A/N: Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is having a safe, happy holiday today! I kind of threw this together so it's not an airtight, thought-out piece, just something fluffy and fun I needed to get out of my system. I had an absolute blast writing it, though, so I'm hoping you guys have a good time reading it!

Thanksgiving. A time for joy, reunion, and loved ones. Small gatherings to large scale events all hold the same sanctity to most. At the end of the day, it's not about the food, really. It's about coming together, strengthening the heartfelt bonds between family (blood or chosen) through the means of celebration.

Unless you consult Bakugo. Then it is, 100% most definitely about the food. More specifically, how wrong everything in the kitchen is going.

"DEKU!" The sound of a wooden spoon clattered against the floor. "If I have to tell you one more GODDAMN TIME not to use that pre-shredded crap, you're dead, you got it, nerd?!"

Wide-eyed, Deku nodded vigorously. "Sorry, Kacchan, it just happened to be next to me and I thought–"

"Wait, what is that bullshit even doing out in the first place?!" Bakugo ripped the bag from the counter, inspecting it as if it were some sort of hazardous material. "Who's responsible for this?"

Meekly, Kaminari raised his hand. "Uh, I am."

"Wait, what?" Deku frowned. "Kaminari, you're in charge of stuffing. Why did you need the cheese?"

Deku's involvement eased Kaminari's nerves, so much so that he seemed to forget his life rested in Bakugo's raging hands. Smiling, he presented the dish of toasted bread, an obscenely thick layer of cheese melted on top.

"For this!" He explained cheerfully.

Oh, dear God.

Every vein in Bakugo's body popped out, ready to combust.

"YOU PUT CHEESE ON THE STUFFING, YOU MORON?!"

Ever the oblivious, Kaminari nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh, God." In the background, Sero pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Kacchan, wait–"

"DIE!"

From then on, nothing but explosions echoed through the halls of the A class dorms.

XxXxX

"Should we help him?" Uraraka murmured to Jiro amidst the screaming that ensued.

Jiro snorted. "No way. Just makes our win easier."

Win. That's right. This is a competition.

Having a full week of fall break during Thanksgiving week gave class A the time and excitement to pull together a feast in celebration for the holiday. At least, that's how it started. Bakugo immediately became terrifying about it, ordering everyone volunteering to cook to "do it right or he'd kill them." When Mina wanted to be in charge of mashed potatoes, Bakugo rebuffed her, stating she'd screw it up somehow. Hagakure came to her defense, the argument spiraled into sexism somehow, and eventually, the class turned a loving, tender holiday into an all-out gender war. The cook-off of the year: who could put together the best Thanksgiving feast? The boys or the girls?

Obviously, the boys held an inherent advantage by having Sato on their team, something the girls decided they wouldn't stand for. Yaoyorozu came up with the idea of having him be their celebrity judge and the decider of who made the best dishes, which everyone absolutely jumped for. Sato initially refused, feeling uncomfortable choosing between his classmates (when really, all he wanted to do was cook.) The promise that he'd get to make dessert eased him into the idea, and now that the kitchen had become an absolute battleground, he sat in the living room, relieved but slightly traumatized.

"Okay, everything is ready!" Yaoyorozu rolled up her sleeves with a proud huff. "Time to get this turkey roasted."

Mina looked from the baking pan to Yaoyorozu and cocked an eyebrow. "Um, Yaomomo?"

"Hm?" Smiling, she turned to her friend. "Yes, Mina?"

"Did you say the…turkey?"

"Mmhm. Why?"

"That's…that's a ham."

All motion on the girls' side stopped, eyes flying to the baking dish in Yaoyorozu's hands. Glances over, realizations, and gasps of horror all happened in unison once the undeniable truth dawned on every single one of them. Except, ironically enough, Yaoyorozu, who simply stared down at the meat bewilderedly.

"Are you sure?" She lifted the dish to check the underside as if that would somehow clarify things. "It was the most appetizing looking one at the market, and I–"

"Yaomomo, how do you not know what a turkey looks like?!" Hagakure's sleeve extended, gesturing to the dish. "That's not even bird-shaped!"

Yaoyorozu cocked her head in confusion. "The meat is supposed to look like a bird?"

Immediately, the image of a live turkey covered in feathers flashed through her mind. Oh, goodness, is that what she should have bought instead? Perhaps removing the feathers diminished the flavor! Panic surged through her once she'd realized her mistake. How could she ever face her friends again after this?

