A/N: Hey guys! So, I realize that this fic probably isn't what most of you were hoping from me when I finally returned from a, let's call it a break. Judging by the comments, a lot of you want that sweet, sweet fantasy AU, and! I will actually try to do that, won't lie. It's just life is crazy and I'm trying to do more of my own writing which takes up a lot of my world-building energy. But! Silly romantic fluff with some of my favorite characters of all time? That's relaxing. Hence this story. Basically building off of a line I threw in during Writing and Drawing about a school camping trip, but taking that into the main universe with aged-up characters. So yeah, I hope you guys enjoy!
Chapter 1: Trip to the Woods
"Do you have everything, Izuku?" The boy in question smiled softly as he put a pile of folded clothes into his large duffel bag. He could pretty easily imagine what his mom looked like back home, clutching her skirt a little as she asked. Doing everything she can to not look like she's worried when she was actually extremely worried. Izuku Midoriya didn't really blame her. The last couple years had been hard on her. Having a son that underwent villain attacks as often as he did would cause anyone to worry more.
"I think so," he responded, making sure the phone didn't slide off his shoulder as he zipped up the bag. "Shirts, pants, extra underwear to be extra safe. Socks, good shoes for the outdoors, bug spray, sunscreen. A couple of water bottles, my phone, my phone charger, and some granola bars for the car ride there and back. Anything I missed?"
"No, I think that should be everything. Got your wallet?"
"With my license, yup. We should be all good, Mom." Izuku lifted the bag up with his free hand and looked around the room to double-check. "I'm a little nervous myself. It's been a long time since I've been camping." Technically, he thought, the training camp his first year counted, but he tried to not mention that to much to his mom. Reminding her of one of the most terrifying moments in her life wasn't a good idea.
Inko Midoriya sighed over the phone. "Well, that's good, then. Are you excited?"
Was he? Izuku chuckled a little to himself. "It'll be something. I still can't believe the school is letting us do this, let alone that Aizawa is. But yeah, it should be a lot of fun. Yaoyorozu made her parents' cabin sound really nice and I looked into the area. It's really pretty, Mom. Do you want me to take any pictures?"
"If you wouldn't mind. But you have to be in at least three of them." Izuku sighed but his grin grew a little bigger.
"I'll do my best, Mom. Anyways, I have to go. I don't wanna keep everyone waiting."
"Have a fun time, sweetie. Be safe! Love you!"
"I love you too, Mom." Izuku smiled softly and hung up on his mom. Sliding the phone into his pocket he pushed open his dorm's door and started heading towards the stairs.
A camping trip. He hadn't really expected that his class would come up with an idea like it, or that Yaoyorozu would have a cabin just ready to host twenty rambunctious teens. Or that when asked, Mr. Aizawa would not only say yes, but would help them get the school to rent a couple of vans for them, with Tsu's mom offering up her minivan as well. It was summer vacation, but still. It felt too easy.
Izuku couldn't shake the feeling that something was bound to go wrong, but he tried to just enjoy the excitement. It had been a long time since he camped and, well, he loved spending time with his classmates.
"You ready?" Izuku turned to see Todoroki walking down the stairs behind him, bag over his shoulders. The taller boy gave Izuku a slight smile as he caught up to Izuku.
"As ready as I can be." The two of them started walking together down the stairs, a comfortable silence falling over them both. "How do you think it'll go?" Izuku asked as they neared the first floor.
"Horribly," Todoroki said. Izuku chuckled as he caught the slight smirk on his friend's face. "Something will go wrong and it'll be loud and chaotic. Yet I think somehow we'll still have fun."
"That, Todorki, was almost optimistic."
Todoroki shrugged as he pushed open the doors to the outside. "I blame you. You're rubbing off on me. Ruining my image."
Izuku laughed and then waved at the group of friends waiting. Tsu was there, as it was her mom's van they were taking, along with Ocha-Uraraka, Izuku corrected himself- and Iida. Completing the group was Ojiro and Jiro who was idly playing with her earjacks. Ojiro grinned and waved back. "Took you two long enough," he teased. "I was beginning to think you guys decided to back out."
"I was calling my mom," Izuku replied, giving Ojiro a fist bump as he walked up to them. "I think that earns me a pass."
"Only just," Jiro said with a smirk. "What about you, Todoroki? What's your excuse?"
