Dueling Hearts
Summary: It was their last year at Hogwarts, their last chance in Dueling Club. Izuku planned on taking home the trophy. His former best friend, Bakugou Katsuki, had won the last two years. This year he had a plan to win. Written for Fantasy BakuDeku Week - Day 5: Arcane/Battle/Duel
Also, as this is a Harry Potter inspired work, I feel it's important to say: trans people, you matter, and you are amazing. Don't let her bring you down. I hope you have a good day.
Midoriya Izuku loved being in the Dueling Club. It was the best practical spell-casting experience that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had to offer. He loved the thrill of going head-to-head against an opponent, the speed and skill that it took to compete. Every duel was a challenge, a game of wits and strategy. It filled Izuku with pride every time that he won.
Each house had their own separate club meetings, but they all trained with one goal in mind: the Dueling Club Tournament held at the end of every school year.
The tournament was for fifth year students and above. However, because they were more experienced and had more spells in their repertoire, it was practically impossible for anyone other than a seventh year to win.
At least, until a Slytherin named Bakugou Katsuki came along and took the championship in both his fifth and sixth years. If he won for the third time in a row, he would be the first to take home all three trophies in the entire history of the club.
Izuku couldn't let that happen. Not only was it his duty to finally pull a win for Gryffindor, but it was his last year at Hogwarts too, his final chance to prove himself against his biggest rival.
Even beyond their competitiveness in the Dueling Club, he and Katsuki had a complicated relationship. They'd spent most of their childhood attached at the hip, and for years, their dreams of the future had included each other. They'd imagined becoming powerful wizards together when they grew up, just like their hero, Yagi Toshinori - the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
However, as they got older, the differences between them became more and more apparent. Katsuki was a prodigy who'd mastered several textbooks' worth of spells long before his Hogwarts acceptance letter had even arrived. From an early age, everyone told him that he was destined for greatness, and he grew up believing every word.
Izuku, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any magic at all at first. He had a deadbeat muggle father, and for several years everyone seemed to think that he had taken after him instead of his mother who was a witch. Even though later it was revealed that Izuku was just a late bloomer, for a short time, the Ministry of Magic officially recognized him as a squib.
Katsuki distanced himself from Izuku when he found out, retreating into his studies instead of spending time with friends. Izuku couldn't help feeling rejected. When his status as a squib was proven to be false, Izuku had hoped that he and Katsuki would become friends again, but it never happened. After their acceptance to Hogwarts, Katsuki only seemed to pull away even more, and Izuku didn't understand why.
They both spent seven years dancing around each other, Izuku trying to prove himself every step of the way. Learning magic didn't come very naturally to him, and he had to work twice as hard as everyone else to master spells, but he was determined.
He dueled his way to the top with only one goal in mind: he was going to force Katsuki to acknowledge him once and for all.
"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for!" a voice boomed, ringing throughout the entire Great Hall. The Head Boy, a Ravenclaw named Iida Tenya, held his wand to his throat and used the Amplifying Charm to project his voice over the cheering crowd. "Are you ready for the final match: Midoriya vs. Bakugou?"
The audience roared, clapping and hollering loudly.
Usually, it was the club supervisor's duty to be the announcer and referee, but the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Aizawa, seemed to have fallen asleep propped up against the wall.
Tenya waited for the audience to settle down so that he could make his next remark, but the noise only grew louder as Katsuki and Izuku took their positions on opposite ends of the platform in the middle of the room.
Katsuki's friends were the most obnoxious of all. Gryffindors Ashido Mina and Sero Hanta, as well as Hufflepuffs Kaminari Denki and Kirishima Eijirou, all screamed and drummed their hands on the platform excitedly.
Across from them, a Slytherin named Todoroki Shouto, and three Hufflepuffs named Aoyama Yuuga, Uraraka Ochako, and Asui Tsuyu, all politely cheered for Izuku instead and waved at him encouragingly.
Izuku waved back at them bashfully. Then, he gulped, and his eyes finally flickered upward to settle on Katsuki's wild smile. His heart skipped a beat.
"You're the last one standing between me and the trophy?" Katsuki snarled. "Hah! Gonna obliterate you, nerd!"
"Don't underestimate me, Kacchan!" Izuku retorted, grinning back in determination. "This year will be different."
He knew Katsuki better than anyone else, so he was the only one who noticed the almost imperceptible twitch of Katsuki's lips. Izuku's eyes widened in surprise. Was he actually nervous?
"Show respect to your opponent!" Tenya shouted, his free arm chopping wildly at the air. "Then, the match to decide the winner of the trophy will finally start!"
Izuku bowed deeply toward his childhood friend, but Katsuki only jerked forward quickly in response, ready to get the duel over with.
"Begin!" Tenya cried, causing the room to erupt with noise.
Before he could even finish, Izuku broke into a run, spiraling around the platform to avoid being hit. "Bombarda!" he shouted immediately.
Katsuki barely avoided the explosion in time. He narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth together in fury. That was his move.
