22. Deep Breath

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man.

- King David (Psalm 27, Traditionally attributed)

The next morning, Izuku and the others rose with the sun. They were sore and many had to rub sleep from their eyes, but the hero hopefuls faced the new day with determination and vigor. It felt odd to Izuku, being around so many people who simply got up and began exercise routines. Every single one of the boys seemed to roll out of bed and begin doing push ups, situps, stretches, or martial arts katas, either in the bedroom or just outside the building, where some of the girls were doing the same thing. Izuku did his own exercises, silently counting out the pushups and situps.

"Tuesday. I wonder if there are weights?" Izuku muttered to himself as he finished his squats. "How am I going to do my curls and bench presses?"

"Ha! Sounds like someone else is doing The Hero!" Kirishima laughed, doing his own set of crunches. "I got a couple small barbells in my bag."

"I have weights as well," Shoji said, pulling out a few concrete blocks with handles in them. "You can borrow mine when I am finished."

"Um, thanks, I didn't think to pack mine," Izuku admitted. "It's OK though, I did bring my jumprope. I'll just do that and jumping jacks."

"Improvise, adapt, overcome," Ojiro grunted in agreement. He was doing pull ups on one of the ceiling beams. "My dad says that. Grandpa was an American Marine."

"Good advice," Iida said, finishing a set of stretches. "I'm going for a morning run. Make sure everyone's ready for breakfast."

Kaminari laughed as he ran through a martial arts kata "I don't think that'll be a problem. If you're all half as hungry as me you could eat a house."

"Most people just say horse, man. Only termites eat houses," Kirishima chuckled as he began his reps with the barbells.

After he finished his own exercises, Izuku hesitantly knocked on the girls door. "Um, Mei, are you up?"

The door opened, and what appeared to be an empty blouse and gym shorts with a sweatband hovering over them stood there. "Mei left already! Said she had to check on her babies," Hagakure said. "Morning, Midoriya!"

"Oh, um, thanks, Hagakure" Izuku said. "I'll go check on her."

Izuku jogged over to the workshop, finding Mei already hard at work on refurbishing the Power Suit. "Hey Izuku!" she called, waving. "Help me finish! Just a little more and this should be ready for your training today!"

"Right!" Izuku quickly helped Mei assemble the last of the repairs, then they left for breakfast.

"About time you showed up," Bakugo grumbled, crouching over a gas stove. He snapped his fingers, making a spark and lighting it. "Either of you know anything about cooking?"

"Yes. I know I am very bad at it!" Mei declared.

Bakugo frowned, then shrugged. "Fine. Go fill those up with water." He pointed to several pots. "Midoriya, I know you won't poison everyone at least. Figure out how to be useful. I'm not bossing you around."

"Um, OK," Izuku agreed. He went over and started cracking eggs into a bowl for cooking. Bakugo took water from Mei and started washing rice. A few minutes later the others began showing up, some aiding in preparing the food, others wiping down tables as Iida directed them. Bakugo fell silent, only grunting when told to do something or elbowing his way in to complete some task he thought needed to be done.

Mei, for her part, stayed out of everyone's way once the simple preparation was done. No one seemed upset or questioned her, simply accepting she was doing her best to contribute. Which, in Izuku's opinion, was true, because she wasn't trying to cook anything.

Breakfast was a scattered affair, with the only constant factor being that Bakugo had created enough rice for a small army so there was plenty for all. It was a scramble for eggs, meat, milk, cereal, or whatever else there was to hand. Still, everyone got to eat, and Mei happily led the charge in cleaning up. She frowned when Bakugo came to help her, but after a glance at Izuku who just shrugged, she limited herself to grumbling half under her breath.

After breakfast, it was time for the serious work. Mr. Maijima turned up, grinning widely. "Alright Mei, ready to get to work? I hear you have some ideas for support gear."

"You bet! I think we should start with acid jet boots for Ashido! I think we're going to need to create an acid resistant polymer, then-"

"Midoriya." Izuku turned to see Mr. Aizawa looking at him. "Your suit ready?"

"Yes sir!" Izuku agreed eagerly. "Um, what do you want me to do with it?"

Aizawa shrugged. "Figure out new and creative ways to break it. Find out what the limits of what you can do are, and then work out what you need to do to go past them. That's your own personal quirk, for all intents and purposes."

