Fanart created by @.SJDMArts on Twitter! Go check her out! She is amazing, and created this fan art specifically for this chapter! -Golden

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The two sat across from other, just like her and her twin did an hour prior.

'Here and back again...' She thought to herself, briefly looking down at the book she was trying to read before she got interrupted both times.

She was regretting speaking up, but she didn't know if she really was regretful. Was it just her anxiety talking to her? Telling her that she shouldn't have done that? Finally talked to Shoto? Talked to everyone she hurt so far when it comes to Class 1-A? It was like her mind was purposefully stopped her from making any further progress. Things are just going to get worse from here, and with the impending doom of tomorrow fresh in her thoughts, she began the conversation.

"I'm sorry-"

"No no no, please don't say that." She scrunched up her brows, sighing heavily. "Kiri- I need to."

"No you don't. I already know that you are. I saw how you were when talking with everyone. That was at back of your mind always." Eijirou informed her with a frown, "I know what you are going through is difficult. So there is no need to-"

"I have to apologize for lying to you! I betrayed your trust! You let me stay at your house, you and your mom took care of me, and I still created and fabricated a life that was far from the truth!" Elle shouted, her voice muffling behind her friend's hand.

"Hey hey, lower your voice. I don't want to worry Todoroki." Elle nodded, waiting until he removed his hand from off of her mouth. (A/N: Coronavirus is scary, please wash your fucking hands. Eijirou's hands are cleaned, and he will wash them for 20 seconds while singing Happy Birthday to himself to decrease the chances of getting Covid-19 or spreading it to young children and the elderly- Or remotely TO ANYONE. You should too. In general, ALWAYS WASH YOUR FUCKING HANDS. Okay, rant over).

"Sorr-" A small pointed look from Eijirou, "What I did to you and Haruhi... I should never have done."

"Elle, all you did was lie to us. What Bakugo said about you using us was untrue. Remember, I was the one who asked for you to stay with us multiple times, asked my mom for permission. You didn't use us."

"When you look at it that way, yeah. But, Kiri- I did. I agreed to go with you and stay with you. I had the option of being in police custody. I didn't go into their custody because I knew sooner or later, they would find out about the lies I told, they had my DNA damn it." Elle pulled at her leggings, snapping the fabric back. "What are you implying?"

"You know how I was studying for a grade placement?" He nodded, confused.

"And how I would use your phone to look things up?" He nodded again, "I wasn't looking things up for school... I was looking for bus fares, people on the dark web or craigslist that could make fake IDs, SSNs, Birth Certificates- I lost all of those in the fire, along with the rest of my belongings that were actually from me-" Elle stopped, heart stopping as her eyes widened.

"Elle?" Eijirou asked her in concern. She didn't reply to him, cold sweats beginning at the back of her neck, rolling down her back and stretching her arms. Eijirou saw that terrified look before, seen it many times. One of those being when she saw what happened to Dabi- to Touya.

He grabbed a hold of her hands, snapping her out of the mindfuck she was going through. "What's wrong?"

"I'm an idiot." He cracked a smile, "My idiot." He replied to lessen the mood she was feeling. Her fear warped into a 'are you kidding me?' face.

"Fuck. I have to tell Tsukauchi."

"What is it?"

"My belongings- Touya and I's belongings. They didn't perish in the fire like I thought they did. The person who set fire to our home took them. They found out who Touya and I were just by those context clues. We had a single picture of our family, from a year before we escaped. He didn't tell the league who we were. I knew he wouldn't, not ever. We went through so much to make sure that never happened. He was confronted and backed into a corner and-" Her hands were becoming sweaty as she got more worked up. Her words drawled out as he pulled her over to him, wrapping his arms securely around her.

"Don't think about that right now. We will figure it out later, okay?" She took a few moments to herself, breathing in and out as slow as she could muster. Calming down her heart rate. She cooled down her body with the air that entered her lungs internally.

"Why are you hugging me? Don't you hate me right now?"

