Archive of Our Own

Grease stained Mei’s calloused hand as she worked on dismantling her most recent baby. It was meant to be a belt with an inbuilt, 75 meter wire with an attached small grappling hook to use for flinging oneself from building to building. She was making it for a second year hero student who’s quirk was composed of controlling their own weight at any given time but they had inherited mutated physical characteristics making them about 12 feet tall and they needed a larger belt that would support size. Alas, her baby had an unidentified problem thus why she was tearing the metal apart. The grease had inched its way up her fingers and then smeared over the back of hands as she worked. The process became familiar and relaxing as she maneuvered her way around the contraption. As she slipped into that comfortable zone she started replaying the song that she was listening to early in her head, getting fixed on a loop of one part of the tune.

She was very much absorbed in her work that she didn’t fully notice the person that had approached her. She only fully clocked their presence when then their fingers fluttered in front of her. She paused and looked up, registering the person who drew their fingers back quickly. It was a boy who looked vaguely familiar and Mei tried to sift through her memory for any more memories. Is he in my year? Mei thought. He was a bit short for someone who was in her year, and he had a bush of curls that were various shades of dark green. He was fidgeting a bit, rocking back on his heels nervously as she realized that she had been staring at him. She blinked, still trying to remember where he was from.

“Uh, hello? Sorry but are you busy at the moment? I can come back later if so”, he said as he tapped the knuckles on his left hand.

She kept staring, still trying to remember where she had seen him

There was another moment of silence before the thoughts clicked into place.

“TEN MILLION”, she yelled suddenly. The scream went unnoticed by her lab mates who either couldn’t hear her or were used to her booming voice. Ten Million on the other hand startled at the noise. Then he laughed a little.

“Uh, yeah, my name is Izuku Midoriya”, he told her. Mei nodded vigorously. This was the boy who she’d helped get to the final round of the sports festival. Well, he didn’t need that much help, judging from the sheer monumental power that he had demonstrated in his last match. She had actually paid more attention to that one. She had been watching the other matches as an assignment from Powerloader to spark up new support item ideas that could benefit them but it was exciting to see what he would do next. She had been leaning against the rail on her row, and even with her quirk she was straining to catch every detail and see what he would do to combat the dwindling number of functional fingers that were left. When he had used one of his already shattered fingers to strike a blow at his opponent, she had hummed with excitement at the reckless counter.

“Mei Hatsume?”, he asked.

“Yup! That’s me”

“Oh, ok, good-not that I forgot you or anything! I was just a bit unsureforamomentandIwas-”

“No worries”, she cut him off, unsure of where he was going. He looked a bit panicky, flailing his arms wildly in front of him like he was trying to ward something off. She tilted her head after leaning forward in her seat.

“Whatcha need me for?”

“I need to get better support for my arms, as they’re taking on most of the strain of my quirk but I was also curious to see if my costume could use any other useful updates”

Mei thought for a moment before asking, “What kind of strain specifically on your arms? I’ll need more explanation, the more details, the merrier.”

Midoriya nodded, going into rigorous detail about his extensive arm injuries, as well as more information about what his arms could do with his quirk. Mei got a twinkle in her eye as she began brainstorming ideas to combat the overburdening of his arms to herself, but she was surprised to find that Midoriya was listening to what she was saying to herself and began commenting on her approaches, offering feedback. They were then bouncing ideas off of eachother, complimenting each other's thoughts by combating them.

“I’m surprised that you’re not in support”, Mei said while sketching out their ideas on a piece of paper. Midoriya had whipped out a notebook from nowhere and had also begun writing down ideas, his muttering ceasing for a moment to ponder her statement.

“I had considered it, but I have a stronger connection to heroics and I’m not able to do both courses so it felt more natural to go with heroics”, he said after a moment.

“So you can only study one, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t do both”, she replied. Midoriya looked up, eyes widening before looking back down.

“Oh, ok”

_______

Mei’s sitting at the edge of the cafeteria, idly eating her from her bento while she flips through her sketchbook and mulling through previous ideas. A sketch of an armor-like device that looked as if it were meant to wrap around someone’s arms like a backpack caught her eye. She drew out a pen from one of her many pockets and returned to this sketch, drawing the armor from another angle so that she could include a contraption in the back, meant to hold… What could she put inside? She hummed, frowning as she tried to come up with ideas. Parachute? No, there were plenty of parachute backpacks, but she still wrote it down, maybe that idea would spark something for a later project.

