The first flakes fell during class — small, soft specks that had everyone sneaking glances at the windows. By the time the bell rang, the world outside UA had turned white.

Training was canceled. Homework forgotten. The second the dorm doors opened, chaos exploded. Kaminari let out a war cry and hurled the first snowball. Sero fired tape like grappling lines to drag people into the fray. Kirishima declared himself commander of the “Fort of Manliness” while Mina immediately defected to build a rival fort with Todoroki’s perfectly carved blocks of ice.

You tried to stay out of it at first, brushing snow from your gloves, but then a cold splat hit you square in the back of the head. Bakugo smirked from across the courtyard. “What? Gonna cry about it?”

And just like that, you were in.

Hours passed in laughter, in the crunch of boots over ice, in snowballs flying so fast your hands ached from forming them. At one point, Todoroki — calm, unbothered — crafted a snow Totoro, and everyone stopped to admire it before pelting it mercilessly into ruin. By the time the sun dipped, your gloves were soaked, your cheeks were flushed, and your stomach hurt from laughing too hard.

You’d never thought of snow as warm before. But surrounded by friends, by family, that’s exactly how it felt.