Ice Cold

Connections

You used to fear attachment, something that the world would cruelly yank at until everything is ripped out of you.

Now, you feared not having any real ones. Real connections.

It was like you were always fighting with yourself. You hated it. While you would've been hurt if your class didn't want to maintain a connection with you, for some reason, you couldn't bear the thought of Shouto not wanting to.

He was originally just a boy of blank expressions in your eyes. Another figure passing through your life that you would adjust your hood to.

But apparently, he didn't view you like that.

Maybe he saw your eyes crying for help despite the lifeless beads that stared back at him that day.

Maybe he felt how much colder your ice was when you released it.

You stopped, slowing at the sidewalk and panting, your shoulder against the wall of a building. For once in your life, you didn't feel aggravation, annoyance, grievance; you were afraid.

Of such a trivial matter?

The matter, however, was not trivial.

The times he'd randomly give you mochi since you enjoyed it. Reminding you that your insecurities are just another part of you. That your power didn't...

You balled your hand into a fist. If I didn't have this quirk, would people still acknowledge me? If my story wasn't riddled with tragedy, would I be something to marvel?

Would anything change if I didn't exist?

It was like every ounce of hurt that you didn't feel before came rushing to you all at once.

"Hey, are you alright?"

You flinched and turned. "Sh-Shouto..." You breathed in, shaky and uncertain. "How... How do you always find me?"

He brought you to his chest. "You didn't come back. You sense energy in your way, I sense it in mine." He rested his chin on your head, fiddling with the ends of your long white hair with his fingers. "What's the matter?"

"...Connections... Attachments... they're scary. You don't know if you're maintaining them, what basis they were made on, or if the other person wants it at all." You clutched his shirt. "It's such a trivial matter yet... I've never been so anxious."

"What made you begin to question it?"

You shook your head, your head still rested in his chest. It wasn't a question you knew how to answer. It was a buried fear you didn't know of until you found the trigger.

So then you asked him again.

"How do you always find me?"

"I know where you get lost."

You closed your eyes. His embrace was neither warm nor cold. But it was one you accepted. A touch that didn't remind you of the memories on your skin.

"Don't be afraid of being human." Shouto assured, just above a whisper. "You're not a tool or machine. People don't like you as if you're their phones or a sunset. Or at least," He moved back and placed his hands on your shoulders. "I don't."

You opened your mouth to say something but words got caught in your throat.

"What is it?"

"I... I'm going to France. In a week or so. I need a professional to figure out exactly what my quirk is and to know how to properly teach me how to control it. What if you don't feel the same in the end?"