Mezo sighed as he stood off to the side of his school group and glanced around at the fairgrounds and the groups of students from other schools and resigned himself to the awkwardness of having to deal with people who didn't like him or want to be around him.
Today was a fundraiser for the less well-off public middle schools like Shiritsu and Mezo had some fair expectations for how things would go if his past experience was anything to go by.
One of the rules of these interschool events was that kids would be grouped up with one person from each school involved and do a bunch of team events, normally the kids would be encouraged to make their groups but with his size and obvious mutations the major of his peers would avoid him and Mezo would get stuck with whoever was left, a couple of times he was paired with another loner and it was a bit more peaceful than awkward but that was rare.
And in a few minutes the other two schools would begin mingling with his and people would start grouping up, so Mezo decided not to get in the way and that was why he chose to move just a bit further from his year mates. At least his mom never had to see any of this happen since she had to work so much, Mido-Kun would've absolute have given her the day off, but his mom didn't want to take advantage of their friendship, something that Mido-Kun and she had in common.
Once the announcer told them to start finding their teammates to most people's surprise someone immediately rushed out of the all-girl school Sonoki and was making a beeline, to him of all people.
In his surprise, it took him a minute too long to recognize the figure but once he did he couldn't help feeling utterly elated and eagerly opened his arms and if she had used her quirk on him she would've barreled him over in her tackle-like hug "Mezo-Kun!" the girl squealed wrapping her arms around his neck.
The hug as brief as it was made him feel greater and seconds later Ochaco pulled away and was bouncing in place right in front of Mezo practically bursting at the seams from her excitement "Mezo-Kun do you know how excited I got when I heard our school was going to do an event with your school! And now we can work together all day! This is going to be so awesome!" Ochaco exclaimed with stars in her eyes and Mezo's stomach flipped at the sight, a smile on his face under his mask and his cheeks slightly pink because the thought of someone being so excited over working with him flustered him and he rubbed the back of his neck.
Meanwhile, the other three groups muttered as they watched the bizarre interaction, sure there were friend groups that overlapped between the schools but for the two schools the students came from were quite in shock.
The students of Shiritsu whispered about how the scary emotionless giant could know that sweet-looking bubbly girl, while the girls of Sonoki were muttering under their breath about how exactly the starving little squirrel could 'know' that boy that was clearly a delinquent.
Then as if that wasn't a big enough shock a brunette boy with a white and blue patterned bandanna broke away from the group of students from Kanazu junior high and he, slightly nervous approached the two students "Um, you guys need a third?" the boy asked glancing between the two of them.
Ochaco blinked surprised but nodded "Yep, I'm Uraraka and this is Shoji. Who are you?" the girl inquired being rather friendly "Awase." the brunette replied offering his hand which Ochaco took and shook.
"Great to meet you Awase-San, I hope we can all work together well!" Ochaco told the boy with a clap of her hands though Mezo wasn't as sure in himself with this new person, Awase grinned "Fuck yeah! let's crush this." Awase said trying to be encouraging though Ochaco wasn't as used to people loudly cursing as Mezo was and flinched, but she quickly shook it off.
Yosetsu hadn't been too sure what made him want to team up with the two oddballs that made such a big scene at the begin of the event but two games in he couldn't say he regretted it, currently he and Uraraka were both sat on Shoji's shoulders as he carried them to victory in an obstacle race and the three of them were way ahead of everyone else "Woo! Go Mezo-Kun!" Uraraka cried as Shoji jumped another hurdle.
Maybe it was a bit scummy of him to rely on Shoji to do all the work right now but to hell with it if he was being carried around like he weighted nothing and it was hard not to get wrapped up in Uraraka's joy since his heart was pounding from the adrenaline "Yeah Sho just a little more and we'll be getting first!" Yosetsu told the multi-armed boy and saw Shoji nod his head ever so slightly.
And seconds later the three of them had won another event and when Shoji carefully put him and Uraraka down Yosetsu was grinning both his fists went into the air "Hell yeah! That's one medal for each of us now, you were such a fucking beast out there Shoji! Up high!" Yosetsu shouted holding up his hands and Uraraka returned it almost instantly and Shoji did the same after watching Uraraka do it first.
"Seriously dude where did you learn how to move like such a badass?" Yosetsu inquired hoping it was some kind of class that he could convince his parents to sign him up for.
Shoji looked away rubbing the back of his neck "I was kind of friendly with an upper-classman, Miyake-San had full-body reptile mutation and taught me some things when I was experimenting with my quirk that I could use without it." Shoji bashfully explained avoiding his eyes, which was probably a good thing since Yosetsu's jaw dropped.
"Dude! You know this year's sports festival winner personally? That's fucking badass Shoji!" Yosetsu exclaimed, he thought that big lizard guy was awesome when he was watching the festival and if Shoji knew that guy it was hella cool and maybe he could ask Shoji for a few pointers after the event because Yosetsu knew he needed to work on his parkour because his current level of skill sucked ass.
Shoji became even more bashful and ducked his head while one of the adults came over with a medal for them and Uraraka took it and placed it on Shoji's neck so all three of them now had one each around their necks, the first he had won himself and Uraraka had got them the second in a relay race, which sort of sucked they made them run two races in a row but thank god for Shoji offering to carry them both or he would be dead.
There were four more events to do and Yosetsu couldn't wait to do them with his kickass teammates "I think we're doing the scavenger hunt next, either of you any good at that? Cause I suck at those things, like I suck major ass with those." Yosetsu confessed and Uraraka nodded sympathetically "Yeah, I'm not the best with those either Awase-San." she admitted with a sweat drop.
