Hello my lovelies, and Season's Greetings! I am working on the next episode of STMSTU, but it's not working with me. So much exposition. However, I do actually have something for you all! Now, I'll admit, this is based in another fic I don't have here on FF. That's because FF doesn't like script formats. However, you can go read the fic this is a spin off from over on AO3. It's called The Scion, and the basic premise is that Toshinori never hid the truth about his quirk, and the existence of One for All and Izuku being the Ninth Holder is out in the open. Also, a minor spoilers for the future of that fic, but Mineta is replaced by an OC. I'll maybe go into her more at a later date, but for now, what you need to know is that she went to middle school with Izuku and Bakugou, has a shadow quirk, is from America, and is selectively mute.
Hope you all enjoy, and feel free to go check out The Scion over on AO3!
"Hey, does anyone have any plans for Christmas?" Mina asked one day, a couple of weeks before the holiday in question. Everyone was in the common room, doing their own thing. Isra-chan had managed to talk the majority of the class into helping her decorate the dorm, and even used black magic (or bribery) to convince Aizawa to allow it, so long as they didn't go overboard. Satou and a team of semi-competent chefs were working on treats like gingerbread and Yule Log cakes. Those not in either group were doing their own things while enjoying the company of their classmates and friends.
Mina's question was unsurprisingly met with negatives from most everyone in the class. They were just in their first year of high school, and they were training to be heroes.
'Sorry, I have something planned,' shadows spelt out, causing several eyebrows to raise. There is no way the shadow queen got around to asking her weird sorta-crush that everyone but said crush knew about, and she hasn't spazzed out in the chat so it's not like someone asked her.
"You have something planned, Douglas?" Sero pointed out, giving the the bespectacled girl a disbelieving look. The girl in turn just raised her eyebrow before turning back the tree she had been placing glass balls on.
'Yeah, Aunt Sophia, Flint and I are going to be having breakfast together before exchanging gifts.'
"Oh, that's right, Christmas is celebrated differently in America than it is here, isn't it?" Ura-chan asked, placing a cutout snowflake on the wall. Isra-chan nodded in response, putting a red ornament on a high branch.
"Mm, apparently it's more a family holiday over there, and a much bigger deal," Midori explained, working with Todoroki and the Class Prez in putting up fairy lights around the room. Noticing everyone's confused expressions, he quickly explained, "Mom and I have been invited to several of Sofi-ba-chan's Christmas parties. Apparently it's supposed to be big gatherings with lots of family and friends."
'That is one thing I miss about America. Meeting up with either the entire family, or getting all your friends together, and just partying and having a good time. Maybe even playing a gift giving game."
"Wait, Americans turned gift giving into a game?" Jirou chimed in, having been sitting at the table, working on her paper for Midnight's class. Yaomomo sat next to her, reading from the textbook.
'Yep.' Was Isra-chan's response, her lips quirked up into a light grin. She added a blue ball to the other side of the tree before searching for another open spot for the next ornament. 'Several actually. Secret Santa, Hot Potato, Bingo, Gift Hunt... My favorite was White Elephant.'
"Huh, I don't think you ever mentioned those up before, Isra-chan," Midori commented, holding Todoroki up as he was fasinning more fairy lights to the wall, all while Iida acted as spotter.
'You can't really play them with only 5 people. Maybe Gift Hunt, but even then, that's better for small children. The others, especially White Elephant, need to be played with large groups.'
"How do you play it?" Yaomomo asked, putting down her pencil. She thought for a second before adding on: "Maybe we could have a Christmas party of our own and try it?"
Isra-chan brightened up and started bouncing around, letting out slight squeaks and hums. According to Midori, that meant she was getting more and more comfortable around them as a whole and might start actually speaking aloud around the class as a whole, instead of just in small groups of people she was closer to. It'd be nice to actually hear her voice for once during their movie nights or some other big class event rather than just during girls' night.
'The rules are pretty simple and you can choose which ones fit for each group. The way my family normally plays is that we have a pile of wrapped gifts, and everyone picks a number from a bag. That'll decide what the order will be. The person who got number one then goes up to the pile, choses a gift at random and unwraps it. The next person then gets the choice to steal the gift that's already unwrapped or chose one from the pile. Same for the next, and it continues until all the gifts are unwrapped. Then the person who went first is given the option to steal any gift they want.'
