Chapter Text
Something was wrong.
He could feel it in his bones.
He felt similar things in the past.
A few years ago, it led to him gaining one of the best support course students he ever had, along with a whole lot of headaches.
But what worries him is that this morning felt way worse than back then.
“Just what on earth is coming for me?” Power Loader muttered to himself in the mirror.
“You two ready?” Kasumi asks the two younger mechanics sitting at the breakfast table with her.
“As ready as it gets.” Mei happily answers while Izuku nods.
Both look fine for having pulled another all-nighter of inventing and building.
But she can hardly blame them.
She did the same the day before her exam and she knows how it feels.
Adding the obvious insomnia all three of them have and it’s almost a regular monday.
“And, do you have a plan what you will build in the exam?” she asks them, sliding another plate of bacon and eggs to Izuku, who just finished his third.
“More or less.” he answers after he drank a bit of coffee.
“I have a few ideas, but the final decision will be made once I see the materials and let them speak to me.”
That was something he says regularly.
And she deeply respects him for that.
He always seems to sense what his materials want to become, which results in him making the best out of it.
“Not at all!” Mei happily exclaims.
Mei on the other hand.
Well, if it doesn’t explode at least three times while she builds it, she won’t be satisfied.
Which results in her using a lot more materials than she would need, if it wouldn’t explode.
She was also far more impulsive than Izuku in her ideas.
But that was fine.
Every inventor has his own style.
That was one of the reasons for the UA support course’s size after all.
Instead of pumping out many support technicians, it focusses on individuality and quality.
“And which old inventions of yours do you give them?” she continues the questions.
Talking about it will probably ease their nerves.
And if it sates her curiosity while she’s at it, no one would mind.
“I’ll go with Kacchan’s hearing aids.” Izuku answers and pulls a spare pair out of his backpack.
“They are some of the most advanced things I have built until now, due to their size, complexity and design goal.” he adds.
“That’s a good reason.” she says with satisfaction.
And if the residential DJ with his own hearing aids gets his hands on them, it’s only better for little Izu.
She thinks to herself.
“And you Mei?” she asks the other inventor.
“I’ll give them my hover boot babies.” she answers.
And that certainly got a reaction from the other two.
“But Mei, those are your favorites..?” Izuku half asks, not completely believing what he just heard.
She nods slightly.
“I know. And I hate not seeing them for some time.” she sighs.
“But at the same time, they are probably my best bet on leaving a good impression.”
“That is a surprisingly mature decision, Mei.” Kasumi states.
“Will you be alright?” she worriedly asked after.
“Yeah. I just have to build more so I don't think about it too much.”
Before anyone could say something or ask more questions, Katsuki entered the room.
He paused for a moment, looking at the three inventors before sighing heavily.
“I know you are not the most responsible people, but seriously? Did you really not sleep before the exams? That is utterly idiotic.” he huffed, before sitting down next to Kasumi and making himself some toast.
“You know how we are Kacchan. And with enough caffeine in our systems, there won't be an issue.”
“Enough caffeine to kill a whole stadium of adults from overdose…” he grumbles.
Izuku only smirks, before he emptied his coffee mug and went to refill it.
Katsuki can only suppress his fond smile.
He liked these idiots, although he would never openly show it.
Izuku and Mei both carried rather large and completely filled Backpacks with them, which drew some glances from others on the train.
Most students on the train were on their way to UA for one of the entrance exams, but most only carried small backpacks with their writing essentials and some spare gym clothes for the hero practical.
But both inventors needed to carry their inventions, blueprints, folders, writing essentials and tools with them.
They probably didn’t need to bring their tools, but they were allowed to, so they did.
It’s best to work with what you are used to after all.
They were also the only ones not wearing their school uniforms.
Instead they were in their workshop clothes, which was recommended for the support exam.
So in between students wearing their regular and clean uniforms, there were sitting two inventors, dressed rather casually with greasy clothes.
Mei had her overall only to her hips, tying the top half around her waist and a rather form fitting black tank-top with her signature goggles on her head.
