"Who minced this?!" Bakugou held up a large chunk of tomato and Kaminari was quick to hide behind the table. "Throw me a knife!"
"Throw you a kni- Y/N, wait!"
You tossed a knife across the kitchen and Bakugou cleanly caught it by the handle and began mincing the vegetables, earning oohs from those in the class.
"Okay then," Kaminari said shakily, thinking that Bakugou was going to use it on him. Kirishima patted him on the back, perhaps used to the antics that Bakugou used in the kitchen. "Nice throw, Y/N."
"Thanks." You held up your hand and Sato placed the rolling pin in your palm, then continued cutting apples for the apple pie.
Shoji was already washing dishes with Tokoyami, who was still getting used to the new way of eating without his beak and feathers - he was now generally normal looking with slicked back black hair that Mina helped with.
"I think this works," Uraraka said as she pulled back the makeup brush from Mina's face.
"What am I supposed to do with my pink foundation now?!" she exclaimed. "It took so long to find where to get it and now I can't even use it anymore!"
Since the disappearance of her pink skin, black sclera, and horns, Mina's main worry hadn't been the loss of her quirk, but rather, the makeup inconveniences.
"Good thing that kind of thing didn't happen to me," Jirou muttered, grazing her hand over her now normal ears.
"Yeah, or you'd have to buy a whole knew set of foundation." Sero chuckled.
You stopped rolling out the pie dough. Sato glanced at you. "Are you okay, Y/N?"
"Mhm."
Guilt is like a tumour for you. It grows without you knowing until it hurts and suddenly, it's too large to remove. At that point, you wait for a miracle.
You hadn't felt guilt until you got people to make you feel guilty.
Having Mirio, Tamaki, and Nejire grinning at you with no care as to why you weren't doing it in return.
Your class dragging you into everything even though they see you three days a week.
Even when you tried to pull away, avoid them so your guilt wouldn't grow to be so suffocating, they chased you like it was all a big game of tag and everyone was it but you.
But unlike with the place you were running to, when they caught you, it wasn't suffocating, but it was like you finally felt the wind for the first time.
"Y/N!"
You were startled by someone wrapped your arms around your neck and pouncing on your back. "Nearly done with the crust?" Hagakure asked.
"Um-"
"It looks done to me," Sato said.
You nodded and took the dough and placed it over the unfinished apple pie, then put the pie in the oven.
"Let's have dinner so we can eat it while it's hot!" Hagakure dragged you by the arm to the table and you sat between Mina and Yaoyorozu as everyone spoke, food being passed around the table so everyone got their share.
You stared at your plate, not touching it for a long while.
"You better eat before Bakugou shoves it down your throat." Mina put some mashed potatoes in her mouth, motioning to your plate.
"Right... yeah. Sorry."
"Leave it to Bakugou to cook like a housewife," Kirishima teased, earning a string bean in the face from the angry blond.
"Well, he has to do something that isn't exploding everything," Tsu said.
"What did you say?!"
Mina and Uraraka snickered behind their hands and Kirishima and Sero held Bakugou back from jumping across the table.
"Sorry, all dinners are like this." Yaoyorozu shook her head but a smile was on her face.
"It's okay." Your eyes moved across the room, softening fondly at the sight of your classmates at peace. "It brings character, I think."
Mina snickered again. "What does that even mean?"
"Whatever you want it to mean, I guess."
"It means batshit crazy is your personality trait," Bakugou said as if he were a sarcastic university English professor.
"I don't want to hear that from you, boom boy."
"Say that again!"
Mineta took a ball off his head and placed it on Bakugou's seat, which Kirishima pushed him back onto. He felt it under him and his head snapped in Mineta's direction, but he remained silent, perhaps not wanting to draw attention to the embarrassing position he was in.
Once you heard the timer, you got up and went to the oven.
"Are you okay with doing that?" Yaoyorozu asked softly, following you back to the kitchen with her eyes slowly going to the burns along your arms.
You nodded. "It's not like fire is going to jump out of the oven."
She watched you intently as you pulled out the pie with an oven mitten and you turned to the counter to find the girls leaning over it with their noses in the air. "It smells so good!" Uraraka squealed. "I had no idea you could bake, Y/N!"
"Todoroki told us she liked sweets," Jirou reminded her. "That's probably why."
You nodded one more time and placed the pie on a plate, which Yaoyorozu doubled so everyone could have a piece.
Shoji approached behind you once he noticed your curious expression. "She normally does that with dessert. It's so that the teachers don't have to keep buying ingredients."
"Oh."
Iida tried to make everyone line up for pie (which did not work) as Kota and Shoji helped cut it.
