Chapter 1: New Dream
Summary:
Things finally start to go Izuku's way.
Notes:
Hi everyone, I hope you enjoy my canon-divergent take on Izuku and Mei's UA experience. Chapter count is approximate. Expect a much lower-stakes world in this story. AFO is dead and gone which means no USJ incident.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 1: New Dream
Whether or not they know the actual word, four year old children have a concept of destiny. It's usually ill-informed, but it's there. Four year old Midoriya Izuku knew that he was destined to be a hero. Unfortunately poor little Izuku's destiny went off the rails and stayed off them for rather longer than he or his mother would have preferred.
First, he was diagnosed as quirkless in kindergarten. Then he had to watch all of his friends develop cool and interesting quirks. Then he had to stop calling them friends because they stopped treating him like one. His father left. It would unfortunately take him entirely too long to understand that that one wasn't a loss worth grieving. The bullying continued until his first year of middle school when his mother transferred him to a technology-focused magnet school.
That was the first good thing that Izuku could remember happening to him. It had the dual effect of separating him from his tormentors and giving him a fresh start in an environment that aligned with his new goal: Izuku was going to make things that helped the greatest heroes.
If he couldn't save people with a powerful quirk of his own then he would engineer ways to save the people who saved people. From the utilitarian perspective he even had a chance of helping more people than the average hero did if his support equipment was good enough. And if he was honest with himself about his general anxiety, life in a lab or a workshop would probably agree with him more than a life of danger anyway.
Throughout middle school Izuku kept his head down, shied away from others, and tried to prepare himself for his new dream: the UA support course. He joined his new school's competitive robotics team and made a name for himself as the best programmer in the league, though the team-oriented nature of the competitions and his fear of the spotlight kept his name out of the public eye.
When the time came, Izuku took the UA entrance exam and, as was tradition for the support course, submitted source code and a video demonstrating his best personal project. It was a modified drone that could follow a person and alert them if they were being tailed or approached. It could also discreetly describe the menacing presence to its owner using text to speech if it was paired to an app on the owner's phone. Izuku hoped to develop the concept further if he got accepted.
All of the days he spent waiting for an answer blurred together as he hoped and prayed that he wouldn't have to find a new calling again. He was older and wiser now but he didn't think it would hurt any less, and there were precious few other paths that would put him anywhere near the heroes he so admired. He had applied to the business course as well but he considered it to be a last resort.
Weeks later the Midoriya household received a letter bearing UA's logo in the mail. Izuku could not bring himself to open it and begged his mother to do it for him. Both of them sat at the dining table with preemptive tears in their eyes as Inko took a deep breath and began to read aloud.
"On behalf of the UA Support Department, I am pleased to report that we accept yoUR APPLICATION-" she shrieked. For a time she got no further as both mother and son screamed incoherently with euphoria and relief. They would have been able to resume reading sooner if Izuku had not leapt across the table to grab at the letter and landed on it hard enough to snap one of the table's legs, injuring his hand as he rode the doomed piece of furniture to the floor.
Even as he cradled his smashed hand, Izuku's tears were joyful. The universe had extracted its payment for his new fortune and he could say with total certainty that he'd come out ahead.
His hand was almost completely recovered by the time classes started. But even if it hadn't been, building new limbs was probably just a regular day at UA.
Izuku was positively vibrating with excitement. He was in his brand new homeroom on his first day of high school at the institution with the best support program in the whole country, but all of that was taking a back seat to the fact that his teacher was Power Loader. An actual pro hero was his homeroom teacher. The Excavation Hero Power Loader rarely did much actual hero work - his quirk was more of a niche item for underground rescues and the odd subterranean villain battle - but the fact that a real pro hero was going to see Izuku's designs right off the bat was both exhilarating and terrifying. He could only hope that he remembered to call the man Maijima-sensei instead of Power Loader-sensei.
"Hello, everyone. I am Maijima Higari, though one or two of you might know me as the pro hero Power Loader. I don't end up in the news much but that's OK by me - I'd rather be here making stuff anyway. Pro tip: if you don't like being on TV, just refuse to wear a shirt." He tapped the side of his excavator-themed helmet a couple of times. "I've been dodging interviews that way for years."
Reactions to this statement were varied. Izuku thought he heard a muffled snort or two and definitely saw some looks of confusion. Regardless of how people felt about it, it seemed to be an effective strategy - he was a self-admitted hero geek and he couldn't remember ever seeing an interview with Power Loader.
"Anyway, we've got a busy semester ahead of us and I know most of you are itching to get to work, but we're going to start with shop safety." There were scattered groans and a general slumping of shoulders throughout the room, but Power Loader did not seem surprised or deterred by them. "And yes, there will be a quiz." he sternly continued, "The only way you get to use equipment at UA is by getting 100% on any relevant safety exams."
Izuku silently nodded along - he guessed that many of the other students had more experience than him and might have believed that they didn't need the safety lectures, but he needed all the help he could get. He noticed a girl with pink hair at an adjacent table pouting slightly at the news.
The rest of the morning was spent learning how to use hand tools and power tools without maiming anyone. Maijima-sensei would start by introducing a tool, demonstrating safe usage, and asking the class how a novice was likely to use it wrong. While many of the other students offered answers and the occasional harrowing personal experience, Izuku stayed quiet and attempted to soak up as much as he could. He wasn't worried about the quiz - he had always been a good test taker - but he knew he was behind his peers on the use of tools. All he had at home was a screwdriver kit and a hobby grade 3D printer. He knew that he couldn't make anything that a hero would bring into the field with those alone.
At lunch time Izuku failed to prevent himself from holding up the line in the cafeteria when he came face to face with the pro hero Lunch Rush. He had a small set of questions that he'd settled on which he thought could be answered quickly, but he had underestimated the speed at which the lunch line moved. He'd probably embarrassed himself a bit but he consoled himself with the knowledge that he had three years at UA to run into him again. Maybe he could continue their conversation in installments.
He had just sat down among some of his classmates (taking care to put himself at the empty end of the table) when he noticed the girl with the pink hair entering the cafeteria looking frustrated. Even more curiously, he noticed Maijima-sensei a few steps behind her, looking just as frustrated as she did. The hero paused near the doorway and gestured toward the room at large. The girl seemed to huff with indignation and then sag slightly as she looked for the end of the food line and joined it. Just before she grabbed a tray she looked back at the entrance to find Maijima still there, arms crossed, giving her what seemed to be a stern or pointed look (it was hard to tell with the helmet).
Is she in trouble for something already? Izuku wondered. He watched as the perturbed girl grabbed a couple items of food (possibly at random) and turned to survey the lunch room, likely trying to figure out where to sit. The other people from his class were still engrossed in conversation and did not seem to have noticed her. While he was normally hesitant to socialize with others he felt a sense of responsibility to spare the girl from eating with strangers if she didn't want to. Izuku tentatively put his hand up to wave to the girl, just in case she wanted to eat with her class.
The girl caught sight of Izuku's hand and swiftly made her way toward him. He noted with concern that she did not smile as she approached or sat down. She still seemed upset and he hoped that she wouldn't take her anger out on him, especially since his day seemed to be going so well. "How long is lunch?" the girl inquired without looking at the green-haired boy. Instead she was craning her neck to see the doorway which Maijima seemed to have vacated.
"Um, I think he said it was 40 minutes."
The girl cast a forlorn look at her watch, which Izuku noticed was nearly 2 centimeters thick. It looked positively enormous on her average-sized wrist. When she put her arm down and poked listlessly at her food he was able to examine the watch's face, which led to his own face lighting up in excitement. "Is that a nixie watch?"
"Hm? Oh," the girl said, looking up at him, "yeah, I made it a couple years ago."
"Wow," Izuku breathed, "it's really cool! I've never seen one in person before."
Finally the girl seemed to have something to smile about. As she looked up to wave the compliment off he noticed that her eyes were a brilliant yellow with some kind of crosshair pattern. "Pff, that's nothing! This was one of my first babies. I've made much cuter things since then!" she boasted, pulling a sticker-covered notebook out of her bag. Izuku caught a brief glimpse of the stickers and recognized some of them as symbols and slogans of the open source and right to repair movements. He was pretty sure he also saw a sticker with a swear word and a stylized depiction of a hand being mangled in machinery. "And I'd be able to make even cuter babies if he would just let me use the damn workshop already." she grumbled.
"Oh, is that why Maijima-sensei was looking at you when you came in?"
"All I was doing was trying to turn the metal printer on!" she huffed, "I wasn't going to try to use it yet. I just wanted to figure out which alloys it can print. I told him I obviously know safety because I'm still alive, and he said 'we do not apply the anthropic principle to shop safety' and told me I couldn't play with tools until I passed the safety quiz." she complained, flipping through pages roughly. "I wasn't playing." she mumbled petulantly.
Izuku smiled. The metal printer was one of the few tools he was somewhat qualified to discuss. "I think he has to treat everyone the same, even if he can tell that you're smart enough not to hurt anyone."
The girl pursed her lips and seemed to consider this. "Hmm. Maybe."
"I don't know much about metals, but I think that printer is popular and open enough that you can find slicer and material profiles for it pretty easily."
"Oh, you've seen it before?" Her mood seemed to improve in an instant.
"I think so, or maybe one of its sister models from the same company. I'm really hoping it works with Slick4r since I'm already used to it."
"Is that one open source?" she inquired with a hint of suspicion.
"Yeah," Izuku reported with a smile. "That's half the reason it's my favorite."
The girl gave him a look of appraisal. "I like you." she declared, then offered her hand. "Hatsume Mei."
Izuku blushed and took the proffered hand. "Midoriya Izuku. So what kind of things have you made?"
The conversation that followed was so engrossing that their food went untouched. At first Izuku was afraid to eat when Hatsume wasn't eating, and when the bell rang Izuku feared he would look foolish in front of her if he tried to eat quickly. Thankfully that fear was quickly put to rest when Hatsume's panic-eating far outstripped his own.
They rushed back to class together, still excitedly discussing their past and future creations.
The safety lectures continued until mid-afternoon at which point the first safety quiz was administered. Apparently no one failed. At the end of the day Maijima-sensei had even more good news to share.
"Tomorrow, you're going to spend your morning homeroom figuring out what you'd like to make this week. Even though you've passed the quiz I'm not turning you loose completely - that was just a general overview. For your first project you can use any tools you've already practiced with and up to one tool that you haven't used before. If you want to make something that's too far out of your wheelhouse then you might want to think about teaming up with somebody who knows things you don't."
Izuku reflexively glanced at Hatsume and was startled to find her looking back at him. He found it hard to imagine there was much he knew that she didn't but he was delighted to know that she saw him as someone competent. He flashed her a quick smile which she returned before she began flipping through her notebook, likely in search of a candidate for her first project of the semester.
"Starting tomorrow you'll also have your regular classes. I believe Tuesday and Thursday will be Japanese and Math while Wednesday will be English and Chemistry - that'll be Mondays as well starting next week. Fridays will be Support Concepts days here, but this week I'm letting you have it as a work day. So, plan accordingly."
That night Inko was full of questions about Izuku's first day at UA. Who was his teacher? Did he see any heroes? What did he learn? What was the campus like?
Questions about his classmates were conspicuously absent, and Izuku correctly assumed that his mother didn't want to pressure him about making friends. She knew it was difficult and that experience had taught him to be very cautious about other people.
She was surprised that he had a pro hero for a teacher, even in the support course. She was equally surprised to hear that the man never wore a shirt, but she conceded that it took all sorts to make a world. When Izuku further explained that serial shirtlessness was Power Loader's strategy for dodging media appearances she tittered appreciatively. Anyone who was either that humble or that sarcastic would probably be a decent role model for her boy.
The following morning Izuku found that the class had sorted itself into three groups of people: those who had ideas and were pitching them, those who were offering their skills (or simply hitching their proverbial wagons to likely stars), and those who were keeping to themselves. Hatsume seemed to be in the last group, staring fondly at her notebook while making the occasional scribble. Having seen her notes during lunch the previous day he knew that she had plenty of options and was curious to know whether she had settled on something. He grabbed his own notebook and made his way to her desk.
"Have you decided what you're going to make?" Izuku inquired.
"I'm going to do the brass knuckles for Mt. Lady if he'll let me." the pink-haired girl replied, tracing the drawing with her finger.
"Wow, I bet that's bigger than anything the rest of the class will make."
Hatsume smirked and hummed an affirmation. The glint of determination in her eye suggested that she really wanted to make an impression in her first week. "What about you?"
Izuku frowned, looking at his own notebook with disappointment. "I'm not sure. I don't know if I can make anything really good by the end of the week. I've been dreaming of making something new without some dumb league telling me what parts to use, but now I'm not sure where to start, especially with the deadline." he mused. "I could just iterate on my surveillance drone again but that seems like it'll be boring and basic compared to what other people might do. I could work with someone else to learn new things but I might not be useful enough for anyone to want me on their team."
Hatsume perked up at his last statement. "I wouldn't call a machine that can react and communicate 'basic,' but you could work with me. I'll probably need some CAD and printing done for the knuckles, depending on how fast the printer is. And you could learn some welding." she added, nudging his shoulder and flashing him a wide grin.
Izuku flushed and smiled. "Really? That sounds good to me." He clenched his fists and met her gaze with a look of determination. "I'll definitely do my best to help if Maijima-sensei approves it."
"Good. Do you think the CAD part will be really hard?"
"Probably harder than anything I've done so far, but it should be doable. I think the challenge is actually storage, because the knuckles have to be sized for her giant form. There's no way to make them collapse or scale with her and still be useful, because…" he trailed off and pensively made some stretching gestures in the air. "No, the geometry just makes that impossible. So yeah, it has to be its final size but then the question is: where are they when she's not using them? She can't drag them around in her base form - even if we made them light enough the sheer size would slow her down. The challenge is… strategic placement. Where could she leave them that's easily accessible for her giant form without them being in the way?" He frowned at the drawing and stroked his chin for some time.
"If they were useful as something other than brass knuckles for a giant… What else can you do with that basic shape? Can we call it art?" He mused helplessly. "I hate modern art though." He grumbled. The last thing he wanted was to present some weird misshapen thing to his community and call it art. "What can you do with that shape?" he repeated, staring intently at the drawing.
Hatsume looked between Izuku and her notebook sympathetically. She had failed to consider the logistics of storage and deployment and she keenly wished she had an answer for him. It's a big metal thing that will have to go outside. It has 4 big holes. What in the world is like that?
As she perused her mental inventory of Big Metal Things Outside she hit upon an idea. It was fairly ludicrous and would probably generate some controversy, but it might actually work. Just to be sure, she did some quick math on the dimensions of Mt. Lady's fingers, then grabbed a tape measure and, much to Izuku's confusion, began trying to measure the width of her own hips.
"Do you… have a different idea?" Izuku ventured, a light blush covering his cheeks as he looked on curiously. "If you've got an idea for her suit I think that they usually measure clothing with circumferences…" he trailed off. He was pretty sure Mt. Lady's suit was already a marvel of engineering so he doubted Hatsume was about to come up with a genuine improvement on its design.
Hatsume checked the tape measure and grinned, then began furiously scribbling on the drawing of the knuckle duster. After a moment she turned excitedly to Izuku and showed him a much chunkier-looking design with rounded edges for the finger holes and some sort of small protrusion on either side. "What if it's a park bench?"
Izuku looked in bewilderment at the odd new shape. Four fingers, four… seats? "Yes." he hissed, his eyes widening at the sheer audacity and elegance of it.
"So you want to make a giant set of brass knuckles that doubles as a park bench?" The two teens nodded with trepidation. "That is either genius or a ghoulish normalization of the violence in our society." Maijima said matter-of-factly. "I'm going to argue that it's genius, and if anyone questions it we're going to tell them that we're a bunch of tone-deaf eccentrics. Got it?"
Izuku and his new partner nodded eagerly.
"Cool. Hatsume, you're the only one I'm clearing to weld. If I catch either of you near the welding equipment without the proper eye protection I'm going to let the first year hero course use you as practice dummies. They've got a guy who can drop a whole glacier on you and a girl who can dissolve you with acid, just to give you an idea." he shrugged as if suggesting that their theoretical punishment was truly out of his hands.
"I heard one of them is French." Hatsume whispered quite seriously after Maijima walked away, as though the French one was by virtue of their nationality somehow as dangerous as Ice Boy or Acid Girl.
The two teens quickly got to work. They were disappointed but unsurprised when Maijima told them that they couldn't invite Mt. Lady in to have her hands scanned or molded. He did say that if she liked the prototype they made that she'd probably want some revisions done, which was an exciting possibility. In lieu of a custom-fitted model they hunted down a 3D model of brass knuckles, scaled it correctly for Mt. Lady's giant form, added just enough extra material to make it function as a bench, and finally sliced it into pieces that would fit the department's biggest metal printer. They sent the first two sections to the printer and watched it go through its startup sequence.
Hatsume's ambitious project quickly made an impression - a small crowd of their classmates had gathered around the huge machine after they noticed that it was active. Hatsume was telling anyone who looked interested what they were making and insisting that it was going to be super cute. Izuku was triple-checking their slicer settings and watching the estimated finish time on the machine's display to ensure that it lined up with the software's estimate. If they printed day and night and jumped straight into welding the fresh sections onto the previous ones every morning, they would finish on time.
An uneventful Japanese class led them into lunch, which they used as an opportunity to check on the metal printer. It hadn't gotten far - they knew that the pieces would finish in the small hours of the following morning.
"I don't think this girl is going to stick around long." Hatsume said doubtfully, gesturing at one of the workstations in their deserted homeroom workshop. The girl's first project was a bodysuit of some sort.
"Because she's making a costume during the first week?" Izuku guessed as they left the room and headed for the cafeteria. "It's definitely a bold move but maybe she already really knows what she's doing."
"No, because she's sewing an entire bodysuit out of ripstop nylon. It has no stretch, won't stop chemical attacks or bullets, doesn't insulate or wick moisture, and under a sustained fire attack it will melt right onto the skin."
Izuku grimaced. "Maybe she has some kind of plan for a base layer?"
"All I saw her grab was nylon in multiple colors, a sewing machine, and a fucking glue gun."
Izuku rubbed the back of his neck nervously, still getting used to Hatsume's rough language. "I did notice the glue gun. But I can't sew or weld or do any metalworking yet, so maybe they won't keep me around either."
Hatsume frowned. "No, you're smart. They'll keep you." She looked uncertain for a moment. "I'll make sure you can weld by the end of the week." She flashed him a small smile that was meant to be reassuring and Izuku was struck again by her luminous yellow eyes. Lots of people with vision quirks had interesting eyes, but Hatsume's were probably the coolest and prettiest he'd ever seen.
The freckled boy was taken aback by her promise. "Thanks." he said softly, smiling as they entered the cafeteria. He was pretty sure the support course didn't spit people out at the same rate that the hero course did, but he was moved by the idea that Hatsume would miss him if he was gone.
With math class out of the way they were back to homeroom where Maijima-sensei spent most of his time poring over the various teams' plans and mining them for teachable moments. When he identified such a moment he would ask everyone but the team in question to find a stopping point in their work and gather around for a hands-on lesson. Some teams' designs were improved, salvaged, or scrapped in the face of new information. Throughout all of it the metal printer soldiered on, slowly but inexorably building Hatsume's titanic weapon one layer at a time.
It was easily one of the best days Izuku had ever had.
Notes:
I deeply appreciate reviews!
I have two other MHA stories if you're enjoying this one. They are KamiJirou and IzuMei oneshots.
Chapter 2: On the Clock
Summary:
Mei has made a mistake.
Chapter Text
Chapter 2: On the Clock
Izuku was so early to homeroom the following morning that the door to the workshop was still locked - or at least that was the only explanation he could think of for Hatsume still being outside the room. He couldn't say he was surprised that she had also arrived early but he definitely felt an extra jolt of excitement when he saw her.
"Good morning!" Izuku greeted her with a smile.
"Hey!" Hatsume replied. "Do you think it worked?" She was biting her lip and seemed to be willing herself to stare through the classroom door. For a brief moment Izuku wondered if vision outside the visible spectrum was part of her quirk but he assumed she would be looking in the direction of the printer if it was. Regardless of what she could or couldn't see, she seemed to be a bundle of nervous energy.
"I bet it did." Izuku reassured her. "Those printers aren't cheap, so I think the people who buy them probably wouldn't tolerate a high failure rate."
"I hope so." Hatsume sighed. "If it didn't work we're probably screwed. We've got no wiggle room for extra print time."
"If it failed we could abandon the brass knuckles and try something else. You've got plenty of ideas and I'd still be glad to help with them if you want me to." Izuku offered, averting his eyes in apprehension.
"Yeah, I guess there's still a lot we could make in three or four days." She picked up her bag to dig out her notebook but she was interrupted by the arrival of Maijima-sensei.
"I had a feeling at least one of you would beat me here," he muttered as he unlocked the door. Izuku wasn't sure whether their teacher was referring to the whole class or just himself and Hatsume. He didn't think any of the other groups were waiting on overnight processes like they were.
As soon as Maijima was through the door Hatsume darted in behind him, slinging her bag onto a random desk and beelining for the metal printer. She caught the edge of the bench that supported the machine to stop herself and stared through the tinted glass at their freshly-made parts. "Oo-hoo-hoooo! It works!" she exclaimed, fogging the glass in her excitement.
Izuku's excitement was nearly equal to hers but more subdued. It wasn't the first time he had designed something one day and seen it manifested the next, but it was the first time he'd ever created something that looked positively bombproof. The idea that a model he had worked on was now sitting in front of him, rendered in real metal was both humbling and invigorating.
"This could be a game-changer." Hatsume's smile was almost manic as Izuku checked the display to compare the actual print time to the estimate. "Dad always says I should sleep more but with this thing I might actually be willing to try!"
"You should listen to your dad." Maijima suggested as he moved to the back of the room to fetch a flatbed cart. "Missing sleep is bad for you. Your health goes to crap, you start making mistakes. Maybe you forget where all your shirts are. Maybe you decide to lean into it, but you keep it up so long you feel like you can't buy new ones. You don't want to go down that path, kid. Winters are cold."
Izuku narrowed his eyes at Power Loader's back as the older man lowered one of the pieces onto the cart. He was joking about the shirts, right? He looked to Hatsume who seemed to have tuned out the lecture before it got interesting.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll sleep." Hatsume quickly agreed as she got a shoulder under the remaining piece and took its weight.
"You got it?" Maijima asked in alarm, but she did seem to have it - mostly. She dropped it onto the cart much more roughly than their teacher had, but the cart had clearly been through worse things.
"Where is the welding equipment?" Hatsume demanded.
"I'm going to have one of the third years take you over there to get you started. I'm not even sure which bays are free right now."
Maijima returned to his desk where he picked up his phone and punched what must have been a number he had on speed dial. "Hey, I've got a team with a welding project about the size of a bench. They'll just be doing a couple pieces a day. Any idea which bays have some free space?" There was a pause. "Sounds good, can you spare someone who knows what they're doing for a little while to set them up and check for good habits?" Another pause. "Thanks." Maijima said, and hung up.
Some of their classmates filtered in as they waited. Izuku passed the time by sending the next two pieces to the metal printer. Meanwhile Hatsume dug through her bag and pulled out a set of heavy gloves, which she set aside. She kept digging and eventually pulled out a pair of goggles with extremely dark lenses. Izuku turned around in time to catch his new partner smiling as she traced the contours of the goggles with her finger.
A couple of minutes later a girl with a suspicious quantity of violently blonde hair and rather intense makeup entered the classroom. "Maijima-sensei!" she exclaimed, "Where are the gorgeous little firsties who will be practicing the art of welding today?"
"Ah, Kenranzaki. You'll be working with Hatsume and Midoriya. They're making a knuckle duster for Mt. Lady."
"Ambitious firsties!" Kenranzaki cooed as Izuku and Hatsume approached her. Izuku had noticed the girl's outlandish fake eyelashes the moment she walked in (they preceded her as she walked in, technically), and while he was making a conscious effort not to stare, Hatsume was making no effort to hide her awe and confusion at the upperclassman's extreme aesthetic. From the neck up she looked like she was doing a photoshoot, though for what sort of magazine it was hard to say. It was made much stranger by the fact that she was wearing the standard jumpsuit that support students apparently wore to get dirty, though it was unzipped just far enough to show off a gaudy gold necklace.
"Let's get started!" the older girl declared, pointing out the classroom door and marching through it, clearly expecting the two of them to follow. She immediately led them away from familiar territory, past the rest of the support classrooms and through a set of doors which spanned the full width and height of the hallway.
On the other side of the doors the floor gave way from the usual tile to stained and gouged concrete. Garage doors lined either side of the hall and it didn't seem like the area was climate controlled. The sounds of music and various tools leaked through some of the doors they passed before Kenranzaki stopped at a door marked "4" and pressed the button to raise it.
The space that was soon revealed was mostly empty. The only items in the room were all shoved against two walls. Along one wall was a sturdy workbench and a large sink. The adjacent wall hosted a large tool chest, a pegboard with every power tool Izuku could think of and several that he couldn't identify, power supplies, extension cords, welding guns, leather aprons, welding masks, gas tanks, a tap and hose for compressed air, rolling stools, and a boombox. The green-haired boy turned to his partner to remark on the incredible number of tools but stopped short when he saw the look on her face.
Hatsume's luminous yellow eyes were shining with emotion as she surveyed the room, clearly moved by the raw potential she saw in it. "This is a good place." she whispered reverently.
"It's nice, isn't it?" the upperclassman agreed. "You can really lose yourself here once you start getting dedicated shop days in second year. They'll even send someone to the cafeteria to bring you lunch so you don't track messes through the halls."
"What do you have to do to skip the first year?" Hatsume asked sharply.
Kenranzaki laughed daintily. "Oho, you'll have to bide your time like the rest of us did. And then," she made a sweeping gesture to indicate the whole space and raised her voice theatrically, "you get to become one with your creations! To make art! To make-"
"Babies." Hatsume nodded absently, gazing at the pegboard.
Izuku suddenly choked on his own spit and began rapidly shaking his head between coughs. "She means inventions," he wheezed plaintively at the older girl.
"Ah, well I can't recommend making the regular kind here since all the support teachers can see you," she said, gesturing to a surveillance camera overhead, "and of course Nezu sees all." She tapped her forehead knowingly. Izuku was surprised that her finger didn't come back pure white with the amount of foundation she had on. "Come on, let's get you set up. Grab an apron, both of you."
Hatsume immediately jumped into the pile of equipment, grabbing two aprons and quickly pressing one into Izuku's hands while he fought to clear his windpipe. She hurriedly donned her own apron and began pulling things toward the workbench.
"Don't turn anything on quite yet - I need to check it over first." Kenranzaki reminded them while grabbing three welding masks off the wall.
Hatsume made a vague noise of assent, still visibly excited as she arranged the welding equipment around herself. When Kenranzaki approached and attempted to hand her a mask, she refused it. "I have my own!" she declared with pride, pulling the goggles that had sat atop her head over her eyes.
"Oh?" the older girl replied. "I don't recognize the model. Where did you get them?"
"The lenses belonged to my Dad, but he got new ones so I remade the face gasket to fit me."
"Ah, heirloom tools are just as beautiful as the shiny new ones, aren't they? Or maybe they're even better, like kintsugi. Age doesn't make things ugly unless we let it." Izuku raised his eyebrows at the unexpectedly profound statement from the vain-looking girl. But she was quickly back to business. "May I please see?"
Hatsume hesitantly removed her goggles and handed them over for inspection. Kenranzaki flipped the hinged lenses up and down a couple of times and peered through one, apparently satisfied. "Very old-school." she said fondly. "You know, the masks are automatic. You'll see in full color when the gun isn't active. It's much more convenient than these, and it doesn't leave room for error. I would feel better knowing that you were wearing the modern version."
"I like mine." Hatsume said cautiously but firmly, unsure if the older girl was going to ban her from using her baby.
"If you promise to check them every time you pull the trigger, you can wear them." Kenranzaki conceded, then turned to Izuku who had been watching the exchange with interest. "And your friend can keep an eye out too."
Izuku nodded, hoping that Hatsume wouldn't feel betrayed by his commitment to keep her safe. Even if he was afraid of upsetting her he hated the idea of her brilliant eyes getting damaged, to say nothing of whatever vision-related quirk she must have.
Soon Kenranzaki finished inspecting the welding equipment Hatsume had hooked up. She declared it to be in working order, abruptly disconnected the gun and walked out of the work bay with it.
Hatsume gaped like a fish and gestured silently at the space where the gun had been, then scurried after the older girl. Izuku followed closely after her, hoping she wasn't about to do something rash.
Whether she did so knowingly or not Kenranzaki led them past the numbered doors to a door that was labeled "metal, scrap." She paused to tuck the welding gun under one arm and opened the door, revealing pretty much what Izuku had expected. Kenranzaki quickly grabbed two pieces of aluminum and turned to leave, at which point she registered the first years' presence and smiled. "Take these." she said as she pushed the two bits of metal into Hatsume's hands. For her part, Hatsume looked less confused but still perturbed as the older girl began leading them back to bay 4. She checked her oversized watch as they walked, worrying her lip at the number she saw there.
When they were back at the workbench Kenranzaki laid the two pieces of metal next to each other and asked the increasingly antsy Hatsume to weld the two together. The begoggled first year grinned as their senpai finally relinquished the welding gun and instructed Izuku to put his mask on while she donned one of her own. Izuku was not at all clear on how her prodigious eyelashes fit inside the mask but he trusted that she had a plan.
Hatsume flipped the lenses on her goggles down and pulled the trigger, beginning the delicate process of joining the two pieces of irrelevant junk. After Izuku got used to the odd color palette the world had taken on when the trigger was depressed, his eyes bounced between the nexus of flame and metal and Hatsume. She smiled softly as she worked, looking very much at home.
After Hatsume had welded a couple of centimeters, Kenranzaki spoke. "That looks strong."
The torch clicked off and Hatsume flipped her lenses out of place so that she could regard the older girl with a proud grin.
"Do you want to know how to make it look nicer?" Kenranzaki inquired.
"Practice?" the pink-haired girl guessed.
"Slowing down is the first step, actually."
Hatsume heaved a sigh and gazed despondently at an empty spot on the workbench.
"I'm not saying you have to!" Kenranzaki laughed. "But the option is there if you'd like to try someday. If you keep welding the way you just did then your knuckle duster will hold up fine."
Hatsume turned to Izuku and fixed him with a determined grin. "I will teach you the art of ugly welding." she declared magnanimously, flipping her lenses back into place.
The third year laughed again and left the pair to their work.
They made decent progress before they had to leave for English. Izuku had observed for a while and finally attempted to weld himself a few minutes before the bell rang. He looked forward to trying again that afternoon.
Despite Present Mic's ability to command the class's attention (because he was Present Friggin' Mic and that was his thing and he was Izuku's English teacher??) Izuku found himself frequently glancing at Hatsume. Initially he did so out of simple curiosity - she was nice to him, confident, and very interesting - but as the class wore on he grew concerned at the amount of confusion on his partner's face. He got the impression that her English skills were… behind. When the class practiced English words aloud he could see her lips moving, tasting the alien syllables and clearly wishing she could spit them out. He didn't think he could pick her voice out from the others and it made him wonder whether she was even saying anything. He knew he wasn't bad at English himself, though he'd probably be nowhere near the top of the class. After watching Hatsume's face shift from confusion to hopelessness during the lesson he silently resolved to help her with the class as much as he could.
"Why is English like that? How the fuck did Britain ever become a superpower with a language that stupid?" Hatsume groaned, clutching her head in her hands as she hunched over her lunch tray.
"Theft?" Izuku shrugged sympathetically.
"I mean, yeah." Hatsume blew out a sigh. "Definitely that, but just… what the fuck. Did you understand it?"
Izuku winced. "I usually do OK with English. It's definitely not easy, but I'd be happy to help if you want."
"I think I'm going to need it." Hatsume frowned at her bowl of rice, picking at it listlessly.
"Hey, at least we've got it easier than the hero course students. Right now they're juggling classes and trying to prepare for the Sports Festival."
Hatsume's chopsticks froze on the way to her mouth and her eyes instantly fixed on Izuku, her irises seeming to… breathe? He couldn't think of a better word and didn't have time to try because she was asking him with surprising urgency exactly when the Sports Festival would occur.
"Um, next week, I think? I think it's always the second week of the school year."
Izuku was not musically trained but he was willing to bet that his partner's voice dropped two whole octaves as she uttered the word "what" with deadly intensity.
Chapter 3: Plunge
Summary:
Izuku may not be in the hero course but he's about to become Mei's hero.
Inko sees an unprecedented opportunity and begins plotting.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 3: Plunge
Izuku was concerned.
For the first time since he'd met her, Hatsume had gone completely still.
It seemed to be a direct result of him looking up the programming schedule for the network he knew would be carrying the broadcast of the Sports Festival and confirming that it started on Wednesday, one week from today.
Unsure of what to do but assuming that more information was better than less, Izuku gently added that the first year students always went first. At this, his catatonic cohort let out a strange, nervous little laugh which suggested fear much more than it did mirth.
"I fucked up." Hatsume said thickly.
She began taking deep breaths. "I fucked up." she repeated, now nodding with something more like acceptance, her eyes beginning to shine with unshed tears.
Panic rose in Izuku. His mind should have been racing to figure out why Hatsume would be upset about the Festival but all he could do was look on in silent horror, heart clenching as her eyes welled over.
The sight of tears hitting the distraught girl's lunch tray finally broke the spell that had frozen him. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly.
"I fucked up." she repeated with a tiny shrug and a damp, wan smile. She closed her eyes and shook her head while roughly scrubbing the tears off her cheeks. She then took a deep breath and shakily released it. "I had… plans. For the festival. Big plans, but I didn't know." She shook her head, staring straight through her food without seeing it. "I didn't know," she repeated quietly, "it would happen so soon. There's not enough time."
Izuku knew that the festival was open to all UA students, not just the hero courses. The support course students were allowed to participate with equipment as long as they had made it themselves. "Were you planning to make something and compete with it?"
"I was planning to make like six things and compete with them." she said with a watery laugh, her voice cracking. "Why do they have the festival at the beginning of the year? Why not the end, or even the middle? What the hell?" She sighed again and lapsed into silence.
"I've always kind of wondered that." Izuku laughed and nervously scratched the back of his neck. He was beginning to suspect that Hatsume was not much of a planner, but she clearly had other qualities that would make her successful.
"I wanted to put the support department in the top sixteen for once." she quietly explained. "I wanted to show them that you can be a hero, no matter what your quirk is. Even if you didn't have one." she added as an afterthought. "I wanted them to know that we could keep them safe."
She'd certainly had Izuku's attention before, but he was positively electrified by the things she was saying now. Unaware of the effect she'd had on him, she continued. "I wanted it to be a big debut. Trounce at least one hero student, or give them a decent fight. Tell them all that Hatsume Mei would build whatever they needed to keep them safe, so they could keep everyone else safe."
"What do you want to build?" Izuku asked, and something in his voice must have struck a chord in Hatsume because she was regarding him with surprise and maybe even hope. She gave him a searching look and pulled out her notebook, flipping through the pages until she reached one with sketches and a diagram of some kind of harness. The heading on the page was "The Artful Dodger." There was some text with the drawings - it seemed to be a list of features, design considerations, and questions.
Tracks environment/foes in 360 degrees
Evades automatically using quick-fire telescoping pistons
May break user's spine/neck, need to look up shock load limits for standard human spine
Could be programmed to clothesline or trip villains when opportunity arises
Will probably trip them most of the time anyway
Probably need to set force limit on direct hits to foes, maybe offer override
Hydraulic? Pneumatic? Combustion?
Carbon fiber for weight reduction? How well does carbon fiber work as a pressure vessel?
After apparently tracking his progress through the page and deciding that he had the gist of it, she elaborated. "Forget everything but the dodging on that one, everything else would take too long and there aren't any villains in the festival." Hatsume flipped to a different page. "And then there's the net pistol." she explained, showing him the compact net gun he remembered discussing with her the day they met. He nodded, gesturing for her to continue. She started flipping through pages again. "I thought about doing the auto-balancer but I think you had a good point about limited usability indoors, so I can live without it. And there's no way I could do the powered leg assists yet. Biology of Support doesn't get covered in the first year but I was hoping to try to figure it out anyway if I had time. If I tried it now I'd probably destroy my knees."
"So the dodging harness and the net gun, what else?"
"Grappling hook," Hatsume said, stopping on the relevant page.
"Does that need a targeting system?" Izuku asked.
"Wasn't planning on it." she replied. Izuku nodded and gestured for her to continue. "And…" she said with trepidation, "the Hover Soles." She seemed to be able to find that page quite easily.
"I remember." Izuku frowned. "I don't remember if you ever told me what the power source is."
Hatsume sighed. "I still don't know. If it's an electric turbine instead of stored compressed air then the power draw would be insane. A flywheel battery that close to the body is too dangerous, plus there's the gyroscopic effect which would make movement harder, and pretty much nothing else has the energy or power-density to do the job. Best I've come up with so far is supercapacitors but the flying time would be crap. It seems like the only alternative is essentially strapping actual combustion turbines to someone's feet."
Izuku assumed that any idea that relied on jet fuel probably wasn't viable.
Flying was pretty much the holy grail of locomotion. It was incredibly versatile, but there were alternatives. Izuku smiled. "Well, if you have the dodging harness then maybe you could hop instead of flying." He'd always liked rabbits, and the rabbit hero Miruko had been rising to prominence in recent years. There was one instance of an exceptionally well-coordinated news crew capturing video of her traveling to a fight, and the look of joy and feral determination on her face as she bounded to the scene of the crime was something that stuck with Izuku to this day. There was a good reason he took down one of his All Might posters to put hers up. He considered the space on his wall well-earned.
"That's more programming." Hatsume tilted her head as she considered it.
"I'll do my best." Izuku said. "I'll program the dodging harness and finish the knuckle bench while you're building everything else."
Izuku had learned to read people fairly well when he was younger - predicting other people's states of mind helped him minimize his daily torment - but he was not sure what to make of the look his pink-haired partner was giving him right now. "Do you really think we can do it?" she asked in a small voice. She was not smiling, but there was a barely-detectable thread of hope in her voice.
"I think we have to try." He smiled and held his fist out to Hatsume. "Plus Ultra?"
"Plus Ultra." she echoed with a wobbly grin, sniffling as she bumped her fist against his. She dabbed at her eyes again. "Give me your LINE ID, I think we're going to be working late tonight. Every night, actually."
Izuku was so focused on making Hatsume's dream a reality that he never really registered the fact that a girl had asked him for his contact info.
Chemistry passed with little fanfare, though Hatsume did close her eyes and clench her jaw when the teacher (who was not a pro hero for once, or at least not one that Izuku knew) announced that today's class would simply be a safety briefing. She quickly changed her perspective, seemingly deciding that this class was the scheduling equivalent of free real estate. She began making notes about her projects for the Sports Festival instead of chemistry. Izuku tried to ensure that his lab safety notes would be good enough for both of them, though he privately wondered when she would actually have time to read them.
As soon as they got back to homeroom, Hatsume accosted Maijima-sensei and asked him how late they were allowed to work at the school.
"We close up at 7 unless there's something special going on."
"Midoriya and I are doing very special things, and we may need to do them all night." she insisted passionately. This earned Izuku some amused looks and snickers from his classmates. Thankfully his partner elaborated. "We have to get ready for the Sports Festival because Principal Nezu is insane and he scheduled it the second week of school."
"That is an accurate assessment of the Sports Festival situation, yes." Maijima nodded. "You want to build something for the Festival in less than a week, on top of your assigned work?"
"Three things. Four?" she looked questioningly at Izuku, who was too surprised to do anything more than shrug. "At least three things. Two of them are small though. And I promise we'll still get Mt. Lady's brass knuckles done!"
