Bakugo checked his phone for the fifth time since making his morning protein shake, more for something to do than with any expectation Maeve had replied. When she suggested the session start as soon as he woke up the previous evening, he'd just laughed at her. The girl couldn't drag herself out of bed for a fucking coffee, let alone fitness drills in the mud.
His phone rang. Probably Satan incarnate ready to yell at him for not washing his underwear yet. Fuck's sake. Bakugo picked it up and answered, too distracted by rinsing out the blender to check caller ID.
"Allo?" He grunted, abandoning the sink to instead inspect his biceps in some reflective kitchen cabinets. A dry voice crackled through the receiver.
"For someone so insistent I be outside bang on 4:50 you're awfully relaxed about timings yourself."
"You're actually up? Is something wrong?"
"Yeah, something is wrong. I'm currently freezing my arse off outside height's alliance in stupid gym wear that makes said arse look like a creased burrito, and you're nowhere to be found."
"I told you to be outside so you could do some warm-up stretches. The session only starts at five, when I'll come out and we'll start," Bakugo explained, finishing off his smoothie. For him, it was a pathetically flimsy excuse, but he just decided to roll with it.
"Why didn't you tell me that? I've already stretched-"
"How the fuck does a scrawny nerd like you know how to do that?"
"If you didn't think I knew how to warm up properly, why did you expect me to be able to do it myself now?"
Her voice was weird, even on the phone. Maeve usually talked a lot, sure, and he knew better than anyone how irritable she could get. Yet the level she'd already reached that morning was practically incoherent, which suggested lack of control, and if there was one thing Maeve never lost it was that.
"Fucking mouthbreather... I'll come out now," Bakugo sighed, clearing away his dishes and slouching to unlatch the front door. He and Mr Aizawa had unofficially fallen into a routine; the erasure hero checked security when he left and came in for nocturnal work, and Bakugo ensuring nothing had happened the following morning on his run. They generally only missed each other by a couple of hours.
Maeve stood out on the lane, shaking, even though it was the height of summer. Not a good sign. She was indeed wearing UA sports gear, and he agreed it didn't fit her well. Her hair was arranged in cornrows that in that moment made her head look like an egg. Bakugo wasn't one to sugar coat things. If the nurse wanted that she should've employed the cake idiot.
"How are you only wearing a tank top? Who are you flaunting your guns to?"
"Yeah, fuck you too. You're going to overheat in that, you should just go in the bodysuit," he sighed, bending down to press his palms against the ground. There was definitely something wrong with her, and Bakugo knew if he of all people had noticed, it must be bad. But he wasn't her fucking therapist. He was there to stop what happened to her from ever happening again, nothing more.
"Yeah, these shivers racking my body are just part of the warm-up routine. I sure am toasty," she replied sarcastically, watching him stretch with an arched eyebrow. Bakugo began lowering himself into smooth lunges.
"Those are caffeine tremours and we both know it. What happened at the police station last night?"
"Not much. A quirk specialist came in with me, which Shnitzelface was even less keen on than I expected. He didn't do anything awful, but we pulled the plug anyway."
The casual airiness of her voice told Bakugo there was far more to the story than she was letting on, but it was shit she didn't want him sticking his nose in.
"So coffee overdose on top of no sleep then. Great combination. Show me how you stretched this morning."
Maeve blinked at him, huffed, and spun around to (Bakugo assumed) storm off to her dearly missed bed. Yet without any further warning, the girl fully bent herself in half so that her chin rested between still locked knees. Something like that required a degree of flexibility he'd needed to work for years to achieve himself.
Maeve looked up at him from between her legs.
"What?"
"Where did you learn how to do that?"
The girl began swinging back and forth slowly, gripping onto her knees with gloved fingers. He noticed she was able to stretch a decent way further to the right than the left.
"Physical therapy sessions since I was eight probably have something to do with it," Maeve replied, her face popping in and out of the space between her legs. She seemed to decide he deserved a proper explanation, however, so continued.
"After the accident, I could barely move my top half. I don't actually think I would've minded too much if I wasn't so involved in dance. That was my chance to escape, so there was no way I was giving it up because of reduced flexibility. I had extensive surgeries to loosen my right half and've been doing stretches each day since."
"Escape from what?"
Maeve just laughed softly in response and flopped onto the grass beside the road to check her legs were properly loosened. They stretched in silence for the following minutes, each giving the other smaller pointers. Bakugo was definitely more flexible and he always would be given her scars, but even so, he couldn't help but be impressed. Training might not be the shambles he was expecting.
Bakugo probably should've waited to judge until after their full warm-up routine.
***
"I- I think I'm dying," Maeve wheezed, lungs struggling to get enough air through weak coughs. The explosion student glanced back at her, disbelieving.
"It's only been half a kilometre."
"500 metres of death. I can't do this."
"Have your legs seized up or your heart stopped?"
"No..."
"Then you can do it, the only thing stopping you is your head. Exercise isn't physical; most of it is having the ability to dissociate your mind from the discomfort in your body. Something tells me you have a lot of experience in that department already."
