Takuma breathed a sigh of relief when the week returned to its normal course. Mei was back at school, and he was studying and taking care of the house. His girlfriend's eagerness for more intimate time had been cruelly snatched by her monthly visitor, leaving her an irritated mess that needed all the cuddles in the world to keep her from spiraling. Everything else was going pretty well besides that. He finally reached the fifty percent mark on a test, which was celebrated with a copious amount of takeout and the nerdy scientific show they both liked. He was worried about actually gaining weight for the first time in his life. Neat.
He had only two months or so left to prepare for the entrance exam, and things were going well so far. His physical training was now less focused on building muscle since any more than what he had would be detrimental to his fighting style, and his stamina always needed work. Just because he was now eating and sleeping well didn't mean that all those years of barely scraping by hadn't taken their toll on his body. Unlike his future classmates, he didn't have three years to get ready. He needed to be in top shape for the entrance exam and even more so for the battle at the U.S.J. Whatever else would come after would have to wait.
The only unexpected thing this week was the cold war that had settled between Midoriya and Mei. Both were frantically texting each other at any point of the day and night about anything and everything. One of their little text-based spats had taken a turn for the worse. They were now both throwing studies at each other about anything related to the use of electricity quirks in the civilian job market and how it impacted the number of Heroes with such quirks in Japan. Why it mattered so much to both of them, he didn't know, and he sure as hell was too afraid to ask. Those two were like hyenas nipping at each other's heels for any weakness. Who knew nerds could be scary?
Also, Mei and he were both invited to the Midoriya's house for dinner, and it was going to be a very awkward evening for him. Because of his knowledge from the show, he already knew who Inko was and what the interior of their house looked like. Takuma still felt awkward interacting with Midoriya, and he didn't look forward to dealing with the nineteen or so classmates he had seen on a screen inside his head in real life. It was a bit trippy, he had to admit.
"Mei, there are children around us," he chided her gently as his girlfriend felt up his ass for like the thirteenth time today.
She'd spent most of her day groping him, and he spent his tickling her. Joy.
"I need to compare who has the better ass between the both of us. For science!" she affirmed as her eyes scanned around for anyone who could have seen her and her... subject of study.
He knew no one had noticed; he would have detected it with his quirk if someone had. "It's me and by a long shot."
Mei let out an outraged gasp. "I don't believe you."
"Well, in that case, you will have all the time later tonight to study the subject in depth," he told her while prying her hand from his backside. "Preferably when I don't have so many people in the range of my quirk."
"They're just so bouncy," she commented with a pained tone as she could only look but not touch.
"They are," Takuma acknowledged. His fighting style relied on kicks and flexibility. Squats helped with the former, with some added benefit.
"I could squeeze them all day."
"You already did," he reminded her as the door opened, revealing the train station closest to where the Midoriyas lived. "Do you know where to go from here?"
"Yep, Izu sent me the coordinates," she informed him as she tapped on her phone until a map application came to the forefront of the screen. "That way."
He followed behind his more tech-inclined girlfriend as they walked through the narrow street. The house wasn't too far from the train station, and it took them less than ten minutes to arrive. Right on track, Mei started to grow anxious as tonight they were both meeting the bean mom for the first time.
"Mei, breathe in, breathe out, you got this," he told her before kissing the crown of her head and bringing her into a one-armed hug as they kept walking.
"I don't do well with meeting moms!" she complained, the dull thrum of her anxiety now at the forefront of her thoughts. "What am I even supposed to say to her?"
"Good evening, ma'am. It's a pleasure to meet you," he stated as neutrally as he could. "If Midoriya's mom is anything like her son, anything short of insulting her will get you points in her book."
"Right, I can do that."
Right as they turned a corner, Takuma stopped for just a second to adjust what he was feeling. Midoriya, or Izuku in this case, had forgotten to mention he was overworking himself. Takuma felt like his arm and leg were about to pop off, not the best feeling to go with his evening, but he had dealt with worse sensations in the past. Strengthening his mental wall against the bean, Takuma could then breathe easier.
"Something wrong?" Mei asked with concern.
"Midoriya is overworking himself. I can feel his exhaustion from here," he told her. He had no reason not to tell her the truth. "I just needed a second to get used to it."
"How overworked are we talking?"
"Like, maybe a good week to recover," he offered. He couldn't say for sure. "I wouldn't be surprised if he kept training when he's supposed to be resting."
