Outside the training ground, with the sun above their heads.
The students of Classes A and B were milling about in a crowd, searching for people to partner up with. Izuku walked past Uraraka as she was approached by a very excited Komori. The buzz of chatter rose higher and higher.
"Hey, seen Tetsutetsu anywhere?" Kirishima asked, suddenly appearing next to him.
Izuku did a quick sweep of their immediate surroundings. "Err…no. Sorry. Maybe you should team up with someone who has a very different Quirk to yours?"
"Hmm. That's a good idea, man! Thanks for the shout." Kirishima gave him a thumbs-up and walked off.
Izuku kept going, looking for someone obvious in particular. He broke in-between Kamakiri and Sero, who were muttering to each other in low tones. The Class B student gave him a harsh glare, while Sero seemed apologetic. Izuku scrunched one eye up in a dubious glance, and then backed into Yui.
"Ah! Oh. There you are." She had a look of relief on her face. Almost instinctively, they sort of leaned into each other, her whole body pressing against his chest…it was something like a hug, but weird.
Izuku blushed, and they both backed off of each other a little, suddenly aware of how many people they were surrounded by.
"What? Were you worried I wasn't gonna pick you?" He managed to put a teasing tone into his voice.
"Not even a little bit," she shot right back. "I hope you have a plan."
"Well, it depends on who we fight. I've given some thought to the synergy between our Quirks…"
"I bet you have a whole notebook page on it, huh?" Yui teased, her blue eyes twinkling.
"It's n-not finished."
She giggled. "Well…" She turned in a circle. "I guess we better find a team to fight, huh?"
Izuku had a dark look. "I think they'll find us."
Just then, Kamakiri and Sero appeared behind them. "Fight us, green," Kamakiri snarled. Sero was scratching his neck a step further back. "Sorry, Midoriya. I couldn't convince him not to at least ask…"
"That's alright," Izuku replied. "Uhh…" He wanted to say that he was waiting for someone in particular, but fighting these two might actually be pretty goo-
"No thank you," said Yui. "Go harass someone else, Kamakiri."
The bug boy's eyes narrowed at her. "Remember your manners, Kodai," he grumbled, and the two of them walked off.
Izuku looked back at his partner in shock. Her eyebrows were angled down in a scowl. "Why so hostile?" he asked.
"They want to beat you up," she grumbled. "Everyone wants a piece of you. It's so annoying."
He swallowed. Even after two years, it was hard to get used to being the center of attention sometimes. And I brought it on myself. "Well, you're the only one who will get a piece. I can promise you that."
Yui blushed a deep red, and Izuku realized how that could have been interpreted. "Uhhh…ignore what I just said. Erase it from your memory. Let's uhh…let's go find a team."
What if I don't want to erase it? Yui thought as she followed behind him. What if I want to take that and develop a whole fantasy out of it?
She reached forward and took his hand and squeezed it, allowing him to lead her along.
…
Katsuki Bakugo was not accustomed to looking for allies.
In elementary and middle school, people had just gravitated around him. In physical activities, he was usually the captain, and if he wasn't, he was picked first. That was just how it was. It had been a similar situation at both sports festivals, and usually in class exercises he could at least count on Kirishima and Dunce Face to revolve around him. Sometimes even Ashido.
But now he had to team up with someone in Class B. And honestly, this was stupid. He didn't want to talk to any of the extras. They pissed him off, especially that copying freak.
Of course, he was well aware that Class B was also pissed off by him, because they didn't know him, and they didn't see any side of him outside his standoffish surface level persona.
But what choice did he have? He wasn't about to approach some random and grovel to them. That was not his way. So he stood in a corner, and waited.
…And waited…
…And waited.
Damn idiots. He clicked his teeth, watching the crowd begin to solidify in groups of two, and then groups of four as people figured out who they wanted to go up against. They have no idea what they're throwing away. A bunch of extras circled around Todoroki immediately. Don't they know I'm much more agile?
Then there was a hand on his shoulder. It felt so familiar that Katsuki opened his mouth before he even turned around. "Oi, Shitty Hair, we can't team up with our classma-"
He cut himself off. Kaibara was staring at him, his fingers formed into drills, and tightening in their grip.
"I wanna kick Midoriya's ass," the boy said.