"Wait, you've never seen a raw turkey?" Uraraka asked gently.

"The, um, chefs in my house always cut them up." Yaoyorozu admitted, growing quiet. "I suppose I never saw one, now that I think about it."

Pity washed over the girls. Yaoyorozu never would have made this mistake had she known better, they were sure of it.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Tsuyu rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. "If anything, this works out better. Now the boys can cook a turkey and we can make a ham so there's double the meat to choose from!"

"Yeah!" Uraraka echoed Tsuyu's positive energy. "Besides, I'm sure it'll still taste delicious!"

Cheering up, Yaoyorozu stood straighter, nodding at her friends' encouragement. "Good point. No reason to be upset since we're here now! Alright, ladies, let's make the best Thanksgiving ham UA's ever seen!"

XxXxX

The whooping from the girls' side of the kitchen caught the boys' attention. Bakugo scoffed, shaking his head at their idea.

"They're out of their minds with that ham nonsense." A grin lit up his still frowning face. "Hey, grapehead! How's the cranberry sauce?"

Mineta glared at Bakugo from his stepstool. "It's fine, damn it."

"There's no need to shout, Bakugo." Todoroki chopped an onion into two crooked, uneven halves. "We're all right here."

Bakugo whirled on Todoroki poised to shout something else, but the sight of the onion stopped him dead in his tracks.

"What the hell is the onion for?"

"The mashed potatoes." Todoroki explained. "You told me to chop some onion and mix it in."

Nothing about this possibly helped Bakugo's blood pressure.

"Todoroki, I apologize, but I believe Bakugo requested green onions for the mashed potatoes." Tokoyami clarified. "Significant difference from the classic yellow onion you have on your cutting board."

Frowning slightly, Todoroki observed the onion he'd just cut closely. "But, this onion is white. Not yellow."

"Are you kidding me?!" Bakugo snatched the collar of Todoroki's shirt to get right in his face. "Don't tell me you already added that to the bowl!"

Unbothered, Todoroki merely blinked. "Well, yeah, you told me to add a bunch. This is the third one I've cut into."

In the background, Sero snickered. Contrastingly, Mineta reacted purely disgustedly.

"Are you kidding me?! We're eating onion mashed potatoes now?"

"That's what Bakugo told me to make." Still slightly lifted by Bakugo, Todoroki's gaze shifted to Mineta.

Shaking his head, Mineta returned to stirring the cranberry sauce. "Well, let's just hope this puts you on the 'undateable' list."

XxXxX

"Alright, mac and cheese time!"

Hagakure skipped to the cabinet by the stove and pulled the five boxes of Crafty she'd purchased the day before. She figured they'd need at least that much, but also didn't stress since the boys had their own pot of mac already boiling. Deku and Ojiro had been put in charge of that, something that made Hagakure weirdly giddy. It didn't actually matter, but both her and Ojiro working on the same dish felt super serendipitous to her. Like maybe the universe used this as a way to communicate that she should make a move tonight, or better yet, that he planned to make a move! All this drama over some mac and cheese was unnecessary, but Hagakure still swooned internally at the–

"What are you doing?"

In her haze, Hagakure hadn't realized she'd started spinning dreamily, cuddling the mac and cheese boxes as if they were a dance partner. Tsuyu snapped her out of it, Mina and Uraraka's questioning glances only adding to her embarrassment.

"Whoops!" She dropped the boxes onto the counter. "Got a little carried away there, huh? Sorry, I'm just…so excited to be in charge of the mac!"

Weird flex, but okay.

"Well, we're glad you're excited!" Uraraka picked up one of the boxes curiously. "Ooh, gluten free?"

"Yeah!" Hagakure got to work opening another box. "I figured since we've got so much fatty and carby food going on, why not try to be just a tad healthier? Obviously, it's not the biggest impact, but every little bit helps, right?"

The girls made some noises of agreement. It's not like there was a huge difference between regular mac and gluten free, right?

"Hang on." Tsuyu peeked inside the box Hagakure had just opened. "Where's the cheese sauce?"

"Hm?" Hagakure tilted the box toward her. "Oh, maybe it's under all the pasta. Here, let's dump it out."

Into a bowl went the dry pasta. Mac and cheese boxes are notoriously small for some reason, so one pack's worth of pasta fit comfortably in a mixing bowl. Of course, none of them paid it much mind once the box had been completely emptied and not a single sauce packet fell out.