"Oh, I am so going to grill him for this," she groused, half-worried, half-irritated.
He was all for working on Izuku's self-destructing tendency, but first he needed to make sure Mei and he were on the same wavelength.
"We probably should, but just not in front of his mom. We could do more harm than good by calling him out in front of her."
"Maybe. Was he like that last week?"
"Nah, he was tired, but nothing like what I'm feeling right now," he told her as they closed in on the Midoriya's house.
Inko was in the kitchen putting the last touches on dinner while Izuku was having an existential crisis over what he was supposed to wear. Takuma had gone for a green hoodie and blue jeans, while Mei had chosen a red pleated skirt, stockings, and a white shirt jacket combo with gear and cogs design. Nothing extravagant for both of them.
"Ready?" he asked Mei as they stood in front of the door.
"Yep, nothing wrong, all good," she answered with a surge of anxiety he was quick to quell with a kiss.
"You look lovely. I'm sure it will be fine," Takuma told her as he knocked on the door before her anxiety could rear its ugly head again. "And if anything goes wrong, we can always jump from a window and disappear into the night like a bunch of hooligans."
She giggled nervously and squeezed his hand. "Why the window? I have a couple of grenades on me in case of emergency; we could go through a wall."
"This is why I love you," he stated with all his heart as he smiled at her.
"Love you too," she replied with a shy smile.
Right then, the door opened, revealing a pudgy forty-something woman with her hair in a ponytail the same distinct color as her son's. "Ah, hello, you two. You must be Izuku's friends. Please come in."
"Good evening, ma'am," Takuma greeted her as he entered first, taking off his shoes before putting on a pair of slippers. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Midoriya."
"Oh, please call me Inko," the mom offered before leading them to the kitchen with the table already set. "Let me call Izuku. I think he might have let the hour slip by."
The bean was just leaving his room when his mom caught him on the stairs.
"Mei," he called to grab his girlfriend's attention. "You forgot to greet her."
"Shit," she swore under her breath as she nearly facepalmed herself. "Do I say it now or...?"
"Greet them both at the same time, or don't. She didn't notice," he reassured her.
It was strange to see Mei so out of her depth. He hadn't seen her in any social situation so far, and he was surprised to see her struggle this much. Never mind, he was more than happy to help.
The bean thundered down the stairs. "Sorry! I didn't see the time," Midoriya declared, with a shirt with the word 'Pants' written on it.
"Don't worry, we just got here," he replied, lessening the bean's anxiety as it started to prickle him like hundreds of tiny needles on his skin before he could raise his mental wall to stop the unwelcome feeling. "How are you doing?"
His last question was simply to cover his slight nudge of the elbow to Mei's side as she waited for an opening.
"I've been great," the bean lied without a second thought.
"Hello, Izu," Mei greeted as she waved awkwardly.
"Hello to you too, Mei. How are you?"
"Good, with the train and all, we don't live so far from each other," she said, with the tidbit of information they'd garnered on their way. "Your house is pretty nice."
"Mom likes it that way," Izuku replied with the same awkwardness that oozed from his girlfriend.
'Oh boy, I'm on introvert duty tonight.'
"Dinner will be done in a few minutes," Mamadoriya informed them as she led the charge into the kitchen.
The atmosphere was awkward and no one seemed to know how to break the ice. "By the way, what were you two arguing over this week?" he asked as if it was an afterthought.
"How the civilian market is the cause for the low number of heroes with electric quirks in Japan," Izuku recounted with a burst of life in him.
"It doesn't matter, we have batteries!" Mei added with a vicious glint in her eyes.
"A battery won't help when someone needs to be able to withstand millions of volts of electricity to capture a villain!" the bean shot back right as Takuma mentally checked out of the conversation.
'Nailed it.' Takuma thought to himself as his girlfriend and friend devolved into another good-natured argument that he couldn't care less about.
The now less awkward atmosphere allowed him to fall into the background and let the two go at it. His scan of the surrounding apartment revealed nothing of note, no drug dealer or anything or anyone that might need some motivation to move far away from his friend's house. Some local teenagers were shooting the shit in a nearby park, and besides that, he couldn't feel anything worthy of his attention.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Takuma offered, having grown used to making every meal and feeling a little awkward watching someone else prepare dinner.
"Don't worry, it's already done," she informed him as she cleaned her hands with a cloth. "We're having Katsudon tonight."
