A/N: Welcome back to another chapter! I know it's been forever since my last update for this story, or for any of my stories in general, but right now I'm not as busy so I wanted to commit some time to finally get this chapter out. Thank you all for waiting patiently, and I hope you enjoy. Apologies if they're OOC. I'm not used to writing these characters, so I hope that's something I can improve in future chapters.

Chapter 3: Moonlight's Sorrow Kiss

It's the day before second term begins. The last day for class 1-A to enjoy what's left of their roller coaster of a summer vacation. Many of the class members went out to the arcade, movies, shopping centers, etc. Doing just about anything to turn their minds away from going back to school tomorrow. A few, however, stayed at home to do some further relaxing and only one worked on improving their quirk. And being one of the few that stayed at their new home at the U.A. dorms, Yaoyorozu made it a personal goal for herself to prepare her mindset return back to school.

Unlike the majority of her classmates who moaned and whined about their summer coming to end, not looking forward to getting back on the hamster wheel of the everyday school routine again, Momo actually felt excited about returning to school for two main reasons: One reason is because, once they return, there will be many great opportunities via internships and preparations for the Hero License Exam to look forward to as these events will help them all to continue to grow, mature, and be molded into the future heroes they all dream of becoming one day.

The second reason is, as blunt as it may seem, she's ready to focus her mind on anything and everything else besides Todoroki.

It's been 2 weeks since that night. The night when she and Todoroki crossed a line probably neither had expected nor planned. When they finished their weekend training at the resort, based on how her interactions with Todoroki were after the fact, she assumed everything would eventually go back to normal and there wouldn't be any lingering awkwardness between them.

But oh how wrong she was.

There is nothing normal or not awkward between her and half-cold and half-hot quirk user.

Why? Because she's having a hard time forgetting about it all. Forgetting about the sensation of his lips against hers and how his warm yet cool hands felt against her skin. Her feelings for him are still just as raw as they've ever been and having that physical intimacy, though she can't explain why, is too hard for her to explain the attachment that develop towards him afterwards.

Its frustrating because she wants to forget. It's annoying because she know that he probably doesn't harbor any feelings for her... right? And since moving into the Heights Alliance Dormitories at U.A. she gets to see him a lot more often and the frequency to which she sees him does nothing for her flutter heart of the butterflies that always manage to storm to her stomach the moment she sees him. So, even though it seems like all external factors are against her in her quest to move on from her, she'll do her best each and every day to just that.

Raising her arms and letting out a soft yawn, Momo leaned slightly back into her chair and stretched. Getting the blood flowing after hours of sitting at her desk reading books about weapons and materials used for defense in battles that her parents had given her as a 'going away gift'. She closed the book then dropped her head onto the desk with a gentle thud. Her head pounded from not only all the new information that she retained in hopes of widening her selection and quality in the things she can create with her quirk, but also from the randomness of the headaches along with occasional nausea that's been plaguing her for the past couple of days. Besides the still sprained ankle that she received from her encounter with Todoroki, her overall health is good. She doesn't know why or understand what it is that's been making her feel this way, especially since the nausea can be so intense that she loses her appetite. But she much rather not go online and diagnose herself only to scare herself.

So, she'll just give it another week and maybe see a doctor is it continues to persist.

Looking at the time on her phone, Momo groaned when she saw that is was barely 7:45 pm. Her stomached growled and a dull ache radiated in the pit of her stomach. "Ugh... I'm so hungry. The one time that I have an appetite, I have to wait." she complained.

Earlier this morning, all of class 1-A got together for breakfast then agreed afterwards to get pizza and have Satou make desserts for dinner at 8:30 pm. While waiting another 45 minutes normally won't be too bad for her, this time she's not sure if she has the patience to wait. Tonight she's hungry and is ready more than ever to devour whatever food and sweets they offer.

Resting her head for a couple of more minutes, the raven-haired teen decided that it would be better to kill time if she took a nap. So, she cautiously got out of her seat, minding her left ankle that's accessorized with a black brace, and turned to crawl onto her mattress since it wasn't too far from her desk due to her large furniture that made her room a bit cramped. She grabbed one of the few extra pillows that she had and placed it underneath her injured foot. Tomorrow she'll be able to see recovery girl and hopefully the nice older woman would be generous enough to heal it for her so that she can, not only participate in whatever activities Mr. Aizawa has planned for them, but to start the second term on good footing.

Literally...

Momo laid down in her bed and closed her eyes to rest. But right as she was starting to slip into pleasant sleep, she heard a loud familiar voice coming down the hall in her direction and next thing she knew, the person knocked on the door a few times before opening without much regard for permission. And just as she suspected, Momo sat up in bed and came face to face with the cheery girl with pink kinky hair who strolled into her room with much excitement radiating off of her.

