Katsuki turns to Shouji, offering a brief nod of acknowledgement. The guy did his job, and he respects that.
"Nice," he says simply, and Shouji nods back. It's an easy exchange.
Hatsume, however, is still gripping the arm Katsuki had held out to help her down, one hand groping his chest a little too tightly to be socially acceptable. He's kind of weirded out, until she grins at him, and he realises she can feel the strap of the knife under his uniform.
"Oh," she snickers. "Someone's a little rule-breaker." He wrenches his arm away quickly, glancing around to check if anyone's noticed the interaction, but she pats the same part of his chest placatingly.
"Not to worry, Dynamite, I won't tell a soul."
She's looking at him with coy eyes, and he groans internally.
"What do you want."
The girl's eyes gleam hungrily.
"Well... I watched your fight with Greenie over there, and you had some neat little bracelets that I'd love to take a look at."
Oh.
The electroshock bracelets.
He nods curtly, and she beams, patting his chest one last time before bounding off to fiddle with her toolbox again.
They're given a break before the final round, and Katsuki heads up to the cafeteria to get away from all the people glaring at him. Of course, because his luck is absolutely terrible, he runs into another duo who decides it's in their best interests to have a private conversation in the middle of a fucking corridor
"S—So what did you want to talk about?" Izuku asks shyly, staring at an impassive Todoroki with nervous eyes.
He's met with silence, and Katsuki watches curiously from the shadows as Izuku starts to wring his hands anxiously.
"If we don't hurry, the cafeteria will probably be full," he tries again. Todoroki simply glares back at him coldly, eyes narrowed.
They stand in uncomfortable quiet for what feels like far too long.
Then, after a beat of silence, "I was overpowered."
Endeavour's son says it like it's painful, gaze steady on Izuku's.
"So much so that I broke my pledge."
The student lifts his left hand from his pocket, watching it distantly.
"The others didn't feel it, but for that last instant... I was overpowered. Only me... who had experienced All Might's power up-close during the USJ attack."
Izuku straightens slightly at the mention of the hero, eyes growing focused.
"What... what do you mean?" he asks, slightly nervous.
Todoroki's eyes lift from his own upturned palm to look at Izuku with an unreadable expression.
"It means I felt something similar coming from you."
Izuku's gasps audibly at this, like the shitty actor he is. His panic is transparent on his face as Todoroki takes a step towards him, and asks, "Midoriya, are you... All Might's secret love child or something?"
Crickets.
For a goddamn second, Katsuki swears he could almost hear crickets.
This... this fucking idiot.
He was so, so goddamn close... yet so far.
Katsuki wants to punch him.
Izuku looks just as bewildered as Katsuki feels at the accusation, arms flailing everywhere as he stammers out a weak, "I—I'm not! I mean, even if I was, I'd probably say no, so I doubt you'd believe me, but—that's not how it is! I don't know why you—"
Todoroki cuts him off with a quiet click of his tongue.
"Since you said 'that's not how it is', that means there is a connection between you and All Might that you can't talk about. Right?"
Izuku blanches, blood draining from his face in moments. He opens his mouth shakily, but before he can dig himself into any deeper of a pit, Katsuki sighs and stomps out from the corner loudly.
"Oi, Deku," he grunts, and the two of their heads snap towards him, Todoroki in anger and Izuku in sheer relief. "Get to the fucking cafeteria, dumbass."
Izuku nods, taking advantage of the out Katsuki is giving him to scamper away from the situation eagerly. Todoroki watches him go blankly, before he turns his gaze to Katsuki.
They stare at each other for a moment, analysing. And then Todoroki turns away with a huff.
"So annoying," he says quietly.
The feeling is very much mutual, Katsuki thinks to himself, spinning on his heel and walking back.
As he heads through the cafeteria with his tray, he sees Kaminari and the grape fucker telling
Yaoyorozu and Jirou about some obviously made-up scheme to get the girls into cheerleader costumes. The two girls eat it up, eyes shining with concern.
"Oh! I hadn't known about it!" Yaoyorozu cries to herself.
The two creeps fistbump behind their backs, and Katsuki's expression twists in disgust, stomach filling with hot anger within moments.
He beelines straight toward them, and boots the purple bitch straight into a trashcan. After a moment's hesitation, he then flicks Kaminari in the forehead for good measure.