Katsuki grinned. "Now we're talking."
…
"Kodai! You guys still need combat partners?" Awase called to her. She ignored him. Izuku kept going, pulling her along.
"MIDORIYAAAA! FIGHT ME!" Tetsutesu shouted. Mina was standing next to him, and facepalmed, shaking her head.
Izuku had a grave, solemn expression. He seemed to have a destination in mind, all the way across the platform.
Tsuburaba stepped in front of him. "Oi, Midoriya."
Izuku stopped. He tried to step to the left, and the air-barrier user matched him.
"Get out of the way, please," Izuku mumbled.
"No. What are you doing?" Tsuburaba put his hands on his hips and stepped closer in a confrontational way. "Dragging Kodai along like that? She can walk by herself, you know."
"I was the one who grabbed him," Yui said, unable to keep the bite of poison out of her voice. Why was her class being so irritating?
Tsuburaba snorted. Behind him was Sato, his partner, and a few other people were now looking at the scene. "Oh, sure. Stand up for him again just like you did in the cafeteria. For all your bravado, Midoriya, you really don't know how to fight back-"
"You won't goad me into a thing," Izuku interrupted. A shadow had fallen over his face, leaving only the gleam of his green eyes. "Step aside."
"Ugh." The brown-haired boy threw his arms in the air. "Why won't you just fight us? You're running out of options to-"
"I'm fighting him." Izuku pointed.
There, to Yui's terror…stood Bakugo, and Kaibara. Sen Kaibara. One of Class B's best hand-to-hand combatants. He'd asked her out at the start of their first year, and after she'd said no, he had hardly ever attempted to talk to her again. They were paired on a class project once, and he'd actually been extremely respectable, dividing up the work and allowing her to do her half by herself if she'd liked.
None of that respect was in his eyes now. He was glaring at them with pure venom, while Bakugo just looked plain excited.
"Hehehehe…" The blonde slammed his fist into his other palm. "You finally get it, Deku."
…
When Yui heard the plan, it did not ease her worries.
"Are you sure?" she muttered.
"Yes. You've mastered the timing, Yui. I know you have. I've seen you do it with Yanagi and Shoda many times."
"That's not what concerns me. I don't like this spot," Yui said. She looked at their surroundings. The moment the timer started, Izuku had carried her to this spot in the midst of the industrial pipe maze in the arena, a sort of corner with a tall steel wall behind them. And worse…the wall had various things sticking out from it, juts and overhangs. Plenty of things to fall on their heads, and only two routes to escape.
"I know it's bad," said Izuku. "But the goal is to keep Kacchan as immobile as possible. He won't run from a fight, and so if we lure him here, he'll be as tied up as we are in here."
"Kaibara is going to go for you too. They're going to ignore me." She felt sick to her stomach. She really wished it hadn't ended up like this.
Izuku sighed sadly. "...I know. It seems like I'm not able to do anything without putting a target on my back. But…"
He thought about what Kacchan had said the other day. When their other classmates had been nosy, the blonde boy had told them off. He doesn't care about all that. He might be the only one that does. Ironically, he's the only one I can now fight without any baggage…it was an ironic twist from two years ago, when it would have been the exact opposite. Did that account for Kaibara? Well, maybe Kacchan would find it advantageous to keep his teammate in line…but maybe not.
In any case, this was the closest thing to a fair exercise he and Yui were going to get.
"You're our ace in the hole," he told her. "If they ignore you, then you…ahem… mess them up."
Yui straightened her cap. Her lips were pursed in cute concentration. "I will do my best."
In the distance, explosions.
Izuku crouched. Green lightning coursed about his body. Yui felt goosebumps crawl up her arms. "Here he comes," he said.
Boom…
Boom…
BOOM!
They both saw the next explosion as it flowered out against one of the maze walls, ahead of them to the right. Pipes and scrap metal scattered through the sky.
Izuku prepared to jump, but suddenly a flash of brown and white came from the opposite side of the corner, and another explosion.
Yui's eyes darted back and forth across the area. A distraction? Did Bakugo throw one of his grena-
From the left-side explosion, Kaibara came leaping, falling out of the billowing fire with every one of his limbs rotating at high velocity. Izuku leapt up to meet him…
…And Bakugo came in from below, blasting himself forward right along the ground, right for Yui.