"I suppose if you're not working on anything potentially dangerous you can work the evenings, but you'll need to check in with whoever is supposed to be closing. There's a schedule posted outside the work bay wing-"
"Some of it is definitely dangerous." Hatsume cut him off. "Can we stay overnight?"
One could never really see Maijima's expression under his helmet but the sudden tilt of his head strongly suggested disbelief. "Overnight? Are you serious? No. And what exactly are you trying to build that's dangerous?"
"Why not?" Hatsume demanded. "We'll lose too much time if we're trying to squeeze it all in between classes. Don't you want to see the support department make it into the final round this year?"
The hero's posture sagged slightly. "Hatsume, that almost never happens." he delicately explained. He sighed and continued. "The event is geared toward the hero classes. It gets people excited about the new crop of heroes and sets them up for their internships. The support department gets to shine by equipping the second and third year hero students. Most of the support department first years just watch the matches for inspiration."
"But the rules don't prevent a support course student from winning! A lot of the first year hero kids are probably just as green as we are - don't you want to watch us beat some of them? Whatever happened to Plus Ultra?" she entreated him.
"Don't you 'Plus Ultra' me." Maijima said, lifting a finger in warning. "Anyone who's been here as long as me is immune to that."
"OK, we'll leave when they tell us to." Hatsume conceded. "We'll be in bay 4 if you need us. Please don't hype us up to other departments until we're sure our babies are working."
Maijima chuckled. "Figure out who's going to be prying you out of there at 7 and let them know what you're doing. Do it now before you forget." The pink-haired girl smiled and began collecting things to bring to bay 4. He turned to Izuku. "Midoriya, are you a hostage?" he asked in a stage whisper. "Blink twice for yes and once for no." The green-haired boy laughed nervously. "That's not a blink, kid. Can't help you if you don't ask for it." Maijima gave an exaggerated shrug.
"I want to help her, Maijima-sensei." Izuku affirmed.
"Don't let her push herself too hard, and don't let her push you too hard either. And don't be afraid to ask the upper years for help."
Izuku nodded, grabbed his laptop and his school-issued heavy gloves, and headed off to the work area he and Hatsume had claimed. He fired off a quick message to his mother as he walked.
"Going to be home late. Working after school."
"OK, be sure you don't miss the train. Love you!"
He opened the big overhead door to their oasis and found his pink-haired partner waiting for him. He flashed her a smile. "I am here!" he announced, posing heroically with his hands on his hips next to the workbench. "to receive my diploma for ugly welding." he continued with faux-pride.
"Hmm, are you?" Hatsume mused aloud as Izuku sat down and donned his mask. "Let's find out." The lenses of her goggles clicked into place and he pulled the trigger.
After Hatsume gave his practice welding her nod of approval, Izuku moved on to the actual pieces they were meant to be welding and finished them in about half an hour. He removed his mask to find that his partner had vanished. Confused and concerned, he decided it was worth checking the classroom.
Thankfully she was there, bent over her notebook and a laptop, searching for parts for The Artful Dodger. "Hey," she greeted him. "Can't see anything but the flame when I have the goggles on, so I came back here to get some stuff done." She gestured to the browser window that was open on the laptop.
"Got enough tabs open, there?" Izuku teased.
Hatsume gave the tabs in question a bleak look. "No, actually."
"I feel that." Izuku nodded.
She gestured to the active tab which showed a hydraulic piston. "Have you ever written firmware for something like that?"
"It doesn't come with a controller?" Izuku frowned. "Are you supposed to make your own from scratch, or is it compatible with an existing controller?"
"I don't know." She replied with a shrug. "I've never had the budget to order something like this before."
"Actually, what is our budget for this stuff?"
"I emailed Maijima-sensei and he said it was complicated, and that I am 'a severe budget anomaly' and I'm 'mortgaging my future.' So I'm not sure, but I think I may have to get creative later in the year. He said something about grant money, too. Maybe someone will give me one of those."
"There's always eBay." Izuku mused.
"I think half of what I want is against their terms of service, but maybe." she agreed.
"Well," Izuku said, returning to the task at hand, "it would be great if we could find something that already had a controller, especially given the time constraint. But I guess either way we should talk through the logic this thing will be working on for the festival."
Hatsume hummed. "We need it to dodge, both automatically and on command. And we need to be able to vary the amount of force it's using. Oh, shit!" she exclaimed, "the final round is single combat in a ring, right? We have to program it not to accidentally send me out of the ring!"
Izuku's eyes widened. He frowned, staring unseeingly at an empty space on the wall. "Tracking and avoiding obstacles that are moving at high speed… and precision movement to a space that's recognized as safe, in real time." he muttered. "That already exists somewhere."
"Cars." they said simultaneously. The grins that followed were also simultaneous.
Self-driving systems were ubiquitous in cars and generally quite good. They were also almost universally proprietary. There were perhaps one or two car brands sold in Japan that based their autopilot systems on the leading self-driving open-source project, but those companies had put a lot of work into the project internally to make it perform acceptably. The project in its publicly available form was known to be unreliable at best.
"I'm going to need some data to train the model." Izuku frowned. Self-driving systems certainly knew what a person looked like, but they were trained to avoid pedestrians. Pedestrians might look substantially different from an attacking villain from a piece of software's perspective. He needed video of people attacking from a first-person perspective, and he needed a lot of it.
He smiled and looked up at Hatsume to find that she was already looking at him expectantly. "Body cams?" she inquired.
"Body cams." he confirmed. "I wonder if UA has an archive for training purposes."
"I guess you can email sensei about it."
"Yeah, I need to get permission to order a computer to run the thing too."
Izuku composed an email to Maijima requesting a combat-grade compact industrial computer with beefy graphics and a GPIO header and asking where he might find a large trove of hero or hero-hopeful body camera footage. He frowned. There was so little time. He'd have to remember to make requests like this during the day in the future since Maijima was surely done working for the day and- "He responded!"
"What did he say?" Hatsume demanded.
"He said he's ordering the computer and he told me to ask Snipe-sensei about the training archive. They have footage from the upper year hero students but we need to get permission to view it. I'll send Snipe an email now."
The two of them went about their work for a few minutes, the room silent aside from their typing and occasional scribbling.
After some time Hatsume noticed that her partner had lapsed into silence, eyes unfocused, frowning at some indeterminate spot on her desk. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"The idea of being able to control the thing. Automatic dodging is one thing, but of course it wouldn't always be making the best strategic decision. You need a way to control it, but the methods that are the easiest to learn would telegraph your movements in a fight."
"Aren't there some heroes using brain-computer interfaces?" she wondered aloud.
Izuku grimaced. "Yeah, but apparently they take a while to learn and they require a highly ordered mind."
"Oh. Yeah, instant death if I tried it." she laughed.
The freckled boy laughed nervously along with her. "I think we'll have to settle for some kind of muscle control, which would probably be necessary for jumping anyway." Izuku mused. "Jumping will probably be just as useful as dodging in the first two events, whatever they are." He took a moment to stretch, attempting to work out the tension that had built in his neck and shoulders while he'd been working. "I think I have enough to go on to start writing the bones of the program. The sooner you can get a hold of your actuators or whatever they end up being, the better. Then I can start figuring out how to make the thing move."
Hatsume gave him a thumbs-up. "Definitely." she agreed.
Izuku began packing, intending to get home soon enough to eat dinner at a reasonable hour. Just as he was about to leave the classroom he suddenly remembered that he needed an industrial camera with a very high frame rate - no, FOUR industrial cameras with a high frame rate - and pulled his laptop out in a panic so that he could hopefully get a message to Maijima-sensei before he retired for the evening.
Finally he bade his partner goodnight, promising to work on the program until he had to sleep. He was so consumed by thoughts of the program that he barely registered his commute home. He was just contemplating the fact that the limits of fragile human bodies might work in his favor in terms of lowering his target processing frame rate when he found himself at the door to his home. He blinked in surprise and let himself in.
"I'm home." he announced, seeing his mother's shoes by the door.
"Welcome home sweetie." Inko replied from the new dining table. "I wasn't sure how long you'd be out so I already ate dinner. I just put it in the fridge - it might not even be cold yet. How was your day?"
"It was…" Izuku paused. He couldn't exactly say that Hatsume's extreme ambition coupled with the looming deadline was good, but he was still glad it had happened, somehow. Maybe because he was included in something greater than himself. It helped that the cause was both noble and close to his heart. "Interesting." he finished.
Inko raised an eyebrow. "Interesting how?"
Izuku moved to the kitchen and began fetching himself dinner. "I'm working with Hatsume to make some really ambitious things for the Sports Festival. She wants to compete." He shook his head in disbelief and admiration as he faced the fact that he was working with someone who was brave enough to go up against the Hero course students in an event that was essentially made for them.
Inko smiled curiously. "Isn't she the one you're working with on the brass knuckles for Mt. Lady?"
"Yeah," Izuku confirmed. "We've got a ton of work to do but she taught me how to weld today, so I'll be doing that and programming while she builds her support items for the Festival."
"Are you programming the brass knuckles?" Inko asked in confusion.
"No, I'm doing the programming for one of the support items. There's no way one person could do it all in time - the Festival is next week."
"Yes, I had it on the calendar. I wondered if you wanted to watch together or whether you'd be watching it all live in person. Will you be able to get a seat as a student?"
Izuku hadn't even thought about how actually being at UA would affect their family ritual of watching the highlight broadcasts every evening during the Festival. "I think I'm going to be right there, but I still want to watch with you after it's over." He offered his mom a reassuring smile as he brought his food to the table. "I think I might be right next to the field when she's competing, whether I'm fixing my crappy programming or just bringing her water and towels." he joked.
"I'm sure your program won't be crappy, and I hope she appreciates your help with all this." Inko said pointedly.
Izuku detected a hint of concern. His mother was probably worried that someone might be taking advantage of him which was not unreasonable given his track record with people. "She does. She had already given up because she suddenly realized the Festival was next week. I offered to help. It seemed like it meant a lot to her, and she said she wanted to prove that you don't-" he paused and cleared his throat, "need a powerful quirk to be a hero."
There was a beat of silence during which Izuku did not look up from his food.
"She sounds like a very nice girl. What's she like?" The look on Inko's face was not one Izuku was familiar with. It seemed somewhere between happy and mischievous but he saw no harm in answering the question.
"She's really smart. Ambitious too, but I guess that's obvious. She has some kind of vision quirk - her eyes are yellow with crosshairs. I've never seen that color on anyone else - it's really pretty." For some reason his mother's smile twitched noticeably wider at that. "She's not very good at English, but I told her I would help her. I'm not sure when we're going to have time to work on it though with everything we're doing. She loves machines. I think maybe she doesn't sleep enough - she said her father tells her to sleep more. She's funny sometimes, and I'm still not sure if she's doing it on purpose. She-" he blushed as he recalled Mei's gaffe when she demanded permission to do "very special things" late at night together. "She tried to guilt Maijima-sensei into letting us stay past the time the support wing closes, and she did it in front of the whole class. I guess that makes her brave, and maybe a little crazy. It didn't work but that didn't phase her much. She's definitely not afraid to ask for what she wants."
Inko was still grinning widely. "Maybe she could join us for our watch parties next week and you can help her with her English."
"That's a good idea!" Izuku agreed. If they didn't crash and burn at the festival or he didn't do anything else to make her resent him he would definitely extend an invitation. It would be fun to watch the Festival with another Support student, and his mom's cooking was the best way he could think of to thank someone for making him part of something so incredible.
As he ate dinner he explained the concept of the Artful Dodger support harness to his mother who found it very interesting, commenting that Hatsume might be even more ambitious than he'd suggested. After he finished he excused himself and retired to his bedroom in order to begin crafting the program that would push his skill to its very limits and beyond.
Izuku sat down at his computer, turned on some mindless EDM as was his tradition, and tried to build a framework for every component he could think of without having access to the Dodger's nebulous hardware. He knew from experience that he wouldn't be able to sleep if he had enough brainpower left to lie awake and think, so he kept pushing until he was exhausted to the point of incoherence, forcing himself to comment his code and saving his revisions frequently in case he'd lost the plot at some point.
His last hazy thought as he crawled into bed was that he hoped that Mei hadn't pushed herself as hard as he had.
Notes:
Mei, peering over a set of shutter shades at anyone who got a decent night's sleep: "That wasn't very Plus Ultra of you."
Chapter 4: Flashburn
Summary:
Both Mei and Izuku turn pink for very different reasons.
Notes:
Content warning: someone who hasn't studied machine learning briefly mentions machine learning. That's a joke for the computer science majors out there.
Chapter Text
Chapter 4: Flashburn
When Izuku saw Hatsume the following morning it was evident that she had pushed herself even harder than he had. She had her chin propped up on an unsteady hand and was squinting at the items on her desk as though they were conspiring against her.
“Hey, how did you do last night?” Izuku quietly inquired as he approached.
Her eyes slowly meandered up to his face, the pupils doing the breathing thing again before the light of recognition flashed across her face. “That’s what I was missing.” she muttered. “I decided to hedge our bets. I ordered hydraulic actuators and pneumatic cylinders, and I think I did the math for both. I sent you an email.” Her eyes drifted shut as she spoke. Her torso began listing to one side but she opened her eyes and corrected before it became a serious issue.
Izuku quickly booted his laptop to find that she had in fact sent him the specs for both possible designs a few minutes ago. He was about to dig into them and build them as “output modes” in the rudimentary physics engine in his program when he remembered their actual assignment for the week and went to unload the metal printer.
He briefly considered asking for Hatsume’s help but when he noticed her resting her head on her arms he decided against it. Instead he hefted the parts onto a flatbed as quietly as he could and sent the next batch of parts to the printer. Once the machine had begun to build, the green-haired boy wheeled his load to the front of the classroom and cast a final look at his sleeping partner. He smiled softly at the sight and hoped the rest of the class would not get rowdy enough to wake her. As soon as he took a step toward the door, though, Maijima-sensei sternly called his name.
“Midoriya, I didn’t clear you to weld yet. Hatsume is supposed to be doing that.”
“She-” Izuku began to respond and faltered, reflecting on exactly what he intended to say. Was he about to tell a teacher to let somebody sleep in class? If he’d felt that it was an option that’s exactly what he’d do.
Meanwhile, to his horror Maijima had honed in on Mei, clearly asleep on her desk. “Stayed up too late?” Maijima exasperatedly finished Izuku's thought and began walking toward the dozing young woman.
“Probably, but I’m sure it was because there’s so much to do.” Izuku winced and quickly followed, continuing to plead for leniency. “She taught me how to weld yesterday. I can do it as well as she can now, and Kenranzaki said she was doing well enough.”
The perpetually shirtless hero gave Hatsume’s sleeping visage an intent inspection from a few feet away. The class quieted as they realized what was going on and Izuku quailed under their attention. Power Loader suddenly ducked lower and a little closer - something had caught his eye. “Flashburn.” he scoffed. “Unreal.” he declared, practically spitting the word.
Izuku cringed at the man’s apparent anger.
Maijima rounded on Izuku. “Did she wear eye protection yesterday?” he demanded. His intensity was jarring but unsurprising - Izuku assumed that the man was worried one of his students had damaged her eyes, and therefore her quirk.
“She did!” Izuku nodded desperately. “We both did!” When Maijima didn’t immediately respond he tried to find some evidence of a problem on Mei’s face. It was... normal? Tired?
Pink.
Izuku tilted his head in wonder. She had a sunburn? You can get sunburned from welding?
“The whole time?” Maijima prompted.
“The whole time.” Izuku confirmed. “I used one of the masks in the work bay and Hatsume used her goggles! Kenranzaki even inspected them.” He wrung his hands and tried to keep his voice down, both to avoid waking Mei and to avoid causing more of a spectacle than they already had.
Maijima heaved a sigh. “That’s a rookie mistake on your senpai’s part. I think I understand how she made it, but...” He shook his head in disappointment.
“Hatsume.” Maijima said, and Mei began to stir. The support hero lowered himself into her line of sight. The rest of the class wasn’t even pretending not to watch at this point. Mei cracked one brilliant eye open. “You look like a raccoon.” The disappointment in the man’s voice was palpable. Izuku puzzled over their teacher’s assertion for a moment before he noticed that the outline of her goggles had left a tan line on her face.
An uncertain smile crept across Hatsume’s face as she squinted into the light of the workshop. “Live fast, eat trash?” she muttered. There was a smattering of quiet laughter from those who had been close enough to hear her.
“You have flashburn on your face because you didn’t cover it while you were welding. You’re going to use a mask like everybody else from now on, got it?”
Hatsume sat up and nodded through a yawn. “OK.” she said quietly. She looked a little sad.
“You’re too tired to attempt anything like welding today.” Maijima declared, but it didn't seem like an admonishment. “Midoriya will do it... after I make sure he actually can.” From Maijima-sensei’s tone Izuku got the impression that he no longer trusted Kenranzaki’s judgment. He raised his voice to address the class. “Since you’re all paying attention anyway, when you're welding you'll use only the school-provided eye protection and you'll have no exposed skin, no exceptions. You want to be a blind mass of tumors in a jumpsuit, go do it at some other school.” With that he stalked back to his desk and jabbed at his phone.
"Can you send Kenranzaki over? She owes Hatsume an apology." There was a pause as the other person spoke. "She's got flashburn, probably because Kenranzaki's never used anything but the full mask and Hatsume brought some old goggles from home." There was another pause, and the next time their teacher spoke his voice had softened. "No, no detention. I just want to get the message across." Another pause. "Exactly." Power Loader thanked the man on the other end and hung up.
"Alright, Midoriya. Let's go see what you're working with."
Izuku began following his teacher to bay 4, but they encountered a distraught-looking Kenranzaki on the way. When she saw the two of them she bowed deeply. "I'm sorry for my negligence, Maijima-sensei. I've always used the masks-"
Maijima interrupted her. "And you were focused on making sure her eye protection was good enough?" he guessed.
Kenranzaki nodded remorsefully. Her mascara had started to abandon its post.
"And I'm guessing you've never seen eye protection for welding without a full face mask?"
She shook her head. "I've only ever used the equipment here, Maijima-sensei."
"That's what I figured." He didn't seem angry, which was a huge relief to Izuku. He had had enough of angry teachers who didn't care what was fair. He liked Maijima so far and hoped that it would stay that way. "I just want to remind you that safety is everyone's responsibility."
"I know, and I'm sorry for allowing Hatsume to be hurt." She sniffled and dabbed daintily at her eyes with a patterned handkerchief that looked like it could have been cut from the sleeve of a rather bold yukata. "She wanted to use her goggles because they have sentimental value. I can't believe I forgot about her face." Her voice had started to crack. Izuku wondered how much of the older girl's grief could be attributed to the injury (slight though it may be) and how much was due to the injury being on a young woman's face, specifically. "I should have stuck with what I know, even if she would have been disappointed." she finished quietly.
"Sometimes safety means saying 'no.'" Maijima agreed gently.
"Yes, Maijima-sensei. I'm going to apologize to Hatsume right now, and I'm bringing something to help with the burn." She bowed one more time and then moved past them at a brisk pace.
As they continued toward bay 4 Izuku hoped that his partner hadn't already fallen asleep again. He was already conceptualizing ways to salvage Mei's goggles. Either they need to be useful for something other than welding, or they need to be turned into a full mask.
Soon enough they arrived at his and Mei's little oasis and Power Loader asked him to demonstrate what he'd learned from the girls. All thoughts of goggles fled while he tried to gain the right to weld independently.
Despite a rocky start, Izuku's morning was improving. He'd gotten some tips from Maijima-sensei to improve his welding, though the hero had echoed Kenranzaki's assessment of Mei's style as 'ugly but functional.' He'd stopped by his homeroom to ensure that Mei got to Japanese class on time and even managed to get some caffeine for her in the form of black tea from a vending machine. Apparently she despised the taste of coffee, which he completely understood.
Izuku reflected that it was a good thing that today was Japanese rather than English - by the looks of things Mei's tea didn't kick in until near the end of the class. He didn't want to think about her trying to cope with English on anything less than a full night's rest.
At lunch Mei was finally coherent enough to have a productive conversation.
"So did you do the witchcraft last night?” she inquired.
Izuku cocked his head in confusion. "You mean the program?"
"Yes, the dark magic that brings machines to life." she said around a mouthful of chicken katsu.
"I got the broad strokes of it, I think. It has concepts of force, mass, acceleration, and location in 3D space. I've also got a variable in there for the height of the user. All the values are configurable and I've got a framework built to enable multiple evasion modes. We should probably get electrodes onto you to start calibrating the muscle control mode today. We don't need a completed design to start nailing down a range for that." With that observation made Izuku went in for another spoonful of Lunch Rush's excellent miso soup.
"Hmm." Mei grinned dangerously. "My dad warned me that boys might try to get in my pants at UA, but it takes real guts to go straight for the weird stuff. At least buy me dinner before you break out the electrodes."
Unfortunately Izuku failed to swallow in time and instead sprayed hot soup into a hastily-cupped hand while Mei cackled with delight.
"Oh, man!" she exclaimed. "I figured you'd blush, not explode." Izuku felt his face heating up as he tried to clear the salty, oily mixture from his windpipe. "Oh, there's the blush. Nice."
It took Izuku over a full minute to recover from the soup inhalation, during which Mei alternated between grinning smugly and looking apologetic for his suffering. Finally, he was able to speak. "What can I say?" he shrugged, pausing in the act of wiping soup off his hands to look at Mei, his eyes full of mischief. "I'm a sucker for girls with goggle tan and a nice cackle."
Due to the aforementioned sunburn it was impossible to tell whether he got Mei to blush in return, which he thought was a terrible shame. She did roll her eyes, but her smile gave the gesture away as half-hearted. "Does the flashburn hurt?" he asked, gesturing toward her face.
"It's not bad. Kenranzaki attacked me with some kind of goo that made it burn less while she was apologizing. Said she was sorry for damaging my skin." Mei seemed faintly amused that someone would worry about such a thing. "I told her it was fine. I guess I'll see better with the regular masks anyway."
Izuku almost asked her about retooling her goggles into something more useful but he held his tongue, suddenly thinking that he might like it to be a surprise. Perhaps he could rope Kenranzaki in on the artistic side if he tried to create a mask, though he'd probably have to temper her unusual sensibilities if he did. Instead, he refocused on their actual mission. "So what do we need to fabricate for the Artful Dodger?"
Just as it did on the day they met, their conversation carried them through the lunch period and out the door.
As they sat through their math class Izuku was pleased to note that Mei might have actually been paying attention. She was certainly alert as evidenced by the fact that she was scribbling in a notebook. Time would tell whether her notes were relevant to the day's lesson or not.
When they returned to their homeroom they saw that Maijima-sensei's desk was piled high with packages. After most of the class had trickled in, Maijima called out for their attention. "OK, parts came in for the following people: Kimura, Hatsume, Tanaka, Sato, Midoriya-"
Izuku and Mei's eyes met and they grinned at each other with barely-contained excitement.
"-and Yamamoto. If I called your name, come get your stuff. No stampeding. It's not going anywhere."
Mei rushed in but Izuku waited for the crowd to diminish. While he was waiting Maijima-sensei approached his desk and handed him a small hardshell case. "We already had the industrial cameras lying around. I ordered some more so we'll have something to keep on the shelf, but these are yours until you're done with them." He gestured over his shoulder at the package frenzy. "That package for you should be the industrial computer. Did you ever get a hold of Snipe about the video you need?"
"No!" Izuku suddenly remembered.
"Ah, he's easily distracted. I'll get on him for you. You've only got so many hours left to train your model." Izuku nodded nervously at his teacher. The man soon took his leave, slowly edging closer to his desk as the frenzy died down and people dispersed, giving the remaining crowd a wide berth.
Mei quickly returned with her spoils, dropping an armload of packages bearing her name and one bearing his onto her desk. "OK, now I'm awake." she declared with a gleeful smile.
"Hey, Snipe finally got back to me!" Izuku announced. "I guess they had to get permission from the people in the videos to share them. I now have read access to a file share with…" he trailed off, clicking a few times. "Three hundred gigs of body cam footage? Hell yes." he hissed. And the real shame is that I don't have time to enjoy it and document all these cool quirks.
"Nice!" Mei exclaimed, landing from yet another jump. She was holding a biofeedback device which Izuku had gone from theorizing the existence of to finding in a storage bin in the space of ten minutes. It measured and recorded the electrical impulses on the surface of someone's skin caused by the action of the muscles under said skin. It remained to be seen how difficult it would be to translate the data they were collecting into something relevant to the Dodger's programming.
Mei had decided to leave the fabrication of the Dodger's body to the metal printer in the interest of saving time and ensuring quality. The printer would of course be occupied until the following morning producing the final pieces of the knuckle bench, so in the meantime they had been working on programming for the Dodger and designing the net pistol and grappling hook.
"Wait, what was that? Was that a jump straight forward?" Izuku tore his eyes from the trove of first-person fight footage and returned to his timestamped log of their jumping session.
"It was more like straight up. Do we need another forward one?"
He consulted the log. "No, I think we've got that. Can we try really extreme jumps to the side?"
Mei frowned. "I think I'm going to want some padding for that." Her tone changed to something more playful. "The skirt is handy for all the kinky electrode stuff but it doesn't offer much protection from a fall."
Izuku smiled at his laptop. "OK, maybe we'll postpone that until we can find gym mats."
"This place has like twenty different gyms. I bet there's one close to here."
"I think some of them are just for the hero students." Izuku replied doubtfully. "You need to be keyed in."
"Should we pause recording?" Mei inquired, eyeing the nearly two dozen leads running from her legs to the box in her hands.
"Yeah. Stopping after 1?"
"Yup." Mei adjusted her grip on the recording device to ensure she could reach the right button. "Ready?"
"Ready. Three, two, one." At the appropriate moment Izuku paused the stopwatch they'd been using and made a note of the final time. It then occurred to him to check the actual time. "It's 6:30. What do we want to do with the remaining time?"
Mei tapped her chin in thought. "Let's go over the drawings again while we're together. We can get some other stuff done at home."
Izuku looked pointedly at Mei. "And you're going to sleep at a normal time tonight, right?"
The pink-haired girl gave him something between a grimace and a cheeky smile. "I mean, normal is relative." She shrugged as though her sleep schedule was out of her hands.
"Maijima-sensei said he'd ban us both from working after hours or over the weekend if you show up tired again." The pointed look intensified, then shifted to something less serious but somehow more sobering. "Maybe I will tell him I'm a hostage. And then where would you be?" he teased.
"Betrayal!" Mei accused, jabbing a finger at him with expertly feigned outrage.
"Sleep is not betrayal. It's necessary." he said firmly.
"What are your terms?" Mei inquired suspiciously.
"In bed at 9:30 with no screens. That way you've got half an hour to spiral before you sleep." he offered magnanimously.
"An hour of spiraling, and I get to have my notebook and a small lamp." Mei countered shrewdly.
"Deal." he agreed, offering Mei a hand which she shook with a grin.
"You know, you've got a surprising amount of Mom energy for a code monkey who's still in high school."
"I learned from the best." Izuku said sagely.
Mei flashed a quick smile before returning to the drawings to ensure that her partner understood her vision. "Now I know we talked about a unibody, but if we make it modular we can leave ourselves more room to screw up and print revisions of individual parts…"
Chapter 5: All My Homie (Singular)
Summary:
Izuku talks Mei into bed. Twice.
Notes:
I intended to get this out much sooner but it kept growing.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 5: All My Homie (Singular)
Izuku was riding the train home, deep in thought when he received an email from Maijima-sensei. He noticed it was addressed to Mei as well.
It seemed to be an official reminder that they would not be allowed to work late or work over the weekend if either of them was seen sleeping through classes again or relying on caffeine to function. Maijima had helpfully allowed Mei one coffee per morning (with a specific ban on espresso) which Izuku suspected would be replaced with tea. He was making it very clear that they could not sacrifice their health or performance in other classes in the name of the Sports Festival.
A moment after he finished reading the email he received a LINE message from Mei.
MechMaiden: lame
Izuku smiled at Mei's predictable response. Power Loader had read his mind regarding Mei's sleep situation. The green-haired boy had privately concluded that Mei's grades were not going to start strong but he was still committed to helping her fix them after the Festival was over.
When he arrived home he apprised his mother of Mei's flashburn over dinner. He also told her about the private welding lesson from Power Loader and the sleep ultimatum. He saw no reason to mention the "kinky electrode stuff" he and Mei had done after school. Izuku ate quickly, determined to put in a solid evening's work before he slept.
After cleaning up some of his sloppier work from the previous night he perused the manual for the actuator Mei intended to use. To his delight he found that the manufacturer had an open-source library written for a popular controller that Izuku had seen in storage at the school. He was tempted to begin integrating the library right away, but then he noticed some people had forked it…
Two hours later Izuku was grinning in triumph after finding a trove of resources that would allow him to translate physical destinations to action in his program. Not for the first time he reflected that the best kind of work was the work that was already done for you. His eyelids were pleasantly droopy as he checked the time. He was surprised to find that it was almost time for his final task of the evening: begging Mei to sleep at a decent hour.
If he was honest with himself he was more than a bit nervous about it.
He picked up his phone and opened LINE. To his surprise Mei had sent a screenshot of a different part of the manual and a meme expressing confusion, followed minutes later by a different meme which featured a triumphant mad scientist. Apparently he'd been too deep in concentration to hear the messages.
ScrawlMight: I think I’ve found some really nice open firmware that will work for the actuators.
MechMaiden: hell yeah
MechMaiden: we really need to figure out the relationship between force and travel. does your spellbook have a chapter on gravity?
MechMaiden: I guess we also need a force limit to keep it from snapping me like a twig
ScrawlMight: Yes, the program works on the assumption that gravity is a thing. I think I've got the general travel stuff figured out, but we do still need to calibrate it. Maybe we'll get a Newton meter and just punch it a few times. And I'm going to call the integrity of your spine priority 1.
MechMaiden: makes sense
Izuku took a breath and made his move.
ScrawlMight: So it’s 9:30. Are you in bed?
MechMaiden: what are you the bed police
ScrawlMight: Yes. Weewoo. You hear that siren? You’re going to sleepy jail.
Izuku became increasingly nervous when Mei didn't reply for a couple of minutes. Was she disgusted with him? Was she just going to ignore him? He supposed it would serve him right for thinking he could tell her what to do. He didn't know what possessed him to act so familiar with someone who'd probably just been tolerating him.
His spiraling was interrupted by a trill from his phone.
MechMaiden: *picture*
MechMaiden: there, I’m in bed. are you happy, you heartless tool of the establishment?
Izuku flushed when he saw the photo Mei had sent. It wasn’t anything inappropriate but it felt… intimate. Her golden eyes were half-lidded with exhaustion and he lamented the fact that they weren’t open a little further - it would have been a great opportunity to examine them and guess at her quirk without rudely staring. She wore a long-suffering sleepy smile and a tank top - likely the one she'd worn under her uniform all day. Her pink hair spilled haphazardly over a rumpled pillowcase and Izuku wasn’t sure whether there seemed to be more hair than he remembered or whether it was just an illusion created by her supine position. The overall effect was that Izuku forgot to breathe for a moment as he took her in.
The flood of relief he felt at her response and the smile that tempered her petulant words was soon accompanied by a wave of warmth and intrigue. Seeing Mei surrendering herself to rest (or pretending to in order to escape his nagging) made him feel close to her in a way that was new and exciting. Emboldened by the feeling, he pressed on.
ScrawlMight: You’ve still got the phone. No screens, remember?
MechMaiden: but if I put the phone down I have no way to check in with my fearsome warden
Izuku grinned like an idiot.
ScrawlMight: If you sleep properly then maybe you’ll get released from sleepy jail for good behavior. Then you won’t have to answer to some deranged warden anymore.
MechMaiden: you really think between the two of us that you’re the deranged one? in middle school a teacher once described me as “a greasy cryptid”
The tired young man couldn't help but chuckle at that.
ScrawlMight: God I hope somebody calls me a cryptid someday. That’s the dream. I bet cryptids don’t have to wear ties.
MechMaiden: have you considered learning to tie it correctly?
ScrawlMight: Hurtful but valid. Knots are hard. Every time I try to do it differently it just ends up being the stupid baby tie with a giant ugly knot again
MechMaiden: I just do the half windsor. it's pretty easy
ScrawlMight: I swear that's what I'm doing. It’s the half Windsor or the Buckingham Half-ass or some other stupid English thing
MechMaiden: fucking England. all my homies hate England
ScrawlMight: Do you have a lot of homies?
MechMaiden: nah it’s just you. I'll try to unfuck your tie for you in the morning
MechMaiden: goodnight warden
Izuku stared at his phone in awe. His lips twitched at the fact that Mei had, if only jokingly, called him a friend - a homie would be a friend, right? And she’d suggested that he was her only one. He was certainly tempted to let himself think of her as a friend. If she was, she’d be his first in a very long time.
He smiled as he composed his last message of the night, and it was hard to ignore the warmth he felt toward his new partner as he did.
ScrawlMight: Thanks. Sleep well and be absolved of your crimes, greasy cryptid.
The next morning Izuku woke up smiling. He showered and dressed with a smile and didn't bother attempting to tie his tie. Instead he stuffed it into the pocket of his jacket and set off for school. At the train station he smiled as he quickly scanned the vending machines to see if they had anything Mei might like for her daily caffeine allotment.
He kept smiling as the train bore him in the direction of UA. He was still smiling as he walked into the support wing. Not even the sudden realization that he was walking into class slightly out of uniform made his smile falter as he deposited his bag at his desk. The smile took on an edge of triumph as he unloaded the final pieces of Mt. Lady's knuckle duster from the metal printer. He decided not to send the Artful Dodger to the machine just in case Mei had had a brainwave since the last time they exported the model.
The first time that morning that he made a real effort not to smile was when Mei rushed in looking significantly more alert than she had yesterday. He didn't want to appear too eager to see her, but that plan fell apart as soon as she met his eyes across the room. Instead he smiled even wider as she offered him a cheeky grin of her own and zeroed in on his neck.
"Oh, you're just waltzing in here sans-tie like some kind of delinquent now, huh?"
"I don't take criticism from sleep criminals." he haughtily replied.
"I paid my debt to society." she said dismissively. "Alright, I couldn't find anything about the Buckingham Half-ass so the half Windsor is going to have to do." She beckoned him forward. "Come here."
Izuku withdrew the tie from his pocket and offered it to his partner as he stepped forward.
Mei hummed playfully as she flipped his collar upright. "Couldn't just be satisfied with the electrodes last night, huh? Now you want me to tie you up." She tsked, threading the tie around his neck. "You're a bold guy, Midori."
Izuku blushed at the nickname. He thought some of their classmates had turned around in surprise at her comment but he didn't feel especially motivated to look away from her to check.
He could finally see her eyes up close and the experience was just as nice as he'd imagined. Her hair seemed like it might still be damp from the shower - he wondered if she'd woken up late and rushed out the door without drying it. As she hovered in front of him he caught a whiff of a scent he could only describe as clean, pleasant, and oddly intoxicating. He forced himself to pull his attention from the various new stimuli so as not to let her teasing go unanswered. "You bring it out of me." he declared with a shrug and a wan smile. She grinned in response but otherwise her concentration did not waver. As her fingers deftly danced around his collar he reflected that he hadn't really been joking - he couldn't imagine himself talking like this with anyone but her.
"Hmm." Mei's brow furrowed as she examined her progress. "I've never had to do it from the front before. I've got a theory on how you keep getting it wrong. You need tension at every step instead of just at the end." She seemed to be undoing the last thing she did as she said this. She paused for a moment to look him in the eye and grinned devilishly as she suddenly tightened the loop around his neck. "The safeword is persimmon." she whispered.
Izuku couldn't help but laugh. Still smiling, she peered past him for a moment to examine the printer and he noticed her pupils do the breathing thing again. That was enough for a solid theory. Optical zoom?
"So did the last pieces of the knuckle bench look good?" she inquired, seemingly finishing the knot.
Izuku gestured toward the finished pieces which he’d placed on her desk - she’d walked right past them without noticing. "Yeah, I didn't start on the Dodger yet, just in case you wanted to make any changes."
“What’s the estimated print time?”
“Not as bad as the knuckle pieces since it’s smaller." he replied. "Looks like about 13 hours.”
“Ooh, start it now!” she exclaimed, bouncing from one foot to another in excitement. “That way we might be able to test it tonight.”
“OK.” Izuku agreed with a smile.
As he loaded the relevant file into the printer he couldn’t help but dwell on the scent of Mei’s freshly-washed hair and the feeling of her fingers ghosting over his chest. He wondered if they would ever be that close again. He was surprised at how much he hoped they would.
Once the printer had begun its new task he returned to Mei's desk where she was unpacking her laptop. "Next order of business?" he inquired.
"We still need data on me jumping at harsh angles, so we need to hunt down gym mats or some other kind of padding. We need to finish our welding on the knuckle bench. We need to develop a testing plan so that we don't waste time once we've built everything. I might have time to work on the net gun and grappling hook while we're waiting for the Dodger to print. We obviously have to test the shit out of the software and calibrate all the hardware. Don't you need to train the self-driving model on all that fight footage?"
"I tried to start that last night on the school's HPC cluster but I've never used anything like that before, so I had to email one of the teachers for help." Izuku reported sheepishly. "I hope she gets back to me soon."
"Can you run it on something else?" Mei inquired, eyeing his laptop.
"The cluster should be able to chew through it over a hundred times faster than anything else we have access to. It's worth the wait. I can still refine things other than threat identification in the meantime."
"If this lady doesn't get to it by the end of the day we might have a problem." Mei frowned.
"I guess it is Friday." Izuku mused. "If she doesn't get back to me in the next hour then I'll ask Maijima-sensei to talk to her."
"So… gym mats?"
Ten minutes later they were standing in front of a building which proclaimed itself to be Gym Epsilon in the large, bold letters of UA's signature font. There was a smaller sign next to the doors which listed the rules of the gym:
- No sparring
- No use of quirks
- Those with mutation quirks that confer more than 3x average human strength must use one of the designated gyms
- Follow all UA gym safety guidelines
They'd been told that this was one of the gyms accessible to all students, though it did appear there was an exception when it came to strength quirks. Izuku wasn't sure what the UA gym safety guidelines were but it didn't seem likely that anything they wanted to do would conflict with them. Mei seemed entirely unconcerned about the unknown guidelines as she tapped her student ID to the lock and entered.
There were exercise machines of every type, many of which Izuku had never seen before. Despite the profusion of amenities they found the cavernous space to be almost devoid of people. A couple of older girls were engrossed in conversation on adjacent treadmills and it appeared that they were the only occupants.
While Izuku was taking in the room as a whole Mei had zeroed in on the mats stacked in the corner. She sat her bag against the wall and began unfolding a mat while Izuku followed and began unpacking the testing apparatus. They'd been worried that the electrodes and leads might not travel well, so Mei still needed to apply them to her legs. "Last time was kinky but I feel like we're being extra spicy doing it with an audience." she quietly enthused as she passed him to adjust the placement of the mat.
Izuku felt his face warm up again. Maybe they were about to do something that violated the gym guidelines. "I can't take you anywhere." he said, smiling fondly.
Eventually Mei completed the process of applying the electrodes, asking a brightly blushing Izuku to do the ones on the very backs of her thighs. He was glad she was wearing shorts underneath her uniform - he wasn't sure how he could have coped otherwise. "We need to repeat some of the jumps from before just in case the new electrode locations skew the readings somehow." Izuku declared as he finished setting up the equipment.
"Ooh, good idea." Mei agreed, once again resembling a large, incomplete marionette doll.
Izuku readied his notepad and stopwatch and signaled Mei to begin.
