The chore list in Heights Alliance changed each day, members of the twenty Class 1-A students living within the building tasked differently each time. Some preferred specific jobs, while Iida was just thrilled to be doing his duty of care for the building they were responsible for, but there was one job, and one specific arrangement, that absolutely no one would ever complain about. One job at which, when the duties were randomised each time, the lucky person would raise a fist and cheer.

When sharing cooking duty with Satou Rikidou, there really was no way to ever complain. It was the best.

"Hey Midoriya, chop these, would you?"

Today it was Midoriya Izuku on duty, sharing work with Satou, and he, like anyone, was thrilled about it. How could he not be?

"Right!"

Satou's Quirk, which turned sugar into strength, was a simple but powerful one. Throughout their Class he'd already established himself as a beast at arm-wrestling, the longest matches always with Shouji. Midoriya suspected that if he could control the full power of One For All he would be able to win as well, but as it was his five percent just wasn't nearly enough.

Which made Satou really amazing! Truly!

To best fuel his Quirk, Satou learned to cook, that was what he told everyone. Baking was his key skill, but in truth he had a wide range of talents in the field. More than enough to eclipse everyone else in Class 1-A. And more than enough to make working with him well worth it.

"Can you shred these?"

"Sure!"

Being a secondary cook to Satou meant mostly preparatory drudge-work, but the closeness to watching him work, combined with his habit of explaining what he was doing, meant it was easy enough to pick up little tips and tricks to make one better. Kirishima made some muffins after his first cooking duty with Satou and god they'd been incredible. So yeah, no one had any complaints.

"Hey Satou, what's cooking?"

That being said, interest from those not on cooking duty remained high.

"You'll know when it's done," Satou blew off Kaminari's question, continuing to work. It wasn't too hard to see him basting the meat prepared, which drew Kaminari's immediate attention, but when he tried to move in closer to see Satou immediately chased him off. "No-one else in the kitchen!"

That was the usual way it was with him, always a curious student would come by to watch or try and get involved, and always Satou would insist the kitchen was only for those actually on duty and working. Midoriya got the feeling it had become more of a friendship game than any real struggle. It was kind of funny.

"Shhh." The quiet voice in front of Midoriya made him jump in surprise, a brownie from the tray cooling on a counter at the back of the kitchen suspended in the air. Satou, distracted by both Kaminari and Kirishima now, hovering around the entrance to the kitchen, only turned around and spotted the escaping chocolate at the last second.

"Hagakure!" Her laughing voice echoed as she ran, her prize seized. Satou's shoulders slumped. Honestly, no-one had any patience for this.

The ticking forward of time brought with it new visitors and new events – from Ashido and Ojiro teaming up with Kaminari and Kirishima to hassle Satou for their favourites, to Yaoyorozu and Uraraka convincing them to come do homework at the lounge – just close enough to still smell the food that was cooking – to Bakugou pitching a fit at Aoyama for not helping enough with window cleaning, instead focusing on making sure his reflection in them was perfect.

Somehow, from the kitchen area, a little window into the rest of the world was made, which Midoriya found easy to look out from and see the world go by. It was fascinating.

"Hey Midoriya, can you take care of cleaning these?" Another batch of used tools went to wash, the amount of food necessary to feed twenty growing Heroes-to-be by no means small. It wasn't like every day one person cooked for everyone, but sometimes those days came by as well. Nice ways to break from the norm.

Midoriya followed Satou's directions, memorised his words, and picked up what he could to best improve his own cooking skills. The man was almost a natural at teaching them, which led Midoriya to once suggest maybe in the future as a Hero he might also do teaching. Satou waved that off though. Said he wouldn't be any good at it. Midoriya wondered.

The number of students studying in the main lounge increased as the hours ticked by, as the smell of cooking continued to fill the bottom level of Heights Alliance. At times Midoriya could look up to see Yaoyorozu pacing with open book, lectures for the others coming from her, to see Kaminari whisper something to one of the others and set them giggling, to see Iida insisting on proper study decorum while trying not to be taken by the sweet smells in the air himself.

