The siren blaring to signal the official end of the second event was the most beautiful sound in the world to Izuku. The Sports Festival was stressful!

"Phew! That was something!" Kendo sighed in relief, "I really thought we were done for at the end there, but I guess you stole the show again, huh Midoriya?"

"It wasn't really..." he trailed off as he scratched his cheek, "I mean, I'm just glad we won."

She waved him off with a giant hand. "Don't worry, I'm not complaining. I got to show off a little and there's still the finals for me to really leave an impression. Quick question though," she said, craning her neck to look up at him, "How do we, you know, get you down?"

"... Oh. Uhh..."

Before he could come up with a convenient answer, Mei took the situation out of his hands by pulling her arm out from under him. The other two girls swayed a little at being suddenly forced to take more of his weight. "Yeah! Just what I needed! Thanks for getting me through to the finals, Mister First Place!" With a mighty wind-up she swung her arm to smack him on his presented backside from his seated position. Flesh met clothed flesh with a meaty smack! Once again she pulled her hand away, the extra effort required leaving her effectively groping him before separating. "See you in the finals!"

"Did–" Izuku stammered, eyes watering slightly from the stinging sensation and the humiliation, "Did I just get spanked on national television?" And then with dawning horror he remembered his mom had promised to watch.

"That girl is weird," Kendo commented. "Oh well. Hey, Uraraka, I'll need you to brace yourself for a sec." So saying, Kendo peeled Izuku's legs up and off of her shoulders, lowering him down to the dirt before freeing herself from him completely, Uraraka peeling her arm away from his thighs only when he was securely on the ground. For purely practical reasons of course. "So, I just wanna thank you for not getting... You know... Excited?" she asked with a blush. "It was already embarrassing enough having your thing stuck to the back of my head. I don't know if I could have taken it if–"

"No no it's fine!" Izuku assured her as much to get her to stop talking as for really feeling it. He hadn't really considered that part, too focused on winning the event. But now he very much was thinking about it and–

"Great!" Kendo exclaimed forcefully, "So I'm just gonna go... We... They're announcing the winners so..." she half-babbled awkwardly as she walked backwards away from him. "But this was great! Meeting people from other classes. We should keep in touch!" Her expression froze. "I mean, like, talking, not literally... I'll just... Bye."

Ochako walked up next to him as he watched her walk away. "She seemed nice," she said with unusual stiffness for a girl who usually held such easy cheer.

Not that Izuku was perceptive enough to notice in the moment, still coming down from his victory high. "We should go too."

"Ladies and gentlemen, our winners for the second event of this year's Sports Festival!" Midnight announced to cheers. "In first place! Team Midoriya consisting of Itsuka Kendo from Class 1-B, Mei Hatsume from Class 1-H and Ochako Uraraka and Izuku Midoriya from Class 1-A!"

"Hey Izuku!" he heard his girlfriend call him, Kyoka coming over as he approached with a brightness in her eyes she seemed to reserve just for him. "You're still killing it, huh? Keep going like this and you'll start making the rest of us look bad."

"I guess we're just a great team!" Ochako answered before Izuku had the chance, grabbing him by the arm. "Right Izuku?"

Taking in Kyoka's narrowed eyes directed not at him but at Ochako, Izuku felt a sudden tension he didn't understand. "Uh, right. It was a team effort."

"Is that so?" The dry response again felt like it wasn't directed at him.

"How did you guys do?" Izuku asked, hoping to deflect this... Whatever it was.

She blinked, her eyes moving back to him finally as she gave him a secretive smile. "Oh, we did okay."

"In second place! Team Jirou consisting of Rikido Sato, Koji Koda, Fumikage Tokoyami and Kyoka Jirou of Class 1-A!"

"You got second?!" Izuku asked, watching the highlights on the monitor of Team Jirou's escapades. Most prominent the quick snatch during Todoroki's icing incident and subtly snaking one of her jacks into the back of Shoji's turtle shell like protection for his teammates, coming back out with a headband hanging from it, and then fighting off Team Monoma. "That's amazing, Jirou!"

