CHAPTER 2: Bonfire
In no time, the living room got crowded as the sun got lower. Todoroki had helped to set an icy station where the keg stood; Jiro of course was in charge of the music, tunes setting a chill vibe with the hits of the summer, setting the mood to perfection.
"I still don't approve." Iida was sitting on the couch, arms crossed and a judgemental expression glancing at the ones around them.
Denki grabbed a beer and sat on the couch next to Iida, while Shoji and Ojiro set up a table to play beer pong in the distance.
"Iida, Seniors do this party every single year since the instauration of the dorms, and they never get in trouble for it. Its tradition."
"We're soiling the good name of this sacred institution by succumbing into this kind of gatherings," was his abrupt answer. Denki saw his opportunity to refute that argument.
"Technically, graduated students that will soon become legends in the history of U.A. already got drunk in this dorms so," the electrifying blond took a large sip off the cup. "We're practically making history tonight as well!"
Iida stood in energic discontent and announced his retiring to his bedroom. While it was true that he had always frowned upon drinking and other vices, he knew he couldn't do much about it, since it wasn't exactly forbidden.
"I shall return to my room! Someone must stay completely sober if things get out of control. Plus, for all we know, teachers won't be here until tomorrow, and as president of the class-"
"Yeah yeah, we get it motorhead," if there was one thing Kacchan couldn't stand, it was Iida's high morals. "If we are going to do this, IT NEEDS TO BE THE DAMN BEST PARTY THIS DORM WILL EVER HOST." and there it was again, his unruly determination to excel at everything, even if it was just about having fun. Uraraka, who had been sitting quietly on the couch stood up, patting Iida's tense arm.
"We'll call you if there's something good to eat later, Iida." her bubbly tone helped to ease the mood. She clenched one fist up as she turned to Bakugo. "Bakugo is right! We need to amp this up!" The ashy blond young man rolled his eyes and fell on the couch, annoyed by Uraraka stating the obvious. "We should do something special, different!" he glanced again, at least her spirit was in the right place.
"Yeah! Something unforgettable!" Denki stood up too, the group began to mumble as if the were a collective group of Midoriyas.
"Never done before!"
"Something cool!"
"LEGENDARY!"
"But still, doable"
The mumbling and hyping filled the room as Izuku walked in the dorms with his boxes and a bag of ice.
"Hey everyone! What's all this fuss about?" his freckles framed his trademark warm smile. "You can hear the voices from outside, the volume suddenly rose like a bonfire." his smile was quickly replaced by a puzzled expression. Everyone, even Kacchan stood silent, staring at Deku. "W-what?"
"A BONFIRE!" Uraraka's excitement made her float in the air, her eyes clear and wide open.
"You're a genius!" Kirishima, already influenced by the 3 beers he drank before, wrapped an arm around Midoriya's neck, making his boxes fall flat over the crimson carpet.
Everyone soon started to cooperate and plan the bonfire, rushing to the garden behind the dorms.
"We're not cutting any trees, right? Because that would fall into the destruction of private property." Tsu's hands clamped each other nervously.
"Relax, Iidaella" Mineta hurried next to Momo. "I'm pretty sure Momo here can hook us up with some nice fresh logs for the fire, right?" His prying eyes landed on the tall girl's body, who let out a puff of air in disapproval.
Momo lifted one of her bare legs, concentrating on the composition of wood, recreating the mental image of a log. A warm, liquid-like sensation ran through her body, traveling towards her right leg; pulling from her leg's subtly lifted skin, a medium-sized log materialized and fell to the ground.
"You pulled it out of your leg? What a disappointment!" Mineta crossed his arms in frustration as he walked away disinterestedly.
"We will need at least five of those." Todoroki pointed at the log. "Think you can handle it?"
Momo's glance fixated on the log for a moment. Sure 4 more logs like the one she had just created implicated a lot of lipids, but since she was not planning on using her quirk again that night, she concluded there would be not much trouble. Oh, how wrong she was…
After the 5 logs were materialized, she sat exhausted on the wet grass. Ochaco and Mina sat down beside her, worry in their faces.
"Are you alright sweetie? Do you need anything?" Rosy hands ran through her sweaty forehead.
"Yeah, I can bring you some beer if you like." Denku's half worried-half drunk face made Momo release a weak laugh.
"Maybe some pretzels instead," Ochaco replied to his offer.
"Why not both?" Mina, who had also been drinking, lifted a fist in the air. "Because beer makes you gain weight plus, it is so cold and good…" her argument ended up in small giggles as she stood up and wrapped an arm around Denki, making him lose his balance a little.
"Both it is then." Momo agreed, amused at the sight of her friends having a good time. In no time, Bakugo had already burst the logs into flames, and Seto had brought all kinds of snacks to roast in the fire.
Everyone sat around the fire, Jiro unpacked her guitar and started to carelessly play it. Momo leaned back and looked at the stars. Maybe it was the booze, but being around her friends, at U.A. again made all her problems seem distant and blurry.
It didn't take long enough for shots to pass around, laughter and loud voices danced in the air, mixing with the smoke of the fire.
"Alright but if you had to, HAD TO," Kirishima's voice rose above all the conversations. He was once again picking on Kacchan. "Whom from U.A.'s staff would you spend a night with?" everyone's faces turned and all ears focused on that conversation.
