Eijiro Kirishima was many things. Manly, a combat expert, manly, owner of one of the best defensive semblances he had ever heard of, manly, and near the top of his year in sparring. 'So,' he wondered 'how is it that somebody as manly as me wound up as the team cook?' He sighed as he walked from the kitchenet into the main room, trays loaded with grilled cheese sandwiches and hot cocoa.
"Oooh finally!" Mina Ashido sprang up from her bed and dashed over, snatching up a sandwich and a mug so fast Eijiro thought of Neon for a moment. Well okay not as fast as her in "rainbow mode", but still. He wondered for a moment if it was a Faunus thing to be so fast, and realizing what he just thought resolved to not think like that again damn it. Hell he went to combat school with her, he knows how hard she worked for her speed and agility, there was no species-based shortcut bs like he'd heard some people whisper about.
Eijiro was shaken out of his thoughts by Mina's happy giggle as she took a sip. "This is still the best damn coco on the planet. It's like you can taste the money."
Denki, who insisted on going by his "cooler" last name of Kaminari, grabbed his own set with an eye roll. "It's been a couple of months. You would think you'd be used to gourmet food by now." None the less he couldn't keep from grinning like a loon as he dug into his own food.
"Gourmet? If I knew you wanted to try some I would have been happy to add some to the next grocery order." The last member of the team, Momo Yaoyorozu, spoke up from her mahogany four-poster canopy bed that took up a fourth of the room's floor space. Anything else she might have wanted to say was cut off by a coughing fit.
Eijiro hurried over to his leader and partner, putting the tray down on her nightstand. "Hey, worry about that later. You just focus on getting better. We can plan a party for after you get better, okay?"
Momo groaned. "I can't believe that out of our team I'm the first to fall ill. It reflects poorly on me as a leader."
"Not really." Mina casually chimed in, a goofy grin on her face. "I mean they say idiots never catch colds, so that makes it unfair to compare the rest of us to you."
"Speak for yourself," Kaminari said, striking a pose. "I'm not the one who spent hours out in the snow training by myself without a break after all."
"I told you, I was trying to build up my environmental resistance so that my concen-" Momo was interrupted by another fit.
Eijiro patted her on the back a few times while shooting a glare at their teammate. "Come on, you know her semblance is tricky to use and requires...a certain type of outfit." He coughed into his own fiat, trying not to blush. "It's not her fault that Create requires her to have exposed skin to work. Not everyone has it as easy as you short-circuit."
"Don't call me that." Kaminari huffed.
"Still you wear even less than Eijiro and you're fine. Clearly, I am lacking in some capacity besides inexperience with combat." Momo moaned, looking downcast.
Eijiro for his part just shot her an odd look as he said "You do realize that Unbreakable protects me from the environment too right?" Another groan, one of embarrassment, was her only response.
Kaminari gave a short laugh. "Well, lesson learned huh? Anyway, you just focus on getting better okay? And maybe on changing your semblance's name to something a bit cooler, like mine."
Momo, of all people, was the one who shot him a flat look at that. "You call your semblance "Taste my Lightning"."
"Exactly, it's cool," Kirishima said, smirking, as sparks played over his body.
"Finally!" Mina cheered as she hopped over, reached into her partner's pocket, and sure enough pulled out her scroll. "Eighty-seven percent! Your light show is always the best damn charger."
"What the-I told you to stop doing that!" Kirishima shouted. "When did you put it in my pocket anyway?"
"When it hit thirteen percent," Mina responded as she went to the front door, reading through her rather active social media that she had missed during her latest 'use my partner as a charger' escapade. "Anyway, I got to go. Neon, club, weekend, you know how it goes. Anyway, enjoy your semblance talk. Hopefully, when I get mine it will be as cool. Welp later!" she called cheerfully as she dashed off.
As such she missed the rest of her team stopping and staring at her exit. "She's...kidding right?" Kaminari said at last. "I mean, her acid has to be her semblance right?"
