Just got snow yesterday. Hope it doesn't get too cold where you are, but here is something to warm your hearts.

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Comments:

SonicMax: Not necesarily domination, but change definitely.

GgeorGge: He deserves something worse.

Dsman: Can shonen characters bond over anything that doesn't involve the risk of death.

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Proofread by 3DPhantom

Chapter 44: Cracking Rock

Izuku and Eijiro stepped out to the arena together from the same corridor, despite the disagreement of the event organizers. Izuku still had his arm over Eijiro's shoulder and they were both smirking.

"Our next contestants are the man of multiple tricks Izuku Midoriya and his opponent the unyielding Eijiro Kirishima," Present Mic announced.

"Unyielding," Izuku muttered, "that's pretty good. At least he came up with a good name for one of us."

"I don't know. You seem to always have some 'trick' up your sleeve. Or a quirk."

"Maybe, but it doesn't sound that good. He probably didn't want to mention multiple quirks because of how people might feel about that."

Izuku pointed at Eijiro with his free hand.

"Still, don't forget to watch out for those tricks. I'm in this to win, but you should at least make it look good."

"Seems they are coming to the arena together," Present Mic continued. "Is that allowed?"

"It doesn't matter to the actual fight," Aizawa responded. "Though I suspect we are about to witness an impressive match."

Izuku smirked in a way to taunt Eijiro. It worked.

"In your dreams."

"So, you are going for a knockout. Good to know. Try not to crack my skull in the process."

"Eh?"

Izuku smiled and shook Eijiro's shoulders slightly.

"I hope they can fight seriously against each other," Present Mic continued. "They don't exactly look like enemies down there."

"And that is why they will give it their all," Aizawa said. "They respect each other too much not to, and neither of them are ones to not give their all.

"Just joking. Don't worry about me," Izuku said, smiling. They finally arrived in front of Midnight.

"Well, you two seem to be having good time." She held the microphone in front of the two students.

"Of course," Eijiro said louder than necessary with the microphone right there. "I can't wait to get this match started."

Izuku kept a much calmer demeanour and pointed at Eijiro with the thumb of the hand still on his shoulder.

"Things have to be pretty bad if this guy can't put you in a good mood. His excitement is contagious… and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited for this fight."

Midnight smiled softly and was about to say something.

"Make sure he didn't take the redhaired guy's quirk," someone shouted from the audience. Izuku's smile disappeared faster than if he had been punched to the face and his arm tensed against Eijiro's shoulder.

"Yeah, why else would he be hanging on the Kirishima guy like that. With the last match he was also trying to get to touch the other student."

"The match hasn't even started yet. Just disqualify him."

"Seriously?" Eijiro said, still within range of the microphone. He seemed to only realize he was talking to the entire stadium after that. "Izuku is a cool guy. Why do you keep attacking him when you've never met him.? Sure he could take my quirk, but why would he? That would just ruin the match for the both of us."

Izuku wiped a tear off his eyes. People didn't care though.

"Because he wants to win obviously."

"But what would that win be worth?" Eijiro responded.

"Don't bother," Izuku said, also still in range of the microphone. He was now holding the flood back better. "They don't want to hear things that don't fit their prejudices, and it's not your burden to try to make them."

Izuku slid his arm away from Eijiro and turned away.

"You should probably test your quirk to confirm you still have it before we start so no one can claim otherwise."

There was a short pause.

"No," Eijiro said. "I don't need to test it to know I still have it."

Now it was a real struggle to hold back the flood behind Izuku's eyes. Only the stares of millions of people kept him from exposing his feelings.

"Ah the purity of a young heart," Midnight swooned. "But we have limited time. Are you ready to battle?"

"Yes," Izuku said almost without sounding like he was about to cry. "Oh, and Eijiro, I'm going to do everything I can to win, but I'd prefer you didn't open your mouth at the wrong time and lose that way."

"Don't worry. You made me train with Hitoshi for a reason, right?"

"Right," Izuku said and took his position opposite to Eijiro. Midnight moved between them to declare the beginning of the match. Izuku glanced at her.

