I'll Ask You out. Tomorrow. (Seroroki MHA)

25.

Yes, Shouto survived.

But Hero was still there, in a hospital bed, unconscious.

As long as Hero slept, nothing was all right. 

Once home, Shouto headed towards his father's training room. 

As much as he wanted to check on Hero, hoping for the boy to magically wake up (despite the doctor's diagnosis that he'd wake up in a month), he had to think about his father too. 

His guts twisted upon seeing the training room completely shuttered, Enji out of his mind. Shouto felt like he was looking at an older version of Bakugou who refused to accept the sports festival award for winning without giving his best. 

For a second, he wondered why everyone was calling him Zuko Rip-off - after all, he wasn't the one chasing his honour - everyone around him was, but he? He didn't care. All he cared about was for Hero to wake up, so he could ask him out. 

Simple as that.

🔥❄️🔥❄️🔥❄️🔥

- Father asks you to see him. - Fuyumi reported, knocking at Shouto's room. 

- He could tell me this himself, you know - this would be something a pre-Kamino Shouto would tell, but all he said now was: 

- I'm on my way. 

 - You wanted to see m...

- Shouto! - Enji didn't waste a second, jumping to close the distance between himself and his son who risked so much by appearing at the battle scene, against everything Enji taught him (apparently, in vain). 

Wow. 

This wasn't some creepy Todoroki Enji Parenting 121. 

This was something Shouto had never experienced before. 

He didn't get daddy hugs even on his birthdays! After the villains' attack at the U.S.J., all Shouto heard was that he did well by not getting killed. But he could have done better.

- Shouto, I was so... - Enji whispered not leaving his son from his tight hug (poor Shouto unable to breathe) - I was so... sc... scared...

Shouto gasped, releasing himself from a deadly hug. He knew he would eventually wake up to a different reality, now that the Symbol of Peace's torch was passed on, but this?! 

- Did you say scared? 

- I did...

- Bullshit. You're never scared. 

Enji looked at his son, at his Todoroki Project, a wave of shame and uneasiness floating his heart, hardened by the hardships of a hero's profession, by the never-ending pressure to catch up to someone so incredibly potent like All Might. 

- I was scared... to lose you. 

Now, Shouto was never allowed to waste time idly in front of the TV, so he wouldn't possibly catch a hint of a very similar Disney scene, he wouldn't uncover a certain cliche he was living first-hand right now.