Advice From A Friend
A/N: Sorry for the long wait everyone. I'd originally assumed this chapter would have been out months ago but alas, my last semester of University proved to be quite busy, but now I've finally graduated and am on the hunt for a job. Just did an interview the other day actually so keeping my fingers crossed on that front. On top of that, any time I did have time to write over the past few months was dedicated to other projects, some of which were probably just a waste of time that will never see the light of day, but sometimes you can't help where the inspiration strikes.
I finally came back to finish up this chapter after receiving a few kind messages inquiring about its status and after rewatching part of the Two Heroes movie again to get inspired. I hope it meets all of your expectations. This was my first time ever trying to write Todoroki so I feel like I might have messed him up a bit, but whatever. We'll see how it goes.
Please let me know what you think in the comments and I'll see you next time!
Izuku let out a small yawn. Overall, he was feeling a bit dragged out, even for a Monday afternoon. He'd spent the whole day and part of the night before getting his assignments done for the coming week. The fact that he hadn't managed to do any of it on Saturday due to his nerves while waiting for Melissa to arrive for their movie night hadn't helped. For once, he wished he could be like their homeroom teacher and just bundle up in a sleeping bag like some giant freakish caterpillar in the middle of class to get some rest.
Despite that, Izuku had really enjoyed his time with his new friend, though they'd have to be more careful in the future. The movie had finished just before the start of curfew and Melissa had been forced to nearly sprint out of there so she could avoid being caught out by the sentry drones after hours. She'd sent him a text just as the allotted time had hit, letting him know she had made it. They hadn't really chatted since then, other than setting up another work out for later that afternoon.
All of that said, he was a bit confused about things. Melissa's very casual touchy-feely attitude had caught him off guard. He wasn't really sure what that meant. Were the stereotypes true and it was just an American thing, or was it something more? He wasn't even sure what 'more' it could be? Someone like her would never even consider any kind of romantic aspirations with someone like him. She was too good… too out of reach. Even after everything that had happened to him in the last year, it was sometimes hard to feel like more than just that quirkless nobody that Ka-chan had spent years telling him that he was. Surprisingly, being near Melissa seemed to help suppress those doubts though.
"Quiet," the voice called, not even speaking that loudly himself. The room fell silent nevertheless. "Let's not waste anymore of our time."
The students of class 1-A shared some quick glances, but most were focused on Aizawa.
"As you all know, apart from two of you, you all managed to acquire your provisional hero licences and that is something you should feel proud of," he started causing many of the students around the class to perk up with smiles growing on their faces. Alas, it was not to last. "But that was just the base expectation I held for you. As students of UA High, I expected you to go Plus Ultra! Unfortunately, that was not the case. Apart from a few standouts, most of you barely passed at all and that is simply not acceptable."
A hush had fallen over the class and even Izuku could feel his spirits plummeting. He had scored a 71. It was not horrible but it was not exemplary either. All Might had chosen him as his successor… his dream was to be the new number one hero… he couldn't keep settling for mediocrity like this.
"And you know the part that irritates me the most?" Aizawa continued. "It's that the majority of the points that you all lost… they weren't on your technique or really any of the challenging bits of this test… no… you lost the majority of your marks because of simple failures of communication between you and your peers or with the faux-victims themselves."
The room was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop at this point.
"Midoriya!" Izuku jumped in fright as his teacher called upon him. "You lost nearly thirty points because you couldn't get your bad habit under control and your muttering sent your rescue victim into a panic that made him harder to rescue. How stupid would you have felt if that had been enough to make you fail?"
Izuku's face was so red from the embarrassment that he was sure that he was about to spontaneously combust.
"Todoroki!" He called on next, "You didn't pass at all despite being the first in the class to finish phase one. You let personal issues affect your work in the field instead of being a professional about it. Not only could you not work with one of your peers, you both actively sought to sabotage each other's efforts when peoples lives were on the line."
He saw the red and white haired boy look down towards the floor.
"And last but not least, Bakugo," their homeroom teacher stated.
"Huh?" The spikey haired blonde grunted as he looked up to meet the heroes gaze.
"You too failed to obtain your provisional license," he stated.
"Shut up!" Bakugo shouted. "I know that!"
