Keeping You (Todoroki x Reader)

'...Begin!'

I trailed behind as Midoriya zipped from one overhanging pipe to the other, alternating between up and down, left and right. His lightning flashed more fervently, more irritated. But it was bright, and that was all we needed for the plan to work. Draw them in, Midoriya. Then we can strike.

Midoriya, being faster and stronger than the rest of our team, was the ideal bait. The plan was to draw the opposition in while the rest of us came from behind to take them out. It shouldn't have mattered who we took out, but I'd already called dibs on Monoma. That pretentious pest wouldn't know what hit him.

'Anything yet, Nova?' Midoriya called behind him, pausing on a lower pipe to look back at me. Just because he was arguably our strongest player, didn't mean he could do it all by himself. Including defending himself. Which is where I came in.

'Nova Sight: on.' A holographic screen popped up across my entire vision, darkening all the surroundings except for Midoriya. His form was covered in a bright green light - his energy signature. But as I looked around the area, all I saw were darkened outlines of our surroundings. 'Not yet. Which means we're not close enough and they haven't seen you-'

'Or they have and they're hiding, waiting to strike,' Midoriya finished, his words weighted with hesitance, uncertainty.

I shook my head. 'No one in that team that I know of has the ability to mask their energy signatures, so I highly doubt they know where we are.' I tapped my temple where my holographic glasses sat. 'Don't worry. I'll see them before they can even lay a hand on you.'

To my relief, Midoriya smiled in appreciation, his shoulders visibly relaxing. 'I have no doubt, L/N. Especially with those new glasses of yours. Hatsume really out did herself this time.' He paused for a moment, and I felt the air shift along with his demeanour. He was more serious, thoughtful. 'Thanks for being my back up. Honestly, I'm not sure if I could be as confident as I am if you weren't right behind me.'

I returned his smile, giving him a thumbs up. 'What are friends for? Besides, the others can handle themselves. If all goes according to plan, you'll be under fire from five different and powerful quirks. I'm sorry, Deku, but I don't think even Bakugou could take on a whole team by himself. We just saw that.'

'Careful what you say. I'm sure he can hear us.'

Soft footsteps came running up behind us. Midoriya tensed but I felt who it was, and gladly turned to find Ochaco, Mina and Mineta finally joining us. They halted a few metres away, waiting behind a low-lying pipe in case of an ambush. Ochaco nodded at me, to which I nodded back and repeated the same action to Midoriya. We'd agreed not to talk when possible, not knowing how far Shinso's brainwashing reached. And if we did need to talk, we looked directly at one another. We couldn't take any chances, not with our class' reputation on the line.

With a nod of his own, Midoriya took off once more, shooting from pipe to building, high and low like some energised bunny. I supposed he was in a sense.

I waited five seconds before following, knowing that my classmates would do the same. The tactic was so that if one person was found, the next group could sweep in and help with the element of surprise. It was to ensure we all weren't captured at once.

The previous match played on repeat in my head. A perfect score. Achieved in under five minutes, no less. It shouldn't have been about competing with our classmates, but I knew the thought played in Midoriya's head, too. Bakugou had been incredible in his match. It was an unspoken goal that we had to be the same.

I entered a clearing and spotted Midoriya high above me flying about. But as I looked up, the corner of my eye picked up something. The grey outline of a body hiding a few levels up and behind some pipes. The figure raised a hand.