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Assistant: Title: Starborn Hero
        Author: NotMasonPines NotMasonPines 
        Chapter: 31/56 
        Summary: In canon, Izuku turned out to be quirkless, despite both his parents having quirks: one that attracts small objects and one that breathes fire. There are so many ways for these quirks to have combined into what could’ve been Izuku’s, and so many of these potential combinations can be seen across the multiverse. In this specific one, however, Izuku Midoriya is born with a star in his stomach and plasma coursing through his veins…That’s sure to affect a few things in his life, for better and for worse.A healthy dose of the butterfly effect, plenty of quirk theory and analysis, unconventional relationships and dilemmas, a revamped curriculum and more await Izuku and the others, in a world that seems so similar yet so different once you look closer.(Previously ‘Quirk: Starborn’)“Izuku, promise me you’ll be just like the Sun, the brightest star in the sky. That way, when I and everyone else all over the world look up, we’ll know it’s you.”Act 1: (Chapters 01-12) LeapAct 2: (Chapters 13-27) AscentAct 3: (Chapters 28-41) SurpassAct 4: (Chapters 42~57) SoarAct 5: (Chapters ?? - ??) ApexAct 6: (Chapters ?? - ??) Beyond
            
            Inko prides herself in her ability to stay composed. Now watch as that ability gets tested by her dorky, yet infuriating husband and a son who is the literal definition of sunshine (the good and the bad parts of it).
        Contents: Chapter 31: Mend
    

    

        
          
          
            Izuku has been pulled back up from the pit he'd fallen into, but that doesn't mean he's fine. The only thing Izuku's ever wanted, the only thing he needs right now is rest and some normalcy, something he's only been granted in the smallest of ways ever since enrolling at UA. However, this time he's around someone who will make sure he gets just that.Will she and the others succeed? There are only less than three weeks left until the Summer Training Camp begins, will it be enough time to help Izuku heal?
          
        

      
        
          I hope you guys didn't mind last chapter, it was pretty different from my normal stuff but this should be a return to form. This chapter has a much higher concentration of light-hearted moments and crack than most chapters (excluding chapter 2, that one was a cracktacular) but of course I couldn't resist now that I've exposed myself to the angst so there are still some more emotional moments sprinkled in between.Anyway, as always thanks for all the kind words I've gotten over the course of this fic! And I'm always looking forward to more in the future. <3 <3 First third mark skip: A BucketSecond third mark skip: Chocolate Thief
            
            (See the end of the chapter for  more notes.)
            
      
  

  
  
    
    The sensation of a person pressed against you, being able to feel their breathing from the movement in their chest, their arms wrapped tightly but pleasantly around your waist, was one of the most comforting things Izuku had felt. He offhandedly mused how he’d never experienced a hug from this side before, and whether this was how the people he hugged felt. Sure, he’d hugged with Mei-chan quite a few times already, but the vast majority of them were because she tried to tackle or bearhug him in excitement. Before this there had only been one emotionally vulnerable hug for comfort, and Izuku had been the one who had pressed Mei-chan against his chest that time. Somewhere in a distant corner of his mind he thought about how Mei-chan’s chin resting on his head meant that his face was in an…interesting position in regards to her body, but that corner was pointedly ignored as Izuku was mentally just too tired to get flustered or worked up over anything. Because while he’d just gotten out of what felt like a long nap, at least that’s what he assumed with his lacking ability to sleep, it wasn’t the nice kind of waking up, more like the one where you’re extremely tired and disoriented. Izuku cleared his throat in an attempt to speak up again and winced at his raspy voice. “Mei-chan…I’m not going away again.” He paused for a moment to let his voice rest, noticing that Mei-chan’s grip on his waist wasn’t loosening. “This is nice…but can you let go now, please?” Her arms slowly unwrapped themselves and Izuku silently regretted not waiting for a bit longer as Mei-chan comforting presence moved back and away, allowing his eyes to see more of the room in the process. From what he could tell he’d been placed in a section of the workshop area, isolated from the rest of the place with some movable curtain racks. The curtains blocked out most of the workshop’s light but Izuku could still spot the slight redness to Mei-chan’s eyes as they silently stared at each other. “Uhm…Mei-chan, I-” His attempt at speaking up was interrupted by coughing as his dry throat got agitated. Before he could even get out of the coughing fit and ask for water Mei-chan startled and slipped through the curtains, the quick flash of light from the other side making Izuku look away for a moment as he waited for the coughing to subside. An instant later Mei-chan slipped back in and held a bottle of water in front of him, one he eagerly snatched out of her hands and downed like he’d just crossed the Sahara Desert. It might seem counterintuitive that someone who needed to drink water more often than a regular person would get a dry throat more quickly. But compared to normal people his throat and oesophagus passively absorbed water in his throat for hydration since it couldn’t enter the body normally through the guts, and said absorption was extremely efficient at it. Izuku breathed a sigh of relief as the last of the water sloshed down his throat and one last wet cough cleared it all up. He was in the motion of setting the empty plastic bottle aside to thank Mei-chan when his hand brushed against a few loose objects sitting on the desk, making them fall off. Izuku looked to his side to see a bunch of identical, empty plastic bottles, now rolling on the desk and the floor. It took a moment for him to process before he slowly focused back on Mei-chan, who had remained silent so far. “Mei-chan…how long was I gone for?” She gave a sad but nervous laugh. “About three- four days? I didn’t really pay much attention to that. But you’re back now, right?” A churning feeling of guilt settled deep in his stomach; any prior tiredness temporarily forgotten. “Oh gosh, I completely dumped all of that on you out of the blue, and right after everything at I-Expo too! I’m so sorry!” Mei-chan narrowed her eyes and huffed. “I get the feeling that I can’t stop you from blaming yourself, so apology accepted!” Her face lit up slightly as she shamelessly admitted to not thinking his apology was necessary, before dimming back down again, this time in a softer look instead of a nervous one. “I’m flattered that you came to me first…Sorry for not trying things myself sooner.” Izuku looked down at his lap as he scratched the back of his head, trying to go over the bits and pieces he remembered. “I take it I can’t stop you from blaming yourself either huh. But I’m back now so maybe we should just…not think about it too much for now?” He looked back up again to see Mei-chan solemnly nodding, eyes slightly blurry again. “Mhm, spending the rest of the break moping doesn’t sound very productive or fun, right? Besides, Changeling-chan informed me already, so it’d just be redundant.” She looked at him a bit more critically now, reticles zooming slightly as she assessed him. “What do you want to do though? I doubt you want to just go back to normal.” Izuku let a soft but tired smile appear, glad that Mei-chan wasn’t jumping back to her manic self immediately for him. “I think I just want to have an actual rest -mentally that is- and see what happens from there. Hopefully I won’t have to think about…everything for a little while.” He looked down again to avoid Mei-chan’s eyes as he started rubbing his arm. “I don’t think I can go home right now, and the other potential places might not help me either right now. Could I maybe just…stay here for a little while?” As Izuku got further into that sentence he hunched in on himself and started mumbling it instead, thinking that maybe he was asking too much, but instead he got one of Mei-chan’s usual, more manic chuckles. Looking up again he saw her sporting an amused grin. “You already come here often anyway, and don’t forget that one time you stayed the night all the way back when!” She clapped her hands together, the sound much louder since she wasn’t wearing her gloves. “So I don’t really see the problem! Just don’t go creepy on me and mi casa es su casa!” Izuku felt his eyes burn slightly and the now familiar warm feeling settled back in his chest, but he let the potential implications of that feeling slide in favour of feeling tired yet content. ‘Of course she wouldn’t mind, I think the most stupid things when I’m sad.’ “Thanks for the hospitality, Mei-chan.” He blinked as he focused on the curtains surrounding them and tried getting off of the desk he’d made his home for the past few days, hearing a few cracks and pops as he slowly stood up. “You can get rid of those curtains; they’re not needed anymore.” He looked back at the desk, which appeared cleaner than he last remembered, safe for the empty water bottles littering it. “I also bet you want to reclaim your workshop desk, right?” Mei-chan snickered as she started pulling the mobile curtains open, letting the light blind Izuku. “That desk won’t be used a lot for the next month or so, or did you forget about the advice you gave me?” After a few more seconds of blinking and shielding his eyes- ‘Seriously, Starborn has so many secondary mutations, why nothing against light sensitivity?’ -Izuku could see the workshop space again. The front half of the garage space remained the same as the last time he was here, filled with boxes of equipment, materials and who knew what else. The back half where the actual workshop space and the desk were located however? Izuku blinked again just in case he was just imagining the lack of tools, blueprints and miscellaneous junk strewn about. He couldn’t spot any stains or scorch marks anywhere either. Mei-chan walked in front of him, grinning as she opened her arms wide in an identical pose to the first time she showed him the workshop. “Before you came here I was busy relocating all my baby-related stuff to up front, don’t want to get tempted by my precious babies!” His gaze swept over the clean space behind Mei-chan, taking in the nooks and crannies that had originally been obscured or dirtied over the time that she’d been making things in the workshop. There was one question on his mind though. “Do you have an idea on what you want to try out then?” Her grin became even more obvious. “Before you came here I already had something catch my attention.” ‘Whoa, in that short a time? Well, she does have a fast mind.’ “And that would be…?” Mei-chan’s grin turned into a smirk and she wagged her finger. “Nah-uh, I need to get some things first before I tell you. Was hoping that Space-elevator-chan could come with me.” She turned pensive. “Actually, do you want anyone visiting this place right now? You want to rest and slowly get back into things, right?” The slowly lightening mood in the workshop got sombre again as Izuku winced at the bits and pieces of one-sided conversations he’d remembered. “I- How many people did you tell about my situation?” She hesitated before holding up three fingers. “Space-elevator-chan, Changeling-chan and Pomeranian-kun. I would’ve called your homeroom teacher or Hound Dog too but I couldn’t reach them.” Izuku scratched his cheek as he thought about what would be the least draining right now. “Tell them that I’m fine…And that I’d rather they don’t tell others something happened for now.” He thought about all the other friends he’d made that seemed to care about his health a lot. “I think they’d try to come here anyway if they knew.” Mei-chan nodded in understanding. “Sure, sure, anything else?” “Uh…I think right now I only want to see Chako-chan and Himi-chan in person, so you can tell them that they can come check up on me if they want to. Please don’t tell Katsuki though, I really don’t- I don’t want to see him right now.” As he was saying that he already noticed Mei-chan fishing her phone out of her pocket and tapping for a bit, finishing up right as he stopped talking. “Done! Anyway, I’m gonna grab that stuff with Space-elevator-chan now, you coming with?” Izuku nervously started scratching his neck again, thinking that he was starting to come over as a whiny kid. “I don’t think I want to go outside for a few days, but I’m also afraid of what might happen if I’m left alone with my thoughts right now.” Instead of the annoyed reaction he was expecting, Mei-chan got a pensive look instead, which lasted until she glanced towards the adjacent kitchen. “Aha! I didn’t get around to emptying the kitchen yet!” She dashed to the storage space at the front of the workshop and fished some cleaning supplies from them. “Go do that for me. Can’t start thinking if you’re too annoyed at scrubbing that one really annoying oil stain!” Izuku chuckled at the image of Mei-chan cleaning the workshop area and getting frustrated over it. His eyes then shifted to the cardboard boxes sitting on the large table at the center of the space behind her, right as she brought attention to them as well. “I’ve been putting all the small stuff like notes, equipment and junk in these boxes. It’s not as bad but there’s still a lot of stuff in the kitchen.” At this point it became pretty clear to Izuku that he wouldn’t have to worry about being alone with his thoughts. Especially not if some of Mei-chan’s older, more volatile babies were among the stuff in the kitchen. He’d have to be completely focused to remain cautious. Having made up his mind, Izuku gave her a thumbs up. “Sounds good to me, I’ll try my best. Sorry for holding you up, Mei-chan.” Mei-chan grinned. “Alright then, see you in a bit!” Izuku watched as she dashed out the side-door and- ‘Wait, there was a side door hidden behind the junk there?!’ -shouted one last thing as her voice got further away. “You’re gonna love what I wanna do!” He let a soft smile creep on his face as he shook his head and walked over to the kitchen to assess his work. His smile immediately dropped when he couldn’t even get through the entrance before noticing that he couldn’t see what the kitchen’s floor was made of with all the notes and junk covering it. ‘Oh gosh, how much work was cleaning the workspace then?!’      Izuku was well into cleaning up the kitchen, having collected all stray items laying on the floor and countertops and had started sweeping the floor from any stains when he heard the sound of the garage door at the other end of the workshop rolling up. He set the broom against the fridge and walked into the main space, surprised that Mei-chan was back so soon. “Mei-chan, you’re back already? What did you want to-?” Izuku cut himself off when he instead saw Chako-chan holding several bags, nervously shuffling past the wall of crates that bordered the workspace, now looking at him after he spoke up. “Uhm, hey Midori-kun…Oh, there was a side door there.” She awkwardly raised her hand in an attempted wave as she eyed the now uncovered door. “Hatsume-chan said you were back so I…wanted to see you.” Izuku returned the awkward wave in kind. “Yeah, I- Mei-chan didn’t come back with you?” Chako-chan walked away from the crates and towards the table where she deposited the plastic bags. “She just ran off after we were done at the clothing store, saying she needed to get something important and that I already knew the way here. So…here I am?” It was obvious to Izuku that Chako-chan was trying really hard to refrain from bringing anything up, so he chuckled in an attempt to lighten the mood and turned back to the kitchen. “Mei-chan dumped the task of cleaning the kitchen on me before she left, so I’m dumping half of that on you now.” Izuku stepped into the kitchen and grabbed the broom, glancing back at her. “Unless you wanted to do something else to pass the time?” She eyed the kitchen behind him for a second before smiling and walking over. “Yeah, sure.” He started sweeping a particularly annoying stain in the corner, wondering how tiling could even get stained like this as he started hearing noises of Chako-chan starting to mess with some of the cupboards. ‘Cr@p, I totally forgot there could be junk stored in those.’ Despite these general noises, the kitchen remained devoid of actual conversation for a little while. Izuku mentally sighed as he could practically feel Chako-chan’s restraint slipping behind him. ‘I guess it’s impossible to just completely set it aside, huh?’ Right as he turned around to let her say whatever she wanted to say Chako-chan spoke up herself. “Dammit, Ah can’t do this! I’m so sorry for not being there when ya needed it Midori-kun!” Izuku waited for a moment, in case she wanted to say more things, and readied himself to respond when she instead remained silent. “Chako-chan, I’m glad that you care about me so much…but don’t beat yourself up over something you couldn’t see coming. How could you if I didn’t see it coming?” She grimaced. “But that’s the thing, I could’ve seen it coming. I already noticed you were getting overwhelmed after I-Expo and I knew what could happen if things got too far, but I didn’t help you at all.” She argued, head downcast. “In that case it’s just as much my fault as it would be yours, which is not at all. I knew I was getting overwhelmed by things, but that it wasn’t that close yet. And then…something really stressful happened out of nowhere and pushed me over. I don’t think it could’ve been predicted or avoided.” Izuku hesitantly retorted, not wanting to talk about the specifics. Chako-chan still looked downcast. “Still…I just ran away when I saw you like that.” Izuku felt a grimace come onto his face. “I’d rather you not do anything and get someone else than going through something harmful yourself trying to help me.” He quickly dropped the grimace and showed a soft smile instead. “Besides, I think I’ll be fine now, just being here like you’re doing now is enough in my books, Chako-chan.” To his relief the soft smile was returned, though with a hint of determination added as well. “You really do always know what to say, Midori-kun. I’ll just have to learn how to handle these situations better for the future!” She raised her fist. “I’m gonna do my best!” ‘If this goes down anything like the martial arts thing then she’ll become an amazing hero in no time.’ Before Izuku could say anything, Chako-chan, now invigorated, turned back towards the kitchen cupboards, and excitedly opened another closed one. “Time to clean these before Hatsume-chan comes-!” 
  CLANG
 
