ShinDekuMei Soulmate AU? Maybe in POTSOD? (I don't know the idea of Goth/Punk Shinsou with two girls practically made of sunshine sounds hilarious and wholesome.)
(I debated about this since in POTSOD Hatsume is gay but I decided that in this case, she and Shinsou are just in a really queer relationship that while she isn't into him as a man, she loves him as her soulmate. Neither are intimate, nor kiss but they call each other love, and consider each other to be together.)
The screen opens up to show a workshop full of tools and parts, a green-haired teenager picking through the area. She is carrying a toddler wearing overalls and holding a wrench, the girl making noises to be put down.
“No, you’re going to hurt yourself Tomoe,” the teen says.
“You need to clean up your shop Mei.” Izumi said to her soulmate as the other girl sighed.
“I knoooow. Tomoe can’t come and play when it’s a mess. I knoooow.”
“Mei, you need to eat,” a voice says as the teen and the toddler walk through the lab. They find themselves facing a purple-haired teenager and a pink-haired one soon enough. The purple haired on is holding out a takeout container.
“No time! I made a jetpack for Izumi!” Mei says eagerly. “It’s going to be awesome!!”
“Jetpack!” Tomoe, the toddler, cheers. The other two look up and Mei grins. “Mummy! Daddy!”
“Tomoe!!” Mei squeals. “My baby! Wanna make some invention babies!”
“After food.” the lone boy says firmly. “Right Tomoe? Food is important.” The toddler blinks but then nods.
“Yes, mummy eat.” she says sternly.
“You two suck for turning our daughter against me like that.”
“Eat or we won’t have to.”“My soulmates turned my daughter against me.” Mei whines but took the food anyway as the other two laugh a little, smiling.
Shinso, Izuku, and Hatsume talk about having a child.
[Shinso x Hatsume x Izuku]
[Established Relationship, Aged up characters, OT3, Polyamory, Domestic Bliss]
The house was noisy, as usual, and Shinso didn't notice how much he'd drowned it out until he glanced at the clock and realized that he'd been staring at the same page for an hour. He closed his book, placing it down in his lap and staring at it as he tried to collect his thoughts.
Mei was banging something out on her workbench, frequently knocking over the less important scraps and screws as she hyper focused only on her current project. She was sweaty, but not greasy. She'd gotten better at regular showering and eating after years of having him and Izuku bugging her about it. Now he could be certain she'd come up for air at least once a day, sometimes more if she wanted their company. Izuku was looking over her shoulder, throwing out wild theories about what she was making, what it could be used for, the typical stuff they went on about when Shinso wasn't listening.
Shinso himself had perched on the workbench by the door, the spot he always claimed for himself. The noise didn't usually bother him. He'd long adjusted to the fact that he had noisy partners and sometimes he enjoyed hearing them get lost in their own little world. It was comfortable. Domestic. Maybe that was why his mind was wandering the way that it was.
"What do you think of having children?" He didn't realize he'd spoken his thoughts outloud until he heard the thump of heavy machinery hitting the floor. Mei and Izuku were both staring at him, Mei quickly bending over to retrieve the machine she'd dropped and Izuku with his mouth hanging open. "Um...oops?"
"Oops?" Izuku repeated. He looked like his eyes might pop out of his head any moment. It would have been really funny if Shinso hadn't been feeling particularly embarrassed by blurting his thoughts out.
He opened his book to a random page and held it up in front of his face. "Never mind."
Izuku was pulling the book from his hands not a moment later. "Don't do that," he said. His surprised had melted into soft concern, his need to comfort taking priority.
"I can do that," Mei said. Both boys looked at her, but she was looking at her work bench again. "It might take a while to get the programing right, but it can't be that hard, right? It takes humans 9 months to make a kid, right? I can meet that deadline."
Shinso let out a breath, wishing he had kept his thoughts inside his head like he used to. Having two partners with no filter had done a number on his own restraint. "No, that's not what I meant. Not a robot or whatever you ant to make. An actual, human, flesh and blood child."
"Well, I--"
"Made biologically," Shinso interrupted before Mei could finish her thought. "Between us, if I need to make that clear too."
Mei looked up and stared at him again. He wasn't sure she'd ever looked so caught off guard in her entire life. "Well that's..." Words seemed to fail her and she looked around as if she'd find the next part of the conversation written on a sticky note somewhere. They did that sometimes, leave her notes to help her remember things. She seemed to realize that nothing would be forth coming as she looked back over to them again. "I... what?"
"We don't have to talk about this," Shinso said. "It was just a thought, I wasn't... asking or anything."
"Is that... do you want that?" Izuku asked him. "Kids?" He had parked himself in front of Shinso, hands on his knees, and he didn't seem like he would be leaving any time soon. That was... good probably.
"Maybe," he responded sullenly, avoiding Izuku's eyes. "It's not the worst thing, right?"
He could see Mei scrunching up her face over Izuku's shoulder. "I'm not..." She turned to face them, folding her arms over her chest and looking at the floor. "I can't take care of me half the time," she said. "A robot, I could program right. I could fix it if I broke it. A baby is... you can't fix those when they break."
"That's right," Izuku agreed. "If you know that already, you would be more careful, right?"
Mei didn't look up from the ground as she nodded.
"And we would be there to help."
"You haven't even said if you want to," Shinso pointed out. "Don't start planning anything on my account. It was just a question, not a drop everything suggestion."
"I know," Izuku said. He pushed some stuff to the side and sat next to Shinso, taking his hand. "I've never thought about it."
"Really?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well..." Izuku bit his lip, trying to gather his thoughts. Mei moved toward them. Shinso opened his legs and pulled her between them, letting his book fall to the ground. "I like kids," Izuku answered slowly. "I used to think I'd probably have them, but I never thought about them with... us. I never thought about us having kids."
"Now that you are?"
"I..." He paused, looking at Mei and taking her hand, too. "I don't want to put pressure on you. I... like the idea. I think it would be nice, but..."
Shinso nodded. "Yeah. It's a lot."
"What if... I'm a bad mother?" Mei asked in a small voice.
Shinso tightened his arms around her, but Izuku's words were faster. "You would not be a bad mother!"
"And even if you were," he added, "We could help you. People write books about this stuff. And classes."
"Yeah!" Izuku smiled at her. "We could study for this just like we studied to be heroes."
"I'm not a hero," Mei said.
Shinso lightly knocked their foreheads together. "You know what we mean."
"We'd all be doing this together," Izuku insisted. "We can look stuff and study, and if we don't like what we find out, we don't have to do it. And like Hitoshi said, it's not a right now decision. If we want to, we have time. Oh, and we can practice!"
Shinso frowned at him. "Practice how?"
"Babysitting," Izuku smiled. "Other heroes have children. We can talk to them and maybe get used to being around them."
"We could," Mei agreed slowly. "A robot would be easier."
Shinso pulled back to look at her. "Mei, do you want a robot child?"
She bit her lip. "Maybe..."
Shinso sighed and leaned his head against her shoulder.
"Alright, let's do it!" Izuku said.
Shinso turned his head to look at him. "Do what?"
"Have a robot child!" He looked excited, smiling as brightly as one of Mei's explosions, abrupt and bright.
"Excuse me?"
Mei smiled, wrapping her arms around Shinso. "Really?"
"You said it yourself, Mei! A robot you can program and fix. It can be a test run. If we don't like it, we can get rid of it no harm done. We can even look into having a real child while we're at it." The excitement between the two of them was contagious and he found himself smiling without meaning to.
"You really want to have a robot child?" He asked.
"Yes!" Mei exclaimed. "I'll have to draw up schematics right away! I can program our personalities into it and create a system to randomize the traits that it displays. I'll have to include a learning program and figure out what material to work with..." She paused, looking down at him and running her fingers through her hair. "Do you... not want a robot child? I realize that wasn't what you were asking for, but... if you don't want to..."
Izuku ran his thumb over Shinso's hand. He buried his face into the crook of Mei's neck. "I don't know. It's weird and not what I was thinking, but it's not... bad."
"I'll work on the plans," she said softly. "I'm really excited to see if I can figure it all out the way I want. Before I build it though... if I figure out how to build it, we'll talk about it first?"
"Yeah," he agreed.
"Great!" Izuku said. His excitement dimmed a little, turned softer as he lifted both his hands to plant a kiss on his and Mei's fingers. "I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing either. It's... kind of exciting, but kind of a lot of other things, too."
He closed his eyes, drinking in the presence of his partners around him. After a moment of silence he said, "I want to name it."
Mei laughed and squeezed him a little. "Of course! I'm terrible with names."