"Hmm, that does seem simple to follow. But how do we prevent a constant loop of stealing desirable gifts? And what happens when yours is stolen?"
'Ah, generally there's a rule that a gift can only be stolen once per round, and each gift can only be stolen a total number of times, generally 3. And if yours is stolen, you can chose to steal someone else's or open a gift from the pile. The round doesn't end until a gift is unwrapped.'
"Huh, that sounds like it could be a recipe for chaos," Shinsou commented, looking contemplative, placing an ornament of a cat in a santa hat on the tree.
"But a lot of fun," Ura-chan countered. Several other students nodded along, while the group in the kitchen came out to join in the conversation now that their latest batch was in the oven. They were quickly caught up, and some expressed expressed excitement at the idea.
'That's not even the best part!' Isra-chan stated, one side of her mouth pulled up into a grin, showing off her teeth. 'See, you don't use regular gifts like you'd actually genuinely give a person. I mean, a few people do, but no, the fun comes from the fact that the gifts are supposed to be gag gifts!'
"Gag gifts?" Iida asked, his head tilting to the side along with his hands. He wasn't the only one, as giving a gift you wouldn't actually give a person was a foreign concept in Japan. Well, unless it were for a prank, which actually sounded like it'd fit with the idea of the game.
Isra just nodded. 'Yeah, a gag gift. It can be something really funny or just plain odd, and entirely useless. I mean, it's right in the name, White Elephant. A white elephant in English is something pretty much considered useless, especially when factoring in the cost.' She quickly noticed she wasn't making much sense to them so quickly pulled out her phone and started tapping away at the screen before pulling up a picture of her cousin holding a red and white pen with a half smile on his face. 'Here. A few years ago, Flint received a set of pens as a White Elephant gift. They all had something written on them, and this one said Springfield Sexual Addiction Center.'
"What?!"
'Yeah, it was actually pretty funny. He never lost a single one of those pens, though they certainly raised a few eyebrows, at least until we moved out here and no one understood what was written on them.'
"So these gifts are supposed to be somewhat comedic?"
'They can be. They can also be just weird. There are also a few that bring genuine gifts as well, which is nice since it gives everyone some breathing room and something to fight over.'
"There shall be no fighting over gifts!" Class Prez automatically stepped in, waving his arms and nearly taking out Uraraka and Todoroki. Both thankfully ducked.
'No, no, not fighting like Bakagou and Izu. Just argue over and compete for. Like when All Might has us compete in class. Only, this time, instead of top spot, it's gifts.'
"Hmm... that doesn't sound too bad. But the second it gets violent, we are ending the game!"
'Of course. It'd be no fun if we had to listen to another one of Recovery Girl's lectures, especially since she'd probably skin the entire class if Izu were to wind up back in her office, even if it wasn't caused by him using too much of One for All.'
"That's true," Midori admitted, grimacing most likely at the memory of how many lectures he experienced over the past two terms. The old health teacher sure made her opinions known about his progress related to his quirk known. At least he stopped breaking his limbs every time halfway through the first semester, and now hadn't been back to her for the past month and a half!
"Well, now that it sounds like we all want to do this, we should probably discuss when will be the best time to host this," Yaomomo spoke up, pulling out her calendar.
Shouto glanced at the store windows as he passed them, on his way back from visiting his mother. She was rather happy to see him, and was excited to hear about the Christmas party that his classmates had planned. This would be his first party that would actually be fun and full of friends, and not one of his father's networking socials he had been dragged to. It certainly was something to look forward to.
The only problem was now he had to get a gift for it.
It had already been hard enough to look for his regular Christmas present for Mido-Izuku. For Izuku. The others weren't as bad, just different colored duffle bags they could use to carry their stuff in. Izuku, however, required extra work. After all, Shouto couldn't just give him hero merch, Izuku had so much Shouto was most likely to give him something he already had, and no matter how much his father had dialed back, he likely wouldn't be pleased to see Shouto buying exclusive, collector's edition All Might merch for All Might's successor.
