"What a day for the elevator to break," Daisuke complained, the collar of his shirt dampened with sweat and his fire-red hair hanging down into his eyes. "This is where we die…"

"Shut up!" Katsuki grunted, his face crimson and neck bulging as he shifted his grip on the mini fridge. "Just… keep pulling!"

For a moment, he became unsure of his footing on the staircase, and a rush of adrenaline surged through him as he mentally prepared to fall backward. The boy took a step down with one leg to rebalance himself, awkwardly pulling Daisuke back with him and unbalancing the parcel even more. The lizard-tailed student stumbled forward for a moment before a green rush of wind flew up the staircase, buffeting Katsuki's back and pushing him back upward into a balanced position.

"Gotcha," Daisuke called with a sigh. "Two more steps up. Come on, man…"

"Don't… tell me what to do!" Katsuki snapped as he followed the directions, walking quickly with the other boy to deposit the massive metallic box on the landing between levels. He immediately doubled over and put his hands upon his knees as he tried to catch his breath, his companion doing the same. "What… the hell… is this fridge made of…"

"Dunno," Daisuke answered as he wiped some sweat off his brow while leaning backward to prop himself up with his massive tail. "Tsu said she packed it with some stuff to make transporting it all in one go easier, but that might've been a bad idea…"

"She what?" Katsuki asked, speaking through clenched teeth.

"Yeah, that's what she said in the parking lot," Daisuke replied as he ran a hand through his shaggy, sweaty hair. "Weren't you liste-"

"Open it," Katsuki commanded from his place behind the fridge.

"What?" Daisuke asked, his eyes wide. "I'm not opening this thing. What if it's packed with like… underwear or something?"

Katsuki rolled his eyes and marched around the metal box.

"Then the frog wears lead panties. Don't be a dumbass."

"But it's her st-"

"I don't care!"

Katsuki disengaged the lock and pulled open the door with more force than necessary, only to find an arrangement of boxes stacked neatly within the fridge.

"…are you kidding me?" Katsuki seethed, beginning to reach for a box.

"Dude, seriously," Daisuke warned. "It's obviously stuff she doesn't want anybody to see. Let's just get this done. She trusted us with it."

"Yeah? Well, she fucked up, then," Katsuki decided as he grabbed one of the boxes. It was surprisingly heavy for its size, and five more remained inside of the fridge. "If there are actual rocks in here, I'm literally gonna kill her, and you can't stop me."

"…please refrain from killing our classmates."

Katsuki and Daisuke looked up the staircase ahead of themselves at the same time only to find a familiar figure standing at the top of the steps. Try as he might, Katsuki couldn't come up with the young woman's name, though he was pretty sure it started with a "W" and that she was from Class 1-A.

"Yaoyorozu," Daisuke said immediately as he gave her a respectful half-bow. "I'll make sure that he doesn't. Or at least, try to. He's pretty strong…"

Momo Yaoyorozu nodded as she began to descend the steps. She didn't notice as Katsuki hurriedly tossed the package back into the mini fridge before closing and locking it.

"…what's all this? I thought you two were rooming with others, though I'll be honest, I don't know the 1-A roster as well as my class…"

"We are," Katsuki confirmed as he finished closing the fridge. "We're helping out a classmate by dragging her shit up a million flights of stairs. The stupid elevator is broken, and her stupid roommate ditched her, so we're stuck being her mules."

"I… wouldn't put it like that," Daisuke said cautiously as he tried to give Momo a disarming smile while lowering his sunglasses over his eyes. "Bakugo is just frustrated right now, and I don't blame him. We're doing a favor for Tsuyu Asui, and we really don't mind."

"I fucki-" Katsuki began, only to find a hand clamped over his mouth by an apologetic friend.

"We really don't mind," Daisuke said a bit louder. "Because we don't want drama and bad blood before the year even starts. Right?"

Katsuki drew in a long, shuddering breath through his nose as Daisuke removed his hand. Momo looked somewhat concerned as she watched the boy's face slowly lose its unnatural red coloration, and the sight was enough to get him to relent.

"…right. Whatever. I don't mind helping, but she should've told us she loaded the thing with shit before we found out the elevator was broken."

"…she did," Daisuke reminded, looking exhausted. "Call it hero work, I guess."

"…I might be able to help," Momo suggested. "Hold on a moment, please."

Katsuki froze up as Momo began to unbutton her grey school uniform jacket. Try as he might, he found himself unable to tear his eyes from her navel as she revealed a fair bit of skin. While he wasn't sure whether it was from shock or something else, he didn't feel in control of his eyes. Even though he was transfixed upon Momo, he was also acutely aware that Daisuke had turned away from her entirely, seemingly uncomfortable with the situation.

Suddenly, an odd, multicolored shimmer appeared around the skin of Momo's exposed torso. Bit by bit, a curved metal bar began to jut forth from within her, followed by a crossbeam connecting the two sides. With a fair bit of strain and a final push, an entire free-standing wrought-iron hand truck fell from Momo's stomach and landed on the floor in front of her with a loud crash. Katsuki could only stare at the tool with a mixture of confusion and disgust, while Daisuke kept his eyes on the wall and away from Momo.

"…so, did she just give birth to a steel beam, or…?"

"…it's a hand truck," Katsuki answered flatly. "And… kinda. What the hell…"

"…it's my Quirk," Momo explained, blushing furiously as she worked to button up her jacket once again. "I can create anything I know the chemical formula for using the lipids within my body. That cart isn't exactly pretty, but it should make your job much easier."