A little Shindekumei drabble for @eternal-love-song 's birthday today! Happy birthday! <3
"No. Hard pass." Hitoshi shook his head, tired eyes staring at the ceiling. He had to maintain that aloof mystique of his.
Izuku was not having any of it, his friendly demeanor shining through like the sun. How he maintained it with that bone breaking quirk and loudmouth blonde in his class was beyond him.
"C'mon, Shinsou-Chan. It will be fun. Besides, when you get into the hero course with me, you'll see more of us anyway and make plenty more friends."
"I agree with Midoriya. A party is just what you need, and the perfect opportunity to test my new baby! Perfect for all celebratory occasions. The confetti mine!"
Before both boys could question her on the mine part, the pink-haired girl slammed it down and stepped on it, activating the device in a flash.
Unfortunately, the confetti caught fire and the new invention started smoking and smoldering. Wiping smoke from her face, Mei smiled in bemusement.
"I still have some bugs to work out."
"Oh no! I'll get the fire extinguisher!" Izuku rushed off towards the nearest one to grab it while Shinsou shook his head.
Midoriya and Shinso try to become friends wit Hatsume, which is a frustrating endeavor. Becoming something more turns out to be much easier.
[Midoriya x Shinso x Hatsume] [ShinDeku, IzuMei, HitoMei]
[Established Relationship, Established ShinDeku, Polyamory, OT3, Developing Relationship, Developing Frienships, Friends to Lovers, Protective Shinso]
A prequel to We Built This Machine For Us
Hatsume ignored the knock at the door. She was elbow deep in her latest invention and the time it would take to carefully pull away open the door before returning to her project didn't really seem worth the effort. Her hands were a little slippery with grease, meaning that would also need to wipe off her hands to be able to grip the door properly and she couldn't remember where she had left her rag. Whoever it was could let themselves in if it was important and if it wasn't, they'd probably just leave and she wouldn't have to deal with it.
She heard the door slowly creep open behind her as whoever came knocking hesitantly entered the room. "Um... Ha-Hatsume..." the voice called out quietly. She was too distracted to notice that it was Midoriya right away and he'd called her name a few times before it really registered.
"Oh, Midoriya," she finally looked up to smile at him. "What brings you here? Did you need something?" She was hesitant to stop what she was working on if he didn't. She was really close to a break through, she was certain of it.
"Um, well..." She could see him fidgeting nervously out the corner of her eye. "We had plans, remember?"
"Oh? Did we?" She pulled her hands from her project and wiped them on her pants absentmindedly. "I don't remembering you asking for anything lately. Was I supposed to be making something for you? Or maybe you were testing something?"
"N-no, nothing like that," he muttered.
Hatsume moved closer to him, smiling as she peered into his face. "Then you came to ask me to build you something? An upgrade, perhaps?"
"No," Midoriya sighed, ducking his head as his face lit up in a blush. "We were supposed to have lunch together. An hour ago. When you didn't show up I was kinda worried."
"Oh? Ah, sorry, Midoriya. I got so caught up that it slipped my mind entirely," she admitted.
Midoriya winced, wrapping an arm around himself and hunching his shoulders. "Yeah, Shinso said you probably forgot." He bit his lip before adding, "You know, if you didn't want to..."
"It's not that I didn't want to," she assured him. "I just... forgot. Hey, we can go right now if you want? I'll pay, to make it up to you."
Midoriya looked at her hesitantly, his eyes lingering on the stains on her pants where she'd wiped her hands not minutes earlier. "You, um, don't really seemed dressed to go out anyplace."
Hatsume frowned as she looked down at herself. She didn't really have a problem with how she looked, but she knew some places wouldn't let her in if she was a little messy. "I... guess you're right. Um, you pick a date. I'll treat you and make up for today."
"Are you sure?" he asked. "You don't have to if you'd rather not."
"I've already made up my mind," she told him. "I have to make up for standing you up, so I'm gonna treat you.!"
"Alright." A hesitant smile spread across his face. "I'll ask Shinso when he's free and send you a message to confirm."
"Perfect!"
"Are you sure you really want to?" he asked once more.
"I said I'm sure!" she repeated loudly. "Don't worry about a thing but the date, Midoriya! I'll take care of everything."
Finally, Midoriya's smile returned to it's normal level of cheer. "I look forward to it, then."
Shinso didn't have Midoriya in his room very often. Shinso wasn't really fond of having people in his personal space that often, even when that person was his boyfriend. Today was one of the rare occasions that Shinso felt the need to pull Midoriya all the way to his room. He could tell that his boyfriend was both tired and disappointed after first being stood up by and then having to deal with Mei Hatsume. The girl was a handful at the best of time, anyone that spoke to her for longer than two minutes could tell that, and Midoriya wasn't exactly the best at dealing with forceful personalities.
This was different. This wasn't just Midoriya being pushed around a little as she tried too enthusiastically to help him, this wasn't just him being nervous and jittery trying to make a new friend, this was him being actively lead on and stood up and Shinso hated it. He hated watching his boyfriend look put out and uncertain over someone that was supposed to be his friend.
He pushed Midoriya onto the bed before sliding to the floor beside him. Midoriya didn't even argue the treatment as he usually would, just sighed heavily as let himself relax on the bed. They sat in silence for a while. Shinso was used to the quiet, but it was a little odd to be with Midoriya and not have him either talking a mile a minute about heroes or tripping incomprehensibly over his words.
Shinso slumped further against the bed. "I don't know why you insist hanging out with that grease monkey when she just cancels on you all the time."
"We're friends, Shinso."
"Yeah, well, she's a bad friend," Shinso told him.
Midoriya was quiet. It wasn't like him not to respond when Shinso said something about his friends. Shinso was right about Hatsume being a bad friend, but it wasn't right for Midoriya to think so, too.
"Shinso," Midoriya whispered. "Do you think... maybe she doesn't want to be my friend?"
Shinso moved onto his knees, propping his elbows on the bed so that he could look at Midoriya. "Anyone that doesn't want to be friends with you is a fool that deserves to be left to their fate," he told him. "You're an amazing friend, Midoriya. Don't you dare let her make you doubt that."
Midoriya offered him a small, shy smile. "Thanks."
"I'm not just saying it to cheer you up," Shinso told him, poking him in the cheek.
"I know."
Shinso sighed and laid his head down beside Midoriya. "We'll try this again," he said. "If she's more than ten minutes late, we'll just eat without her and I'll treat you myself."
"You don't have to do that," Midoriya told him.
"No, but I will if she doesn't show." He leaned his head against Midoriya's arms, nuzzling it slightly. "So don't worry about it, alright?"
Midoriya smiled. "Alright, Shin, I won't worry."
Shinso blushed at the nickname, burying his face further in his boyfriend's arm. "Good," he murmured.
"Hatsume?" Midoriya asked as he peaked his head in to her lab.
"Midoriya!" she greeted cheerfully, throwing the door wider and pulling him further into her lab. "Do you need something? Want another upgrade to your costume?"
"N-no, nothing like that," he answered.
"Oh? What is it then?" she questioned.
Midoriya held out a canned drink and packaged bread. "Um, I just thought I'd bring you something. I figured you would probably skip lunch, but it's not healthy to skip meals like that all the time."
"That's really thoughtful of you, Midoriya! Now that you mention it, I am really hungry." She took the bread from his hands, removing it from the package and digging in immediately. "This is really good."
He smiled at her. "Really? I wasn't sure if you would like it."
"I do," she told him. "I'm not that picky of an eater."
"W-well, I don't want to keep you from working,"
She grabbed his arm as she stuffed the last of the bread into her mouth. There was a pause as she chewed and swallowed her food, before she could speak. "You don't have to rush off," she told him. "Why don't you stay and keep me company?"
"If you're sure I won't be in the way?"
"Not at all," she told him. She reached for the drink, opening it and downing half of it in one go. "I'll tell you about my latest project."
He smiled at her and Hatsume realized she really was happy to have the company.
Hatsume was a smoking heap on the ground when the door burst open. It was pretty late, late enough that she wasn't expecting any other support course students to be using the lab. The smoke was too thick for her to immediately tell who was at the door and she coughed a bit as she tried to pat out her clothes. Her failed project was still smoking at her feet, but that was alright. She could just make another one and this time, she would be more careful that it didn't explode on her.
"Hatsume, you unkempt wrench monkey, where are you?" Shinso shouted.
She picked herself off the ground slowly, patting herself to make sure nothing was smoldering or on fire. "What's Shinso doing here?" she questioned out loud.
