"Come on Deku, there's really no need to be so nervous. You gotta trust me on this one: Yatsuhashi's a sweetheart under that gigantic exterior of his and while Fox may like to act like a tough guy, he's really easy enough to get along with provided you follow my instructions. So don't be so nervous, little guy."

'That's easy for you to say.'

As Izuku strolled through the dorms with Coco Adel at his side, his senior having guided him through the halls to her dorm room, Izuku couldn't help but swallow a huge lump in his throat as he stared ahead. There had been several things that ran through his mind when he considered what he was doing: when he had run into Coco, the young woman had insisted that, now that her entire team had come back from a recent mission, she really wanted to give Izuku the chance to meet the rest of her team in person. It sounded simple enough and certainly should've been a natural part of making friends with people from other teams. However, despite how natural this should've been, Izuku couldn't help but feel nervous.

First things first, he was meeting 'more' of his seniors. While Coco, Velvet and Mirio were his seniors as well, there were certain mitigating factors to the whole affair. Velvet was the simplest to explain: despite the fact that she was probably more experienced that Izuku and, thus, better in a fight, she really didn't 'feel' like his senior. Her nervous demeanor and small size, having been shorter than Yang and just around Blake's height, made it easy to view her as more of a peer than someone Izuku had to hold in regard as a senior. Heck, the fact that she was in a good number of his classes and even tutored under him at times was another reinforcing element to that, which all came together to paint the picture of someone he could get along with easier.

Mirio was similar in that regard, he was definitely someone he could get along with easily... but that was because Mirio was just a force of positive energy. Mirio could kick Izuku's ass and, even when he was holding back in their spar, he was pretty much able to manhandle Izuku that entire fight, leaving the young man no illusion that he could ever possibly hope to challenge him if he put himself up to full strength. Despite that and despite the fact that he was a whole two years older than Izuku, Mirio was just such a good person and a friendly guy that it was hard 'not' to like him and equally hard to feel any kind of unease around him. Sure, he spooked Izuku whenever he pulled off that phasing through stuff trick of his with his Semblance, but that pretty much paled in comparison when compared to just what an easy-going guy he was and how simple it was to get along with him.

Coco... okay, Coco made Izuku nervous, but she made him nervous in the way that a lot of attractive young women did. Now, admittedly, that latter element was dulled slightly because Coco seemed to really like treating Izuku like... well, he didn't exactly have a frame of reference for it, being an only child, but she seemed to treat him like some kid sibling. She'd pinch his cheeks sometimes, refer to him as a 'little guy' and, like Ruby, made use of his nickname, Deku... because she found it 'cute'. The dynamic that had built up between the two of them, while it hadn't numbed the nervousness of being around an older woman, an attractive one at that, had at least made it easier to handle and it was clear that, because he helped Velvet so much, that Coco had warmed up to him quite a bit.

These guys though? Izuku didn't know them. He'd never met them before. He had no idea how they'd react to Izuku or what they were actually like. Whatever assurances Coco might try and give him, fact remained that Izuku was in a bit of trouble when it came to dealing with strangers.

Then there was the fact that he was going to their dorm room in particular. He'd never actually been inside other people's dorms before, mostly just sticking to his own. Co-ed though it may be, there was one simple fact; a girl was taking him back to her dorm room.

A girl was taking him back to her dorm room.

The thought along put a bit of red on his cheeks as he swallowed nervously. Izuku couldn't touch 'anything'.

Finally... these people were Coco's friends, her teammates. She was introducing Izuku to them to help bring him more into her friend circle... what if they didn't like him? What if they thought of him what other people did. That he was a weird, nervous guy who didn't seem like much of anything and wasn't much for 'friend' material? Would Coco be disappointed? Would she distance herself from him? He absolutely 'had' to make a good impression because that's what would make Coco, his friend, happy but at the same time HOW WAS HE SUPPOSED TO DO THAT GIVEN ALL OF THE ABOVE?

"Seriously Deku, it's okay." Coco patted on Izuku head as she spoke, ruffling his hair a bit as she did so. "Just remember what I said: Yatsuhashi kind of likes being a show off, so do your best to be suitably impressed. He goes for the quiet guy act most of the time and he is a softy, but still, guy likes to get his ego stroked every now and then. Now, you aren't a girl so you're gonna need to reign it in a little bit, don't try to seem 'too' impressed, but... well, I'm sure you'll figure it out." How the Hell was he supposed to figure it out form that? That made no sense and was completely contradictory! Be impressed but not too impressed?! "Fox... well, just be passive when it comes to Fox. Say hi, be respectful and let him come to you; he's used to dealing with nervous people like Velvet and you can't really try to act 'as cool' as Fox so you're going to have to go for the cute guy routine you pull off so well."

