tbh i feel like this chapter is paced really weirdly but eh, oh well i guess.

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Bakugou

Fuck you, Dumb Hair, was Bakugou's first thought upon peeling his dry eyes open the following morning, when he peered out the window to find none other than a shitty blanket of snow covering everything. In the gray light of dawn outside, he could see big, gross, white flakes were still fluttering all merrily and shit to the ground. It was disgusting.

"Hey, asshole," he half-shouted, snatching his stress ball and hurling it at the sleeping Kirishima on the other side of the room.

Kirishima practically sprang up like a friggen jack-in-the-box when the ball made contact with his back. "Wha? Wha's happ'nin'?" he mumbled, turning around. His brow ruffled when he saw the ball and he picked it up, turning toward Bakugou with his messy hair, pillow marked cheeks and all. "Did you throw this at me?"

"No, moron," Bakugou muttered. "It just fucking gained superpowers and flew at you."

"...hey, I dunno 's not a poltergeist or somethin'," Kirishima mumbled, pushing his hair out of his face. Past a yawn he said, "Wha's goin' on, anyway?"

Bakugou yanked his side of the blinds open and jabbed his thumb toward the window. "You fucking jinxed it."

All at once Dumb Hair seemed to wake up and get a jolt of excitement. Still holding onto the stress ball he reached up and pulled his blinds open, his huge goddamn eyes lighting up like the damn sun. "Dude! Awesome!" he said.

Bakugou sat up himself. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" he muttered more to himself than to Kirishima as he reached over to twist his lamp on. When it clicked, though, nothing happened. "The fuck?" He twisted the little knob a few more times. Nothing. "Are you fucking shitting me right now?" Bakugou snatched his phone from the table where it was plugged into the charger to find it definitely wasn't charging, and had only made it up to 72%.

"What's up?" Kirishima asked flopping back into a sitting position on his bed and rubbing an eye.

"The fucking power is out," Bakugou told him.

"Nuh uh," Kirishima said. He reached over to attempt turning his own lamp on, but—of course—to no avail. "Oh shit, it is!"

"Like I fucking said, moron." Bakugou threw his blankets off and sat all the way up. It was only just after six in the fucking morning, but he was too damn sleepy and annoyed by the outage to even bother to wonder why he'd woken up so goddamn early.

"C'mon, let's go see if Kami's up," Kirishima was saying. He tossed the ball back as he stood and went to pull on a pair of socks.

"Why the fuck would he be up? It's like 6:10."

"He gets up early to do his hair. It takes longer than mine, believe it or not," Dumb Hair was saying as he went for the door. When he yanked it open, none other than freaking Pikachu was standing outside, hand raised to knock. Bakugou couldn't help but notice his hair was a complete freaking mess, too. "Dude! We were just coming to see if you were up," Kirishima said.

"The power's out," Kaminari said.

"Yeah, we figured that out, idiot," Bakugou muttered. "'S not like we keep our room dark as fuck on purpose."

"Is it out everywhere?" Kirishima asked.

"Think so, man. Kyouka said it's out in the girls' dorm, too. I bet we're probably gonna hear an announcement soon so we should probably head to the lounge and wait for it."

"Good idea. Ya comin, Baku?"

"You guys are fucking dumbasses. How are they supposed to make an announcement if the power's out?" grumbled Bakugou.

"Oh shit! You're right," Pikachu said as Dumb Hair laughed.

"They might send someone, then. Let's go wait in there anyway," Kirishima suggested.

"Good plan. I'mma go wake Sero up first though. I'll meet you guys there!" Pikachu was already headed down the hall and shouting at them over his shoulder like a dork.

"You gonna come, man?" Dumb Hair asked.

"Might as well," Bakugou grumbled. He dropped his phone in the pocket of his pajama pants and tugged his comforter from his bed to wrap himself in.

"Aw c'mon man, 's not that cold," Dumb Hair said as they started in a shuffle down the hall—lit up by a few emergency backup lights—side by side.

"I'm hot blooded, so it's fucking freezing," Bakugou deadpanned. "How the fuck are you so awake and smiley and shit, anyway?" he asked, eyes cut to the right where Kirishima was, in fact, grinning a little with those big blinding eyes of his.