Aizawa continued on as if he hadn't even heard the outburst, "Like Midoriya, your lost points stem from your interactions with the person you were to save. However, unlike your classmate who only made a few simple mistakes, you were actively belligerent towards your person in need. You told them, and I quote, 'go save yourself.' While I admire your personality normally and the drive it gives you, in this case, it led you to act in a manner that directly contradicts your purpose in that situation as a hero."
"Whatever…" Bakugo muttered, but Izuku had known the boy long enough to tell that he had taken their teacher's words to heart.
"Can anyone see what these three had in common in how they lost points?" Aizawa asked them. For several silent moments, no one moved to answer. "Come on! No one?"
Then finally Momo tentatively raised her own, "Well, they all had to do with how they related with others during the test, be it their peers or with those they were rescuing."
"Exactly!" He exclaimed. "It's the most simple part of the whole task and yet it cost them the most… and they weren't the only ones. You all know who you are, but there are others among us today who almost lost for similar reasons. That's why I've put aside some time today to try a little exercise."
As if on cue, everyone seemed to perk up at that, "Now, all of you, split yourselves into pairs. I don't care who you're with, just do it quickly."
Eyes scanning the class, it didn't take him long to spot Uraraka in the back corner and he worked to try and catch her eye. Unfortunately, he didn't manage to succeed in that endeavour. In fact, it almost seemed like she was purposely avoiding looking at him, but he couldn't figure out why. Tapping Ilda's shoulder who sat in the desk before her, it was obvious that they were forming a pair on their own. With a small frown on his face, he continued looking and noticed right behind him that Mineta was giving him a weird look. He and Kaminari were still trying and failing to question him about his partnership with Melissa and Izuku had no plans to change that anytime soon. Mina was grinning at him oddly as well, and if that wasn't unnerving than he doesn't know what was. She was a notorious gossip and that meant something about him had gained her interest. He really didn't want to know what it was.
What had he done to gather all this attention? It had to have been something… That was when he saw Todoroki sitting quietly on his own. This was actually perfect. He'd been wanting to talk to the stoic boy for a few days. Now Izuku might be a bit naive, but he'd always had above average observation skills and he'd heard the way some of the girls talked about the son of Endeavor. He had to have some experience with girls and could give him some advice… that was if he could get up the courage to even ask.
"Hey Todoroki," he greeted the other boy, having walked over to his desk. "Do you want to partner up?"
The fire and ice user blinked up at Izuku for a moment with a blank expression before giving a small shrug, "Sure."
Feeling relieved, he circled around to sit at the abandoned desk on the other side of his temporary partner. Neither of them noticed the momentarily sad expression on Momo's face as she left her regular desk beside Todoroki and went off in search of a partner. It only took a few more moments before everyone was settled and ready to go.
"Good," Aizawa said, simultaneously calling the attention back to himself. "I will pass out a set of flashcards to each pair. Take turns picking one at random and reading it out loud to your partner. Figure out what the appropriate response or action is to each scenario and tell it to your partner. If you are stuck on one, you may work together to come up with a good solution. You may begin once you receive your cards."
"This should be a good activity," Izuku said optimistically in an attempt to break the silence between him and his partner as he waited for their cards. Todoroki had never been the easiest to talk to, even if he did consider the quiet boy to be a friend. "I have a lot to practice and get better at for my screw up during the exam. Aizawa-sensei was smart to come up with this."
"You're not the only one that has making up to do, Midoriya," Todoroki said quietly, looking down.
"What do you mea-" Izuku started to say, startled by his classmate's words.
"Aizawa-sensei was right in what he said about me earlier. What I did was much worse than where you lost points," he continued, a hint of self-loathing in his tone. "You made a simple mistake. That can be rectified easily. I actively sabotaged my own chances by fighting with another contestant and it was all because he compared me to my father. I keep telling myself that I'm over it, but keep proving time and time again that he still has a hold on me."
"I-" Izuku wasn't even sure what he could say to comfort his friend in this situation.
"Here are your cards," Aizawa interrupted him, smacking a small stack onto their shared desk before moving away. "Get started."
Biting his lip, he looked back down at his hands as he still tried to think of what he could say after Todoroki's admittance.
"You've arrived on the scene of a recent explosion," his classmate's monotone voice was enough to snap him out of his thoughts. Glancing back upwards he saw how Todoroki had already grabbed one the cards before he'd even realized it and started reading, "There are several people in need of medical attention lying amongst the rubble. You are also concerned about the stability of the building around you as the explosion may have compromised the structural integrity of the building. What do you do?"