He nodded, not overly surprised at the news since he was already aware of Izuku's favorite meal. He never had the opportunity to try it himself, so he was interested in trying it.
"And I tell you, I can make a suit that would allow anyone to go through a billion volts of current without even getting their hair fried!" Mei shouted as she glared right at Izuku.
"Support items aren't always available!" Midoriya shot back. "Having a quota of trained heroes that can handle extreme events like that makes sense!"
"Those two are really going at it," Mamadoriya commented with a small grateful tear at the corner of her eye that made Takuma look away. "Since he met the both of you, he's been more lively than I remember him ever being."
"It's mostly Mei, those two are birds of a feather," he replied with a fond smile at his girlfriend growing even more animated as they argued back and forth. "I have no clue what they are talking about most of the time," he confessed.
"Izuku's love for heroes makes it hard for me to follow sometimes. He has a tendency to assume everyone knows about those obscure heroes no one has ever seen in the public eye. I don't even know how he finds them."
He shared a knowing look with Inko.
Takuma still found a way to help by bringing the plates back to the table, and soon they were all four around the table. He kissed his girlfriend on the cheek as Mamadoriya ruffled her son's hair.
"How is your training going, Midoriya?" he asked now that the two had calmed down from their argument. "I hope your trainer is not running you ragged."
"Not at all," the bean lied to his face again. "Progress has been slow, but I hope to be ready for the entrance exam."
"I can tell," he said with a false smile as he glared at Midoriya, who choked on his katsudon. As expected, the bean got the message. Taking a bite out of the fried pork, Takuma savored the taste he'd never had the opportunity to try until now. "This tastes amazing."
"Well, thank you," Inko said with a beaming smile.
"Do you have a recipe?!" Mei asked with a sudden thought. "I'm sure Takuma would be happy to try it at home."
"Yes, he would, actually," Takuma agreed. "If it's not too much to ask. I'm still new to the whole cooking thing."
"Of course. I can write it down for you. Mine is a bit different from the one you can find in a book or on the internet," Mamadoriya replied happily.
"Mom's katsudon is the best."
"After tasting it, I can believe that," Takuma could only say as he bit into another piece of fried meat.
He wasn't the best judge of what good cuisine tasted like, but he could say without a doubt he would have kneecapped someone without hesitation if that was the reward.
"I made some more in case someone wants seconds," Inko added.
"With pleasure. It's been years since I've had a meal I can remember."
"Oh, your mother doesn't cook?" Izuku's mom asked innocently as the other two around the table choked on their meal.
"I am an orphan," he replied as nonchalantly as he could, catching the wince on Midoriya's mom. "Don't worry, ma'am, I've had all my life to get used to it."
"Me too," Mei interjected. "I'm not an orphan. I mean, my parents aren't here anymore, just..."
He could feel the panic coming from his girlfriend as her head caught on what her mouth was saying, and he knew it was best if he cut in.
"We're kind of in the same basket in that regard," he cut in, allowing Mei to breathe and recompose herself. "No living parent or family to speak of."
"Oh dear, I'm sorry for asking," Mamadoriya offered with tears down her cheeks as Takuma looked away reflexively. "That must have been hard for both of you."
"I think I can speak for the both of us when I say it's been rough."
"Understatement of the century," his girlfriend added with a pointed look toward him.
"But we got each other now, and that's what matters," he concluded by grabbing Mei's hand above the table.
She squeezed his hand, and he was happy.
"Oh, the day my Izuku brings a girl back home will be something to celebrate," Inko said in an almost whimsical tone as Izuku's face blanked for a second.
"MOM! You-you!" the bean tried to shout but fumbled on his words as he found himself unable to say anything. "Nobody would be interested in me like that."
Takuma had to stop himself from actually shaking his head. 'Something something Uraraka with a steel chair.'
"Shame, pegging is half the fun," Mei said out loud casually.
Takuma had to slap a hand on his mouth. 'I never told her what pegging really meant,' he realized at the comical, shocked faces of Izuku and Inko that were staring at her slack-jawed.
"Mei, pegging doesn't mean what you think it does," he told her with a wince.
"What do you mean?" his girlfriend asked, having noticed the Midoriyas' reaction.
"I didn't correct you at the time because...Mousey, but it doesn't mean cuddling and hugging," he told her as he could feel her feeling extremely self-conscious. "It's a sex thing."
"Oh," Mei let out in a squeak as he could feel her die internally. "We learn something new every day," she tried to downplay with an empty laugh.
