Chapter Text
Loneliness.
Loneliness is the state of being in solitude. Of being unhappy because you are not in the company of other people. Of being all on your own and isolated from all others.
Loneliness was a state of being that Mei supposed she was used to. It was something that she accepted as being part of her life without any complaints, perceiving it as something that was and would always be.
When she was growing up, she was considered to be something of a pariah. Someone that nobody wanted to interact with for fear of their own popularity and safety. Though, it was something that tends to happen when you bring in your father's toolchest to the start of your first grade and weird out all the other kids with your obsession.
She wasn't sure when her singular and total focus with her mechanics and inventions started, but it was something that she accepted as being part of her life for as long as she's been breathing on this planet.
So when the person you talked most to at school was the teacher for every year that you progressed through, it made sense that Mei would feel lonely. Even then, anyone would still approach her with a ten foot pole just in case.
So loneliness was just how her life went, something that she accepted without even realizing it.
That was until she encountered him.
The Sports Festival was to be the first big landmark in Mei’s career, being her public debut before the world. It would be the first run of her babies, making them definitely ingrained in the minds of the various support technicians and salesmen that attended the event. She would make sure they remembered the name ‘Hatsume Mei’.
She had unfortunately, and literally, flew under the radar in the first section of the competition as she zoomed through each section using the different babies she made. A small frown had formed on her face as she realized that all eyes were instead on someone else, an error which she decided she had to quickly fix.
The young man, who was nearly shivering from his own nerves from all the eyes on him after Midnight had announced how the second section of the competition would work, was who she decided would be her unknowing ally to advertise her babies to the world. Little did she know how far that idea would go.
She quickly found that he was a sort of kindred spirit to her, with newly introduced Midoriya Izuku geeking out about one of her babies that she was using to propose a team-up. Mei wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so she used it to pivot for the attention he had.
And during the competition, she could see the ingenuity he had, managing to get as far as they did with such minimal use of his destructive quirk. Even once the knockout stage started and she duped that naïve glasses guy, the oddity of that quirk bugged her in the back of her mind. Ideas for usable gear for the green-haired guy and the potential for the future connecting dots together.
It was only a little after the Sports Festival and she was forced to move into their dorms that she ran into him again. Or more accurately, fell onto him.
After a bit of talking and reminding of who’s who, Mei was more than excited to take him up on his offer and become his support engineer! She remembered the potential he had, so what she could make for him was innumerable!
But when he started to come to the labs to see about developments for his gear, it was when Mei started to notice something different about him. He wasn’t afraid to talk with her, like the other nameless classmates who would leave her in her own world. He even offered his own input, with those weird notebooks he would pull out of thin air. Maybe another quirk that she could tinker with?
He treated her like an equal, a very strange experience for her. It was one that stirred something odd in her chest that she failed to explain, so she just ignored it when she could. It was even odder with the increased level of satisfaction she got when she finished her first baby with him, it being the first time she had ever made a baby in true collaboration.
So as time passed and things got busy around her, Mei started to find it colder in the workshop, especially at that time that Midoriya had left the school for a bit. She wasn’t sure why, but she wished it would go back to the way it was. And if it got slightly warmer when he came back to her the school and he asked for help with repairs for his gear, she certainly wasn’t going to complain.
Eventually, the big battle that her teacher had mentioned had come to pass, with her drone baby streaming the whole thing to her. That’s where she saw Midoriya duking it out on the grandest of scales and coming out on top as the dust settled.
Even she could tell that things had now changed irreversibly as she made her way out of the flying fortress she helped make. Whenever that happened, Mei always dealt with it as best she could and kept her focus on her work and nothing else.
But perhaps, she didn’t have to face it alone this time…
==========
Mei marched through the near empty halls, heavy boots thudding against the tiled foot, leaving flecks of grim and muck along the way. A few nurses on her path give her questioning looks but mind their own business after noticing her scratchy school uniform.
Her eyes and hands were focused on the small device in her hands, using the end of a flathead to bend a plate to the side for a peek. One of her mini-gyroscopes had acted slightly off-tilt in one of her drone babies, so she needed to find the flaw which she guessed was in the core.
