[and this is the hardest part. The words come haltingly, uncertainly.]

I...know I'm not your first choice, and I'm probably the last person you'd want as your mate right now. I know that you didn't exactly have a say in this. But...I want to make it up to you somehow. I'd be willing to...try...if you are. I don't want you to be stuck with a bond and have nothing come of it, Todoroki-kun. You deserve so much more than that.

[Izuku's trembling as he says all this, but he just can't stop. Rejection isn't something new to him, far from it, but coming from someone like Todoroki, someone he's grown to care about so much, would be a thousand times worse than any other rejection he's faced before. Still, Izuku owes it to him to be as honest as possible. He'll just have to deal with things as they come, whatever happens after this.]