#serosetsu

“That’s right! We’re gonna show Class 1-A who’s boss this time!” Neito crowed, jumping up in his seat with a maniacal laugh. The bus driver sharply barked at him to sit down, so Neito sheepishly sank down into the seat with a slight blush. He then leaned into the aisle between the bus seats, his smug grin already returning to his lips. “They won’t think they’re such hot stuff by the end of the week!” 

“Neito, stop being mean!” Pony scolded. Neito recoiled when Pony bopped him on the top of his head with the flat of her palm; he shrunk into the bus seat with a hiss, cradling his scalp with pouty lips. “We are doing survival training! We do not need to be fighting with the other class!” 

“We don’t need them,” Neito grumbled, but he clamped his lips shut tight when Pony raised her hand threateningly. Setsuna smiled wanly and then looked back to the window. She rested her temple against the glass, which made her head vibrate with the trundling of the bus. Her eyes were lidded as she watched tree after tree after tree pass by, shrouded in shadow as the sun lay hidden behind a thick veil of white-gray clouds. The anxiety bubbled up inside of her once more, but this time, it had nothing to do with villains. 

The image of a black-haired boy with a sunny smile bloomed in her mind, and it instantly brought a heat to her cheeks. She covered her face with a hand as the blush spread, hoping that no one would notice her uncomfortably wiggling in the seat. The boy prancing in her mind was none other than Hanta Sero, a member of Class 1-A— and Setsuna’s crush. 

I should use this as an opportunity to talk to him, she thought with a bashful smile. The thought made her stomach swirl with both apprehension and excitement. She’d battled with her crush for several months, but with everything going on, she just hadn’t had a good opportunity to confess her feelings for him. Additionally, it was always nerve-wracking, trying to confess that you like someone. What if Hanta didn’t feel the same way? She’d hate to make things awkward. 

The bus rolled over a large bump, making Setsuna jump in the seat and jerking her out of her thoughts. She looked over the edge of the seat to find that the bus was now rolling to a stop alongside another bus, which was parked in a circular gravel lot. From her seat, she could see the gap in the treeline that marked the entrance to the hiking trail on which they would essentially be living for the next week. The Class 1-A students milled about the lot, chatting amicably to one another. Setsuna spotted Hanta conversing with his best friend, Denki, and her heart stuttered in her chest. 

She’d always thought his smile was so beautiful, so full of light and life. It was almost so brilliant that she felt like it would burn her like the sun; she’d burst into flames and wither away to smithereens. Yet, like a moth to a deadly flame, she found herself craving it anyway. 

Setsuna found herself sneaking glances at Hanta while she plunked off the bus and walked around to the back to retrieve her hiking gear. While she pulled the backpack and rolled-up tent onto her shoulders, she watched him laugh loudly at something funny Denki had said. He had a wonderful laugh, too, so full of cheer. A dreamy smile bloomed on her lips as she watched him tip back his head in good-natured guffaws. 

She jumped violently when someone slapped their hand down on her shoulder, and she turned to see Itsuka giving her a grin that just screamed “up to no good.” 

“So, Setsuna… Are you going to tell him?” the redhead asked with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows. 

“Wh-what?” Setsuna spluttered, her cheeks reddening to the shade of apples. “I-I don’t think that this is the best time; a-after all, we’re here for training…” Itsuka only raised her eyebrows with a smirk, making Setsuna’s blush deepen. Before Itsuka could say something else to antagonize her, Setsuna scurried away— and ran right into Hanta. 

“Whoa!” he cried when she wobbled back on unsteady feet, and his hands slapped to her hips in an instinctual effort to steady her. Setsuna flushed at the feeling of his hands wrapping securely around her middle, long fingers digging slightly into her paravertebral muscles. He flashed her that damn smile that made her feel fluttery and faint. “You okay, Setsuna? Sorry, I didn’t mean to step right in your way.” 

“I-I’m fine, thank you,” she stammered, looking down to hide the blush creeping up from her neck. She heard Hanta say something, but the nervous buzzing in her ear prevented her from hearing it. It was then that Vlad King and Eraserhead announced that their survival training was about to begin, so she tried to listen to the pertinent information despite the blood pumping in her ears. Hanta continued to stand right next to her, which didn’t help her poor, pounding heart. 