  BANG
 
  CRASH
 The now opened cupboard turned out to be stuffed to the brim with tools and small gadgets, and opening the doors made it all fall down on the unsuspecting girl who now found herself on the floor, partly buried in metal. “Chako-chan!” To Izuku’s relief, she quickly sat back up, nursing her head as the small pile that had fallen on top of her fell to the floor. A glare was shot at the now mostly empty cupboard by the girl. “Who keeps tools in kitchen cabinets?!”      The clean-up went much faster now that there was a second pair of hands helping along. In the end they started treating the remaining unopened cupboards like landmines, carefully opening the doors with the handle of the broom from afar, watching the miscellaneous tools and gadgets fall out and onto the tiling below. It was just a little after they finished up that Mei-chan finally came back to the workshop, carrying a large number of cardboard boxes like she was trying to recreate the tower of Pisa. Said tower was about to collapse when Mei-chan swung around a bit too much on her way in through the garage door, and Chako-chan’s quick thinking with her quirk saved Mei-chan from getting buried. As Chako-chan went on to bring the floating boxes down to the ground before cancelling her quirk Izuku went up to Mei-chan with his hand extended. “Are you good, Mei-chan? Why were you even carrying so many boxes in the first place?” Izuku helped pull her up as Chako-chan interrupted before Mei-chan could say anything. “Hey guys, it’s a bit late so I’m going home for dinner.” Before he could respond Mei-chan suddenly got an excited look on her face and sprang up, running to the cardboard boxes she’d brought in. “Speaking of dinner, I got all the stuff I needed to get and now I’m ready to start!” Izuku blinked as she feverishly started ripping open one of the boxes. “…Start what?” Mei-chan grabbed the contents of the box and turned around, huge, manic smile on her face as she held some pans. “Starting with figuring out this cooking stuff of course!” “Sorry, I’m not following.” Izuku admitted as he noticed Chako-chan slowly backing out through the side door, away from the manic aura that was being projected. Her smile was replaced by a pout. “You’re the reason why I’m trying this out, did you forget already?” His eyes widened. “Oh, I see! I didn’t forget about that, just didn’t think that you’d try cooking of all things. I was expecting something related to engineering or science.” Mei-chan shrugged as she went back to opening more boxes, Chako-chan was long gone at this point. “I was doing some research because of some inspiration I got at I-Island for a new project after the summer and stumbled on this. I didn’t know there was a whole science behind food and taste!” Izuku chuckled as he caught a glimpse of an excited grin while she ripped another box open, how she carried all of them here was a bit of a mystery, one he wasn’t gonna think about. “Yeah, there’s culinary science, food science and gastronomy. It’s a whole combination of socioeconomics, biochemistry, the arts, and neuroscience. I don’t exactly see how you’re so excited though, it’s pretty far removed from what you normally do.” She carelessly threw a knife over her shoulder while unpacking, making Izuku gulp at her lack of awareness. “But that’s where you’re wrong, 0-pointer-kun! Think about it, all the different materials, putting them together in different ways, all the tools that have certain uses, people’s tastes and preferences, how small changes can completely change the experience!” At some point through the list Mei-chan had stopped unpacking and stood up again with an excited grin. Her excitement felt infectious and Izuku understood her thought process now. “Now that you put it like that it does sound similar to what you do with your babies in a way.” He got an excited nod as confirmation. “And the best part is that if it works out I won’t have to rely on school lunches, take-out, fast-food and microwave dinners anymore! Dad always harped on about being self-sufficient but I never bothered since it’d take up so much time from my baby-work.” Izuku smiled at her excitement, the apprehension at today’s start mostly forgotten for now, but couldn’t help but point something else out with a smirk. “And food can’t spontaneously explode, so that’s a plus as well.” He laughed as Mei-chan attempted to shove him away in indignation, another, more serious, thought popping up as he dodged it. “Actually, aren’t I the worst temporary roommate for this?” She paused her attempts with a thoughtful look before a more manic smile appeared. “Oh, but that’s what makes it challenging, doesn’t it?” “And you do love your challenges.” Izuku finished off. ‘I don’t really see how she can solve it though. But I guess I’ll try to help her out. Might be fun to figure this out as well, a good way to spend the summer.’ “Exactly! So let’s-” The loud sound of a stomach rumbling interrupted her, and after a few seconds her manic smile dropped. “Okay, maybe just fast-food delivery for me tonight.” Izuku made a noise of agreement as she fished her phone out of her camo shorts. ‘Does she even have any ingredients in the kitchen? Last I checked there was the bare minimum for drinks and breakfast in one cabinet and the fridge.’      
  Wednesday July 21st 2151
 Izuku let out a sigh as he dropped the bags on the kitchen counter. After Mei-chan had gone upstairs to sleep he dove into researching, partly because he didn’t want to be left alone with his thoughts and he just needed to distract himself from slipping before- ‘No, not yet!’ The other reason was that his suspicion had been right; Mei-chan only had the bare minimum stored in her kitchen. So he had taken it upon himself to unpack his computer from the suitcase Himi-chan had brought, which he was grateful for, and tried to research the most useful ingredients Mei-chan might need in general at the workshop desk, which he had claimed as his own for now. Afterwards he had gone on a midnight trip through Korisato to visit the nearest 24/7 combini. Izuku assumed that this was the one that Mei-chan had been going to for her premade breakfast and dinner meals before since the microwave looked like it’d received the Mei-treatment items received after breaking too much for her standard. Now that he was back and not focusing on anything he realised that there was no comfortable place for him to sit or lie down when he wasn’t doing anything. As far as he could remember, there was a couch upstairs in Mei-chan’s bedroom, but obviously that one was off-limits, at least at night. Not like that couch could be brought downstairs. Actually, now that he thought about it, how did Mei-chan get the couch up there in the first place?! 
  ‘I wonder if I could get a bean bag, always wanted one of those. There might even be one hidden in the piles up front that I-’
 Any further musings were cut off when the loft hatch opened and the ladder hit the ground right next to the desk, making him jump off the stool. Instead of an excited Mei-chan either sliding down or apologising for him, a subdued, half-awake enough version slowly and carefully climbed down the rungs instead. ‘Oh right, she’s like this before her coffee.’ Already having an idea of what she was currently doing, Izuku walked past the ladder and into the kitchen. The coffee machine was a bit old but Izuku warmed up the milk and water with his quirk in a flash and let the machine do the rest of the work. By the time Mei-chan had safely gotten off the ladder she got coffee handed to her before she could even enter the kitchen. It took a few moments of slow blinking and processing before she greedily yanked it from him and gulped it all in her usual way. She let out a contented sigh, like she’d just drank a cup of refreshing water and fully opened her eyes, reticles dilating like Izuku had seen several times before. “Thanks Midoriya-kun! Kinda broke my coffee-bringer baby a few days ago.” Mei-chan suddenly sported a mischievous grin. “Hey, maybe you can be its temporary replacement and-” “Mei-chan, no.” Izuku deadpanned. The grin stayed. “Aw c’mon, that climb down the ladder every morning is pretty dangerous when I’m sleepy. Besides, can’t exactly repair it during the summer y’know, doctor's orders.” The grin now became smug, or maybe that was just Izuku’s imagination. Izuku relented, but not without trying to get the last laugh as he got his posh accent ready again. “Hatsume-dono, I have already taken the liberty to shop for groceries, shall I shine your shoes as well while I'm at it?” Her grin dropped and she instead got a look of horror. “Oh god, please don’t do that every time you bring coffee!” ‘Hah, got her.’ “But Hatsume-dono, that would be highly disrespectful. Surely you can’t ask that of me, a mere peasant butler.” A smirk fell on his lips. She relented. “I get it, I’ll make my own coffee…Did you actually get groceries?” Izuku dropped the act, having had enough payback for the day. “Yeah, figured that’d speed things along. Also, I don’t mind making your coffee in the morning, just don’t treat me like your assistant. We’re not doing a field test or something, right?”  “No, of course not.” Mei-chan’s shoulders tensed. “Uhm, that reminds me of something I should tell you that I didn’t get the time to say yesterday.” He raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything as Mei-chan started touching her index fingers together. “So I was pretty distressed when you were…offline, and I wasn’t really thinking properly so…” ‘I don’t think I’m liking the direction this is going.’ “So…what?” Mei-chan hunched in slightly, looking down at her feet. “I got really worried about you keeling over or running away in that state when I was asleep so I kinda, sorta…chipped you?” “…” “…” “…What?” The dam broke as she suddenly started nervously rambling about it. “I actually repurposed an older baby that I made when dad’s Pomeranian kept running away. It only sends a warning signal if vitals are really bad, and the tracking-” ‘TRACKING?!’ “-shows a less precise location the further away you are, so it’s impossible to see the precise location until you’re really close and at that point the chip will signal that proximity with an alarm as well so you'll know immediately.” Her anxious rambling stopped, allowing Izuku to stew in what he just heard for a moment before- “Mei-chan, what the heck?! You can’t just…do that!” She flinched slightly before frantically moving her arms in front of her. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking! I hadn’t slept at all the first and second night and when the third night came I knew I was gonna fall asleep and I didn’t want anything to happen while I wasn’t awake and I had something lying around so I- yeah. I didn’t wanna say it yesterday…It didn’t seem like the time.” Izuku took a closer look at the guilt and embarrassment on her face. This clearly hadn’t been anything like her usual antics. All he could do was sigh. “Well, at least you told me when you could’ve kept it quiet…Where’d you put it?” Mei-chan hesitantly pointed at the location on her own body. “On your right arm, near your shoulder.” He touched that area and was surprised that there was absolutely no sign of anything being there. “Mei-chan, I understand how it happened, and I’m touched that you care so much but…please don’t do something like that without consent ever again.” Izuku thought that she couldn’t hunch in on herself any further, but he was wrong. “I know, I’m sorry.” ‘So much for trying to keep the mood up.’ “You’re fine, I was just…really surprised, and a bit disappointed. Do you have a transceiver for the chip?” She nodded as she fished through the large pocket on the front of her denim shorts overall. ‘Did she get more- Oh right, she did. I probably shouldn’t focus on that every time she has different clothes on.’ A small tracker device was presented to him. “Is this the only thing that can interface with the chip?” ‘There's no way I'm fishing that thing out of my body.’ He got a nod in response and fished a hammer from the box of tools that was still laying on the workshop table and handed it to her. A look of understanding crossed her face as she reluctantly laid the device down on the table and swung downwards. Mei-chan eyed the now scr@p metal dejectedly, probably not used to deliberately breaking any of her creations and Izuku decided that he was well and truly done with this whole recurring downcast mood the past few days. “So, I got groceries. Do you wanna try out some basic recipes?” The scr@p metal was immediately forgotten as her normal manic mood returned and she started dragging him to the kitchen. “Oh hell yeah! C’mon let’s get started!” Getting second thoughts, Izuku quickly amended. “And let’s maybe not touch anything related to heat and fire for now.” Mei-chan halted for a moment before picking up the pace again as she shot him a pout. “Fine, let’s just make it more exciting as we go then.” 
  ‘Well, at least nothing should go wrong for now.’
   “Ow!” “…Mei-chan, how are you this bad at using a knife?” Said girl was now sucking her finger for the 6th time, the vegetables still looking about as chopped as at the start. “Seriously, I thought you were good at using tools?” Mei-chan gave him an incredulous stare as he grabbed another band-aid. “Midoriya-kun, have you ever seen an engineer use a knife in the workshop?” Izuku opened his mouth to retort but closed it immediately. “Fair point…But still-” He applied the band-aid “-maybe you should start wearing your gloves again for this.” She rolled her eyes as she walked out of the kitchen, six band-aids richer than when she came in.   
  
