~ Third Person P.O.V ~

"As long as I have you, I can conquer the world. As long as I have you, I am me. As long as I have you, fears are never an issue. As long as I have you, I am breathing . . ."
—BisexualCricket, Poetry Journal

It didn't take long for the four to construct a semi-plan for the time being, especially knowing that Monoma was listening.

Their conversation had been cut rather short after that. They briskly scurried out of the room and decided it would be best if they continued speaking about it later, at least until Shoto and Izuku could get situated on where they'd be staying for the night. For they knew sleeping in their dorm would be imprudent, not until they could guarantee that Monoma hadn't placed any other devices in the room he could use to spy on them. 

Izuku was surprised, however, not surprised just the same. He had spent three devastating long years with Monoma, he knew what the man was capable of—especially with the title and money he held beneath him. Whatever he wanted he got, no questions asked. So, having a bug planted in his dorm didn't completely startle him as it did the others. However, what had confounded him was the files he had recovered on his laptop. The very same files he could use as leverage against the male when the time came.

Years on top of years of scandals, lies, and his father cheating and blackmailing his way into fortune and fame in the oil business. In fact, most of them also had a prominent trail which led back to Monoma as well—who had abetted his father in a plethora of federal crimes. 

For what those documents held was enough to not only send him back to prison but enough to send his father to prison and have them lose their families company and fortune. Enough to ruin their reputation for good. Enough to make Monoma leave him alone if he knew what was best for him.

And, fuck, he couldn't wait to use it.

"You've been oddly quiet, my love." Shoto commented as they drove down the busy main road. They had settled on staying at the apartment for a little while, only until they had everything put together in order to set their semi-plan into full motion. Carrying it out to its fullest potential.

"I'm always oddly quiet," Izuku grinned back at him, scrunching up his nose in a child-like demeanor. 

Turquoise and gray eyes flashed over towards where Izuku sat in the front seat, penetrating into the thick film he veiled over his face in attempts to shroud his true feelings. He couldn't hide those from Shoto no matter how hard he tried.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly, despite his won anger towards the blue-eyed blond who couldn't seem to leave them alone.

"I will be," Izuku affirmed with a sharp nod, more to himself than to Shoto. "Once that bastard is away for good."

And this was true, once he knew for certain—that his tormentor, abuser, the very reason for his downward spiral over the past few years—for certain he was gone . . . Izuku knew without a doubt he could finally be able to release that small hole within him that refused to be filled. He knew without a doubt he'd be completely and utterly okay. But he had to do this first, for the first time in five years he would have to stick up for himself.

So, instead of allowing the weak subconscious part of his mind to allow his to wallow in the deep depths of fears—with no hope of a lifeboat ever coming to save him—he honed on the blistering rage from before. Cautious not to let it consume him, but enough so he could control it, wield and bend it to his every desire. He enabled said rage to construct into fuel, igniting his senes, notions, limbs, mind, and soul.

He was ready.

"I think I have a plan," Izuku announced once they were in the safety of the apartment. "But you might not like it."

Shoto sat on the couch with a low sigh, gracing the younger with a bemused smile—the lights above him dancing and reflecting off his features like a prism despite his unease. And for a moment, one sweet moment, Izuku's breath had been robbed from his lungs; his mind had been jumbled; and his heart leaped with a new influx of joy. Only Shoto Todoroki could conjure such a feeling from him.    

"Tell me anyway," he gave a loud pat to his thigh, signaling for Izuku to come and sit.

The freckled male quickly got into his designated position, curling up with his head resting above the steady rhythm of Shoto's heartbeat to lull him into tranquility. Inhaling deeply Izuku nearly loses himself once more, for the smooth, saccharine, scent of the elder's skin and cologne mingled with one another before inevitably scouring away within Izuku's nose. He was at peace.

"The stuff I found on my laptop . . ." Izuku began wearily. ". . . It's piles upon piles of Monoma and his father signing off on false documents, cashing falsified checks, blackmailing other oil company's and intimidating them into bankruptcy. Look, I'm no professional but I know at least some of those are federal offenses," he chuckled exhaustedly, rubbing his face.

