Archive of Our Own

There was honestly no waiver, no warning, no nothing that Uraraka Ochako could have read and signed that could have prepared her for what her life would become upon entering Yuuei Academy. Because, quite simply, Uraraka only expected the extravagant from Yuuei. And that was an attractive prospect. Uraraka, having always been an old soul – according to her mother, had not wanted any normal teenage drama. She naively thought that normal teenage issues would not have any time to interrupt the demanding academics and training.

She was wrong.

When Aizawa Sensei announced that there would be a winter trip for the first-year hero course, everyone jumped into the anticipatory debate. Would it be grueling training disguised as a fun vacation, or a fun vacation by the teachers’ rare mercy?

The trip, as it just so happened, was to be both. Classes 1-A and B were booked for a week respite at a ski resort, where they were promised full access to all the resort’s amenities – onsen, sauna, arcade – if they climbed a mountain first. No constructed obstacles or mock battles this time, promise. Just go uphill. In the snow. Wearing thirty-pound backpacks.

Maybe Uraraka had put a little too much faith in the writing skills of the universe, thinking that the incident of the summer camp villain attack could not possibly happen again. Alas, some loosely assembled villains got word that the retired All Might would be on some snowy, godforsaken mountain, along with all his young successors.

It wasn’t like the teachers had slacked in security detail. For the day hike, the students had been divided into small, easily managed groups of about half a dozen each, and then the groups were dispersed around the base of the mountain. Each group was led and guarded by two Yuuei teachers. Everyone was to meet at a ski lift complex on the north side of the mountain. They would then all take the ski lifts to the resort on a neighboring peak.

Uraraka’s small group – by some malevolent or benevolent design of the universe, she had yet to decide – included Midoriya and Bakugou, and one of their chaperones was All Might.

(All Might wasn’t brought along to fight anyone. The students just decided that he needed a vacation too, and everyone would have understood if he took a lift up the mountain, but he stubbornly insisted on getting some exercise.)

The hike up was fine, all things considered. The students walked close to All Might and asked after his high school stories in the times he could catch his breath. Bakugou walked ahead of everyone and spent most of his time muttering darkly about who knew what, and occasionally making little explosions within his palm.

For someone who apparently enjoyed mountain hikes, Bakugou seemed grumpier than usual that day. It was extra remarkable that he didn’t pick on Midoriya at all. Well, he and Midoriya had been slowly getting along, as of late, so there was that at least.

Thus, when a group of unrecognizable villains ambushed their group, it surprised no one that Bakugou and Midoriya both jumped to the vanguard.

The villains came out of no where and everything descended into chaos within seconds.

No one knew how many villains there were, or what these villains could do, or who had sent them. There was an edge of fear as everyone looked around, terrified that Shigaraki or a Nomu would emerge from the trees.

Uraraka rushed to flank Midoriya and Bakugou, using the terrain around her to make it harder for anyone to sneak up on them or All Might. The boys were occupied with the villains on the forward offense. Were there two, three villains they were up against? Everyone was wearing snowsuits, faces hidden by hoods and masks. Uraraka couldn’t keep track.

At one moment, she lost sight of Bakugou, and then in the next, an uphill explosion ripped open the mountain.

The ground beneath them rumbled with a coming avalanche. When the smoke of the explosion cleared, Uraraka spotted Bakugou again. He was right where she had last seen him – which was in the exact opposite direction of where the explosion happened.

But there was no time to wonder over what the hell had just happened, or how Bakugou moved so fast. Uraraka snagged Midoriya and Bakugou in the nick of time to float them all over the snow roaring down the mountain.

Problem was, when she released, the three crashed back down into a heavily forested, nondescript area.

The pine trees here towered over them so high that the branches nearly blacked out the sunlight. When the three looked around, there was no sign of the rest of their group or a trail.

Typical. Uraraka really should have stopped being surprised by this shit a long time ago.

It didn’t help that the first thing Midoriya and Bakugou decided to do was get right in each other’s faces and accuse the other of being at fault for their situation. So much for getting along.

Uraraka was not up for this at all. The sudden heavy load flight and rough landing had done a number on her ability to function, and her breakfast was coming back with a vengeance. While the boys bickered it out, she grabbed the nearest tree to hurl behind it in peace. It didn’t help much. Her stomach had decided to stay in knots. Well, more so like her intestines had happily boarded a roller coaster of death. She had no idea if it was her quirk or the creeping anxiety to blame.

She walked out from behind the tree to face the boys, her hand digging into her poofy winter coat, trying to massage her stomach.

“I saw you do it.” Midoriya was saying.

“And I’m telling you, Shit-Might, that explosion wasn’t my fault.” Bakugou snapped back.

“No villain in that ambush had an explosion quirk.”

“Oh, really, you know that for certain? You went around asking them all what their quirks were?”

“From what I analyzed – ”

Bakugou lost it at that. He set off a small explosion right by Midoriya’s head. “Fuck your analysis!”

Just great. Uraraka didn’t know if they were about to set off another avalanche, or attract the villains, or even maim each other and make the situation so much more difficult, but she needed them to stop fighting.

“You two!” Uraraka called out, in a controlled volume. “Cut it out!”

They ignored her. She pressed forward.

“Damnit, can you two stop acting like preschoolers before – ”

Fling.

A projectile grazed the side of Uraraka’s face and slammed into the tree she had just been sick behind.

Everyone stopped where they were to check for the origin of the attack. There they saw two villains right uphill from them. One villain had crawled down from a tree; he looked like a porcupine that grew long legs and a human-ish head. This villain raised his paw-hand and shot off more spikes at the kids.

Bakugou deflected by blasting the spikes into oblivion.

Midoriya, in response, pushed Bakugou to the side.

“What do you think you’re doing?! Don’t set off more explosions!”

“Get the fuck off me!” Bakugou shoved Midoriya back, and then blew off another round of spikes. The porcupine villain kept out of range of hand to hand combat, scuttling around in the dense trees.

Midoriya jumped after the villain, while Bakugou tried to attack from the ground. It wasn’t a good set up. Bakugou could barely see through the foliage, and at one point a poorly aimed attack had Midoriya slip and fall back into the snow.

“Stop using your quirk! You’re making it worse!” Midoriya yelled at Bakugou.

“Get out of my way!” Bakugou lifted his hand for another attack on the porcupine villain, this time tensing for a larger blast.

Midoriya tackled Bakugou to the ground, cutting off the explosion.

The second villain took that opportunity to charge at Uraraka. This one was huge, probably twice Uraraka’s height, and the decline of the mountain gave the villain extra momentum. Which meant less control. Uraraka steadied herself, breathed in, and then checked the villain at their core to throw them off their balance. She then used their momentum to flip them into her vomit tree.

(Retribution did feel good sometimes.)

Meanwhile, the porcupine villain continued to fire from up range, while the boys scuffled in the snow. Their efforts of subduing the other were hampered by their backpacks, still weighing them down. Uraraka had lightened her pack a long time ago, but with the way her stomach rolled, she wondered if the added strain to her quirk was helping or hindering her.

But this wasn’t the time to wonder over such logistics. Uraraka made sure her villain was out, and then sneaked off into the trees. Maybe the she could sneak up on the porcupine villain. She touched her boots so that her steps through the trees were undetected. On the way she selected a large branch sticking out of the snow. She didn’t want to directly touch the villain and get stuck with a bunch of spikes in her hand.

She effectively snuck up behind the villain when he slid down to the ground, on his way to go up another tree. Uraraka swung her branch, but right before it made contact, the air around her shuddered and then a barrage of spikes shot out in all directions.

“Agh!” Uraraka fell back, curling in on herself. The spikes struck her through her snowsuit, each one a jab into her skin.

“Ochako!” She heard Midoriya cry out. In the next second, he had leaped forward to punch at the villain. But the villain took to the trees too quickly, and Midoriya’s fist hit the ground.

Even though his punch wasn’t at full power, it still blasted away the snow around them. The ground shuddered. Both Uraraka and Midoriya lost their balance and fell down the incline. They tumbled into Bakugou. With the added weight of Midoriya and Bakugou’s packs, the three rolled frighteningly fast down the hill.

On the way down, the brush scratched at their skin and clothes, and the spikes dug deeper. Each toss and bang hurt like hell. Uraraka slammed into a tree, tasted acid and blood in her mouth, and then slipped to continue falling.

Bakugou used tiny explosions to slow his fall. Midoriya grabbed onto whatever he could. Uraraka released her quirk on her backpack at just the right moment for it to dig into the snow and stop her fall. They all slid to a stop right at the edge of a precipice.

Uraraka looked over the edge. It appeared to be about an eight-meter drop; there was a drift of snow at the bottom. She then looked back uphill, hearing the approach of the villains. But she didn’t yet see them.

So, in a fit of recklessness, Uraraka grabbed the boys once more and threw them all off the cliff.

At the last second, she used her quirk to soften the landing.

Before Bakugou could open his mouth in complaint, she hissed at him, “Play. Dead.”

When the villains arrived at the cliff, they looked down to see the teenagers face down, indented in the snow, their unnecessarily large packs weighing them down. Not wanting to risk their own bones with such a fall, the villains decided that they had succeeded, and marched off with triumphant laughs. 

The three kids strained their ears until they were certain that they were alone.

Once they were safe, Bakugou jumped from the snow. Midoriya and Uraraka helped each other up. It was then that Uraraka noticed that the boys had also been hit by the 360 degree spike defense.

Uraraka tested the severity by pulling one of the spikes from her arm. It stung like a bitch, but when she pulled up the sleeve, the blood was just a pinprick. They were all fortunate that their thick snowsuits had cushioned the worst of it.

The three settled down for a moment to pick out the rest of the spikes. Bakugou checked through the gear in his bag and pulled out a first aid kit. He didn’t let anyone touch him, but Midoriya and Uraraka helped each other bandage the worst of it. Uraraka was a little glad for the sting of this task, because it distracted her slightly from her stomach. Slightly.

But all the extra stress was building on her, and it felt like her entire body had started to riot. Her head was spinning.

Once Bakugou was done with his own first aid, he swung his bag back over his shoulders and stood up.

“Alright, let’s get a move on.” He ordered.

Midoriya frowned. “All survival guides say that we should stay in place. Someone will find us.”

“You mean like those villains?” Bakugou griped. “No, I’m not going to wait around to be picked off, especially if you’re going to have a problem with me using my quirk. I’m going back up the mountain. We reach the top, we can use the vantage point to figure out where we need to be.”

Uraraka sighed. That sounded like a decent plan, and she really didn’t feel like sitting around in the snow. Besides, she had started to notice that her stomach pains didn’t feel as bad when she was walking.

And then she felt it. The reason why her stomach was currently practicing sailor’s knots.

Her period had started.

Uraraka threw off her bag and dug into the mess it had become on the way down. She checked every single measly pocket and compartment. She checked once, twice, three times…

No pads or tampons.

Fuck.

She did manage to find the duck-tape solution of menstruation problems though. A squished roll of toilet paper.

“Hey, uh, I gotta go! Behind the bush over there! Don’t look!” She squeaked out before taking her toilet paper and disappearing into thick pine foliage, leaving the boys standing dumbstruck.

How did she lose track of her cycle like this? She was usually better about this. Unless stress had triggered it early. Damnit. This was so far looking to be the worst winter trip ever. At the very least, it was safely competing with the villain attack on their summer trip, but at least no one had been kidnapped.

Uraraka returned from the brush once she was safely packed like a short person’s shoes. Fortunately, the boys had waited for her. In more good news, Bakugou had seemed to convince Midoriya to climb the mountain. But Bakugou was still growing more and more impatient by the second.

“Uraraka, lighten our bags so that we can climb back up.” Bakugou demanded, pointing up at the cliff they had just fallen off.

Uraraka choked at the very thought.

“I’m sorry,” she covered her mouth and stomach, hoping both would stay settled, “I think I’m at my limit.”

Bakugou let out a deep groan but didn’t press the issue. With that, the three set off, in the slow direction of up. There was a slight incline along the base of the cliff, and that’s what they followed.

After a bit of walking, the adrenaline of the earlier fight eased off, and the cold settled in. And it was really fucking cold. Uraraka huddled in on herself in both pain and against the temperature. The swirling wind seemed determined to find every tear and hole in her clothes from the earlier fight, and slip in, crawling up her skin.

Had the wind been this sharp the entire time? Uraraka was certain that just a moment ago, she could see everything in the distance. As she watched, snow started to sweep around them like fog. Within minutes, it was like knives in every bit of exposed skin.

“It’s a snow storm!” Midoriya said, pointing out the now obvious whiteout before them. “We need shelter!”

