Chapter Text
It should have been normal—was it normal? It should have felt normal. It should have been normal. It had to be normal.
There was nothing abnormal about training heroes with faux-villains and heroic tests and exams. That was the point of U.A. It was the point of their training. It was the entire point of everything. They had to train their bodies and minds to take on their quirks and strengthen them, they had to train their bodies and minds to the future, they had to train their minds and bodies to be true heroes. There was nothing abnormal about that.
Midoriya felt his mutters pool on the back of his tongue and he attempted to swallow them down, whatever he was trying to analyze wasn't coming out right. Class A had gathered in their costumes at Ground Beta, Aizawa was at the front and was giving them instructions. Nothing should have been abnormal--but nothing seemed normal.
“Mr. Aizawa!” Iida was the first to speak, his hand jutted up faster than his voice. “May I ask a question?” He didn’t give the teacher a moment to answer, “Who are those people with you?”
It was on everyone’s minds; Aizawa weren’t alone, two figures stood near him, one short, one tall. They wore masks that covered their entire faces; the tall one wore a dark cloak that went to his ankles, his hood covered his head; the short one had on a helmet that looked like a motorcycle helmet and was wearing a Keikogi with a skin-tight suit beneath that covered their hands and neck. Rather than their uniforms, they gave off a presence that made it hard for any student to pay attention to their teacher; they lurked in their vision, their unknown faces and bodies worried the students’ minds.
“They are the villains you will be facing,” Aizawa answered plainly.
“But who are they?” Mina asked, her voice was easily heard over the silence.
“Their identities won’t be revealed,” Aizawa replied, “Nothing about them will be given to you. You’re lucky you’re getting this much of a look at your 'enemy'.”
Midoriya felt Uraraka’s worried gaze and met her eyes with a small, worried smile of his own. He wanted to reassure her but the two were imposing and soon the students were exchanging guesses as to their identities.
“Can’t we know their quirks?” Kaminari asked.
"No," Aizawa answered just as strongly as it was quickly. "Most of the time, pro-heroes have little-to-no information regaurding the situation they're about to face. You won't have any idea what their plan is, what they're capable of, and what they'll do. This test won't end until the school day does."
"So long," a voice came in. "How long does he think this will take?" another whispered. "How do we win?" another asked.
“Idiots!” Bakugou shouted, rather than fearful, he seemed joyful at the challenge, “We just have to take down whatever they throw at us."
"That's a way to handle it," Aizawa replied as he folded his paper and started away frm the group.
The shorter figure turned and began down the street, opposing the students and away from Aizawa, the taller soon followed.
“Mr. Aizawa!” Iida raised his hand once again.
“Use your quirks freely,” Aizawa said over his shoulder, “Do whatever you want. I'd suggest you work together and take as long as you can to think."
Midoriya was already thinking, his mind felt numb from thinking. He had no information, the two 'villains' continued down the street as if the students weren't there. In any other situation, Midoriya would have ignored them completely.
“Don’t strain yourselves. There isn't a real time limit. I'll give you further instructions and watch from a booth and I'll let you know when to begin,” Aizawa said, “Don't hurt yourselves. I don’t expect any of you to pass this one.”
The students froze in unison, iced by Aizawa’s comment.
“Of course we’ll pass!” Kirishima shouted at him. It didn't stop Aizawa and the students weren't certain whether or not either of them were confident in their guesses.
"We don't know anything about them," Uraraka deflated.
"Don't worry," Iida chimed in, "We have all day to deal with them."
"That might not be a good thing," Todoroki said.
"We need a plan," Midoriya turned to his classmates, most had unknowingly gathered in a huddle, waiting for ideas and what to do.
"Start," Aizawa said and it made them look up at the speakers near the tops of buildings and on light posts.
There wasn't a second to respond; a loud, distinct creak came from a building before a plume of smoke and fire exploded into the sky. Several of the students flinched and covered their heads as the debris rained down on them. Not a moment after, the buildings started going in a chain-like reaction toward them. The falling debris was too large to stop yet too small for any to use their quirks to try to stop it; instead, it forced them out of their content huddle and fleeing into different store fronts and alleyways.
“Who are those guys?!” Sero shouted.
Midoriya had ended up in an alleyway with Sero, Uraraka, Asui, Jiro, Bakugou, Kirishima, and Shoji. Panicked, they clung to the walls while the walls came down around them and crushed the street.
“They are strong,” Asui commented before they all flinched once again as they heard the smash of concrete.
“Who cares?!” Bakugou replied, “We just have to take them down!”
“Faster the better!” Kirishima agreed and flexed his arms, his muscle and bone hardened and he gave a satisfied smirk to Bakugou who was already flexing his hands in the hope to gain more sweat.
Before either of them could act or any could do anything, a crinkling noise came from behind them and shards of ice pierced into the sky. A wall of blue ice effectively blocking the debris from its downpour. A cold blanket fell over the students.
“Todorki!” Midoriya cheered and his eyes shot out into the street, he couldn’t see his friend, but he could hear him nearby.
“Bastard!” Bakugou exclaimed before he rushed out into the street.
“As if we needed cover!” Kirishima shouted in the direction the ice came from.