"Well," Izuku said, his mind already running through a variety of different scenarios in his head, "If any other heroes or first responders are on the scene, it's important to find out if anyone has already gone in there and if not, to inform them that you are. Once you do that, you have to be very careful as you don't want to disturb anything that might cause more damage. The priority should be to find and evacuate any victims as quickly as possible."
"How will you find them all?" Todoroki asked, his brow furrowed as he read more details off the back of the card. "Depending on the conditions, it might be hard to simply find everyone by sight alone."
"It's probably a good idea to call out to them as you make your way through the building," Izuku posited. "As I learned from the provisional licensing exam, I can't let my own insecurities or fears be broadcasted in my voice though. Part of our job as heroes is to stop those we are saving from panicking… to make them feel safe."
His friend nodded, "Your turn to read one."
Izuku picked up a card, "You are working with a team of other pro heroes during a hostage situation. Your job was to slip in while the villains were distracted and then slip back out with the hostages. The problem is that once getting inside, you original escape route is no longer a viable option. There is a back up exit but you will have to sneak through the building to reach it and one of the hostages is injured. What do you do?"
Todoroki seemed to think it over carefully for a moment before answering his plan in detail. While his friend did seem to rely on the brute strength of his quirk more often than Izuku thought was best, it was clear to him that he was getting better at being more strategic in his thinking. It probably helped that he wasn't holding himself back with his fire anymore, even if his father was still a bit of a sore topic for him. They continued on, alternating back and forth on the assigned situations for a while until they had finally finished all the cards they had been given. It left them with nothing to do for a moment, many groups in the clas still working, but Izuku found that he didn't mind. Now was finally his chance.
"Hey, Todoroki?" Izuku called.
"Hmm?" The boy looked up to meet his gaze.
"I wanted to get your advice on something," he said, feeling the butterflies already starting to stir in his stomach.
Quirking a single eyebrow upwards he said, "About what?"
"I… well… I wanted… I wanted to get your advice on…. well on girls…" he finally managed to stutter out.
His classmate blanched, haphazardly dropping the cards that he'd been absentmindedly stacking neatly before. Suddenly coughing as if he were choking on the air, for the first time ever, Izuku saw the son of Endeavor blush. It was so unlike the calm and collected persona he was used to seeing from his friend, that he didn't quite know what to think about it.
"Why are you asking me about g-" he started, looking almost panicked. "Well, about that?"
This time it was Izuku who frowned, "I may not be good at all this stuff, but I'm not completely oblivious. I overhear the girls talk and know many of our classmates… uh.. well… like you. That means you've gotta have some experience with all this, right? At least more than me!"
Todoroki shook his head rapidly, "I don't… I've never… you know… I don't really have any experience with what your asking. In all honesty, our classmates are the first real friends I've had…"
And if Izuku didn't feel awkward before, he definitely did now. This had been a stupid decision. What had he been thinking? This was so embarrassing.
"Oh right," he said after a few moments of silence. "That's fine… just forget I asked, ok?"
"I can try to help though," The fire and ice user offered tentatively after another pause in their conversation.
"Really, it's fine, Todoroki," Izuku said hastily. "You don't need to worry about it."
The other boy frowned, looking deep into consideration before he spoke again, "You really helped me in the past. When I was completely lost in my hatred, you helped me see the way out even though you had no obligation to get involved whatsoever. I know I have said before that getting involved in the delicate situations of others is not always the best idea, but I owe you. I will do my best to give you sound council if you'll let me."
Izuku took all of this in stride, weighing his options on how to proceed. It was still embarrassing and he didn't really want to talk about it with anyone, but he really did need advice. At least Todoroki seemed level headed enough that he wouldn't go spreading what he learned from him around to the rest of the class.
"Do you remember Melissa Shield?" He finally asked. "We met her on I-Island in the summer."
Todoroki nodded, "Of course. She's your support partner, correct?"
"Yeah," Izuku said, a bit taken aback that he already knew that.
As if being able to read the confusion on his face, the other boy explained further, "A lot of people are talking about it. It's a pretty big deal that she transferred from the I-Island Academy in order to work with you, especially since she'a in a higher year."
He grimaced, "Yes, well I know why she did."
