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According to the weather forecast, it’s the coldest winter in Musutafu in forty years. There’s predictions of icy gales of wind and heavy snowfall, and citizens are instructed to dress extra warmly this season. The worst of it will pass in less than a month; they estimate that the extreme cold will last about three weeks at most.
It might be only three weeks, but Tsuyu knows she has a very long, cold winter ahead of her.
-
It starts with Todoroki.
Nobody expected it, least of all Tsuyu. But in hindsight, Todoroki has always had a knack for taking the initiative to do the unthinkable simply by disregarding social conventions that bind everybody else, so maybe it shouldn’t have surprised them after all.
So it starts with Tsuyu nodding off on the common room couch she’s been sitting on, her eyes slipping shut as the drowsiness takes over. Nobody has noticed, not yet, because her friends are busy chatting and her other classmates are otherwise occupied with spending their Sunday afternoon, so they’re not paying attention to Tsuyu slowly succumbing to the chill and falling asleep.
At some point, though, she realizes the room has gone silent. And she’s no longer cold.
She opens her eyes to find Todoroki sitting beside her. More accurately: he’s cuddling with her, looping an arm around her shoulders to pull her in gently against his left side, which is as warm as a heated blanket right now.
“Um,” Sero says after a long moment of collective silence, “Todoroki, what are you doing?”
Todoroki blinks, his blank expression barely changing. “I’m keeping Tsuyu warm, so that she doesn’t go into hibernation.”
“Oh my god,” Midoriya says in realization, springing to his feet. “We should’ve turned the thermostat up! I forgot that the cold snap is starting today.”
Momo gasps. “Oh, that was thoughtless of us. We’re so sorry, Tsuyu.”
“No, it’s fine.” Tsuyu doesn’t mind. She’s accustomed to the winter drowsiness, and she’s sure her friends would’ve helped once they’d noticed she was falling asleep. She’s just a little surprised that Todoroki is so easily disregarding the concept of personal space. He’s never been particularly touchy with any of their classmates before. “Thank you, Todoroki. It’s very thoughtful of you.”
“It’s what friends do, right?” Todoroki asks in the way somebody who still finds friendship a difficult concept to grasp, and Tsuyu would never discourage him from his efforts to learn how to be a good friend.
“Yes, it is.” Tsuyu pats his knee. “You don’t have to stay like this, though. Midoriya turned the thermostat up, so I’ll be fine.”
“It’ll take a while for the whole room to warm up. I’ll stay til then.” Todoroki blinks slowly, like a thought has belatedly occurred to him. “Is that okay?”
Tsuyu smiles. “Yes, it’s okay. I really appreciate it, Todoroki.”
Satisfied with his contribution, Todoroki nods and looks back down at the book he’s been reading, and the rest of the class resume whatever they’d been up to, one by one. Mina draws Tsuyu into a conversation, and Tsuyu talks with her friends while the warmth overtakes her.
-
Tooru has always been rather tactile with her friends, and Tsuyu is no stranger to Tooru’s enthusiastic hugs. But Tsuyu is fairly certain she’s not imagining how the frequency of those hugs go up noticeably. Not with anybody else, but just Tsuyu. Chasing the cold away with each squeeze of her arms.
“Tooru,” Tsuyu says as her friend’s warm body heat makes the cold melt away, “thank you.”
Laughing, Tooru hugs her tighter and says, “Anytime, Tsuyu!”
-
Tsuyu opens her room door in the morning to head down for breakfast, only to find Aoyama standing in the hallway, his eyes twinkling with what looks like delighted anticipation.
“Bonjour, Tsuyu,” Aoyama says in a bright voice. “I hope you have had a merveilleux night!”
Tsuyu tilts her head to the side in curiosity. “Good morning, Aoyama. Do you need something?”
“Non!” Aoyama brings his hands, which had been hidden behind his back, forward to hold up something white and fluffy. “I am here to give you le présent!”
Tsuyu carefully takes Aoyama’s offering. It’s a scarf, thick and fluffy and slightly off-white under better lighting, almost the color of cream. The yarn is so soft and Tsuyu can’t help but rub it between her fingers. The intricately woven cable pattern is especially pretty. “This is for me? I love the pattern.”
“Of course, mon ami, I thought the pattern would suit you well.” Aoyama poses with a glittering smile. “I have always enjoyed a knitting challenge!”
“You knitted this?” Tsuyu strokes the yarn with renewed awe. It’s rather sweet to think of him spending his time on this, just as a gift to her. “It’s wonderful. Thank you, Aoyama.”