"I came here to get you," he answered. "But you're obviously too busy trying to blow yourself to remember that we had plans."
"Sorry, I was busy," she told him. "Whatever it is, can it wait?"
"Don't make plans that you have no intention of keeping!" he yelled.
"I wasn't planning to break our plans," she told him. "I just got busy."
"You always get busy," Shinso replied, folding his arms and glaring at her. Hatsume glared back. She didn't usually get bothered by people, but Shinso had a way of pushing her buttons easy. "And for what?" he asked. "More failure inventions that blow up in your face? Half the crap you make doesn't even work in the first place and yet you blow us off so that you waste away in here?"
"My inventions aren't failures," she replied. "And of course I'd want to spend more time making my babies even better. Maybe if you spent more time honing your skills you'd be in the hero course by now."
Shinso ground his teeth together, his glare intensifying. "Hatsume, you're a terrible friend. You're worse than me. You might even be worse than that explosive jerk from Midoriya's class. You care more about this junk that you do people's feelings." He stomped forward and slammed a hand on the table. When he pulled away, there was a piece of paper on the table.
"What's that supposed to be?" she asked.
"Midoriya felt bad that we went to the movies without you. He thought you might have a better time remembering plans if you had the tickets in advance." Shinso turned his back on her, but she could hear the anger still in his voice. "Midoriya's really too nice for you. I shouldn't have agreed to drop these off, but I didn't want you to hurt him anymore with your careless attitude."
Hatsume was torn between anger and guilt. She balled her hands into fist. "Careless..." she repeated quietly. "It's a group outing this time, so Midoriya won't have time to be hurt when you forget to show up. Again."
With that said, Shinso stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Hatsume stayed frozen in place a long time after he left. When she was able to force herself into motion again, she made an invention so that she wouldn't forget the date. And on the promised day, she even made sure to shower and stay out of her lab, lest she be tempted to lose herself to her work again.
Shinso woke up when his alarm went off at eight. He was in Midoriya's bed, arms folded over the text book he was supposed to reading, a blanket laid carefully on his shoulders. He reached out sleepily for his phone to turn off his alarm before lifting his arms over his head ina stretch.
"Oh, you're awake?" Midoriya asked. He was smiling at Shinso from his desk, pen still in hand.
"Let me guess," Shinso said around a yawn. "Hatsume didn't show up."
Midoriya shook his head, a small sheepish smile on his lips. "She remembered to text us this time though. She sent a message ten minutes ago apologizing and offered to show up anyway, but I told her it was late and she should just go to bed."
"As if that lunatic would ever go to bed on time," Shinso muttered.
"You're not mad this time?"
"Nah, I've figured Hatsume out." He stood up from the bed, shoving his unread text book into his bag. "She's a flake. It's her natural state. Getting mad at her for this would be like getting mad that a cat knocks things off your shelf. Yeah, it's annoying, but after a certain point you have to make your peace with it."
"I'm glad that you're getting along better," Midoriya said.
Shinso shrugged. "She's a little easier to deal with when she isn't making you cry."
Midoriya turned red and Shinso smirked at him. "She never mad me cry!"
"Midoriya, everything makes you cry. You're really easy." He put an arm around his boyfriend's shoulders. "It's the principal of it though. It really annoyed me when I though she didn't care, but I guess she's a little better now."
"She told me you show up without me sometimes now."
"I just have free time when you don't," Shinso said.
"You can just say that you're friends," Midoriya told him.
Shinso stuck out his tongue and refused to admit anything of the sort.
Shinso was quick and quiet as he snuck into the lab, trying to keep the door as quiet as possible when he did so. There was only the softest click to announce his presence and he was surprised to see that the sound caught Hatsume's attention. It was still weird to him to see her actually look up from her work to acknowledge when he or Midoriya arrived, but she'd been doing so on a near constant basis for a nearly a month.
"Don't mind me," he told her. "I'm just hiding from these guys I beat in a bet earlier. Sore losers, you know?"
"Ah," she nodded as she went back to working on her project. "Well, your usual spots clear, so feel free to hang around."
"Thanks." His 'usual spot' as she called it, was a space on the table that she cleared for him. It was out of sight of the door, relatively clean, and had served as his perch for the last few visits he'd paid her. He hopped onto the table now, pulling out a book from his bag and preparing to do homework until he thought his pursuers were likely to have given up. "So what are you working on?" he questioned.
"So you know how we were talking about your quirk last time?"
"You mean how you decided to ask me fifty questions?" he corrected. "I remember."
"So I was thinking about how your quirk works and what might helpful, so I'm working on a prototype for something that might be helpful to you."
Shinso looked up from his book, mouth hanging open. It was only after he realized that it had been quiet for too long that he realized he didn't respond to her. His thought felt dry when he swallowed and his face a little hot. "O-oh? I, uh, wouldn't have... isn't this sort of thing usually for Midoriya?" he questioned.
Hatsume shrugged. "You want to be hero, too. Why wouldn't I help you?"
Shinso tried to bury himself in his book, despite being sure Hatsume was too busy to turn and look at him. "You probably just wanted something to keep you busy."
"I always something to keep myself busy," Hatsume agreed. "But this keeps me busy and helps you. Right?" She turned to smile at him.
Shinso flushed bright red behind his book, holding it up even higher until he couldn't see her anymore. "I don't even know what is it yet, so how would I know?"
Hatsume laughed. "Maybe I'll keep it a secret until it's ready."
"Whatever. You'll probably tell Midoriya the first chance you get," he mumbled. Her laughter drowned out his words as he stayed hidden behind his book.
Shinso wasn't usually one for public displays of affection. He wasn't all that big on cuddling or hand holding, and Midoriya would probably freak out if he did. The thought was amusing enough that Shinso sometimes considered it, but they hadn't been dating that long and he didn't want to make his boyfriend freak out.
It was for that reason that it was really surprising when Midoriya found him outside during lunch and practically flung himself into Shinso's arms. Shinso dropped his phone as his arms automatically moved around his boyfriend. "Whoa! What's wrong Midoriya?"
Midoriya was hiding his face in Shinso chest, grabbing onto Shinso's shirt as if he was afraid that Shinso would leave him or disappear. "I made a fool of myself in front of Hatsume," came the mumbled reply.
"Impossible," Shinso told him. "And even if you had, I doubt she would notice."
"I'm serious, Shinso."
"So am I," he told Midoriya. "Hatsume is a lunatic. She wouldn't know weird if it bit her on the brain. Whatever you did, I'm sure it's fine."
"It's not fine! It's not fine at all!" Midoriya insisted.
Shinso sighed. He wasn't going to be able to calm his boyfriend down this way. He bent down to retrieve his phone before wrapping one arm around Midoriya. "Let's talk about this in my room."
If they went to Midoriya's room the whole class would probably be all over them trying to figure out what was wrong. Neither Midoriya nor Shinso needed that kind of attention. And there was always the chance Midoriya's friend would blame him for whatever was wrong with his boyfriend, and Shinso didn't want to go through that ordeal again. At least no one would bother them in the gen ed dorms.
Midoriya nodded his assent and allowed Shinso to heard him to the gen ed dorms. Once they were in Shinso's room, door locked and a blanket wrapped tightly around Midoriya's shoulder, Shinso joined him on the bed. "Alright, what's the big bad thing that has apparently ruined your image to Hatsume?" he asked.
Midoriya pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. "You remember... what we talked about?" he asked quietly.
"You're going to have to be a little more specific than that, Midoriya. We talk about a lot of things."
"About Hatsume." Midoriya's voice only got quieter.
Shinso leaned closer to hear him better. "You mean about your crush on her?" Midoriya looked up with a betrayed expression and watery eyes. "Alright, alright!" Shinso lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Our crush on her. I remember. What about it?"
"I... I talked to Hatsume."
"You actually did it?" he asked in surprise.
"I told you that I wanted to!" Midoriya yelled.
"Yeah, but I didn't think you really would," Shinso told him. "That's... really brave of you Midoriya."
He seemed to relax a little at Shinso's words, uncurling from the ball he was in and staring forlornly at his lap. "Yeah, well, she didn't think. She didn't answer me at all."
"Really?"
Midoriya nodded.
Shino leaned back on his heels as he considered this. "Maybe she needs time to think on it. If she doesn't answer you soon, I'll talk to her."
"You will?" Midoriya questioned, looking at him with large imploring eyes.
Shinso rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "She's my crush, too," he admitted. "It's only fair that we both confess."
Midoriya smiled at him before asking, "You don't think I messed everything up?"
"Not a chance," Shinso told him. "If anything, she probably didn't even realize you were confessing. You're both equally dense, after all."
