Thanks so much for joining my Fall in Love event. I really hope you enjoy this and who you were matched with! I thought Natsuo would fit in a way that goes away from the usual. I also let these two run with this one, it wasn’t my original intention, but I hope you like it, there is just something about being able to be vulnerable with someone that opens a different layer of love, that I felt fit well with them. There will be a part two so I can include what I wanted with them as they haven’t had a chance to do something more fun and mundane and just general get away from the emotional roller coaster that was their part one.
To everyone else who has taken the time to read this piece. I hope you enjoy it and thanks so much! Likes, Reblogs and comments are always welcomed and appreciated! 🥰
Natsuo Todoroki X Reader
Summary: In the wake of tragedy, healing and love can be found. Shared understanding isn’t always easy to find and loss is never an easy thing to deal with, but it does get easier when you are able to share your most vulnerable feelings with someone who loves you.
TW: I feel this is necessary with this one to place here. There are mentions of a car accident, and a death. I do not label this as dark content as it doesn’t fall in the realm that I’d label it, but if it should be considered that. Let me know and I’ll change it. This is very much an angst/love/fluff please though.
Word count: 3988
You lean back in your chair, feeling your shoulder pop and your muscles creak in your back, you reach out over your head allowing your body to work out any remaining kinks. Your gaze drifts to the time on your computer before looking back at the patient's profile you have open, going over their current med list before you finish charting in their profiles that you’ve given them their scheduled medications. Some are IV meds, while others they were given under supervision.
This work wasn’t exactly in your field, you wouldn’t be doing a nurse’s job, but this residency would help on your resume. Once you finished your rotation in a few weeks, your supervisor was going to write a letter of recommendation for you. It was an opportunity you couldn’t pass up. It left you pretty busy though, you were running on empty, your eight hour shift had turned into extra hours. You weren’t sure when you would be off work and it was already after nine.
Your department was down a night shift nurse and you had jumped in to help out, not because you would look good for anyone, but because it was just how you were, you lent a hand to those who needed it. Eventually these people could be your real co workers if you got hired here once you finished your final semester.
You had just finished your notes on the four patients you had taken over for, so the few remaining nurses weren’t so overwhelmed on your floor.
“Y/N, you’re still here. Would you come with me, I want to show you something.”
You twist around already pushing yourself to your feet, your phone on silent in the pocket of your white coat. “Dr. Reese,” you greeted quickly as you moved over to her, sharing a look with the charge nurse on your floor who gave a subtle nod of her head, a sign it would be fine if you left.
“You want to be in the pediatric field don’t you?” She asked as she moved to the staff elevators and you both waited for it to arrive on your floor. “Yes ma’am, it’s what I’ve always wanted to do,” You don’t miss the way her lips press together as she sucks in a breath. “I shouldn’t ask you to come,” the words were so low, you almost didn’t catch them. You probably weren’t really supposed to.
Dr. Andrea Reese knew she shouldn’t bring you to the Peds ER, but the experience would be invaluable, no matter what happened. You needed to be able to handle the good and the bad and sometimes in this line of work, there were not good outcomes. These sort of emergency situations could make or break someone and she felt it was best if possible to do them with another doctor present, better now than when you were shoved in a situation on your own fresh out of med school feeling you could change the world and be in over your head.
You straighten your shoulders and ask the question you know you don’t want to, but you can’t back out, you won’t back out. Maybe you can do something, maybe you can make a difference, help the most vulnerable. “What’s the situation?”
The older woman studies you a moment before she brushes a strand of her shoulder length hair behind her ear and motions for you to enter the elevator as she presses the button to the first floor. “We have an incoming John Doe age range five to seven years old, multiple fractures. A drunk driver incident. We won’t know the full extent until they arrive.” You let her fingers grip the metal rail behind your back hoping to hide the shaking in your hands.
“What about the parents?” You ask your voice low, but firm as you work hard to emotionally detach from this situation. You had to focus and couldn’t let your own personal feelings get in the way.
“The father is on his way, the mother was airlifted to Memorial. We were given verbal consent to do whatever is necessary,” There is a tension in her shoulder that you had only just now noticed. “Your first emergency can be the hardest,” as she says those words, it’s the squeeze of her hand on your shoulder that gives you the boost you need to go through with this. That little boy would need your help, you had to be on your A-game.
You can’t help but be nervous though, you felt you weren’t qualified for whatever you were about to witness, the horrors of a tragedy you wouldn’t be able to forget. You sucked in another breath and tightened your resolve. You would see this through.
“You’re really only here to observe and if I need anything from you, you’ll follow through. We’ll handle everything.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The elevator dings, signifying your stop and you have to quicken your pace to keep up with Dr. Reese as she moves with all the grace and poise you would expect from someone of her caliber. She takes you into the ER pediatrics wing and what you find is nothing like the laid back atmosphere you’d seen before, it was utter chaos, nurses and the Pediatric doctor whose on rotation tonight are all moving things aside from one of the larger rooms. Everyone is on edge there is no other way to describe it.
Everyone is grim faced and ready for whatever is about to come.
“ETA two minutes!” The shout of the time causes many who have lined up along the emergency entrance to stiffen, but there is a subtle shift too as though everyone here is going to do the best they can.
“Take a breath everyone and we’ll do the best we can, we’ll do all we can!” Dr. Reese had spoken up and been the beacon in the darkness, many needed to hear. You had needed to hear as you followed her instructions without thought as the first flash of red and white lights reflected off the ambulance entrance.
Natsuo let his attention drift to his phone as he lingered in the kitchen of his apartment. “She should have been off hours ago,” he muttered as he dragged his hand through his hair. He was trying not to overreact, but usually you texted him and let him know when you were off work, and heading to your car, and when you made it there and were heading home. It might have seemed like over communication, but it was just something you two did, even if you couldn’t always respond back. Knowing you were safe was incredibly important to him.
He tapped his finger against the counter before he tried to call you again and frowned as the call kept ringing and ringing before hitting your voicemail. He knew you were at work, but he couldn’t let his worry go and pressed his hand against the counter as he let his phone slide across the island. “I’m sure she’s fine,” he told himself as his blue eyes went to the clock over the stove. It was a few minutes after eleven now.
His fingers curled around his car keys as he shoved them in the pockets of his dark gray sweats and reached for his phone.
But what if she’s not?
It was a thought he couldn’t let go of, he couldn’t just assume everything was fine, not when he couldn’t get ahold of you. He couldn’t just ignore this, he wasn’t like the last guy you dated, who was fine with little communication, not knowing if you were safe.
Perhaps it was because of his dad’s job, but he couldn’t not know if you were okay, that you were still breathing. It had been an adjustment for you, but you didn’t feel it was overwhelming or over the top, it was just how he showed he cared, that he loved you. You were important to him, you mattered.
It was that worry that brought him out of his apartment, to his car where he headed toward your work. It wasn’t hard to find the employee parking, he’d been here with you before a couple of times, when he’d stop by to have lunch with you. Sometimes he’d even drop you off and pick you up from work. He enjoyed those days, being able to hold your hand as he drove. It was so mundane, but he wouldn’t trade it for the world. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel at a red light, as for a moment he wondered what his life would be like without you. “Idiot,” he growled to himself as he felt his uneasiness grow as he pressed on the gas pedal a little too hard when the light changed colors.
The hospital looked just like it always did, but he parked and entered through the employee entrance. He wasn’t about to go through either ER entrance, that would be a level of embarrassment he wanted to spare you. As he hit the elevator to the first floor, he swung by the security office and it helped that a lot of people knew him, thanks to his dad and well you. He was around you often enough, he was regular.
“I don’t mean to bother you Jake,” he told the older man as he rubbed at the back of his neck. “It’s silly really…but Y/N was supposed to be off work hours ago and I can’t get a hold of her.”
The older man gave him a knowing look before he passed him a visitor’s badge. “Visiting hours are over, but take this. I think she was called down to the Pediatric wing,” he told him his voice grave as he let the badge go.
At this news Natsuo frowned, his teeth pressing together tightly. He knew that look…it was a look his father had given him before telling him his older brother wasn’t coming home.
He sucked in a breath and turned his back, not wanting the other to see his face. “Thanks, I’ll check on her.” It was all he could say as he kept his voice steady as he moved past the visitor elevators to the other hallways that didn’t look like they went anywhere to those who weren’t familiar with the layout. He remembered where the Pediatric ER was, because you had been so excited to give him a tour, one day when things had been slow. You had also shown him off a little to your friends and he’s been nice and respectful, but he hadn’t let go of your hand the whole time.
He had just slipped through the automatic doors of the Pediatric wing, he saw you at one of the computers, sitting there staring at the screen almost blankly, not comprehending whatever you were trying to do. He felt his body tremble with emotions he wasn’t sure how to name as he slowly moved closer.
A hand on his shoulder stopped him, and he glanced to the side to see a tired middle aged woman, he glanced down at her badge to read her name. “Mr. Todoroki, we were just about to call you.” Her tone wasn’t exactly disapproving, but her gaze darted to the badge in his hand. “I got worried when I couldn’t get a hold of her.” His words weren’t anything special really, but he saw the older woman blink and raise a finger to run under her eye. The emotion he couldn’t help but see made him frown, whatever had happened here…it wasn’t good.
“Please take her home tonight —“ With a hard press of her lips, Dr. Reese couldn’t stop her gaze from shooting to the closed glass door where the screen was drawn, but nothing could hide the anguished, gut wrenching sobs that could still be heard. “Tonight hasn’t been easy, consider Y/N off today. I will see her on Monday.”
Natsuo frowned at her words before his gaze caught the clock to see it was nearing midnight. He nodded, feeling his throat go tight. He forced himself to swallow before he slowly approached you. You didn’t react to him and instead he crouched down to your level, his fingers settling on your legs. “Hey beautiful,” his greeting and soft words had your eyes tracking him slowly.
