Tinkering Together (Mei Hatsume x Reader)

Chapter 4: Hanging out at Home

It was the weekend once again. Due to one of Hatsume's inventions malfunctioning and setting the entire room on fire, Power Loader had banned us from the development studio until next week started. And thus, I was sitting on my bed reading a book on trees. I was reading about the White Willow tree when I heard a knock at my door.

"Who could possibly want to see me?" I whispered to myself. I was basically a loner in my class, due to the fact I spent lunchtime either on the roof or in the studio and I avoided my class like the plaque. Well, almost everyone.

I opened the door to my room to reveal the ever happy face of Hatsume Mei.

"Hey, Accumulo! Wanna hang out at your house?" She asked me, which confused me so much my brain short circuited. A couple seconds later I realized what she said.

"Uhh, sure, I guess," I replied, standing aside to let her in. We walked over to my bedroom and her eyes dashed all around the room.

"Nice room!' Hatsume said, plonking herself on my bed and lying down on it. Because I was too polite to ask her to move, I sat down on the seat at my desk and swiveled it around to face her.

"So...why did you want to come to my house?" I asked Hatsume.

"We're friends, aren't we?" Hatsume replied. I was silent. 'She...thought of me as a friend?' I thought in disbelief.

"We're...friends?" I asked, with my eyes wide open. Hatsume raised an eyebrow.

"Well, duh, we work in the same workshop every day and we help each other often enough!" Hatsume replied. I was still for a moment until a small smile appeared on my face.

"Yeah...friends...that sounds nice..." I said quietly so she wouldn't hear it. Hatsume rolled over on the bed so she was lying on her stomach.

"So, what is your quirk? It has to do with freezing stuff in place, right?" Hatsume asked. I sighed and slouched in my chair.

"Kinda. To put it simply, I can lock things in place by taking away their kinetic energy," I explained while throwing a pencil in the air and locking it in place. I then began tapping it.

"And if I tap it repeatedly...and then 'unlock' it..." I said, as I disabled my ability and sent the pencil flying into the wall, "All that kinetic energy I applied by tapping it hits it all at once, turning it into a projectile,". Hatsume looked awestruck at this.

"That's so sick! So it's like Lock Rock's quirk but even better?" Hatsume replied. I shrugged as if to say 'I guess so'.

"With a quirk like that, why didn't you go into the hero course? I always see you looking out the window when they're training outside," Hatsume asked. I sighed once again.

"Well, that was the plan...until the entrance exam..." I replied. Hatsume noticeably perked up at this.

"What do you mean? What happened?" Hatsume asked.

"Well, it went down like this..."

Flashback

It was the day of the entrance exam into the hero course at UA, and I was pumped. I already had a gameplan: Lock the robots in place and then turn them off using the switches on them. There were some interesting looking people, like a blonde guy who looked like the physical manifestation of anger, a girl with vines for hair, and a guy with gravity-defying purple hair. I was doing some stretches when the purple-haired guy walked up to me.

"So, you excited for this?" He asked me. I looked at him.

"Yeah man, how about-" I replied, before suddenly I felt my mind go fuzzy. The purple haired guy smiled.

"You will stay here and not enter the battleground," He told me. 'Like hell I'd do that' I thought to myself. The doors began opening and I went to run...but I wasn't able to. I kept telling myself to run, or sprint, but I refused. As the time went on I got more and more terrified of missing out. And when I heard the siren ring for the battle to be over, I felt myself cry inside, even though I couldn't cry physically. The purple-haired guy walked up to me as he left, and as he did the effect suddenly wore off. I looked at him in anger.

"You..." I said, but he kept walking away. I sighed, and decided to walk away. It was over. I had already completed the written exam, and I saw no point in staying any longer. As I left the school grounds, I saw someone.

"Hey, aren't you the Excavation Hero: Power Loader?" I asked him. He turned around and looked at me.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Nice to meet a fan," He replied. Suddenly, I had an idea.

"Uh, I know it's probably not your expertise, but I wanted some advice," I asked him. He looked at me in anticipation.

"Well, I know I failed the entrance exam for the hero course at UA, and now I don't know what to do. I told myself I would never settle for anything but UA, and now my chance to be a hero is gone and I don't know where to go next," I explained. The orange-haired man put on a thoughtful face.

"Would you call yourself creative? Or like making things?" He asked me. I nodded.

"Well, why not sign up for the Support Course at UA? Support Heroes are just as important as normal heroes. In fact, it's because of them that many heroes can do their jobs. If you really want to go to UA, and you truly want to help people, why not enter the Support Course? The exam is tomorrow, y'know," Power Loader suggested. I looked at him with bright eyes.

"The...Support Course..." I repeated. I smiled.

"Thanks, Power Loader! You really have good ideas!" I said, running towards the gates and out towards the city. I now knew what I should do with my life. I was gonna be a support hero!

Flashback End

"That sucks, man," Hatsume said, showing a rare case of sympathy. I nodded.

"If you got the chance...would you go into the hero course still?" Hatsume asked.

"Yes" I said, without any hesitation. Hatsume pulled out her phone.

"Well, I was told by Power Loader on Friday that some kid called Minoru Mineta got expelled for sexual harassment, and that I should stop any projects he had asked me to do," Hatsume said.

"Why didn't I get told about this?" I asked. Hatsume shrugged.

"You're more likely to work on personal projects, aren't you?" She said.

"Oh yeah. Anyways, why is this important?" I asked. Hatsume grinned.

"Well, if someone from the hero course was expelled, that means that they'll need to fill that spot in with someone, right?" Hatsume said. Sudden realization dawned on me, and I found myself grinning like an idiot.

"Hatsume, you're a genius!" I replied, standing up from my chair, I opened a mini-fridge next to my desk and grabbed an iced chocolate from it and threw it over to Hatsume.

"Here, that's payment for the idea. If I get into the hero course, then I can achieve my dream of being a full on hero!" I said. Hatsume looked kinda down when she heard that.

"Yeah...you'd leave the support course, wouldn't you..." She said, her grin sliding away for a moment before she reapplied it.

"Anyways, how about we play some games?" She said, pointing at my console and tv. I shrugged.

"Sounds fun, lets do it!" I replied, handing her a controller. And as we played a game together, I couldn't get two things off my mind: the idea of entering the hero course, and how sad Hatsume had looked. Hopefully, he could start on both of those sooner rather than later!