"Th-that's not nice!" Midoriya objected.
Shinso pat his boyfriend's head. "I'll take care of everything, Midoriya. You can count on me for things like this."
Midoriya laughed onto him, eyes watery. "Shinso!"
"Don't cry on me, Midoriya."
"But... but..."
Shinso sighed and resigned himself to his fate as a soon to be soggy boyfriend.
Hatsume looked up when Shinso walked through the door. He was staring at his phone, something that she found he did pretty often, but he'd proved himself to be pretty good at multitasking when he wanted to be. He shut the down behind himself without looking up and easily maneuvered through the mess to get to her side. She made a noise of objection as he swept a few things off the table beside her current project to sit on the desk, but he didn't seem overly concerned by it.
"What are you doing?" she asked him.
"Sitting," he replied, still not looking at her.
"That's not what I meant."
"Texting," he added. After a few more taps to his phone, he looked up at her. "I didn't think what I did usually bothered you."
"It doesn't."
"Could have fooled me," he answered with a smirk. "Anyway, are you busy?"
Hatsume found herself smiling at him before she realized it. "If I was, you would have dropped everything I was doing to the ground."
"Pity that," he answered flippantly.
"I'm assuming you want something, right? You don't usually make this much fuss unless you want my attention."
"Yeah, I'm a messenger, of sorts," Shinso admitted. He leaned back slightly, foldin his arms over his chest. "Midoriya confessed to you the other day, did you know?"
"Huh? Confessed what?"
"That he has a crush on you?"
"What?"
"He wants to date you," Shinso clarified. "He was upset because he thought he did something embarrassing."
"I don't think he did," she admitted. "I don't remember he doing any sort of confessing, either."
Shinso laughed. "I thought that might be the case. Which is why I'm here. Are you interested? In dating us, I mean."
"Us?" she questioned.
"Midoriya and me," he told her. "We're a couple, you know."
"Oh? I... I didn't realize."
"You're denser than a brick, Hatsume."
"Yeah, well, bricks make good foundation," she countered. There was a pause as she studied him. "You're really asking me out? On a date?"
"No, asking you out on dates is kind of a lost cause, don't you think? We're asking you to be in a relationship with us both. You can do that right?"
"Uh, I don't see why not."
"Do you want to?" Shinso pressed.
Hatsume turned the idea over in her head a few times. Dating would only be a distraction to you and she didn't think it would be all that interesting. She already saw Shinso and Midoriya more than anyone else, there was no need to have anything complicated tied up with that, right? Maybe she liked Shinso and Midoriya more than anyone else, but...
But...
"Yes," she answered, completely surprising herself. "Yeah, I want to."
"Great!" Shinso grinned, hopping off the table. "I'll tell Midoriya. See you around, Mei."
He was out of the room before she had the chance to say anything more, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She... wasn't sure what actually made her say yes, but.. she couldn't say that she was uninterested in them.
"Hmm... this will take further study," she concluded. After all, if she didn't conduct a proper experiment, how would she ever find her answer?
A look at the relationship between Midoriya, Shinso, and Hatsume. They may not function as smoothly as others, but their relationship works in it's own way.
[Midoriya x Shinso x Hatsume] [ShinDeku, IzuMei, ShinHatsume]
[Established Relationship, Polyamory, OT3, Developing Relationship, Humor, Character Study, Introspection]
There was a clatter as metal fall from the table and piled onto the floor. Mei didn't pay it any attention. She needed more space on the table and wasn't afraid to clear away anything not immediately in use. If her babies couldn't take a little wear and tear they weren't very good in the first place.
She paused long enough to flex her stiff fingers, absently cracking her neck. She was far too stiff. She'd been hunched over her work bench for a little too long, but there was no chance she would leave until her work was done. Everything was background noise compared to that. The grumbling in her stomach was no worse than the kink in her back, the grim on her flesh was no more than an itch, and the great thing about her quirk was that she could focus even when her eyes became blurry from lack of sleep.
The bang of the door opening only marginally got her attention. She turned to glance at the door, but her attention quickly went back to her work when she saw that it was only Shinso.
"It smells like a pig pen in here," Shinso announced as he crossed the room. "Would it kill you to air out the room every once in a while?"
He propped himself up on the work bench beside her latest project, but she didn't bother to look at him. She needed to focus and Shinso was a distraction.
The silence settled between them for a moment before he tapped on her project. "Tell me about this."
She didn't look up as she began to rattle off information, but found herself stopped halfway through.
"That's great, Mei! Look at me," Shinso ordered. There was a smile on his face, humor in his voice. "Do I even have to say it?" He asked, shaking his head at her. "Go back to your room, take a shower, sleep for eight hours, then call me."
There was no fight in her as she turned to follow his commands.
"Love you, Mei!" His voice followed her out of the room.
Shinso was with Midoriya when he got the call.
Hanging around both Midoriya and Hatsume had gotten him used to having a near constant stream of noise floating around in the background. Shinso didn't mind it so much. He could tune out if he wanted to and sometimes heard something interesting if he didn't, the only difference was subject matter. With Midoriya it was all quirks, and hero worship, and awkward stories that were way funnier than they had any right to be, even if Midoriya was too embarrassed to see how hilarious he was; and with Hatsume it was tech, and wild ideas, dropped conversations as she inspired herself mid speech. Sometimes the two talked to each other and the combined deluge of noise and ideas was as smooth as music, but he'd never admit to the investment he actually had in them talking.
"Midoriya, be quiet," Shinso commanded. He didn't use his quirk, he didn't have to. Midoriya was the sort of person that defaulted to listening to others anyway, so the chatter that had been going on was slowly halted. Shinso put the call on speaker. "Hi, Mei."
"You're a monster!" Those were the first words out of her mouth. It was something that could easily rub him the wrong way. Words like 'monster' were too close to villain for him to take in stride usually, but he'd learned to give Hatsume a bit more leeway.
Hatsume wouldn't know how to watch her words if she invented a machine to do it for her. She was careless in every sense of the words. The way she spoke, the way she interacted with others, the lack of care she gave herself... It had not taken many days of missed calls, delayed apologies, and forgotten meetups for Shinso to realize that Hatsume was a stable disaster that needed to be taken in stride.
He laughed, leaning back against the bed where he sat on the floor of Midoriya's room. Midoriya moved to sit on the edge of the bed, closer to him. "You sound well rested."
"I was almost done! I was so close."
"You went to see Hatsume?" Midoriya asked. He was smiling, Shinso could hear it.
"I needed to air her out," He explained.
Midoriya laughed, prompting Shinso's smile to become wider.
"I was three upgrades from finishing and you made me forget half of my plans!" She exclaimed. Listening Hatsume complain about having to take care of herself was honestly one of Shinso's secret pleasures.
"You should take better care of yourself, Hatsume," Midoriya told her in the sadly caring tone that made Shinso think he'd make a great hero. He'd perfected that 'I'm not mad, just disappointed voice.' "If you did, Shin would have to show up to make you all the time."
Shinso blushed at the nickname, slumping down in his seat to hide his embarrassment. "Y-yeah, stop being such a pig."
"I'm going to lock you out of my lab. You're banned, you here me!" Hatsume proclaimed.
"Ooh, I'm so scared. Pffft!"
"Hatsume, you know we care about you," Midoriya said, trying to soothe over Shinso's careless response. It made Shinso want to be more flippant, more belligerent, just to see how far Midoriya would go to be a buffer for him.
"If either of you cared about me, you'd let me work!"
She hung up.
Shinso dramatically blew out a long breath and let hid phone drop to the floor. He followed soon after, letting himself fall sideways onto the floor. "You ever wonder what it would be like to have a real girlfriend?" He asked. "One that worries about makeup and dates and dumb stuff like that?"
Midoriya shook his head. "I, uh, I don't think I'd know what to do with myself if Hatsume was someone like that." His face had gone red, like it always did when he talked about relationships, theirs or otherwise.
Shinso lifted his phone and took a picture while Midoriya wasn't looking, quickly gaining his attention from the flash and loud clicking sound. He had his setting perfectly set to embarrass Midoriya whenever he snapped a picture of him. It was swo satisfying to see the panic and red cheeks lighting up Midoriya's face that he took another picture. "Perfect."
There was a chance the Shinso's infactuation with Mei and Midoriya was entirely due to how easily he could troll them both. Shinso grinned.
"Shin, please!" Midoriya launched for the phone, but Shinso predicted that move and held it out of sight.
"Not that easy, Midoriya."