Half an hour later Mei had bruises and Izuku had an email. They returned to their oasis in the support wing so that Izuku could call the teacher who administered the massive compute cluster without disturbing anyone. "Uh huh. And this has access to, uh…" Izuku trailed off as he clicked a few times. "UAHCFS6?" There was a brief affirmation from the teacher. "Right, good. And it's already configured to use the ML accelerators?" There was another pause. "OK, thank you so much for your help!"
Izuku hung up and looked over the command he'd crafted one last time. "OK… here we go." He pressed the enter key and hid most of his face behind his hands, peeking through his fingers. "What." he said flatly, letting his hands fall limp to his sides. "What." he hissed. "Mei!" he said sharply, turning to the almost de-spaghettified girl.
"What?" she jumped in alarm.
"Look at this." Izuku demanded, pointing to a set of numbers on his laptop screen which seemed to be incrementing by a thousand every few seconds.
"Which part?" Mei inquired, coming closer with shuffling steps. Several wires dragged on the floor around her feet.
"The frame rate!" Izuku declared incredulously, pointing to a different number that seemed to be holding relatively steady. "They should have sent a poet." he whispered, clearly awestruck by what he was witnessing.
"Is that a lot?" Mei ventured.
"That is so fucking many." he blurted, surprisng Mei with his passion. He closed his eyes, drew a deep breath, and sighed wistfully as he watched the numbers fly along his screen. "It's going to be done in three hours. I love it here."
"Me too." Mei replied, patting him on the back and returning to the task of ripping electrodes off her skin. After a couple more she winced and sighed. "This hurts." she admitted. "Do you think Kenranzaki has some kind of goo for it?"
She'd barely finished her sentence before Izuku was out the door.
Izuku nervously pulled at his hair as he power walked toward the third year support classrooms.
He'd called Mei by her first name. She hadn't said anything about it - she hadn't even teased him about it - but that could have been because he was geeking out over some numbers on a screen like a weirdo. She'd sounded surprised at the time, but was that because of what he'd said, or the urgency with which he'd said it?
The really chilling thing about the whole situation was the fact that her name hadn't felt unnatural coming out. It was like he'd said it before. Had he woken up that morning with her name on his lips? Had he whispered it like a half-conscious prayer before he'd fallen asleep last night? He surveyed the hallway and found that no one was near him.
"Mei." He formed the word quietly. It felt just as natural as a "good morning" or a "thank you."
He suddenly remembered that she had patted him on the back after he'd called her Mei. Maybe - just this once - he was worrying too much.
Thankfully Mei seemed no different when he came back with one of Kenranzaki's various balms in tow. In fact she seemed grateful for the favor.
A few minutes into the lunch period he was able to shake the thought of his slip-up. It helped that he and Mei had plenty to talk about.
After lunch they set about the task of welding the last pieces onto the knuckle bench, taking turns so that they could both get more practice.
As the last weld cooled they surveyed their massive weapon with pride.
"Should we try it?" Izuku asked.
Mei answered by perching on the bench and wiggling slightly to achieve maximum comfort. "Not bad." she decided.
Izuku took a seat next to her. "I don't consider myself a bench connoisseur, but this seems like a decent bench." He smiled. He'd never made anything big enough to sit on before.
"Now we just need to get it to Mt. Lady for testing. Though I suppose we could take it to Ground Beta and drop it a few stories onto some pavement… but then we'd be delivering it to Mt. Lady with scratches." She kicked at the ground in disappointment. "That's not very good customer service, even if we're not charging."
"We'd have to borrow a crane." Izuku posited. "I bet there would be paperwork."
"We have no time for paperwork!" Mei scoffed. "We've got much bigger things to worry about."
A few hours of planning and designing later, Mei and Izuku sat in front of the metal printer. Their classmates had almost all left. The few that remained were finishing up their projects for the first week.
"Eighty minutes." Izuku murmured, looking at the time remaining on the printer's display. The pieces of the Artful Dodger sat tantalizingly close. The shorter ones were already complete but they'd have to wait until the tallest piece was done to claim their prizes. "Maybe we should eat dinner now so we can test right up until we go home?" he suggested. The cafeteria had long since closed but he was pretty sure there were other options near the campus.
"Ooh, good idea - I forget dinner sometimes. Isn’t there a yakitori place down the street?”
Izuku filed the information about her forgetting to eat away for later. "I think so. I can go pick it up."
"Hell yeah!" Mei cheered. She got up and began digging through her backpack. "I think I have like 600 yen in here somewhere."
“I’ll buy." Izuku offered. "I mean, I’m about to put you in a harness, and you did say I should buy you dinner before asking for kinky stuff, right?” He smiled cheekily.
"I've taught you well." Mei observed with a smug grin.
As Izuku walked to the restaurant he saw a few other students who seemed to be making the same pilgrimage. Some were in their uniforms but others were in jumpsuits, almost certainly second and third year support students. When he arrived he gave his name to the man working the register. The man peered at the grill being tended by his colleague and declared that it would be another moment.
While he was waiting he noticed that all the people in jumpsuits were waiting for carry-out while the people dining at the few tables were in uniform. There were some uniforms waiting for takeout but they were in the minority. He wondered if any of the students eating there would be returning to UA or whether they were finished for the week.
Standing out in the sea of UA uniforms and jumpsuits were three older students in UA tracksuits. There was a tall, broadly-built blonde boy whose features suggested that he must have had at least one parent from abroad, a boy with dark hair and pointed ears, and a girl with hair so long that he wondered if it was somehow related to her quirk.
The dark-haired boy seemed to shrink from the crowd. He cast longing looks toward the pavement outside while the other two were conversing with perfect ease. The blonde boy noticed his friend's distress and clapped him on the back. "Oh, cheer up. The wings will be worth it."
"Chickens can't fly, Mirio. I don't know how many times I have to tell you. I could have just had the quail from lunch." he said sulkily.
"But it's better when it's fresh, right?" the girl enthused.
It was a confusing line of reasoning - the boy didn't want to eat chicken because chickens couldn't fly? But then he realized that he'd seen the boy's face before. It must have been in one of the body camera videos he'd perused before feeding it into the neural network on the compute cluster. The boy's arms had ended in tentacles in that video. Standing in the restaurant and clearly wishing he was elsewhere, his arms looked as normal as Izuku's - aside from being larger and more toned. Izuku was awestruck with the implications - he is what he eats. That's an incredible quirk.
Before he could observe the group of hero students any further he was summoned to claim his food. He quickly set off for the school in the hope that it would still be hot by the time he got to Mei.
After Izuku returned with their skewers of chicken and mounds of rice he found that he and Mei were the only ones left. They pushed Mei's desk next to the metal printer and ate their dinner while they watched its progress. Izuku thought the food was good but he decided that Mei's excitement over it was better. He would definitely remember that yakitori was one of her favorites. He wondered if he could use it in the future to mitigate her tendency to skip meals.
As soon as the pink-haired girl had eaten her fill she set about clearing a workspace and arranging the necessary tools and components for the assembly process. She didn't want to waste a moment.
"I'm glad you already did the hard part." she remarked as she returned a tool to the wall of the classroom in favor of the same thing in a different size. "I can't stand programming. If an English teacher made me use a semicolon, I'd be upset. If a computer made me use one I would fucking riot."
"Well I wouldn't say I'm done with the programming." Izuku hemmed. "And I know I couldn't do what you've done." he said, shaking his head emphatically. "You have the spatial reasoning skills of a Swiss watchmaker or something. I would have been too afraid to touch half the things you've done."
"Look at my watch and tell me I'm on par with the Swiss." Mei deadpanned, holding her chunky homemade timepiece out for examination. "This is practically a sundial. This arm is probably stronger than the other one by now."
"The Swiss made some heavy watches." Izuku reminded her.
"They were heavy because they nearly bent the laws of physics to cram all that clockwork in there. They were also waterproof and built to outlive humanity. Mine is heavy because I'm impatient and so bad at soldering that I don't think I can take it apart anymore."
"You said you made that a couple years ago." Izuku protested. "If you made one now I bet it would be smaller."
"If I wanted to make a watch now I'd just buy one of the smartwatch kits and machine a cool casing for it. I'm old and boring now." she lamented, mournfully biting one more piece of chicken off of her last skewer.
Izuku scoffed. "You literally told a teacher to live fast and eat trash yesterday."
Mei barked out a laugh. "Ha! I did, didn't I?" she mused proudly.
There were mere moments to go on the Artful Dodger print job now. Mei seemed to be breathing deeply in an effort to center herself. "We need assembly music." she decreed, pulling out her phone. Izuku scurried off to grab the boombox from bay 4. In theory they wouldn't be disturbing anyone if they used it in the classroom - the adjacent classroom was probably completely empty anyway.
When Izuku returned Mei was grinning maniacally at the printer - the build sequence had completed in the short time he was gone. He was a little surprised that Mei hadn't already begun taking pieces out. When she saw him she gestured dramatically toward the printer and pressed the play button on her phone, filling the room with very old rock music. Only when Izuku was near enough to help did she open the enclosure and begin taking pieces out, singing along to the music that Izuku was pretty sure he'd heard before.
"So you can sing in English, but you have trouble with the homework?" he asked suspiciously, raising his voice slightly to be heard.
"Hey!" she protested. "You know it's different. A parrot could speak English! Doesn't mean they understand anything."
Mei began assembling their magnum opus, joyously singing and bobbing as she worked.
Izuku wasn't surprised to discover that Mei had a powerful singing voice but she still managed to apply it in a way that impressed him. When the right song came along she belted the words she knew, pouring real passion into each one despite probably not even knowing what she was saying.
All Izuku could do was entertain Mei by relying on his falsetto to make wild stabs at some of the high notes. He knew he couldn't sing, but making Mei laugh was probably more fun anyway.
Eventually Izuku asked if he could play some of his favorites - the rock music had started to sound a little samey to him, though he knew if he admitted as much to Mei she would ridicule him endlessly for implying that EDM and dance pop were anything but samey. She enthusiastically agreed, not knowing what she was in for.
Izuku decided to open strong with one of his favorites. There were no words, but he didn't feel that it needed any.
As soon as Mei heard the synthetic rhythms and pounding bass she scoffed and began teasing him. "Oh you're one of those, huh?"
"You can't argue with a beat like that!" Izuku protested.
"Can something with no soul even argue?" Mei inquired playfully, returning to her work. "It's just a beat. No words, no soul."
Izuku opened his mouth to defend his choice but when he saw what Mei was doing he realized he didn't have to. "So what's your foot doing, then?" he slyly inquired.
Mei stilled her tapping foot for a second and then gave up the struggle, allowing her hips to sway slightly with the rhythm as she worked. "The monkey brain likes a beat - we can't fight that." she declared airily.
"And why should we?" Izuku inquired smugly.
Mei pursed her lips but couldn't stop the gesture from turning into a smile before she rolled her eyes and returned to her wiring, feet tapping and hips bobbing.
Two songs later Mei was drumming on the workbench and Izuku was right there next to her on backing vocals, thrashing his voice with pure joy.
Several hours later Izuku was blinking unsteadily and suspiciously at his work, not entirely certain that it would hold still if he looked away from it. “Mei.” he rasped tiredly. The room was nearly silent - Mei's phone had died at some point and they may have been too distracted to plug it in.
“Huh?” she replied, equally dazed.
"I don't remember what I'm doing. Do you?" he whispered - it was all he could manage. He had utterly destroyed his voice earlier during the assembly sing-along.
There was a brief silence.
"What?"
He let out a small huff of frustration and laboriously rolled his stool closer to Mei so that she could hear his severely depleted voice better. "I said 'I don't remember what I'm doing. Do you?'"
She looked at the items in front of her with only the barest hint of recognition. "No. I think I had something, but it's… it's gone." she sighed, her voice thick with exhaustion. "We should probably get out of here." She checked her massive watch. "Oh, we definitely missed the train."
"Do you live nearby?"
"Toyohashi." Mei reported flatly. "I think the taxi ride would bankrupt me."
Izuku nodded in silent agreement. He furrowed his brow and thought for a moment. He knew what he wanted to do but he wasn't sure how Mei would react. The exhausted young man sighed and decided that there was nothing left to do but try. Today had been a good day. If he made a fool of himself, Mei would probably forgive him.
Had he been less tired he might have taken more care with his phrasing, but speaking felt unpleasant so he decided to be economical with his words. "I live in town. Twenty minute walk. We have a couch. Do you want to come home with me?"
Mei smiled and seemed to take a moment to compose her thoughts. "Still a bold guy. Whispering in my ear, inviting me back to your place, assuming I can still walk. All bold moves." she giggled. "Sure. If you can get me there, I'll go."
Izuku hummed in contemplation, though he sounded a bit like a broken air compressor. "Maybe I'll put you on a flatbed and just push you."
"There's a joke in there somewhere." Mei yawned. "We should probably start walking. Or pushing, in your case."
Izuku couldn't help but yawn back. He attempted to say "Yeah, let's go." but his voice gave out halfway through the first word.
After a few minutes of blearily rounding up the necessary items to take home (time would tell whether they had left anything important behind) they set off. As they passed the upper year support classrooms they ran into a couple of upperclassmen who seemed to be leaving as well.
"Whoa, you guys are still here?" the taller of the two boys inquired.
"Gotta get ready for the fezzival." Mei slurred.
"Aren't you first years?" the stranger incredulously inquired.
"Yes." Izuku rasped. "But we're…" he trailed off, both unsure of what he wanted to say and worried about his ability to say it.
"Too powerful-" Mei began, and paused, seemingly considering her words, "to be contained by tradition." she finished.
"Can taxis come to the gate?" Izuku whispered. "Mei's too sore to walk."
"Where are you headed?"
"Northeast Musutafu." Izuku replied.
"Is that it?" The boy cast his eyes to the ground in thought for a moment. "Hm. If it's in town and she really can't walk I guess I could just take you in one of the groundskeeping trucks." The boy waved off his companion who continued past them, presumably on his way home for the night.
"Izzat allowed?" Mei asked warily. "M'on probation."
"Academic." Izuku interjected at the older boy's look of concern. He really wished people would stop forcing him to speak.
"Should we tell him I just got out of sleepy jail?" Mei stage whispered. Izuku was wracked with puffs of silent laughter.
"Anyway…" the older boy continued, "if you're conducting UA business and you've got a license - which I do - you can check out one of the kei trucks." he informed them with a small measure of pride. "I think getting firsties who look like they've had four drinks home safely counts as UA business." he theorized with thin-lipped concern.
"No drinks, only dreams." Mei protested. She suddenly cocked her head and narrowed her eyes in thought. "I might be dehydrated."
Izuku immediately began searching for a vending machine while the older boy appeared to be both concerned and amused. "Let's get you home."
Their senpai introduced himself as Suzuki Shiro and ushered them out of the main building to a relatively unmanicured area on the outskirts of the campus. They were soon led to a large shed which contained more than two dozen kei trucks, most of which were positively ancient - Izuku thought some of them might be older than him and Mei put together.
"They're so cute." Mei whispered at the little mechanical workhorses they'd seen puttering along the sidewalks around campus. She grabbed her partner's sleeve and tugged it urgently while gesturing toward the trucks. "Izuku lookit the baaabies!"
Izuku nodded mechanically in agreement. Now that he knew he had a ride home some of his higher faculties seemed to be deserting him for the night.
"When you get to second year you'll have to start maintaining these things." Suzuki reported, eyeing his choices and then walking over to a locker and entering a code to reveal a cornucopia of keys.
"This is where the trucks sleep." Mei whispered seriously. "This is their sleepy jail." she declared, dissolving into giggles. Izuku squinted fondly at her.
"We're pretty sure the only reason they don't replace them with something more modern is that they want to make sure we get plenty of practice. Ah-" he paused suddenly as he approached his chosen truck. "Right, just two seats." He frowned as he looked back at the two partners. "And riding in the back is definitely illegal."
Izuku awoke to the sound of an unfamiliar voice calling his name and the feeling of something heavy and warm in his lap.
“Midoriya,” the voice repeated, “is this the right place?”
The exhausted young man maneuvered his head past Mei’s hair and squinted out the window of the tiny vehicle. Eventually he was able to resolve the small green space at the entrance of his apartment complex.
“Yeah.” His mouth formed the syllable but nothing came out. He closed his eyes, deciding that he had fulfilled his obligation by answering.
“Man, you’re fried. Are you even gonna remember which one is yours?” the voice muttered. Izuku thought the question may have been rhetorical but he wasn’t certain. He decided to wait and see. The voice suddenly changed location and a distinctly unwelcome light spilled through his eyelids. “Gotta wake her up now - unless you’re strong enough to lift her.”
Izuku groaned in response to the light and assigned his remaining brain cells to the task of parsing the onslaught of questions.
Where do I live? Izuku was pretty sure the answer to that one was a number and he’d know it when he saw it.
Can I lift Mei? He let out a small huff of amusement. His muscle mass would probably fit on the hundred yen menu at a fast food joint.
“Midoriya, are you with me?” the voice inquired, and to Izuku’s consternation the voice seemed to find the whole thing amusing.
Izuku scowled as much as his overused face muscles would allow. He had had a very Plus Ultra sort of day and he really had no patience for people doubting or criticizing him at the moment. He briefly reflected on the fact that he himself was people - a person - who was doubting him. Couldn’t he lift Mei?
It was perhaps a testament to the depth of his fanboyism that some of his remaining brain cells rallied to pose the question of what All Might would do in this situation. He thought back to the thing that had inspired him most - the video of the as-yet unknown All Might carrying multiple people out of harm’s way and going back for more, over and over.
The matter was settled.
Glossing right over the fact that they were not in any danger and that it would have been perfectly sensible to wake Mei up and ask her to walk the short distance inside, he opened his eyes, unbuckled his (and Mei's) seat belt, and maneuvered a foot onto the pavement. With some effort he wriggled out from under Mei and even managed to avoid falling over as he exited the tiny vehicle. Without giving himself or the amused-looking Suzuki time to question the plan, he wedged one hand behind Mei’s back and the other under her legs and heaved, trying to ensure that her head would land on his shoulder instead of lolling backward.
“-hofuck.” Izuku wheezed as his underutilized yet thoroughly exhausted string bean body threatened to buckle under the weight of an adolescent girl. Loud complaints were coming from muscle groups which he hadn’t even thought would be involved in the lifting process as he took urgent, shuffling steps toward his apartment. He was sure he was less than thirty seconds away from dropping her.
And because Izuku wasn’t finished being a dumbass, he realized that he had failed to get his house key out of his pocket.
Thankfully Suzuki had decided to follow him after he lifted Mei out of the truck. He had been reaching out to assist, reconsidering, recoiling, wringing his hands in concern and then starting the cycle anew. "Help." Izuku hissed, leveling an intense, plaintive stare at the older boy as he stood near the door and hoped that he didn't need to use any more breath to explain the problem. When Suzuki paused for a moment Izuku jerked his head downward and to the right to indicate which pocket held his salvation. "Keys." he croaked.
Suzuki scrambled to his beleaguered kouhai's side and gingerly reached into his pocket, finding the key and hurriedly unlocking the door. He swung the door open but did not precede the younger boy - he wasn't about to enter uninvited.
Izuku's arms quaked as he shuffled sideways through the narrow entryway toward the living room and the couch. This was the hardest, dumbest thing he'd ever done and he was so close to the finish line. Finally he dropped to one very wobbly knee and gently lowered her onto the little sofa they'd had for as long as he could remember, cradling her head until it met the armrest.
Izuku could only assume that his face was purple during that final maneuver.
When the dust had settled he was taking the quietest gulps of air he could, one hand still solidly pinned beneath Mei's upper back. He was pretty sure he could get the one under her legs free easily enough but he just wanted to rest for a moment before he tried to extricate himself. He laid his head on the edge of the couch, the spasmodic twitching of his burning muscles tapering off as his body began to relax.
He could feel the warmth of Mei's body against the top of his head. He hazily reflected that while it was odd smelling Mei and smelling home at the same time, it was by no means unpleasant.
The last things that slipped through Izuku's mind before it went blank were the clatter of his keys sliding across the entryway floor, the voice of Suzuki quietly bidding him goodnight, and the soft squelch of the door closing. The distant sound of a UA kei truck departing was lost on him as he slept with Mei in his arms for the first time.
Notes:
The rate of recidivism in people released from sleepy jail is astronomical.
Looking forward to your comments!
Chapter 6: Two Breakfasts and a Girl
Summary:
The morning after.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 6: Two Breakfasts and a Girl
Midoriya Inko woke to the sound of her front door opening. By the time she’d fully regained her senses she heard what sounded like a pair of keys hitting the floor and the door closing. The complete silence that followed struck her as odd. Surely Izuku would pick up the keys? He was a very good boy - not the type to leave a mess. He’d said he would be home late but she really hadn’t expected his work to last beyond nine or so. That was around the time she remembered getting in bed. She checked the time and was shocked to find that it was nearly one in the morning! The trains would have stopped running hours ago!
She quickly roused herself to check on Izuku and ask him what had kept him at school so late. She smiled as she wondered if his new partner might have had something to do with him losing track of time.
The sight that greeted her in the living room was unexpected, confusing, and upon closer inspection, adorable. When you’re right, you’re right, she mused. She silently approached the beautiful tableau and tried to take it all in.
The girl on the couch could only be Hatsume Mei. Inko would bet quite a bit of money that behind the girl’s eyelids were the gold crosshair-patterned irises her son had described with red-cheeked excitement. Izuku’s left arm was pinned beneath his new friend’s back and his right was resting underneath her legs which were slowly settling into place. Did he carry her inside? Izuku's head was butted up against the girl's side and his face was pressed into the couch. Inko couldn't imagine it was easy for him to breathe, yet he made no move to alleviate the issue.
Neither of them had even removed their shoes.
She covered her mouth and silently laughed at the spectacle. After retrieving Izuku's keys and locking the door she naturally snapped a few pictures - it was the most scrapbookable thing she’d ever seen.
Still smiling at the wonderful, hopeful scene that now graced her living room, she set out in search of a blanket for the two and a pillow for Izuku. As adorable as Izuku's pose of supplication was, she wasn’t sure if he’d consider the back and neck pain in the morning to be worth the price.
Inko created a ramp out of two pillows next to Izuku and began gently pulling his arm out from under Hatsume’s back. The girl unconsciously wriggled against the interference, unwittingly helping the process along. With both arms freed she eased Izuku onto the pillows and then slowly removed the bottom one. Finally he was in a position which didn’t promise pain in the morning.
Standing at the kids’ feet and preparing to throw a blanket onto them in the stealthy way that mothers sometimes did, she noticed the bruises on Hatsume’s legs. Now she could see why Izuku would have carried her.
The fact that Izuku could carry the girl at all was hard to fathom. He was getting so big now - her little boy was nearly a man. As she peered down at him she could see flashes of the tiny thing he used to be, curled up on that very same couch without even eclipsing one of its cushions. It had been so many years since she’d been able to pick him up and she missed the feeling dearly. She was glad to think that he might have a way to experience it for himself now.
Bursting with happiness for her Izuku, she threw the blanket and held the nearest edges so that it settled onto the slumbering teens just right.
In the silent gloom of a cozy two-bedroom apartment not far from UA, two indistinct lumps recovered from a very busy day.
For the first time in several hours one of the lumps broke the silence. "Izuku." the higher of the two lumps whispered into the darkness.
The young man in question did not stir.
"Izuku." Mei whispered a bit more forcefully.
At this the lower of the two lumps awoke. It didn't move, but it did speak. "Mei?" the lump rasped.
The higher lump shifted on its perch. "Are you on the floor?" Mei inquired with confusion.
"Apparently." Izuku observed, though less than half of the word actually came out.
"Oh. Well… I have to pee, and I'm really thirsty."
"Oh." He attempted to tell her that the bathroom was at the end of the hall but quickly realized that his voice was cutting out too much to be intelligible.
There was a brief pause. "I can't see in the dark. It's part of my quirk."
"Oh." Izuku replied. That was very interesting and he hoped that he assimilated the information properly despite his exhaustion.
He hazily concluded that he couldn't just tell Mei where to go - his voice wasn't behaving and she'd probably bump into things even if she could hear him. He also knew that the living room light was very bright and he wasn't sure how Mei's quirk might react if he suddenly turned it on.
Some of the brain cells that had recovered during Izuku's short rest had noted his needlessly heroic effort to get Mei inside without waking her. They were impressed with the All Might fanboy brain cells' bravado, though they did feel that the "carry Mei inside" plan was severely lacking in the area of self-preservation. Based on these observations, this second night shift of brain cells suggested a course of action that was bold but less likely to lead to injury.
Izuku sat up, the blanket clinging to his torso and exposing one of Mei's shoulders as he moved. He lifted the blanket further to reveal her arm and a hand which he gently took with his own. He rose to his feet and stood in such a way that Mei wouldn't be able to bump into the coffee table when she joined him. He watched her shadowy form as she kicked off the blanket, cautiously swung her feet onto the floor, and attempted to stand.
Mei gasped and squeezed his hand almost painfully hard. "Holy shit everything hurts." she hissed in shocked amusement as she wobbled in place, her legs threatening to strike until their working conditions improved. He quickly moved to support her, nudging his pillow aside with his foot and leading Mei with small, shuffling steps toward the bathroom as she moaned pitifully with pain. "Is this what exercise is like every time? Why would anyone do this?" she whispered.
Izuku expelled a few puffs of silent laughter that ended up somewhere in Mei's hair. He paused at the door frame, pivoting her around his hip slightly so that he could reach the light switch. "Light?" he rasped. He saw the vague shape of her head nodding in the darkness. He switched the light on and swore he could hear faint clicks from Mei's head as she blinked and squinted at the newly-illuminated bathroom. After giving her a moment to get used to it he shuffled through the door sideways and deposited her on the toilet lid.
"Help?" he asked with trepidation.
Mei cringed and let out a short, pained groan. "Too kinky." She took a quick inventory of her surroundings and motioned for him to go. "I'll figure it out."
Izuku left her, closing the door behind him. He walked softly to the kitchen, willing himself to block out any sounds from the bathroom short of a plea for help. He drew a glass of water and then another, chugging half of the second glass before putting it down. He made a conscious decision not to check the time lest he make himself too anxious to sleep. The tired young man returned to the living room where he sat the full glass on the coffee table for Mei.
He heard the bathroom door open and turned to find Mei leaning against the frame, blinking blearily in his direction. He quickly returned to her side and wrapped an arm around her, trying to take as much of her weight as he could while they shuffled back to the couch. After he sat her down and pressed the glass of water into her hands he immediately returned to the bathroom and rummaged through the medicine cabinet for low-grade painkillers. He turned off the light and returned to Mei, the slight rattle of the bottled pills heralding his approach.
"Painkillers." he whispered, grasping her empty hand and depositing two pills in her palm.
She gave a small grunt of gratitude and tossed the pills back, washing them down with the water. She blinked a few times at nothing in particular and then cautiously held the glass out as though offering it to the coffee table. Izuku took the glass and she cocked her head in response.
"You can really see me?" she wondered aloud as he deposited the glass on the table. Before Izuku could answer, Mei held her arms out and made what he could only describe as "grabby hands" in his general direction. If it had been just one hand he would have reached out and taken it to reassure her that he was still there, but two hands… a hug? He smiled to himself in the dark and moved in to oblige her. He didn't think there was much he would deny Mei, and a hug certainly wasn't something he would protest. Moments like this made it almost seem like Mei appreciated the way he cared for her. His smile fell as he wondered whether he'd wake up soon and discover that this was a dream.
The dreamlike quality of the moment ratcheted up several notches when Mei grabbed him and heaved herself backward onto the couch, hauling Izuku down with her. "Gotcha!" she whispered playfully. "You don't have to sleep on the floor." she murmured into his hair. "You can be my little spoon." she giggled.
Izuku was deeply confused and pleasantly disoriented. Based on prior experience, his whole body should have been on fire with panic. Instead he was comfortably submerged in the sensory experience of Mei. He could feel the weight of her arm wrapped around him as she gently squeezed him closer, her hair tickling his face. He could feel the rise and fall of her chest and her breath whispering over the crown of his head. His own breaths brought him a fresh dose of her scent, and if it had been intoxicating that morning - had that really been less than 24 hours ago? - now it was like his brain had been fully replaced by Essence of Mei. His newly-emptied head felt appropriately light but his eyelids were heavy as the warmth and softness of Mei's body sapped his will to think.
If someone had asked him yesterday whether he'd be able to get a wink of sleep in a girl's arms he would have said no, citing his extraordinary ability to spiral in self-doubt and his lack of trust in others.
Lost in Mei's embrace, Izuku was asleep in seconds.
Izuku awoke to the smell of breakfast. Eyes still shut, he furrowed his brow in confusion and inhaled purposefully through his nose. Two kinds of breakfast? On a Saturday? Normally Sunday was the day for auspicious breakfasts in the Midoriya household, but at that moment he swore he could smell miso and pancakes of all things. He inhaled again and his eyes flew open.
Miso and pancakes and Mei.
Before his eyes had even focused he registered a few locks of pink hair tumbling over his shoulder and a slender but toned arm curled protectively around him. Mei had held him while he slept.
He didn't have much time to appreciate his circumstances before he noticed his mother standing beside the dining table and staring at him, fists curled under her chin with barely-contained excitement. Her grin was the widest he'd ever seen it, and she seemed to be making a conscious effort not to show her teeth. She was positively vibrating with 'doting mom' energy and using her quirk to levitate a plate of pancakes near his head like improvised smelling salts. He lifted a hand and offered her a tentative little wave.
He'd brought a girl home in the middle of the night, slept with her, and did not appear to be in trouble.
An uninformed bystander might conclude that Izuku's transgression was being rewarded with pancakes, but Izuku knew that breakfast was just the form that his mother's irrepressible hospitality instincts had taken - Mei was the cause of this feast, not him.
The pancakes floated back to Inko's hand and soon joined the others on the table.
Before Izuku was able to gather his thoughts, Mei began to stir. She stretched languidly, wincing slightly as she jostled her bruised legs against his. He shifted to give her more room and turned to face her with a mixture of affection and apprehension. After Mei's body finished its boot sequence her eyes fluttered open and she finally seemed to register Izuku's presence. "Hey." she said with a cheshire grin. Suddenly her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed. "Is there food?" she asked conspiratorially.
Izuku smiled and nodded wordlessly, all too happy to distract her from discussing their sleeping arrangement. He rose from the couch and took a moment to stretch himself, intending to offer Mei a hand when he finished. Apparently the combination of painkillers and the prospect of food was sufficient to get Mei moving under her own power, because when he opened his eyes after a ferocious yawn he found that she'd already gotten halfway to the table without him.
"Good morning, you two. It's nice to meet you, Hatsume. I wasn't sure what you like to eat for breakfast so I tried to cover my bases." Inko reported with a flush of pride, taking her accustomed seat at the table. Izuku noticed that she'd gone to even more effort than he thought - the pancakes had chocolate chips, the miso had tofu and seaweed, there were eggs, and she'd somehow even found time to pickle some cabbage. He wondered whether this was the most surreal way Mei had ever met someone. Somehow he doubted it.
"Thanks, Mamadoriya!" Mei said as she sat down. "You can call me Mei." She then set upon her pancakes with gusto, studiously ignoring the cabbage.
Izuku smiled as his mom insisted that Mei call her Inko - he wished he could be at ease with people the way Mei was. "Morning." he rasped in his mother's direction.
Inko's mood instantly shifted to concern. "What's wrong with your voice? Are you sick? Did something happen at school?"
Izuku gave Mei a pleading look.
"He lost it because we were singing too loud last night." Mei explained with a grin. "He's got some pipes - or he had some, before he wrecked them on all that catchy garbage music."
Izuku blushed crimson and Inko relaxed slightly. "Did you go to karaoke after school?" she wondered.
Mei laughed and Izuku had the grace to look embarrassed. "No, we were just jamming while we were making our baby."
Izuku froze and his life flashed before his eyes. He had never mentioned Mei's habit of referring to inventions as babies to his mother, whose eyebrows had begun to twitch. He had seconds to resolve the impending crisis and he barely had a voice with which to defend himself. Make every syllable count. "The Dodger." he rasped.
"Oh," Inko sighed with relief - thankfully she hadn't had enough time to work herself into a real panic. "How is it coming along?"
Mei opened her mouth to answer and then snapped it shut, staring straight through her pancakes without seeing them. "I don't remember." she realized. She looked to Izuku with concern only to find him squinting at his own pancakes and clearly finding no answers among them. He made a thoughtful noise and it came out heavily distorted by his ailing vocal cords.
Inko nudged a bowl of miso closer to her son. "See if it helps your throat, sweetie."
He nodded and took a sip of the warm broth. It felt good, so he took another. He felt like he'd slurped down about half a sentence worth of vitality, so he tried his luck. "We built it," he recalled, "then took it apart?" he offered hesitantly, his voice jumping in odd directions and breaking as the soup-induced fortitude was depleted.
Mei nodded slowly. "That sounds right, but I don't remember why we took it apart."
Izuku pensively sipped some more broth. "How are your legs?" he inquired.
The concern on Izuku's face was clear as he spoke, and Inko couldn't help but notice. "Oh, that's right!" she interjected. "I was going to ask what happened to them." She wrung her hands. "I saw the bruises." she said sympathetically, mirroring her son's look of concern.
"They're OK." Mei replied. "Casualty of the scientific process. We needed data so I took a dive, and then I took ten more."
"I hope you don't have to take any more dives before the Festival. You need time to heal up." Inko said apprehensively.
Mei frowned and prodded at her eggs thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess I'm screwed if I practice and screwed if I don't." She looked bleakly at Izuku who made a noise of concern. He reached for his phone and began to text her that they would make a plan to save her stamina, but then remembered that her phone had died last night. He wiggled his phone while pointing at Mei.
"Oh, right." Mei understood and fished her own phone from the pocket of her uniform. "This thing is super dead." She handed it to Izuku who took it off to his room to charge it.
"So, Mei, what's your favorite part of UA so far?" Inko inquired, her eyes glittering with interest.
"Izuku." Mei answered simply and without delay. Had she been paying attention to Inko instead of her food she might have noticed the older woman's borderline-predatory smile. "The work bays are really nice too, though, so I guess it's a tie. It's nice being able to see where all the tools are because I haven't lost them yet. I think I might buy some pegboard for home." she mused.
Izuku walked back into the room to find Mei finally getting to her soup and his mom grinning strangely.
"So, are you two going back today?" Inko inquired. "I know you said there was a lot to do."
"Oh yeah, we've gotta figure out what the hell we did last night." Mei nodded seriously.
"Do you think you'll be staying late again?" Inko inquired, and as Izuku sat down he had a feeling she was leading them somewhere.
"Probably." Mei said happily. "Maybe we'll set a reminder for 11:30 so I can catch the last train tonight. We probably can't rely on running into Kei Truck-sempai again."
"Suzuki." Izuku supplied, then frowned - she had a point. Last night had been a very special set of circumstances, but as harrowing as it was on paper he wouldn't have changed a single thing about it.
"Pretty sure it was a Daihatsu." Mei said with a doubtful glance at Izuku. He smiled fondly at Mei's priorities - she remembered the model of the truck that had carried them here but not the name of the person who'd driven it.
"Do you take the bullet train home, Mei?" Inko asked.
"Yup!" Mei replied with a grin. "I like trains, so I don't mind the long trip every day."
Izuku filed Mei's love of trains away for later. He rested his chin in his hand and idly wondered what model trains cost. He'd gotten the impression at some point that it was an expensive hobby. He was unaware that he was staring affectionately at Mei as he drifted.
"Oh, where do you live?" Inko inquired, absolutely having caught the way her son looked at the girl in question.
"Toyohashi." Mei declared around her last bite of eggs.
"Oh! Well it's no wonder you didn't go back last night, then. That would have been a long ride." she nodded sympathetically. "Expensive, too. I'm glad Izuku brought you over." She smiled warmly at Mei and took a sip of her tea.
Inko seemed almost painfully nonchalant when she spoke again, and now Izuku could see her plan being set in motion. "You know, you're welcome to stay here while you're preparing for the Festival as long as your family is OK with it. I think Izuku was planning to ask if you'd like to join us to watch the Festival highlights next week anyway." she said breezily as though she wasn't single-mindedly pursuing the clearest path to grandchildren.
Izuku's eyes widened in astonishment and flicked between the two women. He hadn't exactly felt like he was in control of the situation to begin with but Inko's sudden offer wasn't helping.
"Oh, there's nobody home anyway." Mei shrugged. "My dad's in Indonesia for the next few weeks. They got a bullet train like ten years ago and then didn't take care of it because they're idiots, so he's trying to unfu- uh, fix it for them."
Izuku couldn't help but laugh quietly at Mei's save. He was a little surprised that she even cared about swearing in front of his mom, but maybe she held parents in higher esteem than teachers. He frowned as he realized that with Mei's father away there was probably no one around to make Mei eat properly. Maybe there was something to his mom's plan.
It seemed that Inko had had the same thought, because her plotting had given way to genuine concern. "Oh, then please stay with us at least through the Festival. I can try to make sure you two have enough food to keep you going."
Mei looked to Izuku who managed to get over his shock quickly enough to smile and nod his agreement. "OK." she said, returning Izuku's smile.
Hatsume Mei was a simple girl. She liked things that were interesting and she had little patience for things that weren't. She liked food that was greasy or spicy and rarely encountered a vegetable on her own terms. She collected broken things because she intended to fix them, and she dreamed of a world in which every broken thing could be fixed.
She did not have many friends. In fact, before Izuku she'd had no friends her age at all for several years. She mostly didn't worry about that, but sometimes when it was late at night and the house was silent and her father had long since bade her goodnight via text message because he was over a thousand miles away, she was lonely. She would wish sometimes that she had someone to show her babies to - someone who would really appreciate them. Before Izuku she hadn't had that in a long time.
She remembered the awe in the other kids' faces when she'd first brought her tools to school and fixed broken things in her classroom. She remembered swelling with pride when the other kids started bringing her broken things from their own homes.
She remembered the confusion and desolation she'd felt when her teacher had noticed her efforts and confiscated her tools. Her first reaction was actually abject fear because those tools belonged to her father and he needed them. She had demanded that the teacher give them back, and when that hadn't gotten her anywhere she'd demanded to know why they would steal someone's tools. Taking someone's tools without asking was very disrespectful unless you lived with them and they could be reasonably sure you'd put them back when you were done with them. The teacher had told her that school was not the place for tools because they were dangerous. Mei had insisted that tools were only dangerous to stupid people, and she wasn't stupid. The teacher had argued that it didn't matter how smart Mei was because one of the other children could have hurt themselves. Many years later Mei would reflect that her teacher's argument had been too reductive - it probably wasn't so much about tools in school as it was the fact that it was a preschool.
The Hatsume family's tiniest toolbox was returned to Mei at the end of the school day and she didn't exactly accept it with grace. Instead she had told the teacher that she wanted to leave and find a school that would let her bring her tools. It was the first time she'd heard the term "support course" but not the first time that she had wanted to help make heroes stronger and faster. It was a rough day that culminated in a pivotal moment, as difficult days sometimes did. Her dedication to the arts of creation and mending only intensified from that day forward.
As one might expect of someone with a single-minded focus on engineering, Mei’s mind was almost never idle. The closest it got to idling was probably any time she was on a train. She had a deep appreciation for trains for several reasons. They were fast, which was always nice. They had been some of the first true marvels of engineering and had kept improving for four centuries, so there was a rich history to appreciate. On a more practical note, trains took her where she wanted to go. But her most personal connection to trains was the fact that they'd been keeping her little family fed for as long as she could remember.
