The Difference Between Strength & Power ( MHA x Maki Zenin Reader)

Eri just called me... what?!

"Uh... Maki..."
Maki stared at the fidgeting, fluffy green haired teen to the left of her with a raised eyebrow, frozen in mid kick. Her foot was inches away from Momo's eye winded face as a drop of sweat rolled down her forehead. The bo staff had fallen with a clang against the concrete floor a few feet away was left ignored as Maki finished twirling around and landed on her feet. Momo let out a relieved breath backing away a few feet, thanking her for the spar before she picked up her weapon and went off to practice somewhere else.
Maki took in a deep breath through her nose, letting it out through her mouth, relaxing her stance. "What is it, Midoriya?"
"Do you, uh... think you can teach me some kicks?"
She tilted her head, regarding him again. "I don't mind teaching you a few but why me specifically? I mean, there others that can help you like Ojiro and Ida."
"Well, out of everyone, you know the most about martial arts, even more than Ojiro and Ida's are suited more for his quirk. I learned what I could from watching him."
Well, Maki had to agree that she knew the most and was more experienced but then again, she was still learning. She shrugged.
"Okay, I'll need to see what you know first."
Midoriya perked up, grinning as he crouched down a bit. "Okay!"
"Without using your quirk." Maki added when he'd gotten into position and began to power up his quirk, sparks of green and black lightning appearing around him.
"O-Oh..."
Maki nodded. "There'll be time when you might not be able to use your quirk, or for me, my weapons so it's good to have an arsenal of things to fall back on such as hand-to-hand combat."
"Right!"
And so, Maki spent the rest of the lesson showing Midoriya (and somehow a few of her other classmates when they saw her teaching him) a few basic kicks and even punches. That would not be the last of those lessons as well.

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The weekend finally came and Ashido was choreographing the dance routine with the rest of the dance team outside. The band was rehearsing with Jiro and the staging team were planing the special effects inside the dorms.  During mid afternoon, when Maki had gone inside to get a bottle of water, she heard a loud commotion going on outside, she headed out to see what was going on.  It was a young girl with bluish-off-white hair reaching down to her waist with wide, innocent-looking, bright red eyes.  Poking out from the right side of her forehead was a small horn.  She wore a white dress under a plain red pinafore with two large, golden buttons on either side of her chest.  She had grey tights and a large set of tan boots with a tiny red messenger bag strapped around her.  She was with Mirio and Aizawa and so taking a guess, Maki figured that this was the Eri that Midoriya talked about last night.  As she came outside, she saw some of the members of the dance group gathered around Mirio and Eri, who was hidden behind the young blonde-haired man, clutching to his jeans.  Aizawa stood nearby, keeping a close eye on Eri as well as everyone else with trained eyes.  When she had neared them, they made eye contact and Maki nodded in hello.  He jerked his head towards her before yawning.

Maki walked towards them while people began to go back inside, Ashido suggesting a break with some tea and snacks.  Mirio was talking to Midoriya about something, Eri's eyes lighting up but they all stopped when she let out an eep and she hid further behind Mirio.  The two boys turned and faced her.
"Maki!"  Midoriya's face brightened up upon seeing her.
"Ah, Zenin!  It's been a while!  How ya doin'?"  Mirio held up an arm, waving excitedly.  Midoriya visibly grimaced at the third year's mistake.
"Don't call me by my last name!"  Maki snapped as she gave him a small wave, nodding in greeting to both boys.  "I'm fine.  How have you been now that you're in my world now?"
"Pretty good!  Been hanging out with Eri here a lot and it's been a lot of fun, right Eri?"  He looked down at the small child.  She gave a quick nod, blushing as all eyes were on her, before back to hiding behind Mirio's leg.  She peeked around every few seconds, however, to look at her with wary, curious eyes.
"Oh, Eri, this is Maki, a friend of Deku's."
Her red eyes glanced from her to Midoriya.  "Really?"
"Yeah, Maki is really cool and she's a really heroine!" Midoriya gushed, seemingly vibrating as he mumbled over a few facts about her.  She couldn't help but wonder what he had on her.  She knew he had a page or two (or a few books filled with notes and drawings like he had on Bakugo) on her as he did with all his classmates.  It really made her wonder.  He finally got to the point where Aizawa stared at him to finish up and he ended with "She's also an amazing combat teacher!  She's really helped me with my fighting skills!"
"Really?"
"Pretty much." Maki said.  Mirio told them that they needed to go then if the wanted enough time for the tour of the school and so Maki watched them go, waving as the two boys walked off with Eri.  Want Eri called her as she said goodbye, made Maki's eyes widen and her small smile to falter.  She stood in stunned silence as she watched them until they became pinpricks heading towards the school.

She let out a deep breath through her nose, hand falling down to her side and constructing a neutral expression on her face.  Hazel eyes side glanced at the older man beside her, seeing bloodshot black eyes staring right back at her.
"Aren't you going with them?"
"Togata is with her, I'll be seeing them when they leave."
"I see."
"Hmm"
His gaze began to feel heavy.  Maki looked away, thinking back to what Eri had said.

"Bye, bye, big sis!"

'Mai hasn't called me that since the day I left the clan.' She thought solemnly.

"Big sister, don't let go."

"Why...Why couldn't you have... just stayed and been satisfied down at the bottom with me?"

Maki's back stiffened, shoulders stiffening as her breath hitched when a heavy hand patted her head.
"Stop over thinking, brat." She heard Aizawa grumble to her. He pressed her head down more, gently, making her bend forward a bit, messing up her hair before he took his hand away.
She took a deep breath, scowling. "I'm not a brat...". Her hands rushed her hair as she let it out its ponytail and tried to straighten it back out. She never did like the feeling of tangled hair.
"You're a troublesome brat." He corrected, slouching as his hand reached back inside his pocket.
"Then you're a troublesome teacher."
He let out a snort, giving her one last look before walking away. Maki stayed out there for a while, a soft breeze her hair as hazel eyes watched until he too became nothing more than a small speck in the distance.