Work Text:
Uraraka had just finished her morning workout, feeling energized but a little foggy from waking up early for a joint training session. She decided to record a quick video of her favorite gravity-core routine to send to her private fitness group — a small circle of friends who shared workout tips and silly motivational memes.
She carefully filmed herself doing slow hip raises, sweat glistening under the morning sun filtering through the window. Half-distracted by her buzzing phone (a group chat notification from Hell class A popped up), she opened Instagram to upload the video.
Her fingers hovered over the caption box, and without thinking, she started typing a playful joke she’d seen trending online:
“Gravity’s not the only thing that makes you sweat 😘💦”
She giggled at the clever pun but was in such a rush to send it before leaving for training that she didn’t double-check the recipient.
Instead of posting it to her private “HeroFit” story, she accidentally hit “Post” on her main public profile — where all her fans, fellow heroes, and even the media followed her.
Only after grabbing her gym bag and rushing out did she realize her mistake much later when her phone immediately exploded with notifications, comments, and shocked emojis.
Midoriya Izuku had faced villains with teeth made of steel, mob bosses with mind control quirks, and a literal kaiju with lasers for eyes. But none of that prepared him for Uraraka Ochako's Instagram post.
He was in the middle of a press briefing, standing beside Todoroki in their sleek Pro Hero uniforms, calm, cool and collected. The podium was filled with microphones, journalists buzzing, cameras flashing. He was in the zone.
Even had brushed his hair, ironed his hero uniform, and mentally prepared a few calm, calculated lines for the Musutafu Hero Coalition’s press briefing.
He was ready.
Midoriya, in the middle of explaining youth outreach programs to seventeen cameras and two city officials, paused.
When his phone buzzed, just once.
A ping from Instagram.
Out of habit, he checked, he shouldn't have.
Because of course It was a video her video.
Uraraka, dressed in a sports bra and compression shorts, doing a series of high-intensity core workouts in her apartment gym. The lighting was cinematic. Her skin glistened with sweat. Her hair was up in a messy bun with two strands falling in front of her face like she just stepped out of a romantic anime.
But it wasn't the workout that killed him no it was what was writted in the caption:
> "Gravity’s not the only thing that makes you sweat 😝💦"
Dear god the caption.
His brain and face froze ,like, actually froze mid-sentence.
Journalists stared.
Todoroki glanced sideways. "...Izuku?"
Midoriya blinked. His lips parted as if trying to form words, but only a weak wheeze escaped.
The cameraman zoomed in. A journalist whispered, "Is he okay? Why did he just short-circuit?".
He just stood motionless, eyes wide, lips parted like he was trying to remember how to speak. Or breathe.Or exist.
Todoroki, deadpan: "He saw Uravity's post."
A collective murmur swept the crowd. Phones came out people nodded sagely.
"Ah," said one reporter. "Yeah, Fair."
Midoriya made a strangled squeak. Then he slammed his phone face-down like it had offended his ancestors.
The entire room erupted into polite chaos.
Meanwhile: Group Chat from Hell A
Kirishima: BROOOOOO U OK???
Jirou: Why did you fold like a dying anime protagonist
Tsuyu: You dropped your phone on live television.
Iida: Was this planned? Please tell me it was staged.
Todoroki: It wasn’t. I watched him ascend.
Kaminari: DEKU’S GOT THIRST TRAUMA
Bakugo: All of you are WEAK. I saw it. Kept eating my protein bar.
Kaminari: Cause it turned you GAY?
Bakugo: BLOCKED.
Aizawa: Fix this before the board calls me.
Meanwhile, still blissfully unaware.
Uraraka hummed to herself as she folded laundry.
Her phone was blowing up again, probably from the last mission. Or fan mail or weird gravity jokes.
She checked the screen ejem her eyes widened.
> 132 unread DMs
47 missed calls
1 text from Aizawa: “You broke Midoriya. Explain.”
“...Huh?” she was really confused.
She opened Instagram.
She saw the post her face immediately went crimson and screamed.
“OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH—”
She slammed the phone face-down like it had just proposed to her.
“I POSTED THAT TO MY MAIN?!”
She paced as she panicked and considered running away to the mountains and marrying a rock.
Then she stopped.
"...Wait" she said out loud, eyes narrowing “He watched it?”
She didn’t know what to fix first: her post, her pride, or Deku.
Back at his apartment Midoriya lay face-down on his couch, the poor thing had not moved in an hour.
His phone was charging at 3% so was his soul.
A soft buzzing filled the room.
He groaned.
Then it rang—her name flashing across the screen.
His thumb hovered. He answered.
"... Deku?" Her voice was soft. A little uncertain. But amused. He could hear the smirk in it.
“I, um… saw the video,” he said.
She laughed. “Yeah, I figured. Are you okay?”
“No.”