He attempted to get the phone from Shinso a few more times, extending himself further and further until he fell off of the bed and landed on top of Shinso.
"Oof! You trying to kill me, Mido?" Shinso asked.
Midoriya scrambled off quickly. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I r-r-really didn't mean to!" He was so flustered that he was getting tongue tied.
Shinso laughed as he sat up. "Yeah, I know." He lightly kissed Midoriya's cheek and laughed again as Midoriya's flush covered even more skin. He took another quick pic.
Midoriya groaned. "Shin, why?" He hid his face in his hands as he let himself fall to the floor and curl up in a ball.
Shinso moved over him to snap more pictures. "Hold that pose."
"Hatsume is right. You're a monster."
The tone was so light and playful that Shinso couldn't find himself upset about it. Hatsume could say it. Midoriya could say it. He knew what they meant, what they thought of it. They hadn't redefined the word, just rearranged his feelings about it a bit.
"Hatsume, is this your room?" Midoriya's jaw dropped as Hatsume held open a door.
She smiled brightly at him. "Yep. Do you like it?"
The room looked more like a junk yard than anything else. There were inventions and spare parts littering every surface he could see, along with a clutter of coffee cups and energy drinks. He found himself looking over at Shinso, who met his gaze with his own skeptical one.
"Do you even have a bed?" Shinso questioned.
Hatsume waved him off as if it was the most trivial thing he could have asked about. "It's in there somewhere. It's not a big deal."
"Is this why you don't sleep?" Shinso continued. "Because your room is a literal landfill?"
"Hey! Don't talk about my babies like they're trash," Hatsume scolded. She took a few careful steps into the room and placed her hand on one of her 'babies.' Something that closer inspection revealed to be a robot that was just slightly shorter than the doorway. "Besides, if I really need to, I can sleep here." She pat the arms which were curled into a craddle position, making Midoriya wonder if she'd been sleeping there the whole time.
Midoriya looked at her with horror. "Is that where you've been sleeping?"
"Midoriya, It's fine," She insisted.
"Nothing about this room is fine!"
"You worry too much."
"I'm not leaving here until this room is livable," He told her.
Shinso let out a breath and moved to lean against the wall across from her door, taking out his phone and sliding to the ground. "I refuse to participate in this."
"That's fine," MIdoriya said, rolling up his sleeves. "I spent a summer cleaning up a beach as quirk training, I can handle Hatsume's room."
"Midoriya, you don't need to do that," Hatsume told him.
"One of us has to and we both know that it won't be you."
"Just sit down and say out of the way," Shinso told her.
"It's my room," She replied, placing her hands on her hips.
"Not anymore it's not."
"Why did you even bring us here to study?" Midoriya asked. "You knew what this place was like."
"I just wanted to pick up something, but I forgot what it was," She admitted.
"You're a fucking disaster, Mei!" Shinso complained loudly.
"Shut up, Shins--"
"Help Midoriya clean your room," He ordered.
Immediately, Hatsume hunched over and began to gather up the empty coffee cups.
Midoriya looked over his shoulder to smile at Shinso. "Thanks."
Shinso gave a thumbs up but kept his eyes trained on his phone. This was going to be a long day and he was pretty sure that no studying was going to get done.
Hatsume wasn't good at taking care of people, caring about them, interacting with them, or remembering them. She spent long stretches of time locked up in a creative haze, forgetting to call or check on anyone and generally being reclusive until someone came to flush her out. She said the first thing that came to mind which had the effect of making people respond less than favorably to her sometimes.
In the beginning, Midoriya seemed to be hurt by her lack of contact. He'd come peaking into her lab with a sheepish expression and hunched shoulders, which she only noticed because she was so enthusiastic to create something for him that he got nearly all her attention when he showed up. Shinso was usually pissed and they'd ended up screaming at each other when he showed up to vent his rage at her neglect, evolving from indifference on her part to annoyance and anger when he started insulting her skills and abilities.
Eventually Midoriya figured out that she wasn't bothered by his presence and was just forgetful and Shinso stopped taking her long silences so personally. Even as friends Hatsume was a load on their relationship and she wasn't sure why Midoriya put up with her. No one else ever did. Usually after enough missed dates, unanswered calls, and silent visits ass he worked instead of interacting, people gave up on her.
Not Midoriya.
As soon as he realized that she wasn't ignoring him or opposed to his presence, he started showing up with more frequency. He had the patience of a saint. He came to ask her if she needed anything, he didn't stress her about missed appointments, and was actually pretty good company. It was only natural that eventually she'd notice that Shinso kept hanging around the lab, that food appeared on the table at her elbow, that she had pretty consistent friends and felt like a real heel for the way she treated them.
Hatsume knew very well that she sucked at people.
She had her own way of trying to take care of the people she cared about though. Like trying to offer MIdoriya things that could help him control his quirk. Like keeping a space clear floor Shinso when he wanted to show up, somewhere out of sight of the door so that no one else could find him if he didn't want to be found. Like looking up when the door opened so that she could acknowledge their presence.
She wasn't really sure that she was doing enough until Shinso confessed to her on Midoriya's behalf. Apparently, he'd told her that he liked her days earlier and she hadn't realized, so Shinso came into say the same thing in a more blunt manner. That was the dynamic that they shared, had been sharing, when they extended an invitation to include her whatever it was they shared.
Hatsume hadn't known they were... anything, if she were honest. She hadn't paid attention. She never paid attention to anyone, really, except them. She had been pretty sure she would say no up until the point where she'd said yes. Then Midoriya sneaking in to check on her turned into Shinso forcing her out of the lab to eat and sleep, turned into him and Midoriya double teaming the inventions she made to stall them, turned into Shinso using his quirk on her once he learned it was okay.
Hatsume was not good with people. That was why she talked to Shinso about their relationship before Midoriya. Midoriya was better at explaining things, but Shinso was better at actually talking. That was why she let Midoriya lure her out of her lab to hang out.
Hatsume was bad with people, but she could learn and she could be taught.
They were on the floor of Midoriya's room. It was where they ended up most often, since Hatsume's room was a dumpster fire and Shinso hated having people in his space most of the time despite being fine existing in theirs. He was laying on the floor scrolling through his phone, she was sitting against the wall tinkering with something in the palm of her hand, and Midoriya was sitting on his bed. There was a hum of chatter, but he wasn't sure which of them was doing the talking this time.
Shinso would admit to a lack of planning on his part when he dropped his phone and asked, "Are we ever gonna make out?"
Midoriya made a choking sound from the bed and looked at Shinso with wide, panicked eyes. Shinso had honestly just asked the question without thought, so he hadn't anticipated Midoriya's reaction despite the fact that it was completely obvious. "W-what?"
"Sure," Hatsume shrugged. Leave it to her to not even look up from her current project. "Could be an intriguing course of action."
Shinso rolled over so that he could watch Hatsume. "Are you even into kissing people or are you only attracted to science and robotics?"
Hatsume shrugged. "I've never kissed anyone before, so I don't know."
"W-what?" Midoriya repeated.
Shinso looked over at Midoriya, a grin slowly spreading over his lips at the look on Midoriya's face. "You've thought about it, right?"
"I-I-I.... y-you...." His words devolved into a groan and he buried his face in a pillow.
Hatsume actually looked up at this. "You okay, Midoriya?"
"Do you wanna go first?" Shinso added.
"How can you ask me that?" Midoriya yelled.
"Easily."
Midoriya made a strangled sound of embarrassment.
Shinso wasn't sure whether or not those sounds were meant to be words, but it got a chuckle out of him anyway. He moved into a sitting position. "I'll go first."
Midoriya's head popped up from where it was buried. He was completely red, expression utterly mortified, and yet his eyes were glued to both Shinso and Hatsume. Midoriya was so easy to read. Shinso winked at him just to see the embarrassment rise within him.
Hatsume put down her project and looked between them. She stretched her arms out over her head. "We doing this?"
"Yeah," Shinso said."I'm clearly the only one with any experience between us, so I'll take the lead for you hopeless youths."
"Have you k-kissed anyone before?" Midoriya asked.
"Nope," Shinso replied, popping the p and drawing the word out. "But I know more about it than either of you, obviously."
"Teach me, Shin," Hatsume said. She reached out to him, but didn't move, looking more curious than anything else. Shinso rolled to his feet and crawled over to Hatsume, taking her face into his hands. "Don't bite me or anything weird like that."
"Why do you expect me to do something weird?" She asked.
"Because yo always do," He told her. He leaned forward to press his lips to hers and Hatsume surged forward, knocking them both to the ground but keeping their lips connected the whole way. Once they hit the ground she started licking his lips, but more like she was tasting him than trying to do anything sexy. "What the hell, Mei?" He asked, pushing her face away to avoid being licked like she was a puppy.
