Let's break up some of the intense stuff with a little Class 1-A bonding fluff. Enjoy! Even if you're not American let's all take the day to think about what we're grateful for in these tumultuous times! And thank you all for taking the time to read Liar Liar; it really does mean a lot to me!
Emotions ran high throughout UA the day that everyone moved into the dorms, and Class 1-A was no exception. By the time Satou Rikkido reached the new building, panting from his sprint across the grounds, most of the rest of his class had already arrived.
"Holy crap, they're huge!" Uraraka gaped up at the new dorm buildings on a Sunday afternoon two weeks after the announcement about the dorms had been made. "We'll be living in a mansion!" Rikkido could swear there was steam rising from her ears, like her brain had pulled a Kaminari from the shock.
"I mean… it's smaller than my mansion?" Yaoyorozu frowned, confusion in her voice as she delicately snapped a square off of a dark chocolate candy bar.
"Yeah, but I was prepared for it when I moved in with you!"
"Just take a deep breath, Ochaco. Kero."
"This is gonna be so cool!" Hagakure and Ashido cheered, almost in unison.
"You're all too noisy," Aizawa-sensei yawned-in unison with Shinsou, who stood next to Rikkido at the back of the class-scratching at his five o'clock (two o'clock?) shadow. Rikkido got the impression he'd just woken up, despite the late hour of the day. "Anyway, welcome to Heights Alliance, the new dorm system, blah blah blah. More importantly, given everything that has happened, there are some ground rules that need to be put in place. Most of these were in the packets we sent home, but somehow I doubt that most of you read through those."
A low murmur of embarrassed agreement passed through the group, and Rikkido was no exception. Iida, and to a lesser extent Yaoyorozu, looked positively scandalized by their apparent lack of attention to detail.
"First of all, remember that the dorms system has been established largely to help ensure your safety. That means there will be a nightly curfew imposed to be in the building, as well as a nightly 'lights-out' time. Don't complain; you're students and aspiring heroes; you need your rest."
(Kaminari may have mumbled 'hypocrite' under his breath at that, but it was hard to tell from such a distance.)
"Secondly, if you want to visit home or anywhere else over the weekend, you have to tell me at least a week in advance. I'll also need travel itineraries to ensure that either someone is picking you up or I have time to assign a chaperone for the duration of your journey. We don't want anyone getting caught in a villain attack without backup."
(Todoroki's ever-present frown deepened.)
"Thirdly, the first floor's the common area. Above that, there's a girl's side and a boy's side to the dorms. I don't want to see anyone sneaking over to the opposite gender's side after curfew, got it? This is neither the time nor the place for that kind of crap."
(Yaoyorozu visibly shuddered, subconsciously crossing her arms over her chest.)
"Fourthly, the cleaning schedule is on a rotation. There's a paper about it on the corkboard in the common area. I don't want to hear any complaints; anyone who doesn't get their assignment done is getting detention."
(Ashido and Aoyama quickly shut their mouths.)
"The dorm also includes a kitchen and there's a weekly allowance for groceries provided by the school. The kitchen is already stocked for this week, but know that it's gotta get done every weekend if you want to eat; I don't care how you do it, just make sure you travel in pairs at a minimum. Cooking is the same way; I don't care how you schedule it, if it's a rotation or what, just make sure you eat."
(Bakugou looked strangely thoughtful at that pronouncement.)
"Anyway, that's all for now. You have the rest of the afternoon to get unpacked. Don't bother me unless someone's dying. Enjoy your new home."
"Alright, let's do this!" Kaminari and Sero cheered, leading the charge into the dorms.
"Oi, wait for us!" Ashido cried, seizing Kirishima's wrist and dragging him along with her.
"Idiots," Bakugou grumbled with something akin to fondness in his rolled eyes.
Rikkido chuckled as he and the rest of their class followed the self-titled 'Bakusquad' into the building, mentally running through everything he would have to do to transform his room into an adequate baking space, taking into account proper food storage and safety. He was kind of excited, actually; it'd be like having a kitchen in his bedroom! What more could a baker want?
.oOo.
