The walls are closing in around him, and he's not sure if it's the way his breaths are short that is making the room spin or if it's the towering figure looming threateningly above him. He's lying on the cold floorboards, hunched in on himself, hurting all over, body trembling violently in equal parts chilling cold, blinding rage and paralysing fear. Because when he looks up he sees nothing but fire, nothing but fury, disappointment and disgust, all burning bright red all around. But that's not even the worst part.

"T-Todoroki-kun…" The choked words grip his heart tighter than the hands around Midoriya's neck, holding him high above the ground and leaving his feet dangling without purchase. "H-help…"

He sees his hands clawing at the huge one cutting his air supply and knows that he should do something, stop him, make him let go. But as soon as he gets his body to move, another large hand strikes his face painfully, stirring the injury on his jaw and shooting blood out of his mouth onto the floor. The room warps further, darkness closing in and suffocating him just as hard as Midoriya. It feels like the whole world shakes with the one step he takes towards his curled-up form.

"You dare disrespect me like this? My own creation?" The voice is one he's used to, but crooked in a way, rumbling and deep, thundering all around him and reverberating inside his very core, making him cower further with dread seeping deep into his bones. It's a deep-set fear ingrained into every fibre of his being, keeping him complacent, enduring the horrors so that he doesn't have to find out what could possibly be worse. Yet it seems as if he's about to learn that lesson anyway, whether he likes it or not. "This weakling couldn't even defeat you. What on earth made you think he could protect you?"

"Todoroki-kun…" Midoriya calls for him once more, despair evident, almost an exact replica of one fateful night in Hosu, where death was knocking at their doors with an invitation they were only so lucky to refuse. "Please…" His voice breaks off with a choke and he thinks he hears knuckles crack with the force. It breaks him deep inside, making his chest ache impossibly, knocking the breath right out of his lungs painfully. It's my fault this is happening. I should've never run, I shouldn't have come to him. He wants nothing more than to stop everything, to make it cease once and for all, the pain, the fear, the danger, all of it.

Somehow, he gains the courage to look back and sees the plea in Midoriya's purpling face, his eyes dulling with each second that passes with him struggling to leave the death grip around his throat. He forces himself to speak up, to try and ease the situation, if only he's okay… "Please, this is all my fault. Do with me as you wish, just please don't hurt him, I beg of you…"

His own voice is strained, sounding foreign to his ears as he bows his head down to the bloodstained floor and feels a foot on the back of his neck, keeping him there. "I will do with you as I wish no matter what you say, Shouto. You must be punished for insubordination. And it seems that the worst form of punishment to you is to get rid of him."

"Todo-" Midoriya's voice is cut off by a loud crack and followed by a dull thud. His body shakes uncontrollably as his eyes move towards the sound and are met with lifeless green ones, staring back at him unseeingly, the neck bent at an unnatural angle. And he screams.

"Midoriya!" Shouto jumps up with a shout and a whine of pain from jostling all his wounds with the sudden movement, feeling the soft fabric of his hoodie sliding off of his shoulders. But all of that pain is quickly forgotten because his chest hurts so much worse. He's broken by a violent sob and the tears follow soon after, breaths uneven and ragged with tiny whimpers punctuating each one. He holds onto his head, eyes wide with horror as salty tracks are burnt into the skin of his face and he starts rocking back and forth, images flashing before him and the cracking playing on repeat loud in the dark corners of his mind.

Shouto squeezes his eyes shut tightly, shaking his head furiously to try and get the pictures away, but it seems that they're tattooed into the back of his eyelids. In the darkness behind them he sees him there, lying on the floor motionless. His lips are slightly parted but there's no air coming in or out of them, his eyes are open but they're glassy and dull, staring straight past him without really seeing anything. And it's my fault, oh god it's my fault. He feels his body quake and darkness getting heavier and heavier, threatening to collapse everything around him and take him down with it.

The sound of a door banging open against a wall goes unnoticed in his panicked state and so are the urgent calls of his name, the only thing he sees being the shadow of death behind Midoriya's eyes and the only thing he hears, the way his voice cracks with his shrill cries. It's only when calloused hands brush the exposed skin of his neck that some sense of reality crawls back into him, jostling him violently out of the twisted visions inside his head.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong? It's okay, I'm here, Todoroki-kun, breathe." A sweet voice brings him further back still, anchoring him with a little semblance of sanity.

