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The doorbell ring echoed around the Aizawa-Yamada house as Shinsou sprinted past the living room to reach the front door, to the confusion of his fathers and sister.
Shinsou threw the door opened and grinned when he saw who was on the other side.
“What took you so long? I was getting antsy,” Shinsou says.
“Well maybe if you stayed at the dorms this weekend instead of at your home, this wouldn’t be a problem,” Todoroki replies, stepping inside.
Shinsou grabs on Todoroki’s wrist and drags him through the halls.
“Dads, I’m showing Todoroki a new show in my room!” Shinsou shouts into the living as he walks past it.
Shinsou and Todoroki disappear, leaving Aizawa, Mic, and Eri alone and confused.
“They’re friends? Like friends friends?” Mic asks.
“What does that mean?” Aizawa asks.
“Every time I see them together, there’s normally a third person present like Midoriya or Uraraka or Kaminari,” Mic explains. “I’ve never seen the two of them alone.”
“I will admit that that’s odd,” Aizawa says, deep in thought. “Maybe they’re the only two people who like the show.”
“Maybe it’s a date,” Eri suddenly says.
The two men look at her startled as she calmly plays with one of the cats, unaware of the effect her words had on them.
“People can spend time together without it being a date, Eri,” Aizawa explains.
“Oh, okay,” Eri replies, continuing to play with the cat.
As it turned out, the two men were right. It wasn’t a date, and Shinsou and Todoroki really were the only two people in the class who liked the show.
Their time together grew more and more. It was not an unusual sight to see Todoroki leaving Shinsou’s dorm room, or for Mic and Aizawa to come home and see Todoroki making himself at home in the kitchen with their son.
One day, in particular, stood out to Shinsou and Eri.
For Shinsou, he didn’t know how it happened. It all felt too sudden.
He was watching Todoroki attempt to cook while keeping a close eye on him to make sure he didn’t destroy the kitchen. Eri quietly sat on the counter and watched as they talked about the practical lesson for today.
“I still want to try that move I talked about,” Todoroki says.
“Todoroki, that’s a—Eri, don’t repeat this—stupid fucking idea,” Shinsou sighs.
“It’s efficient.”
“You want to put ice on the ground and use my capture weapon to swing me around and make me skate.”
“And knock over villains while doing so.” Todoroki points the spatula in Shinsou’s face. “Efficiency.”
Shinsou bats it away. “Quality over quantity.”
Todoroki just shrugs and turns back to his food. “How do I know it’s ready? I can’t tell if it’s cooked.”
“I just taste it.”
With his left hand, Todoroki reaches into the pan and picks up one of the vegetables, putting it in his mouth. Immediately, his expression turns sour as he looks around for somewhere to spit it out. He ran to the sink, spit it out, and put his mouth under the running faucet to try and wash out the horrible taste.
While all this was happening, Shinsou was surprisingly not cackling at his friend’s cooking failure. Instead, he was softly smiling and giggling, with an endeared expression on his face.
That was when it hit him. That was when Shinsou realized, “Oh, I really like him.”
That was also when Eri realized her big brother’s feelings, and she was determined to see that expression on his face once more.
“You like Todoroki, right?”
Shinsou choked on the water he was drinking and turned to his sister. “What?”
“You looked at him nicely when he messed up the food today,” Eri explained. “So you like him.”
“Okay, let’s back up here.” Shinsou sets his cup down and crouches, putting his hands on Eri’s shoulders. “I may have the resting face of a corpse, but I look at a bunch of people nicely.”
“But this was different. It was the same way our dads look at each other.”
Shinsou went still and slowly blinked at Eri. Unfortunately, she got him.
“Fine, okay, I like him.” Shinsou sighs heavily and stands up. “We started hanging out alone a lot more and I started to see him in a different light, you know?”
Eri stares. “I don’t.”
“Forgot that you were six,” Shinsou mutters. “It’s like… I like being around him, even if we’re doing nothing. He could do normal things that other people do, like mess up cooking, but I like it most when he does it.”
“He could do anything, and you would like it a lot?”
“Exactly.”
“Like if he robbed a store?”
“I would simply look the other way.”
Eri nods. “Okay, I get it now. When are you going to ask him out?”
Shinsou bursts into laughter hearing that. He crouches down once more and cups Eri’s face in his hands.
“You wonderful girl, I will not be doing anything because he doesn’t like me back.”
Eri furrows her eyebrows. “But if he’s with you all the time, he must like you too.”
“As a friend.” Shinsou stands, lifting Eri up into his arms. “I know I have to take you back to UA, but let’s get some ice cream first. What do you think about that?”
Eri just nods, not paying attention to what Shinsou was saying. She was making a plan, and heading to UA was the first step.
Their trip was uneventful if you ignore Shinsou accidentally dropping his ice cream on the ground immediately after getting it, and soon enough, they were at the UA dorms.