“Avec plaisir,” Aoyama says, his grin a little softer and more genuine, but no less bright.
Later, when she wears the scarf on their way to class, she buries her nose in the soft yarn and hides a wide smile that not even the chilly wind can diminish.
-
“Hey, Tsuyu,” Kaminari greets her with an excited grin when she comes downstairs from her room. He stands up from where he’d been lounging on the couch and comes over, holding up a plastic bag and opening it up for her to see the contents. “So, my mom sent me like a hundred of these, and I totally can’t use all of ‘em by myself anyway, so I thought you might want some!”
It takes Tsuyu a moment to realize what these are. They’re heat packs, the single-use kind that can fit right into a pocket. The packaging boasts twelve full hours of heat. There’d been a boxful of similar ones back in Tsuyu’s house in Aichi, but she’d rarely touched them. Her siblings needed them more than she did, after all.
“Oh, are you sure?” Tsuyu asks, feeling apologetic and grateful all at once.
Still grinning, Kaminari nudges the handles of the bag into Tsuyu’s hands. “Hell yeah, I don’t want these to go to waste! They last real long, and hey, there’s these smaller nifty ones you can stick under your feet so that your toes don’t freeze, too! My hands and feet get cold really easy, so these are awesome—”
Listening to Kaminari ramble, Tsuyu looks down at the bag full of heat packs that will be more than enough to keep her warm through this winter and wonders how on earth she got so lucky to gain such kindhearted friends.
-
Tsuyu doesn’t even realize it at first. She’s simply a little puzzled by how Iida has slowed down significantly while walking down the school hallways lately. He usually leads the way at the front of their group of friends, but now, he is keeping pace with her. Even when he is drawn into a conversation with somebody else, he still walks beside her.
It takes a few more trips through the halls for Tsuyu to realize that Iida is deliberately walking between her and the windows, to minimize the chances of a cold draft hitting her.
Once she realizes it, the insides of her ribcage overflow with warmth, and she doesn’t mind the chill that seeps in through the glass sometimes. Iida is keeping her safe in the ways he knows how, and that makes Tsuyu unbearably happy.
“You’ll be a great hero,” she tells him, and smiles when he turns bright red.
-
Shinsou and Tsuyu are facing off against each other in Ground Gamma for training when it happens.
They’ve been training with each other for a while now, ever since Shinsou joined the hero course, mostly working on trying to capture each other. This time is no different; they’re running and dodging and hiding, Shinsou trying to snag her with his capture weapon while Tsuyu tries to snare him with her tongue.
Unfortunately, Tsuyu fails spectacularly when Shinsou manages to swing away from her tongue at the last second to dodge behind a metal pipe, and Tsuyu’s tongue hits the freezing metal instead.
And then her tongue just. Sticks there.
“Oh boy,” she mutters, because this is hardly the first time she’s gotten her tongue frozen somewhere inconvenient, but it’s the first time it’s happened during training. She’s lucky they’re not in the field, or she’d be in big trouble.
“What’s going on?” Shinsou comes back after realizing she’s not chasing him, then he sees her tongue stuck to the pipe, “Oh, crap.”
“I’ll just need a minute,” Tsuyu says. She can secrete her mucus to help unstick her tongue.
Shinsou shakes his head and pulls out a small thermos that must’ve been secured to his lower back, somewhere adjacent to his knife. She’s never seen him use it before. He clicks it open and pours warm water over the frozen tip of Tsuyu’s tongue, and in a flash her tongue snaps back into her mouth.
“Oh, thank you.” Tsuyu checks to make sure her tongue is in good shape to continue their training, then pauses. “Why do you have that thermos, Shinsou?”
Shinsou opens his mouth, then closes it. His cheeks flush when he says, “I thought I should have it. For emergencies.”
There are occasions when a hero might need emergency hydration, but Tsuyu has a feeling that the thermos is specifically for her benefit rather than Shinsou’s. It’s generous of him, but Tsuyu sees Shinsou’s embarrassment and doesn’t point it out. Rather, she decides to repay him with even more ruthless training.
“Thank you,” Tsuyu says. For caring enough to carry such a thing around for me.
Shinsou blushes a little, but he’s grinning when he grabs his capture weapon, ready to resume their game of tag. “You’re welcome.”
-
It’s snowing.