"To give some context, we met a little friend of mine recently. Mousey has a strange way of speaking, and another friend of mine likes to teach her new words, with the wrong meaning," he explained. Takuma didn't want the miscommunication to ruin Mei's night, so he hoped diverting the subject while giving some background would help.
Inko shook her head in disbelief. "That isn't something to teach to a child. How old is she?"
"Twelve or...soon to be."
"Does her mother know?"
"She does, don't worry," he told Inko. "And I'll be having words with Nova the next time I see her."
"Now I know why those people were looking at us funny," Mei groaned as she cringed internally.
"I was wondering, since Izuku told me you were an inventor, what are you working on exactly, Mei?" Mamadoriya asked, immediately gaining Mei's attention. Her question ripped through the aura of misery his girlfriend exuded after the reveal.
'How is this woman single?' Takuma thought. He wasn't stupid, and as it turned out, Inko wasn't either. What she did was a textbook recall and deflect he sometimes used when Mei's mood took a turn for the worst. 'Looks like Mei and Izuku are even more alike than I realized.'
So far, he liked Inko Midoriya.
"So many things! For starters, I am done with the first finalized version of my boots babies, then there's Takuma's hero costume that will need its first test run this week!" she excitedly recounted as her sour mood vanished into thin air. "Also working on a new version for my air cannon since the one I made can't be reloaded easily and it's also a tad bit too lethal for hero work."
Takuma nodded. "You forgot the balancer harness and the capture gun you told me about," he added to the ever-growing list of tasks his girlfriend was taking on.
"Baby #426 is only in the drawing phase. Those sensors we found at the beach are working like a charm, though," she corrected as she bounced on her chair. "The capture gun is so simple it's boring."
"It isn't," he denied to the other two people in the room. "Trust me, only a wizard could make something like that."
"If I were a wizard, I could conjure chocolate and then the world would be my oyster," Mei sighed with envy.
Takuma chuckled at the idea before kissing the back of her hand. "Leave some for the rest of us."
"No, I don't think I will," she denied with a bright smile that threatened to rob him of his breath.
"Ah, young love," Inko sighed with a fond smile.
And just like that, they were both reminded they weren't alone at the table.
"So!" Izuku said, attempting to move on from the awkward atmosphere with the grace of a car ramming into a crowd. "Do you think you are both going to be ready for the entrance exam?"
Takuma nodded and didn't miss the competitive spark in Mei's eyes. "The written part is definitely going to be a challenge for me; the practical is my only real hope of making it in," he answered truthfully. "Mei is probably going to break records in every category, so I'm not worried."
His girlfriend answered with a feral smile. "Oh, I will, don't you worry about that."
"I'm not sure myself how the practical is going to go," Izuku admitted as he blanched a bit. "I'm training hard to awaken my quirk, but even if I succeed before the entrance exam, I don't have the years of experience the others have."
In his case, the lack of experience could easily be made up by breaking a few bones, three if he remembered correctly. Takuma knew he couldn't afford to disperse his energy and work on Midoriya right now. Hopefully, the bean wouldn't break himself too much before he taught him to respect himself.
"As long as we aren't fighting robots, it's not gonna be a problem for me," he told the bean, knowing full well his overthinking would probably lead him to have a few answers come morning. "I wonder if I can bring a weapon for the exam now that I think about it."
The bean frowned as he pondered the question. "I think you can, but it's frowned upon. U.A. has around four hundred thousand applicants every year, and the amount of paperwork required is nothing to sneeze at just to have your weapon inspected. And even then, if you can't prove you need it, they might not even allow you to wield it during the exam."
"Four hundred thousand?" he thought as his stomach dropped.
"That's too many people; I might not even make it into the building," he realized as he spoke his thought out loud.
It was Mei's turn to squeeze his hand. "I'm sure U.A. has some protocol to allow you to take the exam without having so many people around you. Isn't that right, Izu?"
To his relief, the bean nodded. "They do. I think you can find a form to request an accommodation for the entrance exam on U.A.'s website. But be careful; I think you have to file it a month in advance."
"Thanks for the info, I'll look it up when we get home," he replied with a grateful smile.
Through his mental wall, Takuma felt Midoriya high-fiving himself for not messing up his roll for social interaction. It was funny, if not a little bit sad, that he was reduced to congratulating himself for not messing up when interacting with someone other than his mom and Mei.
