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It’s only when Bakugou crumples to the ground that Izuku realizes how late it is.
Across the table, Shinsou downs his fifth coffee and looks forlorn when he realizes it’s already empty. He sighs with exasperation and tries to get any remaining liquid out of the cup, and promptly flops onto Kaminari’s lap, looking like he’s lost all will to live.
“I think I’ve aged about five years,” Ashido says from her own spot on the couch. “Can we please stop studying for finals? I’m begging y’all, I can’t do this anymore. It’s three in the morning. I just want to go eat.”
Izuku rubs some sleep sand from his eyes and nods. He can’t focus on his own notes; they were allowed by Aizawa-sensei to use one (1) cheat sheet for their exams, and his hand is physically cramping from making his handwriting small. He’s pretty sure those sleep deprived nights back in the day when he wrote his All Might fanfiction are solely keeping him up right now, so he’s at least grateful for all the times he’d trained himself.
Everyone else isn’t doing any better. Ashido, Kaminari, and Shinsou are used to staying up late, but studying for finals and staying up for anything else are two completely different things. Yaoyorozu, in a valiant attempt to complete her own cheat sheet and simply chose to stay with them, is also nearly asleep. Bakugou did his absolute best to stay awake but crumpled under his own sleep schedule.
“I normally wouldn’t advertise eating at such a late hour,” Yaoyorozu says, also sounding exhausted, “but there are exceptions to be made in every situation. I fear using the kitchen at this late hour would wake up a few of our friends, and I’m personally not in the mood to deal with a grumpy Bakugou. I hate asking, but are we able to go off campus?”
“Of course we are,” Kaminari reassures her. “It’ll take some quick maneuvering, but we can head out somewhere. Hey, isn’t JHOP open at this hour? We can get some pancakes and breakfast food?”
Breakfast. Izuku’s stomach rumbles. He shivers and his Quirk sparks around his hands. If they hadn’t been extensively using their Quirks this past week, they’d all be up and roaring to go. As it stands, they’re running on fumes and a slight will to live, so they’re desperate teenagers who really want food.
“That sounds like a fuckin’ dream,” Shinsou says hoarsely. “But we can’t get there without a car and the trains aren’t running at this hour. Although, Aizawa-sensei’s car is outside, and I know that with our powers combined, we can absolutely get his car running and to JHOP.”
It says a lot about their current state that Yaoyorozu merely waves it off. “We’ll reimburse him for the gas later,” she replies, a sparkle coming back to her eyes. “If any of you are inclined to come with us, please feel free. I would personally kill for greasy hash browns right now.”
Izuku’s standing before she can finish her sentence. Honestly, if you had given him a breakfast platter in his vigilante days, he would’ve cracked. Add in some extra bacon, and he would’ve changed to a villain in a heartbeat. (He jokes, but there’s some days where he genuinely wonders if well done katsudon would’ve turned him. Probably.)
“Let’s go hotwire his car,” Ashido whispers, and they all agree in a heartbeat. And maybe it’s weird that hero hopefuls are so willing to steal their teacher’s car for food at two in the morning, but they’re teenagers and they’re exhausted. Plus, it’s Aizawa-sensei, so it’s probably compensation for all the shit he put them through.
They all make sure they don’t wake up Bakugou on the way out, although Izuku pauses to gently lift his best friend and set him on the couch before putting a blanket over Bakugou’s snoring self. They’ll bring him back a few pancakes.
The quick trek out to Aizawa-sensei’s car doesn’t take too long, and they all use what’s left of their Quirks to break in after hopping the U.A. gate with Float and other methods. Yaoyorozu silences the entire car alarm and Kaminari uses some sparks to start it up, ushering everyone in. Izuku somehow ends up as a passenger with Kaminari driving, while the other three are shoved into the backseat.
“Alright lads,” Kaminari whispers, cracking his neck. “Let’s fucking go!”
