Chapter 38: Movie Night

------Author's Note------

Omg look at this picture guys!! ^^ I just wanna pinch their cheeks they're so cute!! Anyways, as you can see from the picture and song, the movies they're watching are the High School Musical trilogy!!

There were however a lot of comments about movies circling around heroes (Big Hero 6, Sky High, The Incredibles, MCU movies). I've taken note of these for when Class 1-A will be having movie nights in the dorms cause I'm sure everyone would wanna see them.

Okay but this past week, I've been on a crazy writing spree and I CANNOT WAIT to post all that I have written. I'm sure you guys will love it!

Thank you guys so much for all the support this story has gotten! I really can't believe it! As always, be sure to comment and vote if you enjoyed. It always makes my day!

Anyways, allow the Dekusquad/Bakusquad movie night craziness to ensue...

•°•°•°•

After school on Friday, I run home as fast as I can, changing from my uniform into some pale, cuffed jeans, a black t-shirt, and an open flannel. I gather the three High School Musical movies and put them into a grocery bag along with a giant bag of marshmallows, a mega pack of Hershey's bars, and a box of graham crackers. It still astounds me that s'mores are predominantly a North American thing. I used to eat them all the time back home, so it's bizarre to me that most people here have never tried them. I figure that I should introduce my friends to that as well. 

I throw on my converse and run to the station. My feet anxiously tap on the ground as I wait for my train. I hear the telltale whispers of people recognizing me from my performance. A couple young girls ask for a photo with me. Of course I agree, but I really don't know how to interact with fans. I should've just ran all the way there, I think to myself. Who cares that it's all the way across town?

Nevertheless, I wait for the train, but rush immediately off it and run to the Fujino house the moment the doors open. My feet pound the pavement as I run the familiar route. As soon as I get to their house, I run through the gate to the backyard and tackle Reina into a hug. 

"AUGH!" She cries from the impact, but she quickly turns around to wrap her arms around me. "KOTO I WAS SO WORRIED! ARE YOU OKAY?!?"

We pull away so I can sign, "Yeah, all good. Shoulder is all fixed up!"

She takes an exaggerated deep breath and says, "okay, now I can chill."

"I'm just upset they wouldn't let you visit in the hospital."

"Me too, but you're here now and we're gonna have fun!"

I smile and drop my bag on the blanket behind the projector. I notice Reina has her guitar there as well. She must be wanting to sing some campfire songs. 

"Oh, I won by the way," she says, placing her hands on her hips triumphantly. I cock my head to the side, but the sound of the back door opening catches my attention. 

"Hey hey!" Sayuri chirps as she runs down the stairs, pulling a man behind her. Oh, it must've been eight days this time. "This is Eito! I met him at work!"

The young navy haired man smiles down at me, offering me his hand which I shake. "Nice to meet you," he says in a quiet voice. I notice his attractiveness is about on par with the rest of Sayuri's usual guys, though his timid voice catches me by surprise. 

She entwines her fingers with his and pats his arm. "He's just a little shy in large groups. Meeting so many people tonight is making him nervous."

"Well what do you expect?" Reina pipes up, pulling lawn chairs out of the shed and setting them up. "You've been dating him for just over a week and you bring him to meet your family and a bunch of random kids you don't even know?"

"Hey, it's movie night! Everyone's invited!"

"Yeah, yeah," my friend mumbles, pulling out a few inflatables. "Koto, can I get your help over here?"

I illuse, "it was nice to meet you," to Eito before walking over to Reina. 

On movie nights where there are more people coming, instead of just blankets and lawn chairs, we usually have to supplement with some inner tubes. Usually people don't complain. They're surprisingly comfortable to sit and watch a movie in. 

I grab the giant swan tube and attach the air pump to it to blow it up while Reina inflates a giant pizza slice. By the time we're done, the yard is littered with tons of seating for everyone. I glance around, but don't see anybody else. 

Reina seems to understand before I can even question it. "The twins are in The Garage and everybody else is working on dinner. Ochaco's running late, as usual."

"I'm right here," said girl exclaims, running through the back gate with her arms full of popcorn and mochi ice cream. "Gotta put this in the freezer!" She drops the popcorn on the table they've set up and runs inside. 

"We should probably help with the food anyway," Reina says, walking towards the house. "People are gonna be here soon."