"I agree. I mean she's melted an Ursa Major's head. There is no way that is just a Faunus trait even if she is a...um...a...oh dear, I just realized I don't know what sort she is. I'm a terrible team leader."
"Hey hey calm down partner. I mean the pink and the horns and eyes hardly tells you what she is automatically. She's...um...actually" Eijiro pauses as he thinks, frowning in concentration. "I don't know either, and I've known her since combat school. I don't think she's ever said actually."
"Oh, that's great." Kaminari huffed. "And it's too late into the year to ask without it being awkward. Now, what do we do?"
"Easy enough. We ask her." Momo said. "Well good luck Kaminari."
"What?!"
"Well you are her partner, so it might be less awkward coming from you," Momo explained. "Also you have the best chance of casually asking without having to come up with an excuse to hang out." Seeing he wasn't convinced she added "Also if you do this I'll have my cake butler make you your favorite type of cake for my "health recovery" party."
The two guys just stare at her. Kaminari finally speaks up. "You have a cake butler?"
Momo blinks in surprise. "You...don't?" she asked, sounding genuinely confused at the revelation. Like when she learned that most people don't use thousand lien cards as bookmarks because "it's such a small amount and there are always a few on hand".
Kaminari processed that for a few seconds before getting up. "Chocolate with strawberry icing. I'm going to track down what club she's hitting this time. Later." And with that, the lightning user was off.
Eijiro sighed as he grabbed his own coco mug. They might be a solid contender for the top team in their year, it was obvious MADE still had a ways to go. Taking a sip he yelped in surprise. "Burnt tongue. Unbreakable!"
"Don't use your semblance for coco!"
xXxXxXxXxXx
Katsuki Bakugou was a patient man.
If someone else said otherwise, screw those assholes! He had to be a frickin patient saint to not let out his anger about his loss on all the people around him.
Katsuki knew he had lost horribly against the stupid mute bitch, but that wouldn't matter in the long run. All it had shown was that he had been slacking. While he trained himself without much rest, he had left some gaps in his fighting style for others to take advantage of. So while he had been training hard, he might have slacked when it came to tactics.
That wouldn't do.
Certainly, it had been a rude awakening, but he preferred it this way. For having let himself lose, he deserved that - and worse actually. The only thing he regretted was that stupid Deku had to be around because of course he would be, and see all that. But on the other hand, he wouldn't have had the video, if that weren't the case.
'Dammit.'
He'd face that smug little bitch again and then none of this would even count.
At least that was Katsuki Bakugou's rational thoughts about his situation. But that didn't help to deal with the rage inside him. While it gave him motivation, it was by now taking away from his concentration too much. It was becoming a damn hindrance by now. Just like back in the Emerald Forest during the initiation exam, when his anger made him into a Grimm magnet.
So today he had decided, for now at least, to push that little bitch out of his thoughts entirely, so he could finally calm down enough to concentrate on getting stronger as fast as possible. Admittedly this could take a while, between the strength difference and the bad match-up he faced with her. It would take a maddeningly long time for his tastes. But again, Katsuki Bakugo was a patient man. As long as he'd reach the top and become the strongest, one or two setbacks along the way didn't matter in the slightest in the long run. Reaching the top would be a long road, but as long as he'd stay on top even longer than that, it would all be worth it.
But that was the reason right there why he had to abolish any thoughts of her and needed to concentrate on his training. Just because he had his sights set on the long run didn't mean he could just waste his time away. For now, he had watched the video of his loss enough times to know it inside out and, until he developed the ideas that analysis had gotten him into something tangible, he needed to banish it from his thoughts entirely too.
It and the entire existence of that ice cream munching midget!
'Honestly, how hard can it be?'
Bakugou was walking through the entertainment room, looking around for someone who was wasting their time. He needed a training partner to test a few new moves. But so far he only saw extras, no one who could stand up to him long enough to be of any use to him. He looked in the corner, towards a few students sitting in front of the giant TV screen. No luck there either, just some more riff-raff with one of them having trouble getting the others' attention.