  
  Saturday July 24th 2151
 “Hey, 0-pointer-kun!” Izuku looked at the kitchen entrance from his computer. “What?” Mei-chan peeked her head around the corner. “So we already did a few cold recipes and I had them for lunch and dinner, but you’ve never tasted any for me.” He frowned. “Mei-chan, you know I can’t exactly eat any-” “Blah blah blah, you mention that almost every other Saturday or something.” She cut him off, making the blabbing motion with her hand. ‘…Oddly specific.’ She retracted her head from the corner and rummaged through the sink cabinet for a bit. “So I have a solution!” Izuku raised his eyebrow, curiosity piqued, as Mei-chan walked out of the kitchen. “This.” She slammed something down on the workshop desk. “Is a bucket.” ‘Dear god.’ Knowing that nothing was ever as it seemed with her, Izuku inspected the bucket a bit closer, not finding anything of note. “Okay…what do you want me to do with this?” Mei-chan beamed at him. “You said it yourself not too long ago! Spit the food into it when you’re done chewing of course! It’ll be like wine testing, but for food!” “Mei-chan, I was joking back then. Also, isn’t that gonna be a bit unsavoury for you?” There was also his fear of wanting to eat again after having completely forgotten the experience for over a decade, but he didn’t want to bring that up. She dismissed the comment. “Midoriya-kun, I’ve gone without a shower for over two weeks once before a science fair, some chewed food doesn’t gross me out. Besides, won’t it be interesting to see how you experience tasting things for basically the first time?” ‘Too much information, Mei-chan.’ “…Sure, I’ll try it out. But you go first.” He said hesitantly. Mei-chan pouted again. “Seriously, you helped with most of them. You don’t trust your own skills? What happened to your confidence?” He shook his head. “Still booting back up. Maybe in a few days’ time. Did we have anything still in the fridge?” Her eyes shone a bit brighter. “Oh I kept a bit of every meal so far; don’t you worry about that!” Izuku eyed the bucket as Mei-chan gleefully skipped into the kitchen and opened the fridge. ‘Oh boy, better pray for the best.’      
  Sunday July 25th 2151
 Any worries so far over tasting food again seemed to be unfounded. It was actually a novel and welcome experience for Izuku compared to the highly diluted flavours he could add to his drinking water. Mei-chan herself had been extra interested in his reactions, since a teenager tasting food for what was basically the first time wasn’t really something that happened. It was probably the same rare kind of interesting as deaf people who could hear things for the first time, or (colour)blind people who could see fully for the first time. For now he kept his worries in the back of his mind, since the only dishes they’d made and tasted so far had been cold ones that basically just consisted of vegetables, rice, and fruits. The one thing that was the most difficult about taking a bite, chewing, and then spitting it out were any liquids that Izuku had to avoid slipping down his throat in the process. What was the real worry were meats and sugars. If he remembered correctly he’d been a big meat fan before his quirk came in, and he also used to have a real sweet tooth. And the moment of truth was coming up pretty soon. The sizzling of oil in the kitchen was the indicator of that. Today they were tentatively trying out actual cooking, or more specifically grilling some meat. So far there hadn’t been any problems, Izuku was standing behind Mei-chan as she manned the stove. The worst so far had been some oil splashing up, which she barely seemed to notice with her gloves on. Said girl’s voice came up above the sizzling. “See, 0-pointer-kun? Nothing to worry about! We could’ve started baking days ago!” Izuku hummed and couldn’t help but point something out. “It’s cooking, not baking, Mei-chan.” She dismissively waved her free hand around. “Cooking, baking, potato, potahto. Also no deflecting!” “Uhm, actually-” ‘Gosh, did I really just say that?’ “-cooking is the act of preparing food for eating, mainly through heating it up to change its flavours, baking is just one of the many methods to accomplish that. There are all the dry cooking methods like grilling, which is what you’re doing right now, and besides baking there’s also roasting, searing, frying and sauteing. And then there are the wet cooking methods like poaching, simmering, boiling and steaming.” Mei-chan turned around and gave a thumbs up. “Thanks for the input, Wikipedia-kun!” ‘Should’ve expected the sass to be returned at some point.’ “Hey, I take offense to that! I don’t just use Wikipedia!” He retorted. She then pointed at the makeshift woollen cape he’d been wearing. “And I take offense to that.” Izuku grinned as he picked at the tape he’d used as a clasp. “How come? Every kitchen has a fire blanket for safety reasons, don’t they?” Mei-chan put her hands on her hips as she glared at him. “Even I know that you don’t normally have them ready to throw on a pan.” He shrugged sheepishly. “If nothing happens to catch on fire today then I’ll put it away next time, alright?” She barked out a laugh- “I’ll take that bet!” -right before a flame sprung up in the pan behind her, the crackling heard over the sizzling of the oil for a few seconds. “Mei-chan, the steak’s on fire.” He eventually pointed out, glancing over her shoulder. “Tsk How would that even be possible? I don’t even have any alcohol here.” She grinned, right as the fire alarm he’d turned back on for safety reasons went off. Her grin fell while Izuku undid his makeshift clasp. “Ugh Go ahead Midoriya-kun.” “Thank you! On the flip side, this is good practice for flambéing.” He chirped as he got up next to her to use the blanket, resulting in a soft bump against his shoulder.      
  Friday July 30th 2151
 “OW!” Izuku yelled as the knife sliced his finger, blood already coming out of the wound before he could even think about healing it. He put the knife down and sucked away the excess blood as he poured some of his stockpile into the finger. “Mei-chan, don’t bump into me when I’m cutting!” She rolled her eyes as she scooted between him and the wall again to the sink. “Then don’t block the route from the sink to the oven.” “This is the only countertop in the kitchen that isn’t taken up by the microwave or the coffee machine!” He exasperatedly threw up his hands. Mei-chan let out an offended gasp. “Don’t throw shade at those precious machines! The microwave’s kept me fed and I wouldn’t even be awake right now without the coffee machine!” “Why are we still yelling about this?!” “I don’t-!” Mei-chan cleared her throat. “I don’t know, it’s not very fun.” Izuku nodded. “Agreed. Still, this is the 20th time this has happened to either of us.” She brought her hand up to her chin. “If only there was a way to increase space and countertop surface.” Her eyes flitted from him to behind him and she snapped her fingers. “Got it, let’s just remove that wall and get more cabinets!” He turned around to look at the wall that divided the workshop and the kitchen. “You can’t just- That could be a loadbearing wall for all we know!” Mei-chan dismissed his concern. “Nah, I already destroyed that wall on accident when I first got here, and it definitely wasn’t a loadbearing wall back then!” Izuku was left silent, trying to imagine what exactly could’ve destroyed an entire wall on accident, or how he missed the signs that it’d been hastily rebuilt as she skipped into the workshop, leaving him to think about other things. He hadn’t said it out loud, but the past week had been exactly what he’d wanted when he originally asked for some mental health days on the way back to Japan. He truly was grateful for everything Mei-chan had done for him, directly and indirectly. His mind couldn’t help but wander though. 
  ‘I wonder if…mom is doing as well as I am. Should I-?’
 
