You would be fighting him—your soulmate, whom you'd been so desperately trying to avoid. Him; the boy who bore nothing but sheer resentment every time he looked in your direction, and who you still hadn't spoken a single word to.

And you got the feeling that he was about to utterly destroy you.

It wasn't as though you didn't have faith in Izuku's abilities, but from what you'd seen, his powers would gravely injure him, and there was probably only so much he could do. If anything, he would most likely be saving them for when the two of you were left with no other option, which meant that your Quirk would need to carry the both of you to victory.

The two of you were waiting outside, allowing the "villain" team to make their way in first. You'd both been given a map with the basic layout of the building, which you would need to commit to memory in order to maneuver around.

You spared a glance towards your partner. "Izuku-kun...I could kind of already tell, but you have a really bad relationship with Bakugou-kun, don't you?"

"A-ah, well...yeah." He chuckled hoarsely, unable to mask the pain in his expression. "We used to be friends at some point, but it was so far back that I can hardly remember anymore. I call him 'Kacchan' because that's the name I would use when we were kids; he calls me 'Deku' to make fun of me. There's...not really much to tell, other than the fact that we don't get along at all."

You sighed. "I don't blame you."

"Eh?"

Izuku furrowed his brows, but you'd already gone silent. You hadn't even told Uraraka about the fact that Bakugou was your soulmate. If possible, you wanted to keep it to yourself for a while longer. You were still trying to avoid speaking to him altogether, but you didn't know how well that was going to work out now that you were being pitted against one another.

He doesn't look like the type who'd be happy about finding his soulmate in the first place. I doubt he'll even care. He might just get more irritated than usual.

Still, that was besides the point right now. Even you were here for a reason—to carve your path towards becoming a hero. Finding your soulmate and whatever was only secondary to all that; you couldn't allow yourself to get distracted by such things. First and foremost...you were going to do your best to win.

"I think I speak for both of us when I say that we don't like him, but still—let's give it our best shot." You smiled back at your ally. "I'm counting on you, Izuku-kun."

His emerald eyes widened just slightly before he hurriedly nodded his head.

"O-okay!"

"Now, Trial of Indoor Battle....STAAART!!"

—

It wasn't much longer after All Might's bellowing signal that the two of you managed to sneak in. You'd stealthily hopped inside through one of the windows, and immediately saw that the entire building was like a maze.

Everywhere you looked there were winding corridors; each of them seeming to lead nowhere in particular. You'd been given some time to read the map's layout, but your nerves were slowly chipping away at your memory. Despite your overall opinion of Bakugou, you couldn't deny the fact that he was strong, and for that very reason, you were extremely worried.

"Izuku-kun," you whispered, pulling up beside him. "Stick close to me, okay? That way I can bend the light around you and—"

"DIEEEEE!!!"

Without giving you the chance to finish your sentence, Bakugou came hurtling from around the corner. His right fist was poised in the air, and you didn't need to half a brain to know that he was angry as hell. You were just lucky that he'd let out a war-cry, since it gave Izuku the chance to push you aside and off to safety as Bakugou released an explosion against the wall.

You spluttered weakly, having tumbled to your knees and seeing that half of Izuku's mask had been torn to shreds.

"Izuku-kun, are you okay??"

"I'm fine," he mumbled back, wiping away the soot on his cheek. "He just grazed me a bit, that's all."

A collection of smoke had appeared from the blonde's preemptive attack, and he clawed at the air to make himself visible. His sharp, crimson eyes were glaring ruthlessly down at the both of you—Izuku, at first, but then his gaze shifted over towards your frame.

"Two shitheads, paired up together," Bakugou scoffed. "Just my fuckin' luck, huh? Hey, bitch—I'm talking to you. Look at me when I'm saying shit."

You felt your body tremble, but you kept your lips tightly pressed together. Bakugou gritted his teeth. The vein on his forehead looked as though it was about to burst.

"So you're still not gonna say a damn word, huh?! Just like this whole fuckin' time; you've been keeping your mouth shut and practically turning up your nose every time you saw me." He clenched his jaw, raising his right arm again. "If that's how you wanna play it, then fine. I'll make you regret trying to make a fool out of me—!"