"Would you answer me already?"
"Sorry, didn't hear you, the TV's too loud."
"Then hit the damn mute button, idiot!"
*twitch*
*Boom*
"What the hell, what did that table ever do to you, you can't just blow up random stuff! Damn, that chair is burning like a torch, which is all kinds of wrong, you know? Wait, why are you looking at me like that?"
*twitch*
*Boom*
Katsuki entered one of the training grounds.
"Damn, that combat droid is brutal, it hit me over the back of my head so hard I might have a concussion!"
*twitch*
*Boom*
Katsuki left the scorched second-year student alone, eyes still looking for someone decent to pair up with.
It was then he spotted his teammate Lie Ren training his acrobatics and marksmanship with those silly little .45 calibers of his.
"Meh. But he'd at least has enough aura to tank a few of my hits without whining too much."
"Hey, come over here Ren, I want to train a bit and you're gonna contribute!"
The boy turned around, that sleepy eyes of his narrowing a little.
"Don't think you can just order me around, Bakugou. But I wouldn't mind a change of pace, I've been doing this training for a while."
"Whatever, I'd prefer it if you actually went with your usual schtick and just kept silent."
*twitch*
*smoke*
Ok, that one didn't count.
"Is everything alright? You seem stressed even for your standards." The green bastard dared to ask.
"Shut your trap, just get your ass over here and try to scratch me with those lovetaps your tiny weapons are capable of! Concentrate on hitting me from my blind spots!"
Lie Ren shrugged and became a blur of movement near-instantly, fading in and out of sight.
Bakugou had gotten hit more times than he would have preferred, but he was starting to get better at spotting Lie Ren earlier. Not early enough to always block or dodge in time, but often enough he could parry at least or just make an explosion to ward off the attack attempt. Progress, if painfully slow one, but too exhaustive of his aura to be a real solution.
Ren had offered to get some water for them.
"Figures that hopping ninja flea is getting tired first, despite me doing all the hard work." The explosive first year thought to himself, brushing away beads of sweat. He could last for days if it were just this much.
He glanced at the neighboring fighting ring where that blond bimbo Yang was facing her team leader.
"Might as well watch while I've got nothing to do."
He couldn't resist grinning widely when Tenya Iida was hitting that sassy blonde square in that loudmouth of hers. Katsuki didn't care much about her insults and jokes towards him, but that didn't mean he liked them either. One day he'd teach her to finally shut up for good about him. Her being his team leader's older sister didn't give her the right to talk shit about him or his actions.
Iida was nearing his top speed and dancing circles around her, hitting her with more and more velocity to back it up. Bakugou grew bored with that and started turning away when he recognized Yang's posture from her sparring fight against Deku. She was preparing to activate her Semblance.
"Maybe I'll watch a little more."
There Iida shot near, hitting her again, this time with her doing nothing to defend herself. Her hair looked like it was on fire and her lilac eyes changed color to a crimson red that...
...her eyes changed color...
That's when the biggest grin Neo's had on her face this entire fight spreads across her lips, her eyes switching colors from pink and brown to brown and pink and then back as she hefted her umbrella. Before Kacchan could even properly react Neopolitan was right on top of him...
*twitch*
"Here's your bottle, catch!", Ren called out to him.
*boom*
The water bottle evaporated in mid-air, leaving only a small smoke cloud behind.
"I'm not getting you another, you know?", Ren shrugged his shoulders, by now used to his teammate's sudden inexplicable mood swings.
"I don't need your stupid water, just get your ass over here and fight me already!"
"Actually I have a prior responsibility, I don't have the time anymore. Find someone else."
*twitch*
*smoke*
*twitch* *twitch*
*smoke* *smoke*
A pair of first-years ran along.