Mei found she always needed to keep her mind busy, especially in times like these when she would rather not be alone with her non-productive thoughts. At least, for a little while longer if she could help it.
She glances at the back of her hand, seeing her smeared handwriting with the directions the front desk lady had given her. The badge that granted her access back here clattered against her chest, bouncing more erratically with her hurried pace.
It doesn't take much longer until she reaches her destination: a closed door at the end of the hero wing. Without much grace or care, Mei swings the door open quickly, putting a smile on her face.
“Hey Ten Million! How ya holding up?!” Mei shouted, her eyes zooming towards the lone bed.
To her amusement and joy, the green-haired man lets out a yelp at her sudden appearance, his eyes previously on the TV playing mindless nonsense in the corner. Mei grins while he sputters, happy with the reaction she got as she plops herself in the chair next to the hospital bed.
“H-H-Hatsume-san! Wh-What are you doing here?!?” Izuku stammered, bunching his bedsheets up towards his chest.
Mei hides a frown at his action, hoping to fully see the state he's in just a week out from his big battle. Plus, it had been longer than she wanted to take a new measurement for his next costume.
“Teacher-sensei told me I needed to ‘get out of the lab’ because they had to ‘rebuild the school’ or something like that.” Mei explained, throwing up air-quotes as she pocketed her tools. “Now it's your turn to answer my question!”
“U-Umm... I'm doing alright. Of course, I've been better, he-he!” Midoriya chuckled weakly. “But at least it's all over now. All for One's done for good.”
“Oohh, was that the name of the dude you were fighting? I couldn't get good audio from my drone during the fight.” Mei asked curiously.
“Huh? Oh yeah, I guess most people didn't really know anything…” Izuku muttered to himself. “Wait, I thought I explained it in the letter I gave you a few months ago?”
“You did?” Mei asked with a tilt of her head.
She runs through her mind to see if she could remember anything about a letter. Her drone baby flying off to the side and crashing. Her classmates giving her a group hug the day after the battle. That rich lady protecting her from the clones. Midoriya getting back. Eating by herself as she stared at blueprints. Trying to track down Midoriya's location. Being alone in the workshop. Waking up with a piece of paper tucked under her arm when she fell asleep in the workshop again.
“Aha! Yep! There was that note that I found that you wrote to me! It said…” Mei trailed off as she remembered what was written on it.
The apology from Midoriya. An explanation about his quirk and the villain he was fighting. A reasoning for why he was leaving her them. A thanks for the amazing gear she made for him. A wish for her to be happy without him around.
“Mei…” Midoriya said softly, shaking her out of her thoughts.
Her chest felt a pulse go through it at him saying her name. He must've caught her mood change; he was better with people than she was after all. That much was given with all the gifts and balloons that cluttered the table opposite of her.
“I'm sorry I had to leave so suddenly. I-” Midoriya paused for a moment. “I didn't see any other way to make sure that the rest of you were safe.”
She zoomed in on his face, something she had found she liked to do recently. She could see the spattering of freckles that littered his unbandaged cheek and the sincerity in his eyes. She made him feel sad, didn’t she?
“It's fine! Like I said, I barely noticed it!” Mei quickly replied, making sure to put a smile on her face.
“ O-Oh, okay! Anyway, I hope that it did give enough time for you all to bunker up. And you definitely need to get out of the workshop more often…” Izuku muttered that last bit, looking at her slightly worried.
“But you should've at least come back for repairs! You know how much my babies miss their Mama!” Mei joked somewhat unseriously (she was pissed at the state of them when he returned), playfully smacking his toned chest.
“Hehe, sorry! I would have if I could without putting you in danger. Plus I don't think Melissa had sent her blueprints to you yet on the newly improved mid-gauntlets.” Midoriya chuckled, reaching with his hand to rub the back of his head.
That was when Mei finally noticed it. As he moved his arm, the bedsheets finally shifted off where he had pulled them up to. And in doing so, it revealed the mass of bandages wrapped tightly around a stub that ended slightly above where his right elbow used to be.
