somewhat early release - leggo! xD

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-x- Izuku Midoriya's POV -x-

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath.

"You'll do just fine, Izuku! I'm sure of it!" Uraraka had said cheerfully. I sighed, biting my lip. I hope you're right.

I glanced over at Kirishima, who simply stared forwards. "So uh," I offered a smile, "Got any ideas?"

"No."

Well this already isn't going well. "Mmmm well I'm sure you know more about their quirks than I do."

"Yeah."

"So you don't have anything?" I sighed.

Kirishima's eyes flickered towards me. "Let's just get this over with, alright?"

Furrowing my brows, I turned towards him. "Listen, I'm sorry that you have to deal with me, especially since I'm quirkless and can't help much, and I really don't care if you dislike me, but we need to get along if we're going to win this."

He didn't reply.

I sighed, dragging my hands over my face. However, I didn't continue to try to convince him. I knew I wasn't getting anywhere.

The two minutes of silence felt like forever, and once the round began, I let out a sigh of relief. Almost immediately, Kirishima took off, and I followed his lead.

Once we arrived, I shot out my hand instinctively, preventing Kirishima from going inside.

"Hey man," Kirishima furrowed his brows, "What are you doing?"

Without looking away, I pointed at the windows. "You notice the first and second floors' windows have frost all over them?" He glanced up, eyes widening. "Todoroki must be somewhere on the second floor, if not on the third. We should be careful when heading in. Aoyama could be here too."

Kirishima reluctantly nodded, and I slowly dropped my arm. The two of us carefully went inside, trying to make as little noise as possible.

"It's s-so c-cold," Kirishima whispered, shivering.

I nodded. "But we'll have to deal with it, and start moving as quickly as we can without alerting them. It's likely that at least one of them has made it to the third floor by now."

Kirishima and I exchanged glances, and we headed up the stairs. By the time we made it to the fourth floor, my eyes widened, spotting Todoroki near the stairs.

"Get back!" I whispered to Kirishima, causing Todoroki's head to snap towards us. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, and we remained silent behind a pillar.

"C'mon, man," Kirishima whispered somewhat loudly, "We need to go get him!"

I shot him a look. "And do what?"

Kirishima gritted his teeth. "Fine." But it was too late.

"You're here then?" Todoroki asked calmly, stepping to the side.

Sighing, I nodded to Kirishima, and the two of us revealed ourselves.

Todoroki, without giving us a chance to think, raised his foot before stomping it to the ground. A spike of ice quickly emerged from the ground - which had already been covered in a thin layer of frost - causing us both to leap out of the way.

Breathing heavily, I glanced over at Kirishima, who groaned as he rubbed the back of his head. After ensuring he wasn't too injured, I glanced down at my arm, gritting my teeth once I saw a small puncture in my skin. I grabbed my arm, raising my head towards Todoroki.

Todoroki narrowed his eyes. "I won't lose."

"Well," I sucked in a breath, "We'll just have to see about that."

It seemed that, after my comment, his attention was more drawn towards me. I gave Kirishima a nod, prompting him to attempt to sneak behind Todoroki. However, the boy quickly noticed, a wall of ice appearing before Kirishima.

Kirishima jumped back, eyes wide, as the wall had barely grazed the tips of his hair.

I laughed slightly. "I should've assumed that wouldn't work."

Todoroki raised his head before sending another large ice spike my way, but, although the first few grazed me, I made it out relatively safely.

I stared at my hand, clenching into a fist and unclenching it. "Woah. I did not know I could do that."

Todoroki didn't look exactly happy with me after I had dodged so many of his attacks, but, although neither of us had landed a hit on each other, he seemed to be in worse shape. He breathed more heavily, and his movements became sluggish.

My eyes trailed up his arm, noticing frost growing from his skin. So that's it. His heat regulates the frost in his body, but he refuses to use it in battle.

"Todoroki," I stood, "Look at me. You've barely landed a good hit on me." I stepped forwards, placing my hand on my chest. "Why aren't you giving it your all?!" Why did I just say that?!

Todoroki narrowed his eyes. "What?"