Shouto eventually managed to find a large hoodie in the style of one of All Might's early costumes, with some prodding from Douglas and Uraraka. Honestly, both of those girls were such busy bodies and kept on trying to get Izuku and Shouto together that it would be so much more annoying if their opinions weren't somewhat helpful. Which was ironic, given how much of a disaster Douglas was with her own relationship with a certain purple haired student. According to Izuku and Douglas herself, it wasn't romantic, but even half blind and socially inept as Shouto was, he could see that both future underground heroes had feelings for each other, feelings far greater than friendship.
Shouto shook his head before returning back to his search. He had a limited amount of time he was allowed off campus, and he really shouldn't waste too much of it thinking about the confusing shadow user. He needed to find something for this game, especially since it was supposed to be funny and likely not something he'd find in his room. Maybe he should have asked Fuyumi or Natsuo, they'd likely know what to look for, or at least have a better idea than him. Though, honestly, Touya would have been the best choice, if anyone knew how to contact him. These kinds of things were right up his alley.
Sighing, Shouto was about to pull out his phone and shoot his siblings a text when something caught his eye. The Half and Half user took a step closer, studying the set in the window, his pulling up ever so slightly. Yes, that'd be perfect.
"Is everyone ready?" Yaoyarozu asked, standing in front the pile of presents that the class had surrounded. They were all full from the feast Bakugou, Tsuyu and Satou had prepared. It was honestly pretty good. So far the Christmas Party had been going well, and Douglas was bouncing all over the place. Then again, apparently it had been years since her last party of this nature, and from what Hitoshi could tell, it was pretty accurate. Then again, they had two people who had lived significant periods of time in America, and neither were unwilling to share.
Now, with their dinner sitting and desert just on the horizon, was time for the White Elephant.
Everyone nodded, eyeing the wrapped traps lying on the table. Tension was thick, everyone scouting for what was likely to be the safest present. That, or trying to find their own just in case.
"Now, just a reminder on the rules. You are to wait your turn, which will be determined by the number you pull from the bag," Yaoyarozu explained, holding up a small, velvet bag. Huh, Santa's Sack from Hell? Then again, that might just be the dread Hitoshi had been feeling since he had heard several members of the class snickering when putting their presents on the table. "During your turn, you may choose to steal or open a gift. If your gift is stolen, you are given the same choice, but you cannot steal a gift that has already been stolen that round. Each gift can only be stolen a total of three times before it is removed from play and the holder gets to keep it. Once everyone has had their turn, the person who went first gets the option to steal any of the gifts. Any questions?"
"I have one," Tsuyu raised her hand from where she was sitting next to Uraraka. Huh, her dress actually complimented her girlfriend's rather nicely. Most likely not a coincidence. "How do we prevent someone from just taking their own gift?" Okay, fair question. Hopefully it's nothing against the rules.
"Ah, yes!" Yaoyarozu's eyes widened. Clearly she had forgotten that point. Oh thank go- "It is against the rules to either open your own gift or to steal it from another person." Damn it, that's the entire point on why he brought the Crazy Cat Lady Bandaids, as they'd be a safe gift that likely wouldn't be stolen and they had cats. Well, at least he could count on Iida's and Todoroki's not being too odd. "Are there any other questions?"
Sero raised his hand. When the Vice President nodded to him, he lowered it. "Um, what's with the dresses?"
All the girls looked down at their outfits. All of them were in different santa style dresses and somehow only Yaoyarozu's was red. How did they manage to find those? Yes, Tsuyu's was green, while both Uraraka's and Ashido's were pink, but seriously, Hagakure's was sky blue and Douglas was in purple. And Jirou looked like she stepped out of an old movie. Who sells grey Santa dresses? And they managed to get hats to match their dresses, though that was more believable than the dresses.
"Oh!" Ashido answered instead, springing up and running over to the other side of the room where a rather large bag was. Oh no, this spelled bad things. "We wanted to be festive, so we got matching outfits! However, we couldn't decide on what to get you guys, so we just got hats!" She then produced a silver Santa hat that she then proceeded to read the tag on and then shoved it on Ojirou's head. Oh god no, they were personalized.
The remaining girls then got up and grabbed a hat or two from the bag while Yaoyarozu watched the proceedings. Ashido handed both an actual red one and a weird orangy-pink one to Kirishima, who quickly plopped the red one on his own head and then tried to force the other onto Bakugou's, ignoring his protests. Jirou handed Sero and Kaminari an orange and yellow hat respectively while Hagakure gifted Shouji and Sato a light blue and mustard yellow ones. Todoroki also got a light blue one while Midoriya got a pale green. Iida's was a dark blue while Aoyama was rather pleased with his golden hat. Kouda was blushing and smiling at his tan hat while Tokoyami was a little saddened he got a muted grey instead of black.
