TWO POWERS (Todoroki Shoto x Reader)

Chapter 3: Dinner Time

Endeavour helps you down the rooftop and you begin running home, constantly restoring your energy like Endeavour advised. It makes you embarrassed thinking about how tired you were after chasing him. You also mentally kick yourself for not figuring it out yourself, but in your defense you are not allowed to use your quirks during P.E and that's the only time you truly run.

You make it through the busier streets with a jog, but once you reach the suburbs you increase your pace to a sprint, continuing to restore your energy.

The strategy works. It may hurt to breathe and your calves may be stinging but you're not tired in the least. You take a mental note to try to recover your tired muscles later too. Now's not the time to experiment.

You open the front door and a delicious aroma overwhelms you. Mom's cooking!

"I'm home!"

"Ah, so you made it," you hear your dad say from somewhere in the living room.

You take off your shoes and step in. You notice your mom in the kitchen and your dad speaking with All Might.

"All Might?!" you exclaim.

Before anyone can explain anything, your mom pulls you into a hug.

"So good to see you again!"

"Yeah, you too, mom."

"Pardon the intrusion," All Might says in his usual tone, "but it's good to finally meet you, Young Tsukauchi."

Forced to accept this reality as normal you also greet him properly.

"I understand that you'd like to spend time as a family, so I won't stay long."

You immediately suspect something's up.

"Is... everything alright?"

"Of course it is, sweetie," your mom assures but you can't help but notice her glance in your dad's direction. "Come on, the food's ready. Help me bring it to the table. The boys already set it."

"They're not boys, mom. They're grown men," you grumble as you head to the kitchen. Helping your mom carry all the side dishes to the table feels like cheating because it feels like you cooked them all by yourself. Surely one day...

You and your mom sit down as well and everyone begins eating. Everything tastes so good and you realize how hungry you got with all the running. The warm food feels good to your throat too.

It's been weirdly quiet since you came home especially since you can easily imagine the three adults having a lively conversation. You decide that the silence can't last forever and address the elephant in the room.

"So, dad and All Might, you're friends?"

"Yeah, for quite some time," your dad confesses.

"And how come you've never mentioned him?"

"I guess I didn't need to. And if I have, I used his real name for sure."

"Ah, okay."

"I didn't think you'd care. You didn't seem like the type to be interested in heroes."

"Oh, I'm interested," you reply, memories of Endeavour in action from earlier replaying in front of your eyes. "And I want to become one too."

"Oh, so you've decided?" your mom asks.

"Yes. Well, I was going to apply for U.A anyway but now I've decided to become one for real."

You notice your mom's worried expression.

"Do you not like my decision?"

"No, I do. It's just so sudden. I'm happy that you want to become a hero. I'd also prefer to prevent the injuries than to treat them."

"Dad?"

"No complaints here."

"Way to go," All Might inserts himself into the family discussion. (Why was he here anyway?) "I'll be rooting for you."

"Thank you. I'll need to start training though. The practical exam is going to be rough otherwise."

"Hah hah haa!" All Might laughs. "Leave that to me, Young Tsukauchi. I'll make a training plan for you that will prepare you for hero work in 10 months flat." He gives you a thumbs up.

"Wow, really? That sounds great, thank you!"

In your mind you technically knew that the Number One and Two were completely different, but the fact that All Might offered to help you without skipping a beat proved that the two heroes were like night and day.

All Might leaves soon after finishing his food and you get to spend time with your family. Your mom asks you questions but you manage to convince her that you are serious about becoming a hero. When she inquires about the reason, you tell her about your friends encouraging you and seeing pros (not specifically Endeavour) in action and realizing that you also want to save people. Your dad listens intently but does not comment. He seems happy though.

The next day you receive your American Dream training plan from All Might and start following it immediately. Ten months seem like a long enough time, but you know it flies past faster than you could imagine.

One night you sit down and draw up some plans for developing your quirk. Mom had gone back to work the day after so you have to do it all by yourself with the help of Endeavour's advice.

You decide to keep your main melee attack in the form of your palm melting whatever it touches, but you make note to train it so you could inflict damage on all materials. Remembering Endeavour's advice about area and intensity, you make it a goal to have one ultra-hot touch.

As for defense, you like what you had done to defend yourself from the sidekick. However, during practicing, you discover that instead of redirecting the heat, it is quicker to force more heat out throughout your body – something you didn't know you could do. This also means that you could make your main attack stronger.

One time after practicing the complete defense move you notice how your windows are foggy. You try it again but push your quirk much hotter than before and observe steam filling your room.

A moment later your dad knocks and opens your door, demanding to know why your room has turned into a sauna. Explaining that you're training your quirk calms him down, but he warns you that you shouldn't burn down the house. You promise to do your best not to make that happen.

Every night before falling asleep, you replay Endeavour's words in your head, making sure that you have considered your quirk's possibilities from every angle.

You have a theory that you can form a solid shield with the steam so you ask your dad to throw a baseball through the steam, but the ball flies right through. He also theorizes that you probably have amazing heat tolerance but you never have time to get to the hot springs to confirm that theory.

You do all this and physical training while attending school, doing your homework, and studying for tests and exams. Your only consolidation is that you could pass the written part of the entrance exam half asleep.

You tell your friends that you seriously plan to become a hero only a day before the entrance exam. You would have loved to tell them sooner, but you did not want their praise and support to make you feel like you could slack off. You couldn't. The exam is tomorrow and, despite completing the American Dream plan, you can still tell that you have ways to go. Your quirk improvement also slowed down after the initial progress. Once winter set in, you couldn't notice any change at all.

Not feeling the most confident yet knowing that you've improved you make your way to U.A.