Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

UA is home to many classrooms, varying hiding spots and themed spaces, all in the name of encouraging its students to propel themselves into the future of their design.

Classrooms with forward-facing seats and spaced desks, small seminar-style rooms, a handful of tatami meeting rooms... you name it, they have it.

And yet, this feels like such an alien landscape to the uninitiated. A space entirely unlike the rest.

A vast room, split into sections. A grid of little biomes, self-contained by half heighted walls. Enough to reduce noise but never to block it out in its entirety. Not enough to suffocate the dweller inside that space.

Each one almost like a display box, an open viewing window into things in progress. Those working on materials, design and research.

Fabrics, some more familiar than others, several which have perhaps never been seen outside of this room, or not in any vast quantity... It's incredible.
By all means, you could create a paid-for museum with the things in here. While the masses may marvel at the powers and intuition of hero course students... This is a marvel in itself, something that deserves much more recognition.

A marvel that doesn't go amiss from the dark eyes of one Yaoyorozu.

Moving along, after-hours. She's long since changed out of her standard uniform, in favor of something more homely. A pinnafore dress over a nice blouse. Nothing too dressy, and infinitely more 'her', as it were. Feminine and dainty, presentable and comfortable.
Hey, it even has pockets!

One heavy with a notebook, already stuffed full of tidily written notes.
If it weren't for the gridded off workspaces, her shoes would cause an echo on the hard concrete floor here.
Instead, her own steps are drowned out by the half-muted sound of hammers striking metal, and what could be confused as a madwoman's muttering.
It's eerily alike to Deku's incessant mumbling, if you think about it too hard. But more...driven, somehow. Less a note on how something is appearing, and more on how amazing a thing is going to become in the coming hours, days.

Like some kind of self-driven peptalk...on steroids.

She'd like to take more of a time to properly investigate this unknown room, but she's here for a purpose , and can't get too distracted.
Even while approaching this ruckus, eyes scanning the booths on her left and right, taking it all in. The tools, trinkets, sketches... everything.
Never know when that knowledge might become useful down the line, afterall.

"Excuse me?"
Softly at first, not intending to cause disturbance but merely announce her presence.
Instead, Momo finds herself ignored .
Not out of true malice, no, but the person she's here for is currently buried underneath what looks to be a shell of some kind, a hull, tinkering loudly with what must be a wrench or similar, judging by the repeatedly crackling sound of metal twisting back and forth.
Only a navy-clad rear-end of a human poking out, hung over the side like laundry out to dry.

Classy.
It's confusing initially, but she shakes it off quickly, coming closer. Only two steps forward- vividly aware of the rubber matting on the floor here, her toes never quite cross it.
It feels like a violation of privacy to step over that boundary uninvited. Is this not like an extension of the students' own personal spaces?

" Excuse me ."
Firmer this time, louder.
Met with a pause in the incessant ramblings going on inside, as the draped figure slides gracelessly back, knees hitting the rubber matting with a dull thud.
A head of pastel pink tubular curls - eyes bright as they settle, taking Momo into their crossheirs.

A stare Yaoyorozu herself hasn't ever found herself in the frame of - it's almost scary. She feels...analyzed? Like she's just been logged in some kind of mental database.

"Excused!"
It's bouncy, maybe *too* energetic for something replacing a greeting. She doesn't bother to get up, which leads to much staring in the coming moments.
"You're the girl from 1-A right? The one with the fancy Creati quirk? Oh you're going to be just perfect !"
Oh boy.

In this moment, Momo realizes she's been handed over to a maniac on a silver platter.
Maybe not a dangerous one, but... that doesn't make her come across any less terrifyingly strong .
Not with the way she's suddenly being approached - how this girl goes from kneeling beside her current project, to suddenly being all up in Momo's business. Hands holding out her arm, inspecting every inch of bare skin.
Her short sleeves have left her arms bare to the world - for the use of her quirk. But no cleavage today, thank the gods. Because she has little faith that wouldn't also be getting investigated at this moment.
"I- Yes I'm Yaoyorozu Momo -"
It comes out in a stammer she deems very unladylike in the moment. The background clawing of nerves showing through.