Tsuyu had checked the weather forecast before leaving the dorm for a meeting she’d been invited to as Ryukyu’s intern. Ochaco had come down with a stomach bug, so Tsuyu had been the only one to travel there—though it turned out that Tokoyami was also present for a meeting that involved multiple agencies. It feels a little like the operation to rescue Eri, but thankfully there’s nothing as horrible as a child’s well-being at stake this time.
Now the meeting is over, she’s waiting at the bus stop with Tokoyami, and it’s snowing quite heavily. The weather forecast hadn’t mentioned snow, and Tsuyu is stuck outside with only her school uniform and rather inadequate coat. She has the scarf Aoyama knitted her as well, but the chill is digging into her skin and she’s feeling a little blurry.
Then, a solid warmth descends upon her shoulders.
“Hm?” Tsuyu blinks sleepily to find that Tokoyami is carefully wrapping her up in his cloak, the one that’s part of his hero costume.
She looks at him with curious eyes, and he explains casually, “I always carry the cloak, in case Dark Shadow needs it to fly me somewhere in an emergency. It should help a little.”
“Aren’t you cold?” Tsuyu asks, feeling a frisson of concern at the sight of Tokoyami dressed in his school uniform and a single dark coat.
“Dark Shadow actually keeps me quite warm,” Tokoyami explains. She’s never heard of this before. “He helps me regulate my body heat, much like Todoroki’s quirk.”
“That’s interesting.” Tsuyu feels a little more alert with the addition of Tokoyami’s cloak. “Thank you for this, Tokoyami.”
“Don’t mention it.” Tokoyami turns his head away, seemingly abashed, but Dark Shadow floats over to smile and nuzzle against Tsuyu’s shoulder, and she feels even warmer, content in a way she never thought she could feel in the snowy weather.
They stay like that until the bus arrives, and she keeps the cloak on until they return to the dorm.
-
There’s enough snow on the school grounds that it’s only natural for everybody to go participate in a ruthless snowball fight. Tsuyu watches her classmates through the windows as they pelt each other with snowballs, with Iida yelping when somebody manages to hit the back of his head. Todoroki has been banned from using his ice side, but he’s not above melting incoming snowballs with fire. Ochaco is sending up an entire cloud of snow, ready to rain it all down on their classmates. It looks fun.
Tsuyu knows that some things are beyond her limits, no matter how hard she tries. Her hero uniform’s heat regulator can keep her going through the winter well enough, but actually immersing herself in snow would drop her straight into hibernation.
Participating in snowball fights is just one of those things Tsuyu will never get to do. She’s made her peace with that.
Still, she can’t help but stare longingly, and it must be noticeable, because Mina stops mid-step, on her way out the front door. “Tsuyu, do you wanna join us?”
“Oh, no, I’m okay.” Tsuyu shakes her head, her eyes still trained on the mock-violence outside. “I can’t touch the snow much.”
“Hmm.” Mina crosses her arms, tapping her fingertips against the crook of her elbow before she brightens. “I have an idea! Tsuyu, go dress warm and skip the gloves! It’ll be fun, I promise!”
Tsuyu hesitates, but then goes to her room to do as Mina says. She doesn’t want to reject Mina when she’s clearly excited, and Tsuyu is curious. She does want to join the mayhem, if only for a few seconds.
When she arrives downstairs, Mina has apparently recruited Momo into helping out. They bring Tsuyu out, giving her fur-lined gloves that resembles a baseball catcher’s mitts. Then, Mina helps Tsuyu amass a small mountain of snowballs while she cajoles Todoroki into building them a low ice wall, just enough for Tsuyu to hide behind if necessary.
“Get ready for the best team-up ever,” Mina crows, and starts pitching snowballs at Kirishima, who catches one in the face and splutters.
Tsuyu throws her fair share of snowballs, even though she’s never been the best at aiming with her hands, and then Mina coats some of the snowballs with low Ph acid so that they won’t stick to Tsuyu’s tongue, allowing Tsuyu to fling them with her tongue instead. In return for her relentless offense, Mina makes sure to defend Tsuyu from incoming attacks with sheets of acid.
Maybe it’s cheating, a little, but it’s still fun, and Tsuyu knows she’s never going to forget the look on Bakugou’s face after she lands a hit on it.
-
Unfortunately, Tsuyu comes down with a cold after that. Mina is tearfully apologetic, but Tsuyu assures her that it was very worth it.
Her fever isn’t too high, but she’s too lethargic to really leave her room, so she curls up in bed and sleeps the day away. She doesn’t have much of an appetite either, so she skips out on meals, too.
