Dinner tastes like feet.

I'm too hungry to care.

I sit beside Bakugou and consume it all. When I finish, I wash the bowl and leave to take a shower. After last night's experience, I don't want anything to do with that stupid hot spring. Instead, I shower, change into my pajamas, return to our rooms, and slide into my sleeping bag.

I'm out as soon as I close my eyes.

I wake, groggily, to the noisy sound of chatter as the others return. Stretching and yawning when the others walk in.

"Oh, Rin-chan, there you are! We thought you might have been with Sensei!" Toru says happily. "Have you been sleeping?"

I nod and rub my eyes.

How are they so energetic?

Sitting up, I yawn again and switch off my flashlight. I watch tiredly as my classmates all separate towards their separate bags and start grabbing their things. Tsuyu smiles, changes, and comes to sit by me.

"Hey Rin-chan, do you feel better?"

I blush and rub my neck.

"Oh… uh, yeah… Thank you."

"You're welcome. My little brother gets upset like that sometimes too," the Frog girl states with a smile. "I'm sure sleeping helped, ribbit."

It did, but I don't say that.

I want to ask her about her brothers, but it's hard to think with the thick fog of sleep still swirling in my head.

"Hey, Rin-chan, what's it like living with Sensei?" Mina asks, laying out on top of her sleeping bag and stretching like a pink cat.

"Oooh, does he sleep in his yellow sleeping bag at home?" Toru questions, a magazine splayed out across her legs. "Oh! And does he eat those jelly packets there too?"

I smile at that. For some reason, I'd never found any at the apartment. I was pretty sure he kept those jelly packets at school. I wonder if they were in his desk.

"He sleeps in his room," I say with a shrug. "And we eat dinner at the table."

"Do you usually cook?" Ochako asks curiously.

"Only if he lets me," I answer and then yawn. I cover my face. "'Scuse me. Otherwise, he makes dinner. He's really nice like that."

Tsuyu nods her head and my skin takes on a small glow when she smiles back.

"I could see that," the dark-haired girl says nodding. "Ribbit."

After that Toru and Kyoka get into a discussion about clothes, Ochako and Momo begins talking about something else with Mina joining in randomly, and Tsuyu just quietly sits by me.

It's… nice.

It's like being on the couch with Sensei, but different. More.

I like it.

And then, to my surprise, Sensei arrives.

He knocks, waits several seconds, and steps inside. Everyone giggles at him and he gives us all a rather bland stare.

"Hi Sensei!" Mina squeaks, rolling over onto her back to grin up at him upside down. His lip twitches in amusement. "Are you here to see Rin-chan?"

"Would you like me to speak with you first?" he asks, and it takes a moment to realize he's teasing. I smile and snicker, leaning slightly into Tsuyu's shoulder.

"Oh yes!" the pink girl says excitedly and suddenly sitting up.

"Oh, will you sit with us?" Toru asks, pushing aside the magazine. "Can we brush your hair?"

Sensei raises an eyebrow, and I expect him to say no.

But he steps inside and sits on the floor, his heavy boots folding underneath him.

"My hair is already brushed."

Hesitantly, I lean forward.

"Can I put it in a bun?" I ask softly. Sensei's dark eyes turn to examine me for a moment before he shrugs and reaches in his pocket. He pulls out a hairbow and holds it out. I grin, reach out for it, and take it. My skin brightens even as Ochako, Momo, and Kyoka all scoot closer. I excitedly crawl across the floor behind him to lean against his back. He's so warm.

His hair is just as soft as usual. My fingers run through the mess easily and he's right, it is brushed even though it looks like chaos. I scratch his scalp lightly even as I begin pulling the strands into my hand.

Toru comes over, bringing her magazine with her, and shoves it in Sensei's lap.

I can't see his face, but I imagine he's blinking.

"Sensei, which outfit do you think looks better?" the invisible girl asks.

Kyoka perks up.

"It's the dark one, right? It's so much more edgy!" says the dark-haired girl.

Tsuyu, who hadn't moved before, comes to peer at the magazine.

