The sun shined bright in the sky over U.A. high, bathing the building with warm welcoming rays as clouds rolled past, most somehow managing to avoid blocking the sunlight on the building.

Sat on one of the four rooftops of the building was Izuku Midoriya, feeling the warmth on his skin as he sat there with his lunch, idly poking at it with a small frown.

Normally he'd be eating lunch with his friends, laughing at some joke Uraraka had made or discussing something like ethics in hero work with Iida. (They were nerds. he was fully aware.)

Today though he'd been slightly more withdrawn and quiet. He wasn't quite sure why but he just… felt bad. He idly traced a finger over one of his scars from one of his many less successful utilizations of his quirk.

He was pretty sure the reason he'd felt so bad was because his brain had gotten overly focused on his past failures and the consequences of screwing up with One for All once more.

It was hard not to get caught up thinking about it sometimes. He was one overpowered villain away from potentially needing to disable himself for the rest of his life.

He wouldn't have Eri to counteract the damage every time.

"Oh, First Place? Fancy finding you here." A somewhat cheery feminine voice spoke up, surprising the greenette as he looked up to see Mei Hatsume approaching. She wore the outfit he was used to seeing the girl in, with a black tank top, a U.A. gym jacket wrapped around her waist and sweatpants. She was more clean than he was used to seeing though and the crazy glint she tended to have in her eyes wasn't there. "I see you found my hiding spot."

"Hiding spot? Oh, is there where you eat lunch?" he asked, noticing the food she had in her grasp and blushing slightly as he began to get up. "Sorry, I didn't realize! I can go if you-"

"It's fine, I don't get company often." She interrupted with a happy-go-lucky smile, dropping down next to him and beginning to eat. She spared a glance at him with a small smirk. "So what you doing up here, Ten Million?"

"Oh uh… Just… needed to get away. Get some fresh air, I guess." He explained vaguely, settling back down and toying with his food again, finally mustering up the will to take a few bites. Not wanting to focus on his problems at the moment, he raised a brow. "I'm kind of surprised to see you out for lunch though to be honest. I honestly got the impression you never leave the workshop."

"You got that right!" The pink haired girl laughed, golden eyes seeming to shine in the sun. with her unique hair and eyes and the small bits of dirt still clinging to her… she was kind of beautiful, in a chaotic way. Izuku blushed, turning away slightly as his thoughts went that direction. "Power Loader started demanding I go eat though if I want to keep using the workshop a few weeks ago. So I come here now, the view is great and the wind can get my brain working in new ways!"

"Oh, I suppose that makes sense." Izuku hummed, his mind taken off his issues for now and managing to slowly but surely eat more of his food. He let out a curious hum. "Why not eat with some of your friends from class though?"

To the greenette's surprise, the girl's usual carefree expression dropped, if only for a second. "Don't have any."

"H-Huh? What do you mean?"

"Most of my classmates don't like me." She shrugged, starting to finish up her lunch. "Some of my stuff exploding breaks theri stuff a lot."

"Ah." Izuku hummed with a small frown, before trying to fix the girl with a small smile. "You know we're friends though, right? Even if we don't interact much."

"Thanks, Ten Million." The inventor said with a small laugh, setting down her food now she was done with it and turning to him with a slightly more serious expression that was somewhat surprising for Hatsume. "Alright so come on, what's up?"

"Huh?"

"I may not be a social expert but even I can tell something's wrong with you and when I can tell, that means it's got to be serious. Plus, the fact that you're up here is kind of telling that you don't want to let your usual friends know. So tell me." She explained, cocking her head to the side briefly and completely catching the greenette off-guard. He'd never pegged her for someone so observant with people.

Then again, maybe that was just because he'd not gotten to see more sides to her than the mad inventor yet.

"It's… silly. I feel like no one else will understand it, even if a part of me knows there is probably someone that will, I still feel like no one is going to get it." He began to explain, shaking his head as he set his own food down and hung his head, pulling his knees to his chest. "And that makes me hesitant to share it. Plus, I don't want to worry people over it because I know that's exactly what they'll do."

"Hm, I actually understand that. Well the silly problem part, not the 'people will care' part." Mei said, not even seeming to register what she'd just said was somewhat concerning and brought Izuku's attention back to her as she continued on. "You know my dad is an engineer?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, and my mom is a physicist. A well-known one actually. She's never home much cause she's always travelling for symposiums and stuff." She began to explain, uncharacteristically subdued as she revealed this information. "So it's mainly me and my dad, three guesses where I got my building skills from. He's respected enough by his colleagues as well but he's not really… friends with any of them. I had just my dad to look to for a long time and he's not social in the slightest, more focused on his work. It's a lot to live up to."

'That… actually explains quite a lot about her, now I think about it.' Izuku thought, watching the girl fidget with her jacket in her lap.

"He didn't like physical contact much either. I think it was a habit he picked up due to safety procedures and all that boring stuff, but like I was lucky if I got two hugs in as many months." She explained, looking to the sky. "You know how I kind of jump you a lot to try to measure you?"

"Yeah… gotten a heart attack cause of that a few times, to be honest." He admitted, rubbing the back of his head with a small blush as he remembered the girl feeling up his chest not too long ago for costume upgrades. Then he noted the look on the girl's face. "What about it?"

"That's my 'silly problem' I mentioned. I do it cause I'd just like someone to do the same for me. Sometimes I felt like I was wondering if even actually existed as a kid with how no one would really go near me." She explained, not seeming to be sad outwardly about it but still managing to make Izuku's heart clench for his friend. "Kind of hard to bring up either. The one time I did, I got in trouble for 'harassment'. I just want to feel someone's touch to know I exist sometimes."

The two lapsed into silence for a moment after that, Izuku blinking in surprise and Mei looking away after revealing that personal secret.

