By the time Christmas Eve had rolled around, everyone was more than ready for the stress of the school year to be over. So much had already happened that year, and there promised to be a few more surprises to come, Izuku Midoriya was sure. But for now, they were just happy to bathe in the festivities of the jolly holiday. As evident by the seriously decked out dormitory, which had sprouted all manner of Christmasy things as soon as December hit. The hallways had been lined with a combination of molting tinsel and festive streamers, whilst each of the bedrooms held their own little Christmas wreaths on the door.
The common room, though, was the mains source of pride as it had been decorated with so much stuff that it looked like Santa's workshop had thrown up in there. From the Christmas tree that was bowing under the weight of all the ornaments, to the Christmas crackers lined up like little soldiers on the tables and each of the students even wore fur-lined costumes of green & red. Even Kaachan (begrudgingly) wore one of those red Santa hats, with a tiny foam explosion hanging from the tip instead of the usual white pompom (in a nod to his Quirk). In fact, they all had a personalised hat—Izuku's was a green fluff ball—which each nodded to their owns Quirks. It was a fun little thing, if nothing else.
"…One, two, three—!" Kirishima excitedly counted down as the entire class stayed up to watch the dormitory clock tick down to midnight. Normally, most of them would've been in bed already, but tonight was special. Since they would all be going home to spend Christmas-slash-New Years with their families, the class had decided that tonight would be a celebration amongst friends. Hence the midnight Christmas feast, courtesy of Sato and the soon-to-be-opened Secret Santa.
TICK~TOCK…TICK~TOCK…POP!
"—MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!" Cheered the students of class 1-A, as the clock finally ticked over the new day, officially making it Christmas day. Confetti rained down from on high and the students held no qualms about stuffing themselves full of the food lain out across all of surfaces. All round him, the room flowed with conversation, laughter and bubbly joy that just seemed to fill the greenette up.
"…Work studies are back in action, I'm so pumped!" Kirishima beamed around a corndog beside him, "But we must be the busiest first years in UA history!"
Turning his attention over to the other side of the room where the girls had gathered around one of the couches, Izuku found that the conversation there, had drifted towards the up & coming work studies as well. "Are the two of you going back to join Ryukyu?" Jiro asked the two beside her.
"Yup! We are!" Uraraka nodded as Asui sucked one end of a candy cane to a sharp point, "What about you?"
"Oh, I dunno…"
SNAP!
"Christmas Eve is the best!" Mineta gushed in response to Izuku's questioning look, as he snapped another picture of all of the happy scenes going on around him. Izuku was just glad that they didn't have to worry about him doing something pervy (for now).
"Oh ho—pfft!—Midoriya!" Iida chortled as he picked out a few stray hairs from his fake beard, that had pressed their way into his mouth.
"Huh?" Izuku hummed, as he was brought out of his reverie and over towards his bearded friend.
"What do you have planned? Tell us! Are you going back to the Nighteye Agency?"
"Yeah, isn't Centipede the one running that operation, now?" Kirishima added on. "It'd be cool to work with that guy again!"
"Mmhm! I thought so too" Izuku smiled, "But it turns out they're too swamped with paperwork to actually take any interns on at the moment. I did my internship with Gran Torino, but he's also busy, so right now? I'm just stuck in Limbo"
"That sucks!"
"But unlike last time when they were optional, this round is mandatory! So there's no need to worry! The school'll find a place for me!" Izuku perked up.
"Still, it's gotta feel weird" Kirishima hummed.
"I guess…" Izuku hummed as his attention drifted over to where the sound of maniacal giggling could be heard coming out of their pink-painted classmate. Ashido appeared to be trying her best to sneak up on Kaachan with a fur-lined jacket in hand, but the blonde was having none of it.
"WHAT'RE YOU SNEAKING AROUND FOR?!" Kaachan whirled on Ashido, catching her off-guard.
"What? I'm just chilling here!" Ashido tried to brush off, acting as innocent as ever, as she shoved the jacket behind her and blinked innocently at her snarling friend. The scene brought a small smile to Izuku's lips because it reminded him of the times when he and Kaachan used to play together as kids; back before either of them had gotten their Quirks and all that that entailed.
"Are you going back to Best Jeanist, Bakubro?" Kirishima tossed over his shoulder, shaking Izuku from his thoughts once more.
"HUH?!" Kaachan snarled, head snapping over towards where the red head sat squished between the arm and the back of the couch.