In the evening, Satou comes knocking on her door. He has a tray with a hot, savory broth and a cup of water with cold medicine, and he tells her that she needs at least something in her stomach to take the meds.
Tsuyu takes a spoonful of the broth and finds it mild enough to swallow easily, and she gratefully finishes the whole bowl, then takes the medicine.
“Thank you for the meal,” Tsuyu says, because she knows food cooked by Satou when she sees it.
He smiles bashfully and waves it off. “Get better soon, Tsuyu.”
-
Momo brings hot tea and an assortment of jellies—the kinds Tsuyu likes, she notes—that complement them. She sits beside Tsuyu on the edge of the bed as they nibble at the jellies, talking about what the class has been up to while Tsuyu’s been recovering in her room. Momo’s voice is soothing, and the scent of the tea is somewhat calming as well. Tsuyu doesn’t doubt that Momo specifically picked these tea leaves to help Tsuyu relax and recover.
“Our classmates miss you. Things are not the same without you,” Momo says in an earnest voice, and it’s a strange thing to hear. Tsuyu never regarded herself as an influential member of their class, but she knows that Momo is not the type to lie to make people feel better. “We’ll be happy to have you back whenever you’re healthy enough.”
“I miss you guys too,” Tsuyu admits, because it’s an easy truth. It’s not a secret that she cares about her classmates, her friends. They have been through so much together, and they have all built each other up into better people. She misses being amongst them.
Momo smiles and promises to bring another type of tea later, and Tsuyu tells her she’s looking forward to it, because she really is.
-
In the early evening, Midoriya comes knocking on her door, shy and polite, asking if she’d like the notes for all the classes she’s missed the past couple days. Tsuyu is feeling better, enough to read notes and write her own, so she gratefully accepts his generous assistance and invites him in.
Midoriya’s notes are immaculate and well-organized. The handwriting tends to skew a little small and crowded, but they’re legible, and Midoriya is quick to decipher anything that’s especially hard to read. So she copies his notes diligently, reading through them so she understands what’s on the page. Every time she has a question, she pokes Midoriya, who is doing his own homework, and he is all too happy to explain the new chemistry formula they learned or the newest policies they’ve learned through their heroics course.
“I hope I’m not taking up too much of your time,” Tsuyu says, flipping through her new English notes one more time to make sure she’s written everything down. “I know you usually do your homework with the others around this time of day.”
“Oh, no, it’s not a problem at all!” Midoriya waves his hands, his cheeks a little pink. “We all wanted to help you out, but we figured you might feel too crowded if we all barged in here while you’re sick.”
Tsuyu points out the obvious: “I could have gone down to the common room.”
“You’re still recovering!” Midoriya’s face turns stern in a way she’s rarely seen before. “It’s colder down there, and your recovery is important to us.”
Oh. Tsuyu blinks and looks down at her notes, thankful that her facial expressions tend to be unreadable. She’s always been a little more emotional when she’s sick, and she doesn’t want to give away how close she is to tears.
She has to clear her throat twice before she can say in a steady tone, “I really appreciate you. Not just for the notes, but for being a kind person.”
Midoriya squeaks, turning red. “Oh, um, thank you! Honestly, I’m just really glad to help? You always keep everybody calm and on track, and you help us out all the time. So it’s just nice to repay the favor, you know?”
“I never thought of it that way,” Tsuyu admits. “But I’m glad to hear that. Thank you, Midoriya.”
Midoriya beams. “Well, thank you, too!”
-
Tsuyu has recovered from her cold, but there’s a lingering moroseness in her that she can’t quite shake off. She misses her whole family, but Samidare and Satsuki in particular. Tsuyu worries over her younger siblings in the winter, given that they’re also susceptible to the chill, and she’s antsy because she can’t keep an eye on them from here. At least their neighborhood isn’t as cold as Musutafu.
She had a video call with the two of them earlier, and they seem to be doing well. She’s glad about that, but she wishes she could be there to make sure they’re eating well and dressing warm.
She’s stewing in such melancholy on the common room couch when something warm and soft is deposited into her lap.
“Hm?” Tsuyu blinks and looks down at her lap, where a fluffy rabbit is now sniffing at her sweater curiously. She looks up to see Kouda looking at her.
You look like you could use company, Kouda signs at her.
Tsuyu’s hands carefully pets at the warm fur and feels her mood lift considerably. “Yes, I do. Would you like to sit with me, Kouda?”