“That bad, huh?”
“You killed me. I literally died. I blacked out mid-press conference.”
“Seriously?!”
“Yes. You thirst trapped me in front of a municipal building!”
Uraraka burst out laughing. "Oh nooooo. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to—it was for my private group!"
“You can’t just—just post that and not warn me!”
“You follow me on everything. What do you expect, Deku?”
“Not to need medical attention!”
A pause.
“You liked it though, right?”
Dead silence.
Then, hoarse: “You know I did um you looked really cool," he mumbled. "And, uh strong."
"Strong," she echoed, snorting. "That’s what we’re calling it?"
"Also radiant and probably illegal."
She grinned. "Well now that I know it works, maybe i’ll post more."
Midoriya’s voice cracked. "Please warn me."
"Or," she said sweetly, "you could come over next time and help me film it."
He choked on air "Uh-uh y-yeah s-s-sure."
Midoriya stared at himself in the mirror like a man preparing for war.
Except instead of armor, he was wearing gray joggers, no shirt, and the faintest glimmer of desperation.
"This is stupid," he muttered, flexing an arm. "This is so stupid."
He turned to the side and tried again sucked in his stomach and flexed wrong something popped.
“Ah—nope nope. That’s a muscle, that’s fine.”Then he spotted it.
His All Might mug.
White ceramic. Golden lightning bolts. Bold text: "GO BEYOND" in Comic Sans.
He stared at it. It stared back.
"...You're my brand." Then went to grab it.
Midoriya sat in front of his phone sweating and shirtless.
Trying to flex.
“Okay, okay” he mumbled to himself. “Caption: ‘Justice isn't the only thing that’s ripped.’ No that’s awful. Delete. Delete.”
He adjusted the angle then smiled.
He looked like a man trying to sell vitamins to single moms.
Then tried again, holding a mug and posed with his All Might’s merch in the background.
He tried a smolder.
He looked like he was passing a kidney stone.
Ten minutes later, he was crouched by his bookshelf, mug in hand, setting up his phone like an Instagram baddie. His hair was perfectly fluffed (thank you, wind from the open window), and he’d turned the lighting to moody hero noir.
And stared at the post from a distance like it might explode.
In the photo, he was biting the rim of the mug slightly.
The caption? Overconfident.
His eyes? Begging for help.
His flexed arm? Trying too hard.
His other hand? On his hip. Why was it on his hip?!
He looked like he was simultaneously advertising protein powder and crying for help.
"Okay," he breathed. "It’s... fine. It’s ironic. People will think it’s ironic."
The caption he typed?
> “Who needs One For All when I’ve got All This ☕💪 #FlexForJustice #SmashThatLikeButton”
Somewhere, Bakugo just screamed into a couch cushion for no reason.
He hit “Post.”
Immediately regretted it.
Then panicked and tried to justify it.
Group Chat explodes.
Sero: NOOOOOOOO WHAT IS THIS 😭😭
Jirou: I’m calling the police.
Kirishima: SOOOO MANLY BRO!
Tsuyu: The mug??
Bakugo: I’M GOING TO HURL
Kaminari: It’s giving… tax accountant thirst trap??
Iida: I do not understand this culture
Todoroki: He tried. Let him rest.
Tsuyu: We still love you, Midoriya
Kaminari: Okay, okay, for real though—who’s gonna explain it to Iida?
Iida: Explain what?
Sero: Oh no.
Yaoyorozu: Please don’t.
Kaminari: Dude. The thirst trap. You know. What Midoriya did with the mug.
Iida: I assumed that was a fitness-oriented hero awareness post.
Kaminari: Buckle up, glasses man. It’s time.
A thirst trap is when someone—usually attractive, but not always—posts a photo that is unnecessarily hot. Not, like, medically hot. But spiritually hot. Like, emotionally damaging. For views. For chaos. For science.
Sero: And attention. Lots of attention.
Iida: But he was holding a mug.
Kaminari: Exactly. That’s what makes it art.
Yaoyorozu: Technically, the juxtaposition of casual props and suggestive posing increases perceived intimacy—
Kaminari: Bro he just wanted Uraraka to choke on her protein shake, let’s be honest.
Iida : So… it wasn’t about caffeine safety?
Kaminari: No, Iida. He was trying to weaponize his biceps. He baited thirst. And failed gloriously.
Kirishima: In a manly way!
Jirou: He thirst-trapped with the energy of a confused substitute teacher doing a TikTok challenge.
Yaoyorozu: It's true. Statistically, viewers were 70% confused, 30% aroused, and 100% concerned.
Iida: I thought hashtags were for filing
Tsuyu: Did I hear someone explaining the mug trap?
Todoroki: Only in great, tragic detail.
Iida: I’M SORRY FOR THINKING IT WAS ABOUT STAYING HYDRATED!
