A/N:I uploaded 2 chapters at the same time to finish the story off (chapters 3 and 4), so if you don't notice the other one I'm telling you now.

Also I quickly went through the first 2 chapters and made some minor revisions/edits.

After the Cavalry Battle, the Recreational Games flew by and third round tournament went forward at a breakneck pace. The matches had the crowd roaring, with the exception of Todoroki's match against Shinso, the black swan competitor from General Education.

'I can't blame the crowd for going silent,' Izuku thought as he sat in his waiting room, remembering their shock. 'Who could have expected Todoroki to lose his first match?!'

Shinso's quirk really was incredible. Izuku had been starstruck over it, dreaming up all kinds of ways it could serve him as a hero. Izuku hoped that the grumpy boy would see his dreams come true, that he had made enough of an impact on the judges to earn a place into the Hero Course.

'I just hope I didn't dash his chances by winning my match against him!'

Izuku had dominated his own bout against Shinso. After seeing his quirk in action he had been able develop some theories of how it worked that ended up proving correct. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut, to not let the prickly purplette get a rise out of him with his verbal jabs.

'He sure didn't hold back, though,' Izuku admitted. 'But he has a long way to before he can get under my skin like Mina does!'

Izuku cringed as his thoughts turned to the horned huntress.

With Kacchan eliminated in the second round, and Todoroki getting eliminated at the bottom of the tournament bracket, Izuku had somehow found himself as one of the favorites to win. He had toughed his way to the finals, and now it was time to face his final opponent.

And that opponent was Mina!

Izuku sighed and slumped into his seat. Things had been going so well since the tournament round began, but now he was up against her. A sense of dread filled him as he waited to be called back to the arena.

'I almost wish I was facing Kacchan out there,' he thought. He knew what to expect from his lifelong bully, but with Mina and her mischievous ways there was no telling what kind of humiliation this last match held in store for him!

…

"This is it, ladies and gentlemen: the Final Round! Let's give a loud welcome to our first finalist: the breakdancing battle beauty from Class 1-A, Mina Ashido!"

Mina was on cloud nine as she skipped out of the tunnel and heard the crowd of adoring fans cheering for her.

Her!

'I can't believe I made it this far,' she thought, buzzing with excitement and joy as she hopped onto the arena stage. Mina didn't lack for confidence and she always tackled life with a positive attitude. She had gone into the Festival determined to do her best, to give it her all to win it all but it still didn't feel real that she was just one final match from making it happen.

'This is the best day of my life,' she thought, stretching as she waited for the match to begin. 'The only thing that could make it better is…'

"And now, let's hear it for her opponent, also from Class 1-A. He's got green hair and lots of grit…it's Izuku Midoriya!"

The stadium roared just as loudly as Izuku made his entrance, and Mina couldn't feel prouder for him. But while she had soaked in the applause, waving back and blowing kisses to the crowd, she noticed that Izuku keeping his head down and hiding from their cheers.

'Not that I'm surprised,' she thought with a smirk. 'He's always so shy!'

But as he drew closer, the smirk dropped from Mina's lips and gave way to a concerned frown. It wasn't bashfulness that she saw on Izuku's face; it was a different emotion entirely.

'Is…is he angry?'

Mina was stunned. Izuku being angry didn't feel right at all. She loved when he smiled, and she loved when he was squirming and sweating and playing hard-to-get even more. He was adorable when she teased him and she didn't like this dour look on his face at all!

'His nerves must be getting to him,' she reasoned. 'It must be rough for someone so shy to handle all this pressure!'

Mina felt a chill when she looked Izuku in the eye after Midnight had them face each other and shake hands in the middle of the ring. His glare was cold and hard and his lips were curled into a scowl that ruined his soft, sweet freckled features.

"That's some game face you've got on, Izuku," Mina joked, smiling and speaking in a breezy tone. "You don't have to look so serious!"

Izuku didn't say a word, keeping silent as he slid into a fighting stance, waiting for Midnight to ring the bell.

