Chapter Text
“Hatsume-san.”
Mei Hatsume doesn’t look up from the project currently scattered across her workbench, though she recognises the voice of the class 2-A teacher. Her hands continue working and her eyes don’t stray as she responds, “Good afternoon, Aizawa-sensei! Do you have another project from one of your problem children?”
“You’re a problem child…” she hears Power Loader mutter. She ignores him.
“No, just a repair,” Aizawa says. A tangled grey binding cloth appears in her peripheral vision on the corner of the work bench where there was miraculously enough free space for it. “There’s a tear.”
“Tear?” Power Loader wanders over, “Thought I taught you how to fix that up in case you were undercover.”
“The material is a little different.”
Hatsume glances over at the binding cloth on her workbench, her keen eyes recognising the slightly smoother texture and lighter hue that indicates this isn’t Aizawa’s binding cloth, it’s actually Shinsou Hitoshi’s.
Shinsou Hitoshi’s, aka the cloth that she helped Power Loader to make as a side project.
“It tore?” She asks, jumping up to unravel the cloth and inspect the damage. “But I used a special blend that adds dyneema to the nylon-silk base. It should be crazy strong!”
“This is Nighthide’s?” Power Loader asks. Aizawa just nods.
“It stretches and captures incredibly, thank you Hatsume-san. But it got shot straight through by one of Creati’s projectiles. Just bad luck.”
She nods, quickly laying the cloth out on the workbench and turning to dig around in a cabinet for some replacement fabric she had kept from when they first made it. “Mhm, sure. Maybe we should see if we can upgrade it, then.”
“Hatsume…” Power Loader warns.
“There’s no need, he’ll want it back quickly,” Aizawa shuts her down. “When we have a less intense training schedule we can organise for you to re-analyse it then.”
“Oh yeah, the joint training with Shiketsu tomorrow,” Power Loader nods. “We have a few upgrades to finish tonight.”
Hatsume lays out the additional material and quickly starts stitching the cloth back together. On closer inspection, Aizawa can see a few familiar support items on the workbench that are likely for the other students.
“Thank you, Hatsume-san,” he says, recognising that she’s prioritising this repair over the others. Probably because he brought it here himself.
“No worries, it won’t take long!” she chirps. “Honestly, we would have had time to do it later tonight too.”
Aizawa shrugs. “I’d rather bring it back quickly. He has my capture weapon now and I think he’s nervous about it.”
Hatsume pauses, glancing over her shoulder to see that Aizawa is indeed without his signature scarf around his neck. She looks up at Power Loader who just shrugs in return.
“Aren’t classes over for the day?” she asks, turning back to the repair. “They’re still training?”
“Mhm, voluntary. They all want to prepare for tomorrow.”
The three fall quiet while Hatsume continues the repair. Power Loader turns back to his own projects, and Aizawa sits in a spare chair to wait. Hatsume was right - it doesn’t take long and twenty minutes later she’s holding up the repaired weapon for him to see.
“Tada! Not a stitch out of place,” she tosses it over and Aizawa catches it easily. He unravels it to look at the material and as expected, she did a near-perfect job.
“Thank you again,” he bows his head, turning to leave.
“Can I just clarify something?” she asks, spinning around in her chair and stopping Aizawa in his tracks.
“Hatsume…” Power Loader warns. She ignores him.
“Shinsou-kun damaged his support weapon, right? On his own?” Hatsume confirms. Aizawa nods. “Mmhm. And instead of sending him to get it repaired, you gave him yours to use and came here yourself to repair it?”
His expression flattens. “They had training.”
“Voluntary training,” she smirks. “I see… And you’d go out of your way like this for all your problem children?”
Aizawa doesn’t respond, looking wholly unimpressed. Hatsume giggles, satisfied, and turns back to her workbench to continue the other projects she had left splayed out there.
Aiawa rolls his eyes, taking the last few steps out the door with Shinsou’s capture weapon in hand. “Thank you again, Hatsume-san.”
Hatsume waits until he’s out of earshot before nudging Power Loader with a giggle. “He totally has a favorite.”
He laughs, placing a hand on her head and ruffling her hair, ruining her ponytail in the process. She can’t quite see his face in his suit, but it’s pretty clear he’s smiling. “Who doesn’t?”
She gasps, eyes lighting up. “Sensei! I knew it!”
“Be quiet,” he grumbles, snatching his hand away. “Finish those before we close up.”
“Yessir!”