"I have good eyes." Shoji volunteered and Yosetsu grinned "Great! I'll make sure to make up for it during the next game so you can just sit on your ass Shoji." Yosetsu promised and Uraraka quickly nodded her head "Yeah, don't think you have to carry us through all the games Mezo-Kun! I don't care if we lose the rest of the event, as long as we all have fun, right Awase-San?" Uraraka asked and he nodded.
"Yeah, buddy! We've already gotten what I came for and I couldn't care less if we fuck up the rest of this, especially if our screwups are fun." Yosetsu confirmed with a thumbs up and a wink, Shoji nodded lightly scratching his cheek with one of his hands.
And well they went on to win the next event by finding six of the bobbles before anyone else and Yosetsu and Uraraka even found one each earning them a fourth medal that they gave to Shoji since he did most of the work, they weren't as lucky with the ring-toss that came next since apparently he and Shoji's aim was pretty shit, especially compared to Uraraka's fucking laser-sight aim.
Nobody was torn up about it though since it was actually pretty funny how he managed to get his rings everywhere except the dozens of poles, seriously it got pretty ridiculously absurd at the point that he somehow crossed the whole lot of poles and got his ring on one of the adults supervising instead, it was kind of worth it though since Uraraka nearly burst a gut over his many misguided attempts.
The apple bobbing game was one they all failed together, mainly because grabbing things with your face was a skill very few were trained in and Shoji had chosen not to participate since he'd have to take off his face mask since they aren't allowed to use their quirks, Yosetsu didn't have a problem with it since he could respect boundaries thank you very much and Uraraka and him might've wasted a bunch of time by splashing each other in the big pool they were bobbing in.
They didn't leave Shoji completely out of it either since he was standing so close to the water's edge and Shoji was a pretty good sport about it though they were at an inherent disadvantage since shoji technically had six arms to splash them compared to their combined four, though that didn't make it any less fun.
And now they came down to the final game, a sack race where they placed decently all things considered since he fell over a lot in the last leg of the race, but damn did it feel awesome to collapse next Uraraka and Shoji on the other side of the finish line.
"W-well, that was fun." Yosetsu huffed out between pants, Uraraka only looking marginally better started giggling "Y-yeah, did you see that girl's face when she fell over right before the finish line? I don't think I've ever seen someone's eyes get that big before." Uraraka commented getting a hum from Shoji, who was the only one sitting up right.
"I have, but the kid had a quirk for it." Shoji added and Yosetsu scoffed with a grin "Gnarly." he muttered sitting up and happily accepting the water bottle Shoji offered him as the adults were busy wrapping everything up and thanking the donors.
"Damn, we're probably going to have to split up pretty soon." Yosetsu noted and Uraraka sat up, took in everything around them and looked so dejected when she saw what everyone else was doing.
"Yeah, I guess we will... it was fun while it lasted though." Uraraka said with a slight smile trying to be positive, Shoji could not bring himself to be and just nodded his head.
Frowning Yosetsu didn't want the fucking fan-tastic day they just had to be ruined they just had to go back to their normal boring lives and so came up with a decent idea.
"Hey, what's your number?" Yosetsu asked and Uraraka blinked staring at him owlishly while Shoji stiffened "What?" She responded clearly taken very aback.
Yosetsu waved it off "What's your phone number? And yours too big guy." Yosetsu told them and they both seemed to be in shock or something "What? You guys didn't think that after a day like that that I wouldn't just fuck off without any way to contact you both." he joked laughing to himself.
"Fuck that, I definitely want to hang out like this again with you guys." Yosetsu said making Uraraka beam at him "Oh my gosh, yes! That would be awesome- ack! Wait I'm not sure Mezo-Kun or I would any time to hang out between school and hero training." Uraraka replied becoming more worried now that she actually thought about it.
Yosetsu however was gob smacked "You got to be shitting me! You both are training to be heroes too? No fucking way!" Yosetsu exclaimed so excited he couldn't stop himself from grinning.
"You want to be a hero?" Shoji asked and Yosetsu nodded.
"Of course, I do, but, ehh... most of my classmates aren't that supportive since my quirk ain't much." Yosetsu answered rubbing the back of his neck.
"Eh, really? What's your quirk Awase-San?" Uraraka asked innocently and Yosetsu shrugged "It's called: Weld. And I can pretty much 'weld' anything to something else and un-weld it later if I need to." Yosetsu explained using his shoes to show by quietly fusing the bottoms together before un-fusing them after making sure no one else was looking.
"That's a useful quirk and I'm sure Izu-Kun could help you find over a dozen ways to use it for hero work." Uraraka commented "Our friend Mido-Kun knows quite a lot about quirks and heroics, he'll have plenty of ideas for you Awase-San if you want to hear them." Shoji confirmed with a nod.
"Thanks, guys. I might take you up on that, but first I need to get your numbers so we can arrange all that later." Yosetsu said with a smile as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Right, I got my phone in my bag and I have all our numbers saved so just give me a moment guys." Uraraka quickly told them jumping to her feet and running off to the area where the Sonoki school held their students things.
And that day Yosetsu couldn't help smiling as he rubbed the medal in one hand while staring at his contacts which had two more names then it did that morning.
Did you guys know that Awase from 1-B is canonically from Niigata prefecture where the South Side is located? (•ω•)