"Huh." Uraraka stated after a moment. "Guess this one's defective."

"Shouldn't be too much of a problem!" Hagakure, determined to execute her plan, simply ripped open another box. "I'm sure mixing the other four packets with a little water will spread it over everything!"

Relieved, Tsuyu nodded. "Yeah, you're totally right! I'll start working on that, let's get all the boxes open!"

Every single box of mac and cheese dumped into the bowl. And not one singular sauce packet to be found.

Tsuyu and Uraraka combed the floors and cabinet, thinking they had to have fallen out somehow. Hagakure double checked the boxes in case they'd somehow been stuck to the side or hidden in some different compartment. All three of them came up empty handed, regrouping by the boiling pot disappointedly.

"No luck?" Hagakure asked as she stirred the pasta.

"None." Uraraka shook her head glumly.

A bit irate, Tsuyu picked up one of the discarded empty boxes. "This doesn't make sense! How can they just…un-cheese the mac?"

"Seriously!" Hagakure agreed. "Did the sauce contain gluten or something? Why couldn't they just make it gluten-free in that case?"

"Gluten free." Uraraka scoffed, looking over a different box. "More like sauce-free! Do better, Crafty."

Well, this threw Hagakure's plans out the window. How were she and Ojiro supposed to connect over mac and cheese when the most she could possibly make was the mac?!

XxXxX

"Hey, bird brain! Get over here!"

Tokoyami knew that meant him. He'd been referred to as such several times before, to the point that he became convinced Bakugo didn't remember his actual name. However, being called a bird while an actual turkey sat roasting in the oven sat quite poorly with him, though he hadn't the slightest idea how to address it.

"Bakugo, what is it?" He set his soda down, opting for the path of least resistance.

Angrily, Bakugo pointed to the turkey he'd forced Shoji to pull out of the oven. To Tokoyami, it looked perfectly fine. Not that he knew anything about cooking, of course. Something must have gone wrong with it, though, considering Bakugo's raging. And somehow, he held Tokoyami responsible, despite him not having touched the bird at any point.

"Where's the flavor injector?! I saw you pick it up ten minutes ago!"

"What?" Tokoyami frowned. "The only utensil I've laid a finger on is the meat thermometer, which I passed off to Sero upon his request. I can't possibly know the–"

"Found it!" Kirishima popped up from behind Tokoyami holding what looked like a large, plastic thermometer.

"That's a turkey baster, you idiot!" Bakugo snatched the tube out of his hand. "For fuck's sake, do I have to do everything around here?!"

"Uh, are you guys good over there?"

Sato's voice rang from the living room, catching all of them off guard.

"Nah, man, we're fine!" Kaminari poked his head out and flashed him a thumbs up. "You just keep chilling over there, we got this!"

Tokoyami knew they did not, in fact, have this. Judging by the sounds Bakugo made, they didn't have this at all.

"FOUR EYES! ARE YOU STILL PEELING POTATOES?!"

Nope.

XxXxX

Okay, seasoning. Jiro could manage that. She'd never been good for much else in the kitchen, but any idiot owning functional arms knew how to pick up a bottle, shake it, and dispense paprika onto a deviled egg. There's no possible way to screw this up.

"The ham should be done soon." Yaoyorozu took a deep breath and pulled on her oven mitts. "Hagakure's emptied the shredded cheese into the macaroni–"

"It's not going well!" Hagakure chimed in while continuing to stir the failed mac and cheese. (For anyone who's tried to make mac and cheese with just a bunch of shredded nonsense and no sauce, you know the struggle.)

Sighing, Yaoyorozu bit her lip. "Right. Well, the corn on the cob is–"

"Burnt!" Mina presented a charcoal black cob on a pair of salad tongs for good measure.

"Great." Yaoyorozu tried not to grit her teeth.

"Hey, don't worry too much." Jiro patted her friend's shoulder comfortingly. "I mean, the deviled eggs came out awesome, and once I'm done seasoning them, I think they'll be a real hit!"

When Yaoyorozu didn't respond, Jiro held up the paprika as if it were some sort of trophy.

"See?" She went on. "A little paprika goes a long way!"

Behind Yaoyorozu, Tsuyu stopped, skimmed the bottle Jiro held up, and blinked. "Jiro, how many eggs have you seasoned?"