"You might want to keep a bit more distance for this fight."

"Oh, don't say that," she winked suggestively, but walked further away before turning and raising her hand. Izuku crouched and tensed. Eijiro hardened his arms and punched them together before assuming his own stance.

"Ready?" She swung her hand down. "Start!"

Eijiro charged, a hardened arm raised for a wide swing. In a literal flash Izuku raised his own and launched a blue Hellfire Arrow at a dangerously short range. Eijiro was smart enough to see it and moved to dodge, but Izuku was just a little faster. The blast struck Eijiro's raised arm and exploded. The shockwave launched Eijiro to the side, but by then he was fully hardened and showed no sign of injury. At such a short distance the shockwave might have shaken Izuku more of the two. Eijiro quickly stopped his momentum, bracing against one leg and turned to swing his other fist.

Izuku leaned back and his jets flared. He launched away from Eijiro, but as usual his flight fell off balance after a few seconds. He let himself keep falling backwards and did a somersault back on his feet at a safer distance, safe for the moment. Eijiro was already charging at him. Izuku raised both his hands and began firing blasts, focusing more on speed than the power of any individual shot. Considering how Izuku had to tense himself to make the Hardening work when Eijiro let him test it, having to keep up his defence constantly against the barrage should wear out Eijiro's defences better than any single hit.

The only damage Izuku's first shots did was to Eijiro's clothes, burning away the front half of his shirt and making it appear more like his hero costume except for the backside and the surviving left sleeve that were still hanging on. Izuku made a mental note to only aim above the waistline. His second barrage however didn't hit even that as Eijiro ducked to the side, choosing to evade the attack which exploded against the arena wall somewhere behind. The impacts were well below the audience, but the school really needed to consider the safety of the people more.

Some of their classmates were probably surprised at Eijiro's skills and the agility with which he moved, but Izuku only smiled and adjusted his aim. Despite Eijiro's dodging Izuku got in a few more hits before he got into punching range. Izuku kept firing 'till the last second with no time left to dodge so he could only pull his arms back and form his flames into shields. Eijiro's punch shook him to his core and pushed him back. The punch had enough force to push aside Izuku's arms, opening a gap in his defences, but at least Eijiro hadn't gotten too excited to not control his strength, so Izuku's bones were still intact.

Unfortunately for Eijiro the large swings, despite their power, lacked in speed, so the follow up strike didn't come even close to hitting as it was Izuku's turn to duck out of the way. He continued reforming his Dragon Blades even thicker and smaller than their shield form until he was basically wearing burning gloves like flame brass knuckles over his fists. Eijiro had barely time to see them before Izuku's uppercut hit his chin with one of them. Izuku's experiment was a success in the sense that his fist hadn't broken, the pain was even less than when hitting nonhardened opponents.

Unfortunately, the hit hadn't done much more to Eijiro. His head had moved back a tiny bit but the biggest impact was the look of surprise in his eyes. It quickly turned into determination as he pressed his chin down against Izuku's fist despite the steam rising from his rocky skin. Izuku jumped back and pushed a few extra meters with his jets. He fired a pair of blasts before his feet even touched the floor again. This time Eijiro shielded himself with his arms so there was even less impact, although at the cost of his remaining sleeve.

"Was that a new move?" Eijiro asked.

"Yeah, I came up with it just for you. I'm still not sure how well I could cut you, but this seemed safer. Cutting people's arms off isn't very manly anyway. What do you think?"

Eijiro opened his mouth to respond but at the last moment remembered to stay quiet. They both waited silently for the brainwashing period to pass, Izuku with a smile on his face.

"It's cool. I didn't think you would come up with a whole new attack for me."

"Not good enough yet. Need to punch harder to crack that rock."

Eijiro smirked and hardened some more before charging. Izuku reformed the flames around his fist and added some more Vibration to it. It was still a new move so he couldn't properly focus on blasting Eijiro while using it. Facing him in close combat might have been stupid but Izuku wasn't going to pass on this chance. With Recovery Girl on standby, now was the time to really test their limits.