"And the only reason why I have them is because Monoma's dumbass decided to give me the exact same laptop where he kept it all on." Izuku pursed his lips, dipping his chin low as his eyes narrowed in the vast distance. 

"Well, that's good," Shoto interjected, a surprised laugh bubbling within the confinements of his chest as he swept a hand through the younger's lock.

He stared at Izuku for a prolonged moment, wondering why the freckled male had been so vacillated on informing him of such details. It was no secret Shoto had friends and acquaintances in high places, most of which owed him favors, so why the hesitancy? If what Izuku spoke was true—which he had no reason to believe it wasn't—then this would be a guaranteed way to get Monoma locked away for a long time.

"What's wrong?" he cambered his head to the side as a few more moments passed by without so much as a sound from Izuku.

". . . I don't want to lock him up," Izuku breathed out, furrowing his brows when he felt the subtle flex within Shoto's arms locking around him. "Prison would be too good for him. I don't want him there, but I still don't want him around either,"

Shoto took a few seconds to process this information, for an abrupt notion clicked in his mind. "You want to kill him?" he guessed. "I mean if that's the case then we'd have to be careful. In this new day and age it'd be rather easy to find us with all this technology, but lucky for you I know my way around the system. What did you have in mind? Luring him somewhere so we could strangle him? Shoot him? Stab— ?"

"—Shoto!" Izuku exclaimed any traces of his past seriousness had vanished without so much as a clue to where they wandered off to. "You're joking, right?"

The elder bored his own eyes into the emerald pools of Izuku's, his mouth secured into a hard line. "A man from my era never jokes about murder," he replied simply, with a short-cut smile.

"You are so unbelievable sometimes," Izuku murmured under his breath with a stifled snicker.

 "You were saying?" Shoto sighed, a little disheartened that his murder plan would not be followed through with.

Silence touched the atmosphere for what seemed to be the hundredth time that very same day. It was a sickening silence, slicing and weaving through their playfulness like a freshly sharpened dagger. Hell, it had filled the room so thickly it had become its own person—taking up space in the room, gallivanting around rather cockily. 

Izuku shifted in his spot on Shoto's lap, gripping his shoulders firmly with a hard gaze. "I want him to know what it's like to be me. I want him to live out the next few years afraid to turn the corner. Afraid to breathe. Afraid to think. Afraid to come anywhere near us all again," despite the strong and determined sincerity in his voice, tears began to pile within his prismatic eyes. "We set up a place to meet him, somewhere public and secure. I show him the shit I found and—"

"—Threaten him?" Shoto interjected with a conflicted smile. "I mean . . . it's no murder but . . . it'll do." he jested, as he gently pressed his thumbs on the side of Izuku's face.

". . . But I have to be the one to speak to him. You guys can be there, but out of sight," Izuku went on, a wavering grin carving out his features momentarily.

Shoto narrowed his eyes, no malice was hidden in the small shift of his face, however, he was debating on how much he liked the idea. In short, he hated it. But he also trusted Izuku, and if this was something he needed to do without him there, there . . . then so be it. Didn't mean he would let the boy out of his sight for one second.

"Okay," he whispered, cupping the side of his face. "But the second that bastard does something I don't like—"

"—Then we can consider your plan, my little murderer," Izuku sighed with a roll of his eyes, signifying he was, in fact, joking. Much to Shoto's disliking.

"Wonderful,"

After that, the two went to go do their habitual nightly duties. Brushing their teeth, taking showers, getting dressed, before eventually retiring to bed.

Izuku hummed as he traced circles into Shoto's bare chest, his eyes beginning to flutter as fatigue began its journey into his system. However, before he permitted it to finish its course, a thought from earlier today made its way to the forefront of his mind.

"What did you go back to get before we left the farmhouse?" he whispered through the sultry serenity of the night.

