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“Sorry,” says Hitoshi, a grin spreading across his face as he lays down the Draw Two card. “It’s all I had.”
“I want to dispute that,” Ochako says, glaring at his fifteen card hand.
“Can’t dispute on a Draw Two,” says Hitoshi, grin widening still, “only Draw Fours.”
“Can I jump in here?” asks Katsuki, holding one of his last two cards between his index and middle fingers.
Ochako, already leaning forward to draw, pulls back with a fervent nod. “Please do!”
“Hey, wait,” says Hitoshi, grin dropping suddenly. “That’s not fair. We didn’t let Todoroki do that last game.”
“New game, new rules.”
“If you want to introduce a change to the rules, you cannot do so mid-game,” says Tenya, crossing his arms. “You know, Bakugou, I would have jumped in on Midoriya’s Draw Four two rounds ago if it were legal.”
“That’s completely different!”
“Plus, Draw Twos and Draw Fours can’t stack,” says Denki.
“We’re not talking about stacking them, we’re talking about jumping in on them,” says Kyouka, nudging him once with her elbow.
He perks up, pulling a red Draw Two from his hand and stacking it on the yellow one that Hitoshi had played. “Like that?” he asks, smirking at Kyouka.
“It has to be the same number and the same color.” She swipes the card from the pile and slides it back to him. “But if you were totally color blind, then yes, you could jump in.”
“Not this game! We can’t change the rules mid-game!”
“The honorable judge has spoken. Draw your cards, Ochako,” drawls Hitoshi, leaning back against the couch.
She sticks her tongue out at him but dutifully pulls two cards from the draw pile, sorting them into her hand.
“Uno.” Katsuki slaps down another Draw Two, his face a hard mask. He sets his last card face down against his leg and nods at Izuku, whose turn it is next.
Izuku watches him for a moment, then slowly surveys his own hand, biting his lip.
“Hey, Iida,” he says, overly casual, and before he can finish Tenya nods. Izuku places his Draw Two, quickly followed by Tenya’s, leaving Kyouka staring at the draw pile.
“Hey, uh, Hito, Ochako,” she says, not reaching for any cards. “I know Denki’s good for it. What are the odds you guys can…?”
Hitoshi glances at Ochako.
“Wait,” says Katsuki, leaning forward, “hey, wait. This is table talk.”
“I might have something up my sleeve,” says Hitoshi, raising his eyebrows. Ochako pulls her cards up to her nose and wiggles her eyebrows conspiratorially.
“Me too,” she says. “You know. Hypothetically.”
Wordlessly, Kyouka adds another Draw Two to the pile.
“No, wait,” says Katsuki, eyes widening as Denki plays another Draw Two. Hitoshi makes a show of looking through his cards one by one before pulling another Draw Two; all the while Katsuki leans further and further forward, eyes nearly bulging from his skull.
“Oh, no, Katsuki,” laughs Ochako, slowly pulling a card from her hand. “It looks like your victory streak might be coming to an untimely end… How are you going to get rid of fourteen cards? The most anyone else has is five, you know.”
“Play it,” he spits out, picking up his last card and gripping it in a fist. The scowl on his face almost makes it look like he’s grinning, but the smoke drifting up from his hands reveals him.
“Oh, are you sure?” Ochako asks, leaning over the discard pile. “And make you lose the whole game? You know there’s really no recovering from this.”
“Play. The damn. Card.”
She drops it unceremoniously on the pile, doing a little bow as Izuku claps excitedly.
And then Katsuki drops his last card on the pile.
“WHAT.”
“Read ‘em and weep, losers,” he says, wiping his palms on his pants.
“You — but how?!”
“No, no, no! That’s like, five wins in a row!”
“There’s something wrong with this guy,” Hitoshi says, tossing his cards on the table. Bakugou grins.
“One more?” he asks, pulling everyone’s cards together.
“Yeah, alright,” says Kyouka.
“Count me in.”
“I am so going to beat your ass this time.”
“Wait,” says Denki, still staring at his old hand, “aren’t there only eight Draw Two cards in a deck?”
Bakugou blinks. “What? No. Whatever. Give me your cards.”
Denki shrugs, tossing them into the pile.