Izuku narrowly avoided Eijiro's fist and brought his own into a hard meeting with the redhead's six-pack. It was way less efficient than punching him in the face, like trying to break in through a brick wall instead of the door, but safer to experiment on. The strike did move Eijiro back a tiny bit and made him grunt, which was already impressive. Izuku punched again faster than Eijiro and with the element of surprise got in a quick barrage before he had to jump away to avoid being crushed under Eijiro's counterattack.

"I don't know what you did," Eijiro said, "but I did actually feel that."

He brought his hand to brush against his stomach that had a black mark where Izuku had punched him. When Eijiro brushed that away the skin below seemed a bit red-tinted.

"Not just the heat, felt like you were shaking my insides."

"Glad to hear that. If it works on you then there won't be many I couldn't use it on. Don't think it's going to win this match for me though."

Eijiro waited for the brainwashing window to pass and scratched his nose.

"Heh. Don't think so."

"Now, how long can you keep going? You have to strain yourself constantly to keep your hardening up. You are already taking breaks of it even when not necessary for your mobility. You aren't even fully hardened now."

Eijiro didn't have time to wait for the brainwashing window to close before Izuku started blasting him again. Eijiro reacted fast enough to reinforce his hardening but this time Izuku used as much power as he could, as fast as possible. Even if Eijiro could take it the momentum from the first hit threw him off his feet. It left him unable to dodge the follow up barrage of weaker shots. Izuku walked closer, blasting him repeatedly on the ground. He didn't give Eijiro the chance to get up but listened carefully. At first Eijiro's reaction to his bombardment was just grunts, but it soon turned higher pitched and Eijiro gasped for air.

Izuku stopped his attacks and stepped closer massaging his hands. Eijiro was left lying in a small human shaped crater surrounded by cracks in the concrete expanding from him. He was breathing hard but he was breathing. Izuku got a chance to draw a deep breath as the last remnants of the hardened rocky texture disappeared from Eijiro's skin. Izuku stood over him just beyond arm's reach.

"So, do you think that was enough of an ass-kicking?" Izuku asked. Eijiro smiled, still breathing hard but delayed in responding. Izuku held one hand behind his back, starting to form fire around it. Eijiro's stare sharpened and his arms pushed against the floor as his entire body hardened again.

Izuku's arm moved from behind his back and swung in one large punch downwards against Eijiro's stomach with every bit of strength and mass in his body. This time the punch had an actual impact as Eijiro got air punched out of his lungs, blowing it out with some spit. His already strained quirk failed, turning his skin normal. Izuku extinguished his fire but remained tense in a fighting stance until Eijiro's panting changed into laughter occasionally broken up by gasps.

"I," he panted, "can't even remember the last time a punch hurt like that."

"Welcome to the rest of our world," Izuku said.

Midnight came to stand next to them.

"Kirishima, can you continue fighting?"

"Even if I managed that I wouldn't get up past Izuku. I think this was it."

Midnight raised her arm.

"Eijiro Kirishima can no longer continue. The winner is Izuku Midoriya."

There was very limited cheering. Izuku thought he heard some comments about Eijiro not taking him seriously, or at least his threat, seriously. As much as Izuku would have liked to correct them, there was a more important person to worry about. He reached his hand to Eijiro who, after a few more seconds of panting, grabbed it and let Izuku help pull him up. They both glanced at the hole Eijiro left behind. The redhead waved his hand to Cementos.

"Sorry about that. Didn't mean to make more work for you."

The pro hero nodded. Eijiro reached behind his back for the last remnants of his shirt that was still somehow hanging from his neck like a cape. He ripped through the last surviving strands around his neck to take off the remaining fabric and wiped sweat off his face with it while they walked away from the arena.

"You really go through those quickly," Izuku elbowed Eijiro's exposed side.

"Well, yes. I was afraid something like this might happen. I used to tear up a lot of clothes when I was younger before I learned to control my quirk better."

"Getting blasted into the arena probably didn't help either."

"Heh, that was actually amazing. I still can't believe you managed to punch through my quirk."

