Ice Cold

Epilogue

"There's a French saying... Tu me manque. It means that you are missing from me. That there's a piece of me gone when you're not around. And for a long time, you were missing from me. Not because there were none who tried to see who I was, or could see pass the endless flaws that came along, but because you were someone who not only saw who I was, but also tried to pull me out from behind my cold facade.

"It takes one kind of person to accept who you are, and another to not only accept you but also make you strive to be better. You were that kind of person — one I strived to impress and get the attention of because of how incredible I believed you to be. I had never liked someone before, so I didn't know what I was supposed to be like, if I were supposed to bat my lashes at you every time I saw you or if I were supposed to raise my voice to a shrill, but I didn't have to. Because you knew me, you didn't try to change me, but did anyway.

"You've done a lot for me, so I can do nothing else but promise you this: I will stand with you, against anything that stands against you. I will be there when your baggage is too heavy, ready to take it from you to ease your back. I will be there at your best, at your worst and whatever lies in between. And with the years of my life o have left, I'll love you for all of them."

I glanced at the second row, where Midnight, Aizawa, All Might, and Present Mic sat.

"Don't blubber," Present Mic sobbed behind his hands.

"Tell that to yourself," Aizawa blubbered as Midnight elegantly wiped away tears from her face (it didn't quite look elegant though because the mascara was streaming down to her chin).

I smiled and looked at Shouto as if he had hung the stars. In my world, he did.

He pulled out his own paper of vows and began.

"I remember the first time I ever saw you, when you sat across from me at that restaurant. You were, and still are, the most beautiful girl I had ever seen; the way your hair framed you face, the placement of your features, even the way you sat. You were beautiful, smart, powerful, I believed that you  were perfect. But, more than anything, I wanted to know you.

"You showed me the beauty of a lot of things. Of small gestures, of silence, of pain. I saw how people cared for you, how you cared for them, and how you loved in your own way. So, this vow is not only to you, but to those who cared for you and those you care for."

He nodded towards the audience where Aizawa was seated.

"You will always be first in my life, no matter what is offered to me or put in front of me. I will protect you from everything the world has to throw at you. What is mine is yours, what you believe, I will believe, and what you follow, I will follow. Whatever trouble you find yourself in, we will be in together. I will love you with no bounds, no hesitance, no conditions. I don't know what the future will hold for me, but whatever it is, you'll be a part of it."

Some "aw's" from the audience and claps made the reverend carry on with the rings.

"Shouto. Do you promise to love Y/N, comfort her, honour and cherish her, in sickness and health, in trying times and smooth, in lean times and full, all the days of your lives? If so, say I do."

"I do," he answered, holding my hands in his.

"And Y/N. Do you promise to love Shouto, comfort him, honour and cherish him, in sickness and health, in trying times and smooth, in lean times and full, all the days of your lives? If so, say I do."

"I do."

"Well then, I now declare you husband and wife! You may kiss!"

He moved my hair out of the way like he always used to and brought my face to his. Cheers sounded throughout the hall and flower petals rain down.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"More than mochi?"

"More than mochi. And whales and anime and coffee."

He kissed my forehead with a chuckle. "I love you even more than that."

So, how would I explain all of this to past me?

The eternal attachment that is marriage?

Well, it's simple.

Attachments aren't that bad. Not as bad as you think they are.

They're the line that keeps you near the boat, that keeps you from floating away and drowning in your own thoughts. They're what's keeping you from falling, ready to pull you up at any moment.

It takes a special kind of person. One who will hold on to the threads you cut and tie them together again. You will find that person, as long as you put down the blade and let them pull you in.

The storm ends. The fire is put out. Not even smoke will remain.

Just warmth.

And it won't be so cold anymore.

• The End •