She started sketching mechanical wings next to the original sketch. The drawing reminded her of that one pre quirk era movie with the astronaut or alien that had landed in a kid’s house. There were also living toys? Mei hadn’t finished the movie but she did remember the buff, purple, alien-robot-person-thing. As a little kid, it was seeing all the gadgets that the guy had in the movie, and feeling so excited by all of them, even if they were just toys. Partly why she had started messing with the electrical appliances around the house, until she had accidentally exploded the toaster. She couldn’t remember exactly how she had done it but she was confused and scared when her parents became angry at what she’d done. They did eventually take her to a science club where she learnt about making support items. She couldn’t believe her luck when they had taken her. She had felt such a buzzing thrill in those early days that still followed her whenever she became absorbed in her new project.

She was so glad that her parents had taken her. It was strange how they immediately knew what she had wanted, and only now had Mei begun to wonder whether it was to stop her from blowing up household appliances? Hmm. she’d think about that later.

She kept flicking through the pages now and reached a few filled with scrawled ideas about Ten Million’s support items that she had done at 3 am. Her eyes scanned what she had hastily written while half awake, and she took out her pencil again, thinking about what she should add. She made a note to look into material that wouldn’t chafe his arms but still be able to stabilize and support them. He said a lot of the damage was specific to his hands but she also wanted to reduce the recoil of his power on his arms. Like that guy who one the sports festival, she had helped with his costume and she and a few other support students had collaborated on that project, implementing a structure that would cushion the blow of his explosions on his wrists. She would have to adapt it slightly but she could use that same theory on Ten Million’s arm braces. Unfortunately, she would probably have to consult with her classmates on this. Her classmates were good, great even but she just didn’t know any of them very well. They didn’t mind her eccentricities, which was great but Mei just wasn’t used to working with that many people, and she knew that she tended to sabotage projects sometimes. In middle school, teachers had forced everyone into groups for work and her classmates had told her that she was just too controlling whenever they had gotten into a project together. She felt bad about it but it was so difficult to just cooperate with the kids. Thankfully, her classmates were understanding people, not to mention very organized, so teamwork became easier when people were easier on her.

Mei shut her sketchbook and quickly ate the remaining food in her bento. She’s lost track of time a bit and she wanted to get back to the labs soon so she could resume working on her babies.

On her way out of the lunch hall though, she could have sworn that someone called her name. She stopped for a moment but kept walking, convinced that she had misheard, but then she heard her name again and started looking around, trying to see who was calling her name. Her eyes zoomed in on a group of hero students, her year, who were sitting 5 tables away from her. It was a brunette that was calling her name, waving at her to come over. Confused, Mei walked over, puzzled why the girl was calling her over. Then she saw Ten Million sitting with them and she rushed over, excited to see him again.

She slid over next to the empty spot by Ten Million, albeit a little dramatically as she underestimated her speed. She ended up having to catch herself on the edge of the table to avoid colliding with the boy who was staring at her with an expression that Mei couldn’t quite decipher. Eh.

“Hi, hi, hi”, she said after she righted herself on the bench. Everyone stared at her and then the brunette broke the silence.

“You’re the one from the sports festival, the support student who got through to the third round! Deku was just telling us that you’re working on a support item for him”, the brunette girl said. Mei remembers her better now, they were in a team together for the cavalry battle. Mei nodded vigorously in response to the girl’s earlier statement.

“Yes, we’re making a baby that will help with cushioning the blow of power in his arms, because of the frequency at which he keeps breaking his bones”, Mei said in a rush, slapping the table lightly with her hands as she talked.

“Ba-babies?”, asked the brunette, who was looking between her and Ten Million, who was blushing.

“Yup”

“She’s talking about her inventions”, Ten Million cut in.

“Oh, ok, then haha”, the brunette said, letting out a small laugh.

There was another boy at the table, who she actually remembered, though not by name.

“You’re the one who helped me in the Sports Festival”, Mei said, directed at him. He looked up at her then, his mouth tightening.

“Helped? Helpe- you tricked me!”he yelled, chopping his arms up and down.

“I did?”, Mei asked, confused.

“Yes!”, he said, his arm chipping increasing in speed.

“Ok”, she said, not sure what to do now, so she turned to face Ten Million better.

“So, Ten Million, I’ve been thinking about what we should use for making our baby, and I've looked at past projects to find inspiration for the brace but I also want more of your input on which materials would work best for your arms. I’ve considered using a soft padding for the inside of the brace, but it might be too thick and could interfere with the aesthetic of your costume. So I want to test out materials on your arms, though some of them may take a while to get depending on their market value”, she said, waiting eagerly for what he would say.

He hummed, thinking over what Mei had told him, scratching his head and ruffling his hair in the process, revealing a balck earbud that seemed to fit snug in his ear.

