Keeping You (Todoroki x Reader)

Chapter 16

'Are you okay, now?' I asked Eri gently, brushing back of a lock of white hair behind her ear. She nodded. 'I have to put you down now. Mr. Aizawa just wants to try something, okay?'

She looked hesitant as she looked at Monoma briefly, then Mr. Aizawa, who stood silently off to the side of our little grouping with Midoriya and Togata. She still seemed hesitant as she turned back to me, but managed a quiet, 'Okay.'

I flashed her a reassuring smile as I placed her on the ground again, stepping back to stand with Midoriya and Togata as Eri walked over to a crouching Monoma. To his credit, he didn't say a word, just held out his hand to the small child. I'd never seen him so serious before, no sign of his usual smugness in sight.

We waited in silence as Eri took his hand in hers, his long fingers engulfing her tiny ones easily. It was a little disturbing seeing a small horn very similar to Eri's pop out of his forehead. My eyes narrowed in on the concentrated expression on his face, and my curiosity peaked. What exactly is he doing?

After a minute of silence, Mr. Aizawa broke the silence. 'So? How about it?' he asked. 'Any luck?'

Monoma let out a defeated sigh as he scratched at his head (or the horn, I really couldn't tell), twisting his neck to look at our teacher. 'This one is a blank. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to help you out, it seems. Sorry, sir.'

He sounded genuinely apologetic, which was... refreshing. Maybe when he was away from his classmates, away from all the hype and glorification surrounding heroism, he wasn't such a bad guy.

Still didn't like him, though.

Mr. Aizawa rubbed in frustration at his head. 'Disappointing, but it's not your fault,' he said, though his tired tone indicated the hope he'd had for this trial.

'You wanted him to copy Eri's quirk?' I asked, still confused as to the purpose of this visit.

'Why would that be a good thing?' Togata added.

'Also,' Midoriya said, though his attention was on Monoma, 'what does "blank" mean?'

'It must mean her power works like yours,' Monoma answered. 'Both of your quirks function as stock pilers. I copy the core nature of the quirk itself. But if it's an ability that accumulates something and changes it into a form of energy, I don't copy the stored up fuel that would make it function.'

'...And what does that mean, exactly?' I asked. I wasn't going to pretend I knew what he meant.

Midoriya 's clear eyes seemed to understand it, though. He turned to me. 'It makes sense, in a way. Think about it this way, L/N. For example, Fat Gum's quirk only works if he stock piles a bunch of fat. Monoma could copy the base power, but he'd still be skinny.'

'Riiiiiight,' I drawled out, turning to look at Monoma. A short skit in my head of a rocket knocking right into the blond's chest beside an unfazed Fat Gum and sending him flying had me giggling just a little.

'I draw these blanks every once in a while,' Monoma continued. 'The same logic goes for when I copied your quirk, Midoriya. But I couldn't release any of its energy.'

Midoriya's face paled beside me, a wave of dread flowing cold through his entire body. No doubt he was thinking whatever higher being was that Monoma wasn't able to use One For All. We might not have been having this conversation if he had.

'So, why try this on Eri?' Togata interjected.

'She's not able to activate her quirk right now,' Mr. Aiza said, walking closer to where Monoma still crouched before Eri. 'But one day it may return in full. If she doesn't know how to use it, she might endanger herself or others. That's why I thought it'd be easier if Monoma borrowed her power, trained with it, and taught her how to use it safely. But I suppose that was a long shot.'