"'Cause I love snow and it hasn't snowed like this in years, dude," he said. "Like, since we were kids probably. I have lots of good memories with snow days."

"Like what? Some nerdy shit, like making snow angels?"

"Yeah, and snowmen and having snowball fights. All the usual stuff, pretty much."

"Hmph. 'Course."

The lounge was still virtually deserted when they arrived and took refuge on their usual couch in front of the biggest TV, nothing but one last emergency backup light illuminating the area. "Did you not do stuff like that back when it snowed?" Kirishima asked. He'd sat facing Bakugou directly, crossing his legs up on his cushion.

"Maybe once or twice my mom tried to get me to go outside, but I complained the whole time, so after that I stayed the fuck inside and drank hot chocolate and watched cartoons like a normal kid."

"But it's totally normal for kids to have snow days!" Kirishima said. "Are you tellin' me you've never had a snowball fight in your entire life?"

"Nope, I haven't." Bakugou kept his eyes away from his roommate as he said it, watching a few others straggle into the room looking pillow-marked and half asleep, just the way he felt. It wasn't easy to keep his gaze averted, though, because Kirishima lit up like a freaking Christmas tree with utter astonishment.

Kirishima blinked at him for a second with a stupid dumbfounded look on his face. "Okay, that settles it—we're having a snowball fight today. After school, if they don't cancel it," he said. "'M not taking no for an answer, either. I'll drag you outside if I have to."

A glare settled into Bakugou's features. "Fuck no," he muttered, though the words were so halfhearted that even he didn't take himself seriously. But it wasn't his damn fault Dumb Hair was so hard to say no to!

Dumb Hair had just opened his mouth, surely to be the stubborn fuck he was and insist, when Pikachu returned with Sero who looked like he was freaking sleepwalking; his eyes weren't even open yet and he was mid-yawn when they walked up. "No word yet, huh?" Kaminari asked.

"Nope. But dude, Bakugou's never had a snowball fight," Kirishima practically fucking gushed as the other two came around and plopped in a couple of bean bag chairs they dragged up. Bakugou couldn't even be surprised stupid Kirishima was stuck on that, and the damn declaration seemed to wake Sero right up.

"Whoa, no way!"

"What kinda childhood did you have, man?" Pikachu asked.

"One with hot chocolate and fudge brownies and cartoons, you shitrag. A normal one," Bakugou defended.

"We're gonna take him out for one later," Kirishima promised the other two as if Bakugou had never even spoken. He sent a glare in Dumb Hair's direction, and, as usual, it didn't faze him in the least.

Kirishima's such a fucking hardhead.

The thought... wasn't as bitter as Bakugou knew it normally would've been. And he chose to ignore that factor.

Dumb Hair and his friends continued to ramble on about stupid snow day activities and how much they hoped school would be canceled because of the power outage (something Bakugou couldn't agree with more) as others started filing into the lounge until the place sounded like a goddamn cafeteria with all the chatter. For the most part Bakugou kept to himself and his phone; he was too damn tired to care about any of the conversations happening around him.

Kirishima tugged his attention back up anyway. "How's that sound, man?" he asked, gently nudging Bakugou on the arm.

"How does what sound?" he mumbled back.

"You come have a snowball fight and stuff with us, and then we'll come back and make a bunch of hot cocoa. One of the old stoves in the kitchen runs on propane, so we won't need electricity to heat up the water."

"Why do you care about having a dumb snowball fight so much, anyway?"

"'Cause it's fun! You sayin' you seriously don't wanna pummel some kids' heads in with clumps of snow?" Kirishima's grin was almost cocky, like he knew that would be enough to get Bakugou to agree.

And he was right—almost. For some stupid reason all Bakugou needed after that little bribe was Kirishima's idiotic, toothy, shiteating smile to convince him.

"Fucking fine. But when you assholes have bruises, just know it's your fault for talkin' me into it."

"Awesome!" The brief sound of a slap filled the air when Dumb Hair and Pikachu high fived.

It wasn't long after that when a teacher Bakugou didn't recognize showed up to announce that school was, indeed, canceled. "We're working on getting the backup generators up and running to keep the place warm until we get the power back on. They haven't been used in almost five decades so it might take a bit. In the meantime keep all windows and doors shut. We're permitting the use of candles for extra warmth. Another teacher will be by with those and to supervise while you use them, as well as a kitchen staff member with breakfast foods that don't need cooked. Any questions?"

