It's been a while, so reminder that uraraka is a dragon, deku is a cricket, and everyone thinks jirou and momo are guys and refer to them by he/him pronouns when the story is told from that kind of perspective.

Word Count: 4,151

Early one morning, an ancient phoenix sat amongst the branches of a long-dead tree and preened her feathers. The end of this cycle was rapidly approaching; after two previous lifetimes, she was beginning to learn the signs of an approaching combustion.

The bird paused her grooming and wearily eyed the horizon for signs of the rising sun. It was grey yet, but she knew when the first of her tail feathers began to singe that the night would soon be over. She sighed, resigning herself to her third immolation.

The first time had been a surprise. Despite living her whole life that she would someday go out with a bang, the sheer suddenness of her sudden demise combined with her inexperience had reduced almost an entire forest to embers.

She closed her eyes when the sky became the same rich orange hue as her feathers. Already her tail was half done molting, and she hadn't even been hit by the morning light yet. As the tips of her wings smoldered, she resigned herself to the end of another cycle.

The second time had hurt so much more than the first. She thought she knew what to expect, but apparently she had forgotten how sensitive she could be and how much energy it really took to pull one's entire being from a heap of cold ashes.

That life had been worth every scrap of effort though, but she wasn't looking forward to the rebirthing process again. She still flinched when the sun peeked over the horizon, speeding her death tenfold, and her flesh began to char.

The phoenix let out a quiet sigh as more and more of her failing body was consumed. Her now exposed skin blackened and peeled away in patches, revealing the tender muscles beneath, which smelled far more foul in comparison. She could feel the warm tendrils of fire licking her face, stinging her eyes with their ashes.

The world began to fall apart. The phoenix slowly blinked one more time, spending her last moments of sight watching the sun rise above the plain. Then they were seared, and her sight was no more.

…

…

…

The first breath is always the hardest. It's dry and ashy, and her newly reincarnated sense of smell was always able to pick up on every acrid scent hanging in the air from when she had burned to ash. Despite the fact that it marked her third lifetime, she still hated it with every fiber of her being.

Rising from her old remains sucked, too. Every flake of dust and every smoldering ember felt like the sky upon her shoulders, telling her to simply let go. If the world needed phoenixes, she wouldn't be one of the last, now would she?

She almost did this time, let go. If all that lay before her was an eternity filled with an infinite number of immolations and returns, then what kept her her efforts in this life from being moot? Did she really want limitless pain and suffering to be her norm?

She had no real answer for what dramatically resparked her will to live in that moment aside from divine intervention.

Hauling herself from her deathbed, the firebird took a few steps forward and shook her head of the leftover ashes. Turning a bright eye to the heavens, she took to the skies and allowed the sun to light her wings on fire.

"But first, remember: whatever is said in this tent, stays in this tent," Kirishima warned, and when Denki, Jirou, and Haku nodded in agreement, he relaxed. "Okay, so. I'm an only child, so if I die out there, my dad's branch of the family tree is just gone. Grandma doesn't believe in me, so about a week ago, on the day when I left, she went out and commissioned someone to write up a funeral tablet for me so that all that needs to be done if the news comes back is to dot it."

Denki reacted slightly, with concern and sympathy in his eyes, but it wasn't much since he'd already been told two nights ago.

Jirou, on the other hand, looked disturbed while Haku chewed his lip and gave him a sympathetic look.

"That's more morbid than I was expecting," Jirou said slowly. "What the fuck, Kirishima. Your grandma's a dick, picking on her only grandchild like that."

Kirishima sheepishly shrugged. "I mean, Denki said the same thing, but I actually have a lot of cousins, so it's not like her lineage is going to die out any time soon. She just doesn't like me because she doesn't like the idea of her firstborn's inheritance going to someone with less initiative than the neighbor girl."

His friends were silent for a few moments, and he really hoped they wouldn't ask more in-depth about the girl next door. When it came to her and grandma, well, things got complicated. Kirishima was more than glad to be away from that soap opera for now.

Luckily, they had the sense not to pry and merely nodded in understanding.

"My turn then," Jirou mused, then took a steadying breath. "My eldest cousin was supposed to go to war, but he broke his leg falling out of a plum tree a little while ago, so my father and uncle went to visit the fortune-teller and asked who the next best choice to go to war would be.

