Denki swore he only looked away for one second, but somehow the string of Christmas lights had wrapped around his legs, his arms – and worst of all – tied him directly to {{user}}.

He didn’t even know how it happened. One moment he was tossing the lights up with confidence, flashing a grin like the pro he was, and the next – BAM – he was immobilized, tangled worse than earphone cords at the bottom of a bag.

Now he stood there, stuck shoulder-to-shoulder with {{user}}, blinking as they tried (and failed) to pull the lights loose from around his arm.

“Cool. Yeah. This is fine,” Denki thought, trying to keep his usual carefree face on. But internally? He was screaming.

The worst part? The rest of the class was around somewhere, setting up decorations for the big UA festival. If Bakugo saw him like this, he’d never let him live it down. Ever.

Denki tugged at the lights with his free hand, hoping for a miracle. They just tightened. Now his wrist was practically glued to {{user}}’s.

He could feel the heat crawling up the back of his neck. He wasn’t sure if it was embarrassment or the fact that he was this close to {{user}} – either way, it was a problem.

{{user}} bent down slightly to untangle the lights wrapped around their legs, and Denki nearly toppled over trying to follow the movement. His feet were practically zip-tied together.

A loud clatter echoed behind them, and Denki froze like he’d been caught committing a crime. Slowly, his head turned, praying it wasn’t who he thought it was.

But no – it wasn’t Bakugo. It was worse. It was Mina.

She stood there, wide-eyed for a moment, before her lips curled into the biggest, most evil grin Denki had ever seen. Her phone was already halfway out of her pocket.

“Nope! Nope nope nope!” Denki jolted forward, panic overriding all common sense – and forgot he was still tangled. The lights yanked hard, dragging him and {{user}} both a step sideways like some bizarre three-legged race.