Chapter 1.

Izuku Midoriya was not exactly having the best of days, it all honestly centered around his two best friends starting a romantic relationship as of today.

Sure, he was happy for them but, he couldn't help to feel a little lonely, since for the longest time he did have feelings for Uraraka, to be more precise since the entrance exam, when she saved him from falling…twice.

It wasn't just because she saved his life but, it was because she was the first girl to ever really give this shy awkward mess the time of day. He had a feeling that she had liked him back, but was proven wrong by the events of today, it wasn't like he was going to ask her out yet, it was really just…he…Midoriya was just sad that any chance he had with any girl was now gone.

The green haired boy continued to be lost in thought as he usually was, walking to the support course workshop, his iron soles needed some repair after an, unfortunate incident, involving a sparring match with Bakugo, and well…it ended the way he expected.

"You think after so long he would dial back on the blood rage," Midoraiya sighed as he pulled out his dented to absolute crap iron sole, "Well, Hatsume should be able to do some repairs."

Izuku had finally reached the workshop, knocking on the door, then stepping back a few feet, considering the last time he was there an explosion knocked him to the ground, and he had experienced enough trauma with explosions lately.

The door was thrown open sporadically, causing him to flinch and get into a defense stance, "Don't kill me!"

...

There was a brief awkward silence before Midoriya slowly opened his eyes, to see Mei Hatsume with her goggles down staring at him, with a huge smile on her face.

"Hey Midoriya, whats up, what needs some fixing, you need a new costume, weapon, arm engines, jet pack, robot well I haven't worked out that one yet but its still needs some field work, and I think you'll be perfect for that!" Hatsume rattled off as she got more and more in his face.

"N- wait did you just say robot- wait no, no, I just need you to repair my iron soles…that I…busted." Izuku blushed and nervously held out his damaged footwear.

"Oh, well that's simple-and boring, come on in!" The enthusiastic girl pulled up her goggles, and quickly turned back into the shop, with Midoriya following behind.

He took a quick glance all over the messy shop, various parts laying around, and several unused inventions all piled up in one corner and even reached inside the air vent, some of them interested him like an arm cannon, and a mini race car shoe, but the others just left him in confusion like the…grandfather clock?

His thoughts were quickly disrupted, when-

"Alrighty then, just hand me the sole, and ill have it done in no time!"

"Oh, ok," Midoriya placed the sole on her work bench and Hatsume got started.

"You can sit over there while I work if you want," Mei pointed over at the chairs in the corner.

"Alright…thanks," Midoriya's mood was hard to hide from others considering how open and emotional he was, he didn't exactly want to come off as a sad sack or a jerk but, having faced so many obstacles like: fighting Overhaul, the death of Nighteye, the festival, a spar with Katsuki, and the final nail in the coffin, losing Uraraka.

He was just really spent emotionally, something Hatsume took note of, as he sulked over to the chair and sat with his head hanging low in near, complete hopelessness.

After a couple minutes of straightening out the dents, Hatusme decided to break the silence, she wasn't used to seeing him like this and frankly, didn't like seeing him in such a state of depression.

"Hey Midoriya, what's going on, you don't look so good."

"It…it's nothing Hatsume, it's just a personal thing."

"Well I knew that silly, I want to know how I can help," Hatsume cheerfully stated with her massive smile.

"I, really don't think I should go into it, honestly, I don't want to trouble you with my problems."

'Wow, this must be seriously bad if its got him like this…' the inventor thought, still trying to keep her spirits up, "Look, whatever it is, I promise I'll keep it secret for you, it won't leave this workshop, Power Loader is out so it's just you and me."

Midoriya's head still hung low, trying to resist the offer, but also wanting to accept it, All Might was busy in a meeting, his mother was at work, his best friends were out of the question, and Mirio was out with friends.

However, the scales tipped over in Mei's favor when she left her work bench to sit next him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, it'll make you feel better if you do," giving him a comforting look, while patting his back.

Midoriya raised his eyes to look at her, and blushed a little, seeing her smile and pleasant eyes and once again turned his head down to hide it.

Normally, he would freak out if a girl was touching him, but in this case, he was too far gone to care about that, but her welcoming characteristics, made him more at ease, losing his gloom mood a little, and after a minute of silence, he mustered up the courage to speak.

"It's a girl problem."

"Ohhhhhhhh, let me guess uhhhh the brown-haired girl you always talk to?"

"Uraraka."

"Yeah, that's the one, sorry I'm really bad with names." Hatsume rubbed her neck, a little embarrassed at the fact.

"Her and Iida...had started dating today, and I've had feelings for her since we first met at the entrance exam, she was…the first girl to even really notice me."

"Really, that's a surprise."

"Huh?" Midoriya looked at her in confusion.

"Uh well..I mean that it just always seemed like you were nice enough of a guy that most girls would want to talk to you, and get to know you, in all honesty that's a really good trait that could serve you in life, and," Mei kept muttering more and more, nervously rattling off what would be random nonsense to anyone else but, Midoriya being a mutterer as well, understood every word.

"You mutter to?"

"Eh?"