Midoriya soon followed them out into the street, the debris fell and sounded strange against the wall of ice that protected them, it made him feel like he was a fish inside of an aquarium. He saw Bakugou darting in the direction of the two; head-first dive, Midoriya thought, as always.
“Bakugou!” Iida almost needlessly shouted after him, “Mr. Aizawa said we had to stick together on!”
“Shut up!” Bakugou said despite that he used Todoroki’s ice wall to peer out into the street beyond.
Midoriya hesitated and watched Bakugou. He wasn’t the same after their house arrest, after learning from All Might what had happened--Midoriya and Bakugou's relationship wasn’t the same. Bakugou was prickly but he wasn’t as prickly. He could stand to be in the same alleyway, he could stand to see Todoroki’s ice wall as a shield rather than trudging through no matter what came. It somehow gave Midoriya unease to watch him; their relationship was different yet the same. He had wanted more, to see that their level had evened out someway, but it felt like there was a stand-off and Bakugou was just as far away as he had always been.
“Is anyone hurt?” Uraraka’s voice brought him back to his other classmates that were coming back out onto the street from the alleyways and store fronts.
“No,” most answered in unison, a few comments on their minor injuries but didn’t drag their feet about it.
“Midoriya,” Iida called out.
Midoriya looked at him, he was tilted a bit, his helmet was directed more at the ice wall and what was beyond. Before he could speak, he stopped when he heard Bakugou's explosions on the other side, he wanted to get beyond but he didn't know how. His mind reeled at the possibilities of what was beyond, Bakugou's explosions and Kirishima's shouts were mixed in with the continuing destruction of Ground Beta.
“I see you!” Bakugou's voice carried easily over the explosions and ice; Midoriya managed to catch a glimpse of his uniform behind the ice wall before the wall shook with the blasts from his hands. Kirishima followed closely.
“We need to think about this!” said Yaoyorozu, prompting Midoriya to stay rather than chase after him.
“Mr. Aizawa said this was a test where we had to stick together,” Iida pointed out once again.
“One of them has some kind of explosion quirk,” Jiro added, “That had to set off the buildings.”
Midoriya rattled his brain for what Aizawa had said. He remembered him talking, he remembered nearly everything but what he said.
“We don’t know what they want,” Todoroki said, “We don’t get to know where they are.”
“But we know a little more than we did a minute ago,” Yaoyorozu pointed out.
“I hope you’re thinking of a plan,” Todoroki looked at Midoriya.
Midoriya panicked beneath the pressure, he realized that he must have looked like he was thinking. He was clutching his chin, his posture tilted. He had been thinking—just not of a plan.
A shout came over them that was of fear--true fear.
Within a moment, Todoroki’s ice wall crackled and grew a dent that looked like a busted mirror. Within a moment, the ice began to collapse against its weight. The classmates fled in their opposing directions once again, Todoroki rose his flames to try to melt the ice, to shove it anyway but in their direction.
It worked, and Todoroki breathed heavily as they looked out into the open road.
A moment after it, a buzzer sound came over them.
“You failed,” Aizawa spoke over the speaker system, “Bakugou was killed by the villain.”
His heart dropped to his shoes, Midoriya felt his entire body freeze up at the idea. That shout, he recognized the voice, it had been Bakugou's. It was fear. It had been a scream Midoriya felt ring through his body.
“What?!” Kaminari shouted first.
“I’m not dead! Up your's!" Bakugou's voice made Midoriya feel his heart beat once again. He was angry but the fear was gone, he didn't sound to be in pain. He pushed off of the wall and ran back out into the street, he couldn't see anything beyond what had already been destroyed and broken in the initial explosions.
"It's a game," Aizawa said over the speaker.
"I can fight!" Bakugou said before there was more shouting that Midoriya couldn't understand.
Bakugou stumbled out from a far-off alleyway. He was carrying one of his gloves and grenade harnesses, he was angrier than Midoriya had imagined. He looked more upset and Kirishima came out of the alleyway closer to the group, he shouted to Bakugou but Bakugou nearly ignored him, grunting and continuing to move back toward the class they had left behind.
“We will do this test until its point is made,” Aizawa said over the speakers, “You still haven’t moved nearly a block, the only one that got close was Bakugou and—were this real life—it would have killed him.”
"I'm right here!" Bakugou shouted at the speaker before he climbed over the remnants of Todoroki's ice wall to the group.
“What happened?” Kirishima asked.
“He’s got a gun!” Bakugou shouted loudly and gestured down the street he came.
In unison, they all looked back down the street. They hadn't even seen the villains again, let alone what they were carrying.
“I didn’t die ‘cause of his quirk! I didn’t lose that way! He’s cheating!” Bakugou raged.
When Aizawa said nothing, when nothing happened, the students only grew more uneasy and quiet. They looked at their surroundings, wondered when the next explosion would come to set them off again. Bakugou grew angrier the longer they stood and waited; Midoriya didn’t say it, but he was glad Aizawa had been in the game still when he said he was hurt. Bakugou wasn’t injured save for his glove that he shoved back on despite that it seemed to be malfunctioning in some way.
