Chapter 12


This had to be a dream. He wouldn't believe any other explanation. He was still sleeping, in his comfy bed, and that was just a beautiful dream, that his mind made up for him.

He was going on the date. That thought wanted to make him laugh. He didn't doubt himself that he'd be able to find a girl, that'd look pass his quirklessness, but for it to be so soon. He'd just started high school.

Calm down there boy. He reminded himself that it was Mei. Not that the Mei wasn't absolutely cute and adorable girl with vast knowledge of engineering, and interesting, but crazy. personality. She really was and Izuku's found himself drifting towards her time and time again during their time spent together. She even managed to make his blushing problem return. But it was Mei. Most likely she didn't know what the date meant and just told him yes, because she wanted to hang out with him. That was a case, he was sure of it.

He neared the U.A. entrance, when they agreed to meet. Besides he wanted to show her one thing. His next project. He really wanted to show it to her. He had no doubt about her agreeing to help him, but he wanted to ask. He didn't want to impose himself on her.

Then he saw her and had to stop. While school uniform looked incredibly good on her and work clothes showcased her lean, muscled arm, those clothes really suited her, more than anything. She wasn't wearing anything fancy, just a pink pair of sneakers, blue jeans, white tank top and pink-yellow checkered shirt. Similar set of clothes to his.

He stepped closer and sent her a smile. He hoped that they'd be able to have a fun time together. He didn't have a plan, and knowing Mei, she didn't either, but he gave her a benefit of doubt.


She had absolutely no idea what she was doing. And wasn't that exciting?! It was a similar and yet so different from when the thought struck her and she just build her babies. She didn't know in what direction she was moving, but that was all part of the fun.

She was going on a date with Izuku. Whom she was in love. Oh, hello that funny, happy feeling in the stomach. Gosh, she was nervous and excited. She had read some dating advice sites that Alan messaged her. It had said something about arriving on time, but she couldn't help herself, and came twenty minutes earlier. If she stayed home any longer, she would literally explode.

She knew that Izuku was very punctual and would arrive a bit before the set up time. So she just needed to wait for him patiently and try not to do something…

There he is! Wow those clothes looked really good on him. And they matched! Only difference being he had a T-shirt and his checkered shirt was green and black.

He sent her a smile and she grinned back in her typical Mei fashion. She really, really wanted to start this date.

"Hi, Izuku." she said cheerfully.

"Hey, Mei. Hope you didn't have to wait long."

She shook her head. It was only like ten minutes. That wasn't long, right? No matter, time to party or however that went.

"So where to first?" she hoped he had some kind of plan. It was Izuku, he always had a plan. And the dating side said she should ask.

"I wanted to show you something on the holotable first. Then… I don't know. Arcade?" he said, scratching his cheek.

She nodded energetically. If her memory served her right, her brother took her from time to time to the arcade. It was fun. She vaguely wondered about the games they would play.

While they walked towards their lab, they saw workers and Cementos placing the building. Oh, they're preparing to build a bigger version of Izuku's latest baby. She felt the wave of heat hit her at that. She was still marveled at the ingenuity of the device.

They stepped into their workshop and once again Mei had to stop and just take in the sights. The room felt so homey now that she wished she could just live in here. Preferably with Izuku. They would be able to produce so many babies!

She looked at him. He was talking with Alan, asking him for something. Then he turned towards her and waved to come closer.

The holotable came to life and parts of images started to show and connect together. Soon Mei was looking at the very humanoid looking robot. Scratch that, it was human in almost every aspect. Knowing how to operate the table, she started touching the hologram to get more detail about the new baby, that she would gladly enjoy building. The image split once again and Mei had to raise an eyebrow.

"Izuku? Why is your robot empty inside?" Was it that he didn't know what to put inside? Or better yet, he wanted her to end the project!

Her partner chuckled and tapped the table to make image whole again and enlarge it. "It's not a robot, Mei. It's a suit."

She tilted her head at that. Why would he build a suit instead of badass robot? Robots were ultra-cool in her mind and she always wanted to make one. And having Izuku with his super brain and programming skills as her partner, it was more possible than ever.

