•Manipulation• [BNHA × Male!OC]

Chapter 136: FLINT AND STEEEEL.

Ryo's absence had come unexpectedly.

And just as it did last time, it hit Todoroki Shoto and Bakugou Katsuki hard.

At least last time they'd had the set timeframe of a month.

Now all they could do was hope he'd show up soon.

Or show up at all.

It was clear to the two that he'd set off to finish what he needed to do.

The one thing that had been preventing their relationship with the boy all this while.

But not knowing what this was made it all the more difficult for Shoto and Katsuki to deal with.

Somehow, the only people who seemed to really question Ryo's absence were the 1-A students, a select few from 1-B and a general studies student.

In spite of all their queries, the teachers kept mum.

Whether they were told to keep quiet or genuinely had no idea, no one knew.

All anyone knew was that Ryo was gone again, and there was no telling when he'd be back.

Faced by such uncertainty, his friends were uncertain how to act.

If this was a matter of saving their friend from villains, they'd gladly come up with some convoluted scheme and march into battle to rescue them. They'd done it before after all.

If they'd had a deadline for his return, they'd do their best to wait patiently.

But to know nothing at all, that was truly the worst.

Slowly, one by one students unsure of what to do did the only thing they could do, they moved on.

They focused on the upcoming internships and planned for their trips.

All except the two that had been left the most blindsided by Ryo's absence.

For them, it was as though time stood still. 

Like they were expecting a familiar mop of white hair to pop out from around a corner at any point of time, if only they kept waiting.

But the world, as if to mock them, continued to spin.

And it dragged them along with it.

They had to decide on an agency to intern at, and Shoto had a straightforward suggestion.

"We can go to Endeavor's agency," he suggested one night when the two laid tangled in a bed now far too big for just two people.

They found themselves in this situation more and more, comforting each other through the startling quiet.

Katsuki's nightmares had come back.

"I can call in a favor," he continued to speak, running his hand absentmindedly through blonde spikes. They were shorter than what he was used to.

"We'd be training under the number one hero."

"And..." he hesitated.

'It'd be easier to look for signs of Ryo while on patrols.'

-

"Train under that asshole?"

Katsuki scoffed, but now even his delinquent facade lacked its usual sting.

"Well whatever," he rolled onto his back, blood red eyes staring a hole through the ceiling.

"As long its with a top hero I don't care."