Pins and Needles | Todoroki Shoto | S/H

A Festival of Competition with Unsuspected Reunions

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Hero costume described later.  The makeup and hair are optional.

     "Did you ever get your costume, (N/N)-chan?"  Mina asks excitedly.  The Sports Festival was just about to begin and they were all worried about her.  The only person to know she had a quirk was still only her and Todoroki.  Not that she exactly tried to keep it a secret, just that she tried not to use it.  
     "Yeah, I did."  She states.  She'd finally managed a design.  A black, sleeveless, high-collared and high-waisted leotard with a silky (C/C) skirt.  The leotard had a misshapen diamond that left her upper chest and just a tiny bit of her cleavage show, which wasn't the intention, but the hole did have a purpose.  Underneath her skirt were bands tied around her thighs.  Strings tunnel up tying both the bands and the skirt to a collar around her neck to make sure they don't fall.  The bands held a few small knives, a pack of needles, an icepick, and a hammer on her right leg; first-aid equipment was on her left.  (Switch this if you are left-hand dominant.)
     Mina stares at the shoes as (Y/N) slips them on after putting away the rest of her costume.  They'd just been notified they were wearing their gym uniforms instead.  The shoes themself were black with rainbow trim and red laces, but what made them really ridiculous was the 4" heel.  
     "You wanna fight people in those?"  She asks with a shocked expression.  (Y/N) only cocks her eyebrow as she follows Mina's gaze.
     "Um... I guess?  I thought they looked nice."  
     Mina stared and sputtered for a second.  "W-What if you fall or twist your ankle?  How are you supposed to run in heels?  I mean, they are super cute —your outfit is adorable by the way— but that's totally a safety hazard!"  (Y/N) chuckles a little.
     "I've probably walked in heels more than I have in normal shoes.  I know how to handle them.  Don't worry."  She sighs a bit, shaking out her hands.  No matter how easily she could walk in heels, she'd never actually worn it before now, so it was definitely going to feel weird fighting in.  Not to mention, she was expected to be fighting people.  She definitely hadn't signed up for that mentally. 
     She really didn't want to use her quirk, even the weaker forms of it, of which probably wouldn't even be helpful anyway.  But what else would she do?  Just... fail?  It was definitely an option, but it was kind of embarrassing.  There's no way to look cool while giving up, but there was probably the only way for her to lose for at least a couple of rounds.
     She thought about what Todoroki said as they headed out the door.  They hadn't talked more than she had talked to anyone else since her migraine.  Still, maybe he was right; he did seem pretty rational.  Maybe she did subconsciously want to be a hero.  How could she be a hero with a quirk she despised?  How could she be a hero with a quirk befitting a villain?  She had a career she wanted to do and was pretty good at it, it wasn't like she was desperate for whatever she could do, so... why was she trying so hard in hero school?

