Izuku's quirk unofficially manifested when Kacchan got a new video game system for his birthday.

After reading the instructions for a bit and finding out what one character did and what all the buttons did, Izuku went undefeated once it was his turn. Which was also when Kacchan's quirk also manifested and he destroyed his games console. This happened when they were about four years old and the two hadn't really been friends since because Kacchan naturally blamed everything on Izuku for winning so much.

It wasn't until Izuku was about thirteen did he realize that the whole gaming thing wasn't the first time his quirk activated, rather it was when he read the manual. He knew that manuals were for reading so he simply picked it up and read it. Simple as that.

Officially though, his quirk manifested when he started to practice writing later that spring for school. He knew that pencils were for writing and how they did the writing thing, so he was able to write with them well. Very well. Sure he couldn't form a coherent sentence―and he still technically struggled with it―but it was abnormal for a five year old to be able to write so neatly that his teacher had accused the T.A. of writing it for them, only for that T.A. to say that they couldn't write that neat even if their life depended on it.

Then later, when his ability to read just about any book came into light, his quirk got its first name.

Academia.

He remembered his mother crying her eyes out that her son was going to be a genius and that he was going to graduate early and go to an amazing college and she even had a mild panic attack when talking with his father about the whole saving for college thing.

There was just one small problem with that plan. Or rather two.

The assumption about his quirk was wrong. Sure, Izuku was pretty smart and was top of his class; until he got put into the class with all of the other students that were the top of their class. Now he was just middle of the pack for most things. But it wasn't his quirk that made him smart―being able to read and write from an early age probably helped―instead his quirk just let him be able to use anything really, really, really well if he knew how it worked.

An example of this was sports. He was a member of the archery club, their best member―their Ace. All because he understood how the bow and arrow worked so he could use it nearly perfectly. But when it came to a sport like soccer, sure he could kick the ball pretty good, but he wasn't that good at chasing after the ball, blocking the ball, or a wide variety of other things needed for the sport.

But that was a second part about why the college plan wasn't going to work.

Izuku had one dream. One small dream that he once shared with Kacchan. He wanted to be a hero.

And with his quirk he had a feeling he could be one! Just like the pro hero Snipe who never missed a shot, or Yoroi Musha who could block any attack with his armor, and countless other heroes that were made possible because of their gear. Oh what Izuku wouldn't give to be able to get his hand on some support items, just to see what he could do with them thanks to his quirk.

But to do that, he either needed to get lucky and find someone to make him some gear, or train hard and get into his hero school of choice: U.A.

Which was probably where Kacchan wanted to go too.

Part of Izuku wondered what his childhood friend was up to, but for various reasons Izuku ended up going to a different school than Kacchan.

But, a much larger part realized that he should really be paying attention right now.

Block.

Step back, recover posture.

Step forward, overhead strike.

Block.

Sword up.

Block.

Second strike.

Block again, side step to force the blow to the side.

Caught.

Overran. Point lost.

Match lost.

Defeat.

Izuku took a step back, trying not to fall over as he felt his heart pumping in his chest. No matter how often he fought against her, Itsuka's raw strength was just something that his quirk couldn't overcome. Technically he was better with the sword, but not by enough to overcome Kendo's power, and it was hardly his fault. It was in her name: Itsuka Kendo. Of course she would be good at kendo.

"Well done." Kendo-sensei clapped her hands, smiling proudly at them with her hands on her hips. "Izuku, as always your swordsmanship is excellent, your bokken is always right where it needs to be, if it was against anyone else I doubt that you'd have lost. As for you Itsuka, Great job kicking his butt, sweetie!"

"Mom!" Itsuka whined, pulling her protective helmet off and letting her long orange hair fall free. Itsuka was a hard tomboy, but had a cute and responsible side to her which was why most of the other members had a crush on her. If Izuku didn't know any better he would too. "Could you actually give me a critique instead of just praise?"

"But why would I do that?"

"Because it's your job!"

"Why don't you critique yourself?"

"Mom!"

"Sorry, sorry." Kendo-sensei stuck her tongue out and rubbed the back of her head like she was an anime character. "Anyways. Thank you both for coming today, I'm sure our new members learned a lot from watching our male and female captains go at it, right?"

Several of the first years nodded eagerly, all of them had their eyes locked on Itsuka like she was some kind of a goddess.

"Right then, let's start with some basic exercises then!"

The sky was still blue when he made his way out of the gym. So much better than when it was dark during the winter months when it felt like he had no time to do anything after his clubs. Maybe it was his fault for being in two highly demanding sports clubs. He had fully intended on dropping the archery club last year because it wasn't as helpful as kendo was for improving his actual body.

