Shoot Your Shot - MHA College AU

Scene 26: The Big Three - pt. 2

(AN: had to make a small edit to Scene 3: Pink Drinks, just a small retcon, not super important but thought I would mention for current readers)

{ Scene 26: The Big Three  - pt. 2 }

Her pinkish glow illuminated the blackened pit below. The edges of broken stairs and peeling paint curled inwards like a mouth of jagged teeth.

Bakugo grunted, his arm wrenching under the stress. Ava's fingers stretched helplessly through his grip on her wrist.

"P-Please! Don't let me fall!" she whimpered

"Shut up you little brat!"

The boy's body was plunged into the hole. An angry, makeshift rope, tethered by your knee hooked around the base of the rail and your nails digging into the fabric of his jeans and the meat of his calf.

"Airhead, don't you dare let go," he warned.

Heart humming violently in your chest, you heaved a shaky breath, uttering out a cry of strain.

"I-I can't hold you both for much longer!"

"Then pull us up! The hell are you doing?"

Your eyes darted to the men teetering on the other end of the staircase, shuffling in heavy boots and deep muffled voices. The gaping hole had proven to be as much of a problem for them as for the three of you. But the jangle of chained uniforms was quick approaching from the hall. Vulnerable on one front, rather than two, but your odds still looked grim.

The girl swayed below like a wiggling lantern. Bakugo craned his neck to the side, bearing a frantic glare.

"C'MON! PULL US UP!"

You grit your teeth, lurching your hands further down his leg, pulling the girl like a bucket in a well. The effort was tiresome, the progress too slow. The men were shouting from the other end. At this rate, you weren't going to make it.

"They're coming! I-I can't!"

"Yes you can!" he insisted, swinging his other hand to Ava, grabbing hold of her slipping wrist. "Look, I'll survive this fall, but the little punk won't!"

Ava cried, shivering in the dark. "M-My mom's gonna kill me if I die here!"

"Shut up! Or I'll drop ya' you little shit!"

With another strenuous pull, the boy was tugged a foot closer. The guards were a hall away. Your leg was slipping from the rail, the hole threatening to drag you in with them.

No matter how great Bakugo's confidence was in you, there just wasn't time.

Your stomach sank into the pit below, limbs shaking, breath wavering. If Ava fell, all of this would be for nothing. How could you walk free from the ashes of this building, emptyhanded with a life lost, and call yourself a hero?

"AIRHEAD! DO IT NOW!"

┈ ━ ◇ ━ ┈

When the dust settled, you blinked your eyes amidst the swirling heat. The skin on your cheek burned with a stinging pain, the flesh exposed to the blast. There were only the blurry colors of red in your vision. The spikes of red, you realized, were Kirishima's; his body sheltered over you in all its hardened planes and sharp edges.

"A-Are you okay?" he asked, folding away from you.

Breath couldn't be wasted on words. Clutching your cheek, chest heaving under the ache of your lungs, you could only form a nod.