"Agh, I'm beat," Kirishima sighed, slumping on the couch in the common area just a few minutes after Rikkido himself had gotten down to the common room, pondering what kind of icing he should make for the chiffon cake that was baking upstairs.
"Yeah, you and me both," Sero laughed.
"Feels good though, right?" Kaminari grinned.
"Yeah!"
"A unified class! It's the perfect way to increase our cooperation and discipline!" Iida enthused, arms moving at sharp angles to emphasize his point. "How smart!"
"So you never relax, do you?" Kirishima shook his head at him. "Hey Katsuki, what are you doing over there?"
Actually, that was something Rikkido himself had been wondering, too. Bakugou had been methodically rummaging through every single one of the kitchen cabinets for the past half hour at least. "None of your business, Weird Hair!" the blond yelled distractedly back at him, the sentiment punctuated by a loud clang! and a stream of curses as something metallic hit the floor. Probably a pot or frying pan or something. Was he planning on cooking?
"Do you want any-?"
"Hey boys~!" Mina interrupted Rikkido's question in a sing-song tone, closely followed by the other girls. "So, the other girls and I were talking, and we want to see what everyone's rooms look like!"
"Yeah, we can make it a contest!" Hagakure squealed beside her, her clothes fluttering as she bounced up and down on the spot. "The contest of who has the coolest room; wha'd'ya say?!"
"Yeah, I'm down," Kaminari grinned from his seat on the arm of the couch. "Sounds like fun!"
"I guess it could be interesting," Ojirou shrugged.
"Haaah?!" Bakugou snarled, shoving his head out of the kitchen to point menacingly at the pinkette. "You stay the hell out of my room, Raccoon Eyes, or else!"
"Aw, come on~!" Mina whined.
"No means no!" the boy growled back, ducking back into the kitchen. "Oi, Emo Bird! Six Arms! Keep her out of my stuff, got it?"
"Hm? Why us?" Shouji frowned.
"'Cause I don't trust Weird Hair not to break before her puppy eyes!"
"Wh-?" Kirishima spluttered in a half-baked protest, a blush appearing across the tops of his ears while Kaminari and Sero busted up laughing.
"…Yeah, that's fair."
"I accept the responsibility bestowed upon me."
"Hey!"
"Ahem. Well!" Mina coughed, her cheeks just the faintest hint pinker than usual. "Aside from Blasty because he's a party pooper-"
"Go to hell!"
"-we should totally have a room contest!" the pinkette finished. "Come on, it'll be fun!"
The whole class aside from Bakugou (and Shinsou, who mysteriously had yet to show) got talked into the room contest eventually, so the seventeen of them hiked up the stairs to the boy's side of the dorms to examine everyone's rooms on the second floor.
There were only three people on this floor, despite there being four available rooms. The first one they reached was Tokoyami's, who despite vehement protests was eventually shoved out of the way by Ashido and Hagakure to reveal a room darkened by black-out curtains and decorated with all things goth and creepy (Kaminari nearly got his hand taken off by Dark Shadow when he tried to grab Tokoyami's sword). In stark contrast, every single surface of Aoyama's room was bedazzled to the point that Rikkido's eyes hurt to look at it. Still, seeing as the aesthetic was par for the course for him, there was little commentary on the matter. Shinsou's room, however…
"Shinsou~! We're coming in~!" Ashido sang as she grabbed the handle.
"Wait, don't open th-!"
Too late.
The pink-skinned girl threw the door open, and a second later, a streak of color shot past her feet, eliciting sharp yelps from several of their classmates and a squeal of "Kitty!" from Hagakure.
"Now you've done it," Shinsou groaned, standing up from where he was putting the finishing touches to a cat tree in the corner of his purple-themed room and grabbing a bag of treats from his dresser. "Fishbait! Come on you scaredy-cat it's okay!"
"There's another one!" Hagakure cooed, creeping towards a second, black-and-gray striped cat curled up on Shinsou's bed, observing the class with a tense posture and vibrantly blue eyes.
"Arson's stressed enough as is; back off! Or do you want to get brainwashed?" Shinsou growled warningly from the hallway.
