"Ahhh the first official day of winter break," Mina expressed happily with a mug of hot chocolate in her hands. Peter, Kurt, Blue, Sato, Deku, and Uraraka were downstairs still dressed in their winter pajamas enjoying themselves. "So," Mina sat down on the couch next to Blue and Kurt, "Any of you have any plans?"
"I was planning on something everyone can do together, but I don't have enough supplies to make that happen," Sato explained, standing behind the couch Peter was sitting on.
Kurt and Blue looked to each other than to Mina. Blue spoke for them, "We were thinking of waiting for nightfall so we could walk around the city and see how the populace prepared for Christmas."
"Nope," Peter replied, taking a bite of his breakfast pastry, "I was hoping to go with the flow with you guys since this is my first Christmas in this world. So far, nothing seems to be different from my world."
Deku and Uraraka, both of whom were sitting on opposite sides of Peter, shook their heads to imply they didn't have plans too.
Mina snickered and sipped her beverage for a moment before speaking, "You guys had all this time to plan something and none of you thought to make any? How sad. But lucky for all of you, I made my plans, and maybe we could work off of mine if you want."
Everyone looked to one another and silently agreed with each other to hear Mina out.
"Alright," Peter spoke, "What do you have in mind?"
"Shopping!" Mina exclaimed, "Right now is the best time since sales are just starting. You may not know this Peter, but this city has a habit of procrastinating for shopping during the holidays. If we act now we'll get some of the best stuff."
"That is true," Uraraka said, "Now that Mina mentions it she is right. Right now is the best time to do your holiday shopping."
"What are you guys talking about?" Hagakure arrived with Tsu next to her.
"Planning on doing shopping today," Kurt said, "You girls interested?"
"Sure!" Hagakure replied.
"No thanks," Tsu answered, "If I start to get too cold outside someone will have to drag me around."
"Oh that is true since you are a frog," Peter grumbled disappointed, "You can't really do anything outside, can you?"
"Not for a long time no," Tsu replied, "Winter clothing only stalls it momentarily, but slowly I will feel hibernation kicking in."
"Maybe you could get Hatsume to build you a heater for your body?" Deku chimed in.
Tsu pondered the idea for a moment, "I don't know. For all I know, that heater could set me on fire. I want to be warm, not burning."
"I can help her build it," Peter said, "But only if you want it, Tsu."
Tsu shrugged her shoulders, "Knock yourself out. I'm fine staying inside the whole break but if you want me to have one I won't stop you."
"You could have just said yes," Peter pulled out his phone and began to search for Hatsume's number.
Mina finished the last of her drink and cleared her throat, "Okay so who is going to the mall and who isn't? I'll ask the others later when they wake up but I just wanna know from this group."
Everyone but Tsu and Peter raised their hands.
Mina took a mental note and got up to go rinse her mug, "Okay, I'll go around asking the others. You guys can go get ready or something."
It was high-noon. Mina was patiently waiting in the living room fully dressed with a fur coat, gloves, pants, and winter boots. Peter had left earlier stating that Hatsume was already at the lab somehow and that he would go over to help her build the heater properly.
As promised, Mina went to each room and asked everyone if they wanted to go shopping. The ones who agreed were Iida, Kirishima, X-23, Eri, and begrudgingly, Bakugo. The rest stated they already had plans with family, but they will be available tomorrow.
One by one everyone came into the living room ready with their winter clothes on.
"Is everyone ready?" Iida asked as he stood in front.
"Yes, we are!" Mostly everyone said.
"Alright then. Make sure to not fall behind or get lost. Stick as a group and everything will go by smoothly!" Iida said, and with that, everyone left the building.
Peter walked through the hallways of U.A after gaining permission to enter from Midnight who was on campus retrieving an item she left. It was eerie and anxious to walk U.A without a single student or staff member passing by. Peter is used to seeing U.A so lively and full of life. Since everyone is on Christmas Break it makes sense that no one would be here but it doesn't take away the feeling of slight dread of walking alone in a big building; especially when you live a life as a hero and quiet areas are seen as traps.