"Routine?"

"Yeah you know, how you act so sheepish and sometimes get really flustered? That routine."

"... You mean how I act normally as a person?"

"Exactly! Just more of that, but be natural about it."

...

'Oh this is going to go 'so' well, I can just feel it in my bones.' Maybe it wasn't too late to say that he'd made other plans. It wouldn't be too bad right? Surely Coco would understand that he was busy... after all, she kind of just roped him into this on a whim when she met Izuku in the hall earlier. Yeah, just say that he had other things to do before she roped him in, and everything would be just-

"We're here!"

'Wait what?'

Before he could even think to put his plan into motion, Coco Adel practically kicked down her own dorm room's door and, with a pull, dragged him in without much room for resistance on his part. Izuku practically tripped over the threshold to the door and, as he just barely managed to land on his feet, he took a good look around the dorm room. It was structured much the same as his own dorm room: half of it seemed to go to one partner pair and the other half seemed to go to the other. On the one hand, it was easy to tell which bed was Coco's; it was right next to a nearly full to bursting closet and, on the desk immediately next to it, seemed to have some kind of container for her shades. From there, Velvet's part of the room seemed rather unassuming, much like the girl herself, with just a few odd decorations here and there and a plush on her bed of some rabbit doll.

The other half of the room... well, its occupants were obviously there and one of them was even on his own bed, with deep indents in the rug underneath it where you assumed the barbell he had currently been lifting was usually placed. The bed was also much larger than Izuku's, sticking out a good foot or two more than was normal. The last part of the room was similarly next to the closet, with a few posters put up.

As for the two guys themselves... Izuku couldn't lie, he nearly choked immediately.

Sat on his bed was the guy Izuku absolutely had to assume to be Yatsuhashi Daichi. Why? Because the guy with FRIGGIN ENORMOUS! The guy was friggin 'heads' taller than our hero, at least two feet. He was probably much taller than literally any of the teachers or staff Izuku had met except for Toshinori and even then it wasn't that far off from being close.

'Holy woah! I thought that maybe the only reason Toshinori's Hero form looked so tall and strong was because of One For All but, looking at this guy, maybe 'Toshinori was just that naturally buff and tall'.'

No wonder he was a natural for One For All! That guy would probably handle it with ease too because, on top of being so incredibly tall, he was also quite muscular, judging by the tremendous barbell he was currently lifting up and down as he took a look at who had so suddenly barged into his dorm room. The guy was tanned quite well, even up his bare arms, and his dark hair and dark eyes lent him the appearance of someone from coastal Mistral. The look he gave Izuku was pretty well neutral but even that look, combined with just how physically intimidating the guy was, pretty much had his knees shaking. How did people even get this tall?! Izuku could only imagine how Weiss or Ruby would react looking at the guy, given that they were the only ones in his peer group who were as tall or shorter than him.

The other guy was also intimidating but for different reasons. He just looked so friggin 'scary'. Scars littered his muscular arms, bare thanks to the sleeveless shirt he had been wearing and a vertical scar had run across his lips as well. The guy's dark skin and red hair kind of meshed together with his red and black outfit, and the long hang of his bangs lent a short of shadow to his upper face that made it somewhat hard to see his eyes. Though not hard enough; he could readily and easily tell that the guy literally had no irises or pupils. They were 'pure friggin white'. The more he looked at Izuku the more he felt like he was looking into Izuku's 'very soul'. The fact that the guy looked to be about as tall as Coco, and therefore over half a foot taller than Izuku, didn't help things with the intimidation factor either. That he kept his expression calm and cool also really, 'really' didn't make it feel any easier. By process of elimination, and based on what Coco had told you about the guys, that person had to be Fox Alistair.

"Look alive there boys, I brought us some company! Izuku Midoriya, this is Yatsuhashi, just call him Yatsu if that's too much of a mouthful for you, and that over there brooding in the corner is Fox. Fox, Yatsu, this here's Deku, the little guy I was telling you about and the first year who has been helping Velvet out with her studies." Coco clapped her hands together as she finished introducing everyone, looking at the scene expectantly as she did so.

...

'Oh Gods, he was so friggin nervous!'

'Okay, quit hyperventilating. It's fine. Everything's fine. Just... just try and remember Coco's advice. Yeah, just work my way through Coco's advice and 'everything' would be fine…'

...

'Oh Gods, he nearly forgot her advice for a moment. Okay, that's a relief.' So, he did his best to give a light smile as he raised his right hand in a wave, first addressing Yatsuhashi who sounded like, for lack of a better term, that he might be the more friendly out of those two or, at least, will give Izuku the better sign as to whether or not he'd managed to endear himself to him.