"Yeah, we were pretty great," Jirou agreed without shame.

"In third place! Team Shinso consisting of Yuga Aoyama and Mashirao Ojiro from Class 1-A, Nirengeki Shoda from Class 1-B and Hitoshi Shinso from Class 1-C!"

Izuku looked to the monitor again hoping for some clues about the two people he knew nothing about. He found himself disappointed though. All the replay showed was the team running undisturbed. What?

"And in fourth place! Team Rin consisting of Toru Hagakure from Class 1-A and Jurota Shishida and Hiryu Rin from Class 1-B!"

Almost like a counterpoint to the third place team, the highlights for Team Rin were a frenzy of activity. Enough that they could show most of the last minute of the event from their perspective. Stealing Todoroki's headband was immediately followed by escaping the ice wall to get into a three-way brawl with Team Monoma and Team Bakugo. A fight with Monoma the absolute loser, one headband each stolen by Bakugo and Hagakure. Judging by the score difference, Bakugo got the wrong one.

In realising that, Izuku only then noticed how quiet it was and how few screams of rage and indignation he was hearing. Head whipping around to look for his childhood friend, the green-haired boy saw him half-stomping toward the arena exit. He wasn't even listening to the results.

Not that Izuku would know it, Bakugo crossed paths with another of the day's big losers on his way out. Todoroki met his stare evenly with the same intensity as always. Bakugo's impatient glare was also not out of the ordinary. And yet a measure of understanding passed between the two of them. The dissatisfaction of losing, the impotent desire to do it all over again.

And then the moment was over. And Bakugo left the stadium.

"With those four teams," Midnight continued, "We have only fifteen participants! That means we need one more to–"

"Excuse me!" Ojiro shouted, raising his hand. "I'd like to resign." Stepping forward the blond tailed boy plead his case for why, explaining how he didn't even remember participating in the second event, so in good conscience he couldn't take a spot he felt he hadn't earned. Right after, Shoda echoed his sentiments.

Not Aoyama though.

"That kind of youthful naivety really turns me on!" Midnight yelled directly into her microphone without shame. "I– Whu–" she grunted, stumbling to the side suddenly. Glancing in that direction she saw a certain frizzy-haired boy, his eyes wide as he wore a megawatt blush. "Hm! Tsk tsk! Don't get overexcited, young man. We wouldn't want me to take you aside for some punishment... Or would we?"

"N-No ma'am!" Izuku answered, his voice cracking. He could feel Kyoka's unimpressed stare burning a hole in the side of his head.

"As I was saying, with the resignation of Ojiro and Shoda, there are now three open spots in the bracket to be filled by the fifth place team, Team Shiozaki! Decide quickly please!"

The four girl team engaged in a quick huddle to figure out who would go through. "It would be inconceivable for the most enterprising individuals of our team to be forsaken. Pursuant to this, Setusna and Shiozaki should proceed forthwith," the ghostly Reiko Yanagi stated quietly.

The vine-haired Shiozaki and the mushroom-like Komori just stared at her, confused.

"She said me and Shiozaki did the most so we should go through," Tokage explained.

Letting out a light smile, Yanagi bobbed her head. "Precisely!"

"Komori, what do you think?" Shiozaki asked. "I'm sure we could come up with a fair way to decide. I could not feel satisfied with moving forward if you were not comfortable with such a result."

"No, Yanagi's right," Komori said quietly. "We didn't do much." Shuffling toward the ghostly girl she raised a fist. "Rock paper scissors?" she asked.

Reiko's head bobbed again, raising an open hand. "Rock paper scissors shoot!"

The other two members of the team were agape at the result. Reko's paper beating Komori's rock. "Komori, how...? She didn't even close her hand at all! Why did you pick rock?!" Setsuna demanded.

"I thought she was trying to trick me," the mushroom girl whimpered, tears silently rolling down her cheeks.

"Well then! Looks like we're back on track with a full roster of 16 competitors! Next we'll draw lots to determine the bracket!"