Hitoshi tried to not act disappointed about not getting one until Douglas came up and presented him with a pale purple. He tried to decline, but then she started pouting and the brainwasher found himself caving. Urgh, she looked way too cute for someone who regularly threatened breaking people's toes, and Hitoshi was maybe too far gone. He didn't voice any of those thoughts and instead let her place the hat on his head, beaming. Too bright...
"Well, now that everyone is ready and wearing their hats, I guess we can start," Yaoyarozu said, starting to walk around with the bag. Everyone pulled a number from the bag and reacted accordingly. Hitoshi had managed to get 4th while Midoriya got 12 and Isra got 6.
"Who has first?"
"That'd be me," Jirou said, getting up from where she was sitting in one of the beanbags against an empty cushioned footrest/seat, which Yaoyarozu promptly sat in. The musician looked over the pile before grabbing a simple bag. It had a pretty standard pine tree on it, and was mostly white with red and green tissue paper escaping from the top.
Jirou quickly returned to her beanbag and started to pull out the paper. The group was silent, except for very quiet, very muffled snickering. Finally rid of the paper, Jirou looked at the bottom of the bag for a second before her face lit a bright red. She quickly threw the bag away from her, not pulling the gift out.
"What the hell!" This got Hagakure to finally snap and keel over onto the floor, laughing her head off. Several others looked worried what the invisible girl had clearly brought. Douglas was not one.
'Ah-ah, you have to show it, Jirou.'
"WHAT! NO! I'M NOT SHOWING OFF THAT THING!"
'Them's the rules!' Oh this did not sound pleasant.
Jirou sat there, glaring at the smirking American, her cheeks as red as Kirishima's hair. Finally, she relented and slowly pulled the bag closer to her. She reached in, her face getting more and more red. She closed her eyes and pulled her hands out, bringing with them a sparkly... thing. It took a second to recognize the shape of what was most likely a bra, and it was covered in sequins. Most of the class immediately started blushing and averting their eyes while Kaminari, Sero, Ashido and Douglas joined Hagakure, rolling over everyone around them in their laughter.
"What the hell, Hagakure!"
The light blue dress took several shaky breaths before shakily not explaining herself, but instead saying "There's also a set of matching panties!" This got the laughing students to go even harder, tears rolling down their faces. Oh god, and this was just the first gift. What did they sign up for?
"Can I choose a different one?"
"I'm sorry, Jirou-san, but it is against the rules to open more than one present a round," Iida reminded her. Yaoyarozu leaned over and patted the other girl's shoulder. The sound user just sighed and shoved the bra back into the bag before pushing it off to the side.
"So who's next?" Asui asked, looking around the group.
"Me!" Kirishima called, jumping out of his seat towards the presents. He looked around before grabbing a box with several ribbons. He then sat back down next to Bakugou and tearing into the wrapping. A book was quickly revealed, which Kirishima proudly showed off to everyone.
"Meal in a Mug: all you need is a microwave and a mug! Awesome!" Huh, that actually sounded pretty nice. A possible steal, just in case the gifts got a little too insane.
"Good, you won't constantly be blowing up the kitchen with yours and Pikachu's experiments," Bakugou snarked. His lips pulled back into a grin at the protests that got, though the criticism was warranted. Hitoshi did not want to see another manly meal the two managed to concoct. He still had no idea what the one from 3 weeks ago was supposed to be, but it almost certainly wasn't edible. Thankfully, Aizawa-sensei caught them before they did irreparable damage to their digestive systems, and now the two were banned from using the kitchen without supervision.
"Well, that is a nice gift," Iida commented, nodding. "Now, onto the next person."
"That would be me, kero."
Tsuyu, like the previous two, looked over the gifts before selecting a small package. It was eye bleeding neon patterned and wrapped with a messy bow. Ashido's, given that there was no glitter. Well, this probably won't be as bad as the sequin bra.
"Ear Ring Keyrings, kero." Yep, definitely better than the bra. Tsuyu showed off the three multicolored ears, each with a ring piercing their lobes. It certainly was an interesting idea, but not something Hitoshi would want.