Yui gasped and threw a metal hexagonal nut from her belt, enlarging it at Bakugo's face. He blasted through it instead of dodging…
…And as Izuku jumped up, he grabbed a piece of the flying metal with Blackwhip, spun it upward, and threw it at Kaibara. Kaibara shredded it with his drills, but got knocked off course and into the wall.
Yui slid sideways, having bought herself a split second from Bakugo's attack. But he corrected course almost immediately with another explosion.
Izuku flicked his fingers downward, and a vertical jet of air enveloped Bakugo from above, his explosion dissipating out in the wind toward the walls. Yui felt Blackwhip wrap around her torso, like they'd planned, and Izuku pulled her into the air.
Kaibara was sliding down the wall, sending out sparks by grinding against it with his drills. He kicked off of it, one-two, and Bakugo launched himself up toward them.
Izuku grabbed a pipe with Blackwhip and threw it to Yui. She shrunk it. Bakugo maneuvered himself past another One For All air blast, and Yui underhanded the pipe at his leg, then enlarged it.
It struck him and he hissed, blasting backward to regather himself for a moment. Izuku continued to float, preparing to grab another pipe with his whips for Yui to use again…
…She felt their connection sever.
The Blackwhip disappeared, little energy strands dancing out from its broken, frayed form, as Kaibara dashed through it, spinning his whole body. He struck the opposite wall and rebounded, launching up toward Izuku and breaking the other whip.
Yui landed on the ground and rolled. As Kaibara spun, she threw another piece of metal at him. Bakugo came in and blew it up. Izuku went down to fight him, but he ducked and let Kaibara jump off his back, his drilling arm aimed downward at Izuku's face…
Izuku used Fa-jin to launch himself backward, and Kaibara's drill struck the ground, cracking it in a web.
To slow his velocity, Izuku grabbed onto an overhang with Blackwhip and spun wide around it, breaking it off the wall and then throwing it to Yui.
She caught it and shrunk it. She turned, preparing to lob it at their oncoming opponents…
…And Bakugo used his other explosion, the bright one that did less physical damage. The air crackled with dazzling light. Yui threw an arm over her face, shielding her eyes.
She heard Izuku swear next to her. They've got better synergy than we expected, and they're not entirely focusing him either. They're making him protect me. I can't be useless like this!
Bakugo was coming in from her left. Izuku was preparing to launch over her to meet him. Yui turned to face him…
Kaibara was coming down from above. His drills grinded against the wall and separated a hanging pipe, a mere ten feet above Izuku's head. It plummeted.
Yui had time to jump up and shrink it. She knew she did. She'd done reflexive saves that quickly before, though rarely. But Bakugo was nearly upon her, and she had to defend herself too.
All this flashed through her head in an instant. If that hit Izuku's head, he'd probably be out of the fight. But she couldn't leave herself open to an explosion…
…And the scene at the gazebo flashed through her head again.
I'm fine.
Oh, sure. Stand up for him again just like you did in the cafeteria.
Yui just couldn't break free of all these thoughts. She hesitated.
Izuku managed to react himself, sparing his head, but too late for his back. The pipe struck against him as he tried to move away. CLUNNNNNG. The whole world seemed to vibrate. And Kaibara was right behind the pipe, tackling Izuku, preparing to shred him…
Izuku activated Smoke Screen. Dark clouds billowed over the battlefield. Yui lost sight of all.
Then a burst of light from the explosion was right in her face.
An almost predatory adrenaline seized her body. She ducked low and rolled under the explosion, Izuku's smoke going everywhere, the shadow of Bakugo passing over her. More loud clangs and bursts off to the right.
Bakugo swept back around. She heard him coughing. She didn't hesitate.
He heard her coming, of course. His reflexes were second to none. He turned and prepared to blast her, but Yui was not Uraraka at the sports festival. She lifted up the piece of metal that Izuku had thrown her earlier and enlarged it. It shielded the blast and absorbed it…
…And she ran two more steps forward, jumping and falling more than running, really, slamming the whole of it right into him with all the force she could muster. POW!
Bakugo gasped in shock as the two of them went falling back onto the concrete. The smoke billowed around them.
