Chapter Text
“Once there was a party of teenagers not so different from us, who also happened to be camping in a forest not so unlike this one,” Uraraka begins, voice low and hands dancing. “It was summer break, and they’d all decided to go out and party in the woods. They’d brought the essentials, marshmallows, tents, but were irresponsible and also brought sake.” Uraraka glances over at Iida, who has paled at such delinquency. Kacchan rolls his eyes, but keeps quiet.
“The kids came out fairly late, and by the time they’d set up camp it had started to get dark. Luckily, they had a fire and the weather was nice, so they weren’t concerned. It was time for the fun to begin. Oh, how they partied. Music, drinking, dancing, they partied like there was no tomorrow. Little did they know, there wouldn’t be.”
Todoroki lets out a little gasp and quickly covers his mouth.
Kirishima gives him a concerned look. “Dude, are you alright? It’s just a story.”
Uraraka’s smile looks positively menacing, “Oh Kirishima, you know it’s never just a story.”
He quirks an eyebrow at her and starts zipping up the hotdogs. He puts the bag in a blue cooler off to the side. “Not sure I entirely buy that, but go on.”
“Well, the forest they were in was no ordinary forest. In fact, it used to be a warzone a long, long time ago. The kids knew this, but they hadn’t thought much of it, hadn’t listened to the warnings of the local villagers about the things that lurked in the shadows, in the twilight between life, and death.”
The fire pops and Todoroki flinches back with a shriek.
“Dude, you’re way too into such an implausible story. That’s the problem with horror: None of it is believable because all the main characters are idiots. I mean, getting drunk in a forest that you know is haunted? That’s just dumb,” Kacchan says.
“I think she’s allowed some creative liberty. I mean, we don’t drink, but we’re still camping in an allegedly haunted area,” Izuku says.
“We’re what?” Todoroki cries.
“Yeah, but those are all bullshit too.”
“Guuuys, you’re ruining the mood, at least let me finish,” Uraraka whines.
“All right, all right, everyone hush now, I want to hear how this ends,” Izuku says. Kacchan scoffs and Kirishima nudges his shoulder. He shuts up again.
“Ok, thank you. As I was saying, they were camping on an old war ground, where thousands of soldiers had bled and died in the years before. Well, after a hardy night of partying they decided to settle down and go to bed, except one of them had to use the bathroom. He wandered into the woods a little ways to take care of his business, but the further he went the darker it got. The shadows played tricks on his eyes. He started to see faces in the trees. He heard hoots and cries and rustling. He went quicker, stumbling on a rock, a root. He ran, looking for the camp, it was completely dark! He tripped! He fell! Into a stream of some sort. The stream was cold and very dark, and the liquid clung to his hands and legs, as if it would never separate from him again. The boy took a closer look and found that it was not a stream of water, but of blood, and before him stood a tall Jubokko, with crooked, splintery teeth, and tendrils that curled from its branches. The demon tree grinned a horrible, sinister grin, and reached for the poor boy, hungry for its next meal. Its branches rattled and wood creaked as it ran after the boy.”
At this moment a breeze decides to blow through the large cedars, rustling their leaves. Todoroki is somehow sitting between Iida and Izuku, and is trembling wildly. Iida looks ashen, Kirishima has his hands in fists, and even Kacchan looks a little scared. The dark trees around them suddenly don’t feel so welcoming. Uraraka doesn’t hesitate.
“The demon shoots out curving branches and ensnares the boy. He screams and kicks wildly, but it’s too late. Little vines puncture his skin like needles, and slither their way into his veins. He suffers a slow, painful death as the blood is sucked out of his body and he gradually suffocates. The last thing he hears before all goes black, ‘I wonder what your friends taste like too.’”
Uraraka rasps the last words, imitating the yokai, then leans back, finished. Kirishima starts clapping, and an uneven smattering of more applause follows, as feeling individually comes back to the rest who are stunned with fear. Kacchan and Todoroki recover last, well, Todoroki doesn’t really recover at all. Izuku puts a reassuring hand on his back and he jumps a little.
“That was really good Uraraka,” Kirishima says. “I don’t think I’ve heard that one before.”
Uraraka smiles and bends at the waist in a slight bow. “I read about the monster in a book of folklore at school, but the story was just kind of done on the fly.”
“Bravo! Very impressive for improv, Uraraka.” Iida says.
“Yeah, I haven’t felt that scared since the last villain attack!” Izuku says. Uraraka’s cheeks turn a little pink.
“Well thanks guys, it really wasn’t much, but I’ve got plenty more if you want to hear them,” she says, rubbing the back of her head.
“Oh God no,” Todoroki cries. He’s got some color back in his face at least. Izuku is about to lean down and whisper to Todoroki that it’s okay, because he’s there to protect him, but Kacchan speaks before he has the chance.
“Guys, do you hear that?” he hisses, eyes darting among the shadowy trees around him. Everyone quiets until the only thing that is heard is soft breathing and the chirp of crickets.
