My Neighbor Todoroki

Before

"Izuku! Remember to watch for the cars!" his mom reminded him.

"Okay, Mom!" the green-haired boy nodded, and they walked down the street. When they got to the crosswalk, he remembered to check left and right, as well as up and down, just in case. They got to the park just on time. 

There were probably hundreds of other parks that looked exactly like the one down Izuku's block. A tall swing set, two brightly colored play structures, and a couple of benches scattered here and there. Now that it was autumn, the trees' boughs were in their beautiful coats of scarlet and bronze.

Shoto was sitting on the bench close to the swingset, drumming his fingers on the table. When he saw Izuku, he got up and ran up to him. 

When Izuku first asked why his parents didn't accompany him to the park, or anywhere, for that matter, Shoto had dismissed it and said his parents had to help his older siblings with homework. He looked quite wistful at Izuku while he said that.

"What happened? You didn't answer my note last time," the bicolor spoke in that quiet voice of his. His eyes, one grey, the other blue, gave off a calm vibe that meant he wasn't annoyed at Izuku. He was just curious.

Izuku scratched the back of his head. "I...had to help my mom."

In truth, it was Kacchan again. He had fallen into the river last week when they went to play in the woods and hadn't been talking to Izuku ever since. He had the feeling the blond was mad at him and might be mean to him.

Todoroki nodded, and Izuku gave an inward sigh of relief that he believed him. He didn't want anybody to have to worry about him and Kacchan. Everyone, including his mom and Shoto, thought that Izuku's rocky relationship with the blond had calmed down.

"Hey, Todoroki?" Izuku asked suddenly.

"Hm?"

"Have you ever thought about what you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a hero. You get to save people, and they are happy."

He saw his friend pause a moment to think. 

"Yeah," he finally replied. "I think being a hero would be good. Kind of like All Might."

Izuku's eyebrows shot up at the words 'All Might,' and a wide grin spread across his face like Nutella on bread. "Wow! Speaking of All Might, have you heard? Yesterday, he caught some robbers at the bank of the grocery store!"

Shoto looked slightly bemused. He never seemed to get tired of Midoriya's uncanny obsession with the Number One Hero.

"Huh. Didn't see that one yet. What else happened?"

The green-haired boy happily shared. "Afterwards, the police fined them three thousand hundred yen," he said, stumbling over the large number. "But then a woman in the crowd said that her purse was missing and the police found it with the robbers. So then the police had to check what else the robbers had gotten their hands on, and they found a wallet in one of the robber's shoes!"

Todoroki gave a small smile. "Izuku?"

His friend perked up, a silly grin still on his face.

"I...I..." The normally stoic boy realized he was still smiling. Izuku had noticed it as well.

"Yeah?" he prompted his friend.

"I will tell you later." 

Izuku paused for one more second, then shook it off. If his friend had something to hide, it wasn't his business. He switched the subject to daring rescues that heroes had performed, then what hero school they wanted to go to when they were older, normal stuff.

---

Shoto was walking back home, along with Izuku and his mom. The sunset cast pretty shades of rose red and orange, as well as hints of purple and a grey-blue color. Izuku's mom had offered to drop him off at his house since his house was just across the street from Izuku's.

"Thanks, Mrs. Midoriya," Shoto said before going home.

 When he came to the living room (which didn't have many living things inside it), he overheard voices inside. Shoto paused, a moment later he recognizing it was his mom and dad's voices.

"He needs to get away from that boy Inuko or whatever his name is. Rei, it will distract him from his training."

"Shoto's still a little boy. You know that at his age, he needs friends. His quirk hasn't even manifested yet. Please..."

"Exactly," Shoto heard someone slam the table. "But he will do all that nonsense fooling around if he's near that boy. They'll do something stupid, like turn the street into a skating rink or make those...snowmen blobs. Do you think I'd ever let that happen?"

Shoto turned away and ran down the hall, to his bedroom. He couldn't bear to think his father wanting to separate them. 

He tossed himself on his bed and looked at the ceiling. He knew a lot of his classmates hadn't gotten their own rooms yet, but Shoto didn't see why it was worth the hype. If anything, it felt lonelier. 

'Izuku,' Shoto thought, lamely wishing that he could tell him. 'I don't think I will see you soon.'

' I don't think my father will allow it.'

---

A/N: Oh my god this chapter was actually quite easy to write. I'm very pleased, though I might edit so I wouldn't cringe internally. The literal only reason I wrote this is because I loved the title name...My Neighbor Todoroki...Totoro...get it? Yes, yes, I know. 

I will update if this gets some views. Have a pleasant day/night!

~Falcon_5234