They would be hiking the trail, which meandered through the mountains to total up to four days of living in the wilderness. The teachers would supervise them from the shadows, so it was up to the students to work together to build camps, procure food and firewood, and deal with any obstacles that arose. The teachers didn’t exactly say, but Setsuna surmised that there were planned hiccups they would encounter and have to overcome. The teachers gave them leave to begin hiking the trail once they finished their briefing, so Setsuna wrapped her hands around the straps of her backpack and began walking towards the gap in the trees. 

“Hey, Setsuna! Would you like to walk with us?” Hanta offered, trotting up with Denki. Setsuna felt her cheeks betray her despite her effort not to blush. “This is all about working together, so we thought it would be a good idea to hang out with someone from Class 1-B, yanno? And you’re a cool girl.” It was an innocuous compliment, but it still set Setsuna’s heart pounding against her ribcage. She didn’t recall it, but apparently she must have agreed because Hanta chirped “Awesome!” and she found herself walking up the needle-strewn trail between the two boys. 

“So, Setsuna, have you ever been hiking before?” Hanta asked her. Trying to control the pink heat trying to flood her cheeks, she swallowed thickly before shaking her head. 

“Have you?” 

“I went when I was little,” he explained, “but I didn’t enjoy it very much. I ate myself sick on hot dogs so I spent the whole day in the tent with a stomach ache!” Setsuna laughed, mostly because Hanta’s giggles were infectious— but she could also imagine him scarfing down a pack or two of hot dogs and ending up sick because of it. She was surprised he was talking to her rather than Denki, but she looked to her right to find that the boy had trotted up to talk animatedly to Kyoka. She was alone with Hanta, she realized with both elation and horror. 

She tried to focus on the atmosphere of the woods rather than her crush walking beside her. It was early in the morning, about eight or nine, so the air was still pleasantly cool. However, it was muggier under the canopy of pine needles, moisture clinging to the oxygen-rich air. The smell of detritus, loamy air, and pine spice clung in the air. Amidst the pine needles and pine cones crunching underneath their tennis shoes, birdsong echoed through the forest, bouncing off the trunks in high-pitched harmonies. Despite her arm tingling every time Hanta’s arm brushed against hers, the tranquility of the pine woods did calm her considerably. 

That calmness didn’t last very long, unfortunately, as it was shattered by a blood-curdling scream. 

They all snapped their heads to the front of the trail where the scream had come from. The invisible girl from Class 1-A scrambled down a slight incline, pack bouncing on her back and nearly hyperventilating with fear. She collided with the one Setsuna remembered as Ochako; the brunette grabbed her with an alarmed gasp, but the invisible girl was blubbering nonsense. It didn’t take them long to discover what had frightened her so. 

A large Asiatic black bear lumbered to the top of the incline, grunting and snapping its powerful jaws. 

They all froze, holding their collective breath. Asiatic black bears were nocturnal, so it was strange to see one wandering about at this hour; plus, they were not normally aggressive. It was early spring, so it could be that there were cubs around that they could not see, and they’d angered the mother bear this way. Because there were so many of them, the bear was probably even more on edge. It paced at the top of the incline, letting out guttural growls while it stamped the pine needles under its large, clawed paws. 

Hanta edged in front of Setsuna, holding an arm protectively in front of her. She felt her heart thump at the gesture, despite the dangerous circumstances. He looked so ferally handsome, too— his jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed, his normally friendly visage taking on a ferocity that had her blood singing. 

They released a collective gasp when the bear reared up on its hind paws and released a threatening roar. Without warning, it then slammed down on again to charge down the path. Tetsutetsu and Eijirou surged forward, hardening their skins with their Quirks, to slam into the furious bear on either side and stop its massive bulk in its tracks. 

“Get out of here!” Tetsutetsu growled while he dug his muscular arms into the bear’s furry mass, trying to keep the several-hundred-pound animal away from the group. Sparks danced over his metallic skin when the bear swiped at him with wicked-sharp claws. The students wasted no time in following his lead, scattering off the path to put distance between themselves and the large animal. As Setsuna prepared to run, she heard the two boys exclaim in shock and looked back to the path. 

The bear had broken free and was charging straight at her. 

Her legs locked, knees shaking despite her best attempt to get them to move. She could only stare as the world seemed to slow. She could see the spittle dripping from the bear’s jaws as it split its maw into an angry yowl, the pine needles snapping underneath its powerful paws, its muscles rippling beneath its thick black fur. Blood roared in her ears and adrenaline pumped through her veins, but even as she screamed at herself to move, she just couldn’t. 