"Holy woah... that's a really huge barbell." Indeed, the individual weights on each side of it probably looked to be around the size of Izuku's head and yet the guy was handling it as if it were no trouble at all. Izuku saw Yatsuhashi stopped his lifting as he spoke up and, for a moment, Izuku wondered if he'd been too forward, like Coco warned, or if he just thought it was a weird thing to say. Eventually though he was greeted with the sight of a slight grin tugging at the corner of Yatsuhashi's lips as the guy switches his lifted around, adjusting it so that he's working his triceps by lifting the huge weight behind his back.

"Eh, it's not as heavy as it looks. Trust me, you spend a year here and you'll probably be lifting something... well, maybe not quite so heavy. You're a bit more scrawny than I was during my First Year." Izuku'd believe it too; for Izuku to go through a growth spurt that'd take him to the kind of height that the big guy was, ye Gods, all his bones would probably shatter. It made whatever progress he was making with his muscles seem positively meek and weak by comparison. Izuku saw a slight glint in Yatsuhashi's eyes as he seemed to smile to himself, the man bringing the barbell forward as he took a step off his bed, and walked over to Izuku. "You want to give it a shot?"

"W-What? I-I mean I couldn't possibly, that thing looks way too heavy for someone like me, I don't think I-" Even as Izuku was protesting, Yatsuhashi pushed the barbell forward into his awaiting hands, and the younger man secured a grip around it just in case. His caution proved to be warranted as, suddenly, the giant of a Second Year in front of him just let go, forcing him to support the entirety of the weight on his own. He felt like the blood vessels as far as his head was about to pop from the sudden strain his body put on itself in order to try to keep the barbell from hitting the ground and, for a moment, he felt like it was absolutely going to drop. However, in that moment of panic, Izuku quickly tapped into 5% of One For All and shoot it into his arms. Immediately, Fox's and Yatsuhashi's eyes widened slightly as Izuku's arms glowed with that mix of golden and scarred red as his muscles immediately expanded from the power flowing through them. Izuku still felt his blood vessels pounding against the skin of his forehead as he gritted his teeth, slowly lifting the barbell back up with tremendous effort, even 5% of One For All almost proving to be insufficient to lift the barbell.

"Well holy shit..." The giant in front of Izuku remarked as he scratched the side of his head. "I thought we'd have a little laugh here to break the ice but damn kid, you're not exactly as little as you make yourself out to be." Yatsu tilted his head to the side, while Izuku just grunted a little under the weight.

"... Please take this back, I honestly think my arms are going to give out at any minute. I can't keep this up forever." Yatsuhashi just nodded as he reached forward and, with minimal effort, lifted the barbell out of his hands, causing him to release a shaken breath as One For All abandoned his arms in the next second... 'holy woah, they feel like noodles.'

"I told you; Deku here might be a cute little guy but he's got spunk. Stood up to that muscle head who was trying to push Velvet around after all, Deku was raring to go and ready for a fight." Izuku gave a slightly shaky laugh as Coco again just tousled his hair, while Yatsu just smiled as he switched up which hand held the barbell, putting it off into his left.

"Well hey, I guess you've got a point. Put it there kid, maybe you'll be lifting my kinds of barbells when you get into the Second Year after all." Yatsu put his right hand out to shake Deku's, an eager look on his face as he did so... one that quickly turned to confusion when he didn't lift his hand for a handshake. Izuku nervously chuckled as he looked down at his arms, thoroughly sore and kind of smarting from having so suddenly having to manage all that weight all at once.

"Give me a second, I can't really feel my arms right now." The giant of a young man just gave a hearty laugh at that.

"Well Coco, what can I say? You really know how to pick 'em." With that, Yatsu gave Izuku a firm slap on the shoulder and, Izuku wouldn't lie, it 'really' hurt but he managed to grin right through it as Yatsu walked back to his bed and went back at it with the barbell. With that done and settled, Izuku turned his head to look over at Fox Alistair, the young man still just sitting in his place and watching Izuku. Still feeling quite nervous under his gaze, he swallowed a slight lump in his throat.

"So, uh... hi there. I'm a friend-acquaintance?-of Coco and Velvet." Momentarily Izuku nervously turned his gaze back over to Coco, as if looking for confirmation. The brown haired young woman just gave him a slight, playful frown as she looked down at Izuku.

"Deku... are you saying you're not sure if we're friends? Come on, after everything you've done for Velvet and how sweet you've been? You can't possibly doubt that we're buds now..." Izuku immediately bowed his head as he saw the 'sad' look on Coco's face, his own face went slightly red.

