Chapter Text
Everything started out innocent, or as innocent as it can get with the League.
Dabi suggested that they played poker one evening, everyone on board with the idea for one or other reason. But no one knew yet how awful a game like this could turn out, even though they didn’t even play with money. At least some of them.
“You’re all cheating! There’s no way only I get bad cards! Compress, did any of those scums pay you to sabotage me?!” Dabi yelled, hitting the table with his fist when he lost all of his chips first.
“That’s unacceptable behavior, Dabi. You know I’d never cheat when it comes to cards, you’re just careless and unlucky.” Atsuhiro explained, while Natsuo laughed loudly at his brother's misery. It was even funnier for him since it was Dabi who suggested the game.
“Imagine being so bad at poker. Couldn’t be me.” Shigaraki snickered, looking at his chips. He was currently winning nearly every round, the exact opposite of Dabi. Shigaraki already got two straights and full house, while the rest was just him being confident enough to bluff his way through everything.
“Just confess to your cheating, you fucker! Izuku, you sit right next to him, surely you saw him cheating, right?” Dabi resorted to his last hope, trying to get Midoriya to bring justice to this table, unaware of the fact that Midoriya was the one who was cheating, while Shigaraki really did have this much luck.
“Just accept your defeat, Dabi! Fight the cheaters! Bring them down!” Twice interrupted, looking between Shigaraki and Dabi with a worry, not wanting them to crash Natsuo’s apartment once again.
“You’re not even playing, shut up!”
“Don’t be mean to Twice, Dabi! He’s here for my emotional support, right?” Toga smiled, patting Twice on the head to make him calm down.
“Exactly! No way!”
“You’re not playing this right so you shut up too, Toga! I don’t get how you can call this poker when you’re not even looking at your cards, just because you once won this way!”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, dear Dabi, you just don’t get it! I’m just a true gambler, unlike you! I get to have the thrill of real gamble when I don’t know what my cards are!” Toga argued, while Twice nodded to support his dear friend. He was even more happy that she played like this, because it meant that in the meantime he could talk with her and not worry about accidentally spoiling what cards she has.
“Uhm, what should I do now?” Shouto asked, more concerned about the fact that he still had no idea what exactly he should do during his turn. His begginer’s luck ran out during the first round, in which he won getting a flush.
“You know what, fine! Shouto, I’m in your team now!” Dabi yelled, standing up from his chair with so much force that it fell over. Then, without wanting to hear his brother's protest, he made his way towards him to see his cards.
“Uhm, okay?”
“...At this point just pass, what is wrong with you. It’s clear you would lose.”
“I’m sorry, what do you want me to pass? You’re much closer to snacks than I am.”
“There’s no hope for you, Shouto, really. Just lay down your cards, we explained it earlier.” Natsuo sighed, but there was a fond smile on his face. His brother was really too oblivious sometimes.
“Dabi was bullshitting by the way, IcyHot would win with his cards. He’d have Four of a Kind.” Bakugou added, smirking towards Midoriya. It was this easy to cheat with his quirk, but no one thought that he’d use it against them.
And sure, at first Midoriya was really strategic about the game, planning his moves, calculating the probability of what cards will be revealed.
But then when he folded, thinking there’s too little probability for one specific card to show, the card, of course, showed up. Midoriya would get a Straight Flush if he only didn’t fold. He was so angry at himself for quitting that since then whenever he was unsure, he asked Katsuki to see his chances of winning. It’s not cheating until someone catches you, right?
“Okay girls, let’s get back to the game. Dabi losing isn’t that big, we all knew it would happen. Give me my win.” Shigaraki rushed, confident as always.
“He’s bluffing. He has the worst cards I’ve ever seen, but yours aren’t much better. You’ll win with him though.” Bakugou added, hovering over Midoriya’s shoulder.
“Then I’ll call.” Midoriya smiled, adding another chip to the game to even out the bets between them all.
“You’re such a fake gambler. A real one wouldn’t cheat, where is the thrill of gambling when there’s no gamble? Fucking pussy.” Bakugou insulted, but Midoriya didn’t even look at him.
“I see bets are the same. Let’s show your hands.” Mr. Compress smiled, everyone aside from Dabi showing their cards. “Hm, it seems like Toga won. Congratulations.”
“Yay! I’d like to thank everyone here for being losers and say ‘I told you so’ to everyone who didn’t believe in my strategy!” Himiko laughed, taking all of the chips.
“You lied to me, Kacchan.”
“I said you have better hand than Crusty Hands, not everyone else. I’m teaching you how to gamble, nerd.” Katsuki smirked, while Natsuo looked at Midoriya with furrowed brows.
“What do you mean he lied to you? Was Kacchan helping you out?”
“W-What? No way! Haha, why did you even think so-”
“You were the cheating one, Midoriya?! Shame on you! So admirable, great strategy!”