His limb tingled as Shoto tensed beneath him, his breathing sputtering before regulating to an even flow once more. "Hm?"

 "You said you forgot something and when you came back you looked like you were the happiest guy alive," Izuku explained slowly, a smile etched onto his rose-painted lips at the memory. "Honestly, you looked like a little dork." he grinned.

Shoto heaved a sigh as he untwined his arm around the younger's waist, reaching over towards the nightstand and retrieving a small trinket from the drawer. His mother's ring to be exact. The very same one Izuku had admired so fondly on their trip to the attic. Izuku gazed at him with wide eyes as the diamonds shimmered and danced in the parted moonlight draping through the cracks of the bedroom blinds.

"Technically . . . this belongs to you," Shoto drawled, slowly twirling it in the light.

Izuku's breathing hitched as his eyes enlarged even more than before, his mouth twitching into a smile then slanting. He repeated the process a few times before asking, "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Look," the duel-haired male shifted in his spot on the bed so he was lying on his side facing Izuku. "I know nowadays people don't get married after two months of knowing each other, soulmates or not it's uncommon unlike from my youth. So, I don't expect you to give me an answer now—and I certainly don't want you to feel pressured to do anything because you feel as though you ow me or something. But just know . . . when you want it . . . whenever that time may come . . . it's yours,"

Without giving the elder a chance to complete his speech, Izuku pulled him into a kiss. "How did I get so lucky to have such an understanding soulmate?" he giggled in between kisses.

"'Cause I'm awesome, duh,"

The next morning the two filled Bakugou and Kirishima in on what the plan was, which took a bit of convincing on Bakugou's end to let Izuku be even within a one-mile radius of Monoma; eventually, they managed to get him to see things from the younger's perspective. No matter how much he abhorred the situation presented to them.

After a few hours of trying to find a way to contact the blue-eyed blond, they had managed to get Izuku to set up a meeting spot for the two to speak with one another. It was the park near the school's campus, a plethora of people had come to the specific area within the park they chose: The duck pond. Which meant plenty of witnesses in case Monoma got any 'grand' ideas. Shoto, Bakugou, and Kirishima were residing in the bush a little ways away—hidden and far enough so Monoma wouldn't spot them—yet not too far so they could still hear the conversation and see the two.

In spite of his confidence, Izuku still felt the gentle ripple of anxiety nipping at the nape of his neck. The ghost-like buzzing hum, reminding him of the swarm of bees he used to feel whenever anxiety crept upon him. However, there were no bees this time, only the paltry remnant shell of what they used to be . . . of what he used to be. Nevertheless, his nerves had spiked—easing slightly when his eyes landed on the people around him.

All of which were strangers, he had no clue who any of them were, what their names were, what their life was like. Yet he depended on them to be there just the same, he depended on their vision just in case anything went astray. How funny.

A mother chased after her daughter a few feet away, the little girl held a small device in her tiny palms—the mother's phone perhaps—as they elder woman sported a panic-stricken face as her daughter edges closer to the pond. Izuku smiled at the pair, reminding him of times when he and his own mother would come to a park similar to this one . . . feed the ducks . . . tease his father . . . be happy.

Now, he was here.

It didn't take Izuku long to spot Monoma in the midst of the happy crowd. His platinum blond locks swirled above his head like a fallen angel's halo in the wind, freshly cut as the sharp and defined strands carved around his face. Like the damn devil, he was. A rather smug expression painted and lathered itself across his face as he quickly spotted Izuku as if he had won a battle that hadn't even begun yet.

That was his first mistake.

"Hey, Zuku," Monoma drawled as he finally caught up to the boy. "I got to say I was surprised you got my new number . . . how'd you manage that?"

"Does it matter?" Izuku shot back, his expression hard and unreadable as his shoulders squared and his jaw jutted in the air. "I needed to speak with you."

The elder's eyes narrowed into thin slits, his knuckles cracking as he balled them into skin-whitening fists at his sides. "Watch your tone," he growled underneath his breath, mindful of the pedestrians around them.