Though he was never still. Continuing to dodge Ashido's attempts to dress him in something a little more festive that the black skull & bone t-shirt he had on, the pair seemed to almost dance around each other like puppies play-fighting; all rough & tumble and nothing but play. It was only when Kaachan noticed that it was Kirishima talking to him, instead of Izuku, that the blonde even softened back to his usual brashness. And that was another thing, the blonde seemed to have developed quite the soft spot for the hard headed boy over the year, and the two were never far from each other these days. (Again, it reminded Izuku of the days when he followed after Kaachan like a little lost puppy, but those days were long gone; at least for him). In fact, Ashido even had a not-so-secret betting pool running amongst the first years, to see who would pair off with who by graduation and those two were on the list. Then again, so were Izuku & Todoroki and a slew of other classmates, so he tended to take that with a grain of salt.
"…I haven't decided yet" Kaachan eventually admitted, tone almost sad as he replied.
"But you had a ton of people scouting you out, back at the Sport's Festival!" Kirishima protested. Which was true, but only because the actually won the festival and not because of Kaachan's stellar relational skills. "You came in first! You could go wherever you wanted to!"
"I'm not interested in learning from some second-rate hero wannabe" He scoffed, shuffling over to one of the tables.
"…He does know that we're hero wannabes" Hagakure whispered, not-so-quietly from the girls' collective. "Right?"
"I don't think he cares" Jiro replied in kind.
"HAHA~!" Ashido suddenly reappeared, leap-frogging over Todoroki with jacket flared out before her like she was trying to capture some elusive animal.
"YOU TOUCH ME AND YOU DIE!" Kaachan warned her, spinning around to face the cackling pinkette once more. But this time, she held no qualms about being forthcoming in her attempt to 'Christmas him up'
"C'me on! Give in to peer pressure!" She whined as she tumbled to the floor and sprawled out across the floorboards at his feet. "It's Christmas! Where's your festive spirit?"
"Can't believe it's almost time to work studies" Todoroki hummed in thought, "It'll be hard to choose—"
"—THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A PARTY, YOU GUYS!" Mineta grumbled, slamming his hands on the coffee table in emphasis. "SO HOW ABOUT LESS WITH THE SCHOOL WORK AND MORE WITH THE HOLLY JOLLY?!"
"Dude!" Kaminari whistled, "What are you? The Yule Police?"
"C'me on, you guys" Sato defended the grape-haired boy. "It might sound weird, but Mineta's got a point—"
"WHY IS THAT WEIRD?!"
"—It's time for us to dig in!"
Huh, Izuku hummed as he noted the plate of roasted chicken on the plate in his classmate's hands. So, Sugar Man can cook regular food too?
KNOCK~KNOCK!
And then, as if on cue, the door opened with a polite knock proceeding it. Sparing a glance over his shoulder as he reached for the nearest plate, Izuku was greeted to the sight of their teacher—garbed in the ugliest Christmas cat sweater ever to assault someone's eyes—accompanied by little Eri, who wore much the same, if in a smaller size and with more cats on it (if that were even possible).
"Sorry, we're late" Aizawa greeted. "Have you started the party, already?"
"Uh, I'm supposed to say…trick or treat?" Eri asked cutely, turning to their teacher for confirmation.
"Not quite, wrong holiday"
"Eri Clause!" The Hassaikai kids cheered as they rose to greet the pair.
"Awww!" Uraraka cooed, "She's so adorable!"
"That looks great on you!" Izuku agreed, wholeheartedly as he took in the visage of the little girl in the little red fur-lined outfit which matched theirs, if a little smaller.
"In sickness and in health" Eri tried again, throwing handfuls of rice at the closest students. Apparently, she had been carrying around pocketfuls of the grain for just such an occasion (it was wrong occasion, but still).
"No, no, you're even further away, now" Aizawa sighed as he lamented the grains being flattened against the carpet.
"Ooh! Is Tamaki coming? That guy's a riot!" Kirishima piped up, thinking of his senpai.
"I'm afraid he'll be celebrating with his own class tonight" Aizawa replied before turning back to the young girl beside him, "Enjoy yourself, Eri, go on"
"Mmhm!" Eri beamed, before racing over to join in with the big kids.
"Oh my gosh!" Hagakure grinned, lightbulb hat dancing with her movements, "She's so cute!"
"Here! Take these eggs I painted" Eri offered the invisible girl a handful of messily painted Easter eggs.
"That's Easter, but thanks"
"Eri~!" Ashido danced up behind the pair, "Are ya thirsty? We've got hot chocolate! With little marshmallows and everything!"
"Yeah~!"
"Hey! Her horn!" Izuku noted, "It looks like it's gotten bigger!"
