Flea

Chapter Nineteen

Todoroki closed the front door with a soft click, clutching his second place medal in one hand and sports bag in the other. Unfortunately, trying to sneak upstairs to your room is made a lot harder if your angry parent's already waiting for you. 

Endeavor really didn't fit on their staircase. Todoroki had used that to his advantage on previous occasions. The half and half child would run down from the gym if he'd had enough of training and watch his father, furious, chase after him. As soon as the hulk got to the stairs, he'd need to sidle down sideways like a red hot, gesticulating crab. Not only did Todoroki watch that with satisfaction, sometimes taking out his phone to video, it also gave him time to run out of the house and take to the streets. 

He always came back, though. Where would he go? Shoto didn't exactly have friends. 

In this case, Endeavor's bulk gave him an advantage. Even when sitting on the bottom step, he took up the whole corridor. 

"Shoto, where have you been? I haven't been able to find you since the end of the festival." 

Todoroki already had an icy glare plastered on his face. It was starting to become automatic, a way of defending himself. He ignored the question and instead ordered,

"Move. I need to get past." 

Endeavor huffed. 

"That's no way to speak to me. Your disrespect is what cost you first place, it was embarrassing watching you squander your power. That last battle was especially pathetic-"

"Move," Shoto gritted through his teeth, barely suppressed rage simmering like a scarlet haze in his field of vision. It wasn't a good idea to come home. He thought he had a handle on his emotions, but that didn't seem to be the case. Todoroki hadn't even considered taking up Maeve's offer. She didn't need added burden at the moment, not with everything else the girl was dealing with. 

Endeavor, surprisingly, obeyed. He slowly stood up and allowed Shoto to pass.

"You're still injured," the hero noted when his son had almost reached the top of the stairs.

"That nurse can't even do her job properly. If she ever gives you trouble for us being related, tell me. I think All Might has convinced her to favour that brat Izuku Midoriya when it comes to healing." 

Todoroki's hands were in fists. Before he could even stop himself, his feet slowly turned of their own accord. 

"You're really that insecure. Jesus, I knew you were a coward, but this is just.." 

He'd stepped over a line, and they both knew it. Shoto couldn't back down now, so he instead ploughed forward. It was a terrible, terrible, idea, but he couldn't hold it back. 

"You've been trying to turn me against her ever since it happened, haven't you? So that even if Maeve told me, I wouldn't trust her. Well, the ironic thing is, in trying to keep it hidden, you ended up accidentally telling me." 

Endeavor wasn't quite as fast as Maeve at putting the pieces together. But he wasn't dumb either. Quite the opposite, actually. 

"Shoto, listen to me-"

"No. I'm done. We're talking about a person's life I almost ended, and you hid it from me. I always knew you were a flaming pile of garbage, but that's a new level, even for you." Todoroki managed to keep himself from shouting. Barely. 

"I did it to protect you. You should be down on your knees, thanking me. Do you know the damage it could have caused if that got out? You would never be allowed to become a pro hero, my career, which provides you with all the facilities you take for granted, would be over," Endeavor snarled, his flames billowing ominously.