After several minutes of walking, Peter stopped just at the edge of the support class workshop. He knew Hatsume and knew it was best to wait a few moments before entering.
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…
BOOM!
A loud explosion erupted from inside. Peter opened the door, surprised it wasn't flying off and was met with smoke.
Peter coughed into his hands and waved whatever smoke he could get away from him, "Do you always need to blow stuff up, Hatsume?"
"It comes with the Hatsume package!" Hatsume exclaimed from above Peter. Peter looked up to see Hastume hanging in the air as she was holding onto a hook. "I didn't mean to grab this hook. It was accidental that I ended up here." Hatsume let go of the hook as Peter caught her and set her on her feet. "Thank you. Now, you say you need me to build a baby?" Hatsume's eyes shined brightly, "What do you need? Flaming webs, a method of calling spiders and controlling them, additional arms, a black stealth suit?! Tell me what baby you need me to build and I will do it!"
"I need a personal heater suit for Tsu," Peter almost felt bad asking for that after seeing how energetic and excited Hatsume was.
Hatsume's expression went neutral as she blinked a couple of times, "A heater? Like a suit that keeps her warm? Really? Can't just buy one from the store or something?" Hatsume threw her arms into the air and gave Peter an annoyed expression, "Really?"
Peter rubbed the back of his head with a goofy smile, "Sorry to get your hopes up."
"You better be," Hatsume sighed and grabbed a wrench that was on the floor, "And here I thought I was going to be producing a baby that would be a challenge for me." Hatsume walked towards a pile of scrap metal and threw some of it at a table, "This should take me...I don't know two hours, three tops."
Peter walked next to Hatsume and helped her get the heavier stuff onto the table, "I could help you know."
"I know," Hatsume replied. Peter felt very awkward and sorta guilty. Hatsume's usual energy wasn't there, and Peter knew that she was very upset on the inside. The only reason Hatsume didn't flat out reject Peter's request is that they are friends and Peter knows it.
"Hey, Hatsume, why are you here and not home?" Peter tried to strike up a conversation with her.
"I don't want to be at home. Dad is always at work and mom is somewhere on this planet ignoring my existence," Hatsume blankly said and smashed a hammer over the scrap metal.
The awkward tension between the two rose to a new level as Peter couldn't find an appropriate response to that, "O-oh." Peter looked around the room trying to find words, "I'm sorry, Hatsume."
"Don't be, I'm used to it," Hatsume pointed to a welding helmet and blowtorch, "Bring those to me."
Peter did as told whilst thinking to himself, "I bet the others are having a better time than me."
"Here we are!" Mina laughed with glee. The Wookie Mall, Musutafu's prized outdoor mall. In Japan, it was one of the biggest malls in the country outside of those in Tokyo.
Iida got in front of everyone and turned to them, "Okay, before we start shopping, who's taking off? I know some of us would rather go on our own than travel with others." Bakugo, Kirishima, and Sato all raised their hands. "Okay then. At 6:30 pm, let's meet up back here."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Bakugo huffed and walked away as Kirishima followed him.
"This gives me the opportunity I need to get those supplies I was talking about in the morning," Sato smiled brightly, "The thought of it is making me giddy honestly." Sato went off in his direction.
Eri tugged on Deku's leg, "Deku."
Deku looked down at Eri and smiled, "Yeah, Eri?"
"Do you have gifts for everyone?" Eri asked.
Deku thought to himself for a moment before answering, "Not yet. I'm still missing some for others but I can get them as we walk around."
"Alright everyone, let's head inside. If you see anything you like, let us know so we can wait for you!" Iida said as they all went inside the mall together.
Hagakure was feeling quite relieved to be outside of U.A. It has been a long while since she was able to step outside of the campus ever since she and the others moved into the dorms. Hagakure let out a big breath of relaxation as a small cloud of mist escaped her lips.
"Something wrong?" Kurt asked.