'He's really not going to say anything?' she thought, puffing out her cheeks and feeling irked at his unusual behavior. 'Fine! Looks like it's up to me to save Izu-kun's smile. I'll use this final match to cheer him up! Time to have some fun and turn his frown upside down!'

…

Midnight swung her flog down between them with a deafening "crack" to start the match and Izuku dashed forward. He was focused, on winning, on doing his best, and on not letting himself get distracted by whatever shameless antics Mina had up her sleeve.

'This is your big chance, Izuku,' he told himself. 'Don't let her embarrass you!'

He had spent his time in the locker room psyching himself up, strengthening his resolve to not fall prey to Mina's mischief. But Mina was a force of nature, and his resolve wouldn't last long against her unpredictable antics.

"Ack!"

Izuku barely avoided getting his by a splash of Mina's Acid. He stopped his rush forward and leapt off to the side just in time, letting the potent solvent sizzle against the stone floor of the arena.

'She means business!'

He didn't have time to dwell on the damage her Acid was doing to the floor because another volley of it was coming his way. He leapt away from that one then got pushed back by the next and the next until, finally, he tripped and stumbled away from another.

"You'll have to do better than that, Izuku!" Mina said, laughing and taunting as she had him on the ropes. "You're just dancing around, trying to avoid my attacks! It you really want to dance with me so badly, I'm sure we can find a better venue than this!"

The crowd laughed at Mina's banter, with more than a few spectators hooting over the flirty tone of the girl's words. Izuku gritted his teeth and blushed, feeling hurt that he was once again being made into a very public fool.

'She's right, though,' he thought, fighting to stay focused. 'I can't just keep dodging, I have to strike back!'

Izuku huffed a breath of air out of his nose and re-centered himself. He took a step back to rev himself up then kicked off his back leg to launch himself forward.

"Get ready," he said. "Because here I c–"

SPLAT!

Izuku stopped in place as he felt something wet strike his chest. It was slimy and it tingled and he knew just what it was.

Izuku looked down to find that Mina's Acid had hit him dead-on. It had instantly melted a hole right through his shirt, leaving his chest bare for everyone to see.

Silence hung in the arena for a moment but the crowd started to roar again after seeing Mina finally connect with one of her attacks!

"Got you," she said. "You ran right into it and I hit you dead center!"

Izuku grumbled and prepared himself for his next move.

"And look at that," Mina continued, clicking her tongue in a playful show of faux-disappointment. "I ruined your shirt! Now there's nothing hiding your strong, toned, ripped chest from me…nothing at all…"

Izuku shivered as he felt Mina's stare linger a little too long on his exposed peck. He shifted and turned his body in a vain attempt to hide from her leering eyes, but now Mina could smell blood in the water.

"Mina likes," she purred. "In fact, I want to see some more!"

Mina shifted gears and went on the pursuit. No longer did she stand back and launch volleys from a distance; now she was skating along and chasing after Izuku, throwing wild handfuls of hydrochloric acid at him, aiming to burn more of his shirt away.

Izuku scurried away from her, desperately trying to evade her advances, but she had caught him flat-footed. After couple of narrow misses, Izuku tripped over one of the dips in the ground that Mina's Acid had left, and that stumble left him open for Mina's attacks to hit their target.

SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT!

Izuku hissed, feeling the sting of Acid on his skin. He had to get away; he couldn't keep letting her pummel him like this! As Mina drew closer he pushed forward, barreling into her and shoving her away with his shoulder to escape the killing zone and regroup a few meters away.

Izuku was breathing hard, but it wouldn't take him long to recover. He shifted into another fighting stance and his eyes scanned Mina, searching to find a weakness in her own stance that he could exploit. But to his surprise, Mina wasn't in a fighting stance at all; she looked very relaxed, standing there with a hand on her cheek and a big, toothy smile on her lips.

'What is she doing?'

"Oh, yes," Mina said in a salacious tone she could have learned from Ms. Midnight herself. "Mina really likes…"

Izuku didn't know what she was talking about. Still, that uneasy feeling in his stomach that she so often caused made itself known, and right after that the crowd starting making some noise, too.