"Mei. Hatsume Mei, and we're going to make incredible babies together ~"


The world could freeze at this moment.
Suddenly the universe feels silent. Nothing but the ringing of distant tinnitus in Momo's ears.
Babies ?
Talk about coming on a bit strong .
She sputters, mouth falling open and shutting hopelessly in search of words, as Mei finishes making her rounds on her. Taking in every inch, ever bit of information she can. Curious, but only briefly, as she soon leaves Momo's side, to return to her metalwork of choice. Apparently entirely unphased by the verbal nuclear bomb she just dropped on 1-A's leading lady.

"They're all going to be perfect , finally! Mistakes are all the stepping stones but functionality is bliss and you are going to make that happen~ your body will be the perfect host of creation!"

Yeah, she's not making it any better.
And yet the pinkette is seemingly entirely unaware of the situation she has created. She's no longer even glancing in Momo's direction, vibrant eyes instead focused down upon her project, a gloves hand smoothing over a curved hull of steel, or some similar alloy. Sleek and shiny, well-machined, perhaps even heat treated. It has an obscure shimmer Momo wouldn't be able to place, even if she had all her faculties in order, rather than falling across the floor of her mind like a bag of spilled marbles.


Now, it's no lie to note that Mei herself isn't exactly what would be considered a people person - she isn't.
She comes off as brash sometimes, and her head is always so firmly grounded in her projects, it can make even getting a straight discussion out of her hard. Unless that discussion is primarily about whatever she's working on, that is.
But how is Momo to know that?
Deku and Iida barely provided any actual information about this when she was approached, sheepishly bringing up that maybe she should pay Mei a visit, to help her with something.

This feels like a setup, somehow.

Momo would groan inwardly to herself, never speaking such a sound of course, that'd be far too uncouth against her upbringing. But the sentiment is there as she watches Mei tinker.

She's very clearly talented, you'd be a fool to try and deny such a thing but... Is this going to work?

"Okay, well, uh... what do you need from me?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Mei perks up, sitting upright, wrench in hand, waved enthusiastically around as she proceeds to explain her predicament in questionable amounts of detail.

Momo almost forgets what she initially asked by the time Mei is done.
The shorthand edition; She's struggling to find very specifically manufactured parts for one of her new creations, and the only temporary ones she was able to procure have all failed due to one material issue or another.


"Oh, well... I don't see why I can't help with that."
A little optimism goes a long way, and Momo agrees to help with that simple line.

"Exactly! You're the perfect candidate to help make my babies a reality." Mei's so satisfied with this agreement, she takes the liberty of turning Momo peach-pink all over again.
Yet again, the young hero says nothing about it, merely taking a seat at Mei's desk, taking out her notebook, and pouring over the empty pages.

Sketches and equations quickly begin to fill the dotted book pages, as Momo works out dimensions with her newfound companion - she needs exacts , she needs numbers and information.
And worst of all is the research.

Though, really, it's Momo's favourite thing to do. There's something intensely satisfying about learning materials and objects and components so deeply that she can then reproduce them at will... and this is no different. A new challenge.

One that produces many failures, and yet Mei never gives up hope.

She's midway through producing a new sample piece, when it comes to mind.
"Say - you really never give up hope, do you?"

Mei doesn't look up - she's buried inside the hull of her 'baby', those large curls of pink just barely peeking out through a hole in the top.
"Nope!"

Her voice rings in the metallic interior, and Momo finds herself smiling.

"Most people would give up, you know. After so many failures and difficulties. Even heroes can't deal with their own problems sometimes."
She's not judging but... it's a statement of fact.

Mei scoffs.
"Nothing would ever get made if people just gave up , and I'm not gonna be like that. M'gonna change the world, one way or another, I'm gonna make all the goods, and no problem or random broken bolt is gonna stop me."

"...I like that." Yao lets that slip by without thinking - but she does mean it. Very genuinely infact.
And in response, Mei pokes her head out of her little hiding spot, goggles still down,

"You do?"

"Well- yes, of course I do." Momo isn't quite sure why she wouldn't be a fan of this.
"It's a very powerful quality... to be able to face all the odds and continue to pursue a dream, even though it might be a very difficult task. If people didn't take the difficult route, and overcome challenges... we wouldn't have the things we do now, afterall." She hums a little, not wanting to come across as lecturing Mei at all.

The pinkette has a look however that makes it seem very much like Momo may as well have just given her a marriage proposal, she's so smitten. A rosey blush across goggled cheeks, and while her eyes are hidden behind the dark lenses of her safety gear, they are sparkling like no gem ever could.

