The next week Izuku and Mei met back up at the beach. Izuku had a few more bruises and more of a limp then last time they met and Mei didn't seem to approve of that.
"What happened?" Izuku shrugged, not really wanting to go into details.
"Nothing Mei." Mei didn't believe him in the slightest, but decided not to push. Izuku was grateful for that.
~~~~~~
For the next five or so hours, Mei and Izuku rummaged through the trash piles, handing off anything that the other needed or wanted. It was a peaceful kind of company that Izuku enjoyed. Eventually Mei invited (more like forced) Izuku over to her place to grab some food. Izuku didn't fight it, as any place that wasn't his middle school or apartment, was the better option.
Izuku didn't go back to the apartment that night, instead reveling in the peace and domesticity of Mei's house.
After that day at the beach with Mei, Izuku took more informant jobs to pay for more suitable materials so he could finish his portfolio for the support course at U.A, continued improving his already made inventions, met up with Mei as much as possible, successfully avoided Katsuki as much as possible, all while continuing his vigilante escapades and annoying the shit out of his favorite detective and hero.
Mei was a little eccentric at times, (don't lie Izuku she's always slightly eccentric but we love that about Mei because she's a queen) but he loved that about her. She was his friend and they worked well together when they were in the workshop. If Izuku wasn't already working on something he would draw up blueprints for Mei and she would build what was on them and she'd do the same for him. Nine times out of ten though, she was always working on something. If he noticed her making a small mistake that would result in an explosion, he would subtly point it out to her.
(As much as he loved making explosions too, sometimes when the project actually needed to get done and he didn't want to pull multiple consecutive all-nighters just to finish it on time, he would make sure she wasn't going to explode anything.)
"MeiMeiㄧ" Oh yeah at some point he started referring to her as MeiMei (he doesn't know how it happened, don't ask him), "ㄧlook over the blueprints again just in case." Izuku pointed out to her while he worked on his own project.
"Oh!" Izuku heard her exclaim before she barked out a laugh and then mumbled to herself, "No wonder it looked out of place! This is supposed to go over here…" she tapered off into quiet mutterings as she fixed her problem.
Shouta Aizawa was tired. And everyone in the faculty lounge could tell. It was either because of his elusive vigilante son (he'll deny Black Wolf isn't his son but we all know the truth) that he's been chasing for 7 odd years or because of the upcoming school year. Most likely a mix of both.
Hizashi, being the loving, idiot of a husband that he is, decided to ask the question that's been on everyone's minds.
"Heya Sho. What's got you looking at your desk like it stole your coffee?"
Shouta, in response, turned his glare on the loud blonde and said nothing. Hizashi, however, didn't take it personally since he's known the man for half of his life. Hizashi nodded as if he got a verbal response and walked over to the coffee machine. Once the coffee was made, he walked back over to the ravenette and handed the cup to him. Shouta took it gratefully and downed it like a shot.
Coffee in his system and glare lessened to the normal everyday one, Shouta sighed and laid his head on the desk in front of him in defeat. He grumbled out an explanation into his desk but no one was able to catch a single syllable.
Nemuri, otherwise known as Midnight, spoke up, "Shoooo we can't hear you if you speak into the table."
Shouta lifted his head, sighed once more and then repeated his last words;
"I have a slight idea of how old Black Wolf is now because he said he was going to take a while off in 5 or 6 months for personal issues and when I asked him if it was related to highschool, he looked at me up and down. Then his mask's LED expression smirked at me and he ran away."
Ah so it was both. But it was mainly both because Black Wolf was involved. The room's occupants sympathized with Shouta because they knew how hard he worked to get the vigilante to trust Shouta as much as he does and because they knew how long he'd been on the case.
The ravenette grumbled under his breath and the people closest to him caught phrases along the lines of 'Problem Child' and 'didn't say he was going to U.A.' and 'being a little shit'. Hizashi smiled lovingly at his husband and just watched as Shouta tried to work through his vigilante problem. He had a feeling they were going to be welcoming a new family member in the coming months. But he wasn't going to touch the topic with Shouta knowing how the man is still in denial of the vigilante already being his son in everything but blood and legality.
Shouta wanted to become dead to the world. Why is his Problem Child being a right little shit and being vague about highschool? He still doesn't know his Problem Child's quirk and it's been 7 years. Shouta, and the rest of the underground heroes and police force on the case, have a vague idea that it has something to do with knives or he wouldn't have so many on his person. Either way Shouta will just have to watch the hero entrance exams to find his Problem Child.
Wait.
His?
Since when had he started referring to the Problem Child as his Problem Child?
Shouta sighed in resignation, accepting his fate as the Problem Child's father figure. Not that he was ever going to tell that to Hizashi or the Problem Child he thinks of as a son. Nope. Never.
Izuku looked up from his project when an explosion rang through the workshop. Strangely enough all the oil and smoke stayed on the one side and avoided touching him. He wasn't complaining though. MeiMei cackled as she tossed the ruined invention to the side, going back to tinkering with her other "babies" as she liked to call them.
"MeiMei…" Izuku sighed. Of course he was already used to her antics but sometimes he forgot how far she took them. MeiMei didn't look up at her name being called, instead she hummed in response. Izuku shook his head fondly at her and said what first came to mind, "Why are we friends?"
MeiMei looked up at him with an excited glint in her eyes, "Because I found you mindlessly rummaging through trash piles and we talked about inventions and support gear and you told me about your quirk 'Yeet' and I gave you my number and your mom's a bitch," she stated matter of factly. Did he forget to mention that MeiMei knows about his shit of a mother and how the bitch treats him? Probably.
"Ok. Yeah fair." He said with fondness and exasperation edging his tone. MeiMei went back to her babies and Izuku went back to his projects. They worked like this in silence except for the sound of machines whirring and metal hitting metal until it got late enough where the moon was inching its way through in the sky. Izuku didn't mind though. He never looked forward to going home and if he told MeiMei he didn't want to go, she would offer him a place at her home for the night or however long he needed. It's not like Inko ever noticed anyways.
"Not going home today MeiMei." Izuku stated, "I don't want to see her face right now."
"Ok! That's fine. What do you want for dinner?" MeiMei, like the amazing person she is, accepted it with no qualms. Izuku looked at his phone, and noticing how late it got as he read the time, 10:15 pm; set down his current project, walked over to MeiMei, and said what he hadn't had in a long time:
"Katsudon."
Made by: truen o'steen