“I’d be happy to test out materials for you, but I also wonder if we should look at prosthetic companies as well. I haven’t lost a limb-yet- but looking into the processes that they use to create their prosthesis, and how those processes have evolved over time would be helpful”, he mumbled in a string of sentences, Mei leaning forward to catch every word. She could see that his hands were twitching in his lap, as if ready to reach for something.

“Excellent, come with me to the labs at the beginning of lunch break tomorrow and we can get started on making it together, and I’ll begin researching the materials and processes”, Mei said, standing up suddenly in excitement. She felt the need to start jumping everywhere, her body full of energy, but she was still stuck between the table and the bench and the lunch hall was too crowded.

“Together? Really? Is that ok?”, he asked, fiddling with his hands again, looking up at her and then the table.

“Yup!”

A little cough came from next to them, the brunette girl looking up at them.

“It’s almost time for lessons now, we should get going Deku”, she announced, picking up her tray of food, the others gathering their things too.

“Oh, ok, bye Hatsume, I’ll see you tomorrow, and please just call me Midoriya”.

Mei got up too, scooting out of her seat and said goodbye, picking up the pace as she was eager to get back to her work. She was grinning still when she sat down at her computer and typed in Prosthetic Companies for Heros in the search bar.

_______

Izuku stood outside the door to the support labs, fiddling with the straps on the bag he was holding. Inside, there was his homemade lunch. It had been a hassle this morning, trying to get them together, and it had messed with his head a little, meaning he was so busy making the lunch that he forgot to eat his breakfast and by the time her knew it, he’d had to rush fro school, starting the day stressed the fuck out. He’d been a bit on edge this whole morning, but at least now he didn’t have to deal with the hectic rush of the lunch hall. Izuku fiddled with his earbuds for a moment and started tugging on the sleeve of his jacket. He finally managed to stop standing still and opened the door to the support labs, being noticed by Powerloader as he entered. He was both awed and terrified upon seeing the teacher, feeling nervous that he was going to be in trouble somehow for being in there.

“Hello there, Midoriya, what brings you to support?”, Powerloader asked. Izuku hesitated for a moment, fumbling for words.

“I, um, I’m here to, uh, see Hatsume?”, he said after a moment. Powerloader straightened up a bit and pointed over to Hatsume’s workstation.

“Oh, thank you, I’ve been before though”, he said, walking off. He felt embarrassed and awkward as he made his way over. Hatsume was squatting on her chair, bent over her desk. Izuku reached his hand out carefully and tapped her shoulder.

Hatsume screamed suddenly, launching off the chair and onto the floor, causing Izuku to also scream at the sudden movement. Heads turned, saw that it was Hatsume, and resumed their work. Izuku saw Hatsume sit up suddenly and shout his name before cackling. She stood up and got closer, her goggles were still on her face though.

“YOU CAME, good, let’s get started”, she said as Izuku took a pen and his notebook out of his pocket, ready to take notes.

“I started looking at companies that specialize in prosthesis for heroes, and I found this one company that focuses on incorporating gadgets into the prosthesis that could help with missions-”

“Meaning I could try to use that same principal with the brace, though that would be harder given that I don’t have a whole arm of space to carry extra weight-”

“Exactly! I thought of what might be useful to you, such as medical supplies, and weapons but they’re too bulky so I came up with something else”, Hatsume said as she scrambled to her desk, humming to herself. She grabbed a small object and then presented it to Izuku. He recognised the style of it vaguely though it almost resembled a screw or a bolt, but slightly shorter. It had a small bump on the top and looking more closely it was slightly clear and glassy.

“Is it- is it a tracker”, Izuku asked, guessing but still unsure. Hatsume made a few happy squeaks.

“Yes, yes, it’s meant to latch onto the brace and you’ll be able to remove it. Hopefully it should still be sturdy enough, but it;s good.

“It’s not going to explode is it?”

“...nawww”.

It did.

_______

It took Mei a few more goes at the brace before it started functioning perfectly. At least Midoriya’s arm hadn’t been damaged from the spontaneous combustions, and now he had fit it into his hero costume seamlessly, the smooth black of the brace fitting well with the aesthetic. He had helped her with that, looking over her shoulder and offering advice while she was working, even if it came out faltering as if his ideas meant life or death. She listened attentively, she loved hearing what he had to say. He had eventually fit himself into her routine, coming into the support department with her most lunch breaks to work on his brace after eating with either his friends or her.