Izuku meanwhile wore his custom cargo pants with his tools all in their respective mounts on the legs, wearing his own dark green tank-top, his goggles hanging around his neck, while he had some cloth wrapped around his right bicep.
He didn’t need that cloth, but he thinks it looks badass.
Both were talking animatedly to each other, while Katsuki was sitting next to them, glaring at anyone giving his friends dirty looks, daring them to do or say anything.
The teachers were sitting in the faculty office, waiting for the test takers to arrive and making some last minute preparations.
“How many hero applicants do we have this year?” Midnight asked, looking over some papers.
“3458 did apply.” Cementoss answered, not even looking up from his stack of papers.
“General Education?” Present Mic asked then.
“A little over 5 thousand. Including double applications from the hero course ones.” the cement hero answered again.
Well, he was responsible for checking the numbers for this, so he had no room to argue.
“Business course?” Ectoplasm was next.
“Only 320.”
“And support?” Power Loader asked last.
“That number was unusually low this year. We got only 13 applicants.” he says with a frown.
Power Loader frowned as well. That is not even a sixth of last year.
“I know we only take a maximum of six per year, but if the number of applicants keep dropping each year, we won’t have a support course in a few years.” he begrudgingly states.
“So we just need to find a way to promote the support course more.” the chipper voice of the principal says.
“Otherwise it will have the same fate as the analysis classes, I fear.”
The analysis classes were well known by the teachers.
Nedzu regularly complains about a lack of suitable analysts out there.
Most are amateurs at best.
The only two graduates of that class became heroes themselves.
Sir Nighteye was the last, while Nedzu himself was the first one.
“There is one applying for that class this year.” Cementoss then cuts through the somewhat heavy mood.
“Oh, that's joyfull!” Nedzu exclaims.
“He still needs to pass.” comes Eraserheads tired voice from his sleeping bag.
“Ever the voice of reason, you killjoy.” Midnight teases.
“Alright, good luck for your exam Kacchan.” Izuku said to his friend as they reached the gates of UA.
“I expect you to ace the whole thing, or you get a whole week of shaming.” he smirks.
Katsuki just looks at Izuku, before smirking as well.
“If you two don’t blow up your exam room audible enough for me to hear it, I will be disappointed.” he just answers, before he starts to walk away.
“We can’t just blow up the building!” Izuku weakly protested.
“Yet.” Mei added.
After that short interaction, Katsuki split from Mei and Izuku, going for the room where the written portion for the hero exam is held.
“So, how long do you think we will need?” Izuku asked Mei.
“Depends on how much you can write for the analysis part of your exam. But I’ll say only about half the given time.” she casually answers.
Both not noticing the camera moving to keep them in view for the conversation.
“I don’t plan to write more than five pages.” he states.
She just gave him the look , not saying anything.
“Ok, you got me. I don’t have any self-control like that. But I only got one notebook for the exam to use, so I have limited space.” he relents.
“That sounds more like it.” she grins.
“Yeah, yeah. Just don’t blow up your baby too many times. You do have a time limit.” he smirks.
This friendly banter continued until they reached their exam room, where they quickly found their seats, luckily next to each other.
Mei almost instantly started to vibrate in her place and had a hard time sitting still.
Izuku quickly noticed that and handed her a fidget toy, earning him a nod as thanks.
Now, after Mei sat there a lot calmer while occupied with her fidget toy, he looked around the room.
There were few tables in the room, he noticed.
But his primary focus was the other people in the room, which he started to analyze.
His eyes were caught first on anyone with a physical mutation, prompting him to theorize on their quirks, but not being naive enough to think that their quirks and physical appearance have to correlate.
He knows enough about quirk theory to know that doing so would not be smart.
And there were a few physically interesting people in the room.
There was one girl with whitish-blue fox ears and three tails.
Another boy has an extra set of arms, resulting in a taller torso to house the peculiar muscles.
Next to him sat a small boy, not even a meter in height, with completely orange skin.