But the club members and even the sensei had begged him to stay in the hopes that they could get to nationals last year. Which they did. And now he was in two clubs where both instructors wanted him to be a captain, even though he said he didn't have the time to be a captain. Several times.

How did he go from using sports clubs to the sports clubs using him?

XXXX

There were several less than direct things when dealing with his quirk. While he could play the flute perfectly, he still had to learn the songs in order to play them, otherwise, he just made in-tune noise, and even when he learned the songs the instructor just said that he lacked soul or heart or something. He didn't want to say that was why he stopped playing the flute but it might've been a big part of it.

It was the same thing with drawing. When it came to just doodling what was on his mind, it was sloppy, random, and not coherent. But figure sketching, landscapes, and life drawings he was able to do easily. The art teacher said that he could make a living like that. But for now, it was just kind of fun to doodle when he was supposed to relax.

But it really didn't help with becoming a hero.

Really, it felt like nothing he did at this school benefited him, other than whatever benefit he was getting through sports. Sure, he understood why a good education was important but he wanted something more. Something more coherent than just pure physical training. The U.A. Entrance Exam was ten months away and he didn't feel ready in the slightest.

From what he understood the exam was about fighting giant robots. That wasn't exactly something he could do. Sure, he could use a power drill or screwdriver super well, but that would be like going against Itsuka with a pencil.

Izuku let out a long desperate sigh, tapping his pencil against his most recent sketch of the courtyard, it was the same thing he had drawn a few weeks ago, but there were some variations because of the changing seasons, more flowers in the trees, fewer puddles, and just a bit brighter. And there was a robot. A clunky, two-legged robot that was stomping around with a stack of flyers and a sign that said 'Join the Support Club'.

There was a support club?

How the hell did he not know about that until today? He knew about the future heroes club but that club was just kind of pointless as most of the students that wanted to be heroes were in different clubs. But a Support Club. That sounded something like he should check out.

Especially if they built a robot like that.

Izuku approached the robot with a great deal of curiosity. It looked like it was made from spare parts from a junkyard but melded perfectly together in a feat of pure ingenuity, passion, and creativity. He really wanted to meet the guy that made this. How had he not heard about someone like this before? Sure he wasn't the most social and he did keep himself busy with all of his clubs but, someone that could make robots had to have shown up for the school fair or something.

"Looking for new members. Join the support club today." Izuku read the plainly written flyer. While neat and orderly, it lacked any real flair, as though whoever made it put as little effort into it as possible. There wasn't even a name, or a building. Come to think of it, why was the robot even back here of all places? There weren't many students that walked back here.

Still, it was worth investigating. Right?

The one teacher he asked knew nothing about it and suggested that he go ask the student council for more information.

"So." The class president Momo Yaoyorozu crossed her arms, a mildly annoyed look on her otherwise friendly looking face. Ever since he had transferred schools and joined Momo's class, she had always been on top. In addition, she had been a member of the band club for years and had been mildly annoyed that Izuku never gave it a good shot.

Not that she was one to hold a grudge.

"You're displaying interest in yet another club, Izuku? And not the music or art clubs?"

Or she was, and he was really bad at reading people. He really didn't understand how other people worked. Not in the slightest.

"It's not like I want to join them or anything." Izuku scratched the back of his head as he ignored the annoyed looks from the other members of the student council. All of them were guys that had a crush on Momo. Once the girl announced her bid of becoming the class president, student participation went up tenfold.

And much like Itsuka, Momo was also one of the hopeful hero candidates. And while he could use any item that he understood, Momo could make any item. Which honestly sounded like the more useful ability on paper. In some ways Izuku considered Momo his rival, though he wasn't entirely committed to that, because Momo almost never competed with him.

Momo leaned forward, the plain table she was leaning on almost as imposing as a director's desk. "Then why are you interested in yet another club? You're already in two sports clubs with conflicting schedules and were allowed into-"

"It's for my quirk," he admitted, looking down at the ground. "I know it's selfish but I can't think of a good way to use my quirk to pass the U.A. exam without using some support items. I mean the whole point is to test our abilities right? And my quirk is kind of useless on its own. So I was hoping that I could get them to make me some items, I mean their robot was impressive. And I figure I could offer them my quirk to test things as well."

"Oh." Momo deflated, her persona as the class president was replaced by that kind caring girl he had met on his first day at this school. "I can see why that would be an issue for you. I had the same thoughts as well, but I managed to get a recommendation. If you want I can put you in contact with the person who recommended me, I'm sure you'd be allowed to take the recommendation exam."

"I still run into the problem of needing support gear for any practical exam." Izuku sunk into his chair and let out a pathetic shrug. "Besides, each school can only submit one student to the recommendation exam remember?"