Shouto's eyes focus from the plane of terror in which they were stuck, looking at broken necks and lifeless emeralds that had lost all of their shine and he sees freckles dusted over slightly tan cheeks. He follows them like a path to safety and tethers to the knot between thin eyebrows and the lively concern that glimmers beneath them. His fingers slacken their hold on his hair, which he hadn't even noticed he'd started pulling in an attempt to stop the pain from spreading from his chest, and that's when Midoriya takes the opportunity to hold his trembling hands.

All sounds cease from Shouto, but for the quivering gasps that still rip through him, crying silently the tears that flow overwhelmingly with no way for him to stop them. His heart is beating relentlessly, his mind trying to conciliate what's in front of him and what's in the dark corners of his clouded thoughts. But the thumbs rubbing gentle and soft circles over the back of his hand pull the picture of death further and further down into the notion that maybe it wasn't real. Maybe what's real is what's in front of him right now. Maybe it's okay to breathe.

"Breathe with me, slowly, like this." Midoriya takes a deep breath through his nose and blows it gently from his mouth, sending it caressing over Shouto's wet cheeks from their proximity and making his eyelids flutter slightly. "Come on, do it with me, in and out, just like that."

Shouto barely realises that he's mimicking him until one of his inhales is broken by a sudden sob, one of many that were still lurking just underneath his calming demeanour, remnants from the panic that was clawing at his insides and threatening to tear right through him. Just as Midoriya thinks he's making progress, Shouto's brain kickstarts from its stunted state and his horror is dialled back up to max and he feels like he's going to be sick. Because even though he's started to rationalise that what had just happened was nothing but a nightmare, a horrible, horrible nightmare, it's closer to a highly likely possibility than he would ever like to admit.

"G-get away. I have t-to leave." Shouto speaks through broken breaths, weakly pushing Midoriya's hands away from his own and lifting himself off of the bed. Midoriya's bed, he realises with a start when he finally gains awareness of his surroundings, the disorienting panic lifting only to be replaced with the crystal-clear threat of danger. He knew it was a stupid idea to run away, he knew he was just delaying the inevitable, and he was also putting Midoriya in danger. What's the use in escaping the lion's den if you're just going to lead the lion straight to the thing it wants to devour the most. Weakness he'd call it.

"W-what?" Midoriya follows after him, startled, especially when Shouto's left leg gives in as soon as it hits the floor and he comes crashing to the ground with a small groan and a string of coughs. Immediately, Midoriya is by his side, helping him sit up as he hides his face in his hands. "What are you talking about? You just got here." Shouto feels a hand resting over the bandages that wrap around his arm, rubbing gently up and down, soothingly. "What's wrong, Todoroki-kun?"

Letting out a shaky breath, Shouto lets his arms fall down to his lap limply, red-rimmed eyes staring into a distant place somewhere beyond the walls of Midoriya's room. "He's going to find me. And if I stay here, he'll hurt you… I have to go somewhere only I'll be punished. I can't get you involved…"

Midoriya doesn't answer him, he simply scoots closer and slowly slides his hands down over Shouto's own, looking at him while he avoids his gaze entirely. "You don't have to go anywhere. You're safe here with me. I won't let anyone hurt you or me. I'm right here for you."

Shouto's head falls and his shoulders slump as he shakes it meekly. Midoriya feels hot tears dripping onto his hands, rolling down the sides when he shifts them to pull them closer. "You can't. He's… He'll hurt you to make it all worse. He'll hurt you to hurt me. He killed you…" The last part comes out as nothing more than a strangled whisper, almost as if the very effort of saying it out loud would somehow make it real. His fingers involuntarily twitch around Midoriya's just to feel that pressure that tells him it's not, that he's okay and not lying dead right by his face because of him.

"Is that what you were screaming about?" Midoriya lets go for just a moment to pull his face up and force his eyes to look into his. "I'm right here, see?" His thumb strokes just below his jaw comfortingly, caressing the spot where the bruise is still darkening, still settling under his skin and leaving its mark. "Nothing like that's going to happen. I'm right here."

Closing his eyes, Shouto focuses on the tender touch of Midoriya's fingers, how they seem to send an irradiating calm right from where they sit all the way down to his frantic heart. He leans into Midoriya's palm, twitching from the slight sting of the pressure to his injured jaw but quickly adjusting so that he's now rubbing his cheek instead, where the cuts are less prominent. Midoriya brushes away some of the stray tears that still fall from the corners of his eyes and Shouto inhales sharply. He thinks that maybe this is inappropriate, that he shouldn't be so desperate to feel the rough skin of Midoriya's hand on him, but he can't bring himself to care. Not when it's so grounding, when it brings him back down from the brink of despair and makes him feel a little less hurt, a little less afraid.

