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"Everyone in agreement for steaks, say 'aye'!" Kirishima instructed.
The response he received was very lukewarm. Only Ashido raised her fist and shouted "aye" in reply, and it was a well known fact that a hungry Ashido would eat almost anything.
"I want ramen," Kaminari huffed.
"Let's get ramen!"
"You always vote for ramen," Sero pointed out.
Going out on the weekends was something of a tradition. A very recent one that was in danger of going extinct as soon as Bakugou realized they'd all lied about wanting to study together. He was already suspicious, thanks to Kaminari accidentally "forgetting" his homework two weeks in a row.
And now he was getting impatient, too.
"Hurry up and pick something already!"
"Who else wants takoyaki?!" shouted Ashido.
"Come on, guys. Wouldn't you rather eat tofu instead of a burger that leaks grease and was cooked on a grill that hasn't been cleaned all day?" Sero asked, keeping a watchful eye on Bakugou. The amount of time they had to decide usually depending on how patient Bakugou was feeling that day. His hands were shoved into his pockets, so at least he wasn't planning to explode them. Yet. "Just this once?"
"No," Bakugou replied flatly.
"Or ramen marinating in a broth so salty, it will knock a year off your lifespan if you eat it too often," Kaminari added, but by the way he was drooling, it was obvious he wasn't on Sero's side.
"I want to actually taste my food!" Bakugou shouted, although Sero chose to remain optimistic and tell himself that it could have been in response to Kaminari's ramen addiction and nothing to do with the numerous occasions he'd complained about Sero's "health crap" being bland and tasteless.
Kirishima seemed to consider it for a moment. "Real men are carnivores," he decided finally.
"I want deep fried croquettes," said Ashido.
"We'd have to go to a convenience store for that," Bakugou argued.
"Aside from that, aren't all the places you want to eat kind of expensive?" Kirishima questioned. "You know, most of us are on a budget..."
"It'll be totally worth it in a few years," Sero insisted. "Think of all the money you'll save on health bills!"
"I don't think we'll have to worry too much about that, with our active life styles as heroes."
"If anything," Kaminari pointed out, "hero work is more likely to land us in the hospital than our eating habits are."
"Okay, so it's a little expensive – "
As usual, no one was on Sero's side of the argument.
Except Uraraka, who happened to be walking past. Her head snapped in their direction at the word "expensive".
"It's really not, if you're cooking at home. Rice and beans can replace meat in a lot of recipes, and they cost way less per kilogram," she explained. "Buying vegetables frozen means losing a little bit of flavor, but it's cheaper than buying fresh."
"Exactly!" Sero exclaimed. "And by drinking water instead of soda, you can cut a ton of artificial sugar from your diet!"
"And save money!"
While Sero was busy gushing over having found something in common with Uraraka, the rest of his friends were wondering what Uraraka's living situation was for buying fresh broccoli to be considered a treat.
"Have you ever tried making ice cream with tofu?"
"Uh… no?" Sero replied. But if that was an actual thing, he might have to try it some time.
"It's super easy. You just add eggs, a little bit of vanilla flavoring..."
"Hey?" Kaminari nudged Ashido in the side, to get her attention, and whispered, "Do you think Uraraka's parents are crazy health freaks like Sero? Pretending tofu is ice cream doesn't sound normal."
"They're not crazy," Ashido replied.
She wasn't sure how much of Uraraka's circumstances were common knowledge, but she did have an inkling that they were poorer than average. Uraraka panicked every time someone offered her a stick of gum, and those only cost, like, a hundred yen for a pack. Coincidentally, that was about the same price as a block of generic brand tofu from the grocery store.
"I think Uraraka's family only eats a lot of tofu because it's cheap."
"The best part about tofu is that you can cook it with practically anything," Uraraka finished. "Or fry it and eat it plain."
"Yeah, but isn't tofu always better with sauce?" Sero replied. "There's so much you can do with differe – "
He was interrupted by Bakugou finally reaching the end of his patience.
"Shut the hell up! The plan was we're going out to eat, not wasting even more time sitting around, making home cooked meals!"
Nobody in the Bakusquad is really frightened by Bakugou's temper anymore, as evidenced by the way Ashido casually says, "We should make a hot pot some day". Sero was also even less bothered than normal, now that he had somebody to relate to.
"Riiiight, we were going out to eat..." He turned to Uraraka, who's brain didn't seem to register his next words at first, "Come on, there's this really good health food restaurant nearby that I've been wanting to try, and you're, like, the only other person in this school who doesn't cringe at the thought of baking tonkatsu instead of deep frying it."
"What? N-No, I really can't afford – "
"Don't worry about it, I'll pay! Okay, I'm thinking edamame for the appetizer. I've been drooling over the online menu for weeks, and I can't decide if I want to try the vegetable stir fry or the imitation steak first."
The rest of the Bakusquad listened to Uraraka's protests get weaker as Sero dragged her away, her love of food apparently getting in the way of her strange reservations about letting other people spend money on her. Bakugou himself seemed less than please. Maybe he enjoyed spending time with them after all.
There was a strange pause before Kaminari finally opened his mouth and asked, "So... Does that mean we're getting ramen after all?"
"Ramen!" Ashido threw both of her hands up with a cheer.