"Woo!" shouted one person.

"Oh yeah!" cheered another.

"Check out his muscles!"

Izuku blinked. His muscles? Why were they talking about his muscles…

A breeze swept through the arena and Izuku was surprised at how chilly it felt. It hadn't been this cold before, had it?

He glanced down and it immediately made sense.

"You melted off my shirt!"

"I sure did!" Mina said, laughing as she gawked at his bare chest.

Izuku crossed his arms across his chest, trying to hide his shame, and the chill vanished in a flash as a full-body blush started heating up his skin.

The crowd's laughter joined Mina's, with plenty of inappropriate hoots and catcalls mixed in for good measure.

Izuku curled himself up, forming a ball as he crouched down and tried to hide. This was the worst! He'd been victim to bullies' laughter his whole life but it was nothing compared to this. Now it wasn't just Kacchan's crew in the neighborhood, it was the whole world seeing him with his shirt off!

"Aw, come on, Izuku," Mina said, stepping closer and dropping a friendly hand on his shoulder. "Why are you hiding the goods? Trust me, you have nothing to be embarrassed about!"

Izuku lifted his head and stared at her. 'Nothing to be embarrassed about?' Was she kidding him?! He couldn't believe what he was hearing; he couldn't believe the audacity Mina had to say that with a straight face.

It was the straw that broke the camel's back, and those words from Mina made him snap.

"All you do is embarrass me," he said as he shoved her hand off his shoulder. Slowly he climbed his way back to his feet, brushing dirt off of his knees and letting his messy curls hide his eyes.

"You tease me in the hallways, you tease me in front of the class. You tease me when we're alone, toying with my feelings and making a fool out of me, all for your own shits and giggles."

Izuku took a deep, shuddering breath and finally raised his head again to look Mina in the eye. And when he did Mina staggered, recoiling from his gaze and stumbling a few steps behind. She had never felt this kind of pressure from him; she never imagined his gaze could feel so cold!

"Why do you do it?" he asked. At first his words had been calm and soft, but now his voice was louder as he started to lose control of his emotions. "Why, Mina? Why?! Why are you always tormenting me?!"

Izuku screamed at her. His voice was rough, ragged and full of pain. His eyes were wild as they bored into her, demanding an answer.

"What…?" she whispered. She was confused, but more than that she was scared. Not for herself, but for him; Mina hated to see this boy she cared so much about looking so hurt.

Before she could ask him to explain what he meant, why he was saying those things to her, he kept going.

"I didn't want to believe it, you know," he said. "I didn't want to accept that you were so cruel, that you were someone who took delight in teasing me, taunting me, turning my feelings inside out.

"But you are. You're just like everyone else; you see me as nothing but a joke, a worthless Deku you can push around and look down on and laugh at, no matter how it makes me feel!"

Izuku's voice started to tremble and tears were starting to leak from his eyes. He shook the tears away and took another breath; he had to keep it together, just a little longer. He couldn't let things end like this; he needed to strike back!

"I always thought you were a good person. But you just humiliated me in front of the whole world, all so you could point and laugh? And you have the gall to tell me I shouldn't be embarrassed?!

"For the first time I feel like you're not the person I thought you were for all these years. You're not the hero I thought you were! No, Mina Ashido, what you are is nothing but a bully!"

…

Mina gasped and she felt her heart drop. Her blood went cold as Izuku's words spilled out and all at once she started to think back on her actions.

'A bully? Is…is that really what he thinks? Is that really how I've been making him feel? Is that really what I am?'

Ignorant to Mina's distress, Izuku kept going, lashing out and airing his grievances, though he had burned through the bulk of his anger and his voice started to grow quiet once more.

"A while ago you were upset with Hatsume. You didn't like it when she was teasing you, and I know you hate how Kacchan treats everybody. So why are you doing it, Ashido? You say you hate bullies so much, but why are you always bullying me?'

