Chapter Text
“So the tough love method works then,” Nemuri hummed “Maybe we should try getting him to take our numbers and stuff!”
“That might need to wait, it’s different when we meet up with him, but having a direct way to contact him could be overwhelming.” Aizawa explained, leaning back in his chair with a groan.
“Talking about your shared child again?” Power Loader asked.
“We wanna build more of a connection with him without overwhelming him.”
“Hm...you said he goes to the beach and collects scrap and stuff right?” Both nodded “Well I still have a lot of robot corpses left over from some training, invite him here.”
“That...could work actually.” Nemuri gasped and clapped her hands.
“While he’s here maybe we can get a grasp on his educational situation! I know you and Mic said he was doing good in English, but what about his other subjects? We have a whole school that we can force into teaching him!”
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“So what will this do?” Inasa asked as he watched Izuku lay a mat on the floor.
“S-so there was this um...this thing at the beach, it had a ton of working sensors so I took them and put them over parts of this mat that are associated with different words and sounds, they feed into the speaker which will say the word or collection of noises, and then Cerberus can talk to us.”
“Huh, nice!” Once Izuku finished setting it up, Cerberus slithered over and inspected it, slithering around the sensors before settling over one and booping it with one of their heads.
“Yes,” The two heads swiveled around before booping two more “Good work.” Izuku chuckled and scratched her scales.
“Thanks Cerby.”
“Love you.”
“Aw!” Inasa laughed as his boyfriend blushed deeply “She’s so sweet!” The snake turned her heads towards him before hitting two more buttons.
“Go away.” Izuku tried not to laugh at Inasa’s offended face, but it was hard to do when the taller looked close to tears.
“What?! Cerberus I though you loved me!”
“No.” Izuku finally lost it and doubled over laughing.
“Izuku! Your snake doesn’t like me!” Inasa went over to Cerberus and crouched down “Why don’t you like me?!”
“Take Izuku time.” The other teen blushed but pet the snake.
“You’re allowed to come with Cerberus, I just don’t want people to try and hurt you if they see you though.” One head let out a chirp before lightly nipping at his hand.
“Can’t believe I have to share boyfriend time with a snake,” Inasa joked, petting the other head “But I can deal, you’re very cute when you’re playing with animals.” Izuku blushed deeper and sighed, getting used to Inasa’s insistent compliments.
“T-thanks.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sitting on the ledge, Izuku’s arm was straight out in front of him with a piece of jerky in his hand, letting Cerberus wined around his body to reach the snack.
“That is a seriously large snake,” He turned to see Aizawa walking up, setting down another thing of Tupperware with food in it “Shoulda brought snake food I guess.”
“S-she um, likes to hunt for her own food, but I get her snacks sometimes.” Izuku brought his arm back to his chest, letting out a small laugh when the boa constrictor yipped before settling around his waist and lap.
“Well she seems nice,” After a moment of them eating, Aizawa broke the silence again “So I wanted to ask a favor from you.”
“Of c-course.” Izuku relaxed a bit, favors was something he knew.
“A colleague of mine has some scrapped robots and stuff that needs to be sorted through, I figured with your work on the beach you might be able to help him.”
“I um...I can do that, it sh-should be pretty simple, where and when?”
“Do you know where UA is?” Izuku’s eyes widened and he nodded slowly “Good, if you could come around after school that would probably be best, Present Mic, Midnight, or me will be there to meet you at the gate.”
“O-ok.” Aizawa nodded back before looking down at the ledge, seeming to finally notice Cerberus slowly slithering towards him.
“Is she gonna bite me?” He held his hand out, letting one of the heads sniff at his fingers.
“Um...sh-she’s only ever bit Inasa?” The teacher hummed before petting both of the heads, the snake letting out a content purr.
“I have to finish patrol,” Eraserhead stood up, pausing for a moment before reaching down and patting Izuku’s head “See you at UA.”
The teen sat there frozen as the underground hero swung away, unsure how to react to the contact he was given, all he knew was that he didn’t hate it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Looking at his things, Izuku tried to decide what to wear and what to take with him to UA.
He figured he’d wear his old garage jeans, the ones with tears and stains, since it would probably be messy work anyway, along with an old hoodie and his usual gloves, mask, and hat.
With his tools though he wasn’t sure, he didn’t know anything about the robots they used or what kind of framing they had, all he knew was that they wanted his help with them. Sighing he gave up and shoved all of his tools into his bag, better safe then sorry.
He grabbed his chain and hunting knife, securing both to his waist, before grabbing his skateboard.