"Restart," Aizawa said over the speakers before they audibly cut off.
“Did you learn anything about them?” Mina bravely asked Bakugou.
“That he’s got a gun!” Bakugou shouted.
“Get down!” Shoji exclaimed and shoved Midoriya to the side, he knocked into Iida who fell into Todoroki before the three hit the ground.
Any complaint they had about their movements fell silent as they all looked at towers and spirals of ice that shot up from the ground and split them down the center. The other classmates had been knocked to the ground either by their own force or by the ice itself.
“That’s…” Todoroki breathed, startled and moved out from beneath Iida and Midoriya.
Naturally, their eyes fell to Todoroki for information and clues; Todoroki was just as confused as the rest of them.
“Run!” Kaminari exclaimed before he scrambled to his feet.
“We have to stay together!” Iida raced after him.
“Wait!” Midoriya called after the others that jumped to follow Kaminari into the safety of the urban environment.
To his surprise, Bakugou fled into the alleyway with the others. Midoriya helped pull Todoroki, who was still locked onto the ice, from the asphalt and bring him to the alleyway.
“New quirk,” Midoriya commented as he looked at the ice, they were already panting, their adrenaline reeling.
They were nearly identical to the way Todoroki used his ice offensively. The shape, the trajectory, it was intentionally meant to surprise them all. Todoroki was so taken aback by it that he couldn't answer.
Bakugou leaned against the start of the alleyway opposite Midoriya, Midoriya looked him over. He was wild-eyed and breathing harder than the rest, he had to hold his grenade on the top of his arm and he tried to fasten it back into place.
“What the hell happened?!” Midoriya asked Bakugou.
“Shut up, Deku!” He replied without looking at him.
“Do you think we really can’t pass this test?” Mina asked.
“Of course we can!” Bakugou shouted at her. His hands were shaking, Midoriya noticed, he tried to conceal it in his gloves but the grenades that were on his forearms made it more obvious.
“What happened?” Midoriya asked him, his tone softer.
Bakugou shot him a look that quickly turned angry when he realized what Midoriya had seen beyond his facade. That his cockiness had fallen away just a bit, that he had seen something that scared him. He grit his teeth and Midoriya prepared to apologize and take whatever shouting Bakugou could.
Yet Bakugou fell silent, his eyes widened, his mouth hung open and Midoriya heard what he did a moment later. Firecrackers—what most people would have interpreted to be firecrackers—but to Bakugou and Midoriya, it was Bakugou’s quirk.
Together, they looked out of the alleyway and down the street. The shorter figure was alone, stood next to the ice, their left hand was open and small crackles came from the palm of their hand, exploding into brilliant balls of light.
“Hey!” Bakugou shouted and rushed out of the alleyway.
He hardly had a moment, he was knocked backward by another pillar of ice that came from the ground. The shorter figure had frost on their right leg, extended outward and their toes the focal point of the ice.
“Copy?” Todoroki guessed finally.
Bakugou got up off of the ground, his hands startled crackling and soon fire popped out from beneath his palms. He glared at the figure down the way; Midoriya’s mind turned over what to do, how to get there, what their quirk truly was.
"Like that guy in class B?" Uraraka guessed.
“He didn’t touch me,” Todoroki shook his head, “Maybe Bakugou—but not me.”
“What?” Midoriya whispered before they all flinched when the buzzing came once again.
“You’ve lost, again,” Aizawa said over the speakers.
“Oh, come on!” Bakugou shouted, “I didn’t even ‘die’ this time!”
“Asui did,” Aizawa answered.
Their attention turned to Asui who was on the other side of the dividing line of ice, she had been pinned against the wall. It looked as though she was hoping Bakugou could distract the smaller villain and had gotten wrapped up in it.
Midoriya looked back to Iida.
“None of us can die,” Midoriya whispered to him.
Those in the alleyway agreed. Todoroki rushed out of the alleyway to help unfreeze Asui from the ice.
“Return to the start point,” Aizawa announced.
“Hey!” Bakugou shouted and Midoriya looked out into the street, the shorter figure had begun back down toward the heart of Ground Beta and turned to look back at him. She tapped her helmet by her ears before she turned back and began to walk once again.
Bakugou stayed in place, angry and twitching. He seemed so angry that he couldn’t move and Midoriya avoided him. Their relationship was different, they were rivals. True rivals but Midoriya knew that even being near Bakugou when he was that angry was dangerous. Instead of checking on him, Midoriya went to help Todoroki and Asui, who was being taken out of the ice already. She looked to be uninjured for being 'dead' and quickly joined the other classmates.
Midoriya couldn’t help the yelp that came when he felt a hand grab onto his hood and pull him backward. He stumbled and felt All for One living in his body, the green came to his feet first but when he saw that it was Bakugou that grabbed him, he calmed.
“What is your damn plan?” Bakugou asked.
Bakugou had never come to ask for his plan, he had actively told him to keep them to himself. It startled Midoriya and he stared at Bakugou for a long moment.
“Plan?” Midoriya squeaked out finally, “Uh…my plan.”
“Yes, your plan,” Bakugou said before he released his hood, “We’re not going to beat those bastards without one.”
