Chapter Text
You clutch your steering wheel as the front of your car starts to spin, losing track quickly from the ice on the mountain road. You had been going camping to celebrate graduating from university with a teacher’s degree. You had gone by yourself because everyone bailed on you at the last moment or just shrugged you off when you offered. It was supposed to be clear weather but you’d found yourself within the middle of an awful snowstorm… in the middle of summer.
The front of your car jerked right as you tried to force it left and for a moment everything flashed by your eyes, your parents’ faces, your friends smiles- the way they looked when they told you they weren’t coming-, your graduation, childhood, sitting by yourself in your apartment, all of it. The front of the car tipped over the side of the mountain cliff, rocking back and forth. Your breath caught in your chest as it levelled and you were calm for a moment.
However, the moment was fleeting as the ground dropped out from under you and you dropped down the mountain cliff into the valley below.
If you had to recall how long you fell for, you wouldn’t be able to accurately tell. You had no clue, as it felt as if time stood still and sped up at the same time. One moment you were in the air and the next you felt your head collide with the steering wheel before the airbags could deploy and your world went black.
Your head hurts like someone was pounding it against the concrete repeatedly. There was a dull orange glow behind your eyelids and a warmth that wrapped around your body. If you had the strength to move your arms, you would. However, they were heavy, just like your eyes were.
This was the fourth time you’d woken up. The first, the world had been cold and you had been shivering uncontrollably. The second you had felt something hard pressed against you and the wind whipping around you, probably the storm reaching the valley. The third you had this warmth around you.
It was bizarre. Going from cold to heat in what felt like a matter of minutes, but was probably hours- even days.
“Are they awake yet?” a voice whispered sharply, catching your attention and adding to your headache. It wasn’t too far away from you, a bit growly and raspy, honestly a little frightening.
“Relax, I told you I’d tell you when they were awake- why do you care so much anyway?” a second voice replied, higher pitched and more… chirpy, still with that same growl to its edges. This one was much higher, causing you to let out an involuntary whimper from how it hurt to hear.
A silence was quick to cover the room as the sounds of footsteps demanded to be the only thing that could be heard.
“You woke them up,” the first voice hissed, now much closer.
“Maybe if you didn’t constantly come to check on them, it wouldn’t have happened,” the second voice accused.
“Just go watch the brood, I’m sure that Toshi’ probably has his hands full,” the first voice hissed as a cold palm pressed against your forehead, taking great care to not rest its fingers down.
There was a huff, but the second voice didn’t reply. The most you head was the clicking across the floor of something as he left.
That left you alone with the first voice, in a new place that was very clearly not a hospital. You were trying to rack your brain as strength started to come back to you slowly. After a brief moment, the person moved around the room and something was placed across your forehead. It felt like a cold rag but smelt strongly of sage and lemon.
It helped immensely to bring the strength back to your body. As the person settled down somewhere nearby, you gingerly opened your eyes. Your headache was nearly gone, which was good as your eyes were blown wide at the sight around you.
It was something out of a fairytale! Odd trinkets hanging from the roof or stored on wooden shelves, a massive fireplace made of stone, the lower walls made from stacked stone with the upper walls made from wood panels. You were sitting in a large, plush conversation pit made of at least a hundred blankets. The couch was much larger than you were, something the size of a dinosaur could sleep comfortably on the couch that stretched most of the room. Perhaps even two dinosaurs if they were extremely close. The blankets were massive as well, but the softest things you’d ever felt. You found yourself snuggling closer to them, pulling them closer until you realized they were getting harder to tug as if weighted down.
Your eyes traced down to the source of the weight only to be met with a sight that forced you to gulp and realize how dry your throat was. Sitting on one of the blankets, staring quietly at you was a very large, raven-haired- man? He looked human apart from the pointed ears on the sides of his head, and the two sets of horns, two small ones in the front and two much larger ones that curved backwards sitting on the tops of his head. He had bags around his eyes, and his hair went down just a little past his shoulders.
“Oh, sorry am I sitting on it?” he asked slowly, an apologetic tone that showed small pointed teeth as he shifted to allow you the blanket you were after. As he shifted, you noticed a large black tail covered in obsidian scales that matched his horns and hair. It was nearly as tall as he was!
You knew you were blushing, you could feel it on your face as you pulled the blanket free and curled it around yourself. You were surprised to find that the cold cloth on your forehead had disappeared, leaving you awake and energetic enough to curl up under the blanket pile you’d formed within the massive pile of blankets.
It was quite a long moment of awkward silence before the man reached across to you, his hand out wide and tiny claws instead of nails.
“Ah, I’m being rude- I’m Aizawa Shouta.”
“Y-Y/L/N Y/F/N,” you managed to stutter out, shaking his hand. He seemed oblivious to your obvious fluster, simply nodding and taking his hand back.
“That’s a nice name, it suits you,” he mumbles as he tips over and lays out in the mess of blankets as well. Still staying a considerable amount away from you. “You don’t mind if I nap? ‘Don’t get much sleep around here.”
“Yeah go ahead, I don’t mind,” you whisper, your throat still a little bit dry as you look around for something to drink.