Hanta grabbed her roughly by the arm and spun her around, finally unlocking her muscles. They lost their balance as they spun on the detritus and stumbled into the undergrowth. The thick tangle of brambles and bushes had concealed a large slope, so they could only cry out as they tumbled over the precipice. They rolled head-over-heels down the slippery, needle-strewn incline— down, down, down hundreds of feet until they barreled over a bank and went crashing into the surging river hugging the bottom of the mountain. 

Setsuna’s scream was swallowed by the bubbling water. She slapped at the water, fighting her way to the surface. When she broke the top of the water, she sucked in greedy gulps of air and tossed her sodden green-black hair from her face before looking around wildly. 

“Hanta?!” All she could see was the frothing white rapids and the jagged rocks poking out of the swirling currents. The water pushed her further down the river even as she fought to stay in place, tossing her around like a rag doll. The water soaked into her pack, making it seem like the weight of the world on her back. She had to find a rock to crawl onto or abandon the pack, lest it drag her under. 

Finally, though, it seemed she had some luck; when she glanced behind her, she saw a large, flat-topped rock rapidly approaching behind her. Setsuna braced herself for the impact, but it didn’t stop all the air surging out of her lungs when she crashed into the stone. The water splashed up into her face, making her sputter while she tried to clamber up the slick stone. Somehow, she managed to climb up the rock, dragging her heavy, sodden pack with her. She slipped out of it, leaving it to leak water all over the stone, but she couldn’t rest yet. She crawled to the edge of the rock, panting heavily, and screamed out over the river again, “Hanta!” 

She nearly fainted with relief when she heard his voice echoing above the crashing water. 

“Setsuna?!” 

She searched the frothing white river rapids until she spotted him several yards away, clinging to a small rock. When he noticed her, he pushed away from it to half-swim, half-flounder to her considerably larger perch. He’d lost his own pack in the chaos, so Setsuna grabbed him by the back of his soaked tee-shirt to help haul him up. He collapsed on his back beside her, shirt slicked to his chest which rose and fell with ragged breaths. 

“Thanks,” he grunted between pants. “Man… Some hike, huh?” he then said with a sleepy smile. Setsuna had to laugh at his attempt to be humorous despite their dismal situation. They were trapped in the middle of a white-water river, down one pack of supplies and soaked to the bone. It was certainly a way to start survival training. 

Setsuna pulled her dripping bangs away from her face as she squinted out at the frothing water. They certainly didn’t have the strength right then to attempt to swim, so for the time being, they’d be stuck on this rock unless some of their comrades happened upon them. That meant they would be exposed to the elements. The rock was too hard to attempt to pitch their tent to shield them from the sun, which was growing in intensity with each passing moment. Setsuna crawled over to her pack to rifle through the drenched pockets, pulling out a bottle of sunscreen. 

“We should set our clothes out to dry,” Setsuna said when Hanta eased himself up into a sitting position. “We wouldn’t want to catch a cold…” Her voice was small, and she hid her face by looking down at her pack to hide the blush creeping onto her cheeks. Even with their situation, it was embarrassing, thinking about getting down to her underwear with Hanta. Worse, the boy seemed to have no qualms about it, because she could hear him wiggling out of his wet clothes behind her. He set his tee-shirt and cargo pants down on a sunny part of the rock with a wet slap, and then shifted behind her. 

“I, um… I won’t look, if you’re embarrassed,” he said quietly. Setsuna smiled at his consideration for her feelings. We really don’t have the luxury of being embarrassed right now, she decided as she reached around to begin pulling her shirt over her head. 

“No, um, it’s okay… I know you’re not, um… you know…” 

“A pervert?” Hanta laughed, making her snort in laughter, too. It was amazing, how his light-hearted demeanor was making this scary situation seem so mundane. She stripped down to her undergarments and draped her clothes next to Hanta’s, then turned around on her knees while opening the bottle of sunscreen. She felt him staring at her, which made her hand shake while she held the squeeze bottle. 

“We may be out here in the sun for quite a while,” she said, squirting a healthy amount of the thick, white cream into her palm before handing it to Hanta. She coated all her exposed skin with the sunscreen until reaching around to try and paw at her back. She blushed when Hanta shuffled forward, nodding meaningfully with his hand smeared in sunscreen, and then turned to present her back to him. Hanta’s touch was gentle as he coated her back in the cream, and she tried not to squirm as sparks ignited under her skin with each brush of his hand over her back. She did the same for him, and then they sat side-by-side on the rock with the water rushing around them. 