"I can't bring myself to hate you, Elsa. Especially after what Todoroki told me before I came in here." Elle pushed away from him, staring at his face, hands falling to rest in her lap.

"Those letters I have been sending you. I thought you didn't read them since you never sent even one back."

"Please don't remind me of past failures-"

"But- In one of the boxes him and Midoriya brought in front your hospital room. Was filled with letters." 'Oh dear.' She could feel heat rising up from her neck to her cheeks. "Neatly stacked by you, all of them were opened and read. They found the first letter he sent you, he knew then that even though you never replied. That you cared enough to read and keep the letters." Eijirou was smiling, blushing thinking about it. Some of the stuff he wrote to her was quite embarrassing for a manly man. But, writing those to her was therapeutic in a way.

"If you didn't start to speak again. If you would have a month after it happened, I feel like things would have been more difficult emotions wise."

"Would have been easier on Tsukauchi's part..." Muttered Elle, gaining a laugh from the red head. "Yeah." He said, combing hair behind her ear, fingers moving to her bangs, maneuvering the strands to show more of her eyes to him. "I have decided as angry as I am. I wont take it out on you like Bakugo did. I will try my hardest to understand you. I want to understand you, I want to be in your life. A life that isn't filled with conflict." (A/N: 🥺).

"I-I... I want to be with you. No matter what name you want to be called by. The Elle I met in that corner store, the Miyuki in my house, or the Sachiko I held in my arms... It doesn't even have to be romantically! I just want to be at your side and-" He stopped, feeling his face was flaming hot. He saw her face as red as his, she was hiding her flaming cheeks behind her arm, staring off to the side to avert her gaze from his piercing one.

"I want us to be whoever we want to be. I want you to be you. I want to know the real you, in whatever form you may take."

"...You are really trying your hardest, Rockhead." His heart fluttered at the nickname. "My hardest?" He heard her curse silently at herself, glancing over her shoulder to the door. 'I swear if anyone walks in, I'm suing... Safe space, fuck it!' She thought, lowering her arm from in front of her face. Eijirou was making her feel things, she wasn't liking it!

She pushed forward, hands landing on the sides of Eijirou's neck before she pressed her lips to his, halting any thought process that was happening in the boy's mind.

His grip tightened on her sides in surprise, not expecting the quick action. He felt like he just died, was resurrected, then died again, then pulled out of hell by her. 'Holy shit. Holy shit.' He thought, staring wide eyed. Now knowing what she felt like when he did this to her months prior. He never did get an answer did he? Because everything that happened from that point on. She wasn't focusing on what she felt towards him, what kind of relationship she wanted with him. She had more pressing matters to worry about.

She was really pushing the boundaries on what was okay against the walls she had rebuilt. Those 3 months of work, g o n e.

But- She didn't think she really cared right then and there.

Nothing was really resolved, but something anew was brewing. It was like a promise between two human beings.

Pulling away, Eijirou fought against himself to pull her back in. But they both needed to breathe, Elle more than him because asthma. The two really didn't breath. The idiots.

After panting and gulping oxygen back into their lungs, Eijirou pulled her back in for a quick small kiss before hugging her tightly, burying his face into where her neck met her shoulder.

"...You are really making my heart race right now..." Mumbled Eijirou against her skin, feeling elated. The blush on Elle's cheeks darkened, her body heating up as she buried herself further into Eijirou's chest. "Now you know how I felt when you were saying all of those things." She mumbled in embarrassment. Another struck in Eijirou's heart, but her words for once didn't distract him from the heat he was feeling radiate off of her. It was actually beginning to make him sweat.

"Are you okay? You feel really hot right now."

"I'm fine." Elle told him, straightening out her neck as Eijirou pulled away, resting his forehead against hers, checking her temperature. He frowned, sitting back and placing the back of his hand against her skin. "You feel really warm, do you have a fever?"