"O-Oh I'm sorry, it's just that well, I know we've been going to the club meetings for a while and I've been tutoring Velvet but it's just I wasn't sure if I should presume, I mean I want us to be friends of course, b-but I just didn't-" Coco laughed as she reached down and pinched his cheeks, pulling them apart slightly.

"Oh Gods, isn't he just the cutest little First Year you've ever seen? Why do so many of them come around stomping like they own the place rather than acting all cute and nervous? It'd be way better if you ask me." Coco declared earnestly which, finally, actually drew a response from Fox.

"You mean you hate it when First Years act exactly like you did?" Coco immediately froze at that, the young woman just laughing slightly as she readjusted her shades.

"Come on, you can't possibly mean that Fox. Surely you mean to say that, at the very least, I acted with a bit of decorum and reservation befitting a-"

"No you acted like someone who thought they practically owned this school the moment you stepped into it." With that, Coco just gasped as she looked down at Izuku.

"Don't believe a word of it Deku, that's just slander. Slander and gossip. You and I are above those sorts of things." The freshman blinked slightly as he turned his head to look up at her, the young woman having lifted her head so that her chin had a sort of imperial, haughty tilt to it. Kind of reminded Izuku of Weiss in a way whenever she got into a foul mood and wanted to project an imposing presence.

"Coco, you gossip about a lot of stuff during the Council Meetings. Heck, a couple weeks ago-"

"Up up up up up!" Coco interrupted Izuku as she chuckled a bit nervously, Yatsu just gave a short chuckle under his breath as he continued lifting while Fox just rolled his eyes... or he thought he did? It was hard to tell given that his eyes were all white, but Izuku thought the motion was there. Coco, meanwhile, coughed into her fist as she looked back down at Izuku. "A-Anyway Deku, you had more to say, didn't you?" He gave a slow nod, deciding it best to actually get back to introducing himself to Fox.

"Anyway, Coco thought it'd be best if I got to meet you all properly, so... here I am. N-nice to meet you."

There was a stiff silence in the room as Fox just looked at the underclassman for a while. Eventually the young, red haired man just sighed as he looked off to the side, shrugging his shoulders. "Whatever."

...

'Oh Gods, I messed something up. I haven't done something right! Had I fallen through somewhere on Coco's advice? How have I managed to mess up this first impression? Gods, this is so horrible-'

"Hey, nice job there Deku, you actually managed to get Fox to like you on your first go. Not a lot of people get that pleasure." Fox immediately stiffened at that, turning to look at Coco with a slight furrow to his brows while Izuku just watched on confused.

"Shove it Adel, I don't like this kid, I honestly just couldn't give a rat's ass one way or the other. In fact, the more you're pushing him on us, the more it's getting kind of aggravating. So take your little accessory and shove off then."

"Oh shush. You and I both know that if you actually didn't like little old Deku here you would've stormed off in a huff to... oh, whatever it is you do to impress the girls with your bad boy attitude. Sulk on the edge of a rooftop? Stare mysteriously into the distance." Izuku was 'really confused' as Coco started teasing Fox like this, the girl just huffing as she adjusts her shades. "Honestly Fox, after all this time you're still such a try hard." Izuku looked over to Yatsu for clarification, the giant of a man just giving him the shushing motion as Coco walked over to Fox who, in turn, stood up.

"Just do your best to not draw attention to yourself and get dragged in." If Yatsu was in any way worried, he didn't seem to show it as he continued to lift, a thoroughly amused grin on his face as he watched Fox and Coco go at it. Izuku just blinked, unable to really process this, as Coco and Fox just kept going.

"And you're still so friggin' flighty. I swear, every other week it seems like you get yourself tied up into something 'new' and 'exciting' and 'fun' and then you drag our asses into it no matter what and then leave us to clean up after you when you get bored. Just like that time when you said that it was kind of lame that you and Velvet had the same hair color on the team so you-"

"Don't you friggin' dare Fox!"

"Dyed your hair. Honestly, how'd that end up working out for you?" Fox just scoffed as he looked off to the side. "Now you're dragging some kid along for the ride? Jeez, don't you think he had better things to do today than meet complete and total strangers?"

"Actually I didn't..." Immediately, 'immediately' Izuku knew that was a mistake without Yatsuhashi even having to mouth it to him. Because in that moment, Fox and Coco turned to look over at Izuku, each of them looking slightly on edge.

"Yeah, you tell this try hard Deku. You were fine with coming to meet my team so we could all be better friends and I've 'damn' well sure gone to every meeting of the Leadership Council that I could when I wasn't on a mission."