Setsuna hugged her knees and rested her chin on top of them while she stared out at the raging water. 

“Hanta… Thank you. You saved me.” She didn’t look at him, but she could see out of the corners of her eyes that he looked at her in surprise. Shame colored her cheeks now, and she let her sodden hair slip down over her eyes as she quietly continued, “I don’t know what came over me… What kind of aspiring hero freezes up like that? I’m an embarrassment…” 

“Hey, now,” Hanta interjected. He scooted closer to her, leg brushing against hers. She felt him experimentally slip his arm around her waist, and when she didn’t pull away (why would she?), he tightened his grip to hug her against his side. “Setsuna, you’re not an embarrassment. It’s one thing to face villains. It’s another thing to face a huge black bear! Sometimes you can’t help how you respond to a situation.” 

She peered out of her hair to see him smiling kindly at her. Her cheeks grew hotter when he gently pushed her hair away from her face, leaving her quivering eyes bare for him to behold. “The best thing about heroes is that they always have someone watching their back when times get tough.” 

Setsuna sniffed, gratitude flooding through her body. She melted against him; he was so warm, so comforting, that it made the chill of the water slowly dwindle away. Hanta encouragingly rubbed the small of her back with his hand as she whimpered a gentle “thank you” and then rested the side of his head against hers. The water splashed at their toes, little bubbles of white froth flung up by the swirling, sloshing rapids. She played with her own fingers as she sat there next to him, enjoying the sun warming her back and Hanta’s body heat blooming against her side. 

“You know… I was scared before the trip, too.” 

“Yeah?” 

“I couldn’t help thinking about what happened last summer,” she admitted quietly. “I know things are different now, but… I still have nightmares about it, sometimes.” Hanta was silent for a moment, and that made her mind race. Was he going to make fun of her? Call her silly?

“I do, too,” he said in a faraway sigh, and she looked at him in surprise. His eyebrows were pinched together as he gazed out at the river. “I have nightmares about a lot of things. I’m sure all heroes do,” he smiled wanly and looked back at her. “They see a lot of scary things, after all.” 

“How do you think they deal with them?” 

Hanta’s smile widened, and there was a twinkle that appeared in his eyes that made her heart thump. He stuck out the tip of his tongue to wet his lips, then dropped his gaze to hers. She couldn’t even process what was happening as he shuffled a little closer to her, bringing his eyes back up to bore into hers. They were like shining onyxes, obsidian from the depths of a volcano, burning so hot she felt like she would ignite right there. She could feel the heat searing under her skin as he slowly slid his hand up her back, traveling the length of her spine until he came to the back of her neck. Her eyes fluttered closed of their own accord when he leaned in. 

She felt fireworks exploding within her when his lips brushed over hers. They were softer than she would have imagined, and did she smell orange chapstick? He smoothed his mouth over hers like it belonged there, and to Setsuna, it sure felt like it did. She pawed at his thigh, desperate to ground herself in some way lest she float away from the light, bubbly happiness welling up inside of her. He kissed her once, twice, three times before pulling away with an impish grin. 

“By thinking about the people they love,” he answered in a husky whisper. Setsuna’s eyes flooded with tears, though she wasn’t quite sure why. Hanta didn’t begrudge her for that, only swiped them away with the pad of his thumb with a small chuckle. 

“That’s a hell of a way to ask a girl out,” she managed after a few seconds, once her throat had stopped clenching. Hanta laughed at that, slinging his arm loosely around her shoulders to continue holding her close. 

“But it worked, didn’t it?” he sneered while nosing into her half-dried hair. Setsuna just hummed in response, then picked up his hand to begin winding her fingers around his. They both looked to the bank when they heard crashing through the undergrowth and their peers calling their names— but they didn’t respond right away. They made a silent agreement to just sit there together for a few more seconds, enjoying one another’s presence and touch. That was the best way to chase away the nightmares, after all, and sooner or later the watchful night would close in on them both… But now, Setsuna had a sun to shine down on her at all times, she thought as that beautiful grin illuminated Hanta’s face. She pressed a light kiss to the corner of his mouth, as if she could absorb that brilliant light for herself. Because there were many scary things in the world, and they needed love to keep them at bay.