"You mutter, just like I do when I'm analyzing quirks and heroics."

"Oh yeah, I do it when I'm thinking about my next "baby" and all the uses for it, and I do it sometimes when I'm nervous," Mei's eyes shot wide, 'Oh crap I didn't mean to say that!'

Hatsume's blush had returned as Midoriya had indeed caught what she said, but didn't want to make her feel awkward in any way.

"Its alright Hatsume, it doesn't weird me out or anything."

"Well that's a relief, it kinda scares people off from me," her blush had disappeared, but was replaced by a frown, "Most of my life, people were always annoyed at my constant muttering about various things, most of my friends kept their distance, or just told me to stop out right, but, I couldn't help myself, I had so much enthusiasm about what I was thinking that I couldn't contain it, and well…I ended up with just myself in middle school…and every so often, I think I deserved it for being so annoying, but I have to stay positive or it'll get to me and I can't have that."

She returned to her positive attitude, but Midoriya could clearly tell she was depressed over the subject.

"Hatsume...I'm so sorry," he replied while reflecting on his own experiences, but he couldn't take the thought of that happening to someone else, "No you didn't deserve any of that!"

"What?"

Midoriya stood up and looked at her in the eye confidently, dispelling his mood almost completely.

"Look at where you are, you are part of one of the greatest hero schools out there, and have done so much good for all of us, yeah our training and determination is what is getting us to where we need to be, but you deserve as much credit as anyone!"

"Midoriya…"

"Those iron soles have helped me so much in the passed few months, its helped me develop my new fighting style and put less strain on my arms little by little. You have helped all of us get closer and closer to our goals, who cares if you mutter, or they think if you're annoying, you are an incredible person, and you are as much to thank as our teachers for making us into real heroes, and we will always be grateful for that and remember that you are the best!"

Mei was awestruck, her eyes were shot open and her mouth was gaping a little as she started at the broccoli haired boy, just standing there raising her spirits, and dispelling any internal issues she had with her life. Mei had always remained positive in the face of criticism and neglect from peers, but inside, it was really getting to her after a while, sometimes, even questioning if she was good enough, not many people (other than Power Loader) really complemented her skills.

Now, this boy, that she didn't pay a whole lot of mind to before, was saying the same thing to her as Power Loader, that's all she had ever really wanted to hear from anyone, her heart fluttered in her chest and her face got a little warmer, as her smile returned, but alongside an embarrassed expression while looking at Midoriya, 'He really is cute, now that I think about it.'

Midoriya gave the same embarrassed expression, his face red as a tomato, as he nervously tried to talk.

"I uh, well um... yeah sorry I yelled so much there I just really related to your situation, and spoke honestly because I didn't like seeing you so down and I-"

"Its fine Midoriya, I'm glad you said all that, you have no idea how much that really helped me," Hatsume turned her face away from him to hide her redness, but keeping her grin all the same.

"It was really no problem, since you were trying to do the same for me," the shy boy rubbed the back of his head while darting his eyes away from her, out of his own embarrassment.

"Oh, yeah, I was doing that," she turned her face back to him but the blush was still in-tact, "Uh, sorry that I got so caught up in my problems, I just wanted to make you feel better."

"No no, its fine, it really got me thinking back to how my middle school days were, and being a bit of an outcast myself."

"Anyone who would treat you like that is a joke, you are an incredible person yourself Midoriya, anyone would be lucky to be your friend!"

"Y-you…really think that Hatsume," Midoriya's eyes lit up a bit at the statement.

"Y-…yeah I really do," she looked softly into his eyes, a nervous smile on her face, not used to opening up to another person like this.

Izuku did the same, Hatsume's story put it all into perspective for him, sparking up his old cheerful personality, but only to a degree, as he broke their stare by looking down at the floor, with his frown returning.

"H-hey why don't we do something tomorrow," Hatsume asked, attempting to quickly cast off his frown.

"Really," it worked, as he sparked up again.

"Yeah, we could go out and have some fun at a few places, I got a few ideas as to where and what, but I think it'll be nice to spend some time together!"

"Ok, I'm fine with that, I don't have anything to do tomorrow."

"Great, just hang on a sec," Hatsume sat up from the chair rushing to a nearby cabinet and opening the doors, grabbing her phone, "Hand me your phone, if you don't mind."

"Uh, ok." Midoriya reached into his pocket presenting the phone.

After a few seconds, Hatsume handed it back to him.

"Alrighty, now you have my number, I'll text you when I get out of here and back to my dorm room!"

"But what about my soles?"

"I'll bring them to you tomorrow before we head out, there's some other things I have to take care of, and you probably have some stuff to do to," Hastume walked back over to her bench.

"Well, you're not wrong its just...um," Midoriya's cheeks went crimson again, as his eyes darted to the left of the shop, and twiddling his thumbs.

"What is it," she asked while turning to face him.

"I wanted to... maybe... stay a little longer... with you," he nervously looked up at her.

Mei's face returned to mimicking the same color as her hair, but remained calm, and became pretty flattered by his want to spend more time with her.

"Sure, you can stay," she replied warmly.