His arm was gone.
“My gear… it really wasn't good enough for you, was it?” Mei's eyes immediately began to fill with tears at the sight.
“Wh-What?! N-No, it was- they were fantastic! I wouldn't have gotten as far as I did without them!” Izuku stuttered, waving his only hand in the air.
“But if my babies were good enough, then you wouldn't be missing your arm! All ‘cause a stupid Mei can't figure out how to make gear right!” Mei shouted back, snot now running out of her nose from her outburst.
She reached up to grab at her hair. She never failed this badly before! Sure, she had blown stuff up before, but it was never something as irreversible as losing a limb! She was a failure of a support engineer—to her closest friend of all people too!
“N-No, no, no! Mei, listen to me! Mei!” Midoriya shouted back, reaching over to grab her hand.
Her spiraling thoughts were halted by his touch. She looked down at his hand, her vision blurry from the tears that spilled out. His hand, scarred from how heroic he was and missing its mirror. Something she had failed to prevent, and he knew that too. And yet, he reached out to her all the same.
“Mei, your gear is fantastic. I wouldn't have asked anyone else if I could go back in time. If I didn't have your costume, or your iron soles, or your air force gauntlets, or anything else! We all wouldn't be here now.” Midoriya explained gently.
“B-B-But what about that- that- that Melissa chick! Sh-She made you babies too!” Mei cried out, wiping her nose with her free hand. It felt wrong to mention her, her faraway rival for his gear, but her mind was too much in a stir to think otherwise.
“W-Well I wouldn't put it like that…” Midoriya coughed, a blush settling on his face. “But she wasn't here, and she was busy with All Might's suit anyway. I would have gone to you all the same.”
“But-” Mei started again, her self-doubt consuming her, before he stopped her again by squeezing her hand a little tighter.
“Mei, please. Your gear, your babies, were wonderful and I couldn't have asked for better. Plus with the work you did on the campus, I should be thanking you for saving us if anything.” Midoriya smiled at her, a light batting away her darkness. “I might not even be able to request anything from you with how many pro heroes are going to be wanting your work!”
“I'll always make time for you…” Mei mumbled, feeling a heat on her face. She couldn't even look him in the eyes right now, but he was making her feel better about herself. “But you shouldn't have had to lose your arm because of my failure…”
“It was worth it if it meant saving Tenko.” Midoriya looked down at where his right arm used to be, a somber smile settling on his face. “Besides, it won't stop me from being a hero anyway. I think I might be able to figure out something with [Blackwhip]...”
Mei watched as he descended into one of his infamous muttering sprees, something she's found herself to enjoy. He really was smart, and it was something she really appreciated about him.
“Really? In what way? Did it evolve during the fight to form more permanent constructs?” Mei asked back with her rapid fire questions.
And as the pair fell into a familiar rhythm of bouncing questions off one another, the brief moment of self-doubt was quickly forgotten as a smile returned to her face. He always did a good job of making her feel better.
==========
Mei scratched her head with the end of her pencil, staring down at the blueprints before her. The workshop was unusually quiet, with no machinery or chatter in the background as she hummed to herself.
She had been stuck on her latest problem, having rotated back to working on student requests from her previous work on the UA flying fortress.
One of the students from 2-B had sent in a piece of paper describing a pair of braces to work with their quirk. It was a pretty… fantastical idea, with plenty of doodles and scribbles in an attempt to convert their ideas to a physical form.
It was part of a challenge that the teacher had assigned her to work with less cooperative clients, who forced her to learn to fit what they wanted. Even if they weren't as clear on what they wanted as she would’ve liked.
All it did was make her wish that she was working on one of Midoriya's babies instead. His notebooks were a treasure trove of ideas and information that was a support engineer's wet dream. Even if he was here to help her understand their quirk even a bit better, it would've made her day.
And it seemed that her wish was granted as a thud reverberated from the large metal door that protected the rest of campus from the workshop. Sliding open, Mei glances over to see a familiar bushy mess of hair peeking through.