"Why would you want to do it?"

There was something in his eyes and his face became more somber. He kept looking at the hologram. "It can make my dream come true. I know it will." he smiled softly, softer than he ever did and gazed at her. "I… I know that you have your builds, your dreamed up babies to make, but I'll be very happy if you'd help me do it."

Mei felt her heart skip a beat. She didn't have a photographic memory, but she was sure, that she'd remember that moment forever. It was sweet of him to think of her ideas for cute babies, but it looks like he'd forgotten about one, very important thing. She placed her hands on her hips and pushed her chest forward. "You know, that we're partners in baby making. Of course I, wonderful inventor Mei Hatsume, would help you in creating our new, adorable baby."

She saw him smile brightly at her and tear up a bit. "Thanks, Mei… Now, we should get going with our date, right?"

Oh, right, date. She almost had forgotten about that. They quickly made their way out of the school grounds and took the bus towards the nearest arcade they'd found on the Internet. During the ride, Mei remembered one of the advice from dating sides, which was to talk to her date. So she engaged in the conversation. Subject? Baby making. There wasn't any better topic for both of them to talk about.

Barely stepping into the arcade, they were assaulted by the loud music and bright colors. She was sure, that the arcade she went as a kid wasn't nearly half big as this one. Did that mean this place would be two times more fun? She couldn't wait to find out.

Quickly grabbing the tokens, they make their way towards racing games. She remembered that it was the same series that her brother made her play with him. Paying chips, they choose their cars and started racing. It was somehow natural to her. Like her body just knew how to do what. Maybe she should get a license and build her own vehicle? Yes, that sounded great. Suddenly a green car overtook her orange one. She peaked at Izuku and saw his smirking face with challenging look. Oh, game on, genius partner.

Every other game they've played changed into a competition between them. Hero themed fighting games, shooting games, basketball throw. Even a DDR that both of them were terrible at. Every time they wanted to do better than the other. And they're having fun. Mei really found herself enjoying their silly competition. And from the grin Izuku had plastered on his face, he did too.

They checked the time and it turned out to be almost two and half hours since they arrived, which surprised them. Deciding enough is enough, and tokens costing a bit, they've left in the search for food. Mei wanted to just fill her stomach with glorious ice creams, seeing as weather was particularly hot today. But of course she had to listen to the Izuku arguments about it being unhealthy for her. He was good with words, which was another thing she added to her list. They've settled on take out burritos.

Walking through the streets and searching for something to do, they caught the heroes in work. Immediately they followed and squeezed to the front of the crowd. Mei was disappointed. She hoped to see some awesome babies in work, but neither of the heroes used them. Even their costumes were just simple piece of clothing with some twist to add to be more stylish. Both of the heroes relied on their quirks.

Mumbling reached her and she turned towards Izuku, who had his eyes glued to the fight and broke down both sides quirks, pointed their strong suits and their mistakes in used strategy. For Mei it was more interesting than the fight itself. So she just stood there and listened to Izuku throwing words out of his mouth at the inhuman speed and tried to make a sense of it. It was similar to when they delved into talk of possible babies for 1-A's students, but at the another level of nerdy.

After the fight was over and she snapped Izuku from his little bubble, Mei proposed getting some ice creams. She used her secret weapon, which was the so called 'puppy eyes' to coax her partner into it. Once again they took their favorite combos and shared some. Mei kept suggesting a possible babies for girls from 1-A, because she considered them her friends, only in the lesser degree than Yaomomo. It consisted of an upgrade for Ochako's suit to help her move around while she uses her quirk on herself and special launchers for Mina, that would allow her to shoot her acid. Izuku in turn suggested a change for Gravity Girl, to make her helmet more functional, because right now it was a useless decoration with wasted potential. And if they agreed on something, which was almost all the time, it was that they hated things that did absolutely nothing.

