Chapter Text
What does a girl have to do to obtain a wonderflonium diode?
Every website she searched had it out of stock. She had even tried to request it directly from manufacturers through UA, but every company contacted said it would take at least two months to create one. She didn’t have two whole months; she needed her baby ready to present for the student expo at the end of this month!
She scrambled through the workshop, trying to finagle a possible replacement, but there was no other material that could withstand the currents she was working with. She would’ve spent the entire day searching for a solution, but Power Loader kicked her out of the workshop for lunch, with claims that eating with all the grease and whatnot was “unsanitary” or something. Mei sort of stopped listening after she realized the argument was one of the few Power Loader wasn’t going to back down from today.
So she was in the cafeteria, scarfing down a quick bowl of rice, when she happened to overhear an intriguing conversation behind her.
“…So she can make anything.”
Anything?
“If I had that quirk, I’d just be making money every day.”
Mei hopped out of her seat, practically pouncing on the table behind her. “Who are you talking about?”
The two boys at the table startled. One of them with cat ears was one of her classmates, but her brain was too deadset on her wonderflonium diode to waste resources trying to recall his name. The other one, a wide-shouldered kid with a nervous expression was the one who had been speaking. “Uh…?”
“The person who can make anything?” Mei repeated.
Her classmate told her, “We were talking about Yaoyorozu, the girl from class 1-A. Her quirk lets her make anything.”
“Interesting.” Mei licked her lips. “Does that mean she could make a wonderflonium diode?”
Her classmate sighed, while the other dude shrugged. The other dude glanced at his friend, but responded, “Probably? I don’t know exactly how her quirk works, but a friend of mine said she made a canon once, so she can make complex things.”
Mei clapped her hands together. “We should take her to the support class! She could make all of us the things we need-”
“No!” Cat-ears responded quickly, “Mei, she’s like, a person with a life. She’s not a 3D printer for us to use.”
“It couldn’t hurt to ask-”
“Yeah it could, it’s rude,” Cat-ears insisted, “Please do not go to 1-A and ask her to make stuff for you. She’s gonna think all the 1-H support students are rude people who want to take advantage of her quirk.”
Mei frowned. “You don’t think she’d use it for others?”
The other dude at the table shrugged. “I mean, I bet she’d use it for her friends and stuff, but we’re just strangers to her.”
Mei hummed, thinking. Plotting.
“You understand?” Cat-ears asked with narrowed eyes, “You’re not going to go harass her to make something for one of your inventions, right?”
The plot was already taking shape. “I understand.”
If Yaoyorozu would only make things for her friends, all Mei had to do was become her friend. Easy-peasy!
The plan was set into motion at lunch the next day.
“Hi!”
Yaoyorozu, at a table with a few others, looked up at her with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. “Huh?”
“I’m Mei Hatsume! Can I sit with you?”
She blinked at her, but scooted to the side to make space, “Sure?”
The others around the table, some dude with a burn scar on his face and a school uniform without a body in it, didn’t comment as Mei settled into a seat. They introduced themselves as Shouto Todoroki and Tooru Hagakure.
“I’m-” Yaoyorozu started.
“I know who you are!” Mei informed her, “Momo Yaoyorozu!”
“Er, yes.” She shifted in her seat. “…Pardon me, I’m always happy to meet someone new, but I’m curious if there is a reason you decided to join us today?”
The ‘How-to-make-friends’ guide she had looked up yesterday said that complimenting someone was a surefire way to get them to like you. “I think you’re gorgeous!”
“Oh.” Yaoyorozu’s brow crinkled. “Thank you.”
The conversation lulled. Had Mei said the wrong thing? The guide said one should be as sincere as possible, so perhaps Yaoyorozu suspected she was not being sincere. “You have fantastic symmetry, both facial and body. Your eyes shine like well-used oil. Your hairstyle is very dynamic-”
“Y-you don’t need to go into detail,” Yaoyorozu told her, a little red-faced, while waving her hands, “Thank you for your kind words, but it’s quite alright.”
Hmm. So compliments weren’t working? Or did it work and now they’re friends? Mei didn’t know exactly how to tell, so she figured she should maintain her friendship-building behaviors until Yaoyorozu declared her a friend. The guide said to ask about the person’s day. “Tell me about your day.”
“It’s been… okay? We had training this morning.” Yaoyorozu glanced to the others at the table.
Hagakure jumped in, “Yes! It was great, Momo did a great job with the rescue portion…”
The three of them continued talking. It was a bit hard to concentrate on their small talk, but Mei at least tried to zone in whenever she heard Yaoyorozu’s name. It was hard to focus though, when Mei had a project waiting at the workshop. Normally she would’ve rushed through a meal and gone right back to her project (or, if she could sneak it past Power Loader, she’d snack on granola bars without ever leaving), but to fully “bond” with this girl she decided she would spend the whole lunch period in the cafeteria. She hoped it was working, especially since her brain couldn’t stop thinking about how much time she was losing on her project by spending the whole lunch here.
“Hatsume?”
“Huh?” She focused back on the conversation.
“We’re talking about favorite foods. What’s yours?”
Food was food. Whatever fuels her. But if she had to choose… “Chocolate.”
Momo hummed. “I’m pretty fond of it too. My favorite, though? Chocolate cake for sure.”
The conversation carried on, this time Mei tried again to pay attention and had a little success.