Train journeys had a sort of meditative quality for Mei. On the rare occasions when she wasn’t running a sleep debt, she was present during train journeys in a way that she almost never was at home or at school. She listened to the faint hum of the train's electromagnets ghosting over the tracks and the muffled clunking of the mechanical linkages that held the carriages together. She noted the model of every carriage on which she embarked, and - whenever possible - the model of the locomotive that propelled it.
On an average day (which typically followed an unnecessarily late night), she was tired during her commute. On those occasions she was supremely comfortable just closing her eyes and drifting until she reached her stop.
Today was unusual because despite being on a train and despite her being very tired, her mind was racing. Her heart might have been racing a bit too. Her legs ached but she couldn’t help smiling a bit when she focused on the pain. She couldn’t protest any bruises that resulted from such an amazing day with Izuku.
Right now she was riding the bullet train back to Toyohashi to pick up a few changes of clothes and other supplies from home. She'd told Izuku to go ahead to the school and text her his findings so that they could resume work as soon as possible.
She had spent a lot of time thinking about Izuku since she met him. That itself was unusual - she rarely spared much thought for other people. Lately she was devoting just as much thought to Izuku as she was to her babies. It was surprisingly nice.
Holding Izuku had been much, much nicer than just thinking about him. Maybe that was why her heart was racing? She only wished she could have seen him in the dark. He was probably blushing up a storm. She grinned at the thought, disembarking the bullet train and making her way outside. Making Izuku blush was nice but she also really liked it when he smiled. The very first thing she saw today was Izuku's uncertain little smile. She thought it was cute. He smiled a lot, or he at least seemed to be smiling when she was around.
As she waited for the next streetcar outside the station she reflected on Mamadoriya's offer to let her stay with them until the Festival. Izuku had appeared to be on board with the idea, but she couldn't help wondering if it was genuine. She'd basically cuddled him last night without asking him. She closed her eyes and sighed as she recalled the feeling.
Mei was dimly aware that people found her to be intense in certain ways. Before last night she hadn't done any non-consensual cuddling since primary school, but it probably still counted as a faux pas. She did a lot of those, though in recent years she'd learned to avoid the more egregious ones to maintain the illusion of civility.
She hoped that she hadn't inspired any fear or disgust in Izuku last night. He was smart and cute and took good care of her instead of trying to call someone else to do it for him. She wanted to work on her babies and eat dinner and sing badly but loudly with him in the future, though she'd have to buy him something to help with his throat if they did that again.
She bit her lip and looked uncertainly at her freshly-charged phone. Then she took a breath and tried to probe Izuku's actual feelings about Inko's offer without sounding sad.
MechMaiden: so is it really OK to do a sleepover again tonight? If it is then I promise to do the consent thing before spooning you this time. Yesterday was really fun. can't wait to figure out WTF we accomplished.
Mei reviewed the unsent message bleakly. She was giving him the opportunity to say that he wasn't comfortable with her staying with them, or to just opt out of sleeping together - it was very likely that he would sleep in his own bedroom, especially since his mom would know she was there. Her frown deepened. She wished she could remember how she and Izuku had ended up on the couch and the floor respectively. She couldn't remember anything between Kei Truck Sleepy Jail and waking up in the middle of the night with a full bladder.
As she saw the tram approaching she sent the message and decided to accept the consequences, whatever they may be. She knew she would be better off getting an answer sooner - if he said no she could spend less time packing.
If she thought about it in practical terms maybe it would distract her from the clenching, falling sensation that had settled in her chest when she hit the send button.
Notes:
This was another tough chapter that took longer than I would have liked. The lead-in to the Sports Festival is kind of tricky, as is pacing. Inko's thirst for grandchildren is stronger than I'd anticipated. Looking forward to your comments!
Chapter 7: Checkpoint
Summary:
Mei gets her answer and the Sports Festival looms.
Notes:
As is becoming tradition, I meant to have this chapter out much sooner. Life has been demanding lately and it hasn't really let up yet. I decided I'd like to share this with you even if it's shorter than usual. I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to your comments as always.
Chapter Text
Chapter 7: Checkpoint
While Mei was waiting for Izuku's response, Izuku was finishing his shower. His first thought after he emerged was to check his messages to see if Mei had remembered anything.
What he found instead inspired a face-splitting grin. Mei wanted to spoon him again and she'd thought that yesterday was fun. As far as he was concerned, "fun" was an understatement. As long as he didn't return to the workshop to find their work utterly unsalvageable he was ready to call it the best day he'd ever had, followed by the best night.
"Best days" had been happening a lot lately. His life seemed so much better since he'd met Mei. He supposed he'd started at UA too, but Mei dominated his thoughts in a way that his classes didn't. He began composing a reply, conscious of the fact that she might be waiting.
ScrawlMight: Sorry, I was still in the shower! I consent to all past and future spoonings until further notice, though I'm not sure how my mom will feel about it. Yesterday was amazing!
Izuku looked at his unsent message and grappled with the question of how to tell Mei that he wanted her to stay with him without telling her just how much he wanted her to.
He blushed as he hit upon an idea. Was Mei right about him being a bold guy?
ScrawlMight: I consent to all past and future spoonings until further notice, though I'm not sure how my mom will feel about it. Yesterday was amazing! You should definitely stay with us again. Maybe I'll make us breakfast tomorrow. What do you like?
Mei was grinning like a fool and re-reading Izuku's reply for the seventh time when the public address system on the tram informed her that she'd reached her stop. A five minute walk brought her to her destination.
Many decades ago it was an auto repair shop specializing in electric conversions of old internal combustion vehicles. Her great grandfather had fought a losing battle for relevance and eventually conceded that there weren't many people left in Japan who loved an old vehicle enough to make it compatible with the modern world. In the end he shuttered the business and found a job at an engineering firm, though he kept his defunct garage and eventually turned it into the Hatsume family home. The Hatsume Motors sign still hung in their entryway as a reminder of his ambition. Mei's father had once delicately explained to her that Hatsumes had historically struggled with the concept of letting go.
Mei let herself in through what used to be a side door for staff - the glass storefront had been bricked over and insulated decades ago - and quietly announced that she was home. "Izuku wants to make me breakfast." she quietly reported as she passed through the living area with a smile.
Beyond the living area was a door that led to the facility's original two-bay garage. An old Datsun sat against the far wall like the treasured relic it was, immobile but immaculate. It had been taking up space for decades but there was no thought of letting it go - it was more like a non-ambulatory grandparent than a car at this point.
Above the Datsun and the pile of potential donor motors and gearboxes that had slowly grown throughout her childhood was Mei's room. It had once been a storage loft but she and her father had converted it when she was nine years old. There was a curtain that she could draw across the edge if she wanted privacy, a ladder which she used most days, and a hydraulic lift for getting large things up and down or getting around when she was sick.
The space itself had a bed with an electric blanket, several milk crates full of misplaced tools and miscellaneous parts, a few posters and crudely drawn "blueprints" from her childhood, roughly thirty percent of a motorcycle, and a scenic view of the Datsun that set such an unfair standard of beauty for every machine that came after it.
Mei climbed up to her room and began gathering a few changes of clothes. There wasn't much variety in Mei's wardrobe, nor did she have one in the literal sense. What she actually had was a rickety coat rack and a dresser whose top was covered in half-forgotten trays of screws and vials of various solvents. She followed her father's example when it came to clothing - find some things you like, buy several copies of each thing, and be done with it. She grabbed a pillowcase and stuffed all of her remaining school uniforms into it, along with underwear, sweatpants, and almost every clean tank top she had. She smiled as she grabbed the one article of clothing that would be far too large for the pillowcase - her jumpsuit. She had technically been issued one by UA but she was picky about workwear and felt doubtful that she would like the UA one better. She almost grabbed her night light but concluded that she'd be better off taking the one from the living room or the kitchen just in case she forgot it at Izuku's place.
She slung the pillowcase over one shoulder and the jumpsuit over the other in a token effort to keep any dirt or grime which might have clung to the jumpsuit from soiling the pillowcase or her fresh clothes. As she went to descend the ladder she realized that she couldn't climb with only one hand and with the legs of the jumpsuit dangling where they might tangle with her actual legs. Impatient, she threw the jumpsuit over the edge toward a less-traveled patch of floor and descended the ladder with the edge of the pillowcase held in her teeth.
She stopped by the bathroom to grab a toothbrush and deodorant, which it suddenly occurred to her that she should reapply. The same realization led her to change into a fresh tank top, leaving the worn one next to the sink. She'd be back to handle it properly before her dad returned to complain about it.
As she passed through the living area she remembered that she still needed to reply to Izuku. She didn't want to keep him waiting - waiting had been difficult for her, so maybe it was difficult for him too. She rested her things on the floor and took out her phone. What did she want to eat with him tomorrow morning? It was strange to think that someone besides her dad wanted to spend time with her. She frowned and looked up from her phone.
"Do you think Izuku is just being nice?" Mei addressed the portrait of the pink-haired woman on the Butsudan, trying to feel some connection to her. The young woman stared at her departed mother and strained to hear her advice, which was ironic considering how often she ignored the advice of the living.
It didn't work. It never had. Mei had finally come to understand at some point that that was OK. She hadn't stopped trying to connect with the memory of her mother, but she had mostly stopped getting upset when she failed. She could get by on her own judgment. That was frequently her only option anyway.
"I think… even if he's being nice, he's being nice for the right reason. He didn't have to help me with the Sports Festival, but he wanted to. I think he's just nice." she nodded to herself, smiling softly. "He wants to make me breakfast." she murmured once more in wonderment, her cheeks pinkening. She looked at the portrait and wondered if her mother would be happy for her. "Please watch over Dad. No big earthquakes while he's gone." Mei requested. "Maybe he'll take a break when he gets home." she added, fingering the key to the Datsun. It sat on the shelf below her mother next to a photo of her paternal grandparents. Someday.
She ripped the living room night light out of its socket and added it to the pillowcase. Mei was as ready as she could be.
On the tram she resolved to respond to Izuku - she'd kept him waiting entirely too long. That didn't mean she actually had an answer to his question. She decided to deflect in order to buy time. It helped that there were genuinely more important things going on.
MechMaiden: I'm not sure what I'd want. everything your mom made today was good. did you get back to the workshop yet? does it look fucked?
His reply came almost immediately.
ScrawlMight: Almost there. There's a lot going on. It looks like there's a checkpoint set up with a guy issuing hardhats. People are hauling things across campus. There's heavy machinery on the sidewalks. It has to be for the festival
Mei was intrigued. She'd never pass up the opportunity to admire heavy machinery, and the urge to simply watch the preparations was nearly overwhelming. She looked up at the slowly passing businesses and houses and willed the tram to go faster - only the bullet train would be able to match her sense of urgency.
MechMaiden: take pictures!
ScrawlMight: The person at the checkpoint made it clear that pictures are not allowed today. I'm worried that we might have limited access to potential testing areas.
MechMaiden: fuck
ScrawlMight: Fuck indeed. I feel stupid for not realizing this could happen. It makes sense that they would do a lot of prep work over the weekend to minimize disruptions to regular classes. I'll try to ask around and figure out where we can go after I get back to the workshop.
Mei nodded to herself as she read his last message - Izuku seemed to be level-headed in a crisis. Maybe with him on the case she wouldn't have to argue with any teachers or whoever was in charge of the preparations.
She was just settling into her seat on the bullet train that would carry her to Musutafu (an N9000 locomotive and the second-to-newest model carriage, she noted) when her phone trilled several times.
ScrawlMight: I remember now. We're still on track!
ScrawlMight: *picture* *picture* *picture*
Izuku had sent a couple of pictures of the bay 4 workbench and the patch of floor where Mei had been working, but the true revelation was the picture of the metal printer.
That - Mei finally remembered - was the pivotal moment last night. She had discovered that she hadn't left herself enough clearance for the installation of certain components inside the chassis, so she and Izuku quickly cranked out a new design and sent it to the printer. After that they returned to bay 4 where she practiced assembly of certain components to make the final build go faster while Izuku refined his program and trained the repurposed self-driving model for better threat detection.
Mei sent a GIF expressing triumph to Izuku and began scrutinizing the workbench and floor images more closely to ensure that everything was accounted for. For the next ten minutes she attempted to assemble the Dodger in her head from start to finish. She found every piece she needed either in the photos or in her mental catalog of the workshop's inventory. Just to be on the safe side she asked Izuku to attempt to fetch some of the items from the workshop.
ScrawlMight: OK, I've got everything. I also got some answers. Ground Beta is off-limits, and there are equipment convoys going from there to the stadium at regular intervals that no one is allowed near. Grounds Omega and Gamma are closed so that the people who staff them can help with the festival. I asked about other testing areas and they mentioned the USJ and a bomb range?? I guess the support course has a bomb range??
ScrawlMight: I'm getting the impression that the business and general course upper years are the footsoldiers of the festival prep team. Pretty sure they're the ones at all the checkpoints. I heard Power Loader's name a couple of times on the walk in so I think he might be in charge today.
That was interesting. Mei hadn't given much thought to which members of the UA staff would have key roles in the Sports Festival. It made some sense that support course teachers would spearhead the preparations.
MechMaiden: nice scouting. I should be there in less than 30 min
She closed her eyes and spent the rest of the ride drifting until her stop, though it seemed that Izuku's shy little smile was now imprinted on the inside of her eyelids. She didn't mind it at all.
Chapter 8: The Tragic Adventures of Fukotaro
Summary:
Senpai has noticed Mei. (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist the pun.)
Mei and Izuku receive assistance from the third years as they take the Artful Dodger on its maiden voyage. Meanwhile Kenranzaki rekindles an old flame.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Just as Izuku had warned, Mei was greeted at the gate by two older students sitting at a folding table which held a tablet computer, several stacks of hardhats, and a few boxes of colorful cloth.
The girl who was sitting behind the boxes addressed Mei as she approached. "Name?"
"Hatsume Mei."
The boy seated at the computer typed her name, then looked to his cohort.
"And what are you doing today? Academics, festival prep team, or preparing to compete?" the girl briskly inquired as she handed Mei a hardhat.
"Preparing to compete." Mei reported with a grin, fumbling with her pillowcase full of clothes to accept the protective headgear. The boy prodded his screen once and then looked to his partner again.
"OK, you'll need to keep the hat on any time you're outdoors today and in any indoor space that requires it. And you need…" she reached into one of the boxes. "Green." She handed a green bandana with a repeating pattern of a stylized white fist to Mei. "If anyone with a yellow bandana tells you to stop or move today, you need to comply for safety reasons. Yellow is the festival prep team, and yellow with silver stripes means they're a Prep Captain. No photography is allowed today." She quickly examined Mei from head to toe. "Can you fly?"
"Nope." Mei replied, "Just these." She gestured at her eyes.
The girl examined Mei's eyes intently. "Any vision outside the visible spectrum?"
"Nope. Just optical zoom."
"OK then, good luck and be safe!" With that she waved Mei through the gate.
Mei stopped to put the pillowcase back in her mouth so she could impatiently stuff the bandana partway down the front of her shirt. Behind her she heard the boy speak quietly to his companion. "Support course first year?" he wondered.
"Huh." The girl commented. "Never seen that before."
Mei just smiled again around her mouthful of fabric.
As she walked through the main building and onto the covered path to the support wing she observed the activity around her with excitement. The main building had been fairly quiet, but outside she spotted a train of forklifts passing by. They were carrying mystery pallets shrouded in black cellu-lastic. The train was led by two students on foot with yellow bandanas on their arms. She slowed her pace long enough to see that another pair of students on foot formed the caboose.
The support wing itself was also quite lively. Mei heard music, machinery, and laughter spilling out of some of the classrooms. She walked into their homeroom and found it deserted. She assumed that Izuku was in bay 4 and began making her way there, but as she passed the one third year classroom that happened to have its door propped open she saw a familiar face. It would have been more familiar had it not been painted in an even stranger way than it usually was, but there was still no mistaking it. Mei paused for a better look and Kenranzaki noticed her almost immediately.
"Hatsume!" the older girl cried in pleasant surprise, beckoning her inside. "Are you helping with the festival? Did Power Loader tell you that digging is good for the soul?"
Mei entered the room and took the chance to rest her things on a nearby desk.
"Doesn't he say that to everyone, though? Like, year round?" another girl - willowy with batlike heteromorphic features and presumably Kenranzaki's classmate - inquired. Mei's eyes were drawn to the girl's membranous wings and large, upright fuzzy ears. Knowing that a lot of heteromorphs had to deal with people staring she forced herself to look back at Kenranzaki, which wasn't exactly a bad tradeoff as far as interesting sights went.
"I don't blame him for it." Kenranzaki clarified with a shrug. Her makeup was incredibly unique - she had painted circles cut into alternating quadrants of black and yellow on her cheeks. "Digging is his thing, so maybe it's good for his soul."
"I think he's right." A boy who had been operating a grinder in the corner declared, raising his voice to be heard over the noise of the machine.
"So you're competing!" Kenranzaki declared, gesturing at the younger girl's bandana. Mei noticed that the other two students wore green as well. "What are you making?"
There was a click and the noise of the grinder quickly dissipated. The boy who'd been using it walked over to Kenranzaki and offered her the object he'd been working on. It appeared to be the head of a shovel.
"We're making an intelligent dodging harness, a net gun, and a grappling hook." Mei reported with pride as the older girl carefully fingered the edge of the shovel.
"We? Are you and Midoriya a team?" she asked excitedly.
"Yeah. He's programming the dodging harness. He re-trained an autonomous driving model for combat." Mei gushed. "He's really good." she added, perhaps unnecessarily. Still, she wanted to make sure that people knew.
"Ooh, interesting." Kenranzaki declared. "And very ambitious, but I think you always are, aren't you?" Mei swelled under the older girl's praise. "We've made a technical garment and a few general-purpose tools, nothing special. We're not expecting to win." she reported with a shrug and an easy smile.
"You made the kimono, and the rest of us are just trying to make sure it gets across the finish line with you in it." the batlike girl argued. The boy who'd made the shovel nodded in agreement.
Kenranzaki favored her classmates with a smile. "You're all too sweet." She shook her head fondly and returned her attention to Mei. "Schoeller released an updated version of that amazing Mericarbon stuff that Jeanist is using so I decided to make a tactical kimono." she explained briefly, showing Mei a drawing of the garment. "A lot of people try to get into the top sixteen in their second year with something they make toward the end of their first, but for third year there's kind of a tradition of just having fun with it." She lightly prodded one of her bicolored stylized dimples. "It's also tradition to do the crash test dummy look when you're just competing for fun or supporting someone who's trying to get a combat item into the second round. Like we're just mannequins who were made to test the machinery, you know?"
Mei understood and thought it was both clever and funny, though she didn't know what to say about it so she simply nodded.
"Anyway, I'm practicing the circles. For the real deal I'm going to use a ton of highlight so that I look a bit metallic, and I'll do a cupid's bow lip with the same pattern as the cheek because of course, but this is the gist of it." She picked up a compact mirror and inspected the circle she'd just finished drawing. "I kind of wish I was just a slab of metal so I could crank out a stencil and then do two puffs of spray paint, but I'll survive."
Mei's phone trilled, returning her attention to the fact Izuku was expecting her.
ScrawlMight: Is everything OK? I figured you'd be here by now. Is there a line at the gate? I should have asked for a schedule so we could plan around people better.
"I need to get to Izuku." Mei announced. "We still have a lot to do."
Kenranzaki grinned when she heard the boy's name. "Is that Midoriya? Are you on a first-name basis now?" she teased.
"His mom made me breakfast this morning." Mei replied with a cheeky grin of her own as she picked up her things.
Kenranzaki's eyebrows - or at least the part of her face she'd designated as eyebrow territory with pencil - shot up in surprise. "Wow, good for you. He seems like a nice guy."
"Yup." Mei agreed, waving her goodbyes. She had one foot out the door before realizing that she had nearly walked away from some friendly upperclassmen without asking where they should do their testing. "Wait! We need a place to test stuff later today." She put the jumpsuit down again to retrieve her phone. "He said… USJ or the bomb range. Which one should we use, and where is the bomb range?"
"Start on the bomb range." The boy quickly suggested.
Kenranzaki nodded in agreement. "It's next to Ground Gamma. Do stress testing on the bomb range, and then when you're sure it's safe you can bring it all to the USJ and try to find a place to practice." she said. She looked thoughtful for a moment and then frowned. "A harness, a net gun, and a grapple launcher… please let me know when you're ready to start testing. The range captain will probably have too much on his plate to help first-timers. It's the least I can do after the other day." She smiled apologetically and held out her phone so that Mei could scan it for her contact info.
Mei thanked her for the information and bade the third years goodbye, finally making her way to bay 4 and Izuku. "The girl who wears a lot of makeup wants to help us with testing." she informed him as she strode in and deposited her things on the edge of the workbench, scooting some of the neatly arranged components and tools out of the way.
"Oh, good, you're here." Izuku visibly sagged with relief. "I was getting worried." he rasped. "So you ran into Kenranzaki?"
"Yeah, sorry I took so long. She was telling me about Festival stuff." She stepped into his personal bubble to hear him better.
"Then I'm glad you talked to her. The less time we spend figuring out how things work the more time we can spend on the equipment." He smiled as he gestured to the revised chassis. "Are you ready to build this thing, hopefully for the last time?" he whispered.
"That depends. Do you have more soulless earworms for me to groove to while I do it?"
"I'll stop playing them when you stop dancing." Izuku assured her with a cheeky grin.
Shortly after lunch - Izuku had discovered that the cafeteria was still running and gently persuaded Mei to eat in order to keep her stamina up - Mei messaged Kenranzaki and informed her that their equipment was ready for testing. The net gun actually lacked a net, but they could at least test the ballistics in the meantime.
No one had worn the Artful Dodger yet - Izuku insisted that they put a test dummy in it first and Kenranzaki had wholeheartedly agreed. The older girl had asked the boy who had made the shovel - she'd introduced him as Saito - to fetch a vehicle to get them to the bomb range while she took them to the storage area to show them where the test dummies and shock sensors were.
Much to Mei's delight Saito arrived in a kei truck pulling a small trailer. Kenranzaki quickly directed the younger duo to put their equipment and the test dummy into the trailer and then ride alongside it - apparently this was allowed as long as you kept below a certain speed and did not venture off-campus.
The ride to the bomb range was surprisingly long, even considering the sedate pace at which Saito was driving. Even disregarding the multiple stops they made at the behest of yellow armbands accompanying forklifts and construction equipment, the trip was a testament to the size of UA's campus. Izuku had known that some of UA's training grounds were the size of small cities, but watching it all go past him was different from simply knowing.
Eventually they reached the entrance to Ground Gamma which was clearly closed. Saito didn't hesitate as he drove right up to the gate and then turned, following the perimeter of the massive industrial complex. They eventually reached a bridge over a canal. On the far side of the bridge they came upon the shortest building Izuku had ever seen. After a few seconds he realized that that was because he wasn't seeing most of the building - it was mostly underground. It had to be some kind of observation bunker.
About twenty meters from the visible portion of the bunker there was a wall behind which Saito parked. There were a couple of other students with green bandanas behind the wall loading equipment into a kei truck of their own.
A short girl with jet black hair peeking from beneath her hardhat waved to them as they piled out of the truck and trailer. She wore a support department jumpsuit and a green bandana. "Hey Saito, 'Zaki. I thought your stuff was all textile and metal fab this year." Her tone indicated confusion. "Are you already blowing it up for catharsis?"
"It's Midoriya and Hatsume's first time on the range, so we're going to help them out." Kenranzaki replied.
"Oh, are you the first years?" she inquired excitedly, addressing Mei and Izuku directly. "Suzuki told me he took you two home last night."
"Yup." Mei replied. Izuku merely nodded and made a mental note to thank Suzuki since he wasn't sure he'd been coherent enough to do it last night. It was odd to think that it had only been last night - it felt like so much had happened since he'd seen the boy.
"He also said you're stronger than you look." the girl teased, nodding in Izuku's direction. Izuku blushed crimson and Mei looked between the two in confusion.
"Who's the range captain today?" Kenranzaki asked.
"Yoshida, and he's a bit salty about it. I think he wanted to be assigned to the USJ instead."
"I mean, I guess I don't blame him." Saito allowed. "But the shiny stuff always gets a cushier control room. Shiny stuff gets more grant money, and the USJ is shiny as hell."
"Yeah, it's probably hard to get politicians excited about a literal hole in the ground, huh?" Kenranzaki joked. "I'm sure he'll brighten up when he sees me. I have that effect on everyone, right?" she smiled cheekily.
The dark-haired girl shook her head in amusement. "You're crazy."
"Why do you think I go so hard on my makeup every day? I want people to know the instant they meet me that I'm insane." She held her head high as she made this declaration, her smile wide and impish.
"We do." Saito agreed fondly.
"Anyway, I think his real beef is that it's cramped and he has to share." the dark-haired girl elaborated. "If it's just the four of you it should be fine though."
"Hopefully we won't be here long." Mei interjected. "We just need to make sure our stuff doesn't kill the user or explode. Then we'll go to the USJ."
"Kill or maim." Izuku rasped, amending Mei's statement.
"Right." Mei agreed.
"Well good luck with that." the girl replied, noticing that her companion had finished tying down the tarp over their equipment and was waiting for her. "I hope you place above some of the hero students!" She waved goodbye before settling into the driver's seat and departing.
As the four unloaded the equipment and walked around the wall, the two upperclassmen made their way toward a raised mound a short distance from the bunker. Mei pointed out the huge net that separated part of the bomb range from the canal and when they looked back toward the area where Kenranzaki and Saito had been heading there was no one there. After a moment of confusion they saw a staircase recessed into the center of the mound and made their way down.
From the end of the hallway they heard Kenranzaki's voice. "Hey, Yoshida. Have you turned into kimchi yet?"
"I feel more like that disgusting shark thing that Icelanders used to bury." a deep voice grumbled. "Kimchi is actually good. What can I do for you?"
Mei and Izuku made their way down the hall and into a small room where an absolutely massive boy was seated at a small desk overlooking a giant monitor displaying several surveillance feeds, some of which seemed to be in infrared. Izuku was surprised the boy had even fit through the door. He had to be at least two and a half meters tall with a broad, muscular build. It seemed likely that he had a mutation quirk of some sort. He was the first person Izuku or Mei had seen today who wore a yellow bandana with silver stripes - a prep captain, though his domain was narrow, both literally and figuratively. Mei did a double-take when she noticed that the cloth around his arm was actually two of the prep captain bandanas tied together just to handle the circumference of his bicep. She nudged Izuku and nodded toward the cloth, trusting that he would understand.
"We need to test a couple of ballistic delivery systems and an automated dodging harness. We brought a dummy but we need a way to string it up." Kenranzaki replied.
"Did you bring any truss with you?" Yoshida asked with trepidation.
"Nope." Kenranzaki reported with a wince.
Yoshida closed his eyes and sighed. "The storage room is so damn full. I don't fit."
Saito patted the large boy's shoulder. "I got it. I could use a hand putting it together when we get out there though." he said cajolingly.
"Yeah. Good excuse to go outside." Yoshida nodded.
Saito moved past the cramped observation room and down another hallway while Kenranzaki shepherded Mei and Izuku back outside, clearing the path for the massive Yoshida to follow.
A few minutes later Yoshida was serenely holding a four meter stick of truss over his head - "it really is lighter than it looks" - while Hatsume and Kenranzaki bolted it onto the two pieces that Saito had fetched from storage to function as uprights. Some very long bolts had secured the upright truss sections to a small concrete pad a short distance from the bunker.
Izuku had been ready to help but Saito had pointed out that the girls were wearing better shoes for the job of climbing the uprights - apparently Mei's boots were steel-toed in spite of their svelte appearance, and Kenranzaki's more garish boots were rigid enough to make her an obvious choice for the job as well. Izuku was still wearing his red sneakers. He felt a new sense of urgency regarding the search for quirkless-compatible steel toes - he knew that the school had a curated list of discounted boots that he could order but he hadn't been ready to face the possibility that none of the boots would be compatible with his body. Now he couldn't put it off anymore. If there wasn't a model for him on UA's list then he'd just have to swallow his pride and ask his mom to pay full price for something else. He resolved to peruse the list the next time he had a moment alone.
Once the girls were finished building their very modern gallows, Yoshida tied the dummy to the center of the truss by a cleat recessed into the top of its head.
As soon as this was done, Kenranzaki cozied up to the dummy and took a selfie, taking care to pose so that the black and yellow circles were visible on both hers and the dummy's cheeks. "Thank you Fukotaro." She batted her prodigious lashes at the dummy and flirtatiously placed a hand on its chest. "It's always such a pleasure working with you."
"Misfortune-Taro." Mei snickered quietly. "That's great."
"I think this one is her favorite." Saito remarked quietly. "I recognize the char on its face from that fireproofing test in our first year."
Kenranzaki then placed a wet, smacking kiss on the dummy's cheek, patted it on the head, and turned to face the amused onlookers. "OK, he's got his good luck charm and he's ready for his briefing."
"I see you've escalated from chewing the scenery to kissing it, 'Zaki." Saito teased.
Mei and Izuku grabbed the harness and began to strap it onto Fukotaro. Soon the Artful Dodger was ready for its maiden journey.
"Well that was grim." Saito remarked as they watched the footage from the high-speed camera again.
Kenranzaki was poring over the data from the shock sensors with a frown while Izuku perused the manual for the actuators. "That was supposed to be the outer limit of the machine, right?" she wondered aloud.
"How bad was it?" Mei asked with trepidation.
"Well if Fukotaro survives the shock to his organs - which is iffy - he's definitely not going to be walking again. We broke his spine."
"His legs came off!" Saito cried, gesturing violently at the screen.
"They are designed to come off." Kenranzaki gently squeezed his shoulder in an effort to comfort him. After seeing the older girl give the dummy a kiss for luck, Mei thought it strange that she wasn't the one most disturbed by Fukotaro's mortal injuries.
"Got the power curve wrong." Izuku rasped without looking up from his laptop. "My mistake." He was already adjusting his code. Really it wasn't his mistake, there simply wasn't any documentation for the type of work he needed the machine to do. The components Mei was using were designed for torque, not power. They were still quite powerful but in retrospect the control library he'd found was probably written with torque in mind.
Yoshida just rested his head against the wall and tried to pretend that he was somewhere else.
"OK, are you ready?" Kenranzaki inquired with a nervous smile as she adjusted Mei's hardhat. The girl nodded slightly, mindful of her senpai's hands.
After a few tweaks to the firmware and several successful tests they had disassembled the truss gallows and laid the hastily-reconstructed Fukotaro to rest in the tiny trailer. They then lashed every available object that might provide cushioning to Mei's extremities and her rear. She had changed into her jumpsuit before they'd left the support wing, so there was no worry about dirtying her clothes - not that Izuku was the least bit worried about clothes at the moment. He was completely focused on ensuring that Mei didn't get hurt.
"Starting small." He whispered to her. "Limited to less than a meter."
Izuku triple-checked the limits he'd set in the program - any value that was destined to be sent to the actuators was checked and rejected if it exceeded the value which should correspond to sending Mei's mass plus the harness no more than eighty centimeters skyward. After sending Fukotaro on the same short hop several times and deriving the difference between the dummy's weight and Mei's Izuku was as satisfied as he could be. He flashed the new firmware to the Dodger one last time just in case he'd missed a step. Mei smiled rakishly at him as he unplugged from the data port on the Dodger and stood up.
Izuku gave his partner a shy smile and a thumbs-up and retreated to admire her from a safe distance. She was so brave. So incredible in so many ways.
They had found some balls of various sizes and densities in the storage room, and Izuku had suggested that the balls be the "attack" in the first tests. Saito had been elected to throw the ball - an inflatable rubber one that would have been used for dodgeball - because of his little league experience. After receiving a final nod from both Izuku and Mei he wound up and threw the ball at Mei's midsection. Mei tensed and with a loud crack she found herself jerked out of the ball's path and sailing sideways. The ball continued right through the space she'd occupied only a second ago. She tripped the instant she touched down, inexpertly rolling with her momentum and ending up on her hands and knees. She looked up at Izuku with unbridled joy. "That mostly worked!" she cried triumphantly.
Saito and Kenranzaki visibly sagged with relief while Izuku rushed to Mei's side to help her up.
"Now I just need to learn how to land. This is giving me ideas for a variably-textured outsole… if I could change the friction in midair to determine how much I slide, that could be a game-changer. They'd probably have to be platforms, though." she muttered. "There's no time." she shook the thought away. Returning to the matter at hand, she smiled giddily at Izuku. "This is really going to work." she said breathlessly, quivering with excitement.
Grabbing his laptop again, Izuku changed the hard limit in the program to 1.5 meters and plugged back into the Dodger. He favored Mei with a radiant smile as he waited for the new firmware to finish loading.
Mei's heart had already been revved up from adrenaline and exertion, but she was pretty sure it completely skipped a gear when Izuku looked up at her, close enough that she could smell his shampoo, and whispered "You're going to be amazing." He said it with such conviction and affection that she couldn't help but believe him.
Notes:
For those of you who are surprised at the amount of screen time Kenranzaki is getting: me too? I'm loving it though.
Also I'm now extremely worried that Mei is about to invent Heelys by accident. We don't need to rehash that 200 years later. Once was bad enough.
Chapter 9: How to Kill an Engineer
Summary:
Mei has been pulling several G's in her new dodging harness but somehow Izuku is the one who's feeling sick.
(nobody dies)
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
For the next hour Mei got accustomed to being jerked to and fro by her creation while Izuku gradually raised the operational ceiling of the Dodger to two meters.
Eventually Saito's arm was tired and Mei was satisfied enough with her landings that she asked Izuku if they could begin practicing intentional jumps.
"I guess it's electrode time again, huh?" Mei asked Izuku with a mischievous grin.
"Do you want some help getting them on?" Kenranzaki offered.
"Well…" Mei drew the word out while staring at Izuku, waiting for his inevitable blush to fully form. "Normally I outsource all my kinky electrode application to Izuku, but I think we're bonding, so sure." The two girls walked off toward the observation bunker, Kenranzaki tossing a theatrically scandalized look over her shoulder toward the boys.
Saito chuckled quietly at the retreating girls. "Hatsume seems like fun." he said, and while Izuku detected no innuendo in the remark he still felt the need to clear the air.
"She is," the younger boy rasped. "but she's kidding about the kinky stuff. I think she just likes to make me blush." Izuku rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"I think you're right." Saito agreed with a smile. They noticed Yoshida awkwardly make his way to the surface where he stretched and then resumed the task of looking awkward while waiting for the girls to finish. "So what's the plan for controlling manual jumps? I don't remember seeing an EEG halo or anything."
Izuku shook his head. "Reacting to muscle movement."
Saito hummed in understanding. "So how are you filtering noise from those muscle groups?" he wondered aloud. "Wouldn't muscle activity for a jump and something like a deadlift look really similar from the waist down?"
Izuku blinked in alarm while he processed Saito's observation. Then he wheezed out a curse, closed his eyes, and tilted his head skyward as though inviting some higher power to put him out of his misery. He took a few deep breaths and opened his eyes to stare listlessly at nothing. "I guess we need intent after all." he whispered dejectedly.
Mei and Kenranzaki were consulting the map of electrode locations Izuku had drawn when Mei's phone trilled. She retrieved it to find a message from Izuku.
ScrawlMight: I am a fool. Muscle activity alone could give us dangerous false positives. We can't just respond to muscle movement. We'll probably get more predictable jumps if we can gather EEG data of you jumping at various vectors. I know I said the brain interfaces that heroes use are hard to learn but if we just listened to your legs we'll never hear them ask for a height above your unaugmented maximum. I was planning on scaling that input onto the machine's operational ceiling but this will be better. Saito is taking me to pick up EEG equipment. Feel free to keep practicing while I'm gone. I'm sorry I didn't get it right the first time.
"Was that Midoriya?" the older girl asked. "What did he say?" Mei showed her the message. "Nobody gets it right the first time - not something this complex." she scoffed. "He's too hard on himself." She shook her head. "Or…" she drew the word out teasingly. "He just really cares what you think about him - doesn't want you to think he's not smart enough for you."
Mei furrowed her brow in confusion. "Izuku's smarter than me, though." she protested, then paused because she wasn't sure she'd ever said that about someone before.
"Well I don't think it has to be a contest," Kenranzaki argued, "but you could tell him he's definitely smart enough to be your partner."
"I think I told him." Mei said doubtfully. She tried to remember. She'd called him smart because - right, he was worried UA wouldn't keep him.
"Maybe you could tell him again so he won't worry." Kenranzaki suggested with a gentle smile. "It's harder to work when you're worried, and he'd feel better knowing you're not upset."
Mei hummed pensively at this. After a moment of consideration she responded.
MechMaiden: it's OK! Nothing is perfect the first time. I know you're smart enough to get it working
Meanwhile Saito and Izuku were driving as quickly as the rules allowed in the direction of the support wing. Seeing Mei's response, Izuku smiled widely.
If Saito noticed the glow about the younger boy out of the corner of his eye he made no comment - at least not in the moment. He might ask 'Zaki about the timing later.
Izuku's smile eventually faded as he considered the trajectory of his and Mei's day. "We still need to test the guns," he rasped. Saito nodded. "but we need EEG data for big jumps."
"True." Saito agreed.
"But we meant to get to the USJ today." Izuku hissed plaintively, clutching his head as Saito looked on in concern.
"You could have them test the grapple now to make sure it's safe, then bring it to the USJ for target practice. See if she can jump and shoot at the same time."
Izuku looked startled and intrigued by the suggestion. "Yeah, maybe." he whispered excitedly, beginning to compose another message.
"Izuku is asking if we can test the grapple launcher now so that we can go to the USJ for jumping and target practice." Mei reported. They were about halfway done with the electrodes.
Kenranzaki hummed in contemplation. "Testing space is going to be at a real premium there. Last year there was plenty of sparring going on outside, but I'm not sure you're ready for sparring. Have you had any martial arts training at all?"
"Nope!" Mei said cheekily. "I wasn't planning on getting hit." she reported with a shrug. "Or fighting fair." she added under her breath.
"Well I definitely don't recommend fighting fair in the Festival." the older girl said with a laugh. "I say the best way to win is to do something unexpected, especially when you're up against stronger opponents."
Mei looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wish I hadn't designed it mostly for lateral movement. If I hadn't then maybe I could tackle people if I run out of nets. I don't think people would expect that."
"You don't strike me as a tackler, and you've usually got to follow tackling up with grappling. That's another game I can't picture either of us winning."
Mei hummed noncommittally as she re-read Izuku's message. "I'll leave the grappling to the grapple gun. Let's make sure it doesn't explode."
"I'll grab some chalk and draw a target on the wall." Kenranzaki offered.
"We probably need a stick and some string, too." Mei mused. "Should we sit in the bunker for the first few shots?"
"Yes." Kenranzaki declared with an emphatic nod. "Maybe a vise instead of a stick, too."
If there was one thing Izuku hated, it was having to make a choice on short notice. Before him sat two different models of EEG halo from two different companies. Saito assured him that they were very, very similar.
It was a trap, really. If you wanted to kill an engineer you just had to give them two nearly equivalent options to research and wait for them to starve. If you wanted to kill a software developer you could usually set the same trap, though the process was slower. The starvation typically didn't happen until they'd coded about half of an alternative to the two existing choices and then failed to find any investors.
Thankfully Izuku was self-aware enough to recognize the danger. He tried to crush the urge to dive headfirst down the rabbit hole by appealing to the experience of someone he trusted. "Have you worked with either one before?" he whispered to Saito.
"No, but someone in my class worked with that one." he pointed to the one with the blue logo.
"What for?"
"Fly-by-wire for someone with a quirk that they were trying to adapt for propulsion."
"Any problems?"
"Hmm." Saito frowned thoughtfully. "They said the way the 'virtual appendage' function was designed was kind of getting in the way. They found a workaround though."
Izuku grabbed it. It would probably be good enough, and the clock was ticking.