"Jeez, aren't you getting annoyed with that nickname? It'd piss me off to no end." Fox remarked dryly as he kicked himself off his seat, joining Coco who had practically walked up to Izuku's face. "Come on, don't be intimidated just cause this tomboy carries around a mini-gun, stand up for yourself cause, trust me, you don't want to be in a position where this girl feels like she can decide what you'll do at any given moment."

"Hey, I'll have you know that 'all' of my activities have been to bond our team closer together and that we've all had fun. And yes, 'ALL' of us Fox, even if you're 'too cool' to admit it." Fox just sneered a little as he rolled his eyes.

"Pisses me off... so come on, speak up kid, you're with me right?"

"Nooo, Deku's with me on this. Come on, tell him Izuku, tell this try hard that he needs to lighten up."

"Tell her that she can't just boss you around and put words in your mouth."

...

'Why didn't I listen to Yatsuhashi?'

Izuku just looked in between Fox and Coco, both of his seniors having stared down at him with expectant looks. It was all a little too much for his nerves to bear and, after a second, he let out this little, helpless cry of distress as he looked straight ahead, doing his best to avoid eye contact with the two. It seemed that his cry for help didn't go unheeded as he heard a sigh come from Yatsuhashi's bed.

"Come on you two, don't drag the little guy into this. He's gonna think this is all his fault or something."

...

Dead silence suddenly hung over the room as he looked over to Yatsuhashi, the young man's sympathetic look... well, sympathetic toward Izuku, seemingly shifting over a course of seconds. From confusion at the fact that Fox and Coco were still staying quiet to sudden and unrelenting horror as, slowly but surely, Fox and Coco turned their heads to face Yatsuhashi, a sort of gleam in their eyes.

"Uhhh... I just remembered! I have this date with a girl here... you wouldn't have heard of her, she's a third year named... Pearl Socrates-Nostradamus." Immediately Yatsuhashi leapt from his bed, dropping the dumbbell in the process, as he just clapped his hands together. "So yeah I think I'll just be going now, so I'll see you guys later, don't wait up I promise I'll take a shower on my wa-agh!" Immediately Coco's scarf, the flowery pattern that had tied it together having been unraveled and unfolded to reveal a surprising' length of material, wrapped around Yatsuhashi's neck as the giant of a man made a run for it, his foot barely having taken a step out the two before Fox started to reel him back in by the scarf.

"Reel him in Fox, keep a good hold on him." Coco declared sternly as she kept her arms crossed, the white-eyed teammate of hers just nodding.

"Will do." Izuku just watched as Yatsuhashi was dragged beside him, a look more annoyed than angry on his face as the giant of a man seemed to resign himself to his fate, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Swear, why am I always the one roped into this stuff? I just wanted to do some reps. Why doesn't Velvet ever get this treatment..." Izuku was left kind of stunned and confused as he watched as Yatsuhashi seemed to be called in to play referee to the... fight, discussion, whatever, that Fox and Coco had been in the middle of previously. After some odd moments of the two getting heated again, it seemed to finally come down to a decision: yes, Coco, you have been known to be pretty flighty, don't get mad that Fox starts busting your chops after you bust his. No, Fox, saying 'whatever' to the guest who'd been helping Velvet out immensely and who stepped in to protect her against a bully when they weren't around was not playing it cool. What, did he not appreciate it, or something.

That having been said, Fox ran a hand through his hair as he frowned, a slight grit to his teeth as he glanced back over at his underclassman. Izuku let out another light sound of distress now that focus is back on him... but Fox just seemed to deflate as he walked back over to his bed.

"It's not like I'm not grateful or anything. Velvet's our teammate, and she shouldn't let other people bully her just because she's nervous and a Faunus. I'm... urgh, more than happy to say thanks for that." With that, Fox just sat back down as he shrugged. "I just don't really see the point in dragging him here to meet and greet."

"Well maybe it'd be nice if you actually said that to poor little Deku rather than talking around him like he's not here." Coco added with some stern finality as Fox just flinched a little. The white eyed young man sighed as he reached up and scratched that mop of red hair of his, before turning to look Izuku in the eyes again... literally every time he did that it felt like he was staring at Izuku's soul.

"Look... thanks. Velvet wasn't your responsibility or your teammate... but you helped her anyway. Velvet needs more people like that around her, to be frank." It's weird how sincere that sounded, given the guy's attitude up to that point. It honestly felt like a veil drops for a moment and, while his eyes were piercing into Izuku, he was momentarily allowed to pierce back into him. But then it seemed like the shield went back up and the guy just huffed. "There, you happy now Coco, or should I call him 'Deku' too?"