"Yamomo!"

"Ashido, surely you've heard of knocking, right?"

"Oh! Yes, sorry about that." The teen sheepishly laughed as she rubbed the back of her head. "Iida wanted me to come up here to tell you that pizza is here early and that you're free to come down and eat any time that you want."

Momo looked at the girl with raised brows and asked, "And you came all the way to the top floor to tell me that? You know you could have called or text me, right?"

"True. But I was already on my way up here to hang out in Asui's room to eat our pizza. I dropped my food off in her room before coming here."

"Alright then. Thank you for telling me."

"No problem girl." Ashido said cheerily before eyeing her classmate's injured foot. "How is your foot by the way? Does it still hurt when you walk?"

"Yeah, but just a little bit. I've been able to manage, so it's okay."

"Ah, okay. Well, do you want me to get you some pizza or—"

"No thanks. I need get out of my room and walk anyways." Momo smiled to assure the pink girl further. Convinced that she's really okay, the teen waved Momo good bye before nearly skipping out of her room and all Momo could think about was how she wished she sometimes had the energy Ashido had on a daily. As the girl disappeared from her sight, Yaoyorozu slipped out of bed to close the door that was left open but right as she about to after limping to it, she heard Ashido greet someone down the hall and the moment she heard the person's name fall from her lips, Yaoyorozu felt her heart flutter and panic course through her body.

Especially at the sound of his voice.

"Do you know if Yaoyorozu is in her room by any chance?" she heard him asked then Ashido respond by saying 'yes'. He thanked the girl and presumably enough, he walked towards her room. With whatever speed she was capable of, Momo limped to the full body mirror in her room and scrambled to brush down the frizzes of her hair and pat down the wrinkles of her large t-shirt and sleeping shorts. Mentally she beat herself for not looking presentable for his visit but at the same time... it wasn't like she expected Todoroki to come by and visit her.

Since when had he been interested in seeing? Not once had he showed an interest in coming back from the day the moved into these dorms.

Too caught up in fixing her appearance, she failed to notice Todoroki already in the doorway. He stood there in silence with confusion as he tried to figured out what she was doing. Was she trying to look good or something? And if so, for what reason? He continued to watch her for a little longer before finally clearing his throat and knocked softly on her door a couple of times to gain her attention. When she turned around and faced him, he noticed how her cheeks began to pink and he wondered to himself, "Did I catch her at a bad moment?"

"T-Todoroki." Momo stammered. "I didn't hear you. How long were you standing there?"

"Ahem," he cleared his throat again, "Not too long, but you looked... busy?" He paused for a second waiting for her response but all she did was blink at him, so he asked, "Should I come back at another time? It looked as if you were busy getting ready or something and I don't—"

"N-No. You're okay, Todoroki. I was just... fixing my hair. It was annoying me." she lied and felt small under Todoroki's gaze as he studied her appearance.

"Well, your hair looks nice. It's very pretty when it's down."

Flattered by his comment, Momo smiled and quietly thanked him and she nervously brushed back a few strands of her hair behind her ear. Something that she does often that Todoroki definitely began to notice.

"So, uh, what brings you here, Todoroki? I didn't expect you to come by and see me."

Todoroki walked into her room to stand closer to her. He said nothing as he admired her natural beauty then before he realized it, his eyes flickered down to her lips that he remembers feeling so good and right against his. But as brief as the blissful thought came, he just as quickly pushed it away and refocused on what he has been having on his mind for the past 2 weeks now. Something that he's been wanting to bring up to her but never had the courage to do so.

"How are you feeling?" He asked and when she looked at him in confusion since he didn't really answer her question, he continued. "I overheard some of the girls say how you weren't feeling too well last night, and then this morning, you didn't really eat your breakfast because you mentioned about feeling nauseous."

"You... You noticed that I wasn't eating?" Momo asked, her feelings touched that he was being so observant.

"Well, yeah. Of course I noticed." He replied and Momo smiled at the thought of her crush paying attention to her but then, Todoroki continued by saying, "You were sitting across from me and weren't exactly too quiet about how you were feeling, so of course I was aware of how you were feeling." He finished and whatever fantasy Yaoyorozu had came crashing down like a meteorite at his bluntness.

Nonetheless, it made her giggle and appreciative that he at least took the time from his day to check on her.

"I wanted to see for myself if you were okay or not, so that's one of the reasons why I'm here."

"Well thank you for checking up on me. It truly means a lot of me and I actually feel much better tonight than I did this morning." Momo said and when Todoroki kept his silence after welcoming her, she reflected to him mentioning about 'one of his reasons' of visiting her and asked, "So, Todoroki... what's the other reason why you came to visit?"

