Under pressure

Chapter 9

Heavy breathing echoed throughout the room, (Y/n) was on her hands and knees desperately trying to catch her breath, Todoroki across the room sitting down, leaning back onto his arms to try and regain his strength.

Both of them bruised and exhausted, it was only a matter of time before one of them gave up. (Y/n), instead of taking a break, screamed out of frustration.

They had been sparring for hours at this point, and she just couldn't get the move she wanted to start using. Her plan was to be able to activate a persons pressure points from her other limbs, specifically she wanted to use her knees. She could do it in theory, but as we all know that doesn't say much about it's actual probability.

"Maybe we should try a different approach"

Todoroki desperately called out to her. Sure he loved sparring, but this was excruciating. With his quirk, he was able to rely mostly on basic but powerful moves, a perfect match for her much more abstract and fluid style of fighting.

Every time one of them would throw a punch or a kick, the other would dodge and send their own attack. The only issue is... it was exhausting. He could see that she was tired too so he hoped she would agree, and to his dismay,

"I mean what else can we do, sparring and practice is how we learn"

She shakily got up onto her feet and walked over to him, holding out her hand. She was glistening with sweat and her hair was messed up. He could see red marks all over her skin which would surely form into bruises. Both of their knees and elbows were skinned and wrapped with bandages, so his only question was why.

She had an almost empty supply of energy, but he didn't want to stop either in a way.

While after matches he was exhausted, they both were, the adrenaline rush he got while fighting was addicting. He always felt like he could push himself further, and being evenly matched with the girl across from him when it came to combat he was able to grow.

"Yes that's true, but maybe we can... hold on"

He thought about his next actions carefully.

"Do you know the pressure point you're trying to use?"

She looked at him and nodded

"Yeah, the one on your tricep, it's supposed to make you lose function in your arm"

She reached out and set her finger down on the spot.

"Alright then, I won't fight back, just try to use your knee to activate it. Figure out how much force you need to apply, which angle, anything you can take note of."

(Y/n) smiled, she was a little surprised he trusted her enough to do this kind of thing, she was honored. Todoroki relaxed his arm and she stood to the side of him and lightly started to knee him in the arm.

It was quite a funny sight and she tried not to think about what she was doing because one of two things would happen, either she would burst out laughing, or she would die of embarrassment. Amazingly, she was snapped out of her thoughts by the sight of his entire arm going limp after a small kick.

Her eyes lit up.

"OH MY GOD IT ACTUALLY WORKED"

She yelled in excitement and laughed. The hours and hours of combat maybe didn't directly lead to her success, but she was too tired to even care. She spun herself to the ground and sprawled herself out, laughing the entire thing. She sat up quickly and breathed out quickly

"Thank you"

He smiled at her, he longed for a victory similar to hers. He faltered for a second, wondering if he heard her correctly when she asked

"Is there something you were wishing to accomplish?"

He couldn't tell whether she read his mind or what, either way he was a little freaked out.

"I've been trying to form denser ice, but it difficult to tell. Could you help me see if it's working or if I'm putting in extra effort with no result"

He didn't really know why he was asking her this, maybe to avoid the awkwardness of not participating, maybe because he actually wanted to practice. He was skeptical mainly because in a fighting scenerio, the density of the ice never really changed the outcome when he was simply freezing people. By the time they got the sense to fight back against the ice that incased them, their muscles were too cold to activate as much as necessary and their body was usually in shock.

The dew from the grass started to get into his shoe as he sent wave after wave of ice towards (Y/n). Each time he felt more and more dehydrated on top of the already very prevalent exhaustion. Every time he sent ice at her though, it would inevitably shatter. He was grateful for her help but annoyed at the ease she was taking in destroying his ice.

I'm a fit of frustration he sent one out and didn't realize until he heard a thud that the ice hadn't shattered. He ran around to find her only to see her on the ground, sprawled out on her back breathing heavily, a new coat of sweat adorning her face.

She smiled at him in congratulations and he realized what he had done. His reaction wasn't half as exciting as (Y/n)s, but seeing him breath a sigh of relief, the coldness making his breath visible, and rosy hues on both of his cheeks was more rewarding than anything else she could imagine. He finally looked content with himself.

He offered her a hand and she politely declined

"The stars are pretty right now, I kind of want to stay out here before we go inside"

He looked up, she was right.

Lying down on the cool grass, they let the sight of the vast universe overtake them, happily in their own tiny world.