But now the brace was finished, and he wouldn’t need to come over anymore and the thought made Mei frown a bit. He might not want to come anymore and that should be ok because they’ve finished the project but it just makes her stomach turn a bit and she feels slightly dizzy, and her hands start lightly slapping her desk. Why did she feel so ill? She gets up and goes outside to start pacing in the halls, students inching away slightly from Mei and her determined gait as she walks in no particular direction. She’s staring at the ground and she can’t see the solid mass until after she’s bumped into them. She screams, as per usual, and falls on her ass only to see Midoriya, also on his ass, looking a little dazed.

“Oh, Hatsume, I was just looking for you”, he says, blinking out the dazed look in his eyes. She’s standing first so she lends him a hand to help him up.

“What did you need me for?”, she asks. Her bones feel like they might be vibrating as she tries to think of what he might say to her. Maybe he’s here to tell her he’s stopping coming over to work together, or maybe he wants to tell her that they’re stopping having lunch together. Her thoughts race before she can stop them, and she can’t control the usual thought spiral that accompanies her as she waits for him to speak. When he does, she strains to catch every word.

“I was wondering if I could still come to the support department with you at lunch time? I’m very happy about the arm brace, it's been working really well, and i’ve really enjoyed working with you, and it’s ok if you don’t want me there, but I still wanted to ask -”

“Yup, sure”. Mei feels her brain relax a little, Midoriya still wants to work with her.

“But only if you’re ok- oh you said yes?” he finishes, his eyes widening.

“Of course, I just said yes. Besides, you’re one of the only people that listens to my ideas, of course you can stick around”.

“Oh, great, and Hatsume, um, are we friends?” Midoriya asks. He’s tugging at his fingers a little bit more now after asking the question.

“Hmm, yeah, I think so”, Mei answers.

“WAIT, if we’re friends I think we should start calling each other by our first names, ya know? I didn’t forget yours, it’s Izuku and you can just call me Mei”, she says, hands on her hips and grinning.

“Really? Ok great, thank you”

“Why are you thanking me?”

“Oh, um, no reason I guess, sorry”.

“No need to apologize either, NOW LET”S GO” she yells, running for the studio.

“Wait, WAIT, what about lunch?” he says, catching up easily to her.

“It’s lunch time? Doesn’t matter, we can eat later, I have this new baby that I need to show you now, so let’s PICK UP THE PACE”. They’re sprinting and mei is cackling and Izuku is laughing too. They skid to a stop in front of the door to the support department and Mei kicks the doors open, almost hitting one of her classmates smack in the face, who had jumped back at the abrupt action. They went over to her desk and she started talking at length about her new baby, a jet pack that had a hatch to hold explosives. It too, exploded, getting them kicked out for the rest of lunch break.

_______

“You know Deku, you spend a lot of time with that girl from the support department”, Uraraka ponders aloud to Izuku and the small group of classmates standing near his desk.

“Yeah, how often are you there now, what almost every lunch time now”, Kirishima adds on.

“Oh, yeah, I sometimes head there after school if I have time”, Izuku says, hands rising to rub the back of his neck awkwardly. It feels like they’re looming over his desking and interrogating him and he’s not sure what he’s meant to say or do.

“Really, why? Does your brace need repairing?”, Kirishima asks, leaning forward.

“Oh, no, I just like going”. Izuku fights the urge to cringe when Kirishima gets close.

“Well, come back, we miss you!” Uraraka says, coming in to punch his shoulder gently but it rocks him, and he almost bursts into tears of shock at the sudden contact. He knows that she’s just trying to be friendly but he’s panicking under the smiling facade that he’s wearing right now.

“Uraraka, while I don’t approve of the company that he keeps, it’s important to let Midoriya pursue his time as he wishes”, Iida announces, hands chopping.

“He’s right”, says a voice that’s coming from the floor at the front of the classroom. Mr Aizawa gets up out of his sleeping bag, rolling it way under his desk.

“This should serve as an example of what you can do outside of school time to build your skills. Support items play an important role in the hero world and understanding the process behind as well as making the connections will help you in the future”.

Everyone pauses thinking about it, and Kaachan gets up and starts yelling about how Izuku’s trying to get ahead of him paired with more of the usual spiel. But the yelling just pushes him closer to the edge he’s trying not to fall off of.

“Everyone, get into your seats. Pull out your hero ethics notes and I want you to look back on last lesson’s notes”, Mr Aizawa begins telling them, and he starts writing on the board.

Izuku is still buzzing as he gets his things out, and starts chewing on his pen while trying to keep his focus on what Mr Aizawa is saying.

“Dude, can you cut it out?”

“Wha-huh?”