It finally sunk in to Mina: she really had been bullying Izuku! All the things she had done, all the flirting and flaunting and throwing herself all over him. It had all been for her, to amuse herself, and without making it clear to him why she was doing it, without telling him how she really felt about him, he wasn't in on the joke. She was having fun, but from his perspective it was all at his expense.

Mina collapsed to her knees, right in the middle of the arena, in the middle of the biggest sporting match in the country, overwhelmed with guilt and shame and regret.

"Oh my God," she whispered, her own voice beginning to tremble as her horrible realization continued to sink in. Her eyes darted around wildly, reflecting the panic and inner turmoil she felt, and when they stopped she found herself looking up at Izuku with tears in her eyes.

"I'm so, so sorry, Izuku! You must think I'm a monster…you must hate me!"

Silence reigned throughout the stadium after Mina shouted those words. It was uncomfortable and oppressive, and not even Midnight or Present Mic knew what to do after the two students had so publicly let their personal drama unfold.

The silence seemed to go on forever until the soft sound of Izuku's footsteps cut through the tense atmosphere. Everyone watched, Mina included, as he approached her and crouched down to face her on her level.

He stared into her eyes and watched as her golden irises were drowning in her inky scalera that were now wet with tears. He stared and stared, and she stared back, until he finally made another move.

Izuku reached up with his hand and cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand. His thumb gently started rubbing her tears away and Mina held her breath, frozen in awe as this moment unfolded.

She was still crying, but she couldn't look away from him. At that moment, even through her tears, Mina saw Izuku clearer than she ever had before. There was no mischief in her heart right then; there was no drive to tease him or make him blush. There was nothing but awe for a sweet, kind boy who would even comfort the person, the bully, who had tormented him over and over.

Then Izuku's eyes softened and he shared one of his soft, dazzling smiles with her. Mina blushed and felt her heart starting to flutter; she had always loved his smile!

'It feels just as warm and familiar as it did when we were kids!'

But the next moment didn't feel familiar at all. All of a sudden Izuku leaned in and kissed her, right in the middle of the arena…right in front of the whole world!

She was so stunned she didn't even think to kiss him back. It didn't make any sense! Not to her, and not to the crowd if their collective gasp was any indication.

Mina was out of her element; she had never been caught off guard like this before. She was a mess right now and it was so embarrassing!

She could do nothing but stare after he pulled away, dumbfounded and frozen in place. She didn't understand what had just happened, but before she could collect her thoughts enough to ask, Izuku surprised her once again.

He flashed her a smirk, smug and sharp, and leaned in close to whisper directly into her ear.

"Got you," he said, full of cheer and with a playful lilt in his voice.

The next thing Mina knew, she was been scooped up like a princess and held tightly in her prince's arms as he sped across the arena until he gently sat her down just over the edge of the stage.

Her heart was pounding and she was blushing like crazy, and it took a moment for her to catch up and realize what had just happened. But it didn't take long for reality to come crashing in.

"ASHIDO IS OUT OF BOUNDS!" Midnight cried, before she started waving her hand at Izuku. "IZUKU MIDORIYA IS THE WINNER!"

The crowd erupted into a chorus of rowdy cheers, joined by the deafening sound of Present Mic's booming voice joining in over the loudspeakers. The noise was enough to break Mina out of her daze, and after she came to her senses she looked up and pointed at the new champion.

"What the hell was that?!" she demanded, all prior traces of shame and contrition gone from her face. "Did YOU, Izuku Midoriya, just kiss ME?!"

Izuku smiled at her. It wasn't the warm smile he showed her a moment before, the one that reminded her of how sweet and kind he was. No, this smile was one he must have learned from her; it was smug, truly shit-eating, and altogether out of place on her sweet Izuku's freckled face.

"I sure did," he admitted, self-satisfied, unabashed and very proud of his victory.

Mina's eye kept twitching and she struggled to come to terms with her whole world being turned upside down.

"But…how? Why? I thought you were mad at me!"

Izuku laughed then stepped down to join her outside the ring. He offered her a hand that she accepted and he helped pull her to her feet.

"How could I ever be mad at you?" he asked. "You're just too cute!"

