The chirps of crickets and the hooting of owls were somehow pleasant to listen to, yet distracting at the same time. The slap of sneakers and the occasional sigh from my mouth was all that disturbed the calm air.

The sky was, surprisingly, filled with stars. The usual black sky, filled with pollution, was dotted with sparkles, and glints of faraway planets. The streets were silent, and the roads were empty, and I was lost.

Lost in person, or lost on the path of life, who knows?

I walked down long roads, and just turned whenever I felt it was necessary. Sooner or later, I ended up in a park I had never seen before.

There was no colour left in this park as if it had become a shell of our past fun memories. There was no sound other than the crickets, no birds and there wasn't a single person around. Every rustle of the leaves made me perk up, and even the sound of a twig snap beneath my feet made my pulse loud and vibrant in my ears.

But what made me all the more anxious was seeing a familiar face, sat alone and cold on a park bench. I spoke too soon.

Sitting on the bench was none other than Todoroki. He was wearing a white T-shirt, and he had blue shorts on with slippers on his feet. He wasn't at all dressed for this weather, meaning he left in a hurry. I remember this night, I remember it so very clearly.

Could I do it again? Approach another person first.

I thought back to earlier today. I was having so much fun for such a simple reason, but it meant the world to me. I thought I could do this, I thought so.

But my feet wouldn't move. Even thinking about it made me feel sick to my stomach. I played it in my head; an imaginary scenario where I would somehow find the courage to walk over to where he was sat, and sit down next to him as if we were old friends.

We would smile and laugh without a care in the world. It was a pleasant thought. In this ideal world, I dared to talk to whoever I wanted without the anxiety creeping in, ruining everything as usual.

"Sakata-san?"

Just imagining it was enough to make me happy and content as I knew something like this would never happen. Even so, I wanted it to be real. I wanted to be the confident person I've always wished I was. No, more than that, I just want to be friends with everyone.

"Sakata!"

I jumped out of my skin, "Yes?!"

Todoroki blinked at me, "What are you doing here?"

I looked at him, looking at me, and my brain ceased to function. His heterochromia eyes looking into my purple ones was enough to make me go into shock. The fact that his full attention on my was enough for me to start hyperventilating and descend into a full-blown panic attack. As my thoughts whizzed around in my head, I began to warm up, the cooling air doing nothing against my blushing face.

