Today's the day.
That was the single thought running through Izuku as he watched the side of the hardwood door to the bathroom be sealed shut - the wood being cauterized into the tile walling. The blonde boy took his smoking palm away from the door and turned towards him, a deviant grin leaking out.
"No more running away, Deku..." Bakugou voiced slowly, taking a step closer as he held up the same heated hand. Orange sparks crackled upward from his palm as his fingers clenched into a fist. "I want a rematch, and you're not getting out of it this time."
Just as he suspected, Bakugou was looking for a fight with him, and had caught onto the fact he was attempting to avoid him. Izuku had gone into the bathroom as always when he had nothing else to resort to, stalling out time until the truculent blonde would get annoyed waiting around and leave on his own accord, or when his popularity interfered and distracted him.
His move had been foreseen. Not only had Bakugou followed him in the bathroom, but he had his friends drive away other people beforehand and steer others clear from coming nearby. The two of them were left completely alone, isolated from everyone else.
This was the exact situation Izuku wanted to avoid, and knew would inevitably come. It was a reality he couldn't escape. Not then, not now. Time was irrelevant.
Deku and Kacchan would always battle. It couldn't be avoided.
"Fight me. You've been walking around like you own the place acting like a Hero, and then start skulking away whenever I'm around. You little coward. Too afraid to fight me now that I'm better with my Quirk?" Bakugou mocked him, slamming his fist into his other palm and lighting off a small explosion.
"I don't want to fight you, Kacchan," Izuku lightly shook his head.
"I wouldn't want to fight me neither." Grin widening, Bakugou's Quirk began to intensify as greater pops surfaced from his palms, shadows dancing across the room's dimness. Without wasting another moment, the manic boy charged with a nasty shout. "DIE!"
Izuku's green eyes flashed with recognition, his body tensing as he readied himself.
It was the same. Despite having spent considerably less time with the other boy in this redone world, he could recognize the exact movements - the beginnings to the fighting style that had been beaten into his head vividly for over a decade.
An overhead right. He always started off with the same attack, often decimating his much weaker opponents in a single blow.
Not this time.
Weaving towards the right, Izuku let the strike blast harmlessly into the air, feeling the wave of heat against his body as he angled himself to the side. He knew from experience that the spiky-haired boy had put his all into that swing. He was trying to hurt him, and hurt him bad.
It was... sad.
Better return the favor and end it swiftly.
In perfect position, Izuku slanted his body upward into the off-balance boy with his full weight. "VERMONT SMASH!"
Driving his elbow directly into Bakugou's vulnerable chin, the blonde's head snapped back as his feet crumbled underneath him, immediately hitting the hard tile below and sliding across the smooth floor from the momentum carrying him.
Returning to a firm stance, Izuku waited and stared at the other boy. Laying limply and unresponsive, he let out a small sigh as his muscles relaxed. It seemed that was it. He'd gotten a bit lucky that his counterstrike knocked him out. Though he had trained his body and acquired some strength, people with any sort of Quirk often had surprisingly resilient bodies too.
As he turned to leave, Izuku felt the pores on his flesh tingle as he dove off to the side, barely avoiding a sinister blast aimed at his backside as the other boy soared past him. He turned towards Bakugou with a shocked expression.
He couldn't recall a single time Bakugou had played possum. He'd used many other dirty tactics in the past, but something as degrading as that?
Another pang struck his heart.
This was a different boy. This wasn't the same Bakugou he'd grown up with and knew. He was different and would continue to grow different. This was a good thing in the end... but...
"Urk-!" Izuku grunted as he forced his body to move again, struggling to roll out of the way properly with his cumbersome backpack still attached to his shoulders. The laminated door to one of the stalls was blown off its hinges as the blonde had thrown his whole body at him again. He could hear a quiet sizzle behind him as the corner to his bag was seared from the brief contact.
Peeling himself from the obliterated door, Bakugou threw the remaining pieces aside and turned at him with a vicious sneer. His red eyes were smoldering as blood dripped from his lips, an ugly purple bruise forming on the underside of his chin.
Tenacious and enraged, the boy was being fueled on sheer madness. With that rage came predictability, a fact Izuku knew all too well. Having been caught off guard from surprise, he wouldn't let it happen a second time. His old rival might've not have gone down with a single blow, and had gained greater determination, but the wild choreography of his attacks were much easier to read for any experienced fighter.
