𝐔𝐧𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐌𝐞 - ᴛᴏᴅᴏʀᴏᴋɪ ꜱʜᴏᴛᴏ

Chapter 10: Whenever You're Ready

Why won't Shoto get out of her mind? It was the early hours before down—one hour after she came back in the dorms—yet she still can't sleep because of the duo-haired boy in her mind. She shook her head violently. She pounds it down on her pillow again and again, but her thoughts will not dislodge themselves. They drive her insane. The girl kept remembering how close he held her, the feel of his hands, his warmth, his comforting words that she so desperately wanted to go back in time to hear cause was too busy crying and enjoying his presence. Exhaling furiously, she looked up at the ceiling and admitted what she'd been obliviously hiding.

Ayla's in love with him.

Shoto never leaves her mind, he's always there; mentally if not physically. It's just incomprehensible. He's her one stable force, her one stability in a world filled with chaos and she so desperately needs that in her life—what happened the other day only proves her point even more. She loves him so much for that. She's in love with him and she can't believe she's only just realised it.

Seeing him made her heart twirl. Hearing his voice made her stomach flutter. She can't help but feel this way about him. His eyes, those deep grey and turquoise eyes that could tell a whole story just by looking at them. And the way he moves. He trots along, effortlessly looking handsome. This feeling is so strange; it stretches throughout her whole body. It's overwhelming, yet makes her feel complete. It has no bound nor length nor depth; it's just absolute. It feels as though she's in a dangerous fire, yet she's completely safe at the same time. It feels as though someone's given her peace. It feels as though her heart is dancing around her chest; and a hole, she was never aware was there, has been filled. She feels so light, like she's on top of the world yet her heart is constricting and it feels as if there's no oxygen in her lungs. It's strange—frightening even—how you can go from someone being a complete stranger, to then being completely infatuated by them and wondering how it ever was that you were able to live without them, because you sure as hell couldn't imagine being without them now. She knows they're only young, and most people would consider her to be foolish and naïve, but it's true when she says that she loves him more than she could ever love herself.

Her heart had been touched by him, battered by him, cradled by him as the days passed. He was cruel without meaning to be yet he was kind, and she needed him too much to let herself want him.

Maybe that's why she couldn't sleep yet. Her heart wanted her mind to be the same at this moment—tired of keeping her feelings hidden. Every idea, notion and event from before would replay in her mind, demanding analysis before she could be allowed to sleep. And finally when everything came to a stop and her mind was able to meander freely in the random thought that is the precursor of sleep, she felt the shuttering her my synapses, the quiet lure into sleepiness. As each limb becomes heavy and her heart slows to a more peaceful beat, the comfort of bed calls. Then the blonde drifted off with a small smile.

* * * * *

The purple-eyed girl woke up to the sound of her alarm and groggily stepped into the dormitory's living room. Ayla is first to yawn, around the room mouths gape one after the other. "Good morning—!"

"Ayla?!" Her closest friends—mostly the girls—threw themselves at the blonde and all pulled her into one giant embrace. She nearly stumbled if it wasn't for half of them hugging him from behind. "We all thought you left!" they shouted at the same time.

Ayla chuckled softly and returned the hugs, while explaining the whole situation, telling them she's staying at U.A. "Sorry guys, I didn't mean to freak you out."

"There's no need to apologize," Momo wiped her tears. "I'm so glad you're back and staying with us."

"Yeah," Kirishima added with a grin, showing his sharp teeth. "I mean your scary bodyguard said you'd be gone for good!"