Uraraka was doing squats when her phone buzzed.
Ping!
> @dekuhero posted: “Who needs One For All when I’ve got All This ☕💪 #FlexForJustice”
She paused mid-rep.
“…Oh no.”
She wiped her hands, unlocked her phone, and immediately dropped her dumbbell on her own foot.
The image loaded with zero hesitation.
There he was—shirtless, messy curls tousled, jaw clenched in an effort to look "smoldery," holding his All Might mug like it was a chalice of divine thirst.
His arm was flexed, his face was trying to be sultry. But it was giving…
“Why does he look like he’s trying to seduce me into joining a startup?” she whispered, horrified and deeply endeared.
The worst part?
She liked it. Of course she did, like the sicklove fool she was.
Not because it was hot (which… it was, in a weird coffee-commercial way), but because it was so Midoriya. The effort, the sincerity, the caption, the MUG.
She screamed into a pillow, rolled over, and texted:
> "you tried 🥺💚"
And then burst out laughing so hard she had to sit on the floor.
It started with a notification.
Izuku Midoriya had just woken up, still mentally replaying the horror of his failed thirst trap—the arm flex, the terrible caption, the mug—when his phone buzzed again.
He blinked blearily at the screen.
New comment on your post: “You look so handsome, sweetie! ☺️ Don’t forget to moisturize your elbows 💕 – Mom ❤️”
His soul left his body.
There was a long, harrowing silence as he stared at the glowing screen, praying he had hallucinated it.
Unfortunately he had not.
His mother had found The Mug Post.
Worse: she even engaged with it publicly.
Even worse than that: she had brought up his elbows.
Midoriya made a low noise of anguish, dropped his phone like it had personally betrayed him, and faceplanted onto the floor.
It was twenty minutes later when the phone rang.
Of course it was his mother.He answered reluctantly, as if the device were coated in shame.
"Hi sweetie!" Inko’s voice was bright and cheerful. "I saw your new photo!"
Izuku groaned into the speaker.
“You looked so strong! Very confident!” she said. “You’ve been working out more, haven’t you? That pose showed off all your progress! And that’s the mug I gave you in middle school, right?”
He wanted to die, not just disappear die, like really Bad.
“Yes,” he croaked, “It’s the mug.”
“I’m so happy you're still using it!" she gushed. “Though… sweetheart, your pants looked a little low. Was that intentional? Or are you out of clean ones again? Do you need me to come by and do laundry?”
“Please stop,” he begged “Please, just… pretend you didn’t see it mom.”
“And your elbows looked a little dry—have you been moisturizing? You know how I worry when winter starts to dry you out—”
“Mom,” he whispered, voice hoarse with grief, “I thirst trapped, you’re not supposed to comment on a thirst trap.”
There was a pause when, delightfully, she said, “Oh! Is that what that was?”
Izuku let out a strangled whimper.
“Well, I thought it was adorable! But maybe next time… stand up straight? And smile more! You have such a nice smile—"
“I’m hanging up now.”
“Tell Ochako-chan I said hi! Her workout video was very inspiring maybe you two could film one together sometime—”
"I GOTTA GO, BYE LOVE YOU MOM!."Click.
He flopped backward onto the floor again, staring at the ceiling in utter defeat.
Then came a knock.
“Izuku?” Ochako’s voice floated through the door, amused. “You good in there?”
He groaned, completely humiliated.
She poked her head in, already smiling. “So… your mom left a comment, huh?”
“I’m never posting again,” he said flatly. “Never. The internet is dead to me.”
“Come on, it wasn’t that bad,” she teased, stepping inside. “She called you handsome that’s sweet!”
“She mentioned my elbows.”
Uraraka snorted and actually had to cover her mouth.
“I’m deleting my account,” Midoriya muttered, already reaching for his phone again. “I’m deleting the cloud. I’m deleting Wi-Fi i’m deleting reality.”
She plopped down beside him and handed him a cookie.
“I dunno,” she said, voice bright with mischief. “I think it was kind of cute. Definitely gave ‘mom packed your lunch and your dignity got left behind’ vibes.”
“I was trying to match your energy!” he whined. “And maybe make you sweat back!”
“You flexed with a mug, Midoriya.”
“IT WAS A STATEMENT.”
He stared at her. “Are you enjoying this?”
“Oh,” she said sweetly, “So, so much. I’ll tell you.”
There was a small pause then she said softly:“You’re lucky I like you.”
He blinked and then smiled. “Wait. Like, how much?”
“Don’t push it. You’re still on Instagram probation.”
Midoriya of course deleted the post.
Not before it trended and breaked the Internet as #MugSmolder on X.
Uraraka printed it on a T-shirt.
He confiscated the shirt.
She got it back.
They went on a date.
No cameras were harmed (but Bakugo was emotionally scarred).