Soon enough, they finished dinner, and Inko retreated into her bedroom to call it an early night. She wasn't exactly tired; it was more an attempt to let them enjoy the night between each other until it was time to leave for the last train home.
He liked Inko; she seemed like a great mom and a great person all around. It was a bit overwhelming, even. For some reason, the mom side of Inko made him want to run for the hills, and he didn't know exactly why. Never mind, he had more pressing things to deal with. Like doing the dishes, because he sure as hell couldn't stand doing nothing for another hour. And feeling Izuku's mortification as he watched him cleaning was funny to him.
Now that they were alone, it was the moment to strike. "So, Midoriya, explain," Takuma spoke in a neutral tone bordering on severe, aiming for 'disappointed police officer catching you littering' tone, and it worked like a charm at grabbing the bean's attention.
"I-I don't know what you mean!" Izuku tried to deflect lamely as his anxiety rose like an old friend begging for money after a three-month binge on alcohol and all the worst things it could find.
"To be fair, when you invited us to dinner, I didn't expect to have to deal with the feeling of my arms and legs about to pop off the entire night," he chided him as he washed a plate with soap and a sponge.
"I-That's—"
"The stupidest thing you could do!" Mei half-shouted, aware that Mrs. Midoriya was a few thin walls away. "You're training for U.A.; what do you think is going to happen if you hurt yourself before the exam?"
'Looks like Midoriya is on the receiving end of Mei's aggressive affection,' he noted as he watched his girlfriend grab the bean by the collar of his shirt. 'Rest in peace, little buddy.'
"I-It's okay, really, I haven't pushed myself that much, I can keep going," the bean replied, entirely missing the point of Mei's well-meaning anger.
His reply sent Mei's irritation right up to eleven, where it rolled back around, bringing her to a zen-like state. "I'm sure All Might would be delighted to hear about the extra training you've been doing," she told him while dusting off his collar. "And maybe the old guy too, now that I think about it."
The threat worked like a charm, so much so that thousands of tiny needles representing Midoriya's anxiety pierced Takuma's skin. He had to take a second to steady himself. It reached the same height his girlfriend goes through when she's having a really bad day. The difference was that she was one of the rare kinds of people he could handle being around without suffering; Izuku was not in that category.
"You don't need to; I've been managing it just fine on my own!" the bean shouted back with a mix of frustration and shame.
'He knows what he's doing, but he doesn't enjoy being called out.'
"That's a lie, and we both know it," Takuma stated as he placed the last bowl he finished cleaning on the rack before turning toward the two. "Midoriya, don't take things the wrong way, but what you are doing to yourself right now is absolutely moronic."
Takuma grabbed a rag and dried his hands as he walked toward the bean, grateful for Mei allowing him to speak his piece. "You were never going to be ready for the entrance exam, quirk or not." His words stung Izuku, and he looked away with shame. "It's not entirely your fault; the day the quirkless don't get shit on just for breathing isn't coming anytime soon, but I'm not telling you anything new now, am I?"
The bean matched his stare for a second before looking away.
"You don't know how to fight, your body is too weak to even handle your own quirk," he stated, slowly working toward the point he was trying to make. Playing into his lie was the cherry on top. "Your training is geared toward giving you what you lack, but in doing so, you forgot that you weren't totally helpless in the first place. Your brain is as much a weapon as any quirk. Hell, I've seen what it can do, and trust me, I want none of that sent my way."
His own entry in Midoriya's quirk study booklet would still give him nightmares for years to come, even after seeing him destroy it in front of him.
"You are more than your quirk, Midoriya. And I think until you remind yourself of that, you're never going to be ready for what's coming," Takuma said as he took a single step toward the boy who valued everyone besides himself. "The thing is, you've made two friends, Midoriya, and I don't think you realize that also means stopping each other from acting like idiots sometimes."
Mei hugged him from behind as she let her head rest on his shoulder. "And in case you haven't been paying attention, we aren't the type to back down."
He felt the rush of emotion before he saw it and had just the time to look away before Izuku started crying—a small budding of tears before the valve opened. "I-I don't, I—" he tried but failed to say. "Sorry."
"Excuse accepted under the condition you stop acting like a moron," Takuma deadpanned while Mei nodded energetically behind him.
"And that you stop overworking yourself!" Mei added, still with an edge to her voice.
"I-I can do that," Izuku replied before a laugh escaped him as he noticed Mei was threatening him with a wrench that she somehow succeeded at slipping past him. "I won'—will try not to overwork myself. I'm sorry for worrying you two."