"What? I didn't bite you?" Hatsume replied.
"No, you did something weird!"
"How was I supposed to know it was weird?"
"Do you usually go around licking people?"
"Well, not anymore," She said.
"The fuck, Hatsume?"
"Y-you... really don't know much about kissing, do you?" Midoriya spoke up quietly.
Hatsume shrugged. "I know the basics. Lips, tongue, and teeth in different arrangements."
"Oh my god, Hatsume," Shinso sighed. "Couldn't you have just followed my lead?"
"What would I learn by doing that?" She asked. "Experimentation is the only way to--"
"I'm not one of your inventions!" He groaned.
Hatsume shrugged. "I could--"
"Please don't say whatever it is that you're thinking. I know that I'm not going to like it." He pushed her away so that he could sit up. "Midoriya, please. I have to show this weirdo what she's supposed to do!"
"Uh.... I, um...."
"Midoriya, don't pass out on me. It's just a kiss." Shinso sighed, pulling his legs up and resting his head on his knees. "Why am i dating you two hopeless idiots."
"Beats me," Hatsume replied easily.
"I-I c-could... um, I could t-try..." Midoriya stammered.
"I'm not gonna peer pressure you into a kiss," Shinso told him.
"I-I didn't mean--"
"Midoriya, shut up." Shinso ordered. He used his quirk just to be on the safe side. He wanted to mope, not to guilt trip his partners. Midoriya didn't always see the distinction and it was better not to let him talk himself into doing things he didn't want to make other people happy.
There was a short, blessed silence and Shinso mourned when Hatsume broke it. "You should let me study your quirk some more."
Shinso let himself fall to the ground. "I'm gonna die a virgin."
It was probably a good thing that Midoriya couldn't react to that, because Shinso was certain that statement would have killed him.
Affection was a difficult thing to get used to between them. Midoriya himself wasn't exactly opposed to the idea, though intimacy made him nervous, once he had time to get used to each new stage in their relationship, he managed not to freak out as much about it. He had stammered for five minutes straight the first time Hatsume held his hand, only to realize that she hadn't meant it that way. It had startled him the first time Shinso hugged him only to later realize it was so that Shinso could flip off people that were staring at them without him being the wiser.
In a lot of ways, it was nice not to be dating people that wanted to be all over him all the time. In other ways, it was a little disappointing and frustrating.
Hatsume never initiated touching unless it was for the purpose of some experiment, wanting to study his quirk, or trying to get him to participate or help her with an invention.
Shinso was as likely to touch him as not. He wasn't big on public affection, but would get more touching if there were people around that he could annoy or piss off with it the action. He would put an arm around Midoriya to show him something on his phone or hold his hand on rare occasions, but most public affection was not initiated. Sometimes Shinso would lean against him when they were in Midoriya's room and that was nice, but it wasn't exactly what he wanted. He didn't know what he wanted or how to express the desire that nagged at him.
It was for this reason that Midoriya was totally surprised that the first kiss he shared in this relationship was with Hatsume.
"Hey, Midoriya, sit here." She cleared a space on her work bench and pat the area to indicate where she wanted him.
"What's this for?" He asked as he hopped into place.
"Shinso got me thinking and I feel like we should conduct our own experiment," She told him.
"What experiment?"
Hatsume took his face in her hands, staring at him intently and mumbling her observations out loud. She turned his head left and right, up and down, looked into his eyes and closely at his lips.
"Uh, Hatsume?"
"Shh. You'll interrupt my notes, Midoriya."
"Are you recording this!" He asked, eyes darting around to search for a watching camera.
"Audio only," She replied. "Now shh. Subject seems anxious, mostly likely due to the surprise of preservation rather than the soon to precede activities."
"What acti-"
She pressed her lips to his, soft and warm and nothing like what she'd done to Shinso weeks ago. He was blushing, a warmth spreading throughout his entire body when she pulled away. "H-Hatsume..."
"Pleasant. Receptive," She said clearly. "First experiment a success. Now to explore the variables."
"Wha-"
Her mouth closed down on his once more, except this kiss was nowhere near as simple and Midoriya had the sudden thought that she had much more experience than she had a few weeks ago.
Watching her boyfriends sparring was something that she never thought she would find as interesting as she did. On a surface level there was interest, of course. Having the chance to study Midoriya's quirk in action was always something she was interested in, and having a controlled environment to observe Shinso was something she constantly fought for. This was different though.
They didn't always or even most of the time, spar using their quirks. Most of the time it was Midoriya running through simple motions, demonstrating kicks and punches, and Shinso reluctantly trying to imitate the actions. Shinso liked to complain a lot about being 'forced to train' but she was almost certain he was the one that asked Midoriya for help and he tried to push himself in training like he never did anywhere else.
She wasn't always sure why she showed up to watch these training sessions. Sometimes she participated. She wasn't exactly trying to be a hero like they were, but staying in shape made some things easier for her. Watching them was oddly compelling. Studying the movement of their bodies, the subtle muscle spasms, watching the sweat drip down their skin.
"Oh!" Her exclamation caught both boys attention and paused mid movement to look at her. "I find you both attractive."
Shinso immediately began laughing, putting his hands on his knees to brace himself as his breathing was replaced with a constant stream of giggles.
"Hastu... Hatsume... Oh god," Shinso tried to speak between fits of laughter with little success at first. "Holy shit... Only you, Mei."
"Um..." Midoriya looked nervous, fidgeting in place and unsure of what to say.
Hatsume was pretty sure she knew how to smooth over this situation. She smiled at them. "Hey, Shinso? I think now would be a good time for that making out that you wanted to do before."
"Ha-Hatsume!" Midoriya yelled.
"This is isn't the first time we've kissed Midoriya, it's fine," She told him.
"B-but..."
"Unless you don't want to?" She questioned.
He blushed more and avoided her eyes, then Shinso's as Midoriya noticed him watching as well. "I... I do... want to," He admitted quietly.
"Then there's no problem," Shinso said. He reached out for Midoriya's hand, pulling him closer and smiling softly. "Let's go to my room, for once. Less interruptions."
Midoriya nodded shyly.
Hatsume stood up, dusting off her pants, and took Midoriya's other hand. She smiled at him enthusiastically. "I think this will go well. Don't be so nervous. I already studied this extensively--"
"That's probably not helping, Mei," Shinso told her.
"Does my excitement help?" She asked. "Because I think I'm fairly excited."
"That's a nice change," Shinso said. "I'm pretty excited too."
It was quiet for a while Midoriya added, "Y-yeah... so am I."
She and Shinso smiled at each other. It wasn't the smoothest relationship, but it seemed to work for them and they all enjoyed it, so she looked forward to gathering all the data about their habits and likes as she could.
Midoriya, Shinso, and Hatsume decide to bake a cake! It goes about as well as you might expect.
[Izuku x Shinso x Hatsume] [Established Relationship, Polyamory, Humor]
Part 1 of this story (the idea) shows three different versions of how they got into this situation (because I couldn't pick just one.) Parts 2 and 3 are chronological.
Part I: The Idea
(Shinso Version)
They were all in Midoriya's room. Midoriya was sitting on the edge of the bed, just barely staying off his feet as he spoke rapid fire to Hatsume, sitting in his desk chair. She was sitting backwards in the chair, her arms folded over the back and her eyes lit up with excitement as she chattered with Izuku about quirks.
Shinso was sitting on the floor with his back against the bed, slouching so much that he was almost laying down. He had his face practically buried in his phone as he scrolled through various social media sights and half listened to their chatter. They were talking so quickly and so excitedly that he could hardly discern the words, but the blanket of noise was oddly comforting.
"Hey," he said as an idea came to him. "Let's bake a cake."
They didn't hear him. Here he was with the best idea ever and no one was even listening to him. He huffed, pushing himself up and crawling closer to them. He held his hand up between them and snapped a few time to catch their attention.
"Huh?" Midoriya jumped and blinked a few times before he focused on Shinso, deflating as his end of the conversation died off. It didn't effect Hatsume. She continued on as if Midoriya hadn't abruptly stopped talking and Shinso wasn't blatantly trying to get her attention. Shinso glared at her, but he knew that wouldn't make much of a difference. "What is it, Shinso?" Midoriya asked.
"Let's bake a cake," He repeated.
"A...cake?"
"Yeah," Shinso nodded. "I have a craving."
"Um, okay," Midoriya agreed. There was confusion on his face, but he was smiling as earnestly as ever.