They all looked to the wall of rock beside them, searching for a great enough irregularity or outcropping they could hide under. As the visibility decreased, and they could scarce keep their eyes open in the onslaught of stinging wind and ice, they had to start feeling along the rockface. Finally, Uraraka found an opening about half a meter off the ground. It was big enough for all three to huddle into.

“Get in, I’m going to build a snow wall around us.” Midoriya yelled over the wind.

They took off their bags and placed them right against the rock wall, packing them down with snow, and then Bakugou and Uraraka took their canteens and shuffled into the safety of the rock. Midoriya used his quirk to quickly pack up snow and seal them inside, safe from the wind. Still, by the time he was able to join the two inside the emergency shelter, his hair was painted white and his ears were bright red.

Uraraka remembered reading something that if a person sweated too much, hypothermia could set in faster. Fearing for Midoriya, she pulled him close to herself, so that they could share body heat. Normally such a thing would set her face and heart aflame, but right now, modesty was the last thing on her mind.

Midoriya gave a violent shiver and then leaned in, letting his head fall onto her shoulder, happy for the warmth.

The space was only big enough for the three to sit up straight, legs tucked against their chests, sitting thigh to thigh. Now that Uraraka and Bakugou were right next to each other, she noticed how badly he was shaking. His face was as pale and frigid as ice. Uraraka was used to seeing him with a sheen of sweat, but this time it looked like his skin had started to crystalize. White tufts of smoke curled off him. The picture was frightening.

Bakugou yanked off his gloves and pressed his palms together. At first, all he could manage was little match stick starts; he gritted his teeth as if the effort pained him. The crackle between his palms was inconsistent, weak. Then the sparks strengthened. After a few minutes, he regained the ability to evenly heat the space between his hands without setting anything off.

Bakugou then proceeded to press his hands over his own neck, face, and ears. Color evened out along his skin, and he settled from the shivering.

Uraraka and Midoriya watched his process wordlessly. Uraraka remained silent because she had never seen Bakugou like this before. Midoriya already seemed acquainted with it.

“What the hell?” Bakugou muttered to no one in particular. “There wasn’t a storm in the forecast. This is so shitty.”

The three then fell into silence again, only the wind from outside and their heartbeats filling their ears. Uraraka squirmed over her cramps and hoped to high heaven that the toilet paper would hold out through the storm.

It was the most awkward situation that Uraraka had ever found herself in. Bakugou and Midoriya, even so close that they touched unconsciously, looked anywhere but at each other.

The wind continued to roar outside for another hour. And then the storm settled.

Bakugou didn’t waste any time breaking free from the confined space with Midoriya. The other two emerged from the rock, surprised to find that the sky was clear once again. It was now late afternoon, however, and the sun would begin to set soon.

The snow storm had felt eerily short, but honestly, Uraraka would take any blessing she could get at this point. On her first order of business, she needed to check her makeshift pad. She helped dig the bags out of the snow, and the dug the toilet paper from her bag.

Bakugou noticed this. He stared at her like she was some puzzle to work out. Before he could question her, she darted off into the bushes again.

There wasn’t too bad of a mess, thankfully. She tidied herself up best she could and then went back to the boys. Both Midoriya and Bakugou had put back on their bags.

“Ochako, you okay?” Midoriya asked.

“Oh, yeah,” she pulled on her pack as well. “I just… have a bit of a stomachache. Ya’know, from using my quirk so much. But don’t worry about me!”

Bakugou continued to stare at her.

“You on your period or something?” He asked, looking right through her crappy attempts to hide her true state.

Blood rushed so quickly to Uraraka’s face that she was shocked her body didn’t flip out at the added exertion. Some inhuman squeak escaped her mouth. Midoriya, meanwhile, took a great interest in the tree next to him, his own cheeks going pink.

Bakugou took that as all the answer he needed. With a groan, he went into his own bag and pulled out two pads and a bottle of ibuprofen. He then shoved these things at Uraraka.

“You need to come better prepared.”

“Oh my god!” She jumped forward and took the blessed offerings. “Thank you so much!”

He grunted and looked away. When he looked back, she was smiling at him in absolute glee.

“What?”

“I knew you cared about your classmates,” she said, and then giggled. “But I didn’t know you cared this much!”

“What, no!” Bakugou let off warning explosions within his fists. “I’m not a fucking class nurse!”

“You care!” Uraraka sang.

Bakugou sparked a few more small blasts. “That’s not it at all! I only have those because I need them. Thanks to living in a dorm building with all you girls, my cycle synced up. So, fuck all of you.”

The smile on Uraraka’s face fell. “Huh?”

He exhaled, his brows impossibly pinched together. “I’m trans, Sweet Cheeks.”

It took a few seconds for the words to catch up with her.

Even so, she was so grateful that she was a decently progressive person, and that she didn’t feel the need to ask any dumb questions or rethink how she saw him. There was literally no doubt that Bakugou was a red-blooded male, no matter what was in his pants.

Still, this did come as a surprise. Especially with how casually he dropped the information.

“Oh.” Was all she managed.

Bakugou rolled his eyes and then turned around. He spotted Midoriya, who still sported a pink face and had found a lovely pattern on his tree to trace.

“Ugh, stop getting so weirded out about periods, Deku.” Bakugou complained. “Why the hell are you cis guys always like this?”

“Uh, n-no reason.” Midoriya looked off into the sky. Bakugou snapped at him for that reaction too. Their interaction had an age-old feel to it, as if the two had had this issue before.

“Huh,” Uraraka said again. “Deku, you already knew about this?”

He turned to her and gave a supportive smile. “Oh, yeah. Since Kacchan and I grew up together, I’ve always known.”

“Yeah,” Bakugou grinned, “He grew up knowing that the kid without a dick was always tougher than him.”

“K-Kacchan!” Midoriya protested.

Uraraka couldn’t help but to laugh at that. Midoriya blushed harder. Bakugou looked entirely too pleased with himself that Uraraka was laughing at his joke, but it honestly wasn’t that big of a surprise. At least not for her. This kind of stuff had always been funny to her.

And, she was slowly starting to realize why Bakugou had seemed grumpier than usual. It was his time of the month. Go figure.

Nevertheless, Uraraka decided to spare Midoriya any further embarrassment over the talk of genitals – especially those that bled – and so she pointed out how low the sun was getting.

Bakugou nodded. “We need to stop for the night and set up camp. We won’t make any progress in the dark.”

Uraraka’s stomach growled in agreement. She hadn’t realized until then how hungry she was.

The three walked a bit more until they found a decent spot to set up camp. It was a clearing, with plenty enough deep snow to build a shelter. Uraraka then went off to go properly pad herself and take a couple pills, and the boys started to set up a better shelter than what they found in the cliff. She came back to see that the boys were bickering, but happily, they were getting work done.

The two had started building an igloo right at the tree line. Uraraka set forward in helping them out. In a decent time, they had built something that all three of them could lie down in comfortably. They put their bags inside. From the bags, Bakugou pulled out emergency sheet blankets and instant meal packs.

The three decided not to build a fire, in case it attracted villains to their location. Bakugou carefully cooked their meals with the heat of his hands. They sat outside the igloo to eat, watching the sun sink down the sky. The food didn’t taste like a multi-star meal, but Uraraka was impressed with how evenly cooked it all was. Bakugou had even melted and boiled some snow so that they could make hot chocolate from the cocoa packs they found in their bags.

“Wow, Bakugou, you really are good at working with food.” Uraraka said, gripping her hot chocolate mug tight and letting the warmth of it cozy her up. “You might make a good husband.”

“Might?” Bakugou glared at her. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? If I ever get married, I’m going to be the best damned thing that ever happened to my spouse.”

Uraraka laughed again.

“I didn’t know you would ever want to get married, Kacchan.” Midoriya spoke up.

Bakugou stuck a bit of food in his mouth. “Of course. My old man is happy, even if the hag is a fucking nuisance. It works for them it could work for me.”

“What if someone threatened your loved ones?” Uraraka asked, remembering how a lot of top heroes avoided domestic life for that reason.

Bakugou snorted. “As if I’d marry someone who couldn’t take care of themselves. Plus, if anyone messed with the Number One Hero’s family, it’d be the last thing they’d ever do.”

“Except I’m going to be Number One.” Midoriya grinned.

“Fuck you, shitty nerd!” Bakugou snapped back. “In your dreams.”

As the boys ribbed at each other, the sun slipped out of sight, and a cold darkness fell upon the mountain. With a breeze of snow drift, Bakugou shivered again. He cursed, balled up his trash, and then went inside the igloo. Midoriya and Uraraka watched him retreat inside, and then turned back to the last scraps of their meals.

“I didn’t know Bakugou hated the cold so much.” Uraraka whispered.

“Nitroglycerin freezes at a higher temperature than water.” Midoriya explained. “He’s much more susceptible to the cold.”

Uraraka remembered the way Bakugou’s face looked when they huddled into their first shelter. Had he been literally freezing then? She shuddered at the thought of how close he came to frostbite or hypothermia.

“Alright, I’ll take the first watch.” Uraraka said. “You should get inside with him. Share heat.”

“Er,” Midoriya startled. “Is that a good idea? I don’t think Kacchan would want me that close to him.”

“It’s either that or he gets sick and we have to take care of him. I’m sure he’d like us nursing him even less.” She crossed her arms.

Midoriya recognized a losing battle. He gave in, and then went inside. Bakugou reacted sharply, Midoriya said something back, and then there were some shuffling sounds.

Uraraka expected the boys to start fighting, and so decided on how she would admonish them. She turned to look inside the shelter, and then her jaw dropped in surprise. Bakugou and Midoriya were lying right next to each other, an emergency blanket across them. Sure, they were back to back, but they were willingly touching all the same. 

It did Bakugou some good. He wasn’t shivering. When he caught Uraraka looking at him, he glared like a petulant child. She smiled triumphantly in return. He snorted and closed his eyes.

Uraraka sighed in relief. Time passed, and soon the occasional bitter muttering about space and physical contact had been replaced with gentle snores. From there on out, Uraraka’s guard shift was blessedly uneventful. No snow storms or villains.

She leaned back against the igloo and looked up at the beautifully open night sky. As the last hints of sunlight left the sky, she could chart the stars as each appeared. The sky was a deep inky black, devoid of light pollution, the void only interrupted by the subtle color of the Milky Way. In this natural, perfect planetarium, Uraraka spotted constellations that she had never seen in person before.

If circumstances were different, and the kids weren’t dealing with villains for the nth time that year, Uraraka would have felt at total peace there on that mountain side.

She kept track of time by the movement of the moon – a skill she had mastered a long time ago as an astronomy loving child. When it was about a third of the way through the night, she went inside. Bakugou had sprawled out so that his arm had fallen over Midoriya and his legs reached the edge of the igloo. Midoriya, on the other hand, hadn’t moved much.

Uraraka gave Bakugou a light shake to wake him up. He was warm to the touch. In fact, the inside of the igloo itself was a cozy difference from the bitter cold outside.

“Your turn on watch.” She told Bakugou, while she handed him an unwrapped emergency blanket. He understood. They switched places without waking Midoriya.

Midoriya was also warm. Uraraka didn’t waste any time snuggling right up under the blanket, situating her back to his chest. When she maneuvered his arm to cover her, she told herself it was just because they needed to stay warm. She didn’t have any ulterior motives. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been dreaming of having his arms around her since almost the first month of school. Nope, not at all.

Midoriya then shifted in his sleep and curled in around her. Uraraka’s heart jumped to her throat. She felt so happy and gooey all over and it was honestly gross. This too she desperately wished happened under different circumstances. Damnit, she came to Yuuei to become a hero, to support her family. Right now, they were on some freezing cold mountain, ready for villains to reappear at any second. And yet all she could notice in that moment was how muscular Midoriya’s arm was, how it kept her perfectly safe and warm.

Being a hormonal teenager sucked.

Above all, as physically comfortable as Uraraka was, she couldn’t get any real sleep. Her mind was filled with thoughts of Midoriya, of the rest of their class, of Bakugou sitting alone outside. Worry, worry, worry. Was the rest of the class and their teachers alright? Was Bakugou warm enough in that emergency blanket? It was really warm under this one.

… would she and Midoriya be able comfortably touch like this again? Once the danger had passed? Or would the two go back to fumbling over words and overthinking even the slightest brush of contact?

Sleep came, but it was fragile. She jostled awake all too easily at the sound of a zipper.

Uraraka opened her eyes to near complete darkness. But she saw a shadow over the bags and could just barely make it out as Bakugou. From the sound of it, he was taking the ibuprofen bottle from his bag. Uraraka propped herself up. He noticed.