"Fucking hell; the world's really ending. Inspirational Bakugo?" Maeve groaned but didn't complain again. They continued plodding on, her gasping and spluttering, him never even breaking a sweat. She was probably the least fit person he'd ever seen. Fair enough. Even though the girl was used to expending obscene amounts of energy for her work, that was from energy and muscle reserves. It was the equivalent of taking a famine victim out on a morning jog.
She never gave up, however. Even though their pace slowed down to practically slower than walking, Maeve continued slogging until he decided they'd had enough. Bakugo lead them further into the woods surrounding campus, making sure they were well out of sight. As soon as they stopped, the girl leaned against a tree, her face bright red and covered in a sweaty sheen.
"Still think all those layers is a good idea?" He asked, and rolled his eyes when Maeve pulled the finger at him.
"I don't give a shit how covered up you are, but if we're going to get you even semi-prepared for the exam in five days, need I remind you, it's going to be intense. It's also the height of summer, so heatstroke isn't something to take lightly."
"Don't worry, I've gotten very good at functioning when I'm overheating," Maeve chuckled, breath still coming out as wheezes.
"Don't expect me to go easy on you because of the circumstances."
"I never expected that, don't worry."
***
"Getting here proved the point I wanted to focus on before the exam anyway. What would you say your greatest weakness in fighting is?"
The fact that I idolise my idiot father too much and assume I need to be able to fight people off without using a quirk like he does.
"The timing of my snappy retorts could be improved, I suppose," Maeve yawned, fingers still trembling from the seven cups of coffee she'd downed like shots since Shinso broke her out. That coupled with their run meant her world was spinning in a montage of green, blue and champaign blonde shithead.
"Did you give your surgery tutors the attitude you're giving me?" Bakugo asked, surprisingly calmly.
"Yep," she replied, popping the 'p' for extra effect. Maeve was perfectly aware she was being an asshole, but given the circumstances, she decided she'd earned a free pass.
"Mm, explains a lot. Think about your quirk and its capabilities. What's the spanner in the works?"
"I need to touch the skin of whomever I'm fighting to have any effect."
"Many successful heroes and villains have the same restraint. How'd they get around it?"
"Either increase their mobility or find a way to slow their opponent down."
"Obviously. At the moment, it's like you're stuck in the mindset that you need to touch someone to inflict damage. I saw it with the Nomu in the USJ and from what I heard, Dabi when you tried to escape. That kind of narrowmindedness limits your options dangerously low."
"I do need to touch someone to use my quirk on them, though.'
"Who says you need to use your quirk on them? Don't you literally carry around seeds in that bodysuit for emergencies?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, I hate the guy personally, but I think you could learn a lot from Kamui Woods. Your quirk could be like his on fucking steroids if you practised."
"Half of his success comes from his athleticism, though."
"Which is why you'd be a sidekick at best."
"Good thing I don't want to be a hero then, aye?"
"Doesn't mean you don't have to get the provisional license. What kind of plant do you find the easiest to manipulate?"
"Depends on the conditions. Bamboo grows the fastest but isn't particularly strong like ironwood. Then there's the texture..."
"Is there a way for you to make different types more accessible than they already are? Sew seeds into your gloves or something?"
"Probably. I'd prefer to keep the gloves for medical practices only, though."
"That reminds me. You should decide on your costume in the next few days so you can train in the closest conditions to test day as possible."
"I don't give a shit. Probably just bodysuit and a lab coat like usual."
"Alright. Enough talk. Let's see the limits of what you can do and go from there. How big can you grow that tree?"
Bakugo pointed to a spindly thing across the clearing. Maeve laughed softly, but obediently picked her way across to it.
"You might want to take a few steps back," she warned, before stroking its thin branches. There was an instant flurry of motion and the thing writhed underneath Maeve's fingertips, shooting up towards the sky. In the blink of an eye, its trunk had swelled to several metres in diameter. They fell into shadow as it hung over the woods like a skyscraper among cottages. Plants normally didn't have any effect on her, but pushing an organism to its limits like that left her feeling woozy.
"You good, shitface?" Bakugo asked, suddenly beside her with a hand hovering at her back in case the girl toppled over.
"Never been better. That was fun."
"Is that the max limit to size?"
"Only for that genus of populus alba. Depends on the type of tree I use."
"Alright. What's the fastest growing plant around here?"
Maeve arched an eyebrow at him, the side of her mouth tugging.
"Cynodon dactylon."
"Which is?"
"Lawn grass."
"Then sit in the middle of the clearing. I'll throw some stuff around and you need to catch them with grass before they hit the ground."
They tried that for a few minutes, and to be honest, Maeve didn't like it. She didn't really need to think about collecting the various sticks and stones being thrown, so it allowed the girl's mind to wander.
They didn't really do anything that awful, why are you so upset? Can't you just be fucking reasonable?
