Izuku knew that city folk were different the first time he had stepped into the big city. They were small; small like his ma, but without a bite that was as bad if not worse than her bark. Sure, there were more villains in the cities, but there were also simply more heroes. And the heroes were everywhere, billboards, T.V. shows, bus stations, fast food places.

A fond memory of Izuku bawlin' his eyes out to get a happy meal that had an All Might toy in it when he came to visit his grandparents put a smile on his face as he continued to tinker on some request for the third years. Pretty soon, the first years would be making their requests too, then they'd be real busy.

Or maybe not; they did have a genius like Mei around.

As much as Izuku knew that city-folk were a world apart from him, he was pretty sure that city-girls his age were even more so. He could barely understand what they were saying. Hell, for all he knew, they were speakin' in giggles and letters. One such example was Nejire Hado. He had heard her talk and not heard a damn word she said at least twice. Didn't stop her from being prettier than she had any right to be, and she had a lot of rights to be that pretty.

Then there was Mei Hatsume.

And Mei…

Mei was squirrelier than three tanuki in a barrel fighting over the last curd of cheese.

She was excitable, energetic, more than a bit skittish, and just a plumb technical genius when it came to making gadgets. Sure she talked fast, but it was in ways that Izuku could understand, even if he did think it was a bit strange to call her gadgets and gizmos 'babies', but he couldn't fault her for that.

"Senpai!" Mei came bouncing into the workshop with clear disregard for the no running rule. Then again, he wasn't entirely certain that she was running. Mei just had the natural speed and reflexes of a squirrel next to a cola plant, so normal human laws, be they actual physics or not, just simply didn't apply. He had witnessed her catch a rogue chunk of metal—that had once been a nut and bolt—that had been launched with enough force to break a window, and then drop it to the ground like it was nothing.

"Settle down May." He smiled and watched her jitter for a moment as she waved around a stack of papers in both hands. Her chest stopped bouncing half a second after she did, which was just not something he should be focusing on. May was his kouhai; they talked shop, and that was the end all and be all of their relationship.

It just wasn't proper for him to be staring at her like that.

"They came!" Mei flashed the stack of papers at him. "The first requests are here! I can't wait to get started on some of these! Ooh, I think I can see one that I can convert one of my babies into! It might take a bit of work, but it should work!" Mei turned towards the corner of the workshop that she had taken over. Several of her babies sat there just waiting for someone to adopt them. "Can I get started now?"

"Where's Power Loader-sensei?" Izuku placed a hand on Mei's shoulder and watched as she went incredibly still. He wasn't sure if she had something about being touched or not, but she had no concern for anyone else's personal space, so he reckoned it was fair. Besides, it was a pretty good off switch for her. "He normally likes to divy those out to who could do them justice."

He paused for a moment. "Not that you can't do them justice all on your own, May."

Come to think of it, most of his senpai were gone, and there had been a gap of second years when he was a first year.

Mei held the stack tight and beamed up at him. "He's the one that gave these to me."

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Mei bounced again. "Oh! He said he had something special for you!"

"And you ran off before he could tell you what?"

She nodded fast enough to knock her goggles down onto her face. "Yep! Sorry Senpai."

"Don't worry about that May, I'm sure Sensei will mozy on over here at his own pace. You know what you're going to be working on?"

"All of them."

"Of course ya are." He gave a slight chuckle and patted Mei on her shoulder again. "Just holler if you need anything."

Mei nodded and ran off with a mad glee that would make a billy goat blush.

She really had one hell of a smile when she was in her element.

The door to the workshop opened again and Izuku caught Power Loader-sensei waddling in with a large black tub gripped in his metal-capped hands. Much like Izuku himself, Power Loader was something of a country boy that had grown up in the dirt, mud, and grease before coming to the city. The biggest difference was the breed of country boy. Izuku was a farmer, and Power Loader? Power Loader was what civilized folks might call a redneck, the kind of kid that grew up in a small town where the only fun thing to do was work on cars and cause mischief. And Power Loader-sensei was apt in both those fields.

