Two days later.

Izuku woke up to an alarm going off in his ear.

"Eiii!" Izuku shrieked, groping to turn off his apparently overly loud alarm clock. But there was no clock. And his alarm didn't sound like that.

Mei stood over him, holding a mechanical gong. "You're late, assistant."

"Sorry," Izuku mumbled, sleep-muddled and confused. He looked around. "What…are you doing in my bedroom?"

"Climbing shoes." She pointed at her feet. Her shoes had bright green spikes that whirred.

"My window is locked."

"Lock-picking device." She held up another device that looked like a spider.

"That seems like it would be very useful to thieves," Izuku said. (Once again proving that he was smart, as well as providing a great example of dramatic foreshadowing.) "Wait, you shouldn't just break into people's houses!"

"You shouldn't be late," she replied.

Izuku considered pushing back further, but decided against it. Mei was still the only other kid who would play with him. He didn't want to lose that. So, Izuku rubbed his eyes and went to get his clothes. For a moment, they stared awkwardly at each other before Izuku said, "You need to leave so I can get dressed."

"Fine. Be there soon, assistant." She paused. "I forgot your name."

"Midoriya Izuku."

"Right that."

When the two arrived in Mei's laboratory, she immediately went to her forge and checked up on a bucket of molten metal. Wearing thick gloves, she held a thermometer. "Hmm, needs a few more hours to be hot enough."

"A few more hours?" Izuku frowned. "Have you been working on this all night? When did you last sleep?"

"Sleep?" She looked at him owlishly.

Not recently, if he had to guess, judging by the bags under her eyes. From the smell, she had not showered lately either, though Izuku was too polite to comment on it. "When did you last eat?"

Mei's forehead wrinkled. "I had a banana when working on the airplane." She waved at a half-finished plane in the back of the shed.

"When was that?"

She shrugged.

Izuku sighed. "I'm hungry. How about I make both of us breakfast?"

Mei's nose scrunched up. "I'm busy."

Izuku went to his backpack and pulled out a notebook. "I reorganized your blueprints to make them easier to understand. You can have these if you eat breakfast."

"That's an uncommon amount of initiative, lab assistant! I doubt your blueprints could be better than mine." Mei snatched the notebook and looked through it. "Huh. These drawings are very neat and thorough."

Izuku cleared his throat. "I corrected the mistake you made on the screws in the right wing of the airplane."

"I don't make mistakes," Mei insisted. "But your blueprint does do a better job of showing what I intended."

It said a lot about how starved Izuku was for praise that even these meager words made him smile. Sure, his parents praised him, but his peers? Never. However, he reminded himself to hold firm. "Deal? Or should I take back my notebook?" Izuku held out his hands.

Mei put the notebook behind her back. "I suppose I could eat while I read through these."

Izuku found ingredients to make oatmeal in Mei's kitchen. He successfully coaxed her into the kitchen to eat, much in the way one would a very stubborn cat.

When they returned to work, Mei attacked the airplane wing with new vigor. Wiping sweat off her forehead, she said, "Weird. I feel much better after eating. I don't like that it worked."

Izuku handed her a towel. "My mom calls it self-care. Your body is like a machine, see? Would you use a rusty wrench?"

Mei recoiled. "There's not a spot of rust on any of my tools!" She waved her hand across the tool bench.

Putting it into terms he believed Mei would understand, Izuku said, "Your body is also a tool. If you don't eat and sleep regularly, then your arms and legs will slow down as if they have rust on them."

"I have to stop working…to work faster?" Mei scowled. "I hate it!"

Izuku coaxed, "Just try it."

He persuaded her to eat lunch, and after the day ended, lingered just long enough to convince her to take a shower and lay out a sandwich on the dinner table.

"Your work is over for the day. Out," Mei barked, pushing him towards the door.

Clinging to the doorframe, Izuku insisted, "Promise that you'll eat dinner, then go to bed! Your body is rusty! You'll feel much better after a good night's sleep!"

