"Besides...what kind of hero doesn’t have a few scars here and there…?”
It was cold that night, a light layer of frost coating the world outside, giving everything an almost black and white appearance as the sun dipped down behind the clusters of buildings and trees. Yaoyorozu rubbed her arms, exhaling slowly. It was cool enough to see her own breath as it left her mouth.
She was once again left looking for the duel quirk-wielding boy, searching city streets as dusk fell over Japan. She stopped at a certain alleyway, her eyes trailing inside as dark shadows loomed in the narrow entrance. It was the same alley Todoroki had hid in the last time he ran off; it was the alley he had burnt her in. Yaoyorozu reached a hand up to her neck, lightly touching the bandages, then quickly continued on her way, forcing herself to keep going.
Crash!
Yaoyorozu nearly jumped out of her skin as something like a gunshot pierced the air. “Todoroki?” She whispered softly, then took off toward the noise. He was at the edge of someone’s private property, glancing back over his shoulder. A large plank of wood that had been covering up a fence was on the ground, and she assumed it had been the cause of the loud noise. Fear flashed in his eyes and he turned to climb the fence.
“Todoroki!” Yaoyorozu sprinted toward him and snatched his arm, tugging him back. He stumbled, falling to the ground a few paces away from her. He attempted to get back on his feet, but Yaoyorozu was much quicker, hurrying over and kneeling on the ground beside him. “Todoroki, please don’t do this again. Just come back to Yuuei. It’s nothing; you’ll be okay. Please, just quit running away from me,” she begged, her hand firm on his shoulder.
Todoroki was tense, his hands hovering over his knees as they trembled, smoke rising from them as heat emitted from his skin. “Don’t touch me!” He shouted. She ignored him.
In one swift move, she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him from behind. Todoroki held his hands away from her arms, keeping them suspended in the air, refusing to let himself touch her. “Please. You’ll be okay. You’ve gotta be okay.” Yaoyorozu buried her face in his shirt, closing her eyes. “Stop running away. All I want to do is help. You’re worrying me; you’re starting to scare me, Shoto. Please-” She clung to him slightly tighter, her eyes narrowed as she opened them, “-just let me help you…”
"Yaoyorozu, I-I can’t-” he stuttered, his voice hitched, “I don’t want to hurt you again. It’s stronger; I-I need time to get it back under control. Please just let me go. I’ve already burned you once before, I don’t want to make that same mistake again by not pushing you away.”
Yaoyorozu released her grip on him, and he clutched his head with his hands, hunching himself over as his fingers slipped into his red and white hair. She watched him worriedly, then carefully placed her hands over his, leaning over him to press her lips to the back of his neck, shutting her eyes as she intertwined their fingers.
"Pushing me away was the mistake to begin with…” She whispered softly, leaning into him and sinking into his nape. “I can help you through this. I already am. Just look-” She gently pulled his hands away from his head, their fingers still weaved together, “-you’re not burning me.”
Todoroki opened and closed his mouth to no effect, wanting to respond. Instead, he turned to face her, releasing her hands and meeting her eyes. They glittered a glistening onyx, filled with worry and concern. She reached forward to touch the burn scar on his face once more, lightly running her fingers across it as she stared directly into his eyes, her gaze set with grim determination. Without uttering a single word, she tilted her head toward him, and softly brushed his lips with her own. When she pulled back from him, she gazed at him with sad eyes, but the worried expression she wore did not waver in the slightest.
"I can help you…” she whispered. “All you have to do is let me.”
Todoroki blinked at her, only just realizing how wide his own eyes were. His breathing was slow, but shallow, and his racing heart was beginning to calm, no longer pounding in his chest from all the adrenaline. He felt worn out and weak, as if he could simply close his eyes and fall asleep…
He leaned his body into Yaoyorozu’s, hiding his face in her shoulder as he closed his eyes. After a moment of surprise, she hugged him, wrapping her arms around his waist so her hands rested at his lower back.
"You’ll be okay,” she assured him, one hand on his head as she cautiously stroked his hair, her other hand slowly rubbing his back. “We’ll find a way to fix this. Together.” She pressed the side of her head against his, closing her own eyes again. “I know you want my help; I know you need it. You’re just too afraid to ask for it.”
Todoroki inhaled deeply, opening his eyes as he placed his hands on her shoulders, pushing her away to see her face. “I’m not afraid of asking for your help,” he replied. “I’m scared that in doing so, I’ll only cause you more harm.” He ran his fingers over the bandages that bound her neck, and she winced as his hand came in contact with the hidden burn. He recoiled instantly, but she grabbed his hand, placing it back on her shoulder and resting her own on top, keeping it there and ignoring the pain.
"It’s fine. How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t blame you for this. This-” she motioned to her neck, “-was not your fault. You had no control over it. Yes, it may have left a mark, but that just means you’ll always be with me.”