While Katsuki was still seething, Izuku didn't waste any time to stop and think. He shot a Blasting Curse toward his opponent. All Katsuki could do was dodge again, the explosion nearly grazing his right ear.
"What the fuck are you doing, Deku?" Katsuki growled. "Stupefy!"
Izuku kept running, refusing to listen to Katsuki's words. "Confringo!" he shouted again.
Katsuki cast the Shield Charm, which only angered him even more. He rarely had to use that charm. He was usually the one in control. "Is that how you plan to win, you little shit? By stealing my moves?"
"Stupefy!" Izuku shouted, slinging spells at him rapid-fire. "Expelliarmus!"
It was all Katsuki could do to keep track of where Izuku was headed at any given moment. He kept running and changing directions, as fast as a rabbit. Katsuki shot a Leg-Locker Curse toward him to no avail.
"Levicorpus!" Deku shouted, using a jinx that Ochako had taught him to lift Katsuki into the air.
"Finite incantatem!" Katsuki countered, landing back on the ground. His face burned with anger, spinning around to keep up with Izuku's offensive strategy that was strikingly similar to his own. "You fucking making fun of me?" he shrieked. "Looking down on me like you always do?"
Finally, Izuku frowned, stopping short long enough that he had to cast a quick Shield Charm of his own to counter Katsuki's Exploding Charm. "What do you mean 'like I always do'?"
Katsuki's eyes narrowed. "Don't act stupid," he said. "Year seven, and you're still Yagi's favorite."
Deku shook his head, trying not to get distracted. He dodged another Exploding Charm. After a moment, realization struck him. "Kacchan, are you jealous?"
"Stupi- fuck. Stupefy!" Katsuki hissed in reply.
"Protego!" Izuku shot back. He looked around helplessly. Most people in the crowd couldn't hear what they were saying and kept cheering loudly. "Kacchan, I'm not- Professor Yagi just... he just knows what it's like for me."
"But not for me?" Katsuki scoffed. "You saying you can relate to the great Yagi Toshinori and I can't? Incendio!"
Izuku was so thrown off guard that, even though he still hopped away in time, Katsuki managed to singe his robes.
The blonde let out a sound of frustration. A move like that usually guaranteed his opponent a trip to the Hospital Wing. He was getting nowhere. "No matter what I do - Bombarda - it's never good enough!" he shrieked.
Izuku frowned in confusion. Katsuki was usually so confident. It was unlike him to get flustered by a duel. He was panting hard, brow furrowed in irritation. Somehow, Izuku's plan was actually working a little too well. He was tiring Katsuki out, but he was also pissing him off.
"What are you talking about, Kacchan?" Izuku asked. "Isn't it the other way around? I'm trying so hard to be good enough for you!"
Katsuki's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, right. Everyone here fucking loves you. Yagi invited you to school personally. You're the fucking golden boy. It makes me sick."
"S-Stupefy!" Izuku shouted again, not sure what else to say.
Admittedly, what Katsuki said was true, but it's not what most people thought. He just happened to meet Yagi Toshinori in the right place at the right time all those years ago.
After everyone his age had received their acceptance letter to Hogwarts except for him, Izuku snuck away from home in a desperate attempt to prove that he deserved one too. All day long, he fruitlessly tried wand after wand in Ollivander's shop, and the old man took pity on him, letting him try every variation of length, core, and flexibility that he had. However, no matter what he did, none of the wands chose him. Nothing happened, not even a spark.
Toshinori walked into Ollivanders just as Izuku was about to give up. He kindly listened to a starstruck and overly excited Izuku ramble tearfully about his predicament. Toshinori admitted that, despite his fame, magic didn't come easily to him either, and he'd also been declared a squib when he was a child. He handed Izuku his own wand to try, and just by touching it, Izuku blew over half the boxes in the shop. It was clumsy, but it was his first ever successful spell.
Toshinori handed him an acceptance letter to Hogwarts there and then. He'd even let Izuku keep the wand.
Izuku never told anyone the exact details of what had happened that day. It was hard to explain how much he and the Headmaster understood each other without revealing Toshinori's personal business. Izuku wasn't some great wizard or anything yet. He wasn't getting special treatment. Toshinori and many of the other professors just doted on him because he needed twice as much time to master the simplest of spells. Frankly, it was a little embarrassing.
"You're the one who's been a prodigy his whole life!" Izuku retorted, flushed. "You win at everything you do. You got high grades on every single one of your N.E.W.T.s!"
"Shut up! Who cares about that?" Katsuki barked. He raised his wand again. "Petrificus Tota-"
"Silencio!" Izuku shouted first, refusing to let Katsuki get the upper hand like he always did.
Katsuki bared his teeth and mouthed a few swear words, but nothing came out. His voice was gone, preventing him from finishing the spell. He glared at Izuku but wasn't deterred.
Izuku's eyes widened when another blast flew from Katsuki's wand anyway and set fire to his sleeve. He quickly took off his robe and threw it to the ground, stamping the fire out with his foot.
