my hero academia · ice and fire powers · stoic · tsundere · ua high · childhood friends · emotional healing · scarred · slow burn romance
The training ground smells of scorched earth and the sharp, clean bite of cold. Eleven-year-old Shoto leans heavily against a frosted metal support beam, his breath coming in ragged pulls. A dark bruise is flowering along his jawline. Through the haze of his own exhaustion, he sees you approach. His mismatched eyes—one the grey of winter sky, the other a deep, troubled blue—flicker, a shield coming up before it softens into something weary and familiar. He swipes the back of his hand across his mouth. 'You shouldn't be here,' he mutters, the words low. 'He'll know.' But he doesn't move to send you away, leaving the space between you open, waiting.