"Hey, we're almost done with the training, let's grab some ice cream when we're done!"
"As long as it's not some bland vanilla, strawberry-chocolate perhaps?
*twitch*
A smirk grew wide as Katsuki Bakugo turned around towards his prey.
"Hey, you two, spar with me a little, two on one, would ya? Don`t worry, I'll hold back."
The two guys turned to him, more than a little insulted at that offer, only to stop cold at seeing who was talking to them.
"Err, I don't think so, actually we have to leave right now, so~"
"You don't have a choice."
*boom*
Bakugou waited for the rain to stop. Aura healed a lot of things, but it didn't mean one was immune to things like the common cold. He was still sweaty from his training and what could have been called a battle if the guys hadn't been such wimps, finally a little calmer too. But getting drenched by the rain could lead to him catching something and wasting valuable time to heal up.
He couldn't afford that.
"Hey, Kacchan!"
He groaned. Did his team leader have to possess the most gratingly annoying voice you could imagine?
"I told you not to call me that, little runt! What the hell do you want!"
"Hey, don't call me runt, I'm your team leader!"
"So? As long as I'm strong enough to pull this team through, that's enough, ain't it? Doesn't mean I've got to suck up to you, just because you were made leader."
"Ugh. You know what? I'm too busy for this. Fine, be that way. I don't even care too much about all the trouble you apparently stirred up today! Anyway, here you go, take this."
She pushed something into her unruly teammate's hand.
"Huh? The hell?" Katsuki said, before suddenly going silent.
*twitch*
Ruby considered that sudden silence a good sign, which revealed a lot about her naivety. She quickly spoke up.
"I brought you an umbrella so you don't have to waste your time waiting around for the rain to stop anymore! Sorry if it looks a little girly, but the thought counts, right? Better than you catching a cold or something! You're welcome!"
*twitch* *twitch*
Katsuki Bakugo slowly looked down at the colorful, frilly umbrella in his hand, still silent. But he was starting to shiver.
"Wow, good thing I brought it, he's shivering from happiness. Even if he won't say thanks aloud, that's all I needed to see." An elated Ruby thought, turning around and disappearing, leaving a cloud of rose petals in her wake.
*twitch* *twitch* *twitch*
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
The explosion destroyed most of the umbrella instantly. A few students looked on in horror as Bakugo stomped on even the tiniest pieces left of it regardless, taking great care to wipe each shred of the umbrella out of existence with more explosions.
"DIE! I don't need your frickin umbrella! I'm gonna destroy any stupid umbrella I encounter! Death to umbrellas everywhere and all who use them! DIE! DIE! DIE!"
Yang walked along in the distance, an annoyed look on her face.
"Seriously, what crawled up his ass again? One of these days I'm gonna deal with him, regardless of what you tell me, sis! I simply can't watch him embarrass your team in public anymore!"
A few hours later, Katsuki was just done doing weights again. He emptied a water bottle in three gulps, without stopping.
He needed to calm down. It was all in his mind. Nothing in this school should really remind him of that little bitch... nope, not thinking about her at all!
Katsuki Bakugo sighed deeply when someone else entered his field of vision.
Hair, split between white on his right side and red on his left. Heterochromia, the left eye turquoise and the right eye gray.
*twitch*
*twitch* *smoke* *twitch* *smoke* *twitch*
"Out. For. A. Walk… Half-Half Bitch.", Katsuki Bakugo hissed.
*twitch*
xXxXxXxXxXx
Izuku loved his team, he really did, they were his first friends in an embarrassingly long time.
Despite that, he found himself relieved to have some time to himself.
Nora's energy, Weiss' perfectionism, and Pyrrha's… well Pyrrha really was the perfect partner, but still! It was nice to have some time to just relax; to not have to worry about anything.
Not that Nora's endless energy or Weiss' drive was a bad thing. They were traits that he admired; he just felt like some time alone would go a long way to clearing his mind after the admittedly hectic couple of weeks.