You swallowed your features tight as you took in a slow breath, you opened your mouth but no sound would come out and instead you closed it, your teeth sinking against your lower lip. “Let’s go home,” he said softly, his fingers brushing across your knuckles, watching you pull away from him, your gaze darting to the closed room, your hand curling tighter into a fist, so hard your knuckles were white.
He knew this wasn’t how you wanted to fall apart, not here, not like this not in front of so many. He doesn’t take it personally as you withdraw from him, whatever happened tonight, it wasn’t good. But, when was it ever?
Instead of being too pushy he tried a different approach, letting you come to the decision to leave. He sat back on his heels and withdrew his touch from you. He could read the signs and it wasn’t hard to see that you needed space and you needed control. “I’ll be waiting out in the hallway, come find me when you’re ready to leave.” With those parting words he rose to his full height and maneuvered out of the Pediatric ward without any issue.
As you watched him leave you let your mind wander back to what had happened a short time ago. Your nails biting into your palms as you let your gaze go back to the child’s information, you had a name, a name to associate with the face you couldn’t stop seeing in your head or whose small hand you could still feel in your own.
A shuddering breath left your lips and you held tight to your ability to weather any storm that came your way. You had to weather through, you had to move past this, but how? The first loss is always the hardest, you knew that…but it wasn’t any easier…to know when you got to go home but that little boy, he didn’t get to go home. That father was without his son and his wife was still fighting for her life at another hospital. Did he even know, had anyone told him?
Surely someone had, someone must have. You swallowed your whole body tense as the door opened, sliding back in the silence that had descended the Peds Emergency Room. The middle aged man, looked at all of you gathered and bowed his head. His voice was trembling and emotional, but he told you all “Thank you, thank you for t-trying to save my l-little boy.” The chaplain of your hospital placed a hand on his shoulder and directed him out into another hallway. One of the officers on the scene lingered going to drive him to the hospital where his wife had been taken.
You weren’t the only one moved to tears, but you turned away from the child's father and your coworkers. Instead you moved away, slipped into the back hallway. Your arms curled around Natsuo’s waist when you found him lingering in the hallway, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his sweats. You buried your face into his chest and his arms caged you in, protected you from falling too far. His fingers traveled through your hair as he felt your body shutter against his own. He didn’t try and get you to walk with him, instead he stayed right where you were and only after you calmed down enough, did you take his hand and he didn’t mind how tightly you held on to his hand as you both went back to his car.
He helped you fasten your seatbelt when your hands wouldn’t stop shaking, before he started the car. He laced his fingers with yours when you had prodded at him silently, needing that connection, that reassurance as he left the parking garage. He would always pick you up, he would always support you. This right here, right now was what he wanted for the rest of his life. To be someone you could lean on and be vulnerable with.
The drive home was quiet, but that was alright, he didn’t fill the silence with meaningless chatter or sugar coated words like “it’ll get better”, or “ things would be alright.” That wasn’t true and he wasn’t about to lie to you.
You had gotten control over your emotions, on the walk back to his. Just because you had control didn’t mean you were alright, no your boyfriend saw the cracks in your hastily thrown on armor. He didn’t poke or prod at the cracks, no he smoothed over the rough edges and gave you the space you needed to come to terms with letting him in or not. You didn’t need to worry with him, he had proven to take your emotions without fail, without any negative reactions, or possessiveness you had dealt with from your other boyfriend, he wasn’t intimidated by your intelligence and your drive. He supported you wholeheartedly, in every aspect of your life. Sure you both argued, but he was not his father, he would never raise a hand against you and he always kept your disagreements clean, he didn’t chip away at your insecurities or degrade you.
He turned the engine off and sat back in his seat, his fingers still carefully laced with yours, he unbuckled his seat belt and yours before settling back. “I was worried about you,” his admission was low in the silence between you. Your fingers tightened on his own and he continued his voice low and steady as you drew your knees to your chest, he didn't comment on your shoes on his passenger seat, none of that matters.
He ran his other hand through his hair, wondering if he’d stepped out of line. He didn’t want to lose someone else who meant so much to him. The thought of losing you worried him, he’d pieced together what happened tonight, it was too easy not to do that. He may not be in the same field as you, but he wasn’t a slouch in the intelligence department either. He bit back his own words not wanting to make you feel pressured to talk.
“He was only five years old,” you whisper into the darkness of the car, as the heat had been slowly seeping away for some time.
You hadn’t even in the awkward position you were in, let go of his hand, you had kept your fingers laced so tightly with his, that he was sure you were hurting yourself but he didn’t step in, didn’t stop you.
He grit his teeth as the desperate edge to your voice, the despair he knew all too well. “C’mon beautiful,” he murmured, tugging gently on your clasped hand.
You didn’t know what set you moving across the console, but you were pressed against him, your legs sliding across his own, your arms wound around his neck and your head bowed, eyes filled with tears once more that trickled slowly down your cheeks. His arms slid around your back as he held you tight as you cried. He was quiet, your pain he shared silently.
He traced small designs into your back and softly told you how much he loved you, but for the most part the exchange was quiet.
Natsuo felt you shiver in her arms and made the decision to take you inside, sliding carefully from the car and keeping you from hitting your head as he got out of the car with you. You weren’t asleep, but you let him carry you, you let him take care of you.
Once inside his apartment, he took you into the bathroom, letting you stand on your own as he helped you out of your coat, but you shoved his hands away. You were perfectly capable of doing this yourself, you didn’t need his help. “I can do it!” you hate the bite in your words as you avert your gaze as you strip out of the rest of your clothes. He doesn’t say anything to your anger, he’s been there, before he may have been years younger, but he’s probably one of the few who would understand what you’re going through, who understood you. Instead he moves to fill the tub with hot water, before he heard you move toward the counter, for a moment he didn’t think anything of it until the shattering of hard ceramic against the wall. He swiftly turned, striding over to you, as he watched, your hands moving to slam against the counter.
“Y/N!” He called loudly to try and get your attention, he was too late as your balled hands met the bathroom counter. His hands swiftly grabbed your wrists, trying to coax you away. “Are you hurt?” He asked you, his eyes looking at your hands at your wrists looking for any injuries, any bleeding. His fingers brushing up your wrists as you pull away from him.
Your boyfriend carefully backed you away from the other small breakable items on the counter and away from what littered the bathroom entryway. “It’s not fair—“ You told him, your nails biting across your flesh. “I know,” he whispered as he brushed your cheek once more of the tears you hadn’t even known you had shed.
“I couldn’t leave him like that,” you whispered brokenly. “I-I c-could only h-hold his hand.” Your words had him sliding to his knees as you sank against the wall. He moved with you, letting you move. “He must have been so scared, so alone –” your breath hitches and you press your hands against your eyes as though that would somehow make the images flashing across your mind stop, as though that would somehow make it all stop.
Natsuo grit his teeth as he listened to the bits and pieces that you told him. He kept himself between you and the entryway. He didn’t want you to accidentally hurt yourself. He didn’t reach for you, he wasn’t sure what the best course of action was, but he felt you needed a little personal space. He didn’t want to crowd you and he slowly sank back on the balls of his feet. Carefully he stroked down your arm, wishing he could make things easier.
“He wasn’t though,” His soft words caused you to peer at him through your hands, your eyes red rimmed and filled with a sorrow he couldn’t ease, he couldn’t take that away. With time it would get easier, but this was a battle he couldn’t help you with. Slowly his fingers clasped your hand, his gray eyes met yours, his other hand cupping your cheek as you lowered your hands as your elbow rested on your bent knees and he moved carefully into the space your legs provided. “He had you babe, he had someone who showed him love and compassion. You stayed with him.” He whispered as a single tear trailed down his cheek.
Your fingers brushed across his cheek, slowly and with great care you wiped away the tear he’d shed. As though you were seeing him for the first time. “I’m sorry,” came your faint words.
“Don’t apologize,” he pressed as his thumb caressed your cheek and you moved with such a speed, that he fell back, your hand tightening on his cheek as your lips found his as your body settled over his own. His fingers laced with yours as his arms curled around your back to draw you closer. You would never be alone, he would always be here to pick up the pieces.
I hope you enjoy this piece! You gave me a lot of creative freedom here and I hope you like it! I had so much fun with this after I figured out a way to kinda run with the soul mates idea and do it in a very unique and kinda wizardly way. Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays! You enjoy all the Great things! 🥰💝❤️💕
This was my first time writing Shouto and I had a lot of fun with it after I figured it out. Thank you so much!
This piece is for the BNHarem Discord server’s Secret Santa event we did with those who signed up.
For those who take a look at this as well, I hope you enjoy! Feedback and comments, likes and reblogs are always welcome! 🤗
If you’re only here to hate because well it’s Harry Potter, please keep your opinions to yourself. Oh the book titles are made up and it’s thanks to my boyfriend they exist in the first place when I needed some ideas! 🥰
Summary: Hogwarts is a place of wonder and magic for many young wizards, but for others it can be a place of refuge, friendship, acceptance and love. Soul mates exist and this is the story of how two best friends realize just how close they really are.
Characters: Shouto Todoroki x Reader | Toya Todoroki & Mentions of the Todoroki Family.
Word Count: 7695
Dividers came from @firefly-graphics specifically here
Your fingers begin to cramp up and you set your quill down carefully, as you shake out your hand, before flexing your fingers, bending them a few times before letting your gaze drift back to the words that were bleeding together on the pages of Lunar Trances. You weren’t the only one scrambling to find various books on Werewolves after Professor Snape gave the surprise essay in your Defense Against the Dark Arts class after Professor Lupin wasn’t there to teach today. Snape had been the last person you and the rest of the class had wanted to see, your face had fallen just like the rest at seeing the Slytherin house leader standing before the desk.
His jealousy over Professor Lupin was horribly obvious to just about everyone but the Slytherins. You had been placed in Gryffindor when you had been sorted by the sorting hat all those years ago. You loved your house, enjoyed all your friends, but none of them could compare to the boy who you were drawn to. You both had been close as children, your parents were often invited to the same Ministry of Magic functions, and thus their spouses and children were encouraged to come too. It was how you had met the well known Todoroki family and gotten to be as close as you were with them.