Izuku kissed Mina again, this time on the cheek, and made her squeal. She couldn't tell if he she was more surprised or delighted by his sudden boldness, but either way she ended up blushing even more. She buried her face in her hands, trying to hide the embarrassment she felt, an embarrassment made so much worse with all the whistles and howls and suggestive cheers pouring in from the crowd.

All the while, Izuku stood close to her, smiling that maddening grin of his, looking far too smug for her liking. This wasn't right…she was supposed to be the one teasing him!

'How did things end up like this?' she wondered. She was supposed to be the one making all the moves! She was supposed to be the flirty one, the brazen one, the one who made his ears turn red! She was supposed to be the one who–

Mina gasped as she made a realization.

"You…you…you're BULLYING me!" Izuku's smile grew even larger and he shrugged his shoulders, the gesture all the confession she needed.

"I thought it was about time to turn the tables," he said, remembering the advice his mother had given him a few days earlier. "I thought it was time to strike back and give you a taste of your own medicine!"

Mina pouted and her whole body started to shake. She looked mad, like she might lunge forward and deck him, but when she raised her hands it wasn't to throw a punch. Instead she dropped her hands on his shoulders, holding him in place.

"Fine, you got me. Well played, Izuku. I'm sorry that I was teasing you too much; I don't want to be someone who picks on you. There really is nothing I hate more than bullies, and I hate that I was being a bully towards you!" Izuku's smile softened. He hadn't taken it quite as hard as he had made it seem, but he was very grateful for Mina's apology even so.

But that heartfelt moment of understanding couldn't last. Mina's own mischievous smirk returned to her lips and the sight of it made all of Izuku's boldness melt away. He felt trapped in Mina's clutches, more vulnerable than ever, and he could have sworn there was some sixth sense drumming in the back of his skill, screaming at him that he was in danger.

"But you know something?" Mina asked, her voice sickly sweet as she continued speaking. "I wasn't just toying with you, Izuku. You said I was just teasing you to make fun, but I meant everything I said and everything I did." Izuku gasped at that admission, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"I may hate bullies, Izuku Midoriya, but I love you!" Then she all but tackled him, tipping him over onto his bare back, before she leaped down to her knees, her legs straddled over his waist, and leaned down to steal a kiss of her own from his lips. The crowd went even wilder but neither she nor Izuku could hear a thing.

Mina's kiss was completely different from the way Izuku had kissed her. He had been very chaste, swiftly brushing his lips against hers in a quick little peck. It had been amazing, to be sure; her heart was still racing from it! But for as bold as he had been at that moment, Izuku was still a shy and timid boy.

And Mina was anything but.

She mauled his lips with hers, devoured him with a lifetime of pent-up passion for her sweet, sweet cinnamon roll. She didn't just hit and run like Izuku had; no, she pressed on and on, breathing in nothing but him until the need for air forced them apart.

When the kiss broke the two just kept staring at each other. Mina was panting, looking down at him as she still had him pinned against the ground. Even she was surprised at what she had done; that was pretty bold, even for her!

Then Izuku's voice, his quiet, timid whisper, broke through the clamor of the stadium noise.

"Mina," he began, speaking her name with a quiet and breathless voice.

"Yes?" she asked, holding her own breath as she waited anxiously to hear what he had to say.

Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long. Izuku smiled then reached up to tenderly touch her face and once again brush away her tears, happy ones this time.

"I love you, too."

A/N: And here's the end, at long last!

I lost interest in this story altogether 2 years ago, for various reasons. But a few months ago I felt like I should push to finish it, mostly so it wasn't dangling unfinished in the back of my mind. I very slowly started to plan out these last two chapters and then after some more time finally wrote them up.

I wasn't super excited to come back to it, so I hope I was able to wrap things up well enough in spite of that. It's really hard to wait 2 years and try to pick things back up where I left them. I think this turned out quite differently than I had originally planned, for however much I had planned things out when I started.

For everyone who has read and enjoyed this story, unfinished as it was for so long, thank you very much. I hope this ending makes you smile!