“Bakugou, I don’t think there’s actua-” Uraraka starts.
“Quiet!” he snaps, and her mouth clamps shut. “Listen.”
In the distance a quiet humming echoes among the sleeping timber. A terrible humming, as if it’s clawing its way out of the depths of a scratchy, dehydrated throat.
“It’s an angry ghost! It’s coming to eat us!” Todoroki whisper-shouts. Everyone quickly turns and shushes him.
Izuku bites his lip and tries to will away the rushing in his ears, One For All’s latent power suspended at his fingertips. The whole camp holds their breaths as the spirit’s voice grows louder.
Kacchan exchanges a look with Kirishima, and they both begin to shift into ambush fighting positions. Iida’s eyes bug out and he moves to try and stop them while still staying as quiet as he can. Uraraka is standing too, hands ready to float her, or possibly something else away. Can a spirit even be affected by quirks? Would Uraraka’s quirk work if it was already floating? Could it be dispersed if it was insubstantial? How much force would it take to discorporeate a ghost?
A hand suddenly clamps over Izuku’s mouth and he almost screams, before he realizes it's Todoroki and he’s trying to get Izuku to stop muttering to himself. Izuku nods curtly and Todoroki’s hand slips away, but his eyes are wide and terrified.
The voice is very close now. It doesn’t have the same echo quality it did before, it just sounds low, almost human. Almost… familiar.
The shrubs at the edge of the camp begin to rustle and Kacchan signals to prepare for attack. There’s still a figure, but it’s still too dark to quite make out.
The spirit reaches the threshold of the fire’s range of light, and suddenly Izuku recognizes the swath of spiky purple hair that curls from the ghost’s head.
“Attack!!” Kacchan bellows and rushes forward in a charge. Everyone but Todoroki follows suit, respective quirks powered up.
“Wait!!” Izuku cries a split second too late. He dives forward with full cowl to aid and blurs past everyone, shoving head-first into the figure everyone is aiming at. He and the figure tumble back in a heap, long limbs and sticks tangling with Midoriya, as the lush ground slows their somersault. Izuku ends on top of him, sprawled, with scrapes on his face and bruises on his everywhere else.
A groan, and then, “Midoriya?”
“Shinsou!” Izuku cries, rolling off of Shinsou and allowing him to sit up. “Oh my gosh you scared us, what are you doing here?”
“I should say the same for you,” Shinsou drawls, considerably less shaken than expected after a fall like that. Izuku smiles, unsure of how he ever could’ve taken him for an evil ghost. Even in the dim light, his silver eyes and crooked smirk are unmistakable Shinsou qualities.
“I’m here with some friends from 1A on a camping trip.” Izuku gets up, dusting off dirt and debris. He reaches out a hand to Shinsou who takes it and straightens up too. “Your turn.”
“I like to take walks,” Shinsou says. Izuku looks at him.
“That’s not really an answer-”
“OI!” Kacchan stomps towards them. “What the fuck Deku! That was our one chance to kill the thing!” He stops short as he realizes the identity of the ghost.
“I get that class A and B have a rivalry and all, but I feel like you’re taking it a little too far, Bakugou,” Shinsou says, eyes half lidded.
Izuku puts a hand to his mouth to cover his gasp. “Shinsou! You’re worse than Todoroki!”
Kacchan bares his teeth. “Why you little-”
“Shinsou!” Kirshima crashes through the brush. “Dude! What brings you to the middle of woods so late? Don’t tell me you’ve gotten lost too?”
“Oh no, I’m not lost. I know the forest very well at night,” Shinsou says casually.
“At night specifically?” Izuku asks.
“So you guys are camping?” Shinsou drags his eyes to Kirishima, still smiling placidly.
“Oh yeah! Follow me, I’ll show you the campsite.”
“What! Don’t let him in!” Kacchan screeches, but Kirishima is already dragging Shinsou towards the campfire area. Izuku trots after them.
They come back to find Iida consoling Todoroki, who’s curled in a fetal position on the ground. Uraraka’s sitting very still with her eyes closed, and Izuku suspects if any of them came within a 3 foot radius of her right now, she’d probably snap their necks.
“Hey, quaint little setup you have here.” Shinsou does a little circle, taking in the whole camp. “Um, mind if I take the little tent there? I need a place to stay, and you guys did just try to kill me and all…”
“I uh, I guess if it’s alright with Bakugou, it’s alright with me,” Kirishima mutters. Shinsou turns to the blonde, who’s nearly foaming at the mouth.
“Hey Bakugou, mind if I take your tent for the night?”
“FUCK N-” Kacchan’s mouth drops open and his eyes glaze over. His whole body goes limp.
“Oh, Shinsou, you’re tricky!” Izuku says with wonder.
“How about now, Bakugou?” Shinsou tilts his head.
“Yes, please take the small tent to yourself and stay as long as you like,” Kacchan says mechanically.
