You were doing good. You didn't have any of your targets hit yet, but you still only had one defeat. The most of anything you were doing was dodging.
Every time you went to attack someone, dozens of others appeared to gang up on you, and, the worst part was, somewhere along the line, you had gotten separated from Bakugo.
That meant no help, no one to have your back, and, worst of all, at least to you, no one to tease. How were you supposed to get through this exam without irritating Bakugo?
"The ninety-sixth competitor has passed," Mera's voice echoed throughout the stadium. "There's are four spots left, and thirteen examinees remaining."
"Dammit," you cursed as you slid down to the ground.
You had been hidden in one of the buildings of the city terrain for a few minutes now. You needed to rest. The other examinees were being more brutal than you thought. You and some scrapes and bruises and blood patches in various places. You scars ached, but you weren't going to give up. You just needed to take a breather.
"The ninety-seventh competitor has passed. There are three spots left, and eleven examinees remaining."
You pushed yourself to your feet and took a deep breath. There were three spots left. You needed one. You were sure all of you other classmates had already secured their spots.
"The ninety-eighth and ninety-nine competitors have passed. There is one spot left, and seven examinees remaining."
Make that one spot left.
If any of your classmates were still in the exam, they would've come looking for you already with the number so low. If you were the only Class 1-A student left, that meant the other six examinees would probably put off trying to eliminate each other for the final spot and work together to find you regardless of if they were classmates or strangers.
"Now or never," you muttered.
You walked out of the building and scanned your surroundings for the remaining players. You found no one. It was quiet.
They were probably waiting for you. It'd be a bad idea for them to split up to find you since they knew you were a top student, and it'd take them too much time to look for one person as a group in such a big stadium.
You shot out a string to wrap around the tallest pole you could find, which you pulled yourself on top of. You then shot out two more strings, one from each pointer finger, and pulled yourself up onto the tallest building, which gave you a view of the entire arena.
The other six competitors were waiting for you in the center of the stadium. They were six students from schools you didn't know. There were four males and two females.
The first male, black hair, had two of his three targets illuminated. He'd be a good one to eliminate.
The second male, long haired redhead, had one of his three targets illuminated. That meant he was good at defense but bad at offense.
The third male, brown hair, had two of his three targets illuminated. Another contender for elimination.
The fourth male, shorty, had none of his targets illuminated. He seemed drawn back, which told you he probably didn't hit anyone else's targets either.
The first female, blondie, had two of her three targets illuminated, but the third one was in a difficult place, the back of her thigh.
The second female, double braid, had one of her three targets illuminated, but the other two were in easy places, one on each bicep.
"Finally came out of hiding, huh?" Double Braid yelled.
"Sorry!" You apologized with fake sympathy. "I needed to re-energize after so much ass-kicking!"
"Says the one in the final seven!" Redhead shouted.
"You're here too!" you replied. "And thanks for waiting, by the way. It's nice to meet some admirers. You want a backflip, autograph, picture?"
"Cut the crap!" Black Hair screamed angrily as he balled his hands into fists. "Get down here and fight us like a real hero!"
"If I remember correctly," you began, "heroes save! You're sounding more like a little villain right now!"
"She's testing you, dude!" Blondie exclaimed to Black Hair. "Get ahold of yourself."
"She's trying to turn us against each other!"Brown Hair intervened.
'No, I'm trying to distract you,' you thought before shooting out your strings and attaching them to rumble that laid near the examinees.
You yanked yourself toward them and landed in the center of their poorly made circle with one knee on the ground and your other foot stretched back so that it'd be easy to stand.
"People like you annoy me," you sighed while standing to your full height. "Anyone wanna sacrifice themselves?"
"This is bullshit," Black Hair scoffed. "How the hell are you a top student? You've hid this whole damn time and only showed yourself when it came down to the wire. Sure, you attend U.A. Yeah, you've fought real villains, but you're nothing cool. You're just like all the other wannabes, and the only reason you ever got famous in the first place is because your weak ass boyfriend got himself kidnapped."
You felt all amusement leave your body. Any positive emotion that once resided within you had disappeared. All that was left was rage. You didn't even care about victory anymore.
You could take insults. You didn't care what people thought about you. If they liked you, great. If they didn't, who cares? You didn't live to be a simple people pleaser. However, you weren't going to stand anyone who had the nerve to disrespect Bakugo, and that wasn't because he was more than a friend to you. It was because he was more than the six examinees in front of you could ever be, and one of time had the audacity to say he was weak.
"What was that?" Double Braid asked in shaky voice as she raised a finger to point at you.
"What?" Black Hair questioned in annoyance.
"That look in her eyes," Redhead stated. "It just...completely changed."
"She looks like she's gonna kill us!" Shorty exclaimed. "I'm out of here! I'll take the make-up exam!"
He quickly grabbed three balls and hit each one of his targets, eliminating himself, before bolting.
"One spot left, six examinees remaining. This is getting interesting. I might stay awake for this one."
"Sorry, dude," Redhead said, hitting his remaining two targets. "You're on you're own."
"I'm leaving. This is crazy," Double Braid stated as she too eliminated herself and rushed off with Redhead.
"One spot left, four examinees remaining. Is this kid seriously gonna drive 'em all off with a look? That's kinda boring. Maybe I will take another nap."
"I got this!" Blondie assured confidently as she grabbed a ball and charged at you.
Before she even had a chance to use whatever her quirk was, you grabbed her outstretched arm, yanked the ball from her hand, and kicked her feet out from beneath her.
She landed on her back with a grunt, and you kicked her over onto her stomach before yanking her arm and locking it underneath your armpit, causing her to help.