Speaking of, it was his turn. He looked over at the gifts that had already been opened. A bra, a cookbook, and key rings. The first one was definitely not happening, the second was a safe bet, and the third one was just... weird. None really stood out, and there were likely to be safe gifts still in the pile, he just needed to find them.
As Hitoshi walked up, he thought about which of his classmates would give safe gifts. Anything from the Bakuquad would be a no go, with how many memers were in there. Midoriya was too much of a goody-goody to try anything, and would likely just have gotten something that has no use. Iida and Todoroki would likely be the same way. Uraraka likely would have chose something crazy, though her budget likely prevented it from being too out there.
Really, Shouji and Kouda were probably the best bets, as while they were not to likely to do insane gifts, nor were they likely to be goaded into something insane by one of their classmates. And both had their own aesthetic.
Looking over the gifts, Hitoshi looked for something cutesy with lots of animals, or simple. He quickly noticed a box wrapped in tan wrapping paper and a brown bow. It screamed Shouji, and was just what Hitoshi needed. He picked up and returned to his seat, a weight lifted off his chest. The purple haired young man started pulling on the paper, slowly revealing the prize. Just as he ripped off the last of the wrappings, he felt his hands drop.
Fuck, he forgot to take into account Shouji's odd sense of humor.
"This way you can always have a hand," was all the tall student said about the WindUp High Five in Hitoshi's lap. The brainwasher heard a set of hisses, and shifted his eyes over to Douglas snickering. Oh well, still better than the bra.
"Well, it seems to be my turn," Yaoyarozu spoke up, getting up from her place. She glided over to the table and browsed the gifts before selecting a large bag. She quickly pulled out the two tissue paper on top and then pulled up another bag.
"Cinnamon Bears?" Yaoyarozu raised a delicate eyebrow before pulling out the other object, which looked like a bottle filled with... red jelly beans? "Tabasco Flavored Jelly Beans?"
"What, can't handle the heat, Ponytail?"
Yaoyarozu's eyes shifted over to where Bakugou. She did not rise to his taunts, instead responding back with "Bakugou-san, there's is a kilogram of each here."
"All the better for your quirk, isn't it?" Yaoyarozu did not respond to that, just sighing and putting both candies back in the bag and placing them on the floor.
Douglas got up and started poking around the gifts. She was up there for a solid minute before finally settling on a box in snowy wrapping paper. She sat down and pulled the entire top in one smooth motion. She stared at the top before her head snapped over to Midoriya, who was trying his best to smother himself. Her eyebrow raised as she watched the Ninth User of One for All.
"You said it was supposed to be useless!"
'Insulated Water Bottles are not useless, Izu.'
"No one uses them!"
"Why are you complaining, Douglas-san? That seems like a very useful gift!" Iida cut in, because of course he didn't see why it could be weird. Then again, Hitoshi figured that the American was more disappointed that she picked something unfunny than a somewhat useful gift.
'I already have like 5 of my own,' Douglas explained instead, which is actually was a good reason to be upset about getting an entire set of the things.
"Oh... then do you mind if I have them?"
'You'll have to take them from me during my turn,' the shadow reminded him. This threw Iida through a loop because stealing was normally illegal, but it was allowed in the game rules, and Douglas was allowing him... God, Iida was too easy to read.
"Speaking of taking, I'm going to be stealing that hand, Shinsou," Kaminari cut in, snatching the box right out of Hitoshi's lap. Hitoshi blinked, staring at his now empty lap, and then looked up and watched as the electricity user sat back down with his prize. Well, that was one way to start the stealing.
Hitoshi once more looked over the gifts in play. No, nothing more that interested him. Back to the pile.
This time, he noticed a package neatly wrapped up in blue paper and had white bow. It screamed of the class president and Hitoshi found himself picking it up, relief coursing through his system. It didn't last long as he started hearing Douglas' hissing snickering just as he sat down and remember: Douglas had the most experience with this type of thing, and loved misdirection. Of course she'd wrap hers in a style similar to one of the safe students. Oh no...
Too late to change the gift, Hitoshi instead sent a prayer and started to free the gift. Oddly, there was nothing immediately bad, as inside was the DVD case to an old anime. "Ghost Stories?"