Todoroki looked over at Jiro as he loaded his bag into the trunk. "I forgot the time." Jiro rolled her eyes but grinned. Her grin got larger as Iida lightly scolded Todoroki for not having "proper time-keeping" and that "punctuality is a symbol of maturity and something all heroes should strive for".
Most of them just let Iida have his way when he lectured. It was mostly harmless and it kept him sane.
Izuku gave Uraraka a small smile as Tenya took his bag from him and loaded it into the trunk. Externally, he said hi to her. Internally, he tried to not cry at how cute she looked. She had her hair tied back in… a bun? It kinda reminded him of a flower or a star looking at it. Her hair had grown a little longer in the last year or so, and he thought it suited her. And by suited her, he really meant that he hated it with all his being because, damnit, she shouldn't be allowed to look so cute!
He blinked when he realized he had been staring at her a little- though he dimly noted that the green jacket on her looked great and green seemed to be a good color for her- and smiled sheepishly. Uraraka simply laughed. "Getting lost in her own head again, Deku?"
"Something like that," he said with a chuckle. He needed to focus. Getting distracted constantly by her was only going to cause him issues. Mainly in the accidentally-staring-at-his-best-friend-in-a-totally-not-creepy way. "You excited?" he asked instead, like a sensible person. Like a normal person.
Uraraka smiled and nodded enthusiastically, her hair bouncing around. "So excited! I can't remember the last time I went camping with my folks!"
Izuku nodded along with her and then looked over to Tsu. "How about you, Tsu? Excited?"
"Pretty excited," the froggy girl said. "Though, I hope the drive up there is safe. My mom would not be too happy if something bad happened to the van. You better drive safely, Iida."
Iida poked his head around the back of the van and gave off a crisp salute. "Of course I will be! I have been practicing since I was able to drive! Your mom's van will be in safe hands!"
"Speaking of driving, should we get going?" Ojiro asked, stretching a little.
"Momo's group left about an hour ago," Jiro said idly. "They'll probably have the cabin all set up for us by the time we get there."
"What about the others?" Izuku asked. The class had split into three groups among the different vans. Yaoyorozu, Koda, Sato, Tokoyami, Shoji, and Toru had left earlier to get the cabin all set up. Then it would be Tsu's group and Bakugo, Kirishima, Ashido, Kaminari, Mineta, Sero, and Aoyama to follow.
"Kirishima is busy getting them up," Ojiro said. "Bakugo is ready to go but well… the rest of them are still sleeping. Kirishima decided to have us go ahead."
"It can't be helped! Everyone, if you're ready, let's go!" Iida hurried up to the driver's side and the rest of them shrugged and piled into the van. Ojiro insisted on taking the very back- "I need some tail room" he said- and Jiro joined him back there. Todoroki, Izuku, and Uraraka piled in next, Izuku ending up in the middle between his two friends. Tsu took the passenger seat and unfurled a large map.
"Comfy back there?" Tsu asked as Iida started up the car.
"I'm good," Uraraka chimed. "Deku, you okay in the middle?"
"I can make some room, if you need," Todoroki said.
"Nah, I'm good. Thanks though." Izuku gave them both a wide grin. In all honesty, he was pretty comfy. Todoroki was pretty slight and so was he, so with Uraraka they had plenty of space.
With that, Iida pulled the van out of the driveway of the dorm and out into the city. Jiro leaned forward, her head poking between Izuku and Uraraka. "Tsu, mind if I hand you my phone? I made a travel playlist."
"Of course. Did you and Kaminari work on it?" Izuku only noticed the faint blush on Jiro's cheek because of how close she was to him. But that meant he also noticed the eye roll she gave Tsu who just smiled back as she took Jiro's phone.
"He tried to help," Jiro said, "but his taste isn't that great for road trips. Trust me on this." Tsu hummed in acknowledgement and plugged the phone into the car. A few moments later, soothing acoustic music began to play.
The ride was pretty uneventful, and soon Izuku felt himself drifting off to sleep as Iida and Tsu talked, with Todoroki and Uraraka chiming in. Jiro hummed in the back and he could hear the flipping of pages as Ojiro read. Then, silence as Izuku's eyes finally closed and he felt himself drifting off to sleep.
Ochako smiled as she watched Deku drifted off to sleep. His curly, fluffy hair bounced as his head dropped and bounced up right up until he finally fell asleep. His chin rested against his chest as his breathing settled. She rarely saw him look as calm as he did now, a small smile on his face.