"Are you hungry? Do you think you have an appetite for pizza?"

"Yes! I'm actually starving."

"I bet." Todoroki commented then stepped a little closer to her, almost closing the space between them. "Would you like to eat together?"

"Sure. Downstairs with the others, right?"

"No. Not exactly... More like alone." Momo stared at him in surprise as she tried to not get too nervous about being alone with him again. "I-I want to talk to you about something... it's the second reason why I'm here and I feel like it would be better if you and I have as much privacy as possible.

"Okay." The teen said under her breath and an awkward silence overcame the two. She couldn't help but let her mind wander to the many things that he could possibly want to talk to her about. She'll admit that after the summer camp, most have been adjusting to their lives in the dorms and she and Todoroki really haven't had a moment to talk despite being around each other. Although she was sort of grateful because after all... it was privacy that got them into this situation of the constant reminder of having an elephant in the room in the first place.

Momo's onyx eyes studied the young man before her who seemed to be in his own small world, bothered and confused. So, even though every fiber in her body wanted to politely decline his offer to eat alone, she quietly called out his name and when he looked at her, she held out her hand and said, "What are we waiting for. Let's go get some pizza before its gone."

Todoroki looked at her in surprise and smiled. He then took her hand and adjusted himself to her pace, keeping in mind her sensitive ankle.

And as they walked… her warm hand never left his.

But he didn't mind.

Because he didn't want to let go of hers either.

. . . .

"It's beautiful tonight. Sometimes I forget just how amazing the stars can be whenever it's not cloudy."

"Mhmm." Todoroki responded in agreement, mouth full, as he chewed on the last bits of his pizza looking up at the starry sky.

After they'd gotten their pizzas from the dining area, they decided to eat their meal elsewhere and sat on the entrance steps to their dorm. The night was a cool breeze and as they enjoyed their delicious pizzas and sweets, they enjoyed the privacy of each other's company just as much. They talked and talked, just how the used to. Though this time he spoke a bit more than he did in the past. Without even trying he made her laugh and what made the night better was that when she explained why she found what he said to be funny, it only left him more confused and Momo couldn't help but find his seriousness something to love about. But as began to finish their meals, the jokes and silly conversations began to settle down and she knew that at any moment, soon Todoroki is going to share what he wanted to tell her.

It's just a matter of being patient now.

And as nerve wracking as it makes her feel, she wants to keep an open mind to whatever he has to say at not assume the worst.

"So I never asked you, Todoroki."

"Hm?"

"Are you ready to go back to school?"

Thinking about her question for a second, he answered, "Yes and no."

"Huh... I have to say that I'm surprised to hear that coming from you."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because," Momo started, gazing into his pretty multi-colored eyes, "You're the class prodigy. You're really good at all the hero rec classes, tests, and so on. And knowing that I thought that constantly getting recognized for your quirk, abilities, and improvement is something excites or at least keep you motivated to going to school. I know all of us are motivated by our dreams to become heroes but—"

"Yaoyorozu." Todoroki interrupted and she looked at him, ready to hear what he has to say.

"Yes?" she asked almost quietly. Her cheeks warmed when she noticed him scoot closer to her and gently laid his hand overs hers between them.

"Why do you think so highly of me?"

"Huh?"

"You called me a prodigy and you constantly bring up my achievements as if its a standard for the class to follow."

"Oh. Perhaps its because you are and your skills and abilities are exceptional... don't you agree?" Todoroki stared at her stoically but almost intently to try to understand what she was trying to convey to him. So she took a breath and explained, "As I've mentioned to you before in the past, you continuously prove yourself to be worthy to be a hero." Momo looked down to her lap and frowned feeling her new gained confidence shake a little. "Your strength and abilities that are shown in the filed are just proof as to why a lot of us in class look up to you. Why I admire you so much. I can't help it. So, forgive me for admiring you greatly... It's just something that I see in you that I want to continue work towards having in myself."

"But you do have it in you. You're an amazing person and I know you're also going to be a great hero one day. There's no doubt in my mind." Momo's eyes lifted to meet his gentle and inviting gaze and Todoroki gave her a soft smile. "No two people can ever truly be the same. You and I are different but that's not a bad thing. Like everyone else in our class and even the Pros... we all have strengths and weaknesses. And if everyone was the same then there would be no uniqueness in the world. So while admiring others is great, we have to find what makes us as great individuals and embrace it. Yaoyorozu, you're very thoughtful, kind, dedicated, compassionate, and always look out for the best interest of others. There's are some of the qualities I lack. So, believe it or not, I admire you greatly. I still do. And like I told you on the day we faced Mr. Aizawa, I think you are very much capable."

"You really think so, Todoroki?" Momo asked in a shaky voice, her eyes tearing a little and felt a sense of comfort when his hand held hers tighter.