I nod and follow after her, checking my phone. I have already sent everyone the address and have received a few texts from people saying they're on their way. My body is ringing with excitement. And nerves. 

It's the first time we're having a hangout with so many people from our class. Sure, the Bakusquad has hangouts all the time, but this feels a little different. There's going to be even more people. It's not our entire class, but it's still two whole cliques. Not to mention they're opposing cliques. 

I can only hope Bakugo doesn't decide to attack Midoriya or Todoroki. 

I grab a few platters and bring them outside. Just as I set them down, Eito comes out with a couple more plates. 

"So you're a UA hero course student, right?" He asks quietly. I nod, taking one of the platters from him and arranging it on the table. "That must be fun. I bet you guys are busy all the time, though. Finals must be coming up, huh?"

"Yeah," I illuse. "They've got us working pretty hard in preparation."

"I'm sure they're going to want you to keep training over break. Are they holding anything like a workshop or something?"

He's asking a lot of questions. I get that he's a psychologist and is probably used to asking questions to get to know people, but I don't want to give him too much information. We aren't supposed to tell anyone about the camp except our parents or guardians for legal reasons. 

"Apparently they've got something planned, but they won't tell us any of the details. They usually don't. Security reasons of course," I respond, looking him calmly in the eyes. I know that if I looked away, he could tell I was lying. 

"Ah, well." He gives me a small smile. "It's good they're putting the safety of their students first."

I nod, smiling back. I guess I was worrying about nothing. 

"I should go get more food," he says, walking back inside. 

I'm about to follow when I hear a voice calling out from the side yard, "KOTO?!? OCHACO?!? Are you back here?!?"

"Yeah, over here, Mina," I illuse, going down the stairs to greet her. She walks into the backyard with Kaminari and Sero, eyes wide. 

"Woah!!" Sero exclaims, looking around at the lights strung, the murals on The Garage, and everything we've set up. 

"This place is lit!" Kaminari says, jumping up and down. 

"Dibs!" Mina shouts, flinging herself onto the swan floatie. 

"Bet!" Kaminari adds, jumping on next to her. 

Sero climbs on beside them. "Room for one more?"

The inflatable looks so small underneath them, but they're somehow making it work. Mina tosses me her phone and flicks her cat-eye sunglasses over her eyes. "Take our picture!"

Kaminari grabs the sunglasses off her face and puts them on, sending me a cheeky grin as I navigate her phone to find the camera. I snap a few pictures before Mina sees the angel wings mural on The Garage. 

"OHMIGOSH," she exclaims, scrambling off the floatie. "I NEED A PICTURE!!" She stands in front of the large white wings, hooking her thumbs on her belt loops and smiling. I get a few pictures of her here too. 

"This place is amazing," Sero says, reclining on the inflatable swan. 

"Agreed," Mina says, climbing back into her seat. "Hey where's Kiri and Ducky?"

Kaminari checks his phone. "Kirishima said they're on their way. Bakugo took a bit of convincing."

"He just needs to accept that he's legally obligated to hangout with his squad," Mina says, stretching out. 

"I don't get why he's so crabby all the time," Sero muses. "It's like he's never had friends before."

"I wouldn't be surprised with that atrocious personality of his," Kaminari adds. 

Guilt blooms in my stomach. It's sad that they can't see he's trying. "Hey, let's not talk about him behind his back, kay?"

"Oh, c'mon Koto," Mina rolls her eyes. "Even if we said it to his face, he wouldn't care."

I'm not too sure about that…

"Besides," Sero chips in, "when's the last time he's said anything nice to any of us?"

"Who're we talking abo-woah," a voice comes from the gate. We all turn to see Midoriya, Iida, and Todoroki walking in with wide eyes. 

"Yo, Midoriya," Kaminari calls to get the boy's attention. "You knew Bakugo since you were kids, right?"

"Uhh…yeah. Why?"

"We were just wondering what his friends were like. He did have friends, right?" 

Midoriya gives a half smile, half grimace and scratches the back of his neck. "W-well…" Kaminari sends me a smug look as the boy trails off. "I guess the other bullies sorta flocked to Kacchan. They figured 'if you can't beat him, join him,' ya know? There were th-these two that he was always hanging around, but I don't know if he actually considered them friends."

Kaminari opens his mouth to respond, but he's cut off by Reina and Ochaco coming outside. 

"Oh, hey guys!" Ochaco chirps. She puts some plates down and starts introductions while I go back inside. 