His lids flutter back open and blue greys stare into deep green, looking at him with a calm and caring expression, a kindness that he clings to as if his life depends on it. It feels so familiar yet so foreign, fills him with a gentle warmth that makes him feel safe and cared for. It reminds him vaguely of his mother but that doesn't sit quite right with Shouto. It's similar, in a way, but also not. It's the same sort of feeling but an entirely different emotion, if that makes any sense. Shouto doesn't think it does and he can't quite explain it, but it doesn't seem that important at this moment.

"I'm sorry." Midoriya's expression twists and he's quick to continue before the other can interject. "For worrying you, I didn't mean to scream…"

A small smile tugs at the corners of Midoriya's lips, a reassuring and understanding one, and yet it looked sad, like there were painful memories surfacing right behind those bright eyes. "It's okay… It happens."

Shouto swallows around the uncomfortable lump that forms in his throat at the realisation of what that smile really means. "To you?"

The way Midoriya looks away is answer enough but the dejected little shrug as he takes his hands away, followed by a low and muted 'sometimes' is what brings the searing pain back to his chest. The question of 'why' hangs precariously on his tongue but he keeps it to himself, it's not his place. Instead, he carefully pulls himself to Midoriya's side, his limbs complaining with the effort and driving a grunt out of him. Shouto leans his injured leg against Midoriya's thigh and feels a head of fluffy green locks resting on his shoulder. Some stray curls tickle his neck and Shouto rests his own head on top of his shorter friend's, burying his face in his hair and bringing his right hand over to Midoriya's neck. They stay like that for a long time, in a neutral silence they seem to have wordlessly agreed upon, focusing on each other's presence rather than the unpleasant feelings that stir deep inside them.

"I was making tea… It's probably cold by now…" Midoriya finally speaks, voice slightly croaky as if he'd been swallowing down sobs even though Shouto had felt the warm wetness on his naked shoulder.

"Sorry…"

"Not your fault. You need to stop that."

"Sor- uh, I mean…" Shouto stops himself halfway, realising the absurdity of what he was about to say in light of Midoriya's reprehension. But he feels his friend shaking against him, a low chuckle tumbling out of him that sounds lovely to his ears against the suffocating weight of their previous tearful silence.

"That happens sometimes too." Midoriya lifts his head to look at him with a small smirk, his cheeks tinted with a light flush from keeping in more of his tiny laughs. "It's okay, you'll get the hang of it, eventually."

Shouto hums in response, his own lips quirking for a moment before he feels Midoriya peel himself off of his side and climb to his feet. He can't ignore the heavy feeling of loss and the cold that settles on his left side as soon as the other's weight lifts from his shoulder. It's strange and it leaves a pit in his stomach that makes him feel even colder the more he acknowledges it. So much so that it makes him shiver.

"You're cold?" Midoriya's question is tainted with a hint of disbelief which only translates to his face when Shouto nods. "I'll be honest, I didn't think that was even possible unless…" He trails off, his arm hovering over Shouto's fallen hoodie on the bed when all the blood seems to drain from his face and he turns to him with a horrified expression. "Are you sick? Are any of the wounds infecting? Oh god, I did a terrible job, didn't I? Are the burns getting worse?" The stressed teen fusses over him before he even has a chance to open his mouth, looking over all the bandages for pus stains or even blood but finds them clean save for the bits of cream that had soaked into them.

"I'm fine, Midoriya. You did a great job dressing these." He lifts an arm towards his worried friend, grabbing his wrist. "I just missed your warmth next to me all of a sudden…" The words are out of his mouth before he can process them but he also can't seem to feel embarrassed by them when they're just the simple truth. Midoriya was warm and gentle and caring. After all, wasn't that what he'd come seeking from him? His kindness, his empathy, his unwavering support?

"O-oh… I see…" That light red returns to Midoriya's face, painting over the dotted freckles that are speckled all over his cheeks and somehow accentuating them even more, and Shouto wonders if he's the reason for it.

Without a word, Midoriya turns back to get the hoodie and hands it over. Shouto takes it, slipping his arms inside and zipping it up to his neck, watching the other fidget where he stands from down below. Before Shouto has the chance to pull himself up to his feet to get up to Midoriya's level, he kneels down in between his legs and holds his arms open.