"Or what?"

"What did you need to talk to me about?" Monoma snapped, his anger spiking by the minute—yet nothing could compare to the fire burning within Izuku at that very moment.

Reaching into the satchel he had strapped around him, Izuku deftly lifts the flaps, retrieving a long orange envelope. He handed to Monoma, his eyes never leaving the elder for a second as he observed his every move. Calculating and watching for any signs that his plan was imprudent, that he would fail and end in him endangering not only his life but the life of his loved ones.

"What the fuck is this— ?" his question died on the tip of his tongue as he read the contents in the envelope. His farce draining to a horrid bone-white, mouth hanging agape, eyes widened with terror as he quickly pocketed the documents.

"You were looking for those weren't you?" Izuku hummed, "You can keep that copy if you want, it doesn't really matter since I have them stored on your—oh, I mean my laptop." he chuckled darkly.

"What do you want?" Monoma asked quickly exhaling shakily as his eyes darted around the area of the duck pond, checking to make sure nobody had read over his shoulder as they passed. Paranoia slicked and slithered itself into the hollow base of his throat before erupting in large spouts, lodging in between every vital organ of his body.

He was being consumed from the inside out.

"For you to leave me, and everyone else I care about, the hell alone," Izuku sneered under his breath. "I want you to know that every step you take, every breath you inhale or exhale, I will know about it. I want you to feel what I felt . . . You don't own me anymore, you never did. So, I'd think twice before messing with me again, got it? It would be a shame if those got leaked to the police department,"

The two stood there for what seemed like forever, staring at one another as the past they shared circulated and polluted the air around them. One side what filled with such hate, envy, and belligerence while the other had been contaminated with fear, grief, and hollowness. It was inevitable as those six sensations dispersed into the open-air—ridding Izuku of the final piece he refused to let go of . . . now, he truly knew what it meant to be free.

He was free.

"When did you up and grow a pair?" the blue-eyed male finally managed to grit out through his teeth.

"It's always been there . . . I just needed help getting it out," and with that final note, Izuku watched as Monoma pivoted on his heel—disappearing in between the new onslaught of people who had arrived in the area.

Izuku, as well as the three men in the bush a few feet beside him, released a collective sigh once he was finally gone. They were still on their guard, as they would be for the next few hours before it finally settled in that he was gone. But they knew they wouldn't be seeing any more of him any time soon, or ever for that matter.

"Okay, Midoriya, not gonna lie—" Kirishima shot the boy a toothy grin. "—that was kind of badass."

"'Kind of?'" Shoto scoffed, looping his arm around Izuku's waist and pulling him in for a quick peck on the lips. "That was amazing. I'm so proud of you, honey,"

"Oh, gross . . . get a room!" Bakugou exclaimed albeit a proud smile had placed itself on is mouth at the sight. "Me and Ei are going to go walk around and make sure blondie back there didn't stick around or something, okay?"

"Okay," Izuku hummed, "Be careful, Kacchan, you too, Kiri."

With that, the two were gone. Leaving Izuku to say a few things to Shoto now that the two were alone.

"Hey, baby?" Izuku looped his arms around the elder's neck. "When we get back do you think I can have that ring?" he asked with a lopsided grin.

Shoto grinned from ear to ear, eagerly nodding his head like a small child as he peppered his soulmate with kisses all over. "Izuku . . . thank you, for everything,"

" . . . You're welcome,"     

Hello Cricket Cultists!!

Wow. It's really over . . . isn't it? ;)

Thank you so much for abetting me on this journey filled with ups and downs, and I love you all so fucking much for it! Thank you from the bottom of my heart, I'm so sad to see this book go but alas it must XD I hope you all have come to love an enjoy these characters as much as I have!

There should be an epilogue up this weekend but if I end up forgetting can Y'all just spam me with reminders or sum XD

Questions? (For ME specifically)

Comments?

ALSO THIS STORY IS NOW ELLIGABLE FOR THE WATTYS . . . Should I enter?

That's all for now!!!