“Your foot-just chill out a bit”. It’s Sero, pointing at Izuku’s leg which is bouncing up and down.

“Oh, yeah, sorry, sorry”, he says, locking his feet together in an attempt to convince him to stop tapping. Sero looks at him, and Izuku clocks that he still has his pen in his mouth and he takes it out quickly. He’s still buzzing and he thinks about tapping his fingers but he might get told to stop again so he just grips his pen, which is now becoming slick from his clammy hands.

He tries to bring his focus back to Mr Aizawa but it’s so hard to hold onto what his teacher is saying, the words becoming jumbled to his ears. He thinks he hears his name and now he realizes that Mr Aizawa is asking his name.

“Can you comment on the effect that the Hero’s Act of 2XXX had on how laws on quirks for civilians were introduced?”

Izuku would usually try to answer and pull a random fact out of his ass, but he couldn’t speak. His tongue felt stuck, and he found an answer to the questions but his mouth wouldn’t budge. Mr Aizawa narrowed his eyes slightly, andb repeated the question. Izuku just sat there, looking at the board. He could feel everyone’s attention on him now, and there were a few whispers.

“Midoriya, can you please attempt to answer the question”. There’s a lilt to his words that makes Izuku think that he’s probably exasperated and this just makes everything worse. He is trying.

Mr Aizawa frowns and sets his book down on his desk, and thankfully doesn’t push it, though he keeps his eyes on Izuku. The lesson continues, and Izuku still can’t speak but he thinks that he might be calming down a bit. But Mr Aizawa lets them do the work he set and crawls back into his sleeping bag, and people around him start talking as they work. Now people are shouting across the room and the noise is pure pain. He’s trying to crawl away from the edge but now he’s been pushed over the edge. He’s breathing fast and he can’t stop. He needs to get out. Now. He’ll get in trouble but he can’t stay here when it means everyone sees him like this. He stands up quickly and goes straight for the door, heads turning as he leaves. Someone calls his name but he’s out the door, rushing for the nearest bathroom. His clothes are sweaty and clinging to his skin and it makes everything worse, choking him. A tear runs down his face and then another. He’s trying to choke them down and hurries faster so that if anyone comes after him, they can’t find him.

_______

Mei is wandering the school halls during her afternoon lessons. She had almost finished perfecting one of her babies but Powerloader kicked her out of the lab when he found out that she hadn’t been to lunch that day. He told her to go see Lunch Rush to get some food, even though it was past the first year’s allocated lunch slot, and not to come back till tomorrow. Something about her pushing past her limits. She kind of understood though, and deep down she was happy that her teacher had pointed this out for her. It didn’t really hit her at first but she was pretty hungry. And tired. Mei decided to scout for good nap spots outside after her meal, and maybe with just a bit of luck, she could slip into a food coma. She loved sleeping on the grass after a big meal. But she didn’t have a blanket, so there was an issue with the bugs. Nevermind, she thought, I’ll just go find somewhere inside to hole up. As she thought about where on campus she could sleep, she rounded a corner and saw Izuku walking quickly, almost running in her direction though he probably couldn’t see her because his hands were covering his eyes and pressing down over his ears. Mei was confused by the strange but somewhat familiar sight. She was going to run up and say hi but then she realized that he wasn’t just shielding his eyes.

He was crying.

Why was he crying?

“Izuku “, she said, unsure of what to do, but he jerked to a stop, uncovering his eyes to see her in front of him.

“What’s wrong?”, she tried asking. She didn’t know what to do. She raised her hand to just gently touch his shoulder but he saw her movement and guessed what she was doing, shaking his head quickly at the action. Her hand dropped and she nodded.

“I can take you some space quieter if you want”, she offers after a moment. Izuku nods and she leads him through the hallways. They’re walking side by side and she’s facing forward but she can hear the occasional shuddering sob punctuated by sniffling. They took a few more turns and she stopped in front of a storage closet. The door is open, because luckily and strangely enough it hadn’t been locked in a while so Mei had assumed at first that it had been forgotten but then she had met the school’s principal. He wasn't someone prone to forget any small nook and cranny of the school, especially after the recent villain attacks. Mei loved curling up in the back of this closet, a blanket still stored in the back for when she just got too tired to be around other people. She had a sneaking suspicion that Nezu knew she came here but he hadn’t done anything about it yet, so she would take advantage of the free space.

“This is an old storage closet I like to hide in sometimes”, Mei tells Izuku. He still looks shaken up and it might help if he knew what was going on.

“You can stay in here until you feel calmer, and school is almost over for today so you can go home soon.”

