"Dude?" Kirishima got up from the couch, brows furrowed, and all. "Where are you going?"
"She's gonna do something stupid," He muttered, breathlessly, tying his laces. A burner phone stuck out in his hand. "I gotta stop her-"
"What are you talking about? Wait! Aizawa said we couldn't leave the dorms today!"
Kirishima and Denki both grabbed the boy by the shoulders, barely able stop his trek to the doorway. Deku stood, along with most of the students, but no one dared take a step.
"Get off me!" Bakugo yelled. There was no ire in his motions, no angry frown weighing his forehead, not even a shred of aggression in that voice.
Deku walked towards him. His feet carried him right past the boy fighting against his friends' struggling grips. They poised him right in his way.
"Kacchann," He whispered.
Bakugo looked Deku right in the eye. He'd only seen panic in them like this once.
The boy had no clue where you'd gone. Though, for a long time, he suspected, from the way Todoroki and Kacchann often gazed at one another knowingly, they had their ideas. Maybe it was a secret that floated between them and used the tension as a carrier.
Deku's eyes widened. "You know where she is."
Remorse bit Katsuki's lower lip with his own teeth. But he'd have to come to terms with that later.
"I have to go. She's-"
The front door clicked, unlocked from the outside. The metal's shift alone silenced the entire room. Bakugo stilled, Kaminari and Kirishima's hold faltering. That second that went by before the door finally opened was an eternity. When it did, the winter air flowing in gracelessly, three people filled the entryway.
***
"Shoto," you breathed, walking out onto the cold, dry street from the hero commission office.
Aizawa and Endeavor trailed behind you, keeping lookout for any reports that may intercept you. Although, to be fair, it wasn't like you were very recognizable anymore.
The boy standing, as always, with the liveliness of a stick figure, found you instantly. In the midst of grey, short black hair, and a bittersweet smile unlike any other caught his attention.
Shoto smiled back. With far more relief than you could've expected.
"Hi," He said once you were within earshot. The upturned nature of his lips only intensified as you ran across the sidewalk and jumped into his arms.
"I'm so sorry Sho."
Your voice found its way to his heart before his ears. The sidewalk so populated with passerbyers, cars trailing against the wet roads- they couldn't take his attention away from the hands clutching at the back of his shirt and your head curled against his chest.
"What for?" The boy chuckled, rubbing a hand gently up and down your back.
You sniffled, eyes meeting his again with utter dread. Fingertips, cold and worn, reached for the hair now growing to his ears.
"I wasn't here to cut your hair."
And what a you thing it was to be in tears over such a thing.
"I like it long," Shoto said, hunching his shoulders once, patting your hair now probably the same length as his. "It doesn't bother me."
You nodded, wiping your nose.
"I'm also sorry for- ya know- just-"
"Yeah." The boy held your hands in his, warming them as much as he could. "I know."