"Yeah, it will…" Katsuki agreed uncertainly as Daisuke finally dared to look back over toward Momo. "Thanks…"

"You're most welcome," Momo answered with a small bow of her own. With a conflicted expression, she looked toward Daisuke, who still seemed uneasy. "Really, it isn't any trouble at all."

"Yeah, thanks," Daisuke said quickly. "I didn't mean to make things awkward with our complaining. It's… a-anyway…"

"Nothing to worry about," Momo reassured. "Though I feel I should ask- who is Asui's roommate?"

Daisuke gave Katsuki a pleading glance. It was enough to catch him off guard and make him reconsider his tone as he opened his mouth.

"…one of the… class leads," Katsuki said in a slow, calm voice. "The invisible girl."

"Hagakure," Daisuke followed up. "She couldn't make it."

Katsuki cast a quick sideways glance at Daisuke, noting that the other boy was still incredibly pale.

"…we don't know why, but it sounded like an emergency. We're fine with stepping in, and we'll sort it out later."

"As long as you're sure," Momo considered. "I'll still talk to her and make sure everything is alright. If you two can take it from here, I should get back to my class' floor to help out."

"By all means," Daisuke answered as he tipped his head in Momo's direction. "We'll see you around."

"You will," Momo confirmed with a sweet smile. "And thank you for pitching in. We're all going to have to support each other this year, and beyond…"

Katsuki rolled his eyes as Momo walked past, making her way down the next set of stairs. He waited for the sound of a door opening and closing somewhere below him before he looked back over to Daisuke with narrowed eyes.

"…so, what? You've got a thing for her or whatever?"

"What?" Daisuke asked, his cheeks losing the last bit of color they had after the encounter. "I… n-no, not at all! It isn't like that!"

"It's always like that," Katsuki grumbled as he worked to slide the flattened section of the hand cart underneath the fridge. "If it isn't, then why the hell did you get so awkward around her?"

Daisuke just watched as Katsuki worked, his face falling.

"…I really don't want to talk about it."

Though he was still rather annoyed, something about the tone of Daisuke's voice caused Katsuki to pause as he finished setting up the hand truck. Daisuke looked incredibly crestfallen, as though he was struggling with whether or not to say more.

"…you good?"

"Yeah," Daisuke said quickly as he got into position in front of the cart. "Just… never mind. It's no big deal."

Katsuki briefly looked over his shoulder before taking a step backward onto the first raised platform of the staircase, dragging the hand truck and mini fridge up with him. The rubber wheels bounced slightly as the device went upward, and Daisuke braced his hands upon the bottom of the fridge to help it along. Katsuki took another step, pulling while he went and making much easier progress as he continued to climb.

"…so…" Katsuki began between grunts of effort as he walked backward. "Why do you think… other people… just can't shut the hell up when they're told to?"

"…crippling need to please?" Daisuke guessed as he pushed, following along. "Among other things, probably. Some do it just to be obnoxious. People need to learn that some things just can't be helped or fixed… or at least, not through talking about them ad nauseum."

"Damn right they can't," Katsuki agreed as they made it up to the next landing. "That's why I like you. You don't push issues like everyone else."

"You like me, huh?" Daisuke asked, his amusement clear in his voice as they stopped on the flat section of tile.

"…shut up. And if you ever put your hand over my mouth again, I'll bite your damned fingers off, lizard."

"Love you too," Daisuke snarked. "But seriously… I'm good with the understanding we've got going on. Not everything has to be… 'a thing'. You know?"

"Yeah," Katsuki agreed. "Most things shouldn't be 'a thing', or at least, not a thing that has to involve everyone. Deku has to stick his stupid face in every goddamned thing I do. I'm sick of it."

"Good intentions only go so far," Daisuke agreed. "That being said… how do you feel about listening to other peoples' problems?"

Katsuki gave Daisuke an impartial look, his tone entirely neutral.

"…depends on the person and the situation. If they don't piss me off… then I don't mind. Still, it's easier if everybody thinks I don't want to hear it. Saves me a lot of trouble by keeping the stupid ones away."

"I get that," Daisuke acknowledged as he moved to take the front of the fridge for the final flight of stairs, pulling the handle of the cart up and backwards. "Seems like you're there when it matters though. You did talk Jiro down from leaving."

"Yeah, well…" Katsuki considered as he took up position beneath the fridge, pushing it upward as he climbed. "We're all here for a reason. Or reasons. Those reasons involve helping people, no matter what side of ourselves we choose to show everybody else here. That's all I have to say."

"Then that's enough for me," Daisuke replied. "Sometime in the future, though… after our initial ranking exams? I'll tell you what's up. It's… maybe it's stupid. I don't know. I've just got a lot on my mind right now, and I don't want to get into it. All I ask is that you don't say anything about Yaoyorozu and I, or… anyone and I, like that. It isn't that, and it isn't going to be that. I'm not here to get laid."

"Neither am I," Katsuki agreed as he helped push the fridge up to the final landing, just before the door to 1-A's floor. "Stupid distraction. We have too much other shit to worry about, and I'm not petty or childish enough to start rumors. Forget about it."

"Already have," Daisuke said. "Now that we're all good and sweaty and looking like shit, let's go figure out what else we have to carry up about a billion flights of stairs."

"Yeah, whatever," Katsuki agreed as he grabbed the door to the hallway and held it open. "Let's just get this over with."

Author's Note:

Funny how a chapter so simple can set so many things in motion… including a few that won't become obvious for quite a long time…

-RD