“Hatsume-san? Are you in here?” Midoriya asked with a perkiness to his voice.
“Ten Million!” Mei shouted with a smile on her face as she darted to the door. “Whatcha doing here? Do you need some work on your costume? A new idea for a baby?”
“H-Hatsume-san! T-Too close…” Midoriya turned to hide his face as Mei took a step back to give him room to enter. “I, um, I didn't see you in the cafeteria, so I thought you probably forgot to have lunch again.”
He nodded down to his arm, where he was carrying a tray of food. Food that smelled particularly delicious, as agreed upon by the rumble by her stomach. It was that or the stirring in her chest at his arrival. She wasn’t sure she could really explain either if she wanted to. Her brain was always weird like that.
“Thanks a lot! Guess I lost track of the time, hehe!” Mei quickly accepted the offer, placing it down on a nearby table before beginning to devour the rice.
Mei closed her eyes as she enjoyed the nutrition that she was apparently missing. Forgetting to eat over a 24 hour period tends to do that with how hard she worked. After all, she always gave her babies her best and more!
Though, she was glad that he noticed it; he was practically the reason that she's managed to squeeze out another hour at the workshop a day. All because of how he would check in on her more often, typically with food that she was obliviously needing. His arrivals were a lot more frequent than in their first year, always now at least a few times a week.
But it wasn't something she was going to complain about at all. If anything, his appearance had started to become something she would look forward to. His smile tended to do that to her.
Glancing over at the man himself, Midoriya was now looking over the blueprints she had been working on just a few minutes ago. His lone hand was raised to his chin as he muttered to himself, with Mei only picking up a few sparing words here and there.
“...blades…auto-attachment…climbing…”
The way he talked to himself was something she really liked about him, and she could listen to him go for the whole day if she had it her way. His words, his intelligence, had a certain way to put her at a peace that she's never really known. Being able to hear his thought process was something she appreciated, especially as it gave her a different and valuable perspective on her babies.
“Is this something for Kamakiri-kun, Hatsume-san? He told me he wished he could've been more proactive on the rescue side at the end of the battle.” Midoriya asked curious, taking Mei a bit off guard as she choked on a bit of beef.
As long as she's known him, Midoriya had always been one for politeness, even to an extreme degree and in an almost completely opposite way to how she approached things. Typically, he would be a bit more bashful with his advice, never so direct with his ideas as if he was afraid that she’d lash out at him for sharing his mind. He seemed to be particularly bold today, by her standards.
“Yes! That's his name! Teacher-sensei gave me a request for a baby from him, but it hasn't been as fun as your stuff.” Mei nodded her head, pulling out the scrap paper for him. “Do you have some stuff for me on him in those juicy notebooks of yours?”
“Inventing not fun for you? I must be affected by an illusion quirk.” Midoriya chuckled as he looked it over. “Wow, this is… something. The scribbles are particularly aggressive. It reminds me a bit of the stuff Kacchan would draw when we were younger for his costume. I might have something on him for you, but I'll have to return to my dorms to get it if that's fine for you.”
“More than helpful, Ten Million!” Mei grinned before taking a big bite of her food.
He smiled back at her softly, before looking around the workshop. She couldn’t help but watch his cute, freckled and scarred face, noticing the small smile that hadn't left it as he studied the workshop.
Don’t you want him to look at you instead? It’s what you really want him to do, since you could stare at him all day and not get bored. What’s wrong with having him not stick around a little longer. Maybe even once you graduate, you two should stick together. It’s just right after all, especially when you could share that time with him, all the time that you have. In your workshop, then in your bed when you can…
Mei decided that he was acting odd as she shook her head to dismiss her other thoughts, fighting back a blush. Despite knowing how positive he was, she noted that he hadn't smiled like that since before he left UA. She wasn't sure if he really liked the blueprint she made, which would be fantastic, or if he was being affected by a quirk, which would be less so. So, she had to approach him cautiously.
“Hmm, you look happier than normal. Did something happen?” Mei decided to ask, studying his reaction.
