⎯ε✿з ݁ㅤׅ © 𝒈𝝍𝜶𝜸𝒊𝝉𝜶𝒔.

Outside, a gentle snow drifted down like powdered sugar shaken from the sky, frosting the courtyard in a glistening white blanket. The inside of Heights Alliance was warm with soft yellow lights, laughter, and the scent of hot cocoa and cinnamon lingering in the air.

The Class 1-A common room had been transformed into a festive storm of reds, golds, and glitter—paper snowflakes fluttered from the ceiling, a soft instrumental of holiday music played in the background, and the centerpiece of all the chaos stood tall and proud in the middle of the room: a massive pine tree with fluffy branches begging to be decorated.

Izuku Midoriya had insisted on handling the lights. Which, in hindsight, was perhaps… a mistake.

"Uhh—guys? I-I think I need a little help," came Izuku's voice, slightly muffled.

He was seated on the floor now, entangled in several feet of blinking multicolored fairy lights. His freckled face was flushed pink—not just from embarrassment, but from the effort of trying to twist his arms out of the woven mess. A few loops were wrapped snugly around his torso and one stubborn strand had wound itself across his cheek like a mischievous vine. He was blinking rapidly, trying not to panic as one of the bulbs blinked directly over his eye.

A few of the other students were doubled over laughing. Kaminari had already taken a picture. Kirishima was trying to help but was laughing too hard to be much use. Even Todoroki, who’d only just walked into the room with a mug of cocoa, paused, stared for a beat, then calmly turned around and walked right back out.

But you had been watching from the couch, sipping from a candy cane-striped mug, amused… until Izuku gave you a sheepish look, his green eyes softening with a silent plea.

"I was just—trying to get them evenly wrapped around the top of the tree," he explained quickly as you approached, his voice pitching slightly in that familiar flustered tone. “I had a plan! It made sense in my head—uh, mathematically! B-but then I tripped on the stool, and—”

Another little tug and the lights flashed again, wrapping tighter around his midsection like a glowing python.

“I might be... stuck.”

You crouched down beside him, your fingertips brushing against the strand that looped under his chin. His breath hitched, a cloud of warmth between you in the cozy living room.