"Um, I don't think Mei would appreciate me breaking the Power Suit again so soon," Izuku said with a wince.

Aizawa skewered Izuku with a glare. "And what about the villains you face? You think they won't break that hunk of junk if you ask nicely?"

Izuku swallowed nervously. "Um, no sir. I'll do it. But, um, how?"

"Well. I'm glad you asked. You get to be target practice. For everyone."

A short time later, Izuku stood across from Kirishima, who was grinning widely. "Hell yeah! Rematch time! This time, I ain't going down so easy, Midoriya! You're gonna get pummeled!"

"Bring it on!" Izuku said, falling into a fighting stance.

With a roar, Kirishima activated his quirk, then charged Izuku, attempting to body slam the Power Suit to the ground. Instead, Izuku managed to grapple with Kirishima. He'd been instructed not to use any special gear, to simply test the physical limits of the Suit's ability to inflict and absorb damage. He and Kirshima battered at one another, blow after blow bouncing off them. Kirishima's quirk made inflicting damage with mere punches a real challenge, and Izuku put everything he had into his blows. Kirishima didn't simply stand there and take it, however, blocking and counter punching, dodging and weaving, grappling and pounding at Izuku.

After about 10 minutes, Izuku was winded, but Kirishima groaned and sank to his knees. "I can't...I can't keep my quirk on. I give." With a gasp, his quirk deactivated, and Izuku saw just how battered and bruised the other boy was.

"Um, sorry," Izuku said, feeling guilty. He was a bit rattled and had a few bruises from the sheer force of Kirishima's blows, but the suit had special gel padding and shock absorbers to protect him. Once he caught his breath, he'd be good to go.

"At least tell me...I did some damage," Kirishima panted.

Izuku checked his readouts, and nodded. "Yeah. The armor plating's pretty beat up. A couple internal systems have minor damage, and my left arm servos are grinding and freezing up a bit."

"Oh, great. So, basically, I scratched the paint on that thing," Kirshima groaned.

"No, no! You did great! It's just, well, um, we sort of took your sort of quirk into account, going into the sports festival. You and, um-"

"ME!" A new challenger approached, gleaming steel in the morning sunlight. "You might have beat rock, but now you face metal! It's time for Tetsutetsu of 1B's revenge!"

"Tetsutetsu is up next!" Kan barked. "Begin!"

Izuku barely had time to catch his breath before it started all over again. He fought furiously, trying to dodge Tetsutetsu's blows and knock the other boy down, but like with Kirishima, it was simply a straightforward brawl. Tetsutetsu, seeing a weakness, battered mostly at Izuku's left side. Finally, the left arm gave out, the metal screaming in protest as warning lights blared, and Tetsutetsu punched the joint so hard the arm bent and froze up. This time, after 8 minutes, it was Izuku who had to give up.

"Stop!" Kan roared. He nodded with approval. "Looks like this is a win for Class 1B!"

"I don't...I don't know about that, sir," Tetsutetsu groaned. He deactivated his own quirk, then slumped over. Izuku was shocked to see him bleeding from his split lip, and his right eye was swelling up. "I think...I think if he kept that up, I'd be toast. Damn, Kirishima. I thought I was finally harder than you."

Izuku glanced at his panel, then paled. "Um, not exactly. I er, um, well, the limiter got damaged. It was offline. I was hitting you full force."

Tetsutetsu laughed. "Ha! I knew it! I am...I am the..hardest…" then he slumped over, passing out.

"Damn," Kan muttered. "Well, let's get the two of you fixed up. Midoriya, go to the workshop and get that thing fixed. Todoroki's up next. Time for him to see how hot he can make his flames. You did put on heat shielding, right?"

"Um, yes," Izuku admitted. "But er, well, we haven't field tested it yet so-"

"Then this is the perfect time! Get going!" Kan ordered.

Mei was, to Izuku's surprise, not the least bit mad.

"I got all the data!" she declared. "I have half a dozen ways to improve our baby! Now get out, and let's make sure you show everyone how cute it is!"

"Er, I'm stuck," Izuku said after trying and failing to get out. "Looks like the mechanism was damaged."

"Well now, looks like we'll have to cut you out then," Mr. Majima said, reaching for a laser cutter. "Time for you kids to watch an old dog teach you a few tricks."

