The night outside is dark and stormy (like many IzuMina fanfics the author read).

As Lightning strikes next to the dormatories, Izuku wakes up. The sound reminds him of Bakugo's explosions, which he was a bit afraid of, even if he wouldn't admit it. Since the heavy rain and his growling stomach keeps him from falling asleep again, he decides to go to the kitchen and eat something. On his way there he only hears his footsteps and some snoring. ‚How come nobody else has woken up?'

Once he's at the bottom floor, he sees a bunch of pillows stacked like an igloo. „Uh, hello?" No answer. As he circles the igloo, he sees some light coming out. „Is someone there?" He notices that the light seems to come through a blanket positioned like a window.

A pink head with two yellow horns comes out. „Leave me alone, Midoriya." The Head disappears behind the blanket.

„A-Ashido?"

„Yes. Now please go."

„O-oh, sorry! I just wanted t-to grab a bite."

„Then eat something and leave."

„O-okay."

But as soon as he enters the kitchen, Izuku realizes that he wants to make cookies. While he prepares the cookie dough, he hears Mina swear in the other room. And as the oven does his job, Lightning strikes again, followed by her yelping. ‚Is she…?'

As soon as the cookies are done, Izuku grabs them with some milk and goes back to Mina's igloo, which isn't as bright as before.

„I-I know you wanted me to leave, but I've got some cookies and milk if you're hungry."

Mina sticks her pink arm out. „Gimme one."

Izuku does as asked and hears her eat it.

The arm comes back out, pointing at a drawer. „Get some puzzles and board games and you can come into the pillow fort."

Once Izuku got everything he comes into the igloo only to get a „surprise": Mina is only wearing underwear.

Izuku immediately looks like a cherry.

„Hey, welcome in Fort Ashido! Or… now it's technically Fort Ashidoriya, right?" She gives him her typical grin.

‚Ashidoriya?' „A-Ashido, i-is that r-really a-a-appropriate? W-why are you b-barely w-wearing anything?" He's holding his hand in front of his eyes.

„Oh, I sleep in this!"

„B-but A-Ashido, I shouldn't see you like this!"

„Alright. First, call me Mina. All my friends do."

„F-friends?"

„Sure. You made delicious cookies for me."

Izuku is slightly more comfortable now, but still keeps his hand up.

„Second, please try to stutter less. God, you really don't talk to girls much, do you?"

„N-not when they're only wearing underwear!"

„As someone who's a girl magnet, you should work on that."

„W-w-w-w-what?!?"

„And third, I just know that you aren't as indecent as Mineta or Kaminari. But judging by your blush, you really like what you see." Izuku feels less comfortable again. „But for gods sake, take your hand down or I'm eating all the cookies myself!"

But before Izuku can react, Lightning strikes yet again. Since they both had their guard down, they both hug the closest thing they have… which is each other. Izuku immediately jumps back, somehow blushing even more. Meanwhile, Mina has her grin back. „Wait, don't tell me you're scared of lightning too?"

„I-indirectly, yes. I don't like the sound of it and how loud it is."

„Wait a minute. You woke up in the middle of the night to get food, are nice to me despite getting yelled at and are scared of loud noises." She puts her hand on her chin. „Are you a dog in disguise? I won't tell anyone, I promise."

‚Why does this not surprise me?' „N-no, I'm n-" Before he finishes his sentence, Mina pets him. „What the f-"

„Just making su- wait did you just try to cuss? Alright, not a dog."

Izuku gets more confused by the second. „O-okay, how about we eat now?"

„Great idea!"

‚Wasn't that the plan from the beginning?'

„Now, what stuff did you get?"

„Oh, I only found Monopoly and two puzzles. Sorry."

„What are you apologizing for? A round of Monopoly could be up to a few hours of fun! … or destroyed relationships."

Izuku chuckles for once.

After everything calmed down, he looks around. He sees a closed laptop, presumably with an empty battery, which could be the reason she swore before. That could also be a reason for the change in brightness. There's also a lantern, probably electronic. He also sees some separate pillows and blankets, probably meant for sleeping. And then there's the box of cookies and the milk next to her.