“Plan,” Midoriya continued and fidgeted, he stared beyond Bakugou to the ground. He could feel the pressure from his classmates, he could feel the pressure from Bakugou in front of him.
“You don’t have a plan?!” Bakugou exclaimed loudly, “What the fuck, Deku?! You always have a plan!”
"Restart," Aizawa announced.
“I don’t know!” Midoriya defended loudly, “I don’t know their quirks! I don’t know what they want! I don’t know their plan! I don’t know what happened to you!”
Bakugou visibly got uncomfortable at the memory his words brought forth, he tilted his head and ground his teeth once again. Midoriya hesitated and became even more curious what had happened to make him so angry. It wasn't just that he had lost, there was something deeper.
“Don’t have a choice!” Todoroki said before he pushed Midoriya in the back, shoving him forward.
Bakugou caught him and Midoriya felt the heat and heard the burning of Todoroki’s flames.
The ice had returned, it was barely kept out by Todoroki’s flames. The figure was again at the end of the road, waiting and throwing ice as if it was nothing.
“If you’re going to be useful,” Bakugou said as he set Midoriya, “You’ll need a plan or fight!”
It was surpsingly encouraging, Midoriya had faltered, the enemy was strong and he had been taken off-guard from the beginning. Bakugou looked at him as he had after their fight, during their house arrest, when he had spoken to him on an equal level.
“I can’t plan for what I don’t see!” Midoriya commented as he charged One for All throughout his body.
“Fight!” Bakugou agreed and began to charge his quirk once again.
Before either could move, the buzzer sounded again.
“Failed,” Aizawa said.
“We didn’t even start!” Todoroki argued.
"Return to the start point," Aizawa ignored him.
A few more grumbles came from the students before they all watched the figure start back down the street once again.
“Goddamn it!” Bakugou said before he charged forward.
His flames died quickly, he fell to the ground and landed painfully on his face. Midoriya, along with several students, flinched at the sight. It took a few seconds for Bakugou to sit himself upright, he coughed and it sounded wet with blood before he put his hand beneath his nose and wiped his blood.
“When I say ‘restart’ is when you can start,” Aizawa said through the speakers, “Not before then.”
“What kinda nonsense is that?!” Bakugou exclaimed.
At the sight of his injuries, Midoriya walked forward to Bakugou and offered his hand to him.
“Are you alright?” Midoriya asked before he hesitated.
Bakugou would slap him away, he thought quickly, he’d shove him, maybe even hit him. He flinched at the thought and soon waited for Bakugou’s retaliation. To his surprise, all he felt was Bakugou grab onto his forearm before Midoriya helped hoist him to his feet.
“Yeah,” Bakugou replied plainly as he continued to wipe his bloody nose, “I’m fine.”
Midoriya watched him leave and saw the other startled students by Bakugou’s actions. It was soon in Midoriya’s mind that, to their classmates, their relationship had progressed even less than what Midoriya knew. Bakugou and Midoriya’s relationship was stagnant if not declining, they hadn’t seen the fight, they hadn’t heard All Might, they hadn’t seen them during their house arrest.
Bakugou ignored their stares, either unaware or uncaring of them, and continued back into the crowd.
“Are you two getting along?” Uraraka asked when Midoriya grouped with them once again, in preparation for Aizawa’s mark.
Midoriya watched Bakugou talk to Kirishima and Kaminari. They teased him for having his quirk turned off by Aizawa and being the only injured student.
They talked to him, Bakugou’s back was slouched, he wiped his nose almost obsessively.
“Yeah," Midoriya said less confidently than he had intended.
“What the hell is taking so long to restart?!” Bakugou shouted at the sky as if Aizawa were up there; his anger and facial expressions had returned to his normal state.
He wasn’t giving up, Midoriya thought, none of them were.
Despite that none of them were, they only made it a few buildings, they only got in a few real fights with the smaller villain that used their quirks against them. They were fast, pro-level, and unpredictable. They seemed to be able to use any quirk they wanted from them and always stayed too far away for the close-combat people to get near them.
Again and again, one of the twenty were ‘killed’, Aizawa made them restart at the same spot again and again. Again and again, they died. Midoriya twice, Bakugou three times, Kirishima twice—it went on and on until when the buzzer rang out that the classmates began to drop to the ground. Exhausted and almost willing to admit defeat.
“Sorry,” Yaoyorozu apologized when she stumbled back to the staring gate, having been ‘killed’ by the figure using her creation quirk against her.
“This…is…bad,” Kaminari breathed before he doubled down and held onto his knees, breathing heavily.
“I’m surprised you’re not fried,” Jiro commented between her gasps.
“Aren’t you supposed to get stronger the more you sweat?” Asui asked Bakugou.
“Shut up!” He shouted at her but it didn’t affect her.
“You don’t want to get too close?” Kaminari asked Bakugou.
“That’s not it!” Bakugou replied.
Midoriya wiped his brow as he watched them argue; Todoroki held his chest, fighting the way he breathed.
“Where is the other villain?” Todoroki pondered to Midoriya, “We’ve only been fighting the one.”