Izuku went on to explain what Melissa had told him. He told the other boy about how he'd apparently inspired her, how she'd told him that she believed him, and wanted to be here to help him on his rise to becoming a Pro Hero. Then, with his face flushing red once again, he spoke about their recent interactions. He told his friend about their movie night, about how much more openly affectionate she seemed to be than anyone else he'd ever known. He expressed his confusion what it all meant and the stress that was causing him.
Todoroki didn't say anything for several long moments and when he finally did speak, he seemed to be choosing his words carefully, "First of all, I think you should feel very lucky that you have someone who believes in you so wholeheartedly and is willing to go to such lengths to support you. As-"
"I do know that!" Izuku couldn't help himself from interrupting. "I realize how much she's given up for me and I am eternally grateful for it. I… I just can't stop thinking about the other bit."
"Well before I give you my opinion, what do you think she means by acting the way you described?" He asked.
If possible, Izuku's face seemed to grow even more hot, "I don't know. It almost feels like she… you know… likes me… r-r-romantically. Why else would she be like that? I've heard that Americans can be openly affectionate though..."
Todoroki opened his mouth as if to speak, but Izuku barreled onward with his rambling.
"But she couldn't like me like that. She's way too good for me. I'm just deluding myself."
"You shouldn't think about yourself like that," the white and red haired boy said with surprising seriousness. "You look down on yourself way too much. You're a good person, Midoriya. I don't believe anything like the idea she is too good for you. That is not how things work. You can't help who you love."
Izuku couldn't help the small smile that broke out on his face. He didn't expect that from Todoroki of all people, "You sound pretty wise for someone with no experience with romance."
He couldn't quite read the expression that flitted across the other boy's face at that moment, but whatever it was he responded nonetheless, "I think the most important thing here is to forget about wondering what your partner may or may not feel. Forget about what you think she may or may not be trying to tell you with how she is acting. The question is do you know how you feel?"
"What?" Izuku said, suddenly feeling like he was the one under the microscope. "What do you mean?"
"I mean do you know how you feel about Melissa?" He asked in his signature calm tone. "Are you interested in her that way? Is that why you want to know about her?"
"No!" He suddenly exclaimed, "Or I don't know. I don't think so… I never really considered it. Plus, I can't like her. She's way out of my-"
"Stop that," Todoroki ordered again. "As I said before, no more of the self deprecating stuff. Now, I think it's important that you figure out your own feelings before you start worrying about anything else."
Izuku nodded. He figured that all made sense. His first instinct was still to say that of course he didn't have romantic feelings for Melissa but something was holding him back. It felt somehow wrong to rush through it. He'd give the subject some more thought. Maybe he didn't like her like that, but it was just such strong gratitude for what she was doing for him? That could be it… right? He'd figure it out...
"Thank you, Todoroki," he finally said. "I think I just needed someone to talk all this over with."
"I'm glad I could help," he said with a shrug, pausing, a brief look of rare concern on his face, "I would take my advice with a grain of salt though."
"I'll keep that in mind," Izuku said with a grin.
"I'm serious," Todoroki responded when Izuku laughed, "I don't actually have any experience. I might have given you horrible advice."
It probably wouldn't have been so funny if his classmate wasn't so dead serious.
"I know," he told him. "But I appreciate your help anyway."
"Alright, everyone!" Aizawa's voice called out stopping the pair from saying anything else. "Times up for your activities. Please return to you normal desks and then I can give a few announcements to make before class ends."
The two boys shared their goodbyes and Izuku headed back over to his desk and sat down.
"Hopefully this has helped you all practice how to respond to a variety of different emergency situations that you may find yourselves in as Pro Heroes," Aizawa said once the class had settled back down. "I expect this will also mean that this is the end of making careless mistakes like the ones from the Provisional Licensing Exam. Am I clear?"
There were a few scattered mutters of agreement but apparently, this wasn't enough for their teacher.
"I said, is that clear?" He demanded, raising his voice a bit louder.
"Yes, sensei!" They all chanted back in unison.
"Good," the erasing hero said contentedly. "Now, I also have another announcement to make before you are free to go for the day. As some of you might know, the International Hero Expo is being held in Tokyo this year. As the number one Hero Academy in Japan, U.A. is expected to make a showing. Usually, this type of thing falls to the seniors, but because of how well known our class has become this year, we are also expected to take part in representing our school. More details of what that entails will follow shortly but I am just making you aware."