"Nothing, Kurt," Hagakure made a smile with her finger to indicate she was fine, "It just feels nice to be outside of U.A. It has been a long time since we were outside of the campus that didn't involve hero work of some kind."
"I understand," Kurt said, looking around at the stores to see if any caught his eye, "Hero work does take a toll on your mental psyche so it must feel nice to be able to get out and do something entertaining for once."
"Yup! It's why I jumped at the idea of shopping when you brought it up," Hagakure said. The tips of her gloved hands were tapping each other, "Also, I still need to find a gift for…." Hagakure got closer to Kurt and whispered into his ear, "For Mina. It's hard to get her anything when she practically buys what she wants all the time."
"I wouldn't be surprised if Santa had trouble getting her things," Kurt said, earning a snicker from Hagakure.
"Speaking of Santa," Hagakure turned to X-23, "Do you think Eri might want to take a picture with him?"
X-23 shrugged her shoulders, "Probably. It's up to her. I'm not going to force her if she doesn't want to, and I'm not going to ask her either."
"Is it because you don't want to deal with it too?" Blue asked.
"Yes," X-23 replied, watching Eri closely as she was talking to Deku about what gifts Mrs. Midoriya would like.
"Hey guys, look!" Mina pointed to a clothes shop that was having holiday sales, "Let's see if they have anything!" Mina sped walked towards the store as the rest followed her.
Bakugo and Kirishima were browsing through a collectors shop looking for rare items.
"I can't find anything here Mina might like," Kirishima exhaled, "It's hard to get her anything when she buys everything."
"Then get her something original," Bakugo grumbled as he was browsing through All Might merchandise.
Kirishima blinked, "Are...are you getting something for Midoriya?"
"Fuck no!" Bakugo growled, "I ain't getting Deku jackshit for Christmas! I ain't getting anyone anything! I don't have that kind of cash, and if I did, I sure as well wouldn't spend it on any of you!"
Kirishima smiled with his pointy teeth showing, "Oh come on Bakugo don't be like that! It's the season of giving! If you can't or don't want to buy anything for anyone, you could at least make something for them or give them something you don't use that has value."
Bakugo ignored Kirishima's comments and kept looking at the collectibles, "What does Racoon Eyes have?" Bakugo asked.
"What doesn't she have is a better question, and I still couldn't answer that one either," Kirishima examined a statue of Mt. Lady, "Finding gifts for Mina is one of the hardest I've ever had to do. Finding one for her birthday earlier this year showed me that. I barely got away with a dress because I overheard saying the day before her birthday about how she wanted that dress."
"You mean that stupid pink one she wore at the school holiday dance?" Bakugo questioned, putting down an All Might figure next to the Best Jeanist figure.
"That's the one," Kirishima scratched the back of his head, "Honestly, I'm out of ideas. I don't know what could be perfect for her."
Bakugo let out an annoyed sigh and rubbed his temples, "How about instead of buying her something, you take your advice and give her something of value that you can create or already own."
"I could do that," Kirishima responded, "I'm not going to find anything here. Have you found something yet?"
"Yeah," Bakugo had his eyes set on a Best Jeanist figure, "Go outside and stand there while I buy it."
"Okie doke," Kirishima left the building as Bakugo grabbed the figure.
"And that's how the web-shooters came to be," Peter finished explaining to Hatsume.
Hatsume was fascinated by the construction of the web-shooters, "Amazing! I'm still surprised that out of all the abilities you didn't gain from the spider was the ability to spin webs! Then again, knowing where the webs are produced from spiders, I can see the benefit."
"They don't actually produce webs from their butts you know," Peter snickered, "It's from a special gland in their bodies."
"I'm an engineer Peter, not an arachnologist, so it's butt-silk to me," Hatsume laughed and slammed a hammer onto a piece of metal to flatten it, "Anyways, you said something about changing the properties of your webs so they can have different abilities like fire. How did you change the web-shooters to handle that?"
