Fireworks ~ TodoMomo

||Chapter 10||

"SHOUTOOOOOO!"

Shit.

Shouto spun around, his gaze landing on his father's six-foot-four frame marching across the crowded square. Hawks trailed behind him; they were both dressed in their hero uniforms.

People on the street parted to let them pass through.

Shouto tsked under his breath. It was just his luck to run into his old man when he was in a hurry.

Their relationship had gotten marginally better over the past year. His father wasn't the overbearing and cruel tyrant Shouto remembered from his childhood. But there was still a sharp tension between them, an invisible wall that Shouto wasn't ready or willing to tear down. No matter what Midoriya's theories were about Shouto waiting for the right moment to forgive his father — that hypothetical day still felt like it was a long way off.

He didn't trust that man, Todoroki Enji.

Shouto kept waiting, watching, preparing for the day that the old Endeavor would emerge and burn everything down. And he felt more viscerally aware of that fact as he thought of Yaoyorozu being locked away by her own controlling parents.

It made him angry just thinking about it, and Shouto glowered up at his father. "I don't have time for you, old man," he snapped, debating if he should just make a break for it. The anxious churning in his stomach, urging him to get to Yaoyorozu in time, seemed to only be adding to Shouto's foul mood.

He took a step around his father. "If you don't have anything important to say, I need to get going."

"Shouto."

A large hand clasped on his shoulder, stopping him. Shouto looked up sharply. His father's bright turquoise eyes narrowed as he studied him.

"What's gotten into you?"

Shouto's chest tightened in irritation and he glared, but his father's hand didn't loosen on his shoulder.

People on the street were stopping to stare. If he took any longer then he would never get to Yaoyorozu in time.

Shouto swallowed his building anger. "I need to get to Aoyama," he said finally, in a tense voice, hoping his father would take a hint and drop the conversation.

"What's in Aoyama?" Hawks asked suddenly, staring at him curiously.

Meddling bird.

Shouto gritted his teeth. It wasn't as if he really had anything against him.

Hawks was a good hero and more importantly, got under his father's skin — a trait Shouto genuinely appreciated — but not today. He needed to get going. The ride to Aoyama and back would take the full two hours. And that was only if everything went right, which, so far, didn't look like it was going to be the case.

"A friend," he bit out, avoiding Hawks' gaze. "I need to get to her before the fireworks start." He reached up and brushed his father's hand off. "That's why I don't have time for this."

He pushed past his father. The interruption had cost him precious time. Shouto still needed to get to the train station and get a ticket. He hoped he wasn't too late.

"Shouto, wait!" Hawks called after him.

Shouto paused, his hands curling into fists at his side. "Wha—"

His voice broke as his body jerked backwards. He twisted his head quickly to look behind him, and his eyes widened. Dark red feathers darted through the air, lacing together on his back, and forming auburn wings.