Mei shoved him out with one last grunt, then slammed the door.

As Izuku began his way down the driveway, a van pulled away from outside Mei's house, turning the corner faster than the speed limit would allow. Izuku looked after it, then shrugged and went home, hoping Mei followed his advice. (More dramatic foreshadowing!)

At home, the phone rang. Izuku picked it up. "Hello, Midoriya residence?"

"Izuku?"

"Mom!" Izuku said. Then, after taking a moment to tamp down his excitement, he said, "How are you?"

"I'm fine, sweetie. Whatever your grandparents have didn't seem to infect me. As for them, they even seem to be regaining their vigor!"

In the background, an old man yelled, "Hey! I was watching that!"

"Don't throw the remote at me, Sorahiko! It's my turn to watch the TV!"

"As if! You still have five more minutes until your program starts, Nana!"

"Don't make me come over there!"

"Or what, you'll run over my foot?"

"What. Was. That?"

"…Who are you?"

Mom nervously laughed, "They're sounding like their old selves again already?"

Izuku joined the nervous laughter. "Great," he said. "When will you be home?"

There was a pause. Izuku's stomach fell. Finally, Mom said, "Just after Christmas. I'm sorry sweetie. The doctor still recommended waiting to be sure I couldn't carry the illness back home to you."

Izuku took a moment to compose himself. "I understand," he said. He wasn't lying. He did understand, he just hated it. "I know you'll be here soon."

"Your father will be there won't he?"

Izuku hesitated. Mom didn't need an answer from that.

Inko repeated, "I'm sorry sweetie. I hope you won't be too lonely."

Izuku opened his mouth. Then he thought of Mei. "Actually, I think it'll be fine. I have a new friend."

"Friend? Who?"

"Hatsume Mei, the girl who moved in recently. The one with all the explosions."

"Oh really?" Mom said. "What is she like?"

"She is…very passionate about her…passions. Like building!"

"Are you having fun?"

Izuku thought for a moment. Then, with complete sincerity, he said, "Yes. Loads of it."

"That's wonderful! I'm so glad to hear you're making friends!" There was crashing in the background. "I have to go," Mom said, her voice taking a dangerous edge. Izuku no longer envied his grandparents. "Love you sweetie."

"Love you too, Mom. Goodbye."

He hung up, then got ready for bed.

The next morning, when Izuku returned to work, the bags under Mei's eyes had faded and her skin had more color. Not looking at him, she said, "This morning, I had a breakthrough on the problem with my baby's engine."

That was the closest she would come to admitting he'd been right about her needing to sleep. Izuku smiled.

Mei placed a stack of papers in front of him. "Organize these blueprints, too."

Izuku nodded and went about it. He of course needed Mei's input for most of the blueprints due to her…interesting way of transcribing combined with borderline illegible handwriting. Izuku of course neglected to ask any questions about the legality of some of these inventions. It just seemed off topic.

After that, they both worked on the Doombot and about three other inventions Mei made before taking a break. One of them didn't even explode! By the end the Doombot was able to swing a hammer effectively, though Mei noted that the flamethrower would have to be applied later.

At the end of the day, Mei and Izuku carried some of her blueprints and finished inventions to her bedroom. Izuku looked around the house as they walked up the stairs. Her parents had to be at least somewhat rich. The furniture, the modern-style paintings, and the technology. They all screamed someone who had a lot of money at their disposal.

Speaking of. "Hey where are your parents?" Izuku asked.

"Traveling," Mei said.

"Where?"

"Don't know. I rarely ask. They just go on their trips, some business some not, leave me for a couple weeks, then come back. Then after a few weeks here, they leave again."

"Doesn't that get…lonely?"

Mei tilted her head. "Lonely? But I'm always inventing babies."

"What about your friends?"