"I see your point." Momo stood from her seat and turned around, stepping on it as she reached for one of the numerous boxes on the top shelf. Izuku for his part attempted to avert his eyes and not look up Momo's skirt. How could she be so defenseless? "Ahh, here we are. Uhh. This form is barely half-finished. How did this even get approved? Just because it was a big club a few years ago doesn't mean it-"

"Uhh Momo."

"Oh. Right."

Momo sat back down and smiled at him. "The clubroom is at the old shop building, it's on the other side of the campus from where the kendo and archery clubs normally meet. Also, there's only one member."

"Really?" That explained why they were recruiting people. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"No, our school doesn't have a problem with one person clubs. Plus they have been participating in events outside of the school so we can't shut them down even if we wanted to." Momo smiled sweetly. "Though, when you go meet him, please tell whoever is in there that he needs to come in and properly fill out the paperwork so they can keep their club going. Especially if they want funding."

"Uhh, sure, I can do that." Izuku stood and offered Momo a slight bow. "Thank you for your help, Momo."

"My pleasure Izuku. And good luck. I hope to see you at U.A."

"Likewise."

XXXX

Apparently even a nice school like this one that had a modern library, and several buildings that were actually younger than he was had an old, overgrown, rust-covered, messy, broken down, and partially dilapidated building. The Old Shop deserved its title of old, but probably not of shop. Even from the outside Izuku could see several places where the ceiling was more of a suggestion than actual protection from the elements.

But there was a sign made out of a car door that said 'Support Club Room,' right next to a sign in an old computer monitor that said 'Enter at your own risk,' and a third sign made out of gears that said 'Knock'.

He would knock, but the door was currently sitting about twenty feet away from the door frame.

"Uhh, hello? Mr. Support Class member?" He leaned into the door, knocking on the nearest solid surface. It was one of those thin metal sheets so the noise was the same as that fake thunder sound he used to make in the school plays as a stagehand. "My name is Izuku Midoriya and I'm here to-"

A loud pop echoed through the building, and a burst of heat washed over Izuku. Maybe he shouldn't have knocked.

With a few careful steps he looked around the inner wall that separated the inside from the outside and saw what he at first thought to be a human-shaped grease stain desperately trying to put out a small fire that they had caused with a fire extinguisher. The boy was on the short side, or at least shorter than Izuku, which was saying something. They were wearing a full-bodied welding suit complete with gloves. On the top of their head was a pair of steampunk looking goggles that hid most of their pink hair.

Lining the multiple benches and even the walls were several items that ranged from finished to little more than the parts sitting next to each other. A lot of them looked at least decent. He had no idea what exactly they were, but they at least looked like they could be useful. He wanted to try them.

"Sorry about that." Izuku extended a hand to the boy as he finished putting out the fire. "I'm just here to-"

The boy pulled back his goggles. Yellow irises with a crosshair-shaped pupils looked at him for a moment. Izuku felt himself drawn to those eyes, they weren't just unique, they were captivating. Then the boy looked up towards the clock, shrugged, and sprayed the ever so slightly still smoking remains of what was once an item with the extinguisher one last time.

"I'm late." The boy's voice was slightly raspy and even a bit on the girlish side. Wait. Was this a boy or a girl? They had pretty eyes, but that didn't mean anything, and they had pink hair, but that also didn't mean anything. Come to think of it, why did Izuku think this was a boy? Would it be rude to ask? "Talk to me tomorrow."

"Late for what?" Izuku followed them deeper into the building as they walked like they were on a mission.

"Scrap pick up." They unzipped the top part of the welding suit revealing a set of well-toned arms and a T-shirt. They were also flat-chested. But Izuku knew girlier looking boys and manlier looking girls. Hell, Itsuka had man-hands and was basically a tomboy that would wear a skirt. They opened a second door where a motorized bicycle with a cart attached to it was waiting for them. "I need to move fast if I want to make it back in time before the school closes."

"Oh. Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, not really. You'd get in the way."

"Oh. Umm can I get your name at least?"

Those golden eyes locked onto him as the support member looked back at him an uncaring smile on their face. "Mei Hatsume. And you better remember it."

Oh. So they were a girl. And now Izuku's heart was doing funny things and his cheeks felt warm. "It's nice to meet you I'm-"

"Yeah, you're Izuku Midoriya. Like I said, talk to me tomorrow." She flipped down her goggles and hopped on to the bike. The motor started up with a puff of smoke and then she was off, going just a bit faster than he could run.

AN: Those of you who followed my twitter would know how much I've been chomping at the bits to start and IzuMei fic. Well... Here's one of them.

Hope you all enjoy. I see this going slow burn.

Also. Yes. Mei is currently flat.