That was how he found himself alone in downtown Vale. He'd already visited an ice-cream parlor – luckily there was no sign of Neopolitan – and recently he found himself exploring without a direction; aimlessly thinking back to the events of the recent weeks.
Fighting villains, dealing with bullies, and talking to girls were all colossal tasks for Izuku, though one was undoubtedly more frightening than the others.
Seeing as those were just three of the many things he had to deal with lately he felt a small break was well deserved.
So there he was meandering around the commercial district – not far from the border into the higher class residential neighborhood – looking for something interesting to catch his attention.
He wasn't sure what he would find. Maybe an arcade? If so it might be fun to return later with Nora in tow.
With no pressing problems, Izuku let his mind wander while absentmindedly dodging his fellow pedestrians.
It wasn't until halfway through his current day-dream – one about being the Symbol of Peace – that he had his head knocked out of the clouds by a peculiar sound.
*Grrrrr*
It was faint so he had a hard time hearing it, and it was pure luck that the roads were empty of any vehicles at the moment because they would have surely hidden the sound.
Taking a quick look Izuku tried to find where the sound had come from, but he couldn't see anything around that could have caused it.
*Grrrrrr*
Hearing it again Izuku knew it wasn't just his imagination, and that time he was able to suss out that it had come from the direction of a nearby alleyway.
Moving into the alley Izuku idly noted that there were no tags or graffiti in the alley like there might be in some of the rougher parts of Vale; it was a regular ally that seemed to serve no real purpose other than to act as a divider to the streets of Vale.
*Grrrrrr*
There it was again!
That time he heard the sound clearly. It sounded like a mash-up of a whine and a growl. Moving towards the commotion had him standing in front of a wooden box half covered with an old discarded tarp.
He hesitated for a moment, not sure what exactly he was going to find in what looked like someone's garbage pile. Maybe a raccoon who had gotten itself stuck somehow?
Still, even if it was a raccoon he wouldn't feel right leaving it to starve. So grabbing the corner of the tarp he pulled it away bearing the content of the box for him to see…
'...C-cute!'
'Damn! Critical hit! Cuteness overload detected!'
It was a puppy! It couldn't have been more than a few weeks old, but that didn't stop it from placing its legs on the side of the box and standing on its hind legs to get a better look at Izuku.
It was a light hazel color with eyes like melted chocolate and its tiny size only added to the adorable picture.
*Grrrr*
This time with the puppy right in front of him Izuku could see that it was the undoubtedly young animal that was the culprit.
The noise itself seemed to be an attempt at a bark, and it did two important things. First, it woke Izuku from his cuteness coma so he could join the waking world once again, and second it allowed Izuku to notice the current state of the puppy.
While by no means was it sickly it had still clearly not been taken care of properly. The little guy's fur was slightly matted in some places, and he was slightly dirty like he had spent the night outside.
In fact, the idea that the puppy was even here, abandoned in a back alley, was only just registering to Izuku. He knew that the young pup couldn't have been here too long without any care so the person that left it here might live around here.
A flash of anger that most people who knew him would say was uncharacteristic washed through him at the idea of someone leaving something so intrinsically helpless alone here without any food or water.
Still, he pushed the thoughts of tracking down such a person aside to focus on seeing if he could help the young dog in some way.
*Grrr**Grrr**Grrr*
The pup was once again calling out, though more instantly; it seemingly understood that Izuku could help him escape the wooden prison it found itself in.
Reaching down into the box he picked up the puppy from where he was trying to scramble up the too-high sides of the box and gently cradled him to his chest.
Immediately the young pup settled down, seemingly content with his new situation.
"Now what am I supposed to do with you?" Asked Izuku rhetorically. Thinking on it for a second he decided that getting the little guy some food and water would probably be the best first move. Although now that it had crossed his mind he realized he didn't know what puppies needed for food; somehow he doubted you could just give them regular food.