She had always heard that small talk was something that friends did, so maybe it would be good practice to do it with him. After all, it was a way to figure out what was going on… and he was her only friend to do it with as well.
“O-Oh! Y-You noticed that, huh?” Midoriya scratched his cheek, a blush fading in. “I guess your quirk helps with noticing stuff like that then. Well, I- uh…”
Izuku coughed as he looked at her with a sheepish but unabashedly happy smile. For some reason, her chest stirred once again.
“I’m dating Ochako! Surprise, I guess!” Midoriya laughed, his hand moving to rub the back of his head like he always did when he was anxious.
Mei’s world seemed to pause for a moment as she processed what he had said. Something cold, empty, dark crashes through her body, settling like lead in her stomach and making it harder to breathe. She didn’t know what it was that she was feeling, but she didn’t like it at all.
So, she did the only thing she knew to do and pushed it down. Instead, she caught onto one of his words that bugged her.
“Surprise? Why would it be a surprise?” Mei asked, turning her attention back to the food. She felt like she couldn’t look at him right now for some reason.
“W-Well, I didn’t really think that she’d think of me that way, you know? Growing up, I wasn’t… the most popular, so the thought of being asked out hasn’t really crossed my mind. Ever, really.” Midoriya explained, sitting down as he looked down at his scarred hand.
Mei scrunched her eyebrows. Romance wasn’t something that she was too familiar with, her recent experience coming from a strange binge of a few seasons of ‘The Real Housewives of Heroics’. But even then, she failed to figure out how he could think that way.
“Why? Because you were quirkless then? They really missed out then.” Mei shrugged.
Midoriya looked at her for a moment, lost in thought before giving her a smile with a warmth in his eye that made her shiver. “Thanks Hatsume-san, it means a lot to hear that from you.”
The cold that had taken her body faded slightly as she took in his smile, but there was still that faint twinge as she remembered what he had told her just a few moments ago. She needed to focus on something else, hopefully causing the feeling to go away.
“Why are you calling me that by the way? C’mon, call me Mei! Plus you called me it the other day!” Mei said, leaning in closer to him. He was fun to tease after all.
“H-H-Hatsume-san! I-I can’t do that!” His face burst into a red blush, using his arm to cover himself.
“C’mon! You can do it!” Mei grinned even more, deciding to take it a step further as she leaned almost all the way to his ear. “I’ll call you Izuku then if you’d like it.”
Steam seems to shoot out from his ears, his blush reaching the point where Mei herself could almost feel the heat of it. Mei laughed to herself. Man, he was fun to tease.
“I-If I do it, will you finish your lunch today and make sure that you have three meals tomorrow too?” Izuku offered, peeking a nervous eye at her, leaning away from her.
“Hmm…” Mei tapped her chin. This wasn’t the easiest decision, but she really did like it when he called her by her name at the hospital. “Okay! But you have to say it now~”
“Th-That’s fine, M-M-M-Mei-san!” Izuku squeaked out, now fully wrapping his arm around his head.
Mei cackled at his reaction. She’d have to figure out the next way to get him to blush now. Maybe she’d fall on him ‘accidentally’ again, that was always fun to do!
A few moments pass as she continues to devour her food. The sooner she finished, the sooner she could get back to her work. It seemed that Izuku himself had pulled out one of his notebooks, probably to try and distract himself from what Mei had just put him through.
He struggled to write for a moment, having to put his pencil in his mouth as he tried to flatten out the notebook. She frowned to herself at his new challenge, already starting to think of things that could help him out.
Didn’t he mention something about an arm made out of his quirk? Why wasn’t he using that then? She was pretty interested to see what something like that looked like.
“Hey Ten Million, what’s going on with your-”
A bell interrupts her, startling the pair. Izuku had looked up when she started talking, but had fumbled his pencil onto the ground from the noise. Outside of the door, Mei could hear the crowds of students starting to fill the halls as they headed to their classes.
“H-Huh? Oh, sorry about that Hatsume- I mean, M-Mei-san, you can tell me about it later.” Izuku said with a blush on his face, reaching down for his pencil before tucking away his things. “I don’t want to get on Aizawa-sensei’s bad side again! Make sure to finish your food, please!”
