AshREvans

The next morning, I wasn't woken up the way I normally was and when I did finally wake, it looked like it was well into the afternoon. First, I felt a weird indentation in my mattress, like someone put something heavy down, and then I registered the hand on my arm. I frowned and blinked awake, rubbing my eyes. It took a second for the sleep to subside and my vision to be at full capacity. When it was, I saw Shoto sitting on the edge of my bed, reaching over like he was just shaking me. I jumped and sat up quickly, startled. My forehead bounced against his and I ended up falling back onto my covers. "We really need to stop doing that," Shoto said and rubbed his forehead. I groaned. "What are you doing here?" "Your maid, Inko, got caught up with something," Shoto said. "And since it's so late in the day, she wanted me to wake you up for her." I raised an eyebrow and sat up again, slower this time so I didn't hit Shoto again. "Is there any particular reason why she waited until

I don't know how long I stood like that, clinging to Shoto, but he was a good sport. He wasn't cold, he wasn't mean or rude. He just silently held me back until I calmed down. At one point I vaguely remember being picked up in his arms. Something about me not letting go but we should go inside. He carried me into the galley and sat down on a couch, positioning me comfortably in his lap. When I finally cried myself out, I felt so tired that I didn't want to move. But I knew that I had to. It was improper to sit on the lap of a boy, soulmate or not. I took a deep breath, lifted my head up and stepped out of his lap. I wiped my eyes and took a few more deep breaths. When I finally spoke, my voice sounded thick and not like my own. "I apologize for my forwardness," I said, trying to act polite. "It's... it's okay," Shoto said and stood up. He reached up and put a hand on the side of my head. I resisted the urgent to lean my cheek into his hand. It was then that I noticed that Shoto and

Shoto stared at the pile of open letters on his desk and the scattered wads of paper that he had thrown around his room. It had been. A little more than a month and a half since he had gotten that last letter from _____. After a week, he was kind of glad that she wasn't constantly sending him letters anymore, even if he read over every word more than once. After two weeks, he started to miss hearing from her. Past the three week mark and the ever present loneliness he felt just seemed to get worse. Over the past few days he's spent a lot of his time trying to write a suitable letter to _____, but he just couldn't do it. How was he supposed to write something to his soulmate that he's been rejecting since day one? He couldn't just say that he was sorry and that he wants her to come back to the manor for more of the same. He wasn't even sure that she would believe him. He also didn't think that it would be right of him to ask her simply in a letter. There was a high chance that she

Shoto, I'm writing this to you as I'm headed back to my home, so pardon the messy handwriting. I swear my handwriting is better than this. I missed you at the front when I left. I guess you still don't want to see me... Anyway, I thought you'd like to at least know that I made it back home safe. I'm not really sure if you care right now, but I figure instead of letting it get to the point where you worry and fret, I could just let you know. I'll send another letter when I hear about the condition of my mother. God, I hope it's nothing too serious. I'm worried. I know you won't be able to answer these questions write away, but it couldn't hurt to write them down. Do you think she'll be fine? You don't think it's anything especially life threatening? I don't know what I would do if mom died... Oh. The carriage stopped. I guess I made it back. I'll give this to the coachman to give to you when he returns. I hope this letter finds you in good health. _____ Shoto, I haven't received

By the time I got back to my room after my encounter with Shoto, I still wasn't completely sure what happened. The dazed look on his face before he kissed me just wouldn't leave my head and I could still feel the tingling on my mouth. I walked into my room and closed the door behind me and leaned against it while I thought. Why did Shoto have to be so damn stubborn? Didn't he realize that the more he tried to not be like his father the more he turned into him? Or that if he keeps rejecting part of himself then he's only going to feel more alone? And to play with my emotions like that. Kiss me and then basically tell me to fuck off? Who did he think he was? I sighed and kicked off the door. I changed my clothes and when I walked out from behind the screen in my room I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My lips were colored Shoto's lonely light blue. My face burned bright red when I noticed it and I silently prayed it would fade by the time woke up in the morning. I quickly