Giving a put upon sigh Izuku spoke to himself as he gently scratched behind the youngster's ears with his off-hand. "It's probably for the best if I just take you to someone who knows what they're doing, that way I won't make any mistakes… and maybe they can tell me whether you're a boy or a girl."
It's a girl!
Or at least that's what the part-timer at the pet store had told him when he stopped by. They had even let him have a couple of days worth of puppy milk formula for free!
After he had told the story of how he had come across the little guy – or little girl now, thought Izuku, mentally correcting himself – the clerk at the pet store (who was fittingly and predictably a huge animal lover) thought his kind deed deserves another and had given him the milk as well as a demonstration of how to properly feed her.
Which was why Izuku was trying to sneak into his room carrying a plastic bag filled with doggy supplies, and a wriggling mass of puppy tucked away in his jacket.
He had hidden the pup away in his jacket while on the bullhead back to Beacon; he wasn't sure what the rules for pets on campus were, but he thought it might be best to just keep her away from any prying eyes until he knew what he was going to do with her. If no one saw her then no one could tell him he wasn't allowed to have her on campus.
He still had to worry about the reactions of his team of course; no matter how much he wanted to put that off.
That's why he couldn't help but let loose a large sigh of relief when he saw his room was empty.
After he made sure the door was closed behind him he unzipped his jacket, and gently lowered the squirming pooch to the floor where it shot off, seemingly content to explore the exciting new place she found herself in.
Meanwhile, Izuku was left to think about the reactions of his teammates.
Nora would most likely love it; she would feed off of the exuberant energy of the still nameless puppy, matching it and possibly even exceeding it. Pyrrha's reaction was harder to guess, but Izuku had a hard time seeing his partner being upset; she had a hard time saying no to pushy fans, so it would be a stretch of the imagination to see her saying no to the adorable bundle of cuteness that was currently bouncing around the room. It was Weiss that Izuku was worried about the most. Weiss was a rule-abiding person by nature, and while she was exceptionally kind under her sometimes icy exterior it could take some time for that shell to melt.
Shaking the thoughts off as there was nothing to do about it, Izuku was distracted by the small form that was pulling at his pants leg with her teeth.
Bending down into a crouch, Izuku found himself speaking out loud. "I hope you're not going to end up causing me any trouble."
The little pup simply tilted its head, seemingly confused.
"You really are way too cute." Sighed Izuku at the puppy's actions. "Though I can't keep calling you puppy; if you plan on sticking around a while we will have to find you a name. I admit I have no idea where to–"
Izuku was cut off by the sudden opening of the door. Immediately Izuku could hear the voices of his teammates chatting idly as they began to enter the room.
Izuku began to panic, he looked down to the happily panting puppy who had apparently tired herself out with her earlier exploration of the room. For a brief moment, Izuku had an impulsive urge to try and hide, but his more rational side dissuaded him from what he knew would be a futile gesture.
"Oh Izuku, you're here already, I'd have thought you'd still be in Vale–". There was a high pitch squeal as Pyrrha was abruptly cut off.
"PUPPY!"
Izuku didn't see her move, but the next thing he knew Nora was kneeling on the floor with an armful of dog.
Izuku found himself sending a fearful glance towards the door where Weiss was still standing stock still, but it was Pyrrha who ended up hesitantly verbalizing what was probably on his team's minds – ok so maybe it wasn't on Nora's mind, but she was busy getting a wash from an excited puppy's tongue.
"Umm, Izuku? Why is there a puppy in our room?". Even as she said it a possible answer seemed to pop into her head. "Oh! Did your mother send it to stay with us while she's on vacation!? Though I don't remember you having any animals when we visited your home."
Shaking his head and waving his hands, Izuku rushed to clear up the misunderstanding. "No no, you're right; I don't have any animals at home." Taking a deep breath Izuku took a second to calm himself before continuing. "It's a bit of a story. While I was on my walk out in Vale I came across this little girl, she had been abandoned in an alley. She was a little dirty and she looked hungry so I took her to a nearby pet store and they were kind enough to give her some food and a quick grooming."
