Semper Fast

Chapter 29: Test Anxiety

The cheers and excitement surrounding Aizawa's announcement of the summer training camp were not universal among the students of Class 1-A. While the others chatted about their hopes and plans for the upcoming getaway, the idiot trio of Allen, Ashido, and Kaminari all exchanged a terrified glance. It had been several long weeks since the internships, but the moment that they had been dreading had finally arrived. In just a week, they would face an implacable foe more fearsome than anything that the League of Villains could possibly produce…the Final Exams.

"I'm totally fucked." Allen announced during a break between classes. The statement was delivered with the same sort of serene acceptance one often saw in terminal patients. He saluted the class with a solemn, dead eyed expression. "It was an honor serving with you all. Don't forget about me."

"You aren't alone." Kaminari said, his eyes were similarly devoid of life as he moved to stand next to Allen and joined him in his salute. Ashido joined them as well, immediately before breaking out into a fit of manic laughter that quickly degenerated into hysterical tears.

Midoriya rolled his eyes. "Allen, stop being so dramatic. You know that I'll tutor you. You passed your midterms, so you couldn't possibly have fallen that far behind. How much do you have to review?" Midoriya picked up the notebook on Allen's desk. "Here, let me see your notes."

"Yeah," Allen said awkwardly, "…about that."

Midoriya's expression cycled through of horror, disbelief and amusement as he thumbed through the pages of Allen's notes. He closed the notebook and gently placed it back on the desk. "Allen?" He softly asked, his voice carrying a dangerous edge to it. "What the hell was that?"

Allen averted his eyes from Midoriya's piercing stare. "…Pretty much what it looked like."

"Really?" Midoriya replied. His eyebrow began to twitch. "Because to me, what it looked like was a flip book animation of you repeatedly kicking Bakugo in the junk."

"Hey, let me see that!" Ashido grabbed the notebook from the desk and flipped through the pages. "Oh my gosh it totally is! That's freaking hilarious!" Midoriya continued to glare at Allen as Ashido ran from person to person, showing each of them the flip animation.

Uraraka snorted with laughter when it came to her turn to see Allen's work. "The drawings aren't all that bad, either!"

When Ashido went to show it to Bakugo, he snatched it out of the pink girl's hands with a look of disgust and tore the notebook in two before incinerating it for good measure. "Even for you, this is fucking immature. Do you seriously not have anything better to do with your time, you waste of space?"

"I wouldn't exactly have worded it that way," Midoriya said, "but I kind of have to agree. What the hell, Allen? Have you seriously not taken any notes since midterms? Have you done any studying at all?"

Allen paused. "…Define any."

"Allen, you're killing me." Midoriya groaned. "Why on earth would you do this to yourself? And why didn't you ask me or Iida-kun or Yaoyorozu-san for help? If you had just stayed on top of things, this would just be a simple matter of review, but now I'm going to have to teach you 9 weeks of material in only a few days! It's going to take a miracle for you to pass all of your exams now!"

"Well I'm sorry!" Allen replied defensively. "It's just that between getting tortured by a serial killer, turned into a laughingstock on national television and social media, nearly being turned into sashimi by another fucking serial killer, and my dad getting sent to a goddamn warzone, solving quadratic equations haven't exactly been on the top of my priority list!"

"That reminds me," Jirou turned to Yaoyorozu, "I'm a little iffy on quadratic equations, do you mind lending me a hand with those?"

"Sure." Yaoyorozu replied. "In fact, how about I put together a study group at my home for anybody in the class who needs help. I'll let Mother know to clear out the grand hall."

Midoriya paled. "Chris-sensei is in Taiwan right now?" Given its proximity to Japan, the ongoing conflict had been featured in the news on a nearly daily basis—mostly concerning the horrendous devastation that had been unleased upon the island nation. After only a few weeks of fighting, huge sections of the Taiwanese capital had been reduced to rubble. The death toll was unknown, but expected to be astronomical considering Taipei's population density.

"What?!" Ojiro and Kirishima exclaimed together before heading over to Allen.

"What the hell, dude?" Kirishima added, "Why wouldn't you tell us something like this? We're your friends!"

"Seriously." Ojiro said. "This is the kind of stuff that friends are here to help you deal with." He furrowed his brow. "Is this why you haven't had any of us over to train lately?"