"Yaoyorozu… I-I like you. I like the person that you are, I like how great of a friend you've been to me and I see you as an equal. Not someone beneath me because I will never view you like that. I want you to know that… I value you as someone special to me. You are truly an amazing and beautiful person to me."

Yaoyorozu looked at Todoroki with wide eyes. Her cheeks burned, flushed in a deep pink in reaction to his words. His seemingly confession yet not one of feelings towards her. But maybe it's not too hopeless to believe that he just might have feelings for her.

"T-Todoroki, I…" Yaoyorozu stopped. Her words getting caught in her throat and then that's when she saw it… a sight so rare she'd only seen it when its just them together. Him and her and nobody else. "I'm happy… I'm happy that you see me as an equal, and so for now on… I promise to do my best to stay confident in myself matter what." She finished with a smile, admiring the pink hue crossing his cheeks.

He's so attractive. So, so attractive. He's handsome when he's serious, when he's fighting… but so precious when he blushes.

"Yaoyorozu."

"Y-Yes?"

Todoroki let go of her hand then turned away from her almost as if he felt ashamed. His sudden change of demeanor confused her. But when she called his name, he only looked out to the night sky and said nothing. A minute of silence fell between them. A very long minute it felt, but she wanted to be patient with him no matter what. And so, when he took a deep, shaky breath, she unknowingly tensed as she took one herself.

"It's been bothering me but I want to talk about what happened at the summer camp." He said lowly then finally faced her. "I want to know how you feel about me, about us right now. Yaoyorozu, your feelings are important to me and I don't want to keep ignoring the fact that we… crossed the line. To pretend like it never happened when it did."

"Yes. I agree. It's just… I wanted to bring it up but I wasn't sure if it would be the wisest. So, I'm happy that you do want to talk about it because it's been on my mind a lot lately."

"Mine too." Todoroki admitted.

They stared at each other, wondering who was going to break the silence first. Both wanted to share how they feel about one another but are held back by fear from their own hesitations and excuses. And in realizing that he had already made up his mind about her, Todoroki began speaking.

"Yaoyorozu. I care about you. I care about you a lot. Even though I don't know your reason behind kissing me… know that when I kissed you back… I-I was driven by strong emotions for you." Todoroki said nervously, his cheeks beginning to flush. "I didn't do those things with you as a means to have sex. However, because I have a lot of respect for you I must apologize to you for my behavior. I should have been more careful and thoughtful of my actions." He paused again and felt a pang in his chest when he chewed on the next few words that he knew he would have to say but went against how he really felt. But it must be done. "You're my friend and I don't want ruin our relationship… our friendship because of a mistake."

Mistake? Is this how he really feels?

Momo chuckled painfully to herself. Her head dropped to her feet and an uncomfortable dull pang centered in her chest. Heh… she should've known better. Was it wrong for her to feel a little hopeful that he might confess to have some sort of feelings for her after saying all those sweet things to her? Was it her fault for reading too much into his words and was foolish to let herself get high on the emotions that hey, maybe he does like her?

Taking every ounce of strength in her to conjure up the words that betrayed her heart, she looked at him with teary eyes and said, "Yes. I agree with you, Todoroki." Such a lie. "Back at the camp, I was also driven by strong emotions for you. We were getting along so well and before I knew it, my body reacted before my mind could process. So, I accept your apology but also must apologize to you for coming onto you. I view you as a friend as well and I value our friendship dearly."

"So… are we okay? Will everything go back to normal between us?"

Yaoyorozu smiled sadly, uncontrolled tears falling from her eyes.

"I don't think we can ever go back to being normal… but we can certainly try." she said with a heartbreaking smile.

We can certainly try.

"Why are you crying?" Todoroki asked softly. His hand gently reached towards her cheek to wipe the tears, caressing her smooth skin. The kiss of the moonlight on her ivory skin enhanced the beauty of her face but what it also showed him clearly was the pain he just may have inflicted on her.

Did he just make a greater mistake? Could he have been wrong that she didn't have feelings for him? He expected her to be honest but he wasn't even honest to her.

"Yaoyorozu..."

"No reason. I'm crying for no reason at all."

"Are you sure?"

Yaoyorozu hesitated then pushed his hand away gently, wiping away her own stray of tears and answered painfully.

"I'm sure."

A/N: I know! It's not fun to read Todoroki hurt Yaoyorozu's feelings but remember that he has his fear of getting close to someone like her, so he wants to make sure that he made it clear that they're just friends. But he's certainly sending some mixed signals with his affection towards her. Thank you for taking the time to read and feel free to let me know what you think, comment, ask questions, review, etc. Until next time.

Thatsoneperson