The stress of not being anywhere near done clearly got to her friends. Thankfully, they had nothing to fear. Jiro lifted the tray of eggs, almost all of which she'd sprinkled with the magic red dust known as paprika.

"Nearly done!" She held her head up proudly.

Tsuyu's stomach dropped.

Apparently, Jiro hadn't read the seasoning bottle closely enough. Tsuyu hated to be the one to tell her, but, well, someone had to.

"Jiro, that's not paprika."

…HUH?

Panic rippled through Jiro's chest. Quickly, she set the deviled eggs down. Hopefully, this will turn out fine, right? Maybe she accidentally used chile powder or some sort of–

Pumpkin. Spice.

She'd just seasoned all of the eggs–the salted and peppered eggs–with pumpkin. Goddamn. Spice.

Eye twitching, she stared down at the accursed bottle in her palm.

"What the hell? Where did the paprika go?!" She practically shrieked.

XxXxX

Sero casually sprinkled a bit of paprika into the pot while Bakugo ordered Koda to communicate with the turkey in the oven.

"I can't talk to something that's already dead, Bakugo!" The poor boy stammered meekly.

"MAKE IT COOK FASTER!" Bakugo barked, pointing to the oven.

Deku and Ojiro exchanged a concerned glance. Shakily, Deku took a step forward, extending his hand toward his friend.

"Kacchan, maybe you should take a break–"

"YOU BETTER BAKE THAT MAC AND CHEESE BEFORE I KILL YOU, NERD!"

"Bake it?" Ojiro stared down at the pan they'd just finished sprinkling cheese onto. "Who bakes mac and cheese?"

"Uh, everyone?" Kaminari sidled up beside him. "That's what makes it nice and crispy, bro."

"Mac and cheese needs to be crispy?" Ojiro frowned. "That doesn't sound right."

"Todoroki, are you still putting onions in the mashed potatoes?" Shoji tried to be discreet, not wanting to draw attention to Todoroki's mistakes.

"Hm?" Now a red onion sat poorly quartered on the cutting board, Todoroki turning to Shoji obliviously. "Yeah, I forgot what color Bakugo told me to use, so I just grabbed the first one I saw that wasn't white. This purple one should work, right?"

Shoji had significantly more patience than Bakugo, but even he had to hold back a frustrated sigh. The mashed potatoes were already ruined by the yellow onion, so he wasn't sure how much more damage the red onion would do. Still, he needed to correct Todoroki before this got out of hand.

"Green onions, Todoroki." He patted his shoulder gently. "Not red."

Todoroki looked confused. "This is purple."

Dear. God.

"Here, let me see if Sero's free to give you a hand on this." Shoji closed his eyes, deciding he had no time to explain onions to Todoroki.

Over on the stove, Sero stirred the pot before him, humming something Shoji recognized as a Spanish song Sero often played while cleaning. Well, at least someone was having a good time.

"Hey, Sero." Shoji pulled up next to him. "Think you can help Todoroki out? He's messing up the onion situation a bit and I don't have the heart to correct him."

"Oof, that sounds rough." Sero sucked in a breath. "Wish I could help, but no can do. Gotta make sure my spices are on point here."

"Wait, spices?" Bakugo finally noticed the interaction and turned to Sero, growling. "Spices for what?"

"Pozole." Sero held up the wooden spoon proudly. "Family recipe."

…What?!

"Who told you to even make that?!" Bakugo cried.

Sero shrugged. "I mean, you said traditional Thanksgiving food. This is what my mom always makes on Thanksgiving, so…yeah."

"Is that what you've been doing this whole time?" Kirishima blinked.

Winking, Sero flashed a thumbs up. "Well, I haven't been mashing potatoes."

"No, that actually would have been helpful, you moron!" Bakugo looked ready to topple the entire pot over.

"Well, hey, it smells good!" Kaminari put in, trying to be helpful. "It'd make an awesome side, at least?"

Sero scoffed. "Next to anything else, pozole is the main dish."

"Hey, Bakugo?" Mineta pointed to the air fryer, which appeared to be oozing something. "Is the mac and cheese supposed to be air frying?"

"Oh, yeah." Ojiro smiled at no one in particular. "I figured air frying was the same as baking, right?"

"Did you…dump it out of the pan?" Deku looked down at the empty, cheesy pan that housed the mac and cheese moments before.