One round of that and the bracket was revealed on the monitor.

Toru Hagakure vs Koji Koda
Hitoshi Shinso vs Ibara Shiozaki
Itsuka Kendo vs Yuga Aoyama
Rikido Sato vs Kyoka Jiro
Fumikage Tokoyami vs Ochako Uraraka
Izuku Midoriya vs Reiko Yanagi
Jurota Shishida vs Setsuna Tokage
Mei Hatsume vs Hiryu Rin

"And there you have it folks!" Present Mic exclaimed over the loudspeakers, "Your top sixteen competitors set to duke it out to see who will rise to the top as our first year champion! We're gonna have a break for these crazy kids to prepare, but don't you worry! If you stick around we've got our patented UA side games to tide you over! Don't touch that dial, sports fans!"

-(-)-

Izuku had just wanted to get some air. Or rather, he had wanted to get away from the crowds and all the people for a little while. Winning the first event had been a thrill until he found out the consequence, forcing him to defend that top spot. Winning the second event hadn't lessened the pressure in the slightest.

There was a popular saying, that heroes had to bat a thousand because if they ever slipped up, at best it would cripple their career, at worst a lot of people would suffer. Being a professional hero was a high risk high reward career and everyone knew it. That is, intellectually they knew it. It was a whole other reality to feel it, to know everyone around was watching to see when you would stumble.

And none had been watching him closer than the boy who had waited for him at the student entrance to the stadium. Izuku tried not to fidget under the glare of the scarred boy. Todoroki had said nothing, simply glared until Izuku stopped for... Whatever he wanted.

"So... I'm sorry about forcefully activating your quirk," Izuku said, finally caving under the glare of the usually taciturn boy. "I know it's a pretty invasive thing to do. I didn't actually know it would happen during the race. I thought I would just pull your left side because you know, that's the hot side, or at least the side I could conceptualise as hot but then it turned out the fact that I knew your quirk was hot and that you weren't was really important–"

"Midoriya."

"–And then in the cavalry battle it was more of a reaction than anything I really planned to do, but you know everyone's trying their hardest to win so you can understand, right?"

Todoroki took in the frightened, nervous visage of the boy he had grown to severely dislike over the course of the tournament. Seeing Midoriya like this did very little to assuage his anger. "Your power. It uses heat energy to give you superhuman strength."

The true answer to that question was 'no', but Izuku knew he couldn't say that. "What about it?"

"It's like a freakish blend of All Might and my father," Todoroki observed, barely managing to keep the snarl out of his voice at the end, "And All Might is strangely invested in your progress for some reason. I wouldn't expect All Might to be in for any weird genetic experiment to make the perfect hero but considering my other point of reference for how the best heroes act–"

"Wh-What?!" Izuku reeled back, horrified by the implication. Though... All Might did have him ingest his DNA so technically– "It's nothing like that! How would you even come up with something so crazy?! My dad had a fire quirk and my mom could attract things! That's all! The enhancement is just one of those weird quirks of... quirks. Of quirk inheritance."

Shoto didn't believe him. Perhaps his judgement was clouded but it was easy for him to believe the smaller boy was lying through his teeth. But that was not why the split-haired boy had confronted him here. "You will never forcefully activate my left side ever again." It wasn't a question, it wasn't a request, it wasn't a demand. It was a statement of fact. "I don't care about your reasons, I don't care about your excuses. If you do it again I won't hold myself responsible for what happens."

"Wh-What are you even saying?!" Izuku demanded. "I know it wasn't the nicest thing to do but we were competing! I get you're angry but threatening me over it?!"

"You don't have a damn clue what that power is! What it represents! I'll never use my left side! The quirk my father gave me can wither and die for all I care! Do you have any idea what it's like?! What that man did to make me, his 'pride and joy', his perfect successor! My mother suffered so much, he used his wife as a brood mare until he got what he wanted from her! Her life was so miserable it broke her, the day she poured boiling water on my face she was so horrified to look at me! Because my left side reminded her of him!"