Izuku never got to face Todorioki that day. He and Mei worked for the rest of the morning on the suit, which had suffered a lot of damage all over it from the thorough pounding from both Tetsutetsu and Kirishima. After lunch, Mr. Aizawa had Izuku face Ojiro, Shoji, and Shinso in a martial arts duel under the supervision of Tiger, another member of the Pussycats. Shoji utterly dominated Iuzku, and he was only able to take one match in three against Ojiro. He secretly thought it was because the other boy took pity on him. Izuku was physically strong, but he'd never seriously practiced hand to hand combat.

"Man, I feel a bit bad," Ojiro said, helping Izuku back up. "Shouldn't we wait for your suit to be fixed? I'd feel like this was a lot more fair then."

"No, I need to...need to be able to...fight without...without the suit," Izuku panted. "Again."

Unlike Izuku, Shinso was able to keep up with Ojiro, and even won a few matches against Shoji, in large part due to his new skill with the capture weapon. However, Shinso became frustrated after a few hours thanks to how utterly useless his quirk was against an informed opponent.

"None of you will even talk to me anymore!" Shinso ranted after another loss against Shoji. While he could occasionally manage to wrap the other boy up, his tentacle arm's adaptability made that a dicey prospect at best.

"It's because they're not idiots," Tiger growled. "You're going to face down villains that know how you are from time to time. What's your plan then? You just giving up like you did in the Sports Festival?"

"No," Shinso snapped. "I just...I can't win this!"

Tiger nodded. "You're right. You can't. Learning when you can't win is important. Sometimes, that means you need to retreat, or stall for back up. Other times, something too valuable to wait is on the line. Then you have to decide: Is it worth it to fight, knowing you'll lose?"

Shinso considered that. "I suppose, if an innocent person's life is on the line, it might be worth it."

"Good answer. You've had enough for now. Go find Aizawa. You're going to practice controlling multiple people at once."

"I can manage four or five at a time now," Shinso said, rubbing his chin. "You think I can do more?"

"I think you're just starting off," Tiger told him. "Think of yourself as a kitten who's just learned it has sharp claws. Until you sharpen them and grow up a little, you'll never know just what you can do."

"I'll help," Izuku offered. He had been sidelined after a particularly nasty blow had blackened his eye, and was watching with a cold pack pressed to his face.

"You sure?" Shinso asked.

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, I mean, you've never-"

The next thing Izuku knew, it was evening. He blinked, looking around, confused. "What...what happened?"

"What do you think?" Bakugo snapped. He bent over a prone body, and with a start Izuku realized it was Shinso

"Hey, wake up. Turns out, six's your max. Come on! Quit laying around, we have to go get dinner ready!" Bakugo barked, shaking Shinso roughly

Groaning, Shinso sat up. He wiped blood from his nose and shook his head slightly. "I...I tried to make it seven, but-"

"Well you did six for a bit. And you finally lost control of Midoriya," Bakugo said. To Izuku's surprise, he offered Shinso a hand, and hauled the other boy to his feet. "I guess that's not bad or whatever. You're not as pathetic as you look."

"I'll take that as a compliment since I'm pretty sure I look like hell," Shinso muttered. He glanced at Izuku and smiled. "Hey, thanks for the help. I kept you under control for what, three hours or so?"

"How the hell should I know?" Bakugo demanded. "Quit chatting and let's go!"

Izuku glanced around, seeing Uraraka, Mineta, Yaoyorozu, Kaminari, and Sato looking dazed as well.

"Oh. Well, I'm glad I helped, I guess?" Izuku said.

"You did," Shinso said. He bowed to the others. "Thank you all. No one, well, no one's ever been as kind to me as you have."

"Hey, no sweat!" Uraraka said with a smile. "I was too sick to keep trying to use my quirk anyway. Ugh, dinner doesn't even sound good right now. I always get nauseous when I overuse my quirk but today was awful…"

"This camp hasn't been any fun at all!" Mineta complained. He glared at Izuku. "Thanks to some people."

"Hey, moron! What did I talk to you about?" Bakugo snapped, coming over to loom above Mineta. "You need a more personal lesson?!"