You sighed, as you ran your hand down your face for a moment before taking another stab at finding the information you were looking for. Lunar Trances was the first book you had found and snatched up, after all the others were looking for books on Werewolves too. It had been one of three you had been looking for. The second you had tucked next to you but hadn’t begun to read yet, it was Luna’s Gaze. You didn’t look up from your reading as the chair across from you scraped back.
You had assumed it was your girlfriend, she’d been hounding you for ages to come watch her quidditch practice . “Look Lex, I can’t watch your practice tonight, this paper is due tomorrow and I’m already behind, you know Professor Snape is going to skin me alive if it’s not done, after I bumped into him in the courtyard last week.” You scowled down the parchment paper in front of you at the memory. “He wasn’t happy that we’d both lost our footing!” Your sigh was heavy and you can’t help the whine in your voice as you remember the horribly fiasco.
“So that’s why he’s been in a particularly foul mood, who would have thought you’d be the cause,” The masculine voice and teasing tone had you jerking your gaze up toward your desk mate. If it wasn’t your partner in crime in the flesh. “Toya, I thought you had class with Professor Hagrid.” You watch him shrug as he places his hands over a book he’d set down. “We did, but a Slytherin 3rd year caused a ruckus with the Hippogriff, and the class was cut short thanks to his blunder, kids lucky he didn't lose a few fingers.”
His off handed comment caused your lips to twitch upward, you really shouldn't be finding any sort of humor in someone else’s possible loss of appendages...but it was hard not too when it happened with Slytherin. Only made harder by his description of the kid when you had asked, many in the school were all too aware of Malfoy and his desire to appear bigger than he was, all because of who his father was.
“Actually,” he amended with a widening grin as his lips moved exposing his teeth as he stuck his tongue out at you, wiggling his tongue piercing and arching a studded brow at you. “I wish he had, Slytherin would need a new seeker,” he told you darkly.
It wasn’t the first time you wondered how Toya had gotten into the Gryffindor house, sometimes you saw the darker parts. They didn’t bother you, but it was the side that left a few people uncomfortable. It was alright though it was part of his charm, that bad boy vibe that had many flocking to him, but he wouldn’t be swayed.
He was bound to your friend Lexi and what they shared made you wish for that too with Shouto. You had watched their marks in visible places change as they got closer, no longer was it the original pale blue color along their skin, but they were now a deep vibrant red, that sparkled in the sun. Not every soul mate shared such a strong bond, but you hoped that you would. It was always wonderous to watch the tattoos of the other’s Patronus move along their skin, rippling as though a true animal and alive. Meeting as their hands touched or his arm would travel along her shoulder and draw her close.
Soul marks were powerful, the stronger the bond, the stronger their protection against the dark, dangerous magic that lived in our world. Love was powerful indeed.
Toya was one of your best friends despite the age difference between you, and he was also one of the few who had picked up on your bond with his little brother, before anyone else. The guy was always making little comments that left you flustered and embarrassed and Shouto annoyed at being left in the dark.
Being friends with the various siblings of the Todoroki family was definitely eventful, but it left very little private sometimes. Like what happened last year with the youngest Shouto Todoroki who had been your friend ever since you had first met during a winter event at the Ministry of Magic when you had been six years old.
He was the youngest spoiled rotten, but a caring and kind boy who loved his family. You were close to them and thus it left you able to see much of what their father tried to hide from the wizarding world. The downward spiral of their mother Rei Todoroki’s mental health after the attack she suffered at the hands of someone found to be linked to the Dark One. Whose dark magic drove her further and further away from her family and her husband. Whatever he had done had destroyed their connection, their bonds, and thus it sent her into a downward spiral.
Her absence came with horrible heavy weight that was left on the rest of the family. To lose your mother, the love of your life…when she was alive, but filled with hatred against those she loved with all her heart. How did one survive that?
The truth was they didn’t. It ate away at the very foundation of the Todoroki family and it nearly destroyed them all.
It wasn’t hard to see the signs of the family spiral during their mothers episodes and as the years passed you saw Toya’s rebelliousness get worse, his own cry for help at his fathers pressures he couldn’t live up to. The weight rested so heavily on his shoulders as Rei’s health diminished. It was no surprise when he did his best to escape and stayed out with his friends, withdrawing from his family and his responsibilities he felt he couldn’t live up too.
Fuyumi stepped in to fill the gap her mothers absence left, struggling to keep the family together and hold onto the hope that things would get better with time. Natsuo got angry and the fighting with his father Enji got worse and worse. It was the only way they could communicate at the moment was with anger, but. he didn’t leave his family to pick up the pieces, no he stayed to help Fuyumi and keep an eye on Shoto, as he struggled to convince Touya to stay.
Shoto withdrew into himself, tightening down his emotions and shutting them in a box. He didn’t want to be a problem and thus he kept his head down, and kept mostly to himself, distancing himself from his family and the world.
You’d been lucky he’d opened up to you like he had during that, it hadn’t been easy, but you didn’t abandon them. You did what you could and it was something they appreciated. You were there, you listened…and you stayed.
“I’m glad I missed that,” you told him with a soft sigh as you let your attention drift for another moment down to your parchment, before you raised a brow at the dyed black haired young man’s book that he was covering with his arms, his blue eyes mirthful as though he had something you most certainly were going to want.
Your scowl at the book, and at him as he slowly raises each finger letting you see the title on the spine as his black painted fingernails no longer hide it from view. It was The curse of the starlit night. You needed that book for your report! You’d scoured the library twice looking for it! “I’ve been looking for that!” You exclaimed a little too loudly causing others to shoot you both looks of contempt and the other to only widened his grin as he felt a touch along the base of his neck before a body pressed against his back.
“You should really keep your voice down Y/N, this is a library you know,” The new voice is feminine and one you know all too well.
“I usually do,” you can’t help the defensive note in your voice as though all your good library behavior would excuse this one. “That’s not what happened last week,” Touya teased, pressing his feet back against the floor and letting his weight fall back more fully against the young woman behind him.
“Will you shut up?!” You can’t help but hiss in a low tone.
“How long are you going to hide it from him? It’s been nearly a year you should just tell him,” The comment that came from Alexis had you frowning, your fingers curling atop your unfinished essay. It was clear the two of them had been talking amongst themselves about your love life…or well lack thereof but still!
As long as I have to keep things from breaking apart.
Your gaze slid to the young woman with curly long hair that fell over her shoulders and for a moment you were in awe over the way the ends of her hair were pastel pink, and then after a few moments changed to another color. Your gaze went to her arms that were encircled around Touya’s neck, and watched the black panther prowl along her exposed arms.
This only worked because Touya was sitting down, their height difference was almost comical, but it was cute and jealousy slithered in your heart as you watched the lioness sit on the back of Touya’s hand in all its vermillion glory as his fingers curled along one of her wrists and his thumb stroked along her skin. The movement unconscious. “Hey babe,” he greeted as he tilted his head toward you as Lexi rested her chin atop of head and he didn’t mind in the slightest. She didn’t answer him, but her arms tightened in her own form of reply to his hello. Her gaze drifted back to you.
You leaned back in your seat and crossed your arms over your chest feeling defensive, and envious of what they had. Lexi had been exactly what Touya needed to fix the connections with his family and find his way back home. “It just hasn’t been the right time…” your excuse sounds lame even to your own ears as you remember the night that changed your relationship with Shouto Todoroki, into an almost unattainable dream.
You and Shouto had been ice skating on the frozen lake last year. Something that really shouldn’t have been happening at all, but you couldn’t sleep so you’d snuck out to sit at the edge of the frozen lake looking up at the stars. You’d never expected him to join you that evening. For his fingers to carefully link with yours in the still freezing night.
It was just to keep your fingers warm you had tried to tell yourself, but that hadn’t stopped your heart from beating loudly in your chest. Even at the memory as you felt your cheeks heat in remembrance.
“Are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?” His voice was low and he’d leaned into you letting his larger body invade your space as his words tickled your ear. You shivered at the sensation, something else you explained away with the temperature. It was freezing and neither one of you should be out here.
You buried your face into your knees and held on tighter to him needing some sort of crutch to reality. You had gotten the news just after dinner when Professor Mcgonagall asked to speak with you. The letter in her hand, open and crumpled slightly from where she had held it a little too tightly.
“Miss L/N…” her words were gentle and her eyes assessing everything about you as you stood before her, unable to bring yourself to sit down when she’d suggested it.
“Your parents sent a letter about your acceptance into…”
“I don’t want to go!” Your outburst is what causes her to cast you a reproachful look, as your eyes narrow at your Head of House. It wasn’t her fault, none of this was her fault. The only ones to blame were your parents and it was only because of your father’s transfer to the North American branch, he’d gotten that promotion, he‘d always wanted…they were just trying to ensure the best education for you. “I didn’t ask to be transferred from Hogwarts! Don’t I get a choice in it, in any of this?!”
The thought of having to leave your friends filtered through your mind and you took a breath to try and steady yourself from the anger and other emotions that wish to hurt you. You didn’t want to leave…you liked it here. Hogwarts was your home.
“You’re still a minor my dear, your parents only —“
“I’ll be seventeen at the end of the term. I’ll be eighteen next year. I just —“
“My dear you really need to talk this over with your parents…surely they will understand.”
Her words weren’t meant to defeat you, but it felt like she was siding with them, wasn’t she supposed to be on your side. Didn’t she want you here?
I-I“ your words falter as your voice weaves and cracks under the emotion, your eyes filled with tears as you take a deep breath and then another to try and calm down as a tear trails down your cheek. “D-don’t w-want to leave,” you hate the hitch in your words but you can’t do anything about it, not now. You can’t hide how you feel.
Your fingers slide across your cheek to take away the evidence but she’s already up in a flurry of her robes and curling her arms around you as she gently rubs your back, she was very much a motherly figure when you weren’t at home and you appreciated that, now more than ever. “I like it here…” you whisper as her kindness only makes your tears travel faster along your cheeks.
