Previously on Latibule:
I leaned my chin on the back of my hand that was resting on the back of my chair, making myself a bit comfortable. "Shooting for the stars, huh?"
This time he looked up, his deep red eyes gazing into my e/c ones. For the briefest moment I wondered what secrets he held under that tough exterior but that thought vanished as fast as it had appeared. "How else do you think I would become the best, you idiot?" he scoffed.
I half-smiled, standing up and leaving my form for a later time, pushing it to the end of my list of concerns for a moment as I took Bakugou's arm and pulled him along with me. "C'mon, let's get lunch."
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Latibule — Chapter 26///Endeavor's Training
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The first day of our internships arrived in the blink of an eye. I joined my class at the train station and soon, when everyone had gathered, Mr. Aizawa gave us a few instructions for the following week, such as reminding us that we cannot wear our costumes in public yet or that everything we do the hero we're interning with would be responsible for.
After that, we parted from each other, all of us searching for our respective transports. I went with Todoroki, of course, as he had chosen his father's agency, too.
We didn't speak but I hadn't expected to, considering who I was with.
Still, when we boarded the train, a question was burning on the tip of my tongue. "Todoroki," I started, choosing the words I used wisely, "why'd you choose your father? I've noticed how you haven't really used your left side."
"He's the only one who can teach me how to use it and make the quirk my own," Todoroki answered without missing a beat.
I nodded, figuring that he'd thought the matter through at least a hundred times.
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We walked into the office building that Todoroki knew was his father's agency. I could feel it, really. There was a special type of vibe to it and I wasn't sure whether or not I liked it at all.
The woman at the reception stood up and hunched into a bow of greeting wordlessly, probably because Todoroki was her boss's son and all..
The boy himself thought nothing of it and instead asked the woman to notify Endeavor of our arrival.
Not a minute later, the doors slid open and closed and heat radiated from behind us as we turned around to face the flame hero.
"So you've come," he spoke, regarding us.
I stayed silent, not sure how to answer. Todoroki was just staring at his father with an unfathomable expression. Something like anger rolled off of him but, then again, the hurt wasn't half as intense as it had been during the Sports Festival.
Endeavor didn't seem to mind our silence as he glanced back at the receptionist for the briefest moment. "Aiko will show you to your rooms. Get into your hero costumes and warm up for training. You have 15 minutes."
Todoroki nodded so I did, too, before the receptionist beckoned us to follow her.
Despite the first meeting with Endeavor being more silent than I expected, it wasn't half as awkward. Sure, there was some tension in the air but I'd managed to ignore it.
"Here's your room, Miss L/n."
"Thank you," I nodded to Aiko before going in and immediately into the bathroom to change. I finished quickly and tied my hair so it wouldn't be in my face before exiting the bathroom and plopping onto the ground to warm up.
I observed the room. The style was strictly Japanese and rather minimalistic but there was still enough of the wooden furniture to make the room have a cozy vibe to it.
My eyes stopped on the clock. I still had around 5 minutes before I had to be back in the lobby of the agency. A door opened down the hall. I stood up at the sound and peeked out of my own only to see Todoroki walking down the hall.
He noticed me. "Are you ready?" he asked.
I nodded wordlessly before joining him, making sure to close my door and memorize where my room was as we walked. I noticed that Todoroki had changed his hero costume. It now resembled our PE uniform more than anything.
I had changed mine, too, and my color palette had lost gray, leaving me in only black and white. I had switched my gray leggings for black jeans better suited for combat and I wore no jacket, the sleeves of my skin tight white shirt going just until my wrists. I also wore a pair 0f long black gloves, the material strong but light and not too thick so I could easily use my quirk through them. My boots were mostly black but there were occasional stripes of white on them and the soles were white, too.
I snapped out of my thoughts as we exited the elevator and saw Endeavor waiting for us. He was satisfied enough with our appearance to gesture for us to follow him as he spoke. "Today and tomorrow I'll train you. Then we'll get to actual hero work in Hosu so you can put your new skills into practice."
He glanced back at us. "Understood?"
"Yes, sir," I said, tired of staying silent. Todoroki nodded, mumbling an agreement under his breath.
"Great." Endeavor nodded and opened the training room door for us. "As you've already warmed up, we'll get to the point right away." He observed us for a moment before continuing. "I want you two to spar, no holding back."
Todoroki and I took fighting stances immediately.
"Oh, and, L/n." I looked up. "Don't dodge the flames. I want you to do what you did at the Sports Festival."
My eyes widened. I knew what he wanted me to do but I wasn't sure if I could. "But I don't know how to—"
"It's your quirk, you will figure it out."
I huffed but looked back to Todoroki, a signal that I was ready. Todoroki charged with his ice and I stumbled as energy radiated off of me, breaking the ice's flow.