Kouda smiles and sits beside her, and Tsuyu feels the melancholy melt away.
-
The snow piles up an incredible amount. It comes up fairly high; Tsuyu is short enough to have it come up all the way up to her upper thighs, and the mere idea of wading through it to go to school sounds like a nightmare. The school should be able to clean up the snow during the day, but right now it’s early in the morning and Tsuyu needs to go to class. Todoroki isn’t at school today—some kind of family emergency had popped up—so there’s nobody to conveniently melt the snow away, either.
“Oh, this is gonna suck,” Kaminari groans, grabbing one heat pack per hand before he starts marching through the snow. Tokoyami has elected to forego walking and is instead flying to class, which is probably the smart move, given that the sky is clear.
“Tsuyu, are you going to be okay?” Ochaco looks worried. “Maybe I can float you over to the school building.”
That’d probably be the best option, Tsuyu thinks with no small amount of resignation.
She’s about to say yes when a hand taps her shoulder.
“If you’re comfortable with it, I can piggyback you,” Shouji says. He’s holding his school bag with one hand, and the other hands are all unoccupied. He’s so tall that the snow only comes to right beneath his knees.
“Are you sure?” Tsuyu asks. “I don’t want to be a bother.”
“You’re hardly heavy.” Shouji sounds amused. Considering the amount of training they all do, her body weight is probably not a burden to him at all. “And it’ll be warmer for both of us.”
Ochaco giggles. “Yeah, I suppose it’d be a lot warmer than me floating Tsuyu over like a balloon.”
The imagery makes all of them laugh. Tsuyu readjusts her backpack and steps closer to Shouji. “If you’re offering, I’ll be happy to accept.”
“Of course.” Shouji easily scoops her up onto his back and wraps her tight with his other arms. As he starts walking through to school, Tsuyu watches the white-covered scenery of UA around her.
For the first time ever, she feels safe even while she’s surrounded by snow.
-
“Tsuyu!” Kyouka looks up from the item she’s been fiddling with on her lap and beckons Tsuyu closer from where she’s standing in the doorway. She’d texted Tsuyu just five minutes earlier, asking if Tsuyu could drop by her room for a moment. “Can you take a look at this?”
Tsuyu walks into the room and looks down at Kyouka’s lap curiously. She seems to be holding… “Earmuffs?”
Kyouka grins. “Yup! You said it’d be nice to have another pair, right?”
“So you got this for me?” Tsuyu asks, surprised. She hadn’t thought anybody would have taken her off-handed comment so seriously.
“Yeah.” Kyouka gestures for Tsuyu to lean in. “But they’re not just any earmuffs.”
With gentle hands, Kyouka fits the fluffy, light green earmuffs over Tsuyu’s ears. Then she fiddles with her phone, and soon music starts playing from inside the earmuffs.
“Oh, wow.” Tsuyu presses her hands to the headphones that are masquerading as earmuffs in surprised delight.
“I mean, the sound quality isn’t as great as the real good stuff out there, but it’s warm as hell and you can hear the music just fine, so I think it’s a good multi-functional fashion piece, right?” Kyouka grins again, but there’s a red flush there that shows just how much effort she’s put into picking this out for Tsuyu’s sake.
“This is amazing,” Tsuyu tells her, and Kyouka laughs in relief. “I don’t want to accept it for free, though.”
“Pfft, it’s just a gift, Tsuyu.” Kyouka tilts her head and hums. “Oh, hey, then in exchange, can you help me make some playlists for the others? I’m trying to make one for everybody in class but I think you know some of the others’ tastes better than I do. I mean, I’ve got zero ideas for Iida.”
Tsuyu thinks that’s still a very small price to pay for such a lovely gift, but she knows the polite thing to do is to graciously accept and repay Kyouka the way she requests. Besides, she actually does have some song ideas for her classmates. “I’d love to.”
-
They’re nearing the end of fieldwork training and Tsuyu is freezing. She’d lost the heat regulator that connects to her hero costume during an altercation with a villain, and now she’s shivering and trying her best to stay awake as Aizawa performs roll call in front of the bus. Mina and Ochaco have squeezed her between them in an effort to keep her warm, but the wind is winning this battle and Tsuyu is five seconds away from collapsing into hibernation mode.
“Where’s Kirishima?” Aizawa asks. He’s noticed that Tsuyu is fighting a losing battle and gestured for her to get onto the bus first, so she’s gratefully wobbling her way up the bus steps when she hears Kirishima’s voice yelling from the distance.