“You need any more?” He asked, rattling the bottle.

“No, I’m fine. Thank you, though.”

Bakugou sat back and proceeded to take and chase the pills with water from his canteen.

Uraraka frowned. “Hey, um, not to sound insensitive, but I thought you had a good pain tolerance.”

He put the ibuprofen back, but he didn’t retreat from the igloo or the question. After a stretch of silence, he mumbled, “It’s more of a nuisance.”

“What do you mean?” Uraraka asked, before she could remind herself that she was treading into potentially personal territory.

Bakugou surprised her with how openly he responded.  

“It’s a reminder I can’t stand. Most of the time, I don’t have to think about it. My cycle is normally irregular.” He moved towards the entrance, to stare off into the night. “And I’ve been openly a boy for as long as I can remember. No one ever questions it.” He pressed at his stomach. “But then this…”

“I’m sorry.” Uraraka said. “I mean, periods are shitty enough, but being in the wrong body must make them so much worse.”

“Hmph. Don’t pity me, Sweet Cheeks. It’s not so much I have the wrong body, it’s just…”

“Just what?”

“I… don’t want to be held back. In any way.”

Uraraka sat up and crossed her arms. “Are you saying that someone who menstruates can’t become a good pro hero?”  

Bakugou reached back and shoved at Uraraka so that she fell back down. It wasn’t rough, though, and in the moonlight, Uraraka could tell he was grinning. She giggled and lied back down, careful not to rustle Midoriya too much.

“Don’t twist my words!” He said. “I’m saying that when I become the Number One Hero, I want to be me. Completely. No distractions. No dumb bloody uterus.”

Uraraka nodded. She could kind of understand. When she considered it, she realized that transgender people really were balancing extra concerns on top of their regular life, and for someone as high-strung and single-minded as Bakugou, such extra concerns would be maddening. 

“I guess it makes sense why you’ve been grumpier than usual today.” She said, mostly to herself.

He turned a murderous glare on her, but in the darkness, the effect didn’t quite work. When he realized that she wasn’t intimated, he sighed.

“Kirishima is usually there to make it easier. He’s convinced I’m the manliest guy he knows, even if my junk bleeds sometimes. I was fucking pissed that he was put in a different group from me.”

That further explained Bakugou’s petulance on the hike up. Also, when Uraraka thought about it, she remembered that Bakugou liked taking Kirishima on his hiking trips. The two were rather close.

“He knows too?” Uraraka tilted her head.

“I don’t tell a lot of people, mostly because there’s no reason to bring it up. But I really don’t give a fuck what people think about me, if they do happen to know.”

Ah, how Uraraka wished she had that quality. It was probably one of the things about Bakugou she admired the most. Of course, he could stand to be a little more empathetic at times, but he was getting there. Slowly but surely.

“Well,” Uraraka said, quietly, “then I don’t know if it’ll mean anything to you, but I still think you’re really cool.”

The sentiment caught him off guard, and for just a moment, his usual mask of bravado fell. His expression was open, eyes wide in wonder. But then he shook it off and smirked. “Yeah. You better.”

He started to leave the igloo, but then paused to order her to go back to sleep.

“Don’t freeze out there and make me have to carry you up the mountain.” She retorted. 

“Fuck you.”

“Ha!” Uraraka said without thinking. “You wish.”

Bakugou’s reaction to that was unreadable, and in the next moment he was outside.

This time, it didn’t take Uraraka long to fall asleep. She was later jerked awake by Bakugou shoving at Midoriya. It was Midoriya’s turn to take watch. Not something Uraraka needed to be awake for, but Bakugou had pushed Midoriya’s back, causing him to roll on top of Uraraka – who he had already been holding tight in his sleep.

Uraraka ‘oofed’ and Midoriya jumped a foot in the air the second he realized he was on top of her. He became incredibly flustered. He kept bowing and apologizing repeatedly for sleeping so close and crushing her. Uraraka’s blush matched his as she brushed all of it off. She didn’t mind, truly.

“Get your ass outside.” Bakugou sniped at Midoriya, shoving him again, this time towards the entrance. He threw the emergency blanket that he had been using at Midoriya as well. Midoriya took the blanket and scuffled outside.

Once Midoriya was on watch, Bakugou took his place in the igloo. He lied down next to Uraraka, facing her.

Who was frozen still. She didn’t know how Bakugou wanted to arrange things, and she had just realized that this was the first time she was ever this close to him and alone. Well, technically alone. Midoriya was right outside, but it sounded like he had taken to pacing to stay warm. 

But Uraraka couldn’t get over the fact that Bakugou needed to stay warm, and she could tell that he was shivering. She made her best effort to swallow her awkwardness and scoot closer to Bakugou. When her arm brushed his, he tensed. In the dark, she couldn’t check his expression. There was only the subtle sound of his teeth chattering.

Both didn’t even twitch a finger.

“What?” He said after a moment of frozen quiet. “You cold?”

I’m not the one who’s cold, she didn’t want to say out loud.

He then shifted, hesitated, shifted more, and then next thing she knew, Bakugou Katsuki, of his own volition, was wrapping himself around her. He held her like a plushie, tight and close to his chest. Like a plushie, she felt limp and at loss with what to do with her limbs.

Another turn of relative silence passed.

“You’re not gonna freak out on me, are you?” He asked, trying to sound tough, but there was a hint of uncertainty. Maybe it was the way his teeth clacked and chattered between words, or the way his hands loosened and tightened around her, as if he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to let her go or not.

Or, maybe it was the way her ear was right next to his heart, letting her hear the way it skipped and hammered.

It wasn’t bad, this position. She felt both protected and warm in his hold, as she equally felt like she was protecting him. It would’ve been hard for her to explain it to anyone else, but the way he held her felt so reminiscent of the way a child would clutch a teddy bear. Like the little stuffed toy could keep that child safe from all harm.

Uraraka had seen through Bakugou for a long time. She knew that all his anger and bravado was born of fear. His entire being was built around a vulnerable core and upon a fragile pedestal that his childhood peers had built.

And she couldn’t help but to remember that he knew that she knew this about him. That she had once blurted out this observation to his face. It hadn’t gone so well back then. Right now, he was letting her in close when he had every reason to push her away.

“N-no.” She decided. She wasn’t going to freak out. Even if she was rather bewildered by his behavior. “Are you comfortable?”

His heart sped up at her question.

“Hn.” He responded. They took a few breaths in and out. And then he forced out, “… are you?”

She shifted a bit so that her arms weren’t so dead trapped. “Yeah. I’m good.”

After a bit of time, his heart and shivering settled. His breathing slowed, his soft snoring taking up the space. Uraraka was a little jealous how quickly he was able to get to sleep. But she also remembered some offhand comment Midoriya had once made about how Bakugou always went to bed early. It was honestly… kind of cute.

Nevertheless, Uraraka was warm and cozy, and this too lulled her to sleep.

She slept the deepest she had that night.

And then, she woke up to sunlight and shivers. Uraraka felt around herself and no one was next to her.

She shot up, not realizing that Midoriya was inside with her. He squawked in surprise. When Uraraka looked over, she saw that he was pulling some breakfast food from the bags. Bakugou was nowhere in sight.

“Where’s Bakugou?” Uraraka asked, trying to keep her voice level.

“Refilling our canteens.” Midoriya answered, happily. His ease soothed Uraraka’s worries. Okay. Everyone was still alright. Her boys were safe.

Wait. When did they become her boys?

Uraraka shook her head and tried not to think about it. She accepted a packed onigiri from Midoriya, who sat down beside her. He placed a bag of dried fruits between them. They happily filled their empty stomachs, offering each other the selection of each other’s favorite fruits.

At one point when Uraraka placed her hand in the bag, Midoriya’s hand caught hers, on his way to pick out some fruit. The two jolted at the unexpected contact, and then swiped their hands back. Great, Uraraka thought, so much for them moving on from this mushy nonsense.

“Um,” Midoriya started, and when Uraraka glanced over, she noticed him fumbling with his onigiri wrapper. “About last night. Are you sure you were okay with me… being all…”

“Yes, Deku.” She stressed, even as her heart fluttered. “After all, we have to stay warm, right?”

“Yeah. Warm.” He shoved a bite into his mouth. Shifted around. Swallowed. And then in a mouse-like quiet, said, “I… liked it. Being close to you.”

Uraraka felt her breath knock out of her in absolute elation. Unfortunately, she also temporarily forgot how to swallow what she was chewing, and it went down the wrong way. As a result, she choked.

Midoriya just about shrieked in response, throwing his food to the side to fuss over her and make sure that she was not about to choke to death at his confession. This only further embarrassed Uraraka, and she tried to wave him off while she focused on realigning the functions of her body.

This was how Bakugou came back to them.

To him, it probably looked like the two had gotten into a hyperventilating cat fight.

“What the actual fuck is going on here?”

“Ah, Kacchan!” Midoriya squeaked just as Uraraka finally swallowed clean air into her lungs. “N-nothing!”

“I just,” Uraraka coughed, “Swallowed food the wrong way.”

Bakugou stared at them with dead fish eyes.

“You nerds are pathetic.” He said, and then tossed their canteens at them. “Hurry up, we need to keep going.”

Too embarrassed to do much else, Midoriya and Uraraka packed up their breakfast and left the igloo. While Uraraka went off to take care of her lady business, Bakugou made quick work of the evidence of their shelter by melting it. From there, the three set off again, ascending the mountain.

Bakugou led their procession, up ahead of where Midoriya and Uraraka walked side by side. The two friends kept up an innocent conversation most of the way, interrupted only when Bakugou barked out some order to be on guard, or change paths. The three relied on Uraraka’s navigational skills. She could use the placement of the sun to track direction and time, the same way she could with the moon.

Uraraka could also help more when they came across steep climbs. The cramps had finally settled, and she was under much less stress. After a while, it started to feel like a casual hike. The three fell into more ease with each other.

Well, until Bakugou looked back to Midoriya and Uraraka and asked, “What were you two nerds actually talking about this morning?”

“O-oh,” Midoriya snapped to attention. “W-why would you w-want to know?”

“Why can’t I know?” Bakugou aimed a wicked grin at Midoriya.

“It wasn’t anything, really.” Uraraka said, face pink. Her hands gripped into fists and she felt like her core was heating up. She barely noticed how the temperature around them dropped.

“Looked like it was something.” Bakugou narrowed his eyes. “Was it a love confession? Were you confessing to her, Deku?”

“No, no, no no!” Midoriya waved his arms around, trying to hide his face. “It wasn’t that! I mean, not that I dislike Ochako. She’s really sweet and cute and she’s always there for everyone no matter how hard it is for her, and I’ve always admired that about her, so I don’t not like her or anything. In fact, I really do, ah!”

He went wide eyed and clamped his hands over his mouth.

It took everything Uraraka had not to melt into the snow, or float into space. Or just implode where she stood. Did Midoriya really think that highly of her?

(And this morning, if they hadn’t been interrupted, was he about to confess to her?)

Bakugou, on the other hand, was immune to the romantic moment. He barked out a laugh and then turned around to keep walking. The wind swirled around them, and with it, the sky darkened.

“Why does it matter to you?” Uraraka demanded.

“Pff, doesn’t matter to me at all.” Bakugou insisted. “I just like watching Deku squirm.”

Uraraka gritted her teeth together, ready to jump to Midoriya’s defense.

But, at the same time, something about this didn’t add up. Bakugou knew twenty million different ways to get under Midoriya’s skin, but romance had never been one of those things. They were teenage boys, after all. Stubborn, destructive, boys. Most of the time, all they cared about was surpassing the other.

Not to mention, lately, Bakugou’s bullying had been more so reflexive and relatively light-hearted taunts. He hadn’t said or done anything to hurt Midoriya in a while.

In front of them, Bakugou had kept on walking, so Uraraka and Midoriya had no choice but to follow. With the sun now retreating behind the clouds, Uraraka wouldn’t be able to navigate as well if they got separated.

Uraraka watched as Bakugou shoved his hands in his pockets and slumped forward, dragging his boots through the snow. She couldn’t help but to remember the way Bakugou had held her just that night. Like she was some sort of lifeline. She wanted to think to herself that he only held her like that because she was just available and willing. If someone else had been there, like maybe Kirishima, Bakugou would have gone to him without a second thought of Uraraka.

That’s what she wanted to think. It was just unusual circumstances. The same way she had told herself it was out of necessity that she pulled Midoriya so close to herself.

Except, with Midoriya, Uraraka knew better than to think that all those touches had been casual and forgettable.

