Izuku took a seat at his desk, his eyes drooping as he stifled a yawn. He stayed up late last night again. He'd started watching Mobile Suit Gundam at Mei's insistence, why he needed to watch this he didn't know. All she'd say was it was for 'research purposes.' He had to admit though, it was good. Good enough that at two in the morning he'd finally fallen asleep. He could see why this was one of the longest running animated series in history.
Moments after he sat down in his seat Mr. Aizawa opened the classroom door and walked to the podium. The class instantly quieted down, giving Mr. Aizawa their undivided attention. "It only took two weeks for you all to figure this out. There's hope for you yet."
Mr. Aizawa glanced around the room, checking for any absences before starting the morning's lesson. "Listen up, I'll only say this once. Starting today you'll be working on a research project over a pro-hero of your choice. You can present them any way you wan't, I don't care how, just make sure your information is accurate. You'll work in groups of two" his classmates glanced around the room, trying to get their friends' attention "that I have chosen for you." Everyone slumped in their seats.
Izuku felt conflicted.
On one hand this could be his chance to make a friend.
On the other hand, it could blow up in his face and nothing would change, or get worse.
Mr. Aizawa displayed the list of pairs on the board behind him and Izuku looked for his name. He was paired with someone named Kirishima, he looked around the room, looking for them, not that he knew what they looked like. But maybe they knew who he was, and he'd see them looking for him.
He didn't see anyone that was looking at him.
Behind him, a boy with spiky red hair tapped his shoulder, "Hey man, I think we're partners."
Izuku turned around in his seat to get a better look at him, he nodded, unsure of what to say exactly, but after a moment he stammered out, "Hi, I'm Midoriya Izuku. It's nice to meet you."
"Same man, you wanna meet up in the library after classes are over to work on the project?" Izuku was jealous at how easily the boy had asked that simple question. As if he had no doubt that Izuku would say yes.
"Uh, yeah, that sounds like a good idea," replied Izuku after a moment.
"Sweet," the boy grinned and Izuku turned around to the front again, he felt good. Maybe this project will go well after all.
Class resumed and the day sped by, Izuku arrived in the library first, he found a table in line of sight from the entrance and set his stuff down. He felt a little excited about working on a project with someone. Kirishima seemed nice enough. Maybe he'd be his first friend here at UA!
Izuku pulled out his notebook, waiting patiently for Kirishima to arrive. After a few minutes he checked his phone, he was probably just running a little late. Nothing to worry about. He absentmindedly started to sketch something on his notebook to pass the time. He got lost in the drawing, enjoying how the figure took shape.
When the sketch was finished, he examined it, he'd drawn some sort of mech, he'd drawn a lot of these recently so he wasn't really surprised that he'd drawn one without realizing it. This one looked a little different though, It had bulky armor but looked sleek and agile. It was a cool design, he'd save it for later.
He checked his phone again, thirty minutes had passed since he arrived, and still Kirishima hadn't shown up. Wasn't it his idea to meet here? Where was he?
Had he forgotten?
It wouldn't be the first time a partner hadn't shown up.
He sighed and went back to examining the mech he'd drawn. As long as he was here, he might as well try and make a few improvements to the sketch.
But as he started to draw a bag was placed down on the table across from him, "Sorry man, I got a little caught up. I'll make it up to you I swear!" Kirishima sat down digging through his bag to pull out his own notebook.
He looked up at Izuku, "You good dude? I didn't mean to startle you."
Izuku nodded, a small smile on his face, "It's fine. I was just passing the time."
Kirishima glanced at his sketch, but didn't comment, "Fair nuff. So, you got any pro-heroes in mind that you wanna research?"
Izuku hadn't given it much thought, there were so many he'd been interested in. "Not really, I'm fine with whoever."
"Alright man" Kirishima nodded, "why don't we do ours over Red Riot. He's kinda my favorite hero." Kirishima rubbed the back of his head.
