Fireworks ~ TodoMomo

💖✨CONCLUSION💖✨

The taxi sped down the highway and into a tunnel.

"Todoroki-san, is everything alright?" Momo asked.

"Yeah, sorry." Todoroki straightened in his seat. "Didn't mean to make you worry."

Suddenly, the Star Wars theme from earlier echoed from inside Todoroki's yukata. Todoroki shifted and pulled his phone out. He looked down at the screen. "Sorry, it's my old man again."

Momo nodded as she watched Todoroki click 'accept' and bring the phone up to his ear. He turned away from her. "What do you want?"

Momo thought she heard Hawks on the other end, but looked away. It wasn't ladylike to eavesdrop.

Her fingers picked at the edge of her yukata as she waited. Now that there wasn't anything to distract her, the anxiety began seeping back into her thoughts.

Biting her lip, Momo glanced at the clock on the dashboard. Nine-twenty. Her stomach dropped. Ten minutes until the fireworks. There was no way they were going to make it.

She looked at Todoroki. His temple was creased in concentration as he listened to the person on the other end. Momo drew in a deep breath and her fingers fidgeted together as she watched him. She couldn't lose hope. Todoroki was doing his best for her.

He had gone all the way to her house and even talked to her parents to try and get her here tonight. She needed to have faith in him. Knights were supposed to trust their princes. She blushed at the image.

Momo was drawn out of her thoughts as she heard Todoroki mumble, under his breath, 'meddling bird' before he hung up and leaned forward in his seat. "Take the next exit!" he ordered the cab driver.

"Todoroki..."

He glanced back at her and his heterochromatic eyes shone in the dark. "Do you trust me?"

Momo's breath caught in her throat. That wasn't even a question. Of course she did.

More than anyone.

He was her prince.

Momo set her jaw and met his gaze. "I do."

A faint smile pulled on his lips. "Then don't worry. I promised I'd show you the fireworks."

The taxi driver veered off the road and towards the exit. The tunnel ended and a vast expanse of black sky stretched above them. The taxi pulled up along the curb of the road and Momo's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

The area seemed residential. Street lights flickered, illuminating tall multi-unit apartment buildings. The only thing that stood out was that on their right side was an open park with flowering dogwood and pagoda trees.

She swallowed and clasped her hands together. Momo didn't know how they'd view the fireworks from here, but she needed to believe in Todoroki.

The car stopped and Todoroki paid the cab driver before they climbed out onto the sidewalk. Todoroki checked his phone, then looked back at her and cleared his throat. "Almost there. This way," he said, leading her towards the park.

Momo bit her lip as she followed after him. She wasn't familiar with this area of Tokyo but knew they were at least a ten to fifteen-minute drive from where the fireworks would be going off.

Her heart pounded as they entered the dark park.

A few street lamps illuminated a gravely path, but Todoroki didn't follow it. He cut across the grass and into the shadows of the trees. Momo kept pace close behind him. The sound of cicadas and crickets followed after them.

It was too dark to tell where they were going. Momo licked her lips and tried to focus on only Todoroki as he led them through the trees. Her neck and hands were feeling hot.

Suddenly, the grass and trees ended and Momo's eyes widened and she gasped.

The site before them was ethereal. The dark waves of Tokyo harbor lapped gently against a white shoreline of a man-made beach. And across the harbor, the lights of downtown Tokyo sparkled in the distance like fairies, under a spray of stars.

There was no one else on the beach but them.

Momo took a step out onto the sand and made her way down to the water's edge. The sound of the ocean drowned out the cicadas. She closed her eyes and breathed in the salty air.

She hadn't known this place existed. And being here alone, with Todoroki, felt like a fantasy. She had only imagined going to the beach with him in her deepest dreams. He'd get down on one knee and...

Momo opened her eyes and cupped her cheeks as heat ran across her face. They weren't even dating and she was jumping to marriage?! She didn't even know if Todoroki liked her that much. His earlier words were kind of a confession, but he could have just as easily meant them as friends? She shouldn't get ahead of herself. He couldn't possibly...

"Hawks said we should be able to watch the fireworks from here."

Momo patted down her cheeks and thanked how dark it was as the sand rustled behind her and Todoroki stepped up beside her.

She drew in a shaky breath, pushing her indecent thoughts away. "It's beautiful," she said, looking up at him. "We'll have to thank him and your father."

Todoroki's lips pulled down as if that were the last thing he wanted to do. "They're just meddling."

"Well–" Momo giggled then gave him a small smile. "I'm glad for their meddling. It's going to allow us to see the fireworks."

Todoroki stared at her, then his expression suddenly darkened. "I'm sorry, Yaoyorozu," he said after a moment. "I know this isn't what you were expecting the night to be like."

"No," Momo said quickly. She shook her head. "This is perfect. Thank you so much, Todoroki-san."

Todoroki smiled faintly, but he didn't have time to respond as a high pitched wail rang above their heads, cutting through the night.

Momo looked up as bright blue and green lights burst across the sky.

"The fireworks," she whispered. "We made it."

Todoroki hummed in acknowledgement.

They were beautiful. Sparkling reds, blues and green lights crackling high above the ocean to fall like stardust from the night sky. Momo's heart rose in her chest at the sight.

Fingers suddenly skimmed against the back of her hand, tentative, half-hesitating before sliding into her own. Momo looked down. Todoroki's hand was warm as his fingers entwined with her own and it sent electricity down her spine.

Her stomach flipped. She raised her eyes and found Todoroki watching her intently. Momo's breath caught in her chest. His gray and blue eyes, which shone silver and turquoise in the dark, searched her face. Then his fingers tightened around hers and he turned to stare back up at the sky.

Her heart was beating almost painfully against her ribcage, but Momo didn't think of letting go.

She hesitated for a moment then followed his gaze back up to the sky. The fireworks were exploding high above their heads, decorating the night in multicolored starlight, but Momo couldn't hear them over her pounding heartbeat.

The night hadn't been what she expected, but that was okay because Momo couldn't deny that this ending might have been what her heart had wanted all along.

Her fingers tightened in Todoroki's hand.