This time, he was properly dressed in a cosy looking turtle neck. Guess I brought the extra clothing for nothing. He slid in next to me as if it was simple. As if he had been doing it forever.

I wish it was that easy for me.

"Once is chance, twice is a coincidence, third time is a pattern."

I took my hair down, tussling it a bit. While I was bundled up and warm, it was still a little cold. I sighed, "Guess this is a pattern now. What did I tell you?"

He shrugged, "I don't think this is a coincidence anymore. I have to admit that I did walk over here hoping I wouldn't be alone."

That made me very happy. I smiled, "Does that mean we're friends now?"

He cringed a little as if he couldn't bare the thought of being wrong. "I guess so."

"And, um, friends tell each other things, right?"

"I think so, but I don't really have many friends so I don't know."

I chewed my bottom lip, hugging my knees to my chest. For some reason, I just couldn't look at him so I was staring at the floor. "So can I ask you a few questions?"

Even though I couldn't look at him, I could sense the shift in mood and I could immediately tell he was reluctant to agree. The last thing I wanted to do was to make him uncomfortable and scare him off. Making friends was always the hardest part, and it's supposed to get easier from there on. I gulped, counted to three and then I asked a question.

"What's your favourite food?"

He immediately relaxed, and when he did so did I. Now that he knew it wasn't anything intrusive, he didn't seem to mind at all. He didn't even need to think twice about his answer, "Soba. I love Cold Soba."

"Cold Soba?" I murmured to myself, trying to recall the taste. "I'll have to have it sometime, I can't remember exactly how it tastes..."

He nodded, looking very excited that I was going to have it. "What about you?"

I never had an answer to these kinds of questions. Still, I didn't want to seem boring or disengaged so I tried to answer, "I'm not very sure, but I'm not a very picky eater. I think when I was little I really loved hot pot?"

"How about now?"

"I like warm foods. Food that warms you up from the inside, it makes me feel cosy."

He nodded his head in understanding, "Can I ask you something?"

I snuggled into my scarf, "Sure."

The fact that he was asking me if he could ask something made me think that the next question wasn't going to be what my favourite colour is and it made me a little nervous. I wasn't quite sure how much I was willing to tell him, and I couldn't stand the tension. Isn't he being a little hypocritical though? I guess that's human nature, and I would know all about that.

I glanced at him, and I saw that he was struggling to form his words. I watched him carefully, waiting patiently for him to find his train of thought. He scratched the back of his neck, "How is... your father?"

Surprisingly, I wasn't as shocked or nervous as I thought I would be. Maybe I expected this, "He's getting better every day. How about yours?"

He scrunched up his nose in disgust, "Still alive, unfortunately."

I blinked as if I couldn't believe what I had heard, and then I burst out in laughter.

It lasted for a while as well. Thinking back at it, maybe I shouldn't have done that, but it was such a shock that I didn't know what else to do. I was also pretty sure he was almost 100% serious.

Seeing me laugh so much, I swear I saw a small smile on his face. I giggled, "I'm pretty sure my birth parents are dead if that makes you feel better."

He cocked his head to the side, "That doesn't make me feel better or worse. You can't remember?"

I shook my head, "I can't remember a lot of my life, but I'm pretty sure my parents are dead, but I don't think I care."

"Aren't you curious?"

"Sometimes I get curious, but I know they were awful parents."

He snorted at the irony, "Looks like we have that in common." He glared bitterly at the floor, "I don't want to remember the majority of my childhood."

"I want to." I said with determination, "I want to remember it all, no matter how bad it is."

And that's how the majority of the night went.

I feel like that was truly the time where I began to understand Todoroki Shoto. While the conversation mainly remained on a superficial level, sometimes a hint of something deeper would come up, but we would both move on without expanding on it.

To be honest, I was perfectly okay with that.

While I was starting to feel a lot more comfortable around him, it still wasn't at the point where I could tell him anything and everything. I hope one day in the future we get there, but for now, just getting to know him better was enough for me.

He was awkward and clumsy with his words sometimes, and it was a little bit funny watching him struggle to put his words together in a way that made sense out loud.

Thankfully, it seemed like he was also starting to loosen up, his tense shoulders relaxed and he leaned back on the bench. He opened up his posture and body language and didn't seem to be as closed off as before.

We even went on a walk around the park before resuming our spot on the bench.

Everything was going well until we fell asleep.

I jolted awake and after realising where I was, I began to shake Todoroki awake, "Todoroki! Todoroki! Wake up!"

He jolted awake rubbing his eyes. He fell asleep in such an uncomfortable position that my neck just hurt looking at him, "What time is it?"