He really, really hoped it would be good enough.
As they rigged their slapdash remote firing mechanism, Kenranzaki allowed her curiosity to get the best of her. "So you slept at Midoriya's house last night?"
"Yup." Mei replied with a smile, applying more tape.
"It's kind of hard to imagine him offering - he seems a bit shy. But you did say you outsource your kinky stuff to him, I guess." she muttered, suddenly embarrassed. "Did you two know each other before UA?"
"Nope." Mei said with amusement, though her hands soon faltered as she reflected on the strange notion that Izuku had been part of her life for less than a week. She tested the idea of going home to the empty Hatsume house and sleeping on her lofty perch and was shocked at how little it appealed to her. It was astonishing how quickly an old couch at her back and a boy held snugly against her chest had come to feel like… what, exactly? Table stakes? An axiom? Home, somehow?
It had only been one night but whenever her mind was quiet enough to recall it she desperately wanted to repeat it. "I'm actually going back tonight." she said nonchalantly. "His mom offered. Until the Festival." Kenranzaki looked surprised. "I live in Toyohashi and I missed the train." she elaborated.
"Ah." The older girl nodded. "Sounds like a nice family."
"His mom made pancakes." Mei recalled, then looked extremely worried. "I think I forgot her name. Shit."
Kenranzaki gently relieved the distracted girl of the roll of tape and continued building their questionable brace. "I bet it'll come to you."
Mei stared unseeingly at the ground. "Pretty sure it was two syllables." she muttered.
Izuku had tried to start reading the documentation for the halo as they drove back to the bomb range but he'd gotten surprisingly carsick for his efforts. He spent plenty of time reading on commuter trains, so it hadn't even occurred to him to worry about it. He moaned pitifully as he rested his head against the window, eyes closed to keep the lurching of the world at bay.
"If you think you're gonna lose it, please try to get the window down first." Saito gently requested.
Izuku groaned with renewed intensity at the thought.
"How did the grapple gun test go?" Saito inquired as he approached the girls.
Both girls pointed at a mark on the wall that was just at the edge of the bullseye they'd drawn.
"Where's Izuku?" Mei inquired as soon as she realized Saito was alone.
"He's catching his breath. He got carsick trying to read the manual for the halo."
Mei looked disturbed. "Is he OK?"
"I think he just needs a couple minutes on solid ground and he'll be fine." Saito assured her, then brandished the halo. "He said we could go ahead and get this hooked up."
Kenranzaki took the halo from Saito and took a step toward Mei, then paused and gave the younger girl an appraising look. "We need to do something with your hair." Mei looked concerned. "Not right this minute - for the Festival. You need your hair out of the way while you're running or fighting. Most people do French braids if they've got as much as you."
"What does that look like?" Mei asked suspiciously.
"Take this and I'll find a picture." the older girl replied as she gently placed the halo onto Mei's head. As Mei grabbed the contraption and shifted it to fit comfortably Kenranzaki typed something into her phone. After a few seconds she showed Mei the results of her search. It was a braid - that much she knew. It was more ornate than the one she knew how to do herself but it wasn't some overwrought nightmare that would make her feel lopsided. While she didn't necessarily trust the French she had to concede that it didn't look bad. "Do you know how to do that one?" Kenranzaki asked.
"Nope." Mei replied quietly, and though it wasn't the sort of thing that she put much stock in she found herself wishing that she could have given a different answer. If she couldn't braid hair then what else might people assume she couldn't do?
"I'll do it for you the day of the event, or I'm sure there will be other people offering. I've heard that a braid train usually forms in the holding area for the first event. I guess you'd be the locomotive." Kenranzaki declared with a warm smile.
"That is the best part of the train." Mei agreed.
"You'll look great. Not as stylish as me with the Meri-mono, but definitely more stylish than Saito." she said teasingly.
"Hurtful." Saito said flatly.
"Ah, but the more you and the others fade into the background, the brighter I shine. Isn't that the point?" Kenranzaki mused impishly.
"Am I really not stylish?" Saito inquired plaintively.
"You own cargo shorts. We've been over this." Kenranzaki said dismissively as she went behind Mei to adjust the fit of the halo.
"I have some cargo shorts." Mei reported in bemusement. "What's wrong with cargo shorts?" Saito gestured forcefully at Mei to underscore her question. "What if it's hot and you need to carry things?" Saito gestured even more wildly, clearly indicating that she had made his point.
"Cargo is more dramatic when people don't see it coming." Kenranzaki finished her adjustments and stepped back in front of Mei. "Watch me at the Festival." she looked the younger girl straight in the eyes with a predatory grin. "You'll see."
"OK." Mei agreed. She was definitely interested in what sort of tricks the older girl might literally have up her sleeve during the competition, but that interest was overshadowed by concern for her partner who had not yet reappeared. "I'm gonna check on Izuku." Leaving the upperclassmen behind, she made her way around the wall behind the bunker to find him in the passenger seat with his eyes closed. He had the door open, presumably to let the fresh air wash over him. Mei considered calling out to him but decided at the last moment to approach quietly - loud noises were never helpful when she felt sick. "Izuku?" she prompted him softly. He didn't react.
Izuku was asleep and Mei was conflicted.
On the one hand, there was still so much to do. On the other hand, they had already done so much. The last 24 hours had been a whirlwind, even by her standards. Even if he'd fallen asleep on purpose - and she doubted he had - it's not as though he could be blamed for it. She grabbed the manual off of his lap and quietly leafed through it.
Kenranzaki and Saito were engaged in quiet discussion when Hatsume reappeared, sans-partner. Instantly they were concerned. "Is he OK?" Saito asked apprehensively.
"I think he fell asleep and I'm not sure I should wake him up. We had a really late night." Mei explained. "The halo has internal recording, so we can set that up and-" she stopped. "We need him to send manual jump commands, don't we?" she frowned. There just wasn't enough time. She could have taken weeks to do the things she'd accomplished in the last two days, but UA just had to have its festival so early that the first years couldn't make a good showing - what was that about? And why were her legs aching? She let out a low groan of frustration - her stupid legs were sore because she'd done more exercise in the last two days than she had in the last two months, of course. "My legs hurt and I'm kinda hungry and there's not enough time." she sighed.
"I've got painkillers in my bag." Kenranzaki volunteered, nodding toward the wall and the truck. "I can try not to wake him up."
"Thank you." Mei mumbled, lying down and staring at the sky.
"I know it's an insane deadline but you're actually doing really well." Saito assured the supine girl. "If you keep going I think you can still be the only person to bring equipment from the first year support classes. Even if you don't get manual jumps working I think you could find ways to use that thing. Everybody runs out of steam some time. You shouldn't be too hard on yourselves."
"Izuku was being too hard on himself." Mei observed. "Kenranzaki said so."
"I bet he really wants you to do well." Saito shrugged. "And if he is beating himself up too much you can tell him to stop."
"You think he'd listen?" Mei asked doubtfully.
Saito opened his mouth to answer but paused. After a moment of contemplation he responded. "I think it depends on how you tell him."
Izuku woke up to the distant sound of a small electric motor. No, two motors.
Blinking at the surprising amount of light - he wasn't accustomed to waking up outside - he noticed a familiar face through the windshield. Kenranzaki was striding toward him. He couldn't remember what was going on. He examined the scenery. The gate was familiar. Ground Gamma. There were some vending machines under a little awning next to the gate - that seemed to be the point from which Kenranzaki was returning. Perhaps he'd heard the machines dispensing something.
"Hey, you're up." the older girl observed. "Here, I got you some coffee. It's the wimpy stuff, so even if you don't like coffee you should be able to choke it down." She handed him a can. He struggled to take it for a moment - it seemed that his fingers weren't awake yet. "I also got Hatsume some fruit leather and nuts to hold her over until dinner. I bet she'd share with you though." she teased, resting a couple cans of water on her seat and dumping the rest of the snack pile onto Izuku. He wasn't awake enough to blush, so he just smiled serenely and attempted to open the heavily attenuated coffee.
"I talked to Saito and he said he was pretty sure the manual jump setup would be quick. Is that right?" she inquired as she reclaimed the driver's seat, resting the cans between her legs since UA had not sprung for the optional cupholders.
"Yeah." Izuku agreed, his mind slowly spooling up again. "It's quick."
"So, set up the manual jump control and then hit the USJ?" she suggested.
"Yeah." he said with determination as she turned the little truck around and drove the way they'd come. He had a job to do - he could rest tonight. It suddenly occurred to him to wonder how exactly that rest would be happening. They had both mentioned future spooning. He flushed as he recalled being hauled onto the couch and then waking up in Mei's arms. Would things be different tonight, assuming they had their collective wits about them?
With its organic shape and teeming horde of students, the USJ reminded Izuku of an anthill. People were coming and going, impatiently waiting, or enthusiastically greeting friends all around him. Apparently there was a temporary bus route running there from the main building at regular intervals - a load of seven or eight people of varying ages with green armbands had just disembarked from one such bus as Saito parked the truck outside the facility next to a few others.
Kenranzaki and Saito led the group to the bottom of the steps where they found another folding table manned by another student with a yellow bandana. "The USJ is only open to those with Festival business today. Are all of you here to train?"
"No, just Hatsume - we're testing Hatsume's equipment."
"Hatsume…" the girl muttered as she typed. "Hatsume Mei, Class 1-H, huh? That's a new one."
"Yup." Mei replied.
"Haven't seen any other support first years yet. I'm guessing you'd like to avoid areas with other first years if possible?"
"Yes." Izuku whispered to Mei before she could really think about it.
"Uh, yes." she relayed his message.
"OK, you've got some options. I'm assuming you'd like solid ground that isn't on fire to practice on?"
Mei seemed taken aback by the question. Her eyes flicked to the ground and stayed there as she answered. "I should practice on both." She mumbled.
Izuku nodded in agreement.
"OK… right now I've got no first years in the downpour or landslide zones. You can find little patches of solid ground in the landslide. You might have to ask some upperclassmen to share. Or you can practice on the grid out here." She gestured to a massive grid painted on the ground next to the facility where students were sparring or testing equipment.
"If you're out here then dozens of people can see you, and some of them will be competition." Saito warned. "Support gear like yours will draw a lot of eyes."
"I don't think sparring is even a good idea yet, so let's talk about zones. Where do we go?" Kenranzaki asked Saito.
Saito rubbed his chin. "I'm thinking downpour. Landslide is too steep and uneven to be meaningful practice for the third round and there's not much time left in the day. Plus if she falls in the landslide she might keep falling for a while."
Kenranzaki considered the sky for a second. "This late in the day the landslide should be pretty stable - unless there was a reset at lunchtime?" she inquired, but the girl managing the entrance shook her head. "Right. Though I guess it still might be too steep for big jumps."
Had Izuku not been entirely focused on making sure he was heard by the third years, he might have noticed that Mei's eyes had become unfocused. He cleared his throat. "She has to get through the first round. First round always has terrain." he rasped.
"Let's go to the landslide zone." Mei decided, heeding his advice. "I need to learn to use the Dodger for more than just dodging."
Izuku was surprised at the grim determination on Mei's face.
Notes:
This chapter continued to challenge me. I hope that it was worth the wait. I would love to hear your comments as always. What would we do without Kenranzaki?
Chapter 10: Yeetin' at the USJ
Summary:
Mei gets sued by the estate of Johnny Knoxville and considers writing a manifesto. I'm only lying about one of those things and you don't know which one yet. Enjoy.
Notes:
This chapter took a lot of effort but I'm pleased with the results. As always I love reading your comments.
Chapter Text
As Kenranzaki had predicted, space was a hot commodity inside the USJ. This was especially evident in the central plaza which they were now passing through on their way to the landslide zone. Izuku saw a few people sparring in pairs or groups but they were vastly outnumbered by people waiting their turn to spar in the limited open space. Several of them were casting longing or withering looks at the fountain in the center - it was taking up a lot of real estate. As they passed closer to the fountain and Izuku was able to see the far side of it he was surprised to find that there was some plastic patio furniture and a boy sitting in the water. The boy wore a stopwatch, wading boots, and a yellow bandana. Apparently his watery post was part of the prep team's strategy to maximize the functional square footage of the plaza. People gathered around the edge of the fountain to lobby for their right to use the space while the boy sloshed his way from person to person to hear them out.
Soon they arrived at the landslide zone. They were greeted by a scale-covered, lizardlike girl (they were wearing the feminine uniform, anyway) who confirmed Mei's name and directed them to climb to a certain area. After the girl had finished her explanation, Kenranzaki asked how stable the suggested area was.
"Should be about as stable as it gets at this point." the scaly student replied. "We had a guy in here before lunch whose quirk makes sonic booms sometimes. He was working on his aim."
Mei took a deep breath and exhaled, smiling in secret relief at the news.
"Cool, you can really let loose then, huh?" Kenranzaki nudged Mei excitedly.
"Carefully." Izuku cautioned quietly. "Bigger jumps, not crazy ones."
Saito had turned to stare across the facility at the shipwreck zone. "Actually I might have an idea about that."
"She's gonna puncture it." Kenranzaki stated flatly.
"If I puncture it, would I have to replace it? How much do these things cost?" Mei inquired. Izuku was busy setting up EEG recording and preparing the program for manual jumps.
"They said they go through about 3 rafts per year on average." Saito reported. "So it's probably fine if we destroy one. And I think she'll only puncture it if she misses. Otherwise the pistons will just straddle it, right?" he said encouragingly, looking to Izuku for confirmation. Izuku was too engrossed in his work to notice.
The group was standing on the remains of a building which lay about 70 degrees from its original upright position. After asking around to ensure that it wouldn't be missed, Saito had retrieved an inflatable raft from the shipwreck zone. For the sake of convenience he'd chosen the self-inflating type, though they hadn't inflated it yet. Mei had begged to be the one to pull the cord and no one was going to protest. They'd set the raft in some dirt about 5 meters from the place where the building met the freshly-churned land.
"Ooh! I should stand on it while it inflates!" Mei exclaimed. "How bad would that be?"
"I don't think you can pull the cord if you're standing on top of it." Kenranzaki pointed out.
Mei's brow furrowed for a split-second, then she emphatically declared that it would be worth the tradeoff.
Saito tilted his head and looked at the raft appraisingly. "I kind of want to see that." he admitted.
"Midoriya, what would the Dodger do if Hatsume was thrown up in the air by something?" Kenranzaki asked.
"It should slow her down," he rasped. "As long as she's upright and not spinning." Mei grinned. Izuku flushed and averted his eyes from the sheer mischief in that grin. "Little test jumps first. Haven't tried uneven ground yet." He gestured to the recumbent building under their feet.
Saito retrieved the ball they'd brought along and threw it at Mei. It had barely left his hand when he realized his mistake. The Dodger worked just fine, accounting for the uneven terrain before it sent Mei sailing slightly uphill and out of the ball's path, then bringing Mei in for a landing that was only a bit more dramatic than usual. The problem was that the ball was now bouncing toward the plaza and picking up speed. Saito rushed to the nearest outcropping in panic and was about to shout a warning to the people in the plaza before he saw the massive retaining wall that they'd passed on the way up. Given that the area was specifically designed to simulate landslides it made perfect sense that there would be a barrier to catch falling debris.
"You forgot about the wall." Kenranzaki said matter-of-factly as she walked up next to him with a knowing smile.
"Yes." The word escaped Saito as a sigh of relief.
"Disaster averted." Kenranzaki patted her classmate on the back. He only felt slightly patronized.
"Let's blow up the raft!" Mei exclaimed, clenching her fists in excitement.
"More tests." Izuku countered quietly. Mei didn't protest.
Eventually (after much coaching and one aborted attempt at meditation on Mei's part) Izuku was able to give Mei some rudimentary mental jump controls. After a few quick tests to ensure that the behavior was predictable he felt she'd earned a reward.
He'd been taking videos with his phone so that he could cross-reference the EEG readings with actual movement later, but the video of Mei launching herself using the explosive force of the raft's inflation was like visual poetry. She was propelled upward with a satisfying fwump and managed to stick the landing with the Dodger's help. The video also included her frantic celebration and joyous laughter afterward. Mei sent the video to her father with absolutely no context. He told her that the Dodger was impressive and to stop screwing around. He also said that he missed her and told her to eat a vegetable.
"Wow, Hatsume, are you sure you don't belong in the hero course?" Kenranzaki patted the younger girl on the back. "Snipe's gotta retire eventually."
"I'm not that good." Mei argued, though the various makeshift targets they'd been using begged to differ. Various trees and chunks of misplaced office building had been deemed suspicious and thoroughly grappled by Mei's grappling gun. She'd managed to land three direct hits in a row with the launcher, and one of those was in mid-air shortly after she'd left the ground. The pink-haired girl's accuracy surprised everyone. She'd even managed to land on the upturned raft more than once, proving that she was able to direct the Dodger reliably.
"Do you play a lot of games?" Saito inquired suspiciously.
"I used to. I got banned from multiplayer for modding my wand though." Mei reported with a shrug.
"Uh huh." Saito said flatly.
"The ergonomics and weight distribution on the stock wand were crap!" Mei protested vehemently. "And if I can figure out a better firing mechanism than the fuckwits who designed the thing then haven't I earned the advantage?" she mused petulantly.
Izuku just smiled.
"If that net gun ends up working right you're going to be an absolute terror with it." Saito declared.
Kenranzaki and Saito's last act before leaving the younger partners for the evening was to arrange a quick spar in the downpour zone with someone in the third year hero course. With a small tarp wrapped hastily over the top of the Dodger, Mei had to rely on her own instincts as the driving rain soaked her to the skin and blunted the Dodger's vision. To keep things realistic she hadn't been told what the older boy's quirk was. All she'd been told was that his name was Mori and he was going to have his pick of sidekick jobs at prestigious agencies as soon as he graduated.
Izuku was trying to figure out Mori's quirk during the fight but he didn't have much to work with. The boy had no obvious heteromorphic features and didn't seem to emit anything. He didn't show any signs of superhuman strength. He kept the pressure on Mei, allowing her less and less time to think as they went on. Mei was mostly able to use the Dodger to avoid being hit, though he did sometimes manage to corner her against buildings or trees. When he saw the panic in Mei's movements in those tense moments or realized that she wasn't aware of an obstacle behind her he would slow his assault and warn her that she couldn't jump safely. He would even point out the hazards so that she could take note of them. Then he would cede some ground so that they could continue.
A couple of times when Mei allowed herself to be cornered he announced that he was going to hit her, preemptively urging her to fight through the pain. He was even so courteous as to mention where he would be hitting her. The frightening thing was that he was right both times. He punched her once in the gut and lightly cuffed her once on the ear. Izuku made a valiant effort to appreciate the private tutelage instead of abhorring the violence against Mei. He felt quite mature for only hating the hero student a little bit.
Mei rated the experience of being punched as a three out of ten and thanked the older boy for his time.
"You really weren't bad. If your net gun ends up working I think you'll do well against non-ranged first years in the last round." the boy informed her after bowing respectfully.
"Were you even using your quirk?" Mei inquired plaintively, attempting to bow but aborting the gesture when her abdominal muscles twinged.
"A little," he said modestly.
"Are you going to tell me what it is?" she asked dubiously.
"What do you think it is?" he asked with a cryptic smile.
"I think I'll ask Izuku." Mei said flatly.
They caught one of the buses from the USJ back to the support wing. It was a bit tense not knowing whether any of the people around them were first years, so they spoke quietly - not that Izuku had any other option.
"I think I've gotta stop by the classroom and change." Mei mused after they'd sat down. "I'd look like an asshole if I tried to ride the train like this."
"So do you just have your own jumpsuit?" Izuku inquired. The one she'd brought from home and changed into that morning looked different from the one still in its packaging in his desk.
"Do you not?" Mei demanded incredulously.
"Not until UA gave me one." Izuku whispered with a shrug.
Mei sucked her teeth. "I don't know what kind of peasant doesn't have their own jumpsuit." She eyed him with exaggerated distrust.
Izuku rolled his eyes fondly. "You going to take me shopping?" he joked, and Mei suddenly smiled in a way that suggested that she absolutely would.
"After the Festival." she said decisively, grinning toothily at him.
The journey back to the support wing didn't take long. Once they arrived Mei changed out of her dirty jumpsuit and hastily wiped some of the sweat and grime from her skin in the bathroom (Izuku had very thoroughly averted his eyes when Mei asked him to pass some shop towels through the door). With that done they set off for the Midoriya home. They noticed that the gate guards had changed, but more interestingly they noticed students in white bandanas for the first time that day near the gate. Based on the equipment they were carrying they seemed to be a camera crew.
"Fresh green?" the one holding the camera wondered aloud.
"I don't remember seeing them yet." replied the girl holding the microphone. "Hi! I see you're competing in the Festival." She waved at the duo. "Do you mind giving a quick interview? We're from the business course."
Izuku looked questioningly at Mei, who looked uncertain herself at first. Then she squared her shoulders and smiled at the white-clad group. "Sure! I don't suppose you've interviewed any first year support course competitors?" she slyly inquired.
"Ooh, she's got rarity value!" the girl who seemed to be the actual interviewer purred. "I haven't! So before we start, our footage and the contents of the interview will be under embargo until your last event is over, so you don't have to worry about giving away any advantages. Can you tell us your name and your quirk?"
"I'm Hatsume Mei and this is Midoriya Izuku." She pulled Izuku into the frame. "And I'm not competing with my quirk. I'm competing with support equipment that we made." she reported with a grin. Izuku looked and felt like a deer in the headlights. It was an especially apt comparison since the rest of the camera crew were actually flanking them with bright studio lights. He had just enough presence of mind to be grateful that they probably wouldn't ask him about his quirk since he wasn't actually competing.
"Oh? I didn't realize that the self-made equipment allowance applied to first years. But doesn't that mean you've only had a week to prepare?" the girl inquired, clearly intrigued.
"Yup!" Mei said brightly.
"Interesting!" the girl exclaimed. "Why did you decide to compete?"
Mei opened her mouth to speak and suddenly seemed to completely lose her momentum. "I-" she began, then stopped, her eyebrows knitting together in an expression that Izuku couldn't identify.
Watching Mei freeze up inspired Izuku to dip into his emergency supply of courage. He leaned in closer to ensure that she would hear him. "Represent support." he whispered. "Tell heroes you'll keep them safe."
"Thanks, Izuku." Mei said softly, smiling gratefully at her partner before turning back to the camera. "I'm going to represent the support department, and I'm going to tell UA and the world that Hatsume and Midoriya can make heroes stronger and faster." Mei expected that anyone who watched the interview would attribute her nervous smile at that moment to excitement, but if she was honest it was mostly a result of Izuku practically whispering in her ear.
The remainder of the interview consisted of a couple of questions about the nature of their equipment, surprise on the interviewer's part that they had created more than one item, coyness on Mei's part about specific functionality, and a quick explanation of Izuku's near-muteness which ensured that Izuku's blush was captured in extremely high fidelity for a potentially global audience.
After the interview, Izuku expressed surprise that Mei had held back on her descriptions of the equipment.
"Oh, I don't want to look like an idiot if we don't get everything working. Under-promise, over-deliver - always." she said sagely. "I guess I should be thinking more about what I want to say, though. I was picturing a speech if I get into the last round." Mei commented as they finally made their way through the gate.
Izuku furrowed his brow as he attempted to figure out what Mei meant by that. When was she picturing this speech taking place?
"After the award ceremony?" he inquired. As far as he knew that wasn't something that normally happened.
Mei looked at him in mild surprise. "No, during the fight. Unless it's a terrible match-up and I get my ass kicked instantly I want to do a little sales pitch for our babies too, but it's mostly going to be, uh-" she trailed off. "Do I need to write a manifesto?" She wondered aloud, seemingly awed that that idea had occurred to her but powerless to deny its relevance. "That feels like a thought that only crazy people have." she said doubtfully.
Izuku nodded distractedly. She wanted to speak to the audience during her fight? Competitors don't get miked - Izuku would have remembered hearing them if they had been. In fact, there had been matches in the past where obsessive viewers had resorted to lip-reading to determine exactly what type of trash talk or emotional outburst was taking place. Less focused efforts were usually made on an increasingly formal tradition called "the Fuck Count."
"The Fuck Count" was pretty much what it sounded like - Sports Festival fans would guess before the event began how many times a given competitor would swear during the course of the Festival using only the information available before the first event began. Then there was a crowdsourced effort to go through the fight footage and figure out who had guessed closest to the actual fuck count. There was no prize, but many argued that the prestige was its own reward.
Izuku was surprised that Mei was willing to do something as outlandish and risky as borrowing the stadium's sound system. He was seriously concerned that he wouldn't be able to pull it off. When he recalled Mei's minor breakdown and the candid sharing of her Festival dream in the cafeteria he decided that he could at least do a feasibility study on this particular aspect of her dream. As much as he cringed at the idea of interfering with the Festival in any way, the thought of disappointing Mei was somehow even worse.
Soon enough they arrived at the station where the rumbling of Mei's stomach turned their thoughts to dinner.
Izuku told Mei of a takeout place that he thought she would like near the apartment as they boarded the train. This led to Mei leaning against him as soon as they sat down so that she could peer at the menu on his phone.
He found that the fresh, clean scent he recalled from yesterday morning was completely gone. Now Mei smelled damp, earthy, and sweaty, with only the faintest undertone of what he might call "essential Mei" - something he had eventually characterized as mildly sweet like machine oil and sharp like iron filings. He would definitely make a point to offer her the shower tonight. Still, he enjoyed the feeling of Mei pressed into his side - it didn't even make him terribly anxious the way it might have a few days ago.
After he placed the order she rested her head on his shoulder. This inspired a more familiar level of panic, though he eventually leaned into the touch slightly himself, resting his cheek against the top of her head. His brow furrowed at the sensation of Mei's hair against his face. It wasn't just damp - there was something else that made it cling in a way that he hadn't expected. Carefully so as not to disturb Mei, he brought a finger from his other side to swipe at his face. It came away with a faint tint of brown. "I think the dirt in your hair turned to mud in the downpour." he chuckled quietly, though it sounded closer to wheezing than anything.
He felt Mei's body shudder as she giggled to herself. "Yeah, it's pretty gross." The giggles intensified a moment later and Izuku pulled away from her slightly to get a look at her face. Mei noticed the movement and met his eyes, which caused the giggles to redouble. "It's like I make my own gravy!" she sputtered, barely holding herself together well enough to speak.
"That's disturbing." Izuku attempted to say, though he was laughing hard enough that it took him a couple of tries.
After another moment of giddy, self-perpetuating laughter they finally managed to pull themselves together. Mei naturally resumed her previous position on Izuku's shoulder as her giggles petered out.
"You wanna shower after dinner?" he suggested.
"Definitely." she agreed quietly. Izuku heard both a smile and fatigue in her voice.
The moment of mirth overrode his nerves about Mei's proximity and even managed to distract him from his anxiety over the microphone situation. For the rest of the ride he simply allowed her to draw on his warmth and resigned himself to having one muddy cheek. Apparently he actually drifted off for a moment, as did Mei. Both jolted awake when their stop was called, scrambling to disembark before the doors closed.
The Midoriya shower was transformative and Mei looked forward to using it again. The experience was like being inside a warm cloud that smelled like Izuku. The water around her feet ran a sickly brown as the mud was forced from her hair but she still couldn't help smiling as she remembered making Izuku laugh on the train. She was invigorated by the cleansing waters even as her feet begged for her to get off of them.
When the water ran clear and the pain in her feet outweighed the magic of the shower she finally stepped out. This time she found the painkillers without Izuku's help, washing them down with a handful of water from the sink.
After drying herself off and changing into sweatpants and a tank top she returned to the living room and headed straight for the couch to the immediate relief of her lower half. After she sat down she closed her eyes for a moment to revel in the experience of being clean and comfortable. The smell of dinner still clung to the air in the living area. It had been both excellent and plentiful. Izuku had said that it normally made two meals for him but tonight they'd both been ravenous enough to eat theirs in one sitting.
She would go find Izuku in a minute.
As Mei teetered on the edge of consciousness she reflected that she'd even eaten a vegetable tonight. She mentally crossed it off of her to-do list.
There was a desk lamp on the floor at the end of the couch bathing the room in a soft, warm glow. Mei blearily observed that it was a good level of light for her - enough to navigate by but not so much that it would have disturbed her rest. She was pretty sure it hadn't been there when she closed her eyes.
Izuku's absence was evident, both physically and as a feeling. She felt as though something was not lining up with her expectations and quickly identified it: There had been talk of spooning again and she was currently slouched on the little sofa by herself, not spooning a damn thing.
She recalled her earlier intent to find Izuku, but it was apparent that she'd fallen asleep instead. She sought her phone in the dim glow, eventually finding it on the coffee table. 12:30. It was officially Sunday, but Izuku might still be awake. She softly padded in the direction of the bedrooms and hoped that there would be a clue as to which one held her quarry.
Even if the door hadn't been open, the "Izuku" door sign in All Might's signature colors would have been a giveaway. She peered in at him and saw him hunched over his computer, silhouetted by the glow of the screen. It looked like he was shopping. Her quirk allowed her to recognize the logo of an electronics retailer but his head (mostly his hair, really) obscured the items on the page. Even though she hadn't found him poring over code there was still something inspiring or reassuring about his bearing - the tableau of him at the computer filled her with confidence. She couldn't imagine anyone besides Izuku being in her corner right now.
"Hey." She rubbed her eyes and yawned widely. "What are you working on?"
He jumped slightly when she spoke but smiled as soon as he turned to face her. "Oh, just researching microphones while this is compiling."
She rolled her tired eyes at him fondly. "Well don't lose sleep over that. I'm sure whatever they normally use will be fine." She waved the issue off with surprising indifference.
Izuku silently reflected that there was merit in figuring out exactly what model the stadium used - using the same model would let him sidestep any question of compatibility. On the other hand he needed to understand what was actually available to him. He couldn't just assume that there would be spare mics in the stadium, and even if he did find an unattended mic during the event he couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't be missed. Whatever Mei ended up using, it was likely going to be something that Izuku brought into the stadium from outside.
He couldn't dwell on the microphone issue because Mei was speaking again.
"So, you…" Mei began slowly. "Consented… to further spooning." She seemed to be making a concerted effort to be nonchalant as she spoke, but Izuku still detected some amusing undertones of accusation and hope.
"I did." he agreed with a warm smile and a hint of polite amusement.
Mei reached out to him and made a subdued version of the "grabby hands" gesture from the previous night, her eyes flicking in the direction of the bed as she did so. Izuku's smile widened and he stood up from his computer.
He stretched, and Mei found something to appreciate in the ferocity of his yawn and the strip of skin that was exposed above his waistband when his shirt lifted. He looked sleek but soft and she really couldn't get her arms around him soon enough.
Izuku's bed was not large and he only had one pillow, but neither of them had any illusions about that being a problem. They wanted the contact. It was exactly what they'd been waiting for.
As they settled under the covers and Mei looped an arm around him Izuku was confused and a little disappointed to discover that she now smelled almost exactly like him. However after a moment of reflection he decided that it had its charms. Mei only smelled like him because she'd become part of his life to such a degree that she'd just used his shower. That was something. The familiarity of the gesture pleasantly overshadowed the familiarity of the scent.
Meanwhile Mei was delighted to discover that the smell of Izuku on the sheets was all-encompassing. Her own hair already smelled like his shampoo, but the scent in the bed was more complex. She inhaled it in great, lazy lungfulls as she pulled him closer. Her head buzzed with comfort, fatigue, and nebulous but bright emotion.
"Today was fun." Mei said quietly.
"Yeah." Izuku agreed.
"I was worried over nothing, in the end." Mei added sleepily.
"What were you worried about?" Izuku whispered.
"The landslide zone. My mom… she died because of something like a landslide. I knew you were right about terrain in the obstacle course though, so I went. But it wasn't that bad."
Izuku went completely still. For a moment he didn't even breathe. He had no idea that she'd been afraid. If someone had asked him before now he probably would have said that Mei wasn't afraid of anything.
"I wonder if she'd be proud of me." Mei mused.
"I think she'd be proud of you whether you went or not." Izuku whispered fervently. "You're amazing."
"Thanks." Mei murmured, squeezing Izuku a bit closer. "She's the reason I want to make heroes faster. If they'd been faster, maybe they could have helped. I don't blame them." she clarified quietly. "I want to help, though. I want to save someone's mom if I can." Mei spoke so lightly - as if she wasn't talking about life and death, or even loss - and Izuku could only marvel at her stoicism while tears streaked across his face and soaked into his pillow. "I have some vague ideas about motorcycles but I'm too tired to think." she murmured, then nuzzled further into Izuku's hair, brushing her nose against his neck in the process. "G'night." she whispered.
"Goodnight." Izuku whispered absently. His mind churned, ruminating on Mei's casual revelation until the warmth of her body and the whisper of her breath against his skin lulled him to sleep.
Chapter 11: Interlewd
Summary:
It's not that lewd, really. I just can't contain myself when the pun opportunities are this easy.
Izuku and Mei begin a new day at the Midoriya residence. Mei learns something about herself and Izuku briefly forgets what a muffin even is.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Consciousness came to Mei by slow degrees. First, there was awareness of awareness. Then there was a physical inventory. There was a soft thing under her and a warm thing in her arms. The warm thing tickled her nose if she got too close to it, which was frustrating because she really did want to get closer to it.
Then there was a mental inventory. Is it a school day? She found that that was the wisest way to start these inventories, but today she had a vague notion that the answer wouldn't be as binary as it usually was. "Kind of" wasn't an adequate answer to a question like this one, but the warm thing in her arms made a very compelling argument in favor of delaying the inventory.
She'd been down that road before. Being late for school resulted in other people making her life more difficult. It was time to settle this before she lost the will to try. She searched her memory to determine what she'd done yesterday. She'd gone to school, but she'd had fun all day. She remembered no classes. It was just her and Izuku (and then Kenranzaki and Saito) preparing for the Festival.
The Festival. It's Sunday, and the warm thing is - Her eyes flew open. Izuku's soft green curls filled her vision. She made a small sound of satisfaction and smiled, closing her eyes again. She was in Izuku's bed, touching him nearly from head to toe, her body humming with contentment.
She had a wild urge to kiss his neck and struggled not to act on it. She couldn't remember wanting to kiss someone before, but the sudden impulse was nearly overpowering. It wouldn't be right to kiss him without asking, though. But if she asked him and he said yes, all the kissing might distract them both from Festival preparation. Production and prototyping timelines were fickle things, ever-changing and unpredictable, and it was hard to imagine kissing him just a couple of times. Kissing Izuku seemed like the sort of thing she might get lost in for a whole day - especially if it felt any better than what they were doing right now.
On the other hand if she asked and he said no then she would be sad, possibly the kind of sad that lasted for weeks and would absolutely destroy her performance.
Yes, best not to ask about kissing until after the Festival. Patience was not her strong suit, but she forced herself to imagine her anger and Izuku's probable disappointment if they failed because they couldn't delay a bit (or a lot) of kissing. Waiting a few days to kiss Izuku would be challenging, but waiting a whole year to redeem herself in the eyes of the global support equipment community was just unthinkable.
Mei congratulated herself for her very mature outlook on the kissing situation and decided to reward herself by burying her nose in Izuku's hair and doing her best impression of a shop vac.
Izuku found himself in the arms of a sleeping Mei for the second morning in a row. He was just about to indulge the thought of getting used to this kind of thing when he remembered what Mei had revealed last night. He brushed his knuckles against her arm absently as he frowned at the memory. He wanted to do something but it didn't seem that there was anything to be done. Her tone had given him the impression that she had made peace with the loss, so it didn't seem likely that talking to her about it would do any good. It's not as though he had a right to make her relive anything, and her candor last night had probably been a function of fatigue as well as circumstance.
There was nothing he felt he could or even should do.
Then he recalled that there was at least one very achievable thing he could do to make Mei happy. Breakfast. He could do that.
The next time Mei woke, the warm thing was gone. She weakly stretched her arms out in search of Izuku but they only met his sheets. Now that she no longer had a reason to linger she decided she might as well greet the day. After a full-body stretch that took her extremities to the far reaches of the mattress she got up and padded blearily into the hallway.
She heard the sound of cooking. She was looking forward to a cozy domestic scene with Izuku and his mom (what was her name?) making breakfast. A "good morning" and a "what's cooking" were queued on the tip of her tongue but as she rounded the corner into the kitchen she was struck absolutely speechless.
Izuku stood alone in the little kitchen wearing the absolute hell out of a frilly apron. The sight answered questions Mei had never even thought to ask. So many buttons in her brain were being mashed simultaneously that she no longer fretted about forgetting Mamadoriya's name - she'd be happy if she could remember her own. The way Izuku looked in the apron filled her with vague notions of possibility and a shockingly strong urge to find herself some boots with a thicker sole - anything that might let her tower over him when she grabbed his chin and-
At that point Izuku noticed her, and while she could tell from the heat blooming in her face that she was probably blushing fiercely, it wasn't her face that had caught his notice. Mei looked down and discovered that she was pantless. The sudden, hazy memory of overheating in the middle of the night and thoughtlessly kicking her pants off was welcome but it had come far too late to do her any good. She decided to just lean into it.
"I like the apron." Mei declared with an easy smile.
Izuku tore his eyes from her groin and cleared his throat, blushing a deeper red than she'd ever teased out of him previously. "Thanks. I like - uh." he faltered, looking panicked.
"You're allowed to like my underwear." Mei clarified cheekily. She turned, hands on hips, to show him the back and he made a strangled noise.
"They're nice." he choked out. It was hard to say whether he had fully appreciated the design because he was very determinedly staring into the mixing bowl by the time she turned around. "They look good on you." he finished shakily as he stirred with mindless abandon. "How are the bruises?"
Mei glanced downward at the bruises on her legs from their efforts on Friday. "They're not bad. Your voice is back." Mei observed.
"Yup." Izuku agreed in a high-pitched voice.
"Seems like it's higher now." Mei commented, biting her lip to keep from laughing.
"Might be." he agreed, failing to pitch it any lower.
"I'm gonna go put pants on."
"OK." Izuku said in a small voice, staring into the dark batter and desperately wishing he could remember what he was supposed to do with it besides beating it.
When Mei returned to the kitchen it appeared that Izuku had made no progress. He wasn't stirring anymore, but he was still staring into the mixing bowl as though he was reading tea leaves. She couldn't say what sort of future he might see in the batter, but the one she saw before her looked even brighter than it had when she'd first woken up. After their breathless and half-pantless exchange a moment ago she was less concerned about whether Izuku would eventually agree to a kiss.
"You look cute in an apron." she commented with a grin. "I like it better on you than the welding aprons." she added as she reached out to fondle a frill.
"Thanks." Izuku muttered, blushing at the compliment. "I got us matching ones for Mother's day a couple years ago." Izuku explained.
"So whatcha making?" Mei inquired, peering curiously into the bowl.
"Chocolate muffins." he replied with a small measure of pride. He had once seen Mei opt for a slice of chocolate cake in the cafeteria so he felt that it was a pretty safe bet (and one that wouldn't eat up a lot of time).
"Hell yeah!" Mei exclaimed.
"So are we going back in today?" he inquired as he began distributing the batter into the cups. "Do you need to build the net gun cartridges?"
Mei looked thoughtful for a moment. She'd attempted to bring everything she might need for the cartridge build back with her last night, but she still hadn't fabricated the body of the thing. "Does your printer do PEEK?"
"Yup." Izuku reported proudly. "Should have most of a kilo left."
"Will your mom mind if the house smells like cordite?"
Izuku's brow knitted in concern. "Probably." Then he recalled his mom's behavior since he'd first brought Mei home and reconsidered. "Maybe."