I walked to the front doors of Todoroki Manor and saw Endeavor standing there alone with a carriage all ready to go. I walked up to him with a frown on my face. "Where's Shoto?" I asked. "He declined the offer to come," Endeavor said. "So it'll be just the two of us." I blinked a few times. "I um..." I turned to look at the buildings windows. I thought in one of them I saw Shoto glaring, but when I looked again he was gone. "All right," I said. Endeavor nodded and opened the door for me. He politely offered me his hand so that I could get into the carriage unhindered. I took my seat on the cushioned seats and Endeavor sat down across from me. Once he closed the door the coachman started driving. "I'm glad that we get this chance to talk," Endeavor said. I looked up at him. He was staring at me intently. "Is there something you wish to talk to me about?" Endeavor nodded. "Yes. It's about my son." "What about him?" "I was just wondering how things between the two of you are

After that night with Shoto in the courtyard, he didn't go out of his way to avoid me anymore and we even started to be friends, which was actually quite nice. We didn't talk about the big blue elephant in the room and out of respect for each other we pretended that we didn't see the marks that appeared on our skin during our training sessions. I started to pull away from Endeavor after what Shoto said. I didn't like what Shoto told me about his father and I didn't particularly wanted to be associated with someone like that, especially if he wanted me to marry his son. So instead of training with Endeavor, I joined Shoto during his morning training sessions. Hence the two of us ignoring the colored marks. On odd days we did hand to hand combat, on even days we used our quirks to spar. I still lost a vast majority of the matches, but at least I was getting better. Shoto was actually a good teacher when he was actually trying. Almost a week had passed since Shoto and I talked about his

After dinner that night, I walked up to my room to try to focus on reading. I curled up on the mattress and opened the book. I spent most of an hour trying to actually focus on reading, but what happened in the ballroom kept popping into my head. After the fourth time reading the same page, I huffed and closed the book. I stood up from my bed, slipping on a pair of shoes, and left my room. Maybe a walk through the courtyard would help clear my head, I thought. I pushed opened the door that led outside and stepped into the cool night air. I walked through the path of the garden and breathed in the clean air. The gardeners had to have worked tirelessly on the grounds. The flowers that bloomed on the land were nothing less than breathtaking and the bushes and hedges were expertly trimmed. It kind of reminded me of home. I passed by a rosebush and paused to admire the red flowers before continuing on my walk. The deeper I got into the garden; I started to hear the sounds of water. I

I didn't run into Shoto for the rest of the day, except at dinner, but I didn't think anything of it. Not at the time, at least. It wasn't until the next day that I started to notice something was wrong. I went to the library after my morning studies, as I usually did. Normally I would have seen Shoto there already with a book in hand and we would engage in pleasant small talk. But he wasn't there this time. I frowned, but took my normal seat at the window. I opened up my book and looked outside to see Shoto on the training grounds. He was going through his drills once again, but somehow he seemed... angrier. I started to wonder if something had happened between him and his father. I frowned as I watched him. The way his body moved as he went through the drills was nearly mesmerizing. He was so graceful. When he took a break in his drills, he looked up to the library window where I was sitting. I didn't look away in time and our eyes met. For a fraction of a second, Shoto's face and

A couple weeks passed since the encounter with Shoto in the library and things between the two of us were neutral if not bordering on almost friendly. When we would run into each other we would engage in small talk, not really going into the deep stuff. He never asked about Katsuki again and I never brought up why he only used his ice side. I once asked about the scar on his left eye, though, and he regarded the question as coldly as he did the question about his quirk. Shoto definitely had some issues. Then again he probably thought the same thing about me. So I gave him the benefit of the doubt. My days mostly consisted of my studies, reading in the library when I could spare a minute. Shoto would usually join me when I went to the library and, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why. When I wasn't studying or reading, Endeavor often had me out on the training ground with him, trying to hone my quirk better. There was no way that I was going to be able to beat him ever, but