"The fortune teller told them that no matter which of their sons went to war, something unforeseen would befall him, and that he may not return. She couldn't tell exactly what would happen since that depends on their birthday obviously, but she said there was bad luck over our family this year so it wasn't looking all that good."

Jirou paused and stared off into the distance for a second, and all the tent was quiet as they waited for him to resume. When at last he did, he spoke as if what he had to say didn't affect him in the slightest.

"They decided after a while of talking that I should be the one to go off to war. I'm the second son of a second son; I'm by far the most expendable of the ones old enough. If I die well, then, nothing but another farmhand lost. If I don't, then that's fine too. If I make a name for myself, well, then, that's just a nice perk."

"Man," Kaminari said once Jirou was finished. "That's rough, buddy."

Jirou's nostrils flared as he glared at the blond. Kirishima raised an eyebrow at Denki, wondering if he was really sure he liked this guy.

"Let's hear your deep, dark, soul bond-worthy tidbit then, dummy," Jirou snapped, and Kirishima made a mental note to never ever underestimate Jirou's emotional response when vulnerable.

Denki gave Kirishima a panicked glance because he couldn't share the same thing with Haku and Jirou that he did with Kiri. It just wasn't the time. The redhead shrugged, not knowing something Denki could substitute for this round of secrets (and even if he did, he had no idea how to suggest it).

"Well, um," the blond began, racking his brains for something to tell, "I don't really have that much to say, since I'm pretty normal…"

Haku blinked at him. "I thought you and Kirishima did this same thing a couple nights ago."

"He's pretty forgetful," Kirishima quickly said, and Denki nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I-I really don't remember all that much of what I told Kiri, to be honest," he stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck. (He gave the redhead a glance of relieved gratitude.) He looked up at the roof of the tent, wondering aloud what he could tell. "Well," he began again, "when I was younger I was really accident prone, so my mom never let me go down to the river by the town because she thought I would fall in and drown. I mean, in hindsight, I don't really blame her, since it was really rocky there, but, uhh… I've always really wanted to take part in dragon boat racing 'cause it seems fun and all, but she's kind of a worrywart.

"I mean, I get that's how she liked to show that she cared about me and all that stuff, but… I don't know how to put it. I guess I felt too grounded, like I was tethered to home, because of it. She made up for not letting me out with really good zongzi, though."

Kirishima couldn't quite tell if his friend was looking homesick or hungry at the thought of his mother's cooking. Probably both.

"That was anticlimactic," Jirou noted dryly. "But I get you. The food here sucks."

"Hell yeah, it does," Denki enthusiastically replied. "But the morning gruel is starting to really grow on me."

"I hope you don't mean literally," Jirou said, badly muffling a snicker.

"So, Haku," Kirishima said, steering the conversation back to its original intents. "What's with you? There's a lot we don't know about you, like how you're even here if you were that sickly when you were little?"

Haku's gaze immediately fell to the floor, where they remained fixed on his feet. "Oh, well. My parents were never really the coddling type, so I could sense their disappointment in my fragility from a young age. I'm not going to lie, they didn't even think I could make it out here as a soldier, but my father's grown too old to fight in the war himself, so I insisted that I be the one to uphold the family honor and go."

There was a spell of silence as the others waited for him to say more.

"You're putting an awful lot of expectations on yourself, Haku," Kirishima commented as the time crept by three a.m. "What happens if you can't live up to them?"

Haku looked thoughtful for a moment. Then, he looked up, his expression nearing sorrowful. "I don't know."

Morning was not kind to Momo and her friends, for only fools did not forgo sleep altogether when only two hours of it were offered to them. However, it strengthened their dynamic in ways that made it (almost) worth it. (Mostly.)

Momo blinked tiredly as Bakugou recited the drilldown speech; she was too groggy to be grateful that everyone had heard it so many times, most could probably recite it themselves.

She wasn't sure exactly when drilldown began. At some point, they were all called to attention, but she was too tired to respond in time, and she had to fall out immediately. However, despite her addled, sleep-deprived mind, the unusual looks both captains and instructor gave her upon falling out were hard to miss. She fell to the floor and began her push-ups, punishment for falling out within the first ten commands. Already her muscles ached from the days of exertion.