Oh, sugar honey ice tea. Every tiny bit of deferential behavior Bakugou had ever made towards her flashed through her mind. The way he never underestimated her. The fact that he used her name – which she had long ago noticed was extremely rare. His openness with her about personal topics.

Shit, shit, shit. What if for Bakugou… it was something else?

“Really, Bakugou,” she called out, gathering more courage than her now pounding heart would admit, “It wouldn’t matter at all to you if Deku did confess to me?”

“No, it doesn’t, so shut it.” Bakugou growled.

“So, you’re not jealous?”

Bakugou’s shoulders stiffened. Yet he pivoted around just so he could laugh at her. “Jealous of what? The inability to get food down the right way? Hell no, I’m not so uncoordinated.”

Uraraka glared, took a deep breath, and then shot back, “No, jealous over the inability to tell the girl you like that you like her.”

Midoriya gasped.

Bakugou’s grin fell. For a second, his eyes were shell shocked. He then dropped his head, so that they couldn’t see his expression.

“Shut up!” He snapped at her, letting smoke curl from his fists. “Shut up! Damnit! Why do you always have to… every single damn time you do this, I… I…”

“… do what?” Midoriya dared to ask.

Without warning, Bakugou shot off a blast at Midoriya. Not nearly as strong as his usual attacks, but it still threw Midoriya back into the snow.

“You stay the fuck out of this, bastard!” Bakugou yelled at Midoriya. He then trembled, and to both of their deep shock, tears pricked at his eyes. “You fucking… you get everything handed to you, don’t you?! And you don’t even know how lucky you have it! I watch you two idiots, I know what you are to each other. You spend all this time around each other, and yet all you can fucking say about her is that she’s a nice person? FUCK YOU!”

Around them, darkness fell like a blanket. Wind whipped around their faces. Before them, Bakugou’s hands sparked again. He shook violently. From the storm inside him, or the one brewing around them, there was no way to tell.

“You oblivious idiot!” Bakugou continued to shout. “She is so much more than you think! It fucking pisses me off when you treat her like she needs to be protected. Why are you looking down on people, shitty Deku? Huh!?”

Visibility around them dropped. A fog of cutting ice swept up around them. It was another blizzard, and they needed to find shelter immediately.

Midoriya and Uraraka dropped to the ground, to avoid getting blown away with the wind. She moved closer to him and gripped his arm.

“Look, Kacchan,” Midoriya shouted back. “I know you’re upset! But we need to make a shelter!”

Where were they supposed to find safety around here, though? But as usual, Midoriya was one step ahead. When Uraraka looked, she saw that Midoriya was digging out a circle in the snow. She joined. From there they put their bags down like columns at the rim of the circle. Midoriya pulled out an emergency blanket, ready to secure it over the hole like a roof.

“Kacchan!” He called out.

Bakugou hesitated, his hands still crackling. But already Uraraka could see the way his explosions were getting weaker. If he tried to tough it out for even a few more minutes, it could be detrimental.

“Bakugou!” Uraraka begged. “Please! Get in here!”

At the sound of her voice, Bakugou shook himself from his rigid stance in the snow. He started to move forward, and then he was throwing down his bag to the circle. Once it was all in place and Bakugou was in the hole with them, Midoriya and Uraraka weighed down the blanket roof with the bags. Finally, they shut out the storm.

It was a tiny space. Wider than the hole in the cliff, but not as tall. A person could almost sit up straight, and maybe lie down, but not quite. Instinctively, Midoriya and Uraraka found each other, with her sitting half against his chest and his arms wrapped around her.

But she couldn’t find relief just yet. Bakugou was sitting as far away from them as he possibly could, curled like a frightened animal. He seethed, shaking against the cold like it was carving into his skin.

“Bakugou, come over here, please.” Uraraka begged. “We should all stay close.”

“N-no! Damnit!”

Uraraka wanted to cry, she was so frustrated. “I don’t get it! What am I doing wrong?!”

Bakugou growled, so deep and low that Uraraka was surprised she heard it over the wind. He slammed his fist into the ground. It made a little dent in the already packed snow floor.

“Nothing, okay? It pisses me off. You’re not doing anything wrong.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “You always do this thing where you look right through people, right through me. Fuck! And I thought it was bad with damned Deku here, with the way he always throws himself into people’s business, trying to be so heroic. But the both of you? The way you both try to tear apart every attempt I make to keep you out of my business?”

“Bakugou, if this is about me forcing you to open up to me about being trans, I’m really sorry.” Uraraka said. “That wasn’t fair of me to pry.”

He shook his head. “Trust me, if I didn’t want you to know all that stuff, I wouldn’t have said anything. But I… I wanted to tell you those things. No matter what you know about me, you never act differently. You never treat me differently.” He hit the floor again, but not as hard. “And it’s just so frustrating! You’re always so determined, so ready to take on anything, to fight the whole world if it means proving yourself… and it makes me want you so bad, you have no idea.”

Uraraka was speechless. That was one of the most meaningful things anyone had ever said to her. And it came from Bakugou! Her heart hammered in her chest, swept up in Bakugou’s sincerity. Of all the things she expected out of the day, finding herself tucked away from a storm with two boys, who both apparently had mad feelings for her, wasn’t even on the list.

Bakugou sighed. “Not like it matters. Deku likes you and you like him back. Even though he doesn’t deserve it.”

“I know that!” Midoriya cut in. “I know I don’t deserve her!”

“Deku, no, don’t talk like that.” Uraraka said.

He shook his head. “But it’s true. Before I met you, Ochako, I never really spoke with a girl my age. I have no idea how I’m supposed to treat a girl. How I’m supposed to treat you. I’m so in over my head, and Kacchan’s right. You’re incredibly strong. I do know that about you. But sometimes I get so caught up in wanting the best for you that I forget how easily you can take care of yourself.”

At that, Uraraka hiccuped out a humorless laugh. “But sometimes I do need help. Everyone does. We can’t be heroes every minute of every day.”

This brought the boys to a contemplative silence.

“Then I’ll work harder.” Midoriya decided. “I’ll learn how to be there for you when you need me, and how to let you take care of things when you can. I’ll be exactly what you need.”

Bakugou snorted, seemingly out of humor and exasperation.

“And Kacchan,” Midoriya continued. “I do respect and admire you a lot, so I would understand it if Ochako chose you. But just know this: I won’t stop fighting for her, you hear?”

Bakugou lifted his head so that he could hold eye contact with Midoriya. He smirked with deadly eyes, accepting the challenge.

“Too bad, because I’m going to win her over.”

Oh, my, gods. Were they doing this? Seriously? Right in front of her, and when there could be villains lurking near? As much as Uraraka wanted to feel flattered by their affections, she couldn’t quite get past the fact that they were in a life-or-death situation, but these two were squabbling over a girl like regular dumb high schoolers.

“Ugh! You two are both idiots!”

The boys froze and looked to her.

“Don’t you two want to be the Number One Hero one day? Isn’t that what you’re always going on about? Why are you wasting your energy on this!? And, what’s more, who says I even want to be in a relationship right now? Who says either of you could handle a relationship right now?”

The boys shifted uncomfortably, effectively admonished.

Uraraka took a deep breath, and then continued in a softer tone. “Look, as far as it stands, I really like and admire both of you. In your own ways, you both inspire me to work harder, to become stronger. So, maybe, one day, something could happen. But can we wait until we’re not battling up a mountain to talk about this?”

Bakugou and Midoriya looked back to each other. There was always some sort of silent language between the two, even if they never realized it. Uraraka knew that they had the potential to be the strongest allies one day; maybe even wonderful boyfriends. It hadn’t quite caught up to her until now, but she could happily see herself with either boy… maybe even both, if such a thing could work out.

But at the same time, they were all focused on similar goals. Romantic ties or not, they were incredibly important to each other in encouraging and challenging each other to go further, get better.

Bakugou and Midoriya must have understood this, because they nodded.

“Is it alright now?” Uraraka sighed. “Can you get over here, Bakugou?”

He hesitated a moment, and then shifted so that he was in Uraraka’s arms. The three turned out somewhat piled on each other, keeping each other so warm that Uraraka could almost forget that temperatures outside their shelter had dropped well below zero.

For a little while, the three only breathed in and out, finding more and more comfort in each other’s space.

And then Uraraka announced, “When we get to the ski resort, I am getting into the onsen and I’m never going to leave it.”

Bakugou chuckled. “Sounds like a plan. I’m going to find whatever meteorologist predicted clear skies and kill ‘em for being so dead wrong.”

“I might actually support you on that.” Uraraka snorted. “What about you, Deku? What are you going to do when we get out of this?”

“I just want to make sure everyone’s okay. Do you think everyone made it through that attack alright?”

Uraraka smiled. Of course, that was the biggest thing on Midoriya’s mind. He must have been worrying over the rest of the class from the moment they were separated from the group.

“Ugh,” Bakugou said, not impressed. “That’s what I was talking about. Of fucking course everyone is alright. Why are underestimating them, shitty Deku?”

Midoriya shifted, and then seemed like he was going to apologize, but Uraraka interrupted.

“You know, genuinely caring about the wellbeing of others doesn’t mean Deku’s looking down on anyone.”

“But he’s always throwing himself into everyone’s business. Like with IcyHot? That emo tells us one sob story, and Deku breaks his fucking body over it.”

“I don’t regret that.” Midoriya said, firm. “Maybe I could have been a little neater in that fight, but seeing Todoroki accept himself and his power more made it all worth it.”

Bakugou shook his head. “You don’t think IcyHot could have figured that shit out on his own?”

Midoriya was contemplative over that, and then answered, “Maybe. Todoroki is incredibly resilient and smart. But… I couldn’t help but to notice… that he looked sad. And someone once told me, ‘Putting yourself into someone else’s business is what makes a true hero.’”

Uraraka nodded. But Bakugou still seemed to not get it. So, she spoke up, “Is there something so threatening about Deku trying to help you, Bakugou?”

He struggled for the words, and for a moment Uraraka thought she crossed the line. But, yet again, he was open with her. “For someone who was so beneath me… to try to help me… it’s a joke. I can’t stand him making me look that weak. No one is responsible for my personal issues and I’m not responsible for anyone else’s.”

That didn’t sit right with Uraraka. Maybe the old Bakugou thought that way, but he had already developed habits that wore such a belief thin, that he seemed to only cling to this notion that accepting help made him look weak.

“But I don’t think you’re weak.” Midoriya stressed. “I’ve always admired your strength. But I can’t compare how much I’ve grown if you’re not at your best, so, if I could help you in any way be as strong as you want to be…”

“Like I said earlier, we can’t be heroes 24/7.” Uraraka added. “We’re going to have bad days, times we can’t keep it together.” Uraraka said. She breathed in and tried to be speak sensitively about her next point. “Like when Kirishima helps you feel better about your body. How come that doesn’t bother you?”

Bakugou shrugged. “I guess… it’s ‘cause he doesn’t look at me with that face. Ya’know. That dumb face damn Deku makes when he thinks someone needs his help.”

From behind her, Uraraka could tell that Midoriya was frowning, by the way he huffed.

“Well, for the record, I like Deku’s dumb face.” Uraraka said. “It means that he cares, and that means a lot.”  

Bakugou was quiet about that for a moment. And then in a softer voice, said, “People caring about other’s personal shit is really that damn important to you, Angel Face?”

“Yes. It is.”

“Hn. Well, then just watch me, you two. I’m going to be the absolute best at caring for people!” Bakugou held up a determined fist. “And then I’ll definitely become the Number One Hero!”

A moment of stunned silence passed, as Midoriya and Uraraka blinked wide eyed in surprise. Is that all it took, Uraraka thought, to make Bakugou get it? Turn empathy into a competition?

She started to giggle at the absolute absurdity of it. Beneath her, Midoriya also shook with soft sniggers.

“Oi! Brats! I’m being serious!” Bakugou snapped, thrashing around a bit.

Uraraka clapped a hand to her mouth, trying to keep herself under control. Stupid little snorts escaped through her fingers.

“I know you’re being serious. I’m looking forward to it!” Midoriya got out, through his laughs.

“Yeah!” Uraraka chirped, and then sniggered at her next thought. She barely got the words out coherently. “But does this mean you will become the class nurse?”

“Don’t fucking push it!”

That only made Uraraka and Midoriya laugh harder.

“I’ll kill you!” Bakugou continued to snarl and thrash like a wild animal. But what was probably funniest to Uraraka about the whole thing was that she wasn’t holding onto him that tightly. Bakugou was still laid out over her, with her arm resting content on his chest.

And the hand he wasn’t waving around in a fist was laid over Uraraka’s hand, fingers just almost entwined.