'It's an old anime centered around a group of kids as they try to fight against ghosts haunting their town,' Douglas explained, her grin maybe showing off a bit too much teeth. 'The American Dub is rather... famous in the anime community overseas.'
"It's that good?" Surprisingly Tokoyami asked, eyeing the DVD in Hitoshi's hands. Oh god, of course the resident edgelord would love something horror related. Though apparently the birdhead didn't notice Douglas' eyebrows raise up and her grin growing wider. Whelp, it's clear that Douglas is getting too much enjoyment about this. Hitoshi wondered what made the dub so famous to get that kind of reaction.
"Well, now that we have started stealing, I have to say I'll be taking those ears, Asui-san," Shouji spoke up. "I always am misplacing my keys, and now I can keep an ear out for them, as well as an eye." Tsuyu blinked before shrugging and grabbing another present from the table. This one was poorly wrapped in red and turned out to be something called Paper Tantrum Stickies.
"For when you don't feel well and just want to be pampered!" Kirishima explained. Tsuyu sent him a smile as her girlfriend started reading off the paper. Yeah, that seemed like a good idea, especially considering some people in the class.
Sero reached over and snatched up Kaminari's wind up hand, leaving the electricity user to look over at the crowd. Apparently he was taking too long for the explosion user, who shoved him towards the table. There, Kaminari snatched up a plain looking bag. There was nothing special about this bag, but inside was comedy gold.
"Principal Nezu?!"
"Omg, you got a plushy of our principal!" Sero cried, holding his gut as he keeled over. Ashido followed shortly after.
"This is too good!"
"Alright, enough on Kaminari's new plushy. Who is number 10?"
Kouda shyly lifted his hand, before looking around the room. He seemed to be eyeing Nezu, which Kaminari not-so-subtly tried to encourage. However, eventually, Kouda shook his head and grabbed a beautiful package, which revealed to be a bag of... strawberry things?
'OMG, STRAWBERRY BON BONS! WHO BROUGHT THOSE?! I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO FIND THEM ANYWHERE, EVEN BACK IN AMERICA!'
"Oh, you know those, Douglas?" Yaoyarozu asked, leaning over. Of course, Hitoshi should have recognized the expensive wrapping paper.
Douglas nodded, her entire body bouncing with her head. 'They're my favorite! I normally only got them on Halloween, since Mom and Aunty Sophia never knew where to get them. Oh god, Momo-chan, you have to tell me where you got them!'
Yaoyarozu pulled out her phone and sent Douglas the link, which lead to the American tackling the Vice President in a hug. Laughs were shared and the game started up again.
It was no surprise that Dark Shadow snatched Ghost Stories from Hitoshi. Instead, the underground-hero-in-training walked over and grabbed the bag that was covered in birds and bunnies. Inside was a turtled covered in silver armor and exhaust pipes coming from his arms.
"OMG, IS THAT THE ANIMA-INGENIUM?!" Whelp, now Hitoshi knows what this was, and who was likely to steal it. Hitoshi was starting to notice a pattern.
Sure enough, Izuku shot forward and grabbed it out of Hitoshi's hands, One for All crackling over his body. Not even blinking, Hitoshi got up and grabbed the thin package wrapped in black. This was a calendar of tropical birds, to which Dark Shadow snickered about and congratulated Hitoshi on getting.
Next up was Ashido, who did probably the most surprising event of the night.
"Jirou, hand over that bra!"
"What the fuck, Ashido!" Jirou cried. She then thought about it before tossing the bag at the acid user and scrambling over to the table and grabbing a cheap bag. Inside were several rolls of patterned duct tape, for which Jirou appreciated far more than the bra.
Of course, Bakugou's turn was next, and he could not resist causing trouble.
"Oi, Rock-face! Hand over those candies!" Okay, why did Bakugou want strawberry candies? He didn't seem too interested when Kouda first unwrapped them. Then he noticed something very obvious in hindsight. Douglas was pouting, and if Hitoshi listened close enough, he could make out faint growls. Oh right, Iida was going to take he water bottles and leave her to take the candy. And with Bakugou stealing them, that just increased the chance of her not getting them. Great, not what this event needed. However, Hitoshi couldn't do much, with Kouda clearly eyeing the calendar in his lap.
Hitoshi handed it over with no fuss and instead just got up and grabbed a package with Ho Ho Ho written all over it. He started pulling off the paper and revealed... grey cloth?
