Chapter Text
Izuku hasn’t seen Monoma in what feels like ages.
There’s a bit of a break before the next battle can start– understandable considering what Todoroki just unleashed upon the battle grounds in his match against Sero– but still Izuku can’t spot that familiar blond head anywhere.
And that’s fine, like obviously they’d never exactly made plans to sit together and Izuku is still in 1A and sitting amongst his own classmates right now, so he knows that Monoma is well within his rights to stay away.
Except…
Except…
Except Monoma had kind of made it sound like he wanted to copy Izuku’s quirk again at some point.
And well… Izuku knows he can be kind of annoying when he analyzes quirks and battles like this, and UA has been different in that he has friends now, friends who don’t seem to mind and even maybe find it endearing if their comments about how cute and informative his rambling is can be believed.
But…
But at the end of the day Monoma is the only one ever that has not only listened to him but had even joined in on occasion to add his own commentary as well and even Principal Nedzu had said he’d enjoyed both of their essays on quirk analysis and…
And Izuku had maybe possibly kind of been looking forward to getting to do that together today.
But Monoma never makes it back to the stands.
Not when Shinsou goes up against Tokage from class B and the obviously chatty girl suddenly goes quiet and walks herself out of bounds.
Not when Kaminari and Tokoyami face off, the blond clearly panicking as the shadow quirk comes for him– focusing so completely on attacking the quirk that he forgets about Tokoyami himself until the boy has snuck in close enough to punch him.
Not when Iida gets turned into a walking advertisement for Hatsume from the Support Course.
He doesn’t even return for Bakugou versus Uraraka either, isn’t there to see her rise above all expectations and actually manage to give Kacchan hell. The sight of it probably wouldn’t have hit Monoma as hard as it hits Izuku anyway but still.
He’d thought they would be a team today.
He’d thought that the blond would set aside the rivalry, at least for today, so that the two of them could finally, finally, let the rest of the hero course know that they’re friends.
But then maybe that’s the problem.
Izuku’s been so caught up in the euphoria of their hangouts, the comfortable silence as they easily share space in the clubroom, the easy way that Monoma sometimes leans in close to see Izuku’s computer screen over his shoulder, the way Monoma had trusted Izuku to hold his ankles for him when they’d been experimenting with One for All…
Izuku had been so sure, so convinced by all of it that he and Monoma were friends that he hadn’t stopped to consider that maybe…
Well maybe to Monoma they simply aren’t.
***
It takes a long time for Neito’s eyes to stop burning, his throat to stop hurting, his hands to stop shaking.
He still feels kind of off in that way that he always gets when faced with the affirmation of his father’s disappointment in him, but if experience has taught him anything it’s that the feeling won’t go away until he either manages to meet his father’s expectations or enough time has passed that he can shove it into the box with the rest.
No use trying to fix it now.
Finally, Neito manages to relax himself enough to uncurl from his previous position, his whole body aching from being held so tight and tense for so long. He takes another minute to lean his head back against the wall behind him and takes a slow deep breath in.
As he inhales he imagines it as a black hole, sucking all of the remaining tension and hurt from his body, gathering it all up into the expanding lungs in his chest. When finally he breathes out he can almost feel it as most of it seems to drain out of him with the muted whoosh of his exhale.
It’ll have to do for now.
He doesn’t have time for anything else.
It’s already–
His gaze lands on the screen still playing live footage across from him and he flinches.
Bakugou versus Uraraka? How the hell did–
Oh no, he’s lost so much time! The first round is practically over and he hasn’t even formulated a plan yet! His father is watching him, his brother as well, and the mere thought of them watching as he fails against Todoroki– imaging them dissecting his every move to lecture him about it all later– almost has him falling right back down into panic again.
Desperate for a distraction, Neito forces himself to utterly and completely transfix on the battle currently taking place.
Uraraka is the clear underdog. She had absolutely zero chances of winning, he and everyone in the stands knows that.
And yet…
It’s like Sero all over again as he finds himself rooting for her almost despite himself. She’s got that grit and determination, unyielding even in the face of an opponent twice as powerful as she is, even as the entirety of the stadium reacts to every hit as if she’s already lost.
Neito can see it all, Bakugou coming for her hard, much as Neito himself had gone for Komori, and he sees how the entirety of the audience right down to Present Mic practically boos at him while he sneers and continues to attack and–
And all at once Neito can see why his father was ashamed of him. He was supposed to make a name for himself, supposed to show off what he could do.