“Ah-” he gets up for a moment, walking over to a small table and returning with a sculpted glass mug full of water, “Here. This should help.”
You watch him for a moment before taking the glass from him. The water felt like magic against your throat as you downed nearly all of it in one go, handing it back to him. He just walked back to the table and refilled it, setting it down on a flat surface within your reach.
“In case you need more,” he shrugs before going back to his original spot in front of the fire.
“Thank- thank you,” you whisper quietly after a small pause, your throat starting to feel much better thanks to finally having water. How long had you been out?
“Of course. I’d suggest you get some rest before Hizashi tells-”
“The other voice?”
“Yeah, he was in here earlier. I sent him to help Toshi’ with the young ones. He might tell one or two of them on accident that you woke up.”
“Young ones? Who- why would they? I’m sorry I don’t understand…”
Shouta looks at you for a moment, an eyebrow raised on his exhausted-looking features as he takes a small moment.
“You really aren’t from here, are you?” he quietly asks, a small bit of sorrow sneaking into his voice for some reason.
“I don’t even know where here is,” you admit defeatedly, resting your head on your knees.
“Guess it wasn’t just coincidence then- we found you near a car wreck, one of those ones that humans make must’ve been caught up in the protection spells placed around these mountains. Whoever was driving must’ve hit you when-”
“I was driving.”
He blinks for a moment, staring into you with creased eyebrows and a frown on his lips.
“And you can see me…?”
“Why wouldn’t I be able to see you?”
“Because you’re a human, and the only time humans can see dragons is when they’re fated mates with a dragon. That only ever happens once every few thousand years because it’s hard to find-”
“Wait hold on. Dragons? Fated Mates? I- I’m sorry but are you feeling okay? Am I dead? Is this Heaven? Dragons aren’t real, they’re just fairytales.”
He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose as he sits up.
“Dragons are real because I am one. If they weren’t real you would still be in the snow. Fated mates, they’re like what you humans call soulmates in a way. I’m fine, just tired like always, and now you’re not dead.”
“But I’m really warm, it could just be hyperthermia and-”
“You’re not dead.”
“Prove it.”
“If you were dead you wouldn’t feel pain. You had a headache before, correct?”
You open your mouth to respond, only to close it again. He was right… no pain means death… so that meant… you were alive. That he was really a dragon and there was, more of them? Not to mention this fated mates thing.
“So you’re a dragon, then who else is a-” you start to ask only for the massive double wooden doors to swing open on the same wall as the fireplace and a boy with spiky red hair and horns, and another boy with forest green hair and a slim tail barge in.
“Mister Yamada told us that they were awake!” the green-haired one explained with a smile.
“Yeah, what gives Mister Aizawa? You can’t give them a tour? It’s been an hour, that’s not very manly!” the red-haired boy chimed in.
Shouta groaned, walking over to the two young dragons with crossed arms.
“What have I told you two about barging into my lair when I’m trying to rest?”
“But you weren’t-!”
“I was trying to have some sleep, and so was our guest. Do I have to get your mother down here Midoryian?”
“She’s worried too! She saw them when we brought them in and sent us to go check!”
“Well they need to rest, they were in the frozen snow.”
Throughout the arguing you’d shifted around in your blankets, coming to find you were dressed in a very loose-fitting white t-shirt and black sweatpants that were definitely not yours. If you had been in a different situation you would’ve let your mind wander about the stranger you had just met an hour ago, however, right now you had an argument to stop. With a few adjustments, you’d gotten up and walked over in time to break up the argument before it got any worse. You blamed some sort of teacher’s instinct, something like that.
“I’m sure I can have a small tour? I can rest right after?” you mumble, a small yawn escaping your lips as you stand next to Shouta, rubbing your eyes.
Shouta sighs, walking over to grab one of the smaller blankets from the mess and wrapping it around his shoulders. Standing next to all three of them, even the young ones towered over you with an unnatural height. It would’ve been unnerving had you not just experienced death. Shouta came back to stand next to you once again, looking grumpily at the two boys.
“Well, I’m Midoriya Izuku, and this is Kirishima Eijiruo,” the green-haired boy said with a wide smile as both held out their hands so you could shake them.
“Y/L/N Y/F/N, it’s nice to meet you- although it’s a little new to me.”
“I bet, nearly dying can be strange to everyone,” Eijiruo says with a smile, “So you ready for the grand tour?”
“Of course-”
“Nothing too big, don’t push the effects of my healing magic. I’m not the best at it,” Shouta grumbles next to you.
“Of course Sensai, but they have to at least see the kitchen-!”
“And the living room-!”
“And meet the others!”
Shouta shook his head but said nothing as Eijiruo and Izuku lead you out of the room with him following after you. They lead you down a big hallway, pointing out a few doors that lead to other rooms. You noted down all the names in your head, but they were ones you’d heard already- Hizashi, and Toshinori. You assumed from the way they were spoken about that they held the same status as Shouta.
The boys stopped when translucent silk curtains came into view with beads draped down from the ceiling with them.
“Past here is the living room and kitchen-”
“You’re going to love it, it’s so cool!”