Pyrrha's face quickly took on a more empathetic cast as she gazed down softly at the puppy that was still wriggling happily in Nora's arms, but to her credit, she didn't cave immediately. "Well still, surely the pet store would have been in a better position to take care of her?"
"Ya I thought the same, but apparently it's against their policy to take in animals; I think it's more of a liability issue for them. The worker on shift did give me the address for a local animal shelter though; I was thinking I could keep her in the room for tonight and bring her there tomorrow."
Nora seemed to have taken issue with something Izuku said as she shielded the young puppy in her arms from some unspeakable evil only she could see. "What! We're not keeping her!? No! Izuku don't be cruel! I won't let you take Lulu-Bell Lord of Thunder away from me!"
"Lulu-Bell Lord of what?". Echoed Izuku, clearly confused at the nonsense that just passed Nora's lips.
"Lord of Thunder! It's her name!"
That statement seemed to be enough to snap Weiss out of her frozen state by the door; her partner's antics cutting through her shock life a hot knife through butter.
In an almost unconscious manner – it really was like a reflex by now – Weiss shut down her partner's antics. "Absolutely not! We will not be calling her that! Out of the question!"
Nora let the words slide off of her, and picked what she wanted to hear out of her partner's sentence. "You said we! Does that mean we can keep her?!"
A tense silence hung over the room as Weiss approached the animal that was still cradled gently in Nora's arms; she knelt daintily to get a better look at the pup, and before Izuku's own eyes she did something he had never seen her do before: She melted.
"Who is the cutest thing in the whole wide world! Oh yes, you are! Yes, you are!"
Izuku's eyes bulged at the bizarre scene in front of him, and his teammates weren't any better, even the usually unflappable Nora had to pick up her jaw from the floor.
Once again it was Pyrrha that managed to articulate what everyone else in the room was already thinking. "Umm… Weiss are you...well?"
Pyrrha's question snapped Weiss out of her fugue state, and for an unguarded second her embarrassment was evident by the light dusting of red on her pale cheeks, but as quickly as it came it receded as she regained her regular composure. "Mmph. Is it so strange that I have a small soft spot for animals?"
Seeing Nora open her mouth to give a no doubt blunt response Izuku hastened to answer. "N-no, not at all!" Seeing the raised eyebrow, Izuku folded. "W-well, maybe it was a little out of character."
Giving her team leader a sour look Weiss decided to take the high road. She turned to her partner and answered her previously unanswered question. "While I wouldn't mind keeping Lulu in our room, unfortunately, we're not in a position where we can take care of a puppy."
Once again Nora – her face lighting up like downtown Vale at night – picked what she wanted out of her partner's words. "AH! So you agree!? Her name is Lulu-Bell Lord of Thunder!?"
Weiss's words were ice cold. "No. Absolutely not."
"B-b-but…"
Despite the pleading face of her partner Weiss remained a bulwark of sanity in the face of her partner's antics. "While there is no question we won't be adding that asinine title you mentioned, we can call her Lulu; I've heard it can be confusing to a dog if they're given multiple names, and seeing how I doubt you're going to stop calling her what you want we'll just have to shorten it to Lulu.
"Ah just admit it, you like the name!"
"Hmph."
Luckily their quarrel was cut off before it could go any further by the very subject of their discussion.
The newly christened Lulu had had enough of staying in one place and had decided to squirm from Nora's arms to continue her exploration of team MNVW's room.
It didn't take long for her to head towards the only member of the team she hadn't been introduced to yet.
Bending down and lightly running her hands through Lulu's soft brown fur it was obvious that Pyrrha didn't have much experience with animals; she was handling herself around the young puppy like one might handle a fragile, not to mention expensive, object.
Yet as some time passed a soft genuine smile started to overtake her face as Lulu gently snuffled into her hand.
