Falling Apart

6

Because I won't give up
without a fight
•~•

"Damn it, what am I thinking..?" Todoroki muttered to himself. After the incident with Bakugo, he had gotten embarrassed and decided to go sit on the steps of the cabin he was to sleep in. He couldn't face the boys, or (Name). He didn't know what she'd think if she heard how he reacted.

"I don't hold any feelings besides friendship for her. Why do I always get so damn defensive..?" Todoroki scowled at himself, his hand going over his own scarred eye.

"T-Todoroki..?! What happened to your eye?!"

Todoroki, at the tender age of just six*, had just gotten bandages around his eye, and immediately ran to his best friends house, sobbing loudly. Her father, having a strong liking towards Shouto, let him inside since his wife and son were out of town, and the boy had been crying at their doorstep.

"M-Mommy poured water on me..!" The heterochromatic male sobbed. "I-It wasn't her fault, though! My stupid father did it to her..!"

(Name) had instantly wrapped her arms around her, shaking. "I'm so sorry, Todo.."

Todoroki shook his head. "I-I don't want to ever be like him, (Name)! I don't want to abuse you or mommy or my sister ever!" He buried his face to her shoulder.

"And I promise, you won't." (Name) reassured.

"Not as long as we're still best friends."

Todoroki widened his eyes a bit, his hands shaking. "W-Why that memory..? Why did I have to remember that..?"

"Shouto? What's wrong?" A familiar voice called from in front of him, making him look up. (Name) was standing there, clearly worried as she was wearing a loose black dress. Her arms were still wrapped neatly with the bandages, but by this point Todoroki was getting used to it.

"(N-Name)..? Oh, don't worry.. I'm ok." Todoroki lied, averting his eyes as the girl sat next to him, pressing her knees together and folding her hands on her lap.

"Yknow, you've always been a bad liar." (Name) chuckled.

"Anyway.. Why aren't you swimming with the others?"

"Ah, well. I didn't wanna take my bandages off. And I felt a bit self conscious in the swimsuit I was given.. Everyone kept staring at me..."

"....What?"

(Name) laughed. "It's nothing, just Mineta and Kaminari kept- Wait Shouto, no." She had to grab the boy's arm to keep him from storming off, as halfway through her sentence he attempted to get up, clearly infuriated.

"I told them to leave you alone." Todoroki hissed.

"It's ok, honestly." (Name) laughed, making him sit back down. "I just wanted to come and talk to you, anyway."

Todoroki sighed, looking down. "What about?"

"Well, you seem a bit more distant from me then you usually are." (Name) noted. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, of course not." Shouto immediately stated.

"Then why aren't you even looking me in my eye?"

Todoroki tensed up, clenching his fists a bit. He kept his head down, biting his lip. "I hate how perceptive you can be."

(Name) chuckled and leaned her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. "You'll always be my best friend. Please don't ever forget that. Nothing you could do or say could ever change that."

Todoroki's eyes glanced at her, noticing she was always starting to snore a bit. He snickered softly and rolled his eyes, but then frowned. "Best friend, huh..? I wish you would just see me as more then that.. And I wish I could just tell you how I feel."

(Wow I'm getting lazier with this story-
time skip)

•~•

When they all went back to UA, nothing else eventful had really happened on the trip. They just played games, spent time with eachother, and other boring class activites. Now, the 1-A class heard they were going to the USJ, or the Unforseen Simulation Joint. They were all told to wear their costumes, and then meet up outside the school to be able to go as a class.

Todoroki stood their silently as his eyes gazed the crowd for his childhood friend, noticing her (hair color) locks walk towards him. He blinked as he examined the costume she was in, this being the first time he saw her in it. She had been absent during the hero and villian training (aka the author fucking forgot to write it), so he hadn't seen her costume.

She was in a black, skin tight body suit that had sleeves to her elbows, exposing her bandaged arms and, the pant legs running to her ankles. On the pant legs were red swirls up to her mid thigh, a white choker on her neck. Her feet had black sneakers on them. She tied her hair into a low ponytail, a childish grin on her face as she walked over. "Todoroki~" She chirped happily, approaching him.

"Nice costume." Todoroki blinked.

(Name) huffed and crossed her arms. "Really? Thats all I get?"

Todoroki rolled his eyes. "Sorry, princess."

"Wha.. What did you just call me?!" (Name) hissed in annoyance, glaring at him. "You know I hate that nickname."

"Whatever." Shouto waved it off, chuckling softly as his best friend whined and stomped her foot. "Can I ask you something?"

"Go for it." (Name) shrugged, tilting her head curiously at him.

Todoroki seemed to hesitate a bit, only proceeding with his question due to the annoyed look (Name) was giving him. The heterochromatic male sighed and nudged his head towards her arms. "What's with the bandages? Why do you constantly have them on?"

The shadow user blinked before laughing. "Oh, that. You don't need to worry, cutie."

"Oh, I see... Wait, did you just call me cutie?" Todoroki quirked (hA) an eyebrow at her. 

"Maybe I did." (Name) grinned sheepishly. "But seriously, don't worry about my bandages." Her tone of voice suddenly got very serious, making Todoroki internally worry. For such an outgoing and carefree person, for her to be tense made the matter very intense.

"Why? Is there something wrong?" Todoroki questioned. "I wanna help you, since you've helped me my whole life."

"Trust me, Shouto. If I took my bandages off, you'd be dead."