The door grinds against the floor as it slides shut behind Izuku, helping to muffle the sounds of the other students. Leaving Mei with a full stomach and an empty tray, all alone yet again.
==========
Mei stared at the clock on the far wall, watching as it slowly ticked by. She could imagine the mechanism inside, all working in unison: the toothed gears, the spring coil, the ratchets.
It's all she had to work on as she sat in one of the chairs in the empty hallway. To her side, a frosted glass door waited, further connected to the workshop she wished she could be at in this very moment.
She wasn't even allowed to have one of her smaller projects on her, which she viewed as a human rights violation that she would be bringing up later!
Her fingers fidgeted uncomfortably, wishing she had something to distract herself with. But she knew what her teacher would say about learning from her mistakes.
She had another ‘accident’ in the labs which nearly blew out one of the walls. Despite the good graces she received after the war, she apparently still had to abide by the workshop rules. And because of her multiple ‘accidents’, she was required to have a one-on-one meeting with her teacher about her performance.
She had attempted to remake her old jet boosters from the Sports Festival last year with the new technology she had her hands on to make the flying fortress for the war. With the next festival up and coming, Mei couldn't help but take the opportunity for even more publicity!
So, she had a small incident where they activated at maximum power while aimed directly at the wall. It showed the true capacity of her baby and she was proud of it!
Footsteps echoed through the halls, causing Mei to perk up. Hoping to see the yellow-plated helmet of her teacher, she was sorely disappointed to find it was someone else, someone she didn't recognize.
The new arrival—a hero Mei determined—walked up to the wall opposite of the door, not even giving a glance to Mei, before leaning back against it. They pulled out their phone from a pouch on their side and started to tap away at it.
She scrunched her eyebrows as she zoomed in on the new person, something telling her that they were familiar. Their hero costume was quite minimal, but had a pretty fancy pair of boots which she slotted away for some inspiration for her next iteration of the iron soles she made for Izuku.
A set of white rabbit ears helped make the heroine seem taller than she actually was, which twitched every once and a while. One of her arms and one of her legs were covered in some kind of metal plating, which definitely added to the heroine's intimidation. It took a moment before Mei noticed the pair of red eyes glaring back at her.
“What'd you want, brat?” The heroine spat.
“Nothing, just wondering why you seem familiar.” Mei replied, continuing to study the heroine for any more clues.
“Wha…” The heroine was left speechless for a moment before shaking her head. “Wait a minute, you're that chick that helped build the fortress right? I think I remember seeing you under the VIPs in the war room.”
“Why yes I am! Hatsume Mei at your service, support engineer extraordinaire and the future leader of the industry!” Mei announced, more than happy to advertise herself to the heroine. “Oh wait! I remember now; you’re Mikro right? Ten Million had a couple pages on you, I think.”
“Miruko, but close enough. I’ll let it slide this time ‘cause of the war.” The now-named Miruko huffed. “Now, what are you doing over here? You were just sitting here on your own for fun? Don't you got any friends?”
“Huh? No, not really.” Mei tilted her head, confused at the aggressive questioning. “Teacher-sensei told me he needed to talk to me. Like I'm in trouble or something. I'll have you know, giving your 110% isn't a reason to be a problem!”
“Now that's something I don't disagree with!” Miruko returned with a mean grin. “After all, that's how I got this bad boy!”
Miruko slapped one of her arms, the one that seemed to be covered in some kind of majorly offensive gauntlet. Zooming in on it, Mei finally noticed that it wasn't some kind of glove or armor… that was really her arm!
“What, didn't you know?” Miruko commented, noticing Mei's surprise. With a shake of her head, Miruko slapped her forehead with a groan. “Right, you didn't even know who I was before…”
“That's a nice baby you've got there!” Mei's eyes gleamed as she hopped up from her seat, reaching out with grabby hands for the arm. “C'mon, give Mama a lookie!”
“H-Hey, watch it brat! Didntcha learn about consent, jeez!” Miruko stumbled back, causing Mei to frown as she backed down, but keeping her eyes on the arm.