She pushed the shield deeper into his face, removing his vision, then she grabbed his arm and yanked his gauntlet off, shrunk it, and threw it as far away as she could. All in the span of one adrenaline-jazzed second.
His fist came around, probing blindly, and she kicked him in the shins. His other palm opened against the shield, and an awkward half-explosion blasted up against it. Yui felt heat strike her face and fell sideways from the blast. They rolled. Bakugo tried to kick up and get back into the sky, throwing the shield aside, but she grabbed onto his boot, pulling him back down.
"God damn, Angel Face! Let go, dammit!"
Yui snarled, baring her teeth like an animal, punching him in the back of the knee to keep him down. Another blast went past her head, missing her ear by an inch. She felt him trying to slip out of his boot to get away from her, and she shrunk it ever so slightly, tightening it on his foot to cut his circulation off.
"Holy shit!" Bakugo barked. "Fine! You wanna fight? It's a fight you'll get! Don't say I didn't warn you!"
He plummeted back toward her. Yui felt an almost cold clarity wash over her. Like Izuku had noticed many years ago, separately from her…Bakugo's first attack was almost absurdly easy to dodge.
Time seemed to slow. She moved out of the way. Bakugo's fists slammed him into the ground. Two explosions crackled out against the concrete. His crouched, exposed back was to her.
Yui leapt up onto him, locked her legs around his neck, and tackled him to the ground again. He choked out, Izuku's smoke still flooding the area and their lungs and their eyes. She rolled left, delivering a swinging kick to his face as she did, and then heaved herself upward toward him. She pummeled him, battle fever overcoming her, doing everything she possibly could against an opponent that would always be inherently stronger, faster…
I WILL KEEP YOU AWAY FROM IZUKU! NO MATTER WHAT!
…
Izuku had to admit…he was not fighting his best.
In any normal circumstance, there was no way Kaibara could have gotten that hit off. He had fought Shigaraki and All For One, for Christ's sake. He had dodged attacks a thousand times faster than that.
But the sight of Bakugo launching himself directly at Yui had frozen Izuku right up. It had activated something terrifying inside his brain, something he'd only felt a precious few times. The most clear time he could remember was when All Might had almost died at the USJ via Kurogiri closing a portal on him. A cold, seizing terror. But this was worse somehow. A million times worse.
All Might…this is what you warned me about, wasn't it?
Nana Shimura's solemn face on her solemn throne flashed through his head again, as he released more and more smoke, trying to buy some time to collect himself. NO! Shut up, Nana! Leave me alone!
Kaibara's drills were loud. Izuku hadn't really noticed before, with Kacchan's explosions and everything. But without a louder noise to shield him, the Class B boy was incapable of stealth. He was attacking from the left.
Izuku dodged. Kaibara did not let up. He swung with his right arm, then his left, and then aimed a kick at Izuku's shins. Izuku danced out of the way, jumped upward, and tried to wrap a Blackwhip around the boy's shoulders. Kaibara reached up behind himself and swiped with his drills, shredding it. He jumped up onto a nearby pipe, trying to match Izuku's height.
Izuku dived him, aiming a 5 percent OFA kick for his torso. This didn't even knock out Stain. It ought to incapacitate him, though.
Kaibara's eyes widened in terror and he dodged sideways. Immediately, a drill came for Izuku's head. Izuku jumped up to the next higher pipe. Kaibara drove his arms into the pipe, vibrating it and throwing Izuku off. Izuku floated in midair. Kaibara launched to attack again. Izuku flicked himself sideways with an air force blast. The wind enveloped Kaibara and he went flying into another set of pipes, but he jammed his drills into them to halt himself, and slid downward, grinding out sparks.
Izuku used more smoke. They were now fully in the depths of the maze walls, far from the clearing, where he could only assume Kacchan was now fighting Yui. Why would he not keep coming after me? Both of these matchups are unbalanced. Was this part of some master plan Kacchan had conceived? Or…perhaps…
Is Yui somehow blocking him from what he wants to do? A surge of hopeful pride went through him. He could only wish for that to be the truth. In the meantime, though…
Izuku rebounded against one pipe, and then another. Green sparks streamed out behind him. His Danger Sense relocated Kaibara in all the smoke and pipes and darkness, and he dive bombed the boy again.