Kirishima's hand was the first to shoot up, and was promptly nodded at. "So I guess going outside and playing in the snow is out of the question?"

"For now, yes. If the power comes back, by all means go have fun. Safely. Anyone else?"

No more questions were asked and the chatter picked back up as soon as the teacher was out the door again.

"Good call on bringing your blanket," Kirishima mumbled as he shivered in the wake of the cold air blasting in from outside. "Sorry I teased you about it," he chuckled.

"'S not my fault you're a dumbass."

"I didn't think I'd get cold!" Kirishima defended. "Anyway, I'mma go get mine so I'll be right back."

"Whatever."

Just as Kirishima left, Sero took his place. "Welp! Looks like it's a pajama party 'til further notice," he said. "Whatcha guys wanna talk about?"

"Shutting up would be nice," Bakugou told him. Pikachu was clearly too busy on his phone—probably texting his dumb girlfriend, with the way his thumbs were sprinting across the keyboard—to pay attention.

"Talking about shutting up is kinda ironic, man," Sero said—jokingly, but it was just as annoying.

Bakugou huffed and shrugged away from him, leaving a space that Kirishima promptly flopped into as soon as he returned, wrapped in his blanket. He'd pulled it over his head so it looked like he was wearing a hood. "Much better," he said as soon as he was settled.

"...you look like the little red riding hood or someshit," Bakugou told him.

Dumb Hair blinked at him before shuffling his phone out of his cocoon. "Yeah?" he said as he held it up, peering at his own reflection in the black screen of the device. "Hey, I kinda do!" he laughed. He proceeded to open his front camera and snap a few pictures of himself, which Bakugou rolled his eyes at.

"You are too damn happy for being up at the asscrack of dawn," sighed Bakugou.

"Aw c'mon, shouldn't you be happy that we basically got a snow day even though we go to a 'shitty boarding school'?" Kirishima asked, physically air-quoting the last part.

"'S still too damn early," was all Bakugou said.

It wasn't long after that when another faculty member showed up with a box of candles and breakfast snacks, which everyone in the room dug into as soon as they were allowed. Bakugou planned to stay put until the crowd around the box dispersed, but Kirishima—being the thoughtful, gentlemanly fuck he was—held out a package of brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts to him.

"Swiped ya somethin'," he said.

"...thanks," Bakugou mumbled. "Man, you'd think the rich bastards who run this school would get a better flavor."

"Right?" Kirishima agreed, tearing into his own pack as he sat back down. "Too bad I ran out of my s'mores ones or I'd just go grab those."

"No biggie," Bakugou told him with a shrug.

The sound of crinkling wrappers filled the room alongside all of the senseless chatter while the teacher spread the unscented candles around the room and lit them. The four of them—more on Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero's parts than Bakugou's—went back and forth between their phones and blabbering away about whatever random shit that was brought up, most of which Bakugou didn't pay much attention to. Typical for him, though, Kirishima occasionally nudged Bakugou and showed him the memes popping up on his Instagram feed.

Eventually the four of them had crowded around a phone—Bakugou's phone, much to his annoyance, because his had the highest battery percentage—to watch shitty YouTube videos Sero kept pulling up. While most of them were straight up stupid (fitting for the plain-faced bastard), Bakugou was admittedly grateful when it seemed to pass the time and before they knew it, it was nearly noon.

"Thanks, assholes, you drained my battery," Bakugou muttered, eyeing the little 9% at the top of his screen.

"Sorry," Sero said.

"Hey, you guys wanna play Jenga?" Kirishima asked suddenly.

"What? You have Jenga?" Pikachu said.

"Nah, it's in the closet with all the games," Kirishima explained, jerking his thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of said closet. "You didn't know about it?"

"Nope."

"C'mon, I'll show you." Dumb Hair was already halfway out of his seat when he said it, and Pikachu and Sero followed him like little ducks or someshit. Grumpily, Bakugou spun his phone around and around in his hands while he waited for them to return. And when they did, of course, they brought several boxes that, of course, included Jenga.