“I’ll speak with Albus…” she murmured softly as she held you a little tighter, not catching her own slip of the tongue.
That meeting was what led you to your current escape and was probably the only reason you were able to be out here without any punishment awaiting.
As his shoulder pressed against your own a little harder and his fingers tightened on your own. But he didn’t press you to talk, instead he waited for you to make the first move. He knew that you would tell him eventually or you would avoid the subject all together and that sort of dictated how things would go and told him something about whatever was going on.
“Have you been ice skating yet?” You ask him, your cold lips close to his ear and it caused his own heart to race and his ears to burn with color, but thankfully he was able to keep you unaware of what you did to him. You allowed him to hide how he felt. He didn’t want to ruin your friendship, you were too important to risk.
Shoto covered your lips with his other hand. He watched the way your eyes widened. “How long have you been out here?” He questioned, as he did his own mental calculations and the possibility made his concern only grow as he watched you shiver even with the heavy winter cloak around you. His mismatched eyes narrowed and he could feel the way you grinned against his hands and saw the way your cheeks heated with color. He felt your lips move and your muffled voice against his hand. “Maybe an hour,” you tell him as your gazes lock over his hand as his warmth seeps into you.
He couldn’t explain the feeling that had settled when dinner had ended and you had been escorted to Professor Mcgonagall's office. He’d glanced toward the hall before he’d waited for you. He didn’t press you to tell him what was wrong, instead you two had gone back to the Gryffindor common area in complete silence. He knew you had been crying, your red rimmed eyes and tightly pressed lips as you held your head high and walked back.
You’d slipped away from him up to the girls dorm before he could try and figure out how to ask you what happened. You would tell him with time, but that didn’t make seeing you in distress any easier. You were his best friend and as you slipped through his grasp tonight, as he let you walk away from him. He wondered if his silence, if his refusal to press you was somehow worse as he’d done nothing.
Toya would have taken you aside and demanded answers and yet he had given you what no one else would have: space and time to come to terms with whatever was bothering. It was an understanding you appreciated, but was it needed? Should he have done something different? It was a struggle to feel like he made the right choice, when it felt like he wasn’t doing enough.
He hadn’t stayed with the rest of the house and their nightly activities, instead he’d retired early too. Wanting space to think about everything as he tried to figure out what he should do for you.
He hadn’t been able to sleep tossing and turning as he debated with himself on what he should do about you. Should he confront you and demand to know what had upset you or was it best to wait it out? He hated the powerlessness that settled over him, as his worry only continued to grow as the night wore on.
He rolled over toward his dresser drawer and began to search the contents inside. It wasn’t long before he pulled out a small folded up piece of blank parchment that didn’t appear to be anything special at all.
The marauder's map was special, something he’d received just this year from Touya, who had said he didn’t need it and instead gifted it to him after explaining how to use it. Shouto took out his wand and tapped it against the blank pages. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” The parchment bleed into life showing his current location and the vast expanse of Hogwarts and as he let his finger travel over the names he could see, one caught his eye on the ground out by the lake and as he focused on the name, his frown only deepened as he moved quietly about his room, dressing quickly and throwing his cloak on as he slipped down the stairs, his shoes in hand and his wand in his pocket, the map in his other hand as he slipped from the Gryffindor tower and out onto the grounds after only having to avoid a few of the Professors like Snape and Filch and his cat Mrs. Norris.
His scarf tied around his neck and the other down his back as he crunched through the heavy snow in his winter boots and found you so easily. The map tucked safely in his pocket, but still active. You knew about the map and he’d shown you how to use it, together you two had been on more than one night of exploring the castle.
It was how he’d gotten to this current situation with you and the frigid winter weather. His hand laced with yours when he’d first sat down and now, now here he was with you. Your words of being out here for over an hour had him removing his scarf and settling it around your neck, his fingers carefully moving your hair out of the way. His fingers brushed the back of your neck causing you to shiver and your cheeks to flush brighter. “You shouldn’t be out here by yourself,” he told you firmly as he tucked the end of the scarf into itself before he stood, his fingers tightening on your still laced fingers.
“C’mon,” he told you as he tugged you to your sneaker covered feet. Instead of heading toward the castle as you had expected, he ventured with you out on the lake.
You were both talented in your own right, so creating magical skates on the bottom of your shoes for a witch and wizard were all too easy and thus it was where you two had far too much fun under the moonlit sky.
You both were two close together, your foot snagged his skate and you both went down. His arms twisted around you and his body slammed hard into the ice with you on top of him. Your fingers had snared his robe and it ripped on the way down, exposing his upper arm to you and as you stare at the small light blue animal of his soul mark, it’s sleeping eyes open and it’s head turns toward you as though seeing you for the first time.
He was your soul mate, your other half.
“It is you,” he whispered the words softly drawing you gaze back to him. He shouldn’t have closed the distance between you, as his cold fingers touched your cheek and traveled along the base of your neck. You shouldn’t have inched ever closer to him. “I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” his soft admission makes your eyes water. No one had ever made you feel more wanted than in this moment. “Nothing is stopping you,” you whisper softly, your cheeks flushed with color and your body so strangely warm even the cold can’t touch you as your lips meet for the first time.
This was home, as your fingers brushed through his hair, something you had always wanted to do, but held back. Not wanting to chance ruining your friendship, besides he wasn’t one who liked physical touch. You’d seen how he was with others and you had gone out of your way to respect his boundaries.
You begin to pull back your hand from his hair but his hand on your wrist stops you. “Don’t, with you it’s ok,” his voice is soft and you can see his breath in the space between you. You smile softly, your cheeks on fire, but you sit back and let your fingers travel through his hair again. He leans into your touch and for a moment he lets himself relish in your contact, the touch reminds him of what his mother used to do.
You press your nose to his, as he scrunches his own at the coldness of yours and your laughter is soft and low as you begin to stand. “We should head inside,” you words left your lips and your hand stretches out for him to help him up.
You both had just found your feet, when something heavy slams into the ice covering the lake's deep waters. You both jump, twisting toward the bank to see how far it is to safety. As his fingers tighten on yours as he pulls his wand from his pocket, ready to defend you.
You hand curls around your wand in your opposite hand, something you absently noticed was that your dominant hands were opposite allowing you both to link hands without issue. It was just another small sign of how you were made for each other.
A horrifying sound of a gunshot had you both freezing in mid motion, your eyes finding the others as the first crack in the lake’s frozen surface appeared before it spiderwebbed outward and you were slammed into by a spell that send you off your feet into the snow bank, no longer in danger on the middle of the lake.
He’d used the precious seconds to cast a spell to send you to safety, at least there you would surely be safe. You tried to raise your head, to roll over and get back to your feet as you felt the world blacken around the edges. You screamed his name and as you took another slow step, you felt another spell hit you and your eyes grew heavy as you watched Shouto disappear into the dark, icy depths of the lake.
You woke in the infirmary hours later, the sleeping spell no longer affecting you. Your eyes fluttered open for a moment, the low lights making you squeeze them shut with a soft sound of pain as you raised your arm to try and cover your eyes. It was in that brief moment of not fully conscious, that it took a few moments for your memories to circle back, to come back into focus and when you did, you shot up in bed, not registering you were in the infirmary at Hogwarts. Your ribs ached, not yet fully healed. Your eyes filled with tears as you struggled to look beyond them.
A strangled cry left your lips, a cross between a sob and a wail as you tried to climb out of bed, the muttered words of “No,no, no.” On loop as your feet touched the ground you almost face planted, as your legs folded under you.
Strong arms encircled your waist, keeping you from falling. “Careful Princess…it’s ok. He’s ok. Take a breath for me.” Touya’s face swam into view, his blue eyes concerned, but he didn’t look angry, he wasn’t mad at you. You took a shaky breath, your fingers limply curling against his shirt, a side effect of being hit with two spells at once and maybe your concussion too.
“W-what?” You tried for more, but it was too hard and it didn’t matter because he caught on to what you wanted and he carefully and slowly explained what had happened.
How Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Mcgonagall, and Professor Lupin had shown up and saved Shoto from the frozen depths of the lake. What had caused the ice to crack at it was still under Investigation, and the lake and the surrounding area was off limits to all students.
You felt guilty for not being able to do anything during the attack. What sort of witch were you supposed to be? How could you possibly stand on equal footing next to him? When you had been nothing but a burden during the incident at the lake. He could have died…he would have died if it hadn’t been for the teachers and the headmaster.
There was a horrible mistake, you couldn’t possibly be his soul mate. A trick of the light, your own fantasies playing in your head. It was what caused you after the others had left you two alone in the infirmary to place your wand against the side of his head. You needed him to forget the night happened at all or at least where he wouldn’t remember that you’d seen his mark.
“Such a spell on a student is dangerous you know,” the low toned voice from a chair beside the bed had you raising your eyes to the Headmaster. He hadn’t been there before.
“Is his knowledge of that night so bad?” He pressed as he leaned back in the chair, his eyes watching your tear filled face.
“I couldn’t do anything!”
“While that may be true, you were never given the chance to try. Shouto chose to use his magic to save you. Love is not something we can ever fully understand, but it will cause many to make the ultimate sacrifices for those they love.”
He let those words sink as he saw your eyes dart down to his sleeping form and your wand lower. As your thumb brushed along the bandage around his head.
“Is that what you want?”
You were quiet as you considered what he said and you couldn’t deny his words as you slowly let your fingers clasp one of his own. His hand was limp and not nearly as warm as it usually was. Instead of answering him you were quiet as he rose to leave.
His worn hand found your shoulder as he passes by you. “I know you’ll make the right choice Y/N.” You listened to his footsteps as he headed for the door. “Oh one more thing, I spoke with your parents, we see no reason why exceptions can’t be made for your last year at Hogwarts.” He sounded far too chipper with that news and it shouldn’t have brought a small water laugh to your lips as you laid your head down next to the love of your life as you laced your fingers a little tighter with his own as the greatest wizard of all time left you two alone.
