Giving Your All 2

Shoto's lips parted in shock and he reflexively sent more ice her way as she raised the shield in front of her. She easily made a small grenade, chucking it towards him, despite their proximity. Instead of an explosion like he expected though, a flash bang went off, blinding Shoto.

Taking the shield away from her face, she realized that it had indeed stopped his ice like she had predicted, but it had still reached her right foot, trapping it.

"If you were not like him, you would acknowledge me! You would take me seriously as a hero! You would give me your all! Even your fire! Your fire is warm, passionate, and breathtaking, because It's yours! It's a part of you, Sho!"

She used the shield to bash the ice that had trapped her foot as he slowly gained his vision back.

"I know it is, because every part of you, your protectiveness, your drive, your determination, your smile, your love, your ice, your fire, all of it, is… is what I love about you!"

Shoto froze at her words, multiple emotions flickering across his face. Momo continued, yelling through her tears. "So acknowledge me as your equal, as your partner! Stay true to yourself, and only yourself! Be the man I fell in love with, Shoto Todoroki, and give this match -give me- every part of you! Give it your all!!!"

Suddenly, everything changed. The most beautiful flames she had ever seen shot into the air, surrounding him. She quickly created a weapon as her other arm came to her face, using the shield on it to block the heat.

"Beautiful…" Momo breathed, her eyes glued to the sight in front of her. As the flames receded, she locked eyes with the man who stood by her side through the years. Protected her, encouraged her, trained with her… loved her. In that moment, her heart stood still and she stopped breathing.

Shoto stood tall, ice covering his leg on one side, as he looked at her with overwhelming emotion. The flames danced on the upper half of his other side, moving with his red hair as if they were part of it, and radiating off of his arm. He looked… incredible. He looked like a hero.

"Why would you help me? Why would you risk losing?" He asked, an indescribable emotion on his face.

"If we don't earnestly cheer each other on and help each other learn… We'll never be great heroes, Sho." Momo replied, sending him his favorite private smile. They were both remembering the first day they fought as she spoke. His eyes widened, before his lips set in an understanding smile.

"YES SHOTO!" They both turned to see Endeavor roaring from the crowd. "Have you finally accepted your purpose? You will crush this silly dream of hers and fulfill your true destiny! You will live up to the reason I created you!"

"We will become heroes!" Momo shouted, clenching her fists in determination.

Shoto took a step in front of her, putting himself in between them. "We will give it our all, together." He sent a chilling look towards the man, before turning all of his attention to only her.

As steam circled around them, surrounding the two, they both took their fighting stances facing each other. Momo's eyes shined as she looked at him, and Shoto's burned with emotion as he gazed back at her. "Don't blame me for what happens next, you asked for it." He warned, half a grin on his face.

"I am not afraid, give me your all!" Momo yelled back, her body lighting up in creation.

She was so entranced by him, that she missed the signs. He was so focused on her, that he didn't realize. As her creation lit up with bombs and extinguishers, and as his fire and ice shot out of him, no one had time to react.

The arena exploded, the cold air rapidly heated up and expanding. The bombs and extinguishers Momo made all went off from the reaction, blowing them back and covering the stage in white foam.

Momo couldn't see through the steam and foam as she was thrown back from the force, unable to create anything large enough to stop her in the second before she hit a wall. She barely saw the steam clear as her head hit the wall violently. As she sank to the ground, she saw Shoto's wide and shocked eyes looking back at her as he stood against his ice wall.

"Shoto Todoroki is out of bounds! Momo Yaoyorozu is the winner!"

Momo gasped, looking around through her haze. She felt the cold of the ice wall against her back as she saw the stage lines behind her. Looking up, she saw Shoto running towards her from a few feet out of bounds where his own wall stood. He… he had saved her first.

"Momo, are you okay? Are you injured? Say something." Shoto demanded, ignoring the cheers of the crowd around them. He landed on his knees next to her as his hands hovered near her head. "I'm so sorry..."

"Why did you save me? Why did you give up winning?" She asked, repeating his own question from earlier. Her voice slurred as her vision spun.

"I didn't realize how much I had forgotten…" Shoto looked at her with intense eyes, seeing something in his mind that she never would. "I'm not a prisoner of my lineage. I'm going to use my power to become my own kind of hero. Not the hero made to surpass All Might. But the hero I want to be."

"And… what kind of hero is that?" Momo's eyes started to close. She hummed as his warm and cold hands rested against her face.

"The hero made to rise to the top with you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shoto Todoroki sighed in relief as Momo opened her eyes in the nurse's bed.

He had thrown up the wall to protect her from the blast, but had forgotten how much time it had taken him to master not taking damage from crashing into it. Momo had never experienced it before and hadn't even known it was coming, causing her to hit her head hard on it, while he was able to brace himself against it. His own wall had been a second too late though, allowing him to be pushed out of bounds. He almost found himself disappointed that they had not been able to continue, but was glad she did not end up like Midoriya had.

Her midnight eyes stared back at him, before softening. "I am so proud of you." Momo breathed. He remembered her hugging him after the first hero training, saying the same thing, and felt guilt flood him.

"You must believe that I never intended to make you feel like I did not consider you as an equal." Shoto said solemnly, hanging his head. "In the end, I was like my father, in ways I had been too blinded by my left side to see."

Momo's hand gently pushed his hair away from his eyes, and slowly rested on his scarred side. "No Shoto, in the end, you stayed true to yourself. That is what matters."

He sucked in a breath at her touch and her words, reminding him of what he was struggling to say. "I always thought the sight of me would cause my mother nothing but pain. So… I never visited her." He looked up to meet her supportive gaze, and took her silence as a cue to continue.

"If I'm ever going to use these powers to become a hero… if I'm going to give it everything I have… If… I am going to become the hero I want to be... I need to see her. There's so much… we need to talk about." He breathed, a feeling of uneasy anticipation churning in his stomach as he felt the guilt from forgetting weave into him.

The feeling was interrupted though, as soft lips pressed against his. The familiar texture from her habit of biting her lip reassured him as he kissed her back. She feathered a kiss on his scar, before leaning back.

Shoto's eyes closed at her touch as he spoke. "I'll rescue her from that place, no matter what. That's the first step to getting back on track. The first step to giving my all. It's what I have to do." He said seriously, opening his eyes.

"I will always support you, Sho." She reminded him, saying the words that he would never question.

"And I you." He returned, and she smiled.

He straightened up. "After you win this thing, we'll go."

Momo nodded, and he let a single chuckle pass through his lips. Her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration as her mind whirled with strategies and creation options. His partner was brilliant, beautiful, and compassionate. He couldn't have asked for anything more. Lightly kissing in between her eyebrows where it showed her concentration, he left her alone to her planning, quietly shutting the door behind him.

Shoto was walking out of Recovery Girl's temporary office when he saw him. Standing tall, with a victorious grin on his face, was his old man.

The fire around the Pro burned wildly with emotion as his arms crossed. "You need to learn to control your left side. It's dangerous to release so much energy like that." Shoto didn't respond to the satisfied grin on the man's face, or his words. "I see the woman being here has helped you out of your rebellious stage. I underestimated her ability, her being here is obviously making you see reason."

"I have not abandoned anything." She had helped him see reason, yes. Just not the type of reason his old man was hoping for. "Out there, for that one moment... I forgot all about you."

Shoto ignored his old man's gasp as he walked away.

There was someone he needed to visit. Someone he had not seen in 10 years.

His quirk may have been the cause for the way he was forced to grow up, for the things he never experienced, for the people that got hurt because of it.

But, he was finally healing.