"I'm okay Eijirou, don't worry. I'm just really warm right now." Elle informed him, not wanting him to worry more than he already does.

Eijirou stayed with Elle for a bit more, the two maneuvering into a more comfortable position since Elle's legs were beginning to fall asleep from sitting on them. Elle returned to her book, laying beside the red head while he took a small nap, not expecting himself to fall asleep with Elle beside him. But the staggering warmth that had originally radiated off of her dialed down into comfortable warmth. Comfortable enough to fall asleep against, his head lolling on her arm as she read the book she had been trying to read the whole day with all of the interruptions.

Elle found herself being able to focus on the book, despite the body pressed against her on the loft bed. Pretty soon Eijirou would just be straight up cuddling into her warmth. She didn't know if she would mind, she wasn't uncomfortable like she would have thought if a situation like this happened between them.

Flipping through the pages, and reading and investing herself more into the book, a half-hour had passed before Eijirou began to stir again, blearily opening up his red eyes to see Elle was still reading her book, her attention solely fixated on it.

He watched her for a little bit while he slowly got out of his groggy state- Admiring how focused she was on the words on the page, barely paying any mind to the world around her. She was calm. No sign of distress on her face.

He grabbed his phone from the mattress- It having fallen out of his sweatshirt pocket and onto her bed, unlocking the device, his eyes briefly reading the name of the book from off of the spine before opening the app and typing it in. He shifted his weight to grab the earbuds out of his pant's pocket, unravelling them as careful as he could. Elle still didn't pay him no mind, too engrossed in the book.

Plugging in the earbuds to his phone, he put one in his ear then gently put the other half into Elle's left ear after moving hair behind her ear. He made sure the audio wasn't blasting before hitting play.

Elle jumped at the sound of the voice speaking in her left ear, diverting her gaze from off of the book and to Eijirou, eyes slightly wide in shock before easing back into the calm state she originally was in.

"The shadows casted across the plain of the Ether, the highlights showing off to the heroes' naked eye. Perplexing ruby beauty-" The words of the first sentence of the book, 'Gem's Honor by Mizuku Tachibani' played into her ear. Her mouth fell agape, her eyes travelling down the cord of the earbuds to his phone, seeing what was displayed on screen.

"It's called an Audio book. You can find a bunch of them online to listen to when you don't have time to read straight from the physical copy."

"Audiobook?" Wow she really was out of the loop of technology. Eijirou nodded with a grin, "Yeah. I listen to a lot of them when I'm studying or getting ready to sleep. I know here in the dorms you don't have much space for anymore books, so I figured you would like to know you have this option." Elle didn't answer him, listening to the calming voice of the author who had written the book.

"The sun travelled far and wide, the creatures living upon the soil humming against the feeling of the warmth the rays of the star brought to them. Their fur heating up as they laid down, stifling any further movement in the woods-"

"This sounds like a cool book." Eijirou commented as Elle placed the bookmark in between the pages, closing it, leaning further back into the pillows and closing her eyes.

"The once dreary atmosphere that clogged the world of the Ether lifted into a dream. The darkness having been vanquished by the Ruby's eye, the heroes settling down back into their own lives, calm, distress no longer in their eyes. The weight that has rested upon their shoulders no longer weighing down their thoughts and actions. Their families welcoming them back with open arms, devotes of love- The villains of the past laid to rest. Covered in the arms of hugs, kisses littering their skin, affection that crossed many worlds, never changi..." The words drifted off into the background as Kirishima Eijirou watched Todoroki Sachiko fall asleep in tranquility, her breathing evening out until you could barely tell she was breathing at all. He smiled at the sight, remembering of the times she had trouble falling asleep, remembering waking up in the middle of the night to her pacing in the guest bedroom on the weekends. Her mind plagued with night terrors and lucid dreams, horrors of the past. After three, almost four, months. Her mind was finally letting her tired body rest.