It was halfway through their third game of Uno (which Bakugou reluctantly agreed to playing, but only because those fuckers killed his phone battery) and the lounge had mostly cleared out when the majority of the people trickled back to their rooms one by one when what felt like out of nowhere, the power returned. A gust of air blew through the room as the heater kicked on, accompanied by the the lights and every television in the room flickering to life.

"Finally!" Pikachu shouted, throwing up his hands. A collective cheering sounded throughout the remainder of the people in the lounge.

It was only seconds later when the telltale chime of an announcement sounded overhead, and Aizawa's stupid voice emitted from the speakers, sounding more bored than ever.

"I'm pleased to admit we got the power back up and running sooner than expected. All sidewalks have been shoveled and we're starting a late lunch in the mess hall. An announcement will be made when it's ready, and we'll be letting everyone know by the end of the day whether school will resume tomorrow or not. Thank you for your patience."

"Ah, food," Kaminari sighed, patting his belly. "Can't wait."

"Me too," Dumb Hair chimed in. "Hey! Do we still wanna have our snowball fight?"

"Yeah! Kyouka said she'd get the other girls to join, too," Kaminari said.

"Sweet. Lemme go ask if it's still okay, then," Kirishima said as he stood up and practically bounded over to the teacher who'd been with them all day. He was back in seconds. "It's cool, we just gotta have supervision for it."

"What the fuck are we, a bunch of two year olds?" Bakugou muttered to himself.

When the announcement that food was ready in the mess hall was made, everyone practically trampled over there; Bakugou hated every second of being in the blowing snow and hid himself as best he could behind Dumb Hair to shield himself from it. As typical for him, Kirishima only laughed and held his blanket out to create a bigger shield and allowed Bakugou in first when they made it to the door.

The meal went quickly—throughout which Pikachu kept inviting basically anybody who walked by him—only because Dumb Hair was too damn eager to finish and get out to have his dumb snow day. He was practically dragging Bakugou out of his seat the second he finished eating.

"We'll meet you guys out on the track field, 'kay?" Kirishima said. "C'mon, Baku, let's go get ready. You're still coming, right?"

Bakugou knew he had a deep scowl on his face—he really wasn't in the mood to go back out in the half foot of snow covering literally everything—but he made the mistake of looking up at Dumb Hair. The little fucker had an all-too hopeful look on his face, his eyes smiling like the damn sun even if his lips were relaxed. Jesus fuck, Bakugou hated those eyes.

"Yeah," he said.

"Awesome! Let's go," he urged, actually pulling on Bakugou's blanket like a little kid. With a sigh, the blonde moved to his feet. "We'll see you guys there!" Kirishima called to the other two. He stacked their plates and trays on their respective piles haphazardly before bursting back out into the blizzard.

The little fucker chattered away about snowball fights and shit while they got ready. The entire time Bakugou was only half-listening, questioning his own damn sanity for ever agreeing to this shit. After going outside for the few minutes he had, all he wanted to do was bury himself in his blankets and stay warm. Only Kirishima's incredulous "dude" broke him out of it.

"Is that all you're wearing?" Dumb Hair asked.

Bakugou glanced down himself, at the jeans and hoodie he wore over a long-sleeved shirt. "Yeah? What of it?"

"You need gloves for a snowball fight, man," Kirishima said. "And a hoodie's not enough for below freezing weather."

Bakugou's gaze shifted into a defensive glare. "What are you, my mom? This is all I have, so yeah, it's what I'm wearing since you're so damn stubborn about dragging me out in that shit." He jerked his chin toward the window where the snowfall was unrelenting.

"...you don't have to go if you really don't want to, Baku," Kirishima said. "It's cool. I'll understand."

"I'm already dressed so it doesn't even matter," Bakugou found himself saying, feeling a sudden stab of guilt at the mildly dejected look on Dumb Hair's face.

"Alright. Then you need gloves. And probably at least one more layer..." Dumb Hair said absentmindedly, already shuffling through his dresser again. "I don't have any other coats, but maybe this'll fit you over that?" he asked. In sanding up he held out another hoodie—considerably thicker than the one Bakugou had on with a print of some cartoon he only vaguely recognized on the front of it.

"...you don't have to lend me your stupid clothes, Dumb Hair," muttered Bakugou.

