To Stand by Your Side (DekuBaku)

Chapter 18: Boredoroki

"Look, you've gotta be able to react without your quirk available! Keep your eyes on me- no, not that close! Faster, Bakugou! One step, two- yes, yes, and then-!"

Katsuki's ankle twisted in his next sidestep, and only seconds later did he find himself flat on the floor with Pro Hero Uravity staring down at him.

"Geez... come on, Bakugou. You've gotta watch my legs, my hands, not my mouth." She sighed, and lent a hand to him. "We've gone over this. Something still tripping you up?"

He grabbed what she'd offered, teeth grit as he was pulled up and off the hardwood floor. "Nah, nothing other than what you've said. I dunno, I just keep listening instead of watching."

Uravity nodded and let go. "So when are you going to learn not to? I know you've got potential. I don't want you to be letting it go to waste when people are trying to get you riled up in the heat of a close-combat fight. That's not the kind of thing you can afford have happen."

I know, I know.

Katsuki shoved his hands in his pockets and went back to lean against the wall as Yaoyorozu took his place. They'd been trading off for a while now like this- ever since they'd realized that Red Riot would have to leave too, the whole internship setup had to change to allow for the new accomodations. And Uravity herself had been taking on more work outside of their internships- with so many heroes gone to deal with the earthquake crisis, the crime rate was beginning to take a noticeable upward shift.

"Remember the techniques we were talking about!" Uravity instructed, easily sidestepping Yaoyorozu just to get a swift, solid grip on her and send her to the floor with the same move she'd used on Katsuki. "You're leaving yourself too open. I know your quirk is designed more for mid-to-long range combat, but you can't leave yourself vulnerable if someone gets in close!"

"Right, right... can I get another shot?" Yaoyorozu asked, more downtrodden than usual. Uravity was a great hero and a good mentor, but with the whole outside situation taken into account, it was clear that the frustrations with work and her partner having been away for nearly a month were starting to take a heavy toll on her.

Can't really blame her, though. I mean, it's not like I haven't...

Katsuki sucked in a breath, hugged his arms closer to his chest, and swallowed.

It's not like I haven't been missing Deku. He's sent like, two texts since that voicemail, and I just...

I hope he's doing okay.

At the very least, there was no shortage of news coverage surrounding the earthquake relief. He'd had plenty of chances to watch Deku's heroics again, to study his rescues and practices in that sort of climate. The incident was enough to make disaster rescues more relevant in classes again too- there had been more than one trip down to the USJ to work on those skills in the past month.

However, the most noticeable change was without a doubt, Todoroki's fucking boredom. He was supposed to be interning with Gale right now, but since he and so many others had been sent out to deal with the rescue operations, he'd been left without an internship until Gale returned. Thus, Todoroki had found there was nothing more fun than bothering Katsuki at all hours, all the time.

Not that he minded. Much.

"Bakugou! You're up. We don't have time to be sitting around."

Right, right, she's a little snappy right now. For good reason, at least.

The next few rounds went better- each time through, Katsuki got a little quicker, a little faster, a little more nimble and graceful than Deku had ever taught him. He'd mentioned their training sessions in passing, only to find out that Uravity was already well aware of them, and pointed out that what they'd been working on was quite different from the approach she wanted to take. Deku was good with his quirk and treating it as an extension of himself in combat, but with his ability to be more subtle about it, he could incorporate it into even the smallest actions. Katsuki could do the same to some extent, but it wasn't nearly as easy with the noise and light he generated in doing so. As a result, Uravity's training was helping- and next time he saw Deku, Katsuki was determined to impress him with this newfound finesse.