"Sort of…" Allen answered quietly. "With the war going on, security has been hiked up. The only people allowed on base right now are government contractors, military personnel, and their families…I haven't said anything until now because I don't really like to talk about it."

Having overheard their conversation, Asui walked over to join them. Without a word or any hesitation, she grabbed hold of one of Allen's arms and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"H-hey, Tsu-chan!" Allen glanced around at the raised eyebrows of other classmates. He half-heartedly attempted to shake her off, but Asui's grip was too strong. "You know you're not supposed to do that kind of thing in class, cut it out."

Asui shook her head. "Not gonna happen." She croaked. "And since when have you been such a stickler for the rules?"

"Get a room, you two!" Mineta seethed with transparent envy, "Nobody wants to see your PDA! OW! AAAGH!" He howled, "Damn it Jirou, you bitch! Why do you always go for the eyes!"

Jirou retracted her Earphone Jack and stared pitilessly at Mineta as he writhed on the floor in agony. "I don't know," she coldly replied, "why can't you keep your eyes to yourself? What they do is none of your business Grape-boy."

"Jirou-kun!" Iida rebuked, "That sort of response to Mineta-kun's peeking was one thing, but he is technically correct in this case! If I see you use your quirk to inflict harm on him in that manner again, I will be forced to bring it to the teacher!"

"Seriously?" Jirou asked incredulously, "You're taking his side? After he tried to peek on us? On your girlfriend?"

The news of his and Yaoyorozu's relationship had broken out as a result that incident. Iida's less than stellar confidence in Allen's commitment to protecting the virtue of the girls other than Asui had led him to have a private chat with Mineta—the contents of which ceased to remain private within minutes of its conclusion as Mineta wasted no time in spreading the news in his jealous rage.

Iida pushed up his glasses. "I am the class president." He replied seriously. "My personal feelings are irrelevant. My duty is to lead by example, and I cannot overlook violence towards a classmate no matter how distasteful I may find them. To do so would be an unacceptable breach of the integrity of the office."

"I guess…but…seriously?" Jirou looked over to Yaoyorozu for assistance. "Come on Yaomomo, back me up here!"

Yaoyorozu held up her hands defensively. "Don't look at me." She replied. A fond, yet exasperated smile appeared on her pretty face. "When it comes to his sense of responsibility and duty, not even I can change his mind. Honestly, I don't even want to…it is one of the many things I like about him after all."

Iida ears were red as he coughed to clear his throat. He turned to Allen and Asui, "Anyways! I'm afraid Mineta-kun is correct. Asui-kun! I must insist that you cease this behavior at once!"

Asui stared at Iida blankly. She tightened her grip on Allen. "I'm curious Iida-chan, what makes you think I'll listen to you if I didn't listen to Ren-chan?"

"Probably because you never listen to me anyways?" Allen snarked.

"Hush Ren-chan." Asui croaked, "The adults are talking. Just…keep standing there looking pretty."

"Remind me why I put up with you again?" Allen asked, chuckling despite himself. "I could find someone else you know…someone with supermodel looks, who would feed me her handmade lunches and treat me like a king." 'It's kind of frightening how good she is at making me laugh.'

Asui patted him on the arm. "It's absolutely adorable that you think that."

"Asui-kun." Iida insisted. "Now, please."

"Fine." Asui let out an irritated ribbit. "Killjoy-kun."

Iida gave Allen an accusatory look. "You've been a terrible influence on her, Allen-kun."

Allen grinned. "Yeah, it's awesome, right?"

"Um…hey Deku-kun?" Uraraka shyly approached Midoriya, who was busy writing in his notebook and muttering under his breath about the most efficient teaching schedule.

Midoriya looked up. "…What's up Uraraka-san?"

Uraraka hesitated when she saw the clearly stressed look on his face but gathered her will and forged ahead regardless. "Well…um…I'm not any danger of failing, but I have some subjects that I'm kind of weak in…and you're so smart, so I was just wondering if we could, um, study together."