"Thank you!"

~~~

"What are you doing out here so late, Todoroki?"

I didn't give him a chance to speak first. I wanted to forget everything that just happened. I wanted him to forget everything that just happened. I wish everything that just happened didn't happen, and would never happen again.

After thanking him for whatever reason, I stumbled over to where he was and sat down next to him, covering my face.

"Ah," He let out a breath. "I was on a walk."

"A walk? Wearing that?" I questioned with very pure intentions.

He looked slightly embarrassed, "...It helps me regulate my quirk."

Anyone could tell he was lying, but I was so shaky and jumpy that I couldn't even respond. There he was, sat next to me all stoic and apathetic. I couldn't tell what was going through his head. I hated it; I hated not knowing.

Izuku, I mean Midoriya, was easy to understand. No, easy wasn't the word to describe it. With Midoriya, or Kaminari, or Jiro they all gave me the option to try and understand them, but Todoroki was closed off. Even Bakugou looked true to himself. I don't know why I was so bothered.

Why do I even care?

It's not like everyone is going to be friendly. It's not like I need to be kind to everyone. It's not like I have a duty to talk and get along with everyone.

But this is so uncomfortable.

He sneezed, and I snapped out of it. I untied the turtle neck from around my waist and held it out to him, "Here, you can wear this."

He stared at me like I'd grown a second head.

I started fumbling. While his gaze lingered, I started to panic. All these worries began to race through my mind. Did I do something wrong? It made me feel uncomfortable and distressed, "You're cold, right?"

Reluctantly, he wore the turtle neck over his clothes and mumbled, "Thanks."

"No problem."

My heart was still facing, my cheeks were still flushed, and I was still as tense as always. My fists were clenched, and it was starting to feel painful. I needed to loosen up. But how? I was so preoccupied in my own brain that I couldn't focus on anything else. I was prepared at all for something like this. I hate not being prepared.

I could've ignored him. Walked the other way and pretend I didn't see anything.

But when I saw him sitting alone on this bench in the dark, all cold because he wasn't wearing the right clothes, and he looked so alone; I couldn't just ignore him...

As if to break the tension, a stray cat began to rub up against Todoroki's left leg. He leaned down and scratched its chin, like it was a normal day. He saw me watching and shrugged, "Cat's always rub up on my left side because I'm warm."

I reached down and picked up the small cat. I placed it on my lap and the small cat curled up into a ball and fell asleep. I wanted to ask him what he meant, but I kept my mouth shut. He didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it, "Animals are always comfortable around me. Must be because of my quirk."

"What are you doing here?"

I blinked at the sudden question, "I like taking walks at night."

"But why are you here?" He looked at me, "Why didn't you just ignore me and pretend you didn't see me?"

I was confused, "You're the one who called out to me."

"Because you were standing in the dark staring at me for a long time."

"Don't make me sound like a creep!"

"But that's how you looked."

I shook my head and glanced down at the small cat curled on my lap. I took a deep breath, and slowly released it, "Because you looked cold and lonely."

"So what? That's none of your business."

He had a point. I hesitated to reply to him because I didn't know what to say. It wasn't any of my business why he looked like he ran away from home and was sat in the dark, shivering and all alone. Even when I saw him like that, I still couldn't work up the courage to sit next to him. I closed my eyes, "I didn't want to leave you alone like that..."

"But you don't know me."

"That can change we- we can be friends."

He scoffed, "I didn't come to UA to make friends."

"Neither did I." I argued, "But you can always make friends anyway."

"I want to be a hero." He insisted. "I don't have time to make friends."

I smiled a little, remembering Aizawa's words. I cleared my throat, "A wise man once told me, 'heroes aren't just all about strength. You need connections and teammates who will have your back no matter what.' You can't disagree with that."

His eyes narrowed, not convinced.

I was starting to panic, "I'm plenty strong! I won't slow you down."

"Why are you so insistent?"

I shrugged and fiddled with my finger, trying to gain the courage to say what I wanted to say. "I want to make the most of this because I don't know how long it'll last. So when you see me at school, don't ignore me when I say hi."

He pointed to the turtleneck he was wearing, "I'll give this back to you tomorrow. Thank you."

I smiled, glad to see he was warming up to me, "You already said that."

"I mean it this time."

"So before you just said thank you because it was the polite and natural thing to do?"

"Yeah."

I snorted, "At least you're honest. Friends are a lot of fun you, know. They're so nice to have, and it makes you feel all warm inside. They cheer you up."

"You don't have to try and convince me." He sighed, rolling his eyes. Maybe there was a small smile on his face, maybe I saw wrong. I'd like to think there was.

I ignored him, "I didn't come to school and Midoriya, Jiro, Mina and Kaminari came to check up on me. That was the first time something like that had happened to me. Oh, and they bought me a crepe. It made me so happy I almost cried."

"You weren't at school today?"

I looked at him, my head tilted to the side and my eyes boring into his own, "Are you being serious?"

"I feel like I should apologize."

"Don't. Not if you don't mean it."

We sat in silence for a few seconds. I guess he wasn't sorry. I wanted to laugh at how honest he was, "I'd rather you be blunt and honest than have you lie."

"Alright, I have a question. How did you get that scar on your side?"

I flinched. All of a sudden, I started sweating and fumbling. My back felt warm and I had the sudden urge to crawl underneath my covers and never see the light of day, "Scar? What scar?"

He looked at me, confused, "The one on your side."

I lifted my shirt and sure enough, there was a scar on my right side. I don't know how he saw that in this dark and for the split second my shirt was raised after I took the turtleneck off. I sadly shrugged, "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't-"

"My turn!" I interrupted him. "Um. Ahhh. I don't know what to ask..."

I turned and saw that he was nodding off, trying to fight back the fatigue, "Take your time."

I picked up the cat and cuddled her onto my neck, smiling when she began to purr, "Why don't you head back? I don't know why you ran out, but you're tired and you should get some sleep."

My head began to sting with unbearable pain. I groaned and clutched my head, trying as hard as I can to not make a single sound. It felt as if my brain was being pulled apart and ripped down into pieces as small as worms.

It was agonizing. No words could describe what I felt that night. I felt weak. I couldn't stop it. I collapsed to the floor, my head resting against the bench. My breaths came out in short jagged pants, it was painful. I was vaguely aware of Todoroki trying to talk to me, but I couldn't concentrate on anything other than the fact that it felt like I was being torn apart.

A burning sensation flooded my body, and my brain would be ripped apart. Either by the pain itself or from me clawing at my head trying to make it stop. It was like my blocked memories were trying to forcefully come out. I just wanted it to stop. At that moment, I felt like I would do anything to make it stop.

It was as if my blocked memories were trying to force themselves to the surface. Sometimes I would see things, and sometimes I would hear things, and something it was nothing but pain.

This time, I saw something. No, it was more accurate to say I remembered someone.

You could say that was what started everything.

~~~

Can I just say I can't believe we hit 1K already without Ryuu and Todoroki having a SINGLE CONVERSATION OMG LOLOLOLOL HOW DID THAT HAPPEN

For real thank you guys so much writing and publishing this story is what makes me happy. I love refreshing my page and watching the views slowly trickle up. I'm so thankful and it means a lot more than I can say.

Anyway imma stop that cringe garbage cuz I'm a kuudere.

THEYRE SO AWKWARD IT WAS PAINFUL AHH BUT THEYRE SO CUTE

I can't wait until they actually become proper friends (and then lovers I promise even tho I haven't exactly planned that part um haha) it's gonna me so wholesome!

Until next time 😘😘😘

If you comment senpai will notice you I promise (I am senpai 😏)