LOVE EXISTS / 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐢 𝐬𝐡𝐨̄𝐭𝐨

❀𝕖𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥❀

She could feel his grip tightening on her hand. "Why are you calling me by my last name, [Y/N]? You never used to do that."

"I figured I was being too intimate with you. It wasn't polite to call you by your first name and not be your family or..."

"Or what?" He asked, frustrated and confused.

"Your lover."

Then, silence blanketed the room once again.

"Was it because you are in love with someone else?"

Her breath stopped for a moment, and the heart monitor slightly paced faster.

"No."

His voice was a mere whisper, husky and raspy. "Then why?"

"I told you, you wouldn't understand."

"Then help me understand." His voice was reduced to a pleading. He brought her hand to his cheek, and she caressed his cheek with the fingers. "You used to tell me everything. What happened between us?"

She smiled bitterly against her conscience. "You simply moved onto something greater in life. Meanwhile, I was left behind." She felt her face being turned back towards the heterochromatic boy, and she was surprised to see the shock and turmoil in his eyes.

Didn't he have no use for me? That's why he left me for Yaoyorozu-san, didn't he?

"I would never leave you behind."

The genuine conviction in his words made her fully awake and aware of his presence. At his expression, she knew that he meant what he said, or believed it at least. It made it a bit reassuring that he would never consciously leave her. Yet, it crushed her heart to know that she was so easily left behind that he didn't even realise he did until it was laid out in front of him.

"But you did," [Y/N] denied, finally let a tear slip from her eye. "You had left me behind for someone who can assist you in all aspects of your life, and you benefit greatly from them, from her."

He cradled her face in his hands. "You are all I need."

She shook her head. "I am nothing compared to Yaoyorozu-san." She grinned sadly. "She is a lucky woman, to capture your interest."

Todoroki shook his head. "You're wrong, so very wrong."

"How am I the one in the wrong here?" She couldn't stop the anguish and bitterness from seeping into her words. "How can anyone chose a broken thing like me over a perfect model like her?"

"I can," he whispers, resting his forehead against hers. "I can because I love you."

Her heart dropped, and the thorns sent another wave of blood up her throat.

"W-what?" [Y/N] stuttered, fighting back the urge to cough up the blood.

He touched her mask. "May I?" She nodded in confusion as he slid it off. It felt like a breath of fresh air, unlike the compressed, clean air that helped her breath in her comatose state.