TWO POWERS (Todoroki Shoto x Reader)

It is a cool day in February when you make it to U.A High for the entrance exams. You rock up with woolen fingerless mittens and a warm sweater underneath your school uniform. Support items are allowed and you decide to use it to your advantage. Wearing more clothes means that you don't need to spend extra time warming up in the cold.

You can hear people whispering and stopping to look at you. You don't mind though. There's nothing wrong with a little attention. It's not like overdressing is a crime.

You enter one of the big three doors and navigate to the auditorium where everyone applying for the hero course is about to receive their introduction and instructions.

The room is dimly lit and not many people are talking. Everyone must either be really nervous or just considerate. You sit down and quickly look around you, spotting a total of zero familiar faces.

The lights turn on in front of the room and you direct your attention towards the Voice Hero: Present Mic. Staying true to his gimmick (or maybe that's how he always is?) he treats the introduction like a live broadcast. To him this is a show and we are his listeners. His call-and-responses flop but he doesn't let that faze him and he continues with the same enthusiasm as before.

"Everybody, say 'hey'!" he attempts for the second time.

Silence ensues again.

He explains that there are three types of enemies to defeat, all granting a certain number of points depending on their difficulty. You wonder about their method of keeping track of everyone's points.

"May I ask a question?"

Your head turns to the direction of the voice. A single spotlight falls on a student who asks a very important question about the fourth enemy. He doesn't fail to point out how scandalous it would be if U.A made such an oversight. You smile at his earnestness.

Present Mic answers that the enemy grants zero points and should be avoided. The young man thanks and sits down.

That was fun, you think. I want to ask a question too.

"I also have a question, if I may," you say with your hand raised high.

"Oh-kaay," he replies, just like he did with the guy before you.

You stand and a single spotlight shines down on you. You can feel everyone watching you and waiting for your question, even the pro hero. Aaah, I love this feeling!

You breathe in and make your voice big, making sure that everyone can hear you. "Do I only need to damage the robots to gain points or do I need to destroy them completely?"

"Hey, hey, Oh-kay! What a great question, Examinee Number 2234. If you get a hit in, it's A O-KAY! Yo!"

"Thank you, HEY!" you respond, making up for the countless hey's you didn't say before. People laugh a little. A boy sitting next to you tsks. The guy who asked a question before looks up with you with a serious look, you smile back.

"That's all from me," the pro hero finishes his speech and repeats the school motto: "Go Beyond, Plus Ultra!" But his actual final words to us are "Good luck suffering."

You understand his final message as you struggle to get out of the room. There must be a few hundred students in total, all wanting to make it to their designated exam area. You check your examinee card and confirm that you were assigned to Battle Center B.

After several minutes of struggling and prematurely sweating in your knitted sweater and mittens, you make your way out of the auditorium and back outside. There are ...seven buses in front of the main entrance. You find the bus driver holding a sign with a big "B" on it and board the bus. You sit down and begin to mentally prepare for the practical exam. You are much more nervous than you want to admit.

The bus arrives at your destination and you're one of the first to get off. You're standing in front of huge gates, rethinking whether you should do damage with only your fingertips or the whole palm. You practiced your ultra-strong touch on only one fingertip, but you decide to pocket your mittens and direct warmth to your whole palm as your main strategy instead.

"Alright, looking good," you mumble to yourself.

"Okay, start!" you hear a familiar voice say. You turn to look, but hearing the gates open behind you, you immediately rush in.

You sprint into the city in search of robots to destroy. You assume that there are people with speed quirks, so you decide that your best course of action is to run at full speed for the ten minutes the exam lasts. You know you can restore your energy to some extent, but your test runs yesterday were not very promising because of the cold.

A robot pulls out from one of the side streets and blocks your way. You stumble backwards from the surprise but then close in on the target.

You ignore its robotic voice and place your heated hand on its metal body, causing it to combust immediately, granting you a point in your head.

The further into the city you move the more enemies there are. You continue with the same strategy: getting in close and touching it with your pre-heated hand. It still does drain your energy quite a bit to both keep it warm and heat it so quickly, but your training and the clear sky allow you to get away with it, despite it being February. Once you sight several targets you decide to maintain the heat in your palm, even if it takes more focus.

When present Mic announces that there are only four minutes left, you have already collected forty points. There were some that were stolen from you by quicker or cleverer examinees, but you don't let it discourage you, although it is becoming apparent that it would be nice to be able to move around quicker. Because you can't recharge as effectively, you need to compromise on the speed.

You continue collecting points by sifting through the minor streets and drawing out robots others haven't got to yet. You end up on a busy street with fifty-one points according to your own calculations and only two minutes of time left on the clock.

You're exhausted. You've pushed your body to its limit and certainly psyched yourself up to be able to keep going. But with only a minute and something left, you are wondering what else you could do. You decide to move to the center of the map, not stay near the gate.

But as you're running, you hear a rumbling and start shaking with the ground. Something big emerges in front of you. You notice how the 0-pointer clutches a building, causing debris to fall. As if that wasn't enough of a cue to flee, it hits the road in front of you, creating a strong wind. You can't help but stare at the monster in front of you, despite realizing that you wouldn't be able to take it out.

Running away feels like the wrong and right thing to do at the same time, but everyone's doing it. Present Mic had also recommended avoiding combat. A split second before you turn, you notice that someone is stuck under debris. You immediately rush towards them and do your best to lift the debris. You strain but it's no use – you're not strong enough. Melting the concrete isn't going to happen either.

You can see the panic in the girl's eyes as she realizes what is looming over you.

"You need to get out of here!" you quickly shout, stating the obvious. "I'll help you somehow!"

The sound of the robot moving towards you makes you sweat. You do your best to think about what you can do but nothing comes to mind. You wonder what Endeavour would do – lift the debris and fly away using his flames. Great. Very useful. So you just stand between the robot and the girl, hands stretched out.

The girl reaches to the debris and touches it, trying to push it off. You notice and help her lift the now weightless chunk of concrete.

You realize that she might have trouble moving.

"I'll help you," you say as you try to prop her up with your elbow. She feels very light and it's only thanks to that fact you even make it to one of the side streets, away from the monster's path. The panic caused by the 0-pointer made your quirk absolutely shut down and it was no longer turning heat into energy. Getting out of the monster's path took more effort than anything you'd done that day. There is not a single ounce of strength left in your body.

"Time's up!" you hear Present Mic declare and a siren go off.