The whole class broke out into excited whispers. Izuku himself was nearly vibrating with glee. Going to both I-Expo and the International Hero Expo had been two of his biggest dreams for as long as he could remember. He'd gotten the chance to go to former the summer before, even if they did have to deal with a villain attack, and now he was finally going to be able to visit the latter as well. It had been a long time since the Expo had been held here in Japan. As backwards as it may sound, the Expo was often held in countries with a higher crime rate. They figured that the influx of Heroes in attendance and the hope the Expo brought would be good for the populace. With Japan having the lowest crime rate in the world, it rarely came here. He couldn't help but wonder why they decided to come now all times… but then with a sickening twist in his gut, he realized exactly why. All Might was gone now and the Symbol of Peace was widely accepted as the reason for Japan's outstanding crime stats. Now that he thought about it, there was no way anyone should be surprised by their decision. Izuku just hoped that it actually helped.
"That's all for now," Aizawa announced. "See you all tomorrow."
Waiting for the audible click of the door unlocking, Izuku pushed his way into the training room they'd booked for today. Just like last time, Melissa was already waiting for him. He'd already changed this time though, wearing the standard U.A. gym clothes instead of his costume. There was no need for his full costume for training. The only equipment he needed was the stuff his partner had brought with her.
"Hey, Izuku!" The blond called cheerfully over her shoulder, and he found an answering smile already growing on his face before he even realized it. "Are you ready for some training?"
"Yeah!" He answered excitedly. "I can't wait to start using your equipment more. I really think it's going to do wonders for my control."
"Actually, after warming up a bit, if you're still ok with it, I thought we could do some simple sparring to start," Melissa said still looking over her equipment. "Than after that, we can work more on your quirk. Does that sound good?"
Something icy seemed to grip his Izuku's insides at the thought of sparring with Melissa, "Are you sure you still want to do that?"
At this, she finally turned around to meet his gaze completely, a confused frown on her face, "Of course. Why do you ask?"
Izuku hesitated, "It's just… I'm worried… what if I hurt you?"
Melissa's eyes widened in realization for a few seconds before her whole expression softened, "I'll be fine. I know you won't hurt me."
"B-but how?" He asked. "You know what my controls like! If I slip up even for a second, it could prove disastrous!"
She sighed, "First of all, we both know your control isn't that bad. You're more prone to slip up and hurt yourself than me or anyone else. Second, I wasn't suggesting we spar with your quirk. And third… I trust you, Izuku. I know you would never hurt me."
"Melissa," he said softly, a strange tingly warmth spreading throughout his chest and counteracting any of the fear that he'd felt before.
To his embarrassment, he was sure that his eyes had started to water, but Melissa acted as if she didn't see anything, "So, are you ready to go?"
Sniffing once and wiping his eyes, the two partners started going through their warm-up stretches. Melissa had been wearing the same workout clothes as last time, but Izuku had managed to do a better job at ignoring it this time, at least until the stretches had started. Seeing all that exposed skin as she bent over and twisted her body didn't really help him with his often scattered thoughts. It was strange, he was able to oftentimes stay so calm during a crisis and yet anything related to girls left him a nervous wreck.
It wasn't long after that they stood facing each other. He was a bit surprised when she tossed him some standard looking boxing gloves, but he figured that actually made sense. Once they were both suited up and ready to go, she motioned him forward.
"Come at me when you're ready," she said.
Izuku still wasn't completely comfortable with all this but he knew there was no backing out now. Launching himself forward he committed to a pretty standard right cross. Melissa blocked it with ease and before he even knew what was happening, her other fist had slipped under his guard and delivered an uppercut into his gut with a good amount of strength behind it. Letting out a small gasp of air, Izuku jumped back, now eyeing his partner warily. She had a small smirk growing on her lips.
Moving back in more carefully now, Izuku gave a small jab to test the waters. Like the first time, she blocked it with ease and this time he managed to avoid the lightning-fast follow up strike… if just barely.
"Stop holding back on me, Izuku," she said. "I won't break. Let's really do this."
Huffing slightly, but with a small smile growing on his face nonetheless, Izuku obliged and the two began their match in earnest. While he did a lot better once he stopped worrying so much about hurting her, Melissa did seem to still be able to block and almost predict where he was going to strike most of the time. It happened so much that he'd started to almost get frustrated. It turned out to be a good work out in the end though and a much-needed practice session. They both found themselves to be slightly out of breath and just a little bit sweaty as they wrapped that up. Izuku really didn't want to delve deeper into the fact that he'd found the faint sheen on Melissa's skin to somehow make her look even more beautiful.