The other blonde yelps, rearing back and clutching his face.
"Dude! What the hell?" he cries, glaring at a very unimpressed Katsuki.
The latter ignores him, turning to a confused-looking Yaoyorozu and Jirou.
"The perverts are lying. Don't get caught up in their bullshit or you'll end up embarrassing yourselves, idiots."
The girls look a mixture of chastised and indignant at his words, while Kaminari frowns at him.
"We were just having fun, man, no need to get pissy..."
The glare Katsuki turns on him is chilling, and Kaminari shrinks back under it.
"If your idea of fun is being a sexist piece of shit then go somewhere else. We're here to learn how to be heroes, so get some damn self-respect and start acting like it."
Kaminari falls silent, suddenly looking very ashamed, and Katsuki marches past him to slam his lunch down next to a wide-eyed Kirishima, who's eating happily a few tables away.
"Y—You good, bro?" the other asks tentatively. Katsuki sucks in a deep breath, the corners of his vision still tinged red.
"That fucker isn't sitting with us until he gets his fucking shit together," he says, the non-answer making the redhead's brow furrow.
"I—Okay, I guess? What did he do?"
Katsuki growls, and the other raises his hands placatingly.
"Okay, okay. Fine."
They eat in silence for a few minutes, before a tray slams down loud next to Katsuki's.
"Afternoon, boys!" Hatsume announces cheerily. Katsuki doesn't answer her, still eating his food with a disconcerting amount of aggression.
To her credit, the pink-haired girl is completely unphased by it, simply grinning and tucking into her own food.
Kirishima stares at the two awkwardly.
"So how do you guys know each other?" he tries stiltedly after a few moments. Hatsume smiles widely, flashing a peace sign at the bewildered redhead. "We only met today during the competition, but it seems we get along well!"
She pats Katsuki's chest with a knowing glint in her eye, right over where his knife is strapped. The blonde glares at her futilely, half-heartedly attempting to bat her hand away.
Kirishima looks even more confused than he had earlier, but simply nods slowly.
Hatsume, it seems, can never stop fiddling. Through the ten minutes that she sits at the lunch table with them, nine of them are spent with her absently tinkering with her tools while she eats. It's fucking annoying, but it doesn't take a genius to notice how smart the girl is. He's kind of intrigued by all her gear, if he's being honest.
When she's done scarfing down her meal, she grabs Katsuki's left hand and attempts to strap one of her inventions to him. The bitch is so fucking touchy for someone who's known him for all of three hours. He shoves her away on instinct, making her cackle as he curses her out viciously. But after a moment of inspecting the thing she's trying to test out, his curiosity overtakes his self-preservation and he begrudgingly offers his arm back to her.
It's a small silver square that she places on the back of his wrist, looking quite similar to the one she'd been tossing up and down during the cavalry battle planning time. He eats with his right hand as he watches, and Kirishima stares at the two of them apprehensively, shooting Katsuki a look that very clearly says 'why are you letting this strange woman touch you????'
Katsuki just shrugs at him in response, shoving another mouthful of rice in his mouth. He's not really sure why he's trusting her, if he's being completely honest with himself.
The square seems to expand the same way the other one did, slowly unfolding over his skin to form a thin sheet of flexible metal that rapidly molds around his hand to form a glove-like shape.
"Hm," Katsuki says at her expectant look. He's impressed, but he schools his expression into one of mild interest. Kirishima, having no such qualms, drops his chopsticks, jaw hanging open.
"Wow," he says. "That's. Wow."
Hatsume preens at the words, and Katsuki flexes his arm slowly, feeling out the glove.
"What's it do?"
The girl turns to him with shining eyes, and places a spoon in his gloved grip tenderly. Katsuki blinks at it for a moment, slowly closing his fingers around it only for the motherfucking metal spoon to bend in his grip like playdough.
He chokes on his rice, accepting the cup of water that a giggling Hatsume offers him.
"What—" he coughs hoarsely, "the fuck."
The inventor is bouncing in her seat like a child, and Kirishima shoots Katsuki a vaguely terrified
look over the table that he can't help but sympathise with.
"It's my special baby!" she announces happily. "I haven't tested out exactly how much force it has, yet, but it punches through bricks like butter!"