Izuku let Cerberus wrap around him and threw on his backpack. As he rode towards where he knew UA was, he wondered if he should tell Inasa about all of this.
Inasa seemed to enjoy hearing about Izuku’s day, especially when it came to the heroes that were somehow in his life, but this was different. Inasa was working towards being a hero, specifically aiming for the hero course of UA, and here Izuku was going to the school to help with scrap. It felt wrong that Izuku was going there but Inasa would still have to wait.
Cerberus seemed to notice his anxiety building, using her body to lightly squeeze him as they traveled along. The boa constrictor easily got his attention back to the moment. He lightly pet one of the heads before focusing back on the side walk, however now he was thinking about something else.
Izuku did a lot of work at the beach, he also used to do a lot of physical work at the garage, and not to mention the things he did on his own little patrols. He didn’t think it was that much but now that he was skating with Cerberus it felt like it was.
He had done a lot of research on boa constrictors after he got her. She was a large one, he knew that since a lot of people had commented on it, but he finally decided to measure and weigh her when he went to Rescue and Recovery.
Apparently he had a snake that was about 8ft and 30 lbs just constantly hanging off of him without noticing how much it weighed.
Finally getting closer to the UA gates he was able to see Present Mic standing at the front, waving enthusiastically.
“Izuku! Good to see you again,” The hero noticed the snake and smiled “And of course little Cerberus!”
“H-how’s faker doing? I didn’t um...didn’t see her when you helped me with English.”
“Eh, little faker likes to hide so she was probably just under the couch or something,” Izuku nodded along as they began walking into the school “But if you wanna come over again I’m sure she’d love to see you again!”
“Oh I-I don’t want to-”
“Don’t worry kiddo, no imposing or anything,” Present Mic did the same as Erasure, reaching over and ruffling his hair, which was difficult with his hat on, before acting like nothing happened “We can work on more English if you want too!”
“R-right.” He looked around the school as they walked in.
The halls all seemed pristine with minimal design to anything. The doors to the different classrooms were all large and slightly imposing, Izuku wondered if the doors were heavy because of their size or if they made them lighter for weaker students to open easily. Then there were the hundreds of windows, where there weren’t rooms there were large windows that let you see the entire area of the school courtyard and front gate, in his opinion it seemed like a bit of a security risk, but they were in a hero school so perhaps the teachers were the security.
“Alright! This is the teachers lounge,” Present Mic tapped the door a bit before opening it “I don’t know if you know who Power Loader is-”
“He’s a pretty high rank support hero with a lot of saves under his belt, even though his quirk could honestly be used for a more limelight spot he’s done a lot of good work in terms of-” Izuku paused as he realized that he had been rambling about the hero while said hero was sitting about ten feet from him “S-sorry.”
“It’s alright, I’ll take the compliment,” Power Loader stood up and smiled “It’s nice to meet you Izuku, glad you were willing to help me.”
“W-well I don’t mind doing a favor for Erasure, but I don’t really um...know much about robots.” the support hero waved him off with a smile.
“That’s alright, I just need some extra hands and I can walk you through it.” Present Mic clapped his hands.
“Alright! I’ll leave you two to it!”
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Power Loader lead him down to the basement of the school, where piles and piles of robots were laid out across the large garage like area in pieces. He could tell that people had broken the robots with their quirks, most of them seeming to be have torn apart somehow or crushed.
“Alright, all I need really is any wiring that can still be used, metal that isn’t too destroyed, and honestly anything else that might seem useful,” He went over to one of the more destroyed bots “This one’s shelling is fully destroyed, we’ll probably melt it down for other purposes, but a lot of the wiring is good,” The hero did a quick demonstration on how he wanted it taken apart and put into a pile on one of the desks by the wall “Any metal that is still good, you can either leave it where it is or move it over to that pile there,” He pointed to an already large pile of robot casings “Don’t over exert yourself and I’ll be dealing with the big guy over there.” He pointed further down the garage towards the biggest robot Izuku had ever seen.
“Whoa,” He nodded “A-alright I can do that um...is it ok if Cerberus is around?”
“Oh, your snake right?” At the mention of her, the black snake pocked both heads out “As long as she doesn’t get in the way or hurt herself, then it’s fine.”
“T-thanks,” The man nodded and went over to his own robot “Alright Cerberus, be careful.” The snake let out a hiss and slithered off of him, heading towards one of the corners and laying down in a tangle of coils.
He looked around for a moment before choosing one and taking his bag off. He spread his tools out carefully before grabbing a screwdriver and starting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“He’s here and you didn’t tell me?!” Nemuri complained “I wanted to see our baby! He’s working all by himself with Power Loader? He must be so bored and lonely!” She threw herself across Hizashi’s desk, but the man hardly reacted.