"I've never heard of him before" it wasn't entirely true, he'd heard of him, he just didn't do any research over Red Riot.
"Aw dude you're missing out! Red Riot's so cool and manly!" Kirishima pulled out his phone, and after typing on the screen he slid it across the Izuku. It was a video of Red Riot, one he'd seen before. But Izuku watched it without comment. "Cool right?" Kirishima looked at him expectantly.
"Very cool," Izuku replied. He was okay, Red Riot wasn't the coolest but that was only his opinion. He wasn't about to disagree with Kirishima's opinion. "So em, what do you know about Red Riot?"
Kirishima's eyes seemed to light up a little as he started to ramble, he mostly talked about fights that Red Riot had been in, some were actually about Red Riot. It was obvious to Izuku that Kirishima was more than just a mere fan, he was a full blown fan boy. He even saw a faint similarity between Kirishima and Red Riot. Was he trying to emulate Red Riot? A little weird but everyone had their own quirks.
In no time another half hour had passed and the sun was starting to set, Kirishima finally ran out of steam, his last story petering off and he looked a little sheepish, "Sorry, I get a little enthusiastic when it comes to Red Riot. I didn't mean to ramble."
Izuku shook his head, a small smile on his face, "No no, it's fine. I understand completely. I'm that way about stuff too. But um, anyways, the uh, project? Any ideas on how we should make it?"
Kirishima shrugged, "No idea, wanna make a poster?"
"Sure, I can do the artwork," suggested Izuku. It made the most sense to him at least. He was good at art and Kirishima obviously knew what he was talking about.
"Hell yeah!" said Kirishima ecstatically. "This is gonna be awesome!"
The bell rang, Izuku stood up, turning around intent on asking Kirishima if he wanted to work on their project during their lunch break. But he was already walking away with a girl with pink skin and horns. Maybe they would work on it after school like they did yesterday. Instead he walked to the library alone, intent on eating there and drawing some.
His plans were derailed when a strong arm grabbed him by his shoulder, the strong grip stopping him easily. Panic flooded his mind as his mind went into fight or flight mode. He froze as fear took root and he shut his eyes tightly as he waited for Bakugo's torment to begin.
It never came.
"You're pretty hard to track down, but I found you!" The voice wasn't Bakugo's and slowly he opened his eyes, seeing Mei looking at him with a grin. "Come on nerd, we got babies to make!" She tugged on his arm, pulling him along. On instinct he tried to pull his arm from her grip. She paused as she noticed. Her eyes narrowing a little in his direction and her grin lessening.
He was surprised that she let go of his arm, letting him retreat back a little from Mei. Her smile quickly disappeared and she looked down at the ground, "Sorry, I'll um…I just needed to talk with you about your costume. I'll send you an email instead." The fear he felt earlier dissipated almost instantly. She wasn't Bakugo. She might be a little weird, but she wasn't Bakugo.
He wanted to be like Kirishima, say what he wanted to say, when he wanted to say it. So Mei turned to go, but Izuku said, "wait." Mei paused, her eyes flitting up to meet him. "I..I don't have anything going on right now. If you want, uh, need to talk with me about it. I can." The words tumbled out of his mouth, tripping over each other in their rush.
Mei was silent for a few moments, then said, "Sorry, I didn't catch that."
Izuku took a steading breath, then said "I'm free right now, I can talk with you."
Mei seemed a little taken aback, by his words, before she nodded slowly, "Okay, um. Right." A small smile appeared before she said, "Great."
She didn't pull him along to the studio department this time, and compared to last time the journey was far more pleasant. But that was a fairly low bar to clear.
As they walked Mei said "I came up with a few ideas of babies to add onto the mech."
"Babies? As in.." he petered off, unable to finish his question.
"Oh, er, gadgets," explained Mei. "They're my babies, so that's what I call them."