"My lab assistants? Most of them don't stick around as long as you!" Mei stuck her head uncomfortably close to his, grinning. "Keep it up and I might even give you a share of Hatsume Industries! I'll even have my dad draft the paperwork."

"Thank you?"

They dropped her inventions in her room. "That was fun!" she said, falling on her bed while giggling to herself. "A full day of making adorable babies!"

"Yeah…" Izuku glanced out the window at the neighboring house. He thought he saw movement in the window. Izuku's brow furrowed. Odd, he thought the Utsushimis had gone to Hokkaido for the holidays. Izuku slowly stepped toward the window and looked closer. The inside of the house looked like a complete mess. A planter turned over, pictures strewn about the floor.

Why would they pack like that?

Mr. Compress made his way around the house. It seemed All for One had already ransacked this house. He'd even left a marble behind to taunt Mr. Compress about getting there first, like the child he was. This is why no one wants to work with you, no matter how smart you (admittedly) are.

Fortunately, even if All for One was smart, his minions clearly weren't. Compress still managed to take a modest amount from this house and place it in his bag. They'd even missed one of the safes!

Once Compress made sure the goods were secure in his bag, he placed it around the shoulder. On to rob the next house. As he left, Compress checked the mirror. Yes, his Santa costume still looked pristine. Compress always dressed as Santa for the holidays. It was funny, plus if there were young kids, he could give them toys so they would either not raise the alarm, or be unable to identify him. After all, who would believe they'd been robbed by Santa?

Compress slipped down toward the backdoor, sneaking out into the woods. Onto the next mark!

Izuku was still watching the house, waiting to see if anyone showed up again. Maybe he'd imagined–

"Hey, what are you still doing here?"

Izuku turned around to Mei, who was looking confused.

"What?" Izuku blinked.

"We're done for the day. You can go now."

"Oh. But um, do you–" Izuku looked down. "Do you wanna do anything else?"

Mei blinked. She tilted her head from side to side. "I told you, I'm done inventing for the day."

"O-Ok! I'll go! It was fun!" Izuku said, turning around.

"Yeah…" Mei said, yawning. "It was…"

As Izuku hurried out, he took one last look at Mei, who'd already fallen asleep, a little smile on her face. Izuku quietly closed the door, turned out the lights, and left out the backdoor, locking the door behind him. He enjoyed working for her too. Although he'd been hoping they could play a board game like the other kids, he shouldn't get too greedy.

As he was almost home, a van barreled toward him. With the reflexes newly born from avoiding several explosions a day, Izuku threw himself out of the way. The van skidded to a stop. "Hey! Watch it brat!" said one of the men inside.

"I told you there was a kid home!" another said.

"Yeah, yeah. I was still right about the parents!" said the other.

"You don't know that!"

"Yes I do!"

They argued back and forth before driving off. Izuku scratched his head. What was that about? As for the van…Izuku wasn't sure, but he thought he'd seen it parked outside Mei's house earlier.

When Izuku arrived home, his father appeared to be packing clothing into a bag. Without looking up, Toshinori asked, "Did you have fun playing at your friend's house?"

Izuku nodded. "We're inventing. I'm her lab assistant."

"I hope you're obeying safety standards," Toshinori said, sounding more joking than seriously believing a pair of children could be inventing anything dangerous.

Izuku thought for a moment. "No one observes safety like Mei!" he said with technical truthfulness.

"I'm glad you're getting along with the new girl on the block. It was very kind of you to reach out to her after she moved here."

Izuku said, "We're building an airplane together."

"Oh, like a model airplane? How sweet. I'd love to see it when you're done." Toshinori kissed the top of his son's head as he headed to the bathroom to grab his toiletries.

Izuku shifted back and forth, trying to figure out if he should tell his father about the car he'd seen. Or the weirdness of the Utsushimis. Maybe it was nothing. The other kids told Izuku that he talked too much and about boring subjects, and he'd started to believe them. His parents listened to him, though. His dad was a brave, strong police officer who could surely tell him if the men in the van might be dangerous. Izuku opened his mouth.

