change of plans || todoroki shouto x reader

chapter eight

4:57 PM

[name] hums, facing the slowly changing sky. lying flat on the ground of the field where she and dabi had agreed to meet.

it was a fairly secluded place, the open area fenced with trees in a circle. the area itself was a five-minute walk from the main entrance, led by a pathway.

in the middle of the field, [name] lay with her arms and legs spread out, like a starfish, her eyes closed as she consciously breathed.

mm, there's been so much tension in me the past few days. it feels good to just lie down and feel the ground and wind.

"hey."

[name] opens her left eye only to see dabi staring down at her. it's not his most flattering angle.

"yo."

[name] opens her eyes and sits up on the ground and dabi responds by squatting down to be at each other's eye level.

"so, are we gonna spar or what?"

[name] stretches up and stands.

"let's do this!"

...

..

.

"wait so how does this work again?"

"tsk, you don't know how sparring works?" dabi teases.

[name] becomes embarrassed. "yes, i do! i just.. don't know how this one does."

dabi hums. "hm, alright, stay there."

he walks farther from where they were standing, right in the middle of the field. after backing up for around twenty meters, he stops. he uses his shoes to make a mark in the ground, circling the area.

"ohh, i see. alright, dabi hold up," [name] says.

dabi stops what he's doing and looks to [name]. she squats down and lays her hand on the ground, and slowly, a forty meter-diameter circle of ground sinks.

dabi steps down into the small one-inch pit she made.

"pretty cool, right? i figured you wanted to make a boundary of sorts so i just pushed down this part of the ground since it's easier than marking it down with your shoe," [name] grins.

dabi chuckles, "not bad, kiddo."

"alright then," [name] says. "i guess whoever gets pushed out the ring loses?"

"alright let's do this," dabi smirks.

with no warning he raises his hand and lets out a flash of fire, aiming slightly above [name]. by instinct, she squats down and reaches for the ground again, building a protective wall in front of her.

the flames stop coming and the wall is brought back down.

"we're you trying to cremate me? what the fuck?!" the girl exclaims.

"relax, it was just to start the fight," the man in front of her laughs. "even if you did end up not getting the ground up, the flame wouldn't have hit you. besides, it's a spar, right?"

what a fucker, [name] thinks. she didn't hate it though. everyone she 'trained' with back then always held back on her in fear of actually hurting her and getting fired, and she hated it.

[name] never backs down on a challenge.

"you're on, sicko," she grunts and charges toward dabi.

his right hand raises again, to send fire her way but she jumps with the help of the elevated ground she cast and flips before landing behind him to dodge the attack.

it was only then that [name] notices that dabi's flame was an unusual blue. it was mesmerizing, much like his eyes.

it also explained why she couldn't manipulate it even after she reached for the tip of the flame.

fuck, i can't remember what makes fire blue. it's not just the temperature, the chemical compound of the fire itself is different. so i don't know how to steal it from his control.

most fire quirk wielders have the body composition that lets them create traditional red and orange fire. so there's something in his genes that makes the fire different. maybe it has something to do with those scars of his.

shit, if i can't use his fire against him, i only have the air and the ground on my side.

the battle continues. ground manipulation, fire, and evasion is the recurring theme of their spar. hand-to-hand combat makes appearances but only for some short bits.

it was amazing. [name] hadn't felt that much adrenaline in her body in a long time. the inability to control the fire gave the risk and thrill she hadn't experienced in a spar against someone in quite a while.

pain then started bubbling in [name]'s stomach. she's overusing her quirk again. ignoring it can either cause her to go berserk or the exact opposite, to fall unconscious.

she held up her hands in defeat when she felt a little vomit come up her throat.

"agh, dabi! wait, stop, fuck," she curses.

panting as she set her hands on her bent knees, she recomposed herself.

"oh, shit. you alright, princess?" dabi says, concern slightly in his tone. he may have gone a bit too far with this challenge thing. she was only fifteen after all. he walks towards her.

"i'm fine," [name] reassures him. she continues catching her breath and sinks down, sitting on the ground once again. "i just overused my quirk a bit, that's all."

"gee," dabi says, sitting down next to her. "you totally lost to me then."

"fucker!" she yells, punching his shoulder. dabi chuckles at her response. [name] answers annoyed, "i just haven't used my quirk so much in quite some time, that's all. and i totally gave myself a disadvantage with the location. i could totally still kick your ass."

[name] lays down on the ground, going back to her position from earlier. she stares at the sky again.

dabi looks at her, watching her exhausted self try to calm down to her normal heartbeat.

he looks to the sky as well.

"i guess we'll finish this fight some other time then."

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tl;dr : [name] and dabi's spar ends in a w̶i̶n̶ f̶o̶r̶ d̶a̶b̶i̶ draw.