Notes:
I apologize that this is a shorter one but I did feel that it was a good opportunity for a chapter break. I've been feeling like I have an issue with pacing. I won't claim that this chapter solves it, but I do want to share this with you while I work on improved pacing from the next chapter onward.
Please let me know in the comments how you're feeling about the pacing or, as always, what you're enjoying about the story.
Chapter 12: Almost There
Summary:
The night before the Festival.
Notes:
I'm sorry to anyone who may have feared that this story was abandoned. I didn't intend to take so long to continue it, but my job became extremely exhausting over the last two months. I hope to take you all to the Sports Festival by this time next week!
Chapter Text
Mei thoroughly enjoyed Sunday. It was fun in a much more low-key way than the last two days had been. They spent the morning together on the couch, Izuku poring over the data and video recordings from yesterday and tweaking code while Mei quietly cursed at the bitch-ass CAD software that wouldn't do the simplest fucking thing. She could barely manage a proper snarl at the insolent program because a certain person's leg was touching hers most of the time - it was hard to be properly angry when she was full of chocolate muffin and touching Izuku.
Inko came home around noon. Izuku thought it was odd that she'd texted him to say she was on her way back from her weekly shopping trip. She didn't normally do that. He also thought it was odd that it had taken her so long. Mei, engrossed in her work, didn't spare the phenomenon much thought.
A little while after lunchtime she had a design ready to print, so they sliced the model for the net cartridge and loaded it into Izuku's mildly hot-rodded plastic FDM printer. Izuku dusted off his seldom-used spool of PEEK plastic and activated his printer's intake dehydrator. As the machine went through its leveling sequence he sat down on his bed to watch its progress, commenting that he wanted to watch the first layer just in case there were issues with the old plastic. Mei sat down next to him.
Together they watched the machine go through the motions of calibration, then creation. Less than a minute into the first layer Mei rested her head on Izuku's shoulder. Both of them reflected silently that they could probably do this forever.
On Monday there was a definite tension in the air at UA. As Mei and Izuku walked in together they saw several administrators and other unfamiliar adults with vendor badges observing the Festival prep efforts with a critical eye.
The completed Dodger and the accompanying projectile weapons at Mei's desk caused a stir among their classmates, most of whom hadn't noticed that she intended to compete. In response to the low buzz of excitement Power Loader tactfully pointed out that he was proud of the two of them for competing but that there was nothing wrong with settling in and waiting for a better opportunity next year. He made an offhand comment that since he typically recommended that first year support students observe the Festival instead of competing, he was surprised they'd even found the form that competitors had to fill out.
In response to this Mei looked at Izuku with wide-eyed concern while Izuku, flashing a rictus grin at their teacher, opened his laptop with such prejudice that the hinges creaked and began searching the student portal for the correct form. Onlookers observed that his hands were moving in a way that was thoroughly disconnected from the uneasy smile he still wore to reassure Maijima that things were fine. The form was submitted before the deadline, but it was a near thing.
At lunchtime Izuku gently but firmly steered Mei away from fried or sugary food and toward food that would allegedly help her performance in the Festival. She weakly complained that all the vegetables and actual nutrients would just confuse her stomach but ultimately complied. Lunch Rush had tailored the menu for the week to include a series of "contender specials" that were geared toward students outside of the hero course who suddenly realized they should be eating like an athlete but had no idea how to do that, and because the… man? sentient hat? was a consummate professional, even Mei could find something to like in the health-conscious entrees.
Izuku watched Mei space out and sketch possible last-minute design changes during their afternoon class. He hoped yet again that they would be able to salvage her grades after this was over.
They stayed for a little while after school to test the net gun charge. After looking over the design, Power Loader himself agreed to be her first guinea pig to save her the journey to the bomb range. He said that he would refrain from making maudlin jokes about "finally being taken out back and shot," but only because he knew that it was insensitive.
Maijima led them to a stretch of comfortable-looking bushes on the less-traveled side of the building, tilted his head downward slightly, and told Mei to fire.
The net and its precision weights had enough momentum to pull their teacher off the ground while wrapping him up like a cantankerous cigar. He struggled in the net for a moment, though Izuku noticed that the man was taking care not to use his metal fingers to their full effect. "Not bad." Maijima reported from his place among the shrubbery. "How much air did I get?"
"Not much, but the important thing is that it took you off your feet." Mei grinned triumphantly. "Do you think you could have stayed upright if you were trying?"
"Nah. There's bigger people than me out there, though. Don't count on it sending them away from you - it'll probably just arrest momentum, maybe break their nose when they fall." He looked up at his students from the ground with pride. "This is a great first effort. Can't believe you got it balanced so well the first time. Keep testing to make sure that's not a fluke, and wear a helmet with a full face guard when you do." He stretched his fingers and carefully wrapped the closest bits of netting around them. "Do you need to inspect this before I rip my way out? Actually, speaking of inspection, I need to inspect all of your stuff in its final form before 5 tomorrow, including firmware."
Mei grimaced. She wished they could show him the Dodger today but they hadn't prepared for that. "OK, we'll have it ready tomorrow."
"Any time you change something non-cosmetic you need a new inspection, and I'm going to be too busy to inspect anything from Wednesday onward." The warning was somewhat tempered by his supine position, though he did manage to free one finger without ripping the net to waggle it at them. "So am I ripping it or are you unwrapping it? How long did it take to make this one?" he inquired.
"You can rip it. I should be able to make a few more tonight if Izuku feels like helping." Mei replied.
The boy in question favored Mei with a shy smile that promised his assistance.
"Hope you've got time for that and the homework from your core classes." Maijima said pointedly as he ripped through the netting with little effort.
"No comment!" Mei said brightly.
"You don't have any more surprises as far as bill of materials goes, do you?" the older man asked. "I think you're close to the build budget for the whole class - if you want to go this hard next year then we're gonna have to write a grant for it or something."
Mei added an event to her calendar six months from today entitled "find grant money." She sent the invitation to Izuku who accepted it with amusement.
"There has to be something you like with vegetables in it." Izuku implored.
They were back at his apartment and the subject of dinner had arisen. He'd had to cajole her into eating the vegetables in her lunch that day instead of just avoiding them. She had grumbled that they tasted like compromise.
"Dinner last night was good - it had vegetables." Mei said defensively.
"It was also greasy." Izuku pointed out.
"Yeah, it was good, like I said." Mei shrugged peevishly.
"You like spicy things, don't you, Mei?" Inko inquired from the kitchen.
"Yes." Mei said cautiously.
"Do you like Korean food?"
"Sometimes." she allowed.
"Daikon kimchi?" Inko suggested.
"Yeah." Mei agreed with relief, smiling at the pile of netting in her lap. "That sounds nice."
Izuku smiled gratefully at his mom who had already begun pulling things from the fridge. He then turned his attention to Mei. "So, have you given much thought to your strategy?"
Mei grimaced. "Don't lose?" she proposed, and it was clear that she was only half-joking.
"That's more of a goal, I think." Izuku countered gently. "The biggest obstacle in the Festival isn't always terrain or even your physical limitations - sometimes it's other people."
"Yeah." Mei agreed listlessly. She had mostly resolved not to think about how formidable her competitors were likely to be. Even if someone had only been in the hero course for a week, they were still impressive enough to have been admitted in the first place. "I was thinking maybe I could make tools like Kenranzaki's friends are doing, and maybe trade them for favors or use them as weapons in a pinch."
"That's a good idea, but you'd have to consider how much stuff you want to carry. You might have to make a bag."
Mei expelled a mirthless puff of laughter. "I can't sew for shit."
"I bet you could pick it up really fast. It's just another machine." Izuku said encouragingly.
"I tried once. Sewing machines are bullshit." Mei said flatly.
"Did you have any help?" Izuku inquired.
"Well, if it's 'just another machine' then should I really need any help?" Mei asked archly. "If they had designed it properly…" she trailed off darkly.
"It's a difficult machine, yes." Izuku backtracked. "But I think that means it just requires more patience and maybe some hands-on demonstration. Mom could probably show you some things - definitely enough to make a bag."
Mei hummed in thought. "Yeah, that might be a good idea. I should decide which tools to make before I go designing a bag for them, though. I'm thinking a small shovel like the one Saito made would be a good start - that's an improvised weapon too." Izuku nodded in agreement. "Probably some rope, and I assume that's going to be a real bitch to make." Izuku winced and nodded in sympathy. "I was also thinking crampons - they wouldn't weigh much but they're going to be bulky, stabby, or both."
"What if the crampons attached to each other with the spikes facing outward, and then you wear the whole thing like a crown?" Izuku mused.
Mei stared at him in open-mouthed shock. "That sounds so fucking cool." she hissed.
"We'd probably have to pad them in unusual places…" Izuku mused, already adding the tools and cramp-crown to the increasingly bleak and crowded Gantt chart he'd made.
"They would help hide the EEG halo, too!" Mei excitedly observed. "People might even doubt themselves when they're trying to figure out my quirk. If they assume that punching me would feel like punching a fridge, they might not bother trying! What if I did metallic-looking makeup so that it looks like the crown is part of me? Misdirection, right?" Her eyes glittered with enthusiasm as she looked to Izuku for his input.
Izuku smiled encouragingly at her and Mei reflected that this was the type of moment she'd been living for lately. Well, it was one of two types she'd been living for. Right now she was basking in Izuku's attention. Hopefully in a couple of hours she'd be basking in his warmth.
"OK, so I know the time crunch is getting bad, but there are two printers in the library that accept remote jobs, so if you design the crampons and the tools now-"
Mei just smiled at Izuku as he excitedly planned their future.
Tuesday morning found Mei dreading the day when she'd have to sleep on her own again. The really frustrating part was that she was sure that no one would be able to give her an adequate explanation as to why she couldn't keep sleeping with Izuku - it just seemed like the sort of thing to which her dad would object. Inko (Mei had eventually re-derived the name as something starting with 'in' and having two syllables and asked Izuku to confirm it) seemed to be an outlier among parents, either trusting them or not caring that she and Izuku spent every night in each other's arms.
She still hadn't kissed him, and despite the fact that she'd only reasoned her way through the kiss deferral yesterday it was getting harder to remember the basis of her decision. It got harder every time she saw him, harder every time he smiled at her. It was a miracle every time she averted her lips from his neck while he slept in her embrace. The last two nights had been the sweetest torture she'd ever experienced.
Mei had taken to playing with Izuku's hair this morning. She wasn't sure if he was awake but she reasoned that if he was, he'd probably be up and moving since he seemed to have more willpower than her.
She gave a little sigh into the mass of green curls in front of her. She could do this for hours, but there was still so much they had to do. She silently reflected that it would be pretty dumb to waste any time (she'd have to find a better word than 'waste' for playing with Izuku's hair, but finding the word would take even more time). They had remote print jobs to check. They had given up on the idea of making rope but they might be able to squeeze some testing in before class started if they rushed.
"Izuku." she whispered.
He let out a small (adorable) grunt as he floundered into consciousness, then turned himself in Mei's arms so that he was on his back. Mei propped herself up on one elbow and left her other hand on his stomach. "We should check last night's prints and get ready." she quietly declared.
Izuku instinctively turned and craned his neck slightly to check his own printer where a plate full of hopefully-final net cartridge housings was waiting for them. Mei fought the dizzying urge to press her lips to his exposed neck but by this point she had plenty of practice. "You want to sleep some more, or do you want the shower first?" he offered as he turned to face his partner, now fully accustomed to waking up next to her.
Mei smiled at the selfless boy and somehow still did not kiss him.
On the train Izuku regaled Mei with tales of Festivals past. He had started using past obstacles and events to coach her on tactical thinking, prompting her with different scenarios and asking her to quickly think her way through them. His near-encyclopedic knowledge of the event’s history set him apart from the average hero nerd, which was good for Mei. As Izuku had explained, the Sports Festival usually presented more unique challenges than regular hero work, especially with the competitive dynamic thrown in.
“So if it doesn’t cost me a lot of time or stamina, I should consider helping struggling people in the first event?” Mei repeated.
“Yes.” Izuku confirmed, nodding hesitantly. “There’s a better than 50% chance it’ll pay off if you’ve got a decent lead. Team challenges are chosen 70% of the time for the second event and 90% of competitors report feeling loyalty toward those who helped them. If someone has a great ranged attack or amazing durability and they’re lagging in the race, helping them could pay off in a huge way in the second round. You really have to know whether you can afford to help them, though.” he cautioned. “I think you should focus on not falling behind the people with mobility-oriented quirks or the endurance athletes.”
“Yeah,” Mei waved a hand impatiently, her eyes narrowed in thought. “I’ll find a way to keep up. I could have actual hero students on my side, huh?” she mused. “That would help a lot.”
Izuku felt torn. He knew that Mei’s confidence in her ability to maintain a good position in the race wasn’t exactly based on an objective assessment of her abilities or her equipment. While that thought felt heretical, it took a back seat to his unshakeable confidence in Mei's ability to overcome the odds. If he saw Mei’s qualities on paper, he wouldn’t call her a great contender. But Mei was... Mei. He smiled at the pink-haired girl beside him who still seemed to be lost in thought. He was pretty sure Mei could do anything.
The duo beelined from the UA gates to the library to pick up their rudimentary tools. From there they went straight to their homeroom, where, despite the early hour, they found their teacher. He was slumped on his desk with a steaming cup of coffee next to his head. He stirred when they came in, raising himself on his elbows and yawning mightily. “Figured you two would be here early.” he mumbled, then resumed his previous position.
“Can we test another net on you?” Mei inquired eagerly.
The older man groaned in disappointment but eventually stood and began shuffling out of the room, wordlessly beckoning the two students to follow.
Soon Power Loader was fast asleep in the same bush he’d flattened the day before, swaddled in one of their nets. They’d tested a new cartridge that Mei had tweaked to save weight.
“That can’t be comfortable.” Izuku said doubtfully, scrutinizing the unburdened look on the man’s face.
“I don’t have the heart to ask him to do another.” Mei remarked at the sight of their slumbering teacher. “He looks too peaceful.”
"Maybe he can sleep until lunch? We still need him to inspect everything else."
"I think he probably has to teach a class between now and then." Izuku said doubtfully. Power Loader's phone began to vibrate. "And probably manage the last of the Festival setup." he added sympathetically.
"Sensei!" Mei called loudly. "Someone's calling you."
At first the man didn't stir, but eventually he let out a low groan. "Dammit," he grunted, "can one of you grab that and put it near my head?"
Izuku rushed forward and extracted Maijima's odd-looking phone from its holster, then worked it through one of the holes in the net. The picture on the call screen depicted a large white rodent wearing a dark vest with bulging cheeks and a mustard stain at the corner of its mouth. The creature looked surprised. The caller ID said Nezu.
"It's Principal Nezu, sir." Izuku said excitedly.
Maijima let out another petulant groan. "There's a security challenge on his calls. Push the answer button and then stick it in my helmet for a second." Izuku did as he was instructed, working the phone back through the net and up his helmet to eye level. A moment later there was a chime. Power Loader twitched his head a couple of times until the phone no longer covered his face. "What's happening?" he asked laboriously.
"Is this a bad time, Higari?" came the high, cheerful voice of UA's principal.
"Just helping my first years prepare for the Festival. Something broken?"
"The loading dock."
Power Loader blinked. "The loading dock is broken?"
"Yes."
"How much of the loading dock?" he inquired with rising indignation.
"Cementoss has already handled the repair, but he cautioned that an inspection may be necessary before-"
"What even happened?" the exhausted man demanded dispassionately, closing his eyes and willing himself to either fall asleep again or wake up from this minor nightmare.
"Accidental quirk use near a forklift. No one was injured, thankfully." Izuku thought that he heard some relief in Nezu's voice.
"I'll come and take a look." Maijima declared with a huge sigh.
"Thank you, Higari!" the principal exclaimed brightly. There was a beep as Nezu ended the call.
"Break's over, I guess. Alright, let's get the net off."
"Can I send some tools with you for inspection?" Mei interjected, brandishing the bag/bandolier Inko had helped her sew last night. It was a suspiciously familiar shade of blue.
"Did you destroy one of your gym uniforms to make this?" the hero asked incredulously from his place among the shrubbery.
"No," Mei said indignantly. "I destroyed one of Izuku's." she continued matter-of-factly as she knelt to begin unwrapping the net. Izuku quickly moved to assist her. "I'm gonna buy him a new one, though. I didn't think to bring any fabric home." she explained.
Izuku blushed at the fact that Mei was referring to his house as home. He'd never seen Maijima's eyebrows but as the odd man looked at him he imagined one being arched in his direction. Izuku had indeed sacrificed the top of his gym uniform to the cause and had no regrets. With as much tutoring as Mei was likely to need in the near future he couldn't picture himself having the time to use it.
Power Loader waved them off as he stood up, finally free from the net. "Leave it on my desk and I'll look at it over lunch if I'm not busy getting raked over the coals by the teamsters union. And don't forget full source code for the dodging harness! We hash it today and right before the first event, so don't change anything after you submit it!" he called over his shoulder.
Mei suddenly remembered her other last-minute creation which would need to go through the metal printer. She was lucky the crampons were so lightweight, otherwise they'd never finish in time. "We're printing something new, too!" she called after their teacher.
"Send me an email!" was his haggard, distant reply.
Some hours later the pair were in Izuku's bed as had become their custom. They had done everything they could to prepare. They'd presented the crampons and larger tools to Maijima while they were still warm from the metal printer and Izuku had emailed him a copy of the Artful Dodger's firmware, talking him through the broad strokes of the program. Maijima had summarily shot the wall of the classroom with the grappling gun and after some vigorous tugging declared it "one of the more user-friendly drywall anchors" he'd seen.
After running through an inventory of their equipment and tomorrow's schedule a rare silence had fallen between them. Even Izuku's printer was quietly sitting idle. Its work was done. The only thing left to do was to get some rest.
“It’s really tomorrow.” Mei said quietly.
Izuku's thoughts ran in a similar vein, though his were focused on the package sitting under his desk in Maijima's classroom. He hoped he wouldn't let Mei down, and he hoped he could deal with the consequences if he succeeded. He wished he could learn to be as fearless as Mei.
The girl in question seemed to think for a moment, then added “You know, I would have been totally screwed without you. I wouldn’t have even tried-” she paused and seemed to reconsider. “OK, I might have tried, but I would've been spiraling the whole time. I would've showed up with the net gun and nothing else. I would've embarrassed myself.” She paused and reconsidered again. “Or I would have spent most of my time trying to program the Dodger before giving up. Probably would have thrown the net gun together in two hours and never tested it. I would’ve failed the bench knuckles assignment too - probably just left it half-done.” she said bleakly, then took a breath and seemed to refocus. “Anyway, the point is I wouldn’t even be able to compete without you. You rescued me. Thank you.” She took his hand and squeezed it while pulling his body tighter against her chest.
Izuku had now spent several nights in Mei’s arms but when she took his hand it was a brand new thrill. He’d never felt as loved as he did at that moment. He squeezed back, wishing he could put all his nebulous feelings into the gesture and show the incredible girl beside him exactly how much she meant to him. After he’d processed his awe at the fact that Mei was still holding his hand, he thought some more about what she’d said. I rescued her. He brushed his thumb gently against Mei's hand. How long had it been since he thought he’d be able to rescue anyone?
Mei seemed to be grateful to him, but he was just as grateful to her for allowing him to be part of her quest. She'd trusted him to be useful. Would wonders ever cease?
He wished he knew what to say. He continued to hold her hand, lightly moving his thumb back and forth, both to reassure her that he was awake and listening and because the motion felt natural as his mind searched for the right words.
The words never came, and the moment passed. At some point they both fell asleep, hand in hand, subconsciously preparing to face tomorrow together.
Chapter 13: Ticket to Hell
Summary:
You know that GIF of the truck that's going to hit the concrete pole and it seems like it's getting closer? And then twenty seconds have gone by and the suspense is somehow still building but it somehow still hasn't hit the pole?
This story is starting to feel like that GIF. It's another Festival prep chapter, but at least this time it takes place on the day of the Festival. That's progress, right?
Notes:
Whoops I got a girlfriend. The girlfriend enjoys my writing, if that's any consolation.
That only partially explains my absence. It's been hard to find the energy to write for other reasons, not just fun reasons. I'm currently on vacation and hoping to use this opportunity to regain my momentum. I intend to finish this story. I know I would be letting some people down if I didn't.
Chapter Text
Mei had arranged to meet Kenranzaki in bay 4 about 90 minutes before the first event. They needed somewhere private to do the silver makeup and Kenranzaki wouldn't have been allowed into the holding area in the stadium anyway, so the support wing seemed a natural choice. Izuku had said that he wanted to scope out the stadium so that he could focus better on her performance later, and just this once Mei was glad for his absence.
Mei toyed with her crampon crown and tools out of boredom, donning the crown and inventorying the tools while she waited. When Kenranzaki walked into bay 4 and caught sight of Mei, her brows knitted in confusion as she got a look at the younger girl's headgear. As she drew closer, the older girl's mouth opened wider and wider until she looked almost indignant at Mei's ensemble. Saito was right behind her and before he could utter a greeting, she rounded on him while gesturing violently at Mei's head.
"This bitch!" she hissed, and Mei was suddenly both confused and concerned. "Showed up in a crown!" she cried joyously, leaving Mei reeling from the emotional whiplash. "I could have thought to make a crown, but did I? No. And if I hurried off to make one now I'd be derivative!" her eyes seemed to be welling up as she surveyed Mei from head to toe with immense pride. "I thought I'd have to ease you into fashion, but I clearly misread you. That looks brutal and gorgeous at the same time. Crampons, right?" she inquired, leaning in closer to inspect them.
"It was Izuku's idea." Mei reported, wondering if Izuku was about to be invited on a thrifting expedition.
Kenranzaki just grinned. "He's got a good eye. Hold onto him."
"I do." Mei muttered.
Saito wished Mei luck and excused himself to secure good seats with his other friends. The girls quickly settled into position on the knuckle bench for the braiding and painting session.
As the braiding began Mei decided to confide in the older girl. "I am… consumed by Izuku's cuteness." Mei revealed grimly. Kenranzaki quirked an elegant eyebrow at the revelation. "Does he know?" Mei wondered aloud. Her voice reverberated off of the concrete in the stark silence - she'd rarely been in the room without music or the sounds of the welding gun. "Can he really be that cute and not know it? If he understood what he does to me I don't think he'd be doing it. He's too considerate." she mumbled distractedly. "But you've seen him!" she cried suddenly, unthinkingly trying to turn to face her senpai. "How is he that cute?" she demanded.
"I'm not going to disagree with you," Kenranzaki began carefully, her fingers gently turning Mei's head to face forward again, "But did anything in particular bring this on?"
"I think it was the apron." Mei murmured, seemingly staring into the past while biting her lip. "Well, no, it started before that, but that was the point of no return." She closed her eyes and sighed. "Or maybe it was that first night on the couch?" she mused. "God, he looks good in an apron." she moaned helplessly.
Kenranzaki tactfully moved a little further to the younger girl's side so that Mei wouldn't see her trying not to smile. "So what's the problem?" she inquired, doing a passable job of keeping the amusement out of her voice.
"I don't want to scare him." Mei said quietly.
"Why do you think you'll scare him?" Kenranzaki gently inquired as she stepped back into Mei's field of view, amusement suddenly replaced with concern.
"Because I'm scaring me." Mei muttered. "I've never felt this stuff before." she continued softly.
"You two are the cutest thing I've ever seen, you know that?" Kenranzaki mused, smiling fondly at the younger girl who was staring vexedly up at her. "I don't think you'll scare him. I think he might have trouble believing you at first - he doesn't seem like the type to have had lots of experience with girls."
"Trouble believing me?" Mei's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "Like, I tell him I want him to be my boyfriend and he thinks…" she trailed off as she grappled with the idea. "What? He thinks I'm joking?"
Kenranzaki smiled sadly. "It's not unheard of for people to play mean tricks like that, especially on nice, quiet boys who don't have a lot of friends."
Mei's expression darkened. "If someone's done that to him I will drown them in my anger." she declared, her voice dropping an octave.
"I think we're getting off course." Kenranzaki commented delicately. "Let's get back to the two of you. Maybe when you tell him how you feel he has trouble believing you. That's pretty easy to work through. You just have to tell him why you like him so much. You could start by telling him why you like him, and then ask him to be your boyfriend."
Mei considered this for a moment. "And then I could ask to kiss him? If he says he'll be my boyfriend do I still need to ask? I was hoping to jump right into that." she muttered.
Kenranzaki couldn't stop herself from laughing. "You should still ask, but if he says yes to being your boyfriend I bet he'll want to kiss you too. Just remember it might take some practice."
"I think I could get into practice." Mei mused with a grin that was somehow both dopey and predatory. "I guess it's like welding, right? Better with practice?"
Kenranzaki grinned at the idea and seemed to consider it for a moment. "Yes, but kissing gets hotter when you're practicing with the right person."
"I'm gonna go straight from sleepy jail to horny jail at this rate." Mei giggled.
"What is sleepy jail?"
Mei found that the holding area for the competitors was far more spacious than a classroom but conspicuously short on chairs. The few chairs were mostly occupied by some girls having their hair braided, as Zaki had predicted. While a few students silently lamented the shortage, past experience had taught the organizers that a room full of nervous teenagers and chairs was just an overcrowded room. What the room did have in abundance was restrooms. There was also a sign that strongly encouraged contenders to use them while they had the chance.
Aside from nervous teenagers the room contained a few folding tables laden with water and joyless isotonic beverages. On the opposite side of the room there were some gym mats facing a mural of a tranquil mountain scene. Some were using the mats to stretch while others used them to sit, making themselves as small as possible against the walls because it seemed like the polite thing to do.
Most of the people in the room were engaged in some form of conversation. Mei saw people who seemed familiar with each other speaking in hushed tones while surveying the people around them, people who were clearly friends shooting the breeze to work through their jitters, and people who looked as though they felt out of place awkwardly talking to strangers. Mei was concerned that if she didn't find an inconspicuous place to stand she could soon fall into the latter group, but a girl with red hair had been watching the door and had already zeroed in on her. The interesting thing was that she seemed to cycle through a few emotions upon seeing Mei. First she opened her mouth as though she was going to chide Mei for some reason, then she paused and examined her with confusion, finally noticing that she was laden with support items. Then she smiled ruefully to herself and approached.
"Hi, I'm Kendou Itsuka from Hero class 1-B. I figured I'd warn you that Tetsutetsu from my class will probably…" she paused and seemed to be searching for the right words. "He'll probably be awkward at you when he sees you." She quickly glanced at the large digital clock above the drink tables. "If he ever gets here." she added under her breath.
"Why?" Mei asked suspiciously.
"Oh, your quirk." she explained, gesturing toward Mei's body but likely referring to the fact that she was silver. "I doubt he meets many girls like him. He's nice, so please don't be hard on him if he gets too excited. He'll respect any boundaries you set." she reported with a smile. "He's a sweet guy, he's just got golden retriever energy. You'll know him when you see him. Muscular, kind of tall, metallic skin around his eyes." she gestured to her own eyes. "He's definitely going to fist bump you -" Kendou realized with a laugh. "I'm the only person here who can take his fist bumps when he's excited so the novelty alone will probably make his day." She looked at the clock again and found that it had not changed. "C'mon Tetsu." she muttered with rising concern.
"Oh." Fuck. Mei thought. The one thing I needed to avoid was meeting someone who's not afraid to use their fists on a metal girl. "Uh, thanks for the warning."
"You're welcome." Kendou replied.
A very short girl with brown hair that hid most of her face shuffled nervously through the door and immediately had Kendou's attention. Before leaving Mei's side to address the newcomer, she made a parting request. "If he sees you before I see him, try to send him my way. He was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago."
"Sure." Mei responded. After Kendou walked away Mei got herself a cup of water, mostly for lack of anything better to do. She wished Izuku was here with her. She frowned. If Izuku had been there, he'd probably be helping her scope out the competition. Actually he'd probably be telling her which people she should try to get on her team in the event of a team challenge. She decided to try some people watching.
A pair of boys hovered near the chairs and the braid train, one with red hair so spiky that she wondered whether it was part of his quirk and one cheeky-looking blonde boy with a streak of black in his hair. The redhead was prodding at his own spikes and seemed to be considering their braidability while his friend seemed to be trying to talk him down. "It wouldn't work, dude. Even if it's long enough you've got so much gel in there that they'd probably cut themselves." he teased while gesturing at the girls.
She couldn't figure out these boys' quirks at a glance, but it seemed like the only sharp thing about them might be the one boy's hair so Mei moved on.
The largest knot of people in the room seemed to be organized in a loose circle around someone who was too short to be seen. There were two girls with green hair in the group, one of whom was playful and gravitated toward the center while the other (and it wasn't hair, now that Mei looked, they were vines ) stood serenely at the edge of the group, tapping her fingertips together distractedly. She might have been meditating with her eyes open as she listened to the discussion that seemed to be happening at the center of the group.
As Mei watched, a large boy who appeared to be on his own approached the vine-haired girl. He said something to her which did not seem to amuse or surprise her. The circle of people seemed to ripple near the vine-haired girl and her potential suitor. The boy, now awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, had more attention than he had probably wanted. The vine girl didn't seem to mind the extra attention and summarily plucked something from behind her ear.
Intrigued, Mei moved closer as inconspicuously as she could.
"Keep this basil plant alive for a month, then we'll talk." the vine girl said flatly.
"Doesn't it need dirt?" the boy asked nervously as he cradled the scant leaves and roots in both of his meaty hands.
"Yes, you'd better try to find some." she said blithely.
"Good luck, bro. I killed mine in six days." A boy with gray spiky hair and a muscular build had just made his way to the group and clapped the would-be suitor on the back.
Someone in the little crowd called out "Tetsu!" in surprise and suddenly Kendou materialized from across the room. The boy who'd just admitted to failing the basil test turned to acknowledge the person who'd called his name and Mei noticed the silver around his eyes, just as Kendou had said.
"I immediately gave mine to my mom." a dark-haired boy in the crowd remarked. "I barely keep myself alive. I know when I'm beat."
"Class 1-B, right?" the nervous new plant owner inquired.
There were a few nods from the small crowd and a quiet "Yes" from the vine-haired girl.
"I'll do my best." he bowed to the girl whose verdant locks had grabbed his attention and fled with minimal shame, placing the fragile sprout in the inner pocket of his jacket.
"The Venus Thirst Trap strikes again!" the other green-haired girl in the group teased.
"I believe a thirst trap requires intent." the vine-haired girl serenely countered, partially opening one eye to regard the more energetic girl with faint amusement. "I was simply standing here."
"That angelic aura is all the intent I need." the playful greenette reported with the most cartoonish eyebrow waggle Mei had ever seen - it was like they were on hinges or something.
"As much as I hate to give you ammunition I think of myself as more of a nymph than an angel." the vine girl muttered with a tiny smile.
"Marry me." the audacious girl proposed with a roguish grin.
"How's that sprout I gave you?" the vine nymph inquired.
"Ha!" the playful girl barked nervously. "I'm sure it's fine." she muttered with a brittle smile, then disappeared into the small crowd, displaying a talent for skulking that Mei decided was at odds with her personality. Mei decided to follow her example lest the metal guy find her and break her hand in his enthusiasm. She filtered through the crowd and away from the class 1-B huddle. She glanced at the clock. It was nearly time.
Meanwhile, Izuku was casing the stadium. He wondered with some amusement whether he might be more nervous than Mei right now. She was the one who had to take risks and perform in front of the whole world - all he had to do was support her. As he watched some yellow armbands wheel a flatbed cart laden with sturdy but travel-worn protective cases down one of the stadium's hallways he took deep, theoretically calming breaths which unfortunately did not seem to be calming him. He couldn't afford to miss an opening, though. "Hey, is any of that audio?"
An older boy turned to answer him. "Oh, these are all empties. Everything that's getting used should already be in place. You got another empty, there?" he inquired, gesturing at the case Izuku held in his hand. Izuku was pleased to find upon closer inspection that the contents of the flatbed were from the exact same equipment rental company he'd used.
"No, I'm not sure if they're going to use this one or not." Izuku said, feigning confusion. "But I'm supposed to get it to the room where all the audio stuff is."
"Well, we're headed for video village since that's where empties live, but I think the sound closet is on the way if you want to come along."
"Thanks!" Izuku said gratefully, internally jumping for joy that things were off to such an easy start. "I'm surprised that they keep empty cases so far from the equipment." he commented as he fell into step behind the gaggle of what he suspected were business course upper years.
"They only do that when space is tight. The camera operators are packed in like sardines, so their empties have to go somewhere else." a short girl who was wearing a black hoodie over her uniform explained. "It's either that or stack the empties up until you can turn them into a snack table." she added with a quick smile. He suspected that she spoke from experience.
Izuku made a noise of understanding and continued trying not to look guilty. Once they got to the audio room, there was no guarantee they'd leave him alone in there. This was probably going to be more of a reconnaissance stop than anything.
After a few twists and turns through the stadium's service hallways they arrived at an unassuming door. While his companions very considerately parked their cart along the wall the boy who'd answered Izuku pulled a card from his pocket and pressed it to the reader under the handle. The door clicked and admitted them.
The upperclassman had called it a closet, but there were racks and racks of blinking equipment, much of which was a total mystery to Izuku. He saw some logos that were familiar from his research but he would probably need to stand around and Google things in order to really figure out what he was looking at.
The older boy looked around the room more purposefully, likely trying to find a sensible place for Izuku's payload. "Not much going on in here." he commented. "I think most of the audio is permanently installed, so I guess that makes sense."
Izuku approached one of the racks under the pretense of finding an out-of-the-way but still visible place for the case which contained Mei's microphone. In reality he was hoping to glimpse some model numbers. As his eyes scanned the rack in front of him something caught his eye - the rack just to the left of him had a conspicuous, lone cable with a relatively large metal connector coming out of it and passing back into the rack through a blank space. It was the only one of its kind in the room.
Before this week he hadn't known a thing about commercial audio, but he'd known plenty about Present Mic. The presence of that cable told Izuku that his plan was viable. Mei's dream was viable.
"I'm worried about getting back in later if we actually end up using it." Izuku said apprehensively. "I mean, I know it needs to be here but nobody told me to plug it in or anything like that." Technically very true.
"Mmm. Somebody didn't think that through." the boy agreed. "Do you think you can get a hold of your teacher to ask to be keyed in for the day?"
"My teacher is Power Loader, and I think he's busy with everything else." Izuku reported doubtfully.
"Oh, you're support? I didn't know you guys were helping this year." The older boy gave him an appraising look.
"I volunteered. I just want to know how it all works, you know?" Izuku rubbed his neck in faux embarrassment.
"I'm the same way." the boy said with a smile. "Come to video village with us and we'll see if one of the production team has a spare key."
Izuku stared at the card in his hand. It felt like a ticket to hell. He'd promised Mei, though. She wanted to show the world that a person didn't need a quirk to be a hero, and if she could deliver on her end of the bargain then he wasn't going to let her down.
As he rubbed his finger absently along the edge of the card he reflected sadly that these might be his last hours at UA. It seemed fitting that he'd get to spend them at the Sports Festival - it had been his only connection to the venerable school for most of his life, and he'd dreamed of seeing it in person. He'd made it. It wouldn't last, but he had made it.
Chapter 14: How to Win Friends and Influence Large Combat Robots
Summary:
The Sports Festival actually starts. I mean it this time.
Notes:
I'm not here to make promises, but I am here to give you the story I have so far. I hope that 2023 was kind to all of you and I hope that this year is kinder.
Chapter Text
High in the stadium a powerful and eccentric creature of some reputation surveyed his domain. Another year, another crop of promising young heroes to show off to the world. "So," he addressed the bevested white rodent who was also examining the competitors with interest, "aside from dedicating shots to Todoroki and Iida, any last-minute advice?"
Principal Nezu hummed thoughtfully. "Kirishima and Tetsutetsu?" he inquired.
The director nodded in confirmation. "We'll have at least one camera on each. And you mentioned that Endeavor might be in attendance?"
"Yes." Nezu said distantly. "You could take him or leave him, I think."
The director privately concluded that he'd certainly take that shot - if you've got the number two hero's son and the number two hero in one place you don't leave those reaction shots on the table.
"I mentioned the girl from Support, didn't I?" Nezu inquired.
The director checked one of his many monitors. "Hatsume, wasn't it?" He tapped her name and saw a girl with metallic skin and horns, though upon closer inspection he believed it was supposed to be a crown. She was staring fixedly at a specific spot in the stands and smiling. "First year Support with equipment is certainly a novelty - she's on my radar."
"I believe young Hatsume is more than a novelty. Outside of the hero course she may be the one to watch. Just to give you an idea, I was told that she sparred with one of my more promising third year hero students and was complimented on her performance. It may also interest you to know that she does not have silver skin."
The director smiled broadly. "The people do love a reveal, don't they?" he mused. "So she's scrappy, she's the only one with equipment, she's visually interesting, and we might get a reveal?" he turned his headset on. "Camera, let's put someone on Hatsume. I want a dedicated shot of her even if she's behind." He looked thoughtful and then his grin sharpened. "And if you can spare the time, try to get tight shots on her face now and then. We might get a 'before and after.'"
A voice came over his headset from the bowels of the stadium. "This is Hirano, I'm locked on Hatsume."
"An excellent idea." Nezu enthused. With fifty flying cameras at their disposal it would be silly not to dedicate at least one to the likes of Hatsume.
The director's eyes flicked to the clock. He muted his headset. "Nearly time. Remind me to moan some more about that arch, by the way. The camera team is furious that they can't fly it."
"A bottleneck requires fewer cameras, does it not?" Nezu mused.
"That bottleneck is too tight to fly. You know I don't pay people to get mediocre shots, and mediocre shots don't inspire donors, do they?"
"I'm sure you'll be able to hold their attention with whatever happens at the end of the arch. I think this might be one of those occasions on which I need to remind you that the Festival was not conceived for television - we are still trying to teach." Nezu said pointedly, though the director had known him long enough to hear the amusement in his voice.
The director smiled. They did indeed have this conversation every few years - it had long since stopped being a real argument. It was closer to the banter of a married couple. "If you must." he sighed theatrically. He could hear Midnight counting down in his ear. He tapped the headset again. "Wide downfield, be ready to move." He knew there was a possibility that the legacy kids would just cannonball this thing and he didn't want one of them streaking out of frame. The director took a deep breath. No matter how many times he did these things, the adrenaline was still there. It took more than one type of athlete to put on a show. These kids could run rings around him and some of them might be able to fly, but he had his own talents. Midnight yelled "start!" He smiled as he weathered the tsunami of changing pixels, choosing just the right shots to show to the world. Fifty camera angles would drown the average mind. Average people don't get to direct the Sports Festival.
The burst of ice at the beginning of the race caused calamity for all but a few students. All it did to Mei was make her feel insufferably smug. While at least 80% of her competitors were still trying to gain solid footing on the icy hill at the mouth of the tunnel, she was doffing her crown and tying the crampons onto her shoes.
"All aboard the Hatsume Express!" she yelled from the back of the crowd. A few curious people turned to look at her. She was striding easily and confidently forward without falling over, so she had their attention. She reflected for a moment on Izuku's advice and added "Which one of you is the fastest after we get off the ice?"
An incredibly muscular boy raised a hand as much as he dared, lest he lose his balance. "I'm pretty fast."
Mei gave the boy an appraising look. "If I pull you off the ice, can I have a platonic piggy-back ride after?" she inquired.
"That's… the only kind I give." the boy said slowly, his massive eyebrows knitting in mild concern.
Mei took her jacket off, gave him one sleeve, hitched the other over her shoulder, and pulled. It took some serious effort to get the large boy moving - she imagined that this was what people went through if their Zamboni ever broke down - but once they had some momentum she was able to keep him going without straining too much. "Make way!" she called out to the people in front of her. People looked indignant and a few opened their mouths as if to challenge her. Once they saw the huge boy sliding along in her wake they scrambled out of the way. Soon the arch was behind them and they were nearing the edge of the ice.