Midoriya looked behind him, seeing that the other figure was already gone. Todoroki was right, there had been a man with them, a taller figure that they got along with. He had almost forgotten about him completely, the smaller figure was too time consuming, too difficult.
“I don’t know,” Midoriya gasped.
“Return to the starting position, don't prepare to restart.” Aizawa announced.
They look looked in the direction of the speakers, Aizawa had not said that all day. When they returned to the starting position, Aizawa stood with the taller figure waiting for them. He put on his mask before any could see his face and soon the shorter figure came out of an alleyway to join the group.
“Bastards!” Bakugou exclaimed and began to charge.
With a glance, he was back on his face again, Aizawa taking his quirk within a moment and Bakugou grumbled against the ground. Kirishima helped him up and Bakugou shoved him away, angry, and unable to admit or accept defeat.
“You’ve lost,” Aizawa said when they had all joined the center again.
“Who are they?!” Bakugou pointed at them, “And where’s he been?!”
The taller one shrugged as if it was supposed to help them. Midoriya hadn't seen him at all since he left, none of them had.
Aizawa cleared his throat,“You’ve lost the day but you’ll return tomorrow. They’ll be the same but with a new plan and motivation that they’ll decide tonight so don’t bother asking me about it,” he looked directly to Iida before back to the crowd, “Consider today your study guide and figure out how to defeat them tomorrow.”
“Why?!” Bakugou stepped toward the stage, “We could keep going! I’ll win!”
“Return to your dorms,” Aizawa ignored him, “Get your rest and your plan.”
Bakugou rumbled with anger, he balled his fists and it took both Kirishima and Kaminari to take him away from the teacher. The other students were exhausted, slowly wandering back to the dorms.
Midoriya looked back when the others had gone, the two figures were still with Aizawa, they looked to be talking but it was so softly it was impossible to tell about what. As if they noticed, the taller figure lifted their gloved hand and waved to Midoriya before he returned to the conversation.
“Are you hurt?” Uraraka asked.
“No,” Midoriya replied before he looked forward and his eyes locked onto Bakugou. In a moment, he realized the wave wasn’t for him, it was for Bakugou who raged at the sight of it.
Midoriya looked back to the three of them, there was little Midoriya could do with what they were given. While he put his suit away and took care of his minor injuries, he tried to think of a plan.
He couldn't think of one until he reached the bath area after washing himself off and heard a fight going on.
“I said ‘shut up’!” Bakugou’s voice came before a small explosion.
Bakugou stood outside the bath and turned when Midoriya slid open the door. Most of the other boys were already in the bath, Krisihima was waist deep and in the center, ready to help Bakugou. Mineta was nearest Bakugou, the reason Bakugou set off a blast in the first place. Bakugou towered over him but didn't grab onto him.
Mineta was nearly crying, the others looked worried and overwhelmed with Bakugou’s anger. Midoriya nearly retreated into the shower rooms, hoping to avoid any conflict. Bakugou met his eyes and a wave of knowledge and melancholy quickly followed by fear and rage took over Bakugou and he set off another explosion that made even Kirishima flinch.
Bakugou said nothing as he gathered himself.
“Move, Deku,” he said when he approached him.
“Bakugou!” Iida attempted to direct him, “We have to come up with a plan! Mr. Aizawa said so.”
“To hell with your plan!” Bakugou shouted, his voice nearly broke and Midoriya hesitated in moving out of his way.
Bakugou looked down at him, the small height difference quickly became large as Midoriya waited for Bakugou to move, to become angry, yet his eyes were only full of hurt before he moved around Midoriya into the shower room.
“Don't say anything, you damn nerd,” Bakugou whispered to him, a high-pitch to his voice that made Midoriya want to reach out to him until Bakugou punched the nearest wall so hard it broke and crumbled with his hand. Hurt, Midoriya thought again.
Bakugou left but it was almost as if he were still in the bathhouse with them; they were silent, watching where Bakugou left and the hole in the wall they knew they’d somehow convince Bakugou to fix.
“Mineta!” Kirishima broke the silence first, “What the hell is wrong with you?!”
“What?!” Mineta replied defensively, “I just wanted to know what happened!”
Kirishima angered with his words and somehow couldn't find words to express his anger.
“I just wanted to know!” Mineta repeated.
“Fuck off,” Kirishima finally replied before he turned back to the bath and sunk lower in the water and went to his seat.
“Do you know what happened?” Midoriya asked, his tone was softer than he had meant and soon all the attention was on him.
Midoriya held up his hands, “Whatever it was clearly hurt Bakugou’s feelings—I’m just trying to help.”
Kirishima frowned but relented, “No, I don't know. Bakugou went ahead. I got caught up in that little guy’s quirk—some kind of quirk made the concrete like quicksand. Before I knew it, the ice was breaking and Bakugou was ‘dead’.”
“None of us have that kind of quirk," Todoroki said thoughtfully, "If they can bring in quirks from people they've already seen or defeated, they'd be impossible to beat."
His words were no comfort to any and only made Midoriya frown. He was right, the figure had been using their own quirks against them, not bringing in new ones.