Katsuki smirked at him, and Izuku grimaced. Of course, Katsuki had mastered inverbal spells.
Hand clenched around his wand, Izuku was determined to take advantage of his rival's silence while he still could. He slung as many spells at Katsuki as he could muster. "Bombarda! Confringo! Expelliarmus!"
Finally, his last spell made contact. Katsuki's wand flew from his hand and out into the crowd, effectively ending the duel.
Katsuki stood there in shock, speechless.
"I can't believe it!" Tenya's eyes bulged out of his head. Even Professor Aizawa jolted awake from the outcry of the audience. "Midoriya has won the Dueling Tournament! Finally, a win for Gryffindor!"
Izuku's heart swelled in triumph, but when he saw the devastated look on Katsuki's face, he couldn't bring himself to brag. He reached out to comfort the man who he still desperately wanted to be his friend.
Katsuki jerked away as if his touch burned.
Defeated, Katsuki scrambled off of the platform and through the crowd. Eijirou bent to pick up his wand from the floor, and Katsuki snatched it from him without stopping, running past him and out of the room completely.
Professor Aizawa yawned and trudged up onto the platform, trophy in hand and ready to present to the winner. Izuku didn't spare a single glance at him, chasing after Katsuki instead. A confused hush fell over the Great Hall, but he left them all behind without explanation.
"Wait!" Izuku shouted, his feet pounding against the stone floor as he rushed to keep up. He followed Katsuki down the stairs toward the dungeons.
His muscles were already aching from their duel, but he pushed himself to run faster. He couldn't let it end. It felt like they were finally getting somewhere toward understanding each other. Izuku still had so much more that he wanted to say.
He grabbed Katsuki's hand, refusing to let him go down another step. Katsuki squirmed and tried to push him off, mouthing expletives at him. Izuku could tell that he was trying not to cry.
"You know why I won?" Izuku asked.
Katsuki finally froze and cautiously looked him in the eye.
"It's only because I was always watching you and studying your moves," Izuku admitted shyly. "You're like… my idol. The only way I could imagine winning was to be like you."
Izuku blushed as if he was confessing some deep, dark secret.
Katsuki scowled, his eyes searching Izuku's for something.
They stood there for a moment, holding hands. It was completely silent in the stairwell except for the sound of them catching their breath.
"I don't know why you think I'm some kind of 'golden boy,'" Izuku mumbled. "I just… I suck at magic. I have to ask people for their help a lot. I'm probably just a nuisance to them all anyway. I keep pushing and pushing to learn more, but really, I've just been trying to catch up to you. More than anything, I just wanted you to finally look at me!"
Before he understood what was happening, Katsuki pulled him down by his red and gold tie to slot their lips together.
Izuku gasped against his mouth, and suddenly, everything made sense. All of his jumbled, complicated feelings, they all meant something. His obsession, his admiration - of course it had been love. How had he never known?
Katsuki moved against him passionately, conveying a lifetime of pent-up frustration. Izuku matched his enthusiasm, and when Katsuki finally pulled back, Izuku chased his lips.
As they both stood there, panting, it took a moment for him to snap out of his blissful daze. No one had ever won his heart so completely from just a single kiss.
Katsuki watched him carefully. Izuku had never seen him look so vulnerable.
"I'm always looking at you, nerd," he answered, his silence finally broken.
Izuku's expression broke out into a wide grin, tears of joy forming in his eyes. He leaned back down to kiss Katsuki once again, cupping his face with his hands.
"Are you kidding me?" Izuku laughed, all the tension melting from his body. "Is this what we've been fighting about all these years?"
Katsuki rolled his eyes. "Would've been fine if you weren't so clueless, idiot," he said, his tone lacking its usual bite. "Thought you knew already. Thought you didn't wanna…"
Izuku's heart pounded when he realized that he wasn't the only one who'd felt rejected.
"Then… then let's not waste any more time!" he exclaimed. "You wanna… wanna be my boyfriend?"
Katsuki shrugged, though he looked pleased at the idea. "Whatever."
Izuku leaned in and kissed him again until they both began to feel a little light-headed.
Then, to Izuku's surprise, the blonde pulled away and walked back up the stairs. He glanced behind him when Izuku didn't follow. "You gonna go back and claim your trophy or not?"
Izuku groaned in mortification when he finally realized what he'd done. He'd won the tournament, just like he'd always wanted, but of course, he'd embarrassed himself by leaving without thinking. He wondered how many people were still in the Great Hall waiting for him.
"Come on, champion, or I'll go claim the prize for myself!" Katsuki shouted, breaking out into a run.
Izuku chuckled. "You would never!" he yelled back. "Right?" When Katsuki didn't answer, Izuku ran faster to catch up with him. "Right?!"
Katsuki cackled, looking freer than Izuku had seen him in a long time. As much as Izuku had wanted to win that trophy, he was glad that he'd won Katsuki's heart even more.