Uraraka was almost disappointed when the storm blew over, and they were able to leave their little hole in the snow. And judging by the way her boys gravitated towards her, so that they continued to walk in a closer-knit group, they too didn’t want to be separated.

They kept up the earlier conversation about what they would enjoy doing once they made it safely to the resort. Like Midoriya, Uraraka was also anxious to see everyone else. She wondered how the other girls were doing, and secretly longed to be back with others of her gender. As much as she loved hanging out with her two male best friends, Midoriya and Iida, she usually had Tsuyu and others to balance things out. Sure, it was now apparent that Bakugou could relate with her about menstruation issues, but he was, as Kirishima put it, the manliest in the class. So, yeah, Uraraka would quite enjoy some girl talk at the end of all this.

On the other hand, Bakugou listed off things like ‘commandeering the kitchen to make an actual meal’ and ‘never ever going out into or even looking at the snow ever again.’

It helped pass the time, to feel so at ease with each other. An hour or so before midday, the three finally saw the summit of the mountain before them. They still didn’t recognize the area, and hadn’t found any trails, but the two storms had likely covered all traces of their classmates anyways.

“There will most likely be villains up there, expecting our arrival.” Midoriya said. “We need to be careful.”

Bakugou huffed. “Just perfect. Are you going to let me use my quirk this time, or do you think I’m going to blow us off the mountain again?”

That brought Midoriya to pause and frown. “I’m sorry, Kacchan, but I saw you set off that explosion.”

Bakugou jumped from where he had been walking next to Uraraka to get into Midoriya’s face. “You need to get your eyes checked. Or maybe your head. I. Didn’t. Do. It.”

Oh, great, this argument from before.

“Guys,” Uraraka interrupted, pushing her way between them. “We can’t afford alerting the villains of our arrival. Keep it down.”

Midoriya nodded in agreement, while Bakugou glared, but otherwise cooperated.

“Besides,” she continued. “I don’t think it was Bakugou who set off that avalanche.”

“Ha! Thank you!”

“What do you mean?” Midoriya turned to Uraraka.

“Well, the entire time we were fighting off that ambush, I was right behind you two. You both were in the opposite direction of where the explosion happened. It was only seconds before the explosion happened that Bakugou disappeared from where he was right in front of me. And then he was back in an instant. That’s too fast, even for him.”

Bakugou nodded, smug, and happy to be validated. Midoriya rubbed at his chin in thought.

“Maybe one of the villains had a speed or transportation quirk, and with it they moved Kacchan. If it was fast enough, then he wouldn’t realize where or who he was attacking.”

Bakugou was already shaking his head before Midoriya finished. “I wouldn’t have set off such a blast on a mountain. I’m not a fucking idiot.”

“What if there was a villain with mind control powers? Like Shinsou’s? You wouldn’t remember exactly what happened.” Midoriya suggested.

“Oi, why am I still the culprit?”

“Because I saw you.”

Bakugou’s eyes went so dark that he looked ready to strangle Midoriya. Even Midoriya, for how accustomed he had become to Bakugou’s rage, took a step back in hesitation.

“For the last time, I didn’t do it. Like Uraraka said, I wasn’t anywhere near that explosion.” Bakugou enunciated in a deep growl, effectively ending the argument. “Now let’s get moving. Whatever villain with whatever stupid quirk did this, I’m going to kill them.”

He then turned around and kept on his way to the summit. Uraraka and Midoriya exchanged looks of concern, and then followed him. Bakugou charged forward, not caring if anyone spotted him. He kept his hands up and ready to attack. The other two tried to keep low in order to keep some element of surprise.

The summit of the mountain was a plateau mostly overgrown with snow heavy brush and a few pine trees. However, near the center, in an almost bowl like shape, was an open plain edged with boulder outcroppings. The three stopped to hide behind one such boulder. They all shrugged off their bags, just in case the weight would end up hindering them in a fight. Then they surveyed the scene. Standing on the tallest boulder, across the bowl, was one villain in an all-white snow suit. It appeared to be a man, but he wore a ski mask and snow goggles, so his identity was entirely obscured.

At the foot of this outcropping was someone standing guard. This one wore a brown jacket and black pants. A similar ski mask and snow goggles also hid their identity. But Uraraka recognized them.

“That’s one of the villains from the ambush.” She whispered, pointing to the brown jacket.

“Oh! You’re right!” Midoriya said. “But from what I remember, he didn’t fight much. Hung back most of the time.”

That was true, but Uraraka also remembered seeing this villain flip about with great gymnastic agility. A hard opponent to catch.

“He’s not getting out of an ass whooping this time.” Bakugou grinned, baring his teeth in the excitement of a fight. Before Uraraka or Midoriya could stop him, Bakugou leaped up the boulder and then rocketed himself across the clearing. He set off a narrowed explosion, aimed directly at the villains.

The villain in white raised his arms and a great gush of wind deflected the explosion and threw Bakugou back into the trees. The wind swept back up and joined with a funnel of dark clouds forming around the summit. Just before visibility dropped, Uraraka looked out towards the edge of the summit, and saw that the clouds had only formed over the mountain they stood. It was a contained storm, and all the more wicked because of it.

Bakugou trudged his way back to where the two other heroes stood in their hiding spot, using the natural wall of the boulder to keep from getting blown away. The three had to huddle in close, the icy wind making their eyes water and skin feel like it was cracking apart.

“So, this is the bastard who’s been causing all these storms.” Bakugou shouted, his fists crackling murderously.

“But how do we take out someone we can’t see?” Midoriya wondered aloud, already muttering over plans.  

“I have an idea.” Uraraka said, activating her quirk on a rock next to her that was bigger than her head. She held it up to Bakugou. He caught on with a grin, taking the rock.

Bakugou peeked out from behind the boulder and then blasted his rock into the storm like a missile.

The rock slammed with a banging crack into an unseen target. As soon as impact sounded, Uraraka released her quirk, so that all the blown rock shards would come back down for a second impact. This too sounded across the winds. The storm faltered.

The kids grinned at each other. Uraraka activated another rock, and Bakugou shot it off.

Victoriously, they could feel the drop in the wind, the let up of the cold.

Then the storm picked right back up, but with an upwards gust so great that the heroes had to throw themselves to the ground to keep from getting caught in the attack. Wind continued to swirl around them, harder this time, and at a different angle it seemed.

“The villain has moved closer to us!” Midoriya said, furrowing his brows in concentration. He did the mental math. “To the right of us, I think!”

“Alright, we need something better than just rocks.” Bakugou snapped. He squinted into the swirling snow and then pointed to something behind Uraraka. “Oi, Uraraka, can you lift that tree?”

She looked behind her to the tree in question. It was a large, thick pine. It would be a great stretch to her weight limit. “Yes, but I can’t pull it out with the roots. Deku, think you could pull this tree out if I lighten it?”

Midoriya jumped right on board. He joined her, and together they maneuvered the tree out of the ground. Then at Midoriya’s careful direction, they brought the tree back down on what would hopefully be the storm quirk villain. There was a lot of tree to work with. At its crash back down, the storm petered out and then swept up and away into its cloud.

Not giving the villains a chance to recuperate, Bakugou took to the trunk of the tree. He charged, catching the storm villain – who had been whacked nonfatally by the branches – by total surprise. With a carefully aimed blast, Bakugou knocked the villain over, and then punched the villain unconscious.

Now that the storm was officially over, Midoriya and Uraraka emerged from the boulder. The three heroes looked about themselves, but they didn’t see the brown suited villain.

And then the second villain resurfaced right from the bushes near Uraraka. She parried the villain’s attack and then swiped at him. The villain, however, had seemed to figure out to avoid her grasp. He evaded her at her every offense. It became a contest of speed and agility, and Uraraka was losing.

Midoriya slipped forward and stooped down, inviting Uraraka to get on his back. She did. With the lightning speed of his quirk, they closed in on the villain. It was clear now that the villain’s speed was only human. Nothing super. She reached out. In just a slight nick of time, the villain ducked and then full-palmed pushed at Midoriya’s face, knocking Midoriya back. With the added weight of Uraraka on his back, it threw Midoriya off balance.

While he corrected himself, the villain jolted away. This time Bakugou cut him off, engaging the villain in the center of the plateau bowl.

Uraraka got off Midoriya’s back. The two ran into the bowl, cornering the villain from another two sides. They moved the villain further from the brush and more out into the open. Bakugou blasted the villain towards Midoriya, who was then able to tackle the villain into the snow.

The villain was much less graceful in such a wrestling match. The snow from the fabricated storm was also impossibly deep to work with. Midoriya and the villain rolled about, often obscured by the great banks of white around them. All the while, Uraraka noticed that the villain wasn’t making use of any quirk. It set off alarm bells in her head. She and Bakugou closed in.

At one point, the villain managed to roll out on top. The villain pinned down Midoriya’s face again while also holding his own face in his other hand. In such a quick motion that Uraraka nearly missed it, the villain switched which hands were holding which face. Midoriya tossed the guy back into the deep snow.

It was then that Uraraka noticed how close the two were reaching the edge of the plateau.

Bakugou and Uraraka rushed forward the second they lost sight of the two again. Uraraka’s heart dropped to her stomach. Something about this seemed all too familiar. She did not like the fact that she had lost sight of Midoriya. The fighting pair emerged again, just at the edge of the bowl.

“Deku!” Bakugou called out, holding his arm up at the ready. “Move back so I can get a clean shot!”

“Got it!” Midoriya abandoned the fight to jump back to where Bakugou was standing. He landed right behind Bakugou.

The villain staggered up from the snow. His brown suit had Uraraka’s entire head screaming in alarm. Seeing that suit now standing right where she had last seen Midoriya, she realized what had happened before the avalanche.

But she hadn’t registered it before because Midoriya and Bakugou had been fighting against a few different villains.

Her attention slid back to Bakugou, as everything around her skidded down to slow motion. She saw Midoriya smirk at Bakugou in a dark triumph, a look that did not match his eyes. She watched as Bakugou remained oblivious, lighting the sweat in his hand.

No. No, wait.

“Bakugou!” She screamed out, forcing her legs forward. “Wait! No! That’s not the villain!”

BOOM!

Uraraka collided into the man wearing Midoriya’s face just as Bakugou’s explosion went off. She took her opponent to the ground; she watched in horror as his face flickered into a new one, the entire body following suit.

The villain grinned up at her.

“Uraraka, what the hell!” Bakugou turned on her. His next words caught in his throat the second he noticed who Uraraka had pinned down.

She looked back up at Bakugou, all her insides swirling about in panic, her eyes filling with tears.

“That wasn’t the villain you just shot off the mountain!”

A body swap quirk. The villain had a body swap quirk.

Bakugou spun around and raced to the precipice. He looked down. At first, his expression was stone cold. He blinked slowly. And then something broke.

Bakugou screamed.

He turned around again and yelled incoherent vile at the villain. In a second, Bakugou tore the villain from Uraraka’s hold and punched the villain back down into the snow. Not a single explosion ripped through the sound of his rage this time.  

Uraraka was nearly frozen with the terror of seeing Bakugou go so berserk without making any use of his quirk. There was something so brutal, so animalistic in the way Bakugou now threw his bare weight into the offense.

But she couldn’t just sit there. She snapped herself back into focus and then rushed to the edge.

Thankfully, the precipice didn’t overlook the valley itself. There was another outcropping below – but it was still a long drop down. Uraraka could make out Midoriya down there, his front blackened from Bakugou’s attack.

Uraraka flew off the edge. As soon as she safely touched down, she scrambled over to Midoriya and checked his pulse. With her heart going so wild, it took her far too long to differentiate between hers and his pulse. Yet when she did find his heart rate, she cried in relief.

His pulse was a few beats shy of regular. Nothing serious. He was just knocked out. At closer inspection, Uraraka could see that his clothes had taken the brunt of the fire damage. The skin of his arms sported the worst physical damage: a collage of burns and scrapes, plus the ruined bandages from the porcupine spike attack. Overall, though, she had seen him in much worse condition before.

Uraraka looked up and noticed that right over the outcropping were some trees growing diagonally from the mountain side. A few of these trees were snapped. Midoriya must have tried to use them to stop his fall.

She still didn’t know how he landed. Not wanting to potentially hurt him further, Uraraka activated her quirk on him, and then held him so that his neck or back did not shift in any way. She then floated back up the cliffside.

There was something eerie about the ascent. Uraraka couldn’t quite put her finger on it until she landed back into the deep snow of the summit. She hadn’t heard Bakugou on the way back up.

When she looked to where she had left Bakugou with the villain, ice cold fear rushed down her spine. She hadn’t heard him because he hadn’t been yelling. Bakugou held the villain up off the ground by the neck. The villain’s face mask was torn and askew. Uraraka could see bruising.

