Chapter Text
The U.A. Sports Festival was the event to compete in. Y/n had even watched the older years competition as homework back in America. She never thought she’d have the opportunity to compete in it herself. That was until she came to U.A. as an exchange student. Y/n knew who her biggest competition would be, class 1-A, specifically Bakugo Katsuki. He knew how her powers work more intimately since the joint class training session a month before, and she knew he was able to resist it more than most.
Y/n’s quirk relied on her opponent’s level of willpower. The lower the willpower, the easier it was to control their mind when they make eye contact; the stronger the will, the more difficult it was to control someone. Bakugo proved to be much more stronger-willed than most their age, third years, and that made her nervous. Y/n also knew Bakugo won first place both years he participated and doubted she’d even place in the top five.
Y/n walks close behind Tetsutetsu into the arena as their class was called. The bright lights and loud cheers overwhelmed her, she didn’t even notice Kirishima run up to the two and start talking to them.
“Earth to Y/n?” Kirishima’s hand waves in front of her face.
With a small shake of her head, she comes back to, “yeah sorry. What did you ask?”
“Did you ever decide on a hero name? I know in America you don’t have to decide until graduation, but we all decide our first year on something.”
“Yeah, I did!” A big smile spreads across her face, “You’re looking at the future Psychic Hero: Bubblegum!”
“Wow, that’s totally cool, bro! I can see the headlines now: Pro Heroes Red Riot, Real Steel, and Bubblegum take down another villain syndicate!” Kirishima laughs out.
“Hey, why does my name come last?!” Y/n fake pouts at her friends.
Their conversation is interrupted by Midnight gathering the students towards the stage and calling up Bakugo to give a few words before the start of the games since he won last year.
“I’m going to beat all of you again.” His voice was monotone and the arena filled with silence.
“And with that, what will our first compassion be?” Midnight calls out, pointing her whip towards the large screen behind her.
A digital wheel began to spin, slowly landing on the word ‘Maze.’
With a large flourish towards the students, Midnight calls out, “A maze will be our first challenge.” The screen shows a faux corn maze and small dots running around it. “Team up or go it alone, it’s your choice! There are multiple exits so it won’t necessarily be good to follow others. You’ll have one hour to find the exit and teachers come to clear it out. The first 40 of you to make it out before time runs out move on to the next stage! Oh, did I mention the walls are constantly changing?”
Murmurs erupt across the students as they talk amongst themselves.
“And your time starts… NOW!” Midnight calls out, pointing towards the exit.
The students begin to run towards the exit. Y/n follows the crowd when someone grabs her arm. She turns to see Bakugo looking down at her.
“Hold on.” Bakugo pulls her to his body and rockets into the air above the other students.
Y/n grabs his shoulders, trying not to block his field of view while she speaks out, “Why are you helping me?”
“Because you might be useful later, Bubblegum Bitch.” He responds calming.
She squeezes his shoulders hard and bites back, “and what makes you think I’d want to help you?”
“Because I’m the best.” He smirks down at her as he lands ahead of the others, grabbing Y/n’s hand, and dragging her into the maze.
“Hug the right.” She says to him as he aimlessly runs through the maze, pulling her hand out of his grasp and running ahead of him.
Bakugo didn’t expect her to be so much faster than him as he almost lost her to the changing walls, relying on his small explosions to keep up. The maze overhead had a ceiling covered in lights. Suddenly, all the lights go out and Midnight’s voice comes over the speakers. “Some of you are too close to the exit just ten minutes in! Time to make this a bit or exciting. Don’t worry, the walls won’t change while the lights are out!”
Y/n’s vision goes dark and she comes to a screeching stop, heels digging into the dirt below her. Bakugo rams into her back, causing both of them to trip over each other and fall.
Back in the arena, Present Mic commentates what’s happening with the students the large screen now showing a green-tinted video shows what he talks about, “Bakugo and Y/l/n took an early start but it seems the low vision has tripped them up quite literally!”
Y/n jumps up and reaches for Bakugo’s hand. “Hold on or we’ll lose each other.”
“Looks like Y/l/n is now actively trying to help Bakugo, who was simply following her before!” Present Mic calls out.
Y/n runs her free hand along the cement walls as she makes right turn after turn. She can feel her hand slowly become cut up by the uneven walls. She comes to a slow stop and starts to speak quietly,
“We’re going the wrong way.”
“How do you know?” Bakugo matches her volume.
“No one is in the area. I call feel it.”
“Oh! It looks like Y/l/n is starting to second guess her strategy! And so close to the nearest exit too!” Present mic calls out to the arena watchers.
