Keeping You (Todoroki x Reader)

Chapter 11

'And you're in denial. If Bakugou can play nice, so can you.'

He grumbled something incoherent under his breath (probably a curse upon me) but went back to quietly observing with me. Another point to me. I had no idea how many points I had now, but I'm sure I was beating him.

Now it was Class B's turn. Vlad King clenched his fist with frustration, a pained look twisting his rough features. 'Given what you knew about the other team, you came up with a strategy that should've given you an edge. Agh! But you were stuck on it and needed to be more flexible like Honenuki.'

Tokage turned to her classmates, her face the picture of embarrassing defeat. 'I'm sorry that I made our team look lame. I failed.'

'No, let's carve this loss into our hearts and learn from it,' Kamakiri said, bringing Bondo and Awase into a close hug, his smile making the pincers coming out of his mouth just a little less menacing.

'Yeah, sure,' Bondo agreed.

Awase nodded. 'If a monster like Bakugou turns into a team player, there's no weakness for us to exploit.'

Kamakiri shook his head remorsefully. 'I'm afraid that's true.'

'I agree,' Bondo added as the team made their way back to their classmates.

'I know we're meant to be rooting for our classmates...' I turned at the sudden entrance of Midoriya, who held his notepad open as he observed Tokage and the others walk away. '...but I'm glad they're not completely down on themselves. For the most part, they did everything right. And their team work - incredible!'

I nodded and stepped closer to him, Shoto now seemingly busy with talking to Tokoyami. 'There's no doubt they've been working just as hard as us. They've forged bonds as strong as ours, just under different circumstances. That's not something to underestimate.' Midoriya finally faced me, eyes locking with mine intently. 'We cannot underestimate them in our battle, Midoriya.'

He nodded his agreement, his determination to succeed burning bright in his emerald eyes. I could feel it - his want to win. I also felt something else, another presence. The same unknown presence from before. It was buried deep within Midoriya, but it wrestled and writhed with desire. Whatever it was, it wanted to be freed.

'L/N?' I broke out of my reverie at the sound of Midoriya's concerned voice. His eyebrows were knitted together with worry too, and the presence died down. 'You okay?'

'Y-Yeah,' I replied. 'Just... going over the plan in my head. Don't want to forget it.'

'Right.' The sound of approaching footsteps had us both turning to see Bakugou and the others walking not too far away back towards our group. 'Kaachan!'

'Out of my way!' Bakugou bellowed, face twisted with irritated rage.

I sweat-dropped. 'We're not even standing in front of you, so what does that even mean?'

The blond hedgehog sighed, his rage dissipating but not his intensity. He took another long look at us before continuing walking. 'I'm pushing ahead,' he said not glancing back as if to emphasise his point.

'Yeah,' Midoriya said. 'You were amazing.'

Bakugou scoffed. 'I'm moving so fast you won't be able to catch up.'

His tone may have been insulting, but Midoriya simply smiled, looking after his frenemy with admiration and determination. 'Yes I will.'

'Shut it nerd! Dumb words don't mean anything! I won't let you beat me! You're trash! A frickin' extra!'

'You speak to your mother with that mouth?' I called after him, a knowing smirk on my lips. 'Tsk, tsk, Bakugou.'

That finally caused him to stop his rampage, turning back to point an accusatory finger at me. 'Shut it, Lightbulb. You're nothing but a battery like Pikachu over there. Don't think for a second I won't beat your ass the chance we get to fight. I'll squash you like a bug!'