Midoriya slowly got into the bath and settled down next to Todoroki and Iida. He was tired, exhausted; he had used One for All at 8% in attempts to get the ‘little guy’ but they were too fast, his body wasn’t strong enough to get him. Bakugou had, Midoriya countered his own thought, he had caught the taller one--the one with the gun.
It was clear that Midoriya wasn't the only one that believed Bakugou's words and the only one that knew Bakugou was important to their plan. When most of them of them regrouped in the common area, the girls were abuzz with talk. Bakugou wasn’t present, not even after they waited for him.
“I can’t believe Mr. Aizawa let someone have a gun,” Jiro said.
“I can’t believe someone fired a gun at a kid,” Uraraka said.
“You’re saying that Mr. Aizawa allowed someone to shoot a gun at Bakugou?” Kirishima said before he leaned back in agreement with her, “No wonder he was so freaked out.”
“Kacchan,” Midoriya started but then stopped, the attention of the room slowly went to him, “Kacchan has been in nearly every fight any of us have. He’s been the center of almost all of them…he’s seen a lot.”
“He’s strong because of it,” Kirishima replied with pride.
“You think his trauma has something to do with his reaction?” Todoroki asked.
Midoriya looked at him before he shook his head unwittingly; he hadn’t an idea why Bakugou had reacted the way he did. He hadn’t an idea what had freaked him out. Why he got that look, why his shoulders dropped when he looked at Midoriya, what had happened. He wanted to know the answers but he didn't dare say his questions aloud. It felt it was something he had to keep, something between him and Bakugou.
“Kacchan is strong,” Midoriya nodded, “We’ll have to let him know the plan in the morning.”
“We’re supposed to do this together,” said Yaoyorozu, “are we just going to plan without him here?”
“Do you want to go drag him out of the bath and to the table?” Kaminari challenged and it quieted Yaoyorozu’s question.
“We just have to think,” Midoriya said.
“Bakugou can catch up,” Kirishima hit the table, “He’s not lost on this.”
Despite how many theories and ideas they put onto the table, no matter how the nineteen of them thought, their ideas came up short. They lost in each scenario just like they did at Ground Beta. With no idea how the smaller one’s quirk worked, they were even more clueless how to handle the taller one. Besides Bakugou, none had seen him in action. The fact that whatever he had done had disturbed Bakugou so much frightened them all.
“Kaminari,” Midoriya said after a while of thinking.
Kaminari had mostly fallen asleep, he wanted to help, to be present, but his ideas were quickly squashed one after the other. However, it wasn’t unusual as they were all coming up short.
“You said that Bakugou was in the bath?” Midoriya asked.
“What?” Kaminari replied before he snapped his fingers, “I saw him on the way there, when I was coming down. He had his towel and things,” he explained, “I assumed he was.”
Midoriya pushed his chair from the table.
“Deku?” Uraraka asked.
“Kacchan seems overwhelmed,” Midoriya said, “I’ll go talk to him one-on-one.”
“At least wake Kirishima,” Yaoyorozu suggested.
Midoriya looked in the way of the dorms, several of them had gone to bed, leaving the task for those that were better at planning. Still, Midoriya disagreed, he knew that they might perceive Bakugou as dangerous when angered but Midoriya felt no danger when he left the table and headed toward the bathhouse. Bakugou might get angry but Midoriya knew he could handle him.
The door was slightly ajar, kept open by a piece of wood to keep its autolock from turning. Midoriya was glad when he pulled the door open, the lights were off and only a singular source came, it let him know that Bakugou was alone and still in there. The baths were dark, the showers darker, Midoriya followed the light to a locker and saw Bakugou deep in thought. So deep that Bakugou didn’t notice Midoriya at all as he pulled his t-shirt on over his head and stuck his arms through. His muscles were tense, he was still reeling after his meeting with the taller villain.
“Kacchan?”
Midoriya’s voice caused Bakugou to jump backward, he readied himself for a fight. After a moment, his attention and eyes adjusted and soon Bakugou got angry before his expression softened. He looked beyond Midoriya into the dark and his eyes scanned the room.
“Get lost, Deku,” Bakugou said as he returned to his locker and continued to gather his things for his room.
“Kacchan,” Midoriya said again.
“Get out!” Bakugou exclaimed before he slammed the locker door shut, his voice was even louder in the quiet and closed room. It rattled the lockers, the dark seemed darker, his phone dropped to the ground and the light turned out with it.
In the dark, neither moved; Midoriya could hear his heavy breathing and make out Bakugou’s shape. His shoulders were slouched, he was enraged but unable to fight whatever was making him angry. It was unlike him. Midoriya didn't like seeing him so hurt, he wanted to help but he couldn't think of what to say. Whatever Bakugou was feeling wasn't something he entirely understood. He couldn't help him without knowing what was wrong.
Midoriya quietly picked up the phone from the ground and kept the light facing down to keep from blinding them both. He could see Bakugou’s face then, his hair was matted down from the water, his skin sweaty, his eyes were fixated on the locker and he panted before he scrunched his nose and pushed from the locker. He stood still for a moment, Midoriya had thought he would storm away but he seemed unable to do so.