It was a few more days before Shouto woke up and the night wasn’t something he could recall. He got the short version from you, but you didn’t bring up everything that happened. How could you? He didn’t remember and it felt hollow to bring up with your parents' move. You didn’t see him much during summer break.
You received his letters though as he told you about what was happening at the Todoroki Estate and how Alexis had met the rest of the family and had even met Rei after she’d been making progress and the doctors were able to slowly restore her connections with her loved ones.
It was during that summer that you distanced yourself from him, punishing yourself and in turn him.
“Y/N, earth to Y/N,” You were brought back by Lexi’s voice and the snap of her fingers in front of your face.
You leaned back in your seat and frowned at her and Touya, who had pulled her in his lap and she was sitting with him, her elbows on the table and his own caging her in. The gesture was ever so possessive, but she didn’t mind his over protectiveness.
“We’ve been over this, he doesn’t remember…I don’t want to make things harder for him.”
You didn’t miss Toya’s pensive look as he tapped his finger on the table before sliding the book across the table toward you. “Does he now?” He muttered more to himself than to either of you.
“Well, we’ll leave you to it Princess,” he told you as the two of them shared a look before Lexi rose to her feet and Toya curled his arm around her back and drew her into his side as they left the library.
You sighed and rubbed your eyes as you steepled your hands together staring at the book Toya had found for you. It was a few more minutes before you dragged it closer and opened the cover to find a small paper note inside with neat, flourished writing that told you the book hadn’t come from him at all.
His gestures, even as you kept your distance this year, he respected your boundaries…even as it internally destroyed you both. But you could suffer through it. It was what you had been doing for months.
While you had seen his mark to know the other was your soul mate, Shouto didn’t. It was something you were still struggling with on how to address it with him. You had feelings for him before finding out last year, but you had wanted him to return your feelings, not feel obligated because of a soul mate mark. You also had your doubts…but you hadn’t wanted to share your mark with him, you felt guilty and you haven't forgiven yourself for what happened last year.
The mark that had become the bane of your existence and caused an ache in your heart you weren’t sure how to alleviate. So instead you ignored it and threw yourself into your school year. Just like you did now, flipping past the note and skimming the table of contents of The curse of the starlit night. It was best if you just focused on your school work.
“Don’t make me do your dirty work, I’m not your little bitch!” Toya growled as he walked past Shouto in the hall outside the library. Shouto stumbled past as his older brother slammed against his shoulder. “Shouldn’t you be nicer to him?” Lexi asked him as they walked away.
They got too far away for him to hear his response, but it didn’t matter and really he didn’t need to as Shouto covered one side of his face with a frown as he slipped through the lingering crowd and looked toward the clock on the wall. He settled against the windowsill and made the choice to wait for you.
Things hadn’t gotten any easier since the new school year. After the accident in December on the lake. His relationship with you became strained, you acted normal, but you had put up a wall with him, not letting him get too close anymore. The ease of your relationship was crumbling before his eyes and he hadn’t been sure how to fix it.
Instead he had buried his feelings for you and resigned himself to whatever semi level of acquaintances you wanted this to be. He refused to lose you, but he hadn’t been sure how to fight for you. Not when he felt there was so much about the accident you weren’t telling him. Your guilt was eating you alive and you were the only one being so hard on yourself. You were his best friend…his only friend he could open to and as you withdrew from it, it nearly killed him.
Your depression wasn’t nearly as hidden so you wanted it to be. He knew the signs and unlike the times before where he could help you, you wouldn’t let him as the school year ended and Summer had begun.
His mother had been making progress toward a full recovery after she’d been attacked by a Dark mage nearly eight years ago. His father had been very secretive about her treatment, he didn’t want to give his children false hope, but he prayed it worked. He hoped with all his heart that the love of his life could return to them as the person she was.
He’d overheard his father in his study as the summer had begun, as he discussed in hushed tones how she was doing. The first month he left on his own nearly three times a week, and the next week it increased to where by the end of the first month he was gone every day for about an hour or two. Eventually, the other children went to see her. Fumi, first and then Natsu. Touya had been hesitant to go, but it was Alexis who finally convinced him to go, but he wouldn’t face their mother without his other half by his side. His own way of showing her that he was alright.
Shoto had been the last to see her, and he spent hours with her, telling her about all the years she had missed. She wanted to know about his life and what she had missed. She also wasn’t against the gentle teasing as she heard how close the two of you were. She expressed interest in wanting to meet you again.
A mother could always tell when her child was upset, so it was far too easy for him to spill your troubles to her and his own. If he couldn’t talk to you, he could talk with the other person in this world who would never judge him, only give him the unconditional love he deserved.
“She’s hurting just as much as you are baby,” Rei murmured as her knuckles tenderly brushed his cheek. “No relationship is easy and it’s those that are worth fighting for. Don’t give up on her, whether she’s your soul mate or not doesn’t matter, she’s important to you.”
It was those words that kept him grounded and helped him get through the summer and into this school year.
He hadn’t meant to doze off waiting for you, but the hours passed and there was only so long that he could stare at the door and watch those who left. It was well into dinner and you still hadn’t made an appearance, he worried that he’d missed you.
With a frown he slipped from his spot and as his fingers found the door handle, he looked down to see you as the door opener from the inside. Your eyes widened as they clashed with his own. “What are you doing here?” You asked him, peering around him to notice the halls were empty, everyone was at the dining hall.
“Waiting for you,” his honest answer, shouldn’t make your heart beat in such a cadence. You step into the hall leaning your back against the Library door, no one would be here till dinner was over. “What can I do for you?” You wonder averting your gaze to the other end of the hallway.
“Take a walk with me?” He asked softly, he held out his hand for you to take. “I want to show you something, I promise it won’t take long.”
He can see the indecision in your eyes, but carefully you lay your palm in his own and try to ignore the way your heart flutters as his hold tightens and he takes you through the halls of Hogwarts and out on the grounds, it takes a moment for you to realize his destination is the lake. It’s upon that, when you begin to dig your heels in. “What are you doing?!” You try to pull your hand from his own, hating the higher edge to your voice.
His hold only tightened on your own as he tugged you closer to him. Your hands catching against his chest as he’d let go of your hand, as he can feel the way your body trembles against his own being so close to the place you had been avoiding ever since that night. “Stop avoiding me, stop shutting me out Y/N,” he whispered against your ear as he caged you in with his arms around your back.
“I’m not—“ you start the lie dying on your lips as you squeeze your eyes shut. The silence between you two allows him to press forward. “What happened that night?” He asked his eyes, staring into your own.
You avert your gaze. “Why do you want to know so badly?”
“Why?” His tone has changed and there is a bitter edge to that single word. “I can’t remember, and whatever happened the night has been eating you alive!” He’d stepped back away to try and give you some space, he was so angry with you, at the situation — with everything.
“This was a mistake,” he muttered as he passed you, his tone colder than what he’d ever been with you as he headed back toward the castle.
Tears travel down your cheeks, your breath is coming too fast too unevenly as he walks away from you.
“You almost died…you could have died and I couldn’t protect you!” Your words bubble up and spill out at his retreating back as you face him, watching how his body had stilled at your words.
“How am I supposed to feel it was my fault we were even out there that night! It was all my fault!”
You don’t remember when he came back, you don’t remember hearing him as his thumbs tenderly brushes away your tears. “Baby, it was never your fault, what happened wasn’t your fault,” His hands cupping your cheeks, his forehead pressing against yours as your arms curl around him.
“I should have never asked to go ice skating, I should have never hid that we’re —“ you caught yourself and felt your teeth sink into your lower lip.
“Soul mates?” Shouto asked softly, his voice mingling with your own. You frowned up at him. “Touya has a big mouth when he’s drunk,” he told you gently, coaxing you to continue to talk with him.
As you slowly went over the night he couldn’t remember, you told him about Professor Mcgonagall calling you to her office and about your parents move, how it might affect your acceptance into Hogwarts for this year. You went over how you’d seen his mark, on his shoulder and how it had been sleeping, but it’s eyes had opened and looked right at you. The first sign of a soul mate was when the creature would awaken from its slumber. You also mentioned the kiss.
His thumb brushed over your lower lip. “We’ll have to do that again, it’s a shame I don’t remember it,” he muttered gently, his words causing your cheeks to heat with color as you continued with the rest of the story. How something had slammed into the ice, how he’d saved you and eventually to the infirmary, your run with Touya and then Dumbledore at your bedside.
You had both sat in silence for a few moments as he took in everything he had learned. His lips pressed against your temple as his fingers tightened on your own, as he leaned toward you.
“Show me your mark and I’ll prove I’m your other half,” he whispered, watching the gears twist and turn as you debated with yourself.
As though to prove how serious he was, he pulled down the collar of his shirt exposing the small house cat, little more than a kitten as it arched on its hind legs and swatted its right paw along his skin to see you. It’s fur was fluffed out and poofy as it moved its mouth to meow up at you.
You felt a flutter of warmth along your shoulder blade, a searing heat where your mark lay dormant along your upper back. “Show me,” he pressed, his nose brushing against yours. “Please,” he murmurs as his fingers brush against your cheek. He’d never been an affectionate person, but with you, with you he craved your touch more than he ever thought possible.
“Fine,” you mutter as you give him your back, pulling your hair over your shoulder to expose the back of your neck. With a slow breath out you tell him where your mark is. He brushes his fingers across the base of your neck making you shiver, before he carefully tugs down the collar of your sweater exposing the sleeping black spotted snow leopard for him to view.
You don’t know what he saw, because whenever you saw it, it was sleeping soundly, but you feel his fingers brush along your back. The zing of heat where he touches as you feel the shift of your soul mark and the sound of a heavy purr.
Shoto can only stare into eyes that mirror his own as the large cat lifts his head upon waking to stare at the human heart that had created him in the first place, his magic breathing life into him, tethering him to the woman who was his other half.