“Great, thaaanks,” Shinsou says. “I hope you guys have fun camping. I’m going to turn in for the night.”
And just like that he unzips the small tent, crawls inside, and zips it back up, while everyone else watches.
Kacchan snaps out of his haze. “Did he jUST-” Kirishima literally wraps his arms around Kacchan and hoists him up into the air.
“Well, I think it’s about time for some of us to go to bed too. We’ve all had a long exhausting day in one form or another. Let’s set up our sleeping bags, shall we?” Kirshima and a kicking Kacchan make their way to the big tent and Kirishima manages to somehow unzip the door and get them both inside without too much bloodshed. Maybe it’s a quirk thing?
“I’ll catch up, I’d like to brush my teeth first. We ate a lot of sugar, and I don’t need any more cavities!” Izuku says, reaching for his bag.
“Very responsible Midoriya! I shall join you in the maintaining of our dental hygiene,” Iida says.
Todoroki, thanks to the work of group-mom Iida, has mostly recovered from the traumatic night and settled into the gray pool of not-really-okay okay that he usually projects.
“I’ll pass. I want to make sure I get a sleeping bag spot on the edge,” he says, and then his lips quirk up ever so slightly that if you squinted the expression could maybe, possibly, be taken as a smile and says: “Midoriya, I’ll save you a spot next to me so you don’t get too cold or hot.”
Izuku feels his eyes water and his heart swell. “Thank you Todoroki, that’s so thoughtful!” He gazes at Todoroki for a long moment, getting lost in those mysterious, but deep down, caring, heterochromatic eyes.
Uraraka coughs. “I’ll set up my bag too. I want to be on the edge too, with an Iida buffer between the rest of you. I don’t need to be woken up by any late-night makeout sessions.”
Izuku’s face turns up to 100 degrees, celsius of course. “Uraraka!” he squeals. She laughs and follows Todoroki to the tent.
“Just kidding!” she calls, but somehow Izuku isn’t very convinced that she is.
“Don’t worry, she’s just upset she didn’t get the small tent,” Iida says, pulling out a little pack of toiletries. His toothbrush has a picture printed on it that makes it look like one of ingenium’s legs, engine, hero armor, and all.
Izuku unzips one of many pockets on his backpack and rumages until he finds his own All Might themed toiletry set, including a toothbrush traveling case and mini tube of toothpaste.
“It’s refreshing, being out here away from the society, don’t you think?” Iida says, sitting with his head tilted towards the sky, the end of his toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. His argyle sweater is rolled up around his elbows, even though the air is starting to chill.
“Yeah. No school, no work, no villains.” Izuku sits next to him and looks up too. A billion lights speckle the inky sky, framed by the ever darker silhouettes of treetops. Izuku feels a little silly for getting so caught in the moment. Now, he can’t possibly imagine how he mistook this tranquil paradise for menacing.
“Can’t get a view like this in the city. It’s very peaceful, really. The knowledge that we’re only one speck in an endless universe makes all our other problems seem so inconsequential in comparison.”
Izuku hums in agreement and spits toothpaste foam into the fire. He needs to remember to put it out before bed, but he’s sure Iida will remind him if he does forget.
“When did you get so wise Iida?” he asks. Iida’s eyes aren’t visible behind his glasses. They’re hidden by the reflected image of the universe above him.
“Oh, probably when my brother was hospitalized,” he sighs. Izuku winces.
“Right, sorry.”
“No it’s alright, you did everything you could’ve then, I should be thanking you, not forgiving you.”
“But still.” Izuku chews on his bristles.
“Well, not like my wisdom does any good. No one ever listens to me,” Iida says playfully, finally tearing his eyes away from the sky. “Hey, don’t chew on your brush like that, it’ll ruin the structural integrity.”
“Hm? What was that? Iida told me not to do something? Oh, I better do it then!” Izuku gnaws on his toothbrush. The end snaps off in his mouth. “Ouch!”
Iida pinches the bridge of his nose. “What did I JUST say?” But he’s smiling.
“Ah, I’ve learned my lesson.” They both start laughing.
Iida rubs at his eyes beneath his glasses and yawns. “I think it really is time to turn in though.”
“Yeah, I’ve got tons more exciting plans for tomorrow!” Izuku says, arms flailing to accentuate.
“Yes, because your plans went so well today,” Iida says like a mother who’s accepted the fact that she’s the only voice of reason in the family, but won’t say no to a chance to tout the fact. Izuku takes great offence.
“Hey, we still had fun didn’t we?”
“I suppose it was a successful start to our camping trip-”
“Exactly!”
“-but make no mistake, it was all thanks to our immense luck.”
“No, that was all part of the plan,” Izuku grins.
Iida stares at him for a moment, and then chuckles. “Alright fine, all part of the plan. Now let’s put this thing out before we burn the whole forest down.” He waves tiredly at the red glowing embers.
Izuku smiles. “I knew you would say that.”