In the kitchen, I only see Ruri and Yasu. "Hey, where's everyone else?" I illuse. 

Ruri sighs, "well, Kayda's upstairs doing a project. Sayuri took her boy toy up to 'find more blankets.' I'm choosing to ignore them right now. And the twins are in The Garage."

She puts down her pan and wipes her hands on her apron. "As a matter of fact, Yuta is about to accidentally drop a steel frame on Uka. I'll be right back." 

"I'll come with you," Yasu runs after her as she rushes outside. "Can you take the rest of those outside? Thanks."

The door closes slowly behind them, long enough that I can hear the metallic twang of the frame hitting the ground and a loud scream. I cringe, but turn around to grab the plates. I jump when I notice I'm not alone. 

"Hey," Todoroki says calmly, as if he didn't just give me a heart attack. He points to the plates. "Do you need help?"

"Sure, that'd be great. Thanks," I respond, picking up the pan that Ruri had abandoned. I transfer the food into a serving tray and ask him about something that's been on my mind lately. "Hey, are you okay? You've been acting a little different all week."

He pauses for a moment before answering, "I've just been thinking, I guess."

"Anything in particular?"

"You said your mentor had you cook for yourself. He said every hero should know how to cook. Do you think he's right?"

Is that really what's bugging him? Does he not know how to cook? I guess he's never needed to since his father has cooks for their house. 

"I mean, I've been cooking forever, so I don't really know how I could live without it."

"I think I should learn," he says, leaning up against a counter. I cock my head at him, insinuating that he should elaborate. "I can't rely on other people to cook for me forever. And my father shouldn't be the only hero I take advice from. I can't say he's the best influence. He thinks heroes are above having normal skills. I didn't realize it was something to worry about until you mentioned it.

"I guess that makes sense," I respond, picking up a plate. I notice he stays in place, eyebrows furrowed at the ground. "Do you want me to teach you?" I ask, not daring to hope. 

He bites his bottom lip, looks at me out of the tops of his eyes, and nods. I have to focus to keep my eyes on his own as his simple action distracts me from everything else. "Please?"

"Yeah, I can do that," I illuse, taking a step towards him. I don't know entirely what I'm doing, or why, but I'm too entranced with the relieved look on his face to care. 

"Koto!" Ruri calls out, opening the door. I snap out of my trance with a red face and look over to see her walking in, holding a bloody cloth to Uka's forehead. He's clutching his elbow, but appears calm. "Can you get the first aid kit?"

I run over to the closet and grab the well-worn white box with a red cross on it and rush it back out. I notice Todoroki has taken the plates outside and left us alone. Ruri gives me a tight-lipped smile as I hand her the box. I get the sneaking feeling that she came in when she did on purpose.  

"I was about to do something embarrassing, wasn't I?" I illuse, taking away the bloody rag. 

"Maybe just a little," she says with a grimace. 

I sigh, my face heating up. "Well thanks for stopping me."

She begins treating Uka's cut. Thankfully, it doesn't look too deep. "No problem. It's gonna be a long night. I didn't want you to be too humiliated the whole time."

"Well, thanks again." I look over at Uka to see him still holding his elbow. "Are you gonna be okay? What happened there?"

He groans as Ruri cleans the cut. "When I stood up, I hit my funny bone. It's fine."

"You should get back out there," Ruri says. "More people are here and I think someone's waiting for you," she continues with a smirk. 

Is Todoroki waiting for me to come back out? Does Reina need my help with something?

Confused, I walk through the door to see that Kirishima and Bakugo have joined the rest of the group on the lawn. I look between them, still not understanding Ruri's message when a pink face pops out of nowhere. 

"BOO!" Mina shouts in my face. I jump about a foot in the air, heart racing. I can hear people laughing from the lawn as I close my eyes and put a hand on my chest, trying to calm my erratic heartbeat. 

"Mina! What the hell?" I illuse, calming down a little bit. She flashes me a pearly smile and grabs my wrist to drag me back to the group. 

I groan and follow her. I notice Midoriya is still talking with the squad while Bakugo sulks on the side. Todoroki and Iida are talking with Ochaco and Reina. 

"Is everyone here?" Mina chirps. I look around and nod. 

"So what're we watching?" Kaminari rolls off the swan floatie and looks up at me. "You've been hyping it up all week!"

"High School Musical!!" Ochaco exclaims. 

