputters and drags Entropy to his seat.

There’s rustling behind them and Sero can imagine the principal leaning up over the wall in his yellow sleeping bag, flashing his quirk. “No quirks on stage, problem child,” Aizawa intones, his voice carrying across the theater.

Entropy barely blinks as he’s manhandled into his seat, “I’ll pay for the damages, sensei.”

Aizawa slumps over as he mutters, “You better.” It’s only loud enough for Kendo and Sero to hear and Kendo struggles to muffle her laughter into a cough. 

“Okay, listeners! Settle down in your seat and we’ll have our guests introduce themselves,” Present Mic announces, standing a bit off stage with a bright smile on his face.

It takes a moment but eventually the hero students settle down and Present Mic has turned to the stage to their guests.

Blindside speaks first, on the far right of the small panel of tables, “I am an Underground hero. If you know my hero name, keep it to yourselves. If you don’t, good. In any case, you could call me your Principal’s protege.”

There’s a smattering of laughter that ripples through the students and despite the expectant mood they give off, Blindside is gesturing to the next person.

Deku smiles bright, like he always does, and when he opens his mouth to speak it’s like all the students are waiting on bated breath, “I’m Deku and I’m so happy to be here to answer questions for all of you. We didn’t do anything like this when I was in school but I think I really would’ve appreciated it.”

Deku looks off to the next person and Creati immediately picks up with a wave, “I’m the Everything Hero: Creati. And I have to agree with Deku. I’m delighted that I was invited to such an event and I hope to be as helpful as I can.”

She looks off to the next person, gesturing for them to go, but a brave student suddenly stands up and yells, “I love you Creati! You’re my role model!”

Everyone laughs and Creati looks absolutely delighted. Kendo sighs as she puts her face in her hands, “I didn’t think Nakamura was serious.”

Sero laughs before he can stop himself. He’s familiar with Nakamura, because the older Nakamura is in his class. An odd pair of sisters with quite different quirks, ruminating on the idea of opening an agency together once the younger graduates. Sero had many talks about that with them.

Creati speaks up again when most of the laughter has died down, “Thank you, that means quite a lot.” She looks over to the person next to her and prompts, “Entropy?”

Sero turns his eyes accordingly to the next guest to watch as the hero introduces himself, but chokes on his own spit when he sees that Entropy is looking right at him.

“I’m Entropy,” Entropy says, still not looking away from Sero.

Sero can feel the flush returning to his cheeks.

“Did you do something?” Kendo hisses to him, her face a mix between amused and confused.

Sero hisses back over Entropy’s low voice saying something to the students, trying to avoid Entropy’s gaze, “He said he’s a fan.”

“A fan of what?” Kendo hisses back.

“Of me,” Sero says, feeling ridiculous when he says it. And then he sees Kendo’s grin. Sero glares at her, “Oh no. No. Stop it.”

Kendo is still grinning, “Wait till Setsuna hears about this.”

“Kendo, I swear to god-”

“I’m Uravity!” Uravity cheers loudly, waving at the students with one hand, “And I’m also really excited to be here!”

Sero stares at her strange posture.

Kendo speaks first, “Is Uravity keeping Entropy in place with her other hand?”

Sero winces, “I really wish you didn’t say that.”

“Because you saw the same thing?”

Sero groans, “Because I saw the same thing.”

When Kendo and Sero look back, Entropy is still staring at Sero. Uravity still has her hand hidden from view, most likely on Entropy’s thigh - a threat.

Sero swallows dry.

“Hey,” Kendo starts, “Maybe he’ll stop. You never know.”

It doesn’t stop.

Sero feels like if he wasn’t in his specially made costume he would’ve sweat through his clothes three times because of Entropy resilient and intense stare. It’s gotten to the point that Sero is sure he saw Creati use her quick to create something under the table cloth to further restrain Entropy and that some students have noticed Entropy’s intense stare is pointed at either Sero or Kendo.

Some of his students turned around to fucking wink at him and Sero is ready to hand out detention like candy on Halloween night. 

“You’ve gotta admit,” Kendo says once a solid 45 minutes have passed, “He’s real persistent.”

Sero would give Kendo detention if he could. “Come on,” Sero hisses, “You were in the same year as him for three years. Is this typical of him?”

Kendo snorts, “I haven’t seen Todoroki so focused on something besides his conspiracy theories ever.”

Sero blinks, “Conspiracy theories?”

Kendo blinks back. “Oh shit.”

Sero turns to the wall and tries to muffle his laughter, digging his face into his elbow.

Kendo is pink when he looks over at her, “It’s one of those well-kept secrets no one talks about. Like how Setsuna has a bottomless sweet tooth. Todoroki’s is that he has these insane conspiracy theories he thinks up.”

Sero is still half facing the wall as he wheezes, "Tell me more, please. You can't just leave me hanging!"