“M-My homero-I left class-I”

“-there’s no point worrying about it. You can email your teacher later”, she cuts him off, before he can start panicking again.

“We can just sit here until you feel better”. Izuku nods shakily. They spend some time in silence and Mei sits with her thoughts, looking over to check if Izuku is doing ok. She thinks that he looks more relaxed but his breathing has calmed down which she thinks is a good sign. She starts to shift a little, becoming uncomfortable from sitting still too long and she begins to sway a little as she sits cross legged, near one of the walls. It’s nice and dim in here, it’s part of why she likes it so much.

“I’m sorry”, Izuku says.

“Why would you need to be sorry?” Mei asks.

“Because you- you shouldn’t need to do this but I-”

“No, we’re friends and we’re here to help each other. I know you’d do the same for me too”, Mei cuts in. Izuku laughs, but it comes out of his mouth scratchy and quiet.

“Most people end up like this, do they?”

“I do. Sometimes”.

Izuku looks at her for a moment, before looking down again.

“What started it?”, she asks. She’s unsure if she’ll get an answer but she does get a reply.

“It just…”, he trails off for a moment before continuing.

“It was too loud in there. And people got too close to me”. He grimaces a little after speaking, as if the words might have caused him pain.

“I get that. I really do”, Mei says quietly. They sit in silence before an alarm on Mei’s phone goes off, telling her that it’s the end of the school day. There’s a faint commotion coming from a distance as students from across the school start to leave. Mei notices Izuku tense slightly at the background noise.

“We can wait a bit before we go outside, if you’re ready to leave by the way”.

“I left my bookbag in my classroom”. His fingers are now tapping his knees as he brings them to his chest.

“I can get it”, she offers, and he hesitates before agreeing.

“I’ll be back soon, and if you need anything else just text me, wait you don’t have my number, here give me your phone quickly so I can put it in”. She puts in her contact details and makes her way out of the door, saying a quick goodbye before leaving.
_______

Mei gets lost. She feels horrible about it, she has Izuku counting on her to be quick and she stops to ask a random student where the first year hero student classrooms are. She hadn’t bothered to learn them because she thought she only needed to know about support, the lunch hall and her storage closet. She gets back on course though, thankfully.

She finally sees the door of class 1-A and she looks at her phone’s clock. 4.58. Mei had left 15 minutes ago, and even she knows it shouldn’t have taken her this long. She quickens her step thinking of what she should say to Izuku’s homeroom teacher if she runs into him. The door to Class 1-A and a few familiar students step out.

“I don’t know Tsu, he was acting so strange before he got up, wait, hey!”

It’s the brunette, no gravity, wait no it was Uraraka. Was it? Fuck it, because she was still calling out to Mei. She stops before the group but she’s shifting on her feet, agitated at being held up.

“Have you seen Deku?” Uraraka asks her.

“Who?”, Mei says, confused.

“Midoriya, you know him, you work together, have you seen him?”

Mei realizes that she’s talking about Izuku and she has to stop and think this through. Her first instinct is to answer Yes, but that would mean further questioning, meaning that they might want to know where Izuku is, which won’t help him and it’s holding her up.

“No, sorry”. She doesn’t say anything else, not sure what to do. Uraraka frowns but she leaves it thankfully and she and the others go off, still talking about Izuku. Mei walks a little farther along so that they don’t think that she’s visiting their homeroom and waits for them to go past a corner and then some before slipping back into the hallway and into the class. The homeroom teacher, she can’t remember his name, is wiping up the board and turns when she opens the door.

“Can I help you?” he asks, looking exhausted.

“I’m here to pick up Izuku’s things”, she says, hoping that he doesn’t pry too much. His eyes narrow and he frowns for a moment.

“Why, where is he, is he alright?”, he asks, looking stern but maybe worried.

“He’s ok, he’s just really tired and I told him I'd get his stuff for him. I think he’ll send you an email later about it”. The teacher nods then points to one of the desks that has a big yellow backpack underneath.

“The others wanted to bring it but they don’t know where he is or where he lives, so it was better off staying here”. She nods in acknowledgement, and gathers up the notes on Izuku’s desk, trying to neatly fit them into his bag. She says thank you on her way out and the teacher grunts in response. Mei tries to get back to the closet as quickly as possible without being noticed but it isn’t too difficult as most people have already left the campus. She runs through the last closet before abruptly stopping in front of the door to text Izuku hi and say that she’s back. She hears some shuffling from behind the door and then it opens and she grins as she hauls the bag off of her back and brandishes it like a prize. He smiles weakly and they head out together.

“I can help you home if you want?” Mei offers.

“Really?”

“Of course”.