Even Katsuki can't hide his impressed look at this, and Hatsume clearly notices, if her pleased laughter is anything to go by.
"That's... huh," he says. "That's pretty cool, Hatsume, I'm not gonna lie."
Her smile softens into something more genuine for a moment, cheeks flushing. Kirishima straightens from his side of the table with an indignant pout.
"Oi, oi, how come you call her by her name but I'm still Shitty-hair?!"
Katsuki turns to him slowly, flexing the glove in his grip.
"Make a portable glove that can crush metal and then we'll talk, Shitty-hair."
Kirishima mulls this over for a moment, before nodding weakly.
"Yeah. Yeah, that's fair, actually."
They slowly finish eating and pack up, the mood a lot less tense than it had been before.
The next round is called, and the students all head down to determine their brackets.
Before Midnight can even call the first name, a hand is shooting in the air.
It's Ojiro, the one with the tail quirk.
"I'm withdrawing," he announces shakily.
There's protest immediately, but he shakes his head resolutely.
"I... I barely remember anything from the cavalry battle. I know that this is a chance, and I'm foolish to waste it, but... I can't compete with everyone else not knowing how I even got here. I only passed through because of someone else's quirk."
Damn.
Katsuki's actually pretty impressed.
There's awed silence, and Izuku looks like he's on the verge of tears at the speech.
Moments later, another student is raising his hand for the same reasons.
Midnight accepts their withdrawal with far too much enthusiasm, and they're promptly replaced by members from 1-B, but the mood is a lot heavier after their departure.
The brackets are announced, with Katsuki being paired with someone called Shinsou Hitoshi.
He echoes the name in confusion, only to have the purple-haired boy who'd challenged him before,
stepping up to him quietly.
"So it's finally time for me to knock you down a peg or two," Shinsou mutters under his breath. Katsuki blinks at him, and all the eyes that are currently on the two of them. To his utter surprise, Shinsou is getting a lot more glares than him, most of them downright murderous.
Huh, Katsuki thinks. He wonders what the guy did to piss off people so much that they hate him even more than they hate Katsuki.
He opens his mouth to respond, but moments later a thick rope-like appendage is curling around him and yanking him away. He raises a hand on instinct, ready to blast it away, but Ojiro's panicked call makes him halt.
"Bakugou!" he hisses. "I have to talk to you."
Katsuki stares at him expectantly, hand still held up threateningly. Ojiro flushes, quickly retracting his tail with a sheepish smile.
"Don't answer him," he says desperately. "His quirk... it works by getting people to respond to things he says to them. I don't know exactly what it is, but after I answered his question my memory went blank, and I just did whatever he told me to."
Katsuki blinks, mulling the information over. Suddenly the glares directed at Shinsou make a lot more sense.
"Okay," he says finally. "And you're telling me this... why?"
They aren't even close, for god's sake. Ojiro winces, rubbing at the back of his neck with an embarrassed grimace.
"Ah..." he mutters. "You probably think I'm pathetic for withdrawing, huh..."
Katsuki tilts his head in confusion, wondering what the hell that has to do with his question.
"I would've done the same. You did what any honorable person would do. But that doesn't explain why you're trying to help me right now."
Surprise flickers over the other's face at the words, as if he'd truly expected Katsuki to spit in his face and call him an idiot for withdrawing or something. Finally, Ojirou shrugs.
"I just don't want you to fall into the same trap I did. I know it might be selfish, but... I really want to see you win this battle."
I want you to beat him, is the message that goes unsaid. It's obvious that Ojiro probably couldn't give less of a fuck whether Katsuki actually does well or not. If anything, he'd rather see him lose. He just wants to see Shinsou fail even more than that.
"So you want me to beat him," Katsuki says flatly. "You're pissed because he took away your opportunity and you want revenge."
Ojiro jerks back, flushing a dark red but unable to refute him.
"I just—" he begins, but Katsuki shrugs.
"Okay. I can understand that. You don't need to explain yourself to me."
Ojiro blinks.
"Y—Yeah. I, um. I'm not sure how exactly I ended up breaking out of the effects of his quirk but I think any physical jolt should do it."
He's looking away awkwardly, as if unsure of how to proceed.
"Cool," Katsuki says easily. "Thanks for the heads up, I guess."
