Turning the Tables [Shoto Todoroki X Reader]

Chapter 49: This won't hurt one bit

He was staring at the horns.

There were two, one sprouting out of each of my temples, curling up over my ear before dipping down, and tilting upwards at the very end into a sharp point. They ended just a little behind my head. Near the base, they split into a second short point that bent up along my forehead.

I had studied them too many times in the mirror. Not in wonder or intrigue, but in loathing.

And in pain.

There were too many bad memories paired with the pair of horns. With my scaled arm.

With my second quirk.

I had stared in the mirror so long and hard that I'm sure I must've memorized every scratch and divot, every line and curve and colour.

All of it.

They started as a dark black at my temples, before fading into a mid-colour of charcoal grey and ending tipped in ash grey. The scratches on my horns were barely a shade lighter than the area they were on.

My fingers traced the curve of my right horn, and I dropped my eyes to the ground, staring hopelessly at the asphalt.

Vaguely, I registered Mr. Aizawa leaving. I made no move to stop him.

"I didn't know you had horns."

He sounded sad.

I said nothing in reply.

"Stay still. This won't hurt one bit."

The insincerity in her words tore through me.

I thrashed.

"I said, stay still!"

I didn't stop, desperately trying to squirm free.

The lady was calling someone.

Soon there were a pair of strange, tall men, who pinned me, chaining me down onto the operating table.

The woman smiled cruelly as she watched, a twisted form of amusement glittering in her cold eyes.

She took her time sharpening the scalpel.

"Don't scream too loud. I'd hate to have to gag you."

I fell forward, my hands somehow managing to fly in front of me and catch me in time.

My vision blurred, my head pounding. My sobbing intensified, tears gathering in between my eyes and rolling down the bridge of my nose to drip off the tip, painting the already dark road surface an even darker colour.

A pair of hands wrapped around my waist, lifting me up enough to pull my face into the blue fabric of their shoulder.

Todoroki.

It took a couple of minutes, but he managed to calm me down.

"We're still in the exam. You want to pass, don't you?"

I lifted my face from his shoulder, blinking slowly a few times before nodding.

"Then let's come up with a plan, and win this. He's probably waiting at the gate now, because it's our only way to win. He took the cuffs with him when he left, and I didn't want to leave you alone..." His voice broke slightly, and something inside me twinged.

"He either has the cuffs or he's hid them, so we don't have any chance of finding them before the clock runs out. We need a plan. As well as multiple backup plans in case aspects of it fail."