  ~“I lied to you. I’m so sorry, Izuku.”~
 
  ~“Why can’t you trust me, mom?!”~
 Izuku violently shook his head, as if that act would throw the memories right out of his head. ‘Nope! Not ready for that at all!’ Trying to distract himself, Izuku tried to resume cutting vegetables again but noticed that some of the blood of his earlier cut had dropped onto them, making him cringe. ‘I think only Himi-chan would like that. Wait…’ He paused for a moment, pondering before fishing his phone out of his pocket. ‘Yeah…I think it’d be nice to see other people again now.’ Izuku typed out a message, and then retyped it a few times for good measure before sending it to his friends. And wasn’t that something? His friends contact list had grown from Katsuki to way more than he’d expected. On a whim he also decided to send it to the class group chat, which Katsuki wasn’t part of because he never wanted to bother with the notification-spams that were group chats. Me: Hey guys, Mei-chan (Hatsume) has recently discovered cooking and she’s kinda dragged me into it. If you know her then you’ll understand that it’s a bit too much. (5:57 PM) Me: So if anyone’s up for getting some free food sometime next week DM me, I’ll text the address back. (5:58 PM) He started getting a few non-answer replies in the group chat before he could even shut off his phone, which consisted of a spam of Kirby and heart emotes from Chako-chan, a reply from Tokoyami that mentioned a ‘banquet of darkness’, and surprisingly a message from Satō which just said ‘My condolences’. From the few others that had already replied it seemed that most people that lived outside of Korisato and Shizuoka were almost definitely not coming, though some were interested. Izuku sighed as he pocketed his phone, wondering what Mei-chan was doing up front when his phone suddenly went off. He panickily fished the vibrating device out of his pocket again, eyebrow raising when he saw the caller ID was Todoroki-kun’s. ‘Oh gosh, is this what it’s like to get called instead of texted?’ He immediately accepted the call. “Uhm, hi Todoroki-kun.” For a moment he didn’t hear anything beyond some far-off breathing. “…Did you want to ask me something? Or did you call on accident?” “Sorry, I zoned out. Cold soba, can you make that?” Was suddenly heard from the other side. ‘Why couldn’t he have texted this?’ “Uhm, sure? I don’t see why not. Doesn’t sound very-” 
  BEEP
 Izuku took a double-take at the sudden dial tone and he held his phone in front of him, staring at the ‘call ended’ in bewilderment. ‘Is he coming or not?!’ He stood still for another moment before pocketing his phone again, maybe he should just go back to cutting the- 
  BAM
 Izuku jumped backwards and against the sink when a loud impact was heard coming from the divider wall. The sound of plaster crumbling and falling could be heard as something was wrenched around, a hole suddenly opening up through the wall, which Mei-chan’s face suddenly appeared behind. “0-pointer-kun, I finally found my old sledgehammer!” “I’d appreciate it if you told me beforehand first!” He yelled indignantly as he hurried out of the kitchen. ‘I should really consider getting a bean bag.’ He lamented as another impact followed by crumbling plaster was heard. He paused as he heard another thump. ‘On second thought, I’m feeling a little pent up.’ “Actually, Mei-chan, can I have a go with the hammer too?” Mei-chan pulled the sledgehammer out of the wall and leaned on it like a cane with a smirk on her face. “And here I thought you weren’t gonna ask!”      
  Monday August 2nd 2151
 Unsurprisingly, Chako-chan was the first to show up that week, eagerly knocking on the door on Monday night. It also really wasn’t a surprise that she asked for some mochi, it had been the only thing she ordered at the UA cafeteria and she always bemoaned the fact that she’d have to eat her ‘healthy’ portion of rice for dinner. Upon arrival she had shown surprise at the fact that one of the walls was now missing. It was also a bit awkward that she could basically peer right into the kitchen as Izuku made the meal. He’d actually prepared some stuff beforehand since he already figured she’d ask for mochi. It also didn’t help that he was the only one in the kitchen at the moment. Mei-chan was somehow transporting the extra cabinets here. Once again he had no idea how she afforded it or could carry that much in one go but he hoped she’d be back soon.   In the end he didn’t even realise when Mei-chan came back, as after serving Chako-chan the mochi he got into an intense one-sided conversation with her while she ate. “-but maybe I just need to go through all the options again and see if I can find something that works.” “Midori-kun…you really don’t need to figure this out for me, I’m doing fine with what I know.” Izuku let out a deranged giggle as he grabbed her by the shoulders. “Nono Chako-chan, this has become personal to me. I will figure out how your quirk works because it has been mocking my analytical ability and quirk theory knowledge! I just need one explanation that doesn’t have any theoretical holes or contradictions in it!” “Where’d the whiteboard even come from?!” He disregarded her as he swirled around and went over the whiteboard one more time. “Okay, so it’s obviously not some kind of traditional telekinesis because the nausea is too far removed from the actual overuse symptoms of headaches and nosebleeds.” “I shouldn’t have brought my quirk up.” “It’s also not momentum locking to keep it from falling, since people and other forces can interact with the affected object and change its momentum so why would it only ignore the force of gravity?” “This is the fifth time you’re going over everything, Midori-kun! Nothing’s changed from the last time!” “It’s definitely not density manipulation, since the only way to lower an object’s density without changing its volume is by removing mass, but to make objects nearly massless you’d have to remove so much that the object would become brittle and fall apart just from touch!” “How did this even happen? I was just eating tasty mochi.” “Lowering its mass in any other way isn’t possible either. Changing how it interacts with the Higgs field won’t do much since that only accounts for 1% of the mass of atoms, and I’m pretty sure, despite my limited knowledge, that trying to diminish the other 99% by changing the gluon field would weaken the strong nuclear force and the object would disintegrate into a nuclear explosion. And somehow turning part of the mass into negative mass would cause so many theoretical problems that don’t happen!” “Should I stay? I’m already done with the Mochi, but I don’t wanna know what might happen if I leave before Hatsume-chan comes back.” “Somehow having it ignore gravity, which could only work if the quirk forces spacetime at the location of the actual object to become perfectly flat, wouldn’t work either since all the space around it would still be affected by gravity and the air pressure would prevent any affected objects from floating. Heheh, because why would a quirk ever actually be named after what it’s doing?!” He barked out a laugh as he had gone through all the options again with no new result. “Is this because you’ve spent all your time around Hatsume-chan the past few weeks or were you always capable of this?” Izuku did actually catch that question and he swirled around again to face Chako-chan. “No idea Zero-grav- err Chako-chan! Speaking of, do you have any ideas?” She remained silent so Izuku decided that was a waste of time and swirled back to the whiteboard, eliciting a groan from behind him. ‘Now this time will be the one! I can feel it!’ “I wonder what will happen when Hatsume-chan comes back, will they amplify each other or cancel out?” Chako-chan’s whispered question made something light up in Izuku’s mess of quirk analysis thoughts and he turned around again as he excitedly shook her by the shoulders. “Did you just say cancel?!” In normal circumstances he would’ve immediately backed off and apologised for his behaviour, but right now he was hyper focused on the hesitant nod she gave. A deranged cackle escaped him. “Yes, that’s it! Your quirk is object-linked force cancelling!” He let go of Chako-chan’s shoulders and stepped back a bit so he could go wild with the hand motions he wanted to make for illustration. “When your quirk activates you somehow create a link between yourself and the object, and any force that’s exerted on it will get counteracted by your quirk making its own force. But every force must have an equal and opposite one, so your own quirk generates said opposite force somewhere separate from the object’s force through the link and absorbs it into a stockpile bound to- to…YOUR STOMACH!” “Midoriya-kun, could you listen to me?” Izuku dismissed her voice. “Not now, I’ve almost got it! The reason why you get nauseous, even when not using the quirk on yourself, is because there’s literally forces being generated inside your stomach when you’re using your quirk! And if the stockpile starts getting fuller then those forces can’t get absorbed as fast! Or maybe it starts bleeding over back into your stomach! Since gravity would constantly be affecting objects it makes sense that the more mass you affect with your quirk, the faster you’d get nauseous, and it also explains why the nausea increases over time, even when you’re only affecting a few objects!” “0-pointer-kun, try to finish everything up in one more thought.” Izuku absentmindedly responded during his rant. “Yeah whatever. And there’s probably a magnitude limit for the forces it will absorb to avoid damaging your stomach in the process, so the force of gravity, air pressure and wind resistance fall below that limit, but the force of colliding with solid material or highspeed winds is too much and thus can affect the object!” The relentless, chaotic train of thought that had left the station when Chako-chan had offhandedly commented on her limited quirk counselling worked finally arrived at its destination in a moment of pure relief and ecstasy and he felt his legs wobble as he grabbed onto her shirt while a laugh escaped him, slowly turning into sobs. “I finally got it! An explanation that isn’t immediately contradicted by science! I can’t believe it’s over! Screw you, you stupid quirk, I win!” It took another few seconds before the rush of finally beating that neigh unexplainable quirk left him and his sobs of relief disappeared. Chako-chan’s voice spoke up in a weirdly amused tone. “You back with us, 0-pointer-kun?” ‘Wait, that isn’t…’ Izuku turned his head upwards from the shirt he’d been sobbing in and instead of Chako-chan’s brown eyes, he met the bespectacled, golden eyes of Mei-chan. “Huh?” He immediately backed away from her, noticing that Chako-chan was standing a little to the side, also now sporting an amused but also confused look. “What just happened back there?” Mei-chan chuckled. “That’s what I call a thinking high, it’s when you’re too invested or excited in a train of thought to the point where you tunnel vision on it until it’s resolved. That’s the only way I’ve gotten out of them anyway.” ‘She’s experienced this as well?...Actually, that makes a lot of sense now that I think about it.’ Before Izuku could say anything else, Chako-chan spoke up while slowly backing to the side-door behind her, away from him, Mei-chan and the whiteboard. “Alright Midori-kun, your conclusion was very…enlightening. The Mochi was great…See you next time!” She dashed out the door. ‘Cr@p, did I scare her? I got on Mei-chan’s case for doing this, but with her babies instead of quirk analysis…Did I almost call her Zero-gravity-chan?!’ While he continued to freak out over the fact of just how much his quirk analysis mirrored Mei-chan’s passion for baby-making said girl gave him some consolatory rubs on the back. “There, there, I doubt you scared her off forever Midoriya-kun…hopefully, if her remaining friends with someone who tried to stab her is any indication anyway. The free mochi will definitely bring her back at some point.” ‘Not helping.’ The rubs stopped as Mei-chan went to open the boxes. ‘Seriously, how did she get the boxes here?! Does she have some sort of vehicle she made or something?’ “Anyway, I’ll go put these cabinets together while you stand around. Heh can’t believe I haven’t held a screwdriver in over two weeks! You don’t mind if I use one for this right?” Izuku smiled softly at how seriously she was taking his advice. “Of course I don’t mind…Just don’t pull a Mei-chan and somehow blow the cabinets up while I’m not looking.” He let out a cackle as he dodged the incoming screwdriver projectile.      
  Tuesday August 3rd 2151
 The next guest was, surprisingly, Todoroki-kun. The short phone call gave the impression that he either didn’t care and wouldn’t come, or that he cared too much and would come immediately, so when he hadn’t come on Monday Izuku assumed it was the former. At the moment, Todoroki-kun was sitting opposite of him at the table, silently slurping his cold soba in silence while looking at his phone like this was how he’d always done it. That wouldn’t have been a problem for Izuku if Mei-chan hadn’t decided to get new ingredients to try out other things like cakes, on Izuku’s insistence. Seriously, it was like she was leaving him alone right when someone else came to visit on purpose! This was starting to reach levels of awkwardness he hadn’t seen since that one dinner at the Todoroki household! Nevertheless, Izuku decided that this silence, only broken by awkward slurping, couldn’t continue any longer, so he hesitantly spoke up. “Uhm, Todoroki-kun, can I ask why you wanted to have dinner here instead of at home?” He looked up from his phone but didn’t respond. “I mean, I was at your house for dinner once and your sister seems very skilled in her craft. I’m sure her soba is miles better than anything some beginners could scrunch up.” Todoroki-kun simply shrugged. “An excuse to not have dinner with Father when he’s not working overtime outweighs any drop in quality.” ‘I meant it when I said that we were nowhere near as good as his sister, but is it really that much worse?’ Izuku shook the thought out of his head. “I guess I can understand that. The one dinner I had with him present was very…awkward. That was only because only your sister answered his questions though, do you never answer back either?” Todoroki-kun slurped on a particularly long string before answering. “I don’t see the point in talking to him. He had his shot but he lost it when he sent mom and Tōya away.” Izuku winced at the blunt statement. “I understand if you don’t want anything to do with him. But -sorry for assuming- he hasn’t done anything like that since, has he? I mean, I hope not. It- It sounds like he’s been sincerely trying to make up for it for a while now, are you sure you don’t even want to give him a chance?” To Izuku’s sadness a scowl appeared on Todoroki-kun’s face. “If we’re not receptive to his attempts then that’s his problem. I’ll believe it when he arranges for us to see Tōya or at least mom again, but all attempts I made were rejected long ago.” Todoroki-kun went back to eating his cold soba, leaving Izuku to his thoughts. ‘I don’t understand…Why would Endeavor not just approve of that? What’s stopping him? Is something making it more complicated that he’s just not telling Todoroki-kun?’ 