Kirishima's eyes widened as he stepped backwards. "Dude, what are you doing?!" Good question.

"Your arm is covered in ice," I gestured, "There's no way you can beat me like that."

Todoroki growled before sending another spike of ice but, because he was moving slowly, it was much easier to dodge.

I crouched on the ground, breathing heavily. "See what I mean, Todoroki?! Why won't you use it?!"

"I'm not giving that old man the satisfaction," Todoroki spat.

I stood up, brushing myself off. "Don't you get it, Todoroki?" I ran towards him, weaving in between his ice spikes. Once I reached him, I stood, panting with a grin. Blood trickled my arm as I raised my head.

"What are you-"

On instinct alone, I pushed him to the ground. "You need to let it go! It's your power. It's your power, not his!"

Todoroki stared at me, wide-eyed. Suddenly, his left side burst into flames, causing my arms to instinctively reach to protect my eyes.

Stumbling backwards, I opened an eye, watching as Todoroki's shadow rose from the fire.

My eyes widened as a smile appeared on his face. He raised his hand, causing me to continue moving backwards. Though, I couldn't help but crack a smile. "Even though you knew you couldn't win if I used my power... You helped me anyway. You're even smiling."

"Midoriya," Kirishima warned, "You need to get out of the way...!"

All Might's voice came over the speakers. "Young Todoroki, DON'T!"

"Thank you," Todoroki grinned, sending a burst of his flames towards me.

Kirishima gasped. "Look out!"

The area between Todoroki and I suddenly set of a chain of explosions, sending both of us flying backwards. My ears began to ring, eyes squeezing shut.

As the explosion settled, I coughed, slowly blinking. Looking down, I noticed several burns littering my skin, hissing from the pain. My eyes widened.

My throat felt dry, but I forced myself to yell out. "Kirishima!" I shouted, sending myself into a coughing fit.

On the other wall was a stunned Todoroki, half of his shirt ripped from his body, which was slick with sweat.

I slowly turned my head to the side, eyes wide. I let out a slight gasp once I saw Kirishima, who was slumped against the wall. He was clearly breathing, but they were shallow. A crack ran down the wall behind him, blood dripping from the concrete.

Kirishima opened his eyes slightly, groaning.

"Kirishima!" I crawled forwards, wincing from pain. He glanced at me, though it seemed he was only half awake.

Suddenly, a cracking sound reverberated through the air, and all breaths stopped.

Raising my head, I watched as the ceiling above Kirishima cracked, a lump rising in my throat. Buildings shouldn't fall apart that easily. This must be the challenge...

Without thinking, I jumped forwards, shoving Kirishima out of the way. His eyes widened as he watched me dive towards him, though all I could hear was the sound of my heart pounding in my eardrums.

It was as if it were in slow motion - a fearful look across both of our faces as my fingers connected with Kirishima's chest, shoving him away.

Suddenly, though, I felt an awful pain shooting through my leg. Awful, though, was an understatement.

Dust and debris flew up from the ground, sending me into a coughing fit as my eyes watered.

My vision became blurry, but I could see a faint shadow come through the debris before it revealed itself as Kirishima.

"Dude, are you okay?!" he asked, eyes wide with panic. His eyes drifted towards the back of my body, letting out a slight gasp. "Your leg is broken!"

I blinked confusedly before glancing behind me. "So it is," I mumbled, my body feeling numb.

"Why did you do that?!" he asked, panicked. "I could've taken it!"

I coughed, cracking a small smile. "It looked like you needed saving."

Suddenly, though, my eyes widened as a sizzling pain shot through my leg, dispersing and igniting repeatedly. My vision blurred further, breaths heavy. I knew Kirishima was talking, but the sound was drowned out by the sickening feeling in my stomach.

I heaved, feeling as though someone was lifting a weight off my leg, before blinking. Slowly, I felt my body fall downwards, my face resting against the cold pavement.

"It's okay. You're okay. You did well, my boy."

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I've been waiting to write this chapter :)))))

Though, I'm a little disappointed in my writing very sad xD

merry christmas and uh

Thanks for reading! <3