"Open it," Jirou instructed, and Hitoshi did. It turns out to be a really long grey scarf. And there, in the center, was a pair of yellow, slitted goggles. Hitoshi just stared at it, his mind not processing what he had just unwrapped.
"OMG, ARE THOSE ERASERHEAD GOGGLES?! AND A SCARF?!" Thanks, Hagakure, for confirming that he was not seeing things. Hopefully her outburst didn't mean she'd try to steal it from him, Hitoshi rather liked this gift.
...he just jinxed it.
Hitoshi wasn't paying much attention during the next round, but when he looked up, hearing what sounded like the closest human approximation to purring, Iida now had the water bottles, Douglas had the candies, Bakugou had Turtle Ingenium, Midoriya was examining the plush Nezu and Kaminari was showing off Sippin' Specs, a drinking straw in the shape of glasses.
"Did Midoriya seriously just get a plush version of our principal?"
'His room is practically a shrine to All Might, and he's been Yagi-sensei's successor for over a year now.' Okay, Hitoshi could agree that Douglas had a point. Just because he personally knew the hero didn't mean the otaku wouldn't get as much hero merch as possible, except for Endeavor, which was odd, considering that Midoriya was now dating the Flame Hero's son. Oh well, Hitoshi wasn't going to get into the details of their relationship.
The next two rounds consisted of no stealing, which wasn't surprising, considering it was Ojirou and Satou. Ojirou wound up with 6 tubes of glitter, each a different color, while Satou got a plush version of a french fry holder with All Might's face pasted on the front. Two french fries stuck out in the shape the hero's famous hairstyle. ...Right, never question what they turn into Hero Merch. At least Douglas found it amusing.
The good times did not last as a streak of sky blue grabbed the goggles and scarf from Hitoshi. Yeah, he should have seen this coming. The brainwasher was about to get up to grab one of the remaining presents on the table when he felt something tug on his sleeve. Turning, he saw Douglas, with her head tilted to the side. She brought her hand back and started moving them into signs.
'Shinsou, take the candy.' He found himself blinking because did Douglas seriously suggest that? If he took the candy, it'd be out of play and she couldn't get it. But no, she looked serious. 'Just take it. Don't worry, I got a plan to get you the Eraserhead Merch. After all, I'm a pro at this game.'
Deciding to go along with it, Shinsou reached down and took the bag from her. She looked somewhat downcast, but quickly covered it with a smile. Instead, there was a squawk from Satou before Potato Might was dropped into Douglas' lap. She quickly pulled out her phone and snapped a picture and started texting away, most likely to tease All Might about it. Satou just got up and grabbed Hitoshi's gift from the table.
"Crazy Cat Lady Bandaids?"
Hitoshi found himself shrugging. "We could all use some, and it has cats."
Uraraka bounced up and snatched Turtle Ingenium from Bakugou in the only way she knew how. She immediately started cuddling with it, all while sending a murderous aura to anyone who so much as looked at it for a second too long.
Bakugou glared at the happy, pinky gravity manipulator before turning to Douglas and snatching Potato Might from her. Douglas, in turn, took the Eraserhead scarf and goggles from Hagakure, and stuck them in her shadow, with her hand down there with them. Huh, Hitoshi was surprised no one else has tried that, especially Sero. The sky blue dress deflated before perking up and snatching up Jirou's tape. The musician sat there for a second before shrugging and grabbing a traditionally wrapped package.
"Pro-Hero Squeeze Dolls?" She read off, displaying the five dolls, one of All Might, Endeavor, Hawks, Best Jeanist, and Edgeshot. Hitoshi noticed that Endeavor looked slightly warped, and maybe a little blackened. Well, at least the other 4 were in perfect condition.
"It's for stress," is all Todoroki said before snatching Potato Might from Bakugou. The explosion user looked like he was about to launch himself at Douglas, but Kirishima put his hand on the blond's shoulder. He quickly whispered to Bakugou, all while both Bakugou and Douglas were engaged in a glare war. Eventually, Bakugou relented and turned to Tsuyu instead, snatching up her Paper Tantrums.
The frog girl blinked before shrugging and grabbing the glitter from Ojirou. "My siblings love working with dinner, kero."
