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Chapter 9: Reunion

Todoroki and Bakugou spent the couple days after their failed rescue attempt by patrolling through the now mostly calm city, looking for anything to distract them. Todoroki was often in his own head, but he still noticed how quiet Bakugou was. The normally hot-headed hero barely said a word to anyone after that day. Todoroki knew Bakugou was mean to everyone, but there must have been something worse in their past to have made Midoriya side with villains.

"Bakugou, what was your relationship like with Midoriya?"

"What the hell kind of question is that?!" shouted Bakugou, his veins emerging through his red skin.

"You know, what were you guys like in middle school?"

Bakugou paused, then stomped past Todoroki with a slight blush on his face. Todoroki increased his speed to keep up with his classmate.

"What did you think I meant?"

"Nothing!"

"Okay, so are you going to answer my question?"

"He was a coward, a fucking weirdo and nerd! The only thing that's changed is he's stronger now!"

"That's rude to say, Bakugou."

"You asked!"

"It's just, Midoriya seemed really angry with you. He called you a villain."

"I know! Shut up!"

Todoroki stopped when he saw Bakugou freeze. The next moment, Bakugou shot up into the air and atop the buildings. Todoroki quickly tried to follow, unsure what was happening. Once he finally caught up, he found Bakugou looking down into an open skylight of a warehouse. Knowing Bakugou wouldn't respond well to him, he simply looked into the warehouse to see what Bakugou was so interested in. His breath caught in this throat at the sight of the ever-familiar green hair several feet below. Two children ran up Midoriya, clinging to him.

"It's Midoriya-"

At Todoroki's voice, Bakugou jumped through the skylight. Todoroki tried to grab him but was met only with empty air. They were too rash when they tried to take him back last time. They should have gotten reinforcements. He knew that, but it looked like Midoriya was basically alone, only two kids by his side. This might have been their best shot. Against his better judgment, Todoroki created a path of ice to slide down to his friends.

"Midoriya..."

Immediately, Midoriya grounded himself, as he shouted back to the twins. "Go! Hide! I'll take care of these two!" He didn't know how he would protect the kids against the two best fighters in his class, but he knew he had no choice. He pushed forward, being met with a wall of ice between him and Todoroki.

"Midoriya! We don't want to fight you!"

"Like hell I don't!" screamed Bakugou as he punched the floor where Midoriya had just been. "Tsk!"

Midoriya regained his posture as he landed on nearby crates. His brows knitted together signaling his anger. He blocked Bakugou's next right hook before kicking Bakugou across the warehouse. Todoroki ran over to check on Bakugou.

"That looked like it hurt, Kacchan."

Blood ran down Midoriya's chin. Todoroki and Bakugou froze when they saw the pleasure on Midoriya's face. To them, he truly looked like a villain. Todoroki spotted the twins peeking out from behind shelves in the back.

"Bakugou, the kids-" whispered Todoroki. Bakugou's blood boiled as he saw the smirk on both their faces. He snapped out of it, when Todoroki pushed him out of the way right before ice shattered everywhere. Midoriya smiled at the crater he created. Todoroki had been blasted back into crates, gallons of plastic soda bottles spilling onto the floor.

"You should be paying attention to me, Kacchan, or you might not wake up again."

"Why are you doing this, Deku?!"

"You should know." Midoriya's eyes glazed over as his demeanor tensed. His muscles flexed as he turned towards his childhood friend. "Everyone treats me like trash, but you- You see nothing but someone who should... how'd you say it? Someone who should do the world a favor and take a nosedive off the roof."

Bakugou clenched his teeth as he sat in the pile of cookie packages and ramen. He thought this was behind them. After their fight, they didn't try to get closer, but he thought that things were better, that everything was cleared up.

"So then, was it a lie... that you wanted to be friends, Deku?"

"What?"

"You said All-Might was your hero, but that I was the one actually in your life! You said you looked up to me! That you didn't want to be enemies!"

Pounding in Midoriya's head, nearly brought him to his knees. He gripped at his head as he tried to steady himself. Had he said that to Bakugou? He remembered their fight, but nothing came of it. Everyone still tried him like a nuisance. Midoriya heard the twins calling out and turned to look at them to see them pointing somewhere in front of him. He slammed into the ground. When he opened his eyes, Bakugou had him pinned.

"The Deku I know had a stupidly stubborn sense of justice! He'd never become a villain, so why?!" Bakugou only stopped his assault when he caught a glimpse of a dark mark on Midoriya's neck.

"Kacchan-"

Screams pierced Midoriya's ears. He twisted as best he could under Bakugou to look for the twins. Todoroki had them by the collars of their shirts. Keeping them in place, by freezing their shoes to the ground. Blood rushed to Midoriya's head as he used One for All to knock Bakugou off him and jump towards Todoroki at full blast. In an instant, he was in front of Todoroki, fist held back, ready to strike. He felt the chill of the ice in contact with his fist as it made contact.

Todoroki struggled to rise from where he fell, the ice cracking off his face, but he fell back down. He would be down for a while, but Midoriya couldn't concentrate on that. His insides boiled as he tasted blood and bile rush up his throat. He released everything when he fell to his knees. Yuya cried to him, asking if he was alright. He knew Bakugou was rushing to them, so there was no time to answer. He pulled the twins out of their shoes before using his quirk to jump out of Bakugou's path, up the walls, and out of the first window he reached.

Bakugou started to follow, but then he remembered his teammate. Todoroki lied, motionless not far from him. His face was already swelling. From the look of it, some of his ribs might have also been broken, but luckily the half n half's ice seemed to have been able to protect him. He couldn't follow his childhood friend like this... Once again, he failed to get Deku back.