"Oh no no no, nonsense." Coco gave Izuku a teasing smile as she pinches his cheek. "I think little Deku only really like it when the girls call him Deku, isn't that right?"

...

Welp, it was nice not being the target of Coco's teasing for a moment. Izuku cheeks went red from that as Fox just rolled his eyes, Yatsuhashi having grinned and chuckled as he went back to his weights.

"Well it's nice to meet you Izuku." Fox just gave a short grunt of agreement with Yatsuhashi's statement, one which brought a smile to Izuku's face as he nodded in agreement. It didn't take long for Coco to eventually round Izuku up and, after a few more short words exchanged with Yatsu and Fox, herded him back outside of the dorm room.

"Well, that actually went insanely well Deku. I would've expected Yatsu to take a liking to you, but it seems like Fox might actually act like a tolerable person around you. Props." Coco said with a chuckle as Izuku laughed nervously, having scratched the back of his head as he did so.

"Yeah... it was really interesting seeing a team of my seniors." Coco smiled as Izuku spoke, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"Well I'm glad I could give you that experience Deku... and thanks. Fox and Yatsu can be handfuls at times, but they are my friends and teammates. So I appreciate you letting be drag you along." With that, Coco gave you a quick wave. " I'll see you around Deku, you have a good day now!" With that you gave a nod and waved back, waiting for Coco to go back to her dorm and close the door behind her. As she did so... Izuku heaved a sigh of relief as he dropped his head.

Seemed like even his seniors acted kind of goofy... and his arms still hurt.

After such an exhausting week and, indeed, an exhausting fight against those Monochrome guys and their goons, Izuku decided that what he needed was some kind of relaxing activity that still would've helped him out in some way, as laying in bed all day just made him feel pretty lazy. He considered everything on campus that he could possible do and, well, after a while he came to a realization:

'Why not try the sauna?'

The sauna wasn't exactly the most used out of all of Beacon's little rooms or facilities; after all, just sitting in a wooden room that was really, 'really' hot and sweating for about fifteen or twenty minutes didn't really seem like something most people could enjoy. That being said, Izuku had heard things about saunas; like sitting in there for even such a short period of time could be tantamount to a pretty long work out, that sweating out like that in dry heat helped cleanse someone's body of various toxins and that it could even be relaxing, especially if the user followed it up with a quick dip into something cold. Izuku'd heard of some people in the region of Atlas where it often snowed that it was customary, when the sauna's heat became unbearable, to throw themselves outside and to roll around in the snow or to jump into a frozen lake.

It sounded weird but hey, no point in judging without trying right?

So Izuku had done his best to sneak out of his dorm room with only a towel, hoping that none of his teammates or other friends found him on the way lest he explain exactly what his plan was. He could only imagine how unbearable the teasing from Yang would be if she found out; he wouldn't hear the end of it for a while. Thankfully it seemed like he didn't run into anyone on the way and managed to get to the sauna's changing room without much difficulty. Being quite sure that there wasn't an occupied sign up, and eased by the fact that the girls had their own sauna to go into along with its own changing room, Izuku immediately felt at ease. He quickly stripped down to little more than what he'd been born with and wrap a towel around himself and, following that, he immediately hopped into the sauna and took a seat, the thick steam of the room having made it slightly difficult to find his way to the wall.

...

It didn't take long for the heat to really sink into his tired muscles, which caused Izuku to relax quite a bit. Sweat began to pour off of him, the dry heat having caused more than usual to both slowly drip down his skin and rapidly evaporate. It was cool and hot at the same time and, really, despite it being so much hotter in the room than the summers Izuku'd spent in Mountain Glenn in terms of temperature, the lack of Mountain Glenn's humidity made it in some ways more bearable.

Huh, maybe there really was something to Atlas' sauna culture after all.

"Are you finding this relaxing, Izuku Midoriya?"

"Yeah I am actually. I can really feel the heat just sinking in. My muscles feel like they're melting." Izuku replied with a relaxed sigh as he leaned back against the wooden wall of the sauna. It was really nice, being all alone in...

...

"Ah!" Izuku jolted up quickly, his hand going to his towel to make sure that it wouldn't fall off from his jerky motions, as his eyes quickly scanned through the mist. It didn't take long for him to spot... Shoto? Yeah, Shoto. More than that, Izuku spotted the young man sitting in the room, a towel the only thing clad to him, as he formed... wow. A really intricate snowflake in the palm of his hand. One whose ice wasn't melting despite the strong heat of the sauna. Hell, on closer inspection, Izuku could tell that Shoto was barely even sweating at all despite the heat.

