Chapter 8
In Mei's mind the only thing better than six days of using U.A. workshop to produce all of those adorable babies was seven days of doing exactly that. She couldn't thank enough Izuku for the present he gave her. When he told her that principal himself gave them a special request, she knew that was her chance. If she, the wonderful inventor Mei Hatsume, would be able to show principal her brilliance, then that would no doubt open her so may new doors.
Izuku explained to her why they were building it. Needlessly to say it wiped her grin off and dampened her mood. Hearing the gravity of the situation, she understood, why that baby needed to be made as soon as possible.
They decided to do everything together. They had time for it and neither of them wanted to accidently jeopardize the success their first real baby would no doubt make. So despite her wanting nothing more than just go right away into building, she listened to the voice of the reason, that was her intelligent baby making partner, and took the step back. Turns out it really was needed.
During Friday they designed a special detector, that would be linked to the already existing sensor system all around the school. Whole baby was relatively small, but it needed many components connected in right way. She had to admit, even she couldn't build it right of the bat. Plus she got to use the super awesome holotable to make the blueprints. It was so much fun.
Unfortunately they couldn't preprogram it. Izuku once again showed his marvelous knowledge and explained her, that every warp quirk had special energy signature original for it user. So until the potential attack happened they were only preparing for securing school in the future.
During Saturday they begun slow process of piecing together their new cute child. Thanks to Alan running 3D printers all night, the significant bulk of work was lowered. But things like electronic boards where have to be made by hand. She saw Izuku struggle with it, so she gave him tips at how to do it more efficiently. He looked grateful, blinding her with that sunny smile of his. She briefly commented that she wondered if she could use it to power something. The idea itself was ridiculous and make them share a good laugh. They stayed till late evening, working vigorously, only stopping to get something to eat. Izuku threatened her with dragging her out by force and banning her from using holotable, which was a big no-no. She fell in love with that baby and wasn't planning on allowing it to be taken away from her. Mei was actually glad that they went out. Getting to know Izuku was very important to her. How otherwise she could understand him better, making them even better baby making duo? Plus he was fun to talk, which was a real bonus.
And now on Sunday they made finishing touches and started programming whole thing. Well… Izuku programed, his hands a blur on the keyboard, hitting multiple buttons at one time. She just sat next to him, listening to him explain her what different parts of code where responsible for. It was still a black magic to her, but he seemed to make it somehow more doable. But still… she learned the best when she did things with her hands and mind at it. Not just her brain.
Taking a hold of the situations, she thought how to fix it. Simple solutions always where the best. She couldn't take a keyboard from him, but what she could do was take a place in front of it.
Standing up, totally ignoring Izuku quizzical expression, she pulled his chair slightly away from the desk and plopped herself into his lap.
"Mei?" his voice was strangely tense.
"Yeah?" she looked behind her, to see his very red face. Was he hot? It was warm today so that could be a possibility.
"What are you doing?" he sent her strained smile.
"I learn the best, when I do stuff. So walk me through all that programming thing and I'll do my best to remember it all." She turned toward the monitor and awaited her instructions.
Slowly they made their way through it and Mei found herself understanding more than before. She had to admit, Izuku was a great teacher. He took his time, slowly explaining what was what, stopping her when she wasted to rush out and corrected her when she made a mistake that she didn't know she did.
She had changed her position several times, trying to find the best one that allowed her to work to the best of her ability. The most effective and comfortable one turned out to be her sitting sideways on Izuku's lap and leaning into him, with his arms around her waist. Mei didn't know why her face was hot, she blamed weather for it. She smelled his mint shampoo. She loved mint! She told him that and once again he reddened. He looked kind of like strawberry with those adorable freckles of his.
After two more hours of developing a software, checking it for any potential bugs and installing it into device, their detector baby was finally ready! They both smiled at themselves, proud of their work. And the best thing was that nothing exploded, sparked or started burning even once! She patted herself on her back for it.
"Hey, Mei?" Izuku said, gaining her attention, while they made their way out of the school. "Do you want to get something to eat?"
"I'm not really hungry." she pursed her lips. "Oh! How about the ice creams? I know the place near." she bounced up and down at the idea of getting the glorious chilly treat.
"Yeah, sure." he smiled lightly.
Mei grabbed his and started running toward the shop. She once again found herself marveling at how gloriously rough his hand was. When they came near it she was panting slightly. But Izuku looked like he didn't even sweat. She added fit to her mental list of bonuses possessed by her partner.
Izuku tried to offer paying for them both, but she denied it by slapping her money on the counter. In her mind she was paying him back for that lunch he bought her earlier in the week. She was delighted by her mint and chocolate ice creams.
"Lemon and apple? Are they good?" she asked him, while they're walking back toward train station.
"I think so. I've been eating them since I was like five." he chuckled slightly.
Intrigued by that, Mei decided to test it herself. She grabbed his hand and lowered cone toward her. She took a generous lick, where the two scoops met, completely obvious to Izuku's shocked face.
The slightly sour taste of lemon and gentle sweetness of apple filed her mouth and mixed with remains of the mint flavor. So that was how the heaven tasted. She never felt so refreshed in her life. She hummed in delight and turned to yet again red Izuku. "You need to try them both with mint. It's divinely delicious!"
She almost shoved her cone into his face. He reluctantly licked a bit of her mint scoop and mixed it with his two. She was overjoyed when she was his eyes go wide and smile brightly at her.
"Wow, you were right. It taste super good." he happily admitted.
"Of course I was right. If I didn't have a talent for engineering I'd be making ice creams. Oh wait! We can make a baby that would produce delicious icy treats and sell them in school."
They both laughed at the thought of such a machine.
Soon they arrived at the train station and parted their ways. They lived in different directions of the same line. At least if one wanted to visit the other they didn't have to make any transfers.
Mei was happy and somewhat sad. Happy because she got to spend time making a beautiful baby with Izuku, that would made their school safer and earn them a gratitude from principal. And she learned something new. She believed that programming would come useful somewhere in the future and she wanted to learn more about it, by coaxing Izuku into teaching her, while sitting on his lap. Oh, and she added two new things to her list of Izuku being awesome partner. Him being fit and ice cream gourmet.
But she was sad, that they needed to go home. He was such a great company! Sure, she'd see him tomorrow and have a chance to talk to him, bounce off ideas, share a good laugh, make some babies.
She blinked. Was that how it felt to have a friend? Yeah, she had her parents, that said almost every day, that they loved her, and all others members of her big family. But this was different. Now she didn't have to sit alone and eat her food, she had someone to appreciate her work and admire her genius.
Was Izuku her friend? Absolutely. Was she his friend? Heck yeah she was!
Smiling to herself, she wished that she could make baby that would make time go faster. That way she would see Izuku sooner and have that strange, funny, but welcomed, feeling in her stomach again.
A/N:
Shorter one this time, chapter 7 was over 5k words, so I think it's fair. Besides I need to somehow develop their relationship. Also Mei is so fun to write :D