"I know, but I don't want you to get sick. 'S no big deal anyway 'cause it's not like I'm gonna use it. Here." He held it out further with a big, stupid, encouraging smile. That same brilliant fucking smile Bakugou had yet to figure out how to say no to.

So he swiped the damn hoodie from his roommate and yanked it over his head, doing everything humanly possible not to pay attention to how soft it was, and he sure as hell wasn't paying attention to how it smelled. No. Fuck no.

As soon as it was on, Kirishima tossed him a folded pair of dark red gloves. Stiffly he tugged them on.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"No problem!"

It was stupid cold outside, and Bakugou's combat boots weren't exactly the most ideal thing to trek through the six inch snow with. It wasn't his fault it never snowed like this so that he never needed legitimate snow boots... or any other shitty, uncomfortable winter attire. While his feet were numb from the cold within just a few minutes, Kirishima's weird cartoon hoodie and gloves kept the rest of him warm enough, though he wasn't about to outwardly admit he was grateful for it.

Kaminari, Sero, and Jirou were already on the track field when they got there, surrounded by some of the people Kaminari supposedly knew. Kirishima jogged all too happily down the shoveled stairs and onto the field, only realizing that Bakugou wasn't directly behind him when he made it to the bottom. He paused and waited for his roommate to catch up before bounding over to the others.

"Hey, guys!" Pikachu greeted. "'Bout time you showed up." Kirishima merely shrugged and Kaminari went on, "We just have a few more people who're gonna join and then we can get started, since Mr. Yamada showed up to supervise right before you guys got here."

The few more people Pikachu was talking about turned out to be none other than Deku and his herd of losers. Admittedly he was surprised to see the damn half-and-half bastard with them, knowing how dull he could be.

"Sweet, you guys made it! Okay, if everybody's ready, we gotta lay down some rules," Kaminari said. The group gathered around in a haphazard circle with hums of affirmation traveling around it. "Cool. So, when I was a kid we always said snowballs could only be about the size of your fist, and you're only allowed to make three at a time—"

"I always only did it one at a time," Sero said. "It's not cool to hoard a bunch."

"But it's good to have backup," countered Pikachu.

"How 'bout two at a time?" Kirishima suggested.

A collective nod went around the group and Pikachu continued. "You're not allowed to put anything in 'em 'cause that's just mean. Same with aiming for the face or the head."

"Or the junk!" someone shouted from the crowd.

"Well duh," someone else said.

"Anything else is fair game, though," Jirou chimed in. When Bakugou's eyes found her, she held a grin on her face—a smug as hell grin that automatically made her his first target.

"Yep! Oh, and you can't get within ten feet of anybody you're aiming at 'cause point blank isn't fair. Everybody ready?" Pikachu asked.

"Wait, so's this shit like some kind of cold as balls game of dodgeball?" Bakugou asked.

"Nah. There's no outs or anything. Just throwing snow at each other. Nobody wins or loses 'cause it's just s'posed to be fun," Kirishima explained.

"...that's fuckin' lame," Bakugou muttered under his breath.

Soon after they got started. Everyone spread out around the field, finding what they thought were good spots before they were allowed to he begin and packed their two permitted snowballs (which was a stupid rule in Bakugou's mind).

"Ready?" Pikachu called. "Go!"

Snowballs flew in every direction. Kids shrieked and ran, some tripping and falling. Bakugou watched a few faceplant right into the snow. As any and all balls of flying freezing shit flew in his direction, he dodged, only very nearly coming close to getting pelted with a few. While his primary aim was for Pikachu's girlfriend, the only other person he saw able to dodge decently, he managed to hit several others—and that included his dumb-haired roommate.

A bit surprisingly, Kirishima was quick on his feet and pivoted to return fire. He wasn't quick enough, though, and none of his snowballs came close to hitting Bakugou.

"C'mon, someone's gotta hit Bakugou at least once!" a voice that sounded peculiarly like Mina's shouted across the field several minutes into the game when Bakugou still had yet to be pelted.

And suddenly it was like a gang-up—at least half of the damn idiots on the field teaming up against him, and yet with so many hands he still managed to evade their fire.

"You bastards can't aim for shit!" he shouted at them, pummeling his own haphazardly made snowballs right back. They promptly planted themselves against a shoulder and a knee. "My fuckin' grandma can do better than you! Come at me like you mean it!"

