"Our universe grants every soul a twin -- a reflection of themselves -- the kindred spirit -- And no matter where they are or how far away they are from each other -- even if they are in different dimensions, they will always find one another. This is destiny; this is love."

- Julie Dillon

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You were so thankful that Aizawa had the decency to at least un-cuff you so you guys could get changed into your sport uniforms. He did wait outside the entire time, however, and so you were unable to make a run for it.

You tried convincing yourself that PE with All Might wouldn't be too bad. However, he wanted to test you guys on your endurance on running. You thought that you and Todoroki would keep the same pace and wouldn't get ahead of each other.

Boy, did you overestimate your athletic ability.

All Might wanted you all to run for five minutes at a time. Once the five minutes were up, you were given a two-minute break. Based on how many laps you guys ran each set, it would determine how your endurance was.

The first set wasn't so bad. You and Todoroki were maintaining a steady pace near one another, the furthest you would get away from each other only being about a metre, which barely put a strain on the handcuffs.

However, the second set was absolute hell. Todoroki hadn't even been trying in the first one, so when All Might told the class to give it everything they got, he did exactly that. You swear he almost caught up to Iida, and he was basically dragging you the whole way.

During your two minute break, you could tell he was frustrated. You were basically wheezing, almost having an asthma attack, and he was only huffing lightly, frowning as he lightly swiped the sweat running down the side of his face.

"(L/N)-san," you could tell how hard he was trying to be respectful, "All Might said to try your best."

You almost punched his beautiful face.

"I am, Todoroki."

He sighed at your response, shaking his head and looking down at the ground in what looked like pure disappointment. "Well that's something you need to work on."

You breathed in deeply, shutting your eyes and trying to recount Aizawa's words to you before you blew up at the boy.

"You don't know what Todoroki means by his words because you've made no effort to get to know him. If you did know him, you would know as much as I do that he can take things too literally sometimes, or that he could have his own definitions of things. Just like how you have your own way on how things should be phrased."

You sighed before nodding your head and keeping quiet. You knew if you opened your mouth, it would become an even bigger mess. Maybe Todoroki was just genuinely giving you advice. Maybe you should take some of it and try your best to keep up with him on the next set.

"All right, next set!"

So that's what you did. For five straight minutes, you managed to keep up with Todoroki's stride. However, once your five minutes were up, you didn't even make it to the side of the track. You collapsed right in the middle of it, and Todoroki was now huffing and puffing as heavily as you were.

At one point, you had surpassed him, surprising both you and him. Thus created a small competition between the two of you. You had both pushed yourself as far as your bodies would allow you, which exhausted the both of you in the end.

"I told you," he huffed out, his hair damp with sweat. "You just need to push yourself."

"Well, I'm glad I took your advice," you said sarcastically, "because now I feel like I'm gonna pass out and not wake up for another five years."

"Don't be dramatic," he said.

What he did next made you glad he was your soulmate (for once).

Due to being so hot and sweaty, he decided to unzip his sports jacket and slip it off, revealing him in a plain white v-neck.

You tried your hardest not to stare, but to be fair, he was standing only a metre away from you, pushing his hair back to get it out of his face. What were you supposed to do?

"Are you ready to go again?" You hadn't realised he was looking at you, hands on his hips as he brought his breathing back to normal. You didn't understand.

"I'm sorry?"

"Are you ready to go again? We start in a minute."

"I'm sorry, I thought we both had an unspoken agreement to tap out."

He frowned at you like he had no idea what you were talking about, "No. We're going to keep going."

"No, thank you."

He stared at you blankly, saying, "It wasn't a request, (L/N)-san. We're going to keep going."

"I think you have me mistaken for someone much fitter. Sorry, but you're stuck with a very lazy soulmate."

"Well that's unfortunate, seeming as you enrolled yourself in the hero course."

Dammit. He was right. But that didn't mean you were going to keep going.

"Fine, you got me there. But I'm not going again. I'm tapping out."

"Well, I want to keep going. So unless you can get these handcuffs off of us, you're coming with me." You sighed before getting up, hearing All Might's thirty-second warning.

"God, I hope you're not gonna make me work out this much when we're older."

You hadn't even noticed what you said until you felt a jerk on your wrist, realising Todoroki wasn't following you to the starting line. You turned back around, "Todoroki?"

He was looking at you strangely. His eyes were only slightly wide, however his gaze was soft as he stared at you. "What did you say?"

You frowned at his strange behaviour before you recounted on your previous words. Once you did, you felt yourself blush, your own eyes widening. "UhM, nOtHiNg! CoMe On, LeT's GeT tO tHe StArTiNg LiNe!"

For the next three sets, Todoroki had to push you to keep going, no longer focusing on his own record, but yours. Because you were that unfit.

When All Might called for the conclusion of the final set, you had never dropped quicker. You nearly smacked your forehead on the ground, but you were lucky to have enough energy to at least prevent that from happening. You groaned in pain, and Todoroki crouched down next to you.

"You did well."

"Oh shut up, I don't have any abs like you do."

You couldn't see if he was flustered because all that was visible was the ground, but you could tell by his voice, "Wha-What do you mean?"

The only reason you could say your words calmly was because you were face down on the ground, and not looking up at him. "Your shirt, Todoroki. It's sticking to your chest."

He didn't reply, but you could see out of the corner of your eye that he was looking down at his chest. You forced your hands onto the ground, pushing yourself up onto your knees. You breathed in deeply, trying to calm your heart rate so you wouldn't have a heart attack in the middle of the track.

It was too early for that bullshit.

Todoroki noticed your old-granny struggle and rushed to help you up. You groaned as you felt the strong ache in your legs, almost stumbling into him. You kept mumbling out apologies, and he told you over and over again that it was okay.

"Young (L/N)!" All Might exclaimed, rushing over to you and Todoroki. You were now leaning against him as he helped hold you up, struggling to walk. "Are you alright?!"

You nodded your head, smiling reassuringly at the worrisome teacher before saying, "Ye-Yeah, I just pushed myself a bit too hard. I'll be fine."

"I think you need some rest. You too, Young Todoroki. I saw you both racing each other and you look shattered. I'll be sure to let your next teacher know that you'll be in the infirmary."

You didn't complain at all, however you looked up at Todoroki, "Is that okay?"

He nodded his head almost straight away, looking down at you. "Yes, that's fine."

You stared up at him, being able to see his face in detail as he stared back at you. His brown iris was flecked with bits of silver, something you hadn't notice until now, and his turquoise-coloured one had bits of dark blue in it.

From a normal distance, his skin was free of any spots, but you noticed that on his right side, there were really light freckles scattering his cheeks, just under his eye. You didn't doubt that it would be the same on his other side, if not for the burn.

Your eyes trailed to the beginning of his jawline and down his neck, where your first words to him sat, shimmering in the sunlight in all its golden glory.

'Hey, how you doin'?'

You stared at it longer than you intended, frowning at them after a couple of moments. Clearing your throat, you tried standing on your own as much as possible. "It's alright, Todoroki, I'll be able to walk by myse–"

"Just let me help you, (L/N)-san." He said in a low voice, however his close proximity didn't give you any trouble hearing him.

You gulped, nodding your head. He was right. Whether he was just talking about assisting you with walking, or with the soulmate thing, you did need to accept it. You needed to take Aizawa and Midoriya's advice and deal with it, and consider Todoroki's side of things.

So you let yourself lean against Todoroki again as he held you upright, and you both made your way to the infirmary.