"Good. Now you only need to warn All Might and Gran Torino about what stupid idea you were up to while they had their backs turned, that way they can adjust their training for the next week or so, and you should be good to go."
Izuku's face blanked as he protested, "I don-don't think that's necessary. All-All Might doesn't need to know, I'm fine, really!"
With the combined power of Mei and his death stare, Midoriya crumbled in two heartbeats.
"Think of it like this: your mentor won't be able to teach you much if you're too busy trying not to crumble into a boneless heap," Takuma tried to reassure the bean. "Communication is a two-way street; you notice the lack of it before anything else."
"Bu-But it's All Might! I can—don't want to disappoint him," Izuku groaned as he buried his face in his hands.
"You can't keep going the way you do, Izu—" Mei chided him gently before cutting herself off. He could already tell she was struck by inspiration by the way she froze. "Wait, you two should work out together!"
'Oh, no.'
"You could clean the beach and train together!" she added again with a burst of energy as she started bouncing halfway on him.
'Oh, by All Might's saggy ballsack, please no.'
"I'm not sure this is a good idea," he tried to say diplomatically.
"I think All Might and Gran Torino would be okay with you joining," Izuku, the thrice-damned traitor, said with the beginning of a smile. "They've been asking about you, how you're doing mostly."
'Please, anything—villain, alien, anything—please, I'm begging you, world!'
"You should totally do it!" Mei the betrayer told him with a hug and a squeeze from behind. "That way you could also keep an eye out in case Izu is overtraining again!"
"I-I said I would stop," the bean said but was ignored.
"I don't think carrying around a fridge is going to do me much good," he countered weakly as he scrambled for an answer that would get him out of this mess.
The thing is, he couldn't just say no. After the whole spiel about friendship and taking care of each other, he couldn't just say no without a good reason. If he did, he risked throwing away the entire night's progress. He wasn't blind to the fact Mei wished he was closer with Izuku. They'd become best friends in the blink of an eye while Takuma had stayed at arm's length from the bean. She wanted to change that and make sure her new best friend wasn't killing himself while training. She was hitting two birds with one stone.
"But think about it, you would receive training from the number one hero and his very own teacher. Just imagine what they could teach you!" his treacherous girlfriend added, making way too much sense for his own good.
"And when would we meet?" he asked as a stepping stone for his defense against the 'Nerd Alliance.'
"Every morning at five until seven, and we alternate between Saturday and Sunday for the day of rest during the weekend," the heir of evil with green hair added as if it was nothing.
'I can't wake up so early; I'm going to miss Mei's morning squeeze if I do. A man needs his cuddles; there's no way I can do this.'
"The train starts at four; you can totally make it!" his pink-haired backstabber added as another nail into the coffin.
"I don't know," he said lamely as he failed to find an opening to escape from this trap.
"Please, please, please!" Mei begged him while peppering his neck with kisses.
He tried to resist, he did. But he couldn't resist her. "Only if All Might and Gran Torino are okay with my presence," he said, finally giving in under his girlfriend's insistence.
"Yes!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she started to shake him in her arms, his feet no longer touching the floor. "Oh, you two are going to be such a good duo when you make it in!"
"I'll send them a message right now, that way we can maybe even start tomorrow," the bean said with a beaming smile.
'Those grenades would be handy right about now,' he moaned internally as the thought of having to deal with a geriatric old man and his oaf of a student did not appeal to him in the slightest. And there was Izuku, the definition of anxiety, he would have to deal with too. 'I'm going to need a lot of cuddles to survive.'
"You could even bring me back some components! Oh, I could totally make a list—microwaves have so many useful little things you have no idea!" Mei was now lightly tapping his shoulders with her hands as the thought made her unable to contain her excitement.
"All Might and Gran Torino answered! They're both okay for tomorrow if you are!" Izuku told him with a mega-watt smile.
"Perfect," he deadpanned with the driest tone of voice he could muster.
Somehow, the two nerds he was with missed this little tidbit as Mei started to list the components she wanted and Midoriya scrambled for a pen and paper to write it down.
'What did I do to deserve this?' he whimpered internally, before the long list of war crimes he had committed in the past came back to him. 'Eh, could be worse.'
And so the dreaded fate came to pass...spending time with Midoriya. I finaly reached the point when I can have those two bounce of each other and see where that goes. Joy.