Bakugou was making his way towards the cliff edge, his eyes set in a dangerously quiet determination. This wasn’t the fired-up rage of a competition. This wasn’t a time when Bakugou spat threats but still held back the true fatal potential of his power.

Bakugou was going to kill this man.

Such a move would undoubtedly wreck Bakugou’s chances of becoming a professional hero. It didn’t matter if the villain struck first. There were rules in place to restrict unnecessary force. A credited hero could face a whole uphill legal battle if a villain even died under their watch. Bakugou wouldn’t have a chance.

(That was Uraraka’s primary concern, at least. The villain received very little of her sympathy.)

She ran over to block Bakugou’s path.

“Stop, please! Don’t do this!”

His eyes flicked down to Midoriya. Took in the damage. It was hard to tell that Midoriya was breathing. Uraraka knew he was. But Bakugou’s mouth set into a thin line.

“Move over, Uraraka.”

She stood her ground. “He’s just knocked out. I think he found a way to slow his fall. Don’t. Do. This.”

Bakugou’s expression remained cold. “And what if he didn’t catch himself?”

Uraraka tried not to think about that. She held up all internal defenses to keep that mental image from surfacing. It danced along the edge of her mind. The terror of what she would have encountered if there wasn’t that ledge along the way down.

“He’s Deku. The hero who can do it.” Uraraka stepped forward, pleading with every part of her being for Bakugou to see reason. She couldn’t let his journey end here over some unknown, D-rank villain. “Deku could never be taken down like this. You know that. I know you do. So, don’t let this ruin everything for you either.”

Bakugou’s frame seized up, and his mouth twitched in an almost snarl. No, that was his chin wobbling. His grip on the villain loosened.

“C’mon. Let’s turn this guy in to the authorities and let them handle it.” Uraraka took another step forward. Thankfully, Bakugou didn’t react defensively.

The two cooperated in silence to restrain the two villains they subdued. They fetched some rope from their bags. Uraraka took over tying up the villains so that she could float them, making it harder for them to escape. As tempted as she was to just the villains float away into space like balloons, she knew she had to remain an ethical hero.

As for Midoriya’s care, Uraraka had to pass a still weightless Midoriya over to Bakugou, under strict orders that Midoriya not be tussled or let go. Bakugou accepted the responsibility with an impassive face.

Together they made their way to the north side of the mountain. It didn’t take long from there to find the ski lift complex. On the way there, they were met by a group of rescue workers from the neighboring resort. The rescuers had heard the battle as it happened on top of the mountain.

Uraraka explained Midoriya’s condition to one rescue worker holding a first aid kit. However, when the rescuer first tried to inspect Midoriya, Bakugou jerked back, not wanting anyone to mess with Midoriya and potentially hurt him further. It took a moment of coaxing to allow the rescuer to look Midoriya over. He agreed that the damage didn’t seem severe, but even then, he still preferred to transport Midoriya on a stretcher.

“He’s fine with me.” Bakugou bit out.

The rescuer tried to argue back. “It would be safer if…”

“All I gotta do is keep him from floating away. I can do that. Get out of my face.”

Uraraka winced. She wanted to argue on behalf of the rescue workers, because they were right. Floating Midoriya had just been an emergency option, because little else was doable. At the same time, she couldn’t help but to feel sympathetic towards Bakugou. These past 24 hours had been a test on Bakugou’s vulnerability. Whether it was about protecting Midoriya or not, Bakugou needed to do something to make him feel reliable again.

Against all better judgement, she stepped between the rescue workers and Bakugou.

“If De- Midoriya is going to be alright, then we should let Bakugou carry him.”

She must have communicated urgency well enough with her eyes, because the rescue workers did little more than frown and back off.

With all that settled, another rescue worker announced into a radio that the last of the hero course students had been found, and that two more villains had been apprehended. Uraraka took note of that with a sigh of relief. If they were the last to be found, then that meant that everyone else was together.

“Is anyone else injured?” She asked the man with the radio. “From my school?”

“A few mild injuries and a couple cases of frostnip, but otherwise, everyone is safe and accounted for.” The man answered her with a reassuring smile.

She thanked him and went back to her boys.

Instead of taking the lift chairs, the kids and rescue workers boarded one of the enclosed lifts.

On the short trip over, Uraraka could feel all her energy crashing from the spike of the earlier fight. She tried to stay on alert. They weren’t out of the woods yet. According to that radio transmit, there were still other villains out there. But she was tired and losing focus. Her body seemed to switch to autopilot as the group exited the lift and made their way to the clinic side of the resort.

There was a waiting room of sorts right inside the clinic entrance. The room was probably half the size of their classroom, with a few chairs, yet both classes A and B were crammed into the space. Few were sitting. Most were chattering nervously. Uraraka could see some of the ones who didn’t escape the attack without ending up in a few bandages. But nothing serious. Thankfully.

When the rescue workers and the last of their peers entered the room, there was an immediate noise of recognition and relief.

Or at least, until they saw Midoriya. The room fell into shocked silence in stages as everyone recognized who was carrying Midoriya. Several classmates surged forward, and the rescue workers had to push them back so that no one would accidentally bump into Bakugou or Midoriya. Through all this, Bakugou marched forward, expression still unreadable.

Uraraka did not release her quirk until Midoriya was placed in a neck brace and laid down in a clinic bed. True to the earlier diagnoses, he had already started to stir and respond to basic stimuli.

Bakugou and Uraraka were kept in the clinic room, separated from Midoriya by a curtain, long enough to be checked over. The staff replaced the bandages covering the porcupine spike attack. Uraraka also had minor frostbite from using her bare hands to fight on top of the mountain. She was given a heat packet to hold.

Fortunately, there wasn’t any problem with dehydration or malnourishment. Once she and Bakugou were cleared, they were chased back out to the waiting room.

A crowd had formed in the hallway to meet them. Bakugou met them with an empty stare.

Todoroki maneuvered to the front of the crowd, his eyes flashing a cold fury.

“Those were burns on Midoriya.” He said to Bakugou. “What did you do?”

The hallway hushed.

Bakugou’s brows dropped in the first sign of emotion since they had taken the ski lifts. He refused to answer. That only made Todoroki angrier. He stepped forward and grabbed Bakugou by his collar.

“What did you do?” The demand reverberated off the walls, the hallway was so quiet in comparison.

Their peers leaned in forward in battle ready tension. In the crowded space, everyone seemed to breathe in and out at once. They all feared what Bakugou or Todoroki would do next.

The corners of Bakugou’s mouth twitched in that subtle chin wobble – the reaction that only Uraraka understood.

“It wasn’t his fault.” She pushed forward to cut in, grabbing the arm that Todoroki had Bakugou with. Todoroki looked to her in surprise. She continued, “One of the villains had a body switching quirk. He tricked us into attacking Deku.”

Todoroki blinked, and then let go of Bakugou. When the glaciers in his eyes melted, it left only the weight of all his worry. The temperature around him rose and dipped as he wrestled with how to direct his emotions.

Looking around the space, Uraraka could only imagine how stressful it was to wait for her, Bakugou, and Midoriya to be found. And that was if those three were the only ones who were separated from everyone else for an extended period! The rest of the hero course must have been all over the place.

Uraraka moved about and did what she could to reassure everyone that Midoriya wasn’t in any serious condition, and that he was already waking up. Even though the kids were all still keyed up, they slowly but surely went off to wait somewhere else. The dread of further danger dissipated. Soon only Uraraka, Bakugou, Todoroki, Iida, Tsuyu, and Kirishima remained in the hallway right outside the clinic door.

Midoriya’s close friends took their places along the wall, sliding down to sit on the floor. Bakugou shoved his hands in his pockets and paced.

He walked back and forth, back and forth, stopping occasionally to stare at the clinic door. His eyes flashed between his usual rage and restrained concern. With every step he took, all the bottled-up emotions from the earlier incident threated to spill out.

But before anything could erupt, Kirishima walked up to Bakugou and pulled his friend in. He placed an arm around Bakugou’s shoulders, allowing Bakugou the easy option to lean in or pull away. Bakugou tensed but did nothing to throw Kirishima off.

After a stale second, Bakugou dropped his head on Kirishima’s shoulder. He muttered something.

“Hey, don’t say that. Midoriya’s gonna be fine.” Kirishima said back. “I mean, isn’t nearly dying all the time kind of his thing?”

The two stood in another moment of silence. And then, through gritted teeth, Bakugou replied, “It’s different this time.”

“How come?”

Bakugou stared down at the floor. He kicked his boot against the tile. Midoriya’s friends tried to pretend they weren’t hanging onto every word.

“Because I…” Bakugou started, forcing out the words like each pained him. “Because I never gave a damn before.”

“Oh.” Kirishima breathed. Still sitting against the wall, Uraraka felt her chest twinge.  

“I never gave a damn before,” Bakugou rushed out, “but now, when I thought about… what would have happened… if that damn nerd actually… you know, you’d think that I would think, ‘oh, there goes my shot at proving that I’m the best hero.’ Because that’s all I should care about. But all I could think was… was if… was if I never saw that dumb fucking look on his face again. The way he looks at me, like no matter fucking what, I mean something to him.”

And then, hiding his face, he added quietly, “I hate it. I don’t want to feel this way.”

Kirishima nodded. “Yeah. I know. It’s a scary feeling. But it’s part of being a man. You gotta accept these feelings, cause they’ll keep you moving forward for the sake of others, you know?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Bakugou sniffled. He kicked again at the floor. “And it’s that fucking time.”

Kirishima blinked at that, and then despite himself, let out a short chuckle. Although Iida, Todoroki, and Tsuyu were confused by this entire exchange, Kirishima seemed to understand Bakugou’s meaning. “You mean you had to climb through the snow dealing with that too? Geez, man, I’m impressed that you didn’t manage to blow the entire mountain head off.”

“Not funny, Shitty Hair.” Bakugou bit back, but it wasn’t with the same weight as earlier. Bakugou had expressed what he needed to express, and the mood of the space around them lightened.

Kirishima and Bakugou took to sitting against the wall opposite of Uraraka and the others. Any sort of conversation that continued after that point was decidedly lighthearted and had nothing to do with recent events. Uraraka appreciated that. She felt like she needed a bit of time to absorb everything before she word vomited something she’d regret mentioning. Even so, she could tell how badly Iida was vibrating with the need to know what happened and if his friends would be okay.

She leaned her head against Iida’s shoulder in the meantime, hoping it would convey well enough how much his presence alone meant to her. It was finally catching up to her that she was safe now.

For a moment, however, she had seemed to forget herself. Uraraka belatedly noticed Iida’s surprise at her casual physical affection. She hadn’t really thought about it. In fact, on her other side, Tsuyu was holding her hand. It took her a moment to remember that affection between boys and girls wasn’t as easily accepted as it was between girls. Even though, after having to share body heat for survival, Uraraka couldn’t find herself caring about conventions so much.

Within twenty-four hours, she had already tripped over her own modesty enough to last a lifetime. To hell with it. Iida was a good friend. She was going to lay her head on his shoulder whether people found it weird or not.

This was how Midoriya found the group when he emerged – very much conscious – from the clinic about twenty minutes later. His arms were mummified, as per his usual bullshit, but otherwise he appeared much better than he did when Uraraka and Bakugou carried him back to the resort.

“Ah,” he startled, upon seeing the others, and self-consciously rubbed at the back of his head. “Wait, were you all waiting for me? Sorry that took so long. The nurse here said that they weren’t sure at first what was a recent injury or not. Ha ha… this whole set-up is getting kind of old, isn’t it?”

Everyone had jumped to their feet to greet him. But Bakugou didn’t waste a second to march right up to Midoriya and get in his face. Midoriya ducked back with a reflexive, “Ah, Kacchan!”

“You better stop pulling this bullshit!” Bakugou shouted, entirely his usual self again. “It was funny the first few times, but now you just look like shit.”   

Midoriya laughed awkwardly at that. “Yeah, I know. But, hey, it wasn’t my fault this time!” But then he seemed to remember what happened, and quickly corrected himself, “Well, I’m not saying it was your fault. It was the villain. And I guess I do owe you an apology for not believing you about the avalanche. I guess I hadn’t taken body switching quirks into account.” Midoriya then rubbed at his chin in thought. “Although, this was an interesting one, because the villain didn’t seem to use any blood or DNA samples… from what I could see at least. Though I wonder if that hand to the face thing was part of it, and if that’s the case, then –”

“DEKU.”