"M-may I?" He requests timidly, the blush on his face deepening as he pulls his bottom lip in between his teeth.

Almost imperceptibly, Shouto nods his permission, though he isn't exactly sure what he's expecting to come out of it. Midoriya flashes him a wobbly smile before shifting closer and leaning in, wrapping his arms around his head and pulling it to him. His crooked fingers weave into his hair, sending shivers running down Shouto's spine as he nuzzles his face into Midoriya's chest. Uncertainty rings loud in his head when he attempts to bring his own arms up to hover over Midoriya's waist, unsure of whether he should or not. But he's feeling Midoriya's heart beating wildly against his ribcage, almost as if trying to reach further out, towards him, and he gives in. He winds his arms around Midoriya and brings him closer, revelling in the sense of closeness it awakens within him, the overwhelming calm that just soothes all of his pain in one simple gesture.

He hunches over slightly when Midoriya sits on his own ankles, lowering them the tiniest bit, but Shouto doesn't care, he just moves so that his face is now resting on the crook of the other's neck and grips his shirt in his fists tightly. He's struck with the impression that he's absolutely starved for this kind of touch. For Midoriya's touch to be more specific. Which seems just a bit silly considering they've never really shared something like this before, so how could he be missing something he'd never really had before? Yet it seems like it's something he's been waiting for all of his life, like something he craved without even knowing it, and now that he knows how it feels he doesn't think he'll be able to live without it ever again. It's addicting, exhilarating, devastating in the most wonderful kind of way. It sends his heart into a crazed frenzy, floods his body with something he can only figure is what true bliss feels like.

Shouto breathes him in as if he's some sort of drug that ignites all of his senses at once and numbs the pain that's permanently etched into his soul, chips away at the many walls he's built around his heart and leaves him open and vulnerable for the world to see. But it's liberating in a sense, the feeling of entrapment he's lived with for as long as he can remember slowly fading into nothing more than a hum in the back of his mind. He feels free encased in these strong arms that hold him with such care one would think he'd break were it any other way. At this moment, Shouto's not even sure he wouldn't. Tears prickle at his eyes and he can't even think straight enough to fathom the idea of trying to stop them from flowing, instead letting them stain Midoriya's skin as he buries his nose further into his neck.

An unsteady breath trickles its way out of his parting lips and he feels Midoriya tremble slightly at the sensation, unintentionally tugging at Shouto's hair just enough to bring him back down from the clouds among which he'd just been floating. His eyes flutter open, lashes brushing against the skin of Midoriya's neck to another similar reaction and he doesn't know what exactly comes over him because before he knows it, his lips are leaving a small peck on that skin. He tenses when he catches himself doing it but Midoriya doesn't even flinch, just grazes his fingers over Shouto's scalp comfortingly, making him sigh contentedly as his body relaxes into the embrace once again.

Midoriya rests his cheek on the top of his head, continuing to slowly pet his hair as he breathes out a few hushed words that Shouto doesn't quite catch. It doesn't matter though, because whatever it was that he said, the way he holds him closer, squeezes him that tiny bit tighter, is enough for him to understand "I'm right here." And that is all he needs to know, that Midoriya is there and that he cares, and won't be going anywhere anytime soon. That warmth he felt before envelops him completely, surrounds him pleasantly and fills his soul with a mild euphoria that he couldn't explain even if he tried.

Unlike the raging wild fires that burn him back with Endeavor, this is like the sun shining brightly on him on a lazy summer afternoon. It's like the warmth that radiates from a lit fireplace on a cold winter's night and soothes weary bones and tired aching muscles after a long day of arduous work. It's a calm and gentle flame, like a tiny candle flickering in the dark, a small beacon to illuminate a path to a lost soul, guiding it towards safety, towards home. Midoriya gives him all of that and more and he couldn't be more grateful, especially now, when he felt so lost and alone, so hurt and afraid. It doesn't leave him reeling from how cold he feels afterwards, his own fire snuffed out by the others that suffocate him. Instead it heals all of the scars left from years of being burned and slowly freezing his heart to protect it, melts away that ice and replaces it with that hungry spark he'd had as a child.

