Cruelty | Shoto Todoroki

sixty

"Wait," I had to stop my teachers for a second as I sat in the conference room, "so you're telling me, I have his quirk in me right now." AllMight nodded in tandem with Aizawa and I scoffed.

"You need to cut down on the coffee, Aizawa, it's making you delusional." He rolled his eyes and then leaned forward, arms resting on the table.

"Think about it. The same light hit you when you," he paused as he pursed his lips, "killed him. He's your blood and it's a descendatory quirk which means it passes on to the owners' child by either will or by death."

I wanted to flip him off, to rip the skin from my body, to stop breathing but I sat still and pursed my lips instead. "I don't want it." They all frowned a little at my confession but what did they want me to say?

Did they want me to be willing to accept something as fundamental as a quirk from that monster? I think the fuck not.

"Instead of thinking of it as a bad thing, think of all the lives you'll be able to save with it." That was an upside but my mind couldn't stop thinking of the negatives.

It's like no matter how hard I try, I'll never escape my past. Growing up in such a negative environment has made me a negative person.

No matter how hard I try, I can never escape my demons.

"But for everyone's sake, you probably shouldn't use it in combat as we don't know the side-effects. We'll train you to keep it under under control, though." Aizawa said with a face of reassurance. He was trying to put me at ease, he knew of my past and wanted to help me fix it.

I appreciated it more than he'd know. "Thanks Aizawa." He gave me a single nod as if he was saying don't mention it.

~~~

I sat outside, my head against the pillar of the stairs to the dormitories. I stared at the moon, waiting for Nemuri to finish whatever business she was dealing with in her class' dorm.

The moon was bright and it looked infinitely large from where I sat. The stars scattered all over the sky, glinting down at the earth like all knowing entities who saw everything.

I couldn't help but wonder if they saw me— my pain.

I felt heavy knowing I held my father's quirk inside of myself. I hated him so much it hurt to think of him. And even though he was dead and gone, I felt like he was still here— taunting me through this quirk.

The door to the dorms opened and I heard someone walk out. "Hey, beautiful." I heard the soothing voice of my soulmate as he sat next to me on the stairs, his leg brushing mine making sparks set off through me.

I gave him a small forced smile because I felt like shit. He seemed to recognize the pain in my smile because he put his arm over my shoulder and pulled me close to him, placing a kiss on the crown of my head.

Shoto never pressured me to speak, he never forced me to reveal anything to him. I appreciated it extensively. He softly rubbed my arm as if letting me know he's here for me.

I put my head on his shoulder as I looked up at the night sky. "I'm scared, Sho." Was all I could muster making him give my arm a reassuring squeeze. "I know. It's okay to be scared." They were the exact words I told Eri.

"I'm here, Ikari. I'm always here for you." I wiped a stray tear from my cheek and lifted my head from his shoulder to press a light kiss to his jaw, muttering a thank you.

He pulled something out of his pocket and placed it in my lap. It was a chocolate bar, causing me to laugh as I picked it up. "You know the way to my heart." I opened it up and took a bite.