"Hello there. You sure are a cutie huh?" Here she stopped to look up at her partner from her stooped position. "Are you sure we can't keep her?"
Izuku thought he might have heard a hint of a genuine question in the mostly joking tone so he decided it would be best to answer seriously. "Unfortunately, yes. While I've never had a puppy before I do know they're full-time commitments; with classes, projects, and future missions we just don't have the time to provide the care Lulu needs." Izuku paused and stroked his chin in thought before continuing. "Besides I really don't think a Hunter Academy is the safest place for a puppy to be anyways."
"Exactly right! Even if safety wasn't an issue, I for one am not willing to allow my grades to drop from all the time we'd have to spend on her proper care."
"Oh come on ice queen after your previous reaction we all know you'd love to have Lulu around! You're just overcompensating because little Lulu melted your icy exterior."
"Hmph." An annoyed huff was Weiss's only response to her partner's teasing. Though the lack of any defense directed towards Nora's words may have been an indication that they were spot on.
Seeing Nora's mischievous grin and Weiss's flared nostrils Pyrrha, ever the diplomat, decided that now might be a good time to intercede. "Weiss and Izuku are right, we wouldn't be able to provide the right amount of care for Lulu. With that said, why don't we make the best of tonight and have as much fun with Lulu while we can."
Four pairs of eyes swiveled towards the oblivious puppy who had transitioned onto her back so that Pyrrha, who had now sprawled herself carelessly on the floor, could rub her belly without obstruction.
All four of them shared a glance, and without any words, they agreed.
"Lulu-Bell Lord of Thunder I must teach you my ways while we still have the time!"
"Nora! Don't just ignore me! I told you animals can get confused if you call them multiple names! Arrgh! I don't know why I try!... Scootch over Pyrrha, and stop hogging all of Lulu's time, if I only get a night with this cutie I'm going to make sure to spoil her."
"Sorry!"
That wasn't how Izuku thought he'd be spending the day, but for the thousandth time since being accepted, he once again reaffirmed how glad he was that he'd made it into Beacon.
"Don't worry Nora, I'm sure we'll see Lulu again!" Despite the encouraging words from the red-headed amazon Nora remained dispirited. Easily reading her emotive teammates face Pyrrha continued in a slightly teasing tone. "After all, I highly doubt Weiss will allow anything else with the ways she was cooing over her last night?"
"Hmph. I know you're mocking me, but that doesn't make it any less true." Adopting a slightly less haughty stance the heiress turned towards her team leader. "We will be visiting her, right Izuku?"
After the handover of Lulu to the reputable animal shelter he had been referred to Izuku had thought he would be safe, but his carelessness in thinking that the danger was past was what ended up putting him in the position to be subjected to his greatest weakness.
It was of no surprise when he caved under the combined assault of his three teammates' puppy dog eyes.
E/N: A Well MADE Team by Whiteeyes, Pattern Recognition by Vandalgyon and Puppy Dog Eyes by ApologeticCanadian. And speaking of apologetic, sadly, pattern recognition lost of few of its elements on the transition over here. FFN doesn't like colored text for some reason.
-Shovern
E/N2: SO uhh sorry for the delay, but COVID and all that yeah? Anyway, Other editor is too busy now so It'll just be me, you won't notice any changes for a bit, he left a backlog. But in the future, if something is a little rougher you know why.
-Shovern
A/N: Indeed, 2019 and 2020 were hard years on the three of us for various reasons, though Shovern definitely cottons onto it being Covid. Our previous second editor, Wind-Waker, ended up leaving the project due to a combination of the mess that went on and also real-life opportunities that, thankfully, came their way! We'll definitely miss them but now, with things settling into a new rhythm, hopefully, we can start updating this thing again with some regularity. The transition might be a bit bumpy so bear with us but, otherwise, we hope you guys enjoy the new chapter!
-gorilla_finger