You dropped the ball that was once hers above the girl's thigh before using your foot to slam it onto her last remaining target. She winced from the sudden pain.
You maintained eye contact with Black Hair as you dropped Blondie's arm before using your foot to kick her aside.
"Hey!" Brown Hair yelled as he looked toward the sky. "That has to be against the rules! She could've broken her leg!"
"As far as I'm concerned, your little group of bandits began acting villainous first. She's retaliating like any angry and provoked hero, and she just snagged the final spot."
Brown Hair scoffed at Mera's response before rushing to help Blondie off the ground. You simply continued to stare Black Hair down at you began to head toward the waiting room.
You shoulder-checked Black Hair as you passed him, which only provoked him to grab your arm and yank you back.
You didn't think twice before wrapping your fingers around his throat and squeezing, which was a good method of getting anyone to let go of anything.
Black Hair choked as he released your arm and clawed at the hand grasping his throat. You kept squeezing.
"[L/N], release him or you will be disqualified and banned from taking any provisional license exam in the future."
You didn't hesitate to release Black Hair and shove him back. You were angry, not stupid. You weren't going to ruin your chance at becoming a hero because of some idiot.
You turned around and continued on your path to the waiting room, not sparing any of the three examinees behind you another thought or glance.
When you entered, all eyes fell upon you, but you ignored every single one except for a pair of crimson ones.
"There will be a ten minutes intermission before the second portion the exam," Mera stated from his podium. "Return to the waiting room in exactly then."
You immediately rushed off as soon as you were able. You sprinted down what seemed to be never-ending hallways as you tried to find something, somewhere, that could calm you. A sink. A bathroom. A closest. A water fountain. Anything.
You were forced to stop running when you sharply turned a corner and ran into something, someone.
A strong arm pulled you back and wrapped around your waist, keeping you at bay. You initially fought back as you pounded your fists against the person's chest, but they simply wrapped their other arm around you and pulled you down to the floor to ground you.
You grasped a familiar baggy material as you inhaled sharply. You felt an infamous scarf fall over your hair as you rested your head on the sturdy chest supporting you.
"Mr. Aizawa?" your voice came out much shakier than you would've allowed it to if you weren't in a empty hallway with someone you knew and trusted.
"Take a second," your teacher replied, his arms still wrapped around you, keeping you from trying to move.
You pursed your lips in frustration as you felt your throat swelling and your eyes beginning to burn.
Why the hell were you crying? You were fine. You had passed. You had no reason to be sad, but, for some reason, you felt so miserable.
"Why...why do people always have to test me?" you choked out as reluctant tears poured out of your eyes.
"Because they know you care," Aizawa replied. "You can't get to someone who doesn't have a heart."
You silently nodded against his chest as you allowed your tears to dry themselves. All was quiet for a minute or two as the man let you take time to calm down.
"[L/N]?" Aizawa eventually said.
"Hm?" you hummed tiredly, your eyes almost fluttering shut.
"I don't want to sound invasive," he began, "but have you ever considered therapy?"
You lifted your head at that. You leaned back enough to properly see your teacher's face, who was staring down at you.
"I barely talk about how I'm feeling with my parents. Why would I talk about that stuff with a stranger?" was all you said before returning to using the hero's chest as a pillow.
"Because it helps," he responded. "You may think it's useless, but it does help to some extent. I didn't consider therapy until my mid-twenties even though it would've been much healthier for me to indulge in it sooner, but, after a few sessions, I found myself feeling a lot better about the things that had made me so miserable."
"But..." you began hesitantly. "I'm sixteen. I shouldn't need therapy."
"Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world," Aizawa stated. "Growing up trianing to be a hero doesn't make anything easier. I've found that the ones with the best hearts always end up suffering the most in the end. I don't want you to end up that way."
"You're saying that 'cause you're my teacher," you mumbled into his shirt.
"I'm saying it because I care," he argued.
The sound of rapid footsteps caused you to perk up. You slowly sat up and looked over your shoulder to find Bakugo running your way.
You were shocked when he skidded to a stop, leaned down, and grabbed your waist with the gentlest of grasps. He lifted you up and helped you to your feet.
"Don't run off like that," Bakugo said while exhaling deeply.
"Sorry," was all you could say.
Aizawa stood and pulled his phone out of his pocket to look at it before saying, "you've got four minutes."
"Thanks, Sensei," you said, thanking him both for the time and the comfort.
Aizawa simply nodded and eyed the two of you before taking his leave. As soon as he was completely out of sight, you focused your attention on Bakugo.
"Scared the shit out of me," he stated, his hands now resting on your hips. "The hell happened out here?"
"He pissed me off," you answered shortly while wrapping your arms around his neck. You rested your chin on his shoulder.
"What'd he say to piss you off so badly?" he asked, which caused you to lean back and look at in him confusion.
"Didn't you hear?" you wondered.
"No one could hear anything expecting for the fucking sleepy guy," he replied.
He didn't know, and he didn't need to. If he found out you got so angry over something so little, he'd surely tease you, tell you it was nothing to get so upset over.
"It's not important," you eventually said.
"I think it's pretty damn important if you almost strangled him," Bakugo argued.
"Can we not talk about it?" you pleaded. "I'd rather just bottle up my feelings, get this exam done, and go home."
"Eh, you're hanging out with me too much," Bakugo joked despite the evident worry in his eyes. "Come on."
Bakugo released your hips only to grab your left hand with his right as he beckoned you to walk with him. You did do silently, not wanting to speak.
You barely wanted to exist anymore. You went from being fully recovered to falling back down again. You were letting your emotions lead you when you should be using your head more, and the only thing grounding you anymore was Bakugo.
[EDITED]