"They're both fine," Sensei says flatly, and I grin realizing he really doesn't care. Why would they ask him that? He wears the same outfit every day. "Which do you like?"

"Oh, this one!" Toru squeals as she points to something I can't say. She talks excitedly and I ignore them as I concentrate on Sensei's hair. It doesn't take long to pull it all in my hand, though there's so much it's hard to keep all of it together. I twist it in the messy style bun he always wears, and smile.

Then, unable to help myself, I wrap my arms around his neck and press my face against his cheek.

The bristle of his facial hair digs into my skin and I glow, unable to keep the large smile from my face. The room quiets and he doesn't move me.

"That's so cute…" whispers Momo softly, and I peek over to see Ochako nodding and turning red.

He pats me after a few seconds, and I reluctantly let go.

"Do you want me to fix your hair?" he asks.

My jaw drops. Everyone's jaw drops.

"Oh, can you do mine next?" Mina asks excitedly.

Sensei gives her a look.

"Your hair is far too short."

"What about mine?" Tsuyu asks.

Sensei sighs.

"Sure."

I grin and sit in front of him, close enough I can feel his knees against my back. He unravels my hair combs it through with his fingers twice, before collecting several strands and twisting them methodically. When he finishes, he ties it off at the end.

"Wow Sensei, I didn't know boys could braid!"

Sensei gives Toru a look.

She lets out an embarrassed laugh.

Sensei taps my shoulder when he finishes and I scoot over so I can snuggle into his side. He ignores me as Tsuyu takes up my spot and pulls down her own hair. She has a lot of it. Sensei doesn't run his fingers through hers. He separates it into three thick chunks at the top, and I'm amazed at the speed in which he twists the entire thing.

It's nice.

I lean against him and he raises an eyebrow.

"Sensei, can… can you do mine too?" Momo asks, wide-eyed.

He nods and gestures her over. She quickly scrambles into the space in front of him. Sensei does the same with her as he did with Tsuyu.

"I came to check on you," he says as he works.

"Awe, you're so sweet!" Ochako beams happily. Tsuyu, still examining her braid, nods as well.

He makes a noise and, if we were at home, likely would have rolled his eyes.

He finishes Momo's hair and turns to examine my face.

"If you need me, come get me," he says blankly. And when I nod he looks at all of the other girls with a rather dour expression. "Behave."

Even Kyoka laughs.

"Yes, sir!" Mina says with a silly grin.

He scowls and rises to his feet.

"Goodnight," he says, and he's out the door.

The laughter that follows lasts for at least ten minutes.

.

.

.

The next morning, Mina wakes me with a grin.

"Rin-chan! It's tiiimmmeeee! Let's go!"

I stumble out of the sleeping bag, stretch, and yawn. By the time I've changed, Tsuyu, Ochako, Momo, and Kyoka are still trying to wake and Toru is waiting impatiently by the door.

"C'mon Mina, Rin, we can go ahead without them. I'm hungry."

I shrug. Mina frowns.

"But what if they fall back asleep?" the pink girl asks, nodding towards Tsuyu who seems to be sleeping with her eyes open.

I immediately feel guilty for not thinking of that.

Tsuyu was nice.

Momo waves her off.

"I'll make sure she's there," the tall girl says rubbing her eyes. "You guys go ahead."

Mina shrugs, and not wanting to be weird, I leave as well.

Unlike before, however, there are more boys there than before.

"Hi, Hoki-chan!" Midoriya says as I sit next to him. Across from us, Bakugou glares, and Kirishima struggles not to fall asleep in his food. Besides Midoriya, the only guy here that looks awake is the one with all of the arms. He looks like a spider ninja.

"Hi," I reply quietly and starting in on the sweet food.

"Are you ready for today?"

I pause, food halfway to my lip, and give him an odd look.

What an odd question…

"I guess," I answer. I frown when Todoroki takes the spot next to me that either Mina or Toru would have sat in. Then, realizing my manners, I turn back to the freckled boy. "Uh… Are you?"