And then he turns on his heel and walks away without another word, wondering why the hell so many people are trying to talk to him today. All this social interaction is making him act nice and shit.
Gross.
The first match is Todoroki and Sero's. It's over pathetically quickly, with the former encasing the raven-haired boy in a giant mountain of ice within moments of the match's start. Katsuki feels kind of bad for Sero, honestly. It wasn't the greatest matchup, and Todoroki obviously has a boatload of fucking issues. He ends up having to melt his ice himself, as half the stadium stands frozen in place.
The next match is between Izuku and Hatsume, and it's quite honestly fucking comical. Katsuki's respect for Hatsume grows exponentially when she manages to guilt Izuku into wearing her gear, and then pulls out a motherfucking microphone and starts commentating. She leads the idiot around by the nose, letting him chase her fruitlessly as she outlines every single aspect of the gear in function. If the last match was sad, this one is downright depressing. Katsuki watches, snickering as Hatsume eventually finishes her sales pitch and forfeits the match, leaving Izuku standing victorious and yet utterly defeated.
The matches move quickly, with Uraraka beating Aoyama, and Kaminari losing tragically against the 1-B girl with the vine quirk after spending so long flirting and not taking her seriously that she just ends up leaving him suspended in the air. Katsuki laughs at this with no small amount of vindictiveness.
Kirishima faces off against the 1-B guy who'd come yapping about with Shinsou that day during class to scout them out, and it turns out his quirk is pretty much a Walmart version of Kirishima's. They fight for what feels like hours, before they both end up collapsing simultaneously. In the end, their fight is settled with an arm wrestle that Kirishima wins.
And then it's Katsuki's fight.
He steps onto the field, making eye contact with a grim-looking Shinsou. The crowd goes wild, seemingly recognising Katsuki from the previous round.
The moment Present Mic announces the beginning of the match, Shinsou is already prowling towards him.
"Say, do you ever get sick of getting everything handed to you all the time?" he drawls. "Must be nice, getting into the hero course and feeling all high and mighty with your oh-so-heroic quirk."
Katsuki blinks, wondering if the asshole even knows what his quirk is. He doesn't recall using it during the festival as of yet, so the accusation feels a little unfounded. Huh. Maybe he knows Katsuki from the sludge villain incident.
Shinsou steps forward, eyes narrowing.
"Not even going to respond? Think you're above me, is that what it is?"
Katsuki huffs, shaking his arm out slowly and starting to move closer. Shinsou stops, looking tempted to retreat as he finally realises Katsuki's not going to fall for his quirk.
He opens his mouth again, but Katsuki speaks up before he can.
"Let's make a deal," the blonde says simply. "If you're so hell bent on victimising yourself because of a perfectly good quirk, then go ahead. I won't use my quirk either, to level the playing grounds. Okay?"
"The other tilts his head, a calculating look on his face.
"What game are you trying to play at, Bakugou? Do you think you can beat me by pretending to be honorable? By acting like you know anything about suffering?"
He's trying to get a response, desperately grasping at anything he can think of. It's not working, though, and they're both aware of it.
It does nothing to slow Katsuki's pace. As he approaches, Shinsou throws his fists up in front of his face, defense sloppy and clearly lacking.
In the end, all it takes is one hit.
Katsuki swings out with a right hook that Shinsou barely dodges, before following up with a tornado kick that he very much doesn't dodge. The kick collects solidly with the purple-haired boy's cheek, and he drops like a bag of stones.
For all his bluster and convenient quirk use, Shinsou really was a one-trick pony, it seems.
Midnight throws her whip out, announcing Katsuki's victory, and the two are made to face each other.
Shinsou is glaring at him venomously.
"So much for your declaration of war," Katsuki deadpans like the petty asshole he is. Shinsou visibly bristles, jaw clenching and unclenching tightly.
"Really, Brainwash. You should get to know Deku. You're both really good at victimising yourselves because you refuse to acknowledge your own shortcomings. You'd get along wonderfully."
"And what makes you think you know anything about me?" Shinsou snaps back sharply, but Katsuki simply raises a brow. The match is over, but he's not stupid enough to fall for the trick now-or ever, for that matter. He simply shrugs smugly and walks off the field without another word.