"Did I startle you?" Shoto asked, somewhat evenly, as the ice in his hand shifted ever so slightly, Izuku just quickly nodding his head as he sat back down.

"Yeah you did. I thought this room was empty." Shoto blinked for a moment... before a look of realization came over his face.

"My apologies Izuku. I seemed to have forgotten to put up the sign before entering. I was a little deep in thought before coming in here for training, so it must've skipped my mind." Izuku nodded slightly at that, made sense.

"Well... it's not like it makes that much of a difference anyway. It's mostly just for guys who might not feel comfortable being here with other people anyway, given that the girls have their own." And, thanks to the fact that Shoto seemed to have absolutely no response to the fact that the two of them were sitting in the sauna essentially naked except for the towels they were wearing... well, Izuku was still embarrassed, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been if someone like say, Kacchan or Cardin being in here would've been…

Izuku shivered; that was a horrible nightmare.

"I suppose, still, it is courtesy." Izuku just nodded at that and, soon enough, they both kind of descended into silence. Shoto had come in here to train his Semblance and Izuku'd come in just to relax his body and neither of them had really expected the other, so he really had no idea what to talk about with Shoto. That being said, Izuku leaned his head back against the wall as he took a relaxing breath, expecting the silence to continue. "Izuku."

"Yeah Shoto?"

"Why did you interfere with the argument between Weiss Schnee and myself?"

...

Well that was a bit of a surprise. Izuku blinked as he pushed himself off against the wall, his head tilting back down so he could look at Shoto. The young man didn't seem to have an angry or annoyed expression on his face... then again, Shoto rarely seemed to emote too much. It had probably been part of what made him and Ren such good friends, come to think about it.

"What do you mean?" Shoto tilted his head down slightly as he over at Izuku.

"Weiss is pretty stubborn as a rule, even before she mentioned that she'd gotten advice from you it was pretty obvious that she wouldn't have approached me under her own will for a while. I had insulted her quite harshly with my comments, even if I was unaware of that fact at the time, and she I... I imagine it would've been, at first, a matter of her pride that she wouldn't speak with me and then, from there, a matter of her not wanting to address what had been said between the two of us. I, meanwhile, likely would've continued to think she loathed me for reasons I wouldn't have readily, fully understood."

...

'Wow he is even worse at being social than I am.' Even that had some things that most people probably would've considered mild insults peppered in, though it was clear to Izuku Shoto hadn't meant it as such. 'Just like Weiss said.'

"So it was pretty easy to suspect that you had something to do with her and I talking in such short order. When she mentioned it off-hand, it wasn't hard to believe. Still, it made me beg the question of why you got involved. It wasn't a matter that had anything to do with you and furthermore Weiss and I weren't teammates on the same team so our argument wouldn't have hurt group solidarity. So I don't understand why you had decided to get involved. It makes me curious."

Well, all of this was fair enough.

"Well I really hate to disagree with you, but I think you're wrong on both accounts. It did affect me and I think in time it would have come to affect the chemistry between the teams." Izuku saw that Shoto actually looked slightly surprised, the young man having tilted his head slightly to the side upon having heard that.

"Truly? How so. I'm afraid I don't quite see what you mean." Izuku frowned a bit as he parsed the words out in his mind, doing his best to try to frame it in a way he thought Shoto would've readily understood.

"Well... let's start with the obvious: Weiss is my friend, and I hate seeing my friends angry and upset. Plus, I'm hoping someday we can call each other friends, and it's best if my friends can get along." Izuku saw Shoto nod slightly at that, the young man's eyes having narrowed slightly as he took that in.

"A fair enough point... yes, I think I understand what you mean." Izuku nodded, glad of that, as he moved on.

"And I think you underestimate both your and Weiss' importance to your teams, at least you're underestimating just how much your distress over this would've effected everything. While I didn't have a problem with you directly, I admit as team leader I would most likely side with Weiss, just like I'm sure your team would support you. It's only natural; we would've heard Weiss' side of the story and your team would've heard your own, and, without both perspectives, we really wouldn't have understood what was going on. I'll admit, I'm not too experienced with having a lot of friends myself but... well, I thought about it when I was talking with Weiss and, when I really sat down and considered it, I decided that there really is nothing worse in a relationship than having to choose sides in a fight between two friends. Even if you and I might not be fast friends, I wouldn't have liked the prospect of potentially severing that in favor of Weiss."