Shinso pointed at Hatsume. "She can come, too. If you want."
Midoriya laughed. He reached out to push on Hatsume's shoulder playfully. "Come on, don't ignore him."
"I wasn't ignoring him," She said. "I hadn't finished my thought yet."
Shinso rolled his eyes. "Your thought was several paragraphs worth of text?"
"I have well formed opinions."
"Whatever," Shinso said. "Let's go."
(Hatsume Version)
Hatsume had one passion and it wasn't just inventing things like everyone thought. Hatsume's passion was innovation. She saw something and she wanted to find a way to make it better. How could she make it work more smoothly? How could she make something more convenient? What if she made it faster, or stronger, or bigger? This was Mei's passion.
Usually she had tunnel vision when it came to creating new things, but sometimes other people inspired her.
"Wow, Mei, is there anything you can't make?" She's spent two days making something to help this girl improve her fire quirk, but she couldn't remember her name at all.
"I haven't met a problem that I haven't beaten yet," Hatsume told her.
The girl laughed.
Her friend, some gen ed girl whose quirk was little more than a physical mutation, also laughed. "People that are really good at things like this usually suck at real skills."
"Real skills?" Hatsume repeated. Most things people said about her didn't bother her, especially if they happened to be true, but this annoyed her. They came to her for help and then had the nerve to imply that she didn't have "real" skills.
"You know, like cooking and stuff."
"Don't be rude," the fire quirk girl said, pushing her friend from the room.
"What? It's true!" The girl insisted before pushed out the door.
Hatsume didn't usually feel like she needed to prove things to other people and aside from being annoyed that her talents were being belittled, she didn't feel like she needed to prove anything this time either. But it was a challenge and Hatsume wasn't afraid of a challenge. Cooking couldn't be that hard. In fact, she was fairly certain that she could improve the process somehow.
Her eagerness lead her to leave the lab immediately. She went to the gen ed dorms, knocking loudly on Shinso's door.
He only opened it a crack and she stared at one bloodshot, sleep deprived eye. "What?"
"I want to bake a cake!" she announced excitedly.
He stared at her for moment, then he slammed the door in her face. Shinso could be so grumpy sometimes. She banged on his door again, but he didn't answer it again. If she wanted to, she could probably get his door open. He wouldn't appreciate that, though. Not after last time.
She left and came back twenty minutes later with Midoriya. She let him knock on the door and when she Shinso answered it this time, she pushed the door all the way open.
"I want to bake a cake!" she announced for a second time.
"Fuck, Hatsume!" Shinso swore, glaring at her with beary eyes. "You almost threw that door into my face."
"Wait, you want to do what?" Midoriya asked.
"You brought her here and you didn't even ask why?" Shinso groaned.
"I... didn't think I needed to?" Midoriya answered sheepishly, smiling nervously at him. Hatsume could see the moment that smile made Shinso crack and then the moment afterwards where he was annoyed for being swayed. He blew out an irritated breathe and glared at her.
"Why do you want to bake a cake?" Shinso asked. "You won't eat on a regular schedule but you're willing to bake an entire cake?"
"I want to improve the process," she told him.
"Do you even know how to bake a cake, first off, before you go trying to 'improve the process?'" Shinso asked.
She was undaunted by his lack of enthusiasm. "It can't be that hard."
Shinso looked like he was about to lose it, which was why Midoriya stepped between them with a large grin. "I bet we can do it together," he told them.
Hatsume grinned widely. Having Midoriya on her side guaranteed a win against Shinso.
Shinso just sighed deeply. "I hate this already," he said.
"But you'll help us?" Midoriya asked.
Shinso had turned his long suffering sighs into an art. An art that was sadly lost on them most of the time. "I'll help."
"Yes!" Hatsume exclaimed. "Victory is assured."
(Izuku Version)
Izuku was sitting at his desk when the door opened. He looked up to see Hatsume's greasy smile and Shinso on her heels, hand in a bag of chips.
"Your door is unlocked," Shinso told him as he sat on Izuku's bed.
Hatsume had the good grace to remain standing. "Hey, Midoriya."
Midoriya smiled at her. "Hello, Hatsume. And I know my door was unlocked. I left it open for you two." He looked back at Hatsume again. "I, uh, was expecting to have you in better condition, Hatsume."
Hatsume shrugged. "I was doing some last minute upgrades and it would have taken way too much time to stop by my dorm and shower, so I thought I'd just do it tomorrow."
"To-tomorrow?" He stuttered. "You can't stay that way all day."
"Why not?" She shrugged.
Shinso laughed and shook his head. "Why do we let this grease monkey hang out with us?"
"Hatsume, I'm making a new rule that you can't come into my room without showering first," Izuku told her.
"That's more of a hindrance to you than it is to me," she replied.
He sighed. Deeply. Hatsume was a handful and a half.
"So what did you want?" Shinso asked.
"Right." Izuku smiled. "My mom's birthday is coming up soon and I wanted to bake her cake. I was hoping that you two would be willing to help me make a practice cake?" His statement tuned into a question halfway through and he smiled at them imploringly.
"I've never made a device to help with cooking before," Hatsume mumbled, placing a hand on her chin as she began to think.
"No, that's not what I meant," he told her.
"You realize that this is going to be a diaster, right?" Shinso asked. "Hatsume probably lives off of cup noodles and take out, and I've never baked a day in my life."
"I've baked before," Izuku told them. "I'm just a little out of practice... and I haven't done it on my own before, but I know what to do! Mostly."
"Read my lips, Midoriya." Shinso sat forward and pointed to his mouth as he enunciated his words carefully, "Di-sas-ter."
"Of course I'll help you, Midoriya! This is a great opportunity to test out--"
"No," Shinso interrupted her. "You go back to your dorm and shower before you even talk to us again."
"Ugh! Who has time for that?" she groaned.
"You do," Shinso insisted. "Now shoo."
"I have to agree with Shinso on this one," Izuku said. "You can't really cook if your hands are covered in grease stains."
"I'll wash my hands," She told them.
"Wash your body, you filthy creature!" Shinso yelled, throwing his nearly empty chip bag at her.
Part II: The Location
(1-A Dorms)
"Midoriya, your dorms are kinda crowded," Hatsume said.
The kitchen area was alread crowded, the couches full, and she was pretty sure the entire class was lounging around. The kitchen was filled with yelling and explosions, something pink was chasing a pile of floating clothing, and some blonde guy was staring at her? No... he was staring at the window behind her? Whatever, it didn't matter.
"Does anyone ever go into their own room around here?" Shinso asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Midoriya shrugged. "We get along really well."
"Out of my way, Deku!"
Midoriya jumped back at the walking explosion pushed his way past, an apoloegetic red head and a scolding black haired boy on his heels.
"Yeah, real friendly," Shinso said.
"W-well, most of us get along," Midoriya muttered.
Hatsume placed her hands on her hips. "I could use of one my babies to--"
"Pass," Shinso interrupted.
"We could wait until later tonight?" Midoriya suggested.
"Pass," Shinso said again.
Hatsume sighed. "Midoriya, I don't think we're going to get any cooking done here. "
Shinso frowned and took a deep breath. "Let's go to my dorm."
(Gen Ed Dorms)
"Take two," Shinso said as he lead them into his dorm room. Izuku was surprised at how much... emptier it was. It wasn't entirely empty, of course. There were a few people around, but it was nothing like his dorm. He was used to his entire class hanging out fairly often, but that didn't seem to be the case with the gen ed kids.
"at least it isn't crowded," Hatsume said with a smile.
"Yeah, we'll have room to move around," Izuku added. It was pretty rare that they were in the gen ed dorms. Shinso didn't like to hang out his room much, preferring to come to Izuku's instead. Or maybe he just didn't like him and Hatsume to be in space.
"Hey," one of the kids lounging in the room elbowed his friend. "Shinso bought his stooges."
Izuku's steps faltered. The two were speaking in a low tone, but not so low that they couldn't be overheard. Not so low that Izuku thought they were trying not to be heard.
"Didn't he fight that kid at the sport's festival?" the other questioned. "Man, it's gotta suck to keep falling for Shinso's quirk."
"Midoriya." Shinso bumped his shoulder with Izuku's. "You're spacing out." Shinso's lips were pressed into a hard line. He clearly heard what those two were saying and he was ignoring it. Izuku felt his hands balling into fist.
"S-sorry," he tried to laugh it off, but it rang false. "I, um...sorry."
Hatsume was staring at the two with her arms crossed. It was rare to see her with such a focused look on her face unless she was working. Shinso grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her toward the kitchen. Izuku found himself reluctantly following.