Pieces of the night long forgotten flutter in his mind, as what was missing was restored. He curls his arms around you from behind his forehead on your shoulder. Overwhelmed with emotion as he is reminded of what he felt, how afraid for your life he had been. “I would save you a thousand times over,” he whispers against your ear.
His words cause you to turn, your eyes meeting his own as you brush your fingers along his cheek. “We fight together,” you whisper your nose nearly brushing his. “Always,” he promises before he tilts his head and claims your mouth in a kiss, not that different from the one nearly a year ago in your first Midnight Confession.
A/N: This is a very self indulgent piece that I wrote a few days ago and was on the fence about sharing because I don’t personally like to air my private affairs. That being said, maybe someone else may take a little comfort from this. I wrote this to sort of help process how I was handling things with my fur baby as I wasn’t sure how she was going to fair with everything that was going on. (She’s ok now, thankfully) but it was something that had been weighing heavily on me for the last few days. If you’re going through something similar maybe this can help.
Word Count: 2000
Dividers found here
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He didn’t bat an eye at your request to spar with him. He’d looked up from the stack of ungraded essays as you lingered in the door of his classroom. Your hip tucked against the door jam as you debated coming fully inside his personal domain. The classroom was his territory and you liked to give him his space.
You were always respectful to his students, but with that respect came a different level of ease and sway he didn't have. He ruled his class with a heavy hand, but you were more lax, lively and dropped formalities unless you had to hold them. Some would think that level of ease meant the kids respected you less, but that wasn't the case. You put any and all who thought they could walk all over you in their place.
“What’s the rush?” he questioned; he hadn't yet given you his full attention, but when he didn't receive your usual banter, he frowned to be himself. Still he took a moment to gather himself before he glanced toward you, catching sight of the little red flags most wouldn't notice, but he noticed everything about you.
What caused him to rise to his feet and give you a critical stare was the brightness in your eyes and the red tint that outlined your war-painted eyes. It was the first sign that told him something was wrong. The thin line of your lips, the tension in your shoulders, and lastly the way you held your arms across your chest, which in itself wasn't something to note, but he caught the way you hid your knuckles, hiding the white-knuckled grip as your nails bit against your palm.
Others would see your arrogance, your pride, the tight control, but he could see what lingered underneath. What you so desperately wanted to hide.
Aizawa was careful as he approached you, he wasn't rushed as he set down his papers and capped his red pen. Before he stood rounding his desk and coming to a stop in front of you. He reached out to touch your cheek and you stepped back out of his reach. Usually little touches were alright, even in public you didn't mind it he was careful. Neither of you have ever been big on public displays of affection. He didn’t miss the hitch of your breath as you swallowed and narrowed your eyes at him, using your anger as a shield.
That told him something else, something was wrong. You weren’t often emotional, not like this.
“If you’re not interested I’ll ask Toshi —“
“No!” The world came out harsher than he’d intended and he curled his hands into a fist at his side. You would not be around anyone else right now. Not with whatever this was, whatever had thrown you down such a spiral, to such a dark place. You were ruthless and would only bury it deeper.
With another breath, his following words were calmer, more controlled. “I’m interested.” I’m listening; I’m here. Words he didn’t say out loud, but were implied. These small gestures or words convey more meaning than others fully understand.
You only clamped your teeth together and pressed your lips in a scowl, that was more a grimace as you struggled to lock down your emotions. Instead, you stepped into the deserted hall and headed toward the stairs. Classes had ended a while ago, but you’d been avoiding him, so the fact you were the one to seek him out was comforting, it showed him you were beginning to rely on him, at least a little.
He didn’t mind the silence as he followed after you; it left him plenty of time to worry as he went over the various conversations you two held over the last few days. Nothing flagged, but that didn’t mean much, you were a private person and were just coming to realize that you could rely on him to support you. Your trust was slow and this was your way of reaching out and asking for his time…his attention.
It wasn’t an issue, with him it would never be an issue. He understood you, he knew where you were coming from. He also knew you didn’t need to try so hard around him.
That would take time and he would wait you out. He wasn’t going anywhere. It would just take time to prove that to you, but eventually it would sink in and he was willing to wait however long it takes.
As you kept your distance from him, being careful to keep your body from touching his own, even by accident. The smallest touch would shatter you, shatter your resolve, your tightly held control of your emotions.
When he hit the last stair, he glanced toward the student lockers, not surprised to see the students had all cleared out pretty quickly, given the weekend was coming up. Aizawa held the door open to the staff training room as you ducked under his arm and surveyed the room for a moment. Nothing had changed about it, but that didn’t stop you from assessing it. It was one of the reasons you were good at your job, and no he didn't mean just as a teacher, but as a hero as well.
He stepped up to the mat and removed his capture weapon and hung it on one of the edges of the boxing ring neither of you would be using today. His dark eyes quietly regarding you. “Ready?” He asked as he shifted his stance to face you.
This was one of the ways you talked things through, this method wasn’t ideal for everyone and it seldom worked, but the method and its effects worked for you. He found out quite a bit through trial and error, and a level of persistence few had. Except when it came to him, he was the exception, but it was only because it was you.
You were quiet as you slipped into your own stance. Neither of you made the first move, and words weren't necessary. It was another beat before you gave a tilt of your head, that you were ready before he made the first move. Things never escalated until you were fully prepared. His level of consideration wasn’t something you had been used to, but it was growing on you. It hadn't gone unnoticed that he was only like that with you.
His core stance hadn’t changed but he raised his arm to block your punch, slamming his wrist against your own. He could feel the pain of the blow, the intensity of your attack as you put some of your emotions into it.
“What happened today?”
His question was met with wide eyes and a show of teeth before your next blow hit against his shoulder and he stepped to the side to absorb the blow. He was on to something. He was always amazed at your speed, while others lost themselves to their emotions and got sloppy, you always improved, using your emotions as median.
The hum of sound as he considered his next question as he dipped low, his open palm stroke going for your chin, but you threw your hands down blocking his attack and kicked him in the chest getting some distance between you two.
Your hesitation gave you away.
“You didn’t sleep well last night,” his observation wasn’t meant to infer anything nefarious. He trusted you.
“Stalker much,” you muttered but it was loud enough he could hear you. You danced back a step suddenly retreating as he rushed you, getting some distance for your next attack.
You pressed your fingers around his forearm, as you expertly kept yourself suspended above him in the air, your gaze locking for those few precious moments, as he easily supported your added weight. “You haven’t mentioned her the last few nights, when we’ve talked,” Shota wasn’t sure why it clicked now. You had a tendency not to mention what was bothering you. He’d seen you avoid the subject of classes and your students once when things had been rough a few months ago. He could see the cracks widen in your armor, could see the way your lower lip wobbled as you sucked in air. The question caused you to lose focus and your body to tip back too soon.
He watched you recover your stance as you changed your mind, no longer intent on taking him down, but putting distance instead. You pressed yourself forward before vaulting away from him. The way your knuckle brushed under your right eye told him something as he watched you land before hoping back two more times to skirt the edge of the ring.
The way your shoulders raise in a shrug as you look away from him. That moment of avoidance is all he needs. He’s suddenly in your personal space, one hand cupping your cheek as the first tear rolls down your cheek.
“She’s ok,” you tell him, taking a breath to try and gain back some control but it’s clear who you’re talking about was anything but fine as another tear was wiped away by his thumb as his other hand carefully, gently joined the first.
“What happened?” He asked gently, his tone low.
“She got sick…I’d just got home, you know how it is. We work long hours and her vet’s not open after nine. I took her to the emergency vet.”
With another breath he watches you step away from him, he watches you pull your emotions tighter, wringing them into the box you place everything. He doesn’t tell you that it’s unhealthy to bottle them up; he doesn’t chastise you for doing what you have to do to get back your control. Everyone handles things differently.
Shota also didn’t take it personally because of your desire for space. You aren’t the most affectionate person and to be honest neither is he, but for you he does a lot more than he’d allow with others.
“What did the doctors say?” He asked quietly as his arms folded across his chest, but one arm instantly landed at his side as your fingers brushed along the back of his hand and you carefully linked your index and your middle finger with his own. Small steps, baby steps….he would never be your ex, forcing affection you weren’t ready for, his easy understanding had put you up in arms at first, but overtime you’d allowed him into your life in more ways than merely a friend.
“They need to run some more tests, rule out Addison's and diabetes…she’s really critical, her glucose is low —“
Another step closer brought you into the safety of his arms as you rested your cheek against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart as his free arm curled around your waist as he felt you link your fingers with his own. “She’s tough just like her mom,” he murmured into the silence.
You could only offer a soft sound of agreement to what he said, but he felt the tremors in your body. Shota didn’t offer false hope, but the silent support meant so much more as his fingers tightened on your own. He would be here no matter what, through whatever life had in store for you.
Summary: Things with Hawks have escalated out of your control…you never expect to run into the man who single handedly made your question views on love. You will do anything to keep himself and his little girl safe.
Characters: Shota Aizawa x Reader | Eri | Hawks
Warnings: Some mentioning of bruises, but overall it’s ok.
A/N: I would love to know what you think! This has taken on a mind of its own…but I hope you enjoy it!
Word Count: 3499
Several people tried to approach you after Hawks the famed and the popular Number 2 Hero left you alone on the dance floor. You politely excused yourself, your hero persona so tightly at the forefront you even believed yourself as you lied through your teeth about how you felt. It was a few minutes later that you were finally able to excuse yourself and escape. Your steps took you to the hallway where the restrooms were away from the main Gala and you dipped down one of the side hallways and moved further down the deserted hallway.
You couldn’t breathe, you couldn’t catch your breath and you knew what this was. Another panic attack was about to drag you under as your mind swirled and your stomach twisted and bile threatened to surge from your throat as you remembered his lips on yours, the intrusive way he’d kissed you, the harsh grip of his hands, as though he already had a right to you, when you barely knew each other and it hadn’t been what you’d wanted. He knew that and he didn’t care, because he could take what he wanted from you.
You pressed a hand to the wall and one to your chest as though that would somehow allow air to fill your lungs.