The invisible girl wisely backed off for the moment.
The class wound up leaving Shinsou and Kouda to deal with the runaway as they continued up to the third floor. Ojirou's room was rather plain-something that the boy seemed rather self-conscious about-and Iida's was essentially a library lined with shelves of spare glasses-something that Uraraka found no shortage of amusement in. Kaminari's room was described as "the store in the mall that I'd avoid" by Jirou, although even she seemed intrigued by the albums on his shelf over the computer, although whether it was because she was interested in the band or the old-school CDs was anyone's guess. Kouda caught up to them just in time for Hagakure to toss open his door, at which point every girl in the class began to coo over his pet rabbit, much to the tall, quiet boy's embarrassment.
Shouji had better luck keeping Ashido and Hagakure out of Bakugou's room than Tokoyami'd had keeping them out of his, so they didn't get to see what was in there. As for Shouji himself, his room basically contained a futon and nothing else. As he put it, "I just don't get why anyone would want to fill their rooms with junk". In contrast, Kirishima's room was essentially a man cave, complete with a punching bag, a set of weights, and posters of both Crimson Riot and Gunhead. Hagakure groaned and Mina rolled her eyes fondly, but Uraraka seemed excited.
Then they were up on his floor. Sero won points with the girls for his "exotic" decor, and Todoroki won the shock-and-awe factor for having somehow completely remodeled his room into an extremely traditional one complete with tatami mats and sliding doors in a matter of hours. When pressed, all he said of his superhuman ability was, "Hard work".
And then they reached Rikkido's room.
"Anyway, it's a pretty boring room," he mumbled, opening the door to reveal the simply furnished bedroom, the only item of note the small toaster oven sitting on the desk next to a cabinet filled with baking supplies.
"They all are next to Todoroki's," Kirishima patted his arm sympathetically.
"Something smells good though," Ojirou mused, his tail twitching appreciatively. "What is it?"
"Oh, crap! I forgot about that!" RIkkido cried with a surge of panic, rushing to the little oven. "I finished unpacking really early, so I started baking a chiffon cake! I thought we could all eat it together! It hasn't been iced yet, but you guys want some?"
"The strong guy's an expert baker?!" Kaminari gaped.
The girls all agreed instantly, and even some of the guys decided to try a slice. After taking a bite, Kirishima got a weirdly thoughtful look on his face and asked to take a piece down to Bakugou. Rikkido didn't see anything wrong with that, so he sent him on his way with a second piece, blushing furiously as the girls swooned over his creation.
"It's delicious! So fluffy!" Uraraka sighed.
"It is really good, kero," Tsuyu agreed.
"I could eat it every day!" Hagakure moaned.
"Forget Sero, this is unexpected!" Ashido declared.
"I think it's great that you have such a fun hobby, Satou! Could you bake something to go with my tea one day?" Yaoyorozu requested eagerly.
"U-Uh, sure?" Rikkido squawked. "I-I seriously did not expect this reaction. Mostly I bake as part of my quirk training. Store bought sweets can get pricey, you know?"
"HEY, BIG LIPS!"
Rikkido, and just about everyone else, jumped in surprise at the sound of Bakugou's bark, turning to see the short blonde shoving through the crowd with half the slice of the cake Kirishima had taken him still in his hand.
"Y-Yeah?" Rikkido squeaked in alarm, all of his bashfulness stripped away in face of abject terror.
"You're coming with me!"
"Wh-What?! Why! What'd I do?!"
"Just come on!"
Before he had a chance to flinch away, Bakugou seized him by the wrist and dragged him towards the elevator. They passed Kirishima on the way, although the only thing he had time to offer the terrified baker was a reassuring, sharp-toothed smile.
Moments later, Rikkido found himself fidgeting anxiously in the back corner of the elevator while Bakugou tapped his foot, impatiently waiting for them to reach the ground floor. "Freaking finally," he griped as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. "Let's go."
"G-Go where?"
"To the kitchen, dumbass; where else?!"
"The… kitchen?"
"Are ya deaf, or just dumb?!"
