Assassins Can Be Heroes Too || Todoroki Shoto

|41| Philophobia

Fear and love, if you thought about it long and hard enough, were essentially the same thing.

Fear was a strange thing, indeed. So was love, actually. They were both a strange, controlling force that could force people to do many things - either ridiculously dumb and terribly smart, it was always one or the other and never both - whether or not it was forced or out of your own pure will. Hell, Rie had grown up in fear, having only loved her older brother, his best friend and her two younger cousins.

The girl had never felt so many conflicting emotions at once as the kiss deepened.

He ran his hand through her hair, sending warm shivers down her spine as she whimpered almost inaudibly, praying that he didn't hear. He didn't seem to, though the pair eventually broke apart, panting for air. There was silence as they stared at one another, Shoto into Rie's golden eyes and Rie into his turquoise and grey eyes. Todoroki held his breath as Rie cleared her throat, beginning to speak.

"I... like you too," she admitted, "but..." Todoroki's heart fell, "I... I don't know... I... I can't exactly..." she stammered, struggling to hold her breath, "I... don't know how to love... I've never... loved anyone before... besides... I end up hurting those who get close to me..." she muttered softly, tugging on the ends of her hair and the boy reaching out, grabbing her hand so that she'd stop.

"Why do you think that?"

Rie hesitated, opening her mouth to tell him who she really was, what her intentions really were, what her real beliefs were, what she really thought about Heroes...

But she didn't.

She was scared of what he would say, she was scared of how he would react, she was scared that he would tell everyone, she was scared of being in a relationship, she was scared of what he'd do, she was scared that he'd no longer talk to or trust her...

Rie was scared.

Scared of falling in love, and scared of being in love.

It wasn't that she didn't return his feelings, no. Of course, she returned his feelings, she loved him and she had a crush on him ever since the Sports Festival. She knew this, and the girls knew this. She knew how she felt in his own home, and she was sure that if he was informed of her home life - more specifically, her relationship with her parents - he would definitely keep her away from there.

"I-I..." she wasn't entirely sure what she was going to say, "I... um... t... this is awkward..."

"You don't have to tell me now," he assured gently, failing to notice her visible relaxation, "take your time."

"O-okay..." she whispered, turning her head to the side and letting her violet locks fall over her face only for his hand to cup her chin gently, tilting it so that she was gazing directly into his heterochromatic eyes. She bit the inside of her lip timidly, suddenly feeling extremely small.

His eyes roamed over her face as he tucked a stranded piece of hair behind her ear.

"S-so... w-what..." she awkwardly motioned to their intertwined hands, "do we call... t-this?"

"I guess this means... we're dating now," he answered after pausing in thought.

A comfortable silence engulfed them.

"Your father would love this," smirked Rie suddenly, snickering at the boy's mortified expression. His heterochromatic eyes darted to her in panic as the girl doubled over in laughter. "One step closer to a Quirk Marriage for him!"

"I'll have kids with you, but not for the purpose of pleasing my old man!" he gaped, aghast. The girl stopped laughing, staring at the boy who boldly just declared that he'd gladly get into bed and do things with her - when they were far too young to be thinking about that. "What is it?"

"U-uh... n-nothing," she shook her head, clearing it from her mind and letting out a small 'oh!' as her phone vibrated. Frowning slightly, she picked it up and answered the call, recognising the caller to be Karasuma. "Did something happen? I swear, if Karma-"

"Karma hasn't done anything," he assured, amused, though he immediately returned to his usual, monotone and business-like tone, "you've got a new mission." The girl could hear him shuffling papers, "The Villain Miscagony, is planning to kill everyone in a nearby pub, Kanara next week."

"The one that's notorious for its Villain hangouts?" she stated in a low voice, acknowledging the fact that Todoroki was carefully listening in, "when's the deadline?"

"A week from now," came the response. Rie lowered her phone slightly, pondering for a moment.

"I'll take it," she accepted, "Karma and I will do it tomorrow evening."