"…Huh?" Was Midoriya's response. Thanks to his stress-addled brain pulling him in multiple directions, he failed to comprehend what Uraraka was saying. "I…uh…"

Uraraka flushed and waved her hands in front of her face, "But if you're going to be too busy teaching Allen-kun, that's totally okay. Yaomomo said that she's putting together a big study group, I just wanted to…I mean, I thought that…it would be nice to do it with you."

"…Really? Why?" Midoriya asked. "Yaoyorozu-san is smarter than me, so she'd probably be able to answer your questions better than me…plus, we're going to be doing it at my place. Wouldn't it be a little awkward for you being the only girl? OW," Midoriya yelped as an arm snaked around his neck and placed him in a headlock. "Allen!" He protested, trying to break free of his friend's iron grip. "What are you doing?"

"Shut the fuck up." Allen said cheerfully. He looked at Uraraka, "Excuse us, I need to borrow him for just a second."

Uraraka blinked. "Um…okay?" She said uncertainly, looking on with confusion as Allen dragged a struggling Midoriya over to a quieter corner of the room.

"What was that for?" Midoriya complained, rubbing his neck.

"Why are you trying to talk the cute girl who's obviously into you out of spending time with you?" Allen asked. "You're supposed to be the smart one."

Midoriya flushed and began to stammer. "She's not…she doesn't…I'm…you don't know that."

"Dude." Allen said. "You two have been dancing around each other since that time we went to the arcade. The whole bashful, 'will they, won't they' thing was kind of cute at first, but now it's just getting on my fucking nerves. Have you made any progress since then?"

Midoriya paused. "Define progress."

Allen pinched the bridge of his nose. "Son of a bitch. Freaking smartass…now I see why you got so annoyed." He stared at Midoriya. "Okay, here's what we're going to do. You're going to go over there and invite her to study with us at your place. Asui will come too. She's ranked 7th in the class or something, so she can handle teaching me. Which means…" Allen poked Midoriya in the chest, "you will pay attention to her." He poked him again, "You will engage with her." Poke. "You will show her why you're awesome." Poke. "You will—"

"Okay!" Midoriya slapped Allen's finger away. "I get it! I get it!"

"Then go!" Allen demanded. "She's waiting!"

Midoriya looked over at Uraraka. She made eye contact and waved at him with a small smile on her face. He hesitated, a bead of sweat began to run down his forehead. "…Do I have to right now? I don't know if I'm mentally prepa—"

"I will fucking hurt you."

That did the trick. "I'm going! I'm going!" Midoriya yelped, walking over towards Uraraka with a spring in his step.

Allen had a satisfied grin on his face as he silently watched Midoriya spit out a red-faced, stuttering invitation to Uraraka. She pressed her fingers together and nodded with a beaming smile.

"Oh yeah," he said to himself, "I'm a good friend."

xxx

SEMPER FAST

xxx

"Midoriya-san!"

As always, Inko let out an involuntary squeak when Allen wrapped the tiny woman into a hug the moment he stepped into the threshold of the cozy two bedroom apartment.

"Hello Allen-kun, it's good to see you too." She greeted him before directing a gentle smile at Asui. "And you must be Asui-san then. I've heard a lot of good things about you from Izuku." A mischievous gleam appeared in her eye. "It makes me wonder what you're doing with Allen-kun."

Caught off guard by the unexpected joke from the meek looking woman, Asui let out a loud, croaking laugh that she quickly covered up.

"Oh, come on! That wasn't funny. It was the most obvious mom joke you can make!" Allen groused. "How come you never laugh like that at my jokes?"

"It wasn't as much the joke itself, as it was the fact that your mom made the exact same joke." Asui explained, a light blush sitting on her cheeks as she continued to randomly break out into quiets snickering.

Inko giggled. "Oh, did she now?"

Asui nodded. "Almost immediately."

"Well, please come inside and make yourselves at home." Inko said, ushering the couple inside. "Izuku and Uraraka-san are in the sitting room already." Inko lowered her voice. "It's good that you two are here, too."

Allen raised an eyebrow. "…What's wrong?"

A bead of sweat appeared on Inko's forehead and her smile became a bit strained. "You'll know as soon as you see them."

Allen had to restrain himself from breaking out into hysterical laughter the moment he saw the two of them sitting sieza on opposite sides of the traditional Japanese table, nervously staring at their hands folded in their laps in silence. The atmosphere was so tense, awkward, and so incredibly, unbelievably Midoriya that Allen quietly took out his phone and snapped a photo to preserve the image for posterity.