"Every time I think of adding a new kind of web to my arsenal I upgrade my web-shooters so they are capable of handling the new chemicals they'll be shooting out," Peter explained while watching Hatsume work, "For example, when I wanted to do fire, I had to add a specialized fluid so my webs could catch on fire and not melt. I had to make sure I used a compound metal for my web-shooters so they couldn't get damaged by the fluid."
"I want to see how your web-shooters work, I want to see everything about that suit honestly!" Hatsume turned her head towards the corner of the room where Peter's Iron Spider and the Karen chip were stored inside of a glass container, "Those two items still stump me and Power Loader."
"I figured," Peter eyed the heater on Hatsume's table, "Say, how's the heater coming along?"
"Oh it's done already," Hatsume simply said.
"It is?!" Peter walked up to it and saw it was a flat circle that was attachable to clothing, "I thought you said it would take you two hours at least?"
"I did, but you kept talking," Hatsume grabbed another baby of her's and examined it.
"How long has it been finished?"
"I don't know. A few hours ago."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"You were talking about your babies! Why would I interrupt that?"
"Fair enough," Peter grabbed the heater, "Thank you, Hatsume."
"No problem," Hatsume grabbed a screwdriver and began to unscrew her baby.
Peter walked towards the entrance of the room and was going to leave, but stopped at the door and looked back to Hatsume, "Hey...Hatsume."
"Hmm?" Hatsume looked at Peter, "Yeah?"
"Why don't you come spend Christmas with us?" Peter suggested, "I'm sure we could find a way to let you bunk in with us too."
"Why are you asking me this?" Hatsume questioned, her eyes now completely focused on Peter.
"It's the holiday season, Hatsume," Peter turned his body to Hatsume and walked towards her, "I understand your situation with your family isn't the best, and I know you don't get along with anyone in your class, but that doesn't mean you have to spend time alone during Christmas. Come on, Hatsume." Peter held out his hand to her, "I don't want you to spend Christmas alone, and I'm not saying that because I pity you. I'm asking you because you're my friend, and I would like for you to come spend Christmas with us if you want to. If you don't, I understand."
Hatsume was touched by the question. Hatsume had a love/hate relationship with Christmas. She enjoyed most of the things about it from the treats, the gifts, the shows, lights, everything! But...she hated seeing everyone together because she had no one. Her father worked all day and her mom left when she was a baby. Every Christmas since she was 14 when she was old enough to stay home alone was just that. Spending Christmas alone at home. She preoccupied herself by building babies, but in her heart, she felt jealousy towards everyone outside who wasn't home and having fun with friends and family.
Christmas was about giving, but it was also about coming together, and Hatsume wanted that more than anything.
Without thinking, Hatsume snatched Peter's hand and pulled him into a big hug. Peter half expected this and hugged her back gently, "I take it you accept my invitation." Peter smiled warmly and patted her on the back.
"I wouldn't pass this opportunity up for the world…" Hatsume sniffed. The jealousy she felt was now replaced with happiness in an instant. She expected this Christmas to be the same, but Peter had other plans for her, one that she was more than happy to take upon.
After shopping for clothes with all of them coming away with something, X-23, Eri, Deku, and Uraraka were waiting outside the Disney Store. The rest of the gang had gone inside to look for presents for their families. They had gone through several stores and ran into Kirishima, Bakugo, and Sato a few times as well before stopping at the Disney Store.
"Not interested in anything Disney, Deku?" Uraraka asked.
"Nah, I already got my mom a Nightmare Before Christmas village set, so I do not need to go inside," Deku answered, "What about you?"
"My family isn't big on Disney," Uraraka cheekily smiled, "Not as big as I am though."
"Don't you like Nintendo more than Disney?" X-23 asked, "I do remember seeing your closet filled with hidden Nintendo stuff that you wanted to keep secret."
"Wait what?" Deku looked to Uraraka with a surprised look, "You never told me this."
"It was supposed to be a secret," Uraraka glared at X-23, who in return, rolled her eyes, "But yes, I am a Nintendo nerd. It's why I always geek out about anything Mario, Fire Emblem, or Kirby related. I love Nintendo, and especially Kirby!"