Toshinori turned around, his face lined and worried. "My boss asked me to come to work a bit earlier. I promise I would have turned them down, if this wasn't so important. I hate to leave you alone on Christmas Eve. I'm going to try my best to be back home by the day after Christmas. I'll drop you off at the Bakugos on my way–" A buzz made him look down at his phone. "Oh, no. The Bakugos say that Katsuki came down with a cold. They're worried he might be contagious. They said they could take you in an emergency but it would be better if we can find someone else. I don't have time to find someone else…"

"I could stay over at the Hatsume house instead," Izuku offered. Mei always seemed happy to have him as long as he helped with her inventions. Mostly, he was desperate not to have to sleep over at the Bakugos. If Katuski was ill, then his bad temper would be even worse than usual. To sweeten the deal, Izuku said, "I already have an invitation to come back."

"Oh, if her parents would be willing to have you over, that would be perfect," Toshinori said. "I don't have time to find someone else. I should have left five minutes ago."

Parents? Parents were supposed to be there? Izuku gnawed on his lip. He really didn't want to interfere with his dad's very important work. Even more so, he really didn't want to deal with Kacchan on cold medicine. Best not to say anything.

Throwing his bag over his shoulder, Toshinori said, "Make sure you thank the Hatsumes for taking you at such short notice. We'll have to bring them over cookies later. I love you."

"Love you too, Dad," Izuku said.

After his father left, Izuku remembered that Mei didn't tend to like him staying over at night. Besides, he'd be fine sleeping alone for one night, then he could go over the next morning. He'd already eaten dinner when he made Mei a sandwich.

Izuku also remembered he hadn't told his father about the men in the van. Unfortunately, he didn't have a cell phone. Besides, Dad was probably too busy to worry with his silly little fears.

(This is not dramatic foreshadowing—this is dramatic irony.)

The next morning, Izuku got dressed and headed for the Hatsume house. When he saw the van parked across the street again, he frowned. A night's sleep had not chased away his uneasiness. He felt even worse and wished he'd talked to his dad.

Following an instinct, Izuku crept over and crouched behind a bush. He was just close enough to hear the two men inside talking.

"Dabi, did you cut the landlines to the house?"

So the scarred one was named Dabi. Cutting the phone lines? That sounded like something people said in a police show. It sounded bad. Izuku frowned.

"Stop nagging me, Tomura! I finished. The Hatsume house should be cut off from the outside. According to Sensei, the police are busy and understaffed tonight. Not that anyone pays attention to explosions from that house any longer."

Izuku's stomach knotted. This sounded even worse.

"Why would a house have explosions anyway?" Tomura asked.

"I don't know, probably plays movies too loud. Like your games."

"Shut up."

"What about the kid?"

"She's just a brat." Tomura said. "Kids are gullible. I bet she'll even let us in if we knock on the door. If not—one kid will be no trouble to handle." There came the sound of him punching a hand into his fist.

Dabi snorted, "Kids suck. My little brother never stopped crying no matter how many times I yelled at him to be quiet. He did that for years before he developed human speech."

"Ugh, I don't need another cut scene on your family issues," Tomura groaned. "Focus on the heist. This will be the big payload that finally impresses Sensei. Hatsumi Inc is famous for their work on security systems. They'll have all kinds of fancy lock-picking and safe-cracking tools. Once we steal all the valuable inventions from the house, we'll finally reach the big league. That stupid Compress will be weeping in jealousy."

Dabi laughed maniacally. "We can also kidnap the brat and ransom her to get even more money or inventions! We'll go down in history as the greatest villains in Japan!" (No matter the universe, including the ones with no superpowers, even the rare ones with a stable and mostly functional Todoroki family, Dabi always has a maniacal laugh and a very dramatic personality. At this point it must be nature rather than nurture, or perhaps even destiny.)

