It hurt. Every step was agony. How long had he been forced to drag himself forward? An hour? A few minutes? Izuku was all too aware of how each step sent a shockwave up each leg. He couldn't give up now! No matter how much it hurt he had to keep going!
"Just a little bit more Midoriya. You're doing great!" The physical therapist overseeing his treatment smiled cheering him on.
Izuku clutched the railing breathing heavily taking in how far he had come. His heart filled with dismay when he realized he had only walked halfway across the room. His legs shook unsteadily beneath him as he tried to take one more step and -thud- Izuku's knees buckled beneath him. He crouched on the floor inhaling sharply clutching his ribs trying to ignore the pain breathing was causing him. He couldn't do this. Izuku was about to curl up on the floor in defeat when I hand appeared in front of him. Slowly he looked up surprised to see the face before him. He wasn't really that shocked though. Bakugou had been full of surprises lately.
Bakugou's face was red and he wouldn't look at Izuku as he took his hand and helped him up. Bakugou growled "Look I know you're trash but at least have the decency to carry yourself outside and not toss yourself on the floor."
Izuku's face went red. "I-I wasn't giving up! I was just uh… I slipped is all! But I wasn't quitting honest!" Izuku refused to let Bakugou see how weak he had become.
"Prove it s#%t face. Let's see you walk across this room. Or are you finally going to live up to your name Deku." Bakugou taunted. He made his way to the other end of the railings crossing his arms impatiently.
Anger bubbled up in Izuku's chest. "What the hell does he know? He doesn't realize how hard this is. I'd like to see him do what I'm doing right now if he was in my state!" Izuku clutched the rails on both sides in determination. He was not going to fail in front of Kachan no matter how much it hurt! Izuku forced his feet forward.
Bakugou watched Izuku struggle towards him. The familiar glint in his green eyes was back. With each wobbly step Izuku took towards him the more relief Bakugou felt. It bothered him more than he would admit seeing him crumbled on the floor in defeat like that. When he saw the therapist about to take a wheel chair towards Izuku he couldn't bear to watch him give into defeat so he motioned for her to stop and walked towards him. He planned to motivate Izuku the only way he knew how. Bakugou looked away when he came to a stop in front of Izuku. He couldn't meet the defeated look in Izuku's eyes. He had only ever seen that look one other time and that was when his friend… Bakugou paused at that thought… when his rival er um or whatever Deku was, came up to him after school one day and told Bakugou he was quirkless.
Bakugou taunted and challenged Izuku desperate to make that look go away. He smirked when the determined glint came back to Izuku's eyes as he accepted Bakugou's challenge. Bakugou walked to the end of the railing ready to jump in were Izuku to fall.
As kids Bakugou was looking forward to when Izuku would get his quirk so that he would finally have someone he could fight on equal footing. The disappointment with finding out he would never get to truly face Izuku on an equal level filled him disappointment that he would never admit. He kept bullying Izuku hoping one day Izuku would fight back and prove he was as worthy as Bakugou thought he would one day be. It made him so angry to be pitied by someone so useless.
The day Bakugou realized Izuku had a quirk made hims so angry he could barely see straight. He thought that Izuku had been lying to him their whole childhood because he thought Bakugou was weak. Yet at the same time underneath all that rage Bakugou felt a glimmer of excitement knowing that he could finally stand on the same ground as Izuku and they could fight to be heroes the way he'd pictured it as kids. He was going to be on the top and he was going to rub it in when Izuku was in the spot just below him!
"Stop looking so smug Kachan!" Izuku's yell startled Bakugou out of his thoughts. "I'm going to be the greatest hero so stop standing over there like you've already won!" Izuku took the final step towards Bakugou before crumbling forward.
Bakugou caught the boy before he fell to the ground and Izuku grinned up at him. "Don't count me out yet." His eyes rolled back in his head as unconsciousness took him.
Bakugou grinned. "Wouldn't dare." The therapist began to roll the wheel chair over to them but Bakugou shook his head gently scooping Izuku up on his back. "I'll take him back to his room."
The therapist hesitated. "Um do you know where his room is?" She asked.
"Room 202." He called over his shoulder in response already walking in that direction. Bakugou gently laid Izuku in his bed pulling the blanket over him. He started to make his way to the exit when he remembered what he had come for. He pulled the latest magazine detailing All Might's latest accomplishments and put them next to Izuku's bed like he did every week when Izuku was at therapy so he would have something to look forward to when he got back. He didn't want Izuku to know it was him so he meant to slip in quietly but he couldn't leave him crumbled on the floor like that. Hopefully when he woke up he wouldn't question why Bakugou had been there too much.
Authors Note:
Sorry for making everyone wait so long. Hopefully you remember this silly story. Please feel free to leave a review and I hope you enjoyed reading!