"You," Bakugou barked, walking over to her when Captain Todoroki took over drilldown. "Latrines tonight. Start after dinner."

Momo internally groaned. It was going to be a long day.

If Kyouka were to be honest, it wasn't the fact that they were beginning work on cannons that made her skittish about the day's practice. It was the trigger-happy nature of that co-assistant-whatever-the-hell-not-in-actual-power captain (Come to think of it, she was starting to like the idea of 'bitch') Bakugou that made her nervous. He often got the most terrifying expression when around gunpowder products.

Next to her, Denki hummed as he played around with the cannon parts. How. How could he be so cheerful, running on as little sleep as they were? Kyouka shot him a deadly, grumpy glare. What an idiot. She hoped he noticed her giving him the stink eye and shut up.

"All right, asswipes," that bitch Bakugou barked, walking down the long rank of soldiers manning cannons for the first time. "It's time to DIE!"

"Aww, yeah!" Denki whooped, and Kyouka concluded that he was merely delirious from exhaustion.

"Fire away!"

Obediently, Kyouka lit her tinder, albeit a little clumsily, and set the fuse alight. As she covered her ears in anticipation, she spared another glance at Denki, who was busy adjusting the trajectory of the bomb. As the fuse trickled closer to nothing. Hmm…

It took her a full three and a half seconds for her to snap out of her sleep-deprived haze and realize that what he was doing was dangerous as hell.

"Denki!" she yelled, but it was drowned out by the first cannon shot. His fuse was less than two centimeters now. She scowled and stomped her foot, but was muffled by the soft grass. "DENKI KAMINARI!" Again, she was drowned out by the shots. Denki continued to fuss over the trajectory, and she hoped to high heaven that he wasn't still humming.

Anxiety growing in the pit of her stomach, Kyouka checked back on her own cannon fuse, though she it didn't really matter to her how close it was to going off either. She looked back at Denki, and she knew if she yelled again it would be too late.

Adrenaline made the split-second decision for her; she didn't even remember tackling him. The next thing she knew, she was atop him, pinning him to the ground by the shoulders as the boom of his cannon rang in her ears; its tintinnabulation drowned out her even her own scolding.

"I can't believe you!" she yelled, though to her own ears, it sounded as though she were underwater. "Do you have ANY idea how stupid that was? You could have DIED if you kept hanging onto the cannon like that, Chargedolt!"

It was only when she saw a tear fall onto the middle of Denki's cheek that she realized she was crying. Immediately, she felt her face flush, and her chidings came to an abrupt halt in her throat. For the first time that day, her mind was crystal clear, and for the first time ever, Kyouka noticed how strangely beautiful his golden eyes were when reflecting the light.

The bang of one of the neighboring cannons going off caught her off guard, and Kyouka's elbows buckled. She collapsed on Denki with an oomph, but quickly scrambled off, her face burning.

"Uhh," Denki said as the worst of the ringing began to subside. For a moment, Kyouka couldn't understand what he meant. Her gaze tracked where he was pointing just as a shadow loomed over them, and she suddenly froze.

Bakugou.

His crimson eyes gleamed raging murder, sending chills of terror snaking down Kyouka's spine as he towered above the two. Never before had she had the opportunity to see the infamous blood vessel of rage on his forehead so closely, and one of her last thoughts was the hope that she'd never have to see it ever again.

He tched. "Fucking fuzzbrain. Should've let him die if he's that stupid," he grunted as he folded his arms, and Kyouka felt a flash of cold anger run through her. "Both of you. Clean up after the cooks tonight." With that, Bakugou walked away.

Kyouka scowled as she watched him leave. "I can't believe how dumb you are sometimes," she griped. "Like, do you have a single gram of smarts in that hollow skull of yours at all? It's almost like—"

"God, you sound like my mom!" Denki snapped, making Kyouka freeze once more.

His mom?

Before she could process it further, Denki made a run for it.