'I'm going to get years of mockery out of this moment.' Allen gleefully thought. 'Actually…' He sent it to Ashido with a simple message attached. "I'll just leave this here with you."

Ashido's reply—a gif of some anime character laughing maniacally—was immediate. "I trust you know what you've just unleashed?"

"Do what you will." Allen replied. "It's out of my hands now."

"What is this—a marriage meeting?" Asui asked, making all three of them jump. Allen quickly stashed his phone in his back pocket as stealthily as he could.

"Oh, Allen, Tsu-chan!" Midoriya exclaimed with great relief, "You're here! We were just waiting for you to get started!"

"I could see that." Allen replied with a grin, "But now that we're here, I could really go for something to drink."

Midoriya gave Allen a puzzled look. "You know where the fridge is."

"Midoriya." Allen said, shooting a significant look at the clear tabletop in front of Uraraka. "Go get us something to drink."

"Oh…OH!" Midoriya flushed and quickly stood up from his seat. "S-s-sorry! Is barley tea all right with all of you?"

"That would be great!" Uraraka said. Allen and Asui also gave their assent.

"O-Okay, I'll be right back."

Allen and Asui exchanged a look and slid into the side of the table previously occupied by Midoriya.

Asui pinched Allen's leg. "What did you just do with your phone just now?" She whispered.

Allen shot her his best innocent look. "I don't know what you're talking about." Not buying it, Asui pinched him harder. "Ow!"

"Are you okay?" Uraraka gave Allen a curious look.

"Oh, uh…I'm fine, my leg just cramped a bit sitting down." He lied, "I'm not really used to Japanese style tables."

"What. Did. You. Do?" Asui's whisper was a little harsher.

"Nothing!" Allen whispered back, "I just took a picture of them!" Asui's large unblinking eyes bored into Allen, making him break out into a sweat. "…I might have also sent it to Ashido…and encouraged her to do with it what she will."

Asui's mouth opened a bit in horror. "You're a terrible friend."

"Ehhh." Allen replied. "Maybe a little."

"What are you two talking about over there?" Uraraka asked, "It's kind of making me nervous, the way you keep glancing at me."

"Don't worry about it." Allen said, "Just…couple stuff, you know how it is."

"Not really." Uraraka replied somewhat wistfully. "I've never actually dated anyone."

"Really?" Allen asked, "That's kind of surprising, since you're so cute and all." Uraraka's face went beet red and Asui lightly hit Allen in the shoulder.

"You're seriously flirting with another girl while I'm sitting right here?"

"Who's flirting?" Allen said. "I'm just being honest. She is cute." Allen grinned and wrapped an arm around Asui. "No need to be jealous, Tsu-chan. You'll always be the cutest frog on the lily pad of my heart."

Asui stared at Allen with dead eyes while Uraraka began to crack up. "…That was the lamest thing you've ever said, and that's saying a lot. Seriously…that was awful. I might actually have to reconsider my association with you."

Allen snickered. "At least Uraraka-san appreciates my poetic soul."

Uraraka's head was on the table and her face was even redder than before—though not out of embarrassment this time. "Lily pad of his heart! Bwahahaha!"

"What's so funny?" Midoriya asked, returning with a tray holding drinks for the four of them and a bowl of snacks. Uraraka merely pointed at Allen, still laughing at his expense.

Allen shrugged. "You kinda had to be here. Let's get to studying. I'm in dire straits here, remember?"

"You're right." Midoriya said, setting the platter down onto the table. Once he had finished passing out the drinks, he stared at Allen and Asui. "But, um…" He hesitated, alternatively looking at Asui's spot next to Allen and the open seat next to Uraraka.

"Hurry up and sit down." Allen rolled his eyes and pointed to the open spot. "We don't have all day. Uraraka's not going to bite you." He waited until Midoriya sat down and grinned. "Unless that's what she's into."

"Allen/Allen-kun!" Allen cackled wickedly while Uraraka and Midoriya's faces both flushed crimson. They made eye contact for a split second before looking away, embarrassed.