There are a few more matches after his that Katsuki ends up missing, before the first round of
battles is over. The next one begins with Izuku facing off against Todoroki.
The two are engaged in some kind of stare off when they enter the arena, and it doesn't take a genius to see that they've clearly just had an intense conversation.
This fight, it turns out, is one of the first that's actually interesting.
From the instant the match starts, the atmosphere of the stadium drops into something more intense.Todoroki uses only his right side, sending volley after volley of ice towards Izuku. The latter deflects them with flicks of his finger, and ends up breaking pretty much all the fingers on his hand for his efforts.
They wreck the entire arena with their fight, throwing each other around like rag dolls. The air produced by the combination of Todoroki's ice and Izuku's force is chilling, blasting through the arena.
It's a battle of endurance, the two of them drawing in and out again as they push one anothers' limits.
"Damn, Midoriya really doesn't stand a chance," Kirishima observes from next to Katsuki as Todoroki sends another trail of frost shooting towards Izuku. The green-haired boy has broken all the fingers on his right hand and two on his left, but he's watching Todoroki with sharp eyes.
"Don't underestimate him," Katsuki says quietly.
Kirishima's head snaps towards him, along with pretty much everyone else sitting with them.
"Wait, you're rooting for Midoriya?" Kirishima says incredulously. Katsuki doesn't take his eyes off the match, and the minute tremble to Todoroki's right arm.
"I'm not rooting for either of those idiots. I'm saying that Endeavour's son isn't as strong as you're making him out to be. He's acting reckless, and if he keeps this shit up then Deku is going to end up winning."
They all turn their gazes back to the match and watch in silence for a moment as Todoroki sends another spray of ice at Izuku.
"Yeah, I really don't see it, man," Sero says awkwardly. "Todoroki's quirk is like, ridiculously OP. Midoriya's getting pummelled here."
Katsuki sighs, leaning forward in his seat.
"Look at Todoroki's left arm," he says simply. The others squint down at the field obediently.
"It's... um. It's covered in ice," Ashido says dumbly. Katsuki groans.
"Exactly. His body is built to accommodate both fire and ice, but he's been overusing his ice side all fucking day. His body's struggling to thermoregulate with the constant exertion of his ice quirk, and if he doesn't either slow his colder attacks or give in and start using his fire soon, he's going to get himself killed. He's already bordering on hypothermia at this point."
Brief silence follows his words, and then a synchronised, "Ohhh..." echoes from the group beside him.
Katsuki leans back in his seat with a frown.
"Quirks are extensions of our bodies. No matter how good your quirk is, it's only as strong as you train it to be. Overuse or abuse them and they'll fail just like any other muscle or limb."
Kirishima stares at him with wide eyes.
"Dude," he breathes. "You're like... really smart."
He's met with awed murmurs of agreement from the others, who are also staring at Katsuki in wonder.
The blonde smacks him upside the head without looking away from the match, earning a yelp.
"Keep watching, dumbass," he grumbles. "I'm fighting you next. Give me a good fight or I'll kill you."
Kirishima pouts, rubbing the back of his head.
"How the hell am I supposed to beat you? You're OP and smart as hell..."
Katsuki smirks, arching a brow at him smugly.
"Sounds like a you problem."
Ashido starts snickering, and Kirishima cries out in protest.
The match between Izuku and Todoroki ends after an unintelligible yelling match that has Todoroki firing his largest volley of ice yet, Izuku countering with a punch of his own.
When the dust from the resulting explosion clears, Izuku is standing alone, clutching his broken arm tenderly as he stares at Todoroki's unconscious body.
Uraraka wins her match against the vine girl (who Katsuki learns is called Shiozaki), and Tokoyami wins his match too. Soon, it's Katsuki's fight against Kirishima.
Kirishima's got guts, Katsuki will give him that. The redhead throws punch after hardened punch, teeth gritted sharply. But, Katsuki sighs, it seems the idiot wasn't listening to a word Katsuki had said about Todoroki. He lets Kirishima wear himself out, hardening finally faltering as he loses traction. Then, the blonde grins.
"Oi, Kirishima," he says when the redhead stops for a breather. "What the hell did I tell you about overusing your quirk?"
Kirishima blinks through the sweat falling into his eyes, before his expression drops.
