Like Friends Do

Chapter 12

With hearts heavy from anticipation – and apprehension, mostly – the students from Class 1-A snuck away from the bonfire on their last night at the training camp and made way for the Battlegrounds. Word had spread like a wildfire that Bakugou and Midoriya would be battling; somehow, though, the class (Iida, mostly) managed to keep it a secret from the teachers. The two in question already occupied the Battlegrounds, standing on either end of the football field, with Todoroki by Midoriya's side and Kirishima by Bakugou's. At the center stood Yaoyorozu, who had somehow gotten elected to play the referee. With the sun setting, she crafted torches, which Todoroki went around and lit as it got too dark to see.

A nervous frown played at Midoriya's lips while he shuffled from foot to foot. On the other side of the arena, Bakugou and Kirishima seemed to be having a calm, regular conversation. "You know you don't have to go through with this," Todoroki murmured to him. "I could go get Mr. Aizawa or All Might, and we could tell everyone they heard the commotion—"

"No," Midoriya replied sternly, then smiled sheepishly. "Ah, sorry. I just...really need to do this."

"If that bastard hurts you again, Izuku," Todoroki said in a warning tone.

"He won't," Midoriya assured. He leaned over, nudged Todoroki's shoulder, let their pinkies connect momentarily. "You'll be here to kill him if he does," he said in a teasing tone.

"Right," Todoroki replied seriously.

"Please don't kill him, Shouto."

"No promises, Izuku."

Midoriya laughed, despite knowing that Todoroki was entirely serious – he had no qualms with severely hurting Bakugou if he tried anything. He was about to respond when Yaoyorozu blew her conjured whistle. "I want this to be a clean fight!" she bellowed like a true boxing announcer. "Kirishima and Todoroki are standing by in case one of you goes too far," she said accusatorily, though she mostly directed her words at Bakugou.

A few more words of caution followed and Yaoyorozu blew her whistle again. Immediately Bakugou sent sparks from his palms to propel himself to the center of the field, while Midoriya activated Full Cowling in his legs. He met Bakugou with a quick jab to the stomach, then a dodge away from Bakugou's fist that swung at him. "It's on, fuckin' nerd!" Bakugou snarled, but his usual animosity-filled smirk was replaced with a smile, a genuine smile, as if he missed their occasional spars.

Bakugou swung again, with his right once more – Midoriya had expected his left – and he knocked Midoriya back a few feet, but the boy managed to stay upright. In retaliation, he channeled Full Cowling into his legs and propelled himself at Bakugou. Bakugou leapt, exactly what Midoriya hoped he'd do, and he reached up, grabbed one of Bakugou's ankles and threw him down. Class 1-A erupted into various cheers and boos; despite only fully recovering just a week or so prior, the crowd was quite split in their chanting of who they supported. Perhaps Midoriya's biggest supporter (aside from Todoroki) was Aoyama, who had even made a sign for the occasion.

Bakugou pushed himself to his feet effortlessly, a bit of grass on his chin from the fall. He launched himself back at Midoriya, delivered a strong hit to his right side that sent Midoriya reeling – but only for a moment as Midoriya propelled himself forward and leapt and kicked Bakugou's upper chest. Again Bakugou stumbled backwards, even fell on his butt – causing more than a few 'ooh's and 'ouch's from the crowd. He hesitated a bit before he got up.

"How'd you manage to get even stronger?!" Bakugou barked, but his smile still appeared happy.

"Training," Midoriya replied simply. His stamina had improved when he began training with Todoroki almost a year ago now, and the second he was cleared to use his left arm to its fullest strength he and Todoroki had taken off to train, making up for over a month of lost time.