"Hitting it with an artillery barrage first might have been the bigger thing."

"Still, did you really come up with that new technique just for me?"

"I wouldn't say 'just', but punching your face was definitely the inspiration for it, thanks."

"Heh, anytime. So, what did you think about my fighting?"

"A big improvement from what I thought in the beginning of the semester. I was actually having a hard time hitting you. If I didn't have my jets things could have gone very differently. You are weak, relatively speaking, to long distance attacks, but that only works for as long as I could keep that distance and you can move pretty fast when you want to. Hmm… A speed quirk might make you almost unbeatable."

They stepped into the corridor.

"Oh, you are still serious about that?"

"I made a promise, didn't I?"

"So manly… Oh right," Eijiro raised his hand and held it up between them. "I guess I made a promise too."

"You don't have to if-" Izuku started, but Eijiro shook his head.

"A promise is a promise."

A few drops of water from the previous flood leaked from under the floodgates behind Izuku's eyes. If only he could be as trustworthy as those who trusted him.

"Shouldn't you at least hold onto it until your fight for the third place?"

"Oh right, I forgot about that," Eijiro put his hand down. Izuku shook his head and took the chance to discreetly wipe his eyes on his sleeve.

"You think it's going to be against Todoroki or that…?"

"Honenuki," Izuku said the name.

"Yeah. I bet Todoroki is going to beat him so I have to figure out some way to deal with that crazy quirk that melted the arena."

Izuku brushed his chin and looked down deep in thought.

"I wouldn't be so sure."

"Eh? Do you mean I can't beat him or…"

"I'm not sure Todoroki can beat him, not the way he is using his quirk and chaining it to his father. He might be the audience favourite but unless he manages to overcome Endeavour, or at least his crappy training, he isn't going to win this tournament."

Izuku raised his head to face Todoroki who was coming to the arena for his fight. They both stopped to stare at each other, neither willing to break the contact but also not planning to be the first one to talk until Todoroki finally spoke.

"You should mind your own business."

He walked past Izuku and Eijiro. Izuku glanced back.

"You are doing exactly what your father wants, you know. We had the displeasure of meeting him earlier."

That stopped Todoroki.

"He wants you to stay away from us to focus on becoming what he wants you to be, and to not stain his dear shiny reputation with having a family member around someone like me."

Izuku turned forward and continued walking.

"I won't try to tell you how to fight, again, but you should at least understand what you are doing. You don't have to take my complaining, but if you keep pushing everyone away you are only making his job easier. Still, do whatever you want to do, but just," he paused, "don't become like him."

Todoroki didn't respond to that. After a few seconds Eijiro caught up to Izuku.

"Do you think it is good to talk to him like that?"

"I-" Izuku started, "I don't know. I'm just telling him how I feel. It's not like I am some kind of expert on, well, people."

"Really, you think that?"

Izuku glanced at Eijiro with a question in his eyes.

"I mean, you are always training and helping us with whatever trouble we have. You even helped me see my quirk has more potential than I thought. I don't know how to help Todoroki, but if anyone of us can figure out how to do that, I think it's going to be you."

"Oh…" Izuku couldn't say anything more. Eijiro smiled. It was the kind of wide smile that was contagious and Izuku felt his lips twitch before Eijiro even spoke.

"I guess I wasn't the only one underestimating what I could do."

Izuku shook his head, trying to keep a straight face, but man was it difficult with Eijiro around. By the time they got back to their seats he had already failed.

"Excellent fight you two," Tenya declared. "Izuku, did you use some new technique?"

"Yeah, how did you punch Kirishima without breaking your hand?" Kaminari shouted. "I'd need to see Recovery Girl if I even tried to do that."

Izuku held up his fist and encased it in blue flames so intense it looked more like a wavy blue burning liquid than a regular flame.

"Not sure what to call it yet, but it works."

"Sure does," Eijiro said and rubbed the spot on his stomach where Izuku had punched him. His skin still had a fist-sized red mark. "You got to use that in training tomorrow."

"Oh, don't worry. I will."