"Oh," said Izuku, he guessed that made some sense. "Um, anyways, you were saying?"
"Right, so like, I was thinking that we could add a grappling system to it. I made one like it last year for the sports festival. I was thinking it could be used as like a way to hang off the sides of buildings or quickly move from one place to another." She rambled on like that for a while, her voice picking up speed and energy as she spoke. Her manic energy from earlier returning full force.
She lost him a few times in explanations of how the various devices worked, and as they arrived at the support studio she was back to pulling him along, intent on showing him her designs. There were a couple of other people, mostly older students who were working on projects.
Mei dragged him towards a bench, components of half built devices lay haphazardly on its surface. "And this is baby number 10187, I call him Marco." she brandished a tube, "It doesn't work yet. But I'm sure I can get it to work one day."
"What is it?" asked Izuku.
Mei grinned, "This is a laser sword" she pressed a button and there was a roaring sound and a small white hot flame shot out from the end. The flame danced and flickered, but didn't reach beyond a few centimeters. Mei waved it around a little making whooshing sounds with her mouth. Izuku chuckled as he watched her play with it a little before turning it off and putting it down on the desk.
"That's the coolest baby I have, but this one" she picked up a chunky looking backpack "this one should be hella useful. Go on, put it on!" She thrust the backpack out to him and he took it, slipped it onto his back, and had to lean forward to prevent himself from falling over.
"What is it?" asked Izuku.
"A jetpack," grinned Mei, "Provided it works, you should be able to hover, fly, eh, fly. Did I mention hover?"
Izuku nodded, "yeah."
"Good, cause that's all it does, for now, but I've got big plans for this baby in the future," she pulled out a remote. "Wanna try it?"
Izuku shrugged, what's the worst that could happen? "Sure."
"Good answer, hold on, starting engine in three, two, one!" she pressed the button and the jetpack sputtered to life. There was a humm as it powered up, he felt it tug up, lifting him up off the floor. Holy shit he was flying!
Then the worst happens.
One second he was hovering in place, the next he's flying forward at an uncontrolled velocity as the jetpack on his back practically exploded. He saw the wall moments before he slammed into it.
He woke up some time later, blearily looking up at the ceiling. He blinked a few times, trying to figure out what happened and where he was. The ceiling looked familiar, although he couldn't place where he'd seen it before.
Covers shifted off him as he sat up, he suddenly realized he was in the nurse's office. How'd he get hurt this time? He heard some clicking noises to his left, someone sat in a chair, fiddling with something in their hands. A girl, realized Izuku, with pink hair. What was her name again? Mei! That's right! He had put on the jetpack and something went wrong.
She looked up from the gadget she was messing with, her expression sheepish. "Are you going to be okay?" asked Mei.
Izuku felt okay, he felt sore, but other than that he was fine, "I think so."
Mei visibly relaxed, "Good, that's good." She fiddled with the machine in her hands, but she wasn't actively tinkering with it. She looked like she wanted to say something, but just couldn't make herself say it.
Suddenly the curtain blocking his bed from the rest of the office was pulled back, the short elderly nurse hobbled to his bed, "Finally awake I see. You took a nasty bump to your noggin. Nothing I couldn't fix, but next time you and your crazy friend try out a new device, make sure you wear safety gear."
"Right, I will," nodded Izuku.
The nurse hobbled back to her desk, allowing Izuku to leave, his stuff wasn't here so he assumed it was still in the support studio. Mei trailed behind him as he walked, absentmindedly fiddling with her device. They walked in silence, Izuku occasionally glancing at Mei. He was bad at reading people, he always had trouble discerning others emotions. So he didn't know if Mei's furrowed brow was due to the device in her hands or because he somehow broke her device.
Nobody was inside of the support studio when they arrived, his stuff was where he left it earlier, and on the far wall there was a fresh scorch mark. Below it was the blackhand twisted form of what was the jetpack. Izuku looked at it for a moment, he should apologize. She must have worked hard on that, and he'd destroyed it.