Kaibara's reflexes were, admittedly, very strong. He ducked and rolled beneath Izuku, then swept out a leg to knock the green-haired boy off his feet. It was actually so quick that Izuku had to go ahead and use the Fa-jin he'd been building up, instead of just a normal OFA leap, to dodge it.
Fa-jin accidentally took him way too far, crashing through several layers of pipes as he tried frantically to slow down. Kaibara was jumping from ledge to ledge, trying to reach him. Izuku grabbed a loose piece of metal with Blackwhip and threw it. Then another. Kaibara dodged the first, and shredded the next as it came to the spot where he'd dodged to. Izuku had predicted his movement, to no avail.
I'm gonna have to use at least 15% to gain enough speed where I can land a hit on him without him dodging. But I don't want to hurt him that badly!
Izuku tried 10 percent. He threw himself at Kaibara again. But the boy did manage to dodge again, just barely, and an attack came immediately after. This one actually did graze Izuku in the arm, causing a small sting of pain, and then Kaibara kicked another pipe toward him, which Izuku dodged.
He circled his opponent, floating and bouncing off of more ledges. Kaibara's eyes were locked into him, darting around, following his every movement…
…And they were wide with terror.
Izuku felt strange. Kaibara wasn't sneering, or gloating, or gleeful about any of this. He had managed to actually hurt Izuku more than vice versa, but it was all he could do just to survive and stay in the fight. He was fighting with pure desperation. It was a look that Izuku recognized…he'd felt it inside himself against opponents like Shigaraki and Overhaul and…
…and even Todoroki and Kacchan.
That's what I've become to guys like him. I'm not even using my full power and he's pulling out all the stops. They're all targeting me because…
…Because…
A flash of something like guilt went through him.
Izuku sighed. Kaibara was still watching him dead-on, that fierce, determined, terrified look still in his eyes. He raised his spinning arms, preparing to defend.
Izuku dropped toward him using 20% of One For All.
…
Katsuki had used his last bit of built-up power, his last grenade. The damn girl had actually shrunken it. Every time she managed to make contact with him, which was much more than he'd been expecting, she shrunk his costume on him a little. Activating her Quirk a bit every time. His clothes were now uncomfortably tight. He could feel the blood pumping through his whole body. And to make matters worse, he couldn't find the gauntlet she'd tossed somewhere.
Pump, pump. Katsuki tried to attack her again. She was miraculously dodging it. He'd only struck her directly once, and her soot-covered face looked no less determined.
Pump, pump. He could almost feel his forehead vein poking out. His whole body hurt. Her blue eyes pierced him.
Pump, pump. He had to end this now. He launched himself toward her. She threw a small shiny thing into the air.
I know what that is! He lifted one hand up to blast it while blasting her with the other. The nut enlarged over his head. It was hexagonal and falling down. She was trying to constrict him in the center of it. It wouldn't work…
Kodai, to his complete disbelief, drove herself through the bottom of his explosion, where the power was weakest, ash streaming past her face as she got herself scalded just to…
…Drive an elbow into his stomach.
Katsuki spat, and thought, screw it.
He brought his other palm around, and blasted her directly. Pump, pump, pump…
Kodai collapsed, her massive hexnut trap hitting the ground with a clang next to her…
…She murmured, "Boom…" with her soft voice, and Katsuki's clothes tightened impossibly tight.
The blood pumping in his head got loud. His whole body was tingling, and he'd lost the use of his arms and legs. He fell.
God damn. She got me after all. Without even needing the damn nerd's help.
Heh. Looks like Deku had found himself a pretty nice catch.
His world went dark.
…
The fight is over! Team Midoriya and Kodai win! The intercom announced.
Izuku stood up straight, breathing hard, letting the green lightning around him die out. The gleam in his eyes faded. He stared ahead at the pile of downed pipes and metal, scattered out from the impact. Kaibara lay in the center of it, his chest heaving up and down, his eyes fighting to stay open.
"D…dammit…" the Class B boy choked out. "Should have known that was gonna happen. What percent was th-that?"
Izuku couldn't lie to him. "Twenty," he answered, quietly.
Kaibara coughed. A sad smile spread across his face. "I never had a chance at all."