“Yeah, or we’re the only ones smart enough to go the right way. They haven’t turned the lights back on, that’s probably why. I say we keep going.” Bakugo’s voice is filled with determination, much more than Y/n had heard before.
Their eyes had adjusted to the darkness and Bakugo was able to see Y/n give him a quick nod before continuing on the path they were going.
“How’d you even know this trick in the first place?” Bakugo questions. He had been uncharacteristically calm when talking to her during this event and Y/n couldn’t figure out why.
“My dad taught me when I was younger. We would do a corn maze every year during fall. It was a tradition until he got sick. We couldn’t do as many things like that after his treatments.” Why she was opening up to him about this, she didn’t know, she also didn’t consider the camera’s being able to hear.
Suddenly, the lights came back on causing Y/n to close her eyes and slow down her run. When she opened her eyes and looked up, she could see the exit.
“There! Quick!” She called out noticing the walls starting to close.
Bakugo grabbed onto her like before and rocketed them forwards, barely clearing the exit. The two breathed hard after all the running, looking up to see they had made the exits lead back into the arena. For the first time, they were able to hear Present Mic’s voice over the loudspeakers. “Bakugo Katsuki and Y/n Y/l/n draw for fifth place! To keep the numbers, we’ll say Y/l/n came in fifth and Bakugo sixth since she was the one who lead them through the maze!”
Cheers erupted across the arena. Bakugo throws Y/n to the ground, voice booming as he marches up the Midnight, “SIXTH PLACE!? WHY DO I HAVE TO BE SIXTH?! SHE WOULDN’T HAVE EVEN HAD A CHANCE WITHOUT ME!” Bakugo’s hands begin to spark as he gets angrier.
Yn stands up, rushing up behind Bakugo and shoving him forwards, making him struggle to keep his footing. “Get over yourself, Pop Rocks. You still placed top ten!”
Bakugo whips around, red eyes full of rage as he steps up to Y/n, “You didn’t use your powers once during that. So as I said, you wouldn’t have even placed if it weren’t for me, fatty!”
He was in her face at this point, she could feel his hot breath on her face. His voice boomed in her ears, along with the loud chatter of the audience. She still hadn’t adjusted to the bright lights of the arena after being in the dark for so long. Something snaps in Y/n as she pushes Bakugo even harder than before, throwing him back onto his back with a hard thud. Before she could process what she was doing, she’s over him, digging her heel into his chest as she leans her weight onto him. All eyes were on the two.
“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, BITCH BOY?!” Y/n’s could be heard over the arena’s talking.
Before anything else could happen, Y/n is pulled off of Bakugo by Aizawa’s steel scarf. She struggled against his hold. Bakugo’s eyes were wide as he laid on his back, looking up into the sky. He picked on people all the time, rarely did people fight back, they usually just ignored him. No one had fought back like that before.
Y/n was led to the opposite side of the arena where Shiozaki stood to wait for any other class 1-b students. She was warned no fighting would be done outside of any tournament activities unless she wanted to be disqualified.
More students found their way out of the mazes multiple exits until there were 40. Most of class 1-a had made it out in time to no one’s surprise. The only other two class 1-b students who made it out were Kendo and Tetsutetsu. The rest being filled by general studies students. Y/n was still irritated by the time all the spots were filled and Midnight was going to announce the second event. The digital wheel began to spin again. The audience was on the edge of their seat as it spun.
As it slowed, Tetsutetsu comes up behind Y/n and whispers in her ear, “I heard you had a standoff with Bakugo. You good?”
Y/n merely lets out a ‘humpf’ when the wheel lands on the second event. Dodgeball.
“Here are the rules! You’ll be randomly split into four groups of ten and compete in a classic game of free-for-all Dodgeball! The difference will be that the winner isn’t the last one standing, but the last four standing will move onto the last event! Quirks are allowed but don’t hurt anyone too badly, this is just a game after all!” Midnight ends her speech with a wink while pointing at the students. “The groups will appear on the screen in just a moment!”
Y/n was grouped up with mostly general studies students, and a few class 1-a students, none from her class though. Her group was to go last, so she found her way up to the stands with her class. Flopping down between Bondo, and Tetsutetsu, Y/n lets out a sigh, finally feeling her nerves calm down.
Monomo leaves forwards from behind them and talking with far too much confidence. “So you called him a bitch boy, huh? Didn’t think you had a scary bone in your body, Y/n. But I watched the video back. You were rightfully terrifying.”
“Video?” Y/n sits up. “They got that on film? Oh, God.” She leans forward, head in her hands