“Oh, right, sorry!” Midoriya said. He still didn’t let it go. “But if I had believed you earlier on, we might have had a better idea of what we were up against.”

Bakugou only glared in response.

“Hey,” Kirishima interrupted, going over to Midoriya to pat him on the shoulder. “We’re just happy the three of you are alright.”

As if to spite her, Uraraka’s stomach chose that exact moment to let out a loud, ravenous groan. Everyone’s attention snapped towards her.

“Uraraka, when was the last time you ate something?” Iida asked her.

“Uhh…” She glanced about for a clock. “What time is it?”

“Argh, let’s just go get some real food!” Bakugou decided. He started to march off down the hall, further into the building. The fact that he didn’t know where the cafeteria was didn’t seem to bother him.

The rest of the kids shrugged and followed.

And then All Might, muscled up, skidded into center view, from some side hall. He got out an ‘I am’ before deflating and hacking. The teachers who had followed All Might, to check in with the last of the found students, only shook their heads in mild exasperation.

All the teachers were still wearing their snowsuits and red noses. But of course, they would have been out there helping search for their students.

All Might and Midoriya ran towards each other and hugged in relief of seeing the other okay. When someone coughed about favoritism, All Might put Midoriya back down and then did his best to check in with each of the other kids.

“We heard about what happened to your small group.” Iida said. “It is a relief to see you safe as well, All Might. What would Yuuei do without you?”

“The hell you actin’ like he’s some damsel in distress for?” Bakugou snapped back, punching into the palm of his hand with a grin. “Besides, those villains are gonna think twice before attacking us again, now that I’m through with them.”

All Might chuckled nervously. He patted Bakugou on the shoulder. “Of course, young Bakugou.”

“About that,” Aizawa spoke up, from the group of teachers. He looked towards Midoriya, Uraraka, and Bakugou. “You three managed to bring in a wanted underground villain. The man with the body swap quirk? Goes by the pseudonym ‘Mask.’ He’s been causing all sorts of problems for heroes and their reputations.”

“Ah, so you guys know it wasn’t Bakugou who set off that avalanche?” Uraraka checked.

“Right.” Aizawa answered. “From what we’ve gathered, Mask can only transform into another person for about a minute at a time. But he also has use of their quirk, which most polymorphs can’t do.”

Midoriya shuddered. “That’s like a scary mixture of Monoma and Toga.” 

Everyone nodded in agreement. Uraraka was especially glad Mask was now in custody. He had done more than enough to earn her wrath, and now that he was compared to that psycho Toga, Uraraka only hated him more.

“Anyways, that’s all we wanted to tell you. I’m going to go take a nap now.” Aizawa turned around and walked off. All the teachers but All Might left with Aizawa.

“So, young Midoriya, where are you off to now?”

“We’re about to get something to eat. Do you know where the cafeteria is?” Midoriya answered.

Bakugou mumbled something about being perfectly fine finding the damned place on his own. All Might still led them to the cafeteria. It was still lunchtime, so the kids found that many of their other classmates had already convened there. From there, Bakugou and Kirishima split off to hang out with their usual team of idiots.

At the cafeteria table, the others finally pulled the full story of the past day out of Midoriya and Uraraka. The two took turns telling their friends about the villain attack, and then inquired into how everyone else faired.

Todoroki’s group had also been in the path of the avalanche, and yet they were one of the first groups to reach the meeting point. With Todoroki’s ice and fire powers, he had protected his group from the avalanche itself and then from frostbite in the following freak storms.

On the other hand, Iida’s group had been on the opposite side of the mountain from the avalanche. They all got away with minor scrapes and bruises from the D-lister villains that ambushed them. Much like Todoroki’s group, they made it to the meeting point in relatively good time. Iida had helped keep his group organized and safe. He was a bit disappointed in Uraraka for floating herself and the boys so far away from everyone else, but at the same time, he commended Midoriya and Uraraka for their survival strategies during the storms.

Of course, Midoriya and Uraraka left out the parts about cuddling all together to stay warm. Not so much for their own sake, but out of deference to Bakugou’s reputation.

The only other person in their group who had as close of an emergency to Midoriya was Tsuyu. She faced an all too real threat of hypothermia all the way up the mountain. Her groupmates had kept her close and donated heat packs for her to carry. She still had to be wrapped up in blankets and monitored for awhile after making it to the resort, but in the end, she too made it through the ordeal.

Once everyone’s bellies were full and friends were all reassured of each other’s well-being, the conversation drifted off into more one-on-one topics.

“Oh, Uraraka,” Midoriya said at one point, turning to her.

“Yes?”

He rubbed at the back of his head. “I wanted to thank you for carrying me back. I’m sorry that I keep landing myself in these situations, but it means a lot to know that you’ll be right there. You make a great hero.”

“Oh,” she couldn’t help but to blush. “Thank you. But, ah… actually…”

She glanced over at Bakugou’s table. From what she had seen, he hadn’t told his friends much of what happened to him, instead opting to let Kirishima and Kaminari bounce off each other with their stories. Bakugou was slouched over the table, holding up his head, and just slightly smiling over his friends’ antics.

Midoriya followed Uraraka’s line of sight. For a moment, he was confused, and then his jaw dropped.

“You… you mean… Kacchan carried me back?” He asked in a squeak. Uraraka nodded in confirmation. Midoriya continued to stare, dumbfounded. Though, something sparkled in his eyes like someone had just told him he had been named one of the top heroes of Yuuei. He swallowed, trying to hold back the growing excitement. “Oh, I mean, you must have been occupied with the villains or something.”

Uraraka offered a tiny, secretive smile. “He wouldn’t let anyone else carry you. Even when the resort’s rescue workers found us.”

Midoriya’s growing wonder now looked like he had just been named the number one hero of the school. He kept looking between Uraraka and Bakugou.

Bakugou must have realized that someone was looking at him, because he glanced over at Midoriya’s table. Upon seeing Midoriya’s wide-eyed, brilliant, grateful expression, Bakugou balked. He made some sort of snarled gesture that Uraraka could only interpret as telling Midoriya to mind his own business. Midoriya only smiled wider in return. Bakugou’s face turned a very charming crimson.

When Uraraka laughed at that, he flipped her off. She made a heart with her hands right back at him. His friends then noticed that he was preoccupied with something other than the comedy act Kirishima and Kaminari were putting on, and they too looked over at Midoriya’s table.

It didn’t take even those idiots long for them to connect the dots and realize what had Midoriya looking like a million dollars and had Bakugou looking like someone had just published his diary.

Now Bakugou’s friends really wanted to know what happened on his adventure. But he was a tough nut to crack. Sero only made one attempt to get more details out of Bakugou before Bakugou threw one of the food trays into Sero’s face and then got up to storm out of the cafeteria. His friends continued to laugh and offer thumbs-up at Midoriya and Uraraka.  

Uraraka assumed that would be the last she would see of Bakugou all day. And she couldn’t blame him. He probably needed time to himself.

She was surprised when Bakugou found her and Midoriya later that day. He waited until everyone else had scattered and he could catch the two of them alone.

“Alright. We’re gonna talk about this now.” He said, not leaving them any room to object. Uraraka and Midoriya could only just glance at each other and shrug, before Bakugou led them to the side of the resort with less crowds. He picked out an empty sunroom and then shut the door behind them.

The winter sun had started to set, which bathed the entire room in a soft, warm light. Bakugou plopped down into an armchair in the center of the room. Uraraka and Midoriya stood awkwardly.

“Well?” He asked, expectantly, gesturing to the couch that sat opposite him. They sat down.

Bakugou got right to the point. “We’re not fighting any villains up a mountain right now. So, we’re going to talk about this. Before I overthink anything and lose my goddamned mind.”

Uraraka was caught between admiration that Bakugou was willing to initiate a conversation about feelings in any facet, and panic over how soon he wanted to initiate said conversation. When she said, ‘can we talk about this later,’ she was thinking a week, maybe a month later. Part of her hoped that the boys would forget about all this and go back to sparring over ranks, instead of her.

Bakugou looked right at her, clearly not dissuaded. “You said that you like both of us, and that maybe something could happen. Do you mean that you would want both of us?”

Uraraka went a little pink, tense, but then she sighed. “Yes, I do admire both of you. But whether that means I could handle being in a relationship with two people, I don’t know yet.”

Yuuei, after all, was a very demanding school. Uraraka already had to put her feelings for Midoriya aside just to concentrate on what needed to be done. The idea of having two people take up her time and energy like that was a little overwhelming.

Overwhelming, but not entirely an unwelcome thought, if she was being honest with herself.

To Uraraka’s surprise, her answer seemed to relax Bakugou. He sat back in his chair and uncrossed his arms. So, he probably wasn’t sure about starting up a relationship either. And Uraraka didn’t even have to check Midoriya to know what he was thinking. This was new territory for all of them. Even more so for the fact that this was a triangle.

“I do have a question. For both of you.” She said. “Whether there’s a relationship or not, I don’t want to get in between you two. I think you two would make really good friends again if you just keep working at getting along.”

The boys glanced at each other and shifted a bit in their seats. Midoriya smiled modestly, most likely remembering the fact that Bakugou had brought him back to safety.

“So, what’s your question?” Bakugou turned back to her.

“Do you think you two could handle knowing the other likes me? And that I may like both of you?”

“That’s two questions.” Bakugou grumbled.

On the other hand, Midoriya rubbed his chin in thought. “Well, I could easily understand why you two would like each other. Since I admire both of you. And I really value both of your happiness. So, I think… I think I’ll be okay with it… but I can’t say for certain.”

That was a fair enough response. Uraraka nodded. The two then looked to Bakugou.

He tapped at the arm of his chair, scrutinizing them both. After mulling it over, he grinned. “Well, I don’t suppose there’s any other way of proving that I’m the best than to know my competition.”

Midoriya sighed in fond exasperation.

“Besides,” Bakugou continued. “I’ve known that you two are obsessed with each other, and it hasn’t bothered my daily life before. I’ve got other shit to focus on.” 

But, Uraraka couldn’t help but to think, it did bother him – if that argument on the mountain was any indication. But that argument was a buildup of all Bakugou’s frustrations that day. And once the three talked things out, the whole romantic feelings thing didn’t seem to get a reaction out of him anymore.

Overall, this wasn’t conclusive enough for her. The worry that she could be the cause of another problem between the two boys still rolled around and lingered in her stomach.

Then, her very traitorous brain thought of something. Just the thought had her jerk straight up in her seat, face burning.

“Ochako, are you alright?” Midoriya asked her.

“Oh. Yes. I’m fine. I just. Had an idea.”

“Well? Spit it out.” Bakugou said.

Uraraka tapped her fingers together. “Oh, um, well… if neither of you could know for certain if you’d be jealous over the other…” she looked anywhere but at the two of them. “So, what if… what if I…”

“What if you what?” Bakugou just about growled.

She squeezed her eyes shut. “What if I kissed both of you… to see how the other feels about it?”

Hesitantly, Uraraka opened her eyes again, to check the boy’s reaction. Bakugou was perfectly calm and Midoriya wasn’t freaking out. Though, it was comforting to notice that both boys also sported a blush that matched Uraraka’s.

Midoriya, a determined, scientific observer at his core, offered, “It’s worth a shot, right?”

“Fine by me.” Bakugou waved his hand.

Uraraka nodded. Now she had to choose who she would kiss first. Her first thought was Midoriya. She had known him the longest and liked him the longest. There was still an average high school girl in her that bubbled up at the opportunity to kiss her longtime crush.

She turned to Midoriya. He picked up on her intent and squared his shoulders, looking back at her with an intensity that was so out of context, but still so frustratingly adorable.

The two scooted closer on the couch. Midoriya swallowed. Uraraka glanced back at Bakugou. He gave a look of ‘go on.’ Even so, she wasn’t sure how to proceed.

This was not at all how Uraraka imagined her first kiss. She never imagined kissing her crush when he was battered and bruised after a battle, or with someone else in the room watching.

But maybe… in some ways it did fit. There was no way to deny that this sunroom, at this resort, was a romantic location. The wide bay window in front of the seats and couch provided a beautiful landscape background. The sun shined in just the perfect angle that it appeared Midoriya’s head glowed.

And the other person in the room wasn’t just anybody, it was someone Uraraka had grown to admire and trust. She was scraped up, true. But she had done her part and proven herself as a capable hero in her own right. This wasn’t the scene of a knight stealing a kiss from the princess he just rescued. Quite the opposite. Uraraka had just rescued Midoriya.

So, maybe this scenario wasn’t her dream. It was better.

With this realization, Uraraka bravely closed the distance between her and Midoriya.