But all he actually did was in essence the same thing that Todoroki did to Sero. A one shot unavoidable hit that comes off as being cruel overkill to the onlookers above.
Maybe it’s a good thing he’s going up against Todoroki next.
Between the two of them the audience probably won’t even know which one of them to root for.
***
Izuku would be the first to admit that he absolutely is not at his best right now.
His whirling thoughts about Monoma’s absence aside, his body is still absolutely hating him right now for the way that he’d pushed through plus ultra with full cowling so far.
And yet he pushes forward, stepping up to the stage slowly as he carefully shakes out his arms and wrists in the hopes that things will limber up enough to stop aching so much at the mere thought of another fight.
Across from him, Kendou steps up onto the platform as well, her face split into a confident excited grin as she mimes punching him, one closed fist impacting with her other open palm.
“Don’t go easy on me!” she calls towards him, grinning even wider as she audibly cracks her knuckles.
“W-wait no!” Izuku immediately blurts, his hands waving anxiously in an attempt to wave away any impending misunderstandings. “I’m not planning to go easy on you I swear! I’ve just overused my quirk and need to take a break from it or I’ll hurt myself! I’m not looking down on you or underestimating you or anything– I swear! Your attempts at intimidating me definitely worked I would never assume I could take you on without using a quirk, it’s gonna be a struggle to even attempt it but I have no choice because–”
He finally cuts off at the sight of Kendou tossing her head back as she starts uncontrollably laughing.
Distantly Izuku can hear the announcers and then Midnight calling the start of the match but neither he nor Kendou move to attack as the girl heaves with laughter and wipes at her streaming eyes.
“Man,” she calls back teasingly once she’s sufficiently calmed down. “Aren’t you overly sincere. I can see why Monoma overlooks his class rivalry for you.”
“O-Oh I mean! We aren’t really–”
“Tell you what Midoriya. Fair is fair after all. What say we make it official to keep things even?”
And before Izuku can do more than blink, she’s leaping forward to attack him, pointedly refusing to use her own quirk either.
“Yeah!” he shouts in agreement, barely managing to dodge her rapid fire punches as she comes for him immediately with zero mercy.
She swings for his face and he ducks, punching out with his right hand even as his very bones seem to creak in protest. Kendou bats his fist aside easily, pushing him off balance with the flat of her hand against his wrist. Izuku blinks as he finds his footing and when she tries to aim a fist of her own at his torso, Izuku copies her previous motion, his palm slapping her forearm out of the way.
She stumbles and Izuku’s eyes widen. That’s good. That’s really really good. He’d never been one to study much on quirkless fighting, way too busy dissecting quirks instead, but it seems that Kendou is quite proficient at it. If he can watch her movements and attempt to mimic them afterward then he can work to close the gap on their respective skill levels and learn something for the future while he’s at it!
The two of them continue going at it, trading blow after blow with neither of them managing to gain the upper hand.
He tries to shake things up a bit by ducking low before his next punch so he can try for an uppercut, but Kendou dodges him immediately by executing a backflip that is quite frankly unnecessary aside from making her look cool as hell for the cameras.
Izuku finds himself itching for a notebook to catalog his observations in.
Kendou’s eyes narrow at him as they circle each other, her gaze turning calculating and thoughtful– before she abruptly drops towards the ground, swiftly crouching on her hands to swing her whole body around, one leg extending outward to sweep Izuku off his feet.
Luckily for Izuku though, learning how to fall was one of the first things he’d ever learned, willing pupil or not.
He takes control of his fall, foregoing an attempt at the swinging kick she’d just implemented for a more simple and doable straight kick aimed at her stomach.
Kendou catches his foot in both hands, holding it tight in her powerful grip and keeping him off balance besides.
“Not bad,” she grins, yanking him back by the leg so he has to do an awkward hop crawl along the ground to keep from being full on dragged towards the boundary line.
Izuku digs his fingertips into the ground, finding no give but needing to stop the traction somehow as she continues pulling him out of bounds. He finally gets his free leg to press down as well, managing to halt her forward progress just long enough to slip his foot free from the shoe in her hands.
Immediately he scrambles back, putting as much distance between them as he can so he can find his footing once more.