Rushing to his feet, Izuku dodged and deflected Bakugou's wrists like they were nothing. Each deflection drove the blonde even more insane, and soon he was screeching like a wild animal. His yells echoed off the bathroom walls, and most definitely escaped through the tiny opening underneath the sealed door. If anyone was around, they would easily be able to hear their fight.
Focus dialing in, Izuku began counterattacking with every other swing Bakugou threw at him. The boy was already worked up, meaning his explosions would become more powerful. The more tired Bakugou would get, the more stronger he would be. He wouldn't let him become a greater threat than he was.
Dodge, deflect, hit. Dodge, deflect, hit.
Shoot-style, Miami Smash!
Kicking the boy's legs out from underneath him, Bakugou's inexperience in combat was unable to adjust and correct himself midair. Body floundering helplessly, the angered blonde banged the side of his head off the porcelain urinal next to him harshly.
"K-Kacchan?!" Izuku rushed forward, worried that he might've seriously hurt the boy. Leaping back, the shaggy-haired boy hissed as the front of his uniform was singed by the heat of a small explosion, a tinge of smoke pluming from his chest.
Heaving aggressively, Bakugou lurched himself upward, using the urinal to stand and wobbling aggressively as his arms desperately latched around the porcelain for more support. His fingers melted into the white material, scorching it a deep orange as it began melting into a lava-like substance.
"W-what are you doing?! Stop it, are you insane?!" Izuku called towards him pleadingly, hoping he would back down. Blood pooled from the other boy's temple, tickling his yellow hair and pouring down the side of his face. The wound was harrowing and needed to be treated immediately. The fight was ove-
"SHUT UP!" Bakugou screamed savagely, even as tears of pain leaked from his eyes. Steadying himself, he bent his legs as his hands came down near his hips. They were shaking - his Quirk overextended as he struggled to force out more power. "I won't lose to you... I'll never lose again, you hear me?! You're just a Quirkless nothing!"
Storing up more explosive force than he ever had, his palms turned a dangerous orange as burning energy came to life. With a yell, or maybe a cry, Bakugou sprinted at Izuku a final time using everything he could muster within himself.
"DIEEEEEE!"
Blasting forward, Bakugou couldn't see his target as his explosion engulfed everything in his vision. As he did, he felt a surge of both satisfaction and fear. He wasn't sure why he was doing what he was, he just wanted this weakness to go away.
It had to go away. If Deku was gone, it was sure to go away.
He heard a strange sound through his explosion, akin to that of something being destroyed by. The heat quickly pooled out, leaving behind dark smoke that also clouded his vision. He tried to take a step forward, his feet flailing as he realized he couldn't.
He couldn't because he was falling.
Before he could fully make out a clear sound, Bakugou felt himself stop as if he were snagged on something. His feet kicked frantically in fear as a whimper escaped him, turning towards the source of what hooked him.
...It was Deku.
The same boy he tried to destroy was desperately clinging onto his left hand with his own, before eventually managing to get his other hand onto his forearm. Bakugou was unable to feel the direct contact on his palm - the skin fried black as he pushed himself over the limit and leaving his nerves numb. Even so, he watched as the green-haired boy's face twisted as he struggled to pull him back up.
Behind him were the remains of stone and glass shattered into thousands of pieces from his blast. He'd taken out nearly half the entire wall and destroyed all the glass in the windows, including the single one that managed to remain standing. He felt his body slowly getting pulled back up from the destruction he alone caused.
Then he made eye contact with him.
Red orbs meeting green.
And as he did, something sinister shifted within him. Something so dark it even surprised him.
For some unknown reason that not even Bakugou himself could place, his blackened palm ignited within the other boy's.
"Agh-!" Izuku cried out, feeling the flesh of his left hand melting down into the bone as he was forced to let go.
Bakugou gasped, falling rapidly downwards from the opened wall. They were over three-stories high and the blonde was both too exhausted and far from skilled enough to catch himself with his Quirk. A cry left him as he realized what he had done, his vengeance driving him to inadvertently end his own life.
Closing his crying eyes fearfully, the ten-year-old Bakugou braced himself for his demise. As he did, he felt a force suddenly collide with his back as it latched onto him.
Then everything went black.