“I don’t know what happened,” Midoriya said as he offered Bakugou his phone, “But we’re alone…you can talk to me.”
Bakugou hesitated in taking his phone back, he soon got annoyed with his words. His eye twitched and he snatched his phone from Midoriya.
“I don’t need it!” He replied harshly before he faltered, his voice died in his throat and he breathed heavily. “I don’t…need it.” He said, weaker, his jaw trembled when he shut his mouth again.
“Kacchan,” Midoriya began to reach out to him and Bakugou batted his hand away; it wasn’t as hard as Midoriya knew he could have, merely to push him aside.
“The guy,” Bakugou shook his head, “The tall one…don’t...don't talk to him.”
Midoriya’s attention perked beyond Bakugou’s wellbeing, “Was that his quirk? Does he have some kind of mind control?”
His expression turned cold, whatever Bakugou was going to tell Midoriya stayed in Bakugou’s chest. Midoriya could see it now that faded. Bakugou looked beyond Midoriya to the door. Before he frowned and took a step back from Midoriya.
“Is that all you came for?!” He accused, “Just to ask me things for your stupid plan?! To take my emotions and use them?!”
“What?” Midoriya squeaked.
“Shut up, Deku!” He stomped by him.
“Kacchan!” Midoriya followed him out of the door.
Bakugou kicked the piece of wood away from the door and they spilled out into the hallway. He was angrier than before but Midoriya kept close to him.
“You’re not okay!” Midoriya said and grabbed onto his forearm, attempting to stop him.
“Like you care!” Bakugou replied before he shoved Midoriya off of him, “Like you care,” he repeated once again in another pained voice. He took in a sharp breath to try to force it away, “Make you plan. I’ve got nothing to tell you. Nothing that guy told me will help you.” His voice faltered again, “Nothing.” He repeated as if it meant something.
“Kacchan,” Midoriya reached out to him once again.
“Stop pretending to care!” Bakugou extended his arm to grab Midoriya but was stopped quickly by the shout of another.
Down the hall, Todoroki, Kaminari, and Iida had gathered, Midoriya could see Uraraka and Yaoyorozu down the hall before the common rooms were split by gender.
“No fighting!” Iida said to them, “You’ll be on house arrest again.”
Midoriya knew that they could be put back on house arrest at any time, that them fighting would certainly lead to that. Iida had stopped them almost needlessly, the backup wasn't needed and it made Midoriya shake his head.
“Damn nerd,” Bakugou swore before he stuffed his hands into his sweatpants pockets and continued down the hall.
Kaminari began to talk to him as if it were normal to intervene, either he was unaware or a good actor, Midoriya couldn’t tell.
“You alright?” Todoroki asked when Midoriya met up with them at the hall.
“Yes,” Midoriya replied and noticed the bitterness in his voice and so he kept walking, “You didn't need to come."
“That’s not what it looked like,” Uraraka said from the end of the hall, she whispered and looked to see if Bakugou heard her but he didn’t respond on his way out.
Midoriya rubbed his neck as he watched Bakugou leave, he seemed to calm even though he didn’t respond to Kaminari in the least. Yet Kaminari babbled. Midoriya knew that Bakugou liked the chatter even if he didn’t admit it, he enjoyed people that hyped him up.
When Bakugou went around the turn to head to the bedrooms, he looked back at Midoriya and seemed to startle when he saw that Midoriya was already looking at him. Iida and Uraraka had been talking but Midoriya only seemed to notice it after Bakugou’s attention turned to them.
Bakugou frowned deeply and looked back at Midoriya a last time, anger was out of his eyes, some kind of melancholy Midoriya had seen before but not in a long, long while echoed through him. It stopped him in his tracks but Bakugou continued.
“Deku,” Uraraka whispered, “Did Bakugou tell you what happened?”
Midoriya looked at her before at the spot Bakugou left, “No,” he replied solemnly, “Nothing happened.”
********************
Like the day before, the students gathered at Ground Beta and the two were with Aizawa again in very similar garb to the day before. Their faces were covered and they said nothing during or after Aizawa explained the same basic rules and Midoriya tried his best to listen but his attention wandered to Bakugou over and over.
"We didn’t get to come up with a good plan,” Uraraka sighed heavily after Aizawa had headed toward the booth.
“Don’t discourage,” Iida replied.
“How can we not?” Mina asked.
“We don’t have anything,” Kaminari complained as he joined the circle with Mineta.
“We’re going to die,” Mineta joined him.
“We have a minute,” Shoji said, an eye at the end of his arm watched the two figures leave down the way. He soon hesitated, “They changed direction.”
“Of course they did,” Bakugou spoke as he entered, adjusting his wrist grenade. “Aizawa said it, didn’t he? Their motives have changed, what they’re after has changed.”
“Then we have even less to go on,” Yaoyorozu shook her head.
“So what?” Bakugou balled his fist, “I’ll charge ahead, you should all follow me anyway.”
“No!” The rest nearly said in once; Midoriya grabbed tightly onto his shoulder.
“That’s how we went all wrong the first time!” Midoriya shouted at him, “I can’t let you charge ahead again!”