Todoroki leans forward and eats his food and Midoriya makes a face as he nods.

"Yeah, but I'm super sore from yesterday! You kick really hard! How come you don't use your quirk when you fight though?"

I grimace.

"I'm… I'm not supposed to. I'm not really good at controlling it," I admit. "Yamada-sensei won't even let me use it without Aizawa-sensei around."

Midoriya frowns, and across the table, I notice Bakugou staring in his bowl, eyebrows drawn.

"Who is Yamada-sensei?" Todoroki asks.

I furrow my eyebrows.

Maybe he's bad with names too?

"Present Mic," I answer.

"Oh wow! That's right, you did your internship with him. What was that like? I did mine with Grand Torino, and I learned a lot. He was an amazing teacher!"

Todoroki goes back to eating his food, and I realize with a start I'm probably supposed to reply to that.

"Oh, uh, that's… cool?" Midoriya's face falls and I flush with no idea how to answer that. "I… I don't know who Grand Torino is. But, um, Yamada-sensei was… is? Nice? He gives a lot of hugs…"

Bakugou snorts and even Kirishima looks up in amusement.

An awkward silence fills the space between us, and I eat several bites before the urge to fill the weird silence becomes overwhelming.

"You over-extend," I blurt out suddenly.

Midoriya, who had just taken a bite of food, chokes on it. Bakugou smirks and Todoroki reaches behind me to pat the other boy's back. I flush, realizing, again, I probably should have added a transition.

Why am I always so bad at this?

"Wh-What?"

"Your arms," I mumble, looking at the table. "You pull them back too far and extend them too far. Yamada-sensei says you shouldn't. That's how you hurt yourself."

"Present Mic can fight?" Kirishima asks, raising an eyebrow.

"You're a dumbass," Bakugou grumbles, not even looking up. "He's a fucking Pro."

"I- I mean, yeah, but he's got a voice quirk!" the boy squawks as he rubs the back of his head. "And he's a radio DJ. I figured he just, you know… I don't know! He's not exactly Aizawa-sensei, running in and beating people up!"

I frown, a strange defensiveness rising.

"Yamada-sensei is really strong. He taught me how to fight," I say frowning. The redhead's eyes widen.

"Wait, for real? I thought Aizawa-sensei did!"

I grimace at that. Training my quirk with Sensei was dreadful enough. I couldn't imagine being Shinsou and not learning from Present Mic.

"Aizawa-sensei helps me with my quirk."

Midoriya finishes his breakfast, washes his bowl, and immediately returns.

"What do you mean I overextend? How do you know? Can you show me?"

I finish off all of my food, wash my bowl, and nod.

We walk out to the yard together as I explain what Sensei constantly fussed at Shinsou about. When we get there, I pause in my explanation, glance at my guardian, and frown. Then, grabbing hold of Midoriya's wrist like I would Shinsou's I pull him to our teacher.

Sensei raises an eyebrow and takes a long sip of coffee as we walk over. After he swallows it, he gives me a half-hearted scowl.

"Yes, Rin?"

"How come you haven't fixed Midoriya-kun's arms?"

The boy in question splutters, Sensei's eyes narrow, and I frown when I notice Midoriya's face is now a rather furious pink. I drop his wrist and wonder if I did something wrong.

"What's wrong with your arms?" Sensei asks rather sternly, and I can feel my frown deepen when Midoriya loses his words and Sensei doesn't immediately explain.

I must have said it wrong.

How annoying.

"Sensei," I scold. The man turns to me and I can tell immediately he dislikes my tone. I sigh. "His punching, he over-extends. You didn't fix it."

His shoulders loosen and I can see the moment he understands.

Then he glowers.

"Rin, that's none of your-"

"But he does it constantly," I whine. "You stop Shinsou-"

"That's enough," Sensei cuts me off, sighing. He stuffs his hands in his pockets. "Shinsou is my apprentice. As I understand it, Midoriya is All Might's. It's his responsibility to correct these things. If he hasn't fixed it, I can only assume it had to do with his quirk since they're so similar. Again, though, it's none of your business."