When Mineta raced by for the door, a near apocalyptic Jirou hunting him down while some of the others wore expressions of either pure horror or horrified amusement, Midoriya almost wanted to know. Best not to though. Best not.

And despite all the noise and attention, Satou focused and kept going. That was something to him, he had real focus. Midoriya definitely respected that.

He kept on helping to cook.

"Cheers to Satou and Midoriya!"

When dinner was served, you thanked the cooks. And no-one received louder thanks, or more appreciation, than Satou Rikidou did. It wasn't always, or even regular, that the entire class ate together, but there were those times still. And, once again, it was often Satou that did it.

It was often a scene, this many of them in one place. If Aizawa wasn't keeping them under tight rein, they tended to get a little out of control, energetic and influential on one another enough that in any combat scenario, things would immediately start happening and then never stop. The entire Provisional License Exam had been a good example of that, though situations had still kept them mostly forced apart.

Still, when even a majority of them was together, it was like a wrecking ball which little else could stop. They really were something.

It was only a short while together, sharing food and relaxing, before the twenty would break apart and return to doing their own thing. Bakugou immediately left, as of course he would, while Uraraka tried to gather more people together to continue doing study. Tokoyami said something about the spectre of night haunting him and moved out, which was pretty difficult to tell if he was having Quirk strain or just being Tokoyami, so Shouji and Kouda went to check on him.

Satou and Midoriya began cleaning up the dishes used.

"It's amazing," Satou looked up at the voice, Midoriya looking forward at the dish but speaking to him, "how everyone gathers around when you cook. No-one else can do that. It's really incredible, Satou."

"Oh, uh," praise wasn't something Satou dealt with too well, he was just doing what he did naturally. It was kind of like being thanked for breathing or walking. He couldn't do much more than shrug, "just something I've always done is all."

Besides, wasn't Midoriya selling himself short here? He had similar abilities, just not in the kitchen. Not to say he was bad or anything, he was definitely in the upper half of capability amongst the rest of Satou's classmates, it was just that, when out in the field…

"I think everyone has something that does that. If it's cooking for me, isn't it heroism for you? Everyone keeps gathering around when you do it, after all."

Now Midoriya looked to be on the defensive, unused to praise. A pair of shy boys, trying to deflect compliments by complimenting the other. Not entirely sure how that works but it seemed to be all the same.

"N-not everyone!" Midoriya was quick to stammer that out, and at that point Satou couldn't exactly disagree. When it came to all of Class 1-A, he definitely gathered more than Midoriya did when each was in their element. That didn't make him more special or anything though, or make his cooking skills more valuable than Midoriya's heroism. There was a lot more to it than that.

"I think it's just because you both do what you love!" Uraraka had leant up against the kitchen counter from the other side, elbows on it and chin propped upon her interlinked fingers. "People just gather around those confident and happy in what they're doing!"

And now they were both on failed defensives, utterly ruined by a genuine and honest compliment. If Midoriya gathered people by being heroic and Satou through loving to cook, Uraraka reached others just by being a shining light. Everyone in their Class had that spark, in some way, and hers was almost blinding.

Midoriya and Satou both stammered appreciation as they continued to clean and she smiled and wandered back over to join the others, her curiosity at what the two were talking about now satisfied.

After a moment's silence, the two looked at each other, then grinned and chuckled. Haha, alright.

When Midoriya thought of Satou, he thought about someone with incredible strength and heart, who was going to make a great Hero and who'd always be able to reach others, if not by power in the field, then by cooking in times of need. His ability to impart lessons through his work, he was someone who could reach many.

Midoriya really thought highly of that.

When Satou thought of Midoriya, he remembered the first time he'd seen him fight, nearly ruin himself yet stand up to the impossible Bakugou the entire time. That motivation had inspired him as much as the others of their class, and somehow had transformed into a drive that kept them all going ever since that day.

How far had they come so far, partly following Midoriya? How far were they going to go? Surely further than expected because he was there as well.

He'd come to U.A. to become a Hero, and Satou had no intention of backing down from that. Cooking, as much as he enjoyed doing it, was something secondary to that.

Somehow though, hearing such high praise of it from Midoriya, whose own actions he admired, Satou thought to himself, he shouldn't ever let either of those drives fade.