"N-no! I, um, I'll be more 'pleasant,'" Mineta assured Bakugo. He walked away, and Izuku heard him mutter. "Geeze, take your own advice, will you? Not like anyone likes you either…"

"Hey, thanks by the way," Yaoyorozu told Izuku. "We heard about what Mineta tried to do last night."

"Yeah, I bet Mei appreciated having a boyfriend so willing to defend her honor!" Uraraka said, punching the air aggressively.

Bakugo snorted and moved away as well, separating himself from the group, but Uraraka suddenly ran after him. "And Bakugo! Thanks for talking to Mineta. That was noble of you. I'm glad some of the boys have a sense of honor."

"I just can't stand scum," Bakugo growled. "Mineta makes us all look bad. I should have kicked his ass to teach him a lesson."

"You hold, I'll punch!" Uraraka laughed. She smiled brightly, nodding to Bakugo. "Hey, want to sit with me and Iida for dinner? You're always by yourself, maybe it would be nice to hang out, get to know you better. You've changed the last few weeks, and I think we don't appreciate it enough."

Bakugo froze, and his eyes darted to Shinso, who gave him a thumbs up. Bakugo swallowed. "I...thanks. Um, I...look, I'm not changing for you! I just...I'm going to be a hero, who always wins! And, well, someone told me there was more to being a hero than being strong. But I'm not weak, you understand me?!"

"Um, I didn't say you were?" Uraraka said, looking confused and slightly offended. "What, do you think I'm weak or something?"

"I didn't say that," Bakugo hissed. He suddenly tensed, his teeth audibly grinding. "Look, you better not pity me. I know what you all think about me. You don't have to make yourself sit with me, Uraraka. I know Iida hates my guts."

"Ok. But, Bakugo? I don't pity you. I just think you need to chill out some more," Uraka said, walking away. "Invitations open! And Iida doesn't hate you. Neither do I."

The others left, including Shinso, who had to be helped along by Uraraka and Yaoyorozu. Izuku stood there awkwardly for a moment, Bakugo a few feet away.

"Hey."

Izuku looked over to see Bakugo looking at him, Bakugo's jaw working. "I'm...sorry."

For a moment, Izuku didn't think he'd heard right. He could only blink rapidly at Bakugo, unsure of what he was hearing.

"I'm not repeating myself. And to be clear, I'm not sorry about beating Hatsume at the Sports Festival. She broke my damn nose, you overprotective- look, this is just about when we were kids." With that, Bakugo turned away, apparently done talking.

Izuku took a step forward, unsure of what to do or say. "Bakugo! I mean, Kacchan, I-"

Bakugo spun, anger flashing in his eyes. "Don't call me that! I'm not-" Bakugo took a sudden breath, and seemed to hold it, grinding his teeth for a second. Then he breathed out. "Don't call me that. Unless you want me to go back to calling you Deku or whatever."

"No," Izuku admitted. "And...and I guess we're not really friends, now."

"No. We're not." Bakugo looked away. "That's on me."

With that, Bakugo left, and after a short time, Izuku followed after him, not sure of what to make of that. At dinner, Bakugo was his usual snappish self, though he did sit down at a table near Uraraka and Iida. He never spoke, his eyes on his food the entire time, but Uraraka and Iida made friendly motions in his general direction from what Izuku could see.

However, most of Izuku's attention was diverted to Mei, as they went over the various upgrades and repairs they had planned.

"Sorry I didn't get to your babies today!" Mei told Jiro and Ashido. "Izuku really put our baby to the test! I hear you got smashed, Kirishima!"

"Yeah," Kirishima admitted, looking abashed. "Guess my quirk couldn't stand up to him."

"Ha! That's because we used your quirk specifically to set the parameters for the suit's performance capability!" Mei laughed

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, after our fight in the Sports Festival, Mei and I realized sometimes I couldn't pull off tricks like the one I used to beat you. So, we upgraded the suit's armor and shock absorbers to be able to go toe to toe with someone with a quirk as strong as yours."

"But, I mean, Tetsutetsu beat you," Kirishima said, shaking his head.

"Only because you softened me up," Izuku pointed out. "And my limiters were disabled for most of his fight. That puts a huge strain on the suit. If anything, the suit simply wore itself out."

"But don't worry, we'll upgrade our baby to be even cuter and more amazing!" Mei promised.