"Oh, shit," he has time to breathe out quietly, before Katsuki's throwing an explosion in his barely- hardened face. And then another, and another, until rubble and dust fills the air and all Kirishima can bear to do is stand there and take it. When the smoke from his final, largest explosion clears, there's a brief moment of silence before Kirishima topples to the ground with a thud.
The arena goes silent for a minute, before there's a loud, "Ehhh?! " from a significant part of the audience.
"Oi, what the hell was that? Where did the explosions come from? " someone cries. Katsuki scowls, turning to face the side of the crowd from where the person had shouted.
"That was my fucking quirk, dipshit !" he yells back, voice echoing through the stadium.
"I thought his quirk was speed! " a woman shouts in confusion. Another man chimes in with, "I thought his quirk was intellectual?! "
He's met with agreements, another woman chiming, "Yeah, we thought he had an analysis quirk, too! "
From the back, a young man yells, "I knew he was the kid from the slime villain attack! He looked so familiar! "
Katsuki stands, speechless as the crowd gets into an argument about his quirk, right in front of him. Midnight is giving him an awkward grimace, like she doesn't really know what to do either.
"You can just, um. You can go," she says finally. Katsuki nods, slinging Kirishima's limp arm around his shoulder and dragging him off the field as Midnight calls out a feeble, "Bakugou wins..." with a half-hearted snap of her whip. Her voice is drowned out by the deafening argument that's been sparked between the audience members.
The match marks the end of the round, and the contestants are given a brief break before the semifinals begin.
Katsuki spends most of this loitering around and avoiding people in general. He ends up sitting outside on the grass with Hatsume, letting her use him as a guinea pig for her experiments. At some point, she puts him in a contraption that almost twists his entire torso off his body, making him screech at her for a full ten minutes before she's even allowed within two feet of him again.
It takes her another ten minutes of pleading and placating to let her keep experimenting with him, and about thirty promises to not try and kill him this time.
Finally, the two of them return back to the building for the next round. Katsuki is up against Tokoyami, while Izuku will fight Uraraka.
The latter's fight is first, and it lasts impressively long. Uraraka ends up finally getting the upper hand when she finally gets a solid grip on Izuku and sends him flying in the air and out of bounds, moving her into the finals.
Then it's Katsuki's match with Tokoyami. The fight is quite straightforward. Katsuki is on the offensive, significantly more so than he has been so far today, and after a few minutes he realises that Tokoyami's quirk is pretty much useless against light. So he fires consecutive attacks, not pausing in between his explosions lest Dark Shadow gain enough time to recharge. He sees the exact moment Tokoyami realises that Katsuki knows his weakness, mere instants before he lets off his biggest explosion yet, launching into the air with a grin and propelling himself straight towards his opponent.
When the smoke clears, Tokoyami's beak is pinned under his palm, and Dark Shadow lies beneath
him, faint and wispy.
"You knew my weakness," Tokoyami rasps. It's not a question, but Katsuki grins ferally anyway.
"Figured it out a few minutes into our fight. Guess it was a bad matchup for you, huh."
Tokoyami's tense body sags, and he shuts his eyes.
"I give up."
Midnight's whip sails through the air decisively as she announces Katsuki's victory. He straightens smugly, turning to head out of the stadium.
Just as he's stepping off the field, there's a sudden itch at the back of his neck, as if someone's watching him. Which, he realises, is fucking stupid. He's on live television, competing in front of a stadium of spectators. Fucking obviously there are people watching him. But he turns nonetheless, almost involuntarily, feeling the skin at his nape crawl with something unfamiliar that sets his teeth on edge. His eyes catch on a section of the audience that's full of bouncing spectators. Among them stands a man in a crisp suit, unmoving among the cheering audience that surrounds him. He's looking straight at Katsuki, expression completely unreadable. The moment their eyes meet, a chill rolls all the way down Katsuki's body, starting at his spine and running down to the tips of his fingers. A flicker of raw shock crosses the man's eyes when Katsuki holds his gaze, before it disappears behind impassiveness once more. And then he's jerked away by Midnight, who's ushering him off the field gently. He lets himself be led off, but when he turns again to the crowd, the man in the suit is gone.
