A/N: Hello there! This is my fanfic for Day 5: Promises for TodoDeku week 2018! It's kinda sad (and also short) but I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for reading it!
"I'll be back by six."
Midoriya yawned and walked into the living room. He bleary mumbled, "Alright, if you're back by dinner." He rubbed his eyes and barely caught glimpse of the bright red and white hair before the door clicked shut.
He didn't know then the sheer number of times he would look back on this moment. Like a broken record.
"I'll be back by six."
He didn't even see his face.
"-ku. Deku?"
Midoriya jumped and spun around, eyes wide. Uraraka and Iida stood behind him, their expressions tense. Ochako had her hand held out gingerly towards him.
"Deku, are… no, of course you wouldn't be 'alright'." Uraraka's hand fell slightly. "I just…" The poor girl burst into tears and leapt forward, enveloping Midoriya in a tight embrace that he couldn't feel. Iida leaned forward and bundled the three of them together. They stood like that for a long time. Midoriya stared into blank space, his arms limp by his side.
"He- I didn't tell him 'Come home safely!', like I always do. I… I didn't… " Midoriya's throat constricted, and his already raw eyes were stinging again.
"Did he know? Did he know that… that I wanted him to come home safely? What if he thought- what if, when, when… what if then, he thought I didn't want him to come home-"
"No! Deku!"
"Midoriya-kun! That, he wouldn't!"
They broke their embrace and the other two stared at Midoriya, stricken-faced. Midoriya swayed a little, and Iida quickly held his arm firmly, before Midoriya weakly pushed him away. He turned to look at them, his eyes glassy and his face covered with a thin sheen of sweat.
"Todoroki-kun, I, I never meant- I'm-"
"Midoriya-san. Some words please." A priest coughed behind them.
"Um, sir," Uraraka interrupted, her eyes darting anxiously at Midoriya. "If you could please, a few more minutes, I don't think-"
"No, Uraraka-san, it's okay, I'm fine." Midoriya gave the priest the best nod he could, even as his mind was detached far, far away from the Todoroki family home.
"Are you sure…?" Midoriya nodded again, and the priest led him to the front of the hall. Midoriya caught glimpse of Endeavor at the front, sitting upright with bulging muscles, his entire body so clenched and tight he looked like a puma about to pounce. A faint acrid scent of smoke mixed nauseatingly with the thick 's eyes glanced at the burnt floor beside Endeavor before he stepped up slowly to the casket.
He should have known not to do it. But he couldn't help it; he peered inside.
Oh god.
The worst part was that he looked absolutely fine. It was the same face Midoriya had seen on the rare mornings Todoroki slept in, tired from a night chasing villains. It was the same face that was always inches away, breathing light, warm puffs of air onto his nose as the light filtered in through the blinds, the world only dove-gray softness melting with pale gold.
The same, sleeping face his hands had held, cupped, when Todoroki was only half-awake enough to mumble and nuzzle closer.
Midoriya felt the small tear in his heart that he had successfully ignored for the past few days, rip into a gnashing chasm as memories began to plummet into his mind like meteorites.
Come home, come home, come home.