Bakugo scoffs, "sounds lame. Is this really what you got these losers excited for?"

"Aww c'mon man," Kirishima says, slinging an arm over the explosive boy's shoulders. "If they like it, why not give it a chance?"

"Cause it sounds fuckin' stupid."

I watch Reina roll her eyes. She had said it was okay for us to invite Bakugo as long as she didn't have to deal with him. "Let's get some food now so we can start the movie."

"Sounds good to me!" Sero cheers.

I walk over to the projector as everyone else makes their way to the food. I pop in the first disk and look up at The Garage. The screen hasn't been set up yet, so I go over to open the door and peek my head inside. 

Yuta is busy at a drafting table, looking over plans for their next project. I knock on the door and he glances back at me. I give him a small wave and he runs over. 

"Glad to see you're okay," he says as he tackles me into a hug. He may try to put up a front that he's the cool brother, but he's a huge softie. "Do you need me to get the screen?" 

"Nah, I can do it," I illuse. "You better go get some food and make sure your brother's alright."

He just waves me off. "Enh, he'll be fine. It's not the first time I dropped that thing on him."

I smirk and narrow my eyes. "That's not a good thing." I ruffle his hair and he crinkles his nose at me. "Go on, I'll be out in a minute."

"Alrighty," he goes back to the table to adjust his papers. "Just don't fall again. Ochaco isn't here to catch you this time." He sends me a devilish smirk, but I can tell he's concerned. 

"Relax, I'll be fine." I tug on a cord to lower the ladder leading to the loft. I climb up to be met with a beautiful space mural. 

This wasn't here last time. Has Kayda been painting again?

I take a moment to admire her art before crouching down and flipping open the thin metal hatch on the wall. I slide the rolled up screen along the tracks until it sits outside and then press the button on the side. A faint buzz fills the air as the screen unrolls, stretching to the ground. I pop my head out of the porthole to check that it is extending fully. 

"Ey!" Kaminari calls out. I look over to see him pointing to me from the food table. Everyone else turns to see where he's pointing. I send them a peace sign. 

"Could this place get any cooler?!?" Mina squeals. I just smile and head back inside, pulling the window shut. 

I take the ladder very carefully, being sure that my foot is securely on each rung before transferring my weight. Let's just say I have a slight problem when it comes to ladders. As well coordinated as I normally am, ladders are always a wild card for me. When I reach the ground, I head outside, leaving the ladder in position, knowing someone will have to go back up afterwards anyway. 

I grab a paper plate and pile a bit of food on, taking a pair of chopsticks. When I walk back to the yard, I see Bakugo approach Kirishima who sits on a chaise lounge. 

"Off," he growls, pointing at a small inflatable in between the chair and the swan that Mina, Kaminari, and Sero are once again piled onto. Kirishima groans, but moves to the inner tube. 

"That's so unmanly," he says as I pass by them. I pat him on the shoulder and go over to my own seat. 

Three blankets cover the ground behind the projector. Ochaco and Reina take the middle one and Midoriya and Iida have the one on the right. I place my food on the leftmost one, next to Reina and in front of the Bakusquad, and go to align the projector. 

When the outline matches the screen, I turn to see if everyone's ready. Sure enough, they're eating their food happily and waiting on me, so I press play and settle onto my blanket. The rest of Reina's siblings have also joined us. Just as I sit down, I hear some footsteps behind me. I look up to see Todoroki standing over me. 

"Mind if I sit here?" He asks quietly, gesturing to the spot next to me. My heartbeat becomes rapid as I gesture for him to sit. I look back to the screen to hide my blush. 

Calm down, Koto! 

I will my heartbeat to slow, but it doesn't really work. To help calm myself, I take a glance over at Ochaco as the opening credits show. 

She's sitting cross legged next to Midoriya who is slouched over his food. They keep glancing at each other when they think the other one isn't looking. Out of pure chance, they happen to look at each other at the same time. Their faces both bloom into bright blushes and they mumble quiet apologies to each other as they look away. 

They're so cute.

Ochaco meets my eyes and her blush darkens upon realizing I just witnessed their awkward exchange. I just wink at her and she sticks her tongue out in retaliation. I smirk and turn back to the movie, trying to ignore the presence of the boy next to me. 

The moment the dialogue starts, I'm brought right back to my childhood. I sigh in contentment when they show Zac Efron which causes Reina to elbow me and snicker. Her and Ochaco had coerced my childhood crush on him out of me a while back and they still won't let it go. 