One ferocious lunge and he was hurtling towards you and Izuku, and you felt your throat close up in apprehension. As quickly as you could, you squeezed your fists, small particles of light flitting through the air—unseen to anyone else's eyes other than your own.

He was still propelling himself forward, and his fist lurched forward at what he thought was your body and Izuku's, but in reality, it was just a distortion; the result of the light you'd bent in order to project an image farther away.

"The fuck—?!" Bakugou cried out, when he felt his fist hit nothing. These projections of yours didn't last much longer than a few moments, unfortunately, and you needed to act as quickly as you could. You really did hate hurting people, but for the sake of becoming a hero, you knew that such training was necessary.

Bakugou could only let out a guttural groan as you dashed forward and kicked him square in the stomach. He teetered backwards, clutching at the area of skin you'd mercilessly attacked. When he lifted his head, you could see that he was glaring daggers into your very soul.

"You little bitch," he spat. "I was gonna give Deku a good beating first, but it looks you've just made your way to the top of the list."

"[N-Name]-chan...!" Izuku cried out in a panic. "It's fine, you don't need to try and fight him! I'll do my best to hold him off while you go retrieve the weapon!"

There were so many raw emotions out in the open, you knew that this fight between them needed to happen. Honestly, you wanted to run—you really, truly wanted to. But you just couldn't. Even as your knees quivered and threatened to buckle underneath you, all you could do was muster up the courage to stare him straight in his bright, crimson eyes.

If he really was the person you were meant to spend your life with, you just couldn't keep running from him.

Bakugou only scoffed. "And you're still not gonna say a single fucking thing. Are you mute, or what? Nah, that can't be it. Since I'm sure you were talking to that shithead earlier on. In which case...it must mean that you're fucking with me. You're getting a kick out of screwing with my head."

You were trying your best to manage something; anything. But not yet. It wasn't time yet—not until you could feel your heart leaping out your chest with the words you'd held back for so long. Which is why you stood your ground, even as Bakugou came thundering towards you with the intention of blowing you into dust. And slowly, you felt a warmth spread across your chest with some intensity and vigor that you knew you couldn't hold back any more.

Your lips slowly pulled up at the sides.

"I think...you would look so much better with a smile."

Those words were all it took to make him freeze in place, eyes widened like never before. You actually thought that he might not have even remembered his marking in the heat of the battle, but the dazed look on his expression said it all—he knew.

So, maybe it was cruel of you, but you'd been hoping for an opening like this. Golden specks danced through your eyes as you slammed your palms together and urged a beam of light to push him backwards. He faltered in place, the attack causing him to tumble to his knees, although not inflicting much damage otherwise. You glanced hurriedly over to Izuku's side, already rushing off towards the end of the corridor.

"You take it from here, Izuku-kun! I'll go retrieve the weapon!"

"Huh? O-oh...right!"

You urged your legs to carry you as fast as they could, but it felt like they had turned to jelly. You were breathing shallowly and your heart was beating a million miles a minute. Behind, you heard a deep, raspy cry that could only have been addressed to you.

"What did you just say...?" Bakugou croaked. "Hey! I'm asking you what the fuck you just said!! Come back here, you!"

Even though you'd promised yourself that you wouldn't look back, you couldn't keep your gaze from wandering. With your breath hitched in your throat, (e/c) orbs fell onto the figure of Bakugou hunched over towards the ground—and for the first time, he didn't look angry.

His expression had unwound to the point that the fire had all but dissolved in his formerly-blazing, crimson eyes. No longer did he bear the glint of hatred from before. Really, in all the times you'd looked at him, you felt like you were only now actually seeing him.

"Hey..." he mumbled out, his voice riddled with tremors. "Just...say that shit again. C'mon."

You snapped your head away and rushed down the hallway, turning the bend as quickly as you could manage. Your feet seemed to carry you faster than ever before, and you weren't even fully aware of where you were going.

A forceful heave fell out your lips as you finally stopped and crumpled against one of the walls. You were out of breath, yes, but you knew that couldn't have been the only reason your cheeks were burning red-hot. Shaky fingers found their way to the scalding temples by your hairline, and all you could do was squeeze your eyes shut.

Your words had reached him, for the very first time.