There’s a few key points that they all missed, unfortunately. If they hadn’t been so sleep-deprived, then they would’ve noticed all the cameras pointed directly at them, and they would’ve looked at how much fuel they had left. As it stands, they’re also still sleep-deprived students, and simply have their goal of food in mind. It happens.
Weirdly enough, Kaminari’s one of the only students qualified to drive. They all reasonably attempted for their driver’s license in case of an emergency, but Kaminari took to driving like lightning to his own body. He starts the ignition and drives slowly over the crest of the hill leaving U.A., and all five head off to JHOP. Izuku turns on the radio and they all burst out laughing when a preppy kid’s song starts playing. Izuku smiles at the idea of Eri pestering Aizawa-sensei to play songs that he normally wouldn’t listen to. (Or maybe he would? Even though he’s opened up to them, they still don’t exactly know what Aizawa-sensei does in his free time.)
“This is the dumbest thing we’ve ever done,” Ashido says, snickering from the backseat. “And that definitely includes the time we were trying to convince Aizawa-sensei that we were all in bed and not trying to scare 3-B in their own dorms. Y’know when he finds us, he’s going to legitimately kill us, right?”
“Not if he catches us,” Izuku says, mouth running faster than his brain. “Worst comes to worst, we can just use our Quirks to get out of there. He can’t catch all of us. Even then, I’m sure the stockpile of Quirks I’ve got can get us safely away before he hunts us down.”
Shinsou puts a hand to his chest, sarcastically saying, “Truly a hero of the people, Midoriya. May you reign as our shining star for years to come.” Yaoyorozu and Ashido nod approvingly, and Izuku blushes a vivid red. “But if you’re going down, we’re going down together. How much longer do we have anyways?”
Kaminari squints at the road ahead, taking care to not accelerate over 50 mph. “Uh, probably about five minutes? If I speed it’ll be less than that, but I’m really not in the mood to–ah. Uh. Bad news, everyone, I think Aizawa-sensei’s gonna kill us after all.”
Izuku almost asks “what’s wrong?” but figures it out when the car splutters and comes to a rolling stop.
“What kind of fucking monster doesn’t put gas in their goddamn car?!” Ashido shouts before the car dies. A slight cloud of steam rises from the hood, but thankfully, nothing else happens.
(Later they learn that Aizawa-sensei’s car battery was also dying, which is frankly fucking ridiculous if you’re trying to set a good example for your students, but also, they’re stealing his car, which is also fucking ridiculous.)
Yaoyorozu looks like she’s on the verge of passing out. “...We’re going to have to push the car, aren’t we?”
“Something like that,” Izuku mutters, and they all get out of the car to check the damage. Kaminari uses a few sparks to try and start up the engine again, but to no avail; the car’s fully dead. It’s too early in the morning for this. All of them are running on absolutely nothing, and if they don’t start moving soon, it’s game over for their entire adventure.
Izuku knows that Yaoyorozu and himself have the most muscle in the group (purely by physical standards) so he rolls up his hoodie sleeves, stepping behind the car. “Alrighty then,” he says, already thinking about changing the whiteboard of ‘Number of Days Without An Incident’ to zero, “Yaoyorozu, you’re with me in the back. Kaminari, try turning the engine on as we keep going. Shinsou, could you open the passenger door and start pushing from there? Ashido, you go on ahead and try to see if you can make sure any civilians don’t interfere with our plan or call Aizawa-sensei. I’m sure he already somehow knows and I’m not in the mood to deal with that.”
“Roger that!” Ashido heads off into the dark and the other four brace themselves against the car.
“On the count of three,” Izuku tells everyone else, “one, two, and…three!”
Kaminari attempts to rev the engine while Izuku, Yaoyorozu, and Shinsou start pushing. With their added strength (and due to the fact that they’ve literally fought villains before), it’s not long before they’re on a continuous path to JHOP. Ashido’s making sure there’s no one else out there this early in the morning, and Izuku feels some sweat start beading on his upper lip.
