Plus Ultra|Shouto Todoroki x Reader x Izuku Midoriya|

5. Practically Simple

The opening assembly had finished and it was almost time for the practical exams to begin. You had begun heading towards the locker rooms, where you would change into your work-out clothes before you felt your wrist being grabbed.

Not exactly happy with the random touch, you snatched your wrist away and turned around to see who had grabbed you in the first place.

"Look, I'm sorry. I know you don't like it when I get angry," Katsuki mumbled, loud enough for you to hear, but too quiet for anyone else to.

"You're right, I don't," you grumbled back, "What did that kid ever do to you? You've hated him for what, around ten years now? What's your issue?!" You glared right into deep-red eyes, knowing that something about your eyes unnerved him.

There was always something about your eyes, whenever he or your parents looked into them, you could see some sort of uneasiness build in theirs.

You could see your brother's eyes widen slightly, it almost looked as though he had seen a ghost. You hated the way they looked at you sometimes, you hated whatever they saw in your eyes.

You had tried to figure out what they could see in your eyes for years, but every time you looked in the mirror, you only felt more confused. You never understood what they saw, you only saw yourself.

It only ticked you off even more, you wanted him to just stop looking at you.

"Whatever. It's your shit to deal with, not mine, so I'll keep my nose out of it. Good luck with the exam, not that I think you'll need it," you mumbled, breaking eye-contact with him as you began to walk off.

• • •

You rubbed your thumbs against your temples, gritting your teeth as you tried to calm yourself down. You just felt so tense, which definitely wasn't ideal in the situation you were in.

In front of you stood concrete wall, which could've easily been twenty times your height, and a large metal gate. The concrete wall had no paint, so it was rather plain, but the gates were a dark olive color.

The stress of the situation, along with the added stress of having to deal with your idiotic brother, was making your heart race. It was pounding your chest, it felt almost as if it'd burst out; it was the only thing you could hear.

You stared at the gate, thoughts racing around your mind.

'Maybe I was a tad bit too dramatic.'

'Oh god, can I even do this?'

The muscles in your body felt tense, you weren't even sure that you could move. Your breathing was becoming quick and slightly shallow, but you didn't notice.

'Is it too late to turn around now?'

'Maybe I should just go back home.'

'Maybe Mom was right, I'm just safer inside.'

Suddenly, a loud, feminine voice yelled, but you couldn't determine what she was saying. The sound of her voice was followed by the opening of the gates and you knew that the practical exam had begun.

"CRAP!" you yelped, pushing your body to rush forward.

Even though you were unsure that you could even move, you found that it just came easily when you pushed yourself to move. Still, you couldn't slow your beating heart and the rush of thoughts in your mind. If you could just suddenly forget how to walk, you would've, but luckily, you didn't.

You had to be just strong enough to get in, but not draw too much attention to yourself. You needed to stay under the radar. Maybe a day would come where it would be your time to finally be loud like your brother, you assumed there would be, but as far as your parents were conserved, that day was not today. Even if it hurt to have to hide yourself, you listened.

As you ran into the arena, you found that you were immediately confronted with the robots that stood in as faux villains. It was so simple, just using your quirk to break a wire inside of the machines (a specific wire, not just any random wire. You didn't want to waste too much energy on just one machine) that dare cross you.

You sprinted down the streets of the faux city, causing any robot near you to shut down as you crossed it. You could've done more, you could've been flashy, but you stayed simple.

At some point, it became almost mindless. You weren't even thinking about it, it almost felt like your eyes were closed. It could've been almost soothing, but it was more boring than anything else.

You wanted more. You wanted more excitement; you wanted to feel the adrenaline pumping through your veins; you wanted to feel your heart race.

You almost gave into your desires, they might've been simple, but giving into them could be flashy or noticeable.

You understood that you were meant to go unnoticed, so giving into those desires would be wrong; however, you weren't thinking, it was almost as if your mind wasn't even there.

You had begun to give in when you noticed a small girl, shaking in front of one of the machines. She looked angry, she wanted to fight it, but it looked about ready to crush her.

You snapped out of whatever trance you were in when you saw the girl, only acting once the robot was right above her head to avoid just being in her way.

Creating a large and harsh gust of wind, you pushed her out from under the machine and padded her fall by turning the concrete she landed on into an almost pillow-like substance.

You didn't stop to chat. Instead, you ran off and hoped that she didn't notice you. You encountered about two more situations where you had helped others out, one being when someone appeared to be injured and the other being unaware of the faux villain behind them.

You had to refrain from shutting off some of the targets because you knew that being top of the class right away would draw some attention. Actually, at some point you completely stopped.

You weren't sure how many points you gained during the exam, you could hardly remember shutting off the faux villains in the first place. When loud buzzers went off and all of the machines shut down, you knew that it was the end of the practical exam.

'Well, I hope that was enough,' you thought, slowing down into a slow walk, '...not too much though.'

As you exited the arena, you wondered if anyone noticed your lack of exhaustion.

You could only hope that no one would question it in the future.

Thank you for continuing to read Plus Ultra! I'm sure you've noticed that it's already quite different from the original version if you are coming from there! Anyways, thank you so much for reading! I hope you all have a wonderful night/day! Byyyyyyyyeeeeeee!