A Spider's Story (Todoroki X reader)

22

     Time went by quickly. Before we knew it, it was time for the finals. The written exam went by easily, thanks to Hoshi's tutoring, and now we were about to take the practical.

     We were outside, several pro-heroes standing in front of us. "Now then, let's begin the final test," Aizawa said. "Remember, it's possible to fail this test. If you want to go to camp, don't make any stupid errors."

     "Um, why are all the teachers here?" Jirou asked.

     "I expect many of you have managed to gather information and believe that some of you have an idea of what you'll be facing today," Aizawa said.

     "We're fighting those big ol' metal robots!" Kaminari shouted.

     "Actually, this year's tests will be different, for multiple reasons," Principal Nezu said, popping out of Aizawa's scarf. "The tests now have a new focus. There will be hero work, of course. But there will also be teamwork and combat between actual people," Nezu said as he climbed down to the ground.

     "So what does that mean for all of you? You students will be working together in pairs and your opponents will be one of our esteemed UA teachers! Isn't that fabulous?" Nezu announced.

     "We're doing what?" I quietly asked out loud.

     "Additionally, your partners and your opponents have been decided beforehand. They were determined at my discretion based on various factors, which include your fighting styles, grades, and interpersonal relationships," Aizawa said.

     "First, Yaoyorozu and Todoroki are a team. Against me. Then, we have Midoriya paired with Bakugou. And their opponent will be..."

     All Might came down to the ground and said, "I am here... to fight! If you boys want to win, you're going to have to work together!"

     "Now, let's announce the teams and the teachers they'll be fighting in order!" Nezu said. When he got to the eleventh match, he said, "Since there isn't another teacher available at the moment, we had to bring in a pro. Hoshikofu and (L/n) will be facing.... Mantle!"

     Wait, really?

     "To complete the exams, you'll all have thirty minutes. In order to win, your goal is to put these handcuffs on your opponent! Or you can win if one of you manages to escape from the combat stage," Nezu said. The teachers then went on to explain more about the test.

     Instead of going to watch the matches, Denji and I had decided to try and come up with a plan for how we could defeat Mantle. After everyone else had their match, it was mine and Denji's turn to go.

     Our final exam took place inside of a dark gray, industrial building. "(Y/n) (L/n) and Denji Hoshikofu final exam. Ready? Start," a voice said. Denji and I exchanged a glance before we started running through the building, looking for the exit.

     As we were running, I noticed magma fall at my feet. I stopped quickly, almost falling into it. "Oh shit, that was way to close," I said as I took a step back. I noticed Denji stop running as well. His head was slowly turning, as if he was scanning the area.

     "She's over there," Denji said, signaling which direction Mantle was in. I nodded, following Denji as he began to run through the building. Neither of us knew the layout of the building, so each turn was a wild guess. Denji's x-ray vision could only see the outline of a body and their skeleton, not any buildings.

     I nearly ran into Denji when he stopped at a turn. As I was about to look around the 5'6" tall boy, Mantle came from down one of the halls and punched Denji in the face. Denji stumbled to the side a bit, but I wasn't able to focus on him with Mantle in front of me.

     Mantle threw a punch towards me. I blocked it just in time, only to get kneed in the stomach instead. Denji tried to hit Mantle, but she dodged it. The pro hero quickly turned around, facing the way Denji had come from, and elbowed him in the back.

     She continued to turn, using her other hand to punch me in the side of the head. I took a couple steps to the side, but quickly recovered since it wasn't too hard of a hit. Denji wasn't far away, but he was standing back up.

     When he turned towards Mantle, she lifted her arm up in the air. I could tell she was about to shoot magma towards him, so I quickly knocked her arm out of the way right as she did. This caused for some magma to land a little above my ankle.

     I didn't pay attention to it right away, though. As I pushed Mantle's arm down, I placed one hand on her face. Mantle's eyes instinctively closed. Upon contact with the pads of my fingers, webs covered her eyes. I left my hand there a second longer than I usually would, making a slightly thicker layer of web. I didn't waste a second more before running towards Denji.

     As I passed him, I said, "Come on. It should take her a bit to get that off her face." I had managed to shake off the magma that was on my leg by the time we were a few halls away. A single layer of my webs aren't hard to get off, so I had purposefully made a thicker layer so we'd have some extra time to escape.

     We kept running for several more minutes, eventually coming upon a large room. This room had two different levels, but they were still connected. Denji and I were standing on the second level, a rail in front of us to stop people from falling off the edge. Several meters past the rail, the ceiling changed height to match the lower level. 

     I could hear Mantle's footsteps at the other end of the room as she stopped running. I quietly whispered, "She's at the other end of the room. How about we end this? We can take her by surprise and use the handcuffs to win."

     "Sounds like a plan," Denji spoke quietly as he gave a brief nod. I handed him the handcuffs before we headed over to the railing and climbed over it. Holding onto the railing to prevent himself from falling, Denji looked over to me and asked, "I'm probably going to regret asking, but how are we getting down?"

     "We're gonna jump."

     "And do what? Break our legs?"

     "I'll catch us before we hit the floor."

     Denji gave me a slightly unsure look. "Are you sure? You can't exactly support two people while moving just yet."

     "Just trust me, okay? Our time is running out so we don't have time for something else." 

     Denji gave me one last unsure look before letting out a small breath. I understood why we was unsure about my plan. You see, both Denji and Hoshi's quirks give them some organs and properties similar to nuclear reactors, making them a lot heavier than other people.

     I noticed him focus his attention to the lower level as he filled it with clouds. Once he was done with the clouds, we exchanged glances with each other. As if we had counted down out loud, Denji and I both stepped off the edge, allowing us to fall towards the lower level. 

     "What do you want me to do?" Denji asked, just as quietly.

     I quickly made a medium long string of web and handed an end to Denji. "Tie this end around you," I instructed. As he did that, I tied the other end around myself. This would allow us to get down there with my quirk and not worry about him falling. 

     As we were falling, I got ready to use my quirk as soon as I could, to make sure that Denji didn't hit the ground. I had known that my webs were slightly stretchy, but only enough to make this work. As soon as we were only slightly below the lower ceiling, I shot out two strings of web: one that connected to Denji, and one that attached to the ceiling of the lower level. 

     Once we were as far as my webs allowed, we had moved in an arc due to the webs. Since I was holding the web connected to Denji with one hand, I had to use my other hand in order to keep us going. Meaning that when we reached the end of one web, I had to quickly let go of it and shoot out another before we could fall. 

     Denji's clouds didn't reach all the way up, but I still couldn't see what was going on below either way. The only way I knew we had succeeded was because of the voice saying, "(Y/n) (L/n) and Denji Hoshikofu have passed their final exam!"