Izuku felt wholly out of his element. "I'm sorry…"
"Jesus, man. Don't be sorry." Kaibara tried to struggle up, and Izuku rushed over to help him, but he waved him off. "I'm the one who sh-should apologize. I just got…so…I dunno what came over me."
"Do…" Izuku gulped. "Do you resent me?"
"Well." Kaibara managed to get up on one elbow. "It seems s-stupid now that you want me to s-say it."
Izuku steeled himself up. "If…if you liked Yui, or something…then…I'm sorry, but I'm also not sorry."
"I know. You and her look really…happy together. But it's just…man. Guys like you…and Bakugo and Todoroki…it could have been anyone. You're all just so…above. You especially, man…you're just…good. I don't doubt that Kodai's really h-head over heels for you. And I wouldn't doubt that…had anything been different…that any of the other straight girls would have fallen the same way…"
Izuku blushed. He didn't know how to respond to that. "I think the view you have of me in your head is bigger than what's really…erm…there." I could get defensive. Tell him that my life hasn't been easy either, because it hasn't. But that wouldn't solve anything.
"I didn't want to get revenge or anything stupid like that. I just felt like…" Kaibara looked him in the eye. "I felt like I had to at least try. And I knew I was gonna lose. But if I didn't at least try, and let out my frustration somehow…"
Izuku knelt down in front of him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I get it, Kaibara," he said, simply. "I get it. I kinda…figured. At least, that's sort of how Kacchan and I have operated for a while. That's why I came right to him. Sometimes we gotta just hit each other really hard for a few minutes."
Kaibara chuckled. His hair fell over his face. There was a trickle of blood going down his forehead. "Well, thanks for obliging me, I guess."
He accepted Izuku's help, and they stood up together.
"If Kendo had heard all that, she'd say we were being dumb, stubborn boys."
"Kendo tries to fight Yaoyorozu constantly, so I don't think she has room to talk."
They both laughed together.
…
Much later, Izuku reunited with Yui outside the infirmary.
"Did Recovery Girl lash you?" he asked her.
Yui looked glum. "She said that if I'd left Bakugo in that state for even ten minutes more…his legs may have had to be amputated. Vlad King is probably gonna give me detention on top of everything."
Izuku sucked in breath through his teeth. "Yeesh."
"I just couldn't think of what else to do. I know it went too far for training. I know that. But I really was just overwhelmed and filled with adrenaline and I couldn't think of what else…"
"Hey, Yui. You literally beat Bakugo. He also got you, but that is insane. You should be prou-"
"Heroes shouldn't have to resort to something like that. I should have thought of something cleaner."
"Kacchan is nuts! He would have taken you out instantly if you'd even taken the time to think…"
"And on top of everything, he's your friend. And I almost ruined his hero career. Would have if the robots didn't come. You'd have never forgiven me."
"What?! Yui, don't even think about stuff like that. It wasn't even really close to happening. UA stays on top of those things-"
"I just felt like I had to keep him away from you. I had to make up for my hesitation from earlier."
"Yui."
"I saw Kaibara drop that pipe on you and freaked out. I thought I was over that feeling, but it all came flooding back."
"Yui."
"I came to UA after everything that happened with Saya because I wanted a healthy place to stoke my overworrying tendencies. I thought that if I helped people as a hero, they wouldn't get so resentful for me caring about them so much…"
"Yui…"
"But what good does it do if all that stuff still holds me back? How can I be a good hero if I'm always thinking about that?"
"Yui!"
"I can't, that's how. I can't, I can't, I can't…"
Izuku didn't know what else to do, so he grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her on the lips.
Yui froze stiff for a moment, but then she relaxed against him, sighing and melting into his chest. Her hands went up into his hair, her arms curling around his neck. He pulled her closer, his hands sliding down from her shoulders to her waist. Their lips moved against each other.
Half a minute later, they separated. Yui's eyes were half-lidded and sleepy. All the energy and stress seemed to have gone out of her.
"I never thought I'd have to get you to shut up somehow," Izuku said honestly.
She managed a small smile. "Well…if you ever have to do it again…do it like that."
…
Sorry for taking so long on this chapter. I have no excuse other than that I really didn't want to write for this fic for a while. Idk. It'll get finished eventually.