"No, I heard you, but… why?" Rikkido flinched as a wad of fabric smacked him in the face. After a moment of examination, he realized that it was an apron. When the baker glanced up again, he found Bakugou pulling one over his own head as well, emblazoned with the words Your Opinion Wasn't in the Recipe.
"'Cause you can actually frickin' cook, and I'm not spoilin' my first night here by eatin' whatever swill the rest of those idiots would come up with; that's why!" Bakugou huffed, heading to the countertop, where a pile of vegetables and spices that he had evidently scrounged up from somewhere were scattered and awaiting chopping-way more than he needed for just himself.
"Are you… cooking for everyone?" Rikkido blinked.
Bakugou just gave him a deadpan glower until the taller boy clamped his mouth shut and grabbed a second knife and cutting board.
Cooking with the hot-tempered blonde was… an experience, to say the least. He wielded a knife with the ease of many years' experience, worked quickly and efficiently, had a surprisingly discerning palette for someone that ordered extra spicy curry every day at the cafeteria, and enforced a level of perfectionism that could put a French chef to shame. That is to say, despite the number of expletives that came out of his mouth, by the time the rest of the class returned to the common area, he and Bakugou were well on their way to making some of the most delicious sukiyaki that Rikkido had ever had the pleasure of tasting.
"Oh my God, that smells amazing!" Uraraka moaned, practically drooling as she appeared at the entrance of the kitchen.
"Blasty can cook?!" Ashido squealed, eyes as wide as saucers. "Oh no it'll probably be too spicy for anyone else to eat!"
"It's not my fault you're damn weak Racoon Eyes!"
"Oof, if it's Blasty cooking, I'm kind of scared to try it," Kaminari winced. "He probably just wants to poison us all."
"If it tastes as good as it smells, it'll be worth it," Sero put in.
"I'M A DAMN GOOD CHEF, I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW!"
"Yeesh, chill man," Ojirou frowned. "You know you don't have to be good at everything."
"WHY YOU-!"
"Actually guys, Bakugou's honestly pretty dang good at this," Rikkido felt the need to cut in as he sent another cutting board's worth of freshly chopped vegetables tumbling into the pot.
"Really?" Yaoyorozu blinked, dark eyes wide at Rikkido's endorsement.
"HELL YEAH, I AM! NOW GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN, YOU VULTURES!"
With Kirishima's help, everyone cleared out fairly quickly, giving Rikkido the space to pull a twenty person set of plates, cups, chopsticks, and so on from the cabinets and start setting the over-long dining table while Bakugou put the finishing touches on the massive pot of sukiyaki. He hummed cheerfully to himself while the rest of their classmates gathered on the couches, talking about everything and nothing and putting in their votes for the best room.
All at once, Kaminari busted up laughing, staring at something on his phone. "G-Guys guys!" he yelled, still snorting. "C-Come 'ere, you gotta see this!"
"What is it?"
"Oh my gosh, is that Endeavor?!"
"That's the Hosu incident, isn't it?"
"Oh my God, someone turned it into a meme!?"
"There's a whole series of them! Look at this: You've activated my trap card!"
"Who would win?"
"No, U! panik, the anime girl memes, even Despicable Me! Oh my gosh, they have all the old-time meme references here!"
"The GIF; look at the GIF!"
"His face, oh my God his face!"
"When you're the number two hero and a vigilante does better than you oh that's too perfect!"
"YEET!"
"Please don't."
"They even have a version with a Mob Psycho 100 reference!"
"A what reference?"
"Kaminari, it seems highly inappropriate as an aspiring hero for you to support media making fun of the number two-"
"Oh my God."
"Kaminari? What's wrong?"
"Todoroki… Did you just laugh?!"
"…Yes?"
"CALL THE TABLOIDS; TODOROKI CAN LAUGH!"
Honestly I doubt Todoroki full-on laughed. Just gave a little huff of air that Kaminari correctly interpreted as laughter.
Thank you to SimplyKaren for the idea of turning the Endeavor smack-down into a meme! I hope you all enjoyed the chaos as much as we did on the Discord Server brainstorming for this little crack scene! And thanks to everyone who helped me name Shinsou's cats, Arson and Fishbait!