“Oh, thank you”

“Don’t thank me. See, it’s all part of my plan to find out where you live so when you least expect it, I can sneak into your room in the middle of the night and harvest your blood to satiate the everlasting vampiric bloodlust that resides within me”, she replies. Izuku looks confused for a moment before laughing, a little cackle that makes her grin as well. He shows her which train he’s taking and they make the journey back to his home. They part ways and Mei tries to figure out how to get back to her house from here. On the way to the station, Mei pops into a bakery to grab a pastry for when she gets home. While she’s sitting on the subway, she thinks about Izuku and what happened. She’d felt that overwhelmed before but she’d never seen someone else look the way she does, frayed, pushed to the edge and so, so tired. The whole experience was muddling her brain.

Izuku didn’t talk about it much but maybe when he felt better they could talk about what happened. If he wanted to. Mei wanted to know what she could do for Izuku better in the future, and having a friend was great but it also felt like a whole new territory that she didn’t know squat about. She cared about her friend though and that was what mattered.

_______

Izuku fiddled with the ear plugs in his ear, making sure they were as snug as possible before going into the studio. It was Monday and he was here extra early to see Mei- he knew she liked to come in early to work on her babies, she’d told him so a few weeks ago. He opens the door, walking in comfortably as he was used to the place. A lot of the other support students knew about him too, some of them even saying hi when he came through during lunch breaks. He’d lost some of his initial nervousness when he stayed in the studio now that he was certain no one was going to throw him out, for no particular reason than being here. Powerloader was good to him too, calling him and Hatsume the gremlins of the Support Department. He thinks that it might have meant to be slightly derogatory but he couldn’t help but feel happy that Powerloader thought of him as part of the Support Department.

Izuku can see Mei at her desk now, like usual she’s bent over something and he probably looks the same when he comes in here to work with her. He grabs a stool and plops it down next to her, earning him a scream as she whips around, taking off one earphone.

“Hi”, he says, sitting down.

“Oh, thank fuck, you scared the shit out of me”, Mei tells him, head plopping down on her desk to rest there.

“By the way, what were you doing out of class on Friday?” Izuku asks. The question had poked at his brain a little as he headed over to school.

“Oh yeaaahh, Powerloader basically booted me out because I hadn’t had lunch and I was heading there when I bumped into you. Izuku feels a little stab of guilt.

“Oh, uh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hold you up-”

“No worries, ok? Besides, I got a really good croissant on the way back home. It had almonds on top and everything, and then chocolate inside, holy crap it was good”.

“Eh, I just like plain croissants but maybe it’s on the way to school or something”.

“Oh, OH, you wanna get croissants tomorrow morning?” Mei offers, sitting up excitedly.

“Oh, yes please, thank you”.

They sit while Mei brings out their things for their current project, a set of what appears to be metal ornamented gloves but were fitted with the best fire resistant fabric they could find, along with retractable claws that could dig into surfaces for climbing. They would be testing it after school so they could work out any changes that needed to be made.

“Are you ok after Friday?” Mei asks. Izuku had been waiting for the question.

“Yeah, I just, um, I get like that sometimes”, he answers.

“Like what?” and Mei is looking at him inquisitively.

“I get overwhelmed sometimes, well, I guess a lot, and I can’t control it but sometimes it just spills over”, He says. He gets along so well with Mei and he doesn’t want to ruin it.

“I do too”, she whispers. “I know what it’s like, I think. It’s usually the lights for me though, it’s why I love wearing my goggles so much”. Izuku looks at her, and he thinks that she might understand too.

“Do you feel like it gets hard? Harder than it is for everyone else?”, he asks tentatively. She nods.

“So you’re like me then?”, she asks. He sucks in a breath of air.

“Am I autistic? Yeah, I uh, yeah”, he finally says.

“Oh, you're the only other neurodivergent person in our year that I’ve found yet”, she says after a moment and he feels relieved, because she gets it, she really gets it.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean, you’re the only person outside of support that I really talk to, and I don’t even speak to the kids in my class a whole lot”.

“I haven’t told anyone. Like at all. Do you talk about it much?”

“Hmm, well, not really because it hasn’t come up yet but I’m not really keeping it a secret. Why haven’t you told anyone? I can totally understand but I’m curious”. Izuku starts tapping his fingers against his chest now.

“I’m not diagnosed”.

“Ohhh, do you want to be?” she asks.