"Ren-chan, stop teasing them." Asui scolded him halfheartedly. "Midoriya-chan was nice enough to put together a lesson plan for you so you can come to the training camp with us."

"Sorry." Allen apologized.

"Thank you, Tsu-chan." Midoriya handed her two of the four identical three-ring binders he had assembled the night before. "It's going to be nice having someone to help me keep Allen on task. You had no idea how hard it was for me to get him up to speed for the entrance exam."

"…Wow." Asui let out an impressed ribbit as she flipped through the binder. "This is incredible."

Midoriya had broken all their academic material down by subject, distilling everything they had learned during the entire semester into its most essential parts. He also provided practice questions taken from homework assignments, quizzes and their mid-term, as well as his own original practice problems with their step-by-step solutions written out at the end of each section.

"This is even better than those study guides you can buy at a store!" Uraraka marveled. "Thank you, Deku-kun!"

"How long did this take you, Midoriya-chan? Did you even sleep last night?"

Midoriya flushed. "N-no, it's not that big of a deal—the part that took me the longest was making the extra copies and putting them into the binders, and that was maybe an extra hour or two at most! I've been tutoring Allen since Middle School, so I've gotten in the habit of putting guides like this together over the course of the year."

"Doesn't that interfere with your own studying though?" Asui asked, giving Allen a piercing look. Allen shrugged and went back to flipping through his own copy of the binder.

Midoriya shook his head, "Not at all! I actually think that doing all of this has made me better at studying—I never used to beat Kacchan in grades until I started tutoring Allen, now I almost always come out ahead of him."

"You're welcome." Allen said in an exaggeratedly pompous tone before breaking out into a laugh.

"Okay, Ren-chan." Asui stated, "Time to get to work. Pick your poison—Math, Social Studies, Hero Studies, Science, or Japanese Literature."

"English—ack! Damn it!" Allen cried out in response to Asui poking him in the ear with her tongue. "You know I hate that!"

"Yes," Asui replied, "that's why I do it. Want to try that again? I know that you're doing fine in English."

Uraraka groaned. "Ugh, English is the worst. So many grammar exceptions—[Run, ran, swim, swam]! Why can't they just pick a rule and stick with it!"

"Hey!" Allen objected, feeling the need to defend his native language. "At least we only have one alphabet! Three separate writing systems my ass…"

"Ren-chan." Asui said. "Focus. What do you want to cover?"

"I don't care," Allen grunted, "just pick something for me. It's going to suck regardless."

"Math it is." Asui croaked, eagerly picking her favorite subject.

Allen blanched. "You know, on second thought…"

"Too late." Asui said, "You had your chance. Go ahead and solve problems 1 through 20. Let me know when your done and I'll go over them with you before we move on."

"Yes Asui-sensei." Allen sullenly replied. "Gah!" He exclaimed, wiping out his ear after another tongue poke. "What did I do?"

"Your tone just now annoyed me." Asui explained, "Plus, it's entertaining to watch you squirm. Now get to work."

xxx

(Several Hours Later)

xxx

"No more…" Uraraka flopped to her back and moaned in defeat. "My brain…it hurts…"

On the other side of the table, Allen mirrored Uraraka's posture. "What she said…" He covered his eyes with the back of his forearm. "I can't keep going…I've been reduced to just staring at the numbers now…it's like they're mocking me. Those little bastards…"

"Our scheduled break isn't for another forty-five minutes." Midoriya murmured as he went over Uraraka's work with a red pen—as expected, he and Asui were still going strong. "Just try and suck it up until then…Uraraka-san, you seem to be having some trouble with the Future Perfect tense. Let's go back over those sentences again, and I'll help you through them."

"Deku-kuuuuun…" Uraraka whined. "Please, have mercy."

"Save yourselves…" Allen groaned, "I'll just slow you down, go on without me!"

Midoriya and Asui exchanged a look of sympathetic understanding. Midoriya let out a sigh. "I guess we take our break a little bit early. If you're that mentally tapped out, I doubt you'll retain anything we cover anyways."

Allen was on his feet in an instant. "YES!" He cried, stretching out his body after sitting for so long. "AT LAST!"

"You sure recovered quickly." Asui quipped, "Was that little drama display really necessary, Ren-chan?"

