"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

TRIGGER WARNING:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Miss (L/N), before anything else, I need to know that you're prepared to look after your niece."

"Wait, what? What happened?"

"Just answer this one question. As her only available relative, are you able to look after your niece?"

"Yes, okay?! Just tell me what happened!"

"We found all of them."

"Including (Y/N)?"

"Yes. The reason she had left suddenly was because she was looking for her parents."

"Is she okay?"

"That's where it gets tricky. Outwardly, she looks fine. But that's why you need to keep an eye on her. We asked her to retell the events back to us, and she doesn't seem to be aware that the people in front of her weren't her parents. She still seems convinced that they're out on a business trip."

"Wait, you're saying. . ."

"I am. I'm so sorry for your loss. And I know this is so sudden to spring this on you right after the news, but it's incredibly important and we need to know. Do you agree to look after Miss (Y/N) (L/N)?"

"Of-Of course I do."

"Is there anyone you would like to call? Any friend that could help you?"

"Um. . . Ye-Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, can I just. . ."

"Of course, hun. Would you like me to call someone for you?"

"Uh. . . Yeah. Her name's Mitsuki Bakugou."

- - - - -

You and Bakugou of course got in trouble for ditching school for the rest of the day. Despite this, you were let off on a really strict warning given the circumstances. Which was fine, but Bakugou threatened to kick your ass into the Spider-Verse if you made him skip again, disregarding the fact that he was the one who sparked up the idea in the first place.

Something that seemed a bit strange to not just you, but to everyone else, was Todoroki. He hadn't left your side since you came back the next day. He would walk you to your desk, sit right next to you at lunch, and offer as many study sessions as possible, as long as it was just the two of you.

So when the school day finished the next week, and you were set to take off, Todoroki grabbed your hand and stopped you in your tracks. A tad bit confused, you slowly looked up at him, before awkwardly saying, "Uh, Todoroki. . . Watcha doin', buddy?"

"I'm going home with you."

"You're what now?"

"I'm going home with you."

". . . Did you want to ask me first, or are you just going to invite yourself over?"

"Well do you have any other plans?"

Bitch.

"No."

"Then I'm going home with you." And with that, he walked off ahead of you, leaving you standing there, kind of mad. You didn't move for a while, prompting Midoriya to slowly come up to you, waving a hand in front of your face. "(Y/N)-chan?"

You blinked, looking at Midoriya, half-surprised. "Izuku. Hi."

"Hey," he chuckled awkwardly. "Are you alright?"

You hadn't really talked to Izuku in a while. The last time you guys had had a proper conversation was that time at the waterfall with Uraraka and Todoroki. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He nodded his head slowly, muttering out a 'cool'. It was awkward, which neither of you liked. He finally said something else, "How have you been?"

You nodded your head slowly, almost the same way he did a moment ago, "Yeah, good."

You noticed his blink of surprise at your response before he said, "You. . . You sure?"

No.

You nodded your head, smiling before saying, "Yeah, I'm good. School's been stressing me out, I guess." He was silent as he stared at you with shock evident on his face. Not liking it, you decided to speak up again, "I-I should go. Gotta go study, so. . ."

Awkwardly patting his shoulder, you quickly rushed off, ignoring the throbbing of your heart as you grabbed the things from your locker. You stumbled as you shoved your books in your bag, trying to get out of there as quickly as possible. Once grabbing everything, you rushed out of the school completely, pretty much zooming past Todoroki at the gate (who had been waiting for you for about five minutes). 

You almost missed his calls out to you, and when you stopped and turned back to look at him, he had only just made it to the corner of the street while you were already halfway down. Sighing and shaking your head of your thoughts, you waited up for him. He finally made it to you, and you began walking again, just as quick as before. Due to not wanting to be left behind again, he quickly grabbed onto your wrist, stopping you from walking any further. "Hey, are you alright?"

You looked at him, nodding your head as you straight up lied, "Yeah, fine, why?"