I frown and beside me, Midoriya's eyes widen.

"So… Wait, I do over-extend?" he asks.

I scowl at him.

"I just told you that," I grumble.

Sensei sighs.

"Yes. Rin, stop giving out unsolicited advice."

"But he is!"

"I'm sure All Might has his reasons-"

I make a face.

Sensei huffs.

"Midoriya, go join the group. Rin, do you need a few minutes alone?" he asks, nodding towards the bench. I wrinkle my nose as the green-haired boy leaves.

"No. Why would anyone want to be All Might's apprentice?"

Sensei rubs the bridge of his nose.

"We are not having this conversation," he says bluntly. "Did you sleep well?"

I blink at the sudden change.

And then I furrow my eyebrows.

"You're not supposed to ask things like that now," I tell him, annoyed. "I'm a student."

His lips thin.

"As your teacher, I'll ask again. Did you sleep well? You're being particularly bold this morning."

"I slept fine," I huff. "And I'm not being bold."

"You're on your way to insolent," Sensei says rather dryly. "But by all means, continue. I have two days' worth of essays I've withheld that you could certainly complete while your classmates train."

I swallow at the rather bright glint in his eyes.

Oh... yeah.

I'm still grounded.

"I'm gonna… go now…"

Sensei smirks.

"By all means."

I quickly back away to join my classmates.

.

.

.

Training is exactly like it was yesterday.

Everyone goes to their weird little stations and I get sent immediately to Tiger. I hope someone smashes in his stupid face. I get stuck in rotation between Kirishima, Tail—Ojiro, Midoriya, and on occasion, whichever student needs a break from their quick use.

I glance towards the wall of rock where Kyoka and Mina work, and grimace. I wish I could practice my quirk too.

Stupid cat people.

Stupid Sensei…

We spar for most of the morning, and by lunchtime, I'm both incredibly sore and drenched in sweat.

The thought of eating more feet flavored food makes my stomach churn. I skip the leftovers and go collapse in the shade. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised when a pair of familiar black boots show up not even five minutes later.

"Rin, you need to eat."

I don't bother to look up.

"No, thank you."

Sensei makes a noise and I frown when something warm and calloused presses against my forehead, sweeping back sticky, sweat-drenched hair. Irritated, I look up and glower.

"That's gross," I grumble tiredly.

Sensei smirks down at me, before removing the hand.

"It is. You need to eat, or you'll pass out later. Go get a bowl."

"Ugh, no way," I groan, wrinkling my nose in disgust. Reluctantly I sit up, annoyed to notice several faces peaking back at us curiously. I glare and they turn around. "It's gross. I'll just drink water."

I can tell instantly this was the wrong thing to say. Sensei's expression morphs into disapproves as he frowns.

"It's food, Rin. Don't be picky."

"I don't like it," I argue, crossing my arms. I don't even understand why he's pushing this. Nobody else cared. "It tastes like dirty socks and half-cooked vegetables. No, I'm not eating it."

"Not every hero mission allows you the food you want," Sensei says flatly. "You need the nutrients. Just hold your nose and swallow it."

"Is that what you do?" I sneer.

His eyes narrow dangerously.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not eating it," I glare obstinately back. "I'd rather starve."

Sensei's eye twitches and his nostrils flare.

"You are being dramatic," my guardian states flatly. "You need to eat, and this isn't up for debate. Your body requires the calories for fuel in order to train. It isn't safe to do so otherwise. So you can either go collect a bowl and eat, or you can enjoy your spot in the shade for the rest of the afternoon. If your classmates can stomach it, you can too."

I glare.

"I liked you better at home," I tell him angrily as I pull myself to my feet.

His expression twitches and I stomp towards the food table. I grab a bowl and scoop three pieces of meat into the bowl. The rice that someone managed to turn to mush, I completely avoid. Sensei meets me by the end of the table and glowers at the bowl.

"You didn't say how much," I sneer.

Nearby, Vlad walks over and laughs.