There's a flash up on stage and when Sero looks up, Entropy's left side is on fire, still staring at Sero.

"Shouto-"

"Goddamnit-"

"Swear to God-"

Uravity is out of her chair, rolling around in her zero gravity, laughing her ass off as the others try to calm Entropy down.

The fire is gone in an instant and Uravity drops to the ground with a thud.

Aizawa's voice above Sero's head is clear with an underlying threat, "What did I say about quirks, problem children?"

Creati is up in an instant, assisting Uravity to her chair, “I’m sorry Aizawa-sensei!”

Aizawa grunts and Sero can hear his boss settling down behind him again.

At the front Present Mic is calling for attention again, “Alright, let’s settle down. Does anyone have any more questions for our guests?”

Sero is too preoccupied with watching Creati scold both Entropy and Uravity in hushed voices to notice who the English teacher has called on.

“Excuse me, but why do you keep staring at Sero-sensei, Entropy?”

Sero’s head whirls to the audience and sees his top student waving a hand in his direction. Everyone is looking between him and Entropy. Uravity has started to cackle to herself again.

Sero groans and is glad the shadows the theater offers will hide the worst of the blush that’s come to his face, “Kinoshita, I swear to god-”

“I am a big fan of your sensei,” Entropy smoothly interrupts. It silences the theater and everyone is looking at the two heroes in question with wide eyes. “I have been for quite awhile and was never able to voice my admiration before today.” Entropy is completely blank faced as he responds, the same expression he’s had for the entire Q&A, “You should be honored to have Cellophane here as your sensei, teaching you. I know it was inspiring to have him as a senpai.”

Yup, Sero is going to kill Kinoshita. Big Three be damned.

“Wow,” Kendo says as delighted squeals and wolf whistles come from Sero’s class, “I didn’t know you could get so red.”

“Shut. Up.” Sero hisses.

“Alright, alright,” Present Mic says over the noise. “Let’s calm down and move on to questions more relevant to hero life,” he says, looking particularly at Kinoshita.

Kinoshita pouts, and Sero can tell by her tone of voice, “Are heroes not allowed to have relationships with other heroes?”

Sero has had enough.

His tape whirls out of his elbows, and Kinoshita is good, trying to lift away with her bat-like wings, but Sero has been a pro hero for much longer. He pulls Kinoshita out of her seat, over the heads of students, and drags her backwards, using momentum of Kinoshita’s own body and his own upper body strength. He’s not so heartless to just let Kinoshita drop onto the linoleum floor, especially after he’s restrained her arms, so he cushions her fall by pulling back on his tape and lifting her so she’s upright on her feet and with a hand on her shoulder to steady her.

“Ki-no-shi-ta….” Sero growls, angrily.

Kinoshita has the gall to chuckle in his face, “Hey there, sensei.”

He releases the tape from his elbow and walks her over to the last row of the theater, her arms still restrained. “You’ll be here for the rest of the Q&A and if you make another peep, you’ll be having detention with Power Loader for the next week.”

Kinoshita goes pale and immediately stops fidgeting around the tape, “Wait, hold on, not that. Not that. People always get blown up at Power Loader’s detention.” Her eyes are frantic, “L-let’s, um, hey! I’ll do all the chores at the dorm for the week.”

Sero puts his hand on her shoulder again, smiling rigidly, “You already are. So, keep your mouth shut or you’ll get blown up for the next week.”

When Sero looks up, everyone is staring at them, most of them openly. 

“Fuck, that’s hot.”

Sero’s jaw drops, still trying to process Entropy’s voice. The way Entropy opened and closed his mouth. The way Entropy stared at him. 

“Todoroki!” Present Mic yells over the chaos the students have gone into, “Language!”

Blindside rolls his eyes, “ That’s your problem with what he said?”

As Deku and Creati try to settle down the students and wrangle in whatever is going on with Entropy, Sero is basically frozen, still staring at the stage.

“You know, he really does seem smitten with you, sensei,” Kinoshita says, voice small and barely heard over the chaos.

Sero looks down at his student and prays for society once she debuts, “What did I say about using your quirk in non-threatening situations?”

Kinoshita shrugs, not looking apologetic at all. “I feel emotions, sensei, you know how it is. I can feel incredibly strong emotions without even trying.” She jutts her chin towards the stage, “Entropy has got a whole lot going on whenever he looks at you.”

Sero runs a hand down his face, “So, constantly?”

Kinoshita grins, “Constantly.”

The Q&A is over and Sero is exhausted.

It’s the end of the school day and his students are dismissed to go do whatever they want to after school. He knows some have patrol hours, others have group workouts and sparring sessions, and there are some that have been overworked lately and head straight to the dorms for a snack and a nap.