The look of shock on Midoriya's face snapped Todoroki out of his tirade, realising he had shared more than he had intended. Though the look might have also had to do with the layer of ice spreading outward. "So now you know," he said finally, deciding to roll with it. His body steamed as he melted away the ice. "I'll never use it. Endeavour's perfect successor is a failure because he was a failure as a husband and father. I'll become a great hero without his power. I don't need it." He considered repeating his demand once more but he was angry enough he just wanted to get away from this conversation. And the sympathetic eyes of Midoriya told him he was laying too much of his anger on someone who wasn't involved. Midoriya hadn't known. Now he did. Now he knew better.

And so he believed as he turned and walked away, leaving the stadium. He believed it right until he heard Midoriya's voice from behind him. "It's not his." Looking over his shoulder, Todoroki saw the other boy had followed him out.

"What?"

The first words had been quiet. But the next ones were spoken aloud, unwavering. "It's not his," Izuku repeated, "I can't imagine what you went through, what it was like for you to live like that."

"No. You can't!" Todoroki snapped, anger from wanting to just leave more than ever.

"No, I can't!" Midoriya's voice raised to match him. "You went through a whole lot more than I did so I can't even begin to understand where you're coming from, but it doesn't matter!"

"Excuse me?!"

"We're supposed to be heroes! You think you can call yourself that using only half your strength?!"

"I don't need his strength! That power is as rotten as the man it came from! I'll never use it!"

Midoriya didn't know what possessed him in that moment. Some of it might have come from growing up with a weak and insignificant quirk. He had wanted to be a hero so badly, wanted to be the one to save people with a smile, just like All Might. He had done what he could when he was young. He had done his best to train his quirk, to make it strong, to be worthy of a hero, to be powerful enough to save people. He had worked so hard to turn it into a power that could maybe help somebody one day in the exact right circumstances.

And here was Todoroki. A boy with a tragic past yes, but a boy who had signed up to be a hero just like Izuku. A boy with so much power he could have decided not to train a single day in his life and would still have been able to make it as a hero. And yet he insisted on squandering that power and talent because of his own issues. It was... It was wrong!

He raised his hand, and with a gesture–

Fwoom!

Todoroki's left side ignited! A curtain of flame roared from his body! His expression one of shock, then anger, then hate. "How dare you... After everything I just told you!"

"I don't give a damn!" Izuku roared back. "Screw the Sports Festival! We're training to be heroes, Todoroki! And you're telling me the only reason you're here is to stick it to your dad, to prove how much you don't need him?! You can't be a hero out of spite, Todoroki!"

"What the hell do you know?!"

Fwoom!

"I know that if a single person gets hurt because you held yourself back, because you were so focused on sticking it to Endeavour, you'll be a failure as a hero no matter what anyone says! The school motto is 'Plus Ultra', not 'half-ass it'!"

Todoroki's right foot stomped down, a wave of ice spreading from him that snuffed out his fire. The wave approached Midoriya at speed, the green-haired boy ready to leap away... But it stopped. The layer of jagged ice stopped a mere half meter away from him.

Panting from anger and the exertions of his quirk, Todoroki stared him down. "Stay away from me, Midoriya," he growled, turning on his heel and walking away.

Izuku stayed stood there outside the stadium, making no further effort to chase Todoroki down. What had just happened... It may have been impulsive. It probably wasn't the right way to handle the situation. Even so, he fully believed everything he had said. If Todoroki continued as he was, he would never be a hero. Not really.

Izuku just wished he knew how to get through to him.

-(-)-

A/N: You know, it's funny. Someone in the thread said they'd seen Bakugo and/or Todoroki lose the cavalry battle before, but get into the tournament anyway by intimidating the others.

And I read that... And I knew immediately that couldn't happen. Well, for Todoroki it would have been plausible if his team had points but they were tied for dead last. Bakugo though? It wouldn't matter if it was from intimidation, from respect of his strength, respect of his tenacity, he would tell them to fuck off. Because he didn't win. Didn't even place. And there was no way in hell he would accept moving on out of what he would see as pity.