He turned to Mei, still fiddling with the small device, and bowed deeply, "I'm sorry about destroying your jetpack Mei. I'll make it up to you, I swear."
Mei froze, her eyes locked on the small device as her expression twisted. After a moment she set the device down and sighed, "You dumbass. It wasn't your fault. I should be the one apologizing to you."
Izuku stood up, shaking his head, "No, you trusted me with your jetpack, but I ended up doing something to destroy it."
Mei growled in frustration, "No Midoriya, it wasn't your fault. I hadn't had a successful activation, it wasn't ready to be tested. But I was, I was too excited to show off my baby to someone," Izuku saw a few tears beading in her eyes.
Izuku couldn't come up with a rebuttal. So he didn't. He stood there, standing in front of Mei at a loss for words. Her gaze was firmly on the floor, and she said quietly "I would understand if you wanted to get a new support assistant. I have the paperwork of termination in my desk. Just, hand it into Powerloader when you've filled it out, and he can assign you a new one. Someone better than me."
She moved to push past him, heading for her workstation. Izuku stood frozen in place, did she think he wanted to stop working with her? Sure she was weird, loud, and the inventions he'd seen were half completed and one actually hurt him. But it was an accident. Accidents happen.
"Here," Mei handed him a stapled packet of papers. Her eyes were downcaste, adamantly refusing to look at him.
Izuku didn't take the papers. He stood there frozen, trying to think of something to say to her, to make her understand it wasn't her fault, not intentionally at least. "I can't take these."
Mei glanced up at him, her brows furrowing as she asked, "Why?"
Izuku's mind raced as he tried to come up with a reason, eventually he settled on, "You still haven't made my costume yet. And so far, you probably know my quirk the best, and you have good ideas, and I don't know what I would even do for a hero costume, let alone know how to make one. I guess what I'm trying to say is, if I'm going to be a pro-hero one day, I'm going to need your help. So I can't take this form."
Mei blinked owlishly, her eyes going a little wider as he rambled, her hand clutching the form slowly lowered to her side, "You, you think I have good ideas?"
Izuku shrugged, "Well yeah. A grappling hook sounds like I could work. It would let me scale walls and get places I normally couldn't. And you made a freaking lightsaber! Well, sorta, that's cool!"
Mei rubbed the back of her neck bashfully, "It's just a glorified blowtorch really."
"You still made one! Or, you're making one. I couldn't do that! And I don't know what it could be used for other than cutting things up, which could be useful, I don't know, but still. You have good ideas Mei. I'd be honored to work with you on making my hero costume." He awkwardly held out his hand to her.
She looked down at the hand for a second, almost in disbelief, then she grinned, the familiar manic energy coming back to her just a little. She grasped his hand with an iron grip and roughly shook it, "Well, how can I say no to a proposition like that. You and I are gonna make so many super cute babies!"
Izuku flushed, oh sweet god in heaven what had he just gotten himself into?
The following day after school he met with Kirishima to work on their project. He'd apologized profusely for missing meeting him the prior day, explaining how he'd injured himself. "It's all good man. Things happen." Kirishima's easy grin eased Izuku's nerves.
They worked quietly for a time, Izuku doing his best to draw Red Riot on a large poster board while Kirishima took notes from information from his phone. From time to time Kirishima would pause taking notes, just staring at his phone, presumably watching some video of Red Riot in action.
At least Izuku hoped that was what he was doing.
By the end of the week he'd finished drawing Red Riot and Kirishima had slapped on what information he could find onto the poster. "Dude, that drawing is sick! Where'd you learn how to draw?"
Izuku shrugged as he put some final touches on Red Riots hero costume, "I just started drawing one day and never stopped."
"Oh, so like you're self taught? Rad dude. That's impressive" Kirishima nodded appreciatively. "So like, what do you do in your free time?"