They lied to me for years, that's why. He told me he still wasn't over him, how sick do you have to be to use that to deceive someone? And Shinso was way too knowledgable about whether it was a breach of ethics or not, if he did that much research it would be out of a sense of guilt.
"Can we step it up a bit?" Maeve yawned, tendrils winding around her in a sea of brilliant green. Needing to keep cells constantly growing and receding was more of a drain than she'd thought, but it was manageable.
How the fuck did Dabi know? They're the two most discrete people I've ever met. What I don't understand is how the league was painfully ignorant about almost everything -they didn't even know why I was admitted to hospital before summer camp- and yet have weirdly specific information about what I would think would be considered irrelevant-
Bakugo shot her a grin that sent a shudder of uneasiness down the girl's spine.
"Attack me. If you manage to pin me down until the count of three, you win. If not, you're the pathetic loser. Sound fair?"
"Not really. You're outgunned, mate."
"We'll see."
"Are you going to use your quirk?" Maeve asked, unable to prevent a catch in her voice. She was way too tired to deal with that on top of everything else.
"Not today," he grunted and shifted his weight slightly from left to right in anticipation.
"You ready?"
Maeve adjusted her gloves, bringing herself back into focus.
"I just feel kind of scared to touch people, because of what happ-"
The uncertainty in her voice was so genuine sounding if it wasn't for his quick reflexes, Bakugo would already be strung up like a prime turkey at the market. She'd encouraged strands of grass to creep up behind him and entangle his feet. However, before they could get a proper hold, he sprang free with a string of cussing. Maeve immediately barraged him with tendrils of grass as thick and strong as rope. The very ground he was standing on became a trap.
However, his embarrassingly large ego wasn't entirely unjustified. Bakugo sprang to areas of lawn she wasn't close enough to have control of, and then relied on his reaction time to avoid incoming spears of poison green. Things quickly escalated as Maeve grew frustrated at his evasions, and began shooting green blades at him with startling velocity.
"Maeve, slow down," he called, as a strand sliced tufts of hair where his face had just been. Maeve just laughed.
"Naw, the wee school nurse too much for ya?"
"Seriously, it isn't safe-" Bakugo was cut off as he needed to whip around, practically bending himself in half to avoid another barrage.
"You're one to talk."
Bakugo's breath hissed between his teeth, however, just as he ignited his palms, the entire clearing fell completely still. Grass strands merely flopped over in a great mesh. Flames popped out of existence soon after.
"What are you two doing?" Aizawa asked, voice scathingly soft. His glowing red eyes and floating hair betrayed why their quirks had stopped working.
"Training," Maeve replied, and Bakugo noticed she'd immediately stiffened as soon as she recognised her father.
"We've been looking everywhere for you. The only thing that gave it away was the massive tree that's against protocol, by the way. All I get is a text saying you're with Bakugo? I know that you're angry, but we still need to communicate-"
"We've been looking for you? Who's the we?" Maeve asked, her tone sardonic in a way Bakugo had never heard before. Especially not towards Aizawa, the girl idolised him.
"You know perfectly well. You don't want to talk at the moment, fine. We respect that. But running off?" Aizawa asked, rubbing his temples with his thumbs.
"Wait, your Dad didn't know we were here?" Bakugo asked, disbelieving. The others ignored him.
"I needed some space to clear my head."
"You can't keep internalising everything, Maeve. You're mad at me, please let it out in a healthy way instead of tearing yourself up from the inside-"
"I don't want to talk about it. We're in the middle of training. You're the one who wanted me to have these sessions in the first place," Maeve snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I don't think you're in the right head space for combat right now. If I'd gotten here a few moments later you would've killed each other."
"I had it under control," Bakugo grumbled, ruffling his head to try and hide his discomfort.
"Explosions and severed limbs is a pretty funny representation of control. Come on, we're going back to Height's Alliance."
"I'm not finished," Maeve replied, sounding for all the world like a petty little kid. Bakugo had never seen her close to that immature. It was like she was falling apart at the seams, shown by the girl nearly killing him just before in what was supposed to just be a simple exercise. Her eyes were rimmed with black from exhaustion and Maeve's movements were jerky, uncharacteristically unrefined. Sure, the girl was eccentric, but she'd always a certain grace about her.
"If you come now and at least work out a sleeping pattern, we can train afterwards. It'll give you plenty of opportunities to try and kill me then," Aizawa replied dryly.
"I'm not going to keep working with you when you're like this, anyway. Sort yourself out," Bakugo added, tone sounding surprisingly gentle even to himself. Maeve looked between them, eyes narrowed.
"Fine, but I have a lot of paperwork to complete. It can't take long."
She slouched over to the massive creation before and it whipped back to a sapling.
"Though, is it okay if... Could you come with us? I want a third party opinion," she asked to Bakugo, whose discomfort levels had already reached maximum. Yet seeing the vulnerability in her expression, he couldn't exactly refuse.
"Sure," he grunted, trying to ignore how pissed Mr Aizawa looked about the new arrangements.