His final match is with Uraraka. He's learned enough from her fight with Izuku to know that he'll be mostly safe as long as he stays out of her reach, so he focuses on defense. She's evidently realised this, too, because the instant the match begins, she's sprinting towards him with her arms out low. He blasts her backward, but she's pushing ahead again before the smoke even clears. The girl is relentless, sheer determination gleaming in her eyes. It sends Katsuki's blood boiling with excitement, and he lets a grin slip onto his face at the promise of a good fight. Uraraka takes blow after blow, bouncing back like it's nothing. The blood leaking from the edge of her lips does nothing to soften the red-hot resolution in her gaze, and Katsuki realises with a jolt that he may have grossly underestimated her. He's just getting into it when there's a cry from the audience. The first one is inaudible, but then others are speaking up too.
"Just end it already! " someone yells, loud enough to carry across the stadium. "Yeah! Stop bullying the poor girl! "
The jeers grow in volume, Uraraka's expression twisting in frustration as she hears them. As the entire section of pro heroes starts to boo at him, Katsuki sees red. He's moments from tearing into them himself when there's a rustle from the commentator's box, and Aizawa-sensei's voice is booming over the speakers.
"Was that a pro saying he's messing around? How many years have you been a pro?"
The stadium falls silent instantly at the coldness in Aizawa-sensei's voice.
"If you're saying that with a straight face, there's no point in you watching anymore. Just go home and look into changing careers."
At this, both Uraraka and Katsuki straighten for a moment, turning to face the commentator's box. Aizawa-sensei's figure is tiny from the field, body still wrapped in bandages like a mummy.
The heroes who had been jeering are now standing frozen.
"Bakugou is being careful because he's acknowledging Uraraka's strength as a finalist. It's because he's doing everything in his power to win that he can't let his guard down."
Katsuki thinks, not for the first time, that Aizawa-sensei is the only damn adult around here with half a brain. The moment the slightly-muffled words leave the teacher's mouth, Uraraka is meeting Katsuki's gaze, her faltering expression shifting back into that of resolute determination. There's an ugly viciousness to her look, gritty and raw, and he wonders if the audience would still call her pitiful if they could see it up-close.
"Thank you for not going easy on me," she says breathlessly.
He watches as she straightens, chest heaving as she raises her hands to bring her fingertips together with a guttural cry.
Her eyes lift upward to somewhere above his head, and he follows them in time to see the slowly- growing cloud of rocks start to rain down towards him.
Simultaneously, Uraraka sprints towards him, gritted teeth bared in a snarl.
It all happens in a matter of moments.
Katsuki raises his hand to the sky, palm heating red-hot moments before an explosion erupts from it, so big that Uraraka is blown backwards and the entire stadium is filled with thick black smoke.
When the grey finally clears, the air thinning out again, Uraraka is on the ground, trembling fingers scrabbling against rubble. Katsuki watches, unable to move for what feels like hours. He can't describe what he feels in those moments, but when she finally falls limp, the desperation clouding her gaze makes the victory feel hollow. The audience doesn't cheer, a hushed air of disappointment falling over the field as Midnight finally announces the match.
He trudges his way back to their viewing area silently, hands buried in his pockets. His forearm is aching, muscles raw from abuse and twitching sporadically. He should probably see Recovery Girl, he thinks absent-mindedly. It's fine. He'll see her later.
When he reaches the top, his classmates are bickering between themselves, falling silent when he enters.
"Geez, Bakugou, that was intense," Kirishima mutters as he sits down wordlessly. He hums noncommittally, and the students all return to their conversations as Present Mic advertises some energy drink over the speakers.
Minutes later, the door is opening again and Uraraka is shuffling in, looking battered but cheerful.
She's met by half of the class immediately, the group fussing over her anxiously. She laughs them off, smiling half-heartedly as she moves past them to sit down.
When the brunette passes Katsuki, an ashamed expression crosses her face, and she averts her gaze quickly.
"Ah, Bakugou-kun..." she murmurs. "You're... you're seriously strong, huh... Congratulations!"
He looks her over once, seeing the frustration she's hiding behind her strained smile, and blinks. Their classmates watch silently, unsure of how to proceed. From behind Uraraka, Kirishima is mouthing, ' be nice!' while gesturing exaggeratedly. Katsuki ignores him.