"I draw mostly. Sometimes I watch anime or read online stories," stuttered Izuku. More than a little embarrassed to admit it. He wasn't going to admit that he was a massive hero nerd too, Kirishima would probably think it was creepy. "What about you?"
"I usually play soccer with my middle school bros. I never got into anime much, but I occasionally watch a sports one from time to time." Kirishima's response was easy, he didn't mumble or stutter and he didn't seem embarrassed at all. Izuku desperately wished he could be like that one day.
"That's cool," replied Izuku, not really sure how to continue the conversation.
"If you want we usually play soccer on the weekends, come on by and hang out for a bit! The more the merrier!" Kirishima grinned at him, Izuku had never been the sports type, heck he didn't even know the rules for soccer. Nor was he especially athletic.
"Thanks for the invitation, I'll let you know if I'm free," replied Izuku. As much as he wanted to hang out with someone, the prospect of doing it while playing soccer wasn't really a desire of his. He'd rather just have a quiet day at home.
Which he supposed was probably part of his problem finding friends. If he never accepted any invitation to hang out, he'd never get a friend. But if he went he'd likely just embarrass himself and everyone would have a bad time. So perhaps it was for the best if he didn't accept Kirishima's invitation.
"Sweet," replied Kirishima. They finished the poster and brought it to Mr. Aizawa to submit it. He hummed as he took it, making a quick note on a sheet of paper.
As they were leaving, a sudden shout stopped him "Hey! Deku!" Izuku turned, wincing as Bakugo stalked toward him, a rather unpleasant look on his face. "A word."
Kirishima, who'd also stopped and looked back, "Sup Bakubro!" Izuku felt his heart clench, of course Kirishima was friends with Bakugo. Why wouldn't he?
"I need to talk with Deku alone Kirishima," he wasn't asking permission.
Kirishima just shrugged, "Alright bro, catch ya later dude!" Kirshima gave them an easy smile as he walked away. Bakugo on the other hand, put his hand firmly on Izuku's shoulder, steering him out of sight of the entrance.
They walked in silence for a while, Bakugo's firm grip digging into his shoulder. Izuku kept silent, his eyes fixed on the ground as he nervously waited for whatever fresh torment Bakugo had cooked up this time. He could feel heat building up in Bakugo's palm before he was roughly shoved against a wall.
Izuku grunted as he hit the wall, pressing up against it trying to get as far away from Bakugo as he could. "Listen up you damn nerd, I don't know how you of all fucking people managed to get in, and quite frankly I don't give a shit." Bakugo sneered at him, his eyes glimmering with fury. He slammed his palm into the wall behind Izuku, causing him to flinch. "And I don't know why you've lasted this long but I've had just about enough of your bullshit. Drop out Deku, you don't belong here with us."
Bakugo scoffed as he leered down at him, maybe he had a point. He didn't fit in in the hero program. He wasn't fast or strong, hell his quirk wasn't even useful unless it involved robots. Maybe he should drop out.
Bakugo roughly pulled his backpack off, Izuku didn't stop him. He'd only get hit if he did. Better to let Bakugo do what he wanted. He heard his backpack unzipped as Bakugo rifled through his stuff before pulling out his notebook. His breath caught. 'No, no please don't,' he thought, trying to will his voice to work, to tell him to stop. But nothing came out.
Bakugo flicked the notebook open, "What the fuck is this shit Deku?" He sneered at the costume drawings, "you think you can be a hero with some stupid ass costume? Even with your shitty quirk you'll never be a hero. Give up Deku, just go crawl in a hole and die."
Izuku flinched at the sound of a small boom, then Bakugo tossed the charred notebook away. Izuku couldn't speak, he shivered as he pressed himself further into the wall, his eyes fixated on a small patch of grass, tears beading in the corner of his eyes. Bakugo, evidently satisfied with his work, stalked off, his hands shoved into his pockets.