"He's almost human when he sleeps," Todoroki said quietly. She looked up and grinned at him. Todoroki smiled back and then looked down at him. "You forget that he is a monster in battle when he sleeps or is blushing like an idiot."
"Deku is a complicated figure," Ochako said with a chuckle. She then looked out the window as the countryside blurred by. They had been driving for about a half-hour at this point and they were getting closer to the city limits. She could just begin to detect the hint of wilderness. "It'll be nice to get away from all the chaos of school."
Todoroki grunted and she turned to see him looking out his window as well. "Yeah, it will. It's been getting intense lately, hasn't it?"
Ochako nodded and leaned her head against the window. "You ever think about how close we are to graduating?"
"Often." Todoroki sighed. "I'm not sure I'm ready for it. But." Ochako looked at him out of the corner of her eyes and saw him smiling softly. "I think I'm excited for the adventures that comes beyond this, you know what I mean?"
"I think we've been rubbing off on you, Todoroki," Ochako teased. But she couldn't help but smile at what he said. She thought back to the Todoroki that she met those first weeks of school- quiet, almost standoffish, serious. And now here he was, cracking jokes and being sentimental. "You're ruining your image."
"Seriously," Jiro said, poking her head out by Ochako again, giving Todoroki a downright evil smirk. "You were, as Mina said, 'so much hotter' back then. Now you're just another sappy nerd." Ochako clasped her hands over her mouth to stop herself from giggling. Todoroki rolled his eyes but still smiled.
"I think Todoroki is quite handsome," Iida said from the front. "And it's what is inside that counts, not the outside."
"Whatever you say, Class Rep," Jiro said. She then turned back to Todoroki and made an exaggerated motion of looking him up and down. "Hmm, well, I think you'll be fine with her, but don't expect anymore love notes from random girls."
"How do you know I still don't get them?" Todoroki asked. "For all you know, I'm a huge hit with the other classes."
"Prove it, you nerd." Jiro snorted and then pulled herself back into her seat. "Besides, we both know you wouldn't care about that even if it was true."
Todoroki just shrugged at this. "You got me there."
The car fell back into the comfortable quiet it had before, everyone sort of focusing on their own thing while Tsu and Iida talked through the navigation. Todoroki pulled out a book of his own and started reading while Ochako simply rested her head against the window. She started thinking about what Jiro had said. It had been born out of a conversation the girls had one day, about the best possible-boyfriend for the guys in their year. Mina had voted, very vocally, for Todoroki and Kirishima. Ochako wouldn't really disagree with her- both of them were attractive enough and with how much time Kirishima spent shirtless, she got the appeal. But, she didn't really think that they were the best. Hot? Sure, she could admit that.
But, to Ochako, being a good boyfriend meant more than looks. While she had no doubt Kirishima and Todoroki could be caring, loving guys, she… well, she had her money on another target. Someone who she had spent the last long while pretending she felt nothing about. Who happened to be sleeping next to her at this moment. And who she definitely wasn't imagining holding hands with. Nope, not her. Not Ochako Uraraka.
So instead of continuing to think about it, she just yawned and stretched. Cuddling into her seat, squirming around to get comfortable, Ochako yawned once more before drifting off to sleep. Car rides always made her sleepy. The last thing, before she fell asleep, that went through her mind, was how comfortably firm her pillow was and how soft it was.
Tenya hummed along with the song that played over the car's speakers. Jiro did have good taste in music, he decided, or she knew what everyone in the car liked. Good judge of character then, he decided, smiling to himself. Tsu was leaning back into her seat, tracing out their path on the map while double-checking on her phone. He glanced in the rearview mirror and found himself smiling softly. Midoriya and Uraraka had both fallen asleep, Midoriya's mouth open as he slept. Uraraka's head, though, was resting on Midoriya's shoulder and Tenya couldn't help but smile as he looked at them. Todoroki met his eyes and just smiled back.
He knew when the two of them awoke and found what position they ended up in, they would blush as pink as Ashido, but for now, they looked peaceful and- he had to admit it- adorable. Tenya turned his eyes back to the road, still humming to himself, and found himself looking forward to the week at the cabin even more.
"How do you think the others are getting on?" Tsu asked as she looked up from the map. "Oh, and take the next left, Iida."