This probably wouldn’t be an issue (especially since Izuku had to clean up Dagobah again) but they haven’t slept yet. It’s salt in the wound, and no one’s eaten since 5 PM, so they’re getting desperate. Weirdly enough, their impromptu plan is actually working, so Izuku fights to push through the exhaustion. It’s nothing new, considering his work schedule and all the ways he’s shattered his bones before, but goddamn is he regretting not just flying them to JHOP. He found out a while ago that if you combine a sled, Blackwhip, and Float, you get a cool delivery express system.
Behind them, there’s the familiar sound of a car driving towards their general direction. Izuku just knows in his soul that it’s Aizawa-sensei, and by the way the window rolls down with a hand crank, he’s in Tsukauchi’s car. Son of a bitch.
Sure enough, the car gets close enough and Aizawa-sensei’s familiar drawl hits them point blank. “Y’know, I feel like an effective way to get food or whatever the hell you’re doing would be delivery,” Aizawa-sensei says as they both pull up. Tsukauchi, bless his heart, keeps yawning in the driver’s seat. Izuku feels kinda bad about it now. “Imagine my surprise when the cameras outside of U.A. alert me that you’re one, stealing my car, and two, driving off campus for a late night food run.”
“I can smell colors at this point, dude,” Shinsou says, not an ounce of fear in this man’s system. He’s probably on the high of the caffeine, judging by the way he straightens up. “We also didn’t want to wake up Bakugou since he probably would’ve killed us.”
“That’s true!” Kaminari points at Shinsou, grinning when Shinsou quietly laughs. “We straight up would’ve died if we used the microwave and forgot to open the door before it hit zero. It was for the greater good, Mr. Aizawa-sensei, please believe us.”
Aizawa-sensei pins Izuku under his glare. Izuku merely tilts his head to the side, but can’t help the shudder that runs through him. He’s still the Pro Hero Eraserhead, alright, and he’s terrifying! Cut them some slack! “Are you going to ask if it was my idea?” Izuku sighs, rubbing his temples. “This was a group decision, I swear. Look, we just wanted food, and your car was the closest transportation we could find. You don’t want us to use our Quirks without a proper emergency, right?”
Aizawa-sensei narrows his eyes from the passenger seat. “I still have the keys to my own car, Midoriya.”
Hm. That certainly is a predicament. Izuku waves it off with a grin. “Semantics. Just please let us go eat and I swear we’ll take any punishment you give us as long as it doesn’t involve physical harm. I feel like we’ve earned it at this point.”
“He’s got a point, Aizawa.” Tsukauchi pipes up from the driver’s seat. “I’m fairly impressed they made it this far, even if they shouldn’t have done it in the first place. That’s just my opinion though, do whatever you want with them.”
Poor Yaoyorozu looks like she’s about to have a panic attack but Kaminari and Ashido cover for her, giving Aizawa-sensei their best smiles. “We’re gonna die from no food,” Ashido tries to reason with him. “We’ve also been studying super hard! Bakugou is literally ASLEEP on the couch because he tried to stay up with us! These are the signs of hard working heroes in the field, dedicated to finishing their assignments in the face of adversity–”
“Fine, fine, whatever.” Aizawa-sensei sighs. “Get in the goddamn car. We’ll call a tow truck in the morning, although I’m not sure why Midoriya didn’t just Blackwhip my car and drag it behind him. I appreciate you not damaging it though, and using the responsible civilian way to try and salvage it.”
Right. Blackwhip. That’s a thing he could’ve done. Izuku closes his eyes and gets shoved into the car by Shinsou. All five of them cram into the backseat, with Kaminari and Shinsou sprawled across their laps, and Tsukauchi (a good man, truly) drives them to JHOP.
On the way there, Izuku’s pretty sure he sleeps for a few minutes, and wakes up at the entrance of the restaurant. Yaoyorozu and Ashido are barely keeping it together, and Shinsou’s probably on the verge of death. Kaminari’s fully asleep at this point.