"It was entirely necessary." Allen retorted. "I feel cooped up. Let's go get some exercise. Everyone brought their workout clothes like I said in the group text, right?"

Uraraka leapt to her feet. "Oh my gosh, YES!" She ran and grabbed her bag from the threshold. "I could really use some fresh air right about now! Hey Deku-kun, where can I change?"

Midoriya's eyes went wide. "Ch-ch-ch-change?"

Uraraka tilted her head. "Yeah, silly! I can't go ahead and work out in my street clothes, can I? They'd get all sweaty and gross!"

"Uh…y-yeah…o-of course." Midoriya pointed in a direction. "You can either use my room or the bathroom…they're just down the hall."

"I'll come with you." Asui croaked, rising from her seat to grab her own bag. "Let's use Midoriya-chan's room. I'll bet you ¥500 that it's completely full of All Might stuff."

Uraraka snorted. "Do you think I'm stupid? There's no way I'm taking that bet."

"Uraraka-san…is changing in my room." Midoriya muttered, his face was lit up with a fiery blush. "She's taking her clothes off where I sleep every night…how is this a thing that's happening?"

Allen snorted and slapped Midoriya on the back. "Easy there," he joked, "Don't you go all Mineta on me now."

"You take that back right now." Midoriya flatly demanded. "Don't even joke about that."

"Damn." Allen blinked. "I thought you and Mineta were friends."

"We are…sort of," Midoriya admitted, "you don't go through something like the USJ together without forming a bond, but he's still…you know…" He trailed off awkwardly. "How do I put this…?"

"He's still Mineta?"

"…Yeah." Midoriya said, looking slightly ashamed. "I know what it feels like to be ostracized and treated like a pariah, so I don't want to do the same thing to him, but the way he acts is just…"

"We're done!" Now wearing a black tank top and sweatpants, Uraraka practically skipped into the sitting room with Asui in tow. "You two hurry up and get changed!" She giggled. "Your room definitely did not disappoint, Deku-kun! I've never seen so much All Might merchandise!"

"Haha…" Midoriya laughed nervously, "yeah. I've got a lot of it, all right. I—"

"Don't care!" Allen grabbed Midoriya by the shoulders and steered him towards his room. "Let's move!"

xxx

SEMPER FAST

xxx

"Ladies," Allen cheered, "welcome to Dagoba beach! I hope the jog here got you nice and warmed up, because it's time to have some fun!"

"There sure are a lot of couples here." Asui remarked, staring at the dozens of people strolling hand-in-hand along the glittering shoreline.

"Yeah," Allen agreed, pulling a couple of orange cones and a frisbee out of his bag, "it's a really popular dating spot now, but a little under a year ago, this place was a literal dump—I'm talking huge, towering mounds of trash—until someone" Allen shot Midoriya a grin, "went and cleaned it up on his own."

Uraraka looked at Midoriya with surprise. "Deku-kun? Is that true?"

"Allen!" Midoriya hissed. "That's supposed to be a secret!"

"Why?" Asui asked, tilting her head in confusion. "Isn't this a good thing? Is there some reason you need keep it a secret?"

"N-no, no reason." Midoriya stammered, waving his hands back and forth. "I just…um…"

Allen scoffed. "He thinks that acknowledging his accomplishments would make him an arrogant, peacocking braggart like Bakugo—"

"Or you." Asui quipped.

"—or me…wait." Allen glared at Asui. "Smartass." He grumbled as Uraraka and Midoriya chuckled.

"I didn't do it for recognition or because I wanted to be praised." Midoriya said, looking uncomfortable but playing along with Allen's explanation. "I'm better at using it now, but I've had…um, quirk issues, my whole life, so I didn't know if I could even be a hero. Heroism is about community service at heart, and this was just…it was something that I could do, even without a quirk I could use."

Uraraka had a beaming grin on her face as she stared at Midoriya with sparkling eyes. "Wow, that's so cool!"

"I-It's nothing much…" Midoriya awkwardly deflected the praise.

"Okay, enough chit-chat!" Allen interjected, "We're burning daylight here! The game is called Ultimate Frisbee, and the rules are simple! No running with the frisbee, no interfering with the passer, and you score when you get the frisbee past the line!" Allen pressed two cones into Midoriya's hands. "Go set up these about fifty meters down there. The field will be about ten meters wide."