Izuku fought back the tears as he waited for Bakugo to leave, then when he was out of sight he gingerly picked up his charred notebook. The outside edges still smoldering. He flipped it open, looking down at the barely salvageable artwork. He took a shaking breath as he forced the tears to stop. He can't break down here, he couldn't show he was upset, not in public.
He slowly put the notebook in his bag, careful not to damage it further. He stumbled back the way he came, his eyes glued to the ground. His mind constantly repeating 'Give up Deku. You don't belong here with us.'
He didn't notice when he boarded the train, he didn't notice when someone bumped into him, he didn't notice when he stumbled up the stairs. When he was finally in front of his apartment door he finally became aware of his surroundings. He took a deep breath, forcing an impassive expression as he opened the door. He cleared his throat and said "I'm home!"
His mom leaned around the corner from the kitchen, "Izuku! Welcome home, dinner will be ready in a few minutes. How was your day?"
"It was fine," replied Izuku with a practiced ease. She smiled at him and returned to cooking, the smells of spices barely registering as he walked past. He put his stuff down on his bed, he stared at his bag listless for a time, unable to open it and pull out his things. He pulled himself out of his thoughts, and headed back out to the living room, sitting down at the table as his mom finished dinner.
After dinner was over, he helped wash dishes, and retired to his room. He had homework to do, but he didn't have the energy to do it, he just felt tired. So he moved his bag to the floor, and slipped into his bed. He spent the next few hours reading before falling into a restless sleep at nearly two in the morning.
The next day he stumbled into the classroom, bleary eyed and tired. He should really stop his late night habits. Doing this can't be healthy.
Everyone was chatting happily with each other, some more excited than others. He set his stuff down at his desk, not meeting anyones eyes as he reached in to pull out his things. His fingers brushed the sooty notebook causing him to freeze momentarily. Then he gripped his school notebook and pulled it out, putting it onto his desk.
Kirishima tapped his shoulder, "hey man, you get the poster from Mr. Aizawa?"
Izuku felt a sudden dislike of Kirishima, logically he knew that Kirishima didn't deserve his ire, he hadn't done anything. But the simple truth that Kirishima was acquainted, let alone a potential 'bro' with Bakugo was enough of a reason to refrain from associating with him as much as possible.
That didn't mean he was going to go out of his way to be rude with Kirishima, nothing good came from simple rudeness. "Sorry, I guess I forgot. I can get it during lunch."
"That's alright bro, we all forget sometimes," Kirishima gave him an easy smile. It didn't have the same effect on Izuku anymore.
When lunch came Izuku fulfilled his promise, he stopped by the teachers lounge to retrieve the poster. Then he brought it to the library with him for lunch. He tucked it away so he wouldn't spill anything on it and ruin their work. And as he ate someone plopped down in the seat across from him. He glanced up, mentally relaxing when it was only Mei.
It was odd how much he interacted with her over the past two weeks. They weren't even in the same class but he felt like he'd talked with her more than the rest of his classmates. Kirishima included.
"What's up nerd?" she held a small device in her hands that she was fiddling with. It looked complete but he didn't know.
"Just lunch," replied Izuku.
"Heh, food is for the weak," Mei continued fiddling with the device.
He looked down at the little device in her hands, wondering what it was as he took a bite of his egg sandwich. Eventually his curiosity became too much and he asked, "What are you working on?"
"This?" asked Mei holding up the little ball, "This is a drone."
A drone? It looked nothing like any drone he knew, "Really? How does it fly?" The small sphere didn't look like it could fly. There weren't any propellers on it, so how did it move around?
"Observe" grinned Mei as she set the sphere on the tabletop, then she pulled out a remote control and pressed a button. The drone hummed as it almost magically lifted off the table, hovering a few centimeters above the surface. Izuku looked at the floating sphere in amazement, "Cool right?"
"How?" asked Izuku, "How does it fly?"