"Yeah" Aizawa sighed despondently, "But her attitude has remained positive and she's taking what you said to heart"
And so the night dissolved into joyful bouts of out-of-tune Christmas carols led by Jiro on the guitar and Iida as the over enthusiastic conductor (Izuku had no idea where he had gotten the stick from, but considering the crumbs falling off of it as Iida maniacally waved it, he suspected it may have of been a skewer at one point). Their renditions of Snoopy & the Red Baron, Deck the Villains, Sound of the Holidays and the All Might Fan Club Theme Tune (as presented by Izuku & a begrudging Kaachan) left a lot to be desired, but they were fun to sing and dance to nonetheless, even if Kaachan sat sullenly in the corner, looking very much like the Grinch.
They each shoved an impossible amount of food into their bellies (Izuku was sure that they would be regretting that in the morning), until each student found themselves sporting their very own Santa-trademarked potbelly. And though it was very good (Sato sure knew how to cook), it soon became apparent that the greenette couldn't eat another bite without exploding and, if he were being honest, he felt like he might need to be rolled up to bed or at the very least unbuckle his belt a latch or two.
In any case, everyone was happily full by the time it was time to open up their Secret Santa presents. Each of them had purchased something small, which had then been wrapped up prettily behind festive paper and then they were all placed into a heap in the middle of the room. One end of Sero's tape was wrapped tightly around a gift, whilst the other end was divvied out amongst their classmates (making sure that they never got the one leading to the one they put down) and then, with a flick of their wrists and a flash of Uraraka's Quirk, the presents were sent flying. Some of the presents were easy enough to tell who had come from who, whilst others were a little harder to nail down.
And as Izuku glanced about, he was easily able to pick out the ones who screamed their gift giver's name. Like Iida's bars of gold which had undoubtably come from Yaoyorozu, or Ashido's barbells which had come from Kirishima. There was Sero's frog mirror from Asui, Mineta's headshot of Aoyama and Kaachan's harmonica from Jiro (which he seemed unimpressed by). Jiro got an oversized sweater from Sero, the basketball gifted to Kaminari, courtesy of Kaachan and Izuku, himself got a packet of sticky-cut mochi (which looked pretty yummy, but there was no way he was fitting anything else in tonight) from Uraraka. Whilst the gravity girl in question, got the little All Might keychain figurine he had gifted to her.
But maybe it was just because they had spent so long together that they knew each other so well? Maybe that was why Izuku could pick out Hagakure's rainbow socks in Tokoyami's hands, or Sato's tome of a cookbook weighing down Yaoyorozu (almost heavily as her own gift to their Class President). It was the same reason he saw Shoji in the long scarf gifted to Asui or the soft animal plushie in Todoroki's hands that belonged to Koda. There was Ashido's bottles of nail polish in Aoyama's hands (to be well used, Izuku was sure), Kirishima danced around in a Ryukyu sweater thanks to Mineta (who was surprisingly good at gift-giving) and Hagakure pulled an All Might beanie low across her brow, because Todoroki would be damned if he supported his father in even the simplest way as buying merchandise.
Which left Koda cuddling tight to the new boxset of Vigilantes manga from Ojiro, Shoji fumbled with the long overcoat from Kaminari and Ojiro was left to ogle over the stack of textbooks for the next year, each page annotated with Iida's impeccable handwriting. And in a surprise twist of fate, it was Eri who got Tokoyami's impressively large gothic sword that was easily twice her height. At least she'd grow into it. All-in-all it was a good Christmas, even if they had to bare witness to their teacher's absolute horrid sense of fashion (maybe there was a reason they only ever saw him in his hero costume?).
(At the time, not knowing what the future would hold, all I could think was I hope that we can have a fun Christmas party, next year! I wished that from the bottom of my heart).
Unfortunately, the Christmas party couldn't last forever and eventually—as the sky lightened outside and a sleepy Eri was ferried back to bed—all of our thoughts turned back towards the issue at hand: where to go for their work studies. Many of their classmates had already picked a place, or they had one in mind, which left only a fair few—Izuku & Kaachan included—at a loss for what to do. But never fear! For it was Todoroki who swooped in with a solution; one that almost seemed stupidly simple in hindsight.
"Midoriya, Bakugou" Todoroki approached the pair as they were cleaning up, each of his hands laden with a stack of dirty dishes.
"Huh?" Izuku paused for a moment as he carried a small table full of dishes out of the way.
"Hm?" Kaachan hummed as he repeatedly kicked a box of decorations shit. Together, they turned to face the heterochromatic boy with curiosity swimming in their gazes.
"If you don't have choices of work studies that you like" Todoroki continued, "I was thinking, come with me and do a work study with Endeavour, the Number One Hero"
Oh.