“He had Cerberus with him! We’ll get him to make sure he eats, but I’m sure he’s having tons of fun!”
“The kid likes to build stuff, he’s probably in heaven right now,” Aizawa assured with a sigh “It’s almost time for some food anyway.”
“Oh! What does he like? I bet Lunch Rush would love to make something for him!” The two men looked at each other “You don’t know what he likes?!”
“He always seems to like whatever Zashi cooks him.”
“Yep, never heard any complaints before.”
“Ugh! You’re impossible, let’s go get him and ask!” Nemuri grabbed the others and began dragging them down to the garage area. Once they were down there, she opened the door with a flourish “Oh Izuku!~” She looked around, trying to spot the boy “It’s time for a snack break!”
“Midnight?” There was some shuffling before Izuku’s head popped out of one of the larger robots “What are you doing here?” He jumped out of the robots head and landed in front of them, covered in grease, oil, and slightly messy.
“Like she said, snack break, maybe a little clean up too.” Hizashi leaned over and whipped some of the grease off his face, the teen blushed a little and looked down.
“Come on, we gotta get Power Loader some food too,” Aizawa looked around before walking over to the largest robot and banging on it “Hey! Come get food!”
“Ah!” The support hero stumbled out “How long has it been?”
“About two hours,” Hizashi explained “I know it hasn’t been long but you both need to eat!”
“His mother hen is showing, we better hurry!” Cerberus slithered out from her corner, grabbed his bag, and wrapped around Izuku as Nemuri began ushering them out the door.
“Oh Izuku, I didn’t see, but how much were you able to get done?” Power Loader asked.
“N-not much I don’t think,” He pet Cerberus, reaching into his pockets and feeding her a piece of jerky “I was able to dismantle about...thirty I think?” All four heroes paused “I know I could have done more but-”
“And you put all the wiring and metal away?”
“Of...of course, I also put some of the smaller parts and usable joints in a different corner, I hope that’s ok.”
“That’s...wow,” Power Loader chuckled “That’s about a robot every five minutes, I’m more than impressed kid, I don’t know if I’ve ever had someone take apart the robots so quickly.”
“R-really? Thank you,” The teen blushed deeply, ignoring as Cerberus let out yips “Um...if it’s not to much to ask, could I maybe um, make a copy of the AI you use for the robots? I-it’s really interesting how the tracking seems to work and-”
“You were able to check out our systems while you took them apart? That’s pretty impressive kid.”
“Oh uh, thanks, I just used an adapter of sorts and connected it to my phone.” One of the snakes heads lightly chopped on his cheeks as if to scold him.
“Why don’t you two nerd out over some food alright? Have to get you both made me starving!” Nemuri complained.
“It was your idea to get them, we could have just brought food.”
“I’m trying to show them love and care!” Aizawa rolled his eyes while Power Loader and Hizashi laughed.
“Where are we getting food?”
“Lunch Rush hasn’t left yet and I’m sure there’s some new recipes that he wants someone to try.”
“Lunch Rush? The cooking hero? I had no idea he worked here,” Izuku rubbed his chin “I heard he spends most of his time with charities and food pantries but I guess it makes sense since he…sorry.”
“It’s alright kid,” Aizawa patted his head “You’re smart and you seem really interested in heroes.”
“I’ve um...I’ve sort of been...obsessed with quirks and heroes since I was a kid, I enjoy pulling them apart and figuring out how they work.”
“That so? Think you can let me see some of it?”
“It’s not very good but…” Izuku reached behind him into his bag and pulled out a notebook “This um...this is my current one, it...it has you guys in it...actually.”
“Hm, guess we’ll see how good your analysis is,” Aizawa took the notebook and flipped through it before he got to his own section “Huh, picture isn’t bad,” The drawing of him in his hero costume was honestly more than good, it reminded him of a blueprint almost, pointing out each piece of his equipment and it’s purpose “Got my equipment right to, guess spending time together made it easier.”
“Oh um...actually I had that info before we um...yeah.”
“Really? How’d you get it?”
“Uh…” Izuku rubbed his neck nervously “You have an informant near the Red Light area right? I was always the one that fixed his car and after the shop closed down he still asks me to tune it up every now and again, when he found out I went out a lot and was interested in heroes he let a few things slip.”
“Seriously? For being an informant he has a serious problem with keeping his mouth shut.”
“I-I promise it was only me and for analysis purposes! I guess he um...he knew it was ok? I don’t…” Aizawa rolled his eyes and nudged him.