"Your technique isn't completely hopeless but your stamina sucks and your poker face is shit," he says.
Uraraka startles, and Kirishima facepalms in the background, along with half the class.
"Dude !" Sero hisses. "She just lost a match, can you not?! "
Katsuki turns to stare at him flatly. The last thing this girl needs right now is sympathy; it's written all over her face that if one more person tries to console her, she's going to go feral.
"She's not made of fucking glass, Tapeface," he snaps. "I'm not gonna throw her a pity party because she lost a fucking fight."
Sero groans, burying his face in his palms as Kirishima pats his back sympathetically. Uraraka, on the other hand is staring at Katsuki with an unreadable expression. She doesn't move.
They hold eye contact for a long moment.
"Take an internship with someone who specialises in hand-to-hand. And stop announcing your plans like an idiot," he deadpans.
She winces, but the frustration behind her grimace has softened slightly, and she nods once.
"No offense, but how are you so sure she'll get offered an internship from someone like that?" Jirou cuts in dryly.
He doesn't bother turning to address the question, instead standing from his seat as he finally gives in to the pain lancing up his arm and decides to go to Recovery Girl.
"She will," he says simply, brushing past them and out the door.
"That was... weirdly encouraging," he hears Kirishima mumble as he leaves. Then, a beat of silence. "Uraraka!" Ashido cries. "Are you blushing?! "
Recovery Girl heals Katsuki's arm with a wet kiss to his forehead and a stern warning. He's ushered straight from the infirmary to the waiting room, where the podiums will rise for the award ceremony.
Uraraka is waiting there awkwardly, not meeting his eyes when he enters.
"Bakugou-kun," she calls when he arrives, "would you fight me again sometime?"
He shrugs, picking at the compression bandage wrapped around his forearm. It's completely unnecessary, considering Recovery Girl had already healed it, but he knows better than to argue with someone as terrifying as her.
"I don't see why not," he says simply. She nods, looking somewhat surprised at his easy agreement.
Izuku stands on Katsuki's other side, having won his fight against Tokoyami. He's covered in bandages, all four of his limbs and his abdomen wrapped in white. There's gauze around his head, and little bandaids litter his face and bared skin.
They wait in stilted silence until the podiums finally rise from the ground and up into the stadium.
The three of them are greeted with deafening cheers, and All Might lands down in front of them in his muscle form, completely speaking over Midnight's introduction speech like the mess he is. There's an awkward pause where the two heroes appraise each other, unsure of who should speak first, before Midnight sheepishly hands All Might the medals for presentation.
He lays the third place medal over Izuku's neck and hugs him loosely, making Katsuki snicker at the way the idiot turns bright red under the touch.
Then he awards Uraraka's medal in a similar manner, before finally turning to face Katsuki.
There's a hint of intimidation in the hero's smiling eyes as he nears Katsuki with the first place medal.
"All Might," he murmurs quietly as the hero leans in to place the medal on him.
"Y—Yes, Young Bakugou?"
Katsuki hums, smiling lightly.
"Come closer. I want to tell you something."
All Might swallows thickly, smile wavering as he nods once and leans in closer. When the hero is near enough that no one else can hear them, Katsuki lifts a hand from his pocket to pat his large shoulder gently.
"Every bone that Izuku breaks from now on is a year of your life lost," he says serenely, mouth barely moving. "Is that clear?"
The blood drains from All Might's face, and Katsuki feels a minute tremble run through the pro's body from where his hand still lays firmly on his shoulder.
All Might coughs into his fist once, nodding shakily.
Katsuki draws back, smiling thinly.
"Thank you for the medal, All Might."
When the hero turns to address the crowd again, there's a terrified glint to his grin.
"What did you say to him?" Uraraka asks curiously as All Might proceeds to fuck up the school's singular motto, making the crowd shout at him angrily.
"Nothing," Katsuki replies, watching the pro sheepishly bow in ten different directions to placate
the roaring audience. "Just smile and wave."
Chapter End Notes
thank you so much to evelyn for beta-ing ur an absolute angel and i would straight up die for u, (their ao3 is newdae and their fics are amazing!!) also thank u to windy for helping me plan out plot and stuff and giving me advice on writing (ao3 is Windschild8178 although you guys have probably read their stuff already KJSDFJKSD) 3333