Before they know it, a few hours of playing and eating have passed. Lightning struck multiple times, resulting in more blushing from Izuku and more grinning from Mina.

The lamp eventually died out, making Fort Ashidoriya extremely dark. Since they already ate their own weight in cookies and used every piece of entertainment they had, Deku „realized" something.

„Hey, uh, I should probably go now. I'll bring the board games away."

„Wait!"

„W-what?"

„I know this sounds weird, but… could you please stay for the night here with me? The storm doesn't seem to end anytime soon, we don't have classes tomorrow and I wasn't as jumpy as usual with you around."

Izuku fails to notice a slight shade of purple on her cheeks. „Uh, s-sure, if it helps you."

„Thanks."

Once Izuku got everything back where it belonged to, he laid down next to Mina.

„Hey, Midori?"

„Yes?" Izuku is calmer than usual.

„I know this is out of nowhere, but what are you and Bakugo to each other?"

„W-what?" And the calmness is gone. He remembers that Mina is part of the Bakusquad.

„I might not be a smart student, but I'm somewhat good at reading people. Based of the fact that you have nicknames for each other, you knew each other before UA. But while Kacchan is somewhat childish and nice, my vocabulary tells me that Deku is an insult. And he calls you a nerd and whatnot."

„Well... we're childhood friends."

„So, you're in an one-sided friendship with your own bully?"

„I w-wouldn't call it one-sided-"

„He gets angry when you breathe and respects anyone more than you. He definitely respected his opponents at the sports festival. At least I think he somewhat respected Todoroki."

„I wouldn't say he hates me, he just has his own ways of showing affection."

„I know. But he at least smiles aroud people he likes like Kirishima. When he's around you everyone is scared he might blow your face off. Why does he hate you so much?"

Izuku gives up trying to make Bakugo sound nice. „I honestly don't know. Back when I was younger, he was the only one hanging out with me. But somehow, he thinks I look down on him despite also being weak. I guess that's his problem."

„Weak? I think we all know your strength since the entrance exam. And you're so ripped, it's unbelievable."

After getting over his blushing (Like damn, pull yourself together, Deku.) and making Mina stop poking his belly, Izuku smiles, thinking back at the first time he used his quirk. But then he frowned, thinking back at his first „heroic" act and how Bakugo yelled at him. „You know, he had a point. I was a very late bloomer, so I didn't have a quirk for a long time and didn't get it until shortly before that exam. Otherwise I would've probably not broken two legs and one arm. But since I didn't have a quirk for so long, I really was weak. That made him bully me, followed closely by our classmates."

„I see. Now that must be why he looked so stupid when you beat him."

„I guess it is. But hey, now it's much better."

„It sure is."

„… Thank you for making me share this. I feel much better now."

„I guess curiosity doesn't always kill the cat."

After that, they talk more and more, until they fall asleep.

The next day, Izuku wakes up to the flash of a camera and yelling. The flash comes from Jiro making pictures and the yelling from Iida. He says something about misuse of the common room. Izuku also realizes that the igloo is gone. As he looks around, he sees Mineta and Kaminari are laying on the ground, apparently praying. The other girls are gushing about something being cute (But he somehow feels like Hagakure is giving him death glares and Uraraka looks… envious? Weird.) and Kirishima is on the ground laughing. The rest of the class is awkwardly standing around, except for the probably still sleeping Bakugo.

Something else he notices is that his chest is heavy. As he looks down, he sees Mina tightly hugging him while sleeping. Luckily, there's a blanket over them, or Mineta would have to leave.

While still being half asleep, he gets up, makes sure that the blanket covers everything and goes to the kitchen for breakfast, making everyone stop what they're doing just to watch him.

Before he gets to his destination, Mina wakes up and pulling the blanket away. „Where did my ripped teddybear go?"

Izuku blushed furiously as he realizes what happened. Meanwhile, everyone in the room just laughs, except for the two emos Tokoyami and Todoroki, the confused Iida, Uraraka, who's the one to give Ashido death glares now, and Mineta, who got taped to the wall by Sero to be sure he doesn't try anything perverted. Bakugo has come down and started yelling about being woken up, but nobody really cares.