Resurrected & Reignited (Dabi/Touya Todoroki x Reader)

Part XXII: Progress

"Are you ready?" Touya asked calmly, sitting on the floor just a couple of feet away from you. You took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly through your mouth.

"Let's do it." You said with an affirmative nod.

You watched intently as Touya raised his arm and held his hand palm-up between the two of you.

"We'll start small."

A pale blue light was cast isotropically around Touya and yourself as he produced a small flame. You stared at it for a moment, silently studying its attributes. It was a bit strange; unlike most flames, which would flicker and twitch sporadically as it burned its fuel, the one before you now was unwavering. It pointed straight up and continued to burn steadily as Touya fed it with his power. The simplicity of it calmed you- a flame that was already being heavily controlled should be a breeze to manipulate. A gentle smile spread across your lips. He’d likely never admit it, but it looked as though Touya were holding back his own giddy grin upon seeing your eagerness. You pulled back and cupped the air around the flame with your hands. The intense light left dark spots in your vision the longer you stared into it. It was becoming rather annoying. Touya cleared his throat, catching your attention.

“Any day now, (Y/N).” He urged.

“I was just about to- you’re distracting me.” You huffed with a smile. Touya simply rolled his eyes.

You focused your attention on his ignited palm once more. Of course- it must have been uncomfortable for Touya to hold his flame so long. Targeting the hottest bit of fire near his skin, you gently pulled the energy up and away from him. Touya let out a relaxed breath as the tension visibly left his hand. Excitement brewed inside of your tummy- you were helping him! Your calm smile transformed into a broad grin as the exhilaration encouraged you. So wrapped up in your joy, you unwittingly and rapidly put more effort into extracting the energy from Touya’s hand. Suddenly, the flame was gone. Its light vanished nearly instantaneously, leaving you standing, dumbfounded, in the dimly lit factory.

“Huh- I- wha? Ahw, man!” You groaned, dropping your hands into your lap and throwing your head back. You’d nearly had it! Your excitement had tragically caused you to lose focus.

Touya furrowed his brows. “Come on, (Y/n), this should be nothing for you.” You were sure he was only trying to be encouraging, but his comment made you feel inept.

“It takes more focus to keep the flame going than it does to put it out. See, thermal energy has a tendency to flow to areas of lower concentration until a kind of kinetic equilibrium is reached.” You explained.

Touya blinked, clearly confused. “And… assuming I knew what that meant...”

You rolled your eyes, the corners of your lips curved gently upward. “Hot likes cold. Heat only flows into things that are colder. The air around the fire is colder, so without you constantly giving heat to the flame, the energy disperses, the temperature drops too low to ignite oxygen, and the fire goes out. I can keep the temperature high, but...” You sighed defeatedly. “It doesn’t help if I can’t keep it together.”

Touya sighed upon seeing the discouraged look on your face. “It’s alright. You did it before, you can do it now. Try again.” The next second, a new flame popped up from Touya’s hand. You sat up straight once again and went to work moving the energy away from his skin. Again, Touya’s muscles relaxed, and again, a feeling of accomplishment settled over you; however, you wouldn’t allow yourself to celebrate so soon. You raised your hands steadily to the flame, cupping the air around it as it heated up.

‘Alright. Fire is self-sustaining. The key to this is to just keep the energy together- the temperature needs to be high enough to ignite the oxygen in the air.’ You reasoned with yourself. You gently began turning your palms upward as you concentrated on moving the flame away from Touya’s hand. As you’d demonstrated the night before, this wasn’t typically such a difficult task, but somehow, being put on the spot like this left you feeling nervous. Just as you’d hoped, the small blue flame began to rise into the air away from Touya’s hand. You leaned back and allowed it to float towards you. Touya’s eyes shown with curiosity and fascination as you held his fire suspended between your own hands.