8Izuku Midoriya looked out the common room window at the snow gently falling outside and smiled, waiting for the kettle to boil. He had always loved winter, and that feeling had only gotten stronger since coming to U.A. It was one thing to build a snowman with your mother and be quietly awed by how pretty it all was, quite another to run and dive through snow drifts with more friends than he thought he could ever have, as a quirk fuelled snowball fight raged on.
There would be some dispute as to the highlight of the fight – be it Bakugou claiming a hill as his turf, and sending explosion propelled avalanches after anyone who tried to topple the king, Uraraka managing to levitate a colossal snowball above the hill and embed Bakugou in it to be rolled off the hill by Iida, Yaoyorozu creating and manning a rank of cannons with Jirou, launching icy projectiles at the mass of fighters, or Todoroki revealing that, yes, he was capable of having fun and using his icy half as a high speed snowball gun.
It only got more fun after Kirishima declared he was a snow shark, and began crawling through the snow, only his hair poking out before snatching the unsuspecting members of class 1-A and hurling them into deep frozen piles. Midoriya had never been more glad of the season than then.
"S-stupid snow. Kero..."
The same, however, could not be said of the living pile of blankets and hot water bottles currently on the couch that he called his girlfriend.
Tsuyu didn't deal well with the cold. Her quirk made her a very versatile and skilled hero-in-training, but it also made her reliant on outside heat sources. Oh, she could get by most days during winter by dressing warm and staying somewhere with heating, but when the temperature dropped really suddenly, she sort of… shut down. Like anything non-essential to keeping warm just refused to function properly.
So when Kirishima had flung her into a deep drift, Midoriya immediately dropped everything to pull her out and get her back inside.
Midoriya had worked out what to do at times like this since they'd begun dating. He left her on the couch, Tsuyu only noticeably conscious by the soft ribbits she gave off, gathering as many spare blankets as he could find and packing them with whatever insulation or warmth he could. Once that was done, he piled it all around her as a warm and fluffy blanket nest.
He poured the kettle out into two mugs filled with instant hot chocolate and carried them over to the mass of cotton that appeared to have eaten a frog. Tsuyu had wrapped herself thoroughly into the nest, only her face and a single hand visible outside the mismatched fabric. She looked half asleep as Midoriya pressed the steaming mug into her hand and sat down next to her, but it zipped to her lips so quickly he briefly worried she'd hit herself in the mouth.
"Mmmmm… Thank you, Izu" she whispered, letting out a sigh. The hot beverage seemed to bring her to life slightly.
"I-It's no bother, Asui" he said softly, blushing. He still wasn't quite used to her nickname for him, but he would be lying if he said he didn't adore it from her.
"I'm too tired to correct that, kero…" she muttered. Her face appeared blank, but Midoriya knew she was just as expressive as anyone else, just in more subtle ways. By the look in her eyes, the way she flicked her tongue, she was… guilty? Why?
"I'm sorry for making you do all this for me. I know I'm not fun to be around like this"
Ah, that's why.
Midoriya rubbed the back of his head and gave a shaky smile. "W-well, at least I don't think you're dead this time, Tsu".
Tsuyu gave a short series of croaks, her equivalent to a chuckle. The first time this happened while they were together was during a cold snap a few months back. Midoriya had discovered her in bed, cold and entirely unresponsive, and immediately burst into tears. Yaoyorozu had walked in on him cradling her, wailing that she had died somehow. The creation quirk user had a hard time stifling her laughter when Tsuyu was awoken by Midoriya's body heat and incredibly loud weeping. She had never let her boyfriend forget that since.
"Still, though. You don't have to stay with me, kero. You've done more than enough to help me, Izu. I'll be fine in a few hours and I know you'd rather be outside right now. You looked like you were having fun…" A hint of regret and sadness, by the way she held her hands.
Midoriya didn't say anything in response. If he thought about it, he'd been looking forward to wandering outside in the snow when he'd woken up, a calmer activity than this morning's frenzy. Just take in the atmosphere and the hushed sound of snowfall; maybe make an angel or two in the snow. It was stuff he used to love to do.
But with a jolt, he'd realised he'd imagined doing all of that with the girl sat next to him. Like that, they'd lost their appeal. He couldn't see the point if he couldn't share it with Tsuyu.
Midoriya drained his mug and moved himself closer to the mound that croaked like a girl.
"Knock knock" He said, smiling at the expression of tired surprise on her face.
"K-kero? What are you doing?"
"I forgot the most important part of the nest". With that, he lifted the multitude of blankets up and crawled in. After some awkward shuffling, he wrapped his arms around Tsuyu's midsection and rested his head on her shoulder. Her skin felt clammy and cold, but he could feel a little heat return to her as her cheeks flushed. With a flick of the nearest foot, he closed the blankets around them.
"H-how are you so w-warm, kero?"
"W-well, I'm cu-cuddling you, so I'm probably blushing all over" he joked, pressing his face into her neck.
"But… You don't… I'm not…"
"Tsuyu" interrupted Midoriya, his voice tender and serious. "If you think, for even a moment, that I'd rather be anywhere than with you, right now or ever, then I'll just hold you until you understand"
He thought he heard a small sob, but when he looked up Tsuyu was only smiling. She leaned towards him and planted a small kiss on his cheek.
"…Ok. Want to watch a movie, kero?"
He grinned. "Of course! You can pick first"
A/N
Just porting over my AO3 stuff to here as well, don't mind me. This was meant to be a warmup for a longer fic involving the two of them, but life got in the way. I may still write said fic, but for now, enjoy!