“Of course, I did. But you don't get the chance to see such a wonderful baby not made by yours truly very often.” Mei huffed, sitting back down in the seat by the door.
“You can always just ask for the blueprints to them. Your Sensei should have. He's the one in charge of my repairs ‘cause of the war and all that.” Miruko explained, now eyeing Mei cautiously.
“Wait, who made it then?”
“I dunno, some nerd at the old HSPC.” Miruko shrugged. “Got it after I lost my arm and leg at the hospital raid at the start of the war. Therapy was a bitch to rush through for that last fight.”
“So what, they just work like your previous arm? Is there some kind of neural link in the connection joint? What kind of materials are they made of?” Mei asked rapidly.
“Whoa whoa kid, I don't know much about that!” Miruko raised her arm, leading Mei to pause. “I can tell you that I've got multiple arms to fit who I'm fighting. A real tank buster to deal with monsters like Shigaraki and this one for my day to day shit, for example.”
Mei hummed to herself as she processed this new information. She hadn't ever really thought about that side of heroics, but if she remembered from what Izuku had said about the heroine before her, she was still a force to be reckoned with even after her injury. It must have been tough to lose an arm like that—Mei could hardly fathom what she'd do if she lost something like one of her eyes or a hand—but it was pretty awesome to get a really cool arm baby out of it in the end.
Miruko losing an arm… Getting a badass new arm to still function at full capacity… losing an arm… getting a new arm…
A light bulb flashes in Mei's mind.
“That's it! It's so obvious! I'll make a new arm for him to use! It'll be the greatest surprise ever!” Mei cackled loudly.
Her mind was already going wild with ideas. Different ways to integrate his quirks into the internal mechanisms of the prosthesis, making sure that it was made of materials able to keep up with his immense strength, and maybe even some way to conduct the raw strength of his quirk through the arm itself…
“Him?” Miruko asked, eyes wide at Mei's sudden outburst.
“Ten Million! You know, Deku! That guy from the war!” Mei said proudly.
“Wait, you know him?”
“Know him? Ha! I'm his one and only support engineer! I saw him at the hospital and he lost an arm too-” Miruko winces slightly. “-so I can make him a baby to make up for it!”
“He hasn't requested anything for a prosthesis? You just… want to make it for him?” Miruko asked, confused as her ears drooped slightly.
“Of course! He's my number one and that means he deserves the best!” Mei boasts with a grin.
Miruko studies her for a moment, her red eyes checking over Mei as she shrinks in on herself slightly. She can feel heat on her cheeks as she stares down at the ground. Did she take it a step too far again?
“You sure that's the only reason?” Miruko raised an eyebrow at her.
“Um, yeah? Would there be some other reason?” Mei asked, slightly worried and confused as her heart beats a little faster.
Miruko stares at her for another moment before a wicked grin spreads across her face. It’s the kind that usually was there when the other girls in her class were giggling about something she didn’t understand, something that Mei wasn’t the biggest fan of.
“For a case like yours, most likely. But I'll leave you to it now. I'll pass along my specs to help your case. Just don't chicken out at the end, alright? I'd hate to see this-” Miruko waved vaguely in the air. “-sputters out.”
Mei is confused yet again by the heroine’s words. She wasn’t sure why she would be implying that Mei would stop inventing, she’d never do that!
“I won't! You'll see the most amazing babies in the world, you just watch!” Mei proclaimed, pointing her thumb at her chest.
Miruko barks out a laugh. “I look forward to it! Just make sure to ask before you actually start making it for that boy toy of yours. Now, I'm gonna barge in there since that clanker's taking too damn long!”
Mei watches as Miruko quite literally kicks the door in and a shouting match occurs inside. At least it meant that Mei would likely get out of the talk she really wasn't looking forward to. She wasn’t sure what Miruko meant by her ‘boy toy’, but the thought caused her heart to beat a little faster for some reason.
But with the plans that she'll get from Miruko, she'll make the greatest prosthesis for Izuku. He deserves the best and she's the one who can give it to him!