"That's the neat thing," Mei's eyes light up, "It's canceling out Earth's gravitational pull. Put a couple of control thrusters on it and presto, got yourself a pretty kickass drone if I do say so myself." Mei grinned smugly.
"That's, that's pretty cool Mei," said Izuku, his lunch forgotten.
Mei nodded as she turned the drone off. "It's not done yet, I just gotta make a few more modifications. But I was thinking we could incorporate it into your costume."
Izuku didn't know how'd he use a drone like this, not yet at least, but he was sure it could be useful. "Yeah, thanks, that sounds amazing!"
Mei's eyes drifted to the side, catching a glimpse of his and Kirishima's poster, "What's that?"
"Oh, uh, just a project I worked on with a classmate," he pulled it out to show her. It was only fair, she showed him her drone after all. He set it down on the table and she examined it carefully.
"Dude," she said after a few moments, "Your drawing skills are something else. Like damn Midoriya, I knew you were good. But this is some next level shit."
Izuku flushed, embarrassed by the sudden praise, "No, it's not really all that good. I couldn't get some of the stuff right, and I'm just okay at drawing."
"What are you talking about?" Mei looked up at him seriously, "You've got a real talent here. If you weren't so dead set on being a pro-hero you'd make a damn fine artist. Don't sell yourself short, this is amazing!"
His embarrassed flush only grew, a smile appearing on his face at the praise, nobody had ever really complimented his art this much, not in person at any rate. "Thanks Mei." The bell rang signaling the end of lunch forcing Izuku to quickly pack up his things if he wanted to get to class on time.
"Hey nerd, drop by the support studio after school, I got something I wanna show ya!" Mei called out as they headed in opposite directions to their respective classes.
"Alright, I'll be there," replied Izuku. He was looking forward to it, whatever it was she wanted to show him.
Izuku huffed as he slid the door to the studio department open, after classes were over for the day he'd practically run here. He looked around for Mei but didn't see her. Another support student, the guy with red skin spotted him, "You need someone?"
Izuku nodded, "Yes, I'm looking for Mei."
The older student nodded, "Right, uhh, just wait over at her desk for a moment, she's with another student right now.
Izuku nodded, walking over to the table the older student pointed to. He set his stuff down, and pulled out his phone, waiting for Mei. He briefly wondered who this other student was, they could be another Hero course student she was helping. She was in the support course, he couldn't be the only student she was assigned to.
He pulled out his phone, scrolling through posts on a social media page dedicated to amateur artists. Some time passed before one of the meeting rooms opened. "Thanks again Mei, you're the best." A tall guy with blond hair walked out of the room, he had a broad smile and was very muscular.
Mei came out next, a lopsided grin on her face, "Anything for one of my best customers."
The man grinned in reply, winking at her, "See you later Mei bae."
"Catch you next time streaker," Mei made finger guns at the guy.
Izuku wondered what kind of friendship they had, and he was a little jealous at how close they seemed. He didn't know why he felt like that, it wasn't a rational thing. He'd only met Mei after all, she was bound to have other friends.
Were they friends?
He was broken from his thoughts when Mei pulled a stool over next to him and plopped down. "Sorry for making you wait, last minute job." Izuku noticed that she was sitting close to him, very close. He'd never been this close with anyone before, and it took all of his willpower to tear his focus away from that to focus on what Mei was saying. "Right, down to business." Mei cracked her knuckles and pulled out a notebook from one of the many desk drawers. "First things first, your suit. It's gonna take a long time to make. Like a stupidly long time to make."
No surprise there, they were making a giant robot. It's probably gonna take more than a couple days to make.
"Factoring in testing all the equipment I want to put in it, it'll take, probably two, maybe three months to make it," if Izuku was drinking anything he'd have spat it out.
"Two to three months?" asked Izuku.
"At the minimum, probably longer," Mei flipped through pages in her notebook, "So in the meantime we need to come up with a temp suit. And this temp suit can double as a proof of concept."