God, oh god, that was hands-down the worst moment of his entire life. He just told Jirou he reminded him of his mom! What the hell! Denki liked to think he lived a life with no regrets, but apparently, there really was a first time for everything. Sure, he'd never thought a single thing through in his life, but the fact that those words had just popped out of his mouth because he had zeroself-control gave him such a burning embarrassment that Denki doubted he'd be able to look his crush in the eye for the next few days. His mother! He said Jirou reminded him of his mother!

He slowed down as he approached the bathrooms. Well, the whole of it wasn't so bad. Sure, seeing Jirou cry was an experience in it of itself, but— oh man, had Jirou noticed him blushing then? Denki internally slapped himself; of course he noticed! Their faces were literally less than two dozen centimeters apart!

Denki groaned aloud, and he leaned dramatically against the outhouse wall. He couldn't face any of his friends for a while now, not while Jirou was there anyway. But how would he live? Days without meaningful interaction with his bros left Denki exhausted at the mere thought of it.

The blond entered the latrine and relieved himself, then began trudging back towards the training ground. Dread began growing in the pit of his stomach.

This is one fine mess you've gotten yourself into, Denki, his real mother's voice scolded inside his head. He flinched almost reflexively; he could practically feel her roughly wiping dirt off his cheeks with the hem of her coarse shirt sleeve. I swear, one of these days you're going to just whack the head right off your shoulders with all the dumb shenanigans you do.

"Hey, fucker!" Denki could hear Bakugou's voice before he could even see the training grounds. "You think you're going to get by on lucky shots alone? I think not! Hit the god damn target for once, Yaoyorozu!"

Denki watched curiously from a distance as the butter-blond not-quite-a-man roared less-than-helpful… was that encouragement? It was hard to tell with Bakugou.

Hmm. But he could learn to tell.

A grin split Denki's face. Yes, he had a way out of seeing his friends for a little while now.

He began sprinting again, catching up with Bakugou without much trouble. "Hey," he said, hoping that his nervousness didn't show that much. Immediately, Bakugou gave him the stink eye.

"What the fuck do you want, fuzzbrain?" he growled.

Denki slowed down, lowered his voice, and glanced around his surroundings. "I don't think I can face my friends for a little while," he admitted.

Bakugou huffed and turned away. "Not my problem," he said, and began walking faster.

Denki jogged to catch up with him. "You don't understand; I just need someone to hang out with that can keep them away from me until I can take it again."

"Your fault for being so stupid."

Denki took a deep breath to dissolve his penting frustration and persisted. "Please, it was just an accident, but I just can't right now. I did something really dumb without thinking, I know, but I just want a couple days to get my shit together before I talk to them again."

This seemed to get to Bakugou, who slowed to a stop and pivoted to face Denki. There was an unreadable look in his eye behind the default rage that didn't quite fit with the rest of Bakugou's style. "Fine," he snapped, "You can sweep the stables for the next week then."

Denki watched him walk away again, still processing Bakugou's words, but once it clicked, he almost whooped for joy.

"Thanks, man!" he said, catching up Bakugou with a gratuitous grin on his face.

Bakugou scowled and looked away. "There's a spare cannon over there. Go man it, you fucking fuzzbrain."

"Will do, sir!" Denki watched the assistant captain stalk off with an undying grin, the relief was so real. Heh, Bakugou didn't seem like such a bad guy way deep down; Denki was starting to understand what Kirishima saw in him.

Humming, Denki headed to the empty cannon to live in blissful pretendence of the events that transpired at the previous one.

Under normal circumstances, Ochako would have kept her minding to Momo only, but Kyouka's outburst during the cannon exercise had been anything but normal. Out of everyone she was currently aware of, Kyouka was the last Ochako would have ever expected to allow her emotions overwhelm her into making an impulse decision.

The tiny dragon wriggled around in the loose folds of Momo's uniform so that she could stealthily observe Kyouka as the girls ate together with Kirishima. The dumb blond Denki was nowhere in sight, strangely enough, though Ochako wasn't particularly concerned about that.

"Oh, sorry, Deku," she whispered softly as the cricket hopped frantically about Momo's collar, trying to avoid getting crushed by Ochako's coils.

"I-it's fine, Uraraka," he chirped. "What's going on out there?"

"Oh, just dinner," Ochako replied, giving Momo's friends a once-over before settling back into the shirt. "Denki's not with them right now, but I think Jirou scared him off earlier."