After the third day of sitting with Yaoyorozu and her friends, (she had new ones some days, so it was hard to keep track), Cat-ears, or rather Kyo (she eventually remembered his name) confronted her in class.
“Are you harassing that class 1-A girl?” He asked.
Mei blinked at him. Her classmates didn’t usually start conversations with her. “Huh?”
“I saw you eating lunch with her. Are you trying to convince her to make parts for your inventions?”
“Yes!”
He groaned. “Hatsume, you’re probably annoying her, you should stop.”
Mei frowned. “Did she tell you I’m annoying? Because she’s been letting me sit with her everyday, which doesn’t seem like something someone would do if someone was being annoying.”
“No, but most people would be annoyed by your behavior. She’s probably just letting you sit with her because she’s being nice, not because she actually likes you.”
He returned to his desk, leaving Mei to think.
She didn’t think about it often, but based on the track record of her life she was usually wrong when it came to social interactions. The obvious solution to that issue so far in her life had been to just not bother with friends and such; so long as she had her babies she didn’t need other people. For the sake of her babies, though, she needed to become friends with this girl. And she wasn’t confident in her own ability to identify if Yaoyorozu was annoyed or not.
So when she was leaving the school building and saw Yaoyorozu also making her way outside, flanked by a few classmates, she decided to strike.
She squeezed her way between the tall dude with many arms and Yaoyorozu, grabbing her hand. “Can we talk?”
“Uh, sure?” She responded, glancing at her friends.
The friends shrugged and carried on. Mei pulled Yaoyorozu to the side of the walkway, so they wouldn’t be interrupted by people walking past.
Mei didn’t think she was annoying her, but Kyo suspected she was. She couldn’t trust herself, but she also wasn’t sure whether to trust Kyo or not. There was a masterful way to determine the truth: “Do I annoy you?”
Yaoyorozu frowned as she processed the question. “What? No, of course not.”
“Are you just being nice?”
“No-” Yaoyorozu paused. “…Maybe?”
“I would rather you be truthful than nice,” Mei clarified, “Am I annoying you?”
It was hard for Mei to tell what people really meant if they didn’t say it. She could handle rejection and all sorts of negative things, but she couldn’t parse what a person really wanted if they dressed it up in subtle kind language. She’d rather have a blunt truth than a gentle lie.
Yaoyorozu bit her lip. “…You’re not annoying, exactly, more like confusing.”
“Confusing?”
“You suddenly started talking to me and joining me for lunch, but I’d never even met you before,” Yaoyorozu shifted from one foot to the other, “I do love getting to know people, and I appreciate your effort, but I’m confused by the suddenness and the amount of attention you’re devoting to me.”
Mei smiled. Yaoyorozu was being honest, Mei could be honest too. “Oh, it’s simple!”
“It is?”
“I want your body!”
Yaoyorozu stared at her, mouth open. For some reason her eyes darted up and down Mei’s figure, and she took a step back. “M-my body? For what?”
“I want to experiment with it,” Mei told her, dreaming of the many different specialized parts she could produce if Yaoyorozu’s quirk was capable.
“I-” Yaoyorozu coughed, face getting redder, “I’ve never received such a- a bold confession before.”
“Well get used to it!” Mei grabbed both of Yaoyorozu’s hands, pulling them together as she looked into her eyes. “I want you!”
Yaoyorozu made a squeaking sound and pulled her hands away. “…You said experiment?”
“Yes! I want to see what your body is capable of!”
Yaoyorozu frowned. “So you’re not interested in something serious?”
“No, I’m serious!” Mei told her sternly, “I want to make babies with you!”
The many useful, marketable babies she could create with a human 3D printer had her practically salivating.
“You want to-?” Yaoyorozu gasped, turning away so all Mei could see was her bright red ears. “That is very serious!”
Mei walked around so she could see Yaoyorozu’s face again.
Yaoyorozu took a deep breath, eyes closed. “This is a lot to take in.”
“I know it’s better to start by being friends, though, so that’s what I’m trying to do!”
Yaoyorozu opened her eyes, but she seemed to be staring into the distance. “Friends?”
“Yes!”
She took another deep breath. “I… Like I said, I don’t really know you that well, yet. I can’t respond to your feelings properly without getting to know you…”
Feelings?
“Not that you’re not-” Yaoyorozu looked her up and down again, “I mean, you’re lovely, I’m not trying to say you’re not… Aesthetically, or visually, or…” She coughed. “…But again, we’ve barely talked… So perhaps… Yes…”
Mei could identify a mind racing like her own, so she waited patiently for Yaoyorozu to mumble through her thought process.
Yaoyorozu met Mei’s eyes. “You’re okay with just being friends for now?”
“I’d love to be friends!” Mei exclaimed.
Yaoyorozu smiled, and Mei felt a little bit like she did when two pieces she designed fit perfectly together on the first try.
“Okay,” Yaoyorozu had stopped shifting on her feet, “Let’s start with being friends.”
Perfect.
It sounded like Yaoyorozu wanted to take things one step at a time, but Mei could wait. There were other things she could work on before the wonderflonium diode, and so long as she got the materials before the student expo, she could spend some time convincing Yaoyorozu she was a friend worthy of using her quirk.
She was also starting to enjoy the time with Yaoyorozu on its own merits. She even felt a little disappointed when Yaoyorozu left, waving as she went back to her dorm. Mei wasn’t a big conversationalist, but her conversations with Yaoyorozu… She was honest, it felt kind of nice to talk things out for once, instead of just giving up on communication first thing.