Two birds fluttered to you with a plate and Uraraka plopped next to you. "Y/N, remember that game that you taught us back at camp?"
"Spoons?"
"Yeah! We should play that, this time with you!" Her voice went quieter. "You don't have to worry about us anymore, you know?"
You glanced at the others, with Hagakure and Jirou already gathering spoons from the drawer of utensils. "Sure... that'd be nice."
Everyone gathered around the dining table with 18 spoons on the table (Midoriya and Shouto were missing).
"Ow- No quirks, Bakugou!"
"Ha, Kaminari's out."
"Mineta, you grab the spoon not her hand."
"That's not fair, Shoji's got six hands!" "I'm only using one."
After many rounds, Iida, Hagakure, and Bakugou stood against each other. For the record, Bakugou was still seated in the same chair he was sitting on at dinner.
Iida was out.
Then Bakugou.
And a spoon waved in the air without a visible hand holding it. "I win!" Hagakure exclaimed.
Bakugou couldn't even be mad. After all, no one could even see where she was. And he was still stuck to the chair.
After a while, everyone got to work cleaning up (with Kirishima and Kaminari on the floor laughing as Sero tried to pry him off of the chair).
Tokoyami, Ojiro, and Hagakure cleared the table.
Birds passed you dishes as you and Kota washed them.
Yaoyorozu and Iida dried the dishes.
Uraraka and Shoji put them away.
Of course, you hadn't anticipated a hand suddenly appearing beside you without a body attached to it.
Kota screeched while you stepped back, raising your hand to control the flow of water coming from the sink.
"Whoa, whoa, relax!" A familiar voice came from the stairwell and Class 1B began flooding into the dining room.
"Kendo!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed.
You hesitantly took the plate and the severed hand returned to its owner, which was Tokage. "Sorry for the scare," she said to Kota, who was still on the floor with his hands covering his head.
"Has the schedule changed?" Iida questioned. "I believe you had already gotten dinner prior to us."
"We did. We just heard you guys laughing and were wondering what was going on."
"We were playing spoons," Uraraka answered, lifting one of the spoons she was putting away.
"What's that?"
And suddenly the spoons were dirty again.
You sat off to the side with some who didn't wish to play and Komori managed to seize a portion your hair and begin making a small braid down the side of your head.
"Your hair is so nice, L/N," she complimented.
"Thank you... and you can call me Y/N."
"Okay!" She tied it up and you looked back at the two classes clashing in spoons, which ended up turning into an all out war with Bakugou and Monoma at each other's necks, and Kendo and Kirishima trying to hold back the loud blonds while others around them laughed.
Smiled.
You placed your right hand over your left wrist, feeling the burn scars along your skin. But they didn't sadden you, not at that moment. Rather, they made you remember something.
"No." He placed his hand over his scar. "'Your left side is unsightly.' My mother said that as she poured boiling water on me."
"I see." You sipped your tea. "I don't think you want to talk about it anymore, so I won't make you. But I do feel bad for asking you." You turned your head towards him. "I can tell you a secret if you want."
"What is it?"
You stared out into the courtyard of his house, seeing remnants of children playing in the sand with small, dragged footprints. "I don't really look it... but I'm terrified most of the time."
"Why?"
You didn't know what to say to him after that. He was watching. He could just get you to burn Shouto to a crisp, so you thought up a white lie. "Everything has consequences. As for me... the consequences may be permanent."
Shouto hummed thoughtfully. "Consequences are unavoidable. But I think I'd regret it more if I didn't take a chance just because I was scared of what would happen after. Besides," he turned to you without a single glint of malice in his eyes, "you seem lonely."
"I don't want to hear that kind of advice from you," you muttered, placing your chin on your hand.
"I guess not. But you do know that, if anything, there'll always be someone to protect you."
It made you remember that you'd never be burned again. Not by him, not by Dabi, not by anyone.
Because there'd always be someone to protect you.
Perhaps pain was unavoidable, same for shame, grief, and guilt, but it was also the same for joy and comfort.
It was easy to get lost in the dark, and you had been avoiding the flame that drowned it out.
"Y/N..."
You snapped out of your trance and looked around, finding nearly everyone staring at you. "What?"
"Is that... a smile?" Mina questioned.
You felt your face contorting in a way that it hadn't in a long time. You looked down as your face went warm. "Sorry, that was-"
"Oh my gosh, you're so pretty when you smile!" Hagakure exclaimed and you felt her hand rest itself on your shoulder.
"You'll find a reason to stay."
Your hand went to your chest.
It was filled with warmth.