Izuku nodded as if he understood. Truth was he didn't. "Okay, I think I understand."
Mei flips to a page, and pushes it to him so he can see, "I took the liberty to design this." The design looked kind of like a flight suit. It was white with two red lines going down the sides. It lacked armor, save for the helmet. There also seemed to be a belt of some kind, but he couldn't tell for certain.
Mei's drawing skills left much to be desired, but that didn't mean he didn't appreciate the work she did. It was clear that she put in some effort to come up with the design. "Thanks Mei, this looks really cool," he did genuinely believe it.
Mei nodded, a small smile on her face, "Thanks, I thought so too. I can get this suit done in a few days. Easy peasy. As for the gadgets," she flipped a couple pages and showed him quite the extensive list. "These are the ideas I've got."
There were, at least, fifty or so gadget names on there, he recognized two of them. 'Drone' and 'Light sword' but there were others like 'booster pack,' 'Nimble dodger,' and 'Beam projector' that he didn't recognize. "Mei, I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but there's no way I can carry all of this stuff."
Mei shrugged, "Don't need to. The suit's just a test platform, each of these will just be a proof of concept, they won't be the real ones used." Izuku nodded, still not understanding. But Mei was the tech genius, he'd follow her lead. "We're also going to have to test out the limits of your quirk. That way when I finally get around to designing the actual gundam itself I can make sure you can interface with it properly."
Izuku paused, a sudden revelation coming to him, that was the name. 'Interface'. Or something along that line, he'd work on it. But for now, 'Interface' will do. As for Mei's plan, he was starting to understand her idea now. She was just wanting to make sure this was all possible before building the actual mech. "Okay, I think I understand now. So what do you want me to do?"
Mei grinned, "I just need you to look pretty and test my babies."
Right, okay, he can do tha- look pretty?
And thus, the testing process begins. I don't plan on them building a mech right away, plus it's gonna take a while to build one. Also, if it wasn't obvious I looked at the canon timeline and yeeted it into the void.
It's gone.
It doesn't exist.
It can't hurt you anymore.
There was no villain attack at the USJ.
The sports festival isn't until Summer.
Nighteye still dies though. (spoiler not really a spoiler though.)
I'll probably keep a few canon events the same. But they'll be far and few between. And only the ones that make sense to keep, like Nighteye dying.
Also, I've done a major overhaul on the sports festival. Like, MAJOR. I understand why most writers use the sports festival almost shot for shot, sometimes throwing in curvballs and slight changes but overall keeping the same kinda vibe going.
Nah.
Yeet that into the void.
It's gonna be a week long event, minimum. All three classes are going to be competing at the same time. And there's going to be more than three events. Much more. Much, many more. Like, I'm up to twenty right now. And I'm not even gonna show all of them. There's capture the flag, a scavenger hunt, shot put, I'm thinking about doing a javelin throw, racing is definitely gonna be in, search and rescue, climbing, like there's a lot. My reason behind this is, UA goes all out for literally everything they do, they built several skyscraper sized robots (admittedly not very good ones) for an entrance exam. So why not go 'Plus Ultra' for sports competitions too?
Also, I honestly wasn't expecting this many people to comment on this story, that made my day y'all. And damn, those guesses on what Izuku's quirk is are close! I know I left plenty of hints about what it does, but I also left out some of the more important bits too. Those will come up later in the story though.
As for its name, I settled with "Interface" for now at least. That might be permanent, it might change depending on what abilities Izuku develops later on in the story. His hero name though, I've got a couple ideas but nothing concrete yet. So far I'm mulling over "Pilot" or "Mech God" or maybe just "Hero Bot" I dunno.
Anyways It's almost Christmas time bitches! And y'all know what that means right?
racks 12 gage* Mariah Carey is coming to town, and I ain't gonna let her take my soul this year! BRING IT ON!
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