"Alright, let me get these off," Mei said, indicating her crampons as they reached the edge, but then she noticed something which chilled her far more than the frozen ground had.
A pair of crampons sat abandoned at the edge of the ice, and they were not hers. The implications left Mei reeling.
Not only might Mei not advance to the next round, she might not even be the best competitor from the first year support course! She had planned on being the best support competitor by default. Now it seemed possible that she might be the worst!
"Hey."
How else would someone have gotten crampons in? She supposed it might be possible for students from outside the support course to make items and compete with them, but what kind of person would have chosen to make crampons of all things?
"Hey!"
It strongly suggested a support course mindset. For all she knew she was up against some genius from one of the other support classes and she knew neither their identity nor their capabilities.
Mei continued spiraling until she felt herself being picked up and suddenly found herself looking at the ground from an uncomfortable distance.
"It seemed like you were having a panic attack or something." the large boy explained as he ran. "I told you I'd give you a ride, but we might have to split at the next obstacle. I'm not used to fighting with a passenger."
Izuku had mixed feelings as he watched Satou throw Mei over his shoulder like a neolithic bachelor and take off running. The girl with the crampons who was very clearly not Mei had nearly given him a heart attack - he assumed that the statuesque girl had taken them from Mei by force. But then he'd seen Mei and some brick house of a boy emerge from the arch together at speed. Mei's horror upon noticing the discarded crampons at the edge of the ice had been obvious even from a great distance.
The chatter from his classmates barely filtered through to Izuku as he bathed in the secondhand adrenaline and grappled with some other uncomfortable feeling.
"Who is that guy? Does she know him?"
"Looks like… Satou Rikidou, class 1-A. Maybe he thinks she'll be useful?"
"She definitely made a deal with him. She pulled him off the ice, I guess in exchange for a ride?"
"Is she slow or just lazy?"
"Big guy like that seems like a solid bet - good for her." someone else suggested.
"You jealous, Midoriya?" some boy whose name he hadn't learned teased.
Izuku's eyes narrowed. She was moving, that was the important thing. "...no." he eventually replied, though his classmates didn't look convinced. His thoughts took a turn for the morose. He can lift her and run at the same time. I almost dropped her between the curb and the couch. He watched the two bleakly. I shouldn't get used to having her attention. Not in a school full of future heroes. Maybe he'll take good care of her after I'm expelled.
"We have to go faster. Somebody else has support equipment!" Mei cried in desperation. She barely managed to restrain herself from beating on the boy's back.
"Well, I don't know if it counts as support equipment…" the boy mused aloud.
"What?" Mei snapped, trying to wriggle around in a way that would let her see his face before realizing it was useless. "What do you know?"
The boy continued loping along in silence for a moment, seemingly considering how much to tell her. "She's not a support student." he said, gently holding her ankles away from his body with one massive hand to avoid being stabbed by the crampons she'd never finished removing.
"What else did she bring?" Mei demanded.
The boy laughed. "Everything you could think of, and some stuff you probably couldn't."
"How?" Mei cried.
"Stay in the race and you might get to see." he declared, putting her down gently and jogging around the corner.
Izuku was quickly figuring out Yaoyorozu Momo. She had just assembled a bicycle whose components seemed to have been pulled out of thin air. He was still trying to decide whether her quirk let her store things or actually create them, but ultimately that question would have to wait because Mei was more important. It seemed that her deal with the muscular boy was fulfilled. He gripped the railing that separated the stands from the field so hard that his knuckles turned white. How was she going to handle the robots?
Mei finally removed her crampons and abandoned them, deciding to take the chance rather than sinking any time donning her crown again. As she rounded the next corner, still consumed with the thought of this other girl whose quirk presumably let her use equipment without breaking the rules, she was greeted with the sight of several huge combat robots. Her burning need to find the support pretender was forgotten as a massive grin split her face from ear to ear. "I've read about you!" she cried joyously.
These, Mei knew, were "peacekeeping" robots that had been designed by the JSDF and never used in combat. They were still in use for the purpose of training JSDF personnel, often in live fire drills. She had watched the documentary about them multiple times and read every credible account of their functionality she could find. The things were quaint by modern standards but they had been designed to be highly repairable and surprisingly modular, though if any new modules had been developed since their introduction the JSDF had not seen fit to inform the public. She knew that there was a very strict chain of custody for machines like this, and they were built with protocols that provided a number of ways to verify their functionality and allegiance from a safe distance.
It was this fact along with Mei's uncommon knowledge of the machines' provenance that led to an interesting scene.
"You're so cute!" Mei cried at the nearest robot, which had a large '3' painted on it. "What mode do they have you in, huh cutie? Are you a barricade? Are you set for live fire?" She walked within about twenty meters of the hulking thing before it launched a small rocket at the ground a few meters in front of her. It exploded relatively harmlessly, spraying her with an amount of dirt which hardly even hurt.
"OK, seems like barricade mode with warning shots unless you're really trying to kill me and your calibration sucks. So is this a test of courage? High-stakes dodgeball? What's the angle here?" She rubbed her chin as she pondered, unaware that anyone who wasn't very fast or very reckless was transfixed by her and waiting to see what she would do next. "How far from stock are you?" Mei wondered aloud. She knew of a way to find out.
Mei prayed that her memory was not betraying her, spread her arms wide, and tried to make a friend.
"What." Izuku uttered in confusion as he watched Mei… dancing in front of the robot that had mere moments ago been firing missiles at her. Her arms were held straight out to her side and she bobbed up and down in some sort of rhythm, occasionally putting an arm down in a way that seemed precise and intentional but still failed to overcome the ludicrous context of the gesture. His classmates also had thoughts on this development.
"What's she doing?"
"Hatsume, you're not gonna T-pose a robot into submission."
"I heard they use these for the hero course entrance exam. Is she trying to communicate with it?"
"Does she have a death wish?"
"Based on what I know about birds I think she's trying to mate with it." said the boy who'd asked Izuku if he was jealous of Saito.
"That's a harmful stereotype, you know." a girl with feathers instead of hair a couple of rows back interjected.
"She should just keep running. It doesn't seem like it's really going to hit her with a missile, and if she times it right she can run past it while a hero student is beating on it."
"Wait, look at the lights!"
"Heyyy Nezuuu," Maijima crooned over the administrative comm channel. "You might want to tell production to watch the lights on that robot." he continued, his voice promising mischief.
Nezu could hear every tooth in Maijima's head because they were all on display, wherever he was. "Oh?" he replied from video village. He poked through a few shots on his preview monitor, several of which showed young Hatsume doing a sort of dance. He finally found a shot which showed the robot to which Maijima must have referred. The lights were moving in a way that he'd only seen during setup for the entrance exam.
The director had already noticed the swell of attention surrounding Hatsume. "Let's get a shot over Hatsume's shoulder." he mused into his own headset. A camera that had been following the traffic jam around the robots dropped into position behind Mei. The director grinned and hit the TAKE button, showing the world her impending triumph.
Mei felt the wash from the airborne camera on her neck as it hovered behind her. She grinned, knowing that she was nearing the end of the routine. She wanted so badly to turn to the camera and gloat, but she had to concentrate. It was a miracle she hadn't screwed it up yet. The lights on the robot mimicked her motions. It hadn't fired on anyone since she'd begun the routine. Finally she lifted both arms skyward in a silent question.
The lowest light on the robot's face pulsed on and off steadily. The others remained dark.
Mei walked cautiously forward. When no missiles were forthcoming she broke into a run. Then, when everyone who'd been watching expected her to sprint past the thing before it came to its senses, she started to climb it instead.
"Maijima, do we need to be worried about Hatsume? I'm told she just did a mating dance for one of your three-pointers and then mounted it." Maijima heard Midnight inquire over the comms.
"You should worry about everyone else!" the normally reclusive hero cackled. "I'm going out to get a better seat. Gotta cheer on our girl."
"Did Hatsume just gain the loyalty of a robot by beating it in a dance competition?"
"This is some 'Devil Went Down to Georgia' shit."
"Robots can be danced into submission? Sure, I'll incorporate that into my belief system."
"That must be some kind of mode reset thing for combat drills. Can't imagine they'd leave that enabled during an actual war."
Izuku was torn between elation that Mei had bested the robot and concern that she was now distracted by her conquest. He noticed that a red-haired girl from hero class 1-B was trying to get Mei's attention. He hoped her presence would remind his partner that there was a race to run.
Mei was having an amazing time. She was, in fact, so elated that she was sitting atop a massive combat robot that she was in danger of completely forgetting that she was supposed to be running a race. It was probably for the best that someone distracted her just after she'd pried the cover off of the field controls.
"Can you control machines?" a voice called out from somewhere below her, reminding her that other people existed and that other people were 90% of the problem she currently faced.
Mei, having momentarily forgotten that she was painted silver, answered honestly as she poked at the controls. "Usually. If they were designed by fuckwits it can take longer, but this looks pretty straightforward."
"Will you take some of my squishies?" It was the girl with the red hair who'd warned her about Steel Guy. She was gesturing to a group of three girls, two of whom looked a bit wispy and whose quirks were not readily apparent. The third girl was very blonde and appeared to be more sturdily built, though the horns and hooves may have added to that impression.
Maijima was making his way to the class 1-H cheering section when he heard Nezu's voice on comms. "Maijima, is there any chance that young Hatsume had advance knowledge of this challenge?" the rodent asked chidingly.
"Not from me!" Maijima reported gleefully. "Probably worth pointing out that the support course is full of the type of nerd who watches documentaries about obscure machinery. For all we know she grew up with a poster of this thing above her bed. She's stealing the show, huh?"
"She certainly is. And I see she's made some friends from the hero course."
Maijima paused his descent to the student cheering section to see what his boss was talking about. "Are those kids Kan's or Aizawa's?" Maijima asked with trepidation.
"I believe they're in 1-B with Kan." Nezu reported.
"Ah, maybe they'll teach her some risk management."
"Uh, sure." Mei replied on the off chance that one of them might have some interesting utility quirk or be the archetypal glass cannon. Even if they didn't, Izuku would probably tell her to make friends among the hero course competitors.
"OK, remember the plan and I'll see you at the finish line!" the redhead told the little group before jogging away alone.
"What plan? Is betrayal part of the plan? Am I the frog in that scorpion story?" Mei inquired suspiciously while palming her screwdriver. She was really hoping not to stab anyone but she didn't like her chances with the net gun at such close range.
"Nothing of the sort." the tall girl with the gray hair obscuring one eye assured her as she climbed aboard. "We have a plan to stay beneath 1-A's notice until the next round."
"Our class is sneaky!" The blonde girl stage whispered, somehow having gotten into place atop the robot next to Mei without her noticing. She then noticed that a brunette sat beside the girl. How the hell did they get up here that fast? "We are bags of sand." the blonde said conspiratorially, and Mei noticed that there was something odd about her voice. She urged the hulking robot forward, and Mei was so distracted by her passengers that she failed to notice the crowd going absolutely wild when it became clear that it was under her control.
"You two are constructs?" Mei demanded in shock, looking between the blonde and the one who hadn't spoken yet. "Wow, you're really convincing." she idly dug a finger into the blonde girl's side which felt impressively fleshy and even properly bony. "Did you make them?" she inquired of the gray-haired girl who had finished clambering aboard. "Are they gonna fall apart the minute they get hit?"
"Sandbagging." the previously silent one with the dark hair supplied. "We're sandbagging."
"That makes more sense." Mei nodded in understanding.
"Our quirks will be surprise!" the horned girl elaborated, and Mei finally considered that her broken Japanese coupled with her very blonde hair probably meant she was just foreign.
Izuku had had his voice back for all of five minutes before Mei's casual theft of a combat robot inspired him to spend all his vocal cords in one place. Suddenly Power Loader was at his side, screaming with all the volume of a grown man but none of the self-awareness. Izuku thought this was appropriate since he could no longer make noise, and Mei deserved some fucking noise. Class 1-H rallied around their enthusiasm and joined them, banging on the railing and making such a racket that others in the stadium took notice.
"Did Hatsume Mei from the support course just steal one of UA's robots??" Present Mic demanded theatrically. He was absolutely living for this. You could only say so much about Endeavor's kid - he was in the lead, distantly followed by the other legacy kid, but effortless standout performances were only exciting until it became clear that they were unchallenged. What the people loved was a surprise. The fact that she was playing taxi for some hero course kids just added to the intrigue.
The people also loved a bad joke, which was handy because that was the only kind he knew how to make. "Kids these days!" he shouted reproachfully. "You give them a giant robot and they just use it to pick up girls!" he cried. Next to him, Aizawa closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath.
"So what is your quirk?" Mei asked the gray-haired girl.
The ghost of a grin flashed across the girl's face before she raised her hands skyward. Mei's hand tensed around her screwdriver but it was ripped from her grip with such speed that her skin was warm where she'd tried to hold it. The spooky girl's jacket was suddenly in front of them, pantomiming a ferocious sword fight against some unseen foe using Mei's screwdriver in place of a sword.
Mei didn't like being shown up so thoroughly atop her own damn robot, but she couldn't help being impressed. "That's some nice telekinesis. Can I have my screwdriver back?" she asked flatly.
The telekinetic girl's hair was wild with static since her jacket had rocketed past it, but somehow it didn't detract from her aura of quiet dignity. "You may have it in exchange for your word that you won't try to fight with it today. I think you might do something regrettable if you reach for it in panic." she said pointedly.
"Deal." Mei agreed. She'd only gone for the screwdriver again because the girl's smile had been creepy enough to make her worry. She was hoping people would be frightened enough of the business end of a good screwdriver that they'd keep their distance. Now she knew that distance wouldn't save her from this particular girl, anyway.
The screwdriver floated back into its sleeve and the telekinetic girl's jacket folded itself into her lap. They trundled along in uneasy silence for a moment, occasionally passing more shocked competitors.
"What about you?" Mei asked the quiet one.
This girl did not smile or reply but held out an open hand expectantly.
"May I?" the spooky girl inquired, pointing at Mei's screwdriver again.
Mei nodded uncertainly, knowing that she couldn't stop the girl if she really wanted to. The screwdriver floated (slowly enough that she could actually track it this time) into the quiet girl's hand. After taking a moment to position the handle so that all of her fingertips were in contact with it, the tool grew until it was the size of a baseball bat. The quiet girl smugly presented the enlarged tool to Mei as though it was a great joke.
"Ah, I believe Kodai has turned your screwdriver into an acceptable weapon after all - so long as you use the shaft as a handle." the gray-haired girl proposed with amusement.
"It's a thought." Mei chuckled nervously as she hefted the new implement of violence in one hand. Would the girl turn it back? Did she actually want her to? The odds that she would encounter something else that would fall to a simple Phillips head seemed pretty low, and having a big hunk of metal to swing at things certainly had its charms.
"Did she just have one of them turn her screwdriver into a bat?" Power Loader asked with trepidation.
"Atta girl Hatsume! Nobody rides for free!" the girl who'd supplemented her sewing with a glue gun cheered.
"Maybe the missile battery is locked off behind really big screws?" someone else suggested.
Power Loader and Izuku turned to face the boy who'd floated that idea. Izuku looked panicked, but Power Loader waved a nigh-indestructible hand dismissively. "Nobody makes Phillips heads that big. Once you get to bolts that size they're usually going to be socket heads. I don't think she's going for the missiles, and I know she doesn't have the right tools with her to try." he reported matter-of-factly. "She also shouldn't be able to fire them from the robot. Also none of you heard any of that." he added as an afterthought, staring sternly at his class. The JSDF was probably not going to be happy about that mode change dance being televised, it really wouldn't be a good idea to give away more military secrets today.
A girl from class 1-F with luminescent hair walked over and bowed to Maijima. "Congratulations on Hatsume's performance. She's very impressive! We all feel stupid for not competing - was she a class project? Did your class not do the build project last week?"
"Hatsume's gear was a joint effort with Midoriya here." Maijima stepped back so that the girl could see him. "All the first year support classes had the same assignment last week. I think these two managed to make all her gear while us sane people were sleeping."
"There's no room for sane people in Support, Maijima-sensei." the girl said dutifully as her hair shifted between colors.
Power Loader chuckled and looked for the teacher of 1-F. He found her among her students and nodded to her. She clapped demurely in his direction and inclined her head in respect. He returned his attention to the girl with the RGB hair. "I see Watanabe-sensei is teaching you well. Thanks for cheering Hatsume on with us."
Mei had the robot moving at what seemed like its maximum speed. She was having the time of her life watching her competitors react to her adorable new ride. They typically noticed the sound, first. Then they'd look over their shoulders. The vast majority of the time they'd look over their shoulders again, because the thing their eyes had just reported was either very unlikely or a massive problem. Then if they had any sense they'd scramble out of the way because by that point Mei would be upon them. After that, some came to a halt while they puzzled out what the hell was happening. The smart ones didn't stop. The smart ones started to run faster.
All too soon they came to the next obstacle which was, in Mei's opinion, such bullshit.
"A fucking pit? I tame a combat robot and I have to ditch it 5 minutes later? Sure, that checks out." she ranted. "This fucking place." She sighed. "I did paperwork to get here." she mumbled petulantly.
"I will miss our mechanical steed as well. Parting is such sweet sorrow." the gray-haired girl attempted to console her.
Just as Mei was bringing the robot to a halt and preparing to disembark, something caught the quiet girl's eye. She pointed at the ground just at the edge of the pit. The gray-haired girl smiled and the foreign girl cheered for some reason.
"What? Why's everybody so happy?" Mei demanded.
"The ground is friend-shaped!" the foreign girl declared triumphantly.
Mei could tell that the ground had been disturbed, but it looked as though it had been rained on since the disturbance. That struck her as odd since she didn't recall any rain recently and the course was probably very new. She couldn't say that the shape meant anything specific to her, though.
She definitely would have asked a follow-up question if a boy with extremely prominent teeth hadn't popped out of the ground in front of them as though he was breaking the surface of a swimming pool.
"Going down?" he inquired.
"An excellent idea." the telekinetic girl replied. "We were just lamenting the loss of our rolling fortress. We would be glad to postpone our parting. Will you join us?"
"Only a few of us have made it this far, so I need to stay. I still haven't made contact with Tokage."
"Did you see someone with equipment?" Mei suddenly demanded.
"Oh, the girl with the motorized zipline thing?" the boy inquired, gesturing across the pit.
" Motorized? What the fuck?" Mei exclaimed in frustration, whacking her novelty screwdriver on the robot's chassis for emphasis.
"Not sure what her deal is but I got a big 'top 16' vibe from her." The boy added.
"Thank you Honenuki, we'll see you at the finish line." the telekinetic girl inclined her head politely in the dirt-swimmer's direction. He tossed off a quick salute and then the ground swelled beneath them like a wave. It quickly bore them over the precipice, carrying them deep into the pit instead of over it.
Izuku watched apprehensively as Mei disappeared into the pit. Moments ticked by as he waited for a camera to show where she and the hero students had gone, but she remained hidden.
"Guess we'll have to wait until she's out the other side." Maijima declared to the class at large. There were scattered groans. "I hope she can see OK down there." he added, but this time he spoke quietly enough that only Izuku would hear. "The hero kids might help her. Kan's big on teaching cooperation."
Izuku reflected on the fact that he and Maijima were probably the only ones in 1-H's cheering section who knew that Mei would struggle in the dark. He hoped that Mei's passengers had a cooperative spirit, especially after Mei had offered them the kindness of a ride in the first place.
It was much darker once the earth stopped moving beneath them. Mei could still see the bright patchwork of sky above but she could barely make out anything in the gloom around them at the bottom of the pit. She reflexively dug for her phone to use its flashlight before remembering that neither she nor anyone around her was carrying one. Her shoulders sagged.
"Are you well?" the voice of the gray-haired spooky girl inquired, possibly because they hadn't begun moving yet.
"Let's go!" the hooved foreigner interjected. There was a sense of movement like an arm being thrown forward to indicate the way.
In the brief silence that followed Mei could hear other people moving in the distance, confirming that other people could probably see just fine down here. "Can any of you make light?" she inquired quietly.
There was a moment's pause. A silent conversation seemed to take place. She got an impression of movement from the quiet girl.
"I do not believe so." Spooky reported.
Mei was having feelings about the situation but was all too aware that the feelings were unhelpful and a waste of time. "I can't see down here because of my quirk. Somebody needs to guide me." With that she waited for the other three girls to decide her fate. If they didn't help her she would be doomed to finish last. Cannibalizing lights from the robot would be very iffy and even then she'd have to dig out something to power them. She'd probably be better off dismounting and trying to navigate blind - that was if they gave her the option to dismount. They could very well kick her off the robot like dead weight and take it for themselves.
Almost instantly after she'd confessed, Mei felt her screwdriver move of its own accord. "Hold out your hand. I will angle the tool in the degree that we need to turn. This should be efficient enough, should it not?"
Mei felt for the metal and grasped it. It was tilted about 15 degrees to the left of the front of the robot. She manipulated the controls with her other hand and felt the screwdriver straighten itself. "That'll work." she reported with a cheeky grin, adjusting her grip on the shaft for precision and comfort. She closed her eyes and began humming the tune from Speed Racer as she urged the robot forward.
As they trundled through the dark, Mei felt as though she finally understood why they called it a joy stick.
Chapter 15: First Class
Summary:
Mei completes the first event. Her cheering section grows while her family's finances shrink.
Chapter Text
Somewhere in a muggy railyard on the outskirts of Jakarta, it was lunch time. A Japanese engineer scrolled idly through the news as he worked his way through some kind of banana fritter he'd found at the station. He was browsing a Japanese news site, though the story he was reading appeared in news outlets all over the world. "Hey, Hatsume, don't you have a daughter at UA?"
Hatsume Ken's fried noodles stopped halfway into his mouth and his heart skipped a beat. "What happened?"
"They've announced the competitors. There's a Hatsume Mei. First year, right?"
Five minutes after Ken abandoned his lunch he feared that his lunch was going to abandon him. He was in the back of one of those three-wheeled tuk tuk things which filled the streets of Jakarta, racing to the airport. Once his colleague managed to push "Sports Festival" and "daughter" past the language barrier, their driver acted with an urgency that had surprised him. From that point forward, only two of the three wheels seemed to be touching the ground at any given time.
Ken had never flown first class in his life. It was one of those things that he associated with people who had money to burn, and that had never been him.
As he ate some little hors d'oeuvre off an actual plate, he tried to force himself into the right frame of mind to enjoy this very expensive expeditious ride home. It was his first time flying supersonic. Ironically he wished that Mei could be with him to experience it. That wouldn't make any sense, of course, since Mei and the festival were the entire reason he'd sprung for a supersonic flight in the first place.
Ken tried very hard not to focus on the price tag. The ticket had cost him more than he earned in two weeks. When you were buying at the literal last minute, sometimes first class was all that was left. He had long known that parenthood was expensive. Sometimes it was expensive in very unexpected ways. He recalled the time that a young Mei had destroyed a perfectly good forklift while trying to harvest its motor for her own nebulous purposes. She had a solid grasp of torque at the time but had not yet wrapped her small head around the cost of other people's labor. This time was different. He wasn't sure to what extent he should be frustrated with Mei - this time, he had a dark notion that it might somehow be his fault.
The fresh hole in his bank account seemed to reinforce Ken's long-standing theory that there was no winning in life. He could go and make a pile of money, but he couldn't do it while sleeping in his own bed every night. He could support his daughter, but he always seemed to have to choose between securing their future and shoring up the present.
He had verified with two separate flight attendants that they would be getting a stream of the first event. He hoped he'd arrive in time for the second event whether Mei was a spectator, a participant, or anything in between. More than anything else, he hoped he'd find out why she hadn't bothered to tell him she was competing. He also hoped the answer wouldn't hurt too much.
As they neared the far side of the pit, Mei's passengers were planning their ascent.
"Can Honnenuki give us ride?" the foreign girl asked.
"I believe he is where we left him, quietly ushering our cohorts across the depths like Charon."
The foreign girl gave no audible response to this. Mei couldn't see what she was doing but she guessed it was some kind of social cue.
"He's back there. He won't hear us." the quiet girl said.
The foreign girl hummed in understanding. "I can take me. Also take Kodai. Yanagi can take herself..?" she trailed off, and Mei didn't need to do much math to figure out that she was probably on her own now. She thought of the grappling gun and tried to judge the distance to the top of the pit.
"I believe I could haul our friend up if I maintain focus on her clothes after my own ascent."
Mei was just about to fire the grappling gun at what seemed like the ragged edge of daylight above when the quiet girl spoke again. "Don't we want to keep the robot?"
"You can do bigger and smaller?" Mei demanded. Had she been able to see anything, she might have seen Kodai's smug little grin. "Everybody off the robot!" she cried.
Mei couldn't really see what was going on but the foreign girl seemed to fly to the top of the trench with absolute ease. The quiet one clung desperately to some small object that seemed to follow the foreigner. The shrunken robot in her pocket didn't seem to slow her down at all. The spooky one instructed Mei to clasp her hands together and flex like a bodybuilder, then ascended into the sunshine. A moment later Mei found herself lifted by her jacket out of the pit and into the light. After a quick unshrinking they were trundling off to the next obstacle.
"She's out!" someone several rows back from Ken joyfully declared. A ragged cheer went up throughout the plane.
"What?" Ken looked at the too-small screen embedded in the seat in front of him. A wave of relief washed over him as he saw his daughter clambering back on top of the purloined robot on the far edge of the pit. He wasn't the type to draw attention to himself, but it was hard to avoid explaining to his seatmates that his daughter was competing. Of course, two of the flight attendants had already known. It seemed that the news had spread.
The thing about the minefield was that it was fresh. You could absolutely see where the mines were buried. It wasn't a mine detection exercise, it was a study in caution. If you didn't step carefully, you got blown up. If you weren't patient, you got blown up. If you were some kind of peasant who didn't have an armored military robot, being blown up could be a real setback. Mei wondered what that was like as she and the blonde girl belted out the 1812 Overture while mowing through the minefield at near top-speed.
"DA DA DA DA DA DA DA. DA. DAAAA-" BOOM!
"DA DA DA DA DA DA DA. DA. DAAAA-" BOOM!
"DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA-" BOOM!
Mei and Tsunotori were experiencing a surge of fellow feeling, the language barrier melting away in the face of one of mankind's best non-lyrical but highly singable songs.
Yanagi covered her ears and looked at Kodai who was also wearing her own hands as earmuffs. She gave the stoic girl a tiny "what are you gonna do?" shrug.
In response, Kodai arched an eyebrow which seemed to ask, "have you noticed that she's steering slightly out of her way sometimes to make sure she hits the mines on the right beat?" Kodai's eyebrows said more than her mouth ever did.
Yanagi closed her eyes and nodded. Still, this wasn't bad. They'd gotten through the whole course without allowing their competitors to make note of their quirks.
First class cabins in commercial aircraft are usually the calmest part of the plane. This particular flight had left "calm" behind as soon as Mei commandeered the robot. By the time she reached the minefield the first class cabin had crossed into "rowdy" territory. Ken's flight was now a high-altitude supersonic cheering section for Hatsume Mei.
"Fifteenth place." Ken murmured to himself, riveted. They had been on a wide shot of the mine field for a while now with occasional PIPs of the competitors' faces. It was clear that Mei's group was about to overcome several high achievers who couldn't simply ignore the mines. "Thirteenth."
"Tenth!" the man next to him cheered, pounding him good-naturedly on the shoulder. "She'll have internship offers just from the first event with a showing like that."
Ken smiled wanly as Mei crossed the finish line in tenth place. Internships. He felt some trepidation over that. He wasn't in the habit of kidding himself - he knew Mei was only barely civilized. There were days when it felt like his disapproval was her only motivation to clean up after herself. An internship would be a lot of responsibility and a lot of opportunities to put her foot in her mouth. It might be a good idea to talk to her teacher.
Ken decided he could worry about that later. He wished Mei's mother could have seen this. Mei had the same indomitable spirit and looked more like her mother every day. All he contributed was a nose and a deep love of machinery. His eyes welled up as the tragedy of it gripped him again. Mei was hitting the world stage like tungsten dropped from space and Keiko wasn't around to see it. He really couldn't win.
There was a one-hour break before the second event started.
Ken found a ticket in his personal email and cursed himself for not checking it more frequently - it had come in days ago. He made his way into the stadium and felt a bit like a human pinball as he got directions to the first year support cheering section from various students in yellow armbands. Eventually he found himself among his people. Rather, they'd be his people in about five years. Ken could always spot an engineer, even if they didn't have the education yet. If you looked past the acne and asked yourself which of these kids looked like they would rather gnaw their own arms off than admit they made a mistake, it was pretty easy.
Now he needed to narrow it down to the correct class. He wasn't sure if Mei would return to the stands between events, but her teacher would probably know.
"I'm looking for class 1-H." he announced to the gaggle of chattering nerds.
"Everybody is." said a woman who seemed to be a teacher. He hadn't noticed her at first, which was odd since her suit should have stood out in the sea of uniforms. She couldn't have been Mei's teacher though - he remembered Mei's teacher was a man. "At least everybody in the support equipment industry. If you're here to discuss an internship, there is a formal process. Though it looks like Maijima's willing to discuss things informally if you're willing to get in line." She gestured at a line of people with sponsor badges. The line took up an entire row of seats and ended in - he did a double-take - a shirtless man in a metal helmet. The man was gesticulating wildly while saying something about an outrageous bill of materials.
"I'm a parent. Hatsume Ken."
"Oh!" the woman warmed up. "Congratulations." She bowed. "You must be so proud of Mei. I know that the support department is very proud of her. I think this is probably the last time we'll be able to borrow JSDF equipment for a while." she mused, smiling demurely.
"Yes, I caught the first event on the way here. Ah," he rubbed his neck nervously. "She's not in any trouble for that stunt, is she?"
"No, of course not!" the woman waved his concern away. "We reward creativity. If you can turn an obstacle into an advantage then you're in the right place!" she declared. She looked him up and down. "I think if you just tell Maijima who you are he can answer any questions you might have. All these people know they have to fill out forms and such if they want to be in the running."
Ken thanked her for the advice and went to put it into practice. "Hello, I'm Hatsume Ken. Do you know if Mei will be returning to the stands before the second event? Is she in a special waiting area?"
"Hey!" the shirtless man declared. "This is Hatsume's father, everyone. He raised a clever little hellion, didn't he?"
The gaggle of lanyard-wearing professionals emphatically agreed. The congratulations all bled together and reached his ears in a jumble.
"She's in a restricted area but she's free to leave it. Sometimes it's a challenge to keep them away from the stadium food, so you might tell her to at least avoid the fried stuff between events. They're allowed to have their phones in there, so you might be able to reach her."
Ken reached for his phone but hesitated. Maijima seemed to have noticed his disquiet. "Hey everybody, I'm gonna see if we can catch Hatsume before the second event. If you're interested in her for an internship check out the form on the website." he waved them off and gestured for Ken to follow him out of the seats. He stopped near a concession area. "Everything OK?" he asked quietly, keeping his body language neutral for anyone who might have been watching.
"She didn't tell me she was competing." Ken said helplessly.
"Ah." Maijima nodded knowingly. "Well, it's probably tempting to read into that, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Ken chuckled mirthlessly.
"Well, some kids, that would worry me a bit. Sometimes they don't want you there. Either they don't care about impressing you or they worry they'll disappoint you. With Hatsume, I don't think either of those sounds like her. I can tell you her entry to the festival was pretty last-minute. She didn't know it happened so early in the year, and so far she seems like the type to live in the moment."
"Don't I know it." Ken commented despite his anxiety.
"Someone like Hatsume, I think it's possible that she just forgot to tell you. She's been laser-focused on the festival. Have you ever had issues with her avoiding sleep because she's focused on something?"
"Yes. That's… a family trait." Ken admitted with a pained expression. "Not something I encourage." he added hastily.
"Ah." Maijima smiled knowingly under his helmet. "Well, we can both keep working on that. I expect we might get help from Midoriya."
"Who's Midoriya?"
Notes:
I'm equally amused and nervous about the fact that Mei hasn't needed anything more than her crampons yet.
Chapter 16: Practical Problems
Summary:
UA witnesses the birth of a brand new villain. Izuku meets Mei's father. Maijima has to excuse himself. Mei meets Momo and solves some practical problems.
Notes:
Still here, still invested in this story. Sorry to have kept you waiting. I hope you enjoy my take on the second Sports Festival event.
Chapter Text
"It's been a week!" Ken plaintively declared. They'd returned to the stands after a brief debate on the merits of seeing Mei versus the danger of distracting her before the next event. Maijima had just summarized Mei's first week from his perspective.
"A UA week can be a bit like a New York minute." the shirtless man chuckled. "Did you get anything from Yamadi-sensei yet? She's got him for English."
Ken scrolled through his personal email again. "I think I see something here. I - I'm not in the habit of ignoring messages from schools, but I didn't think she'd have problems so soon." he scrubbed a hand over his haggard face. "I came as soon as my colleague saw that she was competing, and I only scrolled far enough to see the tickets on the way here."
"Hey, I get it." Maijima raised his metal-tipped hands in a soothing gesture. "You were on the road and it's not as if she's a slacker - she wouldn't have gotten in if she was."
"So she's working with a partner? How's that going?" Ken almost succeeded in hiding his trepidation.
"It's unbelievable what they've accomplished in the time they've had. Based on what Yamada told me in passing I'm guessing that her work in other classes is probably suffering. I know she wasn't getting enough sleep at one point," he paused, "she's not going to have massive build crunches like this all the time." he reassured Ken. "This is a big outlier and it was her choice, of course. First year support students almost never compete because they know they don't have time." he clarified.
"She's never been great at time management." Ken muttered, then sighed. "She's struggled in school before because of that. If she doesn't think an assignment will help her make better things, then she's not interested. I was hoping that being at UA would help her see the value of other people." he paused. "Boy, that sounds awful, doesn't it? She's not opposed to other people, just… never been that interested, I think. I probably got something wrong, huh?"
"I think you were right about her finding the right people." Maijima said encouragingly. "She and Midoriya are inseparable."
There was a pregnant pause during which Maijima couldn't quite read Ken. There seemed to be at least two emotions fighting for purchase on the man's face. There was a hint of joy, though it was tempered by concern. Maijima had a pretty good guess as to where the concern came from. Finally Ken spoke. "I hope he's a decent kid. She tends to go all-in on things. I wonder if she might do that with people, too."
Maijima smiled. "You want to meet him?" he gestured at a green-haired boy near the edge of the seating section whose attention was divided between the field below and the notebook in his lap.
"Hey, Midoriya."
"You know what the next event is, don't you?" Izuku rasped to Maijima by way of greeting. He didn't look up from his notebook.
"Yup." Maijima said smugly.
Cementoss and his crew had flattened the obstacle course in about twenty minutes. Since then Izuku had been watching the mysterious preparations on the field. Four container trucks had been driven into the stadium through its loading area and all the way onto the field, parking in four separate corners. He knew that the second event almost always involved cooperation, but he had no insight as to what might be inside the containers.
"They rolled the dice weeks ago, didn't they?" Izuku continued.
"Yup. It's a good one this year. Very hands-on." Maijima grinned under his helmet.
Izuku's eyes narrowed. "Hands-on for who?" he asked.
"That's a great question and I'm not going to answer it." He gestured to Ken, whom Izuku hadn't even noticed. Now that he looked at the man he seemed oddly familiar. "This is Hatsume's father, Hatsume Ken. Hatsume, this is Midoriya Izuku. He worked with your daughter on most of her gear. Did an amazing job on such short notice."
Hatsume Ken bowed more deeply than Izuku had expected. "Thank you for helping Mei. I hope that she hasn't been too much trouble."
Izuku had been thrown off-balance by the sudden revelation that he was meeting Mei's father. While he did still fear the man (reasonably, he felt, given that he'd technically slept with his daughter), he couldn't help but smile as he returned the bow. "I've enjoyed working with her very much. Her intellect is incredible and she's very brave."
"You've gotten to know her pretty well, I see." Ken mused.
Izuku's smile twitched as he remembered waking up in Mei's arms multiple times. "Yes." he confirmed.
Maijima had been watching the two with interest, but after a look at his watch he declared that he was needed for the next event and excused himself.
"I think we've found your color, Maijima."
"You think?" Maijima grinned. He could hear the amusement in Midnight's voice. There weren't a lot of people who could tell the difference between her usual sultry smile which was designed to put people off-balance and the genuine smile she wore now. Maijima was one of them.
The world's unluckiest second-year support students were almost finished painting his torso a brilliant, aggressive red.
"Have you settled on a name?" Midnight inquired.
"You were always better at that than me. You want to help me narrow it down?" he offered, lifting an arm and suppressing a shiver as the tepid paint filled his armpit.
"You've got some ideas, then?"
"Yup." he carefully pulled a cafeteria napkin out of his pocket. There were a few words on it in his trademark nearly unreadable scrawl.
"Doug Deeply?" Midnight snorted. "Very funny. I think not."
Maijima grinned again, knowing she wouldn't like the next option any more than that because it was "Doug Fastly."
Midnight's eyes narrowed. "There's a pattern here and I'm worried about it." she said flatly.
"Don't worry, I ran out of steam on the Doug stuff. How about Vesuvius?"
Midnight cradled her chin in one elegant gloved hand. "Hmm. He comes out of the ground and ruins your day. That's a contender. What else?"
"DAT BOI. I was thinking that's short enough to write on my chest."
Midnight dissolved into snickers which eventually grew into snorts. It took some time for her to compose herself enough to speak. Until then she just waved one arm at him as if to shoo him away while she bent at the waist and tried to breathe. Eventually she managed to gulp down some air and said "You are a ridiculous man." She dabbed away a few tears of mirth. "I hope you remember to challenge these kids instead of just mugging at them."
"Can't mug with the helmet on." he said evenly. His smile was increasingly self-satisfied as Kayama's composure wobbled again.
Midnight rolled her eyes. "Somehow I think you'd find a way." Once she could look appropriately stern again she addressed the second years who were awkwardly putting the finishing touches on their department head's body paint. "If you tell anybody that I'm capable of ugly-laughing I'll make sure you have to paint him again next year."
Maijima rifled through another pocket and pulled out a set of plastic horns. He offered them to the student who'd just laid down their paintbrush.
Midnight and the students stared. It appeared that there were magnets glued to the bottom of each horn. The second year hesitantly reached out, took one of the horns, and stuck it to Maijima's helmet with a tink.
"Are you serious?" Midnight inquired in abject fascination.
"I thought it was a look." Maijima shrugged.
She could tell he was grinning that insufferable grin of his under the stupid excavator helmet. "So the support department can weave straw into kevlar for heroes but when they want something for themselves they go to Spirit Halloween?"
"Hot Topic." Maijima corrected her.
"Get out." Midnight deadpanned.
"Are you worried I'm-" he began and then turned to the students who were desperately trying to keep their composure. "Earmuffs, guys."
The students obediently covered their ears.
"Are you worried that I'm challenging your position as the horniest teacher?" he pointed at the ridiculous plastic horn.
Midnight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Why am I immune to my own gas?" she lamented, trudging out of the room with no trace of her usual saunter.
Maijima just cackled.
Mei wished Izuku was with her.
Mei had been led to something like a tiny conference room. There was a TV on the wall which showed a countdown to the next event and a slideshow of the competitors who had made it through. She smiled every time she saw herself. They'd gotten a shot of her singing atop the robot on the minefield.
Mei had been surprised to find the Dodger, her crampons, and a scant bowl of minimally sauced white rice, chicken, and vegetables waiting on the table. There was a little card next to the bowl. The card seemed to be a tiny form which included her name, her weight (something she did not recall sharing with anyone, though Izuku might have eyeballed it for her on a form), her quirk, a "quirk metabolic modifier" which was apparently 1, a quantity of food in grams which seemed to have been derived from the information above, and the handwritten initials "LR."