“You’re late.” Aizawa’s voice is unimpressed as Kirishima skids to a stop beside their classmates.
“Sorry, I went to find this.” Kirishima holds something up, and Tsuyu can’t see it from this angle, but she can see Aizawa’s eyes soften just the slightest bit. “Where’s Tsuyu?”
Aizawa points towards the open bus door. “Inside. All of you can go in now.”
“Oh, thanks, sensei!” Kirishima is the first through the door, and he rushes towards the back seat Tsuyu has folded herself up into. “Oh man, hey, you okay? I tried to find this as fast as I can when I saw the villain knock em off you, but it was caught up in these tree branches—”
Kirishima is holding something out to Tsuyu as he rambles, and she blinks twice to realize what it is. Her heat regulator.
“Oh,” she murmurs, dazed and sleepy, and Kirishima must realize she’s not entirely lucid, because he quickly helps curl it around her neck, and she clicks it in so that her costume warms up. Immediately, she starts feeling more alert. “Is this why you were running late? You didn’t have to.”
“Nah, it’s important to make sure your fellow heroes are safe, right? And this helps you stay safe.” Kirishima grins and knocks his fingers against her regulator. “You okay now?”
“Yes, very.” Tsuyu offers him her fist, and Kirishima’s eyes shine with glee as he gives her a fist bump. “Thank you very much, Kirishima.”
Kirishima laughs, and the very sound of it makes the chill seep away from her bones.
-
Ojiro is a very nice person. He’s polite and thoughtful, so when he offers to let Tsuyu use his tail as a source of warmth, it’s very in-character of him. When they’re waiting in line at the cafeteria or sharing a lunch table every once in a while, he lets his tail curl near her, or even settles it on her lap. It’s nice; his tail runs very warm, which explains why Ojiro doesn’t need to cover it even in the extreme cold.
“Wow, looks like a hero student is too weak to handle the cold and needs a living cuddle toy,” another student says one day in passing, snickering with a couple other students.
Ojiro is a very nice person, and he’s not a fan of conflict. But on the other hand, Tsuyu should have realized he might not tolerate mean-spirited people, because his expression hardens as he turns fully towards the student who just insulted Tsuyu. “Hey, she could still throw you straight into a wall even when she’s feeling cold, so you better watch it.”
The student pales, but he must have some misguided pride, because instead of apologizing, he splutters, “And if I don’t?”
“Then I’m going to throw you through a wall,” Ojiro says calmly. “And you’ll be lucky if I stop at just one.”
The student swallows, then rushes away, his friends in tow.
“Thank you,” Tsuyu says, and Ojiro immediately melts back into apologetic sheepishness. “I hope you don’t get in trouble for making threats, though.”
Ojiro smiles, just a hint wicked. “Aizawa sensei will never believe that I did it.”
Tsuyu thinks that over. Then she laughs. “You’re probably right.”
-
There’s an incident in the dining area within their dorm building, something to do with Bakugou, of course. At any rate, the damaged property is swiftly replaced and everybody is able to have dinner normally.
Except for Tsuyu, who has to fight the urge to close her eyes and face-plant into her bowl of udon.
“Tsuyu, are you okay?” Tooru asks from beside her. “You’re shivering an awful lot.”
“I thought we turned the thermostat up,” Satou murmurs, raising his head.
It’s Shinsou who figures it out first. “The window.”
The furniture has been replaced, but the cracked window hasn’t been. The cold air seeping through the cracks isn’t strong enough for anybody else to have noticed, but Tsuyu’s sensitivities have picked up on it.
“Damn, we totally forgot about that.” Sero is the one who gets up and walks over to the window, pulling tape from his elbow as he starts taping the cracks over, blocking the cold wind out entirely. “This should do until they get us a new window tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” Tsuyu says, blinking and regaining the ability to sit upright once more.
Sero laughs. “Thank you for using the Sero Taping Service, please leave us a good review online!”
“10/10 would use again,” Tsuyu tells him, and everybody at the table laughs.
-
Some nights, Tsuyu has nightmares. Not just the garden variety of having all her teeth fall out or falling off a cliff, but very specific ones. The ones that stem from her memories and twist into something uglier. Sometimes, she dreams of Toga Himiko draining all the blood out of Ochaco. Sometimes, she dreams of Overhaul dragging a screaming Eri away.