There were some others that used their quirks in minor ways to calm their nerves.
One boy held a small flame in his fingertips, welding together and apart a small sheet of metal the whole time.
A girl with copper like hair was cutting bits of it away and bending it into small figures in her hands.
And most others were fidgeting in minor ways without their quirks, or were sitting calmly in their seats.
A few minutes of this silent fidgeting and nervous time wasting later, a new person entered the room, stepping behind the podium at the front.
“Welcome to UAs support course exam. I am Power Loader, the head of UAs support department. I will be your proctor today.” the man introduced himself.
The room was quiet and listening to his every word.
There was still some silent fidgeting though.
“Let me begin with attendance first. I will read the name and focus you picked for the exam. You answer when your name is called and tell me whether or not the focus you picked is correctly stated.” he explains and waits for confirmation.
“Himitsuki Nuray, support and design?”
“Here and correct.” the girl with the three tails said.
“Bewaigoro Sango, support?”
“Yes and here.” the four armed guy said.
It continued on like that for a few short minutes, but Izuku zoned out pretty quickly, instead focussing on mentally preparing himself.
He will learn the names of his classmates on the first day regardless.
“Hatsume Mei, support?”
“Yes here and very correct.” Mei happily answered, waving enthusiastically with the hand holding the fidget toy.
“Midoriya Izuku, support and….” Power Loader paused for a moment, reading over the paper again “...analysis?”
“You read correctly and I’m here.” Izuku said with a wide grin, that slightly worried the teacher.
A few of the other students looked at him, before the last two were called.
“Ok, now that we have finished with that, I will give each of you the package for your exam. You may start working once you receive it. You have three hours time.” he said and grabbed the first stack, handing it out to everyone who has only focused on support.
After that he gave the two with sole design focus their packages, before giving the rest the ones for support and design.
Lastly he gave Izuku his package, eyeing it like a bomb, before looking warily at the boy himself.
Katsuki was bored.
That written exam was far too easy in his opinion.
And that has nothing to do with the geniuses that are always around him, no sir.
He finished early and just sat in the auditorium, waiting for the practical to be explained.
He would have talked to Izuku and Mei in the meantime, but he also knew that their exams were held a little delayed to his own and he knows them well.
Both will give the teachers a heart attack with the amount they will write, so they will use the time to it’s utmost potential, even if they finish early.
So instead he was sentenced to wait and be bored out of his life.
Only slowly did other people fill the auditorium.
Well, slowly until the time for the written exam was up.
After that all hell broke loose and the room was flooded with people and noise.
Already annoyed, Katsuki dialed down his hearing aids to block out the noise.
A purple haired boy that sat next to him looked a little jealous of that.
Well, given his large eyebags, Katsuki could guess why.
He knows what people with insomnia look like.
But he wouldn’t pity him, instead he held his thermos with coffee wordlessly to the boy.
Izuku may have given him the coffee, but he didn’t need it, because he had water with him and isn’t that fond of coffee.
And this is better than letting it end in the drain.
The boy looked once for confirmation and only took it after a nod.
After that they sat next to each other in wordless solidarity.
About ten minutes later the lights went out and he saw Present Mic enter the stage.
Dialing up his hearing aids again, he listened to the whole explanation.
The whole ordeal went over rather quickly.
Katsuki was smart enough to read through the written information they got as well, realizing that not everything written was said as well.
Probably to save time.
Izuku would most likely know more.
Looking beside him, the purple haired boy seemed to realize the same.
But obviously not everyone in this room was smart.
After Present Mic introduced the villain bots, a stiff boy shot up, interrupted the whole thing and nagged about the difference between the written information and what was said.
“Either the stick in his ass is as tall as he is, or he is just an idiot.” Katsuki grumbled, earning him a snort from the other boy.
“I’d say first. He moves like a robot.” the boy smirked.
Katsuki already liked him.
Izuku couldn’t help himself.
When he gave Power Loader the completely filled notebook after just under two hours, the man gave him a fearful look.
