Chapter Text
A week after their outing ("It was not a date, Ochako!”), Izuku finds himself sitting on the floor, ignoring the perfectly good couch behind him, hunched over the coffee table while he works on his science homework. His friends are scattered throughout the common room, all working on their own assignments. Tenya works diligently on math, his brow furrowed, Ochako sits cross-legged on the couch behind Izuku working on an English vocabulary sheet, and Tsu was laid out on the carpet, occupied with her art history assignment. Izuku's not quite sure where Todoroki is, but the last time they saw him he was muttering about how he had slept in and missed breakfast, so he was probably somewhere in the kitchen.
Someone stomps into the common area and Izuku's brought out of his thoughts, "Deku!" Katsuki begins.
Izuku turns away from his assignment, "Yes?"
Bakugou clenches his jaw before clearing his throat and looking anywhere but Izuku's green eyes, "Do you want to spar with me after lunch?"
Midoriya lights up, "Yeah! I'd love to, Kacchan! I've actually been wanting to try a move on you. I've been working on some long-range moves and from what I've seen you're really good at keeping your opponent within your firing range so it would be good practice for me to-" he trails off beginning to mutter to himself.
Ochako taps Izuku's shoulder from her position on the couch, interrupting their mumbling, and Katsuki can't help but kind of hate her for it as he watches Izuku's arms flail in front of his face in an attempt to hide his embarrassed blush, apologizing profusely. Though he supposed that he shouldn't really be upset with her when he was the one to blame -- it was his actions that first caused Izuku to doubt himself all those years ago. But he wasn't ready to unpack all of that.
A few hours later, Izuku and Katsuki found themselves at Ground Beta once more -- Izuku had requested that they spar somewhere outside where they wouldn't have to worry about property damage. All Might had joined them, the two of them requiring a chaperone to supervise their spar. Bakugou wasn't quite sure what Izuku had planned, but it sounded destructive, which of course means that he's game.
He knocks his shoulder into Izuku's, "What are you planning?"
They look over and smirk at him, his eyes mischievous, "It's a surprise."
He lifts his eyebrow, "A surprise? Really? You're not going to tell me? Normally you can barely fit all of your ideas in that small ass head of yours," he wraps his knuckles lightly against the other boy's skull.
"Hey!" he playfully shoves Katsuki's hand away, "My head is not small."
"Sure it isn't," he puts his hands in his pockets.
"It's not!" Izuku says indignantly.
He chuckles, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You ready to go?"
Izuku stands up straight, his chest puffing out, the playful grin from earlier back once more, "Always."
Katsuki turns towards All Might who's sitting on a fold-out chair on top of a building a block or so over, "Hey! You ready for us to start?" he yells.
"Whenever you're ready!" the former number one replies, giving his signature thumbs up to the pair.
Katuki watches in silence as Izuku ties his hair into a short ponytail, his arm muscles rippling causing his scars to move in the most interesting ways, the headband from earlier still keeping his bangs out of his face. When he's finished, the two move to stand several feet apart and find their footing, getting into a fighting stance.
They make eye contact, and Izuku suddenly feels like his entire body was dumped in freezing cold water. He had never felt so alive. Katsuki gives his normal sadistic grin -- the one he gives all of his opponents -- but there's something else there. Something more. Izuku doesn't have time to think about it.
The fight begins.
They're silent at first, moving without speaking, an understanding passing between the two. Katsuki knows where Izuku is planning to turn next, always right there to counter his move. He knows their tells -- the slight change in footing, the quick sidewards glance. He's known Izuku most of their lives, and it's obvious in the way they fight. For every block and counter that Katsuki makes, Izuku is right there next to him, blocking his opponents attacks. When Katsuki takes a step back to balance himself in preparation for a punch, Izuku's arms are already coming up to block him, the braces on his arms effective in protecting his weaker bones.
It's not as brutal of a battle as their last altercation at Ground Beta, but they were going harder than they usually would during a normal training match. Somewhere along the way, even though neither of them had intended, this had turned into a rematch.
But instead of the negative emotions that had coursed through their veins the last time and the desperation to prove themselves to the other, there was just joy. Two heroes-in-training having fun. An easy smile slipped onto Izuku's face and he laughed, and Katsuki swore the world became a little bit more colorful.
Izuku finally makes leeway in the fight, getting away from Bakugou with the use of Float and Blackwhip. Once Izuku deems himself a safe distance away, he tries his new move. During the Sports Festival, when he still didn't quite know how to use One For All without breaking his body, he had created shockwaves using his fingers. Of course, his hands weren't strong enough to withstand the force of the blast back then, but now he had support gear, a lot more experience, and a plan.
Jumping with a boost from Float, Izuku twists in the air, his leg swinging into a graceful kick, the power of One For All behind it. A shockwave, one much larger than any he had managed to create before, built from his leg, the energy rushing towards Bakugou at an alarming pace.
Katsuki grunted as he was forced to dodge the impending blast, but Izuku wasn't upset about the miss -- that had been the plan -- he was rarely able to land a hit on Katsuki.
The blast destroyed the ground that the blond had previously been standing on, a cloud of sand and dust being blown through the air, making it practically impossible to see.
Izuku uses Katsuki's temporary blindness and surprise to their advantage and finally lands a hit on the blond.
When the smoke clears, Katsuki finds himself flat on the ground, Izuku's gloved hand covering his face and a stupid grin on his face, "I win, Kacchan."
Bakugou swats the other's hand away, both of them out of breath, and just lies there for a moment, staring at the blue sky above him. He startles as something is suddenly shoved into his face and lifts his head off of the ground to find Izuku offering his hand to him. He blinks as he's suddenly reminded of a much younger Izuku offering a much dumber version of himself the same hand, almost a decade ago. But instead of shoving the other away like he would have a year ago, hell, even two months ago, this time he accepts the help, taking the hand, grunting as the other hoists him up as if he weighs 20 pounds.
Even when he finds his footing, neither let go of the other's hand, the two just standing there. Face to face. Eye to eye.
Izuku grins -- they both know what this means. For the first time in a decade, Katsuki acknowledges Izuku as an equal.
Bakugou smirks, finally letting go of Midoriya's hand, "I'll get you next time, nerd."
Izuku throws his head back and laughs, "In your dreams."