Sadly, Ojirou got the short end of the entire exchange after opening a gift wrapped with rather cute frogs. Inside were lollipops, which wouldn't be so bad, if there weren't bugs in them. Ouch, that had to be up there with the bra. No wait, bra still topped those lollipops.
Aoyama closed out the game by opening the last remaining gift, which was the entire first season of SpongeBob SquarePant, courtesy of Kaminari. Jirou decided not to steal anyone's gifts, instead just squeezing the All Might doll and laughing at the sound from it.
Hitoshi was about to return to his room, almost all of his energy used by. However, just as he was nearly at the elevator, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning, he saw Douglas there, holding the scarf and goggles she won out.
"Here you go, just as promised!"
Hitoshi found himself lost. Yeah, she said she would get it for him, but he didn't fully believe her. Afterall, Eraserhead was her favorite hero too, and he did take her candy. His arms automatically shifted so as to hold onto the candy and grab the gear with both hands. Oh, maybe she was here to trade prizes. That'd make sense.
He held out the candy. Douglas tilted her head, not grabbing the candy. "Here, you wanted these?"
Douglas blinked before her cheeks flushed. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that. Momo-chan gave me the link where she ordered them from. I can easily get more. You won those fair and square."
"B-But you said that these were your favorite. And you couldn't find them anywhere. You probably haven't had them in years!"
"And I can wait a week or two longer. You won those, you keep them!"
"I wouldn't have if it weren't for you. Please, take them. They'd be better with someone who already enjoys them. And you were pretty excited for them."
Douglas stood there before throwing her arms around Hitoshi's neck. It felt nice and warm. Just as Hitoshi managed to move his arms so they could wrap around her waist, Douglas disengaged, her face flushed red and stuttering a kilometer a minute. She quickly ran off back to the group before Hitoshi could make heads of what she was saying, and he stood there, his face tinged pink and both the Eraserhead merch and the bag of candy in his arms.
When his mind finally caught up, his cheeks burned. He dropped down into a squat, hugging his knees with one arm while the other arm covered his head. God damn it, she hugged him. Why couldn't he get over this weird sorta-friend-crush-thing and hug her back?!
It took a few minutes for Hitoshi to calm himself. Urgh, he was exhausted. Better go lie down for the next 100 years and forget that utter failure. However, as he stood, he noticed the bag of candy. Well, might as well drop those off at Douglas' room.
Fumikage was confused. This was supposed to be a horror show, wasn't it? Then why was it constant joke after constant joke? None of this was scary.
Fumikage paused the episode and went down to the kitchen, where Douglas was normally this time of day. Sure enough, there she was, cooking soup at the stove. She turned her head to the doorway, and the corners of her mouth turned up into a smile, her eyes closing to hide whatever she was thinking.
"Douglas-san? About your White Elephant gift?"
"Ah, I was wondering when you were going to ask about that, Tokoyami-kun. Pretty good, isn't it?"
"That's not the way I would describe it." The American just hummed, stirring her pot. "Douglas-san, isn't the show supposed to be a horror show?"
"Mm, the original Japanese show was a horror show for children," Douglas confirmed. Not taking her eyes off the pot, she lowered the heat slightly. "See, the original show did so poorly and Animax gave ADV full reign to do whatever they wanted with the show." What? That was allowed? "See, the dubbing staff was only given four rules: don't change any names, don't change the way any ghosts are defeated, don't change the meaning of any episode, and make the show successful. Well, they took those rules as a challenge and made the best dub in American anime history."
"What? But they changed the tone of the entire show!"
"And? The original flopped because it actually wasn't that scary. So ADV decided to go in the exact opposite direction. See, the dub isn't famous because it's an accurate translation or had good voice acting, but because it's pretty much a gag dub, and a damn good one at that." Douglas tilted her head so Tokoyami could get a good look at her grin, with a few of her teeth peaking through to look down right predatory.
Suddenly, her snickering made a lot more sense and Fumikage realized just how much he had been played by the other shadow user. Really, that was the horror of his White Elephant prize.
Once again, thank you! There's actually another scene for this chapter, but because of FF's formatting guidlines, it's over one AO3. To make up for it, you guys got that end scene. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to celebrate Christmas, as well as spend a couple more days with my old dog before I have to say goodbye to him for good on Wednesday. Hope you have a Happy Holidays!