“Don’t sweat it, he’s an idiot, but he’s trustworthy,” When they made it to the cafeteria, Aizawa had the teen sit at one of the tables “Any preference on food?”
“Ah, no, I really don’t want to-”
“You’re not imposing, we’re offering, and like we said earlier, Lunch Rush loves having people try his new stuff.”
“As long as you’re sure.” Hizashi and Aizawa went to the kitchen while Power Loader and Nemuri sat with him.
“So my little night owl, how is Inasa doing?~” Izuku blushed at the mention of his boyfriend, but he still smiled.
“We hang out a lot, he comes over to my place to study and do homework and he’s been wanting to introduce me to his parents, I-I’m a little nervous about that since I don’t really do good with people and I don’t know how his parents would react to him dating someone like me, so I-”
“Whoa! Hold it right there tiger, what do you mean someone like you?” Nemuri asked with a frown “The boy clearly really likes you, you’re smart, talented, strong, and you’re self sufficient, what’s not to love?”
“I…” He didn’t know how to explain it, he wasn’t great or worthy of someone thinking he was “That’s not me.”
“Really? Because you took apart 30 robots in the time it took me to take apart half of one, sure it was larger but that’s still super impressive kid,” Power Loader assured “That covers the smart and strong aspects, it takes a lot of strength to move those parts.”
“And I know for a fact you’re a quick learner, with the amount of jobs you’ve had you have to be! Plus I know a lot of your school work is advanced, Hizashi told me so,” She reached over and rested a hand on his shoulder “I know you have low confidence, but have confidence in us alright?” He looked between the two heroes before nodding.
“I-I’ll try.”
“I’m sure that’s all they want,” Power Loader tapped the table with a smile “Also where are the other two? Aren’t they just getting food?”
“Hello!” All three jumped as Lunch Rush suddenly appeared “I heard we had a guest and I simply had to meet them for myself!” He turned to Izuku “You must be him! I am Lunch Rush! Do you have any food allergies?”
“Uh n-no?”
“Fantastic! I also heard we have a snake with us!” Cerberus popped her heads out and let out a meow “Even better! I shall prepare the best cuisine I have!”
“Uh you really-” Before Izuku could argue though, the hero was gone, leaving Present Mic and Aizawa in his place “W-what just happened?”
“Well we were going to just grab some food, but he got excited,” Since the group was in one of the middle room tables, Aizawa sat on one side of Izuku while Present Mic took the other “It’s fine.”
“If...if you’re sure.”
“Kid, you did most of this analysis before you knew us right?” Aizawa asked, getting a nod in return “It’s pretty amazing, you have information and theories most people wouldn’t even think of,” He put the notebook on the table and pointed to Midnight's page “Like this, the possibility of her being able to control how concentrated the chemicals in her quirk are never even crossed my mind.”
“Wait what?” Midnight leaned over the table and read the page “Huh, never thought of that, I probably could though.”
“Well it’s just…a lotta quirks that um, emit a chemical compound of some kind can be manipulated, j-just like our own bodies chemicals it could depend on mood or how concentrated you are on the task, even your diet could affect it.”
“At least we know you’re passing biology,” Present Mic joked “But these are pretty impressive, I especially liked my own entry.” He nudged the teen, who ducked his head with a blush.
“Anyway, how would you feel if I showed these to our boss? I have a feeling he’d be interested in it.”
“R-really?” He looked to Midnight, who gave him a thumbs up “If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure, if you have any more of them, feel free to show us.”
“Well um...that’s number 13, it’s uh...notebooks are really the only thing that I’ll spend on.”
“That’s good, whatever makes you happy deserves whatever it costs!” Present Mic smiled “But if you’re ever worried about it we’re more than willing to spend some cash for you to have a hobby.”
“Ya know what,” Power Loader clapped his hands “You helped so much with the robots that I owe ya now!”
“Huh?”
“How about I let ya get some tools and notebooks from my supplies? I have more than enough.”
“I-I uh-”
“Don’t sweat it kid,” Aizawa patted his shoulder “After we eat, he’ll let you pick some stuff out, he likes making sure kids with talent get what they need.” Izuku blushed and nodded his head shakily.
“And food has arrived!” Lunch Rush came back with a cart full of food “I have old and new recipes! Even a few for our snake friend to try~” He set a couple plates in front of Izuku “This one is for snakey here, and the others are all for you!”
“I- you-”
“No need for thanks! Just tell me how you like it! You all as well, please enjoy!” Then he was gone again.
“Alright! Let’s dig in!” Izuku couldn’t do much other than nod his thanks and beginning to eat while Cerberus slithered around her own plate.