“Yeah. I came across the actual definition of autism two years ago and that’s when I started to question if there was a connection. I mean, before that I’d just heard it as an insult. I found all this stuff online, from other people and it just felt like such a relief to know that there was an explanation for, well, everything. I tried to bring it up to someone I was friends with but he just brushed me off and told me I was faking it, so I left it. But I looked back into it after a while and it just felt so good, seeing people talk about their experience and releasing that I could relate to it. Mei doesn’t interrupt him and she’s listening attentively, hands on her work, like he does with his pens when he’s in class.

“I started trying to get together online tests and writing down everything that I could about my autism. And then…”, he swallows, feeling drained at the memory, “Then I showed it to my mom. And uh, she didn’t take it so well. I think she noticed I was different as a kid but she just seemed so insistent that I was normal. That I couldn’t be autistic. Izuku’s stomach turns, his body buzzing after saying it out loud.

“And when I tried to bring it up again, she just…she said it wasn’t right of me to use that label, because it hurt people who really were autistic. And I-”. The tears are running down his face now, and he doesn't bother to wipe them away.

“I felt so ashamed after that. I was too scared to bring it up again, and then we just went along like nothing had happened”. He’s sobbing again now, and Mei puts her stuff down to look at him.

“That sounds shit and I’m sorry”, she says.

“Don’t be, it’s not your fault. And now you’re apologizing”.

“Yeah, there’s gotta be a better word for when you wanna say sorry but it’s not your fault. ‘My condolences’ just doesn’t quite cut it”.

“Hmm, maybe, I don’t know, ‘I empathize?’ It’s still a little formal, but at least it gets the point across”.

“Eh, we can find a better one some day”.

“Hmm”. Izuku smiles, feeling a little better.

“Your mom shouldn’t have said that”, Mei continues. “She should’ve listened to you properly and it’s not your fault that she didn’t”.

“Thanks. It’s just hard I guess. Part of me wants to tell my friends in class but I’m afraid they won’t listen to me either”. Mei starts lightly tapping her lips now.

“Who did you tell last time?” Izuku grimaces.

“This guy, when we were in middle school. We weren’t really friends at the time, but I didn’t really have anyone else to tell except my mom, and I hadn’t come to her yet. He just laughed in my face and… yeah. It didn’t go well”.

“I can sic my babies on him if you want?” Izuku laughs a little at that.

“Hmm maybe, if I’m feeling particularly vengeful. Joking though, he’s become a better person I think”.

“Has he apologized to you?” Mei asks.

“Well, no, but-”

“If he hasn’t even given you the bare minimum of an apology, I don’t think that he is very worth thinking highly of”.

“Oh, ok”.

“It’s up to you to forgive him but you shouldn’t feel like you need to at any point”.

“Got it. Thanks though. I don’t know how I feel about him. It’s all too”, Izuku waves his hands exasperatedly. “It’s still weird”.

“Eh, fair. We have half an hour till school starts, so let’s get a fucking move on with this project”. They continue working until Izuku needs to leave. He starts gathering his stuff up, when Mei speaks again.

“Do you still wanna go to the bakery tomorrow?”, she asks. She’s drumming her hands on her knees.

“Yeah sure, what time does it open?”

“Oh, OH, I can remember the opening sign, I think it’s at 6.00 am? Is that early for a bakery? I think they also do good coffee, personally not my thing, but let’s meet there when it opens so we can still get enough time to work in the morning”. Izuku nods and says goodbye, getting shouted “I’LL TEXT YOU THE ADDRESS”, on his way out.

When he makes it to class 10 minutes early, he stops to say a quick apology to Mr Aizawa, to follow up the email he sent when he’d recovered from his meltdown. Mr Aizawa tells him it’s fine but that he should try to let him know what was happening. Izuku just says he has it under control, even if it’s a lie. He’s tired after opening up to Mei, and he doesn’t feel ready to bring this up to anyone else.

Maybe Mr Aizawa could help him, but he’d have to call his mom and he doesn’t want to do that. He doesn’t notice his teacher looking at him with narrowed eyes as he goes to his seat. Slowly and then more quickly, students file into the class. Everyone looks at him as they see him in his seat with varying degrees of concern, wariness, or surprise, but he tries to keep his attention on his journal, writing in new notes. Uraraka and a few other of his friends come over when they come in, and some begin peppering him with questions, stopped by Todoroki and Tsu, who calm everyone down saying that class is nearly starting, meaning that thankfully, everyone gets to their seats and leaves him alone. He wants to put his earplugs in, just in case, but his hair doesn’t quite cover all his ears, leaving them visible. Izuku now thinks of growing it out a bit, so he can wear his foam earplugs in class. Class begins and everyone is thankfully quiet this morning, even after getting back any energy over the weekend. He hopes that it stays like this, if only for today.