"I guess the best way to explain it is that everyone in our group is connected to everyone else in some way, and if one of those connections gets damaged, it can cause a chain reaction throughout. I mean, Yang and I get along great on our own... but I can guarantee you that if I ever made Ruby upset or angry or if I hurt her in any way, that Yang and I would probably be done as friends... heck, just Kacchan being Kacchan is enough for Yang to pretty much cut out any possibility of getting along with him because of how he acts around Ruby. Those kinds of connections... I think all groups of friends have something like that." Shoto hums to himself at that, the young man having stroked his chin."

"... Like with Ren and Nora." Shoto spoke up, his eyes narrowing as he focused his thoughts. "As well as I get along with both, I think that my friendship with either would be strained if I ever found myself in a bad position with the other. Do you mean like that, Izuku?" Izuku nodded, glad his split classmate grasped the point so readily. "I see, so you stepped in to help Weiss because you feared what it would do to all of our friendships." Now that Izuku shook his head at that, which caused a look of some surprise on Shoto's face.

"I don't think I got as involved as you might be assuming. Like I said, if the situation had continued on like that, I probably would've supported Weiss as strongly as I could. I didn't know your side so it wasn't like I could intervene and play a direct mediator. All I really did was give Weiss some advice, that maybe you didn't mean the words in the way she interpreted them. I honestly had no idea how things would work out and I even told Weiss that, if you did mean the words in the way she interpreted them, then she could count on me to back her up... in the end, I left it to Weiss to decide if she wanted to try to mend your relationship. If you really want to credit someone with this all working out, it should be Weiss. Her working up the courage and swallowing her pride to apologize to you was all her, and I don't feel that I deserve any credit for something that was probably really hard for her to do."

"I see... yes... I imagine that would have been extremely difficult for her. It showed during our talk." Shoto gave a firm nod at that as he looked up. "I'm grateful. I had thought that Weiss despised me for what I had said, and I hadn't known how to respond or try to fix it... I had thought I was being friendly in talking about something we both shared. I have... learned otherwise, thanks to Weiss informing me. It would have been unpleasant if what you described came to pass." Izuku nodded as Shoto really seemed to take it all in. "Still, even if you don't feel you deserve credit, you stepped in and helped Weiss in some way. I think that still means I owe you thanks." Izuku waved him off a bit at that, a light chuckle escaping his throat as he did so.

"Really, it was nothing..." The half and half young man nodded in understanding. Again, the sauna went quiet as the two of them just sat in silent contemplation, Shoto working with his snowflake in hand and Izuku just letting the heat continue to soak into him.

"Izuku."

"Yeah Shoto?"

"You said that you would like for us to be friends, even if you weren't sure that we currently are friends." Izuku nodded at that as Shoto looked up. "I too am not sure whether or not we're friends. We haven't interacted too much and our previous talk had a slight... stumble to it." Again, that somewhat scary expression that appeared when he brought up Shoto's family crossed the young man's face again, though it quickly vanished. "However, I did greatly appreciate what you did both with Weiss and in the Tunnels, having helped to rescue me and the other Hunters. I find that I, too, would like us to be friends..." Shoto seemed to quirk his head to the side.

"So how much more do we need to do before we become friends?"

"Well... I suppose we only really have one thing we need to do before we become friends." Izuku saw Shoto perk up slightly, the young man's gaze curious. After a moment, Izuku just smiled, he extended out a hand, one that Shoto could shake without using the hand holding onto the ice he was forming, and gave him a smile. "Hi. My name's Izuku Midoriya. Would you like to be friends?"

...

Shoto just seemed utterly confused, tilting his head to the side slightly as he did so.

"Is that it?"

"Yep!"

Shoto just blinked for a moment as he looks at Izuku's extended hand. Finally, after a few moments, Shoto shrugged his shoulders as he reached a hand out to grasp Izuku's, giving a good shake.

"Hello. My name is Shoto Todoroki. I'd... enjoy that." As he said that Izuku just give a firm nod, shook his hand back and then broke apart the shake as the two leaned back against the two sides of the sauna, sighing in relief as Izuku did so, as he continued to feel the heat permeate through his body. "... Is that really it?"

"Yeah Shoto, that's really it."

"... Huh..." Shoto muttered to himself before Izuku watch as he melted the ice in his hand... or rather, allowed it to melt. "Thank you Izuku. You've given me some things to think on and more information, as well as your friendship. I think I've had about enough training for now, so I'll be departing. I'll see you later." Izuku gave a nod as Shoto, hanging onto his towel, walked out of the sauna and, doing so quickly as to not let the hot hair out, closed the door behind him. Izuku gave a slight sigh as he was now left alone in the sauna. In five minutes, he'd probably be done himself... still, no harm in just continuing to relax for those five minutes.

It was a good day.