Ojiro, suddenly realizing his mistake, stepped back a bit. "I don't know if I should answer that."

XxXxX

One hour and a mountain of dirty dishes later, Sato sat before a table of duplicate dishes, each more confusing than the last. Neither green bean casserole looked unburnt, one dish of cranberry sauce looked too lumpy, and did someone put cheese all over the stuffing? He refrained from being rude by questioning his friends, but genuinely…what the heck?

"Uh, I guess…scoop me something." He held up his fork hesitantly.

"Right!" Bakugo snatched up a knife, everyone jumping back a bit. "Let's get this turkey carved!"

"Don't forget the ham!" Mina burst in, already slicing the girls' main dish.

"Pfft, no one cares about ham!" Bakugo snapped.

"No one wants onions in their mashed potatoes!" Hagakure shot back, pointing to the multicolored onion potatoes (that Todoroki at least finally added green onions to.)

"Hey! At least we didn't make pumpkin spice deviled eggs!" Mineta jumped onto a chair and waved an accusatory hand at the offending dish.

Jiro rolled her eyes. "You guys air fried your mac and cheese. I don't wanna hear it."

"Our mac and cheese has cheese on it! What's yours doing?" Kaminari argued back.

"Yeah, and so does your stuffing! Who does that?" Uraraka joined in, gesturing to the confusing looking stuffing.

At that point, several arguments broke out, everyone chastising one another for whatever went wrong with each dish. None of the points made were invalid, but nobody pulled any punches, fully insulting one another for their lack of skill in the kitchen. Or lack of knowledge of Thanksgiving, as screamed by Bakugo at Sero.

"You guys are the ones screwing everything up!" Mina shouted over the commotion.

"I'd like to see you cook a turkey!" Bakugo snapped back. "Because in case you hadn't noticed, you didn't!"

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone froze, startled by Sato's outburst.

Sighing, Sato rose from his chair, laying the fork down by his plate.

"I'm not judging any of your food." He announced, shoulders a bit slumped.

Uraraka's jaw dropped. "What?!"

"Because Thanksgiving's not supposed to be a competition!" Sato went on. "It's time for us to gather together. We're all here, at UA, in this awesome class where we've made tons of friends. We should be celebrating that, not fighting about whose mac and cheese is better."

A thoughtful silence filled the room as everyone digested what he'd said. Slowly, faces of anger melted into expressions of shame, the realization that they'd taken things too far dawning on all of them.

"Sato's absolutely right." Iida spoke up after a moment.

"We got too caught up in the competitive aspect of things." Yaoyorozu echoed his sentiments warmly. "This is about having fun, not screaming at one another. I say we forgo the competition and just eat together, like a family should."

"Ditto on that!" Hagakure cuddled Yaoyorozu's arm. "The air fried mac and cheese actually looks super yummy, anyway!"

"Yours does, too." Ojiro admitted bashfully. "At least yours isn't baked. That still doesn't make sense to me."

Sero was the first to sit, already reaching for a deviled egg. "I have to admit, I'm curious about what these taste like with pumpkin spice."

"Probably not good." Jiro admitted sheepishly. "But tell me more about this…pozole, was it? It looks delicious."

One by one, everyone settled down, complimenting each other's dishes or at least expressing curiosity about them. Bakugo remained standing, fuming, but unable to voice his frustration due to things no longer being competitive. Sensing his rage, Deku approached him, a plate already in hand.

"Hey." He offered Bakugo the plate. "I made sure to slice off some turkey breast for you. It looks really good, you did a great job!"

Grumpily, Bakugo accepted it without looking up. "Doesn't matter. There's no winning so what's the point?"

Deku quietly leaned against the counter next to him. "The point is being happy."

"That's crap." Bakugo shoved a mouthful of potatoes into his mouth. "I didn't win, so I'm not happy."

"To me, you did."

Bakugo stopped, unsure how to react. What did he mean? The competition was over, what was he talking about?

"Your turkey's better than the ham by far." Deku leaned in and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Don't tell the girls I said that, though. I don't want to hurt their feelings. Just think of it as a secret win, okay?"

Secret wins didn't count. If nobody knew, there wasn't any point. But watching Deku take a bite of the turkey he'd slaved all day over, seeing his face light up followed by a vigorous nod of approval, Bakugo swallowed his dignity behind another clump of mashed potatoes. This win could stay secret.

As long as everybody's happy. And right now, they were.