"You're doing pretty good," she said as they were taking a quick break after stopping. "Your main problem is that you project your punches too much."
"Project?" He questioned.
"Yeah," she nodded. "It's too easy to read where you are going to strike. You need to practice making that a little bit harder. That way your enemies will never know where your next hit is going to land."
"I guess that does sound like a useful skill to have," Izuku admitted.
"The other problem is your style… as in you don't really have one," Melissa continued. "It's obvious to me that you've picked up little things here and there. Be it from other heroes, specific counters designed for enemies you've faced, or some other source, but learning at least some of a proper style would probably round you out much better as a fighter."
Izkuku nodded, "So what do you suggest?"
"Well," she began, "I say we keep up with our kickboxing regularly for now and then maybe we go talk to Uncle Might as well. I'm sure he might have some advice or ideas for you as well. It sounds like so far that most of your interactions have been all about controlling your quirk. That won't be an issue for now so we can all focus on some other refinements."
"Sounds good," he agreed.
"Ok, that's enough of that for now," she said, walking back over to her table of equipment. "Now, let's do your quirk training."
Izuku spent the next several minutes putting on the dark coloured versions of the Full Gauntlet 2.0, both for his arms and legs. Then after listening to the fitness plan that had been designed by Melissa herself, he began his workout. He still found it a challenge to regulate just the right amount of One for All into the gauntlet to let him move freely and without resistance… but he supposed that was the point.
He went through many of the same tests as the last time though on this occasion it seemed to be legitimately about training him instead of simply gathering data. Izuku wasn't sure if he'd say that he could actually sense any improvement yet after the session was done he was exhausted. He hadn't felt this warn out since those ten months when he had been training to get into U.A. with All Might.
"Oh man," Izuku gasped. "I'm beat."
"Well, we can stop for today. You don't want to overdo it," Melissa said with a smile. "You did really well. I'm sure that if you keep this up, you'll eventually have a breakthrough with your quirk to help you manage it better. Plus, all this practice will also help your body get used to handling more and more power so you won't need as much fine control anyway."
"I look forward to it," he said, agreeing with her statement as the two of them started to pack up.
It was as they were doing so that Izuku's mind started to wander back over his class earlier. Not specifically his talk with Todoroki, because that topic was unfortunately never far from his mind, but more about the announcement that Aizawa had made to them.
"Hey, Melissa," he said, trying to grab her attention.
"Yeah?" She answered, having just put his gauntlets away and shutting down her laptop now.
"I was just wondering if you'd heard about the International Hero Expo yet?" He asked. "Our homeroom teacher just told us about it today."
He wasn't sure what exactly he'd been expecting, but the way the blond's eyes lit up hadn't been it. He'd never really met anyone else who got as excited by things like this as he did.
"Of course!" She declared. "I've known about it for a while though I'm pretty sure that holding it here in Japan was only a somewhat recent change. I think I heard it was originally going to be somewhere in America. There was a bit of controversy around that apparently."
That just went to prove to Izuku that maybe his theory was right, but he didn't really feel like getting into that right then, "Well I'm glad it is! It's been my dream to attend the Expo for years but I've never been able to go before. International flights are super costly. Actually, coming to I-Expo was the first time I'd ever been out of Japan."
Melissa's eyes widened in surprise at that before giving him a soft-eyed look he didn't quite understand, "Well, I'm glad at least that your first time got to be with me, even if it did get a little bit hectic this year."
Completely missing the double entendre, intentional or not, that virtually any other teenage boy would have picked up on, Izuku just nodded, "Even with everything that did happen, I am still glad that I came to visit I-Island with All Might. I got to see so much cool stuff… and I well… I got to meet you too."
Izuku was a bit surprised to the blush that spread across the older girl's face at his words. What exactly was it that he'd said? He was just telling the truth. They'd never have become friends if he hadn't gone to I-Island last summer.
Melissa looked away for a moment before cough and clearing her throat, "Yes, well, that is true. I do think you'll really enjoy the expo though. As much as you enjoy support items, I know you're an even bigger fan of the Heroes themselves. So this will be like I-Expo but even bigger and even more up your alley."