"Why do you hide it?" Eri asked.
"Because it's all sacred to me and I don't want anyone touching it," Uraraka replied with a protective tone.
Before Eri could ask another question, Mina, Hagakure, Iida, Kurt, and Blue walked out with bags in their hands.
"What did you guys get?" Uraraka asked.
"A Stitch sweater, a Buzz Lightyear action figure for my Lil brother, and an Olaf plush for my little sister," Mina said.
"Mugs of Dumbo, Mulan, and The Genie for my family," Iida answered.
"I got a Simba plush," Hagakure said, "I wanted more but I'll wait for them to get on sale. According to one of the employees, that should be happening soon."
Kurt and Blue walked over to X-23, "We found something….conflicting." Kurt said.
X-23 raised a brow, "What is it?"
Blue pulled out an Iron Man action figure and a Loki mug from the bag, "They had Iron Man and Loki merchandise." Blue stated.
"I thought our world wasn't here in any shape or form," Kurt rubbed his head, "So how is this here?"
X-23 stared at the two items in both shock and disturbance, "I…I'm at a loss for words…"
"I'm terrified," Blue gulped, "It makes me feel like Disney is more than just a one world business."
"Don't be ridiculous, that isn't possible," X-23 said.
"Our lives are unorthodox! Everything we do doesn't make sense!" Blue stated firmly, "Heck, us being here doesn't make sense!"
"He's right you know," Kurt said.
"What are you guys talking about?" Eri asked and saw the items, "Who are they?"
The three Marvel characters looked between Eri and the merchandise before the two blue devils put them away. "Just some characters we found interesting, Eri," Kurt lied.
Eri accepted the answer as Iida suddenly spoke up, "It's almost 6:30 pm, everyone!"
"Already?!" Mina shouted, "I feel like we just started!"
"We went through a lot of things," Hagakure said, "Time flies when you're having fun I guess."
Mina grumbled for a moment but then smiled brightly, "Oh well! Onto the next idea for tomorrow, I suppose! Let's go then! I definitely don't want to carry this stuff home in this weather."
"Agreed," Iida looked at his bags, "My stuff is a little more delicate to be dropped."
With that being said, everyone had gone to meet up at a spot where the others were already waiting for them with Bakugo and Sato having bags of their own.
"About time you lot show up!" Bakugo shouted, "I was freezing my ass off waiting for you!"
"You waited for us?" Mina seemed surprised by this.
"Not by choice! The train had already left by the time I got here so I was forced to wait," Bakugo snarled.
"Of course," Mina felt dejected after thinking that Bakugo actually cared.
Kirishima laughed and patted Bakugo on the back, "Yeah! He was going to book it had we caught the train on time."
"You didn't buy anything, Kirishima?" Deku asked him.
Kirishima shook his head, "Nah. I couldn't find anything to buy them so I'm just gonna wing it with something I can make or already have that still has value."
"Awesome!" Mina exclaimed.
The group heard the train approaching the station. When it stopped, they all got on board and took seats next to each other with bags in hand.
"That was fun," Mina said, turning her focus to Eri, "Didn't want to meet Santa, Eri?"
"Maybe another time," Eri replied, leaning onto X-23.
"So cute," Mina thought to herself as the train began to move again.
"Hey I just got a text from Peter," Deku said with his expression widening.
"What does it say, Deku?" Uraraka asked.
"Uhh…..we're going to have an extra person in the house," Deku said.
"Who?" Iida questioned with curiosity.
"Tell who the hell is it Deku!" Bakugo shouted, already feeling angry at the fact that another person is staying over.
"It's Hatsume," Deku replied, "Turns out she didn't have anyone to spend this year with so he asked her to see if she wanted to spend it with us."
"Awwwww that's sweet of him," Uraraka smiled as a ping went off from Deku's phone.
"What does that text say?" Kurt asked.
"He bumped into Shinso on the way back," Deku sighed, "Make that two people now."