hiraeth ✓ ᵗᵒᵈᵒᵈᵉᵏᵘ

from the very start,

dear izuku,

in the deep black forest
of resentment and rage
betrayal and hurt
so much hurt
i was a lost child
cursed with flames i
wanted to rip out of me

then i grew up and
became a lost boy
i learned to use
the frost at my fingertips
to cover my forest
to conceal its true nature
and mine as well

then you came along
you were there and
i found out that
i was raised to defeat you

maybe that is why
i had to tell you
i had to trust you
or maybe it's simply the
light that surrounds you
the light that pulses
from within you
the kind of light that
hides many secrets
and can hide many more
if only you ask it to
so i asked - how could i not?
and you, the light, accepted
the secrets that no one
outside my family knew

i thought that was
the end of it
that i could go back to
ignoring your light
but that was foolish of me
because just as i
had seen your light
from the start
i should've known
that if it turns to me
i won't be able to resist
to pull away from it
to pull away from you

but you didn't just
turn to me
you beat down on me
like a fierce storm
of solar rays and meteors
thawing, breaking my ice
one wall after the other
piercing through it
to my forest
where you found the fire
i never desired
because it's his fire

or so i believed

until you took it
hurled it at my face
and said,
"it's not his power."

it is passed down
from parent to child
but the connection
is not important
it's how you
make it your own
that matters

"you're not bound
by your blood
you can be a hero, shouto"

"isn't it your power?!"

and the deep black forest
suddenly wasn't so
deep and black anymore
because you shone upon it
you are still shining
you, with your light that's
as much a part of you as
saving people like me
and people unlike me

i won the battle that day
but i lost the war
for you had left
a blinding light in my forest
that glowed from the inside
something no one has
ever even tried to do
but to you it was
as easy as breathing
as saving people like me
and saving people unlike me

i know i'm not special
you want to help everyone
even the ones that
are cruel to you
but that's alright
i don't have to be special
because i know you are and
that's all i care about

and even though
i was raised to defeat you
i know in my soul that

i was born to love you.

to: izuku midoriya
from: shouto todoroki