A majority of his students have taken advantage of having active pro-heroes on campus and have gone up to the stage to ask the heroes some more personal questions. Maybe about financing or about the darker aspects of the job that most hero hopefuls don’t want to admit are real. Sero doesn’t really know. He’s decided to not stick around.

“Did I make you uncomfortable?”

Sero doesn’t startle when Entropy falls into step beside him, following Sero as he leaves the auditorium - Sero’s had spatial awareness ingrained into his body as a pro-hero and he’d heard shuffling just beyond the wall Entropy had hidden behind. That doesn’t mean Sero stops his journey to the teacher’s lounge. “I wouldn’t say that,” Sero answers carefully, not looking at the other hero.

Entropy is quiet for a moment, for a solid fifteen steps, before he speaks up in his low voice, “I’ve been told I’m not very good with social interactions. That I’m too direct. I just wanted to get my admiration across.”

Sero stops and Entropy stops with him, only a couple paces away, and he’s still staring at Sero, giving his full attention. They’re in a small courtyard, the gap between the auditorium they used and the main building. Sero’s never spent much time around here but he knows that a couple of his students had claimed this area as their lunch spot. 

“I’m not uncomfortable with your… admiration,” Sero says truthfully, feeling very awkward as he rubs at his neck. “I’m honored, even. I just - I don’t understand why you admire me so much.”

Something in Entropy’s expression shifts. They’re small movements, happening individually and at separate times in the bi-colored man’s individual eyes and lips. “What isn’t there to admire?”

Sero laughs this time, the ridiculous of the situation catching up to him, “You’re Entropy! The number four hero in Japan! You’re all over the news and everyone loves you. I’m just Cellophane, the office supply guy!” Sero throws his hand up, “Hell, I don’t even remember talking to you while we were in school.”

Entropy is frowning now, “You’re a good hero, you shouldn’t put down all your achievements-”

“I know I do good work,” Sero interrupts, aware that he sounds arrogant. But it’s true. Cellophane is a good rescue hero with limited property damage on his record. His rescue rate is high. He saves everyone he can. He’s teaching the next generation of heroes because he’s thinking about the future of this quirk filled society. Cellophane is a good hero. “I don’t understand why it’s me.”

“Why it’s you?” Entropy echoes slowly, his frown gone.

“I don’t stand out,” Sero says, all too aware of the fact and has gone past acceptance of that fact. “The only connection we have is that we went to the same school. You’ve come to admire me. You haven’t taken your eyes off me since you’ve been here. You told a room full of hero hopefuls that you thought I was ‘hot’!” Sero looks at Entropy and tries to understand, “Why is it me?”

Entropy is frowning again, but he’s looked away, his chin turned down. Like he’s thinking.

Impatience and nerves makes Sero tap a rhythm against his thigh.

“I think…” Entropy starts, looking hesitant. He stops and licks his lips, “We got off on the wrong foot.” Entropy puts a hand in the space between them and says, “Nice to meet you. I am Todoroki Shouto and I’d like to express why I admire you so much, Cellophane.”

Sero looks at the hand. He looks back up the other man’s face and laughs. He laughs and laughs until he starts wheezing. Once he stops, and looks back, the man is still standing there, looking at him, his hand held out.

Sero composes himself, still chuckling between breaths, and takes the hand. “Nice to meet you, I’m Sero Hanta.” Sero grips the soft hand tight, “But you can call me Hanta.”

A smile blooms across Todoroki’s face. 

“Go Sensei!” a voice calls from somewhere above. 

Both Sero and Todoroki turn to follow the voice and Sero sees half his class, practically hanging out of the window from a floor above, clearly having seen the whole interaction.

“We’re so happy for you!” Nakamura senior calls, grinning wildly from all her mouths. 

“Can we come to your wedding?” Shishido yells, his gruff voice standing out from the rest.

“I pray that the Holy Mother gives your love strength and blessing for your days to come,” Marin prays, smiling despite the serious prayer.

“Brats,” Sero says, affectionately, smiling.

“I heard that!” Yuuri calls, her ears shifted in elephant ears. 

“Good!” Sero says louder so the whole class can hear, “Then you’ll know that you’re all going to give me a five page essay by Monday for eavesdropping on a private conversation!”

His class looks scandalized, all complaining in a large wave of dissonant noise.

“Kinoshita and the rest are hiding in the tree!” Moroka shouts over it all, pointing at the singular tree in the courtyard.

Immediately, Kinoshita and five others jump down from the tree. “YOU SNITCH!” Kawamura yells.

His class starts to bicker over Sero’s head and Sero has frankly been too much today to deal with it.

“I could never be a teacher,” Todoroki says in a low voice, looking earnestly at Sero.

Sero smiles, “Yeah?”

Todoroki smiles back, “I admire you for that.”

Sero looks over to his class and then back to Todoroki. “Tell me more.”