Mostly, though, she dreams of Shigaraki Tomura, his hand on her face at USJ. In these dreams, Aizawa is already knocked out or dead or never there to begin with. Sometimes Tsuyu is the only one there, no classmates in the vicinity as she tries to navigate the disaster zones. And then she’ll turn, and out of nowhere, a hand will grab her face, all five fingers touching her skin.
She wakes up shivering in cold sweat every time. She’s not a fan of these dreams. Not just because they’re frightening, but because they make no sense. Shigaraki is no longer a threat; they took down the League many months ago, and Tsuyu shouldn’t still be so afraid of him, of that day.
But she still has those nightmares sometimes, especially in the dead of the winter, and she berates herself for her weakness every time.
So she’s laying awake in her bed, shivers dying down, when she hears a light knock on her door. Blinking, Tsuyu sits up and walks to her door, and she hears Ochaco’s voice whispering her name.
When Tsuyu opens the door, Ochaco is holding a blanket and pillow, looking a little sheepish. “Hey, Tsuyu. Do you mind if I stay here tonight? I’ve been having trouble sleeping.”
“Of course,” Tsuyu says, letting Ochaco into her room and closing the door. “Is everything alright?”
Ochaco laughs awkwardly. “Oh, you know how it is. Bad dreams.”
Tsuyu nods. “I know.”
They squeeze onto Tsuyu’s bed together, with Tsuyu sandwiched between the wall and Ochaco, and it takes only a few minutes for Ochaco’s breathing to smooth out. Listening to the soft sounds of Ochaco breathing beside her, Tsuyu stares up into the dark and wonders how Ochaco figures it out.
Because somehow, Ochaco sometimes shows up in front of Tsuyu’s door when the nightmares won’t go away. Smiling and sheepish, asking to stay the night, citing her bad dreams and need for company.
But Tsuyu is aware that Ochaco doesn’t have nightmares. At least, not the same nights Tsuyu does, and not as frequently, either. Ochaco always comes here with a gentle gleam in her eye and a reassuring touch to Tsuyu’s wrist. It’s the act of somebody here to give comfort, not somebody who is seeking it out. Somehow, Ochaco knows when Tsuyu is having a bad night and she shows up for these impromptu sleepovers.
And every time, Tsuyu is immeasurably grateful.
Every time, she falls asleep with the warmth of her friend beside her, and the nightmares stop.
-
The school is attacked by a group of villains, which is starting to feel like some annual event at this point. Their class has been split up at various locations, and Tsuyu finds herself cornered outside near the back of the cafeteria. Tokoyami and Kyouka are with her, which helps because Dark Shadow and Kyouka’s sonic blasts are doing a good job at keeping the huge, Lovecraftian monster of a villain at bay. The villain is even bigger than Ryukyu in her dragon form, and Tsuyu is well-aware that she won’t be much use against him on her own. Instead, she grabs nearby items to fling at the villain, aiming for probably weak spots and his eyes.
At some point, she must irritate the villain enough that he roars in frustration, growing even bigger, and he sends Kyouka and Tsuyu both flying in different directions with a swipe of a long, slippery limb. Thankfully, Tokoyami is able to cushion Kyouka’s fall because he’s close enough, but Tsuyu goes the opposite direction and crashes through the windows.
Her head is throbbing when she hears the villain follow her, clearly opting to take out the easy prey rather than get held up by Dark Shadow’s considerable power, and Tsuyu blindly moves and finds the handle of a door, and pushes her way inside.
It’s only when she’s fallen to the floor and her eyes can focus again that she realizes, with significant horror, that she’s managed to crawl her way into the giant freezer of the cafeteria’s kitchen.
It’s so cold, she can barely move an inch.
The villain comes crashing behind her and she manages to turn over onto her back and push herself up to her elbows, but that’s as far as she goes, because she’s dizzy and sleepy and on the verge of passing out. The villain is crashing towards her, and she can’t move.
And seconds before the villain reaches her, a loud explosion blasts the villain straight out the wall. From outside, she can hear Tokoyami’s shouting in addition to Midoriya’s battle cry and Momo’s calm directions, so she knows she’s safe.
“Goddammit, you need to work on that fucking cold-resistance problem,” Bakugou says, appearing in her line of sight. He kneels down and puts a hand in front of her, palm up, and then lets out another small explosion. Then another.
It takes Tsuyu another second or so to realize that the explosions are warming her up, and soon she can move again, pushing herself all the way up and wobbling up onto her feet. Bakugou doesn’t hold her steady or even offer a word of reassurance or encouragement, but the way he patiently waits for her to leave the freezer with him is enough for her to recognize the kind gesture for what it is.