“Careful,” a voice along your ear and a steadying hand along your upper arm had you trying to jerk away, no one could see you like this, could see you spiral. It was too dangerous to your reputation, you couldn’t lose all your hard work. “It’s just me...I’ve got you.” You hated that your body fit so well against his own as he took you a few more steps and pushed open one of the deserted balcony doors.
The cool night air, the open space allowed you to breathe a little easier as you pulled away on unsteady legs toward the balcony railing to let your fingers curl against the cold railing. He let you, but he was right behind you as though his body moved on it’s own, unable to be out of your orbit, as though he were drawn to you, worried for you.
Aizawa watched you work through what you had kept so carefully hidden from the world. Neither of you spoke as he suppressed the urge to draw you closer to him. He knew he shouldn't be here. Had he not come he might have missed your dance, Hawks. His hands fisted at his side as he remembered the other man’s hands on you.
“Better?” he asks softly, resisting the urge to rub your back, to curl his arms around you to draw you closer into the safety of his arms. He doesn't have the right anymore; he gave it up.
So why was he here?
You slowly turn to look at him, your dress flattening against the railing. His dark eyes don’t miss the way your eyes are too wide, he also doesn’t miss the faint bruise along your mouth. His thumb brushes over your lips, his dark eyes flashing red, before he’s carefully moving your hair away from your neck, revealing marks you hadn't even had a chance to notice.
“Was that from him?” his tone is low, his whole body tense as he carefully pulls his hand back cupping your cheek. The tenderness in his touch is nearly your undoing. You don’t need a savior, not when you have to save him. Not when you will do whatever is necessary to keep him safe...you won't be the reason he and his daughter are in a media crossfire.
“It could be from my new lover for all you know, either way It’s none of your business. We aren't together...my life doesn't concern you,” your defiant answer is all you can muster as you latch onto the only thing you can control at the moment and that is shoving him as far away from you as you can...being associated with you, now that you've unceremoniously caught the attention of the number 2.
The thin press of his lips, the way his hands tighten at his sides tells you so much. He’s jealous, jealous that someone even possibly has been with you. He doesn't rise to the bait, he doesn't fight with you. As his voice softens, his concern isn’t masked; it makes it worse.
“No one should ever put a mark on you, not like that. No matter how you want to play kitten,” he can’t stop the bedroom pet name from slipping out and you hate the way your body remembers him, wants him. The tension mounts between you both, as you feel his racing heart under your hand, and can see the way his body is reacting to you.
“You should be careful around him.”
Too little too late…
You can't help the bitter laugh the bubbles up, it borders on a sob and your fingers press into the fabric of his shirt. The gesture is half-hearted, but his whole body stills at your touch, at your request for distance. He doesn't back away, but he doesn't come closer to you. Your heart swells at the gesture, at his respect for you...even after everything he still respects your boundaries, respects you.
Your gaze collides with the dark eyes of the man who broke your heart, to be fair you had shattered his too. You tap your finger against your clothed thigh; you refused to show that seeing him, being around him bothered you. You take a slow breath in, straighten your shoulders and let your gaze clash with his own. “I can handle myself,” the retort falls from your lips and you hide your wince at how childish that sounds, how false you don’t even believe that.
“I never -“ He had started to reach out for you, as though he would cup your cheek. The sound of your hand smacking his own echoed in the darkness surrounding you both.
“Don’t!” The bit of your words causes him to withdraw his hand. “You don’t get to act like you care, like you're jealous of him. You wouldn’t ever be seen with me. Do you know what that feels like?”
The question hung there between you two like another landmine. Waiting to explode, his face fell and his eyes averted from your own, as his hands fisted at his sides. He didn’t say anything.
“I was your dirty little secret; you went out in public with everyone else, but not me, you wouldn't be seen alone with me!” you hissed out the words low, your perfectly manicured French nails courtesy of Yu’s make over poking him in the chest, as your fingers dug into his chest above his heart. Your words were venomous and angry, but your fingers trembled betraying something else under the surface.
“It wasn’t like that,” He whispered as he crowded your personal space, even as you stepped back against the railing as his fingers ghosted over your cheek. The tender touch made you press your lips together to keep your emotions tight. You wouldn't shed another tear for him. You wouldn't.
“I just wanted to protect you,” he growled, his lips close to yours, his eyes enraged as his anger slipped, his hair floating along his shoulders. He wanted to drag you into his arms, never to let you go. To never let anything hurt you. Yet he had done just that, he’d broken your heart, let you walk away. He’d left you alone to cry. He even now wouldn't admit how much he fucked up, wouldn't admit that he loved you. That he was hopelessly in love with you.
“Don’t lie Sho,” you whisper, tears of frustration filling your eyes, but you hold them back; you refuse to shed another tear for him. “I wasn’t what you wanted; if I was you wouldn't hide from the world what we were together...I was just an easy fuck for you. I should have known.”
You refused to blink as your eyes swam with unshed tears, but that didn't stop them from leaking out as a tear slipped down your cheek and you tried to wipe it away, but his thumb brushed it away, his large, warm hand causing others to spill down your cheeks as you take in a hiccupping breath, that sounded too close to a low sob, that you desperately wanted to hide.
His forehead pressed against yours, his hands tightening on your cheeks, not allowing you to leave. “You’re out of my league; it was never just sex. It was never just about that, not with you...you burrowed into my heart, made me feel things I haven't felt in a long time.”
You take a slow breath in, unable to do anything else. He hadn't changed out of his pirate outfit from earlier, he stood out among the people here, but he didn't care. He’d come for you, unable to let you go without a fight.
“I’m sorry,” his lips pressed against your temple before he tipped your chin up to look him in the eye. “I’m sorry I thought I was too old for you, that you deserve someone better than me.”
His fingers stroked your cheek and you could only listen as he poured his heart out to you. “I love you, Eri loves you…” he took a breath and watched you. “It’s ok; it's ok if you don't...if you need more time…” he said softly.
Your fingers curl on his wrist, your lower lip between your teeth as you try to stop the fresh wave of tears, the pressure in your chest lessens and you duck your head against his chest and his arms curl around you as your fingers tighten along his white shirt, this…this was home. “I don’t --” you take a slow breath. “I don’t need more time.”
You know you have to walk away, you can’t risk him, you can’t risk the safety of his family…of Eri. Your only option is to walk away, to put the distance necessary to ensure his safety, their safety. You arch up on your tiptoes, your mouth close to his ear. “You are the only man who holds my heart…I love you Shota Aizawa and I will love you long after the stars have dimmed in the sky.”
His arms encircle you and drawing you closer as his lips press against your temple, you cling to him your arms curling along his waist. “I love you too, that will never change. I wish you would tell me what is going on.” he murmurs into your hair and you bit your lip unable to tell him what you you have wondered into. How do you explain what you’ve stumbled into, how do you explain that you’ve caught the eye of someone untouchable, that you are trapped in a situation you can’t run away from. Not if it means keeping him safe, keeping Eri safe. For now you have to stay silent to figure out away out of this. You can’t, you won’t risk it.
“I need to figure it all out...once I have all the pieces I’ll tell you.” Shota doesn’t press for the information, he respects your decision, he trusts you and for now he’ll let you do it on your own. “I’m here if you need me,” he told you gently and words fail you and as the silence drifts you both spend the silence in each other’s arms, until reality draws you apart.
The Gala is drawing to a close as the voices from below cause you both to tense in each other’s arms. “Come home with me,” he whispers as you two carefully make your way back inside, his hand on the small of your back. You bite your cheek to keep from agreeing as a flash of red catches your attention.
You want to cry as you see Hawks talking with Endeavor and Best Jeanist. As though the young man could hear your thoughts, could hear you, his golden eyes caught you both among the crowd. A single eyebrow quirks upward, but his eyes lose all merriment, his expression doesn’t give away the change. It’s his body language, he smiles toward you, and you can’t breathe as his eyes flicker to the man behind you.
“Till the stars dim, please remember what I said,” your whispered words are spoken so softly that Eraser almost doesn’t catch them, but he notices your distress almost immediately.
“Go home, go to Eri,” you step further away from him as he reaches out toward you, as though to stop you from leaving his side.
Hawks is suddenly there at your side, his arm along your waist, his fingers pressing against the tender flesh along your hip. “Eraser, what a surprise,” he greets him. His golden eyes are hard, as the two of them size up each other. “Even the hero's work has managed to drag you out of your home. Out with your little one were you?” He questions with a dazzling smile, his question causes the older man to narrow his eyes at him, as though reading between the lines so few were able.
He clenches his jaw, his dark eyes traveling to
You for only a moment, as he chooses his words with greater care than people would assume of him. “Just a quick stop in, it’s already late. I need to be heading home,” he said stiffly as he forced himself to walk away, out of the building listening as Hawks took you back over to the Pro Heroes on a level he would never be, on a level he had never wanted to be.
He never realized how untouchable they really were until it was waved in front of his face. He hit the night air as he walked swiftly to his car, his phone in hand as he dialed Mandalay…he had to know that Eri was ok. Once that was settled…he was going to do some digging. He was going to bring the hero world to its knees.
Summary: To Masaru his mission has always come first, there has never been anything or anyone more important. Until he met Hikari...she has been a light in his darkness. Her very presence has chased away his tragic memories and reminded him that he is not alone. The truth can never stay buried and this is the story of how love can conquer all if given a chance to flourish.
Part of my Blood Trilogy series. Masaru appears in Blood Lilies and Blood Ties set a few years apart.
Word Count: 2479
Dividers found here
Masaru’s gaze darted toward a sound he had never heard in his lifetime. The smoke obscured his vision but eventually he could see through it, he could see who made that sound, that made his stomach tighten. He could see the man who had once been his teacher, the man who had taught him so much, the man who didn't see just a delinquent teen. He saw him, he helped him. It wasn't the first time he’d wondered after the accident how far he’d allowed himself to fall.
He’d turned to taking his guilt and his regret out in ways that would destroy the world he’d wished for when Hannah had been alive, when his classmates had been alive. The guilt gnawed at his heart, chipped away at his sanity and left in its wake a young man desperate to destroy himself.