“What?” he gave her a searching look, eyeing her from head to toe as if she was alien; not from this world. As if looking elsewhere would disrupt the illusion and send her away. She chuckled, smiling at him. It was just a small grin, but it was still enough to blind him.
“It’s true. Now me and you are...connected, in a way. You have your scar, and I have mine. Although we got them at different times in our lives, and for very different reasons, we still have them.” She looked down for a moment, then took one of his hands with her own, holding it tightly. “Do you remember what I told you, about how our quirks are just as apart of us as our hearts?” He nodded in confirmation, and she continued. “It’s the same way with this. This mark will be apart of me for the rest of my life. It may heal and fade a little over time, but it’s still there. No matter how much it may fade away, no matter how slight the difference in skin tone, I know that it’s still there, just as much as you know yours is.”
He sighed, exhaling slowly, his breath coming out as a puff of smoke in the cool, winter air. “I guess you’re right…” he responded, his voice barely audible. “But what if me and you are no longer friends in the future? What if one of us decides to drop out of Yuuei, or become a villain or something?" He began rambling, tearing his gaze from her entrancing onyx eyes. "The burn on my face wasn’t caused by you, it was caused by my father, who caused my mother to do it. Therefore, I wouldn’t feel any resentment toward you because of it. I caused yours, so you would hold that hatred for me on a daily basis. Every time you so much as looked in a mirror, you would sense that malice. I know that for a fact; that’s how I felt toward my father after my mother burned me. I wouldn’t want that for you.” Yaoyorozu couldn’t help but laugh at his observations, holding a hand to her mouth. Todoroki cocked an eyebrow at the girl. “What’s so funny?”
"I-I’m sorry,” she cleared her throat, and the laughter ended. “It’s just that...you and I both know full well that we wouldn’t become villains; we’ve gone through so much already on our own, and through everything, we pulled through in the end. I would never hate you; no matter what happens to me or you, and I would never harbor such harsh emotions toward you. You’re one of my closest friends and allies. I would never turn on you. And I have a feeling that if it came down to it, you wouldn’t turn on me either.” She looked up as she felt something cold touch her forehead, reaching up and wiping her brow as small flakes of white began sprinkling down on them from above. Yaoyorozu smiled. “We should get back to the dorms. It’s getting late. And you need to stop running off.”
"But-”
“No,” she cut in. “I don’t want to hear it. I know what you’re feeling. I’ve gone through the same. You’re shielding yourself from the world when it’s done nothing wrong to you; shying away from nothing, because you believe in your heart that it has. It’s like flinching away to protect an injury before remembering it had healed. There’s nothing you can do to me to make me hate you. There’s no need to keep worrying when all I want to do is help out.” She extended her hand to him, rising to her feet. “Come on. Let’s go. I’d like to get to my dorm room before it starts to really come down.”
Todoroki stared at her hand for a moment, then accepted her help, allowing her to hoist him back to his own feet. She smoothed out her skirt, straightening her uniform as she brushed off what snow was on her. Todoroki did the same with his own, fixing the sleeves of his uniform, which he had pushed up so his burning skin wouldn’t sear right through the fabric.
"Which way to the dorms?” He asked, glancing around, only just now taking in his surroundings. Yaoyorozu stifled a secret smile.
“It’s this way. Come on.” He followed her down the sidewalk, and out of the alleyway, starting in the direction of the school. It was a while before she finally spoke up.
"You ran pretty far; I almost thought that I had lost you and I was running after nothing for a moment, believing that maybe you took a different route and I just missed it,” she remarked.
“Maybe. Or maybe I’m just too fast for you.” She shoved his arm with hers, offering a small grin as he chuckled. “I didn’t really pay attention to where it was I was going. I didn’t have a specific direction as to where I was heading. I was just trying to get away.”
"Which you obviously failed at. I caught up to you eventually.”
“Yeah. Eventually. I got really far from the school before you finally got to me.”
“But once I did, I stopped you from leaving, and we ended up here,” Yaoyorozu pointed out, watching the cracks in the sidewalk as they passed the many buildings. “If you wouldn’t have slowed down though, I don’t know if I would be able to catch up. You were driven by fear to get away, I was driven by worry to chase after you. But luckily, I did.”
“Lucky for me you did,” he added. “If I would’ve gotten any further, I don’t think I’d come back.” Yaoyorozu’s gaze flipped back to worried and he quickly went on. “I just meant...I don’t think I’d wanna walk all that way back to Yuuei once I got out farther. Not that I would...you know.”
"I understand." She smiled. "I know what you meant.”
~~~~~
The picture up above is not mine, but I thought it went well with the story and it's better than what I can draw, so yeah 😛 If you're enjoying this story, vote and comment! I'd appreciate any and all feedback and ideas!
I could always end it here, and not include the few chapters after this I already have, or I could continue and add more new chapters. If that's the case, I may need some ideas or situations they should be thrown into. Maybe I can focus on other ships too? I dunno. But thanks for reading!