He gave you a dead look (deader than usual, anyway) before saying, "Really?"

Before replying with the same response, you stopped yourself. Here someone was, offering to listen to you. You had been declining it this whole time, but maybe you could. . .

"How long do you think friendships are supposed to last?"

He blinked, staying silent for a moment before saying, "Is this about Midoriya?"

You sighed, looking down at your feet, your heart hurting at the thought, "Yeah, how did you know?"

"You two seemed rather distant lately, and even Bakugou said something to Midoriya himself last week about it."

You chuckled, shaking your head as you looked down the street, staring as you began to think. You were so sure you were going to stay best friends. You two went to the ends for each other even when you were kids. Why would you two start to break apart? You were so sure you'd both be there for each other even at 80, but why were you already drifting apart? This wasn't supposed to happen.

"You know," you said, moving to sit down on the curb. "my mum mentioned some stuff to me when I was worried about drifting away from Bakugou a few years ago."

Todoroki slowly moved to sit next to you, gazing at the road and listening. 

"She said: 'Honey, most friendships don't last forever. At some point, they end. First it's because you two aren't talking as much, or you're not hanging out with each other. But that's something some people don't get. It isn't just because of busyness or getting distracted with other things. It might be a sign that it's time to part your ways.'"

You scoffed, half-heartedly smiling.

"She, of course, promised that me and Bakugou would be two peas in a pod no matter what happened. It just makes me think that. . ."

Todoroki waited for you to finish, but once he noticed that you had been gazing off into the distance, he spoke up, "It makes you think about what?"

Blinking out of your daze, you looked down at your hands in your lap, "May-Maybe she wasn't talking about Bakugou."

". . . Do you think she was talking about Midoriya?"

You took a shaky breath before blinking away your tears, your heart as heavy as a statue at the bottom of the ocean. "Ye-Yeah. . . Maybe she promised that me and Bakugou were going to stay close was because there were signs that my relationship with Izuku was. . . fading, I guess."

Todoroki sighed through his nose, grabbing your hand between his own. Playing with your fingers, he said, "Your mum had a point. And maybe that break you and Bakugou had – I heard about it from Midoriya last week – made you two closer. You two weren't with each other all the time. It gave you two some room to breathe, and possibly even miss each other."

You sniffed, chuckling as you used your other hand to wipe a tear away before you replied in a cracked voice, "Are you saying me and Izuku spent too much time together?"

Todoroki shook his head before saying, "No. I'm just explaining why you and Bakugou are becoming closer, and why you're rekindling things that happened a while ago. Midoriya is a great kid. You can't expect him to not make new friends and hang out with others, just as you did. I think you're both just. . . Growing apart."

He wasn't wrong. When certain events occurred last year, however, it was also what brought you and Bakugou back to each other again. He was there for you, but only when you were home after hanging out with Midoriya (who, at the time, still didn't really have any clue what was up with you because you hadn't said anything). You already had your anchor.

More tears fell from your eyes, and you tried wiping them away. Todoroki looked at you sadly before moving to cradle your face in his hands, making you look up at him. His thumbs gently ran across your cheeks, wiping away your still-falling tears. 

"Do I give up on it?" You asked so quietly that he almost didn't hear you. 

Shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders slightly, he caressed your cheek with one of his thumbs before saying, "I can't decide that for you. What do you feel you should do?"

You already knew what to do, and the thought brought a river's worth of tears to your eyes, spilling over. You failed to hold in your sobs, and Todoroki shuffled closer, pulling you in for a hug. Soothingly rubbing your back, he gently shushed you, rocking you back and forth in comfort.

- - - - -

"Pitiful."

"She's been going through a bit."

"Feel kinda bad for killing her parents."

". . . Do you?"

"Mildly."

"Shigaraki, how is it going with–"

"It's going."

". . ."

". . ."

". . . It's going."

"Trust me, we'll get there. The League of Villains will be powerful. And one of the first steps is that Stain guy. Maybe even those two kids right there."

". . Ah, I see."