“Bakugou,” Tsuyu says, the chill receding faster than she could have anticipated. Her blood warming with gratitude and gentle elation. “Thank you.”
He doesn’t blush, but he doesn’t roll his eyes, either. Bakugou simply shrugs. “Whatever.”
With a smile, Tsuyu follows him out of the building to rejoin their friends.
-
Everybody goes back to their homes for a brief winter break, and while many of her friends are able to take public transportation, Tsuyu’s home isn’t so easily reachable by train. She’d have to take a train, then transfer to a bus, then take another local bus to get home, and it’s a long journey to make in the cold. Her parents are too busy to come collect her, but it’s not like Tsuyu has the money to afford such a long cab ride, either, so she resigns herself to an uncomfortable trip.
Except, two days before break is due to begin, Aizawa beckons her over and says, “I’ll be driving you home for break.”
Tsuyu is too taken aback to even be polite. “But…why?”
“Present Mic drove you back last year, when we were escorting all of you personally. He told me your trip back is hell to make without an actual car, so I’ll be taking you.”
“Oh.” Tsuyu flounders a little. “Thank you, sensei. I don’t want to be a burden.”
Aizawa scoffs, but the sound is soft and hardly condescending. “You’re my student. You’re not a burden.”
With that settled, they set off two days later in Aizawa’s sedan. Tsuyu’s luggage bag is in the trunk and Tsuyu herself is seated in the passenger’s seat up front, watching the scenery go by. It’s started snowing again, which makes her doubly glad that she’s not making this trip alone on public transit.
She pretends not to notice when Aizawa subtly turns the heating up for her side of the car.
Tsuyu doesn’t expect Aizawa to make any kind of small talk, but he surprises her by saying, “It’s been a while since you’ve seen your siblings, isn’t it?”
“Yes; I’ve been in the dorms the whole time since the fall semester started.” Tsuyu learned how to make candy apples from Midoriya and Satou, and hopes to surprise Samidare and Satsuki with them. “Do you have any siblings, sensei?”
“No, I’m an only child.” Aizawa taps his fingers against the steering wheel as they wait for a red light to turn green. “Which was probably for the best. Our house got drafty in the winter, so I always had to hog the ones my parents didn’t use.”
Tsuyu tries to imagine a younger Aizawa burrowed under several blankets and swallows a giggle. “Were you not a fan of the cold, sensei?”
“Never was. Not that I’m a fan of the heat either, but it’s more bearable.” The light turns green and the car starts moving forward again. “Have you been doing alright with the cold, by the way? I know you’ll probably do the majority of your fieldwork in a warmer region when you go pro, but we should probably work on more strategies and costume improvements for you to stay warm.”
“Midoriya’s been helping me think up some strategies,” Tsuyu says, smiling at the memory of Midoriya’s enthusiastic presentation of three solid pages of notes. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t get in the way of my work.”
Aizawa doesn’t say anything for a while. Then, when they hit another red light, he says, “The same goes for your daily life. Make sure you stay warm.”
Tsuyu feels a smile tug at the corners of her mouth. “I will, sensei. Everybody has been helping me.”
“They have?” Aizawa asks, but he doesn’t sound surprised. Like he expected it all along.
“Yes, they have.” Tsuyu wonders how she ended up so lucky, to have friends and a teacher who care so much about her. Who show that they care in all the little ways that matter. “And you’ve been helping me, too. Thank you, sensei.”
“Don’t mention it.”
They talk some more on the ride to Tsuyu’s home, discussing Tsuyu’s training goals and the new supermove she’s been working on. For the most part, though, they’re both perfectly content to sit in companionable silence. The whole time, Tsuyu feels a bright, warm happiness curl up in her chest, an amalgamation of all the kindnesses she’s received over the past few weeks.
When Aizawa stops in front of her house, Tsuyu smiles at him and asks, “Sensei, would you like to stay for dinner?”
After a moment of hesitation, Aizawa nods. Tsuyu thinks he’s smiling underneath his capture weapon. “Sure, I’d like that.”
-
It’s the coldest winter in Musutafu in forty years, but Tsuyu’s classmates and teacher keep her warm and safe, until the warmth is a permanent thing in her chest, between her ribs. Soft and gentle and blindingly bright, something akin to a small sun that keeps her moving even in the icy winds and wet snow.
It’s the coldest winter in Musutafu in forty years, but for Tsuyu, it’s the warmest winter she’s ever had.