It's Not a Muskateers Reference!

Interlude III

Izuku sat in the waiting room, staring at his purple stained fingers. It was sort of surprising to him, that uncontrollable explosions weren't going off in his hands. Last time he'd had this quirk, that was what had happened, after all. Then again, though, last time he had this quirk he had been far more panicky then he was right now, so his hands weren't as sweaty, meaning less fuel for the explosive quirk.

He closed his hands into tight fists, putting his forehead against the table.

He was so, so stupid! He had taken Bakugou's quirk again, and for such a stupid, selfish reason too!

He needed to give it back to him. He needed to give Bakugou his quirk back. It was rightfully his, after all.

Except... Except he wasn't sure he wanted too.

Not to say he wanted to keep it for himself, he just... He just didn't want to give it back to the one who always used it to hurt him. Because Izuku knew. He knew that Bakugou was angry at him, both for eliminating him, and for stealing his quirk. And he also knew what happened when Bakugou was angry.

When Bakugou was angry, especially when he was angry at Izuku, he got hurt. He got burns and bruises and scars that didn't always fade with time. And as selfish as it might be, Izuku didn't want that. Izuku didn't want to be hurt constantly, to be burned again and again.

Plus, if Bakugou lashed out at him, then he knew that he had to tell Aizawa. Because even though he didn't want to get Bakugou in trouble because of him, he had made a promise. And he didn't want to break that promise. Otherwise Aizawa might be disappointed in him, or angry at him. Neither would be good. Both at the same time would be even worse.

But this wasn't his quirk to keep. Keeping it would make him like his dad, and he didn't want to be like his dad.

Even so, he didn't want to give it back.

Maybe he could keep it. Just for a little while, long enough for Bakugou to have calmed down enough that he wouldn't explode Izuku to death as soon as he recieved it.

Yeah. Yeah, he could do that.... Keep it until Bakugou calmed down, and then he would return it so that way he didn't get hurt.

It's not like he would use it, either. Now that he wasn't constantly exploding, he figured that he could control it, at least too some extent. And even if he planned to keep it, he didn't want to use it. Explosions were a bit too terrifying for him, and he didn't want to have a panic attack on live television.

He nodded to himself slowly, standing up and stretching.

Midnight was going to be announcing the match-ups soon, and he needed to be there so that he'd know who he was fighting and when. He exited the room, after making sure that he actually remembered which one it was for when he came back.

The mini-games had already stopped when he got to the areana, and the competitors who hadn't been participating in them were starting to gather near the podium where Midnight would announce the pairings. After a moment of hestiation, he quietly made his way over to the group, not wanting to draw too much attention.

As he aproached the area, Kirishima walked over to him, waving with a sharp toothed grin. "Hey Midoribro!! I'm glad to see you made it!!"

Izuku couldn't help but smile back with how infectious Kirishima's smile was. "Hi Kirishima-kun..."

"How're you feeling, bro? I'm pretty pumped!" He threw a fist in the air for emphasis, and Izuku couldn't help but giggle.

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly when he realized he needed to answer the question, "I'm mostly nervous, honestly..."

Kirishima nodded in understanding, "That's alright. Just try your best, and don't beat yourself up about it if you end up loosing, okay? Not that I think you will, I'm sure you'll do great!!"

Izuku nodded in response, "Thanks, Kirishima-kun."

"It's what friends are for!!"

That was the moment that Midnight chose to crack her whip, "Alright, kids!! Welcome to the third and final round of the Sports Festival!! Good job on making it this far, but only one of you will make it to the top victorious! Now then, here are the match-ups!!"

A TV positioned behind her turned on, revealing who everyone would be fighting. It didn't take Izuku to long to find his- he was up against Ashido. That was good, he'd rather not be up against someone outside of their class this early on. He needed the chance to analyze them so that he'd be able to fight better.

But what he saw next was a bit more worrying. There was a chance that he'd end up fighting Kirishima next.

"Don't worry about it, bro." Kirishima said, as if reading his mind. Although, by the weird looks he was getting, it was more likely that he'd just been muttering. "There was a pretty good chance that we'd end up fighting at some point. If it helps, just think of it as sparring or something"

"Right.."