     Fireworks popped just outside of the arena, which made her heart race.  She could hardly hear the announcements —which were stupid anyway— over the screaming from the massive crowd.  
     Midoriya seemed the most nervous about the audience and Iida wondered aloud if they could truly perform their best in a situation like this.  
     1-A was announced first, which sucked.  (Y/N) wished she was in 1-B who were announced second.  Close to the beginning that people would forget about them by the end, but not literally the first people mentioned.  
     It didn't help that Midnight decided bringing a whip was a lovely idea.  She did look pretty, yes, but that was definitely a bit much.  
     Bakugo made an absolutely perfect speech, if perfect was dogshit on the side of the road.  Then they were released in mass to begin a massive race around the stadium.  1-A was stuck in the back because the most promising get the least advantage.  
     She looks down as ice begins to spread on the floor, expertly jumping and holding herself by the shoulders of two people.  She glances around and clearly, it was Todoroki, so she copies him and both go running out.  She was glad he knew how to not slip on this ice because she would've fallen on her ass.  
     "Oh my gods!  It's Gary!"  She shouts to herself.  What was a race without obstacles, of course.  And they chose... robots.  Her robots.  Gary, named by her father because he thought the English name was hilarious, had a messed piece of metal on his head that looked like a snaggletooth.  Gary's wiring had been difficult to do because they'd ordered the wrong ones, and she'd developed something of a friendship with him, despite his being a robot.  Gary could specifically recognize her and wouldn't attack her... at all.  
     If she had ever expected to go to U.A., she wouldn't have donated him two years prior.  Everyone hesitated, but she didn't and instead ran forward.  Of course, Gary's old programming kicked in and he fumbled to pick her up and set her on his head.  She had always loved to sit atop the robots, and this feature was a birthday present for her from her father so he didn't have to accompany her up the ladders every time.  
     Todoroki immediately froze an entire robot on his own, which was incredibly impressive, though probably not the best idea since now everybody knew his quirk.  
     "Hey, Todoroki!"  She calls.  He glances over, as do must of 1-A at the sound of her voice.  She didn't speak a lot so it was a rarity.  "Don't hit this one!  He's mine!"  She grins to herself, backing away from the edge.  "Okay, Gary."  She mumbles to herself.  She pops open the latch before slipping inside. 
     Since these were locked in storage a lot of the time, they each had a small tablet inside of them to do most software controls and repairs so they didn't have carry laptops up and down the ladders.  She immediately turned it on and disable attacking based on enemy sensors.  Next, she disconnected its control from U.A. so they couldn't just shut him off.  Then, she set his movement controls to be software-based, meaning she had to move him from the tablet rather than his processing.  
     She immediately turned him around and off he begin strolling towards the finish line.  It was a bit bumpy, since she could see outside very well through the cameras (they weren't particularly high-quality tablets) and she forgot how fast they could move, but she continued nonetheless.  
     She could faintly hear them announcing Todoroki as the first to get past, and introducing Kirishima's quirk along with some other guy's who was basically the exact same.  Their introduction was literally a script of the others, only switching their names and the name of their quirk.  
     (Y/N) sniggered when they started mentioning the runaway robot, but of course, she had basically disappeared.  They probably didn't notice her being picked up and placed on his head since they would've been watching the scared faces of everyone.  
     The next obstacle was listed as "The Fall," but (Y/N) was already past it when Present Mic announced it upon Todoroki's arrival.  Since Gary was so big, he couldn't fall into the cracks even if he wanted to, so she just rolled over it.  By now, she was giving a tearful goodbye to Gary as she turned on his code to attack all spotted enemies and to move by processing controls instead of manual ones.  
     She was at a minefield, but it was pretty easy to pass.  If you just walked around the outside, there was about a foot of no mines.  Stay close to the fence —but don't touch it since it's electric— and you were good to go.  She sprinted past it, the only running she had ever felt like doing, but she owed it to Gary for all the work he did.  
     "The lead pack is a step ahead, but below them, everyone's clumped together!"  Present Mic announces.  She can hear the crowd cheering as she begins through the dark tunnel back to the arena.  "They haven't announced how many people will make it through, so you can't relax!  Push forward!"  
     She dawns a confused expression as she walks back into the courtyard.  
     "Our first-place Todoroki Shoto has just reached the mind field!  But what is this?  Another robot?!"  Present Mic calls.
     "There shouldn't be a robot there."  She hears Aizawa grumbled.  She snickers a bit to herself.  The crowd cheered and screamed as they announced a new lead, which again made her confused.  Surely she should be the lead if she was already done.  
     She waves an arm up at Aizawa, hoping he'd see her.  
     "Right now, the first person back in the stadium is that man...  Midoriya Izuku made a huge splash!"  Present Mic calls.  
     "Oh.  Hey, Midoriya."  (Y/N) calls, waving at him.  
     "Mic, you missed an entire student,"  Aizawa states as confetti and streams rain down.  "(S/N) (Y/N) has been in the stadium for three minutes already.  Did you miss that?"