He couldn’t stop himself from grinning.
The grin only widened when he saw Mei giving him her exam no 10 minutes later, leaving the teacher with another mortified expression.
Both left the room shortly after, looking to spend their time until the practical portion.
Finding their way into the cafeteria, they decided to get something that quickly gave them some energy and help better focus for the practical, which was easily done thanks to Lunch Rush.
“So, how was your analytical part?” Mei asked him between bites.
“Interesting. The task was to analyze two different quirks and theorize how a fight between users would go. The users were to have both five years of experience.” he happily said to her.
“One quirk was called “Jet” and let the user shoot bursts of air from the soles of their foot, while the other was a transformation type called “Superbuff” that could let an almost skeletal man buff up to something close too All Might, but with less strength and a time limit of four hours.”
“So speed against strength basically? Isn’t that an age-old debate already? And your task was to solve that?” she asked with a slight smile.
“Yeah. But I don’t really understand why that was a discussion for so long?” he whined.
“The answer is simple, really. There are only two factors you need to consider outside of strength and speed. Stamina and durability.” he said and waited for Mei to get what he meant.
She thought for a few short moments, before she visibly got what he meant.
“Speed without stamina won’t be able to fight long and strength without durability is knocked out almost instantly!” she nearly shouted at him.
“You got it.” he said grinning.
“While the strength and speed the fighters do have is also an equally important factor, it is not the definitive one for the answer.”
“Yeah, I get where you are coming from.” she nodded.
“So, how much did you write for that task?”
“About 25 to 26 pages.” he casually shrugged.
“I would have written more, but had only limited space after the other tasks.”
“Makes sense. I would have thought you write about 30 pages.”
He made a noncommittal noise.
“How were the mechanical questions for you?”
“Probably the same as for you. I could have answered them while sleeping.” she answered, before looking at the time.
“It is almost time to give them our babies and go to the practical portion.” she said, excitement clear in her voice.
“You’re right. Let’s finish our small meal and get going then.” he stated and took a few last bites.
She on the other hand has almost forgot eating while they talked, so she wolfed down her food very much Mei-like, but also very much un-lady-like.
But that never bothered Izuku, so he only smiled fondly.
After they both finished, they got up with their stuff and walked to the designated room.
Walking inside they found Power Loader and Nedzu there, talking to each other.
“So, your Alumni finished the changes to the hero practical?” the principal asked.
“She did. And she did a far better job than I would have imagined. But then again, I should have seen it coming from her.” the teacher asked.
“Wonderful. Now, let us not let the two examinees behind us wait any longer.” he said and turned around.
“Am I a dog? A bear? A….”
“Chimera.” Izuku interrupted him.
“You are a chimera as of now.” he said, locking eyes with the principal.
Both didn’t say anything for a whole minute, before Izuku spoke again.
“And I will find out what was the basis, before you were made into a chimera. And I am sorry that had to happen to you.”
Nedzu’s eyes glinted.
“Oh, I like you. And I can see why you take the analytics route.” he said while grinning.
Izuku smiled.
And in his peripheral vision, Power Loader shuddered.
So that is what’s coming for me.
The teacher realized with dread.
“Enough talk about that, we are here to deliver our babies!” Mei exclaimed.
Power Loader choked on thin air while Nedzu started cackling.
“Mei, wording. Not everyone knows what we mean by babies.” he reminded her, turning to the teachers again.
“Our inventions are our babies.” he clarified for them.
Power Loader visibly calmed down, while Nedzu’s cackling reduced into an amused smile.
Izuku stepped to the table and pulled the small container with the hearing aids out, together with the folder.
He opened the container and stepped a little to the side, to let the teachers see.
“Those are specially made hearing aids, designed to counter quirk backlash and mitigate long term damage due to either their own quirk, or continued exposure to different loud noises. These are a spare model, since I made them for a friend to help him with the damage his quirk did to his hearing.” he explained shortly.
“More detailed information about how they work and what exactly they can cancel out are in the folder.”