Izuku clamped his hands over his mouth to prevent a scream. Terrified of being spotted, he skittered away. As soon as he reached the street, he ran for the Hatsume door.

Just as he reached the door, Mei opened it with a smile. "Oh, good, you're here! You're late again. I thought you might not…" She exhaled a huff. "Not that I was waiting for you."

Izuku blurted out, "Two robbers are planning to break into your place."

Mei stared at him as if trying to figure out the relevance of this to her inventions.

Izuku continued, "I overheard them plotting. They're in the van across the street. They want to steal your inventions to use them in more thefts. Like that lock-picking spider you had." He pulled back the curtain just enough to point, then ducked out of sight. His blood pumped rapidly, so loud he heard a drumbeat behind his ears. "I've seen the van around your house a couple times. I'm sorry, I should have said something. I should have told Dad." He blinked back tears. "They cut your phone lines. We have to find someone to call the cops." If only he had a cell phone, he would have called his father. "We have to get out of here."

"Absolutely not!" Mei cried. "The police, here in my home? In my lab?! It would be a disaster! There are things here that my parents can't even see, let alone the police!" She looked around frantically. "My babies! They'd take away my babies and never give them back."

Slowly, Izuku repeated, "Robbers are breaking in here, Mei. We need the police. They could hurt or even kill us."

Mei clutched her hair. "I took one of my babies to school for the science fair once. The FBI was called! The bomb squad ripped my poor baby into itty bitty pieces! I never saw even a single screw from my baby again. My parents took away my lab for a month. I snuck back when they weren't looking, but still. Never again." She trembled. "Never again will I let someone else take away my babies!"

Izuku tugged her toward the door. "You don't understand! The robbers threatened you! They made it sound like they might hurt you! Please, you have to leave."

Mei planted her feet. "You can quit like the others, lab assistant. But I'm not leaving this place. I'm defending my babies to the death! Neither the robbers nor the police can have them!"

Izuku saw the determination on her face. He knew he couldn't make her leave. And he couldn't abandon her, either. Not his first and only friend. Izuku looked down. The thugs' voices threatening to rob Mei and kidnap her echoed in his head. Red hot anger welled up deep inside of him. How dare two criminals come and threaten his friend? To try and hurt her?

Swallowing down his tears, Izuku stood up straight. "I won't leave. We'll drive out the robbers together. I won't let them hurt you."

Mei swung her wrench like a sword. "Those two robbers don't know who they're dealing with. This is our lab, and we will defend it! And they will pay for coming after my babies!"

Now that's dramatic foreshadowing!

OMAKE TIME!

Izuku: My new friend wants to make babies together.

Inko: I'm coming home NOW!

#

Dabi: Let's hit the place anyway even if the kid is home. How much trouble could one kid be? Kids are a bunch of self-centered melodramatic idiots who can't seem to realize how dumb they are. ACHOO! Must be catching a cold.

Tomura. Yeah. They're whiny, throwing tantrums whenever things don't go their way, and they throw anyone under the bus to get out of trouble. ACHOO! Great, now I'm getting it!

#

Izuku: Mei, aren't these traps a bit too deadly?

Dabi: Let's hold that little girl for ransom!

Izuku: …Stand aside, I'm going Tom and Jerry on these traps.

#

All for One: I saw a rat today. It reminded me of how my brother betrayed me after I saved him from the rats and river that tried to kill us when we were born. I clung to our mother's corpse, the one gift she could give after her hard life of homelessness and prostitution…

Toshinori: I've read your police file. Your father was an accountant and your mother was a painter.

All for One: (Worried face) I have no idea what you're talking about!

#

Mei: I heard that All for One could swim as an infant. Do you think he's a mutant? Perhaps I could use his DNA in an experiment.

Izuku: He clearly made that up, but I won't stop you from using him as a lab experiment.