"Yikes." Deku cringed, ruffling his wings.

"Mmm, yeah, I suppose it's yikes, but if I had to guess, they're both just really bad at expressing themselves. Which makes sense, since everyone's, like, a literal child. But, like, Deku." Ochako stared straight at the cricket as he settled on her nose. "I know it's just been a couple hours, and maybe this'll sort itself out sooner than I expected, but I have this weird hunch that the two of them just aren't emotionally mature enough yet to put a name to what they're feeling and talk it out."

Deku rested his head on his two front legs. "You're pretty good at this stuff," he commented, and Ochako scratched the back of her head with a sheepish grin.

"Oh, well… you kind of pick stuff up living as an incense ornament for a hundred or so years," she said, and if her scales could change color based off her mood, they would be flushed red with embarrassment at the moment. However, before she could continue explaining her thoughts to Deku, their host got up.

"Sorry, guys," Momo apologized, "but Bakugou said I was on latrine duty today for failing drilldown. I don't want to wait until it's dark."

Kyouka groaned. "I feel you, Haku. We're just lucky we had one another to keep from falling into those nasty shitholes, but uuuughhhh, you just reminded me of my kitchen duties. How could youuuuu."

"I kinda wanna go looking for Kaminari," Kirishima quietly admitted. "I haven't seen him since the cannon thing, and I'm kinda worried about him."

Ochako heard the three friends sigh and part ways. She waited until she sensed they were alone, then crawled out onto Momo's shoulder and enjoyed the cool evening breeze.

"You know, Yaomomo," she began, careful to block off her nostrils at the first whiff of the bathrooms. "I think you're actually pretty good with those firearms."

"Am I?" Momo asked, resigning herself to a long, late evening of cleaning.

Ochako nodded. "It's just your aim that needs a little more work, in my opinion. I think you could really kick ass at this soldier thing at this rate!" she said, and she genuinely meant it. While sure, Momo was still but a scrap at the bottom of a barrel at the moment, her father's legacy still coursed through her veins. Given the time and opportunity, Ochako wholeheartedly believed that she could turn the tide of war.

Momo jammed a shovel into the dirt. "You really think so?"

"Yup!" Ochako hummed, and they continued like this for hours into the night, a steady stream of advice flowing from the dragon to the human girl.

Everything was looking good when the moon began to peek into the little training camp. The rancid odors of the outhouses were muffled by the heaps of fresh dirt upon them, and there was still more than enough time for Momo to crash in her tent and wake up feeling refreshed in the morning. Ochako snuggled down yet again, already beginning to doze off when she heard the humans talking.

"Captain Todoroki? What are you doing out here at this hour? Is that my hor—"

"The army has no tolerance for those without enough potential. Pack up, go home. You're through."

Author's Note vii. hi! it's been a while. *narrowly avoids a tomato getting thrown at me* oh... Yikes™. well, sorry for being gone. i'm updating on a wednesday instead of a thursday to make up for it. i know i said in my last author's note that i'd be studying for the ap chem test (which is kinda true. i also saw all 80 episodes of yu-gi-oh abridged), which i took on may 7th, but i honest to god thought i'd be back by the tenth. clearly that didn't happen, but tbh i was a little unsure of how to make things go. i had an outline for this chapter, kinda, but it was only when i rehashed it in more detail that the ball started to get going for real and my inspiration started coming back. thank god, since school lets out tomorrow.

honestly, i'm satisfied with the way this chapter came out. it's like, super kamijirou and all, but i did say earlier that there would be side pairings. i like my ships to earn their titles as side pairings, and i mean y'all are here for the todomomo slow burn so they have a few chapters before they start getting weird existential identity crises. but, i have gotten at least a general outline done for the entirety of this work! i was right; it's almost certainly going to be fifteen chapters.

hmm. that's about all. thanks so much for sticking with me through that hiatus. i can't promise i'll be back with weekly updates, but i'll definitely be trying! my innumerable gratitudes are imparted upon you for reading my mediocre writing. follow/fave if you're new and interested, leave a review if that's what you're into (even long after this goes up, it'll be most appreciated), and as always, have a greaaaat daaaay~