"It's fine," Shinso said. "No big deal."
"And he's with Hot Hatsume," the gen ed kid continued. "Think he's trying to get her to fix his quirk?"
His friend scoffed. "No way, I think he's got other things on his mind, if you catch my drift."
They laughed. "Once a villain always."
"No," Hatsume said. "I'm not gonna stay here and listen this." Her gaze was still focused on the two gossipers on the couch, glaring more fiercely than he'd ever seen from her.
Shinso looked at her with surprise. He glanced quickly at them before looking back to Izuku and Hatsume. "I can make them go away, if you want," he said quietly.
"That's not good enough," Hatsume told him. She turned around to look at Shinso. "i'm pretty sure Midoriya's gonna punch those two in the face if we stay here any longer and I'm going to help him."
They both looked at Izuku's hands where they were still balled into fist at his side. He avoided their gaze. "People used to say mean things to me to my face all the time. I don't like hearing them talk about you this way."
Shinso's expression was still disbelieving, but he nodded. "Uh, okay. We can..."
Hatsume grabbed both their hands. "My dorm," she said difinitively. She marched them out of the room quickly. Izuku felt himself slowly calming. He looked over at Shinso and took his other hand.
"I'm okay, Hatsume," Izuku said quietly.
"I'm not," she replied and squeezed his hand tighter.
(Support Course Dorms)
The support course dorms were surprisingly empty. Shinso had never noticed before, since he so rarely came to Hatsume's dorm. There was only one person in the room, sitting on the floor and glued to her phone. She waved in their general direction but Hasume either ignored the greeting or didn't see it. Midoriya, of course, waved back, though Shinso felt certain Midoriya had no idea who that girl was.
Shinso shook his head at his boyfriend's friendliness. How he could so easily go from wanting to punch someone in the face to waving at strangers would always be lost on Shinso. Friendliness was not in Shinso's nature, not like it was for Midoriya.
"Here," Hatsume said once they were standing in her dorm's kitchen. She let go of their hands and spun on her heel to face them both. "Empty kitchen ready for use."
"Why's it so empty?" Midoriya asked.
Hatsume shrugged. "Everyone keeps to themselves a lot," she explained. "Most of them just hang out in each other's rooms or in the other dorms. It doesn't really matter, right?"
"I guess not," Midoriya replied.
Shinso went over to the fridge, opening the door and poking his head in. It took only a moment to discern the problem of this location. "There's nothing in here."
"Huh," Hatsume hummed. "I suppose I didn't think of that."
Shinso closed the fridge.
"I guess we should go shopping," Midoriya said.
"Guess so," Shinso agreed with a sigh.
Part III: Execution
(Shopping)
"What do we need to bake a cake?" Hatsume asked once they were in the store. Midoriya had a shopping basket on his arm as he walked around the store with her and Shinso following him.
"Eggs, milk, butter, sugar," Midoriya began listing off the ingredients.
"Hey, what kind of cake are we making?" Shinso asked.
"Uh..." Midoriya's gaze traveled to her and she shrugged.
"Fuck it, let's just buy chocolate and go home. This isn't worth it." Shinso said.
"No, we can... we can do this! Let's just... make something simple," Midoriya said.
"We should get back up ingredients," Hatsume said. "I have a feeling that we're going to need them."
"Yeah... we probably will," Midoriya admitted.
"I'm still getting chocolate," Shinso said, walking away from them. "Chocolate is my comfort food."
"I thought your comfort was--"
"I have many comfort foods, Midoriya."
"Well, if we're all getting things," Hatsume said, "I should get a few things, too."
"W-wait!" Midoriya objected.
Neither of his significant other's waited.
(Baking)
Midoriya dropped all the bags on the counter gently before laying his head down beside them and looking at Shinso and Hatsume with sad eyes. "Why did I have to carry all the bags?"
"You're the hero around here," Shinso answered with a smirk.
"You wanna be a hero, too!" Midoriya objected.
"You're my role model," Shinso replied easily.
Hatsume was gathering bowls and utensils, taking ingredients out of the bags, and being much more helpful than Shinso was used to. He laid his folded arms on Midoriya's back as he watched her. He could feel the heat of Midoriya's blush as his boyfriend's face turned red.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Midoriya asked.
"Watching our girlfriend," Shinso answered. "She almost looks like she knows what she's doing, doesn't she?"
Midoriya stopped blushing and squirming long enough to watch Hatsume. "Y-yeah, she does."
Shinso grinned as he wrapped his arms around Midoriya. "Also, you're really cute and I couldn't resist cuddling you!"
"Sh-shin!" He exclaimed, squirming once more and causing Shinso to laugh as his boyfriend flailed and tried to escape his embrace. This was nice. Shinso could do with a few more moments like this.
They ended up in a heap on the floor. Midoriya red and embarrassed while Shinso was pleased and slightly out of breath. Shinso looked up to see Hatsume still at the counter and he got up to check on what she was doing.
"What are you doing, Mei?" Shinso asked. She had placed all of the ingredients in separate bowls, luckily without opening any of them, since he knew for a fact that she couldn't cook.
"I've seen cooking shows before," Hatsume explained. "You're supposed to have each thing in it's own bowl." She looked so proud of herself that he couldn't stop himself from petting her head.
"Oh, Hatsume." He pulled her closer, still petting her head.
"What?" She asked. He was a little surprised that Hatsume didn't try to pull away. Most people would object to his somewhat patronizing behavior even if he was joking. He should have expected that Mei wouldn't see it that way and honestly, he wasn't objecting to being able to hold her without objection.
Midoriya picked himself up off the floor. "Hatsume, they do that to show the audience what to do. You don't actually need to have all the ingredients separated like that."
"Oh." Hatsume smiled at them both. "I guess we'll follow your lead, Midoriya."
Shinso looked to Midoriya, as well. "Lead us, o leader."
Midoriya sighed, but he was smiling."
They did not bake a cake.
Their night ended with a mess kitchen and Izuku standing over them with a look of frustration and disappointment. The kitchen was a mess, they were a mess, and looking at all the wasted ingredients.
"So, in all fairness, I did tell you that this would end in disaster," Shinso said. He was trying to shake flour out of hair and succeeding in only making more of a mess.
Hatsume had egg in her hair. Izuku made a note to either keep her away from the kitchen at all cost or take great pains to teach her at least the basics. He wasn't sure which would be better in the long run, so he pushed the thought away for the time being.
"I can clean all of this up," Hatsume said. "It's my dorm, after all."
"And yourself," Izuku added with a sigh.
"Yeah, yeah," she said. "If I'm going to be cleaning up anyway, I'll clean myself, too."
"At this point," Shinso said, "We should just buy a cake. And maybe try again without Mei."
"Hey! No leaving me out!" she objected.
"No offense, Mei, but you need remedial lessons before you can attempt something as hard as a cake."
Hatsume frowned. "Cooking can't be this hard."
"You just need to learn the basics first," Izuku told her. He reached out to rest his hands on her shoulders. "Hatsume, I care about you a lot. Please, promise me that you'll stay out of the kitchen until Shin or I can teach you not to set everything on fire."
She sighed. "Alright, I get your point, Midoriya."
"You go clean yourself up and get some sleep, Midoriya," Shinso yold him. "I'll help Mei and tomorrow, I'll go buy a cake."
"Thanks Shin."
Shinso smiled, leaning forward to kiss him on the cheek. "You deserve the rest." He pulled Hatsume over and pushed her toward Izuku. "Tell our boyfriend goodbye."
Hatsume hugged him. Izuku ignored the mess that newly covered him and returned the hug. "Thanks for trying, you guys."
"Next time, I'll do better," Hatsume told him.
"She's already planning a next time," Shinso said with mock horror in his voice.
Izuku laughed as he stepped away. "Next time we'll do better, he agreed."
"Wow, Mei, is there anything you can't make?" She'd spent two days making something to help this girl improve her fire quirk, but she couldn't remember her name at all.
"I haven't met a problem that I haven't beaten yet," Hatsume told her.
The girl laughed.
Her friend, some Gen Ed girl whose quirk was little more than a physical mutation, also laughed. "People that are really good at things like this usually suck at real skills."
"Real skills?" Hatsume repeated. Most things people said about her didn't bother her, especially if they happened to be true, but this annoyed her. They came to her for help and then had the nerve to imply that she didn't have "real" skills.
"You know, like cooking and stuff."
"Don't be rude," the fire quirk girl said, shoving her friend from the room.
"What? It's true!" The girl insisted before being pushed out the door.