And Shouto's uncertain if he's just projecting but it somehow feels like Midoriya is leaning into him just as much. The way his fingers weave through his hair almost a little too gently, pulling him closer with each breath he takes as if he's handling something precious makes his heart stutter inside his chest. And maybe he's imagining it but he thinks there's the brush of lips over the top of his head and his heart is stuck in his throat now. He holds on tighter and nuzzles his face further. The steady heartbeat beneath the warm skin of Midoriya's neck is like a gentle lullaby, despite the way it feels like it's running wild with a calculated kind of rhythm that doesn't quite make sense and leaves him dazed.

Shouto breathes but his breaths catch with each time they fill his lungs with Midoriya's warm presence and he's once again tearing up but he's not quite sure why anymore. Maybe it's because he doesn't want to let go, or maybe it's because it hurts to know that he'll have to. Or perhaps he's just so overwhelmed by it all that he's forgotten how to hold back. Whatever the reason, his chest feels tight and his throat tighter still. But it's okay, because Midoriya's got him and he's got Midoriya and they feel safe, right here, right now, in their own quiet haven away from everything and everyone else.

He doesn't know how long they stay like that, tangled in each other's arms, just appreciating each other's presence, taking in every little touch, every little breath, simply holding on as if their very lives depended on it. As if nothing else mattered but them, the rest of the world disappearing with all of its problems, struggles and hardships. Everything just melted away and left nothing but for the two of them and the way they made each other feel, even time itself seeming to lose all meaning in that moment.

Shouto thinks he could stay here forever, in this little bubble that formed around them and blocked everything else, a small space in which he could feel safe and cut off from the life he'd been given. But Midoriya pulls away and he's left staring into emeralds so bright and pure he would think all the riches in the world wouldn't even begin to amount to their worth. Shouto is struck by the notion that he would give his very breath to have them be his, and if that wasn't enough, whatever was left of his soul he would offer as well. Yet he does not know what to say so he simply stares, his lips parted slightly but for a moment as he gasps in turn with the flutters in his chest and Midoriya's breath trembles in much the same way Shouto's soul does.

Those green eyes dip lower and blue grey follow obediently, locking with thin lips and the teeth that bind them, flurrying past the wisps of red that colour the background for the constellations on his cheeks. He feels himself being drawn towards their gravitational pull and doesn't know whether or not he should try and resist it, because there's a warmth inside him that he wants to seek out but he's afraid he'll get burned again. That fear flashes in his eyes but fingertips dance across the edge of the proof of how much that fire hurts so gently that they usher his lids shut and he inhales sharply.

The feather-light caress of a thumb flits over his bottom lip and then warm breath is tiptoeing over his cheeks, quiet, slow, careful and Shouto feels himself falling without a safety net to catch him underneath. But it's okay because steady hands are holding him up, splayed across the skin of his neck and feeling his fleeting heart try to beat its way out of his chest. Everything comes crashing around him when the air in his lungs is stolen, but it's okay because he'd willingly give it as many times as he could, even if it killed him. He feels greedy as he steals it right back ignoring the pain that shoots straight from his jaw because it only seems to ignite him further.

He burns, but he burns so sweetly that all his fears seem equally justified and nonsensical. Shouto battles with himself, part of him wanting to open his eyes while another tells him to stay in the darkness where he won't be blinded. But he craves the light that shines behind his eyelids and so he peeks and immediately regrets it because he falls faster and harder, and he's so scared of what will happen when he finally lands. The sight before him makes his head spin and he feels untethered, hands reaching to hold on to something that will keep him from simultaneously floating and crashing into the depths of the abyss. Midoriya's hips fit like puzzle-pieces in his hands as he clings to them desperately, leaning further into those lips that hungrily make him more and more breathless. The edges of his vision blur with each passing second until Midoriya finally pulls back and he resurfaces from drowning in him with a gasp.

The world is still spinning and Shouto is still falling as he looks at the bright flush of the other's cheeks, half-lidded eyes watching him intently, anxiously, hands shaking over the top of his skin with unanswered questions and crushing insecurities. And all Shouto can do is collapse back into those arms, quivering with an uncertainty he's never felt so certain of but a weightlessness that makes it completely irrelevant.

A trilling little laugh fills his ears and the warmth spreads all the way through his body as he keeps falling endlessly, eternally. With each of Midoriya's heartbeats he falls harder, with each of his breaths he falls faster and he never wants to stop. And for now, that's okay, because Midoriya's falling right here with him.

NOTE: And here it is! The sort of promised sequel to Elsewhere! I hope you enjoyed it, I just started writing and this is where it took me... Feel free to leave any feedback you may have and thank you so much for taking the time to read!