"What a stupid question." Bakugo's eyes were fixated on the fire that last shot of tequila had eased his exploding temper, he still looked annoyed nonetheless.
"ARE YOU SAYING YOU WOULDN'T GIVE YOUR RIGHT ARM TO BE WITH MIDNIGHT AT LEAST ONCE?!" Mineta, who had been staring dizzily at the group of girls sitting on the opposite side of the fire, naturally became very interested in the conversation.
"She's one of the only female teachers at U.A., who else could be picked?" Midoriyas brain started overanalyzing the question, is if the matter was life or death. He soon felt the eyes of the girls on him. "Not that I was thinking of picking anyone in particular!" he quickly added as his freckles got lost in a plum-colored blush.
"Deku's right! you girls have it so much easier" Todoroki pointed out. "Technically, you have more options to choose from"
"I don't know about that, I mean," a hiccup interrupted Mina's argument. "Other than All-Might, is there anyone that stands up from the crowd as an eligible date?"
"Well there's Present Mic" Jiro pondered, but quickly dropped the idea. "Nah, forget it, too loud."
"Maybe Snipe or Ectoplasm would give All-Might a run for his money," Tori added.
"Is no one going to mention the Vlad King? I mean girls, c'mon." Aoyama carelessly pointed out as he drank from the wine he had brought himself. "I've seen you all stare at him while he writes on the board in class." laughter danced carelessly in the mouths of most of the students.
"Eraserhead" the name slipped from Momo's lips without her even noticing, for she was still glancing upwards lost in thought. Everyone's giggles and chuckles were canceled for a split second, just to be replaced with a new wave of even louder laughter.
"ERASERHEAD?" Mina's exclamation rose abruptly into the night sky. "Momo are you serious?!"
"What? No!" Momo's mind wobbled back into the conversation. She had been glancing at the sky, her eyes roaming distracted on the landscape until she caught sight of a half-opened window with the lights off. It was Aizawa's window. "I wasn't even listening to the conversation." she silently wished she wasn't so lightheaded, but the lack of lipids and the intake of alcohol had numbed her thoughts. Everyone giggled and teased her. "I was just staring at the dorms and saw professor Aizawas window, quit it." the words came out with fatigue.
She was wondering if Aizawa put his place on rent or something while he wasn't living here. She thanked the heavens she no longer had to pay rent when the name of the pro hero slipped from her thoughts into the conversation.
"Y'know, I've always wondered what Mr. Aizawa's room looks like." Sero glanced at the window in question.
"Why tho? It's not like it's a girl's room. What a waste of time," Mineta's interest in the conversation had gone as soon as it had come.
Momo's blurry mind thought about how unfair it was that she had to pay rent and work at a coffee shop to barely make it through the summer, while Aizawa probably would get all that rent money back while he could carelessly take a nap on his dumb yellow sack here at the dorms of the school.
"I bet it's full of sleeping bags," she mumbled, slightly scowling. She could just picture him living the sweet life here ar U.A., indifferent to everyone and everything, while she now had to worry about keeping her new scholarship. " I bet it smells like dirty sheets and undone laundry." her frown grew deeper. Tomorrow she would have that heavy burden of keeping her grades at the top of the class, a class probably given by that miserable yellow cocoon of a man. "I even bet his bed is permanently undone," her voice raised in every new statement. "Mr. Sleeping Beauty," she said in the end, crossing her bare legs in discontent.
"Seems to me you're betting on a lot of things there, Momo." Bakugo's slow, yet spiteful voice rose among the general laughter. The group became slightly silent. "Care to put your money where your mouth is?"
Momo glared at him in silence. His face grew closer to the fire as he leaned forward, an empty tequila shot lingering on his fingers.
"I bet you can't sneak into his room and take a picture to show us your suppositions are true." a scornful attempt of laughter slipped through his lips. "Oh no no, goody-good Yaoyorozu wouldn't do that."
Some giggled nervously; not because of what Kacchan had just said, but because of the look in Momo's face.
"Of course she wouldn't, Bakugo. Knock it off." Mina's response, although well intended, felt like a papercut: not really bad but annoying.
If there was something Momo was fed up from this summer, it was of people telling her what she would or wouldn't do. Why was everyone so sure she was mellow? Was she so predictable? Did everyone see her as spineless? No one there, except Sato, knew what she had been through that summer. And now this sad excuse of a bomb with a big mouth was calling her "goody-good Momo"? What felt before like a paper cut was starting to stinge like a nail right through the heart.
"How much?" the cold question caught Bakugo off-guard. Everyone stood silent. Occhaco noticed Midoriya was about to try and ease the argument, so she put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from making his relationship with the muscly blonde worse. No one dared to move a finger.
Bakugo's angular jawline tensed at the response. He was used to letting his nasty comments out without having to worry about a comeback. "Excuse me?"
"I asked, how much?" Momo's tone was confident and sharp. "How much are you willing to bet if you're so sure I won't do it?"
Kacchan's eyes fixated on the ponytailed girl with the oversized shirt in front of him; there was no way in hell he could or would back out from this.
"Ten thousand yens." everyone held their breath, Mina gasped in surprise. Momo didn't look away, neither did her face showed surprise.
"Deal."
Thank you for giving this chapter a chance! I hope you enjoy it and stay tunned for more!