About a Half Hour Later, Closer to UA
Eijiro sighed as Bakugo fumed next to him. Their group had left about an hour ago or so, after he had managed to finally get Ashido awake. He forgot how late the girl could sleep and just how deeply. Bakugo had been furious, though he hadn't exploded anything so he was doing better than normal. Eijiro was proud of him for that.
Though, he thought, he was pretty sure the others were actively trying to test Bakugo's newfound patience.
"56 bottles of beer on the wall, 56 bottles of beer.
Take one down and pass it around, 55 bottles of beer on the wall."
Ashido, Sero, Kaminari, even Aoyama and Mineta, had been belting out the song for the last little while, horribly off-key and unsynchronized. Honestly, even Eijiro found it a little annoying if only because he was trying to focus on driving, but Bakugo looked like he was going to, literally in his case, explode.
"Take a deep breath, man," Eijiro said as he glanced at the map on his phone.
"They're pissing me off," Bakugo growled. "I mean, for fuck's sake, how long does this song go?"
"Well, I think it has 99 verses, but I could be wrong." Eijiro shot Bakugo a grin and the blond boy simply rolled his eyes. But his lips did twitch into a small smirk. Eijiro counted it.
"52 bottles of beer on the wall! 52 bottles of beer!" Kaminari had a set of lungs on him, that was for sure.
"When we stop for lunch, I am killing them," Bakugo said. He didn't growl, he didn't even really add any extra menace to his words. He just stated it like it was fact.
"Speaking of lunch, can you see if you can find a rest area nearby? We should find one sooner rather than later."
"Yeah, yeah." Bakugo grabbed the phone and began to look ahead on the map as Eijiro focused on the drive. Despite the noise, it was pretty peaceful. He missed driving. His dad was a big believer in road trips and taught Eijiro driving by taking him cross-country. That was probably not the smartest idea, but Eijiro enjoyed it. So doing this was a lot of fun for him.
"Kirishima~!" He looked in the mirror to see Ashido smiling at him. "How long is the drive?"
"Maybe three-ish hours," he said. "Bakugo?"
"Closer to four," the boy said. "If we keep going at this snail-ass pace." He glared out the window as the van inched forward. Traffic wasn't super great. "This is why we wanted to leave earlier, Racoon-Eyes."
Ashido huffed and sat back in her seat. "I needed my rest! Besides, I'm sure it'll clear up once we make it out of the city."
"It will for sure, and then we'll be cruising." Eijiro flashed her a grin in the mirror. "Just hold on guys. Once we're on the highway we'll be zooming."
"33 bottles of beer on the waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall! 33 boooootttttttllleeeeeessss of beer!"
"Pikachu, if you don't shut the fuck up, I will turn this car around!" Bakugo yelled.
"I'm the one driving," Eijiro pointed out, but it was too late. Bakugo was trying to reach behind his seat to grab Kaminari who was laughing and squirming in his seat as he tried to avoid Bakugo.
"Bakugo, leave Kaminari alone!" Mineta yelled out. "He's still a virgin, he can't die yet!"
"Hey, what the hell man?" Kaminari shouted, swatting Bakugo's hand away.
"He's not wrong," Sero said with a laugh. "Mineta may be a little creep but he's not wrong about you!"
"Fuck off!"
"Will you just die already?!" Bakugo yelled.
"Oh my, such violence! You have truly angered the beast, Kaminari!" Aoyama… tittered? That was the best word Eijiro could think of for the noise that came out of him.
Ashido looked up and met Eijiro's eyes in the mirror, a wicked grin on her face. "Eyes on the road, Kiri!"
"It's hard when you guys are so damn rambunctious," he said with a toothy grin. "Bakugo! Stop trying to kill Kaminari, I need you to navigate, man. And Kaminari, tone it down with the song for a bit."
"Fiiiine."
Bakugo turned back around and huffed. He put the phone back on the holder and looked out the window. "Found a rest stop," he said quietly. "We should get there right around lunch."
"Good work." Eijiro gave him a quick thumbs up and then turned back to the road.
The drive was a little quieter for a bit. Then, quietly, Eijiro heard Kaminari. "32 bottles of beer on the wall. 32 bottles of beer."
Oh goddamnit.
A/N: Hey guys! Again, I apologize if this isn't what you guys were expecting or hoping from me next but I just really want to write some more fluff and well, a camping trip seems perfect. Plus, imagine the hijinks 20 unsupervised teens can get up to up in the mountains with no one to watch over them! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy it!