After that, Mei confidentiality strode forward, almost slamming her hover boots on the table, a manic grin splitting her face.
“These are my hover boot babies. They can support up to 250 kg of weight and hover on their own at up to five meters in the air. They are intended to work with my jetpack baby, but I haven’t finished building that one yet. Acceleration is intuitively adaptable to be comfortable for the user. They are lightweight but sturdy.” she explained in lightning speed, before slamming down the folder next to them.
“Everything else is in here.” she said with a wide smile.
“Very well. We will take great care of them. You can get them back after you receive your exam results. Now, I believe you should go to the room for the practical, while I take my leave for the hero practical.” the principal announces and hops down from the table.
“Oh and Mirodiya?” he turns and looks at the boy.
“I look forward to reading your analysis.” he says with a predatory grin.
“I’m certain you’ll like it.” the boy answered with a slightly feral smirk.
Mei cackled slightly, while Power Loader shuddered.
“Alright, follow me you two.” the support teacher resigned and started their walk to the support studio.
Nedzu walked into the observation room and took great delight in the teacher's shudder, when they saw his expression.
Aizawa sighs.
“I will regret asking this, but what makes you so happy?” he asks his boss warrily.
“Oh, nothing much. I just met a very interesting examinee, is all.” he said and his grin widened.
That short statement alone sent a wave of fear through the gathered teachers.
“Now, I believe we should start with the exam.” the principal states and presses the button to open the gates.
Katsuki hasn’t said a word since leaving the auditorium and neither did the purple haired boy he met there.
They still stuck rather close to each other, sitting next to each other in the bus and standing together in front of the gates.
“Thanks for the coffee.” the boy suddenly states.
“Don’t thank me. Thank Izuku. He brewed it.” Katsuki answers.
“Despite him knowing that I wouldn’t drink it.”
The boy humms.
“So, is he here as well?”
“In the main building. Takes the exam for support course. Or he exploded from excess energy. Downed more caffeine than usual.” Katsuki shrugs.
“He an insomniac? I recognised the taste of the brand. Popular among insomniacs.”
“Yeah. I don’t think he slept in the past few days.”
The boy turned to Katuki now.
“Shinsou Hitoshi.”
“Bakugou Katsuki.”
Both smirked at each other.
But before another word could be said, Present Mic shouted from the top of the gate.
“
GO!
”
Neither boy hesitated.
“Welcome to the support course practical. You all have three hours to build something and present it alongside the blueprint after the time is up. You are allowed to use your own tools and every bit of heavier machinerie we have in this room. You find whatever materials you may need in the warehouse through that door.” Power Loader said and pointed at a door at the back of the room.
“If you want to test your gear before presenting it, the test room is there.” he continued and pointed at another door.
“You are allowed to talk with other people in the room or get help if you need to. If you help others, we will note that down and it will be considered, when we grade your results. Now, search yourself a workbench and begin.” he exclaims and the big counter on the wall starts ticking.
Izuku and Mei didn’t hesitate for a moment.
They claimed two workbenches right next to each other, somewhat secluded from the others.
After claiming them for themselves, they moved into the warehouse to take a lock of what they had available.
After all, that is what is deciding what they will build.
Can’t build something, if you don’t have the right materials.
And UA didn’t disappoint either of them with what they found.
Yeah, they could work with that.
Grinning at each other, both filled a small cart with materials and parts, before leaving and going back to their workbenches.
They pulled the blueprints to them in near synchronicity and started sketching.
Izuku got some lightweight and durable alloy with some small computer chips, already knowing what he will make out of it.
The sketch he does is finished rather quickly, before he went to Power Loader.
“Excuse me, sir?” he asks the teacher.
“How can I help you?” the teacher inquires.
“I wanted to ask whether or not we are allowed to continue these projects after we receive our grades. Be it as UA students or in our private time.”
The teacher visibly thought about that question for a few moments, before answering.
“Sure, if you think there is more you can add then.”