She had expected her insides to scramble up, but instead, a calm washed over her. Warmth settled through her in those few seconds that her lips were on his. The kiss was chaste and awkwardly angled, but it felt right. Easy. Like she and Midoriya were already close enough friends and this was just as natural to who they were to each other as breathing.

The two parted. By the look of wonder in Midoriya’s eyes, Uraraka could tell that he felt it too.

But even then, she didn’t forget that Bakugou was still there. His head was tilted in consideration, staring at them.

“Still look like a pair of nerds to me.” He settled on saying.

“Nothing? No jealousy or hard feelings?” Midoriya asked, a bit hopefully.

“No. Unless the sick feeling I always get when you make stupid faces counts, Deku.” Bakugou snorted.

It might have been a death wish, but a little giggle burst out of Uraraka. Yeah, right, she couldn’t help but to think. Midoriya hadn’t been witness to Bakugou’s breakdown outside of the clinic, so he had no idea how much Bakugou’s perception of ‘Deku’s stupid faces’ had changed.

Bakugou turned to her wide-eyed, likely reading all that she knew in her eyes. She could practically watch him calculate whether it would be worth it to go off on her, when she had just offered to kiss him. In the end, he surrendered with a low, pouted groan. Uraraka had never felt so powerful.

“Is it my turn yet?” He asked, rolling his eyes to the ceiling.

“What? To have a stupid face of your own?” Midoriya retorted.

“What?!” Bakugou shot up from his chair. “Deku, you better fucking watch yourself or I’m gonna –”

“Bakugou.” Uraraka said, calmly, with a know-it-all grin on her face.

He froze in place. Beside Uraraka, Midoriya clapped a hand over his mouth and tried not to laugh out loud. Bakugou looked between the two, still flashing glares at Midoriya, but ultimately weighed his options and complied. He walked over to Uraraka’s side of the couch and sat down next to her.

Like some besotted fool, Bakugou did nothing more than to grumble about idiot Deku, and then look to Uraraka for further instruction. There was a nice rosy hue to his cheeks. Uraraka wanted to squeal and float around over how cute this all was. She had the most explosive boy in class completely wrapped around her finger.

Honestly, if someone had come up to Uraraka the first week of class and told her that she would one day initiate a kiss with the wild blond sitting in front of her now, she might have accidentally slapped that person to the moon. And then she probably would have spent hours under her bedsheets wondering if there was something enticing enough about Bakugou that would get her to kiss him.

It wasn’t like she ever hated Bakugou. It was a little hard to hate him when Midoriya had literal notebooks full of praise for the guy. And if she was being honest with herself, she had always been fascinated by him. By the aggressive persona he wore, like so many barbed wire walls that were just waiting to be deconstructed.

Though, don’t get her wrong, understanding Bakugou didn’t make her like him. Complex, self-assured person or not, a dumpster fire was still a dumpster fire. No, she had found herself largely drawn in by his growth as a person. Those times she noticed Kirishima or Kaminari leaning on Bakugou, and he let them into his space. Other times Bakugou would notice that his classmates were upset about something, so he’d put in a well-timed joke or aggressive shout of encouragement to get everyone’s spirits back up.

At the end of the day, Bakugou just wanted to be liked and admired. From what Midoriya had told Uraraka about their childhood days, Bakugou had been afforded very conditional admiration, and most of it encouraged toxic behaviors. Bakugou’s lackies cheered him on whenever he ruined someone else’s day. To a bunch of stupid, young boys, that was strength.

Yuuei was different. They were all future heroes here. Heroes had to care about each other. The ability to go above and beyond for someone else, that was strength.

And when Uraraka watched Bakugou desperately carry Midoriya to safety, it cemented something within her. Something she didn’t quite notice was there until she had Bakugou’s lips on hers.

They also parted, seemingly reluctantly.

When they checked, Midoriya was staring at them, his mouth open in a soft ‘oh.’

“How are you?” Uraraka asked him.

“I’m… fine,” Midoriya said, genuinely. “I can’t exactly describe it, but it just feels right? Not that I’m giving Ochako up to you, Kacchan.” He blinked at his own wording and then added, seriously, “She’s not an object for me to give. It’s just that… just that I can tell that you two make each other happy, and I like it when you’re happy, so it makes sense to see you find happiness in each other. Does that make any sense?”

Bakugou frowned. “Barely.”

Uraraka shook her head. “It makes sense to me.”

“Is that how you felt, Kacchan?” Midoriya asked. “Seeing Ochako and I kiss?”

“No.” Bakugou said, getting up to return to his own chair. Except this time, he pulled his chair in closer to Midoriya and Uraraka. Now his knees touched the coffee table sitting between his chair and the couch. “I don’t feel sappy shit like that.”

“Then how did you feel?” Uraraka pressed.

Bakugou shrugged. “Like nothing had changed. You’re still Deku and Angel Face. You just happened to be swapping spit, is all.”

Uraraka made a face. “Do you have to phrase it like that?”

Bakugou quirked a brow at her. Yeah, she realized, that was a stupid question. This was the package deal when it came to Bakugou.

“Okay.” Uraraka shook off the awkward moment. “So, this works. We could make this work.”

“But you’re still not sure if you want to be in a relationship right now.” Midoriya said.

“Right.”

Midoriya glanced to the side, then back at Uraraka, hopeful. “I’m fine with taking things slow.”

“Thanks.” She smiled. “That means a lot.”

Bakugou stared at her. “Do you want to keep this all a secret for now, then?”

“Well,” she blushed, thinking of how all their classmates would react to such a relationship. At the same time, if those in the infirmary today didn’t pick up on the unique vibe growing between the three of them, Uraraka would be surprised. “Why don’t we keep it at a need to know basis?”

“Took the words out of my mouth.” Bakugou said. “I know for a fact Kirishima won’t get off my back until he knows.”

Uraraka nodded in understanding. “If you trust him enough to tell him, then I trust him too.”

Midoriya agreed.

“Great!” Bakugou slapped his knees before standing up. “Are we done yet? Sappy moment over? We’ve talked things out.”

Uraraka laughed, lightly. “Yes, I think I’m good with this conversation.”

She and Midoriya also stood up.

Right before they left the sunroom, Bakugou stopped Midoriya.

“Oi, nerd.”

Midoriya turned around. “Yes?”

Bakugou stared at him with a unique sort of intensity that Uraraka had never seen on Bakugou before. Like he was gearing up for a fight he wasn’t sure he was going to win, but was determined to fight anyways. There was a slight twitch to his eye. After a long pause, in which Midoriya shifted about nervously, Bakugou stuck his hand out.

“If we’re going to do this, we’re gonna do this properly.”

It took Midoriya a moment to catch up to Bakugou’s meaning, but when he did, his face lit up in the widest, teary eyed beaming smile. He surged forward and clasped his hand into Bakugou’s. The moment their hands joined, Midoriya’s eyes swam over with joyful tears.

There was something about this moment that Uraraka recognized as having a deep meaning for these two boys. She didn’t fully understand what was going on, but she recognized the weight of it all the same. She smiled and took a step back, allowing them this.

“From now on,” Bakugou announced, the two still holding hands between them, “If you need help, I’ll be there. And if I need help –”

“I’ll definitely be there!” Midoriya chirped, bouncing on his feet a bit.

“Don’t… don’t fucking interrupt me, nerd!”

Midoriya chuckled, and the two let go. “Sorry, Kacchan.”

“Tch,” Bakugou dug his hands into his pockets and looked off to the side. But his expression didn’t lose any of that intensity. Midoriya waited patiently for Bakugou to say whatever else was on his mind.

“That time…” he started. “When I told you to find a quirk in your next life…”

Midoriya stopped bouncing, his eyes unfocusing from the room in front of them. “I remember.” He said in a small voice.

“Don’t… don’t ever do something like that, okay?” Bakugou looked back to Midoriya. “Don’t ever give up fighting, you hear? I shouldn’t have… said those things.”

Midoriya sucked in a breath and then gave a wobbly, wet smile. “I won’t, Kacchan. I promise.”

And then, very boldly, Midoriya stepped forward with both arms out, inviting a hug. Bakugou hesitated a moment, and then relented. He didn’t take his hands out of his pockets, instead just letting Midoriya happily wrap himself around his childhood friend.

Bakugou dropped his head into the crook of Midoriya’s shoulder, while Midoriya cried. From where Uraraka stood, she couldn’t see Bakugou’s expression.

“You better not fucking stain my clothes with your crying.” Bakugou grumbled, almost inaudibly. All the same, his voice wobbled.

Midoriya laughed and patted Bakugou’s back. “It’s what you get for being such an ass all those years.”

“Damned nerd.”

Once everything was settled, the three rejoined the rest of the class. Uraraka took great comfort in the stability that was Class 1-A’s endearing unpredictability. Todoroki and Iida continued to ask after Midoriya’s well-being, while Bakugou’s rag tag team of idiot friends all pressed him for details about his daring adventure up the mountain.

Before anyone knew it, it was time for bed. The girls and boys were separated into two different rooms, with futons for everyone.

The girls had a nice and neat set up, as they normally did when left to their own devices. They chatted happily and did nice, normal teenage girl things like doing each other’s hair and bitching about periods. It went pretty late into the night before Midnight Sensei peeked in to tell them off for still being awake.

All the girls slipped into their futons, and within a moderate amount of time, the room was filled with the sound of sleep. All except for Uraraka. Her futon felt cold and empty. It was so strange, how after not even 24 hours with Bakugou and Midoriya, she had grown used to cuddling up to someone for warmth. For comfort.

Another hour passed, and Uraraka couldn’t stop tossing and turning. Finally, she gave up on sleep. She put on her resort slippers and sneaked out of the room to go down the hall. She really didn’t know where she was going, or where she wanted to be, but found herself at the sun room. The same place she had shared her first two kisses with two of the most important boys in her life.

Quietly, she pushed open the door, and then nearly shrieked in surprise. Already in the room, staring out the large bay window, was Midoriya.

He overheard her entrance and whipped around in surprise, on guard, but then breathed out in relief when he saw that it was just her.

“Oh, Uraraka.” He smiled tentatively. “Can’t sleep either?”

She took in his ragged appearance, made worse by all his bandages. Without a second thought, she crossed the room to stand by his side and wrap an arm around his middle. She dropped her head onto his shoulder.

They stared out the window at the finally peaceful blue mountains, feeling just a bit warmer in each other’s arms. Uraraka couldn’t help but to notice that nothing about the position excited her nerves in any way. There was still something that just felt right, easy about them touching like this.

It came as such a relief.

Uraraka couldn’t say what they were to each other now. She liked to think that they were still friends, in a way. They hadn’t declared any commitment or labels. But they had taken a step forward into being something more, and now all of Uraraka’s daydreams and double guessing seemed a silly thing of the past.

The two didn’t feel any need to talk. The room was so quiet that they heard footsteps approaching from long down the hall. Turning anxious looks at each other, the two broke contact and rushed to find hiding spots.

The footsteps approached the door, and then as Uraraka’s heart slammed in her chest, just waiting a whole month of detentions for meeting up with a boy so late, the door creaked open.

She waited for a teacher’s reprimand.

It didn’t come. Instead, whoever had just come into the room walked further into it.

Uraraka peeked up from her spot behind a couch.

It was Bakugou!

She came out from her hiding spot.

“Bakugou, what are you doing here?”

“Hah?” He grunted back, his eyes drooping. He blinked a few times before he recognized Uraraka standing before him. From behind him, Midoriya also stood from his hiding spot. Bakugou turned to look at Midoriya in question.

“I couldn’t fucking sleep.” Bakugou offered. “The hell are you two doing here?”

Midoriya and Uraraka moved closer to where Bakugou stood.

“We couldn’t sleep either.” Uraraka answered.

At that, Bakugou exhaled a long sigh. He glanced over at the couch that Uraraka had just been hiding behind. With a quick step, he flopped down on the couch, sitting at the far end. He then looked up at Uraraka and patted the cushion next to him.

She didn’t waste a second sitting down next to him and curling up into his offered arm. Midoriya followed suit, taking to Uraraka’s other side. She maneuvered him so that his head lay on her lap, and then ran her hand through his hair. He smiled and relaxed into her touch.

The three ended up looking like a partially fallen line of dominos. Midoriya had to curl up to fit on the third cushion, but since that was how he normally slept, it didn’t take long for Uraraka’s hair pets to put him to sleep. Bakugou leaned towards the center of the couch, his head rested on top of Uraraka’s, her head on his shoulder. It probably wasn’t the most comfortable position, but it was exactly what they needed.

Uraraka blinked her eyes once, twice, and then she was off to sleep, keeping her heroes safe in her arms.