I gulp, not looking at him, hesitating to answer. I think for a moment on whether it was a good idea or not to tell him, the only person that would know is Kacchan, not even Ochaco, my best friend, knows.
"You don't ha—" I cut him off.
"No it's okay, it's only normal to be curious after all that. It's just that it's a long story." I look to him.
"We've got time. If you're okay with it that is." I nod my head before I took a deep breath. I sit down on the dock, dipping the tips of my shoes into the water (the rubber part, not the cloth) and look up at the trees above.
"It's been just my mom and I since I was about four I'd say. Granted my dad had never been in the picture much anyways, and if he was, well let's just say it wasn't pretty. He was always at work, or at least that's what I was told. I'd always just accepted it, thinking he was doing what was best for our family. Boy was I wrong. I found out just a year or so later that he had became this monster, he'd taken everything from us. Our furniture, our home, money, everything.
We had no where to go, lived on the streets for about two years. Not just that but we had found out that he was a wanted killer. Yeah, Inferno we found out, the man who killed countless people by fire. That's when Kacchan found out that I was homeless. He started picking on me, I suppose that's an understatement. He learned about my dad after I let it spill I didn't have a place. As mean as he was to me, he knew better than to say anything about my father." I took a deep breath, my voice shaking a little before I continued.
"At eight years old, I got a job, well sorta, I walked people's dogs, mowed lawns, rakes leaves, anything small like that just to earn money for food. Mom got a job at a drug store as a cashier. Whatever we didn't spend for food, we saved up for a house, the apartment I live in now. It took a bit longer for me to help since I still had school and stuff, but we managed. About halfway through my final year of elementary school, we finally got enough money to get an apartment and we were ecstatic. Right after that, we found out that my father had been arrested, sentenced for life under maximum security. No visitors, no sunlight, concrete cell, only gets to go to a normal cell for about 20 minutes a day if that. I guess it's better that way, mom and I are a lot safer now, and I'm happy to see her much happier now.
He was never a good guy, but me being a toddler, never wanted to believe it. Tough love I would always say, and made up lies to never get him in trouble. I'd always tell people 'oh I just fell,' or 'you know me being clumsy, I ran into a sharp corner,' stuff like that whenever I showed up to class with bruises and cuts all over my body. I always kept a smile on my face for mom. It wasn't much but she was always happier when she saw a smile on my face. I want to keep making people happy. I know I get excited a lot about simple things, and I know it gets really annoying with how "happy" I can be sometimes, but I never have had or seen some of this stuff like everyone else has and I never want people to feel like I had for all those years." I close my eyes and breathe, letting any stray tears fall down my cheeks before quietly chuckling.
"Sorry, I'm rambling again, aren't I?" I chuckle and give Shoto a closed eye grin. He stares at me in astonishment. His mouth opens but no words come out. "Don't give me pity, I see that look in your eyes. I'm a lot happier now than I was then. Do I still have rough days? Yes. Are these memories still easily generated? Hell Yeah, but you know, so many things have helped me overcome so many of these issues for the most part. Like photography, if I can capture and share the beauty of the world, just maybe can I ignore the pain and suffering, even for just a moment."
He walks over and sits next to me, engulfing me in a hug. "I'm sorry you've had to go through all of that. I had no idea that you of all people would've had that rough of a life. You always seemed so full of energy, like you've never faced a hardship in your life, well except for Bakugo." I quietly laugh, before pulling away.
"Yeah it's funny how that works. Now come here I want to show you something." I pull him to the edge of the dock. "Stick your feet in." I command. He does as I say and looks down into the water and I pull out my phone, walking to the grass off the dock. I whisper-yell to him, "they should be here soon! Trust me it's really cool," he looks at me and nods before looking back to the water.
Within minutes white and red colored fish emerge from the bottom of the water, the reflection from the moon make them seem as if they're glowing a golden color. Shoto looks at the water in amazement, almost in shock by the beauty of the creatures. I put my phone on silent and I snap a picture of Todoroki and the fish.
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"He really is adorable." I mumble to myself, before walking back over to him.