  ~“What else have you been pretending about?!”~
 Izuku shook his head again, now really wasn’t the time for any of this. It did give him something else to bring up. “Todoroki-kun, I’m sorry for talking about this. I think I’m just projecting but…I wish I could still have dinners with- with my dad. So I don’t understand why you- why you can just ignore it all so easily.” Todoroki-kun stared at him. “Right, you said he’s been working in America for a while.” 
  ‘That’s- Oh no, to how many people did I end up saying that? Does that even count as lying? I don’t- Will I have to tell people in the future?’
 He dispelled his thoughts again as he felt stinging starting to appear behind his eyes. “Right-” He swiftly wiped away any wetness. “-that’s what I said, wasn’t it?” Todoroki-kun paused mid-slurp and seemed to give him a second look, before resuming his eating, more slowly this time. Izuku spoke up again. “You of all people should know that Endeavor isn’t the strongest. So-” ~“During the whole Shizuoka attack several civilians and pros were shot by those f@ck@ng bullets, including Endeavor!”~ “-what if he encounters a villain that’s too strong for him tomorrow, and he…doesn’t survive. Would you really feel…happy or relieved about that? That you never even gave him the chance to turn things around?” Izuku faltered for a moment. “Would you really feel no regret or sadness about knowing that you ignored him the last time you saw him?” This time Todoroki-kun fully put down his chopsticks and gave Izuku an indecipherable stare, which seemed to take a few seconds too many before he looked down at his now mostly empty bowl. “I had my meeting with Hawks a few weeks ago, courtesy of you and Tokoyami-san.” Izuku winced at the dismissal but responded. “Yeah, I didn’t ask about that since you didn’t approach me afterwards. Uhm, how’d that go?” Todoroki-kun looked back down and picked out the last bits of soba with his chopsticks, a slight smile gracing his lips. “Hawks had a lot to talk about, apparently he spent a lot of time together with Tōya outside of training. He even showed me some pictures and short videos.” Izuku smiled as well as he heard that. It seemed like the meeting with Hawks had been a good thing in that regard. There was quite a big question on his mind though. “But…wouldn’t your brother be slightly older than Hawks? If Hawks has already graduated then…” ‘where is Tōya?’ His mind supplemented. Todoroki-kun’s smile was short-lived. “Yes, that’s the question I’ve had from the start. Hawks said there were some delays for his graduation from the commission program so Hawks graduated first, and when he came back to ask for him Tōya was already gone.” “Did…Did Hawks get told why?” He shook his head. “Not exactly, all he was told was that Tōya graduated.” ‘So it’s a dead-end then?’ “Do you have any ideas on why that happened?” Todoroki-kun slid the now empty bowl forward as he stood up. “Of course I do. While this was a dead-end, I still know more about Tōya’s whereabouts after he left the house now. If he got through that program up to graduation then that means he’s actually working now. And I can only think of one thing that would explain why he hasn’t shown up in private or in public yet.” Izuku also stood up from the table and followed Todoroki-kun as he walked to the side-door. “And what would that be exactly?” He inquired. Todoroki-kun stood in front of the door and stayed silent. ‘Are these dramatic pauses or just because he’s awkward.’ The silence continued for the perfect timing before he suddenly spoke up. “A long-term deep undercover mission of course, perhaps even out of the country.” Izuku pursed his lips, trying to avoid smiling. ‘Of course that’s what Todoroki-kun would say after that dramatic pause.’ “That’s…quite the idea, Todoroki-kun.” He shrugged as he opened the door. “It’s the only thing I can think of. I didn’t mention anything to you before because I don’t think there’s anything else that can be figured out if that’s the case. At least not for a while.” Todoroki-kun looked over his shoulder with a soft smile before walking out. “Thank you for your assistance, Midoriya-kun.” Izuku uttered a soft ‘You’re welcome’ as the door closed again, falling into his thoughts as he waited for Mei-chan to come back.      
  Wednesday August 4th 2151
 Izuku grinned as he tugged at the edge of the cheap waiter’s outfit Mei-chan had grabbed from some store and walked out of the door and towards the small two-person table stationed in the small clearing of the forest right behind the workshop, right in view of the kitchen window. It had been his last-minute idea to go for a full three course meal when Gendeki-chan had responded to his text, asking if she could bring Akatani-kun with her to have dinner. Honestly, this whole scenario just cracked him up whenever he thought about it so he just had to do it. The only reason it wasn’t funnier was because Izuku had decided to not do it inside, in view of the piles of machines at the front of the garage space. Didn’t mean he couldn’t make things more fun. Honestly, he’d never been in a restaurant but they all seemed so dull. That was why he decided to mask his presence as he walked up to the occupied table through the grass. “So…how was the appetiser guys?” Izuku chimed as he dropped his presence masking right next to the table, resulting in the jumpscares he’d expected. Having to endure it from Himi-chan was totally worth it now that he was decently proficient at it. Despite having the worse reaction, Akatani-kun spoke up first, clutching his heart. “J-Jesus, Midoriya-kun. P-Please don’t do that again.” Gendeki-chan appeared to hide that she’d gotten scared as well and put on a grin. “Honestly, pretty good for people who’ve never touched a kitchen utensil until two weeks ago.” Not wanting to be one-upped, Izuku replied with a grin of his own. “Splendid, perhaps you can try some dishes outside of the freeloader menu next time.” He received an amused eyeroll from Gendeki-chan and asked a question that had been on his mind. “Okay, seriously though, what made you decide to go here instead of any of the cafés or restaurants? Besides it being free.” Gendeki-chan giggled. “What, I can’t decide to spend some more time with a friend I don’t see often?” “That and here I won’t get any random price markups or get thrown out for no good reason.” Izuku heard Akatani-kun mumble, catching him off-guard at the uncharacteristic comment. Akatani-kun suddenly winced as Gendeki-chan kicked him under the table, before addressing Izuku with a sheepish smile. “Sorry about that, Miku’s been showing his cynical side around others more often recently.” Her smile fell. “But yeah, it’s true. There aren’t a lot of places we haven’t tried yet.” Izuku saw Akatani-kun look at his emptied plate. “I-Is it even cynical if it’s true then?” He took another look at the Support student that he hadn’t seen since before the finals. On the surface he looked identical to the time he’d seen him at the last student council meeting of the term. Back straight, as straight as it could get on a chair anyway, and hair still slicked back with gel. But on closer inspection it felt like the confident look actually suited him more now than it did before. Like it had been a completely untailored suit before which now seemed to fit much better, though still not perfectly. In fact, it looked like his actual clothes fit him more as well, having filled out slightly. Before Izuku could realise that a lull had occurred in the conversation he started smelling steak from the kitchen window. “Ah, the steak is almost done!” He leaned forward, smirk appearing on his face again. “So, would you like your steaks flambéed intentionally, or on accident?” Two looks of confusion, though one held some amusement, were given to him. “Oh c’mon, Midoriya-kun! That only happened like five times! Gimme a break!” Izuku swirled around, smirk still intact, to make eye contact with Mei-chan, who was pouting at him from the other side of the opened kitchen window. He definitely wasn’t gonna let this go anytime soon. “I’ll give you a break when you stop your impromptu flambés and stop making me waste my kitchen cape, Mei-chan.” “If you don’t shut up about the flambés I will flambé these steaks on purpose and throw them at the table from here!” He felt his grin go painfully wider as he gave a thumbs up. “Perfect, the faster the service the higher the review!” He chirped. Izuku let out a laugh as he saw Mei-chan grumble before walking out of the window’s view. He was about to ask what the couple behind him had been whispering about but he noticed Mei-chan coming into the window’s view again, holding two plates with flaming steaks to everyone’s distress, and he dashed over before she could actually attempt what he thought she was going to do. Luckily he was able to get the two plates to the table the normal way, noticing that the sun was really setting now. “Here you go, your intentionally flambéed steaks…I think, she didn’t say.” Izuku eyed the unlit candle he’d placed between the slightly down teens and smirked as he formed some plasma around his finger. “I’ll take care of the atmosphere.” ‘It’s still a bit dark from just now, and I’m a bit done with the mood suddenly going depressing out of nowhere all the dang time.’ He brought the plasma close to the wick…and it almost completely burnt up within a second, most of the candle wax melting into a blob along with. “Cr@p, why do I keep underestimating the temperature of plasma?!” He faux-whispered under his breath. Only the very last bit of the wick remained, a small, sputtering flame sitting amidst the sea of molten wax covering the center of the table. One quick look at the guests showed Akatani-kun thinning his lips to avoid smiling while Gendeki-chan didn’t bother and tried to not snort or break out into laughing while speaking up. “This- snort is so sh@t.” ‘Hah, it worked!’ “W-Warushi, you can’t just- snort say that out loud!” Izuku tried to hide his blush from embarrassment, didn’t matter if it’d been on purpose or not. Well he made this, so now he had to own it. “Is it at least the charmingly sh@t kind?” Gendeki-chan had burst into a fit of giggles by this point. “Midoriya-kun, I- Sorry.” She wiped away a stray tear. “I think this was exactly what I should’ve expected from a joint venture between the pink Devil of Support and the forced Breatharian Hero student.” ‘Huh, that’s a new descriptor.’ Akatani-kun also spoke up, something that definitely was something Izuku had to get used to. “S-Sorry for that. The food’s nice, but thanks. I-I think I needed a laugh.” Izuku looked at the couple smiling at each other, and for the first time since he stumbled into Mei-chan’s workshop three weeks ago he felt a beaming megawatt smile fall on his face. “Well I’m happy to hear that!” “Oi kitchen partner! I’m not making the dessert myself!” Mei-chan’s voice could be heard through the kitchen window again, and Izuku decided it was probably for the best to leave the two alone and walked back into the workshop through the side door. “Mei-chan, the ‘dessert’ is just a last-minute, store-bought box of ice-cream.” He deadpanned, seeing her rummaging through the fridge now that the divider wall was gone and replaced by more cabinets and kitchen counter. She set the frozen box down on the counter. “I kinda forgot to take it out of the freezer before so it’ll be too hard to scoop out of unless you heat it up a bit right before they’re done out there. And no, the box doesn’t deserve the same fate as the candle, 0-pointer-kun.” Izuku huffed at the blatant misappropriation of his quirk as he walked into the kitchen himself, pausing when he saw Mei-chan in full for the first time since they put these silly uniforms on. Both the ice-cream and waiter uniforms had been bought last-minute by Mei-chan when he’d sent her his impromptu three-course meal idea over text so she’d grabbed the first male and female ones she saw. He hadn’t even asked for a uniform, that was all her idea. The thing that made Izuku pause was that the female one consisted of a straight skirt, and while he knew that the female UA uniforms had skirts he’d never seen Mei-chan in anything besides her workshop outfit, so this was his first time seeing her wearing one. ‘She is so adorable, I can’t even- Wait…crap!’ Izuku turned away from Mei-chan standing at the oven in the hopes of hiding his blush. Throughout the past few weeks of trying to rest his mind and pulling himself back up he’d completely neglected and forgotten about those feelings. But now that he was apparently getting better again… ‘Oh gosh, I can’t believe they’re back…And they’re even worse than before!’ Turning towards the window was a mistake however, as the now somewhat romantic dinner between the guy who used to be his lookalike and the girl from Support made his mind flash to a certain scenario that made him blush even more furiously than ever before. He decided that the fridge magnets deserved to be studied up close for the next few minutes and fully turned around to face the fridge, hoping that his blush had died down enough once he had to turn back around again to warm up the ice-cream. ‘One problem mostly gone, another back fiercer than before…crap.’   
  
