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Midoriya Izuku was light.
He was the sun that broke out through all the beliefs you had, so long ago, for so long. He broke his bones for you to accept yourself. He screamed through pain, for what you didn't know back then, but he changed your life.
(He tells you later that he found the sight of your sorrowful eyes familiar and heartbreaking.)
You knew what friendship meant, because of him.
You know what strength means, because of him.
You remembered what love meant, because of him.
Yet the sight of that right hand of his once caused tears in your eyes, because no one should have had to scar themselves for your pitiful existence, right? But then he finds you crying about his right hand once, and you tell him through angry tears that you never wanted him to get hurt because of you.
He only smiles, and kisses your tears away.
He then entwines his right hand with yours, and he rests your foreheads together, whispering words of love and comfort. What is most poignant however, is the way he whispers the words 'This scar is a proof of our love, Shouko' against your lips and you cry again because this man is utterly impossible.
The sight of his steel left arm brings forth a maelstrom of memories.
It reminds you of a time Izuku lied to you (albeit with good reason), of a time your father lied to you, of tears and panic, of Touya, with an intent to murder you, looming over you with a malevolent smile as you fought against him, fire and ice howling for release in your veins as you fought off against lies.
When you truly let yourself think about it, the day after he had got that arm, you had yourself filled with doubts.
It reminds you of the time Bakugou, once Izuku finished haltingly speaking out the truth of his Quirk, looked at you with pity in your eyes.
It reminds you of the time Bakugou took you aside and spoke unforgivable words.
"If you have feelings for him, Todoroki, I'd suggest you forget them. Nobody who's wielded One for All so far met with a happy ending."
You stared at him back then, wishing you could burn a hole into his skull, but the truth wasn't explosive, as Bakugou was.
He had whispered the words almost sadly, come to think of it.
"And what would you care, Bakugou?" You had asked, frost blooming at your fingertips, something akin to hatred boiling in your veins at the time.
Bakugou had only looked at you, scarlet eyes drenched in pity.
"I don't care. But....your love for him will only hurt him. He will only hurt himself for your feelings. He'd risk anything for you. That's not what we can have All Might's successor doing, risking everything for one person."
You had believed in those words until Izuku had stood over All for One's corpse, steel hand raised to the fist and he smiled at you with the sun glowing over him, like a true hero, and you were the the only one he had spared a glance for.
That's when you knew you'd be okay.
That steel arm is supposed to be cold, but something about Izuku is so innately warm that its touch comforts you.
There is a particularly large scar stretching from his right pectoral (which is very nice, come to think of it) to his right hip. You make sure to kiss every inch of it gently when you're both in bed (or any chance really) because you know Izuku is fond of this scar.
You aren't, not when the numbness overtakes you.
It's the first scar he obtained after becoming Number One. He's proud of it, for he obtained it while saving the entirety of Musutafau from some maniac with an obsession with swords, but to you, it only reminds you that Izuku is mortal, that Izuku could be infallible, because only you know how desperately you were praying crying in the hospital, right outside the operation theater, for him to be all right.
Only you know how seeing that scar was so painful for you, a reminder that Izuku could have been killed, even as he smiles at you and kisses you.
You are not particularly fond of the scar on his left shoulder, the only shoulder of flesh that he has. He laughs and jokes about it, and sometimes he kisses you soundly so that you forget to glare at it mutinously, grinning as he pulls back from you, as you, dazed from the joy he kisses you with, struggle to find out what on earth you had been so annoyed about.
It's the scar he got when trying to shove you away from Touya as he blasted flames at the two of you. You remember it well- it was in your third year. The League of Villains had made their final stand, and Touya hadn't taken any chances- he had still wanted to spite Endeavor, and he had still wanted to do so by killing you, the would-be puppet.
The flames had burned the skin away, burned the first layer of muscle tissue away, while you stared in shock, before desperation overtook you and you froze his shoulder solid, crying out his name in horror.
The flames stopped, but Izuku had only smiled with tears in his eyes, before asking you melt his shoulder and cut a piece of your flesh, so he could exchange One for All.
Why? You found yourself asking, stunned.
So you remember you're not alone, and that whatever happens between you and your brother, Todoroki-san....no, Shouko, I'll support you through it. This doesn't seem like something you should be alone for. This is your fight, I know, but...you should remember I have your back. No matter what.
He had been right.
It had been easier to murder your brother as he asked you, knowing that this wasn't just your power you held, but Izuku's power too.
The scar is now a patch of ugly purple skin on Izuku's shoulder, reminiscent of Touya's own.
Neither of you spoke about it, and neither of you will, but Izuku's smile only gets saddened when you run chilled fingers over it.
There's another scar that causes you to feel sorrow at Izuku's nature- the one he had gotten for you and Bakugou, the one that made you think he had indeed been killed by All for One's hand.
The hand of a father that never should have been, but was.
You see it happening slowly, the way a feather would fall once released- Bakugou and you are two seconds away from getting hit with All for One's most powerful quirk in his arsenal, and Izuku, with a loud soundless roar, pushes him away while screaming your name out loud, telling you to get away, and you do, but you tell him to run away as well but of course he doesn't.
And All for One has the audacity to laugh, as Izuku is blasted to the ground, blood blooming out of him. You and Bakugou stare at Izuku's fallen form in shock, before you, voice far more numb than you've ever registered it to be, bark out an order to Bakugou, one you remember too well.
Stay back. Make sure you've got enough nitroglycerin for this place to burn to the ground.
Bakugou gaped, even as All for One taunted you, oh what will you do now, dear, now that you were too weak to-
You didn't hear what he said next, as frost bloomed out from you, begging to be released.
You froze his mouth numb with your hand facing his mocking mouth, with a calmness you never experienced in the storm that was your life. And then you made sure, to remember what Touya said about just letting go, and you burn the ice surrounding his mouth before burning his tongue with flames hotter than you ever realize you could, flames that burnt bluer than your father's cold eyes.
Bakugou gapes at you, and you speak, even amidst All for One's screams of agony, saying that you had to save Izuku, and that he should get around to that nitroglycerin.
He did get around to that nitroglycerin, as you cauterized Izuku's wound, sorrow and despair wrecking you as he twitched in the ground with pain, and at that moment, your eyes burned even as you worked on that wound of his.
You didn't realize you had been sobbing out his name until he breathed, and you found your voice raw. No, not even then. It was when he got up with a smile on his face, odds against him, and he reached out his hand of flesh, to you.
It's okay, Shouko. You saved me. Come on. Kacchan is still fighting. And I believe you asked him to dunk a heck load of nitro around?
The outstretched hand he held out to you stopped you from losing yourself, truthfully.
That scar turned into a huge blackened patch of skin on his chest, sometimes haunting you.
You love them all regardless, despite how they remind you of all the times Izuku nearly gotten taken away from you.
Because in the end, they tell you that Izuku will always come back, no matter what, silly as the sentiment is.
But it's true.
And that's why you smile at him when he looks down at his scars self-consciously sometimes, that's why you always try to soothe him, and that's why you're always happy when his eyes shine at your reassuring words.