"Yeah. Wish I could get upgraded," Kirishima muttered.

"Hey man, relax! That's what the training today was about!" Kaminari said, slapping Kirishima on the back. "Your quirk is already improving. I bet next time you'll have Midoriya quaking in his boots."

"Yeah, yeah that's right!" Kirishima agreed. He grinned at Izuku, showing off his pointed teeth. "I won't stop training, Midioriya! If you want to stay ahead of me, you'll have to work your quirk hard! That's a man's promise!"

"Yeah. We'll keep working hard too," Izuku agreed. "But remember, it's not just me, Kirishima. Mei's a big reason why I can keep up with you at all. You were born with a great quirk. I had to have some help to make my own dreams of being a hero real."

Kirishima blushed. "Oh, yeah, sorry. I forget sometimes, that, you're, well-"

"It's OK," Izuku said with a smile. "You treat me like everyone else. That's what Mei and I both want. To not be looked down on."

"Who's stupid enough to look down on Mei?" Ashido asked, glaring at Kirishima and Kaminari. "I mean, she could probably fry them with some sort of death laser if they even tried."

"A lot of people," Mei said with a shrug. "Maybe I should join the hero course too. The fighting and stuff is boring but the people are a lot nicer." She glanced over at Bakugo, who was quietly collecting plates from those who had finished. "Even he's much nicer. Good job on the social skills, Bakugo! Social groups help, don't they?"

Bakugo went deep red. "Shut your damn mouth!" he snarled. He stalked past Mei, clearly furious. "You can carry your own plate!" He practically ripped Izuku's dirty plate out of his hands though, and stomped off to the kitchen.

"Hey, has anyone noticed Bakugo's acting all weird lately?" Kaminari commented. "Like, he still behaves as though he's pissed off about everything, but...nicer? I don't know."

"Maybe he's turning into a real man," Kirishima said with a shrug. "At least he didn't beat up any defenseless girls or little kids recently."

"Too bad. Maybe Mineta would have gotten some sense knocked into him," Jiro muttered.

"Well, I suppose we'd better get started on the suit," Izuku said with a sigh, standing. "We need to get it fixed up for tomorrow."

"Ah man, they're going to do a Test of Courage tonight!" Kirishima protested. "You have got to come!"

"That sounds boring," Mei said. "Izuku's already got courage and I don't want any."

"We really do have to get it fixed up," Izuku said. "Sorry! Maybe tomorrow."

"What about you, Shinso, you coming?" Kirishima demanded. "Kaminari failed, so I won't have anyone to hang out with while he's in study groups!"

Shinso shrugged. "Sure. It'll be funny to watch yourself wet yourself. I'll bring some spare undies for you."

Kirishima laughed at that, and everyone stood to begin with the clean up. Izuku and Mei left for the workshop, where Mr. Maijima was already waiting for them.

"Finished with dinner?" he asked.

"Yeah, Mei says we're almost done?" Izuku asked.

"Yes! I made lots of upgrades, but I want you to double check the electrical system I jury rigged," Mei said. "Your wiring is always cuter than mine."

"You should take a break in a bit," Mr. Maijima advised. "They're going to have some fun and games this evening."

"It doesn't sound fun to me," Mei grumped. "Let's just work on making more babies for our friends."

"I think I'd honestly rather stay here," Izuku admitted. "I, um, well, I sort of get scared easily, and...and I don't think I could do it without Mei there."

"Why? You fought all day without me," Mei said, looking perplexed. "Do you need me to collect data?"

"No, I just...I feel better when you're there," Izuku admitted. "And, well, when there's real danger, it's different. Trying to scare myself...I don't enjoy it."

"Suit yourselves," Mr. Maijima said with a shrug. "But I'm going to play a few pranks myself. It'll be nice to blow off some steam. Just don't blow this place up while I'm gone, Pixie Bob would kill me."

"Mr. Maijima! We haven't blown anything up since school ended!" Mei protested.

"I know. Because I haven't let you into my workshop. It was kind of nice."

With Mr. Maijima gone, Izuku started to examine the wiring as Mei welded on some upgraded armor plates. Mei did a good job as usual, but Izuku saw a few ways to improve it and set to work. It was relaxing, working on the suit with Mei again. Izuku let out a contented sigh. Summer camp really was pretty fun.