"Hatsume I… I had no idea." He muttered, looking to the ground with a slightly agape mouth as he tried to think about how to respond to that. She looked over to him with slightly expectant eyes and he let out a small sigh, showing her his arm and gingerly tracing over one of his scars again. "You remember how this whole dorm thing only even happened cause my class and 1-B were attacked at the training camp?"

"Yeah, kind of hard to forget. A lot of general studies and support course students seem to think it's your classes fault for being targeted." The inventor revealed, getting her current greenette companion to groan.

"Of course. Well anyways, when I was there I got in a fight with a villain and I ended up shattering my bones like I used to do all the time. Thing is, that many breaks have taken their toll, especially as even with Recovery Girl's quirk speeding it up, they healed naturally." He explained with a quiet sigh, clenching his fist. "If I break them again, the ligaments are more than likely going to be damaged beyond repair. I already get pains sometimes even when I'm not doing anything but if I break them again… I could lose use of my arms for good. If another villain comes along though, too powerful for my full cowling to stop, I'm worried there's going to be no choice for me but to break myself."

"….I wouldn't call that silly, Ten Million." Hatsume said, taking his arm with a frown, eyeing it. He saw that glint come into her eyes again but she didn't grapple him like usual, actually being mindful of his body now she knew the truth which the greenette was thankful for. "I can look into it if you want, see if I can try to come up with some better kind of braces for your arms to allow more damage with less destruction to yourself."

"You don't have to, Hatsume-"

"It could be fun." She kept going, ignoring his words as her brain was clearly setting to work. "Wasn't there that gauntlet thing you mentioned on I-Island? Maybe I can try to reach out to them using my U.A. standing or parents. It would be awesome to get a look at some of their babies either way."

"Well… clearly I'm not going to be able to stop you now." Izuku sighed, scratching the back of his neck with his free hand. "I still don't want people worrying though."

"Hey but I can help ya, just watch me!" She said confidently with a grin, before looking away for a moment. "Plus this is an actually serious problem, it needs to be dealt with. I couldn't imagine what I'd do if I lost my hands and couldn't make any more babies. My problem pales in comparison, totally got the ballpark of that one wrong."

"Hey, no you don't. Your issue is still plenty valid." Izuku assured, turning to her with a small frown and taking her own hand, which was slightly weird to do as his face heated up. She did say she wanted to actually be felt though, right? "Just because your body isn't going to break because of it doesn't mean it isn't still serious. I didn't have a lot of interaction as a kid myself but I at least still had my mom, you didn't even have much from your father based on what you said."

An idea hit.

With a blushing face, a lot of nervousness and more than anything a desire to just help his friend feel better, he became much quieter as he asked her a question. "I um… I'd be okay with… helping you with it. If you don't mind? I just don't want you to feel bad andIguessIcanunderstanditmyselfandidon'tmeananythingweirdbyiteitherijust-"

"Please." She said. It was simple, and to anyone else it might not have seemed like much. Not enthusiastic nor reserved or against it but it was the subtleness of the way she leaned in slightly closer, of how her eyes darted to his hands briefly that gave away her eagerness for this.

"A-Alright." Izuku nodded, before gently he wrapped his arms around her waist, face turning bright red as the girl leaned against him as well.

He didn't stop there though. She'd said she touched people the way she wanted to be, right? While he obviously wasn't going to reach for her chest, he did slowly and gently run his hands across her waist, a finger trailing over her side.

She let out a small hum that sounded delighted and content, prompting him to continue and try a little extra.

He kept one hand around her waist, hugging her at all times but his other hand trailed up her arm and briefly over her shoulders. It felt weird to do this, something that felt so intimate, with a friend like her but…

Mei was happy, so that was a good enough reason for it to him. As long as she was okay with it, he'd keep doing it.

He trailed his hand down her back, the girl leaning into it over so slightly and even letting out something akin to a tiny purr as he briefly glided over the small of her back, wrapping back around to her waist.

He was going to follow that same pattern again but Mei had gently grasped his hand, holding the one that had been moving before in place and guiding the one that had initially been still to her thigh.

Izuku's blush somehow got even brighter but with her silent permission he'd trailed over her continuing to roam over her body, careful to avoid certain spots, eventually returning back to her waist and alternating again.

They were quiet the whole time.

Izuku wasn't sure how long he and Mei stayed like that, but eventually the bell had rung, indicating to the two their time was up. Izuku had been rendered a nervous mess while the inventor had fixed him with a massive smile that somehow seemed more… Genuine, than any of the one's she'd given him before.

That chaotic beauty he'd thought of really was being shown off by her at that moment.

"Thanks for that First Place. It means a lot." She said, waving as she began walking away. She stopped for a moment, looking back with a grin. "What about you? Feeling better, Midoriya?"

"Yeah actually." He nodded with a small smile, before his eyes widened. "Wait, I thought you forgot my name?"

"I did." She cackled, beginning to walk away. "I 'forget' everyone's names. Can't stop me using nicknames then!"

Izuku rolled his eyes good-naturedly, as his blush began to die down. It didn't fully disappear though, as he called out one last thing to her. "Hatsume… If you ever need that again, just tell me, ok?"

"….You got it, Ten Million."

With that, she left Izuku standing there with a small smile on his face and a new found energy to continue the day with. 'I should really make more time for her in my days.'

It was after that day, many members of class 1-A started to notice the mad inventor of U.A. showing up to their dorm more and more frequently. It also didn't escape many of their notice that she and Izuku got more and more touchy with one another with every visit, stopping just short of crossing that line into 'relationship only' territory.

Many were confused at it, but none of them could deny one thing.

Izuku Midoriya and Mei Hatsume seemed a lot more happy nowadays.