Sometimes, we would just sit in silence when we had run out of things to say, and it didn't bother me in the slightest. Actually, it was nice to have a break from talking non-stop, just to sort out my thoughts and relax for a bit. Because of that, I didn't realise that he dropped off to sleep, and then I did shortly after.

I glanced at my phone and cringed, wanting nothing more than for me to have read the time wrong. Todoroki sensed this and immediately snapped to attention.

"Sakata, what time is it?"

"You don't want to know." I hesitantly replied.

He stared at me.

"It's almost 2 am."

I resisted the urge to laugh as I watched him fumble about, standing up so quickly that he got dizzy and just sat back down. It didn't matter to me how late it was, no one was home to worry about where I was.

He turned around one last time, "See you in a few hours!"

I waved until he disappeared.

~~~

Like I said, no one was home.

I took my time getting home, I wasn't in a rush like Todoroki was, even though I should've been because I desperately needed the sleep.

When I got home, I debated whether to not I wanted to sleep on my bed today. Instead, I grabbed a spare blanket and a few pillows to the tree in my back garden.

Before school started, Akki bought a few planks and made a small platform with enough space for me to sleep or work or whatever I wanted to. I made sure my phone was charged, which it was, then set my alarm before I closed my eyes to sleep.

I had no idea how much sleep I got, but when my alarm woke me up I wished I hadn't stayed up so late. While it was so tempting to just close my eyes and go back to sleep, I just started roll until I left out of the tree.

Of course, I landed on my feet and it managed to snap me wide awake. It didn't work every time, sometimes I would land on my side or back and end up with a nasty bruise, but I would be wide awake.

Call me reckless, but it was very helpful.

One thing I wasn't looking forward to was talking to Aizawa. Todoroki thought it would be best if we just hurry up and made up because you don't know what the future may hold.

"I try and tell myself to just get over it, but every time I look at him I get angry all over again."

"What are you even angry about?" He asked, not quite sure where all my pent up rage comes from.

"Well..." In my head, it made complete sense, but now that I was talking about it out loud, I was scared I was going to sound crazy. "I'm angry because I was just so worried about him and stressed that I barely did anything except think about how he might be. Then he just showed up all casual as nothing happened, so I felt like an idiot for getting all frazzled."

"But he's okay," He tried to reason. "So shouldn't you be happier than you are angry?"

"I'm very happy!" I reassured him, "But it wouldn't have killed him to pick up the phone to tell me he was okay. He knows how much I worry about him."

I traced a star pattered over and over again on the sleeve of my shirt, trying not to get anxious and calm myself down. Did I sound like an idiot?

"That makes sense," Todoroki said after a while, and a smile spread on my face as I realised I wasn't being silly. "I think it does anyway, but you should still talk to him."

"I know, I know."

"Tomorrow. You should talk to him tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?!" I yelped, "That's a little too soon don't you think?"

"Not soon enough. You never know what could happen."

So that was that.

Somehow, Todoroki was persuasive in a different way, so I didn't want to disappoint and told myself that I will defiantly talk to Aizawa today. That resolution stuck with me until I got to school.

Looking up at the huge building that once made me feel so small was quite the shift. Instead, I felt confident. Something I haven't felt in a very long time, not like this anyway.

As soon as homeroom began, it was a different story.

Aizawa looked as he usually did, but I started to get cold feet as my nerves began to eat me from the inside and out. Now that I think about it, what was I supposed to say?

Sorry that you didn't tell me you were okay.

I'm done ignoring you now, scum of the Earth.

Can I punch you once? It'll make me feel better.

I turned around and made eye contact with Todoroki, who was staring very intensely at me. He gestured in Aizawa's direction with his eyes and then nodded his head.

I chewed at my bottom lip and shook my head, started to get scared. Todoroki continued staring at me and nodding his head, trying to offer a sign of silent moral support.

I can do this. I will do this. I'm going to do this.

After homeroom, everyone started getting ready for our class which was maths, I think. I didn't waste any time and immediately stood up, because if I didn't I would get trapped in my head and back away.

As he was getting ready to leave, I followed behind him.

"Aizawa!"

He spun around and I properly looked at him for the first time in what felt like decades. While he did look a lot better, you could tell that he still wasn't back to top condition.

It looked like the stress had aged him and he somehow looked more burdened and tired than he was. I know it was my fault, but I was suddenly plagued with guilt.

I was being petty for no reason when it was clear that he was the one who suffered the most.

When I thought about that, I just couldn't stop the tears from spilling out, and I didn't even bother. It looked like he forgot I had the ability to cry because for a second he just stood there, with no idea what to do.

He snapped out of it and walked towards me, worry evident in his face. "Hey, hey what's wrong?"

"I hate you."

So I cried in Aizawa's arms while he awkwardly patted my head.

~~~

This is for you baby girl 🥰