  
  Friday August 6th 2151
 Izuku anxiously opened the oven and took the three pans out, pressing his finger against the cake layers and sighing in relief when they all seemed to have the right consistency. ‘Thank god, I don’t know what I would’ve done if I screwed that up again.’ He would’ve been talking out loud but Mei-chan was up in her room, trying to get to bed, so Izuku fell back on his old skill of remaining silent. ‘I guess that extra ingredient wasn’t working out, shame.’He rubbed his hands together as he scoured the kitchen for the ingredients for the frosting. His previously excited face slowly morphed into one of suspicion when the last ingredient wasn’t where he’d stored it, nor anywhere else in the kitchen. ‘You know what, screw it.’ “Mei-chaaan!” The sudden bump coming from above made it clear that the wake-up call had been effective. Izuku crossed his arms and put on a glare as he waited for the loft hatch to open up and the ladder to fall down. Her ruffled face peeked over the side of the opened loft hatch. “Midoriya-kun…what is it?” “Where’s the white chocolate?” Mei-chan’s face shifted and- ‘Oh yeah, that’s definitely the look of someone who got caught.’ “Uh…what were you gonna use it for?” Izuku pointed at the three separate layers of cake that were now cooling off. Mei-chan silently voiced an ‘oh’. “Well…how was I supposed to know?! Those chocolate bars were just in the fridge, laying there for two whole days, you know how much I love chocolate!” He was definitely not convinced. “You have your own bars for consumption, don’t you?” Mei-chan faltered, before her head disappeared from view and rummaging was heard. “Well yeah, but I wanted to try out some white chocolate. Really gets a bad rep online y’know?” She reappeared, now holding a milk chocolate bar that she stored in her room. “No, I don’t know, and you know exactly why I- oompf” Izuku was promptly silenced as Mei-chan expertly flicked a single piece of chocolate right into his open mouth. To his horror the fabled sweet tooth he’d been told he used to have came back in full force as it melted on his tongue. “Oh god, It’s sho good!” Izuku was so caught up in the bombardment of sweetness that he nearly forgot to spit it out into the bucket that Mei-chan had oh so helpfully lowered from her position at the loft hatch, sporting a smug grin as she watched him do so. “I know right?! Oh man, you gotta try out chocolate mousse and praline paste as well! Actually, why haven’t we tried making those ourselves yet?” His mind was already thinking about all the sweet tastes he could experience when he caught himself. “That would be- Hey, you’re distracting me!” Mei-chan eeped and she hastily retracted the loft hatch before he could reach it. Izuku glared up at the closed hatch. “You can’t stay up there forever, thief!” “Shouldn’t you be getting more white chocolate? Also, we’ve been buying all the ingredients using my money, so obviously I can’t be a thief.” Was heard, muffled by the ceiling, making Izuku faulter. “…You have a point. Ugh fine, I’ll go get more.” Izuku walked out through the side-door, grumbling with his hands in his pockets. Looking behind him he saw Mei-chan opening her bedroom window. “Good luck! Who knows, there might be a bit of my chocolate bar left if you get back early!” That resulted in a groan as he imagined tasting more of it and he turned around to continue walking, grumbling even more as he denied the fact that she’d basically hooked him.      
  Saturday August 7th 2151
 “Happy birthday, Himi-chan!” His head jerked to the side just in time to dodge the knife that was thrown at him. Okay, maybe surprising a dangerous girl who used to live on the streets by sneaking into the apartment she was staying at through the balcony with the lights off wasn’t such a good idea in hindsight. “Oh sh@t, don’t do that, Izu-kun!” She yelled as she awkwardly watched Izuku pulled the knife out of the wall behind him. “Wait, it’s Toga-chan’s birthday? Why wasn’t I told?” Both Izuku and Himi-chan turned to the side to see Jin-kun standing next to an open fridge in the small kitchenette in the hallway, seemingly caught mid-rummage when Izuku had entered through the balcony. Himi-chan’s eyes were wide and her lips formed a thin line. “I kinda forgot? Didn’t really celebrate it last year. Actually-” Her gaze narrowed as she pointed at Izuku. “How did you know it was my birthday?” Now it was Izuku’s time to be put on the spot. “I uhm…sorta stumbled upon it when I was…researching you back then, right before meeting you properly.” Her gaze narrowed further, before she suddenly switched moods and gave a fanged smile. “Ya really are a stalker! I already figured from all the notebooks in your bedroom but…” “H-Hold on, I’m not a-” Izuku protested as Himi-chan skipped over for a hug. “I’m so dang proud of ya, Izu-kun! Who knew ya had it in ya?” She interrupted him, fanged smile now a grin instead. Her eyes then seemed to catch onto the box he had brought with him. “Oh, what’s this?” Izuku paused for a moment before he realised he had indeed brought something with him, and happily took the distraction. “Right, so Mei-chan and I have gotten a bit too much into cooking, so I tried baking a cake for today!” He eyed the coffee table, the only table in the abandoned apartment, and placed the box there before opening it, revealing what looked like a plain white cake. Well, except for- “Are those pomegranate seeds? That’s almost as good as blood!” Himi-chan squealed as she eagerly hopped on the ragged couch, making Izuku chuckle as he used the throwing knife to quickly cut a slice. Once the inside of the cake became visible she became even more excited. “It’s red velvet! How did ya know that’s my favourite cake?!” Izuku chuckled. “It wasn’t that hard to guess, Himi-chan. I actually wanted to add my blood to the batter but that wasn’t really working out so well during the baking.” He grabbed an empty glass that was already standing on the table and held the knife to his wrist. “I can give you some to drink though if you want?” Himi-chan eagerly nodded and he let the blood out with a slice, which he was starting to become frighteningly good at. “I’m still here, you know?! // Don’t mind me!” ‘Did I really just forget that this is sorta his apartment?’ Izuku awkwardly turned his head to look at the squatter, blood still spilling out and into the glass. ‘Is he wearing a painted over Deadpool mask? I guess it'd help with hiding his identity.’ “Do you…want a slice as well?” The man narrowed his eyes. ‘Oh wow, that mask makes him really expressive.’ “Nope, I’m good. I’ll just leave you two alone. // Save me a slice for later dammit!” Izuku’s gaze followed Jin’s casual stroll out the door, wondering if Himi-chan could even eat an entire cake by herself, until he started getting shaken. “Izu-kun, you know I love your blood, but you’re about to bleed on the table I just cleaned up.” He looked back to see the glass getting dangerously close to being filled and panickily healed the wound with a yelp, immediately pouring energy into his bone marrow when the wooziness caught up to him. ‘Can’t believe I almost forgot about that.’ Himi-chan, now satisfied that the table wouldn’t get messy, went on to scarf down what definitely amounted to more than one slice, leaving Izuku to awkwardly sit down next to her on the couch as she did so. After a few minutes the eating sounds started dying down, allowing Izuku to attempt a conversation. “So, Himi-chan…I haven’t really seen you in a few weeks. What have you been up to?” Himi-chan turned to face him, crimson crumbs getting wiped off her mouth by her hand as she grinned. “Well I’m glad ya asked! I’ve been so busy!” She threw up her hands to accentuate it. “How…exactly?” Izuku tentatively asked. “Well, after meeting Jin-kun and how fun that was I decided to try out more stakeouts outside of Giran’s usual place!” She brought her finger up to her chin. “I guess there was a recruitment call or something because I came across way more people than I was expecting.” “Himi-chan, you could’ve come across someone really dangerous if that broker was recruiting!” Izuku yelled nervously. It only resulted in a giggle. “Oh Izu-kun, of all people ya should know that I’m far more dangerous than some street thug if I need to be.” A darker look appeared in her eyes as she smiled and held up her knife, bringing a shiver down Izuku’s spine. The darker look disappeared as quickly as it came. “Anyway, there were a few jerks that threatened me, a quick knife held up to their throat was enough to shut ‘em up and make ‘em move on. But there were so many nice people coming as well!” She clapped her hands together. “When I asked them why they were coming to Giran a few of them just said they wanted to be with likeminded people. And I thought ‘but I’m way more fun than some shady guy that’ll tell ‘em to go do some dangerous job and throw then even deeper into sh@t’ so I just told ‘em to come with me!” Izuku quirked an eyebrow. “And they just went along with you?” Himi-chan smirked. “Some of them definitely became more receptive when I told ‘em how I was living my life and that I’m on the national wanted list.” He balked. “You- You can’t just go and tell random strangers who you are!” She smacked him on the head. “Hey, I didn’t say that! Plenty of people on that list. Not like they can try and turn me in anyway. Besides, I look plenty different now.” As if to highlight said fact Himi-chan elegantly flicked her loose, pastel pink hair back, which had grown to armpit length at this point with no indication of wanting to cut it anytime soon. “Ugh fine.” Izuku relented. “This isn’t gonna turn into a criminal thing, is it?” She pouted at him. “Nah-uh, I’m a good girl now.” Her playful tone suddenly left to make place for a serious one. “Seriously Izu-kun, I’m not gonna waste the life you’ve given me just like that.” ‘Whoa, what’s with the serious face all of the sudden?’ Himi-chan looked down, refusing to meet his gaze. “I uh…wanted to tell ya something.” Her eyes flicked up and Izuku motioned for her to continue. “Back at the holding cell I- I could’ve escaped at any moment, but I didn’t. All that ‘vulnerable’ stuff, unlike at the warehouse, was just me playing around with ya because I wanted to see how you’d react. And then ya just…broke me out and brought me to your home.” Izuku felt something twist inside. ‘I- I guess she did stop being so vulnerable once she settled in. Was she starting to feel guilty? Was- Was mom right, then?’ Himi-chan went on while he processed prior moments. “And ya gave me so much: I know who I am now and what I want, I have a place where I feel safe and accepted and cared for, friends who don’t judge me and I’m actually happy. And all because I manipulated ya for fun.” She hung her head even lower. “I’m sorry. I understand if ya don’t want me around you. But I still want to help out if ya need it.” The twisting feeling loosened at seeing the way she looked. “Is this why you didn’t come around the last three weeks?” She looked up again and shyly nodded. “Yeah, right after I told ya I'd help ya out from then on as well. I suck at promises, huh?” Izuku softly smiled, to her confusion. “Just you telling me about this when you could’ve easily kept it quiet already shows me that you regret it, and that’s enough for me.” Izuku awkwardly started scratching the back of his head. “I…have experience with relationships that only started because of reasons or circumstances that I don’t like. Admittedly I’m not very good at it yet, but you shouldn’t let that bad start cloud all the wonderful things that came and will come from it.” Himi-chan stared at him. “You’re not angry?” He shook his head. “No, Himi-chan. In fact, I’m happy to see how far you’ve grown, proud even at how you're trying to help others. Honestly, I’m the one lacking here. I’m still nowhere close to fulfilling all those promises I made to you and- oompf” As he’d talked, Izuku hadn’t noticed Himi-chan scooting closer and now he was taken off-guard as she went in for a hug. Almost on instinct he turned his aura on and reciprocated. Himi-chan spoke up, her voice really close to his ear from the hug. “Izu-kun, you’ve already fulfilled all the promises I cared about. I couldn’t care less about showing others who I am when the ones I care about already see it. Ya should start focusing on yourself instead.” A hidden weight that had occupied his mind suddenly lifted. He’d originally let go of the plan to turn the public’s opinion around when he realised how big of an undertaking it would be, saving it for a later date. But apparently his mind hadn’t really gotten the memo. But now that he knew that it wasn’t even needed to help her, at least not for a while, it disappeared. “I’m glad I was able to help, Himi-chan.” Things stayed like that for a few more moments of bliss, until the comfortable silence was broken by a loud sniff. After another moment it was followed up by more sniffs and Izuku slowly backed out of the hug, his confusion growing further when he saw that Himi-chan wasn’t crying but…sniffing something out? She produced one last, loud sniff before a wide grin spread on her face. “I smell a smelly smell, that smells-” She brought her knees on the couch and sniffed again, close to his ear. “-smelly.” Izuku’s confusion slowly morphed into an embarrassed panic as she said the last word in a husky tone. “Huh? I swear I showered this morning! I’m so sorry, did I stink up the place?!” His panic was broken up by a cackle. “No, not that silly! I just couldn’t help but notice that ya smell a certain way now, one I’ve smelled before and it’s very interesting.” The grin she gave almost made Izuku too afraid to ask. “Could you…elaborate?” “Well, ya already know I can smell better because of my cat mutations ‘n stuff. So in middle school I started smelling this smell I hadn’t smelled before, and I kept wondering what perfume they were all using that I didn’t know about. But I waited a bit and ya know what they all had in common?” Izuku flicked his eyes from side to side. “Uhm, no?” Her grin became a fanged one. “They all loved someone, Izu-kun. And I think I have a pretty good guess about who you love.” She practically purred out that last bit and Izuku felt a blush creep on his face, though not actually from Himi-chan’s teasing this time. “I-I uhm…This is hardly a reliable method, r-right? What if this s-smell is slightly different? I don’t even know what it is and besides- uhm.” He sheepishly looked her in the eyes. “D-Doesn’t Mei-chan give off Aro vibes?...O-Or was it Ace? I haven’t really looked into anything like that.” Himi-chan smirked at him. “No denial? Thanks for confirming that it’s the crazy scientist girl though. Hmm, you’re right. ‘All my love is reserved for my babies’ definitely gives off those vibes, or maybe she’s robosexual.” She adopted a thinking pose and smirked. “Do ya think she’d get the hots for ya if ya became a cyborg? Or are ya worried that Engine Boy from your class is fierce competition?” Himi-chan giggled as she expertly dodged an indignant slap courtesy of Izuku as he thought back to Mei-chan's insistent bionic heart requests. “Anyway, if she’s never thought about it before then ya can’t know for sure. Besides, ya didn’t smell like this not too long ago so who knows about her?” Izuku sighed as he stood up from the couch. “I guess you’re right. But still, how am I supposed to tell her anything if I don’t even know these feelings, besides that they’re different from before?” Himi-chan rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Really, Izu-kun? Ya can be so dumb sometimes. Just tell her that! You’re never gonna get anywhere if ya keep thinking about it so hard. Aren’t ya helping each other out with her gadgets anyway?” He flashed a sheepish smile. “Heh, when you put it like that it sounds really simple.” She threw up her arms. “That’s because it is, Izu-kun. I swear to God, my younger siblings could make things so complicated too. How am I always the one giving the advice here? I’m supposed to be the crazy b@tch here, dangit!” Izuku chuckled at her faux outrage as he checked the time on a damaged clock hanging on the wall. “It’s getting late, I think I should probably head back to the workshop now. I hope the cake was good…And thanks for that talk Himi-nē, I really needed that.” He was ready to turn around and walk away when he noticed that she was silently gaping at him. ‘Huh, the cake was good, right? Or did I say something wrong?’ It was then that his brain went over what he’d just said and he realised his slipup as an embarrassed flush appeared on his face. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry! You were talking about siblings and that totally slipped through on accident! I didn’t-” Izuku’s frantic apologies were cut off by a loud squeal from Himi-chan. Her grin looked almost inhuman as she pranced over to him. “Shush, no excuses!” “No wait, I didn’t mean it!” She threw her arm over his shoulder and pulled her in close next to her. “Sure, sure. That’s what they all say after a Freudian slip.~” She singsonged, clearly either very happy or very amused about it. ‘Oh gosh, is this what it feels like to call your teacher mom or dad?’ “H-Himi-chan, I shouldn’t have-” “Nope, no takebacksies!” He yelped when he got pulled even closer and she started rubbing her knuckles over his scalp. “It seems I need to lecture my adorable new otouto about his manners.” Izuku’s embarrassment about the slipup skyrocketed, and it didn’t seem like Himi-chan was gonna let it go now. ‘Well, it could’ve been much worse. And at least Himi-nē does have a nice ring to it…’      
  Sunday August 8th 2151
 After that whole debacle with Himi-chan, now renamed Himi-nē after that extremely convincing noogie, Izuku was just about ready to go through the last day before the summer camp and move on with his life. The past three weeks had definitely been a nice break for him, even if it had come slightly too late, but he itched to work more on his quirk and combat. The Bo-staff Mei-chan had gifted him weeks ago hadn’t been used yet. Izuku figured he’d join her in not participating in his original passion and helping with the cooking instead. The other reason was less positive though and was why he’d just entered the bathroom while Mei-chan was having dinner. As he got everything back on track and some of his other, smaller worries were resolved, his mind was now starting to bring up the situation that had gotten him in this state to begin with. The bathroom, despite its unpleasant whiteness, dampness, and shampoo smells, was the only real space in the workshop where he could be alone. 
  ~“He died 11 years ago, Izuku.”~
 