No one could reach him, no one could touch him. He fell into the darkness of his despair believing there could be no salvation, no one could save him. He didn't deserve to be saved. He couldn't save his friends, his classmates...his girlfriend.
The building had crumbled, had caved inward, had collapsed...and he’d let it happen.
Even after his redemption, his realization that he could be a hero, he could save people. He was stronger now. It was after the earthquake four years ago. He’d not intended to get involved, but he had. He’d stepped forward, kept the chunk of the building from crushing the pedestrians on the sidewalk. He’d held the building as other heroes had aided in the rescue and it was because of that incident...that landed him in the eyes of the Hero Public Safety Commission.
It was through his work with them that they groomed him for the infiltration of the League of Villains. Although they weren’t always called that, prior to Shigaraki taking over, they were led by All for One. It had been at an entirely different level than what it was now. It was secretive, but their direction seemed to be centered around whatever All for One had in mind, but really all he’d been looking for were those who would be loyal to Tomura Shigaraki.
It had been all too easy to stage his escape with the Commission's help, a few staged acts of mayhem, carefully constructed to be true fights against Pro Heroes, but no one too high in the ranks, his capture by Hawks was a big deal, what was even worse was his escape on his way to Tartarus, it was enough to draw the attention he’d been wanting and it wasn’t long before the League reached out to him, wishing to enhance their ranks. He’d been with them for almost two years now. His loyalty proven to them at least.
The Commission didn’t trust him, not fully. It was obvious, he could tell with how things had only continued to worsen as Eraser fought single handedly against so many villains. He kept waiting, watching in between his duel with the other teacher Oasis, but still no support showed up. No backup arrived, even after he’d passed along all the warnings that he could.
He was left to watch, to listen...to hope and pray for someone...anyone to arrive to help. He’d seen the children, those kids no older than he’d been when he’d started getting sucked up into different areas of the USJ. The plan was to take down All Might, not kill a bunch of kids. He grit his teeth, unable to back out. He couldn’t retreat, he couldn’t blow his cover... and yet could he bury these kids he didn’t know just like he’d buried his friends? Could he live with himself, could he sleep at night with their blood on his hands?
He couldn’t and yet he was reminded that the mission comes first as it always has. Today proved its importance, his sacrifice, because things were constantly in motion.
So instead he fought, defended himself against the Pro Hero known as Oasis, instead he watched as everything slowed down as the Nomu, the giant bird-like creature, crushed the arm of his teacher. The scream of Aizawa Sensei echoed out over the battlefield.
He watched him get beaten, watched him struggle to fight for the safety of three of the kids who were lurking at the water's edge. The moment Shigaraki had rushed toward the kids, was when he’d taken a few quick steps forward as though he were going to join in or intervene. Instead he watched the young man turn his attention back to Eraser and say something he couldn’t catch, just before his Sensei’s head had been smashed into the ground. No sound escaped him as he saw Shota Aizawa lay still, his blood staining the ground. He couldn’t breath, his chest ached and he could only once again feel like he’d failed.
He was brought back to reality by his world twisting on its axis and in reality it wasn’t that, but the ground under him shifted, swirling him back to face his original opinion. A dark skinned man who merely narrowed his eyes at him, he was a new teacher he hadn’t known in his time at UA and that was just as well. “I don’t think so,” he told him simply as he moved his fingers to another smaller tattoo on his finger, no longer on his wrist. Masaru didn’t have to feel bad for releasing his anger on him, letting out some of that deep seated, slithering rage that rushed forward at the impossible position he was in.
The fight seemed to be in fast forward, but it slowed as he drew the man’s head up by a harsh grip on his hair. “Next time don’t get in my way Old man,” he sneered before he’d slammed his head against the rocks ensuring he was out for the count. The move was far too similar to what he’d already witnessed.
Masaru woke in a cold sweat, his hands trembling even as he curled them tightly into a fist. He’d gone too far, he wasn’t sure if the man was alive or not. He wasn’t sure if Aizawa was alive, all he knew was that when the villains had retreated after the fight once All Might had shown up and beaten that insane Nomu, he’d been warped away with those truly loyal to Shigaraki by Kurogiri and he’d found himself bleeding and weak with the rest on the wooden floor of the bar not far from his target.
This time he was safely in his bed and he threw his covers back and stood up in his boxers, a joke from the others as they were black and held a silver house cat on the front as he let the sheets pool on the floor of the dimly lit room. He let his eyes squeeze shut for a moment as he pulled his let his fingers drag through cold, sweat soaked hair. It was dark, not that it meant anything for the time. He took a slow breath in and released an even slower one as he worked to lessen the rapid beat of his heart. He knew he needed to calm down. He just needed a moment and then he’d get up, and figure out his day.
The voices of the others in the League rising far earlier than usual drew his gaze to his closed door and he found himself holding his breath, doing his best to shove his emotions in a box where he needed to leave them and allow himself to do his damn job. The only job he could do. This was his penance for his past mistakes and now, now this was the only thing he could cling to.
It was the only thing he had left. There was nothing left for him but to throw his life away in a twisted game of roulette, a game where his life would be evermore on the line if the smallest thing in his past were to bring itself to ahead. He dragged his hand down his face and blew into his hand. A little more in control of himself now. His emotions locked down tight.
He straightened letting his gaze drift to the cracked mirror that reflected his scared muscular form back at him. He’d not handled the tragedy very well. Who could handle the weight of the deaths of their friends, of the love of your life?
Not many and he had been a teenager, just nineteen when his life changed in the blink of an eye.
He shoved the memories that threatened to slip through back in the box as his fingers curled along a loose white t-shirt and pair of black jeans. Dabi and him were dubbed the twins as a joke, but it had only stuck for less than twenty minutes before Dabi finally lost his cool about it.
He stepped into his jeans and buttoned them before he walked out of the room, pulling his shirt over his head in the hallway. He refused to acknowledge Toga’s girl-ish squeal. She’d lose interest eventually - he hoped. He wasn't about to jeopardize his mission for anyone. Especially not her.
She skipped after him, before her fingers curled along his forearm. He tensed at her touch, but all she did was hold on tighter at his obvious discomfort. He ignored the widening of her lips from his peripheral vision. He had learned to rein in his obvious dislike. The more he pushed her away, the more she took it as a challenge to make him as uncomfortable as possible.
He hated her. And yet not exactly...she kind of reminded him of Hana...in little ways. Glimpses and maybe that was why he put up with her as much as he did.
“Where are you off to so early Masaki?” she pressed as she tucked herself against his side, her tongue darting along her lips. She wasn't being suggestive with him, it was all a ploy to get what she really wanted. She wanted his blood to add to her collection. Besides, she wanted to try out his abilities.
He debated answering her as he stuffed his hands in his pockets in an attempt to shake her off. “When did it become your business?” he asked, unable to keep the edge out of his voice.
She finally detangled herself from him as she danced back a step, her grin falling from her youthful features as she regarded him with an unusual level of observance.
“What’s got your boxers in a wad?” she asked as she linked her hands behind her back and followed him through the halls of the abandoned warehouse, which was their current lay low point.
He merely kept walking and took too long to answer her. “Nothing, it’s nothing,” he told her as he pulled his fingers back through his hair. Missing the way, she pursed her lips and seemed to look at him with the intelligence quietly that she hid from the world.
“Is it about the other day?” Her quiet question caused him to still, but he hid the movement and pushed forward. Ignoring the room to their left as they passed, which was the shabby kitchen area that had housed the others in their group. As they headed toward the loading dock in the back, which was how they had been coming and going for a while now.
When he didn't immediately deny it, she pressed further as they moved past the crates that housed who knew what, but he’d never cared to open them because he didn't care. “I guess it would make sense; you’ve always had a soft spot for kids.”
Her off-handed comment made him tighten his hands that he’d placed in his pockets. “You can’t look at them as innocent, you know — they're the next generation of society’s hero system. It’s so broken, no one cares about you when you don’t fit their mold. A little different and they all turn their backs. They abandon you.”
That right there was why he put up with all her antics, all her little quirks and flaws. Take away the persona she has shown the world and you find the small, little girl underneath who didn’t want to be abandoned again. Like she was before by those who were supposed to love you unconditionally.
He pretended not to notice the way she’d seemed smaller as she’d said those words, her blonde hair down along her back making her look younger. Her index and forefinger clasped with her other behind her back. A small little nervous tick she probably wasn’t even aware of.
Masaru ruffled her hair for a moment, the fact that she let him get so close to her it’s own form of trust. This trust level was only with a few and he was on that short list. He tapped her chin with his forefinger. “Chin up buttercup,” he told her with a wink.
That was a dangerous line to cross, where he cared about them. He didn’t feel they were unnecessarily evil. It was complicated.
He didn't miss the small smile that stretched across her lips as he stepped away once more.
“I’ll be back in a few, going for a -.”
“Walk, I know. You’ll miss breakfast though Kristen and Dabi are cooking together of all things,” At his dubious look, she shrugged, and her earlier pep was back. “Shocker, I know.”
“It never happened without proof,” he told her with a laugh as he pressed his back against the lever and the door opened to one of the back alleyways.
The blonde only fished out her phone and gave him a sassy salute as she watched him linger in the doorway. “I’ll show you the shenanigans when you get back.”
“Sounds good.”
“Masa,” The sound of his name had his fingers catching the door before it shut all the way. “Be careful out there,” she told him softly. It was something she had been telling them lately.
“You too, Himiko,” he said softly as the door slipped shut fully.
A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this glimpse into Masaru’s stay with the League of Villains. We will follow this story through significant events with the League, but this is also how he will meet the love of his life Hikari. We've seen a few glimpses of her in My Secrets to Keep.
This is their story of how they meet and grow to be so important to each other despite Masaru’s assurance that no one will stand in the way of his mission. He will be sorely mistaken, when he finds someone who will accept everything about it.
I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! Thanks again for your support. It's always appreciated!