They sing along to the songs while I hum under my breath. I turn around every now and then to see the Bakusquad grooving along with the obvious exception of Bakugo. I can hear him scoffing occasionally, but I try to not pay attention to him. Everyone else seems to be enjoying it, so who cares what he thinks?

•°•°•°•

As the credits of the first movie are rolling, I turn around to see Mina and Kaminari trying to learn the We're All In This Together dance and Bakugo has already stood up to get more food. 

"So in America," Sero speaks up, shoving popcorn into his mouth, "do schools not have uniforms?"

"Only in private schools," I illuse. "If you go to a public school, you can wear whatever you want. 'Within reason,'" I make finger quotes. "You're technically not allowed to wear anything with guns, alcohol, or anything too revealing, but nobody listens to that rule."

"Insanity," Kaminari exclaims as he sits back down. 

"What's the point of having those rules if everyone breaks them?" Iida asks, incredulously.

"Because it's more of a struggle to argue with the people that break them than to just let them be," I explain. "It's pretty impossible to argue with an American over their right to free speech. And the administration's argument against revealing clothes is that they're too distracting, but it proves to be more of a distraction trying to argue with them."

"So don't try to argue with an American?" Midoriya asks apprehensively.

"Exactly," I illuse, putting the next disk into the projector. "The school year is also really different than it is here. We would get a couple weeks off in between semesters in the winter and then three months off for summer break."

"THREE MONTHS!?!" They all exclaim except for Ochaco and the Fujinos. They know all about my American schooling from what I've told them. 

I just nod and stand to get a drink. "And that's why summer vacation is such a big deal. The next movie happens over summer." I pull open the cooler to grab a lemonade. I notice they also have strawberry Fanta buried in the ice. I look back over to my blanket to see Todoroki still sitting there. I internally debate whether or not to bring him one. 

Well, I know he likes it, but is that too much? I mean it's not like I'm bringing anyone else anything. Maybe I can just let him know it's over here if he wants it?

Jeez is there anything with this boy that I WON'T overthink?

I sigh and walk back to the blanket. "There's strawberry Fanta in the cooler," I illuse quietly as I sit. 

His lips form an 'o' shape and I see intrigue in his eyes. He stands and walks hastily towards the deck. 

I sigh as the rest of my friends grab more food and settle down for the second movie. I find my mind wandering back to what happened in the kitchen. Ruri had stopped me before even I knew what I was doing. 

Would I have just hugged him? Was I going to trip? How embarrassing was it going to be that she felt the need to step in? God forbid I was going to kiss him. I would've combusted from embarrassment. 

My face heats up just at the thought. 

Does that mean whatever I did he wasn't okay with? Stupid stupid body for walking towards him! Why did he have to bite his lip like that? Of course he wasn't doing that on purpose, but why is everything he does so damn attractive?

I look up to the sky and take deep breaths. Focus on the movie. Everything's chill right now. I can freak out later. 

I wait for everyone to sit down again, watching in amusement as Todoroki pours lemonade and Fanta into a red solo cup and keeps tasting it, then adding more. 

Seeming to sense my stare, he says, "it needs to be the correct ratio," without even glancing at me. A wide smile spreads across my face. 

Why bother with what I was going to do? Especially when we're sitting here as friends and everything is going so well. This stupid crush would just ruin our friendship. I'm sure it'll go away soon anyway. Then, we can get to just being regular friends. 

When I don't respond to him, he looks up, taking in my smile. "What?" 

"Oh nothing," I illuse. "Isn't the ratio just 50:50?"

He shakes his head, holding up the drink in his hands. "It's more of a 38:62."

My eyes flick over to the drink, confused as to the numbers, but when I look back to Todoroki, he's wearing an easy smile. Well I'll be damned. He just made a joke.

I click my tongue. "Sass," I illuse, clenching my jaw to try to hold back a smile. Ultimately, it fails when I see his lips stretching back into a toothy grin. 

"But no," he says, looking back down into the cup and pouring more Fanta, "there needs to be just enough lemonade to taste, but with a predominantly strawberry flavor."

"Mkay," I illuse while patting him on the shoulder. "If you like it, I'm not questioning it."

He nods and takes a sip. "Perfect," he mumbles. 

I smile at him and lean forward to hit play on the projector.