"Hah! She got you there Eraser," the man booms.

I give the Blood Hero a suspicious look, but he just grins back. It's rather savage with all of his teeth on full display. Kind of like Kirishima's, actually, but bigger.

Sensei shoots us both a dirty look and walks off.

I hadn't expected him to just... leave. I glance awkwardly at the large, still-grinning hero. I shift from foot to foot wondering if it would be rude to walk off as well or if I should bow or if I ought to say… something? But what? Vlad watches Sensei leave and adopts a rather impudent expression. It looks weird on his too-big face. He reaches behind him, into a pocket of the machine on his back, and I watch him warily, frowning. What is he doing? But then, he just pulls out a granola bar and holds it out with a wink.

My skin breaks out into a glow and I nearly squeal.

"Ohhh! Thank you! Thank you!"

His laugh booms and I take the edible food quickly.

"You're welcome, kid. That shit's nasty as hell, so I don't really blame yah. But try to cut the man a little slack, if yah can. He's a little out of his element."

I stop tearing into the bar and blink up at him.

"Out of his element?" I ask slowly. My eyebrows furrow. "What do you mean?"

"You of course," the hero says snorting. He crosses his arms and conveniently block's Sensei's view of my newfound food. I dump the stew in the trash before examining the large man curiously. He raises an eyebrow even as I take a bite of the granola. "Eraser's used to being a teacher, but havin' a kid's a whole 'nother experience. The fact that he started in the middle is clearly throwin' him for a loop."

"The middle?" I echo.

"Most parents start with a baby," Vlad laughs and I blush at the obviousness of it. Oh. "Raising a kid isn't about being logical or rational or enforcing a bunch of rules. Bah! All I'm sayin' is just keep in mind he's tryin' Rin-chan. And if you gotta, give the man an extra hug or kiss or something. Ain't nothing better in this world."

I'm surprised at the joy on his face when he says that.

"Do… Do you have kids?" I ask hesitantly.

"Yeah, got a little girl of my own, though she's quite a bit older than you. She's twenty now-" he pauses and grins. "You wanna see her?"

I nod, curious in spite of myself, and he reaches behind himself again.

This time he pulls out his wallet.

It's thicker than Sensei's and I can see it's full of cards, banknotes, and… pictures? He pulls a thick wad out and I stare in astonishment at the picture holder opens, unfolds, and almost seems to unravel to the ground. My jaw drops.

That's a lot of pictures…

He grins, scoots closer, and starts excitedly pointing to the silver-haired girl in each picture. She's cute, with wild gray hair, a thick, squat nose, and square jaw. She looks massive too. I can't help but smile as well.

Until it's time to go, Vlad regales me with stories for picture after picture until my cheeks hurt and my stomach cramps from laughter. And when Sensei calls us back to work, I, hesitantly, offer the large man a hug.

"Thank you," I whisper.

He doesn't even hesitate to pat my back, his huge hand more gentle than I expected.

"No problem, Rin-chan. Now go work hard, I won't say what, but there's supposed to be a fun game this evening for finishing today's training."

"A game?" I ask curiously.

He winks.

"You'll find out later. Now go give that guardian of yours a hug, he looks like he might need it."

I glance Sensei's way and frown at his sullen expression.

"He told me not to," I admit.

The Blood Hero snorts.

"You can blame it on me then," he says, and he smiles that toothy grin that makes me twitch. I nod. And then, before I change my mind, I hurry towards Aizawa-sensei.

He grunts when I wrap my arms around his middle.

"What are you doing?" he asks, sounding petulant. I smile in his uniform.

"Hugging you."

"And what happened to boundaries?" he asks, running his fingers through my hair. I sigh in his chest, breathing in the deep smell of his detergent. "Keep moving Kaminari."

Someone snickers and I blush.

"Vlad said I could."

Sensei huffs.

I lean my head back and grin.

"Do you want a kiss?"

"Go train."

I nuzzle my face in his shirt one more time before I do.

A/N: You guys are so amazing. :D