  ~“Why me?”~
 
  ~“What does it matter if the happiness can be taken away so easily?!”~
 Izuku gripped the sink to try and stop his arms from trembling to no avail. ‘I can’t break again. Not around Mei-chan.’ 
  ~“There’s still something you’re not telling me, is there?”
 
  “Why don’t you trust me?!”~
 
  ‘SHUT UP! This can’t happen now, the summer camp’s so close! Why can’t you just go away?!’
 “Midoriya-kun? Are you okay?” Izuku snapped out of his thoughts, eyes flicking to the side to see Mei-chan standing in the open doorway, a worried look on her face. It was a side of hers that he’d seen more often in recent times. “I-It’s fine, Mei-chan. Just my quirk working up, d-don’t worry.” He tried to stutter out. She narrowed her gaze behind her glasses as she assessed him, frowning when she couldn’t find what she was looking for. “I know what we decided on at the start, but I think we should start talking about it now.” He winced. “What do you- I-I don’t think I can-” “Don’t think you can what?” Mei-chan was giving a disapproving glare. “You’re clearly thinking about it again, so you can talk about it too. Honestly, thinking but not talking about it sounds like what got you here in the first place.” “B-But what if-” He was cut off again. “You think you’ll go offline again if you talk about it?” Izuku paused, eyes darting around the room. “Uh…no?” Mei-chan huffed. “Do you think talking about it will somehow hurt me?” It sounded like a rhetorical question, but he really wasn’t sure, so he hunched in on himself. “I don’t know?” He heard her groan, clearly not getting the answer she wanted. “Midoriya-kun, I know I didn’t handle it well when you originally came here, but I’m at UA to become your Support. How am I supposed to learn and prevent that from happening again if you’re too scared to let me?” Izuku rubbed his arms nervously as he thought about it. He knew Mei-chan could do her fair share of manipulation and reframing the situation into helping her out was an example that was as clear as day, but despite his rational mind objecting to it he could already tell he was taking it full heartedly. “I- Let’s give it a shot, I guess.” Her face morphed from worry into content as she happily dragged him out of the bathroom. “Let’s do this in a better place than the bathroom or the workshop.” She said as she opened up the loft hatch and let him climb up before her. It had been quite a while since he’d gone into Mei-chan’s bedroom, not since that first night at the start of the year. He didn’t really know why, but it was probably because he didn’t want to break her privacy…and more recently he didn’t think his feelings would allow him in there without becoming too awkward to function. The room looked exactly the same as last time, minus the blueprints scattered on the floor. As Mei-chan closed the hatch behind him he did notice some tools laying on the desk, something plugged into the computer, but before he could think about it he got pushed towards the couch in the corner next to him. Izuku barely had the time to take in the softness of the couch, only barely realising that he completely forgot to get a beanbag or something similar downstairs, when Mei-chan rolled up to him in her office chair, wheels squeaking as she did so. He eyed the light-green couch he sat on. “Should I…lie down? I didn’t really do that at Hound Dog’s.” Mei-chan adjusted her glasses and shrugged, prompting Izuku to lie down anyway since he hadn’t lied down in a while. The ceiling looked quite interesting; he never knew she had a fan up there. When he was met with silence he took it as a sign to speak up, having no idea what to actually say. “Mei-chan, I don’t- I have absolutely no idea what to say. I mean, every time I try to think about…what happened I just get bombarded with memories that upset me. I don’t even know how I feel about it all and it feels like it’s getting more difficult to understand as time goes on. It's just so conflicting for some reason, I'm not even sure if I'm feeling worse about dad being dead or about mom lying to me. And I don’t-” “Midoriya-kun-” Izuku was brought out of his ramble when Mei-chan spoke up, tilting his head to look at her. “-Please shut up.” A wince. “Sorry, I thought I could ramble…” She shrugged. “That’s on me. I was thinking about what to say and then you started rambling.” “Oh.” Izuku awkwardly decided to avoid eye contact and looked back up at the ceiling again, focusing on his breathing pushing the hands on his chest up and down in a rhythmic motion. There was a short but awkward silence as he waited for Mei-chan to speak up again, which he luckily didn’t have to wait too long for as she gave an awkward laugh. “Oh man, I really suck at this. Even after all the research I did on this stuff up here. Hound Dog's still unavailable, guess this will just have to be the first field test then, right?” “I guess, yeah.” He awkwardly responded. He startled when Mei-chan clapped her hands together. “Alright then, this might work. You said you feel conflicted but aren't sure why. Midoriya-kun, I want you to focus on how you felt when you were told.” “B-But that’ll just-” He was cut off again. “Shush Midoriya-kun, only on how you felt back then, no weird, unsolicited flashback stuff. Mute the camera and the microphone or something.” ‘I guess there is a difference.’ He thought as she went on. “And when a feeling crosses your mind you name it out loud. And then you try to explain why you might’ve felt like that back then.” ‘That- That might work.’ “I’ll…give it a shot, just give me a moment.” He didn’t hear anything else from her, she probably nodded without realising he wasn’t looking at her right now, so he focused on the rhythmic up and down of his hands on his chest and tried to isolate the feelings from everything else. “I feel…sadness.” ‘That’s an obvious one.’ “I feel sad because, well…he’s dead, that I didn’t get to grow up with him, that I don’t get to make new memories with him.” He heard a small mhm as response. “Frustration, at mom…and everyone else who knew, for never telling me, because they thought I couldn’t handle it or because they thought I didn’t need to know. For not giving me the chance to grieve, for making me forget about him because they never mentioned him to me. For not giving me the chance to have a proper goodbye. And at myself, for actually forgetting him.” Another grunt in response. “I’m also angry, at mom and dad, for coming up with this stupid d@mn hare-brained scheme. And especially at mom for not even keeping to the plan because it was easier for her and lying to me when it came to it.” At this point Izuku wasn’t even listening for the responses anymore. “Anxiety, I’m worried that there’s more to it than what I know now, that there’s something else that’s waiting to screw me up even though this was already really big. It’s not like I’ve had a good track record so far.” He closed his eyes to concentrate further. “And unsure, for what to do in the future. How to handle mom, if I should handle it. What I should do with all the new information I now have. Should I approach her? Do I even want to approach her? Does she have to approach me?” Izuku sighed, not knowing any of the answers. “And I guess I’m disappointed…in myself, for not figuring things out sooner, for just blindly listening and believing it and not doing any research myself when it would’ve been so easy to figure it out. But also in Uncle Masaru for not telling me sooner and letting things go on. He was at the apartment so he must’ve been the one to force her to tell me.” Izuku paused for a moment, thinking that he got through all his emotions when- “Relief-” ‘Huh?’ “-that uh…that dad wasn’t actually ignoring me, that those fears were all in my head. That he really did love me, so much so that he came up with this stupid plan to make his passing as easy on me as possible…if mom had stuck to it.” “And I guess…gratitude, for Uncle Masaru putting his foot down when he found out and realising that things were going too far. But also for you, and Chako-chan, and Himi-nē for helping me out and sticking with me when I needed it.” He felt the corners of his mouth turn up slightly. “And lastly happiness, for knowing that I have all of you to catch me and pull me back up if something like this happens again. That I know who to turn to when I need it.” The room fell silent again, and after a few seconds Izuku realised that nothing else was coming to mind so he slowly opened his eyes again. “Midoriya-kun?” He heard Mei-chan say as he moved to sit up on the couch. The Gordian knot that had been stuck feeling much looser now that he finally realised why he had felt so confused and conflicted towards it. Because while the situation itself was a whole mess, he never would’ve discovered up close just how good the friends he had now were, and how much they cared about him and would stick with him. 
  ~“If these things ever start catching up to you and you don’t have anyone to fall back on for support you can come to us. But I think you’ve made some great friends.”~
 ‘I guess you were right, Uncle.’ Izuku softly smiled at the confused Mei-chan. “Sorry, I- Thanks for listening to me, Mei-chan. And for helping me so much, I feel lighter now.” She beamed back at him. “No problem 0-pointer-kun. I’m just glad this actually worked and didn’t explode back in my face like other field tests!” Izuku chuckled, feeling the warm feeling return to his chest. “You’d all be in much more trouble if I actually exploded. And yeah, I think the summer camp will go much better for me like this when I’m not trying to avoid thinking about that stuff. And then there's mom…but maybe I should take a page out of your book and wait until she comes to me, she’s the one who screwed up, not me.” He paused however when a final hang-up flitted through his brain, making him look down at his lap. “But…I’m not sure if I can try to mourn or move on, not yet anyway.” Mei-chan cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?” “Well, I-” Izuku scratched the back of his head as he tried to word it. “It feels like there’s something missing. I mean, I barely know anything about my dad, except for some unreliable childhood memories and some pictures along with what mom told me.” He looked Mei-chan in the eye. “What if he’s different from what I remember, or I’m missing out on something, wouldn’t I be mourning someone who didn’t even exist then?” She looked a bit stumped for a moment. “Well that’s quite the philosophical question, Midoriya-kun, and I don’t really care about thinking about stuff that I can’t build. But I guess you’re right. His personal and work life were quite separated if what you told me about him was correct.” Izuku perked up. “You’re right, that’s it!” He jumped off the couch and headed for the loft hatch, catching Mei-chan off-guard. “Hey, hold on 0-pointer-kun, don’t go down too hastily and break your legs!” Izuku chuckled as he excitedly undid the latch and let the ladder fall down. “I think I should be more worried about why you’re thinking about that but I have somewhere I need to go! I might not be back until tomorrow morning.” He climbed down the rungs and took a last glance at Mei-chan, who was smiling. “Alrighty then, don’t get lost and force me to rebuild that tracker!” He paused momentarily at the comment but brushed it aside. “Don’t worry, this shouldn’t be difficult. See you later!” Izuku ran out of the side-door and heard Mei-chan yell ‘See ya, 0-pointer-kun!’ out of the bedroom window.       By the time he reached the other side of Korisato the sun had already gone down and his excitement had been replaced by anxiety over what he was about to do. 
  ‘C’mon Izuku, it should be totally fine! You’ve already talked to him a lot before and those went…well. Anyway, he should be home by now.’
 Izuku gulped as he knocked on the door of the estate and heard loud footsteps coming towards it not too long after. The door unlocked and swung open to reveal a large silhouette, looking as imposing as the last time Izuku had seen it. He hesitantly spoke up when the figure gave him an unamused stare. “Uhm, hi. Do you have some time to answer a few questions about my father, End- I mean, Todoroki-san?”      Zero Gravity [name change to Force Cancelling advised]: Upon touching an object with all five fingers this quirk links said object with a one-way stockpile, anchored around the user’s stomach. When the object experiences a force, the quirk transfers this force into the stockpile. Forces that are present over longer periods of time, like gravity, would count as continuous impacts. It most likely does this indirectly by providing an opposite force through telekinesis to cancel the original force, while also creating an opposite force to that within the user’s stomach acid, bypassing the normal telekinetic stamina drawbacks.
The transfer from the stomach to the stockpile isn’t 100%, so the forces inside the stomach slowly build up over time, eventually leading to nausea. The stockpile likely also has a limit, and as this limit approaches more of the contents will bleed back over into the stomach. To avoid the stomach getting exposed to damaging magnitudes of force there’s a limiter to the amount of strength the quirk can cancel at once. Forces like gravity, standard air pressure and weak winds seem to fall below this limit while direct physical impacts with solid objects and strong winds are above it.
  
  

    
      
        
        
          I hope the reasoning for Mei deciding to try out cooking sounds right/in character. I mainly just really wanted to write both of these adorkable idiots exploring cooking together, that and this is what I came up with when I thought about what Mei would be doing if she somehow wasn't able to do Support stuff.The rant about Uraraka's quirk may or may not have been inspired by my own mental spiral trying to come up with an explanation. And yes, I did go through all the theories Izuku went through here...in that order. If you go back to previous chapters you'll find me ranting about this exact topic in one of the comment sections. I swear if someone brings up an inconsistency I will climb out of your screen and strike you down.Anyway, Izuku's not fully back to normal yet. He's able to forgive his father now, though he hasn't moved on yet and most certainly hasn't forgiven Inko, but besides that there's still the matters of Bakugou and Mei, so we'll see how he handles that later. But before that happens, next chapter's gonna be a cool one. Featuring Hisashi's first speaking appearance since the Prologue yay.Oh, one last thing. In case you were worried, every single moment in the three weeks that wasn't written down were all happy, fun times for Izuku. The boy deserves it, I just didn't want to make this chapter any longer than it already was and I couldn't think of any further fluff moments that I don't wanna reserve for later.'
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