It was still a long road ahead for her to actually be okay, but the road was shortening, the destination drawing closer. Today was a big step for her, to face the people she had lied to and deceived, facing them head on despite how she personally felt. Fear taking hold in the coldness of her body. Replaced by the warmth of love she was beginning to feel from those around her.

Eijirou knew he didn't fully forgive her for the lies she told him, even after all this time, but he knew if he held on too long to her past mistakes, she would never grow and become better. This was a chance for her to make things right, him and everyone else just needed to let her shine and show the world.

Five minutes passed is when he stopped the audio book, putting his phone away along with earbuds. He shifted his body, standing on the ladder to gently pull the blankets underneath her down the bed far enough before he got onto the mattress, lifted her body and pulled the blankets that were stuck under her down.

He pulled the blankets over her, tucking her in, moving the books away from her body she didn't damage them (He knew she took good care of things, especially books. Just generally not herself).

He leant down and placed a soft kiss on the tip of her nose before leaving the loft bed, stretching out his legs and back once his feet hit the ground of the Todoroki's room.

He glanced up at her sleeping form, checking to make sure he didn't wake her before leaving, closing the door softly behind him.

---

Footsteps sounded off against the aluminum flooring of the basement level, heading down to an old training site the school used to use for students whose quirks were difficult to control. Contained, regulated, safety.

Elle walked in between Aizawa and Ectoplasm, Aizawa there to erase her quirk if it gets to much for her, and Ectoplasm would use his clones to reprimand her, along with battle training that way she did have a target that wasn't someone real.

Recovery Girl and Nezu walked behind them, the atmosphere stiff in silence.

The door slid open after Ectoplasm pressed a button, the group of five entering.

Nezu and Recovery girl stuck next to the entrance into the room, the three walked further into the room until both of the Pro-Heroes stopped, Elle continuing to walk forward before she stopped as well.

Turning on her heel- Elle faced the adults, hair tied up in a ponytail, sporting a heat resistant suit that the Support Class created for her.

"Todoroki, do you need us to explain to you what we are going to do once more?" Asked Ectoplasm, receiving a soft sigh as she shook her head. "No, and please don't call me by Todoroki. I am not my brother." She stated.

"What do you want us to call you by then?" Nezu inquired with a smirk as he folded his small arms across his chest.

"Just Sachiko." She informed them, receiving a nod before Ectoplasm summoned his clones.

To Be continued

I have a------

.j o b.

Yep, I'm back at work, I started last Wednesday, so from here on out, updates will be sparse, depending on when I am off or when I have a break from customers coming in.

As some of the old readers of mine know- For the new readers, I work at a campground/private neighborhood. Currently I am in a camp store/ice cream shop. Where there is free wifi and plenty of outlets for me to use to be on my computer. It just comes down to when I am able to write, edit, and post a chapter is when it's a little tricky. Because I can not be on my computer all of the time when I am at work. If I were to do that- It would not end well XD.

It's been I think a good month since I updated last, have been up at my work for the past three weeks, I stay up here all summer for work. 

I would update via phone but that is a pain in the ass to deal with and to transfer it to WattPad THAT DOESN'T WORK HALF OF THE TIME. 

To WattPad- Instead of adding dark mode to your site... FIRST FIX THE UPDATING SYSTEM, I HAVE TO PUBLISH A SINGLE CHAPTER TWO TO THREE TIMES ON MOBILE IN ORDER FOR IT TO SHOW UP. 

I am heated, anyways~ 

KiriTodo- Wait, TodoKiri, No... RokiShima...? 

*data processing*

ROCKYSHIMA IM GONNA CRY. 

Okay, ship name is SachiJirou- FUCK. 

Pls help me aaaaaahhhhh. 

Anyways they be together as more than bros. 

I want myself my own Eijirou :,( like plssss. 

Or plainly God just bring Eijirou into existence I was a hug from him. *coughs* I'm ranting again sorry. I gotta stop doing that, very bad habit. 

Thank you all for reading and I will talk to you all later! Have a work selfie from me :)  -Golden