Yaomomo is left out of the know of this detail however, as she keeps her focus on the task at hand. All thought and brainpower is poured into pages upon pages of intensive calculations, notes on materials and other variables. All the things she needs to be aware of, before she can attempt to make anything.

Mei, for the most part, stays out of the way - busy affixing the hull of her contraption together, chunk by hollow chunk. Just the cranking of her wrench and varying other tinkering tools colliding with metals fill the air. Masking the avid scribbles of pencil on paper. Or the tearing of the sheets to set aside for ease of reference.


Time passes by relatively quickly, with both girls working on their tasks...
Until the bottleneck.

Momo's still deep in her research, and the occasional small-scale trial piece, made from the widest swell of her forearm.
And Mei does try not to stare, but it’s hard. She’s just…remarkable.
Her brain, her expression while agonizing over every detail, every material compound, the very basis of this quirk is knowledge. Raw power, in mental form!
The engineer truly could not be any more in love with something she can’t physically see, apart from this woman’s brain.
And, maybe, her ability to make very complex parts on the fly.

A small gear wheel, with particularly strangely angled teeth, is pulled from the flesh of Momo’s bare arm.

“Here- try this one. It should have exactly the angle on the teeth you were looking for.”
Mei takes it, with a huff of exhausted glee, tipping it back and forth to witness the handiwork.
There’s perks to having Momo around - there’s no machining errors, there’s no strange scraping marks, or rough edges, not annoying metal burrs that could shred the rest of her elaborate designs… every piece is precision-perfect.

And no… she’s never going to get bored of that.
She hasn’t in these last few weeks, and that doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anytime soon.
Not as she turns away, goggles down, worming back into her narrow-access cockpit, until all but her ass and legs are poking out.
Her hips are just a little too broad to squirm in through the gap she’s made for herself, but it’s fine - Mei isn’t struggling, so Momo doesn’t lay a hand in to try and help.
She wouldn’t want Mei to get the wrong idea.

I mean - she’s pretty! Beautiful, and her mind too, Momo would never deny it. Her enthusiasm is contagious, if a little terrifying, and the spontaneity of her pace of work is genuinely more powerful than any form of ADHD Momo’s ever heard of, but even so.
…
Momo’s not going to let herself have a sexuality crisis mid-build, alright?

God she hopes not.
She swallows hard, pushes the thoughts down- only to snap back into reality, and find herself staring into the vibrant abyss that is Mei’s eyes.
Up close and personal.

Sharing the same air, just about.
Mei really couldn’t be any closer without being physically sat in Yaoyorozu’s lap, and the sudden realization has the dark haired hero squealing with shock - tipping back on instinct, and narrowly avoiding ending up on the floor.

Mei has grabbed her with one hand, the other braced on her desk, wrench still in hand.
“Back on planet earth there, hero?” She grins, somehow managing to contain laughter, long enough to slowly pull Momoback upright.
She nods, feeling awfully dumb in the moment, panting to get back her lost breath.
…And now it’s her turn to be stared at.

Hatsume stands over her, her jumpsuit material brushing on Momo’s bare knees, and 1-A’s vice finds herself drawing in an unsteady breath. As if all sense had been briefly washed from her.
“ Yes - quite fine. But you don’t need to call me that, you know.”

“What, a hero? That’s what you are though - you’re 1-A! The cream of the crop! Best of the best~” Mei makes a bit of a show of it, hands up around her face, fingers spread wide in a fan. Practically sparkling about it.

“Sure but – I’m not the only hero here.”

That prompts her into an abrupt stop, head tilted aside, not unlike a confused puppy.
“...No, I'm pretty sure you are. I’m an engineer .”
She sparkles while declaring this, and while she isn’t wrong, Momo gives an amused, if exasperated sigh.
Careful, creating hands plant firmly on either side of Mei’s shoulders. Hold her appreciatively .

“Sure - and you’re fantastic , I can see that. But that makes you a hero in your own right, you know?” Yaoyorozu offers a smile, something true and pure.
And Mei feels her cheeks heating up, seeing that expression, as the hero student continues,
“In my eyes, you’re here to make active heroes jobs… easier. You’re helping us save lives, as much as any intern or any other emergency worker is. You’re all heroes - and I don’t doubt that this project is going to become pretty important to a hero too.”