“Can I come to the student dorms and say hi?” Eri asks.
“Of course you can!” Shinsou agrees. “I’m sure everyone would love to see you.”
They walk over to the 1-A dorms and enter. Immediately, Shinsou shouts from the front door.
“Eri is here! Be nice and civil!”
“Don’t tell me what to do!” Bakugou shouts back. Ten seconds later, he approaches the small girl and hands her an apple.
“Hey Eri, what are you up to?” Ashido asks once they enter the living room.
“I wanted to say hi to everyone,” the small girl replies.
“Well, a lot of people are out right now, but the rest of us are here! I think Todoroki might be in his room though.”
Eri turns to Shinsou and tugs on his sleeve. “I’m going to say hi to him.”
Shinsou, startled by her telling him and not asking, just nods and watches her enter the elevator.
Ashido looks at Shinsou. “Does she know where his room is?”
“She’s been there before,” Shinsou explains. “She once helped Sero put clear tape all over his doorway so he would walk into tape trying to leave his room.”
“Did it work?”
“Yup. Todoroki let her sit on his shoulders while he chased Sero around the dorms.”
“Come in.”
Eri slowly opens the door and peeks her head into Todoroki’s room, looking around carefully. She sees him sitting at his desk, watching something on his laptop.
“Hey Eri, what are you doing here?” Todoroki asks. “Did I forget something at your house?”
“I had to come back to UA today, and I wanted to say hi to everyone,” she explains. She enters the room and walks up to him. “What are you watching?”
Todoroki lifts Eri up and sits her down on his lap. “Just this Youtube video Shinsou said to watch. He’s a funny movie reviewer.”
“Do you and Shinsou get along a lot?” Eri suddenly asks.
Todoroki gives her a small smile. “We do a lot. Not many people get me, but he does.”
“What do you mean?”
“How do I put it?” Todoroki mutters. “Sometimes when two people spend time together, they do something fun together and talk a lot.”
“Like Ashido and Kaminari,” Eri points out.
“Yes, and that is not something bad. It’s good to break out of your shell sometimes, but it’s also good to stay comfortable some days, and that’s why I like Shinsou.” Todoroki’s smile grows slowly, and his gaze shifts from Eri’s face to somewhere distant, like he was recalling a memory. “He and I can sit in silence and I feel no time being wasted. He a comfortable feeling.”
“You can do nothing and you’ll still like it?”
“Exactly. The two of us could do something like stargazing for hours in silence and it would be the opposite of a waste of time.”
That catches Eri’s attention. She hops out of Todoroki’s lap and smiles up at him. “Thank you for explaining! I’m going to see everyone else now.”
Todoroki, oblivious to her true motives, just waves goodbye. “Enjoy the rest of your day, Eri.”
Eri rushed back to the first floor, where Shinsou and Ashido were still chatting. She runs up to him, grabs his arm, and drags him into the kitchen.
“Go stargazing with Todoroki tonight.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Shinsou sputters.
Eri hops in place as she explains. “He told me he likes being with you and that you’re comfortable. That means he like likes you, right?”
Shinsou could only stare at her, stunned. “He said that?”
“Yes! Now go invite him!”
“Wait a minute, hold on.” Shinsou puts a hand on Eri’s head to stop her bouncing. “What if he just means that like a friend.”
“Hitoshi, he made the face.”
Shinsou pauses at that. “The nice face?”
Eri nodded. “Please try telling him today.”
“Why are you so serious about this?”
Eri holds one of Shinsou’s hands with both of hers. “Becuase I think it’s a nice look, and I always want to see you like that. Our dads have that and they’re so happy. Why not you too?”
Next thing Eri knew, she was pulled into a bone-crushing hug by her brother. She felt herself get lifted off the ground and he spun her around.
“You really are the best, you know that, right?” Shinsou says.
“I can’t continue to be the best if I can’t breathe,” she manages to choke out.
Shinsou releases her from his grip and sets her down. “Can you continue being the best by helping me with one more thing?”
“Like what?”
Shinsou looks around the kitchen. “Midoriya once told me that Todoroki has a secret sweet tooth. Do you still remember how to make a cake?”
Three hours, one small but inconvenient fire, and a lot of frosting later, the siblings were quite proud of their creation.
Shinsou explained the plan to Eri. He would go to Todoroki’s room with blankets, pillows, and a picnic basket with the cake inside. They would stargaze for who knows how long until Shinsou musters up the courage to tell Todoroki how he feels and take out the cake and show it to him.
The cake that has Will You Go Out With Me? written on it.
Eri nervously sat outside of Shinsou’s dorm room, waiting for him to return and tell her everything. Eventually, she heard the elevator open and was pleased with what she saw.
Shinsou and Todoroki stepped out hand in hand, smiling at each other, and Eri’s heart could’ve burst seeing them look at each other so fondly, unaware of her presence.
They were giving each other the look, and that’s all she could’ve asked for.