Egging the losers on turned out to be half the fun. While he continued dodging through their poor aim and firing insults left and right in between firing snowballs, he watched their faces grow more competitive, more desperate to hit him, which only served to worsen their aim. One by one he was taking them out and it wasn't long before he noticed Jirou had sidled up with him, doing the same thing, despite his earlier target being her.

"You sure this is your first snowball fight?" she asked breathlessly without ceasing moving, packing snowballs and hurling them at the others.

"Yup," he told her, ducking under a couple more and then springing up to fire right back.

"Impressive."

Bakugou didn't realize when he'd stopped feeling the cold. His veins were full of adrenaline, his lungs working tirelessly as he moved with as much agility as possible. The field was a complete mess of snow; parts of the dormant grass beneath it were starting to show, and yet snowballs continued to fly through the air be they fresh snow or dirty from use and landing in mud. Most of the other idiots on the field were practically soaked from being pelted over and over with the snow while Bakugou and Jirou were the only ones still virtually dry.

But even Bakugou didn't have infinite stamina, and soon he could feel the burn of his lungs from so much endless exertion. But damn, he wasn't about to let one of these idiots hit him! It was too fucking fun watching their reddened faces growing more and more desperate and tired; several—including Kaminari and Deku—had stopped, leaning over with their hands on their knees to catch their breath. Fucking wimps.

Jirou was taken out first with a snowball planting itself against her right leg, though the one to throw it was a mystery to Bakugou—that was, until she scooped up another handful of snow and charged after some girl with long black hair Bakugou had never seen.

"One down, one to go!" Mina shouted. "C'mon guys, he's getting tired!"

"Fuck off!" Bakugou yelled back. He'd been gradually backing himself toward one of the supply sheds in hopes of getting out of their range if even for just a second, but after Jirou's defeat it felt more like he was being backed into a corner. Fuck.

And Dumb Hair was gaining on him; despite his red nose and huffing, he seemed one of the only ones who wasn't slowing down. He sucked at dodging, though—most of the snow clinging to his coat was from Bakugou himself, but he never seemed to falter. Admittedly, Bakugou was impressed.

But not nearly enough to give in. He hurled two more snowballs in the other's direction, dodging a few others in the process. As soon as he felt the hard surface of the utility shed against his back he slinked around to the back where there was a small plane of fresh snow. He was out of their range of fire, though he knew he only had seconds. Hastily he packed a few more balls and tucked them into his sleeve. His heart was pounding just knowing that idiot was on his tail, so he slid himself across the back wall of the shed, preparing to come out on the other side with a surprise attack.

But the second he rounded the corner, hand held high with a ball at the ready, a snowball smacked right into the center of his chest. He looked up to see none other than fucking Kirishima, standing there with a grin of triumph as he fist pumped the air.

"Hell yeah! I finally got you!" he shouted in victory.

"What the shit?!" Bakugou shouted, messily firing back. Dumb Hair promptly dodged, laughing. "How the fuck did you know I was over here, Dumb Hair?!" he growled, emptying his sleeve of his remaining snowballs in the idiot's direction.

"I didn't," Kirishima laughed, "I just took a guess and I was right!"

"Guys, Kiri got Bakugou!" he heard someone shout from across the field. Whoops and hollers went around the crowd and just like that the air was void of any more snowballs.

"Asshole," Bakugou grumbled at his roommate as he brushed the snow from his chest.

"Aw c'mon, man! Don't be a sore loser. You put up a good fight."

"Whatever."

"Seriously! I've never seen anybody dodge like that. Did you even get hit at all? Besides by me, I mean."

"No. You guys are shit at aiming," Bakugou told him, trudging through the snow back toward the rest of the group.

"'S hard to believe you've never had a snowball fight before," Kirishima said as he trailed along beside him.

"Got a lot of dodgeball experience. Guess that's pretty much the same, but better since it's not so damn cold."

Dumb Hair's hand slapped down on Bakugou's shoulder. "Well color me impressed, man."

"Thanks, Dumb Hair. I'll get you back for that shit, though."

With a half grin that weirdly made Bakugou's insides flop—something he immediately made himself ignore—Kirishima held out his right hand. "You're on, man."

Bakugou planted his hand against the idiot's and shook, a feeling of determination settling in his stomach.