"Izuku." Sensei placed the container on the table and pushed them away. "Materials for your next project."

Izuku raised an eyebrow and looked at the container for a few tender moments, half-expecting it to start moving about and lunging at him. Normally, materials were gotten after the request, not as part of the request. And most of the time they didn't come in a large plastic container. "And what am I going to be making?"

Izuku opened up the container and found that it was filled with countless zip lock bags all neatly stacked and organized. Curiosity bit him in the arse when he pulled one bag up and found that it was filled with dozens of off colored chips that were curved like a crescent moon. "Toenails?"

"It's a bit of an ask, but, consider this a test of your skill." Sensei gave a dry laugh and handed Izuku the request form. "Mirio Togata has requested a visor that will phase with his costume, I included the formula that was used to make his costume, but you'll have to make do with using some rather unorthodox materials."

"So, let me get this straight." Izuku looked at the container and saw blonde strands of hair, a powder that was likely skin cells, as well as several things no one in the world would dare call appetizing. "You want me to make something he can see through that won't fall off his face?"

"If you can make it durable, that'd be great too."

"Why's this sound like you're just loading me with work you don't wanna do?"

"Because that's exactly what it is." Sensei gave a toothy grin and kicked both feet up onto the desk before he flashed a second request towards Izuku. "But I'll sweeten the deal for you and give this one to you."

It took him less than a second to read the name and swipe the paper from Sensei. "A request from Nejire? You're a sly man for making me work for this, sensei, but you got yourself a deal!"

"Hehe, I—"

"What's a Nejire?" Mei bounced up next to them. Izuku gave a slight jump at her sudden appearance, but Sensei had it much worse, falling out of his chair with a metallic clank that sounded several kinds of painful.

"Oh, of course you wouldn't know May," Izuku gave a great big smile and nearly sighed when he thought about it. "She's a third year now and one of the best students here, and she's something else. Come to think of it, you'd probably get along great with her."

With how many questions Nejire seemed to ask and how happy Mei was to talk about her or her babies, the two would get along like two peas in a pod.

"Is she a friend of yours, Senpai?"

"Well, no, she's just uhh,"

"She's the girl Izuku has a crush on." Sensei pulled himself up off the ground and scratched the back of his head. "Biggest mistake of his life was telling me about it, and now I get to abuse that knowledge so I don't have to make a mask out of boogers."

"Yeah…" Izuku turned his attention to the box of stuff again. "I can't even melt any of this down to make a plastic or a glass, what in the hell am I supposed to do?"

"Beats me," Sensei shrugged and pointed towards Mei. "See if she'll help you."

"So, Senpai has a crush." Mei muttered.

"Uhh, yeah, but can you keep that between us May? I'd rather not have the whole school know."

XXXX

Mei stared at her laptop with a perplexed look on her face.

She had a crush on Izuku.

And Izuku had a crush on Nejire.

So.

What did that mean? And why did she feel ever so slightly annoyed? Was it because Izuku liked some girl that wasn't her? That was probably it. She had been following the internet's advice ever since she tried and failed to tell Izuku how she felt. Some tips were really basic, like bathing regularly, while others were impossible, like putting on make-up.

Apparently eye contact was huge.

Well, if Izuku liked Nejire, then that meant she just needed him to like her more.

It was like a competition!

And to do that she needed to get information!

To the internet!

She quickly typed in Nejire Hado's name and found her twitter as well as several videos of her. One was for last year's sports festival! And another was for a beauty pageant. There were a few images of her scattered around; apparently she had done a photo shoot with some other pro hero and—

Oh.

She could see why Izuku would be attracted to that.

Mei ran her hand through her clumpy pink hair and sighed. She probably couldn't pull off something like that even if she tried.

Besides, that stuff wasn't who she was!

She'd just have to win Izuku over in ways that Nejire couldn't!

Like with her babies!

AN: Mei's not the kind of person to let a little competition get in her way!

So, I'm aware that Izuku's accent doesn't fit in with Japan. But, this is how I'm choosing to write it because I think it's fun.