"Ooh! That sounds like fun!" Uraraka cheered, "I wanna be on Deku-kun's team!"

"That's good," Allen grinned, "because those were going to be the teams anyways."

"So, what makes this "ultimate" frisbee, exactly?" Asui asked.

Allen frowned. "Oh shit…that's right, this is Japan."

"You're just figuring that out now?" Asui snarked.

"Damn Tsu-chan," Allen laughed, "You're spicy today. Well, this is an American sport, so normally we'd be allowed to use our quirks to play, but we can't really do that here. We'll just have to play regular frisbee instead."

Midoriya's eyes lit up. "That sounds amazing!"

Allen raised an eyebrow. "Regular frisbee? I mean…it's still fun, but I wouldn't call it amazing."

Midoriya shook his head, "No, the American version! I'd bet we could get permission from the teachers to use a field on campus, and then we could organize a game with the whole class!"

Allen looked thoughtful. "Say, that's not a bad idea…we might even be able to put together a match against Class 1-B. I didn't really get a chance to meet any of them during the Sports Festival, so it would be a good chance to get to know the other people in our grade."

Midoriya's eyes gleamed. "And a perfect chance to see their quirks!"

"Uh, yeah…" Allen agreed, "that too, I guess. Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who starts with the frisbee?"

"Sounds good," Midoriya agreed, "as long as you don't use your quirk to cheat again."

"What? I'm offended that you would even suggest such a thing!" Allen scoffed, "The gall, sir! The sheer, unmitigated gall! I would never even dream of—"

"Allen." Midoriya interrupted, "You aren't fooling anyone."

"Okay, you got me." Allen grinned and held out his fist. "You ready to do this?"

Midoriya nodded and extended his own fist.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot!"

xxx

SEMPER FAST

xxx

"It's over!" Allen cheered, "The worst is finally over!" Ashido and Kaminari let out cheers of their own, sharing in the delight of having survived exam hell.

"Did you hear what the practical is going to be?" Kaminari grinned.

"Nah," Allen shook his head, "This past week has been nothing but nonstop cramming with these two slave drivers!" Allen pointed at Asui and Midoriya.

"You're welcome." The two slave drivers dryly said in unison.

"I'm actually pretty excited to get my grade back." Uraraka said, "I've never felt so good about handing a test in before! Deku-kun is a really good teacher!"

"Same with Yaomomo!" Ashido said, "I doubt I did all that great, but it's only thanks to her that I think I survived!"

"So, what's the deal with the practical?" Allen inquired. "I thought that we weren't going to get any info on that until the day of the test itself."

Kaminari grinned, "We heard from one of our senpai that it's going to be robots, like in the entrance exam!"

"Super easy!" Ashido cheered, "Summer camp here we come!"

Allen frowned. "Really?" He asked skeptically, "They're just going to throw the same obstacles at us that we could beat before we even got any hero training? That seems kind of…uninspired."

The grins fell off Ashido and Kaminari's faces at Allen's sensible words.

"I hate to admit it." Bakugo said, "But the idiot has a point—putting us up against those weak ass robots would be stupid as hell. I could break those shitty things all day, how the fuck is that supposed to test us?" He grinned. "I wanna fight the teachers."

"Why would you say that? Why did you say that? Don't you jinx us on this!" Ashido cried, grabbing Bakugo by the shoulders and shaking him. "I need this camping trip! I want hot springs, and camp food, and bonfires! I wanna go on a test of courage!"

"Let me go, Raccoon Eyes." Bakugo growled. "Before I make you."

"Come on man…" Kaminari was also sweating nervously. "Don't say crazy stuff like that. We can't take on the teachers, they'll crush us."

"Crush you, maybe." Bakugo scoffed. "I'll just keep doing what I've been doing since I got here—I'll win, no matter who I'm up against."

AN: I'm going to admit, this chapter was downright relaxing for me to write. No major plot points to cover, no major planning required, just playing in the sandbox and letting the characters do their thing. I am a believer in advancing the plot, so there won't be a whole lot of pure fluff like this, but I do think it's fun on occasion. As always, let me know what you think with a review. PLUS ULTRA!