Mei spent a few minutes trying to determine whether this was a test.
On the one hand, constant vigilance. On the other hand, this was a school and it was lunch time. She was pretty sure the LR stood for Lunch Rush. She tried a piece of chicken, resolving that she would only eat more of it if the first bite didn't kill her. After a few minutes of apparent continued health she dug into the rest of it. Whoever had done the math was pretty good - if left to her own devices she'd sometimes overeat until she was uncomfortable, but this amount of food took care of her hunger without letting her go overboard.
Eventually the TV emitted a short fanfare to call her attention to a new message.
Second Event
Crisis in the City
With the help of your fellow students, you will
- Keep civilians safe
- Hold positions at key public safety infrastructure
- Assist authorities in crisis management
- Apprehend the villains responsible
Mei absorbed the information uneasily. She could picture a lot of variation in each of those tasks. She was somewhat heartened by the "with your fellow students" part. In her view that left people open to specializing rather than trying to do every part of the exercise themselves. She considered which of the objectives she might actually be good at and grimaced.
She'd only be qualified to defend others as long as she had net cartridges left, and she had to leave herself at least one for the finals if she made it that far. "Hold position" sounded pretty nebulous, though she pictured it getting violent. She knew she wouldn't excel at violence - she wasn't schooled in it the way the hero kids were. "Crisis management" also didn't feel much like her. "Apprehend villains" looked like an opening for her net gun, though the efficacy of the net gun probably depended on the caliber of villains the school was fielding.
Soon enough, the TV switched to a 30-minute countdown. This prompted her to begin suiting up. As she lifted the Dodger, she noticed that her phone had been under it this whole time. She'd been assuming that it was still in the cubby she'd left it in before the first event. Mei excitedly checked her messages, obviously starting with Izuku's.
ScrawlMight: You're incredible! Everyone is losing their minds over you. You stole a JSDF robot. You danced it into submission. Are you even real??
ScrawlMight: Stay away from the stadium food. Fried food is the devil talking when you're about to have to do whatever it is they're setting up out here. Eat the prescription meal. I think Lunch Rush still makes those so it's not going to taste like compromise.
ScrawlMight: I think almost every support equipment company is standing in line to talk to Maijima about you right now.
ScrawlMight: Is all the equipment in good shape? You're allowed to make repairs between events as long as you're not changing any designs.
ScrawlMight: I just met your dad. You didn't mention he was coming. He seems really nice.
Mei's eyes widened. She went to check the messages from her father.
Dad: I didn't realize you were competing in the sports festival. I'm going to try to get there in time to watch.
Dad: I saw the first event on the plane. You were AMAZING. Your mom would be so proud.
Dad: I found your teacher and I'm going to sit with your class for the next event. Let me know if you want me to bring you anything.
Mei scrubbed tears from her face and felt both loved and ashamed. She probably could have left and visited them had she realized where her phone was sooner. Now she only had enough time to suit up.
A curtain over a huge opening in the stadium wall was all that separated Mei from the field. Midnight waited at one edge of the curtain, occasionally peeking past it and then smiling coyly at the amassed competitors. They'd been instructed to wait for Midnight's hand signal.
They could hear Present Mic leading the broadcast and the crowd into the next event with his usual showmanship.
"Are you ready to see UA's first years get creative?" There was a cheer. "Are you ready to see them face off against something crazier than that obstacle course?" The crowd grew louder. Mic smiled and put some grit in his voice for the next part. "Are you ready… to watch UA's first years meet some extremely… reputable… villains?"
Someone next to Mei in the press of competitors said "Oh fuck we're fighting teachers." Several people who'd heard the remark gasped. Midnight laughed.
"Language!" A tall boy with glasses snapped.
The two boys who'd contemplated joining the braid train earlier were chanting "Not Aizawa, not Aizawa." as though it was a prayer. Mei had a feeling that Nezu, being the school's closest thing to a resident god, was not listening. On the other hand there were rumors which contended that Nezu was always listening. Mei resolved not to worry about it.
"Midnight, are our competitors ready?" Present Mic inquired, drawing another dull roar from the crowd.
"As ready as they can be." Midnight reported, clearly delighting in the tension.
"Ready… set…"
Midnight smacked a button on the wall and the curtain seemed to vanish so quickly that Mei wondered if it was already in the stratosphere.
"GO!"
Mei ran just fast enough to avoid being trampled by the people behind her. Once the press of bodies thinned out enough for her to see what was happening, she attempted to get her bearings. Unfortunately it was chaos. Fortunately the chaos was brief.
It was brief because they only had a few seconds to take in the sight of ten copies of their math teacher sprinting at them with obvious murderous intent before a twenty foot wall of ice appeared with a noise like a gunshot.
Mei and several other people turned to find a guy with two-tone hair and a scar on his face rubbing frost off of one arm.
"Thank you, Todoroki." a statuesque girl commented, already unzipping the top of her gym uniform. She had spotted a shipping container with a red cross on the side and was jogging toward it. This prompted Mei to look at the other side of the field where she found a similar shipping container with a yellow lightning bolt on it.
Metal guy and the guy with enough gel in his hair to set a whole forest quickly made their way toward the ice wall. They were pretty clearly front-line types. Mei was glad they were already between her and the ice wall when part of it erupted in a spray of shards. At the same instant something red barreled into the metal guy. He barely stayed on his feet. The red villain gave metal guy no time to recover, delivering a devastating punch to his chest. The resulting noise sounded like someone christening a cruise ship with a beer keg. It inspired such sympathy in Mei that it took her a few extra seconds to realize that the red villain looked extremely familiar.
"Maijima-sensei?" she wondered aloud.
"He is teacher too?" Apparently the foreign girl had been standing next to her along with the quiet scaler and the telekinetic one.
"Yeah, the paint and the horns are new but that's him." Mei commented over the din of metal on metal as Power Loader's fists collided with various parts of the metal kid's body. He'd just growled something about using the metal guy as a pestle to grind his coffee. She wasn't sure the threat had landed because the metal guy just looked confused.
"We're going to make sure that the field hospital is defended and then check out the power station." said the red-haired girl who'd asked Mei to carry her friends.
"Yeah, that sounds good." Mei agreed. It wasn't like she'd gotten her bearings yet. The hole in the ice wall occasionally permitted an Ectoplasm clone. Heavy-hitting hero students would attempt to clobber the clones with varying degrees of success.
The field hospital was being defended by an incredibly loud boy who gestured like he'd been built by a clockmaker and spoke like he'd been raised by accountants, some sort of hairy beast, and that muscular guy who'd given her a ride on the obstacle course. Mei inspected the hospital while the tall girl who'd shucked her jacket and the redheaded girl from the holding area took inventory of their resources.
There was either a doctor or an actor pretending to be one working on someone who'd either lost a lot of blood or gained a lot of corn syrup. The place seemed to have a subset of the equipment one would expect to find in a typical hospital room but none of it was powered on. The doctor was working by the light of an electric lantern. Mei noticed that the shadows in the hospital were moving strangely and unholstered her net gun for all the good it would do.
"The shadows look weird in here." Mei quietly informed the telekinetic girl. She gave off an occult vibe. Mei figured she'd be interested.
"Kuroiro, is that you?" the spooky girl called out into the hospital container.
The far corner of the ceiling blinked at them. "All clear in here, but the power is out. I think I'm gonna stay and defend, but I bet you'd get points for restoring power." The shadow moved along the wall and extended an arm to pick up the lantern. The arm and lantern seemed to crawl up the wall and onto the ceiling above the occupied bed. "Better, doc?"
"Yes, thank you." the doctor replied.
Mei's curiosity got the best of her and she used her quirk to look at the "patient." The "doctor" was playing tic tac toe with herself on the supine woman's belly.
The tall girl with the exposed midriff stepped into the container and approached the doctor. "Are there any supplies you're missing?"
"Yes, we need surgical sterilizer, gauze, and clotting agent."
"I believe I can supply all of those." the girl replied. With her back to Mei, she placed a glass bottle on a nearby counter. This struck Mei as odd since she hadn't seen the girl pick it up in the first place. Things got much stranger as she rubbed her hands together to lather up sanitizer which, for one thing, she had not seen the girl pick up, and which they had also learned was in short supply. Finally things got completely surreal as she excreted sanitizer through her skin and into the little glass bottle, letting it drip off her fingertip.
"That's alcohol and triclosan." The girl then began pulling gauze out of her palm. It just kept coming. Mei didn't approve of clowns and this was treading dangerously close to clownery. She felt thoroughly clowned on. This had to be the person who'd sent her spiraling in the obstacle course.
Mei couldn't hold the question back any longer. "What is your quirk?"
The tall girl looked up at Mei and offered her a professional smile. "I can turn the lipids in my body into anything as long as I know its molecular structure."
"Anything?" Mei demanded incredulously. "Time out!"
Because there were hidden cameras inside the containers for the benefit of the audience, Izuku and Ken saw that Mei had unconsciously formed her hands into the universal time out gesture used in sports. After a stereo groan of frustration (though Izuku's channel was cutting in and out) they both said "You can't call a time out, Mei!"
"Gunpowder." Mei posited.
"Yes."
"Titanium?"
"Yes."
"Room-temperature superconductor?" Mei inquired with bated breath.
"Everyone asks." Momo lamented, appearing to sprinkle some sort of powder into a bowl on the counter. "Once the physicists figure out the structure I'll certainly give it a try. I'm waiting just like everyone else." She handed the bowl over to the doctor.
Mei was undeterred. "Thorium?"
"Not without getting cancer, but yes."
"Carbon nanotubes?"
"One of my favorites. I do think we need to focus on the mission, though." the girl said politely but firmly.
"Right." Mei said distractedly. It was time she checked out the power station.
Mei arrived at the other container to find a small group of other students defending what looked from a distance like a severed high-voltage line. Upon closer inspection Mei determined that it was really just two rubber tubes with some LED pixel tape sticking out the ends creating the illusion of sparking. The strange thing was that the other students weren't defending the mock power line from villains. There was a small horde of business and general studies students dressed as preschoolers trying desperately to reach the danger without using too many fine motor skills.
A six-foot tall boy was loudly proclaiming that the cable looked tasty and demanding to know whether he could eat it. He was only putting up token resistance against the much smaller girl in the gym uniform who was keeping him at bay. That scene was repeated all around the circle with different faces, voices, and amounts of giggling when it became hard to stay in character.
Somebody was probably getting some points deducted because he was holding one of the advancing pseudo-toddlers back by the face, though Mei conceded that they probably knew each other after she heard the defender mutter "God dammit, Kensuke, quit it. "
A shock of blonde and black hair became visible over the rabble. The boy whose friend was propping up the hair gel industry had been crouching next to the cable, presumably inspecting it.
Mei advanced on the ring, awkwardly pointing to the center. "Can I…?" she trailed off. The dark-haired boy to whom she was closest nodded, gently grabbed his giant toddler assailant's forearms, and sat them down just outside the circle. The student playing the toddler role seemed surprised and totally unable to move their feet. Mei stepped past the two and approached the boy who'd spoken to her. "The cable's not real."
"Yeah, I know." he assured her. "It's just, electricity's my thing, so…" he trailed off despondently, staring at the LEDs as they twinkled and strobed. "If it was a real cable I would just be pushing power to the hospital, but this is just a light show. I feel like I should be able to do something with this, but I don't know what they want." he continued hopelessly.
"Have you looked inside the container?" Mei jerked a thumb in the direction of the power station.
"No. Probably should have thought of that instead of staring at this." the boy flashed her a nervous smile while he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.
Inside the power station they found a hint that Mei felt was somehow both heavy-handed and a little obtuse. There was a set of storage lockers which housed five unused but very hefty looking electrical cables. "OK, I've seen that before. That's feeder cable. I don't think a real power station uses that, but I feel like they want us to use it." Mei mused, rubbing her chin. "You have to hook them up in a specific order or you die." she continued nonchalantly.
"Do you know the correct order?" the boy asked hopefully.
"Nope." was Mei's bleak response.
"Really feel like I should." the boy responded with a sigh.
Something seemed off to Mei about the whole idea. Heroes probably don't know these things. They especially wouldn't know how to get something as complex as a power station working again. The exercise couldn't be designed to test first year hero hopefuls on something that only certain tradesmen would know.
She thought back to the TV in the holding area. "Assist authorities" and "hold position." But where were the authorities?
Mei looked outside and as she saw the continued chaos of battle, it clicked. "It said 'assist authorities,' but the only people who should be here while it's still a shitstorm are heroes. So…" she walked back into the container and looked around. There was a phone on the wall. She followed the cable leading away from the phone to a box whose lights were still blinking. Presumably this phone was important enough to receive backup power.
At the back of the container behind the imposing-looking equipment which probably wasn't real, there was a desk. Mei started opening drawers. The blonde guy looked on in confusion for a moment and then sprung into action, opening the drawers she hadn't gotten to yet.
"Found it!" he declared, handing Mei a spiral notebook labeled COOP. "What did I find?" he asked quietly as Mei flipped it open.
She was silent for a moment as she leafed through the first few pages, then she grinned and triumphantly poked a phone number. "You found help."
"Hi, do you know how to fix the power station in the UA stadium?"
The blonde boy looked on attentively as the distant voice spoke into Mei's ear.
"Well, the cable to the hospital is severed and sparking on the ground, so we should probably kill that circuit. I think I see some backup cables here - I think it's called camlock? Uh huh." she covered the mouthpiece and spoke directly to her eager new assistant. "Go find the panel in here that says 'primary' and flip the breaker to the off position."
By the time he returned from his mission Mei was grabbing the coil of green cable. "Green, then white, then the rest."
They took both coils outside and eventually found a panel with five sockets on the opposite side of the container. They both went back for another of the heavy coils, then the boy grabbed the green, hooked it up to the power station, took the other end and sprinted off toward the hospital container with the cable trailing behind him. When Mei came outside again with the final cable she saw the boy grab white and repeat the routine. She sat the last coil down, grabbed one end of it and the end of the next nearest coil, slung both connectors over her shoulder and hauled ass toward the hospital.
Mei eventually returned to the power station more than a little bit out of breath but having connected everything. She threw the breaker on the circuit they'd just hooked up - assuming it was even real - and was elated to see the instruments around her light up.
She jogged back to the hospital, noticing on the way that the crowd of power-hungry imitation preschoolers seemed to have vanished. She found that the hospital was now full of bright lights and bright smiles. A boy whose skin seemed to reflect no light at all was rubbing the back of his head as though he'd hit it but muttered something encouraging at her anyway.
"Sorry dude, we didn't mean to pull the rug on you like that." The boy who'd helped her hook up the power was grimacing as he steered the boy with the cosmic complexion onto a gurney next to the corn syrup lady. "Didn't know your quirk worked that way. Probably should have guessed."
Meanwhile on the other end of the field the original Ectoplasm had just been notified that power had been restored to the hospital. He keyed his headset and posed a question to his co-conspirators/fellow UA faculty. "OK, we've given the backline types plenty of time to be useful. Do we want to apply some pressure now?"
Chapter 17: Impractical Solutions
Summary:
The cooperative portion of the Sports Festival is concluded. Those who believed all their shit to have been lost after Mei's prior escapades lose their shit again.
Notes:
I'm not giving up on this story.
This is how I spent my Labor Day weekend and it was a blast. If you spot any mistakes please let me know - I was excited to get it posted for you.
Chapter Text
Mei thought furiously. The pro heroes seemed to be pulling their punches a lot less and advancing a lot faster than they had been thus far. She worried that they'd be overrun. It seemed like the kind of circumstance that would have heroes talking about extraction. But what did extraction look like?
Mei pictured a helicopter. There was no way that was happening. Even if she had Factory Girl produce a small one and then had the quiet one scale it up, she knew that helicopters were ridiculously complex and required an expert pilot. The only simple aircraft that could take off vertically -
The epiphany hit her as she watched Two-tone soloing Maijima and an Ectoplasm clone. He was shivering. After he took out the clone with a well-timed blast of ice, she saw fire wreath his other arm for a few seconds. The shivering stopped, but as far as Mei was concerned the shivering revelation was secondary. "Hey, can somebody give Frosty a break? I wanna talk to him!"
The guy who'd helped her get the power station online sidled up next to her. "I think he identifies as a McFlurry." he said delicately, then cupped his hands to his mouth. "Kirishima, tag Todoroki out. We need to talk to him!"
Hair Gel interposed himself between Maijima and Frosty. "Todoroki, you should see what the support girl needs. I've got this for a minute." He took up a boxer's stance and began testing Maijima's guard. Mei could only see part of his face from where she was standing but it seemed that both Hair Gel and her teacher were enjoying themselves.
Frosty turned in such a way that he could keep the brawl in his peripheral vision while raising an eyebrow at Mei. "You wanted to talk to me?" He prompted her. He appeared to relax a bit further as he saw Hairy Beast moving to flank Maijima. Between those two her homeroom teacher looked thoroughly occupied.
"You can do fire, right?"
"I can, but I don't." he replied shortly, noting an Ectoplasm clone that had leapt over the wall and taking him out with an effortless-looking ice blast.
"Not even to raise a hot air balloon?"
Frosty cocked his head in confusion, then narrowed his eyes in a way that suggested he was giving the matter due consideration. "That would look ridiculous." he said evenly.
"Really? You're worried about how cool you look?" Mei scoffed. "Mr. Ice Cold thinks he's not cool, everyone." she threw her hands up in frustration. "I guess we'll just die."
"I didn't say no." Mei thought she could see a tiny smile on his impassive face.
"OK, I'll come get you if we can get it ready!" With that Mei ran off to begin gathering the other pieces.
Mei found Factory Girl at the hospital container in conversation with Clockwork Accountant and the girl with red hair.
"Hey!" Mei interrupted, pointing at Factory Girl. "You can make aerogel, right?"
"Yes, that's a fun one."
"So a thin, nanotube-reinforced aerogel balloon with grommets as mount points around the bottom?"
"I can do that."
"And steel shackles and cables?"
"Yes, easily."
Mei grinned fiercely. "OK, everybody. We're making a hot air balloon and getting out of here!"
"But the objectives…" Factory Girl protested and trailed off.
"'Defend infrastructure'" the Accountant recalled.
"Power's back online and we've got a guy who can provide mobile power if the doctor wants it." Mei countered.
"'Protect civilians' is mostly done. We corralled them into one of those tunnels and handed them off to Midnight. She told us that their escape was successful." Redhead added. "What about 'apprehend villains?'"
"Well…" Factory Girl said with a nervous laugh and a smile that seemed apologetic for some reason. "I believe Todoroki is holding back."
"What? Why would he hold back instead of apprehending the villains immediately?" the Accountant demanded.
"...I might have asked him to?" she mumbled.
Iida had never known Yaoyorozu to mumble - she always seemed to conduct herself with grace and confidence. This was strange new territory. He could only gape at her, still failing to understand why she'd do such a thing.
"We all know you and Todoroki will be amazing heroes!" she said defensively, "But the rest of us could benefit from the opportunity to prove that we're useful. The other combat types can't be useful if he neutralizes the villains in the first 10 seconds. Heroes like you two have to sleep sometime. And sometimes subtlety or technical knowledge will accomplish things that force and speed just can't! Todoroki knows that too, and he's a sweet boy, really - I know he can seem standoffish-" Yaoyorozu was rambling now. The 1-B president's fiery eyebrows had risen as she listened to the shocking revelations. Iida wished they could have discussed all this more privately. "But I asked him to give other people a chance to prove themselves during any cooperative challenges, and I think that's what he's doing. If we want the villains out of the way I think he could do it any time."
Yaoyorozu looked up at Iida fearfully. He knew she wanted him to say something. He took a breath and schooled his face into something that he hoped looked open and understanding. "I… would not have been a good class president. I would not have thought to help the class in that way. I'm glad we chose you, Yaoyorozu."
The brash girl from the support course looked between the two of them and interrupted the moment. "Preeeeetty sure they're going to factor our time into the scoring. So, hot air balloon?"
Having just picked up and thrown the hairy heavy from 1-B into his metallic classmate, Maijima found himself with a moment to breathe. He saw Hatsume speaking to Yaoyorozu and Ingenium's younger brother and keyed his headset. "Hatsume's planning something. Should be interesting, whatever it is. I think Todoroki might be involved."
"As you may have noticed I can't seem to get a hand on him." Ectoplasm replied. "Should I make a run for Hatsume?"
Maijima wrestled with himself as he grappled with Tetsutetsu. Tactically, Mei was an easy target and maybe even a valuable one, but he was burning to know what she was planning. Maijima chuckled as he finally managed to trip Tetsutetsu. "Can't give you an unbiased answer. I'll leave it up to you."
Mei had stepped out of the container determined to begin visualizing a basket structure for Factory Girl to create. It was helpful to look at an empty patch of ground while she did it. Holding all the competitors and the hospital actors was going to be a real challenge, and that was only good if the fake doctor said the fake patient could be moved. She'd asked Factory Girl and Clockwork Accountant to work on the logistics of securing the doctor and patient.
As Mei mentally perused a list of exotic materials that would optimize their mass to strength ratio, an Ectoplasm clone sailed over her head. The construct flailed for a moment and then went limp, seemingly resigned to its fate. The really weird thing was that its trajectory seemed to defy gravity even though it wasn't moving at ballistic speeds. She saw people in the stands reacting, some panicking and others gleefully preparing to catch him as though they were at a baseball game.
Mei looked back in the general direction his trajectory suggested he'd come from and found a visibly queasy girl watching the errant clone's flight. Just before the clone would have reached the stands she put all of her fingertips together and mumbled "release" before being violently sick on the turf. The clone fell about 10 meters to the ground and did not move.
Mei ran over to the girl, taking care to keep clear of the puke puddle. "S'whatchu get for all that homework." the ailing girl slurred.
"How did you do that?" Mei demanded.
"I take an object's gravity away by touching it." she reported, wiping her mouth on her jacket sleeve.
"Is there a weight limit?"
"If I take a shitload of Dramamine I can manage 3 tonnes." the girl boasted with a shaky but endearing grin. She then burped and wrinkled her nose at the smell.
Mei returned to Factory Girl and requested "a shitload of Dramamine." This caused Factory Girl to offer her a tight-lipped smile and explain that she does not make anything for human consumption, especially something as complex as pharmaceuticals.
"Besides the legal issues, I could cause lethal harm if I got something wrong." she elaborated while continuing to extrude folded aerogel from her arm. "Are you worried about being nauseous on the balloon?"
"It's for Anti-Gravity Girl." Mei clarified.
"Ah, Uraraka. She mentioned the nausea issue with her quirk. I'm afraid I can't help her with drugs, but I could make a crude version of the pressure point cuffs in her costume. I'm sure she's missing them right now."
"Yeah, that would be great!" Mei agreed. She was then struck by a thought. "What if she just thought she'd taken Dramamine?"
"Hatsume is planning something." The voice of the principal came over the director's headset matter-of-factly.
The director sent the camera following Mei to preview and backed it up by 90 seconds. He kept one eye on the rest of the action while he tried to follow what Mei was doing. "Any idea what?"
"I have a guess, but I don't want to spoil the surprise. Right now she's gathering the components."
"She's looking for specific quirks." the director noted.
"If she pulls it all together, I believe we're going to see something… big." Nezu opined.
"Physically big or just compelling?"
"All of the above, I think."
"Has Mic noticed?"
"No, he's following the brawlers and the legacy boys for the most part."
The director nodded to himself. "I'll ask him to lead me in when I think we've got something."
The audience in the stadium and abroad had begun to view the token Ectoplasm and Vesuvius attacks as background to whatever it was Hatsume Mei had set in motion. The tide of attention really turned when the air around Yaoyorozu Momo began to shimmer.
"It looks like Hatsume Mei, world-famous robot thief and support course student, is marshaling some of our first year hero hopefuls to build… what is that thing?" he gestured at the gossamer cloud around Yaoyorozu. Mic muted his microphone and keyed his headset. "OK, seriously, what is that thing?"
"I believe she intends to fly out." Nezu opined. "We'll plan accordingly." He switched over to the villain channel. "Maijima, please give us a few minutes before you allow them to take off. We need to ensure we have someone in place to catch the container." He saw the man break free of the ice block in which young Todoroki had encased him and rush a gaggle of front-liners who scrambled to react.
"Is that a hot air balloon?" Present Mic asked gleefully.
Ken, Izuku, and the support classes lost their collective shit. Class 1-H were out of their seats and banging on the railing again, chanting Mei's name. Yosetsu Awase had climbed atop the hospital container and was busy sticking giant metal rings onto it. Uraraka Ochako had donned the bracers Yaoyorozu had produced, then swallowed something else that had been handed to her by Mei. She was now doing breathing exercises next to the container.
Izuku was awestruck at the brilliance of it. Mei had identified all the pieces and told the other competitors how to make it happen: A field-designed and deployed aerial extraction that didn't rely on a flying hero, but made use of multiple quirks. Had this happened in a real disaster scenario it would be the stuff of legend. It might still be. He wondered what Uraraka had just swallowed - some kind of nutrient supplement? Surely Yaoyorozu wouldn't make or carry any sort of quirk-enhancing drug? He really, really hoped Mei hadn't smuggled such a thing in on her own.
Meanwhile Ken was testing the wind with his finger and trying to figure out which way the thing would go if they got it airborne. He worried for absolutely everyone involved including the audience. It was a high-risk maneuver and he hoped that UA could respond to it quickly enough to ensure everyone's safety. More than that he hoped that Mei wouldn't put herself and others at serious risk in the first place.
"How long do you want each cable?" Factory Girl inquired after finishing the envelope. They had several people sitting on it to keep it from blowing away.
"Can I get a pencil and a notepad?" Factory Girl obliged and Mei began drawing a sort of harness to connect the envelope to the container. "Give me a minute. I'm tempted to err on the longer side. We can always crimp them shorter but I figure the further the balloon is from the container the hotter we can run it. The aerogel should hold up to heat way better than normal fabric."
"You good, Prez? I know it's not much of a snack but I've got some sugar left." The massive boy who'd been Mei's ride from the obstacle course wiggled a small packet at Factory Girl.
"I'm fine, Satou, but I appreciate the offer. Aerogel's density is so low I feel like I could do it all day. This whole situation has me considering learning an ultralight plane design."
Mei grinned. "I'd love to help you with that after all this is over. Probably with some other stuff, too, if you're interested."
Yaoyorozu relayed a message through the blonde electricity guy that it was time. Shoto shored up the ice wall one more time, encased the red villain in a block of ice the size of a convenience store with a pocket of air around his head, then retreated from the front line and hurried to the hospital container. The increasingly coordinated Ectoplasm clones were held off by more than half a dozen others from both first year hero classes. A guy from the other class high-fived him on his way to the front line. Shoto looked back to see him slinging ice and fire with abandon and cackling gleefully. He took some comfort from the fact that this unstable-looking guy's aim wasn't as good as his, and he doubted his stamina was any better. He frowned. He'd been on the fence about accepting a high-five in the first place. So much for trying new things.
Shoto raised himself level with the roof of the container with a column of ice and nodded to the other students who'd taken their places at the cables. He tried to focus on the image of himself and the others soaring above the stadium rather than the threatening infernos that had filled his childhood. He took a deep breath and aimed a gout of flame into the mouth of the balloon. As the envelope filled, Shoto smiled to himself. He'd never seriously thought that he might be able to fly.
"And Todoroki's using his fire!" Present Mic exclaimed. "I've been told that's very rare - I don't expect to see him use it in a fight. I wonder if his dad's ever thought about flying like this?"
In his private box high above the stands, Endeavor watched and listened with narrowed eyes. Yes, he thought with a grimace. But it would look so… undignified.
Nezu switched from the security channel back to the villain channel. "Maijima, Mt. Lady is in place outside the stadium downwind of the balloon. You're clear to let it take off if it suits you."
"Understood." Maijima's reply seemed somewhat breathless.
Nezu chuckled to himself and switched to the production channel. "Is the camera swarm ready to follow the balloon?"
"I told them to prepare for deployment as soon as you said 'something big.'"
"Hey." Anti-Gravity Girl moaned, the sound blending into the creaking of the metal beneath them. "Do you know if she made extended release pills or something? I'm not feeling so good."
Mei tried to keep a straight face, specifically one of confusion with a hint of concern. "No, I definitely asked for the immediate relief version. It should kick in any minute." she said reassuringly. "Do you want me to tighten the cuffs?"
"m'OK" the girl mumbled.
"OK, we've got tension on almost all the cables. We can take off whenever you're ready."
Factory Girl grimaced as she watched her classmate suffer. "Todoroki, can you burn a little hotter? We may need to meet Uraraka in the middle. Her, ah, Dramamine is taking some time to kick in." she requested nervously.
"I can go hotter." Todoroki confirmed.
"I can make the envelope bigger." Quiet Girl offered.
"OK, let's keep it under 800 Celsius and under 120% scale for now. I don't want it getting away from us." Mei requested.
Frosty nodded and the color of his flames shifted. Everyone had to take a couple more steps away from him. Mei looked under Frosty's feet and considered the metal they were already stressing in unexpected directions. She turned to Factory Girl, yelling to be heard over the increased roar of Frosty's flame. "Can we get an aerogel rug? I want to make sure the metal doesn't get too hot. That and we should probably try not to cook everybody."
"Good idea." Factory Girl yelled back.
The container began to move.
Vine Girl steadied several people who'd stumbled, then wrapped her vines around the cables to create a sort of corral. She did not look like she was enjoying the heat.
Meanwhile inside the container there was an air of excitement and trepidation.
"I can't believe we're doing this." Kendo laughed nervously.
"Yaoyorozu and Todoroki know what they're doing. They're at the top of our class!" Kirishima insisted.
"UA's Moving Castle!" Tsunotori cheered.
"So… not trying to jinx anything, but you think you could survive a fall at terminal velocity?" Tetsutetsu asked Kirishima.
"Oh, for sure! I did the math once. How about you, bro?"
"I did the math too and I got excited but then I remembered my drag coefficient changes when I'm metal, so… dunno if I'd survive, but I'd probably have a bad time if I did." Tetsutetsu looked thoroughly put out about the whole thing.
Kirishima frowned, deep in concentration. "What if we held hands on the way down?" he suddenly exclaimed.
Kendo tried to hide her amusement. "I think that would slow you down. But Tetsu, couldn't you just go metallic right before you hit the ground?"
"Hey, yeah!" Tetsutetsu snapped his fingers in triumph. "Kendo's the top of our class." he confided to Kirishima. "Total genius."
Mei felt pretty guilty watching Gravity Girl struggle, but they were really moving now! The section of crowd she was facing waved at her and she couldn't help but grin and wave back as they floated past row after row of jubilant spectators.
"OK, so where are we going?" Factory Girl inquired loudly over Frosty's flame.
Mei blinked in surprise. "Well we're leaving the stadium. I figured that counts as a safe extraction, right?"
"But where are we landing?" Shiozaki interjected.
"I mean, I would suggest the nearest big flat area?" Mei replied in consternation.
"You didn't have a specific destination in mind?" Factory Girl asked with a brittle smile and slightly wide eyes. Mei got the impression that the poised and unflappable girl might be close to letting go of decorum.
"Not really." Mei called out apologetically. "I just wanted to make sure it could fly. I knew the wind would take us away from the stadium and that we probably had enough quirks to get some basic steering and propulsion."
"Well." Factory Girl took a deep, steadying breath and blew it out before re-affixing her professional smile. "Let's think about possible destinations."
"Shouldn't we be trying to land at a real hospital?" Electric Guy mused aloud, looking down and probably wishing that he hadn't. He'd stayed atop the container because he was managing one of the cables during takeoff.
Factory Girl gestured for Todoroki to dial back the flames for a moment so she could be heard. "That seems like the right thing for the narrative of the exercise, but we might get in the way. Even being near a hospital's airspace could be harmful if they're trying to airlift a real patient in at the same time."
"I have incredible news!" Electric Guy piped up. He was looking behind them with a big, dopey grin.
"Can I give you a hand?" A voice boomed over the top of the stadium wall. Mei and Factory Girl turned to find themselves level with Mt. Lady's face.
Izuku both heard and felt the rest of the stadium roar when Mt. Lady's winning smile showed up on the jumbotron. The camera then zoomed out to show the scale of the students' accomplishment. It began a slow orbit, eventually completing a 90 degree arc that left it showing Mt. Lady in profile and the exterior of the container. Izuku laughed as he saw Mei frantically calling out to Mt. Lady while clinging to a cable, likely trying to tell her about the knuckle bench.
Mt. Lady made a show of cupping her ear as if she was trying to understand Mei, but the wind was probably taking her voice. The giantess reached out and gently took the weight of the container.
Todoroki cut off his fire and seemed to take a few deep breaths. His skin gleamed after a moment in a way that was reminiscent of snow. Uraraka slumped forward onto her stomach, spasmed a couple of times, and would have caused great concern if not for the thumbs up she gave before she stilled, face-down. A scrap of paper was passed from Mei to Kodai who enlarged it and passed it toward Mt. Lady, who read it aloud. "'I have a prototype for you!'" she laughed. "You have been busy! Well, first things first."
Mt. Lady and the balloon disappeared behind the rim of the stadium.
"Bless her for chewing the scenery like this. That was a gorgeous shot." the director chuckled over the production channel.
"She always does." Midnight groused.
"I can't imagine where she learned such things." Nezu quipped.
Midnight rolled her eyes fondly.
The director hit TAKE on a camera that was tracking the mouth of the container as it was gently lowered to the ground outside of the stadium. Some of those who were not essential to the balloon's flight peered through the vines and waved from inside. It was great stuff.
Mei noticed that the quiet scaler was whispering into the ear of Vine Girl. Vine Girl smirked and plucked a red flower from behind her ear. The scaler carefully gripped the flower and quickly made it taller than herself, then held it up to the giantess just as she rested the container on the ground.
"Aww, that's sweet of you." Once Mt. Lady grabbed the flower she started to shrink. By the time she was back to normal size she could scarcely wrap her hand around the stem. She made a show of sticking her whole face into it to give it a sniff. "Very sweet." she confirmed. Mei was surprised to find that the quiet girl was blushing up a storm.
Mt. Lady turned to find a camera hovering in front of a young man who looked very out of breath and carried a cue card from which she read the following:
"The second event is complete! The students of hero classes 1-A and 1-B and Hatsume Mei from support class 1-H successfully removed themselves and all the civilians from harm's way. There will now be a 90 minute break while the top 16 are chosen."
"I'm aware that this table is bolted down, and I'm aware that I'm biased. If you think any of that will stop me from flipping it then you are mistaken." Maijima gripped the cheap laminate threateningly, staring down the man across from him.
"I'd like to remind everyone that non-essential damage to facilities is factored into end of year bonuses." Nezu piped up in a cheery tone utterly devoid of concern or malice.
"Look, Hatsume's strategy was creative but it was also insane." Aizawa countered, looking Maijima in the eye with calculated nonchalance. "If any of my students had suggested that stunt I'd make them write out Occam's razor by hand a hundred times."
"How many situations have you survived by doing something objectively insane?" Maijima challenged, leveling one accusatory metal finger at Aizawa's face.
Aizawa didn't respond for a moment. He finally averted his eyes and gave the world's most non-committal shrug. "Fair point. Still, I could have cooked dinner in the time it took them to put it all together. I think you were pulling your punches so that your student had more time to figure something out."
"She restored power before I even noticed her!" Maijima shouted. "That's top 10 behavior. She knows she's not trained for combat so she stayed away from the fight. She saw a hospital and knew she probably couldn't help there. Then she saw something nobody had figured out yet and she figured it out! She knows her strengths!" He pounded a fist on the table to emphasize his point. "'Assist authorities.'" Maijima recited. "She was the only one who thought to seek outside help."
"I will also remind everyone that there are 39 more competitors to consider and 67 minutes left to evaluate them." Nezu said brightly. Kayama chortled at the drama and their boss's consistent refusal to be moved by it.
"Well, let's get the top three figured out at least. That'll be a start." Maijima huffed and sat down heavily. "Only thirteen more spots after that. I'll be shocked if Mei doesn't rate highly enough for one of those." he added with a pointed look at Aizawa.
"Todoroki?" Aizawa suggested.
"I mean, sure, but I think he was holding back. Could have put me in that giant ice block a lot sooner. That last one was colder, too. I think he was trying not to give me frostbite before the balloon was ready."
"Restraint is crucial. The public trusts us not to harm villains any more than we have to." Aizawa argued.
"I'm not complaining that I've still got my toes, I'm just wondering why he held back so much. Whole thing could have gone very differently if he'd just wiped us out immediately." Maijima gestured between himself and Ectoplasm at the other end of the table, who nodded in agreement.
"I agree. I'll be looking into it. Still, he was effective both before and after the balloon."
"So top three for him, maybe number one." Kayama suggested, trying to move things along. "Who else?" She wrote Todoroki's name near the top of the whiteboard.
"Kirishima and Tetsutetsu were real menaces. Good fighters for their age, great endurance, obviously soaked up a lot of punishment." Maijima suggested. "I rarely got past either of them."
"What about Yaoyorozu?" Aizawa rumbled. "She restocked the hospital and she was the linchpin in the balloon plan, crazy as it was. We confirmed that the pills she gave to Uraraka were just sugar, so no harm done there."
"The doctor was an authority and she assisted them." Kan added.
"I wouldn't mind Yaoyorozu for 2nd place." Maijima agreed. "Pretty sure the placebo was Hatsume's idea, though." he muttered.
A little under an hour later, Midnight stood next to a list that read as follows:
- Todoroki
- Yaoyorozu
- Kirishima
- Tetsutetsu
- Hatsume
- Uraraka
- Shiozaki
- Tokoyami
- Yanagi
- Iida
- Awase
- Monoma
- Setsuna
- Asui
- Kuroiro
- Honenuki
Kan spoke up. "Are we sure Iida belongs all the way up there? I didn't see him do much in this event. He did get a good kick in on you, Maijima, if I recall, but what else? Awase held the balloon together and Monoma provided covering fire for the launch."
"It was a good kick," Maijima acknowledged, "but you might be right. The mics in the container did confirm that he was instrumental in securing the patient for transport, for whatever that's worth."
Kan frowned and hummed non-committally. "I think what you're referring to was him asking Awase to weld some things in place for the doctor and patient. I'd say that puts Awase above him, at least."
"That's fair." Aizawa agreed.
Kayama drew some arrows to indicate a place swap of the two boys. "Anything else?" she asked the room. There was a beat of silence. "Alright, then. If this is final then I'll send it to production." She took out her phone and snapped a photo of the list.
"Fifth place." Maijima said under his breath. He swallowed a lump that had appeared unexpectedly in his throat.
Kayama (horrible little gossip-monger that she was) heard the waver in Maijima's voice. "Aww, he's got feelings after all." she cooed.
"I'll have you know that I have expressed strong feelings on a variety of things in the past." Maijima scoffed, but he sounded slightly congested.
"Things, not people. It's not a bad look, Maijima. Many types of candy have a tough shell and a creamy center. Some are yellow." She gestured at his helmet. "None of this is unusual."
"She earned it, alright? I'm allowed to be happy and gloat a little! Maybe you two have gone to bat in here enough times that you're jaded or something…" he huffed, gesturing to Kan and Aizawa.
There was quiet laughter all around as everyone pretended not to notice Maijima wiping his eyes.
"Off-topic but is anyone else worried that Tetsutetsu and Kirishima might be best friends now?" Kan asked.
"Kirishima is a lot." Aizawa announced.
"So is Tetsutetsu." Kan sighed. "That's why I'm worried."
"God help us all." Nezu said brightly.
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