She’s referencing the hulk of technical parts beside them both, and Mei is left speechless for once in her life.

Mouth slightly agape, struggling for words, and eyes scanning Momo’s face.

“...You good?” She asks, to break the quiet, now concerned that perhaps she had overstepped something, made Mei uncomfortable by accident.

“I- yeah . Yeah I’m good- I just… Well, actually, if you’re being all nicey-nice with me I might as well return it.”
Mei reaches to take those hands off her own shoulders, instead holding Momo’s hands tightly, close to herself, leaning in closer and closer with her building enthusiasm.
“Because you’re *awesome*.”
She beams it, sweet and simple.

And now, Momo finds herself clawing for words instead. Cheeks a rosey shade.
“I- Thankyou?”

“And, I gotta come clean…” Mei glances at their project off to the side,”...This isn’t some fancy tech for hero support. Not really …”

She turns away briefly,
“...It’s for Eri. It’s a go-kart for the summer, so she can ride around the grounds on her own~”

“....It’s for Eri?!”
Momo’s turn to be stunned, also looking at their project.
And, from a different angle… yes, she sees it. Underneath the strangely new-age hull design, courtesy of Mei herself… that’s definitely a go-kart.
And frankly, she feels stupid for not realizing it earlier.



“Oh, my god- I am so sorry I didn’t want to come off as being condescending- ”

“You didn’t! I promise, I promise you didn’t!” Mei squeezes her, hauling Yao into her side, so stand shoulder-to-shoulder, with an arm wrapped around and holding her furthest arm, looking at their combined work.
“Together, we made a beautiful baby~”


And of course, she had to make it weird.
“ This is what you meant by baby this whole time?” She gets some side-eye, while Mei continues to stare ahead, pleased.
“Mhm! My babies are handmade with care and precision, and so was this! It's just a collaborative effort this time. It’s our baby.”


“People are going to mistake you for coming onto them, if you approach them about making a baby together , you know.” Momo muses, half poking fun. She assumes that maybe Mei is as socially dense as the majority of 1-A, maybe she simply didn’t read the tone that was, didn’t understand…

“Then they’d be right.”
Mei answers firmly back, with that smile still plastered across her features.

“...What.”

“Yeah! I think you’re neat. And you’re smart- smarts is sexy .” Mei grins at her, holding Momo a little closer, a little tighter.

“ Oh …”
Momo lets out a soft sound, as it all processes.
Truthfully, in a million years she didn’t think someone would find her hot or attractive based on her mind, her intellect and her skills… Others  (like a certain grape-headed fiend) always put such an emphasis and focus on her body;. her broad hips, supple thighs and of course, being well-endowed in the chest.
The fact that Mei hasn’t once even mentioned that, or alluded to it… she feels safe. Seen by Mei, like she understands it somehow.

“You hardly even know me, are you sure?” Momo wants to laugh- but it’s nerves over al else.
Mei does not share the nervousness though, bold as she always is, and offers her a grin.

“After making that gear? Absolutely sure .” The engineer finally releases Momo, shifting to shut the hatch into the go-kart’s cockpit.

“Ready to give her a spin?”
“...Actually, I think that can wait for tomorrow.” Yao speaks up, much to Mei’s surprise here, and she chuckles at the empty expression she gets as a result.
“I was thinking we could walk back to the dorms together, have a little chat … maybe lunch tomorrow?”

Trust her to be so put-together about this whole thing, but Mei finds herself brimming with butterflies and excitement at the prospects of otherwise, very normal, interactions.
“Yes! Yes! Let me put my wrench away and we can go-”


Not that she’s rushing it… but getting to walk back to the dorms with a pretty girl is all  too exciting to potentially miss out on.


And if they get to share a little tentative first kiss on the steps of the 1-A dorm building… who is to say they don’t deserve it?

It has them both cloudy-headed, brimming with thoughts and feelings from all angles.

Mei slowly lets go of Momo’s hand, turning away to make her way down the lane to her own building- before something strikes her, and she briefly turns back.
“Hey- Momo?”

“Mm?”
The black haired hero is stood in the open doors of her building, hands keeping it open so she can lean out around it.

“...Does this mean I have a 3D printer now?”

“Mei!”


Well…she isn’t wrong .