"I can't wait," he said with a grin though that quickly faded away to a thoughtful frown, "Aizawa-sensei did say that our class would have to be involved in representing our school at the Expo though too. I wonder what that's going to include."
His friend nodded, "It's pretty standard for the host country's top Hero Academy to be present at the Expo. They always do something unique though so I can't really give you any hints on what it might be. We'll both have to wait and see what the faculty come up with."
Izuku nodded, "He also said that it's usually only the seniors that do anything, but once again it seems like our class is getting special treatment. Like the other first years really need any more reason to hate us. Anyway, is your class involved at all."
"Nothing really as a full class," she explained, "but Support Tech Scientists can show off new breakthroughs or inventions they've made. I was originally working on something before I decided to come here, but I don't know now."
He frowned, "What do you mean? Is it something that you can't finish up here at U.A.?"
Melissa shifted somewhat uncomfortably, "Well the original full gauntlet actually had to do with my research. You've probably heard of nano-tech in Science Fiction, right? It was always my dream to be able to crack that, but working on the Full Gauntlet is the closest I ever got. It uses those same principles to grow from its small wristband form into its full-grown mode and vice-versa."
"Wow," Izuku said, his eyes wide as they glanced back over at the open case holding his equipment. "I never even considered that it's nano-tech."
"Well it's not yet," she corrected. "You see the hexagon shapes it splits into when growing or shrinking, right? Those individual components still aren't small enough. Plus, it's only programmed to shift between two modes with a little bit of wiggle room for the gauntlet to adjust to the size of the wearer's arm. If it was true, nano-tech it could be programmed to shape itself into almost anything. The possibilities are endless."
"So why aren't you still working on it?" He asked, almost fearing the answer she would give. "You said this is like your dream project, right?"
Melissa shrugged, not quite meeting his eye, "I've just been busy you know. Getting integrated here and working on your new equipment. It's fine though. I'll have time to look into it in the future."
Not in time to present anything at the Expo though, he wanted to add. It was a big project and there was no way to know that she would even pull off such a remarkable achievement in time, but that didn't mean she shouldn't try. The part that was bugging him even more was that despite how she was trying to play it off as no big deal, it was clear it was his fault that she had to give up this project for the moment.
"Let me help you," the words had left his mouth before he'd even had a chance to realize what he'd been saying. Despite the haste with which he'd spoken, he didn't regret them one bit. "I don't know what exactly I could do to help, but let me try at the very least. I want to help you achieve your dream as well!"
Melissa was silent for several moments, just blinking her blue eyes at him in shock before a complicated series of emotions seem to flash over her face.
"You don't have to do that," she said. "I appreciate the thought, really I do, but-"
"But it's my fault you had to stop your research!" He interrupted. "I need to make it up to you."
"No, Izuku," her eyes had gone wide once again. "I didn't mean to imply that I blamed you for any of that. It was my choice to come here and to give that up. You don't have to worry about any of this."
"But I want to!" Izuku responded, some frustration starting to leak into his voice. "We're partners, right? That's what you said before and partners are supposed to help each other… they support each other. It doesn't just all go one way so that's why I want to help. I am fascinated with what you are working on, so please let me help. I don't know if we will succeed or not, but shouldn't we at least try? I want to do this for you… for us."
She fell silent once more, giving him a look he had trouble identifying, "Thank you."
"You don't need to thank me," he responded.
She gave him a watery sounding laugh, "Fine, but we're stopping if this starts to negatively affect your grades, ok? Your hero training is still the first priority, deal?"
"Deal," he agreed.
He couldn't help the buzz of excitement that was already filling his chest as he thought about all of this. Nanotech! The possibilities were endless. He knew he was a smart kid even if he was nowhere near as smart as Melissa was herself, but he vowed to himself that he would do whatever he could to help her. He'd push his mind and his skills to the limits to help her push as close as she possibly could to her goal.
"I can't believe we're really doing this," he said a moment later with a wide grin. "It's so exciting!"
The answering grin her received, in turn, had Izuku feeling like he was floating on cloud nine. Melissa's eyes had lit up, her whole face lifting up into a wide beaming smile. At that moment, Izuku couldn't help but think that she'd never looked more beautiful. It was also at that moment that he realized he finally had an answer to his question.
Meeting Melissa's gaze and seeing the passion that burned in her eyes, Izuku Midoriya knew exactly how he felt about her.