Izuku nods and walks back to his station.
Mei looks at him with a knowing smile, before she put her goggles on.
She already finished her blueprint and started to work.
Izuku himself sat down at his workbench, pulling his laptop out of his backpack and connecting it with the computer chips.
Time to write some code.
He thinks and quickly starts typing.
Shortly after, his signature muttering was audible, if you chose to listen in, which Mei does with one ear.
She always does.
She likes to hear his thought process.
“...Placeholder, until I got more time to work. Should I do individual or swarm control? Individual could be too hard for the average person, but swarm takes some versatility away…Multiple smaller swarms? That could work.” he glances at his materials.
“Six per swarm, gives me about enough for a dozen swarms…Behavioral coding is harder, but should be manageable…”
He was typing the code at lightning speed, while muttering the whole time.
Luckily he built that laptop himself, otherwise the keys would have given in by now.
Around 20 minutes later he slams the laptop shut and puts it aside.
He stretches for a moment, before grabbing his alloy and a marker, beginning to sketch where it needs to be cut.
Mei, having heard what he was planning and having glanced at his work, had a wide grin on her face.
Izuku made quick work with the cutting and startet the finer workings.
Some other students in the room were slightly entranced, seeing those two work in perfect concentration, occasionally giving each other the tools they needed, without even saying a single word.
Both teens went completely into the zone and tuned everything out that is not their own or the other's work, which resulted in a hyper focused atmosphere around them.
Power Loader was impressed, to put it mildly.
Most possible students in the room showed some potential.
Some more than others.
But what left the best impression on him, was the duo of green and pink haired students, working in perfect synch, without saying a single word.
While the first two explosions on the girls workstation were slightly worrying to him, neither showed any reaction to it.
Instead, the girl continued to work, swiftly finding the error and correcting it, while the boy just handed her the necessary tools for it.
The third explosion saw little reaction from the teacher then, seeing as he quickly understood that it is part of her working process.
It may be a dangerous part, but they seem used to it.
What worried him was the fourth explosion.
It was bigger than the first, that much was clear from the noises and smoke that preceded it.
But even then, they reacted perfectly to it.
The boy just caught a screwdriver that was blasted from her workbench, without even looking at it, while she offhandedly put out the small fire and looked over the blueprints to find the cause of the error.
And as if that wasn’t impressive enough, the inventions they showed him once the time was up, were highly impressive as well.
And he almost instantly understood why the boy asked if they were allowed to continue their work on the stuff, after they get the results.
He was sitting in the presentation room, Nedzu at his side, seeing as the hero exam was over and he also judged the support student results.
The boy, laptop propped on a table, metal feathers in hand, explained what he built.
“These feathers are my own version of Hawks feathers. They are lightweight but durable, while flying thanks to a small repulsor system I build into them. Each has an individual computer chip, which is connected to my laptop right now, but can later be connected to a small support item, possibly controlled per thought alone. Given my limited time and need to run the program on my laptop for now, you can’t control each feather individually, instead you can control them in small swarms of six, thanks to their behavior routines. The other swarms meanwhile remain idle, as long as they don’t have already existing input.” he says, showing everything with an example feather, while typing on his laptop to let the swarms do small tasks to show off their abilities.
This goes on for another 10 minutes with detailed descriptions of the feathers working, possibilities, what he has planned for them in the future and everything else surrounding them.
Afterwards, it was the girls turn.
And how the everloving fuck did she manage to build an entire exoskeleton with build in jetpack in that short time?!?
He just looked at her and the invention, completely gobsmacked.
Her workstation literally exploded 8 times, but her result looked perfect, almost as if she worked on it for weeks.
And it was working too?!?
Yeah, both of them would pass the exam, so much was clear.
Now he only needed to grade them to see how many points they got and if there was a new record holder now.
If you asked him that morning if there would ever be a student surpassing his former genius gremlin, he would have laughed and said no.
But here those two were, effortlessly proving to him that he should be open to the possibility.
And the migraine accompanying it.