Tsukauchi and Aizawa-sensei drop them off at the JHOP doors. Aizawa-sensei, ushering his kids out of the car, crosses his arms when they all turn to face him. Kaminari’s still snoring on Yaoyorozu’s shoulder. “You are all grounded when you get back,” he announces, taking note of the bags under their eyes. “But it’ll just be the five of you cleaning each floor in Heights Alliance since you have finals to study for. Go get some breakfast first and then take a long nap when you get back, or else this trip was entirely worthless.”
Shinsou squints at him. “What’s the catch, old man?”
Izuku sees a flash of red in Aizawa-sensei’s eyes and then their teacher sighs, rubbing his temples. “I’m admiring the effort you went through to get here. I’m also tired of having to supervise detention, so if I just make you do extra chores, it means that your classmates will kill you if you do a subpar job of cleaning, Bakugou especially.”
All five of them shudder. It’s a legitimate threat, and Izuku would rather fight Overhaul again than deal with an angry Bakugou Katsuki about cleaning. Aizawa-sensei chuckles and waves them off. “By the time you’re done with food, I’m sure the trains will start running again, so I’ll see all of you later. Farewell, problem children.”
Tsukauchi and Aizawa-sensei drive off, leaving the five in their dust. Izuku lets out a slow, shaky breath. “Alright then! Let’s get some breakfast and face our consequences when we get back. Anyone up for pancakes? A side of bacon, perhaps?”
Yaoyorozu’s stomach rumbles, and she closes her eyes. “I’m going to apologize in advance if I buy the entire menu, but no promises. Please know that today’s breakfast is on me anyways, and I’m very grateful all of you came along anyways.”
“Aw, Yaoyorozu, we all wanted to hang out together and eat! Besides,” Ashido reasons, a tired grin on her face, “when we tell our friends about this later, they’re gonna be pissed that they missed it. This was a bonding experience! We can tell everyone that Aizawa-sensei let us off the hook since it was an effort to establish teamwork under unfavorable circumstances.”
“That’s a good excuse,” Shinsou laughs. “Fine, we can do that. Anyways, let’s eat.”
They walk in and get seated pretty much immediately. Izuku lays Kaminari’s sleeping body down to rest on a nearby booth, and the other four take pictures the moment Kaminari starts snoring again. Izuku orders four glasses of chocolate milk and downs them in a milk chugging contest with Ashido.
Breakfast is absolutely immaculate. Yaoyorozu does indeed order the entire menu, and the staff recognizes them and is kind enough to bring refills constantly. Growing heroes need a large intake of calories! They burn them off constantly, and their orders of pancakes, bacon, eggs, and any other food fills them up. It’s everything they’ve ever wanted and more.
They all tip generously, and sign autographs on the way out with bright smiles.
“Time to head home and pass the hell out,” Shinsou announces, barely alive thanks to his extra two cups of coffee. Sure enough, the trains are running by the time they leave, and they make it back to U.A. relatively unharmed and full of breakfast food. Bakugou, funny enough, is barely starting to wake up, yawning as he tries to open his eyes.
“The fuck are y’all doing?” He sleepily asks, slightly struggling with the blanket. “Where did you go, Deku? Why are y’all so damn sweaty?”
Izuku remembers their earlier agreement and says, “We were establishing teamwork under unfavorable circumstances, Kacchan.”
Bakugou glares at them, confused but forced to accept it. “...Fine.”
The five of them all smile at each other, Izuku especially as he lets out a short laugh. It feels like a secret that they’ll take to their graves (or at least wait until their graduation), and they all start shuffling to their rooms when Ashido says, “oh my fucking god, we left Kaminari at JHOP.”
“We’ll be back for him when we wake up,” Shinsou says firmly. Bakugou stares at them, incredulous. “I’m sure he’ll be fine anyways. Homie can wake up and eat when he takes the train home.”
“What the fuck?” Bakugou says to no one in particular.
From the doorway, Aizawa-sensei watches his hell class migrate upstairs, and quietly resolves to buy himself some more headache relief and to call the tow truck for his car later, sighing as he eats some fast food that Tsukauchi was kind enough to pick up for him. “Bastards,” he mumbles, and heads back to bed.