The Photography Project {Tododeku}

C H A P T E R •10•

     I wake up the next day feeling rested and warm. I nuzzle myself closer to the beautiful boy laying next to me sleeping. A very light smile dances across my face as I scrunch my nose.  I rest my head on his chest and it's relaxed rhythm of rises and falls. My eyes closed for a moment or two before I'm thrown out of my bed.  My eyes widen as I see Shoto sitting up with a hateful look in his eyes.

     "What the hell are you doing?" He snarled. I sputtered, not able to form any words.  "Why would someone like me ever let someone like you near me? Pathetic." I feel the fear build up in me as salty tears starts to drip down my cheeks, and some from the tip of my nose.

     He stands up making his way over to me, picking me up by my throat. I choke back a sob as Todoroki tightens his grip.

     "Come on, you couldn't have really believed that you'd gotten away from me that easily." His voice changed into a much deeper voice, one that I thought I would never hear again.

     "D-dad?" I struggle to speak as the boy preventing the oxygen from filling my lungs transformed into the man who made my childhood a literal living hell.

     "Now you get it, too bad you couldn't save your mother... tsk tsk, you should've known better than to think you could be like those people in those stupid stories." He dropped me down and I cough, inhaling deeply as my lungs finally filled with air.

     As soon as I could stand I ran to my mothers room. I put my hand on the doorknob only to pull it away quickly. The doorknob was excruciatingly hot. I begin panicking and I kick the door down, adrenaline pumping through me.  The room was filled with smoke and flames and mom was laying on the ground. 

     I rushed over to her, covering my face with my shirt to block out some of the smoke. I shake her but she doesn't move and when I checked her pulse there was none.

     "MOM! MOM PLEASE WAKE UP... PLEASE YOU'RE EVERYTHING I HAVE! PLEASE IM SUPPOSED TO BE YOUR HERO, IM SUPPOSED TO PROTECT YOU. I'M SORRY!"

     "I hate to see you cry Izuku," I hear the deep voice of my father behind me. I turn around to see him, smirking evilly at me. "We better fix that," he laughs and pulls out a gun from behind his back, cocking it. My eyes widen in fear as he pulls the trigger.

     I wake up panting, looking around to see complete darkness. Shoto is shaking me awake, a terrified look in his face.

     "Izu, it's just a dream, you're okay, it's okay, I'm right here." He pulls me close to him, cradling me. I sit in his lap, sobbing into his chest as he begins to slowly rub my back.  He begins to hum a calming tune as my sobs begin to dwindle down.  After a while I stopped crying and I sat up.

     "I-I'm sorry Shoto, I don't know what came over me, it hasn't happened in so long so I thought I had gotten over it..." I ramble on in a panic, scared he would think I was insane.

     "Hey hey hey, Izu it's okay, I was just worried. You began thrashing around screaming.  I woke you up before you woke your mother up though, but are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?" He asks, just above a whisper as if he was trying not to scare me.  I think back to the dream and I feel my heart rate quicken, and I feel like I can't breathe. I start to hyperventilate and Shoto quickly realizes what's happening and grabs my hands.

     "Shit, Izu stay with me, okay? Here breathe with me," he continues to try and calm me down. My panic attacks normally aren't this bad, well at least they haven't been in years.  He looks at me really conflicted before he turns to me.

     "Izuku I'm sorry but I don't know what else to do." I try to nod my head in hopes he understands that I mean that's it's okay and that it's not his fault, but before I can do anything he pulls me to him and presses his lips to mine softly. My eyes widen and I feel my heart instantly slow down, yet speed up at the same time, in a good way. I sit frozen for a moment before moving my lips with his, completely forgetting about the nightmare that had been plaguing my thoughts for the last little while.

     He pulls away after several moments, his cheeks tinted a dark pink, and mine a dark red. I hide my face in his neck, embarrassed by how much I was blushing. A deep chuckle erupts from his throat and I feel arms wrap around me comfortingly.

     "Hey don't laugh at me," I whine, my face heating up even more than before.

     "I'm sorry, but you're just too cute. And I'm sorry for kissing you like that. I didn't know what else to do and I was desperate to help. It was the only thing I could think of." He apologized, sincerity spilling in his words. I giggled, raising my head up.

     "No it's okay, I really liked it actually..." I reassured him, kissing him on the cheek to let him know I meant it.  His cheeks and ears turn a dark red (like think tamaki from ohshc when he saw haruhi in the dress the first time dark red), even darker than his hair.  I giggle at him and poke at his cheek.  He smiled and poked at my ribs, causing me to laugh, covering my mouth so I didn't wake anyone up.

     "Look at me," he whispers.  I turned to face him and he kisses my nose. I grin at him but then frown.  He looked concerned and worried.

     "You missed?" I peck him on the lips, red dusting my face. "There much better." He only chuckles. 

     "It's getting late, we should try to get some sleep. Don't worry Zuku, I'll protect you no matter what." I nod my head and lay down in his arms after he gets himself comfortable.  He pulled me close to him, holding me protectively.

     "Thank you Sho."

     "Of course, I'll always be here for you, now try to get some sleep. Goodnight cutie." I blush and hide my face in his chest.

     "Goodnight handsome."

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Hey guys I just wanted to say sorry for that bit of angst at the beginning of the chapter. I want this to be a cute and happy story, but this bit was crucial to the rest of the story and yeah. I really hope you all like it. Also I gotcha didn't I Ila? I would say I'm sorry but I'm not so hehe. Until the next chapter. Also they aren't together yet, they just act like it. I don't want to rush into anything but I wanted them to finally realize their feelings for each other.