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Izuku Midoriya watched as his girlfriend set down an ancient-looking boombox onto the gym floor not too far from the sparring mat that they were going to use.
“I’d expect someone like Jiro to own something like that, but you, Itsuka?” The girl, Class 1-B’s class president and so-called “big sister” Itsuka Kendo gave him a disapproving glare as she turned around, marching back over to her backpack and retrieving a CD.
“Come on babe, we’ve been dating for six months, you should know more about me.” Izuku rolled his eyes playfully as Itsuka inserted the CD into the player, and an ancient pre-quirk song, “PUNK TACTICS” by Joey Valence & Brae started blaring into the gym.
“Yo, yo, yo, if you don't shut your mouth
I'ma shut it for you, punk”
Brae’s abrasive voice filled the space as Itsuka mouthed along to the words, crossing onto the mat and took up a stance, ready to throw down with her boyfriend. Izuku grinned as he bent low to the ground, almost taking the pose of one of Sero’s favorite pre-quirk superheroes, he thought his name was Spider-Boy? Nevermind that, as the rap duo finished the chorus and moved into verse one, Izuku made his first move.
“Hit you with the hard punk tactics
Bankrolls come straight for the assets”
Charging a little bit of Full Cowling into his legs, Izuku sprinted forward, leaping up and attempting to kick Itsuka in the middle of her back to knock her down. But Itsuka wasn’t one to be fooled as she grew her hand in size with her quirk, blocking the kick and rolling to the side, immediately getting back up and launching a counterattack, attempting a chop not too similar to the ones she used on Monoma when he got too uppity about the hero course class rivalries.
“We kick pros, stub toes, I suppose you might know
Hit the block, then you flock”
Izuku blocked the chop and got down low, sweeping his right leg under Itsuka, attempting to knock her on her butt again, and this time the sweep connected, and the girl collapsed onto the mat. Not to be shown up, Itsuka quickly jumped to her feet again, Izuku doing the same. As Brae started making references to some pre-quirk fighting game, the couple started circling around the mat, sizing each other up.
“Get over here like Scorpion
Put you to sleep, Kevorkian
Should I assist ya, or do you get the picture?
If you don't budge I'ma gonna have to”
“That sweep was pretty good, I’ll give you that. My butt’s gonna be hurting for a few days I think,” Itsuka taunted her boyfriend, her fists raised in a defensive stance.
“Want me to kiss it better when we’re done here?” Izuku taunted back, but then he blushed a furious red as he realized what he had just said, waving his arms in front of his face, a signature Midoriya move when he was flustered. “W-Wait, I didn’t-” he was cut off as Itsuka charged forward, not too dissimilar to how he opened the fight.
“Hit ya (Hit ya) with the (With the) punk (Punk) tactics
Hit ya (Hit ya) with the (With the) punk (Punk) tactics”
Itsuka got in his face faster than he anticipated as she grabbed at the sleeve of his U.A. gym uniform and under his opposite armpit, quickly using her advantage to begin judo-flipping him. As Itsuka hauled him over her shoulder, he had a realization. That must’ve been the punk tactics they’re talking about in the song, he muttered to himself.
Itsuka heard her boyfriend doing his signature muttering, and she grinned as she threw the green-haired boy into the floor. Izuku slammed into the floor, his back thumping into the sparring mat as the air was knocked out of his lungs, the song that Itsuka had thrown on earlier finishing up.
“Hit ya (Hit ya) with the (With the) punk (Punk) tactics
Hit ya (Hit ya) with the (With the) punk (Punk) tactics
Hit ya– Hit ya with– with the– with the punk tactics”
As he laid there trying to recover his breath while the boombox started the next track, “DROP!!” and Itsuka walked over to her backpack and pulled a few water bottles out of a side pocket, returning to Izuku’s side, helping him sit up.
“Well well well, the mighty Izuku Midoriya got bested by some punk tactics, huh?” Itsuka cracked a small smile as she handed him a water bottle. Izuku took a few more breaths as he refilled his lungs, accepting the water bottle and taking a long sip, draining nearly half the bottle, before responding.
“Well, the mighty Itsuka Kendo just had a better strategy than him this time, he’ll do better next time.” he cracked a smile back at her as he leaned back against her. Itsuka’s smile widened a bit as she wrapped an arm around him, resting her chin on his shoulder as he reached an arm around her, stroking the back of her head.
“So, you’re into that kinda music, huh? I always thought you were more of a classic rock girl, maybe some pop punk?” Izuku asked as he took another sip of his water.
Itsuka scoffed. “Those are my favorite genres, yeah, but Set and I were at the mall the other day and we stumbled into a music store that was carrying a lot of pre-quirk music that somehow survived the Dark Ages.” She also took a drink of water. “And after some deliberation, I ended up picking up this album while Set got an album from some dude called Logic.” Itsuka snuggled a bit closer to him. Izuku hummed as he took in that information.
“But where’d you get the boombox?” he asked, turning slightly toward her.
Itsuka chuckled at that. “I’m borrowing it from Set, she has a small collection of both current music and pre-quirk stuff. She says it could apparently go for a fortune, but she’s usually full of shit, so I don’t fully believe her.”
Izuku tried to keep a straight face at that, but he couldn’t hold it in, sputtering a bit before dissolving into a giggling fit, which just proved to his girlfriend that he was ready to continue their sparring session.
“Come on, you big lug, let’s keep going.” Itsuka reluctantly unwrapped herself from him, standing up and offering him a hand up. “We can cuddle more later, right now, I need to kick your ass some more.”
Izuku blushed, though less than earlier, accepting her hand and standing up, brushing himself off as the fourth track, “WATCH YO STEP” started playing in the background as the couple sized each other up before launching themselves at each other.