"Keep a steady stance! Your opponent can and will use your moment of weakness!" Endeavor commented from the sidelines and I put the instructions to practice, already steadier for the next wave of ice that I dodged by jumping.
The floor was covered in ice as I landed and I almost lost my footing. Luckily, my boots held their own against the ice due to the way they were made and I stayed standing.
Todoroki was panting, his breath fogging into the air, and I couldn't deny the fact that most of my energy was being used to keep my fingertips from freezing.
"Don't hold back," Endeavor reminded, probably hinting that Todoroki should use his flames sooner rather than later.
I looked at the flame hero and felt the energy and warmth radiating off of him due to his quirk.
Todoroki raised his left hand.
"Flames are naturally destructive, so you have to make sure to control them well, Shoto," Endeavor instructed his son.
My heart skipped a beat as the flames danced towards me. My skin felt as if it was burning and the heat was just too much.
I panicked and rolled out of the way, the flames extinguishing a second later.
What seemed like concern flickered through Todoroki's eyes and he opened his mouth — presumably to ask if I'm alright — but was cut off by a harrumph from his father. "I told you not to dodge."
Anger flared in my chest. Hadn't I dodged, things would've ended very differently. Despite my creased brow, I nodded. "Sorry, I panicked. I'll do better."
Endeavor seemed to approve of that promise and gestured for us to continue sparring.
Todoroki attacked again right away even as a look of regret crossed his face. I was a bit surprised, considering his defiance towards his father, but assumed it was because he actually wanted to improve his control of his left side and this was the way to do that.
As another wave of heat soared through the air towards me, my heart skipped a beat again. I was at a crossroads. I could either dodge and be scolded or I could try to absorb the heat while risking burning alive.
My muscles tensed and I saw Todoroki's eyes widen as he realized I wasn't going to dodge. He wanted to stop the attack, I saw it in his eyes.
Then time ran out and the heat swallowed me whole, the flames licking towards me and yet not reaching. This time, as I was not as surprised by the event as I had been at the Sports Festival, I got a chance to marvel at the sight. The flames consisted of so many shades of yellow and orange and red that I'd have to use two hands to count them and quite honestly I thought the sight beautiful. Beautiful and yet deadly, just like flowers that looked pretty but could kill with a single touch.
All too soon, the flames extinguished as Todoroki had to take a moment to regulate his body temperature.
My hands trembled and when I looked down at them, they had a subtle glow all over them. For the briefest poetic moment in the midst of my training, I thought I looked like a ray of the sun that'd been trapped on the Earth forever.
Just like Todoroki's flames, the thought extinguished and Endeavor started talking. "Great. Now, when you release it, try not to let it go all at once because otherwise you won't be able to recover quickly enough."
I remembered how I'd collapsed at the Sports Festival and nodded determinedly.
My instincts, however, had other plans as Todoroki's emotions pulsed through my veins. My fingertips almost sizzled with the amount of anger and sadness that had to be released and my mind got clouded as I got a glimpse of Endeavor. He was the one to cause all that pain!
The power of my own quirk seemed to rip me up from the inside, clawing and tugging at my heartstrings so hard it hurt to breathe. At that moment, hadn't I been so close to others I would've hurt them if I let loose, I wanted to let it all out. I wished I could collapse and fall asleep for the rest of eternity so I could forget the pain.
Looking up, I noticed that my sparring partner was panting, too, even though his breathing was starting to even out as he readied himself for another attack.
Ice sprouted towards me and my hand immediately slashed upwards, the ice smashing into pieces so small that they felt like grains of sand as they rained down on me.
I willed myself to stop the energy but my body wouldn't listen to me. The floor of the soundproof training room cracked and I saw Todoroki stumble to keep his balance.
Endeavor merely raised a brow at the show of power and made no effort to stop whatever was going on.
As my opponent stumbled once again, I took the chance and released another wave of energy that didn't allow him to land on his feet. Instead, he fell flat on his face and in the time that it took for him to scramble up, I ran to him.
We continued in close combat and I quickly realized that I was at a disadvantage for I didn't really know how to fight without the help of my quirk. I couldn't use it at such a short range either because that would've hurt Todoroki pretty badly.
The boy caught my fist and frost crawled up my arm. My skin buzzed from the clash of warm energy and cold ice and a second later, the ice around my arm combusted, only to be replaced in the matter of a few seconds.
That repeated a few more times until I realized that the storm of emotions in my heart had calmed and the glow in my veins was only faintly there.
The ice crawled until my shoulder and then, as Todoroki noticed that I had no power left to fight his ice, he made the finishing move. A mere second later I was cocooned in ice all the way up to my neck and what energy I had left was working on keeping me warm and there was no way I could get out.
I sighed, rolling my head back as a few beads of sweat trickled from my temples.
I was exhausted and yet, when I opened my eyes and looked at the hero who'd taken me as an apprentice, I realized I was wrong to have guessed we could take a break.
In reality we were only getting started.