During their walk Mei felt their hands brush together and electricity spark between them. That was new. She had grabbed Izuku's hand many times by now, but this was something she had never experienced before. Intrigued by it, she took a hold of his palm and once again marveled at its warmth and roughness. With every, tiny move and touch of their skins sparks danced across her hand. It was intoxicating and she wanted more.

"Mei? What are you doing." Izuku asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Holding your hand." she happily replied.

"That I know, but why?"

"Just felt like doing it." Which was true. That and dating advice suggested that.

Izuku tightened his grip, which caused her to grin. Oh and the funny feeling in her stomach literally skyrocketed. That was a good thing.

They walked into the local park and sat at the bench to rest a little. The sun was slowly hiding behind the city blocks.

Mei was satisfied with their date. She had followed every advice, she had read in the night, down to the letter. She kept the conversation going, made sure that Izuku was having a good time and paid attention to him. Oh wait, she missed something. Thank you, brain.

"Hey, Izuku." she said, looking into his green, alluring eyes. "You've said earlier something, when you've shown me that new baby of ours. About your dream."

There it was again, that weird look in his eyes, like he was here, but wasn't. His smile dropped a bit and he took his hand from hers, to play with his fingers on his laps. Mei knew he was thinking, so she let him took his time. Damn, she already missed his hand.

"When I was little, I wanted to become a hero. But being quirkless made it impossible for me. My dream was broken." He said in very sad voice. Mei hugged him, making his lips quirk a bit. "But then I've met a man, who had shown me something and renew my hope to become a hero. It's because of him I'm who I'm. He made me study all different things, saying that knowledge is the greatest power in our world. Greater than any quirk can ever be. So instead of delving into my self-pity, I've read, theorized and brainstormed to become inventor. Because that was the only thing that would allow me to materialize my dream. I want to help people, not only as a hero with my suit and its equipment. I want to build things for them to use every day. To make their lives easier."

Mei listened him monologue and found herself moved by that. She assumed that her partner had heart of gold, but that now confirmed it. Mei was sure that Izuku was going to succeed. And she wanted to be there, next to him. The funny feeling in her stomach grew even stronger and her heart beat harder. Did it mean that she was falling for her nerdy friend even more? She really hoped so.

"What about you? Why do you want to become an inventor?" he asked, gazing at her softly.

Now, that wasn't something that Mei told everyone. It was kind of her secret, that only her closest family knew. Not that she had any other human being to tell it to. But now she had Izuku. And he understood her maybe even more than her parents and brother. She closed her eyes and smiled gently. The bitter-sweet memories filled her mind.

"My grandpa was a hero. Not very well known, but a hero. Despite nearing his seventies, he was still on active duty, doing simple patrols, giving people directions, helping getting cats of the trees, that kind of stuff. And he was super grandpa, he spoiled me rotten." Her smile fell and her tone turned to more somber one. "But one day there was a shop robbery. Grandpa tried to stop it. The guy had a gun and shoot him. Grandpa had a folding shield in his costume that could stop the bullet. But it didn't work." she felt Izuku embrace her. She was thankful for that. "So then I thought that if I can make a babies for hero, that would work perfectly, I can keep them safe and make their jobs slightly easier. It helped that my dad runs a repair shop, he taught me a lot of stuff."

Izuku shifted and her head rested on his shoulder. She nuzzled it as close as she could and breathed his mint scent shampoo. Her partner's hand petted her hair, she loved the way he did it. It was the same way her grandpa had done it.

"He sound like a really awesome grandpa." Izuku whispered.

She nodded.

"Maybe he and Stan have met up there." he chuckled at that.

"Stan?" Mei asked, turning her head a little to see his face.

"He's the man I was telling you about. He became someone akin to grandpa for me."

"That's nice." she simply admitted and closed her eyes again.

They stayed like that for a while, before raising and slowly walking towards the train station. They'd stayed silent, hands joined together in tight lock. Mei marked the date as a success in her book, but really didn't want to end their outing. At least not like that. So when they trains stopped at the platform she gulped down the sudden nervousness, quickly kissed Izuku on the cheek and grinned widely.

"See you in the Monday, Izuku." she told him, jumping into her train, enjoying his shocked expression.