Kendou sighs, hefting Izuku’s shoe in her hand, once, twice, three times like she’s–
The shoe is suddenly launched towards him at speed and Izuku’s eyes widen as he reflexively brings up his hands to protect his face.
She was– She was testing the weight of it to see how hard to throw it for aim! Amazing!
In that split second that his vision is obscured, Kendou races forward, spinning on one leg for momentum before delivering a brutal high spin kick right at Izuku’s face.
Except…
Except Izuku catches it in his hands just like she’d done to him before and then before she can do more than gape at him in shock, he does a full body turn that fully swings her off the ground by her leg.
And then he lets go, sending her flying completely out of bounds to crash land onto the hopefully soft grass below.
“AND THAT’S ALL SHE WROTE FOLKS!!! WHAT A CLASSIC BATTLE, THESE TWO DIDN’T EVEN NEED TO USE THEIR QUIRKS TO KEEP US ON THE EDGE OF OUR SEATS!!”
“Yes. Overreliance on one’s quirk can often lead to unexpected losses when heroes are unprepared for tactics that serve to neutralize their powers.
“WELL YOU’D KNOW ALL ABOUT THAT WOULDN’T Y–”
The commentary cuts out, but Izuku pays it no mind, immediately hopping down from the stage to check on Kendou, who thankfully is already in the process of sitting up, rubbing at the back of her head with a groan.
“Hey!” he calls as he runs up to her, one hand outstretched to help up. “Are you okay? I didn’t throw you too hard did I?”
Kendou huffs ruefully, shaking her head as she slowly accepts his hand and lets him pull her to her feet. “The only thing that hurts more than my ass is my pride I guess. So much for not using quirks huh?”
Izuku frowns, cocking his head in confusion. “Huh?”
Kendou frowns right back at him. “Your quirk is superpower right? Didn’t you use it right there at the end to throw me?”
“M-My quirk?” Izuku gasps, attempting to splutter out an explanation amid his flaming embarrassment and regret. “That wasn’t– I didn’t– there would have been sparks and I need time and focus to power it up and–”
He cuts off with a gasp as Kendou suddenly grabs at him, one hand gripping him tightly by the wrist while the other shoves the sleeve of his uniform practically completely up to his shoulder.
“Holy shit,” she breathes, poking at his bicep, her eyes opening wider as she stares. “Holy fucking shit.”
~a little ways before Midoriya v Kendou~
Neito’s eyes are glazed over unseeing– apparently having unfocused some time after Uraraka had been knocked down for the seventh time– even as his gaze is still uselessly trained on the screen.
He once again finds himself thinking about getting Midori’s quirk– before once again realizing how futile that would be. Midori is up next after all, in the match right before Neito’s own so even if they did manage to meet on Midori’s way down and Neito’s way up, the stockpile simply won’t have time to even fill before his match begins.
And thanks to Neito wasting almost all of his time freaking out in the prep room like a little child he no longer has time to grab any other quirks from his classmates in the stands. Not without running there and back again anyway, thereby killing his stamina before the fight even begins.
Four minutes.
Four minutes before his hold on a borrowed quirk expires.
Never before has it felt like so very little.
Almost without fully registering it, there is a sudden bright flash from the screen that practically blinds him in its intensity, and Neito dazedly watches in silence as Bakugou rises like a phoenix to blow every last bit of Uraraka’s trap to smithereens.
The plan when it comes to him hits like a stroke of genius.
There is one quirk besides Midori’s that he can try, one that would be both suited to his upcoming battle as well as flashy enough to gain his father’s attention.
He’ll need to bide his time of course and stall so that his hold on the quirk won’t run out before it can matter. But if there’s anything that Neito is good at it’s running his mouth to manipulate people. And thanks to the way he’s been playing so far today, Bakugou won’t think anything of it when Neito approaches him backstage to marvel at the boy’s supposed strength with an offer of a congratulatory shake of his hand.
Plans finally made, Neito slowly gets to his feet with a careful stretch.
It’s a shame he’ll be missing Midori’s fight against Kendou but he can always catch it online later. Right now he’s gotta make sure he bumps into Bakugou at exactly the right time to drag out their conversation until Neito himself is ‘almost late’ for his next match.
It’s perfect.
It’s genius.
It’s exactly the quirk and the plan that he needs to succeed and finally prove his father’s disappointment in him wrong.
So of course, before Neito can manage to find Bakugou, someone else manages to find him first.