Bakugou looked at him with surprise that quickly turned angry. He tightened his jaw and began to speak but was cut off when the speaker system came online.
“Start,” Aizawa said.
To their surprise, no ice, no fire, no explosion came through, but the shorter villain themselves came down into the center of the group. They all saw it happen yet they were gone before they could do anything.
They left behind a singular item on the ground.
"Run!” Yaoyorozu exclaimed after she realized it was a grenade left on the ground.
They scattered faster than the day before, the ground exploded and debris came up and over them.
“This is pointless!” Jiro exclaimed as she held her ears to the loud noise.
Rather than an attack and leave, Midoriya was soon drawn to the sight of the shorter villain already starting a fight with Bakugou.
Bakugou seemed ready to meet them, his hands already sweaty and crackled with his quirk. Midoriya had seen him running around the dorm, making himself sweat so he could be ready.
“Gonna take us head-on, then?!” Bakugou challenged, “I’ll enjoy this!”
The shorter figure moved to sweep his legs but Bakugou caught up and used a single explosion to jump backward. Midoriya charged out of the alleyway and saw several others doing the same.
Midoriya grabbed onto Iida.
“In close-combat, we’ll stay, but take the long-range fighters and go after the taller guy!” Midoriya shouted his thoughts aloud.
“Leave him to me!” Bakugou shouted over them, angered at the idea of anyone else taking the taller villain down.
He fell silent when the smaller villain snuck up behind him and knocked him over the head with their foot. Bakugou fell to his knees and part of the fins in his hair broke off. The smaller villain stayed in place, their body hardened by Kirishima's quirk, it was different, but effective.
“Go!” Todoroki shouted to Tokoyami who took of with dark shadow and went to gather the long-range fighters.
Bakugou stayed on his knees, the hardness of their muscle and bones enough to knock out a normal person. Without thought, Midoriya rushed toward them, he charged his legs and leapt over Bakugou in the attempt to sink his shin into the villain's shiny, black helmet.
Like the day before, they jumped away in time, fled up the side of the building and into a broken window. Unlike the day before, no buzzer came, the round wasn’t called to an end.
“We’re still going?” Uraraka remarked.
“No one has been taken out,” Todoroki said.
“I’m not dead yet!” Bakugou shouted before he propelled himself upward from the ground.
Midoriya chased him up the building in the direction of the smaller villain. He couldn’t tell where they others had gone or if they made it, he merely trusted that Iida would get them to the taller villain, even if they had to restart again. Iida wouldn’t keep information from the group.
Midoriya frowned at his own thought process as he followed Bakugou into the room, he knew that whatever had happened to Bakugou was going to help them. It had to, he was the only one that got close enough to find out about the gun the man had.
The interior of the building was meant to resemble some kind of office or place of business. The furniture inside was flimsy and most had been destroyed the day before. It was noisy to walk across, however, and Midoriya easily located Bakugou in the mess.
“Kacchan!” Midoriya called after him.
“I don’t need you here, Deku!” Bakugou replied loudly.
Midoriya huffed and started in the direction opposite Bakugou, he knew that wherever Bakugou was, that Midoriya could check the area around him. Everyone knew Bakugou better than Midoriya; it was safe, he thought, to guess that the smaller villain would go opposite Bakugou’s angry stomping.
“I don’t need you here!” Bakugou shouted through the empty building, "I can win without you!"
“Ah, shut up!” Midoriya shouted back at him.
“You need to leave! I can win without you!”
“You need to shut up!” Midoriya replied, “If you’re going to win…I’ll win before you! Without your help!”
“What?!” Bakugou’s stomping turned and Midoriya skidded further down the hall.
He could hear Bakugou’s grumbling as he continued and Midoriya went through the rooms, looking into each.
“They could be invisible for all we know!” Midoriya shouted after several rooms.
He stopped when Bakugou didn’t answer. He listened to the stomping noises that stopped with him. Since when did Bakugou walk that way? He thought, since when were his footsteps so light? Midoriya felt like the entire room flipped upside down as he realized he hadn't been hearing Bakugou's footsteps, that not a single step had been from Bakugou since he had last heard his voice.
Midoriya sent his fist through the dividing wall and waited for the dust to clear. The smaller villain climbed out of the debris, hurt but not stopped by his movements. His eyes moved around, Bakugou was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Kacchan?!” Midoriya shouted at them.
The smaller villain stayed on a piece of rubble before they leapt out of the window.
“There!” Todoroki’s voice came from below and soon flames met the villain who turned Todoroki’s quirk against him.
Midoriya could hear the classmates fighting but stalled when he realized that Bakugou was truly gone. He had vanished only feet away from him. He was gone and no buzzer put an end to it. Midoriya felt his heart seize before his feet began to move through the hallways, his eyes desperately searching for him. He wanted to hear him, to hear his explosions, to hear his shouting, his anger, something, anything.
Nothing came back to him except those outside and his own heart beating so loudly that it might as